[ aquarius records catalogue

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Reason #954,765,841 to compile a compilation: A photo was taken of the musician by a fellow musician. Okay, granted there's more to this than meets the eye, but when an album is sub-subtitled "Recordings Of Musicians Photographed By John Cohen", you have to

RealAudio clip: Have You Ever Been Mistreated
RealAudio clip: So Long: Go
RealAudio clip: Buck Creek Girls

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SORRY. Pretty amazing collection of Coke commercials from the 60s featuring some amazing big names offering their take on the familiar soft drink jingle. Features the Bee Gees, the Moody Blues, the , Troggs, Tom Jones, Marvin Gaye, Roy Orbison, the Box Tops, Nancy Sinatra, Vanilla Fudge, Jan and Dean, Neil Diamond, the Supremes, and a bunch more!

Another lovingly compiled (by Scott Hull of Agoraphobic Nosebleed and Pig Destroyer no less!) sonically hateful selection of extreme heaviness, grind metal, powerviolence, hardcore, punk rock, and pretty much everything in between, buzzing and blasting and brutal as fuck. A handful of bands we already loved, and a whole bunch we'd never heard of before, it's kinda like the metal mix tape you wish your mean metal older brother would make you. So let's start with the we know and love. California crew Lack Of Interest spit out 7 tracks in about 4 minutes, blazing blasting punk rock, Noisear spit out insane bursts of frenzied grind, impossibly fast, super dense and twisted and complex, Drugs Of Faith do their dirgey punkish death metal, sludgey and sloppy and chaotic, the mighty Crom offer up "Hags" the longest track on the comp, a grinding, thrashing slab of whatthefuck heaviness, slipping from punkish blast to churning doomy chug, the vocals shrieking and grunting and howling, it even gets sort of pretty for a moment, but only a moment, fuck we love these guys, Ohio pigfuckers Apartment 213 spit out some serious powerviolence, a Neanderthal sonic pummeling, grunted vox, even slipping in a little groove at one point, but mostly just beating your ears bloody with their closed fist crush, Despise you kick down 50 seconds of churning, blasting grind, 2 songs blow by in a blink, but they cram some serious sonic punishment into less than a minute, Voetsek are the only female fronted outfit in this boys club, and they lay it down with some super technical grind metal, and some seriously ball melting vox.... Then there's the bands we're hearing for the first time here: Hummingbird Of Death, Marion Barry, Owen Hart, Septic Surge, Population Reduction, Superbad, Three Faces Of Eve, Idiots Parade, Triac and more, our faves being Hummingbird Of Death, not just for having the best band name ever, but for their chaotic, frenzied on the verge of collapse powerviolence freakouts, Owen Hart's metallic grinding thrash, infused with plenty of classic old school metal riffage, Septic Surge who get their drummachinegun on, a dizzying hybrid of twisted electronic glitchery and caveman heaviness... We could go on and on, a head spinning selection of audial brutality, crushing heaviness, blasting brutality, an overwhelming 74 tracks, all jammed into 78 minutes, by 19 bands, for anyone who likes it fast and heavy. Comes with a massive booklet, all old school punk rock style with each band getting a page for lyrics and photos and contact info. Awesome.

MPEG stream: There Is No Tomorrow
MPEG stream: My Grandma's Fucking A Tranny From Alaska
MPEG stream: Atrophy Of The Mind
MPEG stream: You Are Not Going To Heaven
MPEG stream: Nuclear Bio-Chimp Assault
MPEG stream: Hags
MPEG stream: Standoff
MPEG stream: Budmonster

Here's something that we didn't think we would ever see resurface. Topyscan (The Scandinavian chapter of the Temple of Psychic Youth) originally released an LP showcasing the wares of Sweden's electronic, darkwave, and experimental scenes, with some of the earliest work we had encountered from Zbigniew Karkowski and Phauss (featuring CM von Hausswolff) as well as cuts from Eld-Omala (some of whom had worked with Wire's Graham Lewis on a handful of recording) and White Stains. As a piece of vinyl, it worked quite well with gloomy electronic work sharing one side and skeletal minimalist crackling on the other. On cd, there's a bit of a disconnect between the two aesthetics, but considering how good all four tracks are, it matters little. Eld-Omala opens the album with a minor-key piano melody hanging above a grim atmosphere of disembodied voices and dark ambient passages all set to heavy drums and distorted guitars that could easily be an out-take from Coil's Horse Rotovator. The White Stains piece is miles above anything else that this typically underwhelming project has ever done. Again Coil seems to be template, through a occultish ritualism built around a heartbeat pulse, wooden flutes soaked in reverb, and an excellent use of Shepherd tones (an auditory illusion created by several tones being layered in such a way as to give the impression the pitch is in constant descent). The scatter-shot minimalism of Phauss switches gears entirely through a wavering sci-fi tone smothered in electrical static treated with ring modulation and broken by some weird radio transmissions. Definitely a precursor to Hausswolff's recent work with radio, satellite, and EVP communication. The Karkowski piece again is one of the finer compositions that we've heard from him, although undoubtedly he would disagree 'cuz it's not punishing, violent, or masculine enough. The spiralling electronics and tight vibrations aspire to all of those attributes which Karkowski has been known for, but without the excess of distortion, his work has remarkable subtly and dynamism. Very nice!

MPEG stream: The Halidom / Oh My God
MPEG stream: Underworld Initiation
MPEG stream: Supreme Bliss
MPEG stream: I Fell In Love With An Evil Witch...

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SORRY. Pretty amazing DVD collection of emo / screamo / grind / math / no / new wave / death metal weirdness past and present. Moving Units, Jenny Piccolo, Get Hustle, Cattle Decapitation, Swing Kids, Love Life, Orthrelm, The Locust and the Blood Brothers. All the footage is live, super grainy and lo-fi, but really great looking. And even greater looking than the actual band clips are the menus/interface, jumpy and blurry, super staticky and scratched like old damaged film stock, with super creepy Sam McPheeters animations. Nice!

By now, you probably don't need to be told again how much we love dubstep, that beat, that killer thick bass wobble, and for all the mutant strains of dubstep that have been popping up, we still love the hard stuff, dark and haunting and mysterious, the beats massive, the bass thick and corrosive, the sort of thing that played loud enough would set off all the car alarms in the neighborhood. And judging from how many folks we get coming in looking for more dubstep, well then we're not alone. We raved about the awesome second volume in the This Is Dubstep series, always bummed that the first volume was not released as an actual physical release, just a download, but lo and behold, that digital release has now been made flesh, or at least aluminum and plastic, and it's just what the doctor ordered. Assuming he ordered some rib cage rattling tinnitus producing bass heavy crunch. Which is precisely what you get here, some of the biggest baddest dubstep jams of the last few years, light on the diva vocals, or the good time raviness, heavy on the beats, and even heavier on the bass. Pretty much every track here, even the lighter ones, at some point spit out a huge slab of speaker shredding low end, total headphone / car stereo blasting / club destroying dubstep BLISS. Right out of the gate, with Joker's classic jam "Tron", it's on, a lurching lumbering stuttering groove, with some buzzing synths and yeah some bad ass bass, and so it goes, lots of names you probably know Distance, MRK1, Cyrus, Pinch, Kromestar, and a bunch you maybe don't, YET. But some of the jams here are MASSIVE, Chasing Shadows' "Dr Sin" features some of the meanest buzziest bass ever, warped and caustic and so awesome, Cyrus & Distance offer up their own bit of low slung groove, more minimal, but still dark and ominous and hard, Macabre Unit's "Sunshine" is anything but, instead it's a creepy soundtracky basscape, all minor key melodies, and thick swaths of buzzing synth rumble, not to mention some cool vocals, Truth's "Burglar" is another one that's all about the bass, had our speakers crying uncle, even with the bass dialed all the way down. We could go on and on, track by track, needless to say, this is maybe the darkest, heaviest, buzziest dubstep comp yet, and for folks who have been hankering for more of the hard stuff, this will definitely hit the spot. Includes two discs, one mixed, one unmixed, with slightly different track listings. WAY recommended.

MPEG stream: Dr Sin
MPEG stream: Sunshine
MPEG stream: Burglar
MPEG stream: 3K Lane
MPEG stream: Neighbourhood 09 (Chimpo Mix)

For as much as we love music that pushes the boundaries, and music that truly takes sound in new directions, sometimes it feels like music can get too diluted, too far removed from the sounds that made us love that music so much in the first place. Maybe it's just that our trve grim tendencies (since they obviously don't apply to black metal, our love of the multitudes of twisted BM variants quite obvious at this point) are reserved for musics like dubstep. Cuz as much as we love the various directions dubstep has moved over the last few years, we STILL can't get enough of that good old school classic dubstep sound. That distinctive stuttery beat, the huge rib cage rattling bass wobbles. Which there is PLENTY of here. If your dubstep proclivities tend toward THE HARD, and THE HEAVY, then there's lots here to dig. In fact, some of the jams here are easily THEE hardest we've heard, with crazy blown out distorted bass, thick swaths of crumbling rumble, in-the-red synth buzz, all wrapped around lurching lumbering beats that KILL. And while we're reveling in all this big beat crunch and buzz, there is actually a surprising breadth of sound here, dipping liberally into the more soulful, house-y, and techno sides of dubstep, and while those tracks are cool, and some of them definitely rank amongst our favorites, they are in the minority here, with artists old and new pushing the bass HARD. Dubstep legend Skream offers up "Heavy Hitter", which true to its title is in fact one, with a lurching stop / start beat, and a seriously caustic crunchy bassline, while 16 Bit's "Frzr9000" is some of the sickest buzziest blown out dubstep we've probably heard, tons of different buzzing synthlines all tangled up, not to mention some surprising melody. Flux Pavillion's "Bass Cannon" sounds like it was created using one, with the usual bass wobbles transformed into thick blasts of almost Merzbowian buzz. And while across the two discs, there is tons of low end destruction and a constant barrage of dancefloor destroying beats, it's those aforementioned variants that keep things interesting, Icicle gets all low slung and woozy, sounding like dubstepped Portishead, with a weird bit of chiming melody, Kryptic Minds & Youngsta also take it slow and low, for a brooding bit of bass heavy moodiness, while Distance remixes Above & Beyond, transforming a soulful bit of electronica into something way more buzzy and fierce. Elsewhere, Wondering kicks out some thick swaths of synth swirl and black rocking big beat crunch, Oshd unfurls some buzz drenched dreaminess, sweetly soulful vocals wreathed in black buzz, and sounding like a super distorted Lamb, Doctor P transforms his dubstep into a twisted bit of fuzzy buzzy synth squiggle, with a crazy drop that might be one of THEE best moments on the record, Nero does his best dubstep Daft Punk, and the set finishes with Commix's very Burial like "Be True" (which IS a Burial remix, we reviewed the 12" a while back), a gorgeously blurred and murky bit of soulful deep dubstep ambience. We probably say this every time, but this just might be the best dubstep comp yet...

MPEG stream: Heavy Hitter
MPEG stream: Bass Cannon
MPEG stream: Frzr9000
MPEG stream: 7 Breaths
MPEG stream: So Vexed

This is, hands down, THEE best dubstep comp we've gotten in, well, maybe forever. So much of the dubstep we get is way too wussy, when what we really want basically is grime without the vocals, the beats banging, big and stuttery, the bass so think and heavy, a wall of throbbing fuzz, that warbly bassline, that distinctive dubstep stutter. And as if in answer to our prayers, This Is Dubstep Vol. 2 opens with what is essentially a killer grime jam, featuring some seriously grime-y flow, over the buzzing bass and hiccuppy rhythm. And we're of, and for the most part, 90 percent of the tracks here are fierce and fiery, dense and dark and way heavy, even the more mellow jams still work pretty well in the context of these two discs, our favorites though, are the ones that are HARD and HEAVY. Chase & Status manage to take one of those diva style dubstep grooves, but chop up the vocals, and add some bin rattling bass, Distance offers up a thick slab of bassy crunch, Joker & Ginz add warbly fuzzed out basslines to some awesome retro synths, Rob Sparx takes old video game music and dubs it out, an awesome lo-fi 8-bit dubstep jam, Demon's track is definitely demonic, weird samples, lurching rhythms, creepy ambience, and a killer drop and some haunting vocals, the Fused Forces track is short but so buzzy and bassy, could have filled up a whole disc with that one, Way Out West also take some diva driven dubstep and add a thick swath of lawnmower bass, Chasing Shadows offers up some of the meanest grinding basslines on the whole comp, and it goes on and on, easily some of the coolest hardest dubstep we've heard, EVER, with just enough melody and vocal parts to keep it interesting for folks who need more than beats and bass, but if you're like us, and it's all about the beats and the bass, then this is gonna be your mix of the year....

MPEG stream: Hard
MPEG stream: Twilight
MPEG stream: Purple City
MPEG stream: Chemical Reaction
MPEG stream: III

MPEG stream: Geordie Racer
MPEG stream: Gargoyle
MPEG stream: Kickstarts (Bar9 Remix)
MPEG stream: Critical Hit

This Ministry Of Sound compilation strikes me as the equivalent of one of those K-Tel ultra-super-mega-smash-hit-only-on-tv-extravaganza compilations, but minus the K-Tel bargain pricetag. Take the very first track

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

SORRY. Record Store Day was a huge success around here (a million thank you's again to all of you who came out and showed your support and to those of you who couldn't be here physically, but ordered stuff online!!!!). And the good thing is we still have a few of the cooler items left that labels had specially made for the occasion. This one is a doozy, a vinyl only compilation of exclusive tracks put together by a consortium of some of our favorite independent labels: Numero Group, Light In The Attic, Finders Keepers, Sublime Frequencies, Daptone, Honest Jon's, VampiSoul, Jazzman, Timmion, and NowAgain. You know these labels collectively have the market cornered on infectious, far-flung, vintage and soulful grooves and this comp does not disappoint with tracks by The Monks, Group Doueh, Los Destillos, Naomi Shelton & The Gospel Queens, Noor Jehan, P.E. Hewitt Jazz Ensemble, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Pisces, Myron & E with The Soul Investigators, and John Heartsman & Circles. Gorgeously packaged, thick sleeves with some super striking artwork, both sides featuring awesome photos of the record spines from releases of the labels involved, and inside, jam packed with stickers, and booklets and liner notes and other cool little freebies. Phew!! Don't hesitate, because once these are gone, they're Gone Baby GONE!!!!!!!!

Subtitle: Indonesian Hard, Psychedelic, Progressive Rock And Funk: 1970-1978. Maybe that's all the review this needs, it worked for us, but we'll go on... Damn. Now THIS is what all comps/reissues should be like. Just the physical thing itself, both cd and lp formats, makes us go wow. And then there's the music, amazing stuff by bands we've NEVER ever heard of before, for the most part.... international psych-rock grooviness from the '70s, Indonesian division. Twenty tracks, all killer no filler for damn sure. So, to start with the elaborate, you're-getting-your-money's-worth packaging, packed with content: exhaustive liner notes, vintage photos, colorful album cover graphics, in a 64 page book in the cd version (and it really thick enough to be called a BOOK, not a booklet) or a 16 page (but lp-sized of course) booklet with the massive 3lp set. Both are solid, hefty items indeed. The cd itself comes in a sturdy cardboard mini-lp style sleeve, tucked tightly along with the book inside a wraparound slipcover. The vinyl, in a triple gatefold sleeve about a half inch thick. Impressive presentation, topping even that of another recent anthology of non-Western psych/funk stuff we made a Record Of The Week as well not long ago, the Sa-Re-Ga collection. What that was to India this is to Indonesia. And Indonesia is definitely full of hidden treasures for us Westerners into exotic "hairy funk" and heavy rock sounds of the past. We knew about a few bands on here, that we'd had reissues by before, the Ariesta Birawa Group, Shark Move, Koes Plus, but that's it - all of those are awesome though, so the fact that we'd never heard of the other 16 acts on here (there's 20 tracks, but one band appears twice) just made us more excited to hear this: Rollies, Super Kid, Freedom Of Rhapsodia, Murry, The Brims, Black Brothers, Ivo's Group, Golden Wing, The Gang Of Harry Roesli, Benny Soebardja and Lizard, Aka, Panbers, Rhythm Kings, Rasela, Terenchem, and Duo Kribo. The music of these groups ranges from heavy progressive bombast to hippie trippiness to out-and-out groovy dancefloor filling fodder, often all at once, and then some. Eastern-tinged (no surprise) psychedelic Sgt. Pepperisms and stomping acid funk are blended in the very first selection here, "Haai", by a band called Panbers, who once opened for the Bee Gees in Djakarta. Off to a good start! A tough act to follow (we imagine the Bee Gees thought so too), but track two's The Brims manage to hold their own with "Anti Gandja", a song apparently with a message of "just say no", though it sure sounds a lot like they said hell yeah. Then the third cut, "Bad News" by Rollies, suddenly introduces a healthy dose of James Brown worship, the others were funky but this one is straight up FUNK. After that, we're treated to one of the highlights from the Shark Move album, one of the few tracks here we knew, the fuzz-heavy shambolic riff-tumble with prog-classical soloing of "Evil War". Up next, the stoned lope of Golden Wing's love song "Hear Me" is a bit more primitive, akin to Japan's Speed Glue & Shinki, or Juan De La Cruz from the Philippines. So, that's just the first five tracks, so far they're all smokin', and guess what? It just gets better and better believe it or not. Turn it up, play it loud! We can't go into detail about EVERY track, though they all deserve mention, from the spacey soul of Super Kid to the greasy groove of The Gang Of Harry Roselli, but we should at least let you know that the Koes Plus cut is NOT from the cd of theirs you may already have that Sublime Frequencies put out, it's taken from a latter record, 1976's ln Hard Beat 2, and it's a rad one, with a nice la la la vocal chorus echoed by some much more maniacal LALALA screaming, crazy. Oh, and we know why they put two tracks from AKA on here, how could they chose between the badass hard rock of "Do What You Like" with its headspining psychedelic breakdowns, and the same group's seriously funky, James Brown inspired "Shake Me", which begins with call-and-response chant, the band saying "No" to grass, morphine, and LSD, but "YEAH" to sex. Ok, we'll leave it to you get this and experience all the fuzzy, funky riffery here for yourself. Familiar in its '70s vibe - ferinstance Benny Soebardja (ex-Shark Move) and Lizard's "Candlelight" is so '70s, classic radio rock, maybe the Indonesian answer to the Steve Miller Band? - yet fresh, definitely from somewhere and somewhen else!! Kudos to compiler Jason "Moss" Connoy for tracking down all these gems, and to everyone else involved with putting this package together, doing the research, writing, and graphic documentation... obviously an immense job but well done and well worth it. So, if you've been enjoying Sa-Re-Ga, Thai! Dai!, Sound Of Siam, Psych-Funk 101, The World Ends, or any other disc of crate-digging discoveries from around the world we've recommended lately, this one is definitely for you too! Highest recommendation.

MPEG stream: Do What You Like
MPEG stream: That Shocking Shaking Day
MPEG stream: Mobil Tua
MPEG stream: Freedom

LEVIATHAN ALERT!!! EXCLUSIVE UNRELEASED LEVIATHAN TRACK ALERT!!! LEVIATHAN COVERING BLACK FLAG ALERT!!! What the fuck? It's true though. More on that in a second. We all dig skating (although most of us are not to good at it), and love to watch crazy skaters around town, often fucking themselves up in the process. Who doesn't? But typically skate rock has often been, well, not really that interesting. Okay, so maybe most skate rock sucks. But this Thrasher Skate Rock disc has a lot going for it, not the least of which is an unreleased Leviathan track, "The Third Blind Wound"! Most Leviathan obsessives will most definitely find this one track enough reason to pick this up, but there's some other killer stuff on here too. Exclusive tracks from a bunch of other bands including locals Hightower, and the always kick ass S.T.R.E.E.T.S. (an acronym for 'skating totally rules, everything else totally sucks') as well as some killer DVD footage including a documentary about skating in the 80's and 90's and a live performance from Norway's Turbonegro. This is one of those dualdisc thingies, that won't play on some stereos so be warned!

MPEG stream: The Third Blind Wound
MPEG stream: Stop The Violence

More of a collaborative project than a compilation, Three Locations began with the invitation for a group of artists to contribute three field recordings to a pool, which would then be shared amongst all parties involved for them to use for separate compositions. Nice idea, and it's a pretty great collection of experimental musicians present, including Toy Bizarre, Tarab, Els Viaene, Felicity Mangan, and Klimek, whose presence on the compilation came as a bit of a shock to us, since we've known him for his very digital ambience for Kompakt and Anticipate. The liner notes don't provide all of the details as to the origins of the field recordings. Harbors in Norway, Japanese mountains, and an underground tunnel in Australia are mentioned; but outside of those locales, the sounds that appear throughout the compilation show a wide range between the natural and the industrial. Toy Bizarre offers a diptych of a piece that at first swells to a dramatic crescendo of clattering, metallic rasping that collapses into a somber extended passage of windswept gestures set against a black backdrop. The Belgian sound artist Els Viaene shaped those field recordings into a series of slow-moving, repeating phrases in a Spartan almost Koner-like composition. The ever-impressive Tarab delivers a fantastic track, showcasing much more of a musique concrete strategy that comes across like a John Duncan take on Luc Ferrari. The washed-out noises and environmental dinscapes have been densely layered and spliced into a very active sound field laced with rupturing events. Something's lurking around the corners of Tarab's sound that cannot be qualified as benevolent. Australia's Felicity Mangan counters Tarab's frenzied collage with a delicate tapestry of croaking frogs and aquatic percolations. As for Klimek's contribution, it' bloody fantastic. A fluctuating dronescape of pop-ambient tones hovering out of the extracted field recordings for an elegant construction. Altogether a fantastic end to a great compilation. Limited stock.

MPEG stream: Hori
MPEG stream: Eicophobia
MPEG stream: Drone Composition...

A three-way split cd of live sets by DJ SCUD, BOMBARDIER and NITRO. Forty seven tracks of blistering white noize hardcore ragga dancehall fuckstep destruction from some of the finest of the genre. Scud's set includes tracks from Ambush cohorts Aphasic, Nomex

Ariel Pink dropped by the store the other day to sell us some tour merch and he had a handful of these Madonna tribute cds for sale. Looking at the line-up (which also includes Lavender Diamond, Giant Drag, Jeremy Jay and a host of other LA pop underground bands some of which we've heard of, others we haven't), we have to say our curiosity got the better of us and we bought a few. Tribute cds are always a mixed affair, especially when it's dedicated to a pop star bigger in concept than in musicality. But while most bands diverge from the straight ahead cover, this is not exactly the Cicconne Youth-style take we were hoping for. Still if you love the Material Girl, and you are into bands like Jonathan Wilson, Golden Animals, Winter Flowers, Mountain Party, The Tyde, Alexandra Hope, The Chapin Sisters, The Bubonic Plague, Apollo Heights, The Prayers, Lion of Panjshir and the other above mentioned folks, all wading and whirling through Madonna's many wonders and blunders, then there is lots of fun here to enjoy.

MPEG stream: Into The Groove
MPEG stream: Everybody

MPEG stream: Dangerous
MPEG stream: Here We Come
MPEG stream: Soldat

Last year, one of our favorite releases was the always great label Sub Rosa's beautiful assemblage of 1971 recordings from the kingdom of Bhutan entitled Tibetan Buddhist Rites From The Monasteries of Bhutan; and wow, what an intense and powerful collection of recordings it was. Sounds by monks and nuns that pretty much surpassed in sheer intensity and core spirit so much of what we usually drool over in our experimental and metal sections. Now we have the follow up to that which comes from the same recordings by John Levy made in Bhutan from 1971-72. A much different affair, these recordings as made obvious by the title, focus on the actual songs and folk tradition of Bhutan. Featuring skillful and moving instrumentals as well as many songs with vocals that leave us in total awe of their haunting qualities and totally beautiful delivery. You can almost imagine people like Islaja and Will Oldham listening to this with their notebook by their side and their ears wide open hoping to have it all enter their psyche. Parts of the instrumentation no doubt would get members of the No Neck Blues Band standing at attention. So funny how so much of what we know as 'free folk' or "free whatever" can be found in its original incarnation on these recordings. The Bhutanese dramnyen is probably the core and most used instrument on these recordings and wow how much we are in love with its glorious sound: seven strings that are struck with a plectrum and vibrate warmly, instantly washing over you with a darkly gentle vibe of total warmth and surrender. We're so grateful to Sub Rosa for releasing these previously impossible to find recordings. So moving and totally recommended!

MPEG stream: Tashi Laso, At The Top Of Lucky Valley
MPEG stream: The Palaces Of Gesar's Family
MPEG stream: Tibetan Dramnyen

Ok, you know how we're always getting giddy about some totally heavy doomy dirgey droney sludgy band, like Boris or SUNNO))) or Earth or Corrupted? Yep, we love that stuff. But let's face it, it's not outside of the realm of possibility that *you too* given the appropriate equipment (guitar, effects, amplification) and the ability to play an open E chord, could come up with something that sounds heavy in *that* way. Maybe. But this double cd is something that we know for sure that we, you, or any of the bands currently cranking up n' out the slow n' low couldn't quite match in sheer heaviness. Not heaviness of the loud and plugged-in variety, of course. A different sort of heaviness, the kind that gets the quotation marks around it, a "heavy" that's timeless, spiritual, feeling, and isn't entirely reliant on volume and bass ('though the droning low-end horns on here sure do provide plenty of both). 'Cause really, a couple of guitars and amps and distortion can't compete with the chanting of dozens of Tibetan monks (and nuns) accompanied by huge long trumpets and rumbling large frame drums and booming gongs and clashing cymbals and chiming bells and the resounding ambience and atmosphere of being recorded in an ancient monastery in the mountains of Bhutan, can they?! No sir, no way. Not if you turn your stereo up while playing this, anyway. Now, if you're like us you've probably always thought that Tibetan Buddhist monks were cool, and knew they made cool music too. But also if you're like us, it hasn't been entirely clear just which of the many recordings of Tibetan monk music you should invest in, 'cause some just seem too Newagey or likely to also involve some interloper like Mickey Hart. Well, this new release on Sub Rosa -- a reissue of a 4LP set originally released on Lyrichord in 1972 -- is pretty clearly one to get. These two discs are dense with astonishing, mesmerizing music. From pieces featuring calm, unaccompanied chant to flurries of hypnotically discordant high-end horns that almost sound like electronic feedback to massive Hermann Nitsch style sonic eruptions, the variety and depth here is amazing. 'Twas all recorded on location in the Kingdom of Bhutan in 1971 by legendary, well-travelled British ethnomusicologist and Orientalist John Levy (1910-1976), using a Nagra stereo prototype reel-to-reel recorder that did a wonderous job, as did he. Done in what seems to be the same spirit of exploration that motivates the field recordings found in the AQ fave Sublime Frequencies series, this is well-recorded, yet authentic and raw -- Levy's tapes even captured the flapping and cooing of pidgeons who live in the monastery, heard in the background in the quieter passages! Disc One has two parts. Firstly, the Rituals of the Drukpa Order from Thimphu and Punakha (nineteen tracks, various invocations and supplications), and secondly, Sacred Dances and Rituals of the Nyingmapa and Drukpa Orders from Nyimalung and Tongsa (five tracks of dances performed in animal masks). Disc Two continues part two from the first cd with another five tracks of prayer, followed by part three: Temple Rituals and Public Ceremonies (fifteen tracks, everything from Milarepa poems and mantras to rituals to subjegate evil spirits). Each cd has its own booklet, full of very detailed notes on the music and the recording thereof. Texts of the various prayers and chants are included in English translation, as well. The reading and listening here will keep you busy for a long time, lots to learn about and enjoy with this for sure. It's no wonder that when SUNNO))) plays, they dress up like monks...not Tibetan monks necessarily but monks nonetheless. An obvious way to make their music seem more mysterious and massive. So...if you're gonna buy just one Tibetan (or Bhutanese) monk album, this wouldn't be a bad choice at all. And, it's a good deal for two discs too!

MPEG stream: Genyen Gi Topa In Praise Of Ge-Nyen
MPEG stream: Nyungne
MPEG stream: Dung Chen, Long Trumpets
MPEG stream: Dramitse Ngachham, The Drum Dance Of Dramitse

Be forewarned, we have very few of these (about 15 total) and once they're gone, they're gone for good. A massive collection of experimental Finnish music from the label that brought us the Avarus live cd-r a little while back. Hand decorated, this double cd-r has lots of familiar faces, Uton, Avarus, Ektroverde, Can Can Heads, Kroko but even more unfamiliar ones: Slaughterhouse Quintet, Kilometritehdas, Kvantti, Testicles, Sonic Temple Assassins, Skullpture, Short Eyes, Blubberheads, Du Hex, Plat Ypus, Brasptreet and tons more. The sound is stumbling, abstract free folk clatter, very reminiscent of Jewelled Antler at its folkiest, while sounding a bit like the abstract Acid Mothers Temple space jams at its free-est. A totally gorgeous and a surprisingly consistent listen, espcially for a comp with 46 bands/tracks! MPEG Stream: UTON "Vihrean Tuuman Hengitys" [/audio/tididiiuton.m3u]

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Kid606's label celebrates its second birthday with this double cd (for the price of one!) that compiles 44 tracks from the usual (and unusual) electronica suspects: Lesser, Blectum From Blechdom, Com.a, Dat Politics, Mikael Stavostrand, Wobbly, Pisstank,

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Some of you may already be familiar with this series in its original form as three individual cds, or in a similar complete form as an LP box set. This is the first time that this collection has ever been presented in its entirety on cd. The good part is that you get all that music for a fraction of the cost of buying the individual cds, the bad part, as Windy puts it is "you don't get any of those beautiful tummy pictures" that graced the covers of the originals and the LP box. So if you want the cool cover art, spend the money and get the individual cds, but if you don't mind the plain Trojan helmet cover you're better served with this package. Now a word from our sponser: "In the late sixties and early seventies Trojan Records dominated the UK Reggae market. Between 1969 and 1974, the company released over thirty singles to breach the British pop charts and of these, almost half made the top ten, with two reaching the number on spot. But despite the success of Trojan's 45s, there were no such guarantees for its album releases. Jamaican music LPs had always been regarded as something of a luxury. But Trojan devised a simple, yet effective strategy to overcome such prejudices. In early 1969, they put together their first budget-priced compilation, made up of some of the most popular recordings recently on the UK Reggae scene." By 1973 Trojan had released 8 volumes in the series. This 3 cd set brings together 50 tracks from those eight volumes "and by so doing, highlights some of the best Reggae sounds of the late sixties and early seventies."

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

SORRY. The song titles say it all: "Ghetto Boogie", "Countdown To...Soul", "Cold Sweat", "Loaded To The Gills", "Do It", "In The Pocket". Rare 70's funk 45s for y'all to get down to. Haven't heard of many of the artists who performed these lost classics (with James Brown being of course the exception) but they've all got the funk all right.

Great drone / psychedelic noise comp with Taurpis Tula, The Skaters, My Cat Is An Alien, Jim Haynes, and Number None.

Listing this, at last. We know a lot of you have been enjoying DJ Andy Votel's Vertigo label mix cd that we made Record Of the Week last summer. Advertised in the booklet for that cd was this triple disc box set, compiling 41 full (unmixed) tracks from the Vertigo vaults. So here it is. If you liked that Vertigo Mixed disc but you're not ready yet to hunt down the collectable original LPs (or cd reissues, which aren't always available either) by all those bands, this 3cd set is just the ticket to get to hear more. Some of these tracks were included in Votel's mix (but here you get the entire song!), and some not. Of course, with a vast, three and a half hour collection like this, a review is superflous for the curious. First off, though, if you don't know: Britain's Vertigo label, in its early '70s heyday (characterized by the "swirl" logo), specialized in both heavy psych and jazz-rock, often finding bands that blended the two into progged-out grooves that Votel likes to call "hairy funk". Not every Vertigo "swirl" album was incredible, but there's enough gems amidst the many, many tracks released by the label circa 1969-1973 to make putting together a fairly bountiful compilation like this pretty easy on the compliers. Vertigo's most famous signing was Black Sabbath. Perhaps unnecessarily, there's two Sabbath tracks included here. Being the best band ever (sez Allan anyway) you should already have 'em. But chances are you don't already have tracks by a lot of the other bands found here, ranging from the fairly well-known to the totally obscure: Gentle Giant, Gracious!, Affinity, May Blitz, Juicy Lucy, Jade Warrior, Dr. Z, Tudor Lodge, Warhorse, Freedom, The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Beggars Opera, Nucleus, Atlantis, Ramases, Colosseum, Aphrodite's Child, Ben, Cressida, Patto, Clear Blue Sky, Gravy Train, Uriah Heep, Mick Ronson's Ronno, and more. A diverse array ranging from folky flutes to hard rock riffage to jazzy romps (sometimes all in the same song). All these cuts are contained on three cds in cardboard sleeves, housed inside the box alongside a 48 page booklet with a page or paragraph on each band, and an introductory essay about Vertigo's history. The whole package is a Vertigo primer, if you will. Definitely a good sampler to help direct your further exploration of the Vertigo (and early '70s psych/prog/jazzrock) legacy, or maybe just enough for your needs in that direction...

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Yet another awesome archival compilation from the recently reactivated Flying Nun label, this one curated by The Dead C's Bruce Russell, who takes great pains in the liner notes to explain that this is in no way a greatest hits, or a collection of obscurities, but instead paint a picture of the New Zealand scene at a time when much was changing, socially and politically, and of course musically, with the NZ pop sound being twisted and tweaked with groups looking to bring back the psychedelia of the sixties, if not specifically in sound, most definitely in spirit. The results sonically point more to the post punk groups of the time, Joy Division, Wire, the Velvet Underground, etc, with many of the tracks here darker and gloomier and noisier, which of course we dig big time. Lots of familiar names here, the Pin Group, The Clean, The Gordons, Tall Dwarfs, The Chills, Wreck Small Speakers On Expensive Stereos (one of our favorite NZ groups EVER!), but again some lesser know, but equally kick ass outfits: The Puddle, The Rip, 25 Cents, The Shallows, and loads more. For all its darkness and psychedelia though, fans of the NZ sound won't be disappointed, but unlike the predominantly jangle pop sound of the other recent Flying Nun comp, the also ruling Tally-Ho double cd, Time To Go definitely focuses on a darker energy, just check out The Clean's "In The Back", the band ditching their penchant for perfect pop for a gloriously abstract psych guitar swirl, there's still jangle in there for sure, but it's wreathed in buzz and spidery tendrils of melody, obscured by clouds of fuzzed out shimmer and smeared soft noise. Then there's the Pin Group's darky dolorous "Jim", a brooding chunk of gloom pop dirgery, that the current crop of Brooklyn punks would kill to have recorded. Deep moody vox, minimal minor guitar thrum, murky rhythms, all hauntingly sinister and dreamily depressive. Wreck Small Speakers On Expensive Stereos offer up "Rain", which is also dark and murky, a sort of low fidelity slab of bedroom strum and croon, intimate and hushed, melancholic and moody, which then splinters into some bizarre psychedelia with the addition of haunting female vox and some squiggly synths. The Gordons get all Sonic Youth-y with some downcast atonal guitar heavy noise rock, that's still weirdly melodic and propulsive, and sounds fresh enough that it could be some Captured Tracks / Sacred Bones band from today. We could go on and on, track by track, but all you need to know is this stuff kills. Even fans who have many of these records will find this a kick ass NZ/Flying Nun mixtape, and for those who may have missed this stuff first time around, odds are you're gonna find it shockingly revelatory. And anyone who bought that Tally-Ho compilation, you're definitely gonna want this one too! Includes a big booklet, with cool pix and extensive liner notes from Bruce Russell, detailing the scene, the bands, the label, and what was going on in NZ at the time, and how all that stuff (social, economic, political) affected the music. Vinyl version forthcoming, btw.

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Volume Five of this excellent early American roots music series on the very reliable Yazoo Records dusts off another wonderful selection of rare 78 records from the '20s and '30s. It features many notable and influential folk and blues figures such as Skip

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Volume Six of this excellent early American roots music series on the very reliable Yazoo record label continues on where Volume Five left off. Dusting off another wonderful array of rare 78 records, it features many notable and influential folk and blues figures from the '20s and '30s such as Skip James and Charley Patton as well as many more obscure artists. Through the hiss and scratchiness of these historical musical documents, hear the rich, reeling sounds of banjo, fiddle, guitar and voice. Oh the voices! Beautiful, distinct, passionate and often mournful, they regale tales of romance, religion and war time. 23 tracks in all.

RealAudio clip: It's Cold In China
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If you've already got some or all of volumes 1 through 6 in Yazoo's fine Times Ain't Like They Used To Be series of early 20th century American rural roots music compilations, then your reaction to the release of volumes 7 and 8 will either be "I want more! gimme!" or "Cool, but I'm happy with what I've got for now." (We tend towards the fomer of course.) If you're new to the series, there's no reason not to start with volumes 7 and/or 8 other than being anal about getting 'em in order. These two new installments provide more fantastic old timey blues, rags and gospel music from the '20s and '30s lovingly transferred from scratchy 78s to the digital medium. Artists include Skip James, Bo Weavil Jackson, "Gitfiddle Jim", Son House, East Texas Serenaders, Dock Boggs, Red Headed Fiddler, Dilly & His Dill Pickles, and a host of others. Both Vol. 7 and 8 have thick booklets that, aside from their covers and the track lists, contain the exact same photos and informative text...which makes us wonder why Yazoo doesn't just release these as double cd sets. No matter. Yazoo, keep 'em coming!

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This here dvd is a cool compilation from the Tino Corp. featuring videos by Ben Stokes, Davy Force!, Mission Control and Eric Koziol for tracks by DJ Shadow, Meat Beat Manifesto, Jack Dangers, D.H.S. (Dimensional Holophonic Sound), Afrunk, Davy Force!, DJ Radar, Enitokwa and Tino himself! Also includes bonus material in the form of a Tino Live segment shot at various 2000-2003 shows as well as four additional videos and more.

A compilation chronicling the current state of the San Francisco 'scene'. Lots of familiar names here, but even more unfamiliar ones (might be due to the fact that the comp is filled out by 'solo' contributions from almost every member of Tarentel as well as

Numero group return with yet another amazing reissue, gorgeously packaged, meticulously researched, It's All Pop is the second collection of power pop from the label, the first being the genius Yellow Pills, a collection of essential groups, lost gems, and classic tracks. This one is a bit more specific, and insanely obscure, as seems to be Numero's way, focusing this time on the short lived and almost completely unknown power pop label Titan, headquartered in Kansas City, existing only briefly from 1978-1981, and having only released a handful of records. But you know what they say about quality versus quantity. Anyway, the groups on Titan's roster are who's who of unknowns, a few maybe recognizable to only the most obsessive power pop fanatics: Boys, Secrets* (yep, the asterisk is part of their name), Gems, Scott McCarl, Bobby Sky, Millionaire At Midnight, Gary Charlson, Arlis!, JP McLain, and this is normally where we'd say "and loads more", but there really isn't any more. That's it, the whole roster, a handful of tracks from each, and if you love that Yellow Pills comp, then needless to say, this will probably hit the spot too. Obvious references are the Shoes, the Rasberries, Badfinger, E.L.O., Big Star, Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson, the Nazz, you know what we're talking about. Simple and stripped down, jangly guitars, vocal harmonies, and hooks galore. The sound varies a bit, some of the tracks are a bit glammy, some are total straight Beatles-esque pop, a few have a more classic vibe, others are a bit more hard rocking, but however the sound is twisted or tweaked, the heart and core of these songs is super catchy, super rocking ultra catchy total old school power pop bliss. Killer packaging of course, deluxe slip cover, two digipaks, a massive book, with extensive liner notes, loads of rare flyers and photos, and a note from label co-founder Mark Prellberg.

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The Black Twilight Circle is Southern California's answer to Les Legions Noires, the elite circle of French black metal groups which included Mutiilation, Vlad Tepes, Torgeist, Belketre, Aakon Keetreh, Moevet and a handful of others. Like the Black Legions, the Black Twilight Circle also have a stable of different 'groups', that are made up of a small handful of artists, most of whom do time in multiple bands, an insular musical community, that manages to create a surprising varied catalog considering how much overlap there is between the bands and the various members. Tliltic Tlapoyauak is a killer collection of exclusive tracks from a handful of those bands, some we knew already: Blue Hummingbird On The Left, Volahn, Dolorvotre, Tukaaria, Arizmenda, Axeman, along with a bunch more we didn't: Cempopoloah, In Lakech Ala Kin, Kampilan, Blood Play, Acualli and lots more. And like the handful of full lengths that we've managed to hear from some of these groups, the sound of the Black Twilight Circle definitely tends toward the avant, melding classic grim buzz, with all manner of sonic experimentation, just check out the opening track from Kuxan Suum, who, after a brief bit of Native American sounding folkiness, all tribal drumming, shakers and whistles, launches into a furious bout of raw, churning, tangled black buzz, a frenzied berserker onslaught, but one rife with weird angular melodies, and twisted riffage, and then part way through, the track breaks down into a cool little stretch of clean guitar shimmer, almost a sort of alien Appalachia, before launching right back into it, this time way proggier and more angular, the sound lurching and slithering and sounding almost like a black metal Sun City Girls! It's tempting to go through the whole record, track by track, as we are wont to do, cuz all the songs here are pretty incredible, but odds are, if you're into weird black metal, you are at least a bit familiar with these groups and this scene, but even if you're not, maybe especially if you're not, this is a killer place to start. The sound dizzyingly diverse, one second a wild wall of crumbling distortion swirling beneath super dramatic bellowed, almost go thic / post punk sounding vox, the next, total lo-fi grimnity, but even then, the sounds are twisted and obtuse, damaged and WTF, the mixes, the arrangements, the vocals especially, constantly lurching from gruff gurgle to wailing falsetto, to hellish shriek. There's very little in the way of straight ahead black metal to be found here, hell, we'd go so far as to say, maybe none at all. Even the most straight up buzz and blast, is only that way on the surface, and even then not for long, often sounds like it's melting, or collapsing, into a swirling black void. Elsewhere, the sound drifts into loping post rock territory, moody and meandering, while elsewhere the sound is some sort of twisted FX drenched noise rock, the demonic vokills the only truly black metal thing about it. Somehow the second disc gets even weirder, starting with some detuned downer rock, a wasted zoner sprawl of woozy, melty slo-mo creep, gothic and gloomy and crazy psychedelic, before the second track explodes into totally tranced out black buzz epicry. Later, the blackness evolves into a weird sort of flute flecked, progged out post rock, only to then erupt into a barrage, of thick churning riffage, and smoldering slow build throb, and then some murky tarpit death metal, butted up against some blackened jazziness that transforms into more furious buzzing blackness, the comp finishing off with the weirdest of the bunch, from Axeman, which begins as a weird sort of over the top cabaret ballad, replete with flanged guitars, synths, and some crazy over the top vocal bombast, only to then splinter into a wild squall of tangled buzz, with some ridiculous, super distorted shreddery, and some classic metal gallop, the song lurching from sound to sound, working it's way through several shades of black only to dissolve some sort of South American / Native American outro, bookending the opener, this time though the tribal drumming, and whistles, accompanied by some inhuman shriek. So weird. And so cool! Easily some of the most adventurous weirdo blackness being made today for sure! Killer packaging too, a full color triple digipak, with spaced out Aztec influenced cover art, and a huge booklet, printed with silver metallic ink, with a page for each of the band, including art, liner notes and lyrics.

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We always love a good heavy psych/proto-metal mix, that's what you get here on this new comp, twenty tracks of fairly obscure heaviness circa 1968-1974 from the UK, USA, Holland, and elsewhere; as the subtitle says, "a lesson in devilish psychedelics", sure! Making it more of a lesson, they've thoughtfully provided some notes about each band/track in the full-color illustrated cd booklet. Now, what's interesting is that we used to get comps like this and everything was new to us, but now, we know a lot of this stuff, you might too, bands like Incredible Hog, The Way We Live, Armaggedon (the German one), Skid Row (the Irish one!), Rotomagus (with their punkiest tune, "Fightin' Cock"), Schizo (Richard Pinhas' pre-Heldon band, with 2 tracks from their rare 7", sounding like a spaced out Steppenwolf), and big aQ hits Jerusalem (represented here by their devastating "Primitive Man"). We've had full-length reissues from several of these acts, most recently the Francais Metal de Proto of Rotomagus. Great stuff, all of it, and so if you don't know 'em all, this would be a good introduction. And then, there's actually, on the other hand, quite a few tracks here from band we DIDN'T already know, and thus are glad to hear. Seems that many of them were singles-only bands, so comps like this are one of the best ways to find out about 'em. Some names: The Hook (pretty dang wild and heavy for '68!), Sound Of Imker (both sides of their '69 single), Dickens, Spirit Of St. Louis, Bintangs, Henry Schifter, The Gallery, Inca Bullet Joe, Demian, Zendik, and Rapunzel. Some of those now we're gonna be on the lookout for more by - if there IS any more, 'cuz what's here might be all of it in some cases. Definitely a expertly-curated dose of old school, fuzz-filled heaviness for folks who dug similar comps like Up All Night, White Lace & Strange, and Downer Rock Genocide. A good range of frantic garage, manic psych, & plodding prog, all proto-something, either metal or punk or both. And by the way, interesting to note that a good 40 percent of these tracks date specifically from 1971, once again THEE year for awesome rock music.

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Another incredible collection from Honest Jon's, this one a compilation of early music from Istanbul, all recorded in the early part of the twentieth century, and strangely enough, according to the liner notes, all captured out of a culturally ignorant quest to gather up as much 'popular' music as possible, with various representatives of European labels and companies, the foremost being the Gramophone & Typewriter Company, doing everything in their power to record as much music as possible, eventually looking to local contacts, with some of the most prominent musicians of the day being recorded in hotel rooms or whatever space could quickly be converted into a makeshift recording studio. The liner notes explain in great detail the trials and tribulations of competing companies, the musical scene at the time, and the various musicians and their music, and while most of these names are probably unfamiliar, many of the performers here were considered, at the time to be the foremost performers / entertainers / musicians in Istanbul. Which is obvious listening to this music, even close to 100 years later, the sounds and songs here are so intense and dramatic, so passionate and utterly lovely, moving and inspired, all of the music here non religious, more folk and classical influenced, but still imbued with the same sort of spirituality, the same sense of inspiration, gorgeous flurries of Eastern sounding classical guitar, sweeping soaring vocals over almost American sounding blues, weeping strings, unfurling lush minor key melodies, incredibly complex vocals wrapped around equally intricate folk music, classical piano, gorgeous almost liturgical sounding crooning, the breadth of sounds, of instrumentation, the varied voices, the sound ranging from impossibly high fidelity, to scratchy, barely audible crackly wax cylinders, all the music linked by a common tradition, a sprawling sonic history in music, a glimpse into the past, and like all the most amazing music throughout history, a sound both timeless and of its time, so moving, so inspirational, and so utterly lovely. The cd comes in an incredible hardcover booklike packaging, the lp is quite swank as well, both with extensive liner notes and loads of amazing photos.

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Super limited, ultra deluxe reissue of a compilation that came out last year, and that somehow completely slipped beneath our radar. Hard to believe considering how amazing this is. All you need to know is it's a tribute to Judas Iscariot, a USBM institution, and features the elite of what might be considered the second wave of USBM cover classic JI tracks: Xasthur, Leviathan, Nachtmystium, Krieg and more! Holy shit! After 10 years, Judas Isacriot hung it up in 2002, but they still manage to influence countless legions of musical minions. Most of the bans here owe no small debt to Akhenaten and his Midwestern metal outfit, which is obviously why they're here paying their respects. The mighty Xasthur covers "The Cold Earth Slept Below...", the result is an incredibly lo-fi, brittle washed out smear of fuzzy guitars, stumbling dirgelike drumming, the whole thing so hissy and buzzy it's almost dreamlike, with some gorgeously mournful melodies that would make it sound downright poppy if it weren't so frosty and harsh. So fucked and hauntingly pretty it had us digging out our old JI records to hear the original. AQ fave Leviathan takes on "Where the Weather Beats Incessant", nearly 12 minutes of moody depressive midtempo blackness, with some strange droney interludes, super harsh distorted vocals, and strange drawn out guitar parts, the whole thing epic and majestic and almost post rock sounding. Krieg cover "Babylon", a furiously fuzzy, ultra lo-fi burst of muddy murky black buzz, guttural vocals vomited up from the depths, blasting beats, amazing lightning speed riffing, but the melodies buried in the mix are haunting and again strangely lovely.... Fellow Midwesterners Nachtmystium tackle "Gaze Upon Heaven In Flames", a super loud, in the red blast of relentless buzzing black metal, the riffs and the drumming a blinding blur, until about halfway through where the song breaks down into a strange, lurching half time almost-groove with creepy melodies and a odd timed hiccuping rhythm. Frostmoon Eclipse offer up their version of "Spill The Blood Of The Lamb" the grimmest and frostiest of the bunch so far, murky and muddy, but thick with buzz and thrash, the vocals a hateful demonic gurgle, the whole thing a buzzing snarling beast. The rest of the lineup holds their own nearly as well, offering up their own varied takes on classic Judas Iscariot material. Eternity Of Darkness, Sign Of Katu, Arkenstone, Merrimack, Dead To Earth, The Black Death, Carving To Nenia, Martyr and Birkenau. The strange thing is, that as buzzing and black, as hateful and harsh, as dreary and depressive as these tracks are, we had almost forgotten how pretty some of the Judas Iscariot stuff really was... Comes packaged in an oversized A5 style digibook, with killer artwork, a booklet with liner notes and photos, stickers and a mini-poster. And of course, EXTREMELY LIMITED!! ONLY 150 COPIES. WE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO GET MORE ONCE WE RUN OUT!!

MPEG stream: The Cold Earth Slept Below
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Another triumph brought to us by Mississippi Records (via Tompkins Square who originally released this collection as a 3cd set we listed a while back!), this 3 volume collection is overflowing with 39 amazing songs (about 17 less than the cd set, but still...) from Ottoman-American artists who found themselves in the bustle of American life from 1916 right before America entered WWI until 1929, when things became a little more quiet during the Depression. Oh, and we're not just talking Anytown, USA, but specifically New York City, with most of these songs recorded on the island of Manhattan. Scores of inhabitants from Anatolia, the Eastern Mediterranean, and the Levant fled Europe and settled here, bringing forth a brilliant cross pollination of cultures which we can now enjoy as the treasures they are. Places like Little Armenia and Little Syria sat alongside a Greek neighborhood around 8th Avenue and 30th Street, and musicians would mingle in the cafes and streets while no doubt absorbing other elements of what the city had to offer. In the process, they developed something vibrant, new, and exquisitely beautiful. Separated into the three volumes: Naughty Girl (Dances and Joys), I Wish I Never Came (Nostalgia, Yearning, & Pride), and Notes From Home (American releases of music from Ottoman emigres, some of these songs were actually recorded outside of the states), these compilations cover a vast range of the human experience while also focusing on culture-specific events like genocide, war, and travelling across the world to a strange new land. Without exaggeration we can say that what labels like Tompkins Square (and Mississippi) do is important for all of world culture, and the detailed liner notes help to give a better understanding of these exotic sounds which can overwhelm with their beauty but become EVEN BETTER when you know something, even just an anecdote, about the performer. Most of these musicians are unknown names to us - an exception being Marika Papagika who we became acquainted with thanks again to Mississippi Records - with some in fact being listed as simply "unknown performers". While their names are lost to time, at least we still have these unbelievable sonic portraits of a rapidly changing moment in world history.

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[ aquarius records catalogue — V ]