What do you get when you put Modeselktor and Apparat together....Moderat! The debut collaboration between these German electronic heavyweights finds them joining forces to create some heavy duty electronic pleasures. Pulling from so many different elements of electronic music for their own special form of German techno that satisfies so nicely. There are a couple tracks with guest vocalists that we weren't digging too much, as they come off a bit forced and slick, but the majority of this record is chock full of sounds and beats for electronic heads to get down with.
From right here in SF comes this kick ass debut of fuzzy, jangly, shoegazey, noisy, bliss pop, from a group called Modern Charms, who sound like they've been studying their nineties indie rock songbooks, in particular, the Swirlies, My Bloody Valentine, Curve, Lush, Slowdive, and really, if that reads like a list of your favorite bands, then Modern Charms are gonna knock your pop-gaze socks off. A few seconds into the first track, "When We Get There" should be all it takes, muted minor key riff, chiming harmonics, angelic ethereal female vox, softly swirling guitar textures, all blurred and smeared into epic billows of chordal swirl, and shot through with shards of feedback, and wild burst of noisy psychedelia, Modern Charms have the sound DOWN, in fact, if you told us this was actually some lost shoegaze gem from the nineties, we'd totally buy it. The music is pitch perfect, right down to the production, and while much of MC's sound is wispy and washed out, the band display plenty of musical muscle as well, with big crunchy riffs, and some seriously noisy psychedelic shoegaze freakouts. But the icing on this retro pop cake has to be the super distinctive voice of vocalist Inna Kurikova, whose gorgeous vocals drift ethereally through thick swaths of noise guitar, and wrap themselves languidly around moody, brooding jangle. And it's not just the sound, the songs too, plenty of subtle hookiness, catchy choruses, the group deftly transforming simple jangle pop into something much more epic and expansive, heady and hypnotic.
77 minutes of free-improv "psychedelic scorch" put to tape in 1969 by this trio of West Berliners: Norbert Eisbrenner, Werner Goetz, and Sven-Ake Johansson. Johansson (his solo work the subject of a recent Unheard Music Series reissue) played drums on
Packaged in a cardboard sleeve, with liner notes only in German.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
More smart and thoughtful writing from Tim Ellsion with notable contribution from Alan Licht writing about the White Album. Tim puts the reviews into categories, like Rock, Old School, Post-Indi-Rock, and what he calls New Postmodernism (The Starlite Desperation, Gogogoairheart, etc).
What's the latest obsession of our friends at Japan's weirdest, most wonderful reissues label, EM Records? Last summer, they brought us a special series of sixties surf music soundtracks, and we can thank EM for the essential selection of "singing saw" recordings stocked at Aquarius... as well as much else in the vein of incredibly strange or at least unusual music. Now, EM is excited about...the steel drums! Or, as EM more correctly calls 'em, steel pans. Now, steel pans, to us, aren't quite as thrilling as musical saws, though we'll admit that it's cool that these tuned percussion instruments are made from cast-off 55 gallon oil drums. They've got an interesting history and all, but steel pan and calypso music isn't really our thing... overexposure to the touristy, cheesy use of the instrument doesn't help. What's next, EM celebrates the pan flute? But, at least on the two steel pan oriented albums that EM has recently rescued and reissued, the steel pan sound is pretty sweet, and totally jazzed up. Afro-Caribbean jazz-funk laced with the percussive melodic chiming sound of the steel pan is what you'll hear on this album by the Modern Sound Quintet, recorded in Stockholm, Sweden (of all places) in 1971. But the band wasn't Swedish -- leader Rudy Smith came from Trinidad, birthplace of the steel pan, and the other musicians in the group hailed from Trinidad, Ghana, Barbados, and Surinam. Smith was the pannist in the group, which also featured drum kit, congas, bass and piano. They cook up some funky originals as well as putting their own unique steel pan spin on such standards as Milt Jackson's "Bag's Groove", Joe Zawinul's "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy", and Herbie Mann's "Memphis Underground". Perhaps in this context the steel pan does sound a bit like that more ordinary jazz instrument, the vibes, but of course with more of a tropical island flavor. No doubt there's some grooves here that some crate-digging DJ's would be happy to have unearthed on vinyl, now they'll know to look for this. And while we won't pretend this is the most amazing thing EM has ever released, it's kinda neat if you are at all into obscure jazz-funk exotica. Pretty charming really. This is the one to get, and if you love it then check out EM's other related steel pan release, a reissue of 1984's Still Around by the Rudy Smith Quartet.
Oh and of course this boasts EM's usual deluxe gatefold sleeve packaging job, with informative, illustrated liner notes in both Japanese and English.
At last it's here--the much, much-delayed new Modest Mouse release! Well, don't get TOO excited, 'cause this isn't their still-upcoming major-label debut album (to be released on Epic in April, perhaps, if the band gets their troubles sorted out), but rather a singles collection which functions as a sort of "best of" collection. Material from six 7"s on the Up, Sub Pop, and Suicide Squeeze labels makes up the twelve tracks to be found here--a fine selection indie-rock pop indeed. And let us praise the nice tracing-paper cover on the cd, too.
An eight song EP (golly, that's a big EP!) from Isaac Brock and company compiling some mostly recent Modest Mouse odds 'n' ends. Includes tracks from the "Night On The Sun" 12" which was gathered up from the recorded material that didn't make it onto their
Now re-released as a dualdisc with all sorts of extra video footage and goodies. Here's our review of the cd first time around:
Ok, let's see how we can put this without offending anyone. Modest Mouse, they're really popular, we know a lot of folks love this band. And...well, we know a lot of folks (maybe not the same ones) who love the Red Hot Chili Peppers. So, we're not trying to say anything bad about either band -- just that, well, this new Modest Mouse sounds a hell of a lot like the Red Hot Chili Peppers! We were kind of hoping they would shed their ill advised funkiness and revert to their sweetly off kilter indie jangle of old, but alas, it was not to be. But by all means, Modest Mouse fans, don't let that stop you from enjoying this record.
New full length from indie rock sensations of da moment.
Not a huge stylistic leap, and not a 'major-label-sellout' either (even though it's their major label debut). They have thankfully mostly dropped the annoying funky dork rock found here and there on the last record ('Do The Cockroach') but sadly have not dipped back into the loping melancholia that was so much a staple of their sound in the beginning. Instead, they've stuck with their skewed mix of depressed guy emo and Pixies style indie rock. While not as breathtaking as their debut, 'The Moon & Antarctica' is definitely an excellent Modest Mouse record.
Unless you can't stand that guy's voice. Then forget everything I just said.
Here is the much-anticipated "lost" first album from those Modest Mouse boys. Includes many oddities from back in '94. "Why," you may ask "was this never released?" Well, the story goes that Isaac and the MM gang simply decided to set it aside, in favor of
Reissued with four bonus tracks recorded live on the BBC! Here's the review from when we first got it in: Not a huge stylistic leap, and not a 'major-label-sellout' either (even though it's their major label debut). They have thankfully mostly dropped the annoying funky dork rock found here and there on the last record ("Do The Cockroach") but sadly have not dipped back into the loping melancholia that was so much a staple of their sound in the beginning. Instead, they've stuck with their skewed mix of depressed guy emo and Pixies style indie rock. While not as breathtaking as their debut, The Moon & Antarctica is definitely an excellent Modest Mouse record.
Unless you can't stand that guy's voice. Then forget everything I just said.
A long, long time ago we reviewed this album, originally released on Up Records in 1996. Now at long last it's been reissued on vinyl, with two bonus tracks, and the review, written by our Andee, still applies, it's short and sweet and a definite thumbs up: One of my favorite records. A little Pixies, a little Violent Femmes, lyrics that make you want to cry, and a whiny cute singer boy with a lisp.
Now available on vinyl for a limited time!!
There is a certain level of possessiveness that seems to go hand in hand with being an independent music enthusiast. Sometimes this possessiveness turns to snobbery in thought or can often be expressed in comments like: "they were never as good as their first 7 inch" or "I only like the OLD stuff", etc... It's hard to pinpoint exactly why, but part of it is definitely the fact that discovering cool bands is a lot of work, and when you do discover a band, even though you're eager to share them with all your friends, you're NOT eager to share them with the rest of the world. The rest of the world discover their new bands by simply turning the radio to some random top 40 or even lower 100's college station, while the indie music obsessive is reading zines and going to shows and checking out opening bands and reading music blogs or whatever. Sometimes the indie music nerd (okay, snob) can feel ripped off when their special "find" becomes popular. It's safe to say that Modest Mouse is no longer a special find (if your aforementioned possessiveness is contained check out the American Idol contestant's cover of "Float On" for a Mustang commercial; if your possessiveness is not so easily contained, steer clear...it might make you blow your top!)
Most of us remember the first time our bodies came alive to the sound of Modest Mouse. For some of us no record will ever compare to This Is A Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About or Lonesome Crowded West (or maybe even actually, their first 7 inch!), while others will find themselves flailing uncontrollably to the angsty lispy yells of Isaac Brock for the first time with the band's latest, We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank. Brock's folky growl may be the only thing that has remained constant over the years as the band's instrumentation has turned from raw ruckus to structured madness. The highly anticipated recruitment of The Smith's guitarist Johnny Marr is subtly felt throughout the band's most recent project and The Shin's James Mercer contributes some nice airy backing vocals on "Florida" and "We've Got Everything," but it is clear that Brock still holds the reigns...and let's them go at exactly the right moment. Whether this is the first or fifth full length you've heard by Modest Mouse, we think you'll be pleased. And who would have EVER thought Modest Mouse would be #1 on the Billboard charts?!?! Wow.
There is a certain level of possessiveness that seems to go hand in hand with being an independent music enthusiast. Sometimes this possessiveness turns to snobbery in thought or can often be expressed in comments like: "they were never as good as their first 7 inch" or "I only like the OLD stuff", etc... It's hard to pinpoint exactly why, but part of it is definitely the fact that discovering cool bands is a lot of work, and when you do discover a band, even though you're eager to share them with all your friends, you're NOT eager to share them with the rest of the world. The rest of the world discover their new bands by simply turning the radio to some random top 40 or even lower 100's college station, while the indie music obsessive is reading zines and going to shows and checking out opening bands and reading music blogs or whatever. Sometimes the indie music nerd (okay, snob) can feel ripped off when their special "find" becomes popular. It's safe to say that Modest Mouse is no longer a special find (if your aforementioned possessiveness is contained check out the American Idol contestant's cover of "Float On" for a Mustang commercial; if your possessiveness is not so easily contained, steer clear...it might make you blow your top!)
Most of us remember the first time our bodies came alive to the sound of Modest Mouse. For some of us no record will ever compare to This Is A Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About or Lonesome Crowded West (or maybe even actually, their first 7 inch!), while others will find themselves flailing uncontrollably to the angsty lispy yells of Isaac Brock for the first time with the band's latest, We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank. Brock's folky growl may be the only thing that has remained constant over the years as the band's instrumentation has turned from raw ruckus to structured madness. The highly anticipated recruitment of The Smith's guitarist Johnny Marr is subtly felt throughout the band's most recent project and The Shin's James Mercer contributes some nice airy backing vocals on "Florida" and "We've Got Everything," but it is clear that Brock still holds the reigns...and let's them go at exactly the right moment. Whether this is the first or fifth full length you've heard by Modest Mouse, we think you'll be pleased. And who would have EVER thought Modest Mouse would be #1 on the Billboard charts?!?! Wow.
This limited edition cd packaging includes a deluxe slipcase and 32-page color booklet!
There is a certain level of possessiveness that seems to go hand in hand with being an independent music enthusiast. Sometimes this possessiveness turns to snobbery in thought or can often be expressed in comments like: "they were never as good as their first 7 inch" or "I only like the OLD stuff", etc... It's hard to pinpoint exactly why, but part of it is definitely the fact that discovering cool bands is a lot of work, and when you do discover a band, even though you're eager to share them with all your friends, you're NOT eager to share them with the rest of the world. The rest of the world discover their new bands by simply turning the radio to some random top 40 or even lower 100's college station, while the indie music obsessive is reading zines and going to shows and checking out opening bands and reading music blogs or whatever. Sometimes the indie music nerd (okay, snob) can feel ripped off when their special "find" becomes popular. It's safe to say that Modest Mouse is no longer a special find (if your aforementioned possessiveness is contained check out the American Idol contestant's cover of "Float On" for a Mustang commercial; if your possessiveness is not so easily contained, steer clear...it might make you blow your top!)
Most of us remember the first time our bodies came alive to the sound of Modest Mouse. For some of us no record will ever compare to This Is A Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About or Lonesome Crowded West (or maybe even actually, their first 7 inch!), while others will find themselves flailing uncontrollably to the angsty lispy yells of Isaac Brock for the first time with the band's latest, We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank. Brock's folky growl may be the only thing that has remained constant over the years as the band's instrumentation has turned from raw ruckus to structured madness. The highly anticipated recruitment of The Smith's guitarist Johnny Marr is subtly felt throughout the band's most recent project and The Shin's James Mercer contributes some nice airy backing vocals on "Florida" and "We've Got Everything," but it is clear that Brock still holds the reigns...and let's them go at exactly the right moment. Whether this is the first or fifth full length you've heard by Modest Mouse, we think you'll be pleased. And who would have EVER thought Modest Mouse would be #1 on the Billboard charts?!?! Wow.
This is the normal version but for all you super fans. We also have the deluxe version of this album which comes with a slipcover and 32 page booklet.
2 popular Northwest groups collaborate on a new song. Some of the prettiest indie rock we've heard in a while, full of beauty and woe. The two accompanying remixes are sort of pedestrian electronica.
The pieces of Modular Set don't all necessarily fit together... uh, modularly. Some jut out at odd angles, some tumble away from the pack, some drift off into the ether. The group takes the conventions of no wave and post-rock into cryptic territory. Add a little free jazz and analog synthesizer explorations, and you have Beached On The Half Landing. The more synth-centric tracks are very reminiscent of the soundtracks coming out of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop back in the '70s. We only wish they'd connected each of the nine tracks so that it would be one seamless 38 minute journey, but 'tis not to be. Very cool nonetheless.
The Modular Set's second ep Spots & Notches travels a considerably more linear path than 2006's Beached On The Half Landing. It takes the listener from gentle droniness crafted from sample loops, keyboards and a smattering of saxophone and minimal drum strikes into progressively more kinetic and angular territory in which guitar, bass and drums weigh in more prominently. The ep's opening track "Ossicone" starts in the soothingly hazy shadows, but by the fifth and final "Flehmen Response" it has grown sharp jazzy angles, flourishing flashes of cymbals and post-rock percussive rhythms. Released on the always solid Mission District indie label Howell's Transmitter (also home to Charles Atlas, Black Fiction, and Ray's Vast Basement)!
Aside from the many problems which arose from the movie that accompanies this 'soundtrack', it should be noted that Metamkine - the brilliant musique concrete label from Paris - began a series called "Cinema for the Ear" about eight years ago. Unfortunately for Jerome (the man behind Metamkine), this movie did not even come close to acknowledging Metamkine and only gave namechecking references to Stockhausen and Cage.
As a compilation that documents the history of populist electronic music from the past 20 years, it hits on some important players but acts more as a canonizing agent than as a collection of 'fresh' sounds. The drum & bass representatives of Panacea, Aphrodite, and Goldie sound unimpressively dated, the one unifying problem for all of electronica with a few exceptions. Fortunately, two of those exceptions are present - Giorgio Moroder's production on the diva-disco classic Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" and "No UFOs" by Model 500, the track which spawned the Detroit sound of techno.
At best this is a mixed bag of tracks, and we certainly recommend that you check out the full albums by some of the artists present (i.e. Giorgio Moroder, Afrika Bambaataa, Model 500 / Juan Atkins, LFO, Derrick May, Panacea, Ryoji Ikeda, Coldcut, and To Rococo Rot...) and the singles from Metalheadz (cos Goldie's full length albums have been utter crap) and Aphrodite (ditto).
All right! It's about time this legendary slice of South American psych got a not-inordinately-expensive cd reissue we could stock. We've been into this band/album ever since a REALLY expensive but beautiful (and now long-gone) vinyl reissue came out on Shadoks some years ago. Now World In Sound makes it available on cd in a fancy thick triple-fold sleeve that preserves the great psychedelic gatefold art from the original LP -- art that Acid Mothers Temple would die for! There's a 14-page booklet with notes and photos as well. This is definitely one for all you '70s heavy psych freaks! Super fuzz wah guitar and organ jamming stoner psych-prog from Brazil, circa 1970. Nine tracks packed with sinewy jams, trippy fx, weighty grooves... definitely appealing to the same head-space as contemporaries like Iron Butterfly, Dug Dug's, Captain Beyond, Speed Glue & Shinki, Hendrix, Flower Travellin' Band, etc. And we're pretty certain that current South American stoner rock faves Los Natas must be into this album too... Also, you may in fact have heard one track from this before, on the ever-recommended Love, Peace & Poetry: Latin American Psychedelic Music comp also on Shadoks, but that track only hints at how cool this album is. (They also have a track on the LP&P Brazilian volume too.)
Here's a quote from one of the band members, the organist, that ought to give some flavor of what they were all about: "The music of Modulo 1000 had its own appeal to an audience that wanted a heavy, raw, experimental, psychedelic sound. Our kind of music did not make it to the radio stations. It was too wild. The distribution of the record was done in a very limited way. The record label directors, which probably didn't understand or even didn't like our music, did zero promotion for the LP." Thus, one darn heavy, weird, and utterly rare record!
This reish also includes seven bonus tracks (from where/when is left unexplained) some of which are freaky enough to fit with the actual record itelf, but just aren't as heavy -- more Latin groovy.
Not for the faint of heart. But pretty bad ass. If you can say that about an academic, avant-garde, micro-detailed, solo VIOLIN recording. Two discs worth to boot! Norwegian composer Ole-Henrik Moe (henceforth known as OHM as per the liner notes), who studied with extreme 20th c. classical dude Iannis Xenakis, offers up 43+40 minutes of stark, scary musick, all brilliantly performed by his wife, violinist Kari Ronnekleiv. Disc one, "Ciaccona", is a tour-de-force of scratching and sawing and scraping, tortured strings sculpting some kind of strange and terrible beauty out of the vast (yet intimate) soundspace that the resonant silences present here delineate. In fact, these recordings took place an a (presumably empty) church, that Ronnekleiv alone fills with menacing drones. It's pretty frickin' amazing that this is all played straight through by one person. She's got incredible stamina and such subtle, awesome control, her fingers commanding overtones, with no overdubs.
More high end shriek and suspenseful shimmer is to be heard on disc two, "3 Persephone Perceptions". On both discs, at times it's like you're hearing the violin analog to a free jazz saxphonist's circular breathing freakout, or for that matter a demented little kid's frantic balloon-rubbing. But plenty of it is quiet and atmospheric as well, full of droning delicate waver, suggesting the weeping of a frightened child. Sudden bursts of sound are the whip hand coming down.
With all these dynamics of hush and hysterics, this is a palate cleanser that puts other stuff in perspective... put on some, say, Wolf Eyes or Yellow Swans on after this and they'll sound like campfire singalongs. Heck try this back to back with some black metal, we swear the corpsepainted ones will seem just a little less intense than they previously did. Hmm...Orthrelm/Octis might be a match for it though. Maybe it's the association we make between stabbing violins and stabbing knives due to Bernard Herrmann's infamous score to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, but this is definitely "shower scene" music at times. And the whole thing could easily be running through the head of any self-respecting resident of your local Asylum for the Criminally Insane. Play it LOUD. And tremble.
Perhaps how we're describing this isn't what OHM intended... but c'mon it's what any normal person's gonna hear. And also what any abnormal person (i.e. typical AQ customer) who digs the weirder, out-there edges of "20th Century Classical" (a la Xenakis), is gonna like.
Comes in the usual nice Rune Grammofon packaging with a suitably evocative Kim Hiorthoy designed digipack sleeve.
It's so inspiring and sadly all too rare to find someone who was making challenging music that sounded ahead of their time decades ago, and who is STILL pushing themselves to creating music with the same adventure and scope. All too often, those who were at the forefront of creative musical invention end up settling down and creating safe and boring music as the years pass. Even many AQ psych/prog/kraut favorites end up going that route. For proof just take a listen to what folks like Franco Battiato or Tangerine Dream made decades into their careers. Luckily there are some exceptions to that downward spiral, and Dieter Moebius is a perfect example of how one can continue to make weird and wonderful music years and years after they first hit the scene. From his pioneering krautrock/kosmische work with Cluster and Harmonia as well as collaborations with Brian Eno, it would be very easy and well deserved for Moebius to just rest on his laurels. But even after those trailblazing years of the '70s he continued to make great albums into the 80's and still does today. Nurton, released in 2006, is his first solo outing in over seven years and it finds him as unpredictable and pleasing as ever. The sounds he creates take twists and turns that hold your attention fast, and he's always able to take you to a special spaced-out place full of wonder, bliss and intrigue. Crazy instrumental electronica to put the youngsters in the field to shame.
Moebius's first solo album from 1983 is also one of our favorites of the post-Cluster universe. We first heard this when it was recently reissued on cd via the Japanese import label Captain Trip (along with Zero Set and Rastakraut Pasta), but it was much too expensive to list. Thankfully, the Bureau B label has come to the rescue and we're able to share this gem with you.
Moebius has always been the more elusive and ornery of the Cluster duo. By 1983, Roedelius already had 5 solo albums under his belt, but Moebius always seemed to prefer working with groups or one-off projects, where he could entertain his curious sonic predilections against the grain of other performers. Surprisingly for his first actual solo release, he turns in an intriguing and engaging pop record. Not "Pop" in the commercial sense, but Tonspuren is surprisingly big on melodic but idiosyncratic precise miniatures with songs sounding like they were made by tiny but giddy machines.
Yet unlike Roedelius, Moebius allows no willful excursion or baroque tangent to intervene with the concise construction of his compositions, keeping them reduced to as essential compositions as possible, though much warmer and more fluid than, say, the compositions on Cluster's Curiosum (reviewed elsewhere on this list). Tellingly, this was made at the height of German New Wave, and one wonders how much of that may have played an influence. If you liked Cluster's Zuckerzeit, then check this out! Highly recommended!
Of all the various collaborations that krautrock maestro Moebius of Cluster fame has been involved in, we have to say this 1983 collaboration with Gerd Beerbohm might just be the most mind blowing of them all. Originally released on Sky, it's been out of print for ages, so we were so thrilled when we saw Bureau B was going to reissue it, as it's a record that foreshadowed so many sounds of the rhythmic underground that we would love for years to come.
The record opens with "Minimotion" a totally menacing and suspenseful track that sets the mood perfectly for the rest of the record. Like the darkest side of Goblin, or what John Carpenter would want to base the tension of an entire film around. The next two tracks "Hydrogen" and "Narkose" are stunning in how ahead of their time they sound, even now. It's like an otherworldly version of minimal techno, practically the blueprint for what the Chain Reaction crew would be creating more then a decade later. Like the sounds of a steam engine filtered through the lens of a horror movie, so mesmerizing and menacing. The record's final track is the epic 21 minute "Doppelschnitt" and really should be played as loud as possible and made as required listening for anyone making minimal techno or any sort of electronica really, as this shows you the hypnotic possibilities of this sound. No doubt folks like Villalabos, Monoton, Moritz Von Oswald, and Carl Craig got their ears on this album early on, as this record really laid out the ingredients for what would go down in Berlin and Detroit in the years to follow.
But what makes Double Cut so incredibly special is not just that it was ahead of its time, mastering a genre that hadn't even been invented yet, but that in its minimalism, they made a record that creates such a strong mood and has such a distinct overall sound. It's like being trapped in a completely distinctive outer dimension. It wouldn't surprise us if David Cronenberg was hip to this record while he was making Videodrome. It's not often you get to talk about records that completely set the stage for a whole movement of music making to come in its wake. This is one of those records, and we're so damn glad its back in the world where it belongs. A unanimous favorite for sure, as everyone here at the store is totally in love and in awe of Double Cut!
Not yet reissued on vinyl but we're told that will be coming soon, hopefully.
Along with the Record Of The Week, Double Cut, we also have the duo of Moebius and Beerbohm's first outing together, Strange Music from 1982. And strange it surely is. Perhaps not as sonically perfect of a release as Double Cut, it goes in all kinds of intense directions. Starting with the urgent post punk drumming that opens the first track, "Subito", adding to it a swarm of buzzing synths that swirl and sting. Most songs here percolate and gurgle in brash noisy soundscapes, like an industrial swamp with affected vocal noises, and pulsating whirrs. Other songs lurk menacingly and pace creepily with ominous synth howls, reminding us of Throbbing Gristle's murky but dangerous vagueness. With only glimpses of Moebius's past life with Cluster, it seems the newly formed duo were trying their hardest to remove themselves from that past and into new unknown territory. A welcome exploration that only got better and more refined (and engagingly rhythmic) on Double Cut.
Released between 1980's Rastakraut Pasta and 1983's Zero Set, Moebius and Plank's second outing from 1981 reigns in most of the reggae and African rhythms that inspired the other releases but still remains more driving and eccentric than any of the Cluster records from around the same period. Opener "Conditionierer" with its fast bopping rhythm could easily be one of their most rocking dance-floor friendly tracks ever, even if the weird electronic bleeps and pitch-shifted layers take it to a place little seen in rock or dance circles. "Infiltration" and "Osmo Fantor" are more moody and industrial sounding similar in feel to pieces on After The Heat with Brian Eno. Yet the central track "Tolikuehn" is more menacing and forceful with frenetic distorted synth arpeggiations that would sound just right in some Italian giallo film or cyber thriller. But it isn't until the final track "Nordoestliches Gefuehl" that the eccentric vibe of the record closes with a long blissful drifting piece reminiscent of the last Koss record, Ancient Rain, that unites the eccentricities of the record into a unifying lasting whole. Nice!
Krautrock fans are familiar with these guys: Dieter Moebius, who is one one-half of Cluster, and Conny Plank, the producer/engineer responsible for recording sooooo many amazing albums in the '70s and '80s. Both were also members of Liliental. In the early-mid '80s they teamed up for a series of albums together, of which 1980's Rastakraut Pasta was the first.
Various instruments (and non-instruments too?) were played by the duo, then manipulated via Plank's mixing desk, with Moebius providing additional electronics. Can's Holger Czukay also dropped in to lay down bass on a few of the tracks. The results are all quite pleasant and playful, goofy even, tinged with a sunny Jamaican dub reggae influence (hence the Rastakraut title), most notable in the quirky percolating grooves of "Missi Cacadou". And it's quite obvious that this album has something to do with Cluster, nobody else really ever made music like this. Experimental and accessible, weird and wonderful, sorta surreal and not so serious, yet still quite affecting - and full of effects! From the chugging motorik distortion of "Feedback 66" to the looping lovely melodies of "Two Oldtimers" to the more abstract ambience of "Solar Plexus", Rastakraut Pasta is an airy delight. It's mostly instrumental, but when there are vocals, they are heavily treated and fragmentary, and with or without 'em you'll be humming and nodding along.
This new Water label reissue includes new liner notes, providing quotes from Moebius or Plank about each track. Recommended, and we're looking forward to what we'll assume are upcoming Water reissues of the other M&P records, especially the darker, more rhythmically driven Zero Set from '82.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Awesome awesome Cluster related reissue.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Awesome awesome Cluster related reissue.
The collaboration between Dieter Moebius (Cluster, Harmonia), Connie Plank (the producer of pretty much every great Krautrock record), and Mani Neumeier (Guru Guru's drummer) almost sounds too good to be true. But, the one and only recording these three produced in 1983 proves to be amazing. The albums stands as a stunning amalgamation of Kraut motorik rhythms, angular electronic percolations, and a space-funk futurism that's wholly unique to Zero Set. In the early '80s, Plank had been hired to produce the early D.A.F. recordings, beefing up their already muscular Teutonic electronics; and that steroid bloated sound is found within the tight punches of electron poly rhythms and agitated sequences of arpeggiated bleep here too. The tracks all lock around the precisely synchronized rhythms of Neumeier, who has much more of a Donald Johnson / A Certain Ratio approach a la tight punky propulsion rather than the monstrous, if languid fills of "Stone In" on Guru Guru's UFO. Moebius later bemoaned that this album got "too close to techno for comfort." Well, it's actually better for it! Even if it did get close to an electroid techno, Zero Set is both weirder and more playful than many of the electronic body music practitioners of the day. This might not be something for those of you seeking the pastoral prettiness of Harmonia's Deluxe or the Cluster & Eno album, but as an response to the Neue Deutsche Welle sounds from that time period, Zero Set stands out amazingly well. Recommended!
Mutiilation, Vlad Tepes, Belketre, Torgeist... all groups that typically inspire a certain amount of reverence and awed respect in black metal circles, those outfits being the more well known members of Les Legions Noires, aka the Black Legions, a small underground group of black metal musicians, who came together in the late eighties / early nineties, and created a super distinctive, and extremely kult body of work. The Black Legions numbered maybe ten people, but in different configurations, those ten formed multiple bands and projects, and released super limited, and nearly impossible to get demos, from strangely named hordes like Vzaeurvbtre, Brenoritvrezorkre and Vermyapre Kommando. And while the sound was typically raw and primitive, black and buzzy, noisy and super lo-fi, there was another side of the Black Legions, groups who trafficked in a sound a bit more mysterious and moody, a black ambient strain that gave us outfits like Amaka Hahina and Aakon Keetreh. But by far, our favorite of those more black ambient Black Legions groups, was Moevot, aka Vordb Dreagvor Uezreevb, who also played in loads of other Black Legions outfits like Belketre, Torgeist, Brenoritvrezorkre, Vagezaryavtre, etc.
Moevot conjure up a seriously grim and creepy sound world, brooding and murky, the sound fuzzy and low fidelity but somehow simultaneously lush and layered. The overall sound has a vibe much like current soundscapers like The Caretaker and Tim Hecker, but more home brewed, more raw and primitive, stripped down and skeletal in places, but almost noisy in others. Some tracks sound like black metal riffs, played with no distortion, slowed down and blurred into swirling streaks of pulsing mesmer, others are just voices, and sound choral / liturgical, haunting and hushed. Scattered throughout are field recordings of crackling fires, chirping birds, whispering winds all woven into softly whirring organs, gentle acoustic guitar strum, monk like chanting, and woozy spectral croons, long stretches of near silence, bleed into dreamily melancholic slow motion melodies, tranquil and soporifically hypnotic. Hushed, barely there drifts, float over distant sonic swirls, buried murky melodies unfurl throughout, there ARE raspy vokills here and there, but they sound so much more mysteriously abject when placed amidst the otherwise dreamlike blackened sonic landscapes.
So gorgeous and otherworldly, a bleary, balearic sprawl of soft focus, creeping black beauty, a grimly blissful songsuite that's equal part slowed down nightmare lullaby and woozy atmospheric dreamdrift thrum. If this weren't a cassette that was LIMITED TO 100 COPIES, you can bet this would have / could have / should have been a Record Of The Week!
We only have 5 or 6 of these which is probably enough, cuz boy is this a weird one. We've had these for a really long time, so can't remember the story about who this guy is or what else he's done, but this record, well, it starts out with SEVENTY FIVE super short vocal experiments, as in 6 seconds to 29 seconds, running the gamut from animal like growls, wild hysterical shrieks, disembodied humming, percussive experiments, heavily effected beat box, sort of throat singing, growly death metal grunts, operatic howling, and pretty much all manner of fucked up vocalizations. Think an audio test record featuring nothing but Eye from the Boredoms doing vocal exercises. Fucked up, weird, a novelty, totally cracked and demented. Definitely worth it to disrupt your next party or to torture your downstairs neighbors, but hold on, there's a nearly hour long final track, also seemingly constructed from vocals (?) and it's gorgeous, an extended soundscape of layered hum, of shimmering drones, distant click and skitter, deep bell like tones, murky floorcore, looped stuttering rumbles, moaning and groaning warbles, all drifting beneath a thick fuzzy haze. Almost sounds like it could be the first 75 fragments combined into one thick swirling morass.
Definitely cool And quite weird. We only have a tiny handful, so act fast if you want one of these...
This is the debut full length from this US artist/soundscaper, whom we first heard via a remix on Harald Grosskopf's Synthesist/Re-Synthesist lp, and whose sound falls somewhere between the ADD short attention span plunderphonia of John Oswald, and the textured, layered, warblescapes of turntablist Philip Jeck. Two sprawling sidelong tracks, that sound like they could be part one and two of the same piece, finds Moff, employing a definite kitchen sink style of composition, that initially had us hearing some Our Love Will Destroy The World, especially in his ability to create rhythms and grooves from strange samples and layered loops, in places it gives the sound a sort of hip hop / dance music vibe, but that vibe is subtle, and sort of gets lots in Moff's wild collaged soundscapes, the structures lurching and stuttering, the sound dense and chaotic and not a little bit noisy, super psychedelic, tripped out and in its own way sort of heavy.
The sound palette, and the seamless juxtapositions, also remind us of DJ Female Convict Scorpion, only armed with a DOZEN turntables instead of just two. A constant barrage of samples and snippets, looped and layered, tripped out and kosmische at times, darkly psychedelic and almost jazzy at others, it's definitely chaos, but some impossibly controlled chaos, the whole thing strangely, and seemingly impossibly melodic, the idea of some random jazz loop, some burst of truncated rhythm and some weird little blurt of distorted crunch, would somehow come together to form some brief bit of super hooky, noisy catchiness, speaks to Moff's mastery. A dizzying, mind melting sonic overload that is pure ear candy, absolute headphone blissout, with the B side sounding almost soundtracky, but the soundtrack to some sort of wild, super lysergic drug freakout, or perhaps some super arty, experimental film all rapid cuts and flickering images, the noisiness finally abating near the end of the album, and blissing out into a dreamy droney coda. WAY recommended.
And like all Pan releases, super deluxe packaging, the record housed in fantastic silkscreened PVC jackets over printed full color sleeves, pressed on 140 gram vinyl and of course EXTREMELY LIMITED!!!
Record number two for Pan from this LA soundscaper / visual artist takes up where the last one, Commercial Mouth, left off, a dizzying sonic collage that we compared in that first review to both Campbell Kneale's Our Love Will Destroy The World and local turntablist DJ Female Convict Scorpion, and this new one definitely falls more toward the latter, a heady psychedelic soundscape of orchestral blurts, noisy, avant chaos, densely layered headphone deep listening rife with moaning brass, atonal symphonic sprawls, at times sounding like Philip Jeck spinning multiple Art Of Noise records, while an orchestra tunes up in the background, everything wreathed in clouds of alien electronics, lilting melodies, thick swells of grinding low end thrum, buried percussion, another record with impeccable sound design, reminding us of other aQ faves like Roly Porter or Ben Frost, but Jar Moff's modus operandi is way more chaotic and abstract, a Joe Meek kitchen sink approach that defines JM's maximal soundworld, one that sans headphones can be a bit overwhelming, but close listening reveals the constantly shifting layers, the collapsing textures, and blossoming melodies, distorted guitars, plinkety plonk piano, sawed strings, all smeared into swirling zephyrs of sound, coalescing into dense, deep psych-noise dronemusic, then just as quickly splintering into more abstract, avant ambience and spacious psychedelic drift.
Pressed on 140 gram vinyl, mastered by Rashad Becker, and housed in a white sleeve wrapped in a super striking yellow and black silk-screened PVC jacket, with some primitive glyph like abstract artwork.
This debut from Moggs has caused some confusion around here lately. Sorta in a similar way that Fucking Champs' III album did a whiles back (on which they called themselves "C4AMP5"), on the spine of this cd the band's name looks like "TNO995". Not only that, but the high contrast cover photo and the album title brewed up anticipations of hip San Diego post-punkers (some of the most white belt wearin' kids around) coming together with electro-clashers (some of the most tinted sunglass wearin' kids around). However, these expectations were for the most part washed away once the cd was heard. So, now that we've set those obstacles aside, let's get on to the music. A four year long labor of love, the completely self-produced Moggs' album is actually quite a melting pot. That said, the dominant sound is a Rob Crow meets Sonic Youth amalgamation of pop smarts and flights of guitar distortion. Cool!
For a land as huge as Russia, the amount of exceptional music that makes it half way round the world to Aquairus is proportionally very small, especially when compared to how much we get in from New Zealand and Finland. Thus, we were quite intrigued by the prospects of the Russian ensemble The Moglass who prefer to qualify their music as 'personal folk' -- an anti-genre that is beyond the mutable definitions of post-rock, psychedelia, or space-rock. That said, The Moglass are not without precedents, as this trio (armed with guitars, bass, old Soviet synths, and tons of effects) realizes the pinnacles of Popul Vuh (particularly their Werner Herzog soundtracks) entirely through the haunted drones of guitar feedback. Periodically, they have included several radio transmissions all in Russian, so the exact meaning is unknown to us, but the urgency of some of those broadcasts speaks of traumatic events. These work very similar to Godspeed! You Black Emperor's found sound interludes (e.g. "the car's on fire, and there's no driver at the wheel..."), but the mysteriousness due to the language barrier works to enhance the overall mood of the drone rather than compartmentalize it into leftist rhetoric. Although it's a mere 30 minutes long, "Kogda Vse Zveri Zhili Kak Dobrye Sosedi" (which we learned from their website translates as When All the Animals Lived As Good Neighbours) is a remarkably strong album.
- RealAudio clip: A1
- RealAudio clip: A3
It's been a while since we've heard from Ukrainian abstract free folk ensemble The Moglass, who in the past have spun darkly delicate webs of creaking ambience, rumbling disembodied drones, stumbling tribal primitivism, all tangled up in a massive swirl of dreamlike ether.
Thankfully not too much has changed. Incorporating bits of jazz (via subtle sax) and all sorts of found sound and field recordings, The Moglass spread simple guitars out over skeletal frameworks of not-quite-rhythms, glistening sonic sparkle, and moody murk, creating slow swirls of ominous sound. The thing about The Moglass, is that they don't just create noises and sounds, little sonic events that 'happen' and then fade away, their music has a purpose, a drive, a direction, the guitars, and the spare riffs they unleash are propulsive, they carry us forward, pulling us by the ear into a world that sounds simultaneously fascinating and frightening. Bits of intercepted shortwave radio, the sounds of families talking, and children playing, are slowly subsumed by thick low end melodies, warm bowed warbles, glistening with bits of glitch and buzz, sleepy and serene, but always gorgeously melancholy. Maybe more than any of their other records, Sparrow Juice has a bit more twang, a little spaghetti western, a little Morricone, although they do a fantastic job of stripping those sounds down and stretching them out into abstract desertscapes. Elsewhere, music boxes hover weightless above creaks and scrapes, thick swirls of molasses like sound crawl glacier-like, swallowing all the sounds it encounters and building to an almost roar, thick fuzzy sun dappled buzz slithers and shimmers like purloined slabs of some long lost M83 single, and guitars and computers and synthesizers are wrapped into rightly wound knots and allowed to slowly unravel, becoming big billowy clouds of rumbling whir and keening skree. So good.
Second missive from this mysterious Ukrainian ensemble exploring the dark and cobwebby corners of free folk, shuffling rhythmic tribalism, space-y dronemusic, and splattery free rock ambience. A dreamy and expansive travelogue of endless soundscapes, glassy sheets of crystalline shimmer, warm and smooth, with melodies woven subtly throughout. Metallic glistenings, tinkling guitars and glitchy crunch struggle to disrupt the ambient dreaminess while occasional machine like rhythms chug tirelessly over atonal melodic clusters and urgently strummed angular guitar chords. Even though the band themselves describe their music as 'personal folk music', the actual sound is much closer to the drone music of AQ faves Jonathan Coleclough, Mirror or Organum, and occasionally the free ambient clatter of the Dead C or Skullflower. Really gorgeous stuff.
Like we said in the 3 Hur-el review, above, the Middle Eastern '60s/'70s psychedelic rock scene is quite a happenin' phenomenon here at Aquarius -- bands from Istanbul blending the "heavy" beat sounds of London, L.A. and San Francisco with their own ethnic musical traditions. So, along with that great 3 Hur-el disc, we're *really* pleased to have just gotten cd copies in stock of a 1971 album by the fantastic Mogollar (or Les Mogol as they were known in France, where this LP was first released). This band has been a super favorite of ours ever since we first heard 'em on the "Love Peace & Poetry: Asian Psychedelia", "Turkish Delights", and "Hava Narghile" compilations. Yep, they appeared on all three of those fab comps, deservedly so as they were not only one of Turkey's biggest pop bands of the time but also one of the best, near as we can tell. They formed in 1967, playing a style of experimental psychedelic rock based on the folk music of the Anatolian region of Turkey. Their unique Anatolian (or Anadolu) "pop" sound is simply a delight, as amply demonstrated by this particular album. It features 13 tracks (none of 'em to be found on the aforementioned comps) that are based on traditional songs -- but for sure the original versions didn't sound like this, so groovy and hip. They employ some standard sixties rock instrumention -- plenty of electric organ getting almost "In-a-gadda-da-vida"-ish at times -- but also really bring the traditional Turkish instruments to the fore, playing ikligs and baglamas and darbukas and kasiks...all kinds of stringed and percussion instruments, often used traditionally but more often just fiercely strummed to great rock 'n' roll heights. Compared to 3 Hur-el's "Hurel Arsivi" this almost-all-instrumental album is folkier *and* jazzier, the electric organ giving some tracks a kind of Martin Denny exotica vibe. Both discs, though, would make great party records. Highly recommended!!
(Windy's new favorite record -- thus proving once again that in her personal canon of favorite all time records, about 90% of them are from 1971-74. And she's delighted to find that the track "Wildflower" was liberally sampled by none other than AQ-fave Amon Tobin for his stellar "Verbal" song... thus proving once again what great taste Tobin has, we says.)
Anadolu Pop, yeah! It's no secret that for the Aquarius staff and quite a few of our customers, the rock 'n' folk of hippie-era Turkey holds a BIG attraction. We're way into all the comps and reissues that have come out in recent years documenting how back in the late '60s and early '70s Turkish youth took the Western beat and psychedelic sounds that were current at the time and melded them to traditional Turkish folk forms, with fuzz guitars and ethnic instrumentation like saz and iklig combined into an energetic, 'exotic' and exceedingly infectious hybrid pop music. And perhaps the best example of this Middle Eastern psych-rock is the band Mogollar (aka Les Mogol). We've already freaked out about the one cd of their stuff we've previously been able to stock, the Danses et Rythmes de la Turquie album from 1971. Now, the same Korean reissue label brings us another, their rare self-titled second album (also it seems from '71), and it's just as good! The first track you might recognize from the Asian installment of the Love, Peace, & Poetry series. And one of the bonus tracks is on Hava Narghile compilation, while two are amped-up versions of songs from Danses et Rhythmes. Yep, there's eight utterly kick ass bonus tracks, all from 1970 or '71 singles releases, that are a bit more rocked (and tripped) out than the somewhat folkier instrumentals on the album proper. You can hear more of an Iron Butterfly influence on a few of these...and Byram hears hints of the Beefheart rhythm section circa Mirror Man on "Behind The Dark", one of the couple English-language tracks here. Awesome, essential. As is the whole album. Languid grooves, frenzied fretting, such great atmosphere, just wonderful stuff. The cd booklet includes photos and an informative English-language essay detailing the history of the band, which is great to have (even if it doesn't tell us in what year this was released). Definitely add this to your Turkish psych-pop collection, or start one with this!!
Mograg Garage is a Japanese DIY art gallery run out of an actual garage in suburban Tokyo. To commemorate their first year of exhibitions, they published this small, but gorgeously detailed and beautifully produced full-color 40 page catalog documenting the artists that exhibited last year.
Eight artists are represented with six writers contributing columns (all translated into English). Their plan is to release a catalog every year. And if they're all like this one, then sign us up for a subscription! The artworks are highly visual, bold and graphic, lots of colorful psychedelic landscape paintings (including one of a giant cave that is also the head of a sabre-toothed tiger), intricate and epic tattoo-like line drawings, pop-surrealism, embroidery of colorful birds, lush photographs, computer-generated collages and graffitti like drawings. Jim Woodring is cited as an influence, and one can see influences of Hayao Miyazaki and Takashi Murakami here too which should give you some idea of the gallery's core aesthetic. A lot of the art looks like what you would see in Juxtapoz magazine (but without that magazine's air of self-importance). The columns are equally strange, in that they're not so much about the artists or artworks (at least not in a way we can directly understand), but about random experiences and points of view. For instance, one column expounds on the art of booger collecting (!), others are more lyrical and poetic, while still others are more informative and practical like the one on how to run your own art and toy gallery. Which is the best advice to take from this, as the folks who run Mograg certainly know what they're doing and how to have fun doing it too. These are VERY LIMITED!! We only got a handful of these from a local Japanese friend and not sure we can get more. Definitely, a unique publication you won't easily find elsewhere!
Finally reissued on cd. Has 3 tracks and one hidden one which is apparently not available on the UK version, or so our UK customers lament.
