UGLY THINGS Issue #25 magazine 7.95
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Curses! It's the worst when a new issue of one of our favorite magazines, Ugly Things, shows up on a "list week"! All we want to do is sit and read the darn thing -- and there's A LOT of it to read, this ish is up to 224 pages -- but instead we can only skim thru and save it for next week when we're not quite so busy writing music reviews. Yeah there will be a lot of work to do then too, but we'll MAKE time to relax and read our Ugly Things. After all, it's about a lot of our favorite types of music: '60s psych, garage, freakbeat, proto-prog, "wild sounds from past dimensions" as they say on the cover. This time around, there's features on The Music Machine, The Attack, Radio Birdman, The Namelosers, Freedom's Children, The Light, The Rubber City Rebels, and much much more... some of these bands more obscure than others but in all cases, whether we'd heard of 'em before or not, totally fascinatin' reading (well, what we've gotten to so far anyway, but we know all of it's gonna be good). We did delve into the articles about South African psych legends Freedom's Children, which included a interesting tidbit about the use of psychedelic lighting at their live shows. Apparently they'd gotten someone to rig up a primitive strobe light, without realizing the effect it might have on people prone to epileptic seizures... soon they figured that out and put warnings on their show posters, but funnily enough non-epileptics, who just thought it was "cool", would go on and have "seizures" anyway, they'd call it "having a frothy". Crazy hippies!
A few other articles of note: there's a fascinating piece entitled "Everything You Know About 'Louie Louie' Is Wrong" (by Bruce Duff -- is he the Jesters Of Destiny Bruce Duff we wonder?).... And perhaps the most bizarre and interesting investigation this issue, is the article about the sneaky "karaoke rock" of Steve Kaczorowski, a possibly delusional wanna be rock star from Long Island who released several now-collectable records of himself singing OVER other people's music, totally uncredited... you got to read it to believe it. Of course, there's also the usual informative and entertaining pages and pages and pages of music, dvd, and book reviews, among which you'll find Johan Kugelberg's offering: "Times Ain't Like They Used To Be: Good Records That Came Out During The Suck Years", delving into some personal faves from 1983-1997. Ok, gotta stop flipping through this and get on with my other reviews, though I don't want to...

UGLY THINGS Issue #27 Summer / Fall 2008 magazine 8.95
It's baaack! Another mammoth (216 pages!) issue of one of our favorite magazines, all about "wild sounds from past dimensions" as they put it - garage, beat, psych, punk, etc. Now, a lot of you reading this probably have some idea of what it's like to be a musician in a band today. You're in a band, or were in a band, or have friends who are in bands. But not so many of you probably know what it was like to be in a band back in, say, 1964. Sure in 2008 we have garage bands - and GarageBand too - but things were different back then. Let's see, the band you were in, did you have a manager, and were they your drummer's mom? That's part of what makes Ugly Things so interesting, the way it delves into what might be termed the "human interest" or "behind the music" stories of bands that otherwise you haven't heard, and in some cases, will never ever hear. For instance, the 30+ pages devoted this ish to a teenage surf/R&B combo from Orange County called The Spats. Remember them? And their bottom of the Billboard Top 100 hit "Gator Tails and Monkey Ribs"? No, well us neither of course, but we still enjoyed reading their detailed history here, which included regular gigging at Disneyland, and some tantalizing brushes with fame.
And of course Ugly Things isn't all about things quite that obscure - The Who and The Small Faces are also featured in this issue, with an article detailing the story of their tempestuous tour Down Under in '68. Also you get stuff about The Animals, The Koala, Beatles manager Brian Epstein, Bo Diddley (R.I.P.), Chile's Los Vidrios Quebrados, "Beat Girl" actress/singer Gillian Hills, '70s punks The Victims... There's also a glam rock/junk shop top 50 from Johan Kugelberg (as always with his contributions, a highlight of the issue), a psych top 10 from Clinic's Ade Blackburn, and the usual gizillions of reviews. Plus loads more. This will keep you busy reading for a while, though maybe not 'til the next issue is due out, in early 2009, which we're looking forward to already.

UGLY THINGS Issue #28 Winter / Spring 2009 magazine 8.95
Why oh why does it seem when a new issue of this this fantastic, biannual magazine finally shows up, it's always, like, the day before we're doing a list? (Though that's better than the day after, of course.) 'Cause all we want to do is sit and read it for hours and hours, but instead we've got to write reviews instead. But, since we need a review of it too, at least there's an excuse to spend *some* time flipping through it today rather than doing other work... Ugly Things #28 is again a monster-sized (208 pages!!) installment, everything within its colorful glossy covers fully devoted to "wild sounds from past dimensions", i.e. garage, punk, psych, power pop, freakbeat, and even some prog and proto-metal, circa the '60s and '70s for the most part. There's some not-so-obscure acts covered here (with big features on The Move and The Dave Clark Five this issue, for instance) but also some bands that absolutely couldn't be any more obscure, who barely released a single 7". Some (just some) of the other bands covered in depth this ish include: The New Dawn, Roky Erickson's The Spades, The Good Feelins, Daughters Of Eve, and The Dandy Girls (an all-girl group from Norway who toured South East Asia in the late '60s!). Like we said, we haven't had time to read the whole thing yet - but we will!
So far, a few of the pieces that have caught our attention include an article about Stooges-worshipping French psychedelic punks Angel Face, an interview with shoulda been huge (or at least properly reissued) NYC one album wonders Hackamore Brick (who are back together!), a feature on "50 Reasons Not To Hate The Synthesizer" (citing everything from the Silver Apples to the Normal to, much to the writer's surprise, Uriah Heep), and a special section all about the seminal DIY fanzines of the past, including interviews with V. Vale (Search & Destroy 'zine) and Claude Bessy (Slash 'zine). Plus all the usual stuff, of course - TONS of super-knowledgable reviews, entertaining rants, intriguing ads, and few eulogies for folks (like Ron Asheton and Pretty Things manager Bryan Morrison) who've sadly passed away since the last issue went to press.
In Mike Stax's editorial, he waxes rhapsodic about some of the old school fanzines he grew up with, such as Kicks, Who Put The Bomp, Gorilla Beat, and Bam Balam, writing about how much they stoked his enthusiasm for old and underground music with information he couldn't get anywhere else, clueing him in to the existence of so many amazing, obscure records and bands, and subsequently inspired him to do Ugly Things. Well, we hope Mr. Stax really realizes that his Ugly Things itself is now just as inspirational and important of a 'zine, as far as we're concerned!

UGLY THINGS Issue #29 Winter 2009 magazine 8.95
The best thing about Ugly Things' rather irregular twice-yearly schedule is that it's always a pleasant surprise when the latest issue of this magazine of "wild sounds from past dimensions" suddenly shows up here! And, somehow, it's always a day or two before "list day" so we can't totally kick back and spend as much time reading it right away as we'd like, 'cause there's work to do. And we do mean we'd need to spend time, lots of time, it's a big ol' magazine (224 pages this ish) packed to the gills with text and vintage photos.
However, since our list-work IS to review New Arrivals, and since this Ugly Things is a New Arrival, we WILL take a moment now to leaf through it... ah, maybe sit back a bit, put the feet up, settle in... whoops, better be careful, hours and hours of "lost productivity" will go by as we read about cover stars The Masters Apprentices ('60s Australian psych-pop sensations we know better in their later proto-metal mode). That article is 27 pages and it's only part 1, another of editor Mike Stax's multipart epics, to be continued next issue! Then there's several eulogies to the late Sky Sunlight Saxon of The Seeds (who passed away the same day as Michael Jackson, who gets mentioned here in Ugly Things for probably one of the only times ever on account of that). And the usual slew of obscure groups are dug up and examined, in depth - this time 'round, The Fenmen ('60s UK harmonizers with Pretty Things connections), The Reactor ('70s Mexican-American Inland Empire punk), The Nomadds ('60s Midwestern garage rockers), The Bittersweet (all girl garage from Ohio in the '60s), The Wildflower (mystical ballroom era SF "lost band"), Dentist (late '70s French punkers), and PLENTY MORE. As usual, we most often find the stories told quite fascinating, even when we've never heard a note of a band's music, nonetheless entire long gone music scenes open themselves up to the imagination, the world as it once was, somewhere, elsewhere, underground, rockin' out.
Leafing through (ok, we'll stop in a second and get back to work) it's easy to come across any number of treats, from the reprinted super-harsh one line putdown album reviews from '70s fanzine Future (a sample: "Foghat - Night Shift - The title of this LP should not include the 'F' in shift"), to the piece about recently rediscovered proto-punks the Imperial Dogs (look 'em up on YouTube!!!), to fanzine editor Phil Milstein's tale of trying to release a Nico bootleg some 30 years ago, a difficult saga which somehow manages to involve both his mom and Penn of Penn & Teller fame, as well as Nico herself of course. If we keep reading we'd find more to mention, haven't even delved into the pages and pages and pages of reviews yet, but we have other reviews of our own to write, so we'll reluctantly set aside our copy of UT#29 to pick it up again after our remaining list-duties are completed. Ah, yes, recommended. A magazine by music obsessives, for music obsessives, of almost any nostalgical variety.

UGLY THINGS MAGAZINE Issue #26 Winter / Spring 2008 magazine 7.95
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Egads. As usual, our favorite magazine (a thick as a brick magazine, 224 packed pages, more like a tome!) shows up on a "list week" when we're too busy writing our reviews to do what we WANT to do, which is curl up with this new issue and enjoy all of their reviews, interviews, articles, and whatnot. That's what we'll be doing Saturday for sure, this rainy weather is perfect for that. Giving it a skim (and tearing ourselves away from it to get back to work), we can tell you that this ish is, as usual, full of good stuff pertaining to garage, psych, punk, freakbeat, acid folk, and other "wild sounds from past dimensions" as it says on the cover. Some of the contents include a 1988 interview with the late Rob Tyner, singer for the legendary MC5, a history of UK folksters Trees, an extensive, informative piece on the amazing '60s Norwegian scene, another about Napa Valley's, interviews and essays about the likes of The Sons Of Adam, The Pop Rivets, Jeff Simmons, Fire, Cedars, and as always a Pretty Things update. And, unbelievably, much more. Notably, Chris Stigliano shoves Julian Cope aside to present a "Beginner's Guide To Les Rallizes Denudes". And the 13 pages devoted to Johan Kugelberg's expert fan feature on "Punk Before Punk" is probably worth the price of admission alone, looking forward to delving into that one!
Plus of course there's dozens upon dozens of reviews of reissues...and ads and playlists and columns and rants and (sadly) obits and so much much much more, as we keep sayin'. Recommended if you have any interest in the cool, cult, collectable music of yesteryear. And copious free time to spend readin' about it!

UI 2-Sided EP/The Sharpie (1993-1995) (Southern) cd 12.98
Two releases, originally UK imports on Hemiola and Soul Static Sound, finally available on cd at a domestic price. American instrumental trio fans of Tortoise will dig. And hey, Stereolab likes them, see next review.

UI Answers (Southern) cd 14.98
Nearly a decade ago, Sasha Frere-Jones began what has amounted to a prolific career as a music critic for The Village Voice and The Wire, often providing insight into the slippery logic of the groove whether that be about his childhood love of Liquid Liquid and ESG or recent musings on the newest Missy Elliott record. During this time, Frere-Jones has been actualizing his own boogie machine with the sporadically active Ui, which centers on Frere-Jones playing bass alongside percussionist Clem Waldmann and a supporting cast of multi-instrumentalists. "Answers" is just Ui's third album, and is a far cry from the current strain of mutant disco from bands like The Rapture or Tussle which boast a similiar lineage dating back to the golden era of Arthur Baker productions and Gang of Four punked out grooviness. No, Ui would never be caught wearing hotpants or delving into the facile behavior of Fischerspooner; rather, Ui's take on the groove is based upon complexity and willfull angularity, paralleling much of the organic composition found on Tortoise's "Millions Now Living Will Never Die," any of the Minutemen's albums, and the perpetually obscure prog-punk band the Embarrassment. "Answers" is a series of intellectual explorations of the interplay between two basses, drums, and a number of quirky flourishes which counterpoint the mathematically challenging times and herky-jerky chord progressions. This is a solid recapitulation of where post-rock might have gone, if it didn't devolve into banal jazz-fusion pretense.
MPEG Stream: "Get Hot, You Bum!"
MPEG Stream: "Elettrodomestici"

UI Answers (Southern) 2lp 14.98
Nearly a decade ago, Sasha Frere-Jones began what has amounted to a prolific career as a music critic for The Village Voice and The Wire, often providing insight into the slippery logic of the groove whether that be about his childhood love of Liquid Liquid and ESG or recent musings on the newest Missy Elliott record. During this time, Frere-Jones has been actualizing his own boogie machine with the sporadically active Ui, which centers on Frere-Jones playing bass alongside percussionist Clem Waldmann and a supporting cast of multi-instrumentalists. "Answers" is just Ui's third album, and is a far cry from the current strain of mutant disco from bands like The Rapture or Tussle which boast a similiar lineage dating back to the golden era of Arthur Baker productions and Gang of Four punked out grooviness. No, Ui would never be caught wearing hotpants or delving into the facile behavior of Fischerspooner; rather, Ui's take on the groove is based upon complexity and willfull angularity, paralleling much of the organic composition found on Tortoise's "Millions Now Living Will Never Die," any of the Minutemen's albums, and the perpetually obscure prog-punk band the Embarrassment. "Answers" is a series of intellectual explorations of the interplay between two basses, drums, and a number of quirky flourishes which counterpoint the mathematically challenging times and herky-jerky chord progressions. This is a solid recapitulation of where post-rock might have gone, if it didn't devolve into banal jazz-fusion pretense.

UI Lifelike (Southern) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Some will claim that instrumental trio UI is doing the funky tortoise, but we know this is their best album to date, the heavy bass and melodic lines finally coming together for a fleshed out, confident record. Fans of the UILAB ep will like this a lot.

UI Lifelike (Southern) lp 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Some will claim that instrumental trio UI is doing the funky tortoise, but we know this is their best album to date, the heavy bass and melodic lines finally coming together for a fleshed out, confident record. Fans of the UILAB ep will like this a lot.

UI Sidelong (Southern) cd 12.98
New York trio's long-anticipated full-length is finally out; too bad they chose to package the cd in one of those paper sleeves that doesn't even qualify as cardboard and will thus assuredly fall apart next week. Often described as "prog-Tortoise."

UI Sidelong (Southern) lp 10.98
New York trio's long-anticipated full-length is finally out; too bad they chose to package the cd in one of those paper sleeves that doesn't even qualify as cardboard and will thus assuredly fall apart next week. Often described as "prog-Tortoise."

UILAB Fires (Bingo/Duophonic) cdep 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
6 tracks chronicling a year-long collaboration between Ui and Stereolab, featuring 4 (yes four) version of Brian Eno's "St. Elmo's Fire" and one track ("Impulse Rah!") whose writing credit goes to the 2 bands plus Sun Ra. This is very pleasant record -- the music is closer to Ui's sound, yet the presence of Stereolab seems to have been a good anchor for the group, and Laetitia and Mary's vocals mix wonderfully with Sasha Frere-Jones' voice. The 10" vinyl for this is on its way, should appear next week, and is extremely limited (you know Duophonic) so please reserve your copy. The cds should be around for a while.

UJAKU issue #7 magazine 3.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We recently discovered this excellent 'zine from Australia, which has as its focus experimental music from that country/continent (such as the minimal electronicism of Pimmon and Minit, who are two of the better-known names here, at least to us). Part of the beauty of this 'zine is how it serves as an introduction to a interesting scene that you probably haven't heard much about if you live in this hemisphere. Also, there's a healthy review section covering not only Aussie artists but all kinds of other international AQ-approved things from the Melvins to Sensational, from Schoolly D to Mouse on Mars, all well written and individual. You'll also notice some seemingly incongrous coverage of stuff in the metal realm (there's reviews of Immortal and Peccatum, and pics of metal-oriented graffiti!), demonstrating a broadminded taste in all forms of extreme and unusual music, something that we always applaud here at Aquarius.

UKE OF SPACES CORNERS COUNTY So Far On The Way (Corleone) cd 10.98
By now you probably realize, that it's easy to win us over with the right band name, at least initially. Fuck I'm Dead, Bathtub Shitter, Throne Of Blood... Tempting and tantalizingly teasing us with whatever weirdness may lurk inside. Often, it stops at the band name, as if in a single burst of creativity, the band came up with THE NAME, and then were forced to soldier on with the whole job of writing songs and recording a record, made even more difficult by the completely drained reservoir of creative juices.
So as always, we were immediately tickled by Uke Of Spaces Corners County, but then entered with a certain amount off trepidation, having been burned before. Thankfully, So Far On The Way was anything but a disappointment, in fact, if anything, not only did it manage to not disappoint, it also didn't sound anything like we expected.
It's on Corleone to begin with, home of Landed, The Body, Throne Of Blood, Mindflayer and plenty of soundfuckers, so we were sort of expecting something, noisy maybe, and there's the band name, but instead, UOSCC are some sort of folk music, damaged and what-the-fuck enough to seem right at home on Corleone, but undoubtedly folk music, of the freaked out, stumbling and strange weirdo outsider stripe that we dig so much.
The opener, "Dead Pens", is downright gorgeous, minor key distorted main riff, the vocals plaintive and emotional, lyrics appropriately bizarre and random, the track a convoluted crawl, peppered with sound FX and finishing off with a haphazard choir of back up vocalists. But for all its weirdness and musical damage, it's totally beautiful, like Bright Eyes on some brain melting cocktail of Thorazine and peyote...
Things continue on in the same druggy musical haze, on the verge of falling apart, but without losing any emotion or becoming any less catchy. From the distorted beat driven folky strum jam of "Today The Mirror", with it's strange staccato break down, and awesome juxtaposition of damaged drum machine sounding beat and steel string riff. To the hiss drenched Appalachia of "This Old World", an old timey classic transported direct from some Southern homestead in the thirties, to some broken 4-track in a musty old warehouse in New Orleans today. And like all the tracks, it's the vocals again, tying it all together, soaring and crooning, sometime slipping into a haunting and wavering falsetto, cracking here and there, but always weaving a mysterious and powerful spell.
In some ways it reminds us of a less Brit obsessed Strapping Fieldhands, a lo-fi bedroom folk, strangely lush for all it's lo-fi-ness, and filtered through classic back porch twang, spacy reverb drenched drone guitar, sweet major key melodies, and of course random streaks and squalls of psychedelic noise, angular guitar scrape, splatters of percussion and random other bits of sonic detritus.
Something even freakier than all that freak folk, original, heartfelt, ramshackle, and so goddamn good.
MPEG Stream: "Dead Pens"
MPEG Stream: "Today The Mirror"

ULAAN KHOL I (Soft Abuse) cd 14.98
By now, we should be able to safely assume that most AQ list-readers know who Steven R. Smith is. Not only that, but we know a lot of you are in fact big S.R.S. fans, of his solo projects under his own name and as Hala Strana, as well as for his participation in such outfits as Mirza and Jewelled Antler flagship Thuja. Certainly this should be the case after the last few S.R.S. releases. First there was his Owl album that came out a month or two ago, with his first ever vocal performance to go along with his lovely psych-drone guitar. Then two lists ago we had the cd reissue of his Anchorite album, which we made Record Of The Week in fact. And now there's Ulaan Khol. On it you can almost imagine that Steven has donned the black shades and leather jacket of the Tokyo psych underground scene, as this sounds like something that LSD-march, Up-Tight or even Keiji Haino himself might conjure. Acid Mothers Temple's Kawabata Makoto too. But even then, it probably wouldn't be this cosmic and bleakly beautiful.
Suitably majestic sounding, as part of a proposed three album trilogy, Ulaan Khol I consists of nine untitled, instrumental tracks made with guitar and organ. It's a spacious drift of big fuzzy distortion and fragile drone bliss... utterly entrancing. The sort of thing that you just want to keep going, and going... well thank god there's another two volumes of Ulaan Khol yet to come! Recommended.
MPEG Stream: "track 3"
MPEG Stream: "track 9"

ULAAN KHOL II (Soft Abuse) cd 14.98
It may be odd to single out one component of a series for Record Of The Week, especially when it's the second of a proposed three record trilogy. It's not that we didn't love the first installment, we did very much! And it's not like the Academy Awards where we're belatedly acknowledging the first installment by rewarding the second. It might be just that we didn't realize at the time the magnificent depth and far reaching direction in which Steven R. Smith would take his latest project. And as we have heaped tons of praise on his past work, we wanted to single out this project and particularly this installment as something utterly amazing and wholly breathtaking.
Despite the tons of killer music that goes in and out of the aQ doors, it's not everyday we get an album that really lifts us out of our seats and straight into an alternate dimension. The latest release under the Ulaan Khol moniker is a celestial trip into desolate plains where the water rises and the skies are ripped open.
A prominent member of the Jeweled Antler family, Steven R. Smith has been seriously influential in defining the California psych/drone sound for over a decade. We've mentioned it in plenty of reviews, so folks gotta be by now pretty aware of Smith's extensive discography, ranging from countless solo records to his releases as the Eastern European-tinged Hala Strana or with the famed JA flagship act Thuja.
The first Ulaan Khol record, though made up of nine untitled tracks, felt like one spacious drifting piece of big fuzzy distortion and fragile drone bliss. Something like the gorgeous feedback-laden free music of Les Rallizes Denudes or others from the Japanese Underground scene. We loved it a lot, but didn't go into extensive detail about it, probably because we had also just reviewed his Owl record (released under his own name) around the same time.
On II, we hear a lot more range. There are still the big swaths of massively distorted psych heaviness, but the eight untitled tracks feel more distinct and structured. Some tracks have faster Spacemen 3-like tempos and fuller driving progressions with pummeling drums mired way deep in the mix, while others feature more calm, drifty drones made up of intimate guitar, electric violin and organ passages that conjure up gorgeous swells of luminous sound. The pieces are more varied and layered, dense yet melodic and at times more rock-ish. The majestic guitar radiance Smith manages to create is not unlike the solo work of Kawabata Makoto or Tom Carter, but here we also hear shades of Roy Montgomery, Flying Saucer Attack and even Asa Osbourne from Zomes and Lungfish (Zomes being a recent Record Of The Week too).
As with the first disc, there are no liner notes, just an abstract painted cover, this time in bleak blue-grey winter tones. And inside the sleeve is an awesome painting of a lamp-holding monk (perhaps the same skull contemplating monk from the first disc) at the mouth of a giant cave! Yes!
MPEG Stream: "Untitled 1"
MPEG Stream: "Untitled 3"
MPEG Stream: "Untitled 4"

ULAN BATOR D-construction (Les Disques du Soleil et de l'Acier) cd 12.98
This French post-rock band remixed by an all-star cast of characters: Japanese turntablist Otomo Yoshihide, the ubiquitous electronica fella Scanner, French turntablist Erik M and local computer music maven Carl Stone (our favorite mix here), each revising using his respective set of tools. The result: post-post-rock, all hacked and chopped and stuttery. Really quite nice.

ULAN BATOR Ego : Echo (Young God) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
"Ego : Echo" is certainly one of the mightiest, ahem, 'post-rock' records of the year, simply because every other post-rock band has unfortunately followed the Thrill Jockey (Tortoise, Isotope) path to jazz fusion. Ulan Bator is a French trio who employed the talents of the Swans' Michael Gira to produce this, their latest album. Gira -- who also released this through his Young God label -- makes his presence known with a majestic yet depressed sound that permeates the strangled grooves of Ulan Bator. If you take both the mellowest and most thunderous extremes of the best Mogwai and filter it through Circle's patented rhythm hypnosis and the Swans' bleakness, and factor in the Frenchness aspect, you'll get close to what Ulan Bator sounds like. Pretty great. Their previous records didn't get much notice over here in the States, but perhaps things will change with this release. And you might also recall seeing a favorable review of their recent remixes disc on AQ-L #97 -- if you were wondering just what this band was that Carl Stone, Otomo Yoshihide, et.al. were messing with, then "Ego : Echo" is the thing to check out.
RealAudio clip: "Hemisphere"

ULAN BATOR Nouvel Air (Les Disques du Soleil et de l'Acier) cd 14.98
Ulan Bator's previous album Ego: Echo was released over here on Michael Gira's Young God label in 2000, and we liked it quite a bit ("one of the mightiest, ahem, 'post-rock' records of the year"). Well turns out that UB made a new album just last year, 2003, but being an import-only item from their home country of France we've only just discovered it. And instead of having Gira at the helm, they've enlisted the help of another '80s alt-rock artist, Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins, to mix and master Nouvel Air. Dunno if it's his influence or what, but this new UB has got to be their most 'pop' album yet. Smooth, mellow and melodic French language indie rock, really quite lovely but not immediately encouraging the comparisons to Mogwai and Circle we applied to Ego: Echo's weighty grooves. Languid, sad, romantic...sure it's less post- and more pop, but it's hard to argue with how pretty this is! UB just have a more subtle majesty than before.
MPEG Stream: "Nouvel Air"
MPEG Stream: "Solide Ete"

ULAN BATOR Vegetale (Les Disques du Soleil et de l'Acier) cd 16.98
U.B.'s second album of Tortoise/Sonic Youth/krautrock stylin's, as featured in the recent Wire magazine article on French post-rock bands.

ULMER, JAMES BLOOD Harmolodic Guitar With Strings (DIW) cd 18.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Yes, the harmolodic electric guitar of Ulmer combined with the violins, violas and cellos of the Quartette Indigo. Quite lovely. Includes a version of Ulmer's "Theme From Captain Black". On the Japanese jazz label DIW.

ULTIMATE FAKEBOOK Open Up And Say Awesome (Initial Records) cd 14.98
Initial has been heading toward Vagrant territory putting out way more pop than punk lately. But who are we to complain. Especially if it means we get records this good. Super produced, kick ass, totally catchy power pop. Haven't dug a straight up pop record this much since the last Get Up kids record or since we discovered The Stereo. Think midwest emo, blossoming into gorgeous four chord pop punk, but not pop punk like Green Day/Blink 182, but punky pop like Weezer or the Posies or any of the Vagrant bands (GUK, the Anniversary). Huge guitars, hooky melodies, scratchy Elvis Costello-ish vocals, and a great production. For anyone in need of a fresh dose of pop, this will definitely hit the spot.
RealAudio clip: "Wrestling Leap Year"
RealAudio clip: "The Scheme To Listen No More"

ULTRA Big Time (Our Turn) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We brought this in cos folks can't seem to get enough of Dr. Octagon album, which despite being somewhat impossible to find outside of the Bay Area, has turned out to be one of our biggest sellers of 1996. That self-titled record is still available from us (12.98 cd or 2xlp -- cover art by Pushead!), but if you've already got that AND the instrumental version of the record (brilliantly manipulated by the Automator), then you may want to check out this collaboration between Octagon rapper Kool Keith with Tim Dogg. Over more conventional hip hop beats, the rapping is just as deft, biting and funny as the Doc Oc record.

ULTRA s/t (Monster) cd 12.98
Thin Lizzy meets ZZ Top, basically. Ultra was a mid-'70s quartet of hard rockin' Texans featuring a twin lead guitar attack through some big ass Marshall stacks. Like a lot of Monster Records' other '70s re-discoveries (Truth & Janey, Winterhawk) Ultra's brand of music was killed off by the disco and punk trends of their era. They broke up in '78, but not before releasing 100 copies of a 5-song promo-only LP that you'll find on this cd, augmented by 11 additional, unreleased studio recordings of the same vintage. Ultra's guitars are awesome, Lizzy fans will agree, but we must warn you that vocalist Don Evan's bluesy good-ole-boy stylings may be a stumbling block for some. Ultra certainly is some good dumb fun though, cowbell-knockin', hot rockin' Texas style.
RealAudio clip: "Mutants"

ULTRA LIVING Transgression (After Hours / Bubblecore) cd 14.98
Weird Japanese indie pop/electronica/jazz group, described as some impossible combination of salsa, beats, and Zappa, or something like that. Their brand of willful eclecticism is of the very brave (foolish?) variety, where they don't so much fuse genres as skip among them from track to track, making this sound almost more like a compilation than a band. For instance, track four is an interpretation of Ornette Coleman's "Skies of America", with saxophones a-plenty, but by track six we're experiencing a hip hop song featuring guest MC Mike Ladd. Other guests and musical approaches are introduced over the course of the album, but at least one unifying factor is the recurrence of saxophones, and another is the recurring vocals of Kyoko Brown, who manages to come as close as a Japanese (-American?) woman can to sounding like Mike Patton, appropriate since I'd imagine that Mr. Bungle fans looking for something in the electronica vein would go for this... Interesting!

ULTRA MILKMAIDS Mort Aux Vaches (Staalplaat) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
After several releases for the labels run by Telepherique and Troum/Maeror Tri (Drone Records), Ultra Milkmaids was commissioned by VPRO radio in Holland to broadcast their isolationist drones redolent of Main or Rafael Toral with odd electronica bits of processed field recordings that end up sounding like a slow and sparse Matmos. Very nice and very limited.

ULTRA MILKMAIDS Oldies Vol. 1 (Manifold) cd 14.98

ULTRA MILKMAIDS Peps (Whole) cd 16.98
I've always wanted to give Ultra Milkmaids the benefit of the doubt. They've started out on the wrong foot by acquiring such a horrible name, but like Terminal Cheesecake, have been able to transcend their crappy moniker. Their contribution to the Drone Records singles series was a beautiful cascading guitar drone rippling with subtle melodies. I wish I could say the same for "Peps," but honestly I can't. Ultra Milkmaids has joined the increasing exodus of post-industrialists to the powerbook set (another example Mikael Stavostrand). This is Oval without the detail. Then a questionably used lounge sax solo adds that lost detail. Hmmm... But, that aside, much of this is quite lovely, just nothing super new.

ULTRA RED Plan de Austeridad - BBC Remixes (Beta Bodega) 12" 8.98

ULTRABUNNY Outer Bounds Of Sound (Noiseville) lp 17.98
The latest in Noiseville's Outer Bounds Of Sound series (past installments have come from Wicked King Wicker, Burnt Hills, Kleistwahr) comes from Ultrabunny, aka the trio that was borne from the demise of legendary noiserock freaks the Bunnybrains.
Ultrabunny are heavy and minimal, repetitive and super rocking, a bit like a krautrock Harry Pussy, after a slow build, the band lock into a super repetetive single riff groove, solid and mesmerizing, the sort of sound you wouldn't mind filling up the entire side, soon the vocals come in, a feral caterwaul, the band lurching and pummeling, a sort of looped sounding drug rock, that pounds away, those cracks in your skull slowly spiderwebbing, your grey matter dribbling from your ears.
All the tracks here were improvised and recorded live, most are a single riff, maybe two if you're lucky, the vocals yelp and howl, sometimes moan, on one track they just sort of hold a single note, adding another layer of drone to the proceedings, it might be a guitar too, but either way, the track just churns and pounds, the various elements subtly shifting and tangling, creating a sound that seems slightly warped, as if some greater power was holding his finger down on the band, as if they were a record, altering the speed, making everything seems woozy and melty and tripped out and WAY psychedelic.
The B-side is a lot heavier and more distorted, wild and on the verge of collapse, channeling some of that classic Japanese psych noise, but still filtered through a cracked lo-fi dirt rock vibe.
Killer noise drenched spaced out psychedelic hypnorock, which tells you all you need to know, us, we're digging this big time, especially the B-side.
LIMITED TO 300 COPIES!!!

ULTRALYD Chromosome Gun (Load) cd 14.98
Noisy jazz skronk from Noxagt members, on Load.

ULTRALYD Conditions For A Piece Of Music (Rune Grammofon) cd 16.98
New on Rune Grammofon, the latest relaxed blast of atmospheric instrumental improv from Ultralyd, the Norwegian extreme "jazz" outfit that features folks from Load label noiserockers Noxagt (old AQ pal, bassist Kjetil Brandsdal) and Rune G electronic spazzcore duo Moha! (guitarist Anders Hana and drummer Morten J. Olsen). The quartet is rounded out by another Kjetil, last name Moster, on saxophones. Together they stir up some trouble in the vein of countrymen Supersilent, Shining, and Jagga Jazzist, filtered through several spins of John Zorn's Morricone tribute The Big Gundown, perhaps. Ultralyd swing haunting cinematic soundscapes packed with percolating grooves and eerie drones, tense guitar skree and jaunty horn tootin'. We like.
MPEG Stream: "Saprochord"
MPEG Stream: "Comphonie V"
MPEG Stream: "Musica Imperativa"

ULTRALYD Improv (FMR) cd 14.98
Noxagt-connected Norwegian skronk jazz band!!

ULTRAMAGNETIC MC'S Four Horsemen (Wild Pitch) cd 15.98

ULTRAMAGNETIC MCS B Sides (Next Plateau) cd 15.98
Great remixes, including some '97 versions incorporating relatively new skool Dr. Octagon samples into old skool UMC favorites.

ULTRAMAGNETIC MCS B Sides (Next Plateau) lp 8.98
Great remixes, including some '97 versions incorporating relatively new skool Dr. Octagon samples into old skool UMC favorites.

ULTRAVIOLET MAKES ME SICK Soundproof (Camera Obscura) cd 15.98
Three adorable Italian boys playing mellow instrumental post-rock. Lots of soaring guitars in the background, with anguished minor key figerpicking up front. More about creating a real mood than about verse-chorus-verse, y'know. Not as loud as Mogwai, not as quiet as Sonna, but drawing from both of those band's vibes. Unremarkable but quite pleasant. It'll be interesting to hear future material when they truly find their own sound.
RealAudio clip: "Faye"

ULVER 1993-2003: 1st Decade In The Machines (Jester) cd 14.98
Lupine Norwegian tricksters Ulver have been around for 10 years now, and mark the occasion with this invitational remix album, something very appropriate for a group whose whole career has been about morphing and reinventing themselves, remaining weirdo outsiders in whatever genre they visit. A decade ago they started out (and still have some residual allegiance to) the Nordic black metal genre, but today we're not sure what genre they claim, certainly it's not metal anymore. Glitchy electronica and downtempo beats took over from buzzing guitars and blast beats, but there's a definite connection between the two as this project proves.
Remixers include Ulver themselves (whose track goes way back to their Vargnatt demo tape from '93 for source material) and an international cast of experimentalists: Merzbow, Fennesz, Stars Of The Lid, Neotropic, Bogdan Raczynski, Third Eye Foundation, Information, Upland, Pita, V/Vm, Jazzkammer and a few others. An impressive and unusual line-up, certainly not entirely what we expected. Some do drones, some delve into beat-scapes, while others go for the raw black stuff, such as Merzbow (of course) whose ten-minute "Vow me Ibrzu" is one of the highlights, being a properly scary and noisy trawl through the evil riffage of Ulver's metallic past. Quite a few of the mixes are drawn from Ulver's more recent electronica efforts (Perdition City, the Silence eps, and the Lycantropen Themes soundtrack), but not all -- early stuff from Ulver's classic lycanthropian "Trilogie" of black metal albums (Bergtatt and Nattens Madrigal specifically) makes it on here as well. Several more mixes derive from Ulver's industrial version of William Blake's Marriage of Heaven and Hell, the double cd that was an early signpost of Ulver's willingness to violate genre norms and musical categorization. Like it says here, wolves evolve...
MPEG Stream: FENNESZ "Only The Poor Have To Travel"
MPEG Stream: UPLAND "Lost In Moments Remix"
MPEG Stream: MERZBOW "Vow me Ibrzu"

ULVER A Quick Fix Of Melancholy (Viva Hate) 10" 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now available on vinyl for a limited time, this strange little moody ep From Norwegian horde Ulver, no black metal here though, this is later, the ambient electronic mysterious side of the band that created the grim blackbuzz classic Nattens Madrigal.
Red vinyl, printed inner sleeve. And of course super limited...
The title doesn't lie. This 2003 transmission from those Norwegian eccentrics Ulver consists of but four songs, a sampling of gothic glitch rock, the sad-synth-symphonic soundtrack to a ghost story left to you to imagine. The melodies and electronic beats give little clue to Ulver's origins as a vulpine black metal band, although the final track is in fact a rearrangement of a piece from their 1996 Kveldssanger opus, and makes an ominous, distortion-filled ending to the ep without altering the mood already set by the chamber strings and doleful male singing of the previous three tracks. With this ep, Ulver continue their ectoplasmic existence as a restless spirit that filters through many musical bodies, fully possessing none but leaving weird nightmares behind...
MPEG Stream: "Little Blue Bird"
MPEG Stream: "Eitttlane"

ULVER A Quick Fix Of Melancholy EP (Jester) cd 10.98
The title doesn't lie. This latest transmission from those Norwegian eccentrics Ulver consists of but four songs, a sampling of gothic glitch rock, the sad-synth-symphonic soundtrack to a ghost story left to you to imagine. The melodies and electronic beats give little clue to Ulver's origins as a vulpine black metal band, although the final track is in fact a rearrangement of a piece from their 1996 Kveldssanger opus, and makes an ominous, distortion-filled ending to the ep without altering the mood already set by the chamber strings and doleful male singing of the previous three tracks. With this ep, Ulver continue their ectoplasmic existence as a restless spirit that filters through many musical bodies, fully possessing none but leaving weird nightmares behind...
MPEG Stream: "Little Blue Bird"
MPEG Stream: "Eitttlane"

ULVER Blood Inside (The End) cd 13.98
Ulver. Once one of Norway's black metal, Viking wolfpacks. Worshipping at the dark throne of, ah, Darkthrone. But those days are long past... Ulver have evolved. You know this. Electronica. Techno. Goth. Post-rock. Soundtracks. Pop. Drone. All these things, good things...but no longer black metal. If you've followed the chameleons known as Ulver this far, and you've liked *everything* they've done, then you're gonna like Blood Inside too. But if you've had your doubts, then maybe this is gonna be the toughest one to swallow yet (despite what we heard pre-release about how "heavy" it was gonna be). 'Cause now they kinda sound like Tears For Fears. Tears For Fears at the circus.
Ok, it's not all like that. But there is a lot of singing. And gently gloomy pop atmospheres, and filmic orchestration, and weird progginess, and yes, some heaviness. Maybe later we'll realize this is Ulver's Faith No More's Angel Dust. However, one track features what sounds like an unanswered cell-phone ringing...and ringing. Who needs that on a cd??
Sorry, at first blush we're just not feeling it. Yet maybe Ulver have evolved beyond us. We'll give 'em the benefit of the doubt. But, we can definitely say that if you gave up at their last true studio-recorded full-length album before this one, Perdition City (as did Andee), this won't bring you back. And even if you liked that or subsequent releases like Teachings In Silence (which Allan considers the best post-black metal Ulver) or the A Quick Fix Of Melancholy ep you should check this out but it *might* be too Tears For Fearsy for you nonetheless. Of course, we're sure there's a whole audience for this (Tears For Fears fans?) that have never even heard of Ulver before... but we doubt they're reading this. It's tough. We want to like this. And maybe you will. But the ultimate test had to be, if it didn't say Ulver on it, would we even be listening? The textural glitch improv loveliness of Teachings In Silence definitely passed that test. This, though, well, it might take a few more listens...therein lies the paradox. I guess I'd better take one home just to be on the safe side.
Additional note: this comes enhanced with a video track for your computer.
MPEG Stream: "For The Love Of God"
MPEG Stream: "It Is Not Sound"

ULVER Lyckantropen Themes (Jester) cd 13.98
This latest release from unclassifiable Norwegian electronica experimentalists Ulver (y'know, the not-a-black-metal-band-anymore-so-don't-even-ask Ulver) is a soundtrack to some sort of arty werewolf film (we think, check out the trailer at http://www.lyckantropen.com/trailer.php) by Swedish director Steve Ericsson. Following on in the style of their recent, quite nice "improv-glitch" eps (collected on the Teachings In Silence cd reviewed last list), Ulver's music for Ericsson's film is suitably dark and moody -- and glitchily melodic. Loops and crackle and synth drones, almost entirely instrumental, in a very "modern" electronic vein -- not a bit like Ulver's previous werewolf-themed albums (Nattens Madrigal for instance)! You'll hear no distorted metallic Darkthrone worship here (although things get a little frantic on the disc's tenth and final track). This is informed more by the likes of Tarwater and Autechre and downtempo electronica, and they do it well. Scoring soundtracks may indeed be Ulver's new true calling, though we'd still love it if they'd surprise us again in the future with yet another new direction. As good as this is, they've yet to really be as original or unique in their adopted/adapted "electronica" guise as they were in the realm of black metal.
RealAudio clip: "track 8"
RealAudio clip: "track 10"

ULVER Metamorphosis (Jester) cdep 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The most predicably unpredicable band on the Norwegian black metal scene has to be Ulver. They've made an album of metallic, raw Darkthrone worship, another of pure acoustic folk, and (most recently) even a double cd combining William Blake poetry with industrial beats. Now, with this new four-track ep, they've gone fully techno, Ulver-style, meaning dark, heavy electronica beats with only traces of the old Ulver remaining, mainly in the occasional Viking-opera vocals. Appropriate to this "metamorphosis", the cd tray features the following message from the band: "Ulver is obviously not a black metal band...we are proud of our former instincts, but wish to liken our association with said genre to that of the snake with Eve. An incentive to further frolic only. If this discourages you in any way, please have the courtesy to refrain from voicing superficial remarks regarding our music and/or personae. We are as unknown to you as we always were." Yet another surprising release from this unique band.

ULVER Nattens Madrigal (Century Media) cd 13.98
Strange Norwegian Black Metal band's third album, subtitled "Eight Hymnnes to the Wolf in Man". Unlike their previous record, which was an entirely acoustic folk music, this is an almost all-electric onslaught, recorded in such a (demented?) way as to make the guitars sound like giant bees. The electricity of this record is highlighted also by the way each and every track seemingly stars with the sound of their instruments being plugged in. Utter Darkthrone worship, but better!

ULVER Perdition City (Jester) cd 15.98
Well it's pretty clear that these Norwegian weirdos will never be a "black metal" band again. Following the industrial and techno experimentation of their last two releases comes the new disc, "Perdition City" (pretentiously subtitled "music to an interior film"), and with this album Ulver seem fully committed to their new electronica personae, sounding more like Portishead or Tarwater than anything remotely metal. So, there'll never to be another beautiful acoustic folk masterpiece like "Kveldsangger" or a darker-than-Darkthrone black metal assault like "Nattens Madrigal" from these guys...and it's a pity, 'cause even though this new, noir-ish electronic Ulver effort is OK, it's got nothing on the originality and passion of what they once were. Dark, faux-soundtrack stuff, not bad (except for the truly god-awful vocals that thankfully only occur a couple of times, and the saxophone also gives some of us problems) but why? Several other pioneering black metal bands have successfully incorporated electronic/industrial sounds into their music (Mayhem, Satyricon...) without going entirely over to the other side. If Garm (aka Trickster G) and the other guys in Ulver want to do an atmospheric electronica band, which evidently they do, why keep the Ulver name? All that means is that some Ulver fans (like Andee) will hate this, and some (like Allan) will still add it to their collections out of loyalty and curiosity. But if it WASN'T Ulver, I don't think Andee would hate it so much, OR Allan would buy it...argh. At least this isn't Marylin Manson cheese ala Kovenant... Oh, this includes a cd-rom video clip as well, but it didn't work on our Macs. Ulver fans, make your choice... Ulver: up their own ass with trendy electronica artiness, or post-black metal innovators?

RealAudio clip: "Lost In Moments"
RealAudio clip: "The Future Sound Of Music"

ULVER Shadows Of The Sun (Jester) cd 12.98
The band formerly known as a black metal band Ulver, now known as arty WTF? band Ulver, has morphed and morphed again over the years. Black metal, folk, electronica, pop, techno... some of Ulver's metamorphoses have worked better than others. They've gone through phases influenced by both Portishead and Radiohead. But lately these Norwegian tricksters have seemingly settled down to something stable, an avant-garde, electronica-infused, gloomy pop-prog identity. Their previous album Blood Inside was a bit too Tears For Fearsy for our tastes, unfortunately (though we know lots of folks loved it). Or maybe that would have been ok, but the circus-y bits really lost us. However, Shadows Of The Sun, while charting a similar course, veers mostly to the languid and lovely, which we rather like. The nine tracks here tend to flow together calmly, never breaking the twilight mood. Hints of glitchiness and distortion are interwoven with yearning melody, smooth almost New Agey blissfullness, deep breathy baritone vox. Also, a warning (to some): saxophone. A little. And at this point, needless to say, there's nothing remotely metal about any of it. Well, there is a Black Sabbath cover, but they chose one of the Sabs' most delicate and torpid songs, "Solitude", in keeping with this album's sad mood, Garm's vocals wearier even than were Ozzy's originally, uncheered by the jazz inflections included in Ulver's arrangement. Those who have followed and remained fans of Ulver thus far, though, should find this latest melancholic manifestation quite satisfying. Oh, and considering his following among the AQ crowd, we should note that Christian Fennesz makes a cameo appearance on this record.
MPEG Stream: "Eos"
MPEG Stream: "Let The Children Go"

ULVER Silence Teaches You How To Sing EP (Jester Records) cd ep 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Formerly black metal avantgardists Ulver of Norway present 24 minutes of electonic experimental improv, a slowly-unfolding collage of organic drones and beats and clicks and field recordings and post-rock piano melody etc., that might remind you of everything from Tarwater to Philip Jeck to Fennesz to Mogwai... Quite mellow, dark and beautiful, a soundscape composed, in part, of static-y electro-grime overlaying scratchy vinyl looping with occasional wordless drifting vocals.
The long, lone track on this limited edition ep was constructed from material recorded in a one-night "Dead City Centre jam" last February during the sessions for Ulver's most recent full-length, the love it or hate it "Perdition City". Unlike that album, though, this ep benefits from a lack of horrendous vocal and saxophone contributions! While some of Ulver's past attempts to branch out into non-black metal genres have been, as just alluded to, kinda shaky (if commendable in spirit), this stands up well in the "experimental/electronica" category. Recommended, as possibly Ulver's best post-metal effort.
RealAudio clip: "Silence... (excerpt)"

ULVER Silencing The Singing EP (Jester) cd ep 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Here's another limited edition ep from the impossible to classify Norwegian band Ulver, following up their similarly titled (and similar looking) "Silence Teaches You How To Sing EP" from earlier this year. Again, about a half hour of music, this time broken into three tracks. All are constructed of repetitive melodic and non-melodic loops (some notes on a piano, scratchy vinyl surface noise, what might be far-off voices), gradually joined by electronic blips and beats. The mood is quiet and languid, as are the rhythms, although track three builds into a lovely few final moments of loud distortion.
Ulver of course originally made their name in the black metal scene, with such classic the-forest-is-my-throne-style albums as "Nattens Madrigal" and "Kveldsanger", full of church-burning riffs and wolverine vocals (and acoustic folk music in the case of "Kveldsanger"). And we won't deny that that's some of their best stuff, it is. But since those days they've abandoned black metal and morphed into some sort of odd electronic/experimental band -- and as well, Ulver leader Krystoffer "Garm" Rygg started up the Jester label to release music by all sorts of likeminded (i.e. fucked) Norwegian artists (including When, Bogus Blimp, Esperanza, and of course Ulver).
And while their black metal past isn't overtly evident on this recording, we could suppose that Ulver's earlier appreciation of the grim, lo-fi, trance-like ambience created by their (former) heroes Darkthrone and Mayhem is still a part of Ulver's sound, explaining their music's current immersion in a grimy (if not grim) background of constant crackle and buzzing drones. Well, that and the fact that such sounds are now as hip in experimental/electronica circles as they are cult in metal.
Speaking of cult, the cryptic as always liner notes claim "Ulver do their best to show you the wall in every door". Not sure what that means, exactly, but that statement still seems to sum up their history of willful genre-shifting and puzzling abstraction, of which "Silencing The Singing" is only the most recent, and one of the most enjoyable, examples. Get it while you can. And look forward to Ulver's next project, which is promised to be an Apocalyptica-like orchestral remake of their dirtiest sounding, most mean and metal disc, "Nattens Madrigal"!
RealAudio clip: "Track 1"
RealAudio clip: "Track 3"

ULVER Svidd Neger (Jester) cd 14.98
We're still waiting on the upcoming string quartet version of Ulver's black metal masterpiece Nattens Madrigal, but in the meantime they've released something else new, another soundtrack effort (their second, after last year's Lyckantropen Themes). As with that album, Ulver are in their current manifestation as a dark, avant-electronica act, their Nordic metal past a mere shadow cast over the proceedings. With eerie, tinkling piano and far-off, distant screams, Ulver create sonic echoes of crimes that we'll assume appear on celluloid in Svidd Neger. Melancholic horns and downtempo beats make this a creepy yet club-contemporary sounding listen. And after you're lulled into thinking it's all gonna be quiet and mellow, wham some ominous heavy chords come crashing down, Mogwai-style. Mostly though, this is quiet and creepy, and menacingly melodic.
MPEG Stream: "Wild Cat"
MPEG Stream: "Rock Massif Pt. 1"