IMMACULATE MACHINE Fables (Mint) cd 16.98
No sophomore slump for this terrific band of Canucks with genuine familial ties to The New Pornographers. Lead singer and keyboardist Kathryn Calder has certainly honed her craft touring and recording with her Uncle Carl's band. She's certainly come into her own since her band's debut Ones And Zeros only a couple of years ago. As a whole unit Immaculate Machine have advanced in leaps and bounds, bursting with confidence and a healthy dose of spunkiness. Where it is perhaps most noticeable is in the vocal department. Calder sings ever so sweet'n'strong, while Brooke Gallupe's voice has developed into a remarkably deep and smoothly expressive charmer that at times draws comparisons to Jarvis Cocker (as opposed to the drollness of Stephin Merritt on the last album). On Fables, they've tempered the brooding with the bright-eyed, the perky with the pensive. It's at once punchy and slouchy, sorta like a female-fronted Strokes. A great summer in the city album!
MPEG Stream: "Jarhand"
MPEG Stream: "Roman Statues"

IMMACULATE MACHINE High On Jackson Hill (Mint Records) cd 14.98
Since their beginnings, Immaculate Machine have been most known as the band starring Kathryn Calder, the sweet-voiced niece and fellow New Pornographers bandmate of Mr. Carl Newman. But these days singer/guitarist Brooke Gallupe has stepped into center stage and is shining brightly! He is clearly more firmly in the driver's seat on the band's most recent recordings. High On Jackson Hill finds them channelling equal parts New Pornographers (on songs such as "Thank Me Later") and T. Rex (on songs such as "He's A Biter") with ample nods to '70s West coast classic rock too. That said, don't miss the starkly contrasting lovely "You Destroyer", a low-key, folksy Calder-sung song that glows with its own luminous sweetness. A well-crafted treat!
Psst, we've also just gotten in a few other new and new-to-us titles on this fine Vancouver indie label by The Awkward Stage, Buttless Chaps, The Pack A.D. and Neko Case's early band Maow!
MPEG Stream: "Thank Me Later"
RealAudio clip: "You Destroyer"
MPEG Stream: "He's A Biter"

IMMACULATE MACHINE Ones and Zeros (Mint) cd 13.98
This young Canadian band has been tagged with the selling point that lead vocalist Kathryn Calder is the long-lost niece of New Pornographers' Carl Newman, and that she sings and tours with that band -- a wise move on her uncle's part 'cause she's mighty talented. A great way to get a lot of attention from Canadian pop-loving folks, that's for sure! That said, Immaculate Machine's music sounds nothing like those dear NPs and stands on its own merits. Indeed, the Victoria, BC trio have set the bar high on their first outting and they've done so with such solid songwriting and an ease and composure that so many bands' many times their age haven't been able to grasp. Their fully fleshed out arrangements bring together the hard'n'crunchy and soft'n'pretty. Although the core of their sound is indisputably pop, it's a pop of a different flavour. More feverish and punchy. The first song has a retro feel that brings to mind their labelmates The Organ. In fact in keeping with the family theme here, imagine them as a peppier cousin of said band. On the other hand the male lead vocals on the fourth song "Phone No." are a deadringer for Stephin Merritt of Magnetic Fields. Overall, their sound recalls the early edgy energy of '70s/'80s British bands such as XTC and Gang Of Four, but not the trademark sounds of either of those bands which have been plundered and regurgitated to death recently by many other young bands. A remarkably robust debut!
MPEG Stream: "Two Places"
MPEG Stream: "Phone No. "

IMMENSE Death To The Gremlins (Fat Cat) 7" 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Fat Cat's successes with their series of electronica split 12"s hasn't necessarily translated in their forays into avant-rock. This Immense 7" is quite a bit better than their other avant-rock release: the a-side is a steady building piece of rock hypnosis sort of like a sax solo fronting Stereolab's "Emperor Tomato Catchup", the b-side is a sad yet beautiful guitar and piano composition sort of like the Texas melancholia by 26 (or later 37).

IMMORTAL Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism (Osmose) lp 17.98
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 for a limited time! Packaged in a gorgeous gatefold sleeve, with new photos and design. We never listed the cd before (it came out before we did reviews, let alone black metal reviews) but fans should know it, and that's who'll be interested in Immortal vinyl anyway. This was their very first album from '92, so probably their rawest, but still all about the winter wonderland that Immortal devoted their career to mythologizing.

IMPERIAL TEEN On (Merge) cd 14.98
Imperial Teen are back from their major label excursion and now grace Merge Records with this cd filled with poppy, catchy songs, some with Clinic-like danciness. This is their best record by far. The melodies and harmonies get stuck in my head and are deceivingly sweet, being that some of the lyrics are biting and harsh. It's good, they should be proud, I'm happy they are on Merge. It's a good fit.
RealAudio clip: "Sugar"
RealAudio clip: "Million Dollar Man"

IMPERIAL TEEN The Hair, The TV, The Baby, & The Band (Merge) cd 14.98
Imperial Teen are back with what might be their brightest, bubblegum-iest album ever! All the familiar faces are back in the fold -- Roddy Bottum, Lynn Truell, Jone Stebbins and Will Schwartz! You probably know that the latter has been keeping busy during the band's five year hiatus with his fun-fun-fun dance party Hey Willpower! He might've been workin' it on out on the dancefloor, but he's not gonna get much rest with the equally energetic Imperial Teen. Packed with crunchy electric guitars, boy/girl vocals, snappy drumming and hooks galore, this is some jubilant, ultra carefree pop! It begs for an endless supply of exclamation marks!!!!! Go on, whatever age you are, take a gleeful sock-footed bound around your living room! And like any kind power pop band should, Imperial Teen give you a sweet slower closing number for you to cool off to! For fans of Redd Kross, Tralala, The Go! Team, and The Rondelles.
MPEG Stream: "Everything"
MPEG Stream: "21st Century"

IMPERIAL TEEN What Is Not to Love (Slash/London) cd 14.98

IMPLODES Black Earth (Kranky) cd 14.98
The debut album from Chicago's Implodes is a quintessential Kranky release. It's a darkly beautiful production of pop narcotic smeared in layers of shoegaze distortion, monochromatic psychedelia, and slumping atmospherics, harkening back to Kranky's early releases from Bowery Electric, Amp, and maybe even the first Labradford record. That said, Implodes does fit nicely in with the current Kranky roster of Belong and Tim Hecker as well, and moreso Disappears, as Implodes is a conventional rock quartet crafting their tuneful sludge balanced with radioluminosity through pedals and amps. Throughout the album's humid, smoldering fuzz and droned distortion, Black Earth perpetuates the creeping violence and midwestern depression, spoken through the album's cover art, a creepy photograph of a woman's silhouette brandishing a knife in a rather hostile pose. The suitably downer melodies and androgynously murmured vocals flicker amidst the muffled guitar haze like the best of all shoegaze acts, but unlike most who reference My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, or Ride, Implodes is more attuned to Flying Saucer Attack, Bailter Space, or even the desolate drone-rock of Higuma. Tracks like "Screech Owl" and "Experiential Report" slowly burn from downer acoustic strumming into the plodding rhythms and intertwining male / female vocal mumblings buried beneath the narcoleptic atmospheres of muffed guitar haze. But if there was to be a 'hit' on the album it would be "Meadowlands" with its disco-ping synth notes that must be a reference to Joy Division's "She's Lost Control" instead of anything remotely hedonistic. Out of all this fuzz and distortion, sad melodies and muffled androgynous vocals sing of woe and heartache with a psychic conviction that doesn't need anything explicit like lyrics. The music is perfect in delivering this bleak mood all on its own.
MPEG Stream: "Marker"
MPEG Stream: "Screech Owl"
MPEG Stream: "Meadowlands"

IMPLODES Black Earth (Kranky) lp 14.98
The debut album from Chicago's Implodes is a quintessential Kranky release. It's a darkly beautiful production of pop narcotic smeared in layers of shoegaze distortion, monochromatic psychedelia, and slumping atmospherics, harkening back to Kranky's early releases from Bowery Electric, Amp, and maybe even the first Labradford record. That said, Implodes does fit nicely in with the current Kranky roster of Belong and Tim Hecker as well, and moreso Disappears, as Implodes is a conventional rock quartet crafting their tuneful sludge balanced with radioluminosity through pedals and amps. Throughout the album's humid, smoldering fuzz and droned distortion, Black Earth perpetuates the creeping violence and midwestern depression, spoken through the album's cover art, a creepy photograph of a woman's silhouette brandishing a knife in a rather hostile pose. The suitably downer melodies and androgynously murmured vocals flicker amidst the muffled guitar haze like the best of all shoegaze acts, but unlike most who reference My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, or Ride, Implodes is more attuned to Flying Saucer Attack, Bailter Space, or even the desolate drone-rock of Higuma. Tracks like "Screech Owl" and "Experiential Report" slowly burn from downer acoustic strumming into the plodding rhythms and intertwining male / female vocal mumblings buried beneath the narcoleptic atmospheres of muffed guitar haze. But if there was to be a 'hit' on the album it would be "Meadowlands" with its disco-ping synth notes that must be a reference to Joy Division's "She's Lost Control" instead of anything remotely hedonistic. Out of all this fuzz and distortion, sad melodies and muffled androgynous vocals sing of woe and heartache with a psychic conviction that doesn't need anything explicit like lyrics. The music is perfect in delivering this bleak mood all on its own.
MPEG Stream: "Marker"
MPEG Stream: "Screech Owl"
MPEG Stream: "Meadowlands"

IMPLODES Recurring Dream (Kranky) cd 14.98
Album number two for Chicago's heavy shoegazing quartet Implodes picks up exactly where they left off with their Kranky debut, bridging the blur of Slowdive with the depressive post-punk of Joy Division (or more accurately, the first New Order records which held over much of the existential bleakness of Joy Division before switching gears entirely in offering forth "Blue Monday"). Recurring Dream is an apt title, although whatever dreams these guys are channeling, they ain't pretty. Every song is a monochromatic fug of blurred vocals, heavily pounded slow motion rhythms, and black/blue maelstroms of overdriven, reverb laden guitars that might be pegged as psychedelic if everything weren't so dark and so cold. A somber atmosphere from their icy drone-rock introduces the album's first three cuts, leading up to the comparatively dynamic "Necronomics" with its propulsive rhythms and Mogwai-like explosions and crescendos. The harmonic, lead guitar lines of "Ex Mass" are right out of the Daniel Ash playbook for Bauhaus / Tones On Tail but grafted onto a sullen, slow-core arrangement all caught in a sonorous tarpit of murk and blur. The album ends on a perfect downer note with "Bottom Of The Well", with an exasperated Matt Jencik emoting a very sad tale even as the words are entirely obfuscated in echo and reverb, while the rest of the band propels forward into a black hole of twin guitar solos and swirling synths akin to Emeralds rehashing The Cure's Pornography. Awesome.
MPEG Stream: "Sleepyheads"
MPEG Stream: "Ex Mass"
MPEG Stream: "Bottom Of A Well"

IMPLODES Recurring Dream (Kranky) lp 14.98
Album number two for Chicago's heavy shoegazing quartet Implodes picks up exactly where they left off with their Kranky debut, bridging the blur of Slowdive with the depressive post-punk of Joy Division (or more accurately, the first New Order records which held over much of the existential bleakness of Joy Division before switching gears entirely in offering forth "Blue Monday"). Recurring Dream is an apt title, although whatever dreams these guys are channeling, they ain't pretty. Every song is a monochromatic fug of blurred vocals, heavily pounded slow motion rhythms, and black/blue maelstroms of overdriven, reverb laden guitars that might be pegged as psychedelic if everything weren't so dark and so cold. A somber atmosphere from their icy drone-rock introduces the album's first three cuts, leading up to the comparatively dynamic "Necronomics" with its propulsive rhythms and Mogwai-like explosions and crescendos. The harmonic, lead guitar lines of "Ex Mass" are right out of the Daniel Ash playbook for Bauhaus / Tones On Tail but grafted onto a sullen, slow-core arrangement all caught in a sonorous tarpit of murk and blur. The album ends on a perfect downer note with "Bottom Of The Well", with an exasperated Matt Jencik emoting a very sad tale even as the words are entirely obfuscated in echo and reverb, while the rest of the band propels forward into a black hole of twin guitar solos and swirling synths akin to Emeralds rehashing The Cure's Pornography. Awesome.
MPEG Stream: "Sleepyheads"
MPEG Stream: "Ex Mass"
MPEG Stream: "Bottom Of A Well"

IMPOSSIBLES, THE 4 Song Brick Bomb (Fueled by Ramen) cd ep 8.98
So if you were disappointed by the new Weezer, and thought maybe Weezer don't sound as much like Weezer as they used to, well, the Impossibles do. Starting life as a pop-ska-punk band, the Impossibles have mutated into a catchy heartfelt power pop band, and a really great one at that. Fans of Weezer, the Stereo or the Get Up Kids. Four song ep.

IMPROMPTULONS Swamp Hobo (Diagnosis... Don't!) 3" cd-r 12.98
We found a handful of titles, maybe only 5 or 6 of each, from Aussie label DiagnosisÉ Don't! We've had these for ages, and odds are these are long gone as they were pretty limited to begin with, but for a few of you, here's your chance to grab one (or all) of these super limited 3" cd-r's.
The Impromptulons are an improvising (get it?) free noise collective from Brisbane, who use a confusional mix of instruments to create their sound, from found objects to actual percussion, lots of feedback, very rhythmic and ritualistic, one single extended jam, equal parts Avarus and the Dead C, very tribal, with plenty of click and glitch, rumble and thump, all wrapped in a swirling haze of tape hiss and distant bowed strings, not really noisy so much as much as hypnotic. Strings are plucked, drones shimmer, percussion clanks and clunks, and somehow the result is a gorgeous piece of rhythmic dronemusic.
Packaged in thick cardstock mini 3" sleeves, with a printed (band name, label info, liner notes) Japanese style obi. And again, we only have a VERY FEW of these....
MPEG Stream: "Swamp Hobo (excerpt 1)"
MPEG Stream: "Swamp Hobo (excerpt 2)"

IN FLUX Cryptic Oak (Jryk) cd-r 7.98
Ultra limited (already out of print) blast of bizarrely beautiful outsider noise, a la Skaters, Dead C, Yellow Swans and all that groovy shit! Only 100 copies and we got about 5...

IN OUT The Viscera Versa Story (Loveletter) cd 10.98
A collection of demos and live tracks of super lo-fi recordings from the stateside equivalent of the Fall. Recommended.

IN OUT, THE Cosmosis (Dark Beloved CLoud) lp 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A working definition of self-reflexivity, the in Out asks the question "What is the in Out all about," when the answer is quite clear... The best Fall record that was never released... Right down to imitating Mark E. Smith's Damo Suzuki, the in Out out-Fall The Fall. Brilliant.

IN SLAUGHTER NATIVES Resurrection: the Return of a King (Cold Meat Industry) cd 21.00

IN/HUMANITY Violent Resignation: The Great American Teenaage Suicide Rebellion (Prank) 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 one of my all time favorite grindcore bands. They combined unbelievably kick ass grinding fastcore with the kind of sense of humour you wish all bands had. This is a posthumous collection of everything they did, including the brilliant 'Nutty Antichrist' lp (that featured a demonic Jerry Lewis on the cover). Pummeling and punsishing, fast and brutal, and funny as fuck. Awesome.

INBRED, TH' Legacy Of Fertility (Alternative Tentacles) cd 13.98
Some of us came to punk in a seriously roundabout way. Seems like most folks we talk to, got into punk rock, then moved toward heavier stuff and got into metal. But we went straight to metal, then gradually discovered punk rock, so we ended up learning about bands like Fear and Black Flag and Die Kreuzen and the Dead Kennedys well after we had been into Slayer and Venom and Motley Crew or whatever. One effect that had on our taste in punk, was that we liked the stuff that was heavier, and more metallic, Cro Mags, Die Kreuzen, Black Flag, and we got super into West Virginia's Th' Inbred, partially for that reason, sure they were punky and fast, and had a vocalist who sometimes sounded like Jello Biafra and sometimes sounded like Lee Ving from Fear, and their lyrics were snarky and political and funny, but musically they had lot more going on than a lot of punk rock bands, super complex guitar playing, very Greg Ginn influenced, bordering on jazzy now and then, but often gnarled and twisted, and the band were pretty noisy too, easily mistaken for some punky AmRep band, but then able to bust out a super complex almost proggy start stop punk jazz groove, and then explode in a frenzy of pounding pure punk energy, plus they had a wicked sense of humor, as evidenced not only by their lyrics, but their album covers as well (the Jerry Lee and Myra Kissin' Cousins cover for example).
Listening to this again, it's hard to believe these guys were even as popular as they were, this is some weird shit, every few tracks the band would throw the crowd a bone, with something full on punk, but they definitely spent most of their time trying everything but!
Killer reissue, both albums, the first ep, as well as some bonus tracks, all stuff circa '85-'88, a HUGE booklet jam packed with new liner notes, track listings, tons of photos, and some awesome (and awesomely funny) illustrations.
MPEG Stream: "Scene Death"
MPEG Stream: "Th' Shitpile"
MPEG Stream: "Fool's Paradise"
MPEG Stream: "Plain Speaking"

INCA ORE Birthday Of Bless You (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.
Latest from this one woman dreambliss outfit, and it's a soft focus washed out doozy. It seems like Grouper and Inca Ore are constantly competing to see who can craft the dreamiest slab of disembodied pop, of ghostlike ambient shimmer, and with every release from each of them, we find ourselves proclaiming a winner, until the next disc shows up, and there's a new winner, and on and on and on.
But really, we're the big winners in this made up competition, as we can't get enough from either. Both utilize vocals as their main sound source, but both have spread their wings, incorporating more and more instrumentation, creating sprawling expanses of gorgeous blurred ambience. And part of the magic is that the sounds are often smeared to the point that it's difficult to tell what is voice and what is instrument.
This latest Inca Ore record is maybe her most song based yet, and it totally suits her. She has always been adept and creating atmospheres and textures, but her knack for hiding catchy melodies and soft pop gems amidst all the drift and murk is really coming through. The opener here is absolutely heartbreaking perfection. Minor key and washed out, with a vocal line, that distorts perfectly, adding unexpected texture, a hidden hook that lodges in your head, the vocals drifting on the glistening minimal soundscape in the background, when the vocals fade out, leaving just the music, it's so utterly sad and funeral, but still fuzzy and dreamy.
She covers Merle Haggard and makes the song totally her own. We could go song by song and describe the record in detail, but where's the mystery in that. The first song, and the description above should be enough to suck you in. But once you're in, let yourself go and drift off into Inca Ore's haunting hallowed soundworld.
Beautiful full color covers, printed 12"x12" inserts, LIMITED TO 500 COPIES! (Well, actually, some of the copies we have, which we got directly from Ms. Inca Ore herself, are from an earlier, self-released pressing. Same record, slightly different cover art. The copy you get will be randomly chosen.)

INCA ORE Silver Sea Surfer School (Not Not Fun) lp 16.98
First full length from Inca Ore since the awesome Birthday Of Bless You (not counting a mess of collaborations and splits), and it's more of what we've come to love about Eva Ore's mysterious world of sound. Like Grouper, Inca Ore is definitely vocal based, a breathless ethereal mumbly croon, often heavily effected, or buried beneath a wash of swirling layered soft noise, but where Grouper is murky, Inca Ore is more noisy, her tools are high end to Grouper's low end, a delicate crystalline drift, all rounded whistle like tones, and whispered vocals, will morph into a swirling squall of crunch and skree, the vocals still dreamy and angelic, but wrapped in strange clattery rhythms, fuzzy distortion, streaks of feedback, and a thick lo-fi haze, only to slip seamlessly back into another stretch of high end shimmer, a soft cacophony of muted music box melodies, chiming and reverberating, the vocals so processed, they blend into the field of bells and tones.
And so it goes, every song a glorious, gauzy world of delicate sparkling glimmer set amidst slowly drifting clouds of buzz and hiss, soft thrumming percussion, hushed thrum, and dreamy, druggy, softly psychedelic drone drift ambient pop. So lovely.

INCA ORE / GROUPER split (self-released) lp 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Originally released as an insanely limited cassette, one that we sold out of in a matter of minutes, then on vinyl, which sold out super quick as well, but just managed to get a handful direct from Inca Ore, so if you missed out, one more chance before they're maybe gone forever...
As we mentioned in the original review, Inca Ore and Grouper are two of the few females currently kicking ass in the seriously dude oriented noise rock scene (Leslie Keffer and Valet are a couple others), and they approach their 'noise' with a distinctly different aesthetic, instead of walls of sound or sheets of distorted skree, the two focus on the sound of the human voice, their vocals cloaked in reverb and delay and echo, layering their blurred croons over swirling seas of smeared shimmery sound and delicate spidery guitars, wheezing organs and warm whirring buzz. Thankfully, together, the sound remains much the same, but blossoms a bit, two different, but complimentary voices, each with a knack for soft focus minor key melodies, each contributing their own particular style of washed out fractured folk, and the results are divine, fans of either band won't be disappointed, hushed and dreamlike soundscapes, dark, delicate cinematic ambience, gauzy and wispy, mysterious and haunting murky and muddy, a vast expanse of distant shimmery drones washing over abstract lo-fi song fragments and chunks of fragmented folks drifting in the abyss.
MPEG Stream: INCA ORE "Churpa Champurrado"
MPEG Stream: INCA ORE "Baby Tiger, I Went Far Away"
MPEG Stream: GROUPER "Little Grey Cat"
MPEG Stream: GROUPER "Poison Tree"

INCA ORE WITH LEMON BEAR'S ORCHESTRA The Birds In The Bushes (5RC) cd 14.98
Sometimes we just have nothing nice to say about a record. So instead we'll just quote this compelling blurb their label wrote, from the sticker on the front cover: "belief pacts, beatnik poetry, sandpipers and perfume, axed lungs, prison lullabies, pigmented moments, bonneted lambs, January storm fang. I'm listening illuminate with your attention."
Um, yeah, sure. Sounds more like a bunch of kids banging jars and howling obnoxiously to us...sorry!
MPEG Stream: "The Garden Of Awakening"
MPEG Stream: "Glossolalaia The Gift Of The Tongue"

INCREDIBLE FORCE OF JUNIOR Blue Cheer (Up) 7" 3.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Up Records strikes again with another syringe of essential pop that goes straight to the old adrenal glands. Third single from the Seattle trio that brought you the amazing Greatest Thing 7". Think Nothing Painted Blue, Tullycraft, Raincoats. The B-side ("Driving in your car") wins on this one. --Cory Brown.

INCREDIBLE FORCE OF JUNIOR Let the World fall Apart (Up) cd 13.98
Energetic pop you can sink teeth into, a là local favorites Pee. Extra-high quality.

INCREDIBLE HOG Vol.1 +4 (Rise Above Relics) cd 16.98
Proto-metal fiends, give praise to the fine folks at Rise Above Relics. They've been doing a great job lately reissuing some crucial obscurities from the early '70s - Necromandus, Steel Mill, that Bang box set - and now here's another one we were excited to get in. The one and only, and quite collectable, album from 1973 by a band of heavy rockers from England who went by the somewhat silly name of Incredible Hog (apparently a porcine variation on the Incredible Hulk??). There's been songs of theirs included on a few comps we've had (A Visit To The Spaceship Factory, The Electric Asylum Vol.4) but this is the first ever proper cd reissue of the full album, authorized and remastered and all.
The first track is called "Lame" but the 'Hog definitely ain't. If you like your psychedelic blues rock big and burly, raucous and rollicking, the 'Hog are the seventies heavies you're looking for. That lead-off cut, "Lame", is an excellent intro to the album in general; a stomping, distorted rocker with loads of swingin' riffage and wailing vox, that sounds a whole lot like Led Zeppelin mixed with a bit of glitter/glam a la Slade (with the hey hey hey's and handclaps). The next track, the dazed 'n' confused dirge "Wreck My Soul" is even more on the Zepped-out blooze rawk tip, with some blues harp blowin' showing up. They venture into folkier territory on the following cut, "Execution", one of a few quite affecting, mellower melodic compositions found on the record. But mostly they're about banging out the heavier stuff, and they're back at it with the next number, "Tadpole", an uptempo stormer laced with sound FX samples (crashing thunder, crying babies, crazy laughter) giving it a bit of a proggier vibe, which is followed by the cowbell-knockin', Eastern-tinged "Another Time"... and so it goes, Incredible Hog kicking ass all up and down this album, one that any fan of the Led Zeppier side to '70s heavy rock oughtta lay their ears upon pronto. So if you dig bands like Leaf Hound, Budgie, Granicus, Lucifer's Friend, Jerusalem, Possessed (UK), Tucky Buzzard, and Stray, then prepare to add Incredible Hog to that list of proto-metal awesomeness. Bands today can't compare (although, Rise Above's Gentlemans Pistols come close, and no doubt are big 'Hog fans).
As always, Rise Above Relics does a bang-up job with the cd packaging, it's ensconced in a slipcover with fat 40 page cd booklet full of detailed notes and vintage pics, all put together with the help of the original band members. They've also managed to dig up four long lost, unreleased bonus trax (hence the "+4" in this reissue's title), recorded back in the day, some of which were meant for a second 'Hog album that never happened. At least one of 'em, a rip snorter called "Burnout", is easily up there with anything on the album itself in terms of sheer proto-metal power, and the others are worthy bonus trackage too.
All hail the 'Hog! Incredible, indeed.
MPEG Stream: "Lame"
MPEG Stream: "Execution"
MPEG Stream: "There's A Man"
MPEG Stream: "Burnout"

INCREDIBLE STRING BAND Be Glad For The Song Has No Ending (Wienerworld) dvd 24.00
Here is the DVD release of "Be Glad For The Song Has No Ending", the film about the Incredible String Band. Hugely influential (the Stones tried to sign them, they played Woodstock, Van Morrison covered them), the band played a psychedelic folk music that has its modern antecedents in groups like P.G. Six, Six Organs of Admittance, Damon and Naomi, etc. This DVD has lovely footage of them playing live, lots of closeups and interviews with Robin Williamson and Mike Heron. There's also an interview with the filmmaker Peter Neal, and the short film The Pirate and the Crystal Ball -- which the liner notes claim is a "hallucinatory death and rebirth ritual", but which is actually like a '60s version of getting your friends to go out into the woods and videotaping them cavorting and flitting amongst the trees. With handmaidens, fairies, and warriors even. You know the type.

INCREDIBLE STRING BAND Changing Horses / I Looked Up (Collector's Choice) 2cd 22.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
England's Incredible String Band were a late sixties / early seventies outfit who blended folk rock, psychedelia, and Eastern ethnic musics.
Very sixties, very hippy -- they played at Woodstock, in fact. With their folky male and female vocals and expertise with a plethora of exotic stringed instruments, a shorthand description might be that ISB was kinda like Fairport Convention with sitars, and crazy costumes. But then, as they say, there's more: their music encompasses traditional British folk, Indian ragas, Dylan, blues, country, hoedowns, etc. -- an eclectic stew indeed. Sometimes ISB can come off as a little *too* varied: you might be digging some Eastern drone track and find an abrupt switch to, say, music-hall country a bit jarrring. But that just means there's plenty of different things on these discs to like.
We're always mentioning ISB in reviews of other folk-psych albums past and present, from Forest and Trees to P.G. Six and Tower Recordings, so it's nice to finally get these listed in our catalog...definitely if you're into that British folk-psych vibe you need to investigate this band if you haven't already!
There's been a recent slew of ISB reissues, on the Collector's Choice label and Sepia Tone. We'll deal with the Collector's Choice discs this week: four double-cd sets in all, three featuring two albums apiece (twofers of "5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion / The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter", "Wee Tam / The Big Huge", and "Changing Horses / I Looked Up" respectively), as well as the previously unissued on cd "U" which takes up 2 discs all by itself.
We can't say Collector's Choice lives up to their name with all of these. Although "U" at least boasts liner notes authored by Richie Unterberger, the other two don't. On top of that, the label's graphic design sense leaves something to be desired...for one thing, it would be nice to have the actual album cover artwork presented as large as possible, not just on the front in two overlapping small squares. On the inside, the original *back* covers are reproduced much larger than the fronts are. Doesn't make sense. The previous Hannibal label reissues looked nicer, but at least these are in print!
1969's "Changing Horses" sees the ISB stretch out with two of their longest compositions/jams to date, both songs around the quarter hour mark, along with a handful of shorter tracks. The exotic, barmy hippy folk of the sixteen minute album closer "Creation" should appeal to today's Terrastock psych-folk fans into Ghost and Six Organs of Admittance and the like! It also reminds us a bit of ISB's quirky contemporaries Twink and Tyranosaurus Rex, or even Comus and the Wicker Man soundtrack. Mystically over-the-top. This might not be an essential ISB album, but if you like this sort of thing you'll want it for that track alone. "I Looked Up" from 1970 is similarily a decent but not crucial ISB effort, meaning don't get it first, but do get it if you are or become a fan. From the trad country-folk stylings of opener "Black Jack Davy" to the many moods of the ten-minute plus folk-prog rocker "When You Find Out Who You Are", this visits all of the ISB's colorful bases...
RealAudio clip: "Creation (from Changing Horses)"
RealAudio clip: "Fair As You (from I Looked Up)"

INCREDIBLE STRING BAND Liquid Acrobat As Regards The Air (Sepia Tone) cd 13.98

INCREDIBLE STRING BAND s/t (Sepia Tone) cd 13.98

INCREDIBLE STRING BAND Tricks Of The Senses (Hux) 2cd 30.00
This is a nice treat for fans of the freakiest of the sixties British acid-folk scene, Incredible String Band, as this two disc set covers rare and unreleased tracks from the band's golden era. Due to some amazing research and archival sleuthing, this compilation of tracks recorded between 1966 and 1972 unearths lost outtakes from various albums, alternate versions, live radio performances as well as an early rehearsal recording of a Leadbelly cover. Though all the tracks have merits on their own, the range of line-up changes and fidelities don't make for a completely consistent listen. But the highlights are pretty fantastic including "Secret Temple", a beautiful track sung by Licorice McKechnie that was only available as a BBC recording, a 13 minute live radio version of "Maya", complete with sitar(!), and a six minute multi-epic suite composed for a mime troupe performance ("Poetry Play #1"). Probably not the place to start for unfamiliar beginners, but for fans, there are jewels aplenty!
MPEG Stream: "The Iron Stone"
MPEG Stream: "The Head"
MPEG Stream: "Poetry Play #1"
MPEG Stream: "Secret Temple"

INCREDIBLE STRING BAND U (Collector's Choice Music) 2cd 22.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
England's Incredible String Band were a late sixties / early seventies outfit who blended folk rock, psychedelia, and Eastern ethnic musics.
Very sixties, very hippy -- they played at Woodstock, in fact. With their folky male and female vocals and expertise with a plethora of exotic stringed instruments, a shorthand description might be that ISB was like Fairport Convention with sitars, and crazy costumes. But then, as they say, there's more: their music encompasses traditional British folk, Indian ragas, Dylan, blues, country, hoedowns, etc. -- an electic stew indeed. Sometimes ISB can come off as a little *too* varied: you might be digging some Eastern drone track and find an abrupt switch to, say, music-hall country a bit jarrring. But that just means there's plenty of different things on these discs to like.
We're always mentioning ISB in reviews of other folk-psych albums past and present, from Forest and Trees to P.G. Six and Tower Recordings, so it's nice to finally get these listed in our catalog...definitely if you're into that British folk-psych vibe you need to investigate this band if you haven't already!
There's been a recent slew of ISB reissues, on the Collector's Choice label and Sepia Tone. We'll deal with the Collector's Choice discs this week: four double-cd sets in all, three featuring two albums apiece (twofers of "5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion / The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter", "Wee Tam / The Big Huge", and "Changing Horses / I Looked Up" respectively), as well as the previously unissued on cd "U" which takes up 2 discs all by itself.
We can't say Collector's Choice lives up to their name with all of these. Although "U" at least boasts liner notes authored by Richie Unterberger, the other two don't. On top of that, the label's graphic design sense leaves something to be desired...for one thing, it would be nice to have the actual album cover artwork presented as large as possible, not just on the front in two overlapping small squares. On the inside, the original *back* covers are reproduced much larger than the fronts are. Doesn't make sense. The previous Hannibal label reissues looked nicer, but at least these are in print!
1970's sprawling "U", almost two hours long, was the ISB's soundtrack to a stage show -- a "surreal parable in song and dance" according to ISB's Robin Williamson -- that combined the String Band's musicians with the performance of underground dance/happening group Stone Monkey. Must have been pretty wild, based on this psychedelic music, and the photos crammed into the disc's tiny booklet. It's a bit much to get a handle on -- possibly why this is apparently one of the ISB's more obscure releases. But there's great songs on here, hitting all of the prime String Band motifs: the folk, the raga, the rock, the country... Essential for fans, and recommended to newcomers too, if unafraid of ISB overkill.
RealAudio clip: "El Wool Suite"
RealAudio clip: "Astral Plane Theme"

INCREDIBLE STRING BAND Wee Tam / The Big Huge (Collector's Choice) 2cd 22.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
England's Incredible String Band were a late sixties / early seventies outfit who blended folk rock, psychedelia, and Eastern ethnic musics.
Very sixties, very hippy -- they played at Woodstock, in fact. With their folky male and female vocals and expertise with a plethora of exotic stringed instruments, a shorthand description might be that ISB was kinda like Fairport Convention with sitars, and crazy costumes. But then, as they say, there's more: their music encompasses traditional British folk, Indian ragas, Dylan, blues, country, hoedowns, etc. -- an eclectic stew indeed. Sometimes ISB can come off as a little *too* varied: you might be digging some Eastern drone track and find an abrupt switch to, say, music-hall country a bit jarrring. But that just means there's plenty of different things on these discs to like.
We're always mentioning ISB in reviews of other folk-psych albums past and present, from Forest and Trees to P.G. Six and Tower Recordings, so it's nice to finally get these listed in our catalog...definitely if you're into that British folk-psych vibe you need to investigate this band if you haven't already!
There's been a recent slew of ISB reissues, on the Collector's Choice label and Sepia Tone. We'll deal with the Collector's Choice discs this week: four double-cd sets in all, three featuring two albums apiece (twofers of "5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion / The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter", "Wee Tam / The Big Huge", and "Changing Horses / I Looked Up" respectively), as well as the previously unissued on cd "U" which takes up 2 discs all by itself.
We can't say Collector's Choice lives up to their name with all of these. Although "U" at least boasts liner notes authored by Richie Unterberger, the other two don't. On top of that, the label's graphic design sense leaves something to be desired...for one thing, it would be nice to have the actual album cover artwork presented as large as possible, not just on the front in two overlapping small squares. On the inside, the original *back* covers are reproduced much larger than the fronts are. Doesn't make sense. The previous Hannibal label reissues looked nicer, but at least these are in print!
This two-fer 2cd is consistent with these albums' original UK release in 1968, as both "Wee Tam" and "The Big Huge" were issued together as a 2LP set. Again the ISB mix their Celtic and Appalachian folkie roots with "world" influences, and although this is quite mellow and gentle, they also brought in some electric amplification at this point. With female vocals n' whistles n' fiddles n' sitar etc. this is quite pretty stuff, great summer morning sitting in a sunny meadow music. Both records are ISB fan favorites, with gorgeous four-part vocal harmonies, whimsical but sometimes dark moods, and of course lots of Incredible String-ed instrument playing.
RealAudio clip: "The Yellow Snake (from Wee Tam)"
RealAudio clip: "Maya (from The Big Huge)"

INCREDIBLE STRING BAND, THE The 5,000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion (Fledg'ling / Carthage) cd 16.98
Back in print!
Remastered with new liner notes, in a swank digipak with all the elements of the original packaging, these look heaps better than the Collector's Choice twofers that were the last reissued incarnation of these classic albums. The 5,000 Spirits and The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter have been released separately this time around, while Wee Tam and The Big Huge are still bundled together as a 2cd set.
Here's what we said about them previously:
England's Incredible String Band were a late sixties/early seventies outfit who blended folk rock, psychedelia, and Eastern ethnic musics. Very sixties, very hippy - they played at Woodstock, in fact. With their folky male and female vocals and expertise with a plethora of exotic stringed instruments, a shorthand description might be that ISB was kinda like Fairport Convention with sitars, and crazy costumes. Perhaps less truly traditional than Fairport, they made a bigger splash with the LSD crowd of The UFO Club where they played often with the likes of early Pink Floyd, Tomorrow, and Procol Harum. Their music encompassed British folk, Indian ragas, Dylan, blues, country, hoedowns, etc. - an eclectic stew indeed. Sometimes ISB can come off as a little *too* varied: you might be digging some Eastern drone track and find an abrupt switch to, say, music-hall country a bit jarrring. But that just means there's plenty of different things on these discs to like.
5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion dates from 1967 - it's their second album, featuring only the core duo of Robin Williamson and Mike Heron (Clive Palmer left after the first record to form his own band, C.O.B.) - and was the first solid fulfillment of their Brit folk + Middle Eastern + Indian raga equation, as they added the ouds an' sitars to their original Anglo-American folk interpretations with some wonderfully moody results.
We're always mentioning ISB in reviews of other folk-psych albums past and present, from Forest and Trees to P.G. Six and Tower Recordings, so it's nice to finally get these listed in our catalog once again...definitely if you're into that British folk-psych vibe you need to investigate this band if you haven't already!
MPEG Stream: "Chinese White"
MPEG Stream: "The Mad Hatter's Song"

INCREDIBLE STRING BAND, THE The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter (Fledg'ling / Carthage) cd 16.98
Back in print!
Remastered with new liner notes, in a swank digipak with all the elements of the original packaging, these look heaps better than the Collector's Choice twofers that were the last reissued incarnation of these classic albums. The 5,000 Spirits and The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter have been released separately this time around, while Wee Tam and The Big Huge are still bundled together as a 2cd set.
Here's what we said about them previously:
England's Incredible String Band were a late sixties/early seventies outfit who blended folk rock, psychedelia, and Eastern ethnic musics. Very sixties, very hippy - they played at Woodstock, in fact. With their folky male and female vocals and expertise with a plethora of exotic stringed instruments, a shorthand description might be that ISB was kinda like Fairport Convention with sitars, and crazy costumes. Perhaps less truly traditional than Fairport, they made a bigger splash with the LSD crowd of The UFO Club where they played often with the likes of early Pink Floyd, Tomorrow, and Procol Harum. Their music encompassed British folk, Indian ragas, Dylan, blues, country, hoedowns, etc. - an eclectic stew indeed. Sometimes ISB can come off as a little *too* varied: you might be digging some Eastern drone track and find an abrupt switch to, say, music-hall country a bit jarrring. But that just means there's plenty of different things on these discs to like.
Their 1968 follow-up to The 5,000 Spirits, The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter is one of the ISB's best-regarded efforts, taking the sound of their previous effort to more free-form extremes. Dolly Collins (sister of Shirley) helps out on this one. One of the pinnacle acid-folk records to inspire the likes of many modern bands from Current 93 to Devendra Banhart.
We're always mentioning ISB in reviews of other folk-psych albums past and present, from Forest and Trees to P.G. Six and Tower Recordings, so it's nice to finally get these listed in our catalog once again...definitely if you're into that British folk-psych vibe you need to investigate this band if you haven't already!
MPEG Stream: "Waltz of The New Moon"
MPEG Stream: "Three Is A Green Crown"

INCREDIBLE STRING BAND, THE Wee Tam & The Big Huge (Fledg'ling / Carthage) 2cd 16.98
Back in print!
Remastered with new liner notes, in a swank digipak with all the elements of the original packaging, these look heaps better than the Collector's Choice twofers that were the last reissued incarnation of these classic albums. The 5,000 Spirits and The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter have been released separately this time around, while Wee Tam and The Big Huge are still bundled together as a 2cd set.
Here's what we said about them previously:
England's Incredible String Band were a late sixties/early seventies outfit who blended folk rock, psychedelia, and Eastern ethnic musics. Very sixties, very hippy - they played at Woodstock, in fact. With their folky male and female vocals and expertise with a plethora of exotic stringed instruments, a shorthand description might be that ISB was kinda like Fairport Convention with sitars, and crazy costumes. Perhaps less truly traditional than Fairport, they made a bigger splash with the LSD crowd of The UFO Club where they played often with the likes of early Pink Floyd, Tomorrow, and Procol Harum. Their music encompassed British folk, Indian ragas, Dylan, blues, country, hoedowns, etc. - an eclectic stew indeed. Sometimes ISB can come off as a little *too* varied: you might be digging some Eastern drone track and find an abrupt switch to, say, music-hall country a bit jarrring. But that just means there's plenty of different things on these discs to like.
This two-fer 2cd is consistent with these albums' original UK release in 1968, as both Wee Tam and The Big Huge were issued together as a 2lp set. Again the ISB mix their Celtic and Appalachian folkie roots with "world" influences, and although this is quite mellow and gentle, they also brought in some electric amplification at this point. With female vocals n' whistles n' fiddles n' sitar etc. this is quite pretty stuff, great summer morning sitting in a sunny meadow music. Both records are ISB fan favorites, with gorgeous four-part vocal harmonies, whimsical but sometimes dark moods, and of course lots of Incredible String-ed instrument playing.
We're always mentioning ISB in reviews of other folk-psych albums past and present, from Forest and Trees to P.G. Six and Tower Recordings, so it's nice to finally get these listed in our catalog once again...definitely if you're into that British folk-psych vibe you need to investigate this band if you haven't already!
MPEG Stream: "The Yellow Snake (from Wee Tam)"
MPEG Stream: "Air (from Wee Tam)"
MPEG Stream: "Maya (From The Big Huge)"
MPEG Stream: "The Iron Stone (From The Big Huge)"

INDEX Black Album / Red Album / Yesterday & Today (Lion Productions) 2cd 25.00
Index was a band like thousands throughout the '60s, encouraged by the birth of rock 'n' roll a decade earlier and fueled by the waves of British bands that would hit the American shores. This quartet was born in the Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe in 1967, at a time when the country was beginning to experience the pangs of turmoil and Detroit itself could be seen almost as a microcosm of the social unrest that was beginning to unfold. The heritage of Index is certainly notable, as the lead guitarist of the band was one John Ford. While the liner notes penned by drummer Jim Valice never overtly state that John's family was THE Ford family which spawned the automotive empire; the implication is quite clear that it is. While the affluence of John and fellow guitarist Gary Francis certainly helped in getting some great gear and recording equipment, the sound of Index is one of adolescence entering adulthood with an awakening disbelief that so much could be wrong in the world. At least on their first album, Index played with an urgency that sounded like the end of the world was near, as an underlying horror of bleakness lies beneath Index's punchy garage-pop beats and spring-reverb overloaded distortion. Their amateurish production that stumbled upon a cavernous sound certainly helps with this assessment. Think Jandek trying to mimic the sound of Martin Hannett's classic production sound for Joy Division.
The band drew from the '60s songbook, covering the Byrds' "Eight Miles High", The Supremes' hit single "You Keep Me Hanging On", and The Bee Gees "I Can't See Nobody", and the band claims Hendrix as a huge influence on their sound, with an incendiary feedback encroaching into their beat pop tunes, at times coming across like Davie Allan and at others looking forward to Ron Asheton's work on The Stooges' first album. All of this came to fruition on what would become known as The Black Album, which was recorded with a single microphone in a large empty ballroom, whose acoustics gave the album its unusual sound. The spring reverb drips upon the overdriven guitar leads and forceful rhythmic guitar jangle, which for 1967 would have been pretty damn heavy. The vocal duties of Index rotated from song to song, occasionally finding all of the members singing these emphatic, if monochordal harmonies that oozed with bittersweet energy and late-teen angst. This is typified on one of Index's best songs "Fire Eyes" and furthered along through their cover of "Eight Miles High". Another great highlight of note is the proto MC5 oil'n'motorcycle grind found on the instrumental track "Feedback".
When Index recorded their second album in 1968 later pegged as The Red Album, they had picked up a sound-on-sound cassette recorder, which seemed to be something of precursor to a 4-track. Unfortunately, in this technological jump, Index lost the cavernous murk of that single microphone recording in that ballroom, but they still managed some great songs dominated by Ford's spring-reverb soaked guitars, including a reprise of "Eight Miles High". "Paradise Beach" is a wonderfully downer, '60s pop number, and "Break Out" is a spry instrumental with a fine backbeat lifted from Booker T & The MGs. The band stumbles with the one boogie-rock blues number, but otherwise, The Red Album makes for a great listen.
The second disc of this set is a collection of tracks from an unreleased third album in 1970, recorded mostly by Ford and Vallice. A paisley-pop jangle settles into the mix with less of the expressive feedback that drove so much of The Black Album, and the songs show a maturation in the vocal harmonies as well. But the band broke up with the various members torn by their commitments with college, girls, and work. So the world turns.
A highly recommended find!
MPEG Stream: "Eight Miles High"
MPEG Stream: "Fire Eyes"
MPEG Stream: "Feedback"
MPEG Stream: "Paradise Beach"
MPEG Stream: "It's All In Your Mind"

INDIAN JEWELRY Fake and Cheap (dLTD) lp 17.98

INDIAN JEWELRY Free Gold (We Are Free) cd 13.98
While we missed their recent show here in San Francisco we kept hearing rave reviews and many of our most trusted customers felt similarly, so much so that we knew we had to hear the new record. We're very happy we listened because Free Gold grabbed a hold of us on the very first listen and we've been hooked hard ever since.
Falling somewhere between Spacemen 3 and Jesus & Mary Chain, Indian Jewelry totally hit the spot in creating sounds that are both shoegazy and dangerous sounding at the same time. If we do get to see them live in support of this record we would want it to be in a really sparse room with nothing but a shitty PA and a really intense strobe light. Free Gold is one of those records that no matter what your history with the band is, you can tell that this is a record that finds the band really hitting their stride. They tap into so many things we love but with their own slight tweak on things that makes it totally their own. Like Loop or Wooden Shjips with a dash of mascara or a more fucked up and DIY version of the latest Raveonettes record that we've been so into. And much like the two Psychic Ills records we love so much, this hits the spot big time, especially when you are looking for that up to no good, slightly drugged out and sexy late night soundtrack.
MPEG Stream: "Temporary Famine Ship"
MPEG Stream: "Overdrive"
MPEG Stream: "Everyday"

INDIAN JEWELRY Totaled (We Are Free) cd 15.98
Indian Jewelry's Free Gold emerged as a minor masterpiece of off-kilter neo-psychedelia back in 2008. Synths, drum machines, a sparse use of guitars, and way tripped-out effects spiralled throughout, but it was the vocal melodies - all ghostly, sexy, slightly confused, and daydreaming - that turned the record from becoming just another interesting diversion. For the 2010 album Totaled, the Houston duo turn inward for a more sinister take on their woozy, dreamtime psychedelia, that comes across almost like a ghetto-tech reanimation of the Flaming Lips' Embryonic. Indian Jewelry's fried electronics transmit throbbing, dirge-like sequences and skeletal rhythms, augmenting the fried neurons of zombified vocals, alternately delivered by Tex Kerschen and Erika Thrasher. The vocals are less of a focus here, positioned as an undercurrent of narcoleptic bad-vibes sort of like the sounds of a transistor radio murmuring in the apartment next door. The atmospheres throughout have the feeling of getting dosed /stoned on (insert drug of choice) and then wandering around an industrial wasteland at twilight. The colors beautifully serve to highlight the more rundown parts of urban living.
MPEG Stream: "Lapis Lazuli"
MPEG Stream: "Excessive Moonlight"
MPEG Stream: "Touching The Roof Of The Sun"

INDIAN JEWELRY Totaled (We Are Free) lp 16.98
Now available on vinyl...
Indian Jewelry's Free Gold emerged as a minor masterpiece of off-kilter neo-psychedelia back in 2008. Synths, drum machines, a sparse use of guitars, and way tripped-out effects spiralled throughout, but it was the vocal melodies - all ghostly, sexy, slightly confused, and daydreaming - that turned the record from becoming just another interesting diversion. For the 2010 album Totaled, the Houston duo turn inward for a more sinister take on their woozy, dreamtime psychedelia, that comes across almost like a ghetto-tech reanimation of the Flaming Lips' Embryonic. Indian Jewelry's fried electronics transmit throbbing, dirge-like sequences and skeletal rhythms, augmenting the fried neurons of zombified vocals, alternately delivered by Tex Kerschen and Erika Thrasher. The vocals are less of a focus here, positioned as an undercurrent of narcoleptic bad-vibes sort of like the sounds of a transistor radio murmuring in the apartment next door. The atmospheres throughout have the feeling of getting dosed /stoned on (insert drug of choice) and then wandering around an industrial wasteland at twilight. The colors beautifully serve to highlight the more rundown parts of urban living.
The lp comes with a free digital download of the record.
MPEG Stream: "Lapis Lazuli"
MPEG Stream: "Excessive Moonlight"
MPEG Stream: "Touching The Roof Of The Sun"

INDIAN JEWELRY We Are The Wild Beast (Tigerbeat 6) cd 13.98
While we have yet to review any Indian Jewelry records on the aQ list, most of us here are pretty big fans. Their Invasive Exotics record was an awesome chunk of tripped out droniness, that probably would have been a really good fit on the aQ list. We'll have to remedy that soon. But before they were Indian Jewelry, they were called NTX + Electric, and had a pretty dramatically different sound.
On We Are The Wild Beast, the soon to be Indian Jewelry sounded less like some wacked Texas free psych dronewave outfit, and more like some NYC no-wave skronk combo, complete with squawking saxophones, thick gristly synth, haunting new wave grooves, lots of electronic bleepery, but also some more modern sounds, some of the melodies sound like they could have been plucked from Interpol songs, there's definitely some garage-y stomp, some shoegazey droneouts, the core sound though is the simple clattery percussion, the huge thick slabs of buzzing synth, and the saxophone, which spends much of its time in the background, unfurling hypnotic snakecharmer grooves.
Buried amidst all this skronk and skree and buzz re some fantastic pop songs, and some killer hooks, but they're usually obscured by clouds of FX, or wrapped around spiky angular riffing. The opener is a killer, a modern sounding dancefloor killer, with it's sax refrain and the blown out synth buzz, a total new wave groove that would have the girljean set frugging madly. But then there's songs like "Looking At You", a dreamy krautpop jam, with that same sax refrain from the first song resurfacing, all under thick sheets of crumbling psych guitar. The nearly 14 minute "S-O-S-O-S" begins like some sort of Spacemen 3 bliss out, but soon transforms into some off kilter Unrest style jam, insistent guitar jangle, Beatles-y croon, and simple lo-fi pop hooks, all wrapped up in loads of distortion, and more amp frying FX.
It's really not that hard to hear a lot of later Indian Jewelry in the sound of NTX+Electric, but they have more of an old school electro / no-wave thing going on, which means fans of folks like Glass Candy and the like might also dig. Cool, weird, awesome stuff.
MPEG Stream: "Walk Through Fire"
MPEG Stream: "Empty Handed"
MPEG Stream: "Poison The Choir"

INDIAN JEWELRY / FUTURE BLONDES split (Dull Knife) lp 14.98

INDIGNANT SENILITY Consecration Of The Whipstain (Type) 2lp 26.00
We first heard Pat Maher's Indignant Senility project via last year's Plays Wagner, where he created haunting and murky atmospheric compositions sourced from a thrift store copy of a Wagner opera, which we loved. Maher, who also creates music under the guises of DJ Yo-Yo Dieting and Diamond Catalog, returns with his second Indignant Senility release and his source material is wider, but even more mysterious. Industrial ambiance is still the primary mode of his music making, but the sounds take on a more tweaked concrete mode of vintage avant garde composition, sometimes invoking the metallic shard like sounds of Iannis Xenakis or Harry Bertoia. Towards the end of the third track, "No One", the listener can make out the far off plaintive strands of a string quartet seeping through the foggy murk, adding a funeral tension and gloom to the proceedings. Beautifully bleak!

INFIDEL? / CASTRO! Bioentropic Damage Fractal (Crucial Blast) 2cd 15.98
A few years back we were intrigued and amazed by a disc entitled Case Studies In Bioentropy, the debut from this very strange band. Experimental drone prog noise textural rock weirdness. We went on and on about how "strange" it was. Now Infidel?/Castro! are back, on the Crucial Blast label, with what might be an even stranger album. Maybe twice as strange in fact 'cause it's two discs instead of one! An overwhelming sprawl of chaotic geek-tech glitch abstraction, lovely melodic improvisations, and conceptual nerdy noisenik metal-riffed surreal insanity... is it serious? Is it science? Can't tell. The music is accompanied by equally hard-to-grok computer art and text. Song titles include "Temporarily Desolving Into Plasma During A Moment To One's Self" and "Bedsores (for G.W.B.)". Hmm. At least we know who G.W.B. is.
These two discs are certainly interesting, sometimes beautiful, and yes most definitely strange. Recommended to anyone who doesn't mind spinning from ambient drone to fractured prog to electronic mayhem -- like a collison of Fantomas and irr. app. (ext.), maybe. Or Isis, Merzbow, MBV, and Behold The Arctopus, perhaps. The latter of which features Colin Marston, also a member of Infidel?/Castro! by the way. So that might give you an idea...just an idea... of what this is all about. The real answer, we're still looking for. But in the meantime, we're enjoying this album!
MPEG Stream: "Damage Fractal Series 1: Dismantle"
MPEG Stream: "(in)voluntary emotional response"

INFINITE BODY CMBCMEINAPTD (Teardrops) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Just a few copies are available of this vinyl only release from Kyle Parker's Infinite Body project, from which we got a nice introduction into his soft-noise / heavy-ambient sounds on the split LP with Emaciator. He picks up where he left off there with a blissed-out distortion billowing out of a glistening cyclical drone from what sounds like a overdriven pump organ. The heavy waves of distortion gradually fade away, and a pastoral, Cluster like melody is left behind to effortlessly glide through a warm set of ambient melodies. This gives way to a crunchier version of what Oneohtrix Point Never has been offering through luminous arpeggiations that trick themselves out of anything remotely new age sounding; and here, it's the heavy patina of distortion which saves Infinite Body's mantra. Parker furthers the shimmer with some floating-in-outer-space driftscaping bristling with bleary noises just beneath the surface, only to find these collapsing into a throbbing drone that reconstitutes itself through a kaleidoscope of that same pump organ sound. At first this emerges as a eerie fog horn only to overtake the sound field in a growing mass of crunched noise. Limited to 300 copies and pressed on clear vinyl.

INFINITE BODY / NO AGE Bored Fortress Club (Not Not Fun) 7" 6.98
Over the last few weeks, we've reviewed a bunch of 7"s, previously only available to subscribers to Not Not Fun's long running Bored Fortress Club 7" Subscription series. For whatever reason, the singles have finally been made available to non-subscribers, and feature a pretty killer line up of bands: Wet Hair, Peaking Lights, High Wolf, Gnod, Robedoor, Ducktails, Rangers, Sex Worker, Psychic Reality, and The Savage Young Taterbug. The only one we weren't able to list, UNTIL NOW, is this one, a split between two longtime aQ faves, noise poppers No Age, and psychedelic post noise dronescapers Infinite Body.
No Age unleash a squall of gnarled distorto guitar, muted drums, and buried vox, a swirling cloud of sound that finds the various elements blurred into a single heaving washed out noisepop mass, here and there shimmering guitars ring out through the murk, while near the track's end, the rhythmic pulse transforms into a metallic industrial pound, and the guitars grow hazier and more ghostlike, until the song blinks out with a short blast of grinding crunch.
Infinite Body counter with a woozy loopscape, all burnt guitar thrum, and circusy melody, a pulsing hypnotic landscape of gristly distorted smears, reminding us of Tim Hecker or Philip Jeck, a gloriously lysergic, gently blown out bit of dronefuzz ambient dreaminess.
As with the other installments in the series, killer eye popping packaging, and of course VERY LIMITED!!
MPEG Stream: INFINITE BODY "Between You Can Crawl Like This Is The End"
MPEG Stream: NO AGE "Wintry KK"

INFINITE X'S, THE s/t (Chainsaw) cd 13.98
It should be noted that this group is entirely comprised of experienced and popular pop punk musicians like Jody Bleyle (Team Dresch, Hazel), Tamala Poljak (Longstocking, Automaticans), Whitney Skillkorn (Little Deaths, Fighter D) and Scotty Walsh (Automaticans). Their self-titled full length debut contains all the earmarks of a Jody Bleyle project: multi-part vocals including the uptempo, emotive lead vocal/slower pretty counter-melody, and ascending three-chord jangling guitar progressions. She's clearly the dominant force in the band, and as a result you can't help but hold The Infinite X's up to the high standards set by her kick-ass past endeavours, and realize it ultimately falls short. The three vocalists harmonize and back each other up with loud screaming which adds more of an edge to each song. I think Chainsaw is such a great label and I'm really supportive of what they do and what they believe in. Alas, this release struck me as totally 'been done', but if you're sick of your women-driven, political, sassy pop punk from the Northwest, here's something new-ish.
RealAudio clip: "Joanna"
RealAudio clip: "What I Believe In"

INHALT Vehicle (Dark Entries) lp 11.98