[ aquarius records catalogue

IMPORTANT (Please read to avoid confusion): Some items below may be tagged with a bold, red, all-caps OUT OF PRINT/UNAVAILABLE notice. This does NOT mean that all other items not so tagged are, in fact, in stock — or for that matter, in print and available, though there's a good chance they are. Some folks get confused on this point, and we can see why, so please read this for further clarification and other important before-you-order information. Unlike some mailorder websites, we don't have an electronic inventory system linked to our site, so you can't be sure of what we actually have or don't have in stock at any given moment without asking us — please email our mailorder department for availability status — or better yet, just go ahead and place your order using our shopping cart function and we'll get back to you with the status of each item. If you have general non-mailorder questions, email the store.

Showing results 501 through 550 of 2272.

Majestic, gothic, vampiric black metal from Germany in the vein (open and bleeding) of Cradle of Filth.

More UNBLACK metal from the seemingly infallible E.E.E. label, home to some of the most amazing black metal we've heard in ages, which all just so happens to be not so black, as in white, as in Christian! And we're not talking Stryper here, this stuff is as fierce and furious and fucked up and black as any of your Striborgs or Lugubrums.� As far as we can tell, although we're not entirely sure, Agathothodion seems to be the work of the same man behind massive AQ faves Light Shall Prevail, who is also a member of Glaciial, an unblack metal supergroup, as well as the man who runs the E.E.E. label and seems to be single handedly spreading the unblack gospel. When does this man do anything but spew thick torrents of glorious black buzz?! Who cares as long as we're continually treated to music this gorgeously bleak and intense, this buzz-drenched and brutal, and even if it's not the same guy, whoever this mysterious black mystic is, the music he conjures up is both majestic and epic as well as dark and buzzing.� Kan Guds Gjort is split into two looooooong tracks, one twenty minutes and one more than a half an hour, both sprawling and expansive, the perfect form for drone-y buzzy black metal, allowed to stretch out to trance-like proportions. Mostly midtempo, a loping relentless rhythm, the guitars buzzing and swirling, the riffs circular and hypnotically repetitive, the drums going from simple pound to furious blast, but as is often the case with E.E.E. bands it's the utterly distinctive vocals that make it, here it's a guttural growl, that howls in a truly creepy raspy way, buried in the mix, so it's just sort of a fuzzed out wash of distorted ggggrrrrrrrowl on top of the layers of buzz and hiss. The other cool thing is the songs work up to a fever pitch, and suddenly it's a super dramatic Godspeed style crescendo, but rendered in soaring sheets of buzzing blackness and dense tangles of thrashing drums and anguished wails. Here and there, the tracks smooth out into extended almost math rock jams, with jangly guitars buried under a wash of layered guitar, the drums simple and solid, those are the parts that are truly mesmerizing, a doomy depressive drone drenched blackened post rock that oozes into the more traditional blackness around it.� As�always super limited, we got a bunch but E.E.E. stuff flies out of here and we usually can't get any more...

MPEG stream: By The Sea
MPEG stream: Man Born Blind

BACK IN STOCK! We're beginning to think EEE is our new favorite black metal label. After last list's brilliant Light Shall Prevail, and now this disc from Agathothodion (with tons more still to review). We're ready to convert! Convert? Oh yeah, we forgot to mention, this is WHITE metal, as in the opposite of black metal. Un-black metal. This is not satanic or hateful, instead it's hopeful and holy. But you'd never know it from listening. Agathothodion is bizarre and creepy and dark and, well, very very black sounding. And the thing is, while some of us have problems with religion being so dogmatic, this particular sonic representation of Christianity is anything but dogmatic. In fact it points out just how cookie cutter the majority of black metal really is. What we're getting at here, is this is some totally demented, freaked out, blissed out and drone-y, haunting and hypnotic ambient experimental black metal. They list their influences as GOD, JESUS CHRIST, Xasthur, Burzum, Leviathan, Isis, but they might as well have also listed Benighted Leams, Urfaust, Dead Reptile Shrine... you get what we're talking about. This stuff is fucking amazing! Traum Von Gott collects two long out of print eps, Stavkirke and Telos, and adds a bonus track) So what the hell does it sound like? A buzzing blackness that's spread out into a thick loping wash of blurry buzz, super dreamy, fuzzy warm midtempo black metal, soft swirls of midtempo trudge, totally hypnotic and drone-y, but it's the vocals that had us. Some sort of ancient sounding ghostlike falsetto croon. Drenched in reverb, not singing lyrics so much as just sort of moaning, and groaning. It almost sounds like the guy from Urfaust when he's 100 years old, his wheelchair pushed up to the mic, as a reedy disembodied voice drifts from his parched lips. Totally intense and creepy, definitely some of the most unique vocals we've heard. And while at first they sound completely bizarre, after a while, you really can't imagine the vocals sounding any other way. But that's not all that's strange about this band. They also break their song down into strange little post rock interludes with weird bloopy underwater bass, almost like a black metal Three Mile Pilot. But it really is the vocals, a nearly hysterical sounding completely chilling tortured cry spreading over the proceedings like a blood red fog. Almost like the sound you could imagine coming from behind a locked door in an insane asylum, that strange inmate who has been sitting in the corner for 20 years, mouth and eyes covered, but who continues to wail at all hours of the day. Man, this is so great, pretty much all we've been listening to. We were all ready to proclaim the Light Shall Prevail record as our new favorite black metal record (the same guy behind that band too we think) but now we're not so sure. Might just be easier to begin singing the praises of white metal and proclaim EEE our new favorite label...

MPEG stream: Endless Snowfall
MPEG stream: Deep Midwinter
MPEG stream: Parabole
MPEG stream: Telos

MPEG stream: The Green Office And The Dark Desk Drawer
MPEG stream: The Flow At 09:30 AM

Squeaking, scraping scraps of violin improv turned into musique concrete via magnetic tape and razorblade -- that's the specialty of Japan's Hideaki Shimada, aka Agencement. This disc contains two long, low-key, slowly unravelling tracks, one from '93 and the

RealAudio clip: track two

THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SORRY. Agent Nova is the psychotic project of Dale from Milk Cult / Steelpole Bathtub. Just as far out as the Milk Cult's "Project M-13" album (which is an all time AQ favorite), though not quite as purposefully diverse. Possible quotes from the Mission Impossible themes and the Steve Miller Band are decontructed on lots of mutilating tape recorders and topped off with a constant stream of fuzz guitar licks. Good stuff.

Geez, if only we still had our Fisher Price record player, this opaque guacamole-green 7" would look so good spinnin' there in our bedroom this dark winter's eve. The music on this new Agent Ribbons record is as delightfully darling as that thought... except maybe carpet the floor with cushy moss, blanket the bed with a patchwork of gingham and string blossoming ivy from the nightstand. Oh and sprinkle the whole lot with twinkling pixie dust. Those who were charmed by this Sacramento duo's enchanted folk pop debut album On Time Travel And Romance last year won't wanna miss Ms Natalie and Ms Lauren's two new tunes. Plus they've found the perfect matching offkilter bewitching maven to do the cover art, Dame Darcy! Sure to tickle pink fans of Jolie Holland, Ditty Bops, Coco Rosie, and y'know what? We'd bet Agent Ribbons would be a favorite of Astrid Lindgren's irrepressible storybook heroine Pippi Longstocking too. By the way, this is the first installment of the Seven Inch Project. Yup, it's a brand new series of very limited edition 7"s being released by some cool folks down in Long Beach, CA. Only 500 records of each edition will be pressed on hefty 70 gram colored vinyl, packaged in impressive sturdy gatefold sleeves, and hand-numbered. Truly a joy to hold and admire in your hands and in your ears. Oh and each one comes with an mp3 download passcode for all you newfangled types. So hop to it!

We're always happy to get a new release by Agent Ribbons, and it's extra nice to hear the gals stretching their creative limbs on their latest full length. On Chateau Crone, they dish up an impressive patchwork quilt of new tunes with both passion and aplomb. A bit less sugar and playful than their previous outings, and a bit more shadowy, lush, edgy and eclectic - bringing together elements of cabaret, garage rock, '60s Brill Building girl groups, a bit baroque pop, a bit Balkan gypsy too. Once again, they nestle in comfortably alongside the likes of Cocorosie and Ditty Bops, but also to our delight, the Aislers Set! In fact, the vocals at times are a striking deadringer for AS's Amy Linton. You need look no further than the opening track "I'm Alright". Indeed, that's some infectious, smoky, swaggering retro garage poppiness they're slingin' there! For sure, they are as daydreamy and breezy as ever, but occasionally those dreams take a spookier Theremin-laced turn. Very recommended!

MPEG stream: I'm Alright
MPEG stream: Your Hands My Hands

It's always nice when a little word of mouth proves fruitful! SF solo troubadour Garrett Pierce (whose own fine musical wares we've stocked a-plenty) recommended these female songstresses to us recently. Agent Ribbons are two gals Natalie Gordon and Lauren Hess who hail from Sacramento, CA. Their folk pop sound is very old tyme-y, down-home-y, with an almost impromptu feel. They sing quirky lyrics atop a Spartan backdrop of strummed electric guitars, accordion and drums. Very light, playful and girly. They name such other female artists as Mirah, Josephine Foster, Faun Fables, Mary Timony, Blossom Dearie, Jolie Holland, Ditty Bops and Dame Darcy as influences, and you can definitely hear it on On Time Travel And Romance. Highlights include the very Holland-y heartfelt "Call Me Margaret" and delightfully dipsy "Chelsea". Fun, warm and welcoming! We think fans of Rilo Kiley will take a shine to this too.

MPEG stream: Chelsea, Let's Go Join The Circus
MPEG stream: Call Me Margaret

Four new songs for '09 from this poptastic Placerville quartet, courtesy of the Acuarela singles club.

Our pal Drucifer's Dielectric label has been laying low of late, for the most part... yet Drucifer did dig this debut recording from Agents Del Futuro enough to add it to the Dielectric discog as a limited edition cd-r packaged in a colorful, collaged, oversized, silkscreened folder! ADF (a one man band, that man being local Mission-dweller Jesse Clark, a painter and percussionist) makes improvisational use of all sorts of acoustic instruments and non-instruments (some of 'em include: bike wheel, Korg 770, squeaky door, doumbek, dried seed pods, Paiste 22" symphonic gong, Turkish tea cups, marimba, radio, echoplex, harmonium, sandpaper, bass, singing bowl, drum set, piano, tuned Nepalese gongs, voicemail, billiards...) along with electronic processing and tape looping of the sounds produced, to create the 17 tracks of Mydrone. Some of it is indeed droney, other parts almost poppy... there's lotsa noisiness, fractured beats, glitchtronic sampling, some singing... all of it together kinda broken down and damaged and unpredictable. A fun lo-fi stew of soundmaking weirdness, running the gamut from dreamy to jittery, that totally fits into the Dielectric roster alongside artists like Die Elektrischen, Karen Stackpole, Gerrit, the Dielectric Minimalist All-Stars, and Brian and Chris.

MPEG stream: Not Fucking Printz
MPEG stream: Mydrone

We last heard from Agents Del Futuro, aka Bay Area composer/soundmaker/electronic alchemist Jesse Clark way back in 2006, when he released a killer cd-r on the Dielectric label (we have 1 or 2 copies left, just ask if you want one!), a head spinning array of beats and glitched out electronics, sampled sounds and acoustic instruments, all woven into a noisy, fractured, skittery, stuttery sonic stew. This latest album, finds Clark working from the same template, but with a much more nuanced and subtle approach, less noisy and ramshackle than the last record, this one sounds more composed, more arranged, more lush and layered, more organic, and ultimately more fully realized. The sound a sprawling swirl of pizzicato melodies, of warm whirling ambience, Autechre like shards of clipped electronic beats and fractured melodies, fuzzy, twangy guitars, deep shimmering drones, delicate piano, muted rhythmic pulses, hazy super distorted Tim Hecker like blurscapes, delicate crystalline expanses of ethereal drift, soaring strings, simple propulsive rhythms, all wound up into a distinctly post rock sound, that sort of moody, brooding meandering minimal instrumental drift that we love so much, the slow build, a bit of twang, a little Godspeed, a little Scenic, but instead of the usual guitar bass drums, the songs here are cobbled together mad scientist style from the above mentioned elements, fused together gracefully and seamlessly, creating a sound at once lush and organic, mysterious and softly cacophonous. And if that wasn't enough, it's also a concept record, based on the 1783 eruption of Iceland's Laki fissure,�which resulted in a massive ash storm that lasted almost a year, killing crops, cattle, and thousands of people... Cool stuff for sure. And most definitely recommended for anyone into abstract electronics and avant minimal post rock, preferably some kick ass mix of the two...

Not sure what it is about the number 9 but it somehow figures heavily into the mythos of these mysterious grindlords from Australia. Their first release was a super limited 9". This latest disc, another blown out blast of pummeling technical grind, is 9 songs packed into 9 ultradense minutes. Hmmm. 9. 9. 9. Upside down is... 6. 6. 6. Ahem, anyway... As with all great grind, these guys pack more riffs and parts into 9 minutes than most bands can manage in an hour! 9 mini epics, each a dizzying squall of whirlwind riffs, shrieking vocals, chaotic drum splatter and a wall of low end that hits you like a block of concrete to the sternum. The guys in Whitehorse hipped us to these guys so you can get an idea of the sort of heaviness we're talking here. But where Whitehorse destroy with glacial malevolence, AoA annihilate with frenzied fury! Awesome. Cool little 3" cd-r packaged in a deluxe oversized slim DVD case, with full color insert.

MPEG stream: Dead End
MPEG stream: Heart(less)
MPEG stream: Sleepwalker

How can you not love a band called Agents of Abhorrence? Or a record called Covert Lobotomy? Well, with names like those you can probably guess what sort of business these agents get up to. A thrashing grinding buzz of epic proportions. Swarms of bombinating riffs and spastically thrashing drums, howled vocals and ultraprecise ultracomplex song structures. Massive and masterful grind! Pete from the mighty Whitehorse hipped us to these guys and he was right on the money. Clear vinyl packaged in a gorgeous cut-away sleeve, hard to describe but really, really cool looking. Beautiful and of course VERY LIMITED!!

Dax Riggs and Mike Sanchez of the criminally overlooked Acid Bath (RIP) continue to rock with the metal of their former (and much loved) outfit tempered with Ziggy Stardust-era Bowie and slithery Iggy production. Plus the emotional intensity and murky melodicism of Jeff Buckley. Excellent! A runner-up for album of the week, actually. This proves that "classic rock" wasn't only made in the '70s. Music to drive your Camaro to.

RealAudio clip: Endsmouth
RealAudio clip: Dead Girl

Folks who went to metal shows in SF in the nineties no doubt remember seeing some crazy grind metal band, fronted by a maniacal one armed vocalist, who would do flips constantly during the set, landing flat on his back, due to the fact, that he was holding the mic with his one hand. The music a gloriously chaotic blown out powerviolence, very reminiscent of the Slap A Ham stable (Spazz, No Less, etc.). Short blast of furious grinding riffage, sick vokills that swooped from guttural cookie monster death metal bellow, to hysterical shriek, the music lurching from lurching doomy churn, to chaotic blasting fastcore, with song titles like "Rape Your Ass With Drugs", "Silver In Christ's Cornhole", "Snatch In Your Eye", "Cut Off My Dick", "Vomit tar" and "Crust = Glam". While some of this is just goofy noisemaking, some of the tracks here are fierce blasts of metallic mayhem, and punishing bursts of hardcore ferocity. Unsung Bay Area grind from back in the day, leave it to the madmen behind Ormolycka to dig this up and give it new life. Some folks might remember AoS from their split with Burn The Priest (later to become Lamb Of God), this tape collects pretty much everything, and it KILLS. It's also, like most Oromolycka stuff, crazy limited...

MPEG stream: Black Scabs
MPEG stream: Rape Your Ass With Drugs
MPEG stream: Silver In Christ's Cornhole
MPEG stream: Crust = Glam
MPEG stream: Cut Off My Dick

THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SORRY. On DelayOnMyPillow, AGF -- aka Antye Greie-Fuchs of Laub -- offers a digitized variation on the musique concrete tradition, in particular the psychological narratives described in Luc Ferrari's work. Just like Ferrari, Greie-Fuchs amplifies closely mic'd whispers to capture all of their lip-smacking and breathy intonation and positions those whispers right up against the speakers while tiny digital events and processed environmental recordings flutter in the background. She effectively creates an artificial stage for those vocalizations coupled with her own Bjorkish vocals, alternating between sounding charmingly intimate and downright creepy. Extending what cinematic allusions can be drawn from such a composition, Greie-Fuchs offers brief interludes of detached electro-funk, bip-hop, and post-techno acting as segues between the bulk of the work. A curious, modern-day reinterpretation of musique concrete.

MPEG stream: Delay On My Pillow

THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SORRY.

A conceptualist first and an electronicist second Antye Greie-Fuchs has developed a successful career mapping out the dullness of daily life. This was particularly true for her post-Laurie Anderson monotone recitation of dictionary definitions for 'code' over glitch-hopped electronica, found on her recording Language Is The Most. She and San Francisco's highly decorated multi-media artist Sue Costabile have been collaborating for some time now, performing mostly through the European sound-art festival circuit; and Mini Movies marks their first release together sprawling across a CD and appropriately a DVD. While smeared with brittle digital glitches, AGF and Sue C do little to hide their infatuation with R&B slowjam grooves. In turn they replace the narrative excesses of R&B lovesongs with topics as banal as possible: recipes, commuting, jetlag, e-mail, etc. Even when Sue C pines for the next time she can "get really fucked up," it's more of an afterthought as if there's nothing else of any real value to wish for. Composed and filmed in New York, San Francisco, London, and Berlin, Mini Movies acts as something of a fragemented travel diary between the two artists, communing with both artists' shared sensibility of everyday modernity.

MPEG stream: Marzipan
MPEG stream: Exist Slow

Adapting their name from their heroes The Aggrovators and the Crystalites, the Aggrolites are a California reggae band with a truly amazing knack for replicating the sounds of late sixties, early seventies Jamaican reggae. They're so good at reproducing a classic reggae sound that they were chosen as Prince Buster's backing band when Mr. Dread played at the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival in 2003. How they do it, we know not, but they can pull off a pre-Black Ark Lee Perry sound like no one else. Listen to "Burning Bush" and you have to wonder where that keyboard came from. Thankfully the Aggrolites aren't all about creating a convincing replica and while the guitar, bass, drums and organ all fit the bill, the vocals don't aim to imitate any Jamaican singer. Instead singer Jesse Wagner manages a scratchy, punk-rock-cum-blues vocal style more reminiscent of Los Lobos than anything else. Recommended!

MPEG stream: Hot Stop
MPEG stream: Burning Bush

Although they look like an old Fat Wreckords or Epitaph dude punk band, The Aggrolites aren't what they appear to be. In fact, they're a band (yes from L.A.) whose heart pounds to a solid reggae beat. However, unlike the reggae influenced bands who've come before them (The Clash, Rancid, etc), The Aggrolites have immersed themselves completely in the genre, doing a remarkable job of recreating the classic early Jamaican reggae sounds. Along the way you can hear deep reverent bows to the likes of The Ethiopians, The Skatallites, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Alton Ellis, Toots & The Maytals among others. Adding more proof to the pudding, the quintet have performed as backing band for many greats such as Phyllis Dillon, Derrick Morgan, and Prince Buster as well as Tim Armstrong of Rancid and Madness. There's nothing aggro about this here album. Nope, all you get are breezy good times!

MPEG stream: Work It
MPEG stream: Rhythm & Light

This isn't a new re-issue, it's been out for a while now, but we just picked it up. This is one of the best dub records I've heard in a long time. Very simple dub with patient and simple solo lines. In fact, this whole record is quite stripped down and compact -- maximum effect with minimum means. There is no recording date here, but it sounds as though it was recorded in the early seventies, evidenced by a complete lack of synth presence -- instead, good old organ and even way out of tune piano still fill the key spot. The melodic phrases are broken up nicely, sprinkled with spring reverb, tape delay and filled in with solo lines that avoid upstaging and never stray far from the austere fabric of the tunes. With the cast here it should probably not come as a surprize that this should be such a great record: Sly Dunbar, Robbie Shakespeare, Jackie Mittoo, Tommy McCook, Roland Alfonso, Skullie and more. Recorded at Channel One and at King Tubby's of course and produce by Bunny Lee. On the cover art tip, there's a nice drawing of three dred-locked rastas wielding machine guns and firing away in every direction.

RealAudio clip: The Conqueror
RealAudio clip: Bionic Man
RealAudio clip: Special Brew

It's now getting to the point where, not only can I pick out a new disc from the Jamaican Recordings label from 15 feet by their distinctive layouts, but I almost have a Pavlovian response when I see a new one. Because Jamaican recordings continues to prove

RealAudio clip: Not Just Another Dub
RealAudio clip: Live & Learn Dub

THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SORRY.

Ultra limited latest release from the uber prolific Antony Milton and his always genius PseudoArcana label. This time it's an ultra limited lathe cut, created of course by the lathe cut master himself, Kiwi legend Peter King. Limited to 50 copies, the initial pressing of this lp disappeared in no time, but we managed to get a tiny handful of this, the second and final pressing, and it's a doozy. Packaged in a gorgeous hand screened/painted brown paper cover with a brown paper inner sleeve and housed in a resealable plastic jacket, and the record itself clear with printed inner labels, this split teams up label head Milton and his Nether Dawn project with Irish one man band Agitated Radio Pilot. And it's a perfect match up. Agitated Radio Pilot unfurls slow growing, wheezing melancholy melodies and warm warbly atmospheres, split into 4 tracks, it sounds more like one lengthy extended pastoral drift, a lazy wander beneath leafy trees and a burnt orange late afternoon sky, laid back and blissed out. Melancholy and gauzy. The muted buzz of guitars, warbly melodies, all very hazy and indistinct. Nether Dawn (this time accompanied by fellow NZ noisemaker James Kirk) counter with their own brand of blurry haziness. Long drawn out drones, hushed whispered vocals, smeared buzz, distant washes of distorted guitar and muted rhythmic clatter. It sounds like pop songs stretched out and pulled apart into spare skeletal stretches of somnambulant sound. Like ARP, it's all very soft focus and dreamlike. And remember, with lathe cuts, the more you play them, the more they degrade, and the sound gets even fuzzier and blurrier and more washed out. So after a bunch of plays this might sound even better! So lovely. Second and final pressing of 50 copies, once these are gone, we won't bee able to get more.

Here's two long time AQ Krautrock favorites - the first and second albums by Berlin band Agitation Free - that have been previously available as cds on the Spalax, and then on Garden Of Delights labels. But now krautrock reissuers Revisited have done even newer reissues, which is great 'cause we LOVE these records and we're glad of an excuse to list 'em again, especially since the previous edition has been unavailable for some time now. Also, Revisited has found some bonus tracks to include on each!! The ethnic influence that so defined Agitation Free's debut is not as much a factor on 1973's Second - but both the West Coast style guitar jamming AND the way-out-there electronics experimentation really come to the fore. Again, mostly instrumental (one exception being the ominous, electronically treated reading of an Edgar Allen Poe poem that forms the last track, backed by gloomy Mellotron-led prog rock), psychedelic, trippy stuff, utterly gorgeous. Electronically created environmental sounds, wild and spacey synths, and relaxed, melodic guitar are all to be found here in abundance. Second was the second great album from this brilliant, often overlooked, Krautrock band. After Second they departed the scene with their excellent swansong live album, Last (not yet reissued by Revisited), though some other posthumous live/archival documents have subsequently been released as well. The bonus track included here is "Laila '74", a nearly 8 minute live version of the album track(s).

MPEG stream: Dialogue And Random
MPEG stream: Haunted Island

Not too long ago we reviewed the recent reissues (on the Garden of Delights label) of the first two albums by this AQ-beloved krautrock band, an outfit up there with Pink Floyd, Ash Ra Tempel, Wishbone Ash, Can, Guru Guru, etc. in our book of cool '70s psych/prog. Recorded live in 1973 and '74, and then originally released in '76, this is Agitation Free's third album (and, at the time, final album -- though there's been other posthumous live/archival releases since then). We thought since everybody likes their first two so much we ought to tell you about "Last"! Basically, if you liked the wide-open, psychedelic jamming guitars and electronic experimentation of Agitation Free's "Malesch" or "Second" you'll want to check this one out too. The three cosmic, spacey instrumental tracks here include a version of the lovely "Laila II" from their second album, and bits from their first. And track three, the VERY spacey, minimalist rock of "Looping IV" (which, at 23 minutes, covered the original LP's entire B-side), will lull you into a beatific trance just as well as anything by today's expert space/drone bands like Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Landing, or Kinski...

RealAudio clip: Soundpool

THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SORRY.

They got their start as a hippie commune band, with ties to Guru Guru, Tangerine Dream, and Amon Duul. Their debut, "Malesch" (Arabic for "it doesn't matter, take it easy"), is a true cosmic Krautrock classic, blending the spacey psych of Pink Floyd and fellow krautrockers Ash Ra Tempel and Popul Vuh with a flair for Eastern "exoticism". Plus, in the intertwining guitars, you'll find some hints of the American West Coast psych sound (yes, even a little Grateful Dead -- but don't let that scare you off). The album was recorded in 1972 not long after the band was sent on a tour of the Middle East by the Goethe Institute, and incorporates field recordings (decades before the likes of Godspeed You Black Emperor!) from their trip: the bustle of Cairo streets, desert winds, calls to prayer, friendly airline pilots... These tapes are a key element of this record's appeal (along with their sheer talent for jamming and their synth and electronic experimentation). Oh, and some great Hammond organ sounds too. Basically, this is a fantastic album of mostly instrumental psych / drone / ethnic rock, that's generally mellow but powerful too. Whether to the Great Pyramids of Egypt (where the album cover was shot) or to inner space, "Malesch" portrays a true trip indeed. So recommended.

RealAudio clip: You Play For Me Today
RealAudio clip: Ala tul
RealAudio clip: Pulse
RealAudio clip: Rucksturz

The ethnic influence that so defined Agitation Free's debut is not as much a factor on 1973's "Second" -- but both the West Coast style guitar jamming AND the way-out-there electronics experimentation really come to the fore. Again, mostly instrumental (one exception being the ominous, electronically treated reading of an Edgar Allen Poe poem that forms the last track, backed by gloomy Mellotron-led prog rock), psychedelic, trippy stuff, utterly gorgeous. Electronically created environmental sounds, wild and spacey synths, and relaxed, melodic guitar are all to be found here in abundance. "Second" was the second great album from this brilliant, often overlooked, Krautrock band. After "Second" they departed the scene with their excellent swansong live album, "Last" (not yet reissued by Garden of Delights, but still available on Spalax), though some other posthumous live/archival documents have subsequently been released.

RealAudio clip: Laila, Part I
RealAudio clip: Dialogue And Random
RealAudio clip: Haunted Island

THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SORRY. The enigmatic Agnes returns with yet another suitably dark and suitably mysterious transmission of gritty textures and carcinogenic drones. As we mentioned before in our review of her oblique, eponymous 3" cd-r, we can find little information on who Agnes is. She hails from Chicago; and this is the second release we've been able to track down, but that seems to be all we can discern. Who else she's worked with or what she's done before these two releases remains an unknown. All of this matches with the sounds she produces, bringing to mind the early work of Maurizio Bianchi, in part finding parallels to his mythic disappearance by 1983 from the noise community with all sorts of conspiracies and hearsay getting tossed around; but also in hearing a sympathetic aesthetic through Agnes' zombified electronic swarmings, high voltage crackle, and generalized bad vibes. The first side buzzes and marches along grimy arpeggiations which seem both organic and machined at the same time. The second side laces a more noxious crackle against a chugging rhythm that steadily loses its will to live and gets consumed by tactile drips, clicks, whirs, and squeaks sending visions of greasy machines dating to the early 20th century whose gears spit out metal filings, run at unsafely hot temperatures, always on the verge of blowing a cog and causing the whole operation to grind to a halt. It's really nice to hear Agnes stretch out her compositions along a broader axis beyond the 15 minutes or so of that aforementioned cd-r; but unfortunately, this tape is super limited and already out of print. That said, we've heard rumors of a full album on wax from Ms. Agnes. Bring it on, lady!

MPEG stream: Night City I
MPEG stream: Night City II

Oh, Agnes. We know nothing about you, but you make such hermetically strange drones and noises. Given the utter lack of information - just a name and the sounds on this 3"cd-r - the triangulation towards something like the hauntological noisescaping of Haxan Cloak might be appropriate or maybe the electro-shock rhythms of a latter-day Aaron Dilloway might serve as an apt comparison. That contextual void is a defining characteristic of the Agnes recordings, as she (we'll assume this to be a she) makes compellingly skeletal pieces that orbit around the defined camps of witchy electronics, pulse-tone minimalism, analogue fetishism, oblique experimentation, industrial mind control, and hell, let's throw Fluxus in the mix, cuz that could definitely fit with what she does. There was a Frans De Waard project many moons ago called Goem that took its cues from Pan Sonic and Ryoji Ikeda, but what made Goem really interesting was that many of the rhythms were created from an obsolete medical device which was designed to heal and massage damaged muscles, tendons, and nerves through electrical pulses. Of course, Goem turned that into a rhythm box, and something similar could be the source for Agnes' electro-pulse minimalism. However, Agnes does this WAY better than Goem, whatever she may be using, bringing a mid-tempo voltage control pulse to the first track with cryptically sourced hisses and wheezing tones that surely must be electrical in nature. The second track finds the rhythm more disjointed and its electrical signals overdriven with a whumping bass distortion that would be hard to fabricate within a digital workstation. A strangely percolating half-melody of what might be a feedback loop or might even be a shortwave utility signal beacon repeating around this squelching rhythm. Both tracks never remain static but are constantly shifting, twisting, and morphing. Brilliant stuff. Limited to 70 copies.

MPEG stream: Untitled 1
MPEG stream: Untitled 2

Fair warning, we only have a dozen copies of this, and given our druthers, we probably would have had 3 times as many, in fact at one point we wanted to make this a Record Of The Week, but were never able to get enough, and now it's out of print, so these are the VERY last copies of the debut record from this heavy Aussie duo, whose sound, as the record title might suggest, is definitely doomy, not so much jazzy, but most definitely HEAVY. Beginning with a melodic little ditty all wheezing accordion and minor key guitar, very Parisian sounding weirdly enough, but it doesn't take long before the band lurches into action, and by action, we mean chugging, slow motion dirgery, super abstract and dynamic, a churning ultra math doom, stop / start, with occasional bursts of all out heaviness, but returning to that strange doomic chug, and somehow even as minimal and abstract as it is, it's sort of catchy, not poppy, not at all, but the repetition, and the chordal structure, it gets lodged in your head. The whole record sort of follows a similar pattern, as if each track was a part of the bigger whole, the clipped chug, the explosive downtuned metallic blow out, occasional harsh vox too, some stretches of shimmery near silence, even some spidery melodic grooviness, which reminds us quite a bit of Harvey Milk, in fact, overall, if we had to pick a band to compare these guys too, it might just be HM overall, the same sort of willful antagonism, the same sort of subversive hookiness. It also reminds us of a slooooowed down sludgier Stinking Lizaveta (who also label their music "Doom Jazz"), sinewy and mathy, either way, this is some crushing heaviness that should definitely appeal to fans of Harvey Milk, and the more metallic of post rockers, as well as dooooomlords like Monarch, Moss, Bunkur and the like (and if you believe the sticker on the cd, Yob, Neurosis and Pelican too)... LAST COPIES EVER, less than a dozen left, apologies for not being able to get more, but figured it would be cool if at least a few folks could get their hands on one of these....

MPEG stream: 2
MPEG stream: 3
MPEG stream: 7

Much like when the Butthole Surfers signed to a major label, who would have thought that a band with a name like Agoraphobic Nosebleed (and a sound like theirs for that matter!), would reach the point they're at now. For the longest time, Scott Hull kept Agoraphobic Nosebleed a dirty little secret, like the deformed child you keep locked in the basement, while focusing on his 'real' band Pig Destroyer (another bad ass band name), Agoraphobic Nosebleed a much spazzier and more drum machined grind proposition, which Pig Destroyer kept drifting more and more toward a somewhat more mainstream metal sound. As much as we love PD (see the Natasha review elsewhere on this list) our bleeding blackened hearts always belonged to Agoraphobic Nosebleed, every record packed with 30 second long tracks, amazing artwork, insane song titled, a fully fucked and warped sense of humor, killer artwork, and let's not forget that amazing 100 song 3", what wasn't to love? They were just so twisted and heavy and brutal, their sound a lightning speed burst of grinding ultraviolence, 1000 mile an hour hyperspeed fury, complex, convoluted, stuttering, blown out sonic insanity. So we've been waiting patiently for a new AnB record, it's been almost 3 years since the PCP Torpedo / ANBRX comp / remix record 2cd, and finally, lo and behold, the band resurface, with a new member (a lady no less, and not just ANY lady, the vocalist from ultra doom outfit Salome) and a new sound. We of course expected 30 or 40 songs, but there are only 13, and the sound is not so fast, not so unhinged, definitely still grind, but more a sort of fast core / power violence variant. At first we were a little disappointed with that, but the more we listen to this, the more the songs sink in, with slower tempos and longer track lengths, comes more melodies, more hooks, it's now a bit more about the songs, and THE RIFF, than just a twisted blown out blast of tangled grind. Not that we don't love us a twisted blown out blast of tangled grind, but between all the AnB records we already own, we have about 300 tracks of that, so this new record is pretty exciting. Still a drum machine, but the programming is wicked, it sounds almost like a real drummer (there's even a sort of drum!!), the guitars are still amazing, jagged and corrosive, the riffs much more like riffs instead of shards of guitar grind, lots of chug, and super almost technical squiggles, a bit of groove too, and some definite Greg Ginn-ish worship, the whole sound is still plenty gnarled and harsh and brutal, it's just that now you have time to get into the songs. There's some bits of plodding doominess, some long stretches of churning crunch, but for the most part this is a gloriously grinding chunk of damaged metallic chaos. And be sure to check the negative track, that's right, rewind past the beginning, and there's a whole other secret track (well not secret, it's listed on the disc and there are lyrics in the booklet), and speaking of the booklet, it's jam packed with fucked up cartoony drawings of death and cocks and naked women and sex acts and drugs and snakes and gore (it is a grind record after all) as well as the band's twisted non-PC lyrics. And while they last, the jewel-cased cds come packaged inside old school long boxes, the amazing cover art spread out over one of those big cardboard boxes cds used to come in back when they had to fit in bins stores previously were using for vinyl, but the extra dough is not just for the box, it also comes with pins, a poster and a bad ass embroidered patch. The vinyl has none of that stuff, but does have a huge full color booklet, and is housed in a sweet deluxe jacket.

MPEG stream: Agorapocalypse Now
MPEG stream: Timelord One (Loneliness Of The Long Distance Drug Runner)
MPEG stream: Dick To Mouth Resuscitation
MPEG stream: Flamingo Snuff

The grand return (albeit slight) of the masters of hyperspeed, crushing, gore-y metallic grind. We raved about their most recent full length Frozen Corpse Stuffed With Dope, hailing it as the best grind record of last year, which it was! So how does this new one stack up? Well, musically, it's got everything its predecessor had, drums like handfuls of ball bearings hurled at your windshield, guitars like electric carving knives hooked up to a car battery and used to saw your ears off and low end like a hot tar blanket wrapped around your head. But the concept rules on this one. 100 songs (the first being tracked -before- track one to accomodate the 99 song cd limit), the majority clocking in at or a little under 10 seconds, all on a 3" cd. Pretty cool. But the listenability of 4 second blasts of short sharp grinding carnage is maybe a bit debatable. And taking into consideration how unbelievably complex and convuluted AnB songs are, it seems like all 100 tracks could've been woven into 3 or 4 proper tracks. But where would the fun be in that?! And those of you who have been hankering for more of that sick, sick, fast as fuck, brutal blurred grinding metal that only a few bands can pull off (AnB, Pig Destroyer, etc.) and miss song titles like 'Children Blown To Bits By The Busload', 'When Taking A Shit Feels Sexy', 'Mosquito Holding Human Cattle Prod', 'Holiday Bowl Full Of Asshole' then look no further. The 100 song 3" grindcore ep of the year without a doubt! MPEG Download: "Spreading The Dis-Ease" [/audio/agoraphobicnosespread.mp3] MPEG Stream: "Spreading The Dis-Ease" [/audio/agoraphobicnosespread.m3u]

MPEG stream: Spreading The Dis-Ease
MPEG stream: 4 Leeches (40,000 Leeches)

How can you not love a band called Agoraphobic Nosebleed? Especially when some of the members also do time in a group called Pig Destroyer? And when they spew forth a ear splitting, skull cleaving, gore drenched stew of hyperspeed buzz and grind, complete with impossibly fast drum machine blast beats, soul crushing downtuned riffage and insanely frenzied vocals. You can't. Not love them that is. And thus we do love these deranged grind freaks. So much so that we proudly proclaimed their Frozen Corpse Stuffed With Dope album one of the best grind records ever! And we were equally enamored of their 100 song 3" cd released not soon after. But this is the one we've been waiting for. ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY SIX TRACKS, two whole discs compiling everything they ever recorded before they signed to Relapse, which is a whole heck of a lot. Every long out of print seven inch, every impossible to find compilation track, even thirteen previously unreleaed tracks! All absolutely the most furious, most fucked up grind you'll ever hear, million mile an hour tempos, fifty parts per minute-long tracks, blurry and buzzy and thrashing and pummeling and mind meltingly complex, replete with bizarre ambient interludes, sludgy doom metal breakdowns, freaked out ultranoise, all scattered amidst prickly thorny squalls of glorious gut ripping grind! Gorgeously packaged with tons of liner notes, track listing, discography, as well as some impossibly Pushead-like artwork credited to someone who is NOT Pushead!

MPEG stream: 5% Control
MPEG stream: Prey For Death / Hollowpoint / Conform to...Death / Life Is Paing Profit Is The Motive
MPEG stream: Victims As Dogs
MPEG stream: Dead Above The Neck
MPEG stream: 10,000 Bullets
MPEG stream: Centipede
MPEG stream: Cut To Happy Hour
MPEG stream: Military Scientist

Second full length by this outfit led by Scott Hull (of Pig Destroyer and formerly of Anal Cunt). The distinction between Hull's other project Pig Destroyer and ANB (both are furious grind metal units) is maybe a little nebulous, but the most obvious differences are: ANB uses a drum machine instead of a live drummer, and their songs are way more varied and for the most part, WAY weirder. Totally inhuman, lightning speed hyper-blast beats, harsh and brutal guitar tone, insane riffing, and super distorted totally sick vocals. Most of the tracks are blazing fast and brutal as fuck, but occasionally they slow it down to a midtempo old school thrash attack (speaking of old school thrash, there's even a Nuclear Assault cover with Dan Lilker on bass/vox!). The production is really bizarre with lots of samples, weird electronic bits, and lots of digital fx and processing on the vocals and guitars. There's even a weird almost techno number that manages to be just as fearsome as the rest of the more metal tracks. All the production craziness and occasional electronic bits remind us a little of James Plotkin's WAY far out glitch-grind Atomsmasher album we dug so much. And the cover art courtesy of Hydra Head honcho and member of Isis, Aaron Turner, is also very cool. So far, "Frozen Corpse" is easily the best grindcore record this year, as far as Andee and Allan are concerned!

RealAudio clip: Machine Gun
RealAudio clip: Dead Battery
RealAudio clip: Hungry Homeless Handjob
RealAudio clip: Bitch's Handbag Full Of Money
RealAudio clip: Unwashed Cock
RealAudio clip: Kill Theme For American Apeshit
RealAudio clip: Doctored Results

"All records should be six minutes long!! I just listened to this whole record, and it was awesome!" - Me (Andee) ranting when I threw this on the first time. By now, it takes a whole lot for us to give a shit about a 'remix' record. Pretty strange that one of the first remix records in ages to totally kick our asses would come from grindlords Agoraphobic Nosebleed and avant post metal label Hydra Head. But remixes aside for the moment, metalheads and grindfreaks should be thanking their lucky stars that AnB's legendary PCP Torpedo 6" has finally been released on cd. All SIX minutes of it. One of the most perfect slabs of mechanized grind metal EVER. Dense, convoluted, heavy, ridiculous, scary, blazing fast, buzzing and snarling, short and sweet. PERFECT GRIND! So it would almost be worth it for PCP on cd alone (okay, maybe $15 for 6 minutes is a bit steep, but it's soooo good!). Thankfully, PCP's 6 minutes gets rounded out by an hour long bonus disc of remixes from folks like Justin Broadrick (Jesu, Godflesh, etc.), James Plotkin (Khanate, Phantomsmasher), DJ Speedranch, Merzbow, Jansky Noise, Vinda Obmana, and a bunch more. From Plotkin's timestretched, ultradistorted industrial freakout mix, to the Godfleshy sludge and pummel of Broadrick's mix, to the skittery acid fried IDM Dev/Null mix, to Vinda Obmana's bleak wasted industrial soundscape mix, it's all totally weird and wonderful, most of it very very noisy. But what would you expect when the source material is the violent and vitriolic hate fueled fury of Agoraphobic Nosebleed?! And then there's the packaging! HOLY SHIT. Totally deluxe double disc digipak, all in vivid yellows and reds and oranges, the front some sort of factory, with multicolored flames licking the sky as pills rain from the heavens. The inside is a dizzying blur of pills and capsules, each disc covered in tiny little flames, the six minute PCP disc a little black 3" cd embedded in a 5" plastic disc, all flickering little blue flames, the remix a 5" black disc with red flames, so completely and overwhelmingly gorgeous. Includes a black and white insert with all the liner notes and lyrics confusingly tucked amidst and within a litany of pharmecutical jargon, suggestions for dosages, various health warnings and lists of side effects. Awesome!

MPEG stream: Thanksgiving Day
MPEG stream: Thinning The Herd
MPEG stream: James Plotkin - Phantomsmasher Mix
MPEG stream: Justin Broadrick - Flesh Of Jesu Mix

A.N.: Super fast, brutally heavy grind, courtsy of Scott Hull (ex- Anal Cunt) and a drum machine. Converge: East coast metal core, pounding and shrieking, ala Colesce. Excellent.

[ aquarius records catalogue — A ]