[ aquarius records catalogue

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Showing results 1501 through 1550 of 4057.

Worth it just for the song "Lazy Eye". The best song the Smashing Pumpkins never wrote. The rest of the record is pretty damn great as well. Quiet / loud / quiet indie rock with thick roaring guitars, pounding drums, soft fey vocals and some killer hooks. Makes sense these guys are getting huge... They'd be a guilty pleasure if there were anything to be guilty about!

MPEG stream: Lazy Eye
MPEG stream: Melatonin

It's so easy to hate on these guys (and gal), they went from indie darlings to next big thing, to actual big thing in the blink of an eye. Plus they sound dangerously and criminally like Smashing Pumpkins, but, and this is a very very big BUT, they actually kind of rule. If you haven't heard their big first single "Lazy Eye", look it up on YouTube. It's like the best Smashing Pumpkins song Billy Corgan never wrote. Or more accurately, it's like THAT Smashing Pumpkins song, you know the one, the only really great late period SP song, but made heavier and blissier and a little noisier. That whole first record was packed with similar jams, My Bloody Valentine meets the Smashing Pumpkins is the most obvious (and oft mentioned comparison), but heck if it isn't sort of accurate. And for what they lacks in originality, they make up for in sheer rad rockingness, hooks everywhere, the singer's Corgan-esque croon, some kick ass drumming, and guitars everywhere, supecharged, distorted, heavy, buzzy, blown out, but still warm and thick and billowy. We never reviewed the first record, but for some of us, it was definitely a (not so) guilty pleasure. While Swoon doesn't have a hit quite as unbeatable as "Lazy Eye", it does manage to be more lush and expansive, a bit heavier, and after a few listens, some of these songs will be lodged in your head FOREVER. And the sad thing is, this stuff sounds so much better than 90 percent of the rock happening these days, and it's sad to realize they just don't make music like this so much anymore, so when someone does, and does it so well, we just have to sit back and let ourselves be transported right back to the good old days, those days being the nineties, so c'mon, close your eyes, let your hair down, turn up the stereo and rock the fuck out. Pop fiends, especially ones who grew up in the nineties, will go nuts for this. And if you can ignore all the hype and the bullshit and just enjoy the music for what it is, even the most jaded of hipsters might just find themselves unable to resist the blissy crunchy pop spell of Silversun Pickups.

MPEG stream: Panic Switch
MPEG stream: There's No Secrets This Year
MPEG stream: The Royal We

Latest release from these purveyors of funeral folk avant ambient doom, Silvester Anfang. You may remember their last lp because of the very striking cover image, a sort of Mentors meets the Ku Klux Klan, shirtless men wearing hoods with goats in the middle of a forest. Very fucked up and creepy, which perfectly matched the music inside. Not too much has changed sonically, if anything, they seem to have gotten even more abstract, a sound with definite nods to the Finnish folk contingent, trashcan percussion, lots of shakers and rattles, a distant keening buzz, far off swells of minor key rumble, creepy tin whistle melodies, bits of guitar, obtuse and angular. The sound is very heavily rhythm based, with various other instruments and sounds ebbing and flowing around the primal percussive chaos at Silvester Anfang's core. Every once in a while the group locks into simple rhythmic folk jams with buzzing guitar and insistent propulsive percussion, but it always seems to dissipate into blissed out clouds of drone and clatter, but the drums and shakers never waver, always there, often in the foreground but just as often lurking mysteriously below the surface. Side two is a much rockier proposition, the band falling into some almost groovy krautrock territory, heavy fuzz bass unfurling a propulsive riff, beneath warbly seasick guitar and tons of swirly lo-fi fuzz. The disc winds down with a bit of traditional folkiness, almost like a jig, but looped into a repetitive groove, mesmerizing and hypnotic, buzzy and almost raga like, and like the rest of the record, beautiful, haunting and creepy.

Belgian funeral folk avant ambient doom troop Silvester Anfang sure have a way with images. Their first full length featured the band in white hoods, shirtless, with sticks and clubs and axes and goats on chains, now this one, the band's first proper cd release, sports a foxy raven haired lass licking a skull, and elsewhere in the booklet and on the sleeve, posing with said licked skull, as well as plenty of goats still, upside down ladies in bikinis in the shape of an upside down crucifix, as well as a full color fold out poster of the babe-licking-skull album cover.... And while that all may seem a bit over the top, somehow, it suits Silvester Anfang's dark and demented music. They're like a grim, blackened, metallic version of all those freaky forest neo folkies. Imagine Avarus or Feathers or Kemialliset, just hanging out beneath the trees, weaving their stumbling free folk magic, when all of a sudden, they're pulled into some pit in the middle of the forest, only to emerge days later, with a blank dead eyed stare, emotionless, eyes black as obsidian, their hair tangled and matted, their skin covered in mysterious tattoos, and the sounds they make, like some some primitive musical ritual... That's sort of what Silvester Anfang sound like. The parts are all familiar, the shuffling rhythms, the junkyard percussion, the haunting vocals, the detuned guitars, but somehow twisted, dark, and so black, and like they also somehow dragged some big ass amps as well as at least one full drum kit out into the woods, and the results are seriously scary (and amazing). The first track unfurls a web of jagged distorted guitar melodies over a simple motorik pound, surrounded by all sorts of chants and distant drones, above a constantly shifting landscape of grinding whirs and swirling clouds of tinkling melodies, occasionally overtaken by thick washes of super distorted guitar buzz, everything culminating in an orgiastic musical free for all, with wild feral female vocals, dense tribal drumming, epic cinematic swells... an immense sonic squall the lights the black forest with some burnished red glow... The second track, the nearly half hour long "Konfituur Voor De Satanjeugd" is much more subtle and stretched out, some sort of German Oak krautrock style slow burner, all shuffling drums and whirling ambience, spidery guitars and glistening barely there melodies, until about the 20 minute mark, when a riff finally coalesces, a killer riff, a sort of Viking dirge, a bit metallic, grinding away over thick sheets of blown out guitar drone, a dense wash of amp buzz and guitar growl, the riff looped and cyclical, while in the background lurk streaks of high end guitar and warm whirring synths, gorgeous and not a little bit frightening. Magickal and mystickal, dark and diabolical, just the sort of musick that might very well have you too licking skulls after repeated listens, and there's certainly not a better recommendation than that...

MPEG stream: Mijn Vader Was Een Wolf En Mijn Moeder Was Een Hoer
MPEG stream: Konfituur Voor De Satanjeugd

Latest hellish musical missive from these Belgian funeral folk freeks, but where past releases have found the band wandering through twangy campfire lit forests, and offering up strummed pagan prayers to the gods, Levend Op De Brandstapel is Silvester Anfang at their most rocking, their most freaked out and psychedelic, blown out and tripped out heavy. But even then, the band still sound unhinged and abstract, stumbling and damaged. The guitars this time around are thick and distorted, the riffs are sharp edged and buzz drenched, but the band never actually ROCK, at least not in the traditional sense. The first half of this single 26 minute track, is an expanse of drone and clatter, big black riffs slowly unfurling and allowed to drift amidst a sea of whirs and shimmers, clangs and clatters, it's like the skeleton of some classic rock song, ensorcelled and brought back to life, lurching and lumbering through a landscape of distant drones and random percussion. The second half of the track, the noise quotient gets ratcheted up big time, and while the band still doesn't quite rock, it does get wilder and heavier, the sound transforming into a Sunroof! style high end ur-drone, but here, the drone is littered with howled voices, grinding shards of guitar, feedback everywhere, all tangled up into a corrosive noiserock loop that plays out right until the end. Woah. Packaged in miniature dvd style case, with a tripped out, and very evil looking black and white cover insert. EXTREMELY LIMITED, we got about 25 copies and probably won't be able to get more�

MPEG stream: Levend Op DeBrandstapel (Excerpt)

After a load of limited tape and cd-r releases, this is the first proper full length from Belgian Funeral folk collective Silvester Anfang. Don't let the amazing cover art mislead you though. The band, all shirtless and pasty, in weird Elephant Man pillowcase hoods, with clubs and axes and goats on leashes in some mysterious forest. We sort of expected some black metal Mentors thing. But as the saying goes, you can't judge a band by their hoods and goats. Silvester Anfang travel a similar sonic path as Finnish outfit Avarus, clattery, dreamlike abstract primitive pagan free folk, with plenty of tribal percussion, strange chanted vocals, lots of shakers and rattles and hand drums, buzzing guitars, Eastern grooves and some alien Gypsy music vibes. A super abstract ambient folk krautrock, murky and lo-fi, dark and droney and funereal for sure. Really great!

The always interestin' Japanese label Doubtmusic has three new releases out, we'll get to the enka-sax-solos one by Kazutoki Umezu and the jazz-improv-with-flourescent-light-instrument one by the Kazuo Imai Trio on a upcoming list soon, but we picked this disc to highlight first, this time, 'cause we know how many eager Otomo Yoshihide fans there are out there, and this disc features Otomo teaming up with a hitherto unknown to us rhythmic progwave unit called Sim, a trio comprising Oshima Teruyuki on guitar, Ootani Yosio on electronics/computer, and Ground Zero drummer Uemura Mashiro. Together they encode an alien, mechanical glitch-funk, definitely something special for fans of This Heat, Starfuckers/Sinistri, Radian, and the like. Fried and fractured, the mutant grooves of Sim are further gunked with grit and glitch spinning from the seemingly warped turntable action of maestro Otomo, who is also credited with the use (and abuse?) of a "self-made synthesizer". Otomo's turntables are also presumably the source of the cut-up vocal loops heard on this otherwise instrumental set, garbled transmissions of chatter and mumble from unknown entities. But it's Uemura's percussive percolations that utterly underpin this futuristic FX laden fantasmagoria. With each frayed nerve beat seemingly counting down to some terminal fate for the listener, his drumming interlocks with chicken scratch guitar and throbbing (temple) low end pulsations, amidst a miasma of electronic noise textures: blips and bleeps, crackle and feedback, eerie squeak and creak. It's maddening and mesmerizing, music for some discombobulating no-wave-by-way-of-onkyo dance club. This Sim+Otomo network is dense and distorted, displaying staggered rhythmic freakishness that seems off, then on, speeding up and slowing down and phasing in and out of "grooves" with precise imprecision. The packaging is perfect for this, a striking digipack design as is usual for Doubtmusic, featuring not one but two circular die cut holes, a big one offset on the front through which you can see the cd, a smaller one in the back right in the center of the clear cd-tray, both to go along with the artwork, elliptical orbits echoing the way the music on this disc syncs and spins.

MPEG stream: 5.5mm
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Trippy, psych-pop with textural electronic bloopy explorations flowing overtop which occasionally threaten to overwhelm the pretty spaced out melodies and wonderful falsetto harmonies. This Manchester quartet has drawn a few comparisons to Beta Band and Badly

RealAudio clip: Drop And Roll
RealAudio clip: One Dimension

Attack Decay Sustain Release, is surprisingly the first full-length album released by London based production/ DJ duo, Simian Mobile Disco (James Ford and Jas Shaw), though a slew of SMD remixes and catchy dance fueled singles like "Hustler" and "I Believe" have been in heavy rotation throughout various DJ/dance internet blogs and mixed in night clubs far and wide for a few years now. When considering the beginnings of SMD, one wouldn't assume they started as half of the psych/folk rock outfit, Simian, which saw considerable success though the two weren't exactly comfortable with the direction of the group. Seeking a more "electronic party music" approach the duo left Simian to delve into the DJ/production game, soon building a reputation with production and remixes for artists like AIR, The Klaxons, and Arctic Monkeys. We've all been anxious to see how a full album of SMD material would hold up against the numerous comparisons to the releases of French electro outfit Justice (listed a few lists back), and Kitsune's Digitalism. Basically, the question is, who will be the next Daft Punk!? Well, we think it's safe to say there are similarities though A.D.S.R. definitely holds its own, being a bit more vocal and progressive. This is a brilliant collection of dance tunes, though not terribly long (10 songs all together), its a quality over quantity approach, with varied tracks that are constantly stimulating. Every song here is well crafted and instantly memorable with catchy synth choruses drowned in effects, every synth melody put in its right place. A lot of variation in this album. The more club oriented tracks like "Sleep Deprivation" are dense with randomly filtered bleeps, bloops, and dominant kicks, and "Tits & Acid" filled with quirky, burbling sequencer lines, ecstatic sweeps and washes, and the occasional chopped and filtered vocal edits. Then there are the more poppy tunes (but good pop) like "I Believe" reminiscent of Kraftwerk with a crisp, wobbly bass and a super catchy synth chorus (a personal fave, minus the vocals) and, "It's The Beat" featuring vocals by Ninja from The Go! Team. Then there's "Scott", an amazing, dreamy, electronic composition, similar to that of early synth pioneers like Jean Michel Jarre or Teddy Lasry. Best yet, it's all recorded on analog machines, to steer clear of the more techy, programmed sound. Overall, an electrifying album indeed!

MPEG stream: Tits And Acid
MPEG stream: I Believe
MPEG stream: Scott

While we love and appreciate the music of Simian Mobile Disco, created of course on all analog equipment with sights set on a flashing dancefloor, it's really the incredible DJ skills of Simian Mobile Disco that impresses us the most. A few of us have seen them play their sets before and it really was some of the best dancefloor/DJ action we've ever experienced. So we were super excited about their entry in the Fabriclive series. This should really be used as a template/textbook for all aspiring dancefloor DJ's. SMD are masterful at mixing both the obvious and the obscure, the expected and the very UNexpected. From disco to four-on-the-floor techno, rife with great peaks and valleys with great twists and turns throughout, this is a mix made for playing loud or as the soundtrack to the kind of party that involves bodies moving with reckless abandon. Who else could somehow sneak in Raymond Scott, Moondog, and Moebius/Plank/Neumeier into a mix featuring Hercules & The Love Affair, Plastikman and Tomita and make it all flow so effortlessly? There is a danger sometimes with DJ's playing show-off with their record collections, but Simian Mobile Disco really utilize their great taste in music for maximum dance floor effect. They would be the perfect group to DJ a Daft Punk after party! Aspiring DJ's get out your notebooks cause school is in session!

MPEG stream: Sisters Of Transistors - The Don
MPEG stream: Hercules And Love Affair - Blind (Serge Santiago Version)
MPEG stream: Moondog - Suite Equestria
MPEG stream: Plastikman - Spastik

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SORRY. Electric alt-funk a la the Chili Peppers, hip whiteboy blues like Beck, even guitar-filled arena rock... all that and more can be found on Jon Spencer Blues Explosion drummer Russell Simins solo debut. Here he writes all the songs, and performs not only on drums but also guitar, keyboards, and vocals. We didn't know he had it in him! Also making appearances: Vivian Trimble of Luscious Jackson, Miho Hatori of Cibo Matto, and the Beastie Boys' Mike D. This record is a big huge-sounding wake up slap, full of aggro energy and hip groove -- a little too obvious for some tastes but we think a lot of folks will like it all the same.

RealAudio clip: I'm Not a Model

We're huge fans of the Sacred Bones label. They're responsible for some of our favorite records lately, from space rock to cold wave to twisted garage pop. Gary War, Moon Duo, Blank Dogs, Zola Jesus, The Cultural Decay, 13th Chime, so we were definitely excited to check out this latest release, from a fella called Carl Simmons, and once again, SB has come up with something weird and cool and confounding. Unlike the more gothic or cold wave or noisy leanings of much of the other stuff on the label, Simmons' record is a strange stripped down psychedelic folk missive, that sounds like it was broadcast from some other world, or other time. Super spare and simple, mostly vocals and guitar, but fleshed out with layers of sound collage, and lots of effects. But unlike a lot of heavily effects laden music, Simmons manages to pile on the effects, without it becoming ABOUT the effects. Lots of reverb and multitracking results in a strange reedy, almost helium sounding main voice, often laid over Simmons' more natural gruff croon, the result is definitely magical, and mysterious, gorgeous druggy loner bedroom folk for sure, but infused with plenty of spaced out shimmer, and muted lysergic energy. If you can imagine a freaky, psychedelic, lost freak folk artifact, equal parts Sentridoh, Peter Grudzien and Ween (the latter mostly because of the processed helium vox), you might get a rough idea of what Honeysuckle Tendrils sounds like, but it's so much more than its influences or whatever references we can come up with. Recorded 10 years ago, and released in a micro edition of almost none, Honeysuckle Tendrils is definitely a lost gem, emotional, intimate, haunting, pretty and definitely a bit twisted. Fantastic packaging as with all Sacred Bones stuff, cool hand screened arigato style cardstock sleeve, with multiple mini printed inserts.

This is it. The autobiography. With tons of pictures, some in color, and lots of kiss-and-tell. You know you want it.

Finally another wave of ESP reissues and more completely essential and seminal sixties free jazz. This disc, recorded in 1966, Simmons' debut as a band leader, is an intense blast of aggresive melody with four extended tracks of raw and relentless skronk

RealAudio clip: Metamorphosis
RealAudio clip: A Distant Voice

Fine new double disc collection, 40 tracks worth, from "the high priestess of soul" - wonderful.

**SALE **SALE* *SALE**

Nina Simone's vast and varied back catalog never ceases to thrill and amaze us. As we dig and dig into the deep vaults of her recorded material we keep running into records that demand full attention and grab us by our vitals and throw us right into the world she was inhabiting at that moment. This 1973 album, now reissued on vinyl, found Nina full of a crazy kind of energy, empowerment, rage, urgency and intensity. As the Vietnam War continued to linger, Emergency Ward! was Nina Simone's most pointed protest against the war, as well as one of her most fiery and commanding records, period. With arrangements by the great Weldon Irvine and a church junior choir from South Jamaica, New York backing her up, a strong foundation was laid for Nina to take those elements and bring them to life as only she could. Recorded live in a few different locations the record finds Simone at her most epic and emotionally charged. The first side is one long track that merges an adaptation of George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" with "Today Is A Killer", a poem by David Nelson, that Nina Simone transforms into an unforgettable gospel burner! The second side starts off with an irresistible version of "Poppies" and then the grand finale is an eleven minute emotionally poignant take on another George Harrison song, "Isn't It A Pity", that rings with so much truth and timeliness all these years later. Nina Simone fans, you must have this! Totally engaging and essential!

We've long been advocates of the importance and reward of spending time with Nina Simone's proper albums. We're really glad there have been so many reissues of her records from the '60s and '70s, but truth be told she was one of those rare incredible artists who stayed true to her vision and made powerful music in all five decades that she shared her magical voice and musical wisdom with the world. Recorded in Paris in 1982, Fodder On My Wings was an album not many of us were familiar with so we were thrilled Sunnyside brought it to our attention, as it's one smoking and satisfying record, with Nina on piano, harpsichord shaker, and tambourine backed by an awesome band with instrumentation that included congas, woodblock, timpani, etc. Unlike many of her earlier albums, Nina wrote and composed all but one track on this record. Singing in both French and English, her songs range from bittersweet, to empowering, to effervescent. Filled with rich grooves, entrancing piano, and that unmistakably wise and magical voice. A must have for any Nina Simone fan!

MPEG stream: I Sing Just To Know That I'm Alive
MPEG stream: Vous Etes Seuls, Mais Je Desire Etre Avec Vous
MPEG stream: Heaven Belongs To You
MPEG stream: Il Y A Un Baume A Gilhead

It can sometimes be daunting with some legendary artists, especially with ones who have left us so much great music, to figure out where to start in terms of really exploring their music. Truth be told, any time or any way you get to hear a Nina Simone song it's pretty damn special. Whether it's on a mix someone made you, or one of the many best-of collections, or even any of the great live recordings. But lately we've really wanted to spend some quality time with her albums, as they were created so meticulously and flow so amazingly, with perfect emotional peaks and valleys that take you on a spiritual sonic journey from start to finish. We easily could list a handful of essential albums from Nina Simone (we reviewed the great Silk & Soul a couple years back and it's become a staple of the AQ soundsytem), but this time around, we'll focus on one of her true masterpieces, High Priestess Of Soul, recorded in 1966. With lush and tasteful arrangements by Hal Mooney, this is a record that definitely demonstrates Simones's dynamic range and magical touch. From sad and sultry to empowered and resilient, her songs have this magical way of cutting right to the truth. From the rich gospel of "Take Me To The Water/I'm Going Back Home" to one of the most amazing and minimal deep groove songs of all time!!! "Come Ye" and the strong and proud anthem "Don't You Pay Them No Mind", High Priestess of Soul is filled with songs that that are like mirrors that reflect all that is true and real. One of our all time favorite records, and an album that if you don't already own, we know you will want to start spending some serious time with, as it will become one of those special records you turn to when you need the real deal to hit your soul just right!

MPEG stream: Come Ye
MPEG stream: I'm Gonna Leave You
MPEG stream: Keeper Of The Flame

Time for us to gush about another one of our favorite Nina Simone albums. It's becoming a little aQ list tradition, and one we love to indulge in, especially because Nina Simone's albums are such rewarding treats from start to finish. Let It All Out falls right in the midst of our favorite era of her albums, released in 1966 it followed possibly our favorite album of hers, High Priestess Of Soul. On Let It All Out, Simone takes songs by Duke Ellington, Van Mccoy, Billie Holiday, Irving Berlin and Bob Dylan and makes them all her own. While recent years have seen a resurgence of popular singers doing 'covers' albums, you are always aware that they are performing a version of someone else's song, but with Simone, her amazing arrangements, impeccable piano playing and truly fantastic voice, she made all of these songs her own. The acappella version of a poem celebrating black beauty called "Images" is one of her most stunning recorded moments. Like the best of her albums, this really has it all. From dizzying piano playing ("Love Me Or Leave Me"), shattering heartache ("Don't Explain"), and blistering raw truth ("The Ballad Of Hollis Brown"). Another stunning achievement in an amazing back catalog.

MPEG stream: Mood Indigo
MPEG stream: Images
MPEG stream: The Ballad Of Hollis Brown

This is not newly reissued, it's just an old fave that gets played like crazy in the store but has never gotten reviewed, until NOW! It's still astonishing to listen to records Nina Simone made over forty years ago and hear the kind of experimentation in song structure and delivery she used while transforming songs into creatures that became totally her own, all the while infusing so much soul and emotion into each note. Pastel Blues came out in 1965 and fits so nicely into that mid to late '60s era of Nina that we are so in love with. The same era that produced High Priestess Of Soul, Let It All Out, Silk & Soul and Wild In The Wind. Bookend with two of her greatest musical moments, the leadoff track "Be My Husband" which has become a staple cover of Antony & The Johnsons and the ten minute closer "Sinnerman" which finds her at her most fiery, frantic and riveting. In between are so many more beautiful and sad sounds filled with her soft piano and distinctive vocals, a sound rich with such universal feelings of loss and sadness, yet burning with life and hope and passion. We've said it before but we will keep saying it, this is an artist that demands a serious and deep relationship by music lovers of all varieties, 'best of' recordings are great but Simone's albums, especially in this era are so strong and carefully constructed from start to finish that they reward so richly, repeat listens. Without Nina so many of our modern day AQ favorites like Antony, Cat Power, White Magic, Devendra Banhart, etc. wouldn't exist as we know and love them. Another essential Nina Simone album!

MPEG stream: Be My Husband
MPEG stream: Sinnerman
MPEG stream: Trouble In Mind

It's been about three years now since Nina Simone passed away, we miss her madly but it's nice that reissues of her back catalog will keep her voice alive for years to come. This is one of her nicest soul centered albums with totally lush arrangements and of course her voice at it's most seductive and silky. While retrospectives and best of collections can be nice, when it comes to amazing artists like Nina Simone it's so important to get to hear how well crafted her albums were, how she was so conscious of the flow and the journey from start to finish. We think you'll be hard pressed to find a more perfect sounding Sunday morning album. This buried treasure from 1967 is sounding pretty perfect and timeless to our ears almost 40 years later.

MPEG stream: Go To Hell
MPEG stream: Some Say

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

SORRY.

We've got to check out anything that has anything to do with the cult Italian soundtrack specialists Goblin. This reissue does -- it's the score to a 1975 television science fiction show, composed by Enrico Simonetti, father to Claudio Simonetti of Goblin, and features Goblin themselves participating as session musicians on these recordings. Simonetti the elder had been a successful bandleader and film composer for years, possibly the reason that his son's band got into the game. Interestingly, the Gamma theme song was apparently a number one hit single in Italy, ironically knocking a Goblin tune (Profundo Rosso!) out of that spot. But the rare track that Goblin obsessives are really gonna want this for is "Drug's Theme", which sounds like classic example of that group's trademark sinister disco-prog groove. Enrico was definitely inspired by his son's band on that one. However, it IS the only track here that sounds much like Goblin, really. The rest of the album features more typical orchestrated soundtrack material, lush and moody and romantic, with some jazz and Latin flavoring. Doesn't seem too sci-fi, more like cheesy music for a prime-time soap opera. Maybe the best tracks outside of "Drug's Theme" are the couple cuts that feature sweetly melodic female vocals, those are pretty nice. Especially "Chi Mi Cherchera" which reminds us of, say, Francoise Hardy.

MPEG stream: Gamma
MPEG stream: Drug's Theme
MPEG stream: Chi Mi Cherchera

It's been a long and interesting road for Mike Simonetti since his days as a hardcore/punk fixture in the '80s and '90s New York scene. Booking shows at places like Mars and running one of the more diverse and cool labels to emerge out of the hardcore scene, Troubleman Unlimited. With that label he put out amazing records by everyone from Erase Errata to The Rye Coalition to Shotmaker to Wolf Eyes to Tussle. Then as he started to DJ and widen his appreciation of post-punk and dance music, he launched Italians Do It Better, the label that helped put the space disco revival on the map with folks like Glass Candy and The Chromatics. There's no doubt Simonetti is an amazing taste maker with awesome and varied taste (he even orders lots of black metal from us!) but we weren't really sure what to expect from his new solo outing. With Capricorn Rising he's created a record that wonderfully splits its time between dance floor ecstasy and darker prog like meditations. Imagine M83, Junior Boys and Zombi all jamming together. Aside from Glass Candy and Chromatics, most of what Italians Do It Better has released tends to be more focused on singles and not so much a thought out album. We love how Simonetti has taken this opportunity to create an suite of songs that has a running theme and irresistible aura and makes for an engaging listen from start to finish.

MPEG stream: Capricorn Rising
MPEG stream: The Third Of The Storms (Featuring Sam Sparro)
MPEG stream: Dust Devil

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

SORRY. Hip hop remix. Rhythm = "Superwoman" (Lil' Mo).

Thirty or so years after first blasting off, the band known as Simply Saucer soars into view once again. Truly a twisted gem of the '70s pre-punk art-rock underground, the *Canadian* '70s pre-punk art-rock underground no less, this Hamilton, Ontario band was freaking people out back in 1974 with the material you'll find on this spiffy new cd reissue. The lucky and enlightened among you might already have the long out of print early-'90s cd version of this album, or even the original LP posthumously released in 1989, but this new edition of their half-studio, half-live "Cyborgs Revisited" adds 8 bonus tracks, including lo-fi demos, additional live stuff, and both sides of the Saucer's lone 1978 single. With or without these bonus tracks, it's a great fuckin' record, boldly owing allegiance to (early) Pink Floyd and the Velvet Underground and The Stooges. They've also got much in common with the likes of the Pink Fairies, Faust, NYC no-wave a la Von Lmo, and the contemporaneous crazy Ohio underground scene of the '70s (Rocket From The Tombs, Electric Eels). Yep, all these inspirations are immediately evident, not too far into side one of "Cyborgs Revisited": witness the the lengthy amazing repetitive Floydian effects instrumental "Mole Machine" as it segues into the acoustic intro of "Bullet Proof Nothing", Simply Saucer's idea of a love song, with lyrics like "Treat me like dirt/drive me insane" delivered in a sloppy Lou Reed drawl. S.S. (unfortunate initials, hopefully nothing to do with their song "Nazi Apocalypse"!) were formed in '72 by a bunch of Canuck weirdos, notable among them lead guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Edgar Breau, and Sun Ra/Eno inspired electronics dude John LaPlante, aka "Ping Romany" -- Ping being a good stage name for the guy playing the primitive oscillators, tone generators, and theremin! They fought the good fight for a few years, cranking out freakish, space-fx laden proto-punk rock n' roll with sci-fi titles like "Dance The Mutation", eventually dabbling in Toronto's nascent "new wave" scene. It's certainly no surprise that the Saucer never "made it" -- though that '78 single seems like a stab at poppier (or at least goofier) sound -- and, with no successful commercial career in the offing, they eventually disbanded. Dunno if they could ever be cited as an influence by anyone 'cause they were so obscure, but hypothetically anyway S.S. could be the warped template for today's garage artisans -- Comets On Fire, especially -- totally punk *and* psych, with skronked out guitar, snotty vox, oscillating noise waves and tumbling drums. Glad to have this back in print, and it's certainly a timely reissue considering how well this fits in with some of today's art-punk retro-electro trends! MPEG Download: "Nazi Apocalypse" [/audio/simplynazi.mp3] MPEG Stream: "Nazi Apocalypse" [/audio/simplynazi.m3u]

MPEG stream: Nazi Apocalypse
MPEG stream: Illegal Bodies

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