[ aquarius records catalogue

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Showing results 3101 through 3150 of 3202.

Second album from these Swedish melodic metalheads. There's no Merzbow remix this time, but it's still great. Straddling the line between crushing metal core a la Coalesce or Converge, and high energy punk rock ala their fellow country men the Refused, Burst write super catchy songs, constructed from super complex, mathy post rock, death metal riffs reconstructed into hooky little melodies, acoustic breakdowns, super high energy rock and roll, stoner rock grooves, Neurosis-style apocalyptic dirges and a vocalist with a howl that sounds remarkably like Mudhoney's Mark Arm. Both Allan and Andee can't get enough of this band!

MPEG stream: Rain
MPEG stream: The Foe Sublime

MPEG stream: Disc One, Track One
MPEG stream: Disc One, Track Two

Both James Burton and Ralph Mooney were two legendary sidemen who helped shape the Bakersfield sound in the 60's (Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, et al). Burton with his telecaster (along with dobro) and his tenure as a rockabilly guitarist and Mooney with his steel guitar together formed a unique sound, now indelibly associated with the slick sound of Hollywood's country session musicians and, by extension, commercials and television in general. Producer Rick Nelson (who Burton had worked with in his rockabilly days) convinced the two to record instrumental versions of the country hits of the period. Among the 12 included here are such classics as Spanish Eyes, Your Cheatin' Heart, Columbus Stockade Blues along with two originals by Mooney and Burton.

MPEG stream: Columbus Stockade Blues
MPEG stream: Your Cheatin' Heart

Who would have thought? A new Burzum record, after his release from16 years in prison. Has it really been 16 years? And who would have thought the new Burzum would actually be really really great?! Certainly not us, especially after the last two stinkers, the made-in-jail, all-synth Daudi Baldrs and Hildskjalf. And the last one of those was more than 11 years ago! And let's not forget Varg's prison conversion, becoming a neo fascist, a Nazi, spouting white pride rhetoric, hell, this record was even originally titled "The White God", not to mention that he's in fact a convicted murderer and an arsonist. But it's always been like that with Burzum, and much of black metal, but in Burzum's case in particular, we try to not confuse/conflate the man with the music, and to be fair, for some that's not possible, no one could fault a person for not wanting to support a musician who espouses reprehensible views, and one way is by not listening to their music, and not buying their records. But as we've posited before, your record collection would begin to get pretty sparse, once you eliminated records made by assholes, and by people whose politics you disagreed with, but again, it's perfectly fair to do just that. But for those of you who can in fact separate the music from the musician, then Belus is a pretty serious and solid return to form. Not so much Filosefem as Det Som Engang Var and Hvis Lyset Tar Oss. The same guitar tone, the same epic riffage, the same raspy vokills, for someone who was not allowed a guitar for the last decade plus, it's pretty amazing that in the space of less than a year, he somehow managed to come up with this. Granted some of these tracks are older, but for the most part this is a brand new record, could be that it was formulated over the past decade, the result of all that pent up emotion, this fierce and furious chunk of black buzz, weirdly melodic in places, very trancelike all the way through, with lots of spoken word mixed into the frantic riffing and blasting beats... The record is at its strongest when it's the most Burzumic, blown out buzz, frenzied riffing over loping midtempo rhythms, the riffing surprisingly layered and complex, check out "Morgenroede" with the relentless main riff shifting from fast picking, to dizzyingly looped arpeggiation, making the whole song swoon and warble, before lurching back into a buzz drenched lumber. The closing track, "Belus' Tilbakeomst (Konklusjon)" is pretty incredible as well, super intense and droney and atmospheric, the riffing almost static, building all sorts of tension, layer upon layer, various notes and overtones ringing out, the playing frantic and frenzied, but with very little forward momentum, almost like some weird sort of black raga drone, rendered in black buzz. There's lots of that sort of unlikely innovation going on here, every time we play this in the store, people come to the counter to find out what the heck it is, and then they can't believe it's Burzum. Or, rather, they might very well have thought it was Burzum, but can't believe it's the NEW Burzum. It's too bad for Burzum, and for this record, that Belus will forever be saddled with so much non musical baggage, though it's his own damn fault, cuz once you dig through all the shit, get past all the politics, all the rumors and racist rhetoric, past all the expectations and the various scenesters and tastemakers, past the fact that he's really just a total fuckhead, if you can forget just for a second what led up to the creation of this record, Belus could very well end up being one of the best black metal records of the year. NB. There IS vinyl, or rather WAS, but the first pressing is sold out, and the copies we got are long gone, but eventually they'll do another pressing.

MPEG stream: II. Belus Doed
MPEG stream: III. Glemselens Elv
MPEG stream: IV. Kaimadalthas Nedstigning

The very first Burzum album, released in 1992, here coupled with the Aske ep released about a year later. This is seriously grim and brutal black metal. Super distorted, very inelegant stumbling buzzing, brooding black metal madness. Lots of folks consider this to be the ultimate Burzum record (the most 'true'). Perhaps because it is in fact the most immediate and openly furious, forgoing musical dexterity for a blast of pure and passionate hate. An all out attack on all things sacred. A gorgeously primitive and profane black metal document.

The first Burzum album recorded in prison. Not sure whether it was a conscious choice, or lack of access to instruments in prison, but the infamous Count Grishnack's Daudi Baldurs, finally released in 1997, utilized keyboards only. A classical / medieval / nordic concept album that sort of sounds a bit like "Peter and the Wolf" and lacks the unholy fuzz of his past recordings, but does manage to generate a wee bit of atmosphere and boasts some intense paintings on the sleeve, but ultimately not nearly as musically or emotionally charged as the more metal Burzum records. BE WARNED! THESE BURZUM LPS ARE EXTREMELY LIMITED!! ONCE THESE ARE GONE, IT'S QUITE POSSIBLE THAT THEY'LL BE GONE FOR GOOD. IF IT ENDS UP WE CAN GET MORE, BE PREPARED TO WAIT PATIENTLY!

Record number two from Count Grishnackh, and here we begin to see the seeds of what is to come. The sound is still raw and primitive, all buzzsaw distortion and howled inhuman vocals. Midtempo and stumbling like a three legged hell hound. But now there is plenty of creepy synths, and occasional swaths of instrumental dark ambience. Fans of the classic Filosefem, will find this much to their liking as well, just as creepy and haunting, but much less refined and much more raw and brutal. BE WARNED! THESE BURZUM LPS ARE EXTREMELY LIMITED!! ONCE THESE ARE GONE, IT'S QUITE POSSIBLE THAT THEY'LL BE GONE FOR GOOD. IF IT ENDS UP WE CAN GET MORE, BE PREPARED TO WAIT PATIENTLY!

By now everyone should know Burzum, if not the music then at least the name, for some it's because you've been true grim black metal warriors from back in the day, for others it was just from being a lookieloo intrigued by the Lords Of Chaos book and all the hype in the press about the murders and the church burnings. But let's not forget, or let an overhyped scene, a jailhouse conversion to neo-Naziism, and a spate of truly terrible Mortiis style ambient records distract us from the fact that Burzum created some of the most important music in the last decade, certainly black metal, but so strangely gorgeous and otherworldly that it transcended the genre, becoming a music that was accessible to all fans of bizarre and beautiful music, not just metalheads. Setting the standard by which we measure all other black metal for sure, a swirling near ambient buzz, riffs that are so hypnotic and reptetive and thick with distortion and amp buzz that they become metallic drones, like brutal buzzing lullabies, fuzzy indistinct swirls of guitar around pounding midtemp drums and delicate ambient synthesizers. Burzum's masterpiece is of course Filosefem, if you don't have that, stop reading now and pick that up. It's the perfect melding of primitive black buzz and ethereal ambience. Definitely one of the top 5 black metal records EVER. This here rarities collection is more for folks who already know the joys of Burzum's buzzing black abyss and have been dying for more more more. And since Burzum has pretty much turned into a complete tool, with a musical output directly reflecting that change, there's no place to go but back! The first three tracks here are the original version of the Aske ep, a howling, buzzing pounding black metal classic, simple and harsh but again strangely hypnotic. It's the next handful of tracks that really make this essential, first, rehearsals from 1991, four tracks of super blown out, ultra distorted blackness, so thick and buzzy, that the speakers sort of seem to bend and stretch, the sound quality alternates between brittle high end scree and muted overdriven bass heavy throb, which only makes the tracks sound that much more intense and HEAVY. Then, three unreleased tracks from 1993, classic Burzum, but as if recorded through a tin can and twine, lo lo lo fi for sure, but again, it just adds to the bleak and depressive ambience, easy to hear how Burzum's legacy was carried on by Xasthur, Weakling and the like after hearing these super raw tracks. The last three tracks are taken from various Burzum records, "My Journey To The Stars" from the first s/t record, "Lost Wisdom" from Det Som Engang Var, and finally the brilliant "Dunkelheit" from Filosefem, maybe the greatest track Burzum ever recorded. So heavy and sad and melancholy and brutally beautiful. This also happens to be one of those dual discs, so flip it over and you can watch the video for "Dunkelheit" (it's PAL, but all-region so your computer might play it ok), released years back as a VHS tape and long unavailable. The absolute perfect visual accompaniment to the songs bleak buzzing beauty.

MPEG stream: Lost Wisdom (demo)
MPEG stream: Spell Of Destruction (demo)
MPEG stream: Channelling The Power Of Souls Into A New God (demo)

Post-release-from-incarceration record number two from the infamous Burzum, aka Varg Vikernes, and just like Belus before it, this IS pretty goddamn great, most definitely harkening back to the good old days, as in: Filosefem / Aske / Det Som Engang Var. In our review of Belus, we went on at length about the man, his shitty politics, his questionable sanity, his storied history, his checkered past (and present), but odds are, most metalheads are getting tired of the whole "Vikernes is an asshole", "his music sucks cuz his politics suck" thing. If you do want to get into that or maybe aren't actually up on the whole Burzum controversy, well, check that review, or just do a Google search and you'll be all caught up. The funny thing about his previous disc Belus, besides it A) being really good, and B) being a proper black metal record, considering the two records Vikernes made in jail were super cheesy, all-synthesizer affairs (although supposedly, that owed to the fact that he wasn't allowed to have guitars in prison), was that it was SO much a Buzum record, that even the most casual fan hearing a snippet from Belus, would have immediately recognized it as Burzum, which is remarkable considering it had been exactly 14 years since the last proper Burzum black metal record. And in fact Allan here named that tune in about 5 notes when he heard it playing in the store - "this must be Burzum!" Not sure what that says about Burzum and Belus, a return to form, or a retrogression? Regardless, it sounded great, and we ended up digging it big time. Fallen, while in many ways a logical follow up, and again, hugely beholden to Burzum past, mixes things up a bit, so while still distinctly Burzum, it's also a bit weirder, and not so easy to peg. Opener "Jeg Faller" begins with a total classic Burzum riff, brittle and buzzy, droned out and repetitive, epic and majestic, the drumming buried in the mix, then that riff is matched up with some awesomely woozy minor key arpeggiations, and weirdest of all, some strange sea shanty style crooning, at first, it's a bit off putting, but a few listens and it sounds pretty perfect. And that's pretty much the template for the whole record, frantic classic Burzum style riffing, seasick waltzy midtempo melancholia, the usual guttural vokills, but interspersed with some monk like chanting (or some full on proper crooning, like the surprisingly heartfelt vocals on "Budstikken", there laid over some frantic blackened riffing, a weird but effective combo), all the songs laced with ominous bits of spoken word, the arrangements super simple, and spare, and the production not hugely heavy or buzzy, instead again, a bit brittle and cold, lo-fi, but in a good way, a vibe and atmosphere that definitely suits the songs, and the sound. The record finishes with a cool, minimal bit of ritualistic folkiness, all hand drums, strange percussion, detuned steel string strum, raspy wraith like whispers, and haunting mournful melodies. We're sure there will be much debate about the merits of Fallen, the failings of Vikernes, the usual black metal politics and of course the degree of trueness or grimness involved here, but fuck it, at this point we're happy to just dig a record for the music, and we dig the music on Fallen a whole lot...

MPEG stream: Jeg Faller
MPEG stream: Valen
MPEG stream: Budstikken

By now, unless you've been living underneath a VERY big rock, you know all about Count Grishnackh aka Burzum, Euronymous, Bard Faust, Mayhem, Emperor and all the killing and church burnings and suicides. If for some reason you don't know about all this stuff, go buy yourself a copy of The Lords Of Chaos, a book that covers all that stuff in great detail. The problem with all this drama, murder, satanism, whatever, you forget that the whole reason these guys knew each other, and the only reason any of us cared, was the music they made. And that music they made was black metal. A black metal that thanks to the decidedly non-musical drama, would soon make black metal a household name. So when folks ask us to recommend some classic black metal, we always recommend Satyricon's Nemesis Divina, Immortal's Battles In The North, Emperor's Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk, and of course Burzum's Filosefem. Filosefem, originally released in 1996 holds a special place in our outsider music hearts, as the first black metal record to turn the whole black metal formula completely upside down. Count Grishnackh was the only member and played all the instruments, even the drums, which gives the whole thing a weirdly damaged droning swing. A rhythm that would define the rhythmic sound of later black metal legends like Graveland and Woodtemple. The guitars are a thick suffocating buzz, razor sharp and totally blown out. And the vocals are an anguished wail, some sort of primeval demonic incantation. But where Burzum stands out most is the addition of a creepy synthesizers that hover in the background of several of the tracks, a haunting melody buried beneath the swirl of fuzz and ultradistortion. Unlike other BM bands, the keyboard isn't a huge wash of strings to add some sort of epic quality, these tracks are already epic enough, here the keyboards are much more spare, a simple minor key melody is picked out, almost childlike, hovering briefly, before the next note follows. Except for one blazing blast of a track, Filosefem is mostly midtempo, lurching and heaving, stumbling down dirt road into a smeared grey landscape. But as the record nears the last few tracks, the record changes, beginning with the nearly half hour long "Rundgang um die Transzendentale Saule der Singularitat", a track that eschews any hint of metal, stripping away the guitars, the drums, everything, and leaving just the synthesizer, as it unfurls a seemingly endless Aphex Twin like four note melody. Forlorn and strangely compelling. And in the context of the whole record, as emotionally devastating as anything we've heard. The final track "Gebrechlichkeit II", brings back the guitars, but makes them nearly static, an endlessly blurry vacuum cleaner like riff, slowly shifting, as another haunting melody drifts wraith like in the background. Definitely one of the most essential and unique metal records of all time. BE WARNED! THESE BURZUM LPS ARE EXTREMELY LIMITED!! ONCE THESE ARE GONE, IT'S QUITE POSSIBLE THAT THEY'LL BE GONE FOR GOOD. IF IT ENDS UP WE CAN GET MORE, BE PREPARED TO WAIT PATIENTLY!

The final Burzum album, another all keyboard affair, recorded in prison and again the sound is mostly atmospheric, swooshing keyboards, some simple drum machine rhythms, a bit of folky filigree here and there. Supposedly evoking the ambience of Nordic forest and Nordic Pride (a barely disguised white pride, as Grishnackh, now Vikernes, discovered his true Nazi self in prison) this is a mostly disposable dark ambient record, for only the true Burzum completists. BE WARNED! THESE BURZUM LPS ARE EXTREMELY LIMITED!! ONCE THESE ARE GONE, IT'S QUITE POSSIBLE THAT THEY'LL BE GONE FOR GOOD. IF IT ENDS UP WE CAN GET MORE, BE PREPARED TO WAIT PATIENTLY!

The title roughly translated is "What once was," but Det Som Engang Var is more about what is to come, the perfect bridge between the grim raw primitive Burzum of old and the beautifully bizarre grim blackness / haunting electronic hybrid that Burzum was to become. Originally released in 1994, the year he was sentenced to prison for murdering Mayhem's Euronymous, Hvis is a buzzing droning black metal masterpiece. Which would have probably remained the most essential Burzum document had Filosefem not been released 2 years later. BE WARNED! THESE BURZUM LPS ARE EXTREMELY LIMITED!! ONCE THESE ARE GONE, IT'S QUITE POSSIBLE THAT THEY'LL BE GONE FOR GOOD. IF IT ENDS UP WE CAN GET MORE, BE PREPARED TO WAIT PATIENTLY!

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SORRY. If you don't know the whole sordid story with this guy/band, let us refer you to "The Lords of Chaos" book... Here's some rare demo/rehearsal material from Varg, all early stuff recorded long before his incarceration. Very cult. The demo material is rough and super atmospheric, gloom drone metal supreme. This is the stuff for which the term "necro" was invented. This disc also includes other oddities, such as a rehearsal recording of a seemingly drunken Varg, along with guys from Mayhem, likely equally drunk, singing a Cliff Richard song a capella (this track is really more silly than necro). Then there's a long spooky track with vocals by the late Sveinbjorn Beinfeinsson, head of the Asatru religion, backed by Varg's synths (this might be of more recent vintage than the rest). For true fans. Limited (and numbered) edition of 1000 cds. We only have a few.

RealAudio clip: Lost Wisdom

One of the things we like to do with records (especially cd-r's) from all these new freenoise forest folk abstract tribal space whateveryoucallit folks is to list the vast array of instruments utilized in the making of their records. Sometimes it's an impossible long list of everything and the kitchen sink and we have to wonder why it took a bathtub and an umbrella and an electric toothbrush and 17 different kinds of guitars and at least a few things like a boot or a lamp that don't really make any useful noise at all to make a soft barely audible drone. Or we marvel at how the heck a spatula and six pairs of unwashed socks could produce one of the most gorgeous ambient records ever (we just made that up so don't get all excited). One instrument though that we rarely see is the trumpet. We're sure someone has used a trumpet at one time or another, but probably never to as great affect as Stuart Busby, who some of you might remember from the Gold Leaf Branches compilation we reviewed a while back. This latest release from Mr. Busby is a double 3" cd-r and features two twenty minute suites for trumpet, the equally underutilized glockenspiel, ukulele (ditto!) and voice. Disc one, North, is the softer and more abstract of the two, warm woozy streaks of muted tonal color, like staring at the sky moments after the sun sets, everything blue and purple, stars barely visible through the soft haze of the dusky not yet night sky. The trumpet is transformed into something entirely un-trumpet like, a soft billowy bed of drone and drift above which the glockenspiel tinkles soft serene melodies. Disc two, South, is much more active, the trumpet becoming the focal point, warm weary melodies are repeated and layered into dense but still airy washes of sound, sometimes sounding almost Western, like some long lost super abstract Morricone score, other times sounding ominous and haunting, like the music that would accompany a character's flashback in a grainy black and white film from the fifties. So gorgeous. Packaged in a cool mini-gatefold designed by Mr. Busby himself.

MPEG stream: Drought Breaks
MPEG stream: Orbit

With totally off the wall lyrics invoking bunions & corns, sasquatch & gazpacho, "where the red fern grows" and "I am the hollowman", etc, you'd think emcees Busdriver (Project Blowed) and Radioinactive (West Coast Workforce) along with producer Daedelus (Plug Research) had come up with an album just exploding with originality and fun. Sadly, I found this blip-hop joint entirely incoherent, frustratingly unlistenable, full of decent ideas but none of them carried out for long enough to be satisfying, always interrupted by more of their love-it-or-hate-it nasal singsong delivery. Sorry but I think this is bad; it sounds more like an afterschool blunt-befuddled hip hop take on, like, Ween or something. Your mileage may vary, however, so listen to the soundclips. Otherwise, see others on the Mush and Anticon rosters for the real excellence in new underground hip hop -- Boom Bip, DoseOne, Clouddead, etc.

RealAudio clip: Exaggerated Joy
RealAudio clip: Pen's Oil

More of Andee's favorite not-exactly-traditional electro-dub from the Bush Chemists. The appeal for me, used to be the exaggerated use of effects (even for dub!) that the Bush Chemists seemed to treat everything to: vocals, drums, guitar, EVERYTHING! Making

RealAudio clip: Fire Blazing
RealAudio clip: This Sound

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At this point in her career, any new release by Kate Bush is an event. When the release in question is a record of the caliber of 50 Words For Snow, one can only marvel at the artistry and career of one of the world's greatest living pop artists. After all, she's never toured (aside from a short one in 1979 for The Kick Inside), and, Director's Cut notwithstanding, has only released 2 albums of new material in the last 18 years. In the '80s, Bush's penchant for making awesomely strange videos and MTV actually playing those videos helped sell records. Since the (televised) music video's demise, however, someone who does not play live has to rely on the strength of the LP itself. This is where Kate Bush has always shined, not only in the quality of the songs, but in the quality of the recordings themselves. Like the B-side of Hounds of Love (also called The Ninth Wave), 50 Words For Snow is thematic and purposeful, a "concept" record if you will. Slow, sparse and deliberately paced, the seven songs carry the listener for over 65 minutes with strings, drifts of piano, and sparse, jazzy drums. Whereas The Ninth Wave, told the story of one person's journey through death into ghostly haunting and, finally, redemption and forgiveness, 50 Words For Snow is more a series of icy vignettes. They paint pictures of a woman first creating, then making love with a snowman, a wraith watching her dog watch her corpse, a hunt for a yeti. Although sometimes thematically humorous, it's tragic comedy that interests Bush: a kind of sad, beautiful quirkiness that is somehow universally human and uniquely Kate Bush. From her work with Peter Gabriel in the '80s to Prince's guitar playing on The Red Shoes, collaborations have been an important part of Kate Bush's work. 50 Words finds her working with longtime compatriot Del Palmer as engineer and occasional bass player, Sir Elton John in the duet "Snowed In At Wheeler Street," and the British actor Stephen Fry. When Director's Cut was released in early 2011, some noise was made over Kate's "huskier" voice, the slight change in its timbre. Really? There's not a moment on 50 Words that could have been done better, vocally. If Kate knows anything, she knows how to change, and how to create characters. If people expect artists with careers spanning 30+ years to remain static, well, that's why records are made, right? To capture a moment that can always be revisited. Very few artists have the longevity and integrity of Kate Bush, and that's something that should not go unrecognized or unappreciated. The cd version comes in a hardback-book style package with the booklet glued to the inside cover. The gatefold double lp comes with a large, full-color lyric booklet and a cd version of the entire record.

MPEG stream: Snowflake
MPEG stream: Misty
RealAudio clip: Among Angels

We all know that Kate Bush's fans are some of the most devoted and patient ones around. We're sure all of you out there who count yourselves in those ranks have been tingling with anticipation for this, her first studio album in eons (her last one being 1993's The Red Shoes). It's a double album, even! And we're pleased to report that it doesn't disappoint the diehards nor the newcomers. Although the overall production has an adult contemporary sheen to it, she sounds positively refreshed and bursting with creative inspiration. While Aerial is certainly filled with her trademark unconventional elegance and enigmatic grace, our interest in this album was extra piqued when AQ pal Wobbly mentioned a few notable and peculiar elements that Bush has encorporated into a few of the numbers such as bird song and laughter (the album's title track and closer "Aerial"), her son's voice and a recital of Pi (on the second song)!

MPEG stream: Pi
MPEG stream: Aerial

When we first heard the details behind Kate Bush's new record, Director's Cut, some of us (those not prone to be insanely excited about ANYTHING Kate Bush) asked, "Why a record of songs that have already been recorded? Why not something new?" The original impetus behind the idea for Director's Cut was that 20 years ago, Kate had asked the James Joyce estate for permission to use sections from the "Penelope" section of Ulysses for her song "The Sensual World", and was denied; this time around, they said "Mmmmmmmmm, yes" (Kate Bush fans will get that joke). So she retitled the song "The Flower of the Mountain" and re-recorded the vocals, then re-recorded the drums, then at some point decided that maybe some of her other songs from that time period needed another looking at. The fact is that Kate Bush is a perfectionist, a major reason why she has toured only once in her career, and she says she was never happy with the overtly digital sound of The Red Shoes. All of the songs on Director's Cut are taken from The Sensual World or The Red Shoes, the vocals and drums re-recorded, with most of the rest of the instrumentation left intact. The effect is a very warm record, one with a lot of space within the tracks that serves to bring the listener closer, especially in the iconic "This Woman's Work". "Deeper Understanding" is the only track where the original is immediately superior, the Director's Cut version pushing the Bulgarian choir to the background and adding an auto-tuned vocal track (done by Kate's son Bertie). The song's theme of digital alienation is still prescient and apt, however, to our ever more computer reliant society. Fans who have absorbed The Red Shoes and The Sensual World's songs into their psyches might have an immediate reaction against hearing songs they love messed with in any way, even by K8 herself. But, truly, seriously, sit with this record and listen to it twice though. Once you're not expecting the original versions, Director's Cut is an outstanding record by an incomparable artist.

MPEG stream: Flower Of The Mountain
MPEG stream: Song Of Soloman
MPEG stream: Lily

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**SALE **SALE* *SALE**

Norway's always-on-it Rune Grammofon label seem to have a special penchant for finding "jazz" bands with electric guitars who really can rock, like the recently reviewed Hedvig Mollestad Trio, and the band currently under consideration, the oddly-named Bushman's Revenge, an instrumental bass/drums/guitar (and some vibraphone) trio. This is Rune G's third release by 'em, the follow up to 2010's Jitterbug, which we really liked a lot. And we like this one too! First off, first off... the opening track is a slightly rambunctious, bass-burbling cover version of the gorgeous "As We Used To Sing" by the late great jazz guitarist Sonny Sharrock, from his criminally-out-of-print for years now 1990 masterwork, Ask The Ages! Excellent choice, making for an auspicious beginning to this album. So nice to hear that lovely melody again, as any Sharrock fan will surely agree. Bushman's Revenge bring to it a very lively feel, that's in keeping with the rest of the disc, recorded live in the studio, with few overdubs, and lots of energy. This band is quite electric, let's say, with dense squalls of guitar to the fore (of course, that's why they'd cover Sharrock, and heck last time out they covered Motorhead!), but they also take some serene detours too (even at volume). Among those mellower moments, "John Lennon Was The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived" has a title that might sound facetious, but the particularly calm and beautiful music so named seems quite sincere. Once again, a great "jazz" album for folks who love amped-up, tangled-up rock. Gatefold lp (with download), or digipaked cd, both with Rune G's usual distinctive Kim Hiorthoy graphics.

MPEG stream: As We Used To Sing
MPEG stream: No More Dead Bodies For Daddy Tonight
MPEG stream: Jeg Baker Kokosboiler

Hadn't heard this jitterbuggin' Norwegian bunch before, though they have a previous album on Rune Grammofon and one before that as well. Definitely gonna have to track down those too, 'cause this one is pretty great, if you're into avant rock/jazz instrumental rippage. At peak power, they're QUITE energetic and frenzied, but unfailingly musical too, and the disc has much in the way of moodier, mellower moments as well. Bushman's Revenge are a trio of electric guitar, bass, and drums, with a cameo appearance on two tracks here by organist Stale Storlokken of Supersilent. The guitarist is also a member of the proggy and metallic "blackjazz" group Shining. Which maybe explains why this is often so much heavier and rockier than most quote unquote fusion, and also why they do a Motorhead cover ("Damage Case" from Overkill done as an instrumental, or what they call a "Happy Go Lucky Karaoke Version", which stomps along exuberantly with a full-on freakout in the mid-section). Elsewhere, they veer from tangled and distorted guitar onslaughts to stately melodic reveries... and even play some deviant blues ("While My Guitar Gently Breaks"). Bushman's Revenge are for fans of other Rune G "fusion" like Scorch Trio for sure, and also we'd recommend 'em folks partial to Nels Cline.

MPEG stream: Kill Your Jitterbug Darlings
MPEG stream: Wind And Fire
MPEG stream: Professor Chaos

Last list, we highlighted A Little Bit Of Big Bonanza, the newest full-length from this Norwegian improvising unit on Rune Grammofon. The takeaway: "...a great 'jazz' album for people who love amped-up, tangled-up rock." Fans will be interested in this vinyl-only 12", intended as a companion to that new album, recorded at the same sessions. It consists of cover versions of some of their faves. Bushman's Revenge has previously covered Motorhead and Sonny Sharrock, among others, and the covers presented here are equally diverse. Jazz, alt-rock, metal, they know no boundaries. They cover The Pixies ("Monkey Gone To Heaven"), The Police ("No Time This Time"), Black Sabbath ("War Pigs"), Sun Ra ("We Travel The Spaceways"), and even themselves ("Bushman Rock", a song left off their earlier Jitterbug album). As you might expect, these compositions are all respectfully rearranged, and deranged, when given the Bushman's Revenge treatment. Comes with mp3 download.

Here's a 2013 Record Store Day release that we just discovered we still had a small stash of! Well known collector/musician Joe Bussard doing a couple of acoustic guitar songs on an old-timey 78 rpm 10" record, packaged in a plain manilla sleeve like in the old days. Bussard's been collecting jazz, folk, blues, bluegrass, etc. 78's since the 1940s and so he sure knows how it ought to sound, the two tracks "Guitar Rag" and "Screwdriver Slide" (yep, played with a screwdriver) coming off like authentic dusty (but lively) old tunes indeed. For fans of John Fahey (who's first recordings came out on Bussard's own Fonotone label), Jack Rose, and all the old-timey down-home stuff those guys were fans of, too... LIMITED TO 625 COPIES.

The summer issue of Bust magazine is dedicated to motherhood. Articles about helping your friends in the delivery room, visiting your mother in jail, being a cool punk mom, how Rufus Wainwright much loves his mommy, when the father of your child is an anonymous donor, and much much more. I happen to have a lot of punk liberal moms around me lately and I kept feeling the desire to buy them a copy of this issue. Bust is always so good, and the hip mom is often under-represented and under-appreciated. (And gals, the one handed read is a juicy one.)

Busta's got some way-metal looking cover art, like a nu-Sepultura album or something. The album? At first listen, not too impressive. Kind of wacky and silly. Too bad, 'cause we usually like Busta.

Busta Rhymes has always been a sort of guilty pleasure...well, not really a guilty pleasure, since I've never really felt at all guilty for digging this stuff, but more like a pleasure that's tough to explain. People have a hard time believing (and rightfully

RealAudio clip: Break Ya Neck
RealAudio clip: As I Come Back
RealAudio clip: What It Is

MPEG stream: Get You Some
MPEG stream: Touch It

Another bizarre project from our favorite local Hello Kitty maniac and metal maven, the one and only (thank god) Steven Schultz. You may know him from such amazing/ridiculous projects as Stalin Claus Superstar! (y'know, the 4cd rock opera box set), or his "I Forgot To Get A Rap Name!" rap album, or the "History Of Vats" disc that started all this genre-splicing home-recording madness way back when. His new effort, monikered Busuchan, is along the lines of "Vats" or much of "Stalin Claus": insanely accomplished musically, insanely retarded humoristically (witness such song titles as "Jesse Jackson Wants His Forehead Back" and "Bitch, I Stole Your Man, Ho!"). Although, like "Vats" (but not the opera), Steve does this all himself -- drums, guitar solos, electronics, vocals, artwork, silly liner notes, everything. Wow. Imagine a one-man Mr. Bungle, but more metal and with (even) more annoying vocals. This cd is graced by a photo of the man himself decked out oh so convincingly as a coy Japanese schoolgirl. (Possibly the most disturbing picture we've seen lately, and we spend a lot of time on the internet!) But we must tip our hats to Mr. Schultz. Dragging in and desecrating everything from doo wop to electronica to black metal, this is completely spazzy, twisted and strange -- and unfortunately catchy enough to get stuck in your head. This made some people laugh, made others roll their eyes, and still others... uncomfortable. Stop looking at my ass, indeed! Steve Schultz fans (ohmigod it's true, he probably does have fans, indeed, deserves 'em) line up now!

RealAudio clip: Terpsechlorean Splendor Of Careening Trilobites
RealAudio clip: Looking All Deformed Like Cindy Crawford
RealAudio clip: Scrotum Symphony

We had never been that interested in the music of John Butcher, an accomplished improviser and saxophonist, a master of skronk and squeal, whose electronically treated sax is capable of whipping up a serious sonic storm, and who has played with a ton of other incredible musicians, Derek Bailey, Phil Durrant, Eddie Prevost, etc. Not sure why, but for whatever reason, lots of the Butcher stuff we've heard just didn't do it for us. But doing a bit of research after getting this tape in the mail, we're thinking maybe we just weren't hearing the right stuff, seeing as Butcher is much more than your run of the mill avant improv jazz guy, treating his saxes, processing them into strange buzzing drones, and haunted layered pulses, exploring space and timbre, recording in caverns and caves, metal containers and abandoned railway stations and we should know by now that UK cassette label The Tapeworm would not lead us astray. Two side long live improvisations, the first a three part epic for tenor and soprano saxophones, that takes the sound of the saxes and adds all sorts of grit and buzz and crackle, it almost sounds like an old crackly record of a sax solo being played in a big empty hall, multiple saxes are layered and the overtones throb and undulate, the sounds crumbling and moaning, ringing out, wreathed in a super spacious natural reverb, totally mesmerizingly intense and beautiful. It does get a bit more traditionally jazzy part way through, but even then, the sound shifts from blown out drone, to wild chaotic skronk, to spaced out fluttery dreaminess, to incredibly high pitched symphonies of tangled whistle, that at times almost sounds like guitar feedback. Intense! And speaking of feedback, the flipside is in fact a sprawling 20 minute piece for 'saxophone controlled feedback' and piano, and consists of deep swirling tones, lustrous fields of muted shimmer, the piano not so much being played as offering up sympathetic vibrations, the whole thing delicate and crystalline, long stretches of hushed distant keening, slipping into warm bell like swells, deep low end rumbles, all laid atop one another, creating a sort of ethereal sonic field of abstract melody, until finally (or perhaps for the first time audibly) the piano enters, offering up isolated plinks, allowed to ring out, as the feedback swirls around each note sympathetically, creating something truly mysterious and otherworldly. So nice. LIMITED TO 250 COPIES!!

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

SORRY. Andee sneers, "Jim thinks this record is jazz because it has saxophone on it. Jim only wishes all jazz sounds like this; shrieking & sputtering sax electronically processed into skittering waves of grit, buzz, squeaks, groans, drones, and hiccups. As if Pan(a)sonic or Pita of Mego were forced to take sax lessons as children. Like a more animated, more abrasive version of the Parker/Casserly 'Solar Wind' collaboration. I think Jim is jazz." Jim retorts, "No, I certainly am not."

Phil Durrant's "live electronic manipulation and modular feedback" explode alongside the skronk sax of John Butcher.

We're a sucker for folks who make their own instruments, for musicians who customize machines and noisemakers, who use instruments in exactly the way they were never meant to be used, extra turntable arms on a record player, loudspeakers made from car radiators, all sorts of stuff used for percussion, guitars made from steel strings and tin cans, vacuum cleaners, dental tools, if it sounds good, we're all for it. Amongst those instrument builders and sonic experimentalists, we're partial to those who gravitate toward the discarded, toward junk, old broken records, busted up guitars, malfunctioning electronics, tape players with dying batteries, one string guitars, NO string guitars, so we were pretty sure that this Nick Butcher guy would be right up our alley. He only uses broken and found things to make sounds, not even instruments necessarily, old busted up keyboards, crappy tape players, old guitars missing strings, and coolest of all, cassette tapes that have been taken apart, cut up, looped, reassembled and played again on said crappy tape players. He also does a sort of primitive real time multitracking, playing one tape and recording it on another, making a loop, then re-records those to make another loop and so on, and so on, using the various loops, room sound, broken instruments and whatever else, to create gorgeous haunting mysterious soundscapes. These 4 tracks were recorded live, in a big room, you can tell from the echo, the footsteps, the bits of shuffling, every little creak or scrape, magnified and wreathed in natural reverb, but even knowing what we know about the process, just listening, it's hard to imagine how he makes these sounds. Dark minimal gorgeous drone-y drifts, hushed and melodic, like Basinski or something, looped, but subtly so, the tones overlapping into subtle harmonies, the sound of the room and much of a presence as the music itself, gauzy and hazy and so so divine. The second track begins similarly, but almost sounds like some sort of modern microdub, Pole or something, the loop stuttering and allowing small bits of empty space in sort of like anti-beats, a softly propulsive ultra minimal minor key krautdrone, like the hushed shadowy, whispery side of a group like Expo 70, except made with busted tapes and broken tape recorders! The third track is the first with guitar, a couple strums a few plucks, it seems like maybe he was recording them, cuz fragments of those first guitar scrabbles return in fuzzy, fractured loop form, and again are assembled into a warm woozy series of soft swells, that are eventually overwhelmed by another soft loop, this one swirly and softly psychedelic, finishing off with a brief bit of, yep, warm, weary, dreamy, softly looped washed out drone-y ambient bliss. So so so so so nice.

MPEG stream: Pewter Image
MPEG stream: Motorsport Park

The third full length by the Butchies (aka Melissa York and Kaia Wilson former drummer and guitarist of beloved queercore hotties Team Dresch, and bassist Alison Martlew). With each album, they've moved farther and farther from their feisty punk days. That's not to say they don't rock out every once in a awhile. No, it's just generally more tempered down, more composed. And this slower,

Chris Butler, former member of The Waitresses (y'know, "Square Pegs", "I Know What Boys Like", "I Could Rule The World If I Could Only Get The Parts"), has written the world's longest pop song according to the Guinness Book Of World Records... well, it held this honor back in 1996 at least. Don't know if it's been beaten yet!

In Tzadik's "Lunatic Fringe" series, hybrid instrument creator and composer Ken Butler! Strangely klezmery. (Mr. Butler was featured in the Gravikords... unusual invented instruments book and cd.)

Reissue of the 'Blind Eye Sees All' video featuring amazing vintage footage of the Buttholes at their stumbling, drunken, high on LSD, crowd baiting best, recorded live in 1985 in detroit. Tons of AMAZING live footage, as well as some ridiculous interviews, pontificating by Gibby, nudity, tons of rare photos, a live bonus track, and BUTTHOLES KARAOKE!! This rules. Buy it.

The debut recording by these legendary Texan drug punks, finally available again on vinyl! Brown Reason To live was the Surfers' first record, a seven song ep, originally released in 1983, and reissued later bundled onto a cd with their live PCPP ep, but as good as that live stuff was/is, these tracks all on their own constitute one of THEE legendary punk rock records EVER. And we say punk rock knowing full well that the Buttholes' version of punk rock had almost nothing in common with what the rest of the world at the time considered punk. These songs are damaged and disturbing, wild and chaotic, extended stumbling lysergic blowouts, as likely to erupt into a strange woozy sea shanty or a bit of twangy gallop as a blown out blast of pounding punk, moreso really. And while the sound here is not as overtly whatthefuck as the records that would come right after, it's weird enough that you could tell something freaky was going on, and you can hear the seeds that would blossom into that the Surfers eventually became. The Buttholes merged the punk sounds that surrounded them, with their own twisted take on DIY music making, not to mention lots and lots and lots and lots of drugs. All of these songs are timeless, total classics, but "The Shah Sleeps In Lee Harvey's Grave" is practically a punk rock anthem, or no less than the genre's swan song. Depending on how you look at it, maybe both. For the band anyway, the track was every bit a standard as "Free Bird" was for Skynyrd. Listening to this again now, it seems insane that a band like this - who at one time seemed destined to a life of cult obscurity - achieved such enormous mainstream success. It's all urine under the bridge now though, we try to ignore the last few releases and focus on the years when the Butthole Surfers were untouchable ('83-'88?), and this is where it all started, a ferocious fucked up chunk of drug addled genius called Brown Reason To Live.

[ aquarius records catalogue — B ]