WRAY, LINK Rumble! The Best of Link Wray (Rhino) cd 16.98
The best single-disc Link Wray comp. Twenty tracks, including all-time classic "Rumble" (the birth of rock n' roll distorted guitar), "Raw Hide", "Ramble", "Jack The Ripper", "Run Chicken Run", "Ace of Spades", "Batman Theme", "Switchblade", etc. All great, mostly-instrumental, slices of early rock n' roll from the master.

WRAY, LINK White Lightning: Lost Cadence Sessions '58 (Sundazed) cd 16.98
Wow!! One year after his death at age 76, Link Wray lives on!!! It's good to know his legendary sound will never die. And it better well never die either, since he pretty much wrote the book on raw garage/surf rock guitar rock. These lost sessions from 1958 once again demonstrate his supreme mastery, and show that no matter how great any of the surf rock he inspired was, from the sixties to the seventies to now, on labels like Estrus, Empty and Dionysus, Wray's could blow them out of the water. This is the real deal. It would almost be kind of depressing to try to play instrumental garage-rock/rockabilly knowing that there is just no way you could ever come close to the pure fire brilliance of Link Wray and his golden guitar.
Wray dealt with extreme health problems most of his life but in a weird way they actually helped shape his distinct style. He was partially deaf so of course he had to play extra extra loud. He had TB and lost a lung making it very hard for him to sing, so he did it all mostly instrumental. Which worked perfectly because there is nothing words could say that his playing style, charisma and fiery passion couldn't. It's so cool to hear him as a young man really coming into his own on these long lost recordings. Classic, timeless and so totally great!
MPEG Stream: "Creepy"
MPEG Stream: "Comanche"
MPEG Stream: "Missing Link (alt version)"

WRAY, LINK & THE WRAYMEN s/t (Rumble) lp 24.00

WRAY, LINK & THE WRAYMEN Slinky! The Epic Sessions (Sundazed) 2cd 24.00
Wonderful and extensive (two cds worth!) historical documentation of the Epic Records-period ('58-'61) works of the unquestionable grandfather of rock 'n' roll. Includes many previously unreleased tracks, alternate takes and demos. Everyone from Elvis, The Beatles, The Who, Jimmy Page to more recent acts like Southern Culture On The Skids, and Billy Childish were immensely influenced and bowed their heads in deep reverence to Link Wray's rebellious and blistering guitar. He was so far out for his time, he punched holes in his speakers to create (that's right, create!) distortion. Yes, he laid out the blueprints for the surf, garage, metal, pop artists that followed. And he's still at it today at the age of 72, showing up all the youngsters half, no, a third his age with his true love and enthusiasm for rock 'n' roll. Though there's two cds worth of prime Link here, you'll still need another collection (we recommend Rhino's "Rumble!" best of) to get some of his other crucial non-Epic label tunes ("Rumble", for one). But Slinky! does boast "Ramble", "Raw Hide", "Slinky", "Ain't That Lovin' You Baby", "Comanche", "Handclapper", "Radar", and many many others.
RealAudio clip: "Right Turn"

WRAY, LINK AND HIS RAYMEN Jack The Ripper (Sundazed) lp 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Hell yeah! Here's the absolute rock'n'roll O.G. on the appropriately O.G. format! This is the way you wanna hear Link Wray... the man who invented amplifier distortion... the man who invented the power chord... the man whose electrifying rock'n'roll energy and passion can still put men who are half (a third? a quarter?) of his age to shame. Whether they realize it or not, virtually every band you can think of owes a truckload of guitar picks to this man. He planted the seeds that allowed a multitude of musical genres to sprout. His totally influential, totally inspiring, fierce gritty guitar instrumentals have been pressed on 180 gram virgin vinyl from the original Swan mono master tapes. In fact, this beauty is an exact reproduction of the original 1963 LP. Slap it on yer record player and show 'em who's boss!

WRIGHT, PETER Pretty Mushroom Clouds (aRCHIVE) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We've raved about New Zealander Peter Wright in the past, numerous times, we've even now that we check back at past reviews, raved ABOUT raving about Peter Wright, but we really have no choice now but to do it again. For someone as prolific, and as talented as Wright, he seems to continually to fly well beneath the hipster radar.
Which is maybe good for us, but at the same time, it's hard not to root for someone who seems to effortlessly conjure up such beautiful sounds. But the thing is, we KNOW it's not effortless. The world is filled with folks who have a microphone and some effects, and think they can be soundscapers, field recordists, ARTISTS. And while that sort of spirit is to be applauded, the truth of the matter is, just like with anything, flying a jet, swimming the English Channel, playing the trumpet, racing Formula 1's, some people are just more talented than others. And Wright is just about as talented as they come.
Weaving field recordings into longform drones, creating soundscapes from found sounds and processed guitars, Wright manages to create dreamlike expanses of sonic wonder.
Take the first track here, the title track, it's hard not to imagine Pretty Little Mushroom Clouds. The sounds of birds, and wind, maybe branches rubbing against each other in the distance, while all around these sounds of nature, deep buzzing swells ebb and flow, dark, slightly ominous melodies, swell and recede, a super minimal pulse, a gorgeous cloud of shimmer drifting across verdant hills and blue blue sky. You can almost imagine, lush rolling hills, dotted with wildflowers, cute little houses, scattered copses of trees, birds soaring in the sky, while way off in the distance, huge black mushroom clouds blossom in the sky, but from here, they just look beautiful, the music capturing that moment before everything is turned to ash, a brief vacuum, where even the vilest of objects is transformed into a vivid picturesque sonic snapshot.
Over the rest of the record, the field recordings are much more subtle, relying more on the processed instrumentation, guitars are ground into muted walls reverberating buzz, rife with disembodied melodies, streaks of high end and bits of rumbling drone, some tracks are massive and pitched down, the sound of drifting beneath miles of ice in the Arctic Circle, everything glowing some unearthly blue, all the sounds muted and warbled, others are nearly ebullient, like the perfectly titled "The Devil Wears Sunroof", which from the sound of it we can only assume is a nod to Matthew Bower and his Ur-drone unit, all glistening high end shimmer, and long stretches of buzzing upper register guitar. The final track finds Wright taking all of his various sounds and assembling them into a super hypnotic, strangely heavy looped take on, well, Loop actually, a repeated riff, a static groove, totally mesmerizing and space-y, eventually building to a full on blast of almost Japanoise, before petering out, leaving just the sound of an airport terminal or a train station, or a huge sparsely filled performance space as it's revealed to be, when the crowd finally offers up some applause, for what may have been a live performance, or may have been just a random bit of live crowd sound sampled and woven into Wright's mysterious sonic sprawl.
As always, amazing packaging from aRCHIVE. Six panel full color glossy gatefold, the cd affixed to a nub on the middle panel, while around the jacket, an outer sleeve of printed vellum. Super nice.
Limited to 500 copies, single one time pressing.
MPEG Stream: "Pretty Mushroom Clouds"
MPEG Stream: "The Devil Wears Sunroof"

WRITING ON THE WALL The Power Of The Picts (Ork ) 2cd 17.98

YAHOWHA 13 2013 (Prophase Music) 2cd+dvd 30.00

YAHOWHA 13 Feather Of Wisdom (Phoenix) lp 23.00

YAHOWHA 13 God and Hair (Captain Trip) 13cd 140.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
For 13 discs you better get the complete recordings... and here on God and Hair that is what you get. [well, this was true until recently when The Operetta was released...but you do get plenty!] Led by the late, legendary Father Yod (who supposedly died in a hang-gliding accident in the late 70s... just like Icarus!) YaHoWha 13 "epitomize the insanity of highly-personalized psychedelic exploration via the fringes of rock music and its subsequent private documentation better than anything else produced by the human race to date." (a glorious if over the top description from the fine folk at Forced Exposure)... This collection ranges from the tribal acid pound with weird noises floating in and out of aural spaces alongside Yod's megalomaniacal vocal output (as on the unbelievable masterpieces "Penetration" and "I'm Gonna Take You Home") to the cult-guru sermons over simple acoustic guitar (which give the uncanny resemblance to Charles Manson's folk). Warning: it's VERY hippie. The huge 13" x 13" heavy duty box houses the 13 discs and a 50 page booklet (which is unfortunately only in Japanese). So fucking cool.
(If anyone out there has any more information about this band (in English) please direct us to it.)
Please Note: Due to the sheer cost of this thing, AQ will only have 1 or 2 in stock at any given time. We will certainly do our best to fill any orders that come in, but please be patient with us! And it's a limited edition, too, of course, so don't delay...

YAHOWHA 13 God And Hair (Captain Trip) 13cd 128.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
There are a handful of records that seem to truly define the unique (sometime ridiculous) aesthetic that we pride ourselves on here at Aquarius Records. The Conet Project is one, a four cd set of haunting mysterious shortwave transmissions of spy stations, hours and hours of numbers and music. Then there's the Thai Elephant Orchestra, a recording of gamelan playing elephants, or the Ghost Orchid, a recording of emanations from beyond the grave, but one release that is truly near and dear to our freaky musical hearts is the Yahowha box. Originally released on Captain Trip as a jumbo sized box with 13 cds in regular jewel cases with a huge LP sized booklet, with lots of amazing photos and loads of Japanese text, this massive collection has been re-issued in a gorgeous wooden box, sealed with gold cords and a wax seal, the jewel cases are gone and instead the discs are housed together in slim sleeves, and the all-in-Japanese-anyway booklet is gone now too (although we've yet to crack one of these open, so we suppose it might have been resized to fit in this much smaller box), but it's also cheaper and will now fit on your cd shelf. But why is this collection so essential and why should you absolutely drop everything and pick up one of these amazing boxes? Read on...
For 13 discs you better get the complete recordings... and here on God and Hair that is what you get. (Well, this was true until recently when The Operetta was released...but you do get plenty!)
Led by the late, legendary Father Yod (who supposedly died in a hang-gliding accident in the late 70s... just like Icarus!) YaHoWha 13 "epitomize the insanity of highly-personalized psychedelic exploration via the fringes of rock music and its subsequent private documentation better than anything else produced by the human race to date." (a glorious if over the top description from the fine folk at Forced Exposure)... This collection ranges from tribal acid pound to weird noisy float to dense aural freakouts, all accompanying Yod's megalomaniacal vocal output (as on the unbelievable masterpieces Penetration and I'm Gonna Take You Home). Then there's the other side of Yod and his minions, creepy cult-guru sermons over simple acoustic guitars (which give those tracks a vibe not unlike the recently reveiewed freak folk of Charles Manson's). Warning: this stuff is VERY hippie. But if you're anything like us that's maybe not so much of a warning as it is a promise!

YAHOWHA 13 I'm Gonna Take You Home (Swordfish) cd 21.00
What? You haven't yet bought the 13-cd Japanese import box set of Yahowah 13 reissues?? Eating and paying rent is more important to you than listening to some crazy hippies playing freaked out psych rock for hours and hours??? Huh.
Well now thanks to the Swordfish label, the less committed among you can still get in on some Yahowah 13 action. Dunno if they're gonna release each of the band/commune's albums individually or not, but at least they're started with a good 'un. Next to Penetration: An Aquarian Symphony (which we did also just get a vinyl-only reissue of, not cheap at $30!) this is one of the best from that box set. Father Yod and his eager crew of seemingly LSD happy hippy followers recorded and originally released this LP back in 1974. This tribe of "Aquarians" jam out some truly unhinged drug rock godhead music, crammed with stinging garagey guitar, groovy percussion, and exceedingly wacked out vocals (and whistling!). Yes it's dated, yes it's ridiculous, but as "outsider" acid rock goes its pretty great. There's a naive cheesiness to it that works only because the bizarre parts are so, what can we say, Reynolsian? On the cosmic/comic divide.
And the disturbingly quasi-erotic album cover will doubtless become one of the most, uh, remarkable in your collection. Licensed from the Source Foundation -- that means the Children of Yod are still out there!
MPEG Stream: "track 3"
MPEG Stream: "track 4"

YAHOWHA 13 Magnificence In The Memory (Drag City) cd 14.98
We here at Aquarius Records love our jobs. There's just some things you can get working at a record store that otherwise might pass you by for years, if not for your entire life. The pleasure of listening to Yahowah 13 is one of those. The chanting, the improvisation, the psychedelia, the beards! For those of you who didn't pick up God and Hair, the 13 cd reissue box-set, Magnificence in Memory might be a good place to start. Over 70 albums were recorded by Yod and his "sons" in the early '70s, but only 13 were originally issued on vinyl. The rest sat around on tape in a garage for 30 years accumulating dust and unfortunately disintegrating a bit. Magnificence in Memory is the second album to be released from those original unused tapes, and why these songs were never used, only Yod knows. The excellent songs on Magnificence range from early Beefheart-like dissonant blues jams to tribal chanting to improvised hippie whistling workouts to heavy proto-metal yowling. Despite these disparate elements, there is a continuity that escapes the recordings, one that can only come from a bunch of people living together and creating together in close harmony for years. One gets the feeling that most if not all of these cuts were made up on the spot, but the changes within the songs are (mostly) executed with an almost uncanny precision, like the musicians were speaking to each other on another, higher, plane of existence. Well, maybe. But regardless of how you feel towards communes, cults and hippies, we guarantee you will love Magnificence in Memory from the bizarre Yahowah 13.
MPEG Stream: "Camp Of The Gypsies"
MPEG Stream: "Nam Yo Ho Renge Kyo"
MPEG Stream: "Father Whistling"

YAHOWHA 13 Penetration: An Aquarian Symphony (Swordfish) cd 17.98
Whoah, man. A seriously trippy, dark and clangorous document here from the (very literally) cult group of early '70s rockers called Ya Ho Wha 13. Of all the many albums that the legendary Father Yod and his band of freaky communal-living hippies made back in the day (most but not all of 'em compiled into the massive Aquarius-beloved 13-disc God And Hair box set that came out in Japan some years back), it's always been THIS one that we at AQ (and pretty much every other reputable source too) have heralded as the absolute heaviest and best of the bunch. An essential item for anyone into far-out freeform '70s psych weirdness. And it's got an unbeatable title, eh? Penetration, An Aquarian Symphony. How can we not dig that? So we're quite stoked that the UK's Swordfish label has reissued it on cd for those who haven't got and/or aren't ready for the box set . The four tracks here (including one entitled simply "Ya Ho Wha 13") venture from droneing spacey effects laden soundscapes with eerie Eastern-sounding vocal wailing to full-tilt throbbing, percussive tribal lift-off frenzies complete with stabs of heavy guitar distortion. Throw in some whistling to add an off-kilter spaghetti western soundtrack vibe and you've got Penetration. A damaged, dense, intense, quasi-religious psychedelic California-krautrock experience. Even the mellowest parts are still pretty edgy. This 1974 recording is definitely to be considered a cosmic precursor to everything from the drum circle discs of the Boredoms to the improv rock of Reynols to the neo-hippy clank of the No Neck Blues Band. Amazing.
MPEG Stream: "Yod He Vau He"
MPEG Stream: "Journey Through An Elemental Kingdom"

YAHOWHA 13 Penetration: An Aquarian Symphony (Source Foundation) cd 15.98
Cool. A truly cult band begins to get its due. If you read our list or are otherwise hip to out-there '70s communal psych rock then you already know all about the amazing Ya Ho Wa 13, house band of Father Yod's Source Family, uh, commune. It was just a few months ago that we hosted a book signing with Isis and Electricity Aquarian and other original members of the Source Family, in conjunction with which the reunited Ya Ho Wa 13 played a show here in San Francisco. Wow. That was something.
So, what with the book (The Source: The Untold Story Of Father Yod, Ya Ho Wa 13 And The Source Family) and associated publicity, now the Cold Sweat label has done a domestic digipack cd reissue of what might be the best of the Ya Ho Wa's many albums. A domestic vinyl release is soon to follow on the Tee Pee label as well.
Here's more or less what we said about this big AQ fave when we listed the previously available UK import cd edition a few years ago:
Whoah, man. A seriously trippy, dark and clangorous document here from the (very literally) cult group of early '70s rockers called Ya Ho Wha 13. Of all the many albums that the legendary Father Yod and his band of freaky communal-living hippies made back in the day (most but not all of 'em compiled into the massive Aquarius-beloved 13-disc God And Hair box set that came out in Japan some years back), it's always been THIS one that we at AQ (and pretty much every other reputable source too) have heralded as the absolute heaviest and best of the bunch. An essential item for anyone into far-out freeform '70s psych weirdness. And it's got an unbeatable title, eh? Penetration: An Aquarian Symphony. How can we not dig that? So we're quite stoked to have it reissued by itself on cd for those who haven't got and/or aren't ready for the box set. The four tracks here (including one entitled simply "Ya Ho Wha 13") venture from droneing spacey effects laden soundscapes with eerie Eastern-sounding vocal wailing to full-tilt throbbing, percussive tribal lift-off frenzies complete with stabs of heavy guitar distortion. Throw in some whistling to add an off-kilter spaghetti western soundtrack vibe and you've got Penetration. A damaged, dense, intense, quasi-religious psychedelic California-krautrock experience. Even the mellowest parts are still pretty edgy. This 1974 recording is definitely to be considered a cosmic precursor to everything from the drum circle discs of the Boredoms to the improv rock of Reynols to the neo-hippy clank of the No Neck Blues Band. Amazing. And totally utterly AQ-recommended!!
MPEG Stream: "Yod He Vau He"
MPEG Stream: "Journey Through An Elemental Kingdom"

YAHOWHA 13 Penetration: An Aquarian Symphony (Higher Key) lp 30.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Deluxe 180 gram vinyl reish of this assuredly rare-ass record, universally acclaimed as the best to emerge from Father Yod's commune. Quite pricey (sorry) so we'll assume anyone buying the lone copy we have is already a fan, and not bore you with further needless description.

YAHOWHA 13 Penetration: An Aquarian Symphony (Tee Pee) lp 16.98
Now Tee Pee has reissued this domestically on LP, just a wee bit after the cd reissue on Cold Sweat that we already listed... here's what we said before about this all-time AQ fave:
Cool. A truly cult band begins to get its due. If you read our list or are otherwise hip to out-there '70s communal psych rock then you already know all about the amazing Ya Ho Wa 13, house band of Father Yod's Source Family, uh, commune. It was just a few months ago that we hosted a book signing with Isis and Electricity Aquarian and other original members of the Source Family, in conjunction with which the reunited Ya Ho Wa 13 played a show here in San Francisco. Wow. That was something.
So, what with the book (The Source: The Untold Story Of Father Yod, Ya Ho Wa 13 And The Source Family) and associated publicity, now the Cold Sweat label has done a domestic digipack cd reissue of what might be the best of the Ya Ho Wa's many albums.
Here's more or less what we said about this big AQ fave when we listed the previously available UK import cd edition a few years ago:
Whoah, man. A seriously trippy, dark and clangorous document here from the (very literally) cult group of early '70s rockers called Ya Ho Wha 13. Of all the many albums that the legendary Father Yod and his band of freaky communal-living hippies made back in the day (most but not all of 'em compiled into the massive Aquarius-beloved 13-disc God And Hair box set that came out in Japan some years back), it's always been THIS one that we at AQ (and pretty much every other reputable source too) have heralded as the absolute heaviest and best of the bunch. An essential item for anyone into far-out freeform '70s psych weirdness. And it's got an unbeatable title, eh? Penetration: An Aquarian Symphony. How can we not dig that? So we're quite stoked to have it reissued by itself on cd for those who haven't got and/or aren't ready for the box set. The four tracks here (including one entitled simply "Ya Ho Wha 13") venture from droneing spacey effects laden soundscapes with eerie Eastern-sounding vocal wailing to full-tilt throbbing, percussive tribal lift-off frenzies complete with stabs of heavy guitar distortion. Throw in some whistling to add an off-kilter spaghetti western soundtrack vibe and you've got Penetration. A damaged, dense, intense, quasi-religious psychedelic California-krautrock experience. Even the mellowest parts are still pretty edgy. This 1974 recording is definitely to be considered a cosmic precursor to everything from the drum circle discs of the Boredoms to the improv rock of Reynols to the neo-hippy clank of the No Neck Blues Band. Amazing. And totally utterly AQ-recommended!!
MPEG Stream: "Yod He Vau He"
MPEG Stream: "Journey Through An Elemental Kingdom"

YAHOWHA 13 The Operetta (Swordfish) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
For those of you for whom a 13-cd box set ain't enough, here's a previously unreleased album now on cd by everyone's favorite freaky '70s communal acid-rock ensemble, the infamous Ya Ho Wha 13 lead by Ya Ho Wah aka Father Yod (long since deceased in a Hawaiian hang gliding accident, God rest his beard)! Recorded in a warehouse in Marin County just north of San Francisco in 1975, the cassette tape now found on this cd somehow survived for 30 years before recently being discovered and released (licensed from The Source Foundation) so that now you can hear Yod, Sunflower, Octavius, Pythias and Djin get down with some wild garagey psych-rock religion. It's taken us some time to absorb this, and review it... after all, it's not every day one listens to an "Operetta of Sun Water Air Earth and YOU!" as it says here.
Could the first track possibly be a prequel to "Anarchy In the UK"? Sounds kinda like it at first, all slowed-down and damaged, with some weird-ass vocals... This is some shambolic, spontaneous, lo-fi stuff indeed, that all of today's 'new weird' psychsters couldn't match no matter what sorta substances they stuff in their bongs. At its demented best, this record reminds us a bit of Michael Yonkers! The energy level wavers and wanders throughout this recording, but the group kicks out a fair amount of righteous raving mayhem amidst their more mellow jamming. And can we mention the wonderful whistling found in track six? Ya Ho Wha whistling. Sweet. It's all very loose and improvised, with a lotta detours and derailments, never all that 'together' even though who or what could be more 'together' than this cultish commune? Few deals are more real than this. Fans of Yod and his flock will happily accept this, and try to find a way to fit in into the God and Hair box as disc 14.
Features enthused liner notes by one who was there, Djin Yhw 64.
MPEG Stream: "track 1"
MPEG Stream: "track 4"

YAMASHTA'S, STOMU RED BUDDHA THEATRE The Man From The East (Esoteric) cd 21.00
Japanese early '70s fusion, a good one.

YAMASHTA, STOMU & COME TO THE EDGE Floating Music (Esoteric) cd 21.00
Japanese early '70s fusion, another good one.

YAMASHTA, STOMU / STEVE WINWOOD / MICHAEL SHRIEVE Go (Esoteric) cd 22.00

YO LA TENGO The Sounds Of The Sounds of Science (Egon) cd 14.98
In the store, we're still always selling copies of this apparently-not-so-widely-distributed YLT disc, so we thought we'd relist it for the benefit of any mail-order type customers who weren't paying attention when we first mentioned it way back in 2002 on list #138:
Although Cup is a huge admirer of the dreamy works of both Yo La Tengo and surrealist filmmaker Jean Painleve, she was absolutely crestfallen when she missed out on this very special evening at the fabulous Castro Theater last year. Yup, couldn't get a ticket to witness Ira, Georgia and James perform the soundtrack to Painleve's hypnotic sealife imagery on the big Castro screen. Sadly of course the visuals don't come along with the sounds on this cd, so you kinda miss the event's magical chemistry between picture and live sound. However, what you do get is an absolutely mesmerizing instrumental album. Please note: this is a fuller studio version of their performance. They've successfully captured the otherworldly wonder of Painleve's filmworks while still maintaining their distinct warm, enveloping Yo La Tengo sound. The first track titled "Sea Urchins" features sweeping feathery guitar and chiming tones that float along languidly to a steady bass and drum rhythm. If you removed the sealife cinematic context, it'd be just as suited for a sleek cocktail lounge, although I'd like to make note of the one odd thing about this particular track - the whirring sound that sort of made me think "is someone vacuuming next door?" Anyways, "Shrimp Stories" is a much more frantic, driving and almost funky segment. Sure caught me in their groove. Gradually it all descends into a more abstract tenuous viscose roar for "Liquid Crystals" and "The Sea Horse" resurfaces into a shimmery organ pulse. Breathtaking.
MPEG Stream: "Sea Urchins"
MPEG Stream: "Liquid Crystals"

YONKERS, MICHAEL Goodby Sunball (Secret Seven) lp 12.98
Hot on the heels of Lovely Gold, Michael Yonkers unearths yet another collection of songs from his vast arsenal. Recorded in 1974 and released originally in what we would imagine would be a tiny amount, Goodby Sunball showcases Yonkers' folkier side, and the songs here display a more skeletal acoustic approach that would be electrified a few years later on Lovely Gold. However, calling this "folk" doesn't entirely hit the mark - this is Michael Yonkers we're talking about, a man whose approach represents a unique vision in the history of home recorded music. And to those paying attention, you might find Goodby Sunball presenting some of Yonkers' weirdest lyrics, even though the music itself is probably his most traditional sounding. The songs give off a spiritual vibe, and the lyrics alternate between sad laments and aching passion, with some impenetrable wackiness thrown in for good measure. Looking at the cover, with the man himself posed between two trees and the back, with a bearded, cult leader-looking Yonkers, one might wonder if this album represents time lost in some mental wilderness. Many of the songs are ultra melancholy, and the use of multi-tracked vocals gives things a hazy, ethereal quality, while lines like "Hand me another beer and you'll see happiness" make you wonder... But no complaints here, just Michael Yonkers doing his thing in the 1970s. It's great having these tracks available, probably the first time many people have heard this stuff... of course, with a pressing of only 500, you might want to act fast. And for now, we're the first to have these, weeks before they land everywhere else, so dig in!

YONKERS, MICHAEL Grimwood (De Stijl) cd 13.98
Is this a lost Bert Jansch or Fresh Maggots record? Sure sounds like some beautifully arcane British Acid Folk, or old timey Appalachian balladry, but with some anachronistically strange lo-fi recording effects and drones and other weirdness going on. Like a psychedelic John Jacob Niles perhaps. Sounds like it's either really old or could be totally recent like something by Mike Wexler, or even Aaron Ross. Oh wait, it's Michael Yonkers?! The outsider garage guitar visionary whose Microminiature Love album from 1969 is an absolute all-time favorite around here. Wow, this is not the sound we usually expect from him. First of all, instead of amped up electricity, it's all about acoustic guitar, and even more surprising, it was recorded the same year as Microminiature Love. Geez, this dude never stops surprising us. Released on vinyl in 1974, Grimwood pretty much sank without a trace. But he's definitely having a prolonged renaissance now with two brand new albums and possibly more reissues in the works. Definitely for fans of Comus, Jan Dukes De Grey and everyone mentioned above!
MPEG Stream: "Damsel Fair and Your Angel"
MPEG Stream: "Lonely Fog"
MPEG Stream: "Tripping Through The Rose Gardens"

YONKERS, MICHAEL It's Only Yonkers (Galactic Zoo Disk / Eclipse) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The Michael Yonkers cd on Sub Pop is probably *always* going to be a steady seller here at AQ. It's the unreleased album from 1969 that blew everybody away upon (re?)discovery in the here and now, Yonkers' Microminiature Love has already attained classic status, a fucked up and wonderful '60s garage guitar album totally alien and ahead of its time, a big fave with everyone here and quite a few of our customers judging by how many we've sold. So...what's this LP then? A *new* record from a much older but still eccentric Michael Yonkers? Yes, the man (after battling disability for many years) is back and kicking out the jams yet again. His raw, wild abandon, weird guitar tunings and unique vocal stylings are all present and accounted for here, on this very stripped-down, starkly primitive recording, done all by himself on a four-track machine with no overdubs or anything. In fact, the back cover proudly states that these 19 tracks are all first takes, recorded in sequence! Ok, it's not Microminature Love all over again, but it's better than we might expect from such a 'comeback' LP. He sure hasn't gone all Clapton on us or anything. Definitely get the Sub Pop cd first, but if you're a fan you might dig this quite a bit. It is kind of 'bar-rock', but fucked up and slowed down (we'd actually love to hear a 'screwed-and-chopped' version) and distorted and dissonant and choppy. Plastic Crimewave did the sleeve artwork and released this on his label Galactic Zoo Disk in conjunction with the fine folks at Eclipse. LP-only so far.

YONKERS, MICHAEL Lovely Gold (Drag City) lp 17.98
One wonders how many new discoveries will be unearthed from legendary outsider rocker Michael Yonkers. But man, we don't want it to stop. Whether he's putting out new stuff or digging through the vaults, Yonkers' strange story just keeps getting better and better, and to think that the man has retained such an amazing vision for almost 50 years is truly astounding. Lovely Gold collects songs from a period in Yonkers' career that many of us had yet to hear: the late '70s. 1977, in fact, you know, the year of punk and all that shit. But Lovely Gold is something else, and like most of this guy's stuff, it defies simple categorization. The strangest aspect of Yonkers' music is how it manages to recall things we all know and love, mostly from a garage rock template, but things are warped into beautiful creations that only Yonkers could produce.
Take a look at this cover. Michael Yonkers sitting in front of a wall of recording devices. That's really all he needs, and the man is going it alone on this one. Actual percussion is sparse, with guitars providing most of the rhythm. There is a welcome abundance of multilayered vocals here, which combine for amazingly ethereal sounds. The songs "I Knew You'd Remember" and "Will It Be" show off this effect best of all. These songs are unbelievable, the kind that will stop you in your tracks. Mutant gospel? Experimental Gregorian chanting? What the fuck IS this stuff? Totally amazing for one thing, but trying to describe it is no easy task. You might think of Silver Apples or Peter Grudzien, but if you look at the back cover with the photo of the jumpsuited Yonkers holding the Fender Jaguar he whittled into a plank, that should really tell you that you're in strange territory indeed (Minneapolis to be exact). The song "Drifting Off" actually sounds like the work of a band, it rides out with a nice spooky feeling and sounds a bit more like the material on Microminiature Love. "Gone Down Old Sun" uses guitar strumming as percussion while the layered voices moan in unison, the end result sounding like your favorite pop song stretched and warped beyond anything you could have prepared for. "Nevermore" (listed, for some reason, as a "bonus track"), ends things on a very high note, sounding a bit like the song "Puppetting" from MML, only with vocals delivered from beyond the grave by Edith Piaf. At the end of the record, you realize you have just had access to someone's strange and fantastic private world. We can only wonder what else is out there waiting to see the light of day. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

YONKERS, MICHAEL The Big Balloon (Artschool Dropout) 7" 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Super limited 7" from legendary acid fried, psychedelic garage rock legend Michael Yonkers, whose Microminiature Love record is an all time AQ fave (read about it elsewhere on the AQ site and if you don't already own it, for god's sake BUY IT!!!). This two track 7" features a long lost classic from 1968 as well as a track recorded in 2004.
The A side is "The Big Balloon", featuring the Michael Yonkers Band recorded in 1968 and is a kick ass blast of rock-around-the-clock style classic rock and roll, but slightly skewed and tweaked and off kilter, with weird sounding guitars, Yonkers' distinctive vocals, as well as a super weird vocal / guitar breakdown that turns that classic rock and roll sound into some subtly damaged psychedelic rhythm and blues.
Normally, when faced with a classic song from an artist's peak, and a recently recorded tune, the newer track is typically a concession to the artist so he doesn't feel like no one cares any more, even though they don't, but this 7" is anything but. The B side, if anything is WAY weirder and heavier, featuring Yonkers on all the instruments, it's a slab of fucked up, damaged new wave metallic rock, with super blown out raw and distorted guitars, delivered in dense riffy squalls, over a sputtering drum machine, crazy vocals, this shit is amazing. Some impossible cross between the Residents, Devo and Flipper, but with a seriously new wave bent!! It's a whole lot weirder and more raw than his It's Only Yonkers record released a while back, so we know he's still got it. Here's to hoping there's a whole record of stuff like this just waiting to be unleashed!
Packaged in a super gorgeous silkscreened sleeve and of course, EXTREMELY LIMITED!

YONKERS, MICHAEL BAND Microminiature Love (Sub Pop) cd 14.98
Every so often a gem will get dredged up out of the murk of history that is so unlike anything else it can only give us hope for the future of music. An obscure late-sixties rock n' roll visionary, Michael Yonkers' stuff was like nothing anyone had heard back then (or even now, really): fucked up garage psych with dementedly genius lyrics, unhinged vocals and crazy acid-fried guitar. Yonkers, a legendary Minneapolis-area figure, built his own effects pedals, cut his Fender Telecaster down to a plank, and played like no one else ever. It's hard to describe this. It's sort of like a damaged fusion of stripped down Black Sabbath, The Troggs, Pere Ubu, and The Cramps?? Or something like that. When this was unearthed on vinyl last year by the Destijl label, we heard it and freaked out. It became a big favorite 'round here -- Sadie especially was enamored. So we were thrilled to find out that Sub Pop was gonna do a cd version of that now out of print LP, with pretty much a whole 'nother LPs worth of bonus tracks tacked on! Definite Record Of The Week material -- as psychedelic proto-punk goes, if anything it's even more raw, original and insane than that wonderful Simply Saucer reissue we raved about recently. Yonkers recorded these tracks in 1968 and '69 and they've been sitting in the can more-or-less unheard these past 35 years -- "Microminature Love" being shelved by its original label back in '69 we'd assume 'cause it was just so ahead of its time. Listening to it today it sounds not only fresh, but as if it could have been recorded in, say, 1981 or this year as well. Music seems to have grown up around it in its Rip Van Winkle state of hibernation. While part of what makes Michael Yonkers' sound so unique was his obsessive electronic tinkering -- making custom delay, distortion and vibratto units (some of which he successfully manufactured on a commercial level) -- it was also shaped as much by accident. The story goes that during a live performance in an earlier group, Michael's guitar fell to the floor and was knocked into an open tuning. Playing out the rest of the set with this off key tuning, Michael was inspired to pursue this course further, both with his guitar sound and, seemingly, his vocals too! All over "Microminiature Love" he exploits these semi-out-of-tune drones which make his music all the more heavy and wigged out. Imagine the Stooges playing with a water damaged electric sarod, then replace Iggy with Jello Biafra pitched down a minor third and you get an idea of the beginnings of the Michael Yonkers Band. While some may find Michael's singing a bit hard to get used to at first, its well worth giving him a couple listens because I can guarantee it'll grow on you. This edition comes nicely packaged with photos courtesy of Mr. Yonkers, nice liner notes from AQ-pal Karl Ikola, and the six aforementioned cd-only bonus tracks recorded in 1969, that only further cement our admiration of Yonkers as a brilliant "outsider artist" of '60s garage rock. Not like the Shaggs, though -- this is killer rock n' roll, make no mistake.
MPEG Stream: "Microminiature Love"
MPEG Stream: "Kill The Enemy"
MPEG Stream: "Hush Hush"

YONKERS, MICHAEL BAND Microminiature Love (Destijl) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
An obscure late-sixties ahead-of-his-time visionary gets his due with this LP reissue. A while back, the Get Hip label released two songs by Michael Yonkers on a 7" and a compilation and that started the buzz. Yonker's stuff was like nothing anyone had heard back then (or even now, really): fucked up garage psych with dementedly genius lyrics and crazy acid-fried guitar. Now Destijl has released the whole LP, that was originally recorded in 1968 but then quickly shelved almost before it had a chance to be heard. Yonkers, a legendary Minneapolis-area figure, built his own effects pedals, cut his Fender Telecaster down to a plank, and played like no one else ever. I'm at a loss of words on how to describe this. It's sort of like a fusion of stripped down Black Sabbath, The Troggs, Pere Ubu, and The Cramps?? Or something like that. Definitely something to check out. Vinyl only.

YONKERS, MICHAEL BAND Microminiature Love ( Sub Pop / De Stijl) lp 15.98
This long time AQ fave, a former Record Of The Week, is finally again reissued on vinyl! De Stijl first did it on wax about 10 years back, which quickly went out of print, then Sub Pop did the cd version which we still sell steadily to this day. But now, Sub Pop have done a new vinyl reissue! Here's our review from before, our first taste of Michael Yonkers' unique rockin' dementia, and if you're gonna have just one Yonkers album, this is the one:
Every so often a gem will get dredged up out of the murk of history that is so unlike anything else it can only give us hope for the future of music. An obscure late-sixties rock n' roll visionary, Michael Yonkers' stuff was like nothing anyone had heard back then (or even now, really): fucked up garage psych with dementedly genius lyrics, unhinged vocals and crazy acid-fried guitar. Yonkers, a legendary Minneapolis-area figure, built his own effects pedals, cut his Fender Telecaster down to a plank, and played like no one else ever. It's hard to describe this. It's sort of like a damaged fusion of stripped down Black Sabbath, The Troggs, Pere Ubu, and The Cramps?? Or something like that. When this was unearthed on vinyl last year by the Destijl label, we heard it and freaked out. It became a big favorite 'round here. So we were thrilled to find out that Sub Pop was gonna do a cd version of that now out of print lp, with pretty much a whole 'nother lps worth of bonus tracks tacked on! Definite Record Of The Week material - as psychedelic proto-punk goes, if anything it's even more raw, original and insane than that wonderful Simply Saucer reissue we raved about recently. Yonkers recorded these tracks in 1968 and they've been sitting in the can more-or-less unheard these past 35 years - Microminature Love being shelved by its original label back in '69 we'd assume 'cause it was just so ahead of its time. Listening to it today it sounds not only fresh, but as if it could have been recorded in, say, 1981 or this year as well. Music seems to have grown up around it in its Rip Van Winkle state of hibernation. While part of what makes Michael Yonkers' sound so unique was his obsessive electronic tinkering - making custom delay, distortion and vibratto units (some of which he successfully manufactured on a commercial level) - it was also shaped as much by accident. The story goes that during a live performance in an earlier group, Michael's guitar fell to the floor and was knocked into an open tuning. Playing out the rest of the set with this off key tuning, Michael was inspired to pursue this course further, both with his guitar sound and, seemingly, his vocals too! All over Microminiature Love he exploits these semi-out-of-tune drones which make his music all the more heavy and wigged out. Imagine the Stooges playing with a water damaged electric sarod, then replace Iggy with Jello Biafra pitched down a minor third and you get an idea of the beginnings of the Michael Yonkers Band. While some may find Michael's singing a bit hard to get used to at first, its well worth giving him a couple listens because I can guarantee it'll grow on you. Once again, we hail Yonkers as a brilliant "outsider artist" of '60s garage rock. Not like the Shaggs, though - this is killer rock n' roll, make no mistake.
MPEG Stream: "Microminiature Love"
MPEG Stream: "Kill The Enemy"
MPEG Stream: "Hush Hush"

YURO, TIMI The Voice That Got Away Volume Two (RPM) cd 16.98
Reviewing this cd is bittersweet. Sadly this album's title states the truth, Timo Yuro passed away a few years ago, making her cherished recordings all the more so. Although it takes on many different tones and moods, her unbelievably powerful voice is unmistakable. Despite its title, this collection captures it perfectly in all of its glory. If you like '60s girl group pop, r&b and soul, you're probably already very familiar with Ms Yuro.
Note: this release is not new. It somehow slipped by us when it was first released back in '96, but we heartily tip our hat to dear Marc Cappelle of American Music Club for bringing to our attention recently!

ZABRISKIE POINT (OST) (4 Men With Beards) lp 17.98
First off, if you haven't seen Zabriskie Point, close your email right now and go down to the video store and rent it. You won't regret it. Okay, so now the soundtrack. Reissued in a gorgeous gatefold sleeve on heavy 180 gram vinyl, this soundtrack was originally released in 1970 and features some seriously twisted stuff. The most noteworthy being a handful of tracks recorded by Pink FLoyd specifically for the film. Tripped out, meandering and spacy, organs and heartbeat-like throbs, found sounds and haunting voices, only occasionally coalescing into recognizable Pink Floyd. Worth it for those tracks alone. But there are also plenty of juicy sixties nuggets from the Youngbloods (which got Andee to go out and get a couple Youngbloods records), the Grateful Dead, John Fahey, the Kaleidoscope (the US band featuring David Lindley, not the British psychedelic group we reviewed a few months back), Roscoe Holcomb, as well as the first solo recordings from the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia. All of these tracks work so well together even away from the film, sort of like the best sixties psych/folk/Appalachia/hippy mix tape you could hope for. And -with- the film, well, it's absolutely perfect. This vinyl reissue comes with extra photos and new liner notes.
MPEG Stream: THE PINK FLOYD "Heart Beat, Pig Meat"
MPEG Stream: THE YOUNGBLOODS "Sugar Babe"
MPEG Stream: THE PINKFLOYD "Come In Number 51, Your Time Is Up"

ZACHARIAS, TOM Belinda (Subliminal Sounds) cd 19.98
Swedish exploito porn flick psych... or something like that.

ZAHIR, AHMAD Hip 70's Afghan Beats! (Guerssen) cd 17.98
If you've been diggin' the vintage Turkish psych/pop of the Erkin Koray and Cem Karaca discs we've highlighted recently, here's something else for you, quite similar though it's from a bit further to the East... The title they've chosen for this collection would do as a review of it, in a nutshell: "Hip '70s Afghan Beats!" Indeed. Amhad Zahir was a popular Afghan singer, and these tracks, culled from his prodigious discography, are rife with emotive deep voiced crooning, exotic folk flourishes, and East-meets-West stylings (electric wah wah guitar, and tabla too!).
The liner notes (which could have done with an extra round of copy-editing, we're afraid) provide a brief biography of Zahir, who tragically was assassinated in 1979, at the age of 33, by Afghanistan's communist regime, on account of his political beliefs. Before his death, though, he had become hugely popular, and nowadays is apparently still considered a legend, one of Afghanistan's biggest recording stars. Of course, to us ignorant Westerners, he's quite obscure. We can only trust that the unnamed compiler has indeed chosen the "best of" Zahir's output; these tracks sound good to us, anyway! Infectious, hypnotic, moody, with groovy horns, traditional melodies, and reverb-heavy rhythms, it's all quite enjoyable.
MPEG Stream: "Instrumental"
MPEG Stream: "Laily Laily"
MPEG Stream: "Che Kelaf Sar Lad Az Mah"

ZAHIR, AHMAD Hip 70's Afghan Beats! (Guerssen) lp 28.00
If you've been diggin' the vintage Turkish psych/pop of the Erkin Koray and Cem Karaca discs we've highlighted recently, here's something else for you, quite similar though it's from a bit further to the East... The title they've chosen for this collection would do as a review of it, in a nutshell: "Hip '70s Afghan Beats!" Indeed. Amhad Zahir was a popular Afghan singer, and these tracks, culled from his prodigious discography, are rife with emotive deep voiced crooning, exotic folk flourishes, and East-meets-West stylings (electric wah wah guitar, and tabla too!).
The liner notes (which could have done with an extra round of copy-editing, we're afraid) provide a brief biography of Zahir, who tragically was assassinated in 1979, at the age of 33, by Afghanistan's communist regime, on account of his political beliefs. Before his death, though, he had become hugely popular, and nowadays is apparently still considered a legend, one of Afghanistan's biggest recording stars. Of course, to us ignorant Westerners, he's quite obscure. We can only trust that the unnamed compiler has indeed chosen the "best of" Zahir's output; these tracks sound good to us, anyway! Infectious, hypnotic, moody, with groovy horns, traditional melodies, and reverb-heavy rhythms, it's all quite enjoyable.
MPEG Stream: "Instrumental"
MPEG Stream: "Laily Laily"
MPEG Stream: "Che Kelaf Sar Lad Az Mah"

ZALATNAY, SAROLTA s/t (B-Music / Finders Keepers) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
You know this is gonna be good -- from the same dedicated diggers at B-music/Finders Keepers that brought us the Anatolian Invasion of Selda and Mustafa Ozkent, the freak-folk of Susan Christie, the dreamscape soundtrack for Valerie And Her Week Of Wonders, etc., comes this "best of" collection from beautiful Hungarian singer Sarolta "Cini" Zalatnay, from the late '60s, early '70s. An obscure cult figure elsewhere, in her native country Zalatnay remains famous, a liberated Socialist-era sex symbol known for her scandalous personal life. DJ Andy Votel's extensive liner notes allude to all the shocking details. Fascinating as her story is (at age 54 she posed for Hungarian Playboy, has appeared on a Hungarian hidden-camera "reality TV" show, and was given a three-year prison sentence for fraud!) it's her breaks-friendly music that gets the B-music crowd all turned on. And while the 19 tracks here include some lovely pastoral pop and torchy ballads, it's her specialty of groovy, psychedelic hard rock wherein the best breaks are to be found. And there's plenty of that here. Yep, cow-bell rockin', acid guitar fueled hard rock, the ideal setting for her to let loose with her powerful voice, which draws comparisons to Janis Joplin (an impression reinforced here by one of the English-language bonus tracks, a cover of Joplin's "Move Over"). Plus the funky drumming and wah wah fuzz guitar licks are enough to make DJ-types drool. We're reminded a bit of Funkadelic vocalist Ruth Copeland's solo material, and the more kick-ass Shocking Blue cuts...good stuff!
This anthology brings together tracks from impossible to find LPs and singles, released by Cini as a solo artist as well as when she fronted such bands as Locomotiv GT and Skorpio. As usual the cd booklet is heavily illustrated with full color repros of the cover art from some of these treasures.
MPEG Stream: "Itt A Nyar"
MPEG Stream: "Sracok Oh Sracok"

ZALATNAY, SAROLTA s/t (B-Music / Finders Keepers) lp 24.00
Now available on vinyl!!
You know this is gonna be good -- from the same dedicated diggers at B-music/Finders Keepers that brought us the Anatolian Invasion of Selda and Mustafa Ozkent, the freak-folk of Susan Christie, the dreamscape soundtrack for Valerie And Her Week Of Wonders, etc., comes this "best of" collection from beautiful Hungarian singer Sarolta "Cini" Zalatnay, from the late '60s, early '70s. An obscure cult figure elsewhere, in her native country Zalatnay remains famous, a liberated Socialist-era sex symbol known for her scandalous personal life. DJ Andy Votel's extensive liner notes allude to all the shocking details. Fascinating as her story is (at age 54 she posed for Hungarian Playboy, has appeared on a Hungarian hidden-camera "reality TV" show, and was given a three-year prison sentence for fraud!) it's her breaks-friendly music that gets the B-music crowd all turned on. And while the 19 tracks here include some lovely pastoral pop and torchy ballads, it's her specialty of groovy, psychedelic hard rock wherein the best breaks are to be found. And there's plenty of that here. Yep, cow-bell rockin', acid guitar fueled hard rock, the ideal setting for her to let loose with her powerful voice, which draws comparisons to Janis Joplin (an impression reinforced here by one of the English-language bonus tracks, a cover of Joplin's "Move Over"). Plus the funky drumming and wah wah fuzz guitar licks are enough to make DJ-types drool. We're reminded a bit of Funkadelic vocalist Ruth Copeland's solo material, and the more kick-ass Shocking Blue cuts...good stuff!
This anthology brings together tracks from impossible to find LPs and singles, released by Cini as a solo artist as well as when she fronted such bands as Locomotiv GT and Skorpio. As usual the cd booklet is heavily illustrated with full color repros of the cover art from some of these treasures.
MPEG Stream: "Itt A Nyar"
MPEG Stream: "Sracok Oh Sracok"

ZARPA ROCK Los 4 Jinetes Del Apocalipsis (Iberian) cd 23.00
Geeze, will you look at that cover?? A gory painting of a severed, hairy hand, dripping blood with hanging sinews and jutting bone, clawing at a wall. For 1978, when this album was first released, that had to be considered pretty extreme! It would be at least another ten years before the likes of Cannibal Corpse would make such "shocking" images commonplace on album covers. So perhaps it will come as no surprise that apparently this band went on to become an important part of the '80s heavy metal scene in their native Spain. But this debut album of theirs, recorded when the guys in the band were in their mid-teens (!), actually harks back more to the proto-metal heaviness of the early '70s and even '60s, to which we say, right on! It's fuzzed-out, garagey psych, tons of fierce, heavy acid rock guitar, sounding something like Stray or Sir Lord Baltimore, or seventies Spanish older-brethren Tapiman and The Storm.
The first three tracks are all vicious stormers. Really raw and riffy!! Tracks four and five mellow out just a bit, balancing the heaviness with more melody. They've got a balladic '60s psych pop element to 'em, but they definitely don't wimp out in the end. We've gotta say, wow. Apparently the original of this is an expensive, rare-ass record (some collectors, we're told, even doubted its existence) but thanks to this cd reissue it's alive and well and and bloody and clawing at the walls. Recommended to all proto-metal freaks.
MPEG Stream: "Los 4 Jinetes Del Apocalipsis"
MPEG Stream: "Lacontaminacion"

ZOMBIES, THE Odessey & Oracle: 30th Anniversary Edition (Big Beat) cd 22.00
Sometimes you just have to pause from the hustle, bustle and general assault of the modern world to refresh your appreciation of something truly exceptional and timeless. So, that said... EVERYONE! STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING THIS VERY SECOND, AND GET YOUR OWN COPY OF THIS ALBUM! If you already have it, then get another copy for your best friend! If they already have it, then... well, you get the picture! Its presence is absolutely essential in any/every self respecting music lover's library.
This is not a new release, in fact it is the 30th anniversary edition which came out back in 1998... which means this classic album is pushing forty, and it still delights like a pup! Simply stated, Odessey & Oracle is a rare beautifully plumed pop bird that soars above the crowd. So many of our favorite more recent pop gods were clearly enormously influenced by this band and this album in particular -- Pernice Brothers, Zumpano, The New Pornographers, The Posies, The Shins... the list goes on and on and on. And we could go on and on but why waste breath and time? Highest recommendation possible, 'nuf said!
This edition also includes a bunch of bonus tracks for the completist (primarily alternate and mono versions). Heck, if you wanna go totally whole hog... may we recommend the Zombie Heaven 4 cd box set? At least two aQuarians own one, and several others are definitely considering it...
MPEG Stream: "Care Of Cell 44"
MPEG Stream: "Changes"
MPEG Stream: "This Will Be Our Year"