GROUP 1850 Paradise Now (Free) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Cd reissue of the 1969 second album by Group 1850, a Dutch heavy psychedelic group featuring (in addition to the usual bass, drums, and guitars) some freaky flute and droning organ, plus effects-laden vocals in accented English. Spaced-out-there in the Floyd realms for sure. Their first album, 1968's "Agemo's Trip To Mother Earth" is considered a sixties psych concept album classic, and this ain't too shabby either. Songs like "Purple Sky" and "Hunger" are quite stoned-sounding, and probably sound even better if you are.
RealAudio clip: "Hunger"

GROUPER Dragging A Dead Dear Up A Hill (Type) cd 15.98
Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill opens with an entirely characteristic yet coy swell of effected elemental smear, crumbling delicately yet forcefully, until giving way to what is, to date, and here is the coy part, Liz Harris' most songwriterly and structured album. As opposed to the rich swaths of drone that up until now defined her sound, Harris has shifted from the abstract towards a more distinct and figurative sound. True to the title, the record unfolds like a sort of mysterious and morbid fairytale, innocent in its clear and elegant melodies, yet creepy and highly abstract in its more droney and sublime interludes. For the most part, her guitar playing is laid bare, removed from the dense fog of effects that typically occlude them. And what we discover is actually a pretty strummy record, with plenty of clean guitar articulation though certainly the aroma of her previous tech heavy approach remains in what is relatively speaking still pretty effected. At times she even reverts back to the gorgeous icey crunchy string attack of some previous efforts. With so much space liberated in the absence of drones, we also get to hear her stunning voice. Furthermore, the occasional audible lyric creeps to the surface, one standout fragment being "Love is enormous," a somewhat shockingly affirmative sentiment from an otherwise darkly mysterious and abstract persona. From start to finish "Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill" lulls you into its graceful murmurings and hypnotic thrumming. An exquisite addition to an already compelling discography. Recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Disengaged"
MPEG Stream: "Heavy Water/ I'd Rather Be Sleeping"

GROUPER Dragging A Dead Dear Up A Hill (Type) lp 18.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
NOW ON VINYL!
Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill opens with an entirely characteristic yet coy swell of effected elemental smear, crumbling delicately yet forcefully, until giving way to what is, to date, and here is the coy part, Liz Harris' most songwriterly and structured album. As opposed to the rich swaths of drone that up until now defined her sound, Harris has shifted from the abstract towards a more distinct and figurative sound. True to the title, the record unfolds like a sort of mysterious and morbid fairytale, innocent in its clear and elegant melodies, yet creepy and highly abstract in its more droney and sublime interludes. For the most part, her guitar playing is laid bare, removed from the dense fog of effects that typically occlude them. And what we discover is actually a pretty strummy record, with plenty of clean guitar articulation though certainly the aroma of her previous tech heavy approach remains in what is relatively speaking still pretty effected. At times she even reverts back to the gorgeous icey crunchy string attack of some previous efforts. With so much space liberated in the absence of drones, we also get to hear her stunning voice. Furthermore, the occasional audible lyric creeps to the surface, one standout fragment being "Love is enormous," a somewhat shockingly affirmative sentiment from an otherwise darkly mysterious and abstract persona. From start to finish "Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill" lulls you into its graceful murmurings and hypnotic thrumming. An exquisite addition to an already compelling discography. Recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Disengaged"
MPEG Stream: "Heavy Water/ I'd Rather Be Sleeping"

GROUPER s/t (self-released) cd-r 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Ahhh Grouper. The work of one woman named Liz, Grouper manage to push all of our musical buttons. Hazy and crackly, staticky and droney, blurry and smeary, drifty and so dreamy. All of our favorite parts of records by Phillip Jeck, Tim Hecker, William Basinski and other dreamdrone minded folks, all boiled down into their essence, abstract obfuscated sonic drift, sounds smeared into wide open stretches of shimmer and drone. This s/t cd-r preceeds the Way Their Crept cd we made Record of the Week last year, and while sonically similar, differs in a couple ways. One, the recording is much more lo-fi, which in other cases might be unfortunate, but in the case of Grouper, just adds a whole 'nother layer of grit and grime and murk. In addition to being more lo-fi, some of the tracks here are way heavier than anything else we've heard from her. Some tracks are REALLY heavy, channeling all of Grouper's fuzzy drones and murky soundscapes into huge rumbling wall of dronedirge guitar, the sort of din that would fit sungly right there alongside your SUNNO))), Earth and Corrupted. But those brutal squalls are in the minority, and even then, the heaviness quickly gives way to a beautifully tranquil aftermath, a hazy fuzzed out barely there drift.
SUPER LIMITED. We have about 20 copies, and we're pretty sure once these are gone we won't be able to get more.
MPEG Stream: "Two"
MPEG Stream: "Three"

GROUPER Tried (Type) 7" 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Latest in Type Records' 7" singles series (past releases included Machinefabriek, Goldmund, Paavoharju, Benoit Piolard and Tarentel) comes from local vocal soundscaper Liz Harris, aka Grouper, and it's another beauty. Not sure if she just keeps getting better, or it's just that we love here records so much that every new one just reminds us why and how much we dig here deliriously dreamy sounds.
The A side just might be the closest to a proper pop song Grouper has ever recorded, but it's still appropriately buried in soft murky fuzz, making the notes mushy and indistinct, her breathy vocals shimmering streaks of melody, the whole thing a warm, melancholy blur of soft pop abstraction. Absolutely stunning. In the time it's taken to review just the A side, we've listened to it three times in a row! In fact we would have gone for a fourth had we not moved on to the other side...
If the A side is a glimpse of Grouper's perfect pop, then the B side is her torch song, a gorgeous moody ballad, and it's like the dense clouds of reverb have finally parted, revealing what lurked behind all that shimmer and buzz, delicate sensual vocals, drifting minor key piano, a stripped down late night dark nightclub on the edge of town sort of stormclouds and roaring fire, folk flecked ballad. Still a bit of reverb and delay, but they merely drift by, or hover in the background. Totally gorgeous.

GROUPER Way Their Crept (Free Porcupine Society) cd 14.98
FINALLY REPRESSED and BACK IN STOCK! And now this former AQ Record Of The Week comes in a sturdier sleeve with a little book of drawings too, value added for those who missed it before... hardly fair for those who picked it up back when but nice if you're just getting it now.
Imagine Arvo Part if he was a punk rock woman from Oakland. Or imagine an ultra lo-fi Morton Feldman jamming with Matthew Bower of Skullflower, backed up by a ghostly choir. This is one of those records that is so perfectly aQuarius it sounds like it was composed and recorded just for us. And you. A perfect blend of warm textured ambience and thick corrosive drones, delicate melodies wrapped in a gorgeously crunchy gritty hissy production. The whole record is a ghostly shimmer, warm washes of otherworldly vibrations swirling in a thick morass of processed vocals, murky keyboards and guitars rendered so unguitarlike they more resemble warm wiggles of sound, like slinky's stretched as far as they will go, slightly vibrating, barely disturbing the air around them, small waves of sound like ripples in a pond building and building and piled atop one another until it's a massive, thick blanket of sound. Imagine the saddest slowest band you've ever heard playing at absolutely deafening volume, then imagine stuffing your ears full of cotton, and listening from behind a closed door, through a wall of mud and straw, warm wispy tendrils of sound creeping and crawling through the cracks, wrapping themselves in thick coils around your arms and legs, the whole room slowly filling with sound, until soon you're totally ensconced, submerged, surrounded by thick billows of slow shifting sound. Melodies become indistinct whispers stretched across minutes instead of seconds, guitars and keyboards become blissed out blurs, like floating weightless in a warm dark mysterious place made entirely of soft sound. Wow. Totally haunting and captivating.
MPEG Stream: "Way Their Crept"
MPEG Stream: "Hold A Desert, Feel Its Hand"
MPEG Stream: "Sang Their Way"

GROUPER Way Their Crept (Type) lp 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
FINALLY AVAILABLE ON VINYL!! But only for a limited time. Limited to 500 copies...
Imagine Arvo Part if he was a punk rock woman from Oakland. Or imagine an ultra lo-fi Morton Feldman jamming with Matthew Bower of Skullflower, backed up by a ghostly choir. This is one of those records that is so perfectly aQuarius it sounds like it was composed and recorded just for us. And you. A perfect blend of warm textured ambience and thick corrosive drones, delicate melodies wrapped in a gorgeously crunchy gritty hissy production. The whole record is a ghostly shimmer, warm washes of otherworldly vibrations swirling in a thick morass of processed vocals, murky keyboards and guitars rendered so unguitarlike they more resemble warm wiggles of sound, like slinky's stretched as far as they will go, slightly vibrating, barely disturbing the air around them, small waves of sound like ripples in a pond building and building and piled atop one another until it's a massive, thick blanket of sound. Imagine the saddest slowest band you've ever heard playing at absolutely deafening volume, then imagine stuffing your ears full of cotton, and listening from behind a closed door, through a wall of mud and straw, warm wispy tendrils of sound creeping and crawling through the cracks, wrapping themselves in thick coils around your arms and legs, the whole room slowly filling with sound, until soon you're totally ensconced, submerged, surrounded by thick billows of slow shifting sound. Melodies become indistinct whispers stretched across minutes instead of seconds, guitars and keyboards become blissed out blurs, like floating weightless in a warm dark mysterious place made entirely of soft sound. Wow. Totally haunting and captivating.
MPEG Stream: "Way Their Crept"
MPEG Stream: "Hold A Desert, Feel Its Hand"
MPEG Stream: "Sang Their Way"

GROUPIES: THE MOVIE (Cherry Red Films) dvd 24.00
When we first got this movie we figured we'd probably end up fast forwarding through the musical numbers just to get to the groupies, but it ended up being just the opposite. While a few minutes of the featured groupies getting ready to go out, talking about giving head to Jimmy Page, taking showers, arguing, writing songs about their conquests, can be pretty funny for a little while, it doesn't take long for it to become really tedious. Sort of a sitcom where the stars are two not very bright girls who just sit around smoking cigarettes and primping. It's still a pretty fascinating glimpse into the lives of groupies, the seventies rock scene, awesome psychedelic clubs, the clothes are amazing, as is the hair, and a lot of the girls are shockingly young. Pamela "I'm With The Band" DesBarres is featured a bit, and of course, Cynthia Plaster Caster is awesome, pudgy and cute and shy.
But it's the music that makes this disc so amazing, and the interactions between the bands and the groupies. Spooky Tooth is killer. Ten Years After totally blew us away. We had no idea how freaked out and psychedelic and heavy those guys could be. But it's worth it just for the two live sets from Terry Reid. So intense and impassioned. Reid is on fire, young and so beautiful, his voice an incredible wail, the band whipping up a blissed out psychrock storm, Reid's drummer is unbelievable. He's also a total crack up trying to protect Reid from one very drunk, gay male groupie, who had just been beaten up and just wanted to go home with Reid. There's also some live footage of a very young Joe Cocker, already looking pretty fucked up, and a band called Dry Creek Road.
So while some of the groupie stuff can be a little slow, overall, it's a pretty wild ride, booze and pills and sex and rock and roll, it definitely had some of us feeling like we were born just a little too late...

GROWING All The Way (Social Registry) cd 14.98
Growing have been on quite the hot streak as of late with each of their recent releases hitting the spot and pleasing our ears BIG TIME, with their soaring, mesmerizing, cosmic psychedelia. They keep the streak alive with All The Way, which finds the Brooklyn duo at their stuttering, looped, repetitive and hypnotic best. Almost sounding like a more focused and chilled out version of Black Dice, All The Way finds Growing continuing to explore outer dimensions of sound with a krauty disposition and space on their side. We really like how they've come to understand duration as their songs and records last long enough to spellbind with their propulsive sounds yet never overstay their welcome ending almost before you would like, so you're always ready to jump inside their orbit again. Very nice!
MPEG Stream: "Green Flag"
MPEG Stream: "Wrong Ride"
MPEG Stream: "Reconstruction"

GROWING Color Wheel (Megablade) cd 13.98
It must be hard to find a sound, especially one that is based in drone and drift, and continue to constantly push the limits of that sound without drifting too far away from the elements which define your essence. Growing have managed to do just that, moving gracefully from drone drenched space rock to minimal rumble and whir, to wherever it is they are now, some musical netherworld, equal parts subtle shifting shimmer, grinding distorted dirge, and sparkling barely there ambience. No higher compliment can be paid than "how the hell do we describe these amazing sounds?!" And really, it seems that any cursory description could not possibly do justice to the amazing sonic world Growing have created.
On Color Wheel, the drift and rumble and shimmer of the past few releases is still present, but stretched out even further, in even stranger directions, some, on first listen sound almost 'wrong', like the almost cheesy panpipe sounds of "Cumulusless", but within seconds some internal logic reveals those sounds to be sort of kind of perfect, in their own skewed way, and then they begin to blur and become a gorgeously murky melodic drift. Other songs are stretched even more dramatically, songs and parts are peppered with strange production techniques and unusually distorted glitches, jagged edits and completely unlikely sequencing. The opening track "Fancy Period" begins as a cool ambient whir, high end melodies swirling and drfiting ever skyward, before the drone sort of buckles, and those high end meldoies become distinct peals, each fluttering weightless above a shuffling fuzzy stuttering rhythm, almost like a skipping Sunroof! cd. Track two, "Friendly Confines", is actually the most 'unfriendly' of the bunch, the core of the track a huge swath of downtuned distorted sludge guitar, tinkling melodies buried in the murk and mire, a shifting wall of rooooaaaarrr, like a slow motion mudslide, before the melodies are freed, the dirge drifts off and all that is left is a series of very Fripp / Eno guitar figures, repetetive and sweetly hypnotic. The record's closing track "Green Pasture" mines similar territory, a blissy barely there drone, peppered with stacatto bursts of blown out vacuum cleaner metal guitar, a super dynamic seesaw, between burbling dreaminess and massive SUNNO)))-like dirge. Quite possibley the coolest Growing track yet...
MPEG Stream: "Fancy Period"
MPEG Stream: "Green Pasture"
MPEG Stream: "Peace Offering"

GROWING Color Wheel (Megablade) lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It must be hard to find a sound, especially one that is based in drone and drift, and continue to constantly push the limits of that sound without drifting too far away from the elements which define your essence. Growing have managed to do just that, moving gracefully from drone drenched space rock to minimal rumble and whir, to wherever it is they are now, some musical netherworld, equal parts subtle shifting shimmer, grinding distorted dirge, and sparkling barely there ambience. No higher compliment can be paid than "how the hell do we describe these amazing sounds?!" And really, it seems that any cursory description could not possibly do justice to the amazing sonic world Growing have created.
On Color Wheel, the drift and rumble and shimmer of the past few releases is still present, but stretched out even further, in even stranger directions, some, on first listen sound almost 'wrong', like the almost cheesy panpipe sounds of "Cumulusless", but within seconds some internal logic reveals those sounds to be sort of kind of perfect, in their own skewed way, and then they begin to blur and become a gorgeously murky melodic drift. Other songs are stretched even more dramatically, songs and parts are peppered with strange production techniques and unusually distorted glitches, jagged edits and completely unlikely sequencing. The opening track "Fancy Period" begins as a cool ambient whir, high end melodies swirling and drfiting ever skyward, before the drone sort of buckles, and those high end meldoies become distinct peals, each fluttering weightless above a shuffling fuzzy stuttering rhythm, almost like a skipping Sunroof! cd. Track two, "Friendly Confines", is actually the most 'unfriendly' of the bunch, the core of the track a huge swath of downtuned distorted sludge guitar, tinkling melodies buried in the murk and mire, a shifting wall of rooooaaaarrr, like a slow motion mudslide, before the melodies are freed, the dirge drifts off and all that is left is a series of very Fripp / Eno guitar figures, repetetive and sweetly hypnotic. The record's closing track "Green Pasture" mines similar territory, a blissy barely there drone, peppered with stacatto bursts of blown out vacuum cleaner metal guitar, a super dynamic seesaw, between burbling dreaminess and massive SUNNO)))-like dirge. Quite possibley the coolest Growing track yet...
MPEG Stream: "Fancy Period"
MPEG Stream: "Green Pasture"
MPEG Stream: "Peace Offering"

GROWING Disconfirm / Horizon (The Social Registry) 7" 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Two brief experimental soundscapes from these AQ faves. No space rock or krautrock or any kind of rock actually here, this is mostly ambient drift, and strange sonic experimentalism, and the end result manages to sound quite strange and quite strangely pretty.
The A side resembles an ambient noise version of The Smith's "How Soon Is Now?" with a stuttering churning reverbed guitar riff, looped into a hypnotic rhythm, slowly transforming into a machinelike landscape, while over the top tumble playful fluttery FX drenched melodies and streaks and swooshes of feedback and metallic hum. The flipside is a series of haunting little sonic events, muted rhythmic thumps, gurgling underwater melodies, little high end squiggles, all very textural and murky, like some tiny alien machine crawling its way slowly up through the depths...

GROWING Dry Drunk On Woman / Residual Effects Of Inertia II (Nail In The Coffin) 7" 3.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Low level drones drenched in feedback and synth tones from the Olympia, WA duo known as Growing. Like a lo-fi Popol Vuh or midrange Earth, but with a dreamier edge via ambiguous vocalizations.

GROWING Dry Drunk On Woman b/w Residual Effects of Inertia II (Nail In the Coffin / Mega Blade) 7" 4.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

GROWING His Return (Megablade) cd 13.98
Growing may be a rock band, but they're the sort of rock band that seems to just set the music in motion, letting it blossom and build, only intervening when necessary, allowing bass and guitar and vocals to interact organically, creating dense soundscapes, equal parts shimmery space rock, reverb drenched slow core, and dark rumbling drone. Three lengthy tracks, almost thirty minutes of space-y drone-y bliss. The first track is made up of warm snarls of distorted guitar, woven into huge expanses of thick ambient swirl, beneath majestic swaths of keening melody and subtle shuffling rattlesnake percussion. A strangely otherworldly tribal space drone, almost folky at times, with the melodies sounding like some alien bagpipe, but always lush and dense and druggy. Track two, "Freedom Towards Death" is the shortest and most song-like, with dreamy deadpan vocals buried beneath a chaotic smear of multi-tracked guitars and layer after layer of throbbing sludge and space-y swoosh. Sounds a bit like a good old fashioned pop song dipped in some Hawkwind and sprinkled with some Sunroof! The final track is a massive fifteen minute epic of slow growing, pulsing guitars, so incredibly thick and dense it sort of resonates right through your ears, through your whole body and into your soul. The kind of song we wish would go on forever. Like floating in the clouds, or drifting underwater, or sinking slowly through a million mile thick slab of billowy guitars. The track ends (sadly) amazingly with the sound becoming more and more blown out and distorted, until the guitar starts to fall apart, becoming cracked and crumbly until it sort of sputters out in a brief flicker of static and crackle. WOW.
MPEG Stream: "In The Shadow Of The Mountain"
MPEG Stream: "Freedom Towards Death"

GROWING His Return (Megablade) lp 11.98
Now on vinyl!
Growing may be a rock band, but they're the sort of rock band that seems to just set the music in motion, letting it blossom and build, only intervening when necessary, allowing bass and guitar and vocals to interact organically, creating dense soundscapes, equal parts shimmery space rock, reverb drenched slow core, and dark rumbling drone. Three lengthy tracks, almost thirty minutes of space-y drone-y bliss. The first track is made up of warm snarls of distorted guitar, woven into huge expanses of thick ambient swirl, beneath majestic swaths of keening melody and subtle shuffling rattlesnake percussion. A strangely otherworldly tribal space drone, almost folky at times, with the melodies sounding like some alien bagpipe, but always lush and dense and druggy. Track two, "Freedom Towards Death" is the shortest and most song-like, with dreamy deadpan vocals buried beneath a chaotic smear of multi-tracked guitars and layer after layer of throbbing sludge and space-y swoosh. Sounds a bit like a good old fashioned pop song dipped in some Hawkwind and sprinkled with some Sunroof! The final track is a massive fifteen minute epic of slow growing, pulsing guitars, so incredibly thick and dense it sort of resonates right through your ears, through your whole body and into your soul. The kind of song we wish would go on forever. Like floating in the clouds, or drifting underwater, or sinking slowly through a million mile thick slab of billowy guitars. The track ends (sadly) amazingly with the sound becoming more and more blown out and distorted, until the guitar starts to fall apart, becoming cracked and crumbly until it sort of sputters out in a brief flicker of static and crackle. WOW.
MPEG Stream: "In The Shadow Of The Mountain"
MPEG Stream: "Freedom Towards Death"

GROWING Lateral (Social Registry) cd 9.98
Brooklyn-based ambient-drone duo Growing never fails to please the devoted. It could also easily be said that the duo has failed to truly diverge from their original starting point. Although, part of the charm of this sort of music is indulging in a process of creation that celebrates the difference and repetition within a given theme or concept; expanding or investigating a specific idea over a length of time. Thus, if you like Growing, you'll love this EP. All of the usual landmarks are here: a Nadja on opium meets some sort of Windy & Carl and Labradford hybrid, heavy filter manipulations, masked, aquatic tremolo and chorus leads, and full-on auto-pan attacks that completely embrace stereo dynamics. We've read that -- specifically within the ambient-drone scene -- Growing has been particularly reluctant to utilize computers, preferring to employ pedals and more organic looping techniques. Still, a quick listen to this release unearths enough digital-sounding distortion to make the listener wonder whether or not these two dronesters have finally caved in or not. Fans of long, drawn-out melodic landscapes or psychedelic explorations won't want to miss out on this one. Definitely recommended.
MPEG Stream: "First Contact"
MPEG Stream: "Lateral"

GROWING Lateral (Social Registry) lp 13.98
Brooklyn-based ambient-drone duo Growing never fails to please the devoted. It could also easily be said that the duo has failed to truly diverge from their original starting point. Although, part of the charm of this sort of music is indulging in a process of creation that celebrates the difference and repetition within a given theme or concept; expanding or investigating a specific idea over a length of time. Thus, if you like Growing, you'll love this EP. All of the usual landmarks are here: a Nadja on opium meets some sort of Windy & Carl and Labradford hybrid, heavy filter manipulations, masked, aquatic tremolo and chorus leads, and full-on auto-pan attacks that completely embrace stereo dynamics. We've read that -- specifically within the ambient-drone scene -- Growing has been particularly reluctant to utilize computers, preferring to employ pedals and more organic looping techniques. Still, a quick listen to this release unearths enough digital-sounding distortion to make the listener wonder whether or not these two dronesters have finally caved in or not. Fans of long, drawn-out melodic landscapes or psychedelic explorations won't want to miss out on this one. Definitely recommended.
MPEG Stream: "First Contact"
MPEG Stream: "Lateral"

GROWING Live (aRCHIVE) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We unfortunately only -just- found out about this record and were of course informed upon ordering it there were only a handful of copies left. Arghh. Well, we managed to get the last 25 copies, so be aware, that obviously, these will not last long!
A super limited live cd (NOT a cd-r as we previously believed) from AQ faves Growing, whose mix of glacial Earth like heaviness and delicate foresty drones we just can't get enough of. Recorded live in 2004 and mastered by James Plotkin (Khanate, Phantomsmasher, etc.), this live disc is almost eighty minutes of alternating drift and pummel, sludgy slow motion dirges that crystallize into sparkling sonic fields of glisten and glimmer. Even when they're heavy, Growing manage to be delicate and ethereal. The first track is a massive twenty minute swirl of translucent shimmers and warm guitar glow. Fragile and hovering weightless in front of your speakers.
While Growing continually return to that near-ambient tranquility, the record is a series of meandering excursions into MASSIVE slow motion, melted-riff soundscapes, notes and chords unfurl impossibly slowly, as if someone had doubled the gravity and the sound waves were actually visible, drizzling lazily to the floor like molasses or honey, rich golden globs of thick distorted throb. Like Earth and Skullflower meshed into one buzzing blurry soundfield, all muted melody and crunchy riffage, a pulsing swirl of feedback and guitarral grrrr! The sound is phenomenal. Rich and lustrous and LOUD. You wouldn't be able to tell this was a live recording at all if it weren't for the smattering of applause between songs. Which also begs the question, what the hell is wrong with the world when a sound this amazing, and a set this gorgeous and crushingly heavy is being performed before what sounds to be about 20 people? Seriously, when the sound abruptly ends, you expect an overwhelming roar, thousands of voices and clapping hands and stomping feet, the only possible and proper reaction to the sounds that came before...
Packaged in a beautiful six panel folder, a kaleidoscope of leaves on a stark white background on the outside, a blur of overlapping semi-opaque spheres on the inside. Two different designs, both similar but slightly different.
And once again, VERY VERY LIMITED!!
MPEG Stream: "2"
MPEG Stream: "3"
MPEG Stream: "6"

GROWING The Sky's Run Into the Sea (Kranky) cd 14.98
Yay! The debut album from this Olympia trio may be one of the Kranky label's best in a long while. It's almost completely instrumental and melds gorgeous post-rock with ambient electronics and thick, satisfying drones. In the space of an hour, four lengthy tracks develop. Serene arpeggiated guitar notes give way to shimmering cymbals. Silence unfolds into emotive ambient atmospherics, which devolve into simply strummed acoustic guitar. Warbly electronics ebb and flow over the natural buzz and hum of insects on a warm summer night. Notes are held forever until they fade naturally, reminding us of Earth or SunnO))) only without the overt metal/doom element, just the heavy, weighty sombreness... and with Growing this gravity always evolves to an epic hope-imbued sort of flight toward a blissful horizon. The dynamics are carefully controlled yet effortless, and not at all "hard" to listen to. (In fact, one of the pieces uses the chord progression from "Norwegian Wood", odd choice but a welcome bit of familiarity amidst the drone.) A gorgeous, calming record. Highly recommended for fans of Windy & Carl, Earth, The Necks, Jonathan Coleclough, Sunroof, and even Boris. But even if you don't know those artists from Adam, you should give the soundclips a listen because the operative word here is "accessible" -- whether or not the genres Growing touches on are your cup of tea, they do it so well that this record may open your ears to stuff you've previously written off as too difficult. This is soooo pretty. Windy loves this. So does Allan.
MPEG Stream: "A Painting"
MPEG Stream: "Tepsije"

GROWING The Sky's Run Into the Sea (Kranky) 2lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Yay! The debut album from this Olympia trio may be one of the Kranky label's best in a long while. It's almost completely instrumental and melds gorgeous post-rock with ambient electronics and thick, satisfying drones. In the space of an hour, four lengthy tracks develop. Serene arpeggiated guitar notes give way to shimmering cymbals. Silence unfolds into emotive ambient atmospherics, which devolve into simply strummed acoustic guitar. Warbly electronics ebb and flow over the natural buzz and hum of insects on a warm summer night. Notes are held forever until they fade naturally, reminding us of Earth or SunnO))) only without the overt metal/doom element, just the heavy, weighty sombreness... and with Growing this gravity always evolves to an epic hope-imbued sort of flight toward a blissful horizon. The dynamics are carefully controlled yet effortless, and not at all "hard" to listen to. (In fact, one of the pieces uses the chord progression from "Norwegian Wood", odd choice but a welcome bit of familiarity amidst the drone.) A gorgeous, calming record. Highly recommended for fans of Windy & Carl, Earth, The Necks, Jonathan Coleclough, Sunroof, and even Boris. But even if you don't know those artists from Adam, you should give the soundclips a listen because the operative word here is "accessible" -- whether or not the genres Growing touches on are your cup of tea, they do it so well that this record may open your ears to stuff you've previously written off as too difficult. This is soooo pretty. Windy loves this. So does Allan.
MPEG Stream: "A Painting"
MPEG Stream: "Tepsije"

GROWING The Soul Of The Rainbow And the Harmony Of Light (Kranky) cd 14.98
Kranky's heaviest, Growing, return with their second album of sheer instrumental drone-bliss. This new Growing floats out on the same calm ocean as the debut, containing another four lengthy tracks of post-rock ambience that range from shimmery and gorgeous minimalist throb to dense buzzing drones that would make Burzum proud. Now a two-piece of guitars and bass (and we're pretty sure some cymbals are heard here too) revelling in electricity and feedback with delicate sensitivity, Growing's The Soul Of The Rainbow And the Harmony Of Light reminds us tremendously of Fripp and Eno's 1973 classic No Pussyfooting. But heavier -- it's like Fripp and Eno meet Earth. Or Tony Conrad playing with a stripped-down Kinski. Something part metal, part new age, wholly neither. Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Anaheim II"
MPEG Stream: "Epochal Reminiscence"

GROWING The Soul Of The Rainbow And the Harmony Of Light (Kranky) 2lp 24.00
Now on (pricey, double, gatefold, limited!) vinyl!! We've got just a few...
Kranky's heaviest, Growing, return with their second album of sheer instrumental drone-bliss. This new Growing floats out on the same calm ocean as the debut, containing another four lengthy tracks of post-rock ambience that range from shimmery and gorgeous minimalist throb to dense buzzing drones that would make Burzum proud. Now a two-piece of guitars and bass (and we're pretty sure some cymbals are heard here too) revelling in electricity and feedback with delicate sensitivity, Growing's The Soul Of The Rainbow And the Harmony Of Light reminds us tremendously of Fripp and Eno's 1973 classic No Pussyfooting. But heavier -- it's like Fripp and Eno meet Earth. Or Tony Conrad playing with a stripped-down Kinski. Something part metal, part new age, wholly neither. Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Anaheim II"
MPEG Stream: "Epochal Reminiscence"

GROWING Vision Swim (Troubleman Unlimited) cd 13.98
Growing were definitely an interesting band, right from the start, but back then they were trawling a lot of the same musical ground as loads of other bands, a blissed out blend of post rock, epic dramatic soundscapery and glitchy electronics, all blended into a seamless and dreamy whole. And even then, Growing definitely stood out, but it would be hard to have imagined them getting this strange sounding. And equally difficult to imagine them cultivating a sound this bizarre, while managing to make it just as dreamy and droney and gorgeous as ever. 
From the opening track, a simple repeated riff, a super processed effects soaked guitar part, repeated over and over, a strange subtle progression, backed up by a super simple bass drum pulse, and streaked with bits of backwards guitars and whirling shimmer, it's obvious that Growing are no longer content to just rock out and drift off, they are looking for weird sounds and figuring out how to make those weird sounds sound beautiful. 
The second track, 15 minutes plus, is thick with grinding low end guitars, chopped into staccato pulses, laced with almost techno sounding Nintendo melodies, and loads of hiss and ambient flutter. That's only the first few minutes, there are long stretches of fuzzy reverbed guitar, but even those parts are dotted with bursts of glitched electronic bbzzzzzt. Near the end, thick swaths of buzzing guitar pile up into gently swaying Teenage Filmstars-esque walls of sound. The next track, another long one, eschews all the effects, at  least the obvious ones, and instead lets an ocean of guitars swirl and shimmer, tangle and untangle, flip backwards and then forwards, a million melodies pulling apart and coming back together in different shapes, pretty, but definitely a lot to take in sonically. 
The last two tracks are brief, "Emseepee" is a churning pulsing damaged krautrock drone, with lots of electronic buzz, gnarled bits of synth and lots of damaged glitch, all over a relentless, almost new wave sounding Goblin bassline. Finally, the record winds down with "Lightfoot" a Tim Hecker-ish soundscape, of gently pulsing fuzz, indistinct melodies, fragments of songs allowed to drift on a constantly shifting sonic sea, before suddenly pulling apart into a dizzying squall of sound shards, hiccuping and stuttering and throbbing and eventually crumbling into what sounds like a skipping broken cd player. Whoa. 
Not nearly as soothing as past efforts, but that no longer seems to be what they're going for. The sounds are alien and difficult, the arrangements confusing and convoluted, but Growing manage to reign these problematic sounds into shapes that are both fascinating and strangely soothing. 
MPEG Stream: "On Anon"
MPEG Stream: "Morning Drive"

GROWING Vision Swim (Troubleman Unlimited) lp 14.98
Growing were definitely an interesting band, right from the start, but back then they were trawling a lot of the same musical ground as loads of other bands, a blissed out blend of post rock, epic dramatic soundscapery and glitchy electronics, all blended into a seamless and dreamy whole. And even then, Growing definitely stood out, but it would be hard to have imagined them getting this strange sounding. And equally difficult to imagine them cultivating a sound this bizarre, while managing to make it just as dreamy and droney and gorgeous as ever. 
From the opening track, a simple repeated riff, a super processed effects soaked guitar part, repeated over and over, a strange subtle progression, backed up by a super simple bass drum pulse, and streaked with bits of backwards guitars and whirling shimmer, it's obvious that Growing are no longer content to just rock out and drift off, they are looking for weird sounds and figuring out how to make those weird sounds sound beautiful. 
The second track, 15 minutes plus, is thick with grinding low end guitars, chopped into staccato pulses, laced with almost techno sounding Nintendo melodies, and loads of hiss and ambient flutter. That's only the first few minutes, there are long stretches of fuzzy reverbed guitar, but even those parts are dotted with bursts of glitched electronic bbzzzzzt. Near the end, thick swaths of buzzing guitar pile up into gently swaying Teenage Filmstars-esque walls of sound. The next track, another long one, eschews all the effects, at  least the obvious ones, and instead lets an ocean of guitars swirl and shimmer, tangle and untangle, flip backwards and then forwards, a million melodies pulling apart and coming back together in different shapes, pretty, but definitely a lot to take in sonically. 
The last two tracks are brief, "Emseepee" is a churning pulsing damaged krautrock drone, with lots of electronic buzz, gnarled bits of synth and lots of damaged glitch, all over a relentless, almost new wave sounding Goblin bassline. Finally, the record winds down with "Lightfoot" a Tim Hecker-ish soundscape, of gently pulsing fuzz, indistinct melodies, fragments of songs allowed to drift on a constantly shifting sonic sea, before suddenly pulling apart into a dizzying squall of sound shards, hiccuping and stuttering and throbbing and eventually crumbling into what sounds like a skipping broken cd player. Woah. 
Not nearly as soothing as past efforts, but that no longer seems to be what they're going for. The sounds are alien and difficult, the arrangements confusing and convoluted, but Growing manage to reign these problematic sounds into shapes that are both fascinating and strangely soothing.
The vinyl comes packaged in an amazing super elaborate diecut sleeve!
MPEG Stream: "On Anon"
MPEG Stream: "Morning Drive"

GROWING / MARK EVAN BURDEN split (Zum) cd ep 8.98
Split ep between Olympia, WA trio Growing and former Get Hustle member Mark Evan Burden with each contributing a 16 minute track. Growing's track "Firmament" begins as a bubbling analog synth warble, progressing to ever more dark and ominous waters, but stripped of the guitar and bass parts that made their full length works remind us of SUNNO))) or Earth. Burden's piece, "10724/02", is a striking contrast. His electronics accompanied piano improvisation ranges between the maniacal pounding minimalism of Charlemagne Palestine and the atmospheric soundscapes of Harold Budd (sans the nuage tendancies). Quite nice!
MPEG Stream: GROWING "Firmament"
MPEG Stream: MARK EVAN BURDEN "10/24/02"

GROWING / MARK EVAN BURDEN split (This Generation) lp 11.98
NOW ON VINYL! A split ep between Olympia, WA trio Growing and former Get Hustle member Mark Evan Burden with each contributing a 16 minute track. Growing's track "Firmament" begins as a bubbling analog synth warble, progressing to ever more dark and ominous waters, but stripped of the guitar and bass parts that made their full length works remind us of SUNNO))) or Earth. Burden's piece, "10724/02", is a striking contrast. His electronics accompanied piano improvisation ranges between the maniacal pounding minimalism of Charlemagne Palestine and the atmospheric soundscapes of Harold Budd (sans the nuage tendancies). Quite nice!
MPEG Stream: GROWING "Firmament"
MPEG Stream: MARK EVAN BURDEN "10/24/02"

GRUBBS, DAVID A Guess At The Riddle (Drag City) cd 14.98
Have to admit, I (Cup) approached this album with more than a little apprehension. We heard that Mr. Grubbs was switching gears, and it appears that at least for this album, David Grubbs has hung up his experimental jacket and donned his pop cardigan! Well, the first few songs won me over with their sunny jangly guitars and wistful vocals. If you dig Archer Prewitt, Robyn Hitchcock and older Sea & Cake (as I do) you might be charmed by some of this album. Aaah, what do I mean by "some of this album"? Well, by the seventh song "You'll Never Tame Me" something goes awry. Sorta like Grubbs the beat poet. Yikes. Fortunately things do get back on track for the songs that follow, but late in the album, it seems Grubbs can't resist sneakin' back into his avant-rock pocket for the end of "Hurricane Season" bringing it to a close with wailing layers of horns or strings or... well, we're not quite sure what's making the din. Then it proceeds into the final track called "Coda (Breathing)", a haunting soundscape. Instead of it being "A Guess At The Riddle", this is a puzzling jumble.
MPEG Stream: "A Cold Apple"
MPEG Stream: "Hurricane Season"

GRUBBS, DAVID Act Five, Scene One (Blue Chopsticks) cd 14.98
Oh my, I can't tell you how good this record is! I really can't believe how inventive that David Grubbs guy is! Have you seen those little computers that are the size of a notebook? Did you know they call those computers "laptops!" Did you know that you can take one of those so called "laptops" and plug an acoustic guitar into it, and it'll make all sorts of funny sounds? Nobody's done that before! I am so impressed! Did you know that with a "laptop" you can make your guitar talk just like Peter Frampton? Wow. That is so cool! Never in the history of the world has an album not only been perfectly executed as an aesthetic advancement of technology, but also has managed to solve all of the world's conflicts, end world hunger, and provide each person who listens to it with everlasting existential transcendence!
Sarcasm aside, Chunklet said it best: "The Bruce Hornsby of the avant-garde."
RealAudio clip: "Act Five, Scene One Track One"

GRUBBS, DAVID An Optimist Notes the Dusk (Drag City) cd 14.98
Whoops, when we first hit 'play' we almost mistook this new David Grubbs cd for Codeine. Ultra slooow, ultra stark and ultra emotive. By the third song however Grubbs' kicks it up a few notches into jangly emo pop territory (think: Versus or Weakerthans). Very wistful and contemplative. And by the sixth and final track "The Not So Distant", he's set us adrift on an almost twelve minute long minimal guitar drone and percussion soundscape. Yes, he's a man of many musical hats and he keeps a number of them (mostly those of earthy muted hues) in constant rotation on An Optimist Notes the Dusk.
MPEG Stream: "Gethsemani Night"
MPEG Stream: "Holy Fool Music"

GRUBBS, DAVID An Optimist Notes the Dusk (Drag City) lp 15.98
Whoops, when we first hit 'play' we almost mistook this new David Grubbs cd for Codeine. Ultra slooow, ultra stark and ultra emotive. By the third song however Grubbs' kicks it up a few notches into jangly emo pop territory (think: Versus or Weakerthans). Very wistful and contemplative. And by the sixth and final track "The Not So Distant", he's set us adrift on an almost twelve minute long minimal guitar drone and percussion soundscape. Yes, he's a man of many musical hats and he keeps a number of them (mostly those of earthy muted hues) in constant rotation on An Optimist Notes the Dusk.
MPEG Stream: "Gethsemani Night"
MPEG Stream: "Holy Fool Music"

GRUBBS, DAVID Banana, Cabbage, Potato... (Table Of The Elements) cd 15.98
Three solo instrumental recordings by Gastr del Sol's David Grubbs. Piano and guitar, beautiful.

GRUBBS, DAVID Rickets & Scurvy (Drag City) cd 13.98
Maybe David Grubbs thinks that if he can release enough solo albums record stores will be forced to give him his very own bin card, thus increasing his credibility, thereby generating album sales. It's sort of the indie rock version of Casablanca records when they took to manufacturing 500,000 copies of initial record pressings so they could say they were "gold". I guess it works sometimes. If you tell someone that an album is a best seller they just might buy it. Likewise, I suppose if Mr Grubbs can get an extensive enough back catalog he can drag his ass out of the Bastro / Gastr Del Sol bins and acquire some street cred as a solo artist. If O'Rourke can do it, why can't he? And he almost gets it. Almost. At first 'Rickets & Scurvy' sounds like an attempt at emulating the Red House Painters, but what's that? It sounds like David is grasping at straws to find a melody. Maybe he's doing his best at producing obtuse melodic passages in an effort to come off as the intellectual post 20th century songwriter. I can almost see him in a coffee shop with a soul patch and horn rimmed glasses playing to quietly nodding fans. No, he'll have to cut the pretentious crap from his act before we can move him out of our Gastr Del Sol section. Rickets and scurvy are things to be avoided, so eat lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, get outside as much as possible and avoid David Grubbs. Although, to be fair (us be fair to David Grubbs? it might be too late now) we should mention that fans of Gastr's "Camofleur" or "Upgrade" might want to give this a chance despite our criticism, and as well, Matmos-spotters should note the presence of those San Francisco electronica loons on several tracks here.
RealAudio clip: "Transom"

GRUBBS, DAVID Rickets & Scurvy (Drag City) lp 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Maybe David Grubbs thinks that if he can release enough solo albums record stores will be forced to give him his very own bin card, thus increasing his credibility, thereby generating album sales. It's sort of the indie rock version of Casablanca records when they took to manufacturing 500,000 copies of initial record pressings so they could say they were "gold". I guess it works sometimes. If you tell someone that an album is a best seller they just might buy it. Likewise, I suppose if Mr Grubbs can get an extensive enough back catalog he can drag his ass out of the Bastro / Gastr Del Sol bins and acquire some street cred as a solo artist. If O'Rourke can do it, why can't he? And he almost gets it. Almost. At first 'Rickets & Scurvy' sounds like an attempt at emulating the Red House Painters, but what's that? It sounds like David is grasping at straws to find a melody. Maybe he's doing his best at producing obtuse melodic passages in an effort to come off as the intellectual post 20th century songwriter. I can almost see him in a coffee shop with a soul patch and horn rimmed glasses playing to quietly nodding fans. No, he'll have to cut the pretentious crap from his act before we can move him out of our Gastr Del Sol section. Rickets and scurvy are things to be avoided, so eat lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, get outside as much as possible and avoid David Grubbs. Although, to be fair (us be fair to David Grubbs? it might be too late now) we should mention that fans of Gastr's "Camofleur" or "Upgrade" might want to give this a chance despite our criticism, and as well, Matmos-spotters should note the presence of those San Francisco electronica loons on several tracks here.

GRUBBS, DAVID The Coxcomb (Rectangle) lp 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Out of the thicket, Gastr del Sol's Grubbs makes another beautiful record. Side one is much like Banana, Cabbage, Potato, Lettuce with vocals. Sort of a play acted out to music: in fact, it's an adaption of Stephen Crane's The Blue Hotel. Side two is a drone piece like a tame version of Jim O'Rourke influenced by Tony Conrad. Guests include Noel Akchote, Stephen Prina, and more. Purdy.

GRUBBS, DAVID The Coxcomb (Rectangle) picture disc lp 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Out of the thicket, Gastr del Sol's Grubbs makes another beautiful record. Side one is much like Banana, Cabbage, Potato, Lettuce with vocals. Sort of a play acted out to music: in fact, it's an adaption of Stephen Crane's The Blue Hotel. Side two is a drone piece like a tame version of Jim O'Rourke influenced by Tony Conrad. Guests include Noel Akchote, Stephen Prina, and more. Purdy.

GRUBBS, DAVID The Coxcomb / Avocado Orange (Blue Chopsticks) cd 10.98
The Coxcomb was first released as a pretty 12" picture disc on the French Rectangle label (we have a copy or two left). It's a nice, simmering, seventeen minute adaptation of a short story by Stephen Crane, in musical form. Drag City has decided to release The Coxcomb stateside, and have backed it with a previously unreleased full-band version of the previously-solo Grubbs piece Onion Orange (called Avocado Orange in its new form). With guests Noel Akchote, John McEntire (Tortoise) etc.
RealAudio clip: "The Coxcomb"

GRUBBS, DAVID The Spectrum Between (Drag City) cd 13.98
This album starts off trying to sound like Souled American, as Grubbs attempts to replicate their warbled instrumentation within the confines of his own overbearing intellectualism... Of course, he fails, and miserably. The album then continues as a funky version of the Red House Painters. I can only hope that such an image can hint at just how bad this album is, but that's really what it sounds like. The first of Grubbs' many problems is that he forgot that country and folk music (especially John Fahey's purposefully avantgarde bluegrass) is often the result of hard living and hard drinking. Irony has never been a valid reason to make a country or folk album, and it shouldn't start with this one.

GRUBBS, DAVID The Thicket (Drag City) cd 12.98
Solo outing from half of Gastr Del Sol, recording Fahey-like ditties and avant acoustic noodlings with help from Tony Conrad and John McEntire.

GRUBBS, DAVID The Thicket (Drag City) lp 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Solo outing from half of Gastr Del Sol, recording Fahey-like ditties and avant acoustic noodlings with help from Tony Conrad and John McEntire.

GRUBBS, DAVID Two Soundtracks For Angela Bulloch (Semishigure) cd 17.98

GRUBBS, DAVID WITH MATS GUSTAFSSON Apertura (Blue Chopsticks) cd 13.98
Until the best albums Grubbs made get reissued (Bastro's Diablo Guapo and Sing the Troubled Beast), we'll settle for this uber-academic duet of phasing drones for harmonium and saxophone.

GRUDZIEN, PETER The Unicorn (Subliminal Sounds) 2lp 39.00
Newly reissued on deluxe vinyl, only one album can be called the first psychedelic OUT-country record, and if it's not Peter Grudzien's The Unicorn, we can think of no other album in the universe that would accurately fit that description (well, ok The Legendary Stardust Cowboy would come close, but that's a different animal entirely). For the emphasis on "out" here refers to all connotations of that term: far out, outsider and gay. Handling all the recording, arranging and playing of the instruments over a period of 14 years from 1960-1974 , The Unicorn is a strange and beautiful metaphysical concept record of love and salvation. Featuring a vast array of characters including white trash hillbilly tricks, blue-eyed queens, monkey people and of course unicorns, Grudzien's off-kilter twang is augmented by slide guitar, banjo and otherworldly tape loops of ghostly choirs, backwards effects and warm reverb. An odd and lovely record! Comes with bonus LP "The Garden of Love" containing unreleased material made from the fifties to the seventies, making this worth the steep import price.
MPEG Stream: "Queen Of All the Blue-Eyed"
MPEG Stream: "Return Of The Unicorn"

GRUESOMES, THE Gruesomology 1985-89 (Sundazed) cd 15.98
Aaah, '60s garage rock will never die, shimmy-stomp revivalist bands will keep on resuscitating the sock hop each decade. Back in the '80s, Montreal, Quebec spawned some of the best trashy garage surf combos, and perhaps none more notable nor more cool than The Gruesomes. They sported some of the best uniform mushroomy, bowl-cut 'dos this side of the Ramones, and were graced with one of the best snotty voices around courtesy of frontman / personality Bobby Beaton. Well, you know what? They got back together a couple of years ago! Yup, fully fueled, engines revved and ready to roll with an album called Cave In! And now, perhaps to celebrate their return -- or just 'cause what with the current garage revival these guys deserve some props -- Sundazed has released a kick-ass retrospective compiling selections from Beaton and co's previous three obscure albums Tyrants Of Teen Trash, Gruesomania and Hey! plus an assortment of EPs, comp tracks and -- the staple of any self-respecting retro rock band -- some stellar cover versions, including a track originally performed by "The Way-Outs" in a Flintstones cartoon! Raw, fuzzed out electric guitars, a primal drum beat, a steady walking bassline, vocals snarled and shouted, and a heck of a lot of fun. Truly a garage rawk treasure.
MPEG Stream: "Way Down Below"

GRUPA 220 Slike (Radioactive) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

GUALBERTO A la Vida, al Dolor (Fonomusic) cd 23.00

GUAPO Black Oni (Ipecac) cd 17.98
You know how much we like instrumental underground UK prog masters Guapo here, right? Andee even put out one of their albums (2001's Great Sage, Equal Of Heaven) on his label tUMULt. Subsequently they released the massive Five Suns opus on Cuneiform. And now, their new release Black Oni is unleashed by Mike Patton's Ipecac label. And they've been going from strength to strength.
Like Japan's Ruins, the Guapo trio take a lot of inspiration from '70s prog, in particular the "zeuhl" stylings of the amazing French band Magma. But where the Ruins generally concentrate the Magma sound into a hectic hyper-blast, Guapo tend to stretch things out, spreading their prog-frenzy across (in this case) a forty-three minute, five part epic composition, not unlike the five part, forty-six minute title suite of Five Suns... that's their specialty it seems. Crazed drumming and complex bass lines coexist with spaced-out keyboards (including '70s prog stalwart the Mellotron), making Black Oni a combination of energetic prog mayhem and droning electronic darkness. For fans of Yeti, Tarantula Hawk, Circle and even The Necks... and of course anyone already into Guapo will love this new one. Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "3"
MPEG Stream: "5"

GUAPO Black Oni (Hlava) lp 36.00
Now available on vinyl! Super deluxe import, gorgeous sleeve, in a weird black plastic wrapping and a black sticker. VERY LIMITED so act fast.
Here's our review of Black Oni when it first came out:
You know how much we like instrumental underground UK prog masters Guapo here, right? Andee even put out one of their albums (2001's Great Sage, Equal Of Heaven) on his label tUMULt. Subsequently they released the massive Five Suns opus on Cuneiform. And now, their new release Black Oni is unleashed by Mike Patton's Ipecac label. And they've been going from strength to strength.
Like Japan's Ruins, the Guapo trio take a lot of inspiration from '70s prog, in particular the "zeuhl" stylings of the amazing French band Magma. But where the Ruins generally concentrate the Magma sound into a hectic hyper-blast, Guapo tend to stretch things out, spreading their prog-frenzy across (in this case) a forty-three minute, five part epic composition, not unlike the five part, forty-six minute title suite of Five Suns... that's their specialty it seems. Crazed drumming and complex bass lines coexist with spaced-out keyboards (including '70s prog stalwart the Mellotron), making Black Oni a combination of energetic prog mayhem and droning electronic darkness. For fans of Yeti, Tarantula Hawk, Circle and even The Necks... and of course anyone already into Guapo will love this new one. Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "3"
MPEG Stream: "5"

GUAPO Elixirs (Neurot) cd 14.98
Prog nutters? These guys are, definitely. And be prepared to go prog nuts yourself for this new release from AQ-faves Guapo. This British band is now on Neurosis' Neurot label, after releases for (among others) Mike Patton's Ipecac and our own Andee's tUMULt. We've been fans of 'em for a long time, obviously, and are in good company! This new one is everything we'd expect from Guapo: extended, mostly instrumental cinematic symphonics, dark and moody, played with the virtuosity and verve of their '70s prog rock ancestors. Heck, I (Allan) played a 15 minute track from this, "King Lindorm", on my prog / krautrock radio show last night, Klaus To The Edge (www.westaddradio.com/klaus), and it fit right in perfectly alongside the '70s likes of Cornucopia and Gnidrolog!! Droning strings. Eastern melodies. Bombastic battery. Elegant eeriness.
Yet at this point, Guapo have developed their own sound to a degree where you can't just tag them as a retro proposition. Creatively, they're bringing their old school prog rock inspirations into the 21st century, and have refined their approach to a point where they have as much in common with modern post rock soundscapers as they do with the eccentricities of hoary prog heroes Magma.
As always, the duo of Daniel O'Sullivan (Fender Rhodes, piano, bass, guitars, harmonium, modular synthesizers, autoharp, voice, electronics -- whew!) and David J. Smith (drumkit, percussion) are their own veritable prog rock orchestra, though they do have occasional help from guests, including vocalist Jarboe from the Swans on one song. That'd be "The Selenotrope", one of two tracks originally from Guapo's tour-only Twisted Stems cdep, both of which are included here, and which we previously described as sounding something like a horror movie soundtracks scored by The Necks. (To Guapo fans who happen to already have Twisted Stems, we say no worries, you'll still be getting well over 40 minutes of brand new music on Elixirs too.)
All this proggy goodness comes wrapped up in a snazzy black & white artwork, packaged in a jewelcase with cardstock slipcase.
MPEG Stream: "Jewelled Turtle"
MPEG Stream: "Arthur, Elise, and Frances"

GUAPO Elixirs (Neurot) cd 14.98
Prog nutters? These guys are, definitely. And be prepared to go prog nuts yourself for this new release from AQ-faves Guapo. This British band is now on Neurosis' Neurot label, after releases for (among others) Mike Patton's Ipecac and our own Andee's tUMULt. We've been fans of 'em for a long time, obviously, and are in good company! This new one is everything we'd expect from Guapo: extended, mostly instrumental cinematic symphonics, dark and moody, played with the virtuosity and verve of their '70s prog rock ancestors. Heck, I (Allan) played a 15 minute track from this, "King Lindorm", on my prog / krautrock radio show last night, Klaus To The Edge (www.westaddradio.com/klaus), and it fit right in perfectly alongside the '70s likes of Cornucopia and Gnidrolog!! Droning strings. Eastern melodies. Bombastic battery. Elegant eeriness.
Yet at this point, Guapo have developed their own sound to a degree where you can't just tag them as a retro proposition. Creatively, they're bringing their old school prog rock inspirations into the 21st century, and have refined their approach to a point where they have as much in common with modern post rock soundscapers as they do with the eccentricities of hoary prog heroes Magma.
As always, the duo of Daniel O'Sullivan (Fender Rhodes, piano, bass, guitars, harmonium, modular synthesizers, autoharp, voice, electronics -- whew!) and David J. Smith (drumkit, percussion) are their own veritable prog rock orchestra, though they do have occasional help from guests, including vocalist Jarboe from the Swans on one song. That'd be "The Selenotrope", one of two tracks originally from Guapo's tour-only Twisted Stems cdep, both of which are included here, and which we previously described as sounding something like a horror movie soundtracks scored by The Necks. (To Guapo fans who happen to already have Twisted Stems, we say no worries, you'll still be getting well over 40 minutes of brand new music on Elixirs too.)
All this proggy goodness comes wrapped up in a snazzy black & white artwork, packaged in a jewelcase with cardstock slipcase.
MPEG Stream: "Jewelled Turtle"
MPEG Stream: "Arthur, Elise, and Frances"