[ 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 951 through 1000 of 1106.

Maybe you remember the good old days. Obituary's Slowly We Rot, Morbid Angel's Blessed Are The Sick, and - of course - Sepultura's Beneath The Remains. THOSE good old days. The days when metalheads could look each other in the face and say things like, "Dude, Scott Burns fucking rules," and it would mean something. Maybe even one tattooed tear would drop. Earthdogs worldwide would only consider purchasing longsleeve versions of their favorite band's shirts. When the only guy in the band allowed to have short hair was the drummer. Guitar solos were mandatory. Well, Brazil's Krisiun have managed to continually exist within that realm. It seems that for them the only difference between then and now is heightened production value. Their music remains heavy, tight, and fast. You're getting zero corpsepaint, no buzzing guitars, and absolutely no art-school-esque Banks Violette collaborations. Metal dudes weren't wearing makeup and crying about how they hate people, because they were too busy trying to kick ass. Death metal, no bullshit necessary. We're not even sure if they know that black metal has taken the spotlight in "extreme metal" for like, oh, almost 15 years now. Make sure to bang your head in a circular motion, even while listening to their cover of fellow Brazilians Sepultura's "Refuse/Resist."

MPEG stream: Slaying Steel
MPEG stream: Origin of Terror

David Kristian spent a fair part of the winter of 1998/99 collecting various field recordings arourd Montreal (underground parking lots, freezers, tunnels, etc.) and multritracked the greyish very organic drones with subtle low-end minimal beats, not unlike Pan Sonic's minimalist techno layered sporadically with the drone work of Jonathan Coleclough.

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

SORRY. Split cd of minimal, ambient electronics from Canadian drum 'n' bass experimentalist Kristian and Japanese artists Sian (a duo formed by the guys from noisemakers Aube and Monde Bruits). Haunting stuff, eerie sounds that sneak up on you.

Noted electronica minimalist David Kristian here collaborates with the Shalabi Effect's Alexander St-Onge and Sam Shalabi for this interesting improvised album of quiet acoustic drones and accompanying electronics. Thankfully not a laptop ensemble featuring Jim O'Rourke or Christian Fennesz, this trio resists the temptation to lapse into dense free jazz phrasings, and instead focuses on

RealAudio clip: Dirt Well
RealAudio clip: The Heart Of The Mouse

Holy shit! SIX POUNDS OF METAL. There are certain things, that as metalheads, one feels might just be utterly essential, something every self respecting metaller NEEDS to own, and this friends is one of those things, the long in the works hardcover book compendium of every single issue of long running (25 years!) Norwegian metal magazine Slayer. You might remember not long ago we reviewed the ultra deluxe hardcover version of the final issue of Slayer Magazine, which went out of print in a flash, that's included here too, but more on that in a second. Bazillion Points, who also released the equally amazing and almost overwhelming Touch And Go zine compendium, not to mention Hellbent For Cooking,The Heavy Metal Cookbook, Tom Gabriel Fischer's Only Death Is Real Hellhammer / Celtic Frost book, and Daniel Ekeroth's Swedish Death Metal book, phew, has really outdone themselves with this Metalion book. It really does weigh SIX POUNDS, and is gorgeous, super striking front and back cover, printed in foil stamped red metallics. Inside you'll find EVERY PAGE of every single one of the zine's twenty issues, but that's not all, it's also, as the title suggests, a diary/memoir of sorts, kept by Slayer Mag mastermind Jon Kristiansen, all about the magazines, the story behind each issue, as well as his life in metal. It also includes the pre-Slayer zine Live Wire, of course tons of rare photos, and like that out of print Slayer Magazine issue XX. While the outside is super swank, the inside is total classic cut and paste old school zine style, lots of drawings and cartoons, different typefaces, photos, no efforts made to smooth the edges, to hide the bits of tape or the staples that might have show up in the photocopies, total DIY, kvlt metal zine, just fancied up and presented in book style. And over the course of 20 issues and 25 years, the magazine featured pretty much every metal (and metal beloved) band that mattered: Watain, Morbid, Whiplash, Bathory, Sadus, Kreator, Master's Hammer, Sadistik Exekution, Funeral Mist, Nifelheim, Destroyer 666, SUNNO))), Grotesque, Savage Thrust, Medieval, Invidious Deathrash, Obscurity, Nocturnal Graves, Pagan Altar, Strid, Mayhem, Emperor, Slayer, Nihilist, Celtic Frost, Cathedral, Entombed, Morbid, Napalm Death, Metallica, Opeth, Cradle of Filth,�Sadus, Satyricon, Enslaved, Pentagram, Jarboe, Immortal, Possessed, Overkill, Ulver, Dark Angel and more more more. Also included are multiple forwards from publisher Ian Christie, SUNNO)))'s Stephen O'Malley, Fenriz of Darkthrone, Tomas Lindberg from Grotesque, Chris Reifert from Death/Autopsy, and Erik Danielsson from Watain. We've barely cracked the book and we're already totally captivated and will no doubt get sucked further in. Kristiansen is a great writer, his interviews are funny and cool, the bands really open up, and it's really interesting to read interviews with all these bands from the last two decades, and Kirstiansen's life story is pretty amazing, he's self deprecating, includes lots of embarrassing photos of himself as a child and a teen and at every stage of his metal evolution, and the way he tells his story is a pretty great read on its own, and the magazines are way more enjoyable now, with Kristiansen offering context and history and all the drama and various tales behind the assembly of each issue. Needless to say, this is metalhead nirvana, and even if you never read it, it'll look amazing on your coffee table, but odds are you won't be able to resist, and like us you'll get sucked in, and lost in 25 years of METAL. Be warned, mailorder folks, this book is MASSIVE, and HEAVY, and we don't mean heavy like metal, we mean heavy like SIX POUNDS, so this book will be shipped by weight, not by the usual per-item flat rate price, but it's SO worth it...

It's safe to say that few people throughout the history of humankind have lived a life quite like that of legendary songwriter Kris Kristofferson. Kristofferson followed an unlikely path, from his youth as an Army brat, becoming a Rhodes Scholar and an Army Captain before ultimately ending up in Nashville where he worked a variety of jobs, including janitor at the studio where Dylan was busy recording Blonde On Blonde, construction worker, and helicopter pilot. All along the way things were fueled by a potent cocktail of booze, amphetamines, and weed. More importantly, however, Kristofferson spent his days honing his songwriting chops along with others in an elite songwriting circle referred to as the Nashville Underground, licensing his songs to other artists. Perhaps the most famous example being "Me And Bobby McGee" as sung by Janis Joplin, Kristofferson's lover at the time of her death. All of this culminated in a surprising rise to stardom in his 30s, and the guy even managed to find success as an actor, complete with some Barbara Streisand appearances, a staple of thrift store record bins... Goddamn. This collection of early demos recorded between 1968 and 1972 offers an amazing insight into Kristofferson's process. He was a lifelong fan of William Blake, who inspired him to fiercely maintain "the duty of an artist to be an artist". Perhaps this is the reason others first had success with Kristofferson's songs, as these demos display a suitably raw approach from a singer who sounds like he "gargled with whiskey," according to the liner notes. Still, with all the rough edges it's clear that we are listening in on a supremely passionate singer. Kristofferson's weary voice is ultimately triumphant, but also loaded with booze soaked melancholy. These songs also display his unique sense of humor, like the amazing "If You Don't Like Hank Williams", and "Getting By, High And Strange", where Kristofferson's mistakes are followed by numerous mumblings of "Fuck!". Awesome. The sound here is amazing, clear and upfront, and the musicians aren't afraid to let the tape keep rolling. Comes packaged in a nice looking, foil stamped digipack with a booklet literally bulging with information and recollections from people like Dennis Hopper, Merle Haggard, and others who have probably experienced way more than most of us could comprehend. All in all another essential document from the always amazing Light In The Attic label.

MPEG stream: Me And Bobby McGee
MPEG stream: Just The Other Side Of Nowhere
MPEG stream: If You Don't Like Hank Williams

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

SORRY.

MPEG stream: From Funerarius For Micheal Wise Esquire - Orlando Addleston (1681)
MPEG stream: The Sombre Coquetry Of Death � Hieronymous Gratchenfleiss (1810?)
MPEG stream: The Dizzy Flight Of Death - Hieronymous Gratchenfleiss (1810?)

We first discovered Krohm after Wrest from Leviathan suggested we check them out, if we were in the mood for some super dirgey, cold and miserable, almost doom-like suicidal black metal. When aren't we? And whaddayaknow? He was right. Nortt, Xasthur, even some Leviathan are the main touchstones for Krohm's super mournful doomic black metal. Nary a blast or furious riff to be found. Instead this is midtempo buzzing blackness. Like Malefic from Xasthur, Numinas from Krohm, weaves a bleak depressive instrumental back drop, all fuzzed out guitars, simple martial drumming, thick slabs of bass rumble, above which he drizzles haunting and heart breaking guitar melodies, peppered with his way down in the mix howls. This is a sea sick drift across a pitch black sonic ocean. Lurching and loping, riding the gentle swells, each track a sort of sea sick waltz, or a death march across a muddy swamp, trudging head down, eyes cast Earthward, body racked with sorrow, a sky full of cold rain. A soul as black as your broken heart, dead and done beating forever, walking and wandering and waiting for the ground to swallow you whole. So awesome. Essential for fans of Xasthur and Nortt and all manner of depressive black doom...

MPEG stream: I Suffer The Astal Woe
MPEG stream: A World Through Dead Eyes

MPEG stream: Veneria's Call
MPEG stream: Crown Of The Ancients

Circle's Jussi Lehtisalo recommended this to us: another Finnish band that operates in the in-between realm of rock, improv, jazz, and prog. Kroko are an all-instrumental basso/perkussio/kitara trio featuring the guitarist from Bad Vugum recording artists Deep

RealAudio clip: Sol Ist
RealAudio clip: Agent Weird
RealAudio clip: Polanski After Ski
RealAudio clip: Liero
RealAudio clip: Setzur Au Naturelle

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

SORRY.

The Kronos Quartet maps the world of sad nomadic musics from Yugoslavia, Portugal, India, Mexico, Romania, Iran, Lebanon, Argentina, and the semi-real land where Terry Riley is from (you know... California). Pleasant background music for white people who like to get drunk on sangria, then lie about how intoxicated they are, all the while dancing like a rhythmless idiot and talking on a cell phone to some poor sap who can't get them off the phone.

Legendary San Francisco ensemble tackles grand sounds from around the globe.

In this latest outing for the Kronos Quartet, the fab four team up with Azerbaijani composer / pianist Franghiz Ali-Zedeh. Like her home country, which lies on the crossroads of Europe and the East, Ali-Zedeh's music is an amalgam of European chamber music and the traditional folk music of her country and the multitude of cultural influences that criss cross paths there. This collection includes three pieces commissioned for the Kronos Quartet between 1993 and 2001 and one solo piece for piano performed by Ali-Zedeh.

MPEG stream: Apsheron Quintet
MPEG stream: Mugam Sayagi

With tracks recorded in various Mexican locations and at Skywalker Ranch up in Marin County, the Kronos Quartet have released another revelatory album of new music that takes its inspiration not from dusty ole classical shite (the territory of most string quartets), but the reality of the world around us, right here right now. And the peripatetic Kronos are no strangers to world travel, this time touching down in Mexico. An amazingly broad spectrum of Mexican music is lovingly performed / collaborated on / reinterpreted by Kronos (although why they imported an Argentinian producer is a headscratcher): There's a cover of a tune by the recently-deceased king of space age bachelor pad music Esquivel. There's a STUNNING version of the classic "Perfidia", with Kronos sounding like a '50s movie orchestra playing hugely and sentimentally in the background while a one-armed street musician named Carlos Garcia plays the MUSICAL LEAF. That's right. It's an ivy leaf. And it's so sweet and cute it might make you cry. There's also a version of "Tabu" (Taboo) where Kronos is accompanied by clickety clackety wood percussion. A medley of music from three popular Mexican tv shows! A piece where they've retuned their strings to correspond with the scale of the accompanying "plasmaht" (an instrument whose strings resonate in response to electromagnetic waves from the surrounding environment), and then play them zither-like with pencils! A collaboration with the hugely popular Mexican rock group Cafe Tacuba! And even (gasp) a dance mix... joyously delivered by Plankton Man of the Nortec Collective... and my god there's still more. Whew, it's a lot to handle isn't it? But the brilliance of Kronos is that somehow they manage to hold the thing together so well. It's a combination of respect for the musicians / cultures they borrow from and collaborate with, plus the sound of a string quartet that has always expanded the boundaries of what a modern string quartet can do, and mean. I *strongly* recommend you go to http://www.nonesuch.com to read the very detailed stories behind each track, because they're unfortunately not included in the liner notes..

RealAudio clip: El Sinaloense
RealAudio clip: Perfidia
RealAudio clip: El Llorar
RealAudio clip: El Sinaloense (Dance Mix)

Double cd with previously-released selections from Henryck Gorecki (that's pronounced ~goretsky~, folks) to Arvo Part to Astor Piazzolla to Tigran Tahmizyan. Disc #2 features 4 songs never released before: pieces by Jimi Hendrix, Scott Johnson, Michael Daugherty, and Raymond Scott.

We've already sold a ton of these. It's not hard to see why. Everybody loves Bollywood film music, and Asha Bhosle is the queen of Indian cinema singers. And the always-adventurous chamber group the Kronos Quartet are pretty cool as well, aren't they? So the idea of Kronos teaming up with Bhosle to record a bunch of the best film songs written by famous Bollywood composer Rahul Dev Burman (1939-1994) is a fine one, and it's worked out marvelously on this disc. Rather than the hyperkinetic, energetic style of music that accompanies the big production dance numbers so often characteristic of Bollywood film, these tracks are of a more languid, moody variety, full of tender sentiment and romantic yearning. Perfect for the sad yet uplifting strings of Kronos (with help on tabla and other percussion from guest Zakir Hussain, and also Wu Man on pipa). And of course perfect for the lovely voice of Bhosle, who sang so many of these songs originally. We said "moody" but these moods do range widely, from sad to seductive to joyous. This package (which comes ensconced in a nice metallic cardstock slipcase) includes a thick booklet full of detailed notes and photos. You get lyrics and even a synopsis of each of the films in which these songs first appeared, generally back in the early '70s. All in all, gorgeous tribute to Burman and his classic Bollywood ballads, and mostly likely a worthy introduction to them for many.

MPEG stream: Dum Maro Dum (Take Another Toke)
MPEG stream: Mehbooba Mehbooba (Beloved, O Beloved)
MPEG stream: Nodir Pare Utthchhe Dhnoa (Smoke Rises Across The River)

An entirely new (and entirely grim) prospect to us here at aQ HQ, Mysterium Coniunctionis brings together two hitherto unheard of corpse-painted practitioners of the dark arts: Italy's Krowos and France's Malepeste, both of whom thrive in the murkiest depths of mid tempo depressive raw black metal. The three Krowos tracks ply almost exclusively in a shuffling Burzumic plod (with the occasional daliance into a Transilvanian Hunger-esque blast) - a dreadful and inevitable suicide trance - the vocals anguished and shrill, the guitar work simple, patient, repetitive and hypnotic. The sound is muddy and lightless (as it should be), a slow motion abyssian slog into nothingness. Malepeste's contribution are no more uplifting, peppering their marching funereal thud with some deep droning Attila Csihar-esque vocals. Musically, they mine a similar field as Krowos, their brand of black metal slow, simple and bleak, but accented by an off kilter looseness that adds a certain sickening delirium to the proceedings. Those interested in black metal's darkest, most hopeless canals need look no further than this staggering, bleeding husk of a split.

MPEG stream: The Abyss Of Perdition
MPEG stream: Hymn For Him

MPEG stream: Formations

Local stalwart Victor Krummenacher delivers another wellcrafted collection of singer songwriter material. With the assistance of musicians such as Dave Alvin, Carla Bozulich (Geraldine Fibbers), Alison Faith Levy, and David Immergluck and Jonathan Segel of Krummenahcer's old band Camper Van Beethoven, Krummenacher writes instantly catchy poignant songs, with the high points being the duets with female vocalists. Check out the title track "Bittersweet" and see if you aren't immediately drawn in. This is high quality music from a talent so steady and mature that he doesn't make any mistakes. Nice.

RealAudio clip: Bittersweet

Krush, Japan's best known (Stateside) DJ, presents a DJ set featuring cuts by himself, DJ Cam, The 45 King, Old World Disorder w/ Eminem, the Orchestra & Choir of Bulgarian Radio, Jazzanova, and many others...a nearly 70 minute mix of some of his favorite stuff.

A name you can trust. You can always count on the tracks woven by this Japanese sonic craftsman to be of the highest caliber. Every sound is expertly chiseled and meticulously assembled. With its haunting high melodies from a shakuhachi (or perhaps another flute-type instrument), stuttery tactile breakbeats, deeeeeeeeeeeeeeep bass, and turntable scritchin', Jaku is no exception. Full, rich and enveloping but without extraneous clutter. This is a totally fitting soundtrack for high-end cocktail lounges and haute couture boutiques. With each album, Krush's overall sound has grown increasingly serene and smooth grooving, but on Jaku special guests such as Mr. Lif, Aesop Rock, and Japanese turntablist Tatsuki spice things up a bit.

MPEG stream: Still Island
MPEG stream: Decks-athron

Rumor has it that, Krush had misappropriated his sizable recording budget and instead released "some of the grimiest sub-audio committed to tape... with no vocals either." Guesting on the album are Shawn J, Mista Sinsiter (X-Ecutioners), A.S.A., DJ Sak, Jun Sawada, etc... though it seemed doubtful that any A&R rep for Sony US would dare touch this record, and as such remain an expensive Japanese import, it has finally been released domestically for a much more reasonable price.

Japan's best DJ in his premiere American release.

Krush proudly boasts his jetsetting lifestyle in that he produced this album in four different cities (Tokyo, Los Angeles, New York, and Philadelphia - to be read like the bottom of Donna Karan ad). "Zen" is a downtempo hip-hop album designed as a soundtrack for drunk couples humping, with soulful guest vocal appearances from Black Thought, Zap Mama, Tunde Ayanyemi, Company

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

SORRY. Austrian metallers Silenius (of Summoning) and Martin Schirenc (Hollenthon, ex-Pungent Stench) have crafted this disturbing and confusing collage of sampled sounds. If I knew more German we might have a better idea of their intent, but what we can tell you is that this combines snippets of fascist-era speechifying, ominous horror-movie keyboards, folky themes, WWII sound effects, militaristic drumbeats, electronic noise, mysterious dialogue, and brief industrial-dance interludes. It's a bit like being trapped in a bunker circa 1944 as the bombs fall, tuned into a shortwave radio that is somehow, at moments, picking up a Rammstein broadcast from the future. A very intriguing and creepy listen indeed.

Finland's Ektro Records label (run by Jussi from Circle/Pharaoh Overlord as you may know) would have us believe that this four-song ep is one from the vaults, supposedly a reissue of singles tracks recorded back in '83 by the mysterious metal entity known as Krypt Axeripper. Obscure cult '80s metal, eh? Well it looks like it: it's got a suitable logo, fantastical n' scary artwork, and the cd booklet even reproduces the labels from the "original" vinyl release of the tracks "Battle Of The Axehammer" and "Possessed (By Trees)". Wait a sec, "Battle Of The Axehammer"? Isn't that also the title of the live Pharaoh Overlord album? Indeed it is, and we're about 99.666 percent sure that "Krypt Axeripper" is in fact the heavy metal alter ego of our friend Jussi! Playing guitars, bass, synths, and singing, Axeripper is joined by "Rattfinder" on drums, who from the sound of it is probably one of Jussi's colleagues in Circle... And of course, as with *anything* Circle-related, no matter what the concept, it's got that hypnotic Circle-sound at its base. In fact, we'd say that there's stuff on Circle's Sunrise or Pharaoh Overlord 4 that's actually way more metal than the songs here. Yes, they're all got a bunch of very metal (and crudely catchy) guitar riffing going on, albeit ramshackle and lo-fi. But then there's the vocals, which despite lyrics about Lucifer, have a very woozy, weirdly crooned, eccentrically pop quality to them, pitched high in a much more gentle way than a real metal screecher would do. And the guitar solos -- those are all totally psychedelic, Floydian/Frippian washes, really nice as well. And the drums, we mentioned, not metal at all. Too wimpy and motorikally rhythmic. So it's a truly unique and amusing mix, and we LOVE it. Sure the vocals come across as a bit silly at first, but they're actually pretty cool when you really listen, and it's impressive how the vocal parts are arranged, with various lead and backing vocals interwoven, all sung by Mr. Axeripper hisownself. False metal? More like freak metal. Krypt Axeripper may be fake (and funny) but we're still fans for real. It's interesting how in trying to make a pastiche of heavy metal music (if that's really what he was trying to do...), Jussi came up with something that, if we had to compare it to an actual metal record, reminds us of Voivod's most controversially "alternative" album, the college radio confusional Angel Rat from 1991. We also appreciate that this experiment was kept to just 11 minutes, four amazing, strange songs, not overdoing it, just enough to give his inner metalfan a chuckle -- and to get us to keep hitting play again and again and again on this wacked-out quartet of relaxed, quasi-metallic tracks. Krypt Axeripper seriously (or maybe not-so-seriously) rules!

MPEG stream: High Speed Thunder Forever Gone
MPEG stream: Possessed (By Trees)

It's a little frustrating to be so far removed from the epicenter of a music we're fairly obsessed with. Very little dubstep and grime makes it across the Atlantic, and much of the stuff that does is the cheesier more commercial stuff, the harder underground ultra dark stuff, seems to be harder to track down. But every once in a while, one of those dark sinister discs makes it over here, and it's all we can do to resist listening to nothing else. But we don't actually resist all that much, so this debut full length from Kryptic Minds, the first release on Loefah's Swamp 81 label, has been pretty much on constant rotation, especially in the car, cuz with a record like this, even the crappiest stereo sounds like a boomin' system. This is our favorite kind of dubstep, super dubbed out and skeletal, no extraneous synth swooshes, or soulful female vox, just beats, and bass, and the bass is fuzzy and blown out, shifting from deep pulse to warbly buzz, the drums, skittery and spaced out, almost like a jungle record played at 16 rpm. And what little musical accompaniment there is, besides the bass, is all low end and rumble, haunting and ominous, the melodies kept to a minimum, just rhythm and sound, and it sounds so so awesome, low slung, deeeep and groovy. Another killer dubstep fix, definitely enough to satisfy our jones, at least for now...

MPEG stream: One Of Us
MPEG stream: Secure Lost
MPEG stream: Dissolved

We're flipping out a little over this new Memorandum label, a reissue label dedicated to an era of Australian underground rock that we've been obsessed with for years, Lubricated Goat, King Snake Roost, Grong Grong (reviewed elsewhere on this week's list), the Hard-Ons, the Triffids, Radio Birdman, the list goes on. We had never actually heard the Kryptonics before, but did know that members of the Kryptonics went on to play in Radio Birdman, the Hard-Ons, and most exciting for us, Lubricated Goat! But the sound of the Kryptonics was not nearly as noisy or punk, they were more a sort of garage pop combo, who listening to this now definitely remind us of the Hoodoo Gurus, or the Lime Spiders, albeit a bit more raw and rough around the edges. But holy crap could these guys write songs, a bunch of the tracks here are incredible and sound like could have been / should have been hits, in fact the whole first disc is pretty much super catchy, super rocking, kick ass punk pop through and through, so much so that a bunch of these sound like we MUST have heard them before. The second disc is mostly live and odds and ends, but live these guys definitely kicked ass, and there's an awesome cover of The Only Ones' "Another Girl, Another Planet"! Comes with a massive booklet, tons of liner notes, photos, flyers, etc. Anyone into garage rock of ANY stripe will definitely dig this stuff if they're not familiar with these guys already, and for anyone into the new breed of garage rockers, and noise poppers, check out the Kryptonics, even if it's just to realize that the NEW sound is not nearly so new after all...

MPEG stream: She's Got Germs
MPEG stream: Dare
MPEG stream: Telephone Line
MPEG stream: Rejectionville

With this release, S-S Records brings us a reissue of two 12"s by German band Krysmopompas. The plastic sleeve has a sticker referencing "neue Deutsche welle and krautrock with Wire-like minimalism." Well said, although we're not going to make it quite so reductive. Bands like Der KFC, Abwarts, and Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle definitely deserve mention, and maybe even a little Art Brut minus the slappy irony. Although, these guys' sense of melody is much more restrained than the latter, with simplistic structures rooted in repetition and sparse application. That's pretty much where the German new wave thing comes in. Anyway, the early '80s can be a little confusing given that there were so many newly emerging and intermingling genres, (even though Krysmopompas are actually contemporary) but if we had to try and explain a little more then we'd say that this is somewhere between post-punk and punk influenced new (or cold) wave. But closer to the punk side of things. And there's not really much synth. We read somewhere that they were "post-post," and while we're not entirely sure what that means, it kinda makes sense. Things could always be a little weirder and we wouldn't complain, but this fits very nicely next to compilations like IVG, BIPP, B9 Belgian Cold Wave, or even Des Jeunes Gens Modernes. If, like us, you can get into that, then this is for you! Maybe it helps shed light on things pointing out that S-S Records was also responsible for putting out music by A-Frames and Monoshock, two more excellent, crazy post-punk-what-the-fuck bands.

Heaving, psychonaut droning from this Russian project, Kshatriy. The name of Sergey Uak-Kib's project is actually Sanskrit, as a now deracinated caste of warriors from ancient India. Uak-Kib posits something of a balance between the spiritual and the physical in the beliefs for this class of enlightened fighters. The holistic fortitude found in that statement seems to be furthered in the glowingly psychedelic artwork that has graced some of Kshatriy's other recordings. So much for first impressions, as this is fucking bleak. Anenzephalia bleak. Thomas Koner bleak. Lustmord bleak. Thrumming drones of Vulcan intensity and Promethean scale gird the entire album of Slepok Soznaniya. The thunderous cracks that introduce "Lights" are cataclysmic in nature, tumbling from deep space and smashing into the Siberian forest, unleashing shockwaves across the curved surface of Russian's landmass and creating elegantly harmonic ripples across the swampy taiga. Iron wheels grind on long-train tracks which lead to destinations unknown on the "Hymn To Kali," which is more of a dirge than a hymn through the slow, militant pound and evolving reverberant chord shifts for an ashen, musical negativity. The almost self-evidently named "Space Travel" surfs the solar winds with echoes of distant pulsars and glowing nebula clouds flickering through the endless expanses of nothingness. We were awestruck by the work that Kshatriy produced for the 2014 Drone-Mind / Mind-Drone III compilation; and so we're delving into his catalogue. Slepok Soznaniya was originally released in 2009 on the bracingly good Russian imprint Muzyka Voln. Not all that much in the way of distribution west of the former Iron Curtain; so this one makes for a new favorite in the radiant black dronemusik camp.

MPEG stream: Hymn To Kali
MPEG stream: Loki
MPEG stream: Magic Forest

The return of KTL! Maybe our favorite of the many satellites circling the Sunn 0))). One half of that dynamic doomdrone duo, Stephen O'Malley, hooked up with Austrian noisemaker Peter Rehberg (aka Pita) a year or two back, and the result was the godlike s/t debut, the soundtrack to a performance art piece (of which this also contains elements), which we can only assume was dark and creepy, considering the music on that disc was a black hole slab of expansive subterranean drones and damaged digital buzz. KTL managed to create an intense chunk of dark art, in the midst of a million bedroom drones, so while we played that disc to death, we secretly hoped it wouldn't be the last we'd hear from these two.� Not a year later, and KTL are back, with another sprawling journey, trawling through the bottomless depths of some hellish underworld and drifting weightless through a starless black sky. A bleak, but occasionally jarring landscape of sonic mystery rife with plenty of drone and buzz.� The opener is a bleak expanse of claustrophobic sound, the sound of waking up in pitch blackness, wet, cold and alone, wandering blindly, feeling your way, hands rubbed raw from sliding along rough stone, the tiniest sounds magnified into some lurking beast ready to pounce, gusts of warm wind rush past, as do strange slithery shapes underfoot, you can hear the wide open space towering overhead, but you can feel the walls closing in, suffocating. Gorgeously dark and bleak, ominous and so creepy. The perfect music for being buried alive, miles below the surface of the Earth. As the first track dissipates, a strange percussive thump gradually surfaces, a heartbeat maybe... a dense layered backdrop of shimmering low end and muted pulses undulates beneath the murky throb, very slowly building in intensity, as streaks of high end grit and buzzing glitch, and strange high pitched melodic fragments begin to materialize all around, like suddenly finding yourself inside a lightning storm, it's almost pretty, but still sharp and jagged. As the upper register peals intensify, they suddenly coalesce into some sort of deafening angelic chorus, a gorgeous layered textural wall of dreamlike skree, some demonic string section, surprisingly melodic beneath all the sonic barbs and white hot buzz. Hard to describe other than to say it's a bit like Nadja or Jesu, run through a bank of alien FX pedals and broadcast through a million tweeters. So intense and gloriously blown out.� The next step in the journey involves visiting the "Abattoir" (much of this disc was in fact recorded in an actual French Abattoir) , and it sounds just like you'd imagine. A bit like O'Malley's Sunn 0))), with layer upon layer of constantly shifting coruscating guitars, a drone metal Niblock maybe, stretched out and hypnotic, the texture of the guitar constantly ever changing, going from smooth and washed out to rough and sharp, a bit like Spacemen 3 or Loop at it's most propulsive, a sort of churning distorted chordal whir, and a lot like Sunn 0))) at its most static. But all throughout, the rough raw shimmer is disrupted by all manner of textural disturbances, bits of grit and muted glitch and subtle shards of fragmented melody.� Finally, the record winds down with an extended coda, thick shards of glistening guitar suspended in gauzy clouds of electronic flutter and swirls of soft sonic snow. Eventually the sharp edges are worn away leaving a strangely haunting slightly degraded Basinski-esque drift that is smoothed even further out, into shimmery spacey synths and sweet chordal swells that drift away leaving nothing but static.

MPEG stream: Game
MPEG stream: Theme

Hot on the heels of KTL number two, comes, you guessed it, number three, this one however is a brief two tracks, carved into a gorgeous one sided lp, with the other side featuring a super striking etching than none other than Savage Pencil.� Like 2, 3 also features music the duo of Stephen O'Malley (SUNNO))), Khanate, etc.) and Peter Rehberg (Pita) composed and recorded for�the theatre piece Kindertotenlieder by Gisele Vienne and Dennis Cooper, which goes a long way to explaining why, 3, even more than 2 maybe, sounds so dramatic and even cinematic at moments.� The first of the two tracks here is quite brief, an introduction almost, effects and glitched electronics swirl over a deep black whorl of muted guitar buzz and warm organ whir, a pulsing, vibrating, shimmering backdrop that hovers and flutters beneath streaks of electronics and smeared feedback, and groaning industrial creaks and grinds.� The second track is the main attraction here, and takes up most of the side, based around an incredibly intense super low speaker rattling rumble, a sort of blurred and abstract low rider bass, almost more felt than heard, that throbs and sets bones rattling in your skin, a bottomless black morass, a sonic tar pit which all manner of strange and subtle sounds seem to be struggling against, desperately trying to keep from being sucked under. Scrabbling, atonal Derek Bailey like guitar scratch and scrape, haunting plink plonk melodies, tiny high end trills, sparkling slivers of feedback, subtle electronic shadings, all drifting on that ominous and constantly shifting extreme low end black sonic sea. A truly haunting, gorgeous chunk of deep deep deep black ambience... Packaged in ultra thick jackets, the vinyl housed in a black printed inner sleeve, sealed with a sticker.�

Perfect for the dead of winter, it's another quietly creepy, digital dronedoom opus from this two-man stupor group, featuring Stephen O'Malley (SUNNO))), Khanate, etc.) and Peter Rehberg (Pita), this time with production assistance from Jim O'Rourke. If you've heard KTL's I, II, or III (which was vinyl-only) you have an idea of what to expect - and are probably already plotting to purchase this. This is their first studio album constructed entirely for their own dark purposes, as opposed to having been commissioned as a soundtrack for live theatrical performance or film, though it certainly still has mysterious, soundtrack-y qualities. The sort that usually causes us, in reviews of KTL (and other dronesters too) to paint word-pictures of what the music evokes in our mind's eye. Subterranean caverns, bottomless pits, fallen angelic choirs, airplanes buzzing over dark forests... but we won't bother this time, you should just listen to this and your own imagination should have no difficulty providing all sorts of esoteric imagery. It may be soothing, it may be scary. Probably scary, it's up to you though. We find a lot of this to be as sinister and grim as Dick Cheney was in his Dr. Strangelove wheelchair at Obama's inauguration! These six tracks are full of seismic rumble, high end hiss, eerie abstract glitch, sweeping drones, ringing electronics... some more epic and/or active than others. Distorted industrial rhythms shudder through several cuts, notably the disc's longest piece, the 21+ minute "Paratrooper", which features doomic beats by the drummer from Japan's Boris (who also brings his gong for an appearance on the disc's final track). While that's KTL IV at its heaviest, most of this is more like the sound of SUNNO))) sighing and whispering... or, conversely, Pita busting out a guitar to play along to a half-melted Swans record he found in the ashes of a burned-down church.

MPEG stream: Paratrooper
MPEG stream: Wicked Way

Ahhhh, the black ambient onslaught continues. A vinyl based campaign to rain corrosive black drones on an adoring audience moves forward unabated, and we're right there in the front, face raised to the sky, letting the buzz and whir and rumble and roar rain down on us... KTL is the duo of Stephen O'Malley, one half of the not-so dynamic duo SUNNO))), and Peter Rehberg, aka Pita. Their sound is a bit SUNNO))) like, with O'Malley unfurling sheets of abstract riffage, and Rehberg contributing various blasts of processed sounds and power electronics, the result is in fact quite beautiful, the three full lengths have helped solidify KTL as one of our favorite SUNN side projects, taking the churning brutality of that group, and stretching it out into something more abstract and expansive, still a dark sonic trawl, but the guitar is less downtuned and sludgy and more glimmering and effulgent, not to say it's not still doomy and dark, just more colored and less BLACK. And of course, there's so much more texture, with Rehberg delivering intense subsonics, smeared buzz, and all manner of blurred wonder, it's a pretty stellar combination. So here we have a live recording of the duo, performing a few KTL classics, and one brand new track. Which is interesting as we just assumed that KTL was improvised, and while maybe there is an element of that in their music, you can definitely here bits and pieces that you'll recognize from the other recordings, and probably the more eagle eared among you will be able to pick out whole songs. The first side opens up with a doomy swirl of washed out guitar, corrosive and keening, the riffs unfolding and overlapping. We don't really hear Rehberg until a few minutes in, when he offers up a thick, crumbling, superdistorted low end throb, that grinds ominously just below the sprawling guitarnoise, surfacing every once in a while to nearly blow your speakers. The sound builds to a glorious crescendo, sounding a bit like Sunroof! Or GHQ or one of those sort of ur-psych combos, but with a subtly abrasive digital component, that gives the sound a bit of an alien feel, the sound constantly thickening, with Rehberg's electronic machinations gradually overtaking the moaning guitars. The flipside is even more blown out and psychedelic, O'Malley's guitars soaring ever skyward, roaring and keening, Rehberg wrapping those guitars in billowing sheets of grumbling digital glitter, smearing the churning riffage into haunting, nearly orchestral swells. So good. Gorgeously packaged, deluxe gatefold, striking live images from the performance, also includes a massive poster of the show. Vinyl only for now. LIMITED TO 500 COPIES! Each one numbered. Not sure if there is a cd planned or not, still no cd of KTL 3, so you might want to grab one before they're gone.

As the title no doubt led you to believe, this is in fact the fifth release in the ongoing collaboration between Stephen O'Malley (SUNNO))), Khanate, etc.) and Peter Rehberg (Pita), and like IV before it, V was realized as a stand alone record, unlike the first three releases, which were all conceived and composed to accompany art installations. And again, like IV, the sound does not seem to be dramatically effected by this shift, although there does in fact seem to be a bit of a shift from IV to V, with V seeming, to our ears at least, to be a bit more academic, with an ear toward twentieth century classic and modern minimalism, further evidence which may be found in the two tracks here "Phill 1" and "Phill 2", which we presume are an homage to the master dronelord Phill Niblock, but of course done in their own inimitable style, with "Phill 1" opening up a thick gaseous dronescape, that is pocked with glitch and skitter, woven into the fabric of the tracks woozy undulations, and softly moaning choral shimmer. Where on past records much of the sound was barely there, and required close listening, "Phill 1" is much more immediately rewarding, lush and lustrous, thick and warm, and layered, the sort of minimalism that would probably still appeal to fans of O'Malley's SUNNO))) project. The track is definitely active, with plenty going on beneath the surface, and in the spaces surrounding the drone, be they thick slabs of blurred buzz, shards of computer glitch, and all manner of sonic detritus. "Phill 2" finds O'Malley and Rehberg teaming up with the Prague Philharmonic, where they are joined by Johann Johannsson, who helps with the orchestration, the track transformed into something haunting and symphonic, yet still dark and droney, the sound even more rich, and somewhat cacophonous, a glorious noisy ur-drone, that definitely casts the orchestra as something much more chaotic and abstract that they are perhaps used to, the results are stunning. In between these tracks, O'Malley and Rehberg do explore more minimal soundscapes, "Study A" features long tones, deep buzzes and sine wave like high end shimmers, stretched out into near static layered mesmer, allowing the two tones two subtly interact, and create all manner of overtones, gradually building in intensity, and at times sounding down right cinematic and psychedelic. "Tony" is another thick minimal dronescape, this one focused around a distorted stretch of slow shifting buzz, surrounded by warm melodic tones, and strange echo drenched percussion, the main drone ever shifting, creating a gorgeous slow motion melody, the background sounds lush and lustrous, maybe the prettiest thing we've heard from KTL yet. And finally, the record finishes off with the 20+ minute "Last Spring: A Prequel", which introduces text, a haunting spoken word, draped over a hissy shimmer, the breath urgent in the microphone, the vibe dark and claustrophobic, the music itself more like old KTL, ultra minimal, high end hiss, minimal static hum, bits of glitch laced throughout, the track all about the dramatically delivered vocals, which grow more and more agitated, more heavily effected, the music subtly following suit, like some strange abstract play, with some of the creepiest sound design ever, courtesy of KTL. Housed in a super striking 6 panel digipak, with original artwork by Mark Fell. Meanwhile the vinyl comes in an equally colorful gatefold sleeve.

MPEG stream: Phill 1
MPEG stream: Study A

SUNNO)))-worshippers alert! 1/2 of that drone metal behemoth, our pal Stephen O'Malley (who has also piloted or participated in such units as Khanate, Burning Witch, Ginnungagap, Teeth Of The Lions Rule The Divine, Thorr's Hammer, Fungal Hex, Lotus Eaters, etc.) has travelled to Europe to collaborate with Austrian experimental digital noise artist Peter "Pita" Rehberg! They're calling themselves KTL because the music they made is to be the soundtrack to some sort of stage piece called Kindertotenlieder by performance artist Gisele Vienne and novelist Dennis Cooper ("Closer") due to debut at a festival in France next year. Judging from the music, not to mention the people involved, we imagine it's gonna be beautiful, but also somehow disturbing and dark... This cd certainly is. It starts off with the 24 minute drone "Estranged", blissful and spooky piece that builds towards its end to noisier heights, threatening the storms to come on this album. And yes, the four parts of "Forest Floor" that take up the main, middle part of the disc are a harrowing journey indeed, into a buzzing, claustrophobic realm of dangerous digital sonics and heavy drone, like SUNNO)))'s lugubrious riffage mixed with the glitchy crunch of Pita -- which is what it is, of course! Not for the faint of heart. Part four, in particular, sounds like a doomed prop engine airplane rumbling over a dark forest landscape from some black metal album cover, at night... Finally O'Malley and Rehberg wind things up with the quieter (but still creepy) 13 minutes of "Snow", a softly pulsing, detailed improv exploration of lowercase sounds... Very nice! Let's hope KTL isn't just a one-off collaboration, we'd like to hear more from these two! Their mastery of minimalist ambient music, electronic glitchology and Earthy guitar sludge make a fine sipping brew. A note for all you object fetishizing consumerist completist types, be forewarned that there will eventually also be a vinyl version of this on the Aurora Borealis label, a double LP limited to 500 copies... we can take preorders now...

MPEG stream: Estranged
MPEG stream: Forest Floor 4

[ aquarius records catalogue — K ]