TREES Freed Of The Flesh (Crucial Blast) cd 10.98
Another grim, blackened, abject slab of crushing ultramega doom from these Northwest doomlords, and like their last one, Lights Bane, Freed Of The Flesh is another gloriously miserable exercise in slow motion pummel and grinding glacial creep.
Moss, Monarch, Bunkur, Khanate, Habsyll, The Body, Salome, Fleshpress, Atavist, Marzuraan, if any or all of those names sound familiar to you, then you'll no doubt understand what's in store for the listener here.
Two extended doomscapes, a black cacophony of downtuned pound, the drums a barely there skeletal support to a heaving crumbling beastly buzz, riffs ring out and slowly decay, the vocals an inhuman shriek, shards of feedback shoot through the smoldering rumble of slowly decaying chords, note pulled apart, riffs blurred into near drones, a sprawling tarpit crawl, hypnotic and mesmerizing, and so so so heavy.
The second track begins all stately and melodic and majestic, a glorious doom epic, surprisingly melodic, like a more metal Harvey Milk almost, you can practically imagine those strange bellowed HM vocals coming in at any minute, but instead, the track creeps along, and finally the actual vocals do come in, more hellish screeches, the perfect foil for the minor key funereal dirge beneath them, the guitars again layered and stretched into black blurs, the track growing subtly more chaotic, near the end, but never moving beyond a creep or crawl, slowly, very slowly, unwinding into pitch black emptiness.
Fucking awesome. Essential ultra doom, grim listening for the slow and low legions...
MPEG Stream: "Hollow"
MPEG Stream: "Ashes"

TREES Lights Bane (Crucial Blast) cd 14.98
Every single time we play this, someone either asks us if we're listening to Monarch. Or Khanate. Every time. That should give you enough to go on right off the bat. And indeed, Trees are a dead ringer for both. Maybe a perfect mix of the two. They don't write songs so much, as put together slow moving arrangements of buzz and howl, throb and skree, crush and chunk, much of the two loooooong tracks here are spent in long drawn out slowly decaying drones, huge chords almost melting before our very ears, feedback and downtuned buzz crumbling to pieces, tones beating against each other, slipping into shrieking streaks of feedback. The long stretches are of course peppered with huge jagged shards of drum pound and demonic vocals, these spaced out blasts somehow arranged to form some sort of skeletal song structure, but it's much more of an exercise in tension and atmosphere, dynamics and drone, and ultra slow motion heaviness.
They do introduce some of their own flavor into the mix, little flurries of double kick, skittering snare drums, some strange strangled mewlings, haunting complex chords, some monklike chants, and some intense abstract soundscapery, so almost-pretty it threatens to slip into some serious black ambience, and at some points, they even -almost- rock, slipping into Eyehategod territory, but it's in the swirling black morass these guys feel most at home, and thankfully, for the dronedirgedoom obsessed, that's precisely where they spend most of Lights Bane. Needless to say, you dig Monarch, Khanate, Moss, Bunkur, etc., you will dig Trees.
Fancy mini-lp style gatefold sleeve with super striking, dense tangled red ink cover art.
MPEG Stream: "Nothing"

TREES Lights Bane (20 Buck Spin) lp 15.98
Now available on vinyl!!
Every single time we play this, someone either asks us if we're listening to Monarch. Or Khanate. Every time. That should give you enough to go on right off the bat. And indeed, Trees are a dead ringer for both. Maybe a perfect mix of the two. They don't write songs so much, as put together slow moving arrangements of buzz and howl, throb and skree, crush and chunk, much of the two loooooong tracks here are spent in long drawn out slowly decaying drones, huge chords almost melting before our very ears, feedback and downtuned buzz crumbling to pieces, tones beating against each other, slipping into shrieking streaks of feedback. The long stretches are of course peppered with huge jagged shards of drum pound and demonic vocals, these spaced out blasts somehow arranged to form some sort of skeletal song structure, but it's much more of an exercise in tension and atmosphere, dynamics and drone, and ultra slow motion heaviness.
They do introduce some of their own flavor into the mix, little flurries of double kick, skittering snare drums, some strange strangled mewlings, haunting complex chords, some monklike chants, and some intense abstract soundscapery, so almost-pretty it threatens to slip into some serious black ambience, and at some points, they even -almost- rock, slipping into Eyehategod territory, but it's in the swirling black morass these guys feel most at home, and thankfully, for the dronedirgedoom obsessed, that's precisely where they spend most of Lights Bane. Needless to say, you dig Monarch, Khanate, Moss, Bunkur, etc., you will dig Trees.
Fancy mini-lp style gatefold sleeve with super striking, dense tangled red ink cover art.
MPEG Stream: "Nothing"

TREES On The Shore (Columbia) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
1970, England. Imagine a rock band that's equally into the sort of psychedelic electric guitar excursions you'd have heard back then wafting from London's hippy ballrooms, as well as ballads and jigs derived from British folk song tradition. With lovely, pure, delicately bird-like female vocals a la Anne Briggs and Sandy Denny... Yes, Trees were quite a bit like Fairport Convention, but rather more obscure. And now, at long last, we've managed to get a hold of these UK import-only cd reissues of their two albums. Gorgeous stuff indeed, utterly magical, definitely for fans of early Fairport, Shirley Collins, Pentangle, and the whole Brit-folk-rock thing.
Both of Trees' records ("The Garden of Jane Delawney" and "On The Shore") are from 1970 and come equally recommended (they may as well be two volumes of the same album). Both of 'em feature the vocals of Celia Humphris, along with both traditional acoustic instruments (dulcimer, mandolin) and electric guitars, and blend original songs and adaptations of traditional folk material.
"The Garden..." boasts a rather strange cover painting, and Windy's favorite Trees track, "Nothing Special", whose sublimely pretty guitar strumming prefigured a whole movement of jangle pop bands (e.g. REM). Of their two albums perhaps *slightly* the more rock-based and produced, "On The Shore" features the song "Sally Free And Easy" which in recent years, you may recall, was covered by Flying Saucer Attack on a Drag City ep of that title, and also comes with lengthy liner notes telling the story of the band.
RealAudio clip: "Murdoch"
RealAudio clip: "Streets Of Derry"

TREES On The Shore (Sunbeam) 2lp 34.00
Now available on vinyl!!!
1970, England. Imagine a rock band that's equally into the sort of psychedelic electric guitar excursions you'd have heard back then wafting from London's hippy ballrooms, as well as ballads and jigs derived from British folk song tradition. With lovely, pure, delicately bird-like female vocals a la Anne Briggs and Sandy Denny... Yes, Trees were quite a bit like Fairport Convention, but rather more obscure. And now, at long last, both of their essential records are availble again on vinyl! Gorgeous stuff indeed, utterly magical, definitely for fans of early Fairport, Shirley Collins, Pentangle, and the whole Brit-folk-rock thing.
Both of Trees' records ("The Garden of Jane Delawney" and "On The Shore") are from 1970 and come equally recommended (they may as well be two volumes of the same album). Both of 'em feature the vocals of Celia Humphris, along with both traditional acoustic instruments (dulcimer, mandolin) and electric guitars, and blend original songs and adaptations of traditional folk material.
"The Garden..." boasts a rather strange cover painting, and one of our favorite Trees track, "Nothing Special", whose sublimely pretty guitar strumming prefigured a whole movement of jangle pop bands (e.g. REM). Of their two albums perhaps *slightly* the more rock-based and produced, "On The Shore" features one of the best versions of "Sally Free And Easy" which has also been covered by Marianne Faithful, Magic Hour, Pentangle and of course Flying Saucer Attack, and also comes with lengthy liner notes telling the story of the band.

TREES The Garden of Jane Delawney (Columbia) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
1970, England. Imagine a rock band that's equally into the sort of psychedelic electric guitar excursions you'd have heard back then wafting from London's hippy ballrooms, as well as ballads and jigs derived from British folk song tradition. With lovely, pure, delicately bird-like female vocals a la Anne Briggs and Sandy Denny... Yes, Trees were quite a bit like Fairport Convention, but rather more obscure. And now, at long last, we've managed to get a hold of these UK import-only cd reissues of their two albums. Gorgeous stuff indeed, utterly magical, definitely for fans of early Fairport, Shirley Collins, Pentangle, and the whole Brit-folk-rock thing.
Both of Trees' records ("The Garden of Jane Delawney" and "On The Shore") are from 1970 and come equally recommended (they may as well be two volumes of the same album). Both of 'em feature the vocals of Celia Humphris, along with both traditional acoustic instruments (dulcimer, mandolin) and electric guitars, and blend original songs and adaptations of traditional folk material.
"The Garden..." boasts a rather strange cover painting, and Windy's favorite Tree's track, "Nothing Special", whose sublimely pretty guitar strumming prefigured a whole movement of jangle pop bands (e.g. REM). Of their two albums perhaps *slightly* the more rock-based and produced, "On The Shore" features the song "Sally Free And Easy" which in recent years, you may recall, was covered by Flying Saucer Attack on a Drag City ep of that title, and also comes with lengthy liner notes telling the story of the band.
RealAudio clip: "Nothing Special"
RealAudio clip: "Glasgerion"

TREES The Garden of Jane Delawney (Sunbeam) 2lp 34.00
Now available on vinyl!!!
1970, England. Imagine a rock band that's equally into the sort of psychedelic electric guitar excursions you'd have heard back then wafting from London's hippy ballrooms, as well as ballads and jigs derived from British folk song tradition. With lovely, pure, delicately bird-like female vocals a la Anne Briggs and Sandy Denny... Yes, Trees were quite a bit like Fairport Convention, but rather more obscure. And now, at long last, both of their essential records are availble again on vinyl! Gorgeous stuff indeed, utterly magical, definitely for fans of early Fairport, Shirley Collins, Pentangle, and the whole Brit-folk-rock thing.
Both of Trees' records ("The Garden of Jane Delawney" and "On The Shore") are from 1970 and come equally recommended (they may as well be two volumes of the same album). Both of 'em feature the vocals of Celia Humphris, along with both traditional acoustic instruments (dulcimer, mandolin) and electric guitars, and blend original songs and adaptations of traditional folk material.
"The Garden..." boasts a rather strange cover painting, and one of our favorite Trees track, "Nothing Special", whose sublimely pretty guitar strumming prefigured a whole movement of jangle pop bands (e.g. REM). Of their two albums perhaps *slightly* the more rock-based and produced, "On The Shore" features one of the best versions of "Sally Free And Easy" which has also been covered by Marianne Faithful, Magic Hour, Pentangle and of course Flying Saucer Attack, and also comes with lengthy liner notes telling the story of the band.

TREES COMMUNITY, THE The Christ Tree (Regular Edition) (Hand/Eye) cd 14.98
It's no secret that we have a soft spot for uncommon Christian music especially when it dwells on the fringe such as the "white metal" of the E.E.E. recordings label or the earnest out-pop of groups like The Shaggs and New Creation. Another fringe arena is in liturgical hippie folk with bands like Simaril, Parchment, and this beautiful reissue of the Trees Community first album, The Christ Tree. We had this previously only as a box set, which grouped their first album with 3 other cds of later live material. Not the most ideal way to ease yourself into their uniquely arcane and highly reverential sound. So it's nice to have this single disc reissue that adds several bonus tracks to the original album. If you are fans of wyrd minstrely acid-folk groups like Comus, Ougenwiede, Springuns, and Extradition, you will definitely dig this, a collective of male and female musical performers from New York who played traditional acoustic and eastern instruments such as sitar, folk harp, pump organ, flute, koto, tamboura and Chinese gong in long raga-like hymns with pretty male and female vocal harmonies and strangely mystical and spacious passages. Christ Tree was the their first album and it's a live recording of a performance at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in 1975. Oddly beautiful!
MPEG Stream: "Psalm 42"
MPEG Stream: "I Will Not Leave You Comfortless"
MPEG Stream: "Baptism"

TRELLDOM Til Et Annet (Karmageddon Media) cd 21.00

MPEG Stream: "Vender Meg Mot Ett Kommende"
MPEG Stream: "Slave Til En Kommende Natt"

TREMBLING BELLS Carbeth (Honest Jons) cd 17.98

TREMBLING BELLS Carbeth (Honest Jons) lp 17.98

TREMBLING BELLS (WITH BONNIE PRINCE BILLY/MIKE HERON) New Year's Eve's The Loneliest Night Of The Year (Honest Jons) 7" 9.98

TREMBLING BLUE STARS Alive to Every Smile (Sub Pop) cd 15.98
Simply lovely! Warm and strummy. Positively dreamy. Trembling Blue Stars make splendid Brit-space-pop. At times, reminded me of Ride or mid-to-late period Cure. Very laid-back boy lead vocals, sparklingly sweet female backing vocals, swirling chorus-y guitars and a chorus of seraphim sounds. Need we say more?
RealAudio clip: "Under Lock And Key"

TREMBLING BLUE STARS Broken By Whispers (Sub Pop) cd 15.98
Aaah, could it be... the return of the shoegazer? Definite shades of early Stone Roses. A little twee and precious, but pretty, mellow, and easy-going with some lovely lush cello and a little bit of simultaneous English-French male-female vocalising to subtly spice things up. The first track absolutely destroys me, which may be due to me missing all this sort of stuff as a high school hessian.

TREMBLING BLUE STARS She Just Couldn't Stay (Shinkansen) cd 8.98
Trembling Blue Stars take on the shoegazer aesthetics of the early 90s Creation sound (Ride, Blind Mr. Jones, The Telescopes) and the reverb soaked revivalism of 60s UK beat jangle. The title track of this EP was on their "Broken By Whispers" album on Sub Pop.

TREMBLING BLUE STARS The Last Holy Writer (Elefant) cd 21.00
Wow, does this one push all our shoegaze buttons, a sound we've been craving like crazy lately. There was a time when shoegaze was everywhere, but as of late there's been a serious paucity of classic sounding music in that inimitable style. Luckily there's a brand new one from AQ faves Trembling Blue Stars, who while not always necessarily shoegaze-y, manage to fill that void so perfectly with The Last Holy Writer. Less jangly then their last outing, The Last Holy Writer has everything we've loved about this band on display and in full affect. With a guitar sound that echoes the sound of Curve, introspective lyrics and wry delivery of vocalist Bob Wratten and the bittersweet voice of other vocalist Beth Arzy. It's the perfect combination of breezy and moody, reflective and heartbreaking. So nice to see a group so far into a long career make such a challenging and envelope pushing record. In fact this might even be our favorite Trembling Blue Stars outing yet. The perfect laying around on your bed, holed up in your room, window open, cool breeze soundtrack for heartfelt longing and bittersweet ache. So lovely!
MPEG Stream: "By False Lights"
MPEG Stream: "This Once Was An Island"
MPEG Stream: "Idyllwyld"

TREMBLING BLUE STARS The Seven Autumn Flowers (Bar None) cd 16.98
This is the fifth wistfully wonderful album from Trembling Blue Stars. If you're a fan you'll perhaps find it comforting to know that there's no vast departures from that which has come before. Their songs continue to be the musical equivalent of a big down-filled duvet. Each one is ever so soft and warm and very much in the swirlingly dreamy, melancholic shoegazer tradition. The rounded bass guitar lines provides the slowly weaving bed on which mainman Bobby Wratton and Beth Arzy's hushed vocals as well as the gently effected guitars, delicate percussion and occasional strings rest their drowsy heads. This cd includes four bonus tracks bringing the song count to a generous total of sixteen.
Psst, if you dig these poignant, pretty Brit sounds you might also wanna check out the recent reissues of three Field Mice albums, Wratten's pre-Trembling Blue Stars band, not quite as mellowly blissed out, a tad harder, weirder and more rocking, but TBS fans will still most likely dig 'em quite a bit!
MPEG Stream: "Moonlight On Snow"
MPEG Stream: "Further To Fall"

TREN BROTHERS EP (Drag City) cdep 8.98
Tren Brothers are Mick and James are the guitar/drums team from Australian instrumental trio Dirty Three. STOP! If your first impression is that you'd miss Warren's violin, you'd be wrong. This is a lovely, quiet but intense record; the violin isn't missed at all. Pretty, not light, but lovely. Mick in particular adds delicate guitar flourishes that on a D3 record would have been subsumed and absorbed by the violin's overwhelming painful emotiveness. A worthwhile listen.

TREN BROTHERS The Swimmer (Western Vinyl) cd ep 11.98
Perhaps you've been boggled by the appearance of the name Jim White all over the place lately (as we have). Who is this guy? He's everywhere! But it makes a little more sense when you discover that there's two particular, prolific musical fellows with that name who currently have fine releases. The Jim White of the south (Florida to be exact) is the man responsible for the stellar soundtrack to Searching For The Wrong-Eyed Jesus film. The Jim White of further south (way down in Australia) is the man playing some of the drums on the New Buffalo album as well as the last couple of Smog albums, and yes lest we forget his card carrying membership in Dirty Three. Here he teams up with his Dirty Three bandmate (and no musical slouch himself) Mick Turner as the non-blood related instrumental duo the Tren Brothers.
Their latest release The Swimmer (as far as we know, no relation to our favorite Burt Lancaster movie) features a scant four songs, but their evocative wash of pastoral sounds suggest that this is just a mere glimpse of a moody expansiveness that extends far beyond the ep's fifteen minutes. This is their contribution to the Western Vinyl label's portrait series.
MPEG Stream: "Crow #3"
MPEG Stream: "Seagull"

TREN BROTHERS & SISTER Swing Pts. 1 & 2 (Chapter) 7" 4.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Those "Brothers" Tren whom you may be more familiar with as two parts of the moody, melancholic Dirty Three (yup, Mick Turner and James White on guitar, harmonica and drums) are joined on this record by their "sister" violinist Jessica Billey. These two improvs performed at KPRO Radio in Amsterdam very closely resembles the fellows' main group. As we've come to expect: very somber and lovely.

TRENCH HELL Southern Cross Ripper (Hells Headbangers) cd ep 10.98
They had us at "Trench Hell". (Could do without the rape-themed cover art though.) Anyway as you might guess from the band name, album title, and record label, this is raw thrashing metal from Down Under, old school in the early '80s style of Venom and Hellhammer. And boy howdy, do these youngsters do it well. Trench Hell ROCKS. We gotta describe 'em the same way we'd have done for Venom back in the day - they take the speed demon, white line fever rock n' roll of Motorhead and jack it up, making it extra evil and filthy sounding in the process.
Buzzsaw guitar riffage, echoey blown out production, violent battery, throat ripped vox (with lots of Tom G. Warrior style ugghs), backing screams of utter damnation... what's not to like? If you're into the old school extreme, that is. You'll be spinning this six song ep again and again in a frenzy of headbanging lust. Even if you don't spin it again, at least you were briefly a cool, badass metal dude (or dudette) for the 22 minutes you had it on.
MPEG Stream: "Southern Cross Ripper"
MPEG Stream: "Last Rites"

TRENIERS, THE They Rock! They Roll! They Swing! (Collectables) cd 14.98
What we've got here might just be the first-ever rock n' roll band. The Treniers, a black R&B combo led by twins Claude and Clifford, got their start in the 1940s with their music soon evolving from jump blues to an equally jumpin' new fangled sound they liked to call rock n' roll. By the early '50s when the tracks on this cd anthology were recorded for the OKeh label, they could certainly say (and sing) "Rockin' Is Our Business". And check out their other subject matter: drugs and sex! Sure, they couldn't indulge in the explict language of today's rock and rap acts. But you could get away with a lot nonetheless, as their classic side "Poon-tang!" suggests. With such risque lyrics and a hard-rockin' stage act, they inspired more than the bland Bill Haley that's for sure. Any history-minded rock fan oughta have room in their collection for the real old school. This is actually a reissue of a cd issued on Epic/Legacy in '95. Sadly this Collectables version has got crappier, colorized cover graphics, and inexplicably does away with the original disc's liner notes, but it does tack nine bonus tracks onto the twenty found on the earlier disc. Wild stuff from over fifty years ago!
MPEG Stream: "It Rocks! It Rolls! It Swings!"
MPEG Stream: "Hadacole (That's All)"

TRENIERS, THE This Is It! (Rev-Ola) cd 15.98
The ORIGINAL rock n' roll band.

TREPANERINSGRITUALEN Roi Perdu (Black Horizons) cassette 8.98
Latest from local label comes this reissue from the before now unknown to us Trepaneringsritualen, who hail from Sweden, and who most definitely sound Swedish, unfurling a sort of bleak black ambience, a drifting Cold Meat Industry style grim malevolence, underpinned by woozy snake charmer melodies, muted skeletal rhythmic pulses, croaked, FX heavy vokills, all over a washed out shimmery haze, this is the sort of ritualistic soundscapery that relies more on texture that sheer power, but in that respect, it manages to conjure up something more more harrowing, a haunting, hypnotic chunk of blackened tribal psychedelia, sounding a bit like No Neck or Sunburned Hand if they were on Cold Meat, but for every bit of tripped out, pulsing, abstract krautrock flecked black mesmer, there's a churning sprawl of low end thrum, or a dense layered stretch of blurred soft focus ambience. Those sounds more often than not mixed and matched, fused in strange, and fantastically disturbing combinations.
LIMITED TO 150 COPIES!! Packaged in beautifully silkscreened gold inked three panel J-cards.

TREPHINE Some Sound Tracks (Heimliquor) cd 14.98
Math rock meets almost Blue Oyster Cult inspired metallic weirdness in this instrumental Baltimore outfit. Long, complex, heavy jams with lots of time changes, dashed with the occasional vocal sample. For fans of Mr. Bungle and Stinking Lizaveta.

TRES CHICAS Bloom, Red & The Ordinary Girl (Yep Roc) cd 16.98
Bloom, Red & The Ordinary Girl is the second album by Tres Chicas, and we have to say, it sounds a lot like those gorgeous singalongs that take place when Neko Case, Kelly Hogan and Carolyn Mark get together. Of course, they by no means invented the old country female trio, but they've certainly brought it back into the spotlight in recent years. Anyways, no, that trio of chicas are not these Tres Chicas. These three chanteuses are themselves well-respected musical vets Caitlin Cary (formerly of Whiskeytown), Tonya Lamm (ex-Hazeldine) and Lynn Blakey (of Glory Fountain). This is a warm, earthy, passionate follow-up to their 2004 debut which was titled Sweetwater and it features a guest appearance by Nick Lowe! An absolute pleasure! Now, just imagine if these three ladies got together with the three abovementioned ladies... now that would be seis senoras fabulosas!
MPEG Stream: "Drop Me Down"
MPEG Stream: "Shade Trees In Bloom"

TRETTIOARIGA KRIGET Glorious War (Mellotronen) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Maybe you've heard of this '70s Swedish prog rock band, maybe not. We did review a reissue of their 1974 self-titled album a while back. They were kind of a math-rock, jazzed-out version of Uriah Heep or something, kinda heavy and certainly complex. Pretty cool if you're a prog fiend like some of us here. This disc is a newly unearthed collection of early recordings by the band, dating from their high school days circa '70-'71, meant for LP release at the time but never picked up by a label. Probably 'cause it's a little on the free-form, far-out side, definitely not commercial at all. Seemingly influenced by everything from Swedish folk to classical music to Hendrix and 'Purple, these youthful but talented prog-rock experiments range from romantic sounding piano-based compositions to pastoral, jazzy psych-pop, with interludes of abrasive guitar improv. Not bad for some 17 year old kids just getting started in the prog biz. At the time they had two drummers, and some melancholic, longwinded songwriting habits. It's different from their later stuff, but good too. In a gorgeous digipack -- that cover pic of the band members posing in a sun drenched autumnal forest scene is enough to make someone like me buy a copy!
MPEG Stream: "Amassilations"
MPEG Stream: "From Your Streets"

TRETTIOARIGA KRIGET Krigssang (Mellotronen) cd 23.00
'70s prog of the harder, mathier variety here. Mellow grooves too. We've already turned some of you on to this Swedish band's first, eponymous album (also now back in stock in a new, upgraded edition) but this is the first time we've reviewed Tettioariga Kriget's second album (well, third if you count Glorious War as their first, actually) from 1975.
How to describe 'em? Uriah Heep meets Goblin??? No that's not it... but they are a band that mixes the bombast of Heep with the darkness and '70s synth kitschiness of Goblin, creating their own unique atmosphere.
Krissang ("War Song" in English) may remind some customers of a progged-out version of Dungen, due to the Swedish language vocals and intellectual Genesis-like aspects. The tracks here go from extremes of gentle melodicism and jazzy grooves to bombastic, jagged progginess, across the album -and- often within a single track. Odd time signatures are abundant. And though initally we were attracted to this band due to their displays of frantic, hard rockin' proginess -- screaming guitars, barking fat bass, hard-hitting drums -- we now appreciate 'em as much or more for their gentle side. There's simply some gorgeous songs on here.
This new edition comes packaged in a handsome digipack, with liner notes by lyricist Ollie Thornvall along with photos and lyrics and three bonus tracks in the same mold as Krigssang, including one ("Moln") that almost out-progs anything on the album proper!!
MPEG Stream: "Krissang"
MPEG Stream: "Mitt Mirakel"

TRETTIOARIGA KRIGET s/t (Mellotronen) cd 23.00
Back in stock, along with its previously un-listed by AQ follow-up Krissang. Both albums are among our biggest obscure prog faves, and they've now been reissued in sturdy, swank digipacks by the Mellotronen label, looking quite spiffy and boasting a bunch of bonus tracks as well! Here's what we said about this one, when we reviewed it before:
When Byram heard this, his first reaction was: Allan, dude, this has you written all over it! And it's true, *both* of AQ's resident prog-heads (proudly, Allan and Andee) are way into this band and this album -- that's why we ordered a few from overseas to share with our likeminded customers. On this, their 1974 debut album, Trettioariga Kriget (aka Thirty Years War) dish out jazzed-up but also kinda heavy '70s prog rock from Sweden, boasting some over-the-top falsetto vocals worthy of Amon Duul II's Renate Knaup or the guy from Flower Travellin' Band. Mathy, King Crimson-esque hard rock, that's also (in context of this sort of thing) quite catchy, actually. Vocal hooks coexist with the math jazz rock instrumental display and noisy skronk. Recommended, especially if you're among the many (?) AQ customers happy with our prior obscure prog suggestions (Il Balletto di Bronzo, Osanna, etc.)
Now even more recommended, nicely packaged with liner notes, lyrics, photos and (best of all) over twenty minutes of extra, previously unreleased music added!
MPEG Stream: "Kaledoniska Orogenesen"
MPEG Stream: "Fjarilsttityder"

TREY TOLD 'EM Super Epic Thrill Jockey Mega Massive Anniversary Mix (Thrill Jockey) cd 9.98
Originally released way back in 2007, and available only to attendees of the two Thrill Jockey 15th Anniversary shows in Chicago and London, we're listing this now 'cause one of our distributors got a handful of these killer mixes, a collaborative DJ mix from Girl Talk and Trey Told 'Em, constructed exclusively of tracks culled from the Thrill Jockey archives, and including a couple of mega mixes which make the whole thing kind of essential.
The proper mix includes tracks from Bobby Conn, Gaunt, Pit Er Pat, Eleventh Dream Day, Giant Sand, Dolomite, Trapist, John Parish, Nobuzaku Tekemura, The Fiery Furnaces, Califone, Chicago Underground Duo, Mouse On Mars, Freakwater, Frequency, Sam Prekop, The National Trust, Extra Golden, Arbouretum, Radian, The Sea And Cake, Fred Anderson & Hamid Drake, Lithops, Directions In Music, Aki Tsuyuko, Howe Gelb, Tunng, Isotope 217, Archer Prewitt, The Zincs, Sue Garner & Rick Brown, Adult., Exploding Star Orchestra, Brokeback, Town And Country and Microstoria (what, no A Minor Forest?!). And it's not just the song selection, the way they're mixed, results in an awesome, ever shifting soundscape, that is so good, we found ourselves even digging the tracks that we didn't think we liked. Out of context, some of the songs here have us all fired up to revisit some of the groups we may have ignored or just missed.
But if that wasn't enough, there are three megamixes, the record opens with a killer Trans Am mix that reminds us why we love those guys so much, and then finishes with a Tortoise megamix, and then an Oval megamix, that purports to contain EVERY single Oval song ever recorded. Pretty cool. And crazy limited. Only 4000 copies made way back in 2007, and we only got a tiny handful, so act fast if you want one.
MPEG Stream: "Trans Am Megamix"
MPEG Stream: "Oval Megamix"

TRI-PINNACLE Diagnol Ryme Garganchula 2.0 (Antipop Recordings) 12" 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

TRIANGLE Anthologie 1969/74 (Magic) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Some early '70s French psych-rock here, not so much on the proto-metal side of things but still totally groovy, and from the get-go not failing to rock the cowbell (well, the opening track on this 22 song collection, "Peut-etre Demain", is the number one cowbell culprit, gotta love it). We first heard of Triangle some years ago thanks to the amazing, AQ-fave six-cd Igor Wakhevitch box on Fractal (now, sadly, out of print). Wakhevitch was an avant-garde, electronic composer whose first few albums enlisted the fuzzed guitars of Triangle as part of their surreal soundscapes. So we'd been always curious to hear Triangle's own music. Of course it's not as far out as the Wakhevitch stuff, they're basically a pop band, tres commercial, yet with a freaky side to 'em. This disc, as the title reveals, collects some of their crucial cuts from '69 through '74... a lot of upbeat numbers with DJ-friendly beats, symphonic prog moves, catchy choruses, and swingin' horns. Really, judging from this disc, Triangle were all over the place, from synth-laced proto-disco to placid piano ballads to bubblegum hard rock. If you like stuff of the "B-music" persuasion (like the Prog Is Not A Four Letter Word comp), or that Total Freakout collection on Mucho Gusto, or rad '70s "library music" and things like that, we figure you'll dig these Triangle tunes.
This digipack includes pictures of all of Triangle's original 33 and 45 rpm record sleeves, which are nice to have -- the first album's got a piano engulfed in flames on it, the second has Triangle lined up for a firing squad, also comprised of the band members. But there's no liner notes to speak of, so we don't know a heck of a lot more about 'em, other than that they recorded three albums and a bunch of singles, had some hits, went on to back up pop singer Papillon on a solo LP of his (three tracks from that album, including their cover of Bowie's "Starman" en Francais, are to be found here).
MPEG Stream: "Peut-etre Demain"
MPEG Stream: "Les Brumes De Chatou"
MPEG Stream: "Mama, Tu Ne Sais Pas"

TRIANGLES s/t (Moikai) cd 14.98
There's very little that we can discern about who Triangles are. The purposefully crappy drawing on the cover (by Leif Elgrenn and Kevin Drumm!) could be portraits of God Albino from the Hawd Gankstuh Rappuhs and Phil Manley from Trans Am... but I wouldn't put any money on this reading of the shitty drawing being correct. Since Triangles are on Jim O'Rourke's Moikai label, there's a good bet that he has something to do with it. Anyway, this album opens with whirring computer blips (see 12K or Raster) but as if Matmos were creating them with all sorts of crunchy acoustic fragments that slowly filter down into glistening digitized dronescapes which gradually build from miniature high frequency shimmers into deep gaping tones. After some quick musique concrete edits, Triangles move into a rustic guitar sound -- first with Dead C acoustic splutter, and then with a quiet sittin'-by-the-campfire strum. If Gastr del Sol continued down the more adventurous musique concrete route that was hinted at on "Upgrade & Afterlife" instead of going for a Red Krayola imitation, it might have ended up sounding like Triangles... but this is way better than Gastr Del Sol.

TRIBE 8 Roadkill Cafe (Alternative Tentacles) 7" 3.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
7"=2 songs, cd single=4 songs.

TRIBE 8 Roadkill Cafe (Alternative Tentacles) cd single 4.98
7"=2 songs, cd single=4 songs.

TRIBE 8 Snarkism (Alternative Tentacles) cd 10.98

TRIBE 8 Snarkism (Alternative Tentacles) lp 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

TRIBES OF NEUROT 60¡ (Neurot Recordings) cd 14.98
Tribes Of Neurot began as a means for Neurosis to explore ideas and musical forms that existed outside of the signature parameters of Neurosis: hammering tribal rhythms, thick slow motion grind/metal, and an apocalyptic urgency. Often referred to as Neurosis' ambient side project, Tribes of Neurot explores the more spiritual and ethereal concepts of a broader tribal atavism. "60¡" is a collection of compilation tracks, rare vinyl-only pieces, and unreleased material that has been organized into an excellent album that doesn't sound like a crappy collection of throw-away pieces. Bleak isolationist washes, hypno-drone guitars & bass, creepy horror filmscore piano tinklings, female vocals in the throws of agony and/or ecstacy, and occult bells make for quite an exceptional record.

TRIBES OF NEUROT Adaptation And Survival (Neurot) 2cd 17.98
I've always been into the concept of Tribes Of Neurot. The concept of a band starting another related band that experiments and expands on their original sound seems kind of cool. And ToN are cool, but their sound/visual/art/ambient onslaught has never translated especially well to record. Sure, if you're in that dusty old warehouse, sprawled out on the floor, looking up at the crazy shifting projections, letting the rumbling waves of low-end wash over you, putting you in a trance, then yeah, it's perfect. But on record Neurot always bordered on ambient/new age, without the viscera of the wild images and the sweaty bodies and the skull rattling vibrations. So we're happy to report that Neurot's latest high concept sound piece succeeds where the others may not have. The concept of insects, and their abilty to adapt, survive, and outlast virtually all other species is the foundation of this gorgeous piece of drone work. Originally released as a super limited set of vinyl records, disc one collects all of those records. A swarming, buzzing, whirring, vibrating, pulsatingly alive piece of manipulated found sound, wherein the sounds of insects are stretched and twisted and reshaped into dynamic washes of anthropomorphic hum. Truly breathtaking. Ominous but somehow serene at the same time. The idea behind the different vinyl records was to play several at once creating completely unique mixes, everytime you listened. Disc two contains one possible mix, and the liner notes suggest you play both the source disc and the mix disc for even more possibilities. An ambitious project that manages to hit the mark, both musically and conceptually.
RealAudio clip: "Adaptation And Survival 3"
RealAudio clip: "Adaptation And Survival 4"
RealAudio clip: "Adaptation And Survival Mix"

TRIBES OF NEUROT Grace (Neurot Recordings) cd 14.98
Tribes of Neurot is the ambient, ritualistic side-project of mighty metal legends Neurosis. Grace is intended to be played simultaneously with the latter band's recent Times Of Grace album. So the doomily atmospheric drones and spoken words of this disc meld in with the hypnotic tribal chug of that one. A formidable combination! However, it's a fine listen all by itself (so don't fret if you don't have two cd players). Mixed by Tribes Of Neurot along with Dustin Donaldson of I Am Spoonbender and Neurosis' longtime sound engineer Dave Clark. Recommended!

TRIBES OF NEUROT Meridian (Neurot) cd 14.98
'Tis more instrumental drifting drone from thee Tribes Of Neurot, in the "ambient outerspace backwards transmissions from the planet of feedback" genre. Meridian is a little bit harsh, a little bit lovely. We can imagine that if these guys weren't so well known (as an experimental side-project of the mighty metallers Neurosis), and if this was released as a limited edition cd-r in handmade packaging on some New Zealand label, there'd be dark drone fans in droves going gaga. But although they're not that obscure, they sound like it. Recognizable elements (piano, guitar, and what we're guessing is a bowed cymbal) and less-distinct sound sources (all manner of whooshing and whirring, and also something we know is not a purring cat, but must be some sort of electronic simulation) are all a part of these ten, interestingly varied tracks, several of which include some actual "music" moving in and out of the mix, amid the pulsing drones, spectral washes, and sun-arising synth-scapes. The only drawback is that this is perhaps a bit too "active" for those that like their drones purely as background, falling-asleep music.
MPEG Stream: "Displaced"
MPEG Stream: "Wave Upon Wave"

TRICK DADDY Thug Matrimony (Slip-N-Slide) cd 17.98
This record rules. Big dumb and fun. A little bit crunked, these jams will have your head nodding, you ride bouncing and your system booming. The track to get this for is of course "Let's Go", a massive party jam, where the main loop is the riff from "Crazy Train" complete with Ozzy's "Eye eye eye eye eye...". So fucking cool!
MPEG Stream: "Let's Go"

TRICKY Angels With Dirty Faces (Island) cd 14.98
Perhaps his best album? While he is credited as the founder of "trip-hop" with Portishead and Massive Attack, there is little to be found of the tropes of that genre here. Instead, broken hip hop beats are filtered through his dub infused production... But what makes the album, as with all of his albums, is the dualism between his voice and that of his female vocalists (one of which is PJ Harvey), which evolves into a increasing psychosexual tension.

TRICKY Blowback (Hollywood) cd 16.98
When we first put this on, Jim and Jeff immediately thought to themselves "Hey! This sounds just like later period Einsturzende Neubauten!" And that it does, Blowback is also a highly polished smooth electronic downtempo funk record guested by the likes of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Cyndi Lauper and Live's Ed Kowalczyk. Need we say more? Should we tell you that one song sounds like middle of the road alternarock ala Crash Test Dummies? You probably already know if you need this. Nevertheless, it's certainly no "Maxinquaye".

TRICKY Juxtapose (Island) cd 16.98

TRICKY Maxinquaye (Island) cd 16.98

TRICKY Mission Accomplished (Anti) cd ep 11.98
Four long awaited new songs from everyone's favorite trip hop icon. Dark drama not unlike Barry Adamson's recent work, with urgent beats made to enjoy with martinis and a sense of foreboding. One wishes the music was more challenging, instead of so obvious, cos Tricky's got the talent to do better. Anyway, each to his own -- many of you are certainly fans, so here's a sound sample for you to decide for yourself
RealAudio clip: "Mission Accomplished"

TRICKY Pre-Millenium Tension (Island) cd 16.98

TRICKY Vulnerable (Sanctuary) cd 17.98

TRICLOPS! Cafeteria Brutalia (Sick Room) cd ep 11.98
A savage proggytrippypunkasfuck megablast in the form of Triclops!' Cafeteria Brutalia ep. This four song rager is the perfect blend of post-Jesus Lizardy mathy fucked up punk and spacey effects-riddled shreddyness. Hailing from right here in the bay area, Triclops! featuring John Geek From local punk heros The Fleshies on vocals, piece together a super interesting combination of weird rock elements. One moment angular and furious, while another blissy and tripped the hell out, and still at another just plain super rocking! The vocals are processed and effected, the guitar is furious and fierce, and the rythym section is just about as tight as can be, churrning out an ever-changing, multi-metric pummelfest of pure rock brutality. All the songs on this way too short document are great, to be sure, but the ONE for us is definetly the 10 plus minute epic, "Bug Bomb". Within this track, all the disparate elements that makes this band awesome perfectly coalesce. Super proggy acid-punk to begin with, breaking down into some suprisingly melodic pop, before getting heavy and crazy to round it out. Excellent! Triclops! are also one of the best local live acts we have here in SF, and they seem to play all the rad shows around these parts. In fact, most of us discovered them earlier this month at the killer Circle show at Bottom Of The Hill, which they opened. All in all, a really great ep! For anyone thats been missing that old 90's Touch and Go / Amrep sound, or people that just love proggy flipped out PUNK RAWK, this is definetly recommended!
RealAudio clip: "Bug Bomb"
RealAudio clip: "Salton"