SYSTEM LILIPUTT Harpa (Dark Entries) lp 15.98
Another obscure reissue from Dark Entries! How obscure might you ask? Well, System Liliputt was a one-man band of the Norwegian Geir Vassang, who released only one cassette in 1984 in an edition of 150 copies. There were some blogs which got a hold of crappy rips of the cassette in recent years; but for the most part, this is a project that nobody has really heard. The Norwegian new wave tunes that Vassang produced oscillated between motorik, disco arrangements and standard verse-chorus pop arrangements on his polyphonic synths, drum machines, guitar, and an occasional bass. Some of the sequencing that Vassang gets has a hollowed plasticity heard in some of the tracks by Cabaret Voltaire or Casssandra Complex with a brittle jangliness to his guitar playing cribbed from The Cure's Seventeen Seconds. The pop-song side of Vassang's production can be quite fragile in its construction, which lend itself to the subjects of loneliness and death through these bittersweet tunes alternately sung in English and Norwegian.
We mentioned The Cure earlier, and we got to say this really does hit the magic mark of our favorite era of The Cure. So many of the songs on here are leaving a lasting impression with us, especially "Gatelangs" which should be put on every mix tape this winter. One of those records so perfect for the onslaught of rain we've had the last few days. You just want to sit locked in your bedroom while flipping this over and over and sulking in such great sounding misery!
MPEG Stream: "Gatelangs"
MPEG Stream: "Harpa"
MPEG Stream: "The Letter"
MPEG Stream: "Sandkorn"

T.O.M.B. UAG (Crucial Blast) cd 13.98
We found ourselves immediately intrigued by this group of Philly black metal / blacknoise / industrial merchants, whose M.O. consisted of site specific rituals, and what essentially amounted to field recorded black metal. A space would be chosen, as much for its acoustic properties as it's historical/emotional significance, an old abandoned mental hospital, supposedly haunted buildings, various ruins and locations of past tragedies. Seemingly in a bid to channel that energy through sound, and we have to say, to our ears it worked. Total Occultic Mechanical Blasphemy aka T.O.M.B. have created a sound that is black only in mood and vibe, that sonically has more in common with outfits like Gnaw Their Tongues, Demonologists and even NRIII, whose new record is reviewed elsewhere on this list. Whether it was intentional, or just the result of the locations and the recording process, the sound of T.O.M.B. tends toward the cavernous, lots of echo and reverb, sounds careen from speaker to speaker, some sort of infernal black dub in places, the vibe way more industrial noise than black metal, but somehow, ultimately it feels more like an unholy union of the two. Lots of rhythmic percussion, processed sounds that rumble ominously one second, explode in shards of white noise the next, there seem to be voices, but those too are transformed into just more blurred psychedelic noise.
The most 'serene' moments might be the most sonically malevolent, churning looped pulses, some sort of deep hellish thrum, gradually drawing ever nearer, the percussion like some sort of demonic death march, the sound locked into long stretches of rhythmic mesmer, the sound at it's MOST rhythmic, reminding us of Aluk Todolo or German Oak, albeit much more blown out and blackened, at its blackest, like the sickest, grimmest, most raw and primitive low fidelity black metal, and at its noisiest, rivaling the most corrosive Japanoise, yet all somehow strung together into some sort of black hymnal, an abject collection of abstract, mysterious, soul stirring sonic malice.
MPEG Stream: "Uncovered Ancient Gateways"
MPEG Stream: "Torment"
MPEG Stream: "Mausoleum Witchcraft"
MPEG Stream: "Serpent Moon Seance"

TEAR GARDEN To Be An Angel Blind, The Crippled Soul Divide (Nettwerk) cd 16.98
Combining the wonders of cEvin Key (of Skinny Puppy and Download to name but two of his many projects), Edward Ka-spel (of Legendary Pink Dots), Ryan Moore (aka Twilight Circus) and their cast of like-minded co-horts, it's Tear Garden. Rich, velvety, and hypnotic. Check out track 3 "In Search Of My Rose". If you like the more dub-tinged moments of the Pink Dots' album A Perfect Mystery (undoubtedly due to the bass and percussion presence of Mr. Moore), this earlier album is definitely for you. Gorgeous!

THOSE ATTRACTIVE MAGNETS Electromagnetic Pulse (Dark Entries) lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Where does Dark Entries find all this stuff? Sure, Dark Day was certainly a known quantity; but before the label reissued the Eleven Pond LP, had any one really heard "Watching Trees?" Ditto for the Second Decay album? Those Attractive Magnets were a band that the world forgot, except for the discerning ears over at Dark Entries, who compiled this album from a handful of tapes produced in the late '70s and early '80s. And yes, it's another great piece of archival synth-wave! This primitive synth driven / new wave outfit was from small village of Tamworth, located in the English midlands, but their heart seemed to be directed north to Sheffield where the likes of the Human League, The Future, Clock DVA, and Cabaret Voltaire were blossoming at the same time. Those Attractive Magnets revolved around the charismatic duo of Andy Baldwin & Rikk Quay, who had been inspired by the punk class of 1977 but wanted to channel that spirit through electronics. Joined by a couple of like-minded musical partners from Tamworth, Baldwin & Quay propeled these urgent tunes along surprisingly catchy minimalist synth melodies, whose darkened atmospheres were amplified in futurist bleeps and alien bloops; but it's Baldwins voice that is really key to making the band work, as he does what he can to emulate an early Phillip Oakey (of the Human League) without sounding too smug or contrived as Oakly tended to be. Recommended for any and all keen on the resurgence of the minimal wave aesthetic!
Like all Dark Entries releases this is limited to a pressing of 500 and comes with an 11x17 poster of artwork, lyrics and liner notes.
MPEG Stream: "1500"
MPEG Stream: "Love Chimes"
MPEG Stream: "Venus"

THROBBING GRISTLE 20 Jazz Funk Greats (Mute) cd 15.98

THROBBING GRISTLE 20 Jazz Funk Greats (Industrial Records) 2cd 23.00
The cover for Throbbing Gristle's 20 Jazz Funk Greats is a marvelous piece of subversive design. The four members of Throbbing Gristle look quite dapper, Genesis dolled up in a tailored white suit jacket, Cosey smiling happily in her pert miniskirt, and Chris & Sleazy both wearing rather conservative sweaters, but they had situated themselves on the cliffs of Beachy Head (a notorious suicide spot on the south coast of England) with a rented Range Rover in the distance and in a variation of this scene, a nude male body lies at their feet in the grass, presumably dead. This design (executed by Sleazy through his day job at Hipgnosis Design) was a sneering act of contempt for British society that failed to see the horrors and injustice which boiled just under the surfaces of congeniality and civility.
Both Second Annual Report and D.o.A. were ostensibly compilations of recontextualized material both from the studio and extracts from live recordings, but 20 Jazz Funk Greats - the third proper album from Throbbing Gristle - feels like a conceived album from beginning to end, even with all of its dead-ends and contradictions. The album opens with the title track, where a slow-motion drum machine and synthesized bass tones strut with a mechanical swagger with Cosey's discordant cornet blurts in the distance and predatorily whispered vocal extracts of what could be some smooth jazz DJ trying to set the mood - with that mood being a sickening, menacing threat. Such is also the case, with the lugubrious "Tanith" whose atonal rolling basslines churn against strange electronic blorp and tinkling chimes, which leads into "Convincing People" - whose metronomic synth sequencing became the signature for nearly every 'industrial' band that claimed TG as an influence. The detuned and distorted guitar from Cosey smears the mechanical edges while Genesis wailed through the lyrical repetitiveness which articulated to the effect that if you say it enough, people will start believing you. A hammer might help too. The minimalist club hit "Hot On The Heels Of Love" is one of the most memorable TG songs, and for very good reason as TG offered a much-imitated disco frugality through their insistent drum machine, squiggling sequencing, and Cosey's whispered vocals. Immediately following this is a nightmarish narration of the aftermath of a night of partying too much in "Persuasion", as disembodied female yelps of sexualized horror sporadically punctuate a slithering Genesis donning the role of a low-rent pornographer. "What A Day" is another 'industrial' template with a corrosive loop of cybernetic thumps forming the only backdrop to Genesis barking as loud as he can in a diabolical take on a footballer's chant. The finale "Six Six Sixties" finds Cosey's monochord guitar awfully prescient of Sonic Youth and Bailter Space in the drone intensity through distortion and rhythm, with Genesis reciting a suitably bleak monologue above, rounding out what is arguably the best of the Throbbing Gristle albums.
The cd version contains a bonus disc with live material extracted from the numerous live cassettes (and some of these versions apparently appear on the 24cd boxset of live TG material, although we've not cross referenced these facts yet). The two versions of "Discipline" (which were released as a 12" on Fetish Records in 1981) suitably conclude this disc, as that was the track that TG also performed at the end of their sets, with the heavy drum machines whipping the crowd into a frenzy and Genesis barking hysterically for some order. Such were the wonderful contradictions of Throbbing Gristle. About as a high a recommendation as we can give.
MPEG Stream: "20 Jazz Funk Greats"
MPEG Stream: "Persuasion"
MPEG Stream: "What A Day!"
MPEG Stream: "Discipline (Berlin)"

THROBBING GRISTLE 20 Jazz Funk Greats (Industrial Records) lp 25.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The cover for Throbbing Gristle's 20 Jazz Funk Greats is a marvelous piece of subversive design. The four members of Throbbing Gristle look quite dapper, Genesis dolled up in a tailored white suit jacket, Cosey smiling happily in her pert miniskirt, and Chris & Sleazy both wearing rather conservative sweaters, but they had situated themselves on the cliffs of Beachy Head (a notorious suicide spot on the south coast of England) with a rented Range Rover in the distance and in a variation of this scene, a nude male body lies at their feet in the grass, presumably dead. This design (executed by Sleazy through his day job at Hipgnosis Design) was a sneering act of contempt for British society that failed to see the horrors and injustice which boiled just under the surfaces of congeniality and civility.
Both Second Annual Report and D.o.A. were ostensibly compilations of recontextualized material both from the studio and extracts from live recordings, but 20 Jazz Funk Greats - the third proper album from Throbbing Gristle - feels like a conceived album from beginning to end, even with all of its dead-ends and contradictions. The album opens with the title track, where a slow-motion drum machine and synthesized bass tones strut with a mechanical swagger with Cosey's discordant cornet blurts in the distance and predatorily whispered vocal extracts of what could be some smooth jazz DJ trying to set the mood - with that mood being a sickening, menacing threat. Such is also the case, with the lugubrious "Tanith" whose atonal rolling basslines churn against strange electronic blorp and tinkling chimes, which leads into "Convincing People" - whose metronomic synth sequencing became the signature for nearly every 'industrial' band that claimed TG as an influence. The detuned and distorted guitar from Cosey smears the mechanical edges while Genesis wailed through the lyrical repetitiveness which articulated to the effect that if you say it enough, people will start believing you. A hammer might help too. The minimalist club hit "Hot On The Heels Of Love" is one of the most memorable TG songs, and for very good reason as TG offered a much-imitated disco frugality through their insistent drum machine, squiggling sequencing, and Cosey's whispered vocals. Immediately following this is a nightmarish narration of the aftermath of a night of partying too much in "Persuasion", as disembodied female yelps of sexualized horror sporadically punctuate a slithering Genesis donning the role of a low-rent pornographer. "What A Day" is another 'industrial' template with a corrosive loop of cybernetic thumps forming the only backdrop to Genesis barking as loud as he can in a diabolical take on a footballer's chant. The finale "Six Six Sixties" finds Cosey's monochord guitar awfully prescient of Sonic Youth and Bailter Space in the drone intensity through distortion and rhythm, with Genesis reciting a suitably bleak monologue above, rounding out what is arguably the best of the Throbbing Gristle albums.
The cd version contains a bonus disc with live material extracted from the numerous live cassettes (and some of these versions apparently appear on the 24cd boxset of live TG material, although we've not cross referenced these facts yet). The two versions of "Discipline" (which were released as a 12" on Fetish Records in 1981) suitably conclude this disc, as that was the track that TG also performed at the end of their sets, with the heavy drum machines whipping the crowd into a frenzy and Genesis barking hysterically for some order. Such were the wonderful contradictions of Throbbing Gristle. About as a high a recommendation as we can give.
The remastered vinyl version is limited to 2000 copies.
MPEG Stream: "20 Jazz Funk Greats"
MPEG Stream: "Persuasion"
MPEG Stream: "What A Day!"

THROBBING GRISTLE D.o.A. The Third And Final Report Of Throbbing Gristle (Industrial) 2cd 23.00
Neither the third nor the final album from Throbbing Gristle, D.o.A. marked the decided progression of a band that earlier produced the cauldron of sinister noise found on Second Annual Report and would lead to the subversive disco of "Hot On The Heels Of Love" on 20 Jazz Funk Greats. TG frames this album almost entirely upon the William S. Burroughs strategy of the cut-up, with found sounds being the inspiration for, counterpoint, or inclusion in the musical program. For both Burroughs and Genesis P-Orridge, the chance operation of overlapping seemingly unconnected elements offered the possibility of hidden, unconscious meanings in those 'texts' which could be pushed further through aesthetic means. What P-Orridge and the rest of Throbbing Gristle found in their aleatory combinations was a foreboding, societal malevolence, to which their sounds could be read as both response and antagonist.
The sounds which introduce the first track - "I.B.M" - might have been familiar to anyone with an early '70s era computer that used tapes for data storage, especially if that data-cassette found its way into an audio tape player. The blurting, flanged lurches of electronic noises speak a de-humanized language of the machine, one which TG augments with their own synthesized noise and atonal fragments as a seance attempting to make contact with the ghosts that may or may not live in those machines. The most infamous appropriated text found on D.o.A. is "Hamburger Lady" - a thoroughly creepy piece based on a letter written to the band about a woman who was suffering under the extreme pain from half of her skin being burnt off of her body. TG grinds a low-frequency VCO pulse upon a very slow throb, whilst an unsettled melody blurts through a fence of tremolo patterns, with P-Orridge reciting the text of that letter in the distance. Sickening doesn't even begin to describe how effective this track is even three decades after the fact. The track "Dead on Arrival" parallels what Conrad Schnitzler was producing at the same time on his darkened electronic album Ballet Statique with its mid-tempo drum machine, unsettled percolations, and angular jabs of dissonance. But the bulk of D.o.A. is filled with found-sound excepts including the self-evident found tape of "Death Threats" and the recording of mumbling children on "Hometime."
The cd version of this remastered reissue contains a bonus disc, mostly of live material ending with a single. Here, the live tracks cover much of what's found on the Live Volume 2 compilation, and the single in question is "Five Knuckle Shuffle / We Have You (Little Girls)", the former of which reprises the mechanical sequencing from "Dead on Arrival" with much vicious bass and guitar noise slashing throughout, and the latter being a screaming exorcism of vocals and electronics that must have planted the seed in William Bennett to make a whole career out of screaming at his audience above a painful squalor of noise.
MPEG Stream: "I.B.M."
MPEG Stream: "Dead on Arrival"
MPEG Stream: "Hamburger Lady"
MPEG Stream: "We Hate You (Little Girls)"

THROBBING GRISTLE D.o.A. The Third And Final Report Of Throbbing Gristle (Industrial) lp 25.00
Neither the third nor the final album from Throbbing Gristle, D.o.A. marked the decided progression of a band that earlier produced the cauldron of sinister noise found on Second Annual Report and would lead to the subversive disco of "Hot On The Heels Of Love" on 20 Jazz Funk Greats. TG frames this album almost entirely upon the William S. Burroughs strategy of the cut-up, with found sounds being the inspiration for, counterpoint, or inclusion in the musical program. For both Burroughs and Genesis P-Orridge, the chance operation of overlapping seemingly unconnected elements offered the possibility of hidden, unconscious meanings in those 'texts' which could be pushed further through aesthetic means. What P-Orridge and the rest of Throbbing Gristle found in their aleatory combinations was a foreboding, societal malevolence, to which their sounds could be read as both response and antagonist.
The sounds which introduce the first track - "I.B.M" - might have been familiar to anyone with an early '70s era computer that used tapes for data storage, especially if that data-cassette found its way into an audio tape player. The blurting, flanged lurches of electronic noises speak a de-humanized language of the machine, one which TG augments with their own synthesized noise and atonal fragments as a seance attempting to make contact with the ghosts that may or may not live in those machines. The most infamous appropriated text found on D.o.A. is "Hamburger Lady" - a thoroughly creepy piece based on a letter written to the band about a woman who was suffering under the extreme pain from half of her skin being burnt off of her body. TG grinds a low-frequency VCO pulse upon a very slow throb, whilst an unsettled melody blurts through a fence of tremolo patterns, with P-Orridge reciting the text of that letter in the distance. Sickening doesn't even begin to describe how effective this track is even three decades after the fact. The track "Dead on Arrival" parallels what Conrad Schnitzler was producing at the same time on his darkened electronic album Ballet Statique with its mid-tempo drum machine, unsettled percolations, and angular jabs of dissonance. But the bulk of D.o.A. is filled with found-sound excepts including the self-evident found tape of "Death Threats" and the recording of mumbling children on "Hometime."
The cd version of this remastered reissue contains a bonus disc, mostly of live material ending with a single. Here, the live tracks cover much of what's found on the Live Volume 2 compilation, and the single in question is "Five Knuckle Shuffle / We Have You (Little Girls)", the former of which reprises the mechanical sequencing from "Dead on Arrival" with much vicious bass and guitar noise slashing throughout, and the latter being a screaming exorcism of vocals and electronics that must have planted the seed in William Bennett to make a whole career out of screaming at his audience above a painful squalor of noise.
The remastered vinyl version is limited to 2000 copies.
MPEG Stream: "I.B.M."
MPEG Stream: "Dead on Arrival"
MPEG Stream: "Hamburger Lady"

THROBBING GRISTLE D.O.A.: The Third And Final Report (Mute / Industrial Records) cd 11.98

THROBBING GRISTLE First Annual Report of Throbbing Gristle (Get Back) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
For reasons unknown to us all, 1975's "First Annual Report" from Throbbing Gristle was deliberately held back by the band, thus positioning "Second Annual Report" as the first documentation from the legendary parents of Industrial Culture. This record has been reissued on several occasions, yet for this Get Back pressing, "First Annual Report" gets a proper remastering job as well. Vinyl only.

THROBBING GRISTLE Greatest Hits (Industrial ) 2cd 23.00
Throbbing Gristle could hardly be confused for a hit-making machine; but in their repertoire of ghastly noise cohabitating with mechanoid rhythms, there are certainly some tracks which stand out more than others. Subtitled "Entertainment Through Pain," Throbbing Gristle's Greatest Hits delivers everything that it sets out to, and it also compiled some of the singles which had never appeared on one of TG's proper records. The most obvious 'hit' would be the minimalist yet sultry disco number "Hot On The Heels Of Love," with all of the other tracks being much more obvious in their subversion of the song through transgressive lyrics, subliminal horrors, corrosive electronics, and / or aleatoric appropriation. The sickening, psychoacoustic track "Hamburger Lady" opens this album of hits, with the lumbering electronic oscillations setting the stage for a gross-out spoken text from a letter about a woman languishing in a hospital burn unit. Of the singles featured on Greatest Hits, you'll find the blood-curdling scream of a track in "Subhuman" and the angular perkiness of the Kraftwerkish tracks "United" and "Adrenalin." But everything else comes from the earlier records, including the stellar churned cybernetics on "Six Six Sixties" and "What A Day," the woozy blurt of "20 Jazz Funk Greats" as well as a 'backwards' rendition of one the many recordings of "Slug Bait" recast as "Tiab Guls."
The bonus disc of Greatest Hits doesn't follow suit with the other four cd reissues; as the program does not include live material, but a continuing program of 'greatest hits,' including the B side stunning synth burble on "Distant Dreams (Part Two)" which is one of the high-points for the Chris Carter facade from TG's production. There's also a studio version of "The Old Man Smiled" found on Heathen Earth - a track that uses the same arrangement from "Six Six Sixties" with different lyrics, and an alternate mix of the revved-up step sequencing on "AB/7A." But aside from those, the other 'greatest hits' include "Persuasion," "Five Knuckle Shuffle," "Dead On Arrival," and a few more.
And like the other TG reissues, the lp does not include the bonus disc, and is limited to 1000 copies.
MPEG Stream: "20 Jazz Funk Greats"
MPEG Stream: "What A Day!"
MPEG Stream: "Hamburger Lady"
MPEG Stream: "Persuasion"
MPEG Stream: "Distant Dreams (Part Two)"

THROBBING GRISTLE Greatest Hits (Industrial ) lp 25.00
Throbbing Gristle could hardly be confused for a hit-making machine; but in their repertoire of ghastly noise cohabitating with mechanoid rhythms, there are certainly some tracks which stand out more than others. Subtitled "Entertainment Through Pain," Throbbing Gristle's Greatest Hits delivers everything that it sets out to, and it also compiled some of the singles which had never appeared on one of TG's proper records. The most obvious 'hit' would be the minimalist yet sultry disco number "Hot On The Heels Of Love," with all of the other tracks being much more obvious in their subversion of the song through transgressive lyrics, subliminal horrors, corrosive electronics, and / or aleatoric appropriation. The sickening, psychoacoustic track "Hamburger Lady" opens this album of hits, with the lumbering electronic oscillations setting the stage for a gross-out spoken text from a letter about a woman languishing in a hospital burn unit. Of the singles featured on Greatest Hits, you'll find the blood-curdling scream of a track in "Subhuman" and the angular perkiness of the Kraftwerkish tracks "United" and "Adrenalin." But everything else comes from the earlier records, including the stellar churned cybernetics on "Six Six Sixties" and "What A Day," the woozy blurt of "20 Jazz Funk Greats" as well as a 'backwards' rendition of one the many recordings of "Slug Bait" recast as "Tiab Guls."
The bonus disc of Greatest Hits doesn't follow suit with the other four cd reissues; as the program does not include live material, but a continuing program of 'greatest hits,' including the B side stunning synth burble on "Distant Dreams (Part Two)" which is one of the high-points for the Chris Carter facade from TG's production. There's also a studio version of "The Old Man Smiled" found on Heathen Earth - a track that uses the same arrangement from "Six Six Sixties" with different lyrics, and an alternate mix of the revved-up step sequencing on "AB/7A." But aside from those, the other 'greatest hits' include "Persuasion," "Five Knuckle Shuffle," "Dead On Arrival," and a few more.
And like the other TG reissues, the lp does not include the bonus disc, and is limited to 1000 copies.
MPEG Stream: "20 Jazz Funk Greats"
MPEG Stream: "What A Day!"
MPEG Stream: "Hamburger Lady"

THROBBING GRISTLE Gristleism (Black) (Throbbing Gristle) battery operated soundbox 30.00
Finally, the long rumored Gristleism soundbox from Throbbing Gristle is here, and it's just about as cool as we hoped. Regardless of your feelings on Throbbing Gristle as a band, Gristleism is another must have for music obsessives and weird gadget freaks, like FM3's Buddha Machine, Gristleism is a small compact battery powered soundbox that plays loops, it has a volume and a pitch control, and a button to switch between loops, but UNlike the Buddha Machine, which until recently came in the generic Asian packaging that all similar machines came packaged in (originally these boxes contained prayers and were used for mediation), and finally got a minimal but stylish upgrade, the Gristleism box is all about the packaging, in fact, we balked at the price before we saw these, but now that we've seen one and held one, WOW. Totally worth it.
The outside sleeve is gorgeously printed shiny on matte on one side, elaborately diecut on the other, that immediately recognizable TG pattern, the bottom is printed in metallic silver ink. But that's just the outer slipcover. Once that is removed, the inside cover is revealed, again, shiny ink on matte paper, some of the details in shiny metallic silver, the credits, the tracklisting, then inside that is a small printed insert, on thick reflective paper, and then finally the soundbox itself, which even has the Throbbing Gristle logo pressed into the plastic. As an object, this thing is breathtaking, totally striking and even if you never listened to it, would look smashing on your shelf. But you WILL want to listen to it.
Thirteen TG loops, the bulk of which seem to harken from the classic late '70s period of Throbbing Gristle, before the project split into Psychic TV, Chris & Cosey, and Coil.
The low synthetic dirge of "Persuasion" (from 20 Jazz Funk Greats) is the first loop on the box, complete with those unsettling female vocalisations which may be screams of fear, ecstacy, horror, or somewhere in between. The seasick distorted swells and atonal melodica trilled with tremolo come next, culled from the TG classic "Hamburger Lady" (from D.o.A. The Third and Final Report), all that's needed is for you to fill in Genesis' vocals about encountering a charred human body still alive in a hospital ward. Similarly effective is the alien slow-motion grooviess of the title track from 20 Jazz Funk Greats, with Cosey's bleating trumpet hanging in the distance. The windswept eeriness and foghorn blurts on "Thank You Brian" seem to be a loop that's unique to the box, or at least we're not sure where it might have come from. But the proto-acid squiggliness and disembodied vocals of "Maggot Death" reprise a particularly great snippet from TG's Second Annual Report. The "Wimpy Bar" loop doesn't seem to come from one of TG's records either but is one that sounds really familiar with Cosey's knife-on-the-guitar-strings scraping and squiggled electronics, perhaps from one of the many live cassettes? The tenth loop reprises the darkly hallucinatory echoes and atonal blurts from "Heathen Earth". The shepherd tone crustiness of the "Industrial Intro" could have been an experiment that Chris and Sleazey worked out for Second Annual Report. Everything actually sounds pretty awesomely crappy through the little speaker, apparently the band worked quite hard to enhance the sound of these little boxes, according to their website, Gristleism has almost twice the frequency range of the original Buddha Machines, but it's definitely a pretty perfect encapsulation of the TG aesthetic. Low brow high art. We would have liked to have seen a chunk from United or the rhythm from Discipline added into the box, but hey save those for the next one. Please?
The one bummer is that there's no output / headphone jack, so there's really no way to hook this up to an amp or your stereo. Unless... you go to the band's website, where they provide specs for certain mods, insert a jack, do a little circuit bending, so you can add your own twist to TG's Gristleism box.
Needless to say, odds are you're probably gonna want one of these. Or two. If you loved the Buddha Machine, or the recent Black Box variation, then this one's gonna blow your mind. Available in black, red, and chrome (although, as of this moment, the chrome version is not available yet, it should be in a couple weeks). And be warned, these are super limited, we have a bunch, but we may not be able to get more, or if we can, it might not be all that many...

THROBBING GRISTLE Gristleism (Red) (Throbbing Gristle) battery operated soundbox 30.00
Finally, the long rumored Gristleism soundbox from Throbbing Gristle is here, and it's just about as cool as we hoped. Regardless of your feelings on Throbbing Gristle as a band, Gristleism is another must have for music obsessives and weird gadget freaks, like FM3's Buddha Machine, Gristleism is a small compact battery powered soundbox that plays loops, it has a volume and a pitch control, and a button to switch between loops, but UNlike the Buddha Machine, which until recently came in the generic Asian packaging that all similar machines came packaged in (originally these boxes contained prayers and were used for mediation), and finally got a minimal but stylish upgrade, the Gristleism box is all about the packaging, in fact, we balked at the price before we saw these, but now that we've seen one and held one, WOW. Totally worth it.
The outside sleeve is gorgeously printed shiny on matte on one side, elaborately diecut on the other, that immediately recognizable TG pattern, the bottom is printed in shiny black ink. But that's just the outer slipcover. Once that is removed, the inside cover is revealed, again, shiny ink on matte paper, some of the details in shiny black ink, the credits, the tracklisting, then inside that is a small printed insert, on thick reflective paper, and then finally the soundbox itself, which even has the Throbbing Gristle logo pressed into the plastic. As an object, this thing is breathtaking, totally striking and even if you never listened to it, would look smashing on your shelf. But you WILL want to listen to it.
Thirteen TG loops, the bulk of which seem to harken from the classic late '70s period of Throbbing Gristle, before the project split into Psychic TV, Chris & Cosey, and Coil.
The low synthetic dirge of "Persuasion" (from 20 Jazz Funk Greats) is the first loop on the box, complete with those unsettling female vocalisations which may be screams of fear, ecstasy, horror, or somewhere in between. The seasick distorted swells and atonal melodica trilled with tremolo come next, culled from the TG classic "Hamburger Lady" (from D.o.A. The Third and Final Report), all that's needed is for you to fill in Genesis' vocals about encountering a charred human body still alive in a hospital ward. Similarly effective is the alien slow-motion grooviess of the title track from 20 Jazz Funk Greats, with Cosey's bleating trumpet hanging in the distance. The windswept eeriness and foghorn blurts on "Thank You Brian" seem to be a loop that's unique to the box, or at least we're not sure where it might have come from. But the proto-acid squiggliness and disembodied vocals of "Maggot Death" reprise a particularly great snippet from TG's Second Annual Report. The "Wimpy Bar" loop doesn't seem to come from one of TG's records either but is one that sounds really familiar with Cosey's knife-on-the-guitar-strings scraping and squiggled electronics, perhaps from one of the many live cassettes? The tenth loop reprises the darkly hallucinatory echoes and atonal blurts from "Heathen Earth". The shepherd tone crustiness of the "Industrial Intro" could have been an experiment that Chris and Sleazey worked out for Second Annual Report. Everything actually sounds pretty awesomely crappy through the little speaker, apparently the band worked quite hard to enhance the sound of these little boxes, according to their website, Gristleism has almost twice the frequency range of the original Buddha Machines, but it's definitely a pretty perfect encapsulation of the TG aesthetic. Low brow high art. We would have liked to have seen a chunk from United or the rhythm from Discipline added into the box, but hey save those for the next one. Please?
The one bummer is that there's no output / headphone jack, so there's really no way to hook this up to an amp or your stereo. Unless... you go to the band's website, where they provide specs for certain mods, insert a jack, do a little circuit bending, so you can add your own twist to TG's Gristleism box.
Needless to say, odds are you're probably gonna want one of these. Or two. If you loved the Buddha Machine, or the recent Black Box variation, then this one's gonna blow your mind. Available in black, red, and chrome (although, as of this moment, the chrome version is not available yet). And be warned, these are super limited, we have a bunch, but we may not be able to get more, or if we can, it might not be all that many...

THROBBING GRISTLE Heathen Earth: The Live Sound Of Throbbing Gristle (Industrial) 2cd 23.00
While cataloged as the 'fourth and final' studio recording of Throbbing Gristle, Heathen Earth documents TG in a live context, as TG invited a couple dozen friends and hangers-on into the Industrial Records studio to witness the band in an intimate setting, while recording the proceedings to 8-track tape. Much of the slashing noise, atonal cornet blurts, and discordant oscillations from TG's live persona is front and center, but such brute noises are thrust against the clarity of sound from TG's step sequencing and electronic rhythms. Throbbing Gristle rework some tracks from the back catalogue, as the apocalyptic guitar drone of "Six Six Sixties" becomes all the more distorted and menacing in its new guise "The Old Man Smiled;" and some of that self same sequencing that went into the Schniztler-esque track "Dead On Arrival" re-emerges on "The Worlds Is A War Film." Presumably, a version of "After Cease to Exist" surfaces in the morass of murky noise that TG delves into, but it's hard to tell where that emerges as this track was such a gnarled abstraction to begin with. The cold electronic rhythms of "Don't Do As Your Told, Do As You Think" mirrors the jackbooted intensity that TG produced in their live-only cut "Discipline."
As with all of the other remastered versions of the cd, Heathen Earth comes with a bonus disc of live materials with a single at the end. Strangely enough, a track entitled "Heathen Earth" is featured in the live material, but was not included in the "live-in-the-studio" album. It's quite an incendiary number with pounding heartbeat drum machine grounding Genesis' tortured vocals and piercing feedback tones. A subterranean creepiness befits the track "Auschwitz" with bellowing cornet and distant drone sound design, prescient of pretty much every dark ambient / death industrial act to follow over the next three decades. The live material follows this trend up to the finale in the utterly haunting "We Said No," rounding out what is probably the best live material that TG has presented in this series of reissues. The finale seven inch is "Subhuman / Adrenalin" - the former being a throat-burning tirade from Genesis above a smoldering backdrop of electric noise, while the latter centers on the mechanoid sequencing of Sleazy and Chris Carter.
The vinyl version comes sans bonus disc, and is limited to 2000 copies!
MPEG Stream: "The Old Man Smiled"
MPEG Stream: "Don't Do As You're Told, Do As You Think"
MPEG Stream: "Heathen Earth"
MPEG Stream: "We Said No"

THROBBING GRISTLE Heathen Earth: The Live Sound Of Throbbing Gristle (Industrial) lp 25.00
While cataloged as the 'fourth and final' studio recording of Throbbing Gristle, Heathen Earth documents TG in a live context, as TG invited a couple dozen friends and hangers-on into the Industrial Records studio to witness the band in an intimate setting, while recording the proceedings to 8-track tape. Much of the slashing noise, atonal cornet blurts, and discordant oscillations from TG's live persona is front and center, but such brute noises are thrust against the clarity of sound from TG's step sequencing and electronic rhythms. Throbbing Gristle rework some tracks from the back catalogue, as the apocalyptic guitar drone of "Six Six Sixties" becomes all the more distorted and menacing in its new guise "The Old Man Smiled;" and some of that self same sequencing that went into the Schniztler-esque track "Dead On Arrival" re-emerges on "The Worlds Is A War Film." Presumably, a version of "After Cease to Exist" surfaces in the morass of murky noise that TG delves into, but it's hard to tell where that emerges as this track was such a gnarled abstraction to begin with. The cold electronic rhythms of "Don't Do As Your Told, Do As You Think" mirrors the jackbooted intensity that TG produced in their live-only cut "Discipline."
As with all of the other remastered versions of the cd, Heathen Earth comes with a bonus disc of live materials with a single at the end. Strangely enough, a track entitled "Heathen Earth" is featured in the live material, but was not included in the "live-in-the-studio" album. It's quite an incendiary number with pounding heartbeat drum machine grounding Genesis' tortured vocals and piercing feedback tones. A subterranean creepiness befits the track "Auschwitz" with bellowing cornet and distant drone sound design, prescient of pretty much every dark ambient / death industrial act to follow over the next three decades. The live material follows this trend up to the finale in the utterly haunting "We Said No," rounding out what is probably the best live material that TG has presented in this series of reissues. The finale seven inch is "Subhuman / Adrenalin" - the former being a throat-burning tirade from Genesis above a smoldering backdrop of electric noise, while the latter centers on the mechanoid sequencing of Sleazy and Chris Carter.
The vinyl version comes sans bonus disc, and is limited to 2000 copies!
MPEG Stream: "The Old Man Smiled"
MPEG Stream: "Don't Do As You're Told, Do As You Think"

THROBBING GRISTLE Second Annual Report of (Mute) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

THROBBING GRISTLE TG+ (Mute) 10cd box set 142.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
As if a twenty five cd box set wasn't enough, here's box number two, the cryptically titled TG+. from seminal industrialists Throbbing Gristle. Where the first box was a digital reissue of the 24 hours of Throbbing Gristle cassettes, TG+ features TG's final 10 performances. All remastered and gussied up. The first box came packaged with buttons and patches and wax seals and all that, but this box really takes the packaging cake. Five credit card sized metallic rectangles, with various TG symbols stamped out, and all set in a velvet lined cover, hiding the cds beneath. All packaged just like the first set in a grey, fabric covered box. NICE!

THROBBING GRISTLE TG24 24cd 220.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

THROBBING GRISTLE The Second Annual Report (Industrial Records) 2cd 23.00
A five knuckle shuffle on my throbbing gristle! Yup, it's a crass reference to masturbation uttered by one of the associates of Coum Transmissions, the mid-'70s, British transgressive performance art ensemble whose happenings involved extreme rituals of sex, vomit, and blood, causing quiet a stir in the press, art world, and beyond. By 1976, the principle members of Coum - Genesis P-Orridge, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Chris Carter, and Peter Christopherson - rechristened themselves Throbbing Gristle, as a musical outfit creating a confounding, bleak electronic parallel to the trajectory of punk. Over the next four years, TG released a handful of albums and toured constantly, always attuned to a coy semantic juxtaposition of gruesome, pornographic, or morbid imagery next to that which was cheeky and absurdly comical. Monte Cazazza's catch phrase "industrial music for industrial people" spoke not only the mechanical, de-humanizing mirror that TG was holding up to western culture, but also to the band's downright British industriousness. As such, the band's in-house label, Industrial Records, addressed all of this and more.
The Second Annual Report was actually the first release for Throbbing Gristle and Industrial Records in 1976, with the deliberately confusing title and catalogue number (IR 0002) alluding to then non-existent First Annual Report (which was recorded in 1975, although shelved by the band at the time and released as semi-official and un-official bootlegs from the '80s onward). The album is a collection of live recordings, showing the variations on two tracks - "Slug Bait" and "Maggot Death." The former is an unsettled, murky, barely formed set of lumbering tones with grim guitar drones and spluttering electronics, with Genesis caterwauling as he has done for close to four decades now. Sampled interviews with a child molester and a murderer dot the charred soundscape from the recording made in Brighton, marking a common application of appropriated 'true crime' objects which litter so much of the Industrial Culture which came after TG. "Maggot Death" is just as amorphous as "Slug Bait" with a morass of monochromatic bass-distortion and blurting electronics. The side-long "After Cease To Exist" rounded out the B-side of the original LP, and was a suitably disfigured soundscape of scraping violin, atonal guitar bursts, and dark electronic excursions. While each of these tracks is rudimentary in form and function, they lay the foundation for what would come next in TG's career.
The cd version contains a bonus disc with live material extracted from the numerous live cassettes (and some of these versions do appear on the 24cd boxset of live TG material), as well as the deliciously counterpointing single "United / Zyklon B Zombie." Aside from the perky Kraftwerkian percolation of "United", the second disc is overloaded with cacophonic dive-bomb squalls of noise with slashed vibrations of electronics, madman barked vocals, flanging guitar distortion, and decentered Burroughs-inspired collages of spoken texts, fitting with the cruel delirium of what's found on The Second Annual Report proper. Difficult listening for sure, but after all, "Entertainment Through Pain" was Throbbing Gristle's motto!
MPEG Stream: "Maggot Death"
MPEG Stream: "After Cease To Exist"
MPEG Stream: "Tesco Disco (Live)"
MPEG Stream: "United"

THROBBING GRISTLE The Second Annual Report (Industrial Records) lp 25.00
A five knuckle shuffle on my throbbing gristle! Yup, it's a crass reference to masturbation uttered by one of the associates of Coum Transmissions, the mid-'70s, British transgressive performance art ensemble whose happenings involved extreme rituals of sex, vomit, and blood, causing quiet a stir in the press, art world, and beyond. By 1976, the principle members of Coum - Genesis P-Orridge, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Chris Carter, and Peter Christopherson - rechristened themselves Throbbing Gristle, as a musical outfit creating a confounding, bleak electronic parallel to the trajectory of punk. Over the next four years, TG released a handful of albums and toured constantly, always attuned to a coy semantic juxtaposition of gruesome, pornographic, or morbid imagery next to that which was cheeky and absurdly comical. Monte Cazazza's catch phrase "industrial music for industrial people" spoke not only the mechanical, de-humanizing mirror that TG was holding up to western culture, but also to the band's downright British industriousness. As such, the band's in-house label, Industrial Records, addressed all of this and more.
The Second Annual Report was actually the first release for Throbbing Gristle and Industrial Records in 1976, with the deliberately confusing title and catalogue number (IR 0002) alluding to then non-existent First Annual Report (which was recorded in 1975, although shelved by the band at the time and released as semi-official and un-official bootlegs from the '80s onward). The album is a collection of live recordings, showing the variations on two tracks - "Slug Bait" and "Maggot Death." The former is an unsettled, murky, barely formed set of lumbering tones with grim guitar drones and spluttering electronics, with Genesis caterwauling as he has done for close to four decades now. Sampled interviews with a child molester and a murderer dot the charred soundscape from the recording made in Brighton, marking a common application of appropriated 'true crime' objects which litter so much of the Industrial Culture which came after TG. "Maggot Death" is just as amorphous as "Slug Bait" with a morass of monochromatic bass-distortion and blurting electronics. The side-long "After Cease To Exist" rounded out the B-side of the original LP, and was a suitably disfigured soundscape of scraping violin, atonal guitar bursts, and dark electronic excursions. While each of these tracks is rudimentary in form and function, they lay the foundation for what would come next in TG's career.
The cd version contains a bonus disc with live material extracted from the numerous live cassettes (and some of these versions do appear on the 24cd boxset of live TG material), as well as the deliciously counterpointing single "United / Zyklon B Zombie." Aside from the perky Kraftwerkian percolation of "United", the second disc is overloaded with cacophonic dive-bomb squalls of noise with slashed vibrations of electronics, madman barked vocals, flanging guitar distortion, and decentered Burroughs-inspired collages of spoken texts, fitting with the cruel delirium of what's found on The Second Annual Report proper. Difficult listening for sure, but after all, "Entertainment Through Pain" was Throbbing Gristle's motto!
The vinyl is a re-mastered version of the original LPs tracklisting, and is limited to 2000 copies.
MPEG Stream: "Maggot Death"
MPEG Stream: "After Cease To Exist"

TIN FOIL STAR Too Late Then, Too Late Now (Noise Museum) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Blankets of thick analog buzzes and hums weave around more delicate ambient tones, textures and vocals. With its repetitive keyboard melodies, at times this brought to mind a tiny, entranced, mad organist in a very large ancient cathedral. Very textural, melancholic and relaxing. A great follow-up to the Mort Aux Vaches cd on Staalplaat. For fans of Spacemen 3!

TO KILL A PETTY BOURGEOISIE Marlone (Kranky) cd 14.98
We haven't ever heard any of the other records by this strangely monickered duo, and in some ways it's probably that name that kept us from exploring their music in the past. We know, book, cover, band name, check. But with so much stuff to listen to, it's inevitable that something like album cover or band name or label, will influence what you listen to first, or maybe even at all. But heck, it's Kranky, and the album cover is pretty cool, so two out of three ain't bad. And we have to say we're glad we did finally decide to take the plunge, cuz the world of TKAPB is a gorgeously gloomy one, a haunting and otherworldly late night drift through a world dark and ominous, and occasionally downright frightening. Think Grouper, Mazzy Star, Kuupuu, Valet, that sort of gauzy dreaminess, murky and muddy, spacey and druggy, with ethereal female vocals, barely there drum skitter, warm languid bass, the instruments less recognizable as instruments, and more as sound generating devices, each emitting long tones, or soft rhythms, the result is a slow burning jazzy drone-y drift, but TKAPB seems a bit more sinister than the rest of those bands, imbuing their hazy midnight drift, with some deep drones, some jagged shards of distorted crunch. A creepy dreamy slowcore, with hints of something darker, heavier, and noisier. Just check out "The Needle", a loping slow groove, minor key and tense, the vocals sultry and smoky, creeping and crawling, until suddenly something hellish surfaces, a squall of demonic buzz and noise, only a second or two, but it adds such menace to the track, as does a swirling sea of cymbal sizzle and what sounds like a moaning string section. Almost like some sort of doom torch song.
The rest of the record is maybe not nearly so intense, but it is a very dark record, think Portishead, Grouper, Skepticism, and Bohren all wound up in a sprawling songsuite of drummachined black ballads, harrowing love songs, grim ambience and blackened downtempo electronica, with a sound so gauzy and washed out and murky and psychedelic, and yeah, occasionally menacing, that it's impossible for us not to give this our highest recommendation.
MPEG Stream: "You've Gone Too Far"
MPEG Stream: "The Needle"
MPEG Stream: "Villain"
MPEG Stream: "I Hear You Coming, But Your Steps Are Too Loud"

TONES ON TAIL Everything (Beggars Banquet) 2cd 16.98
With all the Cold Wave and Minimal Synth reissues from the late seventies and early eighties coming back in vogue, we knew it wouldn't be long before we'd see some goth, industrial and deathrock bands from that period being re-issued too. Tones On Tail weren't all that obscure, coming out of the ashes of Bauhaus who disbanded in 1983, but they were very short-lived, only lasting about a year before Daniel Ash and Kevin Haskins reunitied with Bauhaus bandmate, David J to become Love and Rockets in 1984. However, Tones On Tail produced an exceptional amount of material over one lp and numerous eps and singles. While best remembered for their club hit, "Go!", their output covered a range of gothic styles from gloomy pop to dark jazz, but always with an ear towards strong songwriting and evocative atmospherics. We always liked them a bit better than Bauhaus. Everything compiles pretty much everything you will ever need. So good!
MPEG Stream: "Lions"
MPEG Stream: "Movement of Fear"
MPEG Stream: "Rain"
MPEG Stream: "OK, This Is The Pops"
MPEG Stream: "You, The Night and The Music"
MPEG Stream: "When You're Smiling"

TONES ON TAIL Weird Pop (Beggars Banquet / Beggars Archive) 2lp 22.00
With all the Cold Wave and Minimal Synth reissues from the late seventies and early eighties coming back into fashion, we knew it wouldn't be long before we'd see some goth, industrial and deathrock bands from that period being re-issued as well. Tones On Tail weren't all that obscure, coming out of the ashes of Bauhaus who disbanded in 1983, but they were very short-lived, only lasting about a year before Daniel Ash and Kevin Haskins reunited with Bauhaus bandmate, David J to become Love and Rockets in 1984. However, Tones On Tail produced an exceptional amount of material over one lp and numerous eps and singles. While best remembered for their club hit, "Go!", their output covered a range of gothic styles from gloomy pop to dark jazz, but always with an ear towards strong songwriting and evocative atmospherics. And we always liked them a bit more than Bauhaus anyway!
Weird Pop is a new double vinyl collection that covers most of the same ground as the older 2cd collection, Everything, with a few previously unreleased alternate versions of songs like the full original version of "Performance", the studio version of "Heartbreak Hotel", the single edit of "Go!" and the extended version of "Twist". But unless you want these tracks on vinyl, or you are a completist collector, you might not need this if you already have the Everything collection (which is also available to order from our website) as that features more tracks (24 tracks vs. 19 tracks on the vinyl). Nonetheless, it's always great to see one of our favorite bands get some more much-deserved attention!
MPEG Stream: "Lions"
MPEG Stream: "Movement of Fear"
MPEG Stream: "Rain"
MPEG Stream: "OK, This Is The Pops"
MPEG Stream: "You, The Night and The Music"
MPEG Stream: "When You're Smiling"

TRANSPARENT ILLUSION Still Human (Anna Logue) cd 17.98
Labels like Minimal Wave and Dark Entries had been chomping at the bit trying to reissue this long sought after slab of weird 'n' wonderful minimal synth pop circa 1981. But it's the German label, Anna Logue who get the prize, putting out Transparent Illusion's album at a time when its sounds are more relevant then ever.
A one man band, Roy Young used his synths and off kilter voice to create music that reminds us of a slightly drunk Gary Numan joining forces with R.L. Crutchfield during the early years of Dark Day. We also hear the blueprints of the sound that would make Mute one of the most successful labels of the '80s. But what makes Transparent Illusion so fucking cool is just how DIY it sounds and feels. This definitely also foreshadows the current wave of weirdo pop peddlers like John Maus, Genevieve Jacuzzi, and Gary War. Dark primitive synths injected with infectious melody and a sinister disposition that feels totally punk in spirit. Weird and fucking cool!
MPEG Stream: "Sections"
MPEG Stream: "Incubus"

TRANSPARENT ILLUSION Still Human (Anna Logue) lp 19.98
NOW ON VINYL!!!
Labels like Minimal Wave and Dark Entries had been chomping at the bit trying to reissue this long sought after slab of weird 'n' wonderful minimal synth pop circa 1981. But it's the German label, Anna Logue who get the prize, putting out Transparent Illusion's album at a time when its sounds are more relevant then ever.
A one man band, Roy Young used his synths and off kilter voice to create music that reminds us of a slightly drunk Gary Numan joining forces with R.L. Crutchfield during the early years of Dark Day. We also hear the blueprints of the sound that would make Mute one of the most successful labels of the '80s. But what makes Transparent Illusion so fucking cool is just how DIY it sounds and feels. This definitely also foreshadows the current wave of weirdo pop peddlers like John Maus, Genevieve Jacuzzi, and Gary War. Dark primitive synths injected with infectious melody and a sinister disposition that feels totally punk in spirit. Weird and fucking cool!
MPEG Stream: "Sections"
MPEG Stream: "Incubus"

V/A B9 Bis: Belgian Cold Wave 1979-1983 (LTM) cd 22.00
B9 Bis was a label compilation from Sandwich Records, a Brussels' based post-punk and new wave imprint that mirrored itself after the Rough Trade model of running an underground label through an underground record shop. This compilation originally came out in 1980, showcasing what Belgium had to offer the world in the way of melding oblique electronics and moody theatrics to the post-punk ethos, which had already been established by the likes of Joy Division, Devo, and Magazine. Unfortunately, export sales for the label were never terribly strong and the label folded, despite the fact that the Belgian scene later exploded out of the electronic body music spurned on by Antler Subway throughout the decade.
What's found on the compilation is a solid cross section of the contemporary sound of 1980: slashing punk guitars, lumbering basslines, angular art-rock tunes, and tinkering with new-fangled synthesizers and sequencers. The influences of the aforementioned bands are worn proudly on the sleeves of many of these bands with admirable results. The standouts from the original comp include the pre-Front 242 project Prosthese with a cold burst of Klaus Schulze electronics, the jangle power pop of Digital Dance, and the bleak Joy Divisionisms of Satin Wall.
LTM have flushed out a full cds worth of material with a bunch of ancillary projects also from Belgium at that time including an early Front 242 track, an early b-side from the overlooked Siglo XX, and the Factory Records endorsed The Names. A very good investigation into a forgotten chapter of post-punk.
MPEG Stream: PROSTHESE "Tumeurs"
MPEG Stream: DIGITAL DANCE "Human Zoo"
MPEG Stream: SIGLO XX "Individuality"

V/A How To Destroy The Universe (Mobilization) cd 4.98
There's another festival goin' on right now here in festival-healthy SF... and L.A., San Diego, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, and Calgary too. It's the How To Destroy The Universe Festival of extreme art and music featuring performances by artists such as Blixa Bargeld, The Living Jarboe, and F-SPACE. In case you aren't able to attend, the organizers (Mobilization Records) didn't want you to completely miss out so they've released this compilation of recordings by select participants - the abovementioned as well as Savage Republic, Soriah, The Centimeters, The Sixteens and Black Ice. Come to think of it, for those of you who are attending, this'll make a cool nicely priced souvenir, won't it?
MPEG Stream: LIVING JARBOE, THE "This Is Life"
MPEG Stream: SAVAGE REPUBLIC "Mobilization"

V/A IVG Vol 1 (Born Bad) cd 15.98
A friend of ours is a Canadian MC who often introduces himself with the line, "I'm quite popular in France... a country renown for its terrible taste in music." With that in mind, it's unsurprising that the treasures found on this latest compilation of French minimal/cold/new-wave and post-punk from the fine folks at Born Bad Records in gay Pareee never found much favor in their homeland the first time around, as a country immersed in accordions and Edith Piaf may not have known what to do with Warm Joe's synth-bleep-infused, art-damaged, poppity punk skronk ferinstance.
If you've been following the slow but steady trickle of French reissue compilations that we've been fawning over for the past year here at aQ HQ like So Young But So Cold, BIPPP, and Les Jeunes Gens Moderne (that one coming soon on an expanded double cd by the way!), you'll be pretty familiar with the basic formula for many of the tracks: primitive beat box drums pushed to their limits + fuzzed out guitar + synths that provide everything from squidgy bass to massively hooky lead lines to disco lasers to de rigeur blips, bloops and bleeps + vocals that manage to sing, scream, coo, croon and yowl all at once = insanely melodic, freaked out french synth-punk that hybridizes everything good about early electro, new wave, disco, punk, pop and even chansons francais. So yeah, if you liked any or all of those other comps then save yourself the trouble of reading any further and just buy this already. It rules.
Not convinced? Ok, fair enough. What if we told you that IVG not only digs as deep as if not deeper than the other comps (honestly, when a track you've never heard by Ruth is the most familiar thing on the tracklist, then you know that you're in for some serious obscurities...), but it also pushes the weirdo factor up exponentially? For starters, Dead Heat have a baby laying down vocals on their contribution, "Damnee Petite Sophie" and every single part of Crise de Nerf's over-caffeinated fuzz freak out, "Rock A La Tele," honestly sounds like it's about to explode spectacularly. Toss in some alternate reality soundtrack work by Stabat stable, not one BUT TWO soundscape-y tone poems by Theatre Commercial, and a song by Ruth that sounds frighteningly like Dr. Know from Bad Brains jamming with Sonic Youth and you know you are headed somewhere fantastic. Seriously, mes amis: up the volume, up the speed, up the fuzz, up the fucked up French punks. ALLONS Y!
MPEG Stream: RUTH "Mon Pote (Version Courte)"
MPEG Stream: SPOTCH FORCEY "Frustre"
MPEG Stream: CRISE DE NEUF "Rock A La Tele"

V/A Juche (DPRK / KimIlSung) cd 14.98
Another amazing and mysterious and confusional release from the alwasy awesome Tesco distribution, source of so many things dark and militaristic and folky and blackened and indsutrial, and noisy and fucking amazing, definitely one of the outifts keeping modern industrial and post industrial music alive and kicking. They've brought us Der Blutharsch, Death In June, Anenzephalia, and now JUCHE. A compilation of modern industrial artists, weighing in on North Korea (!). What is Juche? Well Wikipedia describes it like this:
"The Juche Idea is the official state ideology and state-sponsored religion of North Korea and the political system based on it. The doctrine is a component part of Kimilsungism, the North Korean term for Kim Il-sung's family regime. The core principle of the Juche ideology since the 1970s has been that "man is the master of everything and decides everything". Juche literally means "main body" or "subject"; it has also been translated in North Korean sources as "independent stand" and the "spirit of self-reliance"."
Removed from the context of actual, totalitarian politics, Juche sounds kinda cool. Intense, brutal, simple. And certainly like some sort of industrial music manifesto. So it makes sense that these bands would have something to say about it. What exactly is up to you to decipher. From the music and the extensive art and text in the accompanying booklet. But for now we'll concern ourselves with the musicÉ
We were mostly excited by a brand new unreleased track from aQ faves Anenzephalia, whose past records were rife with the sort of intense, bleak, grim, blackened dronescapes we can never get enough of. The track here is still grim and dark, but more rhythmic, a crackling lo-fi glitchscape, a skeletal rhythm crafted from squelches and pops spread out over the drift below, a garbled alien melody, equal parts sine-wave and damaged sonar ping, eventually joined by a wavery insect like blackbuzz, and some distorted disembodied vocals, a looped snippet from a speech of some sort, the whole track subtly harrowing, and weirdly hypnotic.
The Turbund Sturmwerk track is super creepy as well, a whispery shimmer of ambience, a strange looped vocal whir in the background, sweeping swell of distant distortion, soft smears of hiss, all beneath an urgent voice, an emotional speech of some sort, the song shifting gears part way through and morphing into a swirling dirge, of crumbling downtuned chords, throbbing low end buzz and extremely panned bursts of fuzz and hiss. The Grey Wolves offer up another chunk of grinding ambient creep, a rough, gritty textured wash of processed synths and strange looped distortion, melodies rendered in shards of feedback and fractured effects, a voice buried in the mix, urgent and ominous, peppered with bits of Bush, and some tangled blurred rhythms.
Operation Cleansweep weigh in with a sinister stretch of drawn out tones, layered caustic rumbles, whirring machinelike drones, mysterious percussive thumps and creaks, all smeared into a dense throbbing buzz. The strangest track is probably Militia's, beginning with some spoken word, that slips into singing, in the background a slow building looped chunk of glimmering ambience. Soon an hypnotic looped synth melody swoops in, pulled from some lost Phillip Glass piece, accompanied by junkyard drums, all very mesmerizing and repetitive, a bit like gamelan, or some Steve Reich piece. A haunting slab of alien industrial world music.
The rest of the tracks are just as weird and cool, dark and drone-y, Con-Dom, Genocide Organ, Ex-Order. In fact, much of this comp seems to fall more in line with experimental drone music, than traditional 'industrial' music, some of it reminding us of mellower more blissed out Prurient, with processed vocals, all manner of rumbling, pulsing low end, plenty of buzz and blurred murk, all of it dark and mysterious and fucking awesome.
Packaged in an oversized A5 red textured cardstock booklet, the text and symbols on the cover letter pressed in embossed metallic gold, inside a full color booklet, with lyrics, images, photos, each band with their own page. And as it says on the back cover "Limited Edition of 15,000,000 copies", so better get yours nowÉ
MPEG Stream: TURBUND STURMWERK "Reunification"
MPEG Stream: MILITIA "A Kite Of Glass In A Blood Red Sky"
MPEG Stream: ANENZEPHALIA "Work For NK"

V/A San Francisco Goth Synth Industrial (Denki Tiger) cd 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
An SF goth compilation completely by, for and about those "of the night". Fifteen tracks in all spiral downward into the shadowy depths of darkwave and synth pop, super-saturated with synthesized string sounds, arpeggiated basslines, and programmed beats. Heavy on the dramatic and melodramatic, the various vocalists draw easy comparisons to the classic goth kings and queens; for instance, the very Siouxsie/Danielle Dax-esque swooping female vocals of Trance To The Sun, Information Society's deep, emotive male vocals a la Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode or Peter Murphy, and Ganymede's swooning croon over clubland beats like that of Soft Cell's Marc Almond.
RealAudio clip: TRANCE TO THE SUN "Black Sea, Black Fish"
RealAudio clip: INFORMATION SOCIETY "On The Outside"

V/A Serie Noire: Dark Pop And New Beat (Eskimo) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Dark pop? New beat? Call it what you will but that's one heck of a heavy thumpin' beat thundering up from the yesteryear depths of this fine Belgian compilation.
A highly entertaining mix of vintage rump-shakers and amusingly quirky tracks (make sure to check out Will Powers, one of the obscure gems from the '80s as standard New Wave / electro rhythms back the recitation of inane 'self help' lectures). While listening to track 10 "Hypnotic Tango" by My Mine, something struck us as oddly familiar... What the heck?! It's the chorus melody to "Look Of Love" by ABC. Supposedly the "sound of Belgium nightlife in the 80s" this compilation encompasses Section 25, Vicious Pink, Metro Area, Grauzone, Executive Slacks, John Carpenter, and even the Alan Parsons Project, among others. As dj mix documents go, this one's kinda neat and off the beaten track, and surely will capture the hearts of those diggin' the likes of The Faint and The Rapture.
MPEG Stream: VICIOUS PINK "8:15 To Nowhere"
MPEG Stream: WILL POWERS "Adventures In Success"

V/A The Minimal Wave Tapes Volume Two (Stones Throw / Minimal Wave) cd 13.98
By now, the term 'minimal wave' has become synonymous with a particular thread of somewhat dystopian and certainly DIY electronic pop whose origins land somewhere between 1978 and 1984. Back then, all of this music was probably lumped under the new wave or post-punk or maybe even industrial category; but thanks to Veronica Vasicka's label, a new taxonomy has stuck, and more than a handful of archivist labels following suit, including the exceptionally well curated Dark Entries alongside Vasicka's Minimal Wave.
Here, we have the second co-release between Minimal Wave and Peanut Butter Wolf's Stones Throw, collecting very rare tracks from very obscure 'minimal wave' acts mostly from that aforementioned time period. The only artist on this compilation with something of cultural cache would be Felix Kubin, whose contribution here is a cover of the jittery Germanic punk number "Japan Japan" by Abwarts, turning the frenzied pogo guitars and drums into Devo-esque electronic squeak and double-timed drum machination. Of course, Kubin adds his signature blankly-serious silliness to the reworking which dated back even to this track from 1985. Lesser known acts include Subject (with Belgian electronic maverick Alain Neffe providing the backing track to the impressively infectious guitar riff and motorik chug), Ruins (not to be confused with the Japanese group, this Italian act takes after the mid-'80s Factory Records dark discotheque productions a la Section 25) and Das Ding (a Dutch project of buzzing synth workouts who we only discovered through a full album reissued by Minimal Wave). Other total obscurities include the crooning melodrama of Class Info, the terse arpeggio of Hard Corps, and the contemporary production of Geneva Jacuzzi making a cheap electro-tango that harks back to the chimerical publications from 99 Records. It all makes for another fine piece of archival curation from Minimal Wave!
MPEG Stream: IN TRANCE 95 "Presidente"
MPEG Stream: SUBJECT "What Happened To You?"
MPEG Stream: RUINS "Fire"
MPEG Stream: FELIX KUBIN "Japan Japan"

V/A The Minimal Wave Tapes Volume Two (Stones Throw / Minimal Wave) lp 22.00
Also on vinyl!!
By now, the term 'minimal wave' has become synonymous with a particular thread of somewhat dystopian and certainly DIY electronic pop whose origins land somewhere between 1978 and 1984. Back then, all of this music was probably lumped under the new wave or post-punk or maybe even industrial category; but thanks to Veronica Vasicka's label, a new taxonomy has stuck, and more than a handful of archivist labels following suit, including the exceptionally well curated Dark Entries alongside Vasicka's Minimal Wave.
Here, we have the second co-release between Minimal Wave and Peanut Butter Wolf's Stones Throw, collecting very rare tracks from very obscure 'minimal wave' acts mostly from that aforementioned time period. The only artist on this compilation with something of cultural cache would be Felix Kubin, whose contribution here is a cover of the jittery Germanic punk number "Japan Japan" by Abwarts, turning the frenzied pogo guitars and drums into Devo-esque electronic squeak and double-timed drum machination. Of course, Kubin adds his signature blankly-serious silliness to the reworking which dated back even to this track from 1985. Lesser known acts include Subject (with Belgian electronic maverick Alain Neffe providing the backing track to the impressively infectious guitar riff and motorik chug), Ruins (not to be confused with the Japanese group, this Italian act takes after the mid-'80s Factory Records dark discotheque productions a la Section 25) and Das Ding (a Dutch project of buzzing synth workouts who we only discovered through a full album reissued by Minimal Wave). Other total obscurities include the crooning melodrama of Class Info, the terse arpeggio of Hard Corps, and the contemporary production of Geneva Jacuzzi making a cheap electro-tango that harks back to the chimerical publications from 99 Records. It all makes for another fine piece of archival curation from Minimal Wave!
MPEG Stream: IN TRANCE 95 "Presidente"
MPEG Stream: SUBJECT "What Happened To You?"
MPEG Stream: RUINS "Fire"
MPEG Stream: FELIX KUBIN "Japan Japan"

V/A Unknown Deutschland: The Krautrock Archive Volume 3 (Virgin) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Volume 3 features Golem, Galactic Explorers, The Nazgul, Baal, Chronos.

V/A Wierd Compilation Volume Two (Wierd Records) 4lp 39.00
Two NYC labels - Minimal Wave and Wierd Records - have been at the forefront in energizing a resurgence in minimally sculpted synth pop that harkens back to the late '70s and early '80s of synthpunk, darkwave, and industrial sensibilities. Where Minimal Wave's focus has been on digging up the lost gems from that seminal time period, Wierd actively supports those working in the field today, with a weekly club in New York and with well-curated albums including recent releases from Xeno & Oaklander and Led Er Est. Back in 2006, Wierd released a massive 3lp set, showcasing some of the best and brightest who had passed through their doors. That first set was a magnificent find, filled with misanthropes in black leather making dirge-crusted ambience, grinding dark-disco anthems, and sexy goth electronics sporting uncanny melodies. Unfortunately that set is currently out of print, although we're hoping to secure some copies anyway.
This, the second set, was completed at the end of 2008 and took a slightly different approach than the first, as the curatorial direction was clearly to dovetail Wierd's tastemaking aesthetic of coldwave synth pop with the perpetually moving US underground of noise-induced powerdroning. In many ways, what Wierd was doing in this compilation parallels what Carlos Giffoni has been doing with his No Fun Festivals, but from the other end of the spectrum.
So what you get here is a beautifully packaged collection that brackets a darkly propulsive synth-pop number with an abrasive noise-drone piece, with the linking factor being that all of the sounds have been made on analogue synths. Xeno & Oaklander, Martial Canterel, Three To Forgotten, Tobias Bernstrup, and Epee Du Bois belong to the former camp; and Demons (featuring Nate Young of Wolf Eyes fame), Envenomist, Cadaver In Drag, and even the aforementioned Mr. Giffoni represent the latter. Sleep Museum, Charlie Draheim, and Wave Tank seem to be the artists that do their part to marry the two, especially Draheim's piercing synth Leather Nun-ish anti-tune "Guts On The Dancefloor." Oh yeah, all the tracks here are exclusive to the compilation. Great. Great. Great.
MPEG Stream: ENVENOMIST "A Vague Disquiet"
MPEG Stream: DEMONS "Sick By Water"
MPEG Stream: VENDOME "Lightwave Emissions"
MPEG Stream: MARTIAL CANTEREL "Pathway Splits Apart"
MPEG Stream: TOBIAS BERNSTRUP "Enemies Of The Earth"

VANISHING, THE In The Bat Haus (Cochon Records) cd ep 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The vinyl's long gone, but The Vanishing's debut ep is available on a shiny 'lil cd. What we said before:
San Francisco's The Vanishing proves that a Goth band with a female lead vocalist doesn't have to sound like Siouxsie & The Banshees (but it's not necessarily a bad thing if they do since several other AQ goth novices think this does indeed sound quite a bit like Siouxsie!). Not that I don't find Siouxsie's records quite good (especially "Juju" and "Kaleidoscope"), but the small Gothic resurgence that's paralleling the New Wave revival has mostly been mimicking the aloof theatrics of Joy Division, Bauhaus, Sisters Of Mercy, or Siouxsie, without really saying anything beyond their heroes. Fortunately, the trio of Jessie Trashed (formerly of the Subtonix), Brian Hock, and AQ's own Sadie Shaw (also of The Lies, The Husbands and the co-director of the 8mm indie-gore film "Charm") have developed a pretty unique (or referentially obscure) signature sound. The Vanishing builds an intense, dissonant gloom through monotonous, distorted basslines and Carnival of Souls' organs twisted into sinister melodies, all without any guitars. Jessie's haunted vocals have been treated with an eerie tremolo warble as a well-executed complement to The Vanishing's throbbing music. As Sadie has admitted to having never heard X-Mal Deutschland before, I can safely say that The Vanishing has unintentionally arrived at a Goth sound previously carved out by that oft-forgotten 4AD band. And that's fine by me!
RealAudio clip: "Assisting Suicide"
RealAudio clip: "The Disaffectionate"

VANISHING, THE In The Bat Haus (Cochon Records) 10" 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
San Francisco's The Vanishing proves that a Goth band with a female lead vocalist doesn't have to sound like Siouxsie & The Banshees (but it's not necessarily a bad thing if they do since several other AQ goth novices think this does indeed sound quite a bit like Siouxsie!). Not that I don't find Siouxsie's records quite good (especially "Juju" and "Kaleidoscope"), but the small Gothic resurgence that's paralleling the New Wave revival has mostly been mimicking the aloof theatrics of Joy Division, Bauhaus, Sisters Of Mercy, or Siouxsie, without really saying anything beyond their heroes. Fortunately, the trio of Jessie Trashed (formerly of the Subtonix), Brian Hock, and AQ's own Sadie Shaw (also of The Lies, The Husbands and the co-director of the 8mm indie-gore film "Charm") have developed a pretty unique (or referentially obscure) signature sound. The Vanishing builds an intense, dissonant gloom through monotonous, distorted basslines and Carnival of Souls' organs twisted into sinister melodies, all without any guitars. Jessie's haunted vocals have been treated with an eerie tremolo warble as a well-executed complement to The Vanishing's throbbing music. As Sadie has admitted to having never heard X-Mal Deutschland before, I can safely say that The Vanishing has unintentionally arrived at a Goth sound previously carved out by that oft-forgotten 4AD band. And that's fine by me!
RealAudio clip: "Assisting Suicide"
RealAudio clip: "The Disaffectionate"

VANISHING, THE Songs For Psychotic Children (Gold Standard) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Born from the grim, death disco of the Subtonix and the oppressive gloom rock of The Lies, The Vanishing are no strangers to the Goth aesthetic and manage to pull off the typically stilted genre with a considerable amount of panache. "Songs For Psychotic Children" is the debut album for The Vanishing, who at the time of this recording included the SF's reigning Goth queen Jesse Trashed, Brian Hock, and Aquarius' dearly departed (not dead, just moved on to a new job) sweetie-pie Sadie Shaw who recently left the band to pursue her garage band The Husbands. Rather than turn to portentous swan songs and plodding atmospherics like the kind often produced for Projekt or Cleopatra records, The Vanishing finds success almost entirely through the theatrical wailings and panicky screams of vocalist / bassist Jesse Trashed, who has developed a vocal style that's clearly in keeping with the traditions of Goth culture, but separate from icons like Siouxsie Sioux, Nina Hagen, and Danielle Dax. Driven by her expressive, intense voice and sinewy basslines, The Vanishing furthers their black clad references with Sadie's haunted carnvival organs which would not be out of place on the seminal "Carnival Of Souls" soundtrack and with Brian exhuming the propulsive rhythm sections of the forgotten Batcave bands: Sex Gang Children, Specimen, and The March Violets. "Songs For Psychotic Children" comes together flawlessly, and marks a very good start for this local band.
MPEG Stream: "White Walls"
MPEG Stream: "Obituary"

VANISHING, THE Songs For Psychotic Children (Gold Standard) lp 10.98
Born from the grim, death disco of the Subtonix and the oppressive gloom rock of The Lies, The Vanishing are no strangers to the Goth aesthetic and manage to pull off the typically stilted genre with a considerable amount of panache. "Songs For Psychotic Children" is the debut album for The Vanishing, who at the time of this recording included the SF's reigning Goth queen Jesse Trashed, Brian Hock, and Aquarius' dearly departed (not dead, just moved on to a new job) sweetie-pie Sadie Shaw who recently left the band to pursue her garage band The Husbands. Rather than turn to portentous swan songs and plodding atmospherics like the kind often produced for Projekt or Cleopatra records, The Vanishing finds success almost entirely through the theatrical wailings and panicky screams of vocalist / bassist Jesse Trashed, who has developed a vocal style that's clearly in keeping with the traditions of Goth culture, but separate from icons like Siouxsie Sioux, Nina Hagen, and Danielle Dax. Driven by her expressive, intense voice and sinewy basslines, The Vanishing furthers their black clad references with Sadie's haunted carnvival organs which would not be out of place on the seminal "Carnival Of Souls" soundtrack and with Brian exhuming the propulsive rhythm sections of the forgotten Batcave bands: Sex Gang Children, Specimen, and The March Violets. "Songs For Psychotic Children" comes together flawlessly, and marks a very good start for this local band.

VANISHING, THE / VON IVA The Rebel Sounds Of Frisco Disco DJ Series (Princehouse) 12" 8.98
The batcave meets the blues rock on the dancefloor for this split by two Bay Area hotties!

VEIL VEIL VANISH Change in the Neon Light (Metropolis) cd 16.98
The first proper full-length by San Francisco gothsters Veil Veil Vanish is one hell of a pop record. Drawing from '80s darkwave and '90s post-rock, "Change in the Neon Light" will easily find airplay in both dark, smoky dance clubs and dark, smoky bedrooms covered in Smiths posters. Although comparisons to The Cure are inevitable, they are not determinative. Sometimes Keven Tecon's voice resembles Robert Smith's in tone, but where Smith relied (more and more) on a facade of whiny drama, Tecon's drama seems angrier and truer. The music, too, is definitely harsher than anything The Cure ever did, and as much influenced by shoegaze and glam as anything else.
The album's eponymous opener glides along a cloud of synthesizer and bass guitar, sounding fuller and fuller as the song progresses. "Anthem For A Doomed Youth" adds a little crunch and grit, the heavily distorted bass contrasting nicely with the acoustic (or at least clean-sounding) guitar in the chorus. The fourth song "Modern Lust" might be the catchiest song on the record, the bouncy synth keeping the track moving and shaking, the lyrics kind of scary and breathy. "This is Violet" has some excellent rhythms and guitar work, loud and fast and heavy, and is easily the best song on the record. The production on the album (done by Atom of Yeah Yeah Yeah's fame) feels large but not overdone, the individual tones complimenting each other perfectly, leaving space and filling in holes when necessary. This is a well put together and well written record that comes highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Change In the Neon Light"
MPEG Stream: "Modern Lust"
MPEG Stream: "This Is Violet"

VERONICA LIPGLOSS & THE EVIL EYES The Witch's Dagger (GSL) cd 13.98
Pig fuck. Now there's a poetic way to describe the sound that a band makes. It's sort of a shame that the description had already been applied to the grit and snot of '80s NYC bands like Pussy Galore, Live Skull and even Lydia Lunch at times, as it's a perfect encapsulation of what San Francisco's Veronica Lipgloss & The Evil Eyes are doing in this day and age. That said, about half of the debut album from Veronica Lipgloss does sound an awful lot like the mid '80s Lydia Lunch album In Limbo co-written by a thoroughly drugged-out Thurston Moore doing his best Birthday Party impersonation (quite well in fact!). The other half of the album picks up the tempo considerably and addresses their death-disco fix on par with what fellow San Franciscan goth-revivalists The Vanishing did so well: spry post-punk rhythms laced with taut basslines, tortured female punk vocals (e.g. early Siouxsie, X-Mal Deutschland, The Slits, etc.), blood splattered saxophone leads (which lends to James Chance & The Contortions comparisons), and arpeggiated synths that Fischerspooner would be proud of. Imagine a dishevelled porn queen with thoroughly smeared mascara, torn fishnets, a rumbled cheap-ass platinum blonde wig, and a needle dangling pathetically from her arm, and that's Veronica Lipgloss. There's nothing pretty about her, but all of the egotistic turmoil, self-appointed abjection, and escapist transgressions can make for a compelling listen.
MPEG Stream: "Driving Thru The Rain"
MPEG Stream: "Rats"
MPEG Stream: "Bleed To The Beat"

VITA NOCTIS Against The Rule (Dark Entries) 2lp 25.00
Vita Noctis were a peculiar Belgian synth-punk trio operating the early-to-mid '80s that come across as something of a strange hybrid of the sneering irony of Der Todliche Doris, the stripped simplicity of Young Marble Giants, and the general weirdness of Alain Neffe's Insane Music label. Recording with all second hand gear - just a couple synths, a drum machine, guitar and bass - Vita Noctis produced a handful of cassettes, one mini-LP, and a few tracks for compilations, all of which have been reissued on this handsome 2LP set from Dark Entries. The trio was unafraid to unravel their songs, with the drum machines revved up too fast, spiralling beyond their ability to keep up with the plink-plonk melodies and cat-scratched guitars. The naive experiments did warrant some peculiar results, such as the Club Moral-esque tinny tirade of "Civilisation," but not all was winking idiocy evoking contempt through a dedicated lack of craft. Vita Noctis would pen some downright catchy numbers such as the Slits-meets-disco groove of "She Likes Me," the spirited jangle of "These Lies" (documented in two different versions), and the calculator melodied "Hade," which could have been a nerdy love ballad, if the lyrics weren't declaring the exact opposite. Vita Noctis is not easy to love with all of their warts, crude productions, and drooling babble proudly displayed; but then that's probably why we're digging this record as much as we are.
MPEG Stream: "Pitch Dark"
MPEG Stream: "Hearing Noises"
MPEG Stream: "These Lies"
MPEG Stream: "Death & Smoke"

VON THRONSTAHL E Pluribus Unum (Cold Spring) cd 16.98
Found a few of these tucked away in the closet, one of our favorite records from this mysterious industrial martial folk neoclassical goth pop combo, 2001's E Pluribus Unum. While on all of the various VT records, the band does get seriously industrial, that side of their sound is balanced by their tendency to craft sort of woozy dour gloom pop that at its songiest sounds like some hybrid of the Doors, Spacemen 3, This Mortal Coil, and at its most abstract sounds like some darkly chilling soundtrack music, to some forgotten Dario Argento thriller, or some classic German art film.
The record starts off with tolling bells, and then a guitar riff, wait, it's AC/DC's "Hell's Bells", sampled, and looped, over and over and over, but instead of launching into the song, the riff becomes a weirdly mesmerizing groove, that main riff wrapped in strummed acoustic guitar, and softly swirling effects, laced with pounding martial drumming, all supporting a dreamy dramatic crooned vocal. Fans might remember the track on their Sacrificare record, where they took the Who's "Pinball Wizard" and similarly transformed it into their own weird sort of industrial goth pop.
The rest of the record is more traditionally neoclassical / neofolk, with mournful strings, swirling synths, militaristic drums, haunting samples, snippets of speeches, occasional gouts of crumbling distorted guitar, or growled demonic vox, it's a darkly gorgeous pseudo historical soundscape, a mysteriously varied, epic and majestic collection of otherwordly war songs, hazy sonic propaganda, and blackened doom pop.
MPEG Stream: "Bells"
MPEG Stream: "Mitternachtsberg"
MPEG Stream: "Inthronisation"

VON THRONSTAHL Imperium Internum (Cold Spring) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A long overdue reissue of this miltaristic ambient industrial folk, cinematic masterpiece originally released in 2000. Very much in the vein of Folkstorm, Toroidh, Der Blutharsch and the like, the music of Von Thronstahl was conceived, in the band's own words, with the idea of making "music & art which would be more attached to a real European heritage and not to a freemasonary, anarchic tradition of false liberty, which means lawlessness and rootlessness." Oof. Heavy. Well, no need to agree, or to even understand to dig this record. An expansive, orchestral, dark hued journey through European History, Fascism, War, life and love and loss. Huge sweeping minor key strings, over mournful melodies, plaintive piano, martial percussion, snippets of found sounds, snatches of old songs and speeches, ominous whispered vocals. Very intense and ominous and emotional, and weirdly reminiscent of UK outfit In The Nursery with the big strings and occasional pounding militaristic percussion, and even some once-in-a-while playful gipsy melodies. But the occasional lighthearted vibe aside, Imperium Internum is a raw and harrowing record, majestic and epic, but ultra personal, full of sorrow and misery, darkness and light. So great.
MPEG Stream: "Imperium Internum"
MPEG Stream: "Vorwarts, Die Raben Der Endzeit"
MPEG Stream: "Schwarz, Weiss, Rot"

WATER BORDERS Harbored Mantras (Triangle) cd 16.98
Finally!!! The hotly anticipated debut full length from San Francisco weirdo electronic duo Water Borders, aka Amitai Heller and Loric Sih, formerly of SF rockers New Thrill Parade! And HOLY SHIT does Harbored Mantras deliver the goods! All of us around here have been eagerly awaiting this and are so psyched to finally be able to share this freakily futuristic and subversive bass goth with everybody. Hopefully, by now, avid aQ list readers are well familiar with the warped soundworld of Water Borders from past records on killer labels like Skrot Up, Disaro, and the Hungry For Power label run by kick ass blog 20 Jazz Funk Greats. While all that material was definitely amazing, and excitingly forward thinking, their proper debut, "Harbored Mantras", might just turn out to be a total game changer. It makes sense a bleeding edge label like Triangle would put it out, as it's an obvious attempt to diversify and re-direct their already stunning canon. The future is simply bigger than 'witch-house', and the keen eyes of the powers that be at Triangle seem to understand this all too well. (Also see the beautifully stark Ayshay ep featured elsewhere on this list for further evidence).
It's a rare sonic artifact that successfully bridges the gaps between such disparate and divergent influences and comes out on the other side as something utterly unique. but Harbored Mantras does just that, and then some. Most of the reviews thus far and even the press release from the band itself have gone over the groups influences ad nauseum, but for the most part, they are pretty right on, we too hear Coil, we hear modern UK bass music, we hear echoes of Gavin Friday at his most expressive and brooding. All apt comparisons for sure. But what's so interesting to us is the manner and method in which Water Borders implement these influences to effectively create a fresh crossover. Water Borders' sound successfully inhabits multiple musical universes in ways that are both subtle and surreal, yet somehow impossibly calculated and perfectly executed. It's a churning gothic weirdness, it's well informed dance music, it's textural and moody, while at the same time solidly rooted in lyric based song form. The songs that constitute "Harbored Mantras" solidly convey a dark vision of the present and future. Technophobic paranoia, social inequities, workaday drudgery, narcissistic identity crisis, and the ever-changing nature of communication are all strands that are woven into the spirit and soul of this record. There's much to be discovered in this piece of work... let's get to the tunes.
The album opens up with the slow burn of "Tread on Them". We're greeted with the sounds of long forgotten bones clattering in a blackened wind, while a ritualistic metallic clang creeps into the foreground. Heller's creepy baritone enters atop this hissing texture and suddenly with the introduction of bass we're sent falling into WB's bottomless sound-cave. The low end frequency is a dark and dubby stomach ache drone, creating a different type of club vibe. Euphoria replaced with claustrophobia. The sound is functionally cathartic, like good dance music ought to be, but the feeling is still foreboding. "Yelling long live success" as we waltz on top of the vanquished, feeling a deep shame all the while for acts willfully committed to arrive at the top of this heap... "What Wiwant" ups the energy with a nervously syncopated 2-step. Disassociated hand percussion and the ever-present bass wobble creating an absolutely hypnotic head-nod trance. The song is a driving banger swaddled in ominous synth textures, working you up to a frenzy while never letting you leave the hazy nightmare. "Waldenpond.com" is a brief respite from the chaos, offering up a beautiful slab of gloomy triphop. The guest vocals from Group Rhoda are a gorgeous addition to the WB's sound, strongly contrasting Heller's guttural croon with plaintive melody. The tempo is slower here, kind of a groovy, opiated dream state where melodies and textures swirl atop a dubbed out rhythm track. The vocal production is particularly stunning on this one. For the first half of the tune Group Rhoda's vocals are shimmery and ghost like, floating atop the beat with dense reverberation and spacious delay. About half way through the track the vocals are sampled and arranged rhythmically, becoming part of the beat itself. This clever production tactic lends itself well to creating an arc within the song... where we once sought comfort in the gauzy atmospherics we now are suddenly bucked off that cloud, hurled into a more jarring moment. The line "I hate the night" bouncing in our brains, awakening visions of a parallel world where identity is fragmented and "reality" is confused. And that BASS! Caustic, deep rumbles shaking us to the core. All elements combining to give an overall feeling of discomfort, albeit one that you can get down to. "Bad Ethos" is a harshly negative slo-mo industrial track. Lots of noisy mids and highs droning on and on with some seriously demented histrionics going on with Heller's vocals, the deep dark bellow replaced with a high end evil screech. Next up is arguably THEE cut of the record, "Even in the Dark". Originally featured on the group's Disaro disc, but now revamped and made even more MASSIVE! Starting with a minor key arpeggiation, the bass slowly creeping in and the vocals murky and misanthropic. Suddenly those same vocals become more discernible, albeit DRENCHED in a reverb glaze, revealing probably the strongest melodic moments of the record. The underpinning is still the throbbing pulsations heard throughout, but now with an intense element of high end melodic skree, tom toms ping ponging across a vast cavern, synths clawing at the ears, a cacophonous tumult resulting in an undeniable urge to erase the self and finally dance off that cliff that "Harbored Mantras" has been beckoning you toward throughout.Ê
From here on out, the album remains driven towards this death trance mood, incredibly focused in its intent. It's alienating and disturbing but at the same time engaging and creative. Moments of beauty, moments of chaos...a fully developed record with an incredibly consistent vibe. This is what we mean by game-changer. It's at once a part of the now, but also something wholly different and utterly challenging, not easy listening at all. Never pandering to the trends, but at the same time so current and powerful! An infinitely rewarding debut record from an outfit that promises to keep on pushing their futuristic sonic agenda. Absolutely essential!!!
MPEG Stream: "What Wiwant"
MPEG Stream: "Waldenpond.com"
MPEG Stream: "Even In The Dark"

WATER BORDERS Harbored Mantras (Triangle) lp 19.98
Finally!!! The hotly anticipated debut full length from San Francisco weirdo electronic duo Water Borders, aka Amitai Heller and Loric Sih, formerly of SF rockers New Thrill Parade! And HOLY SHIT does Harbored Mantras deliver the goods! All of us around here have been eagerly awaiting this and are so psyched to finally be able to share this freakily futuristic and subversive bass goth with everybody. Hopefully, by now, avid aQ list readers are well familiar with the warped soundworld of Water Borders from past records on killer labels like Skrot Up, Disaro, and the Hungry For Power label run by kick ass blog 20 Jazz Funk Greats. While all that material was definitely amazing, and excitingly forward thinking, their proper debut, "Harbored Mantras", might just turn out to be a total game changer. It makes sense a bleeding edge label like Triangle would put it out, as it's an obvious attempt to diversify and re-direct their already stunning canon. The future is simply bigger than 'witch-house', and the keen eyes of the powers that be at Triangle seem to understand this all too well. (Also see the beautifully stark Ayshay ep featured elsewhere on this list for further evidence).
It's a rare sonic artifact that successfully bridges the gaps between such disparate and divergent influences and comes out on the other side as something utterly unique. but Harbored Mantras does just that, and then some. Most of the reviews thus far and even the press release from the band itself have gone over the groups influences ad nauseum, but for the most part, they are pretty right on, we too hear Coil, we hear modern UK bass music, we hear echoes of Gavin Friday at his most expressive and brooding. All apt comparisons for sure. But what's so interesting to us is the manner and method in which Water Borders implement these influences to effectively create a fresh crossover. Water Borders' sound successfully inhabits multiple musical universes in ways that are both subtle and surreal, yet somehow impossibly calculated and perfectly executed. It's a churning gothic weirdness, it's well informed dance music, it's textural and moody, while at the same time solidly rooted in lyric based song form. The songs that constitute "Harbored Mantras" solidly convey a dark vision of the present and future. Technophobic paranoia, social inequities, workaday drudgery, narcissistic identity crisis, and the ever-changing nature of communication are all strands that are woven into the spirit and soul of this record. There's much to be discovered in this piece of work... let's get to the tunes.
The album opens up with the slow burn of "Tread on Them". We're greeted with the sounds of long forgotten bones clattering in a blackened wind, while a ritualistic metallic clang creeps into the foreground. Heller's creepy baritone enters atop this hissing texture and suddenly with the introduction of bass we're sent falling into WB's bottomless sound-cave. The low end frequency is a dark and dubby stomach ache drone, creating a different type of club vibe. Euphoria replaced with claustrophobia. The sound is functionally cathartic, like good dance music ought to be, but the feeling is still foreboding. "Yelling long live success" as we waltz on top of the vanquished, feeling a deep shame all the while for acts willfully committed to arrive at the top of this heap... "What Wiwant" ups the energy with a nervously syncopated 2-step. Disassociated hand percussion and the ever-present bass wobble creating an absolutely hypnotic head-nod trance. The song is a driving banger swaddled in ominous synth textures, working you up to a frenzy while never letting you leave the hazy nightmare. "Waldenpond.com" is a brief respite from the chaos, offering up a beautiful slab of gloomy triphop. The guest vocals from Group Rhoda are a gorgeous addition to the WB's sound, strongly contrasting Heller's guttural croon with plaintive melody. The tempo is slower here, kind of a groovy, opiated dream state where melodies and textures swirl atop a dubbed out rhythm track. The vocal production is particularly stunning on this one. For the first half of the tune Group Rhoda's vocals are shimmery and ghost like, floating atop the beat with dense reverberation and spacious delay. About half way through the track the vocals are sampled and arranged rhythmically, becoming part of the beat itself. This clever production tactic lends itself well to creating an arc within the song... where we once sought comfort in the gauzy atmospherics we now are suddenly bucked off that cloud, hurled into a more jarring moment. The line "I hate the night" bouncing in our brains, awakening visions of a parallel world where identity is fragmented and "reality" is confused. And that BASS! Caustic, deep rumbles shaking us to the core. All elements combining to give an overall feeling of discomfort, albeit one that you can get down to. "Bad Ethos" is a harshly negative slo-mo industrial track. Lots of noisy mids and highs droning on and on with some seriously demented histrionics going on with Heller's vocals, the deep dark bellow replaced with a high end evil screech. Next up is arguably THEE cut of the record, "Even in the Dark". Originally featured on the group's Disaro disc, but now revamped and made even more MASSIVE! Starting with a minor key arpeggiation, the bass slowly creeping in and the vocals murky and misanthropic. Suddenly those same vocals become more discernible, albeit DRENCHED in a reverb glaze, revealing probably the strongest melodic moments of the record. The underpinning is still the throbbing pulsations heard throughout, but now with an intense element of high end melodic skree, tom toms ping ponging across a vast cavern, synths clawing at the ears, a cacophonous tumult resulting in an undeniable urge to erase the self and finally dance off that cliff that "Harbored Mantras" has been beckoning you toward throughout.Ê
From here on out, the album remains driven towards this death trance mood, incredibly focused in its intent. It's alienating and disturbing but at the same time engaging and creative. Moments of beauty, moments of chaos...a fully developed record with an incredibly consistent vibe. This is what we mean by game-changer. It's at once a part of the now, but also something wholly different and utterly challenging, not easy listening at all. Never pandering to the trends, but at the same time so current and powerful! An infinitely rewarding debut record from an outfit that promises to keep on pushing their futuristic sonic agenda. Absolutely essential!!!
MPEG Stream: "What Wiwant"
MPEG Stream: "Waldenpond.com"
MPEG Stream: "Even In The Dark"