SKOGSBERG, JOAKIM Jola Rota (Subliminal Sound) lp 32.00
NOW ON VINYL!! Yes! Back in 2008 when we listed the Japanese import, Tiliqua label cd edition of this fantastic reissue and made it a Record Of The Week, we promised folks that there was going to be a super limited vinyl version too on Tiliqua coming out few months later, and people scrambled to pre-order it... but it never ever materialized. We hoped and waited but it never came out. Not sure what happened, but thankfully, though, at long last the Subliminal Sounds label (Dungen, Parson Sound, Baby Grandmothers, Peter Grudzien, etc.) from Skogsberg's home country of Sweden has taken charge and given life to this wonderful album again on vinyl for the first time in over 30 years. So, here's what we said before about the cd edition...
Even if we didn't make this Record of the Week, we'd probably still be selling quite a few of 'em, as we're sure we've got a lot of knowledgeable record-collector-type customers for whom adding this to cart will be but the work of a second, the second after their eyes bug out upon seeing the artist and title listed above. But since this reissue is not only of an incredible rarity but also of an incredible record, we wanted to make sure everybody heard about it, besides those for whom it's already a "holy grail". Yep, Joakim Skogberg's original 1972 Jola Rota lp definitely falls into the highly obscure "holy grail" category, a lost treasure for lovers of weird, wonderful acid-folk and underground psychedelia. The sort of thing that develops a legend that it can't possibly live up to... but then DOES, blowing minds when it's finally reissued. The sort of thing that's whispered about among connoisseurs of psych, written of in a few select fanzines and blogs, heard only by a lucky few who got an Nth generation cassette dub or cd-r burn from a friend, who got it from a friend, and so on. The sort of thing, that even a few years after a brief exposure to its wonders, will make you stop and think every once in a while, dang when is someone finally gonna reissue that amazing obscure album??? Some other recently excavated examples would include Moolah's Woe Ye Demons Possessed, Bobb Trimble's Harvest Of Dreams, and Gary Higgins's Red Hash... and before that, once upon a time Comus's First Utterance too would have fallen into that category. Bruce Haack's Electric Lucifer as well, though originals of that were and are much MUCH easier to come by. Whereas *this* album was originally pressed in an edition of around just one thousand copies - of which only a few hundred were ever sold back in the day, with the remainder of the pressing being, gasp, melted down to be recycled into other lps!
So, here it is, artist Joakim Skogsberg's lone album Jola Rota finally, officially reissued for the very first time! Our hearts went pitter pat when we found out. We first heard this when our friend Loren Chasse (of Of/Thuja/Jewelled Antler/etc. fame) floated us a cd-r burn he had gotten from a pal overseas a couple years ago, as per the scenario outlined above. He figured we'd like it, and of course he was right. What's not to like? Swedish-forest-folk hippie ritual mixed with droned-out psych guitar. Truly strange, and captivating, vocal mumble. And, get this, it was actually mostly recorded out in a forest, on portable reel-to-reel gear!! Once out of the woods, the raw recordings were overdubbed (Skogsberg being responsible for all sounds on this album) in studio, but remain quite raw, the mystery and majesty of northern landscapes, dark shadowy places, placid lakes, tall trees and moss-covered rocks utterly alive in the music of the nature-loving Skogsberg.
Side One starts off with "Jola Fran Ingbo", which introduces Joakim's unusual "Jola" singing style derived from Swedish trad folk, also heavily influenced by Buddhist chant, accompanied by staccato bowings of ominous violin. Immediately this is waaaay darker than most other Swedish folk/psych we've heard! Seriously droney and austere. That's followed by the more freaked out, rockier "Offer Rota", which finds Skogsberg singing whilst pounding away on percussion and unfurling a thick layer of distorted guitar murk, with what sounds like a Jew's Harp warbling in the background. The next piece, "Fridens Lijor", on the other hand, is an unaccompanied vocal piece, close-miced and intimate, all about Skogsberg's fragile Jola babble...
Beginning side two, "Besvarjelse Rota" builds up a dubby, bassy electronic rhythmic whomp-whomp throb beneath its damaged psych guitar wail, that (in our warped imagination) foreshadows modern minimal techno a la Chain Reaction, "heroin house" beats.... could almost be Pole jamming with Algarnas Tradgard or something! Later, the lengthy "Jola Fran Stensate" harkens back to the solemnity of the album's first track, and then "Jola Fran Leksand" winds up this unique, amazing trip with something of a pagan campfire dance piece, for folky fiddle and rattling hand percussion.
Overall, though, Jola Rota's mood is solitary and ceremonial. Skogsberg not a guru leading his followers, but rather one man, inspired, singing devotional songs to nature, in personal communion with the ancient deities of Sweden and the universe... it IS universal, probably why it sounds simultaneously like krautrock and Tibetan worship and Native American prayer-songs. The universality of the drone, and the human voice in spiritual reverence regardless of language. At its droniest, many moments here recall Parson Sound or the aforementioned Moolah. Totally, magically mesmeric. Wow... EVERYONE who's heard this since we got it in has been entranced.
Remastered from the original tapes with the help of Skogsberg himself. There's also new liner notes and previously unpublished photos of the long haired and bearded (of course) Skogsberg included, just like the cd version (which, being a Japanese import, isn't much cheaper than this Swedish import vinyl!).
Limited to 500 copies.
MPEG Stream: "Jola Fran Ingbo"
MPEG Stream: "Offer Rota "
MPEG Stream: "Besvarjelse Rota"

V/A Enjoy The Experience : Homemade Records 1958-1992 (Now & Again) 2cd 19.98
This past record store day, we were super excited about this amazing book by Johan Kugelberg, "Enjoy the Experience: Homemade Records 1958-1992", a hefty, 508-page tome that thoroughly chronicles the history and obsessions of one of the largely misunderstood and under-appreciated niches of recorded music, the "vanity record" - also known as "private press recordings" - also known as outsider weirdness! With that book came a download coupon for an amazing compilation of some of the artists included in the book, and now that compilation has been released by Now & Again on double cd and vinyl and it's both super amazing and completely bonkers in all the best ways. It includes some old faves like Arcesia, whose operatically crooned "White Panther" some might recall from the American edition of the Love Peace & Poetry psych series; the love damaged soul-punk balladeer Gary Wilson (who can forget that line at the end of his song "6.4 = Makeout"? "She's a real groovy girl and she's got red LIPS! She's Real! She's Real!! SHE'S REAL!!!!"? Well, not us anyway), and Florida lounge maestro, Michael Farneti, whose Good Morning Kisses lp we featured on one of our Outsiders & Eccentrics In-between lists. But there are plenty of new-to-us goodies, including one of our new faves, Medico Doktor Vibes, whose Caribbean-inflected witch doctor bedroom funk recorded in LA in 1979 will soon be reissued by local label Companion Records sometime in the near future. As per the Now & Again sound, there are plenty of outsider funk, soul and disco rarities, some naive lounge, burnt out yacht rock, creepy exotica and country pop and just plain weird sounds - like 33 1/3 whose jungle themed "Monkey Bridge" would make any Kid Creole & The Coconuts fan smile. Here's the rest of the line-up: Vinny Roma, Steven David Heitkotter, Joe E., Ray Harlowe & Gyp Fox, Russ Saul, Jade, Boa, Circuit Rider, Dennis The Fox, Bob Harrison, Gary Schneider, The Muzzy Band, The Invaders, Carol-Leigh & Hank Mindlin.
Fun freaky shit!
MPEG Stream: FARNETI, MICHAEL "ESP Switch"
MPEG Stream: ARCESIA "White Panther"
MPEG Stream: MEDICO DOKTOR VIBES "Diska Limba Man"
MPEG Stream: INVADERS "Spacing Out"
MPEG Stream: 33 1/3 "Monkey Bridge"
MPEG Stream: CAROL-LEIGH & HANK MIDLIN "Inquire Within"

V/A Enjoy The Experience : Homemade Records 1958-1992 (Now & Again) 2lp 31.00
This past record store day, we were super excited about this amazing book by Johan Kugelberg, "Enjoy the Experience: Homemade Records 1958-1992", a hefty, 508-page tome that thoroughly chronicles the history and obsessions of one of the largely misunderstood and under-appreciated niches of recorded music, the "vanity record" - also known as "private press recordings" - also known as outsider weirdness! With that book came a download coupon for an amazing compilation of some of the artists included in the book, and now that compilation has been released by Now & Again on double cd and vinyl and it's both super amazing and completely bonkers in all the best ways. It includes some old faves like Arcesia, whose operatically crooned "White Panther" some might recall from the American edition of the Love Peace & Poetry psych series; the love damaged soul-punk balladeer Gary Wilson (who can forget that line at the end of his song "6.4 = Makeout"? "She's a real groovy girl and she's got red LIPS! She's Real! She's Real!! SHE'S REAL!!!!"? Well, not us anyway), and Florida lounge maestro, Michael Farneti, whose Good Morning Kisses lp we featured on one of our Outsiders & Eccentrics In-between lists. But there are plenty of new-to-us goodies, including one of our new faves, Medico Doktor Vibes, whose Caribbean-inflected witch doctor bedroom funk recorded in LA in 1979 will soon be reissued by local label Companion Records sometime in the near future. As per the Now & Again sound, there are plenty of outsider funk, soul and disco rarities, some naive lounge, burnt out yacht rock, creepy exotica and country pop and just plain weird sounds - like 33 1/3 whose jungle themed "Monkey Bridge" would make any Kid Creole & The Coconuts fan smile. Here's the rest of the line-up: Vinny Roma, Steven David Heitkotter, Joe E., Ray Harlowe & Gyp Fox, Russ Saul, Jade, Boa, Circuit Rider, Dennis The Fox, Bob Harrison, Gary Schneider, The Muzzy Band, The Invaders, Carol-Leigh & Hank Mindlin.
Fun freaky shit!
MPEG Stream: FARNETI, MICHAEL "ESP Switch"
MPEG Stream: ARCESIA "White Panther"
MPEG Stream: MEDICO DOKTOR VIBES "Diska Limba Man"
MPEG Stream: INVADERS "Spacing Out"
MPEG Stream: 33 1/3 "Monkey Bridge"
MPEG Stream: CAROL-LEIGH & HANK MIDLIN "Inquire Within"

KING WOMAN Degrida / Sick Bed (Sleep Genius) cassette 4.98
The Sleep Genius label who has brought us great releases by Chasms, Bad News, Tied To The Branches and Concrete Island is back and not only with a new cassette, but a cassingle!!!!!! Yes that's right, a cassette in a gorgeously blood red shrink-wrapped paper stock sleeve!
King Woman is the first solo project of Kristina Esfandiari, the front woman of San Francisco local band Whirr, who we're not familiar with, but wondering now if we should be after hearing this. Backed by members of Tied to the Branches and Chasms, Esfandiari's deep resonant voice hovers over the minimal hazy treatments in these two slow shoegaze murder ballads. She reminds us of Hope Sandoval or Marissa Nadler but with a richer timbre to her vocal that is quite stunning. The backing music all hovering slow motion creep, quietly lifting these songs up to the beckoning gallows. Pretty fucking great!

MONITOR s/t (Superior Viaduct) lp 15.98
Also now on vinyl!!
This is a weird one, the latest from local reissue label Superior Viaduct, who have so far reissued recordings from Factrix, Black Humor, German Shepherds, Noh Mercy, and the Sleepers, and even still, amongst some seriously weird company, this might outweird them all! We had never heard of Monitor before (although we just learned Scott is a big fan!), apparently the musical offshoot of a seventies LA art collective called World Imitation Productions, who fused modern technology with more archaic influences, and whose music somehow struggled to sonically represent that hybrid.
The group was part of a loose group of like minded outfits, know as the Associated Skull Bands, which included Nervous Gender, NON, among others, but even amidst a weirdo Hollywood punk scene, Monitor proved too much for the not so weird weirdos. And hell it's easy to see why listening to this now.
The record opens with queasy synths and ominous rumbles, from which emerges a minimal rhythm wrapped in primitive synths, peppered with burst of drum freakout, and angular fuzz guitar, super hypnotic and darkly dirgey, the vocals are breathy and reverbed, dueling boy girl voices, trancey, and woozy, the guitars seem to grow more detuned, the sound seeming to fray at the edges, super psychedelic and crazy creepy cool. That's the core sound of the group, the drums driving most of the tracks, the guitars and synths doled out a bit more judiciously. The track "Mokele-Mbembe" lays down a sinewy bassline, and some tribal drumming, and then over the top, the group deliver some very straight ahead sounding African high life style vocals. "In Terrae Interium" drapes distorted guitars, over a dirgey rhythmic stumble, tangled vocals croon and moan over the detuned dirge, super trippy and abstract.
And so it goes, the group unfurling twisted ditties, rhythmic and playfully synthy one second ("Herb Lane Theme"), distorted and and almost carnivalesque the next ("Amphibious"), replete with weezing organ and angular guitar skronk, cold wave twee pop one second ("Pavillion"), minimal washed out drone-psych doom creep the next ("Phosphorea"). And when they came up with a song that required more rocking than they were equipped to do, well hell, they just hired it out, in this case, to the Meat Puppets, who kick out the jams on "Hair", a fierce staccato punk rock blow out, all howled vox, swirling sci-fi synths, noisy buzzy guitars, serious drum pound, squiggly Black Flag like leads and some seriously harsh vox! Almost wish Monitor had written a whole record for the Meat Puppets.
The cd had 3 bonus tracks, this doesn't, but does a include digital download of the album.
MPEG Stream: "We Get Messages"
MPEG Stream: "In Terrae Interium"
MPEG Stream: "Amphibious"
MPEG Stream: "Hair (Performed By The Meat Puppets)"

SMITH, VERDELLE Tar & Cement: The Complete Recordings 1965-1967 (The Omni Recording Corporation) cd 17.98
What a find! We had no idea who Verdelle Smith was, but it only took one listen to this latest Omni Recording Corporation release, a compilation of her complete recordings to be, well, completely hooked. She only recorded music for two short years before disappearing from the music world altogether. But in a just universe, Verdelle Smith would have been as huge as Dionne Warwick and her producers and songwriters, Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss, more famous than Burt Bacharach and Hal David (though to their credit, they were already pretty big due to a novelty hit "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" and Perry Como's "Catch A Falling Star", but we digress...). Verdelle Smith's songs were no mere novelty. Originally from Asbury Park, New Jersey, Smith grew up singing gospel, but had big musical ambitions, so she moved to Manhattan where she auditioned for Vance and Pockriss who were looking for a specific type of singer for a Shangri-la's style song called "Juanito", a song about overcoming the social stigma of an inter-racial relationship. With high production values, lush orchestration, hook-laden arrangements and Smith's big voice, she fit the part perfectly and the duo recorded one lp and several singles, one of which "Tar & Cement" made it to No. 1 in Australia (which is probably why Omni is reissuing this.). That song and its B side, "Piece of The Sky" are both big pop laments to urban sprawl, and the dehumanizing effects of industrialization. It's rare to see such social issues being addressed in soul-pop fashion, and probably why they received little notice in the states. But Smith's drop-dead voice and the fabulous production give these songs such a deep, knife-sharp edge. "If You Can't Say Anything Nice" could easily have been a lost Bacharach / David hit. But it was the song, "(Alone) In My Room", that was quickly covered by both Nancy Sinatra (on the Boots record, no less) and The Walker Brothers, that seemed to secure her the most fame, fleeting as it was. Smith's delivery throughout her brief career shares the same dramatic largesse as Scott Walker on his first four solo records. So if you're as much of a fan of them, Nancy Sinatra, Lee Hazlewood, early Dionne Warwick or Burt Bacharach as we are, then Verdelle Smith will be right up your alley.
So what happened to her? Well, she wanted to make gospel records but her producers weren't into it, so she gave up the music business to become more involved with her church and social activism, which according to the liner notes she still actively pursues to this day under her real name. So there you go. Thank you Omni for digging this up. Fantastic!
MPEG Stream: "Tar & Cement"
MPEG Stream: "A Piece of The Sky"
MPEG Stream: "In my Room"
MPEG Stream: "Juanito"
MPEG Stream: "If You Can't Say Anything Nice"

DIRTY BEACHES Drifters / Love Is The Devil (Zoo Music) 2lp 23.00
We recently reviewed the soundtrack to a movie about water parks, by Dirty Beaches, aka Alex Zhang, and were surprised to find none of Dirty Beaches' grimy super lo-fi RnB, instead discovering a gorgeous collection of kosmische new age, lush orchestral ambience, droned out dirges, and haunting sprawls of reverby shimmer. At the time, we remember wondering it that soundtrack was simply that, a soundtrack for which Zhang composed an appropriately dreamy cinematic score, or if it in fact signified a more substantial sonic shift. Thus we weren't entirely sure what to expect from this new Dirty Beaches record. And in a way, it ends up, it's a little of both. Split into two parts, the first half, titled Drifters, returns to the sound of Badlands, the sound low fidelity and skeletal, simple programmed rhythms, loads of echo and reverb, drowsy, driving basslines, and Zhang's old style rock and roll croon. The vibe not so much RnB this time around, the opener "Night Walk" has a sort of Suicide style minimal sci-fi swagger vibe, while "I Dream In Neon" sounds like classic Depeche Mode, albeit recorded on a broken boombox. After that, while the 'sound' remains the same, Zhang definitely pushes it in all sorts of different directions - "Belgrade" is like John Carpenter or Goblin, but cooked up in a bedroom on a four track, droney and tense and spacey and hypnotically psychedelic. "Elli" is all minimal cold wave cool, while "Mirage Hall" is pulsing sci-fi electro, which gives way to the groovy, almost Caretaker sounding jazziness of Drifters' closer "Landscapes In The Mist"
The record's second half, "Love Is The Devil" definitely falls somewhere closer to that water park movie soundtrack, all drifty and swirly and abstract, warm languid tones, jazzy horns, skittering percussion, wheezing organ drones over delicate pianos, strange stretches of alien electronics, sounding a bit like primitive early electronic experiments, but here draped over spare, mournful piano melodies, swirling soaring strings, which sound so lo-fi, it almost sounds sampled, like it was recorded on a tape player off the TV, but which gives the sound a cool, sort of washed out feel, soft swirls of psychedelia bleed into more classic sounding soundtracky orchestral shimmer, which in turn gives way to some creeping pointillist drift, all spare guitar twang, and for the first time in the second half, softly crooned vocals, and finally, a sprawling stretch of haunting, minor key melancholia, hazy and washed out and woozy and dreamily lovely.
MPEG Stream: "Night Walk"
MPEG Stream: "I Dream In Neon"
MPEG Stream: "Belgrade"
MPEG Stream: "Greyhound At Night"
MPEG Stream: "This Is Not My City"

VIAN, PATRICK Bruits Et Temps Analogues (Staubgold) cd 17.98
French prog from the seventies can move us in just the right ways, especially if it hits that sweet spot between Kosmiche new age and sublime Euro-jazz, yet still has that individually eccentric feel that you only get from the French. Patrick Vian's sole 1976 lp Bruits et Temps Analogues, famously included on the Nurse With Wound list, is just such a record. An amalgam of Michael Rother sky gliding electronic music and a mellower take on the "Superficial Music" of Bernard Szajner, Vian packs a lot of punch into his compositions, propelled forward by the hypnotic counterpoint of sunny guitar lines, analog Moog washes, flutes and all kinds of dazzling rhythmic instrumentation, such as kinetic jazz drumming, and deep vibraphones, the latter thanks to the help of Mino Cinelu (who had played with the likes of Gong, Weather Report and Miles Davis). There's also an exotica quality at play here especially on the track, "Orenock" which feels like we're on safari on some strange desolate planet, as well as some avant-garde tendencies, such as using tape manipulations of recordings of American sporting events on the musique concrete piece, "Tricentennial Drag". Vian began his musical career in the legendary French prog /free jazz band Red Noise, but the vibe on Bruits et Temps Analogues is way more serene and groovy. It lives up to its awesome cover painting. Originally released on the Egg / Barclay label, it's about time this stellar album got reissued. Thanks Staubgold! Highest Recommendation!!
MPEG Stream: "Sphere"
MPEG Stream: "Oreknock"
MPEG Stream: "R&B Degenerit!"
MPEG Stream: "Tricentennial Drag"

INSTANT CITY Issue #8 magazine 7.98
The aftermath of an earthquake in the near future. Mission District residents as viewed by an eighteenth-century journalist. An ill female bank robber. Even mutant cowboys and vampires! Local San Francisco literary journal, Instant City is back with its 8th installment of unusual literary explorations of our fair city. The brainchild of cultural producer, Gravity Goldberg (who also organizes events for LitQuake and the Contemporary Jewish Museum) and started at Adobe Books with designer Mitch Manitou, each volume features great local writers and artists. Including a painting by our own Scott Hewicker, this issue features stories by Alvin Orloff, William Poor, Sean Taylor, David Corbett, Loren Rhodes, Alia Volz, Richard Jay Goldstein, Atom Wong, Trent Tano, India Mandelkern and Alia Volz.

SNAPPER s/t (Flying Nun) lp 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
One of the Record Store Day releases we were most psyched on getting this year was this Flying Nun/Captured Tracks reissue of the first ep by NZ cult legends, Snapper. But they didn't show up in time for RSD like they were supposed to, thanks to a shipping snafu. Finally, however, our Snapper 12"s (along with The Bats' first ep, also reissued by Flying Nun via Captured Tracks for RSD) finally showed and we're so glad it's here now and we're able to share it with you, as we probably wouldn't have been able to write about it earlier, because we're sure they would have been all snatched up on RSD proper. So we only have about 7 of these left, and we're pretty sure they're gone for good, so act fast if you want one!
Released in 1989, Snapper was formed by Peter Gutterdige (The Clean, Chills and Great Unwashed) and featured Christina Voice on organ and vocals. The band would go through several lines-up but it is this ep that defined their sound for bands to come, a mixture of Suicide, Jesus and Mary Chain and a less campy B-52's with a farfisa driven hypno-psych vibe that predated Stereolab. Their drug-psych influence can be easily sensed in bands like Moon Duo and Psychic Ills today. Includes poster and original press release. So so good! Four songs. All killer!
MPEG Stream: "Buddy"
MPEG Stream: "Death in Weirdness in The Surfing Zone"

KUGELBERG, JOHAN Enjoy the Experience: Homemade Records 1958-1992 (Sinecure) book + 7" 69.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
How rad is this? One of our favorite Record Store Day items this year was not a record, but a book! A hefty, 508-page tome that thoroughly chronicles the history and obsessions of one of the largely misunderstood and under-appreciated niches of recorded music, the "vanity record" - also known as "private press recordings". Enjoy The Experience, edited by noted collector Johan Kugelberg, delves deep into the uniquely 20th century phenomena of the custom-made record and the little-known artists who made them, as well as the collectors and reissue labels that have obsessed over them and ultimately prevented them from fading into obscurity. A lot of our faves are here, including many we have reviewed over the years like The Shaggs, Michael Farneti, Gary Wilson, Jr. and His Soulettes, Bob Chance, Luie Luie, and Hans Edler, many with extensive back stories about their creation. But there is sooooo much more. Including Christian family recordings, ventriloquists, creepy loner folkies, restaurant /resort entertainers, over-the-top lounge singers and just outright bizarre musical artists who just wouldn't have been able to release a record any other way. There are pages and pages of beautiful color reproductions of the cover art to these home made records, some even hand drawn, in all of their earnest naive glory. There's even a chapter on Century Records, one of the most well-established custom record manufacturers, who provided stock album covers for individual artists - and it's funny to see how many different albums utilized the exact SAME cover (including the one seen on the front of this book!). Enjoy The Experience is a joy to behold and will renew your faith in the self-released record.
Comes with a download card for a 20 song playlist including a song from a hopefully up and coming aQ Record of the Week, when it gets reissued - try and guess which one! While supplies last, this special RSD edition also comes with a clear vinyl 45 reissue of a recording by the Century Records marketing department, on how to customize and create your own record. So Awesome!!

SMOKEY EMERY Soundtracks For Invisibility Vol. II: You Take The High Road (Holodeck) cassette 7.50
NOW AVAILABLE ON CASSETTE!
One of six new tapes from the always awesome Holodeck label out of Austin, Texas. Here is what we said about this Austin murkscaper's long out of print record when we first had the cd version back in 2009:
Austin-based painter and installation artist, Daniel Hipolito has been composing and releasing music in limited releases under the moniker Smokey Emery for awhile now. Composed of far away drones and loops, Hipolito builds his compositions like he builds his cave-y black and white painted installations and environments, cinematically, with a fine-tuned sense for mystery, vague longing and subtle dramatic flair. Like the lights of heavy traffic at sunset or a slowly sinking ship, there is an ineffable lonely quality to these compositions that is both beautiful and doomed, but fully engaging enough to still make us keep listening as the lights slowly fade.
MPEG Stream: "Over The Side, Into The Storm"
MPEG Stream: "The Lights Are Big and I'm Driving Home"
MPEG Stream: "Over a Thousand Lakes"

BLAKE, JAMES Overgrown (Universal Republic / Polydor) cd 13.98
James Blake is a curious case. We wonder if he had some standard folk guitar or piano backing to his frigid soul songs, would we be into this that much? But Blake's songs are far from standard, and despite the mainstream pop and RnB vocabulary he borrows heavily from (Auto-Tune, guest rapper stints, the gospel-tinged vocalizations), he creates something quite unpredictable and beautifully unique in the strange fractured arrangements. Like Nina Simone in reservedly dramatic avant-electronica mode, Blake keeps his songwriting emotionally effective while keeping enough distance so as not to become vocally overwrought or musically anthemic. The chilled production evokes an atmosphere of dreamy spaciousness, pillowy clouds of piano, filtered samples, bass pulses and far away post-dubstep rhythms. Blake is as close as we're probably going to get to Arthur Russell and Burial having a beautiful musical child together.
MPEG Stream: "Retrograde"
MPEG Stream: "Voyeur"
MPEG Stream: "Take A Fall For Me (featuring RZA)"

CLOTHILDE French Swinging Mademoiselle 1967 (Born Bad) cd 16.98
Another awesome French pop chanteuse gets resurrected from obscurity, thanks to the Born Bad label. Clothilde (whom we first heard through those awesome Sixties Girls and Swinging Mademoiselle comps of femme French pop) was the stage name of Elizabeth Beauvais, the daughter of an actress and writer who, despite wanting to follow her mother into the acting world, was pushed instead into the music business by producer Germinal Tenas.
Tenas, a producer known for arrangements involving unusual instrumentation, signed her to Vogue Records in the mid-sixties and rechristened her after the beloved medieval Queen and Saint instrumental in bringing Catholicism to France. Clothilde only recorded two eps for the Vogue label in 1967 (both captured here) before becoming fed up by the business and leaving it for good. Which really is tragic, because these are some of the most infectious French pop tracks we have heard in a while with swinging arrangements peppered with marimbas, flutes, violins, bells and Farfisas. Clothilde co-wrote a couple of tracks herself and they were noted for their shocking (at the time) use of sexual double entendres, perhaps adding to the sex-kitten image she really didn't want to have. Thus an untimely end of what could have been a promising singing career. Like so many French pop obscurities, we're thankful for the labor of love that goes into making sure these great tracks see the light of day once again!
MPEG Stream: "Fallait Pas ƒcraser La Queue Du Chat"
MPEG Stream: "Je T'ai Voulu Et Je T'ai Bien Eu"

MONITOR s/t (Superior Viaduct) cd 14.98
This is a weird one, the latest from local reissue label Superior Viaduct, who have so far reissued recordings from Factrix, Black Humor, German Shepherds, Noh Mercy, and the Sleepers, and even still, amongst some seriously weird company, this might outweird them all! We had never heard of Monitor before (although we just learned Scott is a big fan!), apparently the musical offshoot of a seventies LA art collective called World Imitation Productions, who fused modern technology with more archaic influences, and whose music somehow struggled to sonically represent that hybrid.
The group was part of a loose group of like minded outfits, know as the Associated Skull Bands, which included Nervous Gender, NON, among others, but even amidst a weirdo Hollywood punk scene, Monitor proved too much for the not so weird weirdos. And hell it's easy to see why listening to this now.
The record opens with queasy synths and ominous rumbles, from which emerges a minimal rhythm wrapped in primitive synths, peppered with burst of drum freakout, and angular fuzz guitar, super hypnotic and darkly dirgey, the vocals are breathy and reverbed, dueling boy girl voices, trancey, and woozy, the guitars seem to grow more detuned, the sound seeming to fray at the edges, super psychedelic and crazy creepy cool. That's the core sound of the group, the drums driving most of the tracks, the guitars and synths doled out a bit more judiciously. The track "Mokele-Mbembe" lays down a sinewy bassline, and some tribal drumming, and then over the top, the group deliver some very straight ahead sounding African high life style vocals. "In Terrae Interium" drapes distorted guitars, over a dirgey rhythmic stumble, tangled vocals croon and moan over the detuned dirge, super trippy and abstract.
And so it goes, the group unfurling twisted ditties, rhythmic and playfully synthy one second ("Herb Lane Theme"), distorted and and almost carnivalesque the next ("Amphibious"), replete with weezing organ and angular guitar skronk, cold wave twee pop one second ("Pavillion"), minimal washed out drone-psych doom creep the next ("Phosphorea"). And when they came up with a song that required more rocking than they were equipped to do, well hell, they just hired it out, in this case, to the Meat Puppets, who kick out the jams on "Hair", a fierce staccato punk rock blow out, all howled vox, swirling sci-fi synths, noisy buzzy guitars, serious drum pound, squiggly Black Flag like leads and some seriously harsh vox! Almost wish Monitor had written a whole record for the Meat Puppets.
The reissue tacks on a handful of bonus tracks to the nine from the original 1981 album, which like the record proper are all over the place, from murky rhythmic minimalism, to wild squiggly angular electro-punk to tripped out backwards recorded noise experiments.
MPEG Stream: "We Get Messages"
MPEG Stream: "In Terrae Interium"
MPEG Stream: "Amphibious"
MPEG Stream: "Hair (Performed By The Meat Puppets)"

V/A Spiritual Jazz Volume 4: Americans In Europe (Jazzman) 3lp 38.00
This would have easily been a contender for record of the week, if we got in enough in, so it will have to do as a highly recommended highlight. But let it be known that this latest volume of Spiritual Jazz is fast becoming our favorite of the series! We loved all the others of course and the first one was hard to beat, but they really brought out the big names and heavy hitters on this volume (Sun Ra, Eric Dolphy, Don Cherry & Krzysztof Penderecki, Bobby Hutcherson, Hampton Hawes and Albert Ayler) and it's on two discs so lots of long form modal cosmic expansion is at the ready. The theme this time around is Americans in Europe and it documents a fertile period in the sixties and seventies where many American jazz musicians fed up with racism and decaying socio-economic conditions in the US found solace working in Europe on festival circuits and collaborating with great European jazz groups abroad in Denmark, France, Italy, UK and Germany, exploring new directions in sound. Many of these tracks are from rare recordings (some of them live), not released in America and are reissued here for the first time. Besides the big names, there are plenty of lesser known players like Billy Gault, Sahib Shihab, Frank Wright, Clarence Peters, Lee Konitz, Noah Howard and Grachan Moncur III. Beautifully packaged with lots of liner notes and record covers, this is some real deep and mind-expanding stuff! Like we said above, Highly Recommended!!!!
MPEG Stream: JOHNNY HAWKSWORTH & HAMPTON HAWES "Jazz Rule"
MPEG Stream: SUN RA "Enlightenment"
MPEG Stream: BILLY GAULT "Mode For Trane"
MPEG Stream: FRANK WRIGHT SEXTET "T and W"
MPEG Stream: BOBBY HUTCHERSON - HAROLD LAND QUINTET "The Creators"

SMITH, BARTON Reelizations One & Two: The Sound Of Barton Smith (EM Records) 2cd 29.00
This EM label fave of ours, at long last repressed and back in stock!!
There is a very fine line between schizophrenia and a totally eclectic diverse creativity and we seem to enjoy music most when that line remains really blurry. This 2cd set, recorded between 1980-82 by electronic alchemist Barton Smith definitely straddles that weird blurry line. One moment basking in tender beauty while the next moment flourishing into a noisy wall-of-sound. Very little was known about Smith. The fact that Smithsonian Folkways originally released these tracks on vinyl back in the early '80s, and still Smith remained a relative unknown, just adds to the mystique. The first disc opens up with what sounds like gamelan influenced percussion on homemade instruments, followed by pastoral pretty meandering guitar and then underwater sounding rumblings drenched in primitive sounding electronics. We have been totally intrigued and in awe of these recordings since we first got this set in a few weeks back. Listening to it nonstop, and trying to think about how this was received in the early '80s when even now it still sounds so ahead of its time. Former AQ-er Windy came in recently and jumped for joy to see this on the new arrivals rack, telling us how she scored an original vinyl copy years back at a flea market and it's always been a record she found so weird and wonderful and special. Outside of Windy, we haven't really come across anyone else who knew anything about Barton Smith. We've come to discover that these were recordings he made for modern dance troupes and we can only struggle to imagine bodies moving to his ever changing sounds. While for most musicians it can be tricky and problematic to change gears and sounds so often within an album, there is something so natural and lucid and smooth about the extremes explored on Reelizations. We can't think of many musicians who have the ability to explore such a wide range with this much success and intrigue. Moondog's versatility and eclectic output is someone who came to mind when trying to figure out how to classify Mr. Smith. From acoustic tranquility to electric outbursts this had us picking up on a totally diverse range of reference points: Sandy Bull, Jim O'Rourke, This Heat, Koji Asano. And for sure you could start seeing how years later groups would start exploring similar sonic atmospheres. Black Dice, Excepter, Loren Connors are some who come to mind. Scott even suspects that Kieren Hebden might have heard this at some point, as there is a really good chance that the Barton Smith track "Lotus" was sampled on the Four Tet album Rounds.
This is a record that we can't stop listening to or thinking about. We hear so much music everyday, when something kicks our ass this hard we know we've discovered something really special.
As with all releases on the fabulous Japanese reissue label EM, this is gorgeously packaged, coming in an oversized double jewel case, with a huge booklet, tons of photos and lots of liner notes - those unfortunately all in Japanese.
MPEG Stream: "Azirthmyth"
MPEG Stream: "Roland No.119"
MPEG Stream: "The Musical Box"
MPEG Stream: "Lotus"

V/A Spiritual Jazz Volume 4: Americans In Europe (Jazzman) 2cd 26.00
This would have easily been a contender for record of the week, if we got in enough in, so it will have to do as a highly recommended highlight. But let it be known that this latest volume of Spiritual Jazz is fast becoming our favorite of the series! We loved all the others of course and the first one was hard to beat, but they really brought out the big names and heavy hitters on this volume (Sun Ra, Eric Dolphy, Don Cherry & Krzysztof Penderecki, Bobby Hutcherson, Hampton Hawes and Albert Ayler) and it's on two discs so lots of long form modal cosmic expansion is at the ready. The theme this time around is Americans in Europe and it documents a fertile period in the sixties and seventies where many American jazz musicians fed up with racism and decaying socio-economic conditions in the US found solace working in Europe on festival circuits and collaborating with great European jazz groups abroad in Denmark, France, Italy, UK and Germany, exploring new directions in sound. Many of these tracks are from rare recordings (some of them live), not released in America and are reissued here for the first time. Besides the big names, there are plenty of lesser known players like Billy Gault, Sahib Shihab, Frank Wright, Clarence Peters, Lee Konitz, Noah Howard and Grachan Moncur III. Beautifully packaged with lots of liner notes and record covers, this is some real deep and mind-expanding stuff! Like we said above, Highly Recommended!!!!
MPEG Stream: JOHNNY HAWKSWORTH & HAMPTON HAWES "Jazz Rule"
MPEG Stream: SUN RA "Enlightenment"
MPEG Stream: BILLY GAULT "Mode For Trane"
MPEG Stream: FRANK WRIGHT SEXTET "T and W"
MPEG Stream: BOBBY HUTCHERSON - HAROLD LAND QUINTET "The Creators"

V/A Nippon Girls: Japanese Pop, Beat, & Bossa Nova 1967-69 (Big Beat) lp 25.00
Along with Funky Frauleins and the French Sixties Girls compilations, how could we resist the allure of Nippon Girls, a swinging mod-tastic compilation of hip-swaying and frug-dancing femme-fronted big beat gems from sixties Japan? We couldn't, and you probably can't either. The cd came out a few years ago, but the vinyl version only just got released so we thought we should finally review this especially after the success of another Big Beat disc, Nippon Guitars, we reviewed a few lists ago. Feeling the influence of Western pop music in the sixties (including Bossa Nova from Brazil and Ye Ye from France), Japanese musicians capitalized on the new sound often by lifting popular songs wholesale and rewriting the lyrics. But the enthusiasm with which these sexy and soulful songs are performed and arranged make them pretty outstanding in their own right. Acid-y guitars, cinematic orchestral flourishes, and sharp and dynamic arrangements are just too infectious to be ignored, especially by beautiful women who look and sound this fantastically fierce. It's party time!
Note: the cd version contains the full 25 tracks while the lp version only covers the first 12 tracks from 1967-1969. We assume there will be a follow-up volume 2 vinyl comp with the other tracks.
MPEG Stream: JUN MAYUZUMI "Black Room"
MPEG Stream: NANA KINOMI & LEO BEATS "Suki Sa Suki Sa Suki Sa"
MPEG Stream: REIKO OHARA "Peacock Baby"

NICO Chelsea Girls (4 Men With Beards) lp 19.98
Everyone who digs the downer dirge folk of the legendary Nico all have their favorite records. For many it's the intensely cinematic Desertshore, which just got the tribute treatment from members of Throbbing Gristle. For others it's the Marble Index, Nico's second record which was the first one that signaled a distinct artistic move away from collaborative arrangers. But for us, there will always be a special place in our hearts for Chelsea Girls, her first solo effort after The Velvet Underground & Nico album, but which also reads like that outfit's second outing as John Cale and Lou Reed both produced wrote and arranged songs along with her then lover at the time Jackson Browne. Perhaps her most accessible record, with timeless songs like "These Days" and "Little Sister", and of course, the long title track which effectively catalogs the last days of Warhol's Factory in all of its glamorous bummer ennui. The folk-rock is less dirgey and intense, but still cooly bittersweet and sublime with a melancholic pop beauty. Newly reissued on vinyl by those four bearded guys.

MORRICONE, ENNIO White Dog OST (Film Score Monthly) cd 17.98
Samuel Fuller's dynamic and gritty film career often courted controversy but it was this last film he made in the US in 1982 that was perhaps his most controversial of all. White Dog, based on the Romain Gary book of the same name and starring Kristy McNichol, Paul Winfield and Burl Ives, is a social thriller about a stray dog found and taken in by McNichol and the harrowing discovery that her new pet was trained by previous owners to attack and kill black people. After several attacks and one brutal killing, desperate attempts are made to try and cure the dog of his trained behaviors, the most radical and questionably successful method by a trainer played by Paul Winfield, a black man. The overarching themes and hard questions raised by the movie whether racism can be unlearned or is indeed incurable were too controversial for the time and Paramount pictures suppressed the film after receiving negative press attention accusing the film of being racist before its release. It didn't even get a proper dvd release until 2008, by the Criterion Collection. Originally slated to be Tony Scott's directorial debut, his lack of a coherent script forced producers to turn to Sam Fuller and screenwriter Curtis Hanson (LA Confidential, 8 Mile). Fuller douses the film with a B-movie grittiness, and it's his hard line look at racism dead on that makes this film so dramatically compelling. The movie never had a trailer, but one YouTube user made one and it's pretty damn great and shows how the amazing score by the one and only Ennio Morricone is used to full dramatic effect (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhkrvBNnAcw). Morricone utilizes a dreamy but pensive title theme with piano, reeds, and strings that is pastorally lilting, but tinged with an undefined creepiness. Like David Shire's score for The Conversation, Morricone's score lingers lovingly on the surface, but is all paranoid foreboding underneath, and like The Conversation, beautiful to listen to on its own. We highly recommend watching this film though as well as pretty much anything else by Sam Fuller!
MPEG Stream: "Main Title"
MPEG Stream: "Dog's Return"
MPEG Stream: "Sweeper Attack"
MPEG Stream: "Cage Escape"
MPEG Stream: "Absentmindedly From A Radio Far Away"

CACCIAPAGLIA, ROBERTO Sonanze (Mupymup) lp+cd 29.00
We've been working backwards in the Roberto Cacciapaglia catalog. We started with the eccentric pop of The Ann Steel Record from 1979, then a few lists back moved on to his minimalist systems composed piece, Sei Note In Logica. We'd planned on reviewing his first record, 1975's Sonanze, when Wah Wah originally reissued it, but are glad we waited for this Mupymup version which contains a bonus disc of 15 extra pieces from the period which really detail the beautiful range of this experimental classical composer with both Italian prog and Krautrock ties, and this will most definitely appeal to fans of either genre.
Sonanze is perhaps the most classical leaning release of the bunch, but it definitely has a deep kosmiche feel. Its 10 movements begin with cascading gongs filtered through tape loops against an airy atmosphere of piano runs. Chamber string dramatics lay out the definitive feel of the entire piece of plaintive horns and kettle drums before getting full on cosmic in the Second Movement with pulsating synths and deep phased chanting leading to a percolating soundscape of jaw harp vibrations and swelling strings. The third movement brings in Lubomyr Melnyk-style piano cascades, while the fourth movement introduces a disembodied angelic choir, reminding us of Ligetti's "Lux Aeterna" from 2001: A Space Odyssey. The 5th movement brings in Peter Michael Hamel-style organ arpeggiations devolving into bowed gong scrapes. The 6th movement is very Michael Rother like, with cloudy gliding guitar and on and on it goes, a different feel or instrument in each changing movement, but somehow tied into a deeply introspective and gorgeous whole. Mixed by legendary krautrock producer Rolf-Kaiser Ulrich (Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Ash Ra Tempel), Sonanze is definitely our favorite of the three releases we reviewed thus far (though the Ann Steel scores major points because it's so dang out there!).
The bonus disc is also pretty killer, filled with cosmic new age compositions of Moog and piano, filled with wonderful vocal experiments (check out the proto-Grouper track, "Manuela"), gongs and some abstract soundscapes to boot. So totally recommended and these reissues don't stick around long, so get it while you can!
MPEG Stream: "1st Movement"
MPEG Stream: "2nd Movement"
MPEG Stream: "6th Movement"
MPEG Stream: "Manuela"
MPEG Stream: "Skywaves"
MPEG Stream: "Floating Clouds"

BARRY, JOHN The Lion In Winter OST (Columbia/Legacy) cd 8.98
To be honest, we never paid this classic 1968 film that much attention because we always thought it was some treacley long-winded historical romance, but boy we're we wrong. It's actually more like a fucked-up dysfunctional family drama disguised in medieval garb, and it even takes place at Christmas! Plus the soundtrack is fantastic.
Starring Peter O'Toole and Katherine Hepburn with young Anthony Hopkins and Timothy Dalton in their first screen appearances, this is the story of King Henry II (O'Toole) having to deal with his indecisiveness of whom amongst his three unworthy sons shall inherit the throne. Complicating his decision is his imprisoned Queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine (Hepburn), who once a year is released from her tower prison to celebrate Christmas with the family. She has her own ideas of which son should inherit the kingdom, and bitter rivalries, intrigue and underhanded political maneuvering ensue. The chemistry between O'Toole and Hepburn is as sharp and acidic as Liz and Dick In Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, making their flirtatious hatred towards one another so engaging to watch. Originally a play, the movie is fleshed out cinematically with an atmospheric quality of pastoral England, and enhancing the vibe is this beautiful soundtrack by John Barry, mixing classic sixties film orchestration with ethereal psychfolk-tinged medieval plainsong in a haunting alluring score. The theme marking Eleanor's arrival is one of our favorite John Barry tracks ever, and this score is highly underrated and in our opinion amongst his best. And a nice price to boot!
MPEG Stream: "Chignon / Eleanor's Arrival"
MPEG Stream: "God Damn You"
MPEG Stream: "How Beautiful You Make Me"
MPEG Stream: "In the Midst of Life We Are Death"

YO LA TENGO Fade (Matador) lp 16.98
The deluxe vinyl version of Fade is now sold out, but we've got the standard edition now (sans 7" but still with a download!).
We're actually glad Yo La Tengo isn't more prolific and makes us wait a few years before each release. This way we eagerly anticipate each new album and fully savor it once it's finally here. There's always a give and take of expectation too, we know inside and out what YLT's basic sonic template will be, but there's always a loose thematic exploration or vague organizing principle behind each release that gets changed up each time. The last two, Popular Songs, and I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass, were largely kitchen sink affairs in terms of style and duration, mixing cool genre pop experiments of Motown soul and country with long excursions into indie psych rock. Fade by contrast is their most compact and concise full length in over a decade with just 10 songs in about 45 minutes. But the brevity of length on the album proper brings greater focus to the nuanced details of each song. Produced by John McEntire of Tortoise in a wonderful collaboration we are surprised hasn't happened long before now. This may be the band's best sounding record yet.
Whether it's their overall best record is always debatable, but every YLT record satisfies us on some level like a dear old friend, and all of us of course have our own favorites. Fade hearkens back to the softer pastoral sensitivity of 2003's Summer Sun without so much of that album's cosmic free jazz flourishes. Instead, each track on Fade is a tightly composed slice of indie pop economy with attentive detail to arrangement and production: The warm warble of the organ, the brilliant reverbed guitar tones, the subtle chamber orchestration of horns and strings that are peppered about, but used with restraint, and of course the sublime vocal harmonies. Definitely a great morning record to get your day started. Not a game changer by any means, but in the band's 30 year history, who's really expecting one at this point. At least they remain firmly on top of their game, and that's all that matters.
MPEG Stream: "Ohm"
MPEG Stream: "Stupid Things"
MPEG Stream: "Before We Run"

GROUPER The Man Who Died In His Boat (Kranky) cd 14.98
Grouper's Liz Harris seems to be settling in comfortably on the Kranky label, with the release so far of the two AIA lps on cd for the first time, the debut from Mirrorring (Harris's duo project with Jesy Fortino from Tiny Vipers), and this "new" release, The Man Who Died In His Boat, which has come out in conjunction with a lp and cd reissue of her 2008 record Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill, an AQ favorite. The release/re-release of both records together is no coincidence as the tracks on The Man Who Died In His Boat were recorded during the same sessions as Dragging A Dead Deer, and the new record has a long lost twin feel that we haven't heard on subsequent Grouper records since then. While she still employs the waves of foggy reverb and layered far away voices, there is a reappearance of fully formed songs and a sheen of less-filtered clarity. Both records are informed by key childhood memories, this one by a discovery with her father of beached sailboat, and their speculation about the man who disappeared sailing it. The ocean roar, swelling waves of reverbed sound, and the far away sadness of acoustic sea shanties pour throughout the release creating a moving hypnotic spell which invariably holds us helpless in its grasp. Beautiful!
Currently, we only have the cd version, but the vinyl versions of both this and the reissue of Dragging A Dead Deer are supposedly alredy being repressed.
MPEG Stream: "Vital"
MPEG Stream: "Difference (Voices)"
MPEG Stream: "The Man Who Died In His Boat"
MPEG Stream: "Living Room"

UN FESTIN SAGITAL Bestias Solares (Black Horizons) cassette 8.98
Holy shit, this is so fucked up, but in all the right ways. And thus, becomes our first ever CASSETTE Record Of The Week! One of those records that had EVERYone here sorta freaking out. And on it's first spin in the store, had all the folks in the back rushing up front to see what the heck was playing!
Un Festin Sagital are an occult prog-metal / angular post-punk / psychedelic free noise / black ambient orchestra out of Santiago, Chile that can strip down to the touring essentials of just flute, acoustic guitar, and voice, when need be, in bellowing their complex tales of a forthcoming lysergic apocalypse. But here, it's the full sonic onslaught of Satanic chanting, frenzied tribal rhythms, heavy anthemic riffs, acid-crazed arrangements, and witch/warlock vocals that sound as if they were recorded at the wrong speed, all dotted with some rather pretty moments of psychedelic impressionism. Diabolically strummed flamenco guitar riffs erupt into blisteringly rhythmic assaults of start/stop rhythms that are equal parts King Crimson, Comus, and Uz Jsme Doma. Or imagine Dutch punks the Ex crossed with aQ Record Of The Weekers Yamantaka // Sonic Titan!! A sound that somehow simultaneously reminds us of bedeviled Eastern European peasant folk songs that could very well be possessed gypsy curses from some remote old world village in a muddled sonic palette that also evokes the Art Bears mixed with ritualistic Hindustani vocal modulations, or the Vietnamese girls on Holgar Czukay's "Boat Woman Song". The sound washed out under layers of tape decay and warble, the music seemingly patched together and reassembled in beautiful, yet twisted psych-folk interludes which meander between the volatile rhythmic outbursts with wah-wah inflected, acidic guitar lines and long dizzying sprawls of cinematic creep and kosmische electronics, creating spellbinding atmospheres and gorgeously stunning modern avant heaviness. Strange, fucked-up stuff. Supposedly a new full length is in the works from Beta-Lactam Ring. C40. Limited to 100 copies! And so totally recommended!!
MPEG Stream: "Madre Bestia"
MPEG Stream: "Devocion"
MPEG Stream: "El Final (Tango Fallido)"
MPEG Stream: "El Asesino Del Sol"

BROADCAST Berberian Sound Studio Original Soundtrack (Warp) lp 23.00
It's been two long years since Broadcast singer Trish Keegan's tragic untimely passing, and we're finally getting to hear some of the material the band was working on before she died. There have long been rumors of a posthumous Broadcast record proper to someday be released, but until that album is ready, we have this soundtrack to a British psychological thriller called Berberian Sound Studio to keep us company. Unlike Broadcast's previous album with the Focus Group, Investigate Witch Cults Of The Radio Age, which played like an imaginary soundtrack for the most incredible horror movie never made, Berberian Sound Studio comes across like a proper soundtrack that follows a visual plot, with repeating themes in various moods that are lilting, atmospheric and tense, but also including creepy foley sound effects of bloodcurdling screams, sinister prayers, as well as short haunting library music cues. The film, about a British sound engineer's devolving mental state while working on a giallo-like exploitation film in the mid '70s at Italy's famed Berberian Sound Studio, harkens back to the days of heralded Italian movie composers Ennio Morricone and Bruno Nicolai working on films by Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci. Originally conceived as the soundtrack for the film within the film, called The Equestrian Vortex, director Peter Strickland soon decided to use Broadcast's music cues to underscore what was happening outside of the interior film as well, so that there is a lovely blurring of reality and fantasy, intensified by the various sonic cues included from the film that overall make this soundtrack stand up on its own. Of course adding to the haunting quality of the music is the ghostly but minimal presence of the late Keegan's voice, that appears mostly in near background like famed Morricone singer, Edda Dell'Orso, in lilting sing-song and wordless choruses. The question remains unanswered if that is her voice heard praying or screaming.
Coincidentally, we've recently become obsessed with a similar sounding soundtrack by Polish composer Andrzej Korzynski for the eighties cult horror film, Possession (something, we are hopefully going to be able to list one of these days!) and the two have been interweaving a strange musically cinematic and terrifying spell throughout the store. Highly Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "The Equestrian Vortex"
MPEG Stream: "The North Downs eDimension"
MPEG Stream: "Teresa, Lark of Ascension"
MPEG Stream: "Found Scalded, Found Drowned"
MPEG Stream: "The Sacred Marriage"

PETERSON, GILLES Black Jazz Radio (Black Jazz Records) cd 16.98
Black Jazz was a record label based out of Oakland, California in the early seventies and focused on spiritual minded jazz with a community focus, often with funk and soul jazz overtones. We recently reviewed Calvin Keys' Shawn-Neeq record from 1971 and along with some of the recent Black Jazz reissues, there have been some DJ mixes released too, all mined from the label's extensive catalog. We weren't too psyched on the first mix by Japanese DJ Mitsu, but then we got this mix from esteemed BBC radio DJ, Gilles Peterson, and our opinion 180'ed. Peterson has the same reputation in British radio of soul, funk, jazz and international sounds as John Peel did with rock, punk, and post-punk, and his taste here is impeccable. He does do some mixing between songs, but he largely lets the songs go their own lengths without unnecessary intervention. In it, he creates an arc of the label's best sounds that range from exploratory soul jazz, rare groove funk, Latin-inflected rhythms and cosmic spiritual gems. The label was formed by pianist Gene Russell as an antidote to the more skronkier vibe coming out of the east coast, so the sound on Black Jazz has a smoother more melodic quality, but still quite beautiful and engaging with its own unique sound. Definitely the sort of deep sounds our pals at Groove Merchant Records in the Haight have been cultivating and turning people onto for many years. Artists include: The Awakening, Doug Carn, Roland Haynes, Walter Bishop Jr., Kellee Paterson, and Gene Russell, among others.
MPEG Stream: GENE RUSSELL "Black Orchid"
MPEG Stream: WALTER BISHOP JR.'S 4TH CYCLE "N'dugu's Prayer"
MPEG Stream: DOUG CARN "Higher Ground"
MPEG Stream: ROLAND HAYNES "Second Wave"

BROADCAST Berberian Sound Studio Original Soundtrack (Warp) cd 15.98
It's been two long years since Broadcast singer Trish Keegan's tragic untimely passing, and we're finally getting to hear some of the material the band was working on before she died. There have long been rumors of a posthumous Broadcast record proper to someday be released, but until that album is ready, we have this soundtrack to a British psychological thriller called Berberian Sound Studio to keep us company. Unlike Broadcast's previous album with the Focus Group, Investigate Witch Cults Of The Radio Age, which played like an imaginary soundtrack for the most incredible horror movie never made, Berberian Sound Studio comes across like a proper soundtrack that follows a visual plot, with repeating themes in various moods that are lilting, atmospheric and tense, but also including creepy foley sound effects of bloodcurdling screams, sinister prayers, as well as short haunting library music cues. The film, about a British sound engineer's devolving mental state while working on a giallo-like exploitation film in the mid '70s at Italy's famed Berberian Sound Studio, harkens back to the days of heralded Italian movie composers Ennio Morricone and Bruno Nicolai working on films by Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci. Originally conceived as the soundtrack for the film within the film, called The Equestrian Vortex, director Peter Strickland soon decided to use Broadcast's music cues to underscore what was happening outside of the interior film as well, so that there is a lovely blurring of reality and fantasy, intensified by the various sonic cues included from the film that overall make this soundtrack stand up on its own. Of course adding to the haunting quality of the music is the ghostly but minimal presence of the late Keegan's voice, that appears mostly in near background like famed Morricone singer, Edda Dell'Orso, in lilting sing-song and wordless choruses. The question remains unanswered if that is her voice heard praying or screaming.
Coincidentally, we've recently become obsessed with a similar sounding soundtrack by Polish composer Andrzej Korzynski for the eighties cult horror film, Possession (something, we are hopefully going to be able to list one of these days!) and the two have been interweaving a strange musically cinematic and terrifying spell throughout the store. Highly Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "The Equestrian Vortex"
MPEG Stream: "The North Downs eDimension"
MPEG Stream: "Teresa, Lark of Ascension"
MPEG Stream: "Found Scalded, Found Drowned"
MPEG Stream: "The Sacred Marriage"

YO LA TENGO Fade (Matador) cd 14.98
We're actually glad Yo La Tengo isn't more prolific and makes us wait a few years before each release. This way we eagerly anticipate each new album and fully savor it once it's finally here. There's always a give and take of expectation too, we know inside and out what YLT's basic sonic template will be, but there's always a loose thematic exploration or vague organizing principle behind each release that gets changed up each time. The last two, Popular Songs, and I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass, were largely kitchen sink affairs in terms of style and duration, mixing cool genre pop experiments of Motown soul and country with long excursions into indie psych rock. Fade by contrast is their most compact and concise full length in over a decade with just 10 songs in about 45 minutes (the deluxe vinyl comes with a bonus 7" with two covers of a Todd Rundgren song and a Times New Viking song, as well as a download coupon that also includes a bonus new 11 minute track, the ambient instrumental "Oriole"). But the brevity of length on the album proper brings greater focus to the nuanced details of each song. Produced by John McEntire of Tortoise in a wonderful collaboration we are surprised hasn't happened long before now. This may be the band's best sounding record yet.
Whether it's their overall best record is always debatable, but every YLT record satisfies us on some level like a dear old friend, and all of us of course have our own favorites. Fade hearkens back to the softer pastoral sensitivity of 2003's Summer Sun without so much of that album's cosmic free jazz flourishes. Instead, each track on Fade is a tightly composed slice of indie pop economy with attentive detail to arrangement and production: The warm warble of the organ, the brilliant reverbed guitar tones, the subtle chamber orchestration of horns and strings that are peppered about, but used with restraint, and of course the sublime vocal harmonies. Definitely a great morning record to get your day started. Not a game changer by any means, but in the band's 30 year history, who's really expecting one at this point. At least they remain firmly on top of their game, and that's all that matters.
MPEG Stream: "Ohm"
MPEG Stream: "Stupid Things"
MPEG Stream: "Before We Run"

YO LA TENGO Fade (Matador) lp + 7" 22.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We're actually glad Yo La Tengo isn't more prolific and makes us wait a few years before each release. This way we eagerly anticipate each new album and fully savor it once it's finally here. There's always a give and take of expectation too, we know inside and out what YLT's basic sonic template will be, but there's always a loose thematic exploration or vague organizing principle behind each release that gets changed up each time. The last two, Popular Songs, and I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass, were largely kitchen sink affairs in terms of style and duration, mixing cool genre pop experiments of Motown soul and country with long excursions into indie psych rock. Fade by contrast is their most compact and concise full length in over a decade with just 10 songs in about 45 minutes (the deluxe vinyl comes with a bonus 7" with two covers of a Todd Rundgren song and a Times New Viking song, as well as a download coupon that also includes a bonus new 11 minute track, the ambient instrumental "Oriole"). But the brevity of length on the album proper brings greater focus to the nuanced details of each song. Produced by John McEntire of Tortoise in a wonderful collaboration we are surprised hasn't happened long before now. This may be the band's best sounding record yet.
Whether it's their overall best record is always debatable, but every YLT record satisfies us on some level like a dear old friend, and all of us of course have our own favorites. Fade hearkens back to the softer pastoral sensitivity of 2003's Summer Sun without so much of that album's cosmic free jazz flourishes. Instead, each track on Fade is a tightly composed slice of indie pop economy with attentive detail to arrangement and production: The warm warble of the organ, the brilliant reverbed guitar tones, the subtle chamber orchestration of horns and strings that are peppered about, but used with restraint, and of course the sublime vocal harmonies. Definitely a great morning record to get your day started. Not a game changer by any means, but in the band's 30 year history, who's really expecting one at this point. At least they remain firmly on top of their game, and that's all that matters.
MPEG Stream: "Ohm"
MPEG Stream: "Stupid Things"
MPEG Stream: "Before We Run"

V/A Nippon Girls: Japanese Pop, Beat, & Bossa Nova 1966-70 (Big Beat) cd 16.98
Along with Funky Frauleins and the French Sixties Girls compilations, how could we resist the allure of Nippon Girls, a swinging mod-tastic compilation of hip-swaying and frug-dancing femme-fronted big beat gems from sixties Japan? We couldn't, and you probably can't either. The cd came out a few years ago, but the vinyl version only just got released so we thought we should finally review this especially after the success of another Big Beat disc, Nippon Guitars, we reviewed a few lists ago. Feeling the influence of Western pop music in the sixties (including Bossa Nova from Brazil and Ye Ye from France), Japanese musicians capitalized on the new sound often by lifting popular songs wholesale and rewriting the lyrics. But the enthusiasm with which these sexy and soulful songs are performed and arranged make them pretty outstanding in their own right. Acid-y guitars, cinematic orchestral flourishes, and sharp and dynamic arrangements are just too infectious to be ignored, especially by beautiful women who look and sound this fantastically fierce. It's party time!
Note: the cd version contains the full 25 tracks while the lp version only covers the first 12 tracks from 1967-1969. We assume there will be a follow-up volume 2 vinyl comp with the other tracks.
MPEG Stream: JUN MAYUZUMI "Black Room"
MPEG Stream: NANA KINOMI & LEO BEATS "Suki Sa Suki Sa Suki Sa"
MPEG Stream: REIKO OHARA "Peacock Baby"

FAY, BILL s/t (4 Men With Beards) lp 22.00
Now reissued on vinyl!!!
This is what we said about the cd reissue a few years ago:
We had never really heard of Bill Fay, at least until we started hearing him mentioned as an influence on folks like Ben Chasny of Six Organs Of Admittance, Jim O'Rourke, Current 93 and the like. Which made perfect sense when we finally heard Fay's music. A reissue of Fay's debut album, originally released in 1970, this is majestic, emotional singer-songwriter stuff, simple, beautiful songs, wrapped in lushly orchestrated, sweeping strings, regal horns, totally epic and emotionally grand arrangements (think Scott Walker). The sticker on the cover boldly proclaims Fay as "the missing link between Nick Drake, Ray Davies and Bob Dylan" and while we can perhaps dismiss that as hyperbole to a certain extent, there is definitely something special about Fay's voice and his songs. They definitely work best when they tend toward the more maudlin and miserable, it's then that the Nick Drake comparison makes the most sense. The orchestral filigree has the definite downside of occasionally making some of the songs a bit too saccharine and overblown. Which is unfortunate as Fay's songs are the sort that would work just as well with just a guitar or a piano, dark and brooding, and emotionally charged, stripped to its bare essentials. That said, some of the string parts are absolutely stunning, and the horns give some of the tracks a bit of a Chicago vibe which in no way is a bad thing. Not necessarily dreary or depressive or fucked up enough to transcend their seventies singer-songwriter sound, but some close listening will reveal how ultra personal and simply fantastic these songs are!
Features extensive liner notes from Fay himself as well as two bonus tracks: both songs from Fay's rare 1967 "Screams In The Ears" / "Some Good Advice" seven inch single.
MPEG Stream: "Garden Song"
MPEG Stream: "The Sun Is Bored"

OHIO PENITENTIARY 511 JAZZ ENSEMBLE Hard Luck Soul (Jazzman) lp 24.00
We first heard the Ohio Penitentiary 511 Jazz Ensemble on the first volume of the Spiritual Jazz series with their sparkling horn groover, "Psych City". Turns out that the "penitentiary" part of their name was no joke. The 511 Jazz Ensemble was made up entirely of prisoners doing time in the Ohio State Penitentiary and was formed in 1971 to give inmates with musical abilities a means to be productive and creative. One of the ensemble's key founders was Logan Rollins, nephew of Sonny Rollins, who due to his musical conservatory experience was able to form the group to perform for various functions, namely entertaining inmates during the holidays. An inspiring meeting with the Ohio State University band allowed for a record to be made and these 4 tracks of long-form jazz excursions were the result. The music is ecpansive and spiritual, as one might imagine, displaying a sense of serious sonic freedom for its many players. Privately pressed in 1971, this album is a mega-rarity among soul jazz fanatics, with not even the founding members having their own copies or receiving any money for their efforts. The group disbanded after Rollins and other founding members were released. Yet this release still continues to inspire, showcasing the beautiful articulation of freedom that can really only be expressed when one no longer has full access to it.
MPEG Stream: "Psych City"
MPEG Stream: "Counterry Bosa Devan"

OHIO PENITENTIARY 511 JAZZ ENSEMBLE Hard Luck Soul (Jazzman) cd 17.98
We first heard the Ohio Penitentiary 511 Jazz Ensemble on the first volume of the Spiritual Jazz series with their sparkling horn groover, "Psych City". Turns out that the "penitentiary" part of their name was no joke. The 511 Jazz Ensemble was made up entirely of prisoners doing time in the Ohio State Penitentiary and was formed in 1971 to give inmates with musical abilities a means to be productive and creative. One of the ensemble's key founders was Logan Rollins, nephew of Sonny Rollins, who due to his musical conservatory experience was able to form the group to perform for various functions, namely entertaining inmates during the holidays. An inspiring meeting with the Ohio State University band allowed for a record to be made and these 4 tracks of long-form jazz excursions were the result. The music is ecpansive and spiritual, as one might imagine, displaying a sense of serious sonic freedom for its many players. Privately pressed in 1971, this album is a mega-rarity among soul jazz fanatics, with not even the founding members having their own copies or receiving any money for their efforts. The group disbanded after Rollins and other founding members were released. Yet this release still continues to inspire, showcasing the beautiful articulation of freedom that can really only be expressed when one no longer has full access to it.
MPEG Stream: "Psych City"
MPEG Stream: "Counterry Bosa Devan"

GASLAMP KILLER Breakthrough (Brainfeeder) lp 27.00

MPEG Stream: "Nissim"
MPEG Stream: "Apparitions"
MPEG Stream: "In The Dark"

ALESSANDRONI, ALESSANDRO Prisma Sonoro (Roundtable / The Omni Recording Corporation) lp 27.00
We'll pretty much get anything on the Roundtable label right now, as they in collaboration with The Omni Recording Corporation, have been on a winning streak of reissuing on vinyl the most farflung and obscure library records, documentary soundtracks and other psycho-cinematic sonic ephemera from far off corners of the globe. Trouble is, they have been especially hard to get, and even more difficult to get enough of for us to list. We've literally been waiting for these latest two releases for nearly a year and our hopes of ever getting them were diminishing by the week. And all of the sudden, we got the news they were on the way and we were so seriously psyched! Two Italian library gems, one of haunted choir compositions from Egisto Macchi, founding member of the mighty Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova con Sonanza and the other from the wonderfully named Alessandro Alessandroni who is perhaps more well known as Ennio Morricone's guitarist and whistler! (Yes, whistler, of course he had to have one!) Both are pretty essential for lovers of seventies dreamy, otherworldly, acousmatic psychedelia!
Alessandro Alessandroni was a key player in shaping much of the classic Italian soundtrack sound as we know it today from such comps as Delirium Of The Senses: Psychedelia In Italian Cinema. As guitarist for Ennio Morricone, his famous whistle pretty much defined the whole Spaghetti Western sound. He was a session player for nearly all the well known film composers, Piero Umilani, Bruno Nicolai and Francesco De Masi, yet his own solo work often was overshadowed. It's hard to figure out why with such a beautifully brilliant album as this mythical library album for the Sermi label. Like the most sublime Italian soundtracks from Ennio Morricone, Prisma Sonoro is phantasmagoric exotica of strangely compelling and lush melancholic moods. A lysergically-minded sound design creates druggy cinematic compositions of harpsichords, mournful strings, psychedelic guitars and haunting female vocals. Seriously beautiful and limited to 500 copies, get one while you can!

MACCHI, EGISTO Voix (Roundtable / The Omni Recording Corporation) lp 27.00
We'll pretty much get anything on the Roundtable label right now, as they in collaboration with The Omni Recording Corporation, have been on a winning streak of reissuing on vinyl the most farflung and obscure library records, documentary soundtracks and other psycho-cinematic sonic ephemera from far off corners of the globe. Trouble is, they have been especially hard to get, and even more difficult to get enough of for us to list. We've literally been waiting for these latest two releases for nearly a year and our hopes of ever getting them were diminishing by the week. And all of the sudden, we got the news they were on the way and we were so seriously psyched! Two Italian library gems, one of haunted choir compositions from Egisto Macchi, founding member of the mighty Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova con Sonanza and the other from the wonderfully named Alessandro Alessandroni who is perhaps more well known as Ennio Morricone's guitarist and whistler! (Yes, whistler, of course he had to have one!) Both are pretty essential for lovers of seventies dreamy, otherworldly, acousmatic psychedelia!
Roundtable/Omni previously reissued Macchi's I Futuribili last year, and that missive of exotic outer space soundscapes was deeply mysterious and alluring, but not nearly as much as this one. As the title suggests, the compositions here all centered on voice, but not as you may think. This is the voice detached from the body expressed in haunting electronic choral effects and spectral concrete ambience that ranges from the percussive and urgent to the pastoral and ritualistic, always with a keen ear towards a brilliantly dynamic sound design. Pretty much the defining blueprint for Demdike Stare's entire sound, this has been considered a holy grail among collectors and comes with the highest recommendation. Limited to 500 copies. Don't Miss Out!

CULTS PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE s/t (Trunk) lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
You wouldn't expect an ensemble of 14 year old school girls playing all manner of vibraphones, marimbas, glockenspiels, xylophones and timpani drums to have a name like Cults Percussion Ensemble, but it's highly appropriate as this is not only a totally obscure record from 1979 sold only on European festival tours, but Cults also happens to be the name of the Scottish suburb of Aberdeen that the group and their bandleader, Rob Forbes, hailed from. And it makes perfect sense that it would end up getting reissued on the uber eclectic Trunk label. This is a beautifully charming new releases of hypnotically cascading mallet music that is shimmering and strange, dreamlike and diaphanous, so pretty but also at times a little cartoony, reminding us of Carl Orff's wonderful children's music, Sea World's Sparklett's Dancing Water Show (a fave attraction from our childhood, now sadly dismantled) or the incidental music on the Addam's Family. The girls' deft performances and light airy touch are delightfully enchanting, and though not as sinister or as ominous as the title would suggest, the music is nonetheless spellbinding and mysterious and comes highly recommended!!
MPEG Stream: "Autun Carillon"
MPEG Stream: "Circles"
MPEG Stream: "Polymers"

TONTO'S EXPANDING HEADBAND Zero Time (Prog Temple) lp 24.00
One of our favorite analog electronic prog-hippie jazz-psych records from the magic year of 1971 has finally been given the reissue treatment, and it's a doozy! TONTO stands for "The Original New Timbral Orchestra", the first, and still the largest, multitimbral polyphonic analog synthesizer in the world. Created by Malcom Cecil and Robert Margouleff, the duo's first outing with their new creation was originally released on jazz flautist, Herbie Mann's Atlantic Records sub-label, Embryo.
The album was so influential that Stevie Wonder collaborated with the duo on several of his most essential recordings of the seventies including Talking Book, Innervisions and Fulfillingness' First Finale. It was also the instrument featured on screen and used by Paul Williams character in Brian DePalma's Phantom of the Paradise! The machine later became a key player in lots of eighties RnB, seemingly miles away from the soundscapery on this first record.
While Zero-Time acted largely as a showcase for what the TONTO could do, it's still a pretty killer record of synthetic cinematic prog groove, subterranean alien library funk and spacey folk electronic ambience. Over six tracks, there are several varying moods from sexy (there's a song called "Jetsex" after all), to blissfully solemn. The opener "Cybernaut" sounds like a movie theme for a sci-fi crime thriller, all foreboding and mysterious, while our favorite track is the floating space raga, "Riversong" which has strange treated vocal modulations that are completely sublime. Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Cybernaut"
MPEG Stream: "Jetsex"
MPEG Stream: "Timewhys"

CULTS PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE s/t (Trunk) cd 16.98
You wouldn't expect an ensemble of 14 year old school girls playing all manner of vibraphones, marimbas, glockenspiels, xylophones and timpani drums to have a name like Cults Percussion Ensemble, but it's highly appropriate as this is not only a totally obscure record from 1979 sold only on European festival tours, but Cults also happens to be the name of the Scottish suburb of Aberdeen that the group and their bandleader, Rob Forbes, hailed from. And it makes perfect sense that it would end up getting reissued on the uber eclectic Trunk label. This is a beautifully charming new releases of hypnotically cascading mallet music that is shimmering and strange, dreamlike and diaphanous, so pretty but also at times a little cartoony, reminding us of Carl Orff's wonderful children's music, Sea World's Sparklett's Dancing Water Show (a fave attraction from our childhood, now sadly dismantled) or the incidental music on the Addam's Family. The girls' deft performances and light airy touch are delightfully enchanting, and though not as sinister or as ominous as the title would suggest, the music is nonetheless spellbinding and mysterious and comes highly recommended!!
MPEG Stream: "Autun Carillon"
MPEG Stream: "Circles"
MPEG Stream: "Polymers"

TONTO'S EXPANDING HEADBAND Zero Time (Prog Temple) cd 17.98
One of our favorite analog electronic prog-hippie jazz-psych records from the magic year of 1971 has finally been given the reissue treatment, and it's a doozy! TONTO stands for "The Original New Timbral Orchestra", the first, and still the largest, multitimbral polyphonic analog synthesizer in the world. Created by Malcom Cecil and Robert Margouleff, the duo's first outing with their new creation was originally released on jazz flautist, Herbie Mann's Atlantic Records sub-label, Embryo.
The album was so influential that Stevie Wonder collaborated with the duo on several of his most essential recordings of the seventies including Talking Book, Innervisions and Fulfillingness' First Finale. It was also the instrument featured on screen and used by Paul Williams character in Brian DePalma's Phantom of the Paradise! The machine later became a key player in lots of eighties RnB, seemingly miles away from the soundscapery on this first record.
While Zero-Time acted largely as a showcase for what the TONTO could do, it's still a pretty killer record of synthetic cinematic prog groove, subterranean alien library funk and spacey folk electronic ambience. Over six tracks, there are several varying moods from sexy (there's a song called "Jetsex" after all), to blissfully solemn. The opener "Cybernaut" sounds like a movie theme for a sci-fi crime thriller, all foreboding and mysterious, while our favorite track is the floating space raga, "Riversong" which has strange treated vocal modulations that are completely sublime. Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Cybernaut"
MPEG Stream: "Jetsex"
MPEG Stream: "Timewhys"

SMOKEY EMERY Lives Vol. II (Kiamesha Drive) cd-r 5.98
Volume II in Smokey Emery's series of live performance edits expand from the first volume into 9 pieces taken from performances over the last couple of years around Austin, Texas and Colorado. Adding to the industrial foggy ambience of Smokey Emery's sound proper is the fact that these recordings were made on low-fi tape recorders, cell phones and digital cameras, further murking up the cloudy din. Listening at low volumes might be akin to listening to your refrigerator hum, but turned up a bit, there are distilled blooms of haunted sounds, muffled dialogue and far off buried music. We had this playing loudly one morning in the store, the day after the election in fact, when we had a sudden cold snap after days of warm dazzling sunshine and the store took on this sudden charge of a soft industrial autumn haze that was chilling and melancholic, but also blithely peaceful. We guess we'll be looking forward to winter after all! Limited!
MPEG Stream: "Track 2"
MPEG Stream: "Track 4"
MPEG Stream: "Track 8"

MAD MUSIC INC. Mad Music (Drag City) lp 17.98
Just as it first appeared in the Boston Area around 1977, there are no song titles, contact info or any other identifying information accompanying this mysterious release, a reissue of a private press recording of serene but outsider-inflected new age classical composition. Like another similarly minded aQ fave, Moolah, the music presented on Mad Music Inc. is an oceanic mixture of echoed piano, harp and gong, in short sketches with one track adding percussion, some subtle bass groove and female spiritual cosmic jazz vocals (not quite the "cosmic disco" stated on Drag City's cover sticker, but still pretty cool!).
The primitive cover painting of two diametrically opposed naked women looks like it was inspired by Da Vinci's famous Vitruvian Man, with the women jumping out of their constrained environs. This seems like it would be an easy candidate for the Nurse With Wound list, especially with the back cover graphic of a chuckling Ming The Merciless type character with a tape machine implanted on the side of his head. Whatever it means, it must have been too elusive for even Stephen Stapleton, an obsessive authority on such obscurities. Regardless, for fans of weirdo new age, library records, and private press mysteries, this should be a nice sounding addition to your collection!

V/A Spiritual Jazz Volume 3: Modal, Esoteric And Ethereal Jazz From The European Underground 1963-1972 (Jazzman) 2lp 26.00
For the third installment of Jazzman's great Spiritual Jazz series, the hardworking diggers of underground jazz decided to stay on the European tip spearheaded on the second volume instead of venturing off to some other exotic location. And it's a good thing too, because how can you capture all the diverse iterations of communal jazz across so many various borders, ethnic heritages and regional communities in just one volume? What separates the two volumes thematically is that this third volume swings a lot more than the more reverent liturgical second volume, focusing on individual expression, private press visionaries and unique hybrids of Latin, Slavic and Asian influences. Obscurities abound, most tracks previously un-reissued in any form, really one of the only names we were familiar with is Jef Gilson, whom who Jazzman introduced us to on a great compilation aptly titled The Best of Jef Gilson! The suave cafe jazz sound of Gilson is a great introduction into what is an eclectic and diverse selection of hypnotic modal jazz that is uplifting, entertaining and refreshingly energetic! Along with Gilson and Mangesdorf there are great pieces by Hermann Gehlen, Palle Mikkelborg & Radiojazzgruppen, Michel Roques, Babs Robert, That's Why, Binder Quintet, The Crescendo Quintet, Dusko Goykovic, Albert Mangelsdorff Quintet, Yoki Freund Sextet, Jan Allan Quintet, Dennis Wiley, Full Moon Ensemble, Louis Xavier, and Antithesis. Yes!
MPEG Stream: JEF GILSON "Unknown"
MPEG Stream: MICHEL ROQUES "Le Temps"
MPEG Stream: LOUIS XAVIER "Suite"
MPEG Stream: FULL MOON ENSEMBLE "Samba Miaou"

BLACK MOTH SUPER RAINBOW Cobra Juicy (Rad Cult / French Kiss) cd 14.98
Latest from these long time aQ faves, another blast of prismatic woozy electronic psychedelia, this one moving even more in a sort of warped electro-soul direction, but starting off like some futuristic take on Gary Glitter, all booming glam rock beats, and distorto buzz guitar, but instead of getting big and bombastic it blisses out, and become a weirdly propulsive kosmische style synth groove, with autotuned vocals and swirly shimmery melodies, all sort of washed out and trippy... and from that point on, the record drifts druggily into a full on mutant, home brewed alien strain of garbled DNA, groovy, cosmic disco, built from lazy, woozy crooned vocodered sexy boy vox, slithery melodies, whirling synths, all driven by stuttering robo-funk beats.
But this is BMSR, so even this glossy soulful side is laced with strange stretches of stripped down lysergic sonic shimmer, slo-mo jangle pop that almost sounds like cough syrup Smashing Pumpkins spinning at 16 rpm (check out "Psychic Love Damage"), but then it's right back into it, a sort of drowsy dancefloor fractured pop, slippery grooves, crazy catchy melodies, and twinkling harmonics, drifting in a soft focus chordal haze, peppered with slippery slide guitar, sounding like some sort of blissed out bluegrass laced electronica, while beneath the surface, collaged voices swirl above a softly roiling backdrop of gauzy ethereal dreampop, the sound building to a hazy soaring shoegazey M83 style electro-swirl!
MPEG Stream: "Windsheild Smasher"
MPEG Stream: "Psychic Love Damage"

KORZYNSKI, ANDRZEJ Possession OST (Finders Keepers) cd 17.98
A lot of the soundtracks we review, are for movies we haven't actually seen. In some ways that's sort of liberating, at least from a purely musical standpoint, hearing the sounds solely for what they are, instead of having those sounds inexorably linked to specific images. And in a lot of cases, we have discovered some incredible films via their soundtracks, and not the more common other way around. We got this soundtrack to this 1981 French horror/thriller (directed by Polish director Andrzej Zulawski, and scored by his longtime collaborator Andrzej Korzynski, also Polish, but more on that in a second) in a few months ago, and instantly, become totally obsessed, spinning it multiple times a day, inevitably folks in the store would ask what it was, because it's so goddamn good. And creepy, and twisted, and pretty much the perfect score, but for what, we weren't sure, as we had not seen the movie. And while are obsession proves that you needn't see the movie to love this, once we actually DID see the movie, we flipped for that too, wondering how the hell we could have missed out on it all these years. It's literally one of the weirdest, most fucked up films EVER. And the soundtrack we had become so familiar with over the last several months, finally viewed in the contest of the film, made both even more bizarre and amazing.
So the film itself, banned until 1991, and at the time classified as a "Video Nasty", stars an American, Sam Neil, who becomes convinced his wife, Isabelle Adjani, is cheating on him, which she is. Neil hires a private investigator, eventually meets the lover, and the lover's mother, but there's so much more to the story, there's a crazily neglected child in the mix, some truly twisted parenting, and SPOILER ALERT!!!! Some sort of super gross oozing monster that lives in an abandoned building that Adjani is in love with, or is at least having sex with? There's tons of screaming and hitting and fighting, and one of thee most dramatic freakouts EVER, with Adjani losing her mind in a tunnel, and ending up spewing and oozing all sorts of weird fluids, there's a particularly psychedelic denouement as well, lots of crazy scenery chewing, the whole thing is utterly and unabashedly over the top. Even right after seeing it, we weren't sure what the fuck just happened. But we did know, we loved the movie, and suddenly, loved the soundtrack EVEN MORE.
Korzynski's soundtrack is a series of short cues, most less than a minute, that find the composer experimenting with synthesizers, drum machines, primitive electronics. It's actually quite progressive, and in places is reminiscent of Carpenter or Goblin, especially in the movie's 'theme'. Check out the opening track "The Night The Screaming Stops", and it will be stick in your head forever, the tense strings, the pulsing rhythmic throb, the mysterious percussion, the swirling synth, and the creepy sci-fi sound effects, not to mention the melody. It's so haunting and creepy, but in the film, it's over the most innocuous sequence, and it's that juxtaposition that makes it so effectively chilling. Seriously if this soundtrack was 2 minutes long, and consisted of that first track, we'd still want a copy!
But dig in, there's plenty more, haunting swoonsome strings, drifting over a lilting organ melody, dreamy and drifty, but so subtly ominous, there's some full on synth prog, again revisiting that opening melody, but with more heft, as the soundtrack unwinds, there's lots of percussion, shakers, little flurries of synth shimmer, deep drones, the orchestral theme is particularly stirring, a refrain of the opening credit sequence, but so much more creepy and hauntingly stately. There are also lots of brief blasts of synthy psychedelia, appropriately titled things like "Detective's Desserts" or "Bloody Embrace", and part of the reason these cues are so short, is that much of the movie is sans incidental music, so the cues come in to accentuate certain events, the sonic equivalent of jump-scares, but super effective, and they add a whole other level of surreal psychedelia to the proceedings, very 'Euro' for sure. The series of "Kreuzberg" variations are particularly freaky, sinister and mysterious, grim ambience and super tense orchestral weirdness. Oh did we mention "The Man With The Pink Socks"? Another perplexing plot point, and one that here gets the bookending closing sequence, revisiting "Meeting With A Pink Tie". Adding some extra wah guitar, and both revisiting that opening theme.
Listen to the sound samples and see if you can resist. But really why bother? You won't be sorry. Even removed from the movie, this score is fantastic, psychedelic, orchestral, proggy, tripped out and bizarre, and no doubt will have you headed to the video store to experience the baffling brilliance of the film, once your sated on the equally baffling and brilliant score.
Like all B-Music / Finders Keepers releases, includes a huge booklet with lots of liner notes and tons of rare photos.
MPEG Stream: "The Night The Screaming Stops (Opening Titles)"
MPEG Stream: "Opetanie 1"
MPEG Stream: "Anna Rewards Mark"
MPEG Stream: "Possession - Orchestral Theme 1"
MPEG Stream: "Kreuzberg 1"
MPEG Stream: "Kreuzberg 4"
MPEG Stream: "What Is it?"

KORZYNSKI, ANDRZEJ Possession OST (Finders Keepers) lp 25.00
A lot of the soundtracks we review, are for movies we haven't actually seen. In some ways that's sort of liberating, at least from a purely musical standpoint, hearing the sounds solely for what they are, instead of having those sounds inexorably linked to specific images. And in a lot of cases, we have discovered some incredible films via their soundtracks, and not the more common other way around. We got this soundtrack to this 1981 French horror/thriller (directed by Polish director Andrzej Zulawski, and scored by his longtime collaborator Andrzej Korzynski, also Polish, but more on that in a second) in a few months ago, and instantly, become totally obsessed, spinning it multiple times a day, inevitably folks in the store would ask what it was, because it's so goddamn good. And creepy, and twisted, and pretty much the perfect score, but for what, we weren't sure, as we had not seen the movie. And while are obsession proves that you needn't see the movie to love this, once we actually DID see the movie, we flipped for that too, wondering how the hell we could have missed out on it all these years. It's literally one of the weirdest, most fucked up films EVER. And the soundtrack we had become so familiar with over the last several months, finally viewed in the contest of the film, made both even more bizarre and amazing.
So the film itself, banned until 1991, and at the time classified as a "Video Nasty", stars an American, Sam Neil, who becomes convinced his wife, Isabelle Adjani, is cheating on him, which she is. Neil hires a private investigator, eventually meets the lover, and the lover's mother, but there's so much more to the story, there's a crazily neglected child in the mix, some truly twisted parenting, and SPOILER ALERT!!!! Some sort of super gross oozing monster that lives in an abandoned building that Adjani is in love with, or is at least having sex with? There's tons of screaming and hitting and fighting, and one of thee most dramatic freakouts EVER, with Adjani losing her mind in a tunnel, and ending up spewing and oozing all sorts of weird fluids, there's a particularly psychedelic denouement as well, lots of crazy scenery chewing, the whole thing is utterly and unabashedly over the top. Even right after seeing it, we weren't sure what the fuck just happened. But we did know, we loved the movie, and suddenly, loved the soundtrack EVEN MORE.
Korzynski's soundtrack is a series of short cues, most less than a minute, that find the composer experimenting with synthesizers, drum machines, primitive electronics. It's actually quite progressive, and in places is reminiscent of Carpenter or Goblin, especially in the movie's 'theme'. Check out the opening track "The Night The Screaming Stops", and it will be stick in your head forever, the tense strings, the pulsing rhythmic throb, the mysterious percussion, the swirling synth, and the creepy sci-fi sound effects, not to mention the melody. It's so haunting and creepy, but in the film, it's over the most innocuous sequence, and it's that juxtaposition that makes it so effectively chilling. Seriously if this soundtrack was 2 minutes long, and consisted of that first track, we'd still want a copy!
But dig in, there's plenty more, haunting swoonsome strings, drifting over a lilting organ melody, dreamy and drifty, but so subtly ominous, there's some full on synth prog, again revisiting that opening melody, but with more heft, as the soundtrack unwinds, there's lots of percussion, shakers, little flurries of synth shimmer, deep drones, the orchestral theme is particularly stirring, a refrain of the opening credit sequence, but so much more creepy and hauntingly stately. There are also lots of brief blasts of synthy psychedelia, appropriately titled things like "Detective's Desserts" or "Bloody Embrace", and part of the reason these cues are so short, is that much of the movie is sans incidental music, so the cues come in to accentuate certain events, the sonic equivalent of jump-scares, but super effective, and they add a whole other level of surreal psychedelia to the proceedings, very 'Euro' for sure. The series of "Kreuzberg" variations are particularly freaky, sinister and mysterious, grim ambience and super tense orchestral weirdness. Oh did we mention "The Man With The Pink Socks"? Another perplexing plot point, and one that here gets the bookending closing sequence, revisiting "Meeting With A Pink Tie". Adding some extra wah guitar, and both revisiting that opening theme.
Listen to the sound samples and see if you can resist. But really why bother? You won't be sorry. Even removed from the movie, this score is fantastic, psychedelic, orchestral, proggy, tripped out and bizarre, and no doubt will have you headed to the video store to experience the baffling brilliance of the film, once your sated on the equally baffling and brilliant score.
Like all B-Music / Finders Keepers releases, includes a huge booklet with lots of liner notes and tons of rare photos.
MPEG Stream: "The Night The Screaming Stops (Opening Titles)"
MPEG Stream: "Opetanie 1"
MPEG Stream: "Anna Rewards Mark"
MPEG Stream: "Possession - Orchestral Theme 1"
MPEG Stream: "Kreuzberg 1"
MPEG Stream: "Kreuzberg 4"
MPEG Stream: "What Is it?"

WOO It's Cozy Inside (Drag City) cd 14.98
We have been wondering for a while now how long it would take for someone to reissue anything from this blithely influential but stubbornly obscurist brotherly duo, Woo, whose homespun DIY take on left-field new age-y electronic pastoral music has gone from largely ignored to rapturously revered over the span of 30 years since their debut. You can hear strains of their influence now in the music of Sun Araw, Ducktails, Nite Jewel, Animal Collective, Balam Acab, Washed Out and Caribou. But Woo's sound is not that easy to pin down, and It's Cozy Inside, the group's second album from 1989 (seven years on from their 1982 debut, Whichever Way You Are Going, You Are Going Wrong), is as ethereal and intangibly beguiling now as it ever was.
Woo can best be described as a mix of Cluster and Durutti Column, two outfits separated by time and geography that delved deeply into the gentler realm of pastoral music while at the same time pushing the sounds to the edge of experimental composition through texture and effects. Add to this the bedroom recording techniques of Cleaners From Venus, the classical exotica of Penguin Cafe Orchestra, the ethereal imaginary soundtracks of Bill Nelson, the wide-eyed romanticism of Virgina Astley's From Gardens Where We Feel Secure, and even the most genteel side of Throbbing Gristle or Chris and Cosey (of course at their most lethargic, far divorced from any heavy industrial sensibility) and we're getting closer to an apt description of the singular sound universe of Woo.
Yet this album is much much weirder then any comparisons we can attribute to it. Newly remastered, it still sounds like it was made for falling asleep to, its subtle textural effects of woozy synthesizers, clarinet and heavily affected acoustic guitar, don't necessarily create fully formed songs, but short serpentine instrumental vignettes that stream from one piece to the next, creating a strange filmic dream world that is difficult to get your head around. Its mutant take on new age and classical forms are hardly meditative kosmiche as much as they are a kind of worried ambient minimalism, the sound gathering in watery pools of texture and mood, breaking off and reforming in surprising ways. Eschewing a big impactful sound, Woo make a genial refusal of high-end sonic dynamics instead finding a softly-treaded yet eccentric path through a dazzling aural river that ebbs and flows in a way that most bands of the time would hardly dare to go. Woo's subtle brilliance may take awhile to unfold, but its rewards are plenty. With many bands mining vintage new age music, it's amazing that Woo's unique sound has rarely, if ever, been truly duplicated. Beautiful, mesmerizing and of course, highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Water Drum"
MPEG Stream: "Down Town Suburbia"
MPEG Stream: "BB....!"
MPEG Stream: "Did You See"
MPEG Stream: "No More Telly"

WOO It's Cozy Inside (Drag City) lp 17.98
We have been wondering for a while now how long it would take for someone to reissue anything from this blithely influential but stubbornly obscurist brotherly duo, Woo, whose homespun DIY take on left-field new age-y electronic pastoral music has gone from largely ignored to rapturously revered over the span of 30 years since their debut. You can hear strains of their influence now in the music of Sun Araw, Ducktails, Nite Jewel, Animal Collective, Balam Acab, Washed Out and Caribou. But Woo's sound is not that easy to pin down, and It's Cozy Inside, the group's second album from 1989 (seven years on from their 1982 debut, Whichever Way You Are Going, You Are Going Wrong), is as ethereal and intangibly beguiling now as it ever was.
Woo can best be described as a mix of Cluster and Durutti Column, two outfits separated by time and geography that delved deeply into the gentler realm of pastoral music while at the same time pushing the sounds to the edge of experimental composition through texture and effects. Add to this the bedroom recording techniques of Cleaners From Venus, the classical exotica of Penguin Cafe Orchestra, the ethereal imaginary soundtracks of Bill Nelson, the wide-eyed romanticism of Virgina Astley's From Gardens Where We Feel Secure, and even the most genteel side of Throbbing Gristle or Chris and Cosey (of course at their most lethargic, far divorced from any heavy industrial sensibility) and we're getting closer to an apt description of the singular sound universe of Woo.
Yet this album is much much weirder then any comparisons we can attribute to it. Newly remastered, it still sounds like it was made for falling asleep to, its subtle textural effects of woozy synthesizers, clarinet and heavily affected acoustic guitar, don't necessarily create fully formed songs, but short serpentine instrumental vignettes that stream from one piece to the next, creating a strange filmic dream world that is difficult to get your head around. Its mutant take on new age and classical forms are hardly meditative kosmiche as much as they are a kind of worried ambient minimalism, the sound gathering in watery pools of texture and mood, breaking off and reforming in surprising ways. Eschewing a big impactful sound, Woo make a genial refusal of high-end sonic dynamics instead finding a softly-treaded yet eccentric path through a dazzling aural river that ebbs and flows in a way that most bands of the time would hardly dare to go. Woo's subtle brilliance may take awhile to unfold, but its rewards are plenty. With many bands mining vintage new age music, it's amazing that Woo's unique sound has rarely, if ever, been truly duplicated. Beautiful, mesmerizing and of course, highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Water Drum"
MPEG Stream: "Down Town Suburbia"
MPEG Stream: "BB....!"
MPEG Stream: "Did You See"
MPEG Stream: "No More Telly"

GASLAMP KILLER Breakthrough (Brainfeeder) cd 17.98

MPEG Stream: "Nissim"
MPEG Stream: "Apparitions"
MPEG Stream: "In The Dark"

ADN 'CKRYSTALL Jazz Mad (Dark Entries) lp 15.98
One of two new Dark Entries titles this week is this bizarre French progressive synth obscurity from 1982, ADN'Ckrystall. Erick Moncollin, the man behind this one-man-band, recorded this in four days but it has as many ideas crammed into its six tracks as a candyland record store filled to the brim with Gong, Vangelis, Tim Blake and Bernard Szajner albums! Starting with the darkwave adrenaline pop of "Cocaina Vitamina", the lengthy mind-bending and genre-jumping tracks that follow employ spacey electronic synthesis, cavey dirges, occasional plodding new romantic vocals and a wonderful outsider sense of unbridled compositional experimentation. Every time we play this, we sell a copy. Weirdo French new wave prog is always welcome in our book and big thanks to Dark Entries for introducing this into our lives!
MPEG Stream: "Cocaina Vitamina"
MPEG Stream: "Pour L'Amour D'Un Cygne"
MPEG Stream: "Le Blues De La Fille Aux Jambes De Jeans"

FLYING LOTUS Until The Quiet Comes (Warp) cd 15.98
Flying Lotus is back and with every new release seems to bring something new to the table. This time around he doesn't spread himself as far out sonically as he did on Cosmogramma but instead reigns himself in to refine the details of his complex musical palette. This is definitely a late night record, full of lucid dreamy qualities, referencing obscure quiet storm RnB, celestial jazz, and narcoleptic funk, but with a soaring jewel-like exactitude. Cinematic in scope, we don't just listen, but become engrossed in his floating oceanic soundworld. Guest stints by Erykah Badu, Thom Yorke, Thundercat and others add to the ponderous gauzy midnight feel. Recommended! Vinyl comes with download.
MPEG Stream: "All In"
MPEG Stream: "See Thru To U"
MPEG Stream: "The Nightcaller"
MPEG Stream: "Me Yesterday // Corded"

FLYING LOTUS Until The Quiet Comes (Warp) 2lp 28.00
Flying Lotus is back and with every new release seems to bring something new to the table. This time around he doesn't spread himself as far out sonically as he did on Cosmogramma but instead reigns himself in to refine the details of his complex musical palette. This is definitely a late night record, full of lucid dreamy qualities, referencing obscure quiet storm RnB, celestial jazz, and narcoleptic funk, but with a soaring jewel-like exactitude. Cinematic in scope, we don't just listen, but become engrossed in his floating oceanic soundworld. Guest stints by Erykah Badu, Thom Yorke, Thundercat and others add to the ponderous gauzy midnight feel. Recommended! Vinyl comes with download.
MPEG Stream: "All In"
MPEG Stream: "See Thru To U"
MPEG Stream: "The Nightcaller"
MPEG Stream: "Me Yesterday // Corded"

MAIA, TIM Nobody Can Live Forever (Luaka Bop) cd 16.98
Every installment in Luaka Bop's World Psychedelia series has been an across the board aQ favorite. From Os Mutantes, Shuggie Otis, the great African psych compilation, Love's A Real Thing, and now we have this great introduction to the post-Tropicalia funk of the great Tim Maia.
But the music is just one part of the story, the man's life is filled with interesting twists and turns including multiple marriages, prison sentences and an avid role in a UFO-obsessed religious cult, all of which have been the subject of a best-selling biography, tv show and hit musical in Brazil. How could we not love this?!
Combining a unique twist on Brazilian popular music along with copious American soul influences have made Maia's seventies recordings long sought after and excepting a couple of pricey imports, we have never been able to find any substantial release of his early musical output. After a decade of legal wrangling and coinciding with what would have been Maia's seventieth birthday (he died in 1998 of a heart attack while performing onstage), it's great to see this 15 track compilation realized and we're loving it more with each listen.
Mixing the Latino funk of Mexican-American groups like Malo and El Chicano, the cool urban sophistication of Steely Dan (yes, we went there, and we're not apologizing!) and the soulful vocals of Jorge Ben and Gilberto Gil. Maia's music has a fervent infectious energy that is totally engaging and sexy. He's often been compared to Barry White in the fact his music celebrates love over politics, but really Maia's music made the joyous acceptance of love and life a political statement and has long endeared him to legions of fans worldwide.
The cd is housed in a mini-hardbound cd-sized book, the lp in a deluxe full color gatefold, both with extensive notes and details of his extraordinary life. And this compilation comes of course, highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Que Beliza"
MPEG Stream: "O Caminho Do Bem"
MPEG Stream: "Quer Quiera, Quer Nao Quiera"
MPEG Stream: "Over Again"

SPIEGEL, LAURIE The Expanding Universe (Unseen Worlds) 2cd 16.98
It seems in the past couple of years, electronic music pioneer Laurie Spiegel has gone from an obscure cult-figure to a championed celebrity right before our eyes. Thanks in part to a key sound design role in this past summer's blockbuster movie, The Hunger Games, but also to this incredible, and indeed expanded reissue of her 1980 debut release, The Expanding Universe, complete with an extra disc of bonus material from the period and extensive liner notes by Spiegel herself. Following key archival releases from fellow female electronic innovators Daphne Oram, Maggie Payne and Suzanne Ciani, we're finally seeing Spiegel getting her due for her stellar accomplishments as both captivating composer and inventor.
While The Expanding Universe was released in 1980, it was made up of musical experiments Spiegel made throughout the seventies in her off time as a research scientist at Bell Telephone Laboratories where she developed unique modes of combining interactive and algorithmic computer logic to the compositional process. Originally released on folk label, Philo, Spiegel's organic compositions had more in common with folk music than one would initially suspect. A trained banjo, lute and mandolin player, Spiegel's first released recording, "Appalachian Grove I" was included on the groundbreaking compilation of female electronic composers, New Music for Electronic and Recorded Media, where she applied the idea of an open tuned string instrument to her electronically created composition. The entire Appalachian Grove suite is included here and is an unlikely mix of John Fahey and Philip Glass, where banjo-like tonal arpeggiations become a rhythmically organic and pulsating layered stream of undulating sounds. With each piece Spiegel seems to strive to explore the boundaries of the compositional process with a determined zen like focus on how sounds interact and overlap. But this is not an academically minded process of willful bleeps and bloops. This is instead a carefully realized beautifully layered intuitive sonic constructions that rewards deeply concentrated listening. Easily some of the best and most effective second generation electronic music we've ever heard, which gives this reissue our highest recommendation!
MPEG Stream: "Appalachian Grove III"
MPEG Stream: "Pentachrome"
MPEG Stream: "Patchwork"
MPEG Stream: "The Unquestioned Answer"
MPEG Stream: "Kepler's Harmony of the Worlds"

SPIEGEL, LAURIE The Expanding Universe (Unseen Worlds) lp 21.00
Now at last available on vinyl!
It seems in the past couple of years, electronic music pioneer Laurie Spiegel has gone from an obscure cult-figure to a championed celebrity right before our eyes. Thanks in part to a key sound design role in this past summer's blockbuster movie, The Hunger Games, but also to this incredible, and indeed expanded reissue of her 1980 debut release, The Expanding Universe, complete with an extra disc of bonus material from the period and extensive liner notes by Spiegel herself. Following key archival releases from fellow female electronic innovators Daphne Oram, Maggie Payne and Suzanne Ciani, we're finally seeing Spiegel getting her due for her stellar accomplishments as both captivating composer and forward-thinking inventor.
While The Expanding Universe was released in 1980, it was made up of musical experiments Spiegel made throughout the seventies in her off time as a research scientist at Bell Telephone Laboratories where she developed unique modes of combining interactive and algorithmic computer logic to the compositional process. Originally released on folk label, Philo, Spiegel's organic compositions had more in common with folk music than one would initially suspect. A trained banjo, lute and mandolin player, Spiegel's first released recording, "Appalachian Grove I" was included on the groundbreaking compilation of female electronic composers, New Music for Electronic and Recorded Media, where she applied the idea of an open tuned string instrument to her electronically created composition. The entire Appalachian Grove suite is included here and is an unlikely mix of John Fahey and Philip Glass, where banjo-like tonal arpeggiations become a rhythmically organic and pulsating layered stream of undulating sounds. With each piece Spiegel seems to strive to explore the boundaries of the compositional process with a determined zen like focus on how sounds interact and overlap. But this is not an academically minded process of willful bleeps and bloops. This is instead a carefully realized beautifully layered intuitive sonic constructions that rewards deeply concentrated listening. Easily some of the best and most effective second generation electronic music we've ever heard, which gives this reissue our highest recommendation! Limited to 500 copies on clear vinyl, first time lp reissue includes never before released track "A Folk Study" plus a download code for the complete 19 track collection of 1974-77 Bell Laboratories works...
MPEG Stream: "Pentachrome"
MPEG Stream: "Patchwork"

ONO, YOKO / KIM GORDON / THURSTON MOORE Yokokimthurston (Chimera) cd 15.98
Depending on where you stand with Yoko Ono and Sonic Youth's avant explorations, this is either a dream come true or a nightmare collaboration. It sounds exactly like what you would imagine. Extended vocal freakouts, chiming detuned arpeggiations, blithe detached whispered murmurs, ritualistic vocalized koans, distorted feedback squalls and even some right wing slamming poetry in the round. But besides that last part, it rarely comes off as indulgent as we feared, and the fact that it was recorded in a day, gives the pieces an urgency and vitality that would have been lost had it been more composed. Yokokimthurston definitely would have made a great installment in the group's SYR experimental series, and as a part of that series might have felt more substantial, and been granted more of a musical gravitas. As it stands in most music press this record is being treated more as Yoko acting as some therapeutic arbitration for Kim and Thurston to work out their post-marriage musical relationship. Please! As if the three of them didn't have anything better to do. Disregard the hype (or lack of) and check it out, it's definitely pretty great!
MPEG Stream: "Mirror Mirror"
MPEG Stream: "Let's Get There"

FELDMAN, MORTON Crippled Symmetry: at June in Buffalo (Frozen Reeds) 2cd 22.00
Hee's an absolutely stunning recording of Feldman's most often played durational chamber piece, Crippled Symmetry. Recorded in 2000 for the 25th anniversary of "June in Buffalo", an annual series of concerts at the University of Buffalo begun by Feldman after he took over the post of Edgar Varese Professor there. Crippled Symmetry was written in 1983, four years before the composer's death, for a trio consisting of flute/alto flute/bass flute; glockenspiel/vibraphone; and piano/celesta. Commissioned by the remaining members of a collective ensemble called The Feldman Soloists that the composer worked with over the years as a writer and pianist, this new recording is performed by all three of the original players, and is hailed by them to be the definitive performance of the piece.
Spanning ninety minutes over two disks, this interlocking minimalist composition was not scored so much as it was instructed. Taking its influence from the handmade process of weaving oriental rugs where slight imperfections are regarded with high importance to the overall effect of the piece, hence the title, Crippled Symmetry. The musicians operate in their own tiny clusters of sound creating dappled circular patterns against the other players causing an undulating and slowly twisting tapestry of sound forms. Not quite melodic, but not at all dissonant, the sonic field of the trio becomes a singular vibrational unit and the effect of attempting to stay wholly aware as a listener is akin to attempting deep meditative contemplation. A great place to start for those unsure where to begin in the Morton Feldman catalog!
MPEG Stream: "Part 1"
MPEG Stream: "Part 2"

LUIE LUIE Touchy (Companion) cd 15.98
"Touchy"? That term could connotate affection or annoyance depending on how receptive you are to the bizarrely heartfelt musical stylings of the one and only Luie Luie. Seriously music making doesn't get more strange, sincere and ambitious as this. Once called the "Greatest Single Act In The World", Luie Luie is a one man band of drums, trumpet, Moog, guitar and flute who often (and still does!) performed in Mexican and Mediterranean restaurants in Southern California. But he is so much more than that. Soldier, Martial Arts Enthusiast, Actor (he appeared in a film with Elvis!), Musician and Inspirational Speaker, he created a new dance concept called the "Touchy" to help bring people closer together and engage each other in new and exciting ways musically. On this album from 1974 with almost every song including the word "Touch" or "Touchy" in their titles, he begins each song with a spoken preamble that outlines his philosophy on life, love and humanity and how his "dance" works. With the help of the "Touchy Button", a pin with a drawing of Luie's face on it, partners can wear the pin on various parts of their bodies and the object is simply for the partners to touch each other with their "Touchy Buttons" to the music. Yet, the music Luie creates is probably not what most would describe as dance music. Often beginning each song with a loud trumpet blast, followed by lurching rhythms and swampy beats that waver in and out of tempo, containing melodies that seem like a underwater Mariachi band went insane, the music seems almost counterpoint to his endearing explanations of togetherness, like you may want to run away...far away! But with a closer and more firmly resolved listen, you have to realize that the music and this album are truly extraordinary. Who else could make music this warped and wacky yet with absolutely no tongue in cheek? And with each new song we're drawn in to its wonderful strangeness and naivety that by the end we're all smiles. Companion Records has done an amazing job with this reissue, working directly with Luie so that he finally receives royalties for this record, which has been bootlegged several times in the past. With extensive photos and liner notes by Luie himself and for a limited time, each copy will include two newly remade "Touchy Buttons". Fans of Incredibly Strange Music of all types and varieties, this is a must have!
MPEG Stream: "El Touchy"
MPEG Stream: "Touch Me With all Your Heart"
MPEG Stream: "Touch Of The Pharoahs"
MPEG Stream: "Touch Of Light"

V/A Spiritual Jazz Volume 3: Modal, Esoteric And Ethereal Jazz From The European Underground 1963-1972 (Jazzman) cd 17.98
For the third installment of Jazzman's great Spiritual Jazz series, the hardworking diggers of underground jazz decided to stay on the European tip spearheaded on the second volume instead of venturing off to some other exotic location. And it's a good thing too, because how can you capture all the diverse iterations of communal jazz across so many various borders, ethnic heritages and regional communities in just one volume? What separates the two volumes thematically is that this third volume swings a lot more than the more reverent liturgical second volume, focusing on individual expression, private press visionaries and unique hybrids of Latin, Slavic and Asian influences. Obscurities abound, most tracks previously un-reissued in any form, really one of the only names we were familiar with is Jef Gilson, whom who Jazzman introduced us to on a great compilation aptly titled The Best of Jef Gilson! The suave cafe jazz sound of Gilson is a great introduction into what is an eclectic and diverse selection of hypnotic modal jazz that is uplifting, entertaining and refreshingly energetic! Along with Gilson and Mangesdorf there are great pieces by Hermann Gehlen, Palle Mikkelborg & Radiojazzgruppen, Michel Roques, Babs Robert, That's Why, Binder Quintet, The Crescendo Quintet, Dusko Goykovic, Albert Mangelsdorff Quintet, Yoki Freund Sextet, Jan Allan Quintet, Dennis Wiley, Full Moon Ensemble, Louis Xavier, and Antithesis. Yes!
MPEG Stream: JEF GILSON "Unknown"
MPEG Stream: MICHEL ROQUES "Le Temps"
MPEG Stream: LOUIS XAVIER "Suite"
MPEG Stream: FULL MOON ENSEMBLE "Samba Miaou"

SHELLER, WILLIAM Lux Aeterna (The Omni Recording Corporation) cd 17.98
We actually originally discovered this record in a thrift store, years ago, and ended up buying it for $5 or whatever, just cuz the cover was super trippy, and it was printed on cool prismatic reflective paper, and of course, we had no idea what to expect, and while we dug it, a LOT, and listened to it constantly, for whatever reason, it never occurred to us that what we had was some treasured rarity lost psychedelic artifact, one that certain discerning producers have mined for killer breaks, until we found out this reissue was on the way. So we revisited the record and holy crap!!!! How could we not have known?! So insane, and inspired, and ridiculous, and over the top, and ahead of its time, and it totally out trip-outs almost any record we can think of! Needless to say, we're super psyched to have this reissue, which features that original record, along with a whole mess of bonus tracks!!
So the record proper, Lux Aeterna, was originally composed to celebrate a friend of William Sheller's wedding, thematically driven by concepts of union and togetherness, and ostensibly based on the Catholic mass, this is far from any sort of religious music you've ever heard. Following in the footsteps of other iconoclastic composers, like Serge Gainsbourg, Jean-Claude Vannier, Lee Hazlewood, David Axelrod, Scott Walker and of course Magma (more on that in a second), Sheller conjured up what is at once an over the top symphonic prog epic, but also a strangely meditative operatic chorale, the sound a gorgeous and dizzying fusion of bombastic prog, classical opera, tripped out seventies psych, outsider jazzfunk, and soaring symphonic majesty. The first track alone should convince you, with its groovy loping stripped down rhythm, its woozy bassline, its swoonsome strings, its slippery slide guitar (!!), its lush operatic vox. That cut is equal parts lost soundtrack and weird Morricone-esque krautfunk, sort of, the sound epic and dramatic and VERY cinematic, dark and subtly sinister, minor key and haunting, but then with about a minute to go BAM, the the sound shifts, sort of fractures, and gets super lo-fi, soaked in phaser and flanger, swirling and tripped out, laced with psychedelic wah guitar, a woozy, melting fad out groove. Holy WOW. So fucking awesome. And that's pretty much how the rest of the record plays out, with Sheller weaving these lush orchestral epics, alternatingly symphonic or operatic, when all of a sudden he'll mix in some trippy sci fi freak out FX or fuse rock drums to soaring operatic vox and symphonic strings. Some tracks play it totally straight, like "Ave Frater, Rosae Et Aurae", which really could have been plucked right out of a mass, but then in swoops "Opus Magnum Pt. 2", with its driving kraut-ish groove, reprising the opening theme, but adding some seriously loopy bleeps and bloops, squelches, and reverby blurps, tripped out laser fire squiggles and swirling analog electronics. Only to then settle right back down into some hushed string driven drift, but a minute or two later and the sound explodes again in a frenzy of FX, the song gathering momentum, and heft, and transforming into a sort of dirgey driving jam, wreathed in strings and an avalanche of glitched out electronics. And so it goes, slipping from haunting ritualistic choral music, to tripped out psychedelic seventies prog funk grooviness and back again, sounding quite often like Magma, or some similarly epic prog combo, stopping occasionally to dip into a bit of musique concrete or twentieth century classical, or introducing seriously terrifying children's spoken word, reciting what sounds like scripture, before finally finishing off with a gorgeous melancholy piano coda, again a refrain of that opening melody.
Quite a strange and twisted record for someone's wedding, sure WE'D all be psyched, but in 1972? Wow.
After a two minute track of silence, meant to separate the programs, comes, as the first of a big batch of bonus tracks, several pieces from Sheller's soundtrack for a 1969 film called Erotissimo, the music appropriately psychedelic and seventies hippie rocking, but of course laced with strings, and surprisingly some heavy proto metal riffing, wild psych guitar leads, dreamy female vocals, the whole thing building to a killer fuzzy psych rock blowout, before slipping back into something a bit more fuzzy and woozy.
After that is "My Year Is A Day", Sheller's big hit, a fantastic slab of orchestral pop, that reminds us of early Bee Gees and the Zombies, and fans of either/both will flip. The rest of the record is more of the same, fuzzed out psychedelic orchestral pop, "Couleurs" being a standout, with its freaked out effects heavy breakdowns, and sitar like buzz running throughout, but really all twenty tracks are killer, making us thing there must be a whole lot more William Sheller we need to track down. Maybe Omni will follow up with another reissue. Here's hoping!
Like all Omni releases, lots of photos, and extensive liner notes, as well as some weird unseen art and reproductions of the covers of some of the singles that are included as bonus tracks!
MPEG Stream: "Introit"
MPEG Stream: "Opus Magnum Pt. 1"
MPEG Stream: "Opus Magnum Pt. 2"
MPEG Stream: "Sous Le Signe Du Verseau"
MPEG Stream: "Erotissimo"
MPEG Stream: "My Year Is A Day"

BASHO, ROBBIE Seal Of The Blue Lotus ( Ace Records) cd 16.98
We reviewed the 4 Men With Beards vinyl reissue of this a few weeks back, and then found it was also available on cd, via Ace, so why not list that too?
Seal Of The Blue Lotus was Robbie Basho's debut, originally released on John Fahey's Takoma label in 1965. Basho was the third part of the Takoma triad which of course included Fahey and Leo Kottke. A big surprise that back then, Basho was the least popular of the three, as he has become a serious cult favorite of the genre since, and this first look into his unique take on Guitar Soli shows why.
Basho was the least interested in American forms of blues, classical and ragtime, and sought out instead Celtic and Oriental idioms which heavily influenced his music, giving his work a searching devotional quality. But he also wasn't afraid of performing with a brusque playing style as long as it captured an unfettered emotional intensity. This set definitely highlights his inventiveness as he uses the guitar body for a resonating percussive instrument and even accompanies himself on the flute on one song.
Housed in a Smithsonian Folkways style tip-on sleeve, with a simple hermetic drawing, Seal of The Blue Lotus has the feel of an arcane mystical object, one that imparts ancient wisdom to seekers of the craft. Basho's records didn't have cryptic liner notes or partake in humorous antiquated eccentricities, so their more serious reverential nature may have had something to do with his lower profile on the Takoma roster, but probably everything to do with why his records are so coveted now.
MPEG Stream: "Seal Of The Blue Lotus"
MPEG Stream: "Mountain Man's Farewell"

GEBRU, TSEGE MARIAM (GUEBROU, TSEGUE-MARYAM) Spielt Eigene Kompositionen (Mississippi / Change) lp 15.98
**MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT****MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT****MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT**
As regular readers of the aQuarius list already know, we're HUGE fans of the golden era of Ethiopian Jazz as archived in the amazing Ethiopiques series. And besides the more well known players such as Mulatu Astatke (Ethiopiques #4) and Mahmoud Ahmed (Ethiopiques #6), #21 in that series also has a special place in our hearts as it's the incredible solo piano compositions of an Ethiopian nun named Emahoy Tsegue-Maryam Guebrou. Her playing is devastatingly lovely and haunting. A curious hybrid of old time jazz and classical, but still truly Ethiopian. Dark and contemplative, moody but subtly playful as well, like exotic impressionistic lamentations that have an expressive lyrical sadness.
Now the fine folks at Mississippi / Change Records have gifted us with this beautiful reissue of Guebrou's debut album from 1963. Comprising the first five tracks of the Ethiopiques compilation, these songs were the first signs that we were hearing a uniquely distinct musical voice for the first time, and boy were we hooked!
Culled mainly from compositions written in the late '40s and early '50s, a period during which Guebrou had recently left the convent due to illness, and then continued to compose and perform as a way of raising money for charity. And THAT's on the heels of having moved to Egypt and then returned to Ethiopia a figure of high society, her dream of playing piano dashed by the Emperor, which led her to sickness and then near death, she even received the last rites, survived and then joined the Imperial Guard, went back to school to study business finally fleeing to join a convent and become a nun. All the while continuing to play music - in fact, last we heard, she continues to perform to this day, in Ethiopia where she still lives.
And like her fantastic and adventurous life, her music is equally as remarkable, the sound and feel is so dense with memory and imagery, musical but somehow quite visual, warm and woozy, a fuzzy, sepia toned old timey feel, due in no small part to the recording, which is quite reminiscent of old 78's, the soundtrack to movie Crumb, that sort of thing, dark rumbling low notes underpin sweet swirls and delicate flurries of minor key melody, sweet and lowdown for sure, warm evenings, back porches, big beautifully appointed parlors, huge empty fields, grass waving in the breeze, long late night wanders, moonlight strolls, so completely dreamy and lovely. Highest Recommendation!
MPEG Stream: "The Homeless Wanderer"
MPEG Stream: "The Last Tears Of A Deceased"

HAZLEWOOD, LEE A House Safe For Tigers OST (Light In The Attic) lp 22.00
Light in The Attic continues their awesome Lee Hazlewood archival series with this rarest of rare releases, a 1975 soundtrack to the last (and least known) of the many films for Swedish television Hazlewood made with longtime collaborator Torbjorn Axelman. Half surrealist anecdote and half documentary, A Room Safe for Tigers is a bizarre self-portrait of the artist as he embarks on a new life in a new land. Filmed on the island of Gotland, Hazlewood shoots various scenes with the local townsfolk, running a marathon, trying to convince Swedish children to take sides against Nixon, and seeking protective spells from a witch. The centerpiece of the soundtrack, the song "Soul's Island", reads like a pastoral response to the Nancy & Lee classic, "Some Velvet Morning" with its epic orchestral sweeps and never-ending fade out. There are a couple of revisitations from the back catalog, namely "The Nights", a spoken-sung epic about Native American genealogy and genocide and an early Shackletons' cover, "Little Boy Blue". But the bulk of the release is material never released before including instrumentals, some country-funk numbers and a strange duet with Axelman as he recites all of Hazlewood's lines in Swedish. As seen with the last archival release, The LHI Years, Hazlewood's less heard '70s Swedish output was just as vital and essential as the famed sixties material he was best known for. Kudos to Light in The Attic for continuing to make the work of this eccentric American voice more widely available.
MPEG Stream: "Souls's Island"
MPEG Stream: "A House Safe For Tigers"
MPEG Stream: "Absent Friends"

AERO-MIC'D 22:44 (self-released) cd-r 6.98
Aero-Mic'd began as a solo concern for local San Francisco artist Wayne Smith, but has over the years evolved into a three piece synth trio for live shows with the additions of Cliff Hengst (Troll) and our own Scott Hewicker (The Alps). Specializing in long form kosmiche explorations that gently shift into woozy bowed drones with a mixture of field recordings and ambient atmospherics, 22:44 is mostly culled from a live 2010 performance at San Francisco's Grace Cathedral, with subtle augmentations from other home recordings. Invited by the art and music publication entity Land and Sea to perform in the late great cathedral event series Episco Disco (where artists were invited to create installations and music events inside the hallowed space) , Aero-mic'd used the echoing acoustics and the substantial room ambiance to create a floating sound world of soft angelic otherworldliness. Layers of synth and computer-generated drones and loops, bass tones and field-recordings merge with sounds of sleigh bells, bowed guitar, kalimba, and murmurs and footsteps from the moving crowds. Limited to 50 copies. Play loud for full effect!
MPEG Stream: "Excerpt 1"
MPEG Stream: "Excerpt 2"

HAZLEWOOD, LEE A House Safe For Tigers OST (Light In The Attic) cd 16.98
Light in The Attic continues their awesome Lee Hazlewood archival series with this rarest of rare releases, a 1975 soundtrack to the last (and least known) of the many films for Swedish television Hazlewood made with longtime collaborator Torbjorn Axelman. Half surrealist anecdote and half documentary, A Room Safe for Tigers is a bizarre self-portrait of the artist as he embarks on a new life in a new land. Filmed on the island of Gotland, Hazlewood shoots various scenes with the local townsfolk, running a marathon, trying to convince Swedish children to take sides against Nixon, and seeking protective spells from a witch. The centerpiece of the soundtrack, the song "Soul's Island", reads like a pastoral response to the Nancy & Lee classic, "Some Velvet Morning" with its epic orchestral sweeps and never-ending fade out. There are a couple of revisitations from the back catalog, namely "The Nights", a spoken-sung epic about Native American genealogy and genocide and an early Shackletons' cover, "Little Boy Blue". But the bulk of the release is material never released before including instrumentals, some country-funk numbers and a strange duet with Axelman as he recites all of Hazlewood's lines in Swedish. As seen with the last archival release, The LHI Years, Hazlewood's less heard '70s Swedish output was just as vital and essential as the famed sixties material he was best known for. Kudos to Light in The Attic for continuing to make the work of this eccentric American voice more widely available.
MPEG Stream: "Souls's Island"
MPEG Stream: "A House Safe For Tigers"
MPEG Stream: "Absent Friends"

YOUNG MOON Navigated Like The Swan (Western Vinyl) lp 17.98
A brand new solo incarnation from San Francisco based multi-instrumentalist Trevor Montgomery (Lazarus, Tarentel, The Drift), Young Moon evokes the romantic and wistful jangle pop of early eighties groups such as Durutti Column, The Lilac Time and Autumn Fair. Far from the downer croon of Lazarus, Montgomery employs a hazy autumnal shimmer of synths and guitars with vocal treatments pushed back in the mix in songs that explore love's gains as well as losses. At times Montgomery's vocals evoke early Springsteen with some obscure C86 band backing him, but this album is more than a culmination of influences and moods. It's a genuinely heartfelt and sincere approach to music making with some of Montgomery's best songwriting to date. A beautiful record to wake up to as our warm summers make way for the chill of the fall.
MPEG Stream: "The Crystal Text"
MPEG Stream: "Walk In White"
MPEG Stream: "A Reason"

THOUSAND FOOT WHALE CLAW Dope Moons Volume One (Monofonus) lp 16.98
Tripped out sci-fi groove-rockers from Austin, Thousand Foot Whale Claw make their vinyl debut, and it's even better than we hoped it would be! We sold through a bunch of their Holodeck tape, Lost In Those Dunes, which was typical of their tape releases, two long sides of heady space rock drift, explosive cosmic psych expansiveness and ambient nuance. But for their vinyl debut, they really take their sound to the next level in the rhythm section, adding more bass and drum groove into tracks that enter an almost psych-rave territory, as if Spacemen 3 and Fuck Buttons gave birth to a baby in the bleak vacuum of space. Like local hypno-rockers, Lumerians, TFWC take advantage of an arsenal of psychedelic styles that propel the momentum, but keep the energy fresh, exciting and interestingly unpredictable. A tremendous debut that comes highly recommended!

ARTIST 06 Album Title (Label) lp 16.98
A stellar follow-up to 2010's REDACTED on REDACTED, REDACTED from this local REDACTED drone duo, REDACTED and REDACTED, aka ARTIST 06, finds theses two with an even more focused and nuanced dynamic sensibility. Of course that sensibility centers around REDACTED's classically trained koto playing, which plays a large part in ARTIST 06's overall sound, but here that element is really given ample room to stretch out and breathe. Instead of being merely one component in a layering process of cascading shifting dronescapes, the high relief sound of the texture of strings, the slow growing lyrical motifs and the solemn resonant pauses between phrases set up the pieces as they bloom into delicate shimmers and then oceanic swells of drifting unsettled moods. Pushing the momentum along on the first track, "REDACTED" is the loping bass pulse of REDACTED (REDACTED, REDACTED, REDACTED), that has us surfing waves of sound before settling into a swirling miasma of crystalline tones and airy phases. Taking us to the final track, "REDACTED", the longest track at 20 minutes is set up by a long introduction of gorgeous and breathtakingly spacious koto playing that like falling leaves in gusts of winds unfurl into bellows of sky high cloud drones, gathering and darkening in fields of rich pulsating grey thunderous tones and then watercolor washes of blissful ambiance, the storm cleared and fading away, set to awaken in some far-off place. Beautiful!
MPEG Stream: "sample one"
MPEG Stream: "sample two"
MPEG Stream: "sample three"

O'JAYS Backstabbers (Columbia) cd 5.00
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**

HEATWAVE Central Heating (Columbia) cd 5.00
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**

SUN ARAW & M. GEDDES GENDRAS MEET THE CONGOS FRKWYS Vol. 9 (RVNG ) lp 24.00
FINALLY!! Repressed or something. Now we finally can list this great album, on vinyl!!
Some deep and heady devotional vibes from this unlikely dream collaboration of Sun Araw, M Geddes Gendras and Reggae legends, The Congos for the latest installment of the RVNG label's FRKWYS series. Reminding us of a more churning and lysergic exploration of Dadawah's long form Nyabinghi jams, Icon Give Thanks as this disc is called turns the standard dub-reggae expectations on their heads and instead offers a strange brew of soft swells, smoky psych drift and oceanic dub interludes, punctuated by the honeyed falsetto vocals of elder statesmen Cedric Myton and Roydel Johnson. This release has garnered the most divisive stance of the FRKWYS series among us at aQ so far, with some of us considering it one of the better collaborations and for others a squandered opportunity smacking of colonialism. Granted, the sound design relies heavily on the Sun Araw side of the coin, but his approach is hardly "the white boy playing reggae" criticisms this release has occasionally garnered. The sound, for one, hovers hazily in the air like swirling smoke while the grounding bass is pushed back way in the mix instead of anchoring it rhythmically. Each member of the collaboration has come together on the premise of praise and invocation of thanks, making this project a more spiritual concern than just a good-times-get-high-let's-jam together record. By the end of it, we're in a completely different headspace altogether, in reverent clouds of the Divine.
MPEG Stream: "Happy Song"
MPEG Stream: "Sunshine"
MPEG Stream: "Thanks and Give Praise"

JAKOBSONS, MARIELLE V. Glass Canyon (Students Of Decay) cd 12.98
Glass Canyons marks the first time, Bay area-based experimental musician Marielle V. Jakobsons (Date Palms, Myrmyr, darwinsbitch) has recorded under her own name, and it's a delicate balance between her more classical and experimental tendencies. Overriding melodies take a back seat to texture, rhythm and spatialization, the feeling of hiking through a varied terrain of wild topographies: glacial drift, windy deserts and oceanic turbulence. Bowed vibrational strings sometime sway in lyrical folk filigrees, but only make apparitional appearances throughout before disintegrating in a sea of modulating tones and an undercurrent of bell-tone piano figures. Darker uncertain moods sometimes cloud over before blissful lighter notes burst forth like dappled sunlight. It's an album that has the uncanny ability of feeling free-form and carefully constructed at the same time, and so in tune with a sensitive nature that makes it seem like we're roaming through a strange new world. Lovely!
MPEG Stream: "Crystal Orchard"
MPEG Stream: "Cobalt Waters"

JAKOBSONS, MARIELLE V. Glass Canyon (Students Of Decay) lp 16.98
Glass Canyons marks the first time, Bay area-based experimental musician Marielle V. Jakobsons (Date Palms, Myrmyr, darwinsbitch) has recorded under her own name, and it's a delicate balance between her more classical and experimental tendencies. Overriding melodies take a back seat to texture, rhythm and spatialization, the feeling of hiking through a varied terrain of wild topographies: glacial drift, windy deserts and oceanic turbulence. Bowed vibrational strings sometime sway in lyrical folk filigrees, but only make apparitional appearances throughout before disintegrating in a sea of modulating tones and an undercurrent of bell-tone piano figures. Darker uncertain moods sometimes cloud over before blissful lighter notes burst forth like dappled sunlight. It's an album that has the uncanny ability of feeling free-form and carefully constructed at the same time, and so in tune with a sensitive nature that makes it seem like we're roaming through a strange new world. Lovely!
MPEG Stream: "Crystal Orchard"
MPEG Stream: "Cobalt Waters"

PICHE, JEAN Heliograms (Digitalis) lp 22.00
Another great archival electronic music release, Heliograms was recorded between 1976 and 1980 and it's one of the earliest examples of digital synthesis. Composed of four long tracks, Heliograms seems like a connective tissue from the prog-minded kraut of Klaus Schulze to the deep digital new age of David Parsons. Piche, a French-Canadian composer and video artist was among the first to employ emerging digital technologies to electroacoustic compositions. The resulting sound is one of deep cylindrical dronescapes and propulsive momentum that is at times either elementally heavy or blissfully airy. Side two is the airier side and the track "Rouge" has a percussive element that reminds us of Harald Grosskopf or Ashra, before settling into the drifting peacefulness of the title track. There, the cavernous dronescapes of the first side, open up to piano and harp-like textures that seem to levitate the tone of the record to a higher plane. Fantastic!

PAYNE, MAGGI Ahh-Ahh Music for Ed Tannenbaum's Technological Feets 1984-1987 (Root Strata) lp 17.98
For its first ever archival release, the Root Strata label delves into Bay Area composer Maggi Payne's computerized music experiments from 1984-87. Composed for a unique dance/video project collaboration with experimental video maker Ed Tannebaum for a series of performances called Technological Feets. For these performances, the movements of three dancers live on stage are captured on camera and processed in real time on a screen above them. The dancers can view the processing on video monitors in front of them and thus react to their own movements. The music is then a mixture of live performed responses over prerecorded tracks. You can check one of the videos here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98fvPSNJHpw
Payne, who is a dancer herself (as well as flautist, who performed on David Behrman's "On The Other Ocean" from 1977), imbues her music with a fresh rhythmic energy that makes these pieces instantly engaging. The terrific opener, "Flights of Fancy" is full of dynamic uplift but countered by a brooding undercurrent of minor key melancholia that for us outshines many current synth practitioners, the way it inches quite close to pop music. Titles like "Gamelan" and "Shimmer", give pretty clear clues to their direction, but the title piece, "Ahh-Ahh (Ver 2.1)" sourced from many forms of white noise, flute and snare drum, where, according to the liner notes, "spatial location and modulation are of primary concerns in this piece", is all subtle layered shifts of audio spectrum effects that is a tranced out disorientating delight. Root Strata has done a great service in getting this little known composer some much deserved wider attention. Payne who is currently the Co-Director of Contemporary Music at Mills College probably has had a hand in inspiring scores of young musicians and composers, we're sure among them the likes of Mariell V. Jakobsons and Gregg Kowalsky as well as Roger Tellier-Craig (Le Revelateur) and Sabrina Ratte who had a hand in getting this release to see the light of day. We can't recommend this enough!
MPEG Stream: "Flights Of Fancy"
MPEG Stream: "Ahh-Ahh (Version 2)"

SILENT LAND TIME MACHINE I Am No Longer Alone With Myself and Can Only Artificially Recall the Scary and Beautiful Feeling of Solitude (Indian Queen Records) lp 15.98
It's been awhile since we heard from Austin based one man band Silent Land Time Machine, not that Jonathan Slade hasn't been busy. He runs his own Indian Queen imprint as well as co-running the fantastic tape label, Holodeck (from which we've reviewed releases by Thousand Foot Whale Claw, Smokey Emery and the other band Slade does time with, the awesome kraut-psych drone outfit, Lumens). His debut, & Hope Still on Time-Lag, felt like a host of musicians in a full-on psychedelic Henry Flynt whirlwind, but all instruments were deftly played by Slade himself. Here on this six song vinyl ep, he gives his compositions more space. With treated viola as his primary instrument, he carefully crafts beautifully layered psych-folk dirges that sound as if they were transmitted from some far-off place and time. Billows of static over looping and cascading filigrees of melody, murky percussive rhythms, and field recordings add to the songs' haunting remote quality. With harmonium and parlor piano on a song like "An Own To One's Room", it feels like some old west paean to days gone by. The long title, I Am No Longer Alone With Myself and Can Only Artificially Recall the Scary and Beautiful Feeling of Solitude, is a quote from Carl Jung, and it aptly describes not only the overall feel of the recording, but also the mysteriously romantic notion of how experience is shaped by continuous yet selective entanglements with the memories of our past. On 180g clear vinyl. LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!! Highly Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Remembering Names"
MPEG Stream: " An Own To One's Room"
MPEG Stream: "Automata"

BASHO, ROBBIE Seal Of The Blue Lotus (4 Men With Beards) lp 17.98
A long-awaited reissue of Robbie Basho's debut, originally released on John Fahey's Takoma label in 1965. Basho was the third part of the Takoma triad which of course included Fahey and Leo Kottke. A big surprise that back then, Basho was the least popular of the three, as he has become a serious cult favorite of the genre since, and this first look into his unique take on Guitar Soli shows why.
Basho was the least interested in American forms of blues, classical and ragtime, and sought out instead Celtic and Oriental idioms which heavily influenced his music, giving his work a searching devotional quality. But he also wasn't afraid of performing with a brusque playing style as long as it captured an unfettered emotional intensity. This set definitely highlights his inventiveness as he uses the guitar body for a resonating percussive instrument and even accompanies himself on the flute on one song.
Housed in a Smithsonian Folkways style tip-on sleeve, with a simple hermetic drawing, Seal of The Blue Lotus has the feel of an arcane mystical object, one that imparts ancient wisdom to seekers of the craft. Basho's records didn't have cryptic liner notes or partake in humorous antiquated eccentricities, so their more serious reverential nature may have had something to do with his lower profile on the Takoma roster, but probably everything to do with why his records are so coveted now.
MPEG Stream: "Seal Of The Blue Lotus"
MPEG Stream: "Mountain Man's Farewell"

VESTALS Forever Falling Towards The Sky (Root Strata) lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Some folks may know Lisa McGee from Barn Owl side project, Higuma, or her vocal work on Jefre Cantu-Ledesma's Love Is A Stream, or perhaps even Portraits, the zen-minded supergroup of Bay Area improvisationalists. Truth is, McGee has been a muse behind a lot of great recordings in that circle so it's really nice to see her finally in the spotlight via her debut solo effort, Vestals. In some way McGee is channeling Rachel Brook from early nineties Bristol bands, Flying Saucer Attack and Movietone, in her ethereal noise-pop laden songs replete shimmering electric guitar, and featuring Trevor Montgomery's bass and partner Evan Caminiti's bowed guitarscapes. The atmosphere of desolate spaciousness and the smoldering shoegazed distortion that ripple through the Higuma recordings are certainly present; but in Vestals, McGee pushes the song-writing to the forefront with chiming hypno-drone-rock bliss akin to Roy Montgomery channelling the Velvets, which thrums and drones most prominently on the album's lengthy mantra "Of Ripples." But she can also shift into quite the chanteuse, as on the crushed-velvet noise-pop of "Forever Falling" and "In Waking Dreams" where McGee's voice carries the songs to stratospheric crescendos through a hook-laden bliss. A gorgeous debut that limited to a mere 300 copies!
MPEG Stream: "Forever Falling"
MPEG Stream: "Between Worlds"

CHANCE, BOB It's Broken (Trunk) cd 16.98
Vanity Records don't get much stranger or funkier than this one. We thought it odd that Trunk Records would put this out since it was originally recorded in 1980 in Anaheim, CA, far from Trunk's usual English oddity realm. But we're glad somebody finally released this, as we've been hearing about it for years, namely the unlikely stellar post-disco jam title track,"It's Broken". We say unlikely, because looking at the cover and pictures of Bob Chance singing and recording, it kind of reminds us of our '70s dad having a mid-life crisis moment and living his dream of being a real rock and roll musician, or something like that. And there are moments on this record that TOTALLY sound like that, like the opening blues rocker, "Brown Skinned Girl", but then things get even weirder. What starts out as an anachronistic take on sixties blues-folk pop a la Tim Rose and Tim Hardin, becomes a ten-minute funky slow disco excursion that fans of Giorgio Moroder and Cerrone will most definitely dig. Its long form hypnotic breaks and peaks are executed quite flawlessly. But then what to make of the stalker ode, "The Van Man", which not only makes light of mobile date-rape units, and the creeps who ride in them, but also sounds remarkably like some obscure Bollywood pop production. "I See Her" is a candy coated kaleidescopic folk-ballad, while "Colors" is more of a Herb Alpert cruise ship show tune reminding us of that Michael Farneti album, Good Morning Kisses. The final track, "Jungle-Talk" is a psychedelic instrumental Nino Nardini like Library groover full of exotic bird calls, congos and sultry temperatures. Quite the oddity, and yet totally infectious!
MPEG Stream: "It's Broken"
MPEG Stream: "The Van Man"
MPEG Stream: " Jungle Talk"

CHANCE, BOB It's Broken (Trunk) lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Vanity Records don't get much stranger or funkier than this one. We thought it odd that Trunk Records would put this out since it was originally recorded in 1980 in Anaheim, CA, far from Trunk's usual English oddity realm. But we're glad somebody finally released this, as we've been hearing about it for years, namely the unlikely stellar post-disco jam title track,"It's Broken". We say unlikely, because looking at the cover and pictures of Bob Chance singing and recording, it kind of reminds us of our '70s dad having a mid-life crisis moment and living his dream of being a real rock and roll musician, or something like that. And there are moments on this record that TOTALLY sound like that, like the opening blues rocker, "Brown Skinned Girl", but then things get even weirder. What starts out as an anachronistic take on sixties blues-folk pop a la Tim Rose and Tim Hardin, becomes a ten-minute funky slow disco excursion that fans of Giorgio Moroder and Cerrone will most definitely dig. Its long form hypnotic breaks and peaks are executed quite flawlessly. But then what to make of the stalker ode, "The Van Man", which not only makes light of mobile date-rape units, and the creeps who ride in them, but also sounds remarkably like some obscure Bollywood pop production. "I See Her" is a candy coated kaleidescopic folk-ballad, while "Colors" is more of a Herb Alpert cruise ship show tune reminding us of that Michael Farneti album, Good Morning Kisses. The final track, "Jungle-Talk" is a psychedelic instrumental Nino Nardini like Library groover full of exotic bird calls, congos and sultry temperatures. Quite the oddity, and yet totally infectious!
MPEG Stream: "It's Broken"
MPEG Stream: "The Van Man"
MPEG Stream: " Jungle Talk"

V/A Spiritual Jazz Volume 2 : Esoteric, Modal, And Deep European Jazz 1960-78 (Jazzman) 2lp 26.00
We instantly fell in love with the first volume of this series which introduced us to many new-to-us obscure mystical jazz artists that have since become some of our all-time favorites: Lloyd Miller, P.E. Hewitt, and Mor Thiam to name a few. While that installment focussed on American based African Heritage communities that rose up after the civil rights era, this latest installment takes us to Europe and focuses on a more progressive form of deep jazz throughout Scandinavia, Spain, Germany, England, as well as Eastern European countries. This time around, we're a bit more familiar with some of the names, though there are plenty of folks new to us. Of course there is British jazzman Michael Garrick who recently passed away prior to this release. The reissue of Garrick's Moonscape on Trunk records from a few years back was one of our favorite jazz reissues, so it's nice there is an awesome previously unreleased track here. Finnish Jazz pianist Heikki Sarmonto who also had a reissue on Porter records offers up a deep tribute to Coltrane and Duke Ellington that is akin to going to church, albeit, a church in Finland. A lot of tracks including Raphael's "Archangelo" have a more reverent orchestral / choral vibe than the tracks on the first volume did, and most are not quite as overtly groovy either. Yet this fits in with the post-Coltrane developments in Jazz in Europe at the time, with artists mining new forms and directions and not merely trying to ape American jazz idioms. That's not to say there aren't any groovers here, Dutch group Hans Dulfer and Ritmo Natural bring the Latin-tinged hotness to the core with "Candy Clouds part 2". This is some seriously deep dope!
MPEG Stream: ERIC KLEINSCHUSTER SEXTETT "Communion"
MPEG Stream: MICHAEL GARRICK SEXTET "Temple Dancer"
MPEG Stream: HEIKKI SARMANTO "Duke And Trane"
MPEG Stream: HANS DULFER & RITMO NATURAL "Candy Clouds Part II"

POLGAR, EVA AND SANDOR VALY Mondrian Variations: Piano and Samplerworks (Ektro) cd 14.98
Using visual artworks as a means of musical composition often sounds better in theory than in practice. Take the recent book and cd of Baudouin de Jaer's solo violin interpretations of the musical motifs in Adolf Wolfli's cosmological drawings where the audible results were less dazzling than the images would suggest. But not so in this latest experiment from conceptual composers Eve Polgar and Sandor Valy who turn the nonrepresentational paintings of Dutch modernist Piet Mondrian into beautifully vibrant minimalist scores. Mondrian, who started out as a representational painter, became increasingly interested in a process of reduction from nature into essential forms that soon evolved away from any overt natural reference. Most famous for his painting of bold black lines on white grounds and geometric forms in primary colors, and their perhaps musically influenced titles (Broadway Boogie Woogie!), it's not hard to see a correlation of sound and vision in his work.
There is an interesting booklet that comes in the slipcase with this, detailing the process of how the pieces were composed to which paintings, where we also learned that this is not the first time the composers have worked in this manner. They previously worked out scores based on paintings by Breugel and there are cool pictures of how they designed scores based on how the orientation of the heads of peasants in Breugel's paintings followed a kind of musical order. Would like to see how that turned out musically, but getting back to the Mondrian Variations, the music starts out with repetitive solo piano figures that have a simple but idiosyncratic repetitive quality with sudden pauses that seem to follow a precise structure. With each composition, we're introduced to something new sonically through computer programs and samplers: an organ, pitched string modulations, then some minimal percussive rhythms until the pieces grow more epic in scope with choral like sounds, vocal counting of the odd tempos and blocks of interweaving rhythms. Of course, the musical corollary of this is Steve Reich and Philip Glass, but the music feels somehow different as if Polgar and Valy were reaching the same place through a completely different approach. Regardless of the process, the music is engaging and a delight to listen to. An extraordinary release on Circle's Ektro label that comes highly recommended! Please note: these cds have cardboard slipcases that arrived in somewhat less than pristine condition due to shipping, so persnickety collector types be warned. And, like most Ektro titles, these aren't limited but might take a longer time to restock, once we're out, since they come all the way from Finland.
MPEG Stream: "Composition With Lines 1917 Part 1"
MPEG Stream: "Broadway Boogie Woogie 1942-43"
MPEG Stream: "Composition with Yellow Blue Black and Grey 1921"
MPEG Stream: "New York City 1 1941"

DAHLEN, ERLAND Rolling Bomber (Hubro) lp 24.00
We just love solo percussion albums. Stomu Yamash'ta, Toshiaki Ishizuka, Glen Velez, Milford Graves, Christopher Tree, Keiji Haino, Christian Vander, Janne Tuomi.... We're suckers for 'em. Something about a drummer saying, "hey, I'm more than just the timekeeper, you other guys, with your guitars and stuff, I don't need you, get lost, I'm doing this all myself my own way", is just cool, and often quite creative. So already we were interested in this debut solo album from this hitherto unknown to us (but apparently prolific) Norwegian jazz drummer, Erland Dahlen.
And then there's the title, Rolling Bomber. Sound heavy, right? We're already thinking martial drum rolls, and, uh, Motorhead's Bomber. But, the title actually comes from the name of Dahlen's drum kit, it's a vintage Slingerland "Rollingbomber" model, from the '40s, mostly made of wood 'cause of wartime metal shortages. So this isn't heavy - aside from the thump of the bass drum upon occasion - it's more of an atmospheric, textural soundscape thing. Besides the Rollingbomber kit, Dahlen makes use of multiple other percussion instruments (gongs, logdrum, timpani, maracas, kalimba, temple blocks, bells, etc.), also electronics, and some custom built gadgets, and a "monkey drummer with battery"... AND, also close to our hearts here at aQ, he plays the musical saw! That's where a lot of the (eerie) melody comes from. Not a percussion instrument per se, but cool.
So, the seven tracks here are all quite moody, dramatic, and rhythmically interesting (naturally). The grand finale, "Germany", gets kinda krautrocky, thus the title perhaps, with the beats more insistent, and the musical saw used effectively, it's an energetic culmination to this fine album.
MPEG Stream: "Flower Power"
MPEG Stream: "Monkey"
MPEG Stream: "Germany"

DAHLEN, ERLAND Rolling Bomber (Hubro) cd 17.98
We just love solo percussion albums. Stomu Yamash'ta, Toshiaki Ishizuka, Glen Velez, Milford Graves, Christopher Tree, Keiji Haino, Christian Vander, Janne Tuomi.... We're suckers for 'em. Something about a drummer saying, "hey, I'm more than just the timekeeper, you other guys, with your guitars and stuff, I don't need you, get lost, I'm doing this all myself my own way", is just cool, and often quite creative. So already we were interested in this debut solo album from this hitherto unknown to us (but apparently prolific) Norwegian jazz drummer, Erland Dahlen.
And then there's the title, Rolling Bomber. Sound heavy, right? We're already thinking martial drum rolls, and, uh, Motorhead's Bomber. But, the title actually comes from the name of Dahlen's drum kit, it's a vintage Slingerland "Rollingbomber" model, from the '40s, mostly made of wood 'cause of wartime metal shortages. So this isn't heavy - aside from the thump of the bass drum upon occasion - it's more of an atmospheric, textural soundscape thing. Besides the Rollingbomber kit, Dahlen makes use of multiple other percussion instruments (gongs, logdrum, timpani, maracas, kalimba, temple blocks, bells, etc.), also electronics, and some custom built gadgets, and a "monkey drummer with battery"... AND, also close to our hearts here at aQ, he plays the musical saw! That's where a lot of the (eerie) melody comes from. Not a percussion instrument per se, but cool.
So, the seven tracks here are all quite moody, dramatic, and rhythmically interesting (naturally). The grand finale, "Germany", gets kinda krautrocky, thus the title perhaps, with the beats more insistent, and the musical saw used effectively, it's an energetic culmination to this fine album.
MPEG Stream: "Flower Power"
MPEG Stream: "Monkey"
MPEG Stream: "Germany"

V/A Spiritual Jazz Volume 2 : Esoteric, Modal, And Deep European Jazz 1960-78 (Jazzman) cd 17.98
We instantly fell in love with the first volume of this series which introduced us to many new-to-us obscure mystical jazz artists that have since become some of our all-time favorites: Lloyd Miller, P.E. Hewitt, and Mor Thiam to name a few. While that installment focussed on American based African Heritage communities that rose up after the civil rights era, this latest installment takes us to Europe and focuses on a more progressive form of deep jazz throughout Scandinavia, Spain, Germany, England, as well as Eastern European countries. This time around, we're a bit more familiar with some of the names, though there are plenty of folks new to us. Of course there is British jazzman Michael Garrick who recently passed away prior to this release. The reissue of Garrick's Moonscape on Trunk records from a few years back was one of our favorite jazz reissues, so it's nice there is an awesome previously unreleased track here. Finnish Jazz pianist Heikki Sarmonto who also had a reissue on Porter records offers up a deep tribute to Coltrane and Duke Ellington that is akin to going to church, albeit, a church in Finland. A lot of tracks including Raphael's "Archangelo" have a more reverent orchestral / choral vibe than the tracks on the first volume did, and most are not quite as overtly groovy either. Yet this fits in with the post-Coltrane developments in Jazz in Europe at the time, with artists mining new forms and directions and not merely trying to ape American jazz idioms. That's not to say there aren't any groovers here, Dutch group Hans Dulfer and Ritmo Natural bring the Latin-tinged hotness to the core with "Candy Clouds part 2". This is some seriously deep dope!
MPEG Stream: ERIC KLEINSCHUSTER SEXTETT "Communion"
MPEG Stream: MICHAEL GARRICK SEXTET "Temple Dancer"
MPEG Stream: HEIKKI SARMANTO "Duke And Trane"
MPEG Stream: HANS DULFER & RITMO NATURAL "Candy Clouds Part II"

BURIAL Street Halo / Kindred (Hyperdub) cd 19.98
Like the title suggests, this is the cd version of Burial's last two 12"s. 6 tracks, almost an hour long, complete with obi 'cause it's a Japanese import. Both 12"s are pretty much out of print, so if you missed them, you gotta get this!
Street Halo was the first new music we had heard from Burial in 4+ years, and hardly needed a review at all (then or now), needless to say, the master of dark moody soul inflected minimal dubstep does it again, just check out the murky melancholy "Street Halo", which ditches some of the more overt dubsteppiness of past records, for something a bit more techno flecked, the beat a muted four on the floor pulse, while the surrounding sounds remain appropriately washed out and dreamlike, some spectral soulful female vox just add to the vibe. We actually spun the vinyl version of this at 33 the first few times, and holy shit, not sure if it's just us, but might sound even better that way, syrupy and witch house-y, total slomo cough syrup blackened dub electro drag. Too bad you can't easily slow down a cd, but even at the right speed of 45, it's pretty dang perfect, only a slight swerve from the dubbed out soul of Untrue.
"NYC" slows things way down, lacing some electro skitter and shuffling techno with a seriously dubbed out production and some sped up soul samples, still spare and skeletal, wreathed in a late night, winding down, chill out haze. And finally "Stolen Dog" is a dubby downtempo electro soul ballad, with a super hooky main melody, warm swirling low end swells, a skittery beat buried in the mix, and still more vocal soul. So good!
Beautifully sad and heavy, "Kindred" is laid out like a dystopic symphonic requiem that morphs through a slow-motion roughshodden landscape. Lonely remote vocals spliced and polished into barely discernible words pitter-patter over record crackle, and far-off doomy atmospheres as clanging minimal garage rhythms propel forward and then drop out at irregular intervals. "Loner" steps it up with arpeggiated synths and an anxious pace with a cinematic car chase theme feel and RnB-ish vocal shadows buried underneath a layer of sonic grit and asphalt that freefalls into a strange haunted ambiance. "Ashtray Wasp" show a bit more light and hope at first. The vocals culled from cell phone recordings give a broader sense of actual song structure with sped up minimalist Phillip Glass-like orchestrations wrapping the song in a dramatically understated fury, eventually disintegrating into an extended oceanic womb of crackling unease. The final salvo turning into a lyrical filigree of piano, cascading vocal swatches and waves of radio static that fades like the night into the stratosphere. Chilling!
MPEG Stream: "Street Halo"
MPEG Stream: "Stolen Dog"
MPEG Stream: "Kindred"

LA PLANETE SAUVAGE (GORAGUER, ALAIN) OST (Pathe Marconi) lp 16.98
Repressed and BACK IN STOCK (for now...).
Super limited, lovingly presented reissue of this legendary record. Long out of print (minus the briefly available reissue on DC / Intoxica, now also out of print) and heavily sought after soundtrack to Rene Laloux's 1973 Cannes Grand Prix winning animated feature "La Planete Sauvage." If the film itself is a hallucinatory masterpiece, the soundtrack - composed by Alain Goraguer (long time arranger for Serge Gainsbourg) - is as fitting as it is brilliant. Like an LSD dosed Isaac Hayes score, the music herein is at the same time both reminiscent of classic early seventies drama soundtracks and completely surreal and strange. Lots of recurring leitmotifs recast in ever building and changing arrangements, including marimba, Theremin and bird whistles as well as the standard orchestral elements, guitars and funky organs. So great!
MPEG Stream: "Dehominisation (I)"
MPEG Stream: "Le Bracelet"
MPEG Stream: "Ten Et Tiwa"

CIANI, SUSAN (SUZANNE) Voices Of Packaged Souls (Dead-Cert) lp 27.00
One listen to this and you can see why the likes of Andy Votel and Demdike Stare would rush to release this radiophonic electronic gem on a newly created subsidiary label, Dead-Cert, (a subsidiary of an already subsidiary label Pre-Cert which released lps by Slant Azymuth, Apple Head, and Anworth Kirk). Dead-Cert's mission statement, we've been told, is to reissue albums that virtually no one has heard before and this by all means is one of the rarest of that ilk. Recorded in 1970 for an art installation by Harold Paris in Brussels, there were only 50 copies of Voices of Packaged Souls made, and were given away at the opening. Unlike the material on the recent Suzanne Ciani archive reissue, Lixiviations, Voices of Packaged Souls is 13 experimental sound pieces made on the modular Buchla synthesizer, each one introduced by a male narrator in both English and French, with mystically ominous titles: "First Voice: Sound of Hair Bleeding" "Eight Voice: Sound of Bones Growing", "Seventh Voice: Sound of an Eye Tearing", "Fourth Voice: Sound of Wetness", "Tenth Voice: Sound of A Lighted Window", that suggest a clinical litany of library sounds and actions, similar to the remote feel of a Demdike Stare recording. But what separates this from just a standard bloop-bleep electronic record is the impeccable sound design, with high relief-textural dynamics that jump around the audio spectrum, sometimes sounding right against your ear and other times receding away from you. Would have been neat to see this sound / sculptural installation in person.
Beautifully spooky! And beautifully packaged, too.

EN Already Gone (Students Of Decay) lp 16.98
A stellar follow-up to 2010's The Absent Coast on Root Strata, Already Gone from this local San Francisco drone duo, Maxwell Croy and James Devane, aka EN, finds theses two with an even more focused and nuanced dynamic sensibility. Of course that sensibility centers around Croy's classically trained koto playing, which plays a large part in EN's overall sound, but here that element is really given ample room to stretch out and breathe. Instead of being merely one component in a layering process of cascading shifting dronescapes, the high relief sound of the texture of strings, the slow growing lyrical motifs and the solemn resonant pauses between phrases set up the pieces as they bloom into delicate shimmers and then oceanic swells of drifting unsettled moods. Pushing the momentum along on the first track, "Lodi" is the loping bass pulse of Trevor Montgomery (The Drift, Date Palms, Tarantel), that has us surfing waves of sound before settling into a swirling miasma of crystalline tones and airy phases. Taking us to the final track, "Elysia", the longest track at 20 minutes is set up by a long introduction of gorgeous and breathtakingly spacious koto playing that like falling leaves in gusts of winds unfurl into bellows of sky high cloud drones, gathering and darkening in fields of rich pulsating grey thunderous tones and then watercolor washes of blissful ambiance, the storm cleared and fading away, set to awaken in some far-off place. Beautiful!
MPEG Stream: "Lodi"
MPEG Stream: "The Sea Saw Swell"
MPEG Stream: "Elysia"

SUN ARAW & M. GEDDES GENDRAS MEET THE CONGOS FRKWYS Vol. 9 (RVNG ) cd + dvd 16.98
Some deep and heady devotional vibes from this unlikely dream collaboration of Sun Araw, M Geddes Gendras and reggae legends The Congos for the latest installment of the RVNG label's FRKWYS series. Reminding us of a more churning and lysergic exploration of Dadawah's long form Nyabinghi jams, Icon Give Thank as this disc in the series is titled, turns the standard dub-reggae expectations on their heads and instead offers a strange brew of soft swells, smoky psych drift and oceanic dub interludes, punctuated by the honeyed falsetto vocals of elder statesmen Cedric Myton and Roydel Johnson from Congos. This release has garnered the most divisive stance of the FRKWYS series among us at aQ so far, with some of us considering it one of the better collaborations and for others a squandered opportunity smacking of colonialism. Granted, the sound design relies heavily on the Sun Araw side of the coin, but his approach is hardly "the white boy playing reggae" criticisms this release has occasionally garnered. The sound, for one, hovers hazily in the air like swirling smoke while the grounding bass is pushed back way in the mix instead of anchoring it rhythmically. Each member of the collaboration has come together on the premise of praise and invocation of thanks, making this project a more spiritual concern than just a good-times-get-high-let's-jam together record. By the end of it, we're in a completely different headspace altogether, in reverent clouds of the Divine.
And along with the cd, you get an hour-long dvd disc, called Icon Eye, a travelogue/documentary all about the collaboration process.
MPEG Stream: "Happy Song"
MPEG Stream: "Sunshine"
MPEG Stream: "Thanks and Give Praise"

BEBEY, FRANCIS African Electronic Music 1975-1982 (Born Bad) cd 16.98
When we first heard a track from this album a few months ago, our immediate reaction was A) wow, we really had better find a way to get it for the store and B) if and when we do, it'll probably have to be a Record Of The Week. And that was just from hearing ONE song. Fortunately, we did manage to get some of these imports, and the rest of the record only confirmed and amplified our first impression. Record Of The Week it is! (Actually, some of us here, like Andee, were already Bebey fans from way back, but for others of us, gosh, what an introduction...)
As you know, we've certainly seen a bunch of great groovy African reissues lately (in fact, there's a couple others elsewhere on this week's list). But this collection of the late Cameroonian composer & writer Francis Bebey's music is rather unique, to say the least. And it's got something in common with another cool item we're reviewing this week, the vintage "electronic soul" compilation Personal Space. As the title indicates, the focus here is on the especially electronic side of his discography, from the era when multi-instrumentalist Bebey experimented with the latest gear - tape recorders, keyboards, drum machines - to record his own music at home in Paris, making for delightfully dancey, avant-garde Afropop.
The track we had heard was the first one here, "New Track", an over 8 minute long number that starts off with tinkling thumb piano before blaring synth stabs, burbling keys, and ticking drum machine rhythms kick in... pretty soon, the song has become dense with loops and layers, repeating vocals about bananas and potatoes and politics creating a kind of cheerfully confusing mantra. It's as fresh and charming and mesmeric and groovy today as it was when Bebey recorded it in back in '82.
Though this would pretty much be worth it just for that memorable song alone, the rest of this 14-track collection is full of further futuristic Afrofunk highlights. Meaning, more blurting synthesized horns, head bopping basslines, thumping electronic beats augmented by hand percussion, and laidback vocals - some spoken, some sung, in various languages (Duala, French and English). Bebey's talent on classical guitar is also evident. It's quite an amazing mix altogether; 'makossa' music from Cameroon meets "Blow Your Head" style Moog outbursts (as on the woozy instrumental track "Super Jingle", with its skronky synth shiver set amidst hypnotic percussive pulsations). Sometimes the mood gets emotive in other ways, Bebey bringing the beats down and singing sadly in a soft, ragged voice... Here we will go out on a limb, and make a wild hypothetical rock crit "cross between this and that" equation, of Konono No.1 + Arthur Russell, whattya think?
Basically, this is as cool as anything you could imagine something called "African Electronic Music 1975-1982" might possibly sound like! And maybe even cooler than that.
Packaged with liner notes in both English and French.
MPEG Stream: "New Track"
MPEG Stream: "La Condition Masculine"
MPEG Stream: "Pygmy Love Song"
MPEG Stream: "Savanah Georgia"

V/A Personal Space: Electronic Soul 1974 - 1984 (Chocolate Industries) cd 17.98
What a great comp! Rare but amazing examples of "Black music" (that's the European term) from the '70s, done with a heavy helping of at-the-time cutting edge electronics. Spaced out soul, in other words. Well, obviously it wasn't just cosmic krautrockers and spacey prog bands in the '70s messing around with the latest in synthesizers and other electronic music-making devices. Why wouldn't soul, funk, gospel, and RnB artists also make use of all that newfangled machinery? Of course they would, with folks like Herbie Hancock and Sun Ra leading the way. And they did. Especially those making music at home, without access to big studio budgets. That's the "Personal" part of the title, the songs here pretty much all being solo DIY home-brewed recordings, enabled by the technology... Which, along with the futuristic/sci-fi vibes that go along with the tech, give a lot of this a bit of an additional eccentric "outsider" feel, just check out the artist known as Starship Commander Woo Woo, for instance!
So, the compilers of this collection have dug deep, to find all these fantastic selections of what you could call "electronic soul", that in the mainstream we'd really only previously heard from Shuggie Otis... so if you can imagine Shuggie Otis really way out in spaaaace, you've got an idea of what's happening here.
Fat, buzzing synths. The mechanical tick-tock of primitive drum machines. Spacey FX galore. Mega multitracked masterpieces. Yeah, it'd all be novelty, if these songs weren't good. But, they ARE good. Obscure but definitely grade-A stuff in our book. The sci-fi sounds (which make a lot of this seem simultaneously '70s retro but also very up-to-date electronica-ish) are put to use by artists who come across like mutant Stevie Wonders and Sly Stones. There's 17 tracks here, from names we doubt you've ever heard of before: Jeff Phelps, Guitar Red, Johnnie Walker, U.S. Aries, The Makers, Cotillion, Spontaneous Overthrow, Jerry Green, Johnson, Key & Cleary, The New Year, T. Dyson & Company, Steve Elliot, Deborah Washington, and the aforementioned Starship Commander Woo Woo. Kinda hard to pick faves, some are simply groovy, some super bizarre, many both at once...
The only omission we can think of, is that even though this gets into the '80s, there's nothing from Wicked Witch on here (see our review of EM's reissue of that if you aren't familiar). But what's here is plenty weird & wonderful, from the twangy zipzap of bluesman Guitar Red's "Disco From A Space Show" to the heavily echo-effected "My Bleeding Wound" by The New Year...
Nicely presented, the cd in deluxe hardbound booklike slipcased packaging, complete with liner notes including thumbnail images of each original release. And the vinyl version is a 180 gram double lp, also nicely packaged.
MPEG Stream: GUITAR RED "Disco From A Space Show"
MPEG Stream: JERRY GREEN "I Finally Found The Love I Need"
MPEG Stream: THE MAKERS "Don't Challenge Me"
MPEG Stream: STARSHIP COMMANDER WOO WOO "Master Ship (except)"

HAZLEWOOD, LEE The LHI Years: Singles, Nudes & Backsides (Light In The Attic) cd 16.98
A fantastic compilation of Hazlewood tracks from his late-sixties/early seventies output when the country-pop production genius found himself in Stockholm and recorded some of his most weirdly romantic and beautifully bummed out records. Most of the tracks come from 1969's Cowboy and The Lady (with Ann Margaret), 1970's Cowboy in Sweden (with Nina Lizell and Suzi Jane Hokum) and the most awesomely embittered break-up record ever, Requiem for an Almost Lady from 1971. But fans familiar with those albums might not have everything here, including rare B sides and an unreleased track, "I Just Learned How To Run". The burnt out surrealist western influence came about largely from his collaborations with Swedish filmmaker Torbjorn Axelman who Hazlewood worked with throughout the seventies. Yet these albums were sometimes a bit much on their own, having a flair equally for epic wanderlust as they did for cornball humor. But by taking the best tracks from these albums, it really puts a spotlight on Hazlewood's druggy pop genius, and shows that his best years weren't behind him with Nancy Sinatra and his amazing output for Reprise. Anyone that dug those Water reissues a while back (The Very Special World of Lee Hazlewood and Lee Hazlewoodism: It's Cause And Cure) should pick this up too. A compilation that we couldn't heap more praise upon if we tried.
FYI, there was a vinyl version of this that came out on Record Store Day; of course, it's long gone, but we do hear that they plan to repress it sometime...
MPEG Stream: "Califa (Stone Rider)"
MPEG Stream: "Leather & Lace"
MPEG Stream: "If It's Monday Morning"
MPEG Stream: "Nobody Like You"
MPEG Stream: "I Just Learned To Run"

SHOP ASSISTANTS s/t (4 Men With Beards) lp 19.98
NOW ON VINYL!!
Only a few of us had even heard of this Scottish '80s indie sensation when this amazing reissue first hit our shelves but as soon as we listened we all instantly became huge fans and couldn't believe how they had managed to slip under our radar.
Coming out of the same scene that spawned The Pastels, this is really the precursor to the amazing twee and indie rock that would so dominate the underground music scene in the decade to come. Kind of like an impossibly amazing mix of Heavenly, The Vaselines and the driving spirit of early R.E.M. The songs of the Shop Assistants practically sound like the blueprints for K records. We have to believe folks like Beat Happening and The Softies had copies of this record when the whole International Pop Underground movement started up. We hear so much of our favorite indie pop sounds in this record: Magnetic Fields, Yo La Tengo, Belle & Sebastian, Electrelane, Vivian Girls, The Aislers Set, we could go on and on. It also makes perfect sense that Stephen Street engineered the record as it also fits so nicely sonically next to the records he worked on with The Smiths. The Shop Assistants can sound so dreamy and also so peppy and rocking, fully charming and irresistible without every being cutsey. This is a must have for anyone with a love for any of the bands mentioned above, indie rock, twee, dream pop, etc. Totally endearing and so damn good! If we have anything to do with it, Shop Assistants will no longer be the best kept secret in indie pop history. This is amazing!
MPEG Stream: "I Don't Want To Be Friends With You"
MPEG Stream: "All That Ever Mattered"
MPEG Stream: "All Of The Time"

CHORA(S)SAN TIME-COURT MIRAGE (CATHERINE CHRISTER HENNIX) Live At The Grimm Museum Volume One (Sonic Acts / Important Records) cd 17.98
A beautifully extensive live piece of long form minimalism from one of its most beguiling practitioners, Catherine Christer Hennix (remember The Electric Harpsichord?). Recorded at The Grimm Museum in Berlin in 2011, "Blues Dhikr Al-Salam (Blues Al Maqam)" is a 49 minute piece for voice, brass, computer and live electronics performed by Hennix and the newly formed electronic ensemble, Chora(s)san Time-Court Mirage, which includes aQ favorite dronologist Michael Northam on "time-mirage delay" and as the sound engineer. Originally commissioned for La Monte Young's 70th Birthday in 2005 as an 'infinitary' computer sound/animation environment, this is the first live recording of this piece. Modulating raga drones shift in an array of harmonic frequencies aided by layers of deep plaintive horns and processed vocals. There is a deep Tibetan Buddhist philosophy that flows throughout all of Hennix's work and in which she details in rather high-minded language inside this package, which would be difficult to paraphrase here, but the writing's closing line may sum up this piece nicely: "One of the Thousand sounds of Om."
MPEG Stream: "Blues Dhikr Al-Salam (Blues Al Maqam) 1"
MPEG Stream: "Blues Dhikr Al-Salam (Blues Al Maqam) 2"

EN Already Gone (Students Of Decay) cd 12.98
A stellar follow-up to 2010's The Absent Coast on Root Strata, Already Gone from this local San Francisco drone duo, Maxwell Croy and James Devane, aka EN, finds theses two with an even more focused and nuanced dynamic sensibility. Of course that sensibility centers around Croy's classically trained koto playing, which plays a large part in EN's overall sound, but here that element is really given ample room to stretch out and breathe. Instead of being merely one component in a layering process of cascading shifting dronescapes, the high relief sound of the texture of strings, the slow growing lyrical motifs and the solemn resonant pauses between phrases set up the pieces as they bloom into delicate shimmers and then oceanic swells of drifting unsettled moods. Pushing the momentum along on the first track, "Lodi" is the loping bass pulse of Trevor Montgomery (The Drift, Date Palms, Tarantel), that has us surfing waves of sound before settling into a swirling miasma of crystalline tones and airy phases. Taking us to the final track, "Elysia", the longest track at 20 minutes is set up by a long introduction of gorgeous and breathtakingly spacious koto playing that like falling leaves in gusts of winds unfurl into bellows of sky high cloud drones, gathering and darkening in fields of rich pulsating grey thunderous tones and then watercolor washes of blissful ambiance, the storm cleared and fading away, set to awaken in some far-off place. Beautiful!
MPEG Stream: "Lodi"
MPEG Stream: "The Sea Saw Swell"
MPEG Stream: "Elysia"

ALPS, THE Easy Action (Mexican Summer) lp 17.98
BACK IN PRINT with NEW COVER ART!
Latest from these sunshiney new age krautfolk drifters, a trio featuring our very own Scott Hewicker, along with Jefre Cantu (Tarentel, Root Strata) and Alexis Georgopoulos (Arp), The Alps' Easy Action is record number five if you're keeping track, although it's not in fact exactly a proper full length, instead, it's a bit of a collaged inbetweener, a gorgeous, surprisingly noisy at times, druggy and deliriously delightful hodgepodge assembled from various sources, old tapes from past sessions, unused takes from their last record Le Voyage, a handful of new recordings, as well as various other sounds, all meticulously assembled in the studio into a pretty fantastic record.
As mentioned above, the sound here is not nearly as laid back and soft focus as Le Voyage. That record definitely found the band in full on meandering mode, the guitars were jangly, the rhythms subtle and minimal, when there were rhythms, the noise was kept to a minimum, it was all about tone and timbre, ambience and atmosphere, the propulsion seemingly an afterthought, the band happy to let the songs drift lazily, but if a rhythm did surface, the band would just let that rhythm guide them, until it eventually wound down, leaving the band to drift ever onward. But here, the sound is actually a bit fierce, and a little dark. The opener starts with a cloud of swirling textures and hushed effects, muted melodies, and little flecks of buzz and glitch, but it's not long before a black cloud of grinding distortion and hissing electronics threaten to swallow up the other sounds, the song is transformed into a swirling bit of soft noise chaos, culminating in a strange stuttery glitched out finale. Wow. As if that weren't enough, the second track too delivers some powerful drumming, laid over some tangled steel string guitar, and some buzzing psychedelic guitar, a guitar that gets wilder and noisier as the track progresses before everything drops out leaving just the guitar unwinding a swirling cloud of FX heavy freakout.
And so it goes, "Pink Orange" is more of a interlude, a looped bit of processed guitar, but then "For Isabel" drifts in with its seventies folk guitar, but then suddenly glitches out, as some strange bits of studio buzz swoop in, the gorgeous looped guitar figure wreathed in a cloud of hiss and buzz, and rapidly expanding crunch, good stuff for sure, just surprisingly intense.
"Loves Of A Blonde" is a sprawling bit of abstract droney drift, some steel string buzz, some muted percussion, more crunchy distorted guitar noise, a sort of abstract raga, underpinned by dark piano chords, everything wreathed in gristly bits of static, eventually, all the noise fading out, leaving just some sitar like buzz and some echoey piano, the prettiest stretch on the record thus far. The title track dabbles in some dub, adding a little reggae inflection to a loping slo-mo krautrock groove, the guitars warm and shimmery, the bass sinewy and melodic, but even here, the band lay a thick bit of crunchy, lo-fi guitar fuzz over the otherwise tranquil proceedings, which we quite like, and definitely adds a needed edge to the otherwise placid drift underneath.
The rest of the record unwinds similarly, with the band taking the more serene and melodic elements and fusing them to strange studio misfires, and random, but fantastic bits of noisiness, tinkling looped melodies, that seems to fluctuate wildly within a field of hyperactive static, transforming a shimmery sleepy loop into a mysterious bit of crumbling crunch. They take a break on the hushed and crystal clear solo guitar outing "Reflections For Peter Green", only to slip right back into it with the nearly 10 minute "Instant Light" which was previously released on the super limited Root Strata cd-r A Path Through The Sun), a track that builds slowly, lush steel string strums drifting beneath whirling bits of distant ambience, definitely channeling the spirit of Le Voyage, but the band pile on some lush, effulgent guitar buzz, and some keening layered guitardrones, filling the sky with warm sonic streaks, while underneath the sound continues to drift along melodically, a practically perfect balance between the dreamy old and the more abrasive new, before finishing off with a brief 2 minute swirl of whirling, swirling, blurred and smeared, echo drenched new age shimmer. So good. And a bit of a sonic surprise. Which has us wondering if their next proper studio full length will find the band incorporating some of this new found, more 'difficult' audio experimentation. We sure hope so!
Since the fancy pyramid pop-up cover by artist Tauba Auerbach on the first pressing could no longer be reproduced, the cover now has a new pyramid image redesign in black and white.
Includes a download code as well.
MPEG Stream: "Today & Tomorrow"
MPEG Stream: "Spray"
MPEG Stream: "Pink Orange"
MPEG Stream: "Easy Action"
MPEG Stream: "Until Tomorrow"

CARLTON MELTON aQ Hits (aQuarius recOrds) cd 12.98
aQ Hits is a new collection from beloved SF psychedelic space rock minimalists Carlton Melton, and is our second annual official aQuarius recOrds Record Store Day release. Last year's was a live disc called Black Valleys, a document of a killer aQuarius instore by NY psych rockers White Hills, and that one sold out in a flash. This year's looks to do the same - if you like White Hills, you like Carlton Melton, right?!
It's a super limited (just 300 copies) compact disc, collecting a handful of rare, and now out of print vinyl tracks, from various singles and split lps from the last couple years, including one super extended version.
Let's run through the various tracks... "Bottle Of Heat [Extended Version]", is, as you can probably tell from the title, the aforementioned alternate cut, which takes "Bottle Of Heat", originally released on the 2011 Agitated Records 12" comp I'm So Convoluted!, and offers up the unedited full-sprawl recording, stretching out to more than 19 minutes, thick smoldering clouds of soft focus psychedelia, drifting and blissed out, free form and abstract, a meandering epic of lush chordal swell and shimmery FX drenched swirl, all over a shuffling hypnotic and motorik kraut-psych beat. "Handling Snakes" is the A side from the group's Valley King 7" single, and is a jolt of heavy hypno-blues a la Wooden Shjips, but in the hands of Carlton Melton, somehow even heavier with wailing riffs and pummeling drums.
The next two tracks are from Carlton Melton's split 12" with Empty Shapes, originally released on Mid-To-Late Records in 2010: "Call and Response" is an epic (and originally nearly side-loooong) blowout, beginning with a heavy rumble of monolithic sludge eventually progressing into a slow wave of burnt-out blues riffage a la early Comets on Fire, that churns and steeps into a gnarly brew of molten fuzz. While "Purer", is more cosmic and dreamy, built on a layer of percolating synth drones that give way to a more uplifting space rock jam trajectory, total heart-of-the-sun zoner blissout.
And finally, the last two tracks are from CM's split 12" with Qumran Orphics, also originally released on Mid-To-Late Records, that one in the beginning of 2011. "March Of The Cicadas" is a glorious ten minute slab of psychedelic heaviness, that sounds exactly like the title implies, a slowmotion dirge over martial rhythms with buzzing electronic hisses and stratospheric guitar leads. And things finish off with "Murder Ridge", a noirish Bardo Pond-like spiral of burning sonic embers and sustained decay, a gorgeous hazy stretch of blurred lysergic drift, the perfect final movement, psych-drone comedown.
LIMITED TO 300 COPIES, each one hand numbered, the artwork is printed on metallic silver cardstock, everything housed in a slim dvd style case, only available here!
MPEG Stream: "Bottle Of Heat [Extended Version]"
MPEG Stream: "Handling Snakes"
MPEG Stream: "March Of The Cicadas"

ALPS, THE III (Mexican Summer) lp 17.98
Reissued on vinyl with the original cover art for the first time! While the Alps are no longer strictly Bay-Area based (only one member lives here, the others now live in New York and Germany), they are still an active band. Here's what we said about The Alps debut lp the first time around, back in 2008:
The latest from Bay Area new-kraut-folk-age combo Alps, finds the band sounding more high fidelity than ever, and more kraut than folk, which in both cases suits them big time.
For those new to Alps, a rundown of several members should help give you an idea of where their sound is coming from: our very own Scott Hewicker (formerly of Troll), Alexis Georgopoulos (Arp, formerly of Tussle) and Jefre Cantu (Tarentel, Moholy-Nagy, Portraits). But Alps is definitely more than the sum of its parts, their sound is quite varied, expansive, even epic at times, but simultaneously, they manage to craft a sound that's simple and solid, based as much on rhythm and texture as on song and melody.
On past releases, Alps were a much more ramshackle concern, which at the time was definitely a big part of their sound, and thus set them firmly amongst the lo-fi cd-r dronefolk scene, their sound a sort of ghostly Appalachia, mixed with longform drone music, muddy muted ambience, minimal soundscaping and plenty of lo-fi buzz and hiss much of the record mired in a corrosive murk, that only added to their dark dronelike vibe. The move to Type Records, coincides, perhaps not coincidentally, with a sonic shift, where what once was abstract and low fidelity, is now rhythmic and propulsive, looped and repetitive, and most importantly, glistening and glimmering, the sound crystal clear, and this time the dreaminess doesn't come from the lo-fi recording, instead it comes from the compositions, and the arrangements, and a super lush sounding recording courtesy of Phil Manley of the Champs and Trans Am. The core members of Alps also have a keen interest in new age music. Not the Deep Breakfast sort of schlock that most seem to equate with the genre, but instead more the sort of inner space, dreamy drift of Tangerine Dream, Deuter, Steve Hillage and the like. And those sounds are all over III as well.
The opener is a gorgeous looped soundscape of repetitive guitar figures, and glistening chimes, almost like a dreamfolk Steve Reich, bits of Appalachia, big buzzing synths, strummed zithers, a gorgeous melancholy melody played out over the course of five and a half minutes. The second track finds the band getting their kraut on, channeling Neu! Or Agitation Free but through a much more washed out and weary space rock, like Hawkwind gone new age. Distant drifting vocals, all manner of layered buzz, distorted guitars buried in the mix, space-y FX, very tranquil and mesmerizing. The follow up "Cloud One" finds Alps revisiting their folk roots, taking strummed acoustic guitars, and simple piano, and draping them over a woozy melody and a super spare abstract rhythm. "Trem Fantasma" is a barely there whisper of spaced out dronemusic, Gloriously wreathed in musical mystery, drifting piano, fragmented guitars, some soft sixties 'ladada' vocals, another dreamy drifter that threatens to spirit the listener away to some sun dappled green grassed knoll. "Labyrinths" is another new age / krautrock meander, washed out and shimmery, the drums the only thing keeping the rest of the song from just floating away, playful melodies, that sound like Perry and Kingsley rendered in shades of grey. The next few tracks are more abstract, sounds swooping in and out, rhythms, if there are any, buried beneath soft layers of sound, everything hushed and minimal, until album closer, "Into The Breeze", which sounds just like the title would have you imagine, breezy, soft focus, the drums, simple and stripped down, shimmering steel string guitar, that ever present piano, the melody wistful, the production hazy and a little woozy, effects swirling in the background, the drums gradually becoming more and more tripped out, before fading out completely, leaving just the guitar and the piano to drift heavenward, through a field of soft shimmer and the glistening afterglow of the sounds that came before.
The more we listen to III, the more obvious the new age-isms become, which is not a bad thing at all, it wraps the proceedings, no matter how krautrocky or folky or droney, in a sweet swirl of moonlit dreaminess, turning each song into its own sort of otherworldly mesmer.
While the original Type cd is still available, the original vinyl is long out of print and was originally issued in a corkboard sleeve, so it's nice to see the orignal cd artwork on the vinyl reissue for the first time.
Hand-numbered and Limited to 1000 copies. Comes with a download card!
MPEG Stream: "A Manha Na Praia"
MPEG Stream: "Hallucinations"
MPEG Stream: "Cloud One"

GROUPER A I A (Dream Loss / Alien Observer) (Kranky) 2cd 16.98
Finally both extremely limited and way out of print lps, that came and went in a flash last year, have been reissued together on a not-as-limited double cd set via Kranky!
We've gushed and gushed about Grouper so much in the past, and we're going to do it once again because these albums are utterly gorgeous! While 2008's Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill found Liz Harris, aka Grouper, starting to really embrace the idea of songs, we love how these cds, Alien Observer and Dream Loss (framed together by the personally symbolic pictographic title, "A I A") blur that focus once again. While one leans towards songs and structure, and the other towards more abstraction, they are pretty much equal companion pieces that mirror each other, and share similar tendencies that defy a defined experience (especially since it seems we discovered by the track listing that the cd labels are switched, making it even harder to pin down which one is which, but it's really no matter!). They're much more about mood, soft focus, hazy dreams, and ethereal exploration. Harris' voice a murmur built up through tape and Dictaphone loops like soft whispering leaves swirling in and out, and every sound and tone, whether it be acoustic guitar strums, far-off distorted delayed electronics, piano, bell tones or static, she uses and manipulates them with such a mastered ease. There's a hushed reverence to this suite that demands rapturous attention to Harris' cathedral like sound world, as if we were in some universal congregation listening to an angelic choir singing from the deepest remote space. We've been listening to these records late at night and early in the morning and whenever we need to come down from the craziness of the world around us. And smehow whenever we listen to them, everything else just fades away and for a little while all that matters is the soft narcotic rush we feel as the music plays.
MPEG Stream: "Dragging The Streets"
MPEG Stream: "Soul Eraser"
MPEG Stream: "A Lie"
MPEG Stream: "Moon is Sharp"
MPEG Stream: "Vapor Trails"

ASHRA New Age Of Earth (Virgin) cd 11.98
While this is not new, we felt since we just listed Manuel Gottsching's essential early eighties proto-acid release E2-E4, we should revisit another essential release from the post-Ash Ra Tempel period that we never listed before. 1976's New Age of Earth was the inaugural release from Ashra, the next phase of Ash Ra Tempel which basically was Manuel Gottsching re-focusing his musical efforts from a group ambition to a solo experience, marked by more streamlined compositions involving more synthesizers and sequencers but not losing his signature cosmic guitar leads altogether. Letting go of the acid psych commune jams of Ash Ra Tempel's previous efforts, New Age of Earth enjoys a more meditative kosmiche sensibility with extended warm electronic sojourns with minimalist compositional tendencies. The opener "Sunrain" is a deliriously percolating track that sounds as if Steve Reich created a proto-Balearic slow disco jam for sunrise dancefloors in Ibiza. "Ocean of Tenderness" is a softly lilting and shifting piece marked by gentle waves of sound and floating guitar figures, while "Deep Distance" is a more contemplative and cinematic rumination on landscapes of sound. Which leads to the final piece "Nightdust", which at 21 minutes is the longest track, a gorgeously majestic build-up of cosmic sensations. Whirring pulsar synth effects over a serene new age foundation like the feel of illuminating stars over some alien planetary ocean, culminating in a searing sky-high guitar lead that propels us into the nebulous ether of oceanic space. In fact the whole album has this epic 'sci-fi beach' feel, reminiscent of that mysterious final scene from The Quiet Earth, where the last man on earth is on the beach and sees the giant planet Saturn looming in the distance. A classic cosmic krautrock release from Virgin Record's most exciting and exploratory period, New Age of Earth is essential for all fans of kraut-y space-rock and psychedelic cosmic bliss.
MPEG Stream: "Sunrain"
MPEG Stream: "Deep Distance"
MPEG Stream: "Nightdust"

PITRE, DUANE Feel Free (Important) cd 14.98
Duane Pitre, whom we were first exposed to through collaborations with Justin Wright from Expo 70, and his 2010 solo debut Origin on the Root Strata label, is a composer who likes to work with organizing principles. For Origin, he had a sextet of bowed guitars tuned to 'just intonation' and freed from any use of effects and overdubs to create tapestries of richly layered overtones and droning frequencies.
One might think from the title that Feel Free would suggest a freedom from such organisation, but it's actually a push toward a more systematic impulse, but one that allows an infinite set of variations. Creating the centerpiece of the work through guitar and electronics and filtered through a computer, he then asks a sextet of string musicians (harp, cello, contrabass, hammered dulcimer and violin) to respond to the work. The performers are instructed to "feel free" to respond to or ignore their fellow contributors. But in creating a rule-based system rather than one based on musical notation, the piece becomes a lattice work of rhythms and textures that sounds spontaneous and unpredictable, but never careens out of control. Reminding us of the resulting compositional strategies of David Behrman's On The Other Ocean, Christian Jendreiko's God's White Noise or even Terry Riley's In C in the way that there's a harmonic congruence from a randomizing system, Feel Free is a beautifully interwoven composition with hypnotically mesmerizing results.
MPEG Stream: "Section II"
MPEG Stream: "Section V"

PITRE, DUANE Feel Free (Important) lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Duane Pitre, whom we were first exposed to through collaborations with Justin Wright from Expo 70, and his 2010 solo debut Origin on the Root Strata label, is a composer who likes to work with organizing principles. For Origin, he had a sextet of bowed guitars tuned to 'just intonation' and freed from any use of effects and overdubs to create tapestries of richly layered overtones and droning frequencies.
One might think from the title that Feel Free would suggest a freedom from such organisation, but it's actually a push toward a more systematic impulse, but one that allows an infinite set of variations. Creating the centerpiece of the work through guitar and electronics and filtered through a computer, he then asks a sextet of string musicians (harp, cello, contrabass, hammered dulcimer and violin) to respond to the work. The performers are instructed to "feel free" to respond to or ignore their fellow contributors. But in creating a rule-based system rather than one based on musical notation, the piece becomes a lattice work of rhythms and textures that sounds spontaneous and unpredictable, but never careens out of control. Reminding us of the resulting compositional strategies of David Behrman's On The Other Ocean, Christian Jendreiko's God's White Noise or even Terry Riley's In C in the way that there's a harmonic congruence from a randomizing system, Feel Free is a beautifully interwoven composition with hypnotically mesmerizing results.
MPEG Stream: "Section II"
MPEG Stream: "Section V"

CIANI, SUZANNE Lixiviation (B-Music / Finders Keepers) lp 24.00
Now on Vinyl!
Perhaps most widely known as one of the bigger stars of New Age music's MOR commercial peak in the mid-eighties (think Mannheim Steamroller's Fresh Aire series and Ray Lynch's Deep Breakfast), most folks don't necessarily consider the Private Music label's pop new age princess Suzanne Ciani as being a second generation electronic music pioneer or a highly inventive classically trained synthesist. But this fantastic new anthology of early works from Ciani's archive on B-Music/Finders Keepers is aimed at changing that perception.
Fact is, Ciani has had a hand in many of the innovations in electronic music from the late sixties to the early eighties, in what has been a largely male-dominated field. A classically trained pianist, she met Don Buchla through a mutual artist friend and mastered the Buchla Synthesizer (pictured on the cover) and soon began seeking out projects for art galleries, experimental films and pop music (Meco's Star Wars theme for example), before moving to New York and becoming a valuable asset in the experimental underground and commercial advertising fields. She supplied the sounds for Xenon's pinball machines as well as doing sound effects work for films The Stepford Wives and The Incredible Shrinking Woman. Her company Ciani Musica became a testing ground for many of electronic and computerized music's new developments where she built up an incredible portfolio of recording experiments that make up the bulk of this collection.
Alongside advertising spots for Atari, ITT, Almay, and Coca-Cola, are longer compositions of electronic grandeur that point to her later new age music career, but are also steeped in electronic music's recent past. Percolating oscillations, robotic breathing, percussive mechancial rhythms, and long-form and layered computerized tones are assembled into warm and engaging pieces that aptly put Ciani in the same league as Laurie Spiegel, David Behrman and even the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. This is an exciting anthology that sheds light on an overlooked period of electronic music innovation and one of its most vital players. Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Lixiviation"
MPEG Stream: "Princess With Orange Feet"
MPEG Stream: "Liberator (Atari TV Spot)"
MPEG Stream: "Sound of A Dream Kissing"
MPEG Stream: "Second Breath"

DUNCAN, RONALD & DAVID CAIN (BBC SCHOOL RADIO SERIES : DRAMA WORKSHOP) The Seasons (Trunk) lp 21.00
We could easily imagine the odd school children in the film The Wicker Man as being the tailor-made audience/participants for this 1969 educational record from the BBC Drama Workshop, the educational arm of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. These recordings were designed for creative movement and improvisation exercises for young school children, though it would be surprising to see a record for kids quite like this today.
With poetry written by Ronald Duncan (recited by Derek Bowskill) and electronic music by David Cain, this is one of those Arcadian British recordings that are so often referenced audibly and visually by the hauntological Ghost Box label and the filmstrip nostalgia of Boards of Canada. Bowskill's classically-trained oration evokes Duncan's romantic yet visceral natural imagery with slightly sinister undertones, while Cain's score is both alien and lilting, its robotic sing-song melodies sometimes wistful yet bracingly warped. For this recording a piece was done for each month and each season with the final track an instrumental culmination of all the musical themes simply called "The Year". Though we can see children of the time easily getting into the odd melodies to convey visual pantomimes of leaves and wind, we can only assume that some of the spoken imagery must have gone over their heads. "Falling leaves like Severed Hands", in "October" for instance; or descriptions of nightfall where the night is characterized as a predator and the day "as a fallow deer is bled"; or the lurid connotations of the poem, "March" where Bowskill speaks of the Earth as a woman, and in a series of harvest ritual descriptions, to be woken, washed, dressed and then taken????
But what is admirable about the educational side of this recording is that it doesn't talk down to children or Disney-fy nature with anthropomorphic happy/sad emotions, but rather it emphasizes a more complex set of emotional tropes to act out like awakening, longing, fearfulness, loneliness, and indifference that points to a more mature and frank attitude toward the cycle of nature and the passing of time. Though we're not sure what kids today would make of its strange antiquated quaintness, for adults its perhaps a nostalgic trip back to a bygone era where there was government funded organizations that were allowed to produce such cool shit for kids, or at the very least plenty of cool interlude fodder here for DJs and mixtapes.
MPEG Stream: "March"
MPEG Stream: "August"
MPEG Stream: "October"
MPEG Stream: "Winter"

ORAM, DAPHNE Oram Tapes Volume One (Young Americans) 2cd 26.00
Previously a quadruple lp, now on double cd in a deluxe oversized package!!
Perhaps the only bright side to the passing of one of the most ambitious but relatively unsung figures in early electronic music, is that the archives of hundreds of reels of unreleased recordings of sound experiments, tape compositions, field recordings, cinematic sound effects and Musique Concrete are just starting to be released to a wider audience. Young Americans did a stellar job with the first Daphne Oram vinyl overview, Oramics, which was a retrospective of her long and varied career from her time as a wartime radio technician to becoming an electronic instrument pioneer and founder of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Now that her invention, The "Oramics" machine (the first electronic musical instrument designed and built by a woman), has gone on display at the Science Museum in London, Daphne Oram's legacy is finally moving into its rightful place. This deluxe compilation is the first in a planned series of releases that dig deep into Oram's vast recording archive. Painstakingly compiled and restored from over 400 tapes and mastered at Dubplates & Mastering, The Oram Tapes Volume One features 37 previously unheard recordings (a bit less than what was on the vinyl version). While most of the pieces are short, they show a darker and more layered compositional style than what one may be used to from the bigger names of The Radiophonic Workshop. While the typical Workshop compositional bloops and bleeps were often steeped in a science fiction futurity, Oram was more often concerned with the mystery and science of sound composition, and the place where the sounds of machines and nature overlapped. That is probably why her effects reel for the film 2001 sounds more like haunted insects and cathedral-like atmospherics rather than say, robotic whirrs and laser-like phasing. There is a thoughtful and cerebral consideration in her compositions that allows us to imagine and nearly inhabit the world she is building in sound. Quite stunning!
MPEG Stream: "Just For You"
MPEG Stream: "2001 Effects Tape 1"
MPEG Stream: "Wool"
MPEG Stream: "Oramics Demonstration (Excerpt)"
MPEG Stream: "Costain Outtake"
MPEG Stream: "For Granada "
MPEG Stream: "Birth of Baby"

HEADHUNTERS, THE Survival Of The Fittest / Straight From The Gate (R2) 2cd 21.00
First time on cd domestically for these two long out of print releases from this hard-hitting space jazz-funk fusion outfit. Originally formed by Herbie Hancock for his classic 1973 Head Hunters breakthrough release (after he broke up his previous band, Sextant), the band didn't break out on their own until 1975's Hancock-produced Survival Of The Fittest with the jazz funk hit, "God Made Me Funky". But The Headhunters had more going for them than just the one funk hit. Comprised of seasoned jazz players: saxman/clarinetist Bennie Maupin (a holdover from the Sextant), bassist Paul Jackson, Jr., drummer Harvey Mason, and percussionist Bill Summers, The Headhunters strength was their atmospheric groove, heavy percussive rhythms and a willingness to take the songs to farout places. While Survival of The Fittest was their best and most well-known album, 1978's Straight From The Gate, their final album before a reunion 20+ years later, is perhaps their most obscure recording. Pushing the funk and fusion elements with an altered lineup there is more of a rushed heavier energy emphasized by guitars, flute, sax and electric piano. This is the kind of record that can easily scare those who bristle at the word "fusion", but there are some deep cuts that make it worth looking into. Either way, having Survival of The Fittest alone is worth the price of admission!
MPEG Stream: "God Made Me Funky"
MPEG Stream: "Music"
MPEG Stream: "Rima"
MPEG Stream: "Stright From The Gate"
MPEG Stream: "Mayonnaise"

DUNCAN, RONALD & DAVID CAIN (BBC SCHOOL RADIO SERIES : DRAMA WORKSHOP) The Seasons (Trunk) cd 17.98
We could easily imagine the odd school children in the film The Wicker Man as being the tailor-made audience/participants for this 1969 educational record from the BBC Drama Workshop, the educational arm of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. These recordings were designed for creative movement and improvisation exercises for young school children, though it would be surprising to see a record for kids quite like this today.
With poetry written by Ronald Duncan (recited by Derek Bowskill) and electronic music by David Cain, this is one of those Arcadian British recordings that are so often referenced audibly and visually by the hauntological Ghost Box label and the filmstrip nostalgia of Boards of Canada. Bowskill's classically-trained oration evokes Duncan's romantic yet visceral natural imagery with slightly sinister undertones, while Cain's score is both alien and lilting, its robotic sing-song melodies sometimes wistful yet bracingly warped. For this recording a piece was done for each month and each season with the final track an instrumental culmination of all the musical themes simply called "The Year". Though we can see children of the time easily getting into the odd melodies to convey visual pantomimes of leaves and wind, we can only assume that some of the spoken imagery must have gone over their heads. "Falling leaves like Severed Hands", in "October" for instance; or descriptions of nightfall where the night is characterized as a predator and the day "as a fallow deer is bled"; or the lurid connotations of the poem, "March" where Bowskill speaks of the Earth as a woman, and in a series of harvest ritual descriptions, to be woken, washed, dressed and then taken????
But what is admirable about the educational side of this recording is that it doesn't talk down to children or Disney-fy nature with anthropomorphic happy/sad emotions, but rather it emphasizes a more complex set of emotional tropes to act out like awakening, longing, fearfulness, loneliness, and indifference that points to a more mature and frank attitude toward the cycle of nature and the passing of time. Though we're not sure what kids today would make of its strange antiquated quaintness, for adults its perhaps a nostalgic trip back to a bygone era where there was government funded organizations that were allowed to produce such cool shit for kids, or at the very least plenty of cool interlude fodder here for DJs and mixtapes.
MPEG Stream: "March"
MPEG Stream: "August"
MPEG Stream: "October"
MPEG Stream: "Winter"

PORTRAITS s/t (Important) lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Deeeeeeep spiritually-charged drones from this supergroup of Bay Area heavy experimentalists. You are going to want to just hammer the "Add To Cart" button when we list all the members involved: folks from Barn Owl, Date Palms, Tarentel, En, Higuma and The Alps! The Root Strata All-Stars, basically, though this is on Important. Three tracks, the first, "D" is a side long affair, delving into the most harmonically aligned keys of the western scale utilizing both electric and acoustic instruments including violin, harmonium, tamboura, koto, sine wave oscillator, bass clarinet, tapes, shruti box and electric guitar in rich layered tones and frequencies. Side 2 begins with the all vocal meditation, "Sa" reminding us of David Hykes and The Harmonic Choir's cathedral amplified minimalist hymns before unleashing the deepest and heaviest track here, "Gong", which focuses on the shifting and shimmering metallic reverberations of the titular instrument. A beautifully honed study of harmony and frequency within a wonderfully attuned collective and collaborative spirit.
Housed in a hand screened heavy stock foldover jacket. LIMITED TO 500 copies, so act fast!

CIANI, SUZANNE Lixiviation (B-Music / Finders Keepers) cd 16.98
Perhaps most widely known as one of the bigger stars of New Age music's MOR commercial peak in the mid-eighties (think Mannheim Steamroller's Fresh Aire series and Ray Lynch's Deep Breakfast), most folks don't necessarily consider the Private Music label's pop new age princess Suzanne Ciani as being a second generation electronic music pioneer or a highly inventive classically trained synthesist. But this fantastic new anthology of early works from Ciani's archive on B-Music/Finders Keepers is aimed at changing that perception.
Fact is, Ciani has had a hand in many of the innovations in electronic music from the late sixties to the early eighties, in what has been a largely male-dominated field. A classically trained pianist, she met Don Buchla through a mutual artist friend and mastered the Buchla Synthesizer (pictured on the cover) and soon began seeking out projects for art galleries, experimental films and pop music (Meco's Star Wars theme for example), before moving to New York and becoming a valuable asset in the experimental underground and commercial advertising fields. She supplied the sounds for Xenon's pinball machines as well as doing sound effects work for films The Stepford Wives and The Incredible Shrinking Woman. Her company Ciani Musica became a testing ground for many of electronic and computerized music's new developments where she built up an incredible portfolio of recording experiments that make up the bulk of this collection.
Alongside advertising spots for Atari, ITT, Almay, and Coca-Cola, are longer compositions of electronic grandeur that point to her later new age music career, but are also steeped in electronic music's recent past. Percolating oscillations, robotic breathing, percussive mechancial rhythms, and long-form and layered computerized tones are assembled into warm and engaging pieces that aptly put Ciani in the same league as Laurie Spiegel, David Behrman and even the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. This is an exciting anthology that sheds light on an overlooked period of electronic music innovation and one of its most vital players. Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Lixiviation"
MPEG Stream: "Princess With Orange Feet"
MPEG Stream: "Liberator (Atari TV Spot)"
MPEG Stream: "Sound of A Dream Kissing"
MPEG Stream: "Second Breath"

BROWN, MARION Geechee Recollections / Sweet Earth Flying (Impulse!) cd 16.98
We haven't listed too much Marion Brown before, save for an early ESP label release, though his name is often spoken of in the same revered tones as Albert Ayler, Don Cherry, and John Coltrane. We loved his playing on Harold Budd's Pavilion of Dreams, and he had famously played on Coltrane's Ascension (two very opposite sides of the alto saxophone spectrum and really the only extremes of that instrument we dig) so we were very excited to get this latest entry in Impulse's "two-fer" cd reissue series to see what Marin Brown as a bandleader is all about, and this doesn't disappoint.
Brown, who died in 2010, was a more understated (and underrated!) player than his better known contemporaries, often marking his playing with noted hesitations and tentativeness that most jazz giants readily avoided. The influence of poetry, ethnomusicology and southern folk tropes also took him into stranger and less popular directions than most jazz at the time. Geechee Recollections and Sweet Earth Flying from 1973 and 1974 respectively, are the second and third installments in what is considered the "Georgia Trilogy" (the first installment, Afternoon of a Georgian Fawn, from 1970, was recorded for ECM), based on the tone poems of Georgia poet Jean Toomer and Brown's Georgian upbringing. Both records are largely built around suites of songs, with Geechee Recollections more horn based and Sweet Earth Flying largely based around piano and fender Rhodes compositions.
Geechee recollections starts with the loping bass groove of "Once Upon a Time (A Children's Tale)" propelled by ethnic percussive rhythms and energized alto sax playing. Toomer's poem "Karintha" is recited by Bill Hasson over an avant backdrop of intersecting violin, sax, kalimba chimes and other percussion. Passages of martial New Orleans style jazz open up into soft abstract spaces in the Tokalokaloka suite, that have a slow languid heat full of humid tropical associations. Mostly sheets of metallic percussion and tinkling bamboo surround Brown's intuitive and often introverted horn improvisations in fertile bursts of sound.
Sweet Earth Flying may be more satisfying for those looking for a deeper, more inviting, immersion. Focused on two suites, the title one, along with one called "Eleven Light City", "Sweet Earth Flying" begins with a soft and graceful solo on fender Rhodes before jumping full flight into a percussive free jazz excursion. Part 4 of that suite features a swirling recitation by Bill Hasson of an invented hybrid language drawn from a variety of Latin, Afro-Caribbean and regional American vocabularies. "Eleven Light City" has a more late-night low-key feel, slightly noirish, but not foreboding. It has a spacious genteel quality that belies its more muscular undertones. But the chief beauty of this record is the genius pairing of Muhal Richard Abrams and Paul Bley on acoustic and electric piano that make this a truly exciting listen.
This is the first time both records have been released on cd, and it's about time! So good!
MPEG Stream: "Once Upon A Time (A Children's Tale)"
MPEG Stream: "Tokalokaloka (Part Two)"
MPEG Stream: "Sweet Earth Flying (Part Four: Prince Willie)"
MPEG Stream: "Eleven Light City (Part Two)"

BASHO, ROBBIE Venus In Cancer (Blue Thumb) lp 17.98
Now reissued on Vinyl!
You know we must confess it is getting harder and harder to write about instrumental acoustic guitar records and not repeat ourselves. Sure we can talk about the various fingerpicking styles, the different tunings, the long-enduring influence and lasting legacy of John Fahey, but it starts to sound routine and in a wide field of players concentrating solely on one instrument, it's not easy to keep a fresh perspective. So thank the stars that the Tompkins Square label has reissued this amazing 1970 recording from Robbie Basho because it sounds so refreshing. Basho was the least known of the Takoma label trio, John Fahey and Leo Kottke being the brighter stars. But Basho's style heavily influenced by raga modalities and Celtic melodic structures was more akin to the classical and Eastern hybrid styles of Sandy Bull and Pete Walker. Venus in Cancer is a transitional recording originally released on ABC's Blue Thumb imprint just after he left the Takoma label and before his later New Age dabbling on Windham Hill. The songs are long and flowing, spiritually imbibed (but not overtly so) with melancholic melodic structures and raga-ish tempos that occasionally burst out in song. Yes, folks, Robbie Basho sings on this one (a point other reviews we read seem to ignore). But, before you all run away into the hills, let us tell you that his voice is a) pretty great in context with what he's playing and b) it's thankfully sparse throughout the record. On one song, he does some Henry Flynt-style field hollering, on another a bit of spoken verse, and yet on another his voice recalls a slowed down Antony or John Jacob Niles. This has got to be one of the best and unusual examples of primitive guitar we have heard in a while and as you well know we have heard a lot. Plus the cover art is pretty damn rad. Highly Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Venus In Cancer"
MPEG Stream: "Song for the Queen"

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!

CARETAKER, THE Patience (After Sebald) (History Always Favors The Winners) cd 17.98
Leyland Kirby has been on a real roll lately! Not only recently releasing two of our favorite albums from last year, Eager To Tear Apart The Stars and The Caretaker's An Empty Bliss Beyond This World, but also three installments of synth and sound experiments in his Intrigue and Stuff series. And now we have this beautiful and elegiac new Caretaker recording which is a soundtrack to a new documentary by Grant Gee on the German writer, WG Sebald and the influence of his most renowned book Rings of Saturn. It's an apt fit as both Kirby and Sebald have both been concerned with themes of memory, time, loss and decay (both individually and historically) and the attempts to reconcile with them in both literary and musical terms. We got a limited amount of the now out of print vinyl of this a couple weeks ago, not nearly enough to list, and those are surely gone now, but at least now here's the cd version!
Sebald's book mixed history, travelogue, fiction and memoir into a meditative account of the personal and public histories of Suffolk. The essayistic documentary takes a similarly multi-layered and nonlinear tact by tracking the same locations and landscapes, which is greatly aided by Kirby's score, which instead of using the prewar ballroom music of his last two Caretaker albums, sources a 78 rpm recording of a song cycle by Franz Schubert from 1828 called Winterreise. One of Schubert's last compositions before his death, Winterreisse was based on the poems of Wilhelm Muller, a soldier intrigued by the miraculous and grim cycles of nature, and stands as one of Schubert's most melancholic and dark compositions. In his notes for the song cycle, Schubert describes the setting: "Early on the wanderer sings about his lost beloved. As the song cycle develops he sings of abject loneliness, longing for death, and glimpses of delusional hope." Certainly sounds about right for a Caretaker album.
In true Caretaker fashion, Kirby sources snippets of melodic piano loops and wreathes them in a sheen of murky hiss, and weaves them into repetitive sonic layers. Sometimes a snippet of vocal can be detected before being cut off when the loop restarts putting the piece in a constant flux of promise and denial. The distant resonance of romantically wistful piano reverberations culminate in a seemingly rapturous fog of rained out daydreams. While Winterreise is largely a vocal cycle, Schubert saves most of the emotional heft of the composition for the piano, using it as the voice of the poet moreso than the vocal elements. Kirby fashions his composition much the same way, filtering or burying the vocal elements until the final track, where the ghostly chorus of voices slightly slowed, comes out in full force for a deeply moving climax.
This is a gorgeous score that is beautiful on its own even removed from its source or ignorant of its inspiration, but it has also made us equally excited to see the documentary, read the book, listen to the original Schubert piece as well as read the poems that inspired them. Enthralling!
MPEG Stream: "Everything Is On The Point Of Decline"
MPEG Stream: "As If One Were Sinking Into Sand"
MPEG Stream: "Approaching The Outer Limits Of Our Solar System"
MPEG Stream: "When The Dog Days Were Drawing To An End"
MPEG Stream: "Now The Night Is Over And The Dawn Is About To Break"

GAYE, MARVIN Trouble Man OST (Motown) cd 5.98
This is not only one of our favorite blaxploitation soundtracks, it may also be one our favorite Marvin Gaye Record too (though I Want You may be a close second). While the movie itself might be rather unremarkable, the soundtrack stands apart from its more well known contemporaries, like SuperFly and Shaft by focusing less on a hard hitting urban funk grit and more on a cool detached noir vibe that somehow feels more menacing. Mostly everything is performed and arranged by Gaye, with Moog synths, piano and saxophone being the main instruments. There is of course some wah wah-ed guitar in the theme, but its low-key laid back swing seems to illustrate a more plausible reality for the title character, one of reserved violence as opposed to say, Isaac Hayes' uptempo go-get-'em macho swagger for Shaft. Still, there is plenty of urban grit. The tense set-ups of "'T' Stands for Trouble" and "The Break In", the pensive ambiance of "Deep-In-It", the love themes tinged with sadness, and the troubled vocal harmonies of "Cleo's Apartment" and "Life Is A Gamble". But the topper of them all is "'T' Plays It Cool", a stone cold groove that is deadly as it is funky. All killer, No filler! So happy it's now been reissued on vinyl - and we got the bargain-priced cd version in stock as well.
MPEG Stream: "Trouble Man"
MPEG Stream: "'T' Plays It Cool"
MPEG Stream: "'T' Stands For Trouble"
MPEG Stream: "The Break In (Police Shoot Big)"

GAYE, MARVIN Trouble Man OST (Motown) lp 12.98
This is not only one of our favorite blaxploitation soundtracks, it may also be one our favorite Marvin Gaye Record too (though I Want You may be a close second). While the movie itself might be rather unremarkable, the soundtrack stands apart from its more well known contemporaries, like SuperFly and Shaft by focusing less on a hard hitting urban funk grit and more on a cool detached noir vibe that somehow feels more menacing. Mostly everything is performed and arranged by Gaye, with Moog synths, piano and saxophone being the main instruments. There is of course some wah wah-ed guitar in the theme, but its low-key laid back swing seems to illustrate a more plausible reality for the title character, one of reserved violence as opposed to say, Isaac Hayes' uptempo go-get-'em macho swagger for Shaft. Still, there is plenty of urban grit. The tense set-ups of "'T' Stands for Trouble" and "The Break In", the pensive ambiance of "Deep-In-It", the love themes tinged with sadness, and the troubled vocal harmonies of "Cleo's Apartment" and "Life Is A Gamble". But the topper of them all is "'T' Plays It Cool", a stone cold groove that is deadly as it is funky. All killer, No filler! So happy it's now been reissued on vinyl - and we got the bargain-priced cd version in stock as well.
MPEG Stream: "Trouble Man"
MPEG Stream: "'T' Plays It Cool"
MPEG Stream: "'T' Stands For Trouble"
MPEG Stream: "The Break In (Police Shoot Big)"

GRUPPO D'IMPROVVISAZIONE NUOVA CONSONANZA Niente (Roundtable / The Omni Recording Corporation) lp 27.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
FINALLY BACK IN STOCK!! LAST COPIES!!!
The Omni Recording Corporation has been killing it lately in a string of essential vinyl reissue collaborations with the Australian Roundtable label, focusing on rare library, lounge and private press exotica. We recently listed the Orchestra Peter Thomas Orion 2000 lp of tripped out sci-fi grooves, and this week we have two extremely fine examples of Italian library music from composer Egisto Macchi and his more well known group that included Ennio Morricone, Gruppo D'Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza.
While we have always respected and revered this Italian improv collective, much of their recorded output has been on the difficult listening side of things. Skronky free jazz , metallic bangs and tings, tape noise and pounding prepared piano. Sometimes abstract, dissonant and sparse, though equally majestic, heavy and remarkable, it hasn't always been easy to get behind...until now! Finally, a lost recording from 1971 for the Gemelli Library that was never released, Niente is a mind-scorching set of avant-psych groove. While there are still qualities of their defining sound present, this set is marked most notably by a strong rhythm section that is not afraid to jam out. Reminding us of favorite records from Faust and Can, this is the GDNC at their most kraut. Both funky and proggy, we think that moden day-psych fans of bands like Wooden Shjips, 3 Leafs, Carlton Melton and The Heads should look into the weird sound world of this release and get their minds blown!
Limited to 500 copies and nearly out of print, we were lucky to get the copies we have, so don't snooze on this one!

SMOKEY EMERY Lives (Kiamesha Drive) 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.
Originally made as a tour only cd-r in 2011, the four tracks on Lives document the live sound of one of our favorite tape-drone artists as of late, Smokey Emery. Recorded on cassette and digital camera in warehouse spaces in San Francisco and Austin between 2006 and 2010, these long-form tracks take pieces made with multiple tape recorders plus the abundant room ambiance and filter them through a murky drift of concrete industrial drones, machinic whirs, woozy snippets of orchestrated music and murmured vocals. Subtle gauzy shifts in tones hint at underlying ghostly melodies, giving a glowing aura to the chill. Like a more shoe-gazing Indignant Senility, these live tracks tantalize in their blissfully gloomy gloam. Limited!
MPEG Stream: "08.06.10"
MPEG Stream: "08.05.10"

DALTON, KAREN 1966 (Delmore Recording Society) cd 16.98
No laments here about diminishing returns on archival releases, this new KD collection is a keeper! Delmore digs up another round of wonderful home recordings from one of our favorite folk singers and interpreters. Like a companion piece to their last great Karen Dalton collection, Green Rocky Road, 1966 feels more warm and intimate, focusing more on present day songs mostly from friends and then-contemporaries, Tim Hardin and Fred Neil with some jazz and traditional standards thrown in there too. While Green Rocky Road felt intimate in a sort of ghostly way, as the songs were largely British folk standards and sung with a haunting air that was beautiful yet slightly chilling in an out-of-time way. The recordings on 1966 feel more at ease, the kind that are easy to sing along with, especially Tim Hardin's songs, "Don't Make Promises" and "Reason To Believe". Not that those songs aren't without their melancholy, but perhaps it's the accompanying vocal and instrumental presence of Dalton's then partner, Richard Tucker on some of the tracks that give this set recorded by Carl Baron on his reel to reel recorder, such a naturally relaxed quality. There are also early versions of "Katie Cruel" and Neil's "Little Bit of Rain" plus a version of "God Bless The Child", that is sung like a true lullaby. Quite lovely indeed and highly recommended!
The cd comes with a booklet containing rare photos and an essay written by Ben Edmonds of Mojo. The lp comes with a 4 page heavy insert, an exclusive color portrait and a download card.
MPEG Stream: "Reason To Believe"
MPEG Stream: "Don't Make Promises"
MPEG Stream: "While You're On Your Way"
MPEG Stream: "Shiloh Town"

CACCIAPAGLIA, ROBERTO The Ann Steel Album (Half Machine) lp 17.98
It took a while for us to be able to list these - first our supplier ran out, then we got copies that were damaged, but now we've got more and we're glad to be able to review it, 'cause few records in recent memory have brought us as much unbridled joy as this one. We've heard inklings here and there about this record over the years and when we heard it was being reissued several months ago, our excitement grew with each new report. Straddling the lines between post-disco and new wave electronica without quite being either, The Ann Steel Album from 1979 is the product of avant-classical composer Roberto Cacciapaglia, a multi-instrumentalist that performed on Franco Battiato's Pollution (a unanimous aQ favorite!) and who is mostly known for composing works of progressive classical minimalism (Wah Wah recently reissued his debut Sonanze from 1975, and Sei Note in Logica from the same year as this, is also worth seeking out). But The Ann Steel Album is an entirely different animal, not only because of its skewed electronic dance-pop leanings, but because it features the beautifully strange and charming vocal presence of American model Ann Steel, who obviously is the real star of this record. She sings like a warm bodied android in clipped chirps and strange phrasings like a machine with english language programming for public interaction. Think Siri with a higher register. In the awesome opening song, "My Time", she's ready to sell you on the artificial wonders of modern society, where consciousness is akin to commodification: "My life runs smooth like a highway / Billboards show me the way" (Belgian synth trio, Telex covered this in a smoother, more well known version on their debut a year later). Every song on here fully rejoices in the positive joys of the synthetic present, making this an infectiously grooving pop art statement with any trace of irony fully camouflaged under layers of glossy surface. It's easy to tell that retro-futurist bands like Stereolab and Sweden's Komeda were influenced heavily by this record, and it fits right in with the brilliant like-minded eccentric synthesis of Bruce Haack and Giorgio Moroder. Not sold yet? Go here to see an awesome clip from Italian dance show, Tilt, from 1980 and just try and remain unconvinced that this is awesome!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu2ESLpe-rE
Thank you Half-Machine for bringing this record back to life! Might just be reissue of the year! And apologies to you non-vinyl folks as this looks like for the present to be vinyl only.
MPEG Stream: "My Time"
MPEG Stream: "Sport et Divertissement"
MPEG Stream: "Portrait"

SZABO, GABOR The Sorcerer / More Sorcery (Impulse) cd 17.98
Two electrifying live sets from 1967 by the great Hungarian born jazz guitarist mark this latest "two-fer" reissue from Impulse. Mostly taken from a live set at Boston's Jazz Workshop plus three tracks from that year's Monterey Jazz Festival, this is a great introduction to the spellbinding work of one of the finest guitarists in jazz. Often weaving intricate gypsy-folk inspired guitar lines within Western and Latin pop standards and exotic originals, Gabor Szabo brought a mystical and sometimes psychedelic feel to modern jazz. His band during this time was also top notch, featuring guitarist Jimmy Stewart, bassist Louis Kabok, either Marty Morrell or Bill Goodwin on drums and percussionist Hal Gordon. While the pop standards ("The Beat Goes On", "People", "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, plus the Brazilian tunes, "Little Boat" and "Corcovado") are still pretty good, the real strength of the material is in the originals, especially the ambient "Space", the 12 minute work out, "Los Matodoros" and one of our favorite tracks ever, the beguiling and mysterious "Mizrab". Szabo recorded several amazing albums in the sixties and seventies for Impulse, Blue Thumb, CTi and Skye, including the great Jazz Raga, that we reviewed recently, having been reissued by Light In The Attic. This latest in Impulse's reissue series, which has also included lesser known records by Pharoah Sanders, Albert Ayler, and Alice Coltrane, stands out among our favorites for sure!
MPEG Stream: "Mizrab"
MPEG Stream: "Los Matodoros"
MPEG Stream: "Space"
MPEG Stream: "Spellbinder"

PICCHIO DAL POZZO s/t (Goodfellas) cd 28.00
The prog-fiends at AQ (and everyone at AQ is a prog-fiend when it comes to Picchio Dal Pozzo) were stoked to find a new reissue had just come out of this awesome Italian prog album, and on vinyl now, too!!!
Here's what we said a while back about the previous, cd only reish:
Perhaps you're familiar with that kick ass Prog Is Not A Four Letter Word compilation? It's sure been a big seller hereabouts. One of the bands that compiler Andy Votel introduced us to via that collection was an Italian group by the name of Picchio Dal Pozzo. Their track "La Merta", in all its gently gorgeous glory of tinkling, buzzing, and wordless vocal "aaaah-aaaahhing", made us curious to hear more by them! Turns out "La Merta" was taken from this, their self-titled debut originally released in 1976 on the Grog label. And indeed it was indicative of the mellow and mysterious delights of this album, a work of cosmically spacey, jazz-inflected, psychedelic chamber-prog inspired by the Canterbury sounds of Robert Wyatt era Soft Machine (indeed, it bears a dedication to "Roberto Viatti" aka Robert Wyatt). They were probably into Terry Riley too. Yet nothing prepared us for track three, this record's ten-minute masterpiece, the suite entitled "Seppia" that freakin' blew our minds with its droning, throbbing, Magmoid, synth-sizzling heaviness. Wow! Have the Boredoms heard this?? So, a very nice record indeed, with at least one track that just takes things to another level entirely. Seriously, if you're like us you'll being playing that one over and over again. Instantly a new Italian prog fave here - half the AQ staff bought copies for themselves!
MPEG Stream: "La Merta"
MPEG Stream: "Seppia"
MPEG Stream: "La Bolla"

KEYS, CALVIN Shawn-Neeq (Black Jazz Records) lp 25.00
This classic album from 1971 has been lovingly reissued by Tompkins Square. Released originally on the LA-based Black Jazz label, Shawn-Neeq was soul-jazz guitarist Calvin Keys debut release after years being a member and session player in several famous jazz combos with the likes of Jimmy Smith, Richard "Groove" Holmes, and Jack McDuff.
Shawn-Neeq begins with the cosmic opening herald of "B.E." before launching into an understated groove backed by Fender Rhodes, bass, and flutes, some low-key horns, but the main space is left open for Key's travelling guitar lines that explore wildly while still keeping it all glued together. The title track delves into a softer focus of pretty balladry with lyrical flute and Rhodes keeping the momentum. The eight minute "Gee-Gee" brings a funkier vibe back into play and is probably our favorite track. Though it's hard to beat the closer, "B.K." which has a harder funk vibe and distorted Rhodes again that give the song a more acid-y psychedelic feel. This is an excellent slice of empowered soul jazz and we're psyched to see it available on vinyl once again! Recommended!
Calvin Keys lives in Oakland these days and we've heard he's playing out again in support of this reissue, unfortunately we missed his show at Yoshi's but hope to see him soon.
MPEG Stream: "B.E."
MPEG Stream: "Gee-Gee"
MPEG Stream: "B.K"

NECKS, THE Mindset (ReR) cd 17.98
Looking back on reviews of other Necks records, we find ourselves either struggling to describe the Necks' unique sound, or gushing uncontrollably about how goddamn great they are. More often than not, some mix of the two. And we realized that wasn't likely to change here, with the latest record from these Australian modern jazz minimalists, who do indeed have a sound that's difficult to describe, but that is precisely why they are one of our favorite bands EVER. Jazz or otherwise. And they are most definitely jazz, drums, upright bass and piano, and many jazz music tropes are present in their music, it's just that their music takes the idea of jazz, and stretches it way out, and turns it into something much more about tension (and no release), about timbre and mood... Their songs are generally 20-60 minutes long, most of their records are in fact a single track, and they slowly build a gorgeous lush jazzscape that on the surface appears jazzy, a quick glancing listen and an unsuspecting listener might think, "oh, nice, jazzy", but had they bothered to keep listening, that wasn't just a part in a song they were hearing, it WAS the song, and the Necks masterfully take that part and nurture it, from a hushed whispery skitter, occasionally to an all out roar, but just as often, just a much more dense and intense hushed whispery skitter. The three players impossibly and organically linked, sounding less like a band, and more like pure sound. Like we said, it's hard to explain. In some ways, their music sounds like it could be the result of some sort of audio manipulation, as if some audio alchemist took jazz samples and stretched and layered them into these droned out hypnotic jazz ragas, which in itself is a testament to these guys' skill.
On Mindset, the Necks offer up two 21+ minute tracks, the first might be their darkest yet, starting out immediately with some deep low end thrum, some minimal drum skitter, the band immediately locked into a dark almost dirgey groove, and when the piano comes in, it's noisy and surprisingly atonal, the pedals depressed, the tones all bleeding into each other in a thick swirling angular sonic cloud, while the bass and drums remain locked tight. The bass gradually grows more active, and more melodic, as does the piano, the sound impossibly lush and dense, sounding like a way heavier Lubomyr Melnyk, swirling flurries of notes over layered drones, the drums subtly propulsive, it almost sounds like a jazz Godspeed You Black Emperor, so epic and majestic, and darkly moving. Eventually the drums too begin to be more active, and deviate from the groove, the sound building to a cathartic climax, before jettisoning much of the jazz, and turning into a dark droned out abstract psychedelic dirge, with what sounds like effects everywhere, although we're pretty sure they don't use much in the way of effects, there even seems to be what sounds like a guitar, offering up fuzzy squalls of high end buzz, the second half doesn't sound like jazz at all, more like some heavy droney psychedelic post rock outfit. So good. One of our favorite Necks jams for sure. And definitely a good gateway for those aQ-ers who tend toward the jazz-phobic.
The second track is a lot more subdued, starting out super abstract and spacious, tinkling melodies, mysterious sound effects, minimal percussion, spacey little glitches, streaks of high end skree, it's not until 5 or 6 minutes in when the song really starts to coalesce, the bass bowed, unfurling lush slow-mo melodies, and then finally, the drums drift in, another motorik shuffle, the sound remaining ethereal and washed out, glimmery and shimmery, very cinematic too, the drums crazy busy, but still holding things down, the track growing more and more frantic, and frenzied, while on the surface, the piano remains languid and tranquil, while beneath it, the rest of the band grows more and more agitated, the sound so dark and tense, and growing ever darker, hints of funkiness are blurred into something more abstract, the groove nearly swallowed up by the bands swirling sonic churn. Maybe THIS one is one of our favorite Necks jams ever. Hell, who needs to pick? Another Necks record that will no doubt rank as one of our forever faves, and again, Mindset definitely seems like the kind of record that could very well convince some folks out there of what we already know, that the Necks are one of thee best bands out there!
MPEG Stream: "Rum Jungle"
MPEG Stream: "Daylights"

DINOSAUR L (ARTHUR RUSSELL) 24 -> 24 Music (Sleeping Bag / Traffic) 2cd box 23.00
NOW IN A DELUXE 2CD BOX!!! Real fancy, like a miniature version of the 4lp box we listed last time.
Our heads are nearly exploding from getting not only The Beach Boys Smile Sessions box in recently, but also this beautifully elaborate screen printed box set - first on vinyl, now a double cd - containing the 24->24 Music sessions of Arthur Russell's Dinosaur L project complete with remixes and extra Russell related Sleeping Bag Records singles! Both the Dinosaur L and the Beach Boys sets have more in common than you might think in the way they show what fastidious creators both Brian Wilson and Arthur Russell were, in that they both sought to take their musical visions to the limits and didn't know really when to finish. And in both cases, under different circumstances and contexts, had to have others come in and pick up the pieces.
It's really funny scanning back over all of our past Arthur Russell reviews. The first couple from 2004 suggest that a lot of people were into this, "but no one at aQ has become a big Arthur Russell fan", although since then there have been more than a few of us here who have become HUGE fans. While we admittedly have gushed over nearly every release, the Dinosaur L sessions have always been our favorite of Russell's work, probably because it is the one project that went beyond just being a singles exercise and was a true group collaboration, and it also unified his avant experimental leanings with his love for disco and extended dance forms.
Not to be confused with Dinosaur, the single project that Russell worked on with The Gallery's Nicky Siano and David Byrne for Sire Records in 1978 (the single, "Kiss Me, Again" was Sire's first disco single release!). Dinosaur L was born of a performance at the Kitchen in 1979 where Russell compiled a band of downtown regulars including Peter Gordon and Peter Zummo with a congo player and a drummer with Russell on cello, and presented orchestrated disco music as an avant classical performance. The move was a bold and calculated political statement, thumbing their noses at the snobby attitudes of the new music scene towards club music, to which Russell claimed no such hierarchical distinctions. But the performance created strong divides in the downtown scene even though they were largely more bemused bafflement than outright hostility. Emboldened by the reaction, Russell next step was to get these performances on tape, using most of the same musicians and enlisting vocalists like Jill Kroesen, Julius Eastman, and Marie-Chantal Martin, as well as various members of little-known New York new wave and punk bands. While the original performance project allowed the musicians to work freely and expansively, the overall music was highly composed, which adds a strange element of chance to the proceedings, allowing the pieces to include many deliberately wonky and unpredictable twists and turns. The vocals adding both a disaffected no-waveish delivery from Jill Kroesen on "#5 (Go Bang!)", as well as strange operatic fits on "#3 (In the Corn Belt)" and Yoko Ono-ish yelps on "#1 (You've Gotta Be Clean On Your Bean)", make this the perfect punk and disco hybrid that delivers highly on both counts. The entire original project consisted of 4 extended cuts with two shorter interludes, the last song, "#6 (Get Set)", going the deepest in to no-wave guitar territory but maintaining a forward thrusting momentum through its strange and beguiling devolution.
You probably wouldn't unleash such a leftfield dance classic like "#5 (Go Bang!)" on an unprepared dance audience unless you had the timing exactly right, with the crowd all extremely revved up and sweaty. We imagine that was the thinking when stalwart downtown DJs like Larry Levan, Francis Kevorkian and Walter Gibbons each took their editing chops to the Dinosaur L sessions and made them a bit more dance-floor friendly. Stripping out certain vocal parts, adding others, allowing tension to build up and release, each producer taking a different approach to Russell's maximalst visions with the composer's full approval. Russell thought the remix process was just another form of extended creation, and while he favored some remixes over others, he was very generous in handing his creations over to the club DJs he was affiliated with for further manipulation. Included in the set are 3 remixes of "Go Bang!" which are all highly different and all very worthy. The Francis Kevorkian mix is probably our favorite, taking a dub like approach with a tight focus on the rhythms yet utilizing dream-like atmospherics. There are also two Larry Levan remixes from other Dinosaur L sessions. The second disc is devoted to various Sleeping Bag Records singles from Russell related projects like Felix ("Tiger Stripes"!), Indian Ocean, The Sounds of JHS 126, and Bonzo Goes To Washington.
Packaged in a deluxe screenprinted box with each cd housed in a hand-pulled screen printed mat sleeve, and a book with liner notes, production information and testimonials from all the musicians and Djs involved. So unbelievably fantastic!
We still have a couple of copies of the 4lp box here. The real way it was meant to be experienced!
MPEG Stream: "#5 (Go Bang!)"
MPEG Stream: "#3 (In the Corn Belt)"
MPEG Stream: "Go Bang! (Francis K mix)"
MPEG Stream: "Go Bang! (Walter Gibbons Mix)"
MPEG Stream: "In The Corn Belt (Larry Levan Mix)"
MPEG Stream: "5 Minutes (B-B-B Boming Mix)"
MPEG Stream: "You Can't Hold Me Down (Extended Version)"

BLUES CONTROL & LARAAJI FRKWYS Vol.8 (RVNG International) cd 14.98
When this latest Frkwys collaboration was first announced between New York psych rockers Blues Control and experimental new age composer, Laraaji (Edward Larry Gordon), we were curious as to what this would sound like. But ever since we got it in the store, it's fast becoming our favorite pairing in the series, which is no small feat, since we absolutely adored the Arp & Anthony Moore collaboration as well as the Juliana Barwick & Ikue Mori release. Blues Control has toned down their usual rollicking psych kraut chug, and instead create four long-form interconnecting pieces with tempered down cosmic guitar and electronic atmospheric manipulations, while Laraaji plays treated zither and African string instruments over them. Building from quiet oceanic ambiance to slowly evolving cosmically focused and tripped out deep spiritual meditations which feature choral and resonant vocal accompaniment provided by Laraaji. On the third song, "City of Love", a percussive momentum with a heavier guitar drone foundation briefly intensifies, while clouds of kora, kalimba and mouth harp vibrational tones bounce back and forth across the aural field to gently lilting psychedelic effect. For late night devotional listening for any fan of modern day psych and new age, this is simply stunning!!
MPEG Stream: "Awakening Day"
MPEG Stream: "Light Ships"

BOGNER, URSULA Sonne = Black Box (Faitiche) lp 17.98
Several years ago, we made the first archival release from housewife turned experimental electronic musician Ursula Bogner our Record Of The Week, even knowing full well, that there probably is no Ursula Bogner. On the surface it definitely seemed like the find of a lifetime. The story involved someone's casual interaction with a man on a plane, discovering that this man was the son of a virtually unheard experimental electronic musician, a mom and pharmacist, who had built a recording studio in their home, and who had recorded for twenty years, those recordings proving to be impossibly prescient, the sort of sounds that would stand up to similar recordings at the time by Delia Derbyshire and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. That initial release was filled with all manner of documentation, photos, notes, like we said, it seemed like the real deal. But it also seemed like an ingeniously perpetrated hoax. The man in question who supposedly ran into Bogner's son on a plane, was none other than Jan Jelinek, whose music is not all that dissimilar to Bogner's. Perhaps we're just the suspicious types, but there seems to be little or no information about Bogner, other than that provided by the label, which could just speak to her absolute obscurity, but could also speak to the fact that it's all a put on. To be honest, we want to believe it. How cool is that story? But that said, as we mentioned in the review of that first release, if it IS a hoax, we like it even more. So meticulously planned, photos, hand written notes, then the musicÉ Similar to those funereal violin cds we carried a while back (that guy not only recorded all the cds, he also wrote a whole book about the history of funereal violin!), it would require a whole other level of creativity, but enough about all that, it is ultimately about the music, as much as we love the story, true or not, and like the first record, this is another fantastic collection of 'early' primitive recordings, these newly unearthed tapes featuring a focus on the voice, which was not present before, and our first actual exposure to the voice of Bogner, who supposedly passed away in 1994. Opening with piano and vox, the sound fluctuates as the tape speed falters, the sound is murky and definitely sounds old, plenty of spaced out effects, female voices processed into mysterious melodies, percolating rhythms, primitive and very low fidelity. Some of the tracks feature kitschy sounding organs and snippets of looped pop music, but they are transformed into cool sixties style tape music, occasionally lush and lovely, other timeshaunting and austere, there's one track in particular which finds Bogner reciting numbers over a backdrop of hiss and static and blurred melody, that most definitely is a nod, intentional or not, to the perennial aQ fave The Conet Project.
As with the other record, there are expertly penned liner notes, translations of original texts that Bogner wrote to accompany the pieces (especially the boxed cd version which features a massive 100+ page book of liner notes and artwork), all very cryptic and Eno-esque, tons of photos, of installations, of the reel of tape these tracks were discovered on as well as Bogner herself (again, especially in the book that accompanies the cd!). Very recommended of course, for fans of vintage sixties experimental music, of Jan Jelinek, and of impeccably crafted musical hoaxes.
MPEG Stream: "Sonne = Black Box"
MPEG Stream: "Jubilaux"
MPEG Stream: "Nach Europa"
MPEG Stream: "Trabant"

BOGNER, URSULA Sonne = Black Box (Faitiche) cd + book 42.00
Several years ago, we made the first archival release from housewife turned experimental electronic musician Ursula Bogner our Record Of The Week, even knowing full well, that there probably is no Ursula Bogner. On the surface it definitely seemed like the find of a lifetime. The story involved someone's casual interaction with a man on a plane, discovering that this man was the son of a virtually unheard experimental electronic musician, a mom and pharmacist, who had built a recording studio in their home, and who had recorded for twenty years, those recordings proving to be impossibly prescient, the sort of sounds that would stand up to similar recordings at the time by Delia Derbyshire and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. That initial release was filled with all manner of documentation, photos, notes, like we said, it seemed like the real deal. But it also seemed like an ingeniously perpetrated hoax. The man in question who supposedly ran into Bogner's son on a plane, was none other than Jan Jelinek, whose music is not all that dissimilar to Bogner's. Perhaps we're just the suspicious types, but there seems to be little or no information about Bogner, other than that provided by the label, which could just speak to her absolute obscurity, but could also speak to the fact that it's all a put on. To be honest, we want to believe it. How cool is that story? But that said, as we mentioned in the review of that first release, if it IS a hoax, we like it even more. So meticulously planned, photos, hand written notes, then the musicÉ Similar to those funereal violin cds we carried a while back (that guy not only recorded all the cds, he also wrote a whole book about the history of funereal violin!), it would require a whole other level of creativity, but enough about all that, it is ultimately about the music, as much as we love the story, true or not, and like the first record, this is another fantastic collection of 'early' primitive recordings, these newly unearthed tapes featuring a focus on the voice, which was not present before, and our first actual exposure to the voice of Bogner, who supposedly passed away in 1994. Opening with piano and vox, the sound fluctuates as the tape speed falters, the sound is murky and definitely sounds old, plenty of spaced out effects, female voices processed into mysterious melodies, percolating rhythms, primitive and very low fidelity. Some of the tracks feature kitschy sounding organs and snippets of looped pop music, but they are transformed into cool sixties style tape music, occasionally lush and lovely, other timeshaunting and austere, there's one track in particular which finds Bogner reciting numbers over a backdrop of hiss and static and blurred melody, that most definitely is a nod, intentional or not, to the perennial aQ fave The Conet Project.
As with the other record, there are expertly penned liner notes, translations of original texts that Bogner wrote to accompany the pieces (especially the boxed cd version which features a massive 100+ page book of liner notes and artwork), all very cryptic and Eno-esque, tons of photos, of installations, of the reel of tape these tracks were discovered on as well as Bogner herself (again, especially in the book that accompanies the cd!). Very recommended of course, for fans of vintage sixties experimental music, of Jan Jelinek, and of impeccably crafted musical hoaxes.
MPEG Stream: "Sonne = Black Box"
MPEG Stream: "Jubilaux"
MPEG Stream: "Nach Europa"
MPEG Stream: "Trabant"

BEACH BOYS, THE Smile Sessions (Capitol) 2cd 37.00
The newly released, highly anticipated Smile Sessions are finally here and it's been an occasion for all sorts of debate and nerd-ery among us. First off, some of us have been obsessed with the record for years, having acquired various bootlegs, the recent Brian Wilson re-do, as well as tracing the seeds of the Smile sessions throughout the trajectory of the later Beach Boys records (which are some of our favorites). While our bootleg versions always had the main song cycle separated from the various shorter interludes and segues that connected them, the Brian Wilson re-do saw the potential of what could have been, yet it still felt like a cover version of what was supposed to be the real thing.
Now what the Smile Sessions tries to do, and for the most part succeeds in doing, is taking the blueprint Wilson made with the re-do and marrying the songs and interludes into a solid dazzling whole. The flow of what is understood as the proper album has never sounded better with the rich harmonic vocals, symphonic arrangements and beautifully antiquarian lyricism provided by Van Dyke Parks combined in elaborately layered arrays of epiphanal pop orchestration. It also adds a disc and a half of bonus material, session segments, and stereo mixes of various tracks and interludes left off the main album, which is where the debate among us begins. Scott appreciates the bonus material but really wishes (and this goes for most reissues with bonus material) that they isolated the whole of the album to one disc, so that you really get a sense of the proper album's completion. Starting multiple alternate versions of "Heroes and Villains" (whose lyrical motif is repeated in various forms throughout the record) shortly after "Good Vibrations" ends, mimics the sensation we imagine Brian Wilson probably felt in realizing he couldn't finish the project because it kept endlessly replaying in his head. Andee thinks that the bonus material is the real gold here and just wants to get the elaborate 5 cd/2lp/2x7" version just to geek out on endless takes of "Good Vibrations" and all the rehearsals and studio chatter (and he also thinks that Scott should just learn how to use the stop button on his cd player.). Allan doesn't understand the "lost record" appeal of it all. "What was wrong with Smiley Smile?" Oh, Allan.
We're sure plenty of folks will be having their own geeky debates. For instance, why isn't "Cool, Cool Water" included in the main song cycle like it was in the bootlegs, and in Brian Wilson's version (renamed and rewritten as "Blue Hawaii")? Instead it's relegated to the bonus material. But really that's all music geek piffle to be argued and discussed in some other forum. For the most part, the main album is put together quite faithfully to Wilson's vision and it sounds amazing!. We're used to the sometimes slightly abrupt transitions that have long become a part of the record's charm and the result is still quite incredible and kaleidoscopic. No matter our particular desires of how we would try to put this together, it's still quite a remarkable feat. We still wonder if Wilson finished and released this as it was meant to be in 1967, would we still care so much about it? That's for another debate. Still for those obsessed as we are or even for the newly curious this comes Highly Recommended!!!!!
The two cd version comes housed in a box with a 36 page booklet, liner notes by Brian Wilson, a 15" x 20" poster and a button!
While the 5cd+2lp+2x7" box comes housed in a 3D version of Frank Holmes illustrated storefront cover. 4 and a half discs of bonus material including a disc each of the "Heroes and Villains" and "Good Vibrations sessions alone. The 2lps have the album proper as well as a side of extra bonus material and two 7"s with the 2 parts of "Heroes and Villains" on one and "Vege-Tables" / "Surf's Up" on the other. Plus a 60 page case bound book, liner notes by Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine and Bruce Johnston and a 24" x 36" poster. Wow!!!
MPEG Stream: "Cabin Essence"
MPEG Stream: "Surf's Up"
MPEG Stream: "Child Is The Father of The Man"
MPEG Stream: "The Elements: Fire (Mrs O'Leary's Cow)"
MPEG Stream: "Look (Song For Children)"
MPEG Stream: "Smile Backing Vocals Montage"
MPEG Stream: "Cool Cool Water (Version 2)"

DINOSAUR L (ARTHUR RUSSELL) 24 -> 24 Music (Sleeping Bag Recordings / Traffic Entertainment Group ) 4lp 64.00
Our heads are nearly exploding from getting not only The Beach Boys Smile Sessions box, but also this beautifully elaborate quadruple lp, in a hand pulled screen printed box set containing the 24->24 Music sessions of Arthur Russell's Dinosaur L project complete with remixes and extra Russell related Sleeping Bag Records singles! Both sets have more in common than you might think in the way they show what fastidious creators both Brian Wilson and Arthur Russell were, in that they both sought to take their musical visions to the limits and didn't know really when to finish. And in both cases, under different circumstances and contexts, had to have others come in and pick up the pieces.
It's really funny scanning back over all of our past Arthur Russell reviews. The first couple from 2004 suggest that a lot of people were into this, "but no one at aQ has become a big Arthur Russell fan", although since then there have been more than a few of us here who have become HUGE fans. While we admittedly have gushed over nearly every release, the Dinosaur L sessions have always been our favorite of Russell's work, probably because it is the one project that went beyond just being a singles project and it also unified his avant experimental leanings with his love for disco and extended dance forms.
Not to be confused with Dinosaur, the single project that Russell worked on with The Gallery's Nicky Siano and David Byrne for Sire Records in 1978 (the single, "Kiss Me, Again" was Sire's first disco single release!). Dinosaur L was born of a performance at the Kitchen in 1979 where Russell compiled a band of downtown regulars including Peter Gordon and Peter Zummo with a congo player and a drummer with Russell on cello, and presented orchestrated disco music as an avant classical performance. The move was a bold and calculated political statement, thumbing their noses at the snobby attitudes of the new music scene towards club music, to which Russell claimed no such hierarchical distinctions. But the performance created strong divides in the downtown scene even though they were largely more bemused bafflement than outright hostility. Emboldened by the reaction, Russell next step was to get these performances on tape, using most of the same musicians and enlisting vocalists like Jill Kroesen, Julius Eastman, and Marie-Chantal Martin, as well as various members of little-known New York new wave and punk bands. While the original performance project allowed the musicians to work freely and expansively, the overall music was highly composed, which adds a strange element of chance to the proceedings, allowing the pieces to include many deliberately wonky and unpredictable twists and turns. The vocals adding both a disaffected no-waveish delivery from Jill Kroesen on "#5 (Go Bang!)", as well as strange operatic fits on "#3 (In the Corn Belt)" and Yoko Ono-ish yelps on "#1 (You've Gotta Be Clean On Your Bean)", make this the perfect punk and disco hybrid that delivers highly on both counts. The entire original project consisted of 4 extended cuts with two shorter interludes, the last song, "#6 (Get Set)", going the deepest in to no-wave guitar territory but maintaining a forward thrusting momentum through its strange and beguiling devolution.
You probably wouldn't unleash such a leftfield dance classic like "#5 (Go Bang!)" on an unprepared dance audience unless you had the timing exactly right, with the crowd all extremely revved up and sweaty. We imagine that was the thinking when stalwart downtown DJs like Larry Levan, Francis Kevorkian and Walter Gibbons each took their editing chops to the Dinosaur L sessions and made them a bit more dance-floor friendly. Stripping out certain vocal parts, adding others, allowing tension to build up and release, each producer taking a different approach to Russell's maximalst visions with the composer's full approval. Russell thought the remix process was just another form of extended creation, and while he favored some remixes over others, he was very generous in handing his creations over to the club DJs he was affiliated with for further manipulation. Included in the set are 3 remixes of "Go Bang!" which are all highly different and all very worthy. The Francis Kevorkian mix is probably our favorite, taking a dub like approach with a tight focus on the rhythms yet utilizing dream-like atmospherics. There are also two Larry Levan remixes from other Dinosaur L sessions. The last three sides are devoted to various Sleeping Bag Records singles from Russell related projects like Felix ("Tiger Stripes"!), Indian Ocean, The Sounds of JHS 126, and Bonzo Goes To Washington.
Packaged in a deluxe screenprinted box with each record housed in a hand-pulled screen printed mat sleeve, and a 20 page booklet with liner notes, production information and testimonials from all the musicians and Djs involved. So unbelievably fantastic!
MPEG Stream: "#5 (Go Bang!)"
MPEG Stream: "#3 (In the Corn Belt)"
MPEG Stream: "Go Bang! (Francis K mix)"
MPEG Stream: "Go Bang! (Walter Gibbons Mix)"
MPEG Stream: "In The Corn Belt (Larry Levan Mix)"
MPEG Stream: "5 Minutes (B-B-B Boming Mix)"
MPEG Stream: "You Can't Hold Me Down (Extended Version)"

MCDANIELS, EUGENE Headless Heroes Of The Apocalypse (Atlantic) lp 14.98
An off-kilter hard-hitting soul masterpiece, Headless Heroes Of The Apocalypse was the cap to a strange topsy turvy career. Starting off in the early sixties with suave soul-pop hits like "A Hundred Pounds of Clay" and "Tower of Strength", McDaniels became more successful as a song-writer than a singer, with his songs taking on a more conscious and political vibe. While he did write the RnB hit, "Feel Like Making Love" for Roberta Flack, he also wrote the heavy groover, "Compared To What" for Les McCann and Eddie Harris which became a hit for the black protest movement. Signing to the Atlantic Label in the seventies, McDaniels' recorded two of the perhaps most uncompromising political soul records, Outlaw in 1970 and Headless Heroes in 1971. Of the two, Headless Heroes is the one we keep coming back to, because what makes it most unique is its unusual form. Combining elements of jazz, funk, and rare groove, with some acid-psych and folk thrown into the mix, the result is a heady and allegorical rallying cry against social injustice through a veil of nightmarish imagery and narcotic sounds. While not a hit upon its initial release, it has grown in influence over the years especially in the nineties, when much of this record was sampled in hip-hop circles. Much tougher in form than similarly themed records by Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield, McDaniels' records were harder to market because of their rather scathing views of powerless humanity on the brink of depravity. This is really what's going on!
MPEG Stream: "Jagger The Dagger"
MPEG Stream: "Supermarket Blues"

SLEEP OVER Forever (Hippos In Tanks) lp 16.98
Finally, we got enough of these to list, the darkly dreamy lp debut of Stefanie Franciotti's hazy and gauzy solo outfit, Sleep Over. A new light in the field of female-led synthesization, a la Laurel Halo and Maria Minerva, Sleep Over is a stunning mix of Grouper's washed out and oceanic distortion, Cocteau Twins-ish pop romanticism and uncanny gothic dream soundtrack. We've been fans of Franciotti since her days as singer in aQ faves, Silver Pines, but in Sleep Over she has found her true calling as an experimental sound composer, synthesizing voice and sound in chillingly bright sonic environments and ambient textures. Gorgeous!
MPEG Stream: "Romantic Streams"
MPEG Stream: "Casual Diamond"
MPEG Stream: "Cryingame"

HOLLIS, MARK s/t (Ba Da Bing) lp 15.98
Along with Laughing Stock, the final Talk Talk album from 1991, Ba Da Bing has also reissued on vinyl this breathless 1998 solo album from Talk Talk frontman, Mark Hollis. While most folks thought that Laughing Stock was perhaps the ultimate understatement from a band that went from bright Euro-pop sensations to clandestine and worried experimental minimalists, Mark Hollis' solo album (and perhaps final statement?) has taken that tendency even further. Severely recorded at hushed volumes, the songs were born out of months of improvisation with jazz and chamber orchestra musicians and then excruciatingly labored over and crafted into discreet compositions. Every lyric coming from Hollis's milky voice feels almost too painful to rise above a murmur, but exudes a powerful complexity that is not freely offered. This is a very tender and moving record that begs for close listening. Like Laughing Stock, it continues to amaze upon repeated listens to those who have the disposition to absorb its bracing spareness. It's not a light album by any means, but its emotional weight is secretive and uncompromising, begging us to focus on the subtle beauty of the rich muted atmospherics that barely cover deeper wounds. A rainy day record if there ever was one!
MPEG Stream: "The Colour Of Spring"
MPEG Stream: "Watershed"

TALK TALK Laughing Stock (Ba Da Bing) lp 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
While virtually ignored upon its release in 1991, this continuingly influential album continues to elicit marvel from music lovers of all stripes. The final album from Talk Talk, the once New Romantic Euro-popsters turned introspective chamber minimalists, pretty much foreshadowed most post-rock music that would follow throughout the rest of the decade, especially with groups like Low and Movietone, but you can also hear the nascent strains of Tortoise and Labradford in there too. At the time, there was nothing at all remotely like this (and there really still isn't!), and though it didn't completely come out of the blue for the band (both Colour Of Spring and especially Spirit Of Eden clearly displayed minimalist leanings far away from the Euro-pop of their beginnings), Laughing Stock is a culmination of the reductivist sound the band through the tireless vision of its leader, Mark Hollis, had been striving for. Both Laughing Stock and Hollis' self-titled solo album from 1998 have been given the vinyl reissue treatment (first time ever on wax domestically) by the fine folks at Ba Da Bing. And since Laughing Stock is essentially a Mark Hollis solo album with a group of friends and session players, both records are more like essential companion pieces of measured and restrained beauty than any of the previous Talk Talk material would have been.
Said to have been inspired by Can and John Coltrane, though not sounding much like either of them, Laughing Stock instead trades on those artist's methodologies of musical structure, incorporating delicate textures and nuanced atmospheres into hushed but dynamically attuned elegiac compositions. The songs are stripped of excess, but are stylistically complex, mining elements of jazz and chamber music in finely-tuned and polished layers that build up slowly, with no verse-chorus-verse type of considerations or big overt payoffs. This is music that requires patience to appreciate but offers many rewards over repeated listens. A "long-tail" classic, this is one of our favorite late night listens. Completely and unabashedly essential!
MPEG Stream: "Ascension Day"
MPEG Stream: "After The Flood"

MICHAEL VINER'S INCREDIBLE BONGO BAND Bongo Rock (MGM/Pride) lp 12.98
Let There Be Drums! Whoo, cool to have this old fave reissued on vinyl! Especially with previous anthologies on Strut and Mr. Bongo now out of print, original lps of course also being hard to come by...
What the heck was the Incredible Bongo Band, you might ask, and what was so Incredible about it? Well, just listen to the soundclips of "Apache" and "Last Bongo In Belgium", we bet you'll recognize 'em. The Incredible Bongo Band are one of those almost anonymous groups who in fact contributed quite a bit to hiphop and dance culture, with many of their breaks being sampled literally HUNDREDS of times. In fact, it can be argued that IBB cut the "original breakbeats"! Kinda funny to realize that they were in fact Hollywood-based studio session players, led by producer Michael Viner (responsible for several Sammy Davis, Jr. hits), who came together to record chase music for the Ray Milland/Rosey Grier horror flick "The Thing With Two Heads" - and ended up putting out records now revered the world over by the hiphop/DJ community. Their debut "Bongo Rock" 7" sold over two million copies in 1972; that is, apparently after they pulled the cover that showed how white they were and replaced it with a closeup of racially unidentifiable hands playing bongos. During the course of their career, supposedly such big names as John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Harry Nilsson, and Glen Campbell all dropped by to play a little.
The band's main bongo player Jim Gordon (who co-wrote "Layla") later went cuckoo and killed his mom, but despite that tragic association, the IBB's music is super fun, and more than a little kitschy, good not only for DJ sampling purposes but also enjoyable groovy listening on its own. The 8 tracks on this reish of their 1973 full-length include both funky originals, and equally bongo-riffic cover versions, like the aforementioned surf classic "Apache", also Iron Butterfly's heavy psych epic "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida", believe it or not (lotsa room for a bongo workout in that one). And who can forget "Duelling Bongos"?
MPEG Stream: "Apache"
MPEG Stream: "Last Bongo In Belgium"
MPEG Stream: "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida"

FAHEY, JOHN Your Past Comes Back To Haunt You: The Fonotone Years (1958-1965) (Dust-To-Digital / Revenant) 5cd + book box 87.00
Young fans of John Fahey who may have thought it all began with Blind Joe Death and the Takoma label will be in hidden treasure heaven with this incredible 5cd box set of Fahey's earliest recorded output for Joe Bussard's Fonotone label, the very last 78 rpm record label. Seasoned fans who may have long tired of seeking out these rarer than rare "cut-on-demand" releases can breathe a sigh of relief that these recordings made between 1958-1965 have been lovingly archived with a big beautiful 88 page book filled with liner notes, extensive histories, anecdotes, indexes, track-by-track commentary, photographs, and production information by Fahey follower Glenn Jones, who has worked for years on this project with a host of contributors. Here are 115 tracks, most of which are on cd for the first time.
It's hard to quantify how many of the originals were made, because Fonotone was a cut on demand mailorder label, meaning someone would have to order the title and the records would be hand cut (not pressed like they are today) from the master tape. Since each one was cut in real time, there were often slight discrepancies in the speed of the record, making each one a unique individual object. While Bussard claims he sold a lot of Fahey's records during his 14 year label lifespan, Jones was never sure if that meant 50 copies or one hundred or more, but given the scarcity of them in the collector resale market, Jones surmises that they might not have been more than 5 complete sets made. So there is a lot of gold to be discovered here. While some of the tracks are early recordings of Fahey Takoma-era classics like "Transcendental Waterfall" and "In Christ, There Is No East or West", there are a myriad of recordings attributed to Blind Thomas, one of Fahey's lost bluesman alter-egos, but unlike his more well-known alter-ego Blind Joe Death, Blind Thomas sang in a gruff world-weary manner, which we'll leave it up to the listener to decide if that is a good or bad thing. Our favorites are a few lovely collaborative tracks with flautist Nancy Maclean and folksinger Fran Vandiver, as well as a long beautiful instrumental track played with Indian instruments ("Western Medley").
But there is so much to pore over and obsess about here that any review we can write can hardly contain our enthusiasm and amazement over such a huge and immersive labor of love. Another score for Dust-To-Digital!!!
(Who, by the way, also just brought out an amazing 4cd boxed collection of vintage African 78s called Opika Pende that is equally impressive and can be found elsewhere on the aQ site)
MPEG Stream: "Buck Dancer's Choice 1"
MPEG Stream: "Green River Blues (as Blind Thomas)"
MPEG Stream: "Wissenschaftlich River Blues Part 2 (as Blind Thomas)"
MPEG Stream: "Revelations On The Banks Of The Pawtuxent"
MPEG Stream: "Dreaming Under the B&O Trestle (w/ Nancy Maclean)"
MPEG Stream: "Take This Hammer (w/ Fran Vandiver)"
MPEG Stream: "Portland Cement Factory"
MPEG Stream: "I Am a Rake and Rambling Boy"
MPEG Stream: "Western Medley"

BUDD, HAROLD In The Mist (Darla Records) cd 17.98
Forget about the Pop Ambient series, and other modern dreamy music makers, when it comes to simply stunning, calming and beautiful sounds it just doesn't get better than Harold Budd. Now 75 years old, and showing no signs of losing his immaculate touch, In The Mist is quickly becoming one of our favorite Budd records ever. This is how we like his music the best, just Budd and a piano, so stripped down and minimal, yet able to conjure up such a majestic and otherworldly soundworld. Slowly drifting and gliding with an ease and emotional warmth that allows you to tune out the noise of the outside world and return to a place of peaceful surrender. What makes Budd's music so special is that in any other hands the sounds would just be pleasant but not much more, but Budd has this amazing knack for masterful phrasing that injects soft melancholy and real bliss into his compositions.
It makes such great sense that in so many ways Harold Budd is an artist's music maker. We know so many great visual artists who play Budd's music in their studio as it really does give you a clean slate to work from, erasing the clutter and annoyances of everyday life and softly guiding you into places that are filled with spirit and soul. Beyond beautiful!
MPEG Stream: "The Foundry (For Mika Vainio)"
MPEG Stream: "Greek George"
MPEG Stream: "Haru Spring"
MPEG Stream: "The Art Of Mirrors (After Derek Jarman)"

PUTHLI, ASHA s/t (CBS) lp 12.98
Indian-born singer Asha Puthli has had a crazy life. Raised with European and Indian classical traditions in Bombay, she always had a penchant for western popular music and started vocally improvising with Indian Jazz bands, which got her attention in western jazz circles. After making it over to the US on a Martha Graham dance scholarship, she was sought out by record executives and found random vocal session work. She cut a few tracks with Ornette Coleman on his Science Fiction lp and sang nearly naked for Peter Iver's Blue's Band. While she wasn't huge in America, she found an audience in Europe. Her bold sexuality and stunning vocal performances made her gravitate towards glam and in 1973 CBS released this solo debut produced by Del Newman who oversaw Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. Making fresh use of songwriters of the day, John Lennon, Bill Withers, and especially J.J. Cale, Puthli's debut is a beautiful array of glittery soul and spacious rare groove. Her vocal range can navigate high peaks as well as the deepest valleys, especially in the opener, "Right Down Here", which is pretty much worth the price of admission alone. A startling funky take on the J.J. Cale classic, we first heard this years ago on a mysterious mixtape made by local soul record collector shop, The Groove Merchant (we also discovered Betty Davis on that same tape), and it's been one of our favorites ever since. She went on to make other incredible records, especially The Devil is Loose, which is a proto-space-disco masterpiece. But her debut is less disco, although not any less unusual or unique. Sensual, soulful and kind of strange!
MPEG Stream: "Right Down Here"
MPEG Stream: "Lies"

VILLALOBOS, RICARDO / MAX LODERBAUER Re: ECM (ECM) 2cd 36.00
We've long been fans of minimal techno maven Ricardo Villalobos, his records spare and skeletal, rhythmic and repetitive, the sort of electronic music we find utterly mesmerizing and totally irresistible. In addition to that, Villalobos does not shy away from strange sonic experiments, and is thus no stranger to odd samples, considering he made a whole record out of sounds borrowed from French prog legends Magma, so this new record really shouldn't have been that much of a surprise, nor should we have been surprised by just HOW great it turned out, but it was, and we were, which should speak to just how incredible this strange sonic experiment truly is. Villalobos teamed up with Max Loderbauer and created this sprawling double disc which is essentially a minimal techno mash up of modern classical and European jazz, with all the sounds culled from various releases on the legendary ECM label, which include, most excitingly for us, Arvo Part, but also loads of ECM stalwarts like Bennie Maupin, Paul Giger, John Abercrombie, Christian Wallumrod, Alexander Knaifel, Miroslav Vitous, Louis Sclavis, Wolfert Brederode, Enrico Rava, Stefano Bollani and Paul Motian. Never heard of any/most of those, it hardly matters, as the duo of Villalobos and Loderbauer stretch out the sounds of the originals into spare rhythmic minimalism, looping and layering, adding subtle bits of rumble and crunch, deep pulses and abstract shimmer, fields of glitch and muted crunch, but to our ears, it sounds like very little was added to the mix, and much of the magic came from deftly manipulating the originals. The techno element is really negligible here, the sound is much more abstract avant jazz, or hushed minimal drift, in fact, the sound is so unique it's quite difficult to really describe simply. The sound actually reminds us quite a bit of Aussie free jazz minimalists The Necks, the same sort of subtle shifting sonic palette and the gradual evolution of sound. Opener "Reblop" is a hushed super spare bit of solo piano, wreathed in clouds of occasional cymbal shimmer, and some melodic harp, the notes on the piano wreathed in reverb, the cymbal shimmer strangely distorted, the wide open spaces peppered with soft synthy streaks and bloopy squelches, which often mirror the melody, it's really strangely pretty, but also subtly alien. "Recat" is about as close as things here get to techno, which is not that close, but the original brushed snare rhythm is looped into a clipped minimal electronic flecked skitter, that rhythm delicately processed and gradually transformed while all around it pianos and strings unfurl melodies that become gnarled and softly distorted into new shapes, the result a sort of warped lo-fi kraut-jazz. "Resvete" is super spare and spaced out, cymbal shimmer and angelic female vocals, Villalobos and Loderbauer's contributions so subtle, that barring a few glitchy bits, it's difficult to tell how different this version is than the original, quite we're guessing, but it's so deftly transformed, that it's not hard to imagine this as just some strange slab of experimental European jazz. And the tracks that sample Arvo Part, manage to make magical music even moreso, taking Part's lush liturgical drift and making it even more washed out and ethereal, mysterious and dreamlike.
One of our favorite tracks is "Reannounce", which is very tribal, almost African sounding, hypnotic rhythms, and processed chant like vocals, underpinned by some throat singing like buzz, and some wild almost free sounding percussion, "Recurrence" too with its lazy drumming, and slo-mo late night smokey slowed down jazz feel, the whir of the trumpet buzz turned into a muted drone, the sound almost like the music is melting. "Rebird" finds the duo building what sounds like an imagined field recording, underscored by delicate, slightly warped piano, and a barely there rhythm, while "Retikhiy" sounds like some sort of alien world music, or some reimagined forest folk transformed into looped electronic minimalism. We could really go track by track, every song here is mysterious and magical, the rare sort of record that transcends it's genre, it's hard imagine anyone into adventurous music not loving this. It's jazz, it's classical, it's electronic, it's plunderphonics, but it's also none of those, the sound truly more than its constituent parts. The extensive liner notes go into great detail about the creation of this collection of songs, explaining that the duo did not have access to the original tracks, so had to use the records themselves, and thus chose tracks where rhythms and instruments were isolated in the composition, in addition, gaps and pauses and record noise, as well as the natural room sound were also sound sources, with much of this improvised live, with the intention of "combining the functionality of reduced electronic structures with the living textures of ECM productions", with the most important thing being "to harmonize these two worlds, without them aspiring to mutually deactivate each other, to keep both - the organic and the electronic - in balance." So great, definite contender for record of the year, jazz, electronic, classical or otherwise!
MPEG Stream: "Reannounce"
MPEG Stream: "Reblop"
MPEG Stream: "Recat"
MPEG Stream: "Recurrence"

KLEYN, CAROL Love Has Made Me Stronger (Drag City) lp 17.98
Before there was Joanna Newsom, there was Carol Kleyn, a young hippie spirit with an ethereal songbird voice who wrote rapturous paeans to love and nature on her harp. So it makes sense then that Newsom's label, Drag City, would reissue this lovely private press recording from 1976. Studying at the University of Santa Barbara, Kleyn befriended Bobby Brown (the instrument builder who recorded the amazing old aQ fave The Enlightening Beam of Axonda) and she assisted him with his constructions and live performances. He gifted her the harp, and she began to learn to play and write her own songs, eventually opening for Gregg Allman. Instead of waiting to get a record deal, she decided to make a record on her own and released it on her own label. She recorded two other lps soon after, before devoting herself full time to her family.
Love has Made Me Stronger divides its compositions between harp and electric piano. Her tone is bright and the songs exude a sunny yet eccentric warm energy. Similar to the beautiful Collie Ryan and Connie Converse reissues we listed a while back, Carol Kleyn's debut is a much-needed positive ray of sunshine in these dark days.
MPEG Stream: "Baby Come Close"
MPEG Stream: "Street Song"
MPEG Stream: "Oo Like The Mountain"
MPEG Stream: "You Know I Love You"

SUN ARAW Ancient Romans (Sun Ark Records) cd 14.98
For all the deserved attention and press the whole Los Angeles musical underground has been receiving in the last couple years, we still think that Sun Araw, aka Cameron Stallones, is perhaps the most unique musical visionary to come out of that scene. Beyond being so prolific, the quality of his proper records just gets increasingly better and better. On Patrol was one of our favorite albums of 2010, and with Ancient Romans, Sun Araw continues to move forward from that dubbed out blueprint and expand on what has become one of the most singular sounds of any new band of the last decade.
The moment the album starts, you immediately understand that you are at the beginning of a ceremony, some sort of stange sonic ritual, which requires the listener to open up to completely, wholly trusting in these sounds to carry you away. With dirty, hypnotic organs for the opening tones, setting the stage for the textured and layered dubbed out trip that will unfold over the next 80 minutes. More then almost any band we can think of, Sun Araw is a master of creating a unified vibe. The tracks on Ancient Romans just melt in and out of each other, you lose track of what song is playing, and instead just get lost deep in the fuzzed out grooves, and tripped out meditations. It's hard to explain when music feels this spiritual, it's just something you feel and trust. And with Sun Araw we get that feeling so intensely. It places you in some dusty, archaic temple that we could imagine was transported directly from Jodorowsky's Holy Mountain. Once inside the temple, you forget about the trivial details of the everyday, and instead leave your body and find yourself somewhere mystical, magical and totally transcendent. This is going to be a contender for record of the year!
MPEG Stream: "Lucretius"
MPEG Stream: "Fit For Caesar"
MPEG Stream: "Crete"

DATE PALMS Honey Devash (Mexican Summer) lp 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The Date Palms debut lp on Root Strata, Of Psalms (now sadly out of print) was one of our standout favorite records from last year. A blissful combo of Eastern drone classicism and hypnotic psych fluidity. Now the core Oakland-based duo of Gregg Kowalsky and Marielle Jakobsons follow their debut up with this stunning, no doubt limited, vinyl-only release on Mexican Summer (which comes with a download card).
Composed of two side-loooooong tracks, the structure of Honey Devash is set up in the form of two ragas as their basic foundation but open wide enough to allow a number of key compositional elements to play through. The title track is the morning raga stirring softly at first with slowly energizing phase shifts and bowed violin drones setting up the mood before the heavy bass riff bursts forth into a forward moving momentum aided by percussive elements and all sorts of sonic layering: oscillating bloops, arc-ing violin loops and modal electric piano phrases. Slowly-burning upward toward a white hot light, the gorgeously smoldering momentum breaks off into a purifying hypnotic cosmic bliss punctuated by spacy violin figures before a long slow fade.
The second side track, "Honey Dune" is the evening raga and it cools down with a wide drifting expansiveness lke the end of a long desert heat just before twilight. The mood is less propulsive, more contemplative but beautifully rich with added instrumentation of bass clarinet, tampura and cascading piano motifs. Melodically pretty and explorative, the track gives ample room for each instrument to stretch out and play yet remain tethered to a unifying whole by the grounation vibes of Trevor Montgomery's basslines.
Like some heady hybrid of spiritual Eastern jazz and rockish psych extrapolation, fans of Bruce Palmer, Dadawah, L. Shankar, Brightblack Morning Light, and Spacemen 3 should definitely scoop this up.
This is the perfect soundtrack for hot desert nights, staring at the stars. Sooooooo gooooooood!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AHMED, MAHMOUD Jeguol Naw Betwa (Mississippi) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
**MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT** **MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT** **MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT**
You'll want to pay attention to this one, because this rare Mahmoud Ahmed, originally self-released in 1978, has never been reissued before in any form, cd or lp, and it's a KILLER! Recorded with The Ibex band forming funky circular rhythms of bass, guitars, horns, organ, and percussion around Ahmed's soulful and sultry vocals, the songs are upbeat yet heady, hypnotic and serpentine in a way that only Ethio-jazz can be. We've long been fans of Mahmoud Ahmed, waxing rapturously about his many contributions to the long-running Ethiopiques series and we've covered plenty of his back story in past reviews. But just when we thought his entire back catalog must have already been made available, turns out there are apparently new treasures to be found and this record is certainly worthy of that esteem. An awesome find that is truly magical and beguiling. Don't sleep on this one! Highest Recommendation!

MORRICONE, ENNIO Days Of Heaven (OST) (Film Score Monthly) 2cd 23.00
Arguably director Terence Malick's best film, Days of Heaven from 1978, is an incredibly rich and atmospheric period piece starring Richard Gere, Brook Adams, Sam Shepard and the always amazing '70s cult child actress, Linda Manz (Out of The Blue, The Wanderers). Like the dusty, brooding, moodiness of a Faulkner novel, the story centers on the complicated triad relationship of a young migrating farmhand couple posing as brother and sister (Bill and Abby played by Gere and Adams) and the rich dying farmer (Shepard) they work for who has taken a fancy to Abby. Seeking opportunity, Bill convinces Abby to marry the farmer to reap the benefits of the dying man's will, but not everything goes as planned...
It is said that Malick abandoned his script during the middle of filming to force the actors to "seek out the plot" on their own, through their characters. This gives the film a dreamy circuitous quality that unfolds slowly but naturally. Though the incredible cinematography of the vast Texas prairie and the period atmospherics are engaging enough to watch without the need to be driven by a central storyline. Truly a cinematic masterpiece, it took Malick 20 years before he could make another film.
One of the first big scores of his Hollywood period, Ennio Morricone, delivers a beautiful cinematic score largely based on Saint-Saen's Aquarium sequence from The Carnival of The Animals (the go-to classical piece to depict an alluring, but ominous wonderment), which is also included here. Largely parlor music pieces of haunting piano, harpsichords and strings that eventually swell into larger orchestrations as the drama unfolds: devastation of crops by swarming locusts, a barn fire, a young couple's desperation to either speed up their plans or lose their relationship forever. Also features pieces by Leo Kottke and Doug Kershaw as well as an excerpt from Linda Manz's keen-eyed narration.
This is a special 2 disc set that features the full soundtrack on disc one and the various film cues used in the picture on disc 2. Highly Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "We Used To Do Things"
MPEG Stream: "Harvest"
MPEG Stream: "On The Road"
MPEG Stream: "The Locusts and The Fire"
MPEG Stream: "Ghost Voices"

PLUMMER, BILL & THE COSMIC BROTHERHOOD s/t (Impulse / Get Down) cd 16.98
From the depths of the Impulse label's more "psychsploitaton" side of jazz comes this exotic East-meets-West rarity from 1968. And if you dug Gabor Szabo's Jazz Raga, any of the John Berberian electric oud albums, the Indo-jazz of Joe Harriott, or the even more authentically "Indo" Indo-jazz of T.K. Ramamoorthy recently reissued by EM, this will be right up your alley.
You might have second thoughts seeing the buttoned-down suit and tie wearing bass player Plummer seemingly taking the piss out of the sitar jazz craze of the mid-to-late Sixties, but this record's musical qualities far outweigh any trendy novelty or gimmicks. The opening track, "Journey to The East", is a groovy pop number with spoken singing (the only track with vocals) but the flute, tabla and sitar interplay is pretty far out. Things get further out on the sinewy free jazz of "Arc 294" and the quiet intensity of "Antares". Even covers like "The Look of Love" and The Byrds' "Lady Friend" have charms beyond what those songs normally have to offer. A cultish obscurity for years, it's awesome to see this one-off album reissued again!
MPEG Stream: "Journey To The East"
MPEG Stream: "Arc 294"
MPEG Stream: "Antares"

PURE X Pleasure (Acephale / Light Lodge) lp 25.00
Now on vinyl!
After a long string of now out of print 7" singles, cassettes, 12" eps, and a name change from what was Pure Ecstasy, The Austin, TX trio Pure X finally deliver their debut full length, aptly titled Pleasure. In previous reviews we recommended all the hip boutique labels such as Woodsist, Captured Tracks, Sacred Bones, Mexican Summer that were signing all the real good lo-fi murk-pop bands to sign these guys quick. But true to their nature, the band stayed loyal and stuck with the local Austin labels Light Lodge and Acephale who released their previous singles as well as releases by connected bands in their circle, Silver Pines, Sleep Over and Survive. That was a smart move, because instead of feeling pressure to polish their songs with better recording equipment or add more complicated arrangements, the band was really able to stretch out their already established dreamy and hazy pop sound. Pleasure does see some of the songs from their 7"s, such as "Dream Over", "Voices", and "Easy", re-recorded, but not necessarily all that different, perhaps with a new layer of hazy feedback and slo-mo guitar fuzz, as these songs were all recorded live with no overdubs. A bold move for sure, but Pure X has long nailed their economic sound into something so wonderfully self-sufficient and unique. And besides those 7"s are so far out of print, that most folks are lucky to get any versions of these songs at all. Imagine Friends-era Beach Boys way slowed down to a molasses pace with crashing lo-fi waves of shoe-gaze guitar strums, buttery rhythms and space walking basslines with sleepy but impassioned vocals. Pleasure is a beautifully dirty dream-pop heaven! Highly Recommended! Limited Vinyl edition with heavy vinyl and foil embossed cover hence the hefty price!
MPEG Stream: "Heavy Air"
MPEG Stream: "Dream Over"
MPEG Stream: "Surface"

SHUSHA Shusha / This Is The Day (BGO) cd 9.98
If Googoosh and Shirley Collins were somehow melded together into one incredible singer, you would have Shusha. Shusha was a Persian singer from the early seventies most famous for her debut album, Persian Love Songs and Mystical Chants from 1971. But her love of music extended beyond her native Iran towards the British folk of Shirley Collins and Sandy Denny and the American protest music of Dylan and Joan Baez. That is what inspired her on these two 1974 recordings, Shusha and This Is The Day. Reissued together for a very affordable price, these two albums of chamber folk-rock divide time between English-sung originals, covers and reworkings of traditional British songs and poems. No native songs here, the only inkling that we're given that Shusha is not English born is her woozy phrasing on some of the American covers such as Dylan's "Knocking on Heaven's Door" and the Elvis Presley social ballad, "In The Ghetto". But her singing really becomes transcendent on the British traditional material, where her range is allowed to soar around the song structures rather than being confined by them. This is an incredible discovery of two rare recordings by this amazing singer. Fans of Bridget St. John, Vashti Bunyan, and Joan Baez take note!
MPEG Stream: "Ariel"
MPEG Stream: "Wind of Keltia"
MPEG Stream: "South of The Great Sea"
MPEG Stream: "Bye Bye Johnny"

TANGERINE DREAM Ultima Thule: The Electronic Magic Of Tangerine Dream (Landmark) 2cd 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Fewer things could bring more delight for us kraut and space prog heads than a 2cd anthology of Tangerine Dream rarities compiled by Edgar Froese, and for such an affordable price! Froese, the one mainstay of the band through 13 different lineups (the band including in their ranks at one time both Conrad Schnitzler and Klaus Schulze), has provided a compelling overview of the musical evolution of the band from their psychedelic roots to their later period as electronic film score stalwarts and everywhere in between.
The double disc set begins way back before TD, with their 1967 pre-incarnation 7" single as The Ones, a band more rooted in the sixties psychedelic rock of Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead than the spacey sounds they embraced later on. But the real highlight of this set is the inclusion of TD's rare first 7" single from 1971, "Ultima Thule", an epic two part space rock excursion that begins in stratospheric Hawkwind territory in part one, but in part two takes a Magma like instrumental prog trajectory, that prefigures the minimal electronic direction the band would take through records like Electronic Meditation, Zeit and Alpha Centauri. The rest of disc one explores these sci-fi themed gaseous realms of gorgeous brooding ambience.
Disc two covers the bands' later, mostly early eighties output, which saw the band more as composers of action film music with a definte increase in rhythms and sequencers, but still with a spacey electronic edge. While John Carpenter may get all the credit as progenitor of all the latter day eighties arpeggiated synth worshippers like Jonas Reinhardt, Majeure, James Ferraro, and Umberto, Tangerine Dream was equally influential in this regard. A lot of the later period Tangerine Dream output can be sometimes cheesy, but the careful curation of this compilation shows there were also plenty of gems as well. This may prove to rethink the general attitude that TD had completely lost the plot, when they started turning to film score commissions, and rhythmic dance music in the eighties and nineties.
With one or two exceptions, most of this music here, as far as we can tell, has not been released on any of their major records, but there is little information to tell if these tracks ever saw proper release at all. So this is a very worthy exploration for the newly curious as well as for seasoned fans. Highly Recommended!!!!
MPEG Stream: "Ultima Thule (part 1)"
MPEG Stream: "Sunset in the Fifth System"
MPEG Stream: "Mysterious Semblance at the Strand of Nightmare"
MPEG Stream: "Exit To Heaven"
MPEG Stream: "Rare Bird"

COLTRANE, ALICE Universal Consciousness / Lord of Lords (Impulse) cd 16.98
For all their majestic beauty, it can sometimes be forgotten that some of Alice Coltrane's greatest records posses an intensity and power that most noise bands these days only wish they could achieve. We can't tell you how happy we are that Impulse has reissued two of her most overlooked, and jaw dropping albums, Universal Consciousness and Lord Of Lords.
Here's what we said about these two records (now on one disc together) when we reviewed them on their own years back.
Universal Consciousness: Wow. Of the many recent Alice Coltrane reissues, we have to say this might be the best one yet. Recorded in 1971, the record swells with beauty and emotion. It is serene and drone-y, a state of suspended bliss and yearning that is colored with propulsive drumming courtesy Rashied Ali and Jack DeJohnette, tensely high-pitched violin from Joan Kalisch, shimmering bells, and of course Alice's manic improv on the harp and ocean-lulling notes on the organ.
This record is so incredibly unbelievably beautiful, there's not a track that fails to attain superlative heights. Fans of modern experimental work like Vibracathedral Orchestra and Sunroof! should also definitely check this out.
Lord Of Lords: An incredibly spiritual album by Alice Coltrane from 1972. Her music reaches some of the most "Godly" moments on here, aptly named Lord of Lords. Highlights are her excerpt of Stravinsky's "Firebird" which she performed after a "ghostly visitation" by Stravinsky who offered Coltrane musical and spiritual advice and blessings, and her orchestral version of the gospel spiritual "Going Home". Further proof that Alice Coltrane was an artist who transcended genre, while we file her in jazz for convenience, she really was also a 20th century composer, a spiritual conjurer of musical magic!
MPEG Stream: "Universal Consciousness"
MPEG Stream: "Excerpts from The Firebird"
MPEG Stream: "Sita Ram"
MPEG Stream: "Going Home"

SANDERS, PHAROAH Village of The Pharoahs / Wisdom Through Music (Impulse) cd 16.98
We have a trifecta of free jazz "twofers" this week from way deep down in the Impulse catalog. Check out the reviews elsewhere on the list for Alice Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders. While the Coltrane features two of our favorite titles from her, the Ayler and Sanders releases are from albums we're less familiar with, or at least hadn't reviewed before, but have been psyched to (re-)discover. While perhaps not the best place to be introduced to these artists, these records reward those seekers of the overlooked deep cuts without the hefty collector/import price!
Village of The Pharoahs is from 1974, and while that may be a late year for most cosmically-minded free jazz (most jazz at the time was hurtling towards fusion), this record does not disappoint. Fans of classic Sanders records like Thembi and Karma will find lots to love in the opening three part title suite. Sitars, piano, clattering percussion, and chanting vocals evoke a majestic marching groove rife with drama as soon as Sanders comes in with his elliptical eastern horn phrases, culminating later in a hypnotic three part tribal chant breakdown. Deeper spiritual vocalising permeates the short track, "Myth" as well, before building onto the long-form piano-led meditation "Mansion Worlds". The final two tracks, "Memories of Lee Morgan" and "Went Like It Came" venture more into Blute Note territory as he eulogizes the late trumpeter with a wistful pastoral piece that also includes flute and piano, then ends the album with a kind of rollicking skronky blues bop with a soulful female vocalist.
That last track would probably read as a bit out of place on the album proper, but paired up with 1972's Wisdom Through Music, that kind of hard stylistic change-up is a perfect segue into one of Sander's more diverse outings. Opening with the energetic "High Life", Sanders channels the exuberant vibe of percussive African horn music followed by the celebratory and soulful "Love Is Everywhere". The title track that follows brings us back into cosmic mode with harp trills, tampura, and majestic waves of droning reeds, followed by the lyrical string excursion of "The Golden Lamp" and the final long-form vocal incantation, "Selflessness". Quite Stunning!
MPEG Stream: "Village of The Pharoahs Part One"
MPEG Stream: "Memories of Lee Morgan"
MPEG Stream: "Wisdom Through Music"
MPEG Stream: "Selflessness"

KHAN, KHANSAHIB ABDUL KARIM s/t (Mississippi) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We usually start reviews of records released on Mississippi Records with a blaring announcement that looks a little like this:
**MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT** **MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT** **MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT**
Cuz we know there are plenty of folks out there, that like us, are crazy obsessed with that label, and will buy ANYthing and EVERYthing they release. And we imagine those folks will no doubt buy this one as well, but for the folks who might not be quite so Mississippi obsessed, or who might have gotten in the habit of seeing that announcement and skipping on by, we didn't want anyone to miss out on this one, because this record just might be the one to suck you in and MAKE you that obsessed. Sure it's yet another incredible unearthed gem from the crazy music obsessives who run the impeccable Mississippi Records label, and as we hinted at above, pretty much everything they release is worth checking out, and yeah, they're all special in their own way, there's a bunch of others on this very list, but this one, this one is something else altogether, a collection of 78s from legendary Indian classical vocalist Khansahib Abdul Karim Khan, dense, lush, emotional and spiritual ragas, haunting and mystical and completely gorgeous. A huge influence of legendary minimalist composer La Monte Young, in fact the liner notes offer up a quote from Young that basically says it all: "When I first heard the recordings of Abdul Karim Khan I thought that perhaps it would be best if I gave up singing, got a cabin up in the mountains, stocked it with a record player and recordings of Abdul Karim Khan, and just listened for the rest of my life."
We can definitely understand his feelings, this is the sort of music, so powerful and so passionate, that it definitely puts most 'singers' to shame. The instrumentation is very traditional classical Indian, but it's the vocals that drive these songs, the instruments way down in the mix, Khan's gorgeous vocals soaring and dramatic, haunting and moving and utterly breathtaking. We've seen descriptions of these recordings as being "not easy listening, but ultimately very rewarding", and while we definitely agree with the second half of the statement, these sounds while complex and totally unlike most of the other music you've heard, are not at all difficult to listen to, just the opposite, after just a few seconds, you'll be whisked away, totally transported, as the sounds surround you, and seep into your spirit and soul. The music here so utterly transcendent, so lush, warm and welcoming, yet at the same time, so strange and wondrous, Khan's voice sounding like its bathed in divine light.
Khansahib Abdul Karim Khan truly was a sonic shaman for the ages, delivering these divine musical messages to us, his willing supplicants. Incredible.
Packaged in super thick full color old school tip-on jackets, with a big booklet packed with liner notes and photos.
MPEG Stream: "Pyare Nazar Nahin - Bilawal"
MPEG Stream: "Phagwa Brij Dekhanako - Basant Khayal Jalad Tritaal"
MPEG Stream: "Jamuna Ke Teer - Bhairavi Thumri"
MPEG Stream: "Jadu Bhareli Kaun - Gara Thumri"

PURE X Pleasure (Acephale / Light Lodge) cd 14.98
After a long string of now out of print 7" singles, cassettes, 12" eps, and a name change from what was Pure Ecstasy, The Austin, TX trio Pure X finally deliver their debut full length, aptly titled Pleasure. In previous reviews we recommended all the hip boutique labels such as Woodsist, Captured Tracks, Sacred Bones, Mexican Summer that were signing all the real good lo-fi murk-pop bands to sign these guys quick. But true to their nature, the band stayed loyal and stuck with the local Austin labels Light Lodge and Acephale who released their previous singles as well as releases by connected bands in their circle, Silver Pines, Sleep Over and Survive. That was a smart move, because instead of feeling pressure to polish their songs with better recording equipment or add more complicated arrangements, the band was really able to stretch out their already established dreamy and hazy pop sound. Pleasure does see some of the songs from their 7"s, such as "Dream Over", "Voices", and "Easy", re-recorded, but not necessarily all that different, perhaps with a new layer of hazy feedback and slo-mo guitar fuzz, as these songs were all recorded live with no overdubs. A bold move for sure, but Pure X has long nailed their economic sound into something so wonderfully self-sufficient and unique. And besides those 7"s are so far out of print, that most folks are lucky to get any versions of these songs at all. Imagine Friends-era Beach Boys way slowed down to a molasses pace with crashing lo-fi waves of shoe-gaze guitar strums, buttery rhythms and space walking basslines with sleepy but impassioned vocals. Pleasure is a beautifully dirty dream-pop heaven! Highly Recommended! Vinyl to follow next month, fyi.
MPEG Stream: "Heavy Air"
MPEG Stream: "Dream Over"
MPEG Stream: "Surface"

TONES ON TAIL Weird Pop (Beggars Banquet / Beggars Archive) 2lp 22.00
With all the Cold Wave and Minimal Synth reissues from the late seventies and early eighties coming back into fashion, we knew it wouldn't be long before we'd see some goth, industrial and deathrock bands from that period being re-issued as well. Tones On Tail weren't all that obscure, coming out of the ashes of Bauhaus who disbanded in 1983, but they were very short-lived, only lasting about a year before Daniel Ash and Kevin Haskins reunited with Bauhaus bandmate, David J to become Love and Rockets in 1984. However, Tones On Tail produced an exceptional amount of material over one lp and numerous eps and singles. While best remembered for their club hit, "Go!", their output covered a range of gothic styles from gloomy pop to dark jazz, but always with an ear towards strong songwriting and evocative atmospherics. And we always liked them a bit more than Bauhaus anyway!
Weird Pop is a new double vinyl collection that covers most of the same ground as the older 2cd collection, Everything, with a few previously unreleased alternate versions of songs like the full original version of "Performance", the studio version of "Heartbreak Hotel", the single edit of "Go!" and the extended version of "Twist". But unless you want these tracks on vinyl, or you are a completist collector, you might not need this if you already have the Everything collection (which is also available to order from our website) as that features more tracks (24 tracks vs. 19 tracks on the vinyl). Nonetheless, it's always great to see one of our favorite bands get some more much-deserved attention!
MPEG Stream: "Lions"
MPEG Stream: "Movement of Fear"
MPEG Stream: "Rain"
MPEG Stream: "OK, This Is The Pops"
MPEG Stream: "You, The Night and The Music"
MPEG Stream: "When You're Smiling"

WOLFLI, ADOLF The Heavenly Ladder: Analysis of The Musical Cryptograms (as intepreted by Baudouin de Jaer) (Sub Rosa) book + cd 32.00
Adolf Wolfli (1864-1930) has long been one of our favorite artists. An incredible touchstone of what has been called Art Brut or more commonly Outsider Art, Wolfli created an epic body of work while suffering from psychosis (and resulting hallucinations) and confined in isolation at the Waldau Clinic in Bern, Switzerland for the latter half of his life. Working with loaned pencils and newsprint and other materials that he would have to scrounge from his surroundings, Wolfli developed an amazing kaleidoscopic cosmology of vast complexity featuring colorful angelic orders, dynamic structural compositions and weaving motifs of idiosyncratic musical passages. Some of these exist as free drawings, but most (1600 of them!) were illustrations for a semi-autobiographical epic that eventually expanded into 45 volumes of over 25,000 pages. The musical notes, starting out as decorative motifs at first begin to take on more significance as he developed his epic book, especially in the last two volumes where he outlines his musical theories, favoring marches, waltzes and mazurkas for their rhythmic quality, as a means (to put it very simply) of some form of spiritual self-transformation. It has remained unclear if Wolfli had musical training or if he transcribed the scores from found sources, but he often would write out the scores and play them on a paper trumpet he made.
Which brings us to the purpose of this book and cd. There already exists a history of analyses of Wolfli's musical scores to see if they actually can be performed. Recordings have been made including one by Graeme Revell with the help of Nurse With Wound in the late Eighties, but many of these were largely interpretive and subjective, adding ambient impressions largely based on the visual aspects of the artworks as well.
For this particular analysis, Belgian composer and violinist, Baudouin de Jaer, who didn't have previous exposure to Wolfli's work, sticks to a more empirical approach to the scores. Limiting himself to solo violin with mute, de Jaer attempts to decipher what he sees as cryptograms (Wolfli made the scores with six lines staves instead of the traditional 5 lines and didn't connect the notes horizontally, suggesting alternate meanings), and forms his own detailed hypotheses in the book about how Wolfli put the musical forms together (mostly believed to be copied from a book of marches for 4 handed piano). Musically, the 32 pieces are very short and spare (about a minute or less with the longest clocking in at about 3 minutes). But de Jaer does a lot with little, often using the side of the violin for percussive rumbles or rubbing the strings for bird-like chirps, the music has an off-kilter fanfare feel to it that follows logically from Wolfli's divine cosmological visions. The book is about 25 pages with full color illustrations and text in French and English and with the cd, offers a fresh new insight into this complex artist's work that will be of interest to old and new fans alike!
MPEG Stream: "The Swan/ Pandulen=Wasser=Faii"
MPEG Stream: "Island Neveranger"
MPEG Stream: "March"
MPEG Stream: "Le Cours D'eau"
MPEG Stream: "Juno, die Gottin der Neger"

WELCH, GILLIAN The Harrow & The Harvest (Acony) cd 16.98
Geez, has it really been 8 years since Gillian Welch last captivated us with a new album? It's hard to believe we've gone on all this time without her darkly bittersweet country-folk songs applying a soothing balm to our troubled souls. But her return to recording couldn't have had better timing as her music, so rooted in Depression-era bluegrass and early country styles, gels so well with our currently dire economic times, offering a gothic and desperate vision of heartbreak, loss and courage that is instantly relatable, yet makes us feel less vulnerable to the harsh cruelties of living that her protagonists endure.
Besides the long gap in time, not much has changed in Welch's (and her musical partner David Rawlings) sound or approach and that is just fine! Keeping the arrangements as stark as ever, there is only acoustic guitar, banjo, harmonicas and some hand and knee slaps along with the couple's peerless vocal harmonies as they waver between fatalistic folk songs, gospel-tinged bluegrass, and murder ballads. This is one of Welch's best records in a discography that has never wavered far from stunning. And speaking of stunning, the cover designed by Baroness singer, John Dyer Baizley is a beautifully unique letterpress print on thick handmade paper stock. A video of how the cover was made can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_Mz_imdISk.
Of course long-time fans will want to scoop this up, but if you are new to Welch's haunting and harrowing voice and vision, The Harrow and The Harvest is a good place to start. It's definitely as good as if not better than Time (the Revelator) and Hell Among The Yearlings (our other two favorites of hers), making this absolutely essential!!
MPEG Stream: "The Way It Goes"
MPEG Stream: "Silver Dagger"
MPEG Stream: "The Way The Whole Thing Ends"

MULLER, JURGEN Science Of The Sea (Digitalis) lp 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Final pressing!! It's taken a long while to get enough of these in stock to list, as they've flown out the door since we started stocking it back in June, and then our distributors kept being sold out of it. Makes a lot of sense that folks have been freaking out over this, as the sounds on Science Of The Sea are some of the most blissed out sounds we've ever heard.
Originally recorded in 1982 (there is debate over that, we will get to that later) by an oceanographer in Germany while living on a houseboat. The sounds on the album undoubtedly talk to the sounds and feeling of the sea. You not only feel like your floating but often that you are underwater yourself. With soft waves glowing in their ripple, as such warm shimmering sounds come gliding out of the grooves of this record. Imagine the right kind of new age bliss injected into the most pastoral & ethereal side of kosmiche glory and you begin to get a picture of what kind of beautiful sounds are found on this album.
While some doubt has been risen as to whether this really is a reissue of some obscure private press from 1982, or in fact the work of a modern artists, perhaps even Brad Rose, the man behind Digitalis. But who knows, and in the end who really cares, as its the music that matters, and the music on this album is beyond gorgeous!

THESE TRAILS s/t (Drag City) cd 14.98
We reviewed a previous, long out of print reissue of this, way back in 1999, saying simply and succinctly (as we did back then, we're more long winded now):
Outstanding psychedelic folk rarity with delicate female vocals, from Hawaiian trio circa 1973. There's just enough tabla, slide guitar, and Arp synthesizer to give it an 'edge.'
We further cited it as being one of then AQ-owner Windy's new favorites.
Well, These Trails apparently have fans over at Drag City too, 'cause they've just reissued it, on cd and vinyl, and we're glad to have this old fave back! These gentle, melodic songs are alternately sunny, sprightly and delightful, or moody and mellow, a bit country-twangy and tropical too, this album overall having a wonderful hippy Hawaiian vibe to it... As mentioned above, some strangely buzzing, burbling synth alongside the acoustic guitars and dulcimer gives the proceedings a darker, mystical feel much of the time, with tracks like the droning, melancholy "Hello Lou" being among our favorites. The vintage electronics, in combination with the lovely harmonized vocals, do definitely put this into a very special category of its own, even among all the privately pressed, mysterious one-album-ever gems out there, from the dusty past.
Definitely for fans of Linda Perhacs, also perhaps imagine '70 UK folksters Trees on a Hawaiian vacation, on the beach at sunset, with a synth plugged in somewhere.
Perfect time to have this reissued, with the ongoing acid folk and New Age revival, lots of folks haven't heard this before and are gonna LOVE it. We should have had it on our Summer Special last inbetween list, come to think of it. So check it out, and hang loose, very loose, with These Trails.
Maybe Drag City will reissue The Enlightening Beam of Axonda, next...?
By the way, amazing that These Trails somehow anticipated the internet, by writing a song here called "Of Broken Links"... haha.
MPEG Stream: "Of Broken Links"
MPEG Stream: "Hello Lou"
MPEG Stream: "Sowed A Seed"

PANTS, JAMES s/t (Stones Throw) cd 15.98
James Pants last record, Seven Seals was a favorite for some of us here and while we thought he was going to venture into some far-off new territory with this follow-up full length, we were pleasantly surprised, though a bit perplexed, that he didn't. The songs still ride the gloomy new wave funk of Seven Seals, but it comes across as something you'd hear from the Captured Tracks label more than a Stones Throw release. The feel is less cosmically thematic and instead concentrates on truly well-crafted songs and catchy pop hooks among the murky lo-fi synth filtration. He has mentioned in interviews that he was inspired by Twin Peaks and '50s diner sounds, and there is definitely a creepy retro edge to even the most poppy songs, with elements of dubby ambiance and occasionally ethereal vocals provided by Lucrecia Dalt. But the more we listen to this, the more we're liking it even more than the last record. Its haunting pop-funk transmissions take time to weave their spell, but once transfixed, it's hard to pull away!
MPEG Stream: "Beta"
MPEG Stream: "Every Night I Dream"
MPEG Stream: "Screams Of Passion"
MPEG Stream: "Incantation"

SUMAC, YMA Voice Of The Xtabay (The Right Stuff) cd 12.98
A few weeks ago, we listed Yma Sumac's last commercial effort, the incredibly awesome and strange lounge-rock hybrid from 1971, Miracles. So we thought this week we should balance that with her first major label release, the stunning proto-exotica of Voice of The Xtabay from 1950. Recorded with Les Baxter a full two years before his Ritual of The Savage album (which is widely considered to be the cornerstone release of the lounge exotica trend with many tiki bars and hula dance lessons to follow in its wake), Voice of the Xtabay still has an air of being somewhat authentic sounding, namely due to the otherworldly quality of Sumac's four and a half octave vocal range and her incredibly striking beauty that made it easily believable that she was actually descended from a true Inca princess (whether that was true or not has always been debated throughout her life and career and still persists after her death). A lush Technicolor fantasy of erupting volcanoes, chanting virgin maidens and jungle animal sounds, gorgeously orchestrated, Voice of The Xtabay is truly a unique record. The cd also features all the tracks from her Inca Taqui record from 1953 with her husband Moises Vivanco taking over the composer duties. Transcendent!
MPEG Stream: "Virgin of The Sun God"
MPEG Stream: "Chant of The Chosen Maidens"
MPEG Stream: "The Forest Creatures"

JULY s/t (Guerssen) lp 31.00
This all time aQ favorite is now available on vinyl!
July is one of a myriad of UK psych bands to come out of the paisley maelstrom of the post-Sgt. Pepper's London psych scene in the late sixties. One who would still remain a minor footnote if they had never made this brilliant and amazing debut album. It's a highly collectible psych artifact for good reason. It's awesome!!! We've been playing it nearly non-stop since we got it, and it's pretty much an across the board store favorite.
Starting out years earlier as the Tomcats (amongst many other line-up changes and band names that defined the hectic scene back in the day) and influenced by the same wave of American RnB that bands like the Stones and Spencer Davis Group were, they soon realized the London scene was too crowded for them and headed off to the France and Spain for a couple of years to tighten their chops. When they came back in 1968, the sound and scene had changed once again from RnB to full on flowery acid-psych. Armed with good songs and well-rehearsed from touring, they quickly snagged a record deal and used the studio to augment their songs with all manner of gimmickry such as phasing, delays and tape-loops and far-out instrumentation of sitars, tablas, and African percussion.
The band quickly cut one of the finest examples of acid-y psych pop to come out of the era, an engaging mix of lysergic dreaminess and lo-fi garage rock urgency. The only thing was, none of the members really liked the result (unlike us). Certain choices like the "ugly" cover art and band name (changed to July to coincide with the album's release?!) were taken out of the band's control, and some members felt the studio gimmickry being used was far too gimmicky. At the time when so many bands like The Pretty Things, Pink Floyd, and Kaleidoscope were making stronger inroads with the psych sound and scene, July couldn't figure out what it should do with itself, and cutting only one more single (featured here among the bonus tracks), called it a day. Tragic! Listening to this today, you can hear its influence through bands like Olivia Tremor Control, early Guided By Voices, and Jennifer Gentle. If you have loved UK pop-psych albums such as Tangerine Dream by Kaleidoscope, S.F. Sorrow by The Pretty Things, and Pink Floyd's Pipers at The Gates of Dawn, July's self-titled debut will be one more jewel in that acid pop crown. So totally recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Jolly Mary"
MPEG Stream: "I See"
MPEG Stream: "Friendly Man"

V/A Fairlights Mallets And Bamboo (Tsukiji) cd-r 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We can't remember the last time a compilation so captivated everybody here, but this collection is really something else. A gorgeously compiled cd-r of tracks sourced from Japanese lps circa the years 1980-1986, featuring at least a few names we'd heard, like Yellow Magic Orchestra, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Inoyamo Land, but so so many we hadn't: Mkwaju Ensemble, Yasuaki Shimizu, Seigen Ono, Masahide Sakuma, Geinoh Yamashirogumi, Danceries, Dip In the Pool, we could go on, but we're guessing these are all new to you too. It's a single 74 minute continuous mix, that slips dreamily from synth and percussion minimalism, to mysterious electronic laced rhythms, from new agey krautrock to dreamy clouds of percussive melodies, from playful childlike toy piano melodies to synthy sci-fi drones, haunting electronic flecked Asian ballads to fluttery flute folk, from mesmerizing vibraphone melodies underpinned by haunting drones to loping jazzy almost prog, from hazy washed out kosmische electronics to lush layered chorales and on and on and on.
The tracks are so perfectly combined, and so seamlessly mixed, it almost sounds like it could be the coolest, weirdest record ever by some impossibly brilliant single artist, who somehow crafted one epic sprawling sonic exploration, a series of sounds that manage to be at once warm and familiar, yet also strange and mysterious, strange looped birdsong lays atop distant choir like vocals, and a strangely mechanical rhythm peppered with strange symphonic bursts melts into soaring strings, chamber music devolves into some fantastically dada-ish assemblage of voices and sound effects, thick sitar like buzz underpins deep foghorn like melodies, the vibe strangely melancholic, deep, dense new age swirls hover above a super minimal dripping faucet rhythm, warm, muted melodies unfurl over distant bells and deep reverberating tones, vibraphone melodies are layered atop a groovy, almost jazzy rhythm, and a mournful brass melody before gradually disappearing in a washed out woozy sonic hazeÉ
So fantastic, and so cheap too! Besides being just about the best mix/comp/collection we've heard in forever, odds are it'll have you trying to track down records by all the artists, which is always the sign of a good mix. The entire list of artists (some with more than one track): Yellow Magic Orchestra, Haruomi Hosono, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Mkwaju Ensemble, Mariah, Yasuaki Shimizu, Mkwaju Ensemble, Seigen Ono, Masahide Sakuma, Geinoh Yamashirogumi, Yasuaki Shimizu, Danceries, Yukihio Takahoshi, Dip in the Pool, YMO.
So great! And so utterly and unequivocally and whole heartedly RECOMMENDED!!
LIMITED TO JUST 100 COPIES. Each one hand numbered. Packaged with full color covers in plastic mini dvd-style sleeves. And nicely priced! We're one of only two places in the whole world where you can get these, and we're guessing they're gonna go fast, so grab one quick before they're gone.
MPEG Stream: "Excerpt 1"
MPEG Stream: "Excerpt 2"
MPEG Stream: "Excerpt 3"
MPEG Stream: ""

SUMAC, YMA Miracles (The Omni Recording Corporation) cd 17.98
Wow, did you know that the debut record by purported Peruvian princess Yma Sumac (1922-2008), was the biggest selling release of 1950? This isn't that album, Voice Of The Xtabay, though, rather it's her 1971 (yes, once again, 1971 blows the mind) rock-oriented comeback attempt, Miracles, this remastered reissue being the first time officially on cd for this rare record, which didn't stay in print very long originally, due to legal differences between Sumac and her label. So not so many folks heard this one, but now they can, if they dare!
While one could perhaps imagine something even more far-out from Sumac in '71, her fabled five octave range offering tantalizing possibilities for Yoko Ono or Brainticket style freakouts, this is definitely NOT your father's lounge music, either! Before titling it Miracles, they almost called it Jungle Rock, and it was definitely an attempt to introduce Yma Sumac to a new generation of fans. In this effort to be hip and happening, the inventive orchestration and contemporary rock band backing (fuzz guitars, swirling organ) come close to being as wild as her voice.
Interestingly, this album found the "Queen Of Exotica" once again teamed up with the "King" - Les Baxter, her collaborator on Voice Of The Xtabay! He was brought in to compose and conduct, and is responsible for writing all the tracks here but one (a cover of popular Peruvian folk number "El Condor Pasa").
These songs, with titles like "Medicine Man", "Flame Tree", "Azure Sands", "Zebra", and "Magenta Mountain", certainly showcase Sumac's remarkable voice - soaring altissimo, deep growling, startling squeaking, everything in between - as accompanied by swinging, fuzzed out psych rock grooves and otherworldly arrangements. Downright "lysergic" as some would have it. Others might call the combination corny... some of this sounds like the most unhinged nightclub act ever.
Leadoff track "Remember" sets the pace, Sumac's band ready to rumble, guitars crashing in like maybe she's gonna start singing "Jumping Jack Flash" but her vocals are all wordless whoops and warble (like a human Thermin) and ludicrous, Muppet-like grumble. Crazy stuff. This even reminds us a bit of the sort of Third World garage psych now being comped on such recent collections as Thai? Dai! and The Sound Of Siam, an interesting synchronicity. Who was unintentionally inspiring who?
It's hard to know what Yma Sumac purists will think about this over the top, modish Incan instro-hipster act. (Are there Yma Sumac purists?) This album's certainly a strange one, all right, utter extreme eccentric exotica. Exotic for the "jungle" themes, and all the more exotic now for its dated psychsploitation angle.
Brought to us by one of our favorite reissue labels, Australia's Omni Recording Corporation, who make sure provide extensive, fascinating liner notes (touching on this album's kinship with other albums of "psychedelic opportunism" of the era like Muddy Waters' Electric Mud, Bo Diddley's Black Gladiator, and Chubby Checker's New Revelation) in the colorfully illustrated cd booklet. Also, three previously unreleased bonus tracks have been added to the disc!
MPEG Stream: "Remember"
MPEG Stream: "Medicine Man"
MPEG Stream: "Savage Rock"

ALPS, THE Easy Action (Mexican Summer) lp 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Latest from these sunshiney new age krautfolk drifters, a trio featuring our very own Scott Hewicker, along with Jefre Cantu (Tarentel, Root Strata) and Alexis Georgopoulos (Arp), The Alps' Easy Action is record number five if you're keeping track, although it's not in fact exactly a proper full length, instead, it's a bit of a collaged inbetweener, a gorgeous, surprisingly noisy at times, druggy and deliriously delightful hodgepodge assembled from various sources, old tapes from past sessions, unused takes from their last record Le Voyage, a handful of new recordings, as well as various other sounds, all meticulously assembled in the studio into a pretty fantastic record.
As mentioned above, the sound here is not nearly as laid back and soft focus as Le Voyage. That record definitely found the band in full on meandering mode, the guitars were jangly, the rhythms subtle and minimal, when there were rhythms, the noise was kept to a minimum, it was all about tone and timbre, ambience and atmosphere, the propulsion seemingly an afterthought, the band happy to let the songs drift lazily, but if a rhythm did surface, the band would just let that rhythm guide them, until it eventually wound down, leaving the band to drift ever onward. But here, the sound is actually a bit fierce, and a little dark. The opener starts with a cloud of swirling textures and hushed effects, muted melodies, and little flecks of buzz and glitch, but it's not long before a black cloud of grinding distortion and hissing electronics threaten to swallow up the other sounds, the song is transformed into a swirling bit of soft noise chaos, culminating in a strange stuttery glitched out finale. Wow. As if that weren't enough, the second track too delivers some powerful drumming, laid over some tangled steel string guitar, and some buzzing psychedelic guitar, a guitar that gets wilder and noisier as the track progresses before everything drops out leaving just the guitar unwinding a swirling cloud of FX heavy freakout.
And so it goes, "Pink Orange" is more of a interlude, a looped bit of processed guitar, but then "For Isabel" drifts in with its seventies folk guitar, but then suddenly glitches out, as some strange bits of studio buzz swoop in, the gorgeous looped guitar figure wreathed in a cloud of hiss and buzz, and rapidly expanding crunch, good stuff for sure, just surprisingly intense.
"Loves Of A Blonde" is a sprawling bit of abstract droney drift, some steel string buzz, some muted percussion, more crunchy distorted guitar noise, a sort of abstract raga, underpinned by dark piano chords, everything wreathed in gristly bits of static, eventually, all the noise fading out, leaving just some sitar like buzz and some echoey piano, the prettiest stretch on the record thus far. The title track dabbles in some dub, adding a little reggae inflection to a loping slo-mo krautrock groove, the guitars warm and shimmery, the bass sinewy and melodic, but even here, the band lay a thick bit of crunchy, lo-fi guitar fuzz over the otherwise tranquil proceedings, which we quite like, and definitely adds a needed edge to the otherwise placid drift underneath.
The rest of the record unwinds similarly, with the band taking the more serene and melodic elements and fusing them to strange studio misfires, and random, but fantastic bits of noisiness, tinkling looped melodies, that seems to fluctuate wildly within a field of hyperactive static, transforming a shimmery sleepy loop into a mysterious bit of crumbling crunch. They take a break on the hushed and crystal clear solo guitar outing "Reflections For Peter Green", only to slip right back into it with the nearly 10 minute "Instant Light" which was previously released on the super limited Root Strata cd-r A Path Through The Sun), a track that builds slowly, lush steel string strums drifting beneath whirling bits of distant ambience, definitely channeling the spirit of Le Voyage, but the band pile on some lush, effulgent guitar buzz, and some keening layered guitardrones, filling the sky with warm sonic streaks, while underneath the sound continues to drift along melodically, a practically perfect balance between the dreamy old and the more abrasive new, before finishing off with a brief 2 minute swirl of whirling, swirling, blurred and smeared, echo drenched new age shimmer. So good. And a bit of a sonic surprise. Which has us wondering if their next proper studio full length will find the band incorporating some of this new found, more 'difficult' audio experimentation. We sure hope so!
Super limited, and packaged in a super elaborate fold out psychedelic pyramid sleeve, designed by artist Tauba Auerbach, that is easily one of the coolest things we've seen.
Includes a download code as well.
MPEG Stream: "Today & Tomorrow"
MPEG Stream: "Spray"
MPEG Stream: "Pink Orange"
MPEG Stream: "Easy Action"
MPEG Stream: "Until Tomorrow"

FARNETI, MICHAEL Good Morning Kisses (Companion) lp 21.00
We can always count on local reissue label Companion Records to foster the kind of rare hidden musical gem that perhaps won't appeal to everyone, but will get a select group of enthusiasts very excited over the discovery of someone's sincerely unique, but often-times misguided musical vision. Companion's specialty has always been private press vanity records, such as the Louie Louie, Charlie Tweddle, Marc Mundy and New Creation records, and for their first foray into vinyl releases have given us two quite amazing but very different musical visionaries: the latent mope-psych of Stan Hubbs and the spirited orchestral lounge stylings of Michael Farneti.
Hailing from South Florida and recorded in 1976, Michael Farneti's Good Morning Kisses is a brilliant head-scratcher. Indeed, it seems Farneti is channeling Van Dyke Parks, The Neon Philharmonic, Harvey Sid Fisher and Scott Walker in his wide-eyed enthusiastic and sometimes melancholic songs about Movie Stars, ESP, New York Muggers and Georgia Peaches. Without a hint of irony, Farneti exudes a wonderfully naive charm with strange (and perhaps unintentionally humorous) lyrics and sometimes goofy songs (an example: "Shower, shower, shower until you smell like a flower" on the title track). While we admit we maybe use Ariel Pink's name as a comparison too much in our reviews, it does seem apropos here, because if Ariel Pink played piano in a Reno airport lounge in the seventies, it might sound a lot like Good Morning Kisses. It definitely has the falsetto harmonies, Theremin flourishes, and washed out orchestral yacht rock arrangements that can be heard on Doldrums. Though some songs may make you cringe ("Rock Candy Roll"), there are plenty of golden moments and for fans of unique musical visionaries like the ones we mentioned above, Good Morning Kisses has a lot to offer. Limited to 500 copies. Sweet!
MPEG Stream: "Nineteenth Summer"
MPEG Stream: "Movie Star"
MPEG Stream: "ESP Switch"
MPEG Stream: "In The Jungle"

HUBBS, STAN Crystal (Companion / Gloriette) lp 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We can always count on local reissue label Companion Records to foster the kind of rare hidden musical gem that perhaps won't appeal to everyone, but will get a select group of enthusiasts very excited over the discovery of someone's sincerely unique, but oftentimes misguided musical vision. Companion's specialty has always been cd reissues of vintage private press vanity releases, such as the Luie Luie, Charlie Tweddle, Marc Mundy, and New Creation records, and for their first foray into vinyl, have given us two quite amazing but very different musical visionaries: the spirited orchestral lounge stylings of Michael Farneti (reviewed elsewhere on this list) and the latent stoner mope-psych of Stan Hubbs.
Released in collaboration with Gloriette Records (Nite Jewel, Ariel Pink, and Puro Instinct), Stan Hubbs' 1982 recording Crystal is more out of its time than ahead of it. Recorded in his rural Sonoma County living room, it seems like the band almost can't decide if they're latent hippie stoner boogie-folk, eighties shred-guitar rock or progressively disaffected mope wave, which makes for an unusually intriguing sound that is hard to pin down. Hubb's vocals sometimes sung in a near monotone with female singer Kriss O'Neil can sound as much like a downer Fleetwood Mac as it can resemble some of today's gloomy pop found in Beach Fossils or Crystal Ships. But it's Larry Doyle's kitchen sink electric guitar approach that makes it really out of sync in an amazing way. Using lots of psychedelic effects and sounding like he's eager to show off his shredding licks to anyone who comes along, Doyle shows just barely enough restraint not to overstep the hazy vibe the singers and keyboards are laying down. Imagine if Simply Saucer did a cover of America's "Tin Man", and you'll sort of get the idea. But this is regionalism at its best, taking lots of big musical ideas from different popular styles and making something completely home-brewed, a bit oft-kilter and super genuine. Limited to 500 copies, comes with a full reproduction of the 16 page booklet of lyrics and drawings that came with the original release. Hot Damn!
MPEG Stream: "Joe and Gina"
MPEG Stream: "Let's Go On Back To Camp"
MPEG Stream: "Golden Rose"
MPEG Stream: "Seems Like It's A Rich Man's World"

HYPE WILLIAMS Find Out What Happens When People Stop Being Polite, And Start Getting Reel (De Stijl) lp 19.98
Not to be confused with the infamous music video director, THIS Hype Williams is a Euro boy/girl duo who traffic in a woozy washed out, looped and loopy lysergic dubbed out witchy electronica, like How To Dress Well crossed with The Skaters, each track, a dizzying hypnoscape of cyclical rhythms, of layered melodies, and processed vox, a sound all syrupy and sludgey and seriously lo-fi, casio-core writ downtempo dancefloor drawl, chopped and screwed, and not all that far removed from Witch Housers like oOoOO or Salem, the same sort of cough syrup soaked electro dub, all skittery and shuffly, warped and warbly, everything dragging and druggy, sloe eyed and slithery, the bass is fuzzy and buzzy but is muted and blurred beneath robotic primitive rhythms, and hazy swirls of dreamlike melody, samples are manipulated, processed, stretched and reimagined, Sade becomes an icy chunk of electro murk (not here, but on another record, HW samples aQ fave Doug Blunt, AND half of Hype Williams calls himself D. Blunt, hmmmm), elsewhere the samples are not so easy to pick out, instead they're simply shards and streaks and fragments, all woven into HW's psychedelic skitter and bleary creepy crawl.
From ominous mysterious mumbly murk, to hazy, looped dreampop drift, from twisted chaotic collaged shuffle funk to Ariel Pink style alien FM radio groove pop, all the tracks here ooze and bleed and melt before your ears into one ever shifting organic assemblage of late night, under water, doped up, drift off, zombie funk...
MPEG Stream: "Rescue Dawn"
MPEG Stream: "Blue Dream"
MPEG Stream: "Untitled"

LAZARUS Trickster (St. Ives) lp 13.98
This is not new, but we never listed it before and we've always been fans of Trevor Montgomery's (Tarentel, The Drift, Believer) solo downer folk-blues project Lazarus, and seeing that he had a stash left of these, we jumped at the chance to share this beauty with you.
Trickster from 2009 is the third album from Lazarus and it's just as beautiful and heart-wrenching as the previous ones. Like a folkier Nick Cave, Trevor's baritone gothic blues-tinged croon is more refined but no less weary. Backed by simple lyrical guitar, organ, bells and shimmering electro-acoustic tones, the well-written songs display a despairing majesty that show glimmers of hope and redemption.
Limited to 300 copies on swirly smoke or blood colored vinyl, each cover uniquely hand-painted. Trevor has significantly less than 300 left so we don't know how long these will stick around. Highly Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Lord I Know Because I Told You To Go Away"
MPEG Stream: "Real Fun"
MPEG Stream: "I Will Let You Live"

PURE X (PURE ECSTASY) Chain Reflection (self-released) 12" 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
If you happened to miss out on their super limited tour tape, from a few months back, Pure Ecstasy have returned with a beautifully remastered vinyl version (the tape split into two ten minute tracks, one on each side), and with it a new name: Pure X. Guess there was already another group that shared the name and so they took the high road and modified theirs. Reminds a little bit of the detergent though...
Anyway, Chain Reflection shows off the bands more experimental side, a side we haven't seen as much on their pop singles. The bands slow motion grooves are intact, but the overall effect is more collage-like, chopped in a blender style. Sometimes veering into foggy dub experimentations a la Sun Araw, or lo-fi distortion squalls, murmured voices, and pretty ambiance. It reminds us of all the reprises they put at the end of their singles, that sublime moment that fades out too soon. Here though, those moments are stretched way out and turn in on themselves into something much more tripped out and elusive, but still allowing us to laze in their bright and sunny haze.
These come on translucent smokey vinyl in a layered hand-drawn mylar package.
Super beautiful and super limited! Don't sleep on this one this time around!

SOFT MOON, THE s/t (Captured Tracks) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Ok, bear with us here... Might anybody remember Steve Trecasse? We're guessing the answer is no. He has been a small-time music producer, who worked at a time for MTV way back in the mid-to-late '80s. He was responsible for all of the music on the shortlived MTV gameshow Remote Control, but he also composed the theme song for the first incarnation of 120 Minutes. The show grew into a rather banal rehash of major label sponsored "alternative" music, but the early years had some genuine underground acts showcasing their videos. Live Skull, Swans, Sonic Youth, and Loop were some of the more atypical groups to get their videos on the air, alongside more conventional college rock favorites like The Sugarcubes, Love & Rockets, and They Might Be Giants. But that theme song hedged toward the darker, grittier sound through a throbbing electronic underbelly girding an air-raid siren guitar swarm which was not too far from a Skullflower (circa Birthdeath & Form Destroyer) / Sigue Sigue Sputnik / Joy Division hybrid as bafflingly awesome as that may seem. Another weird piece of trivia about that theme song was that it was performed by Trecasse with Doug Di Franco (who might just be Double Dee, turntablist Steinski's partner in crime) and Josh Braun (who seems to be the same dude who played keyboards in Circus Mort, which was Michael Gira's band before Swans). Anyway, that theme song proved to be more haunting and menacing than anything else that 120 Minutes dared to broadcast. It is a bit strange that a song that good, that dark, and that bleak would make it as a theme song for anything, much less for MTV. While that track is clearly something for somebody to dig up beyond an odd YouTube clip here or there, the fact remains that The Soft Moon has unintentionally arrived at this exact same psychic, sonic environment, nearly 25 years later, in an act of convoluted convergent evolution.
The Soft Moon is the post-punk / minimal wave project fronted by Oakland's wunderkid Luis Vasquez, whose eagerly awaited debut album is the perfect extension of his two teasing singles which emerged on Captured Tracks earlier in 2010. Guitars, bass, keyboards, drum machines, and a whispered vocal delivery all come together in a series of monochromatic, mechanical, and gloomy propulsions that fit within the current resurgence of Factory inspired alienation through sound. Amongst his death disco vibes and downer post-punk dirges, Vasquez has a knack for an icy noise quotient that glides through the springy basslines and taut rhythms. Layers drift throughout each song, building never as anything so garish as a solo, but more as a scabrous doppleganger of the songs arching mood. These are tonebent squalls of atonal screeches exhumed from a lo-fi murk and rinsed in pools of reverb, very much like those really early Skullflower recordings when Gary Mundy and Stefan Jaworzyn provided the twin guitar attack. Where Skullflower had a drug-fuelled nihilism at their core, The Soft Moon is more of an alchemist of gloom, doubling rhythms with staccato electronics and downtuned Killing Joke-ish basslines to what would have been a standard Goth plod. In many ways, it makes perfect sense that The Soft Moon has landed on Captured Tracks, as he's mining the same aesthetic surfaces of Blank Dogs, but where Blank Dogs holds back with a subtle irony, The Soft Moon fully embraces the gloom of this music; thus making this one of the best records of 2010 that everybody will be hearing in 2011. Awesome.
MPEG Stream: "Breathe The Fire"
MPEG Stream: "Circles"
MPEG Stream: "Out Of Time"
MPEG Stream: "Tiny Spiders"

BLUNT, DOUG HREAM Gentle Persuasion (self-released) lp 14.98
It's pretty phenomenal that this record went from getting the suspicious side-eye when we first took it in on consignment, to becoming one of our favorite "WTF?" records of the year! When it first appeared, no one seemed to know where it came from (it had been brought in by Blunt himself, one day). And we weren't too sold on the cover, a generic photograph that looked like it was shot in the eighties, of this fellow Blunt, standing with a woman (a close friend of his, in a head to toe orange outfit that looks like it could have been prison garb, and who as it turns out, may no longer be alive) in front of a Mercedes parked in front of the mural on the side of the O'Farrell Theater on Polk street in San Francisco. Also, whenever there's a bunch of "ASCAP" logos plastered all over the front and back cover, our internal "uh-oh" meter goes way off.
So it just sat on our new arrivals shelf for a few weeks. But then a couple of folks (one of whom runs the Gloriette label, who have supplied us with some Ariel Pink and Nite Jewel records) started asking about it, because they had heard about this record, so we gave it a listen and were pretty surprised and rather blown away by what we were hearing. A lo-fi but breezy outsider funk, made with repetitive cheap-sounding keyboards loops and tones (the kind being currently exploited by Dam-Funk, Ariel Pink, and James Pants), strange metallic tropical guitar tones that sound more like steel drums and flute sounds than actual guitar, and sly, laid-back vocals and catchy, infectiously naive grooves that work their way into our heads and never let go. Everybody here ended up really really digging it.
We sold one copy immediately to someone in the store when playing it, and then when we tried to contact Blunt to get more copies, we discovered that somehow we'd neglected to get his contact info, d'oh! The cd had no contact information, and searches online only revealed that the title track, a raunchy but coded come-on to a sexy stranger, was included on a James Pants mix. This only piqued our interest further, as Blunt's skewed Caribbean inflected songs would obviously be simpatico with James Pants' more recent tropical themed output. We could also see folks into Ariel Pink and Dam-Funk getting WAY into this. So we thought maybe this record was a rare private press record from the eighties. It does seem to have a strange hard-to-pin-down-time-wise quality.
Thankfully, Blunt eventually came back in and we got more copies and found out that he had pressed vinyl copies too. He also told us that this record was recorded ten years ago in 2000, but that didn't diminish our new found love for this record's questionable mystery, as it still predates all of the artists mentioned above that it reminds us of, though we're pretty sure Blunt probably has never heard of any of them. It also has the left of center oddness of other outsider funk artists like Tonetta, or Wicked Witch, albeit way more toned down than either of those two. Not that it's completely off the wall weird, but it's one of those records that we went into with such hesitation and were pleasantly surprised that we then became totally enamored with its home-brewed charm.
The lp is 5 tracks, with extra shorter versions of the songs "Fly Guy" and "Gentle Persuasion" and comes housed in an old school white cut-out 12" sleeve. The cd version has two extra songs and instrumental versions of four of the tracks. Oh, and the vinyl has a gold star sticker that boldly proclaims "HIT!" We couldn't agree more!
MPEG Stream: "Fly Guy"
MPEG Stream: "Gentle Persuasion"
MPEG Stream: "Wiskey Man"

DEMDIKE STARE Tryptych (Modern Love) 3cd 28.00
AT LAST, REPRESSED!!
Finally, Demdike Stare's dark and dizzying, murky and mysterious hauntological black dub triptych, previously available via three separate slabs of now very out of print vinyl, is now available on cd, gathered up into a single, nicely packaged triple disc set. And loaded with bonus tracks (nearly 40 minutes extra all told), which makes this pretty much a shoe-in for Record Of The Week...
Demdike Stare are one of the few bands who seem to be a unanimous aQ favorite, everyone here LOVES these guys, and judging on how many of the various lps we've sold, everyone out there does too. Which makes sense, when you consider, DS basically create a kind of black metal dubstep, or as we (and others) like to describe it, a blackened dub record on Chain Reaction. Either one should give you an idea of the sort of dark sonic energy these guys conjure up. Thick claustrophobic atmospheres, skeletal rhythms, thick throbbing bass, skittering dubbed out beats, disembodied voices, stuttering minimal sort-of-dubstep, looped and processed African folk music (??), swirling glitched out electronics, deeeep pulsing dronemusic, reverb drenched post-rock-via-techno skitter, all woven into a swirling organic mass of dub flecked blacktronica, dark and sinister and dubby, and weirdly house-y, sprawling and epic and creepy and so totally sweeping and cinematic.
The first disc, Forest Of Evil, was originally two sidelong tracks, the first starts out all deep shimmer, with a softly melodic buzz, spidery acoustic guitars, long stretches of billowy black ambience, bits of shuffly jazzy drift, peppered with thick shards of buzzy fractured dub bass and Kompakt style skitter, giving way to glistening late night techno, whirling pop ambient, and blissed out ethereal dronemusic, while the second is darkly dramatic, epic and majestic, like some lost Italian soundtrack, big drums, orchestral and ominous, looped samples, blurred melodic smears over deep pulsing bass, whirling clouds of cymbal shimmer, insectoid FX buzz, jumbled atonal melodies (hints of Bernard Herrmann), the vibe tense and haunting, with some dubstep bass buzz, that slowly dissolves into a Caretaker like outro, all layered strings wreathed in hiss and crackle, hazy and druggy and divine. The bonus track "Quiet Sky" conjures up just what the title implies, a quiet sky, but a dark, bruised midnight sky, flecked with stars, soft swirls of metallic shimmer like gauzy clouds, the song gradually developing a strange minimal hiccuppy rhythm, underpinning the deep melancholic swells, a strange almost industrial tinged bit of pop ambience.
The second disc, Liberation Through Hearing, is thematically related to the Book Of The Dead, and focuses on the space between death and rebirth. Rendered in greys and blacks, in buzz and rumble, beginning with some woozy late night Portishead style downtempo trip hop, low slung looped skitter and swell, lush swirls of cinematic strings, ghostly choirs, a softly lurching rhythmic stutter, a deep cavernous throb, sounding like a ghostly stripped down dubstep. Which gives way to heaving expanses of black tidal thrum, muted scrapings, all wound into hypnotic pulses of dark energy, laced with distant chiming melodies, a haunting, gauzey faded memory in sound, drawn from radios with dying batteries and gradually slowing turntables, a soft focus symphony of creaks and rumbles and blurred low end shimmer. The first half finishes with a swoonsome smear of looped ambience, like a field recording of an after hours nightclub captured in a temporal loop, warm and druggy and fuzzy, strangely hypnotic and rhythmic, totally trancelike, a creeped out wasteland soundscape, mysterious and chilling, which is eventually augmented by thick slabs of corrosive low end, and heavily reverbed industrial clatter, which eventually emerges into a strange sea of crackle and hum, of warbly rhythms, chiming bells and distorted crunch, sounding a bit like Jeck spinning Pole record, abstract and spaced out and hauntingly lovely.
The second half opens with thick streaks of ghostly mesmer, all washed out and slowly decaying, underpinned by thick swaths of dubstep style bass wobble, but muted and smoothed into soft smears of undulating blackness. Subtle skitter surfaces, as do distant voices, the sound getting more and more dubby, a bit like a Caretaker record on Chain Reaction, that sort of hazy abstract drift, but anchored to barely there beats, the buzz building to an intense coda, all the while wrapped in throbbing woofer punishing low end.
Some super stripped down rhythms are laid over a swirling ghostly backdrop of fragmented melodies and a buried house music thump, tangled and blurred strings wrap the proceedings in a veil of softened reverb and subtle echo, the almost Eastern sounding pulse and swell reminding us a bit of the late great Muslimgauze.
Finally, the record collapses into some sort of melancholic sonic reverie, a hushed ambient outro, a tranquil sea of soft swirling swells, clouds of echo and reverb, a dreamy darkness, a blackened bit of blurpop minimalism, laced with muted streaks of fuzz and hiss, but all gradually sinking into Demdike Stare's endless trancelike billowing blackness.
The bonus tracks on this one (3 of them, clocking in at nearly 20 minutes) continue the record's surreal sonic journey, spidery rhythms, and chiming melodies are looped and layered over a simple pulsing propulsive groove, the whole thing slightly warped and warbled, as if recorded onto an old piece of tape, and played back on some dusty old ramshackle tape player, ghostly, but surprisingly playful at first, before slipping into some seriously creepy, deeeeeep droning rumbles, wreathed in shimmering solar winds, softly billowing sheets of hiss and static, eventually shedding all of that, leaving just a thick morass of softly undulating low end, shot through with a slo-mo house music pulse, only to have the hiss and whir return, this time relegated to the background, until the track finishes surprisingly with what sounds like a bit of African style funkiness, before disappearing in a brief cloud of swirling hushed buzz.
Finally, the third disc, Voices Of Dust, unveils the Tryptych's final movement, opening with "Black Sun", a short stretch of some super minimal electronic dronemusic, all layered overtones and strange sonic shadings, which gives way to the chopped and looped and stuttery vocal driven "Hashshashin Chant" which takes tribal drums and traditional folk music vocals, and twists them all up, and tangles those elements with strange percussion, industrial buzz, the whole thing a dizzying chunk of hypno-electronic collaged psychedelic mashup weirdness, before slipping into the much murkier and minimal "Repository Of Light", which unfurls like some sort of Hawkwind-meets-Pole spaced out digi-dub drift. And so it goes, the sound flitting between impossibly realized miniature sound worlds, cinematic electronic ambience, ominously pulsing low end rumble, hazy glitchy dubbed out Jeckian smears, super blown out electronic big beat bombast, almost industrial sounding avant big band abstraction, roiling corrosive soft noise, bellowing foghorn-like melodies, warped and woozy scratchy old lp warblescapes and beyond.
The bonus tracks are the perfect, hazy, ghostly coda, the first, a warm, whispery bit of keening abstract melody and thick pulsing thrum, all very washed out and space-y and dreamlike, a constantly vibrating living thing, a throbbing organic expanse of minimal space drone psychedelic ambience, until finally, the whole disc is laid to rest with 9 minutes of heaving, glacial, metallic creep and creak, wreathed in record crackle, the final sounds unfurl like some old dusty Tim Hecker 45 spinning at 16rpm, mournful moaning melodies, buried rhythmic thumps, shimmery sitar like buzz, all hazy and smeared and lysergic and mysteriously murky, the perfect slipping-into-darkness, leaving-this-world-behind finale...
Gorgeously evocative, creepy and cinematic, abstract and otherworldly, druggy and dreamy, fantastically haunting and utterly spine tinglingly stunning. And thus, absolutely recommended.
Packaged in a super swank, oversized, hardcover book style digipak.
Matt's addendum: "Really feeling this collection of tunes these days. Love blasting this spooky dub-collage REAL loud in the shop! Thee neighbors get upset, but they need to chill cuz it has to be MASSIVE!"
MPEG Stream: "Forest Of Evil (Dusk)"
MPEG Stream: "Caged In Stammheim"
MPEG Stream: "Eurydice"
MPEG Stream: "Regolith"
MPEG Stream: "Hashashin Chant"
MPEG Stream: "Repository Of Light"
MPEG Stream: "Rain And Shame"

SULLIVAN, JIM U.F.O. (Light In The Attic) cd 15.98
We listed the vinyl version of this a little while back, and now finally we have enough of the cds in stock too, to list.
It's always pretty amazing when reissue labels continue to set high standards with rediscovered music. Especially when you think the well has surely gone dry, that they must have to heap loads of praise and hyperbole on a record that no one has heard of to get folks to buy it, only to have it not be as good as one hoped. That's what we were expecting going in to this 1969 private press Jim Sullivan record, when the label was describing it as a cross between Fred Neil and David Axelrod, two of our favorite musicians. While the description is somewhat apt, we couldn't help in our excitement over what we were hearing to come up with better comparisons like the Memphis swamp-folk of Tim Rose, the string-driven downer folk-blues of Tim Hardin or the lysergic folk-pop of Hoyt Axton (especially his debut, My Griffin is Gone). Needless to say, we are loving this record!
U.F.O. is a unique hybrid of Southern-fried world-weary folk with classic top-notch LA studio production sheen. Backed by the legendary Wrecking Crew, Sullivan's earthy but wide-eyed existentialism is cradled in stunning atmospheric orchestral arrangements that give deeper scope to the song's melancholic luster. Why this wasn't a major studio release at the time is a mystery because it sure sounds like one. But mysteries seem to have dogged Jim Sullivan throughout his life, as he strangely disappeared in 1975 in the New Mexico desert. His belongings abandoned, his motel room untouched.
Light in the Attic has done an incredible job of piecing together Sullivan's backstory and disappearance, but with no definitive resolution except for the legacy of one of the best lost folk records we've heard in a long while. Highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Plain As Your Eyes Can See"
MPEG Stream: "Rosey"
MPEG Stream: "Johnny"

SULLIVAN, JIM U.F.O. (Light In The Attic) lp 21.00
It's always pretty amazing when reissue labels continue to set high standards with rediscovered music. Especially when you think the well has surely gone dry, that they must have to heap loads of praise and hyperbole on a record that no one has heard of to get folks to buy it, only to have it not be as good as one hoped. That's what we were expecting going in to this 1969 private press Jim Sullivan record, when the label was describing it as a cross between Fred Neil and David Axelrod, two of our favorite musicians. While the description is somewhat apt, we couldn't help in our excitement over what we were hearing to come up with better comparisons like the Memphis swamp-folk of Tim Rose, the string-driven downer folk-blues of Tim Hardin or the lysergic folk-pop of Hoyt Axton (especially his debut, My Griffin is Gone). Needless to say, we are loving this record!
U.F.O. is a unique hybrid of Southern-fried world-weary folk with classic top-notch LA studio production sheen. Backed by the legendary Wrecking Crew, Sullivan's earthy but wide-eyed existentialism is cradled in stunning atmospheric orchestral arrangements that give deeper scope to the song's melancholic luster. Why this wasn't a major studio release at the time is a mystery because it sure sounds like one. But mysteries seem to have dogged Jim Sullivan throughout his life, as he strangely disappeared in 1975 in the New Mexico desert. His belongings abandoned, his motel room untouched.
Light in the Attic has done an incredible job of piecing together Sullivan's backstory and disappearance, but with no definitive resolution except for the legacy of one of the best lost folk records we've heard in a long while. Highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Plain As Your Eyes Can See"
MPEG Stream: "Rosey"
MPEG Stream: "Johnny"

DEMDIKE STARE Voices Of Dust (Modern Love) 12" 22.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Finally part three in Demdike Stare's strange and wonderful hauntological black dub triptych, a logical continuation of both Forest Of Evil and Liberation Through Hearing, a sprawling twisted landscape of sound, from lurching stuttering minimal sort-of-dubstep to looped and processed African folk music (??) to swirling glitched out electronics, to throbbing pulsing deeeeeep dronemusic, to reverb drenched post-rock-via-Chain-Reaction skitter to... well wherever these cracked sonic alchemists decide to dream up.
The record opens with "Black Sun", a short stretch of some super minimal electronic dronemusic, all layered overtones and strange sonic shadings, which gives way to the chopped and looped and stuttery vocal driven "Hashshashin Chant" which takes tribal drums and traditional folk music vocals, and twists them all up, and tangling those elements with strange percussion, industrial buzz, the whole thing a dizzying chunk of hypno-electronic collaged psychedelic mashup weirdness, before slipping into the much murkier and minimal "Repository Of Light", which unfurls like some sort of Hawkwind-meets-Pole spaced out digi-dub drift.
And so it goes, the sound flitting between impossibly realized miniature sound worlds, cinematic electronic ambience, ominously pulsing low end rumble, hazy glitchy dubbed out Jeckian smears, super blown out electronic big beat bombast, almost industrial sounding avant big band abstraction, roiling corrosive soft noise, bellowing foghorn-like melodies, warped and woozy scratchy old lp warblescapes and beyond.
So gorgeously evocative, creepy and cinematic, abstract and otherworldly, druggy and dreamy, fantastically haunting and spine tinglingly stunning.
Rumor is all three lps are getting reissued as a cd box sometime next year, but the vinyl tends to disappear pretty quick, so act fast...
MPEG Stream: "Hashashin Chant"
MPEG Stream: "Repository Of Light"
MPEG Stream: "Rain And Shame"

ANWORTH KIRK s/t (Pre-Cert Home Entertainment) lp 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Demdike Stare fans listen up! There's a new dark mysterious stranger in town by the name of Anworth Kirk, and for fans of Demdike Stare's haunted dub sound paintings or that Broadcast and The Focus Group record we keep raving about, or any of the vintage horror soundtracks from Trunk Records, you will surely want to give this a listen. No, Anworth Kirk is not really a person, or a band, as far as we can tell, but it's the first release on the new archival imprint Pre-Cert Home Entertainment that will be devoted to releasing a series of limited vinyl missives of contemporary musical and non-musical strangeness. Most definitely associated with DJ Andy Votel and the B-Music crew as well as Demdike Stare themselves (in fact, we're pretty sure Anworth Kirk IS Andy Votel and Sean Canty of Demdike, who run the Pre-Cert label), the music presented here is a mind-bending collage of haunting creaking loops, far away noises of babies crying and dogs barking, slow motion creeping synths, library music, and eldritch incantations culled from dusty corners of British horror. So haunting and beautiful! Limited to 500 copies, it is basically already out of print, so grab one of the few we have while you can!

LEE, DAVID JR. Evolution (Universal Sound) lp 24.00
From the mysterious black cover and gothic font, we initially thought that this was some new vinyl release by Amort or Striborg or any number of black metal hordes we see day in and day out. But no, this is in fact quite an awesome surprise, a beautiful early-seventies drum-centric spiritual jazz record by the unknown to us, David Lee Jr., and it's really quite killer! Right up there with the likes of Steve Reid, Rashied Ali, Roland P. Young or Khan Jamal!
Hailing from New Orleans and moving to New York where Lee played in Roy Ayer's Ubiquity for a few years, Evolution was recorded in 1974 and is Lee's only solo record originally released on his own Supernal records imprint (not to be confused with the black metal Supernal!). Centered around martial rhythms and syncopation with a left-field avant jazz sensibility and even some blazing psych rock and soul flourishes, the disc is 14 short tracks with the title track centerpiece being a 7 minute extended drum solo. There are even a couple of short vocal tracks, one of which should just be skipped over at the very end called "I Want Our Love To Always Last" (even the Soul Jazz site won't let you sample it). But other than that one misstep, this is a highly recommended album for fans of vintage beat-heavy seventies jazz from the likes of P. E. Hewitt, Lee Miller, or any of the cool cats we mentioned above!
MPEG Stream: "Revelation"
MPEG Stream: "Love Parable"
MPEG Stream: "Cosmopolitan"
MPEG Stream: "Second Line March"

BLUNT, DOUG HREAM Gentle Persuasion (self-released) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Finally, repressed and back in stock on cd!!
It's pretty phenomenal that this record went from getting the suspicious side-eye when we first took it in on consignment, to becoming one of our favorite "WTF?" records of the year! When it first appeared, no one seemed to know where it came from (it had been brought in by Blunt himself, one day). And we weren't too sold on the cover, a generic photograph that looked like it was shot in the eighties, of this fellow Blunt, standing with a woman (a close friend of his, in a head to toe orange outfit that looks like it could have been prison garb, and who as it turns out, may no longer be alive) in front of a Mercedes parked in front of the mural on the side of the O'Farrell Theater on Polk street in San Francisco. Also, whenever there's a bunch of "ASCAP" logos plastered all over the front and back cover, our internal "uh-oh" meter goes way off.
So it just sat on our new arrivals shelf for a few weeks. But then a couple of folks (one of whom runs the Gloriette label, who have supplied us with some Ariel Pink and Nite Jewel records) started asking about it, because they had heard about this record, so we gave it a listen and were pretty surprised and rather blown away by what we were hearing. A lo-fi but breezy outsider funk, made with repetitive cheap-sounding keyboards loops and tones (the kind being currently exploited by Dam-Funk, Ariel Pink, and James Pants), strange metallic tropical guitar tones that sound more like steel drums and flute sounds than actual guitar, and sly, laid-back vocals and catchy, infectiously naive grooves that work their way into our heads and never let go. Everybody here ended up really really digging it.
We sold one copy immediately to someone in the store when playing it, and then when we tried to contact Blunt to get more copies, we discovered that somehow we'd neglected to get his contact info, d'oh! The cd had no contact information, and searches online only revealed that the title track, a raunchy but coded come-on to a sexy stranger, was included on a James Pants mix. This only piqued our interest further, as Blunt's skewed Caribbean inflected songs would obviously be simpatico with James Pants' more recent tropical themed output. We could also see folks into Ariel Pink and Dam-Funk getting WAY into this. So we thought maybe this record was a rare private press record from the eighties. It does seem to have a strange hard-to-pin-down-time-wise quality.
Thankfully, Blunt eventually came back in and we got more copies and found out that he had pressed vinyl copies too. He also told us that this record was recorded ten years ago in 2000, but that didn't diminish our new found love for this record's questionable mystery, as it still predates all of the artists mentioned above that it reminds us of, though we're pretty sure Blunt probably has never heard of any of them. It also has the left of center oddness of other outsider funk artists like Tonetta, or Wicked Witch, albeit way more toned down than either of those two. Not that it's completely off the wall weird, but it's one of those records that we went into with such hesitation and were pleasantly surprised that we then became totally enamored with its home-brewed charm.
The lp is 5 tracks, with extra shorter versions of the songs "Fly Guy" and "Gentle Persuasion" and comes housed in an old school white cut-out 12" sleeve. The cd version has two extra songs and instrumental versions of four of the tracks. Oh, and the vinyl has a gold star sticker that boldly proclaims "HIT!" We couldn't agree more!
MPEG Stream: "Fly Guy"
MPEG Stream: "Gentle Persuasion"
MPEG Stream: "Wiskey Man"

ENO, BRIAN (WITH JON HOPKINS & LEO ABRAHAMS) Small Craft On A Milk Sea (Warp) cd 15.98
As true a return to classic form as could be expected by this pioneer of ambient music, the one and only Brian Eno. Eno's later records are always met with a bit of trepidation as he seems more often to collaborate or explore musical realms that are perhaps more interesting to him than his listeners. But we were excited and curious to learn that Warp would be releasing this new record, and the label's pretty strict quality control ensures that it doesn't disappoint, but it's not altogether revelatory either, as much of a nice listen it truly is.
We've heard Small Craft on A Milk Sea as being billed as a series of filmless soundtracks, but we've also learned that the albums genesis was from the rejected recordings for the film, The Lovely Bones. The cinematic quality of the tracks especially the opener, "Emerald and Lime" is highly evident and harkens back to classic Eno records, Music for Films or Thursday Afternoon, with their billowly atmosphere and far-away piano tones. Later tracks evolve with more urgent dynamics as distorted guitars, percussion and processed electronics up the rhythms and textures significantly from the earlier tracks, and remind us of Eno's fourth world strategies heard on Another Green World and on his collaborations with Jon Hassel. The last third of the album calms back down with more placid ambient moods and ethereal washes and layers.
This is definitely a record to spend some time with as it doesn't quite reveal itself completely after two or even three listens. It's the best Eno record in years, which might not mean that much, but it's not for the easily dismissive. Like the best Eno records, it graciously rewards the patient.
MPEG Stream: "Emerald and Lime"
MPEG Stream: "Horse"
MPEG Stream: "Paleosonic"
MPEG Stream: "Late Anthropocene"

CANTU-LEDESMA, JEFRE Love Is A Stream (Type) cd 15.98
Before we blather on like we so often do, it seemed like it might be good to just toss out a first impression of Love Is A Stream, the fantastic new record from Root Strata label Head Honcho Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, his first for the type label. And heck, that first impression might be all you need:
Lovesliescrushing meets Flying Saucer Attack.
There. Hard to argue with that. Warped warbly, blurred shoegazey drift, long stretches of incendiary psychedelic guitar drone, streaks of soft noise, buried melodies, ethereal vocals, lush layered textures, dense and explosive, expansive and dreamily hazy, and in its own way, gorgeously heavy.
A new side of Cantu-Ledesma for sure, whose past records seemed to hover in a much more tranquil serene otherworld, unfurling hushed landscapes of whispery minimalism, of delicate crystalline shimmer, and of barely there soft focus ambient drift. Love Is A Stream is anything but, a fiery, fierce, yet ultimately lush and washed out series of bold shoegaze dreamnoise experiments, not so much pop songs swathed in distortion and effects, as carefully crafted sonic impressions, a series of gorgeous miniature epics, each a brief expanse of prismatic hypnogogic psychedelia, every one a unique a roiling concoction of fuzzpopbliss and murky melodic churn. On the surface, the record plays out like a series of textures, from warm whirling hum, to crumbling blown out white noise blur, to grinding muted pulse and throb, to gauzy bleary haze, to thick billowy low end rumble, to superdistorted effects-drenched synthnoise, and yeah, you're reading right, this is in fact a noisy record, but it's an artfully crafted, carefully sculpted noise. A thick, billowing, warm and gloriously enveloping melodic noise, like sinking into a swirling sea of burnished muted crush, a nearly overwhelming avalanche of whirling swirling crumbling throb and thrum, beneath it all lurk delicate melodies, tendrils of minor key guitar, ghostly voices, whirring synths, they rise to the surface here and there, but for the most part exist as shadowy impressions, infusing the noisy textures with a melodic core, a warm glowing sonic heart, which is what transforms these heaving slabs of shoegazey heaviness into something divine, and divinely dreamy.
There are brief moments, where the surface noise, and the distortion, and the walls of effects peel back, and we get to peek behind the curtain, which reveals the lush minimal underpinnings of the songs, a brief melodic smear here, a hushed little fragment of guitar there, but a glimpse is all we get, and really all we want, because it's how those bits of minimal songcraft interact with the intense sonic effulgence that is truly the magic that Cantu-Ledesma wields in conjuring up the sounds here. And like all magic, the joy is not in how it was done, but it how it makes us feel.
The lp version comes with a bonus cd, a collaboration with Type label mainman Xela, who took source material provided by Cantu-Ledesma, and fashioned his own bit of ambient dronemusic. Nearly 50 minutes of haunting drift, after a short burst of caustic super distorted crunch, Xela settles into a slow burning sprawl of washed out chordal shimmer, deep rumbling thrum and lush streaks of shoegazey buzz, a few moments as dense and psychedelic as the record proper, but for the most part, more of a chill out wind down coda, the perfect addendum to an already practically perfect record. Really quite lovely.
MPEG Stream: "Stained Glass Body"
MPEG Stream: "Loving Love"
MPEG Stream: "Mirrors Death"

CANTU-LEDESMA, JEFRE Love Is A Stream (Type) lp+cd 22.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Before we blather on like we so often do, it seemed like it might be good to just toss out a first impression of Love Is A Stream, the fantastic new record from Root Strata label Head Honcho Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, his first for the Type label. And heck, that first impression might be all you need:
Lovesliescrushing meets Flying Saucer Attack.
There. Hard to argue with that. Warped warbly, blurred shoegazey drift, long stretches of incendiary psychedelic guitar drone, streaks of soft noise, buried melodies, ethereal vocals, lush layered textures, dense and explosive, expansive and dreamily hazy, and in its own way, gorgeously heavy.
A new side of Cantu-Ledesma for sure, whose past records seemed to hover in a much more tranquil serene otherworld, unfurling hushed landscapes of whispery minimalism, of delicate crystalline shimmer, and of barely there soft focus ambient drift. Love Is A Stream is anything but, a fiery, fierce, yet ultimately lush and washed out series of bold shoegaze dreamnoise experiments, not so much pop songs swathed in distortion and effects, as carefully crafted sonic impressions, a series of gorgeous miniature epics, each a brief expanse of prismatic hypnogogic psychedelia, every one a unique a roiling concoction of fuzzpopbliss and murky melodic churn. On the surface, the record plays out like a series of textures, from warm whirling hum, to crumbling blown out white noise blur, to grinding muted pulse and throb, to gauzy bleary haze, to thick billowy low end rumble, to superdistorted effects-drenched synthnoise, and yeah, you're reading right, this is in fact a noisy record, but it's an artfully crafted, carefully sculpted noise. A thick, billowing, warm and gloriously enveloping melodic noise, like sinking into a swirling sea of burnished muted crush, a nearly overwhelming avalanche of whirling swirling crumbling throb and thrum, beneath it all lurk delicate melodies, tendrils of minor key guitar, ghostly voices, whirring synths, they rise to the surface here and there, but for the most part exist as shadowy impressions, infusing the noisy textures with a melodic core, a warm glowing sonic heart, which is what transforms these heaving slabs of shoegazey heaviness into something divine, and divinely dreamy.
There are brief moments, where the surface noise, and the distortion, and the walls of effects peel back, and we get to peek behind the curtain, which reveals the lush minimal underpinnings of the songs, a brief melodic smear here, a hushed little fragment of guitar there, but a glimpse is all we get, and really all we want, because it's how those bits of minimal songcraft interact with the intense sonic effulgence that is truly the magic that Cantu-Ledesma wields in conjuring up the sounds here. And like all magic, the joy is not in how it was done, but it how it makes us feel.
The lp version comes with a bonus cd, a collaboration with Type label mainman Xela, who took source material provided by Cantu-Ledesma, and fashioned his own bit of ambient dronemusic. Nearly 50 minutes of haunting drift, after a short burst of caustic super distorted crunch, Xela settles into a slow burning sprawl of washed out chordal shimmer, deep rumbling thrum and lush streaks of shoegazey buzz, a few moments as dense and psychedelic as the record proper, but for the most part, more of a chill out wind down coda, the perfect addendum to an already practically perfect record. Really quite lovely.
MPEG Stream: "Stained Glass Body"
MPEG Stream: "Body Within Body"
MPEG Stream: "River Like Spine"

HENNIX, CATHERINE CHRISTER The Electric Harpsichord (Die Schachtel) cd + book 22.00
What else can we say about a recording that guitar great Glenn Branca describes as "A gigantic piece, a killer, a work which exists outside of style or genre. It is unbelievable. It creates blacks of sound that move in and out of each other to create the effects. It is a pure, perfect piece of music that resonates and resounds and creates a universe that it is impossible by other means. In our primitive and unenlightened culture, it becomes a work of transcendent power." Very little. Or more accurately, more of the same. A legendary yet relatively obscure document of modern minimalism, recorded in 1976, Hennix, who studied with Pandit Pran Nath and LaMonte Young, and recorded with Henry Flynt, crafted The Electric Harpsichord using just-intonated keyboards and time lag accumulators, a la Terry Riley, creating a lush layered expanse of raga like dronemusic, buzzing strangely melodic, rife with overtones and rhythmic fluctuations, dark and psychedelic, mesmerizing and hypnotic, a sound active and alive, organic, yet electronic, this is the sort of sound that a million floorcore wannabes strive for, but will never achieve, absolute blissed out, mind expanding, ur-drone, sonic transcendence for sure. Brief, at only 25 minutes, but the power and energy and depth of sound, makes it feel way longer. And of course, if you're like us, you'll just set your stereo to repeat, and drift off...
Second pressing, packaged in a nice mini white cardstock box, with a foil stamped cover, and an extensive booklet inside, featuring two poems by La Monte Young, a piece on the Electric Harpsichord written by Henry Flynt, and some very confusing liner notes from Hennix herself, an excerpt from "notes on the composite sine-wave drone over which The Electric Harpsichord is performed."
MPEG Stream: "The Electric Harpsichord (Excerpt)"

V/A Afro-Beat Airways (Analog Africa) 2lp 27.00
Now on vinyl!
Analog Africa does it again! The hardest working Afro-beat reissue label brings us another amazing comp of psych-tinged, long-lost Afro-beat, this time from Ghana and Togo recorded between 1972-1979. Raw, sultry, and totally ass-shaking, pretty much all of the tracks have never been released outside the region. Funky Latin rhythms, organ-driven psych, and cosmic soulful percussive trance-outs by 11 bands. Comes with amazing 44 page booklet with pictures and histories. Wow, deluxe package, incredible music. We can go on, but do we really need to? Analog Africa hasn't let us down yet. 100 percent Solid! Trust.
MPEG Stream: K. FRIMPONG & HIS CUBANO FIESTAS "Me Yee Owu Den"
MPEG Stream: MARIJATA "Break Through"
MPEG Stream: ITADI "Live In Other World"
MPEG Stream: DE FRANK PROFESSIONALS "Afe Ato Yen Bio"

GONJASUFI The Caliph's Tea Party (Warp) cd 16.98
Remix albums are tricky affairs. Often times there are only one or two truly notable tracks, or there are too many disparate remixers that cramp the flow of the listening experience from beginning to end. While this reworking of Gonjasufi's amazing debut, A Sufi and A Killer, doesn't trump the original (really, what remix album has ever done that?), this is surprisingly one of the best remix albums we have heard in a long while. Why that is, is rather curious because it's not that there is just one or two really drop-dead standout tracks, or they're trying to make it more friendly for the dance floor. Rather it's because all the remixes work together in an interesting way that make the overall flow a really nice listen. It offers a ghostly alternate universe to the sound-world Flying Lotus, Mainframe and Gaslamp Killer brought to Gonjasufi's debut.
Beginning with Mark Pritchard's (Harmonia 313, Afrika Hi-tech) spookier take on "Ancestors", Bibio's low-key groove on "Candylane" and Dam Mantle's dub-hop reworking of "Ageing", the unusual choice of Broadcast & The Focus Group to remix "DedND" with a chopped up collage of middle eastern strings harps, flutes and sampled vocal snippets adds to the otherworldly proceedings by removing it from the original almost entirely. Jeremiah Jae and Shlomo add a smeary dreamy dubstep twist to "Kobwebz" and "Change" , while Bear in Heaven, have the most minimal electro rework with "Love Of Reign". Another unusual choice of Oneohtrix Point Never to remix the Tom Waits-ish "She's Gone" results in a chopped and screwed rework pitching Gonjasufi's vocals up and down over a syrupy layer of noise. The last remix by Dem Hunger Bowel Blood of "SuzieQ" is the darkest and strangest taking the punkish quality of the original and smearing it slowly across a bleak queasy landscape. The restraint from upping the tempos too much from the originals was a smart choice, as the sound of Gonjasufi works best on the more stoned, slowed and ambient level. There's just enough variety not to get too stuck in a similar sound, while at the same time complimenting each other really well. We wish more remix records were this consistent!
MPEG Stream: "Ancestors (Mark Pritchard Remix)"
MPEG Stream: "Ageing (Dam Mantle Remix)"
MPEG Stream: "Caliph's Tea Party (Broadcast & The Focus Group Remix)"
MPEG Stream: "Love of Reign (Bear In Heaven Remix)"
MPEG Stream: "SuzieQ (Dem Hunger Bowel Blood Remix)"

GONJASUFI The Caliph's Tea Party (Warp) lp 25.00
Remix albums are tricky affairs. Often times there are only one or two truly notable tracks, or there are too many disparate remixers that cramp the flow of the listening experience from beginning to end. While this reworking of Gonjasufi's amazing debut, A Sufi and A Killer, doesn't trump the original (really, what remix album has ever done that?), this is surprisingly one of the best remix albums we have heard in a long while. Why that is, is rather curious because it's not that there is just one or two really drop-dead standout tracks, or they're trying to make it more friendly for the dance floor. Rather it's because all the remixes work together in an interesting way that make the overall flow a really nice listen. It offers a ghostly alternate universe to the sound-world Flying Lotus, Mainframe and Gaslamp Killer brought to Gonjasufi's debut.
Beginning with Mark Pritchard's (Harmonia 313, Afrika Hi-tech) spookier take on "Ancestors", Bibio's low-key groove on "Candylane" and Dam Mantle's dub-hop reworking of "Ageing", the unusual choice of Broadcast & The Focus Group to remix "DedND" with a chopped up collage of middle eastern strings harps, flutes and sampled vocal snippets adds to the otherworldly proceedings by removing it from the original almost entirely. Jeremiah Jae and Shlomo add a smeary dreamy dubstep twist to "Kobwebz" and "Change" , while Bear in Heaven, have the most minimal electro rework with "Love Of Reign". Another unusual choice of Oneohtrix Point Never to remix the Tom Waits-ish "She's Gone" results in a chopped and screwed rework pitching Gonjasufi's vocals up and down over a syrupy layer of noise. The last remix by Dem Hunger Bowel Blood of "SuzieQ" is the darkest and strangest taking the punkish quality of the original and smearing it slowly across a bleak queasy landscape. The restraint from upping the tempos too much from the originals was a smart choice, as the sound of Gonjasufi works best on the more stoned, slowed and ambient level. There's just enough variety not to get too stuck in a similar sound, while at the same time complimenting each other really well. We wish more remix records were this consistent!
MPEG Stream: "Ancestors (Mark Pritchard Remix)"
MPEG Stream: "Ageing (Dam Mantle Remix)"
MPEG Stream: "Caliph's Tea Party (Broadcast & The Focus Group Remix)"
MPEG Stream: "Love of Reign (Bear In Heaven Remix)"
MPEG Stream: "SuzieQ (Dem Hunger Bowel Blood Remix)"

DATE PALMS Of Psalms (Root Strata) lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Date Palms is the new project of heavy electronic / cassette tape manipulator Gregg Kowalsky and Marielle Jakobsons (Myrmyr, Darwinsbitch) and is a strange, yet fantastic fusing of Eastern style raga drones, and hypnotic Spacemen 3 style bass buzz, which seems like a weird combo, but it definitely works, situating the Oakland duo right between those two not so disparate (as you might think) sounds, the music almost like some sort of slowcore spacerock dronedrift, writ abstract and minimal and Eastern, if that makes any sense. Sure it's on Root Strata, and both Date Palms are individually involved in the avant garde, but this could have easily come out on Kranky, or some other similarly outrock label, and these two could totally tour with a band like Low, or Stars Of The Lid, their slow smoldering drift a perfect fit, but the exotic array of Eastern instruments, and the duo's deft arrangements, and meticulous crafting of this hushed meditative minimal dronemusic, most definitely positions this just as easily outside the realm of 'rock music', and firmly in the world of the 'experimental'.
The opener is a perfect example, beginning with layered drones, the sound is immediately recognizable as some sort of Eastern raga, but the minute the bass comes in, the sound is transformed, and we can't help but hear Spacemen 3, at their most blissed out, and heck, they did make a record called An Evening Of Contemporary Sitar Music after all, which if we're not mistaken contained no sitar at all, the point is, Date Palms are channeling the same sort of druggy psychedelic minimalism, but adding that distinctly Eastern element, this opening track sounds like a way slowed down Moon Duo, with the keyboard swapped for some mysterious Indian instrument, and the guitar swapped for a bass, the groove is glacial, and is the perfect anchor for the more abstract buzz and drift. The bass does dissipate briefly, and at that point it sounds like Indian classical music, but then when the bass comes back in, along with some gorgeous melodic guitar counterpoint, the sound is brought right back to something more Western. The push and pull is dizzying, but subtly so, a fantastic hybrid, that works perfectly, combining to musics that both traffic in repetition and drone, the resulting hybrid is absolutely mesmerizing, the sort of rare sound that would appeal to the space rock bliss out crowd as much as the abstract minimal dronemusic crowd.
The rest of the record follows suit, the warm liquid basslines introducing a looped style mesmer, while all around, the duo introduce various bits of percussion, tinkling chimes, processed tape loops, sympathetic overtones and harmonics, on at least one track, the sound grows particularly fierce, the drone and drift wrapped in a squall of tangled psychedelic guitar, but that leads directly into the most blissed out of the bunch, the nearly 14 minute centerpiece, a smoldering drift where the bass part is so slow it almost sinks right into the background buzz like another layer, this time the processed guitar shimmer definitely evokes Sound Of Confusion era Spacemen 3, a gorgeous blurred dronescape that is utterly hypnotic, and 14 minutes is not even nearly long enough. The record closes though with what to us is the strangest of the bunch, definitely the most traditionally melodic, with a proper 'riff', the bass pronounced and fuzzy, and the melody played on an organ, the vibe almost classic rock, weirdly enough, but again, slowed waaaaaaay down and stretched waaaaaaay out, resulting in another gloriously abstract bit of raga drone slowcore drift.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!!
MPEG Stream: "Psalm 7"
MPEG Stream: "Psalm 3 Intro"
MPEG Stream: "Psalm 5"

PITRE, DUANE Origin (Root Strata) cd 16.98
Now available on cd!!!
New cd from guitarist and composer Duane Pitre, a collection of recordings featuring Pitre's bowed harmonic-guitar ensemble, six guitarists, bowing the strings of unconventionally strung guitars, all in 'just intonation', the sounds these players and instruments produce, free of any effects or post- or pre- production fiddling, all the strange overtones, and rhythmic variations, strange melodies and mysterious textures, are utterly divine, extended raga like drones, lush and layered, all the results of the natural interplay between the various notes and tones, and the acoustic properties of the space. All of which are considerable, considering the beauty and otherworldliness of these sounds, quite reminiscent of folks like Phill Niblock, Angus MacLise, Tony Conrad, Henry Flynt, but with its own particular magic, the very Eastern sounding raga vibe is undeniable on some of the tracks, but others are far more abstract, unfurling alternating tones, letting the notes ring out, just the tail ends woven into each other, creating a gorgeous expanse of warm, but spare melody, until the notes grow gradually closer together and finally settle into one another. Some of the tracks sound choral, almost liturgical, while others sounds like an orchestra tuning up stretched into swirling near static drones, the final nearly 12 minute track being perhaps the most beautiful of the bunch, a symphony of metallic buzz, rising and falling swells, buried melodies, the sound slow shifting, but ever changing, dense, and dark, but somehow lush and lovely and glimmering, sun dappled and so serene...
MPEG Stream: "Movement I: Sun AM"
MPEG Stream: "Movement V: Sun PM"

ROYAL BATHS Litanies (Woodsist) cd 13.98
Litanies is the debut from SF garage gloom poppers Royal Baths, who have crafted a gorgeously hazy and murky bit of rhythmic hypnopop, equally indebted to the Velvet Underground, Spacemen 3, and of course the current crop of retro reverb junkies that have been spilling from garages all over the Bay Area.
Gauzy and druggy, looped and mesmerizing, the drums simple and motorik, a distinctly Mo Tucker like pound, the sound reverby and cavernous, as if they recorded in an old cistern, the vocals a lazy melodic drawl, but often supported by gorgeous Beach Boys like harmonies, and the guitars, chiming and jangly one minute, howling and distorted the next, slipping from muted chug, to buzzing drone, to grinding crunch, often in the same song. All of that wrapped around crazy hooks, irresistible melodies, and some seriously kick ass songs.
"After Death" is definitely a contender for song of the year, spidery echo drenched guitars hover over a primitive rhythmic thud, the vocals sweetly melancholic, gorgeous boy/girl harmonies, plenty of sixties pop vocal "Bop Bob Baaaa"s, some cool strangely angular riffage, an explosive bridge that crunches and pounds, the whole thing so deliriously druggy and impossibly catchy. And that's only one of a clutch of killer jams, "Nikki Don't" is the Velvets by way of the Beach Boys, a murky low slung slither, but infused with plenty of unlikely sunshininess. "Needle And Thread" is total Loop / Spacemen 3 style buzzdrone murk pop, washed out and woozily dreamlike, with warbly basslines and some seriously fierce fuzz guitar. "Sitting In My Room" is like Wooden Ship on tranquilizers, hypnotic and psychedelic, but so gloriously wasted sounding.
Easily one of our new favorite records, and new favorite bands, druggy droney garagerock krautpop, like a SF garage rock mix tape (Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees, the Mantles, Sic Alps) that's been chopped and screwed, the Fuzztones via the Velvets, the Beach Boys filtered through plenty of Loop, Spacemen 3 covering the Lyres, however you slice it, this totally rules!
MPEG Stream: "After Death"
MPEG Stream: "Nikki Don't"
MPEG Stream: "Needle And Thread"

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

BELIEVER The Magic Sequence (Land And Sea) cd-r 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Believer is the new musical project of Danny Paul Grody and Trevor Montgomery (both from Tarentel and The Drift as well as various other side projects and solo outfits including Lazarus, and Moholy-Nagy). For their debut release put out by Land And Sea, who brought us the Coconut 7" from a couple of lists ago, the duo recorded three expansive synth-based compositions that are beautifully minimal and impressionistic. Using loops, sweeping bell tones and guitar washes, the three tracks encompass a kind of melodic formlessness, beginning with a pattern and then slowly letting it dissolve into something much airier, all the while still maintaining a sense of gravity and musical purpose. A fine debut that makes us look forward to whatever comes next. Super limited to 50 copies in handsewn paper covers (that you have to rip or cut open to get to the disc!). Highly Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Nocturnal Sea"
MPEG Stream: "Carrier Wave"

BUDOS BAND, THE III (Daptone) lp 17.98
NOW ON VINYL!
There's never a question as to if a Budos Band release will sound good or not, they are one of THEE tightest and most masterful players of Afro-soul-funk around. And while their first two outings were totally great records, they have stepped up their game big time for number three. It's one thing to be talented musicians, it's another to create songs that have a really strong mood and presence, and that's exactly what Budos Band have done on III. It's a bit darker, wider in scope and just straight up ON FIRE! They've figured out how to take their inspiration from the music of Fela Kuti, James Brown, Sun Ra, Funkadelic, as well as hints of psychedelia from Turkey, Latin America and Africa, and bring it all together in such an infectious and surprisingly original sound. If you ever get a chance to see them live, go for it, cuz they always kill, and this new album is our favorite from them yet!
MPEG Stream: "Rites of The Ancients"
MPEG Stream: "River Serpentine"
MPEG Stream: "Nature's Wrath"

OOOOO s/t (Tri Angle) 12" 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Dig the creepy cover, the extended claw like arms extended above a shadowy shawled woman, the whole image hazy and ghostly, and inside, strange electronic ghostly minimal dream pop that is the perfect soundtrack for that image, and for a lost world of similar sights, of blood red moons, of creatures in the dark, of low lit mysterious after hours underground gatherings, welcome to Witch House. No doubt most folks have already heard something about this new movement/genre, a twisted sample heavy dark minimal electronic music, which may have begun life as a witchy sort of house music, but has blossomed into a whole cadre of bands, make spooky, and evocative, and darkly lovely music. Most of these sounds released on limited tapes or cd-rs or as free downloads, the bands all named with strange option-control heavy keyboard characters, little black triangles, underscores, tiny crosses, jumbles of &'s and *'s, even OOOOO is written oOoOO, and who knows how it's pronounced. We could list some of the other bands, but it's probably just as easy to set your font for Zapf Dingbats and peck away at random!
But for all the secrecy and purposeful obfuscation, when you finally get your ears on this stuff, it is indeed, pretty fantastic. Woozy, warped, haunting, hypnotic, mysterious, dark, retro, futuristic, minimal, electronic, sampled, looped, depending on the group, it could be some sort of bewitching IDM shuffle, or some horror movie sampling bit of plunderphonia, or in the case of oOoOO, a gorgeous chunk of electronica flecked otherworldly dream pop. Skeletal and shoegazey, a soft pop cold wave wreathed in a ghostly haze, like Cocteau Twins or Slowdive but chopped & screwed. There's a little of that eighties sci-fi synth soundtrack stuff that's so popular right now, but somehow here it sounds more genuine, more a part of the admittedly twisted whole. Swirling effects, spectral ambience, atmospheric synth shimmer, occasionally slipping into some dark and sinister propulsive kraut disco, vocals clipped and looped into clouds of psychedelic soft noise, other times, the sound drifts more toward eighties MTV style yacht rock, but again, dubbed out, slowed down and wrapped in a blurred gauze, and throughout it all, the wispy angelic wraithlike female vocals, ethereal and ephemeral, a dreamy sonic thread that holds it all together.
Gorgeous stuff for sure. Anyone into all that hypnogogic pop stuff, or tripped out lo-fi cold wave, as well as folks like Zola Jesus, Nite Jewel, or even Beach House and other shoegazey dreampoppers, here's something just a bit darker, and a bit more out there, for when you're wandering the streets at night, or holed up in your house, lights out, candles lit and emotions dark, needing something pretty and poppy still, but infinitely more murky and mysterious.

ARP The Soft Wave (Smalltown Supersound) cd 16.98
The second full length release from Arp (aka Alexis Georgopolous from Q+A and The Alps), not including the very fine collaboration with Anthony Moore released earlier this year, The Soft Wave expounds and expands upon his stellar debut, In Light. The kosmiche synth textures from that release that harkened back to Cluster and Harmonia are still evident, but the compositions are stronger and more complex. The frame of reference has widened and one can hear touches of the instrumental works of John Cale and David Bowie as well as bits of fourth world Brian Eno and Debussy. But Arp uses these familiar qualities as departure points into his own refined world of space and sound that he builds upon with a dynamic sense of warmth, pattern and texture. There's even one vocal track, "From A Balcony Overlooking The Sea" that alludes to a progression yet to come. We're looking forward to it!
MPEG Stream: "Pastoral Symphony"
MPEG Stream: "Catch Wave"
MPEG Stream: "From A Balcony Overlooking The Sea"

BALAM ACAB See Birds (Tri Angle) 12" 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another 'witch house' luminary gets their first proper (non cd-r or download) release in the form of this gorgeous 5 song ep. For those who have somehow missed out on the whole witch house thing, it's sort of hard to describe, a new self proclaimed genre that seems to mix electronic music with dark creepy samples, everything slowed down and murky and witchy, ethereal vocals, distorted production, there's already a serious backlash because of the ridiculous witch house hype, which is pretty funny, considering probably all but the very hippest folks have barely even heard any witch house.
We reviewed the debut 12" from oOoOO a few lists back (all the witch house bands tend to have names that borrow heavily from the zapf dingbats font and the special keys on your keyboard), a fantastically dreamy chunk of electronic ghostly minimal dream pop, we also made Salem's King Night our Record of the Week, with its bombastic shoegaze bliss meets chopped and screwed Southern style crunk, but Balam Acab definitely tends toward the former, the two part title track a fuzzy, almost dubsteppy bit of gently glitchy gauziness, angelic vocals, wreathed in reverb, drifting over swirling industrial loops and shimmering synths, the second part totally blissed out and otherworldly, the beats spare and skeletal, the vocals floating on clouds of whirling effects and blurred melody, while in between, basslines buzz ominously, beats careen in slow motion, voices loop and hover, melodies fragment and drift apart, the sound like some eighties MTV pop slowed way down and dipped in drugs and left in the afternoon sun to warm, fuzzy streaks of sound wrapped around stuttery glacial beats, "Big Boy" offering up a hook on par with "See Birds", while "Dream Out" sounds like a warped Kate Bush record playing at 16rpm, while kids play video games in the next room.
Awesome stuff. And we could care less really if the hipster intelligentsia has decided witch house is dead, cuz we're definitely dying to hear more...
MPEG Stream: "See Birds"

BIRKIN , JANE & SERGE GAINSBOURG s/t (Je T'Aime....Moi Non Plus) (Light In The Attic) cd 14.98
We'd be hard pressed to think of a more romantically beautiful and sexually provocative song, that doesn't fall prey to cloying sentiment or cheap thrills, than Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin's "Je T'Aime...Moi Non Plus". But apparently the Pope at the time didn't agree and universally condemned the song which only garnered more international attention for the song and the couple who sang it. When will the Catholic Church ever learn?
This 1969 eponymous record is another classic reissue in the Gainsbourg catalog from Light In The Attic which also features the amazing songs "69 Annee Erotique" and "Jane B.", a french pop re-working of Chopin's Prelude No.4 in E minor. Sensual, playfully lurid, groovy, and albeit a bit corny at times (especially where they timely delve into pre-war popular song nostalgia), it's definitely a document of a controversial couple in love in full view of the world, and they're playing up the show with as much verve and joie de vivre as they can muster, which for the coolest of cool couples is one hell of a lot! Both the cd and the lp include liner notes with lyrics in French and English, original drawings and a telling interview about the recording with Jane Birkin herself! The 180 gram lp comes with a bonus 7" and a never before seen Serge and Jane comic drawn by David Lasky.
MPEG Stream: "Je T'Aime....Moi Non Plus"
MPEG Stream: "69 AnnŽe ƒrotique"
MPEG Stream: "Jane B"

SINGH, CHARANJIT Synthesizing: Ten Ragas To A Disco Beat (Bombay Connection) cd 17.98
This is so absolutely brilliant and bonkers, that when we first heard it, we thought it must be fake, some modern day Rephlex artist putting everyone on, taking the piss, with a "raga-techno" album supposedly from the early '80s. But, no joke, this is the real thing! In 1982, Charanjit Singh, a famous Bollywood composer (he was featured on Sublime Frequencies amazing Bollywood Steel Guitar compilation), had a plan to translate ancient traditional Indian classical ragas to the synthesizer. Using the very synths that would later define Acid House (Rolands TB-303 and TR-808!), Singh unwittingly created a proto-acid masterpiece, before the techno genre ever existed. Since only a hundred or less copies were made originally, this release was mostly a rumor since its creation. We vaguely remember Drew Daniel from Matmos talking about it on Pitchfork, a couple of years back, saying someone should reissue it, but we weren't ready for how incredible and ahead of its time it sounds. Imagine if Kraftwerk (or even Oneohtrix Point Never) started composing music for a Bollywood Rave. Or imagine a more raga-inspired take on another proto-acid classic, Manuel Gottsching's epic E2-E4. While the "disco" rhythms are fast and frenetic and don't really vary that much between tracks (they're not really disco beats per se, but more akin to acid's trancey bounce), the synth flourishes and squelches of the raga over the top are soaring and floaty, making the tracks deliriously hypnotic. Capturing acid house's lysergic transcendence but with an outsider's economy that refuses to date it specifically to the era. We guarantee there is not another release quite like this one in your collection. Highest Recommendation!
MPEG Stream: "Raga Bhairav"
MPEG Stream: "Raga Madhuvanti"

V/A Afro-Beat Airways: West African Shock Waves, Ghana and Togo 1972-1979 (Analog Africa) cd 24.00
Analog Africa does it again! The hardest working Afro-beat reissue label brings us another amazing comp of psych-tinged, long-lost Afro-beat, this time from Ghana and Togo recorded between 1972-1979. Raw, sultry, and totally ass-shaking, pretty much all of the tracks have never been released outside the region. Funky Latin rhythms, organ-driven psych, and cosmic soulful percussive trance-outs by 11 bands. Comes with amazing 44 page booklet with pictures and histories. Wow, deluxe package, incredible music. We can go on, but do we really need to? Analog Africa hasn't let us down yet. 100 percent Solid! Trust.
MPEG Stream: K. FRIMPONG & HIS CUBANO FIESTAS "Me Yee Owu Den"
MPEG Stream: MARIJATA "Break Through"
MPEG Stream: ITADI "Live In Other World"
MPEG Stream: DE FRANK PROFESSIONALS "Afe Ato Yen Bio"

AYERS, ROY Lots Of Love (Universal Sound) cd 19.98
Wow, this one's a real surprise, because as much as we're fans of jazz vibraphonist Roy Ayers' early to mid-seventies rare groove and jazz albums, his later output that we knew of, pretty much fell into cheesy disco and RnB. So when Universal Sounds re-issued this album from 1983 that we had never heard of, we were a bit wary but also highly intrigued. Released on his own independent label Uno Melodic while he was between major-label tenures with Polydor and Columbia, Lots of Love clearly shows Ayers independence as he freely explores many styles of post-disco dance music from the Afro-beat inspired "Black Family", the electro-funk of "Fast Money", and the minimal house of "Chicago", while "D.C. City" hearkens back to the simmering rare groove classics he recorded with Sylvia Striplin and Ethel Beatty. He also gets in a couple of grooving instrumentals with the vibes, showing that he never lost his chops. His best record since 1976's Everybody Loves The Sunshine!
Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Black Family"
MPEG Stream: "Fast Money"
MPEG Stream: "Chicago"

MOEBIUS & BEERBOHM Double Cut (Bureau B) cd 17.98
Of all the various collaborations that krautrock maestro Moebius of Cluster fame has been involved in, we have to say this 1983 collaboration with Gerd Beerbohm might just be the most mind blowing of them all. Originally released on Sky, it's been out of print for ages, so we were so thrilled when we saw Bureau B was going to reissue it, as it's a record that foreshadowed so many sounds of the rhythmic underground that we would love for years to come.
The record opens with "Minimotion" a totally menacing and suspenseful track that sets the mood perfectly for the rest of the record. Like the darkest side of Goblin, or what John Carpenter would want to base the tension of an entire film around. The next two tracks "Hydrogen" and "Narkose" are stunning in how ahead of their time they sound, even now. It's like an otherworldly version of minimal techno, practically the blueprint for what the Chain Reaction crew would be creating more then a decade later. Like the sounds of a steam engine filtered through the lens of a horror movie, so mesmerizing and menacing. The record's final track is the epic 21 minute "Doppelschnitt" and really should be played as loud as possible and made as required listening for anyone making minimal techno or any sort of electronica really, as this shows you the hypnotic possibilities of this sound. No doubt folks like Villalabos, Monoton, Moritz Von Oswald, and Carl Craig got their ears on this album early on, as this record really laid out the ingredients for what would go down in Berlin and Detroit in the years to follow.
But what makes Double Cut so incredibly special is not just that it was ahead of its time, mastering a genre that hadn't even been invented yet, but that in its minimalism, they made a record that creates such a strong mood and has such a distinct overall sound. It's like being trapped in a completely distinctive outer dimension. It wouldn't surprise us if David Cronenberg was hip to this record while he was making Videodrome. It's not often you get to talk about records that completely set the stage for a whole movement of music making to come in its wake. This is one of those records, and we're so damn glad its back in the world where it belongs. A unanimous favorite for sure, as everyone here at the store is totally in love and in awe of Double Cut!
Not yet reissued on vinyl but we're told that will be coming soon, hopefully.
MPEG Stream: "Minimotion"
MPEG Stream: "Doppelschnitt"
MPEG Stream: "Hydrogen"

PURE ECSTASY Tour Tape (self-released) cassette 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Along with the Sleep Over split, we managed to pick up a few copies of Pure Ecstasy's latest tape which shows off the bands more experimental side, a side we haven't seen as much on their pop singles. The bands slow motion grooves are in tact, but the overall effect is more collage-like, chopped in a blender style. Sometimes veering into hazy dub experimentations a la Sun Araw, or lo-fi distortion squalls, murmured voices, and pretty ambiance. Two ten minute sides. Super limited!

PURE ECSTASY / SLEEP OVER split (Light Lodge) 7" 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Welcome to dream pop heaven! The boys of Austin, TX trio Pure Ecstasy come together with their all-female equivalent Sleep Over (featuring Stephanie from Silver Pines) on this exquisite split single. We managed to get some of the last copies while they were both here on tour, so don't miss out on this one as once they're gone, they're gone!
The Pure Ecstasy track "Dream Over" is like Galaxie 500 on cough syrup, a super slow and hazy lament, waking up to the painful realization that your love is gone for good. The rhythm plods along with melancholic Beach Boys harmonies and distorted guitar swells panging with heartbreak and regret. These guys nail that sound so perfectly.
This is the first time we've heard all female trio, Sleep Over and hopefully it won't be the last. Two girl harmonies with organ, guitar, bass and drum machine, their track "Your World Is Night" is a blurry wash of woozy organ pop, hazy and pretty like Kate Bush on downers. So gooood!
We don't want to talk it up too much, because we only have a few of these. Amazing!

MOUNT KIMBIE Crooks & Lovers (Hot Flush) cd 17.98
Equal parts J Dilla, Flying Lotus and Actress, the full length debut of London-based "post-dubstep" duo Mount Kimbie is easily our new favorite night time listens. With stoned soul edits, heavenly string washes, wonky ping pong rhythms, underwater electronic atmospherics and an off-kilter but hazy production, Crooks and Lovers is all about the post-club come down. Chill and subdued, often dreamy and strange but super immersive and narcotically propulsive. The kind of sound that wraps around you, compels you along into its strange slippery rhythms, before finally lulling you into a beautifully warped hypnogogic sleep state. Highest Recommendation!
MPEG Stream: "Would Know"
MPEG Stream: "Before I Move Off"
MPEG Stream: "Carbonated"
MPEG Stream: "Mayor"

SCHICKERT, GUNTER Samtvogel (Wah Wah) lp 30.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Years ago we fell in love with Gunter Schickert's Uberfallig, a 1980 late-krautrock guitarscape epic. The cd reissue of that is now sadly out of print, but we've recently been turned onto Schickert's first lp from 1974, Samtvogel, which at last has been reissued on vinyl courtesy of the Spanish Import label Wah Wah, who have also recently reissued Heldon, Vainica Doble, Inner Space and other international psych gems. Sure, they're a bit expensive, but everything we've heard from the label has been amazing, so they're pretty much worth it.
Especially this one, a three track epic of cavernous space guitar extrapolations and buried lysergic vocal incantations that sounds like an alternate soundtrack to Fantastic Planet. The first track, "Apricot Brandy" gently introduce us into Schickert's sound world, a spacy lyrical repetitive commune riff with murmured vocals and spindly multi-layered guitar percolations that gently float in an echo-y atmospheric chamber. The second track, "Kriegmaschinen, Fahrt Zur Holle" is nearly 17 minutes of space-echo, belltones and strange echo effects that slowly build into more intense repetitive and multi-layered motifs, sometimes urgent and cinematic, and other moments more billowy and sinuous, reminding us of Achim Reichel and Manuel Gottsching, and even obscure krautrock band Temple. The final twenty-one minute track, "Wald", brings the intensity to the fore, with a buzzing guitarscape that sounds like John Carpenter, but soon gives way to a more lilting spacey bubbling and exploratory improvisation before the intense riffs return and interject and subside in strange surges, finally dissipating in little clouds of helium. A beautiful piece of outsider kosmiche! Highly Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Kriegmaschinen, Fahrt Zur Holle"
MPEG Stream: "Wald"

WESLEY, FRED & THE J.B.'S Damn Right I Am Somebody (People) lp 14.98
There is little doubt that the band behind James Brown from the late sixties to the mid seventies was just about the tightest unit around. Of course, Brown's habit of fining his players for missing beats would keep any band in check. But the band wasn't dubbed The JB's until after a legendary moment where most of Brown's band, including key figures Fred Wesley, Maceo Parker, and Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis, up and quit on him. Brown, in a pinch, quickly grabbed a young Cincinnati-based backing band, The Pacemakers, which included a young Bootsy Collins before he joined Funkadelic. With a new band, a new decade and a new sound, Brown pretty much singlehandedly created funk music, and the recently defected Wesley, Parker, and Ellis quickly returned to the fold. The JB's went under many different names and line-ups, including Fred Wesley and the JB's, Maceo and The Macks, Fred Wesley and The New JB's. The Last Word, and The First Family, but the core personnel were more or less the same except for the Collins brothers who were only on the first JB's 1970 lp Food For Thought which contained the hits "Pass The Peas" and "Gimme Some More". All of their records up until 1974 are solid funk staples with hits "Doing It To Death", "Same Beat", and "If You Don't Get It Right The First Time, Back It Up and Try It Again, Party" that would be endlessly sampled in hip hop for decades to come. Good to have these on vinyl again! Funk essentials!

DEMDIKE STARE Liberation Through Hearing (Modern Love) 12" 22.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Part two, in Demdike Stare's planned trilogy of 12"s, a comprehensive hauntological study in sound. For those new to Demdike Stare, we tend to fall back on this succinct description: black metal dubstep, or sometimes this one: a blackened dub record on Chain Reaction. Either one should give you an idea of the sort of dark sonic energy these guys conjure up. Thick claustrophobic atmospheres, skeletal rhythms, thick throbbing bass, skittering dubbed out beats, disembodied voices, all woven into a swirling organic mass of dub flecked blacktronica, the sound seeming to grow ever darker, as evidenced here on part two, which is thematically related to the Book Of The Dead, and focuses on the space between death and rebirth. Rendered in greys and blacks, in buzz and rumble, beginning with some woozy late night Portishead style downtempo trip hop, low slung looped skitter and swell, lush swirls of cinematic strings, ghostly choirs, a softly lurching rhythmic stutter, a deep cavernous throb, sounding like a ghostly stripped down dubstep. Which gives way to heaving expanses of black tidal thrum, muted scrapings, all wound into hypnotic pulses of dark energy, laced with distant chiming melodies, a haunting, gauzey faded memory in sound, drawn from radios with dying batteries and gradually slowing turntables, a soft focus symphony of creaks and rumbles and blurred low end shimmer. The A-side finishes with a swoonsome smear of looped ambience, like a field recording of an after hours nightclub captured in a temporal loop, warm an druggy and fuzzy, strangely hypnotic and rhythmic, totally trancelike, a creeped out wasteland soundscape, mysterious and chilling, which is eventually augmented by thick slabs of corrosive low end, and heavily reverbed industrial clatter, which eventually emerges into a strange sea of crackle and hum, of warbly rhythms, chiming bells and distorted crunch, sounding a bit like Jeck spinning Pole record, abstract and spaced out and hauntingly lovely.
The B-side opens with thick streaks of ghostly mesmer, all washed out and slowly decaying, underpinned by thick swaths of dubstep style bass wobble, but muted and smoothed into soft smears of undulating blackness. Subtle skitter surfaces, as do distant voices, the sound getting more and more dubby, a bit like a Caretaker record on Chain Reaction, that sort of hazy abstract drift, but anchored to barely there beats, the buzz building to an intense coda, all the while wrapped in throbbing woofer punishing low end.
Some super stripped down rhythms are laid over a swirling ghostly backdrop of fragmented melodies and a buried house music thump, tangled and blurred strings wrap the proceedings in a veil of softened reverb and subtle echo, the almost Eastern sounding pulse and swell reminding us a bit of the late great Muslimgauze.
Finally, the record collapses into some sort of melancholic sonic reverie, a hushed ambient outro, a tranquil sea of soft swirling swells, clouds of echo and reverb, a dreamy darkness, a blackened pop ambience, laced with muted streaks of fuzz and hiss, but all gradually sinking into Demdike Stare's endless trancelike billowing blackness.
LIMITED TO 700 COPIES!!

NASCIMENTO, MILTON Courage (Verve / A&M) cd 12.98
Milton Nascimento's North American debut record from 1969 came at the end of the huge wave of the bossa nova movement that had infiltrated the American imagination since Astrud Gilberto's "Girl From Ipanema" with Stan Getz in 1963. A&M records and producer Creed Taylor were behind some of the best records of this period including albums by Antonio Carlos Jobim, Sergio Mendes and Joao Gilberto, and Nascimento's Courage is no exception. Beautifully arranged and sung, this is where many of his most popular Brazilian songs were heard for the first time including "Vera Cruz", "Morro Velho" and "Bridges (Travessia)". Singing in Portuguese, English and sometimes wordlessly, this is a breathtaking record. While it doesn't have the psych flourishes and Tropicalia bent of Cluba Da Esquina, from a few years later (a unanimous store favorite!) it's still an essential record and perfect for lazy and wistful summer evenings.
MPEG Stream: "Vera Cruz"
MPEG Stream: "Rio Vermelho"
MPEG Stream: "Cancao Do Sol"

GRASSLUNG Sincere Void (Root Strata) cd 14.98
After a whole bunch of super limited cd-r's and tapes, dronelord Grasslung, aka Jonas Asher, finally releases his first proper cd full length, on Root Strata, which is seemingly right where it belongs, as sonically, it definitely falls right in line along side Barn Owl, Pulse Emitter, William Fowler Collins, Grouper, Keith Whitman, Duane Pitre, Le Revelateur, and the like, and much like many of the Root Strata crew, Grasslung's approach to the drone is similarly abstract, something much more ethereal and ephemeral, almost new agey, hushed and minimal and slightly ominous, haunting even, long tones, layers and textures, fragmented melodies left to drift in soft expanses of hushed hum and burnished shimmer, the sound both lush and spare, some tracks dense and dark, others seemingly lit from within, glowing softly, from gorgeous contemplative piano driven minimalism, the notes allowed to ring out and gradually fade, the overtones subtle and the low end rumbling way below, to something more glimmery and reflective, soft billowy synthscapes, the melodies stretched way out, allowed to sweetly swell, and to drift dreamily through fields of blurred organ chords and washed out streaks of windswept muted thrum, to a Caretaker like victrola-ed haze, all looped warble and sepiatoned thrum, to smoldering distorted dronedreamdrift, thick swaths of softly churning out of focus buzz, blissed out dronedoom loops, layered and left to gradually melt into one another, creating gauzy swirls of softly colored sound. So totally lovely.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES.
MPEG Stream: "Scarred Hands We Drift"
MPEG Stream: "Roland Park Noose"
MPEG Stream: "Tired Of Remembering"

CRYSTAL CASTLES Crystal Castles (Fiction / Universal Motown) 2lp 19.98
Now on Vinyl!
One of the trends that we've noticed in the last several years with many of our favorite music makers is that it's seemingly become about releasing as MUCH as you can as OFTEN as you can. And while it's awesome to get so much new music from bands you like, there is still something to be said for really taking your time and crafting fully realized albums that may take a few years to wait for. At the rate that everyone is putting out releases, we almost just figured that Crystal Castles had somehow vanished or had broken up since we haven't heard a peep from them since their infectious debut from a couple years ago.
Luckily they are indeed back and sounding perhaps even more focused, frantic, infectious and engaging than on their debut. (Though would it have killed them to have spent just a few more minutes and come up with an album title? Having two self-titled discs is a bit confusing!) Equal parts '80s flashback, electro-pop with cold wave persuasions, primitive electronics, post-punk spazzy convulsions (the first track would have sounded right at home on one of our favorite spazzcore records by folks like The Locust, The VSS, or Clikatat Ikatowi), and catchy pop prowess. This is one of those records that really does appeal to so many different musical ears, and just about all of us at AQ can't stop listening to it. While it's not too unusual for Andee and Allan to come running up to the front of the store to see what's playing, this time it was Cup who had to make a beeline to the speakers to find out who it was covering Canadian glammy new wavers Platinum Blonde! And the fact that singer Alice Glass hadn't even been born yet when the original was released, just proves this duo has done their '80s pop hit homework and are now WAY ahead of the pack!
Like The Knife lending a helping hand to lead Adult. back to greatness, or Caribou, Hot Chip, Goldfrapp, Chromatics, M83 and The Junior Boys all somehow poisoned by a much darker goth-like magic potion. Even those of us who are usually a little shy when it comes to beat orientated music are totally digging this as there is something much more weird and nuanced happening than on lots of other electro-pop records that come our way. It's super fun but not dumb, varied but not erratic, gets out-there but not alienating, sexy but not a put on. Bottom line, it's a fucking awesome record!
MPEG Stream: "Celestica"
MPEG Stream: "Not In Love"
MPEG Stream: "Year Of Silence"
MPEG Stream: "I Am Made Of Chalk"

BORGES, LO s/t (Water) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We first heard Lo Borges as singer and songwriter on the mighty Clube Da Esquina, Milton Nascimento's 1972 epic double record, we listed awhile back. That record has been a consistently steady seller since we listed it, and with good reason, it's incredible! But while Nascimento and Borges actually collaborated together on much of it, it's mostly regarded as a Nascimento record. So it's great to see Lo Borge's self titled debut solo album from the same year finally reissued by the Water label, to shine a much deserved spotlight on this underrated artist. And we have to say, it's equally as incredible and essential as Clube De Esquina, Eduardo Mateo's Mateo Solo Bien Se Lame, Caetano Veloso's Transa, or Gilberto Gil's Cerebro Electronico! With a nod to the cover art, those are big shoes indeed!
Recorded when he was just entering his twenties, the scope of artistry on display seems to be by someone so much more experienced. Not only is Borges at the top of his game as a singer and songwriter, but the arrangements and musicianship are just as dazzling. Most of the songs barely squeak over the two minute mark, but he packs so many ideas into a song without losing its central focus and at the same time giving everything lots of space. Here and there a string section drops in and out, a flurry of baroque piano, soaring flutes, a jazzy organ swell, searing electric guitar, hints of electronic psychedelic washes. At times romantic and mysterious, other times more urgent with rhythms picking up and slowing down in tempo to evoke a wide range of emotive qualities. This is a record we'll probably be playing all summer long. We can't recommend it enough!
MPEG Stream: "Voce Fica Melhor Assim"
MPEG Stream: "Como O Machado"
MPEG Stream: "Nao Se Apague Esta Noite"
MPEG Stream: "Aos Baroes"

LOWER DENS Twin-Hand Movement (Gnomonsong) lp 14.98
We've been fans of Jana Hunter's from her first split with Devendra Banhart a few years back. Here with her new band project, Lower Dens, Hunter shakes off her usual singer-songwriter mode and gives us a more beautifully atmospheric indie-rock side that we just can't stop listening too. With big crunchy distorted dueling guitar riffs, driving rhythms and reverbed vocals that have a more urgent and energetic feel sort of like vintage PJ Harvey fronting early Deerhunter, while occasionally veering down a hazy and somnolent path giving off a Low or Galaxie 500 vibe. Plus some of the song titles are hilariously vivid, especially the last one, "Two Cocks Waving Wildly At Each Other Across A Vast Open Space, A Dark Icy Tundra". How can you not be curious? Probably one of the most rocking and energetic albums we have heard on this label. Solid!
MPEG Stream: "Completely Golden"
MPEG Stream: "Hospice Gates"
MPEG Stream: "Two Cocks..."

DEUTSCHE WERTARBEIT s/t (Medical Records) lp 19.98
We can probably count the major female figures of Krautrock on one hand. Most of them like Rosi Mueller of Ash Ra Tempel, Renate Knaup from Amon Duul II, Djong Yun from Popol Vuh, or Sabine Merbach from Gila were either singers or muses for their male-led bands. And don't even mention Clara Mondshine, which was a pseudonym for Walter Bachauer, a very real actual man. But even among those women, you don't find too many female krautrock composers. Actually, we really couldn't think of any, offhand. Can you? If so, please enlighten!
Thankfully, the brand new reissue label, Medical Records, who has bolted out the gate running with not only one but two amazing (and amazingly limited!) vinyl-only reissues, sets the record straight! The other reissue, Alexander Robotnick, reviewed elsewhere on this list, is a weirdo Italo-disco / French electro classic we've known about for awhile and we're super psyched to see finally reissued. But this one, Deutsche Wertarbeit , the solo project of Dorothea Raukes, is altogether completely new to us and what a fantastic discovery it is!
Released on Sky Records in 1981, Deutsche Wertarbeit was Raukes' first solo effort after years of being the singer for a German Progressive band we're not familiar with called Streetmark, who started in 1968, and released 4 lps between 1976 and 1981. Two of those were also released on Sky Records and one of them was even recorded in collaboration with Wolfgang Riechmann, the same year he was murdered. What? Really? Why didn't we know of this already? Just goes to show, there are still many treasures to be unearthed.
And if you dug Wolfgang Riechmann's Wunderbar reissue, that we raved about awhile back, or Klaus Schultze, Tangerine Dream, Cluster, Peter Baumann, or even some of the later Manuel Gottsching recordings such as New Age of Earth, then add Deutsche Wertarbeit to the essential kosmiche synthscape canon. But while she definitely fits in with those artists, she carves out her own defining sound of warm minimal hypnotic rhythms and vocoder voicings that display a joyous exhuberance you don't see as much in artists like Schultze or Baumann. In fact this would fit in well with the stuff on that Dirty Space Disco comp, as it sounds like a mystical combination of Vangelis and Popol Vuh, expansive and cosmic, upliftingly propulsive while keeping it all beautifully reigned in.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES, each 180 gram colored vinyl and hand-numbered. We're not sure how long we'll have these, so don't wait too long. Highest Recommendation!!!!!!
MPEG Stream: "Guten Abend Leute"
MPEG Stream: "Auf Engelsflugeln"
MPEG Stream: "Der Grosse Atem"

ROBOTNICK, ALEXANDER Ce N'est Q'un Debut (Medical Records) lp 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
One of two amazing vinyl-only reissues on the brand new Medical Records label (the other is Record Of The Week Deutsche Wertarbeit). This one, a holy grail of sorts for all the cult disco seekers, a sexy, exuberant and at times wonderfully sleazy hybrid of Italo-disco, French electro, and Minimal Wave weirdness by the one and only Alexander Robotnick (aka Maurizio Dami).
Ce N'est Q'un Debut was released in 1984 after his first single, "Problemes D'amour" became a mega-cult hit in New York underground dance club circles a year earlier. The extended version of that track was prominently featured on the Strut label's Disco Not Disco 2 a few years back, and it fits right in with Giorgio Moroder, Bernard Fevre, Arthur Russell and other Mutant Disco aficionados as a defining dance staple of the era. This mini-lp features 6 killer tracks including the Moroderesque, "Dance Boy Dance", another popular cult single that was probably heard more in gay bathhouses than in mainstream discos due to its lurid minimal rhythms and suggestive whispered singing. Sooo good! Sweaty summer dancing begins here! Don't let this one slip away!
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES, each 180 gram colored vinyl and hand-numbered. We're not sure how long we'll have these, so don't wait too long. Highest Recommendation!
MPEG Stream: "Problemes D'amour"
MPEG Stream: "Dance Boy Dance"

ROEDELIUS Lustwandel (Bureau B) cd 17.98
Along with the beautiful compilation of seventies recordings from Roedelius' Selbstportrait series (Diary Of The Unforgotten), we also have this lovely reissue of his 1981 recording Lustwandel. This was Roedelius' third solo record between the chamber baroque miniatures of 1979's Jardin Au Fou and the airy open-ended pastoralism of Wenn Der Sudwind Weht, recorded the same year as this. The music on Lustwandel is a perfect segue between the two approaches, comprised largely of solo piano works with subtle textural nuances of ambient atmospherics and classical inflected melodies, that occasionally transition into works for strings as well as harpsichord. But there are also some strange turns here and there into a warm angularity of soft martial rhythms and ballet moods, as well as some medieval sounding short pieces with pipes and hand percussion. It's a slowly sauntering set that takes its time to move from parlor to forest in an almost pageant like procession. Quite Beautiful!
MPEG Stream: "Lustwandel"
MPEG Stream: "Drausen Worbei"
MPEG Stream: "Wilkommen"
MPEG Stream: "Langer Atem"

DADAWAH Peace And Love (Dug Out) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Reissued courtesy of the Dug Out label run by Mark Ernestus of Basic Channel and Mark Ainley of Honest Jon's comes this beautiful 1974 work of reggae roots spiritual music unlike any we've ever heard. Deep and heady, slowly unfolding over four long tracks (most of them exceeding the 10 minute mark, and all melding into one another), it carries an earthy psychedelic vibe that unfurls like incense smoke over an expansive desert. With rolling bass, nyabinghi (ceremonial hand percussion), piano and spaced out guitar washes that weave around the central rhythm and vocalist Ras Michaels spiritual incantation like singing. We can see folks who are into bands like Om, Bright Black Morning Light, Sun Araw, or the hippie head trips of early Dr. John or Bruce Palmer getting way into this. Probably one of the most mystically stoned Jamaican head burners we've heard in a long time. Amazing!
MPEG Stream: "Run Come Rally"
MPEG Stream: "Seventy-Two Nations"

DADAWAH Peace And Love (Dug Out) lp 24.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Reissued courtesy of the Dug Out label run by Mark Ernestus of Basic Channel and Mark Ainsley of Honest Jon's comes this beautiful 1974 work of reggae roots spiritual music unlike any we've ever heard. Deep and heady, slowly unfolding over four long tracks (most of them exceeding the 10 minute mark, and all melding into one another), it carries an earthy psychedelic vibe that unfurls like incense smoke over an expansive desert. With rolling bass, nyabinghi (ceremonial hand percussion), piano and spaced out guitar washes that weave around the central rhythm and vocalist Ras Michaels spiritual incantation like singing. We can see folks who are into bands like Om, Bright Black Morning Light, Sun Araw, or the hippie head trips of early Dr. John or Bruce Palmer getting way into this. Probably one of the most mystically stoned Jamaican head burners we've heard in a long time. Amazing!
MPEG Stream: "Run Come Rally"
MPEG Stream: "Seventy-Two Nations"

SZABO, GABOR Jazz Raga (Light In The Attic) cd 14.98
We're so happy that Light in The Attic reissued this, a stellar, newly remastered entry from 1967 in the amazing back catalog of one of our all-time favorite jazz guitarists from the sixties and seventies, Gabor Szabo. As a matter of fact, he was the first true guitar hero for Scott here at AQ, the reason Scott started playing guitar - thus Szabo is indirectly responsible for The Alps!
Releasing an amazing string of albums on Impulse, Skye, Blue Thumb and CTI, Szabo's masterful blending of eastern raga, gypsy and flamenco influences from his native Hungary with western jazz, mod, pop and rock influences created some of the most psych-inflected jazz grooves of the sixties. We suppose if you were only to get one of his records, Jazz Raga is arguably the best albeit strangest of the bunch. Featuring eight originals and three covers (including a version of the Rolling Stones "Paint It Black"), Szabo recorded the whole album with a group, including the funkiest of session drummers, Bernard "Pretty" Purdie, then overdubbed sitar on all but two of the tracks. Of course by this time, the sitar was becoming THE instrument of choice in western popular music to channel a mystical spellbinding sound, but the manner in which Szabo employs it in the overall compositions of the tracks here is at times, lyrical, dizzying and truly wacked out. For one thing, the sitar is never quite in tune with the actual songs, making some of the melodies seem a bit warped in a way which is difficult to pinpoint. It's not an off-putting effect, quite the opposite. The slightly off interweaving of tonal shades and melody lines actually enhances the otherwordly mystical vibe on what might otherwise be perceived as a psychsploitative gimmick. Of course Szabo's meticulously intricate but seemingly simple guitar phrasings don't need much help from the sitar (he wasn't called The Spellbinder for nothing!). The sitar just provides an elemental coloring allowing a deeper immersion into whatever Szabo is seeking out, whether it be a quiet call to focus ("Walking on Nails"), a monster mod groover ("Sophisticated Wheels"), or the introduction of one of his signature tunes ("Mizrab"), a driving mantra-like tune of tablas and hypnotic droning open-tuned guitars that never tires. It's a song he would return to a few more times in his relatively short career (he died in 1982). Hopefully, more of his great records will be reissued as lovingly as this. Includes a 40 page booklet with lots of notes and pictures. Highest Recommendation!
MPEG Stream: "Walking On Nails"
MPEG Stream: "Mizrab"
MPEG Stream: "Sophisticated Wheels"
MPEG Stream: "Caravan"

COHRAN, PHIL AND THE ARTISTIC HERITAGE ENSEMBLE Armageddon (Katalyst) cd 12.98
It's always a good day when we hear another new archival Phil Cohran and The Artistic Heritage Ensemble release. Not sure how much material is still out there to be released, but please keep it coming! Issued for the first time, this killer live recording from 1968 is one of his most intense, cosmic and out ensemble pieces to date, getting into some serious Sun Ra interstellar spiritual energy territory, as they delve into deep themes of the legacy of slavery, the atom bomb and the end of creation. Woah. The opener, "Motherless Child", sung by members of The Spencer Jackson Family, is slow and sorrowful, with just voice and a low rumbling of horns and drums that cascade around the singers instead of supporting them melodically, which leads into "The Creation of The Beast", an elephantine procession that revels in a sort of triumphant malevolence of marching brass and swirling leering horns. "The Window" is the most sedate of the five pieces, featuring a sparse but ominous frankophone riff that gradually interweaves with lilting horn motifs, while the longest and final track, "Armageddon" delves full throttle into the powers of the ensemble with battling and frenzied horns in a culminating fury of sound and vision that is as majestic as it is searing. Magnificent!
MPEG Stream: "The Warning"
MPEG Stream: "The Window"
MPEG Stream: "Armageddon"

CARETAKER, THE Persistent Repetition Of Phrases (History Always Favors The Winners) cd 17.98
One of Wire magazine's best records of 2008, and an instant all time aQ fave, the Caretaker's Persistent Repetition Of Phrases is a gorgeous, hazy, sonic mystery, that when first released, was so limited, the cd went out of print before we even had a chance to review it at all. We did end up listing the vinyl, and selling TONS, but now finally, the cd version has been repressed, so prepare to again experience the magic of the Caretaker's haunting and evocative miniature blurred ghostjazz soundworlds, a gloriously sprawling, murky, looped and mesmeric dreamscape songsuite.
The Caretaker has two modes, slow shimmery gauzy ambience, and slowed down warped and blurred big band and jazz. Often combing the two into some sort of otherworldly slow motion spectral dream jazz. We've been joking that the Caretaker is sort of like the DJ Screw of the avant underground, seeing as he takes scratchy old jazz records and reworks them Philip Jeck style into, woozy buried drifts of jazz shadows and haunting otherworldly vocals. Most of the jazzier tracks, sound like the soundtrack to some super creepy dream sequence, a la the Shining, like when Nicholson finds himself in that bar filled with ghosts, you can almost imagine, a dusty old saloon, broken mirrors, cigarette burned tables, sawdust floors, a lone figure sitting alone, hunched over in a dark corner, while all around him, nearly transparent figures move about as if still alive, a ballet of phantom familiarity, spirits unaware that they've moved on, going on with the machinations of daily life, their essence flickery and indistinct, like an old filmstrip. And a filmstrip soundtrack is exactly what the music of the Caretaker evokes, warm, effusive, burnished, old timey, antiquated, the sounds are dark and woozy and and bleed together, blurring into fuzzy stretches of lost memory, of suspended time. The music here is the sound of faded old photographs, of old super 8 movies projected on a wall in a dark and dusty old room, of abandoned skating rinks, of boarded up windows, of black clouds filling a slate grey sky, of life slowing to a crawl, before even more slowly fading away. Absolutely and utterly breathtaking.
MPEG Stream: "Lacunar Amnesia"
MPEG Stream: "Persistent Repition Of Phrases"
MPEG Stream: "Rosy Retrospection"
MPEG Stream: "Long Term (Remote)"

BEACH FOSSILS s/t (Captured Tracks) cd 13.98
Sometimes the stars just align so perfectly. The first time we got to hear Beach Fossils it was a breezy and sunny afternoon. The front door was wide open, the wind gently blowing through the trees outside, and the songs we were hearing couldn't have provided a more perfect soundtrack. Beach Fossils is a one man band, and there definitely seem to be legions of those these days. But damn, if folks can keep creating songs as good as these alone in their bedrooms, then we say who needs a full band! Beach Fossils stands out from so much of the recent lo-fi indie garage pop, being not so much about feedback and distortion and low fidelity. Instead, it's the amazing songs on the record that grab your attention. Lazy day, dazed & glazed pop gems that remind us of a wonderful sound situated perfectly betwixt Kurt Vile and Pavement.
There is something so authentic and fresh sounding in Beach Fossils' music. It compels us to let go and immediately give in to the soft breezes that seem to accompany the soaring washed out melodies on display here. Major contender for pop record of the year perhaps, and without a doubt another PERFECT summer album!
MPEG Stream: "Sometimes"
MPEG Stream: "Youth"
MPEG Stream: "Lazy Day"

CRYSTAL CASTLES Crystal Castles (Universal Motown) cd 13.98
One of the trends that we've noticed in the last several years with many of our favorite music makers is that it's seemingly become about releasing as MUCH as you can as OFTEN as you can. And while it's awesome to get so much new music from bands you like, there is still something to be said for really taking your time and crafting fully realized albums that may take a few years to wait for. At the rate that everyone is putting out releases, we almost just figured that Crystal Castles had somehow vanished or had broken up since we haven't heard a peep from them since their infectious debut from a couple years ago.
Luckily they are indeed back and sounding perhaps even more focused, frantic, infectious and engaging than on their debut. (Though would it have killed them to have spent just a few more minutes and come up with an album title? Having two self-titled discs is a bit confusing!) Equal parts '80s flashback, electro-pop with cold wave persuasions, primitive electronics, post-punk spazzy convulsions (the first track would have sounded right at home on one of our favorite spazzcore records by folks like The Locust, The VSS, or Clikatat Ikatowi), and catchy pop prowess. This is one of those records that really does appeal to so many different musical ears, and just about all of us at AQ can't stop listening to it. While it's not too unusual for Andee and Allan to come running up to the front of the store to see what's playing, this time it was Cup who had to make a beeline to the speakers to find out who it was covering Canadian glammy new wavers Platinum Blonde! And the fact that singer Alice Glass hadn't even been born yet when the original was released, just proves this duo has done their '80s pop hit homework and are now WAY ahead of the pack!
Like The Knife lending a helping hand to lead Adult. back to greatness, or Caribou, Hot Chip, Goldfrapp, Chromatics, M83 and The Junior Boys all somehow poisoned by a much darker goth-like magic potion. Even those of us who are usually a little shy when it comes to beat orientated music are totally digging this as there is something much more weird and nuanced happening than on lots of other electro-pop records that come our way. It's super fun but not dumb, varied but not erratic, gets out-there but not alienating, sexy but not a put on. Bottom line, it's a fucking awesome record!
MPEG Stream: "Celestica"
MPEG Stream: "Not In Love"
MPEG Stream: "Year Of Silence"
MPEG Stream: "I Am Made Of Chalk"

INDIGNANT SENILITY Plays Wagner (Type) cd 15.98
Now both volumes of this previously vinyl only deconstructed classical epic are available on one cd with new artwork! Here is what we recently said about 'em:
If the recent Leyland Kirby 3cd epic, Sadly, The Future Is No Longer What It Was, left you jonesing for more washed out spectral ambience culled from classical sources, than here's the next best thing.
Indignant Senility is one of many monikers of Portland-based tape-manipulator, Pat Maherr, who also operates as DJ Yo-Yo Dieting, Sisprum Vish, and Moms Who Chop. For this project, Plays Wagner takes its obvious source material from old found thrift store records of Richard Wagner symphonies and operas. With all the dust and wear still intact, Maherr runs the source material through layers of filters and processing until they are mere specters of their original sound, stretching and distorting these inspirational masterpieces of classical music into something altogether alien and dark, but strangely familiar. Murky deep-pitched strings, ghostly choral voices slowed, and blurred into tremulously washed out and ephemeral murmurs, slow-rising intensities and tonal vibrations. These were then recorded on to cassette tape from which this recording was mastered from, adding to the slow, mournful decay of the ruined grandeur of the original source material.
It's easy to see why classical music always seems to be haunted, even without much manipulation. But their is something to be said about the grandeur and power of classical music's biggest ego deconstructed into something so unearthly and spectral and yet so beautifully sad that even at it's most reduced, one still can't remove the huge flow of powerful feeling inherent in the recording. The ghosts can be exorcised but never fully banished. Highly Recommended!!
MPEG Stream: "OnE"
MPEG Stream: "FoUr"
MPEG Stream: "TeN"

V/A Message From The Tribe: An Anthology of Tribe Records: 1972-1976 (Universal Sound) cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Similar in spirit to the AACM (the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians) collective out of Chicago, The Tribe was a collective of free-spirited musicians in Detroit, some of them former Motown session players, who produced and distributed independent recordings by local musicians to foster their own community and have their own creative control of marketing and artistic freedom. Founded by Phil Ranelin and Wendell Harrison, the collective also included Marcus Belgrave, Harold McKinney and Doug Hammond. Musically, The Tribe leaned more to the soul and funk side of jazz, often sounding similar in vibe to Roy Ayers and Donald Byrd rather than the freer sounds of the AACM which included the Art Ensemble of Chicago and Philip Cohran. The Tribe were similarly community minded, but displayed a more activist bent politically, trying to arouse a sense of communal pride and self-reliance in a city beseiged by economic woes, first in the relocation of Motown from Detroit to Los Angeles, and then in the long decline of the auto industry. They did this not only by making and releasing music, but also through the monthly publishing of the Tribe magazine, "Detroit's first black awareness magazine" which featured articles on history, politics, business and culture. While the collective only lasted five years, their output has continued to inspire. In fact, Carl Craig recently brought Tribe members back together to record for the first time in thirty years. Universal Sound has done an amazing job of anthologizing their collective output and this release features a 60 page booklet of history, photos and articles form the Tribe magazine, complete with vintage advertisements from local businesses. Fans of the Sounds of Liberation release or that Spiritual Jazz compilation on Now Again should definitely check this out. So freaking cool!
MPEG Stream: PHIL/PHILIP RANELIN & TRIBE "Vibes From The Tribe"
MPEG Stream: TRIBE "What We Need"
MPEG Stream: MARCUS BELGRAVE "Space Odyssey"
MPEG Stream: DOUG HAMMOND "Wake Up Brothers"
MPEG Stream: TRIBE "Farewell To The Welfare "

GORDON, EDWARD LARRY Celestial Vibration (Universal Sound) cd 21.00
For the past couple of years, we've really been digging the recent unearthing of little known private press new age music whether it be Collie Ryan, William Eaton or Iasos. Lately we've been especially excited about this reissue from Universal Sound, of Edward Larry Gordon's 1978 debut. Gordon, or Laraaji, as he is otherwise known, creates long-form trance-inducing compositions using electronically enhanced zithers, auto-harps, kalimbas and other acoustic instruments that shimmer and radiate in beautifully meditative pulses. This record comprised of two thirty minute tracks, "All Pervading" and "Bethelehem" gained little notice upon its initial release, but thankfully it caught the attention of Brian Eno who subsequently produced his follow-up Days of Radiance for the EG Editions Ambient series in 1980 to wider acclaim. You can tell that Gordon was much inspired by earlier progenitors of cosmic music from Sun Ra to John and Alice Coltrane. You can especially hear the harp-like shimmer of Alice Coltrane in his treatments of the open tuned zither that he plays while in a complete meditative state. Really gorgeous stuff!
MPEG Stream: "All Pervading"
MPEG Stream: "Bethlehem"

GORDON, EDWARD LARRY Celestial Vibration (Universal Sound) lp 23.00
For the past couple of years, we've really been digging the recent unearthing of little known private press new age music whether it be Collie Ryan, William Eaton or Iasos. Lately we've been especially excited about this reissue from Universal Sound, of Edward Larry Gordon's 1978 debut. Gordon, or Laraaji, as he is otherwise known, creates long-form trance-inducing compositions using electronically enhanced zithers, auto-harps, kalimbas and other acoustic instruments that shimmer and radiate in beautifully meditative pulses. This record comprised of two thirty minute tracks, "All Pervading" and "Bethelehem" gained little notice upon its initial release, but thankfully it caught the attention of Brian Eno who subsequently produced his follow-up Days of Radiance for the EG Editions Ambient series in 1980 to wider acclaim. You can tell that Gordon was much inspired by earlier progenitors of cosmic music from Sun Ra to John and Alice Coltrane. You can especially hear the harp-like shimmer of Alice Coltrane in his treatments of the open tuned zither that he plays while in a complete meditative state. Really gorgeous stuff!
MPEG Stream: "All Pervading"
MPEG Stream: "Bethlehem"

GRAHAM, KENNY & HIS SATELLITES Moondog And Suncat Suites (Trunk) cd 16.98
If you were ever curious to hear how Moondog might have sounded had he been recorded by Joe Meek, then here is your chance! Trunk records rescues this exquisite rarity from complete obscurity that displays the early influence of The Viking of 6th St. on a group of Britain's finest jazz players. Recorded in 1956, and engineered by a young Joe Meek, the underrated alto saxophonist Kenny Graham assembled a band of amazing session players, including Stan Tracey, Phil Seamen, Danny Moss, and Ivor Slaney (who recorded the horror soundtracks Terror and Prey we reviewed awhile back, though he is here in less horrific mode), as well as the evocative vocals of singer Yolanda to record this two part tribute. The first part, The Moondog Suite, covers ten of Moondog's early compositions, five short percussive pieces and five longer songs including "Utsu, "Chant", "Fog On The Hudson" and Lullaby". The six pieces in the "Suncat Suite" (Suncat, get it?) are all originals inspired by Moondog's pieces. These range from short eastern influenced numbers to more complex compositions of mesmerizing exotica, sometimes swinging, and at other times more moody. The production for both is sharp. The percussion zings, the vibes crisply resonate and the horns and woodwinds sound impeccable. Trunk scores again with this amazing reissue.
MPEG Stream: "Chant "
MPEG Stream: "Utsu"
MPEG Stream: "Tropical Sun"
MPEG Stream: "Sunday"

OPERATIVE Ramp / Pulse (Ecstacy) 12" 14.98
We first heard Operative (a.ka. Scott Goodwin of Bonus) at the Root Strata curated music festival, On Land, last September here at San Francisco's Cafe Du Nord. Expecting to hear some piercing long-form drone meditation, we were pleasantly surprised that Goodwin was joined by two live drummers for a set of exuberant and organic minimal house workouts that were a welcome change of tone from much of the beautiful but exhausting roster of introspective drone experimentation that had been happening throughout the day.
Likewise, we're keen on this 12". "Ramp" begins with a slow-rising siren tone that continually elevates in pitch. As it's countered by other rising tones in a sort of Charlemagne Palestine-ish way, the drums and steady bass tones kick in taking the track to an urgent futuristic thriller as scored by Giorgio Moroder kind of territory. "Pulse" is more organic, taking warm rhythmic synth loops and looping them on top of each other to a pulsating and hypnotic 4/4 rhythm. So good!
This 12" marking Operative's debut comes courtesy of Honey Owens' (Valet, Jackie-O Motherfucker) new label for left-field techno, Ecstacy. Look out for her Miracles Club 12" on a future list!
MPEG Stream: "Ramp"
MPEG Stream: "Pulse"

ARP & ANTHONY MOORE FRKWYS Vol.3 (RVNG International) lp 24.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
For the third in the series (or second, because we don't think there was actually a Vol. 1) of collaborations between new bands and their older progenitors, we get this beautiful collaboration between Arp (Alexis Georgopoulos of The Alps and Q&A, and formerly of Tussle) and Anthony Moore (Slapp Happy, Henry Cow). Inspired by Moore's early and little heard minimalist compositions from 1971's Pictures of a Cloudland Ballroom, rather than Moore's later art-rock leanings, the duo build upon old and new material, utilizing piano, cello, synth and tape manipulations into eight pieces of gorgeously placid minimalism. Two of the cello based tracks are dedicated to Robert Wyatt and Arthur Russell and you'll hear their influence as well as shades of Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Eroc, and Franco Battiato. The final song, "Slow Moon's Rose" is the only vocal track, sounding like a lovely lost Slapp Happy outtake sung by Georgopoulos instead of Dagmar Krause. A far cry from the last collaboration in this series between Excepter, Chris & Cosey and J. G. Thirlwell, but one with more depth, as it feels like a true collaboration between two mutually inspired artists rather than a couple of interesting remixes. Highly Recommended! And ultra limited!!
MPEG Stream: "Spinette"
MPEG Stream: "Wild Grass II (For Robert Wyatt)"
MPEG Stream: "Mirrors & Forks"
MPEG Stream: "Slow Moon's Rose"

DARA PUSPITA 1966-1968 (Sublime Frequencies) cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We first heard about this Indonesian sixties all girl garage group when three of their records were reissued on Chicago label PlusTapes, we all went nuts for them, as did you, we couldn't keep them in stock, but sadly they were crazy limited. Even at the time, and even on tape, we wanted to make one or all of them Records Of The Week, but they disappeared before we had a chance. But now Sublime Frequencies swoops in and saves the day, reissuing on a compact disc all three of the Dara Puspita's records proper (all the stuff on the cassettes, and then some!). But what's so great about these ladies? Read on....
Dara Puspita (Flower Girls in English) were Indonesia's most successful girl group in the sixties, and one of the few -actual- bands, who played their own instruments as opposed to just singing with all male backing bands. Even though rock and roll was banned at the time, with some bands being jailed for performing rock music live (Koes Bersaudara in particular, whose Sublime Frequencies disc we reviewed a few lists back - Dara Puspita and Koes Bersaudara had very similar histories, their careers often directly influenced by each other, the whole story to be found in the copious liner notes). Dara Puspita took their influence from that banned rock music, borrowing liberally from the Rolling Stones, The Beatles (whose songs they were warned by the authority to not perform, the very songs that got Koes Bersaudara jailed!) and the like, but giving it their own twist.
Performing a mix of covers and originals, these ladies were legendary for their wild live shows, but they really shine on record, with a totally distinctive and keen pop sensibility, gorgeous lilting vocals, an awesome rhythm section and some really excellent guitar playing. Dara Puspita weren't avant garde or super far out, not really heavy or psychedelic, instead they were just a kick ass pop group, an awesome garagey rock and roll band, catchy and fun, super energetic and with a distinctly unique vibe that makes this sound so special. Just listen to the sound samples. You'll be hooked in no time.
Lavish packaging, a full color six panel digipak, with tons of photos, a huge booklet of liner notes, with the story of the band, of the recording, more about the state of Indonesia at the time, the producer and more more more. So great!!
MPEG Stream: "Lonely Street"
MPEG Stream: "Bertamasja"
MPEG Stream: "Mari Mari"
MPEG Stream: "Minggu Jang Lalu"
MPEG Stream: "A Go-Go"
MPEG Stream: "To Love Somebody"
MPEG Stream: "Aku Tetap"

V/A Deutsche Elektronische Musik: Experimental German Rock & Electronic Music 1972-83 (Soul Jazz) 2cd 21.00
Leave it to the fine folks at the Soul Jazz Label to bring us a stellar Krautrock compilation that is as heavy on obscurities as it is on classics. Don't let the fact that the Neu!, Faust and Amon Duul tracks will probably be familiar to the most casual krautrock listener, or that pretty much all the classic bands in the canon (save for Kraftwerk and Klaus Schulze) are represented, deter you from this well-researched and beautifully sequenced compilation. Why? Well, because this compilation does a great job of showcasing the many diverse facets of the music that defined krautrock: Kosmishe electronica, hippie commune folk, motorik rhythms, proggy jazz-funk and lysergic cinematographic soundscapes. There are plenty of rarities from bands we've barely heard of such as Between, E.M.A.K., Michael Bundt, and Ibliss, as well as bands and artists we love like Kollectiv (aka Kollektiv), Conrad Schnitzler, Deuter and Gila that perhaps casual fans may not know much about. Plus many of the more well known groups are represented by less well known tracks or later periods. The Can tracks, for example. "Aspectacle" and "I Want More" are from later records, while the great Tangerine Dream track "No Man's Land" is from an early eighties record, a less seminal period for most classic Krautrock, but one filled with plenty of amazing discoveries for those brave enough to wade through some crud. Thankfully Soul Jazz did that work for us! Here is the full listing of bands: Can (2 tracks), Between, Harmonia (2 tracks) Gila, Kollectiv, Michael Bundt, E.M.A.K., Popol Vuh (2 tracks), Conrad Schnitzler, La Dusseldorf, Faust, Neu!, Cluster, Ibliss, Moebius, Roedelius, Amon Duul II (2 tracks) Ash Ra Tempel, Tangerine Dream, and Deuter.
Comes with a full color booklet showcasing the history of the bands and music. Perfect for both newbies and longtime fans! Awesome!
MPEG Stream: BETWEEN "Devotion"
MPEG Stream: KOLLECTIV "Rambo Zambo"
MPEG Stream: MICHAEL BUNDT "La Chasse Aux Microbes"
MPEG Stream: CONRAD SCHNITZLER "Auf Dem Schwarzen Canal"
MPEG Stream: IBLISS "High Life"
MPEG Stream: TANGERINE DREAM "No Man's Land"
MPEG Stream: ASH RA TEMPEL "Daydream"

DEMDIKE STARE Forest Of Evil (Modern Love) 12" 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The first in a planned 3 part 12" series from this hauntological electronic duo, whose sound we had previously described as sounding like a black metal dub record on Chain Reaction, and we're pleased to report that the sound is indeed still blackened, and dubby, and weirdly house-y, and sprawling and epic and creepy and cinematic...
Two side long tracks, the first starts out all deep shimmer, with a softly melodic buzz, spidery acoustic guitars, long stretches of billowy black ambience, bits of shuffly jazzy drift, peppered with thick shards of buzzy fractured dub bass and Kompakt style skitter, giving way to glistening late night techno, whirling pop ambient, and blissed out ethereal dronemusic.
The flipside is cinematic and dramatic, epic and majestic, like some lost Italian soundtrack, big drums, orchestral and ominous, looped samples, blurred melodic smears over deep pulsing bass, whirling clouds of cymbal shimmer, insectoid FX buzz, jumbled atonal melodies (hints of Bernard Herrmann), the vibe tense and haunting, with some dubstep bass buzz, that slowly dissolves into a Caretaker like outro, all layered strings wreathed in hiss and crackle, hazy and druggy and divine.
So good. We're already anxiously awaiting part two...
MPEG Stream: "Forest Of Evil (Dusk)"

BLACK TAMBOURINE s/t (Slumberland) lp 14.98
A previous version of this collection became available again not too long ago, and we were so excited we decided to make it our Record Of The Week, and then whattaya know, a year later, Slumberland go ahead and repackage it, reissue it, AND add a handful of bonus tracks (ironic, since the earlier edition was entitled "Complete Recordings"). And this time they've also put it out on vinyl, too!! So if you negelected to pick this up the first time around, now's the time, and if you did, you just gotta figure out if you want to buy it again for the four bonus tracks, which are pretty dang great. Here's what we said about the so-called Complete Recordings version:
As of late 2008 and early 2009, there's been some serious hubbub over Slumberland, the stalwart indie label of Brit-inspired, shoegazing bliss pop, thanks to a couple of kick ass records from Crystal Stilts and Pains Of Being Pure At Heart. So a revisitation into perhaps the quintessential Slumberland outfit seems appropriate. Black Tambourine was a shortlived project featuring two of the guys from Velocity Girl, a chanteuse named Pam Berry, and Slumberland label boss Mike Schulman. They only released three singles, contributed a track or two to compilations, and played less than five shows before breaking up in 1991. Go figure that Complete Recordings anthologizes all of these tracks plus an unreleased single.
Black Tambourine's songs begin as jangly, melodic pop which gets tousled about in a blur of amplifier distortion piled onto reverb piled onto more amplifier distortion and just a little more reverb. Yup, it's the same wonderful sound that was also broadcast from the Shop Assistants, My Bloody Valentine (circa Isn't Anything, well cuz Loveless hadn't been released yet!), Jesus & Mary Chain, the Pastels, and almost any given band on Creation circa 1988. But no matter how great that all consuming shoegaze sound can be, the band has gotta have good songwriting chops; and Black Tambourine had 'em for sure. At times, there's that ramshackle quality of good old American DIY indie pop, but for the most part, the songs are effortlessly catchy and melodic with a swagger pushed forth by Pam Berry's reverb drenched and melancholy vocals. Still sounds great after all these years!
MPEG Stream: "Black Car"
MPEG Stream: "Pack You Up"
MPEG Stream: "Drown"

DUM DUM GIRLS I Will Be (Sub Pop) cd 13.98
We fell in love with the Dum Dum Girls at first listen, back when we heard their self titled 12" from a year ago, it was this awesome blown out girl group inspired garage pop that just totally satisfied. With their/her jump to Sub Pop they have cleaned up their sound a bit, but oh my god we think it's totally for the best. When it comes down to it, the songs have to stand up for themselves. You can pour all the reverb and lo-fi glory on top of your music but if that's all you got it's going to get old and tired pretty quick. Luckily that's not all Dum Dum Girls are about. I Will Be shows that what they are about is totally heartfelt, addictive and impactful songs. But don't worry, it's not like its gotten all slick or smoothed out, it's still totally immediate, rocking, punchy, sassy and also so sincere.
Dee Dee (who as it turns out is pretty much the fiery force behind Dum Dum Girls) recorded all these songs at home and then sent them to the legendary producer and hit maker Richard Gottehrer, whose resume is pretty damn drool worthy. In the '60s he wrote totally amazing songs that have become party of our cultural landscape like "I Want Candy" and "My Boyfriend's Back", and in the '70s he went on to produce the debut records by both Blondie and The Go-Go's as well as being a cofounder of Sire records (home of The Ramones, Talking Heads, The Dead Boys, etc.). So awesome to see how this collaboration turned out so damn perfect. Gottehrer knew it wasn't his job to sugarcoat or generically polish the Dum Dum Girls songs, but instead he did use his wisdom to help them jump out with so much vibrancy and color.
While his contribution can't be overlooked, it's still all about Dee Dee's songs and charisma. Whether she's totally rocking out, or melting hearts with her cover of Sonny & Cher's "Baby Don't Go", there's an authenticity and unhinged passion that can't be denied. She's also so smart and economic about her songs, no fat, no wasted notes, just the good stuff. The album is over before you know it but it works out just fine because all you're going to want to do is play it right over again. This one is going to be a strong candidate for record of the year!
MPEG Stream: "Jail La La"
MPEG Stream: "Baby Don't Go"
MPEG Stream: "It Only Takes One Night"

BLACK TAMBOURINE s/t (Slumberland) cd 6.98
A previous version of this collection became available again not too long ago, and we were so excited we decided to make it our Record Of The Week, and then whattaya know, a year later, Slumberland go ahead and repackage it, reissue it, AND add a handful of bonus tracks (ironic, since the earlier edition was entitled "Complete Recordings"). And this time they've also put it out on vinyl, too!! So if you negelected to pick this up the first time around, now's the time, and if you did, you just gotta figure out if you want to buy it again for the four bonus tracks, which are pretty dang great. Here's what we said about the so-called Complete Recordings version:
As of late 2008 and early 2009, there's been some serious hubbub over Slumberland, the stalwart indie label of Brit-inspired, shoegazing bliss pop, thanks to a couple of kick ass records from Crystal Stilts and Pains Of Being Pure At Heart. So a revisitation into perhaps the quintessential Slumberland outfit seems appropriate. Black Tambourine was a shortlived project featuring two of the guys from Velocity Girl, a chanteuse named Pam Berry, and Slumberland label boss Mike Schulman. They only released three singles, contributed a track or two to compilations, and played less than five shows before breaking up in 1991. Go figure that Complete Recordings anthologizes all of these tracks plus an unreleased single.
Black Tambourine's songs begin as jangly, melodic pop which gets tousled about in a blur of amplifier distortion piled onto reverb piled onto more amplifier distortion and just a little more reverb. Yup, it's the same wonderful sound that was also broadcast from the Shop Assistants, My Bloody Valentine (circa Isn't Anything, well cuz Loveless hadn't been released yet!), Jesus & Mary Chain, the Pastels, and almost any given band on Creation circa 1988. But no matter how great that all consuming shoegaze sound can be, the band has gotta have good songwriting chops; and Black Tambourine had 'em for sure. At times, there's that ramshackle quality of good old American DIY indie pop, but for the most part, the songs are effortlessly catchy and melodic with a swagger pushed forth by Pam Berry's reverb drenched and melancholy vocals. Still sounds great after all these years!
MPEG Stream: "Black Car"
MPEG Stream: "Pack You Up"
MPEG Stream: "Drown"

FLYING LIZARDS, THE s/t (Microwerks) cd 12.98
Wow, we kind of forgot what a weird and wonderful record this is. We've always had a place for the Flying Lizards in our hearts, but their blaise post-punk dub covers of fifties and sixties songs always seemed to outshine their other interesting qualities. Led by avant-composer David Cunningham, with the help of David Toop, Vivien Goldman, Steve Beresford and the flat vocal delivery of Deborah Evans, The Flying Lizards got their break when Virgin released their first single in 1979, a purposely skewed and dispassionate version of Eddie Cohran's "Summertime Blues" and it became a minor hit. But it was their second single and more enduring cover of Barret Strong's "Money" with its clanging prepared piano and trap percussion that got them on the charts and signed for a full album deal. That song gets a little overplayed these days, but the long version has one of the best extended dub breakdowns of the period that just doesn't get played enough. But besides the two covers and the channeling of Dagmar Krause (Slapp Happy, Henry Cow, The Art Bears) in the goofy cover of Kurt Weil's "Der Song Von Mandelay" that opens the record, lies a much stranger record. Sure there is the punk disco of "Her Story", "TV" and the danceable experimentation of "Russia". But there also is the triptych of minimalist dub experiments in the tracks "Flood" "Trouble" and "Events During Flood" that take the record to a much darker place. Culminating with Vivien Goldman's hushed and strange "The Window", proving that although the band was a one hit wonder, they were no one trick pony. This reissue doesn't contain the bonus tracks of previous reissues, but does include the single edit of "Money". Here's hoping Microwerks will reissue their other two records, Fourth Wall and Top Ten as well! Great stuff!
MPEG Stream: "Money "
MPEG Stream: "Her Story"
MPEG Stream: "Russia"
MPEG Stream: "Events During Flood"

GALAXIE 500 Today / Uncollected (20/20/20) 2cd 15.98
Once more with feeling! All three of Galaxie 500's classic studio albums have been affordably reissued each with a bonus disc of one of their previously released post-breakup rarity collections: Uncollected, The Peel Sessions and the live Copenhagen cd. Here's what we recently said about them:
We can't believe it's been 20 years since this trio (and their trio of albums) so gracefully touched our lives during the band's way too brief lifespan. Boy, does it make us feel old! But we can't complain too much as it's so awesome to see these three crucial records available once again! For those who may not know, Galaxie 500 was made up of core members Damon Krukowski (drums), Naomi Yang (bass, vocals) and Dean Wareham (guitar, vocals), who are probably more well known now for the bands that formed in Galaxie 500's wake: Damon and Naomi, Luna, and Dean and Britta.
Hailing from the mid-eighties Boston college rock scene (all three attended Harvard), Galaxie 500 were very different from The Pixies and Throwing Muses, who were the more prominent Boston bands at the time, favoring slower-paced reverbed drenched songs, big in sound but played with a minimalist economy. Influenced by later period Velvet Underground, The Modern Lovers, Young Marble Giants and early New Order (all of whom they covered), Galaxie 500's signature dream pop sound (courtesy of producer Kramer, Bongwater frontman and head of the great Shimmy-Disc label) paved the way for both the shoegaze and slowcore scenes of the early nineties. In fact Kramer went on to produce Low's debut in 1994. After three great records for Rough Trade, Galaxie 500 parted ways less than amicably, with guitarist/vocalist Wareham unexpectedly quitting to form his own band Luna, leaving the rhythm section of Damon and Naomi to fend for themselves. While both parties went on to more successful ventures, none of them have quite replaced Galaxie 500's unparalleled pop majesty in our hearts.
Today was Galaxie 500's 1988 debut, and it's a slow burning paean to the more unstable sides of love and patient resolve. The elliptical rhythm section smolders and intensifies without ever fully "rocking out" while the warm guitar work strums over the top occasionally veering into understated solos. But Wareham's forlorn low-key vocals with clever but enigmatically simple songwriting is what ties the songs together. The centerpiece of the album is their cover of Jonathan Richman's "Don't Let Our Youth Go To Waste". The original version being a short, a capella, almost spoken poem, in Galaxie 500's hands, it becomes a simmering epic as they bookend the singing with forceful driving instrumental passages, sounding like something the early Velvets would have come up with. The final song, "King of Spain" was also their first single, and nicely sets up of what this band is all about: lonely and introspective but decisive, leading and in full control.
Today is paired up with with what almost could be considered a lost record, Uncollected: Rarities and Outtakes 1987-1990. Originally compiled for the G500 box set and then released individually, it's a 14-song rarities collection that includes their loving covers of songs by Jonathan Richman (an alternate version of "Don't Let Our Youth Go To Waste"), Young Marble Giants ("Final Day"), The Rutles ("Cheese and Onions") and The Beatles ("Rain"), as well as nine originals not on any other album. Uncollected serves as a great overview for newcomers to the enduring, wonderful, shimmering dream pop songs of these short-lived, long-disbanded, indie rock deities.
MPEG Stream: "Flowers"
MPEG Stream: "Don't Let Our Youth Go To Waste"
MPEG Stream: "Oblivious"
MPEG Stream: "Final Day"
MPEG Stream: "I Can't Believe It's Me"

WHEELER, BILLY EDD A Big Bag Of Songs (The Omni Recording Corporation) cd 17.98
A big bag of songs indeed! 28 of them as a matter of fact, and all pretty incredible from a singer/songwriter we weren't familiar with, though it turns out we did know his two most famous compositions, "High Flying Bird" and "Jackson", from the versions performed by others such as Johnny Cash, Jefferson Airplane, Judy Henske, and Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood. Billy Edd Wheeler was smack in the middle of the crossroads where country, folk, pop and rock meet. Mentored by famed songwriting team Leiber & Stoller, Wheeler penned many great tunes for Cab Calloway, Lonnie Donnegan, Hank Snow and The Kingston Trio as well. Wheeler had a very folksy style using the big classic sixties country-pop production (the kind you've heard on plenty of other Omni reissues from Dee Mullins, Porter Wagoner, Hoyt Axton, Johnny Paycheck and Henson Cargill), but underneath the wholesome exterior of the songs lie pointed messages about the environment, taxes, falling out of love, the desperation of the hard working poor, and the soul-killing culture of the white-collar worker. Highly skilled with language and a turn of phrase, Wheeler was a master at weaving an epic story into a three minute pop song, whether it be a coal miner yearning to fly away like a bird, a mushroom taking elevator operator, a badass cowboy preacher, or the emotional wreckage of a marriage on the skids. So good!
MPEG Stream: "Blistered"
MPEG Stream: "After Taxes"
MPEG Stream: "Jackson"
MPEG Stream: "High Flying Bird"
MPEG Stream: "Bernard"
MPEG Stream: "The Girl Who Loved The Man Who Robbed The Bank In Santa Fe (and Got Away)"

GONJASUFI A Sufi And A Killer (Warp) cd 16.98
One of our favorite tracks from Flying Lotus's excellent Los Angeles record was the penultimate track "Testament" that featured a singer we imagined was discovered in some remote smoky opium den in Morocco. The voice felt ancient, a weezing whispering mixture of Jimmy Scott and Billie Holiday that we thought could have been a sample from an old dusty recording. Well, it turns out that voice is one Sumach Ecks (aka Gonjasufi), a San Diego based yoga instructor and one-time rapper and DJ who in a chance meeting with The Gaslamp Killer and Flying Lotus in Las Vegas, struck up a bond with the two producers and they started working together. A Sufi And A Killer is an amazing debut, a perfect fit between the dark off-kilter beats of Flying Lotus, Burial and King Midas Sound. But it also surprisingly displays a lot of vocal and musical range, moving into some rockier moments, tripping out on short interludes or sometimes delving down strange, mysterious but always interesting sonic tangents. Supposedly it took much longer to mix than it did to record, showing a dedication to detail that is truly rewarding to listen to. Highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Kobwebz"
MPEG Stream: "Ancestors"
MPEG Stream: "Candylane"
MPEG Stream: "Klowds"

SCOTT-HERON, GIL I'm New Here (XL Recordings) cd 13.98
We weren't expecting to like this as much as we do, but this record really kills!! His first recording in 16 years, Gil Scott-Heron doesn't overindulge, rather I'm New Here shows a much leaner and meaner side to this artist who has never had a hard time examining his demons. "Me and The Devil" is a contender for single of the year as this Robert Johnson blues classic gets a dark almost Portishead-like update. But this isn't just a younger makeover for a classic artist, it's closer in kin to the respectful reinvigoration of Johnny Cash's later American releases. The arrangements are spare, though inspired by the minimal chill of dubstep in parts, they suit Scott-Heron's tough spoken word turns that pepper the album throughout. The Bill Callahan-penned title track sounds like a world-weary folk dirge from the early seventies by Lee Hazlewood that is a stand-out among manyon here. A fine return to form!
MPEG Stream: "Me & The Devil"
MPEG Stream: "I'm New Here"
MPEG Stream: "I'll Take Care of You"

WITHERS, BILL +'Justments (Reel Music) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Issued on cd for the first time since its original 1974 release, soul singer Bill Withers' final record for the Sussex label, +'Justments finally sees the light of day. It's a record that bears the weight of the world on its shoulders, recorded at a time when both his personal and professional relationships were falling apart. Fatigued from touring and fighting against label pressures to become more of a high-production showman, Withers created a more introspective and often melancholic soul folk record closer in spirit to Terry Callier than to Marvin Gaye. It's both been lauded as one of the major lost soul records of the seventies and dismissed as a critical disappointment, as it didn't have any of the winning singles previous releases had such as "Ain't No Sunshine", "Lean On Me" or "Use Me". And it pretty much sounded the death knell for the Sussex label that folded shortly after its release, which probably meant it didn't get as much promotion as his other releases did. It's a shame too, because as a whole, it's a really great record. Even though it's proven just to be as polarizing here in the store with some of us loving it and some of us hating it, though those of us who do love it are arguably bigger fans of soul, disco, and R&B than those who don't. Granted, it is a record that focuses on softer and bittersweet soul qualities rather than funk and groove, but it never ever gets treacley. So this may not be the heavy-hitter soul crossover record you are looking for, but for those who like to venture into classic soul's more obscure corners, this one yields plenty of rewards. A great rainy day record!
MPEG Stream: "The Same Love That Made Me Laugh"
MPEG Stream: "You"
MPEG Stream: "Green Grass"

V/A The Sound of Wonder: Rare Electronic Pop From The Lollywood Vaults 1973-1980 (Finders Keepers) 2lp 27.00
Now available on (import) double vinyl!
Yay! It's been awhile since we've had a new Finder's Keepers release, and this one is amazing!
By now we're all too familiar with the Eastern cinematic pop splendor and sitar funk of Bollywood. But what about Lollywood? Yes, just to the north in Pakistan, the city of Lahore had their own cottage film industry. Perhaps not as well known outside Pakistan, Lollywood was highly profitable in the seventies and eighties, housing a unique music division with its own equivalent of Bollywood's R.D. Burman and Asha Bhosle in M. Ashraf and his female collaborator, Nahid Akhtar. With the help of EMI, Pakistani musicians were able to create ambitious music in a world class studio, using far-out instrumentation like Moogs and other synthesizers, accordions, surf-guitars, and tons of traditional hand percussion instruments instead of a proper drum set. It's definitely a far more electric and electronic pop sound , than what we're used to hearing in classic Bollywood music. Having an almost retro-futurist bent in its explosive collision of Eastern and Western musical touchstones: Freak-Beat and Surf Rock meets Space-Age Moog Pop and Urdu Groove! Originally released on 7" mini-lps (a curious marketing scheme was to release one soundtrack on 3 separate 7"s!), this is the first time these wild and delightful cinematic obscurities have been collected. Let's hope more get discovered. This IS the Sound of Wonder!
MPEG Stream: M. ASHRAF "Dama Dam Mast Qalander"
MPEG Stream: TAFO "Karye Pyar"
MPEG Stream: NAZIR ALI "Society Girl"

FOUR TET There Is Love In You (Domino) 2lp 24.00
Wow, we haven't been this impressed with a Four Tet full length in a long time, though truth be told it has been awhile since Kieran Hebden has released one. He has spent the greater parts of the last four or five years concentrating on remixes and with three solo collaborations with jazz drummer Steve Reid, leaving only one sole ep (Ringer) in between this release and his last, Everything Ecstatic. While that last record displayed an erratic and harder edged tendency to shake off the "folktronica" tag that has dogged him early on, it also seemed like he was trying too hard. On There is Love In You, Hebden is back to his strengths, keeping the compositions economic, but also beautiful, well-crafted and at moments truly sublime. Our excitement mounted when we heard the first single, "Love Cry", late last year. That nine minute minimal house opus as well as the awesome Joy Orbison remix was for some of us the single of the year! Though the bulk of the record is not as dancefloor oriented as the single, his masterful use of warmth, texture and editing make this an exciting listen all the way through, sounding at times like Cluster and Dif Juz filtered through Carl Craig and Flying Lotus. Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Angel Echoes"
MPEG Stream: "Love Cry"
MPEG Stream: "Plastic People"

CHERRY, DON Brown Rice (A&M / Jazz Heritage) cd 17.98
We don't believe this is a new reissue, but it's one of our favorite jazz records ever, a real classic, and this is the first time we've been able to get a bunch to list. Perhaps it's even our most favorite Don Cherry album, which is saying a lot since there are so many of his records we love (this is the third we've made a Record of the Week) and there's been much spirited discussion around here between this one and Orient, a former record of the week from, egad, eight years ago! But hell, they're both really amazing so if you dug Orient, or the collaboration with Latif Khan we made Record of the Week a year ago, you'll definitely want to get this, and if you have no Don Cherry in your collection, you might as well start right here. Why we've never been able to list this before is a huge mystery, but let's just make up for lost time and tell you why this is so great.
Released in 1975 on the A&M label, Brown Rice is just 4 songs clocking at about 39 minutes. It's as focussed as Orient was sprawling, mining the same African, Indian, and Arabic influences, but in much tighter and dynamic, almost rock-oriented arrangements. Penetratingly deep on a spiritual level but also engaging and propulsive in its accessibility, Brown Rice is a record that gets right to the point the second the opening electric piano riff and female wordless singing of the title track begin. With wah'd out guitars and electric bongos building up into a groove, this is Cherry at his funkiest with ghostly trumpet shrieks off in the background, vocalised rhythm syncopations and Charlie Haden's underscoring bass swirling around Cherry's whispered chanting. "Malkauns", the longest track at 14 minutes lays down a lackadaisical vibe with tamboura and bass slowly unfolding a wide ground for Cherry's plaintive trumpet to eventually arrive and build up momentum with Billy Higgins' drumming pushing the proceedings upward and outward, eventually floating down back to earth. The third track "Chenrezig" begins deep and solemn with bass rumbles, chimes and Cherry's low and shaman-like vocals sometimes delving into Tuvan throat level buzz and whispering, augmented by high piano tones and lilting trumpet trills before the energy unleashes, not so much in a blind fury as it is a concentrated and feverish ritual extraction of sound. The final track, "Degi-Degi" brings us back to the driving rhythms and grooves of "Brown Rice", with Cherry's whispered chants and some of his brightest and most lyrical trumpet playing really feeling the space.
We can't help but wonder how much of Cherry's soundtrack work for the film Holy Mountain had an influence on his direction for this record, as Brown Rice is that rare hybrid of jazz, rock and film score, one we could easily see visualized on film. In the same line as Bitches Brew, Herbie Hancock's Sextant, or the recent Love Cry Want reissue, but also with the same sort of deep spiritual core we treasure so much in records by Alice Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders and Sun Ra. Essential!
MPEG Stream: "Brown Rice"
MPEG Stream: "Malkauns"

ROEDELIUS Wenn Der Sudwind Weht (Bureau B) cd 17.98
Now available on cd, after a recent vinyl reissue highlighted here too!
Roedelius's fourth solo record from 1981 has obvious connections to his first record, Durch Die Wuste as evidenced from the similar album covers involving feet and water. But while his first record was a head-first dive into exploring the palatable possibilities of mixing acoustic and electronic instruments, Wenn Der Sudwind Weht is all about the tranquil relaxed after-glow, drying off in the afternoon sun. Limiting the instruments to just organ, synthesizers and piano, Sudwind is surprisingly rich and layered and arguably the most stunning of his solo records, reminding us of the pastoralism of Popol Vuh and early Deuter, but never succumbing to new age music's typical lack of focus. In fact it's the most focused Roedelius record of the last couple that have been reissued. While the Cluster-Harmonia catalog with all its off-shoots and solo projects can be quite unwieldy especially in the middle of its currently aggressive reissue campaign, but this may be the most essential Roedelius reissue of the bunch. Highest recommendation!
MPEG Stream: "Wenn Der Sudwind Weht"
MPEG Stream: "Mein Freud Farouk"
MPEG Stream: "Auf Leisen Sohlen"

PENGUIN CAFE ORCHESTRA Music From The Penguin Cafe (Virgin) cd 15.98
This recently re-mastered 1976 debut album from the deliberately obscurant and unclassifiable Penguin Cafe Orchestra has always been one of our favorites. Led by the classically trained multi-instrumentalist and composer Simon Jeffes, who frustrated with the limitations and rigor of traditional classical music and inspired by the freeing structures of ethnographic folk music and minimalist aesthetics, created a surreal hybrid of sorts. Forming a chamber ensemble of various players performing with strings, electric piano guitar, ukulele and spinet, this first PCO album is actually compiled from 3 years of recording with different variations of the ensemble under different names (ZOPF, Penguin Cafe Quartet, etc.) that would eventually become the Penguin Cafe Orchestra proper. Neither truly classical nor truly ethnographic in any telltale way, the music has the dreamlike quality of a Jorge Luis Borges short story involving a nonexistent far-flung island colony and the intriguing presence of a foreign visitor who shouldn't be there. Yet, it's highly listenable, oddly structured at times, and sometimes deeply melancholic (the 12 minute "The Sound of Someone You Love Who Is Going Away and Doesn't Matter" is one of the most beautifully sad and amazing compositions we've heard). Originally released on Brian Eno's Obscure imprint, The PCO had several worthy releases, before Jeffes died in 1997 of a brain tumor. Luckily, his son Arthur has taken over the reins and has not only overseen the re-mastering and reissuing of the PCO back catalogue, but has been touring with a new incarnation of the group as well!
MPEG Stream: "From The Colonies"
MPEG Stream: "The Sound of Someone You Love Who's Going Away and It Doesn't Matter"
MPEG Stream: "Chartered Flight"