[ aquarius records catalogue

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

Showing results 1151 through 1200 of 1631.

Another fine taste of the future from Black Hoodz, a subsidiary of Wordsound. This is 6 tracks of the roughest, meanest, lo-fi-est hip hop from the wrong side of the Brooklyn Bridge. Fuzzed out and dirty. Awesome, if you can handle it (and not everyone can). For fans of Spectre, Sensational and the Wordsound label in general.

"Barely Legal," the debut album from Swedish garage rockers The Hives, gets its domestic release on none other than Gearhead Records, whose catalog includes numerous full-throttle punk rock bands including The Pattern and Red Planet. This cd was

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While The Hives definitely continue to fly the anthemic party rock flag on their latest album, it also seems like they took a silly pill while in the recording studio. The Black And White Album boasts one of the dorkiest songs we've heard in a long time! For one thing, it's self-congratulatory (the chorus features the line "We rule the world!"), it's got spelling ("H-I-V-E-S"), the vocals are delivered in an ultra nerd nasalness, plus the backing tracks are some uncharacteristic cheez-tronic synths and programmed rhythms. The latter three elements reappear on the second most dorky song "Giddy Up!" Weird and strangely endearing. Nonetheless, while the goofy songs are worth a couple of listens at most before they start to grate, the band's more familiar bombastic, blistering guitar pop rocks are still very much intact and gleefully make up the rest of the album. What's "Paaaarty!" in Swedish? "The Hives!"

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How can you not love the Hives?! They're Swedish to begin with. And they look great, matching suits and all that. Plus the bandmembers have names like Chris Dangerous, Nicholaus Arson, Vigilante Carlstroem, Dr. Matt Destruction. And Dr. Matt Destruction just happens to be the most rocking guy to ever sport a serious paunch, a big ol' moustache and a combover. And besides all that, they totally rock. And they write great songs. Obviously if you like the White Stripes and other sort-of-garage MTV bands (Von Bondies, the Kills, etc.) you'll love or already love the Hives. But don't let the hype put you off. All you Stooges / sixties / obscure psych reissue obsessives might find you actually dig something from 2004!

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Sweden's The Hives finally fire up a second full length after a three year wait. And quite an awesome, rockin' one it is! Since their debut, they've clearly honed their rock style, stance and power. This album was released in 2000 in Europe on the Burning

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Way back in 2002 we listed a record by Norway's Hlidolf, who whipped up (or, er... down) a slow motion swirl of spacey, dark, drifty, deep, and droney doom sludge. Channelling Earth 2, SUNNO))), Lustmord, Klaus Schulze and the like. Obviously it was a huge AQ fave. Unfortunately that release seems to have faded and disappeared into the ether, but thankfully we now have this epic three track disc from Hjarnidaudi, who are the rightful sonic heirs to the space doom drone throne once occupied by Hlidolf (due in no small part to this being the new project of Hlidolf's Vidar Ermesjo). But where Hlidolf was all darkness and doom, winter and wastelands, Hjarnidaudi is white hot light and blinding bursts of fuzz and sparkle, like the impossible birth of a new universe. Sure it's still slow and doomy, but much like the recent Fleshpress III record, this is a doom band moving beyond the confines of pure doom. Huge expansive stretches of majestic slow moving melody, a sort of doom certainly, but instead of murky downtuned gurgling sludge, these doomscapes are constructed from jagged buzzy brittle slabs of crystalline guitars, brief explosive smears of almost ambient fuzz, held together by an impossibly glacial rhythm section. Sunroof! by way of Esoteric, a shoegazer SUNNO))), a WAY less propulsive Jesu, or Skepticism broadcast through the M83 soundsystem. A gloriously thick and rich, warm and shimmering expanse of stretched out buzzing guitars, dreamy melodies, minor key and melancholy, but with a strangely warm embrace. If most sludge-doom-death-drone is like dunking your head in a tarpit, the world a dripping black dirge, Hjarnidaudi is like falling into the Sunn, hot and blinding, the world splintering into a million tiny sparkling pieces. Limited to 750 copies, packaged in a mini lp style sleeve wrapped in a hand stamped brown paper outer sleeve.

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We first discovered Hjarnidaudi via the always amazing Paradigms label, but at the time we were even more excited by the fact that the man behind Hjarnidaudi was one Hlidolf, who was responsible for one of our all time favorite (and sadly now out of print) doomdronedirge records, a massive slab of slow motion spaced out sludge that was the perfect combination of SUNNO))) slow motion sludge and blissed out psychedelic space drift a la Klaus Schulze. So we were surprised to learn Hjarnidaudi was a full on band, still heavy and doomy and slow, but a band, who didn't traffic exclusively in slow motion sludge, but created glimmering shimmering doomscapes, that took the slow and low and wreathed it in fuzz and warmth and shimmer, on Paradigms' Pain:Noise:March. And now it's 3+ years later, and we discover there's a NEW Hjarnidaudi, so we order a bunch cuz we loved the last one (made it a Record Of The Week!), and whattayaknow, we're surprised once again. The band is barely even doomy anymore it seems, instead offering up some looped, hypnotic heaviness, the guitars dense and heavy, the drums big and booming, the sound a sort of epic post metal mathiness, guitars moaning and keening, while another offers up weird high end tangles, super propulsive, downright rocking and a little proggy. But hold off, that's only the first song, the other three tracks are definitely a lot doomier and darker, pounding and plodding, with guitars ringing out, chiming and shimmering, wreathed in crumbling distortion, woozy and washed out, but definitely dark and depressive and dreamily doomy, however, also strangely clean, the guitars more loud and effected than downtuned and distorted, some moments this actually sounds like a more blissed out less gloom pop Katatonia... and by track three the distortion becomes totally blown out and the band slips into full on metallic Jesu / Nadja territory offering up a deafening blown out coda.

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First we've heard from this Swedish black metal horde, and we were surprised by the sound, which is quite polished and well produced, not nearly the raw grimness we were expecting, instead, it's more like some super technical blackened death metal, with tons of melody, every burst of blasting black buzz, countered by some super slick melodic heaviness, but it's a pretty potent combo for sure, the musical math of cold grim BM plus Swedish DM tough to argue with. At various moments in the record, the sound does veer decidedly toward one or the other, but more often than not landing right in the middle. The fierce riffage, harsh vokills and technical drumming are all crystal clear, super heavy, but nearly glistening with machinelike precision. And as mentioned above, the melodies are a huge part of Hladomrak's sound, melancholy and minor key, with every song repeatedly lurching from churning chug, or soaring majestic blast, to melodic moodiness, doom melancholia, and in many cases impossible poppiness. But that poppiness does not detract from the record's heft or heaviness, instead it positions Hladomrak in a whole different sonic realm, one well removed from the environs of raw grimness. And while musically, this is already pretty stellar, the record is peppered with some cool subtle weirdness, whether it's little squiggly tangles of shred, progged out mathiness, broody almost doomy breakdowns, blasts of grinding ferocity, cool clean guitar folkiness, or soaring majestic almost Viking sounding epicry, it's all in service of the songs, which are technical, and catchy, and melodic and should definitely appeal to fans of In Flames, At The Gates, Dissection, Unleashed and other sonically similar outfits.

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Does spacey, dark, drifty, deep, and droney sound good to you? Then pay attention: "Darkwave" (i.e. industrial, ambient) label Dragonflight Recordings (who last brought us the experimental black metal of Proscriptor) has just established a sub-label for, well, the sub-sonic specialty that can be described as 'doom' (metal or otherwise), and their first release is the debut cd from Hlidolf. Not sure what the name means, or how you're supposed to say it, and actually we don't know much of anything else about Hlidolf except that it's the project of one fellow from Norway, Vidar Ermesjo. He recorded this in "Hlidolf Studios" (his home, we presume) in the dark and cold of last winter. It's one loooooong instrumental track (70min!), sorta somewhere betwixt Earth "2" and Maeror Tri or Lustmord. SUNNO))) and Skepticism also come to mind, and especially the obscure and defunct Neptune Towers project of Darkthrone's Fenriz, which this release pays tribute to in its liner notes ("Not for collective listening...recommended listening with headphones, or large, black stereos..."). Like Neptune Towers, this sounds like Krautrock electronics maestro Klause Schulze gone over to the dark side, all evil and ominous, yet soothing -- good late night, creepy going-to-sleep music, if you like that sort of thing (which I do, though unfortunately it's not the preference of my girlfriend...) Glacial, bass-heavy, beautiful. It's almost religious.

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

SORRY. Totally great debut recording by this all-female Japanese electronic avant-pop trio featuring sampler player Sachiko M. (ISO, Ground Zero), koto player Yagi Michiyo (who has a solo disc on Tzadik), and vocalist Haco (After Dinner, Acid Mothers Temple), who also contributes theremin, guitar, tapes, effects, and handclaps. This group also has an upcoming release on Tzadik (May 23rd) which we eagerly await. (This release isn't all that new, but we hadn't stocked it before...)

Fantastic 2nd (first US) release from this all-female Japanese avant-pop group. Yagi Michiyo on the koto (veteran of a Tzadik solo release), Haco on vocals and other instruments, and sinewave sampler virtuoso Sachiko M (known for her work with Otomo Yoshihide in Ground Zero and ISO). Includes a couple of reworked tracks from the import debut on Sachiko's Amoebic label, and more, new wonderful electronic/experimental pop songs in the same vein, strange and lovely. Recommended. [/cat/experimental84.html]

The Hoahio girls are back with their second release for John Zorn's Tzadik label's New Japan series. As before, this trio concoct exciting, experimental pop music that's at once both very strange and very charming. However, Sachiko M's sine-wave sampler is no longer present in the group, which now consists of avant-vocalist Haco, koto virtuoso Yagi Michiyo, and new member Era Mari on multifarious percussion: marimba, vibes, xylophone, etc. Yet even without Sachiko, a big electronic element remains, as Haco toys with various synths, effects, and thermin (along with playing electric mandolin on several songs). Sundry other samples and sound sources -- a speed-skating broadcast in one song, crickets in another -- mix with Haco's lovely, supple voice. Some tracks are delicate, atmospheric and folky, while others utterly rock out with quirky, spunky abandon. Bravo Hoahio!

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Been trying to review this for a while, but everyone kept selling out, the debut full length from these hardcore punks, their sound a furious, grinding frenzy of wild drumming, distorto rigging, and some seriously SICK vokills (and yeah, usually vokills are metal, but this guy could be doing time in a black/death metal band if he wanted), which make this sound seriously fucked up and frantic, the production massive, the guitars monstrous, and those vox, vitriolic and borderline disturbing. There's an intro here (penned by Phamakon!), which is all buzzing rumbles, and weird grinding industrial sounds, coughing and vocal grunts, all swirling and murky and extremely ominous, but once the record proper kicks in, it's a nonstop face melting crush. The sound's a bit sludge-y and crusty too, especially when they slow down into churning, lumbering tarpit dirgery, but i's never long before they explode into another frenzy of blasting pounding ferocity. And did we mention leads? Yep, the occasional burst of shredding lead guitars, angular and atonal, which are generally quickly swallowed up by another onslaught of hardcore pummel. There are some weirdly melodic moments scattered throughout the record, and lots of surprisingly lush textures, some almost Godspeed-y slow builds, but those elements are less 'weird' and 'experimental', than just another facet of their sound, seamlessly woven into what is essentially some seriously crushing, classic metallic hardcore, that KILLS. Punk rock record of the year hands down. Even though it's from last year. But odds are you're not gonna hear a record this brutal and heavy and punk as fuck this year anyway, so there. One of the most elaborately packaged punk rock records in recent memory too. A fold over full color jacket, with a super striking, dude-hanging-from-his-foot-from-a-tree cover image, and inside, SIX, that's right six, HUGE two sided posters!

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

SORRY. The wise folks at Revolver distro and/or Road Cone summed this one up pretty well: "The debut album from these Nor'west out-edge dream sailors. A delightful calm of Near East folk melodies, crafty electronic daze, Krautrock-inflected sound collages, musique concrete and percussive drones. Features such nifty sound machines as Theremin, harmonium and cumbus (Turkish banjo-mandolin) as well as staples like guitar, bass and percussion. Nine uniquely beautiful songs featuring some former members of [old AQ-faves] the Irving Claw Trio." We won't argue. Recommended.

Second album from this Pacific NW combo, folks who've seen the same lights in the sky witnessed by the likes of Six Organs of Admittance, the Sun City Girls, and the Davis Redford Trio (whose Mr. Lobdell engineered this disc). Their debut, "I Love You", was all about exotic/ethnic instrumentation, folky drone, and druggy low-key musique concrete. With this oddly-titled follow-up, it seems that they've moved out of the confines of their bedroom studio into the practice space to kick out the jams a little bit more, for a groove-laden, rock-of-the-kraut-persuasion experience. Still very exotic sounding, just more head-nodding at spots. Psychedelic pick of the week.

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We haven't managed to catch Hodag live yet, but it sounds like it must be a bit like having someone fire ice picks right into your ear canal from a high powered rifle. Or imagine being stripped naked and rubbed raw with some free jazz sand paper. CMJ wrote that Hodag's�debut "doodles corpsepaint on Albert Ayler,�sounding like jazz-spazzes trying to claw their way out of Xasthur's murky coffin." Hard to come up with anything better than that. This is definitely some sort of free jazz, or some sort of ambient noise, there is no black metal per se, but it does sound very black, with swirls of damaged synth, sputtering drum kit spazzouts, lots of space, but lots just as many bursts of ultra dense brutality. For the pure souled and strong eared amongst you! LIMITED TO 100 COPIES!!! Each disc packaged in a cool hand screened cardboard sleeve.

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RennFaire gone Rock In Opposition? Italian prog meets medieval madrigals?? We're still puzzling about how to describe this wonderful, wonderful disc, a remastered cd reissue of a rare LP (long awaited by some, totally new to us but very welcome -- thanks Robot!) which was recorded by composer Kay Hoffman in Florence, Italy in 1977, though not released until 1985, on vinyl in Japan only! On Floret Silva, Hoffman and her collaborators, including members of the very excellent and arty Italian prog band Pierrot Lunaire, took a trove of medieval Latin poetry known as the Carmina Burana -- poems written by anonymous authors around 1200AD that are both religious in nature as well as very earthy and real, about such subjects as love and money -- and set them to music. The settings are diverse (as befits the variety of these texts), and the results are often eerie and pretty and even a little bit groovy, with quirky chamber ensemble/prog rock backing and even the use of field recordings. Utterly magical for the most part, most especially due to the delicate vocals of Jacquline Darby. One song reminds us strongly of Stereolab, others call to mind (rather more obscurely) that Flamen Dialis album we've raved about before. This should appeal to experimental psych-folk fans for sure, even if this unique treasure is really something outside almost any genre designation you'd care to come up with!

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The second solo full length from Ms Kelly Hogan (formerly of Jody Grind and Rock-A-Teens). Always toting some impeccably selected songs to cover, this album contains only two Hogan originals. You may recall her crushing version of the Magnetic Fields' "Papa

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After hearing me (Cup) rage on about the fabulous Neko Case, perhaps you may have been itchin' for another beautiful voice from the Bloodshot camp? Well if so, look no further than Neko's Bloodshot labelmate (and occasional country chanteuse partner in crime), Kelly Hogan. Ms Hogan and company approach their songs from a more angelic, softer angle. Although it seems at times this album teeters quite close to the country-rock mainstream, fear not, strong storytellin' songwriting, some great guest players (Robbie Fulks, Edith Frost, John Wesley Harding to name a few), and her own ol' country heart (reminiscent of a young Tammy Wynette) keep it from completely tumbling over to that side of the fence. Plenty of rich reverb-y twang, fiddle and pedal steel embellished from time to time with horns. Lovely. Top it all off with tips of the hat to Magnetic Fields' Stephin Merritt and Willie Nelson (with fantastic covers of "Papa Was A Rodeo" and "I Still Can't Believe You're Gone" respectively).

Smithsonian Folkways thankfully reissues a second collection of recordings of Roscoe Holcomb. Arguably the greatest performer of old-time country blues ever recorded, Roscoe Holcomb has been praised and emulated from such opposite ends of white American roots music as Ralph Stanley and Bob Dylan. Where the previous collection of Holcomb recordings, aptly titled "The High Lonesome Sound", were recorded in his Daisy, Kentucky home in 1959, the tracks collected on this disc were recorded later -- between 1961 and 1973 -- either in the studio or live. "Newer", in the relative sense that is implied between the previous disc and this one should not be misconstrued as being any less worthy of our attention, or less immediate in sound as those landmark recordings. No matter whether Roscoe is playing a banjo, guitar (picked with a buck knife), fiddle, harmonica or just plain singing a cappella, the songs he performs are imbued with the same unique Holcomb style. The old, hackneyed stereotypes of "primitive" down home music don't stand up against Holcomb's performances. Bob Dylan's quote describing Holcomb which serves as this collection's title sums it up best: "an untamed sense of control". Included with the 26 tracks on this disc are twenty something odd pages of liner notes and photos from producer ("There Is No Eye" photographer) John Cohen. Highly recommended. MPEG Download: "Swanno Mountain" [/audio/holcombswannomtn.mp3] MPEG Stream: "Swanno Mountain" [/audio/holcombswannomtn.m3u]

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We still have a few of these left from Black Friday's Record Store Day offerings, one of the items we were most excited about, Tompkins Square's documentation of a rare West Coast appearance from Mr. High Lonesome himself, Roscoe Holcomb. Holcomb's unique and legendary mountain holler strikes audiences directly to the bone through dark and lonely songs that had been passed down through oral traditions for generations. A self-taught back-porch musician never keen on recording, but he always was a force to be reckoned with live. As an added bonus, the wonderful Jean Ritchie appears on one track too! Recommended. Get this before they're gone like the wind.

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NOW ON VINYL! The Hold Steady follow up their widely embraced third album Boys And Girls Of America with a mountain of more burly college radio ready rock that harkens back to the glory days of Husker Du, The Clash and The Replacements. Y'know what we're talkin' about - crunchin' electric guitars strummed by mannish fists, vocals sung through husky workin' man beards, and gang-style backing vocals probably contributed by everyone who was in the building at the time. However, The Hold Steady show their softer side getting a little more fancy pants with the addition of horns and harpsichord among other pleasantries. In fact, we'd might even liken them to the bleak weathered Scottish romantics The Arab Strap. All of these are of course good things in our books!

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If you read any rock magazines, Rolling Stone, Spin, whatever, or watch MTV or whatever channel they have now that shows videos, you've probably heard of the Hold Steady by now. This is their second or third record already, but they're only now being touted as the next big thing. But with a weird angle. they've been really pushing the 'bar band' or 'club band' angle. As if every young band didn't spend all their time rocking little clubs all over. But in this case it seems to be more that they 'sound' like a classic American rock band, heartland, beers, and after work parties, old pickups and Pabst Blue Ribbon. That sort of thing. We weren't really sure what to expect, it is on Vagrant after all, so maybe we were feeling a little Get Up Kids or something, but holy shit! This really is modern American roots rock bar rock bandanna rock and roll. Lots of piano and organ, simple drumming, big crashing guitars, and a vocalist who has a weird lazy drawl, and who sort of slurs more than sings. And while that combo is totally infectious, and the songs are hooky as all get out, we don't hear the Replacements and Soul Asylum (Dave Pirner guests on a few tracks!) and other classic Midwest rockers that often get mentioned. Nope. We hear lots of Springsteen, and as hard as it may be to believe, a whole lot of Eddie And The Cruisers!!! Sounds funny but it's true, and in no way is that a bad thing. Bad ass working class rock and roll, every song a tale of workdays and weekends, cars and chicks, life and love, but given a modern day, Vagrant Records, big guitar emorock spit shine, but without losing the rootsy goodness and working man shit kicking get drunk and rock hard vibe. Definitely makes us want to head down to the local watering hole, sidle up to the bar, and spend the night getting sweaty to loud wild rock and roll, and hopefully not going home alone...

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The Hold Steady follow up their widely embraced third album Boys And Girls Of America with a mountain of more burly college radio ready rock that harkens back to the glory days of Husker Du, The Clash and The Replacements. Y'know what we're talkin' about - crunchin' electric guitars strummed by mannish fists, vocals sung through husky workin' man beards, and gang-style backing vocals probably contributed by everyone who was in the building at the time. However, The Hold Steady show their softer side getting a little more fancy pants with the addition of horns and harpsichord among other pleasantries. In fact, we'd might even liken them to the bleak weathered Scottish romantics The Arab Strap. All of these are of course good things in our books!

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Recently we reviewed -- and have been selling hella copies of -- the debut album by Om, the band formed by two-thirds of local revered stoner rockers Sleep. Om are just two guys, just bass and drums, dealing out the pot-fueled heaviness. Well coincidentally (?) we also just got these, the absurdly-long-awaited reissue of the truly legendary Population II album by guitarist Randy Holden, recorded in 1969 shortly after his brief but fruitful stint in San Francisco's Blue Cheer, playing only on the killer side two of that band's third album, New, Improved! The connection? Well, as you might guess from the album's title, Population II is also a two-piece effort, just Randy on guitar (bass also on the album) and Chris Lockheed on drums (and bass pedals live). Beyond some sort of spiritual bond of two-piece heaviness, though, there's of course one major, obvious difference: Om's got NO guitar, whereas Holden's album is ALL ABOUT guitar. Heck the first track is simply called "Guitar Song". And he's a self-proclaimed 'guitar god' for a reason. On "Guitar Song" the lyrics are basically all about how he's in love with electric guitar playing, and loud. And as much as we enjoyed the Om album, Population II definitely reminds us that WE love guitar too! Randy, with his trusty guitar and an ominous array of amp-stacks, conjures up some of the heaviest rock n' roll sounds heard on Earth up to that point in time for sure. Blue Cheer of course are a close comparison ("Fruit & Iceburgs" from side two of New, Improved! is reprised here) as well as Hendrix and Iron Butterfly...and soon enough Black Sabbath would up the ante further. But in the history of heavy, this album deserves some major recognition. It's super trippy, doomily plodding, Randy's reedy vibrato voice calling out over the wail of his guitar. This rocks in the sludgiest sorta way for the day. And speaking of loud, you want Sunn amps? Randy's got Sunn amps! Check out the live shot on the back cover, these two assuredly blowing the roof off some San Francisco ballroom. Not just a reissue, but actually the record's first OFFICAL, Randy Holden-approved release. And they're hand numbered and autographed by the man himself in gold marker just to make it really, really offical. Limited to 2000, pressed on 180 gram wax, this is a holy grail (or facsimile edition of a holy grail anyway) for all of you for whom "heavy" is akin to religion.

Oh Courtney.....

Recorded in 1955, 4 years before her untimely death, here are eight masterful torch songs sung by the undisputed queen of the genre. Get ready to get blue. Comes with cd.

From Unrest to The Rondelles to Plus/Minus, Mark Robinson's TeenBeat label has long been a reliable source for indie pop treats, and here's another one! Holland is just one fella Mr. Trevor Kampmann, but this veteran TeenBeat producer and engineer sure does work up a delightful racket all by himself! His short'n'sweet driving pop tunes run the gamut from propulsive rock numbers to blanket-y organ dreamies. Fans of Quasi and Pinback, lend Holland your ear. We're quite certain you won't be disappointed!

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Hush now... You'll greatly regret it if you miss the gentle folk stylings of Ms Jolie Holland. Her debut album is a down home treasure. Each song is ever so earthy with rough-hewn acoustic guitar, fiddle, bells and percussion providing the spartan backdrop for her distinct, softly lilting voice. Her music truly seems from another time sounding as if it were whispering out of a rickety victrola -- haunting memories of lonesome porchswings at dusk and dirt roads leading off into the dark. At once, it's both achingly intimate and immediate. The dozen songs are peppered with waltzes and borrowed Syd Barrett lyrics (in her song "The Littlest Birds" taken from "Jug Band Blues"). Lovely!

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Hey Jolie Holland fans! Has your beloved Catalpa cd been spun down to a brittle wafer and left you craving more? Well, we've got some really good news for you! Her second solo full length (and first studio album) has arrived and it offers up a dozen more old tyme-y treasures. Sure to please those who adored her abovementioned solo debut (and we know there were *many* of you!) as well as her full band The Be-Good Tanyas, and will undoubtedly also win her plenty more admirers. She seems in slightly brighter spirits this time around. There are some songs that aren't quite as laden with aching sorrows, and a couple that even pep up tempo-wise. However, her voice seems less suited to these comparatively more lively numbers, losing some of its charm and inflections. Her voice is most potent when each word and held note are allowed to hang wavering in the air. No big worries though 'cause those songs are few and far between, leaving the rest of the album to haunt and enchant as only Ms Holland can.

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Yes, along with the first blossoms of May the highly anticipated new Jolie Holland album has arrived! Definitely less mysterious than her previous two albums, but no less magical. There's not so much of the 'from where did this antique gramophone recording get unearthed?' kind of feel that characterized both Catalpa and Escondida. While Springtime Can Kill You still maintains a foundation of old country petticoats, the recordings sound quite contemporary. Very full, fleshed out and crisp... so much so in fact that the brushes played on the snare drum effectively conjure the crunch of frost beneath your boots or the first bite into a freshly picked apple. It might be a bit of an overstatement, but it seems Holland's evolved from porchswing peasant gal into more of a composed chanteuse. No complaints here tho'. This is a beautiful album with captivating songs and fine performances by all involved. Guest players include multi-instrumentalist Ara Anderson of Iron And The Albatross, and singer/songwriter David Dondero. Sure to cause extensive bouts of swooning.

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Ms Jolie Holland has never been a shy wallflower, but we've never heard her sound as gutsy and world-weary womanly as on this, her fourth full length! Whereas her first two albums (Catalpa and Escondida) were hushed timeless jewels set in wistful earthy rural landscapes and perhaps intended to be listened to in small intimate gatherings, her last album Springtime Can Kill You brought more of the city folk and country rock into the fold, and The Living & The Dead continues forth. Stellar guests include M. Ward and Marc Ribot! Her sparkling performance here might be likened to a coming together of Cat Power, Lucinda Williams and Lisa Germano. Fans of those fine artists, definitely check this out! As well, on songs like "The Future" she almost sounds like a female Conor Oberst... not a bad thing in our books! Highlights: "Palmyra" and "Fox In The Hole" and the giddy album closer "Enjoy Yourself".

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This disc (Hollenthon's debut) actually came out last year, but we thought we ought to list it since it was an unfairly overlooked "sleeper" deserving of your attention, and also now we're excited by the prospect of an upcoming second Hollenton album and should

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RealAudio clip: Lure - Pallida Mors

Here it is! The metal record of the week (the Necrophagist isn't really new, y'know), the second album from Austria's Hollenthon. Fucking incredible pan-cultural symphonic heavy metal genius. Even more epic and impressive than their debut, which we raved about

RealAudio clip: Y Draig Goch
RealAudio clip: Woe To The Defeated
RealAudio clip: To Kingdom Come
RealAudio clip: Conquest Demise

What a crazy release! Imagine a drug-addled Doug Blunt turning his outsider RnB synth grooves into something even more strange and rarefied, as if he somehow discovered a primitive synthesized folk-blues through ritual sculpture building and obsessive, constantly shifting meta-narratives about space and technology. Lonnie Holley has quite the backstory. Born in 1950 in Alabama, the seventh of twenty-seven children (!) and the byproduct of the state's poorly regulated foster care system, Holley had a difficult childhood that he overcame through art and music which he developed on his own, his creative output manifesting itself through drawing, painting, sculpture and performance (examples of his artwork are included in the booklet that comes with this cd). Holley had never recorded his music previous to this release, which marks the first time that the Dust-To-Digital label has brought an artist into the studio and it's unlike anything we've heard on the label before. While Holley may look like a Sun Ra type eccentric, and this record was in fact recommended as being very 'Sun Ra-ish', there really isn't a whole lot of that kind of instrumentation or jazz sound, instead, the minimalistic music is mostly layered and woozy psychedelic synth washes and percussion. What's most noticeable and remarkable is Holley's vocals, which come across as a shamanistic Arthur Russell as he sings a primitive-futuristic brew of blues mantras that twist into strange abstracted vocalizations, evoking at first an old-world sound until he starts going off about cellphones and other modern technology. This is a pretty amazing release for folks with a penchant for bizarre outsider figures such as Ariel Pink, Doug Blunt and Jandek. It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it is definitely wholly original!

MPEG stream: Here I Stand Knocking On Your Door
MPEG stream: The End of The Film Era
MPEG stream: Earthly Things

Who'd have thought we'd be so taken with an album that opens with a song about "Six Space Shuttles and 144,000 Elephants"? For that matter, who the heck would MAKE an album with a song called "Six Space Shuttles and 144,000 Elephants"?? Well, a 63 year old 'outsider' artist, Alabama's one of a kind Lonnie Holley, would, and did. This is it, and it's pretty special. We highlighted Holley's Dust-To-Digital debut last year, Just Before Music, which was not only Holley's first released recording but also Dust-To-Digital's first 'contemporary' release (as opposed to all their well-researched vintage reissues), and this is the equally fantastic follow-up. Apparently Just Before Music garnered him some fans, as two of the seven tracks here, including the lengthy & hypnotic 13+ minute "Other Side Of The Pulpit", find him collaborating on the music with Bradford Cox (Deerhunter, Atlas Sound) and Cole Alexander (The Black Lips). At first, we were like, oh no, he doesn't need hipster indie rockers messing with his sound - but actually the music on those songs fits in perfectly with all the other tracks that he did all by himself, so no harm done, and probably a great experience for those guys. Holley's music, if you've heard the debut, you know is sparse and minimalist, with some thumb piano, some synth wash and warble (making us think of Tennessee's improv hillbillies the Shaking Ray Levis at times), and a bit of simple drum machine and other percussion. Reminds us a bit of some of the tracks on that Personal Space comp of electronic '70s soul. Often hypnotic and lovely, and an important part of Holley's unique sound, the electronics and instrumentation still take a back seat to his singing, the main event here, which we'd have to compare to an "outsider" Louis Armstrong when Holley belts it out, with lots of rough garrrrrrgle in his voice. His more gentle, mumbling moments are more akin to Arthur Russell, as we mentioned in our review of Just Before Music ("Holley's vocals, which come across as a shamanistic Arthur Russell as he sings a primitive-futuristic brew of blues mantras that twist into strange abstracted vocalization"). That's for sure true, and those vocalizations - sometimes multitracked, as on the very much mantric "Sun & Water" - when not utterly abstract, convey some wonderful lyrics, poetic and sometimes quite strange. That "Six Space Shuttles" song, one of the hardest to grok here, has something to do with the Queen's birthday (Queen Elizabeth II?) and how Holley wants to celebrate it by sending "expandable, transformable, solar adaptable" space shuttles the size of "the Hindenburg and the Titanic both put together" off into the universe, and when they come back "they can heal the air and fix the water", and wouldn't that be nice? Not sure if we quite get what he's sayin', but we're digging it a lot anyway. Other songs, however, are much more straightforward, like the aforementioned "Sun & Water", its title the main portion of its lyrics. What all his lyrics have in common is that Holley is "testifying", as he describes it in his brief liner notes. All his life, he says, he's been testifying, in both is visual art and now his music, testifying about his life, a life that almost ended before it really began, when he was dragged under a car as a small child and left in a coma for three months. His life and thoughts since, both happy and sad, is what he's Keeping A Record Of, in his art and music - that's where the title of this cd comes from. And we're so glad Holley has chosen to share his testimony with us, especially since so much of it is such a "joyful noise", as one short piece here, a conversation with members of his church, makes reference to.

MPEG stream: Six Space Shuttles and 144,000 Elephants
MPEG stream: Mind On
MPEG stream: Sun & Water

Perfect paisley pop from these British Invaders, whose gorgeous harmony vocals and expert songsmithery garnered 'em many a hit from the mid sixties through the early seventies, including "Bus Stop", "Carrie-Anne", "King Midas In Reverse", and ten others

RealAudio clip: Look Through Any Window
RealAudio clip: Bus Stop

Along with Laughing Stock, the final Talk Talk album from 1991, Ba Da Bing has also reissued on vinyl this breathless 1998 solo album from Talk Talk frontman, Mark Hollis. While most folks thought that Laughing Stock was perhaps the ultimate understatement from a band that went from bright Euro-pop sensations to clandestine and worried experimental minimalists, Mark Hollis' solo album (and perhaps final statement?) has taken that tendency even further. Severely recorded at hushed volumes, the songs were born out of months of improvisation with jazz and chamber orchestra musicians and then excruciatingly labored over and crafted into discreet compositions. Every lyric coming from Hollis's milky voice feels almost too painful to rise above a murmur, but exudes a powerful complexity that is not freely offered. This is a very tender and moving record that begs for close listening. Like Laughing Stock, it continues to amaze upon repeated listens to those who have the disposition to absorb its bracing spareness. It's not a light album by any means, but its emotional weight is secretive and uncompromising, begging us to focus on the subtle beauty of the rich muted atmospherics that barely cover deeper wounds. A rainy day record if there ever was one!

MPEG stream: The Colour Of Spring
MPEG stream: Watershed

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