THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
San Francisco's most under appreciated post rock band (due mostly to a rather unsuccessful stint on Amrep) really come into their own on this record. The addition of a bass player (Tiber from P.E.E.) has bolstered their sound, making their droning hypnotic take on Unwoundy Slint rock rumble and throb like never before; from the catchy as fuck title track to the 'good morning captain' of 'Thistrainwillnotstop'. Improved songwriting and an awesome Tim Green production will hopfully make this the record that gets people to sit up and take notice. The single has 2 unreleased tracks including a beautifully delicate piano piece that even Allan liked.
Lowfish's "Eliminator" shuffles between early Autechrisms with sad melody lines topping elegant post-electro / IDM breakbeats and simple arrpeggiated synth sequences more on line with mid 80s New Order and the recent output from Console.
Look out! Toronto electro surgeon Lowfish (Gregory De Rocher of Suction Records, not to be confused with Berlin's DJ Highfish) rips out four new numbers for Detroit's premier electro dealers Ersatz Audio. Playful, bubbly hip-hop-electrofunk from the label you know and trust.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Kyussism. A religion? A 'zine? Both? Either way, someone from Kyussism claims this band Lowrider to be the new Kyuss, so I guess they know what they're talking about. If you're into that so-called "desert rock" sound, the fat bass, stoner groove, '70s worshipping thing, you must love the late and (to you) great Kyuss and probably will love these guys too. THEY certainly love Kyuss. File with all the other Sabbath-by-way-of-Kyuss psychedelic heavy rock bands, and put 'em at or near the top of the pile.
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.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Carousel jazz-spazz. Freaked out no wave skronk. Made me woozy. Love the cover painting.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
"That these songs never had more than three chords each was a matter of style. If there were more, then it was jazz." Words of truth uttered by Martin Thornstrom ringleader of the abrasive garage Swedish band LSD. Along with LSD, the album also features loosely related bands Klunk's Klan (whose ridiculous "Hound Dog and Jam" is worth the price of admission), WWH, and Staffan & Martin.
This one hardly needs a review. Space rockers Bardo Pond, jamming with Japanese psych-rockers LSD-March! Two discs, looooooooong songs, plenty of sprawling druggy psychedelia, throbbing serpentine basslines, busy groovy drumming, and lots and lots and lots of guitars, buzzing and whirring, grinding and roaring, wailing and howling.
Culled from two stoned, late-night recording sessions on days off from the 2006 Bardo Pond / LSD-March / Masami Kawaguchi's New Rock Syndicate East Coast tour, these tracks were edited together by Bardo Pond-er Michael Gibbons with no overdubs, just a document of epic, swirling, lurching, grooving spaced out psych rock.
Incredible recording, super clear, almost studio quality, multiple drummers, multiple guitar players, the sound is loud, and intense, sometimes blissing out into laid back stretches of near ambient tranquility, but always building back up into howling squalls of freaked out psychrock nirvana. The first disc is the more jammy of the two, more loose and improvised sounding, even the opening track fades in with the track already in full swing, like they had already been jamming for a while before we even got to the part.
The second disc introduces flute, and some electronics, and begins with a looped lick, over some skittery drumming, and some serious grinding growling low end, it goes on for ages, and we never really wanted it to stop. It does eventually, which is okay as the band has already moved on, locking into some new looped rhythm, the guitars fiery arcs of sound, that low end continuing to grind and buzz, the multiple guitars and guitar parts careening wildly over a roiling backdrop of howling moaning distorted buzz.
The second track on disc two is almost entirely ambient, sounding more like Toho Sara or something, the guitars smeared and blurred, everything buzzy and rumbling, clouds of tinkling shimmer and random percussive clatter, hand drums, glitchy electronics, streaks of feedback, thick swaths of distorted abstract riffing, culminating in a soaring blown out multiple guitar-ed Ur-drone. The disc finishes off with a 20 minute scorcher that goes from furious psych skree meltdown, to stumbling abstract freeform flutter and back, the players locked in a battle to the death, full freakout, ultra-noise mode, vocals scrambling over a dogpile of grinding electronics, a sea of shrieking feedback, an avalanche of drum chaos, and about a ton of blown out guitar damage. Phew.
Every time we play this in the store, someone buys one, or someone comes out from the back to see what the heck is playing. This might just be one of the most played discs in the store recently. And rightfully so.
As always, aRCHIVE spares no expense on the packaging, but they may have outdone themselves this time. A thick textured black ink on cream cardstock gatefold sleeve, the words LSD and POND embossed and printed in reflective silver ink, inside an 8 page black and white booklet affixed to the sleeve, with live photos and liner notes, each disc in it's own black sleeve, printed in silver ink, Japanese characters, the two discs held together by a Japanese style obi, in the same style as the cover. WOW.
LIMITED TO 1000 COPIES. A one time pressing, so don't miss out�
Japanese heavy psych guitar exploders LSD-march performing live in a book store?? What happened to shhhhh, quiet please, people are reading? Well actually this DVD document of LSD-march live at Philadelphia's Big Jar books is actually a triptych of solo sets from each of LSD-march's three members, so they are relatively quiet (as compared to the usual full-band blow-out volume dealing). Filmed whilst on a brief US tour last fall, the softer side of each individual in the band is revealed. Drummer Ikuro Takahashi gets the most avant-garde, with an odd apparatus of oscillators giving off experimental drones... while both guitarists Shinsuke Michishita and Masami Kawaguchi do sets of gentle vocal/guitar folkiness, a la the calm in the storm often heard in LSD-march sets. Totally personal, and perfect for this intimate setting. Some use of video effects adds to the psychedelic atmosphere. And of course aRCHIVE has packaged this 550-copy limited edition (natch) dvd handsomely in a hand silkscreened folder with some very cool artwork commissioned for this release.
Fans of the "Tokyo flashback" scene, time to turn out the lights (or put on your shades), and curl up in the fetal position to slowly rock back and forth as you enjoy the latest from downer psych outfit LSD-march. This lovely new studio album is slow and sad, its depressive drowsiness expressed via gentle guitar strum, a background flutter of electronic theremin waves, whistling in the dark, fragile harmonica wheeze, somnolent harmonium drone, and Shinsuke Michishita's weary vocals...
Definitely inspired by Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground, as well as the likes of The Jacks and Les Rallies Denudes out of the Japanese dark-psych past, LSD-march conjure a "constellation of tragedy" indeed, quite effective emotionally even though English speakers won't understand the lyrics.
Those of you who primarily listen to this stuff for the primal heavy duty psychedelic guitar slow-burn gunk, don't worry, your needs haven't been neglected either. You get a dose of that void-crawling, amped-up drone-a-delic action when the plodding track four, "Moeru Pyramid" hits the scene! One of their overall best, and best-recorded for sure (no live-in-a-trash-can bootleg sounds, though we like those too).
Last time we listed a limited edition cd by Japan's LSD-march from the Archive label, we sold out of it in about, oh, two seconds. That was the Live cd that came our way (and went) last month. Well here we go again -- but this time we were able to score more copies than before. So we figure our stock of Empty Rubious Red will last, say, four to five seconds. Why are y'all so grabby with the LSD-march? Is it because of the cool packaging with which Archive always takes great pains? Is it because there's only 500 pressed? Maybe... but of course it's also 'cause if you love heavy duty distorto guitar psych in the vein of cult '70s Japanese heroes Les Rallizes Denudes. And you do get that here on the dronily intense, trippy title track, in spades. But for much of the rest of the album you also get the kinder, gentler side of LSD-march, with Shinsuke Michishita handling vocals and guitar and bass and percussion and whistling (yes, there's some whistling!) all by himself, joined by drummer Ikuro Takahashi on just two of the tracks. It's quite intimate, really, maybe even romantic -- these are love songs, aren't they? The lyrics are in Japanese but the titles "I Have Been Saving My Love For You" and "I Only Have Hands For Hold You" (sic) sure sound like love songs. Dunno about "Nude And Bizarre" though. A gorgeous late night listen, echoey and emotional. Spacious, slow, drowsy. Melancholic, melodic. Compared to the destructive, amped-up attack of that Live album, the beautiful balladry here is like night and day... a mistily overcast day with rays of sun glinting between the clouds.
Nice packaging and graphics as usual (a clear plastic insert overlays the cd, which rests on a nub affixed to a card printed with curls of dark hair similar to the Live cd, if you ever saw one). Mastered by Khanate's James Plotkin, also as per usual with Archive releases. Ok, 'nuff said. Recommended!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
What sounds like a live LP from this Japanese guitar-psych combo, whose recent Suddenly, Like Flames cd we gave the thumbs up to not long ago. If you liked that one and have a turntable, you'll probably want this. It's more dark, distorto bar rock balladry from these black clad Les Rallizes Denudes worshippers, for fans of that band, as well as similiar Japanese downer-retro outfits like White Heaven, Overhang Party, and Shizuka. Assuredly limited too.
We could go on and on about how this is some awesome, super blown out and distorted Rallizes-like Japanese psych here but let's mention the important stuff first: this nicely-packaged live disc is limited to 500 copies, and is already sold out at the label and thus out of print! So the few copies we have now are the last ones we're gonna see. Maybe Archive (same folks who've brought us equally precious live documents by the likes of Boris, Khanate, Growing, and Keiji Haino, some of which went so fast we never even listed 'em) ought to up their press runs?
If you've never heard LSD-march before, we'd direct you to investigate their not-so-limited album Suddenly, Like Flames -- if only so as to leave more of these Live discs for all the fans who're sure to be elbowing each other aside to grab one of these.
But to fulfill our descriptive duties, we'll go on... Bookended by two different versions of "Black Bouquet" done by different lineups, this disc captures performances that were distorted to begin with, but whose clangor is only enhanced by the "recorded-in-a-concrete-garbage-can" atmosphere. And that's PERFECT for them, making this sound even more like of of those rare Les Rallizes Denudes boots... so we're not complaining at all! Lotsa flaming wreckage of wailing guitar, feedback and murk. Headnodding, driving beats. Slowing down for stretches of gentle balladry before kicking in again with the jams and cranking the VU meter...well actually their "VU" (as in Velvet Underground) meter is always cranked, isn't it?
Five of the eight tracks here were recorded in 2002 by guitarist/vocalist Shinsuke Michishita, bassist Masami Kawaguchi, and drummer Ikuro Takahashi (ex-Fushitsusha). The other three date from 1997 and thus feature an earlier LSD-march lineup with Shinsuke Michishita joined by Makoto Inoue on bass, and Eddie and Bill from the band COA on guitar and drums!
It's Japan's LSD-march at their heavy psych droney mostest, this time just the duo of guitarist Shinsuke Michishita and drummer Ikuro Takahashi, laying down two discs worth of Tokyo flashback style murk and grime...well especially on Disc 1, which is entirely one long song, the title track. It's a slow-building densely textured piece, a 39 minute slithering dark psychedelic guitar solo set amidst thick waves of distortion effects and cymbal washes... perfectly paced and hypnotically foreboding. Gradually the pulse quickens, vocals murmer o'er the miasmic throb, and the living ghost of Les Rallizes Denudes nods approvingly... this piece's payoff being its own mesmeric momentum. When the end does come, after an appreciable increase in volume and noise from the disc's beginning, you can imagine amps falling over, toppling like the monolith in 2001. Boris fans should approve of this metallic rumble.
Disc 2 features eight individual pieces, and offers a mediative comedown from disc one's climactic intensity (at first), track one "Aubade" being composed of tingling bells. "Elephant" is next, and is a weird one, a pattering of drums accompanying atonal string scrape that maybe suggests an elephantine trumpeting sound? The disc continues in an equally weird and diverse manner, all the tracks much more intimate and oddly experimental in sound than the more usual LSD-march issue electric storm of disc 1. It's more-or-less acoustic up to track 5, "Love", which stomps on some pedals for a distorted electric (distorted vocals too) dubby noise rock stumble. And then track six enters into some sort of ritual drone ceremony or something... all of this is pretty cool, LSD-march letting their hair down and doing something completely different from track to track, like we said in an experimental spirit, culminating in track 8, "Holy Ghost", a festive freakout for harmonica and scattered percussion. Perhaps their tribute to Albert Ayler, to hazard a guess.
It's like these two discs, one a long-form, heavy-duty improv, the other a potpourri of creative freaky ideas, are the intended out-there companions to their recent, much more tightly song-based album Constellation Of Tragedy on Important, a recent AQ highlight. Nikutai No Tubomi comes as equally recommended!
Oh, and lest we forget, this is a NUMBERED, LIMITED EDITION OF 500 COPIES!!! And comes in a fancy, thick gatefold package.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
The second vinyl-only release we've had from Tokyo's LSD-march, whose LP Kanashimino Bishouen on HP Cycle and cd Suddenly, Like Flames on Last Visible Dog were both devastating dark psych-out outings in the tradition of Les Rallizes Denudes. This one, handsomely presented in hand-screened cover in a limited edition (of course), hews to their murky brand of psychedelic blackness, while leaning perhaps towards the gentler side of said blackness... Fans will recognize three of the six tracks here as being reinterpretations of cuts from the Suddenly, Like Flames cd. Again the line-up features guitarist/vocalist Shinsuke Michishita joined by drummer Ikuro Takahashi and guitarist (not bassist, this time) Masami Kawaguchi. We've only got a few...
The Last Visible Dog label, who specialize in some of our favorite genres (improv drones, Finnish weirdness, Japanese free-psych, NZ noise) sadly seems to be winding things down, but we did just arrange to restock a whole bunch of their stuff to sell at a "nice price" (thanks Chris!), including a few old aQ faves that we got enough of to relist, though these are the very last copies we're gonna have, ever...
Here's what we said the first time we encountered these Japanese fuzz mongers back in 2004:
Downer murk and amp-flaming distorto rock from a young Japanese psychedelic rock trio in the wasted, wigged-out tradition of many on those PSF label Tokyo Flashback comps, also harking further back of course to underground '70s lo-fi legends Les Rallizes Denudes! LSD-march, named for a track on the first, heaviest album by krautrockers Guru Guru, slowly whisper and wander through a veil of feedback and plodding rhythms. There's both gentle and searing stuff to be found here. These guys are more serious, mysterious and melancholy than Acid Mothers Temple, with a definite Velvets vibe at times. And when the guitars get cranked, this sounds like the Neil Youngiest of Nagisa Ni Te freakouts. With liner notes (and stamp of approval) from Japanese translator/psych expert Alan Cummings.
Here's another fantastic transmission from the Black Snowflake Sound studio in Sapporo, Japan, sent out by these prolific psych peddlers! The duo of Michishita Shinsuke on vocals/guitar and Takahashi Ikuro (ex-Fushitusha) on drums have crafted what sounds to us like sort of a cross between two of their recent releases, Constellation Of Tragedy on Important (the gentle, twilight ballads) and Uretakumo Nakunarutorika on Beta-Lactam (freaky, experimental WTF?). Of course, with more than a few flashes of the heavy Les Rallizes Denudes-style amped-up throb and grit we all love included as well. Starting off all slow sad and soft, this disc would be a good LSD-march for Nagisa Ni Te fans as well as those into Rallizes. Moody melody abounds. "Bisyonure No Kimi" is lovely and languid, but also blanketed with shivering guitar feedback and distortion, clouding over Michishita's gentle vocals. Meanwhile Takahashi's drumming is also an crucial contributor to the mood. His deliberate, echoing clank and plink of rhythms on "Ai No Sakebi" are especially effective, in unsettling combination with the piercing Quicksilvery lead guitar unleashed by Michishita.
At about halfway through the disc, LSD-march kicks the volume up a few notches for the lumbering, distorto-rocker "Dare Ga Hoeru". But then the very next track, "Taiyoko No Uta" is so weird and glitchy it could be by Starfuckers or US Maple - it's a good example of the abstract, experimental side of LSD-march to which we referred above, like something from Uretakumo Nakunarutorika. They do channel the Rallizes once more, though, on the disc's final and longest named track, "Kimi No Uta Wo Kiite Boku Wa Akuma Ni Natta" (7:17) a slow burner which eventually erupts into muzzy heaviness, mustering quite a bit of drama in the manner of Up-Tight or Shizuka.
That's the last song, sort of, but the disc ain't over. And just gets stranger. There's two unlisted, untitled bonus tracks yet to come, including an 8 minute cut stringing together botched takes of a song called "My Mother's Killed Me" (?), featuring all their flubs and false starts, including talkback from the increasingly frustrated (and British?) sound engineer. At one point, they have to stop 'cause someone's cell phone goes off and ruins the take. Whoops. But eventually, by the end, they get the song on tape in its entirety, and it's a nice garagey groover. We're really into the fact that they included all the screw-ups. We love stuff like that. And halfway think that's how they wanted it to sound, based on some of their other strange ideas... There's another, similar bonus track that's only 18 seconds though. More WTF? for you.
Basically, Under Milk Wood manages to incorporate everything we already loved about LSD-march, plus some other confusional stuff we didn't even know they were into that's also rad. And everyone here seems to be digging it, even if they weren't already huge LSD-march fans. The band's best yet? Maybe, certainly a good one to get!!
Lest we forget, it bears repeating that LSD-march is named after the final song on side two of the first album, UFO, by heavy krautrock legends Guru Guru back in 1970. That the modern day Japanese band chose such a moniker implies taking on not just a certain influence, but something to live up to. Are they worthy? Well, we think LSD-march have already proved pretty deserving of their name. But if there was ever any doubt, this new album ought to settle the question. It's seeeeeeeeeeeeriously trippy. I mean, wow, man. Honorary krautrock magna cum laude!
And surprisingly, that's -without- really sounding like the usual LSD-march fare. The sunglasses-at-night-Les-Rallizes-style-distorted-guitar-blowout side of LSD-march isn't exactly in evidence. The mellow, melodic VU-ish balladry for which they are also known is not to be found here, either, this doesn't have the slow and sad vibe of LSD-march's previous studio outing Constellation Of Tragedy. This is a different beast, far freakier really! There IS guitar on here, of course, but the focus isn't on riffs, but rather primitive rhythmics, built in part from tape loops and tape edits. These tracks are shambolic, stripped down, not really song-like, much more confusional and counterintuitive than we'd have expected, except that we were prepared for this by the odd, interesting material on the eclectic, experimental 2nd disc belonging to LSD-march's earlier Beta-Lactam opus, Nikutai No Tubomi. It's as if a lot of other, heavier LSD-march stuff is what they do when they're in public, playing a "rock show", all amped up and emo, but this is more like what goes on at home, at the LSD-march Temple down the block from that of the Acid Mothers, unwinding, getting high, and fooling around with some weird DIY psych that's more playful than it's dark, more delightfully demented than downer depressive.
The freakiness is in full effect right off the bat. Track one, "Kumoitachikumo", has a skittering beat wending throughout, hippie hand percussion intercut with distorted abstract noises and weird chanted Reynolsian vocals. We could imagine a cool 12" techno/disco edit of this, actually. Like something Eye from Boredoms would remix. We're also reminded a bit of the recent AQ Record Of The Week from Finland's Fricara Pacchu. And it just gets curiouser and curiouser... a few tracks later, "Aimakuramaku" sounds like a jam session for drum kit + chirping crickets. Maybe it is?
The carefully channeled cosmic chaos and lo-fi psych ritual found on Uretakumo Nakunarutorika could be Ya Ho Wa 13 and Amon Duul inspired, the cut-up weirdness perhaps a nod to early Faust. And there's parts that are even sorta Sun City Girlsish, like track five, "Uzunisase", utilizing a looping lick of exotic Eastern-sounding psych guitar, that halfway through gets mutilated and mangled by some abrupt tape edits. And actually they do slip on the shades to delve into some eerie dronology a few times too...
The strange sounds here really manage to invoke a lot of AQ-approved musicks, from the aforementioned krautrockers, to (most definitely, and dear to our hearts) the '90s underground Japanoise outsiderness of the Boredoms and Omoide Hatoba, to peeps from the freakfolk Finnish scene like Anaksimandros and Avarus. In fact, if you told us that LSD-march had moved to Finland and recorded this deep in the woods there, we'd believe it. Now that's a recommendation!!
We know that's not the case, though recommended this is, as it was recorded at someplace called Black Snowflake, by a sound engineer named Richard Horner (which doesn't sound Finnish, or Japanese for that matter, does it?), who also happens to be credited with some voice and electronics, alongside the two usual LSD-march band members, founder Michishita Shinsuke ("vocal, guitar, bass, electronics" it says) and drummer Takahashi Ikuro, ex-Fushitsusha (here, credited with "vocal, instruments"). Also worth mentioning, is the swank packaging, a thick, colorful oversized glossy cardstock sleeve, like a miniature LP jacket. First 500 limited copies only, anyway.
Along with the Light Of Shipwreck and Aidan Baker discs reviewed elsewhere on this list, Luasa Raelon is the third of three killer new releases from Crucial Bliss, the Crucial Blast sub-label focusing on things equally as crucial, but way more blissful than the mothership label.
Luasa Raelon is the work of David Reed, the same guy responsible for Envenomist (whose Black Bile tape we raved about on the last list, and which we have very few copies of�) and has a similarly bleak and black feel. In fact, the label describes the sound as "Cthulhian ambient death" and who are we to argue�
A concept record about a lost expedition left to die in space, the sound is appropriately spacious and massive, buzzing and grim, black and foreboding. Massive swells of billowing buzz, wrapped around slow shifting expanses of near static whir, over the top, thunderous industrial crashes and sputtering shortwave transmissions, distant keening melodies, muted klaxons sending sonic ripples out in the emptiness of space, long stretches of downtuned brutality draped over epic minimal smears of barely there blur. Mournful melodies pulled apart and tangled up with grinding distorted crumbling decaying riffage, everything lumbering and drifting into the bottomless depths of some sonic black hole.
Like Wolf Eyes doing the score for the remake of 2001 A Space Odyssey, a bleak wasteland of tones that grind and buzz and rumble, stretching out into infinity, an epic sonic blackness, from coruscating doomdronedirge to soft shimmery black ambience, the soundtrack to your cold corpse floating through the great black void.
And as with all Crucial Bliss releases, the packaging is super striking, an oversized fold over thick cardstock sleeve, full color inside and out, creepy alien tendril artwork, the cd attached to a plastic hub affixed to the sleeve...
LIMITED TO ONLY 200 COPIES!!
It's nearly impossible not to be ensorcelled by Samara Lubelski's mystical voice. She possesses that rare human instrument that is both otherworldly, and warm and familiar, easily seducing the listener after only a few seconds. Had she been born decades earlier, she most likely would have been musical comrades with sixties chanteuses like Francoise Hardy, Joyce, Brigitte Fontaine, Jane Birkin, etc.
Future Slip finds her in top form with lush instrumentation creating the most perfect daydream backdrop for her beautiful vocal delivery. With Thurston Moore in the producer's chair (returning the favor for all the great playing Samara did on his solo outing Trees Outside The Academy). And it's really important to note that Samara isn't just a lady with a gorgeous voice, she's also such an accomplished musician with a wonderful knack for smart and sizzling song construction. A lot of Future Slip brings us to those more mellow Stereolab moments or when Latetitia Sadier records as Monade. Lubelski also finds kindred spirits in folks like Juana Molina and we have a feeling that Charlotte Gainsbourg's new album in the works with Beck writing and arranging could become the perfect companion piece for this record. Future Slip sways and swirls with such ease and lingers with such a nice soft psychedelic shimmer.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
3rd Record of Majestic Pop Folk from former Tower Recordings member.
Lubelski has been on Tower Recordings albums and this is her 2nd solo outing. Very pretty orchestral pop with a slight breeze that hushes all the way through. Armed with an excellent cast of players including P.G. Six and Tim Barnes. Sure to please fans of Isobel Cambell, Camera Obscura and when Georgia sings for Yo La Tengo. So nice and pretty.
After playing second fiddle (literally) for psych folk luminaries like Metabalismus and the Tower Recordings for the last decade Smara Lubelski finally steps out and releases her first proper solo record. And boy is it lovely. Dark meandering folk, with hints of psychedelic swirl and Appalachian twang. Ms Lubelski's drowsy murmurred vocals are sorta reminiscent of the Pastels' Katrina and Aggi (but much more self-assured and in tune) or even more so Yo La Tengo's Georgia Hubley. Delicate chimes and fluttering flutes compliment her voice perfectly.
Oh, and P.G. Six drops in to play along on a couple of songs.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Pea Hicks from San Diego, California has a habit... scrounging around thirft stores for recordable 78s and crappy TDK tapes filled with nearly pornographic love letters, 'foul-mouthed' kids whose definition of obscenity is the word 'jerk', and attempts to get baby to recite the alphabet. Mr. Hicks has built a hilarious collage of all of these found recordings, occasionally augmenting them with his arsenal of Optigon keyboards (which are the focal point of his other outfit, Optigonally Yours, a duo with Heavy Vegetable's Rob Crow).
Hearing this makes us long for those tapes we made when we were young... not so much for nostalgia, more in fear that our embarrassing tapes will find their way to a thrift store, and eventually onto your stereo.
This new record from ex-Captain Beefheart's Magic Band guitarist Gary Lucas is a gorgeous and heartfelt musical love letter to the Chinese pop that changed his life. The liner notes detail his years spent in Taipei, in the midst of a torrid love affair where he first discovered this languid, lush pop, that would influence his playing and songwriting for years and plant the seed that would become a full blown obsession with Chinese vocalist Chow Hsuan (who you may have heard on the soundtrack to Wong Kar Wai's In The Mood For Love). This record is totally gorgeous. No Beefheart skronk or Magic Band mayhem here, just dreamy and ethereal, wistful and delicate, perfect pop. So lovely. Gently fingerpicked guitars, and soaring, songbird vocals, with lilting melancholy melodies and spare, spacious arrangements. Also, amidst these gorgeous pop songs are scattered solo guitar pieces, also traditional Chinese although they don't always sound it, that are really beautiful and sound quite a bit like John Fahey or Jim O'Rourke, ranging from faux Appalachian abstract blues folk to shimmery, heavily reverbed minor key soundscapes, albeit with slightly Eastern tinged melodies. But it's the gorgeous vocals that are the centerpiece here, from two amazing vocalists, effortlessly channelling the spirit and sound of Chow Hsuan and the Chinese pop of the mid twentieth century. So nice.
We've been waiting a while for this debut record from local boy Jeffrey Luck Lucas. An ironic name for the guy, as Lucas' songs are not those of luck or good fortune or smiling faces or bright sunny days. No, Lucas is a musical man after our own hearts, spinning morose, minor key tales of misery and loneliness, heartache and pain. Monochromatic musical snapshots of dingy hotel rooms, run down bars, boarded up stores, empty bus stations, blood in the sink, empty bottles by the bed. The dark swampy folk of Sixteen Horsepower, the lonely drunken storytelling of Tom Waits, but with a more distinctly classic country sound. Simply strummed acoustic guitars, mournful strings, sweetly singing lap steel and an arsenal of odd instruments that help give the record its haunting quality: water glasses, bowed cymbals, bowed guitar, vibraphone, optigon, function generator, guitarra quinta, toy piano, bamboo dulcimer, and more. All underscoring Lucas' raspy drawl, soaked in booze and dried out on the side of a lonely highway, warm and rough and beautifully weary. Guest vocalists include Wendy Allen from the Court And Spark and Janis Tanaka, formerly of Hammers Of Misfortune!
We always seem to be trumpeting the virtues of some dark folk troubadour around here, whether it's the biblical fire and brimstone of Woven Hand, the swampy backwoods folk of Sixteen Horsepower, the deconstructed skeletal country of Souled American, the mopey slowcore twang of Califone, or the deserty mariachi of Calexico. Sometimes with all of this searching far and wide it's easy to overlook something right under your nose.
Thus, right here in SF, we have Mr. Jeffrey Luck Lucas, whose music speaks to anything BUT a life of luck. But whose dark sonic magic is certainly equal to any of the above mentioned night wanderers. In fact, if anything, Lucas seems to incorporate little bits of all of those different shades of black into his own dizzyingly dreary world of heavy heartedness. A dark Tom Waits-ian lurching meander through tall weeds and dark alleys. A minefield of broken hearts, and long lonely nights. Perpetual sadness lit from within with glimmers of hope flitting in the darkness like fireflies.
Lucas' voice is a ragged drawl, slipping from whisper to growl and back, over warm beds of dramatic shimmer, simple percussive shuffles, twangy reverbed surf guitar wrapped in a mist of nighttime murk, backdrops of moaning cello, slithery lap steel, angelic female vocals. Simple fingerpicked guitars pick out haunting melodies, swaths of dreamlike soul draped over tinkling pianos, singing saws and wheezing accordions get all tangled up in a seasick waltz. This is the kind of music that evokes back woods and small towns, trailer parks and barren landscapes, empty city streets and lonely rooftop vigils. Like the score for some unfinished Jim Jarmusch film, dramatic but understated, dark and doleful but so goddamn pretty. Along with folks like Tom Waits, American Music Club, Calexico, Sixteen Horsepower, and the like, Lucas continues to explore some mysterious lost Americana, a timeless world where the shadow of the past still darkens today. So nice.
There was this awesome time around four or five years ago when we were being blown away by one obscure psych folk reissue after another. Records by the likes Mark Fry, Roger Rodier, Mark Fosson, Eduardo Mateo, and Bridget St. John all came into our lives back then and would become total treasures near and dear to our hearts and ears. Since then there have been lots of awesome reissues of full on psych, international burners and early '80s gems but it seemed the well dried up a bit on great lost folk from the early '70s, as just not that much of it had been coming our way, and the one's we were hearing weren't all that spectacular and probably remained obscure and unheard for good reason: they just weren't that good. But this 1975 album by Ted Lucas is totally hitting that special soft spot we have for hazy and drifty psych-folk and immediately transports us and lulls us into a gloriously stoned and zoned state of mind.
So yes, these are totally stoned and lovely folk songs that bring to mind a more rustic Nick Drake, that amazing first solo record from David Crosby or a totally unpolished and stripped down Eric Clapton. We also think fans of Linda Perhacs, Charles Manson (the singer/songwriter, not the cult leader!), Vashti Bunyan, The Search Party, Gary Higgins, and Bert Jansch will totally dig what was going on in the music of Ted Lucas.
We don't sell a lot of comic books here, although maybe we should as a bunch of us are way into comics. Goon, Hellboy, B.P.R.D., The Walking Dead, Preacher, Y, Exterminators, we're almost as nerdy about comics as we are about music. And once in a while a comic comes along, that just hits the spot. Not about a superhero, not a super extended narrative, not violent or bloody, just goofy, funny, fun and bizarre. And since we figured that some of the music nerds who read our list also dig comics, so well, what the heck...
The comic in question is the cutely titled Wuvable Oaf. The story of a huge hairy bear man, who spends a good amount of his time naked, or at least shirtless. And is constantly surrounded by his pals, and lots and lots of kitties. There's plenty of goofy dancing, man love, saucy almost sex, penis shaped birthday cakes, high fashion, reality TV, feline birthing, and an art�punk band called Ejaculoid. You don't need to be into big hairy dudes to dig the comic, but you should at least be into kitties, and into some super awesomely detailed artwork. The hair factor alone is amazing, it must have taken months to illustrate Oaf, let alone his equally hirsute pals. The comic is not heavy on story, the vignettes are brief and fleeting and funny, but it's all about the art. Intricate and complex, incredible detail, the panel that shows a Victorian with the Twin Peaks antenna tower in the background is perfect right down to the defaced poster on the building next door. And did we mention the HAIR! So much hair, torsos, arms, faces, shaved and on the floor, it's everywhere!�
Anyway, check it out, locals will probably recognize some of the characters as they are modeled after real folks, one in particular is a long time aQ pal and sometime list contributor. They have amazing shirts too, which you might see AQ staffers sporting once in a while. You can read and see more here:�http://www.wuvableoaf.com/
Oaf, his pals and his kitties get a big wuvable thumbs up fom aQ!
The return of Wuvable Oaf!!! If you remember a few months back when we listed the first issue of the Oaf (#0 for those keeping track), we gushed over the goofy funny story, the incredibly detailed art, the many many kitties, and did we mention the hair? ALL that hair!!
The first issue, if you don't remember, contained plenty of goofy dancing, man love, saucy almost sex, penis shaped birthday cakes, high fashion, reality TV, feline birthing, and an art punk band called Ejaculoid. The life and times of a big bearlike creature called Wuvable Oaf, and his friends, and his cats, and his dolls stuffed with his own body hair. Now seems like a good time to revisit the hair. The art is so intricate and detailed, all the characters so hirsute that it really must take as much time to draw the hair as it does the rest of the comic. But it's worth it, so over the top, and so completely and awesomely ridiculous.
So this issue gives us a glimpse into the creation of Oaf's stuffed little creatures as well as his ability to regenerate body hair just by 'forcing it', various 'worst' dates throughout the years, 1986, 1992, the origin of the Oaf, from his birth (his actual birth, euuw) to his misfit early years and eventual adoption, a visit to the gym, another feline misadventure, as well as a run in with punk rock band Ejaculoid, culminating in a visit to AQUARium records!! Hmmm. And that guy behind the counter, looks suspiciously like, OK, heck, it is! It's our own ANDEE, in all his Oaf drawn glory, surly and standoffish (not at all like the real Andee btw), giving Ejaculoid the cold shoulder, spouting his timeless catchphrase "I hate your band". Beside the thrill of being drawn into the Oaf universe, the record store is another example of artist Ed Luce's incredible eye for detail, the various records behind the counter, the posters on the wall, the band t-shirts, it's pretty amazing.
We're dying to see what happens as Oaf pursues his Ejaculoid lead singer crush, and of course we can never get enough kitties, drawn or otherwise, there are big plans in the works for Oaf, including more kick ass merch (check it out: http://www.wuvableoaf.com/) as well as an actual single from the imaginary(?) Ejaculoid.
Punk rock, kitties, lots and lots of hair, and of course big muscly dudes, what's not to love???
Once again, the big, hairy, doll making, lovestruck punk rock behemoth better known as Wuvable Oaf returns! We've been champions of Luce's crazy creation since the moment we first laid eyes on Oaf and his equally hirsute cadre of pals and lovers and hangers on. Not to mention the kitties!
For those new to the Oaf, in a city, suspiciously like San Francisco, lives the Wuvable Oaf, who spends his days making cool little stuffed dollies, filling them with his shaved body hair, living in a house full of kitties, and pining after Eiffel, the diminutive lead singer of the band Ejaculoid, who are constantly battling their arch rival band, Spincterine, and that's just scratching the surface. There's lots of unrequited love, nightmarish dream monsters, wild punk rock gigs, nightmare dates, aggro-massage, jilted evil ex-boyfriend chefs, blind dates, bands with names like Muff ' N' Top Grrrlz and Wasp Women, a broKENCYDE shirt pops up during a show, so do the bad guys from Superman 2, as does our very own Andee!
It's definitely a wild ride, the art is amazing, super detailed, over the top, there's so much hair everywhere, on the big beefy dudes, on the kitties, it's no wonder why it takes Luce ages to finish each issue, but it's well worth the wait, funny, and fun, and sexy and silly, now we're dying for issue 3, especially after the back page teaser, a big hairy, horned, devil tailed man-beast with the legend "Who is Gote Blud?". Well?? WHO IS IT??????????????
A little while back, we listed issue #2 of one of our favorite comics, starring the big, hairy, doll making, lovestruck punk rock behemoth better known as Wuvable Oaf! But now for a very limited time, we got a handful of copies of the super limited special edition version of Wuvable Oaf #2. And we're the only store that's got em. So what's so exciting about the special edition you ask? More on that in a second, first a bit about the Oaf...
We've been champions of Luce's crazy creation since the moment we first laid eyes on Oaf and his equally hirsute cadre of pals and lovers and hangers on. Not to mention the kitties! For those new to the Oaf, in a city, suspiciously like San Francisco, lives the Wuvable Oaf, who spends his days making cool little stuffed dollies, filling them with his shaved body hair, living in a house full of kitties, and pining after Eiffel, the diminutive lead singer of the band Ejaculoid, who are constantly battling their arch rival band, Sphincterine, and that's just scratching the surface. There's lots of unrequited love, nightmarish dream monsters, wild punk rock gigs, nightmare dates, aggro-massage, jilted evil ex-boyfriend chefs, blind dates, bands with names like Muff 'N' Top Grrrlz and Wasp Women, a broKENCYDE shirt pops up during a show, so do the bad guys from Superman 2, as does our very own Andee! It's definitely a wild ride, the art is amazing, super detailed, over the top, there's so much hair everywhere, on the big beefy dudes, on the kitties, it's no wonder why it takes Luce ages to finish each issue, but it's well worth the wait, funny, and fun, and sexy and silly, now we're dying for issue 3, especially after the back page teaser, a big hairy, horned, devil tailed man-beast with the legend "Who is Gote Blud?". Well?? WHO IS IT??????????????
So okay, the special edition, what's so great about it? Well howsabout a custom glow in the dark cover, each one signed and hand numbered by the artist? Or what about a set of custom Ejaculoid picks, affixed to a special printed insert? Okay, well if that ain't enough, the special edition comes with a bonus 7" SINGLE, one sided, featuring Ejaculoid's synth punk grind jam "Fearce" on one side (and just so you know, the musical Ejaculoid is made up of members of Limp Wrist, Los Crudos and Needles!), the flipside featuring an awesomely gory etching, that goes along with the super gory eviscerated super model record cover, and it includes a torn ticket stub with info on where you can download a digital version of "Fearce"! All in a plastic bag sealed shut with a kitty sticker (of course). Only 200 in existence, and we're the only store, comic, record or otherwise that has 'em!
This is actually the first record we've reviewed by Lucero, which is a little surprising for a couple of reasons. One being that this is their 5th or 6th record in almost as many years. The other being that they are really fucking awesome. Where as most young folks, emo kids, punk rockers, who are trying to rock some country, they end up not really rocking at all. Instead focusing on the moody dreaminess, the lilting loveliness, Sparklehorse, Court And Spark, Nick Drake, all fuzzy and twangy, sweet slippery lap steel, you know what we're talking about. Part of it is, that's it's really tough to mix hard rocking with country twang. One wrong move and you're in young country territory. But done right, it's as furiously infectious and wildly invigorating as all get out. Lucero are obviously shooting for Uncle Tupelo's No Depression, probably the most fiery rockingest country record we can remember. Huge guitars, a whiskey soaked howl, pounding drums, killer catchy hooks, and plenty of twang. And to be honest Lucero do get pretty darn close. A lot closer than most folks. The result falls somewhere between a way more aggro Springsteen and a slightly less rocking No Depression era Tupelo. But as far as places a band could land, you can't do a whole lot better than that.
And very much how Mike from the Court And Spark is that band's ace in the hole, with his impossibly warm honeyed whiskey soaked croon, Lucero has Ben Nichols, who makes Mike sound like a sweetly singing songbird. Super ragged and scratchy, like a more country Shane MacGowan, a raspy gravelly howl that can soar into a gorgeous banshee like wail. And that's half the battle right there. He has one of those voices that could sing the phone book and you'd be smashing bottles and banging your head and bouncing around like crazy. The band backs it up with some super rocking twang, some occasional barrelhouse piano and warm warbly organ, but it's all about guitar bass and drums, and these cats are tight as fuck. And can rock with the best of 'em.
A few years back, there was a documentary about Lucero, one of those year in the life on the road sort of things. And they looked like, and talked like any punk rock band, sleeping on floors, driving a shitty van, getting drunk, getting tattoos, maybe getting laid, not getting enough sleep, wondering about the future, rocking as hard as they can. But on stage, they didn't sound like any punk rock band you ever heard. A gloriously rambunctious, super rocking, sweaty and bloody and twangy and wild and wooly countrified rock and roll band. Which is exactly what they are.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
This 1970 piece for tape and voice by Lucier contains 32 repititions of the same piece of text : "I am sitting in a room different from the one you are in now. I am recording the sound of my speaking voice and I am going to play it back again and again until the resonant frequencies reinforce themselves so that any semblance of speech, with perhaps the exception of rhythm, is destroyed. What you will hear, then, are the natural resonant frequencies of the room articulated by speech. I regard this activity not so much as a demonstration of a physical fact, but more as to smooth out any irregularities my speech might have." Over the course of time, an almost robotic droning overtakes the hypnotic repetition of the voice. A very interesting phenomenological composition. (Not a new release, but we thought it worthy of a mention on our list.)
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Starting with an introductory minute of electronic drone distortion, the half of this split cd by Belgian black metallers Lugubrum, entitled "Al Ghemist" is, simply, awesome. Unlike most black metal bands, Lugubrum aren't concerned with playing fast. But they do care about atmosphere. Slow, doomy, heavy, dirgey, dark, bleak atmosphere. The production is kinda lo-fi, but densely textured.
The opening noise piece leads into "Hunted Ordure", one of the best doom songs we've EVER heard. Buy it for this track alone and you'll be happy. Happily doomed. But the other Lugubrum tracks are good too. They do some faster stuff, but it still sounds like music from the bowels of the earth. The croaking vocals, fuzzed-out guitars, the weird non-standard rhythms, it's so nice. As they say, "Your discomfort and damaged speakers nourish Lugubrum eternally!!!"
Finsternis (a Lugubrum side-project) aren't quite as odd an outfit. They play good old-fashioned necro black metal, excuse me, "alcoholic bonesaw metal" exclusively. You've heard the likes of them before. But their half of this split does provide some hateful blasting rock n' roll for those that dig this sort of primitive, grimy black metal.
Oh, thanks to AQ customer Roberto for pointing out to us that the old man on Lugubrum's "Al Ghemist" cover art appears to be holding a carrot. For some reason that didn't convince Roberto that this was amazing, but it only added to our love for Lugubrum.
"Touchy"? That term could connotate affection or annoyance depending on how receptive you are to the bizarrely heartfelt musical stylings of the one and only Luie Luie. Seriously music making doesn't get more strange, sincere and ambitious as this. Once called the "Greatest Single Act In The World", Luie Luie is a one man band of drums, trumpet, Moog, guitar and flute who often (and still does!) performed in Mexican and Mediterranean restaurants in Southern California. But he is so much more than that. Soldier, Martial Arts Enthusiast, Actor (he appeared in a film with Elvis!), Musician and Inspirational Speaker, he created a new dance concept called the "Touchy" to help bring people closer together and engage each other in new and exciting ways musically. On this album from 1974 with almost every song including the word "Touch" or "Touchy" in their titles, he begins each song with a spoken preamble that outlines his philosophy on life, love and humanity and how his "dance' works. With the help of the "Touchy Button", a pin with a drawing of Luie's face on it, partners can wear the pin on various parts of their bodies and the object is simply for the partners to touch each other with their "Touchy Buttons" to the music. Yet, the music Luie creates is probably not what most would describe as dance music. Often beginning each song with a loud trumpet blast, followed by lurching rhythms and swampy beats that waver in and out of tempo, containing melodies that seem like a underwater Mariachi band went insane, the music seems almost counterpoint to his endearing explanations of togetherness, like you may want to run away...far away! But with a closer and more firmly resolved listen, you have to realize that the music and this album are truly extraordinary. Who else could make music this warped and wacky yet with absolutely no tongue in cheek? And with each new song we're drawn in to its wonderful strangeness and naivety that by the end we're all smiles. Companion Records has done an amazing job with this reissue, working directly with Luie so that he finally receives royalties for this record, which has been bootlegged several times in the past. With extensive photos and liner notes by Luie himself and for a limited time, each copy will include two newly remade "Touchy Buttons". Fans of Incredibly Strange Music of all types and varieties, this is a must have!
From the punishing speed of Napalm Death through the narcotic dubstep of Scorn and into the isolationism of Lull, all of the projects from Mick Harris are connected by an utterly bleak outlook on the world and the human condition. This album was released in 2008, marking it the first proper Lull album in something like 8 years (outside of a one-off collaboration and two collections of rarities); and Like A Slow River stands as one of the better releases in his entire discography and it's certainly the best Lull album to date. The five pieces unfold into grey masses of mist, fog, and shadow without much in the way of delineation of shape or form. There are heavy rumbles of distorted basstones as if thunderous explosions were being set off many miles away, and there are slight filigrees of melody coaxed out of the purposefully amorphous drone passages. Ambient music has long favored a reductionist approach, and Harris (like Thomas Koner, BJ Nilsen, and at times Lustmord) instills his dramatic absences with an existential dourness that is signature of the isolationist aesthetic. It's very very cold, very very slow, and very very well done.
We only got a handful of these, and it was limited to only 100 or so copies anyway, so we won't get into too much detail. Most folks just need to see the name Lull and they'll be sold. Lull, aka Mick Harris, collaborates here with Beta Cloud, who a while back teamed up with Aidan Baker for a killer disc of dark buzzing dronemusic. But on Circadian Rhythm Disturbance, Harris and Beta Cloud team up for one 20 minute track of extreme dark ambience, loose barely there rhythms drift in and out occasionally, but this is all about the atmospheric low end, and it is LOW, a deep subterranean rumble that seems to swallow up all light, like the sound of some massive behemoth drifting slowly through the blackened deep, or some mysterious black shape drifting across the midnight sky, huge groaning drones and massive swells of rib cage rattling bass, smeared and blurred into a tidal sort of barely-rhythm, that subtly pulses and throbs, sucking the listener under, filling you ears with gorgeous soft black sound.�
SUPER LIMITED. Most likely already out of print at the label.
One of our fave new Bay Area indie labels Dynamophone close out 2007 with a fresh batch of aural treats. They are four installments in their limited edition 3" cd-r ep Parcel series by the likes of Lullaby League (nice Wizard Of Oz reference there!), Curium, Science Teacher and Sleep Robot. Chances are if you've been paying attention to our recent aQ lists you're probably already as enchanted with this label's richly atmospheric hazily dreamy roster as we are, and will welcome these four into your music collection. This one features one new nineteen minute long piece for you to sink into.
Don't delay though! Each release comes in a diminutive square cardboard box festooned with a full color cover art sticker, and is limited to 100 each. We only have a couple handfuls. Once they're gone, they're gone!
Psst: Cantus comes with a cinnamon apple-y scented votive candle!
Here's another addition to always dreamy sounding and delightfully packaged Dynamophone Parcel series (psst, we still have one final copy in stock of the now out of print Science Teacher edition... please let us know if you're interested in it or any of the others!).
Filia Melusine is a lovely spoken word piece read by Ms Phyllida Law. Her tender voice floats atop a soundscape of Evan Sornstein's soft drones and Jacob Phelps' delicate piano and guitar. The words can be traced back to a 15th century tale. Achingly intimate and deeply romantic, 'tis a magical bedtime story of personal quest and loss. The limited edition cd-r comes in a sweet little 3" box along with an added little treasure.
Seems there's been another spate of outcroppings from the Godspeed You Black Emperor musical empire recently -- notably the Fly Pan Am offshoot Feu Therese and this duo of drummer Justin Small (also of Do Make Say Think) and bass player Katia Taylor. Hmmm, we suspect that this Lullabye Arkestra will fail oh so miserably at the task of sleep inducing, but it will succeed formidably at kicking the thermometer up a degree or ten. Their aggressive sound is markedly different from the rest of the GYBE clan. It might be the most trashy, garage rawky, angstful, swampy blues boy'n'grrrl punk edged thing we've ever heard from the Constellation Records label (home to Godspeed, Fly Pan Am, Silver Mt. Zion, et al). The fury churned up by the two core members is further fueled by horns, Hammond organ and violin contributed by their skilled musical brethren including other members of DMST. A fevered good time!
Absolutely beautiful and highly unlikely collaboration between Alexander Balanescu, Isabella Bordoni, Rupert Huber, Sergio Ganhor and to rococo rot.
So beautiful! Finally available, the debut album by local quartet Lumen, which features our esteemed co-worker (and ex-A Minor
P.S. The title of the album is from a story by Italo Calvino.
We're pleased to present three inaugural cassette releases from psych/noise label Holodeck, championing the exploding underground electronic experimental scene in Austin, Texas, with beautifully packaged and designed cassettes. have a look elsewhere on this list for other releases by Smokey Emery and Thousand Foot Whale Claw.
Lumens is a mysterious collaborative effort featuring members of Smokey Emery, Silent Land Time Machine and Troller, and is very much what you might expect when you put those three bands together. Murky cavernous industrial drones slowly bloom into all kinds of decaying ambiance, piano tones, viola and looping vocal whispers. Looming and dark clusters of layered organic sounds and field recordings, scraping rhythms and buried melodies, carefully arranged to hypnotically listenable effect. Over 4 long tracks, the compositions build from abstracted soundscapes to krautrock tinged build-ups, the final track merging into No Pussyfooting territory with layered repeating tape loops that float up towards the stars away from the murk they originally came from. Mesmerizing! Limited to 100!
