[ aquarius records catalogue

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Showing results 751 through 800 of 915.

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SORRY. Otaku is a San Francisco electronica outfit adding lots of digital dub to the current breakbeat flares sported by Meat Beat Manifesto and the like.

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We've gone on and on in the past about how much we love French black metal, a list of our French faves should definitely speak volumes: Deathspell Omega, Spektr, Peste Noire, Mutiilation, Alcest, Aurvandil, Arrival Of Satan, Blut Aus Nord, Hell Militia, Diamatregon, S.V.E.S.T., Wolok, you get the picture, so how the hell did we miss out on these guys? With a seriously killer sound that falls somewhere right between classic Norwegian style blackness, and modern French Industrial black a la Spektr and Blut Aus Nord, as well as creepy album covers, bad ass song titles ("Hoax-Virus-God", "Cloning The Divine", "The Hulk Of Conviction And Faith") not to mention their awesomely and blasphemously titled debut Fuck God-Disease Process, anyway, better late than never, thanks to the suggestion of an aQ customer, we can now revel in the glorious black filth of these agents of Satan (although lyrically, they are equally concerned with quantum physics!) and glorious it is. After a creeped out, seriously grim almost industrial intro, all black noise, and looped riffs beneath harsh hateful vox, the band launch into the record proper, a brief bit of mechanical blast, and then into a strangely psychedelic stop start thing, before exploding into frenzied furious blackness, that never lets up, until the sound shifts into a doomy lumber complete with classic metal sounding leads, and some surprising melodies. The follow up is a black industrial blow out, with some of the fiercest vokills ever, and woozy detuned guitars, a lurching warped midtempo lead in, to yet another stretch of blurred black buzz. The record is a relentless onslaught of gnarled Deathspell like riffage, tangled almost psychedelic leads, mysterious samples, buzzing black drones, martial percussion, strange field recordings, some seriously awesome angular warped guitar crunch, super dense flurries of frenzied blastbeats, spaced out atmospheric droning doom, grinding industrial black fury, and lots of abstract black sonic weirdness woven in. Needless to say, we're doing our best to make up for missing out on these guys the first time around, by listening to this pretty much nonstop. A contender for black metal record of the year quite possibly, and thus obviously recommended to anyone who likes their black metal grim and mechanical, fucked up and furious, frantic and FRENCH! Alos includes a short film / music video!

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Final recordings from these East Coast, ultra doom sludgelords, and holy shit do these two tracks utterly destroy. We never managed to review their only full length, from back in 2004, but we raved about their more recent splits, one with Japanese heavies Coffins, and more recently, the Four Burials comp with fellow doom brethren Loss, Orthodox and Mournful Congregation. In fact, these two tracks here are from the same sessions that produced their Four Burials track. And like was said, these songs are massive, epic, sprawling, intense, and so so heavy. It kills us these guys are no more. The first side/song is ultra heavy, sloooooooow, crushing heaviness, with some insanely gurgly vokills, somehow it manages to be surprisingly melodic at the same time, the guitars ringing out, spacious and measured, eventually slipping into something more slowcore, sounding a bit like Khanate covering Codeine, but infused with plenty of classic doom melodies and grooves, a strange combo, but it works so well. The second side/track begins with a wall of feedback and then a wild tangle of gnarled psychedelic guitars and spazzed out drum-age, before smoothing out into a doomy crawl. But throughout the next few minutes, the track continually erupts into super dense bursts of chug and churn, every time sounding like the start of a more frenzied jam, but always settling back into that slow motion lumber. The second half of the track gets super minimal, almost mellow, the guitars warm and low, laced with strange clicks and distant tones, all spaced out and spare, eventually building back up to a caustic corrosive crawl, the vocals even more sick and inhuman sounding. So goddamn good. One of these cats is now in Serpent Throne, but here's hoping the rest of Otesanek start up something this heavy and intense. Too bad this is the end. But what a way to go. The packaging is amazing as well. Super thick cardstock sleeves, screenprinted with super intense woodcut, fold out the lp to see the whole image of an impaled woman, her hair a tangle of foliage, the hilts of the swords super dense and intricate, inside liner notes and lyrics, also woodcut style. And included are a couple printed inserts. SUPER LIMITED of course, not sure we can get more when we run out.

The good news, is that this disc will be absolute heaven (or hell if you prefer) for the doom obsessed, for those who NEED utter and extreme heaviness, who thrive on massive walls of sludge, of creeping crumbling downtuned riffage, of skull splitting rib cage rattling drum pound. And the fact that this disc contains exclusive tracks from four of THEE heaviest and THEE doomiest bands around. The bad news though, is that somehow, this disc is already sold out at the label, so this could very well be the last we see of Four Burials. We did get a bunch of these, but since so many of the aQ faithful are of the doomier persuasion, odds are these will disappear in no time. So most doomlords will see the above names and that's all it'll take, four exclusive tracks, LONG ones, from Loss, Orthodox, Mournful Congregation and Otesanek. For avid readers of the aQ list, you too are probably familiar with 2 or 3 of those. But just in case, we'll give a quick rundown of the bands / tracks that make up the Four Burials here... Otesanek is up first. Last heard from splitting a disc with Japan's Coffins. They are definitely doomy, obviously, but might also be the heaviest of the bunch, a sort of Eyehategod meets Moss thing going on, and one of the few bands this slooooooow, to also fuck things up big time. Super strange arrangements, ultra dynamic, lots of weird starts and stops, angular riffs, crazy vocals (both male and female, both super intense and harsh). Definitely for fans of Khanate and Bunkur and all that sort of ultradoomdirge, but weirder and more fucked up. Definitely dying to hear more from these guys. Next up is Loss, whose approach to doom is much more classic and melodic, beginning with some unnerving samples, woven into a spare doomy plod, the band slip into some seriously melodic post rock, all clean guitar and sparse drumming, eventually morphing into a sound majestic and massive, a bit like old My Dying Bride, impossibly loooow vocals, super mournful melodies, very dramatic and miserable. The song weaves back and forth between that classic doom-ic crush and the melancholy loping post rock, eventually somehow fusing the two. Then comes longtime faves Orthodox, from Spain, whose sound, especially here, is way more spacious and spare, very minimal. with long stretches that are practically inaudible over the daily din of the store (this is headphone doom for sure!). Chanting, monk-like and somber, clean guitars drifting and shimmering, simple stripped down drumming, some wailing dramatic vocals, the sound an abstract mysterious slowcore that seems to get more and more strangely psychedelic, without ever getting overtly heavy. Really strange, but fans of Orthodox will already be well used to their, umm... un-Orthodox approach to all things doom. Last up, legendary purveyors of true doom, Australia's Mournful Congregation, whose sound is sad and sorrowful, melancholy and miserable, a gorgeously epic lugubrious crawl, super melodic, but totally washed out and painted in sweeping shades of black and grey. Think Skepticism, Thergothon, Esoteric, Asunder, the sort of dark, slow motion, soul stirring creep we could listen to forever.

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Long before Rob Crow became an indie rock household name via the dreamy song of Pinback, he had already long been an AQ favorite dating back to one of his first bands Heavy Vegetable. With quirky melodies, short songs, super complex arrangements, incredible vocal harmonies and eccentric spirit, Heavy Vegetable were one of the most interesting and endearing bands to come out of the nineties San Diego scene. Of course Crow has continued to write great songs after he pulled the plug on Heavy Vegetable with Thingy, Optiganally Yours, Pinback, his solo outings and the multitude of side-projects he's been cranking out recently (The Ladies, Goblin Cock). But we've always had such a deep infinity for Heavy Vegetable so we were super duper excited when we found out that Rob had reunited almost the whole original Heavy Vegetable lineup for this new project called Other Men. While not as quirky or idiosyncratic as Heavy Vegetable, this is still prime-era old school HV Rob Crow song writing. Impassioned and moody, dense and tangled, swinging wildly from part to part and cycling through a handful of convoluted tempos, usually in the same song. Weird and wonderful and pretty damn catchy to boot! The first release on Rob's own label, simply called Robcore, and another fine addition to the always expanding catalog of the hardest working man in indie rock.

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SORRY. WAREHOUSE FIND! Another cool discovery, a record we've dug for ages, and were meaning to review, but somehow overlooked until now. So we discovered a handful of these, and figured we oughta get it reviewed and up on the site, better late than never, and all you folks into crushing epic post metal, Neur-Isis style slow build sludge are gonna flip. Cuz boy do these guys fit neatly right there between Mogwai, Isis, Neurosis, Pelican and the other post metal combos we're partial to, Tides, Mouth Of The Architect, Grails, Rosetta, Mono, Souvenir's Young America, Angel Eyes, Irepress, you know what we're talking about, gorgeous post rock sprawls, all clean guitar and delicate harmonies, gradually building in volume and intensity, until exploding in a frenzy of blown out metallic psych rock, huge heaving swells of churning downtuned crunch, epic and majestic and heavy. The Other Side Of The Sky also just so happen to have two bass players, so they're able to whip up these dense tangled basslines, infusing their post metal with an extra layer of low end rumble and low slung buzz, perfectly balancing the long stretches of prettier, meandering melody, hushed blissed out ambience, and woozy slowcore, with most tracks working their way toward that explosive, cathartic climax. Shit, we still love this stuff, and these guys push all our post rock / ambient metal buttons. Odds are if you dig any of the above mentioned bands, they'll probably do it for you too. We only have a handful of these, and it's been out for a while, so if we run out, be prepared to wait for a restock, with the possibility that we might not be able to get more. And eagle eyed aQ-ers might notice the familiar cover art, the same image used on the cover of Servile Sect's Stratospheric...

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One of four new releases from UK weirdo tape label The Tapeworm (three this list, the 4th on the next), and as always, a baffling selection of sounds, this one from an entity/artist known as Othon, and the label description makes it seem like we should know Othon, this is in fact the first we've heard, and it's hard to tell if this is indicative of his usual sound or not. The A side, as the title might suggest, is solo piano, and is quite lovely, the original is dramatic and dynamic, slipping from lilting and melancholy to bombastic and intense. The side finishes off with two interpretations of pieces by Chopin and Mendelssohn. The B side features Othon's oldest recordings, captured live during his final recital at London's Trinity College back in 2006, and features a super dramatic bit of operatic bombast, with Othon on the first track pounding away, unfurling dense flurries of notes on the piano, accompanied by fluttering flute, and all supporting some super intense operatic vocals, while the second track is more hushed and low key, but dramatic in its own way, but here you can hear the crowd, camera shutters clicking, feet shuffling, adding a strange bit of ambience to the very intense musical drama playing out before them. LIMITED TO 200 COPIES!

Is there any song more perfect than "Strawberry Letter 23"? We can't think of a song that conjures up as much synaesthetic sensations that we literally can sense colors and aromas every time it plays. We came to it from the Brothers Johnson 1977 version who had the bigger hit with it (and it's good too), but when we finally heard the original where Shuggie Otis sings and plays every part, including glockenspiel, acoustic and electric guitars, piano and percussion plus a choir full of vocals, we knew his was the one! Of course it's one of the star tracks on Shuggie Otis's second record Freedom Flight from 1971, the album he recorded right before his epic Inspiration Information. Produced by his father, Johnny Otis when Shuggie was just 15 years old, here he ventures into a more psychedelic soul mode after releasing two records of more bluesy late sixties electric guitar jams. That bluesy guitar feel hasn't quite left, but in a similar way Prince channeled Hendrix and Sly Stone, Otis applies this amazing sweetness and light to the heavier acid-y guitar work. "Sweet Thang" "Purple" and the 13 minute closing title track show that Otis wanted to take the soul blues thing to another dimension altogether. While the other tracks like "Ice Cream Daydream", "Me and My Woman", and "Someone's Always Singing" are tasty little nuggets of funk pop. In fact, we suspect that Prince took more from Shuggie Otis than he did Hendrix and Sly Stone put together! Four of the songs from Freedom Flight were on the Luaka Bop cd reissue of Inspiration Information, but that doesn't mean the rest is not as good. And of course it's on vinyl which is the best way to hear this! Recommended!

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Here Comes Shuggie Otis was the debut album of the child musical prodigy. Recorded at age 14, and produced by his father, Johnny Otis, it's a mixed bag affair of instrumentals and a few vocal numbers. Otis's vocal abilities weren't quite up to par yet with his other releases and he was just beginning to show his songwriting abilities. "Jennie Lee" shines a light towards his later psych-soul work, and there's interesting moments of baroque pop and funk. But the record is focused primarily on his rootsy electric guitar work in which he is amazingly talented, yet it doesn't satisfy as much to us as his later work. But if you want all three solo records of Shuggie Otis, there finally available on vinyl all at the same time. And that's a damn good thing!

David Byrne's Luaka Bop label decided to follow up the Os Mutantes "best of" collection which was volume one of their "World Psychedelic Classics" series with this disc of by long-forgotten seventies singer/songwriter Shuggie Otis. Thus those of us who

RealAudio clip: Inspiration Information
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SORRY. The prolific Otomo Yoshihide (on "records and cds") teams up with European free improviser Gunter Muller (on electronics, and "selected" drums - whatever that means), alto sax player Masahiko Okura, and the brilliant electric guitarist Taku Sugimoto. The several groupings of the above players documented here produce difficult but rewarding stuff, ranging from near-silence to cinematic "jazz" to other realms of unclassified beauty. Fittingly subtitled "Secret Recording 1", as this indeed has a sense of mystery to it.

That's Otomo Yoshihide, Keith Rowe and Taku Sugimoto. Recorded at LMCSound in London, the three iconoclastic guitarists team up for an excruciatingly patient exercise in restraint and controlled ferocity. High volume static crackle, lo-fi rumbles and anonymous shortwave radio transmissions (broadcasted in the trademark Rowe fashion through the pickups of his tabletop guitar) are situated against frail bowed strings resembling a grouping of fractured hurdy-gurdys. Pair that with subtle, minimalist textures unheard in much of guitar based music, very similar in texture to the muted piano characteristics of, say for example, Morton Feldman's works. Not for impatient ears, "Ajar" can be quite engaging for those adventurous enough...

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A carefully crafted, sculptural sonic study in amp buzz and feedback and stereo soundwave interaction, one of Japanese experimentalist Otomo Yoshihide's more extreme offerings of late. The last few albums we're heard from this maverick composer and guitar/turntables improviser have been more on the jazz tip, including two live discs with his New Jazz Orchestra. Sure some noisy stuff got woven into those, along with quiet "Onkyo" sounds and plenty of trad. jazz standard-bearing, but here, though, there's nothing "jazz" at all (unless perhaps the existence of smooth-jazzer Pat Metheny's infamous and atypical Zero Tolerance For Silence album has allowed such metal machine music stylings into the jazz canon). Even Otomo's previous solo guitar album on Doubtmusic, while quite skronky at times, included lovely takes on Duke Ellington's "Mood Indigo" and Ornette Coleman's "Lonely Woman". Whereas Modulation With 2 Electric Guitars And 2 Amplifiers consists of one track, 40 minutes and 16 seconds of the noisy abstraction the title suggests: droning hums, piercing tones, the crinkle-crankle of electrical excess. If Otomo's Fender amps were made of flesh and blood you'd imagine that veins would be standing out on their anthromorphic-amplifier foreheads, bulging with the constantly building pressure exerted by his feedback array... Though there certainly are parts of this disc that do achieve a sort of placid serenity, a steady state of soothing molecular vibrations. Of course it could be that by those points one's senses have been numbed, this disc when played loud enough having an auditory-overload effect. And Otomo does suggest it should be played loud ("at the highest possible volume"!), through speakers, "to obtain the desired results". This recommendation (or requirement) is made specifically because the conceptual, compositional goal here has to do with making music that exists as a physical presence in the space in which it is played, in three dimensions. Otomo explains: "Feedback sound issues from two amplifiers, each connected to one of two guitars placed on a tabletop. Due to this stereo effect, the feedback mutually interferes, producing beatlike fluctuations, creating black holes into which the sound suddenly disappears, sounding completely different depending on the position of the ears, creating the illusion that the sound is coming from only one speaker when the listener is in certain locations, and so on, thus turning into truly interactive music. Because these effects cannot be obtained unless the sound coming from the two amps mutually interferes, we recommend listening without earphones or headphones, through speakers, with the sound as loud as conditions allow. Depending on the positions of the speakers, the interference effect and sound image will surely differ as well." Of course, anybody could hook up a couple guitars and amps and make some noise, the key here is the "Modulation" in the title, something that Otomo has a deft hand (and foot on pedals) with, making this an interesting (if extreme!) listen -- unique repeat listens, in fact, as you experiment yourself with the positioning of both your speakers and your ears.

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Yes, Otomo Yoshihide (Ground Zero, etc.) + Yoshida Tatsuya (Ruins, etc.) + Bill Laswell (Painkiller, etc.), that's right! A trio sure to intrigue any avant-Japanophile or Tzadik label lover. In fact, lots of folks will probably buy this on the strength of just one or two of those names alone, and why shouldn't they? Otomo fans will be interested to know that his instrument here is the electric guitar, not the turntables for which he is better known, and he wields his axe with much muscle on Episome's five long tracks, which give free reign to Yoshida's limber drumming, Laswell's liquid low-end, and Otomo's slashing, slow-burn six-string. It's powerful, confident and moody amped-up improv from these three skilled vets.

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Avantgarde Japanese pop vocalists Jun Togawa and Phew join our favorite turntable experimentalist's jazz unit for their second release on John Zorn's Tzadik label. It's very different from the previous New Jazz Ensemble disc, and is really not readily identifiable as an Otomo Yoshihide album. Most of the tracks heavily feature singing, and it's only at the very end of the disc that the Ensemble breaks into any sort of "free jazz" cacophony. More of a Japanese vocal album then, than a jazz/electronic thing, so Otomo fans who aren't as eclectically adventurous as the man himself might want to pass on this one.

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Ooooh. Here we have the first of two volumes (both of 'em double discs) of live material being released this summer by Japan's Doubtmusic from ONJO. That's the unusual "jazz orchestra" led by turntablist/guitarist Otomo Yoshihide (who could be considered the Japanese John Zorn, his old band Ground Zero being the analog to Zorn's Naked City, though that doesn't do either of them justice, really). In jazz speak, ONJO's music wanders both inside and outside, it's avantgarde yet lush and listenable, full of melody and melancholy. Electronic textures intrude upon jazz standards, whispy vocals drift amidst gentle drones, and aggressive bouts of noisy improv burst forth to keep them far out of cocktail lounge territory. Recorded on several dates in Berlin, Tokyo, Kyoto, and Nagoya, the ten tracks here were performed by five varied ONJO lineups, featuring a large number of talented musicians, familiar among them vocalist Kahimi Karie and sinewavist (?) Sachiko M, and a host of Japanese jazz cats and "onkyo" experimenters. The Berlin dates see the ONJO joined by Europeans like reed player Alfred Harth and trumpeter Axel Dorner. It's mostly all Otomo's own compositions, with a couple by cult Japanese '60s/'70s TV soundtrack composer Yamashita Takeo, as well as required readings of Eric Dolphy's "Out To Lunch", "Straight Up And Down", and "Hat And Beard". These discs are packaged in the typical deluxe Doubtmusic style, with thick cardboard gatefold sleeves, and include lengthy, very personal liner notes from Otomo himself, going in depth about the ideas behind this music, the evolution of his "jazz" composition post-Ground Zero, as his feelings about the legacy of his former teacher, the late Japanese jazz giant Masayuki Takayangi evolved. He discusses his simultaneous immersion in both the quiet electronic improv scene called "onkyo" and also the resurgence of his interest in traditional jazz sounds, seemingly contradictory musical directions that he meshes brilliantly -- as can be heard here. Essential for all Otomo fans (especially those who love his ONJO album Plays Eric Dolphy's Out To Lunch!!).

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And now the second volume of live ONJO avant-jazz action is here: "parallel circuit", two more cds to follow the double disc of volume one "series circuit" that we highlighted earlier this summer. It's again a wild hybrid of all the music that bandleader, turntablist and guitarist Otomo Yoshihide loves: the intense out-jazz "mass projections" of his former teacher the late Masayuki Takayanagi, groovy cult '60s Japanese film and TV soundtracks, traditional jazz standards, the genius of Eric Dolphy, and the minimal improv of electronics and silences known as onkyo music... among other things! And again Doubtmusic has put these discs in a thick gatefold miniature LP style jacket, which includes sincere liner notes from Otomo himself. The Orchestra (up to THIRTY-SEVEN musicians strong in one of the several lineups documented here!) was recorded live at venues in Japan and Germany in 2005 and 2006, performing compositions by Otomo as well as Eric Dolphy, Jim O'Rourke, Yamashita Takeo, and Charlie Haden. Any fan of ONJO's prior output will want this, it's got your daily recommended (by us) dose, and then some, of such divergent and delicious audio elements as lush big band melodicism, abstract electric drones, lovely female vocals (courtesy Kahimi Karie and others) and frantic noisy freakouts, as only the ONJO could deliver in one swank package!

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As any jazz freak will tell you, Dolphy is GOD! Hard to deny. Especially once you've heard his swansong, Out To Lunch. Recorded in 1964, mere months before he passed away at the age of 36. Having done time with Mingus, Coleman and Coltrane, as well as having recorded numerous records as a band leader, Out To Lunch was definitely Dolphy's finest moment. Possibly one of the greatest jazz records ever. An album that was soft and sweet and almost traditional one moment, freaked out and completely abstract the next. A killer collision of traditional and free, combined in a way that somehow managed to please fans of both. Knowing all that, it would take a lot of balls for someone to tackle that epochal record in its entirety, not entirely surprising that it would be Otomo Yoshihide and his New Jazz Orchestra. Most of us are familiar with Yoshihide as an experimental turntablist. But he's also an ace guitarist as well as an accomplished band leader. So Yoshihide has decided to give Out To Lunch a modern makeover, and while we were of course tempted to scream "Sacrilege!!" it didn't take us long to change our tune. There's really no point in just playing Out To Lunch, no matter what, you couldn't live up to the original, so some sort of reinvention is definitely the way to go. And Yoshihide manages to riffing true to the original while twisting these classic tunes into entirely new shapes. Where as Dolphy's group was a five piece, a pretty standard jazz ensemble augmented by vibraphone, with Dolphy handling sax, clarinet AND flute, Yoshihide has gathered an ensemble 15 players strong. And it's not just the number of players, it's what they're playing. Sure they've got the basics, but there's also slide trumpet, bamboo flute, tubes, sho, sinewaves, contact mic, no-input mixing board, computer and inside piano (!). And the songs themselves, while they retain the main melodic themes, Yoshihide and his ensemble take the songs WAY WAY out. The opener, "Hat And Beard" is as close as this New Jazz Orchestra come to a straight up version of the original. The free bits are a lot freer, and during the quieter parts you can hear the sinewaves and no-input mixing board doing their thing. "Something Sweet, Something Tender" gets stretched out into long abstract stretches of dense drone. "Gazzelloni" is transformed into a super wild, ultra free psych jazz freakout. "Out To Lunch" is another -almost- traditional version, but the band manages to twist and stretch and all sorts of free weirdness. Finally, the formerly 8 minute "Straight Up And Down" is totally transformed into a near 30 minute experimental improv, any vestiges of jazz are shed in the first half, as the track continues to drift through a minimal sound world of shimmer and click, glitch and hum, the horns taking a back seat to the computers and sinewaves and mixing boards. So totally great. And a strangely poignant tribute to one of the greatest jazz records ever. Super swank digipak packaging, emulating the original in design and color, instantly recognizable except now the blue tinted photo on the cover is of a Japanese train station. Includes liner notes from Yoshihide, Kahimi Karie and actor Tonoyama Taiji. Plus the disc has a clock printed on the face, and the back cover has a small whole cut out so depending on the placement of the disc, a different number shows through. So cool!

Last list we reviewed a fantastic disc by Japanese avant-garde turntablist/guitarist Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz Orchestra, with the self-explanatory title of Plays Eric Dolphy's Out To Lunch. It truly was a brilliant, respectful yet fresh versioning of that classic jazz album. So we figured we should also bring in this other, self-titled ONJO release on the same label, from 2005. It's quite good too, just as we expected. Now, to our minds, pretty much anything Otomo does is at least interesting and is often much more than that, from minimal "onkyo" electronics to solo guitar improv to big band mash-ups to noisy droning rock. This we'd put in the "much more than that" category of Otomo output, especially if you appreciate his roots in jazz. Using all the experimental elements of the "empty" turntable glitchery and cut-up compositions that we've heard before in such Otomo ensembles as Ground Zero and I.S.O., ONJO makes some gorgeously moody "actual jazz" music. It's definitely an "easier listen" than much of Otomo's Ground Zero recordings, for instance, but no less amazing. (And if you're a fan of GZ's Plays Standards and/or ONJO's Out To Lunch then you have an idea of what this will be like.) Alongside Otomo's own compositions, this includes covers of jazz standards (and not-so-standards) by the likes of Ornette Coleman, Charles Mingus, and even Jim O'Rourke. Some of these songs have actually been done before on recordings by Otomo's New Jazz Quintet (ONJQ) so don't get confused. ONJO is similar to ONJQ but, well, bigger. Making this an "Orchestra", there's 18 musicians credited, some non-Japanese names among them, including such well-known European improv folks as Axel Dorner, Mats Gustafsson, and Alfred Harth. And perhaps you've heard of Kahimi Karie, who whisperingly sings on three of these tracks? The results of all their efforts here are really freaking lovely, from the pops and crackle of vinyl mixed into the quiet bits to massed horn blow-outs to smoky, romantic noirish atmospheres invaded by the sinewaves of Sachiko M and the John Zornish jumpiness of Otomo's arrangements. Nice nice nice... as is the packaging, in the digipack with die cut hole in cover revealing a bit of the cd booklet underneath that's typical of most doubtmusic releases.

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Three part composition exploring noise, free jazz and minimalist structures. The basic conditions in which the performance of these pieces are executed: Do not respond to the sound of others / Do not form a course from the introduction to the conclusion / Avoid any popular rhythm, melody, cliche, etc. The first part, "Anode 1", buries a heavy percussive jam (six percussionists!) under an ear splitting assault of sine waves and high frequency test tones. Very much like the electronic works of Greek composer Iannis Xenakis. Parts two and three are intentionally less abrasive, exploring territories reminiscent of John Cage, emphasizing minimalist aesthetics and chance. Another wonderful electroacoustic piece from the amazing Otomo Yoshihide!

RealAudio clip: Anode 2
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This is Otomo's second soundtrack for a Hiroshi Ando film. Blue, the film, is a live action version of a Japanese comic about two budding lesbian high schoolers destined for heartbreak. So it makes sense that Blue, the soundtrack, is correspondingly wistful and melancholy. Simple in its spare use of recorder, trumpet, acoustic guitar, pump organ, etc, and very, very pretty. Nothing like Otomo's other sampling/noise/jazz/whathaveyou outfits like Ground Zero, New Jazz Quintet, MC Hellshit... this is meditative, melodic, organic, warm, and quiet. Very nice, but not groundbreaking. There also appears to be a track from another soundtrack he did, this time for Tian ZhuangZhuang's The Blue Kite.

MPEG stream: Blue 3

Japanese turntable/sampler experimentalist Yoshihide (famous for his jazz/noise band Ground Zero and his more recent/minimalist I.S.O. and Filament recordings) joins the "Composer's Series" of John Zorn's Tzadik label. Four pieces combine traditional Japanese and Western instrumentation (sho, acoustic guitar, violin, cello, piano, shamisen, etc.) with sometimes-piercing electronics and "sampling compostion" to hard disk recorder. Beautiful.

The latest from Japanese turntable/guitar experimentalist, composer, and sometimes jazz musician Otomo Yoshihide (if he needs an introduction, this isn't the place to start). "Ensemble Cathode" is a beautifully packaged cd -- anyone who's seen the Improvised Music From Japan box set knows about their nice cardboard mini-lp style cd sleeves -- featuring the works "Cathode #3", "Cathode #4" and "Cathode #5", all lengthy (14 to 22 minute) pieces composed by Otomo but allowing for much improvisation from the musicians. Otomo's Tzadik releases "Cathode" and "Anode" have already explored this idea -- small groups of musicans, some playing traditional Japanese instruments (in a modern context, as with Nishi Yoko's "prepared 17-string koto"), some with jazz instruments, others with electronics: samplers, contact mics, and turntables, in a structured improv setting. This Ensemble Cathode disc is as gorgeous and adventurous as those others, full of rumbling percussion, bowed cymbal drone, ethnic coloration, crackling noise, and piercing sine wave tones... The latter courtesy of frequent Otomo Yoshihide collaborator Sachiko M. Also appearing are Taku Sugimoto (a wonderful, wonderful electric guitar abstractionist), percussionist Ichiraku Ysohimitsu (of the Acid Mothers Temple!), Andrea Neumann (playing "inside piano"), Akiyama Tetzui (who plays a turntable without records), and many others. A quiet, quite lovely listen, with many carefully wrought textures.

RealAudio clip: Cathode #4

Imagine some gorgeous, high energy free jazz (including compositions by Eric Dolphy and Gerry Mulligan) melded with electronic drones, sine wave tones, and some Merzbow-style noise. That's what our favorite Japanese new music guru (turntablist/experimentalist/jazzbo Otomo Yoshihide) delivers with this new album on John Zorn's Tzadik label. Otomo and four other stellar players from the venerable Japanese free jazz scene are joined by none other than Merbow's Masami Akita and frequent Otomo collaborator Sachiko M (she's the one playing the "empty sampler w/ sine wave"). Fans who're already into his work with Ground Zero, ISO, Filament, and all the rest will have an idea of what this sounds like if we say it's a cross between the amazing Ground Zero "Plays Standards" disc and the minimalist clicks & drones of his more recent ISO project. Also it follows on nicely from his previous Tzadik release "Cathode", mixing the acoustic and electronic elements as on that disc. In other words, Otomo fans, it's essential! For those who have yet to explore the man's work (and who like jazz!) this would be a great starting place. There's moody parts with record crackle and smokey sax soloing, and then there's full-on intense combustions of improv interplay, total electronics/jazz freakouts. Here's a more detailed rundown: the opening title track is a ten and a half minute exercise in tension: skittering drums, suspenseful noir film bass lines, slowly ascending distorted guitar feedback, topped with badass horn interplay straight outta "The Shape of Jazz to Come", and layered with ear piercing high frequency sine wave tones, courtesy of Sachiko M. "Spin" is a delirious hyperfrenetic bebop jam with subtle blasts of noise and space age guitar jabs that whirlpools into an ending that has to be heard to be believed! The two Dolphy numbers covered are "Les" and "Serene". Then the album concludes with an epic twenty two minute track that begins with the sweet sound of Gerry Mulligan's "Night Lights" and transforms into the beautifully abstract, Otomo-composed "Density". The whole disc is fantastic, beautiful stuff, something we're sure was conceived partly in tribute to a young Otomo's 1970s Japanese free jazz heroes, who no doubt would approve. Brilliant and highly recommended.

RealAudio clip: Spin
RealAudio clip: Night Lights / Density

In recent weeks, we've reviewed two great albums by Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz Orchestra, which is a large ensemble led by the well-known Japanese turntable/guitar experimentalist, as you can tell from their name. But here, on this 2005 release from the same label, Otomo scales things back, to just himself and a guitar (which you also probably figured out already from the title), acoustic on some tracks, electric on others. As with those ONJO discs, there's a blend of "outside" stuff here as well as melodic jazz standards. It's just as eclectic and interesting, just more intimate, and maybe in some ways more intense. Certainly Otomo goes to extremes here, delving into the noisy, guitar-as-weapon danger zones, side-by-side with tracks of utterly lovely and relaxed mood-setting. For instance, the song "Rig" here is a face-melting distortion assault with many sharp edges and pointy corners. Skronk barely begins to describe it. That it settles into droning grind towards the end of the piece is something of a respite. Conversely, just a few tracks later, there's the delicate, dulcet "Mood Indigo" of Duke Ellington, in Otomo's hands a reverent, late-night reverie. Elsewhere, "Cylinder" is another heavy-duty slab of drone/skronk, while on the prettier side of things, there's acoustic Otomo solo versions of material also done by the ONJO, like "Misty", "Lonely Woman", and Otomo's own "Theme From Canary"...

MPEG stream: Theme From Canary
MPEG stream: Rig

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SORRY. Two short sides of sound collage from Tokyo's masterful sample artist and leader of the late great Ground Zero. These pieces are made up of short sound samples of almost any instrument imaginable: saxophone blasts, cello strokes, short metallic chord bursts, single plucks of the guitar as well as the noises made by hand movements all set to a metronomic sampled drumbeat. Quite interesting, but not a fully realized work. If Otomo chooses to continue this process, it could potentially have wonderful results.

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SORRY. Otomo Yoshihide's new group, the accurately named New Jazz Quintet, debuts on this disc, which includes both the soundtrack to Ian Kerkhof's film "Shadondama Elegy" (sorry, we don't know anything more about the film) and additional material recorded by more or less the same musicians. Japanese turntablist and guitarist Otomo of course is best known for his seminal jazz/sampling group Ground Zero, as well as for his equally exciting recent work in electronic minimalism with ISO. Plus his numerous collaborations and solo performances! Anyway, his new group (featuring members of ISO, Altered States, Ground Zero, Rovo, etc.) certainly live up to the "jazz" part of their name on this disc, playing mostly music composed by Otomo, plus a Victor Jara tune.

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SORRY. Two twenty minute pieces for turntables, mixer and hard disk recorder, by the leader of Japanese jazz/noise/sampling outfit Ground Zero. Amazing cut-up symphonies of parts and particles of hundreds of impossible to recognize sound sources: cartoon music to car alarms to straight ear-splitting noise.

MPEG stream: Turntable Solo

Solo turntable medicine from Otomo of Ground Zero. "1 minute memory tranquilizer x 60 capsules. Dosage 10 capsules 1/2 hour before sleep, repeat every night if required. Composition: Each capsule contains 1 minute, concentrated 1 vinyl experimental record. Caution: This may cause drowsiness, if affected, do not drive or operate machinery." Hong Kong import.

You'd almost like to think that with a title like Turntables and Computers, this would turn out to have been made with rocks and sticks. But no, the title is indeed a very literal labelling of this disc's musical contents. Otomo Yoshihide is one of Japan (and the world's) top turntable experimentalists, whilst his countryman Nobukazu Takemura is a laptop jockey of some reknown. Together they craft a humming, droning, pulsating, glitchy bleepathon. It sounds like a field recording from some sorta sci-fi birdhouse, with a radio on in the background. Voices from Otomo's vinyl records drift in and out of the mix, as if from persons lost amid the pleasantly noisy chaos being created. It's one long 46-minute track, the result of a live improv session. Apparently it was the first time these two had ever worked (or played) together. What they came up with is probably closer to the less pop, more abstract aspects of the Powerbook electronica that Nobukazu is known for, intersecting with the minimalist electronic rather than jazz side of Otomo's ouvre. By the end it gets into mindshredding noise territory, a real nice finale to a disc that visits much quiet beauty as well.

MPEG stream: Turntables and Computers (excerpt)

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SORRY.

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

SORRY. What serious jazz ensemble will you find playing versions of compositions by Wayne Shorter and Eric Dolphy, AND Otomo Yoshihide and Jim O'Rourke? Well, Otomo Yoshihide's own New Jazz Quintet of course. Far from the turntables-and-noise shock tactics of his seminal Ground Zero group, Otomo's New Jazz Quintet is much more on the "inside" of jazz tradition, and although you can expect some surprises, this disc, recorded live in Tokyo March 2002, is fairly straightforward compared to the Quintet's two previous releases on John Zorn's Tzadik label. No guest vocals from Phew, no electronics from Merzbow or Sachiko M. No, instrumentally this is indeed nothing but a jazz quintet: Otomo's on guitar, with four of the best and brightest from the Japanese underground jazz scene on saxophones, bass, and drums. The experimentation (with noise, with pop) of those two Tzadik albums gives way here to Otomo and co.'s abiding love for serious jazz, full of color, beauty, feeling, and powerful playing. Amid the two jazz standards assayed here, Otomo's compositions, and the O'Rourke piece, fare quite well. Otomo's twenty minute "Flutter" (from the Quintet's first Tzadik disc) is one of the disc's highlights, in fact, jumping off from its melodic, noirish motif into an electric build-up and blow-out of massive proportions. The Shorter and Dolphy pieces are handled with energy and respect, and then Otomo's NJQ winds up the disc with their 18 minute take on O'Rourke's "Eureka" -- achingly sad and pretty, reaching densely layered heights of group improv, then subsiding into a lonely finale. Very nice, actually!

RealAudio clip: Flutter
RealAudio clip: Eureka

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SORRY. Since his youthful days spent hanging out in Japan's unique jazz listening cafes in the '70s, Otomo Yoshihide has been a major jazz fanatic, into all its forms from the most traditional standards to freeform energy blowouts. Although his own music has ranged from noisy turntable sound-collage to minimal 'onkyo' drones, no matter how experimental Otomo has gotten his interest in jazz has always been there. His most famous project, Ground Zero, was evidence of this, especially on their classic Plays Standards album. In recent years Otomo formed ONJQ: Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz Quintet, teaming up with some of the most talented 'cats' in the Tokyo scene to play jazz both straight and surprising. Tails Out is the Quintet's new album and like their previous releases for Tzadik and DIW it mixes both originals and original takes on other people's songs, starting off very jazz-like with Charlie Haden's "Song For Che" before Otomo's own "Reducing Agent" introduces acid rock guitar into the proceedings. Other cover versions include songs by James Blood Ulmer, Charles Mingus, and the Beatles -- a real nice instrumental "Strawberry Fields Forever"! Some hints of 'onkyo' electronics crop up in their Mingus tune and continue into the disc's final Otomo-penned thirteen-minute title track. With beauty, grace, power, and excitement, the ONJQ's love of their source material is obvious and inspired.

MPEG stream: Reducing Agent
MPEG stream: Orange Was The Color Of Her Dress, Then Blue Silk

First ever collaboration between the long-running (since the '70s!) Swiss experimental duo Voice Crack and Japan's master of free-jazz turntablism, Otomo Yoshihide. Voice Crack specialize in the use of "cracked everyday electronics" (imagine raiding the local Radio Shack and turning your kitchen into a living nest of crackle and hum), and Otomo has been investigating minimalist electronic soundscapes of late. Together they've created a quiet, detailed sound-world of electro-acoustic improvisation. Quite nice, fans of both should be pleased.

Former Pitchfork scribe tackles this definitive gloom classic. A glimpse into the darkness behind the darkness.

We've never really been that into Canadian director Bruce LaBruce, but if any movie was gonna change our mind, it just might be Otto; Or, Up With Dead People. It looks pretty awesome just based on the pictures in the booklet. A super stylish gay punk zombie called Otto wanders the streets of Berlin, eventually finding himself cast in a low budget film. And then there's the soundtrack, brought to us by the ever awesome, always eclectic Crippled Dick Hot Wax!, a super varied collection, of almost entirely unknown to us groups, whose disparate sounds are somehow woven into a surprisingly cohesive collection. The names probably won't mean much to must folks, but the sounds, that's a different story. Haunting dramatic strings, cinematic (obviously) and ominous, gives way to some creepy chamber folk, all thumps and rumbles and deep dark guitar strum, dreamy, but mysterious. After some crackle encrusted strings, sounding a bit like a snippet of William Basinski, in come some skittery downtempo beats and some deep crooned vox, which transitions into some almost sunshiney psychedelic jangle, playful and poppy, you can almost envision Otto wandering through town, not a care in the world. OK, maybe not. But then up next is the awesomely titled Pandas Of Black Metal, with a sort of metal / electro hybrid, all frantic techno beats, grinding chugging guitars, warped 808's, bursts of static, strange samples, cool stuff, which eventually fades out, introducing some syrupy Scott Walker style balladry. The other awesome proper band is up next, The Living Dead Boys, with some crunchy metallic guitars, wrapped around more techno beats and some super dramatic vocals, sounding a bit like a metallic Interpol, or a way more electronic Deadsy. After a bit of lilting twee music box pop, comes the sprawling 13 minute "On The Cusp Of Infinity" from Brittle Stars, which totally sounds like a band we would freak out over here, a blackened blown out, slow motion shoegazey doom sludge, Nadja, Tim Hecker, SUNNO))), massive metallic slowcore, dreamlike and glacial, and definitely worth further investigation. The rest of the record plays out as a dizzying assemblage of sample laced dream pop shimmer, skittery electronic weirdness, dramatic neo-classical, almost operatic black ambience, twisted free jazz 20th century soundscapes, Oval-like skip and glitch shimmer, finishing off with some cute playful folk pop, acoustic guitars and chiming bells, a brief little ditty, appropriately titled "Everyone's Dead". Still can't say if we're sold on the movie, but we've been digging the soundtrack like crazy, and like we said, hard to resist a low budget gay punk zombie flick, especially with such a badass soundtrack...

MPEG stream: On The Cusp Of Infinity
MPEG stream: Kill Your Gods
MPEG stream: Halfway Between The World And Death
MPEG stream: Discohell

Ouba were a French-Canadian psychedelic rock band, who released the half-hour of music found here (just two tracks, one side each of the original LP, of course) back in 1968. This disc is definitely accurately titled -- it's a freak out session for sure.

RealAudio clip: Deuxieme Partie

More medieval minstrelry!! Last list we reviewed the cd reissue of the first two albums by Germany's Ougenweide, early '70s German krautfolksters produced by Achim Reichel. Here's the another disc of their mainly acoustic "Mittelalter-Rock", featuring their third and fourth albums Ohrenschmaus and Eulenspiegel, both from 1976. Again this cd is a delight for anyone who can dig a Teutonic twist on ye olde folk, with dash of hippie psych/prog, played by people who wouldn't look out of place in a Joanna Newsom video. Singing in Old German -- sometimes in Latin -- Ougenweide took their obsession with the Middle Ages quite seriously indeed. They set old poetry to music, putting 'em in the same realm as that wonderful Kay Hoffman album Floret Silva from circa '77 we reviewed last year, and also reminding us a bit of the approach taken by a more recent (and more metallic!) German band, In Extremo -- remember them? The vocals are lovely, the various stringed things in the band get an, um, incredible workout, alongside hornpipes and jangling percussion... the mood ranges from melancholic atmosphere to pure reeling energy, and if you let yourself get into it, let your mind dance about in Ougenweide's ancient forest glade, you'll find that their melodies and rhythms are utterly infectious. Germany's Bear Family label, best known for their elaborate (and expensive) box sets, of course do a nice job with the packaging here, the thick cd booklet full of liner notes (in English and German), lyrics (not in English), and photos. Just turn to page 33 in the booklet for a gander at the appalling original album cover of Eulenspiegel -- the band playing tug-o-war in full RenFaire get-up, with a jester-garbed child dancing on the rope! This is a LOT cooler, and generally less silly, than that picture would suggest!

MPEG stream: Kommt, ihr Jungfern, helft mir klagen
MPEG stream: Wol mich der stunde

Medieval minstrelry!! Andee has been making fun of Allan for liking this so much, so if you want to get into the middle of that argument, give this a listen. This cd reissues the first two albums by Germany's Ougenweide, an early '70s folk-rock act who were sort of a Germanic version of contemporaneous UK folk-rockers Fairport Convention or Pentangle, perhaps. Gryphon, definitely. Or maybe you remember the Norwegian band Kong Lavring, reviewed here some time ago? Ougenweide are sorta like that, but German. (Another parallel would be France's Malicorne.) Sweet female vocals, bombastic male ones, flutes n' lutes, lots of ye olde melodiousness and harmoniousness, alongside some fairly rippin', energetic "hoedown" parts that will kick your ass for thinking this is even a wee bit too twee, though twee it often is. Those plugged-in interludes allow us to consider this troupe a krautrock as well as a krautfolk (?) band. And speaking of krautrock, their first record was produced by none other than Achim Reichel (of A.R. & Machines fame!). So we'll sum up Ougenwiede as dexterous and delightful music made by prancing hippies obsessed with the Middle Ages but willing to throw some fuzz bass in where it will do the most good. Pretty cool if you don't mind your acid folk to have strong RenFaire leanings! (It helps that it's all in German, we think.) The 22 tracks here come from their self-titled debut from 1973 and its 1974 follow-up All Die Weil Ich Mag, and it's the first time on cd for both of 'em. And since this is a Bear Family reissue, it's about as nicely done as a reissue can be, packaged with a 38 page booklet stuffed with liner notes (in English and German), lyrics, and vintage photos. Appropriately, the booklet is styled after an illuminated manuscript and decorated with medieval woodcuts.

MPEG stream: Der Fuchs
MPEG stream: Nieman Kan Mit Gerten
MPEG stream: Es Fur Ein Pawr Gen Holcz

Beautiful, dark drones from Wales. Intense.

The meeting point between country rock/Americana and emo is this San Francisco 'Highway! Although they formed back in '96, and have garnered a loyal local following as a live band, this is their first full length. Our Lady Of The Highway quite often bears a striking resemblance both in voice and word to Mountain Goats' John Darnielle and the Weakerthans' John Samson (and come to think of it, the title's pretty similar to the latter's Left And Leaving album too, isn't it?). This is by no means a bad thing - that's some quality company to be in, two AQ faves who pour their heart and soul into every note! - but it truly is uncanny at times. Key ingredients are Dominic East's heartfelt songwriting and unrestrained, empassioned vocals, Andrew Gerhan's sunset-perfect acoustic guitar strummin', Joshua Housh's mournful languid bass fiddle, and the subtly dynamic drumming of David Clifford (a side note: he is neither the David Clifford who drums for Pleasure Forever nor the man of the same name who drums for Fish of Marillion!). An aching sense of loss and loneliness permeates each of the eleven songs, and it weighs heavier and heavier as the album progresses (even when they kick up the tempo a bit), perhaps peaking at the tenth called "Come Clean". It's such barebones melancholic loveliness laden with generous reverb, it sounds as if it were recorded in a cavernous vacant church or in a big ol' pub long after last call. Offering some glistening solace like the warming amber glow of a freshly poured pint. A fine debut!

MPEG stream: Beautiful
MPEG stream: Come Clean

We've got two fine releases from Our Lady Of The Highway -- this self-released cdr of their 2006 album Beauty Won't Save Us This Year and the new Fogsnob Records released full length Kill You With Numbers! Both were previously available directly from the band via a special subscription deal, but we've got a handful here for you in case you missed out. For those of you unfamiliar with this SF band's sound... it's very reminiscent of nineties college rock of the country tinged variety. Y'know, early Built To Spill, Uncle Tupelo, The Weakerthans -- a sound for which we definitely have a soft spot! So much so, that when it's playing in the store staffers and customers alike all ask "Oooh, what's this? What's this?" OLOTH strike a balance of solid heft, sensitive guy emotiveness, yearningly heartfelt lyrics, and spacey guitar dissonance with some tasty nuanced drumming to boot. Always a good listen.

MPEG stream: Out In The Street
MPEG stream: Fine Dancer

We've got two fine releases from Our Lady Of The Highway -- this new Fogsnob Records released full length and their self-released cdr of their 2006 album Beauty Won't Save Us This Year! Both were previously available directly from the band via a special subscription deal, but we've got a handful here for you in case you missed out. For those of you unfamiliar with this SF band's sound... it's very reminiscent of nineties college rock of the country tinged variety. Y'know, early Built To Spill, Uncle Tupelo, The Weakerthans -- a sound for which we definitely have a soft spot! So much so, that when it's playing in the store staffers and customers alike all ask "Oooh, what's this? What's this?" OLOTH strike a balance of solid heft, sensitive guy emotiveness, yearningly heartfelt lyrics, and spacey guitar dissonance with some tasty nuanced drumming to boot. Always a good listen.

MPEG stream: Go Home
MPEG stream: She Sees Through Me

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