[ aquarius records catalogue

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Showing results 1101 through 1150 of 1361.

MPEG stream: Boll Weevil
MPEG stream: Pearline

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New one (getting better) from this popular San Francisco hard rock trio. Not 'stoner rock', not 'punk', not 'metal', not 'grunge'...not exactly. Loud guitars, tough girl vocals, lots of attitude and rock action. Members of Amber Asylum show up to add

RealAudio clip: Rat Masters of the Icky Path

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SORRY. Finally, on cd. Digipak in fact. One of San Francisco's most popular hard rock verging on metal by way of grunge groups... They're no Sir Lord Baltimore, but it ain't the seventies no more either.

Nope, nothing to do with the 1930's book/movie about Shangri La. This Lost Horizon is a different sort of paradise, one for fans of over-the-top European power metal. A troupe of buff Swedes in body paint and capes, galloping musically across the galaxy, with soaring vocals, shredding lead guitar, and sci-fi keyboard coloration. This is their second full-length, which sees two new band members, Equilibrian Epicurius (responsible for "string romanticism...translation for mortals: guitars") and Perspicacious Protector (playing the "soulhealing euphoria generators...translation for mortals: synthesizers"), joining the crew of Transcendental Protagonist, Preternatural Transmorgifyer, Ethereal Magnanimus, and Cosmic Antagonist. These comic-book names might sound tongue in cheek, but we think these guys are actually pretty serious in their view of heavy metal music as being a ruling, spiritual force in the universe. Certainly they're channeling something beyond most mortals... And, there's even a song -- eleven minutes long -- about the movie Highlander, of course called "Highlander (The One)"! Cheesy in *such* a good way. Even more melodic (and a bit mellower) than their debut, this definitely gets thumbs up from Andee and Allan, and Cup's a fan of their names/conceptualization/packaging. It's a transdimensional revelation (translation for mortals: pure ridiculous power metal genius).

RealAudio clip: Lost In The Depths Of Me

Much debate has occurred between the metalheads here at AQ because of this cd. Originally, we saw an ad for this record in a magazine, and knew, by the cover alone, that this was going to be the best 'power metal' record ever. Hell, maybe the best record Let's start with the cover (and the ad we saw): four post apocalyptic Mad Max-ish war-painted metal warriors strut purposefully through the clouds above some sort of battlefield, where blindfolded human puppets are controlled by humanoids with the heads of pigs, vultures, and what appears to be badgers. The back of the cd of course shows our metallic heroes in complete control, with the animal-headed humans chained up and being whipped mercilessly by the members of Lost Horizon. Then there's the band members names and their Lost Horizon duties: Cosmic Antagonist: "Orchestrating of thunder and seismic harmonising." Ethereal Magnanimus: "Laments of the souls and primal victorious warrior cries." Preternatural Transmogrifyer: "Keeping of the Universe's pulse and taming of chaos." Transcendental Protagonist: "Poesy of spiritual enlightenment, the entire string romanticism, soul healing euphoria generators." And for those confused by all this, each band member has an 'earthshape' which is apparently their real name, and a 'translation for mortals', i.e. "Keeping of the Universe's pulse and taming of chaos" means -drums- to us mortals. So if you're anything like me, you're sold already, who cares what it sounds like? Well happily enough, this is some of the most kick ass power metal we've heard in a while. Blazing fast Iron Maiden/In Flames/Blind Guardian style epic and over the top power metal. The difference here being the extreme catchiness of the songs, the complete silliness of the band, and some really cool and quite bizarre arrangements. So for those of you already into power metal and classic eighties metal, this is a must have, and for those of you who aren't sure and are looking to try something like this, I can't think of a better place to start than Lost Horizon. They're from Sweden, if it matters -- although I think they'd prefer we thought they came from some metallic universe beyond.

RealAudio clip: Heart of Storm
RealAudio clip: Sworn In The Metal Wind

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Straight from the Relapse "Polish Assault" compilation to their debut full-length, these blasphemous death metallers from the burgeoning Polish metal scene (Behemoth, Vader, Decapitated, Yattering, etc.) are out to kill.

We've are so psyched on this comp, a 'greatest hits' collection of sorts from the late Jay Reatard's pre-solo, post Reatards, garage-rock synth-punk group, Lost Sounds, a band legendary for their insane live shows, whose sound was a supercharged mix of power pop jangle, garage rock crunch and post punk synthbuzz, the songs frantic and frenzied, sweat soaked, bruised and bloodied, even recorded, these songs exude the sort of energy that few bands can muster, even live. Dueling boy/girl vocals over wild chaotic drumming, with some seriously killer songs, which definitely foreshadow Reatard's eventual shift to full on pop, but that pop element here is wreathed in ominous buzz and crusty garage rock creep, the sound is alternatingly wild and loose, brooding and tense, often both at the same time, and while they were definitely loved back in the day, had this band been around today, they would rule the scene for sure, this is the sort of supercharged garage rock synth pretty much every band is shooting for these days, but even the best of them can barely touch the magical mystery of these blown out blasts wild and wooly garage punk bliss. Imagine Blasted Canyons meets Black Bug meets the Fuzztones, and you're getting close, sorta the perfect mix of Reatard's early feral punk rock leanings, and his later power pop proclivities, but the synth really changes everything, transforming already super catchy kick ass garage rock into something almost next level. We were secretly hoping this would in fact be some sort of complete collection, with everything these guys (and gal) every recorded, but it's still pretty bad ass, a compilation of Lost Sounds' finest moments as chosen by the surviving members of the band. Should definitely inspire you to track down the rest of their records. Pretty much every thing they've released RULES. And anyone who dug Blasted Canyons (last list's Record Of The Week), should definitely check this out.

MPEG stream: 1620 Echles St.
MPEG stream: I'm Not A Machine
MPEG stream: Black Coats / Whitefear
MPEG stream: It's My Dream

Killer compilation of unreleased jams, alternate takes and old demos from this garage rock synth punk combo, which was fronted by the late Jay Reatard, and unlike Reatard's solo records, Lost Sounds were a much more intense / aggro proposition, infamous for insane / energetic live shows, Lost Sounds' sound was heavy, and gothy, punky and catchy as fuck, with pounding drums, buzzing synths, chugging guitars, and Reatard's yowled vox. We described Lost Sounds in the past as sounding like Blasted Canyons crossed with Black Bug crossed with the Fuzztones, and that definitely still applies here. Rough and raw, and lo-fi, the sound here is all over the map, and while fans of The Oh Sees, and Ty Segall, and yeah Blasted Canyons, will no doubt dig this stuff, newbies might be better served picking up the recent comp on Fat Possum, Blaq Static, but to be honest, this collection's chaotic all-over-the-place-ness is exactly what makes it such an engaging listen. The opener definitely sounds like the Lost Sounds we know and love, dirgey and dark, synth heavy and hooky, but then there are tracks like "Black Coats / Whitefear", which is essentially acoustic, super stripped down, but somehow seriously fierce, the vocals snarled and swaggery over a minimal backdrop, a sort of Young Pioneers style garage folk punk, then there's the near power pop of "I Cannot Lie", with its fuzzy synth warble, jangly guitar, and whiney keening vox. And that's just the opening salvo, from there on out, the sound flits from raw garage punk, to fuzzy jangle pop, to super melodic drum machine driven crunch, to rad sci-fi synthwave, to blissed out shoegaze, and pretty much every possible combination/permutation, with plenty of short sharp bursts of weird sonic experiments, and sound fragments. And it's weird, the more we listen to this, the better it gets, and while it probably will never be as good as any of the Lost Sounds records proper, it's coming pretty goddamn close!

MPEG stream: A Foreign Play
MPEG stream: Black Coats / Whitefear
MPEG stream: I Cannot Lie
MPEG stream: Die Alone (Promise Me)
MPEG stream: NoOne Killer

Jazz saxophonist Phillip Greenlief, a prolific local treasure, here departs from his experimental side and releases an album of standards, covering such diverse artists as Hank Williams, Billy Strayhorn, Monk, and Irving Berlin. Warm, masterful, and very listenable. With Dan Seamans (bass) and Tom Hassett (drums). Recommended!

Another oft-reissued, minor classic from the sixties, flower power pop-psych with a good gimmick: Lothar wasn't the singer, instead Lothar was the name of the group's Theremin, with the Hand People referring to the actual humans in the band, the Theremin as you probably know being an unusual electronic instrument invented in the 1920's by Russian scientist Leon Theremin, that you don't actually touch to play (the instrument, not the scientist). Its weird, wavery sound should be familiar from old horror soundtracks, and the intro to the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations". Also we sold a ton of the album by classical Theremin virtuoso Clara Rockmore that was recently reissued on vinyl by Mississippi. Lothar wasn't The Hand People's only electronic gadget, either, they also utilized Moog synths, tape decks, and more. So you'd expect something along the lines of Silver Apples, maybe, or the United States Of America, but this isn't quite that avant garde, though some tracks, like "It Comes On Anyhow" with its loops and edits, or the spacey-synthy instrumental soundscape "Paul, In Love", are certainly all about the electronic experimentation. Yet, others like "This May Be Goodbye", are vocal-oriented, laidback, sunshiney songs with the electronic elements almost an afterthought, but nice nonetheless. Really it seems like The Hand People would try just about anything (not sure if Lothar got a vote), musically they're all over the place, the 13 tracks (+3 bonus cuts) on this, their 1968 debut, running the gamut from groovy garage to Byrdsy countryish pop to the abovementioned styles, happily veering into novelty tune territory too, ferinstance their "switched on" version of the Woody Woodpecker cartoon theme (!?), and the freak scene that is "Sex And Violence", a far out goof that sounds a lot like something Kim Fowley could have produced. Pick of the litter is probably the lead-off track "Machines", a bonafide classic consisting of rhythmic clink and clank, disjointed groove and poppy psych, almost proto-Devo if not proto-industrial, and reminding us of some of Bruce Haack's compositions. Neat-o.

MPEG stream: Machines
MPEG stream: It Comes On Anyhow

Honest-to-goodness psychedelia meets spaghetti western in the form of this Boston-based theremin quartet (!), who wowed the audience at both Terrastock festivals. Recommended.

Discover what sort of trouble four theremins and one violin can get into. Quite a pleasing sort actually. At times the theremins wind and whine around each other emitting sounds not unlike the voices of dolphins at half speed... or the creaky squeals you'd make by letting the air out of a balloon very very slowly. Other moments sweep you into a blanket of drones and chimes. Recorded live at the Charnwood Conservatory in Somerville, MA. Very nice.

Baltimore-based quartet (featuring former members of Universal Order of Armageddon and the Great Unravelling) who conjure up the same intense desperation and drug-addled lugubriousness that's already been perfected by the Jesus Lizard and the Birthday Party. Love Life's twist, however, is that it's a girl singing. Her voice is so unbelievable that without reading the liner notes you'd

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SORRY. Finally, a cd reissue of this extrememly rare, sought-after early '70's document of Japanese psychedelia. Includes a live bonus track. Essentially, freaked-out "krautrock" a la Faust, but from Japan. (There even seems to be a little Sly Stone to them too.)

Love Monster is what the mighty Monster Magnet were called before they became Monster Magnet. These seven songs were recorded in 1988 on a four track, and it sounds like it. The cock rock swagger of later Monster Magnet is woefully absent, and in its place a garage-y hard rock that sounds a bit like Iggy Pop fronting Kiss. Or something. Not a bad thing, just really rough and raw and for

Indie record label giant Matador Records has long been the respected source for legendary indie rock with an eye on forward-looking (or at least very 'now' sounds). So, we guess we can't blame 'em for taking a lil' nostalgia kick now and again. In the press notes for this Australian band's latest album, the label makes reference to "what lazy people like to call 'post-punk'", but laziness has nothing to do with it. This IS post-punk. And they also use the phrase "with a decidedly experimental bent", but there's absolutely nothing 'experimental' about Love Of Diagrams' music. That doesn't mean it's not good, it's just a very misleading description. Anyways, Mosaic draws plenty of influence from the edgy female fronted contingent of that late '70s early '80s period (think Au Pairs, Siouxsie, Romeo Void). Urgent electric guitars, churning bass and insistent vocals propel the baker's dozen tunes that make up Mosaic. Think: an Australian sister band of Electrelane! Cool.

MPEG stream: Form And Function
MPEG stream: Trouble

Love Songs is Craig from local bandana thrashers What Happens Next. But this has way more in common with his old band, Your Mother. Funny and fast, catchy and sorta goofy punk rock of the Descendents 'girls-don't-like-me-and-I'm-so-sad' variety. Pretty cool.

From the young Bay Area label whose roster continues to grow with such richly atmospheric mood rock combos as D.W. Holiday, Soltero and The Bother, comes this new quartet. Your introduction to Love Vigilante is a brief one. This record containing two of their drowsy indie pop tunes "Technically I'm Wrong" and "Days Of Auld Lang Syne (A Slacker's Ballad)".

After two cd releases this local band have opted to enter the glorious vinyl realm... a limited 4-song 12" pressing no less! On "Into The Fire", The Love X Nowhere continue the bigger rock trajectory they set on their last release the Odyssey cdep. Comes in a brown cardstock sleeve nicely printed with a circle of black birds and radiating blue lines.

This Bay Area band follows up their 6-song debut with another fine cdep. Considerably less boyish pop and less space-psych than last time, and more manly rock. On this Odyssey they've opted for a bigger slicker arena rock trajectory that brings to mind shades of U2. Onwards and upwards, lads!

MPEG stream: Coming Down
MPEG stream: Odyssey

SF locals The Love X Nowhere's debut 6-song ep begins with a cloud of swirly keyboards. Visions take shape of a shimmering space ship comin' in for landing, but as the hatch opens we're greeted with straightforward energetic pop rocks. This first song "Unworthy" is propelled by a driving beat and boyish vocal harmonies that sorta reminded me of Sloan. From there things move back to the moodier, spacier and Pink Floyd-ier sound that was hinted at by those first few moments. Layers of trippy psych-folk-y acoustic and electric guitars with mellow male vocals. The highlights are definitely the aforementioned lead-off track and the second to last, a lush string-laden number "#45". Very nice! The cd closes with a thumpin' remix version of the third song "Freedom".

MPEG stream: Unworthy
MPEG stream: #45

Latest from Ms. Love. Good grief.

Here comes another one from the vaults displaying Phil Spector's production glory. But before we go giving Spector all the credit, there is no doubt that Darlene Love is one of the greatest singers of all time! Just ask folks like Sam Cooke, Dionne Warwick, Gene Autry, The Beach Boys, and Aretha Franklin who all employed her at one point for her vocal prowess. A founding member of The Blossoms, she would then meet Phil Spector in 1962. He was so in love with her voice that he even released some songs he recorded with her under The Crystals moniker, since he owned the name, even though none of the actual members of The Crystals were on the record. This collection brings remastered versions of seventeen of her classic tracks together on one disc, many of which could only be found on different compilations until now. Spector's wall of sound production only adds to the overall glory and power of Love's voice. Pop perfection!

MPEG stream: Run Run Runaway
MPEG stream: "That's When The Tears Start
MPEG stream: My Heart Beat A Little Faster
MPEG stream: Not Too Young To Get Married

One of the Zombi guys gets kinda cheesy and soulful here, the "disco" side of Zombi to the fore, with saxophone!! Caveat Emptor... though we did enjoy it.

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SORRY. I've actually been waiting for Lovely Midget's debut album for some time, after a brilliant 10" on Ecstatic Peace a couple of years back. Lovely Midget is the work of New Zealand's Rachel Shearer, whose resume includes a few releases for Siltbreeze and Xpressway as Queen Meanie Puss and Angelhead. Whereas those projects were firmly entrenched in the magical avant-pop strum shared by fellow NZ musicians like Alastair Galbraith, Lovely Midget's gritty drones barely have anything to do with the song, capturing a antiquated sound similar to Movietone or Kjetil Brandsdal's Corpus Hermeticum release. The layers of guitar feedback, slowly tumbling percussion, and sunbleached vibrations could easily have resulted in the crystalline sleepiness of My Bloody Valentine but instead have been covered with 10 years of dust and cobwebs blurring the melodies with murk and mire. Interestingly, this muddy, droning din was created digitally, although there certainly isn't any indication that any digital production was used, and Lovely Midget would never get confused with the sterile electronica found on Raster or 12K. Rather this has all the trappings of a fantastic lo-fi 4-track recording... it's beautiful, dreamy, and highly recommended.

RealAudio clip: Paul Johns

Lovely Midget is Rachel Shearer, a long time player/participant in the New Zealand noise/drone/free rock underground. Lovely Midget, her one woman project, falls squarely in the ambient drone side of that NZ scene, along with likeminded Kiwis Flies Inside The Sun, Omit, etc. Dark and langorous soundscapes of gently rippling reverb, heartbeat like pulses buried beneath barely played guitars, rumbling almost-not-there bass, occasional percussive clatter, and ultra minimal vocalisations. Some of the most beautiful, serene, dreamy ambient noise we've heard in a while.

MPEG stream: Squall
MPEG stream: Fading

Very strange and cool. The debut album from this SF group brings with it a heady air of somber intrigue. The Lovely Public draws together many styles as they roam through different dramatic scenes, slinking in and out of the shadows -- like an ensemble of olden time court entertainers descending into an electrified pagan ritual. Burning Tape At The Mystery Dinner has elements of jazz, post-rock, avant-folk, pop, krautrock, psych and much more. Whew, can you keep up with them? At once, very trippy yet very surefooted. Fans of Oneida and the latest Liars album will probably find much to dig here. Recommended.

MPEG stream: Preparations
MPEG stream: Delicious Surprise Kisses

Well the 80's new wave resurgensation isn't over yet, friends. The thing is, despite how much our Lovemakers sound sooo much like Depeche Mode and Human League, their songs are so catchy and good! Their veer a little over into that territory of songkraft-cheesiness that DM and HL often lathered themselves in, you know... those tracks that aren't huge hits are pretty big stinkers. But the tracks on Times Of Romance are not huge hits, nor are they all thaaaat baaaad. At moments they nearly reach that level of huge new power-pop as seen in Maximo Park! If your sleek electro new wave personal dance party isn't over yet, you gotta pick this up. For fans of Interpol, The Faint, Maximo Park, and you know... those OLD bands, Depeche Mode, Human League, Soft Cell, etc.

MPEG stream: Prepare For The Fight
MPEG stream: Is It Alright?

Let's face it, there's a lot of singer/songwriter acoustic folk out there. Some we could simply live without, and many straddle the fence between good and not greatly stand-outish. An album can toe the line pretty convincingly with beautiful singing and decent guitar strumming, but the lack of well crafted songwriting becomes crystal clear when you hear a strikingly great singer/songwriter like Carolyn Berk, the brainchild behind Lovers. On Sleep With Heat, Berk's beautifully melancholic vocals paint scenes of love's exciting inception, unfortunate demise, and the subsequent struggle to let go so vividly that you can't help but be swept up in her emotional rollercoaster. Berk might be the broken heart of Lovers, but she couldn't have asked for a better backing band who sparingly contribute guitar, violin and drums as heavy hearted as the lyrical content. Highly recommended for fans of Mascott, Mirah, Mazzy Star, post-punk Raincoats and Bright Eyes or for anyone who needs a soundtrack for heartbreak.

MPEG stream: Frozen Floods
MPEG stream: The Sirens Sing

Chorus was a record by the post-shoegazing duo Lovesliescrushing that was released via an obscure Peruvian imprint called Automatic Entertainment sometime in 2007. Needless to say, it's an album that practically nobody has heard, barring a download from a blog or something. Despite the novelty of this incredibly rare record, Chorus was also a major departure for the duo in that voice was the only source material for all of the blissed out driftscapes, with Scott Cortez eschewing the fizzed, opiated, and blurred guitar in favor of effects-heavy treatments upon the wordless vocals of Mellisa Arpin-Duimstra. Crwth is a re-edit of the raw material used for Chorus, emerging with a very similar muted hue of softed loops and delicate drones that hang gently upon the backdrop of digital dust blown upon a velvet surface. For those of you who had gotten a hold of the limited 2cd boxset on Projekt (or had been familiar with the last couple of Lovesliescrushing albums for that matter), this sole use of voice isn't all that much of a stretch, as Lovesliescrushing has been pushing a trajectory away from the beautiful noises of their MBV-inspired Bloweyelashwish and toward an angelic, slightly melancholy ambience with only the flicker of a song structure hovering at the bottom of their echo chamber. It's been said that Lovesliescrushing finds themselves between Slowdive and Fennesz; yes, that's true, but the reductionism down to an essential beautiful sound is taken even further than that imagined hybrid. Really, this is quite fantastic.

MPEG stream: Dzai
MPEG stream: Glenq
MPEG stream: Shemerr

Took us a while to get these to list, but, now we have a few, at last... Ah, Lovesliescrushing! What a beautiful noise you make! Ghost Colored Halo finds the shoegaze duo returning to Projekt Records, where they released their first album nearly 20 years ago. Little has changed in terms of the group's sound during those two decades, as Scott Cortez stills weaves thick, amorphous clouds of blissed-out guitar noise around the siren-song vocalizations of Melissa Arpin-Duimstra. With just voice and guitar at their disposal, Lovesliescrushing elegantly deconstructs the pop-song into an oceanic wash of sound, all without the use of any rhythm section whatsoever. Much of the work that has been released over the past decade was stitched together from old tapes of guitar drones and vocal tracks reworked many years afterwards. Both the Shiny Tiny Stars album on Handmade Birds and the Girl Echo Suns Veils boxset on Projekt were examples of Cortez reworking archival material and with Arpin-Duimstra dubbing vocals later. These albums further atomized the overblown shoegaze wash of sound into beautiful blurs of reverberation and echo, with the song all but entirely eradicated in the lush soundscaping. On Ghost Colored Halo, the two actually got together in the same room to record for the first time in well over a decade. Here, the song begins to appear once again, and the in-studio chemistry results in a more focused set of compositions as nebulous as they may be. The opening number "Blemished Sunspot" blossoms with all of the majesty of one of Tim Hecker's constructions as radiant glistenings of soft-focused guitar noise gradually lift off and soar into the upper regions of the stratosphere. A more plaintive guitar strum along with Arpin-Duimstra's voice grounds tracks like "The Tiger Hunts Alone" and "The Wounds That Won't Heal," the latter almost sounding like it could have been a track from the early Tarentel records (an interesting reference to hear, especially since Tarentel's Jefre Cantu-Ledesma actually penned an homage to Lovesliescrushing on his solo record Love Is A Stream). And to throw a monkeywrench into everything we had thought about Lovesliescrushing, the duo toss a steady heartbeat pulse into rapturous, pop-ambient waltz "Ghost Colored." It's all gorgeous stuff, and we're head over heels to hear Lovesliescrushing once again, especially working with comparitively more structured material!

MPEG stream: Whitening Glos
MPEG stream: The Wounds That Won't Heal
MPEG stream: Ghost Colored

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SORRY. Here's a record that we had been excited about for well over a year, back when Projekt announced that they would be releasing a 2cd set by Loveliescrushing. This is a band that should warrant a much bigger pressing than the 300 copies of this elaborate box; but, at least we have a few copies to offer. Loveliescrushing is a shoegaze duo out of Tuscon, Arizona who made a surprise debut on the darkwave / goth label Projekt around 1993 or so, with the cassette Bloweyelashwish (which later did get a cd release). This album took the My Bloody Valentine overdrive of distortion, reverb, more distortion, and more reverb to a deconstructed end, further blurring the notion of song structure and entirely getting rid of the rhythm section. The duo has slowly been releasing work over the past two decades, gradually smoothing out the distortion and leaving an almost Tim Hecker like mass of droned texture from ethereal female vocals and once heavily distorted guitar wash. The two discs of Girl Echo Suns Veils are split between the crunched shoegaze density of their earliest recordings and the most recent explorations of their narcotized drone-pop. Those early recordings are remastered from demo tapes dating back to 1990, when 'the noise' and 'the pretty' were coming together in equal resolve. The later material is certainly nothing to scoff at, and would make for a great addition to the next Pop Ambient compilation. Brilliant stuff, and packaged in an oversized wooden box, hand silkscreened by Loveliescrushing's Scott Cortez, with some collaged art work, and a feather or two found within. AND CRAZY LIMITED. We have less than 10 copies, and can NOT get more, so grab one while you can...

MPEG stream: Babys Breath (Original Version)
MPEG stream: Spidery Velvet
MPEG stream: Feathermouth
MPEG stream: Goldenfur

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SORRY. Back in stock, and always worth raving about. Here's the review we wrote when this came out originally: Shoegazing -- originally the derogatory term applied to bands like Ride, Slowdive, and My Bloody Valentine for the lackluster stage presence -- developed into an impressive aesthetic during the early '90s whereby the jangle of '60s psych-pop was married with Brian Eno's notions of ambient music as an oceanic / prelingual return to the womb. After its gilded crescendo from a couple of records (most notably MBV's Loveless), shoegazing as an artform faded away, with many of the original proponents shedding the layers of distortion to concentrate upon their songwriting (most notably Neil Halstead formerly of Slowdive, now a minstrel of sunny folk-rock). Loveliescrushing -- the post-shoegazing US duo of Scott Cortez and Melissa Arpin-Henry -- disagreed with this trajectory away from etherealism and towards songsmithery, thus centering their music around only the faintest residues of melody and ghostly reminders of what might be a song somewhere within all of their bleary-eyed guitar washes. Their first two exceptional albums (Bloweyelashwish and Xuvetyn) found their way onto Projekt, the stalwart proprietors of America's darkwave / goth scene, although they didn't readily fit with Projekt's aesthetic for black lace and blood red roses. The only connection with Projekt may have been in the mutual affinity for the Cocteau Twins, whose glossalaic siren songs certainly resonate within the incomprehensible siren-like vocalizations of Arpin-Henry. Yet for all of the aforementioned references, Loveliescrushing has little use for a rhythm section, presenting that soft female voice floating way off in the distance amidst oceans of radioluminescent layers of guitar reverberation. Compared to their previous records, Glissceule has smoothed over some of Loveliescrushing's expressionistic bursts of static and bristling noise, striving for a more enchanting eternal drone. In all probability, this will stand as one of my (Jim's) favorite 'pop' albums of the year, even though there's nothing 'pop' about it.

MPEG stream: Gloscien
MPEG stream: Eishglinl
MPEG stream: Suischre
MPEG stream: Cleirglos

Shiny Tiny Stars is another collection of archival, unreleased material from the deconstructed bliss-pop duo Lovesliescrushing. A couple years back, Projekt released a beautifully packaged 2cd entitled Girl Echo Suns Veils (it came housed in a silkscreened wooden box!), with half of the material culled from the demos that predated their first album and the other half being newly constructed pieces. The recordings here were created from 1991-97, obviously a very prolific period for the duo of Scott Cortez and Melissa Arpin-Duimstra; which also begs the question, will we ever again see any new recordings? It probably matters not, as any Lovesliescrushing material is welcome around these parts! The Lovesliescrushing sound blossomed from a classic shoegaze template, but stuck to a decidedly lo-fi approach, layering and overdubbing soft noise, reverb, more soft noise, more reverb, all on a 4-track instead of something more akin to Kevin Shields' meticulous productions for Loveless. With the limitations of just 4 tracks, Lovesliescrushing swept the legs out from underneath the shoegaze 'song' - removing the bass and drums entirely, leaving the vocals and guitars suspended vertiginously in mid-air. More so than anywhere else in Lovesliescrushing's back catalog, they sound a hell of lot like Grouper with the vocals creating the fundamental melody which cycle woozily through blurred motifs while the guitars dreamily drift in oceans of reflective echo and drone. Beautiful stuff, for sure; and like all Handmade Birds titles, it's painfully limited, this time to 300 copies.

Lyle fans, get in line.

Low fans are a mighty loyal lot, and this box set probably needs no introduction nor explanation for them. For those less devout, this is the slowcore royal family's highly anticipated ten year retrospective collection. Perhaps a bit daunting for a Low neophyte (psst, maybe start with Secret Name first)! However instead of releasing a 'greatest hits' or 'singles' type of thing, they've opted to reward their legions (who undoubtably own all their albums already and don't need to be told what the 'best' were!) with tons of obscure musical gems and visual delights. The fifty two rarities, demos and b-sides fill up three whole discs, and an additional dvd is packed with two documentaries and videos galore. One particular track on the third disc reminded us that Low have made some bizzare (but strangely appealing) cover choices over the years, like Journey's "Open Arms" (okay... granted they did it as a wedding gift for their friends, but still!). On the other hand, Disc 2 has their positively dreamy rendition of the George Harrison penned Beatles' song "Long Long Long". Gorgeous. And an absolute necessity for any Low fan.

MPEG stream: Venus
MPEG stream: I Started A Joke
MPEG stream: Long Long Long

What's there to say about Low that hasn't been said before. Without a doubt one of the most inspiring, emotionally riveting and chill inducing bands of our generation. Their ability to capture mournful emotion and conjure up deep mystery in their songs has often been imitated but one rarely gets to that same satisfying bittersweet state of sound that they do. While the first half of their career found them as leaders of the slowcore movement, in recent years they haven't been afraid to play with their sound and speed things up a bit, and even rock out from time to time. But no matter how they allow new sounds and styles to enter their fold, they always sound like Low, and that is a very good thing indeed. C'mon introduces an almost twang like sensibility on several of the songs. But ultimately it's still about the way they can transform a four minute song into a meditation on sadness, longing, and despair. Like all of their records, C'mon takes a few listens to really start seeping in, but damn once it did we realized we have yet another great Low album that we'll be listening to for years to come.

MPEG stream: Try to Sleep
MPEG stream: Especially Me
MPEG stream: Witches

Sub Pop continues their string of cd-singles and EPs drawing from their artists' recent releases... er... well, sorta. Although Low is on Sub Pop here in the U.S., across the pond their Great Destroyer album was released on Rough Trade, and that's who put this single out. And actually the cd-single is much more of a European format anyways, isn't it? So is Rough Trade following Sub Pop's lead or vice versa? Ah, what am I babbling on about?! Just need to let you know that this Low disc contains the album version of "California", an alternate, very stripped-down gorgeous version of (the already gorgeous song) "Cue The Strings" and a video for their song "Death Of A Salesman" (not on the 7" version of course). Although it's not really all that indicative of the band's body of work as a whole, for those of you who've yet to acquaint yourselves with the wonders of Low this is a nice little samplin' to start you off.

MPEG stream: Cue The Strings (Alternate Version)

Now available on vinyl for the very first time! Here's what we said about this Christmas-time perennial when it first came out: Although the first song on this Xmas ep will surprise fans as it is Low at their most upbeat(!), the rest of this ep is vintage Low - languid songs heavy with atmosphere and tension. Brief, but what else needs to be said? Christmas classics, done in Low's lovely and lugubrious, darkly romantic, dreamlike slowcore style, The vinyl is likely to be limited, so despite the fact that it's got "Little Drummer Boy" on it, we don't really expect this to be around by the time Christmas rolls around...

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

SORRY.

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

SORRY. Two new tracks, not sure if these will be on the upcoming album. This is a shinier happier Low, and you have to wonder if, musically speaking, that's a good thing or not. Not a trace of sinister atmosphere. UK import, limited!

After Low's 2005 album The Great Destroyer surprised the heck out of us with a startling yet splendid shift in direction into more pop song structuring, we were all curious as to where they'd go next. Well, everyone's favorite slowcore band has drifted halfway back to their former selves. We're a little disappointed to find that there aren't any of the comparatively upbeat yet dark pop numbers that populated their last album. Drums And Guns definitely maintains a consistent somber pace, but they've brought in other new elements in the form of drum machines and sampled loops. It makes their music equally lulling and hypnotic via different channels. That said, some of the gritty dissonance of The Great Destroyer does still linger. Subject matter dips heavily into a dark undercurrent of menace and violence -- glints and glimpses of guns, hatchets, poison, murderers. Need we say? Recommended. For a limited time, while supplies last, when you buy a cd or an lp, you get a bonus 7"!!

MPEG stream: Pretty People
MPEG stream: Belarus
MPEG stream: Take Your Time

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