[ aquarius records catalogue

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Showing results 1301 through 1350 of 1919.

If we had to rank our favorite nineties math/post/indie rock bands, it would be pretty tough to pick a favorite. Rodan, Slint, Archers Of Loaf, Pitchblende, we could definitely go on, but rest assured, Polvo would be up there too, most definitely vying for the top spot. But as much as we love Polvo, were were definitely a little nervous about a brand new record. It's been a long time, and there are pitfalls either way. It would be sort of disingenuous to make a record that sounded EXACTLY like you did back in the day, but that's sort of what people want. Cuz if you make a record that sounds NOTHING like the good old days, people will definitely be confused. In the case of Polvo, it sounds like maybe they split the difference. The new sound is actually quite different, but enough Polvo-isms abound that it could really be nobody else, and while we weren't super into it on first listen, it's definitely grown on us, and we're digging it quite a bit now. "Heavy Detour" starts off with what sounds like the theme from S.W.A.T. all jangly guitar and high hat, but once the band kicks in, that gnarled riffage could be no one else. Although there is a bit of 'groove', as the song progresses, that groove seems to make more sense, and then there are the strings, these big bursts of almost symphonic strings, a weird bit of bombast that takes some getting used to. As do the raspy way up in the mix vox, the sound surprisingly accessible for a band, we always thought never really was, but the second half of the song fixes that, sort of, with some layered riffage, some serious metallic chugging, and tangled guitar harmonies, before returning to the chorus. The second track is a bit more low key, but is again all about the vocals, which are strident, and pretty much drive the jams, which is WAY different that the Polvo of old, when the vocals were buried in the mix, but once you get used to that, these songs begin to stick, and the Polvo-isms definitely become more prominent, especially on the rocked out instrumental stretches. The 7" comes with a download coupon, which includes the single tracks as well as a bonus alternate mix of the B side which might be even better than the song proper, laced with handclaps, electronics, and way bigger, more bombastic drumming.

The reunion / reissue onslaught seems like it might never end. But when bands like Polvo decide to get back together, why would we ever want it to? Easily one of our favorite math rock bands from the nineties, whose sound was truly unique, tangled Eastern sounding guitars, slippery riffs, complicated song structures, weary laid back vox, all wound tight into some of the catchiest, most unlikely indie rock songs ever. We knew Polvo had gotten back together, and then we found out they were recording a brand new record, which could definitely have been a disappointment, but this is most definitely not a disappointment. Not at all. There are awesome reunion records for sure, but this isn't just an awesome *reunion* record, In Prism totally stands up to the rest of their catalog, Today's Active Lifestyles, Shapes, Exploded Drawing, only the pickiest of ears would be able to pick one of the In Prism songs out as not belonging, and only then it would probably be mostly because they didn't know it by heart like the rest of the catalog. Which is sort of the magic of Polvo, their music is so NOT typically catchy or poppy, it's obtuse, angular, off kilter, twisted, tangled, but somehow it IS both catchy and poppy. Those slithery woozy riffs get stuck in your head as hard as any radio hit pop song. And yeah, In Prism carries on that tradition, another kick ass set of songs, hooky and heavy, warped and mathy, with a bit of a classic rock vibe going on, which we didn't really notice until someone pointed it out to us. But goddamn this stuff is awesome. Opener "Right The Relation" is perfect Polvo, with one of THOSE riffs, vocals and guitar lines getting all tangled up, and some incredible drumming. And then there's "Beggar's Bowl", the most classic Polvo track of all the jams here, with one of the best riffs ever, draped over shimmery high end guitar whir, super rad jagged start stop arrangements, hazy production, layered lush guitars, and a main hook that slays. Anyone who loved Polvo back in the day, or who still loves Polvo (which we imagine must be everyone right?) will go nuts for In Prism, and folks into mathy, crunchy, indie post rock and have somehow never heard Polvo before, this might be an introduction to your new favorite band.

MPEG stream: Right The Relation
MPEG stream: D.C. Trails
MPEG stream: Beggar's Bowl

5 songs.

Everyone's favorite Austrian guitar-gone-electronica experimentalist Christian Fennesz again shows up on a release wherein he dabbles in the European free improv scene. So if you are buying this album simply because Fennesz is involved, you might be in for a surprise, as his contribution in collaborating with the New Music / Improv Jazz ensemble Polwechsel is only part of the whole, and it's hard to tell who's doing what -- Fennesz isn't the only one on hand operating electronics, computer, or a guitar. Polwechsel is the quartet of John Butcher (saxophone), Werner Dafeldecker (double bass, guitar, computer), Michael Moser (cello, computer), and Burkard Stangl (guitar, electronics) who have been exploring free improvisation and composition based around the European models of jazz for nearly a decade now. Fennesz, with computer, synth, and acoustic guitar, joined this quartet for a three day recording session in January of 2002. The results: a quiet, slow evolution of sound within the tonal parameters of the instruments in question, with bits of granular synthesis and timestretched, glitchy samples situated in the background. The dynamics of this album come from the spartan 'solos' taken by each of the players. These are not freak-outs by any mean, but delicate scrapes across the stringed instruments or a bleak tentative bleats from the saxophones. Quite subtle, and nice.

RealAudio clip: Framing 2
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Richard D. James is better known as The Aphex Twin, yet his first recording for Warp Records was under his Polygon Window moniker. At the time of this recording in 1992, Warp started the legendary Artificial Intelligence series (which is the origin for the dubious genre title Intelligent Dance Music) to encapsulate the mutant techno sounds of Autechre, Black Dog, F.U.S.E., B12, and Finally, Warp has reissued "Surfing On Sinewaves" for the US (the UK pressings have still been in print, but unavailable for sale in North America due to that piece of paper with Wax Trax). Most clearly inspired by the claustrophobia of Chicago Acid House and Detroit Techno, James coaxed an arpeggiating barrage of metallic clangs and hammered rhythms out of his broken samplers and rewired drum machines. The alien melodies and warm dreamlike tonalities which dominated his epic "Selected Ambient Works Vol. 2" first found their way onto these records as ghost like afterimages surrounding the electronic rhythms. Even after nearly a decade, this album is still mindblowing. While today's contemporary discourse of the glitch / click have their clear roots in the malfuctioning sounds of computers, Richard James' early pioneering productions spoke of technological errors occuring within his broken synthesizers and Midi plug-ins. If it weren't for records like "Surfing on Sinewaves," there would be no Kid 606, Lesser, or Hrvatski.

RealAudio clip: Polygon Window
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If you're swayed by enthusiastic, nickname-droppin' soundbytes on shrinkwrap from the likes of David Bowie, then you've probably already snuggling up to this new Polyphonic Spree cd. He says it is "probably The Poly's best and deepest album yet!" We say "the first track sounds like they're ripping off Blondie's "Dreaming"." Well, doesn't it?! Don't worry, we're not getting all down on this band, we love 'em! Anyways, as per the album's title, Polyphonic Spree sure has grown into an army, a deliriously glorious pop orchestral choral one. Their lineup isn't so fragile though, numbering twenty, and they're a mighty force of uplifting and sugary jubilation. If you dig Langley School Music Project, you're gonna luv this... and vice versa!

MPEG stream: Running Away
MPEG stream: Watch Us Explode (Justify)

This comes with a fervent endorsement from AQ pal and man-of-many-hats Kevin Clarke, a man with pop smarts you can certainly trust. Following the break-up of Tripping Daisy, TD mainman Tim DeLaughter shifted his attention to assembling The Polyphonic Spree, quite an unusual musical group from Dallas, TX. What's so odd about them? Well, there's over two dozen members for one thing! And they're all clothed in long flowing white robes for another. Their music is a supremely uplifting gospel pop complete with vocal chorus a la Up With People backed by a pit orchestra of sorts (with woodwinds, brass, percussion, strings, and theremin). Very out of step with the times. There's so little these days that exhibits such a mass vocal outpouring, and it's all lushly and trippily composed in grand Brian Wilson and Flaming Lips-y fashion. Actually the latter is reinforced by Delaughter's ultra-sensitive lead vocals which closely resemble Wayne Coyne's. Just imagine an enormous musical embrace, and you'll be close. MPEG Download: "Track 2" [/audio/polyphonic2.mp3] MPEG Stream: "Track 2" [/audio/polyphonic2.m3u]

MPEG stream: Track 2
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Hop aboard this new Polyphonic Spree album -- imagine a souped-up It's A Small World ride at Disneyland! Although the musicians come bursting out of the gate on this album's lead-off song, the Polyphonic Spree keep you waitin' for their beloved glorious en-masse vocals to come in -- only making their entrance very briefly late in the song. The group's grand orchestrations and frontman Tim DeLaughter's lead vocals are even more 'Flaming Lips' than before. The resemblance is truly unbelievable. Full of swelling heart lyrics, spring shower piano tinkling, butterfly flutes, lofty filigree'd horns and rainbow smiles, Together We're Heavy is sure to please the 'Spree's legions of loyal followers. On a side note, in the liner notes along with mentions of the expected woodwinds, brass, strings, keyboards, voices, toys and percussion, a number of "The Cast" are credited with "teeth"! Rather odd! Bonus: Includes a dvd filled with a DeLaughter interview, videos, a game and footage of the group performing live in Chicago and Tokyo.

MPEG stream: Section 13 (Diamonds / Mild Devotion To Majesty)
MPEG stream: Section 16 (One Man Show)

Here's a little teaser while we wait (see the clever title) for the next Polyphonic Spree album. Two new songs which will be on the forthcoming full length, and three covers of The Psychedelic Furs, Nirvana and front man Tim Delaughter's old band Tripping Daisy. Bright eyed pop for the white robe brigade.

MPEG stream: Mental Cabaret
MPEG stream: Lithium

You know with a name like Polyphony, this '70s outfit is all about making music for music's sake. Factor in the trippy psychedelic/mythological album cover art, and it's really no surprise that these guys are in fact a full-on prog rock band, making COMPLEX music for complex music's sake, in the vein of the English masters like ELP, Yes, Genesis, and King Crimson. But they're not British (or even Italian), they're Americans, early adopters of that classic progressive rock sound, releasing this, their sole opus, back in 1972. It's one of the best underground hard prog artifacts from the USA which which we're familiar. Utterly bombastic and boisterous, with tons of crazy Moog synth and ponderous Hammond organ, lighter melodic la-la-la moments but plenty of acid guitar heaviness too, long-form, multi-part song suites, mystical lyrics, the works. Track one, a 14 minute epic, is aptly titled "Juggernaut", its many moods encompassing frenzied rhythms, distorted riffage, and spaced out vocals. If you dig it, you'll dig the rest of the album. Which, we should mention, boasts some great track titles: "40 Second Thing In 39 Seconds" (which is actually more like 77 seconds, an instrumental mostly consisting of pulsating Moog-fart noises), "Gorgons Of The Glade" (the first of three parts that make up the headspinning 15 minute "Ariel's Flight" suite), and "Crimson Dagger" (a track that is as lovely and ethereal as it is quirky and violent). Prospective purchasers of this remastered vinyl reissue are pretty much required to be down with the PROG, and if you are (like we are!), you'll find lots of enjoy here. The Out-Sider label has provided an insert with photos and liner notes as well.

MPEG stream: Juggernaut
MPEG stream: Crimson Dagger

Reason #651,953,891? (oh heck, I've lost count!) why Japan rules: Polysics! They've been described as the Devo of Japan. And they certainly do give a hearty nod to the genius of Mothersbaugh and co, but they do so in a manner that is purely Japanese...

RealAudio clip: Hot Stuff
RealAudio clip: Monsoon
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Until we live in the perfect world where frantic Japanese 'kids' shows such as Kure Kure Takora, Booska and Domokun ran non-stop on the telly, we'll have to make do with the aural equivalent... which is this new Polysics cd. As suggested in the album's title, there's an air of insistent immediacy, but for what we're not quite sure. Curses, you language barriers! We'll just say, Now Is The Time is a manically hyper Japanese collision of no wave and new wave. Lots of tweaked synthesizers and chunky guitars, but with more singing, spazzy shrieks and hollerin' too. With the exception of the second to last song the sugar-shocked "Baby BIAS", this is a heavier, noisier and more darkly dissonant Polysics than the band we remember from their last album, 2001's Hey! Bob! My Friend! This domestic release includes two bonus tracks not on the import! Recommended. We like! Ears find super fun! Polysics!

MPEG stream: Ah-Yeah!!
MPEG stream: Mr. Psycho Psycho

Black digipak. Black disc (both sides!). No art, no text, anywhere. Just a sticker on the shrinkwrap with the name Pom Pom, a bar code, and the Kompakt logo. Apparently this is distributed by our favorite techno label Kompakt, but is actually on the mysterious Pom Pom's own imprint, who have previously released at least thirty two 12" vinyl only Pom Pom records! Where are Pom Pom from? Berlin of course. Making throbbing minimal so-called "psychedelic" techno since 2001. As their press release puts it: "Pom Pom reflects the monotone and hypnotic essence of techno." True dat. And here's their first compact disk, whose stark, minimal packaging more or less accurately describes its musical content. 14 tracks selected from those 32 eps, full of percussive pulses, hum and hiss, repetitive bass thump, Morse code-y clicks and beeps, little melodic robot riffs. Pom Pom often have a bit of poppiness to 'em, like the uptempo track #6. Other cuts are more about (Echo)spacey ambient drift from out in Dopplereffekt's orbit. Pom Pom are definitely our sort of "dance music", aligned with other faves from the Kompakt realm.

MPEG stream: track 1
MPEG stream: track 6
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THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SORRY. There is an odd little manifesto/rant on the back of this 3 track single: 'They despise physical contact and love media, technical communication, and the realm of reproduction and simulation in general. They are enthusiastic collectors and manipulators of useless artifacts and informantion. They are an underground, but not opposed to the system. They change, manipulate, and subvert ready-made products, but at the same time are the apotheosis of consummerism and an ideal workforce for capitalism... a somber picture of isolated, solipsistic men and women, who lose themselves in post-modern tides...' Apparently, this all has something to do with issues Pomassl has with Wired magazine (quite deservingly) and these issues are perhaps addressed in these two lengthy compositions made up of cyclical repetitions and off-kilter sequencing, and sounding like a sample of Test Dept's 'Unacceptable Face of Freedom'. Regardless, I can't quite understand how these two almost identical audio trax are the synthesis of Pomassl's original concept. Please help... can't assimilate data...

Even though this is Pontiak's SEVENTH album, we had never heard anything of theirs before now, and to be honest we weren't really sure to expect, but it most definitely wasn't this. Not sure what it is, the name, or the fact that they're on Thrill Jockey, but everything had us expecting something more minimal and post rocky, even perhaps a little electronic, which ended up being WAY off. All it took was about 30 second of the first track, a blast of super distorted Stooges-y buzzsaw riffing, some thick low slung bass buzz, yowled vox, a sort of laid back almost stoner rock vibe, hell there's even some organs, all blurred into a sort of heavy rock desert groove that KILLS. Sorta bluesy, sorta stoner rock, pretty goddamn heavy, but also moody and atmospheric, we're hearing Dead Meadow, Comets On Fire, seventies proto-metal, Bardo Pond, Burning Brides, even some classic rock like Zeppelin, slithery swaggery verses, soaring crunchy, heavy as fuck psychedelic choruses, the band as deft at crafting a slab of heavy psych pop as they are at putting together tripped out mathy space rock epics, check out the 6+ minute closer, that sounds like some crazed Boredoms meets Earthless instrumental jam, while super distorted chaotic drumming, wild blown out psychguitar tangles, the sound dense and heavy as fuck, but still spaced out and seriously trippy. And while that's fast becoming our favorite jam here, along with the face melting opener, in between there's plenty of kick ass psych pop, fuzzy garage rock, classic rock crunch and mathy brooding space rock epics, all of which tells is we should really be tracking down all their other records as well...

MPEG stream: Lions Of Least
MPEG stream: The North Coast
MPEG stream: Left With Lights

The last Pontiak record, 2012's Echo Ono, seriously threw us for a loop. Not only was it the group's seventh record (and yet the first one we'd heard), but it was also sonically, at the time at least, totally removed from what we normally expect from Thrill Jockey. Some seriously heavy, riffy, psychedelic, stoner rock, massive fuzzed out guitars, bombastic drumming, wild whooping vocals, but whatever it was, we dug it BIG TIME. So here's the follow up, and from track one, it's more of the glorious same. The first track a short sharp blast of crunchy riffage, spidery psychedelic leads, everything doused in fuzz and echo, a little bit mathy, seriously stonery, it's the sort of stuff that should appeal to underground heavy rock nerds as much as more mainstream folks into Queens Of The Stone Age and the White Stripes. In fact, spun correctly, it's not hard to imagine this being Pontiak's breakout record, and if some band like the Black Keys took them on tour, their big-rock-success fate would be sealed. But for now, they're still ours, and they're still plying their sweaty, bloody knuckled, hard rawking wares in tiny clubs and spitting out darkly psychedelic, eminently headbangable stoner groove, hard psych records like this one, and we seriously can't get enough. Fans of Golden Void, Dead Meadow, Comets On Fire, Bardo Pond, Burning Brides, will flip their lids. Swirling organs underpin some tracks, sounding straight up seventies psych prog ("It's The Greatest"), others like "Ghost", sound almost like Dutch instru-metallers Gore given a serious heavy fuzz makeover, the band locked into cyclical tranced out hypno-rock grooves. Other tracks are laid back, Southern rock slow jams, channeling the Allman Brothers or the Outlaws ("Noble Heads"), and still others are seriously slithery heavy rock dirges, with some of the fuzziest guitars since Kyuss (check out the chugging, churning "Surrounded By Diamonds") and a bunch are just awesomely noisy, psychedelic garage blowouts, swirling clouds of FX, the band kicking out the jams, swaggery, stomping hard rocking, hooky heaviness that just KILLS. And while they last, which won't be long by the way, the copies we have will come with a bonus cd, featuring 44 minutes of exclusive material called "Heat Leisure", recorded on the band's farm in Virginia with Greg Fox from Guardian Alien and formerly of Liturgy, as well as a dude from Arbouretum and Beach House, and originally featured in a short film. The bonus cd is only available direct from Thrill Jockey, the band, and a tiny handful of stores, one of which is OURS!

MPEG stream: Innocence
MPEG stream: Ghosts
MPEG stream: Surrounded By Diamonds
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The Ponys nuance up the post-punk here on a follow-up to their debut album. Celebration Castle, recorded by Steve Albini, smooths over some of the rawness from their first album. This might disappoint some of their fans while others may see past its production to the songs themselves. And they'll love em!

They may not be very good at spelling, but they've sure studied their rock history books. The Ponys are revivalists of a sound that never really went away. They fuse together all the many flavors of nineties college rock which in turn drew influence from the lanky rockers of the seventies. Turn The Lights Out is packed with big wall o' effects dissonance, sinewy picked guitar melodies, trippy space rock noodlin' and more straight ahead rock'n'roll bombast. Easily conjures up references to rock heroes Sonic Youth, Television, Jesus & Mary Chain, Pixies, Husker Du and Dinosaur Jr. Oh and did we mention that they even have a song titled "Exile On My Street"? Uh huh, check.

MPEG stream: Double Vision
MPEG stream: Everyday Weapon

Heavy psych and metal freaks, perhaps you remember we reviewed a reissue of this power trio Poobah's 1979 album Steamroller a while back? While '79 was a late date for "proto-metal", that's definitely what this Youngstown Ohio outfit sounded like, heavy duty acid rock n' roll action with plenty of psychedelically shredding guitar work. Well, now you can check out where they wuz comin' from, 'cause this "Special Collector's Edition" of their 1972 independently released debut has just been "re-unleashed". Just peep the vintage b&w photos of the band, all long hair, beards, head bands. Total hippies! HEAVY hippies. Hard as nails. But definitely hippies (like the fabulous furry freak bro looking dude depicted in the crude cover cartoon, spitting up into a toilet - or is it the other way around?). So, yeah, Poobah is "proto-metal" fersure on this one, right from the get-go with the aptly titled "Mr. Destroyer", which despite the peace-loving message of the lyrics seems to demonstrate that violence for violence's sake can work, in rock anyway! And aside from one (quite nice) laidback number, "Enjoy What You Have", the six tracks that make up the original release of Let Me In are all similarly raw rifftastic freakrock heaviness, very underground, their unhinged high wattage psychedelia almost kinda punk, a la the UK's Crushed Butler, Detroit's Death, or Australia's Coloured Balls. BAD ASS in other words. Heck the ominous creepy-crawl of "Bowleen" is practically doom metal, though Poobah do have their lighter side, with a penchant for funny voices and trippy rhythmic passages, hippy potsmoking stuff y'know... The bonus tracks (there's 10 on the gatefold double vinyl version and 12 on the compact disc) are all also quite worthy, recorded circa '72-'73, mostly more high energy ass-kickery in the vein of the album tracks, with a few weird noisy studio experiments thrown in for good measure... or maybe not "studio" exactly as most of the bonus cuts were recorded live to 2-track in the guitarist or bassist's living room. It all sounds great though, from the surprise vocal harmonies in the midst of "Make A Man Out Of You" to the Ted Nugent style gonzo goings on of "Going To Rock City"... Quite a treat, now we're waiting on a proper reissue of Poobah's second album, US Music, from '76, that's gotta happen someday too...

MPEG stream: Mr. Destroyer
MPEG stream: Bowleen
MPEG stream: Make A Man Out Of You

The Rockadrome label down in Texas is, as we have said, on a roll, digging up the awesome likes of Jerusalem and Iron Claw for our proto-metal listening pleasure. The both of them were early '70s bands from the UK, but Rockadrome, and related label that preceded it, Monster Records, have actually concentrated more on reissuing records by late '70s/early '80s American hard rock acts, private press obscurities that in a perfect world maybe woulda made it big, but had the misfortune of coming out right when new wave and/or disco was what the record companies wanted. Here's a great example, something previously reissued by Monster, now at last made available again in the Rockadrome catalog. The mighty POOBAH! A power trio from Ohio, featuring in particular the talents of guitarist/vocalist Jimmy Gustafson, the most kick ass guitar whizz you probably have never heard. This one's their 1979 album Steamroller, and aside from the unexpected, lovely piano intro to the instrumental "Atom Bomb", it pretty much IS a steamroller of rockin' and rollin', wailing guitars, bashing drums, psychedelic effects, and screamin' vocals. Although '79 might be a late date for "proto-metal" that's what we'd say this is, 'cause of the weird psych and prog elements, it's just a little too weird and wild and wacky to fit in with the straight-up metal scene, maybe that's why they stayed underground. The overload of raw, chunky riffage and squiggly, slashing guitar leads (along with campy, tongue-in-cheek lyrics) here wasn't exactly radio-friendly either, though great for a party. Basically the appeal of Poobah can be summed up by image found this disc's back cover of the band's curly-haired drummer wearing a homemade t-shirt that reads "Poobah Jams" in iron-on letters. Damn right, jam they did! So if you dig lotsa guitar, from a band influenced both by '70s heavies like Led Zeppelin (they do a cover of "Rock And Roll") and '60s surf music too, then you oughta ignore the budget cover art (both old and new, the one you see here is the new version Rockadrome came up with but the original is also fairly hideous) and check 'em out. You'll know if Poobah's for you after the seven minutes and thirty eight seconds of their track "Jump Through The Golden Ring" that opens the album! Oh, and like the previous edition on Monster, this includes some extra unreleased/live tracks also from '79. We'd like to hear more by these forgotten Midwestern hard rock heroes. Hopefully Rockadrome will also re-reissue the other Poobah album Monster did, 1976's U.S. Rock. And, eventually, all the other cool out of print Monster titles, like Cain's Pound Of Flesh. We'll keep you posted.

MPEG stream: Jump Through The Golden Ring
MPEG stream: She's That Kind Of Lover

Wooha, Poobah! We've previously reviewed reissues of this kickass if undeservedly obscure Ohio outfit's 1972 proto-metal debut Let Me In, and also their third album, the aptly titled Steamroller, from 1979. Now at last we've got the missing link, their 2nd album, U.S. Rock, originally released in the bicentennial year of 1976 - hence the title, and the band's patriotic pose on the cover, dressed in Revolutionary-era costume. Lead by guitar whiz Jim Gustafson, Poobah here deliver another potent dose of their gonzo acid hard rock action. There's a song here called "Let's Rock", and another one called "Keep On Rollin'", so you get the idea, yeah, they're all about the rock n' roll good times! The former is a total '50s style rave up with boogie-woogie piano; the latter a heavier, glammier Alice Cooper-ish number. But the thing with Poobah is that they've got a crazed psychedelic side to 'em, we've written before about 'em being "weird and wild and wacky" - and we're not just talking about the song here called "Crazy", definitely one for the Dr. Demento hit parade. On a bunch of the tracks they pull off some maniacal falsetto screamin', and speaking of that, get a load of the almost-kecak-like "Chicky Chicky Cha, Chicky Chicky Cha" chant featured in the song "Watch Me", that had us staring at the stereo the first time we heard it. WTF? That's entertainment! For this reissue they've added 4 bonus tracks to U.S. Rock's original ten, and really across the album there's a lot of varied moods, including some nice melodic stuff - like the dreamy and majestic "Your Way, My Way" (one of the bonus tracks, which also include a 9+ minute live version of "Steamroller"). The MC5 and Ted Nugent and Grand Funk could be common reference points, to cite some big names; also Poobah are in the same realm as other underground American seventies rockers reissued by Rockadrome like Cain and Hooker - but with more unhinged hippie humor we think! (Note: Ripple also did this reissue on cd, unfortunately we were sent the wrong title this week, so we'll have to list the cd version next time... and it's the cd that has the 4 bonus tracks mentioned above, they're not included on the vinyl.)

MPEG stream: Watch Me
MPEG stream: Thru These Eyes
MPEG stream: Keep On Rollin'

One of our favorite far out noise records, from Israel! Back in stock, but probably not for long... Noise is always a tricky proposition. Some folks just want that harsh, brutal, paint peeling, speaker shredding white noise aural assault, while others (like us) like their noise with a little bit of structure, and texture and -gasp- maybe even some melody and dynamics. Our favorite noise records tend to be those that do something special or original with noise. There's plenty of Merzbow we could do without, but a handful of his discs are truly innovative blasts of gorgeously crafted corrosive sound. Gate's Golden is another example of a 'noise' record that manages to be as pretty and mysterious as it is harsh. And there are a bunch of noise(y) discs that completely kick our asses, records from Hijokaidan, Hototogisu, Hanatarash, Gerogerigegege, Incapacitants, Nerve Net Noise and more, sure we love us some full bore NOISE!!, but typically, of that stuff, the discs that gets the most play, are the ones that aren't just a straight wall of noise.� We recently reviewed a killer disc of remixes, various artists reinterpreting and recontextualizing tracks from�Kurdish Melodies On Zorna by Zadik Zecharia, a pretty solid AQ fave. The Zorna is�a traditional Kurdish instrument like a longer more narrow trumpet or Scottish bagpipe, and Zecharia got work magic with his, weaving dense tapestries of joyful sound. The highlight of the remix record was Israeli noise unit Poochlatz's mix, turning Zecharia's playful Zorna into an instrument of doom and gloom! It definitely had us hankering for more.� So�here it is, the latest release from Poochlatz, a single nearly twenty minute track, and it's pretty caustic. Harsh and bleak and distorted and blown out and indeed very very noisy. But there's a lot going on, within the noise and beneath the surface. The whole track exists in a black cloud of squealing feedback, moaning slabs of downtuned guitar, jagged slabs of glitched out electronics, everything muddy and murky and crumbling, but beneath this wall of abject brutality, hover strange barely audible majestic melodies, what sounds like snippets of songs buried way way down,�howled blackened vocals, distant demonic roars, streaks of sound all tangled up with smears of disembodied percussion, some almost black metal riffing pulled apart into weird blurry buzzes. On first listen, it's like sticking your head in a hornet's nest, but once your head is firmly lodged in there, the buzzing and constant stinging begins to feel soothing, almost tranquil, you head begins to swell, your ears swollen shut, all sound reduced to thick slabs of whir and shriek, so intense and strangely alien. Think Whitehouse versus Skullflower versus Wolf Eyes versus Prurient with some strange shoegazery pop ambient referee trying desperately to keep the fight fair and failing miserably. A beautifully brutal slab of dreamy (nightmarish?) noise. Recorded live too!

MPEG stream: Thanks For Giving In (excerpt)

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

SORRY.

We're pretty excited about this new vintage reissue label, Monk, that's releasing these nice deluxe vinyl versions of early recorded music that are hard to come by these days: blues, folk, country, bluegrass, Western swing and early jazz. Sure there's Mississippi records, but these have nicer packaging, are well researched, and compiled, and just a bit more, well, deluxe. Plus Monk also seems to be focusing on the veritable stars of these genres like Charley Patton, Charlie Poole, Dock Boggs and Django Reinhardt, providing a fine selection of their best early recordings. Considered one of the grandfathers of modern country music and bluegrass, Charlie Poole, singer and banjo player, with his North Carolina Ramblers recorded over 60 tunes for the Columbia label during the 1920's. Though he didn't write any of his own tunes, he was a mean interpreter, often changing lyrics and tempos of traditional songs and making them his own, becoming one of country music's first stars, influencing the next generation of country music from Bill Monroe to Hank Williams, before dying at an early age due to achohol-induced heart failure. Husband and Wife Were Angry One Night covers 16 of Poole's finest recordings detailing the hard-living and hard-loving life that we love to hear in early country music!

Monk whips up another amazing collection of songs from the great Charlie Poole, and like the last one, Husband And Wife Were Angry One Night, this showcases Poole's clear tenor voice and rhythmic fingerpicked banjo playing in all their glory. Captured between 1925-1930 for Columbia Records, many of these songs come from the traditional American songbook and also feature Poole's North Carolina Ramblers bandmates. What we have hear are the beginnings of country and bluegrass as they would come to be known, essential listening for anyone with an interest in the roots of American music.

You don't have to be a music theory nerd to enjoy the results of LA guitarist Rod Poole's explorations of "just intonation" or "pure tuning", a system of tuning quite different from the current Western standard of 12 pitches to the octave "equal temperment". It's been used in the music of La Monte Young and Terry Riley among others. Just intonation simply lends itself to tranquil, droning, meditative music, it would seem -- and Mind's Island, a disc of vaguely Eastern-sounding (non-Western anyway!) guitar/voice improv, or "spontaneous composition" as the artists put it, is a great example. The droning blend of Poole's acoustic guitar and the wordless singing of "avant-world" vocalist Sasha Bodganowitsch is both blissful and exotic-sounding. We've heard only a few recordings by Poole previously (there are only a few) and always want to hear more, so this is a quite welcome release.

MPEG stream: Sun Speak
MPEG stream: Call To Being

We often wonder why members of bands strike out on their own, and then end up making solo records that sound pretty much exactly like the band said member is taking a break from, but it happens all the time, and in most cases, nobody minds, cuz the whole reason we're interested in the solo record by that artist, is cuz we love the band they're from. In some cases, we imagine it's cuz they don't get as much input as they'd like, which makes it even more ironic when their solo record sounds so much like their actual band. Anyway, what we're getting at, is that this new ep from Poor Moon, which features two members of Sub Pop folkies Fleet Foxes, sounds quite a bit like Fleet Foxes. The biggest difference to these ears is the vocals, as obviously FF is defined by the dulcet tones of mainman Robin Pecknold, and a sound that is a bit more washed out and reverby. But otherwise, we might have even believed that this was in fact a new Fleet Foxes record, as it delivers the same sort of softly psychedelic folkiness, acoustic guitars, lush vocal harmonies, lilting and dreamy, opener "Illusion" is a serious gem, with some cool background noise delivered in soft swells behind the strum and croon, and a gorgeous vocal melody, sounds like a song, that could easily have been a FF jam. The rest of the record plays out similarly, woozy, washed out, dreamy and druggy, lots of shimmer and sun dappled reverby drift, with a serious sixties hippy vibe, but the band does occasionally get their rock on, like the classic jangle pop of "People In Her Mind", which sounds like some lost classic sixties garage jam, and there's the lilting twang flecked dream pop of "Once Before", but the record returns to the classic country folk sound for the dreamy loveliness of closer "Widow", which really IS a dead ringer for Fleet Foxes. Needless to say, fans of FF will want this for sure, but anyone into that sort of washed out sixties sun dappled country folk should definitely lend an ear...

MPEG stream: Illusion
MPEG stream: Anyplace

First full length from this Fleet Foxes offshoot, and as we mentioned in our review of their recent Illusion ep, the sound really doesn't stray that far from the FF mothership, hushed delicate country folk dreaminess, all crystalline acoustic guitars, lush vocal harmonies, lilting melodies, the opening track is super stripped down and dreamy, but the second track is where the sound begins to blossom, becoming almost orchestral, layered and lush, and in doing so, definitely starts slipping firmly back into Fleet Foxes Territory. "Same Way", with its reverbed vox and sixties jangle, sounds a lot like the recently reviewed Father John Misty record, yet ANOTHER Fleet Foxes related project. And so it goes, the sound so lovely, and twang flecked, laced with lots of extra big band instrumentation, cascades of marimba and vibraphone, bits of percussion, strings, everything wreathed in echo and reverb, a total classic twang flecked pop vibe, a la Roy Orbison, or the Byrds. And like the preceding ep, some serious gems tucked away, like "Waiting For", which might be the catchiest of the bunch, or "Come Home" which sounds like some folks standard done sixties style, or "Holiday", that reminds us of New Lines, the same sort of Beach Boys beholden retro pop, the whole record brimming with dreamy old school pop, that while most definitely of interest to Fleet Foxes fans, should find much love with fans of Dum Dum Girls, Best Coast, and all the rest of the current crop of retro poppers.

MPEG stream: Clouds Below
MPEG stream: Phantom Light
MPEG stream: Same Way
MPEG stream: Holiday
MPEG stream: Waiting For

Another rad new band to add to the legion of SF psychedelic garage rock outfits who have been kicking our asses. And if you need a hint as to what these guys sound like it, just notice that out of place 'y' in the title of the tape. Sorta like the 'j' in Wooden Shjips yeah? While Poor Sons don't really sound THAT much like WS, they definitely would be right at home on the same bill, the core of their sound a droned out garage psych, hypnotic and buzzy, the drums shuffling and propulsive, the big difference are the vocals, there seem to be two singers, both WAY up in the mix, their vocals doused in effects, echo and distortion, to the point that when both are singing, in cool unlikely harmony, they nearly drown out the band, and when the vocals fade, and the band ramp it up, like on the second half of opener "Cool Buzz", these guys let loose and tear it up, shredding and pounding, the bass driving, the guitars shooting sparks, while the rhythm section holds everything down, that lead break is the sort of part you want to go on for minutes instead of seconds. The rest of the tape is just as ruling, the band definitely swimming in similar waters as their scenemates in Thee Oh Sees, a sort of distorted blown out ramshackle garage pop, swaggery and snarly, fuzzy and jangly, slipping from churning sweat soaked pound to moody psychedelic shamble and back again, with plenty of falsetto ooooh's and frantic drumming, meshing moody jangle pop with droney psych and making a sound that ends up their very own. Which is pretty tough in a field as crowded as the psychedelic garage rock scene, but these guys are positioned to give The Oh Sees a run for their money. We've yet to see these guys play out, but based just on the tape, we're guessing they kill live too. WAY recommended. Anyone into Thee Oh Sees, the Fresh & Onlys, Bare Wires, Mikal Cronin, Ty Segall and Blasted Canyons can now add Poor Sons to your list of favorite local bands.

MPEG stream: Cool Buzz
MPEG stream: Scales

Latest from these NY noise rockers, and like their last record, The Horror, the awesomely titled Imps Of Perversion is another killer collection of dark, rhythmic noisiness. In our review of the The Horror, we compared these guys to everything from Aussie knuckle draggers Lubricated Goat, to fellow NY noiserockers The Men, imagining then that they would be way more at home on AmRep circa '95, and all of that definitely still applies. Some things have changed though, Imps is not nearly as raw and lo-fi, less noisy too, and the Cop Shoot Cop style junkyard percussion that peppered the Horror seems to have been ditched too, but all a fair trade off for a sound that's much more confident, better songs, better production, and while some of the raw energy might be missing, this is still and awesomely fierce and broodingly heavy and noisy blast of gloomy noise rock swagger. And there's plenty of sonic weirdness going on as well, between the blasts of organ driven stomp and pounding downtuned crush, there are spaced out swaths of FX heavy psychedelia, sounding a bit like some sort of Hawkwind / Clockcleaner hybrid, or the super blown out Pussy Galore-ish intro to "Population Control", that sounds like it was recorded on a handheld tape player, the drum set sounding like a pile of rusty old trash cans, when the sound suddenly attains high fidelity, the song now a drum machine driven noise rock new wave, that almost sounds like a super charged alien Devo. There's the synth heavy "Do The Anglerfish", which pairs some punk swagger and stomp, with some psychedelic synthwave, or the creepy slo-mo FX drenched blooz jangle of closer "Riding Shotgun", and hell, even the less far out songs are peppered with random weirdness, all of which would be pointless if the songs didn't kill, but they do, and they'll end up getting lodged in your head like crazy, every twisted little blurt, just give "Lights Out" a listen and see if you don't find yourself wanting to listen to it over and over, or even humming it to yourself days later...

MPEG stream: Lights Out
MPEG stream: The Control Freak
MPEG stream: Population Control

We Are Time is a collection of odds and ends from The Pop Group, first issued on Rough Trade in 1980. All of the material was recorded around the same time as their seminal album Y from 1979, though nothing except for the title track and "Thief Of Fire" had appeared on their two albums from that time period. With the exception of those two tracks and an obscure B-sides (all of which appear here in live, demo, or alternate forms by the way), everything else is unique to the compilation. The recording sources are all different, making the entire album a bit uneven in terms of sound quality; but that criticism is pretty fucking minor, when it comes to a reissue of this fairly obscure album from this incredible Pop Group. Always an adventurous proposition, The Pop Group took the feral energy of punk to dub production techniques and a self-immolating funk sending limbs and legs in too many directions at once. We Are Time - with its much more raw sessions - tends towards the dislocating rhythmic aspect of The Pop Group's sound and less of the dub-punk delirium. Frontman Mark Stewart is a much of a madman as he's ever been, very much on par with his contemporaries of Nick Cave then of The Birthday Party and James Chance. His yelps and barks punctuated the jittery guitar spangles and that rhythm section that seems always on the verge of coming unhinged. Very nice to have this work in print!

MPEG stream: Trap
MPEG stream: Colour Blind
MPEG stream: Sense Of Purpose

Ever since the release of that great Soul Jazz "In The Beginning There Was Rhythm" compilation on which The Pop Group appear, and also with the rise of current artists like San Francisco's Erase Errata whose work shares and reflects the spirit and energy of Formed in 1978 by four young men from Bristol, The Pop Group unleashed itself from the frigid political environment of their native England and its narrowing punk scene. Lyrically and visually committed to leftist political ideals (much like their peers in Crass and some time later, The Ex), and sonically more "out" and dissonant than any other "punk" act of their time, The Pop Group abandoned the "no future" stereotypes for more serious and thought provoking ideas both ideological and musical. Produced by veteran reggae/dub producer and musician Dennis Bovell, who was also responsible for "Cut" by The Slits, another post-punk outfit with whom The Pop Group happened to share an early single (the fabulous "Where There's A Will" backed by The Slits' "In The Beginning There Was Rhythm"), this explosive 1979 debut kicks off with "Thief Of Fire" in which short blasts of guitar noise fills in the gaps where an aggressive bass funk and a primitive percussive drive weave in and out of each other. From there on, the record just gets more and more angular, outrageous, and weird as it unfolds. "Snowgirl" features crackling guitarwork accompanied by macabre tinkling piano and the odd wail of vocalist Mark Stewart (who would go on to form Tackhead and become an integral part of the On-U Sound collective). And of course there's the "hit" single (and arguably their defining moment), "She Is Beyond Good And Evil", a must-hear (it's also on the "In The Beginning There Was Rhythm" comp). The booklet has lyrics in English and Japanese as well as a nice collage of photos. Highly recommended! While we are sure to soon run out of this hard-to-get import, we've been assured we'll be able to get more of them within a few weeks, never fear.

RealAudio clip: She is Beyond Good and Evil
RealAudio clip: Snowgirl
RealAudio clip: We Are Time
RealAudio clip: Words Disobey Me

The title does not lie. Iggy live on tour in '77, with Bowie in his band!

Punk icon Iggy's back for another round. This time, in addition to his own band the Trolls, and celebrity guests including Peaches, Sum41 and Green Day, he's got his old friends The Stooges (!!!) on board for four songs. As you probably have heard, Iggy and the Stooges (with road dog Mike Watt filling the shoes of Dave Alexander, the bass player who passed away way back in 1975) have done a few, wildly successful reunion shows in recent months. I, Allan, just came back from the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in LA this past weekend, where Iggy and the Stooges headlined the second night (that's basically why I went)...and I can tell you that it was 'real cool time' getting to see 'em, even if they didn't utterly blow my mind or anything. Iggy's like 56, twenty-two years older than me, but I sure couldn't jump around for more than three minutes like he did for the duration of the entire show! And maybe I've led a sheltered existence, but I've never seen a performer jump *onto* a crowd surfer and surf *them* before. They did songs from the first two Stooges albums only, EXCEPT for two of the four new ones found here on Skull Ring. And sad to say, these songs aren't that great, largely 'cause of the inane lyrics. Back in 1970 the Stooges never woulda done a song called "Dead Rock Star" would they? Anyway, I must admit I actually prefer Iggy's collaboration with Peaches on here over the Stooges tracks, maybe 'cause there's less room for disappointment. Still, worth checking out if you love Iggy.

MPEG stream: Little Electric Chair (w/ Stooges)
MPEG stream: Rock Show (w/ Peaches)

"Hardcore is a place where upper-middle-class white kids take all the good pan handling spots away from the bums who really need them". So said the irreverent punk rock sage that is Joe Pop-O-Pie in his classic "The Words of Jamal -- The Rainbow Bridge Version". Along with the Butthole Surfers, the Pop-O-Pies were the perfect antidote for punks who were tiring of a stale, formulaic genre and a scene that took itself way too seriously. Started in 1981, the Pop-O-Pies were the brain child of New Jersey raised, 'Frisco' transplant Joe Callahan (A.K.A. Joe Pop-O-Pie). And for those who weren't there for the legendary first two years of its existence, the rumor is true, the Pop-O-Pies really did play only one song: "Truckin'". According to Joe the reason was because the band's lineup changed so often, there really wasn't much time to learn anything more. The end result however, was a band tailor made to piss off punks and hippies (or pseudo-radical youth culture) alike. Joe eventually found a competent, and consistent backing band in the form of none other than Faith No More and recorded the now out of print (and master tapes lost forever, sigh) "White EP" on 415 Records. But that, due to its nonexistent nature, is not the subject of this anthology. The bulk of the material here are the complete Joe's Second (also featuring Faith No More) and Joe's Third Records released in 1984 and 1986 on Subterranean Records -- at the height of punk rock's uber-hip, uber-tough, uber-serious "hardcore" era. If there's one thing that self righteous punks needed at that time, it was a good satirical slap in the face and Joe Pop-O-Pie was there to administer it. And administer he did, replete with well played, overindulgent Hendrix-esque guitar parts market tested to irritate the minimalist punk rock purists. To be fair (to the punks and Joe), that isn't all that the Pop-O-Pies satirize. Joe takes on the music industry ("Industrial Rap"), New York City ("I Love New York"), the Beatles ("I Am the Walrus"), bummed out guys ("Bummed-Out-Guy"), morons ("World-O-Morons"), the Grateful Dead ("Truckin' Slow Version" and "Sugar Magnolia") and much more and all throughout peppered with the unique punk rock salt-of-the-earth wisdom of Joe Pop-O-Pie. Not only does this anthology contain the Second and Third Records in their entirety, but also includes four additional tracks: two from Joe's 1993 comeback "The In Frisco Single" released on Amarillo and two previously unreleased tracks from the same recording session (featuring Mr. Bungle alumni Trey Spruance, Danny Heifetz and Dieselhed bassist Atom Ellis). Included with the disc is a three panel fold out featuring historical notes on the Pop-O-Pies, photos new and old and a brief account of an actual conversation overheard by Robert Mailer Anderson. And what's best is that, buying this, you don't have to worry about the artist getting screwed. Yes, that's right, Joe has come out of hiding himself to put this collection together in 100% true D.I.Y. fashion. So every dollar goes to Joe and not some A&R clown in some office building somewhere.

MPEG stream: Truckin' - Slow Version
MPEG stream: The Words of Jamal

Not sure what it is about these NY noise rockers, but the album name is pretty right on, cuz this is some awesomely horrifying, paranoid, synth soaked, rhythmic, heavy, dark weirdness. Record opener "Burn The Worm" starts with the line "Two dogs fucking" and it's ON from there on out. The vibe is dark and swaggery, grungy and crusty, swampy and bluesy, psychedelic and post punky, you can totally imagine these guys being on AmRep or being from Australia, there are hints of Cop Shoot Cop, and Lubricated Goat, even Pussy Galore, but these guys take those influences and jam them into something brand new, low slung and fuzz drenched, a little bit gothy and gloomy, a little bit angular and new wave, but loose and chaotic and fucked up, rife with surprising hooks, and killer melodies, industrial junkyard percussion, thick slithery bass, and huge bursts of white noise crunch. At times these guys sound like they could be one of those third string Sub Pop bands we were totally obsessed with, that sort of druggy, almost glammy, swampy blues sound, but with hints of new wave, fused to a lurching lumbering noise rock and all tangled up with some sweaty bloody garage punk pound. All that and songs too. Not hard to imagine these guys born from the same fertile sonic soil that gave us past Record Of The Weekers The Men, similarly noisy and heavy, but infinitely more twisted and gloriously fucked up.

MPEG stream: Burn The Worm
MPEG stream: New Electronic
MPEG stream: Nature Boy

Strangely enough (or not?) for someone who spends a lot of their time writing music reviews, I just LOVE to read music reviews. And if it's reviews of old heavy metal records, even better! And there's few reviewers whose reviews I get as much of a kick out of as those of Canadian heavy metal opinionmeister Martin Popoff. Back in 1997 he wrote a book -- a tome, in truth, with 3,740 reviews -- entitled The Collector's Guide To Heavy Metal, itself an update of Popoff's previously published opus Riff Kills Man: 25 Years Of Hard Rock & Heavy Metal (a mere 1,942 reviews in that one). And that wasn't enough. So now he's back, revising and expanding the his ultimate heavy metal review resource into not one but three volumes, one per decade of metal, starting with this one, devoted to pretty much anything that rocked out and exhibited some degree of heaviosity in the '70s! And some relevant late '60s albums sneak in too. Hundreds upon hundreds of albums are covered here, each getting a paragraph-or-two review and ratings on not one but two 10-point scales: first for heaviness (which in Martin's world seems more akin to "metalness") and a second for simply just how much Martin likes the album in question. These two scores often correlate but not always. And of course it's not clear that these faux-scientific numerical rankings are a good idea, since it leads to silly comparisons... Blue Cheer's Vincebus Eruptum gets a "6" for heaviness (I woulda gone higher!) while he gives the same rating to Jo Jo Gunne's Jumpin' The Gunne. And they actually both get the same quality rating too, both 6's. Huh? But that is part of the charming eccentricity of this book and its author. Agree with him or not, he'll still get you stoked on some great music. That's the best thing about this -- that despite the title, it's not really a "collector's" guide. That is, it's not at all about what's rare and valuable and hard to find and that sort of thing. Sure, the occasional ridiculous eBay price gets mentioned, and Martin will bring up some peculiarity of a reissue or whatever if he thinks it's interesting. But what this book is REALLY about is the music, something that most "collector's guides" barely ever even seem concerned with amidst concerns about rarity and monetary value. Sure, Martin's a collector, i.e., he's got lots of records. And so am I. But the motivation for the collecting -- and review-writing -- is an abiding love for the "Greatest Music In The World" (as Martin puts it, and I won't argue) and a desire to share that excitement. So don't come to this book expecting to read a lot about different vinyl pressings and suchlike, thank god. And indeed, part of Martin's mission here is to dispel some collector's myths. He wants to examine some so-called "collector's holy grails" and see if they really stand up against the more popular, better-known bands in the heaviness stakes. Some do, but the point he's making is that just 'cause something costs $500 for an original pressing doesn't mean it's in the same league musically as, say, the Scorpions LP you can still pick up for relatively cheap at a flea market. Kind of a record-collector reality check. And that's good...although of course I'm still drooling over some of these hard-to-find obscurities regardless! And that's what this is for too... covering as it does everything from the obvious (Deep Purple, Judas Priest, Kiss, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen...) to the obscure (Buffalo, I Teoremi, Leafhound, Bang, Jerusalem...). And Martin devotes a bit of space at the beginning of the book explaining how the definition of heavy metal in the '70s is a bit broader than in later decades, as he includes in lots of stuff that the average headbanger today wouldn't consider metal, from hard rock (Foreigner, Aerosmith, Foghat...) to punk acts (The Stooges, DMZ, The Damned, The Saints, Sex Pistols...) to some harder prog and krautrock. But "heavy metal" meant something a little different back in the '70s anyway (as any reader of Black To Comm 'zine will confirm). There's very few omissions I could think of (and lots of stuff in here I'd never even heard of before!). He even includes an appendix listing bands that you might think (from the name or album cover) are heavy that aren't! And after hours of reading I've only come across one factual mistake. Opinion-wise, there's more to argue with -- as I said, I don't always agree with his reviews, but they're enthused and amusing and even if he trashes an album I personally love I still read it with a chuckle. For a music (and heavy '70s rock) junkie like me, this is a real can't put down page turner like some people find the latest Stephen King or John Grisham. His style is sportswriterly colourful, sometimes just a little crazed, and real conversational. I shouldn't make this review any longer than it is already by quoting from Popoff's prose, but here's a sample from his (10/10) review of Black Sabbath's Sabotage: "...a tour de force from a quartet improbably tormented by the demons of genius and more probably towel-whipped by the gnomes of stupidity." Nice. Getting into this guy's music n' metal-mad mind, with all his rankings and charts and appendices and personal reminicences is amazing. And as a fellow-review writer, can I just say how freaking impressed I am with his accomplishment here? Pretty much essential for any historical-minded metalhead or retro-rocker who likes to read! Oh yeah, plus there's a bonus cd comp with tracks from the Monster records reissue roster.

Reading this -- and when we got these in Andee and Allan were doing nothing but -- makes us think that maybe we should replace everything in our metal section with only '80s metal reissues. Get rid of all the '90s and beyond black/death/grind metal, and only stock the big hair, big melodies stuff from the '80s, all the LA Sunset Strip and NWOBHM discs we can get. Whaddya think? Let's rock!! Ok, maybe we're getting carried away but that's what this book is all about, getting carried away by fannish enthusiasm for the glory days of METAL. It's the second volume in Canadian metal scribe Martin Popoff's rewrite/update of his original book of metal reviews that came out in one volume some years back. The first volume of the new edition, The Collector's Guide To Heavy Metal Vol. 1: The Seventies (which is already, sadly, out of print!) we listed a year ago and we've been waiting anxiously for this volume ever since. Well it's here and even bigger and better than we imagined. 432 pages! Literally thousands of reviews!! You'd be hard pressed to think of an '80s metal band not covered. In the M chapter, for instance, you'll find the biggest of the big four Metallica as well as the more obscure likes of Manilla Road, Malice, and Max Havoc. And Popoff is quite catholic in this endeavor, not neglecting any subgenre of '80s metal from pop to thrash to grunge to crossover...even Husker Du makes the cut! If you've read any of his previous books you'll know Popoff to have an idiosyncratic, conversational writing style as well as his own sometimes quirky take on things. We certainly don't agree with all his reviews. But we LOVE reading them. Moreso than the '70s volume, which served as resource to find out about a lot of records we'd never heard of before, this one has a bigger nostalgia factor due to our age. Those of us (that'd be Andee) who grew up as metalheads can spend hours and hours looking up old favorites (Icon! Helix! Black n' Blue! Tokyo Blade!) that you otherwise would never ever ever probably hear about ever again. For that in itself -- being a record guide devoted to the unhip, unheralded, but goshdarnit still totally amazing or at least hot rockin' -- we salute Popoff's effort. He deserves a medal. A metal medal. Authoritative, exhaustive, obsessive, encyclopedic, opinionated and most of all (if you're a metal fan) endlessly entertaining! His 1-10 scale ratings are sure to be the cause of some fun arguments too (and we see that Popoff has revised and expanded not only his actual writing but his ratings as well -- we're happy to note that his assessment of local SF legends Brocas Helm has gone up a few notches, their Into Battle LP now rating several points higher than it did in the older edition of this tome.) Sure, we here at AQ write a lot of reviews too but we've got to bow before his achievement, this massive task to which he has seemingly devoted a good part of his life. Indeed, we can't even imagine how Popoff will top this with the next volume due, devoted to the '90s. He's got to be slaving away on that right now, and as soon as it's out we'll let you know... Apparently that's going to be it for him, he'll retire after that, and any volume four devoted to the current decade will have to be handled by a protege! Includes a cd sampler of '80s Metal Blade artists including Cirith Ungol, Lizzy Borden, Bitch, Nasty Savage, and Slayer.

Here it is at last. Martin Popoff has laboriously reviewed the heavy metal albums of the '70s, the '80s -- and now the '90s. What a madman. This new book weighs in at 520 pages. THREE THOUSAND SEVENTY THREE reviews. 3,073!!! Good grief. If anybody knows how hard it is to write 3,073 reviews, we do! We bow in honor of Popoff's achievement. And remember, this is volume three in a series (which, as far as Popoff is concerned, stops here, though perhaps an ambitious and/or foolish protege will take up the torch and at some future date produce a book of '00s reviews). The '70s book had 1,162 reviews. The '80s one 2,528. So this is the biggest yet. So, what's in here, besides just about everything? Well if you're familiar with Martin's other books, you know that he's a very entertaining and idiosyncratic writer. And very opinionated too of course! As he should be, that's what makes this interesting. Just 'cause we don't always (often?) agree with him, that doesn't mean we don't absolutely love reading his reviews. And same goes for reading his reviews of albums that we couldn't care less about (which, this being the '90s book, and so big, there's plenty of in here). You'd think, from our current perspective, that this '90s volume would have tons of the church-burning wave of Scandinavian black metal, and a whole lot of the gory death metal scene of the day. Well, that stuff's in here, for sure, but so's plenty of other styles of metal and bands now less revered. You gotta remember, Martin wrote a lot of these reviews back IN the '90s, for his original Collector's Guide To Heavy Metal (before his 3-volume revision, now completed). And he wasn't that into black metal then, nor was it clear how significant that particular musical movement would become. What was popular then (and popular with Martin) was the last gasp of the heyday of the hair metal bands. Also the rise of grunge and other forms of alterna-metal. So, although there's only one review of a Burzum album (out of their seven records of the '90s), there's reviews of such (deservedly?) forgotten acts as Mind Funk, Mr. Big, Dangerous Toys, Paw, Big Chief, Saigon Kick, Jackyl, and Mordred. You also get to read about the sad, late-career failed comeback attempts of many '80s hair metal stars, and still-strugglin' '70s acts too (there's three Nazareth reviews!). This sounds like a criticism, and maybe it is if you're ONLY interested in "extreme metal" (as opposed, to, ferinstance, the band Extreme, which gets a 10 out of 10 for their III Sides To Every Story album from 1992). But remember, there's over three thousand reviews here. And we like being reminded of stuff like Enuff Z'Nuff and Warrior Soul and Circus Of Power and Love/Hate and Masters Of Reality and the SEVEN studio albums Motorhead released in the nineties... And don't worry, the likes of Dimmu Borgir and Borknagar and Marduk etc. all get covered -- basically if a band had an album out on Century Media or Nuclear Blast or Relapse or even Necropolis or Red Stream, it's in here. We also noticed that Martin has upped his scores (awarded on a scale of 1 to 10 for each album) for a lot of the black metal stuff since the original book -- though Mayhem's classic De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas still gets a 0, though Martin allows he would now give it a 7 but feels that the zero is almost more of a compliment to this "near-genius wretch of an album". It's like the anti-ten, that the inverted-cross crowd should appreciate. And at this point we know and love all of Popoff's reviewing quirks. The Canadian Content, of course. The weird idea he has that bands get BETTER with each release (when everybody knows that most of the time the first album is the best). And then there's his personal "Top 100" list. Which is INSANE. Try this on for size: Popoff's personal favorite best "Heavy Metal" album of the '90s is... wait for it... tad dah, Rhythmeen by ZZ Top! What?? Now, actually that's a pretty cool album (sez Allan) but it sure ain't the best heavy metal disc of the '90s. Heck it's not even heavy metal!!! (And it's not an ironic Chuck Eddy "Tina Marie" move either). So who let this guy write a book about heavy metal? Well if you read it, you'll understand. By the way, the #1 '90s metal album that fans picked in an internet poll conducted by Popoff is a much more sane choice: Megadeth's Rust In Peace. Granted, this book could at least have been a lot smaller if Martin had restricted his definition of metal just a bit (does Primus really need to be in here?) but again it's written from the perspective of where the "industry" was going back in the '90s... all over the place, basically. So let's leave you with some more names of which this book will perhaps spark fond memories (or not): Sepultura, My Dying Bride, Helmet, Machine Head, Kyuss, Therapy?, Danzig, Porno For Pyros, Pitch Shifter, Skyclad, Tiamat, Monster Magnet, Crowbar, Asphyx, Last Crack, Paradise Lost, Pantera, Four Horsemen, Fudge Tunnel, Therion, Type O Negative, Annihilator... like we said, good grief, there's so much! Jesus Lizard's major label records, and five U.D.O. albums, and all the cool Earache stuff like Godflesh and Carcass and Cathedral and Entombed, and all the Iron Maiden in decline discs, and Metallica's Load albums, and Joey Belladona (ex-Anthrax) solo, Vince Neil solo too, and even Allan's favorite obscure Canadian speed metal band Dogs With Jobs! Maybe the '90s weren't the metal decade that the '80s were, but there was no shortage of the stuff (and its variants) and if you were into it then you'll get a kick out of this book that's for sure. Oh yeah, of course this also comes with a bonus cd of "nineties rarities", courtesy the Metal Blade label, including tracks by Gwar, Six Feet Under, Skrew, King's X, Cannibal Corpse, and Amon Amarth...

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