STARS AS EYES Important Youth Movement / People Kill People (Tigerbeat6) 7" 4.98
A couple of very brief encounters with the electronic duo known as Stars As Eyes (aka Steve Ferrari and Craig Four). One is oh so dreamy and pretty, the other a little more dissonant and unsettling. If you liked their album Freedom Rock this certainly will not let you down. Very lush and atmospheric, it leaves you wishing it was a 12" instead of a 7".

STARS AS EYES Loud New Shit (Tigerbeat6) cd 10.98
Stars As Eyes traverse through such varied musical terrain on their new cd that it almost sounds like a compilation of a bunch of different bands. Well, it actually is! Perhaps they've been drawing inspiration from their vast array of Tigerbeat6 labelmates (psst, check out the label's recent bargain-priced compilation Open Up And Say...@<%_|^[!] for a thorough sampling of their roster)? Actually this is more of a remix collection than an album proper. Of the dozen tracks, one third are new, and over half are remixes... which probably factors in greatly to the diversity of the track selection. It all starts familiarly Stars As Eyes-y. That is, chiming, airy electronic dreaminess (track 1 "Some Life"), then things darken and churn somewhat into something akin to 'industrial-lite' (track 2 "Rotten"). But wait! Let's not get all gloomy! Party down with some disco punk a la The Rapture, Outhud (track 5 "Falling Picture - Shy Child Remix"), and lighten back up with more soothing melancholic-tronica (track 9 "Our Light - Casino Versus Japan Remix"), then brood, brood, brood into some very moody Brit rock-ish songs (track 10 and 11 "La Methode Francaise - Dwayne Sodahberk Remix" and "Resistance Days - Mum Nostalgia"). Delightfully eclectic or puzzlingly wishy-washy, you decide.
MPEG Stream: "Falling Picture - Shy Child Remix"
MPEG Stream: "La Methode Francaise - Dwayne Sodahberk Remix"

STARS LIKE FLEAS Sun Lights Down On The Fence (Praemedia) cd 11.98
One of the three new and not so new titles just in from the electronic music label Praemedia (Tim Perkis' Motive album and the Praeface compilation are the other two)! Stars Like Fleas bring many different influences and styles to their musical palette -- fusing together elements of jazz, experimental soundscapes, chamber music and earthy folk. Vocals are less about conveying recognizable words and lyrics, instead they're layer upon layer of hushed yet emotive, seemingly sub-conscious murmurings and incoherent yearnings. Sort of like what you'd imagine the shy brother of TV On The Radio (or as someone here suggested, Gastr Del Sol meets the Grateful Dead with Michael Stipe singing!). These vocals ebb and flow atop gentle rhythms and glistening electronic and acoustic instrumental embers. On other tracks, S.L.F. bring in NYC art-jazz style horns and cyclical note patterns which also bring to mind moments of Laurie Anderson (track 4 "On A Generous Day"). The perfect soundtrack to kicking back and watching the afternoon passage of "sun lights down on the fence".
MPEG Stream: "Isabel Of Lilac"
MPEG Stream: "On A Generous Day"

STARS OF THE LID And Their Refinement Of The Decline (Kranky) 2cd 16.98
We've been huge fans of the Stars Of The Lid ever since their first record, Music For Nitrous Oxide, way back in 1995. And their last record, Tired Sounds Of... is a beloved favorite and all time AQ best seller. It's been fascinating to observe their sonic development, from murky guitar based 4-track bedroom guitar drones, all foggy and fuggy and murky and dreamlike, to their current sound, a more modern, almost classical sound, of rich reverberant swells, and lots and lots of space.
The Stars' sound has obviously become much more clear and well defined, polished even, but everything we loved about Nitrous Oxide is still present, albeit in slightly altered form. The Stars' were always about swells, ebb and flow, melodies and compositions played out over expansive stretches of oceanic shimmer, and that at least hasn't changed on And Their Refinement Of The Decline. Notes aren't just played, they begin as tiny sparkles, little distant glimmers, and gradually grow into thick rich whirs, or massive rumbles, before just as quickly fading away again. Oceanic is definitely an apt descriptor, as the music here, as on the more recent records, does have that feel, like some epic dimly lit sonic sea swirling and churning, sometime tranquil and barely moving, other times heaving and tumultuous. It's the sound of a new dawn, an impending storm, or the birth of a galaxy, it's so completely epic while at the same time managing somehow to be pastoral and contemplative and breathtakingly beautiful.
In the early days it was just 2 guitars and a four track, and the sound reflected that, much more gritty and fuzzy, the mood a lot darker, evoking the desert, the starry sky, a druggy dreamy innerspace of muted minimal shimmer. As the band grew, and added instruments, more players, recorded in real studios, the sound changed dramatically, and suddenly, instead of some indie bedroom project, the Stars were crafting pieces that could stand alongside any modern classical piece, while remaining dreamy and drone-y enough to tickle the ears of indie dronesters worldwide. Which is probably the most fascinating part of the Stars' sound. They were making music equally as expansive and epic and gorgeous 10 years ago, but those sounds were limited by the technology, by the band's meager recording set up. And only now it seems that the band is able to fully realize the sound they have been hearing, and essentially creating, all along.
There are guitars here and there, it is after all still the root of their sound, but they seem to be overshadowed by the other instruments (although it is often difficult to pinpoint the instrument creating many of the sounds), heavy on the strings, three violincelles and a harp, as well as a surprising arsenal of horns, two trumpets, flugelhorn and clarinet, AND a children's choir!! But it's not just the players or the instruments, but how they interact and the music they create, and here the results are divine. Many of the tracks do sound like bits of modern classical stretched out into languorous stretches of muted drone and subtle shimmer, like watching the planets from outer space, observing the epic drifts of solar systems and an infinity of cosmic interactions, but others definitely reference more earthly sonic treasures, "Apreludes (In C Sharp Major)" has some serious Morricone going on, and "Don't Bother They're Here" references Scott Tuma's washed out guitar work in Souled American. But whatever subtle flavor is introduced into each track, the sound is definitely and distinctly Stars Of The Lid. Their shift to double disc releases also seems to suit them, allowing their slow burning soft swell compositions plenty of time to sprawl and spread and evolve into epic and soul stirring soundscapes. But even two discs is not nearly enough as far as we're concerned, so everyone buy this one, so next time, these guys can release a four disc set, or a ten disc set or a twenty disc set...
MPEG Stream: "Dungtitled (In A Minor)"
MPEG Stream: "Articulate Silences Part 1"
MPEG Stream: "Dopamine Clouds Over Craven Cottages"

STARS OF THE LID And Their Refinement Of The Decline (Kranky) 3lp 26.00
Finally available on vinyl!
We've been huge fans of the Stars Of The Lid ever since their first record, Music For Nitrous Oxide, way back in 1995. And their last record, Tired Sounds Of... is a beloved favorite and all time AQ best seller. It's been fascinating to observe their sonic development, from murky guitar based 4-track bedroom guitar drones, all foggy and fuggy and murky and dreamlike, to their current sound, a more modern, almost classical sound, of rich reverberant swells, and lots and lots of space.
The Stars' sound has obviously become much more clear and well defined, polished even, but everything we loved about Nitrous Oxide is still present, albeit in slightly altered form. The Stars' were always about swells, ebb and flow, melodies and compositions played out over expansive stretches of oceanic shimmer, and that at least hasn't changed on And Their Refinement Of The Decline. Notes aren't just played, they begin as tiny sparkles, little distant glimmers, and gradually grow into thick rich whirs, or massive rumbles, before just as quickly fading away again. Oceanic is definitely an apt descriptor, as the music here, as on the more recent records, does have that feel, like some epic dimly lit sonic sea swirling and churning, sometime tranquil and barely moving, other times heaving and tumultuous. It's the sound of a new dawn, an impending storm, or the birth of a galaxy, it's so completely epic while at the same time managing somehow to be pastoral and contemplative and breathtakingly beautiful.
In the early days it was just 2 guitars and a four track, and the sound reflected that, much more gritty and fuzzy, the mood a lot darker, evoking the desert, the starry sky, a druggy dreamy innerspace of muted minimal shimmer. As the band grew, and added instruments, more players, recorded in real studios, the sound changed dramatically, and suddenly, instead of some indie bedroom project, the Stars were crafting pieces that could stand alongside any modern classical piece, while remaining dreamy and drone-y enough to tickle the ears of indie dronesters worldwide. Which is probably the most fascinating part of the Stars' sound. They were making music equally as expansive and epic and gorgeous 10 years ago, but those sounds were limited by the technology, by the band's meager recording set up. And only now it seems that the band is able to fully realize the sound they have been hearing, and essentially creating, all along.
There are guitars here and there, it is after all still the root of their sound, but they seem to be overshadowed by the other instruments (although it is often difficult to pinpoint the instrument creating many of the sounds), heavy on the strings, three violincelles and a harp, as well as a surprising arsenal of horns, two trumpets, flugelhorn and clarinet, AND a children's choir!! But it's not just the players or the instruments, but how they interact and the music they create, and here the results are divine. Many of the tracks do sound like bits of modern classical stretched out into languorous stretches of muted drone and subtle shimmer, like watching the planets from outer space, observing the epic drifts of solar systems and an infinity of cosmic interactions, but others definitely reference more earthly sonic treasures, "Apreludes (In C Sharp Major)" has some serious Morricone going on, and "Don't Bother They're Here" references Scott Tuma's washed out guitar work in Souled American. But whatever subtle flavor is introduced into each track, the sound is definitely and distinctly Stars Of The Lid. Their shift to double disc releases also seems to suit them, allowing their slow burning soft swell compositions plenty of time to sprawl and spread and evolve into epic and soul stirring soundscapes. But even three lps is not nearly enough as far as we're concerned, so everyone buy this one, so next time, these guys can release a four lp set, or a ten lp set or a twenty lp set...
MPEG Stream: "Dungtitled (In A Minor)"
MPEG Stream: "Articulate Silences Part 1"
MPEG Stream: "Dopamine Clouds Over Craven Cottages"

STARS OF THE LID Avec Laudenum (Sub Rosa) cd 14.98
Ssshhhh...you might miss this one, if you're not quiet. Formerly on the Kranky label, these Texan drone rockers manifest more of their trademarked shimmering ambience from guitars and four track experiments. Exactly the sort of music we wanna listen to at the end of a hectic day.

STARS OF THE LID Music For Nitrous Oxide (Sedimental) cd 14.98
Before there were a million 'drone' records, before every other person had their own cd-r drone music label, before anyone with a computer and a cd burner had their own 'drone project', and well before all it took was holding down a few keys on a keyboard or leaning a guitar against an amplifier to become an underground sensation, there was Stars Of The Lid. Armed with little more than a couple guitars, some effects and a four track, the duo of Brian McBride and Adam Wiltzie were capable of crafting incredibly lush and expansive dronescapes unlike anything we'd ever heard. Quietly channeling the druggy drift of Spacemen 3, the blissful ambience of Brian Eno and the processed guitar based landscapes of post-Loop project Main, the duo conjured up long sprawling expanses of near static guitar drift, crumbling distortion and shimmering feedback sculpted into billowing stretches of soft swirling sound. Sites set high, even their early works aspired to the modern minimalism they would eventually master, but well before the group enlisted extra players and string sections and incorporated flutes and pianos and began crafting multi movement minimal epics, equal parts Arvo Part and Morton Feldman, the band's sound was much more raw and immediate, much more lo-fi, but somehow managing to sound lush at the same time, music so perfectly crafted it seemed to transcend its source. A gorgeous, living organic world of sound, evocative and cinematic, dark and brooding, soft and utterly beautiful.
Originally released way back in 1995, Music For Nitrous Oxide was the very first Stars Of The Lid release, and it's sound can be summed up by one of the song titles: "Tape Hiss Makes Me Happy". Apparently, so did strange samples, bizarre snippets of dialogue, and most importantly, thick smears of distorted guitar. Total bedroom ambient bliss, but light on the 'ambient', the music on Nitrous Oxide is anything but ambient, it moves and flows and buzzes and howls, the sound is not smooth, it's raw and rough, distorted and warped, the production low on fidelity, but heavy on hazy, gauzy, washed out shimmer. This is almost like the sound of old SUNNO))) records, with all the distortion removed. Slow motion riffage, unfurling lazily into thick tendrils of dark melody, textures and timbres stretched and smeared and smoothed and blurred, tape hiss everywhere, but instead of an impediment, the hiss is alive, swirling and undulating, another layer of warm whir, giving the sounds more texture and more grit. There is percussion, but it sounds like someone tapping on the body of the guitar, then slathering it in reverb and delay. The sounds of trains and cars driving by surface here and there, as do bursts of radio and short wave interference, but the core of all these pieces is delicately and perfectly arranged bits of guitar, whether they be looped streaks of whispery high end, or deep rumbling slabs of crumbling low end, the guitars are looped and repeated and all tangled up with other complimentary loops, allowed to spread out, to expand, to fill up the speakers and overflow, or to trickle out like a summer stream.
The sound shifts from hushed whisper to thick dense almost chaotic swirl, often in the same song. Deep bell like tones drift in wide open expanses of dreamily dramatic soft focus buzz, thick, super distorted guitar buzz is wound around a simple barely there drum beat, cymbals sizzle in a thick roiling black sea of disembodied and fragmented riffage, while elsewhere rubbery low end warbles beneath strange creaks and scrapes, swallowed whole by the occasional wash of blurred distorted buzz, and finally the sound of rainfall surrounds deep lush rumbling chords as they create an almost choral drone for perhaps one of the most moving pieces of drone music ever, certainly an impossibly perfect way to end the record.
Captivating, mesmerizing, one minute soft and shimmery, the next dense and heavy, but always perfect, always personal and intimate, always mysterious and utterly magical. The name Stars Of The Lid comes from the strange images you see when you close your eyes, electrical impulses, mysterious shapes and textures, and never has a name so perfectly reflected the sound of the band so named, and rarely, has band so perfectly represented something so ineffable in sound. Practically perfect. And absolutely essential.
MPEG Stream: "Adamord"
MPEG Stream: "Tape Hiss Makes Me Happy"
MPEG Stream: "Goodnight"

STARS OF THE LID Tired Sounds Of Stars Of The Lid (Kranky) 2cd 16.98
Epic double cd masterpiece from Austin, Texas' kings of the lullaby drone. Stars of the Lid's sound, while similar to past efforts, has undergone some pretty dramatic changes. Their multi-layered 4-tracked guitars are still present in all their serene beauty and dark tranquility, but the sound is more lush and more detailed, with treated strings, organs, backwards tubular bells and field recordings adding even more depth to this already layered and impossible-to-grasp-in-one-listen recording. 'Tired Sounds...' is easily the Stars' most obviously melodic record, thanks in no small part to the addition of strings, horns and piano. Dreamy nocturnal slow motion drones are the glorious backdrop to the ebb and flow of dark sonic swells and soaring strings. While lots of 'drone' music sounds sinister and threatening, and often clinical and cold, the Stars manage to imbue their minimal soundscapes with warmth and humanity, and a sort of hope and joy. When the mood does change, it's more melancholic, lost, maybe lonely, never evil. Really human, organic emotions brilliantly conveyed through sound. So much avant / experimental music is technical and electronic, but the shimmering ambience of the guitars and the grit and grime of the recording, as well as the perfect arrangements make this music transcend its contemporaries, filling your ears with thick slow sound, until it slowly spreads through your whole body. Think Angus Maclise, Terry Riley, Brian Eno, Low, Alan Lamb's wire recordings, Pauline Oliveros' deep listening recordings, a more pastoral Skullflower, a more idyllic Total, John Cale, Godspeed You Black Emperor, the harmonium works of Hermann Nitsch, or Tony Conrad. But mix in those magic (non-academic) ingredients (rock background, songs, melodies) and you have probably one of the most beautiful recordings we have ever heard.
RealAudio clip: "Requiem For Dying Mothers part 1"
RealAudio clip: "Broken Harbors part 1"
RealAudio clip: "Austin Texas Mental Hospital part 1"

STARS OF THE LID Tired Sounds Of Stars Of The Lid (Kranky) 3lp 26.00
Epic double cd masterpiece from Austin, Texas' kings of the lullaby drone. Stars of the Lid's sound, while similar to past efforts, has undergone some pretty dramatic changes. Their multi-layered 4-tracked guitars are still present in all their serene beauty and dark tranquility, but the sound is more lush and more detailed, with treated strings, organs, backwards tubular bells and field recordings adding even more depth to this already layered and impossible-to-grasp-in-one-listen recording. 'Tired Sounds...' is easily the Stars' most obviously melodic record, thanks in no small part to the addition of strings, horns and piano. Dreamy nocturnal slow motion drones are the glorious backdrop to the ebb and flow of dark sonic swells and soaring strings. While lots of 'drone' music sounds sinister and threatening, and often clinical and cold, the Stars manage to imbue their minimal soundscapes with warmth and humanity, and a sort of hope and joy. When the mood does change, it's more melancholic, lost, maybe lonely, never evil. Really human, organic emotions brilliantly conveyed through sound. So much avant / experimental music is technical and electronic, but the shimmering ambience of the guitars and the grit and grime of the recording, as well as the perfect arrangements make this music transcend its contemporaries, filling your ears with thick slow sound, until it slowly spreads through your whole body. Think Angus Maclise, Terry Riley, Brian Eno, Low, Alan Lamb's wire recordings, Pauline Oliveros' deep listening recordings, a more pastoral Skullflower, a more idyllic Total, John Cale, Godspeed You Black Emperor, the harmonium works of Hermann Nitsch, or Tony Conrad. But mix in those magic (non-academic) ingredients (rock background, songs, melodies) and you have probably one of the most beautiful recordings we have ever heard.

STARS, THE Perfect Place To Hideaway (Pedal Records) cd 19.98
Perfect Place To Hideaway is the second full-length album from way-cool Japanese psych scene vets The Stars, a band featuring former members of Tokyo flashbackers White Heaven. Guitarist Michio Kurihara (also of Ghost) is perhaps the best known -- you may recall we recently reviewed his fine solo album Sunset Notes, another Pedal Records release. This ain't White Heaven mark II though, as their inspiration stems not so much anymore from west coast '60s psych like The Doors and Quicksilver Messenger Service but just as much from downtown NYC in the '70s -- Television, No Wave, and maybe even avant-disco dance music... But don't worry, The Stars first and foremost are a guitar band. And guitars can be dangerous things. Much of the time, The Stars are happy just demonstrating the truth of that statement. But there's shiny pop moments here that let singer You Ishihara act the crooning rock star, and some simple blissful ones too. These varied six tracks include the moody groove of the 11-minute "Subway (aka Night Walker)", the crashing, apocalyptic, distorto stomp of "Ice Blues" (THE track for those who want to hear Kurihara wail White Heaven style), the angular repetition of "Double Sider", the too-funky "Lemonade", the placid instrumental "Electron Spin Carnnival", and gentle coda "The World I Left Behind".
MPEG Stream: "Ice Blues"
MPEG Stream: "Double Sider"

STARS, THE Today (PSF) cd 16.98
This has got the great guitar sound/playing of ex-White Heaven, current Ghost acid rock six-stringer Michio Kurihara. Other folks from that semi-legendary '90s Tokyo psych flashback unit are present, including leader/singer You Ishihara. The Stars debut ep features three tracks, 25 minutes of garage-psych-pop, worth it for fans of Kurihara but not probably not for the otherwise uninitiated.

STARS, THE Will (Pedal) cd 19.98
1st full length from this Tokyo new wave psych act, featuring former members of White Heaven.

STARSAILOR Love Is Here (Capitol / Hollywood) cd 10.98
We've had a minor flurry of requests for this UK quartet, who follow very much in the path and style of Coldplay or a less experimental Radiohead, and enjoy just as much hype from the British media. "Best new band"? I'm not so sure of that. Clearly the fuss over Coldplay was well deserved as they rose to the challenge of escaping the "flavor of the month" tag - creating some beautiful, complex, resonant music (check out their shimmering song "Trouble" for instance), but I don't think Starsailor are quite there yet. Nevertheless if you're looking for a bit more along those lines - lushly lulling and melancholic - you just might wanna check them out too...
RealAudio clip: "Fever"
RealAudio clip: "Lullaby"

STARSHIP BEER Nut Music: As Free as the Squirrels (Atavistic / Unheard Music Series) cd 14.98
Reissue of this long out-of-print LP, originally released on Land Mammal in 1979. Formed in the early '70's in upstate New York, Starship Beer obviously share a love for Captain Beefheart and free jazz, the group is augmented by the talents of Pat O'Brian and Kevin Whitehead. Although the music itself presents a lot of enthusiasm and spirit, the results seem less successful than the future work of Thinking Fellers or Sun City Girls. Remastered from the original master tapes with several previously unreleased bonus cuts and detailed liner notes.

STARVING WEIRDOS Absolute Freedom (Abandon Ship) 7" 8.98
Got a few more of these back in...
A brand new record from the Starving Weirdos, two old old tracks, resurrected and pressed onto what we're pretty sure is the SW's very first 7". The group's sound changes so much, that these two archival tracks, while entirely different from anything we've heard from them, still sound very much at home in their constantly shifting body of work. And unlike the more recent material, is much more lo-fi and looped, giving the sound a very rough, lo-fi, sort of Jeck / Tim Hecker vibe, which obviously we love!
The A side begins with a murky processed pulse, with propulsive krautrock drumming but before it gets more than 10 seconds in, there's a strange backwards swoop, and the track seems to skip back to the beginning, which takes up almost the whole side, a gorgeously fragmented tribal drone krauty loop, until right near the end, when the track shifts, the guitar builds to a chaotic squall, the drums blown out, the cymbals sizzling distortedly, a serious freaked out psych jam, with strange spoken word vocals, bits of feedback, and tons of distorted murk.
The flipside is also loop based (or sounds like it), a militaristic snare, rat-a-tat-tat's out an insistent beat, over which a cool shimmery loop, cycles over and over, while in the background deep rumbles pulse and swell, until the drums drop out and the track finishes off with some moody washed out Jeckian ambience.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES! Pro printed black and white covers, with printed inserts.

STARVING WEIRDOS Blue Herons (Olde English Spelling Bee) lp 23.00
Brand new vinyl only full length from these Humbolt county noise makers, totally deluxe and ultra limited, the record comes in an elaborate hand silk screened jacket, hand numbered, LIMITED TO ONLY 470 COPIES, with a heavy cardstock sleeve affixed to the inside, and with a decidedly different sound.
In the past the Weirdos, once a duo, now a trio, had dabbled in all sorts of abstract soundscaping, usually ending up droning and shimmering and creating dark expanses of murk and murmur. The A side of Blue Herons finds the band kicking out a clattery noise jam, very industrial, with tons of clatter and creak, metal on metal, squeaking and groaning, as if they were performing inside some huge antiquated steam powered machine. The trio offer up stretches of grinding whir, streaks of feedback, bleating horns, lending a bit of a twisted free jazz feel to the proceedings, the whole thing unfurling like some nightmarish industrial-noir soundtrack.
The flipside is something else entirely, a soft cacophony of metallic clang and clatter, like the recording of a giant spindly robot, stumbling through a jungle made entirely of metal. There's the clinking of glass mixed in as well, and bits of woodwind, the robotic forest mashing gives way to something much more tranquil and dreamy, some Eastern ritual, lots of space, tones ringing out, melodic fragments drifting across wide open expanses, darkly delicate and subtly haunting.
As always, really nice sounds from the Starving Weirdos camp, and some kick ass packaging to match. And once again, LIMITED TO 470 COPIES!!!

STARVING WEIRDOS Eastern Light (Root Strata) 2cd-r 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
BACK IN STOCK!! LAST COPIES EVER!!!
Who would have though that a little cd-r from some unknown group called the Starving Weirdos would have caused such a ruckus? But stir up a ruckus it did! We have been selling that first disc like hotcakes, and why the heck not, a glorious noisy blast of free rock avant drone, No Neck by way of the Dead C by way of the Yellow Swans by way of Avarus by way of Sunroof! by way of Birchville Cat Motel. Or something like that. For more on how we discovered the Starving Weirdos, or more precisely how they discovered us, check out the review of their debut cd elsewhere on the site. So now we have this here brand new double cd-r and it's as good as if not better than the first (it features one track that was on the first record, but everything else is new and previously unreleased). The duo of Brian Pyle and Merrick McKinlay is truly adept at crafting ramshackle conglomerations of clattery percussion, weird warbling guitars, abstract ambient soundscapes, moaning horns, shuffling almost-rhythms, wide open expanses of random sounds, soothing and mesmerizing, a gloriously shimmery clatter and shuffle, rattle and wheeze. Five lengthy tracks spread out over two discs. Fans of ANY of the above mentioned bands will be in drone rock free folk bliss out heaven!
Released on the Root Strata label (run by Tarentel's Jef Cantu) each double disc is packaged in a hand painted gatefold cd sleeve, quite beautiful!
MPEG Stream: "Sea-Foam At Midnight"
MPEG Stream: "Quiet Shit"

STARVING WEIRDOS Father Guru (Azul Discografica) cd 12.98
Seems like only yesterday, that the Starving Weirdos were just that, a couple of weirdos from Humboldt who would send us huge boxes of cd-r's. all hand decorated, and home recorded. Record after record of amazing disembodied ambience and dreamy abstract noise.
Well, it seems the rest of the world is finally catching on, so these guys are no longer our little secret. But that's the way it's meant to work. This stuff is to amazing to only be heard by a handful of folks lucky enough to get their hands on some criminally limited cd-r.
So as far as we can tell, this is the Weirdos' first proper cd (non cd-r) release, and it's a doozy! Managing to capture everything we like so much about the band in the first place, while at the same time striking out in some decidedly new sonic directions. The opening track is the perfect example, all glistening high end, chimes, and tinkles, swirling ripples of upper register shimmer. Like wandering through some vast landscape made up entirely of old music boxes and strange pieces of metal hanging from the sky. Breezes nudge the various metals into each other, causing soft reverberant twinkles of sound to drift skyward. Melodies are spread out into long glistening strands, everything bathed in some sort of sun dappled reverb, thick delay, like waking up in some glorious meadow, trying to look around but your eyes are still bleary and filled with sleep. Dreamy! The second track is like a slowed down, downtuned, stretched out version of the first. Strings scrape and shimmer, warm melodies blurred into smears of melancholy sound, like listening to a string quartet through ears filled with funhouse mirrors, sounds overlap and become entangled, steel strings buzz, a simple melody surfaces, only to be swallowed whole by a slow moving swirl, the whole thing looped and extremely dreamlike and hypnotic. Think a more expansive and epic Basinski and you might be getting close.
The final track revisits the Weirdoes' earlier sound, a blissed out take on the Dead C's free noise rock, rendered much more abstract and lovely, but still ominous, creaking and clattering, billows of cymbal shimmer and percussive rumble form a thick bed over which all manner of plucked strings and disembodied melodies drift. Like sitting on the dock of a bay made up of black sound, filled with all manner of sound making buoys, that just float, and moan, and creak, their bells muted by thick fog, a subtle murky cacophony that becomes a gorgeous dronelike drift. Awesome! Quite possibly our favorite group in this new breed of quiet noisemakers. So recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Cypress Groves"
MPEG Stream: "Trancin'"

STARVING WEIRDOS Harry Smith (Root Strata) 12" 9.98
Latest in the slow flow of dreamy sounds from this Humboldt County duo, who not counting their 20 or so unreleased full lengths, have gradually built up an amazing body of work, most unfortunately super limited, this new lp no exception.
Released on Tarentel's Root Strata label, Harry Smith is a single side long track, a slow burning cinematic wonder, a huge buzzing field of charged particles, run through old beat up guitars and a table full of FX pedals and broken toy instruments, alchemically changed from lead into a gold.
A sitar-like buzz, submerged in reverb and wrapped in dense overtones, spreads out like a melting glacier, constantly shifting and changing shape, above that drift huge washes of metallic shimmer, effulgent yet muted and murky, a subdued sonic glare, warm and wistful. These dreamlike expanses are punctuated by ghostlike pulses, bells or chimes smeared into indistinct tones, let loose and allowed to fade into the subtly churning sonic backdrop. Very dark and dramatic. And oh so lovely.
This is a one sided lp. The flip side has black and white artwork pasted right on the vinyl, housed in a clear plastic sleeve. And of course super limited...
ONLY 300 COPIES PRESSED!!!

STARVING WEIRDOS Into An Energy (Bo'Weavil) cd 17.98
The Weirdos are back with a brand new release, this time on London's Bo Weavil, and these Arcata mystics are hungrier then ever. Into An Energy is a slow brooding coastal spell of swirling, cascading drones laced with primal percussion and their signature junkyard ambiance. We heard the Weirdos came home from their European tour loaded with tons of ideas and were eager to lay it all down to tape. And we're very pleased they did, as Into An Energy is quite the psych noise masterpiece, even trekking into some unexpected dark industrial territory. One part ritual trance ceremony, one part noise rock opus, the album starts with a super grim, sinister glimpse into the hazy nightmares of a decrepit sea captain as he watches the bones of his crew be picked over by sea birds. Field recordings of waves layered under creepy whispering, wild flutes and metal clanging. Things start getting tribal with "Pagan Unity Ritual", plodding drum hits circle round and round as distant flutes and synths float into the sky. The album plays on with the faint sound of rising saxophone loops and far off chimes, all melting together into some dreamy bad trip bliss out. Every track is constantly changing, each sound shifting around and evolving into another, quiet drones lingering in the background, voices calling from beneath the ground, a truly intense experience impossible to soak up in just one listen. A perfect addition to the extensive Starving Weirdos discography and a must have for any fans of this free psych collective.
MPEG Stream: "Seeing Is Believing (You Decide)"
MPEG Stream: "Pagan Unity Ritual"
MPEG Stream: "Everything Glass"

STARVING WEIRDOS Live @ Valentines (Portland) (self-released) 3"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.
We only got 10 of these, direct from the band on their return from Europe. Pretty sure we got the last copies of a way too limited batch, but we figured at least a few Starving Weirdos fanatics should be able to get their grubby mitts on these. Cuz as much as we hate to say it when we have so few, this is pretty dang fantastic.
A 20 minute live set captured live in Portland Oregon, as a part of something called Challenge Night, organized by Pete Swanson from the Yellow Swans, and it seems the Weirdos were up to the challenge, offering up a strange drifty sort of skeletal doom. With detuned acoustic guitars, mantra like vocals, simple percussion, all set within a shimmering field of distorted squiggles and air raid siren like wails, eventually joined by some seriously tribal drumming, a la NoNeck or Sunburned Hand, the track transformed into a distortion drenched drum circle / free psych freakout. The guitars coalesce into post rocky almost metal riffage, the vocals slathered in distortion and spouting invective WAY down in the mix, the drums unleashing a woozy groove, and the guitars, the heaviest we've heard from these guys, tons of reverb and delay, like old school goth guitar style, but somehow rendered more jagged and metallic, not to say this is necessarily heavy, although it kind of is.
But by the halfway mark, the drums have dropped out, the guitar have shed their metal coats, and everything is muted and blurred and smeared into an oozing organic soundscape of what sounds like moaning horns and shimmering strings, thick swells that ebb and flow, finally grinding to a halt in a whirling cloud of soft feedback and washed out drones. Really nice. Too bad we only have a handful.
Cool packaging too, mini 3" jewel cases, with gold metallic ink on black covers, each one hand drawn and every one different. LIMITED TO 58 COPIES!!
MPEG Stream: "Challenge Night"

STARVING WEIRDOS s/t (Athiestaregods) cd-r 9.98
Back in the spring we received a mysterious email that read as follows:
"We would like to introduce to the most radical band in Humboldt county and maybe North America---Starving Weirdos. You're probably pretty busy but we have TEN full length albums recorded and they are fucking good. So we figured what the hell, maybe you could listen to 1 or 2."
I have to say we were a bit impressed with these guys' moxie! Ten full lengths, all fucking good? So, we bit. Told them to go ahead and send a couple for us to check out. A few days later we received a big ol' box in the mail with ALL TEN full length cd-rs with a note explaining that they couldn't decide which two were the best since they were all so good. Well, alright. Must admit we were a bit skeptical based soley on the name, a little goofy, but Andee decided to go for it and listen to all ten (actually all FOURTEEN, as they sent a second batch a few weeks later!). And you know what, they WERE all fucking good. Fucking great in fact. But ten discs is a bit much for most folks to swallow, so the 'Weirdos put together this three track cd-r with their favorite tracks just for sale at AQ. So what's it sound like? It's gorgeous and droney, abstract and extremely actively ambient. Maybe somewhere between Sunroof!, the Dead C, Fflint Central, and Avarus. They would be right at home on Celebrate Psi Phenomenon, or Pseudoarcana, or any of the other killer cd-r labels everyone freaks out about. In fact if any of you cd-r label types are reading this, get in touch and help these guys get all their records into the ears of people who need them! The first track sounds a little like Sunroof and Birchville Cat Motel playing live in a gymnasium DURING basketball practice. Extended peals of feeding back guitars, streaks of white hot upper register shimmer, wheezing toy instruments, reverberating high end scrape and squeal, with random abstract rhythms constructed from heavily reverbed slaps and whaps, like foot stomps and rubber ball bouncing. The whole thing wrapped in gauzy reverb and all warm and thick and creeping along like a big fuzzy caterpillar in the noonday sun. Track two is a similarly abstract and spacious soundscape, but less sun drenched and a little bit more claustrophobic, a dense swirl of blurred vocals, and rumbling machinery, and tinkling chiming percussion that sounds like a railroad crossing gate gone haywire, and that over the course of its twelve minutes manages to become simultaneously more and more epic, and more and more dark and dismal. The final track is a twenty minute free noise, tribal ambient workout, reminiscent of No Neck Blues Band, Anaksimandros, Avarus and Sunburned Hand Of The Man. A slow shifting framework of super distorted chiming plucked guitars, that on closer listening could instead be a blown out recording of some ramshackle gamelans, random and clattery, but all warm and fuzzy, with haunting high end melodies, cobbled together from various whistles and wheezes, tweets and trills. About halfway through the track shifts abruptly into a more subdued soundfield: subtly shifting layers of high end buzz, swoop and slip over and under each other, a constantly moving high pitched drone, pulsing and fluctuating, completely mesmerizing.
Absolutely essential listening for fans of Sunroof!, Vibracathedral Orchestra, Birchville Cat Motel, Sunburned Hand Of The Man, No Neck Blues Band, Avarus. Burning Star Core, Double Leopards, Hwyl Nofio, MCMS and all things CPsiP, Pseudoarcana, Rhizome, Lal Lal Lal, Last Visible Dog and the like.
And if you find yourself particularly smitten by the Starving Weirdos and decide you need all 14 of their cd-r's, drop us a line and we can probably put you in touch with those guys.
MPEG Stream: "Plastic Gagaku"
MPEG Stream: "Nighttime On The Eureka Waterfront"

STARVING WEIRDOS Seance At Luffenhulz (Sound & Fury) cd-r 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
To be totally honest, when we first heard the name Starving Weirdos, we definitely weren't expecting to like it. It was a strange name, that didn't seem to suit their strange abstract sound. The name seemed goofy, while the music was dark, and ominous, and fucked up. But then something strange happened, like it has so many times in the past, the Flaming Lips is a prime example, something just clicked and suddenly they couldn't bee called anything BUT the Starving Weirdos. And that music, could not have been made by anyone BUT those same Weirdos. We never had any sort of qualms about the music though. From the very first note, we realized these guys were on to something. Something pretty, and something really strange and unique. This latest missive comes to us from the Sound & Fury label in Australia and demonstrates the Weirdos' continual quest to explore and get lost in their music. It's hard to sound totally unique, especially when you're trafficking in the overpopulated world of abstract free noise or whatever, but the more we listen to these guys, the more distinctive their sound becomes and the more fascinating their approach to making it seems. These three lengthy tracks show three distinct sides of the band, each one drastically different, but still inexorably linked to the others. The first track sounds a bit like the Dead C setting up and tuning up in some giant airplane hanger. Clatter and clanks, crashes and thumps, reverberate into the ether, every sound wrapped in thick layers of natural reverb, while floating delicately around these strange percussive occurrences are keening streaks of high end, that just sort of shift an shimmer, while all around chimes and bells ring out. Like walking though some big empty building made entirely of metal, while all around you the bits and pieces of the building spontaneously ring and chime and resound. The second track is less clattery and abstract, instead, thick thread of warm vibration runs through the track, some sort of buzzing bombinating string, that stretches into forever, while all around it, various other instruments vibrate sympathetically, building to a frenzied ur-drone, before the vibrations begin to taper off until it's a barely there afterimage, hovering in some nether world before blinking out completely. The final track is a return to the metallic land of the first track, but now that huge metal structure is crumbling all around you, like the sound of metal raindrops, clang and clatter, a percussive free for all, while beneath, a gentle lilting minor key melody is stretched into a longform drone, that continues to drift dreamlike even after the metallic clatter has died down, eventually becoming shimmering sheets of singing metal, ringing out brightly and then slowly fading away.
Packaged in a red textured paper sleeve, held shut with a black wax seal. The cd is housed in a printed inner sleeve, each disc with an individual piece of band made art. LIMITED TO 150 COPIES, each disc is hand numbered.
MPEG Stream: "Red Crescent Moon"
MPEG Stream: "Seance At Luffenhulz"

STARVING WEIRDOS Self-Hypnosis (Jyrk) cd-r 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Hard to believe it was only a matter of months ago when two guys from Humboldt sent Andee a stack of 15 full length cd-r's. All mysteriously packaged, with bizarre collage art, strange song titles, and music that was stranger still. We went apeshit and insisted they make us a sort of best of disc, which they did and we sold about a million (we still have a bunch in stock too!). Word spread and now the Starving Weirdos are like a real band, with releases coming out all over the place, including a recent one on Root Strata, and this here gem on the Yellow Swans' Jyrk label. They were even in the latest issue of Vice Magazine!! Thankfully all of this hasn't gone to their heads and this blast of murky free psych weirdness is just as fucked up, demented and downright beautiful as anything else we've heard from them. Huge spacious recordings of Dead C like clatter, cavernous swells of haunting ambience, like exploring some lost sewer system that leads right to the center of the earth. Clatter and clang, percussive splatter drenched in natural reverb, like some sort of silverware war in an abandoned cistern. Free jazz played on scrap metal in a cave. Cool and creepy.
The second lengthy track introduces sax, but not in that annnoying sax-ruins-everything sort of way. No, this is more of a deep listening sort of sax, long foghorn like blasts, rumbling and reverberating, drifting into the reverby distance, a slow low meditative series of short rich drones, the whole thing a barely recognized melody stretched into it's constituent parts. A foghorn symphony played on duck calls and broken reeded bagpipes. The final 15 minute epic is a return to the metallic clang of track one. A pipe fight to the death, taking place at the bottom of a black pit, walled with stone and the crushed skulls of past pipefighters, between Z'ev and David Jackman, each hurling broken cymbals, warped gongs, bent cutlery and assorted car parts at each other, while in the background a mad scientist boils up an unspeakable brew of warm wheezing guitars and gurgling electronic drones, each and every sound wrapped in a thick smear of reverb, drizzled with delay, and sent drifting back to the surface where they were recorded onto a wax cylinder. Fucking awesome!
Hand screened cardboard sleeve, photcopied insert. Limited to 200 copies!
MPEG Stream: "Density Of Life Pt. 1"
MPEG Stream: "Self-Hypnosis"

STARVING WEIRDOS Shrine Of The Post-Hypnotic (Root Strata) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
With all the Starving Weirdos records around here over the last year or so, it's hard to believe this is only their 2nd proper actual cd release. A handful of cd-r's (not counting the 20 or so unreleased full lengths) and lp and a split, every one of em spectacular, these guys are one of the few bands we almost wish would be more prolific. Not that we don't love Acid Mothers Temple, but we'd sure as heck trade a few of the last 20 or so new AMT records for a couple extra slabs of Weirdos wonder. Nonetheless, Shrine Of The Post-Hypnotic find the Weirdos continuing in their sonic quest, this time around incorporating more guitar it seems, more feedback, the overall sound somewhat heavier, from the dirgey slow motion buzz of the opener "Crewell", to the buzzing clattery Dead C worship of "Droned And Poned", it's a sound that most definitely suits them. It's like the No Neck Blues Band teamed up with some serious amplified firepower. A buzz drenched rambling percussive meander. Murky keening soundscapes, huge distant arcs of grinding feedback, thick swells of crumbling fuzz, heavily reverbed percussive clatter, streaks of glistening guitar, simple angular strumming, hushed minimal shimmer, bells and chimes wreathed in black whirs, massive cavernous room sound wrapped around muted melodies, moaning groaning drones drifting in thick swirls of high end glimmer and rumbling crunch, haunting industrial rhythms sinking slowly in dense fields of dreamy doom, wispy clouds of FX wrapped around creaking ambience, processed vocals transformed into undulating layers of viscous sound. It's all of that and so much more. We can describe the various sounds and sonic events, but it's so difficult to explain just why they sound so fantastic, and what sort of musical magic makes them all fit together so well. But they just do and who knows and who really cares, you should just stop reading right now and dive right in. You won't be sorry.
Packaged in a gorgeous fold over card stock sleeve, screen printed with an amazingly trippy hand drawn landscape.
LIMITED TO 1000 COPIES!
MPEG Stream: "Crewell"
MPEG Stream: "Droned & Poned"

STARVING WEIRDOS Spirit Activity (Root Strata) cassette 8.98
Brand new release from Humboldt County's finest sons, the Starving Weirdos. And their very first tape release. LIMITED TO ONLY 100 COPIES, we got about 15, so we won't go into too much detail, as SW stuff generally flies out of here anyway, so odds are these will be gone in a flash.
As if to commemorate their first tape, the band offer up a whole new sound. Well not a -new- sound exactly, instead, they take the subtle free jazz filigree that infused many of their other releases and shove it kicking and screaming to center stage. On the opening track, the band unleash some seriously freaky out-jazz, as free and chaotic as it gets, wild squalls of horns, the drums in full on kit-down-the-stairs mode, a swirling whirling dervish of sound. Some seriously off kilter speaker shredding jazz fury for sure. But after that opening salvo, things settle down a bit and get back to a more recognizably ramshackle SW sound, long stretches of abstract percussion, disembodied fractured folk strum, high end shimmer, rumbling industrial drones, moaning minor key melodies, chaotic tangles of soaring strings, plenty of abstract ambience and druggy drone-y floorcore, but with echoes of that opening track surfacing here and there, bits of skronk, woozy horn harmonies, but all deftly woven into the constantly shifting and swirling back drop.
Beautifully packaged, pro pressed and printed red cassettes housed in super thick multi panel offset printed sleeves. And again, LIMITED TO ONLY 100 COPIES. We have 15 of those. You no doubt know what that means by now...
MPEG Stream: "Days Before Panic"
MPEG Stream: "Van Duzer"

STARVING WEIRDOS Sudden Fear (Cut Hands) dvd-r 14.98
Latest from AQ faves The Starving Weirdos, the first we've heard since the beginning of the year (which is practically unheard of in the current way too prolific cd-r scene), and it's not just a new batch of killer blissed out SW dronemusic, it's also a film the band "chopped and screwed" and presented at the third annual Experimental Film & Music Night in Humboldt, and this dvd contains the film and the music composed to accompany it.
The film itself is Sudden Fear, from 1952 starring Joan Crawford and Jack Palance, but the band re-edited it and re-arranged it, hard to say how much was changed, we haven't ever seen the actual film, but from this version it looks pretty freaked out and fucked up. Although it could be the Starving Weirdos' extra creepy score too, a cacophonous Hermann Nitsch like drone, thick and abrasive, but haunting and ominous. The film playing out, at different speeds, the screen split, images super imposed over one another, the music, appropriately dark and terrifying.
This is definitely the darkest and most menacing we've heard the Starving Weirdos, and it really suits them. Strings sing and squeal, feedback moans and groans, bits of percussion surface and are carried a way by thick swells of low end whir, it's like Bernard Hermann meets Nitsch covering Goblin. Scary as hell and so so good!
Packaged in a mini dvd style plastic case, with a black and white insert cover, and pasted on liner notes on the inside.
LIMITED TO 150 COPIES, each one hand numbered.

STARVING WEIRDOS Summon With Electronic Sorcery (Bottrop-Boy) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A brand new full length from Humboldt County's masters of dark droning cinematic ambience, and another gorgeous chunk of masterful dark mystery. In the beginning, their sound, while still quite beautiful, seemed much more haphazard, much more improvised, the vibe decidedly NNCK or SHOTM, a bit chaotic and druggy, the sound of guys just sort of jamming and seeing what happened. Obviously we dug that stuff, a LOT, but the band have continued to hone their craft, their music becoming much more assured, much more dense and varied, more expressive and emotional, and weirdly enough much darker and scarier.
Their last disc was a new score for their chopped up version of the classic film Sudden Fear, but Summon With Electronic Sorcery, sounds just like the title would lead you to believe, some ancient ritual performed in a cave below the Earth's surface, surrounded by demons and shadows dancing in the firelight, like it could be the soundtrack to some lost Argento film, a truly creepy and intense sonic sprawlŠ
Four long tracks, each one a self contained soundscape of billowing blackness, layers of muted buzz swirl and shift, various steel strings reverberate and shimmer, melodic fragments drift through the ether, doomful melodies chime and ring out and are then sucked under, strange creaks and moans are blurred into a constantly evolving backdrop. Eventually, the sounds coalesce into huge black sonic swells, an ultra slow motion ambient doom, lurching glacially through flurries of percussive clatter, like some huge demon rolling hollowed out skulls like dice. Later, we wander through some old boiler room in an abandoned building. The clank of old pipes, the hiss of escaping steam, all woven into a hissy whirring drone, underlaid with droning guitars and streaks of shimmering melody, barely discernible. Chant-like vocals drift up from the abyss, haunting loops overlap and blur into each other, a murk that seems to glow from within, building to an intense staring-into-the-sun buzz. Finally, a field of high end sound, thick streaks of feedback, simple clattery percussion, distorted melodies, moaning horns, all doused in reverb and allowed to drift and intermingle in gloriously washed out slow motion. Like watching a decaying filmstrip of and old noise rock band frame by frame, the sound flickering in the dim light, the heat of the bulb causing the film to bubble and melt.
So gorgeous. As always.
Packaged in a crazy, glue sealed multiple folded envelope style silk screened package. You have to unseal it, unfold it, and then the cd is revealed inside held in place by a diecut slot. And of course, it's super limited. A ONE TIME pressing of only 250 copies. We got 40, but judging from past SW releases these will go pretty quick.
MPEG Stream: "Summon"
MPEG Stream: "Orchestra At Twilight"

STARZ Attention Shoppers! (Ryko) cd 12.98
How can you go wrong when the stickered quotes on the front of these reissues are from Poison's Ricki Rocket and Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx? Don't let that scare you off though, this is not some cheesy eighties hair metal band, although ALL of those bands owed a huge debt to Starz. When I (Andee) was growing up and first getting into hard rock, discovering Aerosmith, Kiss, Blue Oyster Cult, Cheap Trick and newer bands at the time who channelled that same sound, Hanoi Rocks, Smack, Kix etc... this would have been in the early eighties, folks kept telling me to check out some band from the seventies called Starz. And of course I totally recognized the ubiquitous Starz logo, an immediately recognizable hybrid of a neon diner sign, Big Star's logo and Van Halen's winged VH. A few of my hipper / older friends had the logo doodled here and there, some even had posters, but it took a few more years before I actually heard any of their music. And when I did it totally kicked my ass. Not metal, but definitely hard rock, big chunky riffs, wailing leads, pounding drumming, but the thing is, Starz were a pop band, more Cheap Trick and Kiss than anything overtly metal. Crazy catchy songs, arena rock ready for sure, but weird enough to be cool and just outside the mainstream, at least to those of us just discovering them in the eighties. The band toured with and hovered around the periphery of the seventies hard rock axis of Aerosmith, Blue Oyster Cult, Rush and Kiss and sounded like it. Some members of Starz even played on some of the Kiss solo albums. All four of these records are brilliant, although it's easy to hear the prevailing winds of change in their sound as the band grew and developed from record to record trying to keep up with modern music and the fickle tastes of the public and the charts.
Record number three, released in 1978, found Starz shedding almost every vestige of hard rock, moving in a pure power pop direction. Hard to say whether it was a band decision, a record company decision, or just some desire to storm the charts, hardly matters, as Attention Shoppers! is a massively appealing slab of big pumping power pop. A much more reverbed production, and a slicker and smoother sound definitely alienated the hard rock loyal, and unfortunately their pop shift did little to rocket them to the top of the charts and instead served to spread unrest within the group, that would eventually break up the band. But intraband politics aside, this is just a great big and bouncy, crunchy and catchy chunk of jangly riffing, hyper kinetic drumming, caffienated songwriting and hooks galore. Their are definitely a few ballady mis-steps, but there are also some stone cold pop gems, that would sound right at home on that recent Yellow Pills power pop compilation! Definitely for fans of Big Star, Cheap Trick, the Posies and power pop in general. Metal heads may find this a bit light, but close listening reveals plenty of crunchy riffs and metallic bombast tucked discreetly here and there. Features two bonus tracks and extensive liner notes!
MPEG Stream: "Hold On To The Night"
MPEG Stream: "She"

STARZ Coliseum Rock (Ryko) cd 12.98
How can you go wrong when the stickered quotes on the front of these reissues are from Poison's Ricki Rocket and Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx? Don't let that scare you off though, this is not some cheesy eighties hair metal band, although ALL of those bands owed a huge debt to Starz. When I (Andee) was growing up and first getting into hard rock, discovering Aerosmith, Kiss, Blue Oyster Cult, Cheap Trick and newer bands at the time who channelled that same sound, Hanoi Rocks, Smack, Kix etc... this would have been in the early eighties, folks kept telling me to check out some band from the seventies called Starz. And of course I totally recognized the ubiquitous Starz logo, an immediately recognizable hybrid of a neon diner sign, Big Star's logo and Van Halen's winged VH. A few of my hipper / older friends had the logo doodled here and there, some even had posters, but it took a few more years before I actually heard any of their music. And when I did it totally kicked my ass. Not metal, but definitely hard rock, big chunky riffs, wailing leads, pounding drumming, but the thing is, Starz were a pop band, more Cheap Trick and Kiss than anything overtly metal. Crazy catchy songs, arena rock ready for sure, but weird enough to be cool and just outside the mainstream, at least to those of us just discovering them in the eighties. The band toured with and hovered around the periphery of the seventies hard rock axis of Aerosmith, Blue Oyster Cult, Rush and Kiss and sounded like it. Some members of Starz even played on some of the Kiss solo albums. All four of these records are brilliant, although it's easy to hear the prevailing winds of change in their sound as the band grew and developed from record to record trying to keep up with modern music and the fickle tastes of the public and the charts.
Also released in 1978, Coliseum Rock, Starz' final record, was the band's attempt to return to the more hard rock sound of their first two records. Band member were replaced, the producer was the guy who had worked with them when they were still a pre-Starz rock band called Fallen Angels, and they were off. Definitely harder rocking than record number three, it's not quite as raw and rocking as their debut, definitely loving up to the album title, the songs on Coliseum Rock were big hard rock barn burners, perfect to get back on track, tour the world sharing stadium stages alongside Kiss and Rush and whoever else. Sadly, none of that ever materialized and a year later the band broke up. But this final record is still a doozy, a definite hard rock classic, with a vibe and production style that would live on in almost every eighties hard rock / glam metal band to follow! Features two bonus tracks (from their 1990 reunion album) and extensive liner notes!
MPEG Stream: "So Young So Bad"
MPEG Stream: "Take Me"

STARZ s/t (Ryko) cd 12.98
How can you go wrong when the stickered quotes on the front of these reissues are from Poison's Ricki Rocket and Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx? Don't let that scare you off though, this is not some cheesy eighties hair metal band, although ALL of those bands owed a huge debt to Starz. When I (Andee) was growing up and first getting into hard rock, discovering Aerosmith, Kiss, Blue Oyster Cult, Cheap Trick and newer bands at the time who channelled that same sound, Hanoi Rocks, Smack, Kix etc... this would have been in the early eighties, folks kept telling me to check out some band from the seventies called Starz. And of course I totally recognized the ubiquitous Starz logo, an immediately recognizable hybrid of a neon diner sign, Big Star's logo and Van Halen's winged VH. A few of my hipper / older friends had the logo doodled here and there, some even had posters, but it took a few more years before I actually heard any of their music. And when I did it totally kicked my ass. Not metal, but definitely hard rock, big chunky riffs, wailing leads, pounding drumming, but the thing is, Starz were a pop band, more Cheap Trick and Kiss than anything overtly metal. Crazy catchy songs, arena rock ready for sure, but weird enough to be cool and just outside the mainstream, at least to those of us just discovering them in the eighties. The band toured with and hovered around the periphery of the seventies hard rock axis of Aerosmith, Blue Oyster Cult, Rush and Kiss and sounded like it. Some members of Starz even played on some of the Kiss solo albums. All four of these records are brilliant, although it's easy to hear the prevailing winds of change in their sound as the band grew and developed from record to record trying to keep up with modern music and the fickle tastes of the public and the charts.
Their self titled debut released in 1976 is quite possibly their finest moment, definitely the heaviest, huge crunchy riffs, amazing vocals, top 40 worthy choruses, total fist pumping, denim and leather rock and roll. Listening to this record it's hard to imagine that they aren't spoken in the same breath as other seventies hard rock legends. Starz totally stands up to the first four Blue Oyster Cult records, the first couple Aerosmith records, the first few Cheap Trick records. A perfect fit, and it's totally obvious that your Poisons and Hanoi Rocks owe as much To Starz as they do Kiss or the New York Dolls or Aerosmith. Fans of seventies hard rock and proto-metal who don't already own this, NEED TO. Absolutely essential. And most definitely for fans of Kiss, Aerosmith, BOC, Cheap Trick, Aldo Nova, Thin Lizzy, Hanoi Rocks, Kix, as well as folks who dig power pop and even glam metal! SO FUCKING GREAT! Features five bonus tracks (demos) and extensive liner notes!
MPEG Stream: "Detroit Girls"
MPEG Stream: "Live Wire"
MPEG Stream: "Tear It Down"

STARZ Violation (Ryko) cd 12.98
How can you go wrong when the stickered quotes on the front of these reissues are from Poison's Ricki Rocket and Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx? Don't let that scare you off though, this is not some cheesy eighties hair metal band, although ALL of those bands owed a huge debt to Starz. When I (Andee) was growing up and first getting into hard rock, discovering Aerosmith, Kiss, Blue Oyster Cult, Cheap Trick and newer bands at the time who channelled that same sound, Hanoi Rocks, Smack, Kix etc... this would have been in the early eighties, folks kept telling me to check out some band from the seventies called Starz. And of course I totally recognized the ubiquitous Starz logo, an immediately recognizable hybrid of a neon diner sign, Big Star's logo and Van Halen's winged VH. A few of my hipper / older friends had the logo doodled here and there, some even had posters, but it took a few more years before I actually heard any of their music. And when I did it totally kicked my ass. Not metal, but definitely hard rock, big chunky riffs, wailing leads, pounding drumming, but the thing is, Starz were a pop band, more Cheap Trick and Kiss than anything overtly metal. Crazy catchy songs, arena rock ready for sure, but weird enough to be cool and just outside the mainstream, at least to those of us just discovering them in the eighties. The band toured with and hovered around the periphery of the seventies hard rock axis of Aerosmith, Blue Oyster Cult, Rush and Kiss and sounded like it. Some members of Starz even played on some of the Kiss solo albums. All four of these records are brilliant, although it's easy to hear the prevailing winds of change in their sound as the band grew and developed from record to record trying to keep up with modern music and the fickle tastes of the public and the charts.
Originally released in 1977, record number two featured the track "Cherry Baby", Starz biggest hit, and it's obvious why, a much more melodic, pop sound, a strange but perfect mix Styx bombast and soaring vocals and Big Star classic pop, complete with Byrds-like guitar lines and hand claps! The record as a whole, is a little less dirty and grimy but no less rocking. Way heavier on the Kiss sing alongs, and that Styx vibe definitely pervades the whole record, especially in the vocals, soaring, high and clear, with lots of awesome harmonies. Features classic hard rock burners like the title track "Violation", which will have you head banging and air guitaring like mad, and the foot stomping metallic boogie of "S.T.E.A.D.Y.". Actually if it weren't for the practically unbeatable debut record, Violation would be THE ONE. As it is, it's nearly as essential! And again, fans of seventies hard rock and proto-metal who don't already own this, NEED TO. Absolutely essential. And most definitely for fans of Kiss, Aerosmith, BOC, Cheap Trick, Aldo Nova, Thin Lizzy, Hanoi Rocks, Kix, as well as folks who dig power pop and even glam metal! SO FUCKING GREAT! Features three bonus tracks (demos) and extensive liner notes!
MPEG Stream: "Cherry Baby"
MPEG Stream: "Rock Six Times"

STATE OF BENGAL Visual Audio (Six Degrees) cd 16.98
State Of Bengal is a new "Tabla n' Bass" project by Talvin Singh co-conspirator Sam Zaman -- he worked with T. Singh on the Anokha project. For fans of DJ Cheb i Sabbah -- who appears on the same label -- or, of course, Talvin Singh.

STATISTICS Leave Your Name (Jade Tree) cd 14.98

STATON, CANDI His Hands (Astralwerks) cd 16.98
A few years ago Honest Jon's/Capitol released a collection of Candi Staton's classic southern soul sounds from her prime, 1969-1973. It was a collection that for many of us was an introduction to a Candi Station we never knew. Best known later on as a disco diva, these songs were a totally different and much more rewarding affair then her glitzy disco years. Such rich and right on soul packed with emotion and flare. This, her brand new album is a nod back to that past. It's really nice to see how her influence has begun to finally fall on new ears. On their recent visit to San Francisco, The Gossip couldn't stop drooling over their love of Candi during their guest DJ set at KUSF. Lambchop's Mark Nevers was such a big fan that he found a way to become the producer of this new record, which also boasts lyrics from Will Oldham on the powerful title track which he wrote specifically for Candi. With Cat Power recently releasing her take on Southern soul, it's so nice to hear from one of the originators of that sound/style. His Hands is a collection of tales of love gone so wrong. If you've recently had your heart hurt bad, then listening to this, alongside Edith Frost's latest heartbroken outing, could just be the good cry you need. It's done the trick for some of us who's hearts have been broken around here lately. Staton's ability to carry so much pain and power in her voice is what always keeps you coming back for more.
MPEG Stream: "His Hands"
MPEG Stream: "In Name Only"

STATTON, ALISON & SPIKE Weekend in Wales (Vinyl Japan) cd 7.98
Alison Statton (the singer for the Young Marble Giants) and Spike had worked together in the early 80s project The Weekend. This 1995 production showcases an interest in Tropicalia and Brazillian jazz along with their breathy pop minimalism.

STATUESQUE Choir Above Fire Below (125) cd 11.98
Although their cd is on Bay Area label 125 Records, Statuesque hails from the distant land of London, England. Stephen Manning is the frontman and sharp songwriter behind this energetic UK pop band. Vigorously strummed jangle'n'crunch guitars propel his predominantly earnest and upbeat songs that get gradually darker and edgier as the album progresses. Overall it's very akin to those frisky Housemartins, but where the vocals are concerned, try imagining a cross between a positively perky Morrissey and Robert Schneider of Apples In Stereo. A baker's dozen fine pop confections.
MPEG Stream: "Boys Are Lazy, Girls Are Crazy"
MPEG Stream: "Winter Was My Teacher"

STAVIS, GEORGE Labyrinths (Arkama) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
You've met John Fahey, Robbie Basho and Sandy Bull, now say hello to George Stavis. Originally issued in 1969 on Vanguard Records, "Labyrinths" was one man's bold attempt to bring the banjo out of the hills and hollers and into the urbane settings of the avant-garde coffeehouse. Subtitled "Occult Improvisational Compositions for 5-String Banjo and 'Percussion'" (the percussion is a rather innocuous beating on what sounds like a small coffee can), Stavis' sounds more akin to Pete Seeger and his "Goofing Off Suite" than Bull or Fahey. And while his occult pretensions may seem a bit silly, his 'improvisational compositions' are quite nice. Even his rendition of Rodgers & Hammerstein's old chesnut "My Favorite Things" (a song I could preferably live without hearing ever again) is so bastardized -- Snuffy Jenkins duelling with John Coltrane -- as to be truly rendered once again listenable. The remaining four tracks on the album are all credited to Stavis and, like Seeger, are performed with a picking style totally unique to Stavis -- a combination of rolls and strumming which allows the skillful Stavis to eke out both lead and accompaniment. Cultures collide, and wildly, on this disc of hippy raga banjo jazz. No wonder we had old-time George Stavis fans calling us up all excited when they heard that his long lost album was being reissued on cd.
MPEG Stream: "Finland Station"

STAVOSTRAND, MIKAEL Illuminence (Firework Edition) cd 11.98
This Swedish fellow used to record for Cold Meat Industries as Inanna and Archon Satani, but with this release he has dropped the dark ambient occultism in favor of oblique noise modulations and noxious low end rattles closer to the Raster/Mego sound, which the Swedish National Council For Cultural Affairs has seen fit to subsidize. Nice cover by Lief Elggren, of Ghost Orchid (and much else) fame.

STAVOSTRAND, MIKAEL Lite (Mitek) cd 14.98
Mikael Stavostrand is a reformed industrialist (the musical sort, not the capitalist sort) who has abandoned the doom & gloom of his previous identity (the Cold Meat Industry staples Archon Satani and Innana) in favour of the contemporary electronic glitch sound. The emulation of his new peers is so striking that each track could be direct to digital copies. The first track being Oval, then Vladislav Delay, then Wolfgang Voigt, then Taylor Deupree, then Pole. Like all of those technically proficient guitarists who cop riffs from Hendrix, Deep Purple, or Zeppelin, it's a not a bad thing to practice mimicking your heroes, but is it neccessary to subject your audience to it?

STAX, MIKE, ANDY NEILL & JOHN BAKER Ugly Things Magazine Presents: Don't Bring Me Down... Under - The Pretty Things In New Zealand, 1965 (UT Publishing) book 18.95

STEAMBOAT SWITZERLAND AC/DB [Hayden] (Grob) cd 15.98
Dark, sometimes droning improv from this Swiss post-jazz trio (drums, electric bass, Hammond organ/electronics). Maybe not as crazed as their countrymen Alboth! or 16/17, but still full of appeal to folks with John Zorn records in their collections. On this disc, one of two simultaneously released new Grob-label cds by the band, they take two different compositions ("DB", written for them by British composer Sam Hayden, and "AC" by the Steamboat Switzerland guys themselves) and alternate segments throughout the disc, not that you'd necessarily notice...maybe the DB parts are more hyper and chaotic (and jazzy?) and the AC parts the dronier? They work well together at any rate, and it's a satisfying listen for those open to the avant-garde hardcore sound of Switzerland!
RealAudio clip: "DBIII"
RealAudio clip: "AC6"

STEAMBOAT SWITZERLAND Budapest (Grob) cd 15.98
One of a pair of new cds by this Swiss instrumental noise-jazz-rock trio with a sort of silly name, that have just been simultanously released on the Grob label (following up an obcure live disc from a few years back). The material on this cd was recorded live, in Budapest presumably, and is all improvised (except for the intro/outro, forged from their "grunge" encore by producer/mixer Stephan Wittwer). Mostly noisy, dark stuff not unlike the abstractions of likeminded Norwegian jazz terrorists Supersilent. Deliberate percussion, atmospheric electronics, and glitchy interludes. The encore is a delightful heavy, studio-manipulated prog bonus ("332T").
RealAudio clip: "Budapest E"
RealAudio clip: "332T"

STEAMHAMMER Speech (Akarma) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
BACK IN STOCK! At last repressed as part of Akarma's recent budget line, in a jewel case now instead of the previous mini-LP style sleeve. Here's what we said before about this AQ fave:
The '60s/'70s psych reissue label Akarma comes through once again with this gem! England's Steamhammer had a heavy name and lotsa chops, but never really made the big time. Their first three albums were British blues rock incarnate, real good at that but not our cup of tea really. THEN came "Speech", their swansong. Something happened (lots of drugs, maybe?) -- it was real different. This is an unusual album for sure. Probably not what Steamhammer fans at the time were expecting: Psychedelic doomy prog-tastic epic instrumental slaying, with fuzz fx, jazzy percussion, and emotive vox. It's not metal but it's got a lot of what we like about metal that's for sure, and kicks ass on most of what came out in '72. Fans of some of the real heavy underground bands from the era like the Groundhogs, Lucifer's Friend, Socrates Drank The Conium, even Il Balleto Di Bronzo ought to check this out for sure! Unfamiliar with those obscurites? Well just imagine Led Zep gone off the rails. Creative, deftly timed/structured songs full of psychedelic atmosphere. From quasi-religious 20th century avantgarde interludes to manic guitar rippage, from gorgeous vocal lamentations to jammy improv spaciness, this is AQ-approved prog weirdness for sure. The 22 minute "Penumbra" that opens the record erupts from a spooky three minute intro into sheer pulse-pounding rock trio shred, then dives into a bass-heavy dirge from which a vocal chorus emerges...and on they go. Everytime we play this for someone who we think *might* like it, boy, they *really* like it. This gets a big thumbs up from all the heavy/psych/prog heads here at AQ!!!
MPEG Stream: "Penumbra"
MPEG Stream: "Telegram"

STEAMHAMMER Speech (Repertoire) cd 23.00
Here's one of our favorite obscure heavy prog proto metal faves... It's a wee bit more expensive than the previous out of print version of this we used to have ages ago, but at least it's back in print and back in stock, now in a nice digipack from Germany's Repertoire reissue label. Here's what we said before about this before:
England's Steamhammer had a heavy name and lotsa chops, but never really made the big time. Their first three albums were British blues rock incarnate, real good at that but not our cup of tea really. THEN came "Speech", their swansong. Something happened (lots of drugs, maybe?) - it was real different. This is an unusual album for sure. Probably not what Steamhammer fans at the time were expecting: Psychedelic doomy prog-tastic epic instrumental slaying, with fuzz FX, jazzy percussion, and emotive vox. It's not metal but it's got a lot of what we like about metal that's for sure, and kicks ass on most of what came out in '72. Fans of some of the real heavy underground bands from the era like the Groundhogs, Lucifer's Friend, Socrates Drank The Conium, even Il Balleto Di Bronzo ought to check this out for sure! Unfamiliar with those obscurities? Well just imagine Led Zep gone off the rails. Creative, deftly timed/structured songs full of psychedelic atmosphere. From quasi-religious 20th century avantgarde interludes to manic guitar rippage, from gorgeous vocal lamentations to jammy improv spaciness, this is AQ-approved prog weirdness for sure. The 22 minute "Penumbra" that opens the record erupts from a spooky three minute intro into sheer pulse-pounding rock trio shred, then dives into a bass-heavy dirge from which a vocal chorus emerges...and on they go. Everytime we play this for someone who we think *might* like it, boy, they *really* like it. This gets a big thumbs up from all the heavy/psych/prog heads here at AQ!!!
MPEG Stream: "Penumbra"
MPEG Stream: "Telegram"

STEEL Audio-cynicism (Mille Plateaux) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
2nd album from this heavy noise techno joyride artist.

STEEL AN' SKIN Reggae Is Here Once Again (EM Records) cd+dvd 25.00
Oh boy, it's time for more steel pan (drum) music dug up by one of our our favorite reissue labels, Japan's eccentric EM Records. This is the third in their steel pan series (after the Modern Sound Quintet and the Rudy Smith Quartet). Those first two were in a jazz-funk vein, whereas Steel An' Skin is a reggae affair, as you might guess from this disc's title. Reggae and dub and "soca-disco". This hybrid Afro-Caribbean outfit, a merger of musicians specializing in Pan-African percussion as well as the rhythms of the West Indies, and featuring ex-members of the 20th Century Steel Band, was based out of London, England in the '70s. While we particularly liked the jazz-funk grooves of the Modern Sound Quintet, we're also taken by the delightful, sunny appeal of Steel An' Skin's upbeat vibes. While addressing some serious issues ("Fire In Soweto", "Acid Rain") this still has a primarily happy disposition, with soulful vocals and a relaxed atmosphere.
Of course, our favorite track here is "Afro Punk Reggae (Dub)" since indeed it's the dubbiest, and that's what we at AQ tend to go for in our reggae. Never heard steel drums echo-effected like that before! It would also be the track we'd play for peeps who love those "Disco Not Disco" comps.
With typical EM thoroughness, this reissue is about as good as a reissue can get, with a large text and photo filled insert, three bonus tracks circa '84, and also a whole extra dvd disc! That features a 34 minute documentary film from 1979, for which the majority of the music on the audio disc was originally recorded. Directed by Steve Shaw for the Arts Council of Great Britain, the film takes a look at Steel An' Skin's educational workshop activities (the band began as a way to teach African and Caribbean immigrant schoolchildren in London about their cultural heritage). Lots of musical performance and practice footage, dancing, happy kids... as well as scenes from some rather medieval looking, grim inner city slums. Interview segments with Steel An' Skin bandleader Peter Blackman, discuss the unique "black English" experience, and the excitement of bringing musicians and singers from Trinidad, Ghana, Nigeria, etc. together. You can see how the group was a positive force in their community.
MPEG Stream: "Reggae Is Here Once Again"
MPEG Stream: "Afro Punk Reggae (Dub)"
MPEG Stream: "Acid Rain"

STEEL MAMMOTH Atomic Mountain (Ektro) cd 14.98
You were warned. We reviewed this Circle side project's insane debut ep a couple weeks ago. Now, here's the full-length follow-up. The battletoads are back!
Not Sacred Steel, Steel Attack, Ritual Steel, or Steel Assassin. Not Wooly Mammoth. Or Mammatus. Or Mastodon. Or Pelican's "Pink Mammoth". Not Titan Steele, or Virgin Steele, or Steeler. It's STEEL MAMMOTH!! A metal band, presumably? Well, no, not quite. It IS another example of the many flirtations our favorite Finnish prog-psych band (Circle, including offshoots like Pharaoh Overlord and Krypt Axeripper) has always had with the elements of heavy metal (sonic, visual, lyrical). But the high-concept of "Circle does '80s metal" that you might expect from the band name and cover graphics and band pics with spikes and leather isn't quite what you actually get here, these guys being too clever and creative and crazy to do the obvious thing. Really, if you want to hear Circle-goes-metal, they come a lot closer on certain songs from Circle albums like Sunrise and Tulikora, and the recent, ever so slightly black metal bewitched Katapult. Not to mention, way back on their debut Meronia, with all its Helmet-style heaviness. And probably the most metal they've ever been is on Pharaoh Overlord #4.
So no, Steel Mammoth isn't a metal band, or even a joke metal band (though there's definitely some tongue in cheek joking going on). It's pure WTF? weirdness in the guise of a metal band. More catchy than crushing, it's a hitherto unheard hybrid of Circle's trademark hypnotic pulsations, a relaxed pop sensibility, tossed off hard rock riffing, moody tension, and sensitive vocals delivering ridiculous lyrics. Lyrics that are so ridiculous they're genius, lyrics that would make Monster Magnet or Manowar laugh and crumple up their notebook page if they'd written them. For instance, lines like: "barbarian lords/we ride alone/until we're just a pile of bones", or "lonely banzai rhino blackout leather/volcano hideout of the mountain owl/masterplan suicide war machine/lady death on the steering wheel", or "black diamond thunder dragon/beast of vampire torture/silver locusts on the desert sky/acid rain wasteland"! We also hear about a "multiheaded lion", "switchblade messiahs of hate", "midnight witches", a "metal infant", and the "powersweat of the demonwolf" to pick some other gems at random. Wow. Death and destruction and kicking ass seem to be the themes... yet there's some thought and depth to it all, extending to a self-constructed cosmology for these "nuclear barbarians" on their journey to the center of the "atomic mountain", that's depicted in a schematic in the cd booklet. We even detect a sincere sentimentality to some of this -- when album closer and title track "Atomic Mountain" finds the band sweetly crooning "Down, down, down I go" you FEEL it on some meaningful level, really.
As for the music, most of the songs share a skeletal Judas Priest vibe, stripped down and mellowed out and infused with effects. The opener, "Black Team", reminds us more of a handicapped Rolling Stones, fronted maybe by Danzig, but odder even than that would be. Several tracks later, "Nuclear Barbarians" is reprised from the ep, not really sure why they did that, though it is a cool song -- love how they pronounce nuclear, "nuck-leeyer". But it's followed by something completely different, the 11 and a half minute "Commando Leopard", an instrumental that starts off with primitive krauty rhythms before entering into a long beatless stretch of atmospheric, electronic spookiness. Like we said, WTF? Or should we say, NWOFWTF?
MPEG Stream: "Blackout Leather"
MPEG Stream: "Riders Of Death"
MPEG Stream: "Commando Leopard"

STEEL MAMMOTH Nuclear Barbarians (Ektro) cd 9.98
Ohh yeahhh. All the Krypt Axeripper fans here have been waiting for this. Circle fans too. Same thing, sorta. Krypt Axeripper, you know, that was the very entertaining, brilliantly stupid, supposed "heavy metal" side project of our Finnish friends Circle, enshrined on a four song ep earlier this year. After Krypt Axeripper could the NWOFHM get any more ridiculous?? You be the judge, they certainly tried: ta dah, STEEL MAMMOTH!! Seemingly a similar high concept (that being, Circle's metal obsession goes too far?) but actually more confusional than you'd think. Sure the cd booklet is filled with awesome D&Dish artwork and pisstake photos of the truly chuffed band members posing in full leather and studs regalia. But then, check out the music. As with Krypt Axeripper, there's a quota of crotch-rock riffs but it's also so oddly poppy, more like some sort of twisted rock n' roll alternative to the alternative than anything really made of molten metal. English-language lyrics (about Satan and radiation, "metal blade warriors" and "scorpion wizards", and suchlike metallic subjects, 'tis true) are weirdly crooned over shuffling beats and guitars that whilst fully fuzzed aren't exactly wielded by Hanneman/King. It's absurd, and absurdly catchy. When they sing something about how "battletoads explode in stereo" you'll be humming along (if not quite headbanging) and won't even bat an eye.
Looks like the Steel Mammoth trio of Garfield Steel, Rema 7000, and Juicyifer (hmm) and their pal Krypt (all pseudonyms for Circle folks) have invented a new cartoony subgenre all their own, jokingly initiated perhaps but inadvertently (?) awesome. Extra dimensional, post apocalyptic, astral travelling silliness that's part pop, part metal, and yes, part Circle ('specially on "Slow Death" with its unmistakable motorik drumming). This first attack from Steel Mammoth clocks in at 5 tracks, 18 minutes. But get this, future members of the Steel Mammoth Army: there's a Steel Mammoth full-length album in the works now, too! Look out, the battletoads have only begun to explode in stereo...
MPEG Stream: "Spirit Horse"
MPEG Stream: "Nuclear Barbarians"

STEEL MAMMOTH The Kingdom Of The Golden Hammer (SuperMetsa / Ektro) cd 14.98
The Steel Mammoth is back! Clanking across the frozen Finnish tundra, bellowing mightily... well no, not quite. This 'New Wave Of Finnish Heavy Metal' project from members of AQ faves Circle is not exactly what you might expect (unless you've heard them before). Despite the Satanic/Barbaric cover graphics, with cartoon death's heads grimacing in horned helmets in front of a glowing pentagram, and the various other oh-so-metal signifiers like the lyrics, song titles, stage names, etc., Steel Mammoth's unique brand of "metal" doesn't sound all that metal, though it sure is strange. These guys call it NWOFHM. In our review of their first full-length, we coined the term NWOFWTF? to describe 'em. Maybe it is a parody, but if so they take their joke pretty seriously (this is their 2nd full-length after all).
Ok, if you haven't heard 'em, but have heard Circle, imagine that band in leather and spikes (which they are known to wear anyway), having been exposed to strange drugs and radiation, as well as repeated spins of records by The Cult, Manilla Road, Voivod, uh, Dire Straits, the new Darkthrone, and Judas Priest's earliest, more psychedelic stuff (Rocka Rolla!). Then imagine something totally different as well. Right from the start they are deliberately NOT particularly heavy, playing boogie-metal riffs, yes, but in such a laid back, mellowed out fashion it's ridiculous, and ridiculously catchy. They do rock out a bit more on track two, "Black Gold Tyrant", picking up the pace further on the likes of "Steel Factor" and "Nuclear Gyration" (the latter really kicking up some heavily-effected dust), but those tracks are pretty poppy too.
Meanwhile, Steel Mammoth's "radiation rock" is adorned with drawled vocals, delivering amazing absurd lyrics that must be tongue in cheek - informing us that "flesh is weak, metal is forever" and singing lines like "crystal daybreak in the valley of blood/bone and steel crash forever non-stop/heads keep on rollin', battlecries die/corpses keep rottin', vultures take the sky". Yet even when you think the lyrics aren't serious, Steel Mammoth's music will take a turn into emotive, introspective moodiness that can't be funny, and you realize the singer is in fact crooning quite earnestly. Maybe. But there's definitely a method to their madness, one that involves a complex mythology of their own making, about atomic eggs and other cryptic mysteries. The moments of true beauty (like the lovely, sleepy "Waiting For The Goat") don't seem intentionally bathetic at all, even though grins and giggles are never far away. Let's face it, we're happily confused by Steel Mammoth, moreso even than by other NWOFHM efforts from Krypt Axeripper, Motorspandex, and related acts.
While we wish we could take it all completely seriously (or think that it was supposed to be taken completely seriously), knowing the Circle guys we also appreciate their strange humor... Heck it even says ON THE CD TRAY that this is their "disappointing second album". But we must disagree. No disappointment at all. We're lovin' it, from the moment we saw the cover art, through each of many, many spins.
MPEG Stream: "Black Gold Tyrant"
MPEG Stream: "Beyond Human Perception"
MPEG Stream: "Nuclear Gyration"