VIOLET INDIANA Roulette (Instinct) cd 16.98
Hmmm, me thinks this sounds a wee bit like Portishead... no, on second thought me thinks this sounds a shamefully lot like Portishead and the Cocteau Twins, but terribly terribly watered down. The disappointment is only exacerbated by the fact that one half of this duo is Robin Guthrie formerly of the Cocteau Twins. Oh dear. The other half is Mono's Siobhan De Mare. Thumbs down.

VIRGIL CAINE The Great Lunar Oil Strike, 1976 (Time-Lag) lp 34.00
Meh. Didn't like so much. Lo-fi hillbilly rock, sort of a softer version of Henry Flynt and the Insurrections.

VIRGIN INSANITY Illusion Of Maintenance Man (P-Vine) cd 25.00

VIRGIN INSANITY Toad Frog & Fish Friends (P-Vine) cd 25.00

VIRGIN OF THE BIRDS Mixed Choir (Abandoned Love) cd 8.98
You might recall the sunshine-sweetened sounds of SF pop band Morning Spy from a few years back (we carried two of their releases Subsequent Light and The Silver Age). Well, since then the fella from that band up and started an indie label Abandoned Love Records and a new solo project Virgin Of The Birds. Jon Rooney is his name and this is his debut album. In our reviews of Morning Spy we likened his vocal stylings to Daniel Bejar (Destroyer, New Pornographers) and John Darnielle (Mountain Goats), and with Mixed Choir we can utter the same refrain. The resemblance is often striking similar, and the results strikingly good!
MPEG Stream: "City Falcons"
MPEG Stream: "Hey Kirsten"

VIRGIN PASSAGES Mandalay (Fire Records) cd 15.98
Virgin Passages are a UK trio who rose from the ashes of the UK quintet Wardrobe. Mandalay is not an album proper, this is actually a compilation of early odds'n'ends (4-track recordings, demos, live cuts, cdrs, cassettes, and the like). The band's official debut album is still forthcoming, but it's clear that they're primed and ready to win over many new friends and fans in the earthy, mid-fi, ambient, psych folk freak scene. Hey Wooden Wand, Vanishing Voice and Ariel Pink, scoot over a bit and make some room for Virgin Passages! Their loosely structured 'kitchen sink' arrangements are haunting and a little eerie. It's all pieced and patched together into something that threatens to tumble into 'bad trip' territory. Can't wait for the full length!
MPEG Stream: "Hate Hate Hate"
MPEG Stream: "Part Weatherman"

VIRGIN PRUNES A New Form Of Beauty (Mute) 2cd 21.00
In the mid '70s, three disaffected Irish kids named Derek Rowen, Paul Hewson, and Fionan Hanvey devloped the idea of the Lypton Village, which was something of a clubhouse of likeminded miscreants. Within these friendly confines, the three encouraged each other's preternatural attraction to the absurd in renaming everything around them in accordance with a Dadaist logic. Rowen became Guggi, after the way that his faced looked while hiccupping, Hanvey transformed into the gender-bending dandy Gavin Friday, and Hewson emerged as Bono after the Bonavox hearing aid shop, which Guggi insisted he looked like.
While Bono obviously went onto world domination thanks to U2, Guggi and Gavin developed a far more bizarre form of artpunk through their band The Virgin Prunes. The origin of the band's name is a little vague, possibly being Irish slang for mastubation or somebody with a sexual hang-up. Either way, the band developed a reputation for being madmen as their transgressive performances and freakish attire came close to reincarnating Antonin Artaud's Theatre of the Absurd. In many ways, The Virgin Prunes were much more art than punk especially in their thematic inversions of religion, beauty, and language; but at the same time, their ability to provoke and threaten was unmatched, with the notable exception of Throbbing Gristle (another band named for jerking off).
A New Form Of Beauty was a very early conceptual project for the Prunes, originally conceived in seven chapters: a 7", a 10", a 12", a cassette, an installation, a book, and a movie. This double disc set comprises all of the audio works in that series; with the installation completed back in 1981 at a gallery in Dublin, and the book and film still unreleased. Despite their initial connection with Bono and company, The Virgin Prunes have very little in common with the musical sensibility of U2. In fact, their wildly imaginative and unorthodox style has very few accurate comparisons, although they had often been uncritically pegged a Goth band, I guess because they wore black eyeliner. Admittedly, A New Form Of Beauty is a gloomy and claustrophobic affair spun with a peculiar delirium. As on the propulsive "Come To Daddy," Gavin and Guggi twist their neo-babble duets into demented screams alongside air-raid siren guitars and metronomic rhythms; but on "Sad World," they dissolve a maudlin piano driven ballad into a oblique drone for the vocalists' empathic miserablism. Idiosyncratic and bloodied with scars, A New Form of Beauty revels in the poetry of abjection.
For many years, I (Jim) have treasured the few separate components that I've been able to find from this series, and I'm delighted that all of the audio components have been collected onto one disc. And yeah, it still sounds incredible after all these years...
MPEG Stream: "Come To Daddy"
MPEG Stream: "Sad World"
MPEG Stream: "Beast"

VIRGIN PRUNES Heresie (Mute) cd 21.00
In 1984, The Virgin Prunes' vocalist Gavin Friday made a guest appearance on Coil's debut album Scatology. His hair-raisingly cathartic vocals on "The Tenderness of Wolves" seethed with a lurid expressionism to what would have been a potentially puerile theme of vampirism. Friday was a perfect addition to Coil's early masterpiece of abjection and transgressive behaviour. A few years earlier, The Virgin Prunes were commissioned by the French label L'Invitation au Suicide to score an album "concerned with insanity and its connection to art and filth." No wonder Coil wanted to work with Mr. Friday! Originally published as a double 10" box set, the resultant commissioned album Heresie featured one disc of new studio material and one disc of live material, culled from a performance at the Rex Club in Paris from 1982. During the studio sessions for Heresie, the band never slept and even allowed much of the ensuing delirious babble to bracket the more structured musical offerings. Their self-induced hallucinatory state certainly produced some amazing results, as can be heard on the exhaustingly furious tracks "Rhetoric" and "Loved One" which sort of sound like the Pathological stable of Terminal Cheesecake, Skullflower, and God with overloaded bass and pummeling tribal percussion driving the maniacal vocals and spidery guitar lines. The seasick parady of a traditional Irish tune on "Down The Memory Lane" typifies the bizarre counterpoints that the Virgin Prunes had used throughout their career. The live material on Heresie shows just how amazing they were as performers, even though none of these songs are vastly different than those found on their studio counterpoints.
MPEG Stream: "Rhetoric"
MPEG Stream: "Down Memory Lane"
MPEG Stream: "Loved One"

VIRGIN PRUNES If I Die, I Die... (Mute) cd 21.00
Although they produced numerous singles and elaborate art editions, The Virgin Prunes only released two proper studio albums; and If I Die, I Die... was their debut released in 1982 on Rough Trade. Adorned with torn Victorian ballroom dresses and smeared black eye shadow, the Virgin Prunes were often lumped into the British Goth scene, although their music was clearly in a world of its own. If there was a Virgin Prunes album that most closely aligns itself to Goth glam posturing, If I Die, I Die... would come the closest. This curiously baroque post-punk album centers upon the shrill interplay between the band's vocalists Gavin Friday and Guggi who come across as half-crazed, drunken Dadaists purposely undermining the traditions of the vocal duet. As idiosyncratic and unorthodox as these two often sound, their single-minded focus on emoting an aesthetic of pure delirium pulled everything together. It didn't hurt that the Virgin Prunes also had a knack for dark pop subversion, which was enhanced by the production courtesy of the Wire's Colin Newman. With brittle shards of guitar accentuating the Gavin / Guggi vocals and a plodding rhythm section, The Virgin Prunes don't immediately strike us as as having the chops to write post-punk pop songs; but tracks like "Walls Of Jericho" and "Baby Turns Blue" are undeniably catchy, if something of an acquired taste. Not to worry, there's plenty of classic Virgin Prunes dementia on If I Die, I Die... as on the viperous "Sweethome Under White Clouds" and the jagged antagonism of "Caucasian Walk." After If I Die, I Die... the band began to strain under their eccentricities and never managed to produce anything as truly great as this record.
MPEG Stream: "Sweethome Under White Cloud"
MPEG Stream: "Walls Of Jericho"
MPEG Stream: "Baby Turns Blue"

VIRGIN PRUNES Over The Rainbow (Mute) 2cd 21.00
Released on their own Baby imprint in 1985, Over The Rainbow was the last album that The Virgin Prunes released before the band broke up, as founding member Gavin Friday ventured out on his own, fellow vocalist Guggi took up a career in painting, and several other members held onto the Virgin Prunes legacy in renaming themselves The Prunes with little or no success. Over The Rainbow -- a compilation of rarities and unreleased tracks -- was a fitting epitaph for the band, demonstrating the multifaceted nature of the unusual post-punk sound the band explored during their eight year career. While most compilations of rarities and unreleased tracks come across as an incoherent mess of throwaway tracks, Over The Rainbow actually features some of their best material, which was often composed for very specific purposes outside of their eccentric album concepts. Nightmarish drone tracks like "Red Nettle" and "Jigsawmentallama" nestle against the acerbic art-punk blasts of "Twenty Tens" and "Greylight" which come across as oblique versions of The Fall or Teardrop Explodes with two delirous Irishmen ranting over the top.
This reissue from Mute digs a little deeper into the vaults to pull out a couple more unreleased tracks that weren't on the original Over The Rainbow (or the Artfuck compilation which was essentially the same as Over The Rainbow). Even if you're not a completist, Over The Rainbow is a great overview of this baffling band.
MPEG Stream: "Twenty Tens"
MPEG Stream: "Red Nettle"
MPEG Stream: "The Children Are Crying"

VIRGINIA DARE Baby Got Away (Absolutely Kosher) cd 13.98
The amazingly beautiful, highly anticipated first full album (after a couple of 10"s and a compilation of those 10"s) from this popular SF trio composed of Mary O'Neil and Brad Johnson, both ex-Wannabe Texans, and Greg Freeman of Lowdown Studios and Pell Mell. Good ole fashioned Americana that sounds like an alt.country version of the Velvet Underground or the Young Marble Giants playing Freakwater songs.

VIRGINIA DARE Gone Again (Nuf Sed) 10" 8.98
7 wonderful new songs.

VIRGINIA DARE s/t (Brinkman) cd 14.98
Out-of-print/hard-to-find import debut from AQ-faves Virgina Dare. We got a few copies of this '94 cd back in stock so grab 'em now while you can.

VIRGINIA DARE Scrapbook cd-r 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A special new four-song ep from hometown favorites Virginia Dare. This trio combines autoharp, delightful twang guitar, and simple percussion with the seen-it-all, slightly gravelly, defiantly feminine voice of Mary O'Neill. Includes a great X-Ray Spex cover ("Art-i-ficial"). If you're a fan of the Dare, place your order now because we've only got about 10 copies of this ep which was produced for their recent tour. Each disc comes in a one of a kind hand-embossed acetate envelope with individual polaroid (most of which are of the interior of AQ!)
RealAudio clip: "Artificial"
RealAudio clip: "Invisible"

VIRULENCE If This Isn't A Dream...1985-1989 (Southern Lord) cd 13.98
Listening to Virulence, you'd never guess that these guys would eventually become the stoner rock outfit Fu Manchu, cuz this stuff is pretty far removed from what we think of as stoner rock, twisted furious metallic punk rock, equal parts Melvins sludge, Black Flag gnarl and old school hardcore punk. Not to mention other varied heaviness like Swans, Bl'ast, Neurosis, Posion Idea... The riffs are Greg Ginn-ish for sure, tangled and angular, the songs lurching and lumbering, the bass fuzzy and distorted, vocalist Ken Pucci howling and yowling over start stop churning metallic crunch, shrieking feedback, sludgey grungy low slung punkmetal thud, with the band occasionally digressing into those awesome sort of late period Black Flag jazzy metal dirge meanders, the stuff that alienated the punks, but totally hit the spot for a lot of us. Serpentine melodies, wrapped around grinding angular riffage and chaotic drummage, bursts of old school punk pound butted up against woozy dirgey heaviness, fucking awesome stuff for sure.
This disc collects their debut album, along with a handful of live tracks, and their original demo, which is way more punk, but sounds as heavy and kick ass as ever.
Includes a massive booklet with tons of liner notes, reflections for the various band members, photos, old flyers and more...
MPEG Stream: "Dead Weight"
MPEG Stream: "Wrapped Up"
MPEG Stream: "Worse Than Misery"
MPEG Stream: "Spilling It Out"

VIRUS Carheart (Jester) cd 14.98
Remember how excited we were a few months back about the reissue of the album Written In Waters by 'post-black-metal' weirdos Ved Buens Ende?? VBE were one of our favorite Norwegian bands EVER, all avantgarde and sorta-metal and proggy and just plain strange. Well, at long last VBE have finally made a new record! Well, not exactly. The name is different, the lineup too -- only Carl-Michael Eide (aka Czral) remains, with we think new guys rounding out the trio, though we can't be sure 'cause they all use pseudonyms anyway. But, despite all that and some further experimentation with electronics and even pop, this really does still sound like ol' Ved Buens Ende! Oh happy day.
Their math-metal songwriting definitely will still draw comparisons to Voivod, and despite reports that there's a Talking Heads influence you'll still hear more echoes of Ulver and Satyricon than you will of David Byrne, though it's certainly art rock, of a sort. Some parts remind us of Swans, or even This Heat's Charles Hayward's solo records! Other possible comparisons: Arcturus, Don Caballero, Dodheimsgard, Guapo, Enslaved, Codeine, Ulver, Solefald... All very 'different', just like Virus, who are capable of being powerfully complex or lullingly pretty, always creating a sense of unease and disquiet. It's dismal, it's distorted, it's as sad and beautiful as a dead white swan floating on a misty lake. Carheart has perhaps added more sampling and electronics to the VBE equation, but it's still got all the stuff we liked about Written In Waters. Hectic drumming, twisting, atonal guitars, psychedelic drone, rubbery bass, swooning, dramatic vocals, monk-chant vocals, atmospheric, uh, atmosphere...including field recordings of wind and water that suggest the mysterious lake we spoke of above. Lyrically, it's equally as cryptic, and the cd graphics only spawn further confusion. Carheart? Cars? Dog-headed men? What's going on? Can't figure it out and really we don't necessarily want to. It's enough that VBE are back in the guise of Virus. It IS different (Carl's playing guitar instead of drums, though it's still his vocals and vision) enough to be considered a new band, but VBE fans will not be disappointed! Recommended.
MPEG Stream: " Road"
MPEG Stream: "Dogs With Wheels"
MPEG Stream: "Beelevator"

VIRUS The Black Flux (Season Of Mist) cd 15.98
Carl-Michael Eide, aka Czral, of the illustrious Ved Buens Ende is back, with a 2nd Virus album, the band which continues the eccentric, eerily dissonant, darkly psychedelic sound once unique to VBE. And being back is pretty big deal, 'cause Carl-Michael very nearly died three years ago from a 4-story fall! Thankfully, he's recovered enough to mastermind this excellent Virus disc and also participate (under his guise of Aggressor) in the making of a new Aura Noir album too (also reviewed this list).
The late great VBE actually only made one proper album (1995's Written In Waters, sadly again out of print) plus a demos disc. At the time, we compared 'em to Slint, Don Caballero and Voivod - but somehow also black metal. Taking up where VBE left off, Virus in 2003 released the even quirkier Carheart album, that added extra electronic elements and a more prominent role for the bass, leading some to cite Talking Heads (!) and The Birthday Party as further-from-black-metal influences on their sound. And there's no denying that this ISN'T your usual black metal, or maybe black metal at all. With 'jazzy' bits, deep voiced vocal speak-singing, no wave grooves, and some vaguely techno-ish drum beats. But we'd say this one sounds more like old VBE than Carheart did, maybe 'cause some of these songs were originally written for an abortive VBE reunion attempt, heavier and less "pop", the guitars "smeary-er".
Regardless, even if VBE means nothing to you (yet), this new Virus is highly recommended for adventurous metal and non-metal listeners both, who'll appreciate its sonic similarities to Ulver and Arcturus, This Heat and the Swans... can you imagine a mathrock Amesoeurs perhaps, with Garm or Gira on vocals? It's dark metallic art rock with weird atmospheres, redolent of claustophobia and vertigo. Twisting, seasick and sinuous - not for everyone at all - but utterly compelling if you've caught the Virus.
MPEG Stream: "As Virulent As You"
MPEG Stream: "The Black Flux"
MPEG Stream: "Lost Peacocks"

VIRUS The Black Flux (Dark Side) picture disc lp 17.98
Now available on vinyl! And it's a swank picture disc to boot!
Carl-Michael Eide, aka Czral, of the illustrious Ved Buens Ende is back, with a 2nd Virus album, the band which continues the eccentric, eerily dissonant, darkly psychedelic sound once unique to VBE. And being back is pretty big deal, 'cause Carl-Michael very nearly died three years ago from a 4-story fall! Thankfully, he's recovered enough to mastermind this excellent Virus disc and also participate (under his guise of Aggressor) in the making of a new Aura Noir album too (also reviewed this list).
The late great VBE actually only made one proper album (1995's Written In Waters, sadly again out of print) plus a demos disc. At the time, we compared 'em to Slint, Don Caballero and Voivod - but somehow also black metal. Taking up where VBE left off, Virus in 2003 released the even quirkier Carheart album, that added extra electronic elements and a more prominent role for the bass, leading some to cite Talking Heads (!) and The Birthday Party as further-from-black-metal influences on their sound. And there's no denying that this ISN'T your usual black metal, or maybe black metal at all. With 'jazzy' bits, deep voiced vocal speak-singing, no wave grooves, and some vaguely techno-ish drum beats. But we'd say this one sounds more like old VBE than Carheart did, maybe 'cause some of these songs were originally written for an abortive VBE reunion attempt, heavier and less "pop", the guitars "smeary-er".
Regardless, even if VBE means nothing to you (yet), this new Virus is highly recommended for adventurous metal and non-metal listeners both, who'll appreciate its sonic similarities to Ulver and Arcturus, This Heat and the Swans... can you imagine a mathrock Amesoeurs perhaps, with Garm or Gira on vocals? It's dark metallic art rock with weird atmospheres, redolent of claustophobia and vertigo. Twisting, seasick and sinuous - not for everyone at all - but utterly compelling if you've caught the Virus.
MPEG Stream: "As Virulent As You"
MPEG Stream: "The Black Flux"
MPEG Stream: "Lost Peacocks"

VIRUS SYNDICATE Present: Contagious Vol. 1 (Tyke) cd 17.98

MPEG Stream: "Can't Do The Rhyme"
MPEG Stream: "Hunger"
MPEG Stream: "Unhappy Shopper Rinseout"

VIRUS SYNDICATE The Wasted EP (Tyke / Planet Mu) 12" 12.98

VIRUS SYNDICATE The Work Related Illness (Planet Mu) cd 14.98
So okay, when we first listed this back in the middle of last year, it received a less than overwhelming response which we just couldn't figure out. It was some of the best grime we had heard so far. Easily up there with Dizzee and Lady Sov and Wiley. So here it is, a new year, you've all had some time to get used to this new bastardized hip hop / jungle fusion thing called grime, in fact folks have been positively freaking out about it. The recently listed grime comp Heavy Meckle sold like gangbusters. And so, as if on cue, the Virus Syndicate gets the deluxe reissue treatment, with some new killer black and silver cover art (replacing the cringeworthy comic strip cover on the original) and FOUR extra tracks. So for those of you who missed out the first time around (maybe who skipped it 'cause of the cover), and for those of you who dug it enough that you need the four extra tracks (like us) then here we go again...
Boy do we love Grime!! But we're getting a bit frustrated at the relative dearth of grime stateside. We can only listen to our Dizzee Rascal and Wiley records so many times. Plus to be honest, as much as we dig those, we're sort of hankering for something a little more, well, you know, grime-y! Overseas, you got Kano, Lethal Bizzle, Lady Sovereign, More Fire Crew and loads more but it's taken forever for any of their records to make it over here. But in the meantime, we've got the debut from the Virus Syndicate, courtesy of Mike Paradinas' Planet Mu label. And it's a corker. The thing with grime is, well, it's sort of like drum and bass, you just gotta love the sound. We can't get enough of the super distorted classic ragga drum and bass. So much so that we could listen to that shit forever. And we're beginning to feel the same way about grime. It's sort of like hip hop sure, but the rhythm is this super repetitive, slurry, stuttering beat, a very clumsy funk, over and over, every song has the same general head nodding shuffle, with grimy fuzz synth bass lines, and then maddening, tongue twisting flow over the whole thing. Virus Syndicate take that formula and give it their own twist. Big fat beats, throbbing and hiccuping, haunting stabs of operatic vocals, fuzzed out synths, burbling booming system bass, all rocking that instantly recognizable grime rhythm, while the Syndicate spit bizarre marble mouthed rhymes, talking trash, a wildly confusional flow, catchy and soulful, occasionally slipping into some almost Jamaican style toasting. So fucking awesome.
MPEG Stream: "Slow Down"
MPEG Stream: "Major List MCs"

VISION BLEAK, THE The Deathship Has A New Captain (Prophecy) 2cd 17.98

VISIONS OF FRANK (JIM WOODRING) Short Films By Japan's Most Audacious (Presspop) dvd 27.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The world of Jim Woodring's Frank is so fantastic and bizarre, so fully yet still mysteriously rendered, it would seem impossible to explore that world any further. And the thought of letting various filmmakers animate Frank and his world seems practically sacreligious. We had the same feeling before we watched the Henry Darger documentary as we'd heard that the fimmaker chose to animate Darger's Vivian GIrls and the mysterious Realm Of The Unreal. The result however was absolutely stunning, taking Darger's dreamlike vision even further, rendering the characters even more magical and mysterious, and his personal fantasy world so beautiful and haunting. Thankfully, the same is true of this collection of animated Frank films. Frank's world is so perfect as it is, that the mere thought of other people changing it or ruining it, compromising Woodring's vision, definitely seemed like too big a risk, but this handful of Japanese animators are obviously as in love with Frank as Woodring is and manage to take us further into Frank's world, allowing us to see things not visible on the printed page. Utilizing all sorts of techniques, haunting, sepia toned, water colored, parchment animation and cool angular black and white construction paper 3-D animation cut out's and fuzzy scratchy old fashioned film reels, like early Disney shorts and amazing children's book style geometric shapes with bright colored cutouts and stop motion claymation and bizarre 3-D computer animation, all done with such obvious love and reverence for the original comics, that this series of short films almost manages to be more wonderfully fantastical that the comics themselves. Even the introductory short in simple black and white, pen and ink (with music performed live by Bill Frisell) is a total trip. Always fun and wild and whimsical, with a bit of ominous mystery and usually some terrifying monsters, that somehow always seem to either be outsmarted by Frank and his pals or turn from foes into friends. Amazing music throughout as well as some extra music from Yo La Tengo's James McNew.
Comes packaged in an amazing diecut oversized DVD sleeve, with a big booklet packed with Frank comics as well as notes about the animators and the musicians. So totally amazing and essential!

VISITATIONS s/t (Time Lag Records) cd 16.98

VISITORS s/t (Musea) cd 21.00
Not sure when/where/how we first found out about Visitors and their 1974 self-titled album, but for the prog lovers here at Aquarius, it was love at first sight - literally, check out that cover art! A hyperencephalic space alien standing in a glowing doorway, the open door labeled "Sesame". The back cover is pretty freaky too: the disembodied heads of members of Visitors floating in front of an atomic mushroom cloud that's exploding out of a giant egg! And, yes, the music lived up to these silly-strange images. The album's heavy opener, "Dies Irae", with backwards effects, faux-Gregorian chant, wild synth flourishes, and wailing psych guitar, among other outre ingredients, is a grand(iose) introduction to the Visitors' over-the-top prog pleasures, coming off like a hybrid of Magma and an Ennio Morricone soundtrack. The tracks that follow maintain the same majestic/eccentric momentum. Imagine our favorite, craziest '70s Italian prog (Osanna, Area, Museo Rosenbach, etc.) meeting up with groovy orchestrations of a Serge Gainsbourg or Jean-Claude Vannier album. Visitors being in fact French, hence the latter comparisons.
Both Andee and Allan acquired copies of this cd for themselves as soon as they could, and always wanted to get it for Aquarius too, but only recently did we manage to contact the label in France and were able to order a bunch of this reissue to highlight. At the same time, we also finally figured out that a lot of AQ customers might be interested in this for another, specific, reason - Visitors was an exploitation-prog project of musical mastermind Jean-Pierre Massiera, whose surreal pop productions were the subject of two recent, quite popular collections we've been selling: Psychoses: Freakoid (1963-1978) and Psychoses: Discoid (1974-1981). Visitors actually appeared on both volumes, with "Flatwoods Story" (from this album) on Freakoid and "V-i-s-i-t-o-r-s" on Discoid.
Now's your chance to hear, from start to finish, an entire cult sci-fi concept album as envisioned by Massiera, unabashed prog bombast that's often haunting yet groovy at the same time. Although, at the time of its release, Visitors was a one-off album intended a cash-in on the progressive rock fad of the early '70s, its sci-fi concept probably not meant to be taken seriously either, nowadays it seems as valid, and certainly as enjoyable, as any other of the fabulous prog excesses of its era.
The cd booklet with this reissue includes photos, and liner notes in English giving a detailed history of Massiera's career, and includes full credits for all the twenty musicians and singers who participated, left anonymous on the original release. Among them, you'll find a future member of Magma, virtuoso violinist Didier Lockwood. And we were interested to learn that the "deep vocals" that occasionally pop up on the album were by Massiera himself.
MPEG Stream: "Dies Irae"
MPEG Stream: "Terre-Larbour"
MPEG Stream: "Visitors"

VITA NOCTIS Against The Rule (Dark Entries) 2lp 25.00
Vita Noctis were a peculiar Belgian synth-punk trio operating the early-to-mid '80s that come across as something of a strange hybrid of the sneering irony of Der Todliche Doris, the stripped simplicity of Young Marble Giants, and the general weirdness of Alain Neffe's Insane Music label. Recording with all second hand gear - just a couple synths, a drum machine, guitar and bass - Vita Noctis produced a handful of cassettes, one mini-LP, and a few tracks for compilations, all of which have been reissued on this handsome 2LP set from Dark Entries. The trio was unafraid to unravel their songs, with the drum machines revved up too fast, spiralling beyond their ability to keep up with the plink-plonk melodies and cat-scratched guitars. The naive experiments did warrant some peculiar results, such as the Club Moral-esque tinny tirade of "Civilisation," but not all was winking idiocy evoking contempt through a dedicated lack of craft. Vita Noctis would pen some downright catchy numbers such as the Slits-meets-disco groove of "She Likes Me," the spirited jangle of "These Lies" (documented in two different versions), and the calculator melodied "Hade," which could have been a nerdy love ballad, if the lyrics weren't declaring the exact opposite. Vita Noctis is not easy to love with all of their warts, crude productions, and drooling babble proudly displayed; but then that's probably why we're digging this record as much as we are.
MPEG Stream: "Pitch Dark"
MPEG Stream: "Hearing Noises"
MPEG Stream: "These Lies"
MPEG Stream: "Death & Smoke"

VITAL REMAINS Dechristianize (Olympic Recordings) cd 14.98

VITAL REMAINS Icons Of Evil (Century Media) cd 12.98

MPEG Stream: "Icons Of Evil"
MPEG Stream: "Scorned"

VITALIC OK Cowboy (PIAS) cd 16.98
Vitalic is Pascal Arbez, a programmer from France. OK Cowboy, his newest full-length, sounds like the soundtrack for a movie based on a video game. Lots of soaring through 8-bit Tron-scapes, with electro-ish digitized new-New Wave vocals on some tracks. Throughout there runs a beat that will keep your head bouncing so much it sends your brain on holiday. Makes us want to throw on neon colored stretch pants and dance like drunk robots. Playful enough to be your friend but detached enough to still be le super cool. For fans of Electronicat and Daft Punk.
MPEG Stream: "My Friend Dario"
MPEG Stream: "Poney Part 1"

VITAMINS FOR YOU Desole... Monsieur Soleil, C'est Le Neige Qui Va Me Liberer (Intr.Version) cd ep 10.98
Your introduction to this French Canadian combo comes in the form of this short-but-sweet cdep. And if these four songs are any indication, Multivitamins For You might be a more fitting moniker! In the span of just under 24 minutes, the group covers an impressive expanse of styles -- from a live performance in which their joined by a big ol' brass ensemble over to the land of remixes (by Blunderspublik and Venetian Snares) and ending with a timely dance-y cover version of an early Arcade Fire song "No Cars Go". Packaged with lovely pink homespun silkscreened artwork.
MPEG Stream: "It's Only Snow - It's Only Sunshine (Live) "
MPEG Stream: "No Cars Go "

VITIELLO, STEPHEN Bright and Dusty Things (New Albion) cd 13.98
While Vitiello's intention is pretty cool, his execution has been limited by his insistance that sound art must sound like it came from Mills College, with all sorts of random for the sake of being random MAX / MSP algorithims processing the sounds, a clunky sense of rhythm, and an earnest, but ill-conceived new age penchant for cosmic swooshing. Pauline Oliveros appears with her accordion, but ends up sounding equally randomized.
RealAudio clip: "18 (Watery Variation)"
RealAudio clip: "Odyssey Guitar Solo (Without The Guitar)"

VITIELLO, STEPHEN Listening To Donald Judd (Sub Rosa) cd 14.98

VITRIOL Randonee 0.06 (SIRR.ecords) cd 14.98
Not the same Vitriol as the solo project from Godflesh's Ben Green as listed on AQL #110, although both outfits operate in the isolationist / drone end of the musical spectrum.
This Vitriol is the Portuguese duo of Paulo Raposo and Carlos Santos, who attempt to find an intimate space for electronics within the human condition through the use of immersive ambience. The crackle of digital glitches pop throughout extended glistening drones stretched out of organic scrapes, ending up sounding mysterious and sublime. At times this sounds like a less digitized Fennesz.
RealAudio clip: "Durriyyatun"

VITRIOL s/t (Neurot) cd 14.98
In 1995, Ben Green took a sabbatical from civilization by stepping away from Godflesh's metallic pummel to return to a site of childhood wonder in the tiny cottage of Lanfawr Cwmstwyth in the Cambrian Mountains. During his twelve month stay, Green learned to coexist with his natural surroundings and transcribed his experiences through a basic 8 track, a guitar, and some microphones. In contrast to this warm and fuzzy story of spiritual awakening, Green's resulting musical output is quite ominous. The monstrously deep ambience of multi-tracked guitar grit and down pitched gravel throated vocals set a very dark stage for pagan rituals celebrating nature's mysteries in which the sea, the sun, and the moon hold an undeniable influence upon Green's body and soul. Vitriol parallels the isolationist sounds that fellow Godflesh axeman Justin Broadrick incorporated on his Final albums, yet Green's spiritual impetus makes his first record as Vitriol all the more charming.
RealAudio clip: "Track 3"
RealAudio clip: "Track 4"

VIVA VOCE Get Yr Blood Sucked (Barsuk) cd 14.98
Viva Voce is wedded duo Anita and Kevin Robinson originally from Alabama but now firmly rooted in Portland, OR, and their sound is definitely infused with a West Coast-y vibe. The first song of their third album lead us to wonder if the Barsuk label had hopped aboard the very au courant musical trend of neo-psych-folk or alternately if someone had been studying Fleetwood Mac's Tusk. That tune titled "Believer" is quite a rough-hewn woozy trip, but what follows it falls much more in step with what Barsuk is more well known and loved. That is polished, dreamy indie pop. The numbers sung by Ms Robinson -- which we personally prefer -- bring to mind a hazy cross between Mazzy Star and Madder Rose. The ones sung by Mr. Robinson lean more towards Beatles and Beach Boys inspired sun-baked pop stylings. Nice!
MPEG Stream: "Believer"
MPEG Stream: "When Planets Collide"

VIVIAN GIRLS Everything Goes Wrong (In The Red) cd 13.98
Much has transpired in the last year or two since the Vivian Girls first hit the scene with their exciting and refreshing brand of girl group meets blown out garage rock stomp. Their original drummer jumped ship and left to join Crystal Stilts, and loads of new bands emerged with their own like-minded approach to amped up raw and melodic garage pop (Wavves, Brilliant Colors, Dum Dum Girls, Cause Co-Motion, Pens, etc...), and all the while the Vivian Girls have been touring pretty much non stop with a schedule so rigorous they would often find themselves playing multiple shows in one day.
We were quite anxious to hear how this much anticipated sophomore outing would fare, and it totally kills! Picking right up where the last one left off but played with even more confidence and unrelenting passion. Under the raucous surface of their songs, you can totally tell the Vivian Girls understand the importance of melody and hooks, and they totally sound like a band on K Records that ditched those cuddly sweaters and threw on ripped up t-shirts to get down to some seriously rocking business! Moments of Spector-like wall of sound glory collide with full throttle shredding garage pop, which these Girls masterfully and effortlessly pull off big time!
MPEG Stream: "I Have No Fun"
MPEG Stream: "Walking Alone At Night"
MPEG Stream: "Tension"

VIVIAN GIRLS I Can't Stay (In the Red) 7" 4.98

VIVIAN GIRLS My Love Will Follow Me / He's Gone (Wild World) 7" 5.98
Two awesome non album tracks from the always great Vivian Girls. This slab of wax finds them embracing wall of sound girl group glory in full force. Not the more rocking side that shows up in many of their songs, instead this is the wonderful woozy and warm side of the band. The A-side could be some lost Phil Spector treasure and the B-side might even steal the show. It's a cover of "He's Gone" by '50s girl group The Chantels, which they perform with help from their buddy Kyle Thomas (Happy Birthday, Feathers, Witch, King Tuff) playing guitar, and we gotta say they totally kill it, keeping it as warm and intoxicating as the original. One of those 7"s that really makes you wish you could put a quarter in the jukebox as you sit at the counter of a diner sipping on your milkshake and enjoying the simple pleasures in life. So awesome!

VIVIAN GIRLS s/t (In The Red) cd 13.98
Yay! We've been pretty excited to hear this one for a while. After digging a couple of their 7"s we knew this was going to be one of our new favorite stripped-down, in-the-garage, but-with-a-sweet-side-too bands. It's so cool how they somehow manage to bring the worlds of cuddle core and garage rock together seamlessly as if they were always meant to be. We hear so many of our favorite sounds and bands in their songs, from Young Marble Giants to Quixotic to Thee Oh Sees... Tiger Trap, Electrelane, Holy Golightly... and even Cup's old band Cub. If you were to think of drawing a diagram and finding that magical place where the worlds of K Records and In The Red intersect, it would be in the sounds of the Vivian Girls. And while the latter label are the lucky ones to be releasing this record, there is still so much K-style melody, sassiness and dreamy punch to the Vivian Girls' garage styled pop. We can't think of a better band we'd want to have play a raucous drunken house party, and then sleepover and have pillow fights with, and then spin the Shaggs, B-52's and Holy Golightly with when we woke up in the morning, if you can follow that fantasy scenario. These girls are on fire!
MPEG Stream: "Where Do You Run To"
MPEG Stream: "Wild Eyes"
MPEG Stream: "No"

VIVIAN GIRLS Share The Joy (Polyvinyl) cd 12.98
Girls, girls, girls! The last few years has been filled with both bands with the name 'girls' in their moniker, as well as bands heavily influenced by girl groups and infusing it into a lo-fi garage rock sound. Vivian Girls were one of the leaders of this craze, and they still sound just as great, even amidst the legions of similar sounding groups that have popped up in the last couple years. Share The Joy finds the Girls shredding and rocking just about as hard as they ever have, while still finding moments for full on pop glory. While they have always been sonically aligned with '60s girl groups, we actually hear a lot of '80s and '90s pop/punk in this set of songs. Like a way raw and rocking Blondie, or Black Tambourine and Tiger Trap coming together to cover The Runaways. In other words, totally awesome once again!
MPEG Stream: "Dance (If You Wanna)"
MPEG Stream: "Trying to Pretend"
MPEG Stream: "Death"

VIVIAN GIRLS Share The Joy (Polyvinyl) lp 15.98
Girls, girls, girls! The last few years has been filled with both bands with the name 'girls' in their moniker, as well as bands heavily influenced by girl groups and infusing it into a lo-fi garage rock sound. Vivian Girls were one of the leaders of this craze, and they still sound just as great, even amidst the legions of similar sounding groups that have popped up in the last couple years. Share The Joy finds the Girls shredding and rocking just about as hard as they ever have, while still finding moments for full on pop glory. While they have always been sonically aligned with '60s girl groups, we actually hear a lot of '80s and '90s pop/punk in this set of songs. Like a way raw and rocking Blondie, or Black Tambourine and Tiger Trap coming together to cover The Runaways. In other words, totally awesome once again!
MPEG Stream: "Dance (If You Wanna)"
MPEG Stream: "Trying to Pretend"
MPEG Stream: "Death"

VIVIAN SISTERS s/t (Avant) cd 19.98
Hailing from the Downtown scene in NYC, the Vivian Sisters is the latest project for drummer Laura Cromwell (Dim Sum Clip Job, God Is My Co-Pilot, Laito Lychee(?)). Imagine the demented childlike weirdness of Alva and the Shaggs under the adult supervision of Captain Beefheart. Zeena Parkins guests on three tracks. The Vivian Sisters pay tribute to another group of NY siblings in their raw, roughed up rendition of ESG's "You're No Good".

VLAD TEPES La Morte Luna (Tragic Empire) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

VLAD TEPES War Funeral March (Tragic Empire Rex) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Finally someone has seen fit to re-press and re-release all the amazing early French black metal, precursors to everything we now hold grim and true and cult. Mutiilation, Belketre, Togeist, Vlad Tepes and more. Vlad Tepes, might be the most legendary (outside of Mutiilation who seem to be the only one of those bands to still be playing / recording) perhaps due to the scarcity of recordings or maybe the ridiculous monies fetched by originals on eBay. But the music is as vital and brutal as ever, even a cursory listen reveals plenty of sonic similarities to current BM bigwigs Xasthur, Leviathan, Nachtmystium and the like. Thick swaths of blackened buzz abound, but all wrapped around mournful minor key riffing and all sorts of fingerpicked melancholy melodies. There's also some serious eighties true metal worship going on, with some almost NWOBHM sounding riffs and LEADS, you sure won't here most modern black metal bands letting loose way up on the fret board. But it suits the shound, a sloppy, ultra distorted, buzz drenched blurry black metal, recorded white hot, loud vocals (that's sometimes seriously freaked out, swerving from growl to rasp to falsetto screech and back again), loud drums, all wrapped in thick distorto guitar, oozing the sort of evil that most bands spend their entire careers trying to manufacture. As it says in the liner notes: "This is Cletic and Barbarian Black Metal ruled by the voice of the Black Legions Spirits."
This reissue includes the ultra rare War Funeral March ep as well as an even more rare 1993 rehearsal tape.
MPEG Stream: "War Funeral March"
MPEG Stream: "From The Celtic Moonfrost"

VLAD TEPES / BELKETRE March To The Black Holocaust (Tragic Empire Rex) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Finally someone has seen fit to re-press and re-release all the amazing early French black metal, precursors to everything we now hold grim and true and cult. Mutiilation, Belketre, Togeist, Vlad Tepes and more.
This is a reissue of an ultra rare split released originally in 1995. The is definitely the best sounding Vlad Tepes recording we've heard, nice and thick and heavy, a buzzing swarm of black metal fury, but there still are plenty of lo-fi-isms and some weird mixing (really loud drums), but here the strange mix actually works in the band's favor, with the guitars at the forefront, huge serpentine riffs, sometimes churning out an almost NWOBHM sound, but more often buzzing and twisting and giving the whole thing a very drone-y washed out feel, definitely looking forward to modern black metal outifts who would stretch their riffs into extended, near drone-like hypno-BM.
Vlad Tepes are teamed up here with their way more obscure black metal countrymen Belketre, who are so buzz soaked and so fast and so blown out that their blazing buzzing black metal becomes a superdistorted white hot smear of prickly fuzz guitar, lightning fast blasts, and a thick fog of low end rumble, all tangled up in a swirling streak of chaotic mayhem. Ther are brief stretches of midtempo swoon, with seasick rhythms and clean guitar melodies, but they are quickly subsumed and obliterated by burts of face melting blackend blur. Belketre are quite possibly our favorite new (old) black metal discovery.
MPEG Stream: VLAD TEPES "Massacre Song From The Devastated Lands"
MPEG Stream: BELKETRE "Night Of Sadness"

VLOR A Fire Is Meant For Burning (Silber) cd 14.98
Vlor? The name sounds like this should be some sort of obscure black metal band. Or maybe an alien race from a sci-fi TV show. But Vlor is actually a band, or project really, devoted to making lovely layered shoegazing guitar sonics in a minimal, post-rock style, a bit like Windsor For The Derby, or maybe old AQ faves Codeine (like an intro to one of their songs though, before it really kicks in with drums n' all). One guy, Brian J. Mitchell, seems to be the instigator here, playing on all the tracks, joined by various other friendly collaborating guitarists over the course of the album, including members of Remora, Aarktica, Lycia, Rivulets, and Jessica Bailiff (who also contributes some breathy vocals to the very short "Suncatcher", an anomaly on this otherwise instrumental album). Many of the tracks are trembling, mellow and quite pleasant, with some (like "Wires") getting a bit more menacing, with th' distortion factor upped... A good blend of the repetitive, experimental and the almost indie-pop, in the realm of guitar explorations. Quite Nice!
MPEG Stream: "Wires"
MPEG Stream: "Weakening Blows"

VOADKA SOAP Un Chand Pyramdelier (self-released) cd-r 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Final pressing of this super limited tour cd-r from Spencer of the Skaters. We only managed to get a handful of these, so act fast, they'll be gone if you blink.
Those of you familiar with the Skaters, already know they are masters of the free floating murk, clattery chaos harnessed into dense smears of sound.
Spencer by himself doesn't stray that far from the Skaters' sound. Maybe adding more texture and melody to his murky muddy soundscapes. Bells are chopped into stuttery whistles, melodies are picked apart and flung into dizzying swirls, voices and electronics float in a thick miasma of whirring distortion and glistening shimmer. Then it sounds like the whole thing was dunked in mud and rolled in dirt and leaves and then left in the sun to sort of ferment, giving off all sorts of druggy, vision inducing fumes. The tracks are clipped and chopped and strangely edited only adding to the druggy bliss.
SUPER LIMITED!!!!
MPEG Stream: "Two"
MPEG Stream: "Four"
MPEG Stream: "Five"

VOCOKESH The Tenth Corner (Strange Attractors Audio House) cd 13.98
All you folks who have been digging the recent spate of F/i reissues, best strap yourself in, get chemically prepared, and sit back and let the lysergic sound of this new Vocokesh record work its magic. Fronted by ex-F/i member Richard Franecki, this modern version of his Vocokesh is a loping, lumbering psych rock beast, aping the circular hypno rock of Circle, the acid drenched hippy jams of Amon Duul or Agitation Free and the spaced out drones and warm ambience of Tangerine Dream or Cluster. The guitar is a slithering sonic snake, left in the sun way too long, cracked and brittle, but struggling wildly amidst clouds of instrumental freak out. In fact it's pretty much the guitar alone that adds the acidic element to Vocokesh, as the bass and drums stay steady, setting a solid, head nodding krautrock foundation so Franecki need not worry about anything but his guitar. That actually may be the only complaint one could have. The rhythm section just sounds too smooth and modern, no grit or grime, without the wild guitar explorations they could just as well be the Windham Hill house band or backing up a light jazz group. Thankfully, Franecki's axe obfuscates their shortcomings most of the time allowing us to close our eyes and let his sunburned hand swing that guitar in a mighty arc and send us sprawling into oblivion.
MPEG Stream: "Desert Song (Zabriskie Point)"
MPEG Stream: "Eddie's Hallucination"

VOCOKESH Through The Smoke (Strange Attractors) cd 13.98
Latest in a long line of deliriously damaged and drugged out psychedelic space rock from the psych rock heart of the midwest, Milwaukee to be exact. Spawned from legendary psych outfit F/i, Vocokesh continue that group's trajectory, straight for the heart of the sun. A heady mix of classic sixties psychedelic freakouts, pulsing and relentlessly propulsive Krautrock, tripped out ambient weirdness, and lots of full on fuzzed out space rock. Like some perfect Neu! / Hawkwind / Pink Floyd hybrid, swooping wildly from dreamy droney ambient incandescence to pounding drug addled fury to throbbing, churning brood rock to kaleidoscopic guitar blow out bliss!
MPEG Stream: "Vibe #6"
MPEG Stream: "Vocokesh Theme Song"

VOCOKESH, THE All This And Hieronymus Bosch (Strange Attractors) cd 14.98
A new sssslow, drugggggy pssssych rrrrrock trrrip from The Vocokesh! From the grainy black and white cover photo of the band in their paisley shirts to each of the eleven heady instrumentals on All This And Hieronymus Bosch, The Vocokesh ooze old-school space rock psychedelia with ease. Descend into their thick smokey haze of heavily effected guitars that shimmer, drone and wail.
MPEG Stream: "Gazing At The Dust"
MPEG Stream: "Eddie's Freakout"