BONNY BILLY More Revery ( Temporary Residence Ltd.) cd ep 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now, given that I'm admittedly a little tired of Will Oldham, this new mini-album of his came as a delightful surprise. Oldham's rickety backporch warblings are wonderful, sure, but somehow, 2 or 3 albums worth of it is enough for me, and he's got 4 or 5 times that much output. But, if you're feeling similarly, please don't ignore this one. More Revery is a collection of *covers*, and we all know how well Will does covers. He's fucking really good at it. Just listen to his cover of Irish group Silly Wizard's "Riverboat Song" (or whatever it's called) from Palace's first 7" (that John Darnielle turned me on to oh so long ago). It's amazing; it's still my favorite track ever from him. On this record Oldham covers the beloved New Zealand group the Renderers, PJ Harvey, John Holt, Bill Withers, Tim McGraw, and John Phillips. Almost every track is a winner, filled out with piano, vibes, even some heavenly psychedelic guitar. And the tone is more upbeat and structured (as opposed to meandering) than any of his previous output. A strong release.
RealAudio clip: "Someone's Sleeping"
RealAudio clip: "A Dream of the Sea"

BOOK OF LISTS, THE s/t (Scratch Recordings) cd 14.98
This new Vancouver foursome's self-titled debut is deeply inspired by the old and the new(er), equal parts '90s shoegazer and retro '60s style pop. Imagining Pulp hanging out with Swervedriver and The Jam will give you some idea of where they're comin' from. A minor distraction though that we could do without were the seemingly random vocal outbursts that pepper the second song. Yeah, it's probably supposed to be emotive, but instead it made us imagine that a sick cat had crept into the recording studio and mewed its dyspepsia into one of the microphones. Don't mean to sound harsh, but we had to press 'skip'. Apart from that one bump in the road though, there's much to dig here. The band has captured a cool balance of brood and bounce, jagged and jangle. While The Book Of Lists' debut album definitely leans heavily on the Brit rock side of things, they do inject a little unexpected New York glammy rock swagger on the album's fifth song "Moon Balloon" to good effect. Part of Vancouver's close-knit hip indie scene, The Book Of Lists' lineup features members of Radio Berlin and Destroyer, plus guests Joshua Wells and Josh Stevenson whose own resumes list participation in varied projects such as Pink Mountaintops, Jackie-O Motherfucker, and Black Mountain.
MPEG Stream: "Lost Weekend"
MPEG Stream: "Stranger"

BOOKS, THE The Lemon Of Pink (Tomlab) cd 15.98
The follow-up to The Books' 2002 debut Thought For Food provides another dose of eclectic, playful, folky sound collages. Each track of the baker's dozen offered up on The Lemon Of Pink is a delightfully rumpled, snipped and reassembled sonic patchwork quilt of acoustic guitar, violin, banjo and lovingly embroidered samples. This time there's a distinct Asian feel to many of the tracks -- Japanese dialogue, koto-esque string plucks -- as well as more of a hushed spoken-sung vocal presence throughout than on their previous album (often very akin to Devendra Banhart). A highly enjoyable, loping, off-kilter journey.
MPEG Stream: "Tokyo"
MPEG Stream: "There Is No There"

BOOKS, THE The Lemon Of Pink (Tomlab) lp 14.98
NOW ON VINYL. The follow-up to The Books' 2002 debut Thought For Food provides another dose of ecclectic, playful, folky sound collages. Each track of the baker's dozen offered up on The Lemon Of Pink is a delightfully rumpled, snipped and reassembled sonic patchwork quilt of acoustic guitar, violin, banjo and lovingly embroidered samples. This time there's a distinct Asian feel to many of the tracks -- Japanese dialogue, koto-esque string plucks -- as well as more of a hushed spoken-sung vocal presence throughout than on their previous album (often very akin to Devendra Banhart). A highly enjoyable, loping, off-kilter journey.
MPEG Stream: "Tokyo"
MPEG Stream: "There Is No There"

BOOKS, THE Thought For Food (Tomlab) cd 15.98
From the very first few notes of Thoughts For Food, you get an inkling that The Books aren't going to take you on a straight ahead, sensible musical journey, and your inkling would be right! The Books may slightly puzzle with their stylistical and structural meanderings. Layering in dialogue samples and field recordings amid this laidback fray adds to the raw, roaming feel of this album. Much like their absurd titles (of the album itself as well as the songs), the music - a contorted, eccentric, folky blend based around acoustic guitars, fiddle, bass and some fragments of beats - twists, flips and folds back onto itself. Engagingly unpredictable, you never know what mood The Books will be in - solemn, frisky, or ??? Choosing excerpts for you to give you more of an idea of this release was difficult, so from the twelve songs you get a snippet from the first song (which is also the title track) and one from the tenth. If they pique your interest, well then you'll simply have to check out the complete cd to find out where they rambled to and fro in between those points.
RealAudio clip: "Enjoy your worries, you may never have them again"
RealAudio clip: "Getting the done job"

BOREDOMS Super AE (Birdman) cd 13.98
The domestic version of this kick ass Boredoms album finally sees the light of day! Far less manic than their previous spazzcore albums you loved in the past, the Boredoms' new focus on studio manipulations is intense and artistically successful. Layers of bombastic guitar noises swell and give way to insane bursts of tape manipulation along with the wax and wane of desperate screams and urgent percussion. Super AE is a rancid psychedelic experience that could be a chance meeting on the dissecting table between Amon Duul and Nurse With Wound.
If you've seen the Boredoms live and don't think you could sit through a disc of it, know that this album builds on the studio experiments of their recent SuperRoots series; it's not Yamantaka Eye jumping around anymore -- he's sitting in the cock-pit, entering your earholes with intents to purple-shag-carpet-bomb your sense of reality. Mad Jack became mad scientist.
Although Japanese import version came packaged in an elaborate day-glo oversized plastic box, don't worry: the artwork on this domestic cd is pretty damn cool complete with nifty Eye Yamantaka magic marker art!
MPEG Stream: "Super Are You"
MPEG Stream: "Super Good"

BOREDOMS Super Go!!!!!-Shine In*Shine On (WEA) dvd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
20 minutes on two tracks from the Boredoms. Neither of these tracks appear anywhere on the latest album (Super Are). Surprisingly beautiful psych-rock grooves that continue on their noisy Amon Duul kick.

BOREDOMS Super Roots 7 (WEA Japan) cd 22.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This seventh installment in their series of between-album-projects is a kind of obtuse and convoluted (like a Boredoms record could be anything but) tribute to the Mekons. Ostensibly a 33 minute Mekons cover, but I'll be a monkeys uncle if a chunk of this here cd doesn't sound a whole lot like Stereolab circa Dots and Loops!

BORFUL TANG On The Back Of A Dying Beast (Gigante Sound) 2cd-r 9.98
First things first, please don't let the dvd-style case fool you! Contained within are not one but two cd-rs by the cryptic entity known as Borful Tang. If you need this mysterious being's back story, please refer to our review of his last release titled Root from a couple years ago.
As a brief recap though, legend has it that Borful Tang is not an earthly being, and its human conduit is Bay Area man-of-many-hats Dominic Cramp. On The Back Of A Dying Beast zeroes in on a select few of the key passages of the previous release (sadly tho' they don't include his previous churning NoMeansNo-isms), and explores them thoroughly -- fleshing out what was only glimpsed fleetingly on Root.
Disc One floods the air with effects-heavy layers of BBC Radiophonic style analog synth wanderings, sporadic android chatter and sludgy lumps of drone. Disc Two on the other hand is far more spare, hushed and calm even.
We suspect that with the consumption of the right, ahem, 'enhancing' substances this could really take you places. Quite the transportive listen. Recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Juggernaut Soliloquy"
MPEG Stream: "The Tides Of Land"

BORFUL TANG Root (Snurp) cd 9.98
Who or what is Borful Tang? Well, according to the website of the delightfully named Snurp (the folks who released this cd), the mysterious 'it' is a 'he', and outcast from a distant place and time. Legend has it that Borful Tang was a hill herder who moved hills with sound. Still with us? Okay then, if you'd like to discover his lengthy full story for yourself you can find it where we did, but in the meantime here we have his cd Root -- his wildly eclectic music apparently having been transmitted to us via the conduit known as Dominic Cramp -- quite a multi-faceted gent in his own right (also recording under the monikers of Qulfus, Amazing Colossal Man and Modular Set). Borful Tang's music is trippy, out there, and particularly in the early part of this album, very NoMeansNo-ish in its propulsive tech-y bass lines. Heck, the first track is titled "Borful Tang Loves NoMeansNo"! And we think NoMeansNo samples may be the secret. The latter tracks feature collaged computer voice conversations (sourced from what we guess were English speech lesson tapes) and burbly analog electronics. We'll bet quite a broad range of strange music lovers will dig this... if the names Plunderphonics, Negativland, NoMeansNo, BBC Radiophonic Workshop tickle your aural funnybone!
MPEG Stream: "Borful Tang Loves NoMeansNo"
MPEG Stream: "John And Mary In: "The Restaurant""

BORIS 1970 b/w Wareruraido (Inoxia) 7" 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Yes, yet another new Boris release, however this one is not entirely new. Two of the best tracks from their epic Heavy Rocks release, slightly different demo versions as far as we can tell. Not sure if everyone needs this, as it is a bit pricey, but Boris freaks will no doubt want this, for the slightly different versions as well as the cool seventies line drawing band portrait cover art. And vinyl fanatics may want to pick this up since Heavy Rocks was cd only, so these are the only two tracks from those sessions to make it on to wax!

BORIS Akuma No Uta (DIWPhalanx) cd 24.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Fans of the band that began as Japan's answer to the Melvins, and then took a wayback machine ride into the '70s, Boris, can start rejoicing now. After a long while, we've finally got a whole bunch of Boris back in stock. AND, we've got a whole brand new recording as well! Whoo-hoo. Akuma No Uta is a 32 minute, six song mini-album that offers up a smorgasbord of styles from past Boris albums, drawing from the heavier-than-thou rumble of Absolutego, the exquisite beauty of Flood, and the sheer jams-out-kickin' of Heavy Rocks. Starting off with a two and half minute Earth-esque drone-metal intro (although for some reason unknown to us, the intro track on the vinyl version is seven minutes longer than that on the cd, so drone freaks may have to get the lp, or what the heck, get both!), the record then slams into the riffed-out, noisy stormer "Ibitsu". Distorted, manic, tear-shit-up stuff. After another song in the same Hendrix meets the Stooges style psych-punk rawk vein, Boris switch gears again, for the album's centerpiece, a twelve-minute opus entitled "Naki Kyoku" that begins all super languid, quiet and pretty before building into a soaring psychedelic jam. The jams continue on the next track, another stoner rockin' blow-out. Finally, title track "Akuma No Uta" winds things up with a return to the immense sludge grind of track one, melded into a headbanging groove, ending the disc on an adrenaline high. I'm sure there's mulleted, pot-smoking high-schoolers in Japan scribbling Boris logos on their binders...or so we'd like to think.
You'll note from the price that the yen isn't doing us Americans any favors right now. Ah well. Boris is worth a few extra bucks, as fans will no doubt agree. Worth their weight in yen for sure, and well, you know they're heavy. The vinyl version is even pricier, but it's perhaps got the cooler artwork (yes, they're different) with a cover that perfectly re-creates Nick Drake's Bryter Layter! Except with double neck electric guitar-bass instead of acoustic guitar... Real nice.
And be aware (beware?), for soon to come is another Boris, the bottom-heavy full-length known as Boris At Last aka Feedbacker. We should have that as soon as it's out, we'll keep you informed!
MPEG Stream: "Furi"
MPEG Stream: "Akuma No Uta"

BORIS Akuma No Uta (DIWPhalanx) lp 27.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Fans of the band that began as Japan's answer to the Melvins, and then took a wayback machine ride into the '70s, Boris, can start rejoicing now. After a long while, we've finally got a whole bunch of Boris back in stock. AND, we've got a whole brand new recording as well! Whoo-hoo. Akuma No Uta is a 32 minute, six song mini-album that offers up a smorgasbord of styles from past Boris albums, drawing from the heavier-than-thou rumble of Absolutego, the exquisite beauty of Flood, and the sheer jams-out-kickin' of Heavy Rocks. Starting off with a two and half minute Earth-esque drone-metal intro (although for some reason unknown to us, the intro track on the vinyl version is seven minutes longer than that on the cd, so drone freaks may have to get the lp, or what the heck, get both!), the record then slams into the riffed-out, noisy stormer "Ibitsu". Distorted, manic, tear-shit-up stuff. After another song in the same Hendrix meets the Stooges style psych-punk rawk vein, Boris switch gears again, for the album's centerpiece, a twelve-minute opus entitled "Naki Kyoku" that begins all super languid, quiet and pretty before building into a soaring psychedelic jam. The jams continue on the next track, another stoner rockin' blow-out. Finally, title track "Akuma No Uta" winds things up with a return to the immense sludge grind of track one, melded into a headbanging groove, ending the disc on an adrenaline high. I'm sure there's mulleted, pot-smoking high-schoolers in Japan scribbling Boris logos on their binders...or so we'd like to think.
You'll note from the price that the yen isn't doing us Americans any favors right now. Ah well. Boris is worth a few extra bucks, as fans will no doubt agree. Worth their weight in yen for sure, and well, you know they're heavy. The vinyl version is even pricier, but it's perhaps got the cooler artwork (yes, they're different) with a cover that perfectly re-creates Nick Drake's Bryter Layter! Except with double neck electric guitar-bass instead of acoustic guitar... Real nice.
And be aware (beware?), for soon to come is another Boris, the bottom-heavy full-length known as Boris At Last aka Feedbacker. We should have that as soon as it's out, we'll keep you informed!
MPEG Stream: "Furi"
MPEG Stream: "Akuma No Uta"

BORIS Heavy Metal Me (DIWPhalanx) dvd 32.00
It's indeed that time again. Where our customers act like crazy junkies who have FINALLY received their latest fix, which I guess they technically are. Although in this case the drug of choice is Japan's Boris, and the current fix is twofold, the just released full length Pink (reviewed elsewhere on this list) and this here DVD, the misleadingly titled Heavy Metal Me. Boris fans of all stripes will find stuff on here that is essential -- videos, a short film, and two live sets for those of you not lucky enough to see Boris on their recent tour.
First up is a video for the track "A Bao A Qu" from the soundtrack Mabuta No Ura, the perfect visual accompaniment to that track's ambient post rock drift, a sort of languid stroll around town, various band members walking down streets, sitting in parks, shots of skies and trees and shops warehouses and woods. Gorgeously tranquil. The next video is for another track from Mabuta No Ura, can't tell you the title cuz it's in Japanese, but it is an absolutely breathtaking series of abstact landscapes, that are perhaps either pieces of frayed and slowly undulating fabric, or maybe even internal organs, so alien looking and so beautiful.
The short film Heavy Metal Me is up next, a ten minute, super arty silent film with subtitles (in either Japanese or English), super blown out overexposed black and white and scratchy color Super8, very French New Wave, with quite a bit of sitting, and thinking, and walking and standing, lots of static shots and very obtuse subtitles. No sound, just occasionally the sound of no sound, a hissing distant white noise static. Quite beautiful actually!
Returning to the main, music side of Boris, you then get a live performance of "Feedbacker", the full 30 minutes, slow building and totally epic. With the stage drenched in rich colored lights, Wata stands illuminated, completely expressionless and immobile, a statue like guitar God! All the while the drummer and bass player work their way into a rock frenzy as the song reaches its superdistorted fuzz drenched climax.
The bonus track is a live performance of "Flood" in a tiny Japanese club, packed to the gills, with a ceiling just high enough for the band to stand on stage. Twenty minutes of creeping, drifting shimmering guitars and cymbal swells, before the sludge sets in, a monstrous pounding metallic crawl, with stoic guitarist Wata actually, for once, rocking out! Pretty amazing. And will definitely hit the spot for everyone who missed seeing Boris live last month.
As with everything Boris releases, beautifully designed and packaged. Even the menu and the credits look amazing, the credits especially with their dreamy ambient abstract Boris guitarscape accompaniment.

BORIS Mabuta No Ura (Inoxia) lp / poster / picture cards 40.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Boris fans are definitely obsessive, most wanting to collect anything and everything the band puts out, whether it's the same record with different artwork, or a limited single, or the same record with 9 minutes of extra music or a different record with the same cover or whatever. The band don't really help matters much, wholeheartedly playing into this, releasing records in ridiculously limited versions and multiple versions, with different artwork or bonus tracks or both. But this new record Mabuta No Ura has definitely pushed all this multiple version collecting about as far as it can go. More on that at the end of the review -- and we definitely suggest you read that stuff before you buy! But hey, let's talk about the record. A soundtrack to a film entitled Mabuta No Ura, this is Boris at their most abstract, maybe even at their least heavy, but Boris has yet to disappoint, and they don't here. Although depending on your personal favorite style of Boris, whether it be the slow sludgy dirges, the minimal drones or the all out super distorted RAWK, you might have to readjust your thinking to get into Mabuta No Ura. There's only one actually 'heavy track', and some of you may already have it, or at least a version of it, as the track in question, "A Bao A Qu" was released as a super limited picture disc 7" not too long ago. "A Bao A Qu" finds Boris churning through a sludgy slab of crushing psych rock, the way only they seem to do it. The rest of Mabuta No Ura finds the band exploring much more contemplative moods, constructing simple, dreamy passages of finger picked guitar, and warm swells of moody ambience. Sometimes sounding a bit like Low, sometimes a little like Slint, the theme here overall does seem to be a brooding slow building post rock. There are variations of course, Eastern sounding melodies, hazy chanted vocals, shimmering washes of cymbal sizzle, tribal rhythms, hand claps, plaintive vocalising, stretches of Sunroof!-like free-noise ambience, blown out krautrock rhythms, but it all sort of hovers around that post rock sound we love so much, dark and moody and smoldering, occasionally bursting with dynamics, but more often than not chugging along all melancholy and contemplatively propulsive. Hard to imagine what sort of film Mabuta No Ura must be, but the songs and sounds here are quite evocative, and let our imaginations conjure up the appropriate images to go with these sumptuous sounds. Packaged in a gorgeous chipboard slipcover die cut sleeve, with a dozen cd sized photos, presumable from the film, with stories printed on the other sides, unfortunately all in Japanese.
So here's the complicated stuff. There are FOUR versions of this record. All of them slightly different. This is the ULTRA LIMITED Japanese lp version. 500 made, we got about 1/5 of those. Once they are gone they are gone for good. And since it's so limited, only one per customer. The deluxe lp version comes in a gateflod sleeve, with a big poster, and a dozen 12" x 12" cards with images from the film on one side and Japanese / English text on the other. We also have the Japanese cd version in stock, which comes in a cool diecut chiboard sleeve, has the same music as the lp, and is not limited. There will be another cd version, released by the Brazilian label Essence, and there will be two versions of that. A super deluxe boxed version, and a regular digipak version. The deluxe version is super limited. Only 120 copies made. We're getting half. Those will all be spoken for by the time we get them, so if you want one of those, pre-order it now. The regular Brazilian version is the same as the deluxe version just with less packaging. And is not limited.
Confused yet? Well, stick with us just a little bit longer. The Brazilian version has more music than the Japanese version. BUT, the Japanese version has music NOT on the Brazilian version. Okay. So if you just want to make sure you have ALL the music, you need both the Japanese version AND the Brazilian version. And since the Japanese cd and the Brazilian regular cd are not limited, you can easily pick up both. The lp and the deluxe version are just for those of you who need the fancy versions or feel compelled to collect them all. Finally, the Brazilian cd version won't be out until end of August or thereabouts, so orders WILL NOT be held for those! If you want both, we'll send you the Japanese cd or lp (or both!) now and the Brazilian version when they show up in a month or so. Phew!
MPEG Stream: "A Bao A Qu"
MPEG Stream: "The Slow Ripple Of A Puddle"
MPEG Stream: "It Touches"

BORIS Mabuta No Ura (Brazilian Version) (Essence Music) cd 21.00
We figured that since this list was so chock full of new Boris releases we oughta let folks know that we also got back in the Brazilian version of Boris' Mabuta No Ura soundtrack, so for those of you who somehow missed it last time around, check it out:
Finally! The Brazilian version of the Boris soundtrack Mabuta No Ura. And why is another version of a record you may already own so essential? Well, for the precise reason we all find Boris so enticing and simultaneously frustrating. This new version is SIMILAR, but NOT identical to the Japanese version. Obviously the packaging is completely different. But the music is too, which means all you Boris obsessives will need this as well as the Japanese version if you want all the Mabuta No Ura music there is. Some of the tracks here are -not- on the Japanese version, however, there are a few tracks on the Japanese version that are not found here. ARGHHHH. But thankfully Boris are so good, and Mabuta is so completely amazing, that it makes all this multiple version craziness go down just a little bit easier. But as we said before:
Boris fans are definitely obsessive, most wanting to collect anything and everything the band puts out, whether it's the same record with different artwork, or a limited single, or the same record with 9 minutes of extra music or a different record with the same cover or whatever. The band don't really help matters much, wholeheartedly playing into this, releasing records in ridiculously limited versions and multiple versions, with different artwork or bonus tracks or both. But this new record Mabuta No Ura has definitely pushed all this multiple version collecting about as far as it can go. But hey, let's talk about the record. A soundtrack to a film entitled Mabuta No Ura, this is Boris at their most abstract, maybe even at their least heavy, but Boris has yet to disappoint, and they don't here. Although depending on your personal favorite style of Boris, whether it be the slow sludgy dirges, the minimal drones or the all out super distorted RAWK, you might have to readjust your thinking to get into Mabuta No Ura. There's only one actually 'heavy track', and some of you may already have it, or at least a version of it, as the track in question, "A Bao A Qu" was released as a super limited picture disc 7" not too long ago. "A Bao A Qu" finds Boris churning through a sludgy slab of crushing psych rock, the way only they seem to do it. The rest of Mabuta No Ura finds the band exploring much more contemplative moods, constructing simple, dreamy passages of finger picked guitar, and warm swells of moody ambience. Sometimes sounding a bit like Low, sometimes a little like Slint, the theme here overall does seem to be a brooding slow building post rock. There are variations of course, Eastern sounding melodies, hazy chanted vocals, shimmering washes of cymbal sizzle, tribal rhythms, hand claps, plaintive vocalising, stretches of Sunroof!-like free-noise ambience, blown out krautrock rhythms, but it all sort of hovers around that post rock sound we love so much, dark and moody and smoldering, occasionally bursting with dynamics, but more often than not chugging along all melancholy and contemplatively propulsive. Hard to imagine what sort of film Mabuta No Ura must be, but the songs and sounds here are quite evocative, and let our imaginations conjure up the appropriate images to go with these sumptuous sounds.
The Brazilian version comes in a nice thick oversized mini lp gateflod sleeve, housed in a deluxe die cut slip case. Inside are mini reproductions of the inserts that came with the original lp. So nice.
MPEG Stream: "A Bao A Qu"
MPEG Stream: "The Slow Ripple Of A Puddle"
MPEG Stream: "It Touches"

BORIS Mabuta No Ura (Japanese Version) (Catune) cd 21.00
BACK IN STOCK! This is the Japanese version, we're still waiting for the variant Brazilian version that frustratingly contains slightly different music (which should be out in another month or so).
Boris fans are definitely obsessive, most wanting to collect anything and everything the band puts out, whether it's the same record with different artwork, or a limited single, or the same record with 9 minutes of extra music or a different record with the same cover or whatever. The band don't really help matters much, wholeheartedly playing into this, releasing records in ridiculously limited versions and multiple versions, with different artwork or bonus tracks or both. But this new record Mabuta No Ura has definitely pushed all this multiple version collecting about as far as it can go. More on that at the end of the review -- and we definitely suggest you read that stuff before you buy! But hey, let's talk about the record. A soundtrack to a film entitled Mabuta No Ura, this is Boris at their most abstract, maybe even at their least heavy, but Boris has yet to disappoint, and they don't here. Although depending on your personal favorite style of Boris, whether it be the slow sludgy dirges, the minimal drones or the all out super distorted RAWK, you might have to readjust your thinking to get into Mabuta No Ura. There's only one actually 'heavy track', and some of you may already have it, or at least a version of it, as the track in question, "A Bao A Qu" was released as a super limited picture disc 7" not too long ago. "A Bao A Qu" finds Boris churning through a sludgy slab of crushing psych rock, the way only they seem to do it. The rest of Mabuta No Ura finds the band exploring much more contemplative moods, constructing simple, dreamy passages of finger picked guitar, and warm swells of moody ambience. Sometimes sounding a bit like Low, sometimes a little like Slint, the theme here overall does seem to be a brooding slow building post rock. There are variations of course, Eastern sounding melodies, hazy chanted vocals, shimmering washes of cymbal sizzle, tribal rhythms, hand claps, plaintive vocalising, stretches of Sunroof!-like free-noise ambience, blown out krautrock rhythms, but it all sort of hovers around that post rock sound we love so much, dark and moody and smoldering, occasionally bursting with dynamics, but more often than not chugging along all melancholy and contemplatively propulsive. Hard to imagine what sort of film Mabuta No Ura must be, but the songs and sounds here are quite evocative, and let our imaginations conjure up the appropriate images to go with these sumptuous sounds. Packaged in a gorgeous chipboard slipcover die cut sleeve, with a dozen cd sized photos, presumable from the film, with stories printed on the other sides, unfortunately all in Japanese.
So here's the complicated stuff. There are FOUR versions of this record. All of them slightly different. This is the Japanese cd version. comes in a chipboard diecut sleeve and is NOT limited. In the next week or so we will be getting the vinyl version, which comes with a dozen 12x12 photo prints and IS limited. Only 500 were made and we're getting about a fifth of those, but as with all things Boris they will not last long. So if you want one, best to preorder it now. There will be another cd version, released by the Brazilian label Essence, and there will be two versions of that. A super deluxe boxed version, and a regular digipak version. The deluxe version is super limited. Only 120 copies made. We're getting half. Those will all be spoken for by the time we get them, so if you want one of those, pre-order it now. The regular Brazilian version is the same as the deluxe version just with less packaging. And is not limited.
Confused yet? Well, stick with us just a little bit longer. The Brazilian version has more music than the Japanese version. BUT, the Japanese version has music NOT on the Brazilian version. Okay. So if you just want to make sure you have ALL the music, you need both the Japanese version AND the Brazilian version. And since the Japanese cd and the Brazilian regular cd are not limited, you can easily pick up both. The lp and the deluxe version are just for those of you who need the fancy versions or feel compelled to collect them all. Finally, the Brazilian cd version won't be out until end of August or thereabouts, so orders WILL NOT be held for those! If you want both, we'll send you the Japanese cd now (lp when we get them) and the Brazilian version when they show up in a month or so. Phew!
MPEG Stream: "A Bao A Qu"
MPEG Stream: "The Slow Ripple Of A Puddle"
MPEG Stream: "It Touches"

BORIS Mabuta No Ura - Deluxe Brazilian Box Set Version (Essence Music) cd / box / cards / flowers 50.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Finally! The Deluxe Brazilian box set version of the Boris soundtrack Mabuta No Ura. And why is another version of a record you may already own so essential? Well, for the precise reason we all find Boris so enticing and simultaneously frustrating. This new version is SIMILAR, but NOT identical to the Japanese version. Obviously the packaging is completely different. But the music is too, which means all you Boris obsessives will need this as well as the Japanese version if you want all the Mabuta No Ura music there is. Some of the tracks here are -not- on the Japanese version, however, there are a few tracks on the Japanese version that are not found here. ARGHHHH. But thankfully Boris are so good, and Mabuta is so completely amazing, that it makes all this multiple version craziness go down just a little bit easier. But as we said before:
Boris fans are definitely obsessive, most wanting to collect anything and everything the band puts out, whether it's the same record with different artwork, or a limited single, or the same record with 9 minutes of extra music or a different record with the same cover or whatever. The band don't really help matters much, wholeheartedly playing into this, releasing records in ridiculously limited versions and multiple versions, with different artwork or bonus tracks or both. But this new record Mabuta No Ura has definitely pushed all this multiple version collecting about as far as it can go. But hey, let's talk about the record. A soundtrack to a film entitled Mabuta No Ura, this is Boris at their most abstract, maybe even at their least heavy, but Boris has yet to disappoint, and they don't here. Although depending on your personal favorite style of Boris, whether it be the slow sludgy dirges, the minimal drones or the all out super distorted RAWK, you might have to readjust your thinking to get into Mabuta No Ura. There's only one actually 'heavy track', and some of you may already have it, or at least a version of it, as the track in question, "A Bao A Qu" was released as a super limited picture disc 7" not too long ago. "A Bao A Qu" finds Boris churning through a sludgy slab of crushing psych rock, the way only they seem to do it. The rest of Mabuta No Ura finds the band exploring much more contemplative moods, constructing simple, dreamy passages of finger picked guitar, and warm swells of moody ambience. Sometimes sounding a bit like Low, sometimes a little like Slint, the theme here overall does seem to be a brooding slow building post rock. There are variations of course, Eastern sounding melodies, hazy chanted vocals, shimmering washes of cymbal sizzle, tribal rhythms, hand claps, plaintive vocalising, stretches of Sunroof!-like free-noise ambience, blown out krautrock rhythms, but it all sort of hovers around that post rock sound we love so much, dark and moody and smoldering, occasionally bursting with dynamics, but more often than not chugging along all melancholy and contemplatively propulsive. Hard to imagine what sort of film Mabuta No Ura must be, but the songs and sounds here are quite evocative, and let our imaginations conjure up the appropriate images to go with these sumptuous sounds.
This box set version is limited to 120 copies, 70 of which we got here. The normal Brazilian version of Mabuta is packaged insied a white painted and textured box, wrapped in white cord. Along with the cd inside you'll find dried flowere and flower petals as well as a ton of extra inserts, photos, and text. Really beautiful, ultra limited and most likely by the time you read this out of print.
MPEG Stream: "A Bao A Qu"
MPEG Stream: "The Slow Ripple Of A Puddle"
MPEG Stream: "It Touches"

BORIS Pink (DIWPhalanx) cd 24.00
Some of us are still reeling from the mighty ass kicking delivered by Boris on their recent US tour. And before our ears have even stopped ringing, it's time for yet another new blast of ultra hyper space psych sludge rock n' roll in the form of Pink. Continuing to hone their rock chops, having shed their doom sludge past for the most part now, Boris continue to sound like some MC5 / Hendrix hybrid, albeit supercharged and drenched in LSD and lit on fire and launched into space. Big old fuzzy riffs, churning basslines, and wild spastic drumming underneath Wata's wailing sixties styled leads. You can almost imagine these strange Japanese rockers wandering into the Fillmore in the sixties, like some bell bottomed aliens and proceeding to melt the minds and ear drums of everyone in attendance. Pink starts off with some fuzzed out ultra distorted post rock (reminiscent of some of the stuff on Mabuta No Ura) wrapped in a spacy psychedelic haze, but then it's immediately back to the full on, overblown distorto RAWK that has become THE SOUND of Boris. This is easily their most lo-fi, most blown out recording yet, almost like Boris is channelling Guitar Wolf or something. The drums and cymbals sizzle as the needle goes into the red on almost every track, and the guitars are so drenched in distortion they become huge squirming smears of fuzz. A couple tracks harken back to the slow motion sludge of Flood or Amplifier Worship, and there is the dreamy ambient drift of the second to last track "My Machine", but those are just brief respites, time to catch your breath before hurling yourself back into the fray, an endless maelstrom of head banging, fist pumping, guitar smashing, drumset destroying, hair swirling, sweating, bouncing, pounding pummeling ROCK AND ROLL.
The packaging is amazing too, with a tray card that's transparent, with clear pink printing, and a booklet that is actually a three panel fold out perforated sheet of Boris Pink acid tabs (with one already missing, presumably already ingested!) wrapped in a thick pink transparent sleeve. Wow!
MPEG Stream: "Song One"
MPEG Stream: "Pink"
MPEG Stream: "Song Two"

BORIS Pink (Southern Lord) cd 14.98
Alright!! Finally, the most recent release from Japan's mighty masters of Orange Amped sludge groove drone rawk 'n' roll gets a more affordable, domestic release, but don't fret Boris nerds! There are plenty of reasons to hang on to your Japanese version, or heck, even own both. The new version does NOT replicate the mindblowing pink-plastic-see-through artwork of the import version, but the -new- design, courtesy of the ubiquitous Stephen O'Malley, ain't so shabby either, with some washed out pink and white imagery, some of his distinctive repeating shapes collages and a cool art deco font. The nicest part, is probably the sheets of 'acid tabs' inside, three of 'em, each printed on one side with that same pink and white geometric motif, the other sides with cool old fashioned woodcuts and oil paintings. Wow.
The one big difference (why must they always do this?!?!) is that -this- version, is about 8 or 9 minutes LONGER than the import version -- one track's got some extra drone tacked on. The music is the exact same as the super limited and now out of print double lp version. Hard to keep track of Boris sometimes, what with all their different releases and versions and limited editions, but we have to say, Boris are so good it just might be worth it.
Here's what we had to say about Pink first time we laid ears on it:
Some of us are still reeling from the mighty ass kicking delivered by Boris on their recent US tour. And before our ears have even stopped ringing, it's time for yet another new blast of ultra hyper space psych sludge rock n' roll in the form of Pink. Continuing to hone their rock chops, having shed their doom sludge past for the most part now, Boris continue to sound like some MC5 / Hendrix hybrid, albeit supercharged and drenched in LSD and lit on fire and launched into space. Big old fuzzy riffs, churning basslines, and wild spastic drumming underneath Wata's wailing sixties styled leads. You can almost imagine these strange Japanese rockers wandering into the Fillmore in the sixties, like some bell bottomed aliens and proceeding to melt the minds and ear drums of everyone in attendance. Pink starts off with some fuzzed out ultra distorted post rock (reminiscent of some of the stuff on Mabuta No Ura) wrapped in a spacy psychedelic haze, but then it's immediately back to the full on, overblown distorto RAWK that has become THE SOUND of Boris. This is easily their most lo-fi, most blown out recording yet, almost like Boris is channelling Guitar Wolf or something. The drums and cymbals sizzle as the needle goes into the red on almost every track, and the guitars are so drenched in distortion they become huge squirming smears of fuzz. A couple tracks harken back to the slow motion sludge of Flood or Amplifier Worship, and there is the dreamy ambient drift of the second to last track "My Machine", but those are just brief respites, time to catch your breath before hurling yourself back into the fray, an endless maelstrom of head banging, fist pumping, guitar smashing, drumset destroying, hair swirling, sweating, bouncing, pounding pummeling ROCK AND ROLL.
MPEG Stream: "Song One"
MPEG Stream: "Pink"
MPEG Stream: "Song Two"

BORIS Pink (DIWPhalanx) 2lp 49.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Finally here, Boris' Pink on deluxe double LP vinyl. Supposedly sold out in under an hour from the label's website! Well, fear not, we have about 40 copies up for grabs (folks who pre-ordered, please DO NOT order it again, your copies are on hold, safe and sound) and boy have they outdone themselves this time. If you thought the super deluxe pink transparent cd packaging was amazing, all we can say about the 2LP is WOW. A bright pink oversize cardboard sleeve, with the band name and the album title cut out stencil style revealing still more pink inside, a full color (mostly pink) insert. Super cool. And obsessives should note, the musical program here is slightly different on the vinyl, so Boris nerds will definitely need (or at least want) both formats!! Here is what we said about the cd:
Some of us are still reeling from the mighty ass kicking delivered by Boris on their recent US tour. And before our ears have even stopped ringing, it's time for yet another new blast of ultra hyper space psych sludge rock n' roll in the form of Pink. Continuing to hone their rock chops, having shed their doom sludge past for the most part now, Boris continue to sound like some MC5 / Hendrix hybrid, albeit supercharged and drenched in LSD and lit on fire and launched into space. Big old fuzzy riffs, churning basslines, and wild spastic drumming underneath Wata's wailing sixties styled leads. You can almost imagine these strange Japanese rockers wandering into the Fillmore in the sixties, like some bell bottomed aliens and proceeding to melt the minds and eard drums of everyone in attendance. Pink starts off with some fuzzed out ultra distorted post rock (reminiscent of some of the stuff on Mabuta No Ura) wrapped in a spacy psychedelic haze, but then it's immediately back to the full on, overblown distorto RAWK that has become THE SOUND of Boris. This is easily their most lo-fi, most blown out recording yet, almost like Boris is channelling Guitar Wolf or something. The drums and cymbals sizzle as the needle goes into the red on almost every track, and the guitars are so drenched in distortion they become huge squirming smears of fuzz. A couple tracks harken back to the slow motion sludge of Flood or Amplifier Worship, and there is the dreamy ambient drift of the second to last track "My Machine", but those are just brief respites, time to catch your breath before hurling yourself back into the fray, an endless maelstrom of head banging, fist pumping, guitar smashing, drumset destroying, hair swirling, sweating, bouncing, pounding pummeling ROCK AND ROLL.
MPEG Stream: "Song One"
MPEG Stream: "Pink"
MPEG Stream: "Song Two"

BORIS Vein (Important) 12" 36.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
There hasn't been a Boris record yet that has made people this angry in ages. And it's not for lack of trying. Super limited releases, multiple version, each with slightly different artwork, or subtly altered music. By the time you read this, Vein will already be out of print, and if you want one, it'll cost you $80 or so on eBay. In a nutshell, 1500 copies pressed, after a botched and discarded first pressing, 300 copies to the band, 400 sold on the label's website, leaving 800 copies to go to stores and distributors worldwide. 800 copies when they could have sold 3000. We ordered 100, and got 50, so it never even made it on our email list. And because of the botched pressing among other things, the price is exorbitant. As if that weren't enough, there were TWO ENTIRELY DIFFERENT VERSIONS OF THE RECORD. A twelve track punk rock version that went to the US, a 2 track noise version that went to Europe. And as Boris fans tend to be incredibly obsessive completists, fans freaked out when they realized they only got one of the two Vein's. Sigh. Boris need to learn that with popularity comes responsibility to the fans that have made them popular, and the more popular a band gets, the more artistic sacrifices have to be made. A band that routinely sells 5000 or 10,000 copies of a record, can not make 7"s or eps or lps and limit them to 500 or 1000. All that means is that the -majority- of your fans, the ones who just love your music, the ones who buy all your records and buy tickets to your shows, the ones who through their support enable you to play music for a living and tour and rock, will NOT get to hear those records, will become increasingly frustrated and eventually stop being fans. It happened to Stereolab as they continued to do stupidly limited releases, it could happen to Boris.
let's hope it doesn't. Cuz we love this band. And their music. And music this good was not meant to be heard by so few.
-Obligatory record review portion: Pretty cool stuff. Furious grindy punk rock. Pretty surprising coming from these dirgey behemoths. Beautiful packaging too. Silkscreened insert, silkscreened filigree on the outside of the actual vinyl. Too bad almost no one got to see or hear it....

BORIS / STUPID BABIES GO MAD Damaged (DIWPhalanx) 10" 28.00
We took pre-orders on this ultra limited Boris rarity, but we managed to get a handful of extra copies, so for those folks who forgot to preorder, or folks who are only hearing about this now, here's your chance (however brief) to nab one of theseŠ
As with all Boris stuff, it's gorgeously packaged, a red and black pictured disc, printed to look like it's cracked into pieces, to go along with the title. It sits behind a piece of red vellum, with the band names printed lightly across the top so you can also see the picture disc through the vellum. Includes a DVD in a similarly 'damaged' packaging.
So the 10" matches up Boris with their more punk rock countrymen Stupid Babies Go Mad, both it seems paying homage to Black Flag's "Damaged" in their own way. Each apparently covering a song by the otherŠ
SBGM are up first and kick out the super aggro old school So-Cal punk rock jams, but way supercharged, with ultra distorted vocals, squealing feedback everywhere, super heavy and intense and very much in the tradition of the track and the band this is a tribute too. But it seems as if SBGM have jammed three tracks into one, the second two are sort of two parts of the same song, slightly more groovy but still pretty punk, a chunky main riff and seriously pounding drumming, and a cool minor key guitar harmony refrain that makes the band sound almost like a more punk rock Iron Maiden.
The flipside finds Boris doing their punk rock thing. Starting off in full on dirge mode, droning and downtuned, maybe channeling later era SST, huge slooooow riffing, monstrous drumming, feedback wrapped around crumbling distortion, until the band kicks it into gear, more aggro punk rock, Boris style, complete with squiggly leads, shouted vocals and an old school sing along chorus.
Included with the 10" is a 70+ minute dvd, capturing a live show by both bands. It begins with about one minute of awesome Boris footage, blown out and tinted red, in some huge venue, an extended psych blowout, the drums a chaotic swirl, the guitar and bass soaring and shriekingŠAnd then it stops, and suddenly we're watching Stupid Babies Go Mad, kicking out the jams big time in a furious 30 minute set, super high contrast, damaged film stock, a blazing live show, looks pretty amazing, wild and sweaty and boozy and brilliantŠ
Then it's back to Boris, on the same blown out red tinted film stock, doing some gorgeous tripped out slow psych, super in the red and heavy as fuckŠ until they launch into more rocking territory, a whole set packed with heavy, distorted garage psych freaked out jams, with lots and lots of gong action!!! And the band destroy, the sound is raw and ultra hot, distorted and really fierce, the band is definitely on fire, and the way it's filmed makes it seem even more wild and intense.
LIMITED TO 1500 COPIES. Once these are gone we won't be able to get more.

BORIS / THE DUDLEY CORPORATION Split (Scientific Laboratories) 7" 3.99
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
New single from AQ faves Boris. Paired on this split single with the Dudley Corporation, a band from Ireland who apparently played some shows with Boris on their recent tour. which explains this otherwise rather unlikely pairing. Boris offer up a buzzing fuzzy slab of big riff rock and roll, very reminiscent of their most recent Heavy Rocks record -- actually that's 'cause it's an alternate version of "Ibitsu" off of that record. While the Dudley Corporation give us 2 tracks of jangly, minimal indie rock, pleasant enough, but no match for the crushing super rock of Boris.

BORN HELLER s/t (Locust) cd 14.98
'70s style Brit-folk emulated by an American indie rock couple.

BORN RUFFIANS Red Yellow & Blue (Warp) cd 14.98

BORN RUFFIANS s/t (Warp) cd ep 8.98
Don't know too much about the Born Ruffians other than HOLY SHIT! does the first track on this ep, "This Sentence Will Ruin / Save Your Life" sound like the greatest song the Pixies never wrote but sure as shit should have. The minute we threw this on we were just completely floored. So what if it sounds like the Pixies. It is such an unbelievably gorgeous and hook filled chunk of angular indie pop perfection. High end jangle, weird tribal drum fills, hand claps and a dangerously Frank Black like delivery. We can NOT stop listening to this. Over and over and over. Super kinetic and bouncy and so joyfully wild and fun. This would be worth eight bucks even if it was only one song long.
But thankfully the rest of the disc (all 16 minutes of it) is almost as catchy, although a little less riled up. Loping simple guitars, that gorgeous high croon, simple drumming, dense sheets of jangle, propulsive drum pound, a bit of classic new wave, a little of that new-wave-of-new-wave (we definitely hear a bit of Maximo Park in there) but ultimately it all boils down to how bad you've been jonesing for some of that classic era Pixies sound. If you're anything like us, this will hit the spot in a HUGE way. But don't write these guys off as a Pixies rip-off. Similar to how the Robbers On High Street take their uncanny resemblance to Spoon and deftly twist it into their own beautiful shapes, the Born Ruffians work the same kind of magic, taking big chunks of Pixies bliss and mixing them up with all kinds of other glorious pop into a truly catchy concoction.
Recommended.
MPEG Stream: "This Sentence Will Ruin/Save Your Life"
MPEG Stream: "Hedonistic Me"

BORT, EDUARDO s/t (Fonomusic) cd 23.00
Man! The '60s and '70s psych reissues from around the world just keep wowing us. I mean, there's lots that don't, but those that do, DO. Spain's Eduardo Bort (the guy floating cross-legged in space on the cover with his guitar in his lap, presumably) and his band released this album back in 1975 and we'd never ever have heard of it if Fonomusic hadn't just done this nicely digipacked cd reissue. We put it on and thought, this is pretty good, yeah...and then a track or two later we were all just, like, 'I need this!" From soft gentle folkiness to hard rock guitar workouts, there's a lot to like here. The record consists of six epix of many moods, from spaced out psych to symphonic prog -- moody, melodic, dynamic and bombastic. Bort & Co are capable of sudden energetic, frantic prog outbursts and fuzz-riffed heaviness, like when about seven minutes into "Walking On The Grass" Bort's band really starts rippin' (with a total Iron Maiden galloping bass-line). Very cool. And the vocal majesty of that track reminds us of Deep Purple's "Child In Time" quite a bit. The production is amazing too. Recommended ('specially if you also dig Steamhammer's Speech or Wishbone Ash or Uriah Heep or anything sorta prog, sorta hard rock, sorta psych from the same era!).
MPEG Stream: "Walking On The Grass"
MPEG Stream: "Pictures Of Sadness"

BOSS HOG Boss Hog (DGC) cd 14.98
Christina Martinez, her husband Jon Spencer, the rest of the band.

BOSS HOG White Out (In The Red) cd 13.98
After the major label debacle of Geffen getting bought up by some other huge megadork, Boss Hog's 4th album needless to say didn't end up on a major. As consolation to returning to the indies, Cristina does appear naked on the cover (as she did on all of her AmRep albums). Musically, Cristina and company (including her husband Jon Spencer) have produced another saucy swampy rock album of bluesy grit.

BOSTON SPACESHIPS Brown Submarine (Guided By Voices) cd 14.98
Hmmm, that album title makes me think of... poop. Don't know about you, but it's not exactly what I want to have in my head while listening to music... unless it's G.G. Allin of course, but even then! Anyhoo, Boston Spaceships is yet another one of Robert Pollard's alter egos. Well, actually it's an altogether new band, a supergroup even! The band lineup includes Chris Slusarenko (also of GBV and Takeovers) and John Moen (also of Decemberists and Mr. Malkmus' Jicks). On the road, they're joined by Tommy Keene and Jason Narducy (who also plays with Bob Mould). Don't worry, it's the farthest thing from poopy. This is Pollard and co. at their loosest limbed indie rockin' fun. Reelingly garagey raucous with lots of wonkily bent electric guitar chords, lyrical silliness ("Soggy Beavers"?!), vocal yowling, primal drumming. Sounds like they had great time recording it. You might have just as much fun listening too, especially if you're a Pollard fanatic. Highlights: "Andy Playboy" and "Rat Trap"!
MPEG Stream: "Zero Fix"
MPEG Stream: "Andy Playboy"
MPEG Stream: "Rat Trap"

BOTHER, THE The Night Bleeds Gold (Three Ring Records) cd 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Local indie combo The Bother make straightforward gentle indie pop with laidback emotive male vocals. Breezy and wistfully bittersweet tunes with a few nice moody embellishments -- an effected vocal, a textural sound sample, a slinky tremolo'd guitar, a flute -- for added atmosphere and loveliness. A bit reminiscent of early Beck and Pavement.
MPEG Stream: "Upon Low Tide"
MPEG Stream: "Our Nameless Glamour"

BOTTOM OF THE HUDSON Holiday Machine (Absolutely Kosher) cd ep 8.98
Geez, it's getting increasingly difficult to keep up with the flurry of release activity bursting forth from the Absolutely Kosher label these days -- Sparrow, Jim Yoshii Pile-Up, Moggs, Get Him Eat Him, and the list goes on! We welcome this new EP from veteran indie popsters Bottom Of The Hudson as a kind sign that they A.) don't want to crowd out their labelmates, B.) don't want to monopolize the stereo, C.) do want to keep the listener wantin' more or D.) all of the above? For these half dozen songs they've injected a dose of the sullen mope-rock dourness of Interpol into their rough-hewn popcraft a la Guided By Voices to good effect. Lots of those ol' familiar strummy-jangle indie rock guitars, boyish vocals and an occasional lo-tech drum machine percolating up every so often.
MPEG Stream: "Holiday Machine"
MPEG Stream: "One Of Us"

BOTTOM OF THE HUDSON Songs From The Barrel Commando (Happy House) cd 14.98
Here's the latest full length from Bottom Of The Hudson (their follow-up to 2003's The Omaha Record), and it reveals a transformation of sorts. While they're still deeply immersed in their studies at Robert Pollard's School of Fine Indie Pop, they've tempered and toned things down considerably. Gone are the pounded piano lines and crunchy guitars in favor of slower, more contemplative folksy acoustic numbers. Perhaps they've been (re)visiting Pink Floyd's Meddle album? Be sure to stick around 'til the final two songs 'cuz they're definitely the stand-outs (although when the second to last song started we thought it was a cover of k.d. lang's "Constant Craving"... which in itself is a fine song, innit?). And if this isn't enough B.O.T.H. for ya, expect a new ep sometime this summer!
MPEG Stream: "Take Me In"
MPEG Stream: "Hallways Of Rachel"

BOTTOM OF THE HUDSON The Omaha Record (Absolutely Kosher) cd 12.98

BOTTOMLESS PIT Hammer Of The Gods (Comedy Minus One) cd 12.98
There's something magical about the original lineup of a band. The struggle to make it, the passion of music making. That's why debut records are often so powerful, and while many times it's the best record a band will ever make. Subsequent records are made over the course of a year or two, but that first record was the culmination of a lifetime.
In some cases, bands soldier on, when a key member departs. Sometimes the band reinvent themselves, instead of desperately trying to recapture a sound that was partially created by the absent member. But sometimes, when a member leaves, it's like a death knell for the band.
With Silkworm, when Joel Phelps left, the band seemed to falter big time. They made some decent records, wrote some killer songs, but Phelps was the spark, the magic went missing for the most part when he left. But they soldiered on, until the tragic death of drummer Michael Dalquist in 2005. The band wisely chose to hang it up, as Dahlquist was a founding member and his powerful idiosyncratic drumming style was a critical part of Silkworm's sound.
The surviving members resurfaced as Bottomless Pit a year or two later, and something happened. Not sure if it was going through the death of Dahlquist, or the new members, but this is the best Silkworm have sounded since the Phelps days. And while it may be called Bottomless Pit, sonically it sounds as much like Silkworm as ever. Which in this case is a very good thing.
A dark dark record. Moody and melancholy, introspective, but plenty rocking. The two Silkworms, Tim Midgett and Andy Cohen, still share vocals and songwriting duties, so in that way too, the sound is reminiscent of Silkworm. The drums are simple and solid, the guitars tightly wound, the vocals weary and warm, the second track "Dogtag" might be the best Silkworm song Silkworm never wrote. A muted chug holds the song down, never quite exploding into full on rocking, the tension building and building, the vocals managing to sound so worn and haggard, and yet so emotional The menacing groove of "Dead Man's Blues" sounds angry and bitter, with a jagged tangled chorus and a killer wall of gnarled guitar second half. "Human Out Of Me" is another brooding slow burner, all warbly falsetto vocals and simple cyclical melody. The record finishes up with "Sevens Sing", a real strange one, with haunting processed drums, shimmery talk box sounding guitars, space-y effects, all very spare and whispery, distant whirs and wheezing strings, the song never really getting loud or aggressive, just slithering along intensely, sounding like it might never end, a gorgeous, yet tripped out funereal indie rock sprawl.
Way recommended. Old Silkworm fans, this might be the one you've been waiting for...
MPEG Stream: "The Cardinal Movements"
MPEG Stream: "Dogtag"

BOULDER Reaped In Half (Tee Pee) cd 14.98
Ohio punk rockers turned metalheads shed more of their punk rock skin and emerge a bright and bloody hard rockin' butterfly! Hard to tell if this is 'irony rock' or not, but it hardly matters. This is high kicking, devil sign, Budweiser tallboys, T-top camaros, 7-11 parking lot, ass kicking, drug gulping, friday night party metallic rock and roll. Think Hellacopters, Drunk Horse, Grand Funk Railroad, Motorhead and this time around: AC/DC, with the simple stomping 4/4 rhythms and the snake-y noodly riffs. Meathead metal 'n' roll that's mindless and fun as hell!!
RealAudio clip: "Krank It Up"
RealAudio clip: "Live Or Dead"
RealAudio clip: "Ripped In Half"

BOULDER DDASH Alien Folk Trash (Angelika Kohlermann) cd 16.98
This French band is seemingly named after an '80s video game, and aptly so, 'cause that's what a lot of this sounds like. Bleepage from dusty, vintage videogame consoles, but put to use in pretty lil' micro-songs with wistful singing. Simultaneously cute and sad. The title is also apt: alien (that's the video game sounds), folk (that's the melodic element) and trash (that's the distortion), sure. Imagine, say, the melancholic folky music of AQ-fave Greg Weeks colliding with some post-DHR distorted DIY electronics. Very pretty and fucked up. One track will feature acoustic guitar strum, the next quirky Aphex Twin-ish breakbeats. Some, both. It's very personal, homemade sounding stuff, which makes sense 'cause while we called this a band up top, actually Boulder dDash is really pretty much just one guy, a French fellow named Jean-Baptiste Hanak, with additional vocals on four of the twenty tracks by someone named The Very Ape (possibly Hanak's girlfriend?) who is even more sad sounding than he is. But as sad as the singing can be, this is a fun album. There's a song about comic book hero Fillerbunny, and another is dedicated to labelmates Electronicat. Oh, and this disc includes an entire bonus album of mp3s called "The Dark Side Of Boulder dDash" that's rather more crazed and stupid, like Hanak got really drunk and tried to make some hip-hop tracks. Weird.
MPEG Stream: "On The Road Again"
MPEG Stream: "Ur.So (feat. the Very Ape)"
MPEG Stream: "Antinordheim #1"

BOWERY ELECTRIC (Happy Go Lucky) 12" 7.98
2 new songs, one is drum'n'bass and one features scratchy electro sounds. Pretty cool, and definitely a step forward for this New York formerly-strictly-space-rock-ambient group.

BOWERY ELECTRIC Beat (Kranky) cd 13.98
Fuzzy layers of Kranky-style moodiness with the addition of beats, hence the title. According to the band, the lp (as well as cd) will be issued by Beggar's Banquet early next year.

BOWERY ELECTRIC Bowery Electric (Kranky) cd 14.98
For fans of Jessamine, Bardo Pond, Flying Saucer Attack.

BOWERY ELECTRIC Vertigo (Kranky/Beggars Banquet) 2cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Double cd import of totally cool remixes by the likes of Witchman (Aquarius bows down to the brilliance of Witchman), Twisted Science, Third Eye Foundation, Main, etc. Highly recommended for late night ambient listening.

BOWIE, DAVID Diamond Dogs - 30th Anniversary Edition (EMI) 2cd 24.00
Anyone noticed how many 30th anniversary editions have been popping up in the last couple of years? Quite a sign of the remarkable wealth of great music that was made in the early to mid '70s. Some truly classic albums (case in point, the recent reissues of four albums by Bowie's comrade Brian Eno)! Well, here's another one, a special double-disc commemorative edition that's particularly for Bowie fanatics. While we welcome the reissue of Diamond Dogs, Bowie's album from the tail end of his flashy conceptual Ziggy Stardust period, we have to say that the bonus disc adds little to the Diamond Dogs celebratory experience. It includes a 'K-Tel Best Of' cut of the title song, a U.S. single version as well as a 2003 reworking of "Rebel Rebel", a demo track for a proposed 1984 musical, and a Bruce Springsteen cover. Definitely for completists.
MPEG Stream: "Growin' Up"
MPEG Stream: "Alternative Candidate"

BOWIE, DAVID Heathen (ISO) cd 17.98
First things first, a side note (not solely specific to David Bowie's new album but we'll use it as a timely example): Y'know, something that irks me to pieces is the overuse of the term "classic". It just gets tossed around like any other superlative! Doesn't a bit of time needs to pass before something can deservedly be proclaimed "classic"? And I don't wanna be told that something brand spanking new is classic, least of all on a sticker applied to the shrinkwrap. Grrrrr.
Rant aside, Heathen is Bowie's twenty-seventh studio album. Among those, there've been innumerable highs and lows. Hard to say what the score is now, but reportedly this is his return to his Low / Scary Monsters (ie, high) realm, or more generally a return to form. Interestingly it's a revisiting of one of his truly classic periods rather than yet another pursuit of the newest happenin' sounds for him to adopt and adapt. Also, notably this is his reunion with producer Tony Visconti (who co-produced many if not all of Bowie's greatest albums which certainly helps to recapture the mood and atmosphere of those amazing works), but the best thing about this album is his voice. Not trying to force it into the style of the day, he sings with an ease and aplomb that's been missing from many of his albums of the past two decades. Many songs do occasionally veer into the overwhelming sheen and excess of AOR territory - check out "5:15 The Angels Have Gone" which brought many in-store comparisons to Peter Gabriel - but they're countered by his more arty, idiosyncratic moments. There are a few odd/questionable choices made however, one of them was to cover The Pixies' "Cactus" (not to mention placing it second on the album). This track was met by a chorus of raised eyebrows and groans. He also delivers renditions of Neil Young's "I've Been Waiting For You" and The Legendary Stardust Cowboy's "I Took a Trip (On A Space Shuttle)" here parenthetically renamed "...(On A Gemini Spaceship)" and made all super hyper-electronic beat-funky. Guests include Pete Townsend and Dave Grohl. A solid Bowie album? Perhaps. A classic? Hmmm.
RealAudio clip: "Slow Burn"
RealAudio clip: "Cactus"
RealAudio clip: "I Took A Trip On A Gemini Spacecraft"
RealAudio clip: "5:15 The Angels Have Gone"

BOWIE, DAVID Heroes (Remastered) (EMI) cd 11.98

BOWIE, DAVID Hunky Dory (Virgin) cd 16.98

BOWIE, DAVID Low (Virgin) cd 16.98

BOWIE, DAVID Reality (ISO / Columbia) cd 17.98
Much like its predecessor Heathen, David Bowie's twenty eighth studio album Reality is another revisiting of sort to his excellent Low/Heroes/Scary Monsters period. He's once again joined forces with producer Tony Visconti with very fine results. As on Heathen, he seems very at ease -- no longer hopping on the latest trends, nor the alienated/alienating soul of earlier times, instead he's effectively fused a great deal of the energy and spirit of the old with the composure and technology of the new. His vocals still retain their smouldering edge, and not surprisingly the production is ever so finely detailed and crafted in the most deluxe fashion. The album is quite dandy as a whole, but high points include the lead-off track "New Killer Star" as well as "She'll Drive" and "Days". Plus depending on who you ask, a particular highlight or lowlight of Reality may be the second song, a cover of Jonathan Richman's "Pablo Picasso"!!!
MPEG Stream: "She'll Drive"
MPEG Stream: "Days"

BOWIE, DAVID Space Oddity (Virgin) cd 16.98

BOWIE, DAVID The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust (Virgin) cd 16.98