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Volume 1 in 7" series of duos featuring German experimental/improv musician (and Italian suspense film fan) Eichstaedt. Side one, "House Of Horror" features Bjoern on keys and samples and Thomas Maos on guitar, creating an appropriately spooky soundscape to go along with the title. Side two, "Samuel Chillian vs. Batman (And His Mad Dogs From Transsylvania)" continues the fun with conspirator Leoon Gruenbaum.
From our eclectic, experimental German musician pal Bjoern, a new cd-r that kinda sounds like what the title suggests it might. Comes in cool perforated packaging. Limited to 50 numbered copies.
Ding, ding! (x4) Something ring a bell? That's cuz Eight Bells is the new group formed from the ashes of veteran spacerockers Subarachnoid Space, whose last album before they disbanded in 2010 was titled, Eight Bells. Since we liked that record a lot, we're happy to report that Subarachnoid Space guitarist Melynda Jackson has teamed with erstwhile Subarachnoid Space drummer Chris Van Huffel, plus bassist Haley Westeiner, to take up where Subarachnoid Space left off, this trio continuing Subarachnoid Space's latter-day trajectory into heavier and heavier territories, to the point that it makes sense that this would be recorded by Billy Anderson, and come out on Seventh Rule. And woah this is good, damn good. Mostly instrumental (even when there is singing, it's often kinda used as another instrument), and definitely progressive, with sinuous song structures and intricate epic arrangements, they play a kind of mathy, moody spacerock that at times even ventures into black metal territory - Cascadian black metal we guess, to be precise, since that's where they're based, up in the Pacific Northwest. Seriously, if you didn't know the context, there's stretches where you'd think it was a BM record for sure. And as space rock or post rock, it's definitely rockin'. Think Kinksi meets Wolves In The Throne Room...
A good example of Eight Bells' dynamic, apocalyptic mathrock is how the urgent angular quickstep of track two, "Fate And Technology" takes a sudden shift into slower, quieter, more placid territory adorned by dreamy, gentle female singing, but then builds up again to sheer, near black metal blasting complete with harsh, throatripped vokills. Those vokills and vocals are both handled by Haley, but the title track does bring in guest vocalist Kris Force of Amber Asylum to add her haunting pipes to the mix, for some extra atmosphere, that track reminding us, with its scrambling riffery, of Stinking Lizveta, at first anyway, then getting seriously epic in a postrock way, 12+ minutes full of drama and majesty (and intense chops!), climaxing with thunderous drum pound and wordless high end operatic vocalizations from Force. Here and elsewhere there's droning synths, echoing effects, and a thick, muscular bass presence, part of what makes Eight Bells so heavy and propulsive.
For fans of Subarachnoid Space (of course) and Liturgy and maybe the likes of Worm Ouroboros too. Recommended!!
Out of all the great rare-groove productions Roy Ayers did for other artists, Ramp, Ethel Beatty, Bobbi Humphrey, and Sylvia Striplin, the sole 1980 full length by Eighties Ladies may be the most sought after cult boogie classic. Their most well-known single, the monster jam, "Turned On To You", has been featured on so many DJ mixes and has been sampled rather heavily over the past couple of decades that for a long time, we thought that the track was their only output. Of course we're proven wrong by this hefty reissue. Hefty in the sense of the mean boogie (Rick James plays in the backing band!) and sass these five ladies bring to the groove, marrying Sylvester's sensual disco to Bettie Davis's harder-edged empowered funk. What the reissue lacks in backstory, more than makes up in eight fine jazz-laden funkified gems. These Eighties Ladies could have been better named, they were the template for all the eighties r&b/funk girl groups to come: Vanity 6, Apollonia 6, Mary-Jane Girls, The Flirts and Klymaxx. Listen in and get schooled!
One of the many diverse branches of Ms Beth Custer's formidable creative tree. This one takes her into a melting pot of electronics, dance and jazz.
This one pretty much floored us when we first put it on. Track one, "Tourniquet", begins quietly, with a droning sound swelling up slowly, so we didn't expect the shocking outburst of sick fuzz that then erupts, the rest of the song alternating between distorted, disjointed riffs and gentler melodic parts. Its unhinged freakiness immediately made us think of Michael Yonkers' similarly crazed Microminiature Love album, a total genius AQ fave. So what the heck is this? The mysterious trio of Damin Eih, A.L.K. and Brother Clark (from Minneapolis, just like Yonkers) made this wonderfully twisted psychedelic rock record in 1973, privately releasing it into almost total obscurity and eventual psych-rock collector dreams. But thank the reissue gods, it's been deservedly rescued from oblivion and boy howdy is it ever something that we're happy to hear and we think you'll be happy about it too.
The eleven tracks feature fragile vocal melodies, delicate 12-string strum, weird trippy lyrics (telling you to "take off your eyes, lie down in your head" or chanting "world is ridiculous" over and over), and a few further doses of that aforementioned totally sick fuzz guitar (which doesn't really return in full force until the final track). Most of the album is fairly spaced out, the many mellower songs all delightfully druggy, dreamy, drifty... there's really some quite lovely stuff on here, in keeping with the trio's obvious interest in Eastern mysticism and inner mind trips. Furthermore, for an apparently underground DIY production, it's actually rather ambitious and accomplished, with effective vocal harmonies, electronic embellishments, ethnic instruments, and other interesting orchestration. Stuff like the Beatles' "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" sounds like an influence... as does that song's obvious inspiration too.
Along with Yonkers, another AQ fave we could compare this to would be the Alice Cooper Band's psychedelic debut Pretties For You... but more surreal and subversive. Alice, even in his later shock-rock showman guise, would have shied away from lyrics like "rape and kill your parents or the blacks, and if you're one of those you can rape and kill the others back", a line found here in the deviant blues rocker "Return Naked" that ends this album with tour-de-force of really warped hippie-punk attitude and ultra-distorted, rubbery megafuzz riffage (the idea behind the song, we think, being about how the war is over in Vietnam, so now what?).
Never Mind is an album that's also possessed of the same lost and lysgeric vibe we got from another early '70s private press rarity reissued a while back, Stone Harbour's Emerges. And '80s psych savant Bobb Trimble could be another good comparison in parts ("Thundermice" in particular). Oh, and if you're gonna get the Dwarr reissue we made record of the week, this would make a good companion purchase, though despite some heavy moments it's not in any way metal, it still seems to share some of the same outsider DNA, this is possibly what Dwarr would have sounded like in '73 instead of '86...
Sadly, this digipack contains no liner notes to speak of, just recording credits, too bad 'cause we're sure there's quite a story behind and beyond this album, from what we've been able to glean from other sources about main member Damin Eih vanishing to India not long after this was originally released.
Andee's label tUMULt is a lot of things. From country dirge (Souled American) to avant-prog (Guapo) to experimental indie-pop (Iran). And then there's a black, leathery wing of tUMULt devoted to the art and science of black metal, with several examples drawn from the fertile local San Francisco scene (Weakling, Leviathan, Draugar) and one outlier from France (Diamatregon).
And now Eikenskaden, who also happen to hail from France. Andee and Allan here at Aquarius had been fans of Eikenskaden and related band Mystic Forest for some time, we've raved about 'em before. As it turned out, they happened to be fans of tUMULt in turn. Strange how things work out. So here's a new Eikenskaden on tUMULt! Like tUMULt's other black metal releases (or other releases, period), you can be assured that Eikenskaden is not quite the norm for its genre, which is a genre where norms are oft-perverted anyways. There's something just a little bit fucked about their approach, the extreme combo of nasty distortion and neo-classical melody perhaps?
Yup, you can say a lot about how this band (or guy, it's one dude, Mr. Stefan Kozak) revels in the wall-of-fuzz sound of Norwegian black metal primitivists like Burzum. But then he takes it and merges it with freakin' Beethoven! Not only that, but like the best metal (from Iron Maiden to Katatonia) he doesn't forget this is rock music and it's gotta have a pop element. There are simply just some great SONGS here beneath all the distortion and violence. We couldn't be happier -- not only did tUMULt get to put out an Eikenskaden album, but it lived up to all our expectations. Which means that even if you've never heard of Eikenskaden before, we'd recommend checking this out.
A little while ago we gave a thumbs (and pointy spikes) up review to an album called "Green Hell" by a French black metal band known as Mystic Forest. As we mentioned then, Mystic Forest's main guy, one Stefan Kozak, has another band called Eikenskaden ("Oaken Shield") which is almost *exactly* the same. The line-up is different, but the songwriting, production, and even the graphic design bear marked similarity. Apparently Eikenskaden is the project in which Kozak blows off steam and indulges even further in ridiculous black metal concepts, and it's true that of the two bands, this one is perhaps the best, though it's a close call. "The Last Danse" is Kozak's second Eikenskaden album, and is as amazing as anything else he's done -- totally frenzied, quirky, and Burzumic, more distorted yet more melodic than you could imagine.
I was listening to this at home the other night, and my housemate thought it sounded like two things playing at the same time. The very pretty, baroque sounding keyboard lines coexist bizarrely with a hellish wash of fuzz and distortion. Raw yet extremely melodic. You can hear in Eikenskaden (and Mystic Forest) the gothic black/doom "pop" of Katatonia, as well as the neo-classical shred of Windham Hell. It's a weird combo, maybe, but it works really well. Imagine Burzum or Khold possessed by Mozart or something, with Immortal/Popeye vocal growls too. Really, it's so insanely full of reverb and distortion it's crazy -- HSShshshhHZZHZZCH!!!
Also new in stock and recommended: Mystic Forest's third album, "Waltz In the Midst of Trees" ($13.98, see review elsewhere on this list/site).
The French buzzing black metal cult of Eikenskaden ("Oaken Shield") returns with a new album, their fourth, the follow up to their numerically-titled 2004 release, 665.999, which appeared on our own Andee's tUMULt label! So of course we're excited. Eikenskaden is one of those genius one man BM bands (that one man being Stefan Kozak, also the main guy in Mystic Forest). Both Mystic Forest and Eikenskaden specialize in blending almost-classical, melancholic melodies with some of the most distorto-buzz Burzumic black metal out there, with Eikenskaden being the darker and harsher of the two acts. And, as the title of There Is No Light At The End Of The Tunnel already indicates, this cd is certainly dark! Quite "necro" and yet grandiose, this boasts some truly memorable compositions, which has always been one of Kozak's strong suits -- he writes actual songs, not relying entirely on atmosphere even though Eikenskaden's got plenty going on in that area too. Somehow he's got a knack for writing material that's both driving and depressive, with many interesting details amidst the distorted wash of sound. Recommended, especially if you like both Xasthur and Khold, for instance (and don't you?).
Ok, if you're a fan of the Japanese prog-core duo Ruins and their amazing drummer and musical mastermind Tatsuya Yoshida, you already know he's a big fan of '70s progressive rock. Of course. It's pretty obvious, even if you've never experienced the Ruins' infamous "Prog Rock Medley". Ruins wouldn't be Ruins without the influence of classic '70s bands like Magma, Area, and Henry Cow. Here, Yoshida -really- gets proggy, though, paying tribute to some of his inspirations in that genre (and, classical music too) with a both a batch of worthy originals and several exquisite cover versions as well.
At home in yet another duo situation, Tatsuya Yoshida (vocals, drums, programming, keys, acoustic guitar) teams up with Eiko Ishibashi (vocals, piano, keys, flute), to turn in 14 tracks of utter prog nirvana, stuff that's gorgeously melodic and mathematically mindboggling, both.
Fans of Ruins, Koenjihyakkei, Tairikuotoko vs. Sanmaykuonna, and other manifestations of Yoshida's prog-obsession will be drooling, from the sweet female vocals and quirky hectic changes of "Festival Of Teeth" to the amusing, impressive ADD-antics of the quite clever "Classic Medley" (all 1 minute, 21 seconds of it), from the dizzying "The Invention Of A Parachute" to the thickly synth-buzzed, heavy and haunting "Planet Of Reverberation" which ends the disc... Wow.
While that "Classic Medley" has a tongue-in-cheek, showoffish element we're sure, this duo also respectfully give props to a few of their influences with some other covers, including songs by This Heat ("Twilight Furniture"), Soft Machine ("As Long As He Lies Perfectly Still"), Genesis ("Time Table"), and Debussy ("Doctor Gradus Ad Pernassum")! You know what? Even if you've never ever heard Ruins before, we would still recommend this to the curious, who could just as easily as any old school prog diehard be thrilled by this elegant, intricate music. Especially since, with both the covers and originals, these two manage to strike a stellar balance between the technical, excitingly indulgent side of prog, and truly lovely, uh, songishness. So nice!
And now we're curious to hear more from Ms. Eiko...
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Silkworm hooks back up with ex-member and solo star Joel Phelps, changing the band name back to what they were called before they were Silkworm, and record a brand-new disc. Who woulda thunk it etc.
A vinyl reissue of one of the best Einsturzende Neubauten recordings! Halber Mensch ('half man' in German) originally came out in 1985, at the height of the apex of punk self-immolation, pure German expressionism, and industrial theatricality. The infernal vocal chorale of the title track is about as intense as a vocal piece could ever be, without resorting to pure guttural howling. Here is it a searing repetition of an atonal plainsong, buttressed by the always unique snarl of frontman Blixa Bargeld. The repurposed metals from junkyards and constructions site which have become synonymous with Neubauten immediately appear afterwards on their anthemic single "Yu-Gung (Fuetter Mein Ego)," whose insistent rhythm works almost Gamelan-like as the principal melody to this amazing tune. It should also be pointed out that Pussy Galore, who were already heavily indebted to EN, covered this on their Sugar Shit Sharp ep! later As a grand climax to the album, Neubauten again returns to hellish imagery through the symphony of bowed metals on "Der Tod Ist Ein Dandy," where these cacophonic scrapes amass into a dramatic arc of acoustic noise that easily parallels those same constructions that David Jackman built through Organum. This is one of those seminal records that should always be in print, and one of those records that you should already have. But if not, you shouldn't pass this up!
On September 12, Blixa Bargeld wandered into Aquarius after hearing that his US tour with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds had been cancelled. While I had never met the man before, his demeanor was certainly curt and somewhat cold, muttering his disapproval that
If I had been able to muster the courage to ask Bargeld for his thoughts, I could imagine that his answer would be something poetic but vaguely haunting, and maybe something a little bit more allegorical than Stockhausen's recent social gaffes. Or maybe, those are the attributes that I'd like his words to have, and he would just shrug it off as another stupid question from another stupid American. Yet, Bargeld and his stalwart project Einsturzende Neubauten have been engaged in presenting multiple possibilities for the end of the world within evolving musical theatres, ranging from their early brutalism of hammering infernal music out of metal and flesh to their more recent offerings of staged melodramas around Bargeld's lyrical complexities and restrained vocalizations. Thus, I would hope that Bargeld may have something intelligent and insightful to say about the WTC attacks.
"Strategies Against Architecture III," subtitled "A Comedy of Errors" was obviously never intended to be Bargeld's specific answer; but within the current cultural climate, it does address the general themes. Over the last decade, Neubauten has calmed their industrial clamour and embraced the tasteful palette of a chamber ensemble, with strings and horns fleshing out their recent sound. It is obvious that Neubauten has changed with age, looking back at their early work through eyes that no longer seek expression through self-destruction. Rather, Neubauten stands in the ashes of their attempts at self-destruction seeing that the epistomological forces of life may in fact be stronger than the will to destroy. The gleefully abject explosions that made up their earliest work now quietly smolder within the pleasant, strangely cabaret-like, and almost holistically beneficial music found within "Strategies III."
In essence, Neubauten's third compilation of rarities, alternate takes and 'greatest hits' finds their existential angst getting all warm and fuzzy. While I've been wholly disappointed by their work over the past decade, "Strategies III" makes for an nice condensed history for a time period in which existential answers were sought in lieu of taking aesthetic adventures.
Admittedly, we approached this new Einsturzende Neubauten album with a little bit of apprehension. In our humble opinion, their recordings from the last decade and a half have fallen so far short of what you'd expect from a group that were absolute music groundbreakers (literally!). Seriously can Silence Is Sexy or Perpetuum Mobile hold a candle (or blowtorch) to Halber Mensch or Drawings Of Patient O.T.? We think not. So Alles Wieder Offen comes as something of a pleasant (hmmm, that's sort of a weird word to use with regards to this band, isn't it?) surprise. It's almost like Blixa Bargeld and co. had a wake up call (albeit a not so aggressive one) that shook them out of their velvet draped parlor and back into the rubble-strewn dank warehouse... at least for a brief spell. For one thing Bargeld is alternating his vocal croon with his former urgent bark. While there still isn't any of the early brutal thunder of heavy machinery, there are atmospheres filled with icy Germanic scowls and white knuckles. Hypnotic male chants, buzzing electronics, blunt object thuds, and metallic clatter too. At long last, Einsturzende Neubauten may have struck an affecting integration of what has long seemed disconcertingly at odds -- their early defiant dissonance and newer refined elegance.
Do you like early Einsturzende Neubauten (Kollaps, Strategies Against Architecture)? Yeah? Great; then you don't want to miss Kalte Sterne, the new collection of Einsturzende Neubauten's early 7"s, surrounded by many previously unreleased recordings. Most of these were impossible to find the first time around, and represent the beginning of the brilliant German group's (literally) metallic, Dadaist anti-music. Thirteen tracks of scraping atonal genius by the group arguably most responsible for connecting the ideas of 20th century avant-garde composers and '-isms' with the underground art-rock audience. Kalte Sterne reveals a dub sense not readily apparent on the first full length albums, as well as surprisingly well formed looks at their trademark post-Faust, homemade musique concrete. Early Einsturzende Neubauten is iconclastic, ubiquitous and absolutely unique. If you've ever wished for more early-style Einsturzende Neubauten, before they mellowed considerably and became more like 'regular music', here it is. Kalte Sterne is 'noise' in the truest and best sense, for every adventurous ear.
Kollaps. The first album from Einsturzende Neubauten, released back in 1981, found the band as a trio with the wild-throated frontman Blixa Bargeld buttressed by the anarcho-rhythmicists N.U. Unruh and F.M. Einheit. The band photo of Neubauten on Kollaps is quite telling, as a it parodies Pink Floyd's grand collection of instruments that emblazoned the back cover of Ummagumma. Instead of the marching band sized collection of drums and mallets, there's an assortment of hammers, pipes, a couple of drills, a cheap looking synth, an ax (yeah, there is a guitar, but there's also an ax!), and sheet metal twisted in the shape of drumheads. These are the instruments that Neubauten uses in the hyper-primitive, industrial-punk tracks found on Kollaps. Neubauten's amplified junkyard was a clearly a bold statement of DIY primitivism, this trio was not without their structural prowess, crafting anthemic blasts out of their rhythmic churns, bristling with sparkplug noise and rabid distortion. "Tanz Debil" is curiously catchy in its amplified shopping cart bashing which Unruh & Einheit hammer out to accompany the demon-then-zombie vocal delivery from Blixa Bargeld. The title track is a 8 minute monochord mantra, and the band actually pulls off an instrumental cover of Serge Gainsbourg's "Je T'Aime." Very rough around the edges, but there is a serious-minded, infernal poetry of pain, anger, and rage focused through these scrap metal arrangements. It's great to have this in stock, as Kollaps is a tremendous record.
It appears that as Einsturzende Neubauten near a quarter century of existence, they've set aside their cognac glasses and smoking jackets for the time being -- a good thing! Of course, that's not to say that they've returned to their early 80's groundbreaking visceral fury (see: Drawing Of Patient O.T. and Halber Mensch). No, sadly this is not the case. Like its predecessor, 2000's Silence Is Sexy, Perpetuum Mobile's focus is on subdued refinement and somber reflection with often quite beautiful percussive results. There is an overriding sense of heavy fatigue and mournfulness that resonates throughout the album, however, a particular low point of this despairing tone is Blixa Bargeld's tedious, uninspired chant in the fourth track "Selbstportrait Mit Kater" of "Life on other planets is difficult... so difficult". Had to hit the 'skip' button after his first few rounds.
After Marc Chung and FM Einheit left Einsturzende Neubauten, Blixa ended up getting fat...and boring.
The differences between the Einsturzende Neubauten of the '80s and the Einsturzende Neubauten of the '90s are like night and day. The band's early days were spent mucking around junkyards and cold warehouses which proved to be the perfect setting for their spectacular investigations into 'the abject' through the physical abrasion of metal percussion, discordant guitars, and the pained yelp of Blixa Bargeld. These were the days of their best material, as found on such masterpieces of industrialized angst as Drawings of OT and Halber Menche. Much had been made about the fall of the Berlin Wall and Neubauten's aesthetic shift. Political allusions aside, it's quite clear that the Neubauten that produced Tabula Rasa had undergone a profound shift from their early days of blood, grit, and steel. Donning the finest Italian suits and moving with a theatrical swagger, Neubauten merely threatens to physically confront you with rhythmic intensity or the powers of horror. They've actually managed to stretch out their fading career with this strategy. If only we could all be that lucky. When they do launch into a big jackhammer rhythm as found on Tabula Rasa's "Headcleaner," their creaking joints and tired sinews don't really have it in them anymore.
This reissue features a bonus disc with all of the material from the Interim and Malediction singles which came out around the same time as Tabula Rasa.
Much will be made of the strategies that Einsturzende Neubauten used in making The Jewels. Frontman Blixa Bargeld devised a series of Tarot-like cards which represented the vast collection of materials which are at Neubauten's disposal - steel, tin, zinc, wood, plastic, glass, ceramics. The entire band would then draw cards, and the compositional process would begin. The tracks tend be a bit shorter than the typical Neubauten opus, and the songs follow the recent aesthetic shifts towards quieter, controlled orchestration for their unusual materials. On a few tracks, there are hints of their formerly infernal selves, glancing back to one of the last true masterpieces Funf Auf Der Nach Oben Offenen Richterskala. Originally released as a subscription only download through their website; now available with a 40 minute film as a Quicktime movie and large book with lyrics and Blixa's insight into the process.
A brilliant reissue from the seminal German industrial ensemble Einsturzende Neubauten. This album represented the first full realization of the Neubauten project, with F.M. Einheit and Marc Chung (both hailing from the underappreciated post-punk ensemble Abwarts) joining the trio of Blixa Bargeld, Alexander Hacke, and N.U. Unruh. The O.T. from the title of this record references Oswald Tschirtner, a resident of psychiatric hospital for artists, where the patient created these compulsive drawings out of the unkempt visions in his head. Such is the way the Neubauten seeks to employ sound on this record: cracked, naive, and dangerous. Found objects, stolen radio transmissions, repurposed machinery, and lots of metal bashing appear in this album, inspired as much by musique concrete juxtaposition as by punk fury. The desolate drone-centric piece "Armenia" and the propulsive "Vandium I-Ching" represent two of the extremes found on this ever-impressive album.
We've been a bit remiss in our mission to continue listing all of the great Gooom titles that have yet to make it over to our part of the world (some recent Gooom faves: M83, Abstrackt Keal Agram, Cyann And Ben, Purple Confusion, Mils, etc.) so we'll get back on track with this ep from Eisebs. The title, Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs, couldn't be more appropriate. This is bouncy, sugary, caffeinated electro pop. Playful melodies, goofy fuzzed out synths, super lo-fi Nintendo rhythms, all crunchy and fuzzy and totally goofy and fun. Weird robotic voices, skittery almost jungle rhythms and lots of other little sonic surprises are sprinkled liberally throughout. Sounds a bit like if Add N To X were 15 year old girls, and were asked to make music for a video game that featured starfish riding giraffes and battling giant pink penguins and tiny purple bats, on a quest to rescue the Little Prince. Fun!
It's Jewlia Eisenberg from the local Idiot-Flesh-related group Charming Hostess! Along with a few similarly angel-voiced men and women, Jewlia has constructed an album of intricate harmonies -- all of it a capella and just bell clear. Elements of Bulgarian
Mark Eitzel presents two of his very distinct musical personalities on his latest solo outing (which goes by the odd, somewhat ill-fitting title Candy Ass) -- his trademark somber Americana sound of his full band American Music Club and his less familiar, but just as moody, Radiohead-ish atmospheric electronic tracks. Really, it's a bit boggling that he chose to combine the two when he could easily have released two separate totally cohesive solid albums. When played in the store, it had folks asking, "Is this still the Mark Eitzel?!" Each song unto itself is pretty darn gorgeous, but mixing 'em up like this only makes it difficult for the listener to immerse him/herself in either. Of course, maybe that's what Eitzel intended (i.e, to journey through various different 'places'), but his chosen running order just leads you in one direction only to leave you hangin'. Perhaps, you won't find this detail as distracting as we did.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
New album from former singer of American Music Club who now lives in New York.
Long awaited new single from local troubadour of the downtrodden, Mark Eitzel. The title track is certainly Eitzel's most upbeat song EVER, with barely a hint of the abject depression that marked his solo work and long tenure with American Music Club. It
Mon dieu! Do my ears deceive me? Alas, the worst is true: Mark Eitzel has made a covers album. That's right. The amazing Mark Eitzel, formerly of American Music Club, who were local but had cultishly loyal fans the world over, has made an album of songs
I'm a huge AMC and Eitzel fan, but dang this record is dismal. Here's why: Eitzel's voice and lyrics -- which once had meaning and depth for AMC/Eitzel fans, which once came from his heart -- has been reduced to nothing but a 'style'. Weak loungejazz singing might work for Harry Connick Jr, but how dare anyone try to superficialize (is that a word?) Mark Eitzel. His voice hasn't got the range nor the appropriate bland sappiness to carry off the tunes they way they "should" be covered. He sounds really muted and only half-caring, as if he knows how wrong the whole idea was. The band is similarly hesitant (except on the Curtis Mayfield song where they funk it up tolerably well.) Mark's voice is far more suited to the angst-ridden catharsis AMC records trafficked in.
Yes, I'm biased in favor of his older music but this... this isn't even his *new* material -- they're not his songs! (And yes, if the covers were truly well done I would totally applaud the project... but they are bad bad bad.) A sad thumbs-down for the many fans including myself who've been patiently waiting for new Eitzel songs.
Mark Eitzel has long been an AQ-favorite, the local troubadour of the downtrodden whose work with American Music Club and thru three+ solo albums was so stellar that there was a time I would never ever miss one of his shows. Eitzel's newest solo album was completed mostly on his own using ProTools and a guitar in his living room. You wouldn't know it from the sound, though, as it is
Hot on the heels of the exciting news that American Music Club are re-forming for a long awaited live show (Aug 21 at Makeout), here comes this leftfield project from Mark Eitzel. He was invited to play a live show in Greece, and ended up making a whole album with traditional Greek musicians as backup band. That's right, you'll hear mandolin, bouzouki, and tzouras right there along with the simple string section of violin, viola, etc. And the best news is... it's good! So reserve that pre-judgement tendency (ahem, I had to) and just listen. It's quite good. It doesn't "rock", mind you -- it isn't supposed to. This is more Eitzel than AMC. The unusual instrumentation adds a layer of pathos and real urgency to Eitzel's already stirring, deeply poignant tales of depression.
Song choices include two new pieces, and the remainder cover the gamut of Eitzel's career, with a healthy dose of older material such as "Western Sky", "Nightwatchman", "Last Harbor". A highlight is an almost sprightly version of that classic Eitzel downer "Take Courage". Recommended!
Rich has the pleasure been, of late, to sit down with a new issuance from the stellar Digitalis Limited label. Sean Mccann's wobbly wonder "Flutter Oasis," and the last gem from the ever-unfolding Natural Snow Building's saga have had our ears smiling. And not least of all because they are cassettes. It seems re-aquaintance with any medium is accompanied by a degree of intentionality that peaks you to the details of the experience. And particularly in this case, the warmth of the cassette has been on display, with each of these releases huddling up close to the glowing embers of their mic settings slingshotting into the red. The effect can be quite comforting, as though panned to the far reaches are the sounds and feelings of a few angels blowing on a contact mic. We think it might be worth mentioning too, that the scientific name digitalis means "finger-like," and refers to the ease with which a flower of digitalis purpurea can be fitted over a human fingertip. If the music were fingers, and the flowers your ears, you'd be starting to get the picture.
And so, with all that said, it was with obvious excitement that we received a new installment from Digitalis. And from a store favorite and friend no less, Evan of Barn Owl! Elsewhere on this list you'll find their new full length lp on the awesome Not Not Fun label from LA. Buried Light is a decidedly more droney affair than the last two Barn Owl full lengths, but still very much in keeping with their broader vocabulary. The opening track is like listening to the oscillating resonance frequencies of a massive bell breathing. And in time, its host emerges, an ambiguous and ghostly voice, weaving and wandering on broad syllables through the dense murk. On other tracks, this dynamic is extended to the accompaniment of some Tacoma-like guitar picking, giving the tape a faint western vibe. In fact there are parts of the tape that could be comfortably inserted into one of the more recent Earth records or even Neil Young's Dead Man soundtrack. In all cases the pace and depths of the tone relationships are entirely transporting. Evan excels in evoking the texture, pace, and scale of the elements, without attaching the songs to anything too specific. In this manner we are free to imagine them as the soundtracks to a kind of collapsed landscape where the wind of water blows ripples across a lake of sand. What is miraculous about Evan, and Barn Owl, at their most abstract and disintegrated, is the profound ambiguity of their temper. They live at the 360th degree, when you've wandered all the way to end of the light, and things start getting dark. What's more engrossing, perhaps, is you may not even remember if you started out towards the dark or the light in the first place. It's the liminal plane on which we witness the gathering of a cadre of genres; folk, metal, and drone, and watch them sculpt with the naked vibrational core of sound. It's purity, and spiritually relative qualities, align it with the antecedents of some new age music, but rather than easy listening, we might beg you to follow us out onto the thin branch of a pun and call it hard blisstening. It's what it is.
We've only got fifteen of these, so act fast. After that they are gone FOREVER!
Metalheads, buy this! Author Daniel Ekeroth, a Swedish death metal expert (and Swedish death metaller himself, from the band Incision) has collected and presented an invaluable resource with this book, a weighty tome indeed. Due to a dearth of information on this fairly specific subject, the material within was compiled via a practical attempt to synthesize an accurate retelling of the history of Swedish death metal, based on varying accounts in zines and such, then by bouncing those stories back and forth in interviews with key band members, label bosses, etc. The book itself begins by outlining the myriad of influences behind the Swedish sound: San Francisco Bay Area thrash, NWOBHM, and the Tampa Bay Florida scene. Keep in mind, this was well before the internet, so tape and zine trading, and word of mouth, were the only ways to find out about music. Thus some of these band members were true metal geeks. There are accounts of various artists' own early exposure to metal and some really interesting stories about a few of the early Swedish bands, obscurities crossing over from the hardcore punk scene and so forth. Gripping reading for anyone into the book's subject matter. The second half of the book covers the pinnacle and strength of the scene at its brightest. But then there was black metal, and Ekeroth details how it helped usher out the popularity of old school death metal. He also delves into subgenres like grind, death n' roll, and of course the melodic Gothenburg sound.
And then in the back, there is an incredibly useful, opinionated encyclopedia of (possibly) all Swedish death metal bands. Awesome! Complete with band members and releases, where Ekeroth substitutes the term 'deathography' for discography. And this book covers not only the big shots, like Dissection, Unleashed, Entombed, Marduk - hey their first record was recorded with Dan Swano and their first singer was the guitarist from Edge of Sanity - but there are tons of lesser known bands that the Ekeroth goes into detail about. Graphics-wise, there are tons of flyers, demo tape covers, cool pictures, and everything else relevant that you could possibly want in print. It's pretty sweet.
There's not much else to say, really. You know who you are. There are those that would read a 456 page book on the Swedish death metal scene, and there are those who would not. If you are one of those people who WOULD, or just want it as a rad reference point, you need this. In a word, it's totally fucking killer. Recommended! And by the way, this is the new, expanded (and cheaper than the import) US edition, with extra art and interviews.
Local horns-and-electronics duo Kyle Bruckman (oboe, English horn, analog electronics) and Ernst Karel (trumpet, analog electronics) team up with Italian experimental guitarist/electronic musician Giuseppe Ielasi for a disc of outer space, and�inner space mystery. Recorded live on tour in 2005, these five long tracks sound exactly how we might imagine a trip to the stars in some strange old rocket ship would sound. Lots of bizarre electronic chatter but also haunting beeps, bloops, rumbles and drones. And of course, what trip to the stars to explore alien civilizations would be complete without some super subtle and strangely cinematic mood music.�
Not sure if that whole space mission vibe was the intention or not (probably not) but the effect is strangely compelling, and a gorgeous lowercase listen.�
Haunting quavering tones drift and shimmer, like some signal being broadcast from the deepest reaches of space... engulfed here and there by�long drawn out almost Nitsch-ian horns, moaning and bleating, everywhere,�strange little glitches and buzz and flit.�
Dissonant swells, ebb and flow, over a strangely lush framework of pulsing�electronics, all wrapped in swaths of white noise, rough and strangely percussive swirls of crumbing dark ambience. As the record progresses, these 'ship sounds' are joined by�Goblin-esque drones, tense cinematic streaks of electronics,�distant beeps, rumbles and resonant reverberations,�fog horn rumbles, creepy whines and whirs, sounding like strange machinery or ancient distress calls, before the record unwinds into�weird stretches of ambient flutter, alien animal sounds, crackles and chitter, whisper and swirl, like wandering through some weird new world...
Another batch of tapes from Root Strata, this one from someone named Ekin Fil, who hails from Istanbul, and creates dark, lush landscapes of sound. Lo-fi and super intimate, the songs and sounds are super varied, from woozy looped synths to hazy, clattery, smeary shoegaze, like some hybrid of Grouper and Sunroof!, from dark strummy reverb soaked dreamfolk to hazy, washed out minimal abstract pop, from deep blurred ambient shimmer to haunting folky otherworldly drift.
The sounds all seem to blur and bleed and ooze into each other, the guitars liquid, the reverb and delay transforming everything into a gauzy indistinct smear of sound, all held together by the hushed echo drenched vocals, spectral and ethereal, laced over the warm swirling murk underneath. A foresty folk, slightly gothic, a little shoegazey, shades of Zola Jesus and Grouper, of groups like Zomes and the Slaves, a haunting ephemeral ritualistic minimalism, that manages to be lush and expansive, but simultaneously, dark and intimate. So totally lovely.
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES!
We were introduced to the work of Ekin Fil via a super limited cassette released on Root Strata a couple years back. Now, Students Of Decay have released the first proper album from EF, and it's a jawdroppingly gorgeous piece of slumbering drone-pop. Ekin Fil is the solo work of Turkish songstress Ekin Uzeltuzenci, who quietly waltzes behind reverberant blurs and nocturnal driftscapes. There are songs that slip in and out of existence amidst the foggy production surrounding her voice and acoustic guitar; and if you maybe think this sounds an awful lot like the work of Liz Harris, you wouldn't be that far off. Uzeltuzenci has described her work is a means of escape from the mania of her native Istanbul; and it's not just a therapeutic salve of cathartic torpor for her, she invites the audience to follow along in these dreamy, droney pieces. Like that cassette on Root Strata, this eponymous lp is quite an enchanting journey. She hypnotically strums her way through dour avant-folk songs whose melodies are entirely enshrouded in gauzy shadows, ghostly ectoplasm, and cavernous echo. No sharp edges whatsoever, but some of her songs can delve much further into the spooky than Grouper ever has. For example, there's the rocket-engine roar which girds her gasping track "Sea Holly" and the chords of "On Vanity" recall the desolate, acoustic balladeering that Bauhaus would sprinkle throughout their glam-goth bombast. Certainly for fans of Je Suis Le Petit Chevalier, The Slaves, Vestals, and of course Grouper! Yup, download card included.
Danish noise-rocker Nicolas Kauffmann spits out a Dead C-ish free rock pummel. Guitars squeal and howl and roar into a dreamy din of chordal dissonance. Feathery, frothy soundscapes of drone-flecked brutality. The epic thirty minute final track is a slow
The first in Paradigms Recordings second act, the first being pretty impressive as long time readers of the aQ list can no doubt attest to. Here's a partial list of some of act one's notable releases: Hjarnidaudi, Amber Asylum, Throne Of Katarsis, The Angelic Process, Utlagr, Titan, Gnaw Their Tongues, Woburn House, Wraiths, Ondo, Plants and tons more. Not too shabby. So how to launch act 2? How about with a gloomy doomy black metal mystery from Germany, and their single song, 30+ minute full length debut. Indeed!
With nothing but a split to their name (released way back in 2002), Expyrosis offer up a sprawling multi part avant black epic, that will undoubtedly have aQ black metalheads frothing at the mouth. The guitars unwind haunting minor key melodies, woven into dense shimmering textures, the drums lock into a static blast, while over the top shards of melody drift and dissipate, before the track shifts, and the guitars explode, spreading out in thick sheets of warm buzz all tangled up with twisted mournful melodies, and underneath it all, voices moan and chant, giving the whole track a distinctly miserablist, almost gothic vibe, like Joy Division all revved up and wreathed in blackness. There's some serious math happening too, and plenty of whirling black ambience, and for every blast of black buzz, there's a creepy stretch of midtempo plod and soft focus smeared shoegaze guitar. The melodies soar majestically, the vocals are crooned and dramatic, almost spoken at times, the whole track locks into these woozy grooves, totally hypnotic and mesmerizing, occasionally splintering into something more jagged and off kilter, droney or drifty, meandering or blazing and chaotic, only to eventually be swept back up into a dizzying buzz drenched blur.
Strangely pretty and mysteriously heavy, yet still plenty buzzy and blackened. A pretty auspicious start to what looks to be a kick ass second act for Paradigms.
Similar in intent to Squarepusher, Ekswyzia is dedicated to fusing the expressiveness of jazz within electronica programming. While Squarepusher definitely embraces a grooviness from jazz, Ekswysia takes the freeform jazz approach with a frenzy of squelchy synthetic screeches and sampled cymbals, snares, and toms clattering away with a frenzied often irregular pace. Challenging to say the least.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
What a breath of fresh air! As if a new Circle album wasn't enough (see "Prospekt" elsewhere on this list), there's also a new release from this Circle side-project. A side project staffed *entirely* by members of Circle, we might add. Hence, there's an unavoidable but definitely welcome similarity between the two bands.
Ektroverde are kind of like Circle's alter-ego -- less intense (and yet, still really intense!), sometimes jazz, sometimes fucked up hi-NRG pop. The trademark Circle rhythmic hypnosis remains, but the sometimes austere riff-mongering and prog-rock precision is mostly superseded by a generally more playful and groovier approach, certainly nothing as heavy or "rockin'" as what's found on "Prospekt". Gorgeous, psychedelic instrumental explorations, even venturing into the realms of primitive techno electronics at points (Ektro-house?)... There's actually many moods to this record, some parts silly and some downright spooky. To get a sense of the album's range, please listen to all three soundclips. We are especially enamoured of the track "Gradient" with its baa-ing sheep (this must be heard to be believed!) and Pansonic-like pulsations, and equally in love with the following track of creepy drone-effects, more like an Organum piece. In fact, this disc at moments reminds us of everything from Goblin soundtracks (creepy keyboards) to Van Halen's "Jump" (well, that only briefly). Very highly recommended!!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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A one-off projekt from the mastermind of Circle (J. Lehtisalo) and his casio, whose factory jazz-rhythm presets are played far faster than they were intended, forming a tinny techno structure for theramin, guitar, sax, and other weird noises.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Loose "hypno-groove-prog-ambient- jazz" from Jussi Lehtisalo, leader of AQ favourites Circle. Jim emphasizes the jazz portion of that meta-genre description, in that the cyclical repetitions appear as spliced constructions of what could have been throw-away tracks from Squarepusher's attempts at aping '70s Miles Davis. But instead of sounding exactly like Miles Davis, Lehtisalo forces the sounds (which would prefer otherwise) into tight sequences of looping pulsations, resembling the clinical approach of sampling in techno.
Lazy hippie jazz jamming that noodles and percolates along. Ektroverde has always been the 'jazzy' cousin of AQ Finnish faves Circle, a side project consisting entirely or almost entirely of members of Circle, often operating in much the same mode of hypnotic repetition, but with definite jazzier leanings. Well, this new Ektroverde disc is jazzier, and funkier, than ever -- saxes, as well as synths, to the fore! You've gotta dig some jazz sax to get into this, which otherwise could be a spaced-out, effects-laden Acid Mothers Temple improv. There's also the question of the vocals, not formerly a significant element of Ektroverde's sound. The Can-like vocal mantras sometimes work, sometimes don't, while Mika Ratto's occasional cod-operatics can simply make this seem like a mellowed-out, jazzed-up version of recent Circle. At its best, like on the lengthy track three, this is darkly moody and mesmerizing, but at its worst it's indulgent and kinda cheesy. Maybe this is one of those "if it wasn't Circle (or close to) would I want one?" conundrums. I don't know the answer to that, but I did like it enough to buy one. And it does boast awesome photos of extreme Finnish weather phenomena, along with the URL for a Finnish storm-chasers website. Storm-chasing is maybe a good analogy for what Ektroverde are doing here, merely getting damp in a drizzle as the album opens, then eventually catching up to the big storm as the second half of the disc gets more stretched-out and heavy. Maybe there's a rainbow in it for you...
