Bay Area Synthesist Hugo Paris releases his second tape after last year's stunning debut, Mystique Youth. Horizons has a more cosmic ambient feel employing a deep distance traveling quality in structured pieces that belie their improvisational origins. Employing elements of dub, drone, modular pulsations and a cinematic vibe that suggests a narrative arc through the tape, Paris allows his machines to inform his decisions as they run playfully through emotional landscapes of human and synthetic connection. Beautifully done!
For a limited time we have the deluxe package which comes housed in a black matte paper-constructed box with white obi and raised glow in the dark dot patterns. Both versions come with a download code.
Lavender is the new project of local San Francisco (by way of France) synthesist Hugo Paris. His debut cassette release, Mystique Youth, is a beautiful visionary piece of prismatic sci-fi electronic romance largely inspired by Frank Herbert's epic science fiction novel Dune. Though one can feel the moody strains of Vangelis' Blade Runner score as well as Edvard Artemiev's existential planetscape drones, Paris puts those influences to use in a most forward thinking way. He's no novice when it comes to equipment either. A technical engineer by trade, Paris employs a dizzying array of synthesizers, space-echo, oscillators and effects to bring in a vibrating quality of light, space and movement that gives his music an unconventional uplifting warmth and soulfulness. Mystique Youth is sublimely serene and progressively dreamy, but with an alien mystery that feels as if everything we hold dear will soon change. If you dig Nils Frahm, Jamie XX, or any of the artists mentioned above, you will find lots to love here. A stellar debut!
Download code included. And for a very limited time, we have a deluxe package that comes with a t-shirt, as well as a regular cassette version by itself. If ordering the deluxe package, please specify desired t-shirt size in the comments section of your order.
And by the way, we loved this release so much, we are hosting a Lavender in-store performance next week, Friday August 21st at 6 pm! Come on down to see and hear these amazing synths in action!
Lavender is the new project of local San Francisco (by way of France) synthesist Hugo Paris. His debut cassette release, Mystique Youth, is a beautiful visionary piece of prismatic sci-fi electronic romance largely inspired by Frank Herbert's epic science fiction novel Dune. Though one can feel the moody strains of Vangelis' Blade Runner score as well as Edvard Artemiev's existential planetscape drones, Paris puts those influences to use in a most forward thinking way. He's no novice when it comes to equipment either. A technical engineer by trade, Paris employs a dizzying array of synthesizers, space-echo, oscillators and effects to bring in a vibrating quality of light, space and movement that gives his music an unconventional uplifting warmth and soulfulness. Mystique Youth is sublimely serene and progressively dreamy, but with an alien mystery that feels as if everything we hold dear will soon change. If you dig Nils Frahm, Jamie XX, or any of the artists mentioned above, you will find lots to love here. A stellar debut!
Download code included. And for a very limited time, we have a deluxe package that comes with a t-shirt, as well as a regular cassette version by itself. If ordering the deluxe package, please specify desired t-shirt size in the comments section of your order.
And by the way, we loved this release so much, we are hosting a Lavender in-store performance next week, Friday August 21st at 6 pm! Come on down to see and hear these amazing synths in action!
So Lavender Diamond have finally released their much buzzed-about Matador debut, and anyone familiar with said buzz has probably heard the words, "precious" and "winsome" too many times to keep count. While those words do describe frontwoman Becky Stark's particular vocal charms, a
gauzy theatrical mix of Linda Ronstadt, Julee Cruise and Margo Timmons from the Cowboy Junkies, they don't accurately quantify the listening experience of this particular record which is sunny and wide-eyed in a seventies soft rock way without becoming as cloying as one would expect from such superlatives. We enjoyed their first EP, and have been waiting for what seems forever for this to appear. While it's a perfectly solid record, it falls just shy of being great. The band thankfully grounds Stark's soaring vocal delivery, but we wish that with such wealth of musicianship from Jeff Rosenberg (Lumen, Young People etc.) Ron Rege Jr. (The Swirlies) and Steve Gregoropolis (W.A.C.O.), they were given more room to expand on their strengths. But this is understandably Stark's show, which initially began in Providence as an indie operetta and has been developing through acclaimed live performances up to this current incarnation. They've definitely carved a niche for themselves that has avoided the pitfalls of freak-folk to be a more pliant pastiche of seventies alt country folk pop. Quite lovely indeed.
Each time we hear that AQ pal Jeff Rosenberg has a new music project we secretly fantasize that it'll continue to push the 'out-there' dissonant envelope as many of his past ones have (the ever-expansive Tarentel, spazz-rock duo Pink & Brown, hypnotic art-folk trio Young People, and earthy instrumental duo Lumen to name a few), and shine the spotlight more on his considerable guitar talents. But even though each of his subsequent groups have definitely kept us on our toes, each one taking a new unpredictable Rosenberg direction, quite often the unassuming gent opts to humbly play the solid, no-frills support role. Such is the case with Lavender Diamond, a timorous folk pop combo who present themselves in Lawrence Welk-worthy attire, black suits and taffeta gowns, and in which Becky Stark's gentle'n'mild vocals take centerstage while Rosenberg, Steve Gregoropoulos and well known visual artist Ron Rege Jr back her up on guitar, piano and drums respectively. Maybe this is what all those jaded hipsters need these days... some wide-eyed, earnest songs of unabashed innocence. Sure seems so, 'cause folks have been gobbling this up like crazy already. You can even easily imagine the quartet doing a great cover of Coven's "One Tin Soldier" or perhaps something by The Carpenters! As for Jeff's guitar magic, alas, we'll just have to continue crossing our fingers that he'll unfurl it again someday. But for now we can happily soak in the sunny subdued country folk of The Cavalry Of Light.
Aaah, a Devendra Banhart sighting! While in Europe back in 2004, this neo-folk troubadour recorded with the band known as Queens Of Sheba. This lil' record features one of the resulting songs of that session -- "It's A Christmas Time Celebration". Yes, we are well aware that it is already the middle of January, but who are we to squelch a little belated holiday themed music? The flipside is the elegantly attired "Impossible Occurances" by LA's dream-folk combo Lavender Diamond. Artwork by Ron Rege. Limited pressing of 2500.
Something so nice about the tradition of soul singers covering songs by an impressively wide array of artists, and usually with such strong conviction and charisma. In the '70s Tina Turner had this amazing ability to transform Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin songs and make them her own. Aretha could always breath new life into old songs too. Now, enter the amazing voice of Bettye LaVette. A survivor of the Detroit soul scene of the 1960's, she never really had any huge hits but that never stopped her from carrying on and using her strong powerful voice to make a handful of soulful records over the last several decades. On this outing she tackles songs by the likes of Lucinda Williams, Johnny Cash, Aimee Mann, Fiona Apple, etc. In using stripped down instrumentation or even entirely acapella (as on her stunning version of Sinead O'Connor's "I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got"), LaVette finds the grit and guts of every song she covers. We love the times when her voice sounds a lot like that other Betty we love so much (Betty Davis!), and just like Davis when words come out of LaVette's mouth they hit you hard, with passion and presence.
An icon of the Northern Soul scene, Bettye Lavette has been making music since she was a teenager in the early '60s. Much like Candi Staton, her career has taken many twists and turns over the decades. Many had thought she had vanished until she hit the scene again a few years back with her debut on Anti, a covers record called I've Got My Own Hell To Raise that most definitely demonstrated her dynamic range and undying musical passion. The Scene of The Crime finds her recruiting gritty Southern rockers the Drive By Truckers as her backup band along with legendary Spooner Oldham on Wurlitzer and piano. It's a bleak and raw outing that's as much blues and gospel as it is soul and country. There's an undercurrent of sorrow and despair much like Staton's most recent album, His Hands. After all these years, Lavette's honest delivery and strong presence are still very much intact.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Anton, founder of the Church of Satan, is a virtuosic thereminist and makes most of this cd's music on a big old organ in one take, which, when you hear all the different layers of sounds, is pretty impressive.
Uh, wow! And WTF!? That's what we thought as soon as we got a good look at these, the other day when Tyler from Ajna dropped 'em off at the store. Is this for real? This late 2011 release from the Ajna affiliated, vinyl-only cult metal reissue label Unseen Forces seems tailor made to be of immense aQuarius interest. First off, we, and many of you, are pretty into the whole Father Yod / Ya Ho Wa 13 / Source Family communal '70s psych rock thing. Pretty much everybody here at aQ owns one of those Japanese 13cd God & Hair box sets of Ya Ho Wa recordings, and we just this week hosted an instore event promoting the Source Family documentary currently screening in the SF Film Festival.
Also, several of us at aQ (and again, many of you) are keen on obscure '80s old school metal, the more outrageous and over the top, the better.
And somehow, unbelievably but awesomely, THE LAW brings those two obsessions together!!
You see, the guys in The Law were members of Source Family, followers of Father Yod. Bassist Peter Tobin and singer/lead guitarist Troy Duke at least, had played and recorded with Ya Ho Wa 13. But by the early '80s, they were transitioning from being long haired hippies to being long haired heshers! Gotta change with the times, man. Having formed a garage (more like barn, cuz they lived on a cattle ranch) band, The Law (= Love And Wisdom), in 1979, they decided to make the big step of moving from Hawaii (where the Source Family had been based since the late '70s, and Father Yod had sadly perished in his fatal hang gliding accident) back to LA, now a hotbed of heavy metal activity in the year of 1983! But they brought their interest in esoteric, psychedelic spirituality along with them, into the realm of the heavier-than-thou, glammed-up, Decline Of Western Civilization Part II, Sunset Strip scene, where they rubbed shoulders with the likes of Motley Crue. Theirs was sleazy hard rock with a mystic message, though, all right!!
Though that unusual backstory (and the picture of the band on the back of the lp, all done up in macho tight leather and studded belts) would probably have been enough to convince us to buy this, it was listening to the songs on this lp that made us decide, heck, all that AND they totally rule, in the hot rockin' department? Ok, Record Of The Week time.
These ten songs include hit single in an alternate universe "Chill The Wine", theme song "Here Comes The Law", and several with either "Baby" or "Love" in their titles, like the dirgey (mostly) ballad "Baby I'm A Mystery", the lyrics to which include the advice: "Sweet child of the fire, the only way to go is higher, higher, higher...". These songs feature plodding riffage, wailing psych guitar solos, commanding vox, low budget sound FX, and (we're just guessing here) an exploding drummer a la Spinal Tap.
Unseen Forces' ringleader Dennis Dread sez this slab of "vintage volcanic rock" is for fans of "The Rods, Oz, Blue Cheer, and Buffalo"... sure! And we'd say Dwarr, Cirth Ungol, and Iron Butterfly, too! There's paradoxically party-hardy outsidery-ness to this, The Law bringing in '60s influences (they do "Wild Thing"), astral influences, whatever, so that while it's not quite Ya Ho Wa 13 in spandex, it's sure not your usual corporate Sunset Strip LA '80s hair metal.
The power trio's sole, independently released, lp came out in 1983, and failed to become a commercial success despite (or because of) its eccentric charms, but it did eventually become a collectable rarity. This reissue probably will too!
Remastered and reissued with the cooperation of The Law's original members, also with help from Source Family historian Isis Aquarian. Pressed on 180 gram vinyl and lovingly packaged. Includes liner notes and lyrics insert. LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!! And the label is almost out of 'em, so these may well be the last copies we'll be able to procure. But we still had to make it Record Of The Week, nonetheless. How could we not? None escape The Law!!
If you haven't already decided to buy this just 'cause of the title (which is indeed indicative of what this is - field recordings of water beetles!!!), we suppose we should provide something of a review. Though, if you're like us, there's not much more you need to know besides that it's WATER BEETLES - and a release on the great German sound-art label Gruenrekorder...
The liner notes in the cd booklet here begin with a very apt quote from composer David Dunn: "All of the sound we hear is only a fraction of all the vibrating going on in our universe". And while it's probably good that we can't hear it all, all the time (boy that would be noisy) it's also cool once in a while to experience some of the sounds that we're usually missing out on. In this case, a sonic glimpse of another, secret world, what it would sound like if you lived in a marsh, and got your ears up close underwater next to some talkative, chit-chattering insects... which, interestingly, is a lot like some stuff in our experimental/drone section. Turns out the water beetles of Pollardstown Fen make mesmeric mad-scientist "music" that would fit in with the clicks and cuts on Raster-Noton! Abstract, ambient, but not exactly beatless - there's rhythmic pulses to the seeming electronic transmissions from these beetles. From track to track it's quite varied, these tracks teeming with all manner of bleepings and burblings, chirpings and cracklings... constantly changing, constantly fascinating, the noises these waterbugs make with their microscopic mating "cries" is AMAZING. Buzzing drones, sferic-like swoops, sawing sounds, gurgling grind, morphing and modulating in pitch... And it's not just them, there's other sounds found in their aquatic environment - did you know that photosynthesizing plants made sounds?
The ten tracks here, all recorded at locations within the Pollardstown Fen, an ancient alkaline marsh in County Kildare, Ireland, might somehow suggest mechanical sources, but are all indeed natural and organic (the liner notes take pains to specifically state that there's no electrical interference to be heard here, nor were any mechanical devices in operation upon the Fen at the time of these recordings). And yes, though we are quite happy to let our imaginations make the most of these recordings without any further information, for the curious the cd booklet does contain detailed notes, getting all technical and scientific about both the recordings and the insects in question, which should convince any skeptics suspicious about the actual origin of these sounds! Let's quote an example here, the description of track ten, just to give you the full flavor of the text, and also some idea of what you're in for, when you listen:
"This recording is a protracted performance given by a single waterbug (Water Scorpion) in heightened antagonistic stance. The hydrophone has been positioned about one inch from the insect. The insect stridulated in this way for approximately nine hours. In the background the communicative songs of the wider ecosystem can be heard. Towards the end of the recording an interesting oscillation technique takes place."
On that track, they only let that antagonistic waterbug go on for just about 13 minutes, but the whole disc itself is well over an hour and always interesting, and for us ultimately meditative.
If you liked another recent waterbug cd we listed (yes, we've had more than one!), Thomas Tilly's hydrophonic field recordings from a castle moat in France, this is maybe even more "immersive" and pleasantly evocative of its watery natural world... Recommended!
The latest from psych/space rock label Rocket, comes from this mysterious Italian duo, who recorded their record in an old house in the countryside outside of Sicily. That's not necessarily the location where you'd expect a group to gather to conjure up some psychedelic space rock, but then Lay Llamas deliver a sound that's a bit removed from their psychedelic brethren, infusing the usual motorik pulses, and slow build smolder with twang flecked Morricone-isms, and drifting cinematic ambience, just check out the first track, which lays down a krautrock churn, beneath bongos, and electronic feedback, and winds it all around some almost Western sounding melodies, as if this was the soundtrack for a Sergio Leone Western set in space, in the future, which is actually a pretty good shorthand description of this whole record. The vocals add a different vibe, somewhere between Hawkwind, Suicide and the Residents, maybe Devo too, the second track "We Are You" has a hazy, spacey new wave vibe to it, still anchored by a krauty pulse, but definitely more poppy and synthy.
But fear not, these guys can space rock with the best of them, "The Lay Llamas" is fuzzy, and spaced out, lysergic and darkly groovy, but they add their own twist, weird layers of rumbling machine-vocals, pulsing synth fuzz, giving it the feel of some chase scene movie music, reimagined as some sort of druggy underground space rock music video. And so it goes, the band drifting easily from the tranquil drowsy haze of "Desert Of Lost Souls", with it's swooping backwards FX and wasted campfire filigree, to the murky almost Goat-like groovery of "Archaic Revival", which is a sprawling, chugging, churning, chant laced bunkurfunk workout, to the psych-funk space get-down of "Something Wrong", to the lazy, soporific Spacemen 3 channeling closer "Voices Call".
WAY recommended for fans of hazy, druggy, psychedelic grooviness, motorik kraut-fuzz twang and FX-drenched space-funk mesmer.
Everybody except a tiny handful of folks missed out on that Josh Lay cd-r on the last list, sold out in a flash, but for those of you who missed out, here's a brand new 7" from Mr. Lay, drummer for aQ faves Cadaver In Drag. But of course the sound here is a bit different than the cd-r. The first side begins with a noisy drone, but soft noise, an undulating layer of deep gurgly rumble and highend whir that gradually grows thicker and more ominous, until it explodes into a blast of chaotic blackness, a weird abstract black ambience with howled demonic vokills, a bit like a black metal track with the guitars and drums removed, haunting and evil and black, but more a sort of blackdrone. The flipside is all drone however, never exploding into any sort of evil blackness, instead opting to lurk in shades of grey, slithering and shimmering and whirring.
Super fancy trifold gold ink on thick black cardstock sleeve, and LIMITED TO 350 COPIES!
This just might be our favorite new 'noise' record. The key to that statement being those little marks around the word noise. This is most definitely noisy. But it's not pure noise. It's textural. It's droney. Somehow it's weirdly melodic too. Hard to explain, it's a big ol' massive slab of grinding guitar drone, laced with shards of static, and streaks of high end skree, the low end undulates and pulses, creating a distinct, but super subtle melody, a dense rumbling support for all the high end weirdness happening o'er the top.�
Josh Lay for those who may not know, is in fact the drummer for fucked up avant noise doom combo Cadaver In Drag, and this here is what happens when you let THAT kind of drummer make his own record. Not sure what he's using, guitar, synth, 4-track, shortwave radio, effects. We like to think the cover of the cd is an actual photo of the recording taking place, a beat up old console turntable, two old blown speakers, a cow skull, a half drunk bottle of booze, and an upside down cross. Cuz, c'mon, put al that stuff together, it would have to sound a little something like this, At least we'd hope so.�
Two tracks, the first, the title track is the above mentioned 'noise', a gloriously heavy blown out crumbling damaged stretch of coruscating sound, weird that something so obviously harsh could be so listenable, but it really is. At one point some creepy horn comes in, maybe it's a synth, but it sounds like a horn, it blats for a second, then just lays down and forms another layer of buzz, tones warble and wail, almost like some radio shack built siren, and gets all tangled up in that thick viscous buzz. We literally can't stop listening to it. So much so, that it's only right now, that we actually made it to the second track, which is kick ass also, but much more subdued, a weird stuttery loop, locked into an endless rhythm, while beneath, the same deep ominous low end from the opening track buzzed and reverberates, as the track progresses, more and more sounds enter the mix, a microscopic symphony of beeps and buzzes, squeaks and squiggles, all just adding to the general dreamy noise drenched din. AWESOME!
And unfortunately LIMITED TO ONLY 80 COPIES! And we got all they had left so act fast...
It all started with Poison Drinker, Josh Lay's last full length, a noise record that managed to be both noisy and melodic, harsh and pummeling, but also weirdly listenable, and kinda pretty. We're pretty particular when it comes to noise records, so for that record to kick our asses so hard, something special was definitely going on, which was confirmed with the super limited Worm Terrain cassette. Now we've got Lay's first proper cd full length, and while definitely still noisy, it's even more removed from traditional 'noise music'. Sure there are several serious bursts of harsh grinding NOISE, but here, those parts almost sound more black metal, with distorted hellish vox, over swirling sheets of sound. But those moments are actually few and far between. The first half of the title track is all synthy and sci-fi, droney and abstract, a looped electronic soundscape that eventually does splinter into some blackened noise, but the second track pulls the sound back from the edge, weird angular riffs buried beneath a sea of glitches and trills, that riff is the anchor of the song, chugging away relentlessly beneath a endlessly churning and ever shifting field of glitched out hiss, and some more of those sinister vokills.
But as the record progresses, it gets less and less noisy, and more and more abstract and a tiny bit prettier. Track three is a high end sprawl of looped glistening skree and throbbing rhythmic bass pulses, minimal vokillizing, a swirling sea of streaked trebly blur, and then the final track, which is perhaps still technically noisy, but that noise is blunted, muted, dulled, like some churning blackened sonic sea, a throbbing industrial dronescape, a little Wolf Eyes, but way less abject, and weirdly a little bit warmer sounding, still ominous and buzzy, but again, strangely soothing and almost serene.
We all went pretty nuts for Josh Lay's Poison Drinker, a glorious slab of decaying black noise, but not like SKKKKKRGGHHH noise, no this was something much more nuanced, still harsh and grim, but layered and tripped out and psychedelic and damaged and demented and buzzy and droney, THAT kind of noise. A follow up 7" offered more of the same, but with some added blackness, even some fucked up evil vokill action. Besides creating all this sonic sickery, he also plays drums for the mighty Cadaver In Drag. Needless to say, we figured we oughta track down anything we could get our hands on by this guy. There's a new full length cd coming soon, but until then, we have this limited cassette to tide us over. Well at least a few of us. LIMITED TO 100 COPIES, they're almost gone, we got the last little handful, so if you want one of these, gotta be quick. And believe us, you DO want one of these.
Thick, grinding, crumbling dronescapes, textured and layered, thick and constantly changing shape and sound and timbre, buried melodies, throbbing muted rhythms, the various strands occasionally coalescing into something almost metallic, sometimes splintering into jagged shards of pulsing low end buzz. Streaks of skree stretch across the sky, a delicate sonic latticework in the background, while up front, an oozing, whirring black cloud of muted crunch, and smeared chaotic shimmer are fused into a heaving expanse of suffocating doomdrone sickness. Warm and woozy and noisy and intense and epic, and like everything else we've heard from Lay, fucking awesome.
Again, LIMITED TO 100 COPIES. We have maybe 8 left. Blue tapes, full color J-cards, each one hand numbered.
This is the second solo album of lilting autumnal folk from Trevor Montgomery (formerly of Tarentel). His soft, ragged vocals and gently fingerpicked acoustic guitar are smoothed and warmed by glistening piano and strings. With each subsequent song the heavy heartedness grows and grows. The cycle of aching woe is emphasized by the endless feeling recurrence of certain melodic motifs that surface throughout the album lending it a very hypnotic vibe (although some might interpret this more as repetition or even redundancy?).
Note: As an added bonus there's a whole second cd titled Demos For The Backwards America, but y'know what? The differences seem really pretty slight between the demos and 'finished' tracks. Heck the the disc artwork is very very similar too (making it very easy to confuse one with the other). So this almost seems like a cd that comes with a duplicate disc.
Gorgeous album! Lazarus is Trevor Montgomery (ex-Tarentel), the lanky, gravel-voiced troubadour of sadness who has here laid down some of the most poignant and heartfelt vocal and acoustic guitar tracks ever. And the album would be lovely left at that, but then to make it even better, Trevor asked Marty Anderson from the amazing local group Dilute to embellish the music: the results are quietly stunning. Marty adds his own barely-there creaky treble vocals -- he sounds like a wrinkled crone following creepily on Montgomery's every step (in a good way) -- and tiny dots of electric guitar squiggles. A singer songwriter record with fascinating audible touches that make it both hauntingly bittersweet and yet refreshingly cleansing. Another winner from the Temporary Residence label.
MPEG Download: "Poets the Liars" [/audio/lazaruspoets.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "Poets the Liars" [/audio/lazaruspoets.m3u]
This is not new, but we never listed it before and we've always been fans of Trevor Montgomery's (Tarentel, The Drift, Believer) solo downer folk-blues project Lazarus, and seeing that he had a stash left of these, we jumped at the chance to share this beauty with you.
Trickster from 2009 is the third album from Lazarus and it's just as beautiful and heart-wrenching as the previous ones. Like a folkier Nick Cave, Trevor's baritone gothic blues-tinged croon is more refined but no less weary. Backed by simple lyrical guitar, organ, bells and shimmering electro-acoustic tones, the well-written songs display a despairing majesty that show glimmers of hope and redemption.
Limited to 300 copies on swirly smoke or blood colored vinyl, each cover uniquely hand-painted. Trevor has significantly less than 300 left so we don't know how long these will stick around. Highly Recommended!
With a name like Lazarus Blackstar, we were sort of expecting something a bit more polished, it definitely has a nu-metal or modern rock ring to it, but holy shit, nothing could be further from the truth. LB are purveyors of some of the crustiest, filthiest, heaviest sludge doom we've heard in ages. Featuring a who's who of British sludge / punk / crust / metal royalty (including at least one member of the legendary Sore Throat) these guys are broooootal. Massive, thick downtuned chug, crushing drum pound, a vocalist who sounds like he's spitting out vital organs with every anguished guttural roar, definitely hearing some Eyehategod, Grief, Bongzilla and that sort of thing, but the band bring some weirdness, like in the opening track, when after trudging through some seriously glacial black tar buzz, a guitar line soars from beneath the murk, tracing out a weirdly warm and buzzy and almost major key melody over the lurching lumber below. "Son Of Sorrow" slows it down even more, veering into some serious Bunkur / Moss / Monarch territory, before launching into an Electric Wizardly, almost stonery groove. The closer "Victim Of The Clergy", superimposes some demonic growling over a haunting hymn, the hammer falls and the song erupts in a slow negative trudge, the vocals this time punkish and yelped. There are some fucked up samples, some weird ambient percussion, like the sound of water dripping, or echoey footsteps, but the riff and the drums pound away, relentlessly, as various voices hover over the top, finally dropping out and finishing with a priest offering absolution. Heavy as fuck. Definitely need to track down the full lengths....
Record number two from this Cave side project, and while the name Lazer Crystal certainly evokes thoughts of pretty much every Myspace band in the land, since those two words have been used in various combinations over and over and over, these guys in fact have most definitely forged their own unique sound, and have been doing so for a while now. Fans of Cave's tribal spaced out drone-y krautrock, should be prepared for something entirely different. This is most definitely dance music, but seeing as it's the work of Cave men (and by extension, members of Warhammer 48k), you can expect something a bit more twisted and home brewed than your typical dancefloor fodder.
Right out of the gate, it sounds like (Daft) punk rock kids doing their own lo-fi sort of Justice dance rock, all stuttery synths, woozy spaced out melodramatic melodies, thick swaths of warm buzz, and some gothy dramatic crooning a la Human League or Depeche Mode. Propulsive and hypnotic, but also groovy, fun, funky and a wee bit goofy.
The second track takes that goofiness a little further, twisting the sounds of the opening track into bleeping blooping malfunctioning glitchery, swirling effects, still more buzzy synths, letting the track get way more abstract and space-y and almost ambient at times.
The flipside starts off with what sounds like some Nintendo 64 8-bit video game music, but fused into some primitive electro jam, still a distinct krautrocky undercurrent, and those croony Human League vocals all tangled up with the warm buzz, giving it an almost M83 vibe. The last track might be our favorite, definitely the darkest and the buzziest, ominous and sinister, but just a bit, still groovy and funky, and those vocals still crooning oddly throughout.
Incredible packaging, we talk about things being 'handmade' all the time, but these sleeves are WAY handmade, all done by different artists, some are collages, others are painted, some are 3-D and very tactile, some are eye poppingly colorful, everyone totally different. Includes a full color insert as well. And as you might imagine, SUPER LIMITED, TO ONLY 300 COPIES.
First there was Warhammer 48K, then there was Cave, now there is Lazer Crystal. That's right those crazy noisemakers from Chicago have gone and got themselves a brand new band with a brand new sound. Fans of Cave and WH48K might be a bit thrown, but most likely only for a second, as the sound of Lazer Crystal was definitely hinted at in sounds of both those bands, especially Cave.
It may look like a 12". And it is, but there's only one song on each side, with most of each side being the runout groove, but fear not, there's plenty of sound to be found! Super ghetto spray painted cover art, tiny scrawled photo copied insert, all leading us to drop the needle and get bowled over by LC's wild lo-fi electro krautrock jams. Think total eighties John Hughes soundtrack new wave, all tangled up with electronic Kraftwerk style Krautrock. Analog synths buzz over fuzzy grooves, machinelike beats pound and pulse while vocoder-ed vocals swoon and swoop all over the place.
The flipside introduces some Bryan Ferry like crooning to the proceedings, the perfect compliment to the lurching synth drenched new wave krautrock what-the-fuck beneath. Groovy, danceable, weirdness that kicks a surprising amount of ass!!!
Anyone into all those French new wave reissues we've been digging lately, or any of the more modern dance floor destroyers, will probably find the perfect place for this in their next DJ set.
All right! Chicago electro rockers Lazer Crystal return with MCMLXXX, the band's first album for indie tastemakers Thrill Jockey. We raved about their previous vinyl only outings, released in small batches on the HBSP - 2X label, and for those who maybe missed out, we should point out that Lazer Crystal features a member from aQ mega faves Cave, as well as two dudes from Mahjongg, a band we have for some reason never listed but dug nonetheless. Those connections, however, really only make sense after the fact, because Lazer Crystal's sound is probably more indebted to Giogio Moroder, Kraftwerk, and possibly labelmates Trans Am. The songs here are propelled forward by heavy drum machine beats with lots of cool robo-tom rolls and synthesizers galore. Vocals alternate between a sexy, icy croon and robot styled vocoders. This stuff just oozes out of the grooves, throbbing relentlessly throughout the entire album. And while it's sure to get asses moving on the dancefloor, there is also a cool, very ominous vibe on display here. The songs all have that great "running from something" sort of feel we all know and love, not unlike some of John Carpenter's soundtrack work.
Super recommended, and while we have both cds and lps, we ain't gonna lie - the lps, with their totally ball tripping cut out artwork, certainly take the cake in the packaging department.
The space-age sounds of Lazer Sword make us here at aQuarius recOrds feel like we are living in the kind of future where everyone has mohawks and wears plastic dresses and there is no light but flashing neon-colored spotlights. But, hey, we've been waiting for this record for what seems like years now, so we ARE living in the future, albeit one (slightly) less Blade Runner-esque. You'd never know that, though from the cover of Lazer Sword's self-titled debut, which looks like something out of Tron, or maybe Voltron (!). Former aQ employee Antaeus Roy and collaborator Bryant Rutledge have given us a record filled with beats and synths that don't so much throwback to as reinvent the '80s by chopping the hell out of them and reassembling the parts. On the surface somewhat akin to Flying Lotus or Zomby (the one with the "y", not the proggier one with the "i"), Lazer Sword's sampling is a bit more frenetic, though, and leans toward hip-hop rather than dub.
After opening the record with three mostly instrumental tracks, Lazer Sword brings in a bit of help from Turf Talk on "I'm Gone." The strange rhythm samples provide a perfect background for the catchy pitch-shifted hook: "Pass me that control / I'm in a fucking zone / I'm on my spaceship / I'm outta here I'm gone!" Just when you think the track is going to stay hot the whole way through, Lazer Sword takes it down a notch and drops the drums, leaving you floating in space for a minute and a half. The four or so tracks where Lazer Sword bring in outside guests (including Myka 9) to do vocals stand out, but not as much as you'd think because of the way LS incorporates sampled vocals into the layers of sound. This is a record that definitely requires either a dancefloor, a blunt, or quite possibly both.
Skweee! We've explained skweee before, you know it's an infectious and sometimes silly electronic music subgenre, an 8-bit obsessed video gamey sort of instrumental hiphop/electro music, coming from Scandinavian places like Sweden, Finland, and... Portland Oregon??
Sure, why not! The, um, interestingly-named Lazercrotch hails from Portland, and his debut 7" is the first American skweee release we've ever encountered. And it most definitely IS skweee, and the truly skweee agree, Lazercrotch is gettin' props from the likes of Mrs. Qeada and Randy Barracuda.
"Nugut!" is a low-slung, loose-limbed groove, with the crunching bass blurp and whooshing synths we like... likewise the flipside is totally skweeed up too. Cool. It's a 45, which means you can play it on 33 if you like, for extra slowed down, drugged out, fucked up effect.
We look forward to hearing more from Lazercrotch, and Poisonous Gases, the label he's formed to promote skweee in this country.
Skweee alert!!! Skweee alert!!! The uncomfortably named Lazercrotch is the nom de skweee of Poisonous Gases head honcho John Calvin Murphy, whose Portland-based label is the USA's number one purveyor of the originally Scandinavian DIY lo-fi glitchfunk electronic music called skweee, something which we hope you know plenty about already from all our enthused reviews of such skweee artists as Limonous, Daniel Savio, Pavan, Markis Sage, Eero Johannes, and others... As we put it in our review of Lazercrotch's 2009 debut 7" (which we loved): Skweee is an "infectious and sometimes silly electronic music subgenre, an 8-bit obsessed video gamey sort of instrumental hiphop/electro music". This new self-titled Lazercrotch full-length fits that description perfectly, and will give anyone still wondering what exactly skweee is, a crash course in skweee badassery!
The six tracks on this vinyl-only platter are all packed with ominous growling bass crunch and blippy jittery beats, together forming freaky, but seriously funky grooves. As is perhaps alluded to by the cover art, Lazercrotch's skweee gets exotically Eastern-tinged on such cuts as "Tikka Masala" and "Radio Gaza" (love the repeating eerie high end squeeks in that one, over the echoey, ponging beat). A lot of this is atmospheric and relaxed-sounding in a way, also dark and distorted, but always headnodding and sometimes more than that, as with the shake it up rhythms of such tracks as "Mike Tyson" and the shuffling "Tony LaRussa"...
Highly recommended to skweee aficionados new and old. LIMITED TO 300 COPIES!!! Comes with download code.
Lazyboy is the work of MX-80's Bruce Anderson and Dale Sophiea, with the former providing spidery guitar melodies and cascades of sinewy drone and the latter a vertiginous wash of cloak-n-dagger electronics. The two have also worked in a live soundtrack project called Grale, which is closer to MX-80 as a reference informing where these two are coming from. Sophiea's sound design meanders from an industrial dub introduction that recalls some of the earlier engineering that Kevin Martin did as Techno Animal, Ice, and God, with all of those digital effect-laden abstractions of samples and guitars smeared into slithering tones and drones cast amidst thunderously plodding electronic rhythms. As these heavier electronic beats subside, the two slide into the dreamtime space neighboring O Yuki Conjugate's ritualized ambience of temple bells and clattering wooden rhythms. Toward the end of the 20 minute piece, Anderson's shimmering guitars pulls back the curtains on Sophiea's production prowess with shifting beds of grumbling distortion grounding his radioluminescent melodies. Limited and numbered to 70 copies!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Lb is yet another pseudonym for the ever prolific Atom Heart. While the Senor Coconut Kraftwerk covers album has brought him a much broader audience, it needs to be stated that Atom Heart's aesthetic quality control has never been his strongest suit, with almost as many records as Pete Namlook that quite simply bombed. For every banner album like the Senor Coconut, Atom & Tea Time, or Los Sampler's, you should expect a handful of albums like "Pop Artificielle." Here as Lb, he does versions of a handful of pleasantly inoffensive songs by the likes of Prince, John Lennon, David Bowie, and Donovan with a similiar inoffensiveness, thereby creating the Air Supply of electro. For those who like the softer side of Atom Heart.
Last year, DFA producer and LCD Soundsystem mastermind James Murphy released 45:33 as part of an iTunes exclusive "workout" series for Nike, which is probably the best thing he's ever done -- and probably one of the most lucrative. However, this release is the post-Nike, post-licensing version, and is lacking the original artwork. Which was? A total rip-off/homage to Manuel Gottsching's E2-E4 cover, which was so obvious that he decided to sue. But we digress. This review is about a Nike workout song, and how as completely shitty as a 45 minute disco-punk take on Jazzercise sounds like it might be, this record rules. Why? Well, rather than catering to the dancefloor -- as has been the case with less-than-exciting tracks like "Daft Punk Is Playing At My House," "Movement," or "North American Scum" - Murphy was given a medium through which he could indulge himself in any and every fantasy that could possibly fit within the LCD oeuvre. The result is a record that ranges from cheesy (but awesome) Chicago House piano escapades to New Wave synth hooks to full-on Arthur Russell freakouts to Brian Eno bliss. Murphy has always worn his influences on his sleeves, but 45:33 shows him blending them all in such a seamless fashion that the differences between those influences begin to dissolve. If you've heard "Someone Great" -- off the group's newer album Sound of Silver -- then you've heard one of the four or so movements that comprise this record. If you haven't heard it, just skip it and start here. This is a great producer at his best, and will undoubtedly be remembered as such. Edge of Sanity gave death metal its 40+ minute epic song, Ricardo Villalobos did a 37 minute techo single, La Monte Young has recordings that last for a day, doom metal has about 5 million hour long records under its belt. Isn't it time that disco had a go? The CD version features three extra tracks. Each one features a more psyched-out, freakier James Murphy than is typical, and makes a great release even better. Honestly, it's a shame that these aren't on the vinyl version because they rock! Fans of No Wave, Dub, Minimal Techno and Acid beware, this could dominate your disc changer. Totally recommended.
More dance-floor jams in the way of remixes from their 45:33 record,
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Sophomore slump? No Way!! If anything the newest outing from DFA head honcho James Murphy is even better and more satisfying then his debut full length from a couple years back. While his singles and remixing skills are undeniable we still had our doubts about whether the full length format was well suited for LCD Soundsystem. Sound Of Silver proves that indeed Murphy has found out how to create a cohesive group of songs that feel just right next to each other and not just like a bunch of singles slapped together. Striking us as more earnest and even more carefully crafted then past efforts this is a great record of infectious electronic pop. The goosebump-inducing "Someone Great" might be the best LCD song yet, and instead of hipster ramblings or name checking lyrics its sentiment is bittersweet if not sad and so totally sincere. But not to fear, the party and dance floor have not been forgotten, as tracks like "North American Scum" make it pretty impossible not to crack a smile and start shaking some ass. Smart, sincere and sassy. That's a pretty great combination!
Now available on vinyl.
Newest one from James Murphy finds him going back and forth between dancefloor burners and less electronic more rock sounding numbers. Lots of people are freaking out about this one. Somehow it's not moving us too much. Sorry.
Hey, got your copy yet?! LCDS raise the roof a few more storeys on their self-titled debut double disc, but it's not all cowbells and arpeggiated basslines. For example, on the insistent fourth track "Movement", James Murphy does his best Mark E. Smith impersonation, then immediately shifts gears into a slower, prettier swoon mood for "Never As Tired As When I Wake Up". Throughout the album, the group revisits these two detours from their usual rump-bumpin' and visit a few others too. The seventh track is totally "Warm Leatherette". Hmmm, maybe the question is: Is it a rip-off or an homage? And ditto for the closing song of the first disc "Great Release" which takes on a *very* Brian Eno wistful pop feel. Sorta makes you think that LCDS might be the clubland incarnation of a cabaret singer who can ape any other singer's delivery or maybe a bar band who can recreate any other band's sound... really a skill unto itself, innit? Aaah shit, why are we gettin' all serious with such criticism 'n' skepticism and shit when there's a paaarty goin' on?! Just look at that glistening disco ball on the cover, man.
This release includes all of their previously released singles to boot. Yup, that means you get both versions of their track "Yeah" with its lyrics that go something like "Yeah yeah yeah yeahyeahyeahyeahyeah yeah yeahyeah yeahyeahyeah".
When the Drinks album came out a while back, we were enamored by the Welsh half of that duo - the beguiling Cate Le Bon. And little did we know that she had three previous solo albums under her belt. So, Crab Day is our first exposure to her solo work; and is it quite the gem of eccentric avant-pop. The title references an imagined holiday by Le Bon's niece, who preferred celebrating Crab Day to April Fool's Day. The tales for her Crab Day spiral out as off-kilter / avant-psych tunes that hark to the discomforting jubilation that Syd Barrett would muster on his solo records. Many of the arrangements are sharply staccato in the rhythms that lock the bass, drum, piano, and even a xylophone onto a singular motorik, yet humanly played beat, with the guitars forming moire patterns of jangly, rhythm dissonance all of which allows for Le Bon's languid voice to glide effortlessly atop. As a chanteuse, she's not too far from Nico in terms of the cool and detached attitude she applies to her songs, though Le Bon is far more of a playful character.
(Note: released on compact disc too, but we're fresh out... maybe back in next week.)
The Electronic Music Foundation presents this historic collection of recordings by the late Hugh Le Caine, a Canadian mid-century pioneer in inventing instruments for electronic music, some inventions in which necessity might not have had a hand. There's 38 tracks, divided into three sections: Compositions, Humorous Sketches (only four of those, don't worry), and Demonstrations. The Compositions include his musique concrete classic "Dripsody: An Etude for Variable Speed Recorder" and "A Noisesome Pestilence" among others, some prime proto-electronica, for fans of Bruce Haack, Raymond Scott's "Manhattan Research" era, and the whole "Switched On Bach" thing. The Demonstration portion has the somewhat nasal voice of Le Caine carefully explaning his "Electronic Sackbut" and "Touch Sensitive Organ", as well as the "Artificial Larynx", etc. followed by demonstrations of each. Weird and wonderful. For fans of quirky musical eccentricity with an historical bent. The booklet has bilingual, detailed info on each track.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Another Detroit duo featuring Mr. Adam Lee Miller. Yes, prior to the awesomeness of Adult., he along with Ian Clark created music of the icily funky techno kind - demonstrating a wry wit and subtle pushing of the envelope on the dancefloor. Auto-biography is a very thorough retrospective of the brief existence of Le Car (1995-98) recounting each of their releases titled Autograph, Automatic and Autofuel.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
If Lightning Bolt had boy/girl vocals and ditched the guitar for a couple of synths, the result might be something akin to Le Flange du Mal. The band, which existed in the early part of the 2000s and is finally, posthumously, releasing this record, had a somewhat silly exterior (hence the pun in the title) which veiled bombastic, danceable drumming, a political agenda, and excellent weird melodies. Carrion, My Wayward Son varies between frenetic Melt Banana-esque thrash and percussive dirgy marches reminiscent of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, especially when lead vocalists Liz Allbee and Chris Rolls team up and sing together. Allbee has since moved on to perform with Oakland's south-Asian songsters Neung Phak, and although the two projects have little to do with each other sonically, it's easy to picture Allbee's vocal skills finding a home there. The record comes with a digital download code (printed not on a card, but on the vinyl's center label) for not just this lp, but also the band's previous two lps and a video of an entire concert.
Unintended for a proper release, this rare gem of the LAFMS has been unearthed and given the Cortical treatment. The brainchild of a then fifteen year old Rick Potts, this 1973 recording is the precursor to Le Forte Four's debut 'Bikini Tennis Shoes' LP, when
"Boris the Spider" is a screwball "reworking" of The Who's song of the same name, along with amateur plundering of the Potts' collection of Frank Zappa and Disney records. Also includes a split 7": Slimy Adenoid and the Pablums (featuring Joe and Tom Potts as well as Dennis Duck) do a song about the Residents, cleverly titled "The Residents" backed with Joe Potts' "Mother/Daughter". Limited edition of 700 copies.
