This is the second full length from this German black metal horde, and like most black metal records, opens with an intro (or 'Prolog' here), but this intro had us immediately mesmerized, sounding like some strange organ driven seventies soundtrack, all Goblin-y and Carpenter-ish, creaking guitar strings simulating rusty old hinges, while the organ metes out a creepy ominous funereal dirge, all underpinned by an ominous low end fog horn like drone, we secretly found ourselves hoping the band weren't actually black metal, that despite the illegible logo and the grim black and white artwork and the corpse painted band members (who do look seriously bad ass to be fair), they were in fact ambient soundtrackers or experimental soundscapers, but our disappointment when discovering that they were indeed a black metal band, lasted about ten seconds, before we were totally won over, and sucked into their buzzing, howling, frosty maelstrom of grimbuzz and blackblast, a creepy almost atmospheric doomed out beginning, gives way to a furious frenetic black blowout, that again surprisingly switches gears and infuses their buzzing blackness with some classic metal style riffery, some weirdly hooky melody, and some killer almost punkish riffing, all of this delivered with a fury and intensity that is exactly why we love true grim black metal. There's nothing super experimental about this stuff, or more accurately fucked up or weird. There is definitely an experimental bent, but it's subtly woven into the fabric of these gloriously black missives, the opener alone is a dizzying epic, that flits from doomy churn, to pounding classic metal, to soaring majestic blackness, to gnarled grinding buzz, the guitars thick and caustic, the drumming an avalanche of blasts and pounds, and the vocals, a demonic rasp, that all adds up to some seriously classic modern blackness. The record finishes off with an outro that mirrors the Goblin/Carpenter aspirations of the intro, all operatic and mysterious, with a strange spoken word over circusy organs and soaring strings, clouds of ethereal angelic vox, perfectly bookending the black buzz that lies in between.
We've long been a fan of Encomiast, never tiring of his gorgeous drone explorations, so when we discovered that the man behind Encomiast also had a black metal band, it seemed like a no brainer, and indeed, the music of Schrei Aus Stein manages to fuse Encomiast's deep rumbling drone music, with a strangely washed out and hypnotic midtempo buzz drenched black metal, this is not blazing riffy thrashing black metal, no this is a murky sprawling blackened oozing blackness, the riffs super distorted to the point of almost becoming drones themselves, the vocals are buried in the mix, the drums are simple and skeletal, the buzz and black infused with haunting melodies, the songs heaving and lumbering, the overall sound very Burzumic, but also weirdly poppy and melodic, not glaringly so, but within the swirling black mass of sound, melodies creep out only to disappear again, a few of the tracks sound almost gothic, with a bit of a cold wave vibe, definitely some Joy Divisiony low end going on in the background.
Another song starts out all high end Sunroof! style ur-drone, only to splinter into a loping depressive black metal pound, while another is all slow building and doomy, a little post rocky, with soaring riffs and simple motorik drumming, and the final track is all slow motion SUNNO))) dirge, which quickly gives way to something much more melodic and pretty, a sort of shoegazey soft doom, that slowly builds to a wall of blurred noise, only to finally explode in a frenzy of blasting flute flecked proggy black metal tangle, eventually blissing out into yet more shoegazey dreaminess, before fading into streaks of effected flute.
Housed in a DVD case, with photocopied insert, and LIMITED TO 200 COPIES!!
When we recently posted our top ten lists for 2011, some folks might have noticed Andee's top spot was a record we had never actually reviewed or listed, but it wasn't for lack of trying. It was actually released way back in 2010, but we didn't even hear about it until 2011, and then it took until 2012 for us to actually get enough copies in to review. Lots of aQ folks probably recognize Schreifels' name, whether it's as the frontman for nineties post punk combo Quicksand, or more recently in Rival School, but even before Quicksand Schreifels played in legendary NY hardcore outfits Youth Of Today and Gorilla Biscuits! But don't be expecting anything remotely hardcore or punk rock (although there are nods to those days, more on that in a second), the sound here is much more classic indie pop jangle, which is really the direction Schreifels had been moving in anyway since the end of Quicksand, with Rival Schools, World's Fastest Car and now solo.
An open Letter To The Scene is crazy catchy, jangly indie pop, and from the very first play, we found ourselves spinning it constantly, over and over on a daily basis, much to the displeasure of the less pop inclined, but it's that sort of irresistible collection of songs, and again, as with every subsequent record, we can't understand why mainstream success continues to elude Schreifels, the songs here are so much catchier and hookier and more original than 90 percent of the indie rock we hear, but it's probably that whole original thing that throws people off, but for the rest of us, who like our pop smart, and quirky, catchy, crunchy and fuzzy, and jangly, well, this record is pretty tough to beat. We're tempted to go through the record song by song, but we'd probably end up just gushing crazily about how every song is SO CATCHY and SO GREAT, but hell, every song here IS so catchy and great, from dark strummy almost-ballads, to big jangly power pop, from intimate bedroom pop to fuzzy poppy classic indie rock, all driven by Schreifels' distinctive vocals, a little bit gruff but super warm and melodic, the sound rife with strange cool lush arrangements, and subtly trippy production, and then there the abovementioned nods to his punk rock past.
First there's a killer cover of Agnostic Front's "Society Suckers", which works surprisingly well as an acoustic guitar and bongo driven chunk of strum and jangle, there's also a new version of "Don't Gotta Prove It", originally recorded by another one of Schreifels' early outfits, the melodic hardcore group CIV, here transformed into a killer slab of distorto guitar and organ driven fuzz pop stomp, and that's not to mention liberal lyrical references to various bands and hardcore musicians and reappropriations from classic hardcore songs (one pointed out in the lyrics borrowed from Warzone!), but they're so subtle and work so well with the music and the lyrical content, that you might not even notice it at first (if at all), it's just part and parcel of Schreifels' twisted indie pop sound, which is a sound we somehow STILL haven't tired of, even after literally listening to this record almost daily for the last year. The only thing that might get us to stop, is the supposed impending release of a brand new record. But until then, we'll keep digging this one. And we're betting the popfans that read the aQ list will too.
Quirky, mostly instrumental tracks reminiscent of the Sun City Girls ethno-ambient forays, or the Residents' Eskimo. So it should come as no surprise that sometimes SCG collaborator Eyvind Kang appears here and that both the Girls and Alan Bishop are thanked within. The ten pensive, meandering compositions here include a wide variety of instrumentaion including piano, viola, recorder, bathtub, various percussion (including taos drum timpani), zither, harmonica, saz, mandolin, casio, guitar and more. Nice.
This Schultz classic has been redone, rerecorded (!) and repackaged for those of you that missed out the first time. Here's what we had to say about it:
You may have seen Steven Schultz reading and eating donuts in the front row of the Mayhem show. Or you may remember him in pigtails and pajamas eating prunes in the pit at the Hammers Of Misfortune show. Or you may remember his hilarious and amazing lo-fi Naked City-ish 'History Of Vats' cd from a few years back. Or you may not know him at all. This cd marks SS's first recorded foray into the world of rap music, and boy, it's something. Musically notable for the fact that the instruments are all real (all played by the multitalented Steve), and dramatically notable for the fact that the skits are all acted out by Steven's friends. And then there's the rapping. White and whiney as you may have expected, but lyrically, well, no one could have expected anyone to take on the persona of a rapping pirate ('Call Me Pinkbeard'), a rapping whale ('Fuck A Harpoon'), a rapping goth ('I Got Bigger Hair Than Robert Smith'), or a rapping eskimo ('Maniac With An Igloo'). Then there's Steve's attack on rap-metal ('Rap-Metal Is Funny')... Yes, it's incredibly dumb, but undeniably fucked and funny. Self-produced cd-r with color cover (art by Steve) and oh-so-essential lyric sheet. Maybe not the next Eminem, but perhaps the next MC Paul Barman?
Subtitled, Another Suplex Prune Hittite Fantasy! But I think this needs a little more explanation. Argh. Ok, some of you will remember Steven Shultz for his remarkable "History of Vats" cd, or his more recent rap album, the "I Forgot To Get A Rap Name!"
The four cds come packaged in a cardboard box, complete with a thick booklet providing you with the entire libretto, and more. Basically, this is the Conet Project of "comedy"! (that is, if you can consider this comedy...)
This also features a special guest star, a certain local metal singer who wisely desires to remain anonymous (hint: he's on one of Andee's recent tUMULt releases), who, as a favor for Steve, played the role of Hulk Hogan! ...I also think I heard Bob Dylan on here...
So, if you think pro wrestling characters from the '80s are amusing and that the slang term 'hella' is funny and you like Frank Zappa, or if you are simply a connoisseur of the idiotically ridiculous, this is for you!! Don't say we didn't warn you. Basically, if you can stand to listen to the entire thing, you've got problems. (See www.harmful.org/stalinclaus for more information, including a helpful flowchart explaining the, uh, plot. Or so we're told, we were too scared to go there.)
You never know quite what you're going to get with a Klaus Schulze record. Well, you know you 're gonna get long and alienlike synthscapes, but you never know where or how Schulze's particular eccentricies are going to manifest themselves. Not sure if Blackdance was reissued out of chronological order or we are just reviewing it late but after having reviewed Irrlicht, Cyborg and Timewind, we jump back a year before Timewind to 1974. Maybe this makes sense because out of the four, Blackdance is the most different, it's slightly warmer, more playful and there is much more weird stuff happening. Of course the tracks are still epically long, but beneath the synth-drones we find a lot more rhythms, bongos and drums, acoustic guitars, a lot more propulsive phasing, electronic squiggles and just in general much more movement than the previously reviewed records. By the third track, we hear some Gregorian chanting before some pulsing and clicking rhythms appear to duel with the church-y organ cycles. But it's the two bonus tracks that set this release apart from the rest. "Foreplay" has a sci-fi epic-ness to it as it sounds like the arrival of a giant spaceship preparing to battle backed by choir like synth-voices and explosive rumblings. And the strangely titled "Synthies Have (No) Balls?" is full throttle heavy organ drone with pitch-shifted synth phases and spectacular drumming that is Schulze's most rocking outing we've heard yet. Pretty awesome!
Well, it's about fucking time. The quintessential space-drone-komische-psychedelic headtrip has finally been reissued. Cyborg is one of those albums like the first couple Os Mutantes albums or Comus' First Utterance or Amon Duul II's Yeti that should NEVER go out of print, yet due to negligence or contractual issues or what have you, there have occasionally been times where those sorts of record do disappear, which then forces us to hop up on our soap boxes and holler until somebody makes it right.
Curiously enough, Klaus Schulze began his musical escapades as a drummer, first in Ash Ra Tempel and then communing in the early incarnations of Tangerine Dream; but his solo work is solely electronic. Moogs, mellotrons, and all types of synthesizers became part of his increasing arsenal for his sprawling electronic compositions; but in many ways, Schulze's best work was composed through simpler means. Cyborg, like its equally impressive predecessor Irrlicht, is a relatively sparse affair of floating electronic patterns, tones, and drones, without really hiding Schulze's admiration of Wagner's compositional grandreur and weighty moods. In framing the album about technology infiltrating the human condition, Schulze alternates between a sense of wonder, heralded by technology's promise of progress, and a sense of horror, with technology absorbing humanity within that drive for progress, whatever that may mean. It's an emotionally dymanic yet ultimately sinister record, and one that clearly has influenced hundreds if not thousands of electronic musicians since it's original release back in 1973. Brian Eno, Pete Namlook, Omit, Wolfgang Voigt, and Troum would be the artists we could cite as being hugely influenced by Schulze's work.
With the reissue of Cyborg with its four sprawling tracks of electronic scintillation, Schulze has fleshed out this double cd with a fantastic bonus track that's well over 50 minutes long! Even without that hefty bonus track, Cyborg was brilliant back then, and it's still brilliant today.
Wow! We are so excited that this has been put back into print. Klaus Schulze has an extremely extensive back catalog, and sometimes it can feel a bit overwhelming as to how to navigate it and where you should begin. With Irrlicht once again available we say that answer becomes a little easier. This was his very first solo album which he recorded in 1972 shortly after he left his stint drumming for legendary Krautrockers Ash Ra Tempel (he was also was the drummer in the earliest and maybe greatest incarnation of Tangerine Dream.) After stepping away from the drum-kit Schulze found where he really was most comfortable, and that was behind his elaborate setup of keyboards. With the advent of the Moog, and his mastery of the organ, Schulze was interested in making a new kind of music. Electronic music that was oozing with atmosphere, tension and sensuality. When Schulze was making this record he was heavily under the influence of Musique Concrete along with some other things we are sure! He had a damaged amplifier at the time which would break out into internal feedback when he turned up its volume control. He also went to a large classical orchestra in Berlin where we was allowed to attend a rehearsal that he recorded and then played backwards throughout Irrlicht. For an artists who would go one to make so many more records this still stands as one of, if not his greatest (even though it actually pre-dates his adoption of the Moog synth as instrument of choice!). Along with Cluster, Eno and Kraftwerk, Schulze stands as one of the fathers of electronic music as we know it. What's also so amazing about this record is how you could imagine so many of our favorite black metal bands hearing this and it seeping its way into the more moody/damaged elements of their records. The eerie ambiance of many Burzum and Striborg records can be heard in the totally intense undertones of Irrlicht. Thanks in part to many of the limitations that he was facing back then, there is an eerie and majestic presence to this album. Sometimes beat up organs, messed up amplifiers, and youthful enthusiasm stand the test of time. Especially when the person behind the controls had this amazing knack for creating eerie, haunting otherworldly sounds.
This reissue comes in a nice digipack with liner notes in both German and English, some in the form of an interview with KS himself. And, there's a 24 minute long bonus track called "Dungeon"! It's not necessarily from the Irrlicht sessions, in fact no-one seems to know exactly when or where it's from (other than somwhere in Europe, early '70s), but it's agreed that it's more early Klaus Schulze dronework that needs to be heard...
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Well, here is yet another monumental two cd Klaus Schulze reissue from Revisited who have previously reissued Irrlicht from 1972 and Cyborg from 1973. This time around we'll spare you Schulze's back story as you can read more about it in the above mentioned reviews.
Klaus Schulze's fifth album Timewind, his 1975 debut for Virgin Records has long been considered, in some circles, his masterwork. Yet quantifying Schulze's immense output in such a way is a difficult and slippery task. Surely signing to Virgin introduced him to a wider audience, but Timewind is hardly any more "accessible" than his prior output nor is it the kind of precedent to New Age music that you would expect from the label who released Tubular Bells. Dedicated to Richard Wagner, Timewind's two sidelong pieces further explore Schulze's fascination with starkly sensual and droning soundscapes, where icy synth pulsations converge with long tonal organ flights until these overlapping rhythms simultaneously gain and decrease in momentum becoming slowly bubbling Moog passages with shimmering electric washes. Like a windy barren landscape on some depopulated planet, Schulze's compositions read like epics of a post-human technological future. Included is a second bonus disc of two long unreleased tracks recorded around the same time and one recently recorded track that harkens back to a sound more affiliated with the late seventies output of Schulze's former band-mates in Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel, which means it's awesome!
From the scene that brought us Village of Savoonga, Tied and Tickled Trio, Couch, and Tarwater comes Schwermut Forest. Very similar in feel to their musical scenemates, but with a much lighter feel. Some vocals in German, but mostly Tortoise-y instrumentals.
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Kinda like the title indicates, this is some (film) noir-ish, atmospheric music for theremin, played by Rob Schwimmer, who is joined by pianist Uri Caine and violinist Mark Feldman (not a bad line-up!). At turns pretty, dramatic, jazzy, noisy, and soundtrack-sappy: it's like Clara Rockmore (famed early 20th century theremin virtuoso) meeting up with some downtown NYC avant-garde muso schenanigans. C'mon, how many theremin recordings do you own anyway? Plus, for weird instrument lovers, Schwimmer also makes use of the daxophone! (And the accordion, waterphone, and various toys to boot.) In an interesting hard-back digibook packaging, not quite like anything we've seen before, by the way.
Blonk does Schwitters! So perfect. The Dada vocal babble classic as interpreted by the amazing Dutch sound poet/performer.
We won't go into too much detail with these as we only got a tiny handful of each. Latest batch of ultra limited lathe cuts from New Zealand label CMR. Each one packaged in a super striking, simple cardstock jacket, most with printed inner sleeves, Limited to 60 copies, of which we got the remaining stock. Once these are gone, they are gone forever.
Sci Hi is another NZ outfit we had never heard of, but we are really digging this. Exclusively upper register exploration, a trilling squeaking keening world of video game sounds and simulated bird calls, dense clouds of high end flutter, reverb and delay wrapped around bursts of beeps and tiny squiggles of sound. Distorted and convoluted, tangled and confusional, but still kinda nice to listen to. This lathe cut 7" comes with a full length cd-r containing 10 tracks, another 40+ minute excursion into Sci Hi's strange high end soundworld.
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Scianka is a Polish group whose name as 'spaceship'... A fitting name as the singer for Scianka clearly learned how to sing (and speak English) by listening to Elvis Costello and Iggy & the Stooges, and fronts a band who blatantly rips off riffs from Zeppelin and the Stones only to have them obliterated by totally weird mutant polka and hyperactive carnivaleseque moments worthy of Uz Jsme Doma! So jarring that Allan got up from his desk in the back office 4 or 5 times in disbelief that this was still Scianka blaring from our humble stereo.
Also available on (import only) vinyl!
It's pretty obvious why the folks at B-music (like DJs Andy Votel and Dom Thomas) dig these particular collectible exploito obscurities so much, and why they're so excited to be reissuing 'em in their new "Germanic Miner" series dedicated to "krautsider music"! What could be more B-musical than these two faux soundtracks concocted in the late sixties by a couple of creative German producers, operating at the weird, wacked out intersection of kitschy library music and freaky krautrock? One's a slice of slinky, sorta-scary "horrotica", the other a spaced out sci-fi fest for the Barbarella set. Both are delirious, demented party-pleasers.
The Vampires Of Dartmoore and their Dracula's Music Cabinet conjures a sexy frightmare of hip swinging, bloodsucking sounds. "Mord Im Ohio Express (Murder In The Ohio Express)" seems kinda surfy, but mostly this is about groovy porno lounge music, with smoky horns and jazzy percussion, interwoven with screams and creepy sound effects, moaning and groaning, dogs barking and something going boing boing boing... It's a very NON-academic application of musique concrete technique, noises worked into the songs, such as the rumbling explosions that punctuate "Eine Handvoll Nitro (A Handful Of Nitro)". The mix is fairly chaotic, stuff fading in and out, levels up and down. If this WAS a movie soundtrack, it would have been a pretty crazy movie. Tracks reference Hitchcock, Dr. Caligari, and Frankenstein's monster. And sex. Definitely sex.
Equally bizarre, if less R-rated, is the Science Fiction Dance Party. Again, it's groovy, jazzy, sometimes fuzzy "instro-hipster" style stuff, laced with loads of goofy outer space sound effects and rocketship radio drama theatrics. It sounds like music for a cocktail party and/or acid test on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise. You can imagine Robbie the Robot getting down to this. Distorted alien and/or computer voices abound, song titles include "Visitors Of A.D. 2022", "The Whistling Astronaut", and "Hit Parade In The Light Year 25" (which doesn't even make sense, don't they know that light years are a measure of distance?). As well as whistling, there's some screams here too, as spacemen are presumably being zapped with rayguns, but the music remains jaunty. Even the song "Death Rays Out Of The Universe" is inexplicably upbeat. So, it's all very silly, but a lot of fun.
Both albums feature bonus tracks (2 previously unreleased "Petting Party" jams on Vampires, 4 extra tracks on Science Fiction that come back to earth to delve into disco and Eastern exotica instead). The slipcased cds of these are now domestic releases (we waited instead of getting the expensive imports) but the LP versions remain imports.
One of our fave new Bay Area indie labels Dynamophone close out 2007 with a fresh batch of aural treats. They are four installments in their limited edition 3" cd-r ep Parcel series by the likes of Science Teacher, Lullaby League, Curium and Sleep Robot. Chances are if you've been paying attention to our recent aQ lists you're probably already as enchanted with this label's richly atmospheric hazily dreamy roster as we are, and will welcome these four into your music collection. This one features three new ultra pretty (and non-academic!) numbers from The Science Teacher.
Don't delay though! Each release comes in a diminutive square cardboard box festooned with a full color cover art sticker, and is limited to 100 each. We only have a couple handfuls. Once they're gone, they're gone!
Sadly this Scientist release is just okay, which is a disappointment because this is one of those dub albums with one of the more classic album covers -- this one featuring a D.C. comics-esque cover of Scientist and Culture (represented here as a single dred-locked super hero in a green jumper with a big yellow "C" on front) battling it out amongst the skyscrapers. The booklet includes an interview with Lady Souljah from KALX in Berkeley conducted via phone earlier this year.
Greensleeves finally gets off their duffs and reissues their classic Scientist dub LPs that have been floating around in various bootleg editions for ages now. Not only are they decent pressings, but they're pretty competitively priced to boot (the unsavory LP edition of "Wins The World Cup" that we had had in previously retailed for the same price as these.) Plus, you get the original artwork in all its heroic cartoon glory (possibly some of the greatest album cover art to come out of Jamaica - much of the time it seems people will buy them for cover alone.) With these handsome new editions there's really no reason to own the CD version anymore unless you no longer own a turntable (we do have all these Scientist albums available on CD as well for those who lack vinylability) and there's certainly no reason to waste good money on bootlegs. Let's hope that Greensleeves keeps these things in print for a while this time. The albums in this series are composed of tracks recorded by the Roots Radics band at Channel 1 between 1981 and 1982 which were later mixed by Scientist at King Tubby's.
The dubs on these LPs reside on the very minimal side of the dub spectrum. Not much in the way of additional tracking was done for these records aside from percussion. The rest of the crafting is done by the Scientist behind the mixing board chopping up the tracks, recklessly sliding faders and pouring tons of delay and reverb atop the mix.
Cover note: features our hero being devoured (?) by a vicious metal Pac-Man in his control room. Behind the glass in the studio a collection of ghouls looks on gleefully. Will this be the end of Scientist? On the back cover there's an entire multi-panel cartoon precursor to this scene.
How can you resist a Scientist record called Heavy Metal Dub? Especially with some of THEE most amazing cover art ever, a musclebound barbarian, in reggae colored loincloth and boots, dreads sticking out from under his Viking helmet, wielding an exploding sword, standing on the wing of his red, green and yellow spaceship, there's also some aliens, some other spaceships, a weird flying reggae lollipop man, and of course 'Heavy Metal Dub' is written in a cool video game font. And oddly enough, the song titles mostly seem to reference Star Trek: "Having Fun With The Klingons", "Conversations With Khan", "Party Time On The Enterprise", "Dread In A Remulacks Dub", among others. You can't resist. So really, why even bother trying? Now here's the rub, there's nothing remotely heavy metal about this record at all outside of the cover. Even opener "Watch The Sound Of The Metal Dub", is just straight up classic Scientist dub, but hell, we're not complaining, cuz as far as dub records go, this one is a doozy, slithery basslines, minimal guitar, simple rhythms, bizarre wordless vocals, everything DUBBED to high heaven, the songs sounding like they started off as classic reggae jams, but the Scientist goes nuts, sending beats spinning into the ether, guitars spiraling into stuttering swirls, the whirring organs following suit, the tracks flitting from groovy laid back reggae to total tripped out psychedelic dub and back again.
And while that cover promised so so much, this is probably way better than any actual 'heavy metal dub' record could ever be anyway. At least that's what we keep telling ourselves...
Greensleeves finally gets off their duffs and reissues their classic Scientist dub LPs that have been floating around in various bootleg editions for ages now. Not only are they decent pressings, but they're pretty competitively priced to boot (the unsavory LP edition of "Wins The World Cup" that we had had in previously retailed for the same price as these.) Plus, you get the original artwork in all its heroic cartoon glory (possibly some of the greatest album cover art to come out of Jamaica, much of the time it seems people will buy them for cover alone.) With these handsome new editions there's really no reason to own the CD version anymore unless you no longer own a turntable (we do have all these Scientist albums available on CD as well for those who lack vinylability) and there's certainly no reason to waste good money on bootlegs. Let's hope that Greensleeves keeps these things in print for a while this time. The albums in this series are composed of tracks recorded by the Roots Radics band at Channel 1 between 1981 and 1982 which were later mixed by Scientist at King Tubby's.
The dubs on these LPs reside on the very minimal side of the dub spectrum. Not much in the way of additional tracking was done for these records aside from percussion. The rest of the crafting is done by the Scientist behind the mixing board chopping up the tracks, recklessly sliding faders and pouring tons of delay and reverb atop the mix.
Cover note: Features a victorious Scientist being carried out of a venue on the shoulders of his admirers to meet the throngs of the press and his green Rolls Royce limo. Track listing: Seconds Away, Straight Left, Upper Cut, Kidney Punch, Saved By The Bell, Right Cross, Jab, One - Two, Below the Belt and, of course KNOCK OUT.
We'd be skeptical of ANY other artist releasing a record called The Best Dub Album In The World, but when that artist is the one and only Scientist, well, then it probably goddamn well is. Hell, probably EVERY Scientist record is potentially the best dub album in the world. But this one in particular is a doozy, his 1980 debut, recorded at Channel One Studios, mixed at King Tubby's (Scientist's mentor), and featuring Sly & Robbie, it's all woozy grooves, swirling rhythms, tripped out delay, jittery space echo, cosmic and psychedelic, groovy and hypnotic, spaced out and near perfect, and yeah, THE BEST DUB ALBUM IN THE WORLD.
Oh man, is this a match made in heaven or what? Actually, more like a match made in outer space, or in whatever warped sonic reality dub legend Scientist calls home, a dozen killer dubstep jams, worked over by the master, already blissed out and skeletal, dubbed out and droney, bass heavy and skittery, Scientist takes those original jams and sends them careening into the cosmos. Much of the bass is stripped away, but the drums, oh the drums, they get the science like nobody's business, bouncing from speaker to speaker, stuttering, and hiccupping, everything wrapped in clouds of echo and delay, the original melodies pulled apart until they're just barely-there streaks of sound, the dubbiness already in full effect, gets cranked to 11, most of the vocals are buried, but little bits of vocals are doused in effects and spit into the ether, only to have them boomerang right back, dizzying and dazzling, spaced out and psychedelic, even the most minimal stripped down tracks take on new life via Scientist's golden touch, it's hard to explain just what it is he does, but you can hear it, and feel it, the sounds are more out there, or in there, the original tracks just the blueprint for the abstract work of dubbed out sonic art they were meant to become. Totally blissed out and hypnotic, and so so so good. Makes us want to hear EVERYTHING get the Scientist dub treatment, garage rock, black metal, whatever, anything and EVERYthing.
As a bonus, included is a second bonus disc, with all the original tracks, a pretty bad ass dubstep comp all on its own.
The whole thing comes packaged in an eye popping old school reggae/dub cartoon covered 8 panel digipak, depicting Scientist manning multiple spacecrafts, each with a cadre of dubsteppers as his crew. Awesome!
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Vinyl version of the bonus disc that came with the Launches Dubstep Into Outer Space cd, featuring the UNmixed originals, the Scientist name and album title are definitely misleading, but this is a seriously kick ass dubstep comp regardless. If you're after the vinyl version of the Scientist mixes (and you should be), you can find that elsewhere on the aQ website...
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SORRY.
NOW ON VINYL!!
Oh man, is this a match made in heaven or what? Actually, more like a match made in outer space, or in whatever warped sonic reality dub legend Scientist calls home, a dozen killer dubstep jams, from the likes of Pinch and Kode9 and Shackleton, worked over by the master, already blissed out and skeletal, dubbed out and droney, bass heavy and skittery, Scientist takes those original jams and sends them careening into the cosmos. Much of the bass is stripped away, but the drums, oh the drums, they get the science like nobody's business, bouncing from speaker to speaker, stuttering, and hiccupping, everything wrapped in clouds of echo and delay, the original melodies pulled apart until they're just barely-there streaks of sound, the dubbiness already in full effect, gets cranked to 11, most of the vocals are buried, but little bits of vocals are doused in effects and spit into the ether, only to have them boomerang right back, dizzying and dazzling, spaced out and psychedelic, even the most minimal stripped down tracks take on new life via Scientist's golden touch, it's hard to explain just what it is he does, but you can hear it, and feel it, the sounds are more out there, or in there, the original tracks just the blueprint for the abstract work of dubbed out sonic art they were meant to become. Totally blissed out and hypnotic, and so so so good. Makes us want to hear EVERYTHING get the Scientist dub treatment, garage rock, black metal, whatever, anything and EVERYthing.
The whole thing comes packaged in an eye popping old school reggae/dub cartoon covered jacket, depicting Scientist manning multiple spacecrafts, each with a cadre of dubsteppers as his crew. Awesome!
Yet another installment of Scientist-as-superhero LPs has arrived at Aquarius. Here's the skinny once again: Greensleeves finally gets off their duffs and reissues their classic Scientist dub LPs that have been floating around in various bootleg editions for ages now. Not only are they decent pressings, but they're pretty competitively priced to boot (the unsavory LP edition of "Wins The World Cup" that we had had in previously retailed for the same price as these.) Plus, you get the original artwork in all its heroic cartoon glory (possibly some of the greatest album cover art to come out of Jamaica - much of the time it seems people will buy them for cover alone.) With these handsome new editions there's really no reason to own the CD version anymore unless you no longer own a turntable (we do have all these Scientist albums available on CD as well for those who lack vinylability) and there's certainly no reason to waste good money on bootlegs. Let's hope that Greensleeves keeps these things in print for a while this time. The albums in this series are composed of tracks recorded by the Roots Radics band at Channel 1 between 1981 and 1982 which were later mixed by Scientist at King Tubby's.
The dubs on these LPs reside on the very minimal side of the dub spectrum. Not much in the way of additional tracking was done for these records aside from percussion. The rest of the crafting is done by the Scientist behind the mixing board chopping up the tracks, recklessly sliding faders and pouring tons of delay and reverb atop the mix.
Cover note: The Scientist wields not one, but two laser pistols while simultaneously kicking and shooting those pesky Space Invaders as onlookers run for cover. Meanwhile, a brave female accomplice takes out a big purple invader with a laser rifle. On the back cover is a cute drawing of a stand up video game console cum mixing board with the album's credits displayed on its screen.
Greensleeves finally gets off their duffs and reissues their classic Scientist dub LPs that have been floating around in various bootleg editions for ages now. Not only are they decent pressings, but they're pretty competitively priced to boot (the unsavory LP edition of "Wins The World Cup" that we had had in previously retailed for the same price as these.) Plus, you get the original artwork in all its heroic cartoon glory (possibly some of the greatest album cover art to come out of Jamaica, much of the time it seems people will buy them for cover alone.) With these handsome new editions there's really no reason to own the CD version anymore unless you no longer own a turntable (we do have all these Scientist albums available on CD as well for those who lack vinylability) and there's certainly no reason to waste good money on bootlegs. Let's hope that Greensleeves keeps these things in print for a while this time. The albums in this series are composed of tracks recorded by the Roots Radics band at Channel 1 between 1981 and 1982 which were later mixed by Scientist at King Tubby's.
The dubs on these LPs reside on the very minimal side of the dub spectrum. Not much in the way of additional tracking was done for these records aside from percussion. The rest of the crafting is done by the Scientist behind the mixing board chopping up the tracks, recklessly sliding faders and pouring tons of delay and reverb atop the mix.
Possibly the best album in this series, 'Rids the World...' utilizes the most effects and cut up wizardry in the bunch. Along with his usual bag of tricks, Scientist brings out what sound like rhythm boxes and loads them with so much effects as to turn them into proto-synthesizers. It's also the only title in this series that attempts to match the visual theme / title with an audio equivalent: "The Voodoo Curse", which starts the album, is full of ominous effects and several other tracks get vocal intros a la Lee Perry's "Vampire" requesting blood, and other stock horror intros including Mummies, Frankenstein, Werewolves and the living dead.
Cover note: features Scientist crashing a midnight monster party on his sound system loaded air boat. All your favorites are there: the mummy, Frankenstein, Dracula, the werewolf, and more. In the background is the Munster's house and tombstones cover the woods. Creeeeeepy!
Allan informs me to tell all you videogame fans that the reggae music on Grand Theft Auto 3's "Jah 1 Radio" for Playstation 2 is this entire album.
Limited edition 10" from the second volume of Select Cuts From Blood & Fire. Features extended dub versions of both Black Star Liner and Dan Donovan of Dub Cartel's mixes for the compilation.
Greensleeves finally gets off their duffs and reissues their classic Scientist dub LPs that have been floating around in various bootleg editions for ages now. Not only are they decent pressings, but they're pretty competitively priced to boot (the unsavory LP edition of "Wins The World Cup" that we had had in previously retailed for the same price as these.) Plus, you get the original artwork in all its heroic cartoon glory (possibly some of the greatest album cover art to come out of Jamaica, much of the time it seems people will buy them for cover alone.) With these handsome new editions there's really no reason to own the CD version anymore unless you no longer own a turntable (we do have all these Scientist albums available on CD as well for those who lack vinylability) and there's certainly no reason to waste good money on bootlegs. Let's hope that Greensleeves keeps these things in print for a while this time. The albums in this series are composed of tracks recorded by the Roots Radics band at Channel 1 between 1981 and 1982 which were later mixed by Scientist at King Tubby's.
The dubs on these LPs reside on the very minimal side of the dub spectrum. Not much in the way of additional tracking was done for these records aside from percussion. The rest of the crafting is done by the Scientist behind the mixing board chopping up the tracks, recklessly sliding faders and pouring tons of delay and reverb atop the mix.
Cover note: features a victorious Scientist knocking in the winning goal against team whitey. And yet there is one brother on whitey's team who's making a failed attempt to block Scientist's kick. Could this be a competing engineer? Former employer? Who knows.
Wow. Pretty advanced reissue job on this Scientist -- the engineer for King Tubby who later went on to out Tubby Tubby -- lp from 1982 . If you look at the back cover of this you'll see in the lower left hand corner that now ubiquitous "Compact Disc Digital Audio" logo. But wait, this is an lp. Yep, "Greensleeves" (if they really are the ones behind reissuing their own catalog on
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
This good album was recorded in 1982 (two years after the "Big Showdown") at Channel One and King Tubby's, with the Roots Radics band supplying the rhythms. Yet another classic album of dub, and made more so by its ridiculous cover art (featured in the Jamaican music cover art book Stir It Up): an amalgam of images from Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Battle Star Galactica, and Flash Gordon. Plus the song titles are hard to beat: "C-3PO + R2D2 = The Force", "The Crushing Of The Stormtroopers", "Buck Rogers In The Black Hole" and more. But no, you won't find any science fiction references in the music, just straight up dub. A final word of warning because I know some of you have concerns about dub and vocals, there are a few brief moments of singing on this album, albeit only at the beginnings of songs, so if that rubs your hiney the wrong way, then steer clear of this.
Greensleeves finally gets off their duffs and reissues their classic Scientist dub LPs that have been floating around in various bootleg editions for ages now. Not only are they decent pressings, but they're pretty competitively priced to boot (the unsavory LP edition of "Wins The World Cup" that we had had in previously retailed for the same price as these.) Plus, you get the original artwork in all its heroic cartoon glory (possibly some of the greatest album cover art to come out of Jamaica, much of the time it seems people will buy them for cover alone.) With these handsome new editions there's really no reason to own the CD version anymore unless you no longer own a turntable (we do have all these Scientist albums available on CD as well for those who lack vinylability) and there's certainly no reason to waste good money on bootlegs. Let's hope that Greensleeves keeps these things in print for a while this time. The albums in this series are composed of tracks recorded by the Roots Radics band at Channel 1 between 1981 and 1982 which were later mixed by Scientist at King Tubby's.
The dubs on these LPs reside on the very minimal side of the dub spectrum. Not much in the way of additional tracking was done for these records aside from percussion. The rest of the crafting is done by the Scientist behind the mixing board chopping up the tracks, recklessly sliding faders and pouring tons of delay and reverb atop the mix.
Even though it was just a gimmicky way of doing a split LP by Greensleeves, I still find myself asking who the winner is of this faux boxing match between two of King Tubby's greatest proteges. There is no loser of course, but you can take this home and compare the pair's dubbing stlyles as they go through all ten rounds back to back.
Cover art note: features a drawing of the two fighters in a boxing ring loaded with speakers around its sides and sitting at their mixing consoles in each corner. The Scientist even has a bunson burner heating up some green liquid in a beaker atop his mixer.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Originally released on Record Store Day, this little Aussie power pop / post punk gem is now available again, in a non Record Store Day version, it's a repress of the original debut 7" from legendary Australian punks The Scientists, originally released in 1979, this still sounds as great as ever, and more shockingly, it really shines a light on the current crop of retro poppers and how beholden they really are to what came before, and how what came before is SO MUCH BETTER. These two jams KILL, the A side is a timeless chunk of swaggery punky pop, snarly vox, big crashing guitars, surprisingly buys drums and some drop dead hooks, the B side too, a little bit glammier, but still snarly and swaggery and totally untouchable.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!
