TERRORIZER issue #176 November 2008 magazine + cd 9.99
The "Folk Metal Special" begun last issue continues in this ish of the premier British 'extreme music' magazine, with a focus on pagan black metal such as Vintersorg, Negura Bunget, Skyforger, and others. American "Freak folk" gets a look in too, with features on Agalloch and Jex Thoth. Elsewhere this issue, you get Enslaved (on the cover), Arckanum, Destruction, Toxic Holocaust, Burst, Swallow The Sun, The Haunted, Gojira, Slayer, Amon Amarth, and tons more. Including tons of reviews. And of course there's a free bonus cd sampler glued to the front.

TERRORIZER issue #177 December 2008 magazine + cd 9.25
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Thee new issue of this metal readin' essential has Norwegian black metal icons Satyricon on the cover, just in time for Christmas, we mean, their new album. Also: Bloodbath, Cradle Of Filth, Cynic, Paradise Lost, Napalm Death, Aura Noir, Misery Index, Down, and many many more - in fact, there's a brand new section "Choice Cuts" devoted to brief bits on a whole bunch of more underground acts, like Oakenshield, Book Of Black Earth, Phazm, SerpentCult, Guillotine, Outlaw Order, and plenty more we'd actually never heard of before.
Plus lots of other features, including a 20th anniversary label report on Lee Dorrian's stoner/doom institution, Rise Above. And of course tons of reviews, one of the main reasons to pick this up every month for sure. Also, there's the usual free sampler cd stuck to the cover.
Best pull quote of the issue: "I spelt 'U' as 'V' so it looked cooler". That's from the "Choice Cuts" piece about Swedish one-man band Doom:Vs.

TERRORIZER issue #179 January 2009 magazine + cd 9.25
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
THE magazine of "extreme" metal (all metal, really, except for really wimpy glam/pop/hair metal stuff that doesn't really exist much in this day and age), England's Terrorizer, presents their first issue of 2009, which includes their '2009 Preview' of exciting upcoming releases (from Absu to Voivod), the results of the 2008 Reader's Poll, their writer's picks for the top 40 albums of '08 (number one: Enslaved, and hey, Jex Thoth clocks in at 30), and all sorts of other stuff. There's the usual massive review section, and news flashes, and ads for insane European metal festivals you'll never get to go to. Then of course interviews, with the likes of cover stars Children of Bodom, Ephel Duath, Saxon, Architects, and others, including a ton of brief bits on less-known bands, among whom we noted The Wizar'd and The Devil's Blood. What else? A scene report on Swedish metal new and old, a look back at the making of ...And Justice For All, and more - including the usual bonus cover-mounted cd sampler w/ tracks by Behemoth, Kreator, Bullet, and others. Lots to delve into here, headbangers!

TERRORIZER issue #180 magazine 9.25
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Forgot to list this previous issue of Terrorizer, which of course has got their Grindcore Special Part 1 in case you were wondering where that was! Kevin Sharp of Brutal Truth introduces the genre, we hear from Rich Walker of Sore Throat and Seth Putnam of Anal Cunt, there's stuff about Grind Politics and Japanese Grind, and more. And of course, who's on the cover? Napalm Death!
Also this ish: Wino, Sepultura, Fen, Primordial and Finntroll on tour, a 'Hard of Hearing' session with Apocalyptica, a Prosthetic records label profile, bits on Fauna, Birdflesh, Kowloon Walled City and tons more... including a behind the music feature about the making of De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas. And all the usual trimmings: reviews, cd sampler, etc.

TERRORIZER issue #181 magazine 9.25
Latest issue of this metal must read magazine. Cannibal Corpse on the cover, and inside, making this a really 'gotta get it' issue for some sick folks, is Terrorizer's Grindcore Special Part 2, with features on Goregrind, U.S. Grind, Crustgrind, Electrogrind, and Gore Art... Awesome.
Also there's interviews with Absu, Samael, Tombs, 16, Psyopus, Cobalt, Enslaved, and others. Brief bits on the Wicked King Wicker, Blue Sabbath Black Cheer, Ironsword, Iron Fire, and tons more. Pages and pages of reviews. And the bonus cover-mount cd sampler.

TERRORIZER issue #184 magazine + cd 9.25
We unintentionally skipped over listing a couple issues of this essential 'extreme' metal mag (but still have a few of 'em in stock - #182 w/ Mastodon on the cover and #183, their UK Death Metal special). So, getting back on track, here's #184, bagged with the usual free cover mounted cd sampler. On the cover this time, er, Slipknot, but also there's features on Funeral Mist (that's more like it!), Heaven & Hell, Gojira, Municipal Waste, Isis, Destroyer 666, Devin Townsend, and more... all the usual columns and reviews and whatnot too of course.
And of special note, in the "Morbid Visions" art column, this month's subject none other than our friend Justin Bartlett, who did the first (and so far, only) in our limited artist edition t-shirt series! He's done a Terrorizer shirt now too.
(Also in this issue's news section, we learned that 3 Inches Of Blood has had their own signature running shoe released by Nike!)

TES LA ROK No Need 2 Be Nasty (Red Volume) 12" 14.98

TEST ICICLES For Screening Purposes Only (Domino) cd 14.98

MPEG Stream: "Your Biggest Mistake"
MPEG Stream: "Pull The Lever"
MPEG Stream: "Boa Vs. Python"

TETRAULT, MARTIN / OTOMO, YOSHIHIDE 1. Grrr (Ambiances Magnetiques) cd 15.98
First in a planned trilogy of live recordings from this turntablist duo's Europe 2003 tour. Grrr 'cause it's noisy.

TETREAULT, MARTIN & OTOMO YOSHIHIDE 2. Tok (Ambiances Magnetiques) cd 15.98
More turntable strangulation from two masters of that very avant-garde (even today!) art form. Quebec's Martin Tetreault and Japan's Otomo Yoshihide (the latter of which, at least, should need no introduction to most AQ customers, known as he is far and wee for various projects, among them his famed Ground Zero band) have tangled before, and right away get down to business here, in a selection of live duo performances recorded on their tour of Europe in the Spring of 2003. Together they manifest an intriguing sound-world, liberating from old LPs variously sandpaper textures, helicoptering drone, and spluttering screams. Volume 2 of a planned trilogy, 2. Tok concentrates on their most "fragmented" improvs of the tour. We didn't review it, but we do also have the first volume, 1. Grr, so-named as it's devoted to what the duo deemed their noisiest material.
MPEG Stream: "Nijmegen No. 4a"
MPEG Stream: "Lyon No. 3"

TETREAULT, MARTIN & OTOMO YOSHIHIDE 21 Situations (Dame) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
"An electromechanic meeting around turntables. 21 improvisational settings dealing with science fiction, education, jungle, cartoons and 17 other surprising themes!" says the top-obi. From Quebec and Japan, respectively, Tetreault and Yoshihide (of Ground Zero fame among other things), certainly don't sound like conventional DJs as they positively torture the vinyl on their turntables.

TETREAULT, MARTIN / KID KOALA Phon-o-victo (Les Disques Victo) cd 15.98
By now, most readers of the aQ list know just how much we love the turntable, and all the non musical sounds associated with it, hiss and crackle and pop, skips and scrapes, we've reviewed records featuring turntables without records, recordings of ONLY the surface noise of lps, we love it. So of course we love folks like Philip Jeck, Martin Tetreault and Strotter Inst., who have truly stretched the boundaries of turntable as instrument, but our first exposure to what could be done with a turntable, as was probably lots of folks', was via hip hop and DJs. aQ used to be the source for all things turntablism, Qbert, Invisbl Skratch Piklz, and especially Kid Koala, who had amazing DJ skills, but gave them his own distinct spin (remember the Charlie Brown "I gotta rock" jam?, Or the warbly record player horn solos?). For whatever reason, that stuff seemed to fade back into the underground, or the more under, underground, whatever happened, we hadn't heard a peep from Kid Koala in almost 3 years.
But what a return! Two masters of the turntable, both approaching it from different backgrounds and with different influences, a dizzying mash up of textures and beats, of loops and song fragments, a live multiple turntable jam session captured on tape, and holy shit is it good.
Scratchy old jazz records begin to skip before morphing into big booming low end rhythms, wild drum solos are looped and layered, strange voices surface and then fade away, scratches are transformed into bird calls, blurred streaks of melody, crackle everywhere like rainfall, gorgeous sheets of low end buzz underpin skittery squiggles and jagged shards of hiss, effects drenched scratching unfurls like wild spaced out psychedelic freakouts, groovy fractured funk assembled from strange voices, nature records, and who knows what else, left to drift through a sea of haunting rumbles and mysterious grinding noise, finishing off with a wild assemblage of manipulated voices, super minimal click and thump beats, deformed music box melodies, and a symphony of scrapes and scratches and pops and clicks. Really amazing stuff. Weird and dark and playful and wild. Turntable freaks will dig this big time.
MPEG Stream: "Drum-o-scope"
MPEG Stream: "Pluto attack (la revanche des exclus)"
MPEG Stream: "The DJ Factory turn crazy"

TETREAULT, MARTIN / SACHIKO M / YASUHIRO OTANI / OTOMO YOSHIHIDE Four Focuses (Amoebic) cd 18.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A collection of solos and duets for turntables and samplers from these four vangardists, incorporating a distinct rhythmic edge previously alien to the Fluxus / electro-acoustic improvisational schools.

TETSUO Ranshuo (Shit Jam Records) cd 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
From the same Japanese label that brought us Bathtub Shitter (still the best band name ever!) comes Tetsuo, a band that has way more in common with Corrupted or Boris than their bathtub shitting labelmates. Sludgy and repetitive, heavy and crushing with lots of solid state feedback a la Eyehategod and loads of midtempo wall of guitar pummel a la Neurosis. One epic twenty minute track that goes from slow motion sludge to furious almost-death-metal to crusty grind to stoner groove and back again. Fans of any of the above mentioned bands definitely need this.
MPEG Stream: "One"

TEXT OF LIGHT 052402 echo 4 (Table Of The Elements) 12" 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another volume in Table Of The Element's amazing Lanthinides series of silkscreened single sided 12"s. This is the first offical release from Text Of Light, a loose ensemble made up of Lee Ranaldo, Alan Licht, DJ Olive, Christian Marclay and Uli Krieger. Originally formed to improvise to the silent films of Stan Brakhage (Brakhage's film Text Of Light is the band's namesake), Text Of Light rumble and drone and meander through a dark and moody sonic soundscape, littered with the detritus of music concrete, avant turntablism, dronology and dark ambience. Dark and minimal and quite beautiful.
And it's got an unfinished Christmas ornament designed by Harry Smith is silkscreened in glow in the dark ink on the non-playing side. And in response to the complaints of folks who bought any of the first eight 12"s and experienced the brittle / easy-cracking plastic sleeves, these new 12"s come in an improved sleeve, much softer, and way less fragile.

TEXT OF LIGHT Rotterdam 1 (Room 40) cd 16.98
Live document of a TOL performance recorded at the Rotterdam International Film Festival in January of 2005. This rotating collective of improvisers, which this time around include Alan Licht and Lee Ranaldo on guitars, DJ Olive on turntables, Tim Barnes on percussion and Ulrich Krieger on sax, continue their practice of performing to the films of Stan Brakhage and other members of the avant-garde cinema of the fifties and sixties. While only 20 minutes long, each musician is allowed their moment to shine before the piece culminates in an otherworldly full band racket. Although, it would be nice to see the film with the music meant to accompany it, the overall piece works well without the aid of visuals, and is a good introduction to anyone curious about this organic collective of experienced free-players.
MPEG Stream: "Rotterdam 1 (excerpt)"

TEXT OF LIGHT s/t (Starlight) cd 13.98
This is the first full length release (after a 12" on Table Of The Elements) by the group Text Of Light, named for a 1974 Stan Brakhage film and made up of Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo, Alan Licht, DJ Olive, Christian Marclay and Uli Krieger. Originally Text Of Light was formed to perform along with Brakhage films, and while Brakhage was an inspiration for these recordings they are not "potential Brakhage soundtracks". Text Of Light weave spare soundscapes of clatter and creak, enviornmental sounds, free jazz splatter, No Neck Blues Band style hippy rock-brut, avant turntablism, deep drones and abstract ambience.
MPEG Stream: "Knitting Factory (Quartet)"

TEXT OF LIGHT Text of Light (Dirter Productions) 3cd 41.00

MPEG Stream: "052901 Tonic 5/4/6"
MPEG Stream: "052901 Tonic 1"
MPEG Stream: "05291 Tonic 7"

TEXTURA Ten Dimes (self-released) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

TEXTURES Polars (Listenable) cd 14.98

TH. Afflux (Small Doses) 3" cd-r 8.98
Another mysterious little noisy sonic gem from the Small Doses label, one of our new favorite small labels, due in part to the cool shit they put out, but also the fact that no matter how limited a release is, the packaging is super deluxe.
We won't go into too much detail with this one, as it's limited to only 77 copies. We got a handful, but as with most of these things, they will probably go pretty fast.
tH. is the work of a guy named Taylor Holdgraf, and Afflux is a strange composition for glitch and static and feedback and basically all the parts of music that aren't traditionally music. On the surface, Afflux sounds a bit like someone dragging a needle across an lp, or changing radio stations while driving through a tunnel, but it's arranged and structured into strange little microrhythms, drawn out expanses of super minimal drone, high end sine waves waver and shimmer, chunks of white noise are chopped into stuttering sort-of grooves, bits of feedback transform into what sounds like chirping crickets, some parts the hiss and glitch and crackle are smoothed into thick whirring textures, while other parts the grind and crunch are unfettered, allowing for little jagged bursts of super dynamic buzz and speaker rattling bzzzt.
Very noisy for sure, but structured and arranged in a surprisingly listenable, and surprisingly musical way.
As always, gorgeous packaging, a miniature three panel two sided full color vellum sleeve. And again LIMITED TO 77 COPIES.

THAEMLITZ, TERRE Die Roboterrubato (Mille Plateaux) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Kraftwerk songs "interpreted" on the piano, with extensive liner notes explaining Thaemlitz's approach. Quite beautiful, although the Kraftwerk component is not always immediately obvious. One of several now domestically-priced releases from the European electronica label of the moment, Mille Plateaux.

THAEMLITZ, TERRE Oh, No! It's Rubato (Mille Plateaux) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The third in trangressive experimental musican Terre Thaemlitz's series of unlikely piano recitals... Previously he's turned the melodies of both Kraftwerk and Gary Numan into gorgeous, sort-of-ambient piano meditations. Here, completing a twisted trinity of '70s/'80s new wavy electronic-rock genius, he interprets the music of Devo! (Risking cries of sacrilege from those of us who consider Devo holy -- he's even calling himself General Grrl!) Yup, "Jocko Homo", "Whip It", "Through Being Cool", "Mongoloid", and a bunch of others are given Terre's treatment. Sure, just reading about it, it seems kinda gimmicky, but the results are more than schtick -- this is lovely lovely stuff. And truthfully, you can barely recognize the source material -- this is slow and melanchonic rather than hectic and poppy. This disc and those two others are certainly our favorites amongst Thaemlitz' varied ouevre, and indeed are rather atypical of his usual output. The cover art (a parody of Oh, No! It's Devo! with Terre's head on a spud) is scary, though.
RealAudio clip: "Jocko Homo"
RealAudio clip: "Whip It"

THAI ELEPHANT ORCHESTRA s/t (Mulatta Records) cd 15.98
First it was Frogs of North America invading our record bins, then it was Antarctic Seals and Penguins, followed by Insects in Stored Foodstuffs... now it's Elephants from Thailand! Brilliant recordings by non-human, um, sound-artists that we just can't get enough of here at Aquarius. In this case, the elephants are not just making their natural noises, they are indeed playing instruments! You may have read about this project in the New York Times -- when we found out about it we immediately contacted the label and ordered a whole bunch (based also on the on-line sample we heard at www.mulatta.org) and now here they are. These are elephants from a elephant preseve in Thailand who have been trained to play specially-built instruments (many marimba-like instruments similar to the traditional Thai renat, as well as such things as harmonicas, drums, and even a stringed "electric bass"), but they haven't been trained *what* to play, it's all improvised with minimal human guidance! Yet it's definitely music. It was kind of an experiment to find out how the creatures might express themselves, and we'd say it was very successful indeed. If we didn't know these were elephants, we'd think this was a strange No Neck Blues Band recording or something. Imagine a stumbling, primitive hippy folk jam on gamelan instruments, but not one that's random or erratic. The elephants play steady beats, the struck gongs or chimes interspersed with their vocalizations as well. With no overdubs and few edits this is certainly a very impressive recording!
The Thai Elephant Orchestra was dreamed up, and this disc produced, by David Soldier (New York musician and academic) and Richard Lair (American expatriate elephant expert, who advises the Thai Elephant Conservation Center where this project goes on). The two came up with the idea that elephants, being social animals, might enjoy playing music together, and proceeded to investigate... Happily, not only did the elephants enjoy playing, they were good at it, demonstrating that they were able to decide what sounded good (to them) and what didn't.
The booklet features photos and detailed, fascinating liner notes by both men. Here is what Soldier says the criteria was for the construction of the instruments, which were made by New York instrument builder Ken Butler (of "Gravikords, Whirligigs..." fame):
"1. The instruments must be suitable to the elephant's anatomy, which means large instruments operated by the trunk.
"2. The instruments must withstand jungle heat, humidity -- and the elephants.
"3. The instruments should require minimum upkeep.
"4. The instruments should have a Thai sound, because the regular daily audience is Thai, the mahouts would enjoy the music more, and the elephants have heard Thai music all their lives."
Some more great tid-bits from the notes: "The elephants took easily to the harmonica, which sparked the first elephant music fad: one morning I arrived to hear the sound of harmonicas from all over -- from the hills and from the river. The elephants were walking in from the forest playing harmonicas, which they hold easily in the tip of their trunks."
"The elephants didn't seem interested in the bells or theremin. At first they were spooked by the synthesizer keyboard, but later two animals were entranced by it. They disliked playing Ken's reed instruments with a large mouthpiece, or rather, trunkpiece. A mahout told me they were afraid that a snake might jump into their nostrils!"
As sort of bonus tracks, in addition to the forty-plus minutes of elephant improv, there's also some non-instrumental elephant field recordings, several tracks of humans and elephants playing together, and even a few traditional Thai songs played by humans, about elephants.
Sure there's a bit of simple amusement to be found here just from the concept alone, but in actual fact the music these elephants make is, to our ears at least, quite beautiful. We could go on and philosophize about how this project speaks to the relationship between man and animals in this world, but we'll leave those thoughts for you to explore if you chose to check out this album, which we highly recommend! Amazing and wonderful.
RealAudio clip: "Jojo"
RealAudio clip: "Duo For Renats"
RealAudio clip: "Harmonica Music"
RealAudio clip: "Heavy Logs"

THAI ELEPHANT O`RCHESTRA Elephonic Rhapsodies (Mulatta) cd 15.98
If there's one record that seems to be most identified with Aquarius Records, other than the infamous Conet Project (those recordings of shortwave spy transmissions) lots of folks would pick the Thai Elephant Orchestra, an ensemble of elephants who play gamelans and gongs and harmonicas and all sorts of custom made, super-sized instruments. So here we are three years later, and we get a little sonic update on what Phong, Mae Kot, Aet, Jo Jo, Chapati, Prajuab, Prathida, Luuk Khang, Tao, Wanalee and Gaew, the elephants responsible for one of our favorite records ever, have been up to. Quite a bit it seems as the elephants have just released their sophmore record (which is farther than most human bands make it!), and have made huge progress in their musicianship, playing short composed tunes and long drawn out meandering pieces with improvisation. Elephants have always been popular with children, and well, elephants playing musical instruments that's every child's fantasy right? Well project directors Dave Soldier and Richard Lair obviously think so as they've seemingly geared this record specifically toward children, with some bubbly rainbow lettering on the cover, and a cringeworthy introduction from "your Uncle Dave and Uncle Richard" as they introduce each elephant and describe their personalities. But don't let that stuff keep you from getting into this record. It's even better than the first. Beautifully recorded and of course masterfully played.
The first third of the record are the elephants playing on their own, some of Soldier and Lair's 'compositions' and the sound is divine. Hypnotic and spare, tinkling and clattering chimes, thumping drums, booming gongs and gamelan melodies, all meandering lazily through a hazy dreamy percussive soundscape. As with the first record, if you weren't told, you'd most definitely think this was some sort of avant tribal minimal outift, maybe No Neck Blues Band or one of the many foresty Finnish folk groups. It's totally primal and mesmerising, weirdly melodic and sonically soothing.
The next chunk of the record features the elephants again playing composed pieces, this time playing with human musicians, and the aforementioned effect is even greater, with Soldier's keeing violin, or Jami Sieber's moaning cello, or any of a handful of traditional Thai instruments played by the elephant's mahouts (trainers) perfectly complimented by the spare clattery backdrop. The effect of listening to some out rock, avant folk group makes it almost impossible to believe these are elephants playing this beautiful music. It also begs the question of how we have progressed and moved musically forward for centuries, yet the people furthest out on the edge, pushing the limits the farthest (NNCK, SHOTM, and any one of hundreds of avant musicians) seem to be aspiring to sounds that nature has been making for millenia or is capable of making without humans or electricity, or any of the stuff most of us rely on to play music. Pretty awe inspiring.
The final portion of the record seems yet again directed at children as it is famous songs about elephants ("Baby Elephant Walk" etc.) played by small ensembles and accompanied by the elephant orchestra. Cute but not absolutely essential elephonic listening. Thankfully, in the liner notes Soldier and Lair explain that in the future they plan to "revert to the 'classical' format: long elephants-only instrumentals with minimal 'chamber music' mixing." We can't wait. But that said, there is so much good stuff on Elephonic Rhapsodies, definitely don't be put off by the young person vibe. Also in the liner notes, there is an invitation to bands and musicans all over the world to come and record with the elephants. We can hardly contain ourselves we have so many good ideas....Boris and the Thai Elephant Orchestra? Sunburned Hand Of The Man and the Thai Elephant Orchestra? Peter Brotzmann and the Thai Elephant Orchesta? Bjork and the Thai Elephant Orchestra? Hatebeak and the Thai Elephant Orchestra???
MPEG Stream: "Phong's Solo"
MPEG Stream: "The Birth Of Ganesh"
MPEG Stream: "Little Elephant Saddle"

THE BUG London Zoo (Ninja Tune) 3lp 45.00
NOW ON THICK TRIPLE VINYL!!!
Hard to believe it's been 5 years since the last Bug full length. We were so obsessed with Pressure, it was exactly what we had been dreaming of, a disc of dancehall, but supercharged, the beats bigger, the toasting more tongue twisting and agile, the flows sick sick sick, the loops and music darker and more fucked up. Makes sense when you have a look at Kevin "The Bug" Martin's resume, having recorded as God, Ice, Techno Animal and Curse Of The Golden Vampire, so imagine classic dancehall filtered through all that cracked and noisy business. Fucking mind blowing. And it's not like Martin has been doing nothing since Pressure. There's been a steady flow of ep's and 12"s, singles and one-offs, but we were long overdue for another batch of damaged fractured fucked up and funky dancehall, and finally, here it is!
And it's so so good. Not quite as hard as Pressure, much more musical, but somehow all the better for it. The beats are still bangin', and the vocalists Martin has gathered are pretty top shelf: Tippa Irie, Ricky Ranking, Flowdan, Killa P, Warrior Queen, Spaceape and Roger Robinson. All of 'em on fire, and the tracks, total dancefloor destroyers, groovy, funky, a wild dancehall mashup, that stuttery beat in all its various permutations, simple looped Double Dutch repetition, skittery almost jungle, murky stripped down dubstep, pounding buzzing gabbery crunch, rubbery woozy shuffle, groovy late night minimal throb and several other variations. 
It's hard to pick favorites, all the tracks are pretty amazing, although we're pretty partial to the songs featuring Ricky Ranking, the super hooky "Murder We", with it's growled buzzing verses, but then an insanely catchy chorus, with gorgeous vocals and lazer gun style FX, then there's the closer "Judgement" a sort of slow jam, but so washed out and fuzzy, menacing and sinister, complete with soulful breakdowns, which shift effortlessly into the growly buzz drenched verses (stick around too, after a few minutes of silence, there's a really beautiful outro). The Warrior Queen tracks are awesome too, especially "Poison Dart" with its school yard flow and rib cage rattling synth buzz, unfurling a weirdly catchy melody beneath pounding simple rhythms and WQ's wicked flow. "Fuckaz" with Spaceape is a pulsing throbbing groove, the vocals a sing songy flow, not nearly as murky and mean sounding as his collabs with Kode 9, and the opener "Angry" with Tippa Irie, is a super bouncy ragga jam, the beat so simple but so infectious, and the vocals again raspy and raw, perfectly balancing the wild bounce beneath. Hard to know what else to say. We're such suckers for dancehall, especially when it gets revved up a bit. Here's hoping we don't have to wait another 5 years.
MPEG Stream: "Angry ft. Tippa Irie"
MPEG Stream: "Murder We ft. Ricky Ranking"
MPEG Stream: "Fuckaz ft. Spaceape"

THE CARS s/t (Elektra) cd 12.98

THE DIRTBOMBS / KING KHAN & HIS SHRINES Billiard At Nine Thirty (Sounds of Subterranial) cd 21.00

THE GAME Untold Story (Chopped and Screwed) (Fastlife Music) cd 15.98

THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE QUEEN s/t (Virgin) cd 13.98
Damon Albarn has quietly emerged from the shadows of 90's MTV fame with Blur's hit (No. 2 Song) to become one of the more interesting musical figures in the more mainstream realms of modern rock. From his travels to Africa that resulted in the great Mali Music album, his collaborative efforts in The Gorillaz, and even the last Blur record, Think Tank which was pretty much a solo endeavor and contained some really smart and somewhat somber pop songs. He's also been running a great record label Honest Jons who have released some amazing records old and new from the likes of Moondog, Candi Staton, Tony Allen, Las Malas Amistades, etc. The Good The Bad & The Queen is his latest project and he's assembled quite the all-star cast including Clash bassist Paul Simonon and legendary drummer (of Fela Kuti fame), Tony Allen, with production duties handled by Danger Mouse. Together they've created a really nice album of subdued pop songs with layers of warmth and an expansive and moody disposition. At times it even made us think of a more polished version of Three Mile Pilot's Another Desert Another Sea, and this for sure should appeal to fans of Pinback and Radiohead. This keeps growing on us listen after listen, revealing something more each time. For sure one of our favorite major label records in quite a while.
MPEG Stream: "Kingdom Of Doom"
MPEG Stream: "Behind The Sun"

THE INCREDIBLE STRING BAND Philadelphia Folk Festival 1969 (Tallulah) cd 13.98

THE KINKS Kontroversy (Sanctuary) cd 15.98

THE MYSTERY MEAT Profiles (Normal) cd 15.98

THE ONE Guardian's Inhuman (Total Holocaust Records) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another blast of insane black metal chaos, this time from an entity known simply as...THE ONE. And chaos it is. Sure it has all the hallmarks of grim fucking black metal, but this is so weird and sloppy and punishing and weird weird weird. Everything (drums, vocals, guitars) is drenched in reverb, so that when things get going, I mean really going, it turns into one intensely hellish blur, that sounds almost like Merzbow with only the occasional cymbal crash to help you keep your bearings. The drumming, when not lost in a dense cloud of impenatratable bllllleeaarrgghhh, is a weirdly stumbling beast, stuttering through arrhythmic fills and continually fluctuating blast beats. And then there's the vocals. Some of the most insane ridiculous vocals ever, heavily distorted and reverbed monster growls that threaten to overtake everything they're so high in the mix! And tempo changes and new parts are occasionally demarcated by a very loud grunt that is reverbed through the roof or some maniacal sinister laughter also drenched in effects. There are also all sorts of bizarre sounds underneath the frosty onslaught: what sounds like jaw harps on track four and the hoofbeats of horses elsewhere. But at it's core, like Graveland or Nargaroth, The One takes black metal into the almost static realm, creating totally buzzing blurry drones, assembled from super distorted riffs and rumbling basslines smeared into endless washes of hypnotic sound. So totally mesmerising but completely insane and absurd at the same time. Highly recommended for fans of black metal weirdness/insanity a la Necrofrost, Abruptum, Vondur as well as the grim black metal blur of Nargaroth and Graveland.
MPEG Stream: "This Means War"
MPEG Stream: "Undying"

THE ONE I, MASTER (Total Holocaust) cd 12.98
FINALLY, this fucked up grim black masterpiece back in stock!
It's been almost 5 years since we last heard from Greek duo THE ONE, who back then, were maybe not a duo, and who were most definitely in our pantheon of weirdo black metal, along with Necrofrost, Abruptum and Vondur, vying for the top spot with their heavily reverbed blackness and insane vocals.
But here we are years later, and The One are not nearly as weird as they once were. Like Necrofrost, who have also resurfaced and whose new record is reviewed elsewhere on this list, it might not be that they are less weird, but that the weirdness is better integrated into their sound.
Before, the music was a stumbling chaotic blur, everything tangled up with everything else, the mix super erratic, with various elements exploding out of the mix, the drumming wild and off kilter, lots of grunts and some of the growliest monster vocals ever, and we'd be lying if we didn't say we weren't initially disappointed that this record was so GOOD. And tight. And solid. Cuz it is. Good. Really good. Heavy and black, the guitars intense and thick and full, some awesome riffing, the drums hard hitting and audible in the mix, the mix itself lush and LOUD, plenty of groove and hooks hidden here and there, but not damaged or demented or fucked up. At least at first. No one can make music that weird and then suddenly ditch all the various elements that made that music so strange. So here, on I, Master, the weird shit is subtle, and generally tucked away amidst thrashing blasting blackness and chugging riffage, whether it's an impossibly long and harsh hissy howl, or some weird dubbed out cymbal shimmer, or even a creepy circusy interlude with a looped music box groove and whispered vocals, the weird stuff is definitely there, but that's no longer why we're here, this is some heavy Ravenstormy Blizzard Beastly blown out buzz drenched heaviness, with just the right amount of crooning chanted vocals and midtempo doominess to keep it interesting, but they have definitely ditched their fucked up fractured past in favor of something ultimately way more pleasing, a super epic, ultra heavy, dense and destructive, blasting and buzzing black metal, and so far today, we've listened to the whole record all the way through THREE times, and the night is still young...
MPEG Stream: "I"
MPEG Stream: "III"

THE RITA Thousands Of Dead Gods (Pacrec) cd 8.98
We first heard from Canadian harsh noiseniks The Rita, when they teamed up with local primitive lo-fi black metallers Bone Awl on a cassette a few months ago. Not so much a split as a weird collaboration, the two bands switching back and forth, Bone Awl's black buzz perfectly complimenting The Rita's brutal noise squall crunch, so much so that it was kind of tough sometimes to tell who was who. No such problem here, Thousands Of Dead Gods is nothing but The Rita and their huge caustic cloud of churning, roiling psychedelic white hot white noise!
This is definitely one for noise freaks only. One hour long track of relentlessly brutal N.O.I.S.E. Nothing subtle, no buried melodies, no shimmery atmospherics. Just a grinding, grit drenched, buzzy, prickly, poisonous Merzbowian blast of pure noise. The coolest part is that all of the sounds are sourced from a Great White Shark diving cage, recorded underwater and from the deck of the boat. Hence the dead shark on the cover. But there is a turbulent underwater feel to this noise, like dunking your head in super violent rapids, or the churning wake of a boat, or in the ocean amidst wildly thrashing sharks going in for the kill. Brutal.
MPEG Stream: "Thousands Of Dead Gods (excerpt 1)"
MPEG Stream: "Thousands Of Dead Gods (excerpt 2)"

THEBOYLUCAS Out Of The Wires (Output) cd 16.98
We were watching this show on MTV, something like 'The Top 21 Under 21' that was a countdown of all the MTV stars who have hit the big time before they're even old enough to drink. Which was pretty depressing (the authors of this review are well into their thirties) even though it all sucked. So imagine how the barely-out-of-his-teens Theboylucas makes us feel. Granted it's not quite the big time, but this record is so goddamn good. Okay. Back up. End Rant. Start again. We usually look to the Output label for dirge-y death dub or super skeletal hip hop, all sparse and bare bones with slightly sinister overtones, like Skull or Rhythm and Sound. But Theboylucas takes a different tack altogether. Theboylucas is a twenty year old kid from the UK (arggh!) who takes lo-fi acoustic sad boy indie rock (ala Badly Drawn Boy, Elliott Smith) and filters it through a handful of Warp Records 12"s and a motley assortment of effects boxes, buries it all under a dreamy wash of Oval-ish glitch and Autechre-ish skitter and comes up with one of the most original takes on indie electronica we've heard in a long while. Imagine Boards Of Canada with a handful of dodgy patch cords, some crappy old gear, and fronted by a scruffy tattooed punk in cut off fatigues and converse hi tops with a laptop instead of a guitar and who just broke up with his girlfriend. Or imagine if Lou Barlow grew up listening to Aphex Twin and put records out on Warp or....well you know what we're getting at. 'Out Of The Wires' takes the hushed, close miked urgency of Sparklehorse, the warbly sad boy vocals of Songs:Ohia (only very rarely, as it's mostly instrumental), the skittery glitched-out electro-dub of Pole or Kit Clayton, and sprinkles in a little EMO, and voila, we're talking late-night-chillout, new-friend-make-out, two-in-the-morning-doze-off, first-thing-in-the-morning-mellow-out, FIRST-MIX-TAPE-FOR-THAT GUY/GIRL perfect indie-electronica. At moments, it's reminiscent of the super blissed out post rock of Hood or the spacey electronica of Third Eye Foundation and somehow manages to be dreamy and ambient without drifting into Darla style 'bliss out' wussy electronica. A definite must for fans of Boards Of Canada and everyone who bought the DNTEL from the last list, and a pretty good gamble for all you really adventurous indie rockers! SO good.
RealAudio clip: "There Are Great Monsters Going Past"
RealAudio clip: "Ferris Wheel"
RealAudio clip: "Go On, Crease Your Carhartts"

THEE HEADCOATS Elementary Headcoats (Damaged Goods) 2cd 19.98
Billy Childish has had quite a prolific career, and one that shows no signs of slowing. He is a writer and an artist, but perhaps he is most known for his music. Much of his musical output was written and recorded with his main band Thee Headcoats (although he also fronted such garage wonders as Thee Milkshakes). This is an impressive double disk collection of fifty (!) singles released by Thee Headcoats and friends between 1990 and 1999. Never bowing to trends or technology, the garage rockin' rawness of Billy, Johnny and Bruce's music continues to shine and inspire their fans and other bands. Comes with a very very thorough discography. All hail Thee Headcoats!

THEE HYDROGEN TERRORS Terror, Diplomacy & Public Relations (Load) cd 12.98
Your basic great rockin' record that merges garage rock with sampling collage. Already a staple of hipster jukeboxes nationwide.

THEE MICHELLE GUN ELEPHANT Gear Blues (Alive) cd 14.98
Japanese garage rawk in suits and shades. Pretty good, but not totally goin' crazy like you really want 'em to.

THEE MORE SHALLOWS A History Of Sport Fishing (Megalon) cd 11.98
Local duo that play a very very pleasant, quiet sort of midtempo indie rock, with lots of delicate details if you're patient enough to listen closely. They remind me a lot of another beloved local band -- Fuck -- not only because the groups share similarly whispered boy vocals, but also in the way the melancholy songs start off quietly and serenely, then build the tension as the songs progress, culminating in restrained yet intense explosions of emotion. They also recall the lyrical wistfulness of Lambchop, and the scratchy vocalising of Wilco's Jeff Tweedy. At 56 minutes the album is unnecessarily long; take off a third of it and the album would sound sweeter, more poignant in its brevity. Nonetheless a fine rainy day record for indierockers.
RealAudio clip: "The 8th ring of hell"
RealAudio clip: "the Ballad of Douglas Chin"

THEE MORE SHALLOWS Book Of Bad Breaks (Anticon) cd 14.98
Thee More Shallows have a new unexpected home on the usually hip hop-centric Bay Area label Anticon, but we shouldn't really be all that surprised now, should we? Heck, music genre boundaries have been dissolving left right and center over the past few years. The SF band's sound on their new full length is a little unexpected too. Since their last release 2006's Monkey Vs. Shark, the formerly more rootsy rock band's already broadening scope seems to have expanded in all directions with impressive results. Book Of Bad Breaks journeys through many moods -- alternately romping, rocking and reclining -- but always with a shadowed, subtle druggy headiness.
MPEG Stream: "Eagle Rock"
MPEG Stream: "Mo Deeper"

THEE MORE SHALLOWS Monkey Vs. Shark (Turn) cd ep 8.98
Not sure about the significance of this 7-song EP's title, but we are sure that Thee More Shallows can deliver the dreaminess. 'Tis all soft pop grandeur like a not so distant cousin of Mercury Rev and Flaming Lips. The third song "Phineas Bogg" is particularly gorgeous, whisking you off into the heavens. The EP includes a remix of their song "Freshman" by Odd Nosdam and Why? which takes them into the neighborhood of the Postal Service (the band not the, um... service). Ultra pretty!
MPEG Stream: "Phineas Bogg"
MPEG Stream: "Freshman Remix"

THEE MORE SHALLOWS More Deep Cuts (Monotreme) cd 12.98
On their new album More Deep Cuts, San Francisco's Thee More Shallows seem to have shed much of the folksy characteristics a la Fuck and Lambchop of their previous full length A History Of Sport Fishing (except on the final song "House Break" that echoes with an earthy ache akin to Sparklehorse), in favor of a more dynamic Radiohead-ish expansiveness. That's not to say this new release is a full departure for the group. No, not at all. It actually makes for an impressive progression with lots of slow building tension and emotiveness -- still encorporating their shuffling beats, droney bass notes, lonesome piano interludes, slinking string accents and hushed male vocals.
MPEG Stream: "Pre-present"
MPEG Stream: "House Break"

THEE MORE SHALLOWS More Deep Cuts (Turn) cd 11.98
More? Yes, please! This fine album has received a very welcome reissuing, offering this Bay Area band's fans and newcomers another opportunity to have their hearts melted. On More Deep Cuts, Thee More Shallows are seemingly inspired by the over-the-top trippy grandeur of bands such as Sparklehorse, Flaming Lips and Radiohead, but adeptly avoid falling prey to idol worship, crafting a dark, achingly beautiful world of their own. 'Nuff said!
MPEG Stream: "Post-Present"
MPEG Stream: "2am"

THEE PLAGUE OF GENTLEMEN Pressure & Time (Southern Lord) 7" 4.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
First chance for us to check out this band of Belgian brutes and we're pretty impressed. Huge slabs of slowly shifting downtuned slow motion riffing, massive and pummelling, a perfect fit on Southern Lord. But it's the vocals that really make Thee Plague stand out. A bellowing, growling caterwaul not all that dissimilar to the mighty Killdozer. In fact, a thumbnail review could simply read: SUNNO))) meets Killdozer. Good stuff. On yellow vinyl.

THEE PLAGUE OF GENTLEMEN Primula Pestis (I Hate Records) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A couple of years ago some of us here at Aquarius befriended a visiting Belgian guy, a big fellow with a waxed handlebar mustache named Steve. That is, the guy was named Steve, actually, not his mustache. But if his mustache had a name we wouldn't have been surprised -- it was quite a striking 'stache. ANYWAY, we knew that in addition to being a record collecting fiend, Steve was a musician and that he played in a band, but somehow we didn't discover until much later that his band was called Thee Plague Of Gentlemen (is that some sort of punning reference to the BBC comedy?) and they were proponents of something that we love so much: sheer HEAVINESS! We learned this when they did a now out-of-print 7" single for Southern Lord, that we decided sounded like an unholy union of SUNNO))) and Killdozer! While we haven't really kept in very close touch with our Belgian friend (if you're reading this, hi Steve, how've you been?!), we have definitely been on the look-out for more from his band. Well, here it is! A full-length cd of downtuned sludge and gargling vocal wail. Total doom. Something along the lines of Cathedral (circa Endtyme), Electric Wizard, Unholy Trance, Celtic Frost, and Winter. Slow and grinding and a little bit psychedelic, with occasional bursts of speedier brutality. Riff-heavy, feedbacking doom extremity that means business. This disc is enhanced with two Quicktime videos of the band performing live. That's the aforementioned Steve singing and playing guitar, the bald guy with more beard now than moustache. And he's wearing a Magma t-shirt!
MPEG Stream: "Your Love Is King (Of The Dead)"
MPEG Stream: "The Ocean Has No Sides"

THEE SILVER MOUNTAIN REVERIES (AKA SILVER MT ZION) Pretty Little Lightning Paw (Constellation) lp 14.98
Once a tour-only piece of merch, now available in stores...like ours. Four new tracks (two about 5 minutes, two around 10) from this Montreal based, Godspeed You Black Emperor! related ensemble. From the intimate to the epic, some of this is garagey and "ghettoblastered" while other parts are ethereal and grandiose with violins sawing away, massed voices and birdcalls.
MPEG Stream: "Pretty Little Lightning Paw"

THEE VAPORIZER Ovrspliffed (Roborecords) cd 14.98

THEGALVINWILHELMMILLERQUARTET s/t (Impatience Or Indifference) cd 10.98
AQ pal Drucifer (and the guy who runs Dielectric Records, who released those amazing 12" a few months ago: Sote, Karen Stackpole, etc...) had been threatening to play this record for us for a while, and he's got pretty darn good taste so we were looking forward to finally checking it out. I always just sort of assumed from the title and from talking to Drucifer that it was going to be some sort of jazz, but boy was I surpried when we threw this on. The quartet in question is actually a trio, and while the music these three play does have certain qualities one might find in jazz, this is GRINDMETAL through and through. Five tracks of furious, chaotic, brutal and pummeling hyper complex metallic grind ala Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Pig Destoyer, Discordance Axis and the like. But unlike most grinders, TGWMQ stretch their songs way out (none of the songs is shorter than 3 minutes, most significantly more), allowing them to expore and develop and stretch out a bit. The final track is nine minutes long ferchrissakes, with lots of splattery free noise, rumbling ambient passages, found sounds and ethereal female vocals, almost-groovy riff rock parts, and buzzing droning weirdness. But don't be frightened off by all that, 'cause the core of this record is dense and grinding, ultra complicated, dizzyingly agile, and crushingly savage heaviness. So good. All you folks who freaked out over the last Agoraphobic Nosebleed record definitely need this!
MPEG Stream: "Idiot Savant"
MPEG Stream: "Great Faith, Great Doubt, Great Effort"