SKULLFLOWER Last Shot At Heaven (Noiseville) cd 29.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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 Strange Keys To Untune God's Firmament (Neurot) 2cd 17.98
It's hard to believe Skullflower has been a band for 20+ years, and that there have been more than 40 Skullflower releases (and that's not even counting all the other non-SF projects, like Total, Sunroof!, Hototogisu, etc.), but many of us have been along for the whole ride, from the early days of crushing post industrial caveman thud rock, to the more blissed out ur-drone guitarskree, to the second wave of riff centric looped heavy drone spacerock, to the most recent incarnation, a return to incendiary, explosive, ear shreddingly psychedelic guitar noise. And we have to say, we've loved every minute of it. Don't think there was a bum disc in the lot.
It is safe to say that some versions of Skullflower are more accessible, it seems like the riffier discs, opened up lots of ears, only to have them clamped down as Mr. Skullflower Matthew Bower decided to ditch the riff completely, or if not ditch it, bury it beneath an avalanche of corrosive, crumbling, amp destroying black hole white noise, which is where we find ourselves now, with this, the most recent disc from Bower and co., Strange Keys To Untune God's Firmament, a sprawling two disc collection of some of the heaviest, most punishingly brutal sounds we've heard from Skullflower maybe EVER. Which is saying a lot.
Like many of the recent SF discs, Strange Keys requires some dedication, some effort, this is UNeasy listening for sure, a glancing earful will get you nothing but the surface, a blown out wall of grinding NOISE, but take a deep breath, strap on the headphones and dunk your head into this roiling blackened mess, and suddenly, your third eye is opened to all of the sonic subtleties going on within this swirling orb of guitarnoize, textures, rhythms, layers, tones and overtones, riffs (yeah, there are still riffs), what sounds like percussion, some of the tracks get downright blissful, slipping into almost Sunroof! territory, albeit less sun dappled and divine, and more heavy and harrowing, other tracks introduce lots of textures and glitched out electronic buzz, the sharp edges dulled, a muted blast of warped throb and thrum, with buried foghorns, tangled tendrils of feedback, and even some hidden melodies, only to explode moments later in a shower of jagged psychnoise shards.
Fans of recent Skullflower excursions will not be disappointed, those in search of the elusive Bower riff, will just have to gird themselves and dig deep, but if you like your guitars noisy, and your drone music like a hail of rusty nails and broken glass, then, you will find your salvation in Strange Keys To Untune God's Firmament.
LIMITED TO ONLY 300 COPIES!!!!!
MPEG Stream: "Shivering Aurora"
MPEG Stream: "Starlit Mire"
MPEG Stream: "Enochian Tapestries"

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
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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 13.98
Finally available again, this essential recording from the legendary Skullflower, notable in that it was the last record before that band shut down operations for 7 years, before returning with the Exquisite Fucking Boredom release on tUMULt, which found Skullflower reborn, channeling Hawkwind and proto-metal and creating their own sort of spaced out hypno riff rock.
This Is, finds the band right in between, having slowly been moving away from the industrial thud of previous discs, toward something much more spaced out and hypnotic, definitely reflecting SF mainman Matthew Bower's raga drone explorations in Sunroof!
Record opener "Lounge", sets the tone for the whole record, sounding less like Skullflower, and more like No Neck Blues Band or Sunburned Hand or Avarus, a sort of meandering free jazz / free noise freakout, with skittery abstract rhythms, pounded piano, squalls of psychedelic wah guitar, but lots of space too, not a heaving mass of crush, more like a spaced out bit of psych rock abstract drift, underneath it all did definitely lurk a slab of dense drone, but here it stays in the background. Which leads directly into the slightly more ominous "Creaky Rigging", which unfurls as a loose hazy raga, long drawn out tones, spidery guitars, clouds of cymbal shimmer, barely there drums, the sound very Eastern, the sound building and building into something much more intense, but retaining that essential raga-drone-buzz core. Super hypnotic and dense, like a way looser Pelt or something, or Flying Saucer Attack minus the songs.
"Glider" ups the ante a little, adding some more traditional drum pound, to it's billowing sheets of white noise guitar and streaks of squealing feedback, anchored by a pounding piano, a bit like The Dead C, working their way through a lightning storm of layered high end skree and clouds of psychedelic fried amp crunch.
The record closes with a nearly 40 minute live jam "The Pirate Ship Of Reality Is Moving Out", which begins all clean guitar jangle, striped with spidery bits of atonal guitar melody, a slow avant raga, that lurches and sways, threatening to coalesce into a proper rock song, but always veering into much more abstract territory, eventually exploding in a frenzy of sawed strings, and howling psychdrone screech, before slipping into something much more spacious and contemplative, spending the next ten minutes or so navigating a field of blackened shimmer and hushed drift, before in the last few minutes, returning to the fiery salvo of the song's climax.
An incredible record of avant psychedelia and abstract raga, definitely worth revisiting, especially for those who may have found Skullflower's recent releases too intense or harsh, and anyone into the above referenced bands, Pelt, The Dead C, Avarus, No Neck, Sunburned Hand, will for sure dig this, as it charts similar sonic territory, while managing to sound distinctly and uniquely like Skullflower.
MPEG Stream: "Lounge"
MPEG Stream: "Creaky Rigging"

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 upÉ

SKULLFLOWER / WHITE MEDAL split (Turgid Animal) 7" 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Yes we still have a few. WTF?? What else do you need to know besides this: SUPER LIMITED SKULLFLOWER 7". Not much we'd imagine, but heck, just in case, it might be good to know that this chunk of Skullflower guitarnoise, veers dramatically away from the spate of recent releases, that focused on a more harsh, speaker shredding, ear wrecking intensity, and slips back to something a bit more warm and washed out, definite Sunroof! territory for sure, albeit less upper register skree and more wall of thrum low end crush. Blissed out and melodic, think Jesu, Nadja, SUNNO))), but totally and distinctly Skullflower, heavy, and harsh, dense and intense, but shot through with pretty melodies and constantly shifting layers and textures, a dizzying drift of soft focus muted Merzbowian buzz. So good. Had this been stretched out into a full length record we'd be talking serious Record Of The Week contender for sure.
The flipside comes from UK one man black metal horde White Medal, who counters with his own murky slab of downtuned distortion drenched doomic black buzz, a heaving sea of muddy low end and swirling muted chaos, the drums blasting away, but buried in the mix, the vocals a howling demonic inhuman wail, the sound so blurred and blackened, that it sounds almost static, even though beneath the surface, the drums are blasting, the riffs grinding, a glorious smear of woozy melancholic buzzing blackness, dense and ferocious, but washed out and weirdly melodic. Both sides rank up there with some of the best stuff we've heard from either outfit. But act fast, only 400 COPIES!

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 partsÉ
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 LARKIN Kaleide (Wichita) cd 12.98
Sky Larkin's The Golden Spike had to be one of our favorite pop records of the last few years, crunchy propulsive noise pop of the highest order, cool complex stop start arrangements, killer choruses, incredible vocals (like PJ Harvey crossed with Bjork, sort of), mathy and occasionally dissonant, loud and rambunctious, not really super weird or twisted, just super innovative and inventive and original with hooks galore, totally rocking, and packed with a clutch of all time pop classics ("Beeline", "Fossil, I").
Record number two from this trio is turning out to be just as good, a bit darker, a bit more subdued, not nearly as wild and wooly, but the songs might end up being even better. They're the sort of songs that take a few listens, but only a few, and then you're smitten, already we find ourselves returning to record opener "Still Windmills" again and again, a gorgeously intricate and super catchy chunk of minimal pop, with a cool stripped down verse, and a soaring sing along chorus, not to mention some incredible riffing, and some great drumming, and the vocals sound better than ever.
The title track is a slow burning builder, with some weird mathy arrangements that somehow do nothing to take way from the song's catchiness. "Tiny Heist" is equal parts twee pop, and fuzzy distorted noise pop, a delicate balance that perfectly suits the song, "Guitars And Antarctica" sounds like classic nineties girl pop, big guitars, moody vocals, gorgeous melodies, while "Smarts" is a cool lo-fi pop experiment, all guitar harmonics, buried drum thump, and some of the sweetest vocals on the record. "Landlocked" sounds like it could have been a B side from The Golden Spike, fuzzy guitar and wild loose distorted crunch, "Spooktacular" does too in fact, and actually, the more we listen to Kaleide, the less far removed it actually sounds from The Golden Spike, just maybe a better balance between brooding melodic introspection and crashing punked out noisy poppiness, which is most definitely a good thing.
Super smart classic pop, that's definitely a contender for pop record of the year, and WAY recommended like The Golden Spike, for fans of K Records, Kill Rock Stars, Helium, Slant 6, Jale, Quixotic as well as Grass Widow, the Sandwitches, Brilliant Colors, Yellow Fever, Wet Dog and the like...
MPEG Stream: "Still Windmills"
MPEG Stream: "Kaleide"
MPEG Stream: "Spooktacular"
MPEG Stream: "Smarts (Shh Version)"

SKY LARKIN The Golden Spike (Wichita Recordings) cd 13.98
This would be HANDS DOWN pop record of the year, if only it came out this year, but hey, odds are most of you are only probably hearing this for the first time now, and heck, we've been trying to get this for ages, and we're thinking it may have just gotten a domestic release this year, but we've been dying to list this since one of us got an import copy from overseas last year and immediately flipped out. And all you'll need is a few tracks to see why.
Maybe try "Beeline", which has to be the pop jam of this year, and last year, and maybe several years before, hooks galore, big crunchy guitars, big pounding drums, awesome Bjork / PJ Harvey-ish female vocals, a hook to die for, the song complex with multiple parts, super dynamic, with a total soaring thick almost psychedelic sounding second half finish, this is so much more than just simple pop music. It was recorded with the same guy who did recent records by Pavement, Sleater Kinney, Death Cab For Cutie, Los Campesinos! Which should definitely give you an idea of the sound, swirl in some K Records, some Nova Scotian power pop (Sloan, Eric's Trip, etc) and some PJ Harvey musical muscle, and plenty of punk rock jangle and crunch, with guitars slipping from howl to chime and back again, often wrapped up with the bass and drums into huge sounding instrumental squalls, but never losing touch with the pop heart that drives these songs.
All the songs on The Golden Spike are fantastic, take "Fossil, I", that opens the record with soaring harmonies and dissonant riffing, before slipping into something more simple and catchy, but the track proceeds to flit back and forth, from super melodic and almost twee to wild and mathy and super rocking. And so it goes from there on out, pretty much every song is a noise pop gem, each one prime mixtape material for sure. The magical thing about this record is that it's not weird or fucked up or anything, it's just a practically perfect pop record with verses and choruses and all the usual pop song stuff, but it's the execution, and the songs themselves, the melodies, the hooks, the way the songs are constructed, the sound of the guitar, the vocals, oh the vocals, and just consistently super unique and interesting arrangements, that make the songs as exciting as they are immediately unforgettable. Just listen to the sound samples and we're pretty sure you'll be hooked. Anyone into the new wave of female fronted pop groups a la Sandwitches, Grass Widow, Brilliant Colors, Yellow Fever, as well as the bands who were making similar sounds back in the day Quixotic, Helium, Slant 6 and the like, will definitely have found a new favorite...
MPEG Stream: "Beeline"
MPEG Stream: "Fossil, I"
MPEG Stream: "Octopus '08"
MPEG Stream: "One Of Two"

SKY LARKIN The Golden Spike (Wichita Recordings) lp 15.98
This would be HANDS DOWN pop record of the year, if only it came out this year, but hey, odds are most of you are only probably hearing this for the first time now, and heck, we've been trying to get this for ages, and we're thinking it may have just gotten a domestic release this year, but we've been dying to list this since one of us got an import copy from overseas last year and immediately flipped out. And all you'll need is a few tracks to see why.
Maybe try "Beeline", which has to be the pop jam of this year, and last year, and maybe several years before, hooks galore, big crunchy guitars, big pounding drums, awesome Bjork / PJ Harvey-ish female vocals, a hook to die for, the song complex with multiple parts, super dynamic, with a total soaring thick almost psychedelic sounding second half finish, this is so much more than just simple pop music. It was recorded with the same guy who did recent records by Pavement, Sleater Kinney, Death Cab For Cutie, Los Campesinos! Which should definitely give you an idea of the sound, swirl in some K Records, some Nova Scotian power pop (Sloan, Eric's Trip, etc) and some PJ Harvey musical muscle, and plenty of punk rock jangle and crunch, with guitars slipping from howl to chime and back again, often wrapped up with the bass and drums into huge sounding instrumental squalls, but never losing touch with the pop heart that drives these songs.
All the songs on The Golden Spike are fantastic, take "Fossil, I", that opens the record with soaring harmonies and dissonant riffing, before slipping into something more simple and catchy, but the track proceeds to flit back and forth, from super melodic and almost twee to wild and mathy and super rocking. And so it goes from there on out, pretty much every song is a noise pop gem, each one prime mixtape material for sure. The magical thing about this record is that it's not weird or fucked up or anything, it's just a practically perfect pop record with verses and choruses and all the usual pop song stuff, but it's the execution, and the songs themselves, the melodies, the hooks, the way the songs are constructed, the sound of the guitar, the vocals, oh the vocals, and just consistently super unique and interesting arrangements, that make the songs as exciting as they are immediately unforgettable. Just listen to the sound samples and we're pretty sure you'll be hooked. Anyone into the new wave of female fronted pop groups a la Sandwitches, Grass Widow, Brilliant Colors, Yellow Fever, as well as the bands who were making similar sounds back in the day Quixotic, Helium, Slant 6 and the like, will definitely have found a new favorite...
MPEG Stream: "Beeline"
MPEG Stream: "Fossil, I"
MPEG Stream: "Octopus '08"
MPEG Stream: "One Of Two"

SKY PILOTS Enjoy A Day Off (Ghost Mansion) cd 14.98

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"

SKY PROJECTION s/t (Sygil) lp 11.98
From the same folks who brought us the amazing Charnel House cd-r elsewhere on this week's list, comes this mysterious slab of wax, with very little in the way of liner notes, other than a cryptic list of "Implements", which include Metasonix S-1000, Drone Commander (!), Sherman Filters, Eventide Delay, Dave Smith Instruments, Keeley Electronics and Music From Outer Space (!). They had us at "Drone Commander", but sealed the deal with "Music From Outer Space"! But what exactly do you get when you mix those outer space sounds with a drone commander and all the rest? Well, some sort of abstract, fuzzy, droney cosmic weirdness that somehow melds tripped out minimal psychedelia to blackened drones and abstract experimental riffage. The record opens with a long stretch of murky guitar churn, rife with gnarled melodies, that sounds a bit like some weird hybrid of Amps For Christ and Blackwolfgoat, but from there on out, the sound gets decidedly more minimal, slipping into a sort of super abstract FX drenched kosmische drift, thick swells of low end rumble, beneath layered swirls of blurred buzz and muted high end shimmer, those deep tones surfacing throughout the tracks on side one.
The flipside starts off with a hazy metallic ur-drone, a little bit Sunroof!-y, but a bit more blissed out, hypnotic and heady, before slipping into a pulsing minimal sprawl of rib cage rattling bass creep, which soon blossoms into more of a warm whir, hushed and soft focus, gauzy and fuzzy and dreamlike, but infused with a subtly ominous sonic vibe, before finally, the record finishes off with another bit of Amps For Christ-ish pulsating electronics and what sound like processed synth, a twisted spaced out psychedelic krautwave coda, that wraps things up in a big buzzy new age psych kraut bow. Awesome!
LIMITED TO 200 COPIES!! Each one hand numbered, housed in a coll black and dark red fold over sleeve, with a printed clear plastic insert.
MPEG Stream: "Album Sampler"

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 Gorgeous Johnny (Jagjaguwar) cd 14.98
Yeah, we know this came out a coupla months ago, but we think it makes a perfect late summer into autumn kind of listen. Y'know, one that's best listened to amid the soft rustle of freshly falling leaves and the cooler evening breezes. The Skygreen Leopards' latest album Gorgeous Johnny is filled with a baker's dozen willowy psych-tinged folk pop numbers. Their pretty, slightly woozy melodies drift in and out of the shadows, making for an ever so comfortingly drowsy listen. Adding a bit more sweetness to the hazy warm concoction is the presence of The Papercuts' Jason Quever on bass, drums and piano. The band continues to follow surefootedly in the distinctly west coast countrified pop Americana tradition of The Byrds, Moby Grape, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Grateful Dead. Definitely recommended if you dig contemporaries like Devendra Banhart, Fleet Foxes and Vetiver too.
MPEG Stream: "Margery"
MPEG Stream: "Paid By The Hour"

SKYGREEN LEOPARDS Gorgeous Johnny (Jagjaguwar) lp 14.98
Yeah, we know this came out a coupla months ago, but we think it makes a perfect late summer into autumn kind of listen. Y'know, one that's best listened to amid the soft rustle of freshly falling leaves and the cooler evening breezes. The Skygreen Leopards' latest album Gorgeous Johnny is filled with a baker's dozen willowy psych-tinged folk pop numbers. Their pretty, slightly woozy melodies drift in and out of the shadows, making for an ever so comfortingly drowsy listen. Adding a bit more sweetness to the hazy warm concoction is the presence of The Papercuts' Jason Quever on bass, drums and piano. The band continues to follow surefootedly in the distinctly west coast countrified pop Americana tradition of The Byrds, Moby Grape, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Grateful Dead. Definitely recommended if you dig contemporaries like Devendra Banhart, Fleet Foxes and Vetiver too.
MPEG Stream: "Margery"
MPEG Stream: "Paid By The Hour"

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'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"

SLAGMAUR Skrekk Lich Kunstler (Nekk Brekk Productions) cd 15.98

MPEG Stream: "Eik Som Klor"
MPEG Stream: "Norwegian Giant"

SLAKTARE From Fall Of Leaves To Painful Wrath (Misanthropic Art Productions) 2cd 15.98

SLAM DUNK (WITH AUTHORITY!) / ORDER OF THE GASH Split (Eolian Records) lp + cd-r 12.98
Another one we somehow neglected to list - back in 2007 when we got 'em in, from the same label that brought us cool stuff by Rabbits, Acre, and Purple Rhinestone Eagle.
This is a split release of crusty blackened thrashing metal, Portland's Order Of The Gash all instrumental (but with gnarly songtitles), the amazingly monikered Slam Dunk (With Authority!) doing their thing with gnarly vocals too.
Pressed on translucent "periwinkle" colored vinyl. LIMITED TO 300 numbered copies, and who knows, these might be the last ones anywhere.

SLANEY, IVOR Terror / Prey (OST) (Moscovitch Music) cd 17.98
Now available on cd! With 9 extra tracks and sound cues from the Terror Soundtrack that were not on the vinyl version!
Attention British Horror fans! We have here, released by a new a label run by one of the guys from sampling groop Quiet Village, two previously unreleased soundtracks on one cd from New Wave of British Horror director Norman J. Warren: Terror (1979) and Prey (1978). Warren, best known for three horror movies he made in the late seventies (the first one was Satan's Slave), had a film style similar to Dario Argento, making highly explicit and gory supernatural thrillers filmed on a low budget with modern day settings and using younger actors, a sharp contrast to the classic period-set hammer films earlier in the decade. Composed by Ivor Slaney, an in-house composer for the DeWolfe Library, the music is deliciously creepy.
Terror sounds like a lost soundtrack by Goblin, beginning with proggy synths and organ dirges augmented by female vocal moans that are equally wistful and uh, well, terrifying! There are a couple of groovy interludes, one of them a short blues-rock number, the others more pensive, but the final tracks are full bore high-pitched synth drones that had the hairs on the back of our neck standing up on end! Also, an interesting piece of side trivia is that Terror stars Tricia Walsh, better known as Tricia Walsh-Smith, the you-tube sensation famous for videos berating her ex-husband to the general public!
Prey feels more like classic British horror scores, offering up at first soft and pastoral themes using harpsichord, organ and piano. From what we can gather from the sounds and the tagline (A Carnal Lust That Defies Earthly Expectation!) is that this is a rather twisted love story involving birds, as bird sounds emerge here and there. The lilting music soon turns to what sounds like a terrifying merry-go-round and then we get bits of sounds from the film itself of screams and flesh being ripped apart by massive bird-like creatures. There are a couple of party numbers, one a jazzy theme sung by someone who sounds like Caroline Peyton, the other by a lounge-rock band, before the final twisted Moog dirge comes into play with snippets of doomy dialogue. Great creepy stuff!
MPEG Stream: "Terror Main Title"
MPEG Stream: "Orgasmic Stripper"
MPEG Stream: "Is This Your Car, Sir?"
MPEG Stream: "Hide and Seek"

SLANEY, IVOR Terror / Prey (OST) (Moscovitch Music) lp 17.98
Attention British Horror fans! We have here, released by a new a label run by one of the guys from sampling groop Quiet Village, two previously unreleased soundtracks on one lp from New Wave of British Horror director Norman J. Warren: Terror (1979) and Prey (1978). Warren, best known for three horror movies he made in the late seventies (the first one was Satan's Slave), had a film style similar to Dario Argento, highly explicit and gory supernatural thrillers filmed on a low budget with modern day settings and using younger actors, a sharp contrast to the classic period-set hammer films earlier in the decade. Composed by Ivor Slaney, an in-house composer for the DeWolfe Library, the music is deliciously creepy.
Terror sounds like a lost soundtrack by Goblin, beginning with proggy synths and organ dirges augmented by female vocal moans that are equally wistful and uh, well, terrifying! There are a couple of groovy interludes, one of them a short blues-rock number, the others more pensive, but the final tracks are full bore high-pitched synth drones that had the hairs on the back of our neck standing up on end! Also, an interesting piece of side trivia is that Terror stars Tricia Walsh, better known as Tricia Walsh-Smith, the you-tube sensation famous for videos berating her ex-husband to the general public!
Prey feels more like classic British horror scores, offering up at first soft and pastoral themes using harpsichord, organ and piano. From what we can gather from the sounds and the tagline (A Carnal Lust That Defies Earthly Expectation!) is that this is a rather twisted love story involving birds, as bird sounds emerge here and there. The lilting music soon turns to what sounds like a terrifying merry-go-round and then we get bits of sounds from the film itself of screams and flesh being ripped apart by massive bird-like creatures. There are a couple of party numbers, one a jazzy theme sung by someone who sounds like Caroline Peyton, the other by a lounge band, before the final twisted Moog dirge comes into play with snippets of doomy dialogue. Great creepy stuff!
NOTE: A cd version is coming out in a couple of weeks or so, for the vinyl-impaired! Meanwhile this lp is limited to 1000 copies.