We weren't expecting to like this as much as we do, but this record really kills!! His first recording in 16 years, Gil Scott-Heron doesn't overindulge, rather I'm New Here shows a much leaner and meaner side to this artist who has never had a hard time examining his demons. "Me and The Devil" is a contender for single of the year as this Robert Johnson blues classic gets a dark almost Portishead-like update. But this isn't just a younger makeover for a classic artist, it's closer in kin to the respectful reinvigoration of Johnny Cash's later American releases. The arrangements are spare, though inspired by the minimal chill of dubstep in parts, they suit Scott-Heron's tough spoken word turns that pepper the album throughout. The Bill Callahan-penned title track sounds like a world-weary folk dirge from the early seventies by Lee Hazlewood that is a stand-out among many
on here. A fine return to form!
We dug this album the first time it crossed our path in 2004. Now it's been reissued by those fine folks at Three Ring Records, and in the process it's acquired a delightful new song (a cover of +/-'s "Yo Yo Yo") and a mastering treatment!
Here's what we said about it last year: Hurray! SF indie pop craftin' Scrabbel (formerly a duo now the solo project of Dan Lee with some help from his musical pals) didn't keep us waiting for their second full length (the way they did for their first... just kiddin'!). Ever so gentle and contemplative, the album's much less spritely and more melancholic than its predecessor. Some of their song titles suggest an ending of things ("Last Train", "Out Of Time" and their cover of The Kinks' "Waterloo Sunset"), and the music itself gradually makes it way into your heart with a well-placed wistful ache or two. Dan's vocals are at times quite reminiscent of Death Cab's Ben Gibbard, and when combined with his friend Natalie's, the overall sound is like what we'd imagine comin' from Yo La Tengo's younger cousins. They start things off with the very Big Star-y harmonious "Sena Song". Other songs seem tossed together in a carefree, meandering fashion, but it's definitely not disorganized nor messy. There's a subtle order to their loosely woven gauzy pop arrangements of acoustic guitars, strings and organs. This is particularly the case on their soaring Beatles-esque finale "Riot Series". Their songs alternately take you for a dreamy stroll beneath the shade of weeping willow trees or reach out sweetly like a tentative hand to hold. Recommended!
We've been waitin' so long for these folks' to bring copies of this in. They dropped off a copy for us to check out many months ago, to which we swiftly said "yes, please!". At last it's here and just in time for summer, and y'know what? That's the perfect season for Scrabbel's debut! These two pals of the Aislers Set (actually Dan Lee is the new keyboardist for the 'Set, while Becky Baron can also be found behind the drumkit for the band #Poundsign#) fit well alongside A.S., exuding a youthful sing-song air that also made me think of a less hyper, acoustic Apples In Stereo - perhaps in part due to their girl/boy buttercream icing vocals and strummy guitars. However, they do throw their own tasty twists and shimmies in there: a mellow loungey organ melody, a lo-fi drum machine beat, an assortment of kitschy samples and various other noisemakers (horns and kazoos!). Delightful.
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The Scratch Orchestra was formed in 1968 around the Fluxus inspired conceptual trio of Cornelius Cardew, Howard Skempton, and Michael Parsons. Utilitizing "uncontrolled variables", the Scratch Orchestra (which swelled in size to enormous 432 member ensemble during a performance at the Royal Albert Hall in which the orchestra literally wrecked one of Tchaikovsky's piano concertos) created situations where it wasn't neccessary for the performers to know how to play the instruments, know the score, or have any much of an idea of the piece beyond a general concept. Stella Cardew, Brian Eno, Lou Gare, David Jackman, Dave Smith, Michael Nyman, Tom Phillips, Eddie Prevost, Keith Rowe, and John Tilbury are just some of the members who have performed in The Scratch Orchestra. This piece was the first public performance for The Scratch Orchestra (whose membership at the time is uncredited). Erratic crashes of junk, free-jazz saxophone skronk, and multiple turntables cranking out beat up waltzes and polkas. Quirky conceptual brilliance.
Scratch Pet Land is a Belgian electronica outfit specializing in plink plonk electronica whimsy that aims to be cartoon music for the future, with lots of cute mechanical knocks, pings, whirs, and springs, as well as simple (often 8-bit sounding) silly melodies. It makes perfect sense that this is on Sonig, and sounds like Microstoria remixing Matmos.
Finally got more of these back in! Now in a jewel case with a few extra photos. Still super limited, so we're not sure how long we'll have these in stock. If you want one, don't dawdle. Amazing seminal punk group the Screamers hailed from Seattle/LA and,
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Much like the equally amazing Cramps Live At Napa State Mental Hospital video, for years this live footage of the Screamers' seminal synth-punk action has been circulating in increasingly grainy, on the verge of disintegrating VHS copies. Not anymore! This must-see legendary video document has finally been dvd'd! Hallelujah! Hell yeah!
It was the chilling fury that Liz Mahoney brought to Screature's recent gig opening for Lydia Lunch here in San Francisco in the summer of 2015 that caused us to really stand up and take notice of the band. Let's be clear though, Screature's post-punk propulsion and unsmiling drone rock never achieved the searing misanthropy of Lydia Lunch's four decades of hellish show-womanship. Yup, that something for Screature to strive for! But that's nothing to diminish how good this band is, and how great their records continue to be.
Four Columns is their second album, and there's no sign of a sophomore slump here. This follows the perpetual car-crash of black denim goth that Screature delivered on their eponymous debut. Mahoney's full-bodied voice bellows with all of the operatic falsetto of Diamanda Galas and Siouxsie (especially on her notoriously bar-clearing rendition of "The Lord's Prayer"), while the band behind her rips through the songs with a serrated, pneumatic pulse of jagged guitar riffs akin to Killing Joke and early Christian Death, with thumping backbeats that keep the clock ticking rather quick-like while alternating between disco-punk grooviness and VU-primitivism, and bass-synth lines that give this a psychoid Martin Rev feel to the whole album. Modern day, death-rock par excellence!
We got some flak for being honest with our disappointment for the recent turn that Zola Jesus took away from the more feral approach of her earlier recordings on Sacred Bones and towards a more polished approach for her Mute records. Part of the criticism on our part has been that she's really never worked with a guitarist, instead going with electronics and sometimes live drums even during her earliest recordings. But if she WERE to have fronted an emaciated goth-punk quartet on a Christian Death / Rubella Ballet tip, it might have sounded as good Screature - a totally amazing deathrock outfit from Sacramento. This is their first album, from 2013, which originally was a self-released affair only to now get a small repress via Sacramento's punk-HQ, SS Records, produced by one of the dudes from A Frames. The biggest WTF? about this band might be that their debut show was opening for Death Grips. No pressure there. But with the full-bodied voice from Liz Mahoney at the foreground, Screature has nothing to worry about in terms of their confidence to belt, scream, yelp, and howl. She's got an amazing side kick in guitarist Chris Orr, who is Rik Agnew to her Rozz Williams (that being the infernal guitar / voice axis to the first Christian Death line-up). The rhythm section is pretty back-to-basics with duotone bass-synth hammerings courtesy Sarah Scherer and Dum Dum backbeats from Miranda Vera. These driving Siouxsie / X-Mal inspired songs are certainly driven by Mahoney's presence with the scalpel slicing / suburban gloom colored by Orr's guitar; and they make for one hell of a great record - yup, the one that Zola Jesus should have been making years ago.
By the way, this is their first album, but SS has also just released a brand new Screature as well, Four Columns, on both vinyl and cd, that we also have in stock and will doubtless be reviewing (and raving about) soon, too.
Man, I should have been a rapper. What other career allows you the freedom to release record after record, even after you're already dead!!! In much the same fashion as Tupac and Biggie, Screw's posthumous output will soon outnumber the records released
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Imagine your favorite hip hop jam slowed down to 3/4 the speed, or even 1/2 the speed. Well, you don't have to, cause here comes DJ Screw with his peculiar brand of remix, which as fas as we can tell just means slowing the records down, but damn it sounds good. All those radio hits dipped in molasses and dragging themselves through a tarpit beats and 'ugh's. The sexy songs sound sexier, the slamming songs sound, well, slower but somehow more powerful, and some of em just sound really really funny.
We can occasionally get volumes one through three of the Screwed Up remix series, but you can/should also check out Napster for some of the biggest hits (remixed we think without permission) and up until a few months ago, all the latest jams slooooowed waaay dooown. But Screw is dead now (R.I.P.) and the world just seems a little too fast.
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Imagine your favorite hip hop jam slowed down to 3/4 the speed, or even 1/2 the speed. Well, you don't have to, cause here comes DJ Screw with his peculiar brand of remix, which as fas as we can tell just means slowing the records down, but damn it sounds good. All those radio hits dipped in molasses and dragging themselves through a tarpit beats and 'ugh's. The sexy songs sound sexier, the slamming songs sound, well, slower but somehow more powerful, and some of em just sound really really funny.
We can occasionally get volumes one through three of the Screwed Up remix series, but you can/should also check out Napster for some of the biggest hits (remixed we think without permission) and up until a few months ago, all the latest jams slooooowed waaay dooown. But Screw is dead now (R.I.P.) and the world just seems a little too fast.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Imagine your favorite hip hop jam slowed down to 3/4 the speed, or even 1/2 the speed. Well, you don't have to, cause here comes DJ Screw with his peculiar brand of remix, which as fas as we can tell just means slowing the records down, but damn it sounds good. All those radio hits dipped in molasses and dragging themselves through a tarpit beats and 'ugh's. The sexy songs sound sexier, the slamming songs sound, well, slower but somehow more powerful, and some of em just sound really really funny.
We can occasionally get volumes one through three of the Screwed Up remix series, but you can/should also check out Napster for some of the biggest hits (remixed we think without permission) and up until a few months ago, all the latest jams slooooowed waaay dooown. But Screw is dead now (R.I.P.) and the world just seems a little too fast.
We first heard the Scrotum Poles on one of those Messthetics collections, and obviously we were intrigued by the name, though weirdly enough, their sound didn't live up the puerile promise (threat?) of their band name, instead the 'Poles trafficked in some seriously hooky punkish pop, way more pop than punk, similar to say the Television Personalities or even the Go-Betweens at times. This long in the works reissue compiles a load of unreleased home and studio recordings from these Scottish punks, and they're pretty fantastic, catchy, hooky, stumbly, the sound ultra lo-fi, murky and muddy, but the dodgy recording suits the songs, which range from solo acoustic rave ups to pounding punkish jams, pure power pop to sloppy super rocking indie jangle, and several shades in between. After only a handful of listens we've been finding ourselves with lot of these tracks firmly lodged in our heads, which pretty much says it all.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES. Packed with photos and lyrics and liner notes, and housed in a thick fold out sleeve.
We first stumbled upon Scrotum Poles (sounds painful!) about a year and a half ago with the Auchmithie Forever anthology, knowing not much else other than their contribution to one of those cool Messthetics comps and the fact that they owned one of the best AND worst band names of all time. Hey, that's a start.
Scrotum Poles sprang to life in the late 1970s in a sea of similarly shambolic punk bands forming all over the UK and the rest of the world, though the sound is also quite similar to what's happening in the indie realm here in 2011. Jangly, scuzzy, snotty, and catchy as all hell, you would be forgiven if you mistook these guys for a bunch of young upstarts on Siltbreeze or Woodsist. Or, ya know, the Dulc-I-Tone label itself. But this five song 7" is in fact from 1980, and if you dig Television Personalities (who the band professes their love of on the sleeve), Orange Juice, and 14 Iced Bears (on uppers), then Revelation should find a nice home on your shelf. Side 1, the "Sad Side" begins with "Why Don't You Come Out Tonight?", a jangling minor key number with sort of Zombies-ish vocals, as sung by a crazy art punk. It's a great way to kick off the record and much more serious than you would expect from a band counting Burt Spurt and Smeg Pole among its members. "Night Train" is an ominous plodding number, very much in the vein of Wire. The "Happy Side" begins, happily enough, with "Pick The Cat's Eyes Out". For a band with a firm grasp on super catchy jangle pop, Scrotum Poles' nihilistic side still cuts through the bullshit, and boy does it sound fun. "Helicopter Honeymoon" is another frenzied number teeming with snotty energy, and the record closes with "Radio Tay", the punkest moment on here. It's funny, after taking in all those awesome Crass reissues, we find ourselves more and more interested in the crazy skiffle influenced origins of punk rock, and this tune flows with a similarly herky jerky abandon.
Another welcome archival reissue that's made us want to find out more about whatever the hell made these guys tick.
First new music in 17 years from the aQ beloved Scud Mountain Boys, whose records predated the advent of the overly verbose extended tomes that the aQ list reviews have become, so the reviews of those records that we did manage for the Scuds were only a couple sentences long, when in fact, those records, ALL of their records, were deserving of so much more. In those reviews we mention late great SF mope rockers American Music Club, Gram Parsons, even the Eagles (but as we clarify, only if the Eagles were melancholy, introspective nerds!), and those comparisons still most definitely ring true, of course fans of Bonnie Prince Billy, Fleet Foxes and other modern retro, country/folk sadsacks who have yet to discover the joys of the Scuds, will be in heaven, and will most likely find themselves needing to track down every Scud record they can.
Scud frontman Joe Pernice has been plenty busy since the dissolution of the Scuds, recording a bunch of records under his own name and in groups like the Pernice Brothers, Chappaquiddick Skyline and the new Mendicants, and the return to the Scud Mountain Boys is really not that much of a sonic shift, most notably, shedding some of the classic pop-isms that defined Pernice's post-Scud projects, and returning to a stripped down, hushed, melancholic country music, most tracks just an acoustic guitar, super minimal bass, stripped down drumming, some reverby lap steel and vocals, and it's really all about Pernice's delicate dreamy vocals, which sound as perfect as they did back in the day, delivering aching laments in a voice that's so distinctive, and melodies that immediately take us back to the early Scud records, the opening two tracks set the stage with some of the most hushed and haunting Scud loveliness we've heard, the opener sounds like it could have been recorded for one of the old records, pitch perfect Scuds, adding some lush impossibly perfect vocal harmonies, while the second track is a gorgeously wistful twang flecked lament that totally tug at the heartstrings. And so it goes, gorgeous country ballad after soft psychedelic country rocker, some of the other Scuds take their turns at the mic, but for the most part, this remains Pernice's show, and pretty much every track here is a total stunner, we can't even remember a time when a band reformed after so long and made a record this good, and this much like records from the group's classic era, without sounding like a tired rehash, in fact, Do You Love The Sound pretty much sounds like it could have been recorded right after the group's 1996 swansong Massachusetts.
Welcome back Scud Mountain Boys, oh how we missed you.
More mature and full-sounding than Dance the Night Away, this is the album that ought to earn Scud Mtn Boys a place in heaven *and* a place in yr sad heart, preferably the one vacated by American Music Club now that Mark is writing 'jazz' (well he called it that himself but as long as he's happy then we're happy you know). Not that Scud Mtn Boys sound anything like AMC; they're much closer to the Eagles and Gram Parsons' slow songs. Lyrics so plaintive, plain, stark, beautiful. Highly recommended.
This double-cd set reissues the out-of-print Pine Box (never before on cd!) and Dance The Night Away albums by this AQ-all-time-favorite band. As if the Eagles were melancholy, introspective nerds. So many beautiful, sad, lovely songs!
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Unclassifiable American metal experimentalists Sculptured present their second album. Their sound is a combination of epic Maidenesque guitar melodies, emotional vocals (cleanly sung and otherwise), progressive song structures, and unusual instrumentation, most notably the AMAZING use of trumpet and trombone throughout the album. Yeah, imagine a cross between (death/black/prog metal gods) Opeth and (Utah prog/fusion/improv former metalcore band) Iceburn, with a horn section. Unlike anything else in the metal realm at the moment, and recommended.
The soundtrack to Jon Moritsugu's latest award-winning independent film - this one about the tangled struggles of indie filmmakers and indie bands - is just as packed with friends of AQ as the film itself. Dustin from I Am Spoonbender plays the bad-ass Church, our very own Cup and J-Church's Lance Hahn make cameo appearances as eager film students, and Windy's bitchin' Trans Am even has a guest spot! The soundtrack features ample doses of Casiotone For The Painfully Alone and J-Church, as well as Moritsugu and Amy Davis' own band Toni Ann. Good, raw, lo-fi fun!
A couple years after making its rounds of the indie film fest circuits (heck, we've had the soundtrack for ages!), Jon Moritsugu's latest film Scumrock is finally available on dvd!!!
As we mentioned in the cd's review, the film revolves around the tangled struggles of indie filmmakers and indie bands. It features many AQ-familiar faces including a pre-TV On The Radio Kyp Malone in one of the lead roles, Moritsugu's partner in crime and awesome illustrator Amy Davis, I Am Spoonbender's Dustin Donaldson as the bad-ass Church, fellow filmmakers Craig Baldwin and Danny Plotnick, J-Church's Lance Hahn and our own Cup as eager film students, and let's not forget Windy's ol' Trans Am! Oh, and there's James Duval (aka Donnie Darko's Frank aka the freaky bunny) too. Plus music by Casiotone For The Painfully Alone, J-Church, and Moritsugu and Davis' band Toni-Ann. Have we missed anyone?
Unflinchingly dedicated to keepin' it raw 'n' real, this renegade indie filmmaker keeps on keepin' on and critics and kids continue to shower him the accolades. Scumrock received some very high honors and hip cred including 'Best Feature' at both the Chicago and New York Underground Film Festivals and one of the Village Voice film critics' pick of 2003. Be forewarned though if you're an image- and/or audio-phile seeking crystal clarity, the glare'n'grit laden Scum Rock might not be for you. Possessing an appreciation for all of the different qualities and kinds of film and video, Moritsugu doesn't look at one as better than another. No, he view the image 'quality' variances as simply a personality trait of each format. He just as much celebrates the overblown, hazy images caught on Hi-8 as the razor crispness of HD. He'll shoot in whatever format suits his current creative vision and the project's budget. Degraded images and distorted sound are all part of Moritsugu's wild underground film playground. In turn, dizzying, disorienting, giddy, awkward, and sincere.
Moritsugu fans, we've been alerted that next in line for dvd-ification will be Fame Whore! ----* ----* In Stock, Not Yet Reviewed : ----* If you want to order one of these, just cut and paste the info into the comments area on the order form, or just email mailorder@aquariusrecords.org. 3/4 HAD BEEN ELIMINATED "A Year Of The Aural Gauge Operation" (Hapna) cd 16.98 ACID BATH "Demos: 1993-1996" (Rotten) cd 14.98 AFRICAN BROTHERS / KING TUBBY "The African Brothers Meet King Tubby In Dub" (Nature Sounds) cd 14.98 ALPHANE MOON / OUR GLASSIE AZOTH "Experimenting With An Amen / The Magician's Heavenly Chaos" (Oggum) cd 15.98 ANOREXIA NERVOSA "The September E.P." (Listenable) cd ep 13.98 ANTONY & THE JOHNSONS "You Are My Sister" (Secretly Canadian) cd ep 5.98 AOKI TAKAMASA + TUJIKO NORIKO "28" (Fat Cat) cd 15.98 ARCTURUS "Sideshow Symphonies" (Season Of Mist) cd 16.98 BAUHAUS "Shadow of Light / Archive" (Beggars Banquet) dvd 15.98 BIBLE OF THE DEVIL "Brutality - Majesty - Eternity" (Scarey Records) cd 11.98 BIGG JUS "Poor People's Day" (Mush) cd 14.98 BJORK "Medula Videos" (Elektra) dvd 15.98 BORBETOMAGUS "Barbed Wire Maggots" (Agaric) cd 15.98 BRIGHT "Bells Break Their Towers" (Strange Attractors Audio House) cd BRUMIT, JON "Vendetta Retreat: Motion Picture Soundtrack" (Edgetone Records) cd 10.98 BURZUM "Draugen - Rarities" (Back On Black) cd 19.98 CASSETTEBOY "Dead Horse" (Barry's Bootlegs) cd 17.98 CAVE-IN "Perfect Pitch Black" (Hydra Head) cd 11.98 CHARTIER, RICHARD "Re'Post'Postfabricated" (DSP) 2cd 18.98 CHIODOS "All's Well That Ends Well" (Equal Vision) cd 13.98 CLARK, TODD TAMANEND "Nova Psychedelia (1975-1985)" (Anopheles) 2cd 21.00 CROWPATH "Son Of Sulphur" (Willowtip) cd 14.98 DARK FOG "Cosmic Tone" (Original Sound Recordings) cd 10.98 DARKNESS, THE "One Way Ticket To Hell" (Atlantic) cd 17.98 DEADBOY & THE ELEPHANTMEN "We Are Night Sky" (Fat Possum) cd 14.98 DEATH FROM ABOVE 1979 "Romance Bloody Romance: Remixes & B-Sides" (Vice) cd 14.98 DJ/RUPTURE, SISTER NANCY, & KID 606 "Little More Oil" (Soul Jazz) 12" 10.98 DOCKSTADER, TOD "Aerial #2" (Sub Rosa) cd 14.98 DRIVER, TOBY "In the L..L..Library Loft" (Tzadik) cd 15.98 F/I "Blanga" (Lexicon Devil) cd 16.98 FIRE ENGINES "Codex Teenage Premonition" (Domino) cd 14.98 FORREST, JASON "Shamelessly Exciting" (Sonig) cd 14.98 FRIPP, ROBERT "Love Cannot Bear: Soundscapes - Live In The USA" (Discipline Global Mobile) cd 15.98 GUIDED BY VOICES "Suitcase 2" (Fading Captain Series) 4cd boxset 45.00 GUIDED BY VOICES "The Electrifying Conclusion" (Plexifilm) dvd 24.00 HAEMOTH "Kontamination" (Southern Lord) cd 11.98 HARVESTMAN "Lashing The Rye" (Neurot) cd 14.98 HASEGAWA-SHIZUO "Gene Packs" (PSF) cd 22.00 HICKS, BILL "Sane Man" (Rykodisc) dvd 16.98 HIDDEN HAND "Devoid Of Color" (Southern Lord) cd 14.98 ILDJARN "Ildjarn is Dead" (Northern Heritage) 2cd 25.00 IMMORTAL "Sons Of Northern Darkness - Deluxe Edition" (Nuclear Blast) cd + dvd 16.98 JACKIE-O MOTHERFUCKER "Flags Of The Sacred Harp" (All Tomorrow's Parties) cd 15.98 JANE "Coconuts" (Psych-o-path) cd 14.98 JAPANTHER "Yer Living Grave" (Menlo Park) cd 10.98 JOAO, KARE "2" (Jester) cd 15.98 KANE, JONATHAN "February" (Table Of The Elements) cd/lp 14.98/14.98 KELLY, R. "Trapped In The Closet" (Zomba) dvd 21.00 KILL THE CLIENT "Escalation Of Hostility" (Willowtip) cd 14.98 KING, CAST "Saw Mill Man" (Locust) cd 14.98 KORAY, ERKIN "s/t" (Istanbul Plak) cd 19.98 KUBISCH, CHRISTINA "Armonica" (Semishigure) cd 17.98 LUBELSKI, SAMARA "Spectacular Of Passages" (Social Registry) cd 14.98 LUMSK "Troll" (Tabu) cd 16.98 MAGNETOPHONE "The Man Who Ate The Man" (4AD) cd 13.98 MASS, THE "Perfect Picture" (Crucial Blast) cd 13.98 MAXIMUM JOY "Unlimited (1979-1983)" (Crippled Dick Hot Wax) cd 16.98 MOONDOG "The Viking of Sixth Avenue" (Honest Jon's) cd/2lp 26.00/27.00 MORRICONE, ENNIO "Crime And Dissonance" (Ipecac) 2cd 16.98 MY CAT IS AN ALIEN "The Cosmological Eye Trilogy" (Last Visible Dog) 3cd 16.98 MY DAD IS DEAD "A Divided House" (Unhinged) cd 11.98 MYTHOLOGICAL COLD TOWERS "The Vanished Pantheon" (Firedoom) cd 14.98 NINE HORSES "Snow Borne Sorrow" (Samadhisound) cd 17.98 NMS "Imperial Letters Of Protection" (Big Dada) cd 14.98 NURSE WITH WOUND "Shipwreck Radio Volume Two" (ICR) 2cd 25.00 ORCUSTUS "Wrathrash b/w Grin Of Deceit" (Southern Lord) 7" 3.98 OZZBORN, ONRY "In Between" (Camobear) cd 13.98 REID, STEVE "Spirit Walk" (Soul Jazz) cd 21.00 RIOT "Narita" (Rock Candy) cd 17.98 ROOT "Madness Of The Graves" (Redblack Productions) cd 14.98 SAWS "s/t" (InTone) cd 14.98 SCHMICKLER, MARCUS / JOHN TILBURY "Variety" (A-Musik) cd 17.98 SHALABI EFFECT "Unfortunately" (Alien8) cd 14.98 SHEA, DAVID "The Book Of Scenes" (Sub Rosa) cd 14.98 SONDHEIM, ALAN / RITUAL ALL 770 "The Songs" (Fire Museum) cd 13.98 SONGS OF GREEN PHEASANT "s/t" (Fat Cat) cd 15.98 SONIC YOUTH WITH TIM BARNES "Koncertas Stan Brakhage Prisiminimui" (SYR) cd 13.98 SORCERY "Stunt Rock (OST)" (Akarma) cd 15.98 SPUNK "En Aldeles Forferdelig Sykdom" (Rune Grammofon) cd 16.98 STEVENS, MICK "The Englishman / The River" (Shadoks) 2cd 18.98 STRAWBERRY PATH "When The Raven Has Come To The Earth" (Radioactive) cd 17.98 STRIBORG "Black Desolate Winter / Depressive Hibernation" (Asgard) cd 13.98 SUSUMU YOKOTA & ROTHKO "Distant Sounds Of Summer" (Lo Recordings) cd 14.98 SWORD "Lord By Fire" (We Are The Label) cd 10.98 T2 "It'll All Work Out In Boomland" (Akarma) lp 23.00 TAAKE "Nattestid...." (Wounded Love) cd 14.98 TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI "Action Direct" (Beta-lactam Ring) cd 33.00 THRALLDOM "The Seven Heads Of The Lion-Serpent" (Deathstrike) 7" 6.98 TIMEOUT DRAWER, THE "Nowonmai" (Consumer Research and Development) TRAVIS, MERLE "Strictly Guitar" (Sundazed) cd 13.98 TSUNODA, TOSHIYA "Ridge of Undulation" (Hapna) cd 15.98 V/A "Die Grosse Untergangsshow : Festival Genialer Dilletanten" (Vinyl On Demand) cd+dvd/cd+dvd+2lp 60.00/94.00 V/A "For A Decade Of Sin: 11 Years Of Bloodshot Records" (Bloodshot) 2cd 16.98 V/A "Looking For Europe" (Auerbach Tontrager) 4cd 29.00 V/A "More Arctic Hysteria / Son Of Arctic Hysteria - The Later Years Of Early Finnish Avant-Garde" (Love Records) cd 25.00 V/A "Never The Same: Leave-Taking From The British Folk Revival 1970-1977" (Honest Jons) cd 26.00 V/A "Studio One Women" (Soul Jazz) cd/2lp 21.00/24.00 V/A "The Environmental Sounds Of Crawford, Texas" (Koch) cd 10.98 V/A "This Bird Has Flown: A 40th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles' Rubber Soul" (Razor & Tie) cd 17.98 VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR "The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other" (Virgin / EMI) cd 16.98 VELVET CACOON "Northsuite" (Full Moon Productions) cd 12.98 VENOM "MMV" (Castle) cd 56.00 WATCHMAKER "Erased From The Memory Of Man" (Willowtip) cd 12.98 WEST, SPEEDY "Guitar Spectacular" (Sundazed) cd 13.98 WHIP "Atheist Lovesongs To God" (Resonant) cd 17.98 WOLF EYES & PRURIENT "The Warriors" (Hospital Productions) cd 14.98 WRAY, LINK "Law Of The Jungle! The Swan Demos '64" (Sundazed) cd 14.98 YOUNG PEOPLE "Five Sunsets In Four Days" (Too Pure) cd ep 5.98 YURA YURA TEIKOKU "na.ma.shi.bi.re.na.ma.me.ma.i" (Mesh-Key) cd 11.98 ZORN, JOHN "Mysterium" (Tzadik) cd 15.98 ZU "Way of the Animal Powers" (Xeng) cd 15.98 ZU / MATS GUSTAFSSON "How To Raise An Ox" (Atavistic) cd 14.98 _______________________________________________________________________ ABOUT MAILORDER
What do you get when you cross one part Nadja and one part Bloody Panda? Well, pretty much what you might expect, a collection of sprawling epic doomic dirgescapes, that slip from spaced out and psychedelic to blackened and buzz drenched, blissed out and ethereal one second, suffocating and crushing the next, most often in the same song.
"Crepuscular" begins all spidery guitars and distant atmospheric shimmer, but it's not long before that Nadja style metalgaze creep blots out the sun, resulting in a sort of washed out, grinding slo-mo dirge that really does sound quite Nadja like, which shouldn't be surprising as both members of Nadja show up here, resulting in something more like Nadja with an extra guitarist, which we're not complaining about AT ALL. It's a gorgeously thick and corrosive and fantastically heady avant metal drift, drum machine driven, give it a sort of Godflesh vibe, but way more blissed out, droney and trancey and totally hypnotic, the sort of dreamdirge heaviness that's so easy to get lost in. That heaviness does get dialed back for a brief spell midsong, during which the trio weave a lust shimmerscape of glistening effects and deem rumbling swells, only to work their way back to an even more blown out dirge.
The title track finds the core Scythling duo of Aidan Baker and Josh Rothernberger joined by vocalist Rebecca Fasanello and Michael Tambouro on hammered dulcimer, which had us expecting something darkly delicate, which the opening few minutes are, but Fasanello's vocals are a demonic shriek, that in places transforms into a witchy croon, and the dulcimer, we were expecting some sort of Botanist like percussive shimmer, but instead, they seem to just add to the general din, adding streaks of metallic shimmer, but for the most part, it's a gloriously slow moving cloud of blackened dirgery, the drums skittery and abstract, a droned out blurscape that manages to sound both grim and black, and spaced out and psychedelic simultaneously.
The final track "Gloaming" introduces another guest vocalist, as well as someone credited with "violet ray", the track starting out haunting and minimal, weird disembodied melodies over distant pianos, all smeared into a hazy abstract drift, a crumbling low end drone gradually surfacing underneath, underpinning what sound more like the Caretaker or Tim Hecker, eventually that low end splinters into a cloud of caustic crumbling heaviness, but the track remains a drifty amorphous crawl, moaning foghorn like melodies, shimmery guitar buzz and tinkling melodies eventually fight back the onslaught, the track unwinding to its end as some sort of blackened chamber music, the doomic creep wreathed in clouds of abstract metallic shimmer.
The Tri Angle label has brought us some of our favorite weirdo electronica, from witch house to slo-mo-soul, from dronestep to warped hip hop, just a quick list of some of our favorite Triangle artists speaks volumes: Forest Swords, Vessel, FiS, Haxan Cloak, Water Borders, oOoOO, Clams Casino, Balam Acab, Holy Other, How To Dress Well...
So the fact that this might be the weirdest, noisiest, most out there Triangle release yet should not be taken lightly, cuz the bar had already been set pretty goddamn high, but the oddly monikered Sd Laika, aka Milwaukee producer Peter Runge, knocks it out of the park, with what is some sort of post grime, post dubstep, electro noise oddity, that pushes ALL our buttons. The sort of thing that you might have expected to come out on DHR back in the day. The opening one two punch is all it should take, the 90 seconds of "Peace", all grinding gristly synth buzz, keening high end skree and squiggly psychedelic melody, wreathed in swaths of hiss and him, fragmented and blown out, noisy, lurching and lumbering, it kills us that that song didn't stretch out to fill up the whole record. But then comes "Great God Pan", which eases our pain a little, with big billowing clouds of buzzing low end, glitches out drones, and staticky buzz, a field of hazy drift, that is soon interrupted by a seriously twisted beat, that sounds like it was assembled from discarded fragments of others songs, noisy, clattery, skittery, stuttery, all the while, in the background, thick swells of black buzz pulse ominously, and over the top, haunting alien melodies, all tethered to that super sick, unholy anti-groove. Murky and sinister and seriously fucking next level.
And it never lets up, all the beats sound like they were filtered through some homespun analog telephone transistor radio broadcast system, fuzzy, and crackly, always dropping out, and then swooping back in, imagine a grime record recorded onto a wax cylinder and then broadcast via short wave radio, in a moving vehicle so the reception is in constant flux. And even when everything is in range, and the sound is relatively hi-fi, the sounds are still warped and woozy, and before long the sound devolves into another gloriously distortion drenched sprawl, often sounding like Leyland Kirby's Caretaker having a go at dubstep, and failing spectacularly.
There are some mysterious shards of 8bit sound, some twisted fragmented samples, some flurries of tangled melody, and cascades of synth blorp and grinding fields of staticky thrum, the sound occasionally dipping into cubby tranquility, but again, quickly snapping back into a twisted variant of alien IDM. The whole record is a dizzying collage of fractured sonics, of shattered rhythms, reassembled into damaged, demented rhythms, hints of minimal techno, Pop Ambient, dub, house, electro, all find their way into the sound, but in true mad scientist fashion, those elements are melted down, dissected, and transformed utterly and completely into some strange hybrid of experimental dada-soundscapery and avant electronica, a gloriously mind bending, brain melting, dance floor defying masterpiece.
It's hard to believe that The Sea And Cake have been around for almost fifteen years now. That's making us feel pretty old, but it's also reminding us what unsung heroes of the indie scene these guys really are. They're a bit like that good friend you don't necessarily see all the time but when you do you are immediately reminded how special they are and how comfortable around them you feel.
Over the course of all those years The Sea And Cake have never let us down, always releasing records both breezy and confident, often imitated but never duplicated, a singular sound and vision that Sam Prekop, Archer Prewitt, Eric Claridge and John McEntire have made so much their own.
Car Alarm finds them in top form, much like Pinback and Stereolab, the Sea And Cake are a band who don't stray too far from the template they've seemingly perfected, but instead concentrate on continually creating rich and well constructed songs and albums within that framework, music that will stand the test of time and remain unaffected by passing fads. The Sea And Cake were never the most hip or cool or crazy band so we weren't surprised to see Vice magazine dissing them so hard in a recent issue, because in so many ways the band represent everything that is not flashy, shocking or schlocky. Instead it's about the music, about substance and integrity, always delivering a breath of fresh air in a musical world polluted with so many wannabes trying way too hard. The Sea And Cake never sound like they're trying to be anything that they are not, their music always just flows with such perfect ease. And Car Alarm proves once again that the band have not lost any of their charm or musical sophistication, and in fact they are sounding better than ever!
It's been four long years since the last Sea And Cake full length, and it sounds like Sam and the boys might've drank a couple of Red Bulls to get the juices flowing before laying down these tracks. Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but honestly, Everybody surprised all of us with its unexpected burst of energy. It's downright lively by Sea And Cake standards, and the change is a welcome one. Early on there were many around here who swooned to the sounds of Sea And Cake. What wasn't to love? Archer Prewitt, Sam Prekop and John McEntire? Sold! But over the years the band's sound mellowed out more and more and more, until it resembled the most vanilla easy listening '70s AM radio fodder. And we'll admit somewhere along the way we drifted apart, but this new album has drawn us back into this Chicago band's aural embrace and then some. Fear not dear fans near and far tho', it's not a jarring shift. All of the key Sea And Cake treasured elements -- gently grooving guitar and bass melodies, kickass drumming, and adorably dulcet vocals -- remain still completely intact. Wonderful.
The carefree, pretty pop that Chicago's Sea and Cake specialize in has, with their seventh full length, veered so far to the electronic side of things that the 3 remixes found here barely stray far from their current sound. Said remixers include Stereolab, Broadcast (both remixes sounding exactly as you'd expect 'em to), and even one by Detroit techno producer Carl Craig. There's still the languid breathy vocals of Sam Prekop, the experimental stylings of percussionist John McEntire (Tortoise), and the coctail (heh) guitar of Archer Prewitt, but the added synthesizers' sophisticated buzz and hum flowing constantly behind each song give it a machinized sheen. Nice. Four new songs and 3 remixes, plus one very cute little animated movie filled with abstract shapes dancing along to the music. It's by Richard McGuire of Liquid Liquid!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
For their sixth full length, those Sea & Cakes are venturing even deeper into the groovy electronic chillroom and away from their former sunkissed and breezy acoustic path. Super spacious and dreamy, but with considerably more euro jetset flair. Fluid organ tones, wispy string sounds, jazzy shuffling beats. Sam Prekop's voice is still as mellow and as effortless as ever, but this time there's the added eleganza vocal depth of the Navin brothers from the Aluminum Group -- certainly no slouches themselves in the charm'n'croon department. They're joined by Archer Prewitt and Prekop's subtle guitar interplay and the solid-as-ever rhythm section of bassist Erik Claridge and John McEntire on drums. Oh yes, and to top it all off, they do a cover of Bowie's "Sound And Vision". A blissful beauty!
After a three year hiatus, a somewhat lackluster fourth outing from beloved Chicago outfit who craft an original, quiet, airy sound somewhere between "cocktail lounge" and Style Council pop. Light, dreamy strings and horns. The ever-present vibes and some positively dewy vocals. At times it veers toward Steely Dan territory, which can be a good thing -- see Sea and Cake member Archer Prewitt's truly wonderful "In the Sun" -- but in "Oui" ends up more generic style than substance. A pleasant if slightly doleful effort. If you like the Sea and Cake already (and judging by sales, you probably do), you'll probably like this too, but if you're new to them, AQ's advice is to start with their great self-titled first album, which we always carry.
Third album by this charming band made up of folks from the Coctails, Tortoise, and other Chicago outfits. John McEntire plays a most desirable and sought-after analog synth, the EML Electrocomp 101, also heard used to stunning effect by Cul De Sac.
Over their last few releases, The Sea And Cake have added some pep and punch to their trademark breezy pop. While they continue with moments of higher energy on The Moonlight Butterfly, it's also an album that contains some of their most dreamy and seductive sounds yet. Sam Prekop's vocals continue to induce swoons like very few modern male vocalists can, and the layers of sounds that glide and shimmer alongside his voice have had us swaying side to side, reminding us why The Sea & Cake continues to be such an amazing band. Much like Stereolab, it's easy to take them for granted. Yet they never slip up, they never make a bad record, and they maintain a level of excellence that is so rare for bands that have been around as long as they have.
We last heard from Prekop, on his surprising experimental, electronic solo outing Old Punch Card, and perhaps it was that exploration that led to all the nice warm layers that really make this album sound so great on repeated listens. In fact the title track, is the most unexpected Sea and Cake song yet. An electronic composition that sounds like Aphex Twin playing Philip Glass, but somehow infusing it with the same breeziness and warmth that makes their sound so infectious. While we've been talking so much about Prekop, it's important to note just how amazing this permanent 'super group' is, as folks like Archer Prewitt and John McEntire continue to help shape the texture and architecture of Prekop's unique vision. Crazy to think that it's now almost 20 years since The Sea And Cake released their debut, and even crazier to think that we've loved everything they've done over these past two decades. If you've slept on their last few outings, we urge you to get back with them on this. One of the best pop albums of the year!
3 interesting remixes (created and "titled" by Bundy K. Brown, Designer, and Jimmy O'Rourke) and 2 brand new songs.
