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 5.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
**LAST COPIES**
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"

VOCODER Cuadro Sinoptico (Dark Entries) 12" 11.98
There has been no shortage of obscure '80s synth-wave reissues in the last several years. Most of them super cool, and while they all have an awesome sound and aesthetic, it's becoming more rare for them to be records that you actually want to listen to over and over and over. That said, this awesome reissue of the 1984 and 1985 eps by this Spanish band, Vocoder, has been hitting the spot big time, with not only a cool sound and style but actual fun and infectious songs that we've been blasting super loud on neverending repeat.
Vocoder have a seriously hi-NRG sensibility balanced by robotic dance grooves and a sassy / peppy vibe that makes these jams pretty irresistible. Maybe what Ruth or Gina X would sound like, brightened and tweaked by the hands of Patrick Cowley. The sounds of Vocoder offer this wonderful glimpse into the crossroads of a colder, still Kraftwerkian aesthetic merged with the Europop dance music craze that would be emerging several years later. But somehow Vocoder are way more fun and catchy then so many of the colder synth wave bands of their time and so much more rewarding and challenging than the more polished Europop that would dominate the airwaves after Vocoder had called it a day. While playing this in the store while we write this review, three different customers came running up to the counter asking what it was, and all three of them were shopping in different areas/genres of the store, always foolproof evidence that a record is seriously fucking cool!
MPEG Stream: "Mindanao"
MPEG Stream: "Amor De Robot"

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"

VODKA SOAP Here, Sir, Eat Fire! (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.

VODKA SOAP Interpretation "The Initiation" (Pacific City Sound Visions) cd-r 8.98

VOG s/t (Shifty ) cd 11.98
A heavy one here! Vog, from Virginia, and not to be confused with the similarly heavy Yob, are a brute of a band, cranking out distorto sludge epics comparable to the ugly best of Eyehategod, Today Is The Day, and the Melvins. The seven lengthy songs on this debut cd are graced with intense, sometimes clean vocals -- usually effected, though, and layered with deathly screams (this singing really helping Vog to remind us of the late great Acid Bath). These guys REALLY know what they're doing, if you're a fan of any of the bands name-checked in this review you should definitely check out Vog. We were impressed. We got this from Shifty along with that new Hey Colossus Project:Death cd we listed a couple weeks back, and if anything, this is probably even better than the HC.
MPEG Stream: "Transcending The Bullshit"
MPEG Stream: "Like The Sky Above"

VOGEL, CHRISTIAN Rescate 137 (Novamute) cd 14.98

VOGEL, CRISTIAN The Inertials (Shitkatapult) cd 16.98
Last year was an incredible year for electronic music, and for techno in general, especially for a new breed/strain of techno that managed to appeal to folks who didn't think they liked techno: Shed, Terrence Dixon, Andy Stott, Stefan Goldmann, all darkly rhythmic, subtly psychedelic, definitely redefining what we thought was techno. You can add this latest record from Cristian Vogel, his FOURTEENTH album if you can believe it. We knew Vogel mostly for his remixes, of folks like Radiohead, Thom Yorke, Maximo Park, but had never really check out any of his records. Not sure what made us throw on The Inertials, but we're super glad we did. As it definitely fits in with the above mentioned faves, the sound, murky and sinister, the beats muted and skittery, the sound palette super cinematic, at times playing like a WAY darker Clubroot, the same sort of lush, luxurious majesty, but here recast as something much more grim. Elsewhere, Vogel tries his hand at minimal dub, and ends up reimagining it as something much more upbeat, but without losing any of the music's inherent sonic malevolence.
While some of The Inertials does drift into more upbeat territory, the majority of the record is spent in the shadows, pulsing, pulsating sprawls of droning ambience, of beat driven drifts, and post Kompakt house music, blurred into hazy streaks of grey, rain slicked rhythmic stutter, the record's finest moments, ditching any sort of techno framework for a way more abstract sound design, tracks like "Deepwater" reminding us of the recent aQ Record Of The Week from Roly Porter, or even long time aQ fave Ben Frost, super minimal beats, that seem to decay before our very ears, leaving just tracks and traces, transforming from a taut, tense stretch of minimal techno skitter, to a dark, ominous landscape of churning black electro ambience, or "Spectral Transgression" that begins life as pure kosmische psychedelia, all pulsing synths and arpeggiated melodies, glistening and prismatic, before transforming into a mysterious strain of house-kraut, finally finishing off with the dark ambient driftworks of closer "Moved By Waves", which suspends all manner of gristle and glitch, in a softly undulating gauze of smeared synths and layered drones, a fantastic slab of blackened Pop Ambience to finish things off.
MPEG Stream: "Enter The Tub"
MPEG Stream: "Snakes In The Grass"
MPEG Stream: "Deepwater"
MPEG Stream: "Spectral Transgression"
MPEG Stream: "Moved By Waves"

VOICE CRACK Infra-Red (Uhlang Production) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Swiss noise/drone improvisers Norbert Moslang and Andy Guhl, specialists in the invention and use of what they call "cracked everday electronics" have collaborated previously with Borbetomagus, Gunter Muller and Jim O'Rourke. This, though, is one of their solo outings. It links their earlier aesthetic of intense, rough, loud noise (best heard on their "Fish That Sparkling Bubble" collab w/ Borbetomagus) to a new, more subtle & refined sound that results in rich textures and magnified dynamics.

VOICE CRACK_MULLER Buda_Rom (For4Ears) cd 14.98
Voice Crack -- veteran Swiss improvisors Andy Guhl and Norbert Moslang -- team up (again) with fellow vet Gunter Muller, for these seven tracks of staticky drone and murky clank. Guhl and Moslang, of course, make use of their famous "cracked everyday electronics" (which must be pretty darn cracked by now, after all these years): radios, household appliances, and other "non-instruments" perversely put to noise-making use. Mueller, we're happy to report, continues to play only "selected percussion" as well as mini-discs and unidentified electronics. These tracks were recorded live in Budapest and Rome (hence the title), some of them later remixed by Mueller and Moslang. It's like listening in to some energized, humming, buzzing electronic eco-system, teeming with quiet but active life. Nice.
RealAudio clip: "Roma_one"

VOICE OF EYE Anthology Two 1992-1996 (Transgredient) 2cd 24.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Volume two in the retrospective collection of unreleased rarities from this legendary, and under appreciated US ambient / ritualistic / ethno / drone combo, we never actually saw the first volume, but you needn't have heard that one to enjoy this, a sprawling collection of lush, dense, hazy, ambient abstractions, and rhythmic experiments, a fusion of Muslimgauze, Crash Worship and Maeror Tri, a strange and varied selection of noise making devices employed within a distinctive production style, allowed VoE to create gorgeous, dark rhtyhmscapes, that definitely bucked the conventions of ambient music. This was something altogether more intense, menacing, and powerful. We hear shades of Savage Republic, as well as more modern groups like No Neck Blues Band, Avarus and Sunburned Hand Of The Man. These tracks are epic and expansive, yet dark and mysterious, culled from all sorts of sources, singles, live shows, demos, compilations, splits, even a 45 minute dress rehearsal for a show that ended up being scrapped, the rehearsal much more raw and immediate anyway. One track was recorded live on the California coast in the Redwoods Jewelled Antler style, employing such odd instrumentation as bicycle, wind, sticks, musical saw and a '77 Chevy van, although the results are much more dense then you might expect, a thick, heaving, mournful dronescape, all buzz and whir, wrapped in aching slow motion melodies.
From spare psychedelic flute flecked folk, to churning blackened dronescapes, from chopped up analog tape experiments to swirling, hypnotic tribal rhythmic workouts, from clattery electronic flecked rituals, to washed out almost new agey drift, an incredible collection of dark droning mystery, that we'd imagine will no doubt appeal to aQ-ers. especially fans of minimal drone music and haunting, rhythmic ritualism.
Housed in a cool two sided double digipak.
MPEG Stream: "Ascension Of Joelene"
MPEG Stream: "Flotsam In Solar Wind"
MPEG Stream: "Belladonna"
MPEG Stream: "Nest (excerpt)"

VOICE OF EYE Substantia Innominata (Drone) 10" 13.98
Voice Of Eye is a dark ambient duo which began in Texas some twenty years ago, focusing on ritualist drones and hypnotic ambience using voice, various traditional instruments (guitars, trombone, flutes, Tibetan bowls, etc.), and hand-built inventions, with all of these sounds cast through the heavy fog of reverb and delay. Back in the early '90s, the duo had produced a handful of records which promised great things for Voice Of Eye, as a deep mystery permeated their echoing pools of sound. And then they just stopped. Only recently has Voice Of Eye begun recording again, and it makes perfect sense that Drone Records would once again be their label of choice. While Drone did release an early single of Voice Of Eye back in 1995, Voice Of Eye's recordings were some of the obvious parallels to what Maeror Tri had been doing at the same time. And even now, Voice Of Eye continues down the same dark path of reverberant, melancholy sounds whose comparisons can be found in Troum (whose members were once in Maeror Tri). Angelic female voices and spectral guitars wash together in an ethereal chorus that sounds like Cocteau Twins played 16 RPM with Robin Guthrie playing more the part of Aidan Baker in terms of crafting those darkened clouds flecked with radiant beams of sunlight around the enveloping greys and blacks. One of the better titles to emerge from Drone's 10" series!

VOICE OF THE SEVEN THUNDERS s/t (T Chant) cd 14.98
Some of you aQ folk-headz out there might remember Rick Tomlinson's first project Voice of the Seven Woods. Well Tomlinson is back with a slightly new band name and a drastically different sound. Voice of the Seven Thunders have plugged into some big amps and expanded into a fiery, heavy rocking trio. A huge shift from the quiet woodland finger-picking of Tomlinson's old outfit, the addition of a bassist and drummer bring the project to a whole new level of pretty straight-shootin' rock. Bluesy baselines plod on and on into a Blue Cheer-type groove, layers of strummed guitar add to the bed of fuzz that shimmer below soaring, neverending solos... Really, the ripping solos never end, not sure if that's a good or bad thing. The trio touch on some more ethnic or Eastern sounding territory, we're hearing a touch of North African flair, think Sublime Frequencies meets Sylvester Anfang. We love the few, nice quiet moments of acoustic reflection that break up the heavy rockin' momentum of most of the tracks. "Cylinders", one of the quieter pieces, opens with distant flute and slowly rising synth wash, only to slowly crescendo into a strummy, cosmic commune jam. The album comes to a close with "Disappearances", a conventional classic rock sounding jammer, complete with proper lyrics and vocal harmonies. Though the band have made quite a drastic aesthetic shift, we think fans of VOT7W will be just as enthusiastic about VOT7T, I mean who can really deny some heavy, old fashion blown out psychedelic rock n' roll?
MPEG Stream: "Kommune"
MPEG Stream: "Out Of The Smoke"

VOICE OF THE SEVEN THUNDERS s/t (Holy Mountain ) lp 14.98
NOW ON VINYL, via Holy Mountain!!!
Some of you aQ folk-headz out there might remember Rick Tomlinson's first project Voice of the Seven Woods. Well Tomlinson is back with a slightly new band name and a drastically different sound. Voice of the Seven Thunders have plugged into some big amps and expanded into a fiery, heavy rocking trio. A huge shift from the quiet woodland finger-picking of Tomlinson's old outfit, the addition of a bassist and drummer bring the project to a whole new level of pretty straight-shootin' rock. Bluesy baselines plod on and on into a Blue Cheer-type groove, layers of strummed guitar add to the bed of fuzz that shimmer below soaring, neverending solos... Really, the ripping solos never end, not sure if that's a good or bad thing. The trio touch on some more ethnic or Eastern sounding territory, we're hearing a touch of North African flair, think Sublime Frequencies meets Sylvester Anfang. We love the few, nice quiet moments of acoustic reflection that break up the heavy rockin' momentum of most of the tracks. "Cylinders", one of the quieter pieces, opens with distant flute and slowly rising synth wash, only to slowly crescendo into a strummy, cosmic commune jam. The album comes to a close with "Disappearances", a conventional classic rock sounding jammer, complete with proper lyrics and vocal harmonies. Though the band have made quite a drastic aesthetic shift, we think fans of VOT7W will be just as enthusiastic about VOT7T, I mean who can really deny some heavy, old fashion blown out psychedelic rock n' roll?
MPEG Stream: "Kommune"
MPEG Stream: "Out Of The Smoke"

VOICE OF THE SEVEN WOODS Black Morning (Sloow Tapes) cassette 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The whole field of neo folkies and folk foresters and modern Appalachians is getting more and more crowded every day. For every Rose and Blackshaw there are about a hundred other wandering troubadours with acoustic guitars, whipping up their own take on modern psychedelic Appalachian folk. And as much as we love that sound, and we do, it takes something super special to prick up our ears and get us all excited again.
A few months back, a customer passed on a cd-r by some band called Voice Of The Seven Woods, aka guitarist Rick Tomlinson, and we were floored. Echoes of the usual suspects sure, Rose, Blackshaw, Bishop, but there we something distinctly unique about Tomlinson's approach. The songs long and raga like, with as much space as there are notes, the melodies, dark and twisted, but warm and effulgent, usually nested on a warm bed of hum and whir. And this latest cassette only release is no different. A backdrop of muted whirs and slow swirling ambient rumble, layered and rich, almost pretty and trancelike enough to listen to on its own, but over the top are draped long loops of guitar, electric, steel string, melodies and melodic fragments, gorgeous melodies, dark and drone-y, lyrical and druggy, super emotional and intense, not really even melancholy so much as mysterious and thoughtful, the various strands of notes and chords suspended in a landscape of low end shimmer. The guitars eventually drift off, replaced by simple hand drums, beating out a primitive tattoo, a mesmerizing primal rhythm, as hypnotic and simple as the drones beneath, until the guitars come back in again, and it becomes some gorgeous Comus-y summer folk jam, melodic strum and that strange off kilter beat beneath. So great. We've been trying like crazy to get more releases from VOTSW but they're all so limited that this is the first one we've gotten enough to list, and these will be gone crazy quick too so you know what that means...
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES. Already SOLD OUT and OUT OF PRINT at the label. The tapes are all psychedelic and hand painted, with tripped out full color covers.

VOICE OF THE SEVEN WOODS s/t (Twisted Nerve) cd 15.98
Finally! A full length proper cd release from this UK troubadour. After going on a bit in our review of VOTSW's most recent cassette release (the only release we'd ever been able to get in sufficient number to list) we were pretty thrilled to have this cd show up last week, and we've been playing it non-stop ever since. There were a couple surprises in store for us though...
The first being that it was released on Finders Keepers / B-Music, a label more well known for its strange reissues of lost classics, and who in the past have brought us records from Selda, Mustafa Ozkent, Susan Christie as well as all time AQ faves like Valerie And Her Week Of Wonders, the Welsh Rare Beat comp and of course Jean Claude Vannnier's L'Enfant Assassin Des Mouches... It all makes a bit more sense when you realize VOTSW, aka Rick Tomlinson, had in the past recorded for Twisted Nerve in the UK, which happens to be part of the same family of labels. The other big surprise, is that where as past VOTSW releases have been mostly guitar, dark Appalachia, drawn out drone-y ragas, steel string guitar plucked and strummed, buzzing gorgeously over distant drones, falling sonically between Jack Rose and James Blackshaw, this disc is all over the map, expansive and epic. VOTSW is now expanded to a three piece, incorporating electric bass, violin, piano, drums, along with the usual guitar, sitar, oud, and it sounds like it. This is lush and produced, a gorgeous rich tapestry of sound.
The root is still that buzzing guitar, but here it's surrounded by all sorts of different sonic filigree. The first track begins much like past Voice Of The Seven Woods recordings, a steel string guitar, strummed and picked, a buzzing tangle of notes, a dreamy disembodied twang, but a few minutes in, the band joins in, propulsive percussion, a throbbing pulsing second guitar/bass, the whole thing sounding like some strange krautrock folk, perfectly seguing into the next number, an intense buzzing wild gypsy folk jam, brief but so exhilarating. Then there's the funky effected Bollywood psychrock buzz of "The Fire In My Head", totally freaked out and acid drenched, lots of buzz and strange affected melodies, and a definite sixties funk groove. A few songs later, the super blown out, backwards guitar drenched, acid rock psych jam of "Second Transition", then a song or two after that, a super muddy murky hippy jam, all loping distorted drums, distant strum and wailing crumbling blown speaker leads sprawling all over the place, and near the end of the record, the propulsive acoustic kraut rock soundtracky jam of "Return From Byzantium", gorgeously epic, the drums wild and relentless, the guitars buzzing and droning and locked together as if they could go on forever, all of these sonic excursions separated and peppered with long luxurious stretches of gorgeous languid Appalachian buzz and minor key finger picking, delicate folk flutter, and that oh so warm and familiar buzz and twang.
Not at all what we were expecting, but all the better for it! Definitely stuff that if it was on some vintage vinyl, would have the B-music DJs drooling. Essential listening for adventurous lovers of classic folk, sixties psych and obviously for all you far out freak folks...
MPEG Stream: "The Fire In My Head"
MPEG Stream: "Second Transition"
MPEG Stream: "Underwater Journey"

VOID Hit & Run / Condensed Flesh Demos (Weekend Punk) lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Holeeee Shit. THIS RULES!
Void were one of the original DC Hardcore bands (though they were actually from Columbia, Maryland, making them the only other non-DC band besides Lungfish to wind up on Dischord - they were that good), sharing a legendary split with fellow gods the Faith. Aside from some tracks on Dischord's Flex Your Head comp, nothing else was ever released in the band's lifetime from 1980 to 1983. Fortunately, other recordings have been floating around for a while, which leads us to this essential document of great raw sounding demos and live tracks from one of the craziest and most fucked up early hardcore bands out of the whole lot.
Trying to describe this band's music is no easy task. First off, they were totally insane and unhinged sounding, with the witchy shrieking vocals of John Weiffenbach standing WAY out from any other singers of the era, and probably the best hardcore guitarist after Greg Ginn in the form of Bubba Dupree, who was capable of wringing the most evil sounds out of his axe. The rhythm section of of Chris Stover (bass) and Sean Finnegan (drums; R.I.P.) held things together, just barely, and one can imagine that nobody else would have been physically capable for this job. At times, Void seem like they will collapse within the tornado of evil sounds they create, and the results are almost psychedelic in intensity, not to mention unbelievably noisy. It would be easy, but perhaps misguided, to draw comparisons to early black metal (still a few years to go before crawling into existence...), mostly because of the creepy woodcut images of death and pestilence in their artwork. At the same time, the chaos and fury of Void are, in a way, very, well... METAL. All the talk of "fucked up" metal bands that goes on around these parts DON'T MEAN SHIT when you throw on a Void record. One of the most underrated and one of the best, Void tapped into a sound that continues to confuse and inspire in the best ways imaginable.
Would totally be a highlight on this list, if we had few more copies, but we only scored a few.

VOID Sessions 1981-1983 (Dischord) cd 11.98
FUCK YEAH.
The mighty Void, OG hardcore godfathers, legendary outsiders, and one of the most frenzied sounding bands... EVER... finally see their long unreleased material given an official home under the most sensible imprint: Dischord. It's certainly about time, not only because these songs have been known of and bootlegged for ages, but also because the world seems, in the last few years, to be in the midst of something resembling a hardcore "revival", despite the fact that this type of music has never gone away and always flourished in the depths of the underground. Case in point, THIS album. Void, though from Maryland, were part of the storied and uber-influential DC scene of the early '80s, a small but tight knit community of likeminded angry young men (mostly) who would play a prominent role in defining the course of independent music as an identity that carries on to this day. Still, pigeonholing Void as merely a "DC HarDCore" band doesn't do much to inform virgin ears what to brace themselves for. Their sound was darker, noisier, and more extreme than most other bands operating in the early '80s, and these guys, to this day, sound unlike anyone else - they're untouchable - and their legend and rabid fanbase continue to grow and grow. Indeed, the evil sounds of Void will be most thrilling to new listeners while old fans will find plenty of reasons to rejoice upon seeing the Dischord logo on the back of a new archival album from one of the label's most beloved bands.
The material here, a whopping 34 songs, spans the entirety of Void's brief but fruitful (at least in terms of actual recorded output) career, and contains the legendary demo session recorded at Hit and Run Studios in November '81, two sessions done at Inner Ear Studios the following month and in June '82 (the bulk of which, not contained here, ended up as the band's contribution to the monumental Faith/Void split), and a couple of live songs, including what the Ian MacKaye penned liners presume to be the last song the band ever played. All the classics turn up, sometimes more than once - "War Hero", "Condensed Flesh", "Time To Die", "My Rules", and so on. The fidelity here - raw and upfront - is perfectly suited to the mean sounding hurricane of noise Void whips up, while between song banter reveals a band that appears to be having one hell of a good time making their magic. And suffice to say, they still hold their own within the hardcore genre as one of the most unique, original, and crazed bands, even 30 years later.
Along with Dischord's also recently reissued edition of Faith's Subject To Change (which includes that band's first demo - we promise to list this one soon), it's sort of like Christmas 2.0 here at aQ, at least in terms of classic hardcore punk. What else do you need to hear other than the record itself?
FYI, the vinyl version happens to be out of stock, hoping we'll get more...

VOID Sessions 1981-1983 (Dischord) lp 13.98
FUCK YEAH.
The mighty Void, OG hardcore godfathers, legendary outsiders, and one of the most frenzied sounding bands... EVER... finally see their long unreleased material given an official home under the most sensible imprint: Dischord. It's certainly about time, not only because these songs have been known of and bootlegged for ages, but also because the world seems, in the last few years, to be in the midst of something resembling a hardcore "revival", despite the fact that this type of music has never gone away and always flourished in the depths of the underground. Case in point, THIS album. Void, though from Maryland, were part of the storied and uber-influential DC scene of the early 80s, a small but tight knit community of likeminded angry young men (mostly) who would play a prominent role in defining the course of independent music as an identity that carries on to this day. Still, pigeonholing Void as merely a "DC HarDCore" band doesn't do much to inform virgin ears what to brace themselves for. Their sound was darker, noisier, and more extreme than most other bands operating in the early 80s, and these guys, to this day, sound unlike anyone else - they're untouchable - and their legend and rabid fanbase continue to grow and grow. Indeed, the evil sounds of Void will be most thrilling to new listeners while old fans will find plenty of reasons to rejoice upon seeing the Dischord logo on the back of a new archival album from one of the label's most beloved bands.
The material here, a whopping 34 songs, spans the entirety of Void's brief but fruitful (at least in terms of actual recorded output) career, and contains the legendary demo session recorded at Hit and Run Studios in November '81, two sessions done at Inner Ear Studios the following month and in June '82 (the bulk of which, not contained here, ended up as the band's contribution to the monumental Faith/Void split), and a couple of live songs, including what the Ian MacKaye penned liners presume to be the last song the band ever played. All the classics turn up, sometimes more than once - "War Hero", "Condensed Flesh", "Time To Die", "My Rules", and so on. The fidelity here - raw and upfront - is perfectly suited to the mean sounding hurricane of noise Void whips up, while between song banter reveals a band that appears to be having one hell of a good time making their magic. And suffice to say, they still hold their own within the hardcore genre as one of the most unique, original, and crazed bands, even 30 years later.
Along with Dischord's also recently reissued edition of Faith's Subject To Change (which includes that band's first demo -- we promise to list this one soon), it's sort of like Christmas 2.0 here at aQ, at least in terms of classic hardcore punk. What else do you need to hear other than the record itself?

VOID OF REVERIES Silenti etc es tantum Quietus (Starlight Temple Society) cd 8.98
We just got in a whole batch of new releases from Starlight Temple Society, home to Velvet Cacoon, Clair Cassis, Lonesummer and others, and Canadian one man black metal horde Void Of Reveries sounds right at home, an epic slab of blasting depressive atmospheric blackness, the sound murky and washed out and heavily reverbed, the drums simple and solid, the guitars a blurred black mass, the vocals, anguished and dripping with effects. The end result is something less grim and buzz, than sort of shoegazey and drifty and softly smeared, give it a moodier less metal vibe, which is not at all a bad thing. Our pals at the Chronic Youth blog posit that VoR sounds like a nineties screamo band gone black metal. Which makes sense, it's got the same sort of depressive, super emotional, gut wrenching urgency, but to these ears if that's true, it sound more like an Orchid 7" slowed way down, to a doomy blackened crawl, and then when the band does crank the tempo, they somehow manage to speed that Orchid record back up, but without shifting the pitch, so it becomes a gloriously blurred sprawl of black blur and super emotional buzz and blast.
Raw and minimal, lots of frantic distorted buzz, but also plenty of spidery clean guitars, and hushed ambient interludes, the perfect balance between grim miserable buzz, and dark contemplative shimmer. We dig!
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES!!!!
MPEG Stream: "As A Seed In The Orchard"
MPEG Stream: "Our Neverending Summer"
MPEG Stream: "Seventh Dream Of Fading Away"

VOID OF SILENCE Human Antithesis (Code 666) cd 14.98

VOID PARADIGM s/t (Total Rust) cd 12.98
Debut from this French black metal supergroup, featuring members of Ataraxie, Hyadningar, Funeralium, Mhonos and others, who here have come together to conjure up a heady strain of avant psychedelic blackness. Present are the usual BM tropes of course - blasting beats, buzzing insectoid riffing, harsh demonic vokills - but all of that stuff is reimagined and recontextualized into something much more abstract, a swirling, psychedelic blackened mesmer, those blasting relentless beats suspended in field of crystalline minor key guitar melodies and black ambient swirls, everything wreathed in a smeary black buzz. And even in full on blast/buzz mode, instead of sounding blown out and super distorted, the sound is more smeary and indistinct, washed out and weirdly hazy, the vibe much more droned out and trancelike than brutal and black, transforming here and there into Voivod like black prog, and often slipping into distinctly un-black-metal-like sprawls of clean guitar shimmer, mesmerizing Slint like post rock lope. The group do occasionally explode into a more punkish pound, but the bulk of the record is spent drifting through strangely ethereal black clouds of blurred buzz, minimal post metal Ved Buens Ende style dirgery, and hauntingly atmopsheric psychedelic black minimalism, culminating in the stunningly gorgeous ambient closer, all whirling processed murk, muted melancholic melodies, lush layered shimmer, and chiming bell like melodies. So good!
MPEG Stream: "Chao Ab Chao"
MPEG Stream: "Fighting The Silence"
MPEG Stream: "Symmetrichaos"
MPEG Stream: "Timelesss Nothingness"

VOIGT & VOIGT Die Zauberhafte Welt Der Anderen (Kompakt) cd 17.98
Brothers Wolfgang and Reinholdt Voigt have dabbled in collaboration before, with a 12" here and there over the lengthy careers that both have had as pioneers of German techno. Wolfgang's arboreal atmosphere that swept through the four epic Gas records still rank at the very top of the electronic music that we've ever heard, but Reinholdt is no slouch. He's got a very particular style that emphasizes on-the-one synths stabs which cycle through his hypnotic monophunk excursions. And for the first two tracks on their collaboration, it seems the brothers are alternating in aesthetic conceit, with Wolfgang gliding smoothly into the silken techno of "Intro Konig" while Reinholdt snaps his taut rhythms in place for "Der Erste Zug," but for the rest of the album they prove to be much more unpredictable as on the oom-pa rhythmic sample and playful chords of "Der Keil NRW" and the robotic Mambo groove of "Tja Mama, Sandra Masichbeger." The album's finale "Der Letzte Zug" is about as far from techno as the Voigt brother could get, with a 26-minute mantra of a hypnotic buzz extracted from just a couple of chords on a zither or a hammered dulcimer. It's way more in line with a Yoshi Wada or Henry Flynt piece than these proponents of the Kompakt techno sound, but it's nevertheless a very cool track.
MPEG Stream: "Intro Konig"
MPEG Stream: "Akira"
MPEG Stream: "Der Letzte Zug"

VOIGT & VOIGT Die Zauberhafte Welt Der Anderen (Kompakt) 2lp+cd 29.00
Brothers Wolfgang and Reinholdt Voigt have dabbled in collaboration before, with a 12" here and there over the lengthy careers that both have had as pioneers of German techno. Wolfgang's arboreal atmosphere that swept through the four epic Gas records still rank at the very top of the electronic music that we've ever heard, but Reinholdt is no slouch. He's got a very particular style that emphasizes on-the-one synths stabs which cycle through his hypnotic monophunk excursions. And for the first two tracks on their collaboration, it seems the brothers are alternating in aesthetic conceit, with Wolfgang gliding smoothly into the silken techno of "Intro Konig" while Reinholdt snaps his taut rhythms in place for "Der Erste Zug," but for the rest of the album they prove to be much more unpredictable as on the oom-pa rhythmic sample and playful chords of "Der Keil NRW" and the robotic Mambo groove of "Tja Mama, Sandra Masichbeger." The album's finale "Der Letzte Zug" is about as far from techno as the Voigt brother could get, with a 26-minute mantra of a hypnotic buzz extracted from just a couple of chords on a zither or a hammered dulcimer. It's way more in line with a Yoshi Wada or Henry Flynt piece than these proponents of the Kompakt techno sound, but it's nevertheless a very cool track.
MPEG Stream: "Intro Konig"
MPEG Stream: "Akira"
MPEG Stream: "Der Letzte Zug"

VOIGT, REINHARD Im Wadel der Zeit (Kompakt) cd 17.98
After a couple of releases on which he'd devolved the Cologne monophunktrax techno sound into a questionably conceived array of clunky machinations, Reinhard Voigt finally lives up to his family name with his "Im Wadel der Zeit" album for Kompakt. Like his brother Wolfgang's teutonic minimalism for the dancefloor as Mike Ink, M:I:5, Studio 1, and of course the universally loved Gas, Reinhard is essentially tweaking the archetypal sound of German techno, with its huge 909 kick groove and modulating syncopations of Acid-influenced electronics. It's clear that Wolfgang is clearly the more evocative of the two Voigt brothers, but here on "Im Wadel der Zeit" Reinhard does show that he's got some talent for the big techno stomp when he puts his mind to it.
RealAudio clip: "Im Wadel der Zeit 1"
RealAudio clip: "Im Wadel der Zeit 9"

VOIGT, REINHARD Im Wadel der Zeit (Kompakt) lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
After a couple of releases on which he'd devolved the Cologne monophunktrax techno sound into a questionably conceived array of clunky machinations, Reinhard Voigt finally lives up to his family name with his "Im Wadel der Zeit" album for Kompakt. Like his brother Wolfgang's teutonic minimalism for the dancefloor as Mike Ink, M:I:5, Studio 1, and of course the universally loved Gas, Reinhard is essentially tweaking the archetypal sound of German techno, with its huge 909 kick groove and modulating syncopations of Acid-influenced electronics. It's clear that Wolfgang is clearly the more evocative of the two Voigt brothers, but here on "Im Wadel der Zeit" Reinhard does show that he's got some talent for the big techno stomp when he puts his mind to it.

VOIGT, REINHARD Premiere World (Profan) cd 16.98
Poor Reinhard. No matter how hard he tries, he'll always be compared to his brother Wolfgang (whose records as Gas, Mike Ink, Studio 1, M:1:5, etc. stand as the pinnacle of electronica hypnosis). "Premier World" doesn't do much to make anyone pay attention to what Reinhard is doing instead of his brother. Taking Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells" as staring point to these simple post-techno loops (well beyond the monophunktrax of the Cologne sound), Reinhard Voigt has made a somewhat dorky ambient album with conceptual nods to the conceptual minimalism of Steve Reich or Terry Riley.

VOIGT, WOLFGANG 20' to 2000 : November (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.
Wolfgang Voigt's contribution to the 20' to 2000 series (subtitled "20 minuten gas im november") is a reference in title (as well as sound) to the three albums he recorded as Gas.
All three Gas records were unanimous AQ favorites and this newest release retains the autumnally bleak sound of those albums but still manaages to fit thematically into the hyper minimal 20'-2000 series. Complex grey drones slice in and out of a basic technotic architecture. On the first track the drones are hidden within a thick haze of backwards digital swooping, and on the second track they are framed by the minimalist throb of a drum kick. Even if you've not followed the exemplary 20' to 2000 series, this is an essential piece of electronica.

VOIGT, WOLFGANG Freiland Klaviermusick (Kompakt / Profan) cd 19.98
Probably best known, at least around here, as the man behind pioneering pop ambient project Gas, as well as the head honcho of Kompakt Records, Wolfgang Voigt has been making gorgeous experimental minimal techno of all stripes for years, from muted minimal thump, to ethereal electronic psychedelia, it all bears Voigt's unique sonic stamp, and we've dug pretty much all of it. So were were both intrigued and excited to discover Voigt had recorded a piano record, his take on 20th century classical, taking modern composition and filtering it through his distinctive aesthetic, we definitely didn't know what to expect, but it probably wasn't this.
Imagine Conlon Nancarrow's player pianos redefined as modern minimal techno, and you'd be getting close, or maybe a robotic electrified Lubomyr Melnyk melded with simple 4/4 techno, and then stripped down to its very essence, simple looped piano figures are locked into endless motorik grooves, while a simple propulsive pulse drives the track, totally intense and mesmerizing, the piano parts slightly atonal, adding a weird sense of tension, lots of low end, ringing out and reverberating, the melodies strange and haunting, often descending chromatically over and over, very dizzying and disorienting, and just as often transforming into strange little melodic tangles.
The last few tracks seem to ditch the beat entirely, instead exploring the piano and the space around it, strange haunting melodies, very very free and abstract, somewhere between modern classical and free jazz, a hypnotic abstract winding down after the rest of the record's more tense and tight rhythmic machinations...
MPEG Stream: "Alleingang"
MPEG Stream: "Zimmer"
MPEG Stream: "Feld"
MPEG Stream: "Geduld"

VOIGT, WOLFGANG Kafkatrax (Profan) cd 16.98
Wolfgang Voigt has produced various strains of minimal techno under a number guises since the mid '90s. We have long championed his work as Gas whose four albums of blissed-out techno surveyed the Bavarian forest at autobahn speeds, standing as a marvelous and breathtaking pinnacle in the history of electronic music. Despite the totality of the Gas project, Voigt has kicked out countless singles of banging techno, minimal monotrax, schaffelfieber jitter, and pulse-driven ambience - some of which are destined for the club, some of which amount to a very peculiar headphone techno. For the Kafkatrax series, Voigt sourced everything except the bassdrum from the voice of Frans Kafka! It really could have been anybody's voice that Voigt used as there's nothing particularly engaging about Kafka's voice, but the act of transforming Kafka's voice into the insectoid chirps, buzzes, and pulsations of Voigt's techno is a nice touch! Originally, Voigt released Kafkatrax as a trilogy of singles, with each track and each single incrementally deconstructing Kafka's voice more and more. The first few tracks feature that voice contextualized as a constant, if rhythmic chatter amongst the girding monophunk of thumping kickdrums; and it's quite reminiscent of Thomas Brinkmann's use of Blixa Bargeld's voice way back when. But the more Voigt obliterates the voice into non-vocal sounding elements the better. "Kafkatrax 2.3" bends and bloats those samples into acid lines of percolation; and "Kafkatrax 3.4" oscillates swarming masses of Kafka samples into strange melodies sitting above Voigt's churning backbeat.
MPEG Stream: "Kafkatrax 1.2"
MPEG Stream: "Kafkatrax 2.2"
MPEG Stream: "Kaftakrax 3.3"

VOIVOD DVOD 1 (MusiquePlus / MVD) dvd 14.98
As Voivod fans mourn the loss of guitarist Denis "Piggy" D'Amour (who sadly passed away earlier this year, a victim of cancer), they can take bittersweet enjoyment in this new DVD that collects video footage from the pioneering Quebecois sci-fi metal band's earlier years from 1983-1991, when they progressed from playing the rawest thrash you'll ever hear to levels of technical, psychedelic genius previously unheard in metal. This is the classic era of the original line-up of Piggy, Snake, Away and Blacky. You get all their '80s videos (six of 'em, including "Tribal Convictions" and their cover of Pink Floyd's "Astronomy Domine"), plus seven live tracks from shows in Montreal between '86 and '91, as well as some behind the scenes stuff from video shoots and in the studio recording the Nothingface album. And there's extras as well: artwork, photos, and demos. It would seem that this is essential to any serious Voivod aficionado!
Another note to Voivod fans: next year should see the release of the first-ever ART BOOK by Voivod drummer and lyrical and visual conceptualist Away, being published by Troubleman Unlimited. 'Bout time!

VOIVOD Infini (Relapse) cd 14.98
As much as we love Voivod, and were excited to hear this, their 2nd and last album with Piggy post-humously on guitar, we're ultimately happy that it will be the last. Don't want too many not-that-Voivod-sounding Voivod albums cluttering up their legendary discography, and this is one of those, punky and poppy, sounding as much like Nirvana as Vovoid in spots. Not bad, but no Nothingface in other words. If you liked Katorz, or the self-titled one done when Piggy was still alive, you'll probably dig what they're up to here as well.

VOIVOD Katorz (The End) cd 13.98
Been putting this one off, just 'cause it's tough to give a so-so review to something that we really really wish we could say was great, the final hurrah of a once-amazing band. Katorz is the record that Vovoid was working on when guitarist Piggy passed away, and they've finished it in tribute to him. Sadly, it's not a posthumous Nothingface or Dimension Hatross... instead, it's got the punky sound of their previous, self-titled album with some flashes of old school Vovoid sci-fi weirdness... so if you liked that one, give this a shot. But for most of us, Katorz is ultimately disappointing. Too bad.

VOIVOD Kronik (Candlelight) cd 9.98

VOIVOD Lives (Century Media) cd 16.98
Digipak import version (domestic release on Metal Blade later this year, supposedly) of Canadian metal legends Voivod's first ever live album, recorded at the Dynamo Open Air festival and the more intimate CBGB's. The current trio (Away, Piggy, and Eric) play mostly songs from recent discs like "Negatron" as well as some old classics from Voivod's '80s thrash days, finishing up with a suitably raw cover of Venom's "In League With Satan". Voivod, as you all should know, is one of the best metal bands EVER. Over the years they have created much in the way of science fictional psychedelic insanity. Heavy, dissonant, and complex (but still at times quite melodic and catchy) music that owes as much to Pink Floyd (whom they often cover, but not here), King Crimson and the Alice Cooper Band as it does to Venom and Slayer. Oh yeah, and let's not forget the Die Kruezen influence. This live disc is long-overdue and although it doesn't include many of my personal favorite Voivod tunes (and it would have to be a box set to do so!), it's a decent selection of their twisted robo-thrash (including all-time classic "Tribal Convictions") and captures the energy of the band in action (as this writer witnessed not long ago when they opened for Neurosis at the Great American). Anyway, Voivod rules and Voivod lives!

VOIVOD Mechanical Mind (Century Media) 7" 8.98
Single sided sided / etched 7" of pretty righteous new song from upcoming new post-Piggy Voivod opus!!

VOIVOD s/t (Chophouse / Surfdog) cd 15.98
Long-running Canadian sci-fi metal masters Voivod, legends in their own time, are back after a several year hiatus with this new album and a new bassist: none other than ex-Metallica four-stringer Jason Newsted! "Jasonic" not only joined Voivod but also pretty much sponsored this album, recording it at his own studio and arranging the record deal too. But the bigger deal here is that this self-titled disc marks the return of original Voivod vocalist Snake! His French-Canadian inflections and Iggy Pop aspirations were an integral part of Voivod's classics, so we were extra excited about the prospect of this release...unfortunately, once heard, both Cup and Andee were ultimately disappointed and give it the thumbs down. They just found it too straight-forward and poppy, almost MTV pop-punk in sound. But Allan has faith in the 'Vod, and the ears to hear their trademark weirdnesses while enjoying the big catchy heavy rock songs on offer. If MTV pop-punk really sounds like this (he wouldn't know, not having cable) then bring it on! Still, you're warned. Of prior Voivod albums, this most closely compares to the controversial college-rock-radio styled Angel Rat from 1991, rather than Dimension Hatross or Nothingface, their acknowledged masterpieces. So it's definitely not the first Voivod record we'd recommend, but if you're a fan you might just want to check it out, especially if you liked the rockier, least psychedelic or prog cuts on Angel Rat and Outer Limits. And they'll still be the best band at Ozzfest for sure!! By the way, for those keeping score, this record might not be the best Voivod ever but boy is it better than that new Metallica. Between these two former eighties thrash acts, Jason sure made the right choice.
MPEG Stream: "Facing Up"
MPEG Stream: "Invisible Planet"

VOIVOD Target Earth (Century Media) cd 13.98
One of the aQ metallers (that would be Allan), and a friend of his, who's played in some serious SF metal bands over the years, have this thing where they often text "VOIVOD!!!" to each other, in all-caps like that, when they're stoked about something or want to express the affirmative (this stems from repeated viewings of a Voivod dvd release from a few years ago, wherein a voice shouted "VOIVOD!!!" as you selected each chapter on the menu screen). Well, if anything to arrive at aQuarius this week deserves a hearty VOIVOD!!! this is it, of course - the brand new album from the brand new version of the famed French-Canadian sci-fi thrash/prog metal masters. The band's previous two studio albums psychically existed under a rather morbid cloud, as Voivod's founding guitarist and riff master Piggy had passed away in 2005, but (somewhat remarkably) remained as their guitarist, participating posthumously via a vast catalog of guitar parts he'd recorded on his hard drive before he died. Of course all Voivod fans wanted to hear Piggy playing - even from beyond the grave - but it made those albums (2006's Katorz and 2009's Infini) seem less the work of an ongoing, active band, than bittersweet memorials, no matter how good they were (and they certainly had their moments, especially the latter one). Each of those releases seemed like part of a slow, sad goodbye.
But then, thankfully deciding that Voivod must again live, really live, the surviving Voivodians, including erstwhile bassist Blacky (who last recorded with the band on 1991's Angel Rat), recruited a new guitarist to replace the late Piggy - and they chose wisely. New guitarist Daniel "Chewy" Mongrain (ex-Martyr) already has proved, via last year's ripping live album Warriors Of Ice, that he can play their older material, and now here on the long awaited Target Earth, demonstrates he can do justice to Piggy's legacy in contributing to new Voivod songs too. We doubt any Voivod fan would not agree that Chewy fits perfectly into the Voivod mechanism, you'll see. Thus revitalized, the post-Piggy Voivod simply kills it on this new album. Alienating and energetic, full of tension and aggression, it's a collection of very Voivodian compositions, off-kilter and complex - yet catchy. Heck if it doesn't sound like it could have come out directly following their late '80s classics Dimension Hatross and Nothingface. Definitely the best thing they've done in years, making us forget the alt/pop/punk/grunge stylings of the albums they did with Jason from Metallica, though we shan't get into a debate about the merits of the industrial flavored E-Force era albums (sorry, we're already getting a bit into the weeds here for those of you who are not major Voivod fanatics).
Suffice to say, Target Earth (hmm, didn't they know that was already the title of a Screamer album?) is replete with all the Voivod-isms you desire: the heavy, herky-jerky riffs and rhythms, the confusional time changes, the delirious dissonant sci-fi post punk atmospherics, the mega-advanced drumming of Away*, the thick angular blower bass lines of Blacky, the melodic, yet gruff and ragged (moreso than ever) droning vocals of SnakeÉ that's all here, and so are the SONGS, they're good too! And Chewy, he sure does Piggy proud. Definitely call it a comeback - so look out Vektor, your grandpappas are back, and mean business! VOIVOD!!!!
*And his cover art too, of course, here in a slightly cartoonish style (and garish color scheme) very much like the one he did for the Orthrelm/Behold The Arctopus split cd a while backÉ
MPEG Stream: "Target Earth"
MPEG Stream: "Mechanical Mind"
MPEG Stream: "Warchaic"

VOIVOD Target Earth (Century Media) 2lp 18.98
NOW ON VINYL!!!! Orange colored to be precise.
One of the aQ metallers (that would be Allan), and a friend of his have this thing where they often text "VOIVOD!!!" to each other, in all-caps like that, when they're stoked about something or want to express the affirmative (this stems from repeated viewings of a Voivod dvd release from a few years ago, wherein a voice shouted "VOIVOD!!!" as you selected each chapter on the menu screen). Well, if anything to arrive at aQuarius this week deserves a hearty VOIVOD!!! this is it, of course - the brand new album from the brand new version of the famed French-Canadian sci-fi thrash/prog metal masters. The band's previous two studio albums psychically existed under a rather morbid cloud, as Voivod's founding guitarist and riff master Piggy had passed away in 2005, but (somewhat remarkably) remained as their guitarist, participating posthumously via a vast catalog of guitar parts he'd recorded on his hard drive before he died. Of course all Voivod fans wanted to hear Piggy playing - even from beyond the grave - but it made those albums (2006's Katorz and 2009's Infini) seem less the work of an ongoing, active band, than bittersweet memorials, no matter how good they were (and they certainly had their moments, especially the latter one). Each of those releases seemed like part of a slow, sad goodbye.
But then, thankfully deciding that Voivod must again live, really live, the surviving Voivodians, including erstwhile bassist Blacky (who last recorded with the band on 1991's Angel Rat), recruited a new guitarist to replace the late Piggy - and they chose wisely. New guitarist Daniel "Chewy" Mongrain (ex-Martyr) already has proved, via last year's ripping live album Warriors Of Ice, that he can play their older material, and now here on the long awaited Target Earth, demonstrates he can do justice to Piggy's legacy in contributing to new Voivod songs too. We doubt any Voivod fan would not agree that Chewy fits perfectly into the Voivod mechanism, you'll see. Thus revitalized, the post-Piggy Voivod simply kills it on this new album. Alienating and energetic, full of tension and aggression, it's a collection of very Voivodian compositions, off-kilter and complex - yet catchy. Heck if it doesn't sound like it could have come out directly following their late '80s classics Dimension Hatross and Nothingface. Definitely the best thing they've done in years, making us forget the alt/pop/punk/grunge stylings of the albums they did with Jason from Metallica, though we shan't get into a debate about the merits of the industrial flavored E-Force era albums (sorry, we're already getting a bit into the weeds here for those of you who are not major Voivod fanatics).
Suffice to say, Target Earth (hmm, didn't they know that was already the title of a Screamer album?) is replete with all the Voivod-isms you desire: the heavy, herky-jerky riffs and rhythms, the confusional time changes, the delirious dissonant sci-fi post punk atmospherics, the mega-advanced drumming of Away*, the thick angular blower bass lines of Blacky, the melodic, yet gruff and ragged (moreso than ever) droning vocals of SnakeÉ that's all here, and so are the SONGS, they're good too! And Chewy, he sure does Piggy proud. Definitely call it a comeback - so look out Vektor, your grandpappas are back, and mean business! VOIVOD!!!!
*And his cover art too, of course, here in a slightly cartoonish style (and garish color scheme) very much like the one he did for the Orthrelm/Behold The Arctopus split cd a while backÉ
MPEG Stream: "Target Earth"
MPEG Stream: "Mechanical Mind"
MPEG Stream: "Warchaic"

VOIVOD The Outer Limits (Metal Mind Productions) cd 17.98
Ok, maybe this is weird to admit, but you know how sometimes you get to thinking about your own inevitable death? And all the things you'd miss about being alive? Well, I (Allan) can remember back in 1993 having such morbid thoughts, and specifically thinking how one major bummer about being dead would be that I'd never ever get to listen to THIS particular album again. I mean, it's not like I was thinking that The Outer Limits by Canadian cult metallers Voivod was, like, a reason to live, it didn't prevent me from trying suicide or anything dramatic like that. But it was something that, when contemplating my own mortality, I knew I'd miss. Considering my endless spinning of this when it came out, maybe that's no surprise. The riffs, the lyrics, the artwork, there was a lot to obsess over here!
Now, 15 years later, it's finally been reissued. And so of course I've got to recommend it, maybe you won't like it as much as I did (and still do) but do you really want to go to your grave without ever finding out? It's the Voivod album that followed their somewhat controversial leftfield stab at college radio alt-metal Angel Rat (1991), and for this Voivod fan turned out to be exactly what I wanted to hear from them, becoming my favorite Voivod ever next to their to their previous masterpiece Nothingface (1989), putting their psych, punk, and prog influences - from Pink Floyd to Iggy Pop - together in a practically perfect package. It took the avant-thrash complexities of Nothingface and mixed 'em with the more accessible, trippy melodicism of Angel Rat, making for a polished, technically brilliant album of individually memorable songs. Can't really even pick favorites among 'em, every one of the nine tracks here is so great, from the soaring, storming opener "Fix My Heart" to the the creepy "Le Pont Noir" to the album's 17-minute epic sci-fi centerpiece "Jack Luminous" (PROG!) to the groovy dark rocker "Wrong-Way Street". They also do another great Pink Floyd cover (after Nothingface's version of "Astronomy Domine"), this time powering up "The Nile Song".
The whole album has a majestically moody, ominous, vaguely sinister vibe, especially so when you pay attention to the narrative of such songs as "The Lost Machine" (one of the heavier numbers here, which could have appeared on Nothingface for sure, as could have the punkishly frantic "We Are Not Alone"). And, at the same time, these songs are all super catchy - in a quirky Voivod way, sometimes, or just plain catchy a la classic '70s rock like Alice Cooper. The Outer Limits sees Voivod perfecting their ability to totally rock out whist remaining spacey and psychedelic, with lyrics to match, with both "Time Warp" and "Moonbeam Rider" being great examples of this. Well, I could go on and on, talk about Snake's unique, compelling vocals and Piggy's stellar guitar playing and all, but instead let's leave it at that, for old Voivod fans and curious noobs! I will mention drummer Away's artwork - he provides evocative illustrations for each song in the cd booklet. Not only are they done in a cool, retro sci-fi style, but they, like the his cover drawing, are all in 3-D. And this numbered, limited edition, digipacked, digitally remastered, gold disk (whew!) reissue does indeed come with lil' red and blue 3-D glasses with which to properly view and appreciate Away's art!
MPEG Stream: "The Lost Machine"
MPEG Stream: "Le Pont Noir"
MPEG Stream: "Time Warp"

VOIVOD To The Death 84 (Alternative Tentacles) cd 13.98
The far out French-Canadian sci-fi metal institution Voivod, legendary geniuses at both raw punkish thrash and advanced psychedelic prog, recently brought us an excellent live album, Warriors Of Ice, their first recording without the presence of late, great guitarist Denis "Piggy" D'Amour - although of course he'd had a hand in writing the songs, all old Voivod classics. It gave us reason to look forward to their future (studio) endeavors with Piggy's replacement, Daniel "Chewy" Mongrain.
Looking in the other direction, though, we've got this blast from the ancient past, featuring their original lineup of Piggy, Snake, Blacky, and Away. Alternative Tentacles, as if to celebrate the continuing legacy of Voivod, have just done an official reissue, on cd and vinyl, of one of the band's earliest demo tapes. As the title indicates, the year was 1984. Dystopian thrash was the primal order of the day. Light years from the technical and melodic extremes that they would eventually achieve - yet of course utterly "extreme" in its own right, and definitely already imbued with Voivod's trademark strangeness.
This release consists of 15 tracks, including such destined-to-be-well-known headbangers as "Voivod", "War And Pain", "Blower", "Suck Your Bone", "Nuclear War", and "Iron Gang", amongst others you'll recognize from Voivod's first few albums. Plus, they do a couple of cool covers that indicate Voivod aligned themselves with the "black metal" bands of their day: "Evil" by Mercyful Fate, and "Buried Alive" and "Bursting Out" by Venom! Also, worth the price of admission for any Voivod fanatic, there's the otherwise unreleased (except on other demos) track "Condemned To The Gallows", very cool and very Voivod, dunno why they never recorded it for any of their albums proper.
Sonically, the production is actually not that bad, it really sounds pretty darn good for a DIY demo done so many years ago!! No complaints there. Nor with the material, needless to say, it's killer stuff, as anyone into early 'Vod would expect - though you may be at bit surprised at Snake's harsh vocal style here, much sicker and screechier than what you may be used to, interesting indeed.
We can only hope that Alt Tentacles will follow up this historically significant release with a reissue of the Voivod's debut demo, the one that preceded this, 1983's Anachronism tape, which consisted mostly of covers by the likes of Judas Priest, Motorhead, Budgie, and various NWOBHM acts... we'd love to hear that too!
MPEG Stream: "Condemned To The Gallows"
MPEG Stream: "Black City"
MPEG Stream: "Evil"

VOIVOD To The Death 84 (Alternative Tentacles) 2lp 15.98
The far out French-Canadian sci-fi metal institution Voivod, legendary geniuses at both raw punkish thrash and advanced psychedelic prog, recently brought us an excellent live album, Warriors Of Ice, their first recording without the presence of late, great guitarist Denis "Piggy" D'Amour - although of course he'd had a hand in writing the songs, all old Voivod classics. It gave us reason to look forward to their future (studio) endeavors with Piggy's replacement, Daniel "Chewy" Mongrain.
Looking in the other direction, though, we've got this blast from the ancient past, featuring their original lineup of Piggy, Snake, Blacky, and Away. Alternative Tentacles, as if to celebrate the continuing legacy of Voivod, have just done an official reissue, on cd and vinyl, of one of the band's earliest demo tapes. As the title indicates, the year was 1984. Dystopian thrash was the primal order of the day. Light years from the technical and melodic extremes that they would eventually achieve - yet of course utterly "extreme" in its own right, and definitely already imbued with Voivod's trademark strangeness.
This release consists of 15 tracks, including such destined-to-be-well-known headbangers as "Voivod", "War And Pain", "Blower", "Suck Your Bone", "Nuclear War", and "Iron Gang", amongst others you'll recognize from Voivod's first few albums. Plus, they do a couple of cool covers that indicate Voivod aligned themselves with the "black metal" bands of their day: "Evil" by Mercyful Fate, and "Buried Alive" and "Bursting Out" by Venom! Also, worth the price of admission for any Voivod fanatic, there's the otherwise unreleased (except on other demos) track "Condemned To The Gallows", very cool and very Voivod, dunno why they never recorded it for any of their albums proper.
Sonically, the production is actually not that bad, it really sounds pretty darn good for a DIY demo done so many years ago!! No complaints there. Nor with the material, needless to say, it's killer stuff, as anyone into early 'Vod would expect - though you may be at bit surprised at Snake's harsh vocal style here, much sicker and screechier than what you may be used to, interesting indeed.
We can only hope that Alt Tentacles will follow up this historically significant release with a reissue of the Voivod's debut demo, the one that preceded this, 1983's Anachronism tape, which consisted mostly of covers by the likes of Judas Priest, Motorhead, Budgie, and various NWOBHM acts... we'd love to hear that too!
MPEG Stream: "Condemned To The Gallows"
MPEG Stream: "Black City"
MPEG Stream: "Evil"