[ aquarius records catalogue

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Showing results 351 through 400 of 1106.

After all these years Kid 606 is still kicking out the deranged electro/techno sounds. Now living in Berlin which seems pretty sonically ideal...

MPEG stream: Samhain California
MPEG stream: Baltimorrow's Parties
MPEG stream: Hello Serotonin, My Old Friend

Along with folks like J. Lesser and Matmos, Kid 606 has been one of the key figures in bringing the world of techno and electronica to a more punk minded listenership. And over the years the music of Kid 606 has taken many twists and turns, never one to shy from diversity and eclecticism he's put out everything from hardcore four on the floor techno to drill n' bass to ambient blissed out dreamscapes. We have to admit we haven't always been the biggest fans of all his releases, but he's hit us with enough moments of total musical bliss and magic that we make sure to at least check out every new release he puts out. And while we weren't in love with the last few, we are beyond BLOWN AWAY with what he's created on this deliciously smart-ass-titled new outing. In fact there is something to be said for how smart ass the title and back cover artwork on this record is, because for as clever and mindfucking as Kid 606 can be, it's sometimes the problem with his music. Fortunately he's gotten the snarkiness out of his system via the non musical aspects of this record, and allowed the sounds within to just totally flourish in immaculately crafted, wide ranging electronic sounds. The albums opener, is almost like some amazing lost kosmiche kraut gem, tones that are so rich, patient and inviting. We were immediately reminded of some of our favorite Kid 606 releases from the past that get overlooked as they show off the non techno side of his musical leanings and are more about creating rich atmospheres with true emotion. Records like The Soccer Girl EP, PS I Love You, PS I Love Me, and the utterly beautiful Resilience. As the record unfolds, Kid 606 still shows that he can draw from a wide range of electronic palettes but it never veers into techno land, instead it reminds us of those glorious days when IDM actually meant something. Those records by Oval, Aphex Twin, Matmos, Autechre, that made so many of us embrace a form of music we had for so long no relationship with. But this isn't just some kind of IDM rehash, Kid 606 also shows that he can soar, drone and bliss out with the best of them. As there are so many amazing moments on this record that you could think was coming from AQ favorites like Emeralds, Tim Hecker or Oneohtrix Point Never. He also works in some influences of some of our favorite 20th century minimalist composers like Terry Riley and Steve Reich, especially on one of the album's hypnotizing standout tracks "Periled Emu God". And fear not, for those who like a bit of dissonance with their electronica, the Kid still interweaves some more challenging sounds into these tracks, yet manages to do so in a way that creates something larger and organic instead of just being difficult for the sake of being difficult. While there are brief moments with an almost Mego vibe (mostly just on the album's closer) the record while touching on many shades of electronica has an overall unique viewpoint that just sound so so perfect. This is the kind of electronica we haven't been able to find lately. Sure we love dubstep, space disco and drone, but we've been craving the kind of innovation and nuanced composition that so many of our favorite electronic albums of a prior age intoxicated us with. Somehow channeling both the best of electronica's past and creating a vision of its future at the same time, Kid 606 has proven that someone who has created something you love in the past, is surely capable of doing it again. Totally stunning!

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I know we seem to be kind of hard on Kid606. We are. He's the artist du jour. He's on practically every electronica compilation that came out in the last two years, everyone wants to put his records out, everyone wants to remix him (or be remixed by him),

RealAudio clip: MP3 Killed The CD Star (Excerpt One)
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RealAudio clip: Kiddy Needs A New Pair Of Laptops
RealAudio clip: Never Underestimate The Value Of A Holler (Vipee-pee Mix)

No great departures from Mr. 606 here, so if you know him and love him particularly his more disjointed, hyper side... what are you waiting for? The Illness contains a heap of his trademark digital spasms and frantic noise spurts. Just might leave you feeling all caffeinated and a little bit itchy. The cd version includes: The 12" mix of the title track, the pleasantly named "Ecstacy Motherfucker" as well as the 'bonus' tracks "Maybe", "Evasion" and "Circumvent". The 12" version includes: The Illness 12" Mix (duh!), an extended dance mix of the same, along with the pleasantly titled track "Ecstacy Motherfucker".

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Vinyl only remixes of tracks from P.S. I Love You by Matmos, Twerk, Farben, and two by the Kid himself. Five tracks in all!

The beat don't stop when Kid 606 is at the wheel. Nearly 67 Minutes of booty bass-meets-hard step-meets-drum n' bass fun. The crowd pleaser Miguel mixes in such CRAZY and ECLECTIC sources as Manu Chao & South Park!

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Veering sharply from his recent full length The Action Packed Mentallist Brings You the Fucking Jams, the Kid shows his sensitive side again, invoking the word "love" as he did on his similarly mellow, pretty PS I Love You record. Seven pieces in 20 minutes on a li'l 3" cd, this is LOVE-ly. The bulk of the music here is slow- to midtempo lulling electronica, stark and simple, reminding me a lot of early German experiments in electronica -- Cluster, Harmonia, all that post-Neu stuff that concerned itself with purity and beauty. There are delicate arpeggiations of clean, rounded notes, sad chord progressions, and warmly skipping records. Only one track makes use of the spinning-the-radio-on-the-dial-as-fast-as-you-can method of appropriation... and here it is used for its texture, not its abruptness. One electro-tinged piece, all stuttery and jerky, sounding more like Mouse on Mars than anything else. But the rest of the tracks here are pleasantly gentle and wistfully sweet. A very charming record. Recommended.

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Volume six in the notorious Tigerbeat singles series, Kid 606 teams up with Electric Company as Kevin Blechdom does "Long Thong Silver", a ridiculous cover of Sisqo's "Thong Song" that's just wrong-wr-wrong-wrong-wrong. I guess it was funny the first time,

Number eight in the Tigerbeat6 '$' series of limited split singles. Kid606 takes on two lesser known artists from across the globe, ASCDI (not to be confused with ASCII) and Printed Circuit (aka Claire Broadley, with releases on Irritant and Elefant as well as a remix disc on Catmobile).

The third installment of Shotgun Wedding, Violent Turd's strictly limited soundclash series. A speedy mash-up of a million hiphop songs along a brutal beat assault. Each of the three tracks has its own flavor with Cex's a bit gentler. It has moments of softness, subtlety and electronic contemplation spanning the length of the piece. And then bam! 606's "Gizm Collission" is a smashup of recycled techno trash and pieces of familiar hip-hop that hits you in the brain. I can almost hear a whistle. Whoah.

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SORRY. Getting out of a bad rut of post-rock releases, Fat Cat has started releasing the split 12" again. Kid 606 supplies white hot distortion to farting electronic breakbeats infused with layers of timestretched samples and digital manipulation of skipped cds (qualified as the additional production of Kid 606's alter-ego Disc). Christoph de Babalon, with his first release since the awesome 1997 DHR album "If You're Into It, I'm Out Of It," is still a master of the drone & bass aesthetic of washing out the archetypal Amen breaks within ominous bass pulsations and hoovering atmospheres.

The first in a series of proposed split 7" singles on the über-hip Tigerbeat6 label. Oakland based Kid 606 on the A, Japanese artist Com.a takes the B. High price to pay for a 7", but you're gonna have to pay a shitload more on eBay when these babies are gone...

Number seven in the unstoppable Tigerbeat6 '$' series of split singles. This time the Kid steps in the ring to take on Madrid's unstoppable DJ/Rupture, who if you recall, put out one of the best hardcore fuckstep/hiphop/ragga/noise mix discs last year. Watch for his upcoming "Minesweeper Mix CD" coming very soon... Limited, so act fast!

Volume four in the super limited $ series of split singles. Oaktown's Kid 606 once again plunders Ice Cube while Japan's Joseph Nothing runs around in ritalin fueled hip hop circles. Backwards.

Volume 5 in Tigerbeat6's "$" series. Kid 606 throws down another hip-hop slammer. Posterboys make a bunch of noise. Limited.

Third in the $ series of split 7"s on Tigerbeat6. One track each by Oakland's Kid 606 and Brooklyn's Timeblind. Limited to 750 copies, so act fast!

Huh? Aside from the fact that both artists have numbers in their names, this seems like quite the strange bedfellows sort of team up. The electronic mish mash mayhem of Kid 606 on one side of the 12" colored (pink or blue) vinyl, the bludgeoning stoner rock instrumentals of the Boston duo known as 5ive (or, to use their new, full name, 5ive's Continuum Research Project). Weird, eh? And that's just the idea. Of course, if you've heard the 2XH vs. HHR Vol. 1 compilation, which featured a bunch of grind/doom bands as well as drone and electronic acts (including the ubiquitous Kid 606) you know that the Hydra Head/Tortuga guys have an affinity for the Kid's brand of electronic fuckery in addition to sheer metallic heaviness. Hey, just like us! So, maybe it all makes sense. The two tracks from 5ive are in their usual awesomely sludgey bass and drums style, excellent. Then on the flip, there's three from Kid 606, the first of which features processed, distorted solo guitar and loops, almost as if he's making an effort to fit in with 5ive. Very cool actually. His next track is some Casio-beat goofiness, but that's then followed by a third track again with guitar, but spacier and more psychedelic. All in all, the Kid's tracks here are a lot more subdued and 'musical' than we expected.

The NY-based hiphop trio Dalek contributed rhymes to that excellent Techno Animal track "Dead Man's Curse", so it makes sense that Techno Anim's Kevin Martin and Justin Broadrick introduced Dalek to our own local darling Kid606. Thus, this excellent collaboration. As I've enthused in other reviews, Dalek's epic, incantatory vocal stylings are pushed right up against apocalyptic, doom-laden instrumentation: high pitched squealing feedback that sounds like air raid sirens, abandoned machine bleeps, paranoid dub-heavy beats, crashing cymbals and other live drumming, shimmering guitar. They are an apt match with Kid 606 and his bad boy I'll-mess-with-anything-and-make-it-kick-yr-ass style. So, as if the original "Ruin It" track that appears here isn't great enough -- all glitchy fuzzed out broken buried melody courtesy Kid606 -- then Dalek ups and makes it even more intense and dramatic and spooky. Really good, some of the best material from either artists I've heard yet. In addition to the two title tracks here, there's even a slow sort of My Bloody Valentine-ish slice of melancholia here, laden with murk and record static. That piece appears only on the cd ep, as does the closer track "satans hard drive" which Dalek constructed spontaneously from one of the Kid's busted hard disks. Yeah, it's noisy!

RealAudio clip: Ruin It, Ruin Them, Ruin Yourself then Ruin Me (original)
RealAudio clip: Ruin It, Ruin Them, Ruin Yourself then Ruin Me -- Dalek remix
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Took a while for these to materialize from the man and his peeps, but better late than never we s'pose! Bay Area lone mouthpiece Kid Beyond takes his moniker seriously taking the art of beatboxing beyond the hip hop common place. And though he definitely isn't a youngster (when we saw him perfom live a while ago he resembled a life size Barney Rubble!), he keeps energies and spirits youthfully high and welcoming as he loops and layers his oral utterances and sputterances into a catchy grooviness. Who'd think a beatboxer would cover Portishead? Seems like an unlikely choice, but KB does it style and it totally works!

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MPEG stream: Mothership (Mutaytor Dublab Remix)

It's been ages since we last heard from turntablist Kid Koala, who by now is most definitely not a kid anymore, but whose early records were huge hits around aQ, heck, he even did an instore way back when that was incredible! Those Kid Koala records were/are fantastically fun, funky collaged mash ups of unlikely pop culture ephemera, deftly juggled into beats and grooves, and easily some of the most playful hip hop / turntablism we'd ever heard. One of Kid Koala's 'trademarks', was when he would play solos on the turntables, one turntable spinning some old blues record, while he would scratch out a crazy trumpet solo on the other, transforming this classic blues sound into something warped and woozy. So it only makes sense, that he would do a whole album of blues jams, and like those moments on past records and live shows, the result is pretty amazing. The samples seemingly all classic blues tracks, but all jumbled up, looped and layered. Even the simplest grooves, stutter and shimmy, the speeds constantly changing, the pitch too, sometimes mixing in some wild hip hop scratching, but more often, subtly manipulating the music, adding extra beats, wrapping layers of bass buzz around bluesy grooves, the best moments of course where he manipulates single elements, a vocal line that suddenly gets all tangled up, a warped wild croon, blasts of chaotic drum freakout, manipulated solos, woozy and warbly, it's really exactly what you'd want an all blues hip hop DJ set to sound like, that is if you had ever actually thought of someone making a hip hop DJ blues set, but it works, and is incredible. Some of the tracks sound almost untouched, and only close listening reveals the subtle manipulations at play, others are all twisted up, some of the best moments though are the most subtle, like when things stripped way down, and slowed to a drowsy drag, infusing slo-mo blues dirges with subtle sonic flourishes, adding texture, rhythmic alterations, we almost wish the whole record had been made up of those dark moody drifts, haunting and totally gorgeous. The packaging is totally over the top, with an actual cut out turntable you can build yourself, as well as a little mini flexi disc 'battle record'!!!

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Yay! This is Kid Koala doing what Kid Koala does best, taking recognizable genre musics and just tweaking them enough to add a woozy modern effect, a li'l bit of scartching here, some pretty glitching there. This is a song taken from his forthcoming album, and is a New Orleans style jazz number made even more poignant and sweet with his signature touches AND it comes with a fantastic video you can play on your computer. The video, made by Monkmus, features an animated funeral procession that turns into an unlikely street celebration with a surprise ending. The other track, which presumably won't be on the album, is called "Vacation Island" and features the Kid doing that magic again, this time to an old Martin-Denny-ish tropical exotica, but with beats. So cute and nice. Not many left either...

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MPEG stream: Vacation Island

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SORRY. Finally Montreal's Eric San releases his debut full length. You've probably all heard the story of how Kid Koala got signed to Ninjatune -- Eric picked up the Ninjatune guys for a Montreal show, played his legendary Scratchcratchratchatch tape in the van all sneaky-like, and everyone was blown away. (This tape, which Aquarius was the only store in the world to sell, is now long out of print but you can hear a similar set at betalounge.com.) Kid Koala is a turntablist with more than his share of storytelling, songwriting abilities, so the pieces are so much better than your everyday series of tricks. He and DJ Z-Trip are the ones who will be making the turntablist record that will bring the world together like a Coca Cola commerical. I'd like to teach the world to scratch. Or something. If you're already into turntablist stuff, you already know you should get this album, and if you're new to the genre, this is one of the best places to start. Honestly. The cd comes with a cd-rom video game (a vinyl version of Asteroids) and a supercute comic book. While supplies last, get a free Kid Koala sticker with purchase. Highly recommended!

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SORRY. Finally on vinyl, this is the first track from Kid Koala's famous "Scratchcratchratchatch" tape (that will never be officially released due to all the presumably expensive samples.) Video game samples, music from David Byrne's soundtrack to the Last Emperor, an unerring sense of melody rarely found with turntablists, plus 3 non album tracks (in fact none of these tracks are from Kid K's recent full length Carpal Tunnel Syndrome) -- this 10" has got it all. If you've never heard Koala before, this is the place to start. You will be super happy with it!

Not one, but three DJ's spinning together live. And not just any DJ's but AQ faves Kid Koala and DJ Jester along with P-Love. 16 minutes of scratching and juggling as the trio scores a live soundtrack to animated short by Monkmus. Included on this disc from their set are "Stompin' At Le Savoi", "Page 275" (from the comic book), the always enjoyable "Drunk Trumpet", "Skanky Panky" and "Page 298". Recorded at Lock 17 in London in November of 2003. Also included is a DVD of video shot of Kid Koala performing live in concert.

MPEG stream: Stompin' At Le Savoi
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A plaintive minor key melody runs throughout the 16 minute soundtrack to Nufonia Must Fall, a comic book written by Kid Koala. Emphasis on the "book", cos this is over 300 pages long! The story, written and drawn by the Kid, tells a love story between a lonely office girl and a robot. It's poignant and sorta sweetly heartbreaking, in the same way that the music is simple and unhurried. Don't expect a full on hip hop crazy quilt of sounds like Koala's past projects, though. This is much simpler sonically. A collector's item. MPEG Download: "excerpt" [/audio/kidknufonia6.mp3]

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One of our fave turntable types, Canada's Kid Koala, is back with a new full-length: Some Of My Best Friends Are DJs. We dug the single that preceded it, the woozy New Orleans jazz based "Basin Street Blues" (the first track on here) and the rest of the disc is no disappointment. If you're hip to the Kid you know to expect a little whip-whip-whap scratchin', some boom-bap beats, a good ear for laid back grooves, scrambled samples, and some quirky humor. As with other recent releases from Kid Koala, his sheer adorableness extends into other media -- the cd comes with a game and both the cd and LP versions include a fat lil' comic book in the package.

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If you've never heard Kid Koala before, be prepared for a seriously head spinning wild ride. Unlike most DJ's, Koala doesn't go for insane turntable pyrotechnics, or goofy classic rock / hip hop mash ups, instead he uses his nimble mixing skills to weave together elaborate journeys through sound, assembling new songs out of various scratchy vinyl fragments, or subtly tweaking old songs into warbly tripped out new ones. Rock riffs get skipped and stuttered into new groovier shapes, Koala accompanies himself on old jazz jams with various instruments "played" on another turntable, lots of soundtrack snippets and random voices get all tangled up into bizarre conversations, separate records get mixed into super psychedelic blowouts, blues jams are peppered with slippery turntable solos. The results are twisted and slightly off kilter, like viewing a turntable jam through a cracked funhouse mirror. Alternately super rocking, super groovy, crazy funky, or just chin scratchingly baffling. The most amazing thing is that Koala does all this stuff with just turntables and a reel to reel. This isn't some nerd with a computer, meticulously piecing together bits and pieces, this is one guy, a bunch of turntables, and some seriously mad skillz.

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You're already probably quite aware of how much we like French electronica artist Kid Loco, responsible for A Grand Love Story, one of the prettiest records ever to kick Air's ass. Here Kid Loco contributes to Studio k7's series of DJ sets (Andrea Parker, Kruder & Dorfmeister, DJ Cam, and Kemistry + Storm have also done DJ Kicks discs). And he does a wonderful job of constructing an at times melancholy & delicate, at times dramatic and upbeat set. Making appearances in the mix are such artists as Boards of Canada, Lisa Germano, DJ Vadim, Cinematic Orchestra, and Future Pilot AKA. This is one of those all around quality discs with such broad appeal that we sell one almost every time we play it. Highly recommended by Windy!

The industry standard for the remix album does not always make for easy listening; for example, a remix by Oval sequenced next to a remix by Cornelius can easily be an unlistenable juxtaposition. Fortunately, a few artists and labels have realized this blunder in reconstruction, and have compiled albums containing the the work of a SINGLE remixer. Kid Loco's collection is the second of this superior interpretation of the remix album that we have discovered (Funkstorung's being the first). Kid Loco's seductive neo-funk/trip-hop remix work melds the disparate sounds of The Pastels, Uriel, St. Etienne, Talvin Singh, Kat Onoma, High Llamas, Pulp, Gak Sato, Badmarsh + Shri, Mogwai, Cornu, and Tommy Hools. All of these tracks have been previously released; if you didn't get 'em the first time round, you can get 'em now.

Hmm. Kid Loco's newest full length is not as incandescently good as his A Grand Love Story, although it has its high points. The weed-smoking, ladies-lovin' French Kid Loco is writing more proper songs, as opposed to just sit-back-and-kick-it loungey

RealAudio clip: Lucy's Talking
RealAudio clip: A Little Bit of Soul

3 tracks off the proper Grand Love Story album (the double disc French import many of you have bought from us already), plus 3 remixes from the likes of St. Etienne, Gak Sato, Jim O'Rourke, Dmitri From Paris, and more. Why Atlantic released this thing domestically instead of the proper full album (which they have no plans to release despite its excellence) is a mystery to us. But for those who've never heard Kid Loco, this is a fine introduction to some of his best songs ("Love Me Sweet" and "She's My Lover").

If the cd packaging didn't clue you in that this was a Kid Loco release, you'd probably never be able guess. Nothing jumps out and bites you on the nose, nothing give you even a hint of distinct Loco-ness, nor does it really draw your attention at all. Haven't seen the film yet, so unfortunately we can't comment on how the audio matches up with the visuals or storyline... but the music is generally slowly shifting moods which don't have any 'events' to sync up anyway. So this soundtrack for the film The Graffiti Artist does serve its purpose as background music very well, providing unobtrusive ambience and an occasional shuffling trip hop beat. Taken on its own, it might disappoint folks who've been eagerly awaiting fresh funky Kid Loco action. It's a far less sexy and more sedate listening. Actually crediting this cd to Kid Loco is a bit misleading because although he did handle all of the recording, mixing and producing, in fact the music was written by Kid Bravo and played by Tim Keegan (guitar), Jerome Bensoussan (trumpet, clarinet) and Erik Jansson (Rhodes keyboards)... and they did a fine job!

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SORRY. Even more than his pal the Aphex Twin, Mike Paradinas likes the pretty and the melodic and that's why he crosses over so well. Mike's undergone several dozen facelifts since we last saw him as Kid Spatula, having the surgeon's putty knife mold him from �-Ziq to Kid Spatula then to Tusken Raiders and Jake Slazenger, then back to �-Ziq then to just Mike (as in Mike & Rich, a record with Aphex Twin) and back to �-Ziq... It seems that Paradinas' surgeon came pretty close to reclaiming the warped electro-thud of his brilliant 1996 "Spatula Freak" album. Squiggly electronica noise bleeding over fractured breakbeats, and occasional techno stomps makes for darn good listening for the most part. Those wacky fart & grunt noises remain, though, to prove what a big dork he still is.

You might have noticed the curious term "clown-hop" listed amongst the numerous micro-genres of our electronica section, and wondered what the fuck that is. Admittedly, "clown-hop" is a genre that really doesn't exist outside of the context of Mike Paradinas (and maybe Atom Heart), as I'm pretty sure the term was coined to describe the tongue in cheek collaboration between Paradinas (aka Mu-Ziq, Jake Slazenger, and Kid Spatula) and Richard James (aka The Aphex Twin). Regardless, the funny shoe still fits so why not make Paradinas wear the clumsy name...? Meast is the third album done under Paradinas' Kid Spatula moniker. Yes, irony is central to the album; but unlike most ironists who eschew quality control in their smug productions, Paradinas' productions always sound amazing. Meast is actually a collection of unreleased material from 1994-1998, a period of time which offered the best Paradinas material (e.g. Mu-Ziq's Tango 'n' Vectiv and Bluff Limbo). Meast obviously resembles much of that work wherein jazzy two-step drum & bass rhythms clashed with pseudo-electro breakbeat clunkiness, yet his sublime plinkity-plonk melodies managed to hold everything together. Within this body of work, Paradinas infused a much needed wit to the reigning IDM sounds of mid-90s electronica.

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SORRY. SORRY. The very glam, sparkly silver on black T shirt for the kiddies - size: 2T

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SORRY. SORRY. The very glam, sparkly silver on black T shirt for the kiddies - size: 4T

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SORRY.

Second album from these amazing kids, students at unique program at L.A.'s Widney High School where disabled students are taught about music and helped to write and sing their own songs. The results are sometimes funny, sometimes really sad and sometimes just completely bizarre. On Mike Patton's Ipecac label.

Another new release from Slumberland, who have been cranking out release after release since they resurfaced after a bit of a break, thankfully all these new Slumberland jams kill, and this latest one is no different. Featuring a bunch of folks from psych pop combo From Bubblegum To Sky (who are pretty dang great, even though we've never managed to review anything, yet!), this is a modern homage to Phil Spector and the old Brill Building songsmiths, and yeah, we know, everyone and their mother have a reverby garage rock band that is trying to do that whole Phil Spector wall of sound thing, and there are plenty of Something-Girls or Girls-Something bands, Dum Dum, Vivian, At Dawn and the rest, who are doing it quite well thank you. But fuck it, there's always room for another fuzzy, dreamy retro sixties style pop band, especially if the songs are great, and the sound is warm and wonderful, and Kids On A Crime Spree nail it on both counts, using old equipment and vintage recording techniques to capture that classic sound, these guys pull it off songwise too, with warm crunchy softly fuzzy guitars, plenty of jangle, hooks galore, and an awesome second guitar, all warm and woozy, clean and clear, playing the melody over the top of the fuzzy jangle, we LOVE that. Just check out "I Don't Want To Call You Baby, Baby", shades of the Raveonettes for sure, the same sort of washed out dreaminess, but there's just something about KOACS that make these songs sound special. "Trumpets Of Death" has those super echoey vocals, but adds some fat fuzzy bass, and a bizarre chorus that seems to have nothing to do with the titular trumpets of death. All the songs here are awesome, warm and fuzzy, sunshiney and handclappy, hazey and dreamily druggy, softly psychedelic, mixing the classic pop sound that they're paying tribute to, but adding little subtle modern sonic bits that help make this stuff sound special, with some tracks erupting into crunchy fuzzy almost punky blasters, while others getting all warped and blurred and laid back, finally finishing with the piano pounding fuzz bass buzzing "Jean-Paul Sartre 2", which adds a glistening super melodic chorus to the otherwise fuzzed out feedback drenched verses, as well as a cool dynamic stop/start post chorus bridge, and some soaring, super melodic vocals, a strangely tweaked and twisted take on classic popsmithery, that definitely has us hoping that the next record will head more in that direction.

MPEG stream: I Don't Want To Call You Baby, Baby
MPEG stream: It's In My Blood
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Finland's Kiila play, for want of a better description, experimental indie-rock. They share with other Finnish bands like Circle a predeliction for the effective use of repetition, utilizing loops like band member Sami "Es" Sanpakkila's solo A Love Cycle record. Kiila specialize in going off on adventurous, but mostly low-key explorations, from moments of happy pop to dark strum to noisier beats and drones. They take many approaches to music making, but as the extensive liner notes/essay state, their art is rooted in their listening, both to others music and to their own material, which is thoroughly crafted but never "complete". I'm not so much a fan of Kiila's occasional English-language vocals (Finnish is so much better, guys!) but those vocals are indie-rock standard and anyway much of this is instrumental. A very nice discovery -- and even if this record wasn't as good as it is, it would be worth it for the fucked-up but gorgeous, stumbling final track "Heartflowers".

RealAudio clip: Contemporaries
RealAudio clip: Crystal Fields
RealAudio clip: Heatflowers

Some of you will remember Kiila from their 2001 album Heartcore, a lovely disc of low-key indie rock and Circle-like loopage from a couple friends of ours in Finland. In the intervening years, Kiila has morphed a bit. Their new disc Silmat Sulkaset is quite as nice as Heartcore, even better we think as the band has both expanded into a seven-piece ensemble and simultaneous seemingly retreated into the Finnish forest where they now play achingly beautiful psychedelic folk rock, not unlike the more traditionally-influenced efforts of '70s Swedes like Arbete Och Fritid and Trad Gras Och Stenar, venturing into the improv territory of fellow Finnish forest-dwellers Kemialliset Ystavat as well. Male and female voices sing sweetly (in Finnish only -- taking our advice?) over sundry acoustic guitars, electric drones, wavering flutes, and hand percussion. Magical, melodic, mysterious. Krautrock ghosts smile on them. The USA might offer comparisons like Black Forest/Black Sea, Skygreen Leopards, Golden Hotel and Espers, but the Finnish folk element here is irreplaceable... Really really nice. Nice Fonal packaging too!

MPEG stream: Kelmeja
MPEG stream: Kateet Linnut
MPEG stream: Tapanima Aukesi Vuori

Of all the Finnish bands we love, and all the bands on Finnish label Fonal, Kiila might just be the most traditionally indie rock. But then that's really relative, since we're talking about Finland, and the fact that Kiila is made up of members of other, much more far out bands like Es, Kemialliset Ystavat, Avarus, Anaksimadros. So you can figure that even though Kiila traffic in indie rock, it's unlike most indie rock you know. Right off the bat the first track reminds us of a much more blissed out folkier Animal Collective, chiming guitars, delicate fingerpicking, softly tangled harmonies, reverbed abstract vocals, sunshine-y and dreamy, really quite lovely. The rest of the record is not so blissed out though, the second track is a fiddle laced bit of indie rocking, jangly guitars, propulsive drumming, lots of swirling drone-y organs, and much more traditional sounding vocals, in fact it almost reminds us a little of Wilco, albeit filtered through the cracked Finnish pop sensibility. The rest of the record continues in a simialr direction, channeling much of what we love about indie rock, but infusing it with plenty of twang, Finnish forest folkiness, and plenty of off kilter weirdness, whether it's thick sheets of undulating buzz, fluries of birdsong, streaks of tripped out effects or thick swells of rumbling low end crunch, those various elements are deftly woven into more traditional pop smithery. A few tracks revisit the dreamy folkiness of the record opener, stripped down to just acoustic guitar, fiddle and voice, while others are almost entirely vocal harmony drive, and at least one is a gorgeous droned out synthscape, and another is a ramshackle horn flecked, chaotically percussive tripped out free jam. The sounds are lush and beautiful, jangly and poppy, and just a little bit twisted and fractured, they may be the most 'traditional' sounding of all our Finnish faves, but that still means this is weirder and more awesomely abstract thatn 90 percent of music out there. Gorgeous Fonal packaging as always, the cd in a full color 6 panel cardboard gatefold jacket, with a printed inner sleeve which includes liner notes and lyrics and cool printed Japanese style obi, the vinyl in a normal but quite colorful sleeve.

MPEG stream: Viisi Hirvasta
MPEG stream: Kevatlaulu
MPEG stream: Portaissa

Oh boy. It had to happen. And it did, at 2007's Festival International de Musique Actuelle in Victoriaville, Quebec. Kikuri is the heavyweight team up of two folks who cast long shadows in the realm of Japanese underground music: Japanoise master Merzbow (for he is Masami Akita) and that totemic Tokyo psych veteran, Keiji Haino, longtime leader of the free rock band Fushitsusha. There they are in the photo on the inside of the cd booklet, Haino and Akita both standing stoically in a leafy green forest... hey has Haino's hair turned grey, a la J. Mascis (with bangs)?? It's about time (not for the grey, for the team up). Haino has collaborated recently with Tatsuya Yoshida of Ruins (including another highlight on this week's list!), and KK Null of Zeni Geva, and some years back with all of Boris, but this one's definitely as earthshaking (literally) as any of those, if not moreso. So, think this might be dark, dense, and noisy? You're right! Putting this on is like telling your stereo, wake up, time to die!!! The first four of five tracks on this disc are all extreme, crinkled, screaming, disssstorrtted NOISE. It's interestingly varied, and very Merzbovian - although the cryptic, wordy song titles which are definitely the work of poetic soul Keiji Haino... such as: "Give Me Back That Colour You Stole From My Guts" (track 3) and "That Place Into Which You Fell Was Lined With A Cushion Of Pain And Is No Proof Of You Continuing Existence" (track 4). Yep, these initial four tracks of brutal catharsis, all but one of them over 10 minutes long, are quite excellent if you're a Merzbow fan, though those who know Haino will definitely be able to hear his input too, beyond the titles. The track "By Mischance That Soul I Devoured Was A Transparent, Vertical Blues" features bursts of his trademark tortured vocals amidst the throbbing hissing static that could be the work of either party. (Making it more of a "blues" is an outsider guitar part, well we think that's a guitar, plucked probably by Haino.) In any case, up to track five, this disc sounds most like Merzbow, with Haino as a special guest. But then, tipping the balance back towards Haino and his special brand of electric guitar apocalypse, comes the disc's last and longest track, with the shortest title, "Pulverized Purple". That's got to be Haino's title too, 'cause he has always had a thing about the color purple, no not the Alice Walker book. It takes up about half the disc, over 30 minutes long. And while it too is plenty distorted and noisy, like what came before it, it also features gobs and gobs of totally recognizable-as-guitar guitar playing, sheer howling psychedelic feedback style, that had even Andee here (who normally is a Haino hater, weirdly enough, and also thinks he's heard enough Merzbow already) declaring that this was fantastic. Heavy, heavy, droney, droney, and definitely worth the price of admission even if you maybe wouldn't normally buy a Merzbow record. Allan, who IS a big Haino fan, is happy that Andee has finally found something he likes by Haino (in large part 'cause it downplays his distinctive vocal stylings in favor of the way out heavy guitar wailin'). Shut up and play yer guitar is Andee's advice for Haino, and he takes it here. This is definitely something for fans of Fushitsusha (natch), Skullflower, White Heaven, Boris, Brotzmann (Caspar), Les Rallizes, LSD-march... The thick feedback wranglin' and added buzz and hiss sounds a bit like Hendrix' famous "Star Spangled Banner" trip given Striborg-style production!! Meanwhile, Masami Akita gets behind the kit to provide urgent drum tumble and cymbal splatter, reminding us that he played drums on that ol' krautrocky Crystal Fist cd that was a fave 'round here some years back. Damn. Recommended!

MPEG stream: Give Me Back That Colour You Stole From My Guts
MPEG stream: Pulverized Purple

A split release between Kilara (heavy, slugde rock from Virginia sorta like Eyehategod, but with an unhealthy hillbilly country obsession) and Hellchild (Japanese strangled hardcore who were previously on Howling Bull and here covers Venom).

David Kilgour's name will be familiar to anyone who was into the New Zealand indie rock scene of the '80s and early '90s -- he was a founding member of The Clean and Great Unwashed, etc. His solo album Here Come the Cars (1991) is one of my very favorite

RealAudio clip: Today is Gonna Be Mine
RealAudio clip: Sept. 98

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

SORRY. The best of the worst -- demos of demos. 20 songs, intakes and outtakes, "ideas i've used". From New Zealand so you can be pretty sure it's great (though this rule does *not* apply to some recent Flying Nun output).

[ aquarius records catalogue — K ]