SCHLAMMPEITZIGER Augenwischwaldmoppgefloete (A-Musik) cd 15.98
With a name and title that are quite a mouthful (nay, alphabetful!), what might you expect musically from this gent? (more clues: he's a German fella also in Holosud etc., and this is on A-Musik). Well on this, his fourth full-length, you'll be treated to a hefty dose of the arpeggiator button on his Casio for one thing. A playful multi-tiered electronic pop arcade of PacMan-esque melodies.

SCHLIPPENBACH QUARTET Hunting The Snake (Atavistic / Unheard Music Series) cd 14.98

SCHMICKLER, MARCUS Demos (A-Musik) cd 17.98

SCHMICKLER, MARCUS Param (A-Musik) cd 15.98
Better known for his post-krautrock electronica as Pluramon, Marcus Schmickler has also been tinkering with the ideas of academic composition. He claims that his interest is a "confrontation with modern classical composers," and that "innovations are only possible by including the old." His words appear with a pretense of punk antagonism, but the music that he has composed in Param for a good-sized chamber ensemble (with of course electronics) is remarkably beautiful yet at times eerily ominous, but holds nothing remotely antagonistic towards the aesthetics of 20th Century composition. Instead, "Param" should be seen as a successful homage to Varese, Nono, Ligeti, and Xenakis with massive shimmering swells of strings and horns that ascend alongside perfectly matched electronic timbres and reverberations. If Schmickler's antagonism is based against the elitism of academic compostion, then he has made a very good argument that the academic circle do not have the stranglehold on orchestral compostion that they think they do. A worthy complement to the aforementioned composers.
RealAudio clip: "Param 5"
RealAudio clip: "Param 9"

SCHMICKLER, MARCUS Sator Rotas (A-Musik) cd 16.98
Marcus Schmickler (aka Pluramon and Wabi Sabi) expands his electronica experimentations creating a surreal open-ended album of painterly textural sounds. Certainly for fans of Jan St. Werner's more experimental outings (Microstoria and Lithops).

SCHMICKLER, MARCUS / JOHN TILBURY Variety (A-Musik) cd 17.98

SCHMICKLER, MARCUS WITH HAYDEN CHISHOLM Amazing Daze (Hapna) cd 16.98
Drone. DRONE. DRRRRROOOOOONNNNNNNE. That's what you get on this recent Hapna release by Pluramon's Marcus Schmickler. He's teamed up here with someone less well-known to us, New Zealander Hayden Chisholm, who is apparently a quite successful saxophonist and new-music composer. But Chisholm's not playing saxophone here, instead he's playing bagpipes and sho (a Japanese mouth-organ), whilst Schmickler adds electronics to the mix and processes the sound through his computer, to extend and abstract, to amplify and multiply, and further modulate the drones blown by Chisholm. The results are, well, exquisitely droney. Now we all know that bagpipes can be droney, but pleasantly so? Schmickler's manipulations keep this sounding like there's a real breathing human being behind the instrument, but also sands off some of the shrill grinding abrasiveness characteristic of the bagpipes... yet the threat lurks.
There's two pieces here, the 23:36 title track (dedicated to the venerable dronologist Phill Niblock, and it sounds like it) and the 21:06 "Infinity In The Shape Of A Poodle" (which is dedicated, oddly enough, to Bjork, but still sounds like a Niblock homage). Where track one displays a calm yet powerful, all-encompassing beehive grind, track two starts off rather whispy, more of a gentle drone, and then eventually soars to higher, heavenly realms of (to our ears, and hopefully Bjork's too) glittering beauty, that at the same time also suggests suspense-movie sinisterness.
As noted, both tracks are lengthy, but those many minutes are put to good use. During each there is constant movement, these aren't static drones at all. Basically if you want drone, this here's a good drone disc!!
PS. for some reason, Hapna have switched from their thin plastic sleeve cd packaging to the more ordinary (but no less nice-lookin') digipak.
MPEG Stream: "Amazing Daze"
MPEG Stream: "Infinity In The Shape Of A Poodle"

SCHMIDT, CHARLIE Xanthe Terra (Strange Attractors Audio House) cd 13.98
Y'know how there's been a lot of folks doin' the "American Primitive" solo acoustic guitar thing lately, all of them inspired to one degree or another by the late great John Fahey and the other denizens of Fahey's Takoma Records label? Folks like Jack Rose, Glenn Jones, Ben "Six Organs Of Admittance" Chasny, Patrick "Langtry" McKinney, Sir Richard Bishop... the list goes on and on and we're happy to add another name: Charlie Schmidt. But Charlie Schmidt has greater claim than most to the "fake Fahey" tag: not only was he was a friend of Fahey's (or maybe even, we should say, a protege), but some of his own recorded compositions meant for a collaborative album with Fahey wound up being mistaken for actual Fahey performances and were included as previously unreleased tracks on the Best Of John Fahey Vol. 2 album released after Fahey's death! Whoops. When the producers of such an anthology can be unintentionally fooled like that, you've gotta belive that this Schmidt fella sounds a heckuva lot like genuine Fahey. And that's no bad thing, is it? Not at all. So for fans of Fahey and Fahey-like steel string guitar explorations, Schmidt's debut cd Xanthe Terra is quite recommended. Not surprisingly, this disc is dedicated to John Fahey, but it's also dedicated to the scientists and engineers of the Mars Exploration Rover Project, as Mars exploration is a big interest of, and influence on, Mr. Schmidt. Xanthe Terra is the name of an area on Mars, in fact. And this record is Schmidt's idea of a soundtrack to accompany a mind's-eye hike on the surface of Mars! Includes one Fahey cover tune ("Dance Of The Inhabitants Of The Palace Of King Philip XIV Of Spain") and a dozen Faheyesque originals, technically graceful and sweetly melancholic. A relaxingly familiar sound with intricacies that ultimately belong to Charlie Schmidt, as watched over by the benevolent ghost of JF.
MPEG Stream: "Salem Journeys"
MPEG Stream: "Samba de Xanthe Terra"

SCHMIDT, IRMIN Gormenghast (Spoon / Mute) cd 14.98
A fantasy opera, based on Mervyn Peake's gothic novels, written by keyboardist Irmin Schmidt of krautrock legends Can. He utilizes everything from traditional operatic vocals to synthisized breakbeats to tell the story inspired by the great castle Gormenghast and its inhabitants.

SCHMIDT, IRMIN & THE INNER SPACE Kamasutra: Vollendung Der Kiebe (OST) (Crippled Dick Hot Wax) cd 17.98
Wow, it's definitely Christmas around here and how can we tell? Well, for one thing we got this amazing new soundtrack reissue that we never realized until now we have been looking for most of our adult life. It's on Crippled Dick Hot Wax, one of our fave reissue labels that we haven't heard from in years and had feared they disappeared for good. And it's another lost gem from the proto-Can universe of The Inner Space, the same early group incarnation that gave us the soundtrack to the unreleased surreal-politico film, Agilok and Blubbo!
One of our favorite Krautrock obscurities compilations from years and years ago was called Kraut Demons Kraut and two of the tracks were credited to The Can, but didn't sound like Can at all. These were pastoral and pretty with flutes and guitar, one featured very folky female vocals by Margareta Juvan called, "I'm Hiding My Nightingale", the other track was called "Kama Sutra" (billed here as "Indisches Panorama I"). We had always wondered where those recordings had come from, and how they related to Can. It wasn't until someone put this on in the store after we just got it in that it all came rushing back. Those songs were from a rare 1968 German erotic film by Kobi Jaegar called Kamasutra: Consumation Of Love and were arranged and performed by Irmin Schmidt & The Inner Space, whose then lineup of Jaki Leibeziet, Malcolm Mooney and Michael Karoli was essentially the same line-up of Can's debut full length, Monster Movie.
But much of this is different from the Can we know (though the Malcolm Mooney-sung "There Was A Man" points at what Can was to become, and Michael Karoli's simmering electric guitar lines are as signature as ever), it even sounds very different from the other Inner Space release, Agilok and Blubbo. That soundtrack was more exploratory, improvisational and experimental, while Kamasutra is much more focused and musically gorgeous. Lots of sitars, flutes, acoustic and electric guitars playing slow-burning compositions with loping repetitive rhythms. Occasionally rocking out a groove, but more often wandering through many pastoral raga-tinged extrapolations. This is the most psychedelically kosmiche recording we've ever heard from this outfit, which of course gives it our highest recommendation!
MPEG Stream: "Indisches Panorama I"
MPEG Stream: "I'm Hiding My Nightingale"
MPEG Stream: "Im Tempel"
MPEG Stream: "In Orient II"

SCHMIDT, IRMIN & THE INNER SPACE Kamasutra: Vollendung Der Kiebe (OST) (Crippled Dick Hot Wax) 2lp 22.00
Wow, it's definitely Christmas around here and how can we tell? Well, for one thing we got this amazing new soundtrack reissue that we never realized until now we have been looking for most of our adult life. It's on Crippled Dick Hot Wax, one of our fave reissue labels that we haven't heard from in years and had feared they disappeared for good. And it's another lost gem from the proto-Can universe of The Inner Space, the same early group incarnation that gave us the soundtrack to the unreleased surreal-politico film, Agilok and Blubbo!
One of our favorite Krautrock obscurities compilations from years and years ago was called Kraut Demons Kraut and two of the tracks were credited to The Can, but didn't sound like Can at all. These were pastoral and pretty with flutes and guitar, one featured very folky female vocals by Margareta Juvan called, "I'm Hiding My Nightingale", the other track was called "Kama Sutra" (billed here as "Indisches Panorama I"). We had always wondered where those recordings had come from, and how they related to Can. It wasn't until someone put this on in the store after we just got it in that it all came rushing back. Those songs were from a rare 1968 German erotic film by Kobi Jaegar called Kamasutra: Consumation Of Love and were arranged and performed by Irmin Schmidt & The Inner Space, whose then lineup of Jaki Leibeziet, Malcolm Mooney and Michael Karoli was essentially the same line-up of Can's debut full length, Monster Movie.
But much of this is different from the Can we know (though the Malcolm Mooney-sung "There Was A Man" points at what Can was to become, and Michael Karoli's simmering electric guitar lines are as signature as ever), it even sounds very different from the other Inner Space release, Agilok and Blubbo. That soundtrack was more exploratory, improvisational and experimental, while Kamasutra is much more focused and musically gorgeous. Lots of sitars, flutes, acoustic and electric guitars playing slow-burning compositions with loping repetitive rhythms. Occasionally rocking out a groove, but more often wandering through many pastoral raga-tinged extrapolations. This is the most psychedelically kosmiche recording we've ever heard from this outfit, which of course gives it our highest recommendation!
MPEG Stream: "Indisches Panorama I"
MPEG Stream: "I'm Hiding My Nightingale"
MPEG Stream: "Im Tempel"
MPEG Stream: "In Orient II"

SCHNAUSS, ULRICH A Strangely Isolated Place (Domino) cd 14.98
Mr. Schnauss builds swells of swishy guitar washs, processed vocals and melting glacial keyboard lines that bring to mind the wintry, atmospheric electronic rock likes of Mum, Magyar Posse and the Notwist, not to mention Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine (particularly on tracks such as the very shoegazey "Clear Day"). A Strangely Isolated Place is super dreamy, yet beneath Schnauss' many fuzzy, effects laden blankets lie both solid melodies and programmed rhythms that keep a steady shuffling beat for you to either just bob your head to or if you feel so inclined, twirl about like you're chasing butterflies. Schnauss fits perfectly among his blissed out Domino label brethren. Fans of the abovementioned bands should definitely give Schnauss a spin. Woozy lovely goodness!
MPEG Stream: "A Letter From Home"
MPEG Stream: "Clear Day"

SCHNAUSS, ULRICH Far Away Trains Passing By (City Center Offices) cd 14.98

SCHNAUSS, ULRICH Far Away Trains Passing By (Domino) 2cd 16.98
A 2-cd re-issue of Ulrich Schnauss's debut album, Far Away Trains Passing By, plus some lovely unreleased material. Shimmery, earnest electronic shoegaze cloaked in wonder with a touch of sadness. Sweetly pretty without tumbling into saccharine excess. Actually, as much as we love Mr. Schnauss, this also really made us yearn for our old Slowdive albums! No surprise that he was a contributer to Morr Music's compilation of Slowdive covers, "Blue Skied an' Clear."
Schnauss' work here can also be considered the opposite side of the coin from a band like M83. If M83 were a horror movie soundtrack, this could be for a fantasy film by the same director illustrating a tale of a boy riding dragons in outer space, a whimsical video game, or a rainy day dream. Recommended for fans of the above as well as of Boards of Canada and B. Fleischmann.
MPEG Stream: "...passing by"
MPEG Stream: "nobody's home"

SCHNAUSS, ULRICH Goodbye (Domino) cd 15.98
Swooooon!! He made us wait years, but finally Mr. Schnauss's follow-up to 2003's A Strangely Isolated Place has arrived! Are you ready for some epic shoegazer splendor? Well, sink your ears into this swirling blown-out shimmering dreaminess. The heavily processed and effected vocals, guitars and synthesizers are all melded together into one envelopingly dense yet somehow airy procession. Absolutely gorgeous and absolutely recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Never Be The Same"
MPEG Stream: "Shine"

SCHNAUSS, ULRICH & MARK PETERS Underrated Silence (Bureau B) cd 16.98
New record from shoegaze electronic maestro Schnauss, here joined by Mark Peters from the band Engineers. While we wait near impatiently for Schnauss's next proper full length in a couple of months, we're happy to spend time in the moody atmospheres of this latest collaborative effort. Underrated Silence takes the familiar synth washes we've come to expect with Schnauss, and tempers them with Peters' Robyn Guthrie-style guitar treatments. The mood is frosty, but beautifully dreamy, taking in the crisp vibrancy of a clear winter's day (which sadly we didn't have much of this year). While not necessarily typical of Schnauss's more pop-oriented recordings, Underrated Silence plays out as more cinematic and mysterious with more experimental edges in sound, and is a welcome addition to his too short discography. Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "The Messiah Is Falling"
MPEG Stream: "Forgotten"
MPEG Stream: "Amoxicilin"

SCHNAUSS, ULRICH & MARK PETERS Underrated Silence (Bureau B) lp+cd 17.98
New record from shoegaze electronic maestro Schnauss, here joined by Mark Peters from the band Engineers. While we wait near impatiently for Schnauss's next proper full length in a couple of months, we're happy to spend time in the moody atmospheres of this latest collaborative effort. Underrated Silence takes the familiar synth washes we've come to expect with Schnauss, and tempers them with Peters' Robyn Guthrie-style guitar treatments. The mood is frosty, but beautifully dreamy, taking in the crisp vibrancy of a clear winter's day (which sadly we didn't have much of this year). While not necessarily typical of Schnauss's more pop-oriented recordings, Underrated Silence plays out as more cinematic and mysterious with more experimental edges in sound, and is a welcome addition to his too short discography. Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "The Messiah Is Falling"
MPEG Stream: "Forgotten"
MPEG Stream: "Amoxicilin"

SCHNITZLER, CONRAD 10.10.84 (Mirror Tapes) cassette 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Once a member of Tangerine Dream and Kluster, Conrad Schnitzler evolved into one of the most distinctive artists within the Krautrock scene. Through such seminal albums as Ballet Statique and Con, Schnitzler developed an uncompromising aesthetic that blossomed beyond the cosmic expansiveness of his fellow psychedelic journeymen and into oblique experiments whose bleak results were the templates that inspired post-industrial expressionists such as MB, Giancarlo Toniutti, Arcane Device, and Cranioclast, not to forget about his impact on the works of Emeralds, Omit, and Oneohtrix Point Never.
10.10.84 is a document of one of Schnitzler's 'kassetten konzert', during which he played back a number of pre-recorded cassettes through upwards of six decks that he would sometimes suspend from a belt around his waste and broadcast through a megaphone wired to a metal helmet that he wore on his head. Given his studies with Joseph Beuys in the '60s, one could postulate that these performances might also warrant some theatrical gestures given the mobility of this set-up. For this konzert recorded in Berlin, Schnitzler overlays sweeping oscillations, clouds of static, and nervous electronic percolations, all of which hold a metallic sheen as if each of these sounds could sharpen knives intent on scraping out the collective inner ear canal of the audience. While the step sequencing of his more accessible works isn't all that present, scattershot firings of horror-laden synth notes burst throughout Schnitzler's signature use of heavily filtered electrical tones. Limited to 250 copies, of which we probably have the last ones.

SCHNITZLER, CONRAD Ballet Statique (M=Minimal) lp 16.98
An album that launched thousands of better known records, Ballet Statique is Conrad Schniztler's masterpiece. Schnitzler, of course, was a maverick in the Krautrock community, having been an original member of both Tangerine Dream and Kluster, and later developing an expressive language of tape collage and electronic synthesis which expanded upon his early studies with Joseph Beuys. His most influential works, however, came out in the late '70s following an almost serialist body of work based on the poetics of various colors through electronic sound, eventually leading to Ballet Statique. It was originally released with the title 'Con' back in 1978 through the Barclay funded Egg Records, Ballet Statique is a skeletal distillation of progressive electronics into a bleak hypnosis of rotating melodies, atonal slashes of synthetic noise, and proto-techno rhythmic propulsion. While this album has been reissued a few times since it's original release, the current infatuation with late '70s electronics - especially through the psychedelic and minimal-wave sensibilities - make this reissue especially timely. "Electric Garden" is one of those elegantly simple pieces of electronica with an abstracted, almost random melody guiding Schnitzler's rigid step sequence cast in a cosmic shower of delay ripples with bent electro-shock noises sliding up and down against his motorik drum machine. From a track like this, one can see where Aphex Twin would have been able to make such a profound break from rave culture with these head-spinning sequences. "Metall 1" is all space-dust and comet debris hung weightlessly through Schnitzler's ominous undulations of bright synthetic shimmers and lurching rumbles of metallic low-end, clearly the inspiration for pretty much everything that John Elliott of Emeralds has ever touched. The deep-space sonor pulses of "Black Nails" reprise the tone-bent noises Schnitzler produced on "Electric Garden," looking forward to the robotic bleakness of Monoton, Dome, and Omit. It's pretty shocking how good this record is, and how timeless it sounds, even with the current strain of '70s revivalism. So highly recommended, it's actually embarrassing that we've not written about this record sooner.

SCHNITZLER, CONRAD Blau (Marginal Talent) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This rare album (only 500 copies of the LP were originally issued in 1974) is now finally reissued on cd! "Blau" (Blue) is the second solo effort from legendary krautrock electronics pioneer Conrad Schnitzler, following his amazing debut "Rot" (Red) and his late sixties work with Tangerine Dream (on their freaked-out debut "Electronic Meditation") and with Moebius and Roedelius in the original Kluster. As you might expect, this is moody, dark, rhythmical proto-electronica somewhere between Morton Subotnick and today's Ovals and the like. Burbling tones meet spiralling buzz-drones and flickering, glitch-like bleeps in hypnotically building patterns. Essential stuff. This cd includes six unreleased bonus tracks we're told were recorded at the same time period as the original LP, although they're a lot more aggressive and overtly mad-scientist like than "Blau" proper. Only complaint: no liner notes!
RealAudio clip: "Jupiter"
RealAudio clip: "Blau bonus track 1"

SCHNITZLER, CONRAD Blau (Captain Trip) cd 25.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The third privately pressed release in his color series, recorded in 1973 and released in 1974, these are further improvisations with sustained organ tones and the Synthi A. Schnitzler gets even further into the sequencer on this one -- if Rot inevitably builds to those cyclical rhythms, Blau wastes no time in warming them up and letting them run. To some ears, this is a place you'd never want to leave, to some others, it means there's less variation on this record than on Rot, which is certainly the one to start with before proceeding to this one. There's also a suite of tracks called 'Wild Space', which the liner notes claim were also recorded in 1973 -- though one would have reason to be suspicious of the very modern drum machine & the high fidelity recording which is completely unlike anything else in the series. (guest review by AQ pal Jon "Wobbly" Leidecker)
MPEG Stream: "Jupiter"
MPEG Stream: "Wild Space 6"

SCHNITZLER, CONRAD Blau (Very Good Records) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Here's an unexpected set of reissues: vinyl versions of two classic krautrock albums by electronica pioneer Conrad Schnitzler. They're legit, done from master tapes we're told.
This rare album (only 500 copies of the LP were originally issued in 1974) was the second solo effort from legendary krautrock electronics pioneer Conrad Schnitzler, following his amazing debut "Rot" (Red) and his late sixties work with Tangerine Dream (on their freaked-out debut "Electronic Meditation") and with Moebius and Roedelius in the original Kluster. As you might expect, this is moody, dark, rhythmical proto-electronica somewhere between Morton Subotnick and today's Ovals and the like. Burbling tones meet spiralling buzz-drones and flickering, glitch-like bleeps in hypnotically building patterns. There's a cd version of this that has bonus tracks (this doesn't) but on the other hand this is on appropriately blue vinyl, in a blue sleeve, how nice.
RealAudio clip: "Jupiter"

SCHNITZLER, CONRAD Gelb (Captian Trip) cd 25.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Recorded in 1974, Schnitzler works on shorter pieces and individual moods this time around -- though the basic range of sounds flows in a way that makes for a coherent album. Gradually pushing towards actual melodies improvised over eerie drones, this is mirage music that instantly sets a mood the second it begins its first, long, slow fade up. As it goes on, the tracks get simpler and simpler, but though some gearhounds with a vintage collection might overhear a few seconds of this and decry the ease with which such music can be made -- we all know what happens when most of them try. This is a good album. (guest review by AQ pal Jon "Wobbly" Leidecker)
MPEG Stream: "Gelb 1"
MPEG Stream: "Gelb 7"

SCHNITZLER, CONRAD Gelb (Plate Lunch) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
"Gelb" is an unreleased 1974 album produced by the iconoclastic electronic musician Conrad Schnitzler, who sought to demystify the academic strangle hold on electronic music in reducing all of the avant garde techniques and ideas into a simple interplay of tonal color. Often realized as overlapping electronic patterns, cyclical rhythms, and synthetic swooshes, Schnitzler's early '70s compositions appear now as the prototypes of a lot of modern day electronica, especially IDM, ambient, and techno. "Gelb" does sound a little dated, due to the less than perfect recording conditions and the limited palette of electronic sounds, but the sweeping, space-age surfaces of Schnitzler's electronic tones and jittery drum machine arpeggiations are as good as anything he released during that time. Vinyl only.

SCHNITZLER, CONRAD Grun (Captain Trip) cd 25.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The last of the five 'color' releases is the Green one. The original LP consisted of two very long, elegantly minimal environmental pieces. "Der Reise Und Seine Frau" from 1976 features an endlessly wandering synth solo, meandering over a very distorted & churning drum machine loop without much development for 32 minutes. The synth patch is a very modest one, but pretty enough: Schnitzler for Mother. There's a lot more going on in 1980's "Bis Die Blaue Blume Bluht": interlocking, circular melodies looping endlessly over a percolating Wurlitzer rhythm for 20 minutes. A very tropical mood: imagine Kraftwerk's "Ananas Symphonie" without the Hawaiian slide guitar left looping for the night and you're halfway there. The original vinyl encouraged playback at both 33 and 45 rpm, so unsurprisingly the 14 minute bonus track is "Bis Die Blaue Blume Bluht / 45" -- although, surprisingly, the piece isn't simply pitched up, it's digitally time compressed to a faster tempo without actually changing its pitch, so you basically get a 35 minute version of the piece that picks up the pace about halfway through. Grun might seem a bit modest compared to the untamed worlds of Schwartz and Rot, but I have to admit that this pleasantly relentless album won me over by the end. (guest review by AQ pal Jon "Wobbly" Leidecker)
MPEG Stream: "Der Reise Und Seine Frau"
MPEG Stream: "Bis Die Blaue Blume Bluht"

SCHNITZLER, CONRAD Klavierhelm (Important) cd 14.98

SCHNITZLER, CONRAD Live '72 (Further) 2lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
First, before we get into the review, we should mention that this double lp is housed in an oversized French paper hand silk-screened jacket. While it's a beautiful package, the combination of its oversized shape and the delicacy of the material means it's prone to damage in shipping, and of course all the copies we have received arrived a bit bent up. The label has no replacement covers so this is all we're going to get. We've taken a couple dollars off the price to compensate a bit, but those who are more fastidious about the shape of their vinyl sleeves, might want to steer clear of this, as we won't be able to replace them. Sorry about that!
But WOW!, this is a beautiful double lp live set from 1972 by the late experimental kosmiche composer, Conrad Schnitzler. Salvaged from decaying tapes of a performance for an art exhibition, the sounds on this are like a multifaceted sci-fi ballet. The coordination of individual electronic sounds operating in harmonic tandem of each other showcases a brilliant array of synthesis and restraint, while at the same time emanating a warm centrally vibrant core. For some reason in some of our minds we always have this impression that Conrad Schnitzler was the most abstract and cold of the German musicians of this period, but lately with each new reissue that becomes available, that impression is proven wrong time and time again. This is a gorgeous set, as essential as any of his key recordings from this era. And as usual, crazy limited, ONLY 1000 COPIES and at this point almost gone so act fast!

SCHNITZLER, CONRAD Rot (Captain Trip) cd 25.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This album was the first true Conrad solo album -- in 1972 he bought an EMS Synthi A and began making dozens of sprawling, improvised recordings, which were then slowly composed into two side long pieces, "Meditation" and "Krautrock", and privately released as Rot in 1973. Whereas other electronic bands were already moving well into traditionally melodic realms by this point, Schnitzler stays uncompromisingly abstract. There are notes and drones held down by the organ, but they're all hand-tuned and fairly searing, with tons of utterly unnatural high end -- this is the pure stuff, looking ahead. Side one keeps a horrorshow organ chord floating in the background as the Synthi A lets loose with a landscape of pings, sweeps and drills, but it's all warm up for side two, which wastes no time in firing up the ring modulated drum machine and distorted organ for a freefall duel, as the Synthi Insect & Smartbomb Chorus slowly jacks up the volume and distortion. There's also an excellent 25 minute bonus track from the same year, "Red Dream", which culminates in an endlessly spiraling clockwork arpeggio that never quite repeats itself, looking forward to the sounds that Schnitzler would eventually master on his late period, out of print masterpiece Con (aka Ballet Statique). But this is the genesis, a fantastic, bent record. (guest review by AQ pal Jon "Wobbly" Leidecker)
MPEG Stream: "Krautrock"
MPEG Stream: "Red Dream"

SCHNITZLER, CONRAD Rot (Very Good Records) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Here's an unexpected set of reissues: vinyl versions of two classic krautrock albums by electronica pioneer Conrad Schnitzler. They're legit, done from master tapes we're told.
"Rot" (Red) was Con's amazing 1973 solo debut. Intense science-fictional bleep-drone, with ironic titles like (side one) "Meditation" and even "Krautrock" (side two). It's totally dark (but a little silly too). The Plate Lunch cd reissue of this we used to stock is now out of print, so that makes this new LP version even more essential. Of course, this vinyl reissue is pressed on red wax, in a red sleeve.
RealAudio clip: " Meditation"

SCHNITZLER, CONRAD Schwarz (Captain Trip) cd 25.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Ten thousand cheers to Captain Trip Records for reissuing all five of Conrad Schnitzler's Color Albums. Originally available only in private pressings, and only sporadically available since then, this cycle included his first solo albums and his first forays into purely electronic music. Before these, Schnitzler had already been a founding member of Tangerine Dream and Kluster (who renamed themselves Cluster after Schnitzler's departure).
His first 'solo' album, Schwartz, is technically the third Kluster album, a trio improvisation by Schnitzler, Moebius and Roedelius -- and was actually reissued as such on cd in the '90s as Eruption. Similar in sound to the first two albums, we hear a variety of traditional instruments (cellos, drums, guitars, organs) played in the most rudimentary manner possible, treating them as raw sources that are then filtered, delayed, and otherwise processed into a bizarre and barely recognizable cavern of pure sound. There actually aren't any synthesizers on this record -- the sounds are all vaguely acoustic in nature, though transformed into something very alien. Whereas their first two albums were commissioned by a Church on the condition that the records also contain strangely religious spoken word texts, this album is purely instrumental -- but more than that, they just get much further out this time -- this is the best of their three records. Though not as compositionally refined as the astonishing Cluster '71 that Moebius and Roedelius would go on to create with Conny Plank, this gains points for audibly being a live performance. A very ahead of its time one at that -- bands are beginning to sound like these records again now, 35 years later -- if you've been spending quality time with Yellow Swans and Skaters cdr-rs recently, you will definitely dig this record from out of their mind Germans playing in a basement 35 years ago, and hitting the source.
This new edition adds a four minute soundcheck from a different trio -- Schnitzler, Freudigmann & Seidel. Otherwise it's identical to the 1997 CD reissue. (guest review by AQ pal Jon "Wobbly" Leidecker)
MPEG Stream: "Eruption 1"
MPEG Stream: "Eruption 2"

SCHNITZLER, CONRAD The Piano Works, Vol. 1 (Platelunch) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Not really new, but I don't think we listed it before. Krautrock/electronica pioneer Schnitzler (original member of Kluster, with a long solo career) sets aside the synths and investigates actual piano sounds on this release. Of course, these compositions are not humanly playable--a computer has assisted with the process. Kind of an update on Conlon Nancarrow's player piano pieces, or doing for piano playing what drum and bass programming does for human drumming... Insane stuff, but not utterly chaotic--this is really melodic and quite musical. Schnitzler, indeed, remains a genius.

SCHNITZLER, CONRAD Trigger Trilogy (Important) 3cd 28.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SCHNITZLER, CONRAD Zug (Qbico) lp 25.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SCHNITZLER, CONRAD & WOLFGANG SEIDEL Consequenz 010B (Mirror Tapes) cassette 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
So often you might read about an album we carry here at Aquarius that sounds as if it were recorded in a bunker, a tomb, a sewer, a cave, a warehouse, or some other nasty, gritty space whose nastiness and grittiness seeps into the recording itself. As much as we would like for each of those times we make such allusions to be true, it's actually quite rare that musicians would record an album in such a location. Conrad Schnitzler and Wolfgang Seidel have done just that, as they brought a bunch of synthesizers down to an abandoned cellar at the Tempelhof Airport in Berlin to record this excellent set of Kosmische electronic blorp. Schnitzler, of course, is a Krautrock legend having worked with the earliest incarnations of Tangerine Dream and the first sessions in Kluster (before the K became a C), and moving on to producing some of the finest examples of claustrophobic proto-electronica from the Krautrock era (e.g. Con and Ballet Statique). Seidel had worked with Schnitzler in the aforementioned Kluster as well as Eruption way back in the day, with sporadic collaborations throughout the past couple of decades. It's impossible to tell who's doing what on this recording of oblique electronic mashings that are equally psychedelic and claustrophobic. Warbling structures of algorithmically complex patterns get torn apart with thrumming electronic noises, weird semi-melodic clunkery, and mad-scientist erratic behaviors. Consequenz 010B is a full 65 minutes in length, but it's limited to 250 copies of which we have limited stock.

SCHNITZLER, CONRAD / BORNGRABER & STRUVER Con-Struct (M=Minimal) cd 17.98
We were so saddened by the recent passing of krautrock legend Conrad Schnitzler, a one-time member of both Tangerine Dream and Kluster, who then went on to create one of THEE most incredible bodies of solo work of perhaps any of the krautrockers. This record is not so much a proper Schnitzler record, as it is a strange sort of collaboration. It seems that Schnitzler was forever recording sounds from his many electronic synthesizers, creating an expansive music library, from which all of these sounds were taken. Borngraber and Struver, who run the M=Minimal label, were afforded the opportunity to go through Schnitzler's library, and create a series of new compositions, and Con-Struct is the result.
It's difficult to suss out how much of this is pure Schnitzler, and how much of it is Borngraber & Struver, but really it hardly matters, much of this definitely sounds like a Schnitzler record, the krautrock vibe is big, but there's also definitely a sort of minimal techno vibe, the record opens with a gorgeous stretch of deep buzzing pulses and percolating rhythms, the mood haunting and slightly sinister, all laced with swirls of electronics and thick swells of rumbling whir, before giving way to the following track, which has more of a Kompakt vibe to it. But even here, that minimal techno rhythm is wreathed in swirls of dark layered thrum, and mournful minor key melodies, the sound trancelike and cyclical, which is how most of the record plays out, each track essentially a simple looped arrangement, the core sound and rhythm repeated for the length of the track, while the various elements shift gradually, and all around it various sounds swirl and shimmer. Our only complaint really is that all of the tracks could have been stretched WAY out, and turned into epics even more trancey and hypnotic.
But overall, the mood is surprisingly dark and haunting, the occasional almost house-y rhythm or skittery groove, does little to take away from the record's darkly cast sonic shadows, the swirling low end, the rumbling drones, the thick bassy buzz, the melancholy melodies, it's pretty much the perfect slab of dark minimal rhythmic krautdrone mesmer.
MPEG Stream: "Con-Struct 1"
MPEG Stream: "Con-Struct 2"
MPEG Stream: "Con-Struct 3"

SCHNITZLER, CONRAD / BORNGRABER & STRUVER Con-Struct (M=Minimal) lp 19.98
We were so saddened by the recent passing of krautrock legend Conrad Schnitzler, a one-time member of both Tangerine Dream and Kluster, who then went on to create one of THEE most incredible bodies of solo work of perhaps any of the krautrockers. This record is not so much a proper Schnitzler record, as it is a strange sort of collaboration. It seems that Schnitzler was forever recording sounds from his many electronic synthesizers, creating an expansive music library, from which all of these sounds were taken. Borngraber and Struver, who run the M=Minimal label, were afforded the opportunity to go through Schnitzler's library, and create a series of new compositions, and Con-Struct is the result.
It's difficult to suss out how much of this is pure Schnitzler, and how much of it is Borngraber & Struver, but really it hardly matters, much of this definitely sounds like a Schnitzler record, the krautrock vibe is big, but there's also definitely a sort of minimal techno vibe, the record opens with a gorgeous stretch of deep buzzing pulses and percolating rhythms, the mood haunting and slightly sinister, all laced with swirls of electronics and thick swells of rumbling whir, before giving way to the following track, which has more of a Kompakt vibe to it. But even here, that minimal techno rhythm is wreathed in swirls of dark layered thrum, and mournful minor key melodies, the sound trancelike and cyclical, which is how most of the record plays out, each track essentially a simple looped arrangement, the core sound and rhythm repeated for the length of the track, while the various elements shift gradually, and all around it various sounds swirl and shimmer. Our only complaint really is that all of the tracks could have been stretched WAY out, and turned into epics even more trancey and hypnotic.
But overall, the mood is surprisingly dark and haunting, the occasional almost house-y rhythm or skittery groove, does little to take away from the record's darkly cast sonic shadows, the swirling low end, the rumbling drones, the thick bassy buzz, the melancholy melodies, it's pretty much the perfect slab of dark minimal rhythmic krautdrone mesmer.
MPEG Stream: "Con-Struct 1"
MPEG Stream: "Con-Struct 2"
MPEG Stream: "Con-Struct 3"

SCHOLASTIC DETH Final Examiner (Laja Rekords) cd 10.98
Besides drumming for grind gods Spazz (as well as loads of other grind / fastcore band that found themselves in need of a kick ass drummer) and being one of the nicest guys ever, Mr. Max Ward somehow found time to go to school, run a record label (the awesome 625!) and front this band of well read uber-nerds! Scholastic Deth wasn't just a name for these punks, it was a way of life. All four members are or were or are about to be in grad school and don't hesitate to tackle serious subject matter in their lyrics and in between song banter. But it's not preachy or Fugazi-like. These guys are funny and dorky and engaging as well as being smart! And as you might then imagine, the HUGE book of liner notes is an awesome read, with the stories and anecdotes behind each song often stretching significantly farther than the three of four lines of lyrics. In fact, the record will be long over by the time you plow through the emminently readable liner notes. The Deth spit out brief, blinding explosions of pummelling punk rock fury, 50 tracks in 43 minutes of buzzing lightning fast riffing, chaotic, confusional drumming and Max's earnest shouted vocals. While there -are- metallic moments, this is more punk than metal, more grind than thrash, but heavy and noisy and fun as fuck. Also includes a video collection of various live performances playable on your computer. The whole package is nicely designed like punk rock Cliff's notes too!
MPEG Stream: "The Revolution Will Not Be Posted On Ebay"
MPEG Stream: "Bookstore Bore"
MPEG Stream: "Cheetos"
MPEG Stream: "Kill 'Em With Politics"

SCHOLOMANCE The Immortality Murder (The End) 2cd 12.98
This band offers a bouquet made of slide rules and roses ('cause they play technical, math-metal with gothic/romantic keyboard flourishes). They're maybe the heaviest, most intense band to make piano a major part of their sound (Alboth! excepted). Definitely one for fans of (recent) Emperor, Death, Atheist, and such like. Super complex, relentlessly proggy death/black metal with bombastic piano and synth backing, and lots of vicious RRraAAarraaarRRrr vocals. Dizzying, brutal, symphonic stuff. And there's a second, bonus disc featuring instrumental versions of songs from disc 1 geared towards progressive rock fans who can't deal with the extreme metal vocal stylings! The bonus disc also includes some lovely piano improvisations. These virtuosos hail from Missouri of all places (not Sweden or Norway as expected).
RealAudio clip: "Part I: Absence/Contorted Porelain-faced bitch"
RealAudio clip: "Part II: Childless One.../The Body As Sulphur Stench"

SCHOOF, MANFRED European Echoes (Atavistic / Unheard Music Series) cd 14.98
Another "Archive FMP Edition" from Atavistic's Unheard Music Series. This 1969 recording features a veritable who's who of '60s/'70s Euro improv folks: Peter Brotzmann, Evan Parker, Derek Bailey, Fred Van Hove, Alexander Von Schlippenbach, Irene Schweizer, Peter Kowald, Han Bennink, trumpter/bandleader Schoof himself of course, and quite a few others. The usual suspects, in other words -- assembled into a big band with three pianists, three sax players, three trumpeters, three bassists, and two drummers, plus guitar and trombone (maybe this tripling of most instruments is where the "echoes" in the title comes from, although echoes are rarely this intense). Yes, as you might expect from such a large grouping, this is loud, powerful stuff, with solos from everyone and much massed music-making -- a blast of freedom sounds that heralded the birth of the Free Music Productions label and the new jazz scene FMP would promote. Two tracks (two LP sides) of about 15 minutes duration each, historically significant and still sonically fearsome. Crank it up!
RealAudio clip: "Part 1"

SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS Alpinisms (Ghostly) cd 12.98
We're a bit late on the draw for this, but it's taken awhile for this record to fully sink in and work its mysterious magic. Like a hybrid of The Knife and M83, these electro-dream popsters make intriguing and dynamic shoe-gazey ear candy, that both baffles and delights. A fine self-assured debut!
MPEG Stream: "Iamundernodisguise"
MPEG Stream: "Wired For Light"
MPEG Stream: "For Kalaja Mari"

SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS Alpinisms (Ghostly) lp 14.98
We're a bit late on the draw for this, but it's taken awhile for this record to fully sink in and work its mysterious magic. Like a hybrid of The Knife and M83, these electro-dream popsters make intriguing and dynamic shoe-gazey ear candy, that both baffles and delights. A fine self-assured debut!
MPEG Stream: "Iamundernodisguise"
MPEG Stream: "Wired For Light"
MPEG Stream: "For Kalaja Mari"

SCHOOL OF VELOCITY *homework* (Grob) cd 16.98
Evan Parker et. al.

SCHOTT, JOHN In These Great Times (Tzadik) cd 15.98
San Francisco guitarist Schott (Junk Genius, T.J. Kirk, etc.) with his first solo record, released by John Zorn's Tzadik label as part of their "Radical Jewish Culture" series. Features Trevor Dunn of Mr. Bungle by the way.

SCHOTT, JOHN Shuffle Play: Elegies For The Recording Angel (New World Records) cd 15.98

SCHRAT Schattenwahn (Misanthropic Art Productions) cd 13.98
This is the second full length from this German black metal horde, and like most black metal records, opens with an intro (or 'Prolog' here), but this intro had us immediately mesmerized, sounding like some strange organ driven seventies soundtrack, all Goblin-y and Carpenter-ish, creaking guitar strings simulating rusty old hinges, while the organ metes out a creepy ominous funereal dirge, all underpinned by an ominous low end fog horn like drone, we secretly found ourselves hoping the band weren't actually black metal, that despite the illegible logo and the grim black and white artwork and the corpse painted band members (who do look seriously bad ass to be fair), they were in fact ambient soundtrackers or experimental soundscapers, but our disappointment when discovering that they were indeed a black metal band, lasted about ten seconds, before we were totally won over, and sucked into their buzzing, howling, frosty maelstrom of grimbuzz and blackblast, a creepy almost atmospheric doomed out beginning, gives way to a furious frenetic black blowout, that again surprisingly switches gears and infuses their buzzing blackness with some classic metal style riffery, some weirdly hooky melody, and some killer almost punkish riffing, all of this delivered with a fury and intensity that is exactly why we love true grim black metal. There's nothing super experimental about this stuff, or more accurately fucked up or weird. There is definitely an experimental bent, but it's subtly woven into the fabric of these gloriously black missives, the opener alone is a dizzying epic, that flits from doomy churn, to pounding classic metal, to soaring majestic blackness, to gnarled grinding buzz, the guitars thick and caustic, the drumming an avalanche of blasts and pounds, and the vocals, a demonic rasp, that all adds up to some seriously classic modern blackness. The record finishes off with an outro that mirrors the Goblin/Carpenter aspirations of the intro, all operatic and mysterious, with a strange spoken word over circusy organs and soaring strings, clouds of ethereal angelic vox, perfectly bookending the black buzz that lies in between.
MPEG Stream: "Mal Der Schande"
MPEG Stream: "Schwarze Brut"
MPEG Stream: "Transzendenz"

SCHREI AUS STEIN Talus (Starlight Temple Society) cd-r 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We've long been a fan of Encomiast, never tiring of his gorgeous drone explorations, so when we discovered that the man behind Encomiast also had a black metal band, it seemed like a no brainer, and indeed, the music of Schrei Aus Stein manages to fuse Encomiast's deep rumbling drone music, with a strangely washed out and hypnotic midtempo buzz drenched black metal, this is not blazing riffy thrashing black metal, no this is a murky sprawling blackened oozing blackness, the riffs super distorted to the point of almost becoming drones themselves, the vocals are buried in the mix, the drums are simple and skeletal, the buzz and black infused with haunting melodies, the songs heaving and lumbering, the overall sound very Burzumic, but also weirdly poppy and melodic, not glaringly so, but within the swirling black mass of sound, melodies creep out only to disappear again, a few of the tracks sound almost gothic, with a bit of a cold wave vibe, definitely some Joy Divisiony low end going on in the background.
Another song starts out all high end Sunroof! style ur-drone, only to splinter into a loping depressive black metal pound, while another is all slow building and doomy, a little post rocky, with soaring riffs and simple motorik drumming, and the final track is all slow motion SUNNO))) dirge, which quickly gives way to something much more melodic and pretty, a sort of shoegazey soft doom, that slowly builds to a wall of blurred noise, only to finally explode in a frenzy of blasting flute flecked proggy black metal tangle, eventually blissing out into yet more shoegazey dreaminess, before fading into streaks of effected flute.
Housed in a DVD case, with photocopied insert, and LIMITED TO 200 COPIES!!
MPEG Stream: "Serac"
MPEG Stream: "Lenticulars"
MPEG Stream: "Crevasses"

SCHREIFELS, WALTER An Open Letter To The Scene (Academy Fight Song) cd 13.98
When we recently posted our top ten lists for 2011, some folks might have noticed Andee's top spot was a record we had never actually reviewed or listed, but it wasn't for lack of trying. It was actually released way back in 2010, but we didn't even hear about it until 2011, and then it took until 2012 for us to actually get enough copies in to review. Lots of aQ folks probably recognize Schreifels' name, whether it's as the frontman for nineties post punk combo Quicksand, or more recently in Rival School, but even before Quicksand Schreifels played in legendary NY hardcore outfits Youth Of Today and Gorilla Biscuits! But don't be expecting anything remotely hardcore or punk rock (although there are nods to those days, more on that in a second), the sound here is much more classic indie pop jangle, which is really the direction Schreifels had been moving in anyway since the end of Quicksand, with Rival Schools, World's Fastest Car and now solo.
An open Letter To The Scene is crazy catchy, jangly indie pop, and from the very first play, we found ourselves spinning it constantly, over and over on a daily basis, much to the displeasure of the less pop inclined, but it's that sort of irresistible collection of songs, and again, as with every subsequent record, we can't understand why mainstream success continues to elude Schreifels, the songs here are so much catchier and hookier and more original than 90 percent of the indie rock we hear, but it's probably that whole original thing that throws people off, but for the rest of us, who like our pop smart, and quirky, catchy, crunchy and fuzzy, and jangly, well, this record is pretty tough to beat. We're tempted to go through the record song by song, but we'd probably end up just gushing crazily about how every song is SO CATCHY and SO GREAT, but hell, every song here IS so catchy and great, from dark strummy almost-ballads, to big jangly power pop, from intimate bedroom pop to fuzzy poppy classic indie rock, all driven by Schreifels' distinctive vocals, a little bit gruff but super warm and melodic, the sound rife with strange cool lush arrangements, and subtly trippy production, and then there the abovementioned nods to his punk rock past.
First there's a killer cover of Agnostic Front's "Society Suckers", which works surprisingly well as an acoustic guitar and bongo driven chunk of strum and jangle, there's also a new version of "Don't Gotta Prove It", originally recorded by another one of Schreifels' early outfits, the melodic hardcore group CIV, here transformed into a killer slab of distorto guitar and organ driven fuzz pop stomp, and that's not to mention liberal lyrical references to various bands and hardcore musicians and reappropriations from classic hardcore songs (one pointed out in the lyrics borrowed from Warzone!), but they're so subtle and work so well with the music and the lyrical content, that you might not even notice it at first (if at all), it's just part and parcel of Schreifels' twisted indie pop sound, which is a sound we somehow STILL haven't tired of, even after literally listening to this record almost daily for the last year. The only thing that might get us to stop, is the supposed impending release of a brand new record. But until then, we'll keep digging this one. And we're betting the popfans that read the aQ list will too.
MPEG Stream: "Save The Saveables"
MPEG Stream: "Wild Pandas"
MPEG Stream: "Requiem"
MPEG Stream: "Society Suckers"

SCHREIFELS, WALTER An Open Letter To The Scene (Academy Fight Song) lp 15.98
When we recently posted our top ten lists for 2011, some folks might have noticed Andee's top spot was a record we had never actually reviewed or listed, but it wasn't for lack of trying. It was actually released way back in 2010, but we didn't even hear about it until 2011, and then it took until 2012 for us to actually get enough copies in to review. Lots of aQ folks probably recognize Schreifels' name, whether it's as the frontman for nineties post punk combo Quicksand, or more recently in Rival School, but even before Quicksand Schreifels played in legendary NY hardcore outfits Youth Of Today and Gorilla Biscuits! But don't be expecting anything remotely hardcore or punk rock (although there are nods to those days, more on that in a second), the sound here is much more classic indie pop jangle, which is really the direction Schreifels had been moving in anyway since the end of Quicksand, with Rival Schools, World's Fastest Car and now solo.
An open Letter To The Scene is crazy catchy, jangly indie pop, and from the very first play, we found ourselves spinning it constantly, over and over on a daily basis, much to the displeasure of the less pop inclined, but it's that sort of irresistible collection of songs, and again, as with every subsequent record, we can't understand why mainstream success continues to elude Schreifels, the songs here are so much catchier and hookier and more original than 90 percent of the indie rock we hear, but it's probably that whole original thing that throws people off, but for the rest of us, who like our pop smart, and quirky, catchy, crunchy and fuzzy, and jangly, well, this record is pretty tough to beat. We're tempted to go through the record song by song, but we'd probably end up just gushing crazily about how every song is SO CATCHY and SO GREAT, but hell, every song here IS so catchy and great, from dark strummy almost-ballads, to big jangly power pop, from intimate bedroom pop to fuzzy poppy classic indie rock, all driven by Schreifels' distinctive vocals, a little bit gruff but super warm and melodic, the sound rife with strange cool lush arrangements, and subtly trippy production, and then there the abovementioned nods to his punk rock past.
First there's a killer cover of Agnostic Front's "Society Suckers", which works surprisingly well as an acoustic guitar and bongo driven chunk of strum and jangle, there's also a new version of "Don't Gotta Prove It", originally recorded by another one of Schreifels' early outfits, the melodic hardcore group CIV, here transformed into a killer slab of distorto guitar and organ driven fuzz pop stomp, and that's not to mention liberal lyrical references to various bands and hardcore musicians and reappropriations from classic hardcore songs (one pointed out in the lyrics borrowed from Warzone!), but they're so subtle and work so well with the music and the lyrical content, that you might not even notice it at first (if at all), it's just part and parcel of Schreifels' twisted indie pop sound, which is a sound we somehow STILL haven't tired of, even after literally listening to this record almost daily for the last year. The only thing that might get us to stop, is the supposed impending release of a brand new record. But until then, we'll keep digging this one. And we're betting the popfans that read the aQ list will too.
MPEG Stream: "Save The Saveables"
MPEG Stream: "Wild Pandas"
MPEG Stream: "Requiem"
MPEG Stream: "Society Suckers"

SCHULLER, JOHN Lesser Angel of Failure (World Misery) cd 13.98
Quirky, mostly instrumental tracks reminiscent of the Sun City Girls ethno-ambient forays, or the Residents' Eskimo. So it should come as no surprise that sometimes SCG collaborator Eyvind Kang appears here and that both the Girls and Alan Bishop are thanked within. The ten pensive, meandering compositions here include a wide variety of instrumentaion including piano, viola, recorder, bathtub, various percussion (including taos drum timpani), zither, harmonica, saz, mandolin, casio, guitar and more. Nice.
MPEG Stream: "Kweekamae Mao"
MPEG Stream: "Bulimian Rhapsody"

SCHULTZ, STEVEN I Forgot To Get A Rap Name (Spam Records) cd 8.98
This Schultz classic has been redone, rerecorded (!) and repackaged for those of you that missed out the first time. Here's what we had to say about it:
You may have seen Steven Schultz reading and eating donuts in the front row of the Mayhem show. Or you may remember him in pigtails and pajamas eating prunes in the pit at the Hammers Of Misfortune show. Or you may remember his hilarious and amazing lo-fi Naked City-ish 'History Of Vats' cd from a few years back. Or you may not know him at all. This cd marks SS's first recorded foray into the world of rap music, and boy, it's something. Musically notable for the fact that the instruments are all real (all played by the multitalented Steve), and dramatically notable for the fact that the skits are all acted out by Steven's friends. And then there's the rapping. White and whiney as you may have expected, but lyrically, well, no one could have expected anyone to take on the persona of a rapping pirate ('Call Me Pinkbeard'), a rapping whale ('Fuck A Harpoon'), a rapping goth ('I Got Bigger Hair Than Robert Smith'), or a rapping eskimo ('Maniac With An Igloo'). Then there's Steve's attack on rap-metal ('Rap-Metal Is Funny')... Yes, it's incredibly dumb, but undeniably fucked and funny. Self-produced cd-r with color cover (art by Steve) and oh-so-essential lyric sheet. Maybe not the next Eminem, but perhaps the next MC Paul Barman?
RealAudio clip: "Fuck A Harpoon"
RealAudio clip: "Call Me Pinkbeard, Mistress Of The High Seas"