OTHER MEN Wake Up Swimming (Robcore Records) cd 14.98
Long before Rob Crow became an indie rock household name via the dreamy song of Pinback, he had already long been an AQ favorite dating back to one of his first bands Heavy Vegetable. With quirky melodies, short songs, super complex arrangements, incredible vocal harmonies and eccentric spirit, Heavy Vegetable were one of the most interesting and endearing bands to come out of the nineties San Diego scene. Of course Crow has continued to write great songs after he pulled the plug on Heavy Vegetable with Thingy, Optiganally Yours, Pinback, his solo outings and the multitude of side-projects he's been cranking out recently (The Ladies, Goblin Cock). But we've always had such a deep infinity for Heavy Vegetable so we were super duper excited when we found out that Rob had reunited almost the whole original Heavy Vegetable lineup for this new project called Other Men. While not as quirky or idiosyncratic as Heavy Vegetable, this is still prime-era old school HV Rob Crow song writing. Impassioned and moody, dense and tangled, swinging wildly from part to part and cycling through a handful of convoluted tempos, usually in the same song. Weird and wonderful and pretty damn catchy to boot!
The first release on Rob's own label, simply called Robcore, and another fine addition to the always expanding catalog of the hardest working man in indie rock.
MPEG Stream: "Total Nutcase"
MPEG Stream: "Other People"

OUBA Freak Out Total (Gear Fab) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Ouba were a French-Canadian psychedelic rock band, who released the half-hour of music found here (just two tracks, one side each of the original LP, of course) back in 1968. This disc is definitely accurately titled -- it's a freak out session for sure. Totally. Lots of drug-blasted chant and other vocal babble, funky organ jamming, fuzz guitar soloing, pounding percussion frenzies... freeform hippy energy music! But groovy, man, groovy. As the intensity of the jamming builds up, vocalist Tony Roman's soul singing experience weirdly comes to the fore, very strange indeed! Along with the Bokaj Retsiem cd and Perry Leopold's "Experiment in Metaphysics" and AQ-fave The Dreamies and a few others, this is really one of the cooler reissues yet produced by the prolific Gear Fab label. While not as brilliant and essential as their Dreamies reissue, it's lots more interesting than the majority of the nondescript '60s garage/boogie rock Gear Fab usually dig up. Ouba has been compared by others to early Can, and we can actually see why! Far out. By the way, we're told that these guys had something to do with Les Maledictus Sound, another freaky Montreal psych artifact reviewed here a few lists ago...
RealAudio clip: "Deuxieme Partie"

OUGENWEIDE Ohrenschmaus / Eulenspiegel (Bear Family) cd 22.00
More medieval minstrelry!! Last list we reviewed the cd reissue of the first two albums by Germany's Ougenweide, early '70s German krautfolksters produced by Achim Reichel. Here's the another disc of their mainly acoustic "Mittelalter-Rock", featuring their third and fourth albums Ohrenschmaus and Eulenspiegel, both from 1976. Again this cd is a delight for anyone who can dig a Teutonic twist on ye olde folk, with dash of hippie psych/prog, played by people who wouldn't look out of place in a Joanna Newsom video.
Singing in Old German -- sometimes in Latin -- Ougenweide took their obsession with the Middle Ages quite seriously indeed. They set old poetry to music, putting 'em in the same realm as that wonderful Kay Hoffman album Floret Silva from circa '77 we reviewed last year, and also reminding us a bit of the approach taken by a more recent (and more metallic!) German band, In Extremo -- remember them?
The vocals are lovely, the various stringed things in the band get an, um, incredible workout, alongside hornpipes and jangling percussion... the mood ranges from melancholic atmosphere to pure reeling energy, and if you let yourself get into it, let your mind dance about in Ougenweide's ancient forest glade, you'll find that their melodies and rhythms are utterly infectious.
Germany's Bear Family label, best known for their elaborate (and expensive) box sets, of course do a nice job with the packaging here, the thick cd booklet full of liner notes (in English and German), lyrics (not in English), and photos. Just turn to page 33 in the booklet for a gander at the appalling original album cover of Eulenspiegel -- the band playing tug-o-war in full RenFaire get-up, with a jester-garbed child dancing on the rope! This is a LOT cooler, and generally less silly, than that picture would suggest!
MPEG Stream: "Kommt, ihr Jungfern, helft mir klagen"
MPEG Stream: "Wol mich der stunde"

OUGENWEIDE Ougenweide / All Die Weil Ich Mag (Bear Family) cd 22.00
Medieval minstrelry!! Andee has been making fun of Allan for liking this so much, so if you want to get into the middle of that argument, give this a listen. This cd reissues the first two albums by Germany's Ougenweide, an early '70s folk-rock act who were sort of a Germanic version of contemporaneous UK folk-rockers Fairport Convention or Pentangle, perhaps. Gryphon, definitely. Or maybe you remember the Norwegian band Kong Lavring, reviewed here some time ago? Ougenweide are sorta like that, but German. (Another parallel would be France's Malicorne.)
Sweet female vocals, bombastic male ones, flutes n' lutes, lots of ye olde melodiousness and harmoniousness, alongside some fairly rippin', energetic "hoedown" parts that will kick your ass for thinking this is even a wee bit too twee, though twee it often is. Those plugged-in interludes allow us to consider this troupe a krautrock as well as a krautfolk (?) band. And speaking of krautrock, their first record was produced by none other than Achim Reichel (of A.R. & Machines fame!).
So we'll sum up Ougenwiede as dexterous and delightful music made by prancing hippies obsessed with the Middle Ages but willing to throw some fuzz bass in where it will do the most good. Pretty cool if you don't mind your acid folk to have strong RenFaire leanings! (It helps that it's all in German, we think.)
The 22 tracks here come from their self-titled debut from 1973 and its 1974 follow-up All Die Weil Ich Mag, and it's the first time on cd for both of 'em. And since this is a Bear Family reissue, it's about as nicely done as a reissue can be, packaged with a 38 page booklet stuffed with liner notes (in English and German), lyrics, and vintage photos. Appropriately, the booklet is styled after an illuminated manuscript and decorated with medieval woodcuts.
MPEG Stream: "Der Fuchs"
MPEG Stream: "Nieman Kan Mit Gerten"
MPEG Stream: "Es Fur Ein Pawr Gen Holcz"

OUGENWEIDE Ungezwungen (Bear Family) cd 22.00

OUR GLASSIE AZOTH Euterpe Sequence (Camera Obscura) cd 15.98
Beautiful, dark drones from Wales. Intense.

OUR LADY OF THE HIGHWAY About Leaving (Fogsnob) cd 9.98
The meeting point between country rock/Americana and emo is this San Francisco 'Highway! Although they formed back in '96, and have garnered a loyal local following as a live band, this is their first full length. Our Lady Of The Highway quite often bears a striking resemblance both in voice and word to Mountain Goats' John Darnielle and the Weakerthans' John Samson (and come to think of it, the title's pretty similar to the latter's Left And Leaving album too, isn't it?). This is by no means a bad thing - that's some quality company to be in, two AQ faves who pour their heart and soul into every note! - but it truly is uncanny at times. Key ingredients are Dominic East's heartfelt songwriting and unrestrained, empassioned vocals, Andrew Gerhan's sunset-perfect acoustic guitar strummin', Joshua Housh's mournful languid bass fiddle, and the subtly dynamic drumming of David Clifford (a side note: he is neither the David Clifford who drums for Pleasure Forever nor the man of the same name who drums for Fish of Marillion!). An aching sense of loss and loneliness permeates each of the eleven songs, and it weighs heavier and heavier as the album progresses (even when they kick up the tempo a bit), perhaps peaking at the tenth called "Come Clean". It's such barebones melancholic loveliness laden with generous reverb, it sounds as if it were recorded in a cavernous vacant church or in a big ol' pub long after last call. Offering some glistening solace like the warming amber glow of a freshly poured pint. A fine debut!
MPEG Stream: "Beautiful"
MPEG Stream: "Come Clean"

OUR LADY OF THE HIGHWAY Beauty Won't Save Us This Year (self-released) cd-r 5.98
We've got two fine releases from Our Lady Of The Highway -- this self-released cdr of their 2006 album Beauty Won't Save Us This Year and the new Fogsnob Records released full length Kill You With Numbers! Both were previously available directly from the band via a special subscription deal, but we've got a handful here for you in case you missed out.
For those of you unfamiliar with this SF band's sound... it's very reminiscent of nineties college rock of the country tinged variety. Y'know, early Built To Spill, Uncle Tupelo, The Weakerthans -- a sound for which we definitely have a soft spot! So much so, that when it's playing in the store staffers and customers alike all ask "Oooh, what's this? What's this?" OLOTH strike a balance of solid heft, sensitive guy emotiveness, yearningly heartfelt lyrics, and spacey guitar dissonance with some tasty nuanced drumming to boot. Always a good listen.
MPEG Stream: "Out In The Street"
MPEG Stream: "Fine Dancer"

OUR LADY OF THE HIGHWAY Kill You With Numbers (Fogsnob) cd 9.98
We've got two fine releases from Our Lady Of The Highway -- this new Fogsnob Records released full length and their self-released cdr of their 2006 album Beauty Won't Save Us This Year! Both were previously available directly from the band via a special subscription deal, but we've got a handful here for you in case you missed out.
For those of you unfamiliar with this SF band's sound... it's very reminiscent of nineties college rock of the country tinged variety. Y'know, early Built To Spill, Uncle Tupelo, The Weakerthans -- a sound for which we definitely have a soft spot! So much so, that when it's playing in the store staffers and customers alike all ask "Oooh, what's this? What's this?" OLOTH strike a balance of solid heft, sensitive guy emotiveness, yearningly heartfelt lyrics, and spacey guitar dissonance with some tasty nuanced drumming to boot. Always a good listen.
MPEG Stream: "Go Home"
MPEG Stream: "She Sees Through Me"

OUR LOVE WILL DESTROY THE WORLD Polished Glass Autobahn / Galactic Masada (Dirty Knobby) 7" 4.50
For those of you who haven't heard, Birchville Cat Motel is no more. Similarly, BCM mainman Campbell Kneale has also decided to close up shop on his long running Celebrate Psi Phenomenon label. But fear not, 'tis not the end, merely a new beginning.
Taking on the name of a recent Birchville record, Kneale will be henceforth known as Our Love Will Destroy The World. Quite emo actually, but then BCM was always pretty emo stuff, especially in the drone / dirge / noise field. And if you throw on the B side of this the debut offering from the newly christened OLWDTW, it may seem to you like has changed. Another glorious BCM style sprawl of looped guitars and processed melodies, layered textures, swooping backwards pulsations, tangled bits of guitar and fragmented chunks of soft noise all blurred and smeared into a gorgeous woozy dreamy expanse of soft focus free noise bliss, would have fit just fine on any of the recent BCM records, if anything, it's slightly more pretty.
But flip the record over, and you'll see that maybe everything has changed after all. A weird nineties style Warp Records groove, all skittery robotic funk, with warped gurgly basslines, but also some weirdly out of place strummed acoustic guitars, all buried beneath constantly shifting layers of looped and processed sounds. A bizarre mashup of blissy free folk and alien dancefloor groove that sort of works. Will definitely hit the spot for folks who have been digging the dancier sounds coming out of the Astral Social Club camp. Curious to hear where Kneale takes his Love next.
And as is the case with many a 7" single, no indication as to whether it's meant to be played on 33 rpm or 45, we're going with 33, sound a bit more 'right' that way, but you never know, at 45, one side gets all high end and Sunroof!-y, while the other gets manic and spastic and almost skweee-like. Pick your poison.

OUT HUD Let Us Never Speak Of It Again (Kranky) cd 14.98
Admittedly there are some folks around these parts whose response to the title would simply be an emphatic "Um, ok!", while there have also been others who've totally championed the band. So, which camp do you side with? Do you hear this as vacuous, lackluster and unoriginal? Or do you hear it as creative, funky, booty-shakin' fun? Anyone seeking brain stimuli and musical innovation will prolly wanna sidestep this, but they're probably not the ones making a beeline for the dancefloor, are they? For those who're just looking for a non-mind-taxing album that's sure to trigger the boogie woogie fever reflex, Out Hud have provided your escape mobile! That said, they've prettied up the place a bit since we last visited with the addition of soft breathy female vocals (last time it was a considerably more guy-ish affair). File right next to your LCD Soundsystem for sure.
MPEG Stream: "Old Nude"
MPEG Stream: "2005 A Face Odyssey"

OUT HUD One Life To Leave (Kranky) 12" 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Alright! A new cd single by Out Hud. This features "OLTL: A Requiem", "OLTL: A Requiem For A Requiem" and "Put It Away, Put It Away, Put It Away, Dad". All three are way more house-dancey than previous releases, way less all out disco-dub. These songs bring the New York style party zone big time. Cool dubbed-out-n-delayed beats. Delicate layers of filtered computer noise over some rockin guitar melodies. WARNING: this cd single will make you wanna stay in the "zone" with Out Hud for a long while... Good thing they have a full length comin' out soon!
MPEG Stream: "Put It Away, Put It Away, Put It Away, Dad"

OUT HUD One Life To Leave (Kranky) cd single 5.98
Alright! A new cd single by Out Hud. This features "OLTL: A Requiem", "OLTL: A Requiem For A Requiem" and "Put It Away, Put It Away, Put It Away, Dad". All three are way more house-dancey than previous releases, way less all out disco-dub. These songs bring the New York style party zone big time. Cool dubbed-out-n-delayed beats. Delicate layers of filtered computer noise over some rockin guitar melodies. WARNING: this cd single will make you wanna stay in the "zone" with Out Hud for a long while... Good thing they have a full length comin' out soon!
MPEG Stream: "Put It Away, Put It Away, Put It Away, Dad"

OUT HUD Street Dad (kranky) cd 14.98
Impressive full length debut from ex-Californian, now Brooklynite band Out Hud. This group plays the instrumental, angular dance music that the indie rockers currently adore. You know the type -- think ESG, Liquid Liquid, Cabaret Voltaire, the Disco Not Disco comps, etc. And of the many bands that now sport this sound, I think Out Hud do it best. Icily precise guitar gets the echo dub treatment and is used sparingly. Metronomic drumming. Spacy stereo separation tricks. Warm, not melodramatic, cello. Strange metallic crashes. Doesn't annoy or call too much attention to itself, and pleasantly low key and slow to mid tempo. Really restrained in a good way. All of that, plus actual melodies that show off the group's rock roots. Highly recommended!
RealAudio clip: "Dad There's a Little Phrase Called Too Much Information (excerpt 1)"
RealAudio clip: "Dad There's a Little Phrase Called Too Much Information (excerpt 2)"

OUT HUD Street Dad (kranky) lp 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Impressive full length debut from ex-Californian, now Brooklynite band Out Hud. This group plays the instrumental, angular dance music that the indie rockers currently adore. You know the type -- think ESG, Liquid Liquid, Cabaret Voltaire, the Disco Not Disco comps, etc. And of the many bands that now sport this sound, I think Out Hud do it best. Icily precise guitar gets the echo dub treatment and is used sparingly. Metronomic drumming. Spacy stereo separation tricks. Warm, not melodramatic, cello. Strange metallic crashes. Doesn't annoy or call too much attention to itself, and pleasantly low key and slow to mid tempo. Really restrained in a good way. All of that, plus actual melodies that show off the group's rock roots. Highly recommended!

OUT HUD The First Single of the New Millenium (5RC) 7" 3.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Two tracks from the instrumental angular dance/punk/funk outfit known as Outhud. Like their split 12" with !!!, this is very smart, low-key stuff for fans of 99 Records (Liquid Liquid, ESG). Recommended.

OUT HUD / !!! (CHIK CHIK CHIK) Split Remixes ep (Gold Standard Laboratories/Zum) 12" 7.98
Very, very good instrumental 12" from two Sacramento bands (the latter is pronounced 'chikchikchik'), both of whom draw heavily from the chugga chugga guitars of Wire and the art/punk/funk of Liquid Liquid. Highly recommended! Windy cannot stop playing this in the store.

OUT OF FOCUS Four Letter Monday Afternoon (Kuckuck) 2cd 28.00
Not to be confused with Focus, of "Hocus Pocus" fame! This sprawling krautrock classic was actually reissued on cd some time ago, but we only have been able to get 'em in stock recently, and thought we should list it since it's so darn good. Out Of Focus were a German rock/psych/jazz/fusion outfit that made three albums (four counting a posthumous release) back in the early '70s. A band with radical political issues and avantgarde tendencies, their style was at times heavy, with full-on organ/guitar jams, at times mellow and folky...and always with lots of flute! (You've gotta love flutes, though, to get into this.) Krautrock fans who like Gila, My Solid Ground, Agitation Free, Nosferatu, McChurch Soundroom, Dies Irae, and other "heavy" obscurities from the pages of Crack in the Cosmic Egg should check these guys out if you haven't already!
On this, their third album (1972), the band expanded to include a large brass section (saxes, trumpet). Appropriately, disc one starts off dramatically with a massive, bombastic horn-riff onslaught that stretches into a hypnotic seventeen minute jam (titled "L.S.B.") that sounds something like an imaginary Terry Riley take on the music from Hawaii 5-0. Indeed, much of this album has a "late-night TV band on drugs playing repetitive minimalism" vibe, if you can imagine that. There's definitely a nod to prime Soft Machine in Out of Focus' rock/jazz fusion as well. But, there's more: calmer, creepier ballads, searing psychedelic guitar attacks, baroque flute noodling... only in the '70s I guess!
The vocals, when present, range from eastern-influenced meditative chants to wild nonsensical scatting to (when there's actual words) crazy drug-damaged lyrics like "...sometimes when you're playing flute/and the tones are surrounding you/and the pale face underneath your boots/is tumbling through your rooms" (I *think* that's what he's singing) delivered in a melancholy croon, or (later in the same song) the menacing refrain of "...three years of your life, or seven fingers". It's almost as weird as fellow krautrockers Paternoster (look for that recent review from list #111 elsewhere on our website).
Disc two indulges even further in psychedelic jazz jam excess, being a spacy 48-minute, three-part composition/improvisation called "Huchen 55" that originally spanned two whole album sides. Again, flutes to the fore! We've been fans of Out of Focus' other two albums ("s/t" and "Wake Up", also usually in stock, $16.98 each) for a while, but were especially stoked to finally acquire this set -- it lived up to all our hopes for it and then some.
RealAudio clip: "L.S.B."
RealAudio clip: "Where Have You Been"

OUT OF FOCUS Palermo 1972 (Garden Of Delights) cd 21.00
Awesome live album from this krautrock band that should be much, much better known.

OUT OF FOCUS s/t (Kuckuck) cd 21.00
Heavy progressive krautrock from the very early seventies, lots of organ/guitar/flute riffing on these. Good stuff. This is their jazzier second album, from 1971, and our favorite song title on here belongs to the seventeen-minute long "Fly Bird Fly Television Program".

OUT OF FOCUS Wake Up (Kuckuck) cd 17.98
Heavy progressive krautrock from the very early seventies, lots of organ/guitar/flute riffing on these. Good stuff. This is their first, from 1970, and features "See How A White Negro Flies" among other titles.

OUTER LIMITS RECORDING I Need My T.V. (Olde English Spelling Bee) 7" 8.98
We had never heard of Outer Limits Recordings until we reviewed that LA Vampires record, which featured someone called Matrix Metal, apparently a member of OLR, or maybe he IS Outer Limits Recordings, but we liked that collaboration enough to be curious so we were psyched to check out these two new singles, which actually ended up sounding a lot different than we expected. The sounds on that collab were all electronic and future funky and twisted lo-fi beatsmithery, so that's sort of what we were imagining, but instead, OLR traffic in low fidelity outsider psychedelic lysergic garage pop, fitting comfortably alongside Ariel Pink, Gary War, Blank Dogs and the like.
I Need My TV features two tracks that sound like they could have come straight from the eighties, the first, the title track, is all electronic drums, super processed electric guitars, crooning multitracked vocals, super sugary power pop hooks, all wrapped into a song that either sounds genuinely vintage, or like some Ween style perfect pastiche, a little bit cheesy, but super super catchy. The flipside features a cover of some band we've never heard of (if it's really a cover at all), and is another blast of electronic pop that sounds like it could have been plucked right off the radio circa 1983, a little soulful, a little funky, a little electro, cheesy eighties pop, that manages to be crazy catchy, and still sound like the current strain of retro lo-fi garage pop. There's even a whistling solo!
Julie offers up another couple eighties style electro pop gems, the title track, if it weren't so lo-fi, sounds like it could be M83, all after school, Breakfast Club style epic, and actually the more we listen to it, it sort of sounds like unsung UK power poppers Silver Sun, albeit slowed down and a bit warped.
The B side again revisits the same sound, bouncy new wavey pop, with jangly guitars, soaring vocals, sounding like whoever Outer Limits Recordings is or are, they must do nothing but watch old VHS tapes of eighties MTV, which they then translate into their own music, incorporating all the glitches and strange audio drop outs that come with that outdated technology. We're not complaining, AT ALL. We love this stuff, and these two singles have been on heavy rotation. Now we need to get our hands on an OLR full length...
MPEG Stream: "I Need My T.V."

OUTER LIMITS RECORDING Julie (Olde English Spelling Bee) 7" 8.98
We had never heard of Outer Limits Recordings until we reviewed that LA Vampires record, which featured someone called Matrix Metal, apparently a member of OLR, or maybe he IS Outer Limits Recordings, but we liked that collaboration enough to be curious so we were psyched to check out these two new singles, which actually ended up sounding a lot different than we expected. The sounds on that collab were all electronic and future funky and twisted lo-fi beatsmithery, so that's sort of what we were imagining, but instead, OLR traffic in low fidelity outsider psychedelic lysergic garage pop, fitting comfortably alongside Ariel Pink, Gary War, Blank Dogs and the like.
I Need My TV features two tracks that sound like they could have come straight from the eighties, the first, the title track, is all electronic drums, super processed electric guitars, crooning multitracked vocals, super sugary power pop hooks, all wrapped into a song that either sounds genuinely vintage, or like some Ween style perfect pastiche, a little bit cheesy, but super super catchy. The flipside features a cover of some band we've never heard of (if it's really a cover at all), and is another blast of electronic pop that sounds like it could have been plucked right off the radio circa 1983, a little soulful, a little funky, a little electro, cheesy eighties pop, that manages to be crazy catchy, and still sound like the current strain of retro lo-fi garage pop. There's even a whistling solo!
Julie offers up another couple eighties style electro pop gems, the title track, if it weren't so lo-fi, sounds like it could be M83, all after school, Breakfast Club style epic, and actually the more we listen to it, it sort of sounds like unsung UK power poppers Silver Sun, albeit slowed down and a bit warped.
The B side again revisits the same sound, bouncy new wavey pop, with jangly guitars, soaring vocals, sounding like whoever Outer Limits Recordings is or are, they must do nothing but watch old VHS tapes of eighties MTV, which they then translate into their own music, incorporating all the glitches and strange audio drop outs that come with that outdated technology. We're not complaining, AT ALL. We love this stuff, and these two singles have been on heavy rotation. Now we need to get our hands on an OLR full length...
MPEG Stream: "Julie"

OUTER LIMITS RECORDINGS $20 Bill (True Panther) 7" 6.98

OUTER LIMITS RECORDINGS $20 Bill (True Panther) 7" 6.98

OUTER SPACE Akashic Record (Events: 1986-1990) (Spectrum Spools) lp 22.00
The impressive Spectrum Spools imprint has been churning out a fantastic array of progressive electronics both modern and vintage, tracing a similar aesthetic thread regardless of time-period. We have John Elliott to thank for all of this expert sound selection. In years past, he might have been best known for his membership in the brilliant kosmische trio Emeralds, but that project has inexplicably been dormant since their 2010 masterpiece Does It Look Like I'm Here. For the previous 18 releases on Spectrum Spools, Elliott himself has been conspicuously absent from his own curatorial vision for the label. That is, until now. Outer Space was once a solo moniker for Elliott to work out various synthmusik permutations that might have detoured from the Emeralds general vibe. Sometimes that detour has been pretty radical (the glorping velocity of an eponymous album on Arbor), others less so (the sprawling zoner trax of Lightyear Demonstrations); and here, Elliott is proudly bellowing "EMERALDS!" in the synth arpeggiation and nebula extrapolation of Akashic Record. Elliott has also roped in a few like-minded types under the Outer Space banner, including Drew McDowell (a former satellite member of Coil!), Philip Whiteside, and Jeff Hatfield. While much of the album tends towards the kirlian glow of the Schulze / Schnitzler axis, the dark-minded chords and arpeggiations found on "October 27, 1989: Bay Village, Ohio" is much more indebted to the Carpenter / Goblin models of '80s horror soundtrack design. This date and place refers to the kidnapping and subsequent murder of a 10-year old girl in Elliott's hometown, warranting the much more bleak vibe of the Outer Space sound. The album's finale "February 8th, 1990: Ashland, Ohio" refers to the time and place that girl's body was later found. Throughout the album, Elliott and crew are in fine form, making this pretty much required listening, especially for those of you who who were smitten by that aforementioned Emeralds record Does It Look Like I'm Here.
MPEG Stream: "Ellipse"
MPEG Stream: "The Fifth Column"
MPEG Stream: "October 27th, 1989 - Bay Village, Ohio"

OUTER SPACE Demonstrations (Deception Island) 2 x cassette 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
If you didn't know already, Emeralds synth-advocate John Elliott is one hell of a busy man. Yeah, there's a ton of Emeralds cd-r's and tapes that disappear before we even know about them, and the same goes for a bunch of Elliott's side projects. Outer Space is one of those projects, which has been hailed at times as a solo venture of Elliott's, but sometimes he's wrangling fellow Cleveland jammers to zone out on the electronics with him. Needless to say, this double cassette from Deception Island is the first time we've heard the sounds of Elliott's Outer Space, but it's certainly a very different animal from his Mist project, whose eponymous LP we've managed to stock from time to time. Where the Mist recordings tend toward the airy, effervescent, brighter end of the kosmische electronic spectrum, Outer Space swings toward the darker, grey smears of industrial din through electronic means. Long filter sweeps push the spectral tones and static laced synthesis towards a leaden oblivion via a turgid application of twin Moogs (with Elliott being joined by Jeff Hatfield).
Smartly packaged in a jumbo double cassette case... but be careful with it, we have no idea where you'd be able to find another, if it were to slip out of your hand and smash upon the floor. Super limited to 200 copies, and destined to be out of print shortly after we type these words.

OUTSIDERS CQ (Pseudonym Records) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
'60s Dutch rockers The Outsiders (not the reportedly inferior American band of the same name) produced an album -- "CQ" -- that's beloved by collectors and critics, but never really got the recognition that it deserved outside of that very narrow market. Hopefully, this new CD reissue of that 1968 album will garner them a wider audience, especially in light of current interest in lost classics of the period (cf. the "Nuggets II" boxset, which does feature the Outsiders, though nothing from this album). "CQ" is kind of a concept album describing multiple perspectives of an unrequited romance, with the father of the girl disapproving of the boy in the scenario. The Outsiders show considerable favor to the plight of the jilted boy in the story, which ends with that protagonist snapping in psychotic violence. Fortunately, The Outsiders spent just as much time composing an economical psych / garage / beat-punk score as they did on the story itself; thus, each track is a solid pop entry of jangly melodies and punchy basslines, occasionally repeating leitmotifs somewhat like the Leaves / Standells version of "Hey Joe" or Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd. Certainly worth checking out.
RealAudio clip: "Misfit"
RealAudio clip: "C.Q."

OUTSIDERS, THE CQ (Jackpot ) lp 23.00
Cool, our friends at Jackpot made a good choice here to do a vinyl reissue of this 1968 gem by sixties Dutch rockers The Outsiders, an album beloved by many collectors, critics, and us...
It's kind of a concept album describing multiple perspectives of an unrequited romance, with the father of the girl disapproving of the boy in the scenario. However, The Outsiders, being boys themselves, show considerable favor to the plight of the jilted boy in the story, which ends with that protagonist snapping in psychotic violence. Fortunately, The Outsiders spent just as much time composing an economical psych / garage / beat-punk score as they did on the story itself; thus, each track is a solid pop entry of jangly melodies and punchy basslines, occasionally repeating leitmotifs somewhat like the Leaves / Standells version of "Hey Joe" or Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd. The concept album element also puts us in mind of SF Sorrow by the Pretty Things. And anyone into other Nederbeat bands like Q65 and The Motions ought to like this too. Certainly worth checking out!
Limited edition, deluxe gatefold vinyl-only reissue, with silver foil cover artwork as per the original, and liner notes from Mike Stax of Ugly Things, including a recent interview with The Outsiders' lead guitarist Ronnie Splinter.
MPEG Stream: "Misfit"
MPEG Stream: "C.Q."
MPEG Stream: "Doctor"

OVALKI Cobol (Bad Vugum) cd 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Three former members of Circle got back together to explore dark industrial grooves that clearly refer to their work with the earlier incarnation of Circle with expressive jazz flares throughout the screeching breaks and throbbing guitars.

OVALKI Entfernen Tragen (Bad Vugum) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
These ex-members of Finnish AQ-faves Circle (and one of the guys from Tiermes) present their first full-length recording on the always weird and wonderful Bad Vugum label. This is (mostly) instrumental jazzy-rock hypnosis; repetitive, groovy, sparse. For the most part, rather downtempo, but with the occasional energetic saxophone-inspired outburst. Ovalki conjure up a somewhat noirish, psychedelic mood. Allan is especially addicted to track five, the dubby eight-minute "Medicine of Young Astronauts". Definitely for fans of Circle! Potentially for fans of Tortoise, Stereolab, Ui, Aavikko, and Can...recommended!

OVENS Beau Goes To The Hospital EP (Riisk) cd ep 8.98
Found a stash of these in the classic, might be the last copies we see for a while...
We were super psyched how crazy people went for the Ovens, whose debut full length (which crammed together 44 songs and THREE actual albums onto one disc) released earlier this year on tUMULt was easily the pop record of the year, if not EVER. These guys are total geniuses, spitting out song after song, usually a minute or less, often MUCH less, each jammed with hooks and melodies and goofy lyrics and shredding leads and pounding drums that most bands would kill for. We compared them to some impossible mix of Weezer, the Beatles, the Melvins, the Fucking Champs and Guided By Voices, and while that might capture their essence, what they do is so much more than the sum of their influences.
This 10 song 15 minute ep, recorded way back in 2003 (when they were still called the Peels), is raw and rough around the edges, much punker, but is still rife with incredible songwriting, some kick ass guitar shreddery, ridiculously catchy hooks, and those same gorgeous instrumental interludes, lyrics about how the songs sound better in their heads, getting wasted, sleeping, dying, puking and all sorts of gloriously mundane stuff. They're definitely still a pop band, but back then, their punkishness really shone through, with some of the punkest jams reminding us of the Dwarves at their poppiest, balancing their more strummy Beatles-esque moments, the two sides of the band constantly battling for supremacy, neither winning, more often than not resulting in a wild ultra chaotic falling apart draw.
The band hate this record, but fuck it, there are some awesome jams here, and anyone who bought the tUMULt full length will most likely dig this one too.
We can definitely get all hyperbolic and gushing when we're super into something, nothing wrong with that, so with that disclaimer out of the way, we can once again proclaim that these guys just might be one of our favorite local bands. Here's hoping the rest of the country, the world and the universe catch on soon.
MPEG Stream: "Hypocrites"
MPEG Stream: "Puke In The Sink"
MPEG Stream: "Mooch"
MPEG Stream: "Peels Get Wasted In Bruno"

OVENS s/t (tUMULt) cd 11.98
Where to even start? Within seconds of first hearing these guys, they pretty much became our favorite local band, fuck it, favorite band period (sez Andee). Shredding hook jammed pop blasts, most less than a minute long, many of those 30 seconds and under, but each one packed with some of the catchiest most timeless sounding pop you've ever heard. Weezer meets the Beatles meets the Beach Boys meets old Bee Gees meets Guided By Voices meets the Fucking Champs, super rocking, punky here and there, metal once in a while, but always total pure pop genius, with lyrics about doing drugs, getting fired, falling down the stairs, getting hurt, how much they suck and how their songs all sound the same, doing more drugs, all delivered by a vocalist that sounds uncannily like the skinny John from They Might Be Giants! Acoustic guitars, wild shredding leads, buzzing distorted chug, warm wheezing keyboards, fluttery flutes, incredible harmonies, and HOOKS like you wouldn't believe. These guys accomplish more in 30 seconds than most pop bands can pull off over the course of a full album. And they accomplish more in these 44 songs than most bands manage in their whole careers.
Check out the first sound sample, the ultimate one-two-three-four-five power pop punch, pretty much the absolutely perfect opening salvo, five songs in less than five minutes, we've listened to that 5 song chunk about a million times. It destroys. Check it out. We'll wait.....
But don't stop there, the rest of the record is pretty much just as kick ass. Some songs are hushed and dreamy, others are pounding and super rocking, some soar majestically, others are wildly metallic freakouts, Iron Maiden-y guitar harmonies wrap around weird Melvins like falsetto vocals, summery folky strums drift over calliope like keyboards, crunchy guitars unfurl jangly jams, while the vocals drawl lazily over the top. So many different sounds and styles but all totally perfectly fused into the Ovens' weirdly perfect pop world.
The band have been recording for years, full length after full length, and minus a super short run release a few years back, the songs just sat there, until the band had a backlog of 5 full albums. Former aQ-er Matt from Wildildlife was always talking them up and when we finally managed to get some music from those guys, well shit, we were bowled over. And Andee especially, knew the world needed to hear this stuff. So this debut cd features 3 of the 5 albums jammed onto one disc. 44 Songs, every one a total hook filled gem. Live the band are as likely to kick out a cover of the Bee Gee's "Holiday" as they are some old Melvins jam. They manage to sound heavy and crunchy, but also delicate and folky, often those two sides colliding in a burst of total freaking mad genius popsmithery. If there was any justice in the world these guys would be HUGE. Every song here is as good if not better than any Weezer song, and they pull it off in half the time. The lyrics are hilarious, deadpan, self deprecating, clever and snarky, the musicianship is totally stellar, especially the guitars, the arrangements are unique, sometimes super unexpected but somehow they never take way from the song or the hook, and every curveball they throw manages to sound more catchy than off kilter. We could gush and gush, and go on and on about how pop bands like this are such a rarity, but man, how these guys went so long without blowing up, still boggles the mind. So now's the time. These guys rule. They have a new record. They're going on tour. And we're so psyched to see these guys kick out the jams at our SXSW showcase this year. They're loud and fun, and funny and catchy and heavy and super rocking, and these are some of the catchiest most kick ass songs you will ever hear. EVER!
MPEG Stream: "Fired From The Vogue Pt. 1 / Fired From The Vogue Pt. 2 / Same Shit Different Day / PCP Song / Everything's The Same"
MPEG Stream: "Movin' On"
MPEG Stream: "I Can't Hang"
MPEG Stream: "Running In Place"
MPEG Stream: "Castillejo Scene"

OVENS s/t (8 songs) (Catholic Guilt) 7" 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Ovens just might be the most underappreciated best band in SF. Although that looks like it could maybe be about to change. The various members live in different cities now, and only really play about once a year, but at their most recent show, a few weeks back, HUNDREDS of people showed up, and went NUTS, there was a pit, and crowd surfing, in a tiny little hole in the wall club. Which might have you thinking these guys are some sort of heavy punk rock band, when in fact, they're a pop band. An amazing incredible pop band, whose songs routinely clock in at about the 30 second mark, and whose lyrics are mostly about getting drunk, getting high, getting fired or getting hurt. We joke that if their songs were longer and weren't all about drugs, they would be THEE most popular band in the land. And we believe it. Their sound like some impossible mix of Weezer, Guided By Voices, The Beatles, Thin Lizzy (who they covered at that show), Teenage Fanclub, old Bee Gees (who they also occasionally cover) and the Fucking Champs. Total hook filled pop, with killer dual guitar harmonies, shredding leads, amazing hooks, like the sort of hooks most bands would KILL for, but these guys toss out hooks like that in 20 second songs and simply move on to the NEXT killer hook. Hell, our own Andee loved Ovens so much he put out their debut full length (much more raving about these guys in that review elsewhere on the aQ site, and heck, if you don't have that yet, you should buy it NOW).
This latest blast of perfect pop is just that, perfect. Nine songs in 8 minutes, the longest song 1:59, the shortest :34, the band kicking out feedback drenched fuzzy power pop one second, lilting Beatles-esque ballad the next, a dreamy acoustic guitarscape leads right into a woozy chunk of nineties style indie rock, but with those guitar harmonies, that kill, and then it's right into another perfect chunk of miniature pop, in the amount of time it's taken to write this review, we've listened to the whole single 3 times in a row, and the thing is, now that the review's almost done, doesn't mean we have any intention of stopping.
Easily one of our favorite local bands, heck, local or not, these guys are incredible! And if you get a chance to see one of their rare (and usually brief, not to mention littered with eighties hardcore covers, although at that most recent show, they covered Leeway!!) performances, don't blow it, if there's any justice in the world, these guys will be HUGE, and the world will be humming along to their jams, 30 seconds at a time!!
LIMITED TO 300 COPIES!!
MPEG Stream: "Old Friends"
MPEG Stream: "Let You Down"
MPEG Stream: "Losin' It"
MPEG Stream: "Millbrae Belongs To Me"

OVO Miastenia (Load) cd 14.98
Italian duo OvO is a band that we think a select crowd of AQ-customers will totally appreciate. But...don't look at that awful cover. Oooh, what were they thinking? Well the (sorta) little-girl voice of OvO's singer Stefania does perhaps explain the little-girl drawing on the cover (which she drew). As does the Load label's often willfully 'ugly' aesthetic. But where that illustration is sort of twee, cringe-inducing cutesiness, Stefania's voice is far from cutesy! It's a rabid, wretched little girl we're talking about. Her yelping shriek has been compared to both a squeaky toy and a wheezing dog dying by folks here at AQ. Basically, if you hate the extended high-pitched babble of Yoko Ono, stay away! Nerve-grating for sure. We don't know how she does it. Must need a lot of lozenges.
Meanwhile, OvO's music ranges from chaotic punk frenzy to plodding, art-rock dirge. In addition to the unusual, extreme vocals, OvO also uses/abuses cello, for extra droning ambience. They're hard to compare to anybody, but we'll throw out these names: the aforementioned Yoko Ono, Load labelmates Noxagt, Double Nelson, Oxbow, and Khanate. Or maybe a twisted, primitive, Japanoise version of Devil Doll ('cause they're Italian and sorta theatrical sounding). Definitely not always (ever?) easy listening, but strangely fascinating. For us, it's the endurance-testing 20 minute title track that makes this a keeper. A torturous trudge with throaty rasping and heavy doomy death-knell drums and guitar. Oppressive. Depressive. Feedback hell gargle. Very much in the vein of Corrupted and Khanate. But with witchy Yoko vox! Like we said, the select few will love it.
MPEG Stream: "Miastenia"
MPEG Stream: "VooDoo"
MPEG Stream: "Anime Morte"

OVO Miastenia (Load) lp 11.98
Italian duo OvO is a band that we think a select crowd of AQ-customers will totally appreciate. But...don't look at that awful cover. Oooh, what were they thinking? Well the (sorta) little-girl voice of OvO's singer Stefania does perhaps explain the little-girl drawing on the cover (which she drew). As does the Load label's often willfully 'ugly' aesthetic. But where that illustration is sort of twee, cringe-inducing cutesiness, Stefania's voice is far from cutesy! It's a rabid, wretched little girl we're talking about. Her yelping shriek has been compared to both a squeaky toy and a wheezing dog dying by folks here at AQ. Basically, if you hate the extended high-pitched babble of Yoko Ono, stay away! Nerve-grating for sure. We don't know how she does it. Must need a lot of lozenges.
Meanwhile, OvO's music ranges from chaotic punk frenzy to plodding, art-rock dirge. In addition to the unusual, extreme vocals, OvO also uses/abuses cello, for extra droning ambience. They're hard to compare to anybody, but we'll throw out these names: the aforementioned Yoko Ono, Load labelmates Noxagt, Double Nelson, Oxbow, and Khanate. Or maybe a twisted, primitive, Japanoise version of Devil Doll ('cause they're Italian and sorta theatrical sounding). Definitely not always (ever?) easy listening, but strangely fascinating. For us, it's the endurance-testing 20 minute title track that makes this a keeper. A torturous trudge with throaty rasping and heavy doomy death-knell drums and guitar. Oppressive. Depressive. Feedback hell gargle. Very much in the vein of Corrupted and Khanate. But with witchy Yoko vox! Like we said, the select few will love it.
MPEG Stream: "Miastenia"
MPEG Stream: "VooDoo"
MPEG Stream: "Anime Morte"

OWEN I Do Perceive (Polyvinyl) cd 13.98

OWEN s/t (Polyvinyl) cd 13.98
Very warm and pretty! Waves of dreamy strummi-ness and murmured vocals. Drifting in a similar path to that of Tristeza, the newest American Analog Set album or fellow Chicago, IL mellow boys Sea And Cake... actually, I very much prefer this. So who is Owen anyway? The man in question is the multi-talented Mr. Mike Kinsella formerly of American Football, Cap'n Jazz, Joan Of Arc, and Owls. Doing it all himself: writing and performing all the soothing sounds you hear on this record. Very nice!
RealAudio clip: "Places To Go"

OWEN, SPENCER Logic (Gnome Life Records) lp 11.98

OWEN, SPENCER Logic (Gnome Life Records) lp 11.98

OWLS s/t (Jade Tree) cd 13.98
All the people in Owls were in the far punker outfit Cap'n Jazz, but this band is more like the Owls' Kinsella Bros other project Joan of Arc. Midtempo angular emo with tortured vocals (which kind of ruin it for me, but I'm stupid). On Jade Tree.
RealAudio clip: "Life in the Hair Salon - Themed Bar on the Island"

OXBOW An Evil Heat (Neurot) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This is REAL 'emo' rock, let me tell you. Not indie-pop emo but totally heavy, insane, noisy emotionally cathartic art rock mayhem. URB magazine says this is a 'must have', which is pretty bizarre because while WE think Oxbow rules, it's hard to imagine your average URB reader enjoying Oxbow's utterly fucked up, dark, hard, downright disturbing sounds! Yes, San Francisco's best kept secret have unleashed their long-awaited fifth album, via Neurosis' Neurot label (which is why they appeared at last year's Beyond The Pale festival, dropping many an astonished jaw even among the crusty, tough lookin' Neurosis fans in attendance). It's nine tracks of Zeppelin-heavy hard guitar rock melded to pounding noise and creepy ambience. Take your most intense Albini/Jesus Lizard mathrock, haunt it with Satanic blues ghosts, and top with the psycho-sexual theatrical vocals of a muscular frontman who writes for "Grappling" magazine when he's not on stage. Although his tortured, damaged wailings are difficult to decipher, you can follow along with the lyric sheet if you dare. And even without that aid, the emotions on display are quite plain, painful and raw. On much of this record, Oxbow brings things to a dark bluesy simmer, out of which the band bursts full bore whenever your defenses are down. And they have some help: with the song "S Bar X", the illustrious ranks of past Oxbow guest vocalists (Lydia Lunch, Marianne Faithfull, etc.) are now joined by Jarboe of Swans. We also must note that "An Evil Heat" ends with an immense, 32 minute freeform drone/noise/improv rock symphony, which could have been a whole album release by itself, really! (If you liked Old Man Gloom's "Seminar III" you'll want "An Evil Heat" for this track alone.)
RealAudio clip: "...The Stick"
RealAudio clip: "Sawmill"

OXBOW Fuckfest (Hydra Head) cd 13.98
We've written a lot about this band over the years (many years - they've been around for, like, 20!). Here's a quote: "Oxbow have always languished in relative obscurity here in the US when they really deserve to be ruling the whole damn world. Essential, intense, heavy, dark, weird, artful, aggressive, fucked genius with few peers."
We said that years ago about the previous reissue of Fuckfest (as an import double cd with their 2nd album King Of The Jews) and while they've gotten a bit less obscure - their unholy alliance with the Hydra Head empire has helped a lot in recent years, way better for them than their former label, SST - and Oxbow now have fans from among the legions of metalcore/postrock kids for sure, they still aren't yet the overlords of all that they should be. Maybe in the next life (now that would be a shock!). Those that have gotten into 'em though, in this life, are indeed the chosen ones.
Now Hydra Head has done all the new Oxbow fans a favor and reissued the band's magnificent 1989 debut Fuckfest on cd by itself for the first time, in a nice mini-lp-style sleeve, remastered. If you haven't heard Oxbow before, this is just the place to start, begin at the beginning. If you have heard Oxbow, but haven't heard Fuckfest, then you need to. All their albums are amazing, but this one is the one that first blew our minds way back when (well along with King Of The Jews, their other early effort that followed this in 1991, we first heard 'em both together on 2-on-1 cd Balls In the Great Meat Grinder Collection released by the long defunct Pathological label in the UK), and has the same effect today. Some insane shit here folks.
Fuckfest features all the trademark Oxbow elements... Sheer heaviness and suspenseful calm. Nearly indecipherable yet disturbingly expressive, anguished, almost hysterical vocals. Transgressive lyrics bawled by a man-baby-monster. Massive sheets of swampy slide guitar. Skittery bleeding hand solos. Led Zeppish cockrock riffage one moment, abstract angular post punk dissonance the next. Tinkling piano. Jazz infected drumming, country tinged atmosphere. What we'd now call postrock loud-soft dynamics. Music that's cathartic, cacophonous and complex. As well as impassioned and emotive. And exceedingly well crafted.
This album is maybe Oxbow at their most "metal" (and punk). After all, the original release was billed as "a six-song mega-muscled trip into total desperation". Certainly it's a tour de force of primal screaming stomping staggering, that's also surprisingly full of beaten-down beauty.
You could compare Oxbow then and now to the likes of the Jesus Lizard, the Melvins, the Bad Seeds, and there's elements of all of those here, but from the get-go Oxbow was OXBOW. Nothing else like 'em, and that's not even taking their infamous live performances into account.
To quote something else one of us (Allan, when he interviewed guitarist Niko in the first issue of his old 'zine) wrote about Oxbow long ago: "Oxbow is definitely a what-the-hell-is-this? kind of band... I can only describe their sound as kinda if you took, say, the Jesus Lizard, Neurosis, the Ruins, and Caroliner and got them all howling at the moon together". Again, that just means they're unique. And amazing. (And, to be sure, maybe not for everyone.) Fuckfest proves all that, though fans know already.
Thanks, Hydra Head. Presumably we can look forward to a similar reissue of King Of The Jews soon too? The same review above will go for it too, pretty much!
MPEG Stream: "Curse"
MPEG Stream: "Bull's Eye"
MPEG Stream: "Yoke"

OXBOW Fuckfest/King Of The Jews (Crippled Dick) 2cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Double cd collecting the first two utterly amazing Oxbow lps from '89 and '91, which previously were available on cd as The Balls In The Great Meat Grinder Collection on the UK's Pathological label, now out of print--but that was only one disc, which meant a whole song was scrapped, and another faded out. Those have been restored here, plus you get an unreleased track called "Pannonica" from the King Of The Jews sessions. Guests on these albums include Lydia Lunch and Klaus Floride. Recently returned from a tour in Japan, Oxbow have always langushed in relative obscurity here in the US (current domestic label=SST, argh) when they really deserve to be ruling the whole damn world. Essential, intense, heavy, dark, weird, artful, aggressive, fucked genius with few peers.

OXBOW King Of The Jews (Hydra Head) cd 17.98
If someone had never heard San Francisco's Oxbow before, and knew nothing about them - or for that matter knew nothing about Sammy Davis Jr. either - we wonder what they'd make of that album title/cover art? Definitely wouldn't help 'em guess what sort of music lies within, some of the earliest and insanest stuff by an AQ fave band we lovingly call "fucked rock geniuses". If you are one of those innocent souls who have never heard Oxbow before, well, dive in here and see if you can take it. And needless to say, if you are already an Oxbow fan, of course you NEED this if you don't have it already, which you might not, since until now Oxbow's 1991 sophomore album King Of The Jews has never been available as a domestic compact disc release. It has been paired previously with their 1989 debut Fuckfest as an abridged single cd, and then later as a double, both imports long out of print, as are of course the original vinyl lps on Oxbow's own label CFY Records. And this new Hydra Head reissue is the most deluxe and definitive, packaged in a nice paste-on mini lp-style sleeve, and enhanced with four bonus tracks, three of 'em previously unreleased.
Back when we reviewed Hydra Head's similarly presented, equally essential reissue of Fuckfest in 2009, we said that when they did King Of The Jews, we'd probably just write more or less the same review, that is, saying that this record also displays all the elements of Oxbow we appreciate: primal swampy skree and atmospheric loud-soft dynamics, lumbering slide guitar sickness and singer Eugene's regression therapy vocal histrionics... it's part Scratch Acid (or Jesus Lizard), part Butthole Surfers, part Birthday Party, part Cormac McCarthy novel, part primal psycho-sexual cabaret, part utterly alien WTF?!
This album's special guest star Lydia Lunch joins the madness on 2 of the cuts, "Daughter" and "Angel", utterly subsumed into the crazy, kecak-y, confusional handclap chaos of the former (what an album opener, damn!!), adding extra drama to the latter. Not that Oxbow needs much help in the drama department; Eugene's bedlamite mewlings and mutterings amidst the band's desolate atmospheres and sudden rock spasms are both bizarre and intense and go way beyond mere music-as-entertainment that's for sure.
Oxbow has been keeping rock weird for a long time now, and this is one of the most crucial documents in their entire discography. It'll clue you to the Oxbow formula of lots of tension, not so much release, though there's more of the latter here than on some other Oxbow outings... Highly, highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Daughter"
MPEG Stream: "Angel"
MPEG Stream: "Cat And Mouse"

OXBOW Let Me Be A Woman (Brinkman) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
3rd album from these SF fucked rock geniuses. With special guests the Rova Saxophone Quartet!

OXBOW Let Me Be A Woman (Ruminance) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
At last! This 1995 Oxbow opus, the third album from our favorite San Francisco fucked rock geniuses, has been reissued, with two never-before released bonus tracks appended. A Steve Albini production, the album proper features special guests the Rova Saxophone Quartet, while the bonus tracks see Oxbow collaborating with the late Kathy Acker, the feminist/punk writer. For those unfamiliar with the wonders of Oxbow, this album would make a fine introduction, and fans of course MUST OWN it. It shows off their weirdly catchy brand of aggro art rock, totally heavy and, what's the word, transgressive? When they're not kicking your ass, they can get into some hauntingly gorgeous droney territory as well (as on bonus track#1). But their forte is sliding seasick Led Zeppelin guitar riffage with wailing mental-breakdown vocals, songs loaded with hard-hitting, post-post-rock dynamics and complexity. Let Me Be A Woman, like all of Oxbow's best work, radiates a shuddering vibe of despair, angst, and seething violence. Terrible beauty indeed. Originally on Dutch label Brinkman, this now appears via the French label Ruminance, testament to the superior tastes of Continentals we suppose!
MPEG Stream: "Sunday"
MPEG Stream: "Gal"

OXBOW Love That's Last (Hydra Head) cd + dvd 14.98
Rock and roll as a raw nerve art form, that's the intense Oxbow aethetic... a band that dares you to listen, much less attend one of their shows. Avant garde yet drawn to swampy roots, Oxbow's approach is both intellectual and primal at the same time, these men channeling psychic and physical distress into their music, so much tension and release it's disturbing to behold... This brilliant and unique Bay Area outfit has been going strong against all odds for almost two decades now (!) and with each passing year seem to gain a wider audience, despite never ever being a part of any scene or trend. Not one that would help them, anyway. Except maybe now, that they've seemingly been accepted into the Neurosis/Isis axis of arty post-metal noisecore, releasing their last full-length An Evil Heat 4 or 5 years ago on the Neurot label and now (finally!) reappearing on Hydra Head with this cd+dvd package. Love That's Last isn't exactly the new Oxbow opus we've being waiting for, since it's not an all-new album but rather a collection, complete with commentary and lyrics in the booklet, of unreleased live cuts, improv tracks, compilation rarities, and a few "greatest hits" from their hard to find early albums. You'll certainly get a representative serving of their cathartic ugly/pretty rock action here, with all of Oxbow's characteristic Bonham beats, slide guitar skronk, droning ambience, and of course the distinctive mewling/screaming baby monster vocalizations of scary front man/fighting man Eugene Robinson. Highlights (and that's what all this is, really) range from their infamous "Insylum" duet with Marianne Faithful from 1996's Serenade In Red to the 1998 live recording "Glimmer Bird" to the prototypical expression of Oxbow anguish that is "Yoke" from their 1989 Fuckfest debut. Ten tracks in all... you too might be crying like a baby when it's over. Oxbow would be happy about that.
The DVD portion includes 5.1 mixes of a handful of Oxbow classics, plus filmmaker Christian Anthony's Oxbow documentary Music For Adults (previously available here at AQ when it was a dvd-r release) with outtakes too, AND a bunch of additional live footage of the band in Belgium and San Francisco. Here's what we said about Music For Adults before: "Now you can vicariously join Oxbow for their summer 2002 European tour. Even better than actually being there, you can enjoy their shows and tour hijinx without running any risk of Oxbow singer Eugene getting you in a headlock (and pulling down your pants, as happens to at least one unhappy Scotsman in this film). The live footage captures the Oxbow rock machine in all their twisted, bawling glory, while the 'behind-the-scenes' stuff will show you that they're actually all really nice guys!"
So, Oxbow fans NEED this. And it's obviously the first thing the prospective Oxbow fan needs to pick up as well. Hopefully that's just what's gonna happen. Recommended as always with all Oxbow product!
MPEG Stream: "Insylum"
MPEG Stream: "Is That What Sleep Looks Like?"
MPEG Stream: "Pretty Bird"

OXBOW Narcotic Story (Hydra Head) lp 17.98
NOW ON VINYL!! Gatefold.
Finally! What, five years in the making? It's been that long since San Francisco's unhinged avantgarde-hardcore-blues-metal artistes the one and only Oxbow last lashed an explosive new full-length recording to our heads and pulled the pin, way back in 2002 with An Evil Heat. Yeah, last year's "live and rare" cd+dvd collection Love That's Last was great for fans and newcomers alike, but also whetted our appetite to hear some actual new dementia from this unique outfit. But Oxbow have always done things at their own leisure, having been around for long enough to now be selling records to metalcore kids who were probably not even born when Oxbow's first album, Fuckfest, came out in 1989. This is only their sixth studio album since then, but when you make music this intense, this cathartic, this disturbed, deviant, raw, heavy, fucked up, etc. etc. (to use a bunch of the usual words to appropriately describe Oxbow) it's not like you could, or should, make that many albums. It wouldn't be healthy!
Over the years, Oxbow has inevitably changed, grown, matured. The mania of early albums like Fuckfest and King Of The Jews has been relaxed (though always ready to erupt), and there's been more in the way of beauty crammed into their complex compositions to contrast with the ugly stuff. Even as they find more and more of a "metal" audience with releases on Neurot and now Hydra Head, their music is sweetened with strings and piano... But The Narcotic Story still brutalizes with the Oxbow basics: sinewy slide guitar riffage, moody soft-loud dynamics, mathrock tightness, and of course the psychotic vocals & lyrics of singer-you-wouldn't-want-to-fuck-with Eugene Robinson. His delivery is sometimes like a mewling baby, sometimes like a crotchety grandpa, usually both at the same time, Robinson his own multi-tracked schizoid choir. Here, his homeless-man mumbling and primal screams are joined by more coherent singing. But you'll still have to listen hard to figure out what he's on about -- if you dare. Just like at an Oxbow show, it's dangerous to get too close.
Definitely, Robinson is an essential part of the Oxbow equation (one that will make or break the band for the uninitiated), but his naked displays of verbal and non-verbal (again, go see 'em live!) nihilism wouldn't carry the same weight without the sparse tension, technical precision, and dramatic, damaged melodicism provided by the instrument-equipped band members. The Narcotic Story finds them keeping up their end as well. "Frankly Frank" is a classic, swampy Oxbow creepy-crawl, "She's A Find" a lovely, lush dirge. These tracks and all the rest here are the Oxbow fix old addicts like us want and need, and ought to hook a few unsuspecting, previously clean-living youths as well, for whom Isis and Neurosis were the gateway drugs...
MPEG Stream: "The Geometry Of Business"
MPEG Stream: "She's A Find"
MPEG Stream: "Frankly Frank"

OXBOW Serenade In Red (Ruminance) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Back in stock! We've now got the French version of this classic Oxbow album. No, it's not IN French, we mean now that the original SST cd is out of print, we've imported copies of the cd edition released in France on the Ruminance label (home also of Cheval De Frise and Chevreuil). Here's our review from when it was an Aquarius Record Of The Week back in 1999:
A masterpiece of dark, cathartic, emotional rock cabaret from this great San Francisco band. Heavy slide guitar, baby-like wailings (from Oxbow's large, scary, nearly-naked body builder frontman Eugene), Nick Cave-ambience & math-rock technicality. Kind of like the Jesus Lizard meets Marianne Faithfull, except that Ms. Faithfull actually does appear on this record! (and the Lizard do not; Oxbow slaughters them...) I might also mention the cover pic by Richard Kern and the production by Steve Albini, but Oxbow are their own special thing, original and amazing, and those celebs are mere hangers-on.
MPEG Stream: "The Last Good Time"
MPEG Stream: "Insane Asylum"