ADKINS, HASIL Peanut Butter Rock and Roll (Norton) cd 14.98
Hurrah! Norton Records has reissued two more awesome albums from the true holy terror of the rockabilly and garage world, the late Hasil Adkins. Both of them are compiled from the home recordings of the man himself circa 1958-1963. Needless to say... amazing documents of his early years! Each presents a very different Adkins -- one a wildman hellbent on rawk fury, the other a considerably more sedate, damp-spirited country crooner. This one offers the former, and it's fuckin' great! Ultra dirty, murky and strange. Drums sound like wellworn cardboard boxes, pots and pans. Vocals distort as he howls the high notes, and his loosely tuned, feverishly strummed guitar keeps 'em company. It was first released back in 1990 by Norton on LP only. This time around it's on LP and CD with an additional four bonus tunes (two previously unreleased in the U.S. and two previously unreleased anywhere) sandwiched between the sixteen original raw'n'blistered tunes.
MPEG Stream: "Blue Suede Shoes"
MPEG Stream: "Come On And Do The Shake With Me"

ADKINS, HASIL The Wild Man (Norton) cd 14.98
Fuck yeah garage rawk fans, if you like to play it 'old school', Norton Records is absolutely where it's at! They've released this live album compiling select songs from four of lone wolf Hasil Adkins' 1987 shows (in New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Toronto), some of which also feature the A-Bones! The title ain't no joke. When it's time to play, this madman totally lets loose some true vintage rabble-rousin' rockabilly. If you dug his Out To Hunch album that Norton reissued a coupla years ago, you'll definitely wanna give this expanded cd reissue of The Wild Man a spin. Of the nineteen tracks, the first fourteen were originally available from Norton on lp, song #15 is taken from a 1987 vinyl 7", and the final four are previously unreleased tracks.
MPEG Stream: "Ellen Marie"
MPEG Stream: "Midnight Moan"

ADKINS, HASIL What The Hell Was I Thinking (Fat Possum) cd 12.98
Everyone's favorite rockabilly one-madman-band, back at it again, how old is he already...

ADORED, THE A New Language (V2) cd 14.98
Who has a giant ol' soft spot for really good power pop? We sure do!! And this LA band are definitely speaking our language. Influenced by the Brit excellence of The Buzzcocks and The Jam, The Adored follow in the punchy footsteps of mighty aQ fave popsters Silver Sun, Fallout Boy and Seattle's sadly defunct Pure Joy. We particularly were suckers for the vocals which bore a striking resemblance to the latter band's lead singer Rusty Willoughby. Anyways, if a heapin' serving of buoyant harmonies, snappy hooks and crunchy electric guitars are what you crave, this band has 'em all in abundant supply. Absolute fun!
MPEG Stream: "We Don't Want You Around"
MPEG Stream: "Hold-up!"

ADRENALIN O.D. Humungousfungusamongus (Relapse) cd 14.98
This was one of my favorite records when I (Andee) was in high school, not sure why exactly. I wasn't all that into punk rock at the time. I remembered it being funny and goofy and dumb. And it sort of is, but what I didn't remember was how totally weird and heavy it was. Totally awesome, thrashing and chaotic metallic punk rock. AOD careen wildly through two dozen short sharp blasts of goofy punkrock metal in a buzzing blur of sloppy metallic intensity. Songs like "AOD Vs. Godzilla", "Youth Blimp", "Masterpiece" (a cover of the theme from Masterpiece Theater!), "Fuck The Nieghbors", "Surfin' Jew" and tons more. Heavy and noisy and so so good. Includes a bunch of silly bonus tracks, covers of the theme from Spiderman and the Jeffersons theme, a Bay City Rollers cover, a Kiss cover, A Dead Boys cover and a Sex Pistols cover!
MPEG Stream: "AOD Vs. Son Of Godzilla"
MPEG Stream: "Office Buildings"
MPEG Stream: "Yuppie"
MPEG Stream: "Answer"

ADRENALIN O.D. The Wacky Hi-Jinks Of... (Chunksaah) 2cd 15.98
Adrenalin O.D. really get a bad rap as being some sort of joke band. Sure they were funny, and goofy, and had ridiculous song titles, and sang about a lot of stupid shit, but it was more a case of 4 really funny guys getting together to play some serious kick ass metallic punk rock, and the thing is when you get to the music, there's really nothing funny about it at all. A.O.D. were faster and heavier and more brutal than most of their early eighties contemporaries, just check out the first sound sample "A.O.D. Vs. Godzilla", perfectly encapsulates what's so awesome about Adrenaline O.D. With a dead pan introduction "Hi, welcome to our album", the band lurches into a chugging doomy metal dirge, that probably had the punk kids back in 1984 when this came out thinking "what the fuck?", before launching into a super heavy, ultra furious punk rock blast, that is heavier than most metal bands. A.O.D. slip back and forth between some angular Maidenesque guitar harmonies, and that furious blasting punk rock, shifting gears at the end into another kick ass buzzing outro. Holy shit. We forgot how good this stuff sounded. The rest of the disc is not quite so metal though there are moments, this is just punk as fuck punk rock, and even when these guys are singing about silly shit, the songs still destroy. Be sure and check out "Rock & Roll Gas Station", Fenriz from Darkthrone's favorite song. Which makes sense, listening to Darkthrone you can tell those guys were into punk rock as much as metal, maybe even more. There's a video floating around on internet of Fenriz being interviewed in his apartment, and there's a long part where he goes on and on about that track and these guys. FENRIZ ENDORSED!! What else do you need?!
As if the The Wacky Hi-Jinks record wasn't enough on its own, this reissue also includes a whole extra disc of rarities, including singles, comp tracks, live recordings, most of 'em as kick ass as the record proper. Also includes a bunch of photos, and essay and liner notes...
MPEG Stream: "A.O.D. Vs. Godzilla"
MPEG Stream: "White Hassle"
MPEG Stream: "Rock & Roll Gas Station"

ADULT Why Bother? (Thrill Jockey) cd 15.98
Awww c'mon Adult., why the resigned tone in your new album title?! We know you're not the defeatist types, and your new album has a momentum all its own!
This duo's music has gone through a few shifts in direction since their inception in the late nineties -- from the sharp icicles of classic Detroit techno and electro to the incensed shove of grrrrl punk -- but regardless of which direction they turn, there persists an overriding sense of frazzled nervous instability or 'anxiety always' (the title of their 2003 album), if you will. Fists and teeth are still clenched on this their fourth album, but Miller and Kuperus turn their wheels away from the abrasive electro-punk of their last album. They haven't returned completely to their minimal electro roots though. While the aggressive energy remains from the comparatively untethered Anxiety Always and 2005's Gimmie Trouble, Adult. have sharpened their focus and control here while at the same time unleashing a far more consuming, dense atmosphere; sinking deeper into the depths of goth industrial territory. Miller's prickly programmed beats have been partially engulfed by a thick ominous fog. Looming clanks and churnings occupy the former robotic stark spaces, and yet, Kuperus' sharp vocal exclamations still pierce out of the cloudy dank air. Her confrontational vocal performance continues to channel early female fronted post-punk bands such as Malaria!, X-Ray Spex, Liliput, and The Slits, if somewhat more muted and even-tempered than on their last couple albums. Check out the fevered itch of "I Feel Worse When I'm With You". Some folks around here were also reminded of Romeo Void and Fuzzbox. Alternately brooding and manic, and definitely devoid of the lethargy and apathy implied by the album's title.
Cool cover photos once again by Kuperus featuring a fresh manicure, milky skin, wheat, a rusted axe and a woman with her head concealed in a piece of luggage.
MPEG Stream: "Good Deeds"
MPEG Stream: "I Feel Worse When I'm With You"

ADULT Why Bother? (Thrill Jockey) lp 13.98
Awww c'mon Adult., why the resigned tone in your new album title?! We know you're not the defeatist types, and your new album has a momentum all its own!
This duo's music has gone through a few shifts in direction since their inception in the late nineties -- from the sharp icicles of classic Detroit techno and electro to the incensed shove of grrrrl punk -- but regardless of which direction they turn, there persists an overriding sense of frazzled nervous instability or 'anxiety always' (the title of their 2003 album), if you will. Fists and teeth are still clenched on this their fourth album, but Miller and Kuperus turn their wheels away from the abrasive electro-punk of their last album. They haven't returned completely to their minimal electro roots though. While the aggressive energy remains from the comparatively untethered Anxiety Always and 2005's Gimmie Trouble, Adult. have sharpened their focus and control here while at the same time unleashing a far more consuming, dense atmosphere; sinking deeper into the depths of goth industrial territory. Miller's prickly programmed beats have been partially engulfed by a thick ominous fog. Looming clanks and churnings occupy the former robotic stark spaces, and yet, Kuperus' sharp vocal exclamations still pierce out of the cloudy dank air. Her confrontational vocal performance continues to channel early female fronted post-punk bands such as Malaria!, X-Ray Spex, Liliput, and The Slits, if somewhat more muted and even-tempered than on their last couple albums. Check out the fevered itch of "I Feel Worse When I'm With You". Some folks around here were also reminded of Romeo Void and Fuzzbox. Alternately brooding and manic, and definitely devoid of the lethargy and apathy implied by the album's title.
Cool cover photos once again by Kuperus featuring a fresh manicure, milky skin, wheat, a rusted axe and a woman with her head concealed in a piece of luggage.
MPEG Stream: "Good Deeds"
MPEG Stream: "I Feel Worse When I'm With You"

ADULT. Blank Eyed (Clone) 12" 9.98

ADULT. D.U.M.E. (Thrill Jockey) cd ep 10.98
On their newest cdep/12" and first release on Thrill Jockey, Detroit electro-punk duo Adult. sure have got a bee in their bonnet. Continuing to move further from their icy, true electro origins into an increasingly raw'n'aggressive punky territory, vocalist Nicola Kuperus whoops and sneers her way through the lead-off track "Hold Your Breath" -- definitely in line with Glass Candy or Le Tigre -- while her partner Adam Miller churns out the dank, brooding bass and bristling guitars that punch through the unrelenting programmed beats. Actually this might've served as a better transitional follow-up to their fine compilation Resuscitation (which collected together a bunch of their singles) than was their last full length Anxiety Always. D.U.M.E. more cohesively bridges their electro past and recent more punky leanings. Really, Adult. comes across as much more focussed, infectious and potent on shorter format releases (12"s, EPs, etc). Not only are the songs more structured, but the lyrics are also more fully fleshed out (like Resuscitation's songs than A.A.'s more repetitive one-liners). Kewl.
MPEG Stream: "Get Me Out"
MPEG Stream: "Hold Your Breath"

ADULT. D.U.M.E. (Thrill Jockey) 12" 9.98
On their newest cdep/12" and first release on Thrill Jockey, Detroit electro-punk duo Adult. sure have got a bee in their bonnet. Continuing to move further from their icy, true electro origins into an increasingly raw'n'aggressive punky territory, vocalist Nicola Kuperus whoops and sneers her way through the lead-off track "Hold Your Breath" -- definitely in line with Glass Candy or Le Tigre -- while her partner Adam Miller churns out the dank, brooding bass and bristling guitars that punch through the unrelenting programmed beats. Actually this might've served as a better transitional follow-up to their fine compilation Resuscitation (which collected together a bunch of their singles) than was their last full length Anxiety Always. D.U.M.E. more cohesively bridges their electro past and recent more punky leanings. Really, Adult. comes across as much more focussed, infectious and potent on shorter format releases (12"s, EPs, etc). Not only are the songs more structured, but the lyrics are also more fully fleshed out (like Resuscitation's songs than A.A.'s more repetitive one-liners). Kewl.
MPEG Stream: "Get Me Out"
MPEG Stream: "Hold Your Breath"

ADULT. Gimmie Trouble (Thrill Jockey) cd 14.98
Lest they forever be genre-saddled with the electro-clash albatross, Adult. have wisely broadened their scope. And the path they've chosen is much more outwardly aggressive and punky. Truckloads of abrasive attitude. This is most evident in the vocal department which has claimed even more prominence in the band's sound. Formerly ice-cold monotone vocalist Nicola Kuperus further expands her range, swooping from a high pitched shriek to a mid-pinched sneer and way down to a deep throaty snarl. Brings to mind early-'80s Berliners Malaria! or more recently SF/Berliners The Vanishing. Likewise, Adam Miller's dirtied up his former ultra-sterile, scalpel-sharp, old school Detroit electro palette. Nevertheless, his steely mechanized beats are what link the tracks on Gimmie Trouble to those of the Adult. of old -- cutting through the newly added chunks o' industrial guitar which come courtesy of new member Samuel Consiglio. Their new(ish) direction and expansion aim them right for the spot recently vacated by the abovementioned, recently disbanded, art-punk/goth-dustrial duo-turned-trio The Vanishing.
MPEG Stream: "Gimmie Trouble"
MPEG Stream: "Scare Up The Birds"

ADULT. Gimmie Trouble (Thrill Jockey) lp 12.98
Lest they forever be genre-saddled with the electro-clash albatross, Adult. have wisely broadened their scope. And the path they've chosen is much more outwardly aggressive and punky. Truckloads of abrasive attitude. This is most evident in the vocal department which has claimed even more prominence in the band's sound. Formerly ice-cold monotone vocalist Nicola Kuperus further expands her range, swooping from a high pitched shriek to a mid-pinched sneer and way down to a deep throaty snarl. Brings to mind early-'80s Berliners Malaria! or more recently SF/Berliners The Vanishing. Likewise, Adam Miller's dirtied up his former ultra-sterile, scalpel-sharp, old school Detroit electro palette. Nevertheless, his steely mechanized beats are what link the tracks on Gimmie Trouble to those of the Adult. of old -- cutting through the newly added chunks o' industrial guitar which come courtesy of new member Samuel Consiglio. Their new(ish) direction and expansion aim them right for the spot recently vacated by the abovementioned, recently disbanded, art-punk/goth-dustrial duo-turned-trio The Vanishing.
MPEG Stream: "Gimmie Trouble"
MPEG Stream: "Scare Up The Birds"

ADULT. Hand To Phone (Clone) 12" 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Four versions of fab Detroit electro duo Adult.'s track "Hand To Phone". They are: the original as heard on their awesome album 'Resuscitation', an instrumental mix by the group themselves (which in my opinion falls a bit short without Nicola's unflinchingly icy vocals), plus two remixes by Carl Craig and Mat 101. Come over!

ADULT. Suck The Air / High Heels On Tile Floors (Ersatz) 7" 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
On "Suck The Air", vocalist Nicola Kuperus assumes a much more pissy-pouty tone than her usual cold android stare - aligning Adult. more with the punky rather than electro crowd. Think Glass Candy or the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. She's honed her sassily sneering delivery somewhat from their recent Anxiety Always album on which her vocals wavered dangerously close to the grating, shrill side of things. On the flipside, the rubbery beats and aquatic synth clangs of "High Heels..." aims the ear more towards the work of electro-technician Adam Miller. It's a fun no-frills track, but much too short to get the party fully rolling. Truly, this 7" should've been a 12"! Nonetheless, it (especially the A-side) shows the duo doing what they do best, crafting *single* tracks into terrific electro-pop.

ADVENTURES IN STEREO Alternative Stereo Sounds (Bobsled) cd 12.98
Imagine Jan and Dean meets Mamas and Papas with pretty, delicate female harmonies a la His Name is Alive.

ADVENTURES IN STEREO International (Bobsled Records) 7" 4.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
If you've yet to hear the loveliness that is Adventures In Stereo, what are you waiting for? Here's a prime opportunity to get a wee sampling of their swirling ribbons of pop sweetness. Two songs, one from their wonderful album "Monomania" and one unreleased.

ADVENTURES IN STEREO Monomania (Bobsled Records) cd 14.98
Beginning softly with some very retro dreamy balladry, this album then shifts into a bit of country guitar pickin' and on to perkier numbers, but the lovely high female vocal harmonies continue throughout. Very, very pretty swirling melodies from this pop sextet. Actually, these songs would have been very much at home on the Sarah record label or early SpinArt. Lovely.

AEFFECT, THE A Short Dream (Fueled by Ramen) cd ep 7.98
Have to say that the current trend of new New Wave is right on with me. Love those old synth sounds and programmed beats... just as long as these new bands bring some fresh elements into the sound as opposed to simply rehashing Human League, Pet Shop Boys or New Order tracks. Unfortunately in the case of the Gainesville, FL trio known as The Aeffect, it seems to be leaning towards the latter. Perhaps they've not quite found their own boots, and in the meantime are trying on the ones of those mentioned above? I'm not quite sure, but Ladytron and The Faint do this much better. And to further puzzle me, the final track is an unexpected switch into a non-synth, piano prettiness.

AEREOGRAMME A Story In White (Matador) cd 14.98
Wow, what a refreshing surprise of an album, sez Miss Windy. Aereogramme, a four-piece band started by Craig B of Ganger, play a super appealing combination of (get this) the theatricality and LOUD-soft dynamics of Mogwai, and the intensely emotional delicacy of Sparklehorse. Gigantic crashing guitars swell, voices scream in anguish (heartbreak, no doubt), then it all gives way to stillness: quietly tinkling piano, evocative strings, and sensitive barely-whispered vocals. There are very catchy, epic melodies throughout. The effect is extremely pleasant, folks!
Aereogramme has released two 7"s and an EP, and this is their full length debut, on Matador via the respected Scottish label Chemikal Underground (Arab Strap, Mogwai, Delgados). Highly recommended if you like Mogwai or Sparklehorse, Badly Drawn Boy, Delgados, Red House Painters, etc.
RealAudio clip: "Post-Tour, Pre-Judgement"
RealAudio clip: "A Meaningful Existence"
RealAudio clip: "The Question is Complete"
RealAudio clip: "Sunday 3:52"

AEREOGRAMME My Heart Has A Wish That You Would Not Go (Sonic Unyon) cd 14.98
Whoa, this new Aereogramme full length really unveils a new side of the band. They're downright gentle, romantic, and dare we say, emo even. Most notably they traded in their thick metal-leaning bottom end for spiraling stratospheric strings. Perhaps it's the altitude, but this album's overall sound comes across as much thinner and more brittle than last year's Seclusion, but no less epic. For the first half of My Heart Has A Wish That You Would Not Go, everything -- from the piano to the guitars to the strings to the percussion -- is played with a contemplative, often delicate touch. Drifting atop this spacey gauziness are timorously sensitive male vocals. Think more Flaming Lips and maybe Frog Eyes than Mogwai and Isis. The hefty Aereogramme of old does resurface briefly at the album's midpoint, the sixth song "Living Backwards", injecting an effective dose of tension and gravity into the proceedings.
MPEG Stream: "A Life Worth Living"
MPEG Stream: "Living Backwards"

AEREOGRAMME Seclusion (Sonic Unyon) cd 10.98
Now released on this side of the pond by the Canadian label Sonic Unyon! And at a much friendlier price! Here's what we said about it late last year when we got in the UK import version:
On their past two fine albums A Story In White and Sleep And Release, these Scots' waves of crashing dynamics have drawn comparisons to Mogwai, but on Seclusion they've taken their sound to such a heavy and dark place where perhaps even those Mogwai lads dare not tread. Although the album starts out sounding like it's gonna be a college radio ready emo-rock record with the song "Inkwell", a sense of emotional unravelling gradually seeps in over the course of the other five songs that rises to the distraught degrees of bands such as Xiu Xiu and Frog Eyes. Ahh, what d'ya know, we just noticed the third song's title... "The Unravelling". Some might find the stormier, near-metal moments on this album to be downright fierce, but the fever is broken by some truly lovely melodic, heartrending phrases as well as some brief bursts of mathiness. Another great one from Aereogramme, available as an import only for some reason we don't know. Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Inkwell"
MPEG Stream: "The Unravelling"

AEREOGRAMME Sleep and Release (Matador) cd 15.98
What we have here is a fantastic -- and to our ears widely appealing -- record which hopefully won't disappear underneath most folks' radar like their first one did. Aereogramme are a four-piece from Scotland, and even though this comparison might sound a wee bit too convenient, it is nonetheless true that they sound like the perfect distillation of fellow Scots Mogwai and the Delgados! They have the fragile delicacy and pure indie-rockness of Delgados (and Death Cab for Cutie, especially in the vocals), but you know how just when the sweetness is so sad and heartbreaking, you want something to scream, that's gonna mirror the despair and howl the pain? That's when Aereogramme lashes out with crashing metallic noisiness a la Mogwai -- although we think it sounds more authentically heavy like the Melvins or a Hydrahead metalcore band. And it *really* works as an album: the dynamic changes are not unpleasantly distracting; they're as skillfully executed as on Radiohead's "OK Computer", and the climaxes come exactly when you most need them too. There are also judiciously wielded violins and cello soaring above the warm guitars, some genuinely death metal, hoarse vocal roars, and guitar parts that could be from an authentic '70s prog or metal album. At one moment the tight discipline of Shellac, the next the delicate melodies of Sparklehorse, and then some sheer black metal creepiness...wow. Some might call their style a gimmick, though we can't when it's so satisfying and brilliantly executed!
So this record should appeal to fans of all of the bands mentioned above, plus to fans of bands that are doing similar dynamic genre blends like emo-metalcore outfits Poison the Well, From Autumn To Ashes, and Cave In. Indeed, Aerogramme's debut "A Story In White" -- a favorite around here -- made good use of the same dynamics, but rather than simply mixing up their indie-rock with some surprisingly metal moments as on that disc, Aereogramme here sound like a genuine hybrid...like maybe it's the other way around, they're a metalcore band toying with utterly gorgeous indie-pop songwriting.
RealAudio clip: "Indiscretion #243"
RealAudio clip: "Wood"
RealAudio clip: "No Really, Everything's Fine"

AERIAL M As Performed By Aerial M (Drag City) cd 12.98
Dave Pajo (formerly of Slint and now of Tortoise).

AERIAL M M Is... (Drag City) cdep 4.98
A two-song EP of post-rock guitar explorations from David Pajo (Slint, Tortoise). The second song "Mountains Have Ears" with its inclusion of flute samples and programmed beats is considerably more kinetic than his usual ultra-soothing mellowness.

AERIAL M October (Drag City) cdsingle 4.98
As we never seem to tire of saying, "Aerial M is a solo project of David Pajo of Tortoise doing lonely things." Peaceful post rock guitar.

AERIAL M Post-Global Music (Drag City) cd 12.98
Remixes of ex-Slint-er Dave Pajo's solo work as Aerial M, by none other than Bundy K Brown of Tortoise, Tied and Tickled Trio, DJ Your Food, and Flacco.

AERIAL M Post-Global Music (Drag City) lp 12.98
Remixes of ex-Slint-er Dave Pajo's solo work as Aerial M, by none other than Bundy K Brown of Tortoise, Tied and Tickled Trio, DJ Your Food, and Flacco.

AERIAL MORGANUM As Performed By Aerial M (Drag City) lp 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Dave Pajo (formerly of Slint and now of Tortoise).

AERO-MIC'D I Think You're Great (Aero-Mic'd records) cd 7.98
Artist/Designer/Musician Wayne Smith's third outing as Aero-Mic'd (not including last years collaboration with the Sadnesses, Cloud Mama) is a family affair but not in the usual familial way. Made to coincide with a exhibition of new artworks at Queen's Nails Annex in San Francisco, I Think You're Great, includes many guest appearances from friends and local luminaries, including video artist Anne McGuire on vocals, writer Kevin Killian (intoning a series of tai chi movements on opening track "Cloud Hands"), and performer/painter Cliff Hengst, all of whom have been collaborating on each others' projects off and on for at least the past ten years. Smith is a master of mining magical significance through the filtering, manipulating and repetition of found sounds and images (celebrity, the cultic and the mundane play against each other constantly). On the title track, clocking in at over 15 minutes (an epic by Aero-mic'd standards whose songs normally clock in at under 2 minutes), he expands his sound from previous efforts by including excerpts from a live performance at the Headlands last year with William Collins from Mire on guitar and tibetan bowls and Cliff Hengst on percussion. Intermixed with the live and programmed bells and filtered guitars, Smith includes one of his signature sound pieces, "Hello", recorded by calling people randomly from the phone book and recording their standard but delightfully varied greetings. With I Think You're Great, the feeling is definitely mutual!
MPEG Stream: "Last Four Shakers"
MPEG Stream: "I Think You're Great"

AEROVONS, THE Resurrection (RPM) cd 16.98
BACK IN STOCK!
What a find! This is a record made in 1969 by The Aerovons, a St. Louis quartet led by the talented 17-year old songwriter/producer Tom Hartman. But except for one 7" single that had 2 songs on it, The Aerovons' full length was NEVER released. This is its first proper showing, and it's a doozy. Made by fanatical Beatles fans, who even used the same model instruments their idols did, this record at times sounds just like a late-'60s Beatles album, especially in "Say Georgia" which sounds like "Oh! Darling" and "Resurrection" which sounds like "Across the Universe" and Tom's voice is just like Paul McCartney's. This is a good thing! It's a real pity the band never saw their debut released, cos for a while they had everything going for them. They were hits in their hometown, journeyed (with Tom's mum!) to London, got signed to Parlophone, jammed with the Hollies, hung with George Harrison, got Paul's autograph, even borrowed the Beatles' tambourine while recording at ABBEY ROAD. Can you imagine how stoked these kids were?
Not just a hell of a backstory, but a fine Beatlesesque treat. Some folks might find some of the songs (like the aforementioned two) just a little TOO close to Beatles originals for comfort, actually, but we were charmed. After all, it takes a certain sort of teenage nerve to go ahead and rip off "Across The Universe" when it hadn't even been released yet -- the band simply got an Abbey Road engineer to play the Beatles' latest tapes for 'em, and then promptly repaired to their studio suitably inspired! Perhaps this doppelganger aspect is why the album never was released, or perhaps the label backed out fearing that the group would not be able to promote the album properly after one of the Aerovons split for the US due to personal problems. So goes a footnote in rock history, what could've been a major band. Still, thanks to RPM we've got our first chance to hear this real pleasure of a record, complete with copious liner notes, photos, article clippings, and four bonus tracks. The Aerovons. Who knew?
MPEG Stream: "World of You"
MPEG Stream: "Resurrection"
MPEG Stream: "The Children"

AETHENOR Deep In Ocean Sunk The Lamp Of Light (VHF) cd 13.98
What do you get when you cross SUNNO))), Swiss metallic post rockers Shora and UK proglords Guapo? At the very least we got your attention now don't we? Well, Aethenor is a collaboration between Stephen O'Malley (SUNNO))), Khanate, etc.) Daniel O'Sullivan from Guapo and Vincent De Roguin from Shora and sounds nothing like you might expect.
SUNNO))) might be the closest, but don't be expecting any crushing down tuned drones or slow moving sludge, instead Deep In Ocean Sunk The Lamp Of Light is a series of ambient explorations, slow moving sonic floes, very tidal sounding, thick washes of warm whir in a wide open soundscape of murky industrial percussion, and soft sonic wells, All three guys are credited, along with their usual instruments, with 'room', so as you might expect, these tracks are enormous sounding, spacious and grand, epic drifts through a dark landscape of creaking timbers and whirring wind. It's almost like a doomier version of Nurse With Wound's Salt Marie Celeste. An old rickety ship, creaking and groaning as it traverses some haunted pass, replete with moaning demons and all manner of creepy sonic incursions. And that's just the first song! The second song, another lengthy moody crawl, is super minimal, very reminiscent of seventies kraut prog like Tangerine Dream or Popol Vuh, thick keyboards that churn and slowly shift, over a backdrop of percussive clatter and keening high end melody.
The last two tracks are both around 5 minutes but somehow embody the same sort of epic spaciousness. As a pair they are a bit like the musical version of one of those paintings that from one angle shows the portrait of a person, but from a slightly different angle shows the same person as they appear in death!
The first angle is all crumbling distorted organ and tinkling music box melody over an intricate web of tape hiss, record crackle and analog synth splutter, dreamy and dark, like some sort of late night lullaby. The other deathly angle sounds like the track before it but with all the life sucked out, the warm glow dimmed, leaving a gaunt shell, the fuzzy slowly decaying, desiccated skeletal remains of a pretty song. The final few minutes offer up a super creepy haunted house melodic coda, a weird minor key music box melody over a strangely mechanical hissing rumbling rhythm. So spooky! And so nice!!!
MPEG Stream: "Untiltled 1"
MPEG Stream: "Untiltled 2"

AETHENOR Deep In Ocean Sunk The Lamp Of Light (VHF) lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
What do you get when you cross SUNNO))), Swiss metallic post rockers Shora and UK proglords Guapo? At the very least we got your attention now don't we? Well, Aethenor is a collaboration between Stephen O'Malley (SUNNO))), Khanate, etc.) Daniel O'Sullivan from Guapo and Vincent De Roguin from Shora and sounds nothing like you might expect.
SUNNO))) might be the closest, but don't be expecting any crushing down tuned drones or slow moving sludge, instead Deep In Ocean Sunk The Lamp Of Light is a series of ambient explorations, slow moving sonic floes, very tidal sounding, thick washes of warm whir in a wide open soundscape of murky industrial percussion, and soft sonic wells, All three guys are credited, along with their usual instruments, with 'room', so as you might expect, these tracks are enormous sounding, spacious and grand, epic drifts through a dark landscape of creaking timbers and whirring wind. It's almost like a doomier version of Nurse With Wound's Salt Marie Celeste. An old rickety ship, creaking and groaning as it traverses some haunted pass, replete with moaning demons and all manner of creepy sonic incursions. And that's just the first song! The second song, another lengthy moody crawl, is super minimal, very reminiscent of seventies kraut prog like Tangerine Dream or Popol Vuh, thick keyboards that churn and slowly shift, over a backdrop of percussive clatter and keening high end melody.
The last two tracks are both around 5 minutes but somehow embody the same sort of epic spaciousness. As a pair they are a bit like the musical version of one of those paintings that from one angle shows the portrait of a person, but from a slightly different angle shows the same person as they appear in death!
The first angle is all crumbling distorted organ and tinkling music box melody over an intricate web of tape hiss, record crackle and analog synth splutter, dreamy and dark, like some sort of late night lullaby. The other deathly angle sounds like the track before it but with all the life sucked out, the warm glow dimmed, leaving a gaunt shell, the fuzzy slowly decaying, desiccated skeletal remains of a pretty song. The final few minutes offer up a super creepy haunted house melodic coda, a weird minor key music box melody over a strangely mechanical hissing rumbling rhythm. So spooky! And so nice!!!
MPEG Stream: "Untiltled 1"
MPEG Stream: "Untiltled 2"

AFCGT s/t (Sub Pop) lp + 7" 19.98
Fuck! It's always a good sign when you feel the need to start the review of a record with a vulgarity; and the Sub Pop debut for AFCGT is a fucking great album, worthy of your favorite swear word that punctuates any exasperated declaration of praise. If there's any justice, this won't be the only AFCGT record that Sub Pop releases; as this band deserves great things.
AFCGT sports three guitarists, one bassist, and a drummer all hailing from two other projects - the A Frames and the Climax Golden Twins (get the acronym?). The Climax Golden Twins have long been a favorite here at Aquarius, somewhat paralleling the psycho-geographical narratives of the Sun City Girls in marrying all sorts of musical esoterica from punk, psychedelia, exotica, funeral blues, Southeast Asian pop idioms, field recordings, and audio collage tactics. A Frames are far more conventional in their agitated recapitulation of rhythmically centered post-punk, particularly looking toward Wire's Chairs Missing as a template. It seemed an unlikely match; but when it all came together, it was damn impressive, as again made evident on their second eponymous record.
The opening track "Black Mark" sports vintage Mack truck riffage of nasty sludgecore which would have been right at home on Sub Pop circa 1992 alongside Tad, Mudhoney, and that first Nirvana record; but before the riff can propel headlong into grunge-punk territory, AFCGT implodes in a frenzied jitterbug guitar solo of dosed-fuzz and amplifier damage. The low-slung swamp blues of "Two Legged Dog" sends spiralling guitar freakouts on top of a throbbing two-note bassline drone and strutting mid-tempo backbeat. "Nacht" weirds things out quite a bit; and this track certainly showcases much more of the Climax Golden Twins' doing with spindly slide guitars, a purring cat-like drone, and spectrally slashed ambience hob-knobbing with Martin Denny's post-Polynesian bachelor pad rhythms. AFCGT reprises "New Punk" which opened their first eponymous record from a few years back, and it's still as spiky and agitated as before, just with a 'new' studio polish of extra grit and distortion. Nice.
This is an lp only release that comes with the download card for mp3s of the tracks on the lp and a bonus 7" (which is not included in the download).
MPEG Stream: "Black Mark"
MPEG Stream: "Two Legged Dog"
MPEG Stream: "Nacht"

AFCGT (A FRAMES + CLIMAX GOLDEN TWINS) s/t (Fire Breathing Turtle) cd-r 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Holy shit, this is fucking great! And who would have ever thought that the A Frames and the Climax Golden Twins would make a record together? And who would have imagined that it would be this fucking awesome? It's all superlatives and all expletives in describing the first collaborative production from AFCGT. The A Frames had managed to raise some eyebrows here through their post-punk appropriations of early Wire and early Fall, but the vocals had always been something of a miss for them especially on the last Sub Pop album. But in working with the AQ-endorsed Climax Golden Twins who are a band accustomed to delivering exemplary instrumentals from literally every corner of the avant-rock landscape, the A Frames have the permission to shut the hell up and let the Climax Golden Twins dump the fucking kitchen sink all over A Frames rhythmic swagger. The album opens with a tumultuous blast of glue-huffing noise-rock, sort of like a fistfight between the Butthole Surfers and the Sun City Girls. Soon after, a series of bad-ass Birthday Party / Oxbow swamp rock riffs explode with spindly space-age gamelan leads; elsewhere, the No Wave ghosts of R.L. Crutchfield-era DNA emerge with of jagged chops across the guitar pick-ups, bloodied fingers and all. Fuck, it all sounds fucking great! It's a damn shame that this thing is only limited to 50 copies! That perhaps is our only complaint.
MPEG Stream: "New Punk"
MPEG Stream: "Old Spy"
MPEG Stream: "Thug"

AFFAIR, THE Yes Yes To You (Absolutely Kosher) cd 13.98
New York quintet The Affair make some good ol' feisty power pop in which the robust female vocals of Ms Kali Holloway take center stage. Very much in the kickass traditions of Blondie, Ronnie Spector and Katrina And The Waves. Sounding like she's got one heckuva chip on her shoulder, we'd bet Holloway's not one to take things sittin' down... and neither will you when you give this a spin. You'll be up on your feet bounding around your living room. Loads of fun!
MPEG Stream: "Dead Letters"
MPEG Stream: "Left At The Party"

AFFLICTED MAN The Complete Recordings (Senseless Whale) 2cd 22.00
A while back we remember running across a bootleg-looking vinyl reissue of an LP called Get Stoned Ezy by some British band from the early '80s called High Speed and The Afflicted Man. This obscurity was supposed to be an unknown precursor to the blown-out psychedelic speed freaks sound of Japan's High Rise -- in other words, a holy grail of wah and fuzz. Tom Lax wrote a review of it on his Siltblog that said it sounded like Saint Vitus covering Les Rallizes Denudes! Can anything live up to that? Heck, if Get Stoned Ezy even just remotely came close to living up to its excellent title we'd be curious. Are you curious too?
Well that LP is long gone, but all the tracks from that and more are to be found on this new double cd collection of everything ever recorded by guitarist Steve Hall's DIY punk-psych outfit Afflicted Man (aka Afflicted, aka High Speed and The Afflicted Man). Ramshackle, lo-fi, outsider guitar blurt that reminds us of everything from The Heads to the Stooges to Human Instinct to Michael Yonkers to Zippo Zetterlink to Baby Grandmothers to Acid Mothers Temple and the Pink Ladies Blues. It's psychedelic hard rock done "Messthetics" style.
There's over two hours of music here. Disc one features Afflicted Man's three Bonk label 7" singles, and their The Afflicted Man's Musical Bag LP (which dates from "probably 1979"). The songs from the 7"s are all fairly rockin' punkers, while the Musical Bag LP is weirder and more damaged, with tracks like "Hippy Punk" and "Hippy Skin" (that's what these guys were?), the downer blues of "Glue Sniffing", and the krautrockish "Musically Insane", a track that's really a reinterpretation of their first single "I'm Afflicted", extended to eight minutes and buried amidst shimmering piano and freeform FX. It's what that song would sound like if it was covered by Moolah!
Disc two is where the really fuzz really hits the fan, comprising both the I'm Off Me 'ead LP (1981) and the aforementioned Get Stoned Ezy (1982). On both records, Hendrix and Hawkwind are obvious references, playfully roughed up by these punks n' skins. The three long tracks of Get Stoned Ezy, especially, take that hippy psych sound into a back alley and fuck it up, but all in good weird fun.
While this reish features interesting liner notes from an Aussie fan, we're not really told what happened to the Afflicted Mr. Hall after Get Stoned Ezy. At least he went out at the end of his highest and heaviest half-hour ever!
MPEG Stream: "Get Stoned Ezy"
MPEG Stream: "I'm Afflicted"
MPEG Stream: "Dustbins"
MPEG Stream: "Zip 'Ead"

AFGHAN WHIGS Unbreakable: A Retrospective 1990-2006 (Rhino) cd 17.98

MPEG Stream: "Retarded"
MPEG Stream: "Gentlemen"
MPEG Stream: "Be Sweet"
MPEG Stream: "Debonair"

AFRAMES 2 (S-S) cd 13.98
Heads up for another wallop of very angular barebones post punk. Yes, Aframes wear their love of early 80s Wire, The Fall and/or Gang Of Four prominently on their sleeves, and they capture the sound and energy very well. Although you might guess their hometown to be San Diego or Providence where many likeminded bands are based, this trio is in fact from Seattle, WA. Deep, deadpan vocals much like those of Nick Forte (Rorschach, Computer Cougar, Beautiful Skin) brood and proclaim while the very front'n'center chunky, choppy guitars jab and saw atop the simmering rhythm section. At times in their music as well as their lyrics and song titles ("Ionic", "Archaeology", "Modula", etc), they bring science, sci-fi and rock together -- also calling to mind the less surfy, more art-damaged side of Man Or Astro-Man?. Note: this was originally released on vinyl earlier this year in a short-lived limited pressing of 1000.
MPEG Stream: "Nuclear"
MPEG Stream: "Electricity"

AFRAMES Black Forest (Sub Pop) cd 13.98
AFrames jump up to Sub Pop for their third full length. As on their previous releases, this is very raw post-punk clawed out with dirty fingernails, but perhaps leaning a bit less on their past Gang Of Four / Wire / The Fall worship. The lead vocals are of the sing-right-along-with-the-main-melody ilk, and the lyrics are fashioned into elementary school level rhyming couplets. They're delivered by a flat spoken-sung male voice that's very reminiscent once again of Nick Forte (of Rorschach, Beautiful Skin, Christmas Decorations, Computer Cougar), and actually this could very easily be mistaken for a Forte project. In addition to the vocals, it's got all the Forte tell-tale elements -- thick chug'n'churn electric guitars that sound like their strings have been slackened, plodding primal drumbeats, abrasive synthesizer blasts and an ample dose of distortion and dissonance. One difference is the occasional appearance of female vocals that serve to soften the masculine angular blows. At times this band also seems to have been influenced by the more song-y side of Neubauten, however they don't come anywhere close to achieving the total visceral immediacy of that seminal band. One thing tho' whereas the recordings are definitely no-frills, apparently they sure spared no cost in the packaging department, this cd comes in a really rad die-cut printed cardboard slipcover.
MPEG Stream: "Galena"
MPEG Stream: "Death Train"

AFRAMES Black Forest (Sub Pop) lp 13.98
AFrames jump up to Sub Pop for their third full length. As on their previous releases, this is very raw post-punk clawed out with dirty fingernails, but perhaps leaning a bit less on their past Gang Of Four / Wire / The Fall worship. The lead vocals are of the sing-right-along-with-the-main-melody ilk, and the lyrics are fashioned into elementary school level rhyming couplets. They're delivered by a flat spoken-sung male voice that's very reminiscent once again of Nick Forte (of Rorschach, Beautiful Skin, Christmas Decorations, Computer Cougar), and actually this could very easily be mistaken for a Forte project. In addition to the vocals, it's got all the Forte tell-tale elements -- thick chug'n'churn electric guitars that sound like their strings have been slackened, plodding primal drumbeats, abrasive synthesizer blasts and an ample dose of distortion and dissonance. One difference is the occasional appearance of female vocals that serve to soften the masculine angular blows. At times this band also seems to have been influenced by the more song-y side of Neubauten, however they don't come anywhere close to achieving the total visceral immediacy of that seminal band. One thing tho' whereas the recordings are definitely no-frills, apparently they sure spared no cost in the packaging department, this cd comes in a really rad die-cut printed cardboard slipcover.
MPEG Stream: "Galena"
MPEG Stream: "Death Train"

AFTERNOON SAINTS Shirley Jangle ((K-RAA-K)3) 2lp 29.00
Take turntablist Christian Marclay, Swiss percussionist Gunter Muller, Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo, and legendary NY via NZ experimental guitarist / bagpiper David Watson, armed with their weapons of choice: turntables, percussion, minidisks, electronics, guitars and bagpipes, and let them loose. And you'll get pretty much what you might expect. Not some mish mash hodge podge improv bullshit, these guys are masters, and these six tracks demonstrate that mastery bigtime. Lush and textured, dense and detailed, moody and evocative. Marclay's turntables are magic, a bank of primitive analog samplers, spitting out fractured rhythms, mysterious melodies, various snippets and samples, the perfect framework for the others to use as a jumping off point. But each player is perfectly capable of taking the helm, while knowing when to let someone else take over.
Lush ambient dronescapes peppered with twisted melodic fragments, all sorts of overlapping and layered rhythms, constantly shifting, changing shapes, transforming before our very ears, some tracks brood and lope, others soar and howl, all of them dizzying and elaborate. The soundfield is constantly expansive and in flux.
Lots of improv is way more fun to play than to listen to, but this stuff is totally engrossing, even for the listener with no interest in "improv", so musical, some of it in fact sounds so good it's impossible to believe these guys were making it up as they went along.
Hypnotic, enthralling, confusional in places, intense in others, hushed and haunting in still others, a wide weird world of sound that begs for deep listening, and invites the listener to let go, to become totally and utterly lost in the sound.
Pressed on super thick vinyl, and housed in really swank, heavy full color gatefold sleeves, 3 sided set, the fourth side sports a cool scribbly etching by Lee Ranaldo. LIMITED TO 500 COPIES.

AGALLOCH Marrow Of The Spirit (Profound Lore) cd 13.98
A few lists back, when we reviewed the (now already out of print!) 1996-1998 demos collection by this Pacific Northwest based cult, we mentioned we now realize we were quite foolish in not having paid sufficient attention to their career. Considering how much we ended up liking those early demos, seriously delving into the subsequent bulk of their discography seemed to be in order, though potentially a daunting task. Making things easier though, they've just come out with a new album, so let's focus on that. This latest from these difficult to describe grim blackened metal artists is via the Profound Lore label, who have established an admirable and eclectic track record lately of signing the best in the underground - their two other most recent releases were by extreme doomsters Salome and epic true metal rockers Slough Feg! Agalloch fit right in, in the sense of not fitting in, as they, like those bands, are nothing if not unique. Well, ok, Agalloch are nominally black metal, and "arty", and thus always draw Opeth comparisons, but that's just 'cause it's tough come up with something -really- accurate in that dep't. Another would be Wolves In The Throne Room. Or Ludicra, though they're supposedly so citified, and Agalloch are definitely of the forest.
Fans will know that Agalloch recently enlisted our pal Aesop from Ludicra on drums. One of Aesop's bandmates from that outfit told us that Agalloch sounds like Weezer doing black metal. Maybe that was meant as a criticism (of Agalloch, Weezer, and/or black metal) but for some of us it sounds like a recommendation!! And while we're not sure we really hear that anyway, we guess there is a "pop" side to Agalloch, at least, some occasional clean vocals crop up alongside the usual raspy style ones, and certainly plenty of melancholic melody factors into their exquisitely crafted, carefully orchestrated black metal onslaught, a warm and -gentle- onslaught some of the time we must say, one that even veers into post rock territory a bit, a la Explosions In The Sky or Godspeed or something like that gone black metal, maybe. And the whispery "To Drown" hints at Current 93, tremulous and atmospherically epic. So chamber rock, art rock, post rock, folk rock... Agalloch are perhaps all these things and sundry, in some small measure. But definitely black metal is the crux of this, with those vokills, and blasting beats, and the crunch and whine of the guitars much of the time... whilst Moog and piano, cello and glockenspiel, field recordings and vibraphone, even "petrified bone, glass & metal sheet percussion", all are also woven into the compositions here, making for a lulling sound easily associated with woods, smoke, antlers, mists - even without support from the artwork that suggests such things. Speaking of which, the tri-fold digipack this comes in is handsomely designed, with the band's logo subtly done in raised clear spot varnish on the front cover, likewise with the track listing on the back. Nice!
NB. for those into "six degrees of separation" games, a glance at the credits here will allow you connect Agalloch to krautrockers Faust in approximately one move! Amber Asylum also.
MPEG Stream: "Into The Painted Grey"
MPEG Stream: "The Watcher's Monolith"
MPEG Stream: "Ghosts Of The Midwinter Fires"

AGALLOCH Marrow Of The Spirit (Profound Lore) 2lp 25.00
NOW ON VINYL!!! This critically acclaimed as best-of-2010 metal album gets an lp release, something we know folks have been waiting for... Here's our review of the cd version from last year:
When we reviewed the (now already out of print!) 1996-1998 demos collection by this Pacific Northwest based cult, we mentioned we now realize we were quite foolish in not having paid sufficient attention to their career. Considering how much we ended up liking those early demos, seriously delving into the subsequent bulk of their discography seemed to be in order, though potentially a daunting task. Making things easier though, they've just come out with a new album, so let's focus on that. This latest from these difficult to describe grim blackened metal artists is via the Profound Lore label, who have established an admirable and eclectic track record lately of signing the best in the underground - their two other most recent releases were by extreme doomsters Salome and epic true metal rockers Slough Feg! Agalloch fit right in, in the sense of not fitting in, as they, like those bands, are nothing if not unique. Well, ok, Agalloch are nominally black metal, and "arty", and thus always draw Opeth comparisons, but that's just 'cause it's tough come up with something -really- accurate in that dep't. Another would be Wolves In The Throne Room. Or Ludicra, though they're supposedly so citified, and Agalloch are definitely of the forest.
Fans will know that Agalloch recently enlisted our pal Aesop from Ludicra on drums. One of Aesop's bandmates from that outfit told us that Agalloch sounds like Weezer doing black metal. Maybe that was meant as a criticism (of Agalloch, Weezer, and/or black metal) but for some of us it sounds like a recommendation!! And while we're not sure we really hear that anyway, we guess there is a "pop" side to Agalloch, at least, some occasional clean vocals crop up alongside the usual raspy style ones, and certainly plenty of melancholic melody factors into their exquisitely crafted, carefully orchestrated black metal onslaught, a warm and -gentle- onslaught some of the time we must say, one that even veers into post rock territory a bit, a la Explosions In The Sky or Godspeed or something like that gone black metal, maybe. And the whispery "To Drown" hints at Current 93, tremulous and atmospherically epic. So chamber rock, art rock, post rock, folk rock... Agalloch are perhaps all these things and sundry, in some small measure. But definitely black metal is the crux of this, with those vokills, and blasting beats, and the crunch and whine of the guitars much of the time... whilst Moog and piano, cello and glockenspiel, field recordings and vibraphone, even "petrified bone, glass & metal sheet percussion", all are also woven into the compositions here, making for a lulling sound easily associated with woods, smoke, antlers, mists - even without support from the artwork that suggests such things.
NB. for those into "six degrees of separation" games, a glance at the credits here will allow you connect Agalloch to krautrockers Faust in approximately one move! Amber Asylum also.
MPEG Stream: "Into The Painted Grey"
MPEG Stream: "The Watcher's Monolith"
MPEG Stream: "Ghosts Of The Midwinter Fires"

AGAMENON Todos Rien De Mi (Guerssen Records) cd 21.00
Wow what a great lost discovery! Originally released in 1975, this Madrid psychedelic-pop outfit were making some of the most pleasing and colorful sounds in Spain during their all too short existence. Due to its limited release it never made its way to much of the rest of the world. Intense psych aficionados have treasured and always been on the lookout for this, their one and only release, but in order to be lucky enough to get a copy you had to be willing to shell out big bucks for one of the few copies that were still around. Luckily 30+ years later the world gets to hear what those in the know in Madrid in '75 got so excited about. With 8 songs in English and 2 en Espanol, Agamenon took a love of Sgt Peppers era Beatles, good time drugs, colorful melodies and enough quirk and charisma to make their songs jump out at you. From fuzzed out acid rock to sunny beaming psych-pop glory, this is one of those bands that deserves a place next to Os Mutantes and Love with their ability to create an album filled with so much vibrant energy, catchy hooks and a spirit that makes you want to lay in the greenest grass on the warmest day and roll around for hours.
MPEG Stream: "Todos Rien De Mi"
MPEG Stream: "Wooden Tears"

AGD Echolokator (Antena Krzyku Unc.) cd 15.98

AGENT NOVA Stop Time (Punk In My Vitamins) cassette 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Agent Nova is the psychotic project of Dale from Milk Cult / Steelpole Bathtub. Just as far out as the Milk Cult's "Project M-13" album (which is an all time AQ favorite), though not quite as purposefully diverse. Possible quotes from the Mission Impossible themes and the Steve Miller Band are decontructed on lots of mutilating tape recorders and topped off with a constant stream of fuzz guitar licks. Good stuff.

AGENT RIBBONS And The Star Crossed Doppleganger (Seven Inch Project) 7" 5.98
Geez, if only we still had our Fisher Price record player, this opaque guacamole-green 7" would look so good spinnin' there in our bedroom this dark winter's eve. The music on this new Agent Ribbons record is as delightfully darling as that thought... except maybe carpet the floor with cushy moss, blanket the bed with a patchwork of gingham and string blossoming ivy from the nightstand. Oh and sprinkle the whole lot with twinkling pixie dust. Those who were charmed by this Sacramento duo's enchanted folk pop debut album On Time Travel And Romance last year won't wanna miss Ms Natalie and Ms Lauren's two new tunes. Plus they've found the perfect matching offkilter bewitching maven to do the cover art, Dame Darcy! Sure to tickle pink fans of Jolie Holland, Ditty Bops, Coco Rosie, and y'know what? We'd bet Agent Ribbons would be a favorite of Astrid Lindgren's irrepressible storybook heroine Pippi Longstocking too.
By the way, this is the first installment of the Seven Inch Project. Yup, it's a brand new series of very limited edition 7"s being released by some cool folks down in Long Beach, CA. Only 500 records of each edition will be pressed on hefty 70 gram colored vinyl, packaged in impressive sturdy gatefold sleeves, and hand-numbered. Truly a joy to hold and admire in your hands and in your ears. Oh and each one comes with an mp3 download passcode for all you newfangled types. So hop to it!

AGENT RIBBONS Chateau Crone (Antenna Farm) cd 11.98
We're always happy to get a new release by Agent Ribbons, and it's extra nice to hear the gals stretching their creative limbs on their latest full length. On Chateau Crone, they dish up an impressive patchwork quilt of new tunes with both passion and aplomb. A bit less sugar and playful than their previous outings, and a bit more shadowy, lush, edgy and eclectic - bringing together elements of cabaret, garage rock, '60s Brill Building girl groups, a bit baroque pop, a bit Balkan gypsy too. Once again, they nestle in comfortably alongside the likes of Cocorosie and Ditty Bops, but also to our delight, the Aislers Set! In fact, the vocals at times are a striking deadringer for AS's Amy Linton. You need look no further than the opening track "I'm Alright". Indeed, that's some infectious, smoky, swaggering retro garage poppiness they're slingin' there! For sure, they are as daydreamy and breezy as ever, but occasionally those dreams take a spookier Theremin-laced turn. Very recommended!
MPEG Stream: "I'm Alright"
MPEG Stream: "Your Hands My Hands"

AGENT RIBBONS Chateau Crone (Antenna Farm) lp 14.98
We're always happy to get a new release by Agent Ribbons, and it's extra nice to hear the gals stretching their creative limbs on their latest full length. On Chateau Crone, they dish up an impressive patchwork quilt of new tunes with both passion and aplomb. A bit less sugar and playful than their previous outings, and a bit more shadowy, lush, edgy and eclectic - bringing together elements of cabaret, garage rock, '60s Brill Building girl groups, a bit baroque pop, a bit Balkan gypsy too. Once again, they nestle in comfortably alongside the likes of Cocorosie and Ditty Bops, but also to our delight, the Aislers Set! In fact, the vocals at times are a striking deadringer for AS's Amy Linton. You need look no further than the opening track "I'm Alright". Indeed, that's some infectious, smoky, swaggering retro garage poppiness they're slingin' there! For sure, they are as daydreamy and breezy as ever, but occasionally those dreams take a spookier Theremin-laced turn. Very recommended!
MPEG Stream: "I'm Alright"
MPEG Stream: "Your Hands My Hands"