SHADOWS FALL Threads Of Life (Atlantic) cd 14.98

MPEG Stream: "Redemption"
MPEG Stream: "Burning The Lives"

SHADOWS GROUND In Eternal Coldness Of The Night (Black Hate Productions) cd 9.00
**SALE **SALE* *SALE** We've always had a certain fascination with Eastern European black metal. Sure, there are some similarities to the hordes of Scandinavia, but there is just something about bands from places like Russia, Romania, and the Ukraine, home of Shadows Ground. At this point in black metal's long history, things are usually a little more raw, more bleak, and just a little more mysterious with bands from these places. Shadows Ground are very reminiscent, both sonically and lyrically of Old Wainds, who you might recognize as one of our favorite black metal bands of all time. Like Old Wainds, and to a similar degree OW-related project Nav, these guys give you a first hand glimpse into the cold wintry realms of their homeland. Depressing insectoid melodies buzz relentlessly over the non-stop blasts, and the vocals are a harsh demon croak spitting out classic black metal truths of darkness and despair. There are some nice pics of the band being irresponsible with knives and fire, and this certainly harkens back to the days when black metal still seemed like a threat, or at least something you would want to avoid in a graveyard. Even though there are plenty of other bands who may be doing things more unique in the way of instrumentation and presentation, sometimes you just don't want to fuck with classic formulas, and anyone who yearns for some Transylvanian Hunger styled madness will find plenty of reasons to rejoice with this.
MPEG Stream: "In Unholy Fog Of Death"
MPEG Stream: "Our Truth"
MPEG Stream: "In Eternal Coldness Of The Night"

SHAGAN, MAZHAR Ragas Au Penjab (Harmonia Mundi) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Not only is Mazhar Shagan a modern master of Hindustani classical music, he is also fairly non-traditional in the fact that he perfoms these gorgeously drone-y, age-old ragas on the very Western mandolin! Like much classical Indian music, these are epic and shimmering, long form drones, steel strings buzzing, weaving a lush nest of sonic overtones, underpinning emotionally rich melodies, weaving hypnotically through the thick sonic miasma. The sound of the mandolin is distinctly non-Eastern, and gives the proceedings an almost country feel, making Ragas Au Penjab sound like early twentieth century Appalachian folk music filtered through Indian classical music. So, so nice. Definitely for fans of modern practitioners of the (American Primitive) raga like Jack Rose, Pelt, Fahey etc, as well of course, as fans of Indian classical music.
MPEG Stream: "Raga Desh"

SHAGGS Philosophy of the World (RCA) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
I really love this album.
Championed by Lester Bangs, Terry Allen of NRBQ, and Frank Zappa, who famously claimed the Wiggins sisters to be "better than the Beatles."
Perhaps the ultimate "outsider music" album, there's the obvious element of "so-bad-it's-good" or, for some, "so-bad-it's-excruciating," but deeper listens to the Shaggs yield rewards beyond surface novelty. No, they couldn't play well- the girls felt they really needed more practice before recording an album- but the resulting sounds, existing in realms apart from any usual notions of tempo, rythm or melody- are bafflingly compelling in their expressiveness.

SHAGRAT Pink Jackets Required (Get Back) cd 14.98
Another collection of '69/'70 material by Steve "Peregrine" Took's post-Tyrannosaurus Rex acid-folk-rock outfit, mined from the bottomless vaults of Shagrat drummer/co-conspirator Twink. Includes demo versions of songs previously released on the recent Shagrat "Lone Star" collection, and tracks from Twink's classic "Think Pink" album as well. Probably for completists only, or conversely, for those who don't have any of this stuff. It's just the tip of the Pink Fairies/Tyrannosaurus Rex/Hawkwind/etc. psychedelic iceberg.

SHAI HULUD That Within Blood Ill Tempered (Revelation) cd 13.98

SHAI HULUD + BOY SETS FIRE Crush Em' All (Undecided) 7" 3.99
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Yet another conceptual series, this time it's heavy, metalcore bands covering the godfathers of Bay Area thrash. The first installment is Boy Sets Fire and Shai Hulud doing 'Fade To Black' and 'Damage Inc.' respectively.
But man, the packaging. I'm not sure how to explain it. it's very minimal, die cut so it's like a jagged sash, just barely covering the 7", and unfolded it's like a big fish hook/lightning bolt. weird and cool

SHAKING RAY LEVIS Boss Witch (Shaking Ray Records) cd 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
At last, the SRLs release a follow-up to their great '92 debut on Derek Bailey's Incus label. Bob Stagner and Denis Palmer are Tennessee's (and the world's) most phenomenal "hillbilly" improv duo, utilizing primitive synthesizers, homemade percussion, and Dennis' glossalalic vocalizations. Very weird but catchy and fun, unlike a lot of the free improv scene. Kind of like as if outsider art magazine "Raw Vision" had a soundtrack. Guests include Steve Beresford, Davey Williams and Frank Pahl. Get this, and go see them live if you ever get the chance, they'll amaze you!

SHAKY HANDS, THE s/t (Holocene Music) cd 14.98
The Shaky Hands' romping indie pop debut grazes on the fresh pastures of current darlings Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade and Hidden Cameras. The influence of earlier college rock peculiarities Violent Femmes, Adrian Belew, Talking Heads is audible at every turn, along with the loosely woven, folksy, open-hearted emotiveness of Jeff Mangum. Catchy, bright and quirky.
MPEG Stream: "Whales Sing"
MPEG Stream: "Summer's Life"

SHALABI EFFECT Shalabi Effect (Alien8 Recordings) 2cd 17.98
Supposedly the Shalabi Effect were slated to do a split with Godspeed You Black Emperor (some of who's members appear here as guest musicians), but the project became so involved that they ended up passing the deadline and instead forged ahead to produce this double cd tour de force. The brainchild of Sam Shalabi, the Shalabi Effect can and have been compared to the likes of Acid Mother's Temple, No Neck Blues Band, Faust and even early "Umma Gumma" era Pink Floyd with their long, hypnotic songs which develop in and out of sparce psychedelic soundscapes and powerful droning jams (even breaking out and playing straight up Sudanese music!). The instrumentation is suitably varied: from standard rock guitar, bass, drums, to electronics, oud, tabla, flute, violin, you name it, it's probably on here. Definitely for fans of the "Constellation-label sound".

SHALABI EFFECT The Trial Of St. Orange (Alien8 Recordings) cd 14.98
Textural improv psychedelia, what we might term some kind of modern "international krautrock" (our new invented genre), from this group of Montreal outer-limits explorers lead by Sam Shalabi (Molasses, Detention, solo, etc.). This is a fine follow up to their sprawling double cd debut from 2 years ago. A blend of vintage electronics, ethnic instruments (there's lots of "world percussion" goin' on), prepared electric guitar, and more. At times driving and propulsive, at others epic and droning, Shalabi Effect have a very 'organic' sound -- they even use recordings of falling rain, birds, natural stuff like that. For fans of Thuja, Ghost, Acid Mothers Temple, and that whole rad Montreal scene (Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Silver Mt. Zion, etc.) of which these guys are a part.
RealAudio clip: "Sister Sleep"
RealAudio clip: "Mr. Titz (The Revelator)"
RealAudio clip: "A Glow In The Dark"

SHALABI EFFECT Unfortunately (Alien8 Recordings) cd 14.98

SHALABI, SAM On Hashish (Alien8 Recordings) cd 14.98
Montreal musician Shalabi (of his namesake Effect, Molasses and AQ-faves Silver Mt. Zion) tries his hand at (studio-aided) composition, getting a dozen local improv-oriented musicians to play with the tape rolling and then later assembling these pieces from the recordings. Inspired by the German psychedelic researcher Walter Benjamin (not the other, philosophical Walter Benjamin you may have heard about in college) and *his* inspiration, hashish, Shalabi turns out some dense, dark jazz/drone/glitch pieces for your (stoned?) indulgence.
RealAudio clip: "Soot"
RealAudio clip: "The Wherewithall"

SHALABI, SAM Osama (Alien8 Recordings) cd 14.98

SHALL NOT KILL / FANTASTIKOL HOLE / TEKKEN / MOON split (Ocinatas / Wee Wee / 213 / Burning Emptiness Inc. / Krusty Le Clown / Nhdiyst / Shifty / Parade / Noisey Bear) cd 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We recently reviewed the kille rultra doom disc from Habsyll on tUMULt, and figured we oughta revisit the mighty Fantastikol Hole, who share a member with Habsyll, AND three other kick ass musical heavies, so let's go:
It seems like maybe we're becoming a little predictable sometimes, letting the name of a band, or some insane cover art get us all gaga over a record before we even hear the music. But while it's only a theory, it seems like in most cases, the music is just as good as the artwork. Or the band name. For years, we've applied that theory to our record shopping and have rarely been disappointed.
So here we are again. You obviously know where this is heading since we ARE reviewing this record, AND highlighting it, but a while back, it was just a name, Fantastikol Hole. How could we not be curious, if not utterly smitten. A band called Fantastikol Hole? C'mon. SO we tracked down every shred of recorded music from these guys and got just a little bit obsessed. But this is the first one we could track down enough of to list. Four bands, all amazing, all totally different, all French we think, a record so heavy and weird it took TEN labels to release it. And after all that talk of Fantastikol Hole, they only have three tracks here, but it's enough to get you as obsessed as we are.
So what exactly are Fantastikol Hole all about? Super aggro, mathy, convoulted experimental heavy rock weirdness. Stop start stuttery arrangements, huge slabs of Neurosis-y sludge, bits of shimmer and drone-y ambience, wild tangled squiggly leads, angular atonal riffage, howled distorted vocals, long stretches of crumbling doomy buzz, and that's just the first song of three. The second is even more manic, a sort of proggy grind, with tons of space, and weird stops, jagged riffing, swirling dizzying bursts of buzzing fury, programmed drums, explosions of impossibly convoluted synth swathed hypergrind, shortwave radio interference. The third track is only two minutes, but they spend it plodding along doomily, a huge downtuned riff, wrapped around a simple percussive thud, the vocals processed and super distorted, so genius. Complex and confusional and mathy and heavy as fuck. We need to carry more Fantastikol Hole. We will remedy that as soon as humanly possible.
But what about the other fantastikol bands here? Well, there's Shall Not Kill, who offer up three tracks of their own brand of heaviness, a groovy stoned, heavy as fuck plodding midtempo post punk sludgy doom, rife with harmonized lead guitars, yowled vocals, super psychedelic squalls of twisted tangled leads, busts of furious octopoidal drumming, some super fast Maiden style jams, some blissed out droney dirges, but always returning to some sort of cracked classic doom sound.
Up next is Tekken, who are fast and fucked up and furious, a white hot metallic hardcore, bordering on grind, with weird samples, blasts of incendiary buzz, pounding chaotic drumming and snarling punk as fuck howled vocals. The last track finds their grinding punk chopped up and flipped backwards, slathered in static, turning it into some weird fuzzed out, stuttering soundscape of skipping punk rock cds and shortwave interference.
And finally, comes the band Moon, whose three long tracks fall somewhere between ultra minimal dronemusic, and the slow motion sludge riffery of Old Earth or SUNNO))), nearly ambient the slow low rumbles eventually build into a lugubrious downtuned crawl, the buzz occasionally receding, and revealing a glimmering glistening shimmer beneath the rumble.
A pretty weird combination, but a tough one to beat. We've found ourselves digging for more stuff from all four of these bands, although our heart still belongs to Fantastikol Hole.
WAY recommended.
MPEG Stream: SHALL NOT KILL "Resilience"
MPEG Stream: FANTASTIKOL HOLE "Untitled 1"
MPEG Stream: FANTASTIKOL HOLE "Untitled 2"
MPEG Stream: TEKKEN "Die Young = Stay Stupid"
MPEG Stream: MOON "Dead And Dreaming"

SHALLOW NORTH DAKOTA Mob Wheel (Six Foot Foam Skull) 2lp 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The thing about sloooooow bands, is that their slowness tends to permeate every facet of their lives. Including sending records. So now we finally have another small batch of this massive slab of sludgy doom. This new batch comes with a cd-r of the music that's on the 2lp, making it much eassier to get this vinyl onto your iPod or whatever...
Gooey crunchy sludge from the Great White North.
67 minutes of what sounds like the sonic equivalent of your head dunked in RobitussinÉ
Gorgeous packaging: a double LP on nice thick vinyl, an ULTRA LIMITED edition of 300, all hand-screened (inside and out) printed on brown heavy cardstock that folds like a big envelope.
Which is perfect, you need a cover this thick to contain the downtuned blobs of almost unbearable heaviness that these guys ooze.
And we mean that in a good wayÉ Mob Wheel is a delightfully skull caving mix of Dopethrone-era Electric Wizard and some Floor or later Cavity. Maybe even some early Unsane. All that with a giant dose of Bullhead-era Melvins crush and just a smidge of early Eyehategod. Tuneful? A bit. Melodic? A bit. Heavy? Let's see, imagine a dumptruck full of gold bricks, dipped in tar and dropped from a plane. That's sort of heavy. Now imagine that dumptruck MADE out of solid gold and filled with black holes, and fired from a cannon, in space, directly at your earhole. Now you're getting closer.
Yeah, you definitely need this: the gooey, sticky, sludgy, icky stuff we can't get enough of! Like someone took the record, threw it in a pot to boil, then dumped it over your head.
Fans of the "new sludge" (Boris, Corrupted, SUNNO))), Earth) will be in heaven (or hell I guess depending on your preference)!
Featuring a former member of doom-dirge lords Sons of Otis and a current member or metalcore heros Cursed, Shallow N.D. has been a mainstay in the Ontario scene since 1992.
Unfortunately the band have recently hung up their touring boots and put the van up on blocks, so we'll just have to imagine what it would be like see these guys conjure up this dissonant crunch and thud on stage!
MPEG Stream: "With My Pitchfork"
MPEG Stream: "Dead Man Has A Memo"

SHAN, MC The Best of Cold Chillin' (Cold Chillin') cd 17.98
Newest volume in legendary label Cold Chillin's "best-of" series. This focuses on MC Shan of the Juice Crew who put the Queensbridge Projects on the map with his incredibly deft vocal stylings backed up the spare booming production of Marley Marl. So old school, so dependably great. Recommended.
RealAudio clip: "Jane Stop This Crazy Thing"

SHAN, MC The Best of Cold Chillin' (Cold Chillin') 2lp 17.98
Newest volume in legendary label Cold Chillin's "best-of" series. This focuses on MC Shan of the Juice Crew who put NYC's Queensbridge Projects on the map with his incredibly deft vocal stylings backed up the spare booming production of Marley Marl. So old school, so dependably great. Recommended.

SHANKAR, ANANDA A Life In Music (Times Square) 2cd 16.98
At last, a readily available cd collection of ultra kitschy, exotic grooviness from the late great Ananda Shankar, nephew of '60s counter-cultural phenom, sitar master Ravi Shankar. Ananda Shankar, a sitar player himself (he gave lessons to Jimi Hendrix, in fact) had his own, rather more cult recording career, beginning with a self-titled album released in the USA in 1970 that featured sitar and Moog laden instrumental versions of such contemporary rock n' roll tunes as "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "Light My Fire". He went on to record many more albums in India, all of 'em featuring the funky, futuristic East-meets-West fusion of which he was a pioneer. Such tracks as "Dancing Drums" and "Streets Of Calcutta" (both included here) eventually became DJ staples with the rise of the "Asian Underground" club scene in the '90s (Talvin Singh, et. al.).
Subtitled "the best of the EMI years", this 22-track, double cd anthology draws from seven different albums by Shankar, recorded for the EMI-owned Gramaphone Company Of India between 1975 and 1999, when Shankar unfortunately died of a heart attack at the age of 53. There's many gems here to tickle the fancy of anyone into Bollywood-style music. (And if you want to hear that 1970 debut album, it's at last been reissued domestically on cd by Collector's Choice, and is also in stock here at AQ.)
MPEG Stream: "Dancing Drums"
MPEG Stream: "The Alien"

SHANKAR, ANANDA A Musical Discovery Of India (Cloud Forest Recordings) cd 13.98
A few lists ago you might remember us gushing over the work of India's Dilip Roy. His record Namaskar was the perfect musical open armed welcome to the India we always see in our dreams. We mentioned in our review of that record how Roy had done production and arrangements for Ananda Shankar. And then just a few weeks after basking in the glory of Roy's great early 80's masterpiece we were met with the reissue of two great Dilip Roy arranged Ananda Shankar albums on this cd. A Musical Discovery of India was originally a 12" made for the India Tourism Development Corporation in 1978. It makes obvious sense why this would be used to sell travel to India because after listening to these lush arrangements, who in their right mind would not want to jump on the first plane to India?! The second record collected here is the fiery and frisky Sarrega Machan. On this album Shankar was once again joined by Dilip Roy and his majestic arrangements for a record with bizarre themes, of twilight and playful animals, a record that ignites a full sensory experience, like some soundtrack to a wildly colorful nature adventure filled with suspense and intrigue. Ananda always possessed a lighter, groovier and more playful touch than his much revered brother Ravi, but these two records prove once again that in his own approach he added so much richness to Indian music and culture. Highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Kaziranga Beat"
MPEG Stream: "Charging Tiger"
MPEG Stream: "Jungle Symphony"

SHANKAR, ANANDA s/t (Collector's Choice) cd 14.98
Kitschy sitar / Moog classic from 1970, featuring a great cover and some amusing covers ("Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "Light My Fire") alongside Shankar's own Indian music meets Western pop experiments...pretty cool. Finally reissued legit.

SHANKAR, ANANDA s/t (Rhino / Scorpio) lp 16.98
Kitschy sitar / Moog classic from 1970, featuring a great cover and some amusing covers ("Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "Light My Fire") alongside Shankar's own Indian music meets Western pop experiments...pretty cool. Finally reissued legit.

SHANKAR, ANANDA Thoth to Eros (Bombay Beat) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Subtitled "The Best of Ananda Shankar", this is long overdue (the original LPs command hundreds of dollars) material from Ravi's brother. Completely whacked out psychedelic sitar music, albeit a little cheesier (he covers "Jumpin Jack Flash") but sometimes a lot weirder and more experimental than brother Ravi. Supposedly comes with CD-ROM visuals.

SHANKAR, ANANDA, EXPERIENCE, THE & STATE OF BENGAL Walking On (Real World) cd 16.98
Ananda Shankar (RIP) met up in '99 with British "Asian Underground" DJ State of Bengal for this sitar-funk-electronica session. Indeed an "illustrious cult figure in the secret history of pop culture", Shankar was famed for his East-meets-West psychedelic pop experiments decades ago, and this is a fun and fitting finale to his career. If you were into the "Untouchable Outcaste Beats" comp (which featured an old Shankar track alongside folks from the new Asian/UK DJ scene) and/or are a fan of the likes of Talvin Singh, you should check this out.

SHANKAR, RAVI Flowers Of India (Cherry Red) cd 17.98

SHANKAR, RAVI Sounds Of India (Columbia) cd 5.00
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**

SHANKAR, RAVI Transmigration Macabre (Cherry Red) cd 16.98
Without a doubt one of the most psychedelic and experimental sounding records in the amazing recorded legacy of Ravi Shankar. Composed as a score for the British art film Viola, this finds Shankar experimenting and traveling with sounds that one might not always associate with him. Of course it's still his playing and several tracks have his unmistakable and totally influential sitar sounds, exactly the way you're familiar hearing them, but what's so nice about -this- record is that there are also moments where if you were listening without knowing it was Shankar you might guess it was any of a handful of psychedelic experimental bands from the last quarter century. Apparently the film is about a possessed man's belief that his dead wife has returned to life in the form of a cat that pursues him. Wow trippy stuff...and Ravi knew just the sounds to convey those otherworldly feelings. Really nice!
MPEG Stream: "Anxiety"
MPEG Stream: "Death"

SHANKAR, RAVI & ALI AKBAR KHAN More Flowers of India (El Records) cd 17.98

SHANKAR, RAVI & ALI AKBAR-KHAN The Master Musicians Of India (Doxy) lp 26.00

SHANNON AND THE CLAMS I Wanna Go Home (1-2-3-4 GO! Records) cd 13.98
After totally loving their 7" from last year we were so excited to get a full serving of this Oakland band's awesome, raw, reverb soaked garage pop. And as much as we did dig that 7", this full length is really taking it to new levels with greater urgency and intensity. I Wanna Go Home definitely demonstrates that Shannon And The Clams possess the ability to inject so many damn hooks in to a smoking brew of haunted and infectious down and dirty garage pop. At times the vocal delivery makes us think of the first Strokes album if it was stripped of its major label polish and doused with the magical aura of Billy Childish/Thee Headcoatees. Or like if Wanda Jackson somehow magically collaborated with The Cramps or The Crystals, and was the covered by The Gits. Shannon And The Clams perfectly meld their love of old school rock 'n' roll / RnB and girl groups with their appreciation of crustier punk and garage rock influences, and the result is so kick ass. Makes perfect sense that they often play with Thee Oh Sees and Ty Segall, cuz while they don't sound exactly like those other bands, they do share the same undeniably true sonic soul that makes the great garage sound makers stick out from the legion of dabblers. None of those wannabees have the true punch and fire in their sound to pull it off like Shannon And The Clams do. So damn good!
MPEG Stream: "Troublemaker"
MPEG Stream: "You Can Come Over"
MPEG Stream: "I Wanna Go Home"

SHANNON AND THE CLAMS Hunk Hunt (Weird Hug) 7" 4.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
San Francisco has a rich history when it comes to raw garage punk rock. But we have to say so much of that scene in the past had a bit too much of a dudes n' beer n' bar vibe for us. It's not until the last few years with a whole new new wave of garage peddlers that we've really been swept up in the raw and rocking fun of a scene that seems to have evolved for the better.
Shannon And The Clams have been making quite a name for themselves here in the Bay with their super fun live shows where they usually play on bills with their pals like Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall and Hunx and His Punx. The four songs on Hunk Hunt really show off the range of their sound. From '50s inspired girl group classics corrupted by angular art punk to a more rocking garage sound more in the tradition of The Headcoats/Headcoatees or what The Husbands might have sounded like drenched in more of a Cramps influence. If you live in town or they come to yours by all means see this group live, but for now, this 7" serves as a pretty awesome introduction to their world.

SHANNON AND THE CLAMS Paddy's Birthday (South Paw) 7" 7.98
Oakland's Shannon And The Clams are quickly becoming one of our favorite Bay Area bands. Their live shows are so fun filled and thrilling and their full length debut totally won us over the way it channeled old school rock n' roll, girl groups, garage rock, and RnB, all wrapped into a singular charismatic punk rock aesthetic. Recently Shannon joined the live incarnation of Hunx & His Punx or as they call it now Hunx & His Punkettes, and when you see them live you realize how much Shannon's vocals and playing really help make Hunx's live shows so much more satisfying.
Paddy's Birthday continues to show us why we love this group so much. Shannon is possessed with one of the strongest and moving voices of any vocalist around, she really owns every single note and word she sings. Like some awesome combination of Etta James, The Shirelles, and The Gits, this is a 7" that shows off a band that really is creating their own sound and doing it so damn well.

SHANNON AND THE CLAMS Ruin Christmas (1-2-3-4 Go! ) 7" 6.98
The holidays are behind us (or way in front of us) but we couldn't just ignore this great Christmas 7" from Oakland's Shannon & The Clams, showing they aren't too cool to have a soft spot for the holidays. Covering four of their favorite holiday tracks by a range of folks including Paul 'Fat Daddy' Johnson and Mariah Carey. The A side features the more punkish garage-y Cramps like side of the band, while the B side shows off Shannon's awesome vocals and much more of their affinity for girl groups and early rock n' roll music. Never too late for a little stocking stuffer.

SHANNON AND THE CLAMS Sleep Talk (1-2-3-4 Go!) cd 14.98
Hot damn, this band just keeps getting better and better. While their name and image can sometimes lead you to believe Shannon And The Clams are just a campy band who wanna have fun, the real truth is that they are some of the best songwriters to emerge out of the great garage pop scene in San Francisco over the last few years. Channeling the best elements of girl groups, haunting punk rock, fired up garage rock, and early rock n' roll, Shannon and her Clams fit right at home alongside local pals like Ty Segall, Hunx & His Punx, and Thee Oh Sees.
There is something totally unique about how they are able to merge all of their different sides and styles and influences into a cohesive force that grabs your attention and never lets go. Imagine The Cramps covering Richie Valens or Ronnie Spector covering The Gun Club. We've dug everything they have released so far, but this new full length is maybe their finest moment yet!
MPEG Stream: "Baby Don't Do It"
MPEG Stream: "Done With You"
MPEG Stream: "Half Rat"

SHANNON AND THE CLAMS Sleep Talk (1-2-3-4 Go!) lp 14.98
Hot damn, this band just keeps getting better and better. While their name and image can sometimes lead you to believe Shannon And The Clams are just a campy band who wanna have fun, the real truth is that they are some of the best songwriters to emerge out of the great garage pop scene in San Francisco over the last few years. Channeling the best elements of girl groups, haunting punk rock, fired up garage rock, and early rock n' roll, Shannon and her Clams fit right at home alongside local pals like Ty Segall, Hunx & His Punx, and Thee Oh Sees.
There is something totally unique about how they are able to merge all of their different sides and styles and influences into a cohesive force that grabs your attention and never lets go. Imagine The Cramps covering Richie Valens or Ronnie Spector covering The Gun Club. We've dug everything they have released so far, but this new full length is maybe their finest moment yet!
MPEG Stream: "Baby Don't Do It"
MPEG Stream: "Done With You"
MPEG Stream: "Half Rat"

SHANNON, SARAH City Morning Song (Minty Fresh) cd 13.98
Whoa, how many reviews do you think have already been written about this release that make some dorky statement like "hey, this former Velocity Girl's all grown up!" Ahem, guess you can add this one to the bunch. The former lead singer for that above mentioned beloved '90s indie pop band, Ms Sarah Shannon has slipped into something a little less immediately comfortable... a little more adult contemporary to be exact. Drawing ample influences from '70s AM radio soft jazz pop a la Burt Bacharach, City Morning Song swoons with dulcet arrangements of Fender Rhodes electric piano, Hammond organ, flugelhorn, and strings, but along the way the affair loses its fizz just a bit. Shannon's voice is sweet and clear all right, but it doesn't possess the expressive body of the genre's foremothers Carly Simon and Carole King. Likewise as a performer she lacks the personality of those ladies, relying heavily on the very well performed instrumental backdrop to carry the proceedings. A faceless vanilla disappointment.
MPEG Stream: "City Morning Song"
MPEG Stream: "Hey Heartache"

SHANTE, ROXANNE The Best Of Cold Chillin' (Cold Chillin') cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Yay! Here's a nice best-of disc dedicated to Roxanne Shante , the Queens teenager who recorded "Roxanne's Revenge", the legendary answer track to UTFO's "Roxanne, Roxanne", and which itself spawned so many answer tracks. Shante's voice is young and bratty as she crisply enunciates various slyly worded insults and boasts. As the one and only female member of Marley Marl's Juice Crew, she teamed up with producers Marl, Kool G Rap, Large Professor, Eric B, etc., all of whom kept the music spotlessly clean and spare, the better to showcase her voice right out front.
RealAudio clip: "Def Fresh Crew (feat. Biz Markie)"
RealAudio clip: "Have a Nice Day (Original 12" Version)"

SHAPE OF DESPAIR Angels of Distress (Spikefarm) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Album number two from these Finnish doom merchants and man does it make me want to just end it all. This music is dismal and bleak and totally hopelessly perfect. So slow and miserable and heavy and dark. Take the lo-fi doom of Skepticism, and beef up the guitars a bit, add some meldoic almost chantlike vocals. Or take AQ faves Katatonia and slow them down, waaaay down.
Shape of Despair deftly mix haunting funereal dirges with ultra crushing doom, but add gentle folk melodies and subtle but soaring strings. This is the sort of stuff that should be on the soundtrack to the new Lord of the Rings. You can just imagine being lost and alone in the forest, just waiting to die. So good.
RealAudio clip: "Angels of Distress"
RealAudio clip: "Fallen"

SHAPE OF DESPAIR Illusion's Play (Spikefarm) cd 16.98

SHAPE OF DESPAIR s/t (Spikefarm) cd 14.98
One new song and a bunch of rarities from these Finnish depresso-doom metal masters.

SHAPE OF DESPAIR Shades Of... (Spikefarm) cd 14.98
Wow, people must sure get depressed up in Finland, with that long winter and all. That would explain the strain of bands like Thergothon, Skepticism, and now Shape of Despair, that are so good at moulding melancholic funeral dirge doom metal. Basically, if you like the suicidal heavy dirge of Skepticism, and the ever-so-slightly melodic misery of fellow Scandinavians Katatonia, you'll like Shape of Despair.

SHAPES AND SIZES Split Lips, Winning Hips, A Shiner (Asthmatic Kitty) cd 14.98
Okay folks, bear with us for these first few sentences, but we really need to get it out of our system. This album just happened to be the straw that broke this camel's back...
We really gotta wonder if the world's finally run out of good band names -- with monikers like Shapes And Sizes and Parts And Labor? What's next? Gluestick And The Mighty Tapegun? No wait, is that a good one?! And what's with all the (mostly Canadian) young pop bands lately sounding like they're yodellers-in-training up on the Swiss Alps? Don't know about you, but our fill of yelping puppy vocals is getting pretty close to overload.
Whoa, first impressions can be pretty powerful, can't they? What a way to get off to a less than good start, huh? Gave 'em what amounts to a verbal shiner! FORTUNATELY, once the second song kicked in our second impression took a remarkable turn for the better! Sooo... some may quickly call this band quirky, but that adjective might sell them short. This is an adventure playground of loopy, dizzying eccentric sugary pop twists... that deserves a better moniker than Shapes And Sizes! Ahh, but we digress. The female vocal melodies soar and swoop like a bird in flight -- reminiscent of fellow Canadian veteran artist Jane Siberry's wistful, imaginative vision. The boy sung eighth song slips into the well-schooled pop path of Pinback, Modest Mouse, Built To Spill, and Destroyer. Done very well all right, but personally we lean more in favour of the female sung tunes though, as they're much more distinct and sparklingly engaging. So after a downright awkward introduction, Split Lips, Winning Hips, A Shiner ended up injury-free smooth sailing the rest of the way.
MPEG Stream: "Head Movin'"
MPEG Stream: "Can't Stop That (Sinking) Feeling"

SHAPES AND SIZES / THE WEIRD WEEDS Unusual Animals Vol. 1 (Asthmatic Kitty) 7" 4.50
Back room find! Discovered a few more of these little gems...
Continuing their eastward migration, former Victoria, BC natives Shapes And Sizes make a bigger leap from Vancouver to Montreal, and have a new split 7" with their Austin, TX buddies Weird Weeds to boot. The charming Canadian foursome offer up the peculiarly titled, mildly eccentric and invigorating "Junker / That Fat Hand", while WW presents a more low-key, stripped down and subtly uneasy art-folk number "Hold In The Light". Kewl!

SHAPESHIFTER Reticulum Flux (Schematic) cd 13.98

SHARK MOVE Ghede Chokra's (Shadoks Music) cd 15.98
Reissues of pretty good obscure '70s prog-psych albums, while not a dime a dozen, aren't exactly hard to find (at a shop like ours, anyway). But when the band's from Jakarta, Indonesia, and they're called SHARK MOVE we get extra excited. Just look at the colorful mythology of the cover art. How could this not be cool? And it is. Originally released in 1970, the sole album from Shark Move is a treat for anyone into the long-haired hippy prog excesses of the day, spiced with an extra special something due to being from a non-Western land, where these guys were REALLY freaks for making this music... UK prog stylings derived from the likes of Genesis and Deep Purple are mixed with some more traditional Indonesian musical motifs, and not all the lyrics are in English. Also the results are further warped away from normalcy by the third-world production quality, which we'd say is a good thing.
With serious songs, complex arrangements (keyboards, flute!), and melodramatic doses of both thee gently melodic and thee instrumentally bombastic, Shark Move were certainly musically ambitious. A trait perhaps best exemplified by the sweeping nine-minute opener "My Life". Meanwhile, the fuzz-heavy shambolic riff-tumble of "Evil War" with its exotic coloration via keyboard and guitar soling is another of Shark Move's selling points. The sweeter stuff (often on the tracks sung in their native tongue) is nice too, and definitely sets them apart from their European and American contemporaries.
Thanks to Shadoks we get to hear this, which has been remastered and has new liner notes for this reissue, all done with the participation of Shark Move's leader, founder, and only surviving member, Benny Soebardja (lead guitar/vocals). Shortly after recording this album, the band's keyboardist was tragically killed in a traffic accident, and Shark Move came to an end, although Benny has continued to rock on with some other groups, including one called Giant Step that may also get a Shadoks reissue we're told.
MPEG Stream: "My Life"
MPEG Stream: "Evil War"

SHARK QUEST Gods And Devils (Merge) cd 14.98
Shark Quest -- nope, that's not one of those big animated movies coming out this fall for which you've probably seen a preview. It's the instrumental band from Chapel Hill whose third album Gods And Devils is under review here. Although, apparently a bunch of the music on this disc was recorded to accompany an indie animation project. But no visuals are needed to enjoy this quite delightful album. Shark Quest's music is evocative and intricate and eclectic, blending the Western Spaghetti-scapes of Calexico with Eastern atmospheres, touching on such genres as lounge and surf and chamber prog, balancing the light and snazzy with the more intense or melancholic. Nicely woven. Now featuring a member of Idyll Swords, by the way.
MPEG Stream: "The Rosetta Barrage"
MPEG Stream: "Furies On Fire"

SHARK QUEST Man on Stilts (Merge) cd 14.98
New instrumental record on Merge (home of Superchunk and Magnetic Fields), equal parts chamber ensemble and surf outfit -- drenched in southern twang (read: banjo). For fans of Rex's "C".

SHARKBAIT Feed Our Frenzy (Gladys Pearce) cassette 3.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Some of you who were living in San Francisco a while back, might just remember these guys. Sharkbait. It's been a long time since we'd heard, or even really thought about these guys. The way we remember it, was they were a sort of industrial post punk rock band, maybe like a West Coast version of Cop Shoot Cop, all junkyard percussion, howled vocals, crunchy guitars, skeletal, noisy and slightly funky. And the truth is pretty close to that.
So a customer of ours discovered a box of Sharkbait tapes, still sealed, stashed and covered in dust, and thought that since folks were digging cassettes so much lately around here, and that Sharkbait were a seminal eighties SF outfit, that he would bequeath them to us, so we could disseminate them to hungry ears that might want a little taste of what the SF scene was like back in 1988. For some of us, it was all about funk metal, bands like Mordred tearing it up, or thrash, but there was a whole 'nother thing going on in the underground. Bands like Bomb, Tragic Mulatto, the Skatenigs, and of course Sharkbait. And Sharkbait were indeed a sort of proto industrial punk rock band. Lots of samples. Lots of tribal percussion, some Crash Worship going on here and there, throbbing basslines, crunchy guitars, and howled sloganeering vocals, sort of political, definitely punk rock. It sounds dated sure, but it still sounds pretty cool. There's some art of Noise percussion, some weird spoken word, slabs of feedback, droning ambience, but all wrapped up in a pounding churning post punk caterwaul.

SHARKS KEEP MOVING Pause And Clause (Status) cd 9.98
I've listened to this a few times, and each time all I've been left with is... zzzzzzzzzzz! Sounds like so-so, mellow post rock to me a la Tortoise, Tristeza, etc. It's well-performed and all, but it just fails to break any new ground in an already over-crowded field. I don't know, am I missing something? What!? What!?!? I've wondered if there happen to be some notable members from other bands on the Sharks' roster, but then realize that knowing that wouldn't make this any more appealing, and it might even make things worse. There's only three tracks on this cd, but as per the post rock tradition of long jams, they're lengthy ones as their combined running time totals 22 minutes.
RealAudio clip: "Pause And Clause"

SHARP, ELLIOT Figure Ground (Tzadik) cd 15.98
"Sharp's most eclectic album to date. Using guitars, saxophones, computers, analog synthesizers and kitchen sink, Sharp performs powerful scores for four films including Daddy & the Muscle Academy (a documentary on the life of pioneering gay fetish cartoonist Tom Of Finland) and The Salt Mines (a documentary about transvestite prostitutes living in salt warehouses in NYC). Sharp's music is as varied and eccentric as the films he writes for."