V/A Garage Beat '66 #3: Feeling Zero (Sundazed) cd 15.98

V/A Garden Of Forking Paths (Important Records) cd 14.98
When this first arrived, we thought maybe Important Records had re-released Jefre Cantu Ledesma's serpentine drone solo work of the same name that had come out on Spekk last year. But it seems there might just be more than one Jorge Luis Borges fan in the world, and one of them is James Blackshaw. Those of you who were lucky enough to see him perform live here in our store were witness to his magical powers of acoustic alchemy, and between pieces he quietly mentioned this new release that he had compiled. Bringing together avant-acoustic string pieces specifically recorded for this release by Dutch lute player Jozef Van Wissem (also his recent collaborator in Bretheren of The Free Spirit), Swedish cellist Helena Espvall, of Espers, Japanese koto virtuoso Chieko Mori, as well as Blackshaw himself. Beginning and ending with pieces by Cheiko Mori, we are taken through a twisting sojourn of cross-cultural touchstones and stylistic complexities. The range of classical lyricism and free improvisation highlights each individual's unique contributions while also recognizing a vital connection to each other's methods bringing the whole together. Excellent!
MPEG Stream: CHEIKO MORI "Spiral Wave"
MPEG Stream: JAMES BLACKSHAW "The Broken Hourglass"
MPEG Stream: HELENA ESPVALL "Home of Shadows and Whirlwinds"

V/A GBV And Robert Pollard Present: Crickets - Best Of The Fading Captain Series (Fading Captain) 2cd 17.98
When you think the impossibly prolific Robert Pollard couldn't possibly eke out another tune, another whole cd lands in your lap. How does he do it!? Well, you better brace yourself dear fans! Because although this is not a new Robert Pollard album, it is a fifty six track double cd collection which compiles a broad array of tracks from the various Robert Pollard fronted bands on Robert Pollard's Fading Captain label. Some of the groups include Go Back Snowball, The Moping Swans, Circus Devils, Airport 5, Lifeguards, Alien Mofo, Radiation Feeder... the list goes on and on... and yes, it includes Guided By Voices.
And what do you know, you also get six previously unreleased tracks and a 50-page full-color book to boot! This release marks the forty fourth and final release of the Fading Captain Series. Ahoy matey!
MPEG Stream: AIRPORT 5 "Total Exposure"
MPEG Stream: GUIDED BY VOICES "Sister I Need Wine (Cromag Demo)"

V/A Gern Blandsten: The First Nine Years (Gern Blandsten) cd 11.98
New Jersey's Gern Blandsten Records celebrate nine years of existence with this compilation of two dozen tracks by two dozen of Gern Blandsten's finest boy bands galore. Running the gamut from Wire / Gang of Four influenced post punk angst (Computer Cougar) to retro Brit power pop (Weston, Radio 4) to indie rock-a-rama (Chisel, The Van Pelt) to emo-punk (Garden Variety). As is the case with most of the bands that GB releases, their influences are in full view - no, there's no hiding the love and admiration for their forefathers. On an odd note, one of my favorite bands from this label, Radio 4 a mod-ish power pop outfit offer up "Boy Meets Girl" a track that, intentionally or not, lifts the melody from Kraftwerk's "The Model" and throws it into guitar territory.

V/A Ghetto Kitty Island Compilation (Ghetto Kitty Island ) 7" 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Here's a little something for your lo-fi pop sweet tooth... a compilation 7" record featuring Bart Davenport, Chicken On A Raft as well as Elephant 6ers The Minders and Of Montreal. Mr. Davenport's contribution is a gently sung and strummed ditty called "Tee". Of Montreal's is a spritely demo version of "Epistle To A Pathological Creep". The Minders deliver a droll Young Marble Giants-ish "Jealous Baby" and Chicken On A Raft get all raw, acoustic with "Lone Pilgrim". Limited pressing of 500, so hop to it!

V/A Giant Robot (#15) magazine+flexi 3.95
Five year anniversary music issue, featuring Cibo Matto, Money Mark, Automator, LA turntablists the Beat Junkies, DJ Krush, and... Shu Uemura the makeup tycoon. Only 1000 of the issues come with the free Money Mark flexidisc (exclusive material he recorded at the Giant Robot loft), but luckily all of ours have it! There's also the usual little article by Windy talking about "music no one's ever going to hear".

V/A Gimme Dat Harp Boy! (OZit Morpheus) cd 15.98
From the label that brought us Dust Sucker and Mersey Trout (the Magic Band live in Liverpool) comes a collection of recordings -- from the 1920's to the 1960's -- which serve to illuminate the vast musical influences of the enigmatic and inimitable Don Van Vliet a.k.a Captain Beefheart. As one might imagine, such a musical map would surely cut a broad swath. While many of the tracks have a direct connection to the Captain's works like "New Minglewood Blues" by the Noah Lewis Jug Band, whose opening lines are exactly the same as "Sure 'Nuff 'n' Yes I Do". Other tracks, like those by Blind Willie Johnson and Rahsaan Roland Kirk point out obvious influences on Vliet's vocal style and proclivity for playing two wind instruments at once. While the majority of tracks here are early blues & string band recordings -- Blind Blake, Victoria Spivey & Lonnie Johnson, Uncle Bud Landress, Al Simmons, Blind Joe Taggert, among others -- there's also plenty of jazz cuts -- Charlie Parker, Cab Calloway -- and oddballs like Lord Buckley, The Fang and Hawaiian slack key players Kanui & Lula. On top of all this are interspersed rare tracks of the Magic Band, interview snippets and random remarks from Captain Beefheart. Whether you're a fan of Captain Beefheart or not, you just might like this collection anyhow as just an interesting mix cd.
RealAudio clip: BOSS-TONES, THE "Mope-Itty Mope"
RealAudio clip: KIRK, RAHSAAN ROLAND "Jungle Suite"
RealAudio clip: FANG, THE "Nervous Norvus"
RealAudio clip: CAPTAIN BEEFHEART "Little Scratch"

V/A Gimme Skelter (Nettwerk) cd 17.98

V/A Gimmie Indie Rock (K-Tel) 2cd 19.98
No way...yes way! It's a bonafide K-tel compilation devoted to "indie rock." Coulda been quite painful, but amazingly this is actually a really nice collection. I don't know how they went about putting it together, but it's certainly got some stuff atypical of your usual "as-seen-on-tv" K-tel hits package. Husker Du, The Fall, Pussy Galore, Half Japanese, My Dad Is Dead, Yo La Tengo, The Wipers, The Minutemen, Savage Republic, Mekons, Mudhoney, Spacemen 3, Flaming Lips, Black Flag, The Pastels, The Melvins, more! It's like being in college all over again, at least for those of you who are 'our' age. A pretty great compilation!

V/A Girl Group Power, Histoires de Filles: Quebec 60's Go-Go Music (Triage) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
For fans of Ultra Chicks and Swinging Mademoiselle comps, wonderful playful french girl pop!

V/A Girl Group Sounds: Lost and Found (Rhino) 4cd box 78.00
Even if it is last year's fashion (meaning: this was released back in October '05), we've fallen head over heels for this stylish boxset! The tunes, the big booklet, the chic black'n'white hatbox packaging... all of it! The folks at Rhino Records have always made it their mission to dish out the oldies-but-goodies, but they have truly outdone themselves with this '60s girl group extravaganza. Each of the four cds contains thirty songs for a whopping total of one hundred and twenty songs! They cover a lot of ground from pert pop to smoooth soul, from peppery R&B to sashaying country. Many of the featured artists will undoubtably be more than familiar to you, but we'd wager that just as many will be new to you. That said, even if you do recognize the faces, you very well might not recognize the songs. This boxset is dedicated to shining a rosy glowing spotlight on the more obscure tunes. Aaah, some things -- such as good music -- never go out of style.

V/A Give The People What We Want: Songs Of The Kinks (Sub Pop) cd 14.98
It's always tough to put together a tribute record. The work is made even tougher when the band is as amazing as the Kinks. Further complicated by the fact, in the case of this particular compilation, that at least half of these bands are just okay, a few really suck, and most of the versions are really mediocre, with the bands not really making the songs their own. Worth it though if you love the Kinks and want to check out some bands trying their hand at some classics or if some of the folks on this record are bands you dig. Standout tracks from Mark Lanegan, Mudhoney, Jon Auer, Murder City Devils. Also includes tracks from C Average, Young Fresh Fellows, Model Rockets, The Fallouts, Love As Laughter, The Fastbacks, The Minus 5, The Makers and more.

V/A Glasgow (Plastic Cowboy) 2x7" 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A great double single with 4 exclusive tracks all from Glasgow with Mogwai (still the only band that has a right to fill My Bloody Valentine's shoes with the bleak melodic mope rock)... El Hombre Trajeado (if Tortoise were a Factory band... loose bass driven grooves and desolate keyboards)... Yummy Fur (an homage to the late 70's power punk from Fast Products i.e. Gang of Four, Mekons, Scars...)... and The Karelia (very nice bittersweet pop with laidback breakbeats worthy of Creation or Chemikal Underground)...

V/A Glastonbury Fayre Festival (Akarma) 2cd+dvd 60.00
Yo, hippies! Holy crap, we've just got 3 copies of this fancy box set, which comprises a reissue (on two cds) of the triple LP set documenting performances at the legendary Glastonbury Fayre festival of 1971. Artists on cd one include Hawkwind, David Bowie, The Greatful Dead (a 24 minute "Dark Star...bury"), Marc Bolan, Mighty Baby, Brinsley Schwarz, Pete Townsend, and Skin Alley. Disc two is a doozy too with Daevid Allen & Gong (23 minutes from them), The Pink Fairies (famous renditions of "Do It" and "Uncle Harry's Last Freak-out", which Fairies fans probably have already) and last but not least, the Edgar Broughton Band (their freak anthem "Out Demons Out", 20 minutes long here). Wow. That blows Coachella or the Pitchfork Festival out of the water, don't it?
And then, there's also a DVD in this box, "Glastonbury Fayre - The Movie", featuring performance footage of Terry Reid, Fairport Convention, Family, Arthur Brown, Traffic, Melanie, and Quintessence. Haven't watched it yet but how could it not be cool? NTSC, region free.
The whole thing is packaged as a facsimile of sorts of the original, complete with inserts, poster, etc.

V/A God Damn, I Hate The Blues (KRAAK) 2x7" 14.98
This double 7" is not brand new, but it came with a batch of new stuff we finally got from Kraak, one of our favorite labels. Not sure what this double 7" is exactly, a label sampler maybe, we have a vague recollection of it commemorating a tour with all these bands, regardless, it's a pretty jam packed comp, with lots of aQ faves, the A side is outsider psych folk one man band Amen Dunes, with a track from his recently released Ethio Songs single, which finds him covering obscure Ethiopian pop songs, and it's the perfect combination, the original melodies and lyrics (sounds like he's actually singing the lyrics) still in tact, but the overall sound a bit more ramshackle and reverby, another one of those instances, where we sort of wish it wasn't a cover, and there was just a band that sounded like this all the time. Still, super awesome. The flipside starts out with Warm Climate, who we had never heard before, and whose sound is a sort of feedback drenched post punk, all low slung basslines, tribal drumming, and childlike vox, very rhythmic and propulsive, definitely into hearing more. The second track comes from long time aQ fave Ignatz, a glorious slab of lo-fi bedrooom folk, all detuned guitars and Dylan like vocal drawl, and spidery melodies over muted strum.
The second single starts out with another aQ fave Marisa Anderson, who played an instore here not too long back, and whose track here is a stunner, a fantastic slab of distorted electric guitar blues, lots of slippery slide and Appalachian fingerpicking, so good. Up next is Nathan Bowles, who offers up a short blast of old timey bluegrass stomp, and finally, the whole D side is given over to Bridget Hayden, who weaves a gorgeously minimal sprawl of gauzy Grouper-ish drift, hazy effected vocals over brittle lo-fi guitar strum, all druggy and washed out, softly psychedelic and dreamy.
Fairly limited we'd presume, housed in a swank heavy full color gatefold sleeve!

V/A Gold Record Studio: Live At Laney Flea Market (Edgetone Records) 2cd 14.98
BACK IN STOCK! Record collectors, check it out: in a sense, this is a compilation of tracks from some of the rarest records EVER -- even though they were just recorded last year! That's cause they only existed in editions of, like, one. Ok, this is gonna require some explanation. The Gold Record Studio is the latest contraption/conception from our man Jon Brumit (whom we first met when he brought us field recordings from the San Francisco dump!) and colleague Lisa Mezzacappa... Basically a set-up where one-of-a-kind vinyl records were pressed on-the-spot with an antique record cutter for folks who recorded live (and impromptu) in an open-air, homebuilt studio at a local flea market! This was totally free of charge, with instruments and even guest musicians provided, and apparently proved very popular. This took place over several weekends last spring at the Laney College Swap Meet over in Oakland... the City of Oakland actually ponied up some arts-funding money to help make it happen. And it seems like a pretty cool thing, for both the participants (the "recording artists") and now listeners who get to check out the diverse array of talent (and otherwise) who made records at the flea market, the best (and worst? no such distinctions really being made) have been compiled onto this sprawling double disc set. There's contributions from folks of all ages, backgrounds and ethnicities. Some musical pros show up (including a couple Serbian prog rockers, and the DJ from the Ghetto Boys!), but also many total amateurs, young kids n' senior citizens. Lots of surprises in other words!
This man-in-the-street, instant-gratification, no-rules recording project really let some folks get, shall we say, expressive. And creative. And downright weird. Portions of this do come off like a rather dubious talent show, or drunk mom karaoke -- but lots of tracks could be some really underground, experimental cd-r fodder, too. As a whole, it's almost like a hypothetical installment of the Sublime Frequencies series dedicated to the sounds of why-be-normal urban America, jumping from track to track with ADD abandon. For instance, among the many tracks of disc one, you've got a woozy improv session with a barking dog factored in, followed a few tracks later by a version of "My Favorite Things" recast conversationally (and humorously) between teenage girls. There's also a pretty badass blues rock guitar instrumental, some crazy scat singing, and a song that sounds to us a lot like The Shitty Listener! And much much more... It's mind-boggling and exhausting and pretty darn special. Even the recognizable tunes that people try (for good or ill) are enhanced in our ears by the bustling flea market field recording happening in the background.
And then, there's a whole 'nother disc. 50 cuts on disc two, starting off with some very lovely solo guitar from "Sam"...which is followed by a much more maniacal track with a shouting child... and then some guy singing "Let It Be"... a super-distorted rap by a teenage girl... and on and on and on. There's definitely some Gong Show moments, which are good for a laugh or can be taken as something maybe unintentionally avant-garde. We really like the more "damaged", confusional tracks (of which there's plenty), where it sorta sounds like the people you hear DON'T know they're being recorded, or at least seem unaware of where the microphone is, or when the song is supposed to start or stop.
Even in the age of mp3 and MySpace, this Gold Record Studio project has taken the democratization of the "music industry" a step further, down to street level! There's just something really joyful about it, possibly due to the serendipitous social interaction happening right then and there at the point of creation. You're getting a glimpse at the inner musical burgeonings of people who until that fateful day they were wandering around the flea market, probably never ever ever dreamed that they would so soon be the proud owners of a physical vinyl artifact with their own singing/rapping/playing/barking/whatever on it, whether silly or serious. And that's pretty cool.
Also, if you get this, you'll definitely have some good material to put on your outgoing answering machine message for months to come... file it with stuff like MSR Madness anthologies of song-poem recordings, or Jacob Smigel's Eavesdrop disc of found sound recordings, although this takes its own unique place in that array of oddity...
MPEG Stream: "Lee, Jon, Suki, Brian, Tom, Jesse"
MPEG Stream: "Emily, Amara, Lucio"
MPEG Stream: "Sam"
MPEG Stream: "Birana, Tanaya, Shelley, Micha"

V/A Golden Age: Eurock, A History of European Progressive Music (Eurock) cd-rom 22.00
Where to begin with a review of a cd-rom that includes over 1,500 articles and reviews? Well, this is what I can tell you upon first examination of this disc, but many many hours could be spent exploring the material to be found here. Basically, this is an cross-platform (Mac and PC) cd-rom archive of every issue of Archie Patterson's Eurock fanzine, from 1973 to today, 45 issues worth. Eurock, as you might guess, specializes in European progressive rock sounds (although you'll also find coverage of scenes in Japan, Mexico, and other non-European places). Beginning in '73, it was initially focused on the contemporary krautrock scene (with features on Can, Amon Duul, Tangerine Dream in issue #1!), but as you browse through the issues you'll find stuff on Magma, Kraftwerk, RIO, Guru Guru, and then soon you'll be reading about Franco Battiato, Nektar, Lars Hollmer...it's endless. The Wire review of this of course bagged on the exclusion of much UK prog-rock (as if you'd rather read about Gentle Giant than Le Orme), but Patterson could hardly go back in a time machine and add stuff to the old issues of his zine -- what they wrote then is what you get now, and that's the beauty of it, the sense of "being there", of discovery, and all that...I almost wish that the magazine had been archived PDF fashion, so that you could actually see the original page layout and funky fonts. At least there's a gallery of cover art (unfortunately not viewable at full-size), for fans of the '70 underground press aesthetic.
Oh, and there's some bonus video material as well, an Urban Sax concert (sorry, haven't investigated that yet...) and a cut each from Amon Dull II ("Eye-Shaking King", goddamn!) and Popul Vuh from German TV. Very cool! Oh, and then the regular audio portion of this cd is some inoffensive New Agey symphonic music from one Hiro Kawahara, which might have its uses when trying to relax after several hours of computer-screen staring eyestrain that this cd-rom will surely cause. A fantastic item for folks interested in this sort of stuff (you know who you are)!

V/A Golden Apples Of The Sun (Bastet) cd 14.98
Much like the Sub Pop 200 comp which came out in 1988 and was filled with then not so well known bands who would soon become household names across the globe (Mudhoney, Nirvana, Soundgarden, etc.) this Arthur Magazine sponsored, Devendra Banhart curated compilation probably did the same for music of this decade. When it first came out names like Antony, Joanna Newsom, Espers, Iron & Wine, Vetiver, Josephine Foster and Coco Rosie weren't at the tip of indie music lovers tongues like they are now. Free-folk, freak-folk, whatever you wanna call it, this is a great collection of artists which also include such AQ faves as Jack Rose, Vashti Bunyan, White Magic, Troll (featuring our own Scott!), Six Organs of Admittance, etc. While none of these bands/people will probably ever get as big as some of those folks on that Sub Pop comp did, this is great document of one of a recent explosion of a sound and style that has pretty much defined much of the great new music coming out recently. Now repressed (it was previously only available via Arthur magazine), so if you weren't lucky enough to have Devendra throw you one at his Amoeba in-store a few years back you can still revel in his mighty fine musical taste!
MPEG Stream: SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE "Hazy SF"
MPEG Stream: IRON & WINE "Fever Dream"
MPEG Stream: TROLL "Mexicana"

V/A Goode Tyme Jhamboree (Planet Pimp) lp 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Featuring David Nudelman of Three Stoned Men singing about how he hates vegetables, Gomez, MC Terror T with Nardwuar (the Human Serviette), Man...Or Astroman?, the Hi-Fives, etc. The highlights of this record are the phone calls "Comfy Jones" (Neil Hamburger?) places to the Original Car Thieves. I would like to know how Outpunk, Pansy Division, and others feel about this saga; but here's how it's been recounted to us: Sven of Planet Pimp called up the Car Thieves and said he liked 'em & wanted to release a 7" record. They said 'Great! And you can do the cover art... "Just don't make it too gay." Sven, righteously disgusted, designed the entire package, songtitles and artwork to portray the band as hot leather boys. The Car Thieves reaction? On this compilation, 'Comfy Jones' calls up the band to tell them how happy he is that they're out and proud and that he can't wait for them to play San Francisco. The bandmembers, who are apparently not too bright and thus don't get that they're being ridiculed, protest that they're not gay and that Sven is just making fun of...homosexuals.

V/A Gorilla Garage: The Jesse Hector Story (RPM) cd 16.98

V/A Grain (Dot Dot Dot) cd 17.98
This is one of those smorgasbord compilations, in this case ninety-nine (99) short -- under a minute -- tracks by an extremely international array of experimental musicians. It's a diverse bunch, dabbling everything from droning psych ambient stuff to electronics and noise, proggy rock and even some pop. Some are bands playing 'real' instruments, some are loners with laptops. This diversity is a good thing, for with comps like this, where there's no overall "theme" other than lots of artists/short tracks, success comes from the weird inclusiveness of the project. How many strange, totally unrelated artists can you get to participate? It's a tribute to the compiler's eclectic taste and networking skills. Well Dot Dot Dot's done a good job here. Here's a sampling of the contributors, which include quite a few AQ faves: KK Null, Berkowitz Lake & Dahmer, Volcano The Bear, Disco Operating System, Silver Apples, E.A.R./Delia Derbyshire, Guapo, Toshimaru Nakamura, The Lothars, Scott Jenerik, The Dudley Corporation, Kawabata Makoto, Tamaru, Chie Mukai, Hans Roedelius, Barry Guy, Gunter Muller, Burning Star Core and of course many, many more, lots of whom we've never heard of. (Best name: Sproejtebrueder featuring Schreibmaschinenubumbsprogramm Von Neuz!) You'll find your own favorites, and certainly be exposed to some new artists/sounds if you pick this up. Ok, that pretty much covers it. I mean, what can you say about 60 second songs anyway? Just buy it already. Nice art and layout, by the way.
MPEG Stream: BRIAN LAVELLE "St. Toad's Cracked Chimes"
MPEG Stream: CHIE MUKAI "Untitled"
MPEG Stream: DADDY STOVEPIPE & HIS RUBBER ATTACHMENT "No. 4,827"
MPEG Stream: OB STOKKEM "Deathless Pixel Worm"
MPEG Stream: MONSTER DVD "Balkan Hammer"

V/A Grass Roots Record Co. Family Album (Grass Roots Record Co.) cd 8.98
Who knew Nevada City, CA was such a hot bed for hip now sounds? Well, since that town is home to the cool recording studio Brighton Sound and new record label Grass Roots Record Co., artists have flocked to NC to put their music to tape.
This compilation offers a broad array of those who have been through their doors in the short time they've been open for business. Sessions took place over the course of just two weeks, during which seventeen diverse artists laid their goods down live direct to tape. The who's who: Hella, Biff Rose, Moore Brothers, Alela Diane, Mariee Sioux, Made In, Alina Estelle Hardin, Kings & Queens, Golden Shoulders, Lee Bob Watson, Casual Fog, Jessica Henry, Benjamin Oak Goodman, Them Hills, Reckon Family, The Snegg Band, RF and Neal Morgan. A wonderfully down-home, close-knit yet welcoming community feel.
MPEG Stream: ALELA DIANE "Dry Grass And Shadows"
MPEG Stream: HELLA "Friday The 13th"

V/A Gravity 37: Compilation Video Soundtrack (Gravity) cd 7.98
Soundtrack to the just released Gravity video. Gravity is the super influential, post punk San Diego record label that released records by Heroin, Clickitat Ikatowi, Mohinder and more almost single handedly creating a sound that is now simply known as that 'Gravity' sound. This soundtrack features AQ favorites Crom Tech, as well as Men's Recovery Project, Monorchid, Autumn Fog and the Makeup.

V/A Greasy Truckers Party (EMI) 3cd 38.00
Live Hawkwind festival jams 1972, alongside Man and
Brinsley Schwarz (and Magic Michael).

V/A Great Googa Mooga (Ace) cd 16.98
Last list we had the Great Googly Moo, a delightful compilation of nonsense novelty tunes from the early rock era, from the mid '50s thru the mid '60s. We mentioned it was the sequel to another comp, this one, Great Googa Mooga, released in 2003. Same idea, songs with wacky verbiage. Like it says on the cover: "These Words Don't Make No Sense!". And what words they are, here's a sampling from some of the song titles, all run together: ookey ook bip bop bip um bow bow bim bam ting ting boom scat voo-it voo-it du-bi-a-do oochie pachie mamo mamo boom pacha boom ooh poo pah doo yacka hoom boom ay la bah mama oom mow mow bama lama bama loo oo-ma-liddi loo-key doo-key!!! Plus of course you get, not only "Great Googa Mooga" (by Tom & Jerrio, 1965), but also "Good Googa Mooga" (by The Magic Tones, 1953). Little Richard appears here, also LaVern Baker, The Rivingtons, Little Anthony & The Imperials, Richard Berry, and plenty others, more obscure, that we hadn't really heard of before (except on the other comp, maybe). The Bobbettes, Billy Byrd & His Penguins, The Chips, Dolly Cooper, King Coleman... There's 27 tracks in total. Some more RnB, some more doo wop, some more surf. Great stuff, just like its sequel, loads of fun. Makes you wonder if these early rock n' rollers were inspired by the church meetings of snake handling holy rollers, the whole speaking-in-tongues thing, 'cause the vocals/lyrics here are positively glossolaliac! There's obviously some connection.
Comes complete with a thick cd booklet of detailed liner notes. Now we want more, hoping a third volume is in the works!
MPEG Stream: THE CHIPS "Rubber Biscuit"
MPEG Stream: GAMMA GOOCHEE HIMSELF "(You Got) The Gamma Goochee"
MPEG Stream: THE RIVINGTONS "Mama Oom Mow Mow (The Bird)"
MPEG Stream: CLAUDE MCLIN "Jambo"

V/A Great Googly Moo (And More Undisputed Truths) (Ace) cd 16.98
The title says it all. This is a compilation of jumpin' and jivin' treats from the early years of rock n' roll, circa 1955-1965 or thereabouts, and the one thing they all have in common (besides rockin') are NONSENSE LYRICS... thus amongst the 24 tracks here you'll find such wonderful gibberish statements as "Tutti Frutti", "Woojamacooja", "Chop Chop Boom", "Bom Bom Lulu", "Yodee Yakee", "(You Got) The Gamma Goochee", "She Goes Oonka Chicka", "Shtiggy Boom", "From The Top Of Your Guggle (To The Bottom Of Your Zooch)" and more, including of course "Great Googley Moo". Some of this strange lingo represents onomatopoeic sound effects. Others, teen slang that was hip at the time. Or, just plain ol' silliness. And some, no doubt, are euphemistic stand ins for other words, often risque if you read between the lines.
Wow, what a great comp! Fun, fun stuff, this is rock and roll at its purest, it don't have to make sense, it just has to rock, and roll, and make those crazy kids dance!! And, we're pretty sure both Lewis Carroll and Dr. Seuss would approve.
The artists, most of 'em fairly obscure, nowadays anyway, include Little Richard (naturally), Screamin' Jay Hawkins, The Spaniels (with the title track), The Kingsmen, The Tammys, The Premiers, The Astro-Jets, LaVern Baker, Gene & Eunice, Shirley Ellis, The Rivingtons, The Five Blobs, and many others. The thick, colorful, heavily illustrated cd booklet (24 pages) features super detailed notes on each song and artist, along with vintage photos and record label graphics. Really nicely done. Turns out this is actually a sequel to a previous Ace comp along the same lines, called Great Googa Mooga, so we'll have to get that one in soon too...
MPEG Stream: LARRY WILLIAMS "Hocus Pocus"
MPEG Stream: THE SPANIELS "Great Googley Moo"
MPEG Stream: THE BOSS-TONES "Mope-itty Mope"
MPEG Stream: THE BOBBETTES "Rock And Ree-Ah-Zole (The Teen-Age Talk)"

V/A Great Jewish Music: Burt Bacharach (Tzadik) 2cd 21.00
Sure, Tzadik titles've been really spotty lately and it's getting to be hard to tell the good from the bad, but surprise: the label has totally hit the mark this time. Not only do Bacharach's standards cry out for reinterpretation, but this cd functions as a hearty sampler of downtown NYC scene as it stands today. Thus, while Bacharach's used to Dionne and the Carpenters paying tribute (and royalties), this is a weird and 90% wonderful collection of mostly twisted (but some lovely straightahead) covers of his songs, from Wayne Horvitz's *sublime* "Close To You" to Marc Ribot's signature guitarwork on "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" to Medeski, Martin and Wood's "Do You Know the Way to San Jose," which sounds like it was recorded underwater. Other contributors include Faith No More's Mike Patton, Shelley Hirsch, Lloyd Cole, Robert Quine, Eyvind Kang, Bill Frisell, Cibo Matto's Yuka Honda with Sean Lennon, Dave Douglas, Zeena Parkins, Erik Friedlander, and Guy Klucsevek.

V/A Grind Bastards 2 - For The Grind Freaks (Grave / Grindfreaks) cd 14.98
Worth it for the first 51 seconds alone, a mind blowing blast of furious pop flecked grind, but heck, there's also a shit ton of blasting grinding heaviness to follow after that first minute of grindpop bliss...
What more do you need to know!?! It's a compilation called GRIND BASTARDS. Subtitled "For The Grind Freaks". Released on the label run by legendary Japanese grinders Unholy Grave. And check out the band list. Tons of killer groups, and a whole bunch new to us, almost all heavy and brutal and kick ass: Mortalized, Insect Warfare, Butcher ABC, Unholy Grave (of course), Exgreed, Disgust, Top Breeder, Motiveless, Gods Of Grind, Little Bastard, Red, 48, Gate, Spiral and more.
Plenty of downtuned chug, furious blasts, growled cookie monster grunts, wild hysterical shrieks, insane chaotic riffing, most songs clocking in at under two minutes, many of those under one, short sharp jagged blasts of grinding fury, with some songs super well produced and heavy as fuck, others blown out almost Japanoise sounding boombox blur, a handful of crusty D-beat pounding, super varied, but super cohesive, heavy as hell, should totally hit the spot for punk rockers and metalheads alike, as long as you like it ultra heavy, ultra sick and blazing fast. The biggest surprise for us, is probably the 51 second long Mortalized track, "Nailing Descartes To The Wall", which just might be the catchiest minute of grind we've ever heard. Similar to how Jon Chang's new bands incorporate eighties metal and crazy power metal hooks into impossible complex grind, Mortalized sound a little like Iron Maiden on 78, or maybe some super catchy 3 minute pop single spun as fast as it will go, the guitars raging and soaring, the hooks undeniable, even some leads, but that main melody has been stuck in our head nonstop. The only solution seems to be listening to that track over and over again. Which we're still doing. And it does seem to be working. We just. Can't. Ever. Stop.
Packaged in cool fold out punk rock sleeve style with each band getting their own little square for artwork and liner notes.
MPEG Stream: MORTALIZED "Nailing Descartes To The Wall"
MPEG Stream: BUTCHER ABC "Crime Against Humanity"
MPEG Stream: INSECT WARFARE "Death Gate"
MPEG Stream: UNHOLY GRAVE "Marionette"

V/A Grind Bastards 3 (Grind Freaks) cd 14.98
With a title like Grind Bastards, you can safely assume that this comp is indeed directly targeted at you, the grind bastards. And we know there are some serious grind bastards among the aQ faithful. Anyone who has gone nuts in the past for Agoraphobic Nosebleed, or Pig Destroyer, or Discordance Axis, or Last Days Of Humanity, we could go on and on and on, so yeah, dig a little deeper and discover a whole world of grind going on UNDER the underground. Grind Bastards collects some of the best Japanese grind from mostly bands you've never heard of, but NEED to.
Heavy, buzzing, blasting, frenzied, frenetic, pummeling, crushing, a dizzying swirl of metal riffage, furious blast beats, grunted cookie monster vocals, inhuman blackened shrieks, hooks all over the place, and some of the heaviest catchiest under a minute shit you'll ever hear.
Little Bastards, Magnicide, Mortalized, Butcher ABC, Cortecuellos, Brob, Mangirl, Fortitude, Bleeding Humanity, D.I.E., Kutsujoku, Deadly Spawn, Zagio Evha Dilegj and of course Unholy Grave, whose label Grind Freaks released this (and who also run the amazing all black metal and grind and doom record store Grave in Japan). Dense and dizzyingly complex, next level heaviness for sure, fast and crusty enough for punk rockers, riffy and brutal enough for metalheads, and definitely a rad grind primer for the newbies.
BTW: We also have a few copies of Grind Bastards 2, which besides totally ruling as well, just so happens to feature one of our favorite grind jams ever, a 51 second grindpop gem by Mortalized (who have 2 songs here) covering pop punkers Propaghandi.
MPEG Stream: LITTLE BASTARDS "Lie, Deceive, Steal"
MPEG Stream: MAGNICIDE "Misery Of An Existence"
MPEG Stream: MORTALIZED "Funeral Grind"
MPEG Stream: CORTECUELLOS "Don't Call Japanese Hardcore Japcore"
MPEG Stream: MANGIRL "Ghoul Gurumand"
MPEG Stream: UNHOLY GRAVE "Cruel Terror"

V/A Grind Bastards 4 (Grind Freaks) cd 14.98
Okay grind bastards, time for round 4, another awesome collection of some of the best grind that Japan, and the rest of the world, has to offer. But like on past installments, this is not the grind you know and love, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Last Days Of Humanity, Discordance Axis, Hayaino Daisuki, Brutal Truth, Pig Destroyer, Nasum, that's all mainstream by comparison, this is the grind underground, some names you might know, you might even have records by Unholy Grave, whose label Grind Freaks is responsible for this mayhem, or Total Fucking Destruction, and then there's a bunch of bands you probably only know from past installments of Grind Bastards like Mortalized, Fortitude, Little Bastards, and in addition this time around a there's whole new crop of bands we'd never heard 'til now: Vulgaroyal Bloodhill, Zomba Green, Disgunder, Diborce, Ada Max, Black Ganion, and more more more.
This isn't really for dabblers though, this is sort of the grind version of grim, kvlt, true, the sounds here insane and ultra aggressive, over the top, a relentless assault on the senses, a crushing barrage of grinding buzzsaw riffage, blasting hyperspeed drumming, crazed vocals that yelp, howl, grunt, screech, the songs ultra proggy, a million parts and tempos crammed into the space of a minute or two, the sounds vary from blasts of blacknoise, to groovy almost classic metal, to white hot blasts of old school grind, to twisted effects drenched grinding avant metal freakouts, to galloping fastcore, to helping almost Melt-Banana sounding hypergrind, to epic war grind, to some almost poppy grind, some seriously gurgling goregrind, a few tracks get into 3 and 4 even 5 minutes, while others blow by in seconds, furious and frenzied and frantic and fantastically fucked up, this is some of the raddest, heaviest, most brutal and inventive grind you'll hear, anyone into fast and heavy, blasting brutality, this will kick your ass big time, and like past volumes, this would be a pretty epic grind primer, and like those volumes, this couldn't be more recommended.
Killer packaging too, a massive fold out punk rock poster, with each band getting their own little panel of liner notes...
MPEG Stream: MORTALIZED "Hate Your World"
MPEG Stream: DISGUNDER "Ruminate / Incise"
MPEG Stream: ADA MAX "Electric Shock"
MPEG Stream: TOTAL FUCKING DESTRUCTION "Battle Command In Future"
MPEG Stream: VULGAROYAL BLOODHILL "Quitar Las Tripas A Un Dios"
MPEG Stream: FORTITUDE "Cadaverous Faces"

V/A Grind Bastards 5 (Grind Freaks) cd 14.98
Once again, this one is for all the Grind Bastards out there, the fifth in this long running series of Japanese comps, collecting the best of (mostly) Japanese grind, released on the Grind Freaks label, run by legendary Japanese grinders Unholy Grave, who are present here, along with some other longtime faves: Mortalized, Agothocles and some others. But the best part of these comps is discovering all the weird ultra underground grind outfits you'd most likely not hear anywhere else: Red Ran Amber, Ada Max, Extreme Noise Destroyer, Hell And Hell, Easies, Fortitude, Midnight Resurrector, Naqro, Parasite and more!
Obviously, this comp is called Grind Bastards, on a label called Grind Freaks, so odds are if you made it this far you know what you're getting into, fast and furious, blasting, churning, chugging, GRINDing heaviness, frenzied beats, insane riffing, howled and screeched vox, total metallic chaos, blurry punk mayhem, short sharp blasts of super complex, downtuned intricate metallic grind. We're digging Red Ran Amber, who if all was fair would be getting the same love as say Wormrot, Pig Destroyer or any of the other grind outfits on Relapse, Mortalized offer up another minute long epic, further convincing us that they might have the potential to be our favorite grinders if they only had more material out and it was a lot easier to track down, Extreme Noise Destroyer offer up some sort of distortion drenched bit of acoustic guitar weirdness before launching into some serious downtuned devastation, the Easies spit out blasts of super blown out and in-the-red chaos, Brob offer up some seriously old school powerviolence fastcore grind, their sound thick and caustic, Parasite are almost straight up classic eighties metal, complete with super melodic harmonized guitar leads, while Naqro might be a new favorite, their super raw lo-fi sound impossibly dense and heavy, their sound swinging wildly from frantic grind to swinging almost groovy metallic churn, and Midnight Resurrector kick out the straight up hip hop, not sure if they're normally a grind band or they just have some grind cred (they do infuse their sound with some fat fuzzy bass, and some Hawd Gangstah style bellowed rapping). Already can't wait for volume six! Comes in a cool fold out punk rock poster style sleeve.
MPEG Stream: RED RAN AMBER "Demitri"
MPEG Stream: ADA MAX "Untitled"
MPEG Stream: MORTALIZED "Asino Wa Ruia Itu"
MPEG Stream: EXTREME NOISE DESTROYER "Intro"
MPEG Stream: LITTLE BASTARDS "Last Ride"
MPEG Stream: BROB "SGR"

V/A GRLZ, Women Ahead Of Their Time (Crippled Dick) cd 16.98
If there's something you haven't been getting enough of lately, it's angular female-fronted post-punk from the late 70s/early 80s! If you don't already own the Slits b-side track cover of "Heard It Through The Grapevine", get this cd now! It could be the only reason to buy this cd, except there are other tracks on here that are just as fist poundingly angularishly toe tappingly awesome -- if not MORESO!!
Maximum Joy's "Stretch", Dorothy's "Softness", Delta 5's "Mind Your Own Business", Jajaja's Blondie-esque vocals over trainwreckish spazzmatic bass, ahh!! I'm freaking out. The only weak point might be the jazzy Neneh Cherryesque tone of Rip, Rig and Panic.
So note bene: this is by all means NOT "the current trend" in musical consumerism, HOWEVER, it's an incredibly concise and concentrated comp consisting of totally mind-boggling music. And nevermind the politics, dudes. It's fucking great music!!
MPEG Stream: JAJAJA "Katz Rap"
MPEG Stream: SLITS "I Heard It Through The Grapevine"

V/A Groove Club Vol. 1: La Confiserie Magique (Lion Productions / Get On Down) cd 16.98
Any pop lover knows that when it comes to suave and sassy pop perfection, you can't beat France in the '60s and early '70s. With this collection the focus is put on the Parisian pop-psych scene, and what's really refreshing about this compilation is that it's not just filled with the usual suspects. So many names we weren't familiar with giving us such irresistible gems, and enough fuzz and weird elements on lots of the tracks to keep things interesting and not just saccharine sweet. Infusing elements of West Coast pop, the mod scene, and funked out burners, these are sounds that are just pretty impossible not to get swept up by. Filled with decadence and charm from folks like Cristal, Elisa, Les Hamsters (best name ever?!), Les Rover, Pax Quartet, and tons more.
No need to stress about what to throw on the next time you have people over for a little party, as all you will have to do is blast this, and watch as feet start tapping, and drinks start spilling, and everyone starts smiling!
MPEG Stream: LE COEUR "Bye, Bye City"
MPEG Stream: CRISTAL "Les Yeux Fermes (Eyes Closed)"
MPEG Stream: LES PARISIENNES "Un Rayon De Soleil Est Entre Dans Mon Lit (A Ray Of Sun Is Here In My Bed)"

V/A Groove Club Vol. 1: La Confiserie Magique (Lion Productions / Martyrs Of Pop) 2lp 17.98
Now here on swank vinyl too!
Any pop lover knows that when it comes to suave and sassy pop perfection, you can't beat France in the '60s and early '70s. With this collection the focus is put on the Parisian pop-psych scene, and what's really refreshing about this compilation is that it's not just filled with the usual suspects. So many names we weren't familiar with giving us such irresistible gems, and enough fuzz and weird elements on lots of the tracks to keep things interesting and not just saccharine sweet. Infusing elements of West Coast pop, the mod scene, and funked out burners, these are sounds that are just pretty impossible not to get swept up by. Filled with decadence and charm from folks like Cristal, Elisa, Les Hamsters (best name ever?!), Les Rover, Pax Quartet, and tons more.
No need to stress about what to throw on the next time you have people over for a little party, as all you will have to do is blast this, and watch as feet start tapping, and drinks start spilling, and everyone starts smiling!
MPEG Stream: LE COEUR "Bye, Bye City"
MPEG Stream: CRISTAL "Les Yeux Fermes (Eyes Closed)"
MPEG Stream: LES PARISIENNES "Un Rayon De Soleil Est Entre Dans Mon Lit (A Ray Of Sun Is Here In My Bed)"

V/A Groove Club Vol. 2: Cambodia Rock Spectacular! (Lion Productions / Get On Down) 2lp 17.98
Can there ever really be enough Cambodian Rock?
Don't answer that yet. Because while this double lp compilation does feature the stars of the genre featured on other Cambodian rock comps: Sinn Sisamouth, Ros Sereysothea, and Pan Ron, it also has plenty of others including the heavy psych groove of the Thra Kha Band who have two amazing tracks that are totally worth the price of admission. Plus it's a double vinyl gatefold with copious liner notes about the amazing music and tragic legacy of many of the music's star figures. Rarely does music seem so truly hauntological. Sunny, fun, and grooving on the surface, but layered over tragic notions of the political brutality that would come later. We've covered that history in plenty of previous reviews, so we won't go down that rabbit hole here, but this is a worthy selection of psych rock and garage gems, that didn't immediately sound like the others. So if you're new to Cambodian rock from the sixties and seventies, or would like a really well put together compilation on vinyl, now's your chance!

V/A Group Flex II: Son Of Flex (Castle Face) 6xflexi 7" 29.00
We made the last Group Flex flexi-disc book thing Record Of The Week back in 2011, and for good reason, visually and design wise it was about the coolest thing we'd ever seen, a cool little book, where each page was a fricking record, and you just put the whole book down on the turntable and let it spin! Besides how goddamn cool it was as an object, it also featured exclusive tracks from some of our favorite outfits: Thee Oh Sees, Blasted Canyons, Fresh & Onlys, Ty Segall, Mikal Cronin.
So a few months back we got word from Oh Sees mainman / Castleface head honcho John Dwyer that there was another installment of Group Flex brewing, and it was gonna be even better than the first. And true to his word, when it showed up, we were sorta blown away. This time around, the book is entirely transparent, with crazy, surreal, psychedelic artwork on the various pages, so when the book is closed, the multiple pages, and strange shapes and creatures, form a sort of 3D visual, little Strawberry men with guns, weird demons holding maces, a creepy scribbly purple mountain, tree-cats, bloody brick walls, snake headed skull doctors all woven into a dizzying tableau that sort of reflects the warped music within. Once again, plenty of faves: Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, The Mallard, Sic Alps, White Fence, Mikal Cronin, The Fresh & Onlys, Kelly Stoltz, Blasted Canyons, as well as a few surprises: Burnt Ones, Warm Soda, Running. And like the first installment, anyone into ANY of these groups is basically gonna need this. Warm Soda might be the biggest surprise of the bunch, their track "Lost For Words" definitely has us hankering for more, a super catchy lo-fi power pop, that sounds like some strange mix of Guided By Voices and the Shoes. Thee Oh Sees deliver a cool broody, fuzzed out garage pop dirge, spare and swaggery. Ty Segall's "Fucked Up Motherfucker" is a super distorted blast of howl and pound laced with plenty of horns and sax bleat, while Mikal Cronin's "King" is all druggy, droned out organ, and drifting acoustic guitar strum, washed out and gloriously woozy.
The Mallard are all lo-fi jangle and crunch, while Running prove themselves to be another new band to look out for, one that most definitely fits in with the rest of the Castle Face crew, sounding like The Oh Sees' snotty little siblings. The Fresh & Onlys drift through some laid back, softly psychedelic classic pop, Kelly Stoltz's "Double Exposure" sounds like some lost slab of seventies/eighties new wave power pop, and White Fence gets even further out, super spaced out, tripped out, space pop weirdness, lots of FX and crumbling distortion, echo drenched vox, and warped production, and somehow in there, some crazy catchy melodies.
Former Record Of The Weekers Blasted Canyons kick out the jams on a short sharp burst of warm, blown out fuzz drenched jangle pop, before Sic Alps do the same, infusing the same sort of garage-y pound, with some expansive psychedelic classic pop-isms, before Burnt Ones finish things off with a super trippy chunk of processed guitar chug and swirling psych pop, crazy catchy, and like Warm Soda, has us wanting more more more!
As you might imagine, CRAZY LIMITED! The whole thing comes in a thick, screen printed PVC sleeve, also clear, adding to the 3D-ness, includes a download code for all the tracks, as well as instructions for playing and care of your Son Of Flex flexi-disc book. Each one unique, everyone slightly different. So cool. And so absolutely recommended.
MPEG Stream: WARM SODA "Lost For Words"
MPEG Stream: THEE OH SEES "Always Flying"
MPEG Stream: TY SEGALL "Fucked Up Motherfucker"
MPEG Stream: MIKAL CRONIN "King"
MPEG Stream: BURNT ONES "Strawberry Tomb"

V/A Guilt By Association (Engine Room) cd 15.98
It's inevitable! Every few years someone gets a wild'n'craaazy idea for one of these kinds of guilty pleasures compilations. Non-commercial artists covering commercial artists how fun/sick/hilarious is that?! Very. As per the time honored tradition there's some complete song renovations (Banhart's interpretation of Oasis' "Don't Look Back In Anger"), genre switcheroos (Luna gives Paula Abdul's "Straight Up" the lounge croon treatment, Superchunk totally unsouls and unsexes the Destiny's Child hit "Say My Name"), and all-out silliness (Petra Haden's girlish a cappella version of Journey "Don't Stop Believin'") and Mike Watt's strange, loose bowelled and toothless take on Blue Oyster Cult's "Burnin' For You"). A totally mixed bag of coverers and coverees, other artists doing the covering include Will Oldham, Mark Mulcahy, The Concretes, Jim O'Rourke, Money Mark, Mooney Suzuki, and Geoff Farina. Other artists being covered include Shania Twain, Spice Girls, Mariah Carey, Take That, Fall Out Boy, Love Unlimited Orchestra, Cher, Eddie Money, and System Of A Down. Fun stuff.
MPEG Stream: SUPERCHUNK "Say My Name"
MPEG Stream: BANHART, DEVENDRA "Don't Look Back In Anger"
MPEG Stream: WATT, MIKE "Burnin' For You"

V/A Guitar Mood 2 (INST) lp 10.98

V/A Guitars of the Golden Triangle: Folk and Pop Music of Myanmar (Burma) Vol. 2 (Sublime Frequencies) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A complete about face for volume 2 in the Folk And Pop Music of Myanmar (Burma) series of discs. Remember that first one? The manic weirdness was unlike anything we'd heard, nor anything we've heard since. So it's striking that volume 2 is a disc we can at least put in terms we know. What's perhaps most ironic is that the recordings on Guitars Of The Golden Triangle come from a territory of Burma that, while roughly the size of New York State, has been almost completely un-explored by outsiders (Burmese or otherwise). The Golden Triangle (its proper name is the Shan State of Burma) is little known outside its own country, but it is the territory of smugglers, seperatist rebels and some extraordinary opium production. Since it is forbidden for foreigners to visit the Shan State, it's no surprise that its flourishing cottage industry of a music scene would be completely unknown to outsiders. How Mr. Bishop got these tracks is anyone's guess, but as we've seen before the Sublime Frequencies folks have their ways with picking up ripe fruit that others walk straight past. The 21 tracks here, recorded during the early seventies, range between heavy fuzzed out psych -- like something much more likely to have come out in the late sixties -- to sugary crooning pop -- much more akin to its decade. Little is known of most of the artists: for instance the most well represented here -- Saing Saing Maw -- is only known to have been a truck driver originally (shades of Elvis anyone?) and after striking his music career apparently returned to truck driving.
MPEG Stream: SAING SAING MAW "Than Shin Ley Ye Khan"
MPEG Stream: LASHIO THEIN AUNG "You Got What You Got"

V/A Hacienda Classics (Virgin) 3cd 36.00
Thanks in part to the movie "24 Hour Party People" there's been quite a revival in the last few years in curisoity about and reflections of the Manchester party/music scene of the late '80s/'90s. The center of all this dancing, drugging, and going on and on till the break of dawn was none other then the Nightculb Hacienda founded by New Order's Peter Hook. It was within the Hacienda's walls that much of the debauchery, indulgence, and fun/wasted times went down. This 3-disc box set put together by Hook himself compiles the sounds that were blaring out the speakers during its heyday. 808 State, Happy Mondays, Primal Scream, Jaydee, Eric B & Rakim, Candi Staton and of course New Order are just some the groups found on this here collection. For those of you who have been craving th sights and sounds and tastes more tastes of that wonderfully wicked Manchester club-scene then this is a party in a box for you. Sorry no purple pills included.
MPEG Stream: NEW ORDER "Ruined In A Day"
MPEG Stream: 808 STATE "Pacific State"
MPEG Stream: ERIC B. & RAKIM "Juice (instrumental)"

V/A Hall Of Mirrors (Emperor Jones) 2cd 13.98
Anyone, ANYONE, who likes their psych all spaced-out and sludgy, with guitars and (especially) effects in full, uh, effect will definitely want to wash their earholes with this excellent new space-rock comp. Compiler Mason Jones (whom you might know as the ex-guitarist of SubArachnoid Space, currently in project called Numinous) knows his stuff and has pulled together tracks from a stellar international cast of rockers who like to freak-out, drone-on, and/or toke-up. Here's who's here: Kinski, Circle, Gravitar, Overhang Party, Tarantula Hawk, Up-Tight, Vocokesh, DMBQ, Bardo Pond, Acid Mothers Temple, Yeti, ST-37, Escapade, Rubble, Abunai!, SubArachnoid Space, Numinous, Farflung, Primordial Undermind, Fuzzhead, Speaker/Cranker, and Transpacific! Whew. As you can see, with Mason in charge, of course the Japanese contingent is well-represented.
The tracks on here are mostly live recordings, and, as far as we can tell, all otherwise unreleased (with the exception of the Tarantula Hawk one, which is an edit from their now-out-of-print Live At KFJC cd-r). Pretty much a killer comp, ranging as it does from the groove of Circle to the grind of Gravitar, with some bands doin' stuff closer to stoner rawk, others more on the bliss-drone side of things. Now, I might have tried to put the more rockin' cuts towards the front end of the discs, to avoid disturbing the slumber of those of us who like to doze off listening to the more blissful stuff (or maybe left off one or two cuts) but that's just me. Overall, Hall Of Mirrors is fully droned, stoned, and ET-phoned. Recommended.
MPEG Stream: KINSKI "Teen Center"
MPEG Stream: OVERHANG PARTY "Le Fantome De La Liberte (edit)"

V/A Halleluwah: Festival Of Enthused Arts - Sept. 1-2, 2006 Disjecta, Portland (Yeti) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Managed to get another handful of these super limited lps, so act fast:
Super limited vinyl document of the Halleluwah Festival Of Enthused Arts that took place in September 1-2 of this year curated by the same folks who do the killer yeti magazine.
Two sides, one quiet, one loud, a bunch of instantly recognizable names, as well as a bunch of unknowns (at least to us) all of it pretty dang amazing, so much so that we were kicking ourselves for missing the festival.
The quiet side features folk legend Michael Hurley, folk legend Vashti Bunyan and Tara Jane O'Neil, as well as White Rainbow, Holysons and Alela Diane. The sound leans mostly toward subtle twang, simple strum, and dreamlike croon, but there are some moments of blissy foggy ambient murmur and some fuzzy murky psychedelic blues.
The loud side features Deerhoof, Sir Richard Bishop and Valet (whose cd-r we raved about a few lists back) as well as three weirdly named ensembles: Nudity, Romancing and Yacht. The loud side veers all over the place, from weird psychrock tribal freakouts to blown out angular indie rock buzz to damaged minimal punk rock bounce to fuzzy psychedelic heavy riffed rock jams.
The packaging is just as impressive, a thick, plain white sleeve through which are visible strange looking inserts, each printed on super thick semi transparent cloudy plastic, the loud side is red on white with an illustration by Kevin Arrow, the quiet side is white on black, and features an amazing illustration by Unica Zurn, the partner of Hans Bellmer! Wow!!

V/A Hallucinations: Psychedelic Pop Nuggets From the WEA Vaults (Rhino) cd 34.00

V/A Hand/Eye (Hand/Eye) 2cd 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This isn't brand new, but we just managed to get a bunch, and if this isn't just about the perfect compilation for you free-folk, psychedelic, new weird America fans we don't know what is. The track listing should be enough to convince you: Acid Mothers Temple, Kemialliset Ystavat, Amps For Christ, Greg Weeks, Pelt, Martyn Bates, Currituck County, Fursaxa, Dead Raven Choir, Alasdair Roberts, Stone Breath, the Iditarod, Mason Jones, and more!m
MPEG Stream: AMPS FOR CHRIST "False Night On The Road"
MPEG Stream: GREG WEEKS "Night Must Fall"
MPEG Stream: ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE "Le Satyre"

V/A Harmony of the Spheres (Drunken Fish) 2cd 17.98
From Revolver Distribution's blurb: "Originally released by Drunken Fish in November of 1996 as a specially designed triple-LP boxset produced in an edition of 3,000 (which quickly sold out its one and only pressing and has remained unavailable since). Featured are six exclusive, extended tracks (none of which is less than eighteen minutes in length) from this generation's spacerock elite: Bardo Pond, Flying Saucer Attack, Jessamine, Roy Montgomery, Loren Mazzacane-Connors and the Charalambides. Includes a lovely eight-panel foldout booklet. Standup for spacerock, because artrock is dead."

V/A Harpsichord 2000 (9:PM - Indigo) cd 14.98
Who doesn't get a wee bit wistful at the stringy, tinkly sound of the harpsichord? Well, here's 23 songs graced by the presence of the lovely harpsichord. The music of artists such as StereoTotal and Momus welcomes this instrument warmly into its fold. And yes, ever the fellow to throw in a witty bonus, Momus includes his ode to Jeff Koons. Other artists include The Make-Up, The Secret Goldfish, and Cinerama. Decidedly baroque, lounge-y, playful, and fun.

V/A Hava Narghile (Dionysus / Bacchus Archives) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
BACK IN STOCK!! Been waiting to see more of this old fave for a long time, here they are again at last. If you don't have it, get it!! It's such a good disc, compiled by Gokhan Aya and AQ customer Jay Dobis (who kindly showed Allan around to every record shop on Istiklal street when Allan visited Istanbul last year, thanks Jay!). Here's what we said about it originally:
Similar to the [now out of print] Turkish Delights compilation is this great collection of vintage psychedelic rock music from Turkey. With 22 tracks, spanning the years 1966-1975, this collection is a great introduction to the fanatastic, long-lost Middle Eastern acid rock scene. These bands raved it up in Istanbul nighclubs, blending the Western garage-psych rock of the era with Turkish folk influences (electic fuzz saz!), bellydancing beats, and all manner of "exotic" flourishes. Of the 17 artists on here, only a few names were already known to us, mainly from that aforementioned Turkish Delights lp or as the Turkish entries on the fab Love Peace & Poetry: Asian Psychedelic Music compilation. Those would be the amazing Mogollar (two tracks), guitar hero Erkin Koray, Mavi Isiklar, and Baris Manco. And none of their tracks are duplicated between this comp and those other two [and there's no overlap with anything on the more recent Turkish Love, Peace & Poetry volume either]. Of the many cuts on here, everyone will have their own favorites, certainly there's many killer ones. Dionysus' Bacchus Archives imprint has done a colorful job with the packaging, illustrated with promo photos and 7" sleeves. And every track gets a good paragraph of information, so by listening and reading you'll become hip to the history of the whole Turkish psych happenin'. Highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: ERSEN "Sor Kendine"
MPEG Stream: MELIK FARUK SERDAR SAYGUN "Gurbet Acisci"
MPEG Stream: BARIS MANCO & KAYGISIZLAR "Trip (Fairground)"

V/A He And She (Pet Records) cd 14.98

V/A Heat & Birds: Jewelled Antler Compilation #2 (Jewelled Antler) cd-r 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
"Heat & Birds" is the second 'friends and family' compilation to emerge from the Jewelled Antler collective, offering an overview not only of the numerous activities that are constantly evolving within the collective but also of like-minded artists from across the globe. Common to Jewelled Antler sound is a magical wistfulness, which seeps through every sound within the label and draws metaphors to half-dreamt memories, impossible lands that only exist in the imagination, or the simple awe of nature. While the core members (Glenn Donaldson, Loren Chasse, Rob Reger, and Steven R. Smith) are present, they've presented themselves in a variety of unique monikers and projects: such as Hala Strana (an uncredited pseudonym for Steven R. Smith, recreating a manic Hungarian folk instrumental with his trademarked production style of layered sounds building repeated riffs up to bittersweet crescendos), Of (an enigmatic project of evocative etherialism by Loren Chasse), and The Floating Birthday Children (the duo of Donaldson and Kerry McLaughlin offering pensive folk meanderings). Other, better-known Jewelled Antler projects, The Blithe Sons & Daughters, Thuja, and Franciscan Hobbies, also make appearances.
Of the non-JA projects, "Heat & Birds" also features the Finnish avant-improv-rock bands Kemialliset Ystavat, the medieval sounding Markus, and the elusive Avarus. Also, the San Francisco band Golden Hotel have produced another brilliant, drugged-out folk song, but do they remember recording it? And, there's some wonderful field recordings by AQ's own Byram Abbott of the birds in rehabilitation at Fort Cronkite just north of San Francisco. I could go on, but why spoil the mysteries? "Heat & Birds" is a great collection from a great organization. Recommended.
RealAudio clip: FLOATING BIRTHDAY CHILDREN "Swan On A Black Lake"
RealAudio clip: OF "Aerial Cisterns"
RealAudio clip: GOLDEN HOTEL "The Blame"

V/A Held Hostage: LCR RSD Compilation (Learning Curve) lp 14.98
Originally intended to be a Record Store Day release, this killer compilation from the Learning Curve label made it to aQ just under the wire, but seems to have maybe not made it anywhere else in time. So for those of you who couldn't make it to aQ on the big day, and love themselves some knuckle dragging, head banging, pig fuck noise rock crush, well then this here comp is for YOU. No doubt, a bunch of the names will be familiar to long time aQ-ers, Hex Machine (whose new record is reviewed on this week's list), Seawhores, Dead (whose new lp we reviewed here recently), Gay Witch Abortion (whose new record can also be found elsewhere on this week's list), but there's a bunch of new to us outfits, most with awesome names: Cars & Trucks, Decoupler, Bang The Favorite Raver and Spilling Fingernails And Blood Sap, and looks like there's even some sort of mega noise rock jam credited to Gay Whores Skoal Power, which we can only assume is a bunch of those bands crammed together.
Pretty much every track here rules, and anyone who dug the golden age of Amphetamine Reptile will be like a pig in musical shit, some highlights include the Seawhores track, which is SO goddamn good. Forgot how great these guys are/were, didn't even realize they were still a band, but hearing their track makes me pray to Satan they still are. A tangled churn of progged out noise rock heaviness, the sounds distorted and doused in FX, rhythmic and trippy, locking into almost looped sounding hypnorock jams, one second, sounding almost new wave the next, the sounds all blown out and in the red. There NEEDS to be a new record by these guys for sure.
Gay Witch Abortion never fail us, and their weird, distorto dirge here manages to fuse some obtuse poppiness to some crumbling dirginess, a weird little sludge pop doom nugget that will have you wanting to pick up their full length for sure. Cars & Trucks were an awesome surprise, total nineties heavy rock radness, REAL singing, hooks galore, melodies, harmonies, but plenty of tripped out weirdness. They're the kind of heavy that could actually be popular. Pushes all our heavy rock buttons, and makes us definitely want to hear more.
Decoupler are cool too, sounding like a super caffeinated, progged out Torche maybe, catchy, but frantic and frenetic. Spilling Fingernails And Blood Sap are the most metal here, channeling some Today Is The Day for sure. And Bang The Favorite Raver is some sort of pisstake, sounding like Missing Persons. And that final megajam, not the heaviness we were maybe expecting, instead some super noisy psychedelic collage, feedback, and grinding buzz, buried vocals, buried melodies, buried drums, warped samples, voices and screams, bits from the radio, all beneath a swirl of hazy druggy noisiness.
So cool. Such a killer collection, the rare compilation that actually leaves you wanting to hunt down more music from pretty much almost all the artists. Includes a download too!
MPEG Stream: SEAWHORES "Be Careful What You Teach Me"
MPEG Stream: CARS & TRUCKS "Bloody Revenge"
MPEG Stream: DECOUPLER "Hammerhead"
MPEG Stream: SPILLING FINGERNAILS AND BLOOD SAP "Nerves"