SUNBURNED HAND OF THE MAN Complexion (Records) lp 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A visit from Sunburned Hand Of The Man always means a bunch of new releases, this time it's two lps, and a handful of cd-r's they've been lugging around on tour. We'll get to as many as we can, but let's start with Complexion. Like all of their releases, this lp, recorded live in 2004, is a gorgeous and stumbling tribal and primal mess, psychedelic and tripped out, space-y and rhythmic. There are multiple tracks listed but this plays like one massive track, two sides of loping campfire dirges, detuned guitars, simple shuffling rhythms, warbly organ melodies, super freaked out vocals all wrapped in reverb and delay, distant distorted wah guitar, and even some tape drop out that sounds as intentional as any of the other sounds present. Occasionally everything coalesces into super dense, perfectly concise passage of abstract rhythm and propulsive skitter that definitely reminds us of the legendary This Heat. This is druggy and dreamy bliss! All woozy and seasick and completely mesmerizing. At its most psychedelic it sounds a bit like Santana's little brother, high on tequila and peyote, sneaking into his big brother's practice space with his drug buddies and proceeding to get even higher and jam out all night long. Side two is a little more mellow and abstract, super minimal and trippy, a simple shuffling rhythm and all sorts of vocal and instrumental weirdness drenched in effects and splattered with little bits of random percussion, ghostlike vocals, and hazy drifting melodies.

SUNBURNED HAND OF THE MAN Fire Escape (Smalltown Supersound) cd 17.98
If you've kept up with the prolific and often very limited and hard to track down back catalog of Sunburned Hand Of The Man you'll know that they're always eager to explore new territory and widen their musical horizons. But even so, we still think you'll be thrown for a loop, in the best possible way. In fact this disc has even won over a few of us here who had always been on the fence with these Sunburned fellas in the past.
What's important to know about Fire Escape is that it's just as much of a Four Tet record as it is a Sunburned Hand Of The Man record. Four Tet and Sunburned!? Huh! What?! Sometimes the seemingly oddest pairings produce the most creative and unexpected results. And wow, we've totally been swept away by the magic these two forces have created, each contributing the best of of their respected, yet disparate qualities.
Sunburned got to do what they do, improvising and travelling in all their drugged out and mystifying glory, while Four Tet then collected hours upon hours of their recordings and worked his own magic on them to create a final product that might be the most realized, colorful and immediate Sunburned record yet.
From the opening track, which had us all thinking of 23 Skiddo in all the best ways, and throughout the entire album, you get to hear a band who pride themselves on their improv abilities but with the much more careful and deliberate and musically astute filter of Four Tet's Kieran Hebden, who has proven over the years that he not only makes really great music, but that he understands and appreciates great music in so many shapes and varieties. It's almost as if his recent collaborations with free jazz legend Steve Reid opened him up to the possibility and power of improvisation while still allowing him to retain the great sensitivity to sound that his made him one of the most compelling musicians to emerge out of the electronic scene in the last decade.
It's so exciting and exhilarating to see this kind of creative energy exchanged and brought together by folks from two seemingly different scenes, sharing the common thread of aiming to make transcendental music that transports you to different dimensions and offers up all kinds of unexpected twists and turns. After their recent collaboration with Circle and this totally successful meeting of musical minds with Four Tet we have to say we are loving the collaborative spirit of Sunburned Hand Of The Man more than ever, and while there was all kinds of hype surrounding SHOTM a few years ago, we are happy to report that they just might be only just reaching their most realized moment right now!
MPEG Stream: "Nice Butterfly Mask"
MPEG Stream: "Fire Escape"

SUNBURNED HAND OF THE MAN Fire Escape (Smalltown Supersound) 2lp 25.00
Now available on lp!!
If you've kept up with the prolific and often very limited and hard to track down back catalog of Sunburned Hand Of The Man you'll know that they're always eager to explore new territory and widen their musical horizons. But even so, we still think you'll be thrown for a loop, in the best possible way. In fact this record has even won over a few of us here who had always been on the fence with these Sunburned fellas in the past.
What's important to know about Fire Escape is that it's just as much of a Four Tet record as it is a Sunburned Hand Of The Man record. Four Tet and Sunburned!? Huh! What?! Sometimes the seemingly oddest pairings produce the most creative and unexpected results. And wow, we've totally been swept away by the magic these two forces have created, each contributing the best of of their respected, yet disparate qualities.
Sunburned got to do what they do, improvising and travelling in all their drugged out and mystifying glory, while Four Tet then collected hours upon hours of their recordings and worked his own magic on them to create a final product that might be the most realized, colorful and immediate Sunburned record yet.
From the opening track, which had us all thinking of 23 Skiddo in all the best ways, and throughout the entire album, you get to hear a band who pride themselves on their improv abilities but with the much more careful and deliberate and musically astute filter of Four Tet's Kieran Hebden, who has proven over the years that he not only makes really great music, but that he understands and appreciates great music in so many shapes and varieties. It's almost as if his recent collaborations with free jazz legend Steve Reid opened him up to the possibility and power of improvisation while still allowing him to retain the great sensitivity to sound that his made him one of the most compelling musicians to emerge out of the electronic scene in the last decade.
It's so exciting and exhilarating to see this kind of creative energy exchanged and brought together by folks from two seemingly different scenes, sharing the common thread of aiming to make transcendental music that transports you to different dimensions and offers up all kinds of unexpected twists and turns. After their recent collaboration with Circle and this totally successful meeting of musical minds with Four Tet we have to say we are loving the collaborative spirit of Sunburned Hand Of The Man more than ever, and while there was all kinds of hype surrounding SHOTM a few years ago, we are happy to report that they just might be only just reaching their most realized moment right now!
MPEG Stream: "Nice Butterfly Mask"
MPEG Stream: "Fire Escape"

SUNBURNED HAND OF THE MAN Headdress (Records) lp 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Wouldn't really be an AQ list without a little gushing from Andee. So that said. SUNBURNED HAND OF THE MAN is my new favorite band!! Which is pretty amazing seeing as they have kept a pretty low profile. And I eventually had to get in touch directly with the band to get a hold of their stuff, but I WAS NOT disappointed. This lp is their first official release, although they have released 8 cd-r's (of a proposed series of FIFTY!!!) six of which we will have in stock and list in the near future. But what the hell does it sound like?!?!?! Well, the easiest comparison is the No Neck Blues Band, especially since they supposedly share a member or two. But unlike NNBB's free form hippy drum circle drug rock neanderthal clatter, Sunburned Hand take their hippy psych folk and mix in all sorts of disparate elements, motorik krautrock, droning ambient soundscapes, ROCK, free jazz, ESP style caveman thud, and delicate melodies and hints of seventies British folk. Also unlike NNBB, Sunburned Hand forego primitivism for primitivism's sake and weave all those elements together seamlessly, and musically, and most importantly, with a lush and rich and surprisingly full production. With a lineup eleven members strong, and instrumentation consisting of guitar, flutes, drums, keyboards, congas, blades of grass, whistles, djembe, shakers, trumpet, stunts, spirit, organ, horns, 'mountain top leads', 'the jazz', 'breath' and of course 'the looking glass', how can you go wrong? Well, you can't. So for now, this lp is the only way you'll be able to sample Sunburned Hand's otherworldly psych/kraut/rock/folk/drone/thrum/hum/skree until we eventually get some of the cd-r's. And there may be a release on tUMULt eventually as well!!!

SUNBURNED HAND OF THE MAN Hoof Trip / Plague Pipe (Riot Season) 7" 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It's pretty amazing that one of the most talked about underground bands in the world, one that has graced the cover of the Wire, as well as the inside of numerous other hipster music bibles, has no actual cd releases, and in fact, has nothing currently in print. EXCEPT for this 7". And that won't last long either as we're fairly sure we won't be able to get more of these. It's also too bad that these two tracks don't do much to demonstrate what SHOTM are capable of. Side one is a fairly tepid free percussion jam / hippy drum circle, sort of stumbling and meandering. Fairly pleasant but nothing to knock your improv socks off. Side two fares a little better, a little wilder and more focused, but the track doesn't really get going until about 20 seconds before it's over, when a wicked Can-ish groove kicks in only to be snuffed out moment later. Leaves you wanting more definitely. Not sure a 7" is the ideal medium for a sprawling, wandering, free form inprov outfit, but since this is all they got right now, if it sounds like your cup of tea, don't dawdle or you'll be out of luck.

SUNBURNED HAND OF THE MAN Loose Bugs (Spirit of Orr) cd-r 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It's been ages since we've heard from these guys, maybe the second most referenced band on the aQ list when we're trying to describe stumbling tribal avant free rock, after the the No Neck Blues Band, both bands pretty much rule that world, each an ever shifting collective with a few core members, able to conjure up super epic clattery free folk, and droned out abstract minimalism, dipping liberally into noise rock, free jazz, 20th century classical, infusing their lo-fi chaos with a sense of art.
No Neck definitely drifted in the artier direction, releasing super limited editions, deluxe lps, performing in art spaces, playing with dancers, mysterious vocalists, while Sunburned Hand stayed more sort of punk rock, releasing an endless series of home made cd-r's, their sound remaining relatively consistent, a gorgeous, cracked, grimy and gritty anti rock, as much about noise as jazz, the players connected on some other level, their performances amazing, their recordings equally so, slipping from buzzing ragas, to strange clattery soundscapes, to full bore free rock roar, to hushed and contemplative drift, to spidery post rock minimalism, to skronky almost free jazz, to foresty free folk all detuned guitars and fluttery horns and stumbling drums, to a sort of avant Appalachia, all of that and more are touched on here, a killer recording from way back in 1998, only now seeing the light of day, packaged in a cool hand stamped origami style sleeve, with pasted on front cover art, and a printed poster / insert. LIMITED to 999 COPIES... (hmm, that's a lot for a cd-r!)
MPEG Stream: "Concentric Species"
MPEG Stream: "Meeting With Seed At The Gates Of Chance"
MPEG Stream: "Whale Bone Whistle"

SUNBURNED HAND OF THE MAN No Magic Man (Arthur) cd 13.98

MPEG Stream: "The 1st Degree"
MPEG Stream: "The Air Itself"
MPEG Stream: "No Magic Man"

SUNBURNED HAND OF THE MAN Rare Wood (Spirit of Orr) cd 14.98
We've all been waiting for this one for a while. After tons of cd-r's and limited lps comes the first official, actual cd release from the poster boys of New Weird America (ugh), Sunburned Hand Of The Man. Right off the bat, we had to wonder, with at least a dozen cd-r's, and 3 or 4 full length lps and supposedly dozens more unreleased recordings, why for their debut cd would they release just 40 minutes of music, mostly recorded live on the radio? Weird. Happy to report though that this stuff is pretty darn good. A lot more aggressive and fucked up sounding than past efforts. A throbbing miasma of squelchy synth, noodly bass, wild clapping, clattery percussion and processed unintelligable vocals that pretty much take over the whole show, getting more and more strident and more and more gutteral veering into decidedly cookie monster territory at times. And it sort of works. The vocals seemed to be SHOTM's weak link in the past, but this new growling aggressive proselytizing turns this stuff into some sort of super aggro, backwoods pagan nightmare. Think Tom Waits meets Capt Beefheart with a tracheaotomy! Flutes, echo guitar, simple propusive drumming, delay pedals set to stun and reverb off the charts, skronky horns, as well as all sorts of droning industrial hums and grinding noise add to the chaos. Maybe not what we were expecting or even hoping for, bu cool nonetheless.
MPEG Stream: "Easy Wind"
MPEG Stream: "Camel Backwards"

SUNBURNED HAND OF THE MAN s/t (Wabana) 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 long out of print lp finally gets reissued on cd. Packaged smartly in a purple digipak with a clear sticker of the original lp artwork afixed to the front. Here's what we had to say about it the first time around:
More scattered, primal free folk pagan minimalism from this Massachussets ensemble who have quickly humbled the mighty No Neck Blues Band in terms of hipster mystique but also in terms of recorded output. It seems like everytime a Sunburned Hand gets up to take a piss, it's documented on tape, and then released as a cd-r or limited lp. But as with the weekly Acid Mothers releases, the quality remains high enough that all you connoisseurs of "weird America" and all things free folk tribalism, at least for now, still have to pick up every last artifact. This cd is the latest document of SHOTM's not so expanding sonic universe. Krautrock hippy jams, wah guitars, chaotic ramshackle percussion, wild whoops and shouts, all occasionally slipping into some seriously propulsive grooves, but just as quickly falling apart, into space-is-the-place jazz skronk and Crash Worship / Wicker Man stumbling tribal rhythmic workouts.
MPEG Stream: "One "
MPEG Stream: "Three"

SUNBURNED HAND OF THE MAN s/t lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
More scattered, primal free folk pagan minimalism from this Massachussets ensemble who have quickly humbled the mighty No Neck Blues Band in terms of hipster mystique but also in terms of recorded output. It seems like everytime a Sunburned Hand gets up to take a piss, it's documented on tape, and then released as a cd-r or limited lp. But as with the weekly Acid Mothers releases, the quality remains high enough that all you connoisseurs of "weird America" and all things free folk tribalism, at least for now, still have to pick up every last artifact. This lp is the latest document of SHOTM's not so expanding sonic universe. Krautrock hippy jams, wah guitars, chaotic ramshackle percussion, wild whoops and shouts, all occasionally slipping into some seriously propulsive grooves, but just as quickly falling apart, into space-is-the-place jazz skronk and Crash Worship / Wicker Man stumbling tribal rhythmic workouts.

SUNBURNED HAND OF THE MAN The Trickle Down Theory Of Lord Knows What (Eclipse) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Finally reissued on cd! Another missive from this massive (seven or eight or who knows how many members) free rock/folk ensemble from Massachussetts who recently graced the cover of the Wire, representing "weird America". Which as far as we can tell is this current crop of hippy folk revivalists channelling the spirit of sixties' ESP and seventies British folk through their appropriately eclectic record collections. By now you know, we here at AQ can't get enough of the Sunburned Hand, and neither can anyone else, judging from the scarcity of their cdrs and LPs. But finally the cd reissues have started to surface! Trickle Down Theory... is about the free-est bit of scattered improv we've heard from SHOTM, and it's also maybe the most chaotic. A sort of murky, stumbling, shambling rhythm, with chantlike vocals and the occasional casio sputter. Tinkling chimes, rattling clatter and squealing sax all make brief appearances, and towards the middle of side two, things get slightly more propulsive (but only slightly) with a warbly, seasick Eastern raga that devolves into an outer space, free jazz battle of the bands, noisy and damaged and almost spiritual. With FLUTES! This is some prime, otherworldly, drugged out, folky and fucked up, primordial ooze.
MPEG Stream: "Spell It Out"
MPEG Stream: "Show Of Hands"

SUNBURNED HAND OF THE MAN Trickle Down Theory Of The Lord (Eclipse) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another missive from this massive (seven or eight or who knows how many members) free rock/folk ensemble from Massachussetts who are currently gracing the cover of the Wire, representing "weird America". Which as far as we can tell is this current crop of hippy folk revivalists channelling the spirit of sixties' ESP and seventies British folk through their appropriately eclectic record collections. By now you know, we here at AQ can't get enough of the Sunburned Hand, and neither can anyone else, judging from the scarcity of their cdrs. But at least the vinyl keeps coming. Too bad for those of you who remain turntableless. That'll teach ya! Trickle Down Theory... is about the free-est bit of scattered improv we've heard from SHOTM, and it's also maybe the most thrown together sounding. A sort of murky, stumbling, shambling rhythm, with chantlike vocals and the occasional casio sputter. Tinkling chimes, rattling clatter and squealing sax all make brief appearances, and towards the middle of side two, things pick up considerably with a warbly, seasick Eastern raga that devolves into an outer space, free jazz battle of the bands, noisy and damaged and almost spiritual. With FLUTES! While not their best effort, keep in mind that the worst SHOTM is better than the best lots of bands have to offer. This is still some prime, otherworldly, drugged out, folky and fucked up, promordial ooze.

SUNBURNED HAND OF THE MAN Wedlock (Eclipse) 2lp 24.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
There are prolific bands, and then there are PROLIFIC bands. Take Acid Mothers Temple. Not a month, or even a week goes by sometimes without a new record by those Japanese psych rock freaks. Then there's Guided By Voices' Bob Pollard who has supposedly written over 3000 songs. Or what about Wolf Eyes with their insanely extensive back catalog of cd-r's? None of em can touch Sunburned Hand Of The Man. Every time they swing through town not only are they pushing a handful of lps or proper cd releases, they also always seem to have boxes and suitcases and pockets full of all new super limited cd-r's. This time was no different: An lp (listed last time), a cd-r (listed elsewhere on this list), a handful of super limited tour only cd-r's that sold out before we could even list them (there are benefits to visiting the store in person!) and now this epic two years in the works double lp. Entitled Wedlock, the music on these 2lps was compiled from a weeks worth of recording in 2003, on the way to, and in, Alaska, where the band were playing at a friend's wedding. Recorded live to two video cameras and then cobbled together using two cd decks and a mixer, this is definitely SHOTM at their most jubilant. And maybe most funky! C'mon, it was a wedding after all! The record starts off with haunting maudlin piano beneath damaged snippets of conversation, before it's cut off abruptly by rambunctious bluegrass steel guitar, recorded in a lo-fi haze and surrounded by random conversations, whooping sirens in the distance, and all manner of animal calls and ambient sounds. That's before the whole thing twists itself into a full on white boy groove, drunken reverbed vocals over a wildly sloppy shuffle, reckless and whooping and drunk and delirious. The rest of side two and three don't deviate too much from that sound. Imagine Funkadelic playing German Oak and you'll get an idea of the sort of Kraut-flecked folk funk we're talking about. A confusing swirl of tripped out effects, manic percussion, tweaked vocals, wah guitar and a throbbing simple rhythm beneath it all. At some points it sounds almost like a much more tribal, much more groovy Eagles, but with WAY more beer and WAY better drugs. Pulsing and throbbing through the murk of an all night party, liquid guitar lines slither endlessly around slippery slow burning rhythms. There's a brief spurt of spastic blown out free form pagan tribalism at the end of side three that hints at what is to come on side four, a side long, classic SHOTM-sounding blast of drug addled drum circle freak out, all hands on some sort of drum or cymbal or noisemaker, whipping up a wild squall of rhythmic chaos. Wow. The whole thing comes packaged in a thick gatefold sleeve, with a full color insert, featuring photos from the wedding and the Alaska trip and a reproduction of the original invitation.

SUNBURNED HAND OF THE MAN Z (Ecstatic Peace!) cd 10.98

MPEG Stream: "oo"
MPEG Stream: "oo oo"

SUNDOWNERS The Girl With the Thing in Her Hair (Drag City) 7" 3.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Remember how the first Sundowners single sounded like Palace's Will Oldham had taken some hallucinogens and someone stole the tape and released it? The new Sundowners single plays the same prank on Bill Callahan of Smog. Cathy loves the synthesizer-drenched b-side. Whose bedroom will Drag City sneak into next? Hint: they'll find the duo in the kitchen.

SUNFLOWER LOGIC, THE Clouds On The Polar Landscape (Pink Banana) cd ep 10.98
Somehow, even after releasing THREE full length Guided By Voices albums last year (or was it four) on top of the hundred or so that came before, and having recorded about a million more under his own name, apparently Robert Pollard still needs homes for some of his songs, so thus, The Sunflower Logic was born. And as you might imagine, the sound won't be at all unfamiliar to fans of GBV and all the various related offshoots. But then us GBV fans are indeed a voracious lot, and thus won't (and probably shouldn't) think twice about picking up another batch of Pollard-y pop perfection. The Sunflower Logic though is definitely a slightly noisier proposition, just give "UFO Nights" a listen, it's a fantastically loose-limbed droned out psychedelic noise pop, lots of buzz, and weird warbly melodies, some weird paranoid lyrics, and yeah, the sort of tossed off hook most other bands would trade their firstborn for.
The rest of the ep is just as off kilter. "I Wanna Marry Your Sister" begins with a creepy voice mail message, before the song unfolds as a super raw lo-fi home recorded acoustic dirge, Pollard's vocals weirdly processed, the guitar angular, all over a weird filed of glitchy static. "I Was A Boy" is classic GBV pop, doused in weird noises, muted and murky, laced with shards of squelch, and some near metallic chug. "Felt Stars" is a twisted bit of piano cabaret, Pollard's vocalizing over pounded piano, sounding like an unrealized GBV outtake, and finally, "Fuck You Mr. Smith", which starts off dirgey and near metallic, but instead of exploding into something heavy, it transforms into a loping droned out jangle, again, all over a weird drone, this time a churning processed guitar swirl, looped and layered, the song devolving occasionally into twisted little catchy choruses, the whole thing seriously druggy and damaged.
In fact, to some ears, this might sound like a tossed off odds and ends cash grab, which who knows, it could be, but GBV/Pollard obsessives will find lots to love amidst all the noise and deconstructed anti pop weirdness. Reservedly recommended, and only for the GBV faithful!
MPEG Stream: "UFO Nights"
MPEG Stream: "I Was A Boy"
MPEG Stream: "Fuck You Mr. Smith"

SUNFOREST Sound Of Sunforest (Acme Gramophone / Lion Productions) cd 16.98
Somewhere between The Free Design, The Incredible String Band and The Buggaloos lies Sunforest. Sunforest were a mysterious British female trio that recorded this sole 1969 gem of acid-folk prog-tinged popsike that has been a holy grail of sorts for sample-searching record heads. Even our own Antaeus (Lazer Sword) admitted to sampling the opening track "Overture To The Sun" to make a beat. That song along with another track, "Lighthouse Keeper" are also famous for their inclusion in the film "A Clockwork Orange". Medieval and baroque at times with harpsichord, piano and pump organ flourishes, lilting horns and sublime triple harmonies, Sound of Sunforest also features some of the best British session players around including Herbie Flowers (bassist on Lou Reed's "Walk on The Wild Side, Bowie's Space Oddity and Serge Gainsbourg's Histoire Du Melody Nelson), and Big Jim Sullivan (Lord Sitar) on guitar. Like most British records of the era, whimsy and zaniness can gain the upper hand at times with songs about candy shops, insect weddings, and eccentric old hippy ladies taking us back to the Sid and Marty Kroft days of our youth, but there is plenty of insanely beautiful songs of the likes we've never heard making this an odd but highly satisfying listen.
MPEG Stream: "Be Like Me"
MPEG Stream: "And I Was Blue"
MPEG Stream: "Magician in The Mountain"

SUNGOD Contackt (Holodeck) cassette 7.50
One of six new tapes from the always awesome Holodeck label out of Austin, Texas features a new release by Texas psych-heavies, Sungod. We raved about them awhile back for their debut release, Crash Galactic, now sadly out of print. On Contakt, these cosmic explorers are setting foot on a new and strange alien landscape, starting with a More-era Pink Floyd desert soundtrack vibe before breaking out with full kraut-inflected heaviness of lysergic guitar washes and pummeling poly-rhythmic momentum. A heady mix of gaseous electronics and acid guitar shred is nicely tempered by Blade Runner-like ambient passages of forlorn piano and slow burn synth-scapes. The final track, "Third Reichel" brings in layered acoustic guitar treatments in sequenced repetitions that evolves into full deep space rock take off. Limited!

SUNLIGHT Creation of Sunlight (Lion Productions) cd 15.98

SUNN O))) s/t (Hydra Head) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Whoa, an Earth tribute band! Y'know, Earth, the slower than slow, heavier than heavy Sub Pop combo from a few years back, the band that took the Melvins molasses drone riffing over the edge. They're not around anymore (and weren't that great toward the end anyway) but this project (featuring members of Burning Witch/Goatsnake/Engine Kid) revisits Earth's genius genesis (back when Kurt Cobain used to play with 'em), for some long long tracks of primordial dirge. One track is even named after Earth leader Dylan Carlson. And of course the band name Sunn is derived from the amps of choice for both outfits, appropriately so 'cause it's the amps more than the guitars that you hear here. They're not covering Earth tunes, but are essentially following the same formula towards drone metal godhead. Essential for all devotees of the ultra-heavy! Each disc, with a handsome paper sleeve cover, comes sealed in its own spray painted hefty bag!

SUNN O))) & PAN SONIC / ALAN VEGA / STEPHEN BURROUGHS split (Blast First Petite) 10" 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Killer collaboration, another one of those team ups you might not have ever necessarily imagined happening, and even if you did, you probably didn't think it would sound this good. The core SUNNO))) duo do their thing, thick roiling riffage, warm and lush, surprisingly propulsive, and weirdly catchy, Steve Moore from Earth contributes some gorgeous gauzy organ drones and Joe Preston handles the vocals, deep growl, part intoned, part almost crooned, and of course Mika Vainio of Pan Sonic, offering up little flurries of industrial hiss, and bits of subtle glitch, taking voices and sounds and lopping them back on themselves, Vainio's contribution subtle, but practically perfect. Easily one of the coolest SUNNO))) tracks ever, maybe better than anything on the recent Monoliths And Dimensions.
The flipside features a live jam from Suicide mainman Alan Vega, recorded last year, live and lo-fi, lots of glitch and skitter, a sort of fractured electronica, Vega's vocals super effected, looped and chopped, dense and stuttery and seriously tripped out.
And the closing track on the B side is a stripped down, very Angels Of Light sounding acoustic number from Stephen Burroughs, former frontman for industrial icons Head Of David, his first recording in a decade, his voice rough and raw and simple, the guitar playing fantastic, the song dark and mysterious and haunting.
LIMITED TO 3000 COPIES, half on white vinyl, half on clear, we have the clear, housed in plain white hand stamped covers, but open the cover up (you might have to tear it open) and inside is some gorgeous original artwork.

SUNNY DAY REAL ESTATE Diary (Sub Pop) cd 11.98
The end all / be all of emo is this - the debut from Sunny Day Real Estate. Charmingly bleak emo-pop played with such emotional intensity that it's not hard to imagine lead singer Jeremy Enigk breaking down in tears after each song!

SUNNY DAY REAL ESTATE Diary (Sub Pop) cd 11.98
It's a strange musical time lately, with pretty much every cool band we loved in the eighties and nineties reforming, many of them recording brand new albums, lots of them performing classic albums in their entirety, and while we're usually not all that psyched on the reunion thing, we have to say, we were pretty thrilled to get to see Slint, and some of us are going to see the Get Up Kids next week, and who could possibly complain about seeing the Butthole Surfers or Killdozer or Jesus Lizard? Sure, they were better back in the day, the energy is different, back then they were young and hungry and had something to prove, now they're moms and dads with jobs and many are probably doing it for the money, considering they're probably gonna make more reuniting for a few months now than they ever did in years of recording and touring.
Plus there's a whole new generation of music fanatics, who missed out on arguably some of the best music ever, many of whom love bands who wouldn't even exist if it weren't for all those bands that came before.
One reunion that folks have been clamoring for since mere moments after breaking up, is for emo legends Sunny Day Real Estate, and while it only took a decade, it looks like the band will in fact finally reunite, and tour, and yeah, we'll probably all be there, freaking out when they play the hits, and speaking of the hits, maybe more exciting than the reunion, is the deluxe reissue of SDRE's first two albums, Diary, and LP2, both absolute classics, redefining the template for modern day indie rock / emo, and like Slint, SDRE were most definitely a band that launched a million other bands. Odds are most folks have these discs already, but if for some reason you don't holy shit are you in for a treat. Heavy, mathy, emotional, catchy, totally rocking, and just absolutely incredible.
Diary, originally released back in 1994, is another one of those records that is so front loaded, you could be forgiven for owning this record and nor making it to the end. Even now, we have to fight the urge to play the first few tracks over and over and over. But fight on, cuz the second half is just as kick ass.
"Seven" and "In Circles" are probably SDRE's best known songs and for good reason, two of THEE most perfect indie rock jams ever. The guitars lines are tangled melodic, the riffs crunchy, the drums complex and pounding, the arrangements complex, with plenty of starts and stops, little bursts of manic chug, streaks of chiming shimmer, the vocals so anguished and passionate, high and reedy, but still a little rough and ragged, keening and on the verge of breaking, slipping from whisper to howl and back again, really, if you've never heard these guys, just listen to the sound samples, and if you're not immediately smitten / obsessed, then heck, we're not sure what else to do for you.
"In Circles" is the prettier half of the opening one-two punch, with that immediately recognizable looped guitar intro, before slipping into some shimmery stripped down almost slowcore, but with a fantastically soaring, epic, majestic, hands in the air, heartbreak chorus, which ranks up there as one of those all time goosebumps, hair on the back of your neck, tearjerker, air guitar, indie rock musical moments, and a testament to its power is that it has that affect EVERY time, and still does 15 years later.
So after listening to those two songs 20 or 30 times, force yourself to continue on, you won't be disappointed. "Song About An Angel" is another slow brooding drift, that has one of the coolest stop start staccato bridges ever, as catchy as any other song's chorus. "47" had it been pushed forward a little in the playing order, might have been part of that irresistible replay opening salvo, with an incredible main melody, and verses that somehow manage to be even catchier than the catchy chorus. And don't let all this poppiness and catchiness ward off you heavy music folks, all that pop is tangled up and intertwined with some serious heaviness, plenty of heft and crunch, some incredible guitar playing, wild mathy, almost metallic drumming, and again, all wound up into highly unconventional song structures.
We could go on and on and on, the rest of the record is just as awesome, there are a handful of brooding slow burners, but even those are peppered with some seriously emo blowouts, not a bad one in the bunch, it's not hard to see why we all freaked out about this band when this record first appeared, and none of its power or emotion or energy has been blunted by the passing of time. Not in the least.
The reissue features two bonus tracks, from the awesome and long gone Thief, Steal Me A Peach 7", which predated Diary by about a year, and if anything is even heavier and more dense, the perfect sort of bonus track, melding seamlessly with the album proper (and one thing we notice listening to the 7"s tracks is how much SDRE sometimes sounded like a WAY heavier, way more rocking Decemberists!). New fancy gatefold digipak packaging, with that iconic Fisher Price Little People parody artwork, featuring those conical people shaped toys, set in depressing environments, like in a kitchen with the toast burning, amidst a not so happy family, a couple sleeping far apart in their bed, in surgery, at the scene of a car accident, etc. Also includes all new liner notes and interviews with the various band members.
One complaint about the cd packaging though, the digipak comes in a slipcover, which is always cool, but the slipcover has the record title, band name, and some random text about bonus tracks and the producer, stuff that should obviously have been on a sticker but is printed over that super cool artwork, and unfortunately, you can't toss the slipcover, cuz it's the ONLY place where the track listing is printed, thankfully, the lp version does not make the same mistake...
MPEG Stream: "Seven"
MPEG Stream: "In Circles"
MPEG Stream: "47"

SUNNY DAY REAL ESTATE Diary (Sub Pop) 2lp 16.98
It's a strange musical time lately, with pretty much every cool band we loved in the eighties and nineties reforming, many of them recording brand new albums, lots of them performing classic albums in their entirety, and while we're usually not all that psyched on the reunion thing, we have to say, we were pretty thrilled to get to see Slint, and some of us are going to see the Get Up Kids next week, and who could possibly complain about seeing the Butthole Surfers or Killdozer or Jesus Lizard? Sure, they were better back in the day, the energy is different, back then they were young and hungry and had something to prove, now they're moms and dads with jobs and many are probably doing it for the money, considering they're probably gonna make more reuniting for a few months now than they ever did in years of recording and touring.
Plus there's a whole new generation of music fanatics, who missed out on arguably some of the best music ever, many of whom love bands who wouldn't even exist if it weren't for all those bands that came before.
One reunion that folks have been clamoring for since mere moments after breaking up, is for emo legends Sunny Day Real Estate, and while it only took a decade, it looks like the band will in fact finally reunite, and tour, and yeah, we'll probably all be there, freaking out when they play the hits, and speaking of the hits, maybe more exciting than the reunion, is the deluxe reissue of SDRE's first two albums, Diary, and LP2, both absolute classics, redefining the template for modern day indie rock / emo, and like Slint, SDRE were most definitely a band that launched a million other bands. Odds are most folks have these discs already, but if for some reason you don't holy shit are you in for a treat. Heavy, mathy, emotional, catchy, totally rocking, and just absolutely incredible.
Diary, originally released back in 1994, is another one of those records that is so front loaded, you could be forgiven for owning this record and nor making it to the end. Even now, we have to fight the urge to play the first few tracks over and over and over. But fight on, cuz the second half is just as kick ass.
"Seven" and "In Circles" are probably SDRE's best known songs and for good reason, two of THEE most perfect indie rock jams ever. The guitars lines are tangled melodic, the riffs crunchy, the drums complex and pounding, the arrangements complex, with plenty of starts and stops, little bursts of manic chug, streaks of chiming shimmer, the vocals so anguished and passionate, high and reedy, but still a little rough and ragged, keening and on the verge of breaking, slipping from whisper to howl and back again, really, if you've never heard these guys, just listen to the sound samples, and if you're not immediately smitten / obsessed, then heck, we're not sure what else to do for you.
"In Circles" is the prettier half of the opening one-two punch, with that immediately recognizable looped guitar intro, before slipping into some shimmery stripped down almost slowcore, but with a fantastically soaring, epic, majestic, hands in the air, heartbreak chorus, which ranks up there as one of those all time goosebumps, hair on the back of your neck, tearjerker, air guitar, indie rock musical moments, and a testament to its power is that it has that affect EVERY time, and still does 15 years later.
So after listening to those two songs 20 or 30 times, force yourself to continue on, you won't be disappointed. "Song About An Angel" is another slow brooding drift, that has one of the coolest stop start staccato bridges ever, as catchy as any other song's chorus. "47" had it been pushed forward a little in the playing order, might have been part of that irresistible replay opening salvo, with an incredible main melody, and verses that somehow manage to be even catchier than the catchy chorus. And don't let all this poppiness and catchiness ward off you heavy music folks, all that pop is tangled up and intertwined with some serious heaviness, plenty of heft and crunch, some incredible guitar playing, wild mathy, almost metallic drumming, and again, all wound up into highly unconventional song structures.
We could go on and on and on, the rest of the record is just as awesome, there are a handful of brooding slow burners, but even those are peppered with some seriously emo blowouts, not a bad one in the bunch, it's not hard to see why we all freaked out about this band when this record first appeared, and none of its power or emotion or energy has been blunted by the passing of time. Not in the least.
The reissue features two bonus tracks, from the awesome and long gone Thief, Steal Me A Peach 7", which predated Diary by about a year, and if anything is even heavier and more dense, the perfect sort of bonus track, melding seamlessly with the album proper (and one thing we notice listening to the 7"s tracks is how much SDRE sometimes sounded like a WAY heavier, way more rocking Decemberists!). New fancy gatefold digipak packaging, with that iconic Fisher Price Little People parody artwork, featuring those conical people shaped toys, set in depressing environments, like in a kitchen with the toast burning, amidst a not so happy family, a couple sleeping far apart in their bed, in surgery, at the scene of a car accident, etc. Also includes all new liner notes and interviews with the various band members.
One complaint about the cd packaging though, the digipak comes in a slipcover, which is always cool, but the slipcover has the record title, band name, and some random text about bonus tracks and the producer, stuff that should obviously have been on a sticker but is printed over that super cool artwork, and unfortunately, you can't toss the slipcover, cuz it's the ONLY place where the track listing is printed, thankfully, the lp version does not make the same mistake...
MPEG Stream: "Seven"
MPEG Stream: "In Circles"
MPEG Stream: "47"

SUNNY DAY REAL ESTATE How It Feels to Be Something On... (Sub Pop) cd 15.98
It's a good thing that Jeremy Enigk's Sunny Day Real Estate got back together or else we would be without this lovely album. The desolate emo epics build and collapse much like the more recent pop masterpieces from Built to Spill. Highly recommended.

SUNNY DAY REAL ESTATE Live (Sub Pop) cd 14.98
For a band whose successes on their albums has been made through the emotional strain of each of their songs, this live album is remarkably tame. Its quite surprising that Sunny Day Real Estate live, choose not to take the emo approach of draining one's soul into the every song (especially on the vocals, reaching for notes unreachable), rather, the band merely performs the songs from their albums... devoid of the emotive content.

SUNNY DAY REAL ESTATE Live (Sub Pop) lp 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
For a band whose successes on their albums has been made through the emotional strain of each of their songs, this live album is remarkably tame. Its quite surprising that Sunny Day Real Estate live, choose not to take the emo approach of draining one's soul into the every song (especially on the vocals, reaching for notes unreachable), rather, the band merely performs the songs from their albums... devoid of the emotive content.

SUNNY DAY REAL ESTATE Live (Sub Pop) video 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
For a band whose successes on their albums has been made through the emotional strain of each of their songs, this live album is remarkably tame. Its quite surprising that Sunny Day Real Estate live, choose not to take the emo approach of draining one's soul into the every song (especially on the vocals, reaching for notes unreachable), rather, the band merely performs the songs from their albums... devoid of the emotive content.

SUNNY DAY REAL ESTATE LP2 (Sub Pop) cd 11.98
It's a strange musical time lately, with pretty much every cool band we loved in the eighties and nineties reforming, many of them recording brand new albums, lots of them performing classic albums in their entirety, and while we're usually not all that psyched on the reunion thing, we have to say, we were pretty thrilled to get to see Slint, and some of us are going to see the Get Up Kids next week, and who could possibly complain about seeing the Butthole Surfers or Killdozer or Jesus Lizard? Sure, they were better back in the day, the energy is different, back then they were young and hungry and had something to prove, now they're moms and dads with jobs and many are probably doing it for the money, considering they're probably gonna make more reuniting for a few months now than they ever did in years of recording and touring.
Plus there's a whole new generation of music fanatics, who missed out on arguably some of the best music ever, many of whom love bands who wouldn't even exist if it weren't for all those bands that came before.
One reunion that folks have been clamoring for since mere moments after breaking up, is for emo legends Sunny Day Real Estate, and while it only took a decade, it looks like the band will in fact finally reunite, and tour, and yeah, we'll probably all be there, freaking out when they play the hits, and speaking of the hits, maybe more exciting than the reunion, is the deluxe reissue of SDRE's first two albums, Diary, and LP2, both absolute classics, redefining the template for modern day indie rock / emo, and like Slint, SDRE were most definitely a band that launched a million other bands. Odds are most folks have these discs already, but if for some reason you don't holy shit are you in for a treat. Heavy, mathy, emotional, catchy, totally rocking, and just absolutely incredible.
Sunny Day Real Estate's second record, self titled, often referred to as 'the pink album' due to its simple all pink cover, as well as being known now as LP2, was released in 1995, mere months before the band broke up (for the first time), and it's easy to hear in the music, the sound is much less immediately catchy than Diary, a bit darker, a grower for sure, all the sonic elements are still present, the same spidery chiming guitars, dense complex arrangements, soaring chug heavy choruses, Jeremy Enigk's plaintive emotional wail, and hooks, they're there all right, but they sink in slowly, over repeated listens. Over the years, LP2 has become just as powerful as Diary, in some ways even more so, with its overall sound more wrought with tension and emotion, the songs more minor key and somehow more sad sounding. And thus even, maybe a bit more emo.
There are some 'hits' here too. "Theo B" is frantic, with a cool lurching tempo, weirdly angular guitars, and some seriously intense vocals. "Red Elephant", is a slow burning post rocker, with a soaring chorus, rife with chiming guitars and dense drum pound, but with a weary, worn vibe, like much of the record, a strange undercurrent of impending doom. Definitely darker than Diary, but instead of that being a weakness, it's most definitely the record's strength. "Waffle" might be our favorite track here, a meandering low end slither, all woozy bass and Slint-y guitars, a sing songy tempo, a gorgeous main melody, and some truly beautiful voice-about-to-crack vocals. Then there's "8", which sounds like it could have been plucked right off of Diary, and like the single bonus tracks on Diary, reminds us again how much SDRE sometimes sound like a super heavy emo Decemberists. The strange thing about LP2, is that it's really back heavy, with some of the best SDRE songs EVER, tucked way near the end of the record, which makes sense in a way if you consider LP2 to be a sort of continuation of Diary...
The thing is, as long as we've had these records, they seemed more like 2 halves of the same record, a sprawling concept record, one side lighter, one darker, perfectly complimenting each other, both on their own practically perfect, but combined, pretty much one of the greatest song suites in second wave emo for sure, but maybe even in indie rock history all together.
After this record, frontman Jeremy Enigk would discover Jesus and go on to record some awesome solo records, 1/2 the band would go on to play in the Foo Fighters, and the band would get back together 4 or 5 years later, and record two more SDRE records, both pretty great, but nothing really compared to the magic of this one, and Diary.
LP2 features two bonus tracks, each single B-sides, and both again, pretty kick ass, and both surprisingly dark and heavy and EPIC.
All new deluxe packaging, gatefold digipak, printed inner sleeve, and a massive booklet with all new liner notes, and an interview with the band members.
MPEG Stream: "Friday"
MPEG Stream: "Theo B"
MPEG Stream: "Red Elephant"

SUNNY DAY REAL ESTATE LP2 (Sub Pop) 2lp 16.98
It's a strange musical time lately, with pretty much every cool band we loved in the eighties and nineties reforming, many of them recording brand new albums, lots of them performing classic albums in their entirety, and while we're usually not all that psyched on the reunion thing, we have to say, we were pretty thrilled to get to see Slint, and some of us are going to see the Get Up Kids next week, and who could possibly complain about seeing the Butthole Surfers or Killdozer or Jesus Lizard? Sure, they were better back in the day, the energy is different, back then they were young and hungry and had something to prove, now they're moms and dads with jobs and many are probably doing it for the money, considering they're probably gonna make more reuniting for a few months now than they ever did in years of recording and touring.
Plus there's a whole new generation of music fanatics, who missed out on arguably some of the best music ever, many of whom love bands who wouldn't even exist if it weren't for all those bands that came before.
One reunion that folks have been clamoring for since mere moments after breaking up, is for emo legends Sunny Day Real Estate, and while it only took a decade, it looks like the band will in fact finally reunite, and tour, and yeah, we'll probably all be there, freaking out when they play the hits, and speaking of the hits, maybe more exciting than the reunion, is the deluxe reissue of SDRE's first two albums, Diary, and LP2, both absolute classics, redefining the template for modern day indie rock / emo, and like Slint, SDRE were most definitely a band that launched a million other bands. Odds are most folks have these discs already, but if for some reason you don't holy shit are you in for a treat. Heavy, mathy, emotional, catchy, totally rocking, and just absolutely incredible.
Sunny Day Real Estate's second record, self titled, often referred to as 'the pink album' due to its simple all pink cover, as well as being known now as LP2, was released in 1995, mere months before the band broke up (for the first time), and it's easy to hear in the music, the sound is much less immediately catchy than Diary, a bit darker, a grower for sure, all the sonic elements are still present, the same spidery chiming guitars, dense complex arrangements, soaring chug heavy choruses, Jeremy Enigk's plaintive emotional wail, and hooks, they're there all right, but they sink in slowly, over repeated listens. Over the years, LP2 has become just as powerful as Diary, in some ways even more so, with its overall sound more wrought with tension and emotion, the songs more minor key and somehow more sad sounding. And thus even, maybe a bit more emo.
There are some 'hits' here too. "Theo B" is frantic, with a cool lurching tempo, weirdly angular guitars, and some seriously intense vocals. "Red Elephant", is a slow burning post rocker, with a soaring chorus, rife with chiming guitars and dense drum pound, but with a weary, worn vibe, like much of the record, a strange undercurrent of impending doom. Definitely darker than Diary, but instead of that being a weakness, it's most definitely the record's strength. "Waffle" might be our favorite track here, a meandering low end slither, all woozy bass and Slint-y guitars, a sing songy tempo, a gorgeous main melody, and some truly beautiful voice-about-to-crack vocals. Then there's "8", which sounds like it could have been plucked right off of Diary, and like the single bonus tracks on Diary, reminds us again how much SDRE sometimes sound like a super heavy emo Decemberists. The strange thing about LP2, is that it's really back heavy, with some of the best SDRE songs EVER, tucked way near the end of the record, which makes sense in a way if you consider LP2 to be a sort of continuation of Diary...
The thing is, as long as we've had these records, they seemed more like 2 halves of the same record, a sprawling concept record, one side lighter, one darker, perfectly complimenting each other, both on their own practically perfect, but combined, pretty much one of the greatest song suites in second wave emo for sure, but maybe even in indie rock history all together.
After this record, frontman Jeremy Enigk would discover Jesus and go on to record some awesome solo records, 1/2 the band would go on to play in the Foo Fighters, and the band would get back together 4 or 5 years later, and record two more SDRE records, both pretty great, but nothing really compared to the magic of this one, and Diary.
LP2 features two bonus tracks, each single B-sides, and both again, pretty kick ass, and both surprisingly dark and heavy and EPIC.
All new deluxe packaging, gatefold digipak, printed inner sleeve, and a massive booklet with all new liner notes, and an interview with the band members.
MPEG Stream: "Friday"
MPEG Stream: "Theo B"
MPEG Stream: "Red Elephant"

SUNNY DAY REAL ESTATE s/t3 (Sub Pop) cd 11.98

SUNNY DAY REAL ESTATE The Rising Tide (Time Bomb) cd 15.98
Brand new album from Jeremy Enigk and company. Though shedding their Sub Pop skin for the more modest Time Bomb, the production on this album is quite similar to the last Sunny Day record and although I adored that record, I have yet to warm up to this one. And yes, Jeremy has gone completely falsetto. It was bound to happen. It seems as though Enigk is steadily separating himself from the emo of his earlier days. If "Diary" represented quintessential, undiluted emo, and "How It Feels Like To Be Something" was an almost top forty radio friendly version of emo, then maybe consider this adult contemporary emo, since all us emo kids are pushing 30.

SUNROOF! Cloudz (VHF) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Number 323 (or thereabouts) in Matthew Bower's 1432 point plan for mind expansion via comsic ur-drone and shambolic shimmer. Following close on the heels of the recent Skullflower, Cloudz shares much of that release's Krautrockish rhythmic pulse, but keeps it suitably mired in that sweet, sweet Sunroof! haze. Tinkling piano with a thick patina of reverb throbs beneath a luxuriously sonic sparkle, tweaky electronic twitter, guitarish grooviness, some downright sun dappled Stereolabed sonic sweetness and even moments of British psych-folkiness, although appropriately chopped and fuzzed, are all spread into dreamy abstract smears. And throughout it all the cloudz of the title wrap each song, no matter how sleepy or lazy or chaotic or crunchy in swaddling sonic syrup. So good.
MPEG Stream: "Cloud One: Machine"
MPEG Stream: "Cloud Four: Zero"

SUNROOF! Panzer Division Lou Reed (VHF) cd 13.98
Latest in the ongoing exploration of the ur-drone, from Matthew Bower's (Skullflower, Total, Hototogisu, etc.) softer side. But it's all relative, and while much of Sunroof!'s output is delicate and pretty, or gossamer and transcendental, this might be the hardest, heaviest, most intense release to date. The parts are the same, lengthy streaks of soaring feedback, effulgent bursts of glimmering heart of the sun guitar glow, huge billowing sheets of cymbal sizzle, all woven into super lush expanse of blossoming sound, the parts all just feel more intense, like they're burning up, constantly on the edge of bursting into flames and crumbling into ash, the opening track even has drums, a pounding caveman plod, that gives the track a sort of doom metal / free jazz / bliss out vibe if you can imagine such a thing. The opener and the third track, are part of a larger nearly 40 minute piece, with the second half swinging wildly from explosive skree, to warm muted drift, everything wreathed in thick swaths of grinding feedback and thick prickly fuzz.
The brief second track is the most caustic of the bunch, there are melodies in there, but you have to slither through a dense wall of sonic brambles to get to them, a roiling white hot Merzbowian blow out, draped over a hidden layer of soft shimmering beauty, crumbling beneath the weight of the massive pummel above.
The final track, the awesomely titled "Stairways And Terraces Descending One Beyond Another In A Stupefying State Of Exhaustion" is another corrosive landscape of amp shredding sound, an orchestra of guitar torture wrangled into subtly beautiful shapes, so subtle in fact that most folks won't stick around long enough to discover them, but as with most 'noise' music, and we're beginning to think this is more of a noise record than a drone record, one is rewarded for diving in head first, none of this dipping a toe in, or listening to a few minutes, you have to be fully submerged to appreciate the dense world of sound that while strangely beautiful, is constantly holding you under, as you struggle and gasp for breath.
This is Sunroof!'s Metal Machine Music, sure to be misunderstood, and maligned, but for most of us, this is simply a gloriously terrifying blast of beautiful noise...
MPEG Stream: "Slow Plateaus #1"
MPEG Stream: "Stairways And Terraces Descending One Beyond Another In A Stupefying State Of Exhaustion"

SUNROOF! Silver Bear Mist (VHF) 2cd 15.98
For a while now, Matthew Bower's Sunroof! has been drifting further into a dreamy blissed out drone world, warm and rich and thick, hypnotic and otherworldly, which makes perfect sense as he has Skullflower to indulge his RAWK side, and the Hototogisu where he teams up with the Double Leopards Marcia Bassett for some good ol' NOIZE. So it was a bit of a pleasant surprise to throw on this new double disc and get knocked the fuck out by sheets of high end skree and walls of keening feedback. Not that we don't love the Sunroof! bliss, we do. And fear not, there's plenty of that here as well, but Silver Bear Mist definitely finds Bower returning to his old noisier outift Total for some sonic inspiration. In fact there's even some Skullflower-worthy riffing here as well. The sound is still definitely Sunroof!, but it sounds like Bower has decided to lump his many moods into one massive double disc of drone / bliss / noise / psych / freakout and we're loving it. Disc one starts with aforementioned knockout blast of processed feedback and squealing spaced out synths, before amping up into some full-on feeding back wall of guitar pummel. The rest of the record is a confusional trip through druggy effect-drenched psych-rock guitar workouts, to clangy clattery free noise, to ear shredding high end drone assembled from layers and layers of processed feedback and chordal whir. The disc finishes off with a 2o minute slow shifting single note drone. A pulsing streak of high end guitar stretched out across the whole twenty minutes, while various drones and overtones and other guitars slink and creep around the original tone, in a weirdly hypnotic tangled drone ballet.
Disc two is all over the map as well, opening with a psych rock jam that's so tinny and overblown it sounds like you're listening to Amon Duul 2 leaking out of the headphones of the guy behind you one the bus. The disc sort of mellows a bit after that into some more Sunroof!-ish territory although with those everpresent streaks of white hot guitar and lightning strike feedback. San Francisco's Skaters join the fray toward the end of disc 2, and it's the final three tracks that really seal the deal. First a noisy, angular guitar workout, with wailing abstract vocals battling sheets of feedback, then it's fourteen minutes of muted warbly four track folk wrapped in haze and a fuzzy ambience that makes it sound like an old dusty crackly 78, and finally, "Trampled Dawns" ends the proceedings with a totally majestic and epic workout, full of grand melodies and chiming bells, all wrapped in an ultrathick layer of grit and fuzz, sounding almost like a noiserock version of that song that always plays at the end of every teen movie when the boy finally gets the girl. As always, so amazing.
MPEG Stream: "Briar Patch"
MPEG Stream: "Bear Melt"
MPEG Stream: "Buried In The Sky"

SUNSET RUBDOWN Random Spirit Lover (Jagjaguwar) cd 14.98
Here's the new album from Arcade Fire's tag-a-long kid brother... errr, we mean Sunset Rubdown! The follow-up to 2006's Shut Up I Am Dreaming, Random Spirit Lover is bursting with invigoratingly rambunctious pop with *those* male vocals (a withery emotive yelp). If your dig the music of Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade and Destroyer, Sunset Rubdown will probably rub you the right way!
MPEG Stream: "The Courtesan Has Sung"
MPEG Stream: "Trumpet. Trumpet. Toot! Toot!"

SUNSET RUBDOWN s/t (Global Symphonic) cd ep 7.98

SUNSET RUBDOWN Shut Up I Am Dreaming (Absolutely Kosher) cd 13.98
If the immediate recognition that many customers have voiced the first few times we've played this disc is any indication, this is a band that needs no introduction. This is Spencer Krug of Wolf Parade's other band. The music of Sunset Rubdown is a bit different from W.P. but the voice is apparently pretty unmistakable. Imagine if more characters from the circus tent were allowed into the W.P. recording sessions. Or envision a more tweaked and twee incarnation of Arcade Fire. Or what if Xiu Xiu or Frog Eyes decided to cover those bands' tunes... A musing listen. Fans of all of the above bands might want to lend an ear to Krug and co.
MPEG Stream: "They Took A Vote And Said No"
MPEG Stream: "Snakes Got A Leg III"

SUNSET RUBDOWN Snake's Got A Leg (Global Symphonic) cd 14.98

SUNSHINE CLUB Home (Glitterhouse) cd 10.98
Sunshine Club's name may suggest upbeat, good cheer music, but no. This is something quite far from that. Forlorn weeping tunes. Slow yearning songs of wonder. This bay area trio makes quiet music graced with sad guitar and keyboards.

SUNSHINE FIX The Future History Of A Sunshine Fix (Kindercore) cdep 13.98
Now that sadly the Olivia Tremor Control are no more, the big question is: Just who could possibly try to fill the void they've left behind? Well, here may be the answer. The Sunshine Fix is the Bill Doss, Pete Erchick, John Fernandes, Eric Harris and a bunch of their musical friends. Sound familiar? Well, the music on this all-too short 5-song cd certainly does. Uh huh, it's the former members of Olivia Tremor Control sans the wonderful Will C. Hart (who these days is focusing his artistic ways on, among other things, painting). So there we have it. Waving the flag and carrying the torch for Elephant 6-style sugar pop with quirky psychedelic twists and weird sound detours. In fact, this record is weirder than most of the Olivias material, full of Captain Beefheart-esque looseness and cacophony. Recommended.

SUNSHINE FIX, THE Age of the Sun (Kindercore Records) cd 16.98
For those of you who dug the vibrant, psych-twisted sounds of The Sunshine Fix's EP last year, here's a full dose. Lead by pop craftsman Bill Doss (co-founder of the beloved, but defunct Olivia Tremor Control... and in case you're trying to keep the family tree all sorted out, Will C. Hart is the other co-founder, now recording under the name Circulatory System, and Pete Erchick the keyboardist now goes by Pipes You See Pipes You Don't), this time the band includes thirteen of his musical friends playing an intriguing array of instruments (froggy synths, imploding, throaty and gelatin guitars?!). Uplifting, honeyed vocal harmonies that keep going and going and going. You still can't help but draw comparisons to OTC as they continue to give a hearty nod to the Beatles. This is the winding, exploratory pop sound that defined the Elephant 6 music collective.
RealAudio clip: "Age Of The Sun"
RealAudio clip: "Digging To China"

SUNSHINE FIX, THE Green Imagination (Spin Art) cd 14.98
The Elephant Six Collective and their foremost retro experimental psych-pop team captains Olivia Tremor Control sprouted numerous solo and side projects. 'Prolific' was/is their middle name. Case in point, The Sunshine Fix is E6/OTC co-founder Bill Doss' post-OTC group, and this is their third full length. With Green Imagination, Doss and co. seem to have drawn the closest (of any E6 groups past or present) to that fab old OTC sound. Super bouyant and harmonious, however they've added some heft to the usually perky proceedings with some unexpected shades of gospel and glam. As always, they encorporate a wide array of common and quite uncommon instruments to flesh out and embellish their basic sweet Beatles/Beach Boys-inspired pop core.
MPEG Stream: "Face The Ghost"
MPEG Stream: "Runaway Run"

SUNTANAMA, THE s/t (Drag City) cd 14.98
In theory, the Suntanama could be a really interesting band as members of the No Neck Blues Band attempt to strike a Neil Young pose to produce some laid back yet grizzled '70s rock. But in practice, this is an album that Drag City could make a lot of money on if they marketed it to the legions of frat boy stoners who listen to Phish and the Dave Matthews Band. S U C K.

SUPER ESP (Hefty) cdep 5.98
Keeping all currently-cool bases covered, this is the drum 'n' bass/post-rock outfit of Casey Rice, the man behind Designer and the engineer for Tortoise & many other Chicago bands...

SUPER FURRY ANIMALS Hey Venus! (Rough Trade) cd 13.98

SUPER FURRY ANIMALS MWNG (Flydaddy) 2cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Super Furry Animals are a Welsh pop group that gets lumped together with the uber psyche/popsters Olivia Tremor Control a lot, although the Super Furries are less sweet and more contemplative 'n' mellow. This is there first record sung completely in Welsh. Released stateside by Flydaddy.

SUPER FURRY ANIMALS Phantom Phorce (Sony) 2cd 15.98
Super Furry Animals have made a very odd remix album by today's major label standards. Is it just my imagination or does SFA seem to get a longer leash of artistic freedom than most of their other major label alt-rock contemporaries? And they take full advantage of it -- crafting some complex'n'catchy bombastic Brit pop tunes and jaw-dropping videos. Phantom Phorce plays out like a strange play-by-play docu-drama of the album's recording session. In between the remixes of songs from their last studio full length Phantom Power by such notables as Four Tet, Boom Bip, Freiband, and High Llamas, the voice of the reputed 'executive producer' interrupts the album's flow with tales of studio hijinks and self-congratulations. This actually ends up being pretty darn disruptive and irritating when you just want to hear SFA music which is actually quite good! Alas, just because "everything has been done musically" doesn't mean you have to do something stupid like this to be 'different' or 'creative'. Super Furry fans take note, this is a limited pressing of 5000 that comes with a bonus cdep in a crazy ass pop-up cardboard case.
MPEG Stream: "Father Father"
MPEG Stream: "Valet Parking"

SUPER FURRY ANIMALS Rings Around The World (Epic) 2cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The five Welsh boys that comprise popsters Super Furry Animals have been around for nine years and five releases. And you've probably heard them by now and formed your own opinion. This is their first release for major label Epic, and it's a long, double disc, stylistically diverse, big production of an album that's totally all over the place. It calls to mind groups such as the Style Council, Syd-Barrett-era Pink Floyd, and even Tindersticks in a couple of their more lush, sad songs. Keep an ear out for the cameo appearances made by apparently big fans John Cale and Paul McCartney (re-enacting his Beach Boys "Smiley Smile" celery-crunching performance!).
RealAudio clip: "Alternate Route to Vulcan St "
RealAudio clip: "Sidewalk Serfer Girl"

SUPER WILD HORSES Fifteen (Hozac) cd 14.98
NOW IN STOCK on cd! Also BACK IN STOCK on vinyl!
Damn we've been digging lots of stuff coming out of Australia lately. We made the latest from Fabulous Diamonds our record of the week a couple months ago and we've been getting really into Total Control and now Super Wild Horses are our newest Australian crush. We imagine you might get super smitten too for SWH's punky high energy fuzzy pop that is totally refreshingly unpretentious, super impassioned and brimming with an integrity that can't be denied. Funny that the record is named Fifteen, as it kind of reminds us a lot of the heyday of Bay Area pop punk with bands like Fifteen, Tilt, Crimpshrine and J Church. We're also reminded of some of our favorite and way underrated bands on Simple Machines from that era like Tuscedero, Scrawl, and Tsunami. In lots of ways SWH seem to connect the dots of that era to the current wave of rad lo-fi minded garage popsters like Brilliant Colors, Wetdog, and Grass Widow. So good!
MPEG Stream: "Lock & Key"
MPEG Stream: "Fifteen"