[ aquarius records catalogue

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

Showing results 101 through 150 of 380.

The latest in Noiseville's Outer Bounds Of Sound series (past installments have come from Wicked King Wicker, Burnt Hills, Kleistwahr) comes from Ultrabunny, aka the trio that was borne from the demise of legendary noiserock freaks the Bunnybrains. Ultrabunny are heavy and minimal, repetitive and super rocking, a bit like a krautrock Harry Pussy, after a slow build, the band lock into a super repetetive single riff groove, solid and mesmerizing, the sort of sound you wouldn't mind filling up the entire side, soon the vocals come in, a feral caterwaul, the band lurching and pummeling, a sort of looped sounding drug rock, that pounds away, those cracks in your skull slowly spiderwebbing, your grey matter dribbling from your ears. All the tracks here were improvised and recorded live, most are a single riff, maybe two if you're lucky, the vocals yelp and howl, sometimes moan, on one track they just sort of hold a single note, adding another layer of drone to the proceedings, it might be a guitar too, but either way, the track just churns and pounds, the various elements subtly shifting and tangling, creating a sound that seems slightly warped, as if some greater power was holding his finger down on the band, as if they were a record, altering the speed, making everything seems woozy and melty and tripped out and WAY psychedelic. The B-side is a lot heavier and more distorted, wild and on the verge of collapse, channeling some of that classic Japanese psych noise, but still filtered through a cracked lo-fi dirt rock vibe. Killer noise drenched spaced out psychedelic hypnorock, which tells you all you need to know, us, we're digging this big time, especially the B-side. LIMITED TO 300 COPIES!!!

The late great Bunnybrains were definitely an acquired taste. One usually only acquired by folks who already had a taste for Harry Pussy, Liquorball and other purveyors of a similarly difficult sound. With the death of Bunnybrains, thus was born Ultrabunny, a band that on the surface, seemed to be less fucked up, and less jokey than the Bunny that came before, their sound more noise rocky, more spaced out and psychedelic, heavy and druggy and more musical. But fear not, it's still plenty fucked up. On this latest full length, presented as two side long song suites, each meant to be listened as a whole, the band begin the first movement with a hazy bit of tripped out drone swirl, some deep, blackened drift, which quickly erupts into some seriously cacophonous rhythmic churn, super tribal rhythms pelted by sheets of hiss and skree, a bit like some strange Crash Worship / Merzbow mashup, but soon the sound transforms into some heavy, fuzzed out noise rock, droney and hypnotic, a sprawling bit of almost-groove, the guitar gnarled and tangled, twisted and psychedelic, a sound not all that far removed from groups like Burnt Hills or The Heads, equal parts space rock, krautrock, and that classic Homestead Records Midwestern pigfuck noise rock, culminating in a glorious spaced out buzz drenched psych jam outro. The second side/movement is way more relentlessly rocking, slipping from Butthole Surfers style dirgey rhythmic freakouts, replete with helium-ed processed vox, to trippy psych drone ambience to pounding druggy space/noise rock pummel. LIMITED TO 300 COPIES, each one hand numbered, packaged in old school paste on bootleg style sleeves.

Back in stock! Got a very limited number of these from the label, at a way cheaper price. Bunnybrains 88 are now called Ultrabunny, but the sound is still as Bunnybrained as ever. Read on... You know how much we love the Bunnybrains around here. Their chaotic retarded garage rock chaos gets us everytime. We were blown away by the recent Box The Bunny release, that collected all their old recordings and included a dvd of insane and ridiculous footage. So you can imagine how psyched we were to learn that there was a brand new Bunnybrains record! So why the 88 you ask? Well, apparently there were two separate bands that joined forces in 1988 and became the Bunny brains we know and love. After 17 years or so, rock and roll took its toll and the Bunnybrains split back into two separate units. Both bands are 100% Bunnybrains (or at least 98%) and both bands kick ass! This new 10" from Bunnybrains 88, now ULTRABUNNY is ULTRA limited, to only 333 copies, the first 88 of which came in super fancy boxes and were $50 or more and are now out of print. But do not fear, the other 245 copies are nearly as cool, gorgeously packaged in custom letterpressed Bruce Licher sleeves, an elaborate cardstock interlocking foldover, with lovely maroon and white text and filigree. The vinyl is breathtaking as well, half clear, half opaque red, and the sleeve has a nifty sparkly pink stick affixed to the front. One track on one side, and two simultaneous tracks on the other! Includes a bunch of inserts including a sticker and FAQ that goes into greater depth about the whole multiple Bunnybrains thing. Each copy is also hand numbered! WOW!

Noisy jazz skronk from Noxagt members, on Load.

New on Rune Grammofon, the latest relaxed blast of atmospheric instrumental improv from Ultralyd, the Norwegian extreme "jazz" outfit that features folks from Load label noiserockers Noxagt (old AQ pal, bassist Kjetil Brandsdal) and Rune G electronic spazzcore duo Moha! (guitarist Anders Hana and drummer Morten J. Olsen). The quartet is rounded out by another Kjetil, last name Moster, on saxophones. Together they stir up some trouble in the vein of countrymen Supersilent, Shining, and Jagga Jazzist, filtered through several spins of John Zorn's Morricone tribute The Big Gundown, perhaps. Ultralyd swing haunting cinematic soundscapes packed with percolating grooves and eerie drones, tense guitar skree and jaunty horn tootin'. We like.

MPEG stream: Saprochord
MPEG stream: Comphonie V
MPEG stream: Musica Imperativa

Noxagt-connected Norwegian skronk jazz band!!

While previous albums from this extreme Norwegian instrumental ensemble could be kinda be considered (skronky) jazz, and their previous cd release, 2007's Conditions For A Piece Of Music had its moody, Morricone-ish elements, this one is not so jazzy and not so melodic, coming closer to bass player Kjetil Brandsdal's noiserock act Noxagt in brutal effect. Make no mistake, jazz instrumentation (sax, vibraphone) is still present, but takes a back seat to the heavy duty, and ultimately hypnotic, repetitive rhythmic assault laid down by the bass and drums, over which the synth, electric guitar, sax, and vibes provide additionally apocalyptic coloration, but never truly sidetrack or slow down the chaotic yet cyclic rumble and tumble of these six lurching, long tracks. If it's jazz, it's droog-stomped jazz, muscled up with crunching low-slung bass, and martial, punishing drum beats... imagine maybe if 16-17 and Supersilent teamed up to do something that sounded like Circle... but scary. There's skree and squall, for sure, but it's all focused on the rhythmic imperative, and damn if this isn't as utterly enthralling as it is urgent and ugly. Except that it's not really ugly, just distorted and oppressive. As Rune G's "jazz" bands go, Ultralyd is the one for those who hate jazz, and love hate. Or something like that. Recommended to all you sickos, go on, get it out of your system!

MPEG stream: Lahtuma
MPEG stream: Contaminated Man
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Great remixes, including some '97 versions incorporating relatively new skool Dr. Octagon samples into old skool UMC favorites.

Apparently full length number three from these Belgian experimental heavies, though the first thing we've heard from these guys, and it's kicking our asses big time, but then, really we shouldn't be surprised, hell, it's on Riot Season, home to Shit And Shine, Skull Defekts, Black Boned Angel, Aluk Todolo, Todd, Hey Colossus and loads of other aQ faves, and Ultraphallus fit right in, with their twisted avant doom and experimental sludge, a sort of twisted sprawling avant noise rock, that should most definitely appeal to fans of any or all of the above mentioned bands. The cool thing about Ultraphallus is that their sound is al over the place, when we were just cranking this in the store, someone thought it was Unearthly Trance, someone else though it was some nineties noise rock band, both of which could very well have been the case, instead it's a twisted, fucked up hybrid of the two, along with some creeping blackdrone ambience, some blown out ultra doom, some grinding blackened crust and whatever other fractured heaviness these guys can cook up. The record swings wildly from black ambient noisescapery, thick clouds of swirling crumbling distorted sound, massive buzzing bass, and strange processed vox, to pounding almost Melvins-y sounding noise rock crush, heavy but hooky, with shrieked vox and some seriously catchy melodies, to mathy dirgey droned out doom, all downtuned riffage and pounding dirgey rhythms, to creepy swaggery swampy slither, sprawling and spacious, the vocals a croaked growl, the guitar sinewy, all laid over a grim black expanse of rumble and drift, to full on speaker shredding, crumbling blacknoise, to twisted free jazz drone sludge, squalls of skronking horns over clouds of cymbal sizzle and staticky hiss, to lumbering banjo (?!) flecked sludge pop, to experimental ambience, all layered drones and creepy atmospheres (with some wailed vocalizing by special guest Eugene from Oxbow), to one last jam, a haunting expanse of rumbling, shimmering dark dronemusic, laced with strange samples, stretched out into a hellish landscape of buzz and whir and creep and blur. Awesome stuff, and most definitely a worthy addition to Riot Season's ever expanding roster of twisted and damaged heaviness.

MPEG stream: Pathological Freemind Verse
MPEG stream: Right Models
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Three adorable Italian boys playing mellow instrumental post-rock. Lots of soaring guitars in the background, with anguished minor key figerpicking up front. More about creating a real mood than about verse-chorus-verse, y'know. Not as loud as Mogwai, not as quiet as Sonna, but drawing from both of those band's vibes. Unremarkable but quite pleasant. It'll be interesting to hear future

RealAudio clip: Faye

Lupine Norwegian tricksters Ulver have been around for 10 years now, and mark the occasion with this invitational remix album, something very appropriate for a group whose whole career has been about morphing and reinventing themselves, remaining weirdo outsiders in whatever genre they visit. A decade ago they started out (and still have some residual allegiance to) the Nordic black metal genre, but today we're not sure what genre they claim, certainly it's not metal anymore. Glitchy electronica and downtempo beats took over from buzzing guitars and blast beats, but there's a definite connection between the two as this project proves. Remixers include Ulver themselves (whose track goes way back to their Vargnatt demo tape from '93 for source material) and an international cast of experimentalists: Merzbow, Fennesz, Stars Of The Lid, Neotropic, Bogdan Raczynski, Third Eye Foundation, Information, Upland, Pita, V/Vm, Jazzkammer and a few others. An impressive and unusual line-up, certainly not entirely what we expected. Some do drones, some delve into beat-scapes, while others go for the raw black stuff, such as Merzbow (of course) whose ten-minute "Vow me Ibrzu" is one of the highlights, being a properly scary and noisy trawl through the evil riffage of Ulver's metallic past. Quite a few of the mixes are drawn from Ulver's more recent electronica efforts (Perdition City, the Silence eps, and the Lycantropen Themes soundtrack), but not all -- early stuff from Ulver's classic lycanthropian "Trilogie" of black metal albums (Bergtatt and Nattens Madrigal specifically) makes it on here as well. Several more mixes derive from Ulver's industrial version of William Blake's Marriage of Heaven and Hell, the double cd that was an early signpost of Ulver's willingness to violate genre norms and musical categorization. Like it says here, wolves evolve... MPEG Download: FENNESZ "Only The Poor Have To Travel" [/audio/ulverfennesz.mp3] MPEG Stream: FENNESZ "Only The Poor Have To Travel" [/audio/ulverfennesz.m3u] MPEG Download: UPLAND "Lost In Moments Remix" [/audio/ulverupland.mp3]

MPEG stream: Only The Poor Have To Travel
MPEG stream: Lost In Moments Remix
MPEG stream: Vow me Ibrzu

Now available on vinyl for a limited time, this strange little moody ep From Norwegian horde Ulver, no black metal here though, this is later, the ambient electronic mysterious side of the band that created the grim blackbuzz classic Nattens Madrigal. Red vinyl, printed inner sleeve. And of course super limited... The title doesn't lie. This 2003 transmission from those Norwegian eccentrics Ulver consists of but four songs, a sampling of gothic glitch rock, the sad-synth-symphonic soundtrack to a ghost story left to you to imagine. The melodies and electronic beats give little clue to Ulver's origins as a vulpine black metal band, although the final track is in fact a rearrangement of a piece from their 1996 Kveldssanger opus, and makes an ominous, distortion-filled ending to the ep without altering the mood already set by the chamber strings and doleful male singing of the previous three tracks. With this ep, Ulver continue their ectoplasmic existence as a restless spirit that filters through many musical bodies, fully possessing none but leaving weird nightmares behind...

MPEG stream: Little Blue Bird
MPEG stream: Eitttlane

The title doesn't lie. This latest transmission from those Norwegian eccentrics Ulver consists of but four songs, a sampling of gothic glitch rock, the sad-synth-symphonic soundtrack to a ghost story left to you to imagine. The melodies and electronic beats give little clue to Ulver's origins as a vulpine black metal band, although the final track is in fact a rearrangement of a piece from their 1996 Kveldssanger opus, and makes an ominous, distortion-filled ending to the ep without altering the mood already set by the chamber strings and doleful male singing of the previous three tracks. With this ep, Ulver continue their ectoplasmic existence as a restless spirit that filters through many musical bodies, fully possessing none but leaving weird nightmares behind...

MPEG stream: Little Blue Bird
MPEG stream: Eitttlane

Ulver. Once one of Norway's black metal, Viking wolfpacks. Worshipping at the dark throne of, ah, Darkthrone. But those days are long past... Ulver have evolved. You know this. Electronica. Techno. Goth. Post-rock. Soundtracks. Pop. Drone. All these things, good things...but no longer black metal. If you've followed the chameleons known as Ulver this far, and you've liked *everything* they've done, then you're gonna like Blood Inside too. But if you've had your doubts, then maybe this is gonna be the toughest one to swallow yet (despite what we heard pre-release about how "heavy" it was gonna be). 'Cause now they kinda sound like Tears For Fears. Tears For Fears at the circus. Ok, it's not all like that. But there is a lot of singing. And gently gloomy pop atmospheres, and filmic orchestration, and weird progginess, and yes, some heaviness. Maybe later we'll realize this is Ulver's Faith No More's Angel Dust. However, one track features what sounds like an unanswered cell-phone ringing...and ringing. Who needs that on a cd?? Sorry, at first blush we're just not feeling it. Yet maybe Ulver have evolved beyond us. We'll give 'em the benefit of the doubt. But, we can definitely say that if you gave up at their last true studio-recorded full-length album before this one, Perdition City (as did Andee), this won't bring you back. And even if you liked that or subsequent releases like Teachings In Silence (which Allan considers the best post-black metal Ulver) or the A Quick Fix Of Melancholy ep you should check this out but it *might* be too Tears For Fearsy for you nonetheless. Of course, we're sure there's a whole audience for this (Tears For Fears fans?) that have never even heard of Ulver before... but we doubt they're reading this. It's tough. We want to like this. And maybe you will. But the ultimate test had to be, if it didn't say Ulver on it, would we even be listening? The textural glitch improv loveliness of Teachings In Silence definitely passed that test. This, though, well, it might take a few more listens...therein lies the paradox. I guess I'd better take one home just to be on the safe side. Additional note: this comes enhanced with a video track for your computer.

MPEG stream: For The Love Of God
MPEG stream: It Is Not Sound

Those genre-defying former black metallers (a long long time ago, now!) Ulver return, with an unusual even for them detour into all-covers territory! Specifically, a collection of (mostly) obscure sixties psych faves, as it says on the cover, "lost & found from the Age of Aquarius". They do 16 such nuggets, all moody, kaleidoscopic treats originally recorded by the following artists: The Pretty Things, The Byrds, Bonniwell's Music Machine, Chocolate Watchband, Jefferson Airplane, Gandalf, The Electric Prunes, 13th Floor Elevators, Troggs, Left Banke, Beau Brummels, Common People, Music Emporium, Curt Boettcher, Les Fleur De Lys, and The United States Of America. And they do them well. Not totally straight, but not black metal versions either (which, really, might have been even more interesting!). No, this is a respectful tribute, Ulver emulating the originals fairly accurately, but boosted with some modern prog rock power & polish, presumably with the mission of introducing 'em to a new audience, though we'd venture to guess that folks who listen to Ulver these days already have pretty wide ranging musical tastes... Comes in nice hardback digibook packaging, though we don't know if the use of the iconic napalmed naked Vietnamese children running in the street photo is in such great taste, though it makes sense with the title of course... Ulver definitely demonstrates good taste in their musical selections here, however! We were especially stoked to see the Gandalf pick. It's all great stuff, Ulver's versions reminding us a little bit of another Norwegian fave of ours (also with some black metal connections), Lars Pedersen's When, who also digs the '60s sikepop.

MPEG stream: I Had Too Much to Dream Last Night (Electric Prunes)
MPEG stream: Velvet Sunsets (Music Emporium)

This latest release from unclassifiable Norwegian electronica experimentalists Ulver (y'know, the not-a-black-metal-band-anymore-so-don't-even-ask Ulver) is a soundtrack to some sort of arty werewolf film (we think, check out the trailer at http://www.lyckantropen.com/trailer.php) by Swedish director Steve Ericsson. Following on in the style of their recent, quite nice "improv-glitch" eps (collected on the Teachings In Silence cd reviewed last list), Ulver's music for Ericsson's film is suitably dark and moody -- and glitchily melodic. Loops and crackle and synth drones, almost entirely instrumental, in a very "modern" electronic vein -- not a bit like Ulver's previous werewolf-themed albums (Nattens Madrigal for instance)! You'll hear no distorted metallic Darkthrone worship here (although things get a little frantic on the disc's tenth and final track). This is informed more by the likes of Tarwater and Autechre and downtempo electronica, and they do it well. Scoring soundtracks may indeed be Ulver's new true calling, though we'd still love it if they'd surprise us again in the future with yet another new direction. As good as this is, they've yet to really be as original or unique in their adopted/adapted "electronica" guise as they were in the realm of black metal.

RealAudio clip: track 8
RealAudio clip: track 10

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

SORRY. The most predicably unpredicable band on the Norwegian black metal scene has to be Ulver. They've made an album of metallic, raw Darkthrone worship, another of pure acoustic folk, and (most recently) even a double cd combining William Blake poetry with industrial beats. Now, with this new four-track ep, they've gone fully techno, Ulver-style, meaning dark, heavy electronica beats with only traces of the old Ulver remaining, mainly in the occasional Viking-opera vocals. Appropriate to this "metamorphosis", the cd tray features the following message from the band: "Ulver is obviously not a black metal band...we are proud of our former instincts, but wish to liken our association with said genre to that of the snake with Eve. An incentive to further frolic only. If this discourages you in any way, please have the courtesy to refrain from voicing superficial remarks regarding our music and/or personae. We are as unknown to you as we always were." Yet another surprising release from this unique band.

Strange Norwegian Black Metal band's third album, subtitled "Eight Hymnnes to the Wolf in Man". Unlike their previous record, which was an entirely acoustic folk music, this is an almost all-electric onslaught, recorded in such a (demented?) way as to make the guitars sound like giant bees. The electricity of this record is highlighted also by the way each and every track seemingly stars with the sound of their instruments being plugged in. Utter Darkthrone worship, but better!

Well it's pretty clear that these Norwegian weirdos will never be a "black metal" band again. Following the industrial and techno experimentation of their last two releases comes the new disc, "Perdition City" (pretentiously subtitled "music to an interior We managed to get a few of the LIMITED EDITION version (same price) for the moment. The music is the same, but the booklet is bigger, with more photos, and it comes in an oversized weird sort-of-jewel case. But once they're gone, they're gone for good, and then we'll have to sell you the not-limited normal version.

RealAudio clip: Lost In Moments
RealAudio clip: The Future Sound Of Music

The band formerly known as a black metal band Ulver, now known as arty WTF? band Ulver, has morphed and morphed again over the years. Black metal, folk, electronica, pop, techno... some of Ulver's metamorphoses have worked better than others. They've gone through phases influenced by both Portishead and Radiohead. But lately these Norwegian tricksters have seemingly settled down to something stable, an avant-garde, electronica-infused, gloomy pop-prog identity. Their previous album Blood Inside was a bit too Tears For Fearsy for our tastes, unfortunately (though we know lots of folks loved it). Or maybe that would have been ok, but the circus-y bits really lost us. However, Shadows Of The Sun, while charting a similar course, veers mostly to the languid and lovely, which we rather like. The nine tracks here tend to flow together calmly, never breaking the twilight mood. Hints of glitchiness and distortion are interwoven with yearning melody, smooth almost New Agey blissfullness, deep breathy baritone vox. Also, a warning (to some): saxophone. A little. And at this point, needless to say, there's nothing remotely metal about any of it. Well, there is a Black Sabbath cover, but they chose one of the Sabs' most delicate and torpid songs, "Solitude", in keeping with this album's sad mood, Garm's vocals wearier even than were Ozzy's originally, uncheered by the jazz inflections included in Ulver's arrangement. Those who have followed and remained fans of Ulver thus far, though, should find this latest melancholic manifestation quite satisfying. Oh, and considering his following among the AQ crowd, we should note that Christian Fennesz makes a cameo appearance on this record.

MPEG stream: Eos
MPEG stream: Let The Children Go

Formerly black metal avantgardists Ulver of Norway present 24 minutes of electonic experimental improv, a slowly-unfolding collage of organic drones and beats and clicks and field recordings and post-rock piano melody etc., that might remind you of everything The long, lone track on this limited edition ep was constructed from material recorded in a one-night "Dead City Centre jam" last February during the sessions for Ulver's most recent full-length, the love it or hate it "Perdition City". Unlike that album, though, this ep benefits from a lack of horrendous vocal and saxophone contributions! While some of Ulver's past attempts to branch out into non-black metal genres have been, as just alluded to, kinda shaky (if commendable in spirit), this stands up well in the "experimental/electronica" category. Recommended, as possibly Ulver's best post-metal effort.

RealAudio clip: Silence... (excerpt)

Here's another limited edition ep from the impossible to classify Norwegian band Ulver, following up their similarly titled (and similar looking) "Silence Teaches You How To Sing EP" from earlier this year. Again, about a half hour of music, this time broken Ulver of course originally made their name in the black metal scene, with such classic the-forest-is-my-throne-style albums as "Nattens Madrigal" and "Kveldsanger", full of church-burning riffs and wolverine vocals (and acoustic folk music in the case of "Kveldsanger"). And we won't deny that that's some of their best stuff, it is. But since those days they've abandoned black metal and morphed into some sort of odd electronic/experimental band -- and as well, Ulver leader Krystoffer "Garm" Rygg started up the Jester label to release music by all sorts of likeminded (i.e. fucked) Norwegian artists (including When, Bogus Blimp, Esperanza, and of course Ulver). And while their black metal past isn't overtly evident on this recording, we could suppose that Ulver's earlier appreciation of the grim, lo-fi, trance-like ambience created by their (former) heroes Darkthrone and Mayhem is still a part of Ulver's sound, explaining their music's current immersion in a grimy (if not grim) background of constant crackle and buzzing drones. Well, that and the fact that such sounds are now as hip in experimental/electronica circles as they are cult in metal. Speaking of cult, the cryptic as always liner notes claim "Ulver do their best to show you the wall in every door". Not sure what that means, exactly, but that statement still seems to sum up their history of willful genre-shifting and puzzling abstraction, of which "Silencing The Singing" is only the most recent, and one of the most enjoyable, examples. Get it while you can. And look forward to Ulver's next project, which is promised to be an Apocalyptica-like orchestral remake of their dirtiest sounding, most mean and metal disc, "Nattens Madrigal"!

RealAudio clip: Track 1
RealAudio clip: Track 3

We're still waiting on the upcoming string quartet version of Ulver's black metal masterpiece Nattens Madrigal, but in the meantime they've released something else new, another soundtrack effort (their second, after last year's Lyckantropen Themes). As with that album, Ulver are in their current manifestation as a dark, avant-electronica act, their Nordic metal past a mere shadow cast over the proceedings. With eerie, tinkling piano and far-off, distant screams, Ulver create sonic echoes of crimes that we'll assume appear on celluloid in Svidd Neger. Melancholic horns and downtempo beats make this a creepy yet club-contemporary sounding listen. And after you're lulled into thinking it's all gonna be quiet and mellow, wham some ominous heavy chords come crashing down, Mogwai-style. Mostly though, this is quiet and creepy, and menacingly melodic.

MPEG stream: Wild Cat
MPEG stream: Rock Massif Pt. 1

This new cd from Norwegian avantgarde ex-black metallers Ulver isn't really new, as it actually is a reissue compilation of their two limited edition, now out of print eps "Silence Teaches You How To Sing" and "Silencing The Singing" on one handy, domestically issued disc (by a new label run by Aaron of tUMULt's noise-pop artists Iran, who met Ulver while in Norway filming a documentary about the black metal scene!). So, you don't need it if you already have those two import discs, but if you don't, we most certainly recommend it -- both eps are two of Ulver's best post-black metal efforts to date, as they move into unclassifiable experimental/electronica realms. To sum up our previous commentary on these eps: "Silence Teaches You..." is a single, 24 minute track of electonic experimental improv, a slowly-unfolding collage of organic drones and beats and clicks and field recordings and post-rock piano melody etc., that might remind you of everything from Tarwater to Philip Jeck to Fennesz to Mogwai... Quite mellow, dark and beautiful, a soundscape composed, in part, of static-y electro-grime overlaying scratchy vinyl looping with occasional wordless drifting vocals. It was constructed from material recorded in a one-night "Dead City Centre jam" during the sessions for Ulver's previous full-length album, the love it or hate it "Perdition City". Unlike that album, though, this ep benefits from a lack of horrendous vocal and saxophone contributions! The similar in method/sound "Silencing The Singing" follows, three tracks providing another half hour of music, constructed of repetitive melodic and non-melodic loops (some notes on a piano, scratchy vinyl surface noise, what might be far-off voices), gradually joined by electronic blips and beats. The mood is quiet and languid, as are the rhythms, although the last track builds into a lovely few final moments of loud distortion. Ulver of course originally made their name in the black metal scene, with such classic the-forest-is-my-throne-style albums as "Nattens Madrigal" and "Kveldsanger", full of church-burning riffs and wolverine vocals (and acoustic folk music in the case of "Kveldsanger"). And we won't deny that that's some of their best stuff -- it is. But since those days they've abandoned black metal and morphed into some sort of odd, willfully abstract electronic/experimental band -- and as well, Ulver leader Krystoffer "Garm" Rygg started up the fab Jester label to release music by all sorts of likeminded (i.e. fucked) Norwegian artists (including AQ faves When, Bogus Blimp, Origami Galaktika, Rotoscope, and of course Ulver). And while Ulver's black metal past isn't overtly evident on these recordings, we could suppose that their earlier appreciation of the grim, lo-fi, trance-like ambience created by their (former) heroes Darkthrone and Mayhem is still a part of Ulver's sound, explaining their music's current immersion in a grimy (if not grim) background of constant crackle and buzzing drones. Well, that and the fact that such sounds are now as hip in experimental/electronica circles as they are cult in metal.

RealAudio clip: Silence... (excerpt)
RealAudio clip: Silencing... track 1
RealAudio clip: Silencing... track 3

Probably the most anticipated metal record of the year outside of the Emperor record, but for a drastically different reason; everyone was curious how much it might suck. After all, this is the record that got them dropped from Century Media for not being metal enough. Early reviews made repeated references to 'trip hop' and 'Tricky' and 'Portishead'. Even distributors were wary of carrying what apparently was a non-metal record, hence our difficulty in ordering it. This is as unlikely a direction as one could imagine for Ulver. They hinted at this new direction on their second, 'folk' album, although their next record Nattens Madrigal found them in ferocious buzzing blur mode. William Blake finds a bit of that folk element fused with elements of metal, ambient, goth, trip-hop, 80's industrial and spoken word. You may remember a similarly unconventional mix on the last Arcturus record, although this record is significantly more epic in length (two cd's) and scale (examining the writings of William Blake through the lens of seemingly unrelated genres). What makes this record assuredly Ulver is the sheer audacity of recording what is essentially a literary dissertation. And they've earned the right to do so; releasing three of the best and most original metal records of the last several years as well as being the only sober, educated voice in The Lords of Chaos. The store is divided on it. Andee and Marc, though confused by it, like it a lot. Jim says he would have loved it in High School. Allan and Elisabeth are still unsure. (And Windy's too busy looking for a carpenter to even have an opinion.) So this is both a warning and a recommendation.

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

SORRY. Bootleg (note it's on "Dead Not Found" not legit label "Head Not Found") release of early material by two legendary Norwegian black metal acts, the now so avant garde that they're not black metal anymore Ulver and black metal diehards even today Immortal. Of course back in the early '90s, both bands were True with a captial T: raw, church-burning black metal of the purest sort. Demotape tracks from both bands (4 from Ulver, 3 from Immortal), plus an Ulver song from their rare split 7" with Mysticum. Ulver's stuff melds neo-classical melodicism with lo-fi Burzum-style noise-production, which certainly sets the stage for several of their later releases. Immortal's tracks are EXTREMELY lo-fi, with the Popeye death-grunts being the most audible aspect. Oh, the atmosphere! For fans only, of course (who will also no doubt appreciate the shocking anti-Dimmu Borgir tray-card graphics).

Another batch of unabashed Goblin / John Carpenter worship from this aQ beloved synth wrangler, and really not sure what to say about Umberto that we haven't already, from song one here, you're immediately ushered into some creepy, lost world, of ominous spirits and glimmering starlit skies, of long lonely winding roads, old abandoned buildings, and mysteries lurking in the shadows. The sound evokes wandering down dimly lit roads, or late night car chases, pulsating rhythms, swirling synths, throbbing drum machines, chorale like textures, squiggly melodies, lush chordal swells, dark and ominous one second, soaring and dramatic the next, super cinematic and soundtracky, all Umberto needs is a time machine and he could definitely go head to head with Goblin back in the day. Moody retro cinematic synthscapery and tense, dark, electronic moodiness that never fails to evoke a glorious sense of sonic dread, and inevitably has us imagining some outlandish scenario, these sounds playing while we desperately try to elude a mystery killer, or escape from some haunted house. Fantastic!

MPEG stream: Night Fantasy
MPEG stream: Initial Revelation
MPEG stream: Confrontation

The latest chunk of seventies/eighties faux giallo soundtrack John Carpenter / Goblin worship from longtime aQ faves Umberto comes in the form of this EXTREMELY limited one-sided silk-screened 12". Umberto, aka Matt Hill, who is one half of psychedelic spacekraut explorers Expo 70, offers up another glorious slab of brooding cinematic ambience, this one a lot more ambient that past outings. More on that in a second. Final Exit is packaged in a super striking fold over sleeve, which features the image of one unlucky man's final exit, laying on a bed, suffocated with a plastic bag over his head, the sleeve also bears the legend: "This record is intended to accompany the last moments of your suffering." It also features a seal, adorned with a flower, and the words "good life / good death". The record itself is one sided, the flipside featuring another image of that same man, this time eyes opened and bulging! Morbid for sure. And the music follows suit. Sort of. In some ways it almost sounds more like a slightly more sinister and soundtracky Expo 70, with warm swoonsome synth swirls, a sort of darkly new age-y drift, moody and broody, with lush swells that sound almost choral, the vibe is definitely majestic and cinematic, but is also minimal and restrained. A few minutes in, percolating synth melodies surface amidst the dark swirls, and then a simple heartbeat like pulse, motorik and minimally propulsive, near the end the sound changes tone and timbre becoming much more gristly and distorted the hum and thrum transformed into a crumbling buzz, ominous and sinister, the whole sound hazy and gauzy, and gradually fading to black. The record sounds great at both 33 and 45rpm, but we tend to like things slower, so at 33 it definitely sounds much creepier and gloomier. LIMITED TO JUST 150 COPIES!!! Each one is hand numbered. When we run out, we will NOT be able to get more, so if you want one, act fast. Word of warning: These come in those super brittle plastic picture disc sleeves that, to be blunt, kinda suck, so every single one of the sleeves is slightly damaged, whether it's cracked on the corner, or with a seam split, it's the nature of those sleeves, and of having them shipped from overseas too (which also resulted in some some bent corners and so forth), so if you're super anal, or a nit picky collector, you have been warned, everyone else, you should be fine, they're all housed in a second polybag anyway, and the records themselves are in perfect condition (and look amazing!), so grab one before they're gone!

The first thing you notice is the goofy Eddie Murphy cover art, with the altered tagline "He's been ZUULed, thrown through a window, and arrested." The second thing you notice are the equally cheesy sounds inside, channeling the same eighties VHS soundtrack grooves as before, but somehow, where in the past, Umberto sounded like horror movie scores, or lost John Carpenter soundtracks, or sci-fi fantasy weirdness, this one sounds like it COULD actually have come from an Eddie Murphy movie, funky synthed out grooves, programmed drums, faux horn melodies, at least on "Put An APB On Those Bastards". "Common Street trash" almost sounds like it could have been titled "Love Theme from Common Street Trash", all hazy washed out melodies, another weird horn like refrain, everything super dramatic and heartfelt and again fantastically cheesy. "Going Rogue", laces some piano over soaring strings, some big stadium drums, a slow building super tense, but all too brief bit of dramatic musical tension, before the big finish, "Illegal Entry With Intent To Zuul", with its Barney Miller bassline, sizzling high hats, new wave drums, and yep, another cheesy electronic sax solo, all washed out and woozy, as faded as the crappy VHS print of whatever imaginary movie this came from, the funky bass rooting it solidly mid eighties, same with the sax, the second half gets a little more far out and new wavey, with some strange synth melodies, all the while teetering right on the edge of goofy retro synth revivalism and the sort of thing we weren't sure we understood even the first time around... Goblin fans should be pleased!

MPEG stream: Put An APB On Those Bastards
MPEG stream: Illegal Entry With Intent To Zuul

Doubtless many movie (and music) buffs would agree that Italian '70s and '80s "giallo" (horror/thriller) cinema, from directors like Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci, had soundtracks usually as evocative and inspirational as any visual aspect of the films, soundtracks which often stand as effective works of art all on their own. The scores by prog band Goblin being perhaps best known, influencing such modern day bands as Zombi and Crime In Choir. Now here's another, utterly blatant and most excellent example of Italian giallo soundtrack worship by a current artist: Umberto! Umberto is actually a one-man band, that man being Matt Hill, live collaborator / touring member of AQ faves Expo '70! Under his guise of Umberto, he has just released his first album as limited edition cassette and cd-r on the Sonic Mediations label run by Expo '70 mainman Justin Wright. While Expo '70 has proven to be especially adept at channelling the heavy kosmiche bliss of prime '70s krautrock a la Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel, Umberto is equally savvy at conjuring the dark, suspenseful soundtrack-y sounds of Goblin and the like. With, some cosmic Klaus-y krauty-ness thrown in as well. This definitely sounds like it could be an actual soundtrack, in fact, someone should MAKE a film just to use this as a soundtrack. You can certainly do so in your imagination, aided perhaps by the cinematically suggestive track titles, which include "Running Blade", "Intermission", "Dream Sequence", "Shower Scene", and "End Credits" (the only track here with vocals, otherwise it's all instrumental... and the vocals on this last track are some sort of hard-to understand, chant-like invocation). Listen with the lights off for best results. Umberto has a heavily synthesized sound, keyboards buzzing and droning and squelching, crunchily distorted or eerily ethereal, sounding at once like ominous Gothic organ music and also spacey futuristic electronica. Mechanical drumming plods along, propulsive beats adding to the menacing atmosphere. There's also plenty of fat disco synth-bass, and we bet folks into Italians Do It Better 12"s, or Black Devil Disco Club, or even skweee would get a kick out of this too, not just Goblin fanatics... but yeah Goblin fanatics (and John Carpenter and Zombi fans too) REALLY ought to check this out! Very cool, very creepy, and even at times kinda catchy-groovy.

MPEG stream: Forsaken Dawn
MPEG stream: It Came From The Swamp
MPEG stream: Running Blade

We LOVED the previous Umberto album, From The Grave, and are stoked that he/they/it have finally returned with another full length packed with oodles of Goblin-y goodness, just in time for Halloween!! But the sound of the Expo 70-associated Umberto is not strictly that scary, at least not all the time, in fact, like Goblin and other '80s Italian fright-film soundtrackers, most of the scary stuff here is really just an *underlying* un-ease, a sinister suspenseful undercurrent over which more "groovy" stuff gets down. And way more groovy this one most definitely is, some serious haunted dancefloor action, or horror movie disco, or whatever you want to call it, but Umberto has for sure upped the funk/groove quotient, lacing the usual cocktail of thick, tense, pulsing synth throb, minimal motorik rhythms and heavy ominous drones with plenty of funky basslines, crunchy modulated keyboard buzz, soaring synths, chanted voices and propulsive grooves... Here and there, the sound gets all stripped down leaving just gurgly, crumbly distorted low end peppered with spaced out booming rhythms, or creepy ambient atmospheres, but the songs tend to slip quickly back into haunted shuffly rhythms, woozy horror movie atmospherics, ominous strings laced funky grooves and dark descending bass blarp. The second side begins with one of those tracks that sounds like the music that always introduces us to the main character in all those seventies thrillers, the little girl playing with her dollies, the old woman in the garden, the sound is tranquil but subtly sinister, here it's a music box like melody, plinking dreamily beneath haunting strings, and soft swirls of creepy voice like synth, total horror movie soundtrack shivers for sure. After that it's back to wah guitars, chiming bells, groovy Italo funk haunted dancefloor grooviness, but this time with some cool washed out M83 style female vocal textures, a shoegazey gauze over that propulsive Goblin-y groove. If we had to pick a single song that was THE ONE here, it would probably be "Someone Chasing Someone Through A House" which sounds exactly LIKE THAT, pulsing throbbing synths, electronic squelches, deep ominous drones, dark swells, foreboding and creepy and tense and SCARY! The album ends with an upbeat track entitled "Everything Is Going To Be Ok", all sun-coming-up, yay we survived the zombie onslaught good cheer & cheesiness. The sort of music that plays over the closing credits, or even better, over the final shot which lulls you into a sense of false security, before a decaying hand bursts through the ground, or a beast explodes from the water and drag our heroine out of the boar, some sort of shock to let you know that evil won't stay buried... which of course usually leads to a sequel, and we are definitely looking forward to the next installment of groovy Gobliny sonic scares from Umberto!

The lead track from Umberto's 2010 album Prophecy Of The Black Widow gets an extended "disco" remix here on this new 12".

It took a while, but last year's Umberto release for Mogwai's Rock Action label finally got some decent US distribution, and we're pretty glad since we've been bugging the label and import distros about it for months now. 'Cause as you know we're huge Umberto fans, we absolutely love his Goblin-worshipping, giallo-inspired sinister cinematic synthscapes and this one's another spinetingler. And it's the (alternate) soundtrack to an actual movie, too! Most Umberto releases have been of the -imaginary- soundtrack variety, but The Night Has A Thousand Screams was composed and performed as live accompaniment for a 1982 slasher flick called Pieces, by cult Spanish director Juan Piquer Simon, as screened at the 2012 Glasgow Music And Film Festival. As you'd expect, The Night Has A Thousand Screams is rife with the subtle menace of spooky, spacey synths, and lullaby-like melodies plinked out amidst haunting, harrowing drone/groan. There's also often the thump-thump-thump of a bass drum as the beating tell-tale heart of it all. That booming percussion can be pretty prominent in the mix, but we like the "live" sounding urgency of it when it occurs. Many passages leave aside the rhythms for long stretches of pure synth textures, however. Others get really rhythmic, like "The Investigation" with snappy drum machine beats that brings in shades of Umberto's other big influence, John Carpenter, natch. Not having heard the film's original soundtrack we can't compare it, but we're betting Umberto did at least as good of a job scoring such scenes as "The Dance Studio" and "The Waterbed", and it's one that works just fine for home listening minus the visuals as well. Another wonderfully groovy and atmospheric Umberto creep-out!

MPEG stream: Boston, 1942
MPEG stream: The Investigation
MPEG stream: The Waterbed

You're not imagining things, that skull in the rearview mirror is looking at you. Expo 70 sideman Matt Hill, aka Umberto, is back... eerie as ever! Following his recent, limited, and now out of print one-sided 12" entitled Final Exit on Italian label Black Moss, comes this strikingly-sleeved 45rpm 12" via UK label The Great Pop Supplement, also quite limited (500 copies only), vinylizing a cassette put out by Solid Melts in an even scarcer edition a year ago. Welcome To The Chillzone consists of two tracks of equal 10:03 durations, really one piece split over two sides, both quietly brooding and creepy, side A slowly unfolding, building up to the somewhat more intense but still restrained side B... which ends, though, as side A begins, the whole composition looping like the original tape. Umberto's sinister sonics are indeed chilling here, full of blissful yet shivery synthwork, like hushed melodic whispers drifting above an ominous hallucinatory hum... eventually there's sequenced rhythmic pulsations, but gentle, this 12" as compelling and effective as any suspense film soundtrack we can think of. As with Final Exit, 'tis more ambient and icy than the deathly disco of Umberto's more electro beat-driven earlier efforts, so next to Goblin and John Carpenter among the giallo-obsessed Umberto's influences, have been added the zoned out cinematic synths of Tangerine Dream, perhaps. As we said, limited edition of 500 copies, already sold out at the label!! We got a couple dozen, but when they're gone, they're gone, we won't be able to get any more...

A two hour plus anthology of rare digitally remastered studio clips and live footage by various groups from the archives of Factory Records, Factory Benelux, Les Disques du Crepuscle between 1979 and 1987. Featuring Antena, A Certain Ratio, Josef K, Caberet Voltaire, Section 25, Durutti Column, New Order, Crispy Ambulance, Tuxedomoon, Paul Haig, Quando Quango and many, many others.

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

SORRY. Japanese jazz saxophonist "Doctor" Umezu with some downtown NYC stalwarts (Marc Ribot, Wayne Horvitz, Tom Cora, and Samm Bennett). Great stuff, full of fun. Recommended.

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

SORRY. Avant jazz from Japan featuring Kazutoki Umezu on sax.

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

SORRY. Sometimes it's hard to keep up with the output of Italian '60s/'70s groovedelica reissue label Easy Tempo. Fortunately this release didn't escape our notice, 'cause it's super great. Italian composer Piero Umiliani has been the subject of numerous reissues and compilations as his "space age bachelor pad" music is finding a newer audience 30 years after it was created. And while the sticker on the cd reminds you that Umiliani's experimental synthesizer (moog, mostly) pop material can favorably be compared to the exotica of Martin Denny, the '60s rock of Jefferson Airplane, and jazz a la Ellington, we're here to tell you that at times the music sounds utterly contemporary, as modern and fresh and full of original ideas as any new "electronica" artist out there. In fact, the electronic material is so clean and avant sounding that we are instantly reminded of Krautrock pioneers Cluster and Neu. You heard me--Cluster. Yeah, it's that good! Not that it's all super serious or anything -- there's a great version of "Caravan" on here worthy of Perrey & Kingsley. Highly recommended!

RealAudio clip: Motore a loni

The music of Piero Umilani was always the breeziest and most fun-loving of the Italian soundtrack composers. What more proof do you need than the opening track of this collection, a song made famous by the Muppets, "Mah Na Mah Na". But if you've never heard the rich intonation of the male lead vocalist in the original, you really owe yourself a listen. Furthermore, the fact that the song originally came from a soundtrack for a film called Sweden, Heaven and Hell, just adds to Umilani's zany mystique. This collection of sixties and seventies soundtracks is a good start for those who missed out on the now out of print Easy Tempo reissues from the late nineties. There's plenty of whimsical guitar leads, snaking through festive and enchanting xylophones, trumpets, and all manner of eccentric auxiliary percussion one would associate with the decadence and elegance of '60s and '70s era film. When not baroquely festive, Umiliani assuredly works his way through darker moods with trembling string sections, haunting vocals, and lilting guitar lines. And of course, naturally, for good measure, there is some fucking brilliant whistling, which always makes EVERYTHING better, whether it be a compilation of forgotten soundtrack music, or a stroll home from work. It may not be THE definitive collection for Umilani enthusiasts but it has plenty of Italian cinematic soundtrack gems, from spy themes and Spaghetti Westerns to pensive romance and of course, sunny femme-vocalised pop. Anyone looking to brush up Umiliani, or Italian soundtracks in general will cover some important territory with this one.

MPEG stream: Mah Na Mah Na
MPEG stream: Isola Tuttofare
MPEG stream: Le Isole Dell'amore
MPEG stream: Un Posto Per Un Addio

Even if we weren't already Umiliani fans, we'd have been sold on this from the cover art alone - the painting looks a bit like a still from some psychedelic science-fantasy animation, like La Planete Sauvage, and the creature in the foreground with the one big eye reminds us of a 'minion' from Despicable Me wearing a black leather/latex bondage suit! So there's that. And, there's the music - also cool and strange and not that far removed from La Planete Sauvage stuff either. This album, which was originally released circa 1980 (supposedly, though some sources state '81, and others 1976), was made by Italian soundtrack/library music composer Piero Umiliani, here operating under the "band" name Moggi. We've always loved Umiliani, best known for his nonsense hit "Mah Na Mah Na", made more famous by the Muppets. He's a 'Space Age Bachelor Pad' music maestro, and here, with drums, bass and hella Moog, gets especially spacey, these retro-futuristic ditties approaching kraut-electronica status (a la Cluster), often sounding quite ahead of their time. It's a real wondrous romp of experimental synthesizer poppiness, chock a block with quirky, groovy instrumentals, squelchy and super-catchy and synthed out to the max, with mesmeric melodies, percolating percussion and other splashes of jazziness along with the avant-garde electronics and FX. Utterly delightful. First time reissued on vinyl, limited to 500 copies, and goin' fast - in fact, we can't be sure if we'll be able to get more at all when we run out. (Oh, and nice label name, by the way!)

MPEG stream: Gadget
MPEG stream: Officina Stellare

There's a lot of talk about intensity in music -- hot guitar licks, fast drumming, empassioned vocals. But then you hear something like the entire recorded output of the mighty Umlaut and from then on you realize that everything you thought you knew about limits of musical ferocity was bullshit. There is no aural equivalent to this raging onslaught of blasting, anthemic hardcore/grind. Mostly unknown outside of their Scandinavian hinterlands, Umlaut is a secretive outlaw collective of hard-drinking hard-riding anarchist Finnish biker punks who pause only long enough on their ceaselessly marauding cross-tundra doom rides to destroy squats with a typically brief 10-minute set of their incendiary brand of hardcore-crust-grind. Suspiciously evasive in interviews as to the nature of their identity, they espouse their violently radical political beliefs with a vehemence matched only by their loathing of customs agents (on the song "Denied at Customs" sung to the tune of S.O.D.'s "United Forces") and a certain American metalcore band coming to their native land and expecting everyone to speak English. Most tracks here sound like first-take recordings, and I mean that in a good way -- there's a raw unbridled natural live feel to the songs that make them sound like they're about to disintegrate into chaos at any moment. It is a work of no small heroism on the part of the drummer to keep these songs contained into concrete, if not surprisingly tight, structures. The vocals are positively seething, the guitars the perfect blend of heaviness and rawness, the drums near-death-metal fast and the songs are surprisingly catchy even in their rarely-over-30-seconds length. You could play this on the lowest volume setting and the Finnish motorcycling death squad that is Umlaut will still sound like they're positively charging out of your speakers, ready to run you down and grind your guts into the spokes of their burning wheels. The real question though is how could a band this amazing actually exist? Seems to good to be true!! I mean, c'mon, Finnish, bikers, metal, hardcore, it's almost like someone deliberately designed the coolest band ever. Weird.

MPEG stream: Brothers In Arms
MPEG stream: Intifada (Called Terrorists By Terrorists)
MPEG stream: Denied At Customs
MPEG stream: Bomb Threat

Here's some uneasy listening courtesy of Finland's Umpio. We had discovered the work of Umpio by way of a collaboration with the long-time aQ-favorite irr. app. (ext.), upon which Mr. Umpio (nee Pentti Dassum) reconstituted a bunch of irr. app. (ext.) material into an album that sounded remarkably like irr. app. (ext.) - profoundly strange collages of mudsucking torpor and psychically unstable gloominess. Muelas is none of that, standing in fully erect glory as a throttling, self-perpetuating explosion of noise-junk, signal-overload, and gleeful sonic destruction. The album's artwork connects the dots of the noise to the phobias and fears of going to the dentist, only to discover the man behind the dental drill is quite the sadist. There's a faux-outsider-artist drawing of phallic creatures with equally phallic dental drills who are converging on the poor patient suffering from some unfortunate tooth malady. There's the standard dental X-ray; and then there's a strange photograph of what actually looks like a dismembered jaw floating in the bottom of a jar, complete with fleshy tissue and decayed molars. Gross. Suitably, the noise that Umpio generates is sharp, crackling, and brutal, with plenty of cut-up configurations that sit somewhere between the pre-digital work of Merzbow and the scatological aktions of Runzelstirn & Gurglestock. Somebody on the internet postulated that the track "Night Goat" might be an uncredited Melvins cover. Why not?

MPEG stream: Caries
MPEG stream: Nervous Surgeon
MPEG stream: Night Goat

Those unsettling squiggles, those psychic discharges, that automatic writing, those surreal if furtive glances that we have come to expect from M.S. Waldron / irr. app. (ext.) can be heard loud and clear on Observation Affects The Outcome. The other half of this collaboration is a character named Pentti Dassum, whose come up with the so-absurd-that-it-must-be-Finnish proposal (see Circle's recent Incarnation / Falcon scheme) that Umpio is neither an 'alter ego' nor an 'artist name'. Translated as vacuum from Dassum's native tongue, Umpio is described as a mental / physical location of profound isolation where his experiments with sound can take place. We suppose that could be anywhere. His kitchen. A tent in the woods. An empty swimming pool. A hobbit hole for a long since vanished race of dwarves. A blown out crater from a recent UFO crash. Okay, that sounds about right for Finland. Presumably, Waldron gave a bunch of material to Dassum for him to do with as he saw fit. Whatever Dassum did in his place of isolation, he ended up creating a really great irr. app. (ext.) album. The album lurches through the audio equivalent of a boot-sucking mud, with a gurgling ooze and slimy textures; and it trudges along with a woozy, unstable pace furthered along by moldy prescription drugs with all of the bad-trip attributes that would come from taking such medicines when you might be hoping for relief from some gastrointestinal ailment. Worms boring into your eyeballs up through bloodstream from gashes in your foot. An aktionist unveiling of the four humours through rotten vegetables, dead fish, and crystal-powered radios. Any of these could be right, or none. It's a great album of sonic surrealism no matter who you slice it.

MPEG stream: Pt. 1
MPEG stream: Pt. 3
MPEG stream: Pt. 4

Whatever this final question is that Paul Bradley and Colin Potter are asking, it is fucking deep. The stalwart British drone artists Bradley & Potter (the latter of whom is also known as being a long-standing member of Nurse With Wound) have collaborated a number of times in the past; and here they present their latest work under the new moniker Un. Not to be confused with the pre-Double Leopards / pre-Fursaxa audio narcotic, this Un brings Potter almost full circle to his early '80s explorations of cosmically tinged synth music, which was marvelously anthologized on his 4cd set Ancient History. An ominous, sawtooth drone sets the stage for an analogue synth take on dark ambient tension, with plenty of ghastly cascades recalling a chilling John Carpenter horror sound design that's been getting quite the workover as of late. But when the arpeggiations begin to come into focus, Bradley and Potter deflate the claustrophobic drones that opened the record, spilling forth an emotive smear of glistening synths and buried melodies orchestrated out the same infatuation with Klaus Schulze, Cluster, and Manuel Gottsching that spawned Emeralds, Outer Space, etc. By the end of the longform drifting, the Final Question becomes beautiful, maudlin, and rapturous. Quite a trip Bradley and Potter have engineered!

MPEG stream: The Final Question (extract 1)
MPEG stream: The Final Question (extract 2)

[ aquarius records catalogue — U ]