TORTOISE Millions Now Living Will Never Die (Thrill Jockey) cd 14.98
Gorgeous packaging holds a 20-minute tour de force called "DJed," which by now has been remixed to death! And it still sounds good. Better than 90 percent of what's out there, believe me. To this day.

TORTOISE Millions Now Living Will Never Die (Thrill Jockey) lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Gorgeous packaging holds a 20-minute tour de force called "DJed," which by now has been remixed to death! And it still sounds good. Better than 90 percent of what's out there, believe me. To this day.

TORTOISE Mosquito (Thrill Jockey) 7" 2.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Tortoise' first 2 singles (one from back when they were called Mosquito), long out of print and unavailable (not even on the rare Japanese compilations). Thrill Jockey printed just 1000 more of each of these, so they'll be gone too before long. Buy now or cry later. Coming first week of April: Soul Static Sound reissues what may be Tortoise' best single, "Why We Fight."

TORTOISE Mosquito / Gooseneck / Lonesome Sound / Reservoir / Sheets (Thrill Jockey) 2x7" 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another special Record Store Day release, one that we managed to get few extra copies of, for our mailorder customers unable to make it out in person for RSD, a double 7" reissue gathering up two early singles from legendary post rockers Tortoise, in fact, their first two proper releases, both from 1993, the Lonesome Sound 7" and the Mosquito 7", which were released just months before their seminal self titled debut.
And sonically, these five songs definitely point what was to come on that full length, and were the songs that made us go nuts for these guys in the first place. Strangely enough, "Lonesome Sound" is in fact a Freakwater cover, and it's definitely Tortoise at their most twangy, sounding a bit like old Palace Brothers actually, a shuffling, hushed ballad, with just a hint of the group's usual post rock jazziness. The flipside, though, is a bit more post rocky, still woozy and washed out, shuffly and jazzy, but darkly skeletal, with a weird Slint like spoken word, and some dubby melodica wheeze, the gives way to some super minimal droned out bass heavy creep.
"Mosquito" is more 'classic' Tortoise, a shuffling groove, beneath thick swells of smoldering distorted guitar, and all maner of swooped backwards effects, and some dubbed out jazzy horns, while "Gooseneck" gets downright funky, lacing a loping looped bassline, over a shuffling rhythm, and subtle chiming melodies, all wreathed in soft smears of shimmery thrum. Awesome.
And super limited of course, a Record Store Day release that might not be long for this world, so grab one while you can, we've only got a handful left....
MPEG Stream: "Lonesome Sound"
MPEG Stream: "Mosquito"

TORTOISE s/t (Thrill Jockey) cd 14.98
The first 'classic Tortoise records. Easily one of their best (along with Millions Now Living Will Never Die). Gorgeously melancholic, hypntoic and gently propulsive.

TORTOISE Standards (Thrill Jockey) cd 14.98
Here's the thing. Nobody here at AQ likes this record much. No, we're not trying to be all contrary-like -- we just honestly can't seem to figure out why everyone's wetting their pants over it. Proclaiming it to be the last word on modern music/jazz/post rock/the avant garde/whatever. Now, the record does SOUND fantastic, production-wise. Everyone here loves Tortoise's first two records plus that cool remix one, and there's no doubt they're great musicians. But when you're a post-rock band (and face it, that's what Tortoise is, they'll tell you themselves they're not trying to be jazz), and you decide to add ever more moody layers of complexity and percussive polyrhythms to your sound, and you wanna venture even further into "out" (-jazz!) realms of experimentation -- all that only works if you leave your audience something to sink their teeth into. It doesn't work here. The "funky" elements of this record are pretty cringe-inducing. That said, Tortoise fans that liked TNT may also like Standards, and fans of their first couple of brilliant records will still find a track or two that fulfills the promise of sublime understated melody mixed with subtle groove and lots of texture.
But if we can be allowed to wonder out loud for a moment... This is a band that has everything (and has earned it) that any band could hope for but will probably never get: all the time in the world, access to a state of the art recording studio, talent, a world class producer, a hip successful label, a public clamoring for new music -- with all those wonderful things also comes a responsibility to deliver. There's no rule that every record by every band has to make some huge leap in quality, but c'mon, it'd be nice if the "standards" Tortoise previously set were at least met here. Maybe if you make everything safe and easy and remove the need for sacrifice and exhaustion, the music itself becomes safe and easy. Maybe that's what happened here. But then again, maybe not. Standards doesn't *completely* suck. So... Buyer Beware. The emperor has no clothes. Trust your own ears. Don't believe everything the rock critics tell you.
RealAudio clip: "Eros"
RealAudio clip: "Seneca"
RealAudio clip: "Speakeasy"

TORTOISE Standards (Thrill Jockey) lp 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Here's the thing. Nobody here at AQ likes this record much. No, we're not trying to be all contrary-like -- we just honestly can't seem to figure out why everyone's wetting their pants over it. Proclaiming it to be the last word on modern music/jazz/post rock/the avant garde/whatever. Now, the record does SOUND fantastic, production-wise. Everyone here loves Tortoise's first two records plus that cool remix one, and there's no doubt they're great musicians. But when you're a post-rock band (and face it, that's what Tortoise is, they'll tell you themselves they're not trying to be jazz), and you decide to add ever more moody layers of complexity and percussive polyrhythms to your sound, and you wanna venture even further into "out" (-jazz!) realms of experimentation -- all that only works if you leave your audience something to sink their teeth into. It doesn't work here. The "funky" elements of this record are pretty cringe-inducing. That said, Tortoise fans that liked TNT may also like Standards, and fans of their first couple of brilliant records will still find a track or two that fulfills the promise of sublime understated melody mixed with subtle groove and lots of texture.
But if we can be allowed to wonder out loud for a moment... This is a band that has everything (and has earned it) that any band could hope for but will probably never get: all the time in the world, access to a state of the art recording studio, talent, a world class producer, a hip successful label, a public clamoring for new music -- with all those wonderful things also comes a responsibility to deliver. There's no rule that every record by every band has to make some huge leap in quality, but c'mon, it'd be nice if the "standards" Tortoise previously set were at least met here. Maybe if you make everything safe and easy and remove the need for sacrifice and exhaustion, the music itself becomes safe and easy. Maybe that's what happened here. But then again, maybe not. Standards doesn't *completely* suck. So... Buyer Beware. The emperor has no clothes. Trust your own ears. Don't believe everything the rock critics tell you.

TORTOISE TNT (Thrill Jockey) cd 13.98
Rumors of Tortoise's premature lameness have been greatly exaggerated.

TORTOISE TNT (Thrill Jockey) 2lp 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Rumors of Tortoise's premature lameness have been greatly exaggerated.

TORTOISE Tortoise Remixed (Thrill Jockey) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Take note, this is a very limited pressing of all the tracks from the Tortoise 12" remix series. You've seen the expensive Japanese import cds that have these tracks (and more) but now they're finally at a domestic price. Tortoise is selling these on tour but a few indie stores who order direct from Thrill Jockey have been able to acquire these discs. You can't live a second longer without owning U.N.K.L.E.'s remix of "Djed", really, it's so good. Buy now or cry later.

TORTOISE Why Waste Time (Avex / Thrill Jockey) cd 23.00
We've had a sort of love / hate relation ship with Chicago post rockers Tortoise. Their Millions Now Living record will probably always have a spot in our All Time Favorite Records, and the boxset compilation A Lazarus Taxon, collecting all of their early records, is pretty dang tough to beat, but then something happened, and their records just stopped sounding as good as they once did, we couldn't be sure if it was the band, or if it was us, but for a long stretch, we just weren't digging much of what was coming out of the Tortoise camp. That is until the recent Beacons Of Ancestorship, a definite return to form, lots of the classic Tortoise sound was present, but it sounded like the band were exciting to be making new sounds, exploring, pushing and expanding, and we have been listening to that record like crazy, anxious to hear more from the reinvigorated Tortoise. And voila, a new 4 song Japanese import, that totally surpasses anything we could have hoped for, it doesn't really sound all that much like Tortoise, at least the first 2 of these 4 songs, instead, they sound like some abstract super distorted Autechre, all electronic sounding beats, lots of beeps and glitches, streaks of electronic buzz and hum, stutter and skitter, weirdly dubby and groovy, a little electro, the beats dropping out and leaving long lush drones, layered and textural, moody and mysterious, and that's just the first song. The second track is even more far out, a swirling collaged glitchscape, subtly industrial, hauntingly ambient, lush and droney, and meditative and seriously dense and heavy, processed vocals, thick bursts of grinding glitched out electronics, wow. It's not until the third track, that the organic Tortoise sound shows up, but even then, it's a sort of remix, the bands skittery jazzy lope, transformed into a sort of post This Heat workout, complete with that very This Heat hand clap, a similar rhythm, steel strings buzzing, looped and hypnotic and really awesome, especially the second half that features a weird sort of multiple drummer / synth duel. Finally there's the 13 minute closer, a dark, moody bit of post rock, still with that This Heat feel, that same sort of groove, the track shifting from skittery, to jazzy, to almost funky, and finally to blissed out and serene. So good. Even better than Beacons maybe!
If that weren't enough, there are three bonus videos, two live tracks, with Tortoise in more traditional Tortoise mode, and a super stylized music video. Cool!
MPEG Stream: "Ruba'Iyat"
MPEG Stream: "Ice Ice Gravy"

TORTOISE & BONNIE PRINCE BILLY The Brave And The Bold (Overcoat) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
As this collaborative all-covers effort sets sail, our initial reaction was that it sounds like a bunch of really good musicians taking a cruise together to cut loose and be a little silly after a long career of 'serious' musicianship -- an odd tropical vacation of sorts from their normal proceedings. In the first half of the album there's lots of messin' around with bloopy synthesizers and effects. It reaches its apex of questionableness with their eyebrow-raising rendition of Elton John's "Daniel" and reaches its pinnacle of wild goofiness with the seventh song, Devo's "That's Pep!" From that point The Brave And The Bold (fortunately) settles down into something that more closely resembles the recent Bonnie Prince Billy recordings, but executed expertly by a stellar cast of players. In fact, the interplay between these artists brought to mind the recent pairing of Iron & Wine and Calexico in which Burns, Convertino & co. took on the role of what was essentially backing band for Sam Beam, and 'twas with fantastic results. Don't miss the sobering final two songs -- Richard Thompson's beautiful "Cavalry Cross" and Quix*O*Tic's "On My Own"! That pair are simply terrific and serve as an effective memory eraser for the abovementioned winceful moments. Also included in this eclectic selection of covers are songs by Melanie, Lungfish, Milton Nascimento, Minutemen, and Bruce Springsteen!
MPEG Stream: "Cavalry Cross"
MPEG Stream: "That's Pep!"
MPEG Stream: "Daniel"

TORTOISE & BONNIE PRINCE BILLY The Brave And The Bold (Overcoat) lp 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
As this collaborative all-covers effort sets sail, our initial reaction was that it sounds like a bunch of really good musicians taking a cruise together to cut loose and be a little silly after a long career of 'serious' musicianship -- an odd tropical vacation of sorts from their normal proceedings. In the first half of the album there's lots of messin' around with bloopy synthesizers and effects. It reaches its apex of questionableness with their eyebrow-raising rendition of Elton John's "Daniel" and reaches its pinnacle of wild goofiness with the seventh song, Devo's "That's Pep!" From that point The Brave And The Bold (fortunately) settles down into something that more closely resembles the recent Bonnie Prince Billy recordings, but executed expertly by a stellar cast of players. In fact, the interplay between these artists brought to mind the recent pairing of Iron & Wine and Calexico in which Burns, Convertino & co. took on the role of what was essentially backing band for Sam Beam, and 'twas with fantastic results. Don't miss the sobering final two songs -- Richard Thompson's beautiful "Cavalry Cross" and Quix*O*Tic's "On My Own"! That pair are simply terrific and serve as an effective memory eraser for the abovementioned winceful moments. Also included in this eclectic selection of covers are songs by Melanie, Lungfish, Milton Nascimento, Minutemen, and Bruce Springsteen!
MPEG Stream: "Cavalry Cross"
MPEG Stream: "That's Pep!"
MPEG Stream: "Daniel"

TORTOISE / AUTECHRE remix (Thrill Jockey) 12" 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The second remix 12" from Tortoise's TNT album.

TORTOISE / THE EX In The Fishtank (Konkurrent/Touch & Go) cd 9.98
From the liner notes: "Konkurrent invited Tortoise from Chicago to contribute some of their hypnotic, catchy instrumental pieces to our series. They gladly accepted and asked The Ex to join them. Both bands began from very different points when constructing songs. The Ex work with dynamics and tension building while Tortoise work at a more introspective and subdued level, adding layers and texture to their sound. Where they meet is in how they work with repitition and introduce very specific atmospheres into their songs."
Fortunately, there's more of The Ex than Tortoise.

TORTOISE / THE EX In The Fishtank (Konkurrent/Touch & Go) lp 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
From the liner notes: "Konkurrent invited Tortoise from Chicago to contribute some of their hypnotic, catchy instrumental pieces to our series. They gladly accepted and asked The Ex to join them. Both bands began from very different points when constructing songs. The Ex work with dynamics and tension building while Tortoise work at a more introspective and subdued level, adding layers and texture to their sound. Where they meet is in how they work with repitition and introduce very specific atmospheres into their songs."
Fortunately, there's more of The Ex than Tortoise.

TORTURE GNOSIS II (Frequency Thirteen) cd-r 7.98
Two new slabs of TRUE SHEFFIELD BLACK PSYCHEDELIA!!! Elsewhere on this week's list you'll find a new cd-r from Astral Womb, but this right here is record number two from Torture Gnosis, a duo whose first record seemed to slip right by us, for which we are now definitely kicking ourselves, cuz this stuff is seriously ruling.
Fans of the Frequency Thirteen label, the home of 'True Sheffield Black Psychedelia', and the various TSBP bands we've gushed over in the past: Black Vomit, Dukkha, Rape Rack, Ice Bound Majesty and Skultroll, should probably just stop right here and add this to your cart, but for everybody else, imagine a sort of twisted more lo-fi and sci-fi Expo 70, the same sort of psychedelic bliss out, long expanses of cosmic shimmer, but not rendered in the typical tropes of 'kosmische' music, instead, these are weirdo lo-fi metallers crafting a gorgeous fractured songsuite of intergalactic ambience. Their first record was a much noisier beast, with many of the tracks leaning way more toward a dizzying chaotic confluence of black metal, free jazz, and industrial clatter, but even then, the band would pepper these blasts of blacknoise and tangled metaljazz skree with hushed expanses of druggy drift and mesmerizing shimmer, and for II, it seems the band have jettisoned the blackness, ditched the rhythms, and instead opted for something much more tripped out and tranquil, soft focus swirls drifting weightless through clouds of effects, raga like drones layered into lush swells, all the tones stretched way out, meditative and dreamlike. But fear not, there's still plenty of darkness, with a handful of tracks playing out like soundtracks to some low budget VHS Alien knock-off, and we mean that in a good way, creepy ominous cinematic sprawls laced with weird sounds, is that some creature chewing human bones, or the footsteps of some mysterious figure trudging though some alien graveyard, or a mad scientist in a cave assembling some infernal machine, the synths rumble and thrum, occasionally blossoming into something that sounds more like the music from a seventies planetarium show. Killer stuff. And definitely recommended for all you into the current crop of psychedelic space synth and retro-futuristic Carpenter / Goblin worship who might be up for something a bit more fucked up.
LIMITED TO 50 COPIES!!!
MPEG Stream: "Fragment 25"
MPEG Stream: "Wormhole"
MPEG Stream: "Emission Nebulae"

TORUS phlogistics (Hactivist) cd ep 5.98
Torus is Adam MacGregor, formerly of technical grind outfit Creation Is Crucifixion. Recorded in 1998 and 2001, 'phlogistics' is a collection of noises ranging from metallic tinkerings to guitar-based feedback excursions.

TOSS Titles Of The Greatness Of Been ((K-RAA-K)3) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Much like the Dead C and Vibracathedral Orchestra, the Belgian trio Toss purposefully seeks to bathe their avant-drone rock in the nervous haze of cable buzzings and various terminal disconnections. For the most part the amorphous terrain is shaped by improvisational meanderings past screwdriving-the-guitar-strings vibrato, gentle guitar strum evolving in the distance, spluttered jazz-rock percussion as in No Neck Blues Band or Jackie-O Motherfucker, sporadic emergence of voices sounding more like unregulated bar room banter than intentionally placed lyrics, and on occasion a groovy Crescent organ blast. Certainly will appeal to fans of Corpus Hermeticum and the sound reminds Andee of Philip Jeck in with its hiccuping rhythms and old fashioned sepia tone haze.
RealAudio clip: "Trivial Eve 1"
RealAudio clip: "Alternate Remark And The Inseed"
RealAudio clip: "Elements Included"

TOTAL Hard + Low (Turgid Animal) cd 13.98
Holy shit! Skullflower / Matthew Bower / Broken Flag / early industrial music nerds rejoice! A long overdue reissue of the debut release from Matthew Bower of Skullflower's solo project Total, originally released on cassette way back in 1986 on the Broken Flag label, and now available on cd for the first time EVER. And it's a monster. Amongst fans of this kind of stuff (which we most certainly are, and we imagine many of you are too), this ranks up there as holy grail sort of stuff, and many folks' favorite Bower recordings ever. And it's easy to see why. Even after all this time, the stuff on Hard + Low, still sounds totally fresh, and way ahead of its time. With new bands today conjuring up similarly mysterious murk, with no idea that Bower was doing the same thing, and doing it better more than two decades early.
Sonically, this is a tough one to pin down, the record begins with a live track, which is essentially a squall of blown out white noise guitar skree, through which can barely be discerned the Sex Pistols' "Anarchy In The UK", but soon even that disappears beneath a barrage of feedback and industrial clatter, it's the sort of noisiness that would have the listener battening down the hatches preparing for the onslaught that must no doubt be coming. But instead, the rest of the record, while still plenty pummeling and brutal, shows a surprising amount of restraint, whether it's the weird pulsating dirge folk noisescape of "Transfigured Night", which transforms skronking horns into bagpipe like bellows, all over corrosive drones and strange detuned guitar strum, sounding not unlike an industrial free jazz version of Amps For Christ, or "Charnel House Revisited", which is a woozy Philip Jeck like turntablescape, all warped loops and crackly records spinning over a strange stuttery beat. Or there's "You'll Get Yours Yet", which sounds like some lost cold wave gem, the guitars stretched out into droning buzz, laced with plenty of strange sonic streaks and tangled melodies, over which a darkly dramatic vocal bellows and growls, a sort of ominous drumless doom and gloom drone-noise creep.
The record's centerpiece is the nearly 14 minute "The Sound Of Music", which is essentially solo piano, super lo-fi, and with tons of echo and reverb, wreathed in subtle swaths of haunting buzz, the whole track rife with weird bits of static and tape hiss, and more detuned guitar buzz. Surprisingly lovely, but at the same time, still slightly sinister. There's a studio version of the opening live track too, which is GORGEOUS, driven by what sounds like organs, but must be processed guitars, tranced out and droney, drifting on a bed of static and hiss and gristly buzz, all manner of strange industrial filigree in the background, but weirdly tranquil, and dreamily mesmerizing, easily one of the prettiest 'noise' jams EVER. And finally, the record finishes off with "Terminator", another tripped out psychedelic samplescape, all looped and cyclical, an early industrial Jeck, unfurling a softly noisy, layered loops, and wrapping them in warm swirls of blunted noise and blurred gauzy thrum. Wow. Absolutely essential.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!!
MPEG Stream: "Transfigured Night"
MPEG Stream: "Charnel House Revisited"
MPEG Stream: "You'll Get Yours Yet"
MPEG Stream: "Shallow Terrorists '85"

TOTAL ABUSE Total Abuse + Bonus (Deranged) cd 12.98
An utterly punishing onslaught of hateful hardcore and feedback drenched punknoise from this Texas outfit, 27 songs in 39 minutes, opening with what sounds like an unholy union between the Dead C, Harry Pussy and the Brainbombs, a full on, downtuned, stumbling, free noise, avant punk crush, and fuck, we would have been happy if that track stretched out past it's already sprawling 3:51 and filled up the whole record, but as the title suggests, this is just the "Introduction". From there on out it's a full on Black Flag / Void style blowout, blistering hardcore fury, vitriolic vocals, frantic riffing, fuzzed out bass, a wild, unhinged, bloody knuckled, sweat soaked hybrid of eighties thrash punk, grind, powerviolence, classic hardcore and new/no wave heaviness, all blurred into a monster blast of skull crushing punk rock pummel.
This cd collects the self titled record proper and tacks on 15 bonus tracks (!) from their Sex Pig 7" and demo!
MPEG Stream: "Introduction"
MPEG Stream: "I Can See In The Dark"
MPEG Stream: "Peace And Quiet"
MPEG Stream: "Disease"
MPEG Stream: "Fucked And Injured"

TOTAL ANNIHILATION Noggin (self-released) cd-r 9.98
Man, they just keep starting 'em younger and younger, don't they? Pretty soon we'll be hearing covers of old punk classics emanating from the womb (which reminds us of that Mr. Show sketch about pre-natal beauty pageants, but we digress...). This Bay Area trio join the likes of Rock Jack, Eyeball Skeleton, The Stinky Puffs, Evil Wicked Warrior, Mark Shit and of course Old Skull in their prepubescent mission to rock you. Total Annihilation are ten year old Eddy Demon on vocals and guitar, thirteen year old Pietro D'Amato on drums and a young at heart 35 year old Dorkmeister Harmoniak on bass. Noggin is their garage/bedroom lo-fi punky rawk debut cd-r which includes four originals and a cover of "I Wanna Be Yr Dog"!
MPEG Stream: "Rock'N'Roll On A Friday "
MPEG Stream: "I Wanna Be Yr Dog"

TOTAL CONTROL Henge Beat (Fuse Group) cd 17.98
NOW ON CD!!
After two totally kick ass 7"s, these Aussie electro-punks return with a full length that manages to trump them both. Thee Oh Sees head honcho John Dwyer warned us how good this was, and boy was he was right, a killer collision of dark, brooding retro garage punk and vintage electronic new wave, melded into something totally tripped out and irresistible, weirdly krautrocky, spacey and psychedelic. Opener "See More Glass" could go up against Moon Duo for pure blissed out psychedelic hypno-drift, the monotone intoned vox over the pulsing electronic throb and swirling layered buzz, all wreathed in streaks of muted feedback, the sound slipping from crunchy and caustic to muddy and murky, the electronics glitchy and distorted, all draped over a warm, whirling bit of kraut infused abstract psychedelia, like a fractured new wave take on Spacemen 3, peppered with dreamy little synth squiggles, adding a touch of kosmische to the proceedings. Follow up "Retiree" is a bit more straight ahead rock, but even the, the riffing is locked into these droned out arrangements, and the vocals again hauntingly monotone, making even punkier jams sounds tripped out and spacey.
And so it goes, the sound slipping from loose garagey jangle, to super catchy new wave pop, from weird low slung gloomy synth heavy drum machined electropop to old school power pop, from fuzzy hooky downer pop to creepy primitive abstract electronics, from doomy slow core balladry to tripped out psychedelia, all somehow strung together into something cool and cohesive. The pop songs definitely tapping into the classic Aussie post punk of the past a la the Scientists, Hoodoo Gurus, Celibate Rifles, as well as similarly minded outfits like the Wipers, but the magic is in when those two sides mix, the garagey punk jams laced with electronics, and the crunchy synth electronic workouts that seem to be fashioned into something more rock and roll, and even when those bits remain separate, there's something cool about a wild rambunctious jam devolving into a spaced out bit of celestial shimmer before slipping right back into some gloomy jangle. This is most definitely a new favorite!
MPEG Stream: "Carpet Rash"
MPEG Stream: "The Hammer"
MPEG Stream: "Love Performance"
MPEG Stream: "Meds II"

TOTAL CONTROL Henge Beat (Iron Lung) lp 14.98
After two totally kick ass 7"s, these Aussie electro-punks return with a full length that manages to trump them both. Thee Oh Sees head honcho John Dwyer warned us how good this was, and boy was he was right, a killer collision of dark, brooding retro garage punk and vintage electronic new wave, melded into something totally tripped out and irresistible, weirdly krautrocky, spacey and psychedelic. Opener "See More Glass" could go up against Moon Duo for pure blissed out psychedelic hypno-drift, the monotone intoned vox over the pulsing electronic throb and swirling layered buzz, all wreathed in streaks of muted feedback, the sound slipping from crunchy and caustic to muddy and murky, the electronics glitchy and distorted, all draped over a warm, whirling bit of kraut infused abstract psychedelia, like a fractured new wave take on Spacemen 3, peppered with dreamy little synth squiggles, adding a touch of kosmische to the proceedings. Follow up "Retiree" is a bit more straight ahead rock, but even the, the riffing is locked into these droned out arrangements, and the vocals again hauntingly monotone, making even punkier jams sounds tripped out and spacey.
And so it goes, the sound slipping from loose garagey jangle, to super catchy new wave pop, from weird low slung gloomy synth heavy drum machined electropop to old school power pop, from fuzzy hooky downer pop to creepy primitive abstract electronics, from doomy slow core balladry to tripped out psychedelia, all somehow strung together into something cool and cohesive. The pop songs definitely tapping into the classic Aussie post punk of the past a la the Scientists, Hoodoo Gurus, Celibate Rifles, as well as similarly minded outfits like the Wipers, but the magic is in when those two sides mix, the garagey punk jams laced with electronics, and the crunchy synth electronic workouts that seem to be fashioned into something more rock and roll, and even when those bits remain separate, there's something cool about a wild rambunctious jam devolving into a spaced out bit of celestial shimmer before slipping right back into some gloomy jangle. This is most definitely a new favorite!
MPEG Stream: "Carpet Rash"
MPEG Stream: "The Hammer"
MPEG Stream: "Love Performance"
MPEG Stream: "Meds II"

TOTAL CONTROL Pyre Island (Hustle Muscle) 7" 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We went nuts for the last 7" by Total Control, a side project of Aussie garage rockers Eddy Current Suppression Ring (who we just can't seem to get into), that record was a total ear shredding blast of classic old school synth punk a la the Screamers, Nervous Gender etc. This follow up, while still in the same electronic ballpark is somehow stylistically a huge shift, all the punk has been stripped away, leaving 2 tracks of minimal, robotic, old school electro, stripped down and spare, the beats programmed and clipped, the synths woozy and fuzzy, with some Radiophonic Workshop sounding melodies, occasional deep ominous crooning way down in the mix, bits of jangle guitar, some FX drenched vocalizing, but all wound around super sparse and skeletal beats and arrangements, resulting in some strange super hypnotic alien krautrocky robo-funk. Awesome stuff. Definitely time for a Total Control full length!!

TOTAL CONTROL s/t (Aussie Label Aarght!) 7" 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
For whatever reason, we could just never get into Aussie garage rockers Eddy Current Suppression Ring. And we wanted to, really, lots of folks we know swear by em, but they just never hit the spot for us. THIS, however DOES, big time. Featuring members of ECSR, Total Control is a modern version of classic synth punk, think Screamers, Units, Nervous Gender, that sort of thing, short sharp furious blasts of pounding angular synth driven punk rock, distorted and snotty and snarky, raw and in-the-red, hooky as hell, the songs averaging about 90 seconds, the verses chuggy and new wavey, the choruses explosive and heavy, shards of synth pop punk crush that totally kick ass. Every time we throw this on we end up playing it like 10 times in a row. Definitely a new favorite. So good that it has us thinking we might have to give the Eddy Current Suppression Ring another chance. But until then, we'll just go ahead and listen to this again. And again. And again...

TOTAL LIFE Ken Bradshaw (Brown Sounds) lp 12.00
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
This head spinning psychedelic collaged freakoutscape is by none other than Total Life, aka Kevin Doria, aka a member of aQ fave dronerockers Growing, but on Ken Bradshaw, Total Life veers well away from the drone and drift of Growing, crafting a totally trippy pulsing sonic barrage assembled entirely from clipped and looped and recontextualized samples of Pet Shop Boys songs. Sounds like it could be a mess, or a play-it-one-time novelty, and it is maybe a little bit of both, but it's also a totally mesmerizing barrage of loops and drones and rhythms, hypnotic and cyclical and repetitive and totally mesmerizing, the sounds swirling and whirling, but always the main beat pounds on and on, some twisted alien dancemusic, the little bits of vocal becomes a strange refrain, the pulsing synths, blur and refocus, wash in and out, the whole sound slowing down and speeding up, blissing out and then snapping right back into a propulsive pound.
It takes a few minutes to let yourself get lost, but once you do, it's pretty fantastic. And the best part, is the sound continues to expand and develop and sprawl and become more noisy and more distorted, until it sometimes sounds like some fucked up noise rock band lock grooving their way through a field of pound and chug, all blown out and freaked out and pretty goddamn great.
Available on both tape and vinyl, the tapes are red and blue polka dot cassettes, and packaged in super thick, silkscreened blue and red J-cards, the lps are housed in eye popping blue and red almost 3D looking jackets. Both are ULTRA LIMITED. And unfortunately, the lps sleeves are all a bit dinged up, mostly bent corners, so be warned, vinyl nerds and condition obsessives steer clear, or just grab the tape!
MPEG Stream: "Untitled 2"

TOTAL LIFE Ken Bradshaw (American Dreamer) cassette 8.98
This head spinning psychedelic collaged freakoutscape is by none other than Total Life, aka Kevin Doria, aka a member of aQ fave dronerockers Growing, but on Ken Bradshaw, Total Life veers well away from the drone and drift of Growing, crafting a totally trippy pulsing sonic barrage assembled entirely from clipped and looped and recontextualized samples of Pet Shop Boys songs. Sounds like it could be a mess, or a play-it-one-time novelty, and it is maybe a little bit of both, but it's also a totally mesmerizing barrage of loops and drones and rhythms, hypnotic and cyclical and repetitive and totally mesmerizing, the sounds swirling and whirling, but always the main beat pounds on and on, some twisted alien dancemusic, the little bits of vocal becomes a strange refrain, the pulsing synths, blur and refocus, wash in and out, the whole sound slowing down and speeding up, blissing out and then snapping right back into a propulsive pound.
It takes a few minutes to let yourself get lost, but once you do, it's pretty fantastic. And the best part, is the sound continues to expand and develop and sprawl and become more noisy and more distorted, until it sometimes sounds like some fucked up noise rock band lock grooving their way through a field of pound and chug, all blown out and freaked out and pretty goddamn great.
Available on both tape and vinyl, the tapes are red and blue polka dot cassettes, and packaged in super thick, silkscreened blue and red J-cards, the lps are housed in eye popping blue and red almost 3D looking jackets. Both are ULTRA LIMITED. And unfortunately, the lps sleeves are all a bit dinged up, mostly bent corners, so be warned, vinyl nerds and condition obsessives steer clear, or just grab the tape!
MPEG Stream: "Untitled 2"

TOTAL LIFE s/t (Animal Disguise) lp 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

TOTAL SHUTDOWN Reflections (Thin The Herd) 12" 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Total Shutdown. If you live in San Francisco and you've been following the contemporary music scene with even a smattering of interest, you've no doubt encountered this post-emo / screamo hardcore 'art' rock noise band. And it seems that Total Shutdown has been amassing a sizeable audience of ardent followers. And while we weren't all that impressed in the beginning, they have continued to get better and better live and more and more sonically appealing. But unfortunately, they've yet to capture their live mayhemic splatter on record. So this new one sided 12" is a bit of a let down. Sounding sloppy and noisy like an incongruous pastiche of the Angry Samoans, Happy Flowers, and Mars, TS seem to have mastered the sound but not the song. But for fans of the arty boot-to-the-head angular noise rock thing (ala Black Dice, Arab On Radar) there is plenty of ear shredding, rib kicking, gut humping pummel to soothe those tired ears. The vinyl itself is gorgeous. Cool cover art, and a one sided red vinyl lp, with a cool silkscreen on the other side. Also has the pesky concentric groove thing going on, so depending on where you put the needle down, you'll either get Total Shutdown or.......the Beatles?? While I appreciate the concept (I'm all for annoying vinyl oddities) the choice of the Beatles seems a little random. Would have been way funnier if they had made the other groove Arab On Radar or something like that (remember the big bouhaha over the 'fake' Oxes/Arab On Radar 10"? Good one Oxes!). Maybe they were afraid that then people wouldn't be able to tell the difference and wouldn't know if the needle was in the wrong groove or not.
But TS -are- one of the few local bands trying to kick up a shitstorm of some kind, and for that we salute them. You can't take it lightly since our once vibrant scene is slowly being whittled away to nothing (fewer bands that don't suck, fewer clubs period, jaded show go-ers, etc.) So keep your eye on these kids, 'cause one of these days everything's gonna hit at once, and maybe then we'll be singing their praises, but for now, recommended only for those with iron ear drums, bowels of steel and a not too discerning taste for skronk, chaos and noise.

TOTAL SHUTDOWN The Album (Tigerbeat6) cd 10.98

TOTALITAR Ni Maste Bort! (Prank / Finn) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

TOTALITAR Sin Egen Motsandare (Prank / Finn) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

TOTALITAR Wallbreaker: 1986 - 1989 (Armageddon Label) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Totalitar's functionally titled Wallbreaker: 1986 - 1989 is a 30 track long glimpse into this d-beat legend's early output. That's right, more crusty, political Discharge and Motorhead worship from Sweden's finest. If you need a two minute catharsis, this is it. Oh, and interestingly, Totalitar shared some members with AQ-favorite Brainbombs!

TOTH, JAMES JACKSON Waiting In Vain (Ryko) cd 14.98

TOTIMOSHI Ladron (Volcom) cd 13.98

TOUCH COMMITTEE s/t (self-released) cd 5.98

TOUCH COMMITTEE Winter Beard (20 Sided) lp 10.98

TOUCHED BY A JANITOR New Rule To Self (Feudal Enterprise) cd 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

TOUGH ALLIANCE, THE A New Chance (Modular ) cd 10.98
It's fun to look back at reviews we've written and see how we feel about them after some time has passed and we've spent more time with the record in question, records that we sometimes had to write about way too soon after first hearing. While we gave the latest outing by Australia's Cut Copy a favorable review we didn't gush and really rave about it as much as we might now. It's a record that became and still is one of our big pop addictions of the year. We've lost count of how many times we've listened to that record and it's looking like label mates The Tough Alliance are on their way to achieving that same state of pure dance pop bliss. Hailing from Sweden, where they've always known a thing or two about producing pleasing pop perfection, this is a record that channels eighties sounds from the Happy Mondays to OMD to The Human League. Breezy and infectious equal parts Manchester scene, indie pop, nu-rave, electro-pop and hi-energy, it's a whole album that sounds a little like some of our favorite songs stretched out into a whole record, like the Vaselines cover of Divine's "You Think You're A Man" or Death Cab For Cutie's most infectious song ever "Soul Meets Body". A New Chance doesn't reinvent the wheel but it sure makes us jump and spin and swirl in pure bliss and you can't ask for much more than that in a pop album. So fun and and so good!
MPEG Stream: "Neo Violence"
MPEG Stream: "Miami"
MPEG Stream: "Something Special"

TOUGHGUY FANTASY / ARCTIC BOYZ Thank Gods Its Friday / Louisianna Purchase (Frenetic) 2cd 14.98
Three boyz. Two bands. Two albums.
Toughguy Fantasy is an aural onslaught of noise insanity. Barely keeping up with itself, it's sorta in the vein of Lightning Bolt but with more musical toys and much more disfunction, making for an intangible attack from all angles.
Arctic Boyz is the slightly quieter sibling. Still chaotic for the most part, imagine Hella without "songs" with much clattering feedback. Starts off with a slightly middle-eastern flavor, and ramps up into a scratchy non-sensical maelstrom.
Features members of Hella, Chrime in Choir, The Appreciation and Holy Smokes: Zach, Carson and Justin.
MPEG Stream: TOUGHGUY FANTASY "Thank Gods It's Friday"
MPEG Stream: ARCTIC BOYZ "Quanah"

TOWER RECORDINGS Folk Scene (Communion) cd 13.98
Previously available only as a limited-to-300-copies one-sided piece of vinyl, Tower Recordings' "Folk Scene" now sees an expanded (14 more tracks!) compact disc reissue. Avantgarde cosmic bedroom psychedelia as these New Yorkers do best. Longtime TR members Matt Valentine, Tim Barnes, Pat "P.G. Six" Gulber and others, are joined by folks from Hall of Fame and AQ-fave New Zealander Dean Roberts (Thela, White Winged Moth) for this Eastern-tinged free-floating dronefolk extravaganza. Although they have a knack for so-so song titles such as "The High Rate Of Ass Vibration" and "Vokalis - The Fauna Inverts Itself In The Sway Of The Equinox Tower" (oh wait, maybe that one IS cool), their music is *much* more inspired and beautiful. So, now you can stop crying if you failed to nab the LP when it was oh-so-briefly available!
Comparisons are being made to British psych-folk of decades past, a la the Incredible String Band and the pagan folk of the Wicker Man soundtrack, comparisons that work well for that wonderful P.G. Six album from earlier this year, but TR on "Folk Scene" is so much more wasted and kosmische, blurred and drugged, more like krautrockers Amon Duul than Fairport Convention!! So good! But of course, if you've got their previous cd on Siltbreeze, the wonderful "Furniture Music For Evening Shuttles", you already know that and are on your way down here to buy this...
RealAudio clip: "Winter Of Frozen Mornings"
RealAudio clip: "Atrocity Jukebox"
RealAudio clip: "Rock And Roll (As Fucked Up As You Think)"
RealAudio clip: "Towergate"

TOWER RECORDINGS Furniture Music For Evening Shuttles (Siltbreeze) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Beautiful homerecorded avant-folk-pop-psych from this crew of NYC apartment-dwellers. They even do a lovely Mutantes cover! Recommended.

TOWER RECORDINGS The Fraternity Of Moonwalkers (Audible Hiss) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Basement drone and experimentation for both morning and evening drug-ingestion. When TR gets into songs, it's comparable to early Smog.

TOWER RECORDINGS The Galaxies' Incredible Sensual Transmission Field of the... (Communion) cd 13.98
Fans of all things psych-folk, and space rock and everything in between get all in a lather when talking about Tower Recordings. Rightfully so. Few bands have managed to capture the lilting dreaminess of seventies British psych, the otherworldly bliss out of modern space rock, and the transcendental urdrone of skree and shimmer outfits like Vibracathedral Orchestra and Sunroof!. The Galaxies' Incredible... is the first proper Tower Recordings record in three years and much has changed. Thankfully, none of those changes have affected TR. They continue to plot their own meandering trajectory through their unique hazy sonic world, managing to outdo almost all of their contemporaries in the process. The first track is a massive mellow jam / drone, huge chordal washes build and build into a massive slowly shifting whir, while ephemeral female vocals and various instruments float lazily by, bobbing in the spacy ethereal current. The second track is more straight up folk, with keening falsetto vocals, fingerpicked nylon string guitar, but with all sorts of weird bits, clapping, keyboardy bleeps, throbbing low end pulses. The rest of the record sort of drifts back and forth, more often than not resting right in between, with sweeping drones and warm ambience washing over dreamy folk melodies and delicate instrumental filligree. Absolutely gorgeous.
MPEG Stream: "Empress Of I-91"
MPEG Stream: "Giggy Garbage Gods (777)"

TOWER RECORDINGS The Galaxies' Incredible Sensual Transmission Field of the... (Communion) lp 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Fans of all things psych-folk, and space rock and everything in between get all in a lather when talking about Tower Recordings. Rightfully so. Few bands have managed to capture the lilting dreaminess of seventies British psych, the otherworldly bliss out of modern space rock, and the transcendental urdrone of skree and shimmer outfits like Vibracathedral Orchestra and Sunroof!. The Galaxies' Incredible... is the first proper Tower Recordings record in three years and much has changed. Thankfully, none of those changes have affected TR. They continue to plot their own meandering trajectory through their unique hazy sonic world, managing to outdo almost all of their contemporaries in the process. The first track is a massive mellow jam / drone, huge chordal washes build and build into a massive slowly shifting whir, while ephemeral female vocals and various instruments float lazily by, bobbing in the spacy ethereal current. The second track is more straight up folk, with keening falsetto vocals, fingerpicked nylon string guitar, but with all sorts of weird bits, clapping, keyboardy bleeps, throbbing low end pulses. The rest of the record sort of drifts back and forth, more often than not resting right in between, with sweeping drones and warm ambience washing over dreamy folk melodies and delicate instrumental filligree. Absolutely gorgeous.
MPEG Stream: "Empress Of I-91"
MPEG Stream: "Giggy Garbage Gods (777)"

TOWERS OF LONDON Blood Sweat And Towers (TVT) cd 14.98
These guys have been the talk of the town lately. Folks can't tell if they're serious or a total pisstake, or if it even matters. The music is a wild raucous glammy punk rock, simple and catchy, snotty and repetitive, funny and rocking as all get out. Lots of sing along parts, lots of super simple guitar leads, the vocals delivered in a thick Cockney sneer with plenty of attitude. Their look is total eighties glam punk, skin tight trousers, ripped t-shirts, Doc Martens or Converse All Stars, leather jackets, sun glasses, and BIG teased glam rock hair. We're not sure what all the fuss is about. They look awesome. They sound awesome. What more do you need to know? Who cares if it's a joke? They're like some sloppy collision of the Sex Pistols, Hanoi Rocks, G.B.H., the Damned, the New York Dolls and Andrew W.K. which sounds pretty good to us. If you're a punk purist you'll probably immediately want to beat the shit out of these guys, but if you dig the Darkness, love the above mentioned bands, and are in the market for some big, fun, wild, dumb, air guitar worthy glampunk rock and roll, you can't really do much better than the Towers Of London.
MPEG Stream: "I'm A Rat"
MPEG Stream: "Air Guitar"
MPEG Stream: "Kill The Pop Scene"

TOWN AND COUNTRY 5 (Thrill Jockey) cd 14.98
On their follow-up to last year's lovely C'mon, Chicago soundscapists Town and Country drift into view with 5 (yes, it's their fifth full length). Stretching each song out langourously from the shortest, the 4:23 "Lifestyled" to the eleven minute long album closer "Shirtless", they allow the instruments (strings, woodwinds, percussion, a cornet, a glass of water) to resonate, ebb and flow naturally. Melodic and rhythmic elements take shape gradually, and give way to the spacious drones. An entrancing album with a beautiful, warm ambience. Nice!
MPEG Stream: "Aubergine"
MPEG Stream: "Nonstop Dancer"

TOWN AND COUNTRY C'mon (Thrill Jockey) cd 14.98
The third album from this Chicago quartet who lovingly weave together harmonium, piano, guitar, trumpet, and contrabass. While their previous album was also a serene, dreamy gathering, Town And Country's new one reveals a lessening of their gentle guitars and a swell in chimes, horns and strings. So very tranquil, imagine yourself drifting away in a limpid, blue green pool. Music to bathe to!
RealAudio clip: "Going To Kamakura"

TOWN AND COUNTRY It All Has To Do With It (Thrill Jockey) cd 14.98
This is a near-perfect album of stark, lonely instrumentals. Using a variety of chamber instruments -- including cello, piano, kalimba, organ, melodian and snare drum -- to gorgeous effect, these guys know how to pile on the cool sounds without oversaturating the songs' natural ambience. With barely a beat to play against, these four compositions just seem to flow together and fall apart with relative ease. And best of all, no signs of hated hack indie hipster jazz (always a danger from Chicago/Thrill Jockey acts).