[ aquarius records catalogue

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

Showing results 501 through 550 of 1521.

God DAMN! Lee Fields has SOUL, ladies and gentlemen, and just in case a couple decades of watered down, completely non-visceral R&B has made you forget exactly what that means, let this record remind you. He's got the funk and the pride like James Brown, the smooove moves like Isaac Hayes, and he's here to spread the love and the grooves straight from the gut. And it feels sooo good! Mr. Fields has been making funk records since the seventies, many of which are highly sought-after collectables. Respected in the funk community, he earned the nickname "Little J.B." for good reason, but he's definitely got his own thang going on -- plus, when was the last relevant record from the godfather of soul? Uh huh, exactly. Enter Lee, who has been making kick ass heavy funk records with the Soul Providers and Sugarman Three as well as recording under his own name for the excellent nuveau rare groove label Soul Fire (kin to Daptone in the recent funk 45 resurgence). This will set fire to your behind, make sweet love to you, then give you advice on how to keep your woman. OK, the last part may be ill advised, but when Lee Fields brings it on with such sincerity it's hard not to believe in him.

RealAudio clip: Problems

Grindcore.

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

SORRY. This is the third solo project from Brendan O'Hare of Mogwai, Teenage Fanclub, and the Telstar Ponies. Desperate space rock complete with drug-addled vocals, knob twiddling, and sparse guitar based structures.

Yeah, that hits the spot! The Fiery Furnaces' tea may be bitter but it sounds mighty good to these ears. While their last, occasionally laborious release (Rehearsing The Choir, a collaborative effort with their grandmother) tossed a few folks off their wagon of devotees, this album will surely win them back and then some! Oddly enough it was originally meant to be a companion to its predecessor, but it has an altogether different tone and energy. It's more like a contrasting counterpart. The brother and sister duo's strange stagey cabaret flair is in full bloom with lots of rambunctious mischief and intriguing instrumentation. Actually quite a few of the songs could easily be mistaken for something on the new Sparks album. Check out the second tune "I'm In No Mood". Is it just us or is Eleanor Friedlander's high delivery not a deadringer for Russell Mael's falsetto? They've spent some time at play in the studio, running the recordings of the vocals and instruments backwards, noodling with synthesizers and such. Mind you the former does get a little tedious after a while -- they use that trippy application quite generously -- particularly on the lengthy seventh track "The Vietnamese Telephone Ministry" which ends up seeming much longer than its 5:44 minutes. Nevertheless for those who love the pair's devil-may-care attitude and pilfering of styles from all time periods and places, this album will definitely not disappoint!

MPEG stream: I'm In No Mood
MPEG stream: I'm Waiting To Know You

NOW ON VINYL! Here's what we said when the cd was first released: Delving deeper into the strange and the eccentric and in the process carving out their own lil' musical niche, The Fiery Furnaces' impressive sophomore album Blueberryboat is like one heck of a wild carnival ride - like a tilt-a-whirl, funhouse and rollercoaster all rolled into one. At times Eleanor Friedberger's vocals seem more oddly affected in a Kate Bush sort of way laced with a mix of campy glam Rocky Horror Picture Show, old tyme cabaret, and sing-song nursery rhyme stylings. The music is heady, sometimes plodding, sometimes careening and often quite surprising, occasionally blending a thick squidgy electronic backdrop with their more familiar acoustic and electric guitar-based instrumentation. A wonderfully woozy listening adventure!

Another great release from this truly dynamic duo! Following two awesome albums comes this collection of b-sides and unreleased tracks. Now for most other bands the phrase "b-sides and unreleased tracks" usually means "cast-offs and not-good-enoughs", but for the 'Furnaces it means nothing of the sort. Their consistent high standard carries through all of their releases including this one. With their broad palette of instruments and ideas they fly in the face of current trends. They thoroughly enchant, puzzle, and rock, adding a novel 'talky' electric guitar line, some beautiful waterfall piano melodies, or some bubbly blurbly synthesizer whenever the occasion calls for it. They shuttle through and blend styles with carefree glee -- barreling in one direction with full momentum and then turning completely on a dime. Eleanor Friedberger has one of the most expressive devil-may-care voices around, delivering her vocals with a knowing nod and a sly wink. Her brother Michael is sure no slouch either. However perhaps the thing that sets them apart the most from a lot of bands these days is their lyrical content. Theirs is true 'story rock'. Each song unfurls a whimsical yarn or intriguing tale, but the subject matter is seldom fluffy, hell, it's frequently downright dark and twisted. Great stuff! Oh and please note that although it's titled "EP", it's not all that short... it actually has ten songs!

MPEG stream: Single Again
MPEG stream: Tropical-Iceland

NOW ON VINYL! Here's what we said when the cd was first released: Eleanor and Matthew Friedberger, the brother and sister duo known as The Fiery Furnaces have certainly drawn lots of comparisons to the plethora of other boy/girl, brother/sister duos of late (White Stripes, The Kills, The Raveonettes to name just a few), but hang on a sec! Don't dismiss them as a bluesy, garagey raw rock copycat pair. 'Though there's definitely waves of low slung slouchy blues, garage and rock flowin' through their veins, there's also plenty more goin' on here. While The Fiery Furnaces are definitely not silly, they are full of whimsy, wit and carefree spirit. Gallowsbird's Park begins at a frantic pace of descending xylophone and piano lines while snarky guitars and thumpin' drums elbow their way through the fray. Eleanor's delivery has a distinct saucy devil-may-care tone to it. She seems to be having a blast kicking out each verse and chorus with such sass. This album is a rambunctious freewheeling jumble, however that's not to say it's by any means messy. What it is is a darn good time! Recommended.

Here's the latest album from the always slightly bizarre brother and sister duo Fiery Furnaces. The opener contains their familiar frantic piano playing that often brings to mind visions of the chase scenes in old Tom & Jerry cartoons. From there things launch off into something that resembles a peculiar radio play. Whereas in the past the pair's eccentricities surfaced in their obtusely poetic lyrics and Eleanor Friedlander's vocal performances, here they materialize in the broader array of weird sounds and the prominent vocal presence of the mysterious Ms Olga Sarantos. Curious as we are, we did a little sleuthing to try to figure out what the heck Eleanor and Matthew were goin' on about! What we discovered was that Rehearsing The Choir is even more of a family affair that usual. It's a collaboration with their grandmother Sarantos! Loosely based around her stories of living in Chicago, it's a lively, peppery collection.

MPEG stream: The Garfield El
MPEG stream: Guns Under The Counter

For those of you that somehow have missed seeing a Fiery Furnaces show or for those of you wishing to relive the magic... The band has defied The Foghat Principle (as immortalized in Yo La Tengo's "Sugarcube" video which starred the fellas from Mr. Show... but we digress!) which proclaims that "your fourth album shall be DOUBLE LIVE!" Instead they held out a few albums longer, and made it their seventh. It's a good thing though, we think, because that means this hefty 51 track compilation features a bunch of songs from their most recent (and arguably their best) album Widow City. Psst, you might even recognize their touring bassist - Sebadoh's awesome Jason Loewenstein! Woo hoo! The band is as deliciously delirious, dark and strange in concert as they are on records, but with the added unpredictability of the live setting their songs of twisted folklore and fairytales seem to unravel at the seams and reweave into themselves and the adjoining tunes into something that's at once oddly familiar yet altogether different. The track names on the back of the digipak add to the disorientation - they're not the actual original song names, but a set of six equally perplexing chapter titles. A vast, wild 'n' wooly, suitably enigmatic listening experience.

MPEG stream: Chief Inspector Blancheflower (Live)
MPEG stream: The Wayward Granddaughter (Live)

Fiery Furnaces music is peculiar to say the least. Their sources of inspiration always run the gamut in style, era, mood and tempo. And yet, they're truly one of a kind, their sound immediately recognizable, their albums always wild'n'woolly surprise filled aural adventures. When listening to Widow City it's easy to imagine that Edward Gorey's Gashly Crumb Tinies, The Brothers Grimm, Mary Tourtel's Rupert Bear and Enid Blyton's Noddy commandeered a rickety time-travellin' spaceship and crashed it into a thatch of poison ivy in modern day New York City. With all of their music's mischievous, wheezing organ quirks and theatrical harp-glossed flair, the Friedbergers aren't afraid to exert a little muscle now and again, thrusting in a funked-up groove, a disjointed drumbeat or distorted guitar when the need arises. This trip is nothing short of gregarious, a little bit itchy, and delightfully enchanting. Recommended!

MPEG stream: Clear Signal From Cairo
MPEG stream: Japanese Slippers

Delving deeper into the strange and the eccentric and in the process carving out their own lil' musical niche, The Fiery Furnaces' impressive sophomore album Blueberryboat is like one heck of a wild carnival ride - like a tilt-a-whirl, funhouse and rollercoaster all rolled into one. At times Eleanor Friedberger's vocals seem more oddly affected in a Kate Bush sort of way laced with a mix of campy glam Rocky Horror Picture Show, old tyme cabaret, and sing-song nursery rhyme stylings. The music is heady, sometimes plodding, sometimes careening and often quite surprising, occasionally blending a thick squidgy electronic backdrop with their more familiar acoustic and electric guitar-based instrumentation. A wonderfully woozy listening adventure!

MPEG stream: Straight Street
MPEG stream: Chris Michaels

Eleanor and Michael Friedberger, the brother and sister duo known as The Fiery Furnaces have certainly drawn lots of comparisons to the plethora of other boy/girl, brother/sister duos of late (White Stripes, The Kills, The Raveonettes to name just a few), but hang on a sec! Don't dismiss them as a bluesy, garagey raw rock copycat pair. 'Though there's definitely waves of low slung slouchy blues, garage and rock flowin' through their veins, there's also plenty more goin' on here. While The Fiery Furnaces are definitely not silly, they are full of whimsy, wit and carefree spirit. Gallowsbird's Park begins at a frantic pace of descending xylophone and piano lines while snarky guitars and thumpin' drums elbow their way through the fray. Eleanor's delivery has a distinct saucy devil-may-care tone to it. She seems to be having a blast kicking out each verse and chorus with such sass. This album is a rambunctious freewheeling jumble, however that's not to say it's by any means messy. What it is is a darn good time! Recommended.

MPEG stream: South Is Only A Home
MPEG stream: Don't Dance Her Down

Eleanor and Matthew Friedlander are back with their eighth full length, and they've got Sebadude Jason Lowenstein on board, both engineering and playing bass on the album. For some reason the band and/or the label chose to use a somewhat unfortunate point of reference in their press release which has cast a distracting pall across our listening experience. Normally the whimsically strange and elliptical music of Fiery Furnaces exist in a realm all its own, free from current trends and pop culture references. The irksome comment was an obtuse mention of the TV show Taxi and the movie Titanic. We quote "All rock music is a sort of dramatic music. And since the times are tough, it makes sense to have that "drama" be something more like a version of Taxi than something like a version of Titanic. We like Taxi better than Titanic anyway. So we hope that some of the songs on this record can be used as theme songs to folks' own personal versions of Taxi." WTF?! Well, at least it's been successful in getting us to talk about the release a few moment longer, although not necessarily about what is most important, the music itself! So how is this new FF anyways? Well, although it comes tearing out of the gate all rapid fire, a lot of the songs seem remarkably tame in delivery! For instance on "The End Is Near" Ms Eleanor verges on '70s Helen Reddy "Delta Dawn" territory. While there are fleeting moments of the delirious abandon that's been their trademark for years, many times it seems like they were reaching for unbridled soulfulness, but ended up sounding over-arching and awkwardly white. For a duo whose songs can take impossibly loop-de-loopy acrobatic flips or clever twists and still land 'em on their feet, this album occasionally suffers from two left feet. Don't want to totally heave-ho though. We all know FF albums are an acquired taste, but perhaps this one is a bit more so? Give 'er a listen and see what your taste buds tell you!

MPEG stream: Drive To Dallas
MPEG stream: Cups And Punches

Possibly also subtitled "We'll Put It Out If The Boss Insists", which makes sense since the Fifth Column was the pre-Hijokaidan band of Alchemy chief Jojo Hiroshige (he wasn't the main member, just a participant). The Fifth Column (or Dai-Go-Retsu in

RealAudio clip: By-Onnyk Solo
RealAudio clip: Here's A Camel
RealAudio clip: A Picnic At The Bottom Of A Frozen River

We know you've been waiting for this: the sequel to the Early Fifth Column cd, which was a collection issued back in 2001 on the Alchemy label (run by former Fifth Columnist Jojo Hiroshige) documenting the career of this extremely underground Japanese avant-garde collective circa 1976 to 1980. Now, The Middle Fifth Column is here to deal with the years 1981-1990, and anyone familiar with the intriguing weirdness found on the previous disc will find this to be just as weird and interesting if not more so! Fifteen tracks of noisy experiments, freaked out jazz improv, synth boppiness, disturbing tape loops, bizarre vocals, drum machines and electronics... it's eclectic strange DIY madness that takes a definite inspiration from Faust (note the "It's A Rainy Day Sunshine Girl" quote in track two) and assuredly also other NWW-list worthy outfits. This comes with extensive, English-language (as well as Japanese) liner notes that give details on each track, from interviews with the band members (there was a core group that formed various "bands" who released tapes -- about 50 of them -- in the Fifth Column cassette series). About "It's A Rainy Day" they say: "There are times in life that, whatever you play, it turns into that song, and this was one such occasion." Very cool. Whatever the weirdest stuff you have in your record collection is, this disc will no doubt make friends with it!! [sorry, this disc didn't agree with our sound sample making software, so no clips to click...]

Back in 1995 Aquarius Records organized an all-day show benefitting us (and the IRS); performers included a short list of some of our favorite artists, such as Dirty Three, Barbara Manning, Mark Eitzel, Dieselhed, Virginia Dare, and J Church. One of the most highly-anticipated sets was the reunion of experimental psychedelic freaks The Fifty Foot Hose, led by original member (and current neon sculptor) Cork Marcheschi and featuring bass playing by Lennie Bova of Tripod Jimmie, plus a host of other likeminded folk. While Cork has issued the original Fifty Foot Hose album on his own Weasel Disc label (available here), this is a document of their fabulous live set from the Bottom of the Hill, and includes a 10+ minute encore jam that left some folks melting in their shoes and others' ears changed forever. Japanese import. Photos by Gail Butensky.

Wow, it's hard to believe we've never reviewed this album before because Fifty Foot Hose have always had a special place in our hearts. One of our favorite underground San Francisco bands from the original psychedelic era, we were very lucky to have them play at our 25th anniversary party when they revived a few years back, in the mid '90s. Led by bass player Cork Marcheschi, a noted sculptor and instrument builder, who, inspired by experimental composers John Cage, Edgar Varese, Terry Riley and George Antheil, began modifying his own form of electronic instruments using elements from theremins, fuzzboxes, cardboard tubes and a speaker from an old WWII bomber. Filling out the band were guitarist David Blossom and his wife Nancy on vocals who helped bring out the bands more jazz and psychedelic influences. Like a witchier United States of America (the band) with a more lysergic bent, Cauldron, the band's best known 1968 release goes through an array of styles from oscillating drone interludes, and folk-funk, to anxious mind-melting freakouts. This album has gone in and out of print so many times that it's no wonder we haven't been able to keep it around long enough to review it. A longtime favorite. Limited to 1000 copies. The lp is also quite limited (probably even moreso). Don't miss it.

MPEG stream: If Not This Time
MPEG stream: Rose
MPEG stream: Cauldron

Single featuring 2 classic tracks from this cult San Francisco '60s experimental psych rock outfit.

If Simple Machines were still around, Fighter D would be there.

It's always nice for us here to check out something that we got out of the blue, just sent to us, or dropped off, with no expectations, and then really really dig it. Dig it enough that we feel like if we didn't already have it, we'd have to go out and buy one. In fact many all thime AQ faves were discovered in just such a manner. And that's also the case with this Figure Of Merit cd. It's something that we'd never heard of before we got a copy in the mail (and the packaging didn't offer to many clues as to what to expect, either). What to make of song titles like "Arrow To The Sun" and "Blackhammer"? Could be metal, maybe. But then there's the not-so-scary title "Overhead Projector" as well. Though we did know it had to be some sort of metal 'cause of the record label it came from. So, it was up to the music to "do the talking" (as it should be). And Figure Of Merit's music turned out to be right up our alley. Heavy duty hardcore ugly rock noisy metal. Kinda like Cavity or Eyehategod with all their feedback intros, weighty riffage and churning, compelling rhythms. FoM's angsty, screamier vox put us in mind of something like the Jesus Lizard though, or maybe the Dazzling Killmen meets Unsane would be a better point of reference. But what especially makes Figure Of Merit a band of merit in our books is the exuberant, metallic majesty that many of their riffs possess. It's truly noble headbanging material, welded to the dirtiest of dirge-core extremes. So, Vatic from this Minneapolis four piece gets an AQ recommendation without doubt.

MPEG stream: Aorta
MPEG stream: Blackhammer

This is the second full length release by this amazing trio which features a member of Dntel. Some of the sweetest electronic dance melodies are found right here on 'The Heartfelt'. Imagine the Pastels, Aphex Twin, New Order and Future Bible Heroes (the

RealAudio clip: Impossible
RealAudio clip: Stranger
RealAudio clip: Way Too Good

While many techno-pop / electro-clash folks have recently shed many of the trappings of that deliriously champagne-bubbly dancefloor sound in favor of other directions (more rock in the case of Fischerspooner for instance), not so with James Figurine. Yes, he's of the band Figurine and yes, he's also known as Jimmy Tamborello of DNTEL and one half of Postal Service. Why mess with what he does best in all of his projects? He soldiers on with his new album titled Mistake Mistake Mistake Mistake. Funny thing tho' is that we can't hear any. So maybe the title was intended as a conjuring away of such maladies? Dunno, but what ya get is ten sparkling sweet electronic pop confections that fall dead center between Postal Service and Fischerspooner (think: more heft than PS and more twee than FS). Guest stars include Jenny Lewis and Kings Of Convenience's Erlend Oye.

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MPEG stream: You Again

Not to be confused with the electronic pop band known as Figurine (singular). Figurines make punchy pop that's sort of like a cross between The Arcade Fire, The Pixies and Violent Femmes... or alternately as someone here described, "Daniel Johnston singing with Pavement". The first three songs' get the ball rolling at quite a feverish pace. After that, things ease up a little into more of a gentle lope which we think is kinda disappointing after that juiced-up introduction. It just made us keep hoping they'd get a second wind. That's not to say the slower numbers are at all inferior, it just takes a little time to adjust to this very different tempo. So maybe you could break your Figurines' Skeleton listening session in two, depending on your personal preference, mood and energy level?

MPEG stream: The Wonder
MPEG stream: Silver Ponds

Expensive import disc that we brought in because we're unsure whether or not it's going to be released domestically. Kind of like Studio k7's DJ Kicks series of DJ mixes, it's not Fila Brazillia at all here, but them spinning a collection of their favorite

Perhaps also titled: "The Oscillating 'Will' And The Flickering 'Self'", this is the first live album from the duo of Japanese turntable experimentalist Otomo Yoshihide and sampler technician Sachiko M. Filament was formed, we're told, "as a persistent "People listening to this CD for the first time may have trouble accepting the fact that this was a live performance before a large audience, so powerfully stoic is Filament's music. To the constant sound of subtly strengthening and weakening sine waves are added the intermittent miniscule sound of circuitry, and a dull mechanical hum (too soft for us to recognize its origin). From beginning to end hardly anything happens here, but at the same time an amazing number of events occur. If one were to give a name to this 'onkyo' of just under 30 minutes, the words composition, improvisation, and performance would probably all be too extreme. But all of these are included in this quiet phenomenon. When producing sound, even if one reduces as much as possible what is called 'self-consciousness', one can never completely eliminate it. This is because the 'I' that produces, decides to produce, and thinks about producing sound the 'I' that listens to, decides to listen to, and thinks about listening to sounds are always there. The minimal 'I' performing minimal 'listening' and 'sound production,' possessing a minimal 'will'...." Ok, lost me there. Still, I think you'll know if you want this!

Film School's latest offering comes in the form of a 2-song 7" record. The A-side "Harmed" is a sneak preview of their forthcoming full length, and the B-side "The Longest Way" is exclusive to this release. They're a pair of very somber indie rock songs with male vocals that sound as if they're being sung by the sullen little brother of Pinback's Rob Crow... which suits us just fine!

Film School will probably never win any awards for originality, but if you're looking for this very specific sound of Brit rock, this Bay Area band delivers it in spades. Exceptionally so! For almost a decade now, they've honed their authentic blended rendition of Echo & The Bunnymen, The Cure and Slowdive from right here in the Bay Area. Their latest album Hideout keeps that sound alive while also recalling the early '90s American guitar wash kings Swervedriver. Buzzy blankets of effected electric guitars warm and tingle, while Krayg Burton's vocals waver in the zone between sleepy and druggy. Strangely comforting. Film School's line-up has always been somewhat nebulous and ever-changing, at times including members of Pavement, Fuck and Elephone. So it's not surprising that with the exception of Burton and keyboardist Jason Ruck, there's a whole new band for this album. Bassist Lorelei Plotczyk, drummer James Smith and guitarist Dave Dupuis step into the roles vacated by bassist Justin Labo, drummer Donny Newenhouse and guitarist Nyles Lannon (be sure to check out his terrific current solo album!).

MPEG stream: Dear Me
MPEG stream: Sick Hipster Nursed By Suicide Girl

Here's a hint of what's to come in Film School land! These New Yorkers found a new label home at Beggars Banquet and have a new full length slated for January of next year. From the very '80s British influenced sounds of these new songs, it's gonna be a perfect fit. We've gotta say that it's probably unlikely that Robert Smith is gonna be retiring as lead vocalist of The Cure any time soon, but if he did (or even if he called in sick or wanted to play hooky one day), Film School's lead singer Krayg Burton could step right in at the wink of an eye. Oddly enough the last time we heard from these guys was their Harmed 7" earlier this year, and back then his vocals were more along the lines of Pinback's Rob Crow. Anyhoo, On & On blends a romantic vocal angst (a la mid-period Cure) with fuzzy, swirling shoegazer guitars like those of Slowdive, Ride or The Church. Note: the cd version features one additional tune "February".

MPEG stream: On & On
MPEG stream: Plus One

For Film School's full length debut on Beggars Banquet, they've skillfully pieced together the well-worn pages of your beloved '80s British alternative rock scrapbook. We definitely hear echoes of The Cure, The Church and yes, Echo And The Bunnymen from lead singer Krayg Burton's unmistakable Robert Smithian, on-the-verge emotiveness to the distinct effected guitar sound. Lushly swirling shoegazer dreaminess that occasionally lingers on an unexpectedly atmospheric passage. What Film School lack in originality they more than make up in execution on this self-titled album. They could almost revive the dour yet romantic boy rock style all by their lonesome... well, with the assistance of one of the most appropriate labels around. Includes "On & On", one of the band's best songs to date, and the title track of the teaser ep that came out late last year.

MPEG stream: Harmed
MPEG stream: Like You Know

We're huge fans of the Dais label, from the haunting industrial psychedelia of aTelecine, to the bloodletting gothpunk of Bestial Mouths, from the primitive American black metal of Lord Foul, to the experimental vocal rituals of Ghedalia Tazartes, and from the gothic neofolk of King Dude to the punishing noise rock of Twin Stumps, so we were expecting something similarly brutal / twisted / pummeling / heavy / fucked up from the strangely named Italian Horn. But what we definitely weren't expecting was Guided By Voices style lo-fi pop, but that's precisely what Italian Horn are all about, and really the cover art collage by none other than Robert Pollard should have been our first clue, but for whatever we were expecting, we have to say we're not at all disappointed, the Guided By Voices influence is indeed HUGE, but Italian Horn, definitely has a knack for short sharp blasts of woozy, softly psychedelic pop, opener "Bells Of Spring" unfurls warbly guitars, plenty of ooooh's and aaaah's, drapes them over a buried skeletal rhythm, and then croons over the top through and old distortion box, the result is wreathed in fuzz and hum and echo and delay, and let loose, where it hovers and drifts dreamily, a warm, sun dappled bit of fractured pop magic. Which is pretty much how the rest of the record unfolds, from the murky indie pop of "Comfortable Planes", with its caffeinated rhythm, and droned out distorted guitars, buried vox and keening melodies, or "Cambridge Factory", which melds a very Pollard-esque vocal line to some fuzz guitar and simple stumbling drumming, and then again wraps the whole thing in a dreamy druggy haze. However, besides having the best title of the bunch, "Witchcraft Recharge Center" might be our favorite song, with its weirdly distorted urgently strummed acoustic guitars, its buzzing squelchy streaks of sound, its keening vocal, and the weirdly super catchy bridge/chorus, all again buried beneath layer upon layer of grit and grime, which in no way disguises the pop dreaminess underneath. LIMITED TO 300 COPIES!! Each one hand numbered.

MPEG stream: Bells Of Spring
MPEG stream: Cambridge Factory
MPEG stream: Witchcraft Recharge Center

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

SORRY. Forbidding ambient-drone project from Godflesh's Justin Broadrick. British import.

As much as we always loved Godflesh and Techno Animal and most everything else Justin Broadrick was involved in, by the end there, a few years back, a lot of that stuff began to sound just a little bit tired and dated and sometimes even just plain not good. But now! Holy shit! Not sure what it was, but -something- happened during those few years in between. First there was Jesu, a total revelation, everything we loved about Godflesh, but swathed in thick swirls of My Bloody Valentine guitars and warm fuzzy M83-isms. A gloriously blissed out, but still impossibly heavy, sunkissed drone drenched chunk of dreamlike heaviness. And now we have the long overdue resurrection of Broadrick's ambient project Final. And something strange has happened to the music of Final as well. What was once bleak, dark, barren and clinical isolationism, has grown into something warm and alive, a series of blurry and buzzy and blissy miniature soundscapes. Warm and warped and warbly, very much like the sonic worlds created by Tim Hecker. Final now explore a musical world gauzy and sepia toned, dreamlike melodies obfuscated by warm rich layers of crackle and hum, chimes ring out, drifting delicately on a sea of sonic swirl, bits of glitch and grit surface occasionally, as does the occasional almost-rhythms, the whole record like a dusty old scrapbook of small faded snaphots capturing some lost time or some forgotten place. An abstruse drone music, viewed through a window dense with rain coursing down it's surface, giving everything a soft focus, a warped otherworldliness. The mood can occasionally still be ominous and creepy, even sort of menacing at times, but even then, it's diffused, washed out and grey, or blown out and dappled with winter sunlight, or smeared into an indistinct blur of pale moonlight, dreamy and droney and so beautiful.

MPEG stream: The Light Orchestra
MPEG stream: Seasick
MPEG stream: Negative Youth

Brand new full length album from Justin Broadrick's (Jesu, Godflesh, etc.) Final project, which in the past was a sort of solo guitar thing, or so we thought. On Afar, the eight numbered tracks are arrangements of processed loops, with nary a guitar in site. Which becomes harder to believe the further we get into the record. The sound here is dark and mesmerizing, each track a slow cycling soundscape, rife with shifting textures and pulsing almost-rhythms, the sounds super varied, but all woven together into one cohesive songsuite. Fans of Tim Hecker and Philip Jeck will dig bigtime, as well as guitar drone aficionados into stuff like Fear Falls Burning. Layers of crunch and buzz are locked into swelling, swaying hypnotic rhythms, the textures and timbre shifting gradually, the looped aspect not always immediately noticeable. Deep rumbles beneath softly processed whirs are woven into stretches of haunting cinematic shimmer, fading into swooping backwards melodies peppered with bits of glitch and crackle. Elsewhere slow burning 'guitar' sounds buzz explosively into epic and majestic sheets of buzzing woozy blur, before being scattered by dense tangles of reverberating metallic hum and rumbling low end way off in the distance. A few tracks definitely dip into Jeck territory with stuttery looped vocals and clipped samples and muted skitter, before finishing off with a hushed bit of whispery murmur. LIMITED TO 500 COPIES. We get these direct from Broadrick's Avalanche label in the UK, so when we run out it might take a couple weeks to get more, assuming there are still some left. Nice thick picture disc in a thick PVC plastic sleeve.

MPEG stream: Heart Ache
MPEG stream: Ruined

It's been ages since we've heard from Justin Broadrick as Final, his solo ambient project. Most of the last few years has been spent crafting blissed out shoegazey metalscapes with his outfit Jesu. Maybe you've heard of them. But before Jesu began, Broadrick spent his downtime away from Godflesh creating a series of fantastic solo records, overflowing with brooding dark ambience, creepy guitar based drones, and murky abstract minimalism. It's been almost three years since the last Final record, a double cd on Neurot, and even though, since then, Broadrick has been heading in a way poppier direction with Jesu, this Final might be the heaviest and harshest yet. Opener "Slow Air" sets the stage with an impossible heavy crush of super distorted bass rumbles below a tangle of high end skree and feedback. The whole track grinds and churns, peppered with bent guitar melodies, and mechanical percussion, building to a truly cacophonous finale. "Caved" follows suit with a corrosive slab of digital noise, that gets wound up into a wall of static airplane-taking-off rooooaaaar, of course laced with all sorts of glitch and buzz and shimmer. track three, "Fearless Systems" is the first track to offer up any serious melody, and in doing so can't seem to help but to reference Jesu, sort of shimmery and washed out, a gauzy drift under grinding machinery and damaged tape buzz and hiss finishing off in a soft cloud of glimmering high end. The disc changes gears quite a bit after that, offering up some lurching looped grooves, some proto-industrial crunch, some whispered dark ambience smeared with distorted dubstep bass and distant wailing siren like tones, gorgeous slowcore crawls, peppered with shards of crash and clang, glistening digital drones shrouded in damaged space-y FX, buzzing almost minimal almost black metal that gives way to deep listening new age drift, finally finishing off with the track 'Dead Air", a warm blurred stretch of disembodied soft focus tones, muted buzz, lilting distorted melodies, all deftly woven into a haunting gauzy coda. So nice.

MPEG stream: Slow Air
MPEG stream: Caved
MPEG stream: Fearless Sytems

A brand new record from Mr. Justin Broadrick, formerly of Godflesh, presently of Jesu, as well the sole member of this, his long running project Final. Originally an experimental solo guitar project, and actually maybe STILL an experimental solo guitar project, Final has definitely changed over the years, lately sharing more in common with Jesu than anything, the same sort of blissy drift, washed out drone drenched shimmer, but in Final, those elements are blurred into something more ambient and less propulsive, more soundscape-y and less post metal. Four long tracks, each slow building and slow burning, the first all soft ethereal melodies over a grinding crunching minimal drone, those two elements all tangled up, with the melodies eventually blossoming into epic atonal harmonies, sheets of sound like a symphony of car horns, smoothed into something much more listenable but no less clamorous and chaotic, definitely reminds us of Sunroof! near the end. The second track starts out all SUNN-y, a crumbling distorted downtuned dirge, although within that dirge lurks some surprising melody, and this track too builds to a blissed out high end shimmer, overlapping tones, washes of synthy warmth, bits of buzz and glitch, lovely, but still softly abrasive. The flipside begins with some sort of abstract doom, thick, jagged chords, ringing out, and allowed to nearly fade out completely, before the next one comes crashing down, lots and lots of space, in the background a strangely active swirl of skree, streaks of feedback, shards of feedback, sine waves and upper register whir, roiling and churning beneath the lumbering riffage. And finally, the record finishes off with something altogether different. Something pretty and strummy and yes, shoegaze-y, but weirdly looped and hypnotic sounding, as if they took a chunk from a Jesu track, a pretty undistorted bit, then doused it in effects and set it on repeat, allowing it to slowly shift, but to lock into a mantra like loop, so gorgeous, could have used a whole 'nother side of this stuff for sure. VINYL ONLY (At least for now, cd coming someday)! LIMITED TO 1500 COPIES!!!

We're surprised it took this long for these two avant guitarists to join forces, Final, aka Justin Broadrick, aka the man behind Godflesh, Jesu, Grey Machine, Techno Animal etc, and Fear Falls Burning, aka Dirk Serries. In some ways both have a similar approach to the guitar, both able to sculpt sprawling expanses of layered drone music, transforming six strings into something much more, a sound generator capable of conjuring heaving, roiling dronescapes as well as hushed ambient drifts. The opening track seems more influenced by later period Broadrick, as it sounds a lot like a washed out, minimalized Jesu track, a slow, warm, lugubrious riff, looped over and over, poppy and melodic, but slowed down enough that it becomes trancelike, with Serries (we assume) adding a sky full of tangled and layered high end contrails, adding a dark tension, and a mysterious beauty to the melancholic main riff, the whole thing wreathed in a gauzy dreamlike production. The second track is more static, less riff based, and more wide open, a blackened landscape of rumbling low end string buzz, and singing high end skree, the skree muted so instead of being piercing, it's more smoldering, a glowing buzz, that pulses and throbs, the guitars constantly shifting, the layers overlapping and intertwining, gorgeous but still tense and dramatic, easily could have been extended to fill up a whole record and we definitely would not have complained. The flipside begins with a smokey bit of folk flecked darkness, that definitely reminds us of groups like Earth or Barn Owl, a tiny bit of twang, a subtle choral vibe, warm and washed out, melancholy and minor key, the guitar unfurling skeletal melodies that blossom lazily, and then seem to fade into the background, just in time for more to take their place, a subtly active twangscape of muted buzz and almost country sounding drones, again, drifting ghostlike through a sepia toned haze. The record closes with a gorgeous, thick bit of dronemusic, the background a sitar like buzz gives the track a definite raga like vibe, while in the foreground, another guitar moans, unleashing warped low end melodic tangles, delivered in slow motion, mimicking the sound of a horn almost, a muted bleat, but pulled into strange alien melodies, mirrored by the ever shifting, and highly melodic background buzz. This one definitely could have been stretched out forever, absolutely mesmerizing, the sort of drone you never ever want to end. Gorgeous packaging, a black on black sleeve, with a very subtle die cut, revealing yet more black from the sleeve within. LIMITED TO 500 COPIES.

The latest blast of sonic weirdness/radness from our pals at the Sleeping Giant Glossolalia comes courtesy of a band called Final Boss, and to be honest, with that name, and the black eyed visage on the cover, we were expecting some sort of cock rocking, big riffing heaviness, but were pleased to discover it was something else entirely, a twisted bit of home brewed industrial electronica, or beat driven murk, or who knows what exactly, we just know that we dig it. They call it 'bunkerbeat' (not be confused with bvnkvrfvnk) and it does truly sound like it was recorded in a bunker, the sound is in constant flux, tape drop outs, the sound peaking, and grinding into the red, in some ways it's what we imagine it might sound like if Faxed Head made a techno record, and you know that is high praise indeed. The tracks are blurry smears of muddy thrum, squelchy static, muted motorik mumbles, the beats not so much beats as little bursts of sculpted hiss, while melodies moan and melt, the sound itself devolves into something more like the feral cries of a sentient machine, trying desperately to communicate, its staticky transmissions gloriously garbled, a series of tranced out anti-grooves and crumbling, blackened creeps. It's a beautiful, and baffling barrage of DIY electro-noise minimalism and WTF negative beat science.

MPEG stream: Dance Floor Justice
MPEG stream: Break North

Final Cop was a new name to us, but the fact that one half of Final Cop is also half of weirdo aQ faves German Army, definitely had us intrigued. And for everything lowercase and minimal about GeAr, Final Cop takes those same elements and jacks them up into a corrosive, abrasive onslaught that's much more pigfuck punk and distorto noise rock. But the core sounds are similar: sinewy basslines, lurching, lumbering rhythms, but here they're augmented by crunchy, caustic guitars and bellowed megaphone vocals, the vibe is more vintage Homestead or Touch And Go records than whatever weird world German Army generally occupy. To mention a few tracks: "Beast" is indeed a beast, sounding like the bastard child of Big Black and Bastro, if a bit more industrialized, while "Crippler Outcast", is a gloriously noisy, chaotic goth rock dirge, and "Bison" is a weirdo 8-bit industrial doom, and on it goes - over the course of Castaway Lakota, Final Cop deliver a constant barrage of noisy downer heaviness, rhythmic blackened punk, and throwback industrial bombast, all tangled up into something fucked up and seriously, dementedly genius!

MPEG stream: Great Unlearning
MPEG stream: Crippler Outcast
MPEG stream: Bison

First of all -- remember what we hope your mom told you about judging a book by its cover or a record by its title. No doubt about it, this boasts a pretty terrible title... so much so that we were tempted to not even order any. But, ok we got that out of the way now, so on to the music...which is not terrible at all... in fact it's amazingly super good! We've been hearing bits and pieces from this young Canadian, Owen Pallett over the last couple years. His violin work with The Arcade Fire, touring duty with The Hidden Cameras, interesting live covers of Joanna Newsom songs, articles praising him in the NY Times. His debut album was pretty hard to come by so it's been this, his sophomore release that will be most people's introduction to his complex and grandiose approach to pop song writing. Like a more angsty Sufjan Stevens he arranges smart pop songs with multi-instruments and lots of peaks and valleys. Final Fantasy displays a bare emotional honesty that recalls Xiu Xiu and label mates Casiotone For The Painfully Alone, a dramatic flare that rivals Rufus Wainwright, a melancholy side similar to Stephin Merrit and a complex approach to song structure that would make Van Dyke Parks proud. If any of those aforementioned names get your attention then for sure this is a new kid on that smart emotional epic pop rock block that you're gonna want to get to know. Just stand back in case he does indeed poo clouds...

MPEG stream: Song Song Song
MPEG stream: The Arctic Circle
MPEG stream: Many Lives -> 49mp

Owen Pallett (aka Final Fantasy) has a musical resume that's pretty mind-blowing. Besides several of his own albums he's also provided strings and arrangements for an incredible and varied list of bands including: Beirut, The Hidden Cameras, The Pet Shop Boys, Arctic Monkeys, Immaculate Machine, Grizzly Bear, Fucked Up, Holy Fuck, Stars, The Mountain Goats and Mika. Among others! It's no wonder everyone wants Pallett to play on their records as he's really one of the most sophisticated arrangers and string players of the modern pop world. Someone who is able to bring such rich depth and warmth to the songs he works on. So busy collaborating and guesting on other people's records its been almost four years since he's released a full length of his own, and while he has offered up a few ep's since then, the release of Heartland really marks a defining moment in his own musical output. By far his most assured, ambitious and cohesive album yet. Heartland is fully realized nuanced orchestral pop. You can hear the influence of 20th century composers, film scores, Arthur Russell, and even David Sylvian. This is what a darker and more brooding Hidden Cameras would sound like, or Sufjan Stevens arranged by Nico Muhly. With the success and acclaim that Grizzly Bear received last year for their great album Veckatimest we hope and think that Pallett has created an album worthy of those same accolades. Wonderful!

MPEG stream: Midnight Directives
MPEG stream: Lewis Takes Action
MPEG stream: What Do You Think Will Happen Now?

Leave it to the Numero Group to dig up a soundtrack so lost that the film it accompanies was never even made. Cut back to 1975, when the blaxploitation film era was at its peak before its downhill slide from socially uplifting noirs to clowning ninja-pimp buffoonery, and you have the seeds of a film in the making. A former gangster turned preacher who robs the robbers and gives to the poor. Brotherman! But first, before casting, before even finishing the script, what's needed is a Grade A soundtrack. Cue guitarist, songwriter and arranger Carl Wolfolk and his fledgling Chicago-based vocal group, The Final Solution. Dipping into the SuperFly well, but with enough uniquely inventive guitar work that allows it to stand apart firmly on its own, Wolfolk created an amazing score of songs and instrumentals that still sounds remarkably fresh and non-cliched. Using flamenco style funk guitar flourishes that stab around the four part harmonies, Wolfolk interjected socially smart song-writing with sweet Northern soul nuances. Unfortunately, the plug was pulled on the film before even a still was shot, leaving Wolfolk to carry around his masterwork for more than 30 years, hoping someday the music would be released. Well, Brotherman, your time has come!

MPEG stream: Brotherman
MPEG stream: I'm Ready For Love
MPEG stream: No Place To Run

MPEG stream: Out Of Sight Out Of Mind
MPEG stream: Rain Of Death

Now on vinyl! Here's what we said about the cd version back in 2005: A no-frills and super down to earth debut. As the title states this is a half dozen tunes (plus one extra titled "Come Sit Beside Me" on the LP!) from Bay Area folksy folks The Finches. The duo of Ms Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs and Aaron Morgan share the singin' and guitar playin' duties, and Morgan also handles the bass playin' too. Each of their songs is thoughtful, well-crafted and slightly rough around the edges much like Carolyn's lovely lino-cut cover art. Achingly intimate and pretty, and quite along the lines of folk-pop songstresses such as Cat Power or Julie Doiron. Nice!

[ aquarius records catalogue — F ]