TODAY IS THE DAY Willpower (SuperNova) cd 14.98

TODAY IS THE DAY / METATRON The Descent (This Dark Reign) cd 11.98
In spite of sporting a designwork very much like the recent output from Kozik, this split between stalwart prognosticators of the apocalypse Today Is The Day and Kentucky's bass heavy grind core group Metatron is not on Man's Ruin (who did in fact go out of business a few weeks ago). Today Is The Day delivers two exceptional tracks of negative vibes in the form of their signature pseudo-grind / complex math-rock. They also bridge between Metatron with a weird digital collage that ends up sounding like a lackluster Tribes of Neurot track, but Metatron's explosion of Coalesce-esque grind quickly changes things back over to the darkside. 7 tracks in all for a bit over 30 minutes.
RealAudio clip: METATRON "End Of Light"
RealAudio clip: TODAY IS THE DAY "The Descent"

TODD Big Ripper (Riot Season) cd 16.98
You would most definitely be forgiven for not expecting big things from a band called Todd. And you sure as shit would probably wouldn't expect something this fierce and heavy and fucked up. But once you realize these guys are on Riot Season, and that they count as members (or did at one time) guys from long time aQ faves Shit And Shine, then it all begins to make a bit more sense. Right down to the taking-the-piss monicker.
And Todd most definitely have plenty in common with their way more tweaked and druggy countrymen S+S, but where S+S do their multiple drummered post Buttholes freak out thing, Todd are a bit more riffy and raw, still rhythmic and heavy and blown out and in the red, but more pounding and relentless, maybe more akin to Brainbombs and Rusted Shut and Twin Stumps and White Mice and the Mayyors, you get the drift, howled marble mouthed vox, riffs crumbling with distortion, so much so that half the time they just sound like a wall of fuzz, the bass a wash of bowel rattling rumble, the drums pounding and frantic, the band swing from unhinged Scratch Acid / Jesus Lizard noise rock, to seasick post rock groove, to lurching sludge-y doom, to full on filthy space rock trip outs, to repetitive, looped sounding dirge-y drug rock, there's even some warped twang flecked almost slowcore sounding drift, but even then, the vocals are unhinged, and the amps sound like they're gradually turning to some sort of black goo, and the band eventually stumble back into a filthy field of sonic broken glass and ear shredding pound and howl.
Needless to say, if you dig Shit And Shine, Brainbombs, No Balls, Twin Stumps, Butthole Surfers, Rusted Shut, Oxbow, Hey Colossus, the Anals, Billy Bao, any of that sort of crusty, metallic, noise drenched filth, then these guys will definitely hit the spot.
MPEG Stream: "Track Side Fire"
MPEG Stream: "Happy Easter Florida"
MPEG Stream: "French And Out Of France"

TODD Big Ripper (Riot Season) lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
NOW ON VINYL!
You would most definitely be forgiven for not expecting big things from a band called Todd. And you sure as shit would probably wouldn't expect something this fierce and heavy and fucked up. But once you realize these guys are on Riot Season, and that they count as members (or did at one time) guys from long time aQ faves Shit And Shine, then it all begins to make a bit more sense. Right down to the taking-the-piss monicker.
And Todd most definitely have plenty in common with their way more tweaked and druggy countrymen S+S, but where S+S do their multiple drummered post Buttholes freak out thing, Todd are a bit more riffy and raw, still rhythmic and heavy and blown out and in the red, but more pounding and relentless, maybe more akin to Brainbombs and Rusted Shut and Twin Stumps and White Mice and the Mayyors, you get the drift, howled marble mouthed vox, riffs crumbling with distortion, so much so that half the time they just sound like a wall of fuzz, the bass a wash of bowel rattling rumble, the drums pounding and frantic, the band swing from unhinged Scratch Acid / Jesus Lizard noise rock, to seasick post rock groove, to lurching sludge-y doom, to full on filthy space rock trip outs, to repetitive, looped sounding dirge-y drug rock, there's even some warped twang flecked almost slowcore sounding drift, but even then, the vocals are unhinged, and the amps sound like they're gradually turning to some sort of black goo, and the band eventually stumble back into a filthy field of sonic broken glass and ear shredding pound and howl.
Needless to say, if you dig Shit And Shine, Brainbombs, No Balls, Twin Stumps, Butthole Surfers, Rusted Shut, Oxbow, Hey Colossus, the Anals, Billy Bao, any of that sort of crusty, metallic, noise drenched filth, then these guys will definitely hit the spot.
MPEG Stream: "Track Side Fire"
MPEG Stream: "Happy Easter Florida"
MPEG Stream: "French And Out Of France"

TODD Purity Pledge (Southern) cd 14.98

TODD, MIA DOI Gea (City Zen Records) cd 13.98

TODD, MIA DOI Manzanita (Plug Research) cd 16.98
With her latest full length, the earthy, elegant Manzanita, Mia Doi Todd may easily be seated alongside the formidable chanteuse likes of Anne Briggs, the Cowboy Junkies' Margo Timmins and more recently Lhasa (particularly the eighth and ninth songs on this album). Each woman's voice is a richly nuanced force unto itself -- quite possibly supplying enough electricity (in the form of atmosphere, mood and emotion) to power a small village. Ever so moving, Todd's soaring vocals and piano needs very little other adornment. Manzanita is her fifth album, and her first on the Plug Research label. Her previous four were released on four different labels which has made her music a bit difficult to track down in its entirety, but even still each one has marked a sizable growth in her devoted cult following. Hopefully Manzanita will bring her admirers overflowing to above ground heights. Beautiful!
MPEG Stream: "Tongue-Tied"
MPEG Stream: "Deep At Sea"

TODESTOSS Abwegnis 121 (Daemon Worship Productions) cd 15.98

TOE 2000 s/t (Atavistic) cd 13.98
With both Doug McCombs of Tortoise and guitarist Jeff Parker of Isotope 217 in this Chicago band, you can guess as to what Toe 2000 (terrible name!) sound like--from jazzy, Tortoise-y instrumentals to subtle almost new age-y grooves...

TOHO SARA Eastern Most 1-7 (PSF) cd 22.00
1st album.

TOHO SARA Hourouurin (Fractal) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It's sad to say, but it's gotten to the point that a new Acid Mothers Temple release or AMT-related record is met with a yawn instead of a shiver of excitement. Hard to avoid when releasing a record every month or two. But there is one Acid Mothers Temple related project that always has everyone here at AQ all a quiver in anticipation, and that's Toho Sara, the experimental shamanistic musical ritual of AMT's Makoto Kawabata and High Rise / Musica Transonic / Mainliner's Asahito Nanjo. This is exactly the sort of stuff we here at AQ can never get enough of: buzzing reverberating drones over muted tribal drumming and simple spare scraping and rattling percussive ambience. Totally transcendental, dreamy and mesmerising. Sunroof!, Skullflower, Lamonte Young, John Cale, Tony Conrad, No Neck Blues Band, Sunburned Hand Of The Man sort of otherworldly, higher conciousness, rambling, primal tribal free form abstract divine drone. So goddamn good!
MPEG Stream: "Hourouurin Part 1"

TOHO SARA Mei Jou Tan Sho (PSF) cd 22.00
2nd album.

TOIL Lullabies For Insects (Rusty Axe / Graveless Slumber) cd ep 7.98
We've been digging this band for a while, but weirdly enough this is the first record of theirs we've reviewed. When we first heard about Toil, they were described to us as a band that sounded "exactly like the Cure, only with harsh black metal vocals," which sounded pretty good to us, gloomy gothic, new wave indie rock with black metal vocals? Awesome. And it was!
Things have changed a bit on Lullabies For Insects, the Cure vibe is still there (they do a Cure cover after all, more on that in a second), but the sound is more metal, more rocking, and if anything, Toil sound quite a bit like Lifelover, the same sort of strange juxtaposition of howling harsh vox and melodic almost indie sounding black metal. In fact, opener "Moth With Fractured Wings" is a dead ringer for Lifelover, which is not at all a bad thing, c'mon, there are a million bands who sound like Darkthrone, and more keep popping up every day, we're pretty psyched on all these bands exploring their poppier side.
After a cool 5 minute noisdrone piece, the band launch into a depressive dirge, that musically reminds us of Urfaust, or Hypothermia, lilting, loping, the vocals still frayed and maniacal, but the music, so warm and melodic, with some cool breaks with clean guitar and drums. And then finally, the Cure cover, a pretty straight version of "Love Song", except for the vocals, which are insanely over the top, a shrieky demonic falsetto, totally at odds with the music, which is what makes it so ridiculous and so awesome!
Cool packaging, one of those 3" cd's embedded in a normal cd sized plastic disc, with the artwork printed over the whole thing!
MPEG Stream: "Moth With Fractured Wings"
MPEG Stream: "Porcelain Maggots"

TOIL Obscure Chasms (Ruin Productions) cd 14.98

TOKENS Intercourse (Rev-Ola) cd 14.98

TOKIMONSTA Midnight Menu (Listen Up / Art Union) cd 14.98
Been trying to list this for AGES, but our distributors were constantly out of stock, it's been out for a while, but we only just now actually got enough to review and list. Tokimonsta is a female beatmaker from Los Angeles, who was the first female to join Flying Lotus' crew, and whose sound is a warm and scratchy, sorta laid back, sweet and soulful electronica, she mixes old records, live instruments, plenty of effects and loops, and weaves them into swoonsome grooves that shift freely from pop ambient shimmer, to murky late night funk, to big beat crunch, often all together in different measures.
And while we tend to lean toward the dark and the ominous, there's something about Midnight Menu that's totally captivating, sure she occasionally dips into wicked dubstep, making it obvious that if she was so inclined she could rule the dubstep scene, all spiralling minor key synths over burbling synth buzz and a killer stuttery beat, or unfurls woozy washes of muted slo-mo soul that's moody and mysterious, but for the most part, her sound is sun dappled Sunday afternoons, and warm washed out expanses of hazy crackle drenched records spinning slowly over stripped down rhythms, there are a couple tracks with vocals, and sound like hip-hop/pop radio jams, but a little bit warped and twisted, eventually settling back into Tokimonsta's abstract dreamlike electronic sound world. We've all been digging this like crazy, and are psyched to finally get it listed.
Fans of Flying Lotus, Blue Daisy, Zomby, Mount Kimbie, J Dilla and others of a similar sonic stripe will dig this lots...
MPEG Stream: "Look-A-Like"
MPEG Stream: "Lucid Waking"
MPEG Stream: "Simple Reminder"
MPEG Stream: "Questing"
MPEG Stream: "Gamble"

TOKUMARU, SHUGO Exit (Star Time) cd 13.98
Shugo Tokumaru crafts some of the most endearing, clever and catchy pop we've heard in a long time! Carrying on a great tradition of Japanese pop that is nuanced yet so damn playful and impossible not to fall in love with. What makes him and this record so special is how easy and effortless he makes it all seem. Whether using toy instruments to joyous perfection or using his soothing voice to swing the melody of a song back and forth, this is someone who is both a skilled songsmith and a wide eyed daydreamer. The songs and spirit of Exit make us think of some amazing creative pop combination of Haruomi Hosono, Rob Crow, Gruff Rhyss, Cornelius and Vetiver. The range on Exit is astounding, from short caffeine fueled recess anthems to more introspective daydream blissed out gems. That's why the more we listen we really keep thinking of how Shugo Tokumaru seems so much like a Japanese version of Rob Crow, as so many songs on this record could totally fit in sound and style on Heavy Vegetable, Thingy or Pinback records. It's rare that someone is able to be both so playful and thoughtful with the songs they create, but Tokumaru proves with this batch of playful delights that he's in that upper class of truly great pop songsmiths, every song a hook filled gem with an undeniable heart of pop gold. Highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: " Sanganichi"
MPEG Stream: "Clocca"
MPEG Stream: "Button"

TOLL Christ Knows (Cold Spring) cd 15.98
BACK IN STOCK!!!
Long lost legendary slab of classic British industrial music, originally released in 1986 on the amazing Broken Flag label. The most noteworthy thing about Toll, besides it being a killer record, is the fact that it just so happens to feature a pre-Stereolab Tim Gane (!) as well as Paul Lemos from Controlled Bleeding. But Stereolab fans won't necessarily dig this, Toll is grim stuff. Cold and harsh, lots of metallic percussion, looped rhythms, skipping records, bits of shortwave radio, disembodied voices, plenty of metal on metal clang, thick distorted drones, all held together by huge lurching basslines, that give the whole thing a definite depressive miserablist vibe, like a seriously industrial Joy Division.
At their most musical, like on the loping mantra like "Broken Frame", they do sound quite a bit like the darkest of Factory bands, with simple plodding percussion, and hypnotic low end throbs, all beneath a dramatically crooned vocal line. Imagine any of the current crop of new wave revivalists, Interpol for example, slowed waaaaaaaaaaaaay down and wrapped in plenty of rumble and clang, and you'll get an idea of the sound of Toll.
But that's only one element of their sound, the other being much more abstract, epic, wide open expanses of industrial crunch and shimmering drone, mournful melodies drifting in and out of machinelike rhythms, and crumbling landscapes of sound, wheezing hisses and keening feedback, jagged shards of buzzing electronics, all sorts of strange vocals, dripping with reverb and delay, grinding whirs and thick moaning low end, very dark and dreary and very prescient of the whole modern Wolf Eyes and friends noise scene.
In addition to the entire Christ Knows LP, the cd includes 3 bonus tracks, two that sound like they could be lost Wire jams, all blown out and relentlessly throbbing, with wild squalls of feedback and buzzing guitars over bouncy bass lines and simple propulsive rhythms, while the other is an epic drone-y crawl, thick with layered voices, pulsing bass lines, muted percussive thumps and shuffles and tangled guitar scribbles, all swirled into a dense cloud of slow shifting sound. So awesome.
Fans of old school industrial (Throbbing Gristle, Suicide, Nurse With Wound), classic post punk / new wave (Wire, Joy Division, the recently reviewed Arkansaw Man, etc) as well as mode modern outfits like Skullflower, Wolf Eyes, Dead C and the like, will seriously dig!
MPEG Stream: "Broken Frame"
MPEG Stream: "As We Live And Breathe"
MPEG Stream: "Brute Freeze"

TOLLIVER, KIM Come And Get Me, I'm Ready (Reel Music) cd 14.98
It never ceases to amaze us how we continue to get turned on to all kinds of lost musical gems. Records we can't believe we'd gone our whole lives without hearing before. Kim Tolliver should have been one of soul's diva superstars in the 1970's but as it sometimes happens, many of the great ones are often overlooked the first time around.
This 1973 album which originally came out on Chess and flopped commercially is such a forceful set of soulful songs with Kim's commanding and sweeping vocals on top of a rich, lush and full orchestration, a sound that was ubiquitous in the great soul sounds of the day. Come And Get Me, I'm Ready feels very ahead of its time in that there are many moments that demonstrate an insight into the more uptempo, dancefloor disco vibe that much of the soul world would be heading toward in the years to follow. But it also stays grounded in a truly deep soul sound that's reminiscent of some of the amazing stuff that came out of the Philly scene of that era, as well as being a perfect in between blend of Candi Staton's early '70s sad and stunning sounds and her later '70s more full on disco moments. We're so happy Reel Music is digging into the vaults to find some total gems, as Kim Tolliver is now a name to add to our favorite soul singers list. So great!
MPEG Stream: "I Need You (Come As You Are) / Drop Whatever You're Doing"
MPEG Stream: "The Way He Used To Be"
MPEG Stream: "Come And Get Me, I'm Ready"

TOM THUMB & THE LATTER DAY SAINTS Kindermusik EP (Three Ring) cd ep 9.98
Bay Area label Three Ring Records expand their roster by a third with four impressive new releases by Rykarda Parasol, Frankel, Scattered Pages and these New Englanders who call themselves Tom Thumb & The Latter Day Saints. Three Ring has already got fine releases by the indie rock/pop likes of Elephone, Soltero, Ebb & Flow and D.W. Holiday and Scrabbel, but with this recent outpouring they bolster their country'n'folk branches.
What a great introduction Kindermusik is! Their withery vocals are much like those of The Weakerthans with some Thom Yorke-ian inflections. They're set atop music that brings together the rustic twang of Calexico and the pop rocks of Sloan.
Very warm and engaging. Also ripe for the picking if you like M. Ward and My Morning Jacket!
MPEG Stream: "Real Small Talk"
MPEG Stream: "Atlantic City"

TOM TOM MAGAZINE Issue 3/ Spring 2010 magazine 5.98
Hell yes! A magazine totally devoted to the world of female drummers! This issue features articles and interviews with Cindy Blackman, Tabla master Suphala Patankar, Yuko Araki, Valerie George, Pikachu, and Zildjian cymbals (the company that some may not know,has been run by a woman for the last 11 years). Plus interesting stories and featurettes from The Runaways, Merrill Garbus from Tuneyards, Laura Fares from Disco Damage, Valerie Agnew from 7 year bitch, Yael cohen from The Witches, Purple Rhinestone Eagle, and of course lots of favorite drumming techniques, gear guides, and practice tips including our favorite tidbit of info: how to buy a steel-pan drum!

TOMAHAWK Anonymous (Ipecac) cd 16.98
Mike Patton has so many darn concept supergroup projects (Fantomas, Maldoror, Lovage, Peeping Tom...) but Tomahawk seems to be the one which is the most steadfastly rock and yet also quite unpredictable and open to thematic whims. On this their third album, Patton along with Tomahawk band mates Duane Denison (Jesus Lizard) and John Stanier (Battles, Helmet) set about exploring and reinterpreting the early music of the North American indigenous peoples. Needless to say, the trio combines awesome musicianship and craft which is both reverential and yes, quite rocking. Fierce, passionate and darkly captivating.
MPEG Stream: "Mescal Rite 1"
MPEG Stream: "Ghost Dance"

TOMAHAWK Mit Gas (Ipecac) cd 17.98
"Mit Gas" is the second album from these heavy friends, not so different from their first self-titled one. Fans won't be disappointed, it's good. Thus, perhaps it will suffice to print here our review of their debut disc, translated via Babblefish into German and back again...
Do a type of "supergroup" not have to tell itself release on the Ipecac label of microphone Patton, Patton even (marking we that you not are it the voice of gentleman of bad work, belief no longer and Fantomas, true?) as well as the always astonishing guitar of the Jesus lizard Duane Denison, formerly cows/presently Melvins bass Kevin Rutmanis, and percussion John Stanier of the helmet. The results are no surprise, but perhaps type of a disappointment: this lizard sounds actually like a cross between belief no longer and the Jesus! That is not bad, but enthuses not either. Patton/lizard follower it should obviously inspection from, although.
MPEG Stream: "Birdsong"
MPEG Stream: "Rape This Day"

TOMAHAWK s/t (Ipecac) cd 17.98
A kind of "supergroup" release on Mike Patton's Ipecac label, featuring Patton himself (we don't have to tell you he's the voice of Mr. Bungle, Faith No More and Fantomas, do we?) as well as the always amazing guitar of the Jesus Lizard's Duane Denison, former Cows/current Melvins bass player Kevin Rutmanis, and drummer John Stanier of Helmet. The results are no surprise, but maybe kind of a disappointment: this indeed sounds like a cross between FNM and the Jesus Lizard! That's not bad, but not inspired either. Patton/Lizard fans should of course check it out, though.
RealAudio clip: "101 North"

TOMASIN, MIGUEL Wallmiyefterr (Freedom From) cd-r 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Allan has long claimed that Miguel from Reynols sounds a lot like Brak from Space Ghost Coast To Coast (also the star of the cd "Brak Presents: The Brak Album Starring Brak"). Of course, Allan does not in any way mean for this to be an insult as he loves Reynols -and- Brak. Yet, never has such a comparison been more justified, as here Tomasin sounds more like Brak than on any of the Reynols albums. With just Tomasin rhythmically reciting his lyrics (all in Spanish, or I think they're all in Spanish) and his most confident percussion, there isn't all that much to this album, and leaves the same odd impression as the recent Jandek a capella records: they're certainly interesting artifacts of outsider art, but may not neccesarily command extended listens.
RealAudio clip: "Track 2"

TOMB OF... ...The Rotting Break (Tour De Garde) cassette 5.98
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!!
Of all the weird black metal tapes we've gotten recently, this just may be our absolute favorite. So much so, that Andee already emailed the the band to see if they wanted to do a record for tUMULt.
The best way we can think of to describe Tomb Of... is maybe something like a black metal George Winston. Or Nortt making a record for Windham Hill. That's right. This is ambient funeral doom music, death, depression, misery, sorrow, but the instrumentation is mostly just piano and vocals! Seriously. And it still manages to sound bleak and miserable. Ominous and a little bit scary. Mournful minor key piano melodies beneath harsh hellish black metal vocals and rumbling guttural growls. Way in the distance soft swirls of faux strings or thick swells of sound, occasional guitar leads. It almost sounds like a mash up, the sound is at first so incongruous. But the more you listen, the more it sounds perfect. It makes all other singer songwriters, perched at their piano, seem totally pointless and inconsequential. This is so bleak and black and emotional. A super personal miserable missive from some dark lonely place.
Fucking awesome.
SUPER LIMITED! ONLY 300 COPIES!!!

TOMB OF... ...Those Dismal Moments (Tour De Garde) cassette 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We went absolutely nuts for the last record by this UK via Greece ambient doom one man band, a baffling mix of Windham Hill like piano, and harsh hateful demonic growls. As if George Winston were possessed by the spirit of Satan. Simultaneously soothing and dreamy, ominous and so very black. The combination of piano and vocals was so simple, yet so intense and emotional, a bastardized take on the singer songwriter, a lonely soul expressing sadness and misery through music, but placing it in a black ambient context. We sold tons and it even compelled Andee to get in touch with the band to see about releasing a record on tUMULt.
So here is the follow up to ...The Rotting Break, and while in some ways it is sonically similar, it is different enough to be exciting and new. This time instead of piano, it's huge expanses of sweeping synths, delicate crystalline chimes, huge swells of rumbling low end, very epic and dramatic, with an almost loped hypnotic quality, it's like the super dramatic denouement of some horror movie, but looped into some slowly evolving mantra, the whole thing wreathed in dense swirls of reverb and echo, the vocals, sometimes a deathly growl, other times a strange alien grumble, way down in the mix, guitars wail and scream, but they too are buried beneath the thick tendrils of warm whirring chords and buzzy blown out ambience. It's almost like entering some crumbling old church in a dream, everything foggy and indistinct, the sky is visible through the roof, the windows are all broken, you can see hills and trees outside, lost and wandering in a dreamlike daze, slowly taking in all of the destruction, the mystery and the misery. It doesn't even have to be a church, just some old ruined building, as long as it has history, and is imbued with the life force of lost spirits and lonely souls. ...Those Dismal Moments is actually quite true to its title, if anything it just may be more sad, and miserable, more mournful and dismal than ...The Rotting Break. And we're not sure whether it's intentional or not, but there is so much distortion and tape hiss, so much fuzz and buzz, it almost sounds like a Tomb Of... record recorded by Philip Jeck or Tim Hecker, all blown out and blurry, indistinct and shot through with warm streaks of dusty sunlight... So completely amazing!!

TOMBI Black Humid Mist (Students Of Decay) cd-r 7.98
Tombi may be no more, or at the very least, he's keeping a crazy low profile. We carried a Tombi tape years ago that we absolutely loved, and Black HumidMist is more of the same, thick glacial drones constructed from electronics and old synths, a heady mix of soft shimmery and corrosive crunch. The first track here is a brief four minutes of glistening sympathetic tones, beneath a strange oscillating low end whir, quite tranquil and spaced out, before slipping into the 29 minute second track, which begins with a super hushed distant tone, soft focus and warmly woozy, before the low end surfaces, and the track is dramatically transformed into a thick wall of corrosive crumbling synth damage... The cool thing though is that beneath the blackened smoldering surface, major key melodies spiral out, long tones overlapping and intertwining into warm rich chordal shimmer, turning white noise into a thick wash of prismatic noise drenched mystery. Partway through, the noise component falls away, leaving a warm, rich rumble, but gradually, the edges begin to fray, and the sound explodes once again, going through various stages eventually arriving at a state of total grinding black bliss. Definitely noisy, but really quite pretty, worht getting lost in Tombi's corrosive din, to discover the blackened gem lurking inside.
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES, loooong out of print, we have barely ten of these, so once these are gone, they are gone forever...

TOMBI Cavern Tapes Volume 2 (Twonicorn) cassette 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Mysterious purveyors of grungy sludgy subterranean murk, take a slow motion creepy crawl through slime encrusted caves, and black pits filled with bones and rotting flesh. Huge static walls of guitar fuzz smear into Sunroof! like ambience, melodies drift and shimmer, pinned to the moist ground by the oppressive cloak of suffocating guitars and dense swirls of subterranean sound. The finest moment comes when Tombi channel that one break, in "Shoot Me A Deer" by Bastro, where the guitar sort of distorts, blows out, a sort of rhythmic riffing that just goes haywire, it's like THAT part timestretched into infinity and then roughed up a bit. before blissing out into more guitar buzz serene drift. Awesome.
2ND EDITION, LIMITED TO 25 COPIES!!!
MPEG Stream: "Future Skull Prayers"
MPEG Stream: "Sunken Ribtones"

TOMBS Path of Totality (Relapse) cd 14.98

TOMBS Winterhours (Relapse) cd 15.98

MPEG Stream: "Gossamer"
MPEG Stream: "Golden Eyes"
MPEG Stream: "Beneath The Toxic Jungle"

TOMBSTONES Not For The Squemish (Razorback) cd 12.98

TOMES The Dreadful Gift (Jewelled Antler) 3" 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.
Volume two in the planned monthly twelve volume Jewelled Antler "Library" series of 3" cd-rs (a format for which we are suckers -- they're just so cute, darn it) is the debut recording from a group called Tomes, who are, as it turns out, basically Jewelled Antler flagship group Thuja (Rob Reger, Loren Chasse, Glenn Donaldson, absent Steven R. Smith), letting themselves get a little bit louder and noiser than they usually do in Thuja, harking back a bit to precursor band Mirza in fact. Probably the main reason this wasn't put out as a Thuja release is because Tomes' title and artwork are in fact the Jewelled Antler collective's knowing nod to a black metal aesthetic (which has fascinated Glenn particularily of late). But while intended as a tribute of sorts to black metal, the psychedelic drone music found here only holds subtle echoes of dark Nordic woodlands and burning churches. The twenty minutes of abstract heavy improv of "The Dreadful Gift (parts 1 and 2)" is darn good stuff regardless of the tangential conceptual framework. With noisy phantoms clanking chains, groaning drones, tell-tale heartbeats and and distorted freeform guitar feedback, this does achieve a dark n' dirgey but beautiful atmosphere. Too beautiful perhaps to leave the black metal hordes quaking in their corpsepaint, it still could be a Jewelled Antler Halloween soundtrack of sorts -- I wonder why didn't they wait 'til the October Library installment for this? Definitely recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Dreadful Gift 1"
MPEG Stream: "Dreadful Gift 2"

TOMHET Perdition Forest (Silver Star) cd-r ep 5.98
Not to be confused with the Canadian Tomhet, this Tomhet hails from Italy and features members of two of our favorite depressive black metal hordes, Leaden and Anwech. Leaden's awesomely titled Monotonous Foghorns of Molesting Department is still one of our all time favorite chunks of blackened stumbling doom-ed weirdo depressive blackness. And Leaden, well, their sound was even weirder, some sort of droney doomy black metal gloom pop insanity. Needless to say, ever since, we have been on the lookout for ANYTHING from those guys. So we discovered this cd-r, not at all new, in fact, it's from way back in 2001, it's their only demo, they're apparently still a band, but these three songs are all they've released. But fuck it, we'll take what we can get.
Not as weird or as gloomy or dementedly depressive as Leaden Or Anwech, this is feral and raw, more black and buzzy, furious and fast, totally relentless, the sound super saturated and in the red. The guitars are thick and distorted, crumbling and massive, the vocals harsh and drenched in reverb, the drums chaotic and furious, some seriously killer riffing, the songs occasionally slipping into something slightly slower and groovier, but even then the sound is corrosive and blistering, and eventually those grooves splinter as the song explodes back into more blown out buzzing black fury. Frenzied and intense, brutal and black, heavy as fuck and most definitely grim and raw. Well worth your six bucks...
MPEG Stream: "Perdition Forest"
MPEG Stream: "Humid Winter Scenery"

TOMITA, YANN An Adventure Of Inevitable Chance (Audio Science Laboratory) cd 29.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now, if you read our list regularly, or look at the tags on the cds in the store, you know that we at AQ tend to use the word "ridiculous" (in a good way) quite a lot. And we're also partial to the, again positively-meant, term "fucked". We use these words a lot. So when something as totally ridiculous and fucked as this Yann Tomita "double cd" comes our way, we realize that maybe we were using those words altogether too lightly before. Really. This disc is expensive, and we don't have very many of them, but those of you like us who are into the RIDICULOUSLY FUCKED may find they have to have this. Get cracking. Or, you may want to know more...
Yann Tomita's "An Adventure Of Inevitable Chance" is either a genius work of audio pastiche or a complete put on (or both). To begin with, the album opens with an academic-sounding lecture telling us that Tomita's music is a completely synthetic re-creation of a number of established genres. Yet the musical examples illustrating these genres do not match up. For example, their idea of "Acid Rock" is a banal karaoke lounge tune, and "Country" is represented by what seems to be an excerpt from Sun Ra's "Space Is The Place"! Also, this is supposed to be a live concert from 1993 (with no overdubs, we're told), but...is it? Certainly it would be an amazing, disorienting one, as this disc moves track-by-track through propulsive early-Kraftwerk electronics, simple violin plucking augmented by analog delays, Carl Stalling / Martin Denny exotica, Cornelius-esque whimsy-rock, Barney Miller / Night Court TV show theme style jazzfunk, radio tunings and sputterings, and late '80s cheesy electric dub! Oh, two of the tracks are John Cage pieces, including a not-quite silent version of 4'33"... It's all so unexpected and unfathomable, while often being amazingly quirky and catchy. Tomita claims that his work has influenced countless musicians, DJs, journalists, and fans alike. Some of you may recognize his name from his remix on the Boredoms' Super Roots 8! For those of us who have just encounted his work for the first time here, he claims that he has "influenced you subliminally as well." In the booklets (there's two) you'll find much more to puzzle over (like the catalog of other Tomita releases, including a 7" record with a doughnut on top of it, and a 12" with an ashtray in the shape of a miniature steel drum...there are photos). Oh, in possibly the most brilliantly ridiculously fucked move EVER, this disc is actually packaged as a double cd -- but one of the discs (entitled "Heart Beat") is made of cardboard! (Thus making it unplayable for those of us with *normal* cd players). Odd is an understatement. We're thinking now that if we've judged our customers right, odds are we'll have to try and order more of these pronto...
RealAudio clip: "Information From Audio Science Laboratory"
RealAudio clip: "Synthesis For Arp 2600 & EMS Synthi A (excerpt 1)"
RealAudio clip: "Music For Marcell Duchamp - Violin For Live Electronics"
RealAudio clip: "Live Cut Up - Radio Music For Inevitable Chance "
RealAudio clip: "When Cherry Blossoms Are Blown In The Wind"
RealAudio clip: "Synthesis For Arp 2600 & EMS Synthi A (excerpt 2)"

TOMO For Many Birthdays (Daft Alliance) cd 14.98
You might recognize Tomo if you're in the Bay Area and have seen the dance party Hey Willpower. He's their boogie woogie trackmeister. Prior to that, he was in the angstful post-punk SF band The Boy Explodes. It might be said that both of those groups brought out the wild side of this quiet, unassuming fellow. His solo work on the other hand strikes quite a different chord. Whereas his other projects are right at home cutting loose in a bar or basement rec room, this seems like it'd be more at home in a science lab (perhaps inspired by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop?). Definitely much more controlled, methodical and brainy, For Many Birthdays is his second glitchy electronica album. Whereas his self-titled debut was a light effervescent affair, this is still quite woozy and bloopy, but darker and occasionally more abrasive -- revealing yet another facet of Tomo! Very cool!
MPEG Stream: "Sometimes Dreams Shouldn't Come True"
MPEG Stream: "More And More Is Coming"

TOMO s/t (Daftalliance) cd 14.98
This reserved young Japanese fellow can also be seen and heard in a number of local bands (two that spring to mind are the raucous postpunkish The Boy Explodes and Willpower, the new wave-y side project of Imperial Teen's vocalist Will Schwartz). This is his first solo release, and it sounds like neither of the above. No, it's a playful array of electronic, sample-laden tracks -- sometimes light and ticklish, sometimes stuttery drum'n'bass-y, sometimes downright funky, sometimes chiming and musicbox-y. The latter forms the basis for one of the album's brightest points, the giddy fifth track "Ritual Of Bubble" which incorporates some very Cornelius-esque chopped up vocal samples. Tomo's music bears a striking resemblance to a slumber party / wrestling match between a bunch of tipsy arcade games. Absolutely delightful!
MPEG Stream: "Ritual Of Bubble"
MPEG Stream: "Yellow Flowery Thing"

TOMOKAWA, KAZUKI Blue Water, Red Water (PSF) cd 21.00

TOMOKAWA, KAZUKI Itsuka, Toky Mite Ita (PSF) cd 21.00
Comp of new and old material from Japanese dramatic folk troubadour Kazuki Tomokawa. Very intense and beautiful stuff, some of it previously unreleased. A good place to start.

TOMOKAWA, KAZUKI Live 2005 at Osaka Banana Hall (PSF) cd 21.00
Another amazing album from Japanese avant-folk troubadour and sometime film star (he looks the part!) Kazuki Tomokawa, veteran of many previous PSF releases. Perhaps you saw the DVD we reviewed last year, entitled Pistol - Shibuya Apia Live...like that, this is emotionalyl and musically dazzling.

TOMOKAWA, KAZUKI Pistol - Shibuya Apia Live (PSF) dvd 26.00
This is a tough one...it's hard to imagine that we're gonna convince anyone who isn't already a fan of Japanese avant-folk troubadour Tomokawa Kazuki to purchase this live DVD of his. Yet, it just might be the best way to get into his music. Wish we could include streaming *video* samples on our website! Rarely would I freak out about a live DVD... but this one's really great. It features 18 songs drawn from four 2003 performances recorded at Tokyo's Apia folk club, Tomokawa's stomping grounds for the past three decades.
Tomokawa (who has the looks of a Japanese movie star, and apparently has been on the big screen) strums rhythmic acoustic guitar and belts out his angst in emotive Japanese, backed by a drummer and a piano/mandolin/accordion player. The drummer, who really is incredible, plays in a free jazz, yet discernably rhythmic style, and serves to underscore Tomokawa's outbursts. The two of them share a certain wild energy. Meanwhile, the trio's third, multi-instrumental musician fills in the more melodic side of the music, which (in large part due to his contributions) has a sort of European chamber music or cafe vibe. The combination of the beautiful music, intense emotion, and dazzling musicianship makes this an essential live document for fans and other curious, adventurous music lovers (who don't mind *feeling* the songs without actually understanding the lyrics, assuming you don't speak Japanese).
One of my former housemates and I watched it over and over, skipping back to watch certain portions repeatedly. That's how much we liked it. We were obsessed.
This actually came out at the beginning of the year, and I've been meaning to review it forever, but it seemed difficult to do it justice and it sorta fell by the wayside... but then while making my year-end "best of" list, I realized that this was truly one of 2005's best music-dvds and had to be in our catalog!!

TOMOKAWA, KAZUKI Satoru (Tiliqua) lp 26.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

TOMORROW PEOPLE, THE Original Television Music (Trunk) cd 16.98
Whenever we think about what massively obsessive record nerds we are, we think of the guys who run Trunk Records in the UK (Dawn Of The Dead, multiple Basil Kirchin releases, Desmond Leslie, Psychomania) and we feel just a little bit better. These guys are nuts. But oh how grateful we are for whatever imbalance cause them to obsessively hunt down insanely obscure soundtracks and mysterious long lost recordings. The latest is this disc or rare and previously unreleased incidental music from the UK television show the Tomorrow People. Don't know too much about it, other than the fact that the Tomorrow People are teenagers who can communicate to each other using telepathy and who can transport themselves through time and space. Oh, and they have a talking computer called Tim. Who better to supply the appropriate theme music and musical cues than the BBC Radiophonic Workshop! Several of the Workshop's legends are here strangely performing under pseudonyms, Li De La Russe is none other than Delia Derbyshire and Nikki St. George is in fact Brian Hodgson. Along with Australian Dudley Simpson and American David Vorhaus (Vorhaus, Derbyshire and Hodgson also recorded as White Noise!) created a haunting and psychedelic world of electronic sound and creepy freaked out ambience. There are lots of Dr. Who-isms which makes sense as these are the same folks responsible for that music as well. "The Tomorrow People Theme" is the only proper 'song' here, a jaunty slab of groovy sixties James Bond soundtrack music replete with all manner of unlikely instruments, synths and theremins, tribal drums and all sorts of electronic bloops and bleeps. A killer melody quite a bit reminiscent of the Dr. Who Theme! The rest of the record is a series of musical cues and background music, and as such is more about sound, and texture and atmosphere, but it's all completely weird and wonderful. Plenty of shimmering synthesizer drone, rumbling percussion, creepy crawly ambience, spaced out bleeps and bloops, analog synth weirdness, primitive drum machines, and lots and lots of bizarre sounds and mysterious sonic textures. This stuff is so amazing! We're dying to see the show now (available on DVD from Amazon UK) but for now this disc will for sure tickle your lost soundtrack / strange sound fancy in very much the same way the Psychomania soundtrack or the Desmond Leslie did, both of which are fantastic and still available!
MPEG Stream: "The Tomorrow People Theme"
MPEG Stream: "Battle Theme"
MPEG Stream: "Attack Of The Alien Minds"

TOMORROW PEOPLE, THE Original Television Music (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.
Whenever we think about what massively obsessive record nerds we are, we think of the guys who run Trunk Records in the UK (Dawn Of The Dead, multiple Basil Kirchin releases, Desmond Leslie, Psychomania) and we feel just a little bit better. These guys are nuts. But oh how grateful we are for whatever imbalance cause them to obsessively hunt down insanely obscure soundtracks and mysterious long lost recordings. The latest is this disc or rare and previously unreleased incidental music from the UK television show the Tomorrow People. Don't know too much about it, other than the fact that the Tomorrow People are teenagers who can communicate to each other using telepathy and who can transport themselves through time and space. Oh, and they have a talking computer called Tim. Who better to supply the appropriate theme music and musical cues than the BBC Radiophonic Workshop! Several of the Workshop's legends are here strangely performing under pseudonyms, Li De La Russe is none other than Delia Derbyshire and Nikki St. George is in fact Brian Hodgson. Along with Australian Dudley Simpson and American David Vorhaus (Vorhaus, Derbyshire and Hodgson also recorded as White Noise!) created a haunting and psychedelic world of electronic sound and creepy freaked out ambience. There are lots of Dr. Who-isms which makes sense as these are the same folks responsible for that music as well. "The Tomorrow People Theme" is the only proper 'song' here, a jaunty slab of groovy sixties James Bond soundtrack music replete with all manner of unlikely instruments, synths and theremins, tribal drums and all sorts of electronic bloops and bleeps. A killer melody quite a bit reminiscent of the Dr. Who Theme! The rest of the record is a series of musical cues and background music, and as such is more about sound, and texture and atmosphere, but it's all completely weird and wonderful. Plenty of shimmering synthesizer drone, rumbling percussion, creepy crawly ambience, spaced out bleeps and bloops, analog synth weirdness, primitive drum machines, and lots and lots of bizarre sounds and mysterious sonic textures. This stuff is so amazing! We're dying to see the show now (available on DVD from Amazon UK) but for now this disc will for sure tickle your lost soundtrack / strange sound fancy in very much the same way the Psychomania soundtrack or the Desmond Leslie did, both of which are fantastic and still available!
MPEG Stream: "The Tomorrow People Theme"
MPEG Stream: "Battle Theme"
MPEG Stream: "Attack Of The Alien Minds"

TOMORROWLAND Sequence of the Negative Space Changes (Kranky) cd 13.98
Your parents like Windham Hill, you like Kranky.

TOMORROWLAND Sequence of the Negative Space Changes (Kranky) lp 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Your parents like Windham Hill, you like Kranky.

TOMORROWLAND Stereoscopic Soundwaves (Darla) cd 12.98
Volume six in the Darla "Bliss Out" ambient pop series. This band is now signed to Kranky, and that should tell you something; if that doesn't, maybe these song titles will: "Sea Of Serenity" and "Kepler Planet Harmonies." For fans of Labradford and Magnog.

TOMORROWLAND Stereoscopic Soundwaves (Darla) lp 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Volume six in the Darla "Bliss Out" ambient pop series. This band is now signed to Kranky, and that should tell you something; if that doesn't, maybe these song titles will: "Sea Of Serenity" and "Kepler Planet Harmonies." For fans of Labradford and Magnog.

TOMUTONTTU (Beta-Lactam Ring) 7" 9.98
Originally intended to be released with a super limited version of the recently listed vinyl of Kemialliset Ytsavat's all time AQ favorite Alkuharka. We missed out on the limited version, but managed to get a handful of the 7" from the label, but once these are gone they are gone for good.
The strange thing is it's not actually a Kemialliset single, but rather a Tomutonttu record, which is in fact the solo project of kemialliset mainman Jan Anderzen (whose recently reviewed lp we still have a few copies of). The sound is similar though and this 7" is a doozy, in fact, the A side might be one of our favorite tracks from these Finns EVER.
Strange percussive acoustic guitar, all sprawled out and spidery, wrapped in lots of grit and grime and crackle, with distant keening feedback and bizarre percussion that sort of sounds like a rubber ball in a tin can, but the two woven deftly together produces the most divine results. All manner of buzz and rattle wrapped warmly in a shimmery, soft focus ambience.
The B side is a bit more far out, but still pretty bad ass, clouds of buzzing and glitched out electronics hover over mournful plinking piano, which gives way to a weird looped rhythm, some backwards melodic buzz, simple drumming and weird disembodied vocals. And then it gets weird, tooting horns, raspy growls, all sort of tribal and spacey, when suddenly it launches into a brief spate of turntable abuse, finally finishing off with a blown out crumbling ultra distorted coda. Phew. Weird, but so nice.
Thick vinyl in a full color eye popping sleeve...

TOMUTONTTU s/t (Fonal) cd 17.98
Originally released on vinyl back in 2007, now finally available on cd!
Tomutonttu is Jan Anderzen, member of Kemialliset Ystavat, Avarus, Anaksimandros, and who knows how many other Finnish free folk outfits. He's one of the kings of that scene. His hand (and gnarled guitar, and wheezing keyboard...) have been in tons of our favorite records and projects. This however is the first chance we've had to hear Anderzen on his own as Tomutonttu, seeing as the first Tomutonttu was so limited it disappeared before we were able to get even a single copy.
Needless to say, fans of all things folky and Finnish will love this, it fits perfectly amidst the Avarus and Kemialliset releases, but it stands on it's own too, strange in its own right, personal, and lovely, but also spacey and kind of freaked out. But then why would we expect anything else?
The record begins with the calls of whippoorwills, soon joined by the calls of yet more birds, all whipping wildly above a thrumming drone made up of buzzing kazoo vocals, moaning muted strings, and some mysterious pulsing minimal throb. Sounding almost like a super lo-fi "Symphony Of The Birds" all tangled up with some chunk of freaky forest folk. Ends up those aren't real birds, as their calls slow down and get all twisted up, it becomes evident it's a record of birds being slowly manipulated, becoming more and more abstract, the bird calls transforming into weird rumbles and flurries of high pitched squiggles, all over the growing buzz of a shimmery space guitar and more of that strange buzzy kazoo like moaning, peppered with deep rich sonic swells, very dreamy and alien, like some sort of otherworldly nature recording.
The next track hews closer to the Finnish folk sound, sort of medieval sounding with drifting high end keyboard melodies draped over muted rhythmic clang and sweet swoonsome swirls of soft sound. The last track on side A sounds like some strange Bollywood Western, minor key and very Eastern sounding, processed guitar and blown out keyboards all tangled up into a gorgeously lilting melody, dreamy and sparkly and super playful.
Side B begins with more playfulness, this time the percussion, all drenched in reverb and echo, like some sort of wind chime garden, muted into strange melodies, droning keyboards beneath, very haunting and otherworldly, it almost sounds African, like likembes, sometimes there are hints of gamelan too, at least in the timbre and the melodies, but all warm and distorted and dreamily blown out. The next track is a brief snatch of what sounds like some unearthed old time recording, all fuzzy warble and a softly keening melancholy melody. And finally, the lengthy final track is a reprise of the opener, all tinkling chimes, distant moaned vocals, and soft clouds of constantly shifting and swirling bird calls, dizzying but also strangely soothing. Definitely one of the nicest records we've heard from the Avarus/Anaksimandros/Kemialliset Finnish freakfolk axis...
Packaged in an amazing sleeve with the same eye popping artwork as the original lp.
MPEG Stream: "Tteema"
MPEG Stream: "Kohtublues"
MPEG Stream: "Live In EU 1"