VAGUSNERVE Lo Pan (Utech) cd 14.98
This fellow we know recently wrote an entertaining book called Get High Now, no not about drugs, but about other sorts of highs, non-drug related natural techniques to enjoy "sensory trips" and the like. Quite a few of them are sound-based (the book even references Ryoji Ikeda at one point) but in a major oversight, a recommendation to "listen to VagusNerve" was left out! 'Cause it's definitely a trip when you really settle into a session with VagusNerve on the stereo or better yet headphones - likewise of course with a lot of other drone musics too, why do you think we like the stuff so much? Loud enough, it'll either stimulate, or at least simulate, a high.
So, c'mon, get high now with Chinese guitar/laptop duo VagusNerve. Someone calling herself VAVABOND is the laptopper, and Li Jianhong (of D!O!D!O!D!) is the guitar player. We're already considerable fans of Li's solo psych/noise guitar excursions (his disc on aRCHIVE for instance, and a fantastic new one on PSF, Classic Of the Mountains And Seas) so we were excited when we found out he's half of VagusNerve. We were also interested to learn what exactly the lo pan of the title is. As the liner notes explain, it's a traditional Chinese mytho-technological device, a sort of Feng Shui compass. A rotating disc in a wooden base, with several concentric rings of Chinese characters to which the needle in the middle can point, indicating various arcane things.
VagusNerve are not actually using a lo pan to make this music, rather it's inspired by a dream Li had about a giant lo pan in a forest that could be used to summon UFOs! That's pretty much the title of the first track, in fact. And swarming cosmic UFOs looking for mystical feng shui advice definitely could be making some of the sounds heard here. It's nervous, very active drone musick, buzzing and zapping and crackling and chiming, featuring 3 long tracks (8:21, 21:05, 28:27). There's much moody sci-fi windiness, and what sounds like flocks of otherworldly birds crying to one another, amidst thick grinding whooshing sizzling drones, spinning and swirling. Feedback a la underwater whale calls, resonant "long wire" like vibrations, insectoid buzzings, and mechanical rhythms all feature in the the mix. It's a sonic delirium, wherein Urthona is jamming opaquely with KK Null, if that hypothetical comparison is of any help to you.
Definitely another cool Utech release, a label we've been raving about lately for many good reasons (Horseback, Gog, Aluk Todolo, Blood Fountain...). Regarding Li Jianhong, hopefully we'll be reviewing that new PSF disc of his very soon. And, by the way, he also made several appearances on that An Anthology Of Chinese Experimental Music box set we listed last time.
MPEG Stream: "In The Summer Of 2006 Li Made A Dream About A Lopan And A UFO."
MPEG Stream: "No Doubt. The Lo Pan Is A Universe."

VAINICA DOBLE s/t (Wah Wah) cd 19.98
We're so glad to finally see this available, the lovely 1971 debut of Spanish female psych-folk duo, Vainica Doble. One of Spain's most collectable and sought after soft-psych artifacts, Vainica Doble combine Beatlesy pop with Incredible String Band like whimsical flair, often sounding like the prettiest moments of Os Mutantes, the groovier moments of England's Sunforest or even early Abba at their most balladic, due to the singers' beautiful dual harmonies. Featured on the Finder's Keeper's comp, Folk Is Not A Four Letter Word vol. 2, it's about time that this venerable Spanish duo finally gets some deserved recognition outside of their homeland. Included here are the 12 tracks from their original album and 8 bonus tracks comprised of rare singles, including a track by their backing band, Tickets (who recorded a song written by the duo) as well as an awesome fuzz-pop stomper called "Someone Like Me", that makes this amazing reissue even more worthy of your time!
MPEG Stream: "Caramelo De Limon"
MPEG Stream: "Dime Felix"
MPEG Stream: "El Duende"

VAINIO, MIKA Aineen Musta Puhelin / Black Telephone Of Matter (Touch) cd 15.98
More and more quiet goes the solo album for Mika Vainio, the Finnish electronic wizard who has brought us such feats of techo-minimalist intensity as the Kesto 4cd boxset set in Pan Sonic and the Metri album recorded as an O with slash through it. But under his own name, Vainio's recordings shrink from existence in the wake of gasping, nocturnal bouts of silence. That said, comparisons to the very-special-nothing-music of Bernhard Gunter (whatever happened to that guy?) or Richard Chartier don't really apply to Vainio's work. There's much more in common here with the 2009 release Vectors from Robert Hampson (also released through Touch), as a revamped interpretation of INA-GRM concrete / electronic compositions from the '60s and '70s. Vainio's palette of sound rotates between chorales of electrical static, snarls of sawtooth buzzings, and cold sinewave generation with a few field recordings thrown in for good measure; and Vainio composes these elements by way of the razor-cut more often than not. Thus, Aineen Musta Puhelin is a fragmentary collage, at times marked by sharpened, Tesla-coil bursts of engorged electricity only to snap to a blackened frame of silence or at least prolonged inactivity.
MPEG Stream: "Roma A.D. 2727"
MPEG Stream: "Bury A Horses Head"

VAINIO, MIKA Behind The Radiators (Touch) 7" 8.98
The cool thing about records like this, and this kind of music in general on vinyl, is that it's difficult to tell if a record is scratched, or if there's fuzz on the needle, as those are the sounds that have been harnessed to create the rhythms. Crackle and pop, hiss and skip, the more beat up the record, the more complex and abstract the rhythm. But for the sake of this review, we'll assume the copy of the new Touch single by Pan Sonic's Mika Vainio we listened to was indeed pristineÉ
The A side opens with a super minimal loop, seemingly crafted from the run off groove of an old record. A stripped down skeletal groove made from a bit of hiss and crackle, laid over a gorgeous blurred murky loop, that slowly builds and builds as the rhythms remains static, simple, hypnotic, the whole thing very abstract and quite lovely.
The flipside also begins with a super minimal rhythm, again, assembled from bits of vinyl detritus, this one too looped over a slow building drone, but this side is a bit more intense, the background sounds slightly more corrosive, while managing to remain subtly musical. At some moments, because of the staticky rhythm, it does almost sound like some dreamy drone 7" that got all scuffed up, especially when the music drops out and the needle settles into the locked runoff groove, where it stays, playing out the rhythm that began the track over and over and over.
Latest in Touch's recent 7" series, like all Touch releases, beautifully packaged, with a simple spare design and adorned with gorgeous photos by label head honcho Jon Wozencroft.

VAINIO, MIKA Fe3O4 - Magnetite (Touch) cd 15.98
The bruised Mika Vainio that was photographed on the smoldering 2011 solo album Life (... It Eats You Up) has mellowed out from the caterwauling guitar destruction and amphetamine-driven electronic noise to produce a reductionist album of electro-acoustics in Fe3O4. With the major exception in the aforementioned Life (... It Eats You Up), Vainio's solo work under his given name aligns neatly with the decentered abstraction that Touch has always been known for (e.g. John Duncan, BJ Nilsen, Thomas Koner, The Hafler Trio, etc.), with the blistered post-techno rhythms of Pan Sonic being deflated into a solitary muffled thump or a Geiger counter click punctuating his nocturnal experiments with power-drone stasis, power-grid hums, and slumped silence. Vainio draws inspiration here from the vast allegorical properties of iron. The directionality of a pre-GPS compass, the ability to store data through ferric oxide on magnetic tape, and the corrosion of steel all speak through Vainio's spacious compositions with often sublime, subtle results. "Magnetia" opens with the slashing acoustic rasp from a bowed cymbal akin to the classic Organum sound that collapses under the weight of a linear rumbling frequency. Ghostly utterances of searing noise slide out subdued space-time ambience on "Magnetotactic" and "Magnetism" as almost heavily dubbed versions of his previous album. The album's finale - "Elvis's TV Room" - eschews the magnetic metaphors even as it follows suit with the other tracks of eerie calm, blustery noise, and minimalist gestures.
MPEG Stream: "Magnetia"
MPEG Stream: "Magnetosphere"
MPEG Stream: "Magnetosense"

VAINIO, MIKA Kajo (Touch) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It would be nice to think that after a long day of hammering shards of technotic minimalism from the handbuilt electronics of Pan Sonic, Mika Vainio sleeps next to these machines, operating them in his dreams, their toggles triggered in cybernetic response to the colorful pools of abtract imagery in his subconscious, while at the same time capturing the soothing comfort of a room being slept in at 4 in the morning. While such technology may be entirely out of reach (even for the talented circuit builders of Pan Sonic), Vainio's "Kajo" is a beautiful placid album of serial electrical events that could have been the result of such a sleep-composition. Very nice.

VAINIO, MIKA Life (...It Eats You Up) (Editions Mego) cd 16.98
Sure, this is the solo album on which Pan Sonic's Mika Vainio picks up the guitar, but the sounds that he wrangles from that instrument are not all that dissimilar from those he crafted on the final Pan Sonic album Gravitoni, and especially on the first half of their 4cd opus Kesto. There's long been a swagger to the low-slung electronic rhythm and noise that brought Pan Sonic closer to an electro-punk rockabilly sound by simulating a snarling guitar with accelerating riffs of synthesized distortion that had more in common with the growl of a motorcycle than the squelch of an 808. So, when Vainio switches out his tone generators for a guitar, he's still got all the tools to distort, corrode, and disintegrate the sounds of six strings with considerable aplomb. The drum machines, the spatialized approach to editing, the white hot shards of electricity, the swarming noise, and Vainio's ability to control all of his cacophonic sounds are all present on Life (...It Eats You Up). "Mining" is an exemplary track displaying Vainio's ability to work a brutalist noise-guitar riff into his jittery industrial groove, sounding something like a downtuned Big Black or loosened-up Godflesh. Many will comment on Vainio's cover of The Stooges "Open Up And Bleed" which strikes a glam rock strut with drum track and smolderingly dissonant guitar riffs. It must be said that Vainio's cover of Pink Floyd's "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun" on Oleva was a better choice; but this one is pretty damn good too. The rock-n-roll mimesis of these tracks disintegrates over the remainder of the album, where splinters of guitar noise pop through walls of electrified drone, ominous hums, and demolished doom-laden ambience which aren't too far from the realms of KTL or Black Boned Angel. Pretty fucking great.
MPEG Stream: "Mining"
MPEG Stream: "Open Up And Bleed"
MPEG Stream: "Conquering The Solitude"
MPEG Stream: "A Ravenous Edge"

VAINIO, MIKA Life (...It Eats You Up) (Editions Mego) 2lp 27.00
Sure, this is the solo album on which Pan Sonic's Mika Vainio picks up the guitar, but the sounds that he wrangles from that instrument are not all that dissimilar from those he crafted on the final Pan Sonic album Gravitoni, and especially on the first half of their 4cd opus Kesto. There's long been a swagger to the low-slung electronic rhythm and noise that brought Pan Sonic closer to an electro-punk rockabilly sound by simulating a snarling guitar with accelerating riffs of synthesized distortion that had more in common with the growl of a motorcycle than the squelch of an 808. So, when Vainio switches out his tone generators for a guitar, he's still got all the tools to distort, corrode, and disintegrate the sounds of six strings with considerable aplomb. The drum machines, the spatialized approach to editing, the white hot shards of electricity, the swarming noise, and Vainio's ability to control all of his cacophonic sounds are all present on Life (...It Eats You Up). "Mining" is an exemplary track displaying Vainio's ability to work a brutalist noise-guitar riff into his jittery industrial groove, sounding something like a downtuned Big Black or loosened-up Godflesh. Many will comment on Vainio's cover of The Stooges "Open Up And Bleed" which strikes a glam rock strut with drum track and smolderingly dissonant guitar riffs. It must be said that Vainio's cover of Pink Floyd's "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun" on Oleva was a better choice; but this one is pretty damn good too. The rock-n-roll mimesis of these tracks disintegrates over the remainder of the album, where splinters of guitar noise pop through walls of electrified drone, ominous hums, and demolished doom-laden ambience which aren't too far from the realms of KTL or Black Boned Angel. Pretty fucking great.
MPEG Stream: "Mining"
MPEG Stream: "Open Up And Bleed"
MPEG Stream: "Conquering The Solitude"
MPEG Stream: "A Ravenous Edge"

VAINIO, MIKA Onko (Touch) cd 15.98
Mika of Panasonic's solo album, almost an hour of squeaks, subsonic rumbles, ear piercing whistles and barely audible drones. Either your favorite record of the year or you couldn't care less...

VAINIO, MIKA Rasputin 3000 / Devil Arrives To Finspang (Comfortzone) 7" 13.98
This single from the Finnish electronica giant Mika Vainio (one half of the Pan Sonic duo) was meant to be available as a special release on Record Store Day, but it arrived about a week late. These things, of course, do happen. But we've got 'em now, and while RSD 2012 is past, these are still crazy limited, and most likely will be gone in a flash!
Mostly when Vainio records under his given name, his electronics are thoroughly abstracted and dislocated from the rhythmic strategies he produces in Pan Sonic. Those recordings tend to be strange, dream-time excursions of Tesla coil charges and mad-scientist fizzle, but here on this single, Vainio returns to the 'rhythm', which has long been his strong suit. The A side is grinding, shuffle-techno number whose heavy rhythmic swagger and cycloramic distortion locks in step with the Pan Sonic albums Kesto and Gravitoni. The B side is a tad mellower with a groovy noirish rhythm, but equally as dark. One time pressing of 750 copies!

VAINIO, MIKA Revitty (Torn) (Wavetrap) cd 17.98
Revitty? Might that have something to do with Martin Rev? It's hard to say if the word means anything other than simple being a title for this solo project from Mika Vainio, one of the two shockheaded Finns behind Pan Sonic. As the electron wrangler for Suicide, Martin Rev has clearly been a major influence on Vainio's work, especially in how to extend electronic sounds through dynamic usage of pattern, repetition, and variation. Both Pan Sonic and Suicide have always been known for the rhythmic pounding of their scalding electric minimalism; yet in most of Vainio's solo work, the rhythmic structures are merely hinted at through nuanced implications or entirely done away with in the spirit of grand abstractions. What's left for Vainio's sound sculpting is raw energy often recklessly unleashed in radioactive bursts with only ghostly hints at a pulsing electricity within. So maybe we're grasping at straws to add some context to this work, but it's still a mighty fine piece of Finnish electronic abstraction, chock full of bleakness and aggression.
MPEG Stream: "Hampaat I"
MPEG Stream: "Raatelu"

VAINIO, MIKA Sokeiden Maassa Yksisilmainen On Kuningas (Touch) cd 15.98
Best known as half of the minimalist techno duo Pan Sonic with Ilpo Vaisainen, Mika Vainio has crafted a variety of electro-acoustic techniques that bare little resemblance to his contemporaries in glitched electronica. Marked as much by his use of space as by the quality of his abstraction of sound, Vainio's recordings under his given name even stand apart from his solo projects such as ¯, Tekonivel, and Philus. As Vainio, he has shed all of the intertwining rhythmic assualts found elsewhere, but continues to pursue a crystalline frigidity in his investigations of sound. "Sokeiden Maassa Yksisilmainen On Kuningas" (which translated from the Finnish as "In the Land of the Blind One-Eyed Is King") opens with a harsh blast of digitized noise that settles down into a ominous soundscape punctuated by a flanging bass pulse and distant isolationist drones. Smatterings of prolonged silence take up a considerable amount of time within Vainio's album, and provide parallels to the French attitudes of musique concrete (i.e. Lionel Marchetti, Luc Ferrari, etc.) But it's drones that give Vainio's work such dynamism and expressivity, at times standing in as sustained chords from a grimy organ and others as creepy swells of "Forbidden Planet" style electronics.
RealAudio clip: "Kasvien Vari"
RealAudio clip: "Se On Olemassa"

VAINIO, MIKA Time Examined (Raster-Noton) book + 2cd 61.00
Time Examined is a monograph that documents Mika Vainio's scores for installation, film, theater, and performance, sounding very much like the work that Vainio has been releasing through Touch in recent years. As most folks probably already know, Vainio is half of the minimalist techno project Pan Sonic, but his solo work has become increasingly devoid of rhythm, with suspended tones, industrially-minded field recordings, prolonged electrical gasps, explorations into signal decay, and metallic echoes cast upon a black canvas of expansive nothingness. These installations within employ numerous visual cues - vintage clocks, old lightbulbs, transistor radios, vacuum tubes, Soviet-era electrical components, industrial films from the 1940s, and other ephemeral equipment from science laboratories from a past era. There had always been something elegantly retrograde about Vainio's electronic tinkerings with sound, and his installation work certainly reinforces this reading into his work. The accompanying 92 page book features tons of images from these installations, films, performances, and dance pieces with accompanying texts from CM von Hausswolff and Daniela Cascella. The first of the two cds features scores from over the past 15 years; and the second disc features the tone-plus-bleep split 1997 release Mikro Makro that Vainio produced alongside Carsten Nicolai (then recording just as Noto). A very nicely designed document!
MPEG Stream: "The Human Fly"
MPEG Stream: "Berns"
MPEG Stream: "Half Awake Half Asleep"

VAINIO, MIKA Titanikin Juhlakantaattii (Titanik) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Following the bleak shiftings of sound on his albums "Okno" and "Ydin", Vainio (who also works in Pan Sonic and has a list of pseudonyms including ¯, Kentolevi, Tekonivel, and Philus) sets up the electrostatic buzz of his Complex Sound Generator against the body cavity throb of huge slo-mo beats. An excellent (if only 20 minutes long, lacking in artwork, and very hard-to-find) document from this AQ-beloved electronica artist.

VAINIO, MIKA Vandal EP (Ununquadium 114) (Raster-Norton) 12" 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

VAINIO, MIKA Ydin (Wavetrap/Rastermusic) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
'Ydin' is a limited edition release of 750 copies of dark haunting electronic minimalism. Raster has proclaimed this to be best solo project from Vainio (of Pan Sonic, 0, Philus, Kentolevi, Tekonivel). Certainly it's in the running. As one of Vainio's non-beat oriented psychoacoustic compositions, Ydin is an exploration of electricity buzzing with delicate pulses, slashing noises, and eerie reverberations. Excellent!

VAINIO, MIKA / FENNESZ, CHRISTIAN Invisible Architecture #2 (Audiosphere) 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 second in the "Invisible Archecture" series of live collaborations from Audiosphere is Christian Fennesz and Mika Vainio from Pan Sonic. Housed like the Jeck / Tetreault / Yoshihide album in the annoying "super jewel box," this features a 34 minute collaboration between the two and a 32 minute solo track from Vainio, both recorded during a night of performances at Kaaitheatherstudio in Brussels on November 29, 1999. The Fennesz / Vainio collaboration is a densely saturated drone piece that's heavy on the loud / quiet dynamic, often matching delicate fractalizations of trademarked Megoisms from erratic clipped samples and pinprick bleeping alongside aerated drones culled from layers of processed distortion. This hints at the signature of both artists; yet, it doesn't appear that there's any of the random noise generation and guitar processing that makes the two artists' solo work so interesting. Thus, their collaboration doesn't seem as fully realized as we would hope and stands more as another entry into the realm of electronic improvisation. Vanio's solo track follows the path of his recent solo work (in particular "Kajo") with spartan minimalist gestures across vast expanses of barely audible resonant buzzings, extending into hypnotic pulsations of stripped down techno more like his Pan Sonic work.
RealAudio clip: VAINIO / FENNESZ "Live 1"
RealAudio clip: VAINIO "Live 2"

VAINIO, MIKA / KOUHEI MATSUNAGA / SEAN BOOTH 3. Telepathics Meh In-Sect Connection (Important Records) cd 14.98

VAINIO, MIKA / PITA / PALESTINE, CHARLEMAGNE Three Compositions For Machines (Staalplaat) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Mika Vainio of Pan(a)sonic and Sahko fame, Pita of Mego, and minimalist Charlemange Palestine each composed and performed a piece for machines (duh) that include the electric siren and 'bell tree'. The one collaboration between Pita and Mika Vainio is certainly worth the price of admission alone... 12 minutes of sublime murky beep and click composed entirely out of the processed sounds of typewriters!!!

VAINIO, VAISANEN, VEGA Endless (Mute) cd 14.98
Panasonic team up with Alan Vega of Sucide fame for a full-length!

VAISANEN, ILPO 20' to 2000 : February (Raster-Noton) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Vaisanen is one half of Pan Sonic with Mika Vainio, and presents his contribution to what may be the coolest series for 1999. Noton / Raster has commissioned 12 electro-minimalists to reconstitute 20 minutes for the next millenium. Vaisanen is clearly the brutalist of Pan Sonic (where as Vainio is the sublimist) presenting harsh tones coupled with electronica 4/4 pulses.

VAISANEN, ILPO Asuma (Mego) cd 17.98
Ilpo Vaisanen hasn't had nearly as prolific a solo career as Mika Vainio - his companion in Pan Sonic who has a plethora of solo projects under his own name and as ¯, Philus, Tekonivel, and Kentolevi. "Asuma" is actually his first full album, finding a good home on Mego. After his electro-rhythm crunch which he contributed to Raster / Noton's "20 to 2000" series and a hard to find 12" of similar post-techno damage, we were surprised that his debut solo project had more more in common with Vainio's dreamy electro-acoustic collages.
"Asuma" acoustically feels as if it is intentionally paralleling the optical phenomenon of a mirage -- with wavering textures that never provide much definition to objects near the horizon in an environment of oppressive heat. Vaisanen keeps the subtle rhythmic elements (perhaps generated by voltage fluctuations rather than drum machines) submissive to the hot-wired buzzing drones from ill-tempered cable groundings. Really sublime and quite unassuming.
RealAudio clip: "Vallitseva"

VAJAGIC, ELIZABETH ANKA Stand With The Stillness Of This Day (Constellation) cd 14.98

VAJRA Live (PSF) cd 17.98

VAJRA Mandala Cat Last (PSF) cd 22.00
Modern psychedelic shamanistic troubadour and lord of fiery feedback howl Keiji Haino, along with legendary political folk radical Kan Mikami and veteran percussionist Toshiaki Ishitsuka (frequent Kazuki Tomokawa collaborator) comprise the so-called supergroup known as Vajra. Through several albums over the years, the improvisational trio has proven to continually evolve and remain as unclassifiable as any and all of their combined solo efforts. From the lyrically charged folk psychedelia of their early discs to the driven rhythmic force of their Ring album to the explosive sonic maelstrom and dynamism of Sichisiki: The Seventh Consciousness (an album not to be missed, Hainophiles!); a new album from Vajra carries with it a sense of newness and excitement. It demands you come without predilection and prejudice. Formed in the early nineties, the trio has grown to complement each others' unique languages. With Mandala Cat Last, they have inadvertantly metamorphosed themselves into a taut unit, rich in melody and musically cohesive. Their improvisations seem so natural and intentional, the fact that they are improvised doesn't even register as a technical aside. A short but sweet forty minutes, these six pieces are, like much of Mikami's oeuvre, tenebrous and graphic with that touch of mysticism only Haino can deliver. The opening cut, "The Sky Looks Green To Me", slowly builds a feral vocal interaction between Mikami and Haino. The disquieting and chilling vocal cries of the moving "Monkeys Don't Pray" are paired with haunting waves of distorted atmospherics and sparse percussive fits. An acapella break in the center of the album (from a revisited passage off of Mikami & Haino's Heisei recordings) is reciprocated by a warm instrumental closing hymn. Really beautiful, and though the lyrics are in Japanese, there are translations in the accompanying lyric sheets (and it turns out one of the songs has lyrics about Japanese cola!) -- which aren't totally necessary as the music, including Mikami's impassioned wails, transcends language and is quite engaging in its own right!
RealAudio clip: "Monkeys Don't Pray"
RealAudio clip: "The Sky Looks Green To Me"

VAJRA Ring (PSF) cd 22.00
2nd disc from Japanese avant-scene-masters Keiji Haino, Kan Mikami, and Toshiaki Ishitsuka.

VAJRA Sichisiki (PSF) cd 22.00
3rd album from the amazing Japanese improv-folk-rock trio of Keiji Haino, Kan Mikami, and Toshiaki Ishitsuka. Fans of Keiji's crazy Fushitsusha guitar style should maybe start with this one.

VAJRA Sravaka (PSF) cd 22.00
4th effort from the Vajra supergroup (Keiji Haino, Kan Mikami, and Toshiaki Ishitsuka).

VAKA Kappa Delta Phi (Murkhouse Recordings) cd 6.66
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Some cool post rock doom weirdness from Sweden, taking all the usual elements, pounding drums, chugging downtuned guitars, etc, and mixing in plenty of post rock, which yeah, is not such a huge deal these days, but all the PIANO probably is! Yep, Piano! Vaka is piano driven, drum heavy post doom heaviness. The drums, like the piano are crucial to the sound, recorded LOUD, way up in the mix, locked in with the piano, creating these killer brooding slow burning post rock epics, pounding, hypnotic, looped, repetitive, imagine a doomier heavier more stripped down Godspeed, or Neurosis if you swapped out most of the guitars for piano. That all makes sense when you realize Vaka is basically a one man band, the same guy playing drums and piano, crafting his perfect band, a crushing, pummeling, doomic piano / drum duel, with occasional bellowed vox, moaning cellos, and distorted riffage.
Because of the focus on the piano and the drums, the sounds often ends up sounding less like doom metal or post rock, and something much more akin to post punk / post industrial a la the Birthday Party, or Einsturzende Neubauten, Swans or even Cop Shoot Cop, very rhythmic, dark, with a hint of cabaret, grand and epic and dramatic and majestic, pounding and for sure industrial at times, definitely melodic, yet still dense and mathy and heavy.
MPEG Stream: "The Ship"
MPEG Stream: "Born To Secrecy"
MPEG Stream: "I Of Everything"

VAKTTORNET / BOYZ OF CALIGULA Tower of Murdur / Must 'Amaba (Flogsta Danshall / Harmonia) 7" 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Skweee!

VALBORG Barbarian (Zeitgeister) cd 14.98

VALBORG Crown Of Sorrow (Zeitgeister) cd 10.98
Yet another band in the ever expanding axis of aQ beloved weird and wonderful German metal groups, most of which share members. Avid aQ list readers no doubt remember math metal combo Woburn House, avant black metal horde Klabautamann, mathy folk metal outfit Island and black doom slowcore crawlers Gruenewald, well, you can now black prog doomlords Valborg to that list!
Do these guys ever sleep, rest, eat? Well we sure as shit hope not, not if it meant giving up any or all of the projects these guys work on instead, of well, anything else we presume.
Needless to say, if you dig any of those other bands, you're probably gonna dig these guys too, playing a sort of gnarled, off kilter, blackened death metal, which is not all that far removed from Woburn House or Klabautamann, or Island, especially Island considering it's the exact same lineup. But in Valborg, the trio unleash thick swaths of woozy downtuned chug, laced with all sorts of tripped out melodies, grunted hellish vox, plenty of clean guitar folkiness, but always a step away from exploding into a burst of blasting heaviness. But no matter what these guys do, whether black metal, death metal, prog metal, they can't seem to keep those various sounds separate, which is precisely why all these bands are so good.
From blast beat frenzies, to sea sick arpeggiated waltzes, to tangled Deathspell style blackness, to reverbed space prog, to super catchy almost groovy Khold style metal, often all of the above in a single song,these guys kick out some seriously sick, impossibly varied jams, and we're digging it big time. Guessing some weirdo metalheads out there might too...
(By the way, we like how their logo just goes ahead and uses the same triangular shape for the G at the end of their name as it does for the V at the beginning.)
MPEG Stream: "Wisdom From The Vortex"
MPEG Stream: "Ancient Horrors"
MPEG Stream: "Thunderbolt"

VALDES, MIGUELITO WITH NORO MORALES' ORCHESTRA Mr. Babalu (Tumbao) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another one of the top vocalists in Cuba, Miguelito Valdes probably received the greatest fame of any Cuban singer in the U.S. Having received his big break singing for Xavier Cugat's orchestra in 1940 - playing at Waldorf-Astoria's famous Starlight Roof in N.Y. The famous song Babalu, made so by performances of it by Cugat and Valdes, became so associated with Miguelito Valdes that he became known as "Mr. Babalu." The recordings here were made in New York City in 1949 (with Miguelito Valdes' orchestra) and 1951 (with Noro Morales' orchestra.)

VALEN, FARTEIN The Eternal (Rune Grammofon) cd 16.98
Rune Grammofon (whose eccentric catalogue also features Supersilent and Arne Nordheim) presents the cd reissue of orchestral works by mythical Norwegian-born composer Valen Fartein (1887 - 1952). "In technical terms, his music is strongly dissonant and based on polyphony. But the overall sound is more colorful than dissonant, more vibrant than strident, and airy despite its dense textures... Valen's world of sound is soft and supple, without the ironic or robust characteristics that dominate much contemporary music." -- Morten Eide Pedersen.

VALENCA, ALCEU Molhado De Suor (Som Livre) cd 19.98
Last year was a rich one for some amazing Tropicalia reissues and rediscoveries of long lost classics. Whether it was the first five Os Mutantes records or classics by Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso or more obscure gems from Luiz Eca, Som Imaginario, Rubinho E Mauro and maybe our favorite of the bunch the collaboration between Alceu Valenca and Geraldo Azevedo. Valenca's beautiful and mystifying vocal delivery and songwriting had us so hooked as that record became one of our most listened to treasures of last year. So of course we've been doing everything in our power to get our hands on more primo Valenca recordings and this one, recorded in 1974 is definitely another solid gold gem. A little more rocking and charged then the record with Azevedo, Mollhado De Suor shows a more extroverted side to Valenca, but still exploring a nice wide range of sounds, which is one of the things we love so much about Valenca. One song he is rocking and all you want to do is jump around in the grass and follow him wherever he decides to go, while the next song might be dreamier and more pastoral, painting him as an artist as comfortable with introspection as he is with bold and upfront fire. That might sound sort of like a modern day songwriter we love lots as well, Devendra Banhart. In fact last time Devendra was in the store he bought a copy of the Valenca & Azevedo cd and we have a feeling that he's been listening to lots of Alceu's recordings lately as a sneak peak listen to his forthcoming record made abundantly clear.
On Mollhado De Suor, Valenca is backed by some of the greats in the Brazilian scene of that time, Geraldo Azevedo actually appears on this record too, playing craviola and Brazilian acoustic guitar and AQ fave Lula Cortes is also in the mix playing dulcimer on most of the record. Another 70's gem from Brazil that demands your ears' attention!
MPEG Stream: "Punhal De Prata"
MPEG Stream: "Molhado De Suor"
MPEG Stream: "Borboleta"

VALENCA, ALCEU & GERALDO AZEVEDO s/t (Discos Mariposa) cd 17.98
One of the best reissues we've stumbled across recently, of a record we had never heard of. Alceu Valenca & Geraldo Azevedo were Brazilian musicians and composers from the Pernambuco region of Brazil who created a distinct style that mixed elements of psychedelic folk/rock with native northeast rhythms of freco, maracatu, xote, etc. There is something so totally sensual and sexy about this record. It's in their voices and playing and the glimmering recording. With mixing and arrangements in the talented hands of Rogerio Duprat (Gal Costa, Gilberto Gil, Os Mutantes) this has some trademark elements of some of the best and most creative elements of Tropicalia but for sure with their own unique and varied stylings. Totally not a one trick pony at all. What we love so much about this record is that it takes lots of twists and turns but everywhere it goes we more than willingly go right along with it. When it's sweet and sultry it succeeds by not being too polished and by subtly seducing you into its sounds. Almost like what Serge Gainsbourg would sound like at his prime if he was living in Brazil. We also can't stop thinking about how the folks in Blonde Redhead may borrowed a bit from this record as their sensual and compelling melodies seem to have their roots in this recording. Maybe. Just in time for summer, this has proven to be the perfect soundtrack for days filled with sun, romance and adventure. Highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Planetario"
MPEG Stream: "Ciranda De Mae Nina"

VALENTINE, MATT Creek To Creation (Qbico) lp 26.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another vinyl only release from the Tower Recordings' Matt Valentine and it's a doozy. Two massive sides of druggy, psychedelic drone folk clatter. Side A starts with a dreamy smear of reverbed banjo, very gorgeous and thick. Quickly gives way to an extended spaced out clattery free form jam, definitely informed by No Neck Blues Band and the like. Side B is a hazy, shimmery raga of sonic swirls and buzzing melodies, very reminiscent of Vibracathedral Orchestra or Sunroof!.
Pressed on gorgeous swirled green vinyl and of course limited.

VALENTINE, MATT Glorious Group Therapy (Ecstatic Yod) lp 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

VALENTINE, MATT What I Became (Woodsist) lp 15.98

VALENTINE, MATT & ERIKA ELDER Ragas & Blues (Idea) lp 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
From John Fahey to Jack Rose, we've reviewed loads of amazing modern Appalachia, from straight folk / bluegrass to buzzing droning acoustic ragas. But this just might be the perfect mix of the two, and thus may be the nicest chunk of acoustic / Appalachia / Raga / drone / avantfolk EVER. Really. Tower Recordings' Matt Valentine and Erika Elder give us nine tracks that slip smoothly back and forth between delicate, fingerpicked acoustic bluegrass and almost straight folk workouts, to snarling swirls of dense acoustic drones, with thick buzzing melodies, that wrap you in thick layers of shifting overtones and prickly hum. The vast (and unlikely) instrumentation: guitar, cumbus, oscillator, harmoniaca, big muff, carhorn, dogs, tamboura, kecapi, wood flute, Indian flute, pennywhistle, kazoo, percussion, sruti box, and siren help make the sound super dense and super rich and totally all enveloping. Limited, sorry.

VALENTINE, MATT / ERIKA ELDER / ALEX NIELSON / MOSES JIGGS s/t (Qbico) lp 25.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The Tower Recordings' Matt Valentine teams up with some of his freedrone pals for a disc of lengthy, blissed out ur-drones and psychedelic ragas. Subtle, slow burning melodies, and buzzing steel string hum are woven into dense swirling drug psych ambience. Various bits of percussion are sprinkled like glitter throughout, sparkling like distant stars amidst the thick whir of bombinating guitars, and fuzzy stringed buzz. From fiery and fierce to drifting and barely there, this is indeed a divine disc of mesmer,
And holy crap is it super trippy to watch this picture disc spin, the colors and shapes, the perfect visual representation of the mind melting sounds within!

VALERIE AND HER WEEK OF WONDERS OST (B-Music / Finders Keepers) cd 15.98
Well, that just does it, doesn't it?! In case their existing catalog, which includes reissues of Selda, Jean-Claude Vannier, Yamasuki Singers, Mustafa Ozkent and Bruno Spoerri, didn't already do it, the Finders Keepers label's decision to release the soundtrack of this awesome early '70s Czech New Wave film (one of Cup's faves) totally confirms that they rule... or at least confirms that they share our taste in music and movies!
Now, we all know that a soundtrack can be an integral, transformative power in a film, no question, but when one can stand alone sans visuals it takes on a whole 'nother life. Needless to say, we're not talking about those recent lazily compiled nostalgia-button pushing collections of familiar pop songs. Seventies films and their soundtracks were a breed all their own. Valerie And Her Week Of Wonders is a perfect example.
A mesmerizing motif-heavy procession of flutes, tinkling bells, harpsichord, organ, and vocal interludes, Lubos Fiser's soundtrack contributes to the establishment and intensification of the nightmare / dream atmospheres of Jaromil Jires' film. At once lulling and unsettling, recurring timorous prepubescent choral incantations are startled by ominous organ exclamations. On its own, the melange of the carnivalesque, music box-y and chamber drones totally captures a distinctly haunting, pixie-dusted delirium.
Sound good? If so, you need this now, and of course see the film as soon as possible (it was recently released on dvd)! Definitely for those who were spellbound by the soundtracks to The Wicker Man (the original movie and not the recent Nicholas Cage remake!) or Suspiria. Yes, three very different works, but all equally affecting. Absolutely recommended!
MPEG Stream: "The Magic Yard"
MPEG Stream: "Brother And Sister"
MPEG Stream: "In Flames"

VALERIE AND HER WEEK OF WONDERS OST (B-Music / Finders Keepers) lp 29.00
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!
Well, that just does it, doesn't it?! In case their existing catalog, which includes reissues of Selda, Jean-Claude Vannier, Yamasuki Singers, Mustafa Ozkent and Bruno Spoerri, didn't already do it, the Finders Keepers label's decision to release the soundtrack of this awesome early '70s Czech New Wave film (one of Cup's faves) totally confirms that they rule... or at least confirms that they share our taste in music and movies!
Now, we all know that a soundtrack can be an integral, transformative power in a film, no question, but when one can stand alone sans visuals it takes on a whole 'nother life. Needless to say, we're not talking about those recent lazily compiled nostalgia-button pushing collections of familiar pop songs. Seventies films and their soundtracks were a breed all their own. Valerie And Her Week Of Wonders is a perfect example.
A mesmerizing motif-heavy procession of flutes, tinkling bells, harpsichord, organ, and vocal interludes, Lubos Fiser's soundtrack contributes to the establishment and intensification of the nightmare / dream atmospheres of Jaromil Jires' film. At once lulling and unsettling, recurring timorous prepubescent choral incantations are startled by ominous organ exclamations. On its own, the melange of the carnivalesque, music box-y and chamber drones totally captures a distinctly haunting, pixie-dusted delirium.
Sound good? If so, you need this now, and of course see the film as soon as possible (it was recently released on dvd)! Definitely for those who were spellbound by the soundtracks to The Wicker Man (the original movie and not the recent Nicholas Cage remake!) or Suspiria. Yes, three very different works, but all equally affecting. Absolutely recommended!
MPEG Stream: "The Magic Yard"
MPEG Stream: "Brother And Sister"
MPEG Stream: "In Flames"

VALERIE PROJECT, THE s/t (Drag City) cd 14.98
First off, the music IS pretty cool. If you like bombastic, progged out folk/psych symphonics (think Citay meets Six Organs) then definitely check this out, it's good! Leave aside all your preconceptions of its possible pretentiousness (a "New Weird America" tribute to the Czech New Wave of cinema) that seems like someone at Arthur Mag's wet dream, and just bask in its sheer instrumental glory, evocative of its inspiration (the 1970 celluloid cult classic Valerie And Her Week Of Wonders, one of the must surreal, sexy and psychedelic "vampire" stories ever filmed, with a mystical mood quite different from, say, Vampyros Lesbos) but also free standing as a soundtrack to whatever similarly delirious imagery your imagination can conjure. Jittering strings, crashing cymbals, wordless moaning female vocals, storms of heavy-duty psychedelic guitar... grandiose and heavy, also lilting and lovely. It's done with full-on chamber rock instrumentation, which means flutes-a-twitter and harps-a-zing. Atmospheres of dusk, of ancient ritual, of your utmost acid-prog-folk-dreamings are readily achieved. Yep, pretty cool!
Onboard for this project are a bunch of well known indie rock/folk artists from the environs of Philadelphia, perhaps foremost among them Greg Weeks, a longtime AQ fave both solo and with his band Espers. Also in the band, other members of Espers, Fursaxa, Fern Knight... the whole Philly "acid folk" scene essentially.
Now, we're both fans and friends with a bunch of these folks, and in fact Aquarius was a co-sponsor (along with Drag City and Arthur Magazine, natch) of the recent Valerie Project performance at the Castro Theatre here in San Francisco. But, we can see how some might have a few issues with the whole thing. Issues? Well, as controversies go, this one's pretty minor. Some might be critical of some musicians being "arrogant" enough to make a new soundtrack to to a film that ALREADY HAS an awesome soundtrack -- especially when that soundtrack was recently released on cd to much ballyhoo (you can read our review of it elsewhere on our site if you haven't already). Heck, a lot of people probably only know about this movie because of the soundtrack. So to remake it takes some nerve. But why not? It's not like the original is being erased or something. So we don't have a problem with that. And if folks want to associate themselves with the "coolness factor" of Valerie, well that's understandable too. And like we said, the results are pretty swell.
No, it was more the actual fact of the performance that caused some qualms. There were even a couple "protesters" leafleting outside the Castro (among them, former San Francisco mayoral contender Matt Gonzalez! Hmm, you'd think he'd have other demands on his time... but that's why we like the guy, you'd never catch Gavin Newsom up to something like that!), and we can see their point. Basically, it's 'cause the film had NEVER BEFORE been screened in the United States, until now, but WITHOUT any of its original (and like we said, awesome) music, dialogue, or foley work!! You can see how some hardcore cineastes are gonna find that a tad upsetting! All this "controversy" could have been avoided had they simply ALSO shown the film in its intended form, like earlier that day or the night before or something. Heck those protesters could have pooled their dough and put it on. Oh well. Especially since the Valerie Project's "soundtrack" didn't appear to be synced shot-for-shot with the action in the film anyway, perhaps another solution would to have had the band on the stage (instead of hidden in the orchestra pit), with scenes from Valerie projected over them as an imagistic backdrop, presenting it as a rock show, instead of as a legitimate screening of the movie, a move that you'll otherwise never get to see in a theater. Anyway, such quibbling has little to do with the worth of this album, which we like quite a bit!
MPEG Stream: "Introduction"
MPEG Stream: "Fire Fountain"

VALERIE PROJECT, THE s/t (Drag City) lp 19.98
First off, the music IS pretty cool. If you like bombastic, progged out folk/psych symphonics (think Citay meets Six Organs) then definitely check this out, it's good! Leave aside all your preconceptions of its possible pretentiousness (a "New Weird America" tribute to the Czech New Wave of cinema) that seems like someone at Arthur Mag's wet dream, and just bask in its sheer instrumental glory, evocative of its inspiration (the 1970 celluloid cult classic Valerie And Her Week Of Wonders, one of the must surreal, sexy and psychedelic "vampire" stories ever filmed, with a mystical mood quite different from, say, Vampyros Lesbos) but also free standing as a soundtrack to whatever similarly delirious imagery your imagination can conjure. Jittering strings, crashing cymbals, wordless moaning female vocals, storms of heavy-duty psychedelic guitar... grandiose and heavy, also lilting and lovely. It's done with full-on chamber rock instrumentation, which means flutes-a-twitter and harps-a-zing. Atmospheres of dusk, of ancient ritual, of your utmost acid-prog-folk-dreamings are readily achieved. Yep, pretty cool!
Onboard for this project are a bunch of well known indie rock/folk artists from the environs of Philadelphia, perhaps foremost among them Greg Weeks, a longtime AQ fave both solo and with his band Espers. Also in the band, other members of Espers, Fursaxa, Fern Knight... the whole Philly "acid folk" scene essentially.
Now, we're both fans and friends with a bunch of these folks, and in fact Aquarius was a co-sponsor (along with Drag City and Arthur Magazine, natch) of the recent Valerie Project performance at the Castro Theatre here in San Francisco. But, we can see how some might have a few issues with the whole thing. Issues? Well, as controversies go, this one's pretty minor. Some might be critical of some musicians being "arrogant" enough to make a new soundtrack to to a film that ALREADY HAS an awesome soundtrack -- especially when that soundtrack was recently released on cd to much ballyhoo (you can read our review of it elsewhere on our site if you haven't already). Heck, a lot of people probably only know about this movie because of the soundtrack. So to remake it takes some nerve. But why not? It's not like the original is being erased or something. So we don't have a problem with that. And if folks want to associate themselves with the "coolness factor" of Valerie, well that's understandable too. And like we said, the results are pretty swell.
No, it was more the actual fact of the performance that caused some qualms. There were even a couple "protesters" leafleting outside the Castro (among them, former San Francisco mayoral contender Matt Gonzalez! Hmm, you'd think he'd have other demands on his time... but that's why we like the guy, you'd never catch Gavin Newsom up to something like that!), and we can see their point. Basically, it's 'cause the film had NEVER BEFORE been screened in the United States, until now, but WITHOUT any of its original (and like we said, awesome) music, dialogue, or foley work!! You can see how some hardcore cineastes are gonna find that a tad upsetting! All this "controversy" could have been avoided had they simply ALSO shown the film in its intended form, like earlier that day or the night before or something. Heck those protesters could have pooled their dough and put it on. Oh well. Especially since the Valerie Project's "soundtrack" didn't appear to be synced shot-for-shot with the action in the film anyway, perhaps another solution would to have had the band on the stage (instead of hidden in the orchestra pit), with scenes from Valerie projected over them as an imagistic backdrop, presenting it as a rock show, instead of as a legitimate screening of the movie, a move that you'll otherwise never get to see in a theater. Anyway, such quibbling has little to do with the worth of this album, which we like quite a bit!
MPEG Stream: "Introduction"
MPEG Stream: "Fire Fountain"

VALET Blood Is Clean (Kranky) cd 14.98
One of our favorite blasts of murky, moody cd-r bliss finally re-issued as a REAL cd by the fine folks at Kranky. And what a fine fit it is too.
Originally released on her own brilliantly named Yarn Lazer label, Valet is the work of one ex-San Franciscan called Honey Owens, who also does time now and again in Jackie O Motherfucker. We've mentioned it the past a few times, but there definitely seems to be a preponderance of vocal based music surfacing lately, Grouper, Bastard Wing, Pump Kinn, Lichens, and now Valet, who all use the voice as a major component of their sound. For Blood Is Clean, Owens twists and stretches her voice into broad sonic strokes and dreamy drones. But it's not just vocals, she also weaves darkly delicate little sound worlds, of muted tribal percussion, dark cavernous rumbles, lots of buzz and creak, alien transmissions, clattery minimal percussion, crumbling guitar grit, murky swirls of reverb and delay, the perfect sonic backdrop for all manner of processed and unprocessed vocals, ranging from sultry chanteuse like croon, to chopped and delayed Boredomsy "boop boop"s to breathy ambiance. Really beautiful and understated.
Packaged in a simple and striking cardstock sleeve, an expanded version of the original cd-r artwork...
MPEG Stream: "April6th"
MPEG Stream: "Blood Is Clean"

VALET Blood Is Clean (Yarnlazer) cd-r 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another fantastic release from the brilliantly named Yarn Lazer label. This one from Honey Owens who also does time in Jackie O Motherfucker. We mentioned it elsewhere on this list, but there definitely seems to be a preponderance of vocal based music surfacing lately, Grouper, Bastard Wing, Pump Kinn, Lichens, and Valet also uses the voice as a major component of her sound. Twisting and stretching it into broad sonic strokes and dreamy drones. But it's not just vocals, Owens also weaves darkly delicate little sound worlds, of muted tribal percussion, dark cavernous rumbles, lots of buzz and creak, alien transmissions, clattery minimal percussion, crumbling guitar grit, murky swirls of reverb and delay, the perfect sonic backdrop for all manner of processed and unprocessed vocals, ranging from sultry chanteuse like croon, to chopped and delayed Boredomsy "boop boop"s to breathy ambiance. Really beautiful and understated.
Packaged in simple and striking silk-screened cardboard sleeves.
LIMITED TO 200 COPIES. ALREADY OUT OF PRINT. WE ONLY HAVE ABOUT 30 AND ONCE THEY ARE GONE THAT'S IT!!
MPEG Stream: "April6th"
MPEG Stream: "Blood Is Clean"

VALET False Face Society (Mexican Summer) lp 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Brand new vinyl only 12" ep from long time aQ fave Honey Owens and her (often) one woman project Valet. We've been raving about Valet for ages, since the first few cd-r's on Owens' Yarn Lazer cd-r label. Her sound has definitely grown more refined, gotten a bit more polished even, but still manages to sound intimate and fuzzy, warm and languid, dreamy and druggy.
False Face Society is another fantastic collection of diamond eyed free folk drift, with Valet now expanded to a quartet, and a lot less reverb than on past outings, so less murk and mumble, in exchange for something a bit more crystalline. The vocals are still delivered in a darkly druggy haze, but the music now glistens and glimmers, shines and sparkles, the combination at once ethereal and ephemeral, lush and layered. And all very dreamlike.
Imagine some dark meandering free folk, slowed waaaaaaay down, dipped in acid and then played back frame by frame, a stop motion sprawl of flutter and whir, of woozy warble and unmoored psychedelia. The guitars are spidery and spare, effects are looped within soft clouds of slow shifting textures and spaced out melodies and Honey O's angelic soporific croon.
The single song-ed A side amps up a bit part way through, the drums get tribal, and the various abstract strands of sound and melody coalesce into some seriously hypnotic high end shimmer, transformed into a weirdly propulsive bit of Sunroof! like ur-drone, the guitars gradually growing more buzzy and distorted.
Two shorter songs on the B side, the first all spaced out synth blurts and distant drifting psych guitars, moaning strings, slivers of feedback and barely there wordless vox, while the second finds Honey O. tackling "Rainbow" all by her lonesome, and yeah, we're talking about THAT "Rainbow", as in Boris and Michio Kurihara's "Rainbow". Here it becomes something super minimal and tripped out, tons and tons of space, reverbed emptiness, shot through with delicate traces of melody, hushed voices, wah wah guitar unfurls lazily, muted understated percussion lurks beneath soft swirls of minimal buzz, and of course Honey O.'s sultry FX-wreathed vocals, the guitars getting more and more psychedelic, over a backdrop that seems content to just hover and shimmer and drift. Druggy, languorous and so so lovely.
Packaged in super heavy, full color sleeves, pressed on thick black vinyl, with a photocopied insert, and a download card, so you can get these tracks for your iPod (although, when we tried, we couldn't figure out where or how to download the tracks on the Mexican Summer website).

VALET Fire / Beachgaze Rendered (Burnt Brown Sounds) 7" 5.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We've been pretty enamored of this whole new ambient processed vocal dreamdrone movement, our favorites probably being Grouper and Valet, both capable of turning simple vocal melody and some old FX into gorgeous drifty epics. We were warned / promised that this new Valet single was nothing like the rest of her recorded out put, supposedly it was the prettiest and most straight ahead thing she's recorded, and damn if that ain't the truth, not to say this isn't still trippy and druggy and space-y, it most definitely is, it just happens to be more folky and, well, song-like.
It's almost straight ahead, simple guitars drift and wave, shimmer and sparkle, amidst a soft background of distant drones and soft whirs, but the vocals are way up in the mix, smokey and sultry, very torch song, still bathed in reverb, but more for mood than obfuscation. A languid late night ballad, a throaty croon singing melancholic tales over that spidery minor key slowcore backdrop, definitely reminds us of Mazzy Star or Galaxie 500.
The flipside is more of the Valet we're used to, which balances the folkier flip quite nicely, a bit of spaced out shimmer, looped melodies, and blurred vocals set adrift in soft gently flowing streams of abstract ambience, and murky moodiness. So lovely.
SUPER LIMITED! Pressed on clear gold vinyl.

VALET Naked Acid (Kranky) cd 14.98
These days, Portland seems to be at the epicenter of a new wave of seriously creative DIY underground 'noise' rock. From the last Yellow Swans record to the wonderfully incestuous Marriage Records crew, there have been a seriously ridiculous number of great releases in the last couple years. The thing is, though, that while you could argue that there is a "Portland sound," every project is totally distinct, so you can't really go lumping them all into some generic category. Well, Honey Owens' newest release under the Valet moniker is absolutely no exception. It's absolutely amazing. If you've been following her work, and you were lucky enough to grab one of the Fire/Beachside 7"s, you have probably noticed a trend toward more structured and more accessible songs. The pop-ophile in us who loves hooks and pretty melodies was pretty excited, while the nerdy drone-monger side was seriously scared. "What if she goes too far? Too poppy?"
Alas, Naked Acid is simultaneously a seamless blend of previous works, and -- yes -- a step toward tracks that are more easily digestible. It's like Fripp & Eno had a hippie baby with Karen Dalton and Tangerine Dream. But through it all, one thing that keeps us more than happy is Honey's voice. It's gorgeous, but not at all fragile. Not even so much confident. Instead, it seems beautifully unconcerned with those sorts of paradigms. The overall feeling is one of blissful engagement with melody and texture. Analog synth-sounding drones, gentle strumming, then suddenly everything is heightened by vocals and searing psych guitars. Just like a good movie, the final impression of any artistic experience is at least partially governed by the ending. On Naked Acid, the second to last song is "Fire" from the eponymous 7", which quietly dies down before bringing us to the final piece, a techno song. While on paper it may sound off-putting, it somehow works. If you can picture everything else about this record somehow being woven around some sort of late '90s Detroit techno, created in the wake of Basic Channel and Chain Reaction, then you've got a good idea. Maybe the reason it works so well is simply because it hints at unpredictable ambitions of Ms. Honey Owens, and we've got to say, the future is looking pretty good. Absolutely, wholeheartedly recommended.
MPEG Stream: "We Went There"
MPEG Stream: "Fire"