Scott Cortez, he of shoegaze legends Lovesliescrushing, as well as the recently reviewed Astrobrite, teams up with Thisquietarmy, who we've heard from in the past via multiple collaborations with Nadja's Aidan Baker. Here these two create a gorgeous landscape of thick layered mesmeric guitardrone, playable at both 33rpm and 45rpm (of course we're always partial to the slower), the guitars rendered totally unguitarlike, more like sound generators, unfurling pulsing lush overlapping tones and chords, all blurred and smeared into bleary, druggy dreaminess. Hypnotic, with ever shifting overtones, subtle sonic colorations, abstract and ambient, but still dense and dreamily dark. Only got a few copies of this...
Thoabath is the solo project of Sutekh Hexen's A.C. Way - the barrel-chested vocalist and black magic specialist for Sutekh Hexen. His tranced-out incantations of heavily processed incantations work against the grain of black metal vocals, coming across like a highly chemically altered take on La Monte Young's extended vocal techniques. The method-acting trance-induction is no fucking joke for Way, who actively pursues those moments of out-of-body experience during performance. These vocals do work their way into the mix of his output as Thoabath, but with those pushed behind a series of drum machine explorations into industrial demolition and occult ritual hypnosis. The tinny replication of the electronic rhythm on the opening "On Her Smokey Chariot" builds from a micro-robot jig tapped on a shopping cart into a pounding march in the tradition of TG's "Discipline" all the while swarmed with diabolus in musica drones and insectoid electrical mayhem. The slinking breakbeat of the short programmed "T.'.T.'" has the overdriven torpor of some of those Clipping productions joined by some microphone swallowed vocals instead of tongue-twisted lyricism. Clocking in a hair under 30 minutes, Through Smoke and Feathers could be filed next to Dissecting Table, Contagious Orgasm, and Master/Slave Relationship for some sicktone references to chew on. Limited to 100 copies.
Holy moly, this is quite a discovery. A hitherto unknown album of wonderful Sgt. Peppery (flower) power pop, that ought to make fans of the Beatles, early Bee Gees, The Kinks, Big Star and so forth very, very happy indeed.
We admit were a bit skeptical when we first heard about it, 'cause there's so many reissues and whatnot these days that claim to be lost classics, but as soon as we put this on we were hooked! And more amazingly, while we'd certainly consider this a lost classic, it isn't even technically a reissue (despite the blurb saying "Original 1967 Release" on the back). Except for two songs here that appeared on a 7" single, this material was never actually released to the public, until now! Recorded in 1967, yes, but the tapes languished forgotten all these years, which is hard for us to understand - how could this gem stay unknown for 46 years?! These songs are so great! As always, makes you wonder what else is out there... And, at first, it also made us wonder if this was even really a group from the sixties - we suspected it could be a more modern-day band (a really good one!) emulating the sounds of yesteryear, a la The Dukes Of Stratosphear, The High Llamas, or Jellyfish. Especially since the production job, while vintage-sounding, is also so top notch (even though the liner notes tell us the whole thing was recorded and mixed in merely a weekend). Heck, a modern band trying to put one over could have added the analog tape hiss. But no, our skeptical conspiracy theories are all wrong, we have it from trusted sources that this is indeed for real, from 1967, the work of a bunch of talented, Anglophilic youngsters from Louisiana. But the vocals here are often (but not always) delivered in a lilting faux English accent, a common practice amongst the paisley-clad syke popsters of the day, wherever they were from, wanting to sound like they too were a part of the British Invasion. So, definitely Beatles-esque; as with Peru's We All Together, there's quite a few tunes here, like "Marigold", that sound like they were written by Paul McCartney - and the band name is an obvious homage to a certain Sgt.'s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Though this is sometimes more White Album than Sgt. Pepper's, really, the band even pushing into edgier sounds like the rather manic "Have You Been To The Light" - that's a weird one, and great. "Hope" is another of the album's harder, garage rockin' tunes.
But so much of this just delightfully sunshiney stuff, sometimes quite melancholic too. There's super melodic, energetic toe tappers and dreamy blissouts both, stuff that will get stuck in your head immediately, sounding so lovely and familiar right from the get go. There's the gentle, hushed intimacy of "Merlin", the lively, layered "Alexander Graham Bell", the heartfelt grandeur of the ELO-ish "Walk Out With Your Heart", the sweet & mellow soft pop of "Common Attitude" (which reminds us of Curt Boettcher's Millennium), and so many, many more highlights, that we can't possibly detail them all (and deciding which ones to make sound samples of was tough!). Oh, and the album's final track, a brief "outro" of druggy, tape-manipulated studio trickery, is titled "Dream Me Up Snotty"!!!
The only real complaint we have at all about this is that it's kind of too bad the prolific reissue label Gear Fab got to be the lucky ones to put this out, 'cause their attention to detail in terms of the physical product borders on shoddy. The crappy graphics they came up with for the cover of this digipack don't do justice to the music within; the quasi-informative liner notes (printed on the inside cover, there's no booklet) were written by someone who couldn't decide (or care to be consistent) between using all caps, bold face, or quotation marks to set off the various proper names mentioned; some proofreading could have helped in other areas too; and there's a strange one page, one sided insert with a thanks list on it that you don't really know what to do with once you've torn off the shrink wrap. Well, at least there ARE liner notes (from which we did learn, that the group's guitar prodigy Richard Orange went on to write music for the likes of Cyndi Lauper, Jane Wiedlin and even Terry Bozzio!). But there's many labels out there that would have done this a lot better, oh well.... perhaps someone else will eventually get to do a vinyl release...
We just hope this album isn't overlooked as a result of its Gear Fab-ness, it would be a shame if after 46 years it still went unnoticed. If people HEAR it, though, it won't - another reason we're doing our part by making it a Record Of The Week. So please grab this and get in on the ground floor with the first ever release of an unheard, utterly obscure '60s artifact that ought to be way up there in the psych power pop pantheon!!
For a very very brief moment in the nineties, Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments were the next big thing, or if not that specifically, they were definitely super hyped, signed to a big cool label, and poised for some sort of success, which not surprisingly, never really came. And hearing these guys, it's really no surprise, this is not the sort of music made for anything but the pure love of making a racket. And the fact that within that racket lurked some of the most awesome songs ever, well, that was just a bonus. If you've yet to hear TJSA's all time classic "Negative Guest List", a song about something we all wish really existed ("Even if I pay I can't get in..."), you need to remedy that right quick. And hell if you're anything like us, that will no doubt lead you to a burning desire to own EVERYTHING these guys ever did, which is difficult seeing as almost all of it is out of print.
Which brings us to this, a pricey little gem of a 7", featuring two rare TJSA demos, which means the usual lo-fi basement-scuzz broken 4 track, old microphone recording quality that already helped defined their sound, seems positively high fidelity compare to this, but that sort of makes these jams sound even better. From 1995, two zoner garage punk scuzz pop gems, all woozy and druggy and swaggery and in their own way catchy as fuck, that should definitely show the current crop of garage rock noise poppers a thing or two about how it's really done.
If we had to choose a favorite purveyor of pop ambience, it would definitely be tough to pick just one, but Andrew Thomas would definitely be a contender. We still find ourselves listening to his Fearsome Jewel Record, A hushed, understated collection of minimal drift and dreamlike shimmer, the usual washed out ambience infused with record crackle, and muted electronic glitchery, a bit like Gas fused with Philip Jeck.
We hadn't heard from Thomas in a while so we were thrilled to discover a new record, and it's just as fantastically sublime as we had hoped. Even more minimal than Fearsome Jewel, Between Building And Trees finds Thomas painting lush cinematic soundscapes, from subtly looped samples, warm whirring synths, there's still some record crackle, artifacts from the samples we presume, but it adds warmth and intimacy, making these sprawling shimmery soundscapes sound hand crafted, as if you could watch him at an old work bench, taking sounds and samples, as if they were scraps of leather or metal, and fashioning this gorgeous, sonic OBJECT. Lovely and whispery and melodic, warm and whirring and blissed out, this immediately became sleeping music of choice for some of us, the absolute perfect nocturnal soundtrack, some of the tracks so minimal the sounds seem to bleed into the background, fading into the starry sky, until the next track kicks in, and suddenly the stars are sounds, glimmering and pulsing, blurring into streaks of soft focus flutter and languorous dreamlike drift. So so so beautiful.
We first heard Andrew Thomas on the amazing Pop Ambient 2004 compilation released on Kompakt and reviewed a few lists back (a Record of the Week in fact), and while that whole collection was mesmerising and beautiful, Thomas' music definitely stood out. This New Zealander has obviously found a home amidst these German ambient pop explorers, but has managed, along with Wolfgang Voigt (aka Gas), to really move beyond ambient techno into another world, a sonic world of sweet timelessness and endless shimmer. Lush and lugubrious ambient soundscapes of warm and muted underwater loops, breezy and shimmery, with record crackle, radio static, heartbeat like pulses, tinkly piano, reverberant drones, and dreamy, meandering melodies. Totally mesmerising and trance like. One epic 30 minute piece in 10 loosely connected movements. Equal parts AQ faves Gas, Philip Jeck and Pierre Bastien. So recommended!
David Thomas' totally weird style of vocal delivery is that of an mysterious storyteller -- half grizzled Tom Waits but also half carnival barker. He's been honing the act for 25 years ever since Pere Ubu exploded out of Cleveland, but Thomas now lives in
David Thomas is one of the least likely rock icons, yet has retained such a status through his years as Crocus Behemoth in Pere Ubu. Outside the legendary art-rock band, Thomas has recorded some wild and wonderful solo records. "Bay City" is the latest solo album, with an almost Tom Waits clamour despite the sombre restrained quality to the artful tunes.
"You know how it is. Somebody finds a place. Word gets round. Everybody moves in." David Thomas of Pere Ubu in a series of structured improvisations with Andy Diagram of beloved Spaceheads.
It was pretty amazing to watch Aretha Franklin perform at Obama's inauguration and that moment had us thinking about the things that actually make America great. Democracy, sure, but also all the fantastic soul singers this country has produced over the last half century. Something to be proud of indeed!
While she has never enjoyed the same kind of fame or celebrity as folks like Aretha, Dionne Warwick, Otis Redding, Al Green or Etta James, there is no doubt that Irma Thomas is the cream of the crop when it comes to amazing soulful voices and should most definitely be considered a national treasure. Still alive and well, she just played a few shows in San Francisco that we are so sad we missed, as she apparently sounded amazing and played many of her hits , a bunch of which can be found on this great collection.
With spot on arrangements, broken hearted laments, catchy melodies and such warm and full hearted delivery, these songs are true gems not to be missed by anyone with a love of classic soul. Mixing the best of girl group sass, the melody of doo-wop and the deep emotive core of classic Southern soul, Irma Thomas sings songs that make it feel good to feel bad. While so many of the songs are about suffering a broken heart, and the era in which these songs were created in which she is always singing how much she needs a man to survive could have fit in perfectly as the soundtrack to those subversive Kenneth Anger films that were made near this time period and before.
One of the golden treasures of New Orleans soul (we say it's a tie for Soul Queen of New Orleans between Irma and the great Betty Harris). Anyone who has love of the great soul that has come out of New Orleans knows that all the great stuff has Allen Toussaint's musical hands on them, and much of Irma's best work was indeed produced and arranged by Toussaint. But clearly it's Irma's voice that has made her so incredibly special and moving as these are songs that could melt even the coldest of hearts!
You should see all of us at the store when a box arrives from Mississippi Records. It's like a house full of little kids on Christmas. All of us running towards the box and practically tearing it apart to see what amazing treats await us. Mississippi's track record speaks for itself, a seemingly endless stream of amazing vinyl reissues, so kick ass, that at this point, many of us will buy anything they put out. And we haven't been disappointed yet.
When we discovered that our treat this time around was a slab of early era cuts from New Orleans soul queen Irma Thomas, those of us who were already in love with her voice and style jumped for joy and those who had yet to discover the magic of Irma Thomas, her sounds and songs quickly convinced them why she is truly one of the great soul singers of all time.
Thomas has been singing her heart out for over four decades now, she even has a brand new studio record coming out. But it's those years in the early '60s where her voice shines and sparkles with a special kind of magic. It's that era that this LP spotlights. Such amazing songs fill this record, with spot on arrangements, broken hearted laments, catchy melodies and such warm and full hearted delivery. Mixing the best of girl group sass, the melody of doo-wop and the deep emotive core of classic Southern soul. While the lp notes that the songs were written by N. Neville, it's known that the so called Naomi Neville was really a pseudonym used by legendary producer Allan Toussaint.
If you love folks like Betty Harris, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Helene Smith or Sam Cooke we can guarantee you are going to fall in love with Irma Thomas if you haven't already. It's a total crime that Irma has never experienced a larger kind of fame or commercial success. She's only had one top 40 single in all her years, but we dare you to listen to this record and not wish you could hear any of these songs played on the radio over and over as her voice on these songs is something no one could ever get tired of hearing!
While no information is present in the liner notes as to the origin of the strange clicks and whirls on this CD, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that Matthew Thomas is reprocessing shortwave radio static and noises into tentative structures that every once in a while give hint at melodies. A very poetic album that falls between Stockhausen's "Hymnen" and the shortwave radio experiments of John Duncan.
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.
German musician and composer Peter Thomas is revered the world over, with bands like Stereolab, Coldcut, St Etienne, Tipsy, and Momus covering his songs and singin' his praises. This disc actually issues some *previously unreleased* music he wrote for '60s crime thrillers. Thomas' range is wide, from film noir jazz to smoky swingin' lounge to intense music for what must have been car chase sequences. Perfect for your next cocktail party.
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With reissues of Peter Thomas' bombastic scores for 60's German sci-fi movies and tv shows appearing almost once a month, a remix album would certainly not be far behind... and here it is! Stereolab, High Llamas, Coldcut, John McEntire (Tortoise), St. Etienne, Mr. Scruff, Stock Hausen & Walkman, Tipsy, Momus, Dauerfisch, Yoshinori Sunahara, Mina, Brezel Goering, The Sons of Silence, Schneider TM, and Ronnie & Clyde all take their turns at mutating Thomas' scores. But that's just disc one... Disc two documents the sounds of Peter Thomas himself.
As much as we dig the collaborations between Lindstrom and Prins Thomas, we're beginning to think we might like these two Norwegians even more on their own, separately. With his latest solo outing, Prins Thomas has reminded us how masterful he is at creating glacial and spacious dance beats infused with waves of blissed out krautdisco. More so than on his collaborations with Lindstrom, Thomas demonstrates that he has a really nice range of sounds in his arsenal, with subtle hints of prog, psych and krautrock all mixed into a blend of his unique electronica. Lots of this record makes us think of some amazing remixed version of the cosmic kraut classic recording by Riechmann, or how Jonas Reinhardt might sound if they really allowed their more flowing and dance-y side to run wild. You can tell that Prins Thomas has a deep love of groups like Neu, Harmonia and The Phantom Band as much as he does of the space disco stylings of Giorgio Moroder, Patrick Cowley and Cerrone.
So many epic and nuanced tracks here, with one of the standouts being "Wendy Not Walter", you have to love the nod to Wendy/Walter Carlos. Further proof that Prins Thomas is not only a student of great electronic music but also one of its best creators these days!
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Record of the week second runner up! Extremely appealing, subtle, layered drones beautifully held together with "bleeps and clicks." Lovely, hard-to-describe full-length cd expounding the talent of Mr. Thomas who was featured on the last Lo recordings compilation (so you know it must be good). Unanimous store favorite. Sounds just so "right" -- kind of like the first time you heard Oval or Flying Saucer Attack. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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While his previous outings marked an interesting return to music (he also was the drummer for the underrated 4AD band Dif Juz in the 80s), his painterly electronica has stumbled a bit, not quite succeeding where Squarepusher has in fusing electronic squiggle to 70's jazz.
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An amalgamation of the warped psychedelic out-rock generated by the Wormholes and the outstanding electronica fuckery from Richard Thomas, whose Shoes and Radios Attract Paint was one of the electronica gems for 1997.
In the mood for some ultra pretty, straight-up heartstring pullers? Achingly sweet songstress Rosie Thomas has some to share with you. She follows closely in the footsteps of female singers such as Shawn Colvin or Sarah McLachlan and more recently Norah Jones or Laura Cantrell. In fact, many of the songs here are totally teen coming-of-age movie ready. Made us think of that McLachlan-sung tune "When She Loved Me" which accompanied the Jessie montage scene in Toy Story 2. Come to think of it, this would've also been perfect for the soundtrack to Sisterhood Of The Travelling Pants. If Songs Could Be Held certainly has the potential for very widespread appeal, but we guess it'll be embraced particularly by girls young and old.
Rosie Thomas' sophomore release is a soft, subdued affair. The first song is definitely one of its standouts. It might even make you want to keep hitting the "repeat" button, but listen on and you'll be treated to ten more hushed, intimate folky tunes. Luminous notes from a piano hang gently in the air. Thomas exudes a quiet confidence, delivering her introspective lyrics with an emotive lilt that brings to mind Shawn Colvin or Sarah McLachlan. Only With Laughter Can You Win gracefully walks the line between adult contemporary and indie alt-country. Perhaps pushing it further into the latter and adding to the close-to-home-and-heart feel are the presence of a number of her relatives - her mother, father, sister and brothers all join Ms Thomas on a song or two. As well, Iron & Wine's vocalist Sam Beam hops aboard for one song too.
O sweet Rosie, your tunes are such musical hug nuggets, but we have to say that your latest album reaches the pinnacle of sickeningly cute with the giggleful chit chat at the beginning and end of the second song "Why Waste More Time?". Oooch, made our teeth hurt. That said, These Friends Of Mine is filled with some of the wispiest lilting folk pop we've heard in a while. Golly, it made us suspect that Rosie Thomas might be the long-lost great granddaughter of Nana Mouskouri or Maureen McGovern (who sang the theme song to the original Poseiden Adventure). Apparently Thomas' list o' friends include Damian Jurado, Jeremy Enigk and Mr. Sufjan Stevens who lends his particularly complementary dreamy voice, banjo and guitar to the proceedings. Keep your ears peeled for the very Lilith Faire worthy covers of R.E.M.'s "The One I Love" and Fleetwood Mac's "Songbird".
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What can we say, this is just a really cool record. Please Please Please is electro-lounge at its finest- totally ambient and dreamy with a quirky bit thrown in here and there for good measure. Most of the album is instrumental, building slightly in speed to accommodate the minimal, sharp, airy vocals that come in on the third to last song and to make way for Thomas's most daring feat on the record -- a remix of Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams." If you are as big a fan of well remixed classics as some of us are, you'll be pleased pleased pleased. Overall, Please Please Please is a total chillout record perfect for summers on the porch. LOVE IT!!
By far the best electronic sounds we've heard come out of San Francisco in a long time, and damn while this is only an e.p it may just be another major contender for electronic record of the year. Ben Thompson creates super saturated prismatic Technicolor colorful beats that swirl and flow and shimmer so infectiously. Like a standout track on a Kompakt Total compilation, this is electronic music that is as much about the dancefloor as it is a fully satisfying sonic experience. Like Gui Boratto or those early Aphex Twin and Plaid records we loved so much, the sounds on Time Traveler incorporate everything we loved about the heyday of IDM into a more current sonic template. There is something so flawless about Thompson's execution that really makes this record stand out, as it has the potential to appeal to both fans of dancemusic and those of us who would rather just put our headphones on and nod along to the music. We can't wait to hear more from Thompson, but for now we are blasting this ep over and over and it sounds so damn good each and every time!
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Rootin' tootin' rounders, bounders, no-good son of a guns! The hard livin', hard lovin' types who won't be tied down ("I'll Be A Bachelor Till I Die", "Bummin' Around"), who'll spend their last dollar at the card table ("Rovin' Gambler") if they haven't already spent it on liquor ("Drunkards' Blues", "A Six Pack To Go"), that's who these songs are all about. Fun stuff from rhinestone-studded honky tonk cowboy Hank Thompson, a real Western Swinger all right, twangy of voice and guitar, who sings of drink ("Teach 'Em How To Swim") and drugs ("Cocaine Blues") and other such wholesome subjects, making the low-life lifestyle sound pretty dang cool - and for sure nobody can tell him what to do, even if it might wind 'em up in prison after shooting a man down for cheating at cards.
These two country music classics, Songs For Rounders (1959) and the live At The Golden Nugget (1961), the latter complete with authentic casino ambience of spinning roulette wheels, etc., and Thompson's between-song patter, are both full of such gems, mostly material penned by Thompson, as well as by Merle Travis, Hank Williams, and other greats. Lots of jumpin' good-time grooves and clever lines ("Take my glass, fill it to the brim / If I can't drown my troubles, babe, I'll teach 'em how to swim")... But Hank also slows it down for some bluesier ballads, getting serious about the likely outcomes of the lifestyle choices he had been seemingly celebrating; ultimately, singing the sad "I Cast A Lonesome Shadow", taken from a rare 7" single (the disc is rounded out with bonus tracks from some other early '60s Thompson releases).
While we can't say that anyone here at aQ has ever been a big, big country music fan, the Omni Recording Corporation's various reissues like this one and others by the likes of Dick Curless, Johnny Paycheck, Porter Wagoner, have gone a long way to changing that. This 2-on-1 disc is a definite delight!
Another eye popping collection of crazy obscure record covers that had all the record nerds at aQ freaking out big time, and we're guessing a lot of you will feel the same. Even if for some reason you don't love seventies glam, or proto punk, or bubblegum pop, this incredible 384 page hardcover book of seventies Euro picture sleeves doesn't require any listening at all, it's just total over the top music nerd record sleeve porn, although we can't imagine seeing some of these records and not being immediately driven to track them down, even if just to hear what sort of musical madness could inspire such over the top colorful visuals. When we first picked this big book up and started flipping though the pages randomly, we first opened up to a stunning shot of the ridiculous German glam rocker (and former crime reporter) Ramma Damma, posed in a glamorous black light up (!) jumpsuit, complete with battery equipped utility belt, and covered head to toe in Christmas ornaments and glitter and garland. Flipped through a few more pages and happened upon a CRAZY 7" cover from a band called Children Of The Morning, the song, oh just a little ditty called "Ku Klux Man" (!), the cover adorned with shadowy hooded figures superimposed over a burning cross. WTF?!! Flipped though a bit more and stumbled upon the band Hector, in their striped shirts and patched overalls and platform boots, looking like the even more flamboyant older brothers of the Bay City Rollers. And it only keeps getting better. And crazier!
There's lots of familiar groups: Angel, Slade, T-Rex, New York Dolls, The Sweet, The Osmonds (and the insane and awesome cover of their "Crazy Horses" 7"), Suzi Quatro, Bay City Rollers, Sparks, Tiger B. Smith, etc.; but a ton of super obscure outfits as well, some of our favorite names being Lieutenant Pigeon, Capt. Skid Marks, Bubblerock Is Here To Stay, Stud Leather, Hobnail, Shake A Tail Suzy, Bilbo Baggins, Rock Co. Co., Pantherman, Lemmings, Roobarb and of course Muff, but again, there are so so so many more. And it's not just the names that are ridiculous, the collection of covers is a parade of constant whatthefuck eye candy, lots of guys with big hair in poofy poses with INCREDIBLE outfits, some nudity of course, bizarre song titles, insane outfits, ridiculous (but totally rad) graphic design, it really is endlessly engrossing.
Besides all the amazing record covers and band shots (as well as a super cool page of just label logos), there are also interviews with Iron Virgin, Hector, The Jook, The Hammersmith Gorillas, Ramma Damma, Brett Smiley and Milk N' Cookies. The book is separated by year(s), and in some cases thematically, in one instance a series of record covers featuring bands on motorcycles, in another, just records about streaking. So cool, and ridiculous, and fun. Totally recommended for all you music nerds and obscure record obsessives and graphic design geeks. And goddamn if we don't now have about a hundred more bands we're DYING to hear...
Former Fairport Convention guitarist's lovely new album.
Ok. This is potentially the BEST THING WE'VE EVER SEEN. Seriously.
If that isn't enough, we'll explain a little more. Jon Mikl Thor (aka THOR) is a Canadian body building champ and hunky metal cult icon from the '70s and '80s who got his start doing flashy, stunt-driven, super-human strong man performances (plus singing). These stunts include the bending of a steel bar with sheer muscle-power, then the blowing up a hot-water bottle with sheer lung-power. These became trademark moves as his metal-fantasy concerts progressed. Thor has described his high-concept shows as being based on Norse mythology where Thor (god of thunder and lightning) fights epic battles with monsters and evil warlords. We've seen him perform in person (in recent years) and it is actually kinda like that. As this DVD also proves. And on the DVD, he actually looks like "Thor" with long blonde hair and all, not someone's beefy dad, as he does now.
Thor's AN-THOR-LOGY contains mezmerizing classic performance footage from 1976 through 1985, including a special appearance on the Merv Griffin Show (!) and several rare music videos. As an old flyer states, "BODY, ROCK, SHOW, BAND". That about says it all. If I were Kathy McGinty watching this (see AQ list #213), I'd say "uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugghhh!" Basically, if you do not see this, you are totally missing out. Hilarious, kitschy, rock n' roll beefcake fun.
And, we urge you to catch Thor on tour this year. He's still darn brawny, and a master of tongue-in-cheek metal/fantasy/punk entertainment. Apparently these shows will find Thor on a quest "to find the magic lantern" as he promises not to disappoint his fans. SF locals, he's playing at the 12 Galaxies on August 31st w/ Slough Feg...and just might be showing up at AQ for some sort of meet-the-fans event!! ----* ----* In Stock, Not Yet Reviewed : ----* If you want to order one of these, just cut and paste the info into the comments area on the order form, or just email mailorder@aquariusrecords.org. AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED "Bestial Machinery (discography vol. 1)" (Relapse) 2cd 14.98 ASSHOLE PARADE "Say Goodbye" (No Idea) cd 10.98 BIRDS, THE "Birds Birds Birds In The World" (Important) cd 14.98 BJORKK, HENRIK NORDVARGR "Vitagen" (Essence) cd 14.98 BLUT AUS NORD "Memoria Vetusta I" (Candlelight) cd 13.98 BLUT AUS NORD "Ultima Thulee" (Candlelight) cd 13.98 BONNIE "PRINCE" BILLY & MATT SWEENEY "I Gave You" (Drag City) cd ep 5.98 BORT, EDUARDO "s/t" (Fonomusic) cd 23.00 CLANDESTINE BLAZE "Deliverers Of Faith" (Northern Heritage) cd 14.98 COFFINS "Mortuary In Darkness" (Razorback) cd 14.98 CULPEPER'S ORCHARD "s/t +3" (Karma Music) cd 22.00 CULPEPER'S ORCHARD "Second Sight +6" (Karma Music) cd 22.00 DOUBLE LEOPARDS "Savage Summer Sun" (Stop It All) cd 12.98 DRAGUNS, GEORGE "Huffing Gas" ((self-released)) cd-r 9.98 EMIT "A Sword Of Death For The Prince" (Total Holocaust) cd 14.98 ETERNAL ELYSIUM "Searching Low & High" (DIW Phalanx) cd 24.00 EYEHATEGOD "Preaching The "End-Time" Message" (Emetic) cd 14.98 EYES AND ARMS OF SMOKE "A Religion of Broken Bones" lp 14.98 FALL, THE "The Complete Peel Sessions 1978-2004" (Sanctuary) 6cd 67.00 FAY, BILL "s/t" (Eclectic Discs) cd 21.00 FAY, BILL "Time of the Last Persecution" (Eclectic Discs) cd 21.00 FEAR MY THOUGHTS "Hell Sweet Hell" (Lifeforce) cd 13.98 FORENSICS "Hogback Mountain Sessions Vol.1" (Magic Bullet) cd 8.98 FRESH MAGGOTS "s/t" (Radioactive) cd 17.98 FRUIT BATS "Spelled In Bones" (Sub Pop) cd GINNUNGANAP "Remeindre (Latitudes)" (Southern) cd 11.98 GRUPA 220 "Slike" (Radioactive) cd 17.98 HELL, RICHARD "Spurts: The Richard Hell Story" (Rhino / Warner) cd 16.98 ICKY BOYFRIENDS "A Love Obscene" (Menlo Park) 2cd 15.98 IRON MAIDEN "The Essential Iron Maiden" (Sony) 2cd 21.00 KID 606 "Resilience" (Tigerbeat6) cd 14.98 KINSKI "Be Gentle With The Warm Turtle" (Intellectual Drunk) cd 13.98 KINSKI "SpaceLaunch For Frenchie" (Intellectual Drunk) cd 13.98 LESLIE, DESMOND "Music Of The Future" (Trunk) cd 17.98 MILK FROM CHELTENHAM "Triptych of Poisoners" (Alga Marghen) cd 17.98 NETO, JULIEN "Le Fumeur de Ciel" (Type) cd 16.98 ONDSKAPT "Dodens Evangelium" (Next Horizon) cd 14.98 PAINE, ANDREW & RICHARD YOUNGS "Mauve Dawn" (Fusetron) lp 14.98 PHOBOS "Tectonics" (Candlelight) cd 14.98 PUBLIC ENEMY "Power To The People And The Beats" (DefJam) cd 14.98 RILEY, TERRY & STEFANO SCODANIBBIO "Diamond Fiddle Language" (Wergo) cd 24.00 SHANKAR, ANANDA "And His Music" cd 24.00 SOILENT GREEN "Confrontation" (Relapse) cd 14.98 SON VOLT "Okemah And The Melody Of Riot" (Transmit Sound) dual cd/dvd 19.98 STRANGULATED BEATOFFS "Jacking Off With Jacko" (A Pop Records) 7" 6.98 TAKAHASHI, IKURO "Domoir To Sanshu" (Siwa) cd 14.98 THEE MORE SHALLOWS "More Deep Cuts" (Turn) cd 11.98 TIME FLYS, THE "Fly" (Birdman) cd 14.98 V/A "Blank Field" (Alien8 Recordings) cd 14.98 V/A "Mush Tour 2002" (Mush) dvd 17.98 VITALIC "OK Cowboy" (PIAS) cd 17.98 VOCOKESH "Through The Smoke" (Strange Attractors) cd 13.98 WOODEN WAND "Harem Of The Sundrum & The Witness Figg" (Soft Abuse) cd 14.98 ZORN, JOHN "Masada Rock featuring Rashanim" (Tzadik) cd 16.98 _______________________________________________________________________ ABOUT MAILORDER
Thor!!!!!!!!
Start small? Heck no, not our man Jon Mikl Thor! His debut album from back in 1977, reissued here on cd for the first time ever, finds him quite big in all his massive, muscle-bound glory (that's him on the cover). The burly, bodybuilding singer had been Mr. Canada 1973, after all. But, on the other hand, this is NOT the heavy metal album you might expect from exposure to his later musical output and overdeveloped, barbarian physique. Let The Dogs Out is much more eclectically new wave in its approach to hard rock than the '80s metal Thor with which we were familiar. Which was a pleasant surprise, if you don't take it too seriously. Is it a good album? Well... is the Rocky Horror Picture Show a good movie? Like that midnite fave, this album is kinda '70s glammy, and definitely quite campy at times. But it's also undeniably poppy. Pretty cool, on its own terms.
Kitschy fun that might merely have been a one-off, 'incredibly strange music' entry from a beefcake wannabe rock star but for two things - Thor actually went on to have something of a successful career (as tongue-in-cheek as it might be), AND it's got some cool songs on it, or at least a bunch with a certain clumsy charm. You get the full quota of cowbell, Thor's over the top vocal stylings of course, and once in a while something more, where you're like, hey that was pretty good... and now it's stuck in my head!
The title track is a quasi-classic of not quite metal, not all that heavy, but still quite rockin' good time music. "I'm So Proud" ("...to be the man I am") could be a more macho Jobraith with a goofy hint of Devo. And "Sleeping Giant" seriously sounds like a bubblegum BRIAN ENO! Yep, not exactly what we thought the He-Man of Heavy Metal would have done for a debut. Maybe this album is not for everyone (like the humor impaired), but as with all Thor's stuff we've heard, and shows we've seen (yes, we've seen him play more than once!), entertainment is job one, from square one.
This 30th anniversary special edition reissue's got seven bonus tracks added to the album's original 10 cuts, among 'em the super corny "I'm Thor". While that one is a mite embarrassing (except we're pretty sure Mr. Thor is quite capable of laughing at himself too) there's other stuff here that makes us wonder, however briefly, if this album isn't in fact totally brilliant.
Ok, you wanna know where the NWOFHM (New Wave Of Finnish Heavy Metal) gets all their ideas? Our pal Jussi (of noted NWOFHM purveyors Circle/Pharaoah Overlord/Steel Mammoth/Krypt Axeripper/etc.) kind of gives it away by reissuing on his Ektro imprint this classic 1985 live album by metal/bodybuilding legend THOR!!
Yes it's a live album (the band rockin' Detroit rock city, with appropriate album cover artwork) but don't worry, it's an AWESOME live album. The recording is great, the band's performance is killer, the crowd is raucous, of course it's got almost ALL the hits ("Thunder On The Tundra", "Knock 'Em Down", "Keep The Dogs Away" among them), AND Thor's between-song stage raps are worth the price of admission all by themselves. Love it when he asks if the crowd reads Kerrang! magazine, gets no response, and is like, "anyhow..." and goes on with his story (about the remarkable size of his back up singer's breasts). Or when he introduces a song as being "a big hit in Alaska". Yes, he-man of metal Jon Mikl Thor is hilarious (he'd happily agree we're sure) but he also rocks, as anyone who's seen him play even recently knows, and heck this was laid to tape back in his heyday! At the time, his heavy metal superheroics were probably only matched by the combined might of Manowar.
If you're gonna buy just one Thor album, you won't go to wrong to make it this one. It includes three bonus tracks also from '85, live recorded in England, New York City, and Thor's native Canada. One of them is a song that was lost for 23 years and has never been heard on any other Thor recording!! The cd booklet is stuffed with rad old photos of the band playing and posing, with glimpses of the feats-of-strength that, along with his cool tunes, made this campy metal muscleman famous. For a few seconds back in the '80s anyway. But not forgotten!!
Yet more proof that Ektro is one of the best record labels ever. Not only did Ektro just reissue this live Thor album but at the same time they've released a live album by krautrock legends Faust! Thor -and- Faust. Damn. That's our kind of label. After all, we had Thor do an in-store album signing here a couple years ago, and still have the autographed hot water bottles to prove it!
