[ aquarius records catalogue

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Showing results 701 through 750 of 1910.

Kudos to Light In The Attic for doing real nice vinyl reissues of the first three, lesser known (and often underrated) albums by '70s Irish rock greats Thin Lizzy!! We listed Vagabonds Of The Western World last time, they also just did Thin Lizzy's second album, from 1972, Shades Of A Blue Orphanage, to go with the reissue of Lizzy's 1971 self-titled debut that they put out three years ago - we never listed it then, but LITA just repressed it too, so here's both of 'em. Again, this is Lizzy in their infancy, before the big time, before Jailbreak, before the twin-guitar-harmonies era, way before Lizzy were any kind of a 'metal' band, but still utterly enjoyable, with original guitarist Eric Bell demonstrating why he's still some folks' favorite of the many, many brilliant guitarists to have done time playing alongside mainman Phil Lynott, who of course is the major attraction in Lizzy here as always, his distinctive, hoarse voice charismatic and earnest, whether spinning tales over folky acoustic backing (there's lots of mellow moments on these Lizzy's) or kicking out the more rocking, rollicking jams. The self-titled album is a pleasant mix of groovy pop rock and that folkier fare, with some slight hints of the more hard rockin' Lizzy to come - there's the loping Hendrix-y psych-funk of "Ray-Gun", the energetic percussion-driven "Return Of The Farmer's Son", and Eric Bell gets to show off his fast-picking six string skills at times, like on "Look What The Wind Blew In". The whole record has a mostly laid-back vibe, though, often bluesy and melancholic. Humble beginnings, perhaps, but already Lynott sounds like he's 'got it'. Shades Of A Blue Orphanage is similar, but maybe a bit more diverse. There's more gentle pop (like the acoustic loveliness of "Sarah"), as well as some powerfully proggy rocking for the proto-metal fans ("Baby Face"). Some novelties too, like the sorta dubby Elvis impression "I Don't Want To Forget How To Jive". And opening jam "The Rise And Dear Demise Of The Funky Nomadic Tribes" is indeed funky and tribal, all 7+ minutes of it. In terms of straight up rock, Shades has a shade more than the debut. Hmm, at times these albums make us think of an Irish equivalent of the James Gang, y'know, that hard/soft mix, a bit funky too. Certainly any true Lizzy/Lynott fan needs to check these out, you'll likely find some fresh 'deep cut' faves!

MPEG stream: The Rise And Dear Demise Of The Funky Nomadic Tribes
MPEG stream: Brought Down

We were pleasantly surprised a few years ago when Light In The Attic reissued the first (self-titled) Thin Lizzy album on vinyl, not really LITA's usual sort of jam, but of course cool. At the time, we remember talking to one of our pals who runs the label about it, and asking if they planned to reissue any other albums by the seminal '70s Irish hard rockers, like, maybe, Vagabonds Of The Western World (one of our favorites). Turns out, he hadn't really even ever heard any other Thin Lizzy albums beside the debut, but he said he'd check 'em out! Clearly, now, that's happened, and Light In The Attic has just brought us swank (180 gram, gatefold, tip-on jacket, 24bit/96kHz remaster, 'book-deep' liner notes) first-time vinyl reissues of Lizzy's 2nd and 3rd albums, Shades Of A Blue Orphanage from 1972 (not reviewed yet, but in stock, also cool), and this one, 1973's Vagabonds. Both from the early, oft-underappreciated era of Thin Lizzy, before "The Boys Are Back In Town", before the famed dual-guitar lineup, back when things were slightly more hippy-dippy, sometimes folky, sometimes bluesy, sometimes proggy. But with brilliant guitar work in its own right, courtesy of original Lizzy axeman Eric Bell. And of course, with the charismatic vocals and storytelling songwriting of frontman/bassist/rock and roll legend Phil Lynott, in full effect. Since we reference Thin Lizzy in a lot of heavy music reviews these days, hopefully we don't have to tell you how great they were. But if we do have to tell you, or tell you that they were great even before the Gorham/Robertson dual guitar era, let it be via Vagabonds. Just get it. It's got some killer rockers (including "The Rocker"!), it's got some more mellow, pretty tunes ("A Song For While I'm Away"), it's got the freaky epics ("The Hero And the Madman"), and their traditional Irish folk factor too. Heck, any album with both "Little Girl In Bloom" and "Gonna Creep Up On You" is a GREAT album. And we didn't even mention all the other great songs. A stone classic any way you cut it.

MPEG stream: Vagabond Of The Western World
MPEG stream: Gonna Creep Up On You

Sweet! A deluxe double cd reish of one of our faves by Irish greats Thin Lizzy, who are one of those influential bands that posthumously just seems to be getting more and more popular, heck they're probably bigger now than they ever were before, in the States anyway. More influential on the current rock/metal community too. Vagabonds Of The Western World, from 1973, belongs to the earliest era of the band when Eric Bell was their guitarist. Note we said guitarist, singular. That's right, the twin guitar harmonies thing that Lizzy is famous for came later, originally they were a power trio with only one guy on guitar. But he's awesome, and the first three Lizzy albums (of which this is the 3rd) are definitely cool, though different (often a bit mellower, folkier, psychier) than the more famous later stuff with the Gorham / Robertson duo. Vagabonds is pretty rockin', though, heck it even includes the song "The Rocker" among other classics like "Gonna Creep Up On You", "Little Girl In Bloom", and the storytelling epic "The Hero And The Madman", which is one of this sometimes odd album's weirdest, quasi-prog entries. Plus of course, most crucially, the talents of Thin Lizzy's charismatic singer/bassist/songwriter, and resident tragic genius, Phil Lynott, are fully in effect here, his distinctive voice always a delight... In addition to the digitally remastered original album, you get ten bonus tracks (including a radio promo edit of early hit "Whiskey In The Jar", and one called "Cruising In The Lizzymobile"!) on the first disc in the set, while the second disc features 13 cuts from various BBC radio sessions, for John Peel and others. In addition to songs from Vagabonds, you'll hear renditions of other Lizzy gems from the era like "Suicide" (different from the later album version done with the double guitar lineup) and "Black Boys On The Corner". The double digi cd package includes liner notes and vintage photos too. Deluxe indeed, and deserving of the treatment.

MPEG stream: The Hero And The Madman
MPEG stream: Gonna Creep Up On You
MPEG stream: The Rocker (BBC Radio 1 In Concert)

MPEG stream: The Friendly Ranger At Clontarf Castle
MPEG stream: Return Of The Farmer's Son

The Swedish jazz trio (Mats Gustafsson on sax, Paal Nilssen-Love on drums and Ingebrigt Haker Flaten on bass) that -loves- their indie/garage/hipster rock has returned with another energetic and enjoyable disc. Remember they did those cool improv jazz "covers" of songs by The White Stripes and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs on their debut disc Garage? Well this time out they've set their sights on Lightning Bolt! "Ride The Sky" baby! By the way, we're not being facetious in the least, we do dig The Thing and the things they do. Including their moody, intense original improvs/compositions as well, not just the stuff that's bound to get 'em a mention in Pitchfork. FYI Besides Lightning Bolt, such indie noise rock faves as Ornette Coleman and Yosuke Yamashita get the cover treatment here as well.

MPEG stream: Better Living...
MPEG stream: Ride The Sky

Doesn't necessarily sound like the best idea, does it? A trio of Swedish free jazzers (among them saxophonist Mats Gustafsson, sometime Sonic Youth sideman) playing loosely-interpreted covers of "garage rock" tunes, by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the White Stripes and (proving they realize garage rock wasn't invented in 2003) the Sonics from the '60s. Hence the title, Garage. Well it could have been a terrible, cash-in on the what the kids are digging these days concept... But actually it's pretty cool when you listen to it. Super powerful and aggressive but definitely remaining more jazz than rock, though doubtless they'd blow a lot of garage rock bands off the stage with their energy. The seven tracks here also include two originals by The Thing (heavy duty rampant improvs both) and versions of tracks by jazz vets Norman Howard and Peter Brotzmann (he's been in a garage, doubtless). So this turns out to be more than just a gimmick. Garage ranges from R&B infused rave ups to seriously dirgey dissonance, making for a record *this* jazz/garage/freakout fan enjoyed. Crossover potential between folks only into one of the above? Dunno. I actually hadn't heard the Yeah Yeah Yeahs song before, but I know I like The Thing's version...

MPEG stream: Art Star
MPEG stream: Hey Flask

Two lists back (#216) we reviewed The Thing's album Garage. The upshot being, this Swedish jazz combo was pretty dang good both despite *and* because of their gimmick: covering (loosely and creatively) garage rock hits by such bands as The White Stripes and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs! Now here's another blast of high-energy improv action from the trio of Mats Gustafsson (sax), Paal Nilssen-Love (drums) and Ingebrigt Haker Flaten (bass), recorded live in Olso Norway, at a club called Bla. Nothing blah about their performance though (sorry!). They rumble and scream and blurt and groove, with plenty of passion and chops, and lots of room too for lovely moodiness. Here you'll find live versions of a couple of tracks from their Garage album (Noah Howard's "Haunted" and the White Stripes's "Aluminum") along with other compositions / improvisations not otherwise recorded by The Thing. We figure if you've got discs by such reedsmen as Peter Brotzmann and Ken Vandermark in your (jazz) collection, you need some Gustafsson too, and The Thing is just the thing to check out, both Garage and this Live at Bla disc.

MPEG stream: Old Eyes

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SORRY. Rob Crow's post-Heavy Vegetable band will not disappoint fans of Hev Veg's quirky, complex popcore. Another release given the Andee stamp of approval.

The long-awaited and actually finished for quite a while Thingy album finds the equally long-awaited post-Heavy Vegetable band compressing the Built To Spill indie-rock-epic into one-and-a-half minute pop songs with lots of jangly guitars, off kilter time signatures, girl/boy vocal harmonies, and a songwriting ability that can only be qualified as splendidly nifty. Thumbs up!

Well, with a title like that, you know the Fellers have arrived -- albeit after a much too lengthy absence -- with all their quirks intact. Oddly enough both Jeff and Cup thought this was Guided By Voices when it was first played in the store. And indeed

RealAudio clip: 91 Dodge Van
RealAudio clip: Sno Cone

New album on different label. Excellent! As always, the Fellers progress by leaps and bounds, continuing to make music that's always better than their previous (stellar). One of our favorite bands ever.

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

SORRY.

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

SORRY. Import 7".

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

SORRY. Their pre-Tangle sought-after cassette only release is finally available again. Highly recommended.

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

SORRY. Once in a blue moon an absolutely perfect single drops from heaven onto us mere mortals. It's almost unheard of that this phenomenon would be realized by the same band twice. Yet Matt Elliot, Mr. Third Eye Foundation first gave us the brilliant "Semtex" single... and now "Fear Of A Wack Planet". Majestic choral voices delicately float as haunting historical texts to a Baroque past with elegantly simple breakbeats forming the basic structure. Yes, this is the same alchemic formula that Enigma has been boring the world with for some time now, yet Third Eye Foundation's ability to manifest the sublime provides that elusive transcendental quality that makes this one of the most beautiful pieces of music I've ever heard.

Like a Kranky release set to kill, "Ghost" unleashes an entrancing storm of beats and noise that would rather pierce than caress. "Ghost" is a wailing banshee with a rhythm section, where Bristol space-rock meets drum and bass.

I think we can all agree, that this is perhaps the worst name for an album ever ('cept for maybe Total's Buffin' the Celestial Muffin), but musically this record is pretty great. It's basically a collection of other people's songs remixed by Third Eye

RealAudio clip: Push Off My Wire
RealAudio clip: All Of The WCKWC Want To Be Abstract (3EF Version)

More pleasant electronica from Matt Elliot aka Third Eye Foundation, this time with vaguely ethnicky female voices sometimes making their way into the mix.

Semtex was and is a strange record, and one that bridged what seemed to be a vast chasm of aesthetics that dominated Bristol in the early to mid '90s. On one hand, there was the bleached and blanched sounds of Flying Saucer Attack (and the vast satellite of projects that spawned from FSA's rural psychedelia) and then there was the convoluted dub and trip-hop noir of Tricky, Massive Attack and Portishead; and right in the middle of these two was Matt Elliott's Third Eye Foundation, adhering a buzzing shoegaze melancholy to deft Amen break drum'n'bass programming, all slammed through an overdriven four-track. Admittedly, the tape compression keeps Third Eye Foundation from crushing the bass-bins, but the dub-crunch hiss-murk is a brilliant hyper-exaggeration of the Lee Perry productions from two decades earlier. Elliott - who spent time in Flying Saucer Attack, Movietone, and Amp - has a knack for the blown out guitar smear that all of those Bristol projects embraced, with the drum'n'bass skitter and breakbeats building one hell of an album of post-MBV noiserock. Strange to think this album is now 20 years old, and it holds up remarkably well; now fleshed out with 23 bonus tracks (8 of which are on the vinyl, and the other 15 are on the digital download).

MPEG stream: Sleep
MPEG stream: Dreams On His Fingers

New EP features some of the tinniest, lo-fi drum'n'bass we've heard, all the while trying really hard to sound EPIC, which adds up to a very appealing, enjoyable listening experience.

Matt Elliot latest full length dissolves almost all of the recognizable associations once heald with former collaborators Flying Saucer Attack. "You Guys Kill Me" actually holds more in common with another super star of Bristol... Tricky. Creepy over-processed guitar noises that end up wailing like screaming animals (see track 43 on the "Sounds of North American Frogs" collection on Folkways) with disjointed breakbeats. A little lighter, a little less angry and a little more playful than previous Third Eye records, but still maintains the intensity of lulling drones accompanied by edge-of-yr-seat rolling beats. Somewhere in the midst of Bowery Electric, Portishead and Bauhaus.

Pacific Northwest style queer core. Not as rocking as Team Dresch (even though Donna Dresch produced this), not as abrasive as Sleater Kinney, more sort of poppy and catchy. Really pretty good.

MPEG stream: 2 L's Up
MPEG stream: Popo Coming

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SORRY. British improv electronics/reeds project, with Moore and Bailey guesting individually on different tracks. Features lovely color graphics and interesting liner notes telling of the Blood Yeti. [/cat/experimental177.html]

This release includes the debut album "Magenta Skycode" remastered and repackaged, with a bonus CD called "Magenta Lost" of studio outtakes, demos and other rare and previously unreleased material recorded in 1994/1996.

MPEG stream: Useless
MPEG stream: Towards Distance

It would be nice to think that These Records have only been releasing the reissues of "Deceit" -- This Heat's second and final proper album -- every ten years after the original release of the album in 1981. The first CD pressings arrived on 1991, and this Almost all of the histories of UK avant-garde music have claim allegiances to This Heat, as Punk, New Wave, Industrial, Prog Rock, Jim O'Rourke, and even Electronica place the seminal outfit somewhere at the beginnings of their respective etymologies. To a certain extent all of these histories may be true, but then again the broad aesthetic and ideological contexts between all of those different styles may cross-each other out, leaving This Heat as one of the few artistic forces that truly exists all by itself. Just a trio comprised of Charles Hayward, Charles Bullen, and Gareth Williams, This Heat manifested an incredibly explosive sound that hybridized all of the countercultural fury of Punk and Situationism, within a sonic context informed by technological advances of musique concrete techniques and electro-acoustic synthesis. Musically speaking, This Heat did not espouse the three chord structures or the snarling postures of Punk, instead injecting the complex pop agendas of Brian Eno (which were purposefully seeking to conflict the archetypes of rock into a new aesthetic language) with nervous tension building up to dramatic cathartic releases. "Deceit" is a record that was so ahead of its time that it has taken twenty years for artists like Fennesz and Radiohead to articulate ideas with such intensity and attention to the play between musical creation and technological advances. So highly recommended.

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

SORRY.

It's tough to review the records of This Heat separately, knowing that there is a box set, a box set most of us had been waiting for for years! Like imagine if you heard about Christmas, and spent the next decade waking up and rushing out to the living room only to find nothing there. That's what it was like waiting for the long rumored This Heat box. It seems almost self evident that it is honestly one of the few box sets, that is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL. But okay, $100 might be a bit much to drop on a band you're not all the familiar with. And probably some folks already have some of these discs, as they were briefly available in the nineties. But let's be upfront and warn you straight up, we know very few people, who on hearing any music from This Heat, even a single song, weren't immediately compelled to get their hands on every single bit of recorded material they could find. The music of This Heat is most definitely that powerful, that intense, having informed almost all of the music we've loved since. And sounding as fresh and forward thinking today as it did when it was first recorded. Before we get to reviewing This Heat's second release, the Health And Efficiency ep from 1980, let's give you some background on (and no small amount of gushing over) one of our all time favorite bands. Trying to explain why this band is so good is sort of like trying to explain why ice cream is so delicious. Or why Bush is such a terrible president. Or maybe it's kind of like writing an introduction for the new Pynchon novel. Or telling a few jokes before Richard Pryor comes on stage. Or throwing a couple quick passes before Joe Montana comes on the field. It's that daunting, that overwhelming, that impossible. The trio of Charles Hayward, Charles Bullen and Gareth Williams known collectively as This Heat were one of the few bands that literally changed people's lives. Changed the way folks thought about music. I (Andee) couldn't believe music like this actually existed. It was everything I wanted to listen to before I knew that THIS was exactly what I wanted to listen to. Hit It Or Quit It publisher / rock critic / indie scenestress Jessica Hopper once wrote that she literally pee'd her pants the first time she heard This Heat. And it's not hard to see why. Without This Heat, modern, alternative, avant-garde music as we know it would be a whole different beast. Post-rock, math-rock, avant rock are hugely indebted to the genre shattering experimentalism of This Heat. Tortoise, You Fantastic, Yona Kit, Brise Glace, Psychic Paramount, Laddio Bollocko, Radian, Village Of Savoonga, Larsen, Starfuckers, Circle, Salvatore, I Am Spoonbender -- none of those bands would even exist if it weren't for This Heat, or if they still did you can bet they would sound a whole lot different. And that's just off the top of our heads, AND that's -just- bands whose sound directly reflects the influence of This Heat. Imagine how many performers and artists were influenced by This Heat but who let that influence manifest itself in not so obvious ways. We once described This Heat as "Krautrock-ish hyper rhythmic tape-looped prog." Which comes close to succinctly describing the magical musical alchemy of This Heat, but still only scratches the surface. The sound of This Heat is rhythm and texture and dynamics. The recording studio as instrument. Every sound and every song is based on rhythm and texture. There are hooks, and melodies, but they exist to serve the rhythm and are often born from the deft manipulation of sound and tempo. Even the most static and repetitive parts manage to sound -musical-. There are vocals, but they are minimal and otherworldly, weary and sing songy and completely mesmerizing. A droning musical accompaniment to the haunting whirs and clanging percussion in the background. Their entire catalog has gone in and out of print over the years, mostly out, with all of their records pretty much completely unavailable for the last 7 or 8 years. Rumors of a complete box set and reissue campaign began to circulate a few years back and it has finally happened and it's everything we could have hoped for and more. Every single release, remastered and repackaged in swank digipaks. We're almost jealous of folks who have never even heard This Heat. The thought of entering into this music completely blind, is almost frightening, as the world of This Heat is so singular, so powerful, it will be difficult to ever listen to music the same way again. Trust us. The Health And Efficiency ep followed This Heat's self titled debut and took their sound in a strangely pop (for them at least) direction, sounding like some tweaked and twisted version of Wire, the title track all angular new wave guitars, monotone vocals, driving drums, strange convoluted arrangements and creepy background sound effects before the whole thing splinters into super abstract rhythmic experimentalism, looped grooves, played over and over, while sounds float and careen in the background, so incredibly hypnotic and repetitive. The second track on Health And Efficiency (which runs a brief twenty minutes) is "Graphic/Varispeed (45rpm)", a lengthy drone, a warm synth whir that surfaces within other This Heat tracks, recontextualized and often chopped up and reassembled, but here, it's a slow shifting slow motion single tone soundscape, with the tone occasionally being pitched up or down, very simple but quite haunting, and a cool glimpse at how This Heat managed to mix and match, use and reuse, without ever treading water. Kinda pricey, as it's only 20 minutes long, and two songs, but it's still well worth it.

MPEG stream: Health And Efficiency

It's tough to review the records of This Heat separately, knowing that there is a box set, a box set most of us had been waiting for for years! Like imagine if you heard about Christmas, and spent the next decade waking up and rushing out to the living room only to find nothing there. That's what it was like waiting for the long rumored This Heat box. It seems almost self evident that it is honestly one of the few box sets, that is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL. But okay, $100 might be a bit much to drop on a band you're not all the familiar with. And probably some folks already have some of these discs, as they were briefly available in the nineties. But let's be upfront and warn you straight up, we know very few people, who on hearing any music from This Heat, even a single song, weren't immediately compelled to get their hands on every single bit of recorded material they could find. The music of This Heat is most definitely that powerful, that intense, having informed almost all of the music we've loved since. And sounding as fresh and forward thinking today as it did when it was first recorded. Before we get to reviewing Live 80/81, a killer live disc that was included in the box set as a bonus disc, let's give you some background on (and no small amount of gushing over) one of our all time favorite bands. Trying to explain why this band is so good is sort of like trying to explain why ice cream is so delicious. Or why Bush is such a terrible president. Or maybe it's kind of like writing an introduction for the new Pynchon novel. Or telling a few jokes before Richard Pryor comes on stage. Or throwing a couple quick passes before Joe Montana comes on the field. It's that daunting, that overwhelming, that impossible. The trio of Charles Hayward, Charles Bullen and Gareth Williams known collectively as This Heat were one of the few bands that literally changed people's lives. Changed the way folks thought about music. I (Andee) couldn't believe music like this actually existed. It was everything I wanted to listen to before I knew that THIS was exactly what I wanted to listen to. Hit It Or Quit It publisher / rock critic / indie scenestress Jessica Hopper once wrote that she literally pee'd her pants the first time she heard This Heat. And it's not hard to see why. Without This Heat, modern, alternative, avant-garde music as we know it would be a whole different beast. Post-rock, math-rock, avant rock are hugely indebted to the genre shattering experimentalism of This Heat. Tortoise, You Fantastic, Yona Kit, Brise Glace, Psychic Paramount, Laddio Bollocko, Radian, Village Of Savoonga, Larsen, Starfuckers, Circle, Salvatore, I Am Spoonbender -- none of those bands would even exist if it weren't for This Heat, or if they still did you can bet they would sound a whole lot different. And that's just off the top of our heads, AND that's -just- bands whose sound directly reflects the influence of This Heat. Imagine how many performers and artists were influenced by This Heat but who let that influence manifest itself in not so obvious ways. We once described This Heat as "Krautrock-ish hyper rhythmic tape-looped prog." Which comes close to succinctly describing the magical musical alchemy of This Heat, but still only scratches the surface. The sound of This Heat is rhythm and texture and dynamics. The recording studio as instrument. Every sound and every song is based on rhythm and texture. There are hooks, and melodies, but they exist to serve the rhythm and are often born from the deft manipulation of sound and tempo. Even the most static and repetitive parts manage to sound -musical-. There are vocals, but they are minimal and otherworldly, weary and sing songy and completely mesmerizing. A droning musical accompaniment to the haunting whirs and clanging percussion in the background. Their entire catalog has gone in and out of print over the years, mostly out, with all of their records pretty much completely unavailable for the last 7 or 8 years. Rumors of a complete box set and reissue campaign began to circulate a few years back and it has finally happened and it's everything we could have hoped for and more. Every single release, remastered and repackaged in swank digipaks. We're almost jealous of folks who have never even heard This Heat. The thought of entering into this music completely blind, is almost frightening, as the world of This Heat is so singular, so powerful, it will be difficult to ever listen to music the same way again. Trust us. Live 80/81 is a compilation of live tracks recorded between 1980 and 1981 all over Europe and sequenced to resemble the set list the band used on tour in the eighties. Recorded using a single stereo mic, the sound is less that crystal clear, it's blurry and murky and lo-fi, but captures the band in their element at the top of their game. And the sound quality almost adds to the music, the band were such experimentalists, you can almost imagine them spending weeks in the studio trying to perfect the perfect lo-fi method of recording. But the songs are amazing, the extended rhythmic jams, the dense bursts of furious angular pop, it's simply awesome to hear the band recreate pieces that on record relied so heavily on the studio, more evidence as to the genius of This Heat. Rumor has it there are tons of other live recordings soon to get the deluxe reissue treatment as well. We can hardly wait.

MPEG stream: S.P.Q.R.
MPEG stream: Triumph

It's tough to review the records of This Heat separately, knowing that there is a box set, a box set most of us had been waiting for for years! Like imagine if you heard about Christmas, and spent the next decade waking up and rushing out to the living room only to find nothing there. That's what it was like waiting for the long rumored This Heat box. It seems almost self evident that it is honestly one of the few box sets, that is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL. But okay, $100 might be a bit much to drop on a band you're not all the familiar with. And probably some folks already have some of these discs, as they were briefly available in the nineties. But let's be upfront and warn you straight up, we know very few people, who on hearing any music from This Heat, even a single song, weren't immediately compelled to get their hands on every single bit of recorded material they could find. The music of This Heat is most definitely that powerful, that intense, having informed almost all of the music we've loved since. And sounding as fresh and forward thinking today as it did when it was first recorded. Before we get to reviewing Made Available, a posthumous release of This Heat's Peel Sessions, let's give you some background on (and no small amount of gushing over) one of our all time favorite bands. Trying to explain why this band is so good is sort of like trying to explain why ice cream is so delicious. Or why Bush is such a terrible president. Or maybe it's kind of like writing an introduction for the new Pynchon novel. Or telling a few jokes before Richard Pryor comes on stage. Or throwing a couple quick passes before Joe Montana comes on the field. It's that daunting, that overwhelming, that impossible. The trio of Charles Hayward, Charles Bullen and Gareth Williams known collectively as This Heat were one of the few bands that literally changed people's lives. Changed the way folks thought about music. I (Andee) couldn't believe music like this actually existed. It was everything I wanted to listen to before I knew that THIS was exactly what I wanted to listen to. Hit It Or Quit It publisher / rock critic / indie scenestress Jessica Hopper once wrote that she literally pee'd her pants the first time she heard This Heat. And it's not hard to see why. Without This Heat, modern, alternative, avant-garde music as we know it would be a whole different beast. Post-rock, math-rock, avant rock are hugely indebted to the genre shattering experimentalism of This Heat. Tortoise, You Fantastic, Yona Kit, Brise Glace, Psychic Paramount, Laddio Bollocko, Radian, Village Of Savoonga, Larsen, Starfuckers, Circle, Salvatore, I Am Spoonbender -- none of those bands would even exist if it weren't for This Heat, or if they still did you can bet they would sound a whole lot different. And that's just off the top of our heads, AND that's -just- bands whose sound directly reflects the influence of This Heat. Imagine how many performers and artists were influenced by This Heat but who let that influence manifest itself in not so obvious ways. We once described This Heat as "Krautrock-ish hyper rhythmic tape-looped prog." Which comes close to succinctly describing the magical musical alchemy of This Heat, but still only scratches the surface. The sound of This Heat is rhythm and texture and dynamics. The recording studio as instrument. Every sound and every song is based on rhythm and texture. There are hooks, and melodies, but they exist to serve the rhythm and are often born from the deft manipulation of sound and tempo. Even the most static and repetitive parts manage to sound -musical-. There are vocals, but they are minimal and otherworldly, weary and sing songy and completely mesmerizing. A droning musical accompaniment to the haunting whirs and clanging percussion in the background. Their entire catalog has gone in and out of print over the years, mostly out, with all of their records pretty much completely unavailable for the last 7 or 8 years. Rumors of a complete box set and reissue campaign began to circulate a few years back and it has finally happened and it's everything we could have hoped for and more. Every single release, remastered and repackaged in swank digipaks. We're almost jealous of folks who have never even heard This Heat. The thought of entering into this music completely blind, is almost frightening, as the world of This Heat is so singular, so powerful, it will be difficult to ever listen to music the same way again. Trust us. In 1996, This Heat's 1977 Peel Sessions were finally released and demonstrated once again that This Heat were untouchable, effortlessly unfurling a sound equal parts avant pop, krautrock, progrock, musique concrete and a handful of parts that defied easy classification. Every track here a jaw dropping, mind blowing performance. Especially the new version of "Horizontal Hold", one of This Heat's finest moments already, played here with much more verve and vigor and with a sound quality so much clearer, a recording so incredibly hot, that the song is reborn and completely confounds and amazes. The whole session is rhythmically dense, rife with bastardized pop, incredibly complex arrangements all rendered again in such a way that they are emotional and moving, instead of just intellectual musical exercises. And the sound is so crystal clear, that you can hear a band at the top of their game, taking over the BBC studio and using it like they would a second guitar or another drummer. The Peel Sessions also include a handful of songs that never made it onto records proper. All as good as anything on their official releases.

MPEG stream: Horizontal Hold (Peel Session)

Trying to explain why this band is so good is sort of like trying to explain why ice cream is so delicious. Or why Bush is such a terrible president. Or maybe it's kind of like writing an introduction for the new Pynchon novel. Or telling a few jokes before Richard Pryor comes on stage. Or throwing a couple quick passes before Joe Montana comes on the field. It's that daunting, that overwhelming, that impossible. The trio of Charles Hayward, Charles Bullen and Gareth Williams known collectively as This Heat were one of the few bands that literally changed people's lives. Changed the way folks thought about music. I (Andee) couldn't believe music like this actually existed. It was everything I wanted to listen to before I knew that THIS was exactly what I wanted to listen to. Hit It Or Quit It publisher / rock critic / indie scenestress Jessica Hopper once wrote that she literally pee'd her pants the first time she heard This Heat. And it's not hard to see why. Without This Heat, modern, alternative, avant-garde music as we know it would be a whole different beast. Post-rock, math-rock, avant rock are hugely indebted to the genre shattering experimentalism of This Heat. Tortoise, You Fantastic, Yona Kit, Brise Glace, Psychic Paramount, Laddio Bollocko, Radian, Village Of Savoonga, Larsen, Starfuckers, Circle, Salvatore, I Am Spoonbender -- none of those bands would even exist if it weren't for This Heat, or if they still did you can bet they would sound a whole lot different. And that's just off the top of our heads, AND that's -just- bands whose sound directly reflects the influence of This Heat. Imagine how many performers and artists were influenced by This Heat but who let that influence manifest itself in not so obvious ways. We once described This Heat as "Krautrock-ish hyper rhythmic tape-looped prog." Which comes close to succinctly describing the magical musical alchemy of This Heat, but still only scratches the surface. The sound of This Heat is rhythm and texture and dynamics. The recording studio as instrument. Every sound and every song is based on rhythm and texture. There are hooks, and melodies, but they exist to serve the rhythm and are often born from the deft manipulation of sound and tempo. Even the most static and repetitive parts manage to sound -musical-. There are vocals, but they are minimal and otherworldly, weary and sing songy and completely mesmerizing. A droning musical accompaniment to the haunting whirs and clanging percussion in the background. Their entire catalog has gone in and out of print over the years, mostly out, with all of these records pretty much completely unavailable for the last 7 or 8 years. Rumors of a complete box set began to circulate a few years back and it has finally surfaced and it's everything we could have hoped for and more. Every single release, remastered, repackaged in swank digipaks, including a bonus live disc, a huge booklet, amazing archival photos, extensive liner notes, all packed in a gorgeous box. It's a testament to the power this band holds over their fans that pretty much everyone who owns all of these records already will buy the box without a second thought. We're almost jealous of folks who have never even heard This Heat. The thought of entering into this box set completely blind, is almost frightening, as the world of This Heat is so singular, so powerful, it will be difficult to ever listen to music the same way again. This Heat's self titled debut, originally released in 1978 (which is almost impossible to believe, that people were making music this progressive, this intense, this fucked up and forward thinking) is such a totally immersive and strangely lovely musical environment. From the machinelike krautrock of "Horizontal Hold" to the dreamy contemplative "Twilight Furniture" with its simple chiming guitars, muted tribal percussion and keening vocals, to the bizarre affected drum workout of "24 Track Loop", it's like wandering through some alien musical world. A sky full of greys and blues, smeary drones floating gently by, haunting quavering vocals drifting below, like tendrils of smoke, the barren landscape littered with all manner of rhythmic outcroppings, harsh jagged crashes and booms, as well as low rolling thumps and stutters, off in the distance simple spare melodies float and hover, each note a glowing spot on the horizon. Absolutely and utterly overwhelmingly brilliant. The Health And Efficiency ep followed in early 1981 and took their sound in a strangely pop (for them at least) direction, sounding like some tweaked and twisted version of Wire, the title track all angular new wave guitars, monotone vocals, driving drums, strange convoluted arrangements and creepy background sound effects before the whole thing splinters into super abstract rhythmic experimentalism, looped grooves, played over and over, while sounds float and careen in the background, so incredibly hypnotic and repetitive. The second track on Health And Efficiency (which runs a brief twenty minutes) is "Graphic/Varispeed (45rpm)", a lengthy drone, a warm synth whir that surfaces within other This Heat tracks, recontextualized and often chopped up and reassembled, but here, it's a slow shifting slow motion single tone soundscape, with the tone occasionally being pitched up or down, very simple but quite haunting, and a cool glimpse at how This Heat managed to mix and match, use and reuse, without ever treading water. Later that same year came Deceit, with the band continuing to expand and explore. Deceit consisted of shorter songs, but that didn't mean their process, or disdain for convention was altered. If anything, they managed to subvert pop music in a way never thought possible. Imagine Brian Eno circa Taking Tiger Mountain, but filter that through some avant industrialism, angular new wave and hyper rhythmic krautrock and you'll begin to get the picture. The songs on Deceit are impossibly catchy, especially when examined closely. Abstract, obtuse, angular, convoluted, tangled up but without ever losing that thread, that melodic sensibility that grounded the songs, kept them from falling apart completely, instead, the perilous arrangements only added tension and emotion. An incredibly explosive sound that somehow hybridized all of the countercultural fury of punk and situationism, within a sonic context informed by the technological advances of musique concrete and electro-acoustic experimentation. The sound was definitely punk in its own way, but certainly wasn't expressed through three chord song structures or snarling postures, instead This Heat injected their own complex pop agendas with a jittery nervous tension always building to a dramatic and cathartic release. Deceit was sadly the band's final release disbanding soon after. In 1993, a disc of unearthed This Heat recordings was released and consisted of three lengthy tracks of tape loop experiments and random rhythmic explorations. Repeat has come to be This Heat's defining work even though it is essentially a record of outtakes and pieces meant to be incorporated into other songs. But it's hard to argue with the 20 minute title track, and endless, almost funky groove, punctuated by weird electronic swells, sprinkles of woodblock percussion and occasional handclaps but held together by one of the most amazing drum parts ever. A relentless pound and shuffle, drenched in effects, sound very dubby, but also very krautrock, a tripped out blissed out drone drenched rhythmic space jam never matched to this day. Every time this is played for a friend, musician or not, the listener is inevitably confused, perplexed and then quickly obsessed with hearing more. The second track, appropriately titled "Metal" is an abstract soundscape of, well, metal, clanging, clinking, like some ancient junkyard gamelan, almost like the previous piece transcribed for sheet metal, garbage can, metal pipe and dumpster. The metallic symphony shifts and sways, melodies surface, rhythms twist and turn, all very hypnotic and quite lovely. The final track revisits a song on Health and Efficiency, but slows it down a bit to become "Graphic/Varispeed (45rpm)", the same sort of slow, murky drone, just made even slower, so more tonal colors surface, and the subtle shit is much more noticeable, a gloriously dreamlike warm warbly whir. In 1996, This Heat's 1977 Peel Sessions were finally released and demonstrated once again that This Heat were untouchable, effortlessly unfurling a sound equal parts avant pop, krautrock, progrock, musique concrete and a handful of parts that defied easy classification. Every track here a jaw dropping, mind blowing performance. Especially the new version of "Horizontal Hold", one of This Heat's finest moments already, played here with much more verve and vigor and with a sound quality so much clearer, a recording so incredibly hot, that the song is reborn and completely confounds and amazes. The whole session is rhythmically dense, rife with bastardized pop, incredibly complex arrangements all rendered again in such a way that they are emotional and moving, instead of just intellectual musical exercises. And the sound is so crystal clear, that you can hear a band at the top of their game, taking over the BBC studio and using it like they would a second guitar or another drummer. The Peel Sessions also include a handful of songs that never made it onto records proper. All as good as anything on their official releases. The bonus disc included in the box is a compilation of live tracks recorded between 1980 and 1981 all over Europe and sequenced to resemble the set list the band used on tour in the eighties. Recorded using a single stereo mic, the sound is less that crystal clear, but captures the band in their element at the top of their game. The songs are amazing, it's awesome to hear the band recreate pieces that on record relied so heavily on the studio, more evidence as to the genius of This Heat. Our only complaint about this box was that there is definitely more This Heat material out there, and anyone picking up this box, would have gladly paid a few bucks more for one or two more discs of lost rare material. But then we spied this in the liner notes of the live cd: "Further CD's from other stages in This Heat's music to follow, including collaborations, improvisations and site-specific work as well as other live cds." We can hardly wait! There are plenty of places on the web and in magazines to read more about the history of the band, the band members, various versions, releases and re-releases and past reissues, but none of that ultimately matters as much as the sound. And oh the glorious sound. Just take a listen to the sound samples and no words will be necessary.

MPEG stream: Horizontal Hold (Peel Session)
MPEG stream: Repeat
MPEG stream: Paper Hats
MPEG stream: Health And Efficiency

It's tough to review the records of This Heat separately, knowing that there is a box set, a box set most of us had been waiting for for years! Like imagine if you heard about Christmas, and spent the next decade waking up and rushing out to the living room only to find nothing there. That's what it was like waiting for the long rumored This Heat box. It seems almost self evident that it is honestly one of the few box sets, that is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL. But okay, $100 might be a bit much to drop on a band you're not all the familiar with. And probably some folks already have some of these discs, as they were briefly available in the nineties. But let's be upfront and warn you straight up, we know very few people, who on hearing any music from This Heat, even a single song, weren't immediately compelled to get their hands on every single bit of recorded material they could find. The music of This Heat is most definitely that powerful, that intense, having informed almost all of the music we've loved since. And sounding as fresh and forward thinking today as it did when it was first recorded. Before we get to reviewing Repeat, a posthumous release of This Heat's tape loop experiments and various bits of studio exploration, let's give you some background on (and no small amount of gushing over) one of our all time favorite bands. Trying to explain why this band is so good is sort of like trying to explain why ice cream is so delicious. Or why Bush is such a terrible president. Or maybe it's kind of like writing an introduction for the new Pynchon novel. Or telling a few jokes before Richard Pryor comes on stage. Or throwing a couple quick passes before Joe Montana comes on the field. It's that daunting, that overwhelming, that impossible. The trio of Charles Hayward, Charles Bullen and Gareth Williams known collectively as This Heat were one of the few bands that literally changed people's lives. Changed the way folks thought about music. I (Andee) couldn't believe music like this actually existed. It was everything I wanted to listen to before I knew that THIS was exactly what I wanted to listen to. Hit It Or Quit It publisher / rock critic / indie scenestress Jessica Hopper once wrote that she literally pee'd her pants the first time she heard This Heat. And it's not hard to see why. Without This Heat, modern, alternative, avant-garde music as we know it would be a whole different beast. Post-rock, math-rock, avant rock are hugely indebted to the genre shattering experimentalism of This Heat. Tortoise, You Fantastic, Yona Kit, Brise Glace, Psychic Paramount, Laddio Bollocko, Radian, Village Of Savoonga, Larsen, Starfuckers, Circle, Salvatore, I Am Spoonbender -- none of those bands would even exist if it weren't for This Heat, or if they still did you can bet they would sound a whole lot different. And that's just off the top of our heads, AND that's -just- bands whose sound directly reflects the influence of This Heat. Imagine how many performers and artists were influenced by This Heat but who let that influence manifest itself in not so obvious ways. We once described This Heat as "Krautrock-ish hyper rhythmic tape-looped prog." Which comes close to succinctly describing the magical musical alchemy of This Heat, but still only scratches the surface. The sound of This Heat is rhythm and texture and dynamics. The recording studio as instrument. Every sound and every song is based on rhythm and texture. There are hooks, and melodies, but they exist to serve the rhythm and are often born from the deft manipulation of sound and tempo. Even the most static and repetitive parts manage to sound -musical-. There are vocals, but they are minimal and otherworldly, weary and sing songy and completely mesmerizing. A droning musical accompaniment to the haunting whirs and clanging percussion in the background. Their entire catalog has gone in and out of print over the years, mostly out, with all of their records pretty much completely unavailable for the last 7 or 8 years. Rumors of a complete box set and reissue campaign began to circulate a few years back and it has finally happened and it's everything we could have hoped for and more. Every single release, remastered and repackaged in swank digipaks. We're almost jealous of folks who have never even heard This Heat. The thought of entering into this music completely blind, is almost frightening, as the world of This Heat is so singular, so powerful, it will be difficult to ever listen to music the same way again. Trust us. In 1993, a disc of unearthed This Heat recordings was released and consisted of three lengthy tracks of tape loop experiments and random rhythmic explorations. Repeat has come to be This Heat's defining work even though it is essentially a record of outtakes and pieces meant to be incorporated into other songs. But it's hard to argue with the 20 minute title track, and endless, almost funky groove, punctuated by weird electronic swells, sprinkles of woodblock percussion and occasional handclaps but held together by one of the most amazing drum parts ever. A relentless pound and shuffle, drenched in effects, sound very dubby, but also very krautrock, a tripped out blissed out drone drenched rhythmic space jam never matched to this day. Every time this is played for a friend, musician or not, the listener is inevitably confused, perplexed and then quickly obsessed with hearing more. The second track, appropriately titled "Metal" is an abstract soundscape of, well, metal, clanging, clinking, like some ancient junkyard gamelan, almost like the previous piece transcribed for sheet metal, garbage can, metal pipe and dumpster. The metallic symphony shifts and sways, melodies surface, rhythms twist and turn, all very hypnotic and quite lovely. The final track revisits a song on Health and Efficiency, but slows it down a bit to become "Graphic/Varispeed (45rpm)", the same sort of slow, murky drone, just made even slower, so more tonal colors surface, and the subtle shit is much more noticeable, a gloriously dreamlike warm warbly whir.

MPEG stream: Repeat

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

SORRY. A long awaited reissue of two out of print releases from This Heat. "Health & Efficiency" was a 12" of classic This Heat angular art rock with odd time changes, discordant organ drones, and belligerent guitars. "Repeat" is an album long droney collage of all of the tape loops This Heat used during live performances. It never ceases to amaze how fresh This Heat's experiments with rock sound after over twenty years! As with all This Heat albums, this is essential!

Trying to explain why this record is so good is sort of like trying to explain why ice cream is so delicious. Or why Bush is such a terrible president. Or maybe it's kind of like writing an introduction for the new Pynchon novel. Or telling a few jokes before Richard Pryor comes on stage. Or throwing a couple quick passes before Joe Montana comes on the field. It's that daunting, that overwhelming, that impossible. The trio of Charles Hayward, Charles Bullen, and Gareth Williams known collectively as This Heat were one of the few bands that literally changed people's lives. Changed the way folks thought about music. I (Andee) couldn't believe music like this actually existed. It was everything I wanted to listen to before I knew that THIS was exactly what I wanted to listen to. Hit It Or Quit It publisher / rock critic / indie scenstress Jessica Hopper once wrote that she literally pee'd her pants the first time she heard This Heat. And it's not hard to see why. Without This Heat, modern, alternative, avant garde music as we know it would be a whole different beast. Post rock, math rock, avant rock are hugely indebted to the genre shattering experimentalism of This Heat. Tortoise, You Fantastic, Yona Kit, Brise Glace, Psychic Paramount, Laddio Bollocko, Radian, Village Of Savoonga, Larsen, Starfuckers, Circle, Salvatore, I Am Spoonbender -- none of those bands would even exist if it weren't for This Heat, or if they still did you can bet they would sound a whole lot different. And that's just off the top of our heads, AND that's -just- bands whose sound directly reflects the influence of This Heat. Imagine how many performers and artists were influenced by This Heat but who let that influence manifest itself in not so obvious ways. We once described This Heat as "Krautrock-ish hyper rhythmic tape-looped prog." Which comes close to succinctly describing the magical musical alchemy of This Heat, but still only scratches the surface. This is their self titled debut, originally released in 1979 and reissued briefly in 1991, and manages over the course of about 50 minutes to redefine almost all music that had come before. The sound of This Heat is rhythm and texture and dynamics. The recording studio as instrument. Every sound and every song is based on rhythm and texture. There are hooks, and melodies, but they exist to serve the rhythm and are often born from the deft manipulation of sound and tempo. Even the most static and repetitive parts manage to sound -musical-. There are vocals, but they are minimal and otherworldly, weary and sing songy and completely mesmerizing. A droning musical accompaniment to the haunting whirs and clanging percussion in the background. This record is such a totally immersive and strangely lovely musical environment. From the machinelike Krautrock of "Horizontal Hold" to the dreamy contemplative "Twilight Furniture" with its simple chiming guitars, muted tribal percussion and keening vocals, to the bizarre affected drum workout of "24 Track Loop", it's like wandering through some alien musical world. As sky full of greys and blues, smeary drones floating gently by, haunting quavering vocals drifting below, like tendrils of smoke, the barren landscape littered with all manner of rhythmic outcroppings, harsh jagged crashes and booms, as well as low rolling thumps and stutters, off in the distance simple spare melodies float and hover, each note a glowing spot on the horizon. Absolutely and utterly overwhelmingly brilliant. There are plenty of places on the web and in magazines to read more about the history of the band, the band members, the various releases and reissues (see elsewhere on the AQ website for reviews of past editions of various TH recordings) but none of that ultimately matters as much as the sound. And oh the glorious sound. Just take a listen to the sound samples and no words will be necessary. This is arguably This Heat's finest moment, their debut record, finally available again after almost 15 years of being out of print. Be aware that there will be a 5cd box coming out in the (near?) future, containing EVERY SINGLE ONE of the band's releases, as well as a bonus disc of unreleased material and a huge book of photos and liner notes. And we would have made (maybe will make) THAT record of the week, and while we do believe EVERY music lover we know owes it to themselves to buy the upcoming box, we figured a single disc was plenty for most people to get hooked and obsessed.

MPEG stream: Horizontal Hold
MPEG stream: 24 Track Loop
MPEG stream: The Fall Of Saigon

Ever hear of Warren Ng? We hadn't either. At least until THREE separate DOUBLE cds showed up in the shop, two by his blissed out ambient guitardrone outfit Somnambulists, one by his old school post rock combo This Invitation. SIX DISCS, all of them pretty dang amazing, and pretty dang cheap too. We imagine if there's any justice in the world, Warren Ng won't remain unknown for much longer. And we're happy to do our part. This Invitation is the duo of Ng and Casey Farnum, and Sunless / Ellipses, Lapses, And Collapses is their second full length. Unlike the gorgeous guitarscapery of Ng's Somnambulists releases (both reviewed elsewhere on this week's list), This Invitation is more of a proper band, and pretty much from the get-go, triggered our warm fuzzies for "old" post-rock instrumentals from the likes of David Pajo, Tarentel, Tristeza, Village Of Savoonga. Hushed vocals waft above loosely layered cyclical guitar lines and droney soundscapes, everything is hazy and washed out, warm and woozy and so dreamy, some of the tracks gradually unfurl sun dappled sprawls of soft focus psych folk drift, while others are softly propulsive jangle rock meanders, spidery melodies curl around sweetly layered chordal thrum, there's a definite dreamy/druggy Galaxie 500 vibe happening to, with much of Ng's distinctive guitar playing in Somnambulists still present, but blurred into something much more gauzy and hushed. Sprawling fields of soft smolder and swirling skitter seem to stretch out forever, melancholy and moody, hypnotic and mesmerizing, and even though this is more properly arranged as a 'rock' record, it's still so abstract and swoonsomely slowcore-y, that much of the record plays out like another of Ng's gorgeous guitarscapes, just in this case, they're fashioned into shapes a bit more song-like, but only just a bit. Pastoral, soothing and wistful and so good. In the reviews of Ng's Somnambulists double discs, we suggest buying both, since they're pretty cheap for doubles, and are both incredible, but the more we listen to this, we feel like we should now suggest buying all three! Six discs, nearly six hours, all for $36, hard not to recommend buying all three, they're all incredible, and do actually sound like they belong together, a hazy drone-psych post-rock, guitarscape songsuite.

MPEG stream: Burning Telegraph
MPEG stream: Under A Belly Of Stars

Despite our anticipation that this might be an ode to Laurie Anderson (or more specifically her track "From The Air" on Big Science). This Is Your Captain Speaking are not that at all. Their debut album presents this Australian combo as more in the tradition of grand atmospheric rock bands such as Godspeed You Black Emperor and Mogwai. The expansive Storyboard is comprised of seven lengthy instrumentals beginning with an eighteen minute epic "Gathering Pieces". Gliding strings move in like a creeping fog bank as picked guitar lines offer fleeting glimmers of light. Drumsticks on the rim of snaredrum snap sharply like dry twigs underfoot. An interesting sidenote: Save for a brief outburst of children's giggles at the end of the third track, there's no way that you'd guess it, but the album was recorded in a primary school library!

MPEG stream: Gathering Pieces
MPEG stream: A Wave To Bridget Bondly

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

SORRY.

MPEG stream: What Do You Mean I'm Too PC? I Only Use A Mac

We had never heard This Will Destroy You until recently, but we were pretty into it, they do that sort of brooding, post rock epic majesty sort of thing, but they definitely have their own take on that sound. Seems like folks into Explosions In The Sky and that sort of stuff would go nuts for these guys. The two TWDY tracks here, definitely still hew to that Explosions / Godspeed template, but they do some really cool stuff here. The 11 minute "Brutalism & The Worship Of The Machine" begins all shoegazey and blissed out, sort of Nadja / Jesu territory, big heavy drums, and ethereal guitar shimmer, the melodies lilting and minor key, buried beneath the sheets of guitars and what could be buried vocals, plenty of effects and weird bits of grind and crunch, the sound continually growing more and more dense, until the drums disappear, leaving just a slow drift of muted thrum and bits of record crackle, and a barely there melody, which gives way to some super hushed post rocky slowcore, the drums delicate, the rest of the instruments chiming and softly swelling, building there way back up, but this time, they're joined by what sounds like horns, and don't explode in climax, instead just sort of moan and drift wearily, very rainy day sounding, not quite funereal, but definitely wistful, before slipping back into soft effected shimmer. The follow up track, a brief melodic addendum, is a whole different beast, muted melodies, warm rumbles, distant streaks of smeared sound, all laced with some electronic skitter, and more crackle and glitch, giving it a sort of Boards Of Canada vibe. Nice. This Will Destroy You share the split with another band we've heard before but just never gotten around to reviewing, Lymbyc System, whose sound is more of an electronic / post rock hybrid, falling somewhere between Fridge and Four Tet, but with a bit more heft, loping drums, warm organs, glitchy skitter, tinkling chimes, give way to some soaring heavy guitars, majestic melodies, laced with samples and plenty of effects, exploding into a kick ass frenzied mathrock workout for the last minute or two, but never losing any of the melody or dreaminess. The other two tracks explore similar sounds, great production, the sounds clear, the arrangements slipping from hushed and intimate to majestic in a matter of minutes, lots of crunch and glitch and buzz, but also lots of skittery drums, warm riffs, moody drift, some Tortoise-y almost-jazz, a pretty heady concoction that is easy to get lost in. Of the two, we probably lean toward the more muscular and epic This Will Destroy You, but both bands work together well sonically, and thus this split actually almost plays out like more of a proper record than two bands teamed up. This doesn't actually come out for a while, but we lucked out and managed to get a bunch early, so all you folks into post rock and math rock and big guitars and slow building epic post metal drift and skittery slowcore and everything in between, this comes highly recommended.

MPEG stream: Brutalism & The Worship of the Machine
MPEG stream: Processed Spirits

[ aquarius records catalogue — T ]