SAINT VITUS Born Too Late (SST) cd 14.98

SAINT VITUS Die Healing (Buried By Time And Dust) lp 23.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Doom. Vinyl. Die Healing. Need we go on?? Doom metal fans, probably all you need to know is that this album by LA godfathers of doom Saint Vitus, never before on vinyl, and long out of print on cd, is now here. However, we will go on...
Nobody could have guessed it back in 1995, when this album was first released, but 2010 is shaping up to be a pretty good year for ol' Saint Vitus. Not just one reunion show, but an extensive, well-attended tour! Vinyl reissues of their SST era records (we've got some in stock, getting more soon)! And this, a lovingly crafted vinyl version (first time on wax!!) for what was their 7th and final full-length studio album before calling it quits! We also hear rumors of a NEW album being made. However, as much as we'll be excited to hear it, there's no way they can top THIS.
While it might have been their final record, a last hurrah, hardly noticed by an uncaring world, it was also one of their best ever. For one thing, it marked the brief return of their original and best vocalist, the amazing Scott Reagers. Apologies to Wino, who's fronting the band for their current reunion... Some will differ, Wino certainly has his fans, we like him a lot too, Born Too Late and Mournful Cries are great albums, but let's just say there's no other singer quite like Scotty Reagers. Vitus was lucky to have had him in the first place, and lucky to have had him back for this. His dramatic and dynamic delivery, gloomy and ghoulish, yet classic castle-metal through and through, keeps us spellbound. Guitarist Dave Chandler steps up with some great sludgy slo-mo Sabbathy riffs (of course) and wah wah'd out, psychedelic punk soloing (of course). The atmosphere is sooooo despairing. Opener "Dark World", later covered by Reverend Bizarre, is a classic, what a riff! But that's just the beginning... "One Mind", "Let The End Begin", "The Sloth", "Return Of The Zombie", heck all the tracks are awesome, any Vitus fan should agree. The entire album harks back to the feeling of their first few records in the mid '80s, really as if Reagers had never left the band. And again his singing is crucial here, over the top wailing with a wretched, grotesque edge to it. Emotive and eccentric. Perfect for the plodding, fuzz-filled creepy-crawls that fill this pestilent platter. He might be singing about sloths and zombies (he IS singing about sloths and zombies) but damn does it sound sincere and MEANINGFUL - ignore him at your peril. Drop the needle on this and learn what it is to be doomed!!
While we should also list the abovementioned SST reissues, many of them must-haves too, this seemed even more exciting 'cause so few folks ever got the chance to get it, the cds were imports and it was one of the last releases on the label (Hellhound) before it folded. And like we said, there never ever was vinyl. Now there is, and fairly deluxe vinyl at that, complete with embossing on the cover for the Vitus logo. And yeah, of course it's limited... even if it wasn't, though, you gotta get it, we'd just be telling you to buy two of 'em!!
MPEG Stream: "Dark World"
MPEG Stream: "Return Of The Zombie"

SAINT VITUS Lillie: F-65 (Season Of Mist) cd 14.98
'Reunion' albums are a tough row to hoe for most bands. For every rare success (such as Van Halen's recent A Different Kind Of Truth, in our opinion; also the new P.i.L. is pretty good too, by the way), there's gotta be dozens embarrassing, useless, legacy-tarnishing failures (like, The Weirdness by The Stooges, ugh). And we know there's folks who'd argue with us about that Van Halen one... And even the good reunions still mainly just make you wanna listen to the band's 'actual' albums, right? So it's tough. But at the same time, who doesn't want to hear their favorite old band get back together and show the young 'uns how it's done? You can always hope.
Doom metal vets Saint Vitus take up the reunion challenge here, with their first album since 1990's V to feature popular frontman and stoner rock icon Wino at the mic. And while fans of Vitus and Wino won't be disappointed, we're not freaking out over it, either. Make no mistake, this definitely has the classic Vitus SOUND down, with the bellbottomed burnout heaviness we crave, distinguished by guitarist Dave Chandler's acid punk guitar-gnarl, and Wino's weathered croon. But, that's part of the problem... Wino's been a busy guy in recent years, in several different outfits, and solo too, so suddenly hearing him sing again in Saint Vitus, isn't quite so special as we want it to be. It's almost 'just another Wino album', not that we don't like those, but still. Also, while Vitus once were post Sabbath pioneers of doom, back in the day, when there were only like 5 or 6 doom metal bands in the world, now they're but one of many. So, you gotta judge this on the songs, and/or the riffs. Which are ok, if not the best Vitus ever wrote, with "Bleeding Ground" probably most worthy of their past SST-era glories.
And 2 of the 7 tracks on this relatively short, and oddly titled album (it's a drug thing, we don't understand) are instrumental filler - one a rather nice, but out-of-place acoustic number by Wino, the other an album-ending noisy feedback fest from Chandler called "Withdrawal" that's very Vitus-y, but still not a song. So, just 5 actual new songs, quite heavy and doomy and slooooow, but also, unavoidably, having a bit of a rehashed feel to 'em.
They definitely didn't embarrass themselves here, these 34 and a half minutes of blown out old school doom are just the fix any fan of Vitus and/or Wino wants, but we can't help but feel that the band's *former* final album, 1994's excellent Die Healing, itself at the time a reunion effort (with original lead singer Scott Reagers), would have been a better last testament.
MPEG Stream: "The Bleeding Ground"
MPEG Stream: "Blessed Night"

SAINT VITUS Lillie: F-65 (Season Of Mist) lp 21.00
'Reunion' albums are a tough row to hoe for most bands. For every rare success (such as Van Halen's recent A Different Kind Of Truth, in our opinion; also the new P.i.L. is pretty good too, by the way), there's gotta be dozens embarrassing, useless, legacy-tarnishing failures (like, The Weirdness by The Stooges, ugh). And we know there's folks who'd argue with us about that Van Halen one... And even the good reunions still mainly just make you wanna listen to the band's 'actual' albums, right? So it's tough. But at the same time, who doesn't want to hear their favorite old band get back together and show the young 'uns how it's done? You can always hope.
Doom metal vets Saint Vitus take up the reunion challenge here, with their first album since 1990's V to feature popular frontman and stoner rock icon Wino at the mic. And while fans of Vitus and Wino won't be disappointed, we're not freaking out over it, either. Make no mistake, this definitely has the classic Vitus SOUND down, with the bellbottomed burnout heaviness we crave, distinguished by guitarist Dave Chandler's acid punk guitar-gnarl, and Wino's weathered croon. But, that's part of the problem... Wino's been a busy guy in recent years, in several different outfits, and solo too, so suddenly hearing him sing again in Saint Vitus, isn't quite so special as we want it to be. It's almost 'just another Wino album', not that we don't like those, but still. Also, while Vitus once were post Sabbath pioneers of doom, back in the day, when there were only like 5 or 6 doom metal bands in the world, now they're but one of many. So, you gotta judge this on the songs, and/or the riffs. Which are ok, if not the best Vitus ever wrote, with "Bleeding Ground" probably most worthy of their past SST-era glories.
And 2 of the 7 tracks on this relatively short, and oddly titled album (it's a drug thing, we don't understand) are instrumental filler - one a rather nice, but out-of-place acoustic number by Wino, the other an album-ending noisy feedback fest from Chandler called "Withdrawal" that's very Vitus-y, but still not a song. So, just 5 actual new songs, quite heavy and doomy and slooooow, but also, unavoidably, having a bit of a rehashed feel to 'em.
They definitely didn't embarrass themselves here, these 34 and a half minutes of blown out old school doom are just the fix any fan of Vitus and/or Wino wants, but we can't help but feel that the band's *former* final album, 1994's excellent Die Healing, itself at the time a reunion effort (with original lead singer Scott Reagers), would have been a better last testament.
MPEG Stream: "The Bleeding Ground"
MPEG Stream: "Blessed Night"

SAINT VITUS Live (Southern Lord) cd 12.98
Doing a service to the doom community at large, Southern Lord follows up their reissue last year of the long out of print Saint Vitus album V (originally released on the German label Hellhound) with another reissue of an equally long-gone Hellhound release, the Saint Vitus live album, aptly titled Live. Recorded on their second European tour in the fall of '89, this includes live renditions of such classics as "Born Too Late", "Dying Inside", "Look Behind You", and "Clear Windowpane", as performed by the Vitus MK II lineup that featured Scott "Wino" Weinrich (of The Obsessed, later of Spirit Caravan, The Hidden Hand and Place Of Skulls) on vocals. Southern Lord's deluxe re-packaging preserves the original's awesome cover photo (one that makes Wino look like one scary dude, and guitarist Dave Chandler like a really insane hippy freak) and adds a swank 32 page booklet of previously unseen photos (note Chandler's sweat-drenced Dinosaur T-shirt in several of the pics). There's also a short paragraph of new liner notes by Chandler as well, who, always the wise-ass punk, observes that "the print on CD sleeves is always too fucking small to read, so what's the point?"
Basically if you're a Saint Vitus or Wino fan it's hard to see how you wouldn't want this! If you're not already into these guys, it'll certainly provide you with a handy collection of some of Vitus' best tunes, but we're not expecting to sell many of these to the Vitus-ignorant. This is for the fans, old and new. People who'll dig the between song stage banter, and truly appreciate the extended guitar jamming portions sometimes added to their tunes in the live setting. Yessir, this is a hour+ of ponderous riffage and wah-crazed soloing, warts and all, as only Vitus could muster. All hail.
MPEG Stream: "Born Too Late"
MPEG Stream: "Look Behind You"

SAINT VITUS Live (Southern Lord) 2lp 16.98
Now on limited double vinyl like it should be. Here's some of what we had to say about the cd version of this reissue: Doing a service to the doom community at large, Southern Lord follows up their reissue last year of the long out of print Saint Vitus album V (originally released on the German label Hellhound) with another reissue of an equally long-gone Hellhound release, the Saint Vitus live album, aptly titled Live. Recorded on their second European tour in the fall of '89, this includes live renditions of such classics as "Born Too Late", "Dying Inside", "Look Behind You", and "Clear Windowpane", as performed by the Vitus MK II lineup that featured Scott "Wino" Weinrich (of The Obsessed, later of Spirit Caravan, The Hidden Hand and Place Of Skulls) on vocals.
Basically if you're a Saint Vitus or Wino fan it's hard to see how you wouldn't want this! If you're not already into these guys, it'll certainly provide you with a handy collection of some of Vitus' best tunes, but we're not expecting to sell many of these to the Vitus-ignorant. This is for the fans, old and new. People who'll dig the between song stage banter, and truly appreciate the extended guitar jamming portions sometimes added to their tunes in the live setting. Yessir, this is a hour+ of ponderous riffage and wah-crazed soloing, warts and all, as only Vitus could muster. All hail.
MPEG Stream: "Born Too Late"
MPEG Stream: "Look Behind You"

SAINT VITUS Marbles In The Moshpit (Buried By Time And Dust) lp 21.00
The cult Buried By Time And Dust label brings us an official release of this live recording by these doom metal legends in their prime, on tour with SST labelmates Black Flag back in 1984!! Featuring the classic original Vitus lineup of SoCal hippie punk wasteoids: guitarist Dave Chandler, bassist Mark Adams, drummer Armando Acosta (RIP) and vocalist Scott Reagers, doing songs from their first few early albums and eps (some of which hadn't been released yet), this was recorded on December 20th, 1984 in London, Ontario, Canada. They bring the acidhead, hippie punk, alcoholic DOOM with "White Magic/Black Magic", "Zombie Hunger", "War Is Our Destiny", "Hallow's Victim", "Saint Vitus" and three more classics.
Now, sometimes, live recordings are not always the greatest, but we knew this was a worthy one, as the audio comes from a videotape bootleg we've seen and heard previously. The sound is good, and more importantly, Scott Reagers' vocals are AMAZING. We already considered him one of the all-time great (but totally underrated) metal singers, but that he could pull it off live (and under less than ideal circumstances, we imagine) is damn impressive. His banshee vocals just like they do in the studio, full-on with all the range and dynamics, wow!
This vinyl document comes with cool cartoony cover art featuring a pit-full of Vitus fans moshing it up, although if you've seen the video from this show you know that the audience during the Vitus portion was bit smaller - with Henry Rollins himself being the most prominent headbanging fan in the room, pretty much all alone front row and center. 'Cause those were the days when punk and metal didn't always mix, and Vitus's psychedelic style of metal wasn't always appreciated by the hardcore kids! However, it's hard to imagine why not now since they RULED. As you can hear here.
Includes lyric sheet insert (backed with a typewritten Vitus band bio from SST's publicity department, circa 1984), the lp pressed on thick vinyl.

SAINT VITUS Mournful Cries (SST) cd 14.98

SAINT VITUS Reunion 2003 (Claude & Elmo Music) dvd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Saint Vitus! In the doom metal pantheon, this '80s SoCal band is waaay up there, in the select group of second-gen Sabbath disciples that also includes Pentagram, Trouble, Witchfinder General, and Candlemass. Originally recording for SST, they were the throwback doom punk hippies of the hardcore scene. Hence such tunes as "Born Too Late". All of this, you should already know, and if not, there's little point in reading further about this release. 'Cause basically this item is something for true Vitus fans, those among you who know (and care) what we're talking about when we say that Andee and Allan here have a ongoing dispute about who was the best Vitus vocalist, Scott Reagers or his replacement, Scott "Wino" Weinrich. Extra points if you chime in, "what about Christian Lindersson?" If you yourself have formed an opinion on that subject (and particularly if you're a Wino fancier) then there's a good chance you'll want this DVD document of the legendary St. Vitus reunited (Dave Chandler, Armando Acosta, and Mark Adams, with Wino at the mic), live for one show only at the Double Door in Chicago, 2003. Billed as "the heaviest show ever" and well it's freaking Saint Vitus, they can say that if they want!
Ok, what else do you need to know? It's limited and numbered, it's an official release, it's a real DVD not DVD-R, it's a pro production (done by the Doomednation folks) shot on four cameras (which allow for some crazy close-ups and a diversity of "film stock"). The sound is decent, though it's also almost -too much- like you're actually at the show 'cause of all the crowd chatter you can hear. And here's the set list: "Clear Windowpane", "Dying Inside", "White Magic/Black Magic", "Living Backwards", "I Bleed Black", "Zombie Hunger", "White Stallions", "Born Too Late", "Mystic Lady", and "Saint Vitus"!
Right from the get-go it's obvious how Dave Chandler's frazzled, fuzzed wah-wah soloing makes Vitus sound so unique. Yeah they're hugely influenced by Black Sabbath. Wino gets as Ozzy as he can be. But there's something even more burnt out and deviant and, well, punk about the Vitus approach... and Dave Chandler's psychotic, psychedelic guitar playing (and personality) is a big part of that. Hell we're AMAZED that the dude still looks exactly the same -- imagine having that fabulous furry freak brothers frizzy long hair for all those years!! Right on.

SAINT VITUS s/t (SST) cd 16.98

SAINT VITUS Saint Vitus b/w Born Too Late (Volcom) 7" 6.50
Skate clothing company Volcom is also a cool weird record label. Especially lately. Wildildlife, Best Coast, and now... legendary SST doomlords Saint Vitus??? Yep, they've got the reunited Vitus (with new drummer Henry Vasquez, RIP Armando Acosta), fronted by Wino, on 45rpm 7" colored wax doing two moldy oldies live, "Saint Vitus" and "Born Too Late", both classics of Sabbath styled doom metal. Recorded at the Palladium in Worcester Mass on October 17th, 2009, apparently the first time they'd played on the East Coast since 1993, when the band's original run was petering out. The A-side features some added vocals by their punk pal Dez Cadena (Black Flag, DC3, the Misfits)!

SAINT VITUS The Walking Dead / Hallow's Victim (SST) cd 16.98
"Welcome to darkness!!" It's a red letter DOOM day here at Aquarius, with the arrival of this long awaited reissue! For some reason, SST had never before released these essential Saint Vitus records on compact disc. Now they're here, officially together on one cd, the LA doom legends' 2nd full length album Hallow's Victim and subsequent 12" ep The Walking Dead, both first unleashed back in 1985! Plus, a bonus track!!
There were other great underground metal bands in the '80s who practiced what doom messiahs Black Sabbath preached: Trouble, Candlemass, Witchfinder General, Pentagram... But it was LA's Saint Vitus who took the Sabbath sound to even further extremes. They were heavier, slower, doomier than anyone else. Psychedelic, wasted, DOOM. Both of these essential doom documents boast the unique vocal presence of Vitus' original singer, Scott Reagers. As we've no doubt mentioned in other reviews, it's been a subject of some debate 'round here about who was the best Vitus vocalist, Reagers or his replacement, Scott "Wino" Weinrich. Whatever your preference, we'd hope you agree that Reagers was pretty AMAZING, his dynamic, dramatic banshee wailings somehow like an unholy hybrid of both Ozzy and Dio! But way more twisted, wretched, and over the top than even that would sound. And although the recent Vitus reunion lineup is with Wino, when we saw 'em, Wino made a point of paying tribute to Reagers, talking about how awed he was to have to try and fill his shoes back in the day. (Man, we wished we'd been at the show in LA, where Reagers did show up on stage to sing a few songs!).
Containing classic tracks like "White Stallions", "War Is Our Destiny", and "Mystic Lady", we can't recommend disc this highly enough to any traditional doom fan who doesn't have this stuff! Druggy frizzy fuzzy punk rock burn out Black Sabbath worship doesn't get much better (maybe Vitus's self-titled debut from '84 edges this out). While guitarist Dave Chandler is technically a mess, he sure had a knack for writing a riff, and his demented wah-happy soloing makes up in sheer psychedelic chutzpah what it lacks in chops. Drummer Armando Acosta and bassist Scott Adams revel in the slow and low, respectively (though Vitus do crank up the speed at plenty of spots on this disc, actually). And then there's the mournful cries of Reagers on the mic, delivering the goods, proving that a scuzzy band of stoners from LA playing the '80s hardcore punk rock circuit might just have had the best metal vocalist of all time EVER... well that's what some of us here think, anyway. Hear for yourself.
The bonus track happens to one of our favorite songs in the Vitus catalog, "Look Behind You". This is the original recording of that tune, as sung by Reagers, taken from SST's 1986 Blasting Concept Vol.II compilation (it was later redone with Wino on the Thirsty And Miserable ep in '87).
MPEG Stream: "War Is Our Destiny"
MPEG Stream: "The Walking Dead"
MPEG Stream: "Look Behind You"

SAINT VITUS V (Southern Lord) cd 15.98
Of all the classic "doom metal" pioneers who kept the spirit of Black Sabbath alive in the '80s -- Trouble, Witchfinder General, Candlemass, Pentagram -- the most significant to me (Allan) by far is LA's Saint Vitus. Perhaps 'cause they recorded for seminal punk label SST, their influence was broad. In some way, you can thank Saint Vitus for side two of Black Flag's My War, for the Melvins, for SUNNO)))... "Stoner rock" owes them too. These guys were proudly retro '70s longhairs when it definitely wasn't cool, and for that they will forever be badasses. I pretty much like *all* of their albums, many of which aren't in print anymore. But this one, 1989's V (their 5th LP, natch) has just been reissued by the powers-that-be-doomed at Southern Lord. It's certainly classic Vitus, their final release with vocalist Scott "Wino" Weinrich before he split to reform The Obsessed for a brief and unsurprisingly ill-fated major label stint. And it was the first Vitus LP not to come out on SST. Instead it was released by the now long-defunct German doom specialists Hellhound. So, in the States, it was a hard to find import, and little publicized. For these reasons, V acquired quite a mystique -- some fans going so far as to consider it their best. I can't exactly agree with that -- for one thing, V is marred by perhaps the worst 2 minutes in Vitus' career ("When Emotion Dies", a sensitive acoustic number featuring Wino dueting with a female vocalist -- that ain't what Saint Vitus is all about!) -- but elsewhere on this slab you'll find some essential heaviness, from the psychedelic powerhouse opener "Living Backwards" to the wrenching, rocking "I Bleed Black" to the massive melancholy dirge of "Patra (Petra)" and the epic, shivering "Jack Frost". As well, tracks like "Angry Man" and "Ice Monkey" provide uptempo inklings of stoner rock to come... So, a prime Vitus platter that anyone with records by Electric Wizard/High On Fire/Spirit Caravan etc. ought to also own. And, there's more: Southern Lord have unearthed a video of Wino's first-ever performance fronting Vitus, shot by Larry Lally at the Palm Springs Community Center on May 16th 1986. It's included it on the cd as a bonus Quicktime file! It looks kind of like black and white '50s TV footage, but it's great to see and hear this vintage Vitus show, the band tearing through five classics including "Clear Windowpane" and "Saint Vitus".
MPEG Stream: "I Bleed Black"
MPEG Stream: "Patra (Petra)"

SAINT VITUS V (Southern Lord) lp 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Of all the classic "doom metal" pioneers who kept the spirit of Black Sabbath alive in the '80s -- Trouble, Witchfinder General, Candlemass, Pentagram -- the most significant to me (Allan) by far is LA's Saint Vitus. Perhaps 'cause they recorded for seminal punk label SST, their influence was broad. In some way, you can thank Saint Vitus for side two of Black Flag's My War, for the Melvins, for SUNNO)))... "Stoner rock" owes them too. These guys were proudly retro '70s longhairs when it definitely wasn't cool, and for that they will forever be badasses. I pretty much like *all* of their albums, many of which aren't in print anymore. But this one, 1989's V (their 5th LP, natch) has just been reissued by the powers-that-be-doomed at Southern Lord. It's certainly classic Vitus, their final release with vocalist Scott "Wino" Weinrich before he split to reform The Obsessed for a brief and unsurprisingly ill-fated major label stint. And it was the first Vitus LP not to come out on SST. Instead it was released by the now long-defunct German doom specialists Hellhound. So, in the States, it was a hard to find import, and little publicized. For these reasons, V acquired quite a mystique -- some fans going so far as to consider it their best. I can't exactly agree with that -- for one thing, V is marred by perhaps the worst 2 minutes in Vitus' career ("When Emotion Dies", a sensitive acoustic number featuring Wino dueting with a female vocalist -- that ain't what Saint Vitus is all about!) -- but elsewhere on this slab you'll find some essential heaviness, from the psychedelic powerhouse opener "Living Backwards" to the wrenching, rocking "I Bleed Black" to the massive melancholy dirge of "Patra (Petra)" and the epic, shivering "Jack Frost". As well, tracks like "Angry Man" and "Ice Monkey" provide uptempo inklings of stoner rock to come... So, a prime Vitus platter that anyone with records by Electric Wizard/High On Fire/Spirit Caravan etc. ought to also own.
MPEG Stream: "I Bleed Black"
MPEG Stream: "Patra (Petra)"

SAINTE ANTHONY'S FYRE s/t (Vintage / Rockadrome) cd 13.98
Heck yeah. For all you proto-metal lovin' freaks out there, we've got another treat for you this week. Finally, a nice legit reish on both cd and vinyl of this New Jersey power trio's sole slab of raw, wailin', fuzzed-out action, originally released on their own wonderfully named Zonk label back in 1970. Of course back then they didn't know it was proto-metal. They'd have called it heavy, though!
Heavy bluesy zonked out acid rock to be precise. As private press hard rock rarities go, this is a good 'un. Gotta agree with all the "yeah yeah yeah yeah yeahs" of the album's opening salvo, "Love Over You", a blistering, blown out Hendrix inspired headbanger. The rest of this eight-song album is also an LSD-fuelled rave up, with plenty more Hendrix-y guitar soloing, gravelly vox, and rhythm section shake appeal to the max. Imagine an "extreme" sixties garage rock band, that's the brand of proto-metal/acid rock on offer here, for fans of Blue Cheer, Fraction, Stonewall, Zipper, Frijid Pink, Bolder Damn, Speed Glue & Shinki - and their modern day descendants like SF's retro-proto-metallers Dzjenghis Khan ("Lone Soul Road" could easily be them). Yup, this is a savage "fuzz monster" that lives up to the hype.
The cd booklet includes detailed liner notes, lyrics, vintage photos, press clippings and other ephemera - including those "wish we were there" concert posters and ticket stubs for shows where Sainte Anthony's Fyre, apparently a live band of some repute, appeared alongside the likes of Grand Funk Railroad, the MC5, and "sensational English group" Wishbone Ash! The lp version has a poster and insert, as well.
MPEG Stream: "Love Over You"
MPEG Stream: "Lone Soul Road"
MPEG Stream: "Chance Of Fate"

SAINTE ANTHONY'S FYRE s/t (Vintage / Rockadrome) lp 19.98
Heck yeah. For all you proto-metal lovin' freaks out there, we've got another treat for you this week. Finally, a nice legit reish on both cd and vinyl of this New Jersey power trio's sole slab of raw, wailin', fuzzed-out action, originally released on their own wonderfully named Zonk label back in 1970. Of course back then they didn't know it was proto-metal. They'd have called it heavy, though!
Heavy bluesy zonked out acid rock to be precise. As private press hard rock rarities go, this is a good 'un. Gotta agree with all the "yeah yeah yeah yeah yeahs" of the album's opening salvo, "Love Over You", a blistering, blown out Hendrix inspired headbanger. The rest of this eight-song album is also an LSD-fuelled rave up, with plenty more Hendrix-y guitar soloing, gravelly vox, and rhythm section shake appeal to the max. Imagine an "extreme" sixties garage rock band, that's the brand of proto-metal/acid rock on offer here, for fans of Blue Cheer, Fraction, Stonewall, Zipper, Frijid Pink, Bolder Damn, Speed Glue & Shinki - and their modern day descendants like SF's retro-proto-metallers Dzjenghis Khan ("Lone Soul Road" could easily be them). Yup, this is a savage "fuzz monster" that lives up to the hype.
The cd booklet includes detailed liner notes, lyrics, vintage photos, press clippings and other ephemera - including those "wish we were there" concert posters and ticket stubs for shows where Sainte Anthony's Fyre, apparently a live band of some repute, appeared alongside the likes of Grand Funk Railroad, the MC5, and "sensational English group" Wishbone Ash! The lp version has a poster and insert, as well.
MPEG Stream: "Love Over You"
MPEG Stream: "Lone Soul Road"
MPEG Stream: "Chance Of Fate"

SAINTE-MARIE, BUFFY Illuminations (Vanguard) cd 13.98
We didn't realize this was still available until someone happened to order one the other day. And being so easy to get, we had to get more to share with everyone.
Easily one of our favorite folk rock records from the day, probably our favorite Buffy Sainte-Marie album ever, Illuminations is truly strange and beautiful. A heady brew of gothic folk elements, Native American invocations and bewitching electronic effects and magical drones. Her vocals sometimes soft and saintly, othertimes heavy, rocking and intense. Originally released in 1969 on the awesome Vanguard label, no other Buffy Sainte-Marie record is quite like this one, with songs that are poetically beautiful dealing with themes of love and injustice through esoteric supernatural imagery of vampires, angels, mystical rites and creation myths, and with music that is equally beguiling. From the first spiraling electric vocal warbles that open "God Is Alive, Magic Is Afoot", the Cluster like drones on "The Angel", the witchy folk-funk of "He's A Keeper of The Fire" to the final track, "Poppies" that presages Grouper by nearly forty years. Fantastic!
MPEG Stream: "God Is Alive, Magic Is Afoot"
MPEG Stream: "Adam"
MPEG Stream: "He's A Keeper of The Fire"
MPEG Stream: "Poppies"

SAINTS (I'm) Stranded (4 Men With Beards) lp 15.98

SAKADA Askatuta (Rhizome) cd-r 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SAKADA Undistilled (Matchless) cd 17.98
Beyond the scope of AMM, percussionist Eddie Prevost and Keith Rowe have been exploring the synthesis of improvisation and digitized electronics through a handful of divergent ensembles. Where Rowe's M.I.M.E.O. was a massive 13 piece ensemble with a number of forceful egos struggling with each other for position in the stereo field, Prevost's Sakada -- a far less cumbersome trio working with Australian transplant Rosy Parlane and the London-based Basque who simply goes by Mattin -- succeeds in marrying specific textures found within an unconventional means of playing a drum kit and an unconventional means of digital sound. With Parlane and Mattin working the electronic workstations to generate radio static and controlled feedback manipulations (no clean samples here! everything's covered in a layer of grit), Prevost never strikes the heads of his drums once. Rather he scrapes metal objects around the rims, bows the cymbals, and rubs handheld motors on the skins themselves. Many of the sounds could have come from an Organum record; however, Sakada is far more of disjointed affair snarling and stumbling their way through 3 extended improvisations recorded in London and Barcelona in 2002.
RealAudio clip: "Audit - 20.01.02"

SAKHI, HOMAYUN Music Of Central Asia Vol. 3: The Art Of The Afghan Rubab (Smithsonian Folkways) cd+dvd 21.00

SALA-ARHIMO s/t (Last Visible Dog) cd 9.98
Yes, more delicate spectral music from Finland! Sala-Arhimo are a branch off of the Islaja tree... and if you're at all familiar with us here at AQ you know we're mighty fond of 'em. This self titled album is very hazy, Spartan and folk-tinged much like Islaja, but perhaps a bit darker, more somber and mournful. Lovely.
MPEG Stream: "Onnellisten Saari"
MPEG Stream: "Juuristosta Latvaan"

SALE FREUX Subterraneus (Misanthropic Art Productions) cd 13.98

SALE FREUX Subterraneus (Misanthropic Art Productions) cd 13.98

SALEM King Night (IAMSOUND) cd 13.98
Before we get into our usual wordy meandering, hyperbolic gushing and tangential ruminating, we oughta come right out and say it first thing, this record is fucking incredible. One of the coolest weirdest records we've heard in ages. Twisted and blown out, weirdly melodic and groovy, dense and washed out and otherworldly and fucking bizarre, equal parts blissed out hypnogogic shoegazey drift, lurching, chopped and screwed style Southern crunk, majestic choral dreaminess, blurred beat heavy collaged electronica, and sample heavy blown out synthbuzz epicness. In some alternate universe alien world, THIS is the music that comes blasting out of booming systems in tricked out lowriders, some sort of glorious, blindingly blissy club music that fuses stuttery stumbly beats, to crumbling distorted low end, and thick swaths of synths so blown out the whole record sounds like it might collapse, mix in soaring operatic vocal samples, low slung bass buzz, jittery drum skitter, and mush mouthed slowed down 'rapping', smear and blur it all into one glorious, warped and warbly cough syrup fever dream epic, and that's basically Salem's King Night.
By now, most folks have at lest heard of 'witch house' a new 'genre' that Salem seem to represent, willingly or not, it's hard to say, but alongside other groups like oOoOO, witch house has received the sort of blog hype (and mainstream press) that immediately turns us off, and made us want to hate it, but so far, everything we've heard, we've dug, big time, but nothing has kicked out ass as much as this Salem record. It's so weird, and twisted and bizarre, it's sort of hard to believe that THIS is the record people are talking about, it makes sense that we'd love it, and that it would be an aQuarius Record Of The Week, but the New York Times? John Q. Public? Fuck it, like we always say, we'd way rather here stuff like this on the radio anyway. But regardless of the hype, or the backlash, or any of the nonmusical stuff, it all boils down to how ingenious and utterly OUT THERE this is. Just check out the title track, some weird garbled voices, some skittery drum machine, some ravey synths, choral voices, and then BAM, the song explodes, the bass a throbbing slab of rumbling crunch, the drum machine weirdly awkward, but the perfect compliment to the tangled melodies, and those soaring distorted operatic voices, the track a total epic, building and building, like the score for some insane alien sci-fi slow motion dancefloor martial arts battle, you can almost visualize fishtanks exploding into galaxies of exploding glass shards, while bodies fly threw the clouds of glistening sparkle, everything seemingly floating weightless. So good. We could listen to this track FOREVER (and pretty much have since we got it). But then comes "Asia" with its fat stuttery beat, and girlish vocals buried beneath a miasma of crumbling distorted crunch, and woozy synth melodies and confusional drum programming, sounding a bit like some over the top M83 jam gone haywire, or maybe some lost Cocteau Twins B-side remixed by Alec Empire and Black Moth Super Rainbow, everything fuzzy and washed out and gauzy, murky and dark, but still suffused with a weird sort of sunshininess. "Frost" is more of the same, even prettier and blissier, taking Sigur Ros and dipping it in a vat of gristly distortion and Carpenter sci-fi synths, and then stretching it out into a billowing sheet of diaphanous dream pop.
It's not until "Sick" that we get a glimpse of Salem's other side, their chopped and screwed, sippin' sizurp, alien slow motion shoegaze hip hop side, the music remains essentially the same, maybe not quite as dense, still swirls of female vocals, a strange otherworldly chorale, but over the top of this sonic cotton candy , a 'rapper' delivers his mutated pitch shifted flow, mouthful of marbles, finger on the record slowing it do a crawl, creating a weirdly dreamy draggy druggy hip hop / dream pop hybrid. And the rest of the record seems to drift lazily between those two sounds, "Release Da Boar" finds Salem offering up another cloud of dopesmoke dreaminess, fuzz drenched dirge pop bliss, which gives way to "Trapdoor", another slow motion, DJ Screw style cough syrup remix, laid over a warm warped and warbly bit of lysergic ambience and buzzing rave synth swirl. "Hound" is like the title track redux, so thick and crumblingly distorted, but so blown out and beautiful, "Tair" is a gloriously weird spaced out, handclapped chunk of shoegaze rap, and "Killer" sounds like Joy Division or Interpol run through a million distortion pedals, and set to a Casio keyboard drum machine beat, only to shrug off some of the crunch and warble, leaving a gorgeous stretch of plaintive low slung doom pop, that hints at the poppiness that lurks beneath the surface on King Night, only to finish the record in a squall of synth buzz, mumbled vox and drum machine chaos.
Wow. What else can we say. This sounded so good in the store, and even better in headphones, but it wasn't until we got in the car, and cranked this as loud as it would go, that it finally sunk in, and suddenly, we were bouncing up and down in a tricked out lowrider on some alien planet in some alternate universe, our booming system BOOMING, getting totally lost in these twisted and gorgeously damaged sounds. WAY WAY recommended.
MPEG Stream: "King Night"
MPEG Stream: "Asia"
MPEG Stream: "Trapdoor"
MPEG Stream: "Redlights"
MPEG Stream: "Killer"

SALEM King Night (IAMSOUND) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Before we get into our usual wordy meandering, hyperbolic gushing and tangential ruminating, we oughta come right out and say it first thing, this record is fucking incredible. One of the coolest weirdest records we've heard in ages. Twisted and blown out, weirdly melodic and groovy, dense and washed out and otherworldly and fucking bizarre, equal parts blissed out hypnogogic shoegazey drift, lurching, chopped and screwed style Southern crunk, majestic choral dreaminess, blurred beat heavy collaged electronica, and sample heavy blown out synthbuzz epicness. In some alternate universe alien world, THIS is the music that comes blasting out of booming systems in tricked out lowriders, some sort of glorious, blindingly blissy club music that fuses stuttery stumbly beats, to crumbling distorted low end, and thick swaths of synths so blown out the whole record sounds like it might collapse, mix in soaring operatic vocal samples, low slung bass buzz, jittery drum skitter, and mush mouthed slowed down 'rapping', smear and blur it all into one glorious, warped and warbly cough syrup fever dream epic, and that's basically Salem's King Night.
By now, most folks have at lest heard of 'witch house' a new 'genre' that Salem seem to represent, willingly or not, it's hard to say, but alongside other groups like oOoOO, witch house has received the sort of blog hype (and mainstream press) that immediately turns us off, and made us want to hate it, but so far, everything we've heard, we've dug, big time, but nothing has kicked out ass as much as this Salem record. It's so weird, and twisted and bizarre, it's sort of hard to believe that THIS is the record people are talking about, it makes sense that we'd love it, and that it would be an aQuarius Record Of The Week, but the New York Times? John Q. Public? Fuck it, like we always say, we'd way rather here stuff like this on the radio anyway. But regardless of the hype, or the backlash, or any of the nonmusical stuff, it all boils down to how ingenious and utterly OUT THERE this is. Just check out the title track, some weird garbled voices, some skittery drum machine, some ravey synths, choral voices, and then BAM, the song explodes, the bass a throbbing slab of rumbling crunch, the drum machine weirdly awkward, but the perfect compliment to the tangled melodies, and those soaring distorted operatic voices, the track a total epic, building and building, like the score for some insane alien sci-fi slow motion dancefloor martial arts battle, you can almost visualize fishtanks exploding into galaxies of exploding glass shards, while bodies fly threw the clouds of glistening sparkle, everything seemingly floating weightless. So good. We could listen to this track FOREVER (and pretty much have since we got it). But then comes "Asia" with its fat stuttery beat, and girlish vocals buried beneath a miasma of crumbling distorted crunch, and woozy synth melodies and confusional drum programming, sounding a bit like some over the top M83 jam gone haywire, or maybe some lost Cocteau Twins B-side remixed by Alec Empire and Black Moth Super Rainbow, everything fuzzy and washed out and gauzy, murky and dark, but still suffused with a weird sort of sunshininess. "Frost" is more of the same, even prettier and blissier, taking Sigur Ros and dipping it in a vat of gristly distortion and Carpenter sci-fi synths, and then stretching it out into a billowing sheet of diaphanous dream pop.
It's not until "Sick" that we get a glimpse of Salem's other side, their chopped and screwed, sippin' sizurp, alien slow motion shoegaze hip hop side, the music remains essentially the same, maybe not quite as dense, still swirls of female vocals, a strange otherworldly chorale, but over the top of this sonic cotton candy , a 'rapper' delivers his mutated pitch shifted flow, mouthful of marbles, finger on the record slowing it do a crawl, creating a weirdly dreamy draggy druggy hip hop / dream pop hybrid. And the rest of the record seems to drift lazily between those two sounds, "Release Da Boar" finds Salem offering up another cloud of dopesmoke dreaminess, fuzz drenched dirge pop bliss, which gives way to "Trapdoor", another slow motion, DJ Screw style cough syrup remix, laid over a warm warped and warbly bit of lysergic ambience and buzzing rave synth swirl. "Hound" is like the title track redux, so thick and crumblingly distorted, but so blown out and beautiful, "Tair" is a gloriously weird spaced out, handclapped chunk of shoegaze rap, and "Killer" sounds like Joy Division or Interpol run through a million distortion pedals, and set to a Casio keyboard drum machine beat, only to shrug off some of the crunch and warble, leaving a gorgeous stretch of plaintive low slung doom pop, that hints at the poppiness that lurks beneath the surface on King Night, only to finish the record in a squall of synth buzz, mumbled vox and drum machine chaos.
Wow. What else can we say. This sounded so good in the store, and even better in headphones, but it wasn't until we got in the car, and cranked this as loud as it would go, that it finally sunk in, and suddenly, we were bouncing up and down in a tricked out lowrider on some alien planet in some alternate universe, our booming system BOOMING, getting totally lost in these twisted and gorgeously damaged sounds. WAY WAY recommended.
MPEG Stream: "King Night"
MPEG Stream: "Asia"
MPEG Stream: "Trapdoor"
MPEG Stream: "Redlights"
MPEG Stream: "Killer"

SALLY STROBELIGHT Starships In Silhouette (Weird Forest) lp 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A druggy troll through a cough syrup drenched new wave underworld. Like waking up in some filthy sonic back alley, your head spinning, and you ears filled with fuzz. The memories of last night's little fragments, coming back to you in bits and pieces, some murky analog synths, some stumbling drum programming, lots of creepy low slung bass...but it's the druggy female voices that swirl around your head like some hangover halo, sultry and sexy but also distinctly alien, drenched in FX, cooing softly in your ear, a late night, narcoleptic narcotic lullaby. An Adult. 45 played at 16 rpm, Nico fronting some slow motion electroclash outfit, a mysterious damaged doom version of Glass Candy, a seriously fucked up new wave Portishead? Sally Strobelight is all of those things. A delightfully damaged, druggy, slow motion new wave electro dirge missive from some doomed and drug ravaged otherworld. Awesome.
LIMITED TO 200 COPIES!! Clear vinyl housed in a gorgeous in tranluscent, full-color vellum sleeve!
MPEG Stream: "You And I"
MPEG Stream: "Transcend The Obvious"

SALLY, ZAK Fear Of Song (La Mano) cd 14.98
A few years back, bassist Zak Sally decided to leave the band Low, to pursue his true loves, printing and book making, and thus La Mano was born, an incredible publishing / print house run by Sally, with some amazing books, many made by hand, a few of which we've had for sale at aQuarius. But it was inevitable, that he'd feel the itch again, to play music, and so Sally recorded his own record, played all the instruments, and then printed and assembled the super cool covers by hand at La Mano, total DIY all the way, which is only made cooler by how good this record is.
The sound is a rough and raw amalgamation of all the rad nineties rock we (and probably Sally) grew up on, specifically Rex, Red Red Meat, Codeine, and yeah, even Low, there's a definite twang too, that makes much of this sound a bit like a heavier Calexico, but Sally's voice is a dead ringer for Red Red Meat's Tim Rituli, so the less rocking, more dark and brooding tracks here definitely sound a lot like Red Red Meat.
But this record is all over the place, with blown out drum machines, distorted riffs, dreamy acoustic guitars, vocals that go from raspy howl to hushed croon, wheezing keyboards, opener "St(R)Utter" is killer, with super distorted chugging guitars, pounding programmed drums, swirling glitchy effects, and moody impassioned vox, "How I Did What I Did When I Did It" is a stripped down acoustic stunner, with really gorgeous multitracked vocals, a gorgeous main melody, and some wild psychedelic guitar, the title track too is acoustic and intimate, but underpinned by swirling buzzing weirdness way off in the background, and of course record closer, the awesomely titled "Corpsegrinder!", begins all acoustic, with distorted vocals, and strange muted percussion, all moody and meandery, before building to a full on, emotional, soaring indie rock ballad.
Definitely for fans of any of the aforementioned bands, or just cool homebrewed DIY indie rock.
And again speaking of DIY, the packaging is amazing, printed on thick textured paper, the front cove image glued to the booklet, same with the little 'band' photo on the back, the insert with the track listing is oversized, houses the disc itself, and has a tab sticking out, signed by Sally and hand numbered, LIMITED TO 900 COPIES!
MPEG Stream: "St(R)utter"
MPEG Stream: "Why We Hide"
MPEG Stream: "Corpsegrinder!"

SALLY, ZAK Fear Of Song (Nero's Neptune) lp 16.98
NOW ON LP!!!
A few years back, bassist Zak Sally decided to leave the band Low, to pursue his true loves, printing and book making. But it was inevitable, that he'd feel the itch again, to play music, and so Sally recorded his own record, played all the instruments, and then printed and assembled the super cool covers by hand at La Mano, total DIY all the way, which is only made cooler by how good this record is.
The sound is a rough and raw amalgamation of all the rad nineties rock we (and probably Sally) grew up on, specifically Rex, Red Red Meat, Codeine, and yeah, even Low, there's a definite twang too, that makes much of this sound a bit like a heavier Calexico, but Sally's voice is a dead ringer for Red Red Meat's Tim Rituli, so the less rocking, more dark and brooding tracks here definitely sound a lot like Red Red Meat.
But this record is all over the place, with blown out drum machines, distorted riffs, dreamy acoustic guitars, vocals that go from raspy howl to hushed croon, wheezing keyboards, opener "St(R)Utter" is killer, with super distorted chugging guitars, pounding programmed drums, swirling glitchy effects, and moody impassioned vox, "How I Did What I Did When I Did It" is a stripped down acoustic stunner, with really gorgeous multitracked vocals, a gorgeous main melody, and some wild psychedelic guitar, the title track too is acoustic and intimate, but underpinned by swirling buzzing weirdness way off in the background, and of course record closer, the awesomely titled "Corpsegrinder!", begins all acoustic, with distorted vocals, and strange muted percussion, all moody and meandery, before building to a full on, emotional, soaring indie rock ballad.
Definitely for fans of any of the aforementioned bands, or just cool homebrewed DIY indie rock.
And again speaking of DIY, the packaging is amazing, printed on thick textured paper, the front cove image glued to the booklet, same with the little 'band' photo on the back, the insert with the track listing is oversized, houses the disc itself, and has a tab sticking out, signed by Sally and hand numbered, LIMITED TO 900 COPIES!
MPEG Stream: "St(R)utter"
MPEG Stream: "Why We Hide"
MPEG Stream: "Corpsegrinder!"

SALLY, ZAK Recidivist (La Mano) book 15.00
We don't carry a whole lot of books, so when we do, it has to be because there's something really special about it. Those of you who made it to the recent book signing here at aQ already know what's so special about this here book, but for those of you who didn't, we'll give you a little background.
Mr. Zak Sally spent a good portion of his life playing the bass guitar in slowcore outfit Low, he recently left the band to focus on his real love, art, drawing and self publishing. He began a series of graphic novels entitled Recidivist and started his own publishing house called La Mana and began to publish gorgeous and lovingly hand crafted books, graphic novels, posters and monographs.
One of which just so happens to be this, the latest and perhaps final installment in Sally's Recidivist series. The first of the series to be an actual book, amazingly bound with an off white textured cover and a black spine, featuring the striking image of an arrow piercing a very realistic heart on the front, a severed hand with a paint brush on the back, a beautiful old fashioned hard cover, the sort that creaks when you open it, the pages inside printed on nice thick paper. Almost worth buying just for that stuff. But lucky for us, the artwork and storytelling inside is just as compelling. Very reminiscent visually of Chester Brown (Ed The Happy Clown, Yummy Fur, I Never Liked You, Underwater, etc.), the artwork is precise but still loose and hand drawn looking switching often from white pages with black lines, to all black pages with white art, the effect is really fantastic. The story is obtuse, a little confusing, but in that way great graphic novels can be. Monkeys, a roadtrip, dark forests, humans with the heads of pigs, nudity, school girls, surgeries, cupid, wristwatches, canyons, gas stations, all woven together into a mysterious and fascinating narrative. Gorgeous to look at and riveting to read. SO highly recommended!

SALLY, ZAK Why We Hide (Sub Pop) 7" 4.98

MPEG Stream: "Why We Hide"

SALLYANGIE, THE Children of the Sun (Sanctuary / Castle) 2cd 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Hippy Renfaire Britfolk from 1968, featuring a 15 year old, pre-"Tubular Bells" Michael Oldfield and his older sister Sally Oldfield! This was really Sally's project -- apparently she had some sort of sudden spiritual revelation that caused her to break off her University studies in literature and philosophy, and pick up a guitar to write what became the "Children of the Sun" album! Of course, musical talent and creativity wasn't unknown to the Oldfield family, as history later showed.
This brother-sister duo both sang (Sally better than Mike) and played acoustic guitar, accompanied by session musicans -- flute, and harpsichord and chamber string arrangements on two songs. While much of this album is quite twee indeed, portions are rather dark and melancholic... A song title like "The Murder of the Children of San Francisco" kinda tells you where they were at. Sadness, beauty, blue birds and evening mists...that sort of thing. Contacts with British folk-rock act Pentagle got the determined Sally the recording deal for The Sallyangie's one and only album, reissued now as a delightful artifact of a long-lost era, when lush psychedelic pagan madrigal music was at its prime!
Castle has packaged this reissue with a bonus disc of previously unreleased demo tracks from both Sally and Mike, recorded in the year or two after "Children Of The Sun" was first issued. These include three folky guitar improvisations from Mike, and two dreamy pop songs by Sally. But that's it for The Sallyangie, although Sally sang on several of Mike's popular albums in the early/mid seventies before striking out on a sucessful solo vocal career of her own in the New Age field. But this album, with Sally's lovely wavering voice, Mike's adept guitar picking, and an abundance of youthful, period charm, is certainly worth checking out regardless of the Oldfield siblings' later careers.
RealAudio clip: "River Song"
RealAudio clip: "Lady Mary"

SALLYANGIE, THE Children Of The Sun (Earmark) lp 21.00
Now reissued on vinyl! Here is what we said about it when the cd version was available (which it isn't anymore, sadly):
Hippy Renfaire Britfolk from 1968, featuring a 15 year old, pre-"Tubular Bells" Michael Oldfield and his older sister Sally Oldfield! This was really Sally's project -- apparently she had some sort of sudden spiritual revelation that caused her to break off her University studies in literature and philosophy, and pick up a guitar to write what became the "Children of the Sun" album! Of course, musical talent and creativity wasn't unknown to the Oldfield family, as history later showed.
This brother-sister duo both sang (Sally better than Mike) and played acoustic guitar, accompanied by session musicians -- flute, and harpsichord and chamber string arrangements on two songs. While much of this album is quite twee indeed, portions are rather dark and melancholic... A song title like "The Murder of the Children of San Francisco" kinda tells you where they were at. Sadness, beauty, blue birds and evening mists...that sort of thing. Contacts with British folk-rock act Pentangle got the determined Sally the recording deal for The Sallyangie's one and only album, reissued now as a delightful artifact of a long-lost era, when lush psychedelic pagan madrigal music was at its prime!
Sally sang on several of Mike's popular albums in the early/mid seventies before striking out on a successful solo vocal career of her own in the New Age field. But this album, with Sally's lovely wavering voice, Mike's adept guitar picking, and an abundance of youthful, period charm, is certainly worth checking out regardless of the Oldfield siblings' later careers.

SALOMAN, GABRIEL Adhere (Miasmah) lp 19.98
After the breakup of the much-loved floor-core noise duo, Yellow Swans, Pete Swanson has carved quite a solo career for himself, but we haven't heard as much from fellow YS member Gabriel Saloman. As it turns out, Saloman has been rather busy himself over the past few years in Vancouver working on various solo projects of his own under the monikers of GMS and Sade Sade and with collaborative projects Diadem and Chambers. Most of his projects have taken on a conceptual form of social resistance like his Music for Prisons project, which employed field recordings of protests for imprisoned Tamil refugees with original music to be broadcast at extreme volume outside of prison walls as a form of political protest against authoritarian-imposed incarceration.
But Adhere, his vinyl debut for the Miasmah label, is the first time we're getting a full sense of the range of Saloman's sonic vision, and it is uniquely compelling and powerful. Composed in collaboration with a contemporary dance group, Adhere reads as a modern classical composition in seven parts with intense builds and pregnant silences, centered around reverberated piano, bowed strings, ambient guitar, percussive woodblocks and martial drumming into a captivating and beautiful soundscape. Sometimes the intensity is restrained by minimal piano stabs in a big empty room, in the third part, we hear some gorgeous Robin Guthrie-ish guitar washes, still later some dramatic yet solemn percussion. The entire composition toggling back and forth between quietly pensive dynamics and voluminous crescendos that give a sonic drama to an obviously visual accompaniment. Perfect for the Miasmah label which has always had a strong focus on marrying works of experimental classical forms with dark penetrating ambience.
MPEG Stream: "Adhere (part 1)"
MPEG Stream: "Adhere (part 3)"
MPEG Stream: "Adhere (part 7)"

SALOME s/t (Vendetta) cd 13.98
For the Biblically impaired out there, Salome was the stepdaughter of King Herod, ruler of Galilee, and her infamy comes from the fact that she was convinced by her mother Herodias to seduce her stepfather (euwww) with an eye to getting him to promise her anything she wished. And what she wished was the head of John The Baptist on a platter. Why? Because John condemned the marriage of Herodias and Herod. Harsh.
Thus Herod did her bidding, and she was able to present John's severed head on a platter, to her satisfied mother. One of the most gruesome Biblical moments for sure (although only one among MANY), that has oft been the subject of paintings and plays. But that sort of cold hearted brutality, that sort of gleefully grim bloodshed, how would that play out sonically? Well, perhaps a bit like Virginia's Salome, a female fronted slow motion sludge juggernaut, whose sound falls somewhere between Eyehategod, Khanate and Monarch. Four long songs, each a gloriously filth encrusted, downtuned dirge, with frontwoman Kat's vocals a raspy wraithlike shriek, that is at times a dead ringer for Khanate's Alan Dubin. The music, while definitely sludgey and pummeling is rife with surprising melody, even some of the slowest heaviest parts sound more like 16 rpm Sabbath than the more static and sludgey dronedirgedoom that's all the rage. But the band definitely mix it up, some lo-fi jangle here and there, some classic UK doom sounding mournful melody, some incredibly lugubrious chug and churn, some rocking parts that have a bit of a Melvins feel, all stretched out into slow slithery spaced out ultradooooooom.
The record closes with the 21 minute "Onward Destroyer", which while incredibly heavy and sooooo slooooow, manages to be weirdly pretty, with clean guitar melodies drifting in between the rest of the song's abstract spacious plod, almost like a funereal doom Low. Some awesome sheets of Eyehategod style feedback, with the band eventually kicking it up a notch, and -almost- rocking, a midtempo doomic groove, more harsh hellish vox, and an amazing stretch of feedback that sounds almost orchestral before the band pound out a sludgey groovy slow motion finale.
Monarch, Moss, Eyehategod, Khanate, Thou, Corrupted, Bunkur, if that sounds like your ideal playlist, then this is pretty much a no brainer. But for folks into troo classic doom more than this extreme modern variant, Salome might just be the perfect gateway to whet your appetite for something more black and more grim, and with a few more o's. Doooooooooooooooooooooooooom........
Both the cd and the lp are limited to 500 copies. The lp is already out of print, so when those are gone, that's it, but the cds should be around a bit longer, although probably not much.
MPEG Stream: "The Vivification Of Ker"
MPEG Stream: "White Tides"

SALOME s/t (Vendetta) lp 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
For the Biblically impaired out there, Salome was the stepdaughter of King Herod, ruler of Galilee, and her infamy comes from the fact that she was convinced by her mother Herodias to seduce her stepfather (euwww) with an eye to getting him to promise her anything she wished. And what she wished was the head of John The Baptist on a platter. Why? Because John condemned the marriage of Herodias and Herod. Harsh.
Thus Herod did her bidding, and she was able to present John's severed head on a platter, to her satisfied mother. One of the most gruesome Biblical moments for sure (although only one among MANY), that has oft been the subject of paintings and plays. But that sort of cold hearted brutality, that sort of gleefully grim bloodshed, how would that play out sonically? Well, perhaps a bit like Virginia's Salome, a female fronted slow motion sludge juggernaut, whose sound falls somewhere between Eyehategod, Khanate and Monarch. Four long songs, each a gloriously filth encrusted, downtuned dirge, with frontwoman Kat's vocals a raspy wraithlike shriek, that is at times a dead ringer for Khanate's Alan Dubin. The music, while definitely sludgey and pummeling is rife with surprising melody, even some of the slowest heaviest parts sound more like 16 rpm Sabbath than the more static and sludgey dronedirgedoom that's all the rage. But the band definitely mix it up, some lo-fi jangle here and there, some classic UK doom sounding mournful melody, some incredibly lugubrious chug and churn, some rocking parts that have a bit of a Melvins feel, all stretched out into slow slithery spaced out ultradooooooom.
The record closes with the 21 minute "Onward Destroyer", which while incredibly heavy and sooooo slooooow, manages to be weirdly pretty, with clean guitar melodies drifting in between the rest of the song's abstract spacious plod, almost like a funereal doom Low. Some awesome sheets of Eyehategod style feedback, with the band eventually kicking it up a notch, and -almost- rocking, a midtempo doomic groove, more harsh hellish vox, and an amazing stretch of feedback that sounds almost orchestral before the band pound out a sludgey groovy slow motion finale.
Monarch, Moss, Eyehategod, Khanate, Thou, Corrupted, Bunkur, if that sounds like your ideal playlist, then this is pretty much a no brainer. But for folks into troo classic doom more than this extreme modern variant, Salome might just be the perfect gateway to whet your appetite for something more black and more grim, and with a few more o's. Doooooooooooooooooooooooooom........
Both the cd and the lp are limited to 500 copies. The lp is already out of print, so when those are gone, that's it, but the cds should be around a bit longer, although probably not much.
MPEG Stream: "The Vivification Of Ker"
MPEG Stream: "White Tides"

SALOME Terminal (Profound Lore) cd 13.98
Record number two from this grim doom sludge trio, named of course for the stepdaughter of King Herod, in the Bible, who was the one that requested John The Baptist's severed head on a platter, a fitting name certainly for the aural horrors these three deal in, and one of the three just so happens to be vocalist Katherine Katz, who also does time in genius grind outfit Agoraphobic Nosebleed.
Her time in AnB must have rubbed off on her main group, cuz things aren't nearly as slow and sludgey as we remember. That said, opening track "The Message" might have you thinking otherwise, a slow building sludgescape, all twisted electronics, and spare downtuned chug, we were prepared for some serious Moss/Monarch/Bunkur sort of dirgery, but then after about three minutes of abstract avant doom, the track kicks in proper, and the band unfurl something practically midtempo, a weirdly lumbering groove that is thick, and heavy, and awesomely brutal, with Kat's insanely harsh bellowed and screeched vokills. The 'verses' are way more stripped down, leaving lots of space for Kat's vox to be the focal point, draped over simple plodding drums and occasional chug, but then the song veers back into that more propulsive doomy groove. It's not as slow and sludgey maybe, but this is still some seriously brutal stuff.
And there are still more sonic surprises in store, the title track is downright mathy, with still more sludgey groove, and some killer start stop dynamics, sounding more like some Harvey Milk / Khanate hybrid. Which actually sort of describes the whole record, it's like they fused that sort of abject shrieking minimal doom, to something more 'rocking', cuz this is actually seriously rocking, way more than the last record, and it definitely suits them. The riffs are gnarled and blackened, the drums are crushing, and intricate, those vocals are incredible, slipping easily from Dubin-ish shriek to Cannibal Corpse like bellow, and instead of relying on mood and ambience, like a lot of doom/sludge outfits, these songs are definitely composed, and are complicated, and occasionally weirdly catchy.
We figured the 17+ minute "An Accident Of History" might be the album's centerpiece, and it still could be, although instead of more churning heaviness, it's a weird abstract drone piece, all static and hiss, shortwave radio, twisted feedback, bizarre samples, disembodied voices, glitched out electronics, malfunctioning effects, a pretty fantastic bit of audio experimentation, that somehow sounds like it belongs, dropped right there in the midst of Salome's complex math sludge heaviness. Awesome.
Housed in super striking embossed black & white, six panel digipak packaging.
MPEG Stream: "The Message"
MPEG Stream: "Terminal"
MPEG Stream: "Master Failure"

SALT Issue 5 magazine 4.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another blast of AQ style rock (you know exactly what we mean) with a healthy side dish of professional wrestling from AQ pal Kevin and his master-of-all-other-zines magazine Salt. Issue five features tUMULt's own 7000 Dying Rats, the hyper-literate metallic grind of Bloodhag, an amazing interview with one of Andee's favorite comic book artists Renee French, label feature on iDEAL Recordings, a review of Kawabata Makoto and Jojo Hiroshige live in Japan, former Man's Ruin rockers Croatan, the relatively little know Japanese band Syogana, some reflections on the ECW, reviews of underground wrestling videos, some comics, and even some record reviews. A great read. Send this guy some money so he can turn this thing into a regular magazine and knock the Wire and Spin and Magnet and Terrorizer on their asses!

SALT Issue 6 magazine 4.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Finally, after a whole year, another issue of one of our favorite magazines around. As we've said in the past, someone give this man a million dollars so he can make Salt an actual monthly magazine that would invariably replace the Wire, Terrorizer and any other relevent rags in one fell swoop. Super well informed, well written and with a very wide scope of music (and culture). This time around there are interviews with the mighty Antiseen, black metal underlord Wrest from Leviathan, local no-wavers Erase Errata, underground doom sludgeniks Southern Gun Culture, AMT pals Floating Flower, the cute and dorky Gravy Train!!!!, a ton or reviews (Boris, tUMULt, Load and more), a Boris UK tour diary written by AQ pal Daniel, drummer for the soon-to-be-huge doomsters Like A Kind Of Matador, and of course lots of wrestling: interviews with Hugh Rogue, Shark Boy and an indepth review of the IWA Mid-South King Of The Death Matches! Wow. Check it out.

SALT Issue 7 magazine 4.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Finally, after more than a year, Salt #7 sees the light of day!!! What's the big deal you ask? Well, if you'd been paying attention to the AQ list, you'd know that Salt and its one man staff Kevin somehow manages to kick the asses of all other alternative music mags around with just a beat up old borrowed PC and a photo copier. There's a serious dearth of killer underground music zines, especially ones that cover the sort of music we love, and especially ones that does it with such passion and humor, AND especially ones that are also obsessed with pro wrestling and are not afraid to stick a review of some big match right there between an article about Xasthur and an interview with Boris! As far as we know, there's only one magazine that fits the bill... SALT! So there, music snobs. This is easily our favorite magazine going now, and we still wish someone would just give Kevin a big ol' stack of money so he could start a real glossy magazine, it would totally destroy, equal parts Terrorizer, the Wire, Option, Buttrag, and whatever other weirdness he'd see fit to pack in there. This time around we've got an interview with Swedish metallic grind outfit Burst, unknown to us Ohio three piece rocking juggernaut Driver, an interview with Andy who runs the Riot Season label, a brief history of "Descent", a night of alternative metallic music and art in Leeds, that sounds so cool it makes us wish San Francisco was just a -little- bit closer to the UK, also a bunch of fliers from Descent, one man's alcohol fueled quest to travel across Europe to see SUNNO))), Boris, Circle and more, an interview with Bay Area black metal horde Draugar, an interview with the mighty Malefic of Xasthur, tons of record reviews, and of course a lengthy wrestling review of recent IWA events (as well as an interview with IWA rising star Josh Abercrombie) and finally an interview with Brody's Militia, a wicked thrashcore outfit from Ohio named for legendary wrestler Bruiser Brody. Phew. All hand assembled and photocopied. Lots of photos, and lots of illustrations courtesy of Kevin Salt himself. Here's hoping we don't have to wait a whole year for #8!!

SALT Issue 8 magazine 4.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another year, another Salt. In fact it's been way more than a year, maybe almost two, but it's always well worth the wait. No one does zines any more, which is a huge shame, loosed from the binds of relying on advertising, and someone else's money, a zine can cover anything, explore music, art, even wrestling, can opt for any layout, but the problem is, that without that monetary support, sometimes you are forced to wait years between issues, which is criminal. Especially with zines like Salt. Every time we review a Salt, we always end up sending out a request for somebody, ANYBODY, to get in touch with Salt mastermind Kevin, give him a bunch of money and set him up with a real magazine. All the other mags out there can breathe easy since that is probably unlikely to happen any time soon. But if it did. Decibel, Terrorizer, the Wire, Signal To Noise, your days would be numberedÉ
So issue 8, as is the pattern, is even better than 7, which was already kick ass. On the cover, a super striking drawing of Diamanda Galas, done by Kevin Salt himself, and inside, well hell, it's like a zine custom made for aQ. A Pharoah Sanders live review, a Suishou No Fune / RKF South By Southwest tour diary, an interview with comedy grind masters 7000 Dying Rats, an interview with aQ beloved dronescapers Hywl Nofio, Finland's masters of hypnorock and kings of the NWOFHM, Circle, a handful of record reviews, an interview with Malefic from Xasthur, an interview with the Clientele, and since Kevin is strangely fascinated with Professional Wrestling, there is an elegy for the now defunct ECW, including an interview with author, journalist and ECW expert John Lister, and finally, an interview with our very own Andee about tUMULt, a follow up of an original label spotlight in one of the earlier issues.
The mind boggles what this guy could do with a real magazine. Not that we really want anything to change with Salt. But we sure wouldn't mind if it came out every month. Heck, every week!
And for the first time, this issue comes bundled with a super limited, exclusive 3" cd-r from Hwyl Nofio. A fourteen minute track called "Christ Distort", another gorgeously sprawling expanse of metallic shimmer and blissed out buzz. Exclusive to this issue of Salt.
LIMITED TO 50 COPIES. Each mag/cd hand numbered.

SALT Issue 9 magazine 5.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It's hard to believe it's been two years since the last issue of Salt, but we're willing to be patient, after all it is possibly our favorite zine going, and as in our reviews of every issue of Salt, we really can't heap enough praise on this kick ass DIY zine, and as always, lament the fact that it somehow remains a zine, it seems like by now, Salt should be up there with Terrorizer and Rock A Rolla and Decibel. But you know what, fuck it, we love Salt just the way it is, virtually unchanged since issue #1, still black and white, a little oversized, same style layout, most of the illustrations done by Kevin, the guy who pretty much IS Salt, and the stuff he chooses to focus on, as always is weird and wonderful, varied and unlikely. Always something we're super into, always something else we've never even heard of, and even the stuff that seems like it would be of little interest, ends up being a fantastic read, always the sign of a great magazine.
This issue is especially exciting as it contains perhaps the first interview EVER with aQ fave and tUMULt recording artist, the mysterious Korean teenage black metaller Pyha, talking about life in Korea, black metal, mandatory conscription, protest music and more.
There's also a killer interview with Alicia from legendary crust doom outfit 13 (which also featured Liz Buckingham, now in Electric Wizard). There's a feature on doomdrone juggernaut Korperschwache, an extensive and WAY in depth review of the Some Bizarre Album, an extensive guide to getting drunk on cheap vodkas, a feature on indie poppers Grandaddy, and a guide to their best B-sides, a lengthy interview with comic artist Carla Speed McNeil, and an interview with the man behind new label The Great Pop Supplement (he also once upon a time ran both Enraptured and Earworm!). All that for five bucks! This time around there are no record reviews, and less pieces, but as Kevin explains in the intro, that's so the interviews and features could be longer and more extensive. Which they absolutely are.
What more do you need to know? You love music. You love reading about music. You love underground music, and underground zines, if you haven't been reading Salt, you've been missing out big time...

SALT Issue Four magazine 4.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Finally another issue of one of our favorite zines. SALT seems to be the zine version of Aquairus, sharing the same taste in music as well as a similar sense of humor, and a similar joy in discovering new and exciting music. Kind of wish someone would give Kevin SALT a big pile of money so he could do a real magazine and knock the Wire and Terrorizer and Spin and whoever else on their collective asses. This time around an interview with The Summer In Between, an article on Texas' Monotremata Records, an extensive review of the Acid Mothers Temple UK tour, show by show, by Kevin and a handful of friends spread out around England, as well as an interview with AMT mainman Makoto Kawabata where he talks quite a bit about his love of professional wrestling. Also in this SALT, an interview with bay area noise monsters Burmese, an interview with Aufgehoben No Process, an interview with guitarist Gary Smith, an interview with cartoonist Chris Yambar, an article about Rock And Role Play Records, home of the mighty Teen Chtulu, Blood Hag, and perhapst the best named band in the world: The Powersofdarknessshallrainblooduponthiscityfor500years, and an interview with AQ faves BORIS! As with every issue, lots of stuff you already dig, but a bunch of stuff you probably don't yet but undoubtedly will. Buy SALT or at least send this guy all your money.

SALT Issue Ten magazine 5.00
There's always a long wait between issues, but as longtime readers of the aQ list know, it's always worth the wait. And we know lots of longtime aQ-ers, are also longtime fans of Salt, which is the way it should be. A very occasionally published zine, produced by our pal Kevin, a contributor to Rock-A-Rolla magazine, but with Salt, he gets to focus on his true passions, whether that means some obscure band, or some obscure wrestler, all part of the charm. And as we mention in pretty much every review, we keep hoping Salt will either become a proper mag, or in some way become a more regular thing, cuz every issue is a huge treat, and before we know it, we've burned through it and are already hankering for a new one.
This time around, things start off with a feature on another obscure zine, this one called German Bite, a fanzine focused on German art, film and theater, and a mag that we've never read, but from reading ABOUT it here, definitely has us curious to track down some copies. There's also an introduction to aQ faves Maher Shalal Hash Baz, originally intended for Salt #3 (and written in 2001!), as well as a lengthy piece enumerating the various ways that the author loves the late great Royal Trux. Then there's a great piece on the long lost late great seventies post punk / new wave combo Neu Electrikk (which featured one member who would go on to record/perform as Hwyl Nofio, a name familiar to most longtime readers of the aQ list), and an interview with the guy behind LTM Recordings, and finally an interview with Elephant Six psych poppers The Minders.
There are some comics, some editorial content, a tribute to the late great British abstract painter John Hoyland and more, and all for $5. Salt always comes highly recommended, especially in an age of blogs and webzines, we should treasure the folks out there who still make proper zines, especially when they're as good as Salt!

SALTER, HANS J. Maya / Horror Rhapsody (Citadel) cd 14.98
Collection of recordings from legendary Hollywood soundtrack composer Hans Salter, from the television series Maya (recorded in 1966) and a 24 minute suite of music from the films "Son of Frankenstein", "The Mummy's Hand", "Black Friday" and "Man Made Monster" (recorded in 1941.)

SALVATORE Clingfilm (Racing Junior) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Norway strikes again! The amazing Salvatore (not to be confused with the cryptic No Neck Blues Band offshoot K. Salavatore) is a mostly instrumental five piece band from that Scandinavian country. They share a lot with their Finnish neighbors (and AQ-faves) Circle: the motorik Neu! drum-pulse, spacey psych drone krautrock inclinations, dubby, echoey production techniques, and "circular" rhythm-based songwriting that generates a pleasant hypnotic state in the listener.
But Salvatore's urgent, headnodding music possesses a gorgeous charm of its own, as there's a lot more in the way of psychedelic guitar burn and use of feedback in their compositions than is usual with Circle. Some other bands that Salvatore seem to reference along with Circle and Neu!: Can, Pell Mell, Flying Saucer Attack, Village of Savoonga... not bad company.
From the first moment we heard this band, we thought: wow, we've *got* to get more of these, Salvatore is a natural for Aquarius! It took us a couple months, but we were finally able to import a bunch of both their first and second albums at a good price direct from Europe. And, after playing them in the store, we're pretty sure we were right about 'em -- we sold some immediately! So good. Both discs are totally recommended, with "Clingfilm" (2000) being overall more structured and melodically catchy and "Jugend" (also 2000) being perhaps more heady, intense, and soundscapey. And both, of course, are not just recommended, but *mandatory* for fans of Circle!
RealAudio clip: "Halloo!"
RealAudio clip: "Horsegirl"
RealAudio clip: "Schneekaos"

SALVATORE Days of Rage (Racing Junior) cd 37.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SALVATORE Fresh (Racing Junior) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. HOWEVER, A DOMESTIC VERSION IS NOW AVAILABLE, LOOK FOR THAT NEARBY.
The new album from our new favorite Norwegian instrumental 'post-rock' band, finally in stock (along with restocks of the two discs we listed before, "Clingfilm" and "Jugend")! We think people will like this quite bit, although we're slightly less gung-ho about it than we were about those other two albums, maybe just 'cause this one seems to concentrate more on the 'prettier' side of Salvatore. Nothing wrong with that, it's just less intense. It's very poppy and sunny and nice, taking their Neu! influence into the Stereolab realm I suppose. The Salvatore boys recorded this in Morocco at the same time as "Jugend" and I guess this is the light to that album's darkness. Their hypnotic, Circle-ular grooves still transport the listener into lazy reverie, with plenty of gentle psychedelic guitar drift/drone and everything from xylophone to accordion cropping up in the mix. "Chant of the No No's" adds some sampled female vocals (very hazy and mumbled and repeating), while "Stork" features some jazzy pocket trumpet. If you got either of the other two Salvatores already, and dug their mellower moments, then you'll want this. If you haven't checked Salvatore out yet, you might start with this one if you're more into Tortoise than you are into Circle. It's Salvatore's Sunday morning album, you could say, rather than the evening/late-night listens of their other discs. Quite nice.
RealAudio clip: "Chant Of The No No's"
RealAudio clip: "The Seven Colours Of Gnaff"
RealAudio clip: "Vogel"
RealAudio clip: "Dune"

SALVATORE Fresh (Rocket Racer) cd 13.98
Yay. A domestic release for this, with four bonus (remix) tracks, including on from a Black Heart Procession guy! Hopefully we'll soon have restocks of their other cds -- we've got 'em on backorder at the moment with our supplier overseas. [whoops, nope, turns out they're now out of print...] Already on its way here (maybe here now), though, are import copies of Salvatore's newest, 4th album Tempo, which we'll of course alert you to when they arrive. In the meantime, we're quite happy to have their 3rd album Fresh around again.
This is more-or-less what we said about the original import version we stocked previously:
The new album from our new favorite Norwegian instrumental 'post-rock' band... We think people will like this quite bit, although we're slightly less gung-ho about it than we were about their first two albums, maybe just 'cause this one seems to concentrate more on the 'prettier' side of Salvatore. Nothing wrong with that, it's just less intense. It's very poppy and sunny and nice, taking their Neu! influence into the Stereolab realm I suppose. The Salvatore boys recorded this in Morocco at the same time as "Jugend" and I guess this is the light to that album's darkness. Their hypnotic, Circle-ular grooves still transport the listener into lazy reverie, with plenty of gentle psychedelic guitar drift/drone and everything from xylophone to accordion cropping up in the mix. "Chant of the No No's" adds some sampled female vocals (very hazy and mumbled and repeating), while "Stork" features some jazzy pocket trumpet. If you got either of the other two Salvatores already, and dug their mellower moments, then you'll want this. If you haven't checked Salvatore out yet, you might start with this one if you're more into Tortoise than you are into Circle. It's Salvatore's Sunday morning album, you could say, rather than the evening/late-night listens of their other discs. Quite nice.
MPEG Stream: "Chant Of The No-No's"
MPEG Stream: "The Seven Colours Of Gnaff"

SALVATORE Jugend - A New Hedonism (Racing Junior) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Salvatore's second album, subtitled "Music from and inspired by De Utvalgte's literary installation based on The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde", was recorded in Morocco for reasons unclear to us, although we could go on and draw comparisions to the wonderful trance music of that country. Salvatore don't end up sounding at all like the Master Musicians of Jajouka, of course, but they do sound inspired by sources and forces as deep as those at the root of the Master Musicians' music, if it's not blasphemous to say that about an electric-guitar wielding "postrock" band.
Read the review of Savatore's debut "Clingfilm" nearby to get the lowdown on these Norwegians, whose albums are a must for any fan of AQ-faves Circle.
"Jugend" is equally as good as "Clingfilm", with maybe more of the drone quotent, though that's a generalization. It does feature as its opening an eleven-minute epic called "Jugend II" that's an awesomely beautiful heavy guitar drone piece, each delicious wave of feedback-distortion seemingly designed to directly trigger your brain's pleasure centers. Play this one LOUD! Elsewhere on the album, mellow out to the dub effects of "Gallo" or the sheer beauty of "Ambrosia".
And let's just say that track three, "We Have Found The Enemy And He Is Us", may be the best Circle song Circle never wrote!
The theme of Wilde's "Dorian Gray" is the battle of Youth and Beauty with Time, with the lesson being: Live! Such exhortations make sense when in the grip of this music! A fucking great record.
Although Salvatore do remind us so strongly of Circle (and Circle offshoots like Ovalki, Ektroverde, and Pharaoh Overlord), it seems likely that such similarities are the result of shared influences rather than a direct ripoff. And, even if Salvatore *are* shamelessly copying the Circle blueprint, we can forgive 'em 'cause they do it sooooo well.
A final note: their brand new album, entitled "Fresh" will be arriving in a few weeks, we'll list it when we get it. And we hear that they are recording a fourth album in Chicago with Tortoise's John McEntire...
RealAudio clip: "We Have Found The Enemy And He Is Us"
RealAudio clip: "Jugend II"