The demise of Man's Ruin was a big blow to the stoner rock scene, weeding (ha) out some crappy bands, to be sure, but also rendering some worthy albums out of print. Thankfully, in the case of San Francsico's favorite potsmoking doomsters High On Fire,
The Bay Area's slowest, heaviest, potsmokin'est doom metal combo Sleep (RIP) lives on in the form of ex-Sleep guitarist/vocalist Matt Pike's new band High On Fire. Sleep's last album, the infamous "Jerusalem", consisted of but one, super-long super-slow track. High On Fire speeds things up a bit (only a bit) but maintains the heaviness and the trademark Sleep sound. Right on.
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Yay! So many good things combined here with this release, it's like a crazy cosmic convergence of cool. First off, it's a Skin Graft comic book single. That's right, this colored-vinyl 7" record comes with a full-color comic book by the guys at Skin Graft, getting back to their roots as a combo of weird-music label and underground comix publisher. They haven't released anything in this format for ages, but we have fond memories of similar releases from way back by UFO or Die, Zeni Geva, Dazzling Killmen, Space Streakings, Mount Shasta, Brise-Glace... The comic doesn't have much to do with the music, but it's pretty cool.
And yeah, then there's the music. Side A: High On Fire. You know 'em you love 'em (or you should). Motorhead on Sabbath on Slayer on 11. They contribute a song from their latest, probably greatest release Blessed Black Wings, called "Brother In The Wind". And on Side B: Ruins. You know 'em you love 'em (or you should). Magma meets Lightning Bolt. Their track is a previously unreleased number entitled "Gwodhunqa" that encompasses everything that's great about Ruins: nimble, bass-heavy grooves and crazed yet catchy complexity. Parts of this sound like it's on 45, even though it already is on 45, if you know what I mean.
Never thought High On Fire and Ruins would share a split, but why not? Whoever thunk this up, give 'em a raise.
Nice tripped out split from these two New York outfits who both venture into psychedelic sonic realms in their own compelling ways. High Places is a duo that we've heard in passing before but we didn't remember them sounding like this. Their side is one long, really spaced out and percussive slow burner with early Throbbing Gristle like textures, infused with an underlying dubbed out and hypnotic groove. We realized that the first few times we played this we had it on the wrong speed but we have to say whether you slow it down (and the vocals start sounding like some cool mixture of Arthur Russell and Panda Bear) or you play it at the correct speed, it sounds pretty awesome either way, so you kind of get two rad long High Places tracks instead of just one.
Soft Circle is the project of Hisham A. Bharoocha, well respected visual artist and a former member of Black Dice (who in our opinion have never been quite as good since he left their fold). His debut as Soft Circle from a couple years ago was a great exercise in warm exploratory percussive bliss. This outing finds him gravitating more towards a drugged out pulsating dancefloor sound, in fact one of the songs "Don't Just Stand There" was remixed on the latest Milky Disco compilation. It's really cool to see folks finding refreshing new avenues to reach such soaring psychedelic heights.
Japanese psych-noiserock power trio.
You wanna hear some in-the-red, ultra-distorto, psychedelic speed freak rock n' roll? If you love it loud and crazy, this legendary Japanese band can't be beat. Led by bassist/vocalist Asahito Nanjo (also of Mainliner, Musica Transonic, and many other
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The unexpected domestic reissue of this classic PSF album of psychguitar overload from this Japanese combo. This one follows "II" and is also quite good. NB. "Dispersion retains its 8 page booklet, but much of the Japanese text has been replaced with an extensive interview with bassist Asahito Nanjo, which originally appeared in Opprobrium magazine."
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The domestic Squealer reissue of this classic PSF album of psychguitar overload from this Japanese combo is out of print, so here's the PSF one, again - at a better price than we used to have it for, yay! One of the essential High Rise documents.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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Another one of the essential High Rise documents.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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Japanese mondo guitar fuzz legends High Rise offer up some stuff from the vaults, about a half hour of LOUD and DISTORTED rock at a bargain price.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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Wow! Live High Rise action, the Tokyo psych blasters on DVD!!
Live document of Tokyo's psychedelic speed freaks' 2000 tour of the US, specifically from their Seattle and NYC shows. Features tracks from the more recent Disallow and Desperado lps as well as their standards, "Popsicle" and "Psychedelic Speed Freaks". Hardcore fans will want this for sure, however, the recording quality doesn't quite do them justice as much as the in-the-red,
Some time ago we reviewed a double cd featuring (supposedly) everything ever recorded by this obscure, outsider-y late '70s / early '80s UK psychedelic "hippy punk" outfit called, variously, Afflicted, The Afflicted Man, and High Speed and The Afflicted Man. It's been out of print for a while - but now, both of the albums that constituted that set's second and best disc, the one where, as we said, the fuzz really hits the fan, have been reissued again, almost simultaneously, with Permanent putting out 1981's I'm Off Me 'Ead on vinyl (only), and Spanish reissue specialists Guerssen doing 1982's Get Stoned Ezy on cd (with vinyl forthcoming as well). Both are issued under license from The Afflicted Man himself, guitarist/vocalist Steve Hall, unlike that previous collection, apparently.
Get Stoned Ezy in particular has been raved about, quite deservedly, as a Holy Grail of wah-fuzz-feedback psych insanity, kind of an unknown precursor to the blown-out speed freak sounds of Japanese heavies like High Rise and Mainliner. Bearing the not entirely hyperbolic warning on the sleeve "This Record Is Very Powerful And Could Give You Earhole Damage", Get Stoned Ezy consists of three lengthy throbbing songs of rollicking fuzzed out guitar splooge with unhinged vocal drawling and pounding repetitive rhythms from this loosey-goosey power trio, total swarming distortion jams to the max.
Meanwhile, the slightly earlier I'm Off Me 'Ead is really almost as good, just a bit different, being marginally more song-oriented (well, there's more of 'em here) than Get Stoned Ezy, more shambolic and "Messthetics-y", if you're familiar with that series of UK DIY comps. It's definitely also about the monomaniacal, messed-up distortodelic guitar wrangling, you're in for plenty of that on either album.
Charming stuff for fans of Hendrix, Hawkwind, The Stooges, Wicked Lady, Groundhogs... and with the vocals factored in, these albums also oughtta appeal to fans of aQ fave Michael Yonkers, big time!
I'm Off Me 'Ead, limited to 500 copies, features remastered sound, and a full color inner sleeve with rare pics, a previously unpublished Steve Hall interview, and more.
Get Stoned Ezy is also remastered from an original vinyl copy (cuz the master tapes are long gone), and the cd booklet contains vintage photos of the band in action plus extensive & enthusiastic liner notes newly penned by the editor of Black To Comm 'zine, Chris Stigliano.
If you need any more convincing, heed the cover sticker blurb on that release from Ripley of Wooden Shjips, who sez: "Fucking essential". Speaking of Wooden Shjips, yeah if you like them and other current practitioners of "heavy psych", like White Hills and The Heads and Carlton Melton and Mainliner and Gnod and Earthless, then really you need to expose your toughened-up earholes to both Get Stoned Ezy and I'm Off Me 'Ead, pronto.
Where does the esteemed Professor Chris Black find the time?? Surely the most prolific man in heavy metal, with one of the best track records out there too, fronting Dawnbringer and Superchrist, drumming in cult epic power metal faves Pharaoh, doing that Aktor project with Jussi from Circle - oh yeah, and now ALSO fronting a Metalucifer tribute act called... wait for it... MetalUSAfer! (featured elsewhere on this list!), and while basically everything the man lays his hands on turns to heavy metal gold, if we had to pick a favorite here at aQ it just might be the motivational montage heavy metal High Spirits. They're just too fun, too catchy, too rock & roll.
2013 is more of a stop-gap release, made up of demos from the last couple of years, but we'll take whatever we can get when it comes to this band. And since these are demos there's an added rawness which is not at all unwelcome, giving these songs even more of an added sense of urgency than usual. For those not in the know, High Spirits play driving, fist pumping NWOBHM style metal perfect for speeding down a desert highway in the dead of night, hands clutched on the wheel in a pair of fingerless leather gloves. Opener "One Last Chance" is the perfect example - the kind of song you'd listen to when you've only got one more shot to make the grade, before the moment is lost forever... You know, that kind of thing! "Be My Shelter", with its harmonized leads over a fragmented rock & roll groove, is a bit reminiscent of early Devil's Blood - perfect for galloping down a dusty trail en route to an old West duel. "If I'm Gone" is a midpaced heartbreak rocker that wouldn't sound out of place on that recent Falcon album we raved about - the kind of track that might be playing while you flip up the collar on your leather jacket and turn away from your lady for the last time, in slow motion, a single tear only concealed by a tasty pair of aviator sunglasses. And while there's definitely a sense of genuine fun in High Spirits music like we mentioned before, the vocals and lyrics are delivered with such earnestness that the songs never devolve into homage, pastiche or parody. It's just street level, night time rock & roll - either you get it or you don't, and we are fully on board.
Like we said, these are demos, and we're looking forward to High Spirits' new full-length album, You Are Here, coming out in April on Hells Headbangers and High Roller.
Hot damn, we're in high spirits indeed to be gettin' this new full-length from High Spirits, whose self-titled demos disc we raved about last year, and proved to be a bit of a sleeper hit here at AQ. We've been waiting for their "debut" album proper ever since, and now here it is, High Spirits offering up nine new, completely classic-sounding songs that you could mistake for NWOBHM gems circa '79.
The mastermind behind High Spirits is multi-instrumentalist Chris "Professor" Black, best known for his critically acclaimed one-man-band Dawnbringer on Profound Lore. High Spirits is another one man band, although Chris has recruited a color-coordinated lineup for live performances. Here, however, he handles all the vocals, guitars, drums, songwriting, etc., heck he even self-released the cd. And even moreso than with Dawnbringer, which grew out of a black/death metal basis to incorporate more melody and traditional speed metal shred, with High Spirits he's utterly indulging his love of good ol' fashioned, and downright poppy, metal. And damn is he good at it. Gorgeous guitarwork, catchy tuneage... What's more, these songs rise above being merely ear candy for retro-metal nostalgics (though ear candy it is!), because of his distinctive, dare we say delicate, high voice (often harmonized with himself) and heartfelt, non-ironic lyrics. The melancholic tinge to his singing, juxtaposed with the hot rockin', headbanging riffage, gives this a very special, unique vibe. Compared to a lot of other current "New Wave Of Old School Metal" bands we like (Cauldron, Enforcer, Zuul, Twisted Tower Dire...) there's something about High Spirits' sound and songwriting approach that comes across as particularly honest and uncontrived, whether the songs be about love, or partying. Somehow even the sorta cheesy, "nighttime in the big city" stuff a la the album cover/title track, comes off as innocent and sincere. Listening to High Spirits is like listening to a good friend (or an inner voice) giving you a psychological pep talk, backed by powerful, warmly fuzzed guitars. If we're making comparisons, we'd say this probably comes closest to last year's highly praised debut from Christian Mistress, no foolin'.
Color us quite impressed, anyway, with the good Professor's memorable-metal-making abilities! F'n recommended, yeah!!
Yay, You Are Here is here! Man, we love this band - or man, since the band is just one fella, Chris "Professor" Black, one of metal's most prolific and prodigious talents at the moment. He's guy behind Dawnbringer, for one thing. Just a little while ago, we listed High Spirits' latest demo disc, as well as another brainchild of Chris', the MetalUSAfer 7" (a brilliantly conceptual tribute of sorts to cult Japanese true metal stalwarts, Metalucifer). Not long before those, we had that unique Aktor single, featuring Chris in cahoots with Jussi from Circle.
So we, and hopefully you too, are pretty well primed for this brand new full-length album from Chris' purest (purist?) metal project, High Spirits, full of more of the NWOBHM-inspired, 'motivational montage metal' (our phrase) we love about them, er, him. (High Spirits do have a live formation, by the way, with Chris joined by guys from Zuul, but in the studio, it's all Chris.)
The prime paradox of High Spirits' songs are that they're seemingly deliberately calculated to be the soundtrack for rainslick city streets at night, illuminated in neon light (kinda cheesy and cinematic, on the poppier side of '80s heavy metal stylings, right?), but they're also, in part due to Chris' earnest voice, very sincere and heartfelt sounding too, not ironic or anything. On this album, High Spirits pulls it off again. Great stuff, super catchy as always, from the uptempo opener "When The Lights Go Down" (the only track here to also appear on that demo disc), to anthemic rocker "I Need Your Love", to moody but also rockin' breakup track "Reminding You Of Me", to their fantastic theme-song closer "High Spirits" (reprised from their debut demo of 2009), heck all nine cuts are great. There's tons of fuzz on the guitar, tasty solos abound, and lyrically it's all about loves won and lost, mostly the latter. Simple, fun stuff in a way, but who does this anymore? And does it so well? And with such gravitas and aplomb? Gotta love it. Also gotta love the cover art, High Spirits' ditching the usual metal graphic conventions for a celebration of public mass transit.
Ok, we could go on and on, but we already told ya how much we love High Spirits, just listen to the sound samples if you're still undecided; if the songs don't tug on your heartstrings and/or get your head to banging, then you're no friend of ours (not really, but it always sounds cool to say that).
We have cds, and colored vinyl while they last.
When we were making our top tens for 2010, Allan realized that one of the discs he loved and listened to the most this year was something we hadn't even reviewed yet - and actually came out in 2009. Finally, we just got it in, though, direct from the band. It's this, High Spirits' self-titled debut, which consists mostly of material from two demo cd-rs, but they're the sort of demos with songs that some bands with a career's worth of proper albums could never better. So, some background on the Chicago-based High Spirits... Maybe you recall, in our review of Profound Lore's recent release by Dawnbringer a few lists back, we mentioned that the mastermind behind that outfit, Chris "Professor" Black, was also in a NWOBHM (New Wave Of British Heavy Metal) worshipping band called High Spirits. What with the critical acclaim that Dawnbringer has received, we expect some folks will be interested in this too - especially since as far as we're concerned, High Spirits is even better. Rather than trying to synthesize a variety of metal methodologies the way Dawnbringer does, High Spirits does one thing and does it so well... catchy, classic, honest to gosh pop songs in retro-metal guise, sounding so authentically NWOBHM that it's uncanny. Seriously, if someone told us that lead-off track "Torture" was a long lost single recorded by a band from London or Liverpool in 1980, we'd believe it.
Dunno how he does it, the Professor surely is talented a talented fella, with this, like Dawnbringer, being a one-man operation (though he's got accomplices for live performances, including two dudes from like minded retro metallers Zuul). The lo-fi demo budget production only adds to the atmosphere of awesomeness, as far as we're concerned. High Spirits simply rules, with warm, wonderfully FUZZED guitars, relentless riffing, tasteful solos, and Professor Black's slightly strained, ever so vulnerable, melodic vocals... and let's give it up for his lyrics, not something that we usually notice on most metal albums... they're pretty well-written for what they are, rock n' roll boy meets (or loses) girl cliche. Lyrics about loving and dreaming and yearning and running away, coming across as quite heartfelt, done with subtle cleverness. One line that stood out was: "Everything is what it seems / Just like in your dreams". Another we liked: "You left me crying on the day you said goodbye / But we both know you were so good at telling lies".
Memorable, melancholic, majestic, rockin'... Oooh. So good, can't wait for a new full-length. But even if this was all they ever did (and they have put out a 7" since), High Spirits should get some recognition, for conjuring such a classic sound - and songs - in this day and age. It's indeed about the songs, and the spirit - which is high indeed. Of all the new school of old school metal bands we've come across, High Spirits is one of the most worthy, please don't miss this. Heck, if NWOBHM means nothing to you but a jumble of letters, give this a shot, even folks into the current crop of indie garage pop with fuzzy guitars might just have a new favorite metal band!!
Available in either compact disc or vinyl formats, the cd in a digipack, the lp in a gatefold sleeve, both with minimal, black text on plain white graphic design that's simple but striking, lets the music speak for itself, and contributes to the super old school and underground vibe too.
New, nice reissues -- in slip covers, with bonus tracks and all the fixin's -- of these two (the only two) original classic High Tide albums. Previous cd reissues were hard to come by so it's even nicer to have these readily available. High Tide were a band at the intersection of psych-pop, prog, and acid rock. A great mix of the proggy, folky -- and HEAVY. For 1969, when their debut Sea Shanties was released, they were one of the heaviest bands around. Heavy due to the monster FUZZ guitar slashings of ax hero Tony Hill (formerly a member of Ugly Things magazine's favorite band, The Misunderstood), who also contributed vocals, sounding a bit like a British Jim Morrison. And High Tide had something else to keep them from being just another English blues rock power trio (a la Cream) -- their music was given an extra edge by the impassioned violin playing of fourth member Simon Hill, who went on to play with the Third Ear Band, Hawkwind and David Bowie.
Both Sea Shanties and the band's self-titled 1970 follow-up feature sinuous side-length songs, shades of light and dark, melodies both regal and rustic, and awesome instrumental interplay betwixt guitar and violin. These two albums are about equally great, and come recommended to anyone into the heavier side of '60s/'70s psych who hasn't yet had the pleasure of hearing 'em! File with The Dark, T2, Groundhogs, Socrates Drank The Conium, Clear Blue Sky, Fraction, and other early-daze proto-metal of the more psych-prog persuasion.
These reissues have copious liner notes, vintage photos, and vast expanses of unreleased bonus tracks -- Sea Shanties featuring five of 'em (two demo cuts and three songs that didn't make the album, including the eleven and a half minute long "The Great Universal Protection Racket"), High Tide with four, again two alternate takes and two unreleased efforts (among them an even longer, nearly 16 minute take on "The Great Universal Protection Racket"), all well worth hearing.
New, nice reissues -- in slip covers, with bonus tracks and all the fixin's -- of these two (the only two) original classic High Tide albums. Previous cd reissues were hard to come by so it's even nicer to have these readily available. High Tide were a band at the intersection of psych-pop, prog, and acid rock. A great mix of the proggy, folky -- and HEAVY. For 1969, when their debut Sea Shanties was released, they were one of the heaviest bands around. Heavy due to the monster FUZZ guitar slashings of ax hero Tony Hill (formerly a member of Ugly Things magazine's favorite band, The Misunderstood), who also contributed vocals, sounding a bit like a British Jim Morrison. And High Tide had something else to keep them from being just another English blues rock power trio (a la Cream) -- their music was given an extra edge by the impassioned violin playing of fourth member Simon Hill, who went on to play with the Third Ear Band, Hawkwind and David Bowie.
Both Sea Shanties and the band's self-titled 1970 follow-up feature sinuous side-length songs, shades of light and dark, melodies both regal and rustic, and awesome instrumental interplay betwixt guitar and violin. These two albums are about equally great, and come recommended to anyone into the heavier side of '60s/'70s psych who hasn't yet had the pleasure of hearing 'em! File with The Dark, T2, Groundhogs, Socrates Drank The Conium, Clear Blue Sky, Fraction, and other early-daze proto-metal of the more psych-prog persuasion.
These reissues have copious liner notes, vintage photos, and vast expanses of unreleased bonus tracks -- Sea Shanties featuring five of 'em (two demo cuts and three songs that didn't make the album, including the eleven and a half minute long "The Great Universal Protection Racket"), High Tide with four, again two alternate takes and two unreleased efforts (among them an even longer, nearly 16 minute take on "The Great Universal Protection Racket"), all well worth hearing.
For those of you who miss the big ol' fuzzed out desert rock of the mighty Kyuss, or can't get enough of the throbbing blown out RAWK of Fu Manchu and Nebula, this here SF band will almost definitely hit the spot. High Tone Son Of A Bitch mix the above bands sounds with some Thin Lizzy melody, some Eyehategod sludge, and some quirky complex arrangements to come up with some first rate stoner/sludge/doom rock. This 4 song ep also features appearances from Dave Edwardson of Neurosis playing Moogs... and our very own Andee behind the drum kit (but just for this ep)!
MPEG Download: "Fortune's Crown" [/audio/highfortunes.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "Fortune's Crown" [/audio/highfortunes.m3u]
Brand new record of looped lysergic psychedelia from this mysterious French one man band, his second for Not Not Fun, and maybe his 10th or something overall, but the first we've reviewed here, and it definitely seems like it's got aQ written all over it. Long loopscapes of rhythmic repetition, of swirling spaced out raga like ur-drones, of heart-of-the-sun blissed out soft noise, of swirling abstract free form drift, we hear plenty of likeminded noisemakers in High Wolf's sound, Birchville Cat Motel / Our Love Will Destroy The World, Avarus, Yellow Swans, Black Dice, Natural Snow Buildings, Raccoo-oo-oon, Starving Weirdos, Skaters, Sun Araw, even some Muslimgauze, and odds are anyone who digs most of those are gonna love High Wolf too.
"Meeting Of The Three Seas" offers up a softly warped, dreamily looped main rhythm, a motorik pulse amidst swirling clouds of chordal whir, of clipped voices, of deep drones, of tangled melodic fragments, gradually building in density and intensity, soon there are what sound like horns, blurred into swooping swirls of sound, a softly cacophonous climax, which quickly settles back into a warm woozy cloud of echo and delay. "Diego" follows the same pattern, a looped rhythm, that as it moves forward, gathers all manner of sonic detritus, bits of echo, strange voices, coos and aaahhh's, fragments of guitar, bleats of horns, soon squiggly synth melodies creep in, giving the track a sort of retro sci-fi vibe, before once again blossoming into a head spinning cloud of soft noise psychedelia. "Cloudhead" takes the same formula, but adds a whole bunch of haze, creating a super blissed out shoegazey dirgedronescape. "Solar System Is My God" might be our favorite track, it's the one that evokes Muslimgauze comparisons, with its tabla like rhythms, handclaps, warm swaths of muted buzz, chordal swirl and Eastern melody, this tracks climax, less intense, and more glimmering and glistening, sun dappled and celebratory.
The record finishes off with the nearly 13 minute "Fire In My Bones", which changes up the pattern, beginning with a thick blast of hazy soft focus sound, buried vocals, and pulsing shimmer, it's not until nearly 3 minutes in, that the rhythm kicks in, and this time the background sound echoes the rhythm, a mesmerizing trancelike ripple, underpinning keening buzz drenched high end melodies, a distinctly tripped out raga vibe for sure, then a brief stretch of hushed minimal echo, laced with disembodied wah wah guitar, before slipping right back into the eyes-to-the-sky ritualistic sonic blissout that started the track. Awesome stuff. Total sonic manna for the drone-loop-psych-bliss crowd...
French one man psychedelic loopscaper High Wolf finds his way onto our pal JW's Holy Mountain label, and offers up another mesmerizing collection of collaged soundscapes and rhythmic mesmer, but unlike on past records where the High Wolf sound was dense, and noisy, a little chaotic, a Birchville Cat Motel like slow build to a dense layered soft cacophony, the sounds here are much more blissed out and dubby, very rhythmic with a bit of an Eastern vibe, the opening track especially sounds like a more lysergic Muslimgauze, with some sitar like buzz and tribal hand drums woven into the song's blurred soft swells and spidery melodies, it's easily the dreamiest thing we've heard from HW, and we definitely wish it had gone one way longer. The second track offers up more of the same, with a bit more effects, muted percussion, some warm fuzzed out shimmer, all in a haze of washed out effects, until the low end swoops in, thick and dense, synthy and warbly, a strange fuzzy pulse laid over that initial rhythm, a dark raga like kosmische sound that drifts and shimmers hypnotically until the song finally winds down.
Track three, "Raagini" begins all raga buzz, layered high end tones, but quickly blossoms into a sound more like the High Wolf of old, a gauzy expanse of mesmerizing buzz, but here the drones are laid over a strange sonar like pulse, which gives the otherwise nearly static buzz an otherworldly propulsion. "Kenya Sunset" is another one that starts off all Muslimgauze-y, looped and darkly rhythmic, ominous and cinematic, the surrounding sounds in constant motion, totally tranced out, the sort of thing we could listen to forever, but instead of going on forever, the song erupts into a wild psychedelic squall, that wraps itself around that pulsing rhythm, and rides it for the length of the track. And then finally, the nearly 14 minute "Haiti" smooths the looped rhythms into something much more abstract and droney, some spaced out psychedelic drift, that builds slowly into a warm washed out celestial swirl, all bleary and blurry and dreamy, but still shot through with some smoldering psychedelic guitar, the perfect closer to one of our favorite High Wolf records yet.
Includes a download coupon as well!
Latest from this French psychedelic loopscaper, hot on the heels of his Ascension lp, which we loved (and still have a few copies of, just ask!). Like Ascension, Incapulco finds Mr. Wolf, assembling sprawling landscapes of layered loops, of swirling psychedelic atmospheres, mesmerizing, hypnotic, repetitive, cyclical, total tranced out zoner bliss. Wah guitars are wreathed in effects and wrapped around stuttering percussions and whorls of tinkling melody, wild tangles of African rhythms wound tight over soft moody swells and shoegazey shimmer, hushed hazy atmospheric drift shot through with tendrils of glitched out electronics, a sort of industrial flecked new age dronescape, fracture eighties pop, lopped and looped into a Ferraro-esque bit of lysergic Tropicalia, soft swirls of prismatic analog synth give way to woozy Casiocore lounge drift, pulsing motorik churn underpinning flecks of psychedelic wah and heaving crumbling thrum.
Another fantastic collection of consciousness altering sonic shimmer and bongsmoke fueled ur-drone dream loop mesmer, for anyone into Skaters, James Ferraro, Monopoly Child Star Searchers, Avarus, Natural Snow Buildings, Vibracathedral Orchestra, Starving Weirdos, etc...
The Not Not Fun label's Bored Fortress subscription split 7" series has been going on for a few years now, and is always killer, featuring a who's who of hip underground weirdo rock combos, not to mention some seriously fantastic packaging, and for whatever reason, this year, a handful of the previously subscription only singles have been made available to non subscribers, but not for long, as these babies are crazy limited.
High Wolf do more of that tripped out psychedelic loopage we love so much, and that few seem to be able to pull off quite so fantastically, this one a little bit more rhythmic and spacey than usual, a simple motorik pulse, beneath billowy clouds of processed guitars and sweetly melodic blurred loops, which eventually build to a full on pounding, lo-fi, psychedelic squall freakout. Awesome.
Never heard of the weirdly named Savage Young Taterbug, but as their name might suggest, their sound is equally weird, a twisted drift of super lo-fi Casio style organ wheeze, abstract tinkling chimes, disembodied melodies, super distorted echo drenched vox, crumbling crunchy guitars and all manner of percussive plink and plonk, like a poppier, way slower Avarus, that same sort of abstract psychedelic campfire jam, which is surprisingly transformed for the last little bit into a super lethargic 16rpm blues crawl, still wrapped in buzz and fuzz and whir. Definitely psyched to hear more, uh, Savage Young Taterbug!
Also, we have another Bored Fortress title, besides the ones we're listing now, the Infinite Body / No Age split 7", VERY few copies of that one, not enough to list, just ask if you want one and IF we still have some left, it could be yours!
Higher Intelligence Agency and Biosphere are two of the hold overs from the early 90s ambient / electronica scene which featured The Future Sound Of London, The Orb, and KLF, as the prime movers. This collaboration is a chill-out number with lots of windswept knobtwiddling, kaleidoscopic post-acid patterns, and occasional beats.
Latest blast of downtuned, crusty, sludge-soaked ultra doom from these Kentucky killers, released on the always kick ass Israeli label Total Rust. Somehow we missed out listing the first Highgate record, which we're kicking ourselves for now, cuz this new one is a pretty brutal and twisted slab slow and low heaviness.
Three tracks (and one brief sampled intro), a little over 40 minutes of extreme, hateful, filthy slow motion, grim, grinding ultramegadoom. A lumbering, lurching, stumbling slo-mo sludgefest, creeping and crawling and slithering sickly, the guitars thick and tarpit black, the drums a Neanderthal pound, and the vocals, howled, growled and bellowy, but weirdly metallic and effected, as if they were sung through a length of pipe, making them sound sick and alien and awesomely fucked up.
This is about as doomy and dismal as it gets, no swing, no Sabbathy groove, a little bit of clean guitar shimmer, a sort of minimal outro in the second song, but other than that, Shrines To The Warhead is all death march trudgery, lead foot dirgery and blackened and filthy hellish crush and pummel. The sort of sick shit that should be sonic sweetness for folks into Eyehategod, Khanate, Bunker, Moss, Corrupted, Otesanek, Habsyll, Moloch, Monarch, Salome, Trees, Whitehorse and the like.
An obscure early '70s American power trio that we'd never heard of until a bootleg cd recently crossed our path. Intrigued by the cover photo of three long-haired stoner dudes, we checked it out (hoping for something akin to Sabbath or Budgie but perfectly aware that we were more likely to discover something more like unsuccessful ... wannabes). Lo! Highway Robbery turned out to be bonafide heavy-hitters, playing proto-metal in the Led Zep vein, with moments recalling Sabbath and the Who. Huzzah! Double huzzah, 'cause we then discovered that this, their only album (originally released by Capitol in 1973) had serendipitously just been reissued by Collectables, and we could share our discovery with the lucky patrons of Aquarius. It's almost all super heavy and rockin, despite the obligatory misguided pop efforts made by all not-metal-yet hard rockers of the era, it's got a singing drummer, they've got the look, what more do you want! Fans of current or vintage "stoner rock" should jump on this. Wow, it's always nice to find that there's stuff out there remaining to surprise us.
Been meaning to get to this one for a while... and then we reviewed it and our supplier was out of stock... but now they've got 'em again and here you go: Japanese guitarist Hisato Higuchi's previous disc on the Family Vineyard label, Dialogue, was all about the almost motionless, mysterious spare strum, a lonely n' lovely abstract guitar meditation. This newer disc starts off that way, with the quietly beautiful "A Hundred Signs Of Light"... but then, when track two, "Grow", kicks in, Higuchi's guitar playing suddenly, surprisingly takes a thrilling turn into amped up electric skree territory. It still sounds lonely and lovely - just WAY more loud and distorted. "Blood And Leaves" follows in the same vein. But then "Melody In The Mud" takes us back to the hushed, minimal moodiness of the first track... though 'tis only a brief (1:39) interlude before the next track, "Electric Guitar Light", erupts in full speaker shredding glory. It's a bit like Loren Connors sharing an album with Keiji Haino (hmmm, actually, those two have done that, but it's been a while and we can't say for sure that's what this sounds like...).
This album continues like this, Higuchi's somnolent, near-ambient songs (with some breathy, barely-there vocals), abutting others that aren't nearly so mellow... one of those is album-ender "Cry Baby Flowers", which sounds something like Eddie Hazel's "Maggot Brain" with a Merzbow makeover. Actually these crinkly-cranked distorted guitar solos -are- still sorta mellow, or at least mesmeric, but only if you're used to enjoying noisier stuff. Certainly they share the same slo-mo suggestions of melody and melancholia with the quieter pieces on here...
Definitely for fans of Neil Youngish fuzz freakout feedback side of Nagisa Ni Te, or Hjiokaidan noise guitar maven Jojo Hiroshige's more "musical" solo efforts. We really, really like it.
First domestic release from this puppeteer turned slow motion sound sculptor. This is some of the most breathtaking, delicately lovely music we've ever heard. Barely strummed guitars, like flickering candlelight, each note sent fluttering by the tiniest breeze, above these crystalline melodies drifts a barely-there vocal, a hushed, near whisper, like a shadow, there one second, fading to nothing the next. Imagine the most spare and skeletal blues, then somehow imagine the ghostly after image after a quick glimpse, nothing left but the spare outline, a fading melodic memory. Definitely reminiscent of Loren Connors. But even more shadowy and mysterious. Imagine being lost in some old black and white movie, and stumbling upon a dimly lit bar on the edge of nowhere. Once you step inside it's suddenly no longer black and white, instead everything is an oversaturated deep red, almost black, you settle into a corner table, and a deep dark billow of sound drifts off of the darkened stage. Like tiny tendrils of sonic smoke. A lone figure sits, cloaked in shadows, hunched over a guitar, barely moving, but each tiny movement releases another smattering of notes, that drift in the deep red light like dust motes, the entire room captivated and motionless. This is the sound of that. Gorgeous and lonely, wonderfully wistful and so so lovely.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
This is the second bit of gorgeous ambient folk drone we've heard from Higuma, the duo of Barn Owl's Evan Caminiti and his musical partner Lisa McGee, after a criminally limited cd-r on Root Strata, sadly this lp is nearly as limited, only 250 copies total, already sold out and out of print, except maybe for the 25 copies we have right now, which as you know means, be quick or be dead (dead as in, no Higuma for you, you won't actually die, maybe).
The sounds is much like you might expect from the Barn Owl / Elm / Caminiti and now Higuma axis, looooong tracks of dark windswept shimmer, dense brooding drones and epic abstract folk flecked drift.
Clouds of processed guitar swirl ghostlike above buried rhythms, chant like vox, skeletal melodies, the sounds sprawl and smolder, occasionally building to drugged out Spacemen 3-like soft cacophonies, but just as often melting into something more delicate and space-y with spidery psychedelic guitars blurred into distant swells, gongs and chimes, adding mysterious textures and overtones to the already gloriously murky and moody proceedings.
The whole record is a delicate assemblage of whir and buzz and rumble, the sounds intertwined, smeared, layered into spectral space drone, but always remaining earthy and organic, not OF the stars, but earthbound and staring up INTO the stars, the sound of deep black night, dusted with starlight, all held at bay by the flicker and crackle of Higuma's slow burning dreamlike blurscapes.
So gorgeous. Cool handscreened sleeves, original art by Caminiti, and again, 250 copies, out of print, and unavailable once these final copies are gone...
Wholly enveloping, river soaked, fog piercing drone. Barn Owl's Evan Caminiti and a previously unknown-to-us artist named Lisa McGee collaborate to bring forth cathartic ruminations in the form of ghostly guitar, softly sparring vocals, various percussive devices and an unnamable, innumerable catalog of various other instruments. The collaboration was a live improvisational affair, which the liner notes claim was recorded "in the valley." The appropriately and cleverly named album, Haze Valley, name checks one of our own neighborhoods here in San Francisco, Hayes Valley. Anyone who checked out and enjoyed any of the releases by Cloaks, White Rainbow (particularly the more sedate side), Barn Owl (obviously), or La Monte Young will be pleased with what they'll find here. Make no mistake about it, this is definitive dronemusic. While it is beautiful and has some structured elements, this is for the true trippers. Those looking for hummable hooks and such may find more satisfaction looking elsewhere, but for an immersive, spiritual headphones experience, this is your destination. It is also worth noting that the cover art was made by Evan, and its burgeoning crystal pyramid couldn't be more lovely or more perfectly suited to the sounds found herein. Drone freaks beware, this could easily take over your stereo.
LIMITED TO ONLY 100 COPIES!!! These are the only ones we'll ever have...
Pacific Fog Dreams is the latest missive of abstract droned out psychedelia from Higuma, the duo of Evan Caminiti (of Barn Owl) and Lisa McGee, a logical extension of Caminiti's twang drone doom folk soundscaping in Barn Owl, Higuma finds Caminiti and McGee crafting epic, roiling expanses of smoldering slow burn shimmer and hushed apocalyptic minimalism, heaving sheets of distorted sound swirl like black clouds in a grey sky, lit from within by a distant sun, that glow a constant source of deep divine melody, each track an ancient ritual depicted in sound, a journey from some deep lost other world to some future unknowable self, the various instruments woven into undulating sonic tapestries, McGee's reverbed disembodied voice a glowing thread running throughout, the sound shifting from shoegazey to hazy, warm and whispery to dark and droney, occasionally erupting into gouts of grinding super distorted psychedelic effulgence, the vocals following right along soaring into the stratosphere, a keening high end melody held aloft by the burnished blackened guitar thrum.
Elsewhere, the guitars hover and drift, a swirling hum, a spectral presence, the various melodies blurred and smeared into the background, becoming a strange prismatic ever shifting landscape of chordal fragments, each like the ghost of some lost song, soon to be swallowed up by a wave of crumbling corrosive buzz, a strangely melodious bit of SUNNO))) blasted crush, the edges smoothed, the grit worn away, leaving a thick undulating swell of bleary, blissed out shimmer, laced with tendrils of steel string buzz, and wreathed in garlands of whir and blur and rumble.
The final movement begins as steel grey streaks of chordal corrosion peel away, leaving nothing but swirling shadows and barely there billows of echo drenched drone, before blossoming into a strum laden slow build, a sea of sympathetic vibrations and lush overtones, keening high end shimmers off in the distance, and a dense melodic center, pulsing, the melody threatening to break free, but held in check by swaths of whirling buzz, the various sounds slowly loosing their bonds, and becoming one, the colors running together, creating a dark black buzz, that trails off into the night sky.
So gorgeous. Beautiful packaging too, and of course, LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!!
The Brit band ABC started the alphabet monikering back in the 80s. Now, Bay Area young'uns HIJK pick it up a few letters down the line. This ain't no schoolhouse rock nor retro new wave business though. HIJK make emo indie pop that intially lures you in with their gentle boyish Death Cab Gibbard-y vocals, but then gives the proceedings a jolt when the tunes shatter into noise bursts. Cool stuff.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Ten inches of Japanse noise from the undisputed kings. Merzbow's Masami Akita guests on drums!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
That's right, what with the "Merzbox" and all we've been on a bit of a nostalgic Japanese noise kick here at AQ, and now there's these Hijokaidan reissues on Osaka's Alchemy label to contend with. Hijokaidan deservedly use the "King of Noise" title, as they, along with Merzbow, are one of the oldest and longest running, not to mention noisiest, artists in the Japanese noise scene. This 1985 album certainly lives up to their reputation, with tracks like "Tod Dem Marxismus" and "Self-Mutilation". What makes this disc stand out among some of the other Hijokaidan releases we've heard, though, is the presence of T. Mikawa (of Incapacitants) on drums, as well as his usual voice and electronics. The tracks with his drumming make this into slightly more of a rhythmic noise-rock or VERY free jazz thing than the unrelenting vacuum-cleaner-from-hell howl typical of Hijokaidan. But the duo (for here Hijokaidan is but a duo, with usual member Junko credited only as "watcher" on 3 tracks, not even all of 'em!) doesn't neglect their trademark feedback frenzies with Jojo's electric guitar doing maximum damage. Perhaps for noiseniks only, but a good 'un. Brain-cleansing.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
The self-described King of Noise (and sports-card shop owner) returns with a new blast of, um, noise. Other participants include members of fellow Japanese noise royalty Merzbow (on drums) and Incapacitants...and there's one track recorded live here in San Francisco by the way.
Japanese noise aficionados, this highlight's for you... nope it's not another Merzbow album, but something quite a bit less common: new Hijokaidan! The facts in the case of this newest Hijokaidan noise atrocity as are follows: three tracks, approximately 25-27 minutes each, all recorded live at the 2006 All Ears Festival in Oslo, Norway. Actually only the first track is Hijokaidan proper, the other two being variant line-ups featuring a guest Norwegian musician dueting with one or the other of the two core Hijokaidan members. Track one, "No Oslo No Harm", is classic Hijokaidan howl, from the duo of Jojo (guitar) and Junko (voice). An ear melting white noise screech n' screamathon, natch. Track two, "Book Of Changes", featuring Jojo teamed up with another guitarist, the Norwegian Per Gisle Galaen, is just a bit more, er, "musical" and dynamic, with even some moments of relative peace and calm amidst this psychedelic (a la Keiji Haino) storm of droning, exploding, feedbacking "out" guitar destruction... while Jojo is a master of the art, Per Gisle Galaen more than holds his own. With all its vacuum cleaner violence and low end clangor and buried hints of fragile melody, we'd pick this as our fave selection on this heavy duty disc.
Third up is "Le Rayon Verte", a track performed by the duo of vocalist Junko and one Sten Ove Toft on electronics. The electronics are a grinding, crumpled distortion pile-up, the vocals an endless squeaky wheel shriek. It's harrowing to say the least, like hearing the sounds emanating from a torture chamber/wind tunnel combination!
This is one of the first three releases we've had on the new Pica Disk label run by Norwegian noise dude Lasse Marhaug (Jazzkammer, Jazkamer, etc.) along with the new disc from New Zealand's Birchville Cat Motel also highlighted this list, and another Japanese noise entry from Hijokaidan compatriots the Incapacitants. Clearly Pica Disk means business!
Volume Six in the "Hijokaidan Rarity Series" is another treat for all of you into UTTER DEVASTATING NOISE. As practiced in Japan, which makes it even better. Hijokaidan, despite fierce competition from Merzbow, Masonna, and quite a few others, are still the reigning Kings Of Noise in the Land Of The Rising Sun. With a cover and title paying homage to their krautrock heroes Faust, Hijokaidan's Tapes is a crucial entry in their discography, a record originally released in 1986 as sort of a career retrospective to date, comprising tracks from various eras and lineups, all only previously available on cassette. It starts off way back in 1979 with Hijokaidan's first ever recording, the studio-destroying (so they, rather believably, claim!) electric guitar and vocal skree of "Angel Dust" as performed by the founding duo of Jojo Hiroshige and Naoki Zushi. 1980's "Circles" adds more members and instrumentation (including drums and saxophone) and certainly doesn't let up from the noisy standard set by "Angel Dust". Then there's a 1985 track by the Incapacitants (members of Hijokaidan, equally noisy on their own), followed by two lengthy cuts from '85 and '86 inspired by horror film/fiction ("The Beyond" and "Salem's Lot", the latter an especially effective/destructive 18+ minute drones n' screams attack). And then Tapes finishes up with a cover tune, their beautifully blown-out take on the classic '70s space rocker "Silver Machine" by another band of Hijokaidan heroes, Hawkwind. Good stuff. Plus, the front cover features very personal notes on each track, and a history of the band '79-'86, neatly typed up in English. How can any Hijokaidan/noise fan do without this??
Really? The Last Recording Album from the not merely long-running but legendary Japanese guitar-destruction, electronic-overload and vocal-screech noise outfit Hijokaidan? Well we're not exactly sure if that means that this is truly the final album that they plan to unleash before unplugging their amps, selling their effects boxes on eBay, and enjoying a well-deserved retirement after 25+ years of eardrum abuse (what does a retired Hijokaidan do? golf? take guitar lessons? what?) or, if it's simply their last album...before the next one. We'll see. In any event, either way, fans of Hijokaidan / Japanese noise will find this quite a satisfying experience. The line-up for this disc features the usual Hijokaidan core duo of Jojo Hiroshige (guitar) and Junko (voice), along with both members of Incapcitants (T. Mikawa and F. Kosaki) on electronics and also Nao Shibata on drums. So they've got a lot of noise/rock/more noise firepower here! DISTORTION. FEEDBACK. SCREAMING. And pummelling percussion too. It's a beautiful thing. If you're into it, that is. And if you aren't, a paragraph from us saying it's great won't change your mind. So, Hijokaidan fans, here's five tracks, about 70 minutes, of what you love. Maybe for the last time.
