[ aquarius records catalogue

IMPORTANT (Please read to avoid confusion): Some items below may be tagged with a bold, red, all-caps OUT OF PRINT/UNAVAILABLE notice. This does NOT mean that all other items not so tagged are, in fact, in stock — or for that matter, in print and available, though there's a good chance they are. Some folks get confused on this point, and we can see why, so please read this for further clarification and other important before-you-order information. Unlike some mailorder websites, we don't have an electronic inventory system linked to our site, so you can't be sure of what we actually have or don't have in stock at any given moment without asking us — please email our mailorder department for availability status — or better yet, just go ahead and place your order using our shopping cart function and we'll get back to you with the status of each item. If you have general non-mailorder questions, email the store.

Showing results 2901 through 2950 of 4057.

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German power metal that's just a little rougher, heavier, and ballsier than your general run of Helloween/Hammerfall clones. True, they've got catchy choruses and can write a great "pop" song, but they haven't forgotten that they're a heavy METAL band first and foremost. That said, just like on their previous album, they do a great Depeche Mode cover ("People Are People")! Like Iron Fire,

Veteran German metal band Squealer (great name, huh?) are not too well known, but here at Aquarius Andee and Allan have somehow become fans of their unpretentious, solid speed metal. They're melodic and muscular, with a fairly tough sounding singer and a

RealAudio clip: Thinking Allowed!
RealAudio clip: In Zaire

When we were teenagers, we pretty much listened to nothing but Billy Squier's Don't Say No and Emotions In Motion. You know that scene in Wayne's World, when they're all singing along and head banging to Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody"? Well, we were like that with Billy Squier's "The Stroke" and "My Kinda Lover" (which we always though was "My Candelabra"!) Also, as young rockers, we were totally into Billy Squier cuz supposedly he had a rider in his contract that said if they misspelled his name as Squire on the marquee he was then entitled to 100 percent of the door receipts!! How bad ass is that? All of that aside, those two records were practically perfect. Massive, super heavy power pop that managed to meld the heft of classic Led Zeppelin to perfect FM radio pop. Heavy and hooky as hell. It wasn't until way later though that we actually heard Squier's first record, the equally fantastic Tale Of The Tape, that just so happens to feature some of his best songs, as well as a couple classic drumlines (predating the ubiquitous drum part from "The Stroke") that have been heavily sampled over the years... Anyway, this record is a blast. This is the sound of the top down, driving around, blasting fucking super guitar rock, singing at the top of your lungs, Super Big Gulps in the cup holders, full of sugar and youthful exuberance, later this was also probably the sound hanging in the 7-11 parking lot, scamming on chicks and all that, but for us, it was just the coolest rock we had ever heard. "The Big Beat" is "The Stroke" a year earlier, big and dumb, super rocking, catchy as fuck, the perfect song to air guitar too, air drum to, whatever! Then there's the metallic stomp of "You Should Be High, Love" with its huge wall of backwards guitars. Total Zeppelin worship and it still sounds amazing. There's also the killer guitar pop of "Who's Your Boyfriend?", the minor key metallic pop angst of "Rich Kid", the organ heavy groove of "Calley Oh", the stadium sing along "The Music's All Right" and the album closer, the minor key dirge "Young Girls". Every song on here is packed with hooks, killer riffing, amazing drumming, Squier's soaring vocals. Should've been hits every one of 'em (and some of them were, rightfully so!) A lot of eighties rock doesn't really stand up so well after 20 or 25 years, but this record sounds as fresh and catchy, as heavy and totally rocking as the first time we listened to the cassette when we were 13 or 14.... This super deluxe reissue (from the same folks who brought us the Plasmatics reissue a while back, and the Armored Saint reissue elsewhere on this list) contains tons of liner notes, loads of photos, as well as two bonus tracks, acoustic demos of two of the album tracks, which are super cool! Andee sez ABSOLUTELY RECOMMENDED!!!

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High recommendations for this British record which seemingly came out of nowhere to reach our pop-lovin' ears. Equal parts perfect psych pop something like the first time I heard Olivia Tremor Control and XTC side project the Dukes of the Stratosphear, coupled with a Sea-and-Cake-ish serene cool and a cocktail lounge melancholy, the Squire's first full length is a real pleasure. And you know how much AQ likes discovering bands who might otherwise go without deserved attention. There's tessellated, shimmering trebly guitar, indomitably upbeat harpsichord, "ba da ba, BA DA BA"-style happy vocals... plus at times a warm rolling bass -- the sort of rare grooves sound that DJ Shadow searches 7" bins for -- that mixes with the pop astonishingly well. Give this a try for sure.

RealAudio clip: Transverberations
RealAudio clip: Raw Custard

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We ranted and raved about the mighty Bastro a few lists back, and almost as if planned, both records by the band that would become Bastro get re-pressed not a few months later We're talking about Squirrel Bait, post punk, pre math rock, a dense mix of massiveÔhooks, a twin guitar attack and raw vocals which manged to be not punk enough for the hardcore kids but too fast and fucked up for the indie rockers resulting in Squirrel Bait being, overlooked andÔTOTALLY UNDERRATED. The pride of Louisville, Kentucky, these guys were LITERALLY just kids when they started this sonic bombast. A bit thrashy perhaps for power pop purists (boo!), these boys wrote the book on post-hardcore for sure. Good enough (or better than, depending on who you ask) to be as influential SB's second and final release clocks in at under 30 minutes, but even more than their debut, Skag Heaven packs the future of indie rock and the blueprint for post rock right there in that half hour. This band explodes and offers up song after song dense with strange melodies and furious rocking, delicate arrangements and hooks galore. These guys accomplished more in this half hour than most bands do in their entire careers. They may have been POST hardcore, but the hardcore spirit meant you didn't need a 80 minute double album to say your piece, short and sharp, and pretty darn near perfect. Maybe more twin-guitar buzz this time around, more refined songwriting (without giving up the innovation OR the aggression),Ôsome of the best drumming EVER, and vocals that show real angst and depth without devolving into that indie sad boy whine. All this andÔstill not one member legally old enough to purchase alcohol!

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We ranted and raved about the mighty Bastro a few lists back, and almost as if planned, both records by the band that would become Bastro get re-pressed not a few months later We're talking about Squirrel Bait, post punk, pre math rock, a dense mix of massive hooks, a twin guitar attack and raw vocals which manged to be not punk enough for the hardcore kids but too fast and fucked up for the indie rockers resulting in Squirrel Bait being, overlooked andÔTOTALLY UNDERRATED. The pride of Louisville, Kentucky, these guys were LITERALLY just kids when they started this sonic bombast. A bit thrashy perhaps for power pop purists (boo!), these boys wrote the book on post-hardcore for sure. Good enough (or better than, depending on who you ask) to be as influential as Husker Du or the Replacements, but more genuine in their attack as they were young bucks making an unholy racket well beyond their years. Squirrel Bait's debut is a wild and loud messy mix of pop and punk, but this ain't no 'pop punk', this is just a furious blast of mathy, heavy, catchy, hooky, thrashy, sloppy rock and roll. Later folks would call this post-hardcore, post punk, stuff like that, but the truth is, Squirrel Bait were making music that while similar to other groups at the time, was taking chances, and making sounds and writing songs like no one had heard before. It's still fiery and furious and in your face, but amidst all that youthful exuberance, were the bits and pieces that would define a whole generation of post rockers. It's no coincidence that members of Squirrel Bait would go on to play in Slint, Bastro, Gastr Del Sol and The For Carnation. Even to this day, this record sizzles and crackles and sounds as original and innovative as the day it was released!

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Here's another great collection of tunes from a band that never quite got its due, Detroit's psych-soulsters SRC. Coming out of the burgeoning Ann Arbor garage scene, SRC (short for Scott Richardson Case, the name of the singer) worked their way up through the rigamarole of early band struggles and of band name and lineup changes before they got signed to Capitol in 1968. Influenced by Motown soul and British Invasion rock like the Yardbirds and the Pretty Things, SRC utilized doomy organ, angelic vocal harmonies, and searing electric guitar with cave stomp beats. Yet being in Detroit in the late sixties amongst heavyweights such as MC5, The Stooges, and the Amboy Dukes, SRC's brand of Brit-inflected soul-psych, though heralded by John Peel in Britain, made little headway in the states. SRC struggled through three albums before calling it a day in 1971. This collection features 19 tracks from their three albums, including the stellar tracks, "Black Sheep", "Daystar" and their classical rip off of the Peer Gynt Suite, "Morning Mood". Essential for fans of The Pretty Things, MC5 and hard psych soul-rock from the fringes!

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We wish we had a million of these, and we wish it was a cd instead of a cassette, cuz this is so weird and freaked out and creepy and awesome that had it been a cd and not probably already out of print, we most definitely would have made it a record of the week. The lost soundtrack to an obscure video nastie, SS Hell Camp, one of those Nazi prison movies, lots of nudity, torture, violence, and while many of us here consider ourselves to be experts in all things fucked and freaky old movies, none of us had ever heard of or seen this glorious piece of cinematic trash. But based on the soundtrack alone, it sounds like it's probably the greatest bad movie EVER. Manic pianos, buzzing synths, creepy ambient music, weird seventies keyboards, orchestral percussion, the sounds of marching jackboots, German soldiers, machine gun fire, babies crying, women screaming, super bad acting dialogue, and inexplicably, a grunting panting beast right in the beginning. Maudlin, and cheesy, cinematic and overly dramatic, lots of this sounds like extra low budget Goblin, and if you can imagine Goblin scoring a Nazi prison flick, well, we barely need to say anything else. The recording is murky and lo fi, as if it was dubbed right off of an old VHS tape (which it probably was) but only adds to the mood and feel and flavor. When we first threw this on, it sounded exactly like some of the music from those fake trailers between the two movies in the Grindhouse double feature. Which is obviously what those guys were going for. We are gonna track down this movie eventually, but until then, we're watching it in our heads every time we play this chunk of trashy cheesy awesomeness. Super low budg packaging, and crazy limited so these will probably fly out of here, and odds are that'll be it...

"So. I walked into the record store Aquarius Records in the Mission of San Francisco, this store was manned that day by the mastermind of tUMULt Records, Andee Connors, and I head straight for the water cooler in the Blue Room, where I get involved in a conversation with one of his co-workers. I can't concentrate much on the chat, however, since some quite messed up and wondrous music is flowing out of the Aquarius speakers. I can't quite place the music, and I know that as soon as I approach the counter, I am in for some serious oneupmanship if I can't figure out what I am hearing. It sounded pretty great. Damaged, fractured sounds, not unlike the glorius flow of tonal and atonal that the con-e-sewer [sic] might enjoy on 'Meet The Residents', Nurse With Wound's 'Chance Meeting on a Dissection Table...' Deep Freeze Mice, or even the Homosexuals' more atmospheric stuff. I am just about to place the material as coming from the UK in the late 70's. Some sort of wonderful Rough Trade / Recommended / Fuck Off Records release that I missed out on, and I catch myself and think that what I am hearing has to be American: faint glimmers of Appalachian hillbilly flow through the din... I give up, 'Hey, Andee, what are you listening to?' 'Do you like it?' 'Yeah, it sounds like prime homemade mid-70s slop.' 'It's that fucker Harmony Korine (overrated indie film-maker/scenester) and his pals.' 'Wow. Are you going to put it out?' 'Nope, Omplatten already did.' 'Too bad.' 'Yeah, this *is* great, but I've got that Iran record coming out soon that blows this one away.'" -- directly misquoted from the Omplatten press release. Kidding aside, SSAB Songs is indeed a stumbling, drunken musical homage to all things Ralph, Nurse With Wound, Vertical Slit, made by Gummo auteur Korine. Really great if you can get past the inherent schmooze / scenester / clique-you-could-never-be-a-part-of vibe.

A stalwart of the Italian industrial / noise community, Paolo Bandera is founding member of Sigilum S, with this being his long-standing solo project. Sshe Retina Stimulants has an extensive catalog of cassette releases dating back to the early '90s, with a few getting the Urashima reissue treatment. The Colloidal Semantika Sessions feature two long-form sets of synth-tone miserablism interwoven with a slow-crawl of vocal utterances played back at half-speed, further creeped out by CV pulse noise, snarls of phasing signal vibration descending into anxiety-ridden irradiations, and analog tone-sweep detonation of grim distortion. Everything is mired in the suffocating death-industrial fug that prevails throughout the best works of Brighter Death Now and Whitehouse. Hand numbered, limited to 60 copies.

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A split release of electric overload from two projects closely related to Sigillum S, Italy's iconoclastic / transgressive industrial outfit that dates back to the mid '80s. This was originally released on Ant-Zen in 1996, but has never been released on vinyl til now. The Sshe Retina Stimulants half of Wrist tangles neurotic, slipstream oscillations with bloodlusty chunks of synth-noise detonation and tendrils of rasping guitar abstractions, finishing everything off with full-spectrum noise eruption of blackened distortion. Dynamic, abusive, and unkempt, Sshe Retina Stimulants conjures all of the infernal aspects of the Ramleh / Gary Mundy / Kleistwarh noise axis. On the other side, Iugula-Thor laces the demonstrative voice of the power-electronic sermon with squalls of feedback, over a heavily distressed lock-groove / rhythmic underbelly. Theres an intense claustrophobia to this that's constantly closing in, as if from the squeeze from a gloved fist. It's closer to Sutcliffe Jugend than Anenzephalia, but regardless, the pleasantries were done away with along time ago as far as both of these projects are concerned. Another grim necessity from Urashima. Here, limited to 199 copies.

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Ruleth is the debut full length from Austin (via LA) goth-gloom synthwrangler Jose Cota and comes courtesy of the always impressive Holodeck label, who in the past have brought us all manner of electronic and abstract weirdness from outfits like Silent Land Time Machine, Good Stuff House, Smokey Emery, Survive and Thousand Foot Whale Claw. Ssleeperhold's sound is definitely a good fit, falling more toward the witch house / grave rave side of the Holodeck spectrum, a sprawling, claustrophobic world of alien synth-wave and eighties style electro-goth synth pop. The opener is dark, and clattery, distorted and darkly heavy, reminding us quite a bit of Soft Moon, all churning gristling synth squiggle, and brittle rhythmic skitter, wreathed in layers of noise and crumbling effects, but then the follow up track, transforms the sound into something much more akin to eighties MTV, pulsing bass buzz, glimmering synth shimmer, poppy and dreamily washed out, and the whole record seems to be a fantastically tense push and pull between the two sides of Cota's musical personality, minimal dystopian dissonance, a sort of sci-fi cyborg dark synth dirgery, and more blissed out (but still weirdly eerie) electro pop. The two part "Timeghosts" deftly balances the two, draping some lilting melodies over a churning field of pulsing industrial buzz, an chopped up vox, the first part a tranced out minimal loopscape, the second a super tripped out score to some alternate universe planetarium show, atonal and fractured, a twisted bit of avant synthscapery, that leads us right into the darkly dreamy brooder "Ashes", which again pairs a percolating melody, to some weird hissy noise, and wraps it in clouds of grinding hiss and static, the glimmering warmth of main melody just barely keeping the ominous noisiness at bay. "F.I.S.T." is a fierce blast of Soft Moon style electro-goth synth buzz moodiness, the rhythms distorted and crunchy, draped over thick swells of buzzing bass, and peppered with FX drenched percussive splatter, less a song, than a chunk of tranced out sonic mesmer, eighties industrial by way of modern retro gloom punk. The record finishes with another two parter, "Dreamwaves", the first half all melancholy synth buzz and stuttery rhythmic skitter, loping and woozily washed out, distorted but sort of blissed out, the vibe super cinematic, evoking long brightly lit hallways, running endlessly through abandoned space stations, the galaxy sprawling endlessly outside the windows, a sort of spaced out witch house, that culminates in a more melodic, moody synth pop outro, sounding a bit like the soundtrack to the above mentioned lost in space, trapped in an abandoned space station art house flick, playing on as the credits crawl, wistful, and minor key, a little bit haunting, and darkly lovely. LIMITED TO 300 COPIES!!

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The always-intriguing European experimental label Grob presents a disc of low-key guitar improvisation from a group consisting of four names well-known in international abstract avant improv circles: Martin Siewert, Burkhard Stangl, Werner Dafeldecker, and Taku Sugimoto (we *love* Taku Sugimoto). Three of 'em on guitar, one on bass, to be accurate. A pluck here, a drone there, mellow tones and quiet crackle. Liquid, minimal, gentle, careful. Patient music, giving respect to silence. No FMP-ish skree here -- at its loudest a swell of buzzing builds that's more soothing than threatening. Recorded live, perhaps processed and perfected in post-production.

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PLUSTAPES ALERT! PLUSTAPES ALERT! PLUSTAPES ALERT! Just making sure you see this, because this tape is a winner, and as you should know by now with the Plustapes, once they're gone, they are GONE! So it should be obvious that we LOOOOVE French Pop, especially of the female variety. We always try to keep the ones we love in stock, the Swinging Mademoiselle comps, The Sixties Girls comps (most now sadly out of print), The Pop A Paris comps, and of course the classics, Jane Birken, Francoise Hardy, Brigitte Bardot and even the stars of the non-female variety, such as Gerard Manset, Serge Gainsbourg, and Jean-Claude Vannier, we are just constantly going nuts for. But you would think by now that we have heard everything that the genre has to offer, that the well must have surely run dry, when lo and behold this tape comes out of nowhere by someone we've never heard of, with little to no information to be found, working us to a frenzy all over again. Yes, Who Are You, Anna St. Clair? What little information we've been able to gather is that she recorded several 45's for the Fontana label in the late sixties and early seventies. Whether this tape is merely a collection of the singles or if there was ever an original full length lp collection we're not sure. But one of the three arrangers on the singles, is none other than Jean-Claude Vannier (Melody Nelson, Cannabis, L'Enfant Assassin Des Mouches), which certainly piqued our interest, or rather 'peaked' our already heightened interest even higher. And thankfully, this tape doesn't disappoint. There is of course a lot of Ye Ye, with fast paced pop arrangements, but also slower more brooding balladic moments and soft sadder pop gems. Her voice is pretty and soulful with a melancholic edge that recalls the early Andrew Loog Oldham produced singles on Immediate of Vashti Bunyan, Nico, and Marianne Faithfull, and even Dusty Springfield comes to mind too, but with a swirling chamber pop orchestration of harpsichord, flutes, organ, harp and bells and deep bass. 14 songs are offered, without a dud among them. Sooo Good! We've developed quite a crush on this little known chanteuse! Why this has remained so obscure for this long boggles the mind. We ordered a few more of these than we normally do, because it's so good, but even than they won't last too long. Buy now or cry later!

With cover art and lettering by free improv legend Peter Brotzmann, you might expect skronkity-skronk improv from this drums and guitar duo, and yes it's improv, but not nearly so skronky as some can be, instead being something rather more massively, miasmically mesmeric. The guitarist unfurling moody jet airplane drones (sounding a bit like Brotzmann's son, Caspar, or maybe Keiji Haino) is none other than SUNNO)))'s Stephen O'Malley, while the endlessly riffing percussionist is one of O'Malley's bandmates in abstract ensemble Aethenor, Steve Nobel, the noted British avant-garde drummer and one time member of Rip, Rig & Panic. Recorded at the St. Francis De Sales Church, Philadelphia, the two long tracks here reveal O'Malley and Nobel to be well suited improvising partners, neither of 'em hogging the proceedings, O'Malley providing a billowing cloud of amp worshipping drones for Nobel to punctuate with nervous cymbal shimmer and propulsive freeform thwap thwap. It's all purely texture and arrhythmic exploration, of ominous & hypnotic proportions. Fyi, vinyl version forthcoming as well.

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I hate to admit it, but I like this record. St Germain is jazz for people who don't listen to jazz, but listen to Kruder and Dorfmeister or Kid Loco and wouldn't mind if it was, well, a little jazzier. And damn if it isn't. The first track is a Mo Wax style slow burner made from a looped old Blue Note record making for some awesome smoky late night cruising music. There's some crazy breathy hiccupping flute ala Herbie Mann or Roland Kirk and some really nice grooves. The only downside, is St. Germain's propensity for house music. A lot of the tracks start off really wicked, but then are watered down by a generic house 4/4 beat. That aside, this is a pretty cool record (and I do listen to jazz!).

RealAudio clip: La Goutte D'or

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Dropping his Tikiman persona after a lawsuit filed by some hack claiming to be "the real Tikiman", Paul St. Hilaire returns with an album's worth of new tracks. Those interested in the Basic Channel sound of his work with Rhythm & Sound may at first be a little disappointed in "Unspecified". Produced by Hilaire himself and released on his own label "Unspecified" is about as close of a return to late seventies roots reggae production one can expect to get these days. It's perhaps an indication that reggae can rise phoenix like from the ashes of dancehall from the very digital realm that buried it. Learning from the production techniques of his previous collaborators, Hilaire has found a way for the electronic recording studio (to be sure, along with some live instrumental accompaniemnt) to produce a soulful and rich and dubbed out backdrop for his beautiful voice.

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So we've worked are way backwards with the recent reissues of great British folkstress Bridget St John. A couple lists ago we reviewed her most pop and upbeat release Thank You For..., then last time it was the ever so lush and orchestrated '71 release Songs For The Gentle Man and this time we focus on her debut, 1969's Ask Me No Questions. An outing that's the most stripped down of her first three albums. Produced by her biggest supporter, John Peel, this was by and large a totally solo affair. Her totally beautiful voice and sparse guitar instrumentation help create an overall somber and peaceful mood that is usually so hard to get so right, but St. John demonstrates that she knew so well how to evoke those sentiments without hitting people over the head, instead slowly wandering and tiptoeing her way through leaves and trees and finding beauty, truth and sadness along the way. The reissue of this debut also contains two bonus tracks including a stunning cover of Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne." These recent reissues have proven she is worthy of that spot in your record collections next to Nick Drake, Vashti Bunyan and Marianne Faithfull, voices that are timeless and always ring so true and wise.

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We've been so happy that Cherry Red has made available some of the wonderful records of late '60s early '70s UK folkstress Bridget St. John. Last time we listed the wonderful Thank You For... and this time it's the lush sounds of Songs For The Gentle Man that we have been swept away by. This is for sure one of her most beautiful albums. Teamed up with producer Ron Geesin who she was introduced to by their mutual friend John Peel (his record label Dandelion originally released this in '71). Geesin's production was such a perfect match for the breezy and beautiful sound of St. John's voice. He actually co-wrote one side of Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother as well as making lots of interesting, challenging records of his own. The lush arrangements on this record will make you think of Vashti Bunyan more so then maybe any of St. John's albums. There is that same gentleness meets strength in her voice that listen after listen sinks deeper into our ears. We've got a feeling that Isobel Campbell might have been a big Bridget St. John fan as so many of these songs remind us of Campbell's contribution to early Belle & Sebastian records. Not a weak song in the whole bunch and her take on the Donovan penned "The Pebble and the Man" is pretty damn irresistible... as is this entire album. Highly recommended!

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Another great British folk re-discovery! Bridget St John was on the scene during the late 60's/early 70's and recorded just a handful of albums. A few of which were originally released on John Peel's Dandelion label. Luckily Cherry Red has gotten a hold of the original reels so those of us who missed out first time around can finally hear what we missed. And wow what a great voice and presence she had! She had this great ability to be both delicate and breezy, recalling the best of her contemporaries like Nick Drake and Vashti Bunyan while dipping her feet a bit more in carefree wind-in-her hair styling. Her voice also reminds us a lot of Marianne Faithfull and even at times Nico on a sunny day with a smile on her face. Some of the standout tracks on the record like "Fly High", "Lazarus" (which was her sort of hit), "Silver Coin", "Thank You For.." are the kinds of songs you know will be on every mix tape (ok...mix cd) that we make this year. So nice when songs recorded 34 years ago can still resonate so strongly in the present moment. Oh that's called timeless...and that's what this record is!

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Limited to 300 copies and originally released WAY back in 1998, a handful of these copies somehow survived the last decade, stowed away in some storage space, amazing for the fact that the sleeves are made out of sheets of Nori (sushi seaweed wrap) and thus most of the pressing was eaten by mice. But we snagged the last copies ever of this document of late nineties angular deconstructed art pop, featuring members of such art rock luminaries as Deerhoof, Comets on Fire, The Curtains, The Lowdown and Open City. Angular guitar scrape and jangle, stumbling drums, weird warbly vocals, all sort of off kilter and homespun. Fans of Deerhoof will especially dig this. We only have 10 copies and then this is gone for good!

Though some have accused her of getting by on cuteness alone (this being St Vincent's second record and the second to feature Annie Clark's face on the cover), Ms. Clark really is a damn good songwriter. Actor features more lush layers than Marry Me (St. Vincent's first record) and also a few heavier moments (just a few, though). If listening to this record on headphones, be prepared to close your eyes and float away.

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

SORRY. RSD release.

Here we have the debut from St. Vincent (aka: Anni Clark), who for years has lived in the shadows as one of many members of The Polyphonic Spree and a member of Sufjan Steven's band. It seems Clark hasn't just stepped out of the background, she's plunged head first (playing more than a dozen instruments on the record) into the creation of a lush wall of sound. Clark's voice may be most readily compared to that of Beth Gibbons (Portishead), and on her more upbeat tracks one can imagine that St. Vincent may be what Portishead would sound like a bit less digitized and intense. There is definitely a nod to Sufjan's musical style present here (she did help create it after all!). That is to say that dashing horns, lush strings, a sweet chorus, and many musical accessories that often fall to the wayside (vibraphone, clavieta, dulcimer, triangle, etc.) add a brisk, rich quirkiness to some songs. She seems to have incorporated a little breathing room by interspersing "Human Racing," a more stripped down frolicking soft pop track and, "We Put A Pearl In The Ground," a short piano interlude. In short, Marry Me is a wonderfully orchestrated and beautifully executed record that we highly recommend, particularly for fans of Portishead, Sufjan Stevens, Broadcast, PJ Harvey, Amy Winehouse, and Rufus Wainwright.

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Most of us had been on the fence about St. Vincent up until this point. We definitely appreciated that she had a nice voice, but her records always seemed a bit middling to us. It wasn't until Andee saw her play on a late night TV show, covering BIG BLACK (!!) and was totally blown away by her performance, that we decided to give this new record a close listen, and damn we're glad we did cuz this is a really interesting and awesome album. Way more complex, eclectic and unique than we expected. With a voice that's equal parts Elizabeth Fraser, Kate Bush, and Sinead O'Connor, and guitar playing that is so rad and even dizzyingly dense at times, and songs that take unexpected twists and turns. In fact, there are even a couple songs here where she seriously shreds and it's like this awesome melding of Marnie Stern and Cocteau Twins. We also really dig how there are these very '90s indie rock moments on the record that could have been from a Helium album. We're glad that we gave this record a chance, because it's turning into one of our new favorites.

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

SORRY. NOW WITH BONUS DVD! Most of us had been on the fence about St. Vincent up until this point. We definitely appreciated that she had a nice voice, but her records always seemed a bit middling to us. It wasn't until Andee saw her play on a late night TV show, covering BIG BLACK (!!) and was totally blown away by her performance, that we decided to give this new record a close listen, and damn we're glad we did cuz this is a really interesting and awesome album. Way more complex, eclectic and unique than we expected. With a voice that's equal parts Elizabeth Fraser, Kate Bush, and Sinead O'Connor, and guitar playing that is so rad and even dizzyingly dense at times, and songs that take unexpected twists and turns. In fact, there are even a couple songs here where she seriously shreds and it's like this awesome melding of Marnie Stern and Cocteau Twins. We also really dig how there are these very '90s indie rock moments on the record that could have been from a Helium album. We're glad that we gave this record a chance, because it's turning into one of our new favorites.

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With Cold Cave crashing into a baroque mania on their Cherish The Light Years album, it's good to see a retro-garde minimal wave band properly filtering the wheat from the chaff when it comes to all of the references of '80 synth-pop. For all of the fetishization of antiquated sounds, one has to be very aware that for every great Human League, OMD, Depeche Mode record there were dozens that were truly horrible. And that's what makes the retro-synth-minimal-wave thing so appealing, since the most evocative, the most decadent, the darkest attributes of what came out of that entire history of music should be the goals for this schizophrenic recombination of tropes. Perhaps even more so than fellow Wierd recording artists Xeno & Oaklander, Staccato Du Mal totally gets that, finding some pretty great references to stitch together in his studio, overflowing we'd imagine with analog keyboards, step sequencers, modular synths, patchbays, and the like. Throughout all of the electronics on Sin Destino, you'll hear the ghosts in the machine from the lo-tech synth wunderkammer that is Throbbing Gristle's "United", the mechanoid alienation of Nocturnal Emissions' album Drowning In A Sea Of Bliss (especially the second half of that album), Dark Day's post no-wave synth excursions on Exterminating Angel, the proto-industrial adventures which sporadically detoured Harmonia, and even the cybernetic rhythmic electro of Adult and Model 500. Vocals are sporadic, always distorted, blurred, and buried in the mix, and Staccato Du Mal sounds all the better when nothing is said at all, as the synths in their dark arpeggiations, funereal atmospheres, and icy melodies are more than strong enough to stand on their own, and even expand into a darkly cosmic mindfucks as well. Super recommended!

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Out of nowhere comes this grimy slab of murky, sci-fi, synth kraut, cold wave, psych dub weirdness, that sounds a bit like former aQ ROTW-ers Fabulous Diamonds gone cold wave, or a way more blissed out and krautrocky Soft Moon, it's like some mutant strain of futuristic Euro disco, heavily dubbed, and then reimagined as the soundtrack for some dystopian post apocalyptic future age. A woozy, blurred landscape of pulsating squelches, arpeggiated melodies, lo-fi rhythms, lush space age synth swells, and hazy, washed out vox, dripping in echo and reverb and delay, gauzy and ethereal and almost dreampoppy one second, super dubbed out and near psychedelic the next. The songs here less verse-chorus-verse, that a single looped melody over a near static groove, locked into endless cylical sprawls, super tranced out and utterly mesmerizing. Stacian hails from Milwaukee, but could just as well be have been transmitting these sounds via tachyon beams from some mysterious planet, in an alternate universe, and from a wholly other timeline, it definitely fits sonically alongside outfits like the above mentioned Fabulous Diamonds, and it has a distinctly Carpenter / Goblin vibe, not to mention that whole modern retro Brooklyn cold wave thing, but Stacian adds a heaping dose of murky minimalism, with some of the tracks ditching the vocals completely, and oozing into a sort of zoned out space-kraut dirgey, while other tracks blossom into impossibly catchy near poppiness. Songs like "Almos Telos Tenoste", almost sound like something Joe Meek might have whipped up his mad scientist kitchen/recording studio/laboratory, while tracks like "Formida" anchor near weightless synth simmer, to a lurching robo-kraut rhythm, while vocals swirl and spin over the top, Stacian's throaty croon dubbed to high heaven and sent careening into the ether. And the whole record in fact splits the difference between the two, pulsing, pounding, percolating, motorik and mesmerizing, a sort of warped electro synth-pop run through a bank of malfunctioning electronics, and played back by a cyborg backing band. It's not hard to imagine Stacian, dressed in a strange metallic gown, hovering above an elevated dais, in front of the cosmos, spinning darkly behind her in the distance, while all around her, shadowy machine-like shapes churn and grind, gears spinning, lights blinking, a primitive futuristic symphony, unfurling wasted zoner kraut-pop gems and loosing them into space, left to glimmer and glisten in a sky full of dying stars. The cd version tacks on FIVE bonus tracks, which while retaining the same sort of cosmic kraut-murk energy, are way more lo-fi, and much more propulsive, the sound brittle and tinny, the synths buzzing over skittery robotic grooves, a brief songsuite of melancholic kraut-synth space pop, that while sonically not as lush and fully realized as the record proper, might just contain the catchiest jams of all, check out the closer "Micro-Trauma", which will get lodged in your mechanical brain after one listen, and gloriously gum up the works. WAY recommended.

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New split from former aQ Record Of The Weeker Stacian, who delivers two tripped out kosmische synth workouts that sound like alien Kraftwerk, pulsing and tranced out, the tons in constant flux, locked into stiff robotic grooves, but then occasionally growing all slippery and squiggly, and then the vocals come in, weird processed, FX heavy bellows, drifting above the field of bleeps and bloops below, but somehow transforming the blessed out sci-fi synthiness into some weird fractured future pop, dizzying and drone and druggy and divine. The second track on the Stacian side slips into something a bit more lo-fi and new wave-y, all primitive drum machines, and sing songy synth melodies, but all the sounds distorted and crunchy, a little crumbly, the vibe melancholy and minor key, a little wistful, some sad robot, drifting through space, alone for eternity, and then again, the vocals, now pitched down to a Scott Walker like croon, make this some sort of interstellar torch song, epic and majestic, a sprawling slab of downer space pop that sounds like it could easily not just be from another galaxy, but also another time, like some lost eighties artifact that could have been a reissue on Medical or Dark Entries! Gel Set, who we've previously heard on a split with Windbreaker, delves into something sonically similar, weaving a minimal cold wave electro pop from squelchy synths, minimal programmed drums, what sounds almost like tablas, and some haunting processed vocals, again that sound pitched down into some spooky spectral croon. The background synths get more and more active, soon all tangled up into intricate melodies, wound around a roiling dark pop murk. The second track gets a bit more electro/new wave, sounding like it might have been transported from some alternate universe eighties MTV, but something went wrong in the process, rendering the resulting sound more woozy and warped, slowed down, and a bit sonically smeary, a hazy, gauzy, drowsy and druggy electro space pop that is definitely a good fit with Stacian. The coolest/weirdest track might be the close, which is super stripped down and percussive, moody and murky, rhythmic and -almost- funky, almost like some alien electro / hip-hop, but slowed down, and pulled apart, and stretched way out, the vocals here too a deep moan buried in the mix, it's all about the beat, and the rhythms, and it ends way too soon, would have happily listened to a whole record of this sort of warbly, alien electro-kraut space-hop! LIMITED TO 500 COPIES. Each one hand numbered. Housed in cool metallic silver on matte black sleeves.

The first salvo of electronic vinyl madness from AQ pal Drucifer's new label comes in the form of four 12"s, beautifully packaged in distinctive orange sleeves (dance 12" style) and on nice thick vinyl, and sonically running the gamut from stuttery glitched out electronica to shimmery drones to speaker shredding digital rhythms to dreamy beatscapes. On probably our favorite of these first four Dielectric releases, Karen Stackpole employs an elaborate arsenal of percussion instruments: lots of gongs as well as cymbals, tibetan bowls, Thai tuned gongs, wind-up toys, music boxes, metal rods, dried bean pods and more. These are all played, rubbed, pounded, bowed, and struck to create a dense but spacious ambient soundscape of thunderous low end, rumbling ripples that wash lugubriously outward, as high-end shimmers and squeaks nestle alongside clatter and tinkle and splashes of percussive splatter. Gorgeous and thick, noisy and hypnotic, drony and transcendental, somewhere between 20th century classical, the stumbing free-rhythm workouts of No Neck Blues Band or Sunburned Hand Of The Man, and the dreamy upper register Ur-drone of Sunroof! or Vibracathedral Orchestra. So nice! MPEG Download: "One" [/audio/stackpoleone.mp3] MPEG Stream: "One" [/audio/stackpoleone.m3u]

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Of all the amazing records we've reviewed on the Dielectric label, our favorite might just have to be the Karen Stackpole 12", an incredible collection of bowed gongs, huge billowing clouds of deep sonorous metallic shimmer, a specialty of this East Bay based percussionist. So we were super excited about this full length, nearly 45 minutes of the heaviest metal imaginable, as in hundreds and hundreds of pounds, a whole room full, all recorded and gently and subtly reworked by Die Elektrischen, aka Drew Webster, Dielectric Records mainman. The core sounds here are incredible, the sound of a huge sheet of metal being struck or bowed, the unbelievable overtones, most drone obsessives could listen to struck gongs all day and night, and Webster seems to know this, doing the bare minimum to enhance and augment. In most cases, it's hard to tell anything has been done to the original recordings at all, usually the additions are super subtle, layering two tracks on top of one another, changing the stereo panning, while in other instances, the sounds are most definitely altered, with reverb, or delay, distortion, but done deftly, a delicate balance for sure. Bell like chimes drift into deep rumbling metallic drones, strange melodies surface within the overtones, crystalline shimmer laid over lush dense low end buzz, some of the tracks, the layered metal buzz gets so dense and intense it almost sounds like Troum or Nadja or something, the final track introduces a gorgeous minimal rhythm, very tabla like, accompanied by gongs and cymbals, a super intense abstract groove, but for the most part, the sounds on Machine Shop are dark and minimal, mysterious and haunting, tranquil and hypnotic, woven into softly undulating dronescapes, or just left to shimmer on their own.

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What's that breezy '80s vibe tickling your ears? Might it be Todd Stadtman's debut album Only I Can Save You? Filled with pretty-pretty pop melodies, Stadtman's suitably sensitive boy vocals and a gauzy blend of acoustic and electronic layers'n'loops, at times it's reminiscent of The Style Council (circa "My Everchanging Moods", check out the second song "Something Less Than Tenderness") and Casiotone For The Painfully Alone. Or you might even imagine a lower-fi younger brother of David Sylvian (at least in comparison to Sylvian's most recent Blemish album). The songwriting of his more structured songs is seemingly inspired by the smart popsmith likes of XTC's Andy Partridge and Elvis Costello, while the less song-y ones are more along the lines of Dntel or something from the Morr Music label. A nice and sweet how-do-you-do!

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What is it about Kinshasa? The capitol city of the Democratic Republic Of The Congo first brought us the mind blowing Konono No.1, who fashioned PA's and amps out of old car parts, and rigged up thumb pianos with home built pick ups, crafting one of the most unique and fascinating and exuberant sounds we had ever heard. Now, also from Kinshasa, comes Staff Benda Bilili, an even more unique musical combo (as if that were even possible). A group of senior paraplegic street musicians, who live in and around the grounds of the zoo, who travel in cool custom built wheelchairs that look more like motorcycles, they sing and play guitar, and are backed up by a young all acoustic rhythm section, featuring a 17 year old prodigy, who plays wild psychedelic leads on a one string 'guitar' made from a tin can. There are pictures in the booklet, it's hard to believe anyone could conjure such amazing sounds from this little bit of scrap and string, but the proof is right here. The music itself is not as far out as Konono No.1, it has much more of a traditionally folky feel, a distinctly highlife vibe, the vocal harmonies form the core of the sound, lush and laid back, stunningly intricate and gorgeous, the various stringed instruments buzz and twang, simple drumming holds it all together, and the occasional wild tangled squiggly solos on the tin can lute, sounding slippery and super high, the songs build to festive codas, and just as often slip back into something much more contemplative. Feel good, sunshiney sounds that make you want to dance or drift off, you can almost imagine these guys all parked in their motorcycle wheelchairs, rocking late into the night around the campfire or under the streetlights. But you don't have to imagine, there are a handful of live videos too, so you can watch these guys create these amazing sounds live, sitting on the grass in the park, under the trees, hanging out in after dark lit only by firelight, and seeing that little kid rock out on the tin can lute, WOW. Also includes a really cool trailer, for what could either be a documentary about the band, or it could just be a short film / trailer for the record. Needless to say, but we will anyway, TOTALLY recommended, especially for anyone who loves Konono No.1!!

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...Eignast Jeppa is total la-la-la music without any la-la-las. Instrumental drifting bliss-out from the frosty, mystic isle of Iceland -- although it's a lot warmer sounding than that land of origin might suggest. And I don't think we're guilty of any cheap comparisons when we say: for fans of Sigur Ros. Indeed, for folks who aren't fans of Sigur Ros too, 'cause there's none of those sappy vocals that put us off Sigur Ros a bit here at AQ, just some quiet whispers now and then. It's just lovely lovely stuff in a post-rock vein that could be from the Temporary Residence camp, or perhaps the work of Sweden's Bjorn Olsson, or an echo of krautrock duo Cluster from decades past. Epic yet snuggly. This is but one of *three* new albums by Stafraenn Hakon, the solo project of one Olafur Josephsson, with the other two being released by the UK's Resonant label (one's out already and will be reviewed here next time, the other should be out soon too). This one's his first, though, having been originally released on cd-r in Iceland in 2002 but now out domestically on cd with 2 extra tracks via the Secret Eye label run by folks from Black Forest/Black Sea. Josephsson records on a 4-track in his basement, layering guitars and melodica over sparse drum loops, all very mellow and pretty. Whenever we play any Stafraenn Hakon in the store, somebody always asks what it is and buys a copy (or at least asks to write down the name for future purchasing reference). A very nice discovery.

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Today on my way to lunch I passed a pretty young woman singing softly to a small child cradled in her arms, as she walked down a leafy sun-lit street in the neighborhood of Aquarius. What could better express the gentle joy of life? Perhaps the lovely music of Iceland's Stafraenn Hakon. Hopefully you're already familar with -- and maybe a fan of -- Stafraenn Hakon from our recent reviews of his two previous releases. This new disc, his second for Resonant, is yet more warm and comforting music situated somewhere between instrumental 'post-rock' and new age ambient. Melodic lullabies built from gentle guitar drift, piano chiming, and unobtrusive percussion take what time they need to unfold in Stafraenn Hakon's mild, magical, and a little bit melancholic soundworld. Sooo blissful. We always mention Sigur Ros in our Stafraenn Hakon reviews and we'll do so here again, not just 'cause of the Iceland connection but because for whatever reason this seems like a natural for anyone who likes Sigur Ros...

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Last list we reviewed Stafraenn Hakon's excellent debut "...Eignast Jeppa". Well we quickly sold out of that one (don't worry, we'll get more) but we do have THIS newer Stafraenn Hakon recording to share with you now. The same facts apply: Stafraenn Hakon, actual name Olafur Josephsson, is from Iceland. And everytime we play anything by Stafraenn Hakon in the store, somebody comes to the counter and asks about it, 'cause this music is simply so nice. Mellow, instrumental post-rock so freaking lovely it's like crying magical tears. No, really, this is nice enough to make 'nice' seem like an understatement. Sad, shimmering, swelling, chiming, gentle, drifting, gauzily melodic. There's another Stafraenn Hakon release coming up on Resonant real soon, and we hope he keeps 'em coming. Sigur Ros, move over.

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Well it says right on the shrinkwrap sticker that this is "mellow, instrumental post-rock so freaking lovely...Sigur Ros move over". Hmm, can't really argue with that since it's quote from the Aquarius review of one of this Icelandic one-man-band's other albums! He's now back with his third Resonant label full-length, and if you liked the gentle sounds made previously by Stafraenn Hakon (aka Olafur Josephsson) you'll undoubtedly swoon for this disc as well, especially if you thought his music should be even more sweet and lush and blissful, 'cause that's where he's going with this. But there's a certain sadness inherent in his compositions that keeps them from ever getting too treacle-y. Gauzy ambient shimmer melts over organic instruments and some shuffling, vaguely glitchy electronic beats, as this album-length lullaby drifts by, pleasant and glorious. Though it may seem like this artist has cranked out a lot of releases lately, this is actually his first 'new' material recorded in two years! We're glad to see he's still in top form.

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Hard to tell if "Dr. Stahlgren" and "Dr. Ferguson" are in fact members of Stock, Hausen, & Walkman, but I would imagine they are, as this little 3" CD was released in the series of "educational recordings" on their Hot Air label. Supposedly, these two Of course, the two "doctors" made many hours of recordings of those machines, of course "solved" the problems, and of course this album "Printing With Magnetic Inks" is the resulting collage of those recordings, of course with "some artistic license, editing and processing. With this audio fuck-you (much more listenable than V/VM 's attempts at the same), Hot Air offers yet another exceptionally funny piece of contemporary musique concrete filled with all sorts of whimsical bleeps and bloops.

RealAudio clip: Dead Thixotropic Code Flux
RealAudio clip: Shrinking Disinclination Loop

This here is the second solo album by Mr. Moe Staiano aka Sleepytime Gorilla Museum's found percussionist. Frantic, dizzying and cacaphonous, but not without its elements of structure surfacing every now and again to make the explosions of mayhem all the more impactful. Hyper spurts of music boxes, food pans, oil barrels, sheet metal, brake drums, plastic horns, slide whistles and numerous other objects (yes, including a kitchen sink!) as well as the more conventional guitars, cellos, bass, thumb pianos, contrabass, vibraphones, drum machines, clarinets, musical saws, theremin and drums. There's some seriously twisted yet totally tight rhythmic interludes going on here - just as we've come to expect from Sleepytime G.M. not to mention their previous spectacular incarnation Idiot Flesh. Other slower, more haunting/haunted moments that take place deeper into the album brought to mind Nurse With Wound and Mr. Bungle. These tracks were actually recorded back in 97/98, but are just now seeing their release. However, Staiano does acknowledge this tardiness in his liner notes: "This is a Late album. It is dedicated to those who wait." A wonderfully bizarre listen.

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Moe! Staiano (former member of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum) is one heck of a dynamic avant percussionist and soundscaper who exercises restraint in both composition and performance, but he's an uncorkable fountain of recordings (as not only a solo artist, but also a collaborator and in his improv ensemble Moe!kestra). He's so prolific that it's hard to keep up with all of his activities. We're trying our best tho'! Inspired by the Dada and Surrealist movements, Staiano's music incorporates found object percussion instruments be they pots, pans, pipes, cooking utensils, industrial machinery or children's toys. Recorded in two separate sessions, this is his first album of purely solo improvisations. Over the course of this sixty two minute long album, Staiano moves deftly through cacophonous, sonically crowded spaces into stark, serene minimalism and back again.

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Second album from Moe! Staiano's improv orchestra Moe!kestra. Ear and mind-bending performances!

[ aquarius records catalogue — S ]