Ryan Moore, our favorite Dutch-by-way-of-Canada dub meister's "best of" collection. With 12 tracks dating back as far as 1995 and on up to the present, this might be a good place to start for those unfamiliar with Twilight Circus. Big and beefy drum sounds, bouncy spring reverb, tape delay super psychedelic and so stoney you'll get a friggin' contact high just listening to some of his shit. And all recorded using vintage analog equipment, the way dub oughta be recorded. Contains tracks from In Dub Volume 1, Horsie, Dub Voyage, Volcanic Dub, and Dub Plates Volumes 1, 2 & 3.
Originally released in 1998 on cd only, Dub Plate Selection is now available on both cd and lp. This is the first volume in Ryan Moore's series of self-reworked material from his earlier releases: "In Dub Vol. 1", "Other Worlds In Dub" and "Binshaker Dub".
Dub machine Ryan Moore returns with yet another collection of rarities, remixes and dub plates -- basically things that have never been available for mass consumption. Once again Moore does not disappoint, proving that he's still the reigning king of dub in the 21st century. Moore uses only the freshest ingredients: hand picked bass lines and live drums heavily cooked in overdriven tube gear and mixed together onto analog tape. It's a sound you just can't get microwaving dubs in a home computer based recording studio, no matter how many software plug-ins you've got.
Dub Plates Volume Two is a collection of reworked dubs (mostly from Horsie and Binshaker Dub) and rarities from Ryan Moore and Twilight Circus, now available at a nice price, lets hope for a while. One thing that I really like about Twilight Circus, and I
Limited edition lp only issue of Twilight Circus' "Dub Voyage". Pressed on 180 gram virgin vinyl.
As 2004 ushers in a broad range of changes, good and bad, so it also brings a brand new collection of Twilight Circus tracks. And for the first time the Circus' ringleader, Ryan Moore, has begun working with vocalists as the two 10"s from late last year anticipated. Along with four of the tracks from the Big Youth and Luciano 10"s, Foundation Rockers includes appearances from Ranking Joe, Brother Culture and Mykal Rose. The different vocalists each bring a very different feeling to the Twilight Circus tracks they sing on. Luciano and Mykal Rose both with their conscious reggae background bring an almost saccharine nu-roots soul vibe to the mix, while Big Youth, Ranking Joe and Brother Culture are straight up DJ era toasters. For those who still prefer the strictly dub side of Twilight Circus there are five tracks included here of the good old Ryan Moore at his best, cranking out some floorboard bending bass and echoey horns. CD comes with two bonus tracks previously released on the two 10"s: Big Youth "Love Dub Remix" and Luciano "What We Gotta Do (Acoustic Mix)".
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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A reissue of this long out of print wonderful dub gem. Twilight Circus is the work of one astoundingly talented man -- Ryan Moore is his name. Mastering each of his chosen instruments (bass, percussion and electronics), his true love and dedication to dub music is obvious. Rich, challenging sounds and rhythms, deep deep rubbery liquid bass. I strongly recommend you get your ears around all Twilight Circus releases starting with this one (they are actually all on his own M label... talk about d.i.y.!). You won't be disappointed. And if you're itchin' for more from Mr. Moore, his talents may also be heard on the new Legendary Pink Dots album as well as past Tear Garden and Download albums. Very, very, very good.
Four tracks: two from Binshaker Dub ("U.K. Steppers" & "Lowell And Nine") on side A and "Beneath the Valley of the Dub" and a remix of "Rocking Dub" from In Dub Vol. 1 on side B. Pressed on delicious red vinyl.
Canadian-in-the-Netherlands dub meister Ryan Moore whom you may have heard performing with the Legendary Pink Dots, Dead Voices on Air or Tear Garden. Ryan - performing all instruments himself - excels in creating modern dub in the mid-seventies King Tubby tradition, avoiding the aseptic trappings of his European comrades. Which isn't to say that Twilight Circus is just a Tubby clone with a spring reverb and tape delay. To be sure, underneath all the over-saturated analog warmth you can still hear the pounding four on the floor dance beat being stifled and the erratic ping pong of percussion is often much more nutty than what one would expect from the Jamaican dub of the seventies. His best album to date!
Here's couple new 10"s from Ryan Moore, a.k.a. Twilight Circus Dub Soundsystem, which can only point to a full length in the works. And since the last thing we've seen from Moore was a best of from almost a year ago, it's about time something new is due. What's perhaps most notable with these new morsels from the Twilight Circus is that for the first time Moore has begun working with vocalists. An interesting choice of vocalists, Moore got a DJ era toaster -- Big Youth -- and a 90's dancehall era singer -- Luciano -- to showcase his contrasting asthetic capabilities as a producer.
Much more traditional of an arrangement than the Luciano cut, "Love Is What We Need" is a rootsy number with -- if not real, very convincing -- drums, horn section, piano, and bass. The 10" features one vocal and three dub versions. The first dub being pretty straight up and unmodified, the second features added instrumentation (mostly in the form of a synth lead replacing the vocals) and the third being a classic effects laden dub.
"What We Gotta Do" features three vocal versions and one dub. Production here is much like other more recent works from Moore. Gone are the loud, live drum sounds of old, in their stead a pumping four on the floor step-sequenced kick and high hat combo. The only exception is the final track, an acoustic version, a slow tempo reworking of the vocal accompanied by acoustic guitar and conga.
1977 high schol music in spirit of Langley Musci project and Classroom music.
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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Been looking forward to some new Twilight Sad for a while! You might recall our gushing over this four piece's self titled debut ep back in 2006. Well, we've just gotten in their latest album! What first caught our ears was their ability to draw on key sonic elements of three aQ faves My Bloody Valentine, Interpol and Arab Strap, yet still inhabit their own place in the musical arena. They incorporate densely packed atmospherics a la MBV with the moody brooding swagger of Interpol and the weathered unmistakably Scottish vocals akin to Arab Strap's Malcolm Middleton. Now add in the epic dynamics of Mogwai (whom they played with earlier this year) and the low-slung driving guitar force of Swervedriver, and you have the Twilight Sad of Forget The Night Ahead! In other words, this is a really potent Scottish musical concoction... one we've already been enjoying repeat listens of!
Imagine Interpol, Arab Strap and My Bloody Valentine havin' a menage a trois.... nine months later you'd have The Twilight Sad. Ooooooh la la! With the moody melancholic poetics of this their debut release filling our ears in the bestest of ways, what else can we say, except that we've got another Glasgow band to adore! This ep's been released exclusively here in U.S, and was mixed and produced by Max Richter, an artist who himself has please our ears plenty. Epic waves of washy shoegazerly guitar distortion and emotive Scottish inflected male vocals. What's not to love? Sooo lovely!
Right up front, let me just say that the Afghan Whigs were one of my favorite bands on Sub Pop. Sure, Soundgarden were monlithic and heavy, channelling Blue Oyster Cult and Led Zeppelin, and Mudhoney were wild, scum rock stoners trying to be the Stooges, but what the fuck were the Afghan Whigs?! They were sort of jangly indie rock in a way, but the guitars were so brittle and keening, and the mood was so intense and uncomfortably miserable. And then there was Greg Dulli's tortured, miserable whine, spinning tales of drugs and women and misery. Weird and unlikely (especially on Sub Pop, this sure as hell wasn't 'grunge') but so utterly compelling. And they just kept getting better. Culminating in 1993's Gentlemen, the perfect distillation of Dulli's bitter, self loathing, relationship-phobic lyrics and the band's sweeping morose soundscapes, and minor key moody jangle. Unfortunately it was all down hill from there. The Whigs lost their edge and Dulli's R+B obsession turned their caustic rock into a bland, watered down indie rock. There were definitely moments, but for the most part it seemed like the spark was gone. Even the first glimpse of the Twilight Singers a few years back revealed more of the same Whigs' indie R+B whatever.
So this, THIS, is what we've been waiting for. The return of Greg Dulli, the cynical miserable bastard, willing to spill his guts over a gorgeous minor key tableau of moody claustrophobia and suffocating melancholia for all the world to see. Like Arab Strap if they were raised on blue eyed soul and had a little more outward pointing vitriol then self-loathing misery. Sonically reminiscent of the Afghan Whigs' Gentlemen, with sweeping arrangements (including horns, electronic beats, and breathy female backup vocals), intense and uncomfortable lyrics, mostly mumbled but occasionally belted out in anguished howls, and a brutally dark ambience that invades every shadowy corner of this gorgeous record. There are glimmers of hope, but it's that sort of hopeless hope, knowing she'll never come back, and you'll never get out, and it'll never get better, but maybe...if only...
Afghan Whigs / Dulli fans will rejoice with this return to form, but all the rest of you who are into dark and depressing rock ala American Music Club, Red House Painters, Arab Strap and the like should give the Twilight Singers a chance. You can always use a new record to drown your sorrows in.
Now on vinyl!
Greg Dulli is a strange strange man. After fronting the very ungrunge grunge outift the Afghan Whigs, he struck out on his own, giving in fully to his all consuming obsessions, sex and soul music. The later Afghan Whigs records hinted at his proclivities, certainly his creepy, depraved sex life was already on display for all to see (much like mope rockers Arab Strap) and said soul music was gradually seeping through the cracks of the Whigs songs. Unfortunately those later Whigs records reflected a band that didn't quite seem to know how to handle Dulli's drive for musical soulfulness and sonic sensuality. Things not easily conveyed in the standard rock format. Thus those records were blunted and not all that effective, syrupy instead of emotionally charged, and sonically not all that inspired. That all changed with the Twilight Singers. A sexy swaggering, dark and dangerous rock band, infused with sweet soul and tragic heartbreak. The last Twilight Singers record, ...Plays Blackberry Belle, was an absolutely gorgeous album, an emotionally devastating sonic map of Dulli's battered and bruised soul. Much like the Afghan Whigs classic Gentlemen, it was a dark and brutal collection of ultra personal songs, equally capable of moving you to tears as it was of making you want to drag Dulli into an alley and beat the shit out of him. While She Loves You is not quite as powerful, it does manage to convey many of the same emotions, bitterness, lonliness, unrequited love, seething hate, undying love, through a curious, but perfectly chosen collection of covers. Songs by Bjork, Fleetwood Mac, Mary J. Blige, Billie Holiday, Marvin Gaye and more, all deep and devastating in their own right, manage to become even darker and moodier and sound like they could have come straight from Dulli's own poison pen. Drunken waltzes, stuttering loping drums, rumbling ambience, creepy minor key piano all underscore Dulli's tortured vocals, sometimes an urgent whisper, but more often an anguished wail. Mark Lanegan contributes vocals to many of the tracks, his world weary, whiskey soaked drawl adding even more emotional weight. There's been lots of mixed reactions to this record around here, and if you don't already dig Dulli and the Afghan Whigs, this record is not likely to change your mind. But those of you who already like to stroll through Dulli's dark and dreary world of love and sex and death will feel right at home.
Afghan Whigs' frontman Greg Dulli continues to explore his 'soul', this time it's the breezy, sometimes spacey soul of modern electronica (in fact, the record is produced by Fila Brazillia) instead of the Motown soul that pervaded the last couple of Afghan Whigs records. The results? Hard to tell. Dulli is certainly a good songwriter, and Fila Brazillia are competent in the studio, but it just doesn't feel like a match. Light and airy and kind of catchy. but lacking the immediate substance that oozes from Dulli's best work. Maybe more for fans of Fila Brazillia than Afghan Whigs.
Now available on vinyl!
Right up front, let me just say that the Afghan Whigs were one of my favorite bands on Sub Pop. Sure, Soundgarden were monlithic and heavy, channelling Blue Oyster Cult and Led Zeppelin, and Mudhoney were wild, scum rock stoners trying to be the Stooges, but what the fuck were the Afghan Whigs?! They were sort of jangly indie rock in a way, but the guitars were so brittle and keening, and the mood was so intense and uncomfortably miserable. And then there was Greg Dulli's tortured, miserable whine, spinning tales of drugs and women and misery. Weird and unlikely (especially on Sub Pop, this sure as hell wasn't 'grunge') but so utterly compelling. And they just kept getting better. Culminating in 1993's Gentlemen, the perfect distillation of Dulli's bitter, self loathing, relationship-phobic lyrics and the band's sweeping morose soundscapes, and minor key moody jangle. Unfortunately it was all down hill from there. The Whigs lost their edge and Dulli's R+B obsession turned their caustic rock into a bland, watered down indie rock. There were definitely moments, but for the most part it seemed like the spark was gone. Even the first glimpse of the Twilight Singers a few years back revealed more of the same Whigs' indie R+B whatever.
So this, THIS, is what we've been waiting for. The return of Greg Dulli, the cynical miserable bastard, willing to spill his guts over a gorgeous minor key tableau of moody claustrophobia and suffocating melancholia for all the world to see. Like Arab Strap if they were raised on blue eyed soul and had a little more outward pointing vitriol then self-loathing misery. Sonically reminiscent of the Afghan Whigs' Gentlemen, with sweeping arrangements (including horns, electronic beats, and breathy female backup vocals), intense and uncomfortable lyrics, mostly mumbled but occasionally belted out in anguished howls, and a brutally dark ambience that invades every shadowy corner of this gorgeous record. There are glimmers of hope, but it's that sort of hopeless hope, knowing she'll never come back, and you'll never get out, and it'll never get better, but maybe...if only...
Afghan Whigs / Dulli fans will rejoice with this return to form, but all the rest of you who are into dark and depressing rock ala American Music Club, Red House Painters, Arab Strap and the like should give the Twilight Singers a chance. You can always use a new record to drown your sorrows in.
Originally a side project of aQ beloved grunge combo the Afghan Whigs, and formed during some downtime because of a label dispute in the late nineties, The Twilight Singers, became Whigs frontman Greg Dulli's main musical vehicle after the Whigs breakup in 2001. And over the course of six full lengths, Dulli has continued to craft his dark thoughts and melancholy miserablism into haunting soulful grooves and vitriolic soul flecked indie rock. We had originally described the Twilight Singers as "Like Arab Strap if they were raised on blue eyed soul and had a little more outward pointing vitriol then self-loathing misery", and that still seems to hold true. This latest record, like ...Plays Blackberry Belle, our other favorite TS record, is a logical continuation of the sound of the Afghan Whigs circa Gentlemen. The music lush, and dark, and introspective, but still occasionally rocking and distorted and intense, and yeah, soulful. The finest moments are definitely the collaborations, specifically "Be Invited", where Dulli is joined by Mark Lanegan, whose whiskey soaked drawl is the perfect match for Dulli's emotive croon, especially when underpinned by super dramatic swoonsome strings and lush cinematic ambience. Had us sort of wishing the two had done the whole record together, but even sans Lanegan, the rest of the record is pretty dang great. Another killer (and surprising) collaboration is when Dulli is joined by Ani DiFranco, whose voice too is a gorgeous match for Dulli's, reminding us of Marcy Mays' (of Scrawl) lead vocal turn on the Whigs' "My Curse", and somehow again, subtly in this case, shining a light on Dulli's oft troubled dealings with the opposite sex, painfully and explicitly laid bare in most of his songs (a la Arab Strap).
Listening to this now, it wouldn't be hard to imagine this was a proper Afghan Whigs record, maybe the one that should have/could have come out right between Gentlemen and Black Love. Which is high praise indeed, as far as we're concerned. Needless to say, if you're already a Dulli fan, and/or dig and miss the Afghan Whigs, this will totally hit the spot. And if you're someone into dark, dramatic, emotionally charged, epic cathartic indie rock, and has yet to discover Greg Dulli and the Afghan Whigs, well, you're in for a serious surprise...
Yet another Kyuss-clone band, complete with high, John Garcia-style vocals.
We had no idea wehen we first heard this that it was a sort-of Posies side project. But it is indeed. Ken Stringfellow and friend have come up with a really peculiar, but pretty nice collection of lo-fi pop, from noisey unfinished sketches with ringing falsetto vocals to spacy un-produced drum 'n bass. Cool.
Wow, this swooning, rich pop record has been seeping into our souls in such satisfying ways. The debut full length from Twin Shadow is one of the most emotionally brooding and satisfying albums we've heard in a long time. Makes perfect sense that Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear not only produced it, but also released it on his own label, Terrible. You can tell how Taylor would find a kindred spirit in the kind of music Twin Shadow makes, as it has the warmth and emotional richness that Grizzly Bear have become famous for. But Twin Shadow's music owes much more to the new romantics of the '80s, as it has us recalling folks like Talk Talk, The Smiths, Duran Duran, Japan, and later era OMD. George Lewis, Jr, who is the man behind Twin Shadow has such a memorable and seductive voice. While many of his peers have been tapping into the colder or kooky side of the '80s, he is able to get to the more fragile and heart stirring side of that decade's pop music. Some songs on the album even remind us of Richard Youngs' great pop outing, Beyond The Valley Of The Ultrahits. We have yet to play this once without someone in the store needing to know what they were hearing. It's that immediate and evocative and so damn good!
Wow, total sleeper hit of the year! This came out a few months ago and we almost missed it, but damn are we happy we we got our hands on this as Twin Sister have made one of the most woozy and deliciously bittersweet pop records of the year. A sound rife with swirling melodies, lush warm instrumentation and dreamy vocals that sound like a feather just drifting along on a soft breeze. Like a much more subdued and swoony Stereolab, or if Saint Etienne covered Beach House and Taken By Trees. There is such a warm and intoxicating sensation infusing all of these songs. We also hear this really cool hint of a Seefeel influence in the way their songs swirl and float so easily. One of those record so perfect for mornings or early afternoons with the windows half open and the breeze from outside mixing with the breeze from these songs creating such a perfect state of sound. Be ready to melt, this is gorgeous!
Last year's album, Color Your Life, by Twin Sister was one of the total sleeper hits of the year for us. Such dreamy, soft breeze, pop perfection. They've followed it up with their first proper full length and have really fleshed out their sound, adding an even more lush instrumentation and a fantastically warm production to their swirling, swaying and colorful approach to songs, the sounds flowing with such ease and bursting with Kodachrome like colors. Like Laetitia Sadier from Stereolab on a road trip with Taken By Trees, or Pram, Heavenly, and Saint Etienne lounging around in the park together. We also hear a nice Glasgow influence in their sound, as certain songs really do find a perfect space between The Pastels and Belle & Sebastian.
Kind of confusing, this is a new (but not really new) release from Long Island's warm pop peddlers Twin Sister. The A side tracks were originally released as a gift to their fans in digital form back in 2008. So now they've given those tracks a proper release, as well as a whole other side of music which contains alternate versions of those tracks. Dreamy pop that ranges from Elliott Smith influenced introspection to a more shoegazed sensibility.
If you haven't checked out Twin Sister yet, we urge you to explore their awesome record from last year Color Your Life, and if you're already a fan, you're gonna want to grab this.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
You know a record is gonna rule when even the amp buzz that precedes the record proper, sounds bad ass, but that's exactly how this heaving slab of noise rock begins, with a thick squelch of muddy glitchy buzz, which is soon joined by some caveman pounding, blurred and distorted, the sort of hypno thud sludge we could listen to FOREVER. But then more drums stumble into action, and we're in some sort of Cop Shoot Cop junkyard noise punk / Crash Worship tribal freakout territory, until the song kicks in proper, with super distorted howled vox, tangled detuned guitar crunch, squealing feedback, the whole song a lurching tangled of woozy off kilter riffage, crumbling distortion, constantly shifting recording quality, glitch and hiss and dropouts galore, a grinding monstrous slab of Neanderthal sludges that totally RULES.
As we mentioned in our review of TS's self titled debut, these guys seem to have a keen pop sense, one they seem dead set on obscuring behind walls of ugly, head caving, amp shredding noise. But thankfully that pop sense seems to leech into everything they do, the result sounding more like Jesus Lizard or Halo Of Flies, but does with some seriously bad acid, and let loose in a room full of busted amps, broken guitars and falling to pieces drum kits. Recorded on handheld tape recorded, broadcast by holding it up to a megaphone, holding the megaphone up to a cell phone, and then plugging the phone on the other end into a fucking MASSIVE amp, hooked up to a bunch of distortion pedals, all with batteries in various stages of running out of juice. A lurching noise rock, that not only seems on the verge of collapse, but seems to gradually melt and crumble and collapse before your very ears, as if every song is a desperate attempt to keep it going, before collapsing in a heap, only to explode into the next song and try again. And while this all does sound punishing and pummeling and brutal and chaotic and harsh, which it most definitely is, it's also weirdly catchy, and sorta groovy, repetitive and hypnotic, maybe like a pop flecked, slightly shoegazey, blurred and blackened, noise rock Butthole Surfers. Or something like that. Needless to say, this is some fucking crushing catchy, ruling shit, but only for those of you who have worked up a tolerance for stuff this bad ass and brutal, past exposure to Brainbombs, Whitehouse, Burmese, Rusted Shut, Billy Bao, Shit And Shine, Clockcleaner, Ancestors, White Mice, Liquorball, Strangulated Beatoffs, Violent Students perhaps not required, but definitely suggested...
Brainbombs. Rusted Shut. Billy Bao. Shit And Shine. If that sounds like your record collection, you best grab one of these pronto and add Twin Stumps to the list.
Heavy, and noisy, filthy, ugly, brutal, pounding, misanthropic, blown out, grinding, crushing, druggy and damaged, yet weirdly and impossibly catchy. This NY crew conjure up some of the heaviest, most distorted noise rock we've heard in ages, sounding like a million guitars and a million drum kits melted down, poured into a woodchipper and sprayed all over you, while someone howls through a bullhorn, these songs are bursting with guitar freakouts, from churning impossibly low end chug, to tangled feedback, the drums pound, but are so buried in the muck and mire, they sound more like some muted subsonic throb, the vocals are unhinged and maniacal, also pretty much buried, the whole record lurches and lumbers and stumbles, like a way heavier, more metal Butthole Surfers, but these songs can't seem to disguise the little bits of pop that lurk inside, sometimes the guitars lock into a weirdly harmonized melody, or the band slip in a killer hook, but even at its catchiest, it's still insanely heavy and harsh, hypnotic and hateful, gloriously misanthropic and noisy. Quickly becoming one of our favorite new noise rock records for sure.
Anyone into any of the above mentioned bands MUST own this, and if you buy it and dig it (heck even if you don't), go here:
http://mikeyanirofund.wordpress.com/
And help support Twin Stumps guitarist Mike Yaniro, who was savagely beaten, and remains hospitalized with years of surgery and therapy ahead of him, and no health insurance.
Every year, we like to have a band play on Sunday after Record Store Day, as part of the festivities. We'd have 'em play ON Record Store Day, but it's just too crazy busy for that. Plus it's nice to keep the RSD party vibe going all weekend. This year, it was the turn of Twin Trilogy, the new power trio headed by fave local guitarist Sean Smith, whom we originally got to know via his guitar soli work, like on the Tompkins Square compilation Berkeley Guitar, where he appeared alongside Matt Baldwin and Adam Snider. But he likes to rock out, too, and Twin Trilogy is his vehicle for indulging in heavy, spacey, proggy jams!
And in addition to doin' the instore, TT also provided us with a RSD exclusive - the first in a series of limited edition, one-sided 12" vinyl releases from the band, this installment featuring two lengthy instrumentals. The multipart suite "Descent To The Pounding Surf/Strings Of The Sea/Flood Of Moonlight On The White Sea" is an epic exercise in lumberingly doomy, mathy surf rock psychedelia, full of 'seasick' woozy parts, dramatic crescendos and majestic metallic riffs, while 2nd track "Surreal Tilt" is an even heavier, fist pumping number, gloriously massive and rollicking. We got to hear these tracks and more at the instore, they were great, though in deference to our upstairs neighbors they toned down the volume a bit (go see 'em on Sunday April 27th around the corner at the Make Out Room if you want to hear them at their facemelting usual). For fans of Mammatus, Stinking Lizaveta, Earthless, Lesbian, Nels Cline, Hedvig Mollestad�
We sold a bunch of these on Record Store Day, and a few more at the instore (which we understand if you missed, it was Easter after all, and also we later realized they played at approximately 4:20 on 4/20, so all the stoners that would have been into 'em were otherwise engaged). But being the exclusive vendor so far, we still have copies left for out of towners and others not around last weekend.
Limited to 330 copies, in reclaimed, hand painted/printed jackets, with download code!
Twink is back! No, not the psychedelic band from the '60s, but perhaps just as trippy and mind-melting. This Bostonian (aka Mike Langlie) is a mad wizard of utterly tweaked and twisted toy piano based compositions (self-dubbed toytronica)! Some tracks on A Very Fine Adventure are dark and sorta menacing like a theme to some cartoon villain, while others are so deliriously toothsome and playful you'd swear cream soda flowed in their veins. Delight to the sounds of Mr. Langlie tickling the tiny ivories, and then masticating them artfully into some sheer madness that'll surely appeal to fans of Bruce Haack, Raymond Scott and Quintron!
Each Twink release is packaged in an imaginative eye-catching way, and this one is no exception! It comes in an adorable diecut sleeve featuring bunnies, fishies, candy canes and an octopus! Recommended for anyone whose inner child is allowed to come out and play!
Who doesn't become a giddy, drool-y kid again when they hear the chiming melodies of an approaching ice cream truck? You should've seen Cup last summer when she was out in Michigan. The jingle jangle came drifting in through an open window, and she was out the door in a flash! Well, Twink's Mike Langlie is ensuring that you have those delightful sounds sans the calories all year round. Oooh, does that make him cruel or cool? Cue sound of mad scientist laughter. Heh heh. On its candy coated surface, Langlie's music is downright cavity inducing child's view twinkliness, but much like Willie Wonka And The Chocolate Factory if you look a little closer you'll discover a darker, black humor encrusted side... and we love it! For this particular project, Langlie recorded a bunch of toy piano tunes and gave 'em out to his music makin' friends -- Ergo Phizmiz, Mochipet, Don Limpio, Mister Softee, Rainbow Maze, MNK, Moon Holiday, Jason Dragon among others -- to do with them how ever they pleased (i.e, remix, rearrange and/or rework 'em). Despite the varied participants, the nineteen tracks flow together well, and are all named after delectable frozen treats and flavors such as "Scooter Pie", "Rocky Road", "Slush Bunny", "Softee" and "Nutty Buddy". The one exception both title-wise and sound-wise is "Ice Cream Headache", the comparatively aggro number that closes the album. Seemingly armed with popsicle sticks and plastic spoons, its buzzing blasts of electric guitars tackle the toy pianos leaving a trail of hot fudge, cone crumbs and sprinkles behind. Recommended.
Move over DJ Shadow! Outta the way Cut Chemist! Same goes for all of the rest of you vinyl collagists! Twink (aka AQ pal Mike Langlie) has returned with his thoroughly engaging follow-up to last year's delightful triple 3" cd set of pling-plong music, The Toy Box. Always lovingly and artfully packaged and always with some sort of initial seemingly children's theme, each Langlie release has been very different from the next. You might also recall the cute bunny book with cd combo from a few years back. This new cd is no exception! Now, when you think of a broken record, don't ya think of a needle stuck maddeningly in a repeating groove just waiting to be swatted off the turntable? Well, this Broken Record is far from repetitive. In fact, it'll probably keep you glued to your stereo speaker in anticipation of the next playfully entertaining morsel of which there are a generous twenty one! Meticulously pieced together from vintage novelty and children's records, it's already drawn plenty of tingling attention when it's been played in the store. The Broken Record should definitely cause fans of John Oswald / Plunderphonics, Negativland, and DJ mash-uppers alike to sit up and take notice. For kids of all ages... really. It's a super trip! Released on Negativland's label. Recommended!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Pink Fairies' drummer John "Twink" Alder, responsible for the classic "Think Pink" solo psych album, recorded lots of other stuff back in the day that has just been issued on this disc for the first time. Lots of nodding synth explorations like Conrad Schnitzler, drug-addled rock haze, and, best of all, a poetic reading of J.R.R. Tolkien. All instruments (except bass) played by Mr. Twink himself.
Droning chant, druidic prophecy, spaced-out psych jams, acid-folk ramble, and even proto-new-wave punk rockin'... you'll find all that and more on this little silver disc, which, as the title suggests, collects rare, unreleased 1969-70 demo recordings of stuff
These "demos" sound great, and are essential to anyone into '60s/'70s psych. True, if you have "Think Pink" or "Never Never Land" (lucky you!) you might not *need* these versions, but I bet you'll *want* them... Tracks like "Fluid", "Do It", "Suicide", "Thor", "Ten Thousand Words In A Cardboard Box", "Dawn of Magick", and the rest give aural visions of the likes of Pink Floyd, Hawkwind, T. Rex, and even the MC5 (the American Pink Fairies, you might say).
Plus, if you're a D&D player like Allan you won't be able to resist this for lyrics like "It's the place where the hobbits go / it's the place where the elves all sing / it's the place where the dwarves all play / the only place where you want to stay / Gandalf's Garden..." (from the song "Gandalf's Garden".)
Good things come in threes, and this new release by Twink (aka AQ's dear Bostonian pal Mike Langlie and co.) is the proof in the puddin'! Three lil' three inch cds in a wee cardboard box! One features seven tunes played on a pling plong. In case you're wonderin' "What the heck is that?" Well, according to the liner notes it is "a small mechanical instrument resembling the innards of a music box. Pieces are composed for it by punching holes in long cards, and feeding the cards through the instrument by turning a handle. The card's holes trigger metallic tines to produce notes." Another disc is titled "Small Sound All Around" and contains eight delirious, circus-y songs played on an array of uncommon sound makers such as toy sitar, toy pianos and bamboo xylophone, as well as some slightly more common ones such as contrabass clarinet, melodica, ukulele, chimes and mandolin, and finally the totally common guitars, bass, trumpet and keyboards. The third 3" is a particular fave of a few of us around here right now. It's called "Welcome To The Jingle" and yes, its highlight is the cello'n'chimes cover of "Enter Sandman"! Oh and to top it all off there's also a wee picture book starring the same bunny from Twink's last release which was a delightfully twisted children-style picture book with cd. We have a limited number of the triple 3" box set version, but if / when we run out there is also a single 5" cd version as well.
Please note: this is not the '60s UK psych band of the same name!
Along with the revamped Conet Project, here's another no-brainer for a Record Of The Week� We've listed it before, years and years ago, when there was a cd version on Akarma, but this is a much nicer, expanded, official reissue and it's good to give it a proper review for the first time (back then, we merely quoted The Seth Man from Julian Cope's Head Heritage website, waxing rhapsodic about this record, now we'll do it ourselves).
Oh boy. Do you like psychedelia? DO YOU HAVE THIS ALBUM? If not, you're in for a treat, a mindblowing treat. Think Pink was the brilliant solo effort from former Pretty Things drummer John "Twink" Alder, and it's an all-time aQ fave, an all-time underground psychedelic masterpiece, right up there with the essentials from the likes of Amon Duul II, Pink Floyd, Hawkwind, Sam Gopal, Kaleidoscope, and Tyrannosaurus Rex, and it's just been properly reissued on cd by the UK's Sunbeam label, with a whole bunch of bonus freakery added on. Not that this album NEEDS any bonus freakery, it's about as freaky as you can get to begin with, packed with droning chant, druidic prophecy, spaced-out psych jams, weird twisted pop, and acid-folk ramble. But, too much is never enough, right? So heck, we're happy to have the eight bonus tracks too. More on those later. First, let's discuss the original album itself. As we said, Twink played drums for The Pretty Things, but before that had his own sixties R&B outfit the Fairies. After that band, he was in Tomorrow ("My White Bicycle") with future Yes guitarist Steve Howe, around 1967. Twink then briefly formed a duo called The Aquarian Age, before joining up with The Pretty Things and appearing on their concept-album classic S.F. Sorrow in '68, another aQ fave. At that point, for some crazy reason (things were different/better back then) Twink was offered a deal by Sire to do a solo album, and Think Pink was the glorious, if at the time somewhat unheralded, result, recorded in 1969 with Mick Farren of The Deviants producing. Released in 1970 in the US & Europe, but not 'til '71 in the UK, it's been called the first Pink Fairies album, and in a way it is, as soon after making it, Twink did team up with several ex-members of The Deviants, most of whom played on this, to form that infamous proto-punk outfit. And several tracks here feature contributions from what's credited as "The Pink Fairies Motorcycle Club & All Star Rock & Roll Band".
Also participating are several of Twink's Pretty Things bandmates, his girlfriend Silver Darling, and Steve Peregrin Took, Marc Bolan's partner in Tyrannosaurus Rex and early T-Rex, who plays, among other things, "pixie horn". And one of the most crucial contributors to Think Pink, besides Twink himself, has to be guitarist Paul "Blackie" Rudolph, who really lets loose, earning a hallowed place in the annals of distortodelic guitar wrangling for his work on this album alone (though in the course of his career before and after, he also played with The Deviants, Pink Fairies, Hawkwind, Robert Calvert, and Brian Eno).
Eastern-tinged opener "The Coming Of The Other One" sets the scene, pulling us deep into its trippy Aquarian Age fantasy zone, with a solemn voice reciting Nostradamic verses ("In the year 1999 and seven months, from the skies shall come an alarming powerful king...") accompanied by tablas and sitar. Then comes Think Pink's biggest "hit" as far as we're concerned, an utterly perfect slice of stonery psych called "10,000 Words In A Cardboard Box", just listen to it! That's followed by "Dawn Of Magic" with its raga-like vocal ahhhaaaaahh sounds as if Pandit Pran Nath were on the mic, which suddenly segues into the space-out sike-pop of "Tiptoe On The Highest Hill", a lovely pastoral song that eventually builds into a howling guitar blow-out of the highest order. Then the trippy "Fluid" chimes into being, with its sexy heavy breathing and slinky, springy grooves, making us think of the acid-fried hippy orgasms of krautrockers Brainticket's classic Cottonwood Hill (released later on, in '71, we should also note).
Side two (track six here) opens with the martial fuzz-freakout of "Mexican Grass War", all chanting freaks and wild FX like early Amon Duul and Edgar Broughton Band. The freaky vibes continue, quite weird and wonderful, with the glammed up jam of "Rock An'Roll The Joint", the mellow morbid acoustic strum of "Suicide" and the maniacal "Three Little Piggies", before the album ends with the intense edgy psych pop of "The Sparrow Is A Sign", a song with a malevolent, sinister side to it that reminds us a little bit of Comus - and strangely too of the Sun City Girls, perhaps due to the vocals, provided by Steve Took.
Then, there's all those bonus tracks, the first two of which are actually from the lone 7" single released in '68 by The Aquarian Age, the immediate precursor to the Think Pink project. There's the A side, being the original version of "10,000 Words In A Cardboard Box", and the B side, an amusing number called "Good Wizard Meets Naughty Wizard", which displays just the sort of twee, hippie British humor the title suggests. It's great to hear both of those, and the bonus tracks proliferate further with unreleased, alternate versions of more Think Pink material, somewhat heavier or rawer or definitely different, including two takes of "Fluid" and another version of "10,000 Words...", which we can't get enough of anyway.
All in all, a nicely done reissue, as this deserves, with pages and pages of newly-written, informative liner notes, plus lyrics, credits, vintage photos & graphics. Plus, unlike that previous Akarma version, this is a fully-legit release, done with the participation of Twink himself ("issued under exclusive license from Mohammed Abdullah John Alder, February 2013" it says here, and there's even a picture of him today too - apparently he's become a Muslim, and looks quite happy).
By the way... Nobody here at aQ can think about Think Pink, though, and not also think about our "customer" whom we call The Twink Think Pink Guy. We don't believe he's ever actually bought anything, but he's this older guy that comes in once in a while (and has for years) and always, always, ONLY asks about Think Pink, whether we have it in stock or not, and then talks at great length to anyone who will listen about how great it is. It's his favorite record apparently, but don't let that dissuade you, if you get this you probably won't end up like him. Probably.
Message for The Twink Think Pink Guy, if you're reading this: we expect to see you soon!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
The long planned and long promised definitive document of Sacramento's legendary psych/pop/garage/DIY combo, the Twinkeyz, is finally available. For fans of the Soft Boys!
(Here's what Karl Ikola, who released this cd, says:) "The Twinkeyz released three singles and a (Dutch only) LP in their lifespan. Their name is legendary among collectors and fans of the early punk movement's first sputterings of highly unique and well crafted non-conformist musical expressions: Pere Ubu, Chrome, Debris, the Mirrors and others who were old enough to remember the best aspects of sixties punk and psychedelia but were also bored with the current state of music and decided to self-release potent, crude yet deeply felt music that both participated in and helped to ignite the emerging world-wide DIY music subculture of the late '70s."
(Byron Coley opines:) "The Twinkeyz are one of those exceptional bands whose appearance during the early phase of the punk revolution was a reminder that all that had gone on before was not shit.... Their music was trumpeted by fans with deep underground cred: John Thompson, Greg Prevost, Greg Shaw and the like. Their work was good enough for me. I snapped up the Twinkeyz debut single as soon as I spotted it.... Later, when the Alpha Jerk LP came out, I reviewed it for the NY Rocker, but the production's shortcomings made it something of a disappointment. Hearing the correctly mixed versions of the songs on Aliens In Our Midst is pretty revelatory in that respect. Had it been done right the first time (and had the legendary, long-sought Watch Out For Her Kiss actually been released) the Twinkeyz name would be a whole lot more familiar w/non record scum types than it is right now. One can only hope that this CD cracks the fucking nut for these guys. The Twinkeyz are wildly deserving of a legendary status that has not yet enveloped them. MAYBE THIS IS THEIR YEAR! OK!"
(Scott Miller of the Loud Family:) "The Twinkeyz were the only instance of a band surviving in the local public eye with an innovative sound. (For Sacramentans of the late '70s), the Twinkeyz were even harder to take than the Sex Pistols. Strange, insular, dedicated people who took a palpable risk just by putting such wonderful and unfamiliar sounds on a stage in this atmosphere. People yelled, threw stuff. Sacramento instinctively knew that the Twinkeyz threatened the very Styx/Journey way of life."
Yet another sonic time machine trip, right back to the mid eighties, and as usual, you find yourself transported directly to the credits of a VHS tape in the bargain section of the local video store, or right into a montage of various characters getting ready for the big dance / race to raise money to save the school / rendezvous with the cute girl you've always had a crush on. It's so strange how these youngsters can so masterfully channel a time before they were even born, but then there are plenty of people who are channeling the sixties and seventies, maybe it's more a question of WHY. The decade better forgotten, whether it be fashion or music, but once again, given enough space, we have to say, as reimagined by this new generation, this stuff sounds pretty dang good.
Twins is the latest in a long line of new outfits channeling the sound and spirit of eighties pop music. Zombi, Majeure, Umberto, Outer Limits Recordings, Puro Instinct, Dylan Ettinger, Autre Ne Veut, Craft Spells, Innercity, Greatest Hits, Gatekeeper, Soft Metals, well now you can add Twins, aka one man band Matt Weiner, to that list, but of that whole bunch, we're definitely feeling like Twins might be the weirdest, and at the same time, the most genuinely eighties sounding of the bunch. Or maybe it's just how we wish music in the eighties sounded, or how we remember it, whether it's true or not. Woozy doomy warbly sci-fi funk, crappy Casio disco, warped druggy new wave electro pop. The drums programmed and reverbed, woozy guitar jangle, throbbing synth funk bass, and the vocals, warped and sexy, a whispery croon, heavily effected, the pitch control seemingly on the fritz, slipping into crazy falsetto one second, deep bellow croons the next, the perfect match for the throbbing pulsing neon new wave surrounding it. Unlike the dancey grooves and haunting Carpenter soundtracks of many of the other eighties revivalists, Twins is more concerned with pop music, this is like a glance into some alternate universe, where eighties MTV continued on into the future virtually unchanged, just becoming more and more damaged and fractured and fantastically freaky as it's broadcast across time and space. We're definitely reminded on fucked up pop weirdos like Gary War and Ariel Pink, but if anything, this takes those already fucked up sounds, and adds a whole other level of new wave cabaret drama, transforming a mere exercise in romantic retroism, into something totally and dementedly inspired.
Released on the Synth Series sub label of the mighty Rural Fauna, and of course very very limited�
Listed this on vinyl last time, turns out Death Waltz has also done cd folks a favor and released on on that format as well! (Wish they'd do that for all their soundtracks). Here's what we said about the lp version:
It's hard not to get a bit obsessed with perfectly curated labels, and few do it as well as UK horror soundtrack reissue label Death Waltz - every release stunningly packaged, with super interesting liner notes, amazing new artwork from incredible artists, and the soundtracks themselves, running the gamut from must haves like all the classic Carpenter soundtracks (They Live, Halloween III, Escape From New York), to super obscurities (Living Dead At Manchester Morgue) to modern soundtracks (The Devil's Business, Let The Right One In). We find ourselves anxiously awaiting every new Death Waltz release, whether we've seen the movie or not, heck, whether we've even heard of the movie at all. We have actually heard of Twins Of Evil, from 1971, set in nineteenth century Europe and starring Peter Cushing as a witch/vampire hunter, who is tasked with caring for orphaned twin girls, who may or may not be EVIL! A classic Hammer Horror for sure, produced right when the age restriction for British films was relaxed a bit, which means like many movies of the time, Twins Of Evil is more violent and sexually explicit than many Hammer films. We have yet to see the movie, but the stills look pretty amazing, Cushing as the dapper, troubled witchhunter, a gaggle of scantily clad, nubile vampire witches, what's not to like!
The music itself was recorded by Harry Robinson, who had written songs for the Eurovision song contest, the Children's Film Foundation and even Nick Drake! He had some pop chart hits, but for Twins Of Evil, not his only Hammer horror score incidentally, he looked to the spaghetti westerns for inspiration, and it's easy to hear in Robinson's compositions, with some of the tracks sounding like they could have been plucked from some obscure Morricone score (sans twang and whistling of course), the score is bombastic and dramatic, swirling strings, martial snares, booming timpani's, those strings are sawed ominously and almost violently in places, leading to stretches of the soundtrack that dip into a sound more traditionally sinister, with more obvious horror score moments, ominous drones, tense minor key strings, a good balance for the more orchestral movements. Again, it's hard to say how the score matches up to the visuals, but on their own, it's pretty fantastic.
The oddly named Bogeyrealm Vessels is the latest solo offering from Mehdi Ameziane, 1/2 of psychedelic drone folk duo Natural Snow Buildings. And like past Twinsistermoon records, the sound doesn't deviate too far from Natural Snow Buildings, if anything, the vibe is more pastoral and dreamlike, all of the soft cacophony of NSB is smoothed out into lush landscapes of dreamy shimmer, and warm chordal swirl, tinkling melodies over sweeping sonic vistas of ethereal glimmer, these lush expanses of bleary ambience laced with lovely moments of fluttery folk and hushed delicate songsmithery, Ameziane's voice plaintive and crystalline, floating weightless above woozy whorls of blurred melody and warbly lysergic thrum. The folkier bits sound like some lost seventies acid folk, unearthed for the first time in decades, impossibly soft focus, gauzy and wistfully washed out, that folkiness gradually growing less and less distinct as each track progresses, the sounds often bleeding and blending into one another, until the delicately strummed guitars and dreamlike vocals, melt into a something much more abstract, a heady minimal psychedelic drift that in places sounds like Philip Jeck or Tim Hecker, and in others like the decayed tape loop experiments of William Basinski. So so lovely.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!!! Comes in a super striking full color DVD style digipak, with cool cartoon artwork courtesy of Ameziane's partner in NSB, Solange Gularte.
