[ aquarius records catalogue

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Showing results 1151 through 1200 of 4057.

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Formery a bi-monthly magazine, Shindig! has now gone to a quarterly schedule, which means a beefed-up page count, this is BIG! Sorta the size of an issue of Ugly Things (a magazine with which Shindig! has much in common, content-wise) but on glossy, color paper for all the vibrant graphics to really zing out atcha eyes. On the cover, The Electric Prunes. And among the many other things inside this ish, there's articles about (or interviews with) Dutch freakbeat greats Q65, 10cc's Strawberry Studios, the Light In The Attic label, Texas heavies Josefus, blues raga masters Clark-Hutchinson, former Blue Cheer guitar god Randy Holden, and "the rise and fall of our last great rock band" Thee Hypnotics - you see, it's not all '60s/'70s stuff, or maybe Thee Hypnotics, from the '90s, get a pass... Actually they cover even newer bands, including Swedish garage rockers The Maharajas, here. And then there's some non-music material as well, articles about psychedelic video games (really!) and trashy '70s exploitation paperbacks, including that volume of The Destroyer series Allan's been trying to find, #13: Acid Rock! Plus the usual reviews, album art features, and more. All in all, lookin' good as a quarterly!

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Another glossy and colorful issue of Shindig!, exclamation point and all. This British music magazine is a must for anyone into the vintage sounds of yesteryear (popsyke, folk-rock, heavy prog, R&B, etc. etc.), as we've said before it's kinda like a combo of Ugly Things and Mojo magazines. On the cover this time 'round, Mott The Hoople. Also this ish, features on The Twilights, The Critters, The Committee, Jamul, Memphis soul label XL/Sounds, and much much more. Including an essay on that staple of dinosaur rock, the drum solo!! And an interview with our pal Vincent who runs the great reissues label Lion Productions. And the usual gamut of reviews.

On the cover: singer Julie Driscoll (and organist Brian Auger, though the picture is just of Julie...). Inside, also: Spirit, Kim Fowley, Question Mark and the Mysterians, Wimple Witch, Iron Virgin, and modern day pagan-proggers Circulus. Plus reviews and news and the other usual magazine features. Shindig has undergone graphic redesign this time around, but it's still the same magazine of good old psych/pop/garage and other vintage sounds, made by bands (mostly) old and (occasionally) new. Includes free cd comp of new bands.

Two new releases from UK psych/space label this week, and both are fairly dramatic departures from the label's usual sound, which tends toward the drugged out, heart of the sun, Hawkwind worshipping mega space jammage of groups like the Janitors, Hills, etc. The other new Cardinal Fuzz record is from a Philly outfit called Lantern, who channel the Stooges' swagger garage psych on their new record, and then there's this, which is essentially straight up sixties style psych, the group made up of members who've done time in the Black Angels, the Rondelles, Woven Bones and others, and who have crafted a seriously kick ass chunk of psychedelia, that barring the modern production, sounds like it could actually be some lost sixties psych artifact, the songs especially, pitch perfect psychedelic jangle, groovy riffage, killer harmony vocals, buzzing organs, swaggery and a sound closer to the Fuzztones or the Lyres or Redd Kross or any number of other sixties psych worshippers, but these guys do get spaced out and heavy, unfurling some seriously fierce psych guitar blowouts, and the sound is fantastically druggy and fuzzy and far out, and the songs crazy catchy, the production too, super hot, all the sounds in-the-red... We were honestly thrown a bit at first, expecting something way more spaced out, but the more we listen to this, the more we're digging it, and the fact that these songs are so catchy, definitely makes this potentially a serious repeat listen, even after a few times though, a handful of these songs are pretty firmly lodged in our heads. A new favorite for sure, but psychedelic spacelords maybe listen to the sound samples first, but anyone else into heavy sixties psych, and jangly retro garage rock, this will definitely hit the spot. LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!! Comes with a download code that includes the album proper PLUS three bonus tracks!

MPEG stream: Climb The Ladder
MPEG stream: Creation
MPEG stream: Innocent Girl
MPEG stream: So Many People

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SORRY. Cool Japanese hiphop with unexpected twists and turns, so it will appeal to fans of DJ Shadow, Mo'Wax, and the Future Primitive series. Double LP, cd any day now.

From our favorite hip hopper from Japan comes this new 12". Six tracks of one piece, My Nation, all flavored with reggae, due to the collaboration between Shingo and the Japanese dub duo Dry & Heavy. While the modern dub is light and bouncy on Dry & Heavy's

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SORRY. Super good Japanese hip hop with unexpected twists and turns. Will appeal to fans of DJ Shadow, Mo'Wax, and the Future Primitive series. Comes in a beautiful book-like package. Recommended.

Holy heck. This is some serious over the top "blackjazz" indeed. No, not "black" jazz like, in the African American sense (which would be rather redundant anyway), but more like, "blackened" in the metal sense. 'Cause this band is from Norway, y'know. And none other than that modern day Viking, Grutle from Enslaved, makes a cameo vocal appearance on one track. One could argue that this "blackjazz" is not really jazz at all. Unless your idea of jazz comes entirely from the works of John Zorn! And he'd be the first to tell you it shouldn't. But if you like John Zorn and Mike Patton and others of that ilk, you'll probably dig this. Likewise if you're already a fan of Shining, of course. We've certainly enjoyed their previous albums as well - notice now that they're not on jazz/experimental label Rune Grammofon, but on a metal label, albeit a fairly adventurous one, whose last release highlighted here was by Japanese weirdos Sigh, fans of whom just might be able to wrap their heads around this too. If you haven't yet heard Shining, this album will pull no punches in the matter of acquainting you with their unique sound. Jazz IS a part of it (including saxophone... though there's sax in Sigh too and they're not jazz) but there's more, lots more. The first track is a hyper spazzed, fuzzed out almost industrial metal onslaught (interestingly, they do it again later in the record in a more abstract, atmospheric fashion). And they just descend from there further into skronky, complex, heavy prog madness, laced with ADD electronic weirdness and improvisatory jamming, played with both metal and jazz chops. Speaking of which, the squealing saxes come to the fore on "Healter Skelter" (which is not a misspelled Beatles cover), a track that actually gives Japan's Koenjihyakkei ensemble a run for their money!!! Then there's "Blackjazz Deathtrance", perhaps the album's centerpiece, the longest track anyway, nearly 11 minutes of utter, uh, blackjazz deathtrance indeed: spasming percussive assault, sampled screaming crowd noise, frenzied sax blat, shuddering fuzz riffs, spiraling into energetic disassembly, diving into droned-out depths, throbbing with electronic menace. It's kinda like 16-17 meets Fantomas. And that holds for much of the rest of the record too. You could also compare this to the likes of Guapo and Naked City, with some Jazkamer thrown in for good measure. The disc ends with a cover of the oft-covered "21st Century Schizoid Man" but they do it really well (that's the one w/ Grutle on vox). And that particular King Crimson classic is perfect for Shining, being prog pioneers King Crimson's most metal composition (really one of the earliest metal songs ever) as well as one that's a natural launchpad for hyperchaotic free jazz freakouts too. In a word, when it (and this album) is over: whew!

MPEG stream: The Madness And The Damage Done
MPEG stream: Healter Skelter
MPEG stream: Exit Sun

The previous Rune Grammofon album from Norwegian electronica/jazz outfit Shining (2005's In The Kingdom Of Kitsch You Will Be A Monster) we liked quite a bit -- and sold quite a few copies of as well. But we don't remember it being quite as hard and heavy as this new disc! Some of this is almost industrial-metal, seriously. Herky-jerky rhythms one moment, sheer droning heaviness the next, with moody male and female vox amidst the instrumental/electronic onslaught. This has a sinister circusiness that makes you think that Mike Patton (Fantomas/Faith No More/etc.) must somehow be involved, though of course he's not. Doubtless he'd like how spunky, brassy, swirly, and dark this is, and that Shining haven't lost their any of their intense cinematic Morricone-ish sensibility.

MPEG stream: In The Kingdom Of Kitsch You Will Be A Monster
MPEG stream: Psalm
MPEG stream: Fight Dusk With Dawn

NOW ON VINYL! Not one but two albums by this weird sorta jazz electronica group on Rune G. Here's a review cobbled together from our write-ups of the cd versions of the relevant records... In The Kingdom Of Kitsch You Will Be A Monster was the 2005 debut of Shining, from Norway (not to be confused with the black metal Shining from Sweden). What be they if not black metal? Hmm, let's listen...good grief, dunno the genre for this even...it's jazz we guess...of sorts. Powerful and freaky and technological. Lead by Jorgen Munkby (ex-Jaga Jazzist, as is the Shining's keyboardist) who plays (on here) everything from sax to accordion to church organ to guitar to mellotron to synths, and does drum programming too. But Shining is a five-piece band so as multi-instrumental as Jorgen is, he's doesn't have to do it all at once. And they leave the tubular bells to a guest musician. So, you get the idea that there's potentially a lot going on. The requiste Kim Hiorthoy cover art, which kinda looks like a blown-to-bits website, implies as much. The ten tracks here veer from booming bombast to melodic moodiness. Energetic ADD explosions of horns and percussion are calmed with weird wordless vocal parts, rhythmic frenzies give way to eerie grooves, and the players' jazz chops are chopped up. There's plenty of tension, and release, let's say! Just imagine some hotshot jazz guys gone on a dark, cinematic bender, unhealthily obsessed with Carl Stalling cartoon scores and arty prog rock and all possibilities of modern electronics. Your ears will feel fully exercised (and dare we say delighted) after a session with Shining. Very cool. Then in 2007, Grindstone came out. Compared to the debut, it seemed quite a bit harder and heavier than we remember! Some of this is almost industrial-metal, seriously. Herky-jerky rhythms one moment, sheer droning heaviness the next, with moody male and female vox amidst the instrumental/electronic onslaught. This has a sinister circusiness that makes you think that Mike Patton (Fantomas/Faith No More/etc.) must somehow be involved, though of course he's not. Doubtless he'd like how spunky, brassy, swirly, and dark this is, and that Shining haven't lost their any of their intense cinematic Morricone-ish sensibility. A handsome gatefold package, limited to 500 copies.

MPEG stream: Goretex Weather Report
MPEG stream: Aleister Explains Everything
MPEG stream: The Smoking Dog
MPEG stream: In The Kingdom Of Kitsch You Will Be A Monster
MPEG stream: Psalm
MPEG stream: Fight Dusk With Dawn

The first two discs from this Norwegian "deathjazz" unit, reissued together as a double cd package. Here's what we said about these two albums originally - first, In The Kingdom...: This Shining is not to be confused with the black metal Shining (who hail from Sweden). What be they, then, if not black metal? Hmm, let's listen...good grief, dunno the genre for this even...it's jazz we guess...of sorts. Powerful and freaky and technological. Lead by Jorgen Munkby (ex-Jaga Jazzist, as is the Shining's keyboardist) who plays everything from sax to accordion to church organ to guitar to mellotron to synths, and does drum programming too. But Shining is a five-piece band so as multi-instrumental as Jorgen is, he's doesn't have to do it all at once. And they leave the tubular bells to a guest musician. So, you get the idea that there's potentially a lot going on. The requisite Kim Hiorthoy cover art, which kinda looks like a blown-to-bits website, implies as much. The ten tracks here veer from booming bombast to melodic moodiness. Energetic ADD explosions of horns and percussion are calmed with weird wordless vocal parts, rhythmic frenzies give way to eerie grooves, and the players' jazz chops are chopped up. There's plenty of tension, and release, let's say! Just imagine some hotshot jazz guys gone on a dark, cinematic bender, unhealthily obsessed with Carl Stalling cartoon scores and arty prog rock and all possibilities of modern electronics. Your ears will feel fully exercised (and dare we say delighted) after a session with Shining. Very cool. And then, Grindstone: The previous Rune Grammofon album from Norwegian electronica/jazz outfit Shining we liked quite a bit - and sold quite a few copies of as well. But we don't remember it being quite as hard and heavy as this new disc! Some of this is almost industrial-metal, seriously. Herky-jerky rhythms one moment, sheer droning heaviness the next, with moody male and female vox amidst the instrumental/electronic onslaught. This has a sinister circusiness that makes you think that Mike Patton (Fantomas/Faith No More/etc.) must somehow be involved, though of course he's not. Doubtless he'd like how spunky, brassy, swirly, and dark this is, and that Shining haven't lost their any of their intense cinematic Morricone-ish sensibility.

MPEG stream: Goretex Weather Report
MPEG stream: Aleister Explains Everything
MPEG stream: The Smoking Dog
MPEG stream: In The Kingdom Of Kitsch You Will Be A Monster
MPEG stream: Psalm
MPEG stream: Fight Dusk With Dawn

MPEG stream: Ett Liv Utan Mening
MPEG stream: Utfrysning

Killer vinyl reissue of a long out of print cassette from the Shining Path, aka Ilya Monosov and Preston Swirnoff, brother of our very own Irwin. Originally released on T.B.T.D and now long gone. Sort of taking off from where Shining Path's first Holy Mountain release left off, these guys take synths, vocals, organs, hurdy gurdy, drum machine and guitar and whip them into a blown out krautrock, wild noise space rock frenzy, some baffling mix of Can, Hawkwind, High Rise and Suicide, that sounds perfect together, a confusionally brilliant wild eyed blowout. Total WTF? free psych heaven! From the opening burst of blown out heart-of-the-sun psychrock meltdown, to a stretch of spacious drifting, mesmerizing motorik fuzzstomp, to the final chunk of weird drum machine driven, electronic krautdrone, these guys are absolutely melt minds and destroy speakers, and we can't get enough. The flipside is another burst of furious dubbed out druggy psych, this batch of tuneage recorded live in Brooklyn in 2006 with guests Little Howlin' Wolf and Peter Barry. Recommended of course.

Latest release from Holy Mountain, a new 12" from The Shining Path, the duo of Ilya Monosov, and Preston Swirnoff. We've dug pretty much everything we've gotten our hands on so far, and this 12" is no different. Well, actually it is, sort of. And no we don't mean it's different as in we don't dig it, but no, as in it sounds WAY different than other SP releases. Where as other records were overdriven dubbed out druggy psych rock, Chocolate Gasoline has a bit of, well, a sort of calypso vibe mixed into their usual psychedelic stew. It's really strange, sort of sleazy sounding, WAY tripped out, but we still love it. Stripped down percussion, moaning reverbed guitar, blown out FX drenched leads, strange vocals, that almost sound like Jamaican style toasting, and that calypso vibe. It continues on through most of the record, occasionally interrupted by dubbed out rhythms, clouds of electronic glitch, all dizzy and druggy, it actually sounds a bit like this: imagine the house band in some dark dingy calypso bar, a bar you just stumbled into after being heavily dosed with LSD, everything spinning and twisting into freaky shapes, the band jamming in the corner, begins to lift off the ground, their sounds becoming colors, the bar fading until just you and the band are standing on some other planet, watching the Earth melt in the background while the band jams on, and the little rock you're on drifts closer and closer to the sun. Packaged in an eye popping 12" style sleeve, all reds and blues and yellows, just begging for some 3-D glasses!

The Shining Path is the psych rock alter ego minimalist experimental duo Ilya Monosov and Preston Swirnoff, and in the past we've raved about their blown out kraut flecked space rock. This new 7" captures the group live in 2005, two tracks from one of their very rare live performances. The opener is a deep slow burning dirge, glistening and glowing, the sound of a planet slowly drifting into the orbit of a collapsing sun, guitars swirl and soar, grind and growl, effulgent and resplendent. This is drone rock rendered almost static, the riffs crawl, the bass throbs, the whole track creeps, or more appropriately, floats weightless, in a cloud of layered red hot psych guitar, spit out in thick glowing gouts, shot through with feedback, it's like High Rise covering Stars Of The Lid! The second track is a bit more rocking, the drums and bass locked into a motorik groove, while the guitar, still super distorted and blown out, spits out riffs in sudden bursts, eventually coalescing into one constant stream of psychfuzz, pelted by fragments of super effected vocals, strange little squalls of FX, and then the bass gets all dubbed out, bouncing back and forth beneath the buzz and fuzz. Like all Trensmat 7"s, the vinyl comes bundled with a bonus cd-r, this one featuring an extra live track, a heavy rocker, with some serious riffing and harmonica (!), as well as four live videos from various performances, nicely filmed, cool effects, tripped out lighting, and most importantly, more awesome music, with bleated sax, moaning horns, droney raga-like buzz, chanted vocals, creepy ambience, thick walls of guitars, rumbling throbbing bass, all woven into some seriously spaced out psychedelic dronerock. Pressed on white vinyl and of course, VERY LIMITED!

MPEG stream: Live At The Voltaire Commune
MPEG stream: Lonely Hearts

Brand new super limited cassette release from this droned out space rocking duo made up of Ilya Monosov, and Preston Swirnoff, who just happens to be the brother of our very own Irwin! Sort of taking off from where their Holy Mountain release left off, these guys take synths, vocals, organs, hurdy gurdy, drum machine and guitar and whip them into a blown out krautrock, wild noise space rock frenzy, some baffling mix of Can, Hawkwind, High Rise and Suicide, that sounds perfect together, a confusionally brilliant wild eyed blowout. Total WTF? free psych heaven!�From the opening burst of blown out heart-of-the-sun psychrock meltdown, to a stretch of spacious drifting, mesmerizing motorik fuzzstomp, to the final chunk of weird drum machine driven, electronic krautdrone, these guys are absolutely melt minds and destroy speakers, and we can't get enough.� Packaged in gorgeous fold over, card stock envelope like sleeves, hand painted, with pasted on gull color tripped out artwork, on red cassette tapes, with full color picnic blanket colored inserts. LIMITED TO ONLY 100 COPIES, each hand numbered...

Wow! Holy Mountain hits the bullseye once again. This time out it's with the rock incarnation of Monosov Swirnoff, who first showed us the Shining Path on the second volume of their vinyl only series of lps on Eclipse. This is some seriously blown out and ecstatic raw and relentless rock that is equally influenced by the amazing early punk scene in Australia (think Primitive Calculators) as it is the menacing hypnotic qualities of Suicide, the blasting moments of Can and the psych guitar overload of Japan's High Rise. We love how the Shining Path offer us a taste of what can happen when punks get psychedelic. This isn't just '70s psychrock rehash/worship, instead there is a really cool urgency and momentum that's often lacking in modern day psych excursions. The Shining Path is kind of like the sweat and guts of early punk rock under the influence of Les Rallizes Denudes. While Monosov and Swirnoff reside on opposite sides of the country and thus are rarely able to perform live they did manage a short tour last summer with outsider genius Little Howlin Wolf, those lucky enough to catch them in the East got a total treat. Here's hoping that The Shining Path are able to play some shows around here as we would love to hear and feel these radiating scorchers in the flesh, but until that happens this record is gonna be blasting through our speakers nonstop! The LP comes with a cd as well, so you get the best of both worlds for the same price...

MPEG stream: The Day When He Himself Shall Wipe Away My Tears
MPEG stream: Moroccan Summer
MPEG stream: Hadliku Ner

Ah Rune Grammofon, what have you for us today? Another enticing digipacked cd of course, this one from a band called Shining, from Norway (but not to be confused with the black metal Shining from Sweden). What be they if not black metal? Hmm, let's listen...good grief, dunno the genre for this even...it's jazz we guess...of sorts. Powerful and freaky and technological. Lead by Jorgen Munkby (ex-Jaga Jazzist, as is the Shining's keyboardist) who plays (on here) everything from sax to accordion to church organ to guitar to mellotron to synths, and does drum programming too. But Shining is a five-piece band so as multi-instrumental as Jorgen is, he's doesn't have to do it all at once. And they leave the tubular bells to a guest musician. So, you get the idea that there's potentially a lot going on. The requiste Kim Hiorthoy cover art, which kinda looks like a blown-to-bits website, implies as much. The ten tracks here veer from booming bombast to melodic moodiness. Energetic ADD explosions of horns and percussion are calmed with weird wordless vocal parts, rhythmic frenzies give way to eerie grooves, and the players' jazz chops are chopped up. There's plenty of tension, and release, let's say! Just imagine some hotshot jazz guys gone on a dark, cinematic bender, unhealthily obsessed with Carl Stalling cartoon scores and arty prog rock and all possibilities of modern electronics. Your ears will feel fully exercised (and dare we say delighted) after a session with Shining. Very cool.

MPEG stream: Goretex Weather Report
MPEG stream: Aleister Explains Everything
MPEG stream: The Smoking Dog

While most of the imaginary filmscores follow Barry Adamson's approach: psychologically involved, noirish atmospheres with plenty of spy thriller references, Darrin Verhagen takes the imaginary filmscore to the realm of medieval epics for wizards, ghouls, and dragons. These dark post-classical compositions (which are entirely sampler based, rather than orchestrated) are reminiscent of the Cold Meat Industries aesthetic of bombastic Wagnerian elements and dark Industrial references to In Slaughter Natives. This marks the final installment to the Witch Trilogy after "The Witch Hammer" and "The Witch Hunter".

RealAudio clip: Witches' Ladder
RealAudio clip: Spores Of Death

Not the Speed, not the Glue - it's just the Shinki, here. After reissuing the two classics of drugged out early '70s Japanese heavy psych by proto-metal power trio Speed, Glue and Shinki, makes sense that the Phoenix label would turn their attentions to the solo effort by that band's guitarist, Shinki Chen, originally released in 1972, also featuring Hiro Yanagida on keys, and George Yanagi from Flied Egg / Strawberry Path on bass and vocals. For those keeping score at home, this doesn't get nearly the love from Julian Cope's Japrocksampler as do Shinki's albums with Speed and Glue, but we still figure any Speed Glue & Shinki fan will certainly wanna check it out, 'cause it's pretty cool in our book. Truth is, as far as STONER rock goes, its hard to imagine music much more stoned than this comfortably numb slab of swirling, psychedelic blooze rawk. Just look at the album cover... crazy long hair, red eyes, puffing on a joint... that's this album, all right. It starts off with a weird, semi-ambient opening track, "The Dark Sea Dream", five fairly abstract minutes of tinkling piano, barely-there percussion, distant voices (?), amp buzz and feedback drone which would fit right in on a current Miasmah label release, say. After that, the "regular" (though quite relaxed) rock n' roll kicks in, on melodic blues-based songs with such wonderful titles as "Freedom Of A Mad Paper Lantern", "Gloomy Reflections", and "Corpse". Shinki's guitar gently weeps, his riffage more slumbering than lumbering, the rhythms lazy and loping, everything often overwhelmed by blissed out layers of synth shimmer. And it's all quite enjoyable in fact, with a vibe sorta similar to the California dreamin' of Captain Beyond's Sufficiently Breathless (though without the jazziness of that album, which we just realized we've never reviewed!). And definitely of interest to fans of Too Much, Far Out, and of course SG&S. In any case, Shinki and friends fuzz it up nicely here, and remarkably enough, on the album's last cut, the nearly 13 minute long "Farewell To Hypocrites", they suddenly start to display some energy, the drummer at last bestirring himself, making for a rousing finale to a record that otherwise often sorta sounds like heavy Hendrix on 'ludes. Nothing wrong with that, though, if you're in the mood! Hmm, maybe they recorded this last track first, who knows? Limited, numbered, mini-LP sleeve styled gatefold packaging.

MPEG stream: Gloomy Reflections
MPEG stream: It Was Only Yesterday
MPEG stream: Farewell To Hypocrites

Oh so very full of sunshine and bounce. Whereas their debut album presented The Shins in a very Beach Boys-y light, their new full length bears more than a passing resemblance to New Pornographer Carl Newman's former band Zumpano whose two albums were released on the very same label. At times, it's almost eerily so. What with the success of the New Pornographers, any hopes of a new Zumpano album have been dashed. Well folks, sounds like SubPop's found a band who're itchin' to slip their feet into those sizable shiny Z-band's shoes. That's not to say The Shins have become complete Zumpano facsimiles, but the resemblance is more than noticeable on songs like the thoughtful, keyboard and strings driven "Saint Simon", the ultra-exuberant "Turn A Square" and the album's first single "So Say I". That said, The Shins also draw comparisons to sensitive British songsmith The Jazz Butcher (check out the second song "Mines Not A High Horse"). What does this all mean? Geez... that The Shins have a firm grasp on the art of joyful vocal harmonies and elaborate pop orchestrations, but falter in the originality department? Granted the aforementioned artists were by no means groundbreaking, but they made their sounds their own and were just sooo good! Nonetheless, these ten intelligent, lush and very retro-pop tunes filled with falsetto male vocals, elaborate harmonies, jangly guitars, and strong piano melodies make for a pretty great end-of-summer album.

MPEG stream: Kissing The Lipless
MPEG stream: Saint Simon

Tour only cd ep from AQ faves the Shins, who are the masters of shiny and sweet, jangly complex pop. This ep features "Fighting In A Sack", one of the best tracks from their recent Chutes Too Narrow album, as well as the video for "So Says I", that record's first single. Also included are two bonus tracks, a T-Rex cover, and a live version of "New Slang" on which the Shins are joined by Iron And Wine!!

MPEG stream: Baby Boomerang
MPEG stream: New Slang

Built To Spill... meet Peter Cetera. Just kidding, that's just what struck me within the first few bars of this album. Sunshine-y retro-pop tunes with very Beach Boys-esque soaring vocal harmonies. Definitely listen before buying.

RealAudio clip: Girl on the Wing
RealAudio clip: Know Your Onion

It's been a few years since The Shins transformed from indie rock's little secret to international superstars thanks in big part to Zach Braff and the exposure that Garden State gave them. But every now and then a really good band gets the grand attention they deserve and it looks as if The Shins will continue to make solid and undeniably smart pop records seemingly unfazed by their recent burst in popularity. This is a 3 song teaser that will hold us over till their follow up to Chutes Too Narrow comes out soon after new years. It's got stocking stuffer written all over it!

MPEG stream: Phantom Limb
MPEG stream: Split Needles (alt version)

For just being a lil' 3-song ep, So Say I offers quite a wide overview of what The Shins have been up to since their 2001 debut Oh Inverted World. The rollicking, retro, very Zumpano-esque title track is the first single off of their forthcoming album. Hopping in the back seat for this short ride along the beach are the considerably mellower, earthier "Mild Child" and an alternate live-in-the-basement version of the album's ninth song "Gone For Good".

MPEG stream: Mild Child

What do you do when one day, you're just another decent, sort of well known indie rock band who writes really great songs and then suddenly you become probably the most famous indie rock band around thanks to a big Hollywood movie and waves of big time hype. Well if you are The Shins you just keep writing totally great songs and remain the same great band that made us all fall in love with them in the first place. It's so nice to see how unfazed they seem to be after their huge rise in popularity. You get the feeling that Wincing The Night Away is the same record they would have made, had luck not been how it was and they still remained a somewhat obscure (by mainstream standards) indie rock band from New Mexico. The infectious breezy melodies are definitely still there. Smart pop that draws upon the richest of influences yet now sounds so singularly their own. Songs that seep into your head and have no plan of leaving anytime soon. Wincing The Night Away also finds them exploring a more moody side. The Shins are like that great friend who gets famous but still calls every time they are in town and you aren't jealous of their fame just super happy for them. PS. The first batch of these come with an awesome 7" with a non-album track and the e.p. version of Split Needles, can't promise 'em forever but you'll get one with your purchase while they last... PPS. Also note that these don't go on sale 'til Tuesday 1/23, we can't sell 'em 'til then!

MPEG stream: Australia
MPEG stream: Black Wave

Fucking gorgeous new album from pianist Shipp, who almost never disappoints. Moody, classical-inspired jazz that also makes use of the talents of Mat Maneri (violin) and uber-bassist William Parker. From lyrical and melancholy to nervous and energetic, this

RealAudio clip: Functional Form

A lovely new recording from celebrated jazz pianist Matthew Shipp and co. (his sidemen here being trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, drummer Gerald Cleaver, and of course bassist William Parker). It's part of a new jazz series from Thirsty Ear called "Blue Series" (curated by Shipp himself, actually).

Here's another new one from the prolific, AQ-fave jazz pianist Matthew Shipp, another entry in Thirsty Ear's forward-looking, Shipp-curated "Blue Series". The futuristic jazz found on "Nu Bop" is quite similar to David S. Ware's recent "Corridors & Parallels", which featured three of the players found here: Shipp, bassist extraordinare William Parker, and drummer Guillermo E. Brown. On "Nu Bop", Daniel Carter handles sax & flute, and someone named FLAM is responsible for synths and programming (leaving Shipp to his customary piano, instead of the keyboards he played on the Ware disc). This group has produced a unique, enjoyable mix of electronic beats and droney synth atmospheres, and up-tempo, uh, "nu-bop" jazziness. The album's sci-fi theme is reflected in the somewhat hokey track titles, like "Space Shipp", "X-Ray", "Rocket Shipp", and "ZX-1". As with other Blue Series offerings (like that great Spring Heel Jack "Masses" disc from last year), these hybrid jazz/electronica experiments are both good places for the jazz-curious modern music listener to begin exploring, and for the avant-jazz-centric to branch out. The future sound of jazz? We'll leave that for others to debate. We just hope that Shipp doesn't take it *too* far (no DJ remix disc please!!).

RealAudio clip: Rocket Shipp
RealAudio clip: Nu Abstract

Much like William Parker whose latest release we loved and listed last time, Matthew Shipp is a jazz great whose plethora of releases makes it easy to kind of lose track and maybe pay as much attention as we should (like William Parker). While his willingness to coloborate and stretch and blur lines of genre is admirable we have to admit that we are sort of partial to him on his own. Something about when it's just him and his piano that is so compelling. Of course he is a ridicously talented piano player but it's also the way in which he can create so much tension and mood with the keys that makes him so special. Not often lately that a solo piano record carries its weight and keeps things interesting enough to attract our interest but we're not surprised that Matthew Shipp's the one to deliver such a record.

MPEG stream: Patmos
MPEG stream: The Encounter

Matt Shipp, piano; Mat Maneri, violin; William Parker, bass; Whit Dickey, drums. Beautiful, difficult.

Two of the most important and reliable players of the now jazz, with a new piano-bass duo session.

Just now getting around to listing this relatively recent release (from a couple months back). Of all the currently hip and prolific jazzers out there, Mr. Shipp is probably our favorite. It's just hard to keep up with all his releases, but worth it not to miss 'em, 'cause he's a great pianist and someone who shows that the "difficult" and the "lovely" don't need to be mutually incompatable catagories. On this outing he's joined by Roy Campbell on trumpets, etc. as well as Gerald Cleaver on drums and (another hip, prolific jazz dude we have to like) William Parker on bass.

The strings of Shipp's piano, William Parker's bass and Mat Maneri's violin. No drums. Challenging, sad, rewarding new music from these great improvisers.

As much as we might be led to believe otherwise, post rock is alive and well. And we mean post rock in the 'classic' sense, you know, the late nineties, post-Slint, instrumental mood rock, June Of 44, Tortoise, Rodan, Engine Kid, Bastro and all those bands we loved and still love. As evidenced by the post rockisms of recent aQ faves Chevreuil, Isis, Conifer and now the return of one of the classic post rock bands the Shipping News. We are admittedly suckers for a lot of sounds, the buzz and blur of frosty black metal, the classic amen break drum and bass, big crunchy metallic emo, but almost more than all of those, we can't get enough of that stretched out, hypnotic and rhythmic, brooding, propulsive post rock. Sinewy guitar lines, wound around crisp, intricate drumming, throbbing bass and spoken /sung / shouted vocals. Well, to be honest we -can- get enough of the vocals, in fact the vocals here were almost enough to put us off this record completely, but there's just something about this record that grew on us, even the vocals, especially the vocals. It's got this super dark, claustrophobic vibe, expansive and loose but weirdly tense and paranoid so completely reminiscent of THE post rock record, Slint's Spiderland. And while every band that has employed the quiet-loud, hard-soft song structure has been accused of ripping off Slint, a handful of bands just happened to occupy a similar sonic niche, deftly exploring the structure of rock, dismantling it and re-assembling it as a crystalline framework, delicate, but razor sharp, wrapped in warm melodies, subtle and woozily minor key. But unlike some of their post rock brethren, Shipping News don't ever really get loud, their dynamics are conveyed instead through intensity, and arrangement, owing a sonic debt of sorts to bands like Godspeed and Silver Mt. Zion as much as Slint. Regardless of its influences or precedents, Flies The Fields is just a gorgeously languid, mesmerizingly rhythmic, completely hypnotic epic rock record. Post or otherwise.

MPEG stream: Axons And Dendrites
MPEG stream: Sheets And Cylinders

2 ex-Rodan peoples.

Please note this is not a new Shipping News album! Although it does include three new songs, it's mainly a compilation of their three fairly recent yet now out-of-print RMSN series eps ("Carrier", "Variegated" and "Sickening Bridge"). With the releases (some subtly retitled) strung together in this fashion, the group's musical diversity is revealed over the course of the fourteen songs, making for a rather strangely intriguing journey. And it's a lengthy one too with a running time of 69 minutes. While the songs have all the earmarks of post-rock - stop-starts, loud-quiets, multiple time signatures and tempo shifts - there are also plenty more experimental excursions. FYI: the new songs are "Variegated", "Wax Museum", "The Architect In Hell" and "Everglade".

RealAudio clip: You Can't Hide The Mark Inside
RealAudio clip: Wax Museum

The family that brought us Rodan, Rachel's and June of 44 returns after four years with a new album and the results are, well, not worth waiting four years for. Decidedly slower and moodier than their previous releases, Shipping News are unfortunately starting to fall into 'Anahata'-era June of 44 territory. With production that is only marginally better than their live recordings, this album is likely to frustrate fans that eagerly await a return to classic June of 44 rock-rage. Shipping News is going somewhere, but who knows if it's worth the wait.

[ aquarius records catalogue — S ]