[ 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 751 through 800 of 1361.

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

SORRY.

"Six days in 1976". That's what this disc represents. The entire lifespan, and output, of an extremely short-lived but also extremely awesome krautrock 'supergroup' of sorts. Organized by Dieter Moebius (one half of Cluster, one third of Harmonia), the Liliental project also featured the talents of Helmut Hattler and Johannes Pappert of psychedelic jazz-rock outfit Kraan, famed producer Conny Plank, soundtrack composer Otto Bekker and his protege, budding electronic experimentalist Asmus Tietchens (who contributes liner notes to this reissue). They never played live, and indeed spent only six days recording these six tracks. About 35 minutes of exquisite, oft glorious, softly moody and melodic instrumentals here on this one-off treasure... well, mostly instrumental, with some wordless "aahhs" here and there, and also some singing on the particularly quirky, catchy final track (which sounds more like a Brian Eno/Steely Dan collab than a Moebius thing, but that's not necessarily a bad thing). Since the tracks are sequenced on this disc in the same order in which they were recorded, it would seem that by day six they were ready to get a bit silly. On days 1-5, though, there was more restraint to their playfulness, their music sometimes joyous but as often wistful or otherwise serious-sounding. It's hard to describe, easier to imagine if you're already acquainted with Moebius's music solo and in Cluster and Harmonia. While this group had their own special chemistry, the overall vibe is one that will definitely seem familiar to fans of Cluster et.al., wonderfully so. Track three, "Wattwurm", could be from one of the Cluster & Eno albums, easily. And that's high praise! On that track and elsewhere you'll find Liliental to be rhythmic, poppy, breezy, beautiful, all these things... with shimmering washes of mellow synths (lots of Arp and Moog), percolating electronic embellishments, almost-ambient saxophone, and even some blissful bird twitter on one track. So nice. This reissue actually came out last year, and we've been wanting to list it for a while, but had some trouble getting enough copies. Now we have a few in stock, so get it, it's definitely one to add to the top of the pile of essential krautrock reissues we've raved about recently, like those Michael Rothers, La Dusseldorfs, Eroc, etc. In addition to Tietchens' notes, in both English and German, this digipack's cd booklet also includes color photos of Liliental in the studio (they existed nowhere else!), among them the group shot from which the cover painting was done - interestingly, amongst other small details altered, the cover artist decided to put long pants on Conny Plank (the smiling fellow on the far left) instead of letting him continue to wear the short shorts he had on in the original photograph.

MPEG stream: Stresemannstrasse
MPEG stream: Wattwurm

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

SORRY. Skittery, dreamy electronica, kind of like a cross between Bords of Canada and Aphex Twin. Featured on the Emanated compilation from a few lists back (an amazing compilation of local-ish electronica, still in stock, $10.98)

Well all right! One of the most highly-anticipated releases of the past few years is finally on the shelves at AQ. Kleenex were a Swiss punk band who released one record in 1978 and were soon thereafter forced to change their name to LiLiPUT, the moniker they used for the next four years until they disbanded in 1983. For the five years of their existence, Kleenex / LiLiPUT amassed an astonishingly cohesive (considering they went through three vocalists) body of work that was championed by everyone from John Peel to Rough Trade Records, who were their label for a while. Since their demise, the legend of LiLiPUT has only grown larger and larger. At one point a brief 1993 cd reissue of their work was reportedly going on eBay for over $300! The riot grrl scene, among other punk movements, has been inpsired by and today rightfully acknowledges and champions the influence of Kleenex/LiLiPUT (heads up, fans of Le Tigre, this will kick your ass and you'll thank them and ask for more). Somehow it seems appropriate that stalwart indie-punk label Kill Rock Stars should be releasing this double cd, which contains the entirety of the band's recorded output. But what do they sound like? Well, no fan of the Slits, Raincoats, or X-Ray Spex should be without this record for a moment longer. Yeah, it's got that much unbelievable energy, choppy melodies, and three-chord majesty... and the band was similarly female fronted (one guy was only briefly a member). The two constants in the band -- the two people who were present throughout all the incarnations of Kleenex/LiLiPUT -- were guitarist Marlene Marder and bassist Klaudia Schiff, so there's driving, relentless, yet thoughtful basslines, coupled with slash 'n burn, jumpy guitar terrorism that at times recalls the band's contemporaries in the scene, like Gang of Four, Joy Division, and Wire. The vocalists ferociously crowed and cackled mostly in sing song English, making for funny and evocative lyrics. Violin and skronkin' saxophone were occasionally used as embellishment to their already full, solid sound. Every song is unique, approachable... every song is good. Kleenex/LiLiPUT's time has come again.

RealAudio clip: Eisiger Wind
RealAudio clip: Beri-Beri
RealAudio clip: DC-10
RealAudio clip: Ain't You
RealAudio clip: Madness

Like we mentioned last list, we have been going Sixteen Horsepower CRAZY, with a recent archival 16HP release, two Woven Hand records (the apocalyptic, biblical side project of 16HP singer David Eugene Edwards) as well as last list's Lilium record, the side project of 16HP bassist Pascal Humbert, a dark and harrowing, instrumental, swamp folk epic, that if you haven't picked up yet, you should, 'cause it's as good as the Woven Hand records, and is mighty tough to get, so we can't be sure how long we'll have them or if we run out, how long it will take to get more. This time around, we are lucky to have tracked down record number two from Lilium, which is brand spanking new and is a slight departure from the growling, rumbling, creepy sinister-folk of their previous record. Fear not, there's still plenty of atmosphere, rickety campfire strum, and moody darkness, it's just much smoother and it's a bit more traditionally pretty. Humbert has recruited his 16HP bandmate Jean-Yves Tola for this record making this essentially 2/3 Sixteen Horsepower, so to a certain degree you have a rough idea of what this sounds like. The big change is the vocals. Or should I say the vocalists. That's right vocalists. Unlike their instrumental debut, which was sort of more 'sound' than 'song', they really flex their songwriting muscles on Short Stories and craft some gorgeously dark and melancholy pop songs, sung beautifully, and swathed in that dark hazy atmosphere we know and love so well. Maybe the nicest surprise is vocalist Kal Calhoone, a dead ringer for Cat Power's Chan Marshall, but with a little PJ Harvey swagger thrown in. And PJ Harvey is kind of an apt comparison for some of these tunes, smoldering and moody, emotional and urgent, with Calhoone's husky whisper weaving tales of sorrow and despair. 16HP's David Eugene Edwards sings on one song and since that basically makes it Sixteen Horsepower, it might just be the strongest cut on the record, as good as anything they've ever recorded as a proper band. The rest of the record follows the same brambly path, with lush, and dreamy, slightly doomy tableaus, fingerpicked guitars, shuffling percussion, wheezing accordions, rumbling cellos, organs, slippery slide guitar, raspy, drawled vocals, and heavily reverbed pianos, totally mesmerising and sweetly melodic. Very reminsicent of Black Heart Procession, Calexico, Low and American Music Club. Highly recommended as was the last Lililium. Features guests from Morphine, Deus, and the Czars.

MPEG stream: Whitewashed
MPEG stream: It They Cheered
MPEG stream: Sense And Grief
MPEG stream: Angels

We sure have been under the spell of all things Sixteen Horsepower lately. Especially the amazing Woven Hand records, the solo project of 16HP frontman David Eugene Edwards. But don't think for a minute that Edwards is solely responsible for the creepy, dark, backwoods ambience of 16HP and WH! To prove that point, we've finally tracked down the first release from Lilium, otherwise known as Pascal Humbert, bass player for Sixteen Horsepower. Although this has been out for a while, we were only now able to get enough copies to list, direct from Germany, hence the import price. But it's worth every penny. All you folks who went mad for the Woven Hand will be equally enamored of this delicate and gauzy, spare and mournful cinematic swampscape, equal parts deconstructed country, skeletal folk and shimmering, ominous drone. The opening track is a rickety, bluegrass crawl, sounding like the dueling banjos from Deliverance, slowed down, caked in mud and leaves, and broadcast on a warbly victrola from the bottom of a well. The rest of the record follows suit, wallowing in darkness and shadow ranging from rumbling, reverberent drones woven from slowly shifting layers of oscillating tones and warm chordal washes, to shuffling, reverb drenched, Calexico-ish desert rock twang, to fuzzed out, keyboard drenched, hypno-minimalism, to almost-indie/post rock instrumental workouts, to dangerously forboding Sixteen Horsepower-ish Southern swampfolk. The whole record is swathed in a warm, dense ambience of melancholic mystery, grim gloom and eerie unease. Anyone who bought the Woven Hand records NEEDS this for sure. And folks who love the likes of Sixteen Horsepower, Calexico, Souled American, Scott Tuma, Court And Spark, Califone, Giant Sand, Black Heart Procession, or even Morphine, will find this bleak and beautiful twang, and these deep and doleful drones, will hit the spot perfectly.

MPEG stream: Sleeping Inside
MPEG stream: Swell
MPEG stream: Beginning Of The Water Line

Weren't sure what to expect from this mysterious little musical object, two paint splattered 3" cd-rs, each in their own little thick vinyl sleeve, nestled in a fold out poster, all metallic ink and trippy futuristic landscape, the cds and the poster housed in a little cardboard box, each individually hand painted, with another image of that futuristic landscape pasted on the front, and of course LIMITED TO ONLY 50 COPIES!! All we knew was that these two discs were the work of some spaced out solo synth loner, and to be honest we were expecting something noisy and harsh, or at least creepy and dark, but instead, our ears were treated to softly shimmering, smooth sonorous drones, looooong resonant tones, overlapping, intertwining and gently lapping like some dreamy sonic sea. This is the sound of drifting through an outer space bathed in the light of a million alien suns, everything warm and rich, a fuzzy thrum that pulses almost imperceptibly, the various tones woven into chords, but chords only visible from the lithosphere, hovering miles above a strange world of slow shifting sounds, down in it, looking at the chords from within, from beneath, the chords are so expansive, the notes stretched so far apart, it's like laying in warm sand and staring at a sky full of washed out melodic blurs. Totally captivating and hypnotic. For fans of Expo 70, Popol Vuh, Tangerine Dream, Destructo Swarmbots, Tunnels and other practitioners of slow blissy drift. And again, we only have 15 or 20 of these, OF THE ONLY 50 MADE!! So once these are gone, we won't be able to get more...

MPEG stream: Twin Holes (excerpt 1)
MPEG stream: Twin Holes (excerpt 2)

The Lilys' "Selected" has been qualified a bit of a throwback for the Lilys, whose career over the past decade has been a rollercoaster ride through UK psyche history. Their first album was a blissful excursion into the early '90s Creation sound which spawned My Bloody Valentine's "Loveless" and Ride "Nowhere," but as the band progressed, the shoegazing disappeared in favor of a peppy UK Beat sound. This EP takes on much more of their earlier sound, with paisleys, kaleidoscopes, faux-lysergic mind awakenings, and little round sunglasses finding their way back into the hearts of the Lilys. If you're really into The Aislers Set, you should certainly track this one down. Its only fault is that it's 17 minutes long.

This is not new, but its a favorite record we've never carried before and we managed to get our hands on a few copies to list, not sure if we'll be able to get more, so you know the drill... We can't say we were huge fans of the Lilys, the Philadelphia based outfit led by Kurt Heasley. Their constant genre switching from MBV shoegaze to Oasis-style brit pop to electronic music never held our focus for very long. Yet this one record, a minor one in Lilys overall discography, recorded for the Darla label's Blissed Out series in 1999, is the one that holds up the best for us. Which is funny, because the Blissed Out series was created for invited bands to experiment with their sound. The best in the series included AMP, Windy and Carl, and Fuxa, but the Lilys one is our favorite, because they use the forum to dive head first into full blown Krautrock worship. Over 6 long instrumental tracks, they channel Neu!, Cluster, Kraftwerk and Faust (the cover art sort of apes Faust IV, albeit badly) with great efficiency and verve. We admit that at this point in time, it's not the most original sound, but for a one-off album, Lilys do it so spot on in a way that displays their obvious influences yet still sounds fresh and enjoyable. And nearly a decade before Arp, Cloudland Canyon, and countless other bands were fishing from the same well. Yeah!

MPEG stream: Escape
MPEG stream: The Law
MPEG stream: Sharper Laws

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

SORRY. The "illbient" trio (Danny Blume, DJ Olive, & Lloop) and guests (including usual downtown NYC suspects Marc Ribot and John Medeski) unleashes second stunning effort. Think Golden Palominos with excellent breakbeats! Lloop and Olive are members of Aquarius drum'n'bass faves We, by the way.

The previous full length from French fuzz pop duo The Liminanas, Crystal Anis, might be one of THEE most played records in the shop, even a year after it came out. Somehow it seems to ALWAYS be playing, and whenever someone can't think of what to listen to, that seems to be the record turned to most. And for good reason, it's a doozy. Besides being droney and jangly and hypnotic, and so crazy catchy, it also features lots of ukelele, perhaps in the only non-kitsch usage we can think of. They take the modern krautrock of outfits like Moon Duo, and meld it to the classic popsmithery of Jacques Brel and Serge Gainsbourg. The music simple and stripped down, but super hypnotic and melodic, boy and girl vocals, with plenty of sexy spoken word, that ukelele, a weird mix of folky strum, propulsive motorik groove, fuzzy garage rock, stripped down jangle pop, all wound into perfect chunks of brooding, moody, exotic, fuzzy, jangly radness that we literally could not get enough of. So we were THRILLED to discover a brand new record, and we're happy to report, it's just as good as the earlier one. In fact, it's one of those records, that on first listen seems like it couldn't possibly live up to what came before, but a few listens in, blossoms into something special, and before you know it, you begin to think it's even better, and then a little bit later, you're SURE it is. So that's where we're at now. The sound itself is definitely more lush and well produced, the sound a bit heavier and more layered, and while the songs still don't seem quite as catchy, they're sinking their hooks in a little more with each listen, and at this point, that means it won't be long, since this is pretty much all we want to listen to. Totally recommended, and bound to be playing next time you're in the shop, which as always, is about the highest recommendation we can think of!

MPEG stream: Je Me Souviens Comme Si J'y Etais
MPEG stream: My Black Sabbath
MPEG stream: Alicante

Record number two from this French fuzz dream pop duo, not sure how we missed the first one, but we're digging this one a lot! The music a heady concoction equal parts modern garage rock and classic French pop, swirling synths wrapped around ukulele (!), simple propulsive almost krautrock drumming, new wave basslines, the sound crystalline and dreamily druggy, the vocals washed out and woozy. Some of the tracks sound a bit like like Moon Duo, that sort of stripped down kraut-psych, while others sound like old French Ye Ye music channeled through the woozy drugginess of Spacemen 3, melding sultry French spoken word, to wheezing psychedelic organ and those krautrocky grooves. The ukulele is possibly the strangest part of the equations, adding a truly distinct and unique sound to the proceedings, even when the band unfurls a thick swirling blast of buzzing guitars, it's underpinned by a lilting melody played on the ukulele. The slower tracks here play like some alternate universe sixties girl group, all fuzzy and shimmery and dreamy, but the bulk of the tracks are droned out organ / ukulele / fuzz guitar zoner-psych groovers, that we can't seem to get enough of.

MPEG stream: Salvation
MPEG stream: Longanisse
MPEG stream: AF3458

We've loved pretty much every single record from this fuzzy, garage-y French dream-pop combo, who fuse buzzy guitar crunch, and simple propulsive rhythmic pound, with classic sixties French pop, swirling psychedelia, and even add a little ukelele! This comp collects, as the title suggests, all the group's various singles and comp tracks (as well as a few unreleased rarities), and really if you've yet to hear the Liminanas, this is as good a place to start as any. Some of the tracks here sound like Brigitte Bardot or France Gall if they recorded for Castle Face, and were backed up by White Fence or Thee Oh Sees, others channel the druggy kraut-psych of outfits like Moon Duo, through that sixties Ye Ye Girls sound we can't seem to ever get enough of. They do some cool covers too, a dreamily fuzzy and buzzy version of the Beach Boys' "I Know There's An Answer", they tackle Jay Reatard's "An Ugly Death", making it dirgey and breathy, and do a lo-fi, garage pop take on Darlene Love's Phil Spector penned "Christmas". The band make those songs totally their own. Perfectly fitting in with their sexy, sultry, French Garage pop originals, the vocals alternately crooned or purred, both male and female, they're almost like a fuzzier, garagier, modern day version of Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin, which you know is not a bad thing at all!

MPEG stream: (I've Got) Trouble In Mind
MPEG stream: Tu Es A Moi
MPEG stream: I Know There's An Answer
MPEG stream: Liverpool

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

SORRY. The most recent full length from French fuzz pop duo Liminanas was a surprise hit around here, we can barely keep it in stock! A fantastic mix of raw garage pop and space-y psychedelia, warbly organs, new wave basslines, sultry vocals, and weirdest of all UKULELE! Which definitely added a twangy twist. We managed to get just a handful of this limited new 7", which features two more tracks of glorious, campy garagey fuzz pop, the A side straight out of the Serge Gainsbourg songbook, the music a woozy slab of exotica, simple propulsive groove, twangy reverbed melodies, wheezing organ chords, dreamy female back up vox, low slung bassline, and over the top, a a deep dramatic voice, speaking in French, sexy and sultry. The flipside channels the spirit of Stereolab for a sweet slab of Francophile dreaminess, all krautrocky shimmer, and hazy, dream pop fuzz. Comes in a cool black and red jukebox style sleeve, and includes a download coupon.

MPEG stream: La Fille De La Ligne 15
MPEG stream: Mobylette

John Zorn and his Tzadik label have yet again come up with another unknown (to us) Japanese avant-rock band to feature in their "New Japan" series! Previous entries have included Melt Banana, Ruins, Rovo, Mono, Ground Zero and Hoahio, among others. This weirdly-named trio hails from Kyoto and specializes in quirky, oft-noisy, sometimes quite poppy rock that comes closest to Melt Banana (or Deerhoof, for an American comparison -- they definitely remind us of Deerhoof). Yelping female vocals are of course part of the equation, along with totally pretty parts, skittery guitars, schizoid changes, energetic drums, and mucho distortion and heavy skree (with light-speed dynamic shifts into lighter territory and back again). Super fun, executed to perfection. True, this type of thing isn't as bizarre and groundbreaking to Western ears as it once was, but it's still really good. Definitely a new name to watch, one for fans of Melt Banana, OOIOO, Boredoms and the like to check out. So, chalk another one up for Tzadik! MPEG Download: "Aloha!" [/audio/limitedexpressspy.mp3] MPEG Stream: "Aloha!" [/audio/limitedexpressspy.m3u]

MPEG stream: Aloha!
MPEG stream: Spy

Heads up! Here's three new songs from these Japanese spazz-art-poppers. This bright opaque blue 7" record is comin' atcha by way of Australian record label Phono-Statique! Churningly angular and dizzyingly rambunctious, it sounds like they loosened all the strings on their guitars for this one. The b-side "Halation" features lyrics that are primarily a male singer chanting "one two three four" in Japanese. Count along with him! We've said it before and we'll say it again: definitely for fans of Deerhoof and Melt-Banana... and of course Limited Express (Has Gone?)!

A two-song cd single from this Japanese outfit, whetting our appetites for a full-length follow-up to their fine 2003 Tzadik-label album debut Feeds You. Yelpy, dizzying avant-rock a la Melt Banana or Deerhoof. One of the two tracks is a warped cover of "There She Goes" by The La's! In no frills packaging with only an obi for artwork. Limited stock.

MPEG stream: There She Goes

An ultimate skweee entree here folks!! The head honcho of flagship skweee label Flogsta Danshall, Frans Carlqvist aka Limonious (also aka Pavan), drops his debut, vinyl-only full-length. Eight tracks of dope skweee from a master of the form... and if you're unfamiliar with skweee, Limonious will school you. You can also look up "skweee" on our site for more info in other reviews, like those of the Museum Of Future Sound comps on Carlqvist's label (the blocky b&w cover art of this album is in the style of those comps). Suffice to say that skweee is a (mostly) Scandinavian subgenre of fucked up and funky Electro soundz, computery blip bloop zip zap meets hip hop, done DIY, with distortion and glitch, like what you'd feverishly imagine could be jammin' at an '80s video arcade / dancehall. On House Of Usher, the skweee simply slays, with queasy beats knocking against squelching synth bass, the results being warped, percolating instrumental grooves that are earworm-catchy. And in keeping with the "House Of Usher" theme, there's a suspenseful spooky moodiness to some of this that Poe himself might have appreciated. This album includes a version of the Limonious classic "Swedish Pommak" (as heard on Museum Of Future Sound Vol. 2), here titled "Swizz Pommak", along with 7 brand new cuts of hardcore skweee, though it'd be worth it for the "Pommak" one alone!! Seriously. Anyone into skweee needs this record, and if you're not yet into skweee, maybe this will do the trick, check it out!

MPEG stream: Dutty Frutty
MPEG stream: Swizz Pommak
MPEG stream: 7 Synths

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

SORRY. Calling all skweee-jays! Or would-be skweee-jays. We've got four new 7" singles of fresh skweee straight from the source, imported from Flogsta Danshall in Finland. They're in plain white sleeves, the only art to be found here on the labels. If you've followed our other skweee recommendations (both Museum Of Future Sound comps, the more recent Skweee Tooth collection) then you know all about this Scandinavian DIY electro b-boy instrumental 8-bit phenomenon, and you'll also already be familiar with the strange names of the artists on these four singles. Flogsta boss Limonious' slinky "Swedish Pommak" already wormed its way into our ears via the Museum Of Future Sound Vol. 2, though the jittery yet spacey b-side "Hurri Up!" we hadn't heard before. And all the tracks by Mangrove, Mrs. Qeada, and Joxaren (all three artists hailing from Sweden) are new to us as well. Suffice to say, if you like skweee, you'll like these cuts, presented here in skweee's ideal format. Joxaren's "Ritam Bluz" is a chiming, exotic, slightly sinister groove. Mrs Qeada's laidback "Post-Pubertal" bleeps and bloops nicely along aided by robotic handclaps and digital hisses (oddly, her MySpace page lists Neutral Milk Hotel's Jeff Mangum as her only influence). Maybe our fave of the batch, Mangrove's "Angry Animals", is a bit of a fractured funky banger, bringing down some rigid buzzin' beats. The flip is pretty solidly crunchy / catchy too. The various other A- and B- sides on these 7"s are all pretty darn skweelicious as well! Seriously, if you're a DJ, just throw one of these on in your set for instant skweee cred. Listening at home is fun too. Go here: http://skweee.com/ for a lot more interesting skweee info, including interviews with some of the folks we just mentioned.

SF locals Limosine offer up their debut, a 5-song cd-r about 36 minutes long featuring much in the way of rumbling repetitive percussion, blown-out distortion, ceremonial atmospheres, squealing tape manipulations, droning doomic vocal chant, mad scientist bloops and bleeps, and indie-angsty vox... Limosine's layers of lo-fi loops are a sort of psychedelic DIY industrial musick that we imagine could appeal to fans of such disparate acts as Pain Teens, the Dead C, Sunburned Hand Of The Man, and Wildildlife. Weird stuff, we can say that! And we like it. Track one, "Only Poise, Only Prizes" is the heaviest, most claustrophobic cut, with the next two "Stillborn" and "Lo And Behold" being much airier and (relatively) blissful, though then the final two songs here, "Weird Waver" and "Alrosa Villa" bring back more of the distortion and shambolic mayhem of the first track. Not that the spacious "Stillborn", in the course of its nearly 12 minute running time, doesn't get into some intense areas too. The band is a trio, with Sarah Bernat on guitar and vocals, Grant Valley on vocals and acoustic guitar, and Bert Bergen on drums, electronics, and cassette tape loops. The one we know among 'em is Bert, and you can definitely hear him loud and clear here. He's also a visual artist, his work usual featuring fantastical crystalline patterns, bearded gurus, and innocent marine mammals, you've probably seen it around town on wheatpasted posters advertising rock shows and art gallery events. And he was the drummer (as well as what you might call artistic director) for the now-disbanded new age space rock outfit Ascended Master, which also featured former AQ staffer Lauren, as well as members of Crime In Choir. While we're sorry Ascended Master is no more, we're digging Bert's new ride, Limosine. The way this is packaged, you could easily mistake it for a 7", but like we said it's actually a cd-r with a folded-up 21"x18" poster, a numbered, signed print featuring freaky art by Bert and Grant. Limited to only 59 copies!!

MPEG stream: Only Poise, Only Prizes
MPEG stream: Stillborn
MPEG stream: Weird Waver

Local label Time Released Sound keeps cranking them out, so much so that we can barely keep up. But it's well worth trying, as pretty much everything they put out ends up being fantastic, the music most certainly, but also the extremely elaborate, lovingly packaged handmade deluxe editions (more on that in a second). By now, TRS obsessives no doubt realize there is definitely a Time Released 'sound'. Lush, electronic flecked soundscapes that fuse organic instruments with less organic filigree, strings, pianos, draped over synths and computers, all woven into sprawling soundworlds that manage to be both pastoral and dreamlike, hushed and cinematic. Unsettled Beings is no different, the third album by Swedish musician Mikael Lind, who now lives and works in Iceland, and the Iceland vibe is huge throughout, with much of the record sounding like it would definitely not be out of place on a Sigur Ros record (and there IS a Sigur Ros connection by the way!). Pointillist piano, drifting ethereal female vocals, crooned softly reverbed male vocals, swaths of processed electronics, swirling strings, dreamlike swells, hushed and hunting, but warm glowing and sun dappled, violins drifting in soft focus clouds around melancholic piano melodies, all blurred and smeared into something more dreamily psychedelic and abstract, a swirling smoldering dream-folk fused to woozy atmospheric ambience, the tracks drifting easily from proper songcraft, to free for soundscapery and back again, fans of previous TRS releases will definitely not be disappointed, and even folks new to the label, Land's Unsettled Beings is a gem, and just might be the most polished and well produced release we've heard from TRS, the sound alternatingly epic and majestic, minimal and melancholy. So fantastic. And we say this every time, but the label has outdone themselves with the packaging, which is once again totally over the top. And as always, is available in two versions, a standard version, packaged in a digipak, limited to 200 copies, and a deluxe version, which this time means a handsewn 12 page book of photos, bound in an antique book cover, each of the pages hand burnt, so the page before or after is partially visible, all of the art by Icelandic illustrator Sigga Bjorg Sigurdardottir, with some of the art 'fingerprinted' with volcanic ash, there's an original Polaroid print in a translucent envelope, filled with dried flowers and leaves, a printed insert, antique Icelandic stamps, and a tiny hourglass vial full of Icelandic poppy seeds! Wow!!

MPEG stream: Unsettled Beings
MPEG stream: Old Tales Of Folly
MPEG stream: The Hermit's Fly Trap

MPEG stream: Unsettled Beings
MPEG stream: Old Tales Of Folly
MPEG stream: The Hermit's Fly Trap

As decreed by the dual monarchs of the Kingsdom of Elgaland / Vargaland (those being CM von Hausswolff and Leif Elggren), Swedish composer Rune Lindblad should be held in the same canonical reverie as Karlheinz Stockhausen, John Cage, and Pierre Schaeffer. For Lindblad engaged the spirit of ardent innovation, brash risktaking, and an unwavering social agenda that could easily be found in The lp is much more loose in its interpretation of Lindblad with Brommage Dub pulling off a good Monolake / Chain Reaction piece of minimalist techno, and Jean-Louis HuhtaJ offering some leftfield electronica a la Two Lone Swordsmen or Plaid. Nice work, but doesn't really hold much insight into Lindblad's work beyond distant samples. Nevertheless, this is an excellent overview of Lindblad's work and his influence over contemporary Swedish experimental electronics.

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

SORRY. With Melvin Gibbs and Dougie Bowne.

Nobody makes us move quite like Hans-Peter Lindstrom. His full length collection of singles It's A Feedelity Affair a year or so back quickly became an AQ favorite, with its spacey dance floor gems equally inspired by Giorgio Moroder, Patrick Cowley, Italo Disco and Loft-era party mixes. While we aren't usually the biggest fans of ep's with just a single and various remixes, this one is totally essential! Contemporary Fix is a new and way-beyond-infectious track from Lindstrom, and the folks he got to remix it are a testament to his superb taste and wide reaching vision. EYE from The Boredoms works some tribal psychedelic magic on his remix making the song burst with frenetic energy and drip with every color you could imagine. We have the feeling Black Dice would want to listen to this track in the studio for a shot of inspiration. The closing remix from Bjorn Torske is the perfect way to end this half hour party. Like Lindstrom, Torske is from Norway and is one of the innovators of the great Norwegian disco/house scene. Who says dance music can't be as engaging as it is pleasing? Recommended!

MPEG stream: The Contemporary Fix
MPEG stream: The Contemporary Fix (EYE Remix)

Beardo Disco? That's a term we have heard bandied about lately when referring to the new wave of mutated house/electroclash/indie dance-rock sounds of acts like Ratatat, Justice, and Norwegian duo Lindstrom and Prins Thomas. Whatever it means, we've been digging it a lot lately. Here Hans-Peter Lindstrom has parted ways with his former collaborator and given us a compilation of solo 12" singles from the Feedelity label released between 2003 and 2006. Arranging with maximal effect without overdoing it, Lindstrom takes cues from Italo Disco, Morodor electro, and Loft-era party mixes to give us a set that will keep us bopping through the holidays. Recommended!

MPEG stream: Fast & Delirious
MPEG stream: Further Into the Future

It's been a few years since we've had a proper solo outing from Lindstrom. While he's kept busy collaborating with folks like Prins Thomas, and Christabelle, we've been anxious to see what his new batch of songs would sound like. And we have to say we were psyched to discover him pushing his sound into some exciting new directions. While he was at the forefront of the whole 'beardo-disco' revival a few years back, it's refreshing to see that he isn't just making the same record over and over. In fact Six Cups Of Rebel is by far his most varied, ambitious, eclectic, and unique recording to date. We're reminded of a remix that Eye from The Boredoms did for Lindstrom a few years back and how possibly that may have informed some of the aesthetic of this album, as there is a newfound hyper-galactic-electro-prog sound going on in Six Cups Of Rebel that we are digging tons. While it seems like all his colleagues have been studying up on the sound of classic Goblin recordings, we think Lindstrom may have also been digging deep into the world of Magma. It's the first Lindstrom record where it feels like he's finally let loose, ending up crafting a more fractured cosmic sound, reminding us of all those early Warp records by folks like Plaid, Mira Calix, LFO, Aphex Twin, etc. And then a track like "De Javu" which sounds like David Byrne, Holger Czukay, and 808 State jamming on an extended B-side of some white label 12". Lindstrom mastered the space disco sound and it would have been so easy for him to make a really pleasing but static sounding cosmic disco record again, but instead he's pushing himself as an artist and taking risks that we think are pretty exciting.

MPEG stream: De Javu
MPEG stream: Quiet Place To Live

It would be difficult to say that Lindstrom has finally come into his own, but it's really not his fault. Given the retro-modern angle of his entire project, it's not really even a good or bad thing. The sounds, the composition, the melodic structures, they're all questionably '80s. Not '80s like Giorgio Moroder or Daniele Baldelli - as most commonly referenced, but more like a blend of Jan Hammer, Rick Astley, and, like, Paul Lekakis? Sure, a little John Carpenter even. If you can overlook all the kitsch, the bizarre nostalgia for music that may or may not have really been necessary, then Lindstrom is your guy. This particular release shows him both more minimal and more maximal, restrained and indulgent. Each of the three tracks unfold slowly, releasing one arpeggiation after another, deftly resting upon various analog drum sounds and sampled percussive devices. The production is great as usual, and no doubt the guy must have an impressive collection of vintage synths, etc. So far as songwriting, it's suspiciously absent. As with the majority of his releases, the focus is on process, development, and a definite amount of abandon as a listener. Just sitting back and seeing where he wants to take you, which is more often than not just some '80s soundtrack. Sure, "I Feel Space" was a great track, and undoubtedly helped to spark the fairly recent explosion of space disco and gave people a strange justification to somehow openly talk about Todd Rundgren as a musical hero, or something. However, the promise of that single has largely fallen flat. Truth be told, this release is a better than his usual fare, but not really essential for anyone other than completists or huge fans.

MPEG stream: Grand Ideas
MPEG stream: The Long Way Home

This is a bonus deluxe reissue of Lindstrom's debut full length, which comes with an extra disc of re-edits of all the tracks from Lindstrom's beardo-disco partner in crime, Prins Thomas. We don't think this is entirely worth re-purchasing if you have already bought it once, but for those of you haven't already, you get an extra treat! Here is what we said about the original: It would be difficult to say that Lindstrom has finally come into his own, but it's really not his fault. Given the retro-modern angle of his entire project, it's not really even a good or bad thing. The sounds, the composition, the melodic structures, they're all questionably '80s. Not '80s like Giorgio Moroder or Daniele Baldelli - as most commonly referenced, but more like a blend of Jan Hammer, Rick Astley, and, like, Paul Lekakis? Sure, a little John Carpenter even. If you can overlook all the kitsch, the bizarre nostalgia for music that may or may not have really been necessary, then Lindstrom is your guy. This particular release shows him both more minimal and more maximal, restrained and indulgent. Each of the three tracks unfold slowly, releasing one arpeggiation after another, deftly resting upon various analog drum sounds and sampled percussive devices. The production is great as usual, and no doubt the guy must have an impressive collection of vintage synths, etc. So far as songwriting, it's suspiciously absent. As with the majority of his releases, the focus is on process, development, and a definite amount of abandon as a listener. Just sitting back and seeing where he wants to take you, which is more often than not just some '80s soundtrack. Sure, "I Feel Space" was a great track, and undoubtedly helped to spark the fairly recent explosion of space disco and gave people a strange justification to somehow openly talk about Todd Rundgren as a musical hero, or something. However, the promise of that single has largely fallen flat. Truth be told, this release is a better than his usual fare, but not really essential for anyone other than completists or huge fans.

MPEG stream: Grand Ideas
MPEG stream: The Long Way Home

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

SORRY.

Lindstrom has been a major player in the last several years, offering up and ushering in a movement of modern disco inspired space-surfing jams. He's proven to be unafraid of switching things up, working in different settings and collaborating, as he has with folks like Prins Thomas and even The Boredoms. For his latest outing he's teamed up with a vocalist called Christabelle who has shown up from time to time on some of his earlier recordings, but this time the record centered around her vocals and the two have created an album of ten distinct songs that owe as much to disco queens like Grace Jones and Donna Summer as they do to soul/funk icons like Prince and Vanity 6, not to mention a big healthy does of vintage Italo-disco. This is one of those records that when played has most folks assuming it's some amazing obscure early 80's disco-treasure. It's got that vintage cloudy and sequined sound yet it doesn't come off like some cheap and easy throwback. One of Lindstrom's greatest strengths is his ability to create such infectious grooves, and we tend to be more drawn to his tighter song based productions than his grandiose epic waves of sound like much of Where You Go I Go Too. Christabelle and Lindstrom sound so perfect and perfectly balanced together. One never seems to dominate the other. The songs allow for passages that are total trademark Lindstrom, yet Christabelle's vocals lend a lightness and breeze that allows these songs to travel with an ease and freeness that past Lindstrom records were not quite able to reach. Sonically similar to what the folks in the Italians Do It Better/Johnny Jewel camp (Glass Candy, Desire, Chromatics, etc.) have been doing, yet somehow this comes off as a bit less self conscious and flows so smoothly and easily...

MPEG stream: Lovesick
MPEG stream: Keep It Up
MPEG stream: Let's Practise

Lindstrom & Prins Thomas have become the go-to guys for modern cosmic disco journeys in sound. On their latest collaboration it sounds like they've been listening to a whole lot of Michael Rother's '70s solo records as II really taps into that airy, lightly spaced out and oh-so-breezy vibe. The cascading rhythms and stretched out breeziness also reminds us a lot of the great Sorcerer album from a couple years ago. While it might make for a perfect coming down record the morning after a night full of debauchery in Ibiza, truth is, this is a record that will definitely appeal to many folks who don't usually think of themselves as dance music minded, as these two Norwegians understand how to craft such lush and pleasing sounds with a surprisingly wide range of musical appeal. New age disco? A cosmic beach party? Rolling so smoothly and going down so nice, we don't care what it's called, the fact is it's damn good.

MPEG stream: Cisco
MPEG stream: Flue Pa Veggen
MPEG stream: Gudene Vet + Snutt

That Lindstrom singles album we reviewed a few list backs has been a consistent hit around here for those seeking some organic and engaging italo-disco inflected dance bliss. But what put Lindstrom on the dance radar was his earlier collaboration with fellow Beardo Disco Swede, Prins Thomas, who tempered Lindstrom's earthy Moroder-esque roboticisms with his love for seventies European cosmic space disco-rock a la Germany's Boney M. and France's Space Art and Cerrone. We never carried that early collaboration, but the two have recently gotten back together to remix a few of their early tracks into nine extended dancefloor burners, and extended is the key word as some tracks roll past the ten minute mark and one in particular is over 20 minutes. Good for parties where you want to keep a crowd nice and sweaty. But the nice thing about this is that the pair make a dance album that is great for casual listening too. It's not just all 4 to the floor beats. The reverbed piano, atmospheric guitars, ecstatic synths, and the subtle hints of vocals that comprise the bulk of the rhythm's melodic topping create an engaging and catchy listen as well.

MPEG stream: Turkish Delight
MPEG stream: Boney M Down

Latest Late Night Tales from Swedish Dancefloor impresario.

The Swedish composer Mats Lindstrom is the studio director for the storied EMS studios in Stockholm, whose mission for the advancement of electro-acoustic music and sound art began way back in 1964. BJ Nilsen, Kevin Drumm, Brian Lustmord, and Stephen O'Malley all passed through the studios in their respective careers, alongside a plethora of more composerly types who we're not all that familiar with. While the connection was never made all that clear, it was probably during O'Malley's residency at EMS when he first met Lindstrom and became familiar with his work, which is now anthologized for the first time on O'Malley's imprint Ideologic Organ. Lindstrom's aesthetic harkens back to the classic era of musique concrete and post-serialist electronic composition from the '60s (e.g. Pierre Schaefer, Xenakis, Nordheim, etc.), playing with the metaphors of his sounds much more than the semantic detachment that usually embodies such acousmatic practices. Take for example the title track, which must refer to the Russian fighter jet, as the track was commissioned for an aviation museum in St. Petersburg and races forward and backward with jet engine roars, possibly simulated, possibly recorded, all of which is surgically cut with mechanical clank and industrial hum. The two IBM tracks clatter away with the anachronistic sounds of typewriters, rigorously collaged with bizzaro scrapes, gratings, and atonal tactile events more in keeping with the irr. app. (ext.) / Nurse With Wound realm of sonic fuckery. The finale is a demonic tape-piece of continuously ascending violin notes that could practically be a brilliant reworking of the 5000 Fingers of Dr. T soundtrack in the style of Penderecki. Excellent stuff!

MPEG stream: Mig
MPEG stream: IBM I
MPEG stream: Children Of Paradise

One of the rare contemporary bands to be released on the ever exceptional Dark Entries label, typically known for reissues of classic and / or obscure minimal wave and post-punk electronics from the late '70s to mid '80s. But this is an album that's firmly grafted to the aesthetic that Dark Entries has honed through their fine curatorial ear; so much so that if we were told that Linea Aspera were some rare Sheffield band from 1981 featuring an undiscovered Anne Clark on vocals, we wouldn't be surprised one bit. The sequenced electronics, drum machines, and minimalist melodies are ice cold in their production thanks to the engineering prowess of Ryan Ambridge, who taps into the darker synth wrangling of Chris & Cosey, Psyche, Soft Cell, Human League, and even the Eurythmics in an experimental mood. That Eurythmics reference is furthered along by the full-throated vocals of Allison Lewis, whose poetics of despair and sexual miserablism are couched in the industrialist appropriation of neuroscience and various medical pathologies. There's a considerable amount of dark tension between the cold electronics and Lewis' vocals that really makes this record quite special and worthy of being included in the hallowed Dark Entries pantheon. To be completely honest, this is really what Xeno & Oaklander *want* to sound like if either of those Anglophiles could really rise above their well crafted electronic starkness. Kudos, once again to Dark Entries for introducing us to another great minimal wave find!

MPEG stream: Synapse
MPEG stream: Fer-De-Lance
MPEG stream: Malarone

This gem appears thanks to the folks at Minimal Wave, the label that has been digging deep, very deep into the realms of post-punk and new wave to uncover many a release that might have been lost. For those who have procured plenty of terminal obscurities from such blogspots as Mutant Sounds, No Longer Forgotten Music, or Systems of Romance, some of the reissues on Minimal Wave may be familiar. But these are no grey area reissues. Minimal Wave has assured us that they have taken great care to procure the rights for each of these recordings! Linear Movement was a short-lived project by Peter Bonne that ran from 1982 and 1984, paralleling his work in the bands Autumn and Twilight Ritual. While neither of these projects mean much to us, his later project A Split Second was one we are quite familiar with, as one of the seminal Electronic Body Music projects alongside Front 242, Neon Judgement, and everything on Antler-Subway circa 1988. But given the earlier time frame, Linear Movement is a much more primitive affair, melding electro-pop to bits of post-punk disco grooves, amidst punchy synth stabs and occasional detours towards darker, somber arppegiations. Altogether, Linear Movement falls somewhere near the Bippp compilation that Ed Banger resurrected, Vince Clarke era Depeche Mode, and yes, early Front 242. Lieve Van Steerteghem is the female vocalist who pops up on perhaps the best tracks on the album.

We just couldn't pass this one up, and it's got us considering whether maybe we ought to start an "Intercepted Transmissions" section in our store (separate from the found sounds, et al). Let's see, we've got Petros Drecojecai (cordless phones), Today's Voices (cell phones) and to this end we might be able to squeeze the Conet Project and Kathy McGinty in for that matter. But I'm getting ahead of myself here. The Playaphone Project, as it's explained within the liner notes, was intended as an art installation of sorts and executed at the 1998 Burning Man event in the Black Rock Desert, Nevada. Several phones were set up around the Burning Man site. Each one was connected live to the other phones and as far as can be told, none of the participants knew one another, nor could they see one another from phone to phone. What do you get when you have a group of people running around the desert, high on hallucinogens and lord knows what else, and stick a phone in their hand with another random reveler? Well, let's just say we're not sure whether we're more surprised that there isn't much phone sex or more... The editors of this disc took the endless hours of phone conversations and culled them down to the hour or so included here (no editing of the actual conversations was done though) and produced their own rock soundtrack to accompany the results. Weird? Weird.

MPEG stream: Cold Robot
MPEG stream: Marshall & MacLennon

This is John Linnell of They Might Be Giants fame (not to be confused with John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants fame, Linnell is the smaller guy). Indeed this is one half of the musical pop duo that defines the word "quirky". Here he pays tribute to all fifteen of the United States of America... You know: Illinois, West Virginia, South Carolina, Idaho, Montana, Pennsylvania, Utah, Arkansas, Iowa, Mississippi, Maine, Oregon, Michigan, New Hampshire and Nevada. Quirky, yes.

Following up on his 2006 Feathered Palm Trees cd-r, solo SF singer/songwriter Adam Lipman delivers another intimate batch of down to earth folksy numbers that expose an uncommon vulnerability, earnestness and heart. Once again his tender, youthful voice is joined by some pretty female vocal accompaniment. Those tunes are particularly sweet, engaging listens. Whereas his last release came with a tiny tiny booklet, this lovingly homespun yet elaborate one comes coil-bound with photo foldouts and text. Ultra limited pressing of 30 (of which we only got a handful which are apparently the last remaining copies!), so act fast. We've been assured that a second (albeit less elaborate) version plus one on vinyl will be released shortly. We'll keep y'all posted!

MPEG stream: track 1
MPEG stream: track 3

On occasion our dear aQ customers will grace us with their own music, and such is the case with this self-titled release by Mr. Adam Lipman. Soft spoken in person, he also sings in hushed tones with an unexpected youthful solemnity. The closest comparison would be with Owen Ashworth of Casiotone For The Painfully Alone... if he were an acoustic troubadour who is joined every so often by some dreamy female vocals. These ten intimate, barebones lo-fi songs also recall the earnestness of early Mountain Goats. Nice! The cd-r comes packaged in a digipak with a tiny 1.5" handmade insert booklet.

MPEG stream: Out Of Our Mouths
MPEG stream: Feathered Palm Trees

[ aquarius records catalogue — L ]