[ aquarius records catalogue

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Showing results 2251 through 2272 of 2272.

We have a trifecta of free jazz "twofers" this week from way deep down in the Impulse catalog. Check out the reviews elsewhere on the list for Alice Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders. While the Coltrane features two of our favorite titles from her, the Ayler and Sanders releases are from albums we're less familiar with, or at least hadn't reviewed before, but have been psyched to (re-)discover. While perhaps not the best place to be introduced to these artists, these records reward those seekers of the overlooked deep cuts without the hefty collector/import price! Love Cry from 1967 was Ayler's first release on Impulse. Like the Impulse recordings of John Coltrane, Ayler's signing to the label did not mean a shift towards commercialization, though the music is perhaps more accessible than his ESP recordings. Yet Love Cry is still a weird record. It was the last recording he made with his younger brother Donald on trumpet, before Donald was fired from the band and committed for a short time to a mental institution. So their horn interplay has a tempestuous yet strangely sullen vibe given the fact that most of the music stems from militaristic bugle calls and marches and nursery rhyme fugues. The baroque dirge quality is emphasized further with the odd inclusion of harpsichord in sometimes sallow expositions of New Orleans funeral music. Yet despite all of the chaotic atmosphere, there is a tight focus and flow. Not sure that can be said for the other record, The Last Album from 1969. Though it wasn't technically Ayler's last ever album, it came out of the same sessions as Music Is The Healing Force, though that album was released first, plus if you really want to get technical, there were two other records released from a live concert performed a year later... Yet The Last album has the feeling of something ending, as it contains a lot of experimentation that didn't venture as far out as a lot of his other recordings. Yet the odd musical pairings continue with opener, "Untitled Duet" featuring Ayler on bagpipes cutting angular phrasing with Canned Heat guitarist, Henry Vestine. Sun Ra-like cosmic vocal excursions mark the poetic "Again Comes The Rising of The Sun" and the strange "Desert Blood", a heady dirge featuring plodding piano cascades and scattershot rhythms. Though perhaps not regarded as his best outing, paired together with Love Cry, both albums provide a shored up visionary quality of range and mystique than they would yield as single releases.

MPEG stream: Love Cry
MPEG stream: Zion Hill
MPEG stream: Again Comes The Rising of The Sun
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"Music Is The Healing Force Of The Universe," something of a funk blues album, is Ayler's last studio recording. Many fans feel that after the death of John Coltrane in 1967, the two records ("New Grass" and "Music is the Healing Force") Ayler released were sell-outs, a dilution of his uncompromising (and for some, difficult) artistry in an attempt to reach a broader audience. Ayler believed that he was charged to carry the word of God to people through his music, and those two albums were attempts to do that. With decades of distance now separating listeners (who, when this recording was made, were still just beginning to reel from the freshness of Aylers free music innovation) from these recordings, this reissue serves to re-open the evaluation of the direction Ayler's music was beginning to take before his career was cut short by his still mysterious death. The tracks on "Music Is" fall into three separate categories; vocal tracks featuring the stylings of late-era Ayler collaborator / sweetheart Mary Maria as well as some crazy vocals (and bagpipes!) from Ayler himself, Coltrane-like instrumentals, and blues collaborations with Canned Heat guitarist Henry Vestine. Definitely not the stuff that earned Ayler his reputation as a free-jazz giant, but an interesting insight into the evolution of his music. MPEG Download: "Masonic Inborn" [/audio/aylermasonicinborn.mp3] MPEG Stream: "Masonic Inborn" [/audio/aylermasonicinborn.m3u]

MPEG stream: Masonic Inborn
MPEG stream: Music Is The Healing Force Of The Universe

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The two most recent records put out by ultra hip experimental electronic label Triangle, finds that label continuing to push well past the 'witch house' genre ghetto that birthed them. To be fair, the first few proper releases on Triangle, Holy Other, Clams Casino, and Balam Acab, were already a sort of POST witch house strain anyway, with some of the WH tropes retained, but with those groups upping the production big time, and ditching much of the lo-fi drag that defined the best witch house, and in the process, inventing a new electronica. Elsewhere on this week's list you'll find the new record from SF electro weirdos Water Borders, a dizzying slab of Coil worshipping electronic what the fuck genius, and then there's this, the debut from Ayshay, which also incorporates a bit of Coil into the proceedings, but there seem to be no beats at all, at least initially, channeling some sort of Cocteau Twins ethereal drift, with some processed throat singing style vocals as a bass, the only beat a buried pulse, it's pretty compelling, and darkly haunting, and beautiful for sure. The second track offers up more of the same, channeling Grouper and stripping away all that low fidelity murk and instead creating a lush layered symphony of voices, subtly twisted and tweaked, another spectral vocal bliss out, and in fact, the third track is more of the same, it's like a three part vocal song suite that acts as a sort of introduction to the final 12 minute "Nguzunguzu Megamix", which is in fact the first track with beats, and while we may have been expecting some sort of skittery drag, or murky muted low end throb, it actually plays more like some lost Muslimgauze remix, all skittery Eastern percussion, multiple drums and rhythms all tangled up, some hand claps, some serious low end, all over those ethereal vox from the first few tracks, the sound constantly shifting, the beat growing more and more block rockin as the track progresses until it finally blossoms into some almost jungle near the end, the stutter and skitter (and some BIG bass booms), perfectly woven into that strange shimmery swirl of ghostly vox. And it's those last few minutes that are the sort of warped and weird, beat heavy mystery secret weapon that some cool DJ will unleash from his sonic arsenal at just the right time and just destroy the dancefloor. So good, getting tons of play here at AQ and appropriately just in time for the Halloween season...

MPEG stream: Warn-U
MPEG stream: Nguzunguzu Megamix

Latest in the ongoing series of lovingly packaged, super limited releases from UK label Paradigms, who ostensibly are a metal label, but whose releases are sonically all over the map, the gothic chamber music of Amber Asylum, the buzzing blackness of Utlagr and Throne Of Katarsis, the blessed out dream done of the Angelic Process, the psychedelic space folk of Plants, the grinding cinematic noise of Gnaw Their Tongues, the black ambient of Wraiths, the metallic post prog rock of Woburn House, the ultra doooooom of Hjarnidaudi and we could go on and on. And we most likely will as Paradigms shows no sign of slowing down. Two new releases this time around, a disc of progged out bombastic post black metal from Italian horde Kailash, and this here chunk of dreamy wispy neo-classical ambience from a group called Aythis. Definitely the most traditionally pretty of the Paradigms releases, Aythis practice a sort of Dead Can Dance meets Der Blutharsch style post industrial neo-classicism, sweeping epic melodies, sung spoken female vocals way down in the mix, martial percussion, angelic choral crooning, twinkling chimes, simple minor key acoustic guitar melodies, all very dark and dreamlike, melancholic and ambient, but with that relentless percussion, the muted pounding of a death march drum, but buried beneath layers of gossamer shimmer, and warm whorls of chordal buzz. Some tracks sparkle and glimmer in the sun, epic and majestic, soul bared and head held high, all washed out and blue skied, warm afternoons suffused with a rich burnished glow, others are murky crawls through barren subterranean chambers, candle light flickering, shadows dancing on blackened walls, the dirt and sand rough against your hands, the sounds rough against your ears. Pretty and mysterious, haunting and beautiful. Definitely recommended for fans of Dead Can Dance, Arcana, Elend and the prettier side of Cold Meat Industries... Limited to 750 copies, packaged in a mini lp style sleeve wrapped in a hand stamped brown paper outer sleeve.

MPEG stream: Shallow Blackout
MPEG stream: Innermost Land

Just how far into the shadows can you go? Avantgarde US black metal band Azrael attempt to answer that question by unleashing this double disc, comprising Acts III ("Self") and IV ("Goat") of their on-going journey into the void of unlight. As we've noted before, these guys are willing to wander outside of the typical black metal template, sounding much more like a moody post-rock band at times... grimly melodic, droned-out, rhythmic and spare. Elsewhere, they cough up the black metal bonafides, rasping vokills and frosty riffage and all. But still they sound something like a necro Neurosis. As longtime fans of the original nordic black metal post-rockers, Ved Buens Ende, we love this. Azrael, at home in the shadows, appreciate that darkness is often quiet, and that the seasick tension produced by repetition and dynamics can be as creepily effective as the most overtly brutal guitars and screams. Awesome!

MPEG stream: Obscure Ritual Initiation
MPEG stream: Down Into Blood
MPEG stream: Submersed

Another review courtesy of our black metal brother Wrest from the mighty Leviathan: From the wastelands of the cold and frosty midwest, comes Azrael's "Into Shadows Act 1". This is the first of a two part assault, from Lord Samaiza (vocals, guitar) and Algol (vocals, basses, programming). Continuing on from "Obdurate", their first record on the now defunct Desastrious records, this duo's talents have been honed to a razors edge. Discordant melodies, dark and blackened folk, and some truly creepy acoustic shards, all buried under ritualistic�hate howls. Azrael are monoliths, rising far above most U.S. black metal, with their cold vision of grim expression.

MPEG stream: Dominion Of Abysmal Crypts
MPEG stream: Darkness Binds Us All

Here's part two of Azrael's Into Shadows and on it they've veered even further away from typical grim black metal into melodic avant weirdness. The first clue is the sleeve, a gorgeously stark series of photos of snowy lanscapes, snow covered trees, and leafless branches. No band info to be found anywhere. The second clue is the first two minutes of the first song, delicately strummed acoustic guitars and reverb heavy drums, eventually joined by droning keyboards, or maybe they're cellos. Either way, it's a weirdly spare sort of rhythmic post-rockish workout. Eventually this pastoral tranquility bursts into buzzing necro black metal hell, all high-end mosquito guitars, howled vocals and simple programmed drum beats, but still over a throbbing, swooning bed of those same droning cellos. Really cool. The record sort of seesaws back and forth between grim howling buzz and sleepy doomy low end rumble. Maybe a little like a black metal Old Man Gloom. Dark and hypnotic, grim and necro, and with some surprising, almost indie sounding melodic jangle thrown into the already unlikely mix!

MPEG stream: Through Horned Shadows Glimpse Pt. III
MPEG stream: Through Horned Shadows Glimpse Pt. IV

More grim buzzing black metal from Finland! For some of us, that's all we need to know, but then, go ahead and check inside and discover that the lyrics were "written and stolen from various sources", by someone called Ancient Fisherman, who just so happens to be Albert Witchfinder of the mighty Reverend Bizarre!! Fuck yeah! So in addition to digging through the RB archives and releasing almost as many records posthumously as when they were actually a band, Mr. Witchfinder indulges his glacial ultra doom side as The Puritan, and offers up musical black masses in both Armanenschaft, and now Azrael Rising. Relentless and furious, buzzing and black, the Ancient Fisherman's partner Vitutor lays down some serious grimness, channeling the Nordic elite, but also countrymen like Horna, Ajattara, Beherit, Sargeist, the Finnish elite, and Azrael sounds right at home. Long epic stretches of sweeping keyboards, give way to loping sprawls of midtempo Burzumic buzz, before slipping into lightning fast blasts of blown out blackness. One track stands out, as it harkens back to Reverend Bizarre, a seriously doomy trudge, the vocals slipping from harsh and screechy to bellowy and demonic, while the riffs churn and the tempos lurch, before the last song crashes in, a blown out hiss drenched burst of midtempo drumming, washed out blurred buzzing guitars, and vocals that are wild and gloriously unhinged. So there you go... Black metal. Finnish. Albert Witchfinder. Buzz. Blast. Grim. What else do you need?

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MPEG stream: Complex 25
MPEG stream: Justified God
MPEG stream: Clarity Through Apathy

In general I can't really handle female vocalists of the overly-breathy school of emotiveness. You know, the kind of voice that's become such a mainstream-adult-radio staple -- the Jewel / Fiona Apple axis. Their whispered voices are breaking oh so emotionally This very pleasant, quiet half-hour EP from the Georgia-based duo has become a favorite of Cup and Windy. The title track "November" is so astonishingly pretty that I was struck the same way as when I first heard Mazzy Star -- by how instantly accessible and melodic it is. In fact its chorus positively reminds us of ABBA's "The Winner Takes It All". The delicately plucked acoustic guitars are embellished with piano, steel drums, and nice, subtle stereo separation effects. Features a Townes Van Zandt cover. Together with their producer Andy Lemasters (of Now It's Overhead, another AQ-fave), Azure Ray have also toured as Bright Eyes' band.

RealAudio clip: November
RealAudio clip: For the Sake of the Song

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SORRY. The two Jasons of Azusa Plane make more of their rainy day droning psychedelia for twin guitars. Limited edition.

After a long hiatus since the last Azusa Plane album, Jason DiEmilio has reinvented himself as an angularly avant-guitarist with aspirations of making another David Grubbs album. "The Highway's Jammed With Broken Heroes" is the first release of Azusa Plane in

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

SORRY. "All sounds on this cd originated from a Fender guitar" it says on the very Corpus Hermeticum-like folding paper sleeve. The Azusa Plane is a very pleasant space-drone type project out of Clifton Heights, PA. [/cat/a53.html] 54

[ aquarius records catalogue — A ]