[ 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 2501 through 2550 of 2775.

Depressed, sensitive Irish singer songwriter making records in the bedroom a la Smog (only not as dysfunctional), Songs:Ohia, Appendix Out, Halifax Pier, etc. Just prettily clanging guitar, mournful cello, and ominous drums (a nice touch). A warm blanket

RealAudio clip: Girl From the Estuary

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

SORRY. If all of that dark gumbling on your Current 93 records got in the way of listening to Aleister Crowley's incantations of magick, then this is certainly for you. A collection of very raw wax cylinder recordings in all of Crowley's spellcasting 'fury'.

Now available on vinyl!! Folks had been bugging us to track down this record for ages, Black Magic Recordings by none other than the "wickedest man in the world" (at least when he was still OF this world), but we hadn't been able to figure out where to get them. We assumed it must have been released on some tiny obscure microlabel, or maybe it was a bootleg or something, but lo and behold, it was right under or noses, released on good old Cleopatra Records. Home to much modern goth and industrial. And while we can definitely see how this stuff might appeal to the industrial goth kids, it is evil after all, and black magic, but it seems to us the folks that would be way more into this, are aQ customers, fans of the obscure and mysterious, found sounds and field recordings, this would fit perfectly between your Conet Project and your Ghost Orchid disc of EVP recordings (depending, we guess, on what strange alien alphabetization you use). These recordings have been available before in various quasi bootleg editions, probably most notably as 1910-1914 Wax Cylinder Recordings released on the Transparency label. But they are the same recordings, since these are the only recordings of Crowley in existence. It's been a while since we listened to the Transparency disc, but these tracks definitely sound a little cleaned up, which is almost too bad, but fear not, there's still plenty of hiss and crackle and warble and buzz and fuzz, it's taken from wax cylinders after all. Basically, this is a collection of Crowley recording various stories, poems, writings, incantations and magical spells. His delivery very songlike, chantlike at times, fans of the Doomsday Cult recordings will also probably love this. The highlight probably being the Call Of The Aethyr tracks, each delivered both in English, but also in Enochian, a magical language supposedly discovered and used by John Dee, magician to the court of Queen Elizabeth. It may sound like speaking in tongues, but it is in fact a real language, with grammar and syntax, rumored to be a degenerate form of the language spoken in the lost city of Atlantis. Includes extensive liner notes, nothing about the recordings, but a fairly comprehensive history of Crowley's life. And while they last, it also comes with an Aleister Crowley patch AND pin!

MPEG stream: The Call Of The First Aethyr
MPEG stream: The Pentagram
MPEG stream: Excerpts From The Gnostic Mass

Crucial Bliss is an offshoot of the Crucial Blast label, who normally specialize in all things heavy, sludgy, grinding, brutal... well, you get the idea. In the past we've reviewed Crucial Blast titles from Burmese, Genghis Tron, The Goslings, Skullflower and a bunch more. Crucial Bliss focuses on stuff that is more... well, blissful. But not always blissful in the strictest sense. Sure we reviewed Aidan Baker's Periodic a few lists back and that was indeed blissful. But now we've got the latest from Crown Of Amaranth, which while still blissful, is hardly peaceful or dreamy or any of the other descriptors you might associate with bliss. Amaranth, is a grain, but not just any grain. It was used by the Aztecs, mixed with other ingredients to form edible idols that were consumed before human sacrifices. When the Spanish conquered the Aztecs, they banned the evil grain thinking it would stop the human sacrifice. Quite a lot of historical baggage for a little old grain. But that bloody bit of history is somehow appropriate considering Crown Of Amaranth's sound, a harsh and harrowing, ominous and foreboding set of drones. Miniature epic soundscapes of disembodied guitar fragments set adrift amidst a sea of hissing white noise and muted industrial scrape, fuzzy indistinct broadcasts from the ether, mumbled scratchy abstract missives rendered in crumbling melodies and washes of swirling static, church organs drift and dissipate into haunting junglescapes tangled up with bits of crooned vocals and processed slabs of grinding droning crunch. The last few tracks up the ante aggression-wise, and dip bruised and bloodied toes into a black pool of serious noise, emitting bursts of full on shriek and hiss, but almost always tempered by stretches of dark tranquility and brutal bliss. SUPER LIMITED. We got these direct from the band. Not sure how long they will last or if we'll ever be able to get more...

MPEG stream: The Untapped Resources Of A Dead Planet
MPEG stream: Kefuhachi Tract
MPEG stream: To Be Silent, To Be Sure

A fresh blast of NWOSDW (that would be New Wave Of Swedish Death Metal) froom the Crown. Furious old school thrash metal with ultra slick production, hooky melodies, majestic harmonies, furious drumming, shredding guitars, and some dangerously groovy breakdowns. The sound is very reminiscent of In Flames, Children Of Bodom and At The Gates, which makes sense since this is the first Crown record to feature new vocalist Tomas Lindberg who used to sing for At The Gates.

RealAudio clip: House Of Hades
RealAudio clip: Crowned In Terror

From the folks behind Gog And Servile Sect, both big time faves around here, comes another curious bit of abstract heaviness, the curiously monickered Crowned Heads Of Europe. A CRAZY limited lp, only 100 copies, and for a quick idea of what you're in for, have a look at the legend on the back of the sleeve: "dROne. aRT/dOOM. experiMENTAL. sataniC/celestial." Indeed. We're sold already. Helps too that the packaging is pretty elaborate and trippy too, a thick gold metallic fold over sleeve, printed in black ink, the back side is only a half sleeve, revealing the black vinyl lp within, but also revealing a layer of textured prismatic holographic plastic. So what exactly are The Crowned Heads Of Europe all about. Is it art doom drone satanic celestial experimental? Yeah, pretty much. Deep drones, recorded so hot and in the red, that the sound crumbles, wrapped in hiss and distortion, wreathed in soft edged feedback, the melodies abstract, a reverb drenched chiming blur, that gives way to a thick caustic downtuned crumbling sonic churn, a black ambience equal parts MZ412 and Wolf Eyes, a subtle industrial vibe, and plenty of shimmer surrounding the heavy grinding core. As the record progresses, no matter how heavy and corrosive the sound, it also manages to be weirdly pretty, a little psychedelic too. The record offers up brief squalls of squiggly distorted high end, only to follow with a lurching slow motion bass dirge, trudging through a creepscape rife with ghostly voices and melodies, processed vocals drown beneath slabs of FX drenched crush, super minimal doomic drones a la Trollmann, blossom into shimmery stretches of soft swirl and dreamy ambience, finishing off with a longform blast of crumbling in-the-red dronedirgedoom, the sounds so blown out, the overtones seem to add a whole layer of accidental melody, and the tones beating against one another create strange stuttering rhythms, everything buried beneath layers of filthy distorted murk and buzz, before slipping into something soft and hauntingly pretty, fading out in a blur of minimal cinematic creep. LIMITED TO 100!!! Each lp comes with a cd-r containing all the music on the record.

MPEG stream: Processional (The Four Faces)
MPEG stream: Vena Amoris
MPEG stream: Bluebonnets

Doomhounds, arise from ye slumbers! The Shadow Kingdom label knows what you want, and have dug up yet another dismal dirge-like debut for your delight. Right on the spine it proudly says "English Doom" and indeed Crowned In Earth hail from that green and pleasant land, home of course to thee originators of doom metal, Black Sabbath. And so naturally Crowned In Earth echo Sabbath in spots, that's no surprise, most practitioners of the form do to some degree, from wherever they may come. But apart from Sabbath, the English Doom band this act most resembles is (early) Cathedral, especially on the disc's longest (by a smidge) track, "Miles I Walk", which clocks in at 8:59. Songs need to be that long when played with such solemn majesty (and at such molasses-like speeds). Crowned In Earth keep to a slow and plodding pace, mostly, though upon occasion they break, if not into a NWOBHM-ish gallop, at least into a spirited trot. Their sludgy but swinging riffs are adorned with singsongy vocal chant, delivered cleanly and nigh melodically, in a deep and phlegmy voice, which is one reason in particular for the Cathedral comparison. Again, we'll specify early Cathedral, circa the Soul Sacrifice ep, to get really precise. Along with the doleful guitars, the occasional touch of organ adds an extra measure of sombre regality, and brings up comparisons also to another English ensemble of doom, The Wounded Kings. While this breaks no new ground, the earth they're crowned in being far from freshly dug, this should appeal to fans of trad doom, especially Cathedral, and Reverend Bizarre, who we didn't mention already but are definitely hearing here. By the way, it turns out that CoE are almost entirely a one-man band (but not the sort that, you know, performs that way, busking on subway platforms or whatever). Englishman Kevin Lawry, whom you'll see wandering in front of a castle with his girlfriend (?) in the cd photos, wrote all the music and lyrics, and performs the vocal, guitar, bass, and organ parts. He did however recruit a Yank to play the drums (well, both Black Sabbath and Cathedral did that too): Darin McCloskey, from Pale Divine, Falcon, and Sinister Realm. But otherwise it's all Lawry's show, and while maybe we think he could have used some help with the graphic design, he should be commended for being sooooo dooooomy all by himself. Hmm, heck, maybe that helps!

MPEG stream: Downward Spiral
MPEG stream: Miles I Walk

Some seriously demented, demonic, and punishing Swedish grind/death/metal/core. Huge riffs that crush everything in their path, melodies and guitar licks that twist like terrified hostages trying to squirm loose and run for their lives, pounding, super innovative drumming, and of course a vocalist that sounds like he's got a mouthful of marbles, demons AND broken glass. In addition to all this crunch and pummel, there are some occasional super weird breakdowns, half time almost mosh parts augemented by weird electronic pulses and reverby drone. Cool.

MPEG stream: Like Flies To Flames
MPEG stream: Kings Among Cockroaches

MPEG stream: The Will To Burn
MPEG stream: Chased, Caught And Charged

It's been a while since we've listed something really fantastic in the way of "European power metal". But we recently got turned on to this album, a relatively early entry in that not-so-well-respected genre, reissued by Divebomb (who recently brought us the tech-thrash of Deathrow, among other rare metallic reissue treats). The Dying Race was originally released in 1991 via Century Media, way back when Century Media was an import label only, so we'd never run across it before. The band name intrigued us though, so we gave this reissue a listen, and damn, Crows are pretty killer! This disc is a forgotten slab of primo Teutonic power metal indeed, solid and heavy, with rapidfire double bass and soaring vocals, from an American Indian themed (what is it with Germans and American Indians? Remember those "Indianerfilmen" soundtrack compilations we used to have?) band featuring past and future members of Scanner, Mekong Delta, Angel Dust, and Sodom. There's something very powerful and serious-seeming about the vibe here, super melodic and utterly majestic, but much darker than much of the stuff for which the oft-cheesy power metal genre is now known. There's a definite hint of early Ride The Lightning era Metallica-ish speed metal chug to their sound, and prog metal a la Fates Warning and Queensryche are factors too, heard in the proggy instrumental spirals of the title track and in the dramatic vocal presence elsewhere on the record. We'd also cite some epic doom influence, a bit of Candlemass in there perhaps, though Crows are generally much speedier than those doomsters (though they do slow it down for some moody passages now and then). Amongst their power metal peers, we'd compare 'em to fellow Germans Blind Guardian, but again, a bit darker. Turns out The Dying Race was not only Crows' debut but also their swansong. The band, which had existed in various forms for about ten years prior to the album's release, broke up the year after it came out. Too bad, but at least they left us with a grand epitaph, now reissued with 7 bonus cuts from demos. Plus, the cd booklet is full of lyrics, photos, and a new interview with one of the founding members of Crows.

MPEG stream: The Frantic Factor
MPEG stream: Too Proud To Fight
MPEG stream: We Are The Storm

Released a little while ago on the ever eclectic and elite Profound Lore label, the debut by blackened thrashers n' bashers Crucifist is something we don't want to overlook. It's not just another band featuring Brutal Truth bassist Dan Lilker (also ex-Anthrax, Nuclear Assault, S.O.D., Venomous Concept, Hemlock, Exit-13, etc.) but also features two members of true doomlords Orodruin. So, while Crucifist ostensibly play (very) old-school black metal, they also incorporate an unhealthy helping of doom and death-grind musicks, anything really to make this disc all the more filthy and crusty sounding. Lilker's rubbery bass is simply sick, a heavy anchor for the wicked riffs, widdly guitar bits, and the wretched vokills (by a guy named Ron, who is thus nicknamed "The Rondertaker", haha). The Rondertaker reminds us a bit of King Fowley from Deceased, singing in a raspy guttural gargle with the occasional Tom G. Warrior death grunt. Throw in some horror movie atmospherics (such as "Neon Corpse", an interlude of chant and FX) and copious amounts of chaotic energy (surging to the fore on such cuts as "Witchgrip"), and you're in for a nice and nasty dose of old schoolish underground extreme metal mania. They've basically written their own review of this album with the song title "Skull-Smashing Face-Ripping Death"... if you like that, you'll like this! Another one that might do for a review, meant in the best possible way: "Putrid Mother Lode"! This should appeal to fans of the ancient likes of Venom, early Voivod, Autopsy, and Hellhammer, especially the latter when they slow it down, which they do to crushing effect often enough... it should also be noted that Crucifist dare to blaspheme against NWOBHMer's Angel Witch with a cover of their "Angel Of Death"! By the way, guitarist John Gallo, one of the Orodruin guys, also has a solo project called Blizaro, doing synth-based, Italian horror soundtrack influenced, eccentric doom metal, that RULES, and will have a new full-length out on Razorback sometime this spring that we expect will be amazing, look out for it!

MPEG stream: Pursuit Of The Pious
MPEG stream: Curse Of The Plasma Hound
MPEG stream: Witchgrip

Latest from these local fuzzed out jangle pop shoegazers, and it's the perfect mix of classic twee pop, and something a little bit more distorted and dirty. At its core, the sound seems very indebted to classic nineties indie/college rock, especially Unrest, just check out opener "White Flag", with its urgent jangle, and crooning echo drenched vox, but whereas Unrest was often all stripped down earnestness, Cruel Summer occasionally pile on layers of distorted guitars, some dreamy background 'oooooh's and 'aaaaaah's, not to mention some cool sinewy post punk sounding basslines. The rest of the record though, does deliver some serious dreampop minimalism, the female vox over the spare jangle and psychedelic shimmer of "Silent Star", that at times sounds like a more subdued Sleater-Kinney, or the hazy jangle of "Venetian Blinds", which occasionally blossoms into warm swirling squalls of soft focus guitar noise, before slipping right back into chiming jangle, or the weary, distortion drenched "Strange Fruit" which reminds us of the late great Scrawl. Definitely recommended for fans of other local outfits like Grass Widow, the Mantles, etc. LIMITED TO JUST 250 COPIES!!! Cool die cut cover too!

MPEG stream: White Flag
MPEG stream: Silent Star
MPEG stream: Venetian Blinds

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

SORRY. Two local (Oakland) metal bands duke it out on this split disc, one so heavy that it took four labels to put it out. Cruevo say they play "crusty sledgehammer stoner doom" while Brainoil opt to describe themselves as a "crusty wizard sludge metal" band. Well, whatever they want to call it, both bands churn out some mighty heavy, ugly punk/metal, doubtless inspired by such bands as Buzzoven, Eyehategod, Neurosis, and High On Fire. Yet more nightmare Sabbath spawn unleashed upon the world... In case it helps in your purchasing decision, here's what t-shirts the various band members are seen wearing in the booklet photos: Assuck, Spirit Caravan, Destruction, Oakland Raiders, Weedeater (we think) and Sunn. Extra points go to Cruevo for the Shut Up Little Man! sample introducing their half of the disc.

The story behind Crunch is an interesting one, indeed: Michael Fakesch (the member of Funkstorung who runs the Intelligent Dance Music boutique label Music Aus Strom) claims that he has no information about the identity or origin of Crunch. He received a DAT

Here's the second album from the London IDM / electronica duo Crunch, who had previously sent Michael Fakesch of Funkstorung an anonymous demo, which struck him so much that he released it despite Fakesch's claim that Crunch refused to communicate beyond that aforementioned demo. One can imagine that the radio silence treatment has ended for Crunch, as they've hired several like-minded IDM beatbreakers to remix their work (Funkstorung, Lusine ICL, Skoptic, and Bit_Meddler). As before, Crunch patterns themself after the 'classic' Autechre sound of "Chiastic Slide" and "LP5," where repetitions of minor-key, reverb soaked melodies (which could just be looped samples from snippets of a randomly generated slew of tones) intertwine with sputtering breakbeats. As Autechre's last couple of releases ("Confield" and "Gantz Graf") have expressed a stronger desire for generative randomness and non-structural rhythms, Crunch makes for a fine substitute for those looking for that specific IDM template.

RealAudio clip: Cassette

NOW AVAILABLE ON VINYL, with a bonus track NOT on the cd version... We heard a lot about this before we got it in which fired up our curiosity just a little bit. Like it says in the title, this obscure post-mod trio with the cool name has been trumpeted as the "first punks" to come outta Blighty, kicking out the jams with an antisocial sneer and snarl long before the Sex Pistols and the Damned and all the rest blew up in '77. And on the strength of the seven tracks here recorded circa 1969-1971, they were indeed pretty darn punk and ahead of their time (at least, in terms of bands who made it into the recording studio). Loud fast rules with these guys, most of the tracks being uptempo rockers, though the lumbering "Love Fighter" will be welcomed by all '70s proto-metal lovers, and supports the argument that these guys are just as much a proto-metal outfit as proto-punk, being something that fans of Buffalo, Toad, Budgie, Nazareth or Black Sabbath would enjoy. Indeed, some of the riffing on here might quite well remind you of Sabbath, and we weren't surprised to learn that they'd opened for the likes of UFO and Atomic Rooster. Metal? Punk? Same dif back then really. The distortion, fuzz, and 'raw power' attitude on display should qualify 'em as pioneers in either camp. Crushed Butler were heavier than the Pink Fairies, anyway, and that (awesome) band is already rightly heralded as punks before their time. So we'd say that the legend of Crushed Butler is hereby confirmed... alongside the Fairies and Third World War and a few others in England (and the Stooges in the States, of course, and some European freaks too) they trashed the happy hippy scene of the day for something uglier, grottier and more dangerous. Anyone into metal/punk/hard rock history should find this quite a blast. Before the cd edition came out, there was a 10" vinyl version of this, but that's long gone and this new 12" vinyl edition, as we said, includes bonus material not on the 10" OR the cd.

MPEG stream: It's My Life
MPEG stream: Factory Grime

We heard a lot about this before we got it in which fired up our curiousity just a little bit. Like it says in the title, this obscure post-mod trio with the cool name has been trumpted as the "first punks" to come outta Blighty, kicking out the jams with an antisocial sneer and snarl long before the Sex Pistols and the Damned and all the rest blew up in '77. And on the strength of the seven tracks here recorded circa 1969-1971, they were indeed pretty darn punk and ahead of their time (at least, in terms of bands who made it into the recording studio). Loud fast rules with these guys, most of the tracks being uptempo rockers, though the lumbering "Love Fighter" will be welcomed by all '70s proto-metal lovers, and supports the argument that these guys are just as much a proto-metal outfit as proto-punk, being something that fans of Buffalo, Toad, Budgie, Nazareth or Black Sabbath would enjoy. Indeed, some of the riffing on here might quite well remind you of Sabbath, and we weren't surprised to learn that they'd opened for the likes of UFO and Atomic Rooster. Metal? Punk? Same dif back then really. The distortion, fuzz, and 'raw power' attitude on display should qualify 'em as pioneers in either camp. Crushed Butler were heavier than the Pink Fairies, anyway, and that (awesome) band is already rightly heralded as punks before their time. So we'd say that the legend of Crushed Butler is hereby confirmed... alongside the Fairies and Third World War and a few others in England (and the Stooges in the States, of course, and some European freaks too) they trashed the happy hippy scene of the day for something uglier, grottier and more dangerous. This digipack cd (a slightly expanded version of a 10" released a few years back) boasts in-depth liner notes and archival graphics. There's just two drawbacks: it's only 21 minutes long, and that's only because of the inclusion of an alternate version of what's probably our least favorite song as a bonus track. BUT it's 21 minutes that anyone into metal/punk/hard rock history should find quite a blast.

MPEG stream: It's My Life
MPEG stream: Factory Grime

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

SORRY.

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

SORRY. The musical relationship between singer Celia Cruz and orchestra Sonora Matancera has got to be one of the most sustained and cohesive in Cuban history. The two are like fire and heat, it's hard to imagine them apart (sorry, couldn't help myself on that one... So sue me.) Celia Cruz has a voice that's silky, yet immensely powerful and once you've heard it (she continues touring to this day), you never forget it. La Sonora Matancera for its part is supplies a tight, clear, swinging backdrop for Celia's vocals - never intruding on her vocal lines. Recorded between 1950 and 1953 in Havana Cuba.

Originally released as a crazy limited cassette, this twisted slab of retro electro synth pop psychedelia is now available on vinyl, on the same label that brought us the vinyl reissue of Mater Suspiria Vision's Crack Witch, and while Crypt Thing are less witchy, they're definitely no less twisted. The work of a British teenager, Crypt Thing start things off with a blast of warped, witchy, house-y (and yeah a little witch house-y), stuttering, druggy electro weirdness, that definitely sets things up for something dark and damaged, but it doesn't take long for the sound to shift to something much more old school eighties electo, or classic MTV synth pop, or even slowed down soul, but all filtered through CT's seriously warped sonic sensibilities. The pitch seems to constantly warble, the vibe is psychedelic for sure, but a sort of cheesy retro pop style psychedelia, as if some future civilization was trying to reconstruct eighties pop music from garbled fragments transmitted across light years, the result like a twisted tangle of Prince, Simple Minds, Rick Astley, Naked Eyes, Kajagoogoo and Heaven 17, but the a futuristic alien interpretation, all woozy and warbly, occasionally peppered with echo drenched falsetto vox, but more often than not left to pulse and buzz, jangle and thump, the soundtrack to some lost interplanetary prom, a collection of dreamily divine, desolate dancefloor, roller rink couples skate, drugpsych electro retro pop bliss out jams, that should most definitely appeal to Hype Williams, Ariel Pink, Greatest Hits, Craft Spells, D'Eon, Games, Outer Limits Recordings, Gary War, Gatekeeper, Blank Dogs, Pink Skull, Soft Metals, How To Dress Well, Laurel Halo and all the rest...

MPEG stream: Perfume Girls
MPEG stream: You've Got Mail RMX (Feat. Raw Moans)

A few years ago Chris Cohen parted ways with weirdo pop combo Deerhoof, but lucky for us he continued to pursue his own take on idiosyncratic pop with his band The Curtains and now he has a new project with Nedelle who he shares vocal duties with on Dig That Treasure. Cohen's charming songwriting skills are easily identifiable on these songs, though it's even more tender and sweet then any of his past outings, but still filled with enough left-of-center twists and turns to keep things unpredictable and engaging. While his former band is enjoying a large level of popularity in recent years we think Cohen's music deserves the same kind of attention from all ears interested in creative pop crafted with wonder and unique imagination.

MPEG stream: Heaven Is Human
MPEG stream: Stop Watch

We're huge fans of guitarist Matt Baldwin, we are so smitten by his psychedelic kraut-guitar drift, beholden to Fripp and Riley and Reich and Rother but also the Appalachia of Fahey and Kottke. So when he brought in this new disc on Psychic Arts, that's pretty much what we were expecting, although we did think Cryptic Cross was an odd name for some dreamy droney minimal guitar music, so we threw it on and pretty much knew we were in for something completely different. The opening intro is a super lo-fi dirge, all crumbling guitar buzz, sped up voices, tape malfunction, and then suddenly "Don't Chew Worry" kicks in, and we're in full on lo-fi new wave dirge metal territory. At least that's the best way we can describe it. Super murky and lo-fi, buzzy metallic riffage, but strange almost outsider cold wave vocals, crooned, sort of spoken, insane lyrics, the guitar and vocal melodies locked tight, making everything sound sing songy, and then when the vocalist slips into a falsetto, and the guitar shreddery begins, we're in total whathefuck heaven. We say this once in a while, but again, this totally sounds like something you might discover via Brian Turner's show on WFMU, psychedelic, metallic, but with a twisted knuckledragging post punk / lo-fi sludge vibe. Fucking weird, but totally bafflingly genius. Not sure where they're from, or what their deal is, but what we do know is that we have been jamming this nonstop! Fucked up and heavy, warped and drug addled, this is some crazy, kick ass shit! LIMITED TO 50 COPIES! Each one hand numbered, and housed in a silkscreened origami style cd sleeve.

MPEG stream: Don't Chew Worry
MPEG stream: No More Livin' In Confusion
MPEG stream: Blood To The Moon

One of Canada's most complex and brutal death metal exports (along with Kataklysm) release their fourth album. Maybe the vocals (with their unfortunate resemblance to what Rodney Dangerfield would sound like while simultaneously rapping and coughing up phelgm) are a little high in the mix, but the record as a whole is chaotic and intense enough to make up for that...the convoluted guitar patterns and furious but technical drumming will make your head spin.

Finally reissued, the much sought-after second album from these over-the-top Canadian death metal merchants. Fans of the super intense, jawdroppingly technical brutality found on their popular "Whisper Supremacy" album will need to get this previous, equally insane effort! Featuring original vocalist Lord Worm, by the way...

Holy shit this is rocking us so hard! Imagine if someone snuck into Dead Meadow's practice space and stole all their weed and replaced it with amphetamines, the band that would emerge might end up sounding as awesome as Crystal Antlers. Before we heard them we were a bit scared off by the name thinking they might be another in a way too long line of wannabe new weird American folkies but luckily that is not the case at all! We were never able to get our hands on any of their limited cd-rs but now that we finally get to hear what they sound like we're so happy that, for a change, the hype was totally justified. This reminds us a lot of the first time we heard Comets On Fire, yet somehow Crystal Antlers manage to breathe new life into psychedelically charged garage rock. We even hear hints of Drive Like Jehu with less math and more acid or like Hot Snakes or Mudhoney raging through covers of early Hawkwind. Every time we've played this in the store we always get lots of folks excitedly what we're listening to, and without fail someone working in the back of the store comes up front to find out what the heck they've been rocking out to. So great to have some new and truly rocking garage psych to please our ears and kick our asses!!

MPEG stream: Vexation
MPEG stream: Until The Sun Dies (Part 2)
MPEG stream: Arcturus

Their debut ep last year from the Crystal Antlers was such a strong burst of loud and scrappy psych rock fury, raw and overflowing with a refreshing energy and urgency that had been lacking in the sometimes stagnant modern psych rock world. It was one of those records we couldn't get enough of, blasting it in the store over and over. So we were quite anxious to hear what the follow up full length would sound like. And weirdly it's a much different beast this time around. You can tell they spent a good long time locked up in the studio hashing this one out and that plays out in both good ways and bad. There is definitely a risk spending lots of time on a record. Often you lose touch with that stripped down and raw approach that made the songs and sound so special in the first place. This is still a rocking effort for sure, it's just that at times it feels as if they did just that, overthinking things that were meant to be more immediate and intense. On the last record, we heard a nice mixture of '90s San Diego bands like Drive Like Jehu mixed with the likes of Comets On Fire, this time there still is a '90s San Diego sound going on but more in the melodramatic vocal delivery and an abundance of organs, which reminds us of early Three Mile Pilot as well as bands like Zen Guerilla. The scope is much more epic and ambitious and you can never knock a band for going for the gusto but sometimes when you set your sights so wide and high you have to make sacrifices, and while the band has obviously made a cool record for some folks, we liked the less polished ep quite a bit better.

MPEG stream: Dust
MPEG stream: Glacier

Now on Vinyl! One of the trends that we've noticed in the last several years with many of our favorite music makers is that it's seemingly become about releasing as MUCH as you can as OFTEN as you can. And while it's awesome to get so much new music from bands you like, there is still something to be said for really taking your time and crafting fully realized albums that may take a few years to wait for. At the rate that everyone is putting out releases, we almost just figured that Crystal Castles had somehow vanished or had broken up since we haven't heard a peep from them since their infectious debut from a couple years ago. Luckily they are indeed back and sounding perhaps even more focused, frantic, infectious and engaging than on their debut. (Though would it have killed them to have spent just a few more minutes and come up with an album title? Having two self-titled discs is a bit confusing!) Equal parts '80s flashback, electro-pop with cold wave persuasions, primitive electronics, post-punk spazzy convulsions (the first track would have sounded right at home on one of our favorite spazzcore records by folks like The Locust, The VSS, or Clikatat Ikatowi), and catchy pop prowess. This is one of those records that really does appeal to so many different musical ears, and just about all of us at AQ can't stop listening to it. While it's not too unusual for Andee and Allan to come running up to the front of the store to see what's playing, this time it was Cup, whose desk is the furthest from the front, who had to make a beeline to the speakers to find out who it was covering '80s Canadian glammy new wavers Platinum Blonde! And the fact that Crystal Castles even chose one of the lesser hits of theirs to cover, not to mention that singer Alice Glass hadn't even been born yet when the original was released, just proves this duo has done their homework over the years and are now WAY ahead of the pack! Like The Knife lending a helping hand to lead Adult. back to greatness, or Caribou, Hot Chip, Goldfrapp, Chromatics, M83 and The Junior Boys all somehow poisoned by a much darker goth-like magic potion. Even those of us who are usually a little shy when it comes to beat orientated music are totally digging this as there is something much more weird and nuanced happening than on lots of other electro-pop records that come our way. It's super fun but not dumb, varied but not erratic, gets out-there but not alienating, sexy but not a put on. Bottom line, it's a fucking awesome record!

MPEG stream: Celestica
MPEG stream: Not In Love
MPEG stream: Year Of Silence
MPEG stream: I Am Made Of Chalk

Man, we really, really love old school video games around here. The Tron and Rastan games in the store, the Arcade Ambience field recording series, Power Pill Fist, etc. It has to be part of what lured us into the world of Toronto's Crystal Castles and their 8-bit electro mayhem. We're so glad this finally came out, because half of these tracks have been on the internet for about two years and a legitimate release was looking sort of unlikely. But here it is! We digress, on with the review. Okay, so the duo has been lumped in -- maybe mistakenly -- with the Klaxons, Justice, Digitalism, and the like, but we hear darker, more interesting minor key melodies that occasionally hint at things like The Knife and Junior Boys. In reality, they're not divorced from any of those bands, but there's something about them that gets us. No, not just the aural video game quality, but the undeniable urge to somehow say they're just a bit more punk. Fun. Playful. In fact, there's a handful of tracks on the record that aren't even mixed. And when we saw them play here a year or so ago, their singer Alice was telling us about how she had been kicked out of the previous night's venue for underage drinking. It doesn't hurt their art-punk street cred that they're best buds with LA's own Health, who they did a split 7" with a year or so ago. When listening to Crystal Castles, there's the feeling that this duo would be just as happy blasting their sounds through a shitty stereo system at their friend's house party, but lucky for us everyone else seems to be feeling it too -- and now they can invite us along to the party.

MPEG stream: Untrust Us
MPEG stream: Xxzxcuzx Me

I don't know about you, but for the record nerds we know, every vacation is merely an excuse to check out record stores and discover weird bands and see cool shows. Sure we'll deny it, but we won't ever be allowed to forget the time Andee spent at least half of his first trip to Japan, dragging his fiancee Heather around to little hole in the wall record stores, or when Allan made record shopping a priority in Turkey... Well, when Andee was in NYC recently, there was, surprisingly enough, a bit of record shopping, and there were two fantastic musical discoveries, the first, was a band called Holy Fuck, whose record we will get soon and feature on the list, the other, was a band called Health, whose full length we also have, but we figured this split 7" would be a good introduction. Not exactly sure how to describe Health, they're sort of one of those awesome WTF noise rock combos, who weave wildly from sound to sound, while somehow retaining a distinct musical personality. Health, to us at least, sound like part hooky pop, new wave weirdness, Sonic Youth style indie rock soundscaping, and chaotic free noise. Not always in equal measures. The first track here is all chaotic tribal drumming and freaked out noise, angular guitars, and breathy SY style vocals, imagine some hybrid of Sonic Youth, 23 Skidoo and This Heat. Hypnotic and off kilter and so good. The other Health track is some weird eighties electro jam, with weird affected vocals, vintage synths, warm reverbed percussion and even handclaps. But somehow the two tracks sound perfect together... The flipside is the awesomely named Crystal Castles, who are not only named after one of the coolest video games ever, they also sort of sound like a punk rock version of the Crystal Castles music. The core of their sound is full on 8 bit Nintendo core, all bleeps and bloops and buzzes, but over the top is sprawled some fierce Riot Grrl growl, plenty of distortion and crunch, with howled banshee female vocals, swathed in that weird Cher vocal effect. Weird. And then strangely, the other track removes everything BUT the video game jamz, leaving a tune that sounds like it could be music straight from some secret level in Mario Bros.... Nice thick sleeve, with creepy cover art, and pressed on super thick white vinyl.

We love pretty much everything on Japanese label Zero Gravity, including this recent disc. But unlike the abstract electronics found on most Zero Gravity releases, Crystal Fist's album is an electro-acoustic hippie jam that owes more to the No Neck Blues Band, Amon Duul, and the Taj Mahal Travellers than to Ryoji Ikeda. Featuring the stumbling, 'free' drumming of Merzbow's Masami Akita (here leaving his noise persona behind for his first love, psychedelic rock), this single thirty three minute piece is a druggy, spacey, hypnotic masterpiece, that starts as a murky, otherworldly soundscape; all chirping crickets and ambient murmur. The sound is soon bolstered by the drone of Huun Huur Tu -like faux throat singing, whirring feedback, and the hum of rumbling turntables and abused cd players. This pagan ritual reaches a fever pitch as various percussion elements are introduced, and Akita's style of brain-damaged-Jaki Leibezeit drumming builds a rickety framework around the whole ceremony. What's amazing is that this sounds so much like it was recorded in the seventies....not in 1997. And it most certainly doesn't sound like turntables and cd players, it sounds more like rickety old amps, and bowed metal, and the vocalizations of lysergically enhanced druids. So recommended!

RealAudio clip: Live At Liquid Room

The latest chunk of strange sonic sweetness from aQ beloved cd-r label Debacle, comes from Seattle one man band Crystal Hell Pool (first recommended to us by aQ pal Hank), whose Domain is a fantastic slab of zoned out psychedelic new age, retro electronic industrialism, that reminds us of Giorgio Moroder or Zombi one second, and then Skinny Puppy the next, with pulsing electronic grooves, rumbling buzzing bass drones, swirling atmospheric synths, ominous atmospheres and hazy washed out melodies. Every track here is darkly cinematic and hauntingly atmospheric, with opener "Zentrum" lulling us in with some sun dappled celestial synth shimmer, before "Life In Silence" drags us down into some strange horror movie swirl of creeping, rhythmic lurch, and thick synthy thrum, dizzying and deliriously nightmarish, the perfect soundtrack for some strange convoluted chase through crawl spaces in a lost seventies giallo. And then BAM! It's right back to more pulsing eighties style retro-futuristic grooviness, but even those groovier moments are still infused with a looming dread, the sound shifting from blurred shimmer, to caustic corrosive crunch, but always sinister, and grimly groovy, that Skinny Puppy vibe, a sort of claustrophobic tension and soul stirring unease, seems to grow more intense as the record progresses, culminating in the churning murky closer, "Melting Face, Melting Hands", which is fantastically moody and eerie, and ends far too soon...

MPEG stream: Zentrum
MPEG stream: Life In Silence
MPEG stream: Visionaire
MPEG stream: Debris

A super limited new tape from Berlin based lo-fi noise pop weirdo Jacob Faurholt, aka Crystal Shipsss, only 50 copies in the US, and aQ is the only store carrying them. And this is just the sort of thing that pushes all our warped pop outsider jangle fuzz buttons, and we imagine yours too. At its core, the sound of Crystal Shipsss, is fuzzy, jangly, lilting pop music, sweet sad boy vox, dreamy melodies, plenty of hooks, crazy catchy choruses, but the SOUND is what it's all about. A mad scientist kitchen sink approach to pop songsmithery, with even the sweetest slab of poppiness here wreathed in crumbling distortion, or swirling clouds of fractured FX, the drums are blown out, sounding like they were recording in an airplane hanger one second, on cardboard boxes in a kitchen pantry the next, the vocals wavery and woozy one second, that sweetly crooned the next, the guitars thick and crunchy, exploding into epic, majestic fuzziness, and then slipping right back into dreamy soft focus jangle. Just check out the chorus of "Where The Wild Things Are", it gives Mikal Cronin a run for his money. In fact, this is the kind of record that has us thinking that stuff like this probably won't remain underground for very much longer. Every track here is a warm, swirling, psychedelic gem, "Crushing Like A Skull", is all warm and melty and shoegazey, what sounds like organs, blurred into thick swaths of chordal shimmer, droned out and so so dreamy, while "Listening To Devil Town" is a weirdly creepy minor key fuzz pop dirge, with brittle rhythms buried in the mix, and some seriously weird lyrics about Daniel Johnston and carrot cake (!). "Dusty Vinyls", is a woozy drone-pop ballad, all distorto strum, hazy swirls of droned out tones wrapped around some sweetly fuzzy poppiness, and "Night Of The Creeps" is a drum machine driven sprawl of spare jangly garage pop shuffle, which disappears into a weird cloud of swirling metallic shimmer and woozy soft noise swirl. Fans of everything from home made 4-track pop, to fuzzed out garage rock, to DIY shoegaze noise pop, this could very likely be your new favorite jam. LIMITED TO 50 COPIES!! Includes a download coupon as well!

If our instore cd player had a counter we're pretty sure we would have maxed it out by now with endless repeated plays of the debut full length by Crystal Stilts. As much as their debut ep blew us away (check the review elsewhere on the site for much gushing), this record is taking our love for them to even greater heights, so much so that we're becoming pretty darn obsessed! And how could we not, an entire record filled with smokey and catchy dark pop gems. With crooning vocals and rich hooks imbedded into every song, they've managed to create a record that we're always in the mood to hear and don't think we'll ever get sick of. You can tell that these guys probably love '60s pop and girl groups as much as they do post-punk and psychedelic garage sounds, as the songs on Alight Of Night sound like Phil Spector laying his Wall of Sound on a band whose own sound falls somewhere between The Smiths and Joy Division, or if Spacemen 3 did a record full of Crystals covers. In fact this is reminding us a lot of the Jeremy Jay Airwalker ep that we fell in love with right around this time last year. It's so cool to see AQ customers of all stripes getting swept up in the 'Stilts' sound, unable to resist as we're blasting it in the store, and it's inevitable that they eventually make their way to the 'now playing' holder to find out who is responsible for these sound getting under their skin in such pleasurable ways. Got a good feeling this will be on many of our year end favorite lists...so damn good!

MPEG stream: The Dazzled
MPEG stream: Prismatic Room
MPEG stream: Graveyard Orbit

Most folks around here have been pretty obsessed with Crystal Stilts, since their self titled 2008 debut on Woodsist. But there's definitely a been holdout or two among us. Who, while appreciating that Crystal Stilts were a decent band, didn't necessarily understand what the fuss was all about. That all changes with In Love With Oblivion, and those folks are definitely gonna have to reassess their opinion on those older records too, cuz EVERYone here has gone totally nuts for this new record. Including the previous nonbelievers. Not sure what exactly it is, their sound hasn't changed so dramatically, but there's just something about this record that's totally magical. Dark and brooding, low slung slithery gloom pop, that while lumped in with the current crop of Sacred Bones / Captured Tracks outfits, to these ears are way more beholden to Aussie groups like the Celibate Rifles, the Lime Spiders, the Scientists, the Saints, Radio Birdman, even the Hoodoo Gurus, maybe especially the Hoodoo Gurus. Which is weird, cuz these guys are from Brooklyn. But they have that twangy surf guitar, the Fuzztones style wheezing garage rock organ, everything hazy and reverby, and of course the vox, that's what really does it, deep and dramatic, commanding and intense but still melodic. Opener "Sycamore Tree" is a perfect example, a dead ringer for some lost Celibate Rifles jam, a minimal woozy groove, the percussion a propulsive shuffle, the guitars thick with twang and reverb, the bass dense and driving, and the vocals, the sort of singing that would go on to define noise rock outfits from down under like Lubricated Goat and Kingsnakeroost, eyes closed it feels like being in some dingy club in Australia in the early eighties, packed in like sardines, the sound deafening, the crowd rapt and sweaty, moving to the music, total zoner gloom pop post punk bliss. Then there's the other side of the band, like on "Through The Floor" where they channel classic girl group sounds, but add their own twist, those deep crooned vox, the whirring organ, lots of sweet back up harmonies, and of course plenty of buzz and reverb. And so it goes, the band switching from shimmery sixties jangle, to dark brooding eighties post punk gloom pop, often melding the two. And while we love both sides of the band, it's the darker side that we find the most mesmerizing. Like on "Alien Rivers", a creepy crawl, all thick undulating organs, shuffling snares, spidery guitars, the vocals especially heavy with reverb and echo, the sound droned out and druggy, divinely hypnotic. And there's the woozy groovy stomp of "Prometheus At Large", classic rock and roll wrapped in murk and grit and grime, a sort of classic fifties style pop transformed into something much more sinister. Elsewhere there's plenty of jangle and shimmer, shuffle and buzz, "Flying Into The Sun" sounds like a lo-fi indie pop Interpol, "Precarious Stair" sounds like some fantastic union of Thee Oh Sees and the Vivian Girls, but with those crooned post punk vox, all the songs buzzy and hooky and heavy in their own way, slipping easily from indie pop to new wave to indie jangle but always infused with the Stilts' dark brood, and fuzzy wall of sound reverby shimmer, and all held together by some impossibly great and catchy songs, and of course those fantastic vocals. Definite contender for record of the year, and a new unanimous aQ fave for sure!

MPEG stream: Sycamore Tree
MPEG stream: Through The Floor
MPEG stream: Silver Sun

So much changes in a year. Around this time last year we didn't even know who Crystal Stilts were and now they've become one of our favorite bands, whose ep and full length we've played over and over and have truly become all time AQ favorites. So of course we were thrilled to see Slumberland release this slab of wax with two brand new tracks to obsess over. These two songs find the band at their poppiest yet, truly embracing the '60s girl group sound and production that they seamlessly incorporate into their own sound as they've created this amazing universe that's sort of like Phil Spector's wall of sound invading Tony Wilson's Factory empire. Two more nuggets to tide us over until the next full length...

The last full length from these NYC garage gloom rockers, 2011's In Love With Oblivion, might just rank in the pantheon of all time aQ favorites, and one of the few records that pretty much everyone here loved like crazy. Due in no small part to the opening track, the impossibly catchy "Sycamore Tree", which almost immediately became a mixtape staple around these parts. We dug the subsequent Radiant Door ep, but it just wasn't enough and we were still itching for more. So we were pretty psyched to see a new full length, although Nature Noir has gotten a sort of mixed reception around here. And even after repeated listens, it's obvious why, while the sound remains similar, the vibe is way more dour, the sound lugubrious and sloooow. Total late night, wasted downer pop, that at first seems to be missing much of the hookiness that made that last record such a classic. In fact opener "Spirit In Front Of Me" is a strange choice to start things off, being a murky, muddy crawl, lugubrious and woozy. It's actually pretty dreamy, but it's easy to understand how to some ears it could seem a bit low energy, almost like it's spinning on a portable turntable with dying batteries (which of course sounds awesome to us!), but especially when you hear the second track, "Star Crawl", which is immediately more poppy, with a main hook, that will lodge in your head like crazy within seconds, and that's just the verse, but it's a doozy, and harkens back to In Love With Oblivion for sure. And then right after that, the band cranks it up a bit, and infuses their mope rock with some high energy crunch, and by that point, we were smitten all over again. Nature Noir is maybe a grower, but once it hits, it hits hard, and like the Crystal Stilts records before it, seems like it's suddenly all we want to listen to. And in the past we constantly compare these guys to Aussie post punks like Celibate Rifles, the Lime Spiders, the Scientists, the Saints, Radio Birdman, even the Hoodoo Gurus, and this shift in sound, this more dirgey sonic torpor only makes that comparison more apt. But for every moment like that, there's a track like "Sticks And Stones", that sounds downright polished, bringing to mind the Tindersticks actually, or possibly something even more mainstream, like the National, the same sort of dour moody gloom pop, some tracks laced with strings, somber string swaddled ballads that are actually quite darkly stirring. But ultimately, it's just another great Crystal Stilts record, and repeated listens most certainly yields optimal results, and while it probably won't bump In Love With Oblivion out of the pantheon, it will most definitely get played to death. And "Star Crawl", as well as a few others, will most likely make it on to a bunch of mixtapes as well...

MPEG stream: Star Crawl
MPEG stream: Future Folklore
MPEG stream: Sticks And Stones
MPEG stream: Spirit In Front Of Me

Pretty much everyone at aQ LOVES Crystal Stilts, and their last full length In Love With Oblivion had to have been one of thee most played records in the shop, getting spun at least once a day, sometimes more, which definitely says a lot. So we were super psyched to discover there was a new ep out, and while we love this new one just as much, it somehow hasn't made us listen to the last one any less, now we just listen to both like crazy. And really what more can we say about these guys that we haven't already, their sound dark and garagey, fuzzy and jangly, organ driven and dreamily dour, we can't help mention all the Aussie bands we're so reminded of, Celibate Rifles, Scientists, Radio Birdman, Hoodoo Gurus, so much so that some of us were actually sorta surprised that these guys are from Brooklyn. Very much like In Love With Oblivion's opener "Sycamore Tree", which has to be our jam of last year, Radiant Doors opens with another killer, "Dark Eyes", which immediately became a new fave, with its handclap rhythm, thick buzzing organ, reverbed vocals, the whole track hazy and softly psychedelic, weirdly noisy, but the noisiness more dreamy than anything, very droney and washed out and hypnotic, we literally listened to this track 10 times before we could bring ourselves to move on. And as always, we weren't disappointed, the title track is much more dreamy and jangly, more traditionally poppy, the vocals deep and dramatic, the melodies lilting, a pretty perfect pop song for sure, laced with cool little bits of sci-fi synth, but for the most part, stripped down and catchy as heck. The rest of the EP is more of the same, a heady mix of dreamy jangly pop and whirring organ driven droniness, finally finishing up with the droned out and dreamily druggy "Frost Inside the Asylums", that almost sounds like a lo-fi version of the Editors or something, the sort of dramatic gloom pop balladry that could catapult them into the 'big time'.

MPEG stream: Radiant Door
MPEG stream: Frost Inside The Asylum

Unlike many of their lo-fi garage peers, Crystal Stilts are quite restrained when it comes to releasing records. They still have not released a full length since their amazing debut, Alight Of Night from way back in 2008, and we think it's wise they're taking this approach. The only thing we've heard from them since was the incredibly addictive single "Love Is A Wave" which they released as a 7" last year and now finally we get two more brand new songs to whet our hungry appetites for a new album by one of the bands we imagine will outlast so many in the crowded lo-fi crowd they share a scene with. The A side "Shake The Shackles" could be confused with one of our favorite Jeremy Jay songs as it finds the Stilts at their most melodic and inviting yet. The B side "Magnetic Moon" has that perfect dark pop gloom that they do better then almost anyone around. A no brainier for fans of the band, and if you're not a fan or missed the boat the first time around,we urge you to check out their records as they really are something special!

This is some great stripped down psychedelic garage post-punk, and we've been playing it over and over once in the shop once we finally checked it out. Turns out this was actually recorded a few years back but it fits so perfectly with some of the great releases of the last year, the way it channels the likes of Jesus & Mary Chain and Joy Division without sounding like a copycat at all. Filled with delicious reverb, smoky melodies and an overall aura of dark and cool that hits us so right. Like recent releases by Indian Jewelry, The Raveonettes, Jeremy Jay and Psychic Ills, this is a record that exudes such a seductive spell. Something so perfect about an ep from a band that is new to your ears, as all six of these songs are so great and never wear out their welcome. These New Yorkers are further proof that you can channel the ghosts of the past and still create something that sounds so present and alive. Highly recommended!

MPEG stream: Crippled Croon
MPEG stream: The Sinking
MPEG stream: Lights

One of the flagship groups on the Philles Records label run by Phil Spector in the Sixties, The Crystals stand as one of the greatest girl groups of all time. When Spector and The Crystals joined forces, the results encompassed some of the strongest and most moving selections of Spector's production career. There is a reason so many, diverse bands have covered these songs, including Grizzly Bear and Hole. "He Hit Me (It Felt Like A Kiss)" stands as one of the most chilling pop songs of all time. Even the one of the most subversive of artistic minds, Kenneth Anger, knew the power of their pop prowess and included "He's A Rebel" on the soundtrack to his legendary short film Scorpio Rising. It's been so awesome to get to highlight these reissued Phil Spector recordings (The Ronettes, etc.) over the last few lists, as this is hands down some of the best pop music ever made. And such perfect timing for this release as we hear The Crystals' influence on so many of today's 'it' bands like Hunx & His Punx and Dum Dum Girls. It's that rare kind of recording that both your mom, and the most experimental minded music loving obsessive will love so much, as there's no denying the greatness of The Crystals! Features 18 remastered tracks, including one previously unreleased cut.

MPEG stream: He Hit Me (It Felt Like A Kiss)
MPEG stream: Then He Kissed Me
MPEG stream: He's A Rebel

[ aquarius records catalogue — C ]