SUBMODERN Inner Mission (Cryptic Funk) cd ep 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Check out the two releases we recently got from the local electronic duo known as Submodern. The first is their full length debut titled Object Oriented Mood Management and the follow-up is this six-song ep called Inner Mission. Submodern craftily construct their tracks from nice bloopy bleepy sequenced synth sounds atop dancefloor-primed programmed beats and basslines. The former are perfect for getting all tripped out to, and the latter keep things groovin' along at an easy-goin' pace.
This EP definitely shows some developments from the duo's debut. Its highlight track is definitely the third one, the moodily atmosphered "Stuck". Despite its title, it's anything but stuck! There's more layers, more textures and generally much more IDM-y action goin' on. The next track "Lurp" continues on that shadowy path. Can't wait to hear where they go from here.
MPEG Stream: "Stuck"
MPEG Stream: "Lurp"

SUBMODERN Object Oriented Mood Management (Cryptic Funk) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Check out the two releases we recently got from the local electronic duo known as Submodern. One is an ep called Inner Mission and the other is this, their full length debut titled Object Oriented Mood Management. Submodern craftily construct their tracks from nice bloopy bleepy sequenced synth sounds atop dancefloor-primed programmed beats and basslines. The former are perfect for getting all tripped out to, and the latter keep things groovin' along at an easy-goin' pace. The most kinetic of the ten tracks is the eighth "Minimal Angst". A nice little kick amid the mostly chill atmospheres.
MPEG Stream: "Honeysuckle Context"
MPEG Stream: "Minimal Angst"

SUBOTNICK, MORTON Silver Apples of the Moon/The Wild Bull (Wergo) cd 22.00
Why look it's a 20th cent. new music/electronica classic. Other Music probably has it in their "Seminal" section...

SUBOTNICK, MORTON Volume 1: Electronic Works (Mode) cd 16.98
Collection of recordings spanning American electronic composer Morton Subotnick's career. It includes a remastered version of Touch, originally released in 1969 (his third commercially released composition) and created on the Buchla synthesizer and a four track. Also included is "A Sky of Cloudless Sulfur" (1978) also created using the Buchla, and a new piece entitled "Gestures" composed on a MacIntosh laptop computer using a graphical interface designed by his son Steven and includes voice from uber contemporary vocalist Joan La Barbara.
RealAudio clip: "Touch Part One"
RealAudio clip: "Gestures"

SUBPOENA THE PAST Conjure Itch (Gold Standard Laboratories) lp 9.98
Fronted by Sonny Kay (Gold Standard Laboratories Records headpin and formerly of the VSS and Angel Hair), Subpoena The Past conjure the ghosts of Joy Division and early Killing Joke. This release turns away from the more dark-industrial leanings of their 'This Year's Eclipse' cd from '98 (when they were a duo), and into more art-punk territory. Jagged guitar lines and live drums take the place of samples and programmed beats. Side A is comprised of four tightly wound, brooding songs. A beautiful etching entitled 'The Amnesiac'(no music) graces side B. Sadly this release marks the swan song for this short-lived trio as Sonny is focussing much of his energy and attention on his rapidly growing uber-cool GSL label.

SUBTLE A New White (Lex) cd 14.98
Yet another gnarled tendril of the ever expanding Anticon tree of life breaks up through the hip hop soil reaching for the sun! This time on the always impressive Lex label. The Anticon connection here, at least the most noticable one is the presence of Dose One and his immediately recognizable high pitched stream of consciousness flow. Sonically, A New White is the logical progression from the last Clouddead record Ten, loping organic instrumentals, simple, skittering, funky drum programming, sweetly melancholic melodies and of course Dose One. The main difference is that Subtle is a full on band, with a seriously varied instrumentation: electric and acoustic cello, electric and acoustic bass, woodwinds, synthesizers, drums, guitar, keyboards, melodica and sampler that offers up a way more expanded, and much fuller sound. The Subtle seasonal eps released over the last year or two sort of slipped under the radar, but this release should have everyone scrambling to catch up on what they missed. Anyone who digs Clouddead, Alias, Boom Bip, Themselves and all that Anticon stuff will obviously love this.
MPEG Stream: "Song Meat"
MPEG Stream: "I Love L.A."

SUBTLE A New White (Lex) 2lp 22.00
Also, now, in stock on vinyl...Yet another gnarled tendril of the ever expanding Anticon tree of life breaks up through the hip hop soil reaching for the sun! This time on the always impressive Lex label. The Anticon connection here, at least the most noticable one is the presence of Dose One and his immediately recognizable high pitched str/Lexmelancholic melodies and of course Dose One. The main difference is that Subtle is a full on band, with a seriously varied instrumentation: electric and acoustic cello, electric and acoustic bass, woodwinds, synthesizers, drums, guitar, keyboards, melodica and sampler that offers up a way more expanded, and much fuller sound. The Subtle seasonal eps released over the last year or two sort of slipped under the radar, but this release should have everyone scrambling to catch up on what they missed. Anyone who digs Clouddead, Alias, Boom Bip, Themselves and all that Anticon stuff will obviously love this.
MPEG Stream: "Song Meat"
MPEG Stream: "I Love L.A."

SUBTLE f.k.o. (Lex) 12" 7.98

SUBTLE For Hero For Fool (Lex) cd 16.98
On their second album, Subtle (aka Jel and DoseOne also of cLOUDEAD, 13&God and Anticon) appear to have sat themselves right down in the vacant seats between TV On The Radio, Gnarls Barkley, Peeping Tom, heck, maybe even Black Eyed Peas and Outkast too! And they've done so with a rather comfortable ease. For Hero For Fool is a quirkful, good time blender magic of hip hop, pop, funk, soul and film score music. Groovy highlights include "The Mercury Craze" and "The Ends".
MPEG Stream: "The Mercury Craze"
MPEG Stream: "The Ends"

SUBTLE For Hero For Fool (Lex) 2lp 24.00
Yes, available on vinyl too!
On their second album, Subtle (aka Jel and DoseOne also of cLOUDEAD, 13&God and Anticon) appear to have sat themselves right down in the vacant seats between TV On The Radio, Gnarls Barkley, Peeping Tom, heck, maybe even Black Eyed Peas and Outkast too! And they've done so with a rather comfortable ease. For Hero For Fool is a quirkful, good time blender magic of hip hop, pop, funk, soul and film score music. Groovy highlights include "The Mercury Craze" and "The Ends".
MPEG Stream: "The Mercury Craze"
MPEG Stream: "The Ends"

SUBTONIX s/t (No Love) 7" 2.99
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Channeling the ghost of James Chance and the Contortions are the Subtonix from SF. Sax squeals amid a herky jerky mayhem of guitar, bass, drums and keyboards. Ah yes, the art-punk-no-wave spirit is alive and flourishing in these five women.

SUBTONIX Tarantism (Troublman) cd 12.98
An album that arrived too late. Sadly the Subtonix are no more. Recently disbanded, they were a wild skronky art punk combo of four women. All raven-haired and smudged black eyeliner, they channelled the ghosts of James Chance & The Contortions (although they also made me think of We've Got A Fuzzbox And We're Gonna Use It). The inclusion of sax in their instrumentation set them apart from the rest of the bay area punk scene. Raw punk/new wave sounds with old synths, saxophone, primitive drumming and slightly sneering swooping vocals. Known for their stage costumery (bloody nurses and dishevelled prom queens immediately comes to mind) they were high on punk rock haphazard dramatics. This album is short and sweet at just under a half hour, and it follows two even briefer releases a self-titled 7" and a split single with Glass Candy & The Shattered Theater. Note: Sax player Jessie Trashed now sings and plays bass for The Vanishing.
RealAudio clip: "Ashtray Girl"
RealAudio clip: "In Theatres"

SUBTONIX Tarantism (Troublman) lp 10.98
An album that arrived too late. Sadly the Subtonix are no more. Recently disbanded, they were a wild skronky art punk combo of four women. All raven-haired and smudged black eyeliner, they channelled the ghosts of James Chance & The Contortions. The inclusion of sax in their instrumentation set them apart from the rest of the bay area punk scene. Raw punk/new wave sounds with old synths, saxophone, and primitive drumming. Known for their stage costumery (bloody nurses and dishevelled prom queens immediately comes to mind) they were high on punk rock haphazard dramatics. Note: Sax player Jessie Trashed has moved over to fulltime vocal duties for The Vanishing (whose new 10" we've also list here). This album is short and sweet at just under a half hour, and it follows two even briefer releases a self-titled 7" and a split single with Glass Candy & The Shattered Theater. So get it all while you can! The vinyl pressing is limited to 1000.
RealAudio clip: "Ashtray Girl"
RealAudio clip: "In Theatres"

SUBTONIX / GLASS CANDY AND THE SHATTERED THEATER Into The Fire / Crystal Migraine (Troubleman Unlimited) 7" 3.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Here is the split release from the dark, sexy Portland, OR group Glass Candy and the now dead, but equally sexy SF band Subtonix (R.I.P.). Art-punk-no-wave for the gothy 70's punk resurgence fans. In the vein of X-Ray Spex, Suicide, James Chance and the Contortions, etc.

SUBVERT BLAZE Subvert Art Complete Works (Alchemy) 2cd 30.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The Japanese, we all know, are no slouches when it comes to heavy, psychedelic rock n' roll. From seventies masters like the Flower Travellin' Band and Far Out and Blues Creation to current heavies like Boris and Green Machine and DMBQ (to name but a few from either era), there's a tradition of long-haired, amped-up mayhem over there... Well if you're like us and big fans of all that, you should know about this band, Subvert Blaze. They were a late '80s, early '90s psychedelic metal / stoner rock outfit, retro bellbottomed badasses doin' Sabbath and Hendrix covers alongside equally heavy originals just a few years before it was all that cool to do so. Their drummer later joined Ghost, but it's here where you'll really hear him put his gong to good use. Subvert Blaze did two albums for the Osaka-based noise and psych label Alchemy, Subvert Art and Subvert Art II, which have been out of print for some time, until recently when this double cd set appeared, reissuing the tracks from both those albums, and more! So we figured some of you might be interested...yeah it's thirty bucks but it's an import and a double cd, and getting the two original discs would have cost more and you wouldn't have the bonus tracks, which include a cover of "Summertime Blues" as well as a twelve-minute epic original entitled "Elegy (Of Turkey City)", and the band's two tracks from the Osaka Greasy Truckers compilation (early versions of "Butterfly" and "Innocent"). Convinced? Or do you need more description? Let's see... Kinda like Can meets Sabbath, total heavy psych rockin' and rollin', with gargly rough vocals and a dark energy. Yeah, if you can dig a band that combines heavy riffage with technical progginess and spacious, psychedelic moodiness, and is prone to the occasional extravagant drum solo, you might be a Subvert Blaze fan too! (NB. their singer/guitarist went on to form even heavier Alchemy act Garadama.)
MPEG Stream: "Butterfly"
MPEG Stream: "Summertime Blues"

SUBWAY s/t (Guerssen Records) cd 21.00
This rare acid folk record from 1972 is not as Ren Faire as the cover would imply. Although subtle comparisons can be made to the Incredible String Band and Trees, Subway were neither staunch traditionalists or back-to-the-woods fairie folksters. Made up of American guitarist and singer-songwriter Irv Mowrey and British violinist Malcolm Watson, the duo met up in England, decided to go to Paris to try to make it, ended up playing in subway stations (hence the name) and wound up cutting a record on the French imprint of Epic Records. Of course, the record didn't fare very well and Epic ended up destroying the surplus, assuring them cult and holy-grail collectible status ever since. Mowrey's songwriting is first rate adding a nice American touch to their urban folk sound. There is also a really nice modal instrumental piece that takes this far past your average twee acid folk. Nice!
MPEG Stream: "Song For Sinking Shelters"
MPEG Stream: "Enturbulation-Free Form"

SUCKLE Against Nurture (Chemikal Underground) cd 21.00
Frances McKee from The Vaselines now fronts Glasgow band Suckle. Very pretty folk-rock. Described as being like "the McGarrigle Sisters jamming with the Velvet Underground." Dunno about THAT, but this is really nice. Lush and soft vocal harmonies with graceful strings and flute. Sounding quite like a sister album to 'The Great Eastern', the lovely recent release by labelmates the Delgados!

SUDDEN INFANT Invocation Of The Aural Slave Gods (Blossoming Noise) cd 14.98
"Featuring former SPK/Lustmord member Annie Subbs on vocals/percussion and Joke Lanz of Catholic Boys in Heavy Leather and Schimpfluch-Gruppe fame on 'noise toys', London duo Sudden Infant begin their industrialised invocation with a soothing, wave crashing, meditation instruction tape that sounds eerily like the voice of Margaret Thatcher before a barrage of broken glass, pump action shot gun blasting and ugly machinery shreds the illusion. 'Noise Relaxation' sets the mood for the rest of the album, a fearsome yet playful crashing together of mechanical noise with slivers of Suicide, tremors of early Current 93 and even a nod to Pierre Henry imbedded into it. These are then occasionally invaded by distorted cover versions of Cabaret Voltaire and Roxy Music tunes, or overlaid wit unsettling Phil Minton-like throat warblings and regurgitations. A strange beast indeed, all topped of with cover art that samples an unaccredited arcane drawing from magician, poet and mountaineer Aleister Crowley's Satanic sketchbook." For a comical, vomit splattered reinterpretation of Wolf Eyes, look no further!

SUEDE A New Morning (Sony) cd 19.98
I must admit more than a passing fondness for the bombastic, sexy drama of Brit poppers Suede. Their first few albums had a tendency to bring out the glamorous, hip-shaking bisexual diva in the shyest bowl-cutted indie popster. Of course, Brit pop hasn't been fashionable in years; all the mods have gone rocker, the British press delights in ripping apart their one-time darlings, and popscene overflows with khakis and baseball caps. Still, Suede chug on. They will probably never make another great album like "Suede" or "Dog Man Star," having lost an essential guitarist some time ago and a drug habit (with the accompanying dreary worldview) more recently, but "A New Morning" is nevertheless a very pleasant listen, and way better than their last album "Head Music." Producer-to-the-stars Stephen Street is at the helm, and while some of the more deliciously risque lyrics have been abandoned, the theatricality and overboard glam are here in full effect, and whenever Brett Anderson hiccups into a falsetto wail, it still has the power to make the boys and girls swoon. And ah yes- load this cd into your computer, and you'll have access online to alternate takes of every single cut on "A New Morning," just in case you really wanted to delve into Suede's, um, process.
RealAudio clip: "Untitled Morning"
RealAudio clip: "Beautiful Loser"

SUGARCUBES The Great Crossover Potential (Elektra) cd 15.98
13 songs from the Icelandic band "that redefined modern rock" (that's what the sticker says) and spawned the career of Bjork.

SUGARHILL GANG Rapper's Delights (Castle) 2cd 15.98
Double disk set of the essential tracks by The Sugar Hill Gang plus lots of rarities, including a radio commercial and 12" b-sides. Comes with extensive liner notes on the history of The Sugarhill Gang.

SUGARHILL GANG, THE VS. GRANDMASTER FLASH The Greatest Hits (Earmark / Get Back) 3lp 36.00
A 180 gram vinyl colection of greatest hits from two groups that brought hip-hop from the streets of New York to global hit status. These guys took rap to a multi-billion dollar business forever changing the concept of popular music. Remember when MTV finally started showing hip-hop videos? Remember Yo! MTV Raps with Fab Five Freddie and Ed Lover? These guys paved the way for hip-hop to break ground into popular consumption. And here they are, a show-down between the two bands. Great hip-hop! Not the first of the time, but the biggest! And some of the best! Hells yes.

SUGARPLANT Happy (World Domination) 2cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Finally took Eric of Giant Robot's advice and listened to this toothsome collection of their first 2 EPs. Excellent! This Japanese boy/girl duo cross My Bloody Valentine with Galaxie 500 into a thick sweet mixture, and add dreamy girl vocals. Every time we play this in store, someone asks "Wow, who is this!". Richly melodic. Very appealing on even the first listen, especially if all the new "drone" music is too spaced out for you.

SUGIMOTO, TAKU Chamber Music (Bottrop-Boy) cd 16.98
Japan's Taku Sugimoto is best known for super minimalist guitar improvisation. But he also writes for other stringed instruments, as this new collection of Chamber Music will attest. The first track, which clocks in at just under a half hour, is entitled "Sonata for Violin and Piano". Yet, there's a third 'instrument' here, one present on all Sugimoto recordings: silence. Part of listening to and enjoying Sugimoto's music is, simply, waiting. Waiting for the next sound. It's not music for the impatient. Brief bleatings from the violin take turns with lonely notes from the piano. When one instrumental voice occupies the sound field for longer than a second, it's an event. Next is the 33 minute "Music for Violin, Cello and Piano" which follows the same minimalist scheme, the cello certainly not elbowing the silence out of the picture. There's almost a monk-like discipline required to enjoy this music. It's meditation as much as it is listening, the pay-off is in the process. A three minute coda for guitar and banjo (and silence) wraps things up, jaunty by comparison to the rest of the disc, but just barely. As always with Sugimoto, spending an hour with this will provide a kind of perverse delight to those attuned to his aesthetic.
MPEG Stream: "Sonata For Violin And Piano"

SUGIMOTO, TAKU Fragments Of Paradise (Creativeman Disc) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Real beautiful, slow, quiet, stringed-instrument improvisations from Sugimoto and cohorts.

SUGIMOTO, TAKU Guitar Quartet (Bottrop-Boy) cd 16.98
We're always been interested in the work of Japanese improvisor Taku Sugimoto. There's no one else quite like him, though one could draw some parallels to the work of sometime collaborator Kevin Drumm, the solo guitar work of David Grubbs, and certainly several of Sugimoto's peers in the Tokyo "onkyo" improv scene like Toshimaru Nakamura, Tetuzi Akiyama, and Otomo Yoshihide -- three gents who, not surprisingly, constitute Sugimoto's Guitar Quartet on this disc along with Sugimoto himself, some playing acoustic, and some playing electric guitars. Now, usually we prefer to hear Sugimoto just by himself, because recordings with collaborators usually get cluttered up with other people's playing, which tends to detract from the beauty of Sugimoto's restrained, minimal aesthetic. But this guitar quartet doesn't suffer from that at all -- indeed, it's really hard to imagine that there's actually four guys playing on this, as the results sound like they were barely there at all! Over these two half-hour plus tracks, the ratio of sheer silence to notes actually played is quite high, as we of course expect from Taku Sugimoto & co., whose careful placement of sound in silence leads to active, anticipatory listening from the audience. This leads us to wonder about their working practice in recording this -- it's over an hour long, but maybe there's actually ten minutes, if that, of audible "music" spread out over that hour. So, did they just play ten minutes worth and then "stretch it out" in ProTools? Or did they play for hours and hours and then edit the recording down to cd-length, picking the best stuff, silence included? Even if this is simply the entirety of a live performance (which it probably is), it's interesting to imagine the silent interaction of non-verbal gestures and delayed musical cues between the musicians, to say who was going to play something and when, with everybody most of the time just sitting there. All that's not to imply that this isn't worthwhile, you just have to be ready for what goes to a particular extreme of "difficult" listening. I personally enjoy it very much. Patience, and anticipation, and concentration, are required of the listener -- it's a meditative experience of sorts, and its beauty is in part your heightened awareness of your own environment.
RealAudio clip: "Aria"

SUGIMOTO, TAKU Italia (A Bruit Secret) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
One of our favorite Japanese improv guitarists takes his brand of minimalist abstraction to a new level on this disc, which 1) you have to turn WAY up to even hear the notes he's playing, 2) features lots of notes *not* being played, and 3) is fucking gorgeous. What we mean by 2) is that the three long tracks on here would be a lot shorter without all the silence. Not everybody will be able to "get" this sort of thing, but it's really quite lovely, Taku's sounds and silence balanced and serene. Maybe it's just 'cause he's Japanese, but this seems very Zen.

SUGIMOTO, TAKU Live In Australia (Improvised Music of Japan) cd 27.00

SUGIMOTO, TAKU & ANNETTE KREBS Eine Gitarre Ist Eine Gitarre Ist Keine Gitarre Ist Eine Gitarre... (Slub Music) cd 15.98
Japanese guitar improviser Taku Sugimoto (whose gentle, sparse style has made him an AQ-fave) teams up with German electro-acoustic guitarist Annette Krebs (who must live in Japan, as she constantly collaborates in that scene), to make a duo record of popping, scraping, droning, hissing, chiming, buzzing, crackling sounds for Sugimoto's Slub label. Sugimoto's measured, quiet playing, with his isolated melodic moments, is almost too fragile to successfully blend with the random percussive sound-events being conjured by Krebs (we assume, though of course it's hard to tell who is making what sound). This Eine Gitarre Ist... disc certainly IS worthy of investigation by Sugimoto and/or Krebs fans (and Keith Rowe or Kevin Drumm fans too for that matter), but to be honest we'd rather have seen this live, and just listen to a solo Sugimoto disc at home. There IS plenty of the silence and near-silence that characterizes Sugimoto's style, it's just that it too often comes as a relief from the parts that sound like someone (Krebs most likely) is slowly breaking her guitar into little bits. We like to listen to stuff like that too, just not when Sugimoto is playing. But others may disagree, so check it out.
RealAudio clip: "track 1"
RealAudio clip: "track 3"

SUGIMOTO, TAKU / DRUMM, KEVIN Den (Sonoris) cd 14.98
Another meeting between these two friends and improvisers, Tokyo guitarist Sugimoto and Chicago guitarist Drumm. Their guitars (and electronics) will gently and delicate scrape at your brain. It's all very abstract and pretty and full of tiny sounds, good with earphones. Quite nice.

SUICIDE American Supreme (Mute) cd 15.98
When you listen to the audio clip we've put up for you, you're going to think we made a mistake & mixed up some totally different disc with American Supreme. It *is*, however, the new Suicide, but it sounds nothing like the old, amazing Suicide many of us know and love (ah, "Cheree"), and not only that, but if you had to predict what Suicide would sound like 25+ years after their heyday (not that they were ever that popular, mind you), what you hear on that soundclip is the *last* thing you'd imagine. Turntablist scratching, funky bass, bwang bwang bwang guitar, annoyingly echoey vocals, keyboards that'd be more at home on a Parliament Funkadelic record. I kid you not! I guess these guys should be applauded for, um, updating their sound -- namely, Alan Vega's doped-out vocals with the 'echo' effect turned to 11, and Martin Rev's worrisomely hip, um, programming on the keyboards. Oh man. On the other hand, a lot of people are falling for it, so... all I can say is: listen to this album before you buy it!
RealAudio clip: "A Life in New Fragments"

SUICIDE Half Alive (ROIR) cd 14.98
A collection of some of the earliest recording by this seminal electro-punk duo of Alan Vega and Martin Rev. Dark, tense and seething. A stark, mad frenzy. Originally released back in 1981 on cassette only, but now released on cd with three bonus tracks.

SUICIDE s/t (Mute) 2cd 17.98
Disc one is their first, classic album, and the limited edition disc two features two live shows (CBGB's '77 and "23 Minutes Over Brussels").

SUICIDE Second Album + First Rehearsal Tapes (Mute) 2cd 16.98

SUICIDE Zero Hour (Red Star) cd 14.98
Suicide live, NYC & Berlin 1978!

SUICIDE GIRLS The First Tour (Epitaph) dvd 15.98
This one probably barely needs a review for most folks. Ummm, let's see, lots of hot naked tattooed and pierced punk rock and goth and emo girls, dancing and stripping and running around naked and causing trouble. 'Nuff said. Most folks are probably familiar (maybe *very* familiar) with the Suicide Girls website, a modern pinup site featuring the above mentioned ladies and a very My Space like punk rock community. This DVD documents the first SG burlesque tour, and features lots of live footage (including a bunch shot at the Great American Music Hall here in SF), lots of new routines / stripteases set to punk rock, as well as interviews with the ladies and lots of on-tour antics, that play just like every band-on-tour video you've ever seen, but instead of a band you've got a bunch of giggling naked girls. Ahem. And you'd never watch that Death Cab tour documentary or the Beulah movie and see those guys completely nude in the middle of the night on the side of the road in San Francisco trying to hail a cab and find a cabbie who will let them writhe around on the hood naked. Which is most definitely for the best. Features music from Sparta, Her Space Holiday, Open Hand, !!! (Chik Chik Chik), Shipping News, the Mooney Suzuki, Daedelus, Probot, Jolie Holland, Youth Group and a bunch more. Oh, and did we mention the nekkid ladeez? All region!

SUISHO NO FUNE Prayer for Chibi (Holy Mountain) 2cd 15.98
There's been a batch of cool releases recently from this underground Tokyo flashbackin' "bleak-folk" duo, including live albums on both the aRCHIVE and Important labels. How best to follow those up? How 'bout with a two-disc, two-hour studio set on Holy Mountain, all the more room for the Suishou two (Pirako and Kageo, both on guitar and vocals) to sprawl out and let their heavy lidded (if not quite heavy) psychedelia bleed so bleakly and beautifully, including a few tracks previewed in live versions, like "Cherry" and "Til We Meet Again". Even if you haven't heard those, if you've heard any Suishou No Fune chances are you know what you're in for... the usual Suishou blend of fragile vocals wailing ever so gently over meanderingly melodic string strum and amp hum, a downer droney trance-out that's super languid and echoey, relaxed and Rallizesized.
The extended, lethargic and lovely lo-fi shimmer that Suishou No Fune conjures is embellished by some percussive rattling ritual at the opening of "Prayer", and enhanced elsewhere by occasional amped-up moments of distortodelic heaviness ("Resurrection Night" being a solid sixteen-minute example), though it's generally far to the softer side of countryfolk Boris and Acid Mothers Temple (for instance). We can guess you'll be filing this with your Shizuka, LSD-march, and Nagisa Ni Te cds... that is, filing it only after playing it over and over quite a bit, lost in a hypnotic reverie each time.
Prayer For Chibi was recorded with the help of Steven Wray Lobdell (David Redford Triad, Faust) and the cd booklet features Japanese-to-English translations of all the lyrics by the always helpful in that regard Alan Cummings, lyrics full of flowers, dreams, rain, stars, fireflies, and la la las...
MPEG Stream: "Prayer"
MPEG Stream: "Resurrection Night"

SUISHOU NO FUNE Mystic Atmosphere (Cut Hands) cd-r 13.98
Oftimes, in the past, the drifting dark psychedelia of Tokyo "bleak folk" combo Suishou No Fune has been on the dreamier side, never quite as distorted and heavy as some of their amp-frying Japanese peers. Up-Tight and LSD-march and Acid Mothers Temple and so forth tend to crank it up more brutally, more often, while Suishou No Fune, though often displaying flashes of heaviness, are usually content with wallowing in a more atmospheric, delicate sort of murk... so a title like "Mystic Atmosphere" is to be expected... yet on this new limited edition cd-r, Suishou No Fune (here a trio, with occasional drummer Tail on board) are fairly quick to turn it up to 11! The dreamy drift is still there, but also lots of clattery drum-pound and guitar grind, taken to its most loud n' distorted degree on the final, 14:48 monster jam "SUSANO'O". Elsewhere Suishou carve canyons of feedback through the mists of opener "The Memory Of Ancient Times" (also 14+ minutes), plod ritualistically into sweet oblivion on "Endless Descent" (11 minutes), and throw a lo-fi thrashing psych tantrum on "UZUME" (3 minutes). Definitely a SNF disc for those hankering to hear 'em heavy it up and freak out a bit more than usual. WAY limited. We only have a very small handful and they're the last copies ever...
MPEG Stream: "Endless Descent"
MPEG Stream: "UZUME"

SUISHOU NO FUNE s/t (Japanoise) cd 21.00
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Housed in a nice pink cover-sleeve, this album's floating guitar psych is the work of another relatively new Japanese underground psych outfit that we first got turned on to via the PSF label's recent, excellent Tokyo Flashback 5 compilation! In our review of that comp, we described them/their track thusly: "bleak folk duo, very lovely, eventually overcome by space-out distortion". And that same assessment applies likewise to this self-titled debut disc of theirs, except that here they're a trio, with the core pairing of Pirako and Kageo (both guitar/vocals) joined by drummer Tail. 69 minutes, five tracks, delicate, dreamy and drifting. With gentle vocals and electric guitars mostly engaged in ethereal exploration (but capable, at times, of generating speaker-rattling stormclouds, when the trio get into their more slow-burning Rallizes-ish moments) this should be right up the alley of any of you into such bands as Nagisa Ni Te, Doodles, Shizuka, Overhang Party, and Up-Tight.
MPEG Stream: "Cherry"
MPEG Stream: "The Blue Bird, Betrayal And Freedom"

SUISHOU NO FUNE The Light Of Dark Night (aRCHIVE) cd 13.98
As always with our reviews of aRCHIVE releases, there's two things we can say about this, right off the top: the packaging is swank (in this case, the cd is affixed inside a glossy trifold card, itself enclosed in a translucent vellum wrapper). And it's hella limited (600 copies). So act fast if you want to score one of these documents of late-night, slow-burn psych from the duo of Tokyo's Pirako and Kageo. Recorded live in Philadelphia, PA on the 19th of March, 2007, The Light Of Dark Night consists of one 42 minute long track, featuring renditions of three songs flowing together: "Till We Meet Again (You Returned Home To The Heavens)", "A Rose Bloomed", and "You Look At The Night Sea". It begins with their guitars gently droning out of an ambient gloom, bleak yet beckoning... as their music meanders moodily forth, there's stretches of quiet, crystalline beauty, graced with soothing melody and yearning vocals... at other moments the proceedings are also graced with heavy duty distorto crunch, guitars amped up into sheer sheets of flashback fuzz! With no drums this night, it's more about the drone and the drift... definitely a disc that folks into the aura of Boris' Feedbacker might melt for.
MPEG Stream: "excerpt 1"
MPEG Stream: "excerpt 2"

SUISHOU NO FUNE The Shining Star - Live (Important) cd 14.98
Another excursion into the bleak, be-shadowed world of Tokyo psych-folk trio Suishou No Fune. Four long, shoegazing songs recorded live at several shows/venues. All share certain elements...
Aching, drifting guitar lines quietly howl of beauty and despair, melodies gracefully soaring and then expiring tenderly alongside the echoes of weary vocals and lethargic percussive clatter. This disc is definitely a slow-burn, late-night affair, all-embracing in its epic downer aesthetic.
While Suishou No Fune never sound like they're going to break a sweat (nodding off is more like it), they do channel an additional level of emotional energy into the pentultimate track 3, "A Rain", wherein the drum crashes and vocal cries and guitar wailings all crank it up a notch, more volume and chaos and sheer beauty. But that's the mere precursor to the wall-of-noise presence of the last and longest (21:50) track here, "The Storm Of Light / The Cherry", a grand fuzz finale of amped-up distorto drone... still gorgeously bleak and blissful!
MPEG Stream: "You Look At The Night Sea"
MPEG Stream: "The Storm Of Light / The Cherry"

SUISHOU NO FUNE Where The Spirits Are (Holy Mountain) cd 13.98
A while back we had this band's self-titled debut (remember the nice pink cover?). Unfortunately we can't seem to get that one anymore, but we do now have this, Suishou No Fune's latest, Where The Spirits Are, released on the Holy Mountain label (home to Six Organs Of Admittance, Davis Redford Triad, Om, Mammatus, etc.). If you've heard that previous album of theirs you'll have an idea what this is about... Or also if you just peep the cover photo: two Japanese guys and one girl, all in shades and Keiji Haino haircuts. Yes you're guessed it, Tokyo Flashback style downer drone psych. Quietly drifting, distorted, dark sheets of guitar accompanied by abyssal cries, not altogether unmelodic however. They can rev it up cacophonously when they want, but for the most part they hold back the heaviness in order to generate a more gentle sort of atmospheric gloom, on such appropriately named tracks as "Apparition On A Moonless Night" and "Black Phantom". Again, murky majesty for fans of Up-Tight, LSD-march, Shizuka, and the like.
MPEG Stream: "Vale Of Spirits"
MPEG Stream: "A Rose Bloomed"

SUISHOU NO FUNE Writhing Underground Flowers (Lotus) cd 16.98
3rd album of super bleak, slo-mo deep drone psych from these Tokyo Flashback vets, the follow up to their 2006 Holy Mountain release Where The Spirits Are. There's three loooong tracks here in the gently morose mode you'd expect, with distorted whale-call guitars and hollow, lonely vocals... what you might not expect is the distressed psychedelic harmonica soloing that now features prominently (on track two)! Who knew the wheeze of the harmonica could be so fitting with such mysterious and murky surroundings? The gasping, dying breaths of monomaniacal melody it brings to the proceedings are usually appropriate however.
And we've gotta say, that's a great title ain't it? Writhing Underground Flowers. Like you've wandered into some gloomy cave full of bleached-white fungal growth, trembling in a subterranean breeze, a living mockery of true sunlit floral splendor... beautiful yet terrible too.
MPEG Stream: "track 2"
MPEG Stream: "track 3"

SUKAESIH, ELVY The Dangdut Queen (Rice Records) cd 15.98
One of the best singers from Indonesia, Elvy Sukasih has one of those timeless voices that just effortlessly sweeps you off your feet. It's a combination of seductive flare sure sounding confidence that only the greatest of the great divas possess. Coming of age at the time that Dangut music was starting to bloom, she became one of its pioneers. Mixing Arabic, Indian, and some electric instruments into a high fevered eclectic sound that would become all the rage in Indonesia. While many would follow in her footsteps she actually was doing what would be later called Dangut before there was even such a thing. Recording since her teenage years in the early 60's all the way to today, she belongs in that special class of singers like Ofra Haza and Asha Bosle (Dangut music shares a similar sound and feel to lots of Bollywood music) who have managed to make music that respects their culture while at the same time transcends geography and has the capacity to enter all kinds of hearts.
MPEG Stream: "Penyanyi Sexy"
MPEG Stream: "Kareta Malam"

SULTANS Ghost Ship (Swami/Sympathy for the Record Industry) cd 12.98
Led by John Reis, of so many San Diego bands (namely, Rocket From The Crypt, Drive Like Jehu, and more recently Back Off Cupids and Hot Snakes). Very rawk. For punks who find his other bands too arty! This is incredibly raw and fresh, completely unpretentious gasguzzling powermad rock'n'roll. And you have to admire their balls in making an album that cost absolutely nothing to record: used tape, used DAT, busted 8-track cut down to a 6-track. Really.

SUMAC, YMA The Ultimate Yma Sumac Collection (Capitol) cd 15.98
21 tracks of vintage Yma Sumac exotica, and we do mean exotica: monkeys, volcanos, and pagan rituals all figure into these songs, taken from classic albums like "Voice Of The Xtabay" and "Legend Of The Sun Virgin". This is a good starting place for anyone who has yet to explore the Technicolor work of this "Peruvian" singer and her lounge-y '50s sounds. Her four and a half octave voice will wow you, the liner notes are informative, and you get the "hits" here plus some unreleased tracks ("Inca Waltz" for one) as well.

SUMMER HYMNS A Celebratory Arm Gesture (Misra) cd 13.98
With the sunlit psych melodies of, say, the Olivia Tremor Control, and the hushed sweetly plaintive vocal delivery of Flaming Lips, Fuck, For Stars, or Grandaddy, plus a much smaller, more intimate right-there-in-front-of-you sound, Summer Hymns have made a pretty album. It's not the best of the current crop of bright eyed young Elephant 6 popsters, but it's pretty good nonetheless.
RealAudio clip: "Something's Going On"

SUMMER HYMNS Clemency (Misra) cd 14.98
As with their two previous full lengths, Athens' Summer Hymns have made a nice album that's certainly pleasant enough but not particularly memorable. Head songsmith Zach Gresham and drummer Philip Brown have taken their pretty psych pop sound, complete with Flaming Lips-y / Grandaddy-ish plaintive vocals, and with the addition of two new members named Matt (Dawson and Stoessel) have fleshed out their sound with a whole lot of mournful, twangin' pedal steel, as well as some banjo, mandolin and dobro. Been listening to a lot of Gram Parsons, I'll bet. The result is mellow and pretty but, well, nothing special. I'd recommend any Court and Spark record over this one.
MPEG Stream: "This Hip Hop"
MPEG Stream: "Be Anywhere"

SUMMER HYMNS Voice Brother and Sister (Misra) cd 14.98
Although the moniker "Elephant 6" does not appear anywhere on this disc, it might as well. Summer Hymns is from Athens, Georgia, like the Olivia Tremor Control and Neutral Milk Hotel before them, and they're sporting the same ole pretty pop-psychedelic melodies and drawings and lyrics and what have you. It's unfortunate that they add nothing that's original to the mix, but fans of Elephant 6 stuff will still find much to like.

SUN I'll Be The Same (Staubgold) cd 15.98
The sun is warm, the sun lights the way, the sun brings life... what's in a name? Well, it's certainly no misnomer for this group. It'll Be The Same is the second album from Sun, not to be confused with SUNNO))), although these guys are also a duo (Oren Ambarchi and Chris Townsend) and half of 'em (Mr. Ambarchi) have collaborated with SUNNO))) in the past. This Sun isn't from Southern Lord, but from the southern hemisphere (Australia), and play purely pop music, slow and soft and hushed but nothing doomy or blackened at all... some gentle droniness certainly does creep in, experimental glitch techniques n' textures that are of course what we might expect from Oren Ambarchi, who after all is known for solo albums along those lines (in fact, there's a great new one by him, actually on Southern Lord, reviewed on this list too). There are layers of static and field recordings (Townsend's children's voices, perhaps?) that along with Oren and Chris's own voices and guitar strums are formed into six moodily relaxed, truly sun-dappled, electro-acoustic folky-pop songs... a calm, cryptically detailed setting for lovely, wistful vocals that remind us of the Skygreen Leopards' Glenn Donaldson and Richard Youngs.
We loved Sun's first self-titled album (and extra disc of experimental remixes) back in 2003, and are happy to finally hear this excellent follow-up!
MPEG Stream: "Mosquito"
MPEG Stream: "Help Yerself"