Originally released way back in 1994, and reissued again a few years back, Gate's The Dew Line always seemed to disappear before we could get enough copies to list. Which was a shame as it still ranks as one of our favorite discs. A mesmerizing noise-pop-drone jem from the Dead C's Michael Morley, an improbable mix of NZ noise whir and skree, minimal drifting drone and lilting indie pop. Think the Dead C at their very poppiest, crossed with Sentridoh at its most minimal and raw�
Gate's Golden record was one of our favorite 'noise' records ever, and we do hear a lot of that Golden noise in this chunk of damaged deconstructed pop. Long drawn out expanses of crumbling guitars, buried-in-the-mix sad boy vocals, all very raw and lo-fi, but strangely lush and heavy in that way only blownout bedroom recordings seem to sound. It's a little like Lou Barlow if he was raised on Throbbing Gristle and Suicide instead of indie rock. Guitar jangles transformed into thick sprawling atonal riffage, verse chorus verse transformed into verse verse verse, and the vocals adding a strange sweet sadness.
Dense clouds of electronic glitch and amp buzz, the riffs more textural than melodic, long stretches of shirring lo-fi organ, mournful and almost funereal, strange haunting minimal percussion, drifting alien FX, disembodied guitars unfurling crunchy textures and barely there melodies. Much of the tracks are vocal-less haunting guitarscapes, riffs and layers, looped and repetitive, extended into grinding washed out mantras. Cyclical and gorgeously hypnotic. Which makes the tracks with vocals sound all the more poppy. Especially "Have Not", which is essentially a single, super catchy, languid distorted guitar riff, looped and cyclical, minor key, sounding a bit like a slowed down drum-less Rein Sanction, with drawled Neil Young / Dinosaur Jr. style double tracked vocals, laid back, emotive, and hauntingly monotone. Nearly 13 minutes long, a single riff, a subtly changing vocal line, but it's just so mysterious, sad and perfect, the whole record could easily have been a 70 minute version of this track only and we would have been just as happy...
But then we would have missed out on the melancholy minimalism of "Needed All Words", a lonely vocal line, drifting above a glacial sea of organ drone and fractured effects, or the looped stuttering industrial buzzscape of the title track, or the divine washed out crumbling grind of "Triphammer", the final song, which manages to turn 3 minutes of abstract distorted riffage, into a chunk of dark moodiness.
Way recommended. This disc is old enough that for many of you, we're probably already preaching to the converted, but if you missed out on this, here's one more chance to sink deep into Morley's mysterious musical miserablism.
And be warned, while we finally managed to get a bunch of these, it took forever, so if or when we do run out, please be prepared to be patient, since it could take a while to get more.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Mistakenly labelled Gate's 'techno record' by an unnamed party, this is Dead C guitarist Michael Morley's first computer generated album. While most computer programmers are trapped within the crystal purity of digital sounds, Morley's penchant for a fidelity below the standards of lo-fi has saved his 'techno record' from sounding like one. Lazy looping soundtracks for dirgy guitars and sloppy synths. Only about 1/2 of it has got 'beats', and they are pleasant.
Michael Morley of NZ's Dead C's newest solo, in a similar style. Ends with a fine noisy cover of "Jennifer" from Faust IV.
Another record we've been trying to list for a while but we were never able to get enough... until now. This is the newest record from the Dead C's Michael Morley, and while it was only released recently on his own Precious Metal label, it was actually recorded back in 1997. Morley's Gate obviously shares many similarities to his full time 'rock' combo, but Gate is less about deconstructing rock and fee improvisation and more about skewed pop songs, dismantled and buried in murk and scree. Clattery percussion, buzzing guitars, squealing feeback, all form a tangly prickly web of noise for Morley to sing over, in his ultra-distorted mumble. Quite reminiscent of local boys Iran actually, with gorgeous melodies, hidden and tangled up in sheets of barbed wire guitar and throbbing, lo-fi percussive splatter. Think Ira from Yo La Tengo or Lou from Sebadoh fronting Harry Pussy or (duh) the Dead C. Easily the best Gate record since their 'pop' masterpiece 'The Dew Line' or their gorgeous noise record 'Golden' from a few years back.
Michael Morley, Zeena Parkins, Lee Ranaldo. Live in Boston. Features Poon Village's always-breathtaking packaging.
Killer split from two aQ faves. Gate is Michael Morley of NZ noise rockers the Dead C, and his side here sounds like it could have been plucked right off his classic The Dew Line record, a creepy, lurching noise rock dirge, all billowing clouds of distorted guitar, and a lumbering motorik rhythm, all wrapped around plaintive, softly effected sad boy vox, everything gorgeously crumbling and decaying, hissy, washed out, mournful and melancholic. Tom Carter (of Charalambides) counters with a beautiful bit of gristled, glitchy raga-drone guitarscapery, if that even is a guitar. It actually sounds more like electronic bagpipes, an alien bleating that gets stretched into a heady hypnotic field of raga-drone mesmer. Dreamily distorted, and very reminiscent of all time aQ faves Amps For Christ which is a very good thing indeed!
LIMITED TO 313 COPIES!!! Pressed on random different colored vinyl, the packaging super deluxe, a cool origami style Stumptown Arigato cardstock silkscreened sleeve, with a digital download as well.
The last Gatekeeper record, Giza, fell firmly in the camp of Carpenter / Goblin retro soundtrack revivalists, but even on that record, the sound tended toward a minimal electro, mixing skittery beats and warped samples into the ominous synthscapes and, as we described the sound then, Gatekeeper's "electro kraut futurist kosmische sci-fi new wave". But on Exo, things have changed quite a bit, with the techno/electro component taking center stage, and all the atmospheric and cinematic elements woven into the backdrop, whether that be groaning stabs of ominous low end, or deep rumbling drones, or clouds of synth swirl, or chopped and looped vocal snippets or weird fragmented melodies, those sounds definitely make an excellent bed for Gatekeeper's techno skitter and shuffling stutterstep rhythms, whether it's the house-pound of "Exolift", or the or the spaced out squelch of "Bog", or the woozy druggy shuffle of "Vengier", this record is all about the beat, and these are some seriously twisted beats, that while being plenty modern, weirdly remind us of stuff like Techno Animal, or all those old Pathological comps, there's definitely an isolationist vibe to the proceedings, even at its most pounding and propulsive, something sinister lurks just below the surface, and it's all those surrounding sounds that give this the weird moodiness, and ominous atmosphere that seems to be the sonic thread that ties Exo, however loosely, to Giza before it.
Most of the record is definitely designed for the dancefloor, albeit one that's twisted and tweaked, but check out the final one-two coda, the swirling buzzing dronescape of "Re-Gen", and the closer "Encarta", which is the only track here that sounds like it could have come from Giza, with its dramatic operatic vocals, its pulsating arpeggiated synths, all anchored to a throbbing house music pound, and wreathed in swirls of creeped out atmosphere and strange bits of percussion.
Housed in a super striking futuristic full color gatefold jacket.
Yet another band trafficking in creepy electronic Carpenter / Goblin / Zombi style Euro-horror retro futuristic soundtrackery, and like those others, Gatekeeper definitely have their own spin on it, with a sound way more danceable, and with loads more samples, adding to the whole cinematic vibe, the opening track alone pretty much sums it up, the revving of a motorcycle engine, pulsing electronics, symphonic stabs, samples of a terrorized woman, from some seventies horror flick most likely, the sound a driving propulsive fusion of old school techno, and electronic krautrock, laced with cheesy electronic drums, swirling spaced out effects, fuzzy bass, and buzzing synths, deep creepy vox add to the drama and tension, it's pretty impossible not to envision some futuristic chase scene or some occultic ritual gone wrong and the resulting pursuit through the forest. Total techno electro-kraut futurist kosmische sci-fi new wave.
The rest of the tracks follow suit, with big pulsing slabs of buzzing synth, fuzzy eighties basslines, programmed drums, new agey ambience, loads of samples, strange voices and sound effects, but unlike the others, the sound of Gatekeeper seems to be more dramatic, more intense, with the songs often building to seriously epic and freaked out climaxes, but just as often locking into mesmerizing minimal electro grooves, but always slightly ominous, haunting, otherworldly and seriously dramatic and cinematic. Think Majeure, Innercity, Oneohtrix, Nightsatan, Umberto but somehow more over the top. Which of course means WAY recommended.
These Midwestern doom kings unleash a limited edition, vinyl-only 4-song 12" ep, boasting a cool, creepy, splattery cover painting of the titular Ice Worm. The A-side consists of the track "Ice Worm" from their recent Conqueror opus, natch, plus a new song called "Something You Can Never Know", also an uber-heavy number solidly in GoS's tradition of old school, "Conan crushing doom" metal.
Another GoS tradition is doing worshipful covers of songs by bands that have influenced them, such as St. Vitus, Manilla Road and Samhain. So, the B-side here features two kick ass cover tunes reflecting GoS's deep respect for their slightly less underground metallic forefathers from back in the '80s - they do "Flight Of Icarus" by Iron Maiden and "Egypt (The Chains Are On)" by Dio!! Way cool.
LIMITED to 500 copies. We only have, like, 4.
Indiana's The Gates Of Slumber, by dint of sheer old school "trueness" are quickly becoming the most happenin' American traditional doom metal band around, with a weighty onslaught of releases, this latest coming our way via Canada's equally happenin' Profound Lore label. It's another slab of sludgy yet melodic heavy metal in the downer-psych tradition of St. Vitus and Reverend Bizarre... with all the usual ye olde cult metal and pulpy literary influences. What makes 'em so true is that they play for a very defined audience of likeminded souls, caring more about doing their doom RIGHT than any other more conventional measure of rock n' roll success (radio play? magazine covers? groupies? no, definitely not, this is way too geeky). It's almost emo that way. So serious and sincere.
Vocally this has got strains of Wino (Spirit Caravan, The Obsessed, you know), and lyrically TGOS are inspired mainly by Swords & Sorcery fiction, though topical subjects like the genocide in Darfur are also addressed. The album's grand finale is a 16 and a half minute long "Dark Valley Suite" dedicated to Conan creator Robert E. Howard, even including a section with words taken from a Howard poem... we like that the song is really more about Howard the tragically mortal human being, and is not simply another celebration of his mighty and barbaric fictional hero.
The cd booklet is interesting, in addition to lyrics for every song, a detailed track-by-track commentary is provided, almost making review-writing redundant when the band's vocalist/guitarist is describing each song as having certain influences or whatnot. For instance, talking about the track "Ice Worm", he says "the riff reminds me of Orodruin and Cirith Ungol fighting with Budgie and Quartz... Ross The Boss steps in playing a Dio hook for the chorus"... well that's all of course too good to be true but still if you know and care about the artists he mentions there, then there's a good chance you're gonna dig The Gates Of Slumber!! Likewise, if you're into R.E. Howard & Conan and stuff like that...
Much as their biggest literary inspiration, Robert E. Howard's Conan the Cimmerian, rose from mere vagabond thief and freebooter to command armies and then become King, Midwestern underground doom sensations Gates Of Slumber seem to be set unerringly upon the path of glory, treading the jeweled thrones of Earth under their sandaled feet. Bigger labels, more press, they do seem way more popular than when we first encountered their obscure, import-only debut some years back. This new cd release even boasts a slipcase. And while their rise in popularity is well deserved and awesome (couldn't happen to a doomier bunch of guys), it's also a bit of a surprise... who knew that there was such a healthy demand for their brand of true doom? Well there is, and The Gates Of Slumber deliver, overtly influenced as always by old school heavy metal, and metal-related things like weird pulp fiction and Frank Frazetta fantasy artwork (the song "Death Dealer" here is actually ABOUT a Frank Frazetta painting as a matter of fact).
Perhaps the sheer sincerity of these guys won people over. Plus for a heavy band into barbarian muscle-metal, they're remarkably emotional and sensitive seeming, their music often quite melodic and full of gloomy atmosphere. Also, they rock. The one-two punch of opening tracks "Chaos Calling", followed by "Death Dealer", is a bit of a shocker. Were Gates Of Slumber ever this speedy before? They almost sound like High On Fire, or Early Man. A killer NWOBHM/thrash mash. But, then, "Beneath The Eyes Of Mars" slows things down and gets way doomier, more like we were expecting, throwing in some subtle Dr. Who synths to boot, and that's when anyone new to TGOS can begin to appreciate the moody side to this band.
Their long standing allegiance to Saint Vitus is most evident on the Lovecraftian epic "Descent Into Madness" (the longest track here), while elsewhere they get into prog and folk just a bit, no really, there's even some female vocals on the penultimate track "The Mist In The Mourning", shades of Hammers Of Misfortune.
Don't worry, though this album has its acoustic interludes, and all-instrumental tangents, and sad singing and sweet soloing, they sound plenty tough too, ferinstance "The Bringer Of War" is a brute. And you gotta love "Iron Hammer", reprised from an early out of print ep, it's of those songs paying tribute to their influences with lyrics entirely composed of the titles to their favorite classic metal songs and albums.
Further pumped up with solid, Sanford Parker production, this is HEAVY metal that cannot be denied. Maybe we will see 'em on a (metal) magazine cover yet - Decibel did just make this album of the month in their new issue, with a 9/10 rating! And we can certainly see fans of High On Fire and The Sword enjoying this just as much as those into the more underground likes of Reverend Bizarre and Electric Wizard.
Now also on (import) gatefold vinyl!!
Much as their biggest literary inspiration, Robert E. Howard's Conan the Cimmerian, rose from mere vagabond thief and freebooter to command armies and then become King, Midwestern underground doom sensations Gates Of Slumber seem to be set unerringly upon the path of glory, treading the jeweled thrones of Earth under their sandaled feet. Bigger labels, more press, they do seem way more popular than when we first encountered their obscure, import-only debut some years back. And while their rise in popularity is well deserved and awesome (couldn't happen to a doomier bunch of guys), it's also a bit of a surprise... who knew that there was such a healthy demand for their brand of true doom? Well there is, and The Gates Of Slumber deliver, overtly influenced as always by old school heavy metal, and metal-related things like weird pulp fiction and Frank Frazetta fantasy artwork (the song "Death Dealer" here is actually ABOUT a Frank Frazetta painting as a matter of fact).
Perhaps the sheer sincerity of these guys won people over. Plus for a heavy band into barbarian muscle-metal, they're remarkably emotional and sensitive seeming, their music often quite melodic and full of gloomy atmosphere. Also, they rock. The one-two punch of opening tracks "Chaos Calling", followed by "Death Dealer", is a bit of a shocker. Were Gates Of Slumber ever this speedy before? They almost sound like High On Fire, or Early Man. A killer NWOBHM/thrash mash. But, then, "Beneath The Eyes Of Mars" slows things down and gets way doomier, more like we were expecting, throwing in some subtle Dr. Who synths to boot, and that's when anyone new to TGOS can begin to appreciate the moody side to this band.
Their long standing allegiance to Saint Vitus is most evident on the Lovecraftian epic "Descent Into Madness" (the longest track here), while elsewhere they get into prog and folk just a bit, no really, there's even some female vocals on the penultimate track "The Mist In The Mourning", shades of Hammers Of Misfortune.
Don't worry, though this album has its acoustic interludes, and all-instrumental tangents, and sad singing and sweet soloing, they sound plenty tough too, ferinstance "The Bringer Of War" is a brute. And you gotta love "Iron Hammer", reprised from an early out of print ep, it's of those songs paying tribute to their influences with lyrics entirely composed of the titles to their favorite classic metal songs and albums.
Further pumped up with solid, Sanford Parker production, this is HEAVY metal that cannot be denied. Maybe we will see 'em on a (metal) magazine cover yet - Decibel did just make this album of the month in their new issue, with a 9/10 rating! And we can certainly see fans of High On Fire and The Sword enjoying this just as much as those into the more underground likes of Reverend Bizarre and Electric Wizard.
From Indiana, USA, here's a doom metal band for those who like their doom old school, Saint Vitus style. That is, like Black Sabbath but dragged down deeper into the mire. This ostensibly five-track ep (it's longer than that, due to several hidden bonus tracks) has got all the depressive atmosphere, widdly solos, guitar effects, anguished Wino-like vocals, and sledgehammer heaviness you desire. These guys are obviously dedicated doom fans first and foremost, and like their Finnish brethren Reverend Bizarre they do their influences proud, and they make it pretty obvious who those influences are. There's a cover of "Ask No More" by Pentagram, and one of the hidden tracks is a version of St. Vitus' "War Is Our Destiny"... And if this disc turns you into a fan of The Gates Of Slumber, they've helpfully provided a bonus embroidered TGOS patch for your denim vest! We'll be wearing ours proudly.
Axe smashing, bare chested, mega muscled, mighty thewed, old school DOOM metal here! Just take one glance at Ken Kelly's Frank Frazetta-styled cover painting and one listen to the opening attack "Angel Of Death" (no, not a Slayer cover, it's more like a Cirith Ungol track!) and you'll know this third cd from Indiana doom trio The Gates Of Slumber is one for cultish, denim n' leather garbed fans of Saint Vitus, Reverend Bizarre, Manowar, Electric Wizard, and of course ye olde Black Sabbath -- especially if you're a reader of Robert E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft. If you are, perhaps you knew that "Suffer No Guilt Ye Who Wield This In The Name Of Crom" is the motto inscribed in runes on the sword that belonged to the father of Howard's famed Swords & Sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian? And Conan of Cimmeria is indeed the subject of this album's 14 minute long title track. But TGOS also take this "Suffer No Guilt" theme further elsewhere on the album, in the lyrics to the 20 minute long (!) "God Wills It" tying the idea of not suffering guilt for the sins of one's culture's past to their views on the (historical) Crusades and the current "clash of civilizations" that some see as occurring in this age of War on Terror, War in Iraq and sundry other Middle Eastern conflict. So, some deep thoughts here... but also plenty of blood and thunder entertainment, in the form of heavy riffing and psychedelic soloing, with pulpy escapism as its purpose.
By the way, Allan saw these guys this past summer at the Alehorn Of Power festival in Chicago. They were the opening band for a bill that included Bible Of The Devil, Twisted Tower Dire, The Lord Weird Slough Feg, and freakin' Manilla Road! TGOS definitely set the "heaviness bar" pretty high for the night.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Debut full length from these St. Vitus style doomsters. For fans of Reverend Bizarre.
Egads. What's that rumbling, lumbering sound? The Gates Of Slumber, of course. The Midwestern true doom stalwarts return with their 2nd slipcased album for Rise Above/Metal Blade, at least their fourth full-length release overall. If you like your metal HEAVY then you know these guys already. Traditionalists at heart, they don't mess much with their basic modus operandi, once more this is barbaric thud that Conan himself would enjoy blasting on his stereo, if they had such technology in the ancient Hyborian Age...
Snail's pace opening track "Bastards Born" is VERY Vitus-y, the influence of '80s Sabbath disciples Saint Vitus always having been a big part of TGOS's sound, but here really taken to an extreme of emulation, it could easily be a track left off of final (for now) Vitus masterpiece Die Healing. Except that the vocals by TGOS guitarist Karl Karl Simon aren't quite so godly as those of Scott Reagers. He's a bit more "wretched" sounding (natch, this album is titled The Wretch after all) and comes closer to sounding like the other significant Vitus vocalist, Wino.
Heck we're preaching to the choir here, making references to Die Healing and Reagers and Wino... if those names mean anything to you, you probably already know if you're interested in TGOS's latest or not. In any case, we can't imagine that TGOS weren't thinking of this as their "Die Healing" song when they were writing it.
As an statement of purpose, "Bastards Born" says: "Sludge". And sludge they do, as the rest of the album oozes forth. But some tracks ooze faster. Track two "The Scourge Of Drunkenness" is one such relatively uptempo rocker... Later on "Coven Of Cain" conjures up the high spirits of the NWOBHM, while conversely "Castle Of The Devil", another mid-album number, takes things in a relaxed, almost artily atmospheric direction, a nice breather amidst the more crushing cuts.
TGOS's true doom devotion to sheer lamentation and misery is utterly fulfilled by the end of the album, with the epic - and even more epic - tracks "The Wretch" (8:18) and "Iron And Fire" (12:14) both slo-mo, sorrowfully emo trudges to leave you suicidally spent, when all's said and doomed.
Pretty darn good, though you kinda have to be in that "doomed" mood. So if we admitted that, right at the moment, we'd rather be listening to those reissues by Alaskan '80s metal band Pandemonium that we made Record(s) Of The Week, we don't think the TGOS guys would be at all offended. After all, they're nothing if not worshipful of their heavy metal forebears themselves, the cd booklets to most previous releases usually featuring Karl Simon's analysis/admissions of each song's musical inspirations (whereas here, his liner notes are all about how this time, they got more "personal" rather than "fantastic" in terms of lyrics and mood, hence titles like "The Scourge Of Drunkenness", presumably).
Circle Of True Doom standard bearers The Gates Of Slumber just rumbled through town a couple weeks ago, on tour with Slough Feg. They stopped into the store, and we snagged a couple copies of their hard to find Villain, Villain double cd collection from 2007. Really, just a couple. So we're not gonna spend much time on this review! For those who might be interested, Villain, Villain (which of course takes its title and cover concept from Judas Priest's Hero, Hero) brings together a 16 early demo tracks, alternate versions, reedits, live songs, covers (no less than 3 of 'em songs by their heroes Saint Vitus!), etc. etc.
Obviously, this is for mega TGOS fans only, and you might already have -some- of this stuff in one form or other. But probably not all of it, especially if you missed out on some of their earlier, now out of print releases. You know how to use Encyclopedia Metallum, you can figure out what this has got that you do not, eh?
The cd booklet, in typical TGOS tradition, features notes on each and every track (except their Samhain and Manilla Road covers, for some reason) by guitarist/bandleader Karl Simon. Who, by the way, is a very cool guy, with a definite sense of humor for one so doomy.
Rebecca Gates was previously in The Spinanes from Portland, Oregon. She has since moved to Chicago and created this album, her first "solo" recording, with the help of John McEntire (of Tortoise and the Sea and Cake), Noel Kupersmith (of The Chicago Underground Quartet), and Brian Deck (of Califone, Red Red Meat and Modest Mouse), among others. Her songs vary from sweet folk to
You'd probably never guess listening to this, the debut from a mysterious trio called Gauchiste, that one of the guys here plays guitar in Loincloth, whose recent Iron Balls Of Steel record for Southern Lord was a huge hit around here, but even with that sort of metal pedigree, one that does in fact extend to all three members, you won't find any churning math rock metal mayhem here, or even pounding downtuned chug, instead, this trio specializes in a haunting hybrid of minimal electronics, abstract soundscapery, and droned out avant metal, that more resembles some strange soundtrack than a metal record proper, the whole thing meticulously assembled mostly via computer, using the various sounds in different ways to produce all manner of timbres and textures, evoking a gorgeous hauntological dread, that is seldom found in more traditional metal.
The opener is a noxious cloud of blurred guitar buzz, skittery cymbal shimmer, and buried double kick drumming, that initially sound more like some strange chittering insect, it's definitely metal, but a sort of smeared abstract offshoot, with those drums fading out gradually, eventually leaving dense slabs of heaving chordal thrum and post industrial shimmer. The follow up track starts out like it's gonna ooze into some sort of dense doomic creep, but instead blissed out into a billowy cloud of ethereal ambience, washed out drones, and buried processed vox, while elsewhere on the record, deep rumbles pour forth like some sort of downtuned sonic avalanche, the occasional metal vokills, are appropriately growly and gruff, but they're suspended in a sort of blackbuzz stasis, with the most metal moments more reminiscent of a group like SUNNO))), or even more appropriately, like some obscure Cold Meat black ambient outfit.
Guitars seem to be the main instrument, but they're rarely left in their distinctly guitar-like form, instead, deftly transformed into what sounds like whirring organs, or smeared blackened hum, over which the group lace skittery glitches and machinelike rhythms, rarely propulsive, or even strictly that rhythmic, more another textural element, to add to the already bleak atmosphere that infuses pretty much every moment.
The last two tracks probably best sum up the group's sound, slipping from glimmering dreaminess, almost orchestral at moments, to blurred blackened ambience, and finally to super dense drone, a harsh, haunting, abject sprawl of super cinematic malevolence, that should most definitely appeal to metalheads and dronelords alike.
The packaging is stunning, the lp in a deluxe, heavy paper, weirdly cut multi-panel jacket, the cd-r (why a cd-r and not a real cd we do not know), in a cool hinged metallic case, with a plastic front panel, the disc visible through the plastic.
Sure, we've all heard plenty of viking metal. Every black metal dude somehow miraculously has that Norse warrior blood flowing hot through their veins. "Sure, we're from Idaho, but OUR ANCESTORS WERE MIGHTY VIKINGS!!" Blah blah blah, longboats, funeral pyres, horned helmets, whatever, now it's time for some RAW CELTIC FOLK METAL!! And not just any sort of raw Celtic folk metal, no this is totally deranged and demented and damaged folky buzzy Celtic black metal. Think Benighted Leams, Urfaust and the like, but flavored with a heap of Celtic fiddles and jaunty folk rhythms.
The riffs and melodies are distinctly Celtic for sure, but they are drenched in tinny buzz, wrapped in a warm cloak of blackness, a folky black blast, not all that strange on their own, but then the vocals come in and all bets are off. The vocals are of course of the chanting, sing songy, sea shanty, steins hoisted variety, but the way they're recorded transforms them, and this whole record into something completely different. A soaring dramatic croon, a cross between Urfaust's over the top Ethel Merman-ish warble (Gauhaert does indeed include at least one member of Urfaust!), Circle's Mika Ratto and an anguished black metal moan, but they sound like they were recorded at the bottom of a 10 million gallon iron cistern, a dense cloud of reverb and overtones, the vocals soar and reverberate, until they are a huge swirl that overtakes the music completely, when the vocals stop briefly, the music re-emerges as if stepping out of a fog bank, before the vocals kick back in and the song becomes a dense grey hued swirling smear of sound. There are also a couple of ambient tracks, dark dreamy rumbles, with strange chordal swells and wheezing organs, mournful horns, mysterious and elegiac in its sorrowful trudge. But those are brief respites amidst the dizzying flurries of wild and bizarre Celtic blackness. So weird, but really fucking cool.
By now everyone should be familiar with SF black metal legends Weakling. A brief existence, a handful of shows, and a single amazing record (released on Andee's tUMULt label, we should mention). Members of Weakling played in and/or went on to play in Amber Asylum, the Champs, Drunk Horse, Asunder, Sangre Amado, Saros and the short lived but now totally cult blackened gothic doom outfit The Gault. Recorded way back in 1999 by Tim Green, The Gault's Even As All Before Us languished for years before the band finally agreed on a mix and a label, and now five years later this mighty slab of depressive doom finally sees the light of day. Some of you may be wondering why we're only getting around to reviewing this now, since it was released a few months ago... and, the entire first pressing is already sold out. So what's the deal? Well, bad news for any of you who already picked up a copy somewhere else. The ENTIRE first pressing was, in fact, defective. But not defective enough apparently for the label to care, as they refused to repress it and continued to sell the defective copies anyway. To our ears though, the harsh digital glitches inadvertently inserted between every track totally detracted from the gorgeously bleak and harrowing ambience. So the band took it upon themselves to have corrected copies pressed themselves, and thus we finally have the Gault record the way it was meant to be heard. Imagine those Weakling riffs, slowed down and wrapped in dense '80s-ish reverb, smeared and stretched into serpentine minor key melodies, throbbing and pulsing and slithering through midtempo dronescapes of shimmering guitar buzz, creeping basslines, ghostlike female vocals, crashing steady drumming all cloaked in a rich blackened haze, suffocating and claustrophobic, but somehow completely epic at the same time. Think a black metal Joy Division and you might be close, due in no small part to vocalist Ed Kunakemakorn's distinctive wail. Equal parts Ian Curtis, Interpol's Paul Banks and weirdly enough, Dutch weirdo black metallers Urfaust, a soaring mournful croon, rich and velvety and quite haunting. Each track is a twisting complex doomscape of fuzzed out drones, pounding downtuned riffage, swirling psychedelic ambience, slow motion crawl and creep, building and building into massive black swells. A gorgeously creepy collection of heaving, lurching, dark and delicate, doomy and dense epics. So emotional and so totally and completely intense!
After a handful of super limited tracks, including a now out of print 7", this here is the first record from these guys we've managed to get for the store, and it's a doozy. Gauntlet Hair are a duo from Colorado, who specialize in distorted jangly bombastic pop, falling somewhere between Animal Collective and The Big Pink, stirring in some programmed beats, some moody noisepop jangle into their hypnotic, soaring druggy psych pop crunch.
This new single will most likely have folks finally freaking out over these guys, not only is it on the uber hip Mexican Summer label, but it totally rules, definitely owing a huge debt to Animal Collective, with tribal rhythms, jagged bits of guitar crunch, and dramatic reverbed vox, but here, that stuff is augmented by handclaps, programmed beats, epic Big Country like guitar jangle, super distorted drums, effects drenched vocals that swing wildly from speaker to speaker, a thick gorgeously gauzy production, not to mention hooks galore, the chorus super catchy, as are the verses, the song a slow build to a super distorted blown out psychedelic noise pop climax. Definitely a new fave, and these two jams have us hankering big time for the forthcoming full length.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!!
Gauntlet Hair's Out� Don't single on Mexican Summer might just be the best slab of post Animal Collective pop we've heard. Certainly our favorite. If any band spawned a million wannabes, it's Animal Collective, but few of those wannabes managed to take that sound and make it their own, unlike this duo from Colorado, who somehow feel more like a band that just happens to share some of the same influences, more than a band who wants to be AC. That single was pretty much prefect, a barrage of echo drenched noise pop, super reverbed soaring vocals, tribal rhythms, programmed beats, weird convoluted, almost proggy arrangements, hand claps, tripped out production, crazy hooks, fuzzy bass, chiming crystalline guitars, all of that stuff is still present here on the full length, the band expanding their sound to be even more hazy and druggy and dreamy, from the opening track, the blissfully propulsive "Keep Time", whose sound is so dense and layered that it takes headphones to hear everything that's going on, all the weird bits of skitter, the subtle harmonies, the music sounds like one of those photos when you shoot right into the sun, all shimmering sunspots and prismatic glimmer, this is total alien summer dream pop, and the more we listen to it, the less it seems to have any connection to the Animal Collective. "Top Bunk" wraps spiraling melodies around a dirgey groove, the multiple vocals all tangled up, the main riff twisted and swirly, the song like some sonic popsicle melting in the sun, warm and sweet, gorgeously warped and woozily washed out, "Mop It Up" adds some heft to the sound the vocals effortlessly slipping into a dreamy falsetto, a driving big beat, and some thick ropy basslines underneath soaring Big Country like guitars, all blurred and smeared into another stretch of sun dappled psychedelic outsider poppiness that we can't get enough of. Thankfully there's plenty more where that came from. New pop fave big time!
Some of us at aQ have been going through a little bit of a Japanese crust phase, listening to lots of Lip Cream, Gloom, Confuse, GISM and of course Gauze, when what should show up but this lp reissue of both of Gauze's first two records, their 1984 debut 12" ep Fuckheads, and the 1986 follow up Equalizing Distort. Both brimming with furious chaotic metallic crust punk fury, grinding buzzing guitars, strange flanged riffage, all sorts of sound effects, seriously fucked up almost experimental production, wild tribal drumming, yelped vox, thick super distorted bass, weird squiggly atonal leads, all wound into churning, pounding blasts of frantic hardcore mayhem, with shouted almost sing along choruses ("THRASH THRASH THRASH") and some downright poppiness popping up here and there. But for the most part, this is some fierce as fuck frenzied Japanese hardcore crust punk genius, that sounds just as good now as it did nearly three decades ago!!
Includes a two sided 12" x 12" insert, photos on one side, a lyric sheer, in both English and Japanese on the other.
Yet another weird and wonderful archival release from cold/synth/new wave reissue label Medical Records, who over the last few months have given us a killer Record Of the Week in the form of the Lou Champagne System, as well as amazing releases from Axxess (another ROTW), Dalek I and Guyer's Connection. This latest blast from the past comes from a pair of Italian teenagers who recorded these tracks when they were between the ages of 14 and 16, one of which, "I'm A Vocoder" became a huge club hit. And that track, which somehow we had never heard before is well worth the price of admission alone. A pulsing synth-kraut groove, primitive drum machine, then some very Kraftwerk like melodies, and when the vocals come in, even MORE Kraftwerk worship, heavily accented English, delivered in a robotic sing-song, totally catchy, super fun and while not exactly 'funky', but definitely groovy, and motorik, and hypnotic. We had to listen to that track 4 or 5 times before we could move on, but then going back to the opener "GCP", it's almost as cool, a brooding synth-drone intro with vocals courtesy of a Speak & Spell, the perfect lead in to "I'm A Vocoder" for sure.
"My Love Is Electronic" cranks up the tempo a bit, with more intricate drum programming, and tangled synth melodies, not to mention more of those robotic vox, which is even more impressive when you realize these guys were using toy-like keyboards modified into makeshift synths, which is what gives this such a cool DIY vibe.
"A Bunch Of Flowers" is a way more melodic take on the electronic pop of groups like Depeche Mode, the sound fuzzy and gorgeous gristly, while "Mr. Do Re Me" is total eighties synth pop a la Yaz, as is "Bit Of Charm", poppy and synthy, with dramatic heartfelt vox and shimmering synths. The title track returns to the Kraftwerk like kraut-homage of the opening tracks, droned out and hypnotic, pulsing and mesmerizingly robotic, and finally, "Television" finishes things off with what sounds like a slowed down version of the "Axel F Theme", but with almost operatic female vox, soaring and dreamy and wonderfully retro-poppy.
Great stuff, as usual from Medical. LIMITED TO 650 COPIES. Each one hand numbered.
We first heard the awesomely monikered Gay Witch Abortion on a killer 4 way split we reviewed recently called A Butcher's Waltz, which teamed up this duo with some other aQ faves including Skoal Kodiak, Seawhores and Power Take Off. But for as much as we dug those other outfits, Gay Witch Abortion definitely stole the show, more than living up to the hype, which was a relief as we'd been hearing how great they were for ages.
So here now is the debut full length from these guys, hot on the heels of their collaboration with AmRep head honcho Tom Hazelmeyer, which should come as no surprise cuz GWA definitely sound like they'd be right at home on AmRep, channelling a little Lightning Bolt, reminding us a bit of recent aQ faves Wizard Rifle too, these guys take that bass (guitar?) / drum duo thing and make it their own, their sound more a sort of blown out fuzz drenched heavy rock stoner prog thing, wild chaotic drumming under dense buzzing riffage, the guitar weirdly processed so it almost sounds electronic, their might be keyboards too, but it sounds more like the guitar/bass is run through some seriously fucked up FX, the sound constantly peppered with bits of buzz and hum, little glitches, swirls of hiss and crackle, the songs locking into dense looped mesmer, before slipping into songs proper, the vocals clean and crooned, when there are vocals, but more often these two are like a cobra and a mongoose, a wild squirming sonic tangle, a gnarled, writhing metallic noise rock that flits from droned out dirge to frantic hyperspeed punkprog and back again in the blink of an eye, all that and the group never shies away from weirdness either, peppering these blasts of acrobatic noise rockery with bits of twangy dirgery rife with whistled melodies, or stretches of Torche like fuzz pop, tripped out super distorted psychedelic drones, and even some cool experimental electronic noisiness.
Super intense sweat soaked math metal spazz punk stoner prog heaviness that will definitely hit the spot for anyone who digs Lightning Bolt and other like minded outfits, or really anyone into heavy, dense, noise rock aktion!!
The cd version comes with a Learning Curve beer cozy!!
With a name like Gay Witch Abortion, and some awesomely aberrant cover art, featuring a twisted collage of children and teeth, and huge harelips and organs, and song titles like "Prison Charm", "Gun Mad Mountain Folk" and "Prison Charm", most bands would have a tough time living up to the sort of sonic expectations those non-musical elements seem to promise, but once again this duo delivers. Delivers a twisted, hyper rhythmic, noise rock, that more than ever seems to have a bit of a new wave vibe. The opener "Cult Chimera", after a long stretch of abstract noise and buzz, explodes into what sounds like a super charged Devo, with a little bit of No Means No, and that's some seriously unfuckwithable band math for sure. In our review of their Maverick record we also compared them to Lightning Bolt and Wizard Rifle too, and those still fit for sure. But this time around, there's some serious poppiness going on amidst all the twisted sonic fuckery. Check out "Hornet Japonica", which features some ridiculous mathed out drumming, wild dexterous bass playing, the band lurching and leaping from part to part, if it was any other band we'd think they were showing off, but that sort of twisted what the fuck freak outs are just part of what these guys do.
"Prison Charm" even adds a little bluesiness to the proceedings, sounding a bit like a more melodic Killdozer, which too is not a bad thing at all, the song flitting from vocal driven grooviness, to tangled mathy freakouts, to furious rhythmic churn. All of the density and musical mathiness that defined Maverick, is still present, in full force, but is most definitely tempered by this new found pop side, that makes for some awesomely confusional radness, that ultimately sounds like no other band we can think of. New wave noise rock math prog punk, or something. These guys seem like they must be amazing live, although there's so much going on, it's hard to imagine two people could pull it off, regardless, if you're in the market for some seriously twisted, densely rhythmic, weirdly catchy, heavy as fuck, new wave noise rock weirdness, then this is pretty much IT.
WAY recommended. Comes in an eye popping full color gatefold sleeve, and includes a download coupon to boot!
What's the deal with Canadian bands? All too frequently you find a fine band from up north has gone and made a truly odd and questionable decision -- cover art, band name, whathaveyou -- that messes with the whole picture. It's almost like they're willfully trying to make things harder for themselves. Case in point, this new band, The Gay. Contrary to what almost everyone who has encountered the band's moniker has thought, they are not a joke band! And contrary to their long, sullen faces on the album cover, their music is decidedly upbeat and sunny (i.e. gay). They are in fact another Vancouver supergroup of sorts starring Tobey Black (former bandmate of Neko Case in the feisty girl trio Maow) Keith Parry (Scratch Records head honcho and former member of the awesome rock battalion Superconductor), Sara Lapsley (formerly of Superconductor's female counterpart Kreviss), Maija Martin and CoCo Culbertson (of sweet-twang combo Tennessee Twin). So introductions aside, let's get down to the music of You Know The Rules. It's a spritely sugar-pop blend with all members taking turns on lead and backing vocals - sorta like the Partridge Family inviting Fleetwood Mac and the Throwing Muses over for a pajama party. Swingin' sing-a-long harmonies, snappy drumbeats, playful interplay between the guitars, keyboards, accordion, piano, and bass. Produced by their New Pornographer pal Kurt Dahle.
This is not only one of our favorite blaxploitation soundtracks, it may also be one our favorite Marvin Gaye Record too (though I Want You may be a close second). While the movie itself might be rather unremarkable, the soundtrack stands apart from its more well known contemporaries, like SuperFly and Shaft by focusing less on a hard hitting urban funk grit and more on a cool detached noir vibe that somehow feels more menacing. Mostly everything is performed and arranged by Gaye, with Moog synths, piano and saxophone being the main instruments. There is of course some wah wah-ed guitar in the theme, but its low-key laid back swing seems to illustrate a more plausible reality for the title character, one of reserved violence as opposed to say, Isaac Hayes' uptempo go-get-'em macho swagger for Shaft. Still, there is plenty of urban grit. The tense set-ups of "'T' Stands for Trouble" and "The Break In", the pensive ambiance of "Deep-In-It", the love themes tinged with sadness, and the troubled vocal harmonies of "Cleo's Apartment" and "Life Is A Gamble". But the topper of them all is "'T' Plays It Cool", a stone cold groove that is deadly as it is funky. All killer, No filler! So happy it's now been reissued on vinyl - and we got the bargain-priced cd version in stock as well.
Deluxe vinyl reissue of one of the greatest albums of all time!
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NYC free-jazz saxophonist Charles Gayle's latest. As always, intense, spiritual stuff.
As you may have already guessed, this is a disc of solo jazz piano by Charles Gayle, a NYC free jazz musician much better known for his saxophone playing. And, perhaps surprising given his propensity for way-out sax squalls, his piano playing is remarkably melodic, although quiet kinetic and restless. It sounds like someone tickling the ivories at a cheesy jazz piano bar getting bored
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Free jazz spirituals from this heir to Coltrane and Ayler.
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The dreamy debut from this Vancouver sugar girl-pop trio. Features the notable presence of Ms Softie Rose Melberg behind the drumkit! Yes, super-sweet pop melodies sure to make your molars tingle and your heart go all a-flutter. For the girly-girl in us all. Sigh.
If Miko, Megan and Rose (yes, of Softies, Tiger Trap, etc) were to craft a knit version of their music, it'd most definitely be the loveliest of warm fuzzy sweaters. The angora kind with crocheted blossoms and mother of pearl buttons. Alternately romping and dreamy. If you like any music from Amelia Fletcher (Talulah Gosh, Heavenly, Marine Research) or Rose Melberg (see above), Gaze will surely please.
A gorgeous and mysterious one sided lp from GazHeart, a duo made up of artist Rita Ackerman, and No Neck Blues Band's Dave Nuss. The two played together in Angelblood as well, but these recordings were made after the breakup of that band, on the duo's annual trip to visit Ackerman's family in Budapest. During late nights in the backyard, with Nuss beating on coffee cans and broken bottles, Ackerman sang lyrics she had created using automatic, unmeditated writing. The results are beautiful, innocent, playful, haunting and very mysterious.
This consists of a series of short tracks, each with a slightly different tribal rhythmic component beneath Ackerman's vocals, which range from ghostly chantlike recitations, to sweet cooing, to wild wailing. The record drifts from tripped out FX drenched clang and clank beneath childlike gurgling, to campfire handdrums and sweetly almost whispered vocals, to hypnotic almost looped sounding tribal drums tangled up with breathy ethereal hum, to Casio style drum machine pitted against manic vocalizing and buzzy synth melodies, to the final track, the percussion super abstract, with chimes and bells, the vocals sung by a little girl, very cute and innocent, but also quite haunting.
Fans of Deerhoof, OOIOO, Tenniscoats and obviously No Neck and Angelblood will definitely dig.
Pressed on 180 gram vinyl. Housed in a thick sleeve, with Ackerman drawings on both sides, each the opposite/negative of the other, printed on nice thick paper, the lp is one sides, the flipside has an original Ackerman etching. Cool.
Recorded live in 2000, this is the new collaborative project of Martin Ng and Mathias Gmachl (Farmers Manual, Fuckhead). As GCTTCATT, Gmachl digitally manipulates, via "realtime data processing", sounds run through Ng's turntables and cd player. I really
We try to get everything we can on our pal Jason's Ormolycka label, we usually only manage to get enough to put a few in the store, so while some lucky local tape nerds have managed to snag some of these, our long distance tape obsessives have been left in the cold until now. Of the many releases on Ormolycka, we've only really ever managed to list a few. There was the tape version of the Liturgy record (which featured a remix by our very own Andee!), as well as the Death Grips Exmilitary tape (relisted elsewhere on this week's list), this week we have a big handful of Ormolycka tapes, enough to finally review on the list, one of which is this, the first we've heard from a mysterious outfit called GDFX, who we know nothing about, other than this tape is a sweet slab of low end synth buzz, stuttery fractured beats, looped layered drones all woven into a sort of tranced out new age big beat lo-fi synth pop, that slips from creepy minimal thrum to tripped out skitter to 8-bit video game groove, easily on of our favorite jams on Ormolycka.
Another mysterious synth missive from Oakland tape label Sanity Muffin, this one from a group/guy called Gears, two sidelong sonic sprawls, the A side, a heady dose of analog buzz and cosmic celestial shimmer, the sounds thick, and buzzy and corrosive, heaving swells of low end rumble, wrapped in wispy streaks of abstract melody and subtly shifting tonal variations, meditative and mesmerizing, long tones that lazily undulate, sonic ripples that pulse endlessly into the ether, the sound lush and lustrous, a dark solar sound journey into outerspace and out of innerspace, headphones strapped on, and Matrix-like, you'll be jacked into the sonic cosmos, your brain transformed into miniature motes, carried away on slipstreams of serene sound. The flipside is something else entirely, some sort of mutant hip hop, all skittery drum machines, and squiggly electronics, the celestial synths from side one resurface here, but as the backdrop for a wild tangle of beats and rhythms, a strange dizzying mix of blissful melodies, swirling textures, bumping beats and fractured digital glitchery. Over the course of the side/track, the sound shifts from churning and rhythmic, to mutated and dubbed out, from old school jungle, to near DHR crunch, the sound feels live too, as if it were a DJ set captured on the fly, but regardless, a serious sprawl of dark rhythmic energy, that in some weird way, balances the tranquility of the tape's dreamily kosmische A side.
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES. Housed in super swank full color six panel J-cards.
**MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT****MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT****MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT**
As regular readers of the aQuarius list already know, we're HUGE fans of the golden era of Ethiopian Jazz as archived in the amazing Ethiopiques series. And besides the more well known players such as Mulatu Astatke (Ethiopiques #4) and Mahmoud Ahmed (Ethiopiques #6), #21 in that series also has a special place in our hearts as it's the incredible solo piano compositions of an Ethiopian nun named Emahoy Tsegue-Maryam Guebrou. Her playing is devastatingly lovely and haunting. A curious hybrid of old time jazz and classical, but still truly Ethiopian. Dark and contemplative, moody but subtly playful as well, like exotic impressionistic lamentations that have an expressive lyrical sadness.
Now the fine folks at Mississippi / Change Records have gifted us with this beautiful reissue of Guebrou's debut album from 1963. Comprising the first five tracks of the Ethiopiques compilation, these songs were the first signs that we were hearing a uniquely distinct musical voice for the first time, and boy were we hooked!
Culled mainly from compositions written in the late '40s and early '50s, a period during which Guebrou had recently left the convent due to illness, and then continued to compose and perform as a way of raising money for charity. And THAT's on the heels of having moved to Egypt and then returned to Ethiopia a figure of high society, her dream of playing piano dashed by the Emperor, which led her to sickness and then near death, she even received the last rites, survived and then joined the Imperial Guard, went back to school to study business finally fleeing to join a convent and become a nun. All the while continuing to play music - in fact, last we heard, she continues to perform to this day, in Ethiopia where she still lives.
And like her fantastic and adventurous life, her music is equally as remarkable, the sound and feel is so dense with memory and imagery, musical but somehow quite visual, warm and woozy, a fuzzy, sepia toned old timey feel, due in no small part to the recording, which is quite reminiscent of old 78's, the soundtrack to movie Crumb, that sort of thing, dark rumbling low notes underpin sweet swirls and delicate flurries of minor key melody, sweet and lowdown for sure, warm evenings, back porches, big beautifully appointed parlors, huge empty fields, grass waving in the breeze, long late night wanders, moonlight strolls, so completely dreamy and lovely. Highest Recommendation!
