WHIP Song Song (Blackbean & Placenta) cd 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
11 tracks in 25 minutes, Whip's "Song Song" seams to much more an extended drawl than a collection of songs, in another slight variation of the Palace / Songs:Ohia style of plaintive alt.country guitar strum and meandering hoarse vocal whine.

WHIP, THE Freelance Liaison (Wantage) 7" 5.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Two crushing bursts of pummelling, sludgy lo-fi punky metal, with bulldozer riffs, howling snowstorm production, yelped vocals and crushing drumming. Sounds a whole lot like the late great Karp which is NOT a bad thing. And also makes sense as this recording features Scott who used to drum for Karp and who tragically passed away recently.

WHISKEYTOWN Pneumonia (Lost Highway) cd 16.98
Ryan Adams took a few years off from his band Whiskeytown, and made quite a splash during that time with his solo album "Heartbreaker". I wonder if it was fun dating Winona Ryder. Now he's reconvened the quintet for their fourth full-length of earthy, rootsy Americana. Mr. Adams deftly wields his songwriting pen, shading in the same wooded path as Uncle Tupelo or the Jayhawks, but perhaps a bit more accessible to the main highway of popular music like Tom Petty.

WHISKEYTOWN Strangers Almanac (Deluxe Edition) (Geffen) cd 27.00
An oldie but goodie! This deluxe reissue of Whiskeytown's awesome Stranger's Almanac album has renewed the love side in our love/hate relationship with the music of Mr. Ryan Adams. In fact, all the bonus tracks (alternate takes, demos, etc) that accompany their 1997 major label debut album seem superfluous (yet fan-pleasing!) when held up to the solid original baker's dozen songs. To be honest we spent far more time revisiting those thirteen tunes than all of the bonus ones! Alt-country, new Americana... label it what you will, but when the tempermental Whiskeytown were 'on' their feisty, yearning songs were picture-perfect example of the genre's finest.
MPEG Stream: "Yesterday's News"
MPEG Stream: "House On The Hills (live in-studio)"

WHISPERS FROM A DEAD WORLD & LIGHT SHALL PREVAIL Beyond Our Shores / What Once Was SHall Never Again Be (E.E.E. Recordings) 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.
WHISPERS: Pagan folk / viking metal, epic and black.
LIGHT: blistering chaotic psychedelic BM. Ferocious and introspective.
MPEG Stream: WHISPERS FROM A DEAD WORLD "Journey Into Glory"
MPEG Stream: WHISPERS FROM A DEAD WORLD "We Alone"
MPEG Stream: LIGHT SHALL PREVAIL "Beholding The Throne Of Christ"
MPEG Stream: LIGHT SHALL PREVAIL "Defeated Once And For All"

WHITE / LICHENS s/t (Holy Mountain) cd 13.98
"So it was that three hundred electric moons cancelled the ancient green queen of loves with their blinding chalk rays..."
So concludes one of the obscure, occultic pieces of text excerpted in the cd booklet of this new disc (in this case the Futurist prose poem "Uccidiamo il chiaro di luna" by Filippo Marinetti) and is to us a suitably evocative and cryptic description of the beautiful, distorted drones conjured by White/Lichens, a collaborative project staffed by Rob Lowe (aka Lichens, who records for the Kranky label in his hometown of Chicago) and Matt Clark and Jeremy Lemos of the Chicago heavy ambient guitar duo White/Light (who have a cd on Rebis).
Lichens' previous disc The Psychic Nature Of Being on Kranky (lp version on Holy Mountain) we described as "delicate" and "crystalline", constructed mainly from electronically-treated live improv loopings of his own voice, abetted with guitar and percussion. But the scary dronescapes of White/Lichens are more dense than delicate, the added weight of Clark and Lemos' guitars "heavy-ing up" the Lichens sound. You'll hear rumbling low-end and keening highs in this most satisfying set of billowing electric drone, what distantly sounds like a Morse code transmission buried beneath the destroyed residue of 1,000 doomed violins... It's like the Vibracathedral Orchestra scoring an opium induced nightmare, or the organic decay of an claustrophobic early Kluster track exposed to alien moonlight for the past 40 years. There's five tracks here, the first and last being the longest (19 and 16 minutes apiece, approximately) with the middle three around four minutes each. At its most dense and distortion-filled, as on the final track "Bael", this could be a glitchless version of the murky Merzbowian Sheer Hellish Miasma stirred up by their pal Kevin Drumm. Or KTL's most Earth-y moments tempered by the homebrewed, gentle freeform folk-psych of a Jewelled Antler recording.
We don't doubt for an instant that if this was a limited edition cd-r from some mysterious Finnish forest dweller, or lathe cut 10" by a kid in New Zealand, we'd be assured of selling fistfuls of 'em. And therefore, since the well-respected Holy Mountain label judged this to be deserving of not-so-limited cd status, that should indicate it's even MORE worth picking up, than if there were just 50 copies made, intended solely for collectors...
MPEG Stream: "Cimejes, Or Cimeies, Or Kimares"
MPEG Stream: "Belial"
MPEG Stream: "Bael"

WHITE / LIGHT Black Acts (Smells Like Records) cd 13.98
Last year these guys teamed up with Robert Lowe, aka Lichens, for a killer collab on Holy Mountain that left us floored. Black Acts harbors the same type of synthy, visual drones that come reeling out of White/Lichens, only this time around the White/Light boys weave their brand of bliss into more desolate territory. The Chicago duo manage to conjure an impressive brand of dark analog hypnosis, like waking up in the middle of the desert to a shimmering pyramid mirage made of sound and light. Even while parts of the record hint at the early minimalist legacies of dudes like La Monte Young and Henry Flint, there is a subtle buzzy edge to these songs that set them apart from the work of their predecessors. The record opens with creeping high end crunch that builds into a pulsing haze of all-encompassing droooone. More low-end, distorted swells of heavy bass kick in and, man, talk about headphone dreamland. These dudes really know how to rocket a listener into another dimension. As the record spins the duo cover all kinds of territory, cosmic feedback bleeps from the cockpit of a spaceship, orchestral beams of long-winded swells, single note droners that leave you dazed and entranced. A heap of bodies on the cover and a heap of guitars, pedals and amps on the back, the artwork is cryptic and elusive, perfect for a beautifully arranged record of analog dreamscapes for the mellow minded.
MPEG Stream: "Dassin"
MPEG Stream: "Discipline"

WHITE BIRCH, THE Come Up For Air (Rune Grammofon) cd 16.98
This week brought us a gathering of sumptuous dark pop albums from around the globe which all fit together incredibly well! Sure to keep you completely soothed and enchanted: Edison Woods' Nest Of Machines, this the fourth album by this Norwegian trio known as The White Birch as well as the as-yet-unreleased solo album Leaving Songs by Tindersticks' Stuart Staples (we got an advance listenin' copy, but rest assured it's comin' out June 6th).
Come Up For Air is filled with all things gently lulling and ethereal. In addition to drawing comparisons to Sigur Ros and Mum, The White Birch is also sort of like Tindersticks but with soft male and female vocals in place of Stuart Staples deep baritone. Lead vocalist Ola Flottum sounds like a more sullen or sleepy Stuart Murdoch of Belle And Sebastian, while guest vocalist Susanna Wallumrod provides the well-suited female vocal counterpart on two numbers. Dreamy dreaminess.
MPEG Stream: "The White Birds"
MPEG Stream: "June"

WHITE DARKNESS Nothing (Senor Hernandez / Roadburn) 2lp 24.00

WHITE DENIM Fits (Downtown Records) cd 14.98
We weren't really sure what we'd get from a band named "White Denim," but we're happy to report that it's not only better than we expected, but pretty damn rad. White Denim hail from Austin, TX, and they whip up a frenzied chunk of heavily grooving guitar rock with a nice psychedelic feel and some cool moments of skronky (sometime sax inflected) weirdness that come as a nice surprise. The songs on Fits are energetic and fun, and the super tight production really makes things stand out. This band must just own it live. At times they comes off a bit like the post-Karp/pre-Big Business band Tight Bros. From Way Back When, meaning pretty much that this is a group of indie rockers taking a stab at a MC5/Stooges/Grand Funk thing, we know it sounds shitty on paper, but this is actually hitting the spot quite nicely, and you probably won't even mind when the band busts out a sitar solo... everything just blends together really well, even though things are all jagged, noisy, and frequently atonal. These guys definitely rock hard and they certainly satisfy our hunger for dumb (in a good way), testosterone fueled rock. Fans of the aforementioned Tight Bros., the Estrus records roster, and Monotonix will totally dig this.
Oh, yeah! The vinyl contains a free download card, PLUS their first album as a second slab of wax!
MPEG Stream: "Radio Milk How Can You Stand It"
MPEG Stream: "All Consolation"
MPEG Stream: "Say What You What"

WHITE DENIM Fits (Downtown Records) 2lp 17.98
We weren't really sure what we'd get from a band named "White Denim," but we're happy to report that it's not only better than we expected, but pretty damn rad. White Denim hail from Austin, TX, and they whip up a frenzied chunk of heavily grooving guitar rock with a nice psychedelic feel and some cool moments of skronky (sometime sax inflected) weirdness that come as a nice surprise. The songs on Fits are energetic and fun, and the super tight production really makes things stand out. This band must just own it live. At times they comes off a bit like the post-Karp/pre-Big Business band Tight Bros. From Way Back When, meaning pretty much that this is a group of indie rockers taking a stab at a MC5/Stooges/Grand Funk thing, we know it sounds shitty on paper, but this is actually hitting the spot quite nicely, and you probably won't even mind when the band busts out a sitar solo... everything just blends together really well, even though things are all jagged, noisy, and frequently atonal. These guys definitely rock hard and they certainly satisfy our hunger for dumb (in a good way), testosterone fueled rock. Fans of the aforementioned Tight Bros., the Estrus records roster, and Monotonix will totally dig this.
Oh, yeah! The vinyl contains a free download card, PLUS their first album as a second slab of wax!
MPEG Stream: "Radio Milk How Can You Stand It"
MPEG Stream: "All Consolation"
MPEG Stream: "Say What You What"

WHITE FANG Best of White Fang Vol. 3 (Gnar Tapes) cassette 8.98
Limited cassette from the scrappy dudes of White Fang. Got a couple of these when they were in town on tour so grab one fast cause once their gone you know.....

WHITE FANG Whatever (Marriage) lp + zine 14.98
Bands like White Fang really make us wanna be young again, really young, with their carefree attitude, snarky and scrappy aesthetic and all out blasts of fucked up fun! The opening track on Whatever sounds a bit like today's lo-fi garage burners covering Bad Brains, and throughout the record we also hear wonderful hints of the really raw and noisy early years of Pavement or what it might sound like if Wavves covered a song off the first Neutral Milk Hotel record, especially on the songs where WF rock some distorted trumpet.
Freewheeling, eclectic and on the verge of falling apart, White Fang really are all over the place, but in ways that make perfect sense to our warped ears. They have some of the awesome charm of those damaged early SST records by folks like Saccharine Trust and the Meat Puppets (their first record!) as well as modern day kindred sonic spirits like Eat Skull or Silver Daggers. These kids have wisely tapped into the more twisted and cracked side of punk and garage rock, we're sure they would be so rad live at some out of control house party or warehouse show. The record comes on really nice thick vinyl with a coupon for a digital download as well as a cool little zine filled with photos, flyers, and drawings.

WHITE FLIGHT s/t (Range Life) cd 14.98
Heads up for White Flight! He might look a bit familiar to some who know mainman Justin Roelofs as the guitarist for The Anniversary, but he's doin' something quite different from the direct, peppy emo-pop of his other band. Still quite energetic and emotive, but this pop is more sprawling and slightly tweaked in a meandering Beck or Ween-ish fashion with vocals that fall in a similar yelpy range of Hidden Cameras, Wolf Parade and Arcade Fire. While maintaining a core of slouchy indie rock, Roelofs dabbles with shuffling hip hop beats and bleary psych-folk detours. This is an album brimming with often seemingly disjointed ideas -- some more fully realized than others, some we wish he'd elaborated on further. For those with short attention spans who dig cool aural fragments.
MPEG Stream: "Now"
MPEG Stream: "Galactic Seed"

WHITE FUNGUS Issue 7 magazine 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Latest issue of this eminently readable and gorgeously laid out New Zealand music and arts magazine. Always chock full of amazing obscurities and usually at least one or two artists or musicians you actually have heard of just so you don't feel completely out of touch. This issue features, a piece on the Pink And White Terraces, at one time, New Zealand;s "Eighth Wonder Of The World", installation artist Hany Armanious, artist and photographer Yvonne Todd, the mighty Merzbow (oh, we know him!), LA writer and filmmaker Chris Kraus, a bunch of drawings by artist Peter Robinson, Kiwi female fronted rap duo Coco Solid, a brief piece on the Dead C's Bruce Russell (we know him too!), a report on Christchurch's 4th Biennial of Public Art, an excerpt from the Biennial's blog, Korean 'junk' artist Choi Jeong Hwa, plus still more art, tons of photos, illustrations, drawings, some fiction, and more more more. All wrapped up in a striking full color cover. Awesome.

WHITE HILLS A Little Bliss Forever (Drug Space Records) lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
First vinyl release from these NY based drug addled space rock explorers, featuring a new member and a somewhat different sound. The new member is Kid Millions, drummer for the band Oneida, whose most recent disc, Preteen Weaponry, was a huge hit around here. But the addition of Millions doesn't signify a shift towards the abstract rhythmic heaviness of Oneida, instead, White Hills seem to have gone in the opposite direction, ditching some of their heavy freak out tendencies, and instead sprawling languorously, letting the instruments unwind, the songs unfurl, laid back, blissed out, far out, and endlessly drifting space rock, heavier on the space than the rock.
Two sidelong jams, the first, is thick with wah guitars, but those guitars are suspended in wide open stretches of whir and hum, wreathed in reverb, and allowed to drift and shimmer, the drums are the steadiest part, alternately jazzy and shuffling, subtle and propulsive, the recording and production is raw and immediate, almost like a rehearsal space demo, but it definitely suits the sound. The track wanders and meanders, like a super stripped down Hawkwind, until the various sounds become enveloped in soft clouds of spacey FX and buzzing synths, a crescendo of sorts, but the track never explodes, never gets heavy, it's almost like a field recording of some eternal space jam, a neverending sonic entity that continues forever in both directions, backwards until the birth of the universe, forward into infinity, we're just offered a glimpse as it passes us by.
The flipside is a bit dirgier, more garagey, a sort of stripped down Stooges-y stomp, but slowed way down, until it's almost a doomy dirge, more clouds of spaced out FX, this time a bit more raw, the sound a bit heavier, but still more spacey and abstract, the second half of side two a tripped out ambient bliss out, layers of drones and buzz, whirling beneath random minimal effects and some creepy looped vocals.
LIMITED TO 333 COPIES. White sleeves with paste on art, front and back, inside a red vellum insert, we did get a whole bunch of these, but as with most White Hills releases, they'll probably go pretty fast, and odds are we won't be able to get more.

WHITE HILLS A Little Bliss Forever (Drug Space Records) lp 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Finally available again, back in print, slightly different cover, comes with a xeroxed mini poster, and an insert with liner notes (not sure if the first one did too), limited like crazy again this second time around so grab one while you can...
Here's what we said about the lp when we first got it in last year:
First vinyl release from these NY based drug addled space rock explorers, featuring a new member and a somewhat different sound. The new member is Kid Millions, drummer for the band Oneida, whose most recent disc, Preteen Weaponry, was a huge hit around here. But the addition of Millions doesn't signify a shift towards the abstract rhythmic heaviness of Oneida, instead, White Hills seem to have gone in the opposite direction, ditching some of their heavy freak out tendencies, and instead sprawling languorously, letting the instruments unwind, the songs unfurl, laid back, blissed out, far out, and endlessly drifting space rock, heavier on the space than the rock.
Two sidelong jams, the first, is thick with wah guitars, but those guitars are suspended in wide open stretches of whir and hum, wreathed in reverb, and allowed to drift and shimmer, the drums are the steadiest part, alternately jazzy and shuffling, subtle and propulsive, the recording and production is raw and immediate, almost like a rehearsal space demo, but it definitely suits the sound. The track wanders and meanders, like a super stripped down Hawkwind, until the various sounds become enveloped in soft clouds of spacey FX and buzzing synths, a crescendo of sorts, but the track never explodes, never gets heavy, it's almost like a field recording of some eternal space jam, a neverending sonic entity that continues forever in both directions, backwards until the birth of the universe, forward into infinity, we're just offered a glimpse as it passes us by.
The flipside is a bit dirgier, more garagey, a sort of stripped down Stooges-y stomp, but slowed way down, until it's almost a doomy dirge, more clouds of spaced out FX, this time a bit more raw, the sound a bit heavier, but still more spacey and abstract, the second half of side two a tripped out ambient bliss out, layers of drones and buzz, whirling beneath random minimal effects and some creepy looped vocals.

WHITE HILLS Abstractions And Mutations (self-released) 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.
The return of White Hills, and their East Coast Hawkwind worshipping Stooges stomp FX blowouts. Every disc has kicked our asses, each one exploring a different side of WH's spaced out psychedelic sound. From the swirling cosmic krautprog of No Game To Play, to the more straight ahead space rock of Glitter Glamour Atrocity to the recent collaboration with Bay Area noisemakers White Pee, a half hour blast of ambient spacenoize. Where does Abstractions And Mutations fall? It falls smack dab in between all of those, but it falls HARD and HEAVY. Easily the fiercest outing yet from Dave W. and his bearded and robed wizards of druggy sonic overload. Beginning with a seriously metallic riff, and some super effected vocals, the band pounds relentlessly, adding tons of melody and a wicked hook, and then a brief space-y shuffle, before the song explodes into three minutes of amp frying psychguitar destruction.
The 15 minute "Left Behind" begins by drifting through some Tangerine Dreamed outer space void, peppered with fluttering drum fills, abstract shards of guitar, and clouds of shimmering FX, before again, exploding into a relentless acid jam, the drums splattering and sputtering, pounding and thrashing, the guitars wailing and howling, everything wrapped in a dense haze of buzz and effects. The rest of the record strikes a balance between the two, the blissed out laid back haze, and the face melting psychedelic freakout, culminating in the super tripped out final track, a sort of disembodied Doors-y jam, slow and spare, vocals drifting, guitars burning in soft swells, the percussion doused in reverb, the pace seriously stoned, before the chaos rains down from above, an intense drum guitar duel, the reverb and delay joining in for good measure, a swirling head spinning blow out.
This was some sort of tour only release, we managed to get most of the remaining copies direct from the band, which means, not only are these crazy limited, but that when we run out, odds are we will NOT be able to get more. Packaged in plain white sleeves, with simple stickers affixed to the front and back...
MPEG Stream: "Eye To Eye"
MPEG Stream: "Left Behind"

WHITE HILLS Dead (Thrill Jockey) 12" 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Latest blast of modern space psych drone rock from these East Coast spacelords, an ultra limited (only 1000 copies) 12", part of Thrill Jockey's new subscription series, which means these will probably be gone in a flash.
Which is too bad, cuz this is one of the best White Hills jams yet, thankfully, only two of these tracks are exclusive, one is a new version of a track from Heads On Fire, remixed by Julian Cope's drummer, one is a track from the upcoming full length, but two of them are ONLY available here (and the remixed version of "Oceans Of Sound" from Heads On Fire is different enough to make it essentially a new track) so pretty much a must own for the space rock psych drone obsessives out there, which is most likely most of you.
The A side begins with "Dead" which will be on the band's upcoming full length, and it's a doozy, fuzzy, druggy, a little bit lo-fi, looped and hypnotic, with dreamy soft singing, beneath billowing clouds of distorted guitars, all hazy and super space rocky, definitely channeling the spirits of Loop and Spacemen 3, definitely has us chomping at the bit for the new album.
The second track is the remixed "Oceans Of Sound" and is a cool processed guitarscape, swirled FX wrapped around a stuttery tremolo guitar, like a drugged out space rock "How Soon Is Now?", fragmented riffs careen through streaks of buzz and hum, building to a total space pop climax that definitely had us thinking Spiritualized or Teenage Filmstars.
Flip it over, and "Another Coming" explodes out of the speakers, a grinding thick viscous dronescape, very reminiscent of Expo 70, that sort of krautdronespacedrift, with dense looped guitars, stretched out into a churning blur, the whole thing wreathed in hazy effects. The second track, "Red Sun", is all skeletal and dubbed out, almost funky sounding, with minimal guitar, but again loads of effects, thick throbbing bass, and creepy sampled voices.
Super rad. And SUPER LIMITED. ONLY 1000 COPIES, and most likely sold out any minute, we got a whole bunch, but that doesn't mean we won't blow through these. Gorgeous jackets too, matte black with spot UV gloss lettering, and a fancy full color pasted on art card front cover.

WHITE HILLS Glitter Glamour Atrocity (White Hills Music) cd 14.98
NYC's White Hills blew us away last year with a bunch of limited edition, Julian Cope-approved cd-r releases documenting their mesmeric, motorik, heavy, and very Hawkwindy space rock sound. We're now very pleased to have their new full-length album in stock -- and it's a real cd, even though the (cool-looking) digipak it's contained within appears hand-assembled.
This time around, we are initially given the impression that White Hills has decided to mix it up a little, branching off into a more musicianly, refined post-rock realm rather than sticking entirely to the amplification n' effects laden, cosmic droneout krautrockishness set-the-controls ROCK of their cd-rs. Certainly there's more dynamics here, more ambient/acoustic interludes, lots of really pretty, even poppy bits. But what about the heavy hypnotic headnodders? They're here too, don't worry! Fans of Hawkwind, Neu!, Braindonor, Spacemen Three, Comets On Fire, Kinski, Titan, Pharaoh Overlord, etc. will certainly dig the likes of "Love Serve Remember" (which weirdly reminds us of the Painteens) and the distorted, psychedelic, jamming excess of the nearly 15 minute long album-closing title track, among others here. This new White Hills is perhaps more nuanced in some ways than their prior output, but any newfound delicacy hasn't dimmed the drugged dementia of the louder portions of this disc and they've always had their wonderfully blissful side anyway, so we're quite happy with their "progress"! Could do without the bits sampled from George W. Bush speeches, though, despite agreeing with the anti-Bush sentiment being displayed.
MPEG Stream: "Under Skin Or By Name"
MPEG Stream: "Spirit Of Exile"
MPEG Stream: "Love Serve Remember"

WHITE HILLS Heads On Fire (Rocket Recordings) cd 14.98
After a whole mess of crazy limited cd-r releases, this is only the 2nd proper, actual cd release from these East Coast blown out garage psych space rockers. Avid readers of the list will no doubt by now, be hip to these guys, their wall of guitar, Hawkwind meets the Stooges meets Monster Magnet meets the Heads is tough to beat, every song drenched in wild outer space FX, the drums pounding beneath an avalanche of psychedelic guitar, the vocals, shadows flitting across the molten surface of these tracks, barely audible just another layer of dense fuzz.
So how does this record stack up to the rest? We mentioned that the last release, the tour only Abstractions And Mutations, was the band's fiercest yet, but Heads On Fire might have us reassessing. Cuz this has to be exactly what it would sound like if your head was indeed on fire.
The opener is a heavy as fuck space rock romp, right out of the gate, a wall of buzzing wah wah guitar is loosed, and all you can do is hang on for the ride, it's like Spacemen 3 on speed, that same sort of billowy tripped out warm guitar buzz, but souped WAY up, supercharged, a blinding supernova of freaked out garage rock psychedelia. But the track right after that is way riffier, a serious Stooges-y stomp, plenty of guitar crunch and psychedelic squalls, but the vocals are more present, a sort of Wyndorf style lord mother fucker drawl, wrapped in reverb and draped over the jagged riffing and pounding drums.
Then there's "Don't Be Afraid", which begins with whipping wind and distant foghorns, ominous and mysterious, a phone being dialed, ringing and ringing, the band gradually coming in, a slow lope, simple tribal drums, a laid back guitar line, soft fuzzy swells of sound in the background, a lugubrious slow build, the vocals howled and spacey, reverbed and dripping with delay, the guitar getting gradually more and more jagged and distorted, until everything drops out, just wind, and muted electronics, muffled FX, the bass line creeping along steadily, bits of melody drifting by, the vocals come back in and BAM the band takes off, the guitar spitting flames, the drums falling down a mineshaft, a huge tangle of psychedelic space rock chaos, and then nothing, a weird, barely there, 5 minute outro, bits of guitar, creaking and buzzing, more wind, and finally silence.
And in case that last 30 minutes, and those last 5 in particular, had you forgetting just where you were, the band shuts things down with 4+ minutes of furious fuzz and pummeling pound, thick and corrosive, and so distorted the riffs seem to melt into each other, the vocals sung from the bottom of a well, a bit of start stop dynamics, replete with creepy giggling children, and then the perfect send off, a sky full of psychedelic fireworks, multicolored streaks of white hot guitar, a blinding ear full of sonic pyrotechnics like staring straight into the sun.
MPEG Stream: "Radiate"
MPEG Stream: "Ocean Sound"

WHITE HILLS Heads On Fire (Thrill Jockey) lp 14.98
FINALLY AVAILABLE ON VINYL!!! Includes a download code, so you can grab a digital version too. Here's what we had to say about the record when we first got it in:
After a whole mess of crazy limited cd-r releases, this was only the 2nd proper release from these East Coast blown out garage psych space rockers. Avid readers of the list will no doubt by now, be hip to these guys, their wall of guitar, Hawkwind meets the Stooges meets Monster Magnet meets the Heads is tough to beat, every song drenched in wild outer space FX, the drums pounding beneath an avalanche of psychedelic guitar, the vocals, shadows flitting across the molten surface of these tracks, barely audible just another layer of dense fuzz.
So how does this record stack up to the rest? We mentioned that the last release, the tour only Abstractions And Mutations, was the band's fiercest yet, but Heads On Fire might have us reassessing. Cuz this has to be exactly what it would sound like if your head was indeed on fire.
The opener is a heavy as fuck space rock romp, right out of the gate, a wall of buzzing wah wah guitar is loosed, and all you can do is hang on for the ride, it's like Spacemen 3 on speed, that same sort of billowy tripped out warm guitar buzz, but souped WAY up, supercharged, a blinding supernova of freaked out garage rock psychedelia. But the track right after that is way riffier, a serious Stooges-y stomp, plenty of guitar crunch and psychedelic squalls, but the vocals are more present, a sort of Wyndorf style lord mother fucker drawl, wrapped in reverb and draped over the jagged riffing and pounding drums.
Then there's "Don't Be Afraid", which begins with whipping wind and distant foghorns, ominous and mysterious, a phone being dialed, ringing and ringing, the band gradually coming in, a slow lope, simple tribal drums, a laid back guitar line, soft fuzzy swells of sound in the background, a lugubrious slow build, the vocals howled and spacey, reverbed and dripping with delay, the guitar getting gradually more and more jagged and distorted, until everything drops out, just wind, and muted electronics, muffled FX, the bass line creeping along steadily, bits of melody drifting by, the vocals come back in and BAM the band takes off, the guitar spitting flames, the drums falling down a mineshaft, a huge tangle of psychedelic space rock chaos, and then nothing, a weird, barely there, 5 minute outro, bits of guitar, creaking and buzzing, more wind, and finally silence.
And in case that last 30 minutes, and those last 5 in particular, had you forgetting just where you were, the band shuts things down with 4+ minutes of furious fuzz and pummeling pound, thick and corrosive, and so distorted the riffs seem to melt into each other, the vocals sung from the bottom of a well, a bit of start stop dynamics, replete with creepy giggling children, and then the perfect send off, a sky full of psychedelic fireworks, multicolored streaks of white hot guitar, a blinding ear full of sonic pyrotechnics like staring straight into the sun.
For those of you who don't want the vinyl OR the cd (also in stock), but still would like to iPod this, we promised Thrill Jockey we'd mention that you can buy this as a download-only at their online mp3 storefront, here: http://fina-music.com/catalog/index.html?id=103962.
MPEG Stream: "Radiate"
MPEG Stream: "Ocean Sound"

WHITE HILLS KOKO London Debut (self-released) cd-r 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Super limited cd-r, released to coincide with shows in the UK from this spaced out drug rock krautrocky combo. Featuring outtakes from No Game To Play as well as a couple tracks from the upcoming full length. SUPER LIMITED.

WHITE HILLS No Game To Play (self-released) cd-r 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We'd been hearing good things about this band for ages. Someone we know was raving about 'em, and they also had the recommendation of Julian Cope... But we were having some difficulty tracking down the band, or a way to get their record for the store. Until an insane bit of coincidence / serendipity. In walked one Dave Weinberg, who a decade earlier had been Andee's boss at Holey Bagel in Noe Valley, across the street from the old aQuarius (back when Andee had time for two jobs). He had copies of a cd by his band, and what do you know? Dave's band just so happened to be White Hills! Wow. Thus we managed to get 30 or so copies of the second pressing of the No Game To Play cd-r (the first pressing is long out of print, as is the alternate version, which was drastically remixed, resequenced and retitled They've Got Blood Like We've Got Blood and released on Cope's Fuck Off And Di cd-r label) and it's just as good as we had hoped. In a word, SPACEROCK. Or if you prefer, two words. Either way, this is some seriously tripped out swirling cosmic proggy, krautrock flecked, keyboard drenched outer outer outer space rock. Think just the jams from all the best Hawkwind songs, or the dreamiest mellowest bits of your favorite Monster Magnet tracks. Mix in some Neu! and some Faust and even some Stereolab at times and you'll just be scratching the surface of White Hills' sound. The opening track is a grungy, lowslung garagey drug addled space rock stomp, think the Stooges dropping acid until they started drifting off and began to sound more like Hawkwind, a killer hypnotic riff, a simple shuffling drum beat, mumbled vocals buried in the mix, and a swirling squall of wigged out guitars and all manner of synthesizer squiggle and swoon. It sounds quite a bit like Circle too, that riff just repeating and repeating, mantra like, a super tranced out rock that you want to go on forever. The centerpiece of the record is definitely "They've Got Blood Like We've Got Blood", a near static synth swirl over a shuffling tribal rhythm, while guitars just sort of drift and float lazily amidst the whir and drone. Sounds a little bit like Brian Eno jamming with Crash Worship while somebody goes apeshit in the background on the synths. A gloriously mesmerizing hypnorock. Then a brief blast of straight up blown out, super distorted Neu! worship before the drifting ambient closer "Ulan", an abstract synthesizer soundscape that sounds like some lost Tangerine Dream jam. Blissy and totally dreamlike.
This is supposedly the final pressing, limited to 222 copies.
MPEG Stream: "No Game To Play"
MPEG Stream: "They've Got Blood Like We've Got Blood"

WHITE HILLS No Kind Ending (Diagnosis...Don't!) 3"cd-r 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We ordered these from Australia over a year ago, and for whatever reason, we didn't end up getting them until just recently. The label is on indefinite hiatus now, and this disc is WAY out of print, thankfully we got nearly 50 of 'em, but those are the last copies EVER, and knowing how White Hills stuff sells around here, if you want one, best grab one quick.
One sprawling 16+ minute track, just White Hills main man Dave W. solo, echo guitar and synthesizers, unfurling a woozy, buzzy, softly undulating chunk of star speckled spacedrone, think Expo '70, Tangerine Dream, Zombi, Klaus Schulze, total blissed out planetarium lazer light show druggy kraut rock drift. Melodies unwind slowly through gently warped streaks of ominous whirring new age-y shimmer, and the whole track just seems to expand, to open up, like a time lapse vision of the death of a star or the birth of a universe, colors and streaks of white light swirl endlessly, creating delicate melodies, draped over a deep subsonic thrum, and delicate spidery whirring tendrils of crystalline sound, driven by a barely audible buried pulse like rhythm, blurred into a gauzy soft focus bit of divine cinematic space kraut drift.
Packaged in thick cardstock mini 3" sleeves, with a printed (band name, label info, liner notes) Japanese style obi.
And as mentioned above, SUPER LIMITED numbers of these in stock, and once they're gone, they are GONE.
MPEG Stream: "No Kind Ending"

WHITE HILLS s/t (Thrill Jockey) cd 15.98
Latest full-length from these Hawkwind worshipping drug-drone psychedelic space rockers from New York, after their killer long players Heads On Fire and Glitter Glamor Atrocity, as well as 7 or 8 other kick ass cd-r's AND a couple 12"s, all leading us here, quite possibly their heaviest and most full realized record yet.
Beginning with "Dead", a track we're already pretty obsessed with, as it was the teaser track from the last 12", and even after spinning the 12" to, um, death, it's still a doozy: fuzzy, druggy, looped and hypnotic, with dreamy soft singing, beneath billowing clouds of distorted guitars, all hazy and super space rocky, definitely channeling the spirits of Loop and Spacemen 3, totally hypnotic, like a blown out krautrock jam drenched in tons of effects, you can almost hear the flashing strobes, and clouds of glowing smoke, the track just oozes druggy bliss.
And druggy bliss pretty much describes the whole record. "Countin Sevens" is a slow burning meander through some otherworldly landscape if prismatic clouds and barren moonlit expanses, the drums tribal and motorik, the guitar strummy and jangly, the bass throbbing and dense, all wound up into yet another seemingly endless sprawl of psychedelic excess, hazy, bleary and so utterly enthralling.
"Three Quarters" is the first track to get TRULY riffy, a sort of Stooges / Loop hybrid, the band locked into a churning loping rhythm, the vocals weirdly processed, exploding occasionally into even heavier double time downtuned grooves, before slipping back into that opening lope, before breaking down into 4 minutes of droned out space psych drift, wild tangled leads, long sheets of rumbling buzz, streaks of feedback, the bass and drums locked into a super heavy groove, another track that could (and probably should) go on forever.
"Let The Right One In" is one of two tracks that crack the 12 minute mark, beginning with field recordings of street sounds and tolling bells, dogs barking and whirling wind, all set a top a washed out bed of murmured guitars, a simple spidery bassline, shuffling drums, a soft focus shimmer, a brooding ballad, that gradually grows more and more post/math rocky, but never truly letting loose, until the last few minutes, but this time the psych freakout is reeled in, and instead the band just get a little epic and majestic, with thick looped riffage, soaring chords, repeating mantra like as the song finally unwinds. "We Will Rise" is a super minimal stretch of gurgling effects laden murk, with some spare drumming, soft squalls of guitar glimmer and a warm liquid bassline running through it, leading directly into "Glacial" which is in fact glacial, a thick whirring drone, muted buzz, and grinding downtuned whirs wound tight into a softly pulsing minimal drift, with some seriously SUNNO)))-like doomic swells off in the background, haunting and hushed and seriously ominous.
Which leads perfectly into the epic closer, "Polvere Di Stelle", fuzz bass, big drums, weary ethereal vocals, and guitars galore, a hazy washed out drug rock space out, more tangled leads, swells of super distorted wah wah riffage, the drums wild and forceful, the whole song a massive lurching beast, building to a super chaotic psychedelic blowout, a speaker melting crescendo, drums colliding like atoms, the guitars whirling and howling, the vocals another hazy layer, everything locked into a churning hypnorock sprawl spreading out into the cosmos...
The cd comes in a cool mini lp style full color gatefold sleeve, the lp is housed in an eye popping super elaborate psychedelic silver foil metallic sleeve and is EXTREMELY limited....
MPEG Stream: "Dead"
MPEG Stream: "Counting Sevens"
MPEG Stream: "Three Quarters"
MPEG Stream: "Polvere Di Stelle"

WHITE HILLS s/t (Thrill Jockey) lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Latest full-length from these Hawkwind worshipping drug-drone psychedelic space rockers from New York, after their killer long players Heads On Fire and Glitter Glamor Atrocity, as well as 7 or 8 other kick ass cd-r's AND a couple 12"s, all leading us here, quite possibly their heaviest and most full realized record yet.
Beginning with "Dead", a track we're already pretty obsessed with, as it was the teaser track from the last 12", and even after spinning the 12" to, um, death, it's still a doozy: fuzzy, druggy, looped and hypnotic, with dreamy soft singing, beneath billowing clouds of distorted guitars, all hazy and super space rocky, definitely channeling the spirits of Loop and Spacemen 3, totally hypnotic, like a blown out krautrock jam drenched in tons of effects, you can almost hear the flashing strobes, and clouds of glowing smoke, the track just oozes druggy bliss.
And druggy bliss pretty much describes the whole record. "Countin Sevens" is a slow burning meander through some otherworldly landscape if prismatic clouds and barren moonlit expanses, the drums tribal and motorik, the guitar strummy and jangly, the bass throbbing and dense, all wound up into yet another seemingly endless sprawl of psychedelic excess, hazy, bleary and so utterly enthralling.
"Three Quarters" is the first track to get TRULY riffy, a sort of Stooges / Loop hybrid, the band locked into a churning loping rhythm, the vocals weirdly processed, exploding occasionally into even heavier double time downtuned grooves, before slipping back into that opening lope, before breaking down into 4 minutes of droned out space psych drift, wild tangled leads, long sheets of rumbling buzz, streaks of feedback, the bass and drums locked into a super heavy groove, another track that could (and probably should) go on forever.
"Let The Right One In" is one of two tracks that crack the 12 minute mark, beginning with field recordings of street sounds and tolling bells, dogs barking and whirling wind, all set a top a washed out bed of murmured guitars, a simple spidery bassline, shuffling drums, a soft focus shimmer, a brooding ballad, that gradually grows more and more post/math rocky, but never truly letting loose, until the last few minutes, but this time the psych freakout is reeled in, and instead the band just get a little epic and majestic, with thick looped riffage, soaring chords, repeating mantra like as the song finally unwinds. "We Will Rise" is a super minimal stretch of gurgling effects laden murk, with some spare drumming, soft squalls of guitar glimmer and a warm liquid bassline running through it, leading directly into "Glacial" which is in fact glacial, a thick whirring drone, muted buzz, and grinding downtuned whirs wound tight into a softly pulsing minimal drift, with some seriously SUNNO)))-like doomic swells off in the background, haunting and hushed and seriously ominous.
Which leads perfectly into the epic closer, "Polvere Di Stelle", fuzz bass, big drums, weary ethereal vocals, and guitars galore, a hazy washed out drug rock space out, more tangled leads, swells of super distorted wah wah riffage, the drums wild and forceful, the whole song a massive lurching beast, building to a super chaotic psychedelic blowout, a speaker melting crescendo, drums colliding like atoms, the guitars whirling and howling, the vocals another hazy layer, everything locked into a churning hypnorock sprawl spreading out into the cosmos...
The cd comes in a cool mini lp style full color gatefold sleeve, the lp is housed in an eye popping super elaborate psychedelic silver foil metallic sleeve and is EXTREMELY limited....
MPEG Stream: "Dead"
MPEG Stream: "Counting Sevens"
MPEG Stream: "Three Quarters"
MPEG Stream: "Polvere Di Stelle"

WHITE HILLS They've Got Blood Like We've Got Blood (Fuck Off And Di) cd-r 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Synth psych kraut weirdness from NY. Julian Cope raved about it on his Head Heritage website. We have loads of the version the band released but Cope's remixed version is already out of print, and we only have a few copies left.

WHITE HILLS + WHITE PEE Wish You Weren't Here (self-released) cd-r 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Even though it wasn't all that long ago that we were served with the serious space rock wallop of White Hills' most recent full length Glitter Glamour Atrocity, it was only a matter of moments before we were already jonesing for more. And while this is not a proper WH record per se, it is at least another heaping helping of that spaced out sound we can't get enough of.
Here, White Hills team up with SF noise outfit White Pee for a nearly 30 minute single track of space-y, druggy, krautdrone ambient noise. And it's a killer. Never heard of White Pee before, and because this disc is so abstract and sort of shapeless, it's hard to put a finger on what exactly they bring to the table, but these two groups together sound like one. The noise is relegated to brief bursts here and there, for the most part, this is gloriously tranquil blissed out dronescapes. Long expanses of slow flowing Tangerine Dream and Popol Vuh synth sprawl, the FX are muted but wrap their shimmery tendrils around everything.
Here and there, the meditative shimmer is disrupted by dense gnarled squalls of gritty guitar growl, arranged into strange almost-rhythms, a stretched out lurching throb plodding along over long ominous streaks of sci fi synth. The synths got from ethereal and whispery, to throbbing and fuzzy, from dreamy and barely there, to pulsing and propulsive, almost like some disembodied Gary Numan rhythm track.
The second half of the disc is wide open and spare, shades of Tim Hecker and Machinefabriek and that sort of buzzy blurred soundscapes, guitars ebb and flow, keening high end melodies drift WAY off in the distance, dense washes of distorted guitar crumble bathe everything in grit and buzz, plaintive piano drifts in and out like some unearthly transmission, all hazy and indistinct, darkly dramatic and so lovely.
This is a SUPER limited edition, except for the copies the band kept, these are ONLY available from aQuarius. LIMITED TO 85 COPIES!! The first 50 in hand made wooden sleeves, the other 35 in jewel cases, but also hand made and each one unique. We got about 30 copies of the wooden sleeved version, and a handful of the jewel cased version. While supplies last, you'll get the wood ones, but once those are gone, you'll get the jewel case version. Needless to say these will be gone in a flash...
MPEG Stream: "Wish You Weren't Here (excerpt 1)"
MPEG Stream: "Wish You Weren't Here (excerpt 2)"

WHITE HILLS / GNOD Aquarian Downer (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.
Latest from these aQ beloved, NY based drugdronepsychspace rockers, this time, they've teamed up with mysterious UK outfit Gnod, who add a whole other layer of fuzz and grit and blown out buzz, to WH's already heady heavy spaced out sound. In fact the entire first track are most of the second consists primarily of blurred, smeared ambient drones, washed out FX drenched soft noise, more Sunroof! that Hawkwind, but eventually, this sprawling freeform swirl begins to coalesce into something only slightly more cohesive, a shuffling tribal mantra, a cycle of simple percussion and whirring thrum that reminds us of No Neck or Sunburned Hand. Even into the third track, the record has yet to ROCK, instead, muted tablas, streaks of space-y effects, more warm shimmering whir, very tranquil and meditative and almost sort of stoned sounding. Track three finishes off with a little flurry of glitch and squelch, leading into still more muted bliss.
BUT, track 4 is when the band really start to intensify, the drums locked into a more Krautrock sounding beat, the guitars thickening, the ambience slightly more ominous, until finally, the band launch into a seriously heavy and dark, spaced out kraut jam, mostly drums, way up in the mix, pounding and pulsing, beneath a sky full of FX and riff-less guitars offering up clouds of rumble and throb, the bass, a thick black serpent, coiled up around the propulsive rhythm. It's even more intense and 'heavy' sounding after the first three tracks, that while awesome on their own, all dark and raga like, also served to build some serious tension, like some sort of super long intro. But this jam will definitely not disappoint long time WH fans in need of their drone psych space rock fix.
The record finishes off with some super intense synth dronebuzz, like a super ominous dark ambient Tangerine Dream, a simple wavery tone, whirring malevolently within a cloud of drifting muted effects, little bits of shortwave buzz, streaks of hiss and whir, eventually drums join in, but not to rock really, instead they just lock into a repetitive pound, laced with little flurries of percussive splatter, but mostly the drums just pound away, the cymbals unleashing huge sheets of metallic shimmer, the guitars again forgoing riffs and gushing blown out FX soaked buzz, over all that synths swirl, electronics bleep and bloop, it's like a chaotic blend of the heaviest most drugged out and damaged Acid Mothers Temple and Hawkwind outros, until the crowd sounds come in and it becomes clear that this was all live, which makes it even more impressive.
Packaged in a plain black cardboard sleeve, with a paste on front and back cover, and a photocopied insert with liner notes.
SUPER LIMITED as always. We got the very last copies. 40 of em. Not sure we'll be able to talk them into making more if they run out, we'll of course try if it comes to that, but best to grab one of these quick just in case!
MPEG Stream: "Hard Butter Reality"
MPEG Stream: "Subordinate Contact"

WHITE HILLS / WHITE PEE Wish You Weren't Here (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.
We reviewed the super limited wooden cover version of this disc on the last list and sold out immediately. So here's the even more limited jewel case version, still with hand made covers, only this time housed in, you guessed it, a jewel case. There were only 85 copies made in total, 50 of the wood ones, and 35 of the jewel case version. We're the only store in the world to carry these, and we have about 25 of the jewel case version in stock. Once these are gone, they are gone for good, so this is probably your last chance to pick this up...
Even though it wasn't all that long ago that we were served with the serious space rock wallop of White Hills' most recent full length Glitter Glamour Atrocity, it was only a matter of moments before we were already jonesing for more. And while this is not a proper WH record per se, it is at least another heaping helping of that spaced out sound we can't get enough of.
Here, White Hills team up with SF noise outfit White Pee for a nearly 30 minute single track of space-y, druggy, krautdrone ambient noise. And it's a killer. Never heard of White Pee before, and because this disc is so abstract and sort of shapeless, it's hard to put a finger on what exactly they bring to the table, but these two groups together sound like one. The noise is relegated to brief bursts here and there, for the most part, this is gloriously tranquil blissed out dronescapes. Long expanses of slow flowing Tangerine Dream and Popol Vuh synth sprawl, the FX are muted but wrap their shimmery tendrils around everything.
Here and there, the meditative shimmer is disrupted by dense gnarled squalls of gritty guitar growl, arranged into strange almost-rhythms, a stretched out lurching throb plodding along over long ominous streaks of sci fi synth. The synths got from ethereal and whispery, to throbbing and fuzzy, from dreamy and barely there, to pulsing and propulsive, almost like some disembodied Gary Numan rhythm track.
The second half of the disc is wide open and spare, shades of Tim Hecker and Machinefabriek and that sort of buzzy blurred soundscapes, guitars ebb and flow, keening high end melodies drift WAY off in the distance, dense washes of distorted guitar crumble bathe everything in grit and buzz, plaintive piano drifts in and out like some unearthly transmission, all hazy and indistinct, darkly dramatic and so lovely.
This is a SUPER limited edition, except for the copies the band kept, these are ONLY available from aQuarius. LIMITED TO 85 COPIES!! The first 50 in hand made wooden sleeves, the other 35 (these) in jewel cases, but also hand made and each one unique.
MPEG Stream: "Wish You Weren't Here (excerpt 1)"
MPEG Stream: "Wish You Weren't Here (excerpt 2)"

WHITE LIGHT CIRCUS Break The Circuit (DC Recordings) 12" 13.98

WHITE LIGHT CIRCUS Rocket Ride (DC Recordings) 12" 11.98

WHITE MAGIC Dark Stars (Drag City) cd ep 12.98
We love when music is released to perfectly coincide with the season it's being released in. With new records by Richard Youngs, Citay and this new White Magic ep we feel like we are armed with the perfect sound with which to usher in the fall.
We had to wait so long for White Magic's full length after their debut ep, so we're very happy that they'vee quickly followed up that great first album with another e.p. of their dark and hypnotic psychedelic folk. Conjuring the spirit of Karen Dalton and Grace Slick at her most mystifying, Mira Billotte has proven to be one of the most distinctive and compelling voices in the underground music scene over the last decade. Her amazing voice and mesmerizing piano playing are perfectly complimented by the strong presence of her partner in magical musical spells, Douglas Shaw, who wrote and sings on the ep's closer, which is absolutely beautiful.
With songs that sound like they should be performed at some ceremonial ritual, White Magic have carved out a special place for themselves and have proven that long after the whole 'freak folk' hype is dead and gone they will remain, as a band who truly conjure up meaningful songs and remarkable music. While it's just four songs and only about 20 minutes long, Dark Stars might still find its way on some of our top records of '07 lists. So good!
MPEG Stream: "Very Late"
MPEG Stream: "Winds"

WHITE MAGIC Dark Stars (Very Late) 12" 12.98
Yes, on vinyl too!
We love when music is released to perfectly coincide with the season it's being released in. With new records by Richard Youngs, Citay and this new White Magic ep we feel like we are armed with the perfect sound with which to usher in the fall.
We had to wait so long for White Magic's full length after their debut ep, so we're very happy that they'vee quickly followed up that great first album with another e.p. of their dark and hypnotic psychedelic folk. Conjuring the spirit of Karen Dalton and Grace Slick at her most mystifying, Mira Billotte has proven to be one of the most distinctive and compelling voices in the underground music scene over the last decade. Her amazing voice and mesmerizing piano playing are perfectly complimented by the strong presence of her partner in magical musical spells, Douglas Shaw, who wrote and sings on the ep's closer, which is absolutely beautiful.
With songs that sound like they should be performed at some ceremonial ritual, White Magic have carved out a special place for themselves and have proven that long after the whole 'freak folk' hype is dead and gone they will remain, as a band who truly conjure up meaningful songs and remarkable music. While it's just four songs and only about 20 minutes long, Dark Stars might still find its way on some of our top records of '07 lists. So good!

WHITE MAGIC Dat Rosa Mel Apibus (Drag City) cd 14.98
Ever since Mira Billotte hit the scene with her sister Christina in the band Quix*O*Tic several years ago she has been a force to be reckoned with. Blessed with an amazing voice that cuts right through into your soul and gives you goosebumps all over.
Her debut as White Magic, an e.p. titled Through The Sun Door, from a few years back took the more fantastical and ethereal side of Quix*O*Tic to exciting new heights. When White Magic toured for that record on the west coast they opened for Ghost and put on one of the most jaw-dropping performances we had ever seen. To this day, people who were there continue to talk about the fact that they got to witness something so special. Admirers like Joanna Newsom, Vetiver and Brightblack were all in attendance dancing their hearts out to White Magic's rich, commanding sounds. Fast forward a few years and we still only had that great show and that same handful of songs from the e.p. No full length, as well as rumors that there might never be one, and just two new songs on a Tylenol promotional cd (yes the pain medicine), a split with American Analog Set to tide us over. As our patience began to fade, we finally heard the news we had been waiting for, a new full length was on the way. Dat Rosa Mel Apibus is our reward for waiting so long and so patiently. And it was well worth it. With members of The Dirty Three and Gang Gang Dance, Mira was able to craft a record that resonates with a deep strength and an intense presence. The kind of record that is of course fun to listen to, but it's when you really allow yourself to enter its world when the real magic happens. Songs that suck you right into their raging emotional storm. Melodies that wrap themselves around your brain and tie your stomach up in knots. Like Bjork and Joanna Newsom, White Magic possess that same kind of singular voice and vision that makes their songs resonate with a long lasting power and a deep emotional resonance. So good.
MPEG Stream: "The Light"
MPEG Stream: "Sun Song"
MPEG Stream: "Song Of Solomon"

WHITE MAGIC Dat Rosa Mel Apibus (Drag City) 2lp 19.98
Ever since Mira Billotte hit the scene with her sister Christina in the band Quix*O*Tic several years ago she has been a force to be reckoned with. Blessed with an amazing voice that cuts right through into your soul and gives you goosebumps all over.
Her debut as White Magic, an e.p. titled Through The Sun Door, from a few years back took the more fantastical and ethereal side of Quix*O*Tic to exciting new heights. When White Magic toured for that record on the west coast they opened for Ghost and put on one of the most jaw-dropping performances we had ever seen. To this day, people who were there continue to talk about the fact that they got to witness something so special. Admirers like Joanna Newsom, Vetiver and Brightblack were all in attendance dancing their hearts out to White Magic's rich, commanding sounds. Fast forward a few years and we still only had that great show and that same handful of songs from the e.p. No full length, as well as rumors that there might never be one, and just two new songs on a Tylenol promotional cd (yes the pain medicine), a split with American Analog Set to tide us over. As our patience began to fade, we finally heard the news we had been waiting for, a new full length was on the way. Dat Rosa Mel Apibus is our reward for waiting so long and so patiently. And it was well worth it. With members of The Dirty Three and Gang Gang Dance, Mira was able to craft a record that resonates with a deep strength and an intense presence. The kind of record that is of course fun to listen to, but it's when you really allow yourself to enter its world when the real magic happens. Songs that suck you right into their raging emotional storm. Melodies that wrap themselves around your brain and tie your stomach up in knots. Like Bjork and Joanna Newsom, White Magic possess that same kind of singular voice and vision that makes their songs resonate with a long lasting power and a deep emotional resonance. So good.
MPEG Stream: "The Light"
MPEG Stream: "Sun Song"
MPEG Stream: "Song Of Solomon"

WHITE MAGIC Katie Cruel (Drag City) cdep 5.98
You know you must be just a little bit obsessed and seriously dying for new material by a band when two little songs are more than enough to tide you over! And that's precisely the case with this new 2 song single from White Magic. Their debut (also an ep) came out a few years back (and is now out of print!), and we've been waiting not so patiently for anything, a full length would have been ideal, but we can make do with this kick ass single!
Their debut ep had to be one of the best things EVER. Mostly the brainchild of Mira Billotte, who spent some time in an equally great band with her sister called Quix*o*tic. Mira has one of the most chilling and beautiful voices in indie rock without a doubt. The kind of voice that holds you down and forces you to surrender to its warmth and mystery. While folks like Devendra Banhart and Joanna Newsom have garnered most of the attention, it's only a matter of time before the world catches on to the White Magic.
These two songs are such a gorgeously cruel tease, while we are forced to continue waiting as patiently as we can. The first song is their version of "Katie Cruel", an amazing arrangement of a classic traditional we fell in love with after hearing Karen Dalton do it, but the White Magic version might be even better! After that, it's "Hold Your Hand In The Dark" a stunning original with immaculate piano playing and once again THAT voice, so effortlessly giving us chills and the grandest of goosebumps.
MPEG Stream: "Katie Cruel"
MPEG Stream: "Hold Your Hand In The Dark"

WHITE MAGIC New Egypt (Latitudes 0:13) (Latitudes / Southern) cd ep 13.98
It's almost impossible to keep ourselves still and write about this new White Magic release as every time we listen to it all we want to do is spin and jump around. We've only had New Egypt in our hands and ears for a week now but we've already lost count of how many times we've pressed repeat to hear this ten minute track over and over again. Like some kind of amazing mantra on love, hope, paranoia and what the future could hold, this is White Magic at their fiery and feverish best!
Taking some of the ingredients of what was previously our favorite White Magic song "One-Note" from their Through The Sun Door debut over four years ago and stretching it out with even more dynamics, more fire and a dizzying spell that casts its magic in such physical ways. What separates White Magic from the psychedelic folk masses is that they create music that actually creates a strong physical sensation as well as tapping into emotional realms. It's impossible to listen to "New Egypt" and not have your body start responding physically to the sounds, it's perfect for strapping on headphones and taking on the city and walking faster and with more purpose than ever before.
We'd been hearing that this was supposed to come out for several months, but somehow the timing of it finally arriving now seems so perfect for the crisp October air, as this really sounds like a ceremonial offering to the season of fall. There is a flame ignited at the core of what White Magic creates that's truly connected to all the Earth elements while still inhabiting a space that's filled with intriguing mystique. Make sure to play this one loud as we've found it resonates with such striking glory when it blasts through our skin and inhabits both the inner and outer realms of our psyche.
Packaged with the latitudes series usual classy cardboard aesthetic with a gold embossed pyramid on the cover giving a clue to the transcendental song that is within! While this one is a bit pricey for its length coming it at over a dollar a minute, the song makes that math equation a no-brainer as it really is a priceless gem!
MPEG Stream: "New Egypt"

WHITE MAGIC New Egypt (Latitudes 0:13) (Latitudes / Southern) lp 15.98
FINALLY AVAILABLE ON VINYL!! And like all Latitudes releases (especially lps), super limited! Here's our review of New Egypt from when we first had the cd...
It's almost impossible to keep ourselves still and write about this new White Magic release as every time we listen to it all we want to do is spin and jump around. We've only had New Egypt in our hands and ears for a week now but we've already lost count of how many times we've pressed repeat to hear this ten minute track over and over again. Like some kind of amazing mantra on love, hope, paranoia and what the future could hold, this is White Magic at their fiery and feverish best!
Taking some of the ingredients of what was previously our favorite White Magic song "One-Note" from their Through The Sun Door debut over four years ago and stretching it out with even more dynamics, more fire and a dizzying spell that casts its magic in such physical ways. What separates White Magic from the psychedelic folk masses is that they create music that actually creates a strong physical sensation as well as tapping into emotional realms. It's impossible to listen to "New Egypt" and not have your body start responding physically to the sounds, it's perfect for strapping on headphones and taking on the city and walking faster and with more purpose than ever before.
We'd been hearing that this was supposed to come out for several months, but somehow the timing of it finally arriving now seems so perfect for the crisp October air, as this really sounds like a ceremonial offering to the season of fall. There is a flame ignited at the core of what White Magic creates that's truly connected to all the Earth elements while still inhabiting a space that's filled with intriguing mystique. Make sure to play this one loud as we've found it resonates with such striking glory when it blasts through our skin and inhabits both the inner and outer realms of our psyche.
Packaged in one of those immediately recognizable black and white 12"s Latitudes sleeves with full color insert. And since it's only one song, the flipside is the SAME song, only the vinyl has been cut so the record plays from the inside out, plus al the stuff on the label is reversed too. Cool!
MPEG Stream: "New Egypt"

WHITE MAGIC Through The Sun Door (Drag City) cd ep 11.98
Somehow we'd gotten the mistaken impression that White Magic featured the vocals of Christina Billotte (Slant 6, Quix*o*tic, Casual Dots)...even listening to it didn't dispell that notion. That's 'cause the singer on this is actually Mira Billotte, Christina's sister, who's also in Quix*o*tic too. Her unlike-anyone-but-her-sister vocals are accompanied by her guitar and piano, plus the guitar and drums and handclaps of a couple other folks. There's six songs on this mini-album debut, mostly of artsy, moody, even a little bit bluesy indie-folk, culminating in the Heart-like rock finale of "Apocalypse".
MPEG Stream: "Keeping The Wolves From The Door"
MPEG Stream: "Apocalypse"

WHITE MAGIC Through The Sun Door (Drag City) lp 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Somehow we'd gotten the mistaken impression that White Magic featured the vocals of Christina Billotte (Slant 6, Quix*o*tic, Casual Dots)...even listening to it didn't dispell that notion. That's 'cause the singer on this is actually Mira Billotte, Christina's sister, who's also in Quix*o*tic too. Her unlike-anyone-but-her-sister vocals are accompanied by her guitar and piano, plus the guitar and drums and handclaps of a couple other folks. There's six songs on this mini-album debut, mostly of artsy, moody, even a little bit bluesy indie-folk, culminating in the Heart-like rock finale of "Apocalypse".
MPEG Stream: "Keeping The Wolves From The Door"
MPEG Stream: "Apocalypse"

WHITE MEDAL Chance (Rebirth) / Northern Mist (Ravens Dusk) (Grief Foundation) 7" 8.98
White Medal! What an awesome name for a metal band. Not to be confused with white metal, or unblack metal, this is not any sort of Christian metal, this is some twisted damaged doom-ed blackened heaviness the likes of which we've never really heard before.
This stripped down UK horde, open up proceedings with gentle clean guitar, minor key melodies, a bit of dreamy drift, until the track explodes into a hyper distorted blown out chugfest, super stripped down and raw, but SO distorted, it was a bit difficult to tell if the band was plodding along doomily or blasting furiously, just a massive blown out rrrooooaaaaar. The drums pound away beneath an epic metallic riff that churns and throbs, slathered in blistering distortion, the sound almost more like Godflesh or Pitchshifter than black metal, too hot and loud to be lo-fi but the same sort of texture and timbre. Keyboards (it sounds like keyboards) enter the fray and the track builds to some sort of total majestic metal blow out. Like Godspeed versus Bone Awl or something.
The flipside starts with some static high end guitar buzz, and just like the A side, the song erupts into a furious chaotic pound, the sound on this side much more distinctly fast and blackened, but with the same super saturated ultra distorted guitar, buried drums and shrieked vocals, there are a few tranquil moments, the guitar still distorted and buzzy, just sort of hovering dreamily before the band launches back in.
The label compares this to stuff like Bone Awl, Ildjarn, Ancestors and stuff like that, and while we do hear a bit of that, the sound is also massive and majestic, making us think of bands like Godspeed, Menace Ruine and a bit of that postrockmetaldrone we dig so much. WAY recommended.
LIMITED of course, packaged in cool hand screened sleeves.

WHITE MEDAL Tread The Earth: Demo 08 (Grief Foundation) cassette + patch 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The return of White Medal. And that's MEDAL not METAL. There's nothing god fearing or white or light or positive or hopeful about the sound this grim horde spew forth. We had their 7" a while back, and it was a primo slab of blown out almost industrial sounding blackness. Like a black metal Godflesh, crossed with maybe some of the more raw stuff like Bone Awl or Ash Pool, but with a bit of post rock epic-ness mixed in. Not sure how all that stuff worked together but it did. We dug it big time.
So now here's release number two, this time a super limited cassette / patch combo, limited to 100 copies, and finds the band going in a bit more of a raw, old school black metal direction. Beginning with an awesome washed out creepy ambient intro, all clean guitar shimmer and dark moody creep, the band soon launch into a full on buzzy pound, the guitars murky and muddy, the drums a buried in the mix plod, the vocals weirdly effected, the whole thing gloriously gurgly and lo-fi, almost d-beat sounding at times, with some cool languid and woozy folky interludes.
The flip side is much more frenzied and furious and somehow even more-lo-fi, total washed out black buzz murk, everything wreathed in hiss and distortion and buried in an all mids and lows and no highs mix, making the sound almost sludgey and doomy even though the band is blasting frantically. So blurred and smeared, that the buzz and blast gets smudged into droning epic blackness, that occasionally slips back into crunch and chug, but more often swirls and shimmers, if the sound was even a tiny bit more washed out or even a little bit more lo-fi this could have ended up an awesome blackdrone record. Killer stuff. We definitely need to hear a full length from these guys one of these days.
Comes with a cool cassette sized embroidered black and white patch, featuring the band name, the legend: Tread The Earth, and a cool image of a strange skeletal figure wielding a scythe over a garden of what appears to be body parts.
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES!!!!!! We got about 20, and after that we will not be able to get more.

WHITE MICE ASSPhIXXXEATATESHUN (Load) cd 13.98

WHITE MICE Excreamantraintraveinanus (Blossoming Noise) cd 14.98

WHITE MICE Ganjahovahdose (20 Buck Spin) cd 10.98
This is at least record number 3 or 4 from White Mice, but somehow, we've never reviewed anything by these drugged out noise makers before now. Not sure how that happened exactly but these guys are long overdue for some aQ love...
Lots of bands, especially if they're sort of spacey and druggy get compared to the Butthole Surfers, who pretty much defined spaced out drug rock, but no one truly embodies the same sort of fucked up frenzied sonic chaos like White Mice, who sound a bit like Lightning Bolt crossed with Shit And Shine, which if we do the math correctly does basically add up to the Butthole Surfers, or at least some way heavier, way noisier modern day equivalent.
Take album opener "Passsthefissst" one part, pounded on over and over and over, wild relentless tribal drumming, throbbing buzzy bass, and distorted to oblivion guitars, locked into an endless loop, hypnotic and mesmerizing and mantra like but also totally blown out and filthy and noisy and heavy, with some sinister demonic vocalizations over the top. You can almost imagine how insane this shit must be live, nothing but strobe lights, the band a blinking blur, the crowd a writhing mass of bodies, an endless lysergic freak out free for all.
And that's pretty much how the White Mice roll, every song is another effects drenched low slung damaged psychedelic sludge jam, sometimes frantic and super intense, other times slowed down and all Brainbombs-y, but always totally in the red and blown out and trippy and freaked out. Makes sense that these guys are from Providence Rhode Island, home of Lightning Bolt and Landed and Pink And Brown (R.I.P) and all of those like minded costumed noiserockers, pretty sure they're part of the same crew too, the best part about them being from RI, is that there's a good chance they play live with big ol' tails and fucked up furry mice heads, which is pretty much the only way you could make this stuff any better.
MPEG Stream: "Passthefissst"
MPEG Stream: "Ganjahovahdose"
MPEG Stream: "Placenta The Crotchtower"

WHITE MICE Ganjahovahdose (20 Buck Spin) lp 14.98
This is at least record number 3 or 4 from White Mice, but somehow, we've never reviewed anything by these drugged out noise makers before now. Not sure how that happened exactly but these guys are long overdue for some aQ love...
Lots of bands, especially if they're sort of spacey and druggy get compared to the Butthole Surfers, who pretty much defined spaced out drug rock, but no one truly embodies the same sort of fucked up frenzied sonic chaos like White Mice, who sound a bit like Lightning Bolt crossed with Shit And Shine, which if we do the math correctly does basically add up to the Butthole Surfers, or at least some way heavier, way noisier modern day equivalent.
Take album opener "Passsthefissst" one part, pounded on over and over and over, wild relentless tribal drumming, throbbing buzzy bass, and distorted to oblivion guitars, locked into an endless loop, hypnotic and mesmerizing and mantra like but also totally blown out and filthy and noisy and heavy, with some sinister demonic vocalizations over the top. You can almost imagine how insane this shit must be live, nothing but strobe lights, the band a blinking blur, the crowd a writhing mass of bodies, an endless lysergic freak out free for all.
And that's pretty much how the White Mice roll, every song is another effects drenched low slung damaged psychedelic sludge jam, sometimes frantic and super intense, other times slowed down and all Brainbombs-y, but always totally in the red and blown out and trippy and freaked out. Makes sense that these guys are from Providence Rhode Island, home of Lightning Bolt and Landed and Pink And Brown (R.I.P) and all of those like minded costumed noiserockers, pretty sure they're part of the same crew too, the best part about them being from RI, is that there's a good chance they play live with big ol' tails and fucked up furry mice heads, which is pretty much the only way you could make this stuff any better.
MPEG Stream: "Passthefissst"
MPEG Stream: "Ganjahovahdose"
MPEG Stream: "Placenta The Crotchtower"

WHITE NOISE An Electric Storm (Island UK) cd 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
White Noise's first album has long been one of the holy grails for kosmische / space rock collectors. Kinda strange, actually, 'cause it's actually more on the "exotica" silly Moog side of things, as opposed to a Klause Schultze or Conrad Schnitzler production... Released in 1968 on Island in a total vacuum, "An Electric Storm" could be a Perrey & Kingsley soundtrack to a Radley Metzger soft-core porn film with twee psyche pop vocal melodies (a la Beach Boys, Free Design, Monkeys) topped off with lots of wacky electronic squiggles that originated in the BBC's radio phonic workshop (home of the Dr. Who title track). White Noise's mastermind David Vorhaus keeps things pretty surreal with a track based around the recordings made at a orgy and with a precursor to the John Balance vocal mumbles about how "darkness was enshrouded by darkness and the darkness was deadeningly dark."

WHITE OUT WITH JIM O'ROURKE Drunken Little Mass (Ecstatic Peace) cd 13.98
Well it's got Jim O'Rourke on it, and that's really all that matters, right? But if you need to know more, this is the second album from improv group White Out, consisting of downtown NYC avant-musicians Lin Culbertson (analog synth, etc.) and Tom Surgal (drums/percussion). For this disc, they've invited maestro O'Rourke to sit in with his guitar and Powerbook. The result ranges from the spacey to the noisy, the crazed to the kinda quite lovely. Recorded in one take with no overdubs or studio effects, so there. For fans of experimental free non-jazz non-rock stuff...