THIRD EYE FOUNDATION Ghost (Merge/Domino) cd 12.98
Like a Kranky release set to kill, "Ghost" unleashes an entrancing storm of beats and noise that would rather pierce than caress. "Ghost" is a wailing banshee with a rhythm section, where Bristol space-rock meets drum and bass.

THIRD EYE FOUNDATION Ghost (Merge/Domino) lp 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Like a Kranky release set to kill, "Ghost" unleashes an entrancing storm of beats and noise that would rather pierce than caress. "Ghost" is a wailing banshee with a rhythm section, where Bristol space-rock meets drum and bass.

THIRD EYE FOUNDATION I Poo Poo On Your Juju (Domino) cd 16.98
I think we can all agree, that this is perhaps the worst name for an album ever ('cept for maybe Total's Buffin' the Celestial Muffin), but musically this record is pretty great. It's basically a collection of other people's songs remixed by Third Eye Foundation's Matt Elliott. Standout tracks include the Remote Viewer remix, the Blonde Redhead remix (that you might have heard on their recent ep) and the demented Chris Morris (British comedian / TV terrorist of Blue Jam, The Day Today, and Brass Eye infamy) remix. Others getting the Third Eye include Tarwater, Urchin, Faultline, and a few others.
RealAudio clip: MATT ELLIOTT VS. CHRIS MORRIS "Push Off My Wire"
RealAudio clip: REMOTE VIEWER / THIRD EYE FOUNDATION "All Of The WCKWC Want To Be Abstract (3EF Version)"

THIRD EYE FOUNDATION I Poo Poo On Your Juju (Domino) lp 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
I think we can all agree, that this is perhaps the worst name for an album ever ('cept for maybe Total's 'Buffin' the Celestial Muffin'), but musically this record is pretty great. It's basically a collection of other people's songs remixed by Third Eye Foundation's Matt Elliott. Standout tracks include the Remote Viewer remix, the Blonde Rehead remix (that you might have heard on their recent remix ep) and the demented Chris Morris (British comedian / TV terrorist of Blue Jam, The Day Today, and Brass Eye infamy) remix. Others getting the Third Eye include Tarwater, Urchin, Faultline, and a few others.

THIRD EYE FOUNDATION Little Lost Soul (Merge) cd 14.98
More pleasant electronica from Matt Elliot aka Third Eye Foundation, this time with vaguely ethnicky female voices sometimes making their way into the mix.

THIRD EYE FOUNDATION Sound of Violence (Merge) cdep 8.98
New EP features some of the tinniest, lo-fi drum'n'bass we've heard, all the while trying really hard to sound EPIC, which adds up to a very appealing, enjoyable listening experience.

THIRD EYE FOUNDATION You Guys Kill Me (Merge) cd 13.98
Matt Elliot latest full length dissolves almost all of the recognizable associations once heald with former collaborators Flying Saucer Attack. "You Guys Kill Me" actually holds more in common with another super star of Bristol... Tricky. Creepy over-processed guitar noises that end up wailing like screaming animals (see track 43 on the "Sounds of North American Frogs" collection on Folkways) with disjointed breakbeats. A little lighter, a little less angry and a little more playful than previous Third Eye records, but still maintains the intensity of lulling drones accompanied by edge-of-yr-seat rolling beats. Somewhere in the midst of Bowery Electric, Portishead and Bauhaus.

THIRD EYE FOUNDATION You Guys Kill Me (Merge) lp 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Matt Elliot latest full length dissolves almost all of the recognizable associations once heald with former collaborators Flying Saucer Attack. "You Guys Kill Me" actually holds more in common with another super star of Bristol... Tricky. Creepy over-processed guitar noises that end up wailing like screaming animals (see track 43 on the "Sounds of North American Frogs" collection on Folkways) with disjointed breakbeats. A little lighter, a little less angry and a little more playful than previous Third Eye records, but still maintains the intensity of lulling drones accompanied by edge-of-yr-seat rolling beats. Somewhere in the midst of Bowery Electric, Portishead and Bauhaus.

THIRD SEX Back To Go (Chainsaw) cd 12.98
Pacific Northwest style queer core. Not as rocking as Team Dresch (even though Donna Dresch produced this), not as abrasive as Sleater Kinney, more sort of poppy and catchy. Really pretty good.

THIRSTIN HOWL THE 3RD & RACK-LO Lo Down & Dirty (Class A) cd 15.98

MPEG Stream: "2 L's Up"
MPEG Stream: "Popo Coming"

THIRSTY MOON Blitz (Long Hair) cd 24.00

THIRSTY MOON I'll Be Back - Live '75 (Long Hair) cd 24.00

THIRSTY MOON s/t (Long Hair) cd 24.00

THIRSTY MOON You'll Never Come Back (Long Hair) cd 24.00

THIRTEEN GHOSTS WITH THURSTON MOORE AND DEREK BAILEY Legend of the Blood Yeti (Infinite Chug) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
British improv electronics/reeds project, with Moore and Bailey guesting individually on different tracks. Features lovely color graphics and interesting liner notes telling of the Blood Yeti.

THIRTEEN GHOSTS WITH THURSTON MOORE AND DEREK BAILEY Legend of the Blood Yeti (Infinite Chug) lp 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
British improv electronics/reeds project, with Moore and Bailey guesting individually on different tracks. Features lovely color graphics and interesting liner notes telling of the Blood Yeti.

THIS EMPTY FLOW The Album (Eibon) 2cd 26.00

MPEG Stream: "Useless"
MPEG Stream: "Towards Distance"

THIS HEAT Deceit (These Records) cd 18.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It would be nice to think that These Records have only been releasing the reissues of "Deceit" -- This Heat's second and final proper album -- every ten years after the original release of the album in 1981. The first CD pressings arrived on 1991, and this remastered version of the album holds a released date in 2001. Regardless of These Records' coy intentions, the return of "Deceit" to the Aquarius Records' catalogue is very welcome indeed!!!
Almost all of the histories of UK avant-garde music have claim allegiances to This Heat, as Punk, New Wave, Industrial, Prog Rock, Jim O'Rourke, and even Electronica place the seminal outfit somewhere at the beginnings of their respective etymologies. To a certain extent all of these histories may be true, but then again the broad aesthetic and ideological contexts between all of those different styles may cross-each other out, leaving This Heat as one of the few artistic forces that truly exists all by itself.
Just a trio comprised of Charles Hayward, Charles Bullen, and Gareth Williams, This Heat manifested an incredibly explosive sound that hybridized all of the countercultural fury of Punk and Situationism, within a sonic context informed by technological advances of musique concrete techniques and electro-acoustic synthesis. Musically speaking, This Heat did not espouse the three chord structures or the snarling postures of Punk, instead injecting the complex pop agendas of Brian Eno (which were purposefully seeking to conflict the archetypes of rock into a new aesthetic language) with nervous tension building up to dramatic cathartic releases. "Deceit" is a record that was so ahead of its time that it has taken twenty years for artists like Fennesz and Radiohead to articulate ideas with such intensity and attention to the play between musical creation and technological advances. So highly recommended.

THIS HEAT Deceit (ReR) cd 17.98
It's tough to review the records of This Heat separately, knowing that there is a box set, a box set most of us had been waiting for for years! Like imagine if you heard about Christmas, and spent the next decade waking up and rushing out to the living room only to find nothing there. That's what it was like waiting for the long rumored This Heat box. It seems almost self evident that it is honestly one of the few box sets, that is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL. But okay, $100 might be a bit much to drop on a band you're not all the familiar with. And probably some folks already have some of these discs, as they were briefly available in the nineties. But let's be upfront and warn you straight up, we know very few people, who on hearing any music from This Heat, even a single song, weren't immediately compelled to get their hands on every single bit of recorded material they could find. The music of This Heat is most definitely that powerful, that intense, having informed almost all of the music we've loved since. And sounding as fresh and forward thinking today as it did when it was first recorded.
Before we get to reviewing This Heat's second and sadly final full length, Deceit, let's give you some background on (and no small amount of gushing over) one of our all time favorite bands.
Trying to explain why this band is so good is sort of like trying to explain why ice cream is so delicious. Or why Bush is such a terrible president.
Or maybe it's kind of like writing an introduction for the new Pynchon novel. Or telling a few jokes before Richard Pryor comes on stage. Or throwing a couple quick passes before Joe Montana comes on the field. It's that daunting, that overwhelming, that impossible.
The trio of Charles Hayward, Charles Bullen and Gareth Williams known collectively as This Heat were one of the few bands that literally changed people's lives. Changed the way folks thought about music. I (Andee) couldn't believe music like this actually existed. It was everything I wanted to listen to before I knew that THIS was exactly what I wanted to listen to. Hit It Or Quit It publisher / rock critic / indie scenestress Jessica Hopper once wrote that she literally pee'd her pants the first time she heard This Heat. And it's not hard to see why. Without This Heat, modern, alternative, avant-garde music as we know it would be a whole different beast. Post-rock, math-rock, avant rock are hugely indebted to the genre shattering experimentalism of This Heat. Tortoise, You Fantastic, Yona Kit, Brise Glace, Psychic Paramount, Laddio Bollocko, Radian, Village Of Savoonga, Larsen, Starfuckers, Circle, Salvatore, I Am Spoonbender -- none of those bands would even exist if it weren't for This Heat, or if they still did you can bet they would sound a whole lot different. And that's just off the top of our heads, AND that's -just- bands whose sound directly reflects the influence of This Heat. Imagine how many performers and artists were influenced by This Heat but who let that influence manifest itself in not so obvious ways.
We once described This Heat as "Krautrock-ish hyper rhythmic tape-looped prog." Which comes close to succinctly describing the magical musical alchemy of This Heat, but still only scratches the surface. The sound of This Heat is rhythm and texture and dynamics. The recording studio as instrument. Every sound and every song is based on rhythm and texture. There are hooks, and melodies, but they exist to serve the rhythm and are often born from the deft manipulation of sound and tempo. Even the most static and repetitive parts manage to sound -musical-. There are vocals, but they are minimal and otherworldly, weary and sing songy and completely mesmerizing. A droning musical accompaniment to the haunting whirs and clanging percussion in the background.
Their entire catalog has gone in and out of print over the years, mostly out, with all of their records pretty much completely unavailable for the last 7 or 8 years. Rumors of a complete box set and reissue campaign began to circulate a few years back and it has finally happened and it's everything we could have hoped for and more. Every single release, remastered and repackaged in swank digipaks. We're almost jealous of folks who have never even heard This Heat. The thought of entering into this music completely blind, is almost frightening, as the world of This Heat is so singular, so powerful, it will be difficult to ever listen to music the same way again. Trust us.
Deceit, was This Heat's second full length album, released in 1980, hot on the heels of the Health And Efficiency ep from earlier that same year, and sadly ended up being their final proper release. Deceit found the band continuing to expand and explore, consisting of shorter songs, but that didn't mean their process, or disdain for convention was altered. If anything, they managed to subvert pop music in a way never thought possible. Imagine Brian Eno circa Taking Tiger Mountain, but filter that through some avant industrialism, angular new wave and hyper rhythmic krautrock and you'll begin to get the picture. The songs on Deceit are impossibly catchy, especially when examined closely. Abstract, obtuse, angular, convoluted, tangled up but without ever losing that thread, that melodic sensibility that grounded the songs, kept them from falling apart completely, instead, the perilous arrangements only added tension and emotion. An incredibly explosive sound that somehow hybridized all of the countercultural fury of punk and situationism, within a sonic context informed by the technological advances of musique concrete and electro-acoustic experimentation. The sound was definitely punk in its own way, but certainly wasn't expressed through three chord song structures or snarling postures, instead This Heat injected their own complex pop agendas with a jittery nervous tension always building to a dramatic and cathartic release.
MPEG Stream: "Paper Hats"

THIS HEAT Health & Efficiency (These Records) cdep 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

THIS HEAT Health And Efficiency (ReR) cd 16.98
It's tough to review the records of This Heat separately, knowing that there is a box set, a box set most of us had been waiting for for years! Like imagine if you heard about Christmas, and spent the next decade waking up and rushing out to the living room only to find nothing there. That's what it was like waiting for the long rumored This Heat box. It seems almost self evident that it is honestly one of the few box sets, that is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL. But okay, $100 might be a bit much to drop on a band you're not all the familiar with. And probably some folks already have some of these discs, as they were briefly available in the nineties. But let's be upfront and warn you straight up, we know very few people, who on hearing any music from This Heat, even a single song, weren't immediately compelled to get their hands on every single bit of recorded material they could find. The music of This Heat is most definitely that powerful, that intense, having informed almost all of the music we've loved since. And sounding as fresh and forward thinking today as it did when it was first recorded.
Before we get to reviewing This Heat's second release, the Health And Efficiency ep from 1980, let's give you some background on (and no small amount of gushing over) one of our all time favorite bands.
Trying to explain why this band is so good is sort of like trying to explain why ice cream is so delicious. Or why Bush is such a terrible president.
Or maybe it's kind of like writing an introduction for the new Pynchon novel. Or telling a few jokes before Richard Pryor comes on stage. Or throwing a couple quick passes before Joe Montana comes on the field. It's that daunting, that overwhelming, that impossible.
The trio of Charles Hayward, Charles Bullen and Gareth Williams known collectively as This Heat were one of the few bands that literally changed people's lives. Changed the way folks thought about music. I (Andee) couldn't believe music like this actually existed. It was everything I wanted to listen to before I knew that THIS was exactly what I wanted to listen to. Hit It Or Quit It publisher / rock critic / indie scenestress Jessica Hopper once wrote that she literally pee'd her pants the first time she heard This Heat. And it's not hard to see why. Without This Heat, modern, alternative, avant-garde music as we know it would be a whole different beast. Post-rock, math-rock, avant rock are hugely indebted to the genre shattering experimentalism of This Heat. Tortoise, You Fantastic, Yona Kit, Brise Glace, Psychic Paramount, Laddio Bollocko, Radian, Village Of Savoonga, Larsen, Starfuckers, Circle, Salvatore, I Am Spoonbender -- none of those bands would even exist if it weren't for This Heat, or if they still did you can bet they would sound a whole lot different. And that's just off the top of our heads, AND that's -just- bands whose sound directly reflects the influence of This Heat. Imagine how many performers and artists were influenced by This Heat but who let that influence manifest itself in not so obvious ways.
We once described This Heat as "Krautrock-ish hyper rhythmic tape-looped prog." Which comes close to succinctly describing the magical musical alchemy of This Heat, but still only scratches the surface. The sound of This Heat is rhythm and texture and dynamics. The recording studio as instrument. Every sound and every song is based on rhythm and texture. There are hooks, and melodies, but they exist to serve the rhythm and are often born from the deft manipulation of sound and tempo. Even the most static and repetitive parts manage to sound -musical-. There are vocals, but they are minimal and otherworldly, weary and sing songy and completely mesmerizing. A droning musical accompaniment to the haunting whirs and clanging percussion in the background.
Their entire catalog has gone in and out of print over the years, mostly out, with all of their records pretty much completely unavailable for the last 7 or 8 years. Rumors of a complete box set and reissue campaign began to circulate a few years back and it has finally happened and it's everything we could have hoped for and more. Every single release, remastered and repackaged in swank digipaks. We're almost jealous of folks who have never even heard This Heat. The thought of entering into this music completely blind, is almost frightening, as the world of This Heat is so singular, so powerful, it will be difficult to ever listen to music the same way again. Trust us.
The Health And Efficiency ep followed This Heat's self titled debut and took their sound in a strangely pop (for them at least) direction, sounding like some tweaked and twisted version of Wire, the title track all angular new wave guitars, monotone vocals, driving drums, strange convoluted arrangements and creepy background sound effects before the whole thing splinters into super abstract rhythmic experimentalism, looped grooves, played over and over, while sounds float and careen in the background, so incredibly hypnotic and repetitive. The second track on Health And Efficiency (which runs a brief twenty minutes) is "Graphic/Varispeed (45rpm)", a lengthy drone, a warm synth whir that surfaces within other This Heat tracks, recontextualized and often chopped up and reassembled, but here, it's a slow shifting slow motion single tone soundscape, with the tone occasionally being pitched up or down, very simple but quite haunting, and a cool glimpse at how This Heat managed to mix and match, use and reuse, without ever treading water. Kinda pricey, as it's only 20 minutes long, and two songs, but it's still well worth it.
MPEG Stream: "Health And Efficiency"

THIS HEAT Live 80 /81 (ReR) cd 17.98
It's tough to review the records of This Heat separately, knowing that there is a box set, a box set most of us had been waiting for for years! Like imagine if you heard about Christmas, and spent the next decade waking up and rushing out to the living room only to find nothing there. That's what it was like waiting for the long rumored This Heat box. It seems almost self evident that it is honestly one of the few box sets, that is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL. But okay, $100 might be a bit much to drop on a band you're not all the familiar with. And probably some folks already have some of these discs, as they were briefly available in the nineties. But let's be upfront and warn you straight up, we know very few people, who on hearing any music from This Heat, even a single song, weren't immediately compelled to get their hands on every single bit of recorded material they could find. The music of This Heat is most definitely that powerful, that intense, having informed almost all of the music we've loved since. And sounding as fresh and forward thinking today as it did when it was first recorded.
Before we get to reviewing Live 80/81, a killer live disc that was included in the box set as a bonus disc, let's give you some background on (and no small amount of gushing over) one of our all time favorite bands.
Trying to explain why this band is so good is sort of like trying to explain why ice cream is so delicious. Or why Bush is such a terrible president.
Or maybe it's kind of like writing an introduction for the new Pynchon novel. Or telling a few jokes before Richard Pryor comes on stage. Or throwing a couple quick passes before Joe Montana comes on the field. It's that daunting, that overwhelming, that impossible.
The trio of Charles Hayward, Charles Bullen and Gareth Williams known collectively as This Heat were one of the few bands that literally changed people's lives. Changed the way folks thought about music. I (Andee) couldn't believe music like this actually existed. It was everything I wanted to listen to before I knew that THIS was exactly what I wanted to listen to. Hit It Or Quit It publisher / rock critic / indie scenestress Jessica Hopper once wrote that she literally pee'd her pants the first time she heard This Heat. And it's not hard to see why. Without This Heat, modern, alternative, avant-garde music as we know it would be a whole different beast. Post-rock, math-rock, avant rock are hugely indebted to the genre shattering experimentalism of This Heat. Tortoise, You Fantastic, Yona Kit, Brise Glace, Psychic Paramount, Laddio Bollocko, Radian, Village Of Savoonga, Larsen, Starfuckers, Circle, Salvatore, I Am Spoonbender -- none of those bands would even exist if it weren't for This Heat, or if they still did you can bet they would sound a whole lot different. And that's just off the top of our heads, AND that's -just- bands whose sound directly reflects the influence of This Heat. Imagine how many performers and artists were influenced by This Heat but who let that influence manifest itself in not so obvious ways.
We once described This Heat as "Krautrock-ish hyper rhythmic tape-looped prog." Which comes close to succinctly describing the magical musical alchemy of This Heat, but still only scratches the surface. The sound of This Heat is rhythm and texture and dynamics. The recording studio as instrument. Every sound and every song is based on rhythm and texture. There are hooks, and melodies, but they exist to serve the rhythm and are often born from the deft manipulation of sound and tempo. Even the most static and repetitive parts manage to sound -musical-. There are vocals, but they are minimal and otherworldly, weary and sing songy and completely mesmerizing. A droning musical accompaniment to the haunting whirs and clanging percussion in the background.
Their entire catalog has gone in and out of print over the years, mostly out, with all of their records pretty much completely unavailable for the last 7 or 8 years. Rumors of a complete box set and reissue campaign began to circulate a few years back and it has finally happened and it's everything we could have hoped for and more. Every single release, remastered and repackaged in swank digipaks. We're almost jealous of folks who have never even heard This Heat. The thought of entering into this music completely blind, is almost frightening, as the world of This Heat is so singular, so powerful, it will be difficult to ever listen to music the same way again. Trust us.
Live 80/81 is a compilation of live tracks recorded between 1980 and 1981 all over Europe and sequenced to resemble the set list the band used on tour in the eighties. Recorded using a single stereo mic, the sound is less that crystal clear, it's blurry and murky and lo-fi, but captures the band in their element at the top of their game. And the sound quality almost adds to the music, the band were such experimentalists, you can almost imagine them spending weeks in the studio trying to perfect the perfect lo-fi method of recording. But the songs are amazing, the extended rhythmic jams, the dense bursts of furious angular pop, it's simply awesome to hear the band recreate pieces that on record relied so heavily on the studio, more evidence as to the genius of This Heat. Rumor has it there are tons of other live recordings soon to get the deluxe reissue treatment as well. We can hardly wait.
MPEG Stream: "S.P.Q.R."
MPEG Stream: "Triumph"

THIS HEAT Made Available (ReR) cd 17.98
It's tough to review the records of This Heat separately, knowing that there is a box set, a box set most of us had been waiting for for years! Like imagine if you heard about Christmas, and spent the next decade waking up and rushing out to the living room only to find nothing there. That's what it was like waiting for the long rumored This Heat box. It seems almost self evident that it is honestly one of the few box sets, that is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL. But okay, $100 might be a bit much to drop on a band you're not all the familiar with. And probably some folks already have some of these discs, as they were briefly available in the nineties. But let's be upfront and warn you straight up, we know very few people, who on hearing any music from This Heat, even a single song, weren't immediately compelled to get their hands on every single bit of recorded material they could find. The music of This Heat is most definitely that powerful, that intense, having informed almost all of the music we've loved since. And sounding as fresh and forward thinking today as it did when it was first recorded.
Before we get to reviewing Made Available, a posthumous release of This Heat's Peel Sessions, let's give you some background on (and no small amount of gushing over) one of our all time favorite bands.
Trying to explain why this band is so good is sort of like trying to explain why ice cream is so delicious. Or why Bush is such a terrible president.
Or maybe it's kind of like writing an introduction for the new Pynchon novel. Or telling a few jokes before Richard Pryor comes on stage. Or throwing a couple quick passes before Joe Montana comes on the field. It's that daunting, that overwhelming, that impossible.
The trio of Charles Hayward, Charles Bullen and Gareth Williams known collectively as This Heat were one of the few bands that literally changed people's lives. Changed the way folks thought about music. I (Andee) couldn't believe music like this actually existed. It was everything I wanted to listen to before I knew that THIS was exactly what I wanted to listen to. Hit It Or Quit It publisher / rock critic / indie scenestress Jessica Hopper once wrote that she literally pee'd her pants the first time she heard This Heat. And it's not hard to see why. Without This Heat, modern, alternative, avant-garde music as we know it would be a whole different beast. Post-rock, math-rock, avant rock are hugely indebted to the genre shattering experimentalism of This Heat. Tortoise, You Fantastic, Yona Kit, Brise Glace, Psychic Paramount, Laddio Bollocko, Radian, Village Of Savoonga, Larsen, Starfuckers, Circle, Salvatore, I Am Spoonbender -- none of those bands would even exist if it weren't for This Heat, or if they still did you can bet they would sound a whole lot different. And that's just off the top of our heads, AND that's -just- bands whose sound directly reflects the influence of This Heat. Imagine how many performers and artists were influenced by This Heat but who let that influence manifest itself in not so obvious ways.
We once described This Heat as "Krautrock-ish hyper rhythmic tape-looped prog." Which comes close to succinctly describing the magical musical alchemy of This Heat, but still only scratches the surface. The sound of This Heat is rhythm and texture and dynamics. The recording studio as instrument. Every sound and every song is based on rhythm and texture. There are hooks, and melodies, but they exist to serve the rhythm and are often born from the deft manipulation of sound and tempo. Even the most static and repetitive parts manage to sound -musical-. There are vocals, but they are minimal and otherworldly, weary and sing songy and completely mesmerizing. A droning musical accompaniment to the haunting whirs and clanging percussion in the background.
Their entire catalog has gone in and out of print over the years, mostly out, with all of their records pretty much completely unavailable for the last 7 or 8 years. Rumors of a complete box set and reissue campaign began to circulate a few years back and it has finally happened and it's everything we could have hoped for and more. Every single release, remastered and repackaged in swank digipaks. We're almost jealous of folks who have never even heard This Heat. The thought of entering into this music completely blind, is almost frightening, as the world of This Heat is so singular, so powerful, it will be difficult to ever listen to music the same way again. Trust us.
In 1996, This Heat's 1977 Peel Sessions were finally released and demonstrated once again that This Heat were untouchable, effortlessly unfurling a sound equal parts avant pop, krautrock, progrock, musique concrete and a handful of parts that defied easy classification. Every track here a jaw dropping, mind blowing performance. Especially the new version of "Horizontal Hold", one of This Heat's finest moments already, played here with much more verve and vigor and with a sound quality so much clearer, a recording so incredibly hot, that the song is reborn and completely confounds and amazes. The whole session is rhythmically dense, rife with bastardized pop, incredibly complex arrangements all rendered again in such a way that they are emotional and moving, instead of just intellectual musical exercises. And the sound is so crystal clear, that you can hear a band at the top of their game, taking over the BBC studio and using it like they would a second guitar or another drummer. The Peel Sessions also include a handful of songs that never made it onto records proper. All as good as anything on their official releases.
MPEG Stream: "Horizontal Hold (Peel Session)"

THIS HEAT Made Available (These) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
One of our all time favorite bands, captured at their all time best for a 1977 BBC session. Krautrock-ish hyper rhythmic tape-looped prog. Absolutely brilliant and essential. This classic is now made available on the lp format.

THIS HEAT Out Of Cold Storage (This Is / ReR) 6cd box 102.00
Trying to explain why this band is so good is sort of like trying to explain why ice cream is so delicious. Or why Bush is such a terrible president.
Or maybe it's kind of like writing an introduction for the new Pynchon novel. Or telling a few jokes before Richard Pryor comes on stage. Or throwing a couple quick passes before Joe Montana comes on the field. It's that daunting, that overwhelming, that impossible.
The trio of Charles Hayward, Charles Bullen and Gareth Williams known collectively as This Heat were one of the few bands that literally changed people's lives. Changed the way folks thought about music. I (Andee) couldn't believe music like this actually existed. It was everything I wanted to listen to before I knew that THIS was exactly what I wanted to listen to. Hit It Or Quit It publisher / rock critic / indie scenestress Jessica Hopper once wrote that she literally pee'd her pants the first time she heard This Heat. And it's not hard to see why. Without This Heat, modern, alternative, avant-garde music as we know it would be a whole different beast. Post-rock, math-rock, avant rock are hugely indebted to the genre shattering experimentalism of This Heat. Tortoise, You Fantastic, Yona Kit, Brise Glace, Psychic Paramount, Laddio Bollocko, Radian, Village Of Savoonga, Larsen, Starfuckers, Circle, Salvatore, I Am Spoonbender -- none of those bands would even exist if it weren't for This Heat, or if they still did you can bet they would sound a whole lot different. And that's just off the top of our heads, AND that's -just- bands whose sound directly reflects the influence of This Heat. Imagine how many performers and artists were influenced by This Heat but who let that influence manifest itself in not so obvious ways.
We once described This Heat as "Krautrock-ish hyper rhythmic tape-looped prog." Which comes close to succinctly describing the magical musical alchemy of This Heat, but still only scratches the surface. The sound of This Heat is rhythm and texture and dynamics. The recording studio as instrument. Every sound and every song is based on rhythm and texture. There are hooks, and melodies, but they exist to serve the rhythm and are often born from the deft manipulation of sound and tempo. Even the most static and repetitive parts manage to sound -musical-. There are vocals, but they are minimal and otherworldly, weary and sing songy and completely mesmerizing. A droning musical accompaniment to the haunting whirs and clanging percussion in the background.
Their entire catalog has gone in and out of print over the years, mostly out, with all of these records pretty much completely unavailable for the last 7 or 8 years. Rumors of a complete box set began to circulate a few years back and it has finally surfaced and it's everything we could have hoped for and more. Every single release, remastered, repackaged in swank digipaks, including a bonus live disc, a huge booklet, amazing archival photos, extensive liner notes, all packed in a gorgeous box. It's a testament to the power this band holds over their fans that pretty much everyone who owns all of these records already will buy the box without a second thought. We're almost jealous of folks who have never even heard This Heat. The thought of entering into this box set completely blind, is almost frightening, as the world of This Heat is so singular, so powerful, it will be difficult to ever listen to music the same way again.
This Heat's self titled debut, originally released in 1978 (which is almost impossible to believe, that people were making music this progressive, this intense, this fucked up and forward thinking) is such a totally immersive and strangely lovely musical environment. From the machinelike krautrock of "Horizontal Hold" to the dreamy contemplative "Twilight Furniture" with its simple chiming guitars, muted tribal percussion and keening vocals, to the bizarre affected drum workout of "24 Track Loop", it's like wandering through some alien musical world. A sky full of greys and blues, smeary drones floating gently by, haunting quavering vocals drifting below, like tendrils of smoke, the barren landscape littered with all manner of rhythmic outcroppings, harsh jagged crashes and booms, as well as low rolling thumps and stutters, off in the distance simple spare melodies float and hover, each note a glowing spot on the horizon. Absolutely and utterly overwhelmingly brilliant.
The Health And Efficiency ep followed in early 1981 and took their sound in a strangely pop (for them at least) direction, sounding like some tweaked and twisted version of Wire, the title track all angular new wave guitars, monotone vocals, driving drums, strange convoluted arrangements and creepy background sound effects before the whole thing splinters into super abstract rhythmic experimentalism, looped grooves, played over and over, while sounds float and careen in the background, so incredibly hypnotic and repetitive. The second track on Health And Efficiency (which runs a brief twenty minutes) is "Graphic/Varispeed (45rpm)", a lengthy drone, a warm synth whir that surfaces within other This Heat tracks, recontextualized and often chopped up and reassembled, but here, it's a slow shifting slow motion single tone soundscape, with the tone occasionally being pitched up or down, very simple but quite haunting, and a cool glimpse at how This Heat managed to mix and match, use and reuse, without ever treading water.
Later that same year came Deceit, with the band continuing to expand and explore. Deceit consisted of shorter songs, but that didn't mean their process, or disdain for convention was altered. If anything, they managed to subvert pop music in a way never thought possible. Imagine Brian Eno circa Taking Tiger Mountain, but filter that through some avant industrialism, angular new wave and hyper rhythmic krautrock and you'll begin to get the picture. The songs on Deceit are impossibly catchy, especially when examined closely. Abstract, obtuse, angular, convoluted, tangled up but without ever losing that thread, that melodic sensibility that grounded the songs, kept them from falling apart completely, instead, the perilous arrangements only added tension and emotion. An incredibly explosive sound that somehow hybridized all of the countercultural fury of punk and situationism, within a sonic context informed by the technological advances of musique concrete and electro-acoustic experimentation. The sound was definitely punk in its own way, but certainly wasn't expressed through three chord song structures or snarling postures, instead This Heat injected their own complex pop agendas with a jittery nervous tension always building to a dramatic and cathartic release. Deceit was sadly the band's final release disbanding soon after.
In 1993, a disc of unearthed This Heat recordings was released and consisted of three lengthy tracks of tape loop experiments and random rhythmic explorations. Repeat has come to be This Heat's defining work even though it is essentially a record of outtakes and pieces meant to be incorporated into other songs. But it's hard to argue with the 20 minute title track, and endless, almost funky groove, punctuated by weird electronic swells, sprinkles of woodblock percussion and occasional handclaps but held together by one of the most amazing drum parts ever. A relentless pound and shuffle, drenched in effects, sound very dubby, but also very krautrock, a tripped out blissed out drone drenched rhythmic space jam never matched to this day. Every time this is played for a friend, musician or not, the listener is inevitably confused, perplexed and then quickly obsessed with hearing more. The second track, appropriately titled "Metal" is an abstract soundscape of, well, metal, clanging, clinking, like some ancient junkyard gamelan, almost like the previous piece transcribed for sheet metal, garbage can, metal pipe and dumpster. The metallic symphony shifts and sways, melodies surface, rhythms twist and turn, all very hypnotic and quite lovely. The final track revisits a song on Health and Efficiency, but slows it down a bit to become "Graphic/Varispeed (45rpm)", the same sort of slow, murky drone, just made even slower, so more tonal colors surface, and the subtle shit is much more noticeable, a gloriously dreamlike warm warbly whir.
In 1996, This Heat's 1977 Peel Sessions were finally released and demonstrated once again that This Heat were untouchable, effortlessly unfurling a sound equal parts avant pop, krautrock, progrock, musique concrete and a handful of parts that defied easy classification. Every track here a jaw dropping, mind blowing performance. Especially the new version of "Horizontal Hold", one of This Heat's finest moments already, played here with much more verve and vigor and with a sound quality so much clearer, a recording so incredibly hot, that the song is reborn and completely confounds and amazes. The whole session is rhythmically dense, rife with bastardized pop, incredibly complex arrangements all rendered again in such a way that they are emotional and moving, instead of just intellectual musical exercises. And the sound is so crystal clear, that you can hear a band at the top of their game, taking over the BBC studio and using it like they would a second guitar or another drummer. The Peel Sessions also include a handful of songs that never made it onto records proper. All as good as anything on their official releases.
The bonus disc included in the box is a compilation of live tracks recorded between 1980 and 1981 all over Europe and sequenced to resemble the set list the band used on tour in the eighties. Recorded using a single stereo mic, the sound is less that crystal clear, but captures the band in their element at the top of their game. The songs are amazing, it's awesome to hear the band recreate pieces that on record relied so heavily on the studio, more evidence as to the genius of This Heat.
Our only complaint about this box was that there is definitely more This Heat material out there, and anyone picking up this box, would have gladly paid a few bucks more for one or two more discs of lost rare material. But then we spied this in the liner notes of the live cd: "Further CD's from other stages in This Heat's music to follow, including collaborations, improvisations and site-specific work as well as other live cds."
We can hardly wait!
There are plenty of places on the web and in magazines to read more about the history of the band, the band members, various versions, releases and re-releases and past reissues, but none of that ultimately matters as much as the sound. And oh the glorious sound. Just take a listen to the sound samples and no words will be necessary.
MPEG Stream: "Horizontal Hold (Peel Session)"
MPEG Stream: "Repeat"
MPEG Stream: "Paper Hats"
MPEG Stream: "Health And Efficiency"

THIS HEAT Repeat (These Records) cd 18.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

THIS HEAT Repeat (ReR) cd 17.98
It's tough to review the records of This Heat separately, knowing that there is a box set, a box set most of us had been waiting for for years! Like imagine if you heard about Christmas, and spent the next decade waking up and rushing out to the living room only to find nothing there. That's what it was like waiting for the long rumored This Heat box. It seems almost self evident that it is honestly one of the few box sets, that is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL. But okay, $100 might be a bit much to drop on a band you're not all the familiar with. And probably some folks already have some of these discs, as they were briefly available in the nineties. But let's be upfront and warn you straight up, we know very few people, who on hearing any music from This Heat, even a single song, weren't immediately compelled to get their hands on every single bit of recorded material they could find. The music of This Heat is most definitely that powerful, that intense, having informed almost all of the music we've loved since. And sounding as fresh and forward thinking today as it did when it was first recorded.
Before we get to reviewing Repeat, a posthumous release of This Heat's tape loop experiments and various bits of studio exploration, let's give you some background on (and no small amount of gushing over) one of our all time favorite bands.
Trying to explain why this band is so good is sort of like trying to explain why ice cream is so delicious. Or why Bush is such a terrible president.
Or maybe it's kind of like writing an introduction for the new Pynchon novel. Or telling a few jokes before Richard Pryor comes on stage. Or throwing a couple quick passes before Joe Montana comes on the field. It's that daunting, that overwhelming, that impossible.
The trio of Charles Hayward, Charles Bullen and Gareth Williams known collectively as This Heat were one of the few bands that literally changed people's lives. Changed the way folks thought about music. I (Andee) couldn't believe music like this actually existed. It was everything I wanted to listen to before I knew that THIS was exactly what I wanted to listen to. Hit It Or Quit It publisher / rock critic / indie scenestress Jessica Hopper once wrote that she literally pee'd her pants the first time she heard This Heat. And it's not hard to see why. Without This Heat, modern, alternative, avant-garde music as we know it would be a whole different beast. Post-rock, math-rock, avant rock are hugely indebted to the genre shattering experimentalism of This Heat. Tortoise, You Fantastic, Yona Kit, Brise Glace, Psychic Paramount, Laddio Bollocko, Radian, Village Of Savoonga, Larsen, Starfuckers, Circle, Salvatore, I Am Spoonbender -- none of those bands would even exist if it weren't for This Heat, or if they still did you can bet they would sound a whole lot different. And that's just off the top of our heads, AND that's -just- bands whose sound directly reflects the influence of This Heat. Imagine how many performers and artists were influenced by This Heat but who let that influence manifest itself in not so obvious ways.
We once described This Heat as "Krautrock-ish hyper rhythmic tape-looped prog." Which comes close to succinctly describing the magical musical alchemy of This Heat, but still only scratches the surface. The sound of This Heat is rhythm and texture and dynamics. The recording studio as instrument. Every sound and every song is based on rhythm and texture. There are hooks, and melodies, but they exist to serve the rhythm and are often born from the deft manipulation of sound and tempo. Even the most static and repetitive parts manage to sound -musical-. There are vocals, but they are minimal and otherworldly, weary and sing songy and completely mesmerizing. A droning musical accompaniment to the haunting whirs and clanging percussion in the background.
Their entire catalog has gone in and out of print over the years, mostly out, with all of their records pretty much completely unavailable for the last 7 or 8 years. Rumors of a complete box set and reissue campaign began to circulate a few years back and it has finally happened and it's everything we could have hoped for and more. Every single release, remastered and repackaged in swank digipaks. We're almost jealous of folks who have never even heard This Heat. The thought of entering into this music completely blind, is almost frightening, as the world of This Heat is so singular, so powerful, it will be difficult to ever listen to music the same way again. Trust us.
In 1993, a disc of unearthed This Heat recordings was released and consisted of three lengthy tracks of tape loop experiments and random rhythmic explorations. Repeat has come to be This Heat's defining work even though it is essentially a record of outtakes and pieces meant to be incorporated into other songs. But it's hard to argue with the 20 minute title track, and endless, almost funky groove, punctuated by weird electronic swells, sprinkles of woodblock percussion and occasional handclaps but held together by one of the most amazing drum parts ever. A relentless pound and shuffle, drenched in effects, sound very dubby, but also very krautrock, a tripped out blissed out drone drenched rhythmic space jam never matched to this day. Every time this is played for a friend, musician or not, the listener is inevitably confused, perplexed and then quickly obsessed with hearing more. The second track, appropriately titled "Metal" is an abstract soundscape of, well, metal, clanging, clinking, like some ancient junkyard gamelan, almost like the previous piece transcribed for sheet metal, garbage can, metal pipe and dumpster. The metallic symphony shifts and sways, melodies surface, rhythms twist and turn, all very hypnotic and quite lovely. The final track revisits a song on Health and Efficiency, but slows it down a bit to become "Graphic/Varispeed (45rpm)", the same sort of slow, murky drone, just made even slower, so more tonal colors surface, and the subtle shit is much more noticeable, a gloriously dreamlike warm warbly whir.
MPEG Stream: "Repeat"

THIS HEAT Repeat/Health and Efficiency (These) 2lp 18.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A long awaited reissue of two out of print releases from This Heat. "Health & Efficiency" was a 12" of classic This Heat angular art rock with odd time changes, discordant organ drones, and belligerent guitars. "Repeat" is an album long droney collage of all of the tape loops This Heat used during live performances. It never ceases to amaze how fresh This Heat's experiments with rock sound after over twenty years! As with all This Heat albums, this is essential!

THIS HEAT s/t (ReR) cd 17.98
Trying to explain why this record is so good is sort of like trying to explain why ice cream is so delicious. Or why Bush is such a terrible president.
Or maybe it's kind of like writing an introduction for the new Pynchon novel. Or telling a few jokes before Richard Pryor comes on stage. Or throwing a couple quick passes before Joe Montana comes on the field. It's that daunting, that overwhelming, that impossible.
The trio of Charles Hayward, Charles Bullen, and Gareth Williams known collectively as This Heat were one of the few bands that literally changed people's lives. Changed the way folks thought about music. I (Andee) couldn't believe music like this actually existed. It was everything I wanted to listen to before I knew that THIS was exactly what I wanted to listen to. Hit It Or Quit It publisher / rock critic / indie scenstress Jessica Hopper once wrote that she literally pee'd her pants the first time she heard This Heat. And it's not hard to see why. Without This Heat, modern, alternative, avant garde music as we know it would be a whole different beast. Post rock, math rock, avant rock are hugely indebted to the genre shattering experimentalism of This Heat. Tortoise, You Fantastic, Yona Kit, Brise Glace, Psychic Paramount, Laddio Bollocko, Radian, Village Of Savoonga, Larsen, Starfuckers, Circle, Salvatore, I Am Spoonbender -- none of those bands would even exist if it weren't for This Heat, or if they still did you can bet they would sound a whole lot different. And that's just off the top of our heads, AND that's -just- bands whose sound directly reflects the influence of This Heat. Imagine how many performers and artists were influenced by This Heat but who let that influence manifest itself in not so obvious ways.
We once described This Heat as "Krautrock-ish hyper rhythmic tape-looped prog." Which comes close to succinctly describing the magical musical alchemy of This Heat, but still only scratches the surface. This is their self titled debut, originally released in 1979 and reissued briefly in 1991, and manages over the course of about 50 minutes to redefine almost all music that had come before.
The sound of This Heat is rhythm and texture and dynamics. The recording studio as instrument. Every sound and every song is based on rhythm and texture. There are hooks, and melodies, but they exist to serve the rhythm and are often born from the deft manipulation of sound and tempo. Even the most static and repetitive parts manage to sound -musical-. There are vocals, but they are minimal and otherworldly, weary and sing songy and completely mesmerizing. A droning musical accompaniment to the haunting whirs and clanging percussion in the background. This record is such a totally immersive and strangely lovely musical environment. From the machinelike Krautrock of "Horizontal Hold" to the dreamy contemplative "Twilight Furniture" with its simple chiming guitars, muted tribal percussion and keening vocals, to the bizarre affected drum workout of "24 Track Loop", it's like wandering through some alien musical world. As sky full of greys and blues, smeary drones floating gently by, haunting quavering vocals drifting below, like tendrils of smoke, the barren landscape littered with all manner of rhythmic outcroppings, harsh jagged crashes and booms, as well as low rolling thumps and stutters, off in the distance simple spare melodies float and hover, each note a glowing spot on the horizon. Absolutely and utterly overwhelmingly brilliant.
There are plenty of places on the web and in magazines to read more about the history of the band, the band members, the various releases and reissues (see elsewhere on the AQ website for reviews of past editions of various TH recordings) but none of that ultimately matters as much as the sound. And oh the glorious sound. Just take a listen to the sound samples and no words will be necessary.
This is arguably This Heat's finest moment, their debut record, finally available again after almost 15 years of being out of print. Be aware that there will be a 5cd box coming out in the (near?) future, containing EVERY SINGLE ONE of the band's releases, as well as a bonus disc of unreleased material and a huge book of photos and liner notes. And we would have made (maybe will make) THAT record of the week, and while we do believe EVERY music lover we know owes it to themselves to buy the upcoming box, we figured a single disc was plenty for most people to get hooked and obsessed.
MPEG Stream: "Horizontal Hold"
MPEG Stream: "24 Track Loop"
MPEG Stream: "The Fall Of Saigon"

THIS INVITATION Sunless / Ellipses, Lapses, And Collapses (Distinct Mirror Music) 2cd 11.98
Ever hear of Warren Ng? We hadn't either. At least until THREE separate DOUBLE cds showed up in the shop, two by his blissed out ambient guitardrone outfit Somnambulists, one by his old school post rock combo This Invitation. SIX DISCS, all of them pretty dang amazing, and pretty dang cheap too. We imagine if there's any justice in the world, Warren Ng won't remain unknown for much longer. And we're happy to do our part.
This Invitation is the duo of Ng and Casey Farnum, and Sunless / Ellipses, Lapses, And Collapses is their second full length. Unlike the gorgeous guitarscapery of Ng's Somnambulists releases (both reviewed elsewhere on this week's list), This Invitation is more of a proper band, and pretty much from the get-go, triggered our warm fuzzies for "old" post-rock instrumentals from the likes of David Pajo, Tarentel, Tristeza, Village Of Savoonga.
Hushed vocals waft above loosely layered cyclical guitar lines and droney soundscapes, everything is hazy and washed out, warm and woozy and so dreamy, some of the tracks gradually unfurl sun dappled sprawls of soft focus psych folk drift, while others are softly propulsive jangle rock meanders, spidery melodies curl around sweetly layered chordal thrum, there's a definite dreamy/druggy Galaxie 500 vibe happening to, with much of Ng's distinctive guitar playing in Somnambulists still present, but blurred into something much more gauzy and hushed. Sprawling fields of soft smolder and swirling skitter seem to stretch out forever, melancholy and moody, hypnotic and mesmerizing, and even though this is more properly arranged as a 'rock' record, it's still so abstract and swoonsomely slowcore-y, that much of the record plays out like another of Ng's gorgeous guitarscapes, just in this case, they're fashioned into shapes a bit more song-like, but only just a bit.
Pastoral, soothing and wistful and so good.
In the reviews of Ng's Somnambulists double discs, we suggest buying both, since they're pretty cheap for doubles, and are both incredible, but the more we listen to this, we feel like we should now suggest buying all three! Six discs, nearly six hours, all for $36, hard not to recommend buying all three, they're all incredible, and do actually sound like they belong together, a hazy drone-psych post-rock, guitarscape songsuite.
MPEG Stream: "Burning Telegraph"
MPEG Stream: "Under A Belly Of Stars"

THIS IS YOUR CAPTAIN SPEAKING Storyboard (Resonant) cd 17.98
Despite our anticipation that this might be an ode to Laurie Anderson (or more specifically her track "From The Air" on Big Science). This Is Your Captain Speaking are not that at all. Their debut album presents this Australian combo as more in the tradition of grand atmospheric rock bands such as Godspeed You Black Emperor and Mogwai. The expansive Storyboard is comprised of seven lengthy instrumentals beginning with an eighteen minute epic "Gathering Pieces". Gliding strings move in like a creeping fog bank as picked guitar lines offer fleeting glimmers of light. Drumsticks on the rim of snaredrum snap sharply like dry twigs underfoot. An interesting sidenote: Save for a brief outburst of children's giggles at the end of the third track, there's no way that you'd guess it, but the album was recorded in a primary school library!
MPEG Stream: "Gathering Pieces"
MPEG Stream: "A Wave To Bridget Bondly"

THIS SHIP WILL SINK You Are Precisely My Cup of Tea (Magic Bullet) cd ep 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

MPEG Stream: "What Do You Mean I'm Too PC? I Only Use A Mac"

THIS WILL DESTROY YOU / LYMBYC SYSTYM Field Studies (Magic Bullet) cd 10.98
We had never heard This Will Destroy You until recently, but we were pretty into it, they do that sort of brooding, post rock epic majesty sort of thing, but they definitely have their own take on that sound. Seems like folks into Explosions In The Sky and that sort of stuff would go nuts for these guys.
The two TWDY tracks here, definitely still hew to that Explosions / Godspeed template, but they do some really cool stuff here. The 11 minute "Brutalism & The Worship Of The Machine" begins all shoegazey and blissed out, sort of Nadja / Jesu territory, big heavy drums, and ethereal guitar shimmer, the melodies lilting and minor key, buried beneath the sheets of guitars and what could be buried vocals, plenty of effects and weird bits of grind and crunch, the sound continually growing more and more dense, until the drums disappear, leaving just a slow drift of muted thrum and bits of record crackle, and a barely there melody, which gives way to some super hushed post rocky slowcore, the drums delicate, the rest of the instruments chiming and softly swelling, building there way back up, but this time, they're joined by what sounds like horns, and don't explode in climax, instead just sort of moan and drift wearily, very rainy day sounding, not quite funereal, but definitely wistful, before slipping back into soft effected shimmer.
The follow up track, a brief melodic addendum, is a whole different beast, muted melodies, warm rumbles, distant streaks of smeared sound, all laced with some electronic skitter, and more crackle and glitch, giving it a sort of Boards Of Canada vibe. Nice.
This Will Destroy You share the split with another band we've heard before but just never gotten around to reviewing, Lymbyc System, whose sound is more of an electronic / post rock hybrid, falling somewhere between Fridge and Four Tet, but with a bit more heft, loping drums, warm organs, glitchy skitter, tinkling chimes, give way to some soaring heavy guitars, majestic melodies, laced with samples and plenty of effects, exploding into a kick ass frenzied mathrock workout for the last minute or two, but never losing any of the melody or dreaminess. The other two tracks explore similar sounds, great production, the sounds clear, the arrangements slipping from hushed and intimate to majestic in a matter of minutes, lots of crunch and glitch and buzz, but also lots of skittery drums, warm riffs, moody drift, some Tortoise-y almost-jazz, a pretty heady concoction that is easy to get lost in.
Of the two, we probably lean toward the more muscular and epic This Will Destroy You, but both bands work together well sonically, and thus this split actually almost plays out like more of a proper record than two bands teamed up.
This doesn't actually come out for a while, but we lucked out and managed to get a bunch early, so all you folks into post rock and math rock and big guitars and slow building epic post metal drift and skittery slowcore and everything in between, this comes highly recommended.
MPEG Stream: THIS WILL DESTROY YOU "Brutalism & The Worship of the Machine"
MPEG Stream: LYMBYC SYSTEM "Processed Spirits"

THIS WILL DESTROY YOU / LYMBYC SYSTYM Field Studies (Magic Bullet) lp 11.98
We had never heard This Will Destroy You until recently, but we were pretty into it, they do that sort of brooding, post rock epic majesty sort of thing, but they definitely have their own take on that sound. Seems like folks into Explosions In The Sky and that sort of stuff would go nuts for these guys.
The two TWDY tracks here, definitely still hew to that Explosions / Godspeed template, but they do some really cool stuff here. The 11 minute "Brutalism & The Worship Of The Machine" begins all shoegazey and blissed out, sort of Nadja / Jesu territory, big heavy drums, and ethereal guitar shimmer, the melodies lilting and minor key, buried beneath the sheets of guitars and what could be buried vocals, plenty of effects and weird bits of grind and crunch, the sound continually growing more and more dense, until the drums disappear, leaving just a slow drift of muted thrum and bits of record crackle, and a barely there melody, which gives way to some super hushed post rocky slowcore, the drums delicate, the rest of the instruments chiming and softly swelling, building there way back up, but this time, they're joined by what sounds like horns, and don't explode in climax, instead just sort of moan and drift wearily, very rainy day sounding, not quite funereal, but definitely wistful, before slipping back into soft effected shimmer.
The follow up track, a brief melodic addendum, is a whole different beast, muted melodies, warm rumbles, distant streaks of smeared sound, all laced with some electronic skitter, and more crackle and glitch, giving it a sort of Boards Of Canada vibe. Nice.
This Will Destroy You share the split with another band we've heard before but just never gotten around to reviewing, Lymbyc System, whose sound is more of an electronic / post rock hybrid, falling somewhere between Fridge and Four Tet, but with a bit more heft, loping drums, warm organs, glitchy skitter, tinkling chimes, give way to some soaring heavy guitars, majestic melodies, laced with samples and plenty of effects, exploding into a kick ass frenzied mathrock workout for the last minute or two, but never losing any of the melody or dreaminess. The other two tracks explore similar sounds, great production, the sounds clear, the arrangements slipping from hushed and intimate to majestic in a matter of minutes, lots of crunch and glitch and buzz, but also lots of skittery drums, warm riffs, moody drift, some Tortoise-y almost-jazz, a pretty heady concoction that is easy to get lost in.
Of the two, we probably lean toward the more muscular and epic This Will Destroy You, but both bands work together well sonically, and thus this split actually almost plays out like more of a proper record than two bands teamed up.
This doesn't actually come out for a while, but we lucked out and managed to get a bunch early, so all you folks into post rock and math rock and big guitars and slow building epic post metal drift and skittery slowcore and everything in between, this comes highly recommended.
MPEG Stream: THIS WILL DESTROY YOU "Brutalism & The Worship of the Machine"
MPEG Stream: LYMBYC SYSTEM "Processed Spirits"

THISQUIETARMY & SCOTT CORTEZ Meridians (Three-Four) lp 21.00
Scott Cortez, he of shoegaze legends Lovesliescrushing, as well as the recently reviewed Astrobrite, teams up with Thisquietarmy, who we've heard from in the past via multiple collaborations with Nadja's Aidan Baker. Here these two create a gorgeous landscape of thick layered mesmeric guitardrone, playable at both 33rpm and 45rpm (of course we're always partial to the slower), the guitars rendered totally unguitarlike, more like sound generators, unfurling pulsing lush overlapping tones and chords, all blurred and smeared into bleary, druggy dreaminess. Hypnotic, with ever shifting overtones, subtle sonic colorations, abstract and ambient, but still dense and dreamily dark. Only got a few copies of this...

THOMAS JEFFERSON SLAVE APARTMENTS Burning Trash (Negative Guest List) 7" 12.98
For a very very brief moment in the nineties, Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments were the next big thing, or if not that specifically, they were definitely super hyped, signed to a big cool label, and poised for some sort of success, which not surprisingly, never really came. And hearing these guys, it's really no surprise, this is not the sort of music made for anything but the pure love of making a racket. And the fact that within that racket lurked some of the most awesome songs ever, well, that was just a bonus. If you've yet to hear TJSA's all time classic "Negative Guest List", a song about something we all wish really existed ("Even if I pay I can't get in..."), you need to remedy that right quick. And hell if you're anything like us, that will no doubt lead you to a burning desire to own EVERYTHING these guys ever did, which is difficult seeing as almost all of it is out of print.
Which brings us to this, a pricey little gem of a 7", featuring two rare TJSA demos, which means the usual lo-fi basement-scuzz broken 4 track, old microphone recording quality that already helped defined their sound, seems positively high fidelity compare to this, but that sort of makes these jams sound even better. From 1995, two zoner garage punk scuzz pop gems, all woozy and druggy and swaggery and in their own way catchy as fuck, that should definitely show the current crop of garage rock noise poppers a thing or two about how it's really done.

THOMAS, ANDREW Between Building And Trees (Kompakt) cd 15.98
If we had to choose a favorite purveyor of pop ambience, it would definitely be tough to pick just one, but Andrew Thomas would definitely be a contender. We still find ourselves listening to his Fearsome Jewel Record, A hushed, understated collection of minimal drift and dreamlike shimmer, the usual washed out ambience infused with record crackle, and muted electronic glitchery, a bit like Gas fused with Philip Jeck.
We hadn't heard from Thomas in a while so we were thrilled to discover a new record, and it's just as fantastically sublime as we had hoped. Even more minimal than Fearsome Jewel, Between Building And Trees finds Thomas painting lush cinematic soundscapes, from subtly looped samples, warm whirring synths, there's still some record crackle, artifacts from the samples we presume, but it adds warmth and intimacy, making these sprawling shimmery soundscapes sound hand crafted, as if you could watch him at an old work bench, taking sounds and samples, as if they were scraps of leather or metal, and fashioning this gorgeous, sonic OBJECT. Lovely and whispery and melodic, warm and whirring and blissed out, this immediately became sleeping music of choice for some of us, the absolute perfect nocturnal soundtrack, some of the tracks so minimal the sounds seem to bleed into the background, fading into the starry sky, until the next track kicks in, and suddenly the stars are sounds, glimmering and pulsing, blurring into streaks of soft focus flutter and languorous dreamlike drift. So so so beautiful.
MPEG Stream: "One Thousand Pin Holes In A Black Paper Sky"
MPEG Stream: "A Dream Of A Spider"
MPEG Stream: "Light On Sea (From Above the World So High)"

THOMAS, ANDREW Fearsome Jewel (Kompakt) cd 14.98
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We first heard Andrew Thomas on the amazing Pop Ambient 2004 compilation released on Kompakt and reviewed a few lists back (a Record of the Week in fact), and while that whole collection was mesmerising and beautiful, Thomas' music definitely stood out. This New Zealander has obviously found a home amidst these German ambient pop explorers, but has managed, along with Wolfgang Voigt (aka Gas), to really move beyond ambient techno into another world, a sonic world of sweet timelessness and endless shimmer. Lush and lugubrious ambient soundscapes of warm and muted underwater loops, breezy and shimmery, with record crackle, radio static, heartbeat like pulses, tinkly piano, reverberant drones, and dreamy, meandering melodies. Totally mesmerising and trance like. One epic 30 minute piece in 10 loosely connected movements. Equal parts AQ faves Gas, Philip Jeck and Pierre Bastien. So recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Fearsome Jewel 2"
MPEG Stream: "Fearsome Jewel 3"
MPEG Stream: "Fearsome Jewel 4"

THOMAS, DAVID & THE TWO PALE BOYS Surf's Up (Thirsty Ear) cd 16.98
David Thomas' totally weird style of vocal delivery is that of an mysterious storyteller -- half grizzled Tom Waits but also half carnival barker. He's been honing the act for 25 years ever since Pere Ubu exploded out of Cleveland, but Thomas now lives in England and is lucky enough to have Spaceheads' Andy Diagram to help flesh out his singular vision. Diagram's trumpet, which he plays live, samples, then loops upon itself with the help of various pedals and gadgets, is simultaneously huge & apocalyptic yet evocative & melodic. Yeah, he's that good, and he makes this album worth the money. Also includes an inspired and quite odd take on the Beach Boys' "Surf's Up."
RealAudio clip: "Runaway"
RealAudio clip: "Surf's Up"

THOMAS, DAVID AND THE FOREIGNERS Bay City (Thirsty Ear) cd 14.98
David Thomas is one of the least likely rock icons, yet has retained such a status through his years as Crocus Behemoth in Pere Ubu. Outside the legendary art-rock band, Thomas has recorded some wild and wonderful solo records. "Bay City" is the latest solo album, with an almost Tom Waits clamour despite the sombre restrained quality to the artful tunes.

THOMAS, DAVID AND TWO PALE BOYS Erewhon (T/K) cd 13.98
"You know how it is. Somebody finds a place. Word gets round. Everybody moves in." David Thomas of Pere Ubu in a series of structured improvisations with Andy Diagram of beloved Spaceheads.

THOMAS, FRED Sink Like A Symphony (Corleone) cd 10.98

MPEG Stream: "I Fell In Love With The World"
MPEG Stream: "I Built A House"

THOMAS, IRMA Sweet Soul Queen of New Orleans (Razor & Tie Entertainment) cd 16.98
It was pretty amazing to watch Aretha Franklin perform at Obama's inauguration and that moment had us thinking about the things that actually make America great. Democracy, sure, but also all the fantastic soul singers this country has produced over the last half century. Something to be proud of indeed!
While she has never enjoyed the same kind of fame or celebrity as folks like Aretha, Dionne Warwick, Otis Redding, Al Green or Etta James, there is no doubt that Irma Thomas is the cream of the crop when it comes to amazing soulful voices and should most definitely be considered a national treasure. Still alive and well, she just played a few shows in San Francisco that we are so sad we missed, as she apparently sounded amazing and played many of her hits , a bunch of which can be found on this great collection.
With spot on arrangements, broken hearted laments, catchy melodies and such warm and full hearted delivery, these songs are true gems not to be missed by anyone with a love of classic soul. Mixing the best of girl group sass, the melody of doo-wop and the deep emotive core of classic Southern soul, Irma Thomas sings songs that make it feel good to feel bad. While so many of the songs are about suffering a broken heart, and the era in which these songs were created in which she is always singing how much she needs a man to survive could have fit in perfectly as the soundtrack to those subversive Kenneth Anger films that were made near this time period and before.
One of the golden treasures of New Orleans soul (we say it's a tie for Soul Queen of New Orleans between Irma and the great Betty Harris). Anyone who has love of the great soul that has come out of New Orleans knows that all the great stuff has Allen Toussaint's musical hands on them, and much of Irma's best work was indeed produced and arranged by Toussaint. But clearly it's Irma's voice that has made her so incredibly special and moving as these are songs that could melt even the coldest of hearts!
MPEG Stream: "Ruler Of My Heart"
MPEG Stream: "Break-A-Way"
MPEG Stream: "It's Raining"

THOMAS, IRMA The New Orleans Series (Change) lp 11.98
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You should see all of us at the store when a box arrives from Mississippi Records. It's like a house full of little kids on Christmas. All of us running towards the box and practically tearing it apart to see what amazing treats await us. Mississippi's track record speaks for itself, a seemingly endless stream of amazing vinyl reissues, so kick ass, that at this point, many of us will buy anything they put out. And we haven't been disappointed yet.
When we discovered that our treat this time around was a slab of early era cuts from New Orleans soul queen Irma Thomas, those of us who were already in love with her voice and style jumped for joy and those who had yet to discover the magic of Irma Thomas, her sounds and songs quickly convinced them why she is truly one of the great soul singers of all time.
Thomas has been singing her heart out for over four decades now, she even has a brand new studio record coming out. But it's those years in the early '60s where her voice shines and sparkles with a special kind of magic. It's that era that this LP spotlights. Such amazing songs fill this record, with spot on arrangements, broken hearted laments, catchy melodies and such warm and full hearted delivery. Mixing the best of girl group sass, the melody of doo-wop and the deep emotive core of classic Southern soul. While the lp notes that the songs were written by N. Neville, it's known that the so called Naomi Neville was really a pseudonym used by legendary producer Allan Toussaint.
If you love folks like Betty Harris, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Helene Smith or Sam Cooke we can guarantee you are going to fall in love with Irma Thomas if you haven't already. It's a total crime that Irma has never experienced a larger kind of fame or commercial success. She's only had one top 40 single in all her years, but we dare you to listen to this record and not wish you could hear any of these songs played on the radio over and over as her voice on these songs is something no one could ever get tired of hearing!

THOMAS, MATTHEW Remodulation (Dorobo) cd 18.98
While no information is present in the liner notes as to the origin of the strange clicks and whirls on this CD, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that Matthew Thomas is reprocessing shortwave radio static and noises into tentative structures that every once in a while give hint at melodies. A very poetic album that falls between Stockhausen's "Hymnen" and the shortwave radio experiments of John Duncan.

THOMAS, PAT Listen, Whitey!: The Sights And Sounds Of Black Power 1965 - 1975 (Fantagraphics) book 39.99

THOMAS, PETER 100% Cotton (Crippled Dick Hot Wax) 2cd 23.00
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THOMAS, PETER Kriminalfilmmusik (Prudence) cd 14.98
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German musician and composer Peter Thomas is revered the world over, with bands like Stereolab, Coldcut, St Etienne, Tipsy, and Momus covering his songs and singin' his praises. This disc actually issues some *previously unreleased* music he wrote for '60s crime thrillers. Thomas' range is wide, from film noir jazz to smoky swingin' lounge to intense music for what must have been car chase sequences. Perfect for your next cocktail party.

THOMAS, PETER Moonflowers & Mini-skirts (Marina) cd 16.98

THOMAS, PETER Raumpatrouille (Bungalow) cd 14.98
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