SKULLFLOWER IIIrd Gatekeeper (Crucial Blast) cd 14.98
We lucked into a chunk of these a while back (the out of print original pressing that is), an all time industrial metal noise classic, quite possibly the best Skullflower record there is, some folks think. And we're inclined to agree. Although with a body of work like Bower and Co.'s, that's a pretty tough call. Well, those disappeared in a heartbeat, but lucky for ALL of us, even those of us who have bought this amazing disc multiple times, it's now been reissued, remastered, with all new artwork, liner notes, ready to finally be adored and revered by all lovers of heavy music, many who may not have been hip to the massive fucking might and heart stopping brutality of Skullflower when they first unleashed this disc way back in 1992. So dig in, and let this glorious avalanche of beautiful heaviness bury you beneath its utter intensity and frightful majesty.
Before Skullflower became a blissed out free drone, psychedelic raga outfit which would eventually morph into the ultra dreamy Sunroof!, they were trolling much darker, much harsher waters. When IIIrd Gatekeeper first came out way back in the beginning of the nineties, it fell right in alongside its sonic brethren, Swans, Godflesh, Pitchshifter, Terminal Cheesecake, Ramleh and all of those industrial dirge rockers. Originally released on Justin Broadrick's hEADdIRT label, IIIrd Gatekeeper as we mentioned above, is definitely one of Skullflower's finest moments (and quite possibly both Andee and Allan's favorite SF record EVER), a slow murky trudge through a blinding squall of psychedelic guitar freakout, dense swirls of which lurk behind a lurching slow motion bass dirge and pounding near industrial drumming. Each track picks a riff and pounds it into the ground, repeating and repeating until you can't help but be drawn in, while white hot streaks of guitar skree and low end rumble spin around the relentless plodding. SO much heavier and scarier than almost any other record EVER. A bit like a heavy metal Whitehouse, or a more psychedelic Swans. Or early Earth. A muddy, filthy, drug drenched metal club to the side of the head. So fucking awesome.
Awesome new packaging. Black gatefold printed inside and out with metallic silver ink, printed inner sleeve, and extensive liner notes and band history, including excerpts from rare interviews, from Skullflower historian and bad ass noisemaker in his own right Roy Felps.
MPEG Stream: "Can You Feel It?"
MPEG Stream: "Black Rabbit"
MPEG Stream: "Saturnalia"
MPEG Stream: "Rotten Sun"

SKULLFLOWER La Noche De Walpurgis (self-released) cd-r 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Over the last 20 Years, Matthew Bower and his ever mutating noise rock combo have gone through more sonic shifts than it would seem possible, each alteration like an artist's 'period', but instead of a BLUE period or RED period, SF shifted from a crushing proto industrial pummel period, to a blown out black noise period, to a metallic drone period, to the more recent psychedelic hypno-riff period, and a momentary dip back into the black noise, but now he/they seem to have launched into a whole new period that effectively combines that more recent riff-based sound with that pure noise the group has dabbled in and revisited over the years. And incorporated into that sound, eagle-eared listeners may be able to hear the fruits of Bower's ever growing interest in black metal as well. With the recent 3 cd boxset and Not Not Fun lp, Skullflower have again reinvented themselves and produced a series of recordings that are at once incendiary and noise drenched, and at the same time, textural and psychedelic. More than ever, headphones are required, as background music, La Noche will simply spread out into a uniform sheet of grey noise, but slap on the phones and it's like lathering your head in LSD flavored honey and sticking your head in a den of slumbering sonic bears.
Various blown out and distorted guitar lines squiggle and squirm, producing an ever expanding tangle of fractured psych rock sprawl, beautiful prismatic squalls, rife with fragmented melodies, inadvertent harmonies, woozy and tripped out and gorgeously noisy. Parts of La Noche almost sound like some alien guitarists shred tape, broadcast through millions of miles of space, picking up all manner of detritus before being captured on some deep-in-the-jungle SETI satellite, and it's now up to us to decrypt the message, salutations from a friendly word, warnings of our impending doom, or just some hundreds of years old kid going apeshit and capturing it on some deep space 4track. And Bower's guitars are drenched and doused in strange effects as well resulting in a sound that falls somewhere between malfunctioning bagpipes and the strange sonic wonder of another aQ favorite, Amps For Christ. In fact, this could be like a metallic noise version of AfC, if Amps For Christ weren't ALREADY a metallic noise version of AfC.
Some of the tracks here do lock into some serious, albeit buried under layers of processed effects and crumbling distortion, grooves, in fact, "Vinum Sabbati" has a bad ass riff grinding away, within a swirling cloud of high end insectoid shimmer, a gorgeous psych rock chug, lurching and lumbering beneath the surface, and the record finishes off with some total black metal worship, "Serene & Terrible Noontide Abyss" is a brittle buzzy Darkthrone-y riff, looped into a mesmerizing mantra, while underneath stripped down and spare percussive pound adds an abstract rhythmic element. Like pretty much every SF track lately, we'd love to hear this one expanded into a whole record!
Anyone who bought either the triple cd box on Turgid Animal or the Not Not Fun lp, or both, or heck NEITHER, is definitely going to want this. Heavy and blown out and hypnotic and metallic and brutal and pretty and buzzy and pretty much all we could hope for from Bower and company. And as always this is SUPER LIMITED. We did get a whole bunch of these, direct from Mr. Bower himself, but when we run out it may take us a while to get more, and at some point we most likely won't be able to get more, at all. And by now, you must know, that means get one NOW!
MPEG Stream: "Black Flame"
MPEG Stream: "Vinum Sabbati"
MPEG Stream: "Serene & Terrible Noontide Abyss"

SKULLFLOWER Last Shot At Heaven (Noiseville) cd 29.00
Managed to get a tiny handful more of this long out of print rarity from the label, LAST COPIES!!!!
Everyone has their own particular favorite Skullflower era, the pummeling Swans-like crush of the early records, the blown out free drone guitar skree of Obsidian Shaking Codex, the tripped out druggy riffy space rock of Exquisite Fucking Boredom and Orange Canyon Mind, or the full on face melting guitarnoise assault of more recent releases, as far as we're concerned it ALL rules, whether heavy or noisy, pounding and pummeling or drifting and shimmering, Matthew Bower and whatever other noisemakers he manages to assemble, are responsible for some of the most amazing OUTrock records of the last twenty years, if not ever.
One of the best is no doubt Last Shot At Heaven, released in 1993, which features the band as a trio, and looks ahead to the dirgey riffage of Exquisite Fucking Boredom, but mixes in plenty of druggy shimmer (lots of Sunroof! foreshadowing), post industrial pound and psychedelic guitar freakout. This is WAY out of print, but the label discovered a box of 40 or so stashed away, so we took all they had left (25 copies), needless to say, these are the last copies EVER, the label has no plans to repress, and we took every remaining copy, so if you want one, be quick!
Last Shot explodes right off the bat with "Caligula" a dirgey riff heavy groove, all massive plodding pound, and squalls of wah guitar, howled vocals buried in the mix, streaks of feedback, tangled guitar melodies, very metallic and definitely heavy, but still plenty space-y and krauty. The follow up "Get The Horn" is all looped shimmer and pulsing thrum, peppered with growling distorted guitars, and spaced out drum pound, the growling guitars intensifying over the near static "Baba O'Reilly" like synth part. "Dufus" is an ultra distorted lo-fi garagedoom dirge, Dead C style free rock recorded at the bottom of a well, still thick with swirling guitars and simple plodding drums. "Bad Alchemy" is total proto metal, a killer main riff, wrapped in squiggly guitar freak out, the whole thing a woozy metallic groove, locked into an endless loop, the vocals a thick effected drawl off in the distance, "Elf Piercer" is a bit of Hawkwindy style space rock, again, locked into a relentless loop, effects everywhere, the guitars wild and tangled, "Rotten Sun II" is a super blown out doomic dirge, with howled vox and super jagged caustic riffage, and rhythms buried beneath the crumbling distortion, "Mystic Eye" is all tribal drumming, buzzing guitar, throbbing bass, soaring melodies, the most straight up rock of any of the tracks, but once it achieves maximum volume, it again gets looped into a seemingly endless jam, and finally "Blown Dukes", a hazy guitar drift, all warm whir and warble, thick buzz, disembodied riff, eventually joined by spare drumming, before devolving into a free rock freakout.
One of the more accessible Skullflower records for sure, but fear not, still plenty heavy and noisy and psychedelic, and unfortunately, almost for sure, your last chance to get your hands on one.
MPEG Stream: "Caligula"
MPEG Stream: "Elf Piercer"
MPEG Stream: "Mystic Eye"

SKULLFLOWER Malediction (Second Layer) cd 15.98
Matthew Bower's growing obsession with black metal has gradually infiltrated the blown out guitar skree of his earlier recordings and continues to push the sound of modern Skullflower into realms blacker and more grim and gristly than ever. Much like the recently reviewed (but sadly now out of print) Vile Veil lp, word on the street was that Malediction was to be the "Skullflower black metal" record, which it could very well be, but you have to realize that no matter how much Darkthrone or Pyha or Old Wainds or Arckanum Bower listens too, those sounds get filtered through that mysterious mind, eventually coming out via his guitar as a sound not terribly removed from something recognizably Skullflower, but with enough blackness, enough buzzing riffage, enough cello (here transformed into howling moans and caustic shards of scrape and skree) and enough chaotic drum splatter, courtesy of original Skullflower drummer Stuart Dennison, to make this more than just another Skullflower record, and more than just another guitarnoise record, it transforms this wild cacophony into some transcendent blacknoise hybrid, equal parts ur-drone and black buzz, psychedelic freakout and free-noise experiment, a pulsing, throbbing swirl of abstract heaviness and in-the-red speaker damaging crunch, a sound that slips fluidly from total abstract atom scatter to lurching almost riffy mesmer, remaining always wreathed in a thick, corrosive field of upper register sonic static, only the drums, ever really leaping from the fray, to hurl some thunderous beats before being quickly sucked back under.
Not sure if it was that brief foray into almost seventies sounding riffiness, back circa the records Exquisite Fucking Boredom and Orange Canyon Mind, but ever since then, Bower and company have been making noise with a vengeance, the sound of Skullflower and fierce and fucked up and heavy and noisy as it's ever been, Bower's black metal interests only adding to the bands hellish sonic trajectory. That's not all to say black metallers would dig this, cuz odds are, only the most extreme music obsessives among the black legions would find this particular brand of psych-skree to their liking, but heck, those of you who do fit that profile, go for it, immerse yourself, and discover just what it is about Skullflower, just what sort of black ritualistic magic lurks within the caustic black sonic sun that is Malediction.
Noiseniks will no doubt flip their lids, appropriately so, but there's so much more to this 'noise', what seems like a wall of sound, crumbles into pieces revealing so much texture within, every heaving wave of punishing crunch, gradually parts revealing a delicate network of strange melodies, the sounds while on the surface seem easily defined, are in fact more complex then they might appear, guitars and drums and voices and cellos all careening chaotically into a roiling churning black sea, a bottomless sonic expanse that takes metal and sludge and doom and noise and punk rock and minimal drone music and melts it down, shaping it into something new and mysterious, a baffling, deafening sound that defies any sort of classification, as the title of an old SF record so boldly proclaimed. This is Skullflower. And THIS, is Skullflower NOW.
LIMITED TO 1000 COPIES. Packaged in a six panel full color digipak with cool tripped out watercolor artwork by Bower himself.
MPEG Stream: "A'arab Zaraq ~ Ravens Of The Burning Of God"
MPEG Stream: "Drenched In Moonsblood (Waxing Gibbous)"

SKULLFLOWER Obsidian Shaking Codex (RRR) cd-r 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SKULLFLOWER Orange Canyon Mind (Crucial Blast) cd 14.98
Skullflower's Exquisite Fucking Boredom, released last year on Andee's tUMULt label, welcomed back the seemingly retired Skullflower from a SEVEN YEAR hiatus. Skullflower mainman Matthew Bower was anything but MIA, keeping quite busy with his more blissed out Sunroof! project, as well as his equally blissed out but slightly noisier Hototogisu project. So after seven years, what was it that reanimated the slumbering corpse of Skullflower and sent the reawakened behemoth on a new path of sonic destruction. Well, it most definitely had something to do with THE RIFF. Exquisite Fucking Boredom was a throbbing pulsing ROCK record, a fucked up one for sure, but rock nonetheless. It was that relentless riffing eventually imploding on itself that convinced us that Skullflower was indeed back, to do unspeakable things with THE RIFF and offer up their own seriously skewed take on SPACE RAWK. So it seems now, with a new Skullflower record only a year later, we can rest assured that last year's return was for good.
All that talk of riffs, and a last record wholly centered around a single riff, and what does Bower do? Opens the new record with a dense splattery swirl of freaked out high end skree and throbbing drone, sounding not all that unlike his old group Total. There may be riffs in there somewhere, but you'd be hard pressed to find 'em. Sounds almost like he threw all of Hawkwind in the bathtub and then tossed in a plugged in hair dryer and recorded the results. Super freaked out spaced out free noise insanity! Fear not though, track two is where the riff returns, and once again we have to think Hawkwind, or maybe Circle, or even Can, that propulsive throbbing rhythm, that endless riffing, even some almost-leads, totally hypnotic and endlessly mesmerizing, a rock band rocking out until the end of the world as the earth opens up and the sky darkens with ash, although in this instance Bower takes that apocalyptic rock business and douses it in jagged sheets of white noise and huge slabs of acid fried feedback, swirling swells of amp buzz and chaotic guitar freakout, turning a rock song into a perilous journey through a sonic shitstorm. Makes sense that Crucial Blast has adorned this with a black metal styled Skullflower logo! And so it goes for the rest of the record. A musical tug of war, riffing is subsumed by squalls of white noise, massive waves of throbbing dissonance part allowing a riff to push its way through briefly, only to be eventually swallowed up again, eventually to resurface and push relentlessly forward into a looming musical darkness only toe be obliterated again into a beautiful cloud of swirling whirling noise. Not sure if this is the best rock record we've heard all year, or the best noise record. But it's damn sure one of 'em. Heck, it just might well be both!
MPEG Stream: "Starry Wisdom"
MPEG Stream: "Orange Canyon Mind"
MPEG Stream: "Annihilating Angel"

SKULLFLOWER Pure Imperial Reform (Turgid Animal) cd 13.98
We're relisting this because it was actually meant to be a highlight originally, but somehow, half of the discs we ordered went missing, so not wanting to wait forever we went ahead and listed it, then a few weeks later, lo and behold, the missing discs resurfaced. So, here we go, big time highlight, for those who are way into the new more furious and noisy Skullflower, this live set is an absolute killer.
Another blast of Skullflowery fury, the second in as many months. Recorded live in 2007, live on the air, at a Belgian radio station, Pure Imperial Reform finds Skullflower mainman (only man?) Matthew Bower joined by fellow axeman Lee Stokoe for 42 minutes of unmitigated dual guitar overload.
As we mentioned in the last Skullflower review, Bower and his 'Flower have gone from riff to noise to and back again over the last twenty years. The last clutch of releases finds Bower once again exploring noise in lieu of any actual riffing. So for folks expecting some sort of Exquisite Fucking Boredom or IIIrd Gatekeeper, this might just rub you the wrong way. But if you loved Bower's Total project, and the more intense and facemelting side of Skullflower, then this live set will definitely hit the spot.
Two guitars, a wall of amps, the sound both white hot and in the red, these two gents spewing furious gouts of hissing fuzz from their respective axes, kicking up a planet splitting din, blown out buzz, squalls of feedback, jagged chunks of deconstructed melodies, streaks of garbled psychedelia, the guitars soaring and screaming, grinding and growling, strings scraped and bent, notes split into a million pieces, chords laid over other chords, gnarled pulsing drones, walls of full on Merzbowian white noise, all whirled into a constantly shifting, roiling miasma of fractured sonics.
Like most stuff like this, a cursory listen will get you nothing but a headache and some sore ears, but dig in, dive in, lay back and let the molten flow pour over you, and suddenly, like all 'great' noise music, the layers unfold and unfurl, melodies surface, rhythms reveal themselves, the sounds, however harsh and brutal, begin to soothe and mesmerize, about halfway in, you'll be totally entranced, a master musical hypnotist, who instead of a pocket watch, swings feedback and amp destroying buzz before your heavy lidded eyes. Wicked stuff for sure, heavy, noisy, brutal and impossibly beautiful.
LIMITED TO 1000 COPIES!!!
MPEG Stream: "Pure Imperial Reform (Excerpt)"

SKULLFLOWER Taste The Blood Of Deceiver (Not Not Fun) lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
First vinyl in ages from the mighty Skullflower, and much like the triple cd box reviewed elsewhere on this list, the new SF sound finds Skullflower mastermind mixing the two distinct sides of his sound, the looped hypnotic riffy side, and the free abstract noise side, and the results are pretty fantastic, forging a new sort of noise drenched, proto metal abstract free drone psychedelia, and of course incorporating all kinds of other sounds, like black metal buzz, and minimal industrial percussion. The lp is the perfect addendum to that massive triple album box, serving almost like a 4th disc in the set, covering similar ground, but with its own particular twist.
Side one opens with that distinctive abstract-krautrock, metallic-psychedelic riff that only Skullfower seems to be able to pull off, looped and repetitive, but slowly shifting, almost imperceptibly, over a swirling morass of distorted buzz and feedback drenched howl, noisy and heavy but strangely meditative. The follow up shifts gears and offers up a buzzing wall of sound with soaring high end melodic streaks over the top, and what sounds like vocals buried WAY down in the mix. Hot on the heels of that one comes an awesomely droning psych rock dirge, this time with drums, and an incredibly catchy and surprisingly melodic main riff, woozy and druggy, but sounding like some classic eighties metal riff, just Skullflower-ed. And so it goes, the tracks shifting from chiming ritualistic dronemusic to buzzing abstract ambience to noisy almost-industrial plod and back again. And we're digging it big time. These two most recent releases might just be our favorite Skullflower records since Exquisite Fucking Boredom on tUMULt!

SKULLFLOWER The Paris Working 23-4-2009 (self-released) cd-r 11.98
Another super limited missive from this latest incarnation of the mighty Skullflower, recorded earlier this year in Paris, which finds the band expanded to a four piece, including original SF member Stuart Dennison. One long nearly hour long track, and in keeping with the recent spate of SF releases, The Paris Working is more on the noise tip, eschewing any of the more riffiness that came before, replacing it with a wall of crumbling in-the-red, white hot psychedelic squall. Is there drumming? Maybe, but most of the time they're buried beneath an avalanche of pummeling free psych crush, heaving, roiling, churning, grinding guitar damage blown out into whirling clouds of sparkling high end glimmer and dizzying kaleidoscopic skree.
As with most of the noisier Skullflower discs, a glancing listen reveals a sound not that far removed from straight up noise, but closer listening, further investigation, and a pair of trusty headphones reveals a sprawling world of tone and timbre, strapping on headphones to listen to this disc is like watching a 3D movie without glasses, and then finally slipping on a pair, and the whole thing comes into focus, comes alive, colors and shapes, and in the case of The Paris Working, sheets and shards and streaks of sound, swirling and careening and hovering and billowing out into a massive Technicolor fog of gorgeously chaotic abstract freeform guitarnoise.
AS ALWAYS, CRAZY LIMITED, WE GET THESE DIRECT FROM SKULLFLOWER, SO WHEN WE RUN OUT IT MIGHT TAKE US A WHILE TO GET MORE (ASSUMING WE CAN GET MORE)...
MPEG Stream: "23-4-2009"

SKULLFLOWER This is Skullflower (VHF) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The 'flowery' aspect of usually-less-than-subtle guitar drone ensemble Skullflower is revealed on a new, domestic release. The term 'delicate' can even be applied to parts of this modern psychedelia, but only in the sense that yr skull won't be split open as per some earlier works. Fans of former VHF artists -- and fellow Brits -- Flying Saucer Attack will enjoy.

SKULLFLOWER Tribulation (Crucial Blast) cd 14.98
About three years ago, Matthew Bower resurrected his sleeping freenoise behemoth Skullflower, after having spent the last few years focusing on the more dreamy drone based Sunroof! That disc was a serious surprise, the new Skullflower was somehow some sort of stoned, freaked out druggy, psychedelic kraut/space/groove/stoner rock outfit. Killer psychrock riffs, looped into oblivion and buried in dense washes of outer space FX and thick sheets of tripped out ambience. We were stunned, and totally blown away. Exquisite Fucking Boredom was just about the heaviest noisiest space rock record EVER! The follow up to EFB, Orange Canyon Mind was still heavy on the riffs, but the noise quotient was cranked WAY up, as if the band had made this huge leap into some outer space drug rock alternate universe, but was sliding steadily back into the old Skullflower's swirling pit of white noise and grinding guitar feedback. So here we have record number three from Skullflower mach II, and it seems those riffs had an incredibly short half-life and have now been totally obliterated, the shards of all those dying riffs have been chopped into pieces and hurled into the spinning vortex that is Tribulation. Easily the noisiest record since the good ol' Total days (Bower's band before Skullflower), with huge sheets of white hot, blown out guitar skree, crunchy amp buzz, sparkling clouds of glitched out electronic interference, and layer after layer after layer after layer of thick squirming, slithering, shrieking guitar ROOOOOAAAR. Tribulation most definitely sounds like an army of guitars, set to kill, and leaned up against an even bigger army of feeding back amplifiers. Every track is a dense ear shredding tangle of melodic fragments and wild peals of upper register psychguitar abuse. Imagine classic Total mixed with Bower's new blacksludge outfit Mirag and you'll get a rough idea of what sort of aural punishment you're in for. Harsh and heavy, noisy and brutal, but as with most Bower projects, not without some hidden beauty, although Tribulation's hidden beauty is tucked safely away, beneath a million pounds of black hole noise rock pummel.
MPEG Stream: "Lost In The Blackened Gardens Of Some Vast Star"
MPEG Stream: "Black Wind"
MPEG Stream: "Dwarf Thunderbolt"

SKULLFLOWER Vile Veil (Noiseville) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Latest burst of glorious guitar noise from Matthew Bower and his ever evolving Skullflower, not sure who plays on this one, pretty sure they're back up to a full band, 3 piece? 4 piece? What we do know, is on Vile Veil, you can finally hear Bower's burgeoning interest in black metal seeping into the Skullflower sound. The title track sounds like it could have been listed from some lost nineties Nordic demo, all tinny buzzy riffage, buried howls, drums? Maybe, but if they're there, they're well buried under the muted murk and buzz drenched skree. Weirdly propulsive and frenetic, Bower and Co. kick out the grim frostbitten jam, infusing it with their own particular brand of blown out sheen, layered with sheets of feedback, and more noise than any self respecting black metal horde has ever had to contend with, the result though it pretty stellar, the sort of buzzing black noise that should hit the spot for metalheads and noiseniks alike.
The second track is more of the same, but a bit less brittle, subtly more melodic, with the vocals creeping up in the mix, but not sounding like vocals so much as like hissy bursts of white noise static, draped over the moaning deconstructed riffage and layered high end dronescape.
The final track, a side long crusher called "Vinum Sabbati", harkens back to Bower's noisier Total project, all high end and hiss and skree and screech, soaring upper register tones and loads of feedback, but the sound is sculpted into something almost orchestral sounding, strangely listenable (it's all relative!), even a bit melodic, but all wrapped in a constantly swirling cloud of caustic sonic abrasion, intense, and dense, thick and nearly overwhelming, fantastically and punishingly epic and brutal.
LIMITED TO 300 COPIES. We got a bunch, but odds are these will be gone before you know it.

SKULLFLOWER / AXOLOTL Split (Bored Fortress) 7" 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A total drone/noise dream team, for the latest in Not Not Fun's Bored Fortress series of split 7"s, too bad we only managed to get about a fifteen of these, direct from Mr. Axoltol himself, who sold us his, and apparently THE, very last copies. Too bad as it's a doozy, but at least a handful of folks will get to lay their ears on this stuff.
The Axolotl side sounds like Karl Axoltol crafted his track knowing full well it was going to be sharing a record with Matthew Bower's Skullflower, as it is a total slab of Sunroof! style ur-drone bliss. A wash of keening high end shimmer, a backdrop of murky upper register whirs, while over the top, a glorious cascade of glistening glimmering feedback.
The Skullflower side finds the band (or the man) continuing to explore dense guitarscapes, however this track is the most musical and melodic of recent outings, a huge wash of guitars, layered and tangled, but with some serious riffage buried in the mix, streaks of feedback and a haunting minor key undercurrent.
Cool eye popping full color cover art. And again, we only have fifteen or so copies so don't get your hopes upŠ

SKULLFUCK The Supreme Ugliness (Bestial Burst) cd 10.98
The Supreme Ugliness indeed! From the cover, a dizzying scribbled high school notebook scrawl of black and white shapes, tattooed musclebound cavemen (one of which is fucking a skull, natch), devils, upside down crosses, beasts of all shapes and sizes, severed heads, profanity, filthy, crusty, evil and chaotic, to the music inside.
This duo spew out a brutal brew of old school metal, super harsh and stripped down midtempo death metal filth, but since it's one of the dudes from AQ faves Ride For Revenge, there are subtle bits of weirdness here and there, some freaky leads, some squiggly guitar partsŠ
But for the most part, this is pure grim evil, pounding, chugging, thrashing, grinding, downtuned, distorted, doomy and ugly METAL. The drums a caveman plod, the guitar grinding and corrosive, the bass a speaker shredding throb, song titles like "Life Of Shit", "We Are The Death Cult", "100,000 Dead" and "Suicidal Rape", vocals like someone puking up barbed wire and broken glass. Occasional blasts of furious thrashing, but mostly a skull crushing midtempo pound. Don't be fooled by the sludgey crumbling distorted bass intro, which had us thinking this would be some sort of ultramega doom disc, this is foul, frightful, stumbling,murky, coarse, loathsome, odious Finnish old school death metal. And we love it!
MPEG Stream: "Life Of Shit"
MPEG Stream: "We Are The Death Cult"

SKULLVIEW Consequences Of Failure (R.I.P.) cd 14.98
First of all, you've got to admire a mostly unknown American swords-and-sorcery metal band that follows an album called "Kings of the Universe" with one titled "Consequences of Failure"! That definitely demonstrates a sense of realism amid the fantasy and an ability to laugh at oneself... Power and might are a big theme in metal, but these metal warriors know when they're licked, and have the courage to admit it -- and fight on! Of course, in a just world, they'd be huge, 'cause this, their third disc, is a damn good power metal album. Right from the get-go you'd swear it was an lost '80s Maiden LP. Their secret weapon is vocalist "Earthquake" Quimby (yes, Quimby -- good thing he's got a nickname). He's got the leather lungs of a Dickinson or Halford. And Skullview backs him up with some seriously kick ass, galloping tunes, sounding like the last album any of them bought was "Powerslave" or "Painkiller", or maybe something by Manowar or Candlemass... These guys just love metal, and if you love metal, you'll love Skullview too, 'cause they actually deliver (they don't deal merely in the trappings of '80s metal glory, but they actually have the talent to write and play solid songs). Oh, for the Sabbath fans out there, we should mention the bonus track: a cover of "Digital Bitch"!
RealAudio clip: "Time For Violence"
RealAudio clip: "Seek The Old Man For Knowledge"
RealAudio clip: "Armed With An Axe"

SKULTROLL s/t (Frequency Thirteen / Night Angels Serve) cd-r 7.98
We knew we were in for something special when we discovered the amazing Frequency Thirteen cd-r label (thanks to loyal AQ customer Andrew S. for turning us on to these guys). Bands with names like Ice Bound Majesty, Skultroll, Raperack, Black Vomit, Karaoke Vocal Eliminator. Each disc emblazoned with the label's mantra: TRUE SHEFFIELD BLACK PSYCHEDELIA. Which is pretty much the perfect description of this stuff. We might have also offered, grinding corrosive blackened hypnorock, or perhaps blacknoizemetal, or something similar, perhaps blackkrautnoizerock. Whatever you call it, this stuff is dark, and distorted, blown out and heavy as fuck, hypnotic, rhythmic, and seriously genius.
This is, as far as we know, the first full length from the duo known as Skultroll, just bass and drums, but it sounds like both are being run through a blender and a dumptruck and a black hole and about a million malfunctioning distortion pedals. The sound is obviously stripped down, but the riffing is dense and intense, thick and throbbing, the drums are furious and frenzied. The band tend toward the superdistorted kraut-flecked hypno rock, settling into a groove and then just pounding it into the ground. It's easy to hear Laddio Bolocko, Lightning Bolt, Barbara, Circle and the like, albeit way heavier, way more distorted and much much blacker. At some points it even almost sounds a bit like a Black metal Terminal Cheesecake. Which, we shouldn't have to tell you, is a very very very good thing!
Even the slow jams, are super thick, and crumbling to pieces before our ears, the bass loping lazily under sheets of corrosive FX, the drums pounding out a stripped down rhythm, like an evilized Can, occasionally bursting into full on grinding blasts, but almost always returning to a lurching doomic plod.
The disc closes with a nearly twenty minute low end epic. The first half a murky muddy blown out slow build, the bass smeared into thick washes of black blur, the drums tribal and complex, the song gradually growing more and more propulsive, almost like some groovy stoner rock jam, pulled apart and reassembled all wrong, eventually the distortion overtaking the actual music, the drums becoming more and more abstract, the bass riffs turning into long drawn out drones.
Heavy and freaked out, frightening and fucking awesome.
MPEG Stream: "Hideously Amplified World"
MPEG Stream: "Harmsworth Stove"
MPEG Stream: "Doomed Burdens"

SKY PILOTS s/t (Ghost Mansion) cd 8.98
Sky Pilots' self-titled debut release is packed with angstful male vocals, chunky guitars, and slabs of bass. This Bay Area trio's sound is very infused with the heavy raw Chicago Albini-isms, but with some Brooklyn hip styliness too. Cool stuff.
MPEG Stream: "Bridge Too Long"
MPEG Stream: "Hats Off To The Comeback"

SKYE KLAD ...Plays The Musick Of Cupid's Orkustra Asleep Within The Magick Powerhouse Of Oz (Hand/Eye) cd 14.98

SKYGREEN LEOPARDS Disciples of California (Jagjaguwar) cd 14.98
Wander again through the mystic meadows with these two lazy troubadours of the rustic psych folk revival. Glenn Donaldson and Donovan Quinn and friends are back with another installment (11 songs, 35 minutes) of the SGL's always sunshiney and melodious mellowness. The haze hasn't lifted, these boys are still sitting crosslegged and deep in the dandelions, drifting astrally across their own inner California state of mind, a cosmos of '60s dosed song-half-writing... by that we just mean that this and other SGL artifacts could all be One, though this IS way more song-based than other Jewelled Antler related projects. They gently strum and strum and mumble and sing of Sally Orchid and the Egyptian Circus and Silvery Branches, and love, always love, and this is certainly lovely... Imagine (imagination is what the SKG's and their lyrically cryptic concepts certainly stoke) the delivery of a Dylan afflicted with the Olivia Tremors, engaged in pastoral nature worship, on a California trip.
We should also note the bumper-sticker ready song title here: "Jesus Was Californian". WWJD? Eat organic avocados!
MPEG Stream: "Disciples Of California"
MPEG Stream: "Places West Of Shawapee"

SKYGREEN LEOPARDS Disciples of California (Jagjaguwar) lp 13.98
Wander again through the mystic meadows with these two lazy troubadours of the rustic psych folk revival. Glenn Donaldson and Donovan Quinn and friends are back with another installment (11 songs, 35 minutes) of the SGL's always sunshiney and melodious mellowness. The haze hasn't lifted, these boys are still sitting crosslegged and deep in the dandelions, drifting astrally across their own inner California state of mind, a cosmos of '60s dosed song-half-writing... by that we just mean that this and other SGL artifacts could all be One, though this IS way more song-based than other Jewelled Antler related projects. They gently strum and strum and mumble and sing of Sally Orchid and the Egyptian Circus and Silvery Branches, and love, always love, and this is certainly lovely... Imagine (imagination is what the SKG's and their lyrically cryptic concepts certainly stoke) the delivery of a Dylan afflicted with the Olivia Tremors, engaged in pastoral nature worship, on a California trip.
We should also note the bumper-sticker ready song title here: "Jesus Was Californian". WWJD? Eat organic avocados!
MPEG Stream: "Disciples Of California"
MPEG Stream: "Places West Of Shawapee"

SKYGREEN LEOPARDS, THE Child God In The Garden Of Idols (Jagjaguwar) lp 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The Jewelled Antler circle of influence continues to grow as various bands and groups and indviduals of the Jewelled Antler ilk leave the JA nest and find themselves releasing records for different labels. The Skygreen Leopards, who occupy the poppier side of the JA spectrum, and who recently released a record on Soft Abuse, now find themselves on Jagjaguwar, with a brand new cd coming next month. But in the meantime, Jagjaguwar has released this super limited vinyl-only 12" to tide us all over. And like past Skygreen Leopards releases, it is indeed a gem. Sparkling avant folk collides with subtly psychedelic sort-of-pop, reverbed banjo and delicately strummed acoustic guitars, gorgeous breathy vocals, field recordings and all sorts of sonic filligree. Darkly delerious, sparkling and shimmery, and perfectly beautiful. VERY LIMITED so don't delay!

SKYGREEN LEOPARDS, THE Jehovah Surrender (Jagjaguwar) cd ep 9.98
Here's another six songs of glistening folk-psych wonderment from what's probably the indie-rock poppiest of Jewelled Antler aligned combos currently going, The Skygreen Leopards. The 'Leps core duo of JA bigwig Glenn Donaldson (Thuja, Ivytree, Blithe Sons, Franciscan Hobbies, Buried Civilizations, etc. etc.) and Donovan Quinn (Verdure) here turn in perhaps the most electric Skygreen set yet, with much jangling, buzzing guitar, sweet sweet vocals from both boys, solidly rickety drums and just plain fine, sorta '60s psych sounding songwriting, dosed with hazy, lazy melodies and mythic imagery.
Nature has its fresh breezes and warm sunshine, the Jewelled Antler collective has the Skygreen Leopards. Lovely, so lovely.
MPEG Stream: "Jehovah I Surrender"
MPEG Stream: "Julie-Anne, Patron Of Thieves"

SKYGREEN LEOPARDS, THE Life & Love In Sparrow's Meadow (Jagjaguwar) cd 14.98
Of the very many, very special tines of the Jewelled Antler, it's the Skygreen Leopards perhaps who are best known for airy-fairy folk songcraft. The pastoral folk duo of Donovan Quinn (Verdure, Horticultural Compass) and Glenn Donaldson (Thuja, Ivytree, Blithe Sons, Buried Civilizations, Franciscan Hobbies, Horticultural Compass, etc. etc.), with the occasional help of their "Skyband", have now brought us their third or so album proper (for which the LP-only and now-out-of-print Child God In The Garden Of Idols reviewed last list was but a hazy prelude). Listen in to these boys strumming and singing and lazing about in a sunny Sunday sound-world, grooving with the birds in the trees and the flowers in the fields, into which they've introduced flute and organ and, above all, their voices. Voices that are a little bit Richard Youngs, a little bit Ariel Pink... breathy and high and delicate. As suggested by the artwork -- one of Glenn's lovely nature-fantasia collages -- this is the words and music of fragile fluttering butterflies thinking deep thoughts, mystical thoughts...not that the quasi-religious themes of the lyrics are all that easy to decipher within the raw Jewelled Antler production aesthetic.
MPEG Stream: "Mother The Sun Makes Me Cry"
MPEG Stream: "Egyptian Rosemarie"

SKYGREEN LEOPARDS, THE Life & Love In Sparrow's Meadow (Jagjaguwar) lp 13.98
Of the very many, very special tines of the Jewelled Antler, it's the Skygreen Leopards perhaps who are best known for airy-fairy folk songcraft. The pastoral folk duo of Donovan Quinn (Verdure, Horticultural Compass) and Glenn Donaldson (Thuja, Ivytree, Blithe Sons, Buried Civilizations, Franciscan Hobbies, Horticultural Compass, etc. etc.), with the occasional help of their "Skyband", have now brought us their third or so album proper (for which the LP-only and now-out-of-print Child God In The Garden Of Idols reviewed last list was but a hazy prelude). Listen in to these boys strumming and singing and lazing about in a sunny Sunday sound-world, grooving with the birds in the trees and the flowers in the fields, into which they've introduced flute and organ and, above all, their voices. Voices that are a little bit Richard Youngs, a little bit Ariel Pink... breathy and high and delicate. As suggested by the artwork -- one of Glenn's lovely nature-fantasia collages -- this is the words and music of fragile fluttering butterflies thinking deep thoughts, mystical thoughts...not that the quasi-religious themes of the lyrics are all that easy to decipher within the raw Jewelled Antler production aesthetic.
MPEG Stream: "Mother The Sun Makes Me Cry"
MPEG Stream: "Egyptian Rosemarie"

SKYGREEN LEOPARDS, THE One Thousand Bird Ceremony (Soft Abuse) cd 13.98
We often wonder...can those Jewelled Antler guys do no wrong? Naw, so far, it seems not. Once you're hooked, you're hooked, and we can't help but sing the praises of pretty much all the releases to emanate from this inspired Bay Area "collective" of nature-loving, often-improvising, uber-prolific music-lovers, whether they be cd-r releases on their own Jewelled Antler imprint or one of the many spun-off to other like-minded labels. Like this one, on Soft Abuse. It's the second album from Skygreen Leopards, the duo of Glenn Donaldson (Thuja, Mirza, The Birdtree, etc.) and Donovan Quinn (Verdure), and they sort of align with the other Jewelled Antler "pop/vocal" duos Blithe Sons (also with Donaldson) and Child Readers. But unlike those two, the Skygreen Leopards' songs are actually composed and rehearsed, less products of the moment than good ol' songcraft. Not that they went into any fancy studio to make this or anything, indeed the field recording that opens this disc situates the duo out in a pasture somewhere, seemingly serenading a bovine audience with their achingly lovely, loosely structured psych-folk-pop music. Gentle, whispy vocals sing songs with mythical lyrics, full of both melanchoic sadness and hope. Such song titles as "All Our Plagues Were Rainbows" and "Let Me Grow In Your Meadow" are good indications of what their music evokes. With a vast array of instrumentation (in common with most Jewelled Antler projects) including 6 & 12 string guitars, dulcimer, portable turntable, 5 string banjo, bouzouki, Hammond, chord organ, tamborines, mandolin, penny whistle, and echoplex, Glenn and Donovan conjure some quite beautiful nap-time music, sleepy and serene. Their songs should, obviously, be of great appeal to the whole Ptolemaic Terrascope/Broken Face crowd, with echoes of Elephant 6 (a little Olivia Tremor Control I'm hearing), early Tyrannosaurus Rex, Richard Youngs' folkier stuff. Resplendent in one of Glenn's crude but colourful collages, populated as always by mysterious bird-headed figures, One Thousand Bird Ceremony is an album that captures the la la las of fluffy clouds passing overhead, as the Skygreen Leopards say "Hello To All Your Rain" (track 7).
MPEG Stream: "Summer Alchemy"
MPEG Stream: "Walk With The Golden Cross"

SKYGREEN LEOPARDS, THE She Rode On A Pink Gazelle & Other Dreams (Jewelled Antler) cd-r 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Wow! The Skygreen Leopards are yet another brilliant facet of psychedelic oddities to shine forth from San Francisco's loose Jewelled Antler collective, featuring the incredibily prolific Glenn Donaldson (Thuja, Blithe Sons, Knit Separates, ex-Mirza, etc.) and the halcyon pop sensibilities of Donovan Quinn.
As with all of the Jewelled Antler manifestations, there's a strong pull by the British psychedelic era, but here far more entranced by druggy, carefree pop songs than the mythologically charged folk scene. The Skygreen Leopards maintain the same wistful, melancholic reminiscence as many of the psychedelic revivalists from the past decade (embraced by such labels as Elephant 6, Creation, and early Spin Art), but have developed a wonderfully playful sense of songwriting. Behind rich guitar leads that have been bathed in colorful, echoplex reverb, Donaldson and Quinn march through acoustic guitar jangles contrasted with breathy vocals floating freely in the distance, sort of sounding like early Pink Floyd or Tyrannosaurus Rex. Like those VHF releases we recently listed, Jewelled Antler is one of those CD-R outlets that is certainly worth checking out, with exceptional music on the inside and nicely conceived artwork on the outside.
RealAudio clip: "The Stars Go To Sleep"
RealAudio clip: "I Dreamt She Rode On A Pink Gazelle"
RealAudio clip: "Your Face Is Modern Art"

SKYJUICE The Other Side (Ubiquity) 12" 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Local producer and musician Dave Biegel of Bugs. This new 12" goes in an epic darkstep direction.

SKYPHONE Fabula (Rune Grammofon) cd 16.98

SKYSCRAPER MAGAZINE Issue #21 magazine 4.99
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Latest installment of this badass music magazine. Over the course of a few years, Skyscraper has gone from a scrappy little zine into a serious chunk of music journalism, leaning toward the indie side of the spectrum but never shying away from ANY music as long as it's cool and weird and good. This time around articles on and interviews with Mogwai, Destroyer, Jon Langford, Dungen, Some Girls, Tristeza, Parts & Labor, Test Icicles, Rah Brahs, Witch, Aids Wolf, I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness, John Wilkes Booze, Pearls And Brass and loads more. And of course tons and tons of reviews!

SKYSCRAPER MAGAZINE Issue #23 magazine 4.99
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It's weird that this is Skyscraper issue #23, and we've only ever listed two other issues of this kick ass music magazine. Well, we'll try to fix that right up, beginning with the latest and largest issue of Skyscraper, a magazine that began its life covering mostly indie rock, but is now as omnivorous as we are. This time around: The Rapture, The Blood Brothers, Ratatat, Chin Up Chin Up, Erase Errata, Daniel Johnston, The Howling Hex, NoMeansNo, Red Sparowes, Six Organs Of Admittance, Fucked Up, Wires On Fire, Jihad Jerry & The Evildoers, To Live And Shave In L.A., The Lovely Feathers, Captain Ahab, Raccoo-Oo-Oon, Endpoint as well as articles on DIY performance spaces, Lost records, and tons more. Plus all the usual music magazine stuff including LOTS AND LOTS of reviews!!

SKYSCRAPER MAGAZINE Issue #24 magazine 4.99
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another jam packed issue of this amazing music magazine, that somehow manages to slip through the cracks when in fact it's as good or better than any of its modern music contemporaries (The Wire, Terrorizer, Magnet, Sound Projector). With a distinctly indie rock bent, Skyscraper manage to still touch on all sorts of amazing music, reading like maybe the most AQ magazine of them all. This month: Neurosis, Jesu, Baroness, Panda Bear, Black Lips, Explosions In The Sky, Converge, An Albatross, Hot Cross, John Wiese, Die! Die! Die!, Demonstrations, Athletic Automaton, Foreign Islands, the Willowz, Graham Coxon, Ted Leo and The Pharmacists, VietNam, Unsane, a focus on Now Wave Chicago and of course tons and tons of reviews!!

SKYSCRAPER MAGAZINE Issue #7 magazine+cd 4.95
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
At almost 200 pages, Skyscraper will keep you occupied for a long long time. And it's worth it. Lengthy interviews with Flaming Lips, They Might be Giants, June of 44, US Maple, the Locust, Slaves, I Am Spoonbender, Songs:Ohia, the Melvins, Mr Bungle, Macha, Rachels, and about 8,000 reviews of albums, singles, and printed matter. Sooo worth the five bucks, PLUS you get a cd of previously unreleased remixes including tracks by: Tristeza, Lowercase, Cars Get Crushed, Make-Up, Les Savy Fav, Atombombpocketknife, etc, with full color artwork just ready to be slipped into a jewel case.

SKYSCRAPER MAGAZINE Issue No. 25 magazine 4.99
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The Bottomley brothers (Andrew and Peter) along with graphic designer Justin Wright (aka Expo 70!) have been publishing this fine music magazine for almost a decade now. Consistently well written, insightful, creative, and chockful of interviews, reviews and articles on all the artists we love, a new Skyscraper is always a welcome sight. Issue No. 25 is no exception. It features the likes of Grails, The Locust, Psychic TV, Throbbing Gristle, Wooden Wand, Art Brut, Low, Shellac, Burning Star Core, Tim Green, Dinosaur Jr, Dungen and many more. 112 pages.

SLADE Get Yer Boots On: The Best Of Slade (Shout Factory) cd 14.98

SLADE VS THE MONKEYS: A COLLECTION OF ROCK CARICATURES (Goner Records) magazine 5.98
For lack of a better word, we shall call this a rock comic book... then again, it could be coloring book too. Who's got the pencil crayons? In case the title didn't tip you off, Slade Vs The Monkeys is a totally retarded, utterly stupid and really hilarious batch of drawings depicting goofy pairings of music personalities and random, uhh, stuff. A sampling: Tony Iommi vs. Q*Bert (the video game character, not the turntablist... 'tho that would be pretty funny too), Glenn Danzig on a riding lawnmower, The Bay City Rollers vs. Yanni, Sparks advertising dog food, Klaus Nomi working at Long John Silver's... catch our drift? They look like the kind of doodles that stoners scrawled in Bic pen blue ink on their binders while zoning out during geography class.
If you dig this, inquire about Cup's Illustrated Kill 'Em All!

SLAG BOOM VAN LOON So Soon (Planet-Mu) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Slag Boom Van Loon is of course the collaboration between electronica maven Mike Paradinas and Dutch DJ Speedy J. And they have a lot of friends, enough to fill a full length cd with remixes: Boards of Canada, Four Tet, Pole, Matmos, Coil, Leafcutter John, mu-Ziq (wait, that IS Mike Paradinas), and others.
The 12" version comes with fewer tracks, but if you fancy yourself the DJ, then this is for you.

SLAG BOOM VAN LOON So Soon (Planet-Mu) 12" 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Slag Boom Van Loon is of course the collaboration between electronica maven Mike Paradinas and Dutch DJ Speedy J. And they have a lot of friends, enough to fill a full length cd with remixes: Boards of Canada, Four Tet, Pole, Matmos, Coil, Leafcutter John, mu-Ziq (wait, that IS Mike Paradinas), and others.
The 12" version comes with fewer tracks, but if you fancy yourself the DJ, then this is for you.

SLAGMAUR Domfeldt (Inferna Profundis / Nocturnal Woodlands Productions) cd 15.98
We sold out of these right quick when we reviewed it a few lists back, but got a handful more in, one of Andee's favorite black metal records of last year, back in stock...
We've been in intrigued (and a bit obsessed) with these Norwegian black metal weirdos for a while now. Frontman Aatselgribb, always sporting a white magistrate's powdered wig, usually a hat, and some sort of old fashioned garment, big wide cuffs, flowing coats, very striking, but pretty what the fuck as well. The covers and band photos are routinely super dramatic staged shots with the band members preceding over some sort of tribunal, or standing with arms outstretched batlike in the orchestra pit at an opera. On top of all that, Aatselgribb's sidekicks in Slagmaur are called General Gribbsphilser and Lt. Warder.
There are two other proper full lengths, neither of which we've been able to track down to list, both packed with buzzing blackness, haunting industrial stomp, soaring symphonic pomp, and all manner of gothic ambience. Domfeldt is the band's demo from 2007, reissued on cd for the first time, and as most people's entree into the sick soundworld of Slagmaur, it's a pretty great one.
After a dense swirling drone intro, like a symphony of swarming insects over a tuning up orchestra, the band launch into a sound that hovers somewhere between a depressive lurching black metal dirge, a Godflesh like industrial stomp, and woozy tripped out blackened doom. The guitars buzz and soar, not way up in the mix, sort of muted and off in the distance, the drums, machinelike and motorik, everything wreathed in a haunting murky oppressive ambience, the melodies ascending and descending maniacally, the whole sound very seasick and warped sounding, in the distance, strings sing, the vocals a harsh raspy croak, atonal piano pounds somewhere down in the mix, the rhythms sounding almost martial at times, elsewhere horns moan ominously, random bits of percussive clunk and clatter drift on heaving seas of twisted muted riffage, guitars unfurl prickly detuned sort-of-leads, the sound shifts from hellish circus, to stripped down new wave-y doom, to gothic crush, to 16rpm black metal, to fucked up SST inflected doom. It's pretty tough to describe. It's too slow and fucked up to really be pure black metal, but it's too black and twisted to be doom or anything else. At times it sounds a bit like The Cure if they were raised on Abruptum and Burzum, and fed loads and loads of bad acid and PCP. Some moments sound like a more specifically metal Gnaw Their Tongues, but for the most part Slagmaur do their own thing, a fucked up, sick and twisted, and gloriously damaged and demented thing. Yet another new name to add to the ever expanding aQ canon of super fucked outsider blackness. Needless to say (but we will anyway), absolutely essential.
MPEG Stream: "Vandalens Hevn"
MPEG Stream: "Gnager"

SLANT 6 Soda Pop Rip Off (Dischord) cd 11.98
An old favorite! The DC all-girl rock trio's first and best of their two albums.

SLAP HAPPY HUMPHREY (Public Bath) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The domestic issue of previously Japanese-import-only album. Jojo Hiroshige of Hijokaidan, the girl singer from Angel In Heavy Syrup, and one other guy (from Subvert Blaze). La la la...Quiet...Pretty...CRASH!...SCREEEECH...La la la...Mellow mellow...

SLAPP HAPPY Acnalbasac Noom (ReR) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Man oh man this is one of my favorite albums of all time! Acnalbasac Noom. Produced by powerhouse krautrock / Faust producer Uwe Nettelbeck in 1973, this is actually a rerecorded version of an earlier Slapp Happy album Casablanca Moon. And it's better. Dagmar Krause's singular birdlike voice (which you will either love or hate) cavorts above the clang-a-clang metallic strum of Peter Blegvad's guitar. Give it a listen, their style is completely unique.
RealAudio clip: "Casablanca Moon"
RealAudio clip: "Michelangelo"
RealAudio clip: "The Drum"
RealAudio clip: "Charlie 'n Charlie"

SLAPP HAPPY Ca Va (V2) cd 24.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
First album in decades from this English trio, featuring all three original members -- Peter Blegvad, Dagmar Krause, and Anthony Moore.

SLAPP HAPPY Casablanca Moon / Desperate Straights (Virgin) cd 17.98

SLAPP HAPPY Sort Of (Blueprint) cd 17.98
First time on cd for this Slapp Happy album, recorded in 1972 by Uwe Nettelbeck (Faust producer), and featuring the talents of Peter Blegvad and Anthony Moore on jangly, chiming artrock guitar, and Dagmar Krause's warbly birdlike vocals. What a voice. While "Sort Of" is not as consistent as their "Acnalbasac Noom" album (which is where you should start first if you've never heard Slapp Happy), it's got some certifiably perfect gems, including the original and far superior version of "Blue Flower," which Mazzy Star later rudely covered without giving credit, worth the price of the disc alone.

SLAUGHTER Fuck of Death (Hells Headbangers) cd 13.98
Not the MTV hair band Slaughter!!! These guys were from Canada and were actually a METAL band. Demos and stuff here, stay away poseur!!!

SLAUGHTER Not Dead Yet / Paranormal (Metal Mind Productions) cd 17.98
No, not that Slaughter. This one lives up to the name. Canadian thrash attack!!!

SLAUGHTER Strappado (Metal Mind Productions) cd 17.98
No, not that Slaughter. This one lives up to the name. Canadian thrash attack!!!

SLAUGHTER RULE, THE (ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK) (Bloodshot) cd 14.98
This very well done soundtrack to the indie film The Slaughter Rule features the veritable cream of the alt.country crop, almost all AQ favorites. Jay Farrar of the late great Uncle Tupelo / Son Volt is the glue here, contributing eleven glowingly pretty dusty instrumentals taken straight from his original score. This stuff is so much better than his recent solo work and would be worth the price of the disc alone, not to mention all the other bands on this. Go Jay!
Contributing NEW songs are Freakwater, Vic Chesnutt (a great scratchy version of "Rank Stranger"), Blood Oranges, and Pernice Brothers. Also included are the previously released songs by Neko Case ("Porchlight" from her Furnace Room Lullaby album) and Ryan Adams ("To Be Young" from his Heartbreaker album), Jimmie Dale Gilmore, etc.
Works well as a continuous listen -- definitely worth your time and money.
RealAudio clip: JAY FARRAR "Gather"
RealAudio clip: SPEEDY WEST AND JIMMY BRYANT "West of Samoa"

SLAUTER XSTROYES Free the Beast (Monster) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
More from this cult Illinois '80s metal combo. We reviewed their actual album reissue of 1985's "Winter Kill" nearby. This disc collects the previously unreleased tracks from the sessions for their aborted second album, 1987's "Free The Beast", along with some early demo material circa 1981-84. Get "Winter Kill" first, and if you want more of this band's very '80s over-the-top metal onslaught, then pick this up.
RealAudio clip: "Free The Beast"

SLAUTER XSTROYES Winter Kill (Monster) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Yeah, yeah, another obscure '80s cult metal band reissued. I'd heard about this group and how amazing they were supposed to be for a long time, but when I first got the cd reissue of their only album, 1985's "Winter Kill", it sounded just like I expected: high pitched vox, widdly guitar solos, Maiden-esque songwriting... cool, yeah, but nothing special. BUT, then I listened to it again. Something about this, some X-factor, makes it VERY special (or maybe it's just me). Rather than sounding like they're derivative of Maiden, Priest, and a host of mid-'80s Metal Blade bands, Slauter Xstroyes somehow do what they do so perfectly that THEY sound like the Platonic ideal of '80s true heavy metal, the template for every other band, the originators rather than imitators. Of course this isn't actually the case, yet a few listens into it, "Winter Kill" was having that effect: while it's on your stereo, it's the ultimate in metal. I bow down. Fans of the likes of Omen, Cirith Ungol, Warlord, Manilla Road, Attacker, and Brocas Helm should add this to their collections for sure. Classy, slightly eccentric, skilled, and -- the kicker -- full of actual emotion. Absurd as it sounds -- and the vocalist's squeals do sometimes sound absurd -- this metal is for real and meaningful. From the heavy droney keyboard intro, through the album's intervening moments of galloping attack, doomy riffing, and acoustic bliss, to the closing anthem "Mother, Mother Fucker" these guys rule. If you can listen to Spinal Tap for more than comedic value, as I can, you'll agree.
RealAudio clip: "Winter Kill"
RealAudio clip: "The Stage"
RealAudio clip: "Black Rose And Thorns"