THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Latest release from Tim Presley, aka one man lo-fi garage rock / noise pop band White Fence, a sprawling two volume collection of jams, culled from supposedly over 80 tracks, and this collection is a doozy, like past WF records, a collection of super varied pop weirdness, from super catchy indie jangle, to super fuzzy Kinks worship, from damaged zoner psych, to in the red garage punk swagger, and pretty much every stop in between. We're tempted to compare this to the Sopors, whose lp we review elsewhere on this list, another overwhelming songsuite from a twisted loner genius, and while the Sopors record is seriously damaged and on the verge of collapse, the sounds here are significantly more polished, but only some of the time.
The first volume is the poppier of the two, just check out the opening one-two punch, "Swagger Vets And Double Moon", with it's programmed drums, psychedelic leads, reverbed vocals, fuzzed out guitar, shuffly rhythm, and then "Long White Curtain", which is total British Invasion worship, with a seriously strange lo-fi mix, the leads practically bursting from the speaker, while the rest of the sounds are dialed way back. And so it goes, wherever Presley's twisted sensibilities take him, there's the lilting dreamy fuzzy twee pop of "Do You Know Ida Know", which sounds almost like Ween, with its weird processed vox, or the fuzzy organ driven shuffle pop of "It Will Never Be", that locks into a hazy krautpsych loop and warbled and warps, while spidery guitars coil themselves around that main groove, or "Hey! Roman Nose", which is total lo-fi bedroom pop, with a little bit of that Purling Hiss style seventies power pop mixed in, and the first volume finishes off with "Daily Pique" a fuzzy psychedelic groove with weird vocals, and an even weirder production.
Ty Segall and Mikal Cronin and John Dwyer might be getting most of the love (rightfully so), but folks who like their garage rock and indie pop a bit more fucked up and fractured, twisted and confusional, White Fence might just be your cup of spiked tea.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Latest release from Tim Presley, aka one man lo-fi garage rock / noise pop band White Fence, a sprawling two volume collection of jams, culled from supposedly over 80 tracks, and this collection is a doozy, like past WF records, a collection of super varied pop weirdness, from super catchy indie jangle, to super fuzzy Kinks worship, from damaged zoner psych, to in the red garage punk swagger, and pretty much every stop in between. We're tempted to compare this to the Sopors, whose lp we review elsewhere on this list, another overwhelming songsuite from a twisted loner genius, and while the Sopors record is seriously damaged and on the verge of collapse, the sounds here are significantly more polished, but only some of the time.
The second volume seems decidedly weirder than part one, although it starts off with a dreamy bit of synth driven balladry, that sounds weirdly like the Frogs, which is most definitely not a bad thing, "She Relief" wraps some garage pop in squiggly leads and all sorts of piano pound and psychedelic freakout, before "I'd Sing" brings things back down, unfurling as a little stretch of psych guitar laced bedroom pop murk.
Things do definitely become more and more unhinged, lots of weird synths, and strange experimental song structures, noise guitar freakouts, even the poppiest jams are all twisted up, doused in effects, tangled up into weird arrangements, but somehow it suits them, and we find ourselves digging the second volume as much as the first, if not more.
Ty Segall and Mikal Cronin and John Dwyer might be getting most of the love (rightfully so), but folks who like their garage rock and indie pop a bit more fucked up and fractured, twisted and confusional, White Fence might just be your cup of spiked tea.
Totally awesome breezy lo-fi garage pop from Los Angeles, that we just can't seem to get enough of. While many of WF's lo-fi counterparts these days are all about fuzz and feedback, White Fence is so much more about infectious songs and deep running melody. Like some lost early recording of Chris Knox covering The Kinks or The Zombies, or imagine The Art Museums if they were a little more washed out and blurred and blissy. Also reminds us a bit of a more focused Ariel Pink, as WF are able to tap into such golden pop tones yet give them a nice warped and lysergic twist. While it's for sure going to get lumped in with a lot of our favorite recent garage pop faves like The Fresh & Onlys, Woods, Hanoi James, etc., there is something very timeless about the songs White Fence create. They could just as easily be lost nuggets from some obscure pastoral psych band out of the UK in the late '60s as it could be a Cherry Red band from the Paisley underground in the '80s, or a young Robert Pollard merging with the Elephant Six collective. For sure a strong outsider pop sound, with hints of Syd Barrett and Bobb Trimble. Bottom line is that this is top quality songwriting delivered in such a satisfying way. So damn good!
Don't think that Make-A-Mess pressed a ton of the vinyl so better act fast. But fear not, there's a cd on Woodsist too.
This is volume 12 in the LAMC series from the Famous Class label, where a bunch of our favorite bands offer up an exclusive song for the A side, and pick one of their favorite up and coming bands for the flipside. Past participants have included A Place To Bury Strangers, Deerhoof, Fuzz, Mikal Cronin, Wand, CCR Headcleaner, Ceremony, White Magic and more. This time around it's local sixties style retro poppers White Fence, who offer up another glimmering sonic gem, a dreamy bit of lo-fi retro pop, all hushed vox, music box melodies, tinkling chimes, and fuzzy, jangly guitars sounding a bit like vintage Kinks by way of Guided By Voices, which is most definitely a good thing. WF picked Jack Name for the B side, whose Light Show record was recently released on Ty Segall's God? label, and reviewed here, and much like that lp, the track here is a woozy bit of garage pop murk, with deep dramatic vox draped over almost cabaret sounding fuzziness, a little bit baroque, a little bit lo-fi, all blurred into a heady, psych-pop gem, which should have folks who missed out on the aforementioned full length, righting that wrong, right away!
And yep, EXTREMELY LIMITED!!
Heads up for White Flight! He might look a bit familiar to some who know mainman Justin Roelofs as the guitarist for The Anniversary, but he's doin' something quite different from the direct, peppy emo-pop of his other band. Still quite energetic and emotive, but this pop is more sprawling and slightly tweaked in a meandering Beck or Ween-ish fashion with vocals that fall in a similar yelpy range of Hidden Cameras, Wolf Parade and Arcade Fire. While maintaining a core of slouchy indie rock, Roelofs dabbles with shuffling hip hop beats and bleary psych-folk detours. This is an album brimming with often seemingly disjointed ideas -- some more fully realized than others, some we wish he'd elaborated on further. For those with short attention spans who dig cool aural fragments.
Latest issue of this eminently readable and gorgeously laid out New Zealand music and arts magazine. Always chock full of amazing obscurities and usually at least one or two artists or musicians you actually have heard of just so you don't feel completely out of touch. This issue features, a piece on the Pink And White Terraces, at one time, New Zealand;s "Eighth Wonder Of The World", installation artist Hany Armanious, artist and photographer Yvonne Todd, the mighty Merzbow (oh, we know him!), LA writer and filmmaker Chris Kraus, a bunch of drawings by artist Peter Robinson, Kiwi female fronted rap duo Coco Solid, a brief piece on the Dead C's Bruce Russell (we know him too!), a report on Christchurch's 4th Biennial of Public Art, an excerpt from the Biennial's blog, Korean 'junk' artist Choi Jeong Hwa, plus still more art, tons of photos, illustrations, drawings, some fiction, and more more more. All wrapped up in a striking full color cover. Awesome.
It all started with the MSG lp we reviewed a while back, a record called Songs From A Gated Community, a seriously damaged collection of lo-fi Casio keyboard driven suburban-nerd outsider pop that sounded like it was recorded by an ADD latch key kid, high on jello, and cheetos, and afternoon cartoons, and probably a little weed too. To our ears, the first White Glove lp sounded like that kid's older brother, the same basic ingredients, but more teenage, drug fueled, girl obsessed skate rock. So here we have full length number two from this Portland lo-fi skate-pop combo, and before we get to the music, let's talk about the INSANE album cover. A seventies skater, doing some sort of trick and spewing a huge cloud of smoke from his mouth, directed at some female shaman, calmly tending to her fire, and whatever potions she might be brewing, all in front of an epic backdrop of snow capped mountains and forests. Woah.
And yeah, the music takes up right where the last record left off, a sort of minimal punk / pop, acoustic guitar, drums, weary laid back, drawly vox, the songs still about girls and skating, being bummed, and bored, the sound a bit like a more lo-fi Violent Femmes, or a little bit sixties jangle, like early EARLY Who, but WAY stripped down, the vocals this time around are a bit more polished, with some proper harmonies, plenty of ooooh's and aaaah's, and some goofy noodly keyboard solos, the music too, a bit more 'produced', but only a bit. Really, the best thing about this new record is the songs, which are WAY better. More fleshed out, still simple and minimal, but the band seem to have a better handle on song craft, on catchy choruses, memorable melodies, but fear not, it may be catchier, and a bit more polished, but the vibe is still all pot smoking, parking lot, bored small town rebellion, black light posters, beer bong, dead end job, pissed off at parents, bad haircuts, broken hearts, old mix tapes, late night cruising, small town blues, all delivered via a set of songs that we're finding surprisingly addictive!
Some of you aQ-er's might remember the Songs From A Gated Community record, by a group/guy called MSG, that we reviewed a while back, an essential WTF? slab of lo-fi Casio-driven 4-track electro nerd pop, with songs about BMX, candy, car stereos, and at the time we wrote that we weren't sure if it was actually recorded by a precocious child, or an adult channeling his inner child, and in a way, even though we now know, we still don't REALLY know. But imagine if the weird suburban outcast, the latch key kid high on pop rocks with his nose buried in comic books and purloined Playboys, who was ostensibly the 'genius' behind that MSG record, was actively sonically chronically his adolescence on record, well then this White Glove record finds that same kid, slightly older, experimenting with pot, trying to make it with chicks, and most importantly SKATEBOARDING. Yup, this is all jangly, punk pop, lo-fi, swaggery SKATE ROCK. We hear shades of the Dead Milkmen, the Surf Punks, Spot 1019, and Camper Van Beethoven even, it's got that sort of simple strummy hookiness, mostly acoustic guitar, or electric guitar through a crappy little practice amp, simple practice space drumming, each song with just one or two parts, with some scrappy, emo-crooned vocals, and lyrics about, well, mostly skating, also being attacked by skinheads WHILE skating, getting stoned, then skating, their friend Jesse's supposedly bisexual girlfriend, some girls's pretty, pretty boyfriend, drinking beer (and then skating), getting pink eye (and not being able to skate), listening to dubstep (?), you get the drift. Like MSG, the songs are fun, and funny, goofy and dorky, but actually, really pretty good, and some of the jams here are super catchy, and you'll find stuck in your head like crazy.
Definitely recommended for folks into weird nerd pop, home brewed what-the-fuck songsmithery, and all manner of puerile, juvenile punky poppiness.
Includes a download code too!
First vinyl release from these NY based drug addled space rock explorers, featuring a new member and a somewhat different sound. The new member is Kid Millions, drummer for the band Oneida, whose most recent disc, Preteen Weaponry, was a huge hit around here. But the addition of Millions doesn't signify a shift towards the abstract rhythmic heaviness of Oneida, instead, White Hills seem to have gone in the opposite direction, ditching some of their heavy freak out tendencies, and instead sprawling languorously, letting the instruments unwind, the songs unfurl, laid back, blissed out, far out, and endlessly drifting space rock, heavier on the space than the rock.
Two sidelong jams, the first, is thick with wah guitars, but those guitars are suspended in wide open stretches of whir and hum, wreathed in reverb, and allowed to drift and shimmer, the drums are the steadiest part, alternately jazzy and shuffling, subtle and propulsive, the recording and production is raw and immediate, almost like a rehearsal space demo, but it definitely suits the sound. The track wanders and meanders, like a super stripped down Hawkwind, until the various sounds become enveloped in soft clouds of spacey FX and buzzing synths, a crescendo of sorts, but the track never explodes, never gets heavy, it's almost like a field recording of some eternal space jam, a neverending sonic entity that continues forever in both directions, backwards until the birth of the universe, forward into infinity, we're just offered a glimpse as it passes us by.
The flipside is a bit dirgier, more garagey, a sort of stripped down Stooges-y stomp, but slowed way down, until it's almost a doomy dirge, more clouds of spaced out FX, this time a bit more raw, the sound a bit heavier, but still more spacey and abstract, the second half of side two a tripped out ambient bliss out, layers of drones and buzz, whirling beneath random minimal effects and some creepy looped vocals.
LIMITED TO 333 COPIES. White sleeves with paste on art, front and back, inside a red vellum insert, we did get a whole bunch of these, but as with most White Hills releases, they'll probably go pretty fast, and odds are we won't be able to get more.
Finally, this long long long out of print recording from these aQ space psych faves, originally released as a super limited tour only cd-r, is available again, repressed on vinyl, via the kind folks at Immune. Here's what we had to say about these jams when we first reviewed the cd-r version WAY back in 2007:
The return of White Hills, and their East Coast Hawkwind worshipping Stooges stomp FX blowouts. Every album so far has kicked our asses, each one exploring a different side of WH's spaced out psychedelic sound. From the swirling cosmic krautprog of No Game To Play, to the more straight ahead space rock of Glitter Glamour Atrocity to the collaboration with Bay Area noisemakers White Pee, a half hour blast of ambient spacenoize. Where does Abstractions And Mutations fall? It falls smack dab in between all of those, but it falls HARD and HEAVY. Easily one of THEE fiercest outings yet from Dave W. and his bearded and robed wizards of druggy sonic overload. Beginning with a seriously metallic riff, and some super effected vocals, the band pounds relentlessly, adding tons of melody and a wicked hook, and then a brief space-y shuffle, before the song explodes into three minutes of amp frying psychguitar destruction.
The 15 minute "Left Behind" begins by drifting through some Tangerine Dreamed outer space void, peppered with fluttering drum fills, abstract shards of guitar, and clouds of shimmering FX, before again, exploding into a relentless acid jam, the drums splattering and sputtering, pounding and thrashing, the guitars wailing and howling, everything wrapped in a dense haze of buzz and effects. The rest of the record strikes a balance between the two, the blissed out laid back haze, and the face melting psychedelic freakout, culminating in the super tripped out final track, a sort of disembodied Doors-y jam, slow and spare, vocals drifting, guitars burning in soft swells, the percussion doused in reverb, the pace seriously stoned, before the chaos rains down from above, an intense drum guitar duel, the reverb and delay joining in for good measure, a swirling head spinning blow out.
Includes a download coupon as well!!
In case you missed it on our Record Store Day "in-between list" last Friday... but these are going fast! At this rate, gone within the week, if not sooner...
Last year - or maybe it was the year before - we told ourselves, hey, Record Store Day is awesome and all, but what would make it even more awesome? Maybe if we had our OWN release for Record Store Day! Something that, then, we could make sure our devoted mailorder customers wouldn't miss out on, also something that we could be absolutely sure we'd have, utterly unique to our store, amidst the chaos and uncertainty of all the other RSD releases.
So, this year, we did it! With the help of our good friends, Brooklyn's psychedelic space rockers extraordinare, you know 'em, you love 'em, White Hills. As those of you who live here in San Francisco may remember, White Hills brought their spaced out sounds to aQuarius for a fantastic instore on October 1st, 2010. Actually, they performed under the somewhat obvious pseudonym Black Valleys ('cause the venue they were playing that same night didn't want them doing another show the same day). In any case, their "Black Valleys" set turned out to be quite a bit different than an "ordinary" White Hills performance, being a drumless, droned-out duo performance specifically tailored to our space, trying (though probably failing!) to keep the volume low enough not to disturb our neighbors... but still hypnotizing us all with their nonetheless heavy sounds. The show was recorded, and it turned out GREAT.
Over a half hour long, the first few minutes of which are filled with shimmering, pretty pulsations and subtle sonic textures, as if this was the White Hills' version of Pop Ambient. It's both mesmeric and miasmic... Eventually waves of grinding fuzz enter the scene, and this slow building sonic juggernaut of throb and drone and drift takes on more massive proportions, propelled by what we can only say are almost ghostly riffs, giving this something of an Earth 2 vibe. We could go on and on, but somehow don't think we need to, since we know what White Hills fans are like (and you're all White Hills fans, right?).
So, digging the recording, White Hills gave us the go-ahead to release it as a special limited edition cd, for Record Store Day this year. And boy are we stoked.
LIMITED TO 300 hand-numbered copies, packaged in slim, dvd-style cases, with cool Op-Art inspired cover graphics by our pal Nathan Berlinguette, printed in black on fancy silvery paper. NOT sold in stores - except for ours!
Latest blast of modern space psych drone rock from these East Coast spacelords, an ultra limited (only 1000 copies) 12", part of Thrill Jockey's new subscription series, which means these will probably be gone in a flash.
Which is too bad, cuz this is one of the best White Hills jams yet, thankfully, only two of these tracks are exclusive, one is a new version of a track from Heads On Fire, remixed by Julian Cope's drummer, one is a track from the upcoming full length, but two of them are ONLY available here (and the remixed version of "Oceans Of Sound" from Heads On Fire is different enough to make it essentially a new track) so pretty much a must own for the space rock psych drone obsessives out there, which is most likely most of you.
The A side begins with "Dead" which will be on the band's upcoming full length, and it's a doozy, fuzzy, druggy, a little bit lo-fi, looped and hypnotic, with dreamy soft singing, beneath billowing clouds of distorted guitars, all hazy and super space rocky, definitely channeling the spirits of Loop and Spacemen 3, definitely has us chomping at the bit for the new album.
The second track is the remixed "Oceans Of Sound" and is a cool processed guitarscape, swirled FX wrapped around a stuttery tremolo guitar, like a drugged out space rock "How Soon Is Now?", fragmented riffs careen through streaks of buzz and hum, building to a total space pop climax that definitely had us thinking Spiritualized or Teenage Filmstars.
Flip it over, and "Another Coming" explodes out of the speakers, a grinding thick viscous dronescape, very reminiscent of Expo 70, that sort of krautdronespacedrift, with dense looped guitars, stretched out into a churning blur, the whole thing wreathed in hazy effects. The second track, "Red Sun", is all skeletal and dubbed out, almost funky sounding, with minimal guitar, but again loads of effects, thick throbbing bass, and creepy sampled voices.
Super rad. And SUPER LIMITED. ONLY 1000 COPIES, and most likely sold out any minute, we got a whole bunch, but that doesn't mean we won't blow through these. Gorgeous jackets too, matte black with spot UV gloss lettering, and a fancy full color pasted on art card front cover.
The latest full length from these East Coast psychedelic space rockers and long time aQ faves find the band at their most rocking, trading in some of their soaring heart-of-the-sun blissed out psych jams for something a bit more Stooges-y, launching right into it with "Pads Of Light" which is definitely their most overtly hard rocking, channeling Loop and Spacemen 3 as much as Hawkwind, the pounding riff heavy churn still wreathed in swaths of celestial effects and underpinned by multiple layers of guitars, the song a seemingly simple three chord pound, but the production is massive, and the song offers up super melodic refrains, some gorgeously melodic basslines, and a second half that's all wild cosmic shred, soaring melodies, soft squalls of psych guitar tangle and more swooshing effects, on past records it might have stretched out for 10 more minutes, but here the band wind it down after just four. But fear not, the follow up "Robot Stomp" is a sprawling 12 minutes, a slow burn smoldering chug through clouds of shimmer and buried voices, some serious mesmerizing hypno-psych krautdrone mesmer, we kept expecting he song to explode into another part, but the band stay locked tight, letting the groove unwind slowly and druggily, the surrounding sounds getting more and more active, swirls of effects, warped woozy melodies, bombarded by squelches and glitches and lazer like bleeps and bloops, not to mention soaring string like synths, super dramatic and tense and intense, which leads directly into another rocker, the relatively brief "You Dream You See", which swaggers and slithers, the guitars thick and warm, the drums dense and tribal, laced with blasts of psych guitar freakout, finally, slipping into some abstract spaced out psychedelic drift for the last half of the song, another part that could easily have stretched out for two or three times as long.
"Song Of Everything" manages to merge the two sides of the band perfectly, the droned out psychedelic hypnorock, and the urgent riff heavy hard rock, the band slipping seamlessly between the two, before collapsing into a weird sort of abstract outer space drift, laced with spidery tendrils of melody, shards of wah wah, processed vox, spoken, and slowed down, super trippy and far out, before finally exploding into a final minute of chugging, churning psychedelic hard rock riffing.
And finally, the record closes with the awesomely titled "I Write A Thousand Letters Pulp On Bone", a hazy, woozy, dreamily druggy single part, repeated over and over, the listener sucked in and sent spinning into the ether, a cool super dynamic drum part, soaring swells of shimmery synth, while all around guitar and effects whirl and swirl and drift, definitely the sort of thing we could listen to forever, and the perfect finish, a sort of chill out, come down droned out psychedelic coda, that does get heavier and heavier, but also seems to get further and further out, and takes us willingly with it. Needless to say, absolutely recommended. And while we're tempted to say this might be the best White Hills yet, let's just say it's another fantastic record from a band whose given us pretty much nothing but fantastic records.
And, needless to say with a White Hills release, the vinyl is on the limited side of things, and going fast...
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
The latest full length from these East Coast psychedelic space rockers and long time aQ faves find the band at their most rocking, trading in some of their soaring heart-of-the-sun blissed out psych jams for something a bit more Stooges-y, launching right into it with "Pads Of Light" which is definitely their most overtly hard rocking, channeling Loop and Spacemen 3 as much as Hawkwind, the pounding riff heavy churn still wreathed in swaths of celestial effects and underpinned by multiple layers of guitars, the song a seemingly simple three chord pound, but the production is massive, and the song offers up super melodic refrains, some gorgeously melodic basslines, and a second half that's all wild cosmic shred, soaring melodies, soft squalls of psych guitar tangle and more swooshing effects, on past records it might have stretched out for 10 more minutes, but here the band wind it down after just four. But fear not, the follow up "Robot Stomp" is a sprawling 12 minutes, a slow burn smoldering chug through clouds of shimmer and buried voices, some serious mesmerizing hypno-psych krautdrone mesmer, we kept expecting he song to explode into another part, but the band stay locked tight, letting the groove unwind slowly and druggily, the surrounding sounds getting more and more active, swirls of effects, warped woozy melodies, bombarded by squelches and glitches and lazer like bleeps and bloops, not to mention soaring string like synths, super dramatic and tense and intense, which leads directly into another rocker, the relatively brief "You Dream You See", which swaggers and slithers, the guitars thick and warm, the drums dense and tribal, laced with blasts of psych guitar freakout, finally, slipping into some abstract spaced out psychedelic drift for the last half of the song, another part that could easily have stretched out for two or three times as long.
"Song Of Everything" manages to merge the two sides of the band perfectly, the droned out psychedelic hypnorock, and the urgent riff heavy hard rock, the band slipping seamlessly between the two, before collapsing into a weird sort of abstract outer space drift, laced with spidery tendrils of melody, shards of wah wah, processed vox, spoken, and slowed down, super trippy and far out, before finally exploding into a final minute of chugging, churning psychedelic hard rock riffing.
And finally, the record closes with the awesomely titled "I Write A Thousand Letters Pulp On Bone", a hazy, woozy, dreamily druggy single part, repeated over and over, the listener sucked in and sent spinning into the ether, a cool super dynamic drum part, soaring swells of shimmery synth, while all around guitar and effects whirl and swirl and drift, definitely the sort of thing we could listen to forever, and the perfect finish, a sort of chill out, come down droned out psychedelic coda, that does get heavier and heavier, but also seems to get further and further out, and takes us willingly with it. Needless to say, absolutely recommended. And while we're tempted to say this might be the best White Hills yet, let's just say it's another fantastic record from a band whose given us pretty much nothing but fantastic records.
And, needless to say with a White Hills release, the vinyl is on the limited side of things, and going fast...
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
The latest full length from these East Coast psychedelic space rockers and long time aQ faves find the band at their most rocking, trading in some of their soaring heart-of-the-sun blissed out psych jams for something a bit more Stooges-y, launching right into it with "Pads Of Light" which is definitely their most overtly hard rocking, channeling Loop and Spacemen 3 as much as Hawkwind, the pounding riff heavy churn still wreathed in swaths of celestial effects and underpinned by multiple layers of guitars, the song a seemingly simple three chord pound, but the production is massive, and the song offers up super melodic refrains, some gorgeously melodic basslines, and a second half that's all wild cosmic shred, soaring melodies, soft squalls of psych guitar tangle and more swooshing effects, on past records it might have stretched out for 10 more minutes, but here the band wind it down after just four. But fear not, the follow up "Robot Stomp" is a sprawling 12 minutes, a slow burn smoldering chug through clouds of shimmer and buried voices, some serious mesmerizing hypno-psych krautdrone mesmer, we kept expecting he song to explode into another part, but the band stay locked tight, letting the groove unwind slowly and druggily, the surrounding sounds getting more and more active, swirls of effects, warped woozy melodies, bombarded by squelches and glitches and lazer like bleeps and bloops, not to mention soaring string like synths, super dramatic and tense and intense, which leads directly into another rocker, the relatively brief "You Dream You See", which swaggers and slithers, the guitars thick and warm, the drums dense and tribal, laced with blasts of psych guitar freakout, finally, slipping into some abstract spaced out psychedelic drift for the last half of the song, another part that could easily have stretched out for two or three times as long.
"Song Of Everything" manages to merge the two sides of the band perfectly, the droned out psychedelic hypnorock, and the urgent riff heavy hard rock, the band slipping seamlessly between the two, before collapsing into a weird sort of abstract outer space drift, laced with spidery tendrils of melody, shards of wah wah, processed vox, spoken, and slowed down, super trippy and far out, before finally exploding into a final minute of chugging, churning psychedelic hard rock riffing.
And finally, the record closes with the awesomely titled "I Write A Thousand Letters Pulp On Bone", a hazy, woozy, dreamily druggy single part, repeated over and over, the listener sucked in and sent spinning into the ether, a cool super dynamic drum part, soaring swells of shimmery synth, while all around guitar and effects whirl and swirl and drift, definitely the sort of thing we could listen to forever, and the perfect finish, a sort of chill out, come down droned out psychedelic coda, that does get heavier and heavier, but also seems to get further and further out, and takes us willingly with it. Needless to say, absolutely recommended. And while we're tempted to say this might be the best White Hills yet, let's just say it's another fantastic record from a band whose given us pretty much nothing but fantastic records.
And, needless to say with a White Hills release, the vinyl is on the limited side of things, and going fast...
Ok, pink vinyl all gone, but we do have a few of the white vinyl left, listed last week...
The latest full length from these East Coast psychedelic space rockers and long time aQ faves find the band at their most rocking, trading in some of their soaring heart-of-the-sun blissed out psych jams for something a bit more Stooges-y, launching right into it with "Pads Of Light" which is definitely their most overtly hard rocking, channeling Loop and Spacemen 3 as much as Hawkwind, the pounding riff heavy churn still wreathed in swaths of celestial effects and underpinned by multiple layers of guitars, the song a seemingly simple three chord pound, but the production is massive, and the song offers up super melodic refrains, some gorgeously melodic basslines, and a second half that's all wild cosmic shred, soaring melodies, soft squalls of psych guitar tangle and more swooshing effects, on past records it might have stretched out for 10 more minutes, but here the band wind it down after just four. But fear not, the follow up "Robot Stomp" is a sprawling 12 minutes, a slow burn smoldering chug through clouds of shimmer and buried voices, some serious mesmerizing hypno-psych krautdrone mesmer, we kept expecting he song to explode into another part, but the band stay locked tight, letting the groove unwind slowly and druggily, the surrounding sounds getting more and more active, swirls of effects, warped woozy melodies, bombarded by squelches and glitches and lazer like bleeps and bloops, not to mention soaring string like synths, super dramatic and tense and intense, which leads directly into another rocker, the relatively brief "You Dream You See", which swaggers and slithers, the guitars thick and warm, the drums dense and tribal, laced with blasts of psych guitar freakout, finally, slipping into some abstract spaced out psychedelic drift for the last half of the song, another part that could easily have stretched out for two or three times as long.
"Song Of Everything" manages to merge the two sides of the band perfectly, the droned out psychedelic hypnorock, and the urgent riff heavy hard rock, the band slipping seamlessly between the two, before collapsing into a weird sort of abstract outer space drift, laced with spidery tendrils of melody, shards of wah wah, processed vox, spoken, and slowed down, super trippy and far out, before finally exploding into a final minute of chugging, churning psychedelic hard rock riffing.
And finally, the record closes with the awesomely titled "I Write A Thousand Letters Pulp On Bone", a hazy, woozy, dreamily druggy single part, repeated over and over, the listener sucked in and sent spinning into the ether, a cool super dynamic drum part, soaring swells of shimmery synth, while all around guitar and effects whirl and swirl and drift, definitely the sort of thing we could listen to forever, and the perfect finish, a sort of chill out, come down droned out psychedelic coda, that does get heavier and heavier, but also seems to get further and further out, and takes us willingly with it. Needless to say, absolutely recommended. And while we're tempted to say this might be the best White Hills yet, let's just say it's another fantastic record from a band whose given us pretty much nothing but fantastic records.
And, needless to say with a White Hills release, the vinyl is on the limited side of things, and going fast (pink vinyl gone)..
NYC's White Hills blew us away last year with a bunch of limited edition, Julian Cope-approved cd-r releases documenting their mesmeric, motorik, heavy, and very Hawkwindy space rock sound. We're now very pleased to have their new full-length album in stock -- and it's a real cd, even though the (cool-looking) digipack it's contained within appears hand-assembled.
This time around, we are initially given the impression that White Hills has decided to mix it up a little, branching off into a more musicianly, refined post-rock realm rather than sticking entirely to the amplification n' effects laden, cosmic droneout krautrockishness set-the-controls ROCK of their cd-rs. Certainly there's more dynamics here, more ambient/acoustic interludes, lots of really pretty, even poppy bits. But what about the heavy hypnotic headnodders? They're here too, don't worry! Fans of Hawkwind, Neu!, Braindonor, Spacemen Three, Comets On Fire, Kinski, Titan, Pharaoh Overlord, etc. will certainly dig the likes of "Love Serve Remember" (which weirdly reminds us of the Painteens) and the distorted, psychedelic, jamming excess of the nearly 15 minute long album-closing title track, among others here. This new White Hills is perhaps more nuanced in some ways than their prior output, but any newfound delicacy hasn't dimmed the drugged dementia of the louder portions of this disc and they've always had their wonderfully blissful side anyway, so we're quite happy with their "progress"!
Latest blast of psychedelic space rock from these NYC sonic assassins, and like all the previous White Hills jams, it's a good one, but in some ways, it's actually a lot different, still present are the usual space rockisms, swirling effects drenched guitars, pounding drums, vox buried in the mix, extended droned out jams and seriously psychedelic leads, but the tone is different, and the arrangements are more jagged, more varied, apparently this records is thematically focused on the band's anti government and anti-corporation sentiments, and we have to say, it sort of suits them, right out of the gate, opening track "The Condition Of Nothing" is a killer, a lot heavier and darker than much of the White Hills that have came before.
Dark buzzing guitars, woozy effects drenched atmosphere, motorik drumming, chanted dead eyed vox, some seriously caustic and crunchy FX, the guitar tones thick and super distorted, the sound ominous and sinister, the roiling riffage infused with a pulsing droning thrum, but then there's some super melodic female vox, courtesy of WH bassist Ego Sensation, which lead right into a cool, lurching breakdown that sounds almost pasted in, but it's a cool jagged shift, and just makes the track sound that much more fierce when the band swoop back into their churning droned out space psych, which is also laced with plenty of crunchy chug, and then comes the solo, which is super noisy, a little shreddy, a wild tangle of synths and guitars, all wound up into a whirling blown out wah wah drenched squall, before slipping right into that breakdown again, but this time stretching it way out into a hazy, druggy sprawl of synthy buzz, woozy and washed out and hauntingly dreamy, playing out till the end. Shit, just one song in, and we're thinking this may be the best WH record yet. After a brief experimental synth / noise interlude, the band slip into a slow burn lope, all blissed out minimal rhythm, layered hushed buzz, beneath softly swirling clouds of spaced out FX, quickly building to thick slab of reverb and distortion drenched hypnorock, mesmerizing and cyclical, the effects getting more and more pronounced, threatening to swallow the rest of the music whole, heavy and heady, but still sorta blissed out and laid back.
The next track is another angry groover, a thick propulsive rhythm, some pulsing synthbass buzz, like a supercharged Circle, locked tight for nearly 13 minutes, the sort of jam that might as well have gone on for 13 more, the main groove static and solid, while all around the band unleash some of their most twisted effects and warped atmospheres, adding woozy melodic layers, of jagged shards of processed hiss and static, some warbly almost new wavey synths, the whole thing, fuzzy and thick and totally and irresistibly mesmerizing.
White Hills kick out the jams on "Upon Arrival" a synth soaked guitar heavy Stooges-y stomp, the riffiest and poppiest of the bunch, hard and heavy but hooky as hell, and still appropriately spaced out, before slipping into a suite of experimental ambience, a thick, buzzy, almost funereal organ dronescape, a blown out synthdrone sprawl, all low end pulsations, warped FX, thick processed guitars, doom drenched downtuned riffage, and sci-fi spacey ambience, a weird drum heavy, tribal rhythmic workout, horn like tones, stretched into layered drones, glitched out electronics, propuslive and almost dancey, before the whole thing gets all tangled up and processed into a crunchy garbled smear of squelches, which brings us to the epic 17 minute closer, which is basically the ultimate White Hills jam, starting out all riffy and Stooges-y, before evolving into a heart of the sun psychedelic guitar jam, then slowing down to a druggy low slung crawl, only to explode right back into it, another stomping groove, wild leads, over thick crunchy riffs, and woozy walking basslines, building to a majestic ur-drone bass-heavy psychedelic space drift, before fading out into several minutes of gradually fading space-y swirl.
Fuck yeah, so good, and utterly kick ass all the way through, assuming we can get past that kick ass opener. As always, psychedelic spacelords and ladies need look no further than this for their cosmic fix.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Synth psych kraut weirdness from NY. Julian Cope raved about it on his Head Heritage website. We have loads of the version the band released but Cope's remixed version is already out of print, and we only have a few copies left.
Previously only available as a double lp, this sprawling slab of blissed out space rock psychedelia is now available on cd, and with a SIXTEEN MINUTE bonus track, which, if you're obsessive like us, and we know lots of you are, makes this essential, even if you (we!) already have the vinyl version. More on the bonus track below, but first, here's what we had to say about the record proper:
Touted as the first 'official' teaming up of these two outfits, we're pretty sure this is definitely at least the second, maybe the now out of print Aquarian Downer cd-r is not being counted as properly official, but having freaked out over that a while back, we already knew these two were a good match. And on this collaboration, the two mesh seamlessly, White Hills seeming to let Gnod dial down the intensity and all out rocking, and crank up the shimmery washed out dreaminess, we mentioned Tangerine Dream in our review of the cd-r, and that sound is all over here, but so is Neu!, Wooden Shjips, all sorts of things, but WH and Gnod are clearly space rock masters, and these 4 sidelong tracks only further cement their placement in our personal space rock kraut drone pantheon (what, you don't have one?)!
So for this record, White Hills are a four piece, again featuring Oneida's Kid Millions on drums, and Gnod are a SEVEN piece, so you would think 11 rockers jamming out would be a crazy mess, but nope, these guys are so obviously sonic soulmates, which is evident from the first track, a slab of slow groovy krautrock, motorik (multiple drummer-ed?) drumming, smoldering minimal riffage, mantra like vocals, the Neu! / Stereolab vibe here is huge, woozy synths, tangled psychedelic leads, all glistening and sunshiney, never exploding into full bore heaviness, instead, just unwinding lazily and dreamily, drowsy druggy drift giving way to super spare spaced out smolder, before launching into a muscular Hawkwind sounding jam, all downtuned crunch, caveman pound, swirly psychedelic effects, churning and chugging relentlessly, the rhythm and groove LOCKED in, while the guitars and synths and effects swirl and whirl all around, finally unwinding with a cool muted bit of cinematic drift, haunting ghostlike melodies that almost sound like strings, all in a softly fuzzy dreamlike haze.
Which leads into another bit of druggy drift, all rhythmic and almost new agey, cool repetitive melodies, simple and stripped down drumming, all laid over a deep rumbling synth drone, everything washed out and otherworldly. Eventually that gives way to a throbbing fuzzy bassline, matched up with a rock solid rhythm, more effects are applied, as are some wild fragmented super distorted leads, some warped Manzarek style organ, that main groove never faltering, total low slung incendiary psychedelia.
And so like us, you were probably expecting the final closing jam to be the full on blow out we had all been waiting for, a free for all freak out of epic proportions, but instead, the band dial it WAY down, and offer up some super sprawling, ethereal atmospheric space folk driftscape bliss out, all spidery crystalline guitars, barely there hand drums, thick languid basslines, gauzy restrained effects, soft focus finger picked neo-Appalachia, totally dreamlike and mesmerizing, it almost sounds like the Alps covering Hawkwind, converting heart of the sun heaviness into something hushed and pastoral, subtly lysergic and utterly divine. So good.
This cd version tacks on a final track, a NEW final track, a sprawling 16+ minute slow burn epic, that like the previous 'final' jam doesn't explode or freak out, instead offering up another gorgeous gauzy expanse of swirling psychedelia, loping woozy basslines, muted minimal drumming, soft swirling effects, and plenty of dreamily tangled melodies, sitar like buzz, tinkling chimes, synthy shimmer, all spread out into a blurred, head tripping, Eastern tinged, chunk of glorious smoldering dream psych. Awesome. And maybe just worth buying again...
Even though it wasn't all that long ago that we were served with the serious space rock wallop of White Hills' most recent full length Glitter Glamour Atrocity, it was only a matter of moments before we were already jonesing for more. And while this is not a proper WH record per se, it is at least another heaping helping of that spaced out sound we can't get enough of.
Here, White Hills team up with SF noise outfit White Pee for a nearly 30 minute single track of space-y, druggy, krautdrone ambient noise. And it's a killer. Never heard of White Pee before, and because this disc is so abstract and sort of shapeless, it's hard to put a finger on what exactly they bring to the table, but these two groups together sound like one. The noise is relegated to brief bursts here and there, for the most part, this is gloriously tranquil blissed out dronescapes. Long expanses of slow flowing Tangerine Dream and Popol Vuh synth sprawl, the FX are muted but wrap their shimmery tendrils around everything.
Here and there, the meditative shimmer is disrupted by dense gnarled squalls of gritty guitar growl, arranged into strange almost-rhythms, a stretched out lurching throb plodding along over long ominous streaks of sci fi synth. The synths got from ethereal and whispery, to throbbing and fuzzy, from dreamy and barely there, to pulsing and propulsive, almost like some disembodied Gary Numan rhythm track.
The second half of the disc is wide open and spare, shades of Tim Hecker and Machinefabriek and that sort of buzzy blurred soundscapes, guitars ebb and flow, keening high end melodies drift WAY off in the distance, dense washes of distorted guitar crumble bathe everything in grit and buzz, plaintive piano drifts in and out like some unearthly transmission, all hazy and indistinct, darkly dramatic and so lovely.
This is a SUPER limited edition, except for the copies the band kept, these are ONLY available from aQuarius. LIMITED TO 85 COPIES!! The first 50 in hand made wooden sleeves, the other 35 in jewel cases, but also hand made and each one unique. We got about 30 copies of the wooden sleeved version, and a handful of the jewel cased version. While supplies last, you'll get the wood ones, but once those are gone, you'll get the jewel case version. Needless to say these will be gone in a flash...
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Another blast of spaced out psychedelia from aQ faves White Hills, hot on the heels of their most recent full length, the kick ass Frying On This Rock. For this split 12", those East Coast spacelords (and lady) have teamed up with LA space rockers Farflung, whose last record, A Wound In Eternity, we reviewed a while back, and as you might remember, we were kinda blown away by just how heavy and spaced out and gloriously psychedelic it was, so it sorta makes sense that they would end up sharing a record (and a tour) with White Hills...
Each band offers up a sidelong track, Farflung starting things off, and pretty much straight away, they launch into some seriously stomping psychedelic spaciness, which we're guessing will have most fans of the current crop of psych/space rock (The Heads, White Hills, Wooden Shjips, Carlton Melton, etc.) wondering how the fuck they've managed to miss out on these guys for so long. It's like Chrome via Hawkwind via the Stooges, the sound MASSIVE, thick and dense and HEAVY, punkish processed vox over crushing stoner space rock riffage, all wrapped in druggy clouds of dense sci-fi FX, swirls and swoops and bleeps and bloops, the vibe slithery and swaggery, pounding and explosive, before the band bring it down part way through and unfurl some blissed out kosmische shimmer, all hushed and heady and drowsily dreamlike, before blasting right back into a stretched out kraut-flecked hypnorock jam that will have Heads / White Hills hands in heaven. And then they somehow crank it up even further for the last few minutes, finishing off with a wild freaked out heavy psych blowout that KILLS.
White Hills opt out of a heavy space psych duel, with Dave W. and Ego Sensation instead turning their sound inward, channeling some serious cosmic drift, much more akin to the sound of last year's aQ instore, blissed out and dreamy, but even more mellowed out here, soft swirls and thick chordal thrum, all blurred into gloriously soft focus smears of celestial kraut-psych shimmer, with a super cool, super weird mid song interlude, with a strange sample bit of angelic vox, like some scratchy old pop record, in a haze of warm crackle and wreathed in streaks of space spidery psych melodies, before slipping right back into the warm, whirling sprawl of muted guitars and softly swirling effects that started things off.
Killer stuff from both bands, White Hills great as always, and hopefully the perennially unsung Farflung will get some big time love from the legions of White Hills fans, cuz they definitely deserve it.
Featuring super eye popping red and white Manga style artwork by Keenan Keller. The vinyl pressed on either red or white (to match the red and white cover art), with a printed insert inside with liner notes and more awesomely garish artwork. LIMITED TO 1000 COPIES!!
Latest from these aQ beloved, NY based drugdronepsychspace rockers, this time, they've teamed up with mysterious UK outfit Gnod, who add a whole other layer of fuzz and grit and blown out buzz, to WH's already heady heavy spaced out sound. In fact the entire first track are most of the second consists primarily of blurred, smeared ambient drones, washed out FX drenched soft noise, more Sunroof! that Hawkwind, but eventually, this sprawling freeform swirl begins to coalesce into something only slightly more cohesive, a shuffling tribal mantra, a cycle of simple percussion and whirring thrum that reminds us of No Neck or Sunburned Hand. Even into the third track, the record has yet to ROCK, instead, muted tablas, streaks of space-y effects, more warm shimmering whir, very tranquil and meditative and almost sort of stoned sounding. Track three finishes off with a little flurry of glitch and squelch, leading into still more muted bliss.
BUT, track 4 is when the band really start to intensify, the drums locked into a more Krautrock sounding beat, the guitars thickening, the ambience slightly more ominous, until finally, the band launch into a seriously heavy and dark, spaced out kraut jam, mostly drums, way up in the mix, pounding and pulsing, beneath a sky full of FX and riff-less guitars offering up clouds of rumble and throb, the bass, a thick black serpent, coiled up around the propulsive rhythm. It's even more intense and 'heavy' sounding after the first three tracks, that while awesome on their own, all dark and raga like, also served to build some serious tension, like some sort of super long intro. But this jam will definitely not disappoint long time WH fans in need of their drone psych space rock fix.
The record finishes off with some super intense synth dronebuzz, like a super ominous dark ambient Tangerine Dream, a simple wavery tone, whirring malevolently within a cloud of drifting muted effects, little bits of shortwave buzz, streaks of hiss and whir, eventually drums join in, but not to rock really, instead they just lock into a repetitive pound, laced with little flurries of percussive splatter, but mostly the drums just pound away, the cymbals unleashing huge sheets of metallic shimmer, the guitars again forgoing riffs and gushing blown out FX soaked buzz, over all that synths swirl, electronics bleep and bloop, it's like a chaotic blend of the heaviest most drugged out and damaged Acid Mothers Temple and Hawkwind outros, until the crowd sounds come in and it becomes clear that this was all live, which makes it even more impressive.
Packaged in a plain black cardboard sleeve, with a paste on front and back cover, and a photocopied insert with liner notes.
SUPER LIMITED as always. We got the very last copies. 40 of em. Not sure we'll be able to talk them into making more if they run out, we'll of course try if it comes to that, but best to grab one of these quick just in case!
We reviewed the super limited wooden cover version of this disc on the last list and sold out immediately. So here's the even more limited jewel case version, still with hand made covers, only this time housed in, you guessed it, a jewel case. There were only 85 copies made in total, 50 of the wood ones, and 35 of the jewel case version. We're the only store in the world to carry these, and we have about 25 of the jewel case version in stock. Once these are gone, they are gone for good, so this is probably your last chance to pick this up...
Even though it wasn't all that long ago that we were served with the serious space rock wallop of White Hills' most recent full length Glitter Glamour Atrocity, it was only a matter of moments before we were already jonesing for more. And while this is not a proper WH record per se, it is at least another heaping helping of that spaced out sound we can't get enough of.
Here, White Hills team up with SF noise outfit White Pee for a nearly 30 minute single track of space-y, druggy, krautdrone ambient noise. And it's a killer. Never heard of White Pee before, and because this disc is so abstract and sort of shapeless, it's hard to put a finger on what exactly they bring to the table, but these two groups together sound like one. The noise is relegated to brief bursts here and there, for the most part, this is gloriously tranquil blissed out dronescapes. Long expanses of slow flowing Tangerine Dream and Popol Vuh synth sprawl, the FX are muted but wrap their shimmery tendrils around everything.
Here and there, the meditative shimmer is disrupted by dense gnarled squalls of gritty guitar growl, arranged into strange almost-rhythms, a stretched out lurching throb plodding along over long ominous streaks of sci fi synth. The synths got from ethereal and whispery, to throbbing and fuzzy, from dreamy and barely there, to pulsing and propulsive, almost like some disembodied Gary Numan rhythm track.
The second half of the disc is wide open and spare, shades of Tim Hecker and Machinefabriek and that sort of buzzy blurred soundscapes, guitars ebb and flow, keening high end melodies drift WAY off in the distance, dense washes of distorted guitar crumble bathe everything in grit and buzz, plaintive piano drifts in and out like some unearthly transmission, all hazy and indistinct, darkly dramatic and so lovely.
This is a SUPER limited edition, except for the copies the band kept, these are ONLY available from aQuarius. LIMITED TO 85 COPIES!! The first 50 in hand made wooden sleeves, the other 35 (these) in jewel cases, but also hand made and each one unique.
A shortlived project of Japanese industrial noise / power electronics, White Hospital was the duo of Jun Konagaya and Tomo Kuwahara - the former better known for his work as the janus-faced Grim and the latter fronting the industrial-mantra project Vasilisk. Holocaust was their only album, released in 1984 on Eskimo Records, an imprint that has released both the work of Grim and Vasilisk over the years. Presumably, there was a political content to the White Hospital project; but any declaration of political intent is relatively opaque behind the discordant rhythmic noise and feral vocal masochism. It is pretty damn safe to say that White Hospital was nihilistic in their outlook, screaming violently at Japanese society and collapsing the hyperactive anxiety of modernity through a decentralized aesthetic of brute force, Lovecraftian tape collages, strangely pretty organ impressionism, and an incendiary live presence which could be the missing link between Les Rallizes Denudes and Skullflower.
Holocaust has finally been reissued after 30 years with some choice bonus material including un-festive material from their "We Wish You A Merry Christmas / White Christmas" 7" - with both tracks grinding and grating with monomaniacal rhythms on junked metal and grunt-fuck utterances of lobotomized primal energies. As impressive as the pre-Missing Foundation industrial jams from Holocaust are, the live tracks are downright amazing. Joined by Yukio Nagoshi on guitar, White Hospital transforms themselves into an X-ray shedding black hole of a rock trio with Kuwahara and Konagaya laying down a monstrous trudge with plenty of megaphone barked vocals slashing through Nahoshi's incendiary guitar work that's eerily prescient of what Matthew Bower and Gary Mundy would deliver in Skullflower and Ramleh respectively. It's a safe bet that Zeni Geva got their start by emulating what White Hospital was doing live. Damn straight.
Record number three from these Canadian punks, whose first two records were big faves around here even though they never made it onto the list. Their sound seems loosely aligned with Perfect Pussy, in that they're noisy, and have a bad ass female vocalist, but where Perfect Pussy embraces abrasive noisiness, White Lung are much more concerned with melody and songcraft, reminding us of a super charged Team Dresch, which is most definitely a good thing. The production on this new one is massive, the guitars heavy and almost metallic, splintering into shards of keening high end, swirls of angular crunch, all wound around a super tight rhythm section, and of course, vocalist Mish Way, who flits easily from feral how, to throaty croon, and the songs, so catchy and well crafted, the multiple guitars winding multiple melodic lines into killer harmonies, the sound dense and lush and layered, making for something that definitely transcends punk rock, it's anthemic, epic and majestic, but also super personal, and emotional, not hard to imagine White Lung being primo mixtape material, particularly vitriolic breakup mixtapes, it's got that sort of anger and energy and passion. So killer. Odds are you'll end up wanting the other two records as well (and we can get em for you, just ask!)...
We love when music is released to perfectly coincide with the season it's being released in. With new records by Richard Youngs, Citay and this new White Magic ep we feel like we are armed with the perfect sound with which to usher in the fall.
We had to wait so long for White Magic's full length after their debut ep, so we're very happy that they'vee quickly followed up that great first album with another e.p. of their dark and hypnotic psychedelic folk. Conjuring the spirit of Karen Dalton and Grace Slick at her most mystifying, Mira Billotte has proven to be one of the most distinctive and compelling voices in the underground music scene over the last decade. Her amazing voice and mesmerizing piano playing are perfectly complimented by the strong presence of her partner in magical musical spells, Douglas Shaw, who wrote and sings on the ep's closer, which is absolutely beautiful.
With songs that sound like they should be performed at some ceremonial ritual, White Magic have carved out a special place for themselves and have proven that long after the whole 'freak folk' hype is dead and gone they will remain, as a band who truly conjure up meaningful songs and remarkable music. While it's just four songs and only about 20 minutes long, Dark Stars might still find its way on some of our top records of '07 lists. So good!
Ever since Mira Billotte hit the scene with her sister Christina in the band Quix*O*Tic several years ago she has been a force to be reckoned with. Blessed with an amazing voice that cuts right through into your soul and gives you goosebumps all over.
Her debut as White Magic, an e.p. titled Through The Sun Door, from a few years back took the more fantastical and ethereal side of Quix*O*Tic to exciting new heights. When White Magic toured for that record on the west coast they opened for Ghost and put on one of the most jaw-dropping performances we had ever seen. To this day, people who were there continue to talk about the fact that they got to witness something so special. Admirers like Joanna Newsom, Vetiver and Brightblack were all in attendance dancing their hearts out to White Magic's rich, commanding sounds. Fast forward a few years and we still only had that great show and that same handful of songs from the e.p. No full length, as well as rumors that there might never be one, and just two new songs on a Tylenol promotional cd (yes the pain medicine), a split with American Analog Set to tide us over. As our patience began to fade, we finally heard the news we had been waiting for, a new full length was on the way. Dat Rosa Mel Apibus is our reward for waiting so long and so patiently. And it was well worth it. With members of The Dirty Three and Gang Gang Dance, Mira was able to craft a record that resonates with a deep strength and an intense presence. The kind of record that is of course fun to listen to, but it's when you really allow yourself to enter its world when the real magic happens. Songs that suck you right into their raging emotional storm. Melodies that wrap themselves around your brain and tie your stomach up in knots. Like Bjork and Joanna Newsom, White Magic possess that same kind of singular voice and vision that makes their songs resonate with a long lasting power and a deep emotional resonance. So good.
You know you must be just a little bit obsessed and seriously dying for new material by a band when two little songs are more than enough to tide you over! And that's precisely the case with this new 2 song single from White Magic. Their debut (also an ep) came out a few years back (and is now out of print!), and we've been waiting not so patiently for anything, a full length would have been ideal, but we can make do with this kick ass single!
Their debut ep had to be one of the best things EVER on Kill Rock Stars. Mostly the brainchild of Mira Billotte, who spent some time in an equally great band with her sister called Quix*o*tic. Mira has one of the most chilling and beautiful voices in indie rock without a doubt. The kind of voice that holds you down and forces you to surrender to its warmth and mystery. While folks like Devendra Banhart and Joanna Newsom have garnered most of the attention, it's only a matter of time before the world catches on to the White Magic.
These two songs are such a gorgeously cruel tease, while we are forced to continue waiting as patiently as we can. The first song is their version of "Katie Cruel", an amazing arrangement of a classic tune by Karen Dalton and it's followed up by "Hold Your Hand In The Dark" a stunning original with immaculate piano playing and once again THAT voice, so effortlessly giving us chills and the grandest of goosebumps.
It's almost impossible to keep ourselves still and write about this new White Magic release as every time we listen to it all we want to do is spin and jump around. We've only had New Egypt in our hands and ears for a week now but we've already lost count of how many times we've pressed repeat to hear this ten minute track over and over again. Like some kind of amazing mantra on love, hope, paranoia and what the future could hold, this is White Magic at their fiery and feverish best!
Taking some of the ingredients of what was previously our favorite White Magic song "One-Note" from their Through The Sun Door debut over four years ago and stretching it out with even more dynamics, more fire and a dizzying spell that casts its magic in such physical ways. What separates White Magic from the psychedelic folk masses is that they create music that actually creates a strong physical sensation as well as tapping into emotional realms. It's impossible to listen to "New Egypt" and not have your body start responding physically to the sounds, it's perfect for strapping on headphones and taking on the city and walking faster and with more purpose than ever before.
We'd been hearing that this was supposed to come out for several months, but somehow the timing of it finally arriving now seems so perfect for the crisp October air, as this really sounds like a ceremonial offering to the season of fall. There is a flame ignited at the core of what White Magic creates that's truly connected to all the Earth elements while still inhabiting a space that's filled with intriguing mystique. Make sure to play this one loud as we've found it resonates with such striking glory when it blasts through our skin and inhabits both the inner and outer realms of our psyche.
Packaged with the latitudes series usual classy cardboard aesthetic with a gold embossed pyramid on the cover giving a clue to the transcendental song that is within! While this one is a bit pricey for its length coming it at over a dollar a minute, the song makes that math equation a no-brainer as it really is a priceless gem!
Somehow we'd gotten the mistaken impression that White Magic featured the vocals of Christina Billotte (Slant 6, Quix*o*tic, Casual Dots)...even listening to it didn't dispell that notion. That's 'cause the singer on this is actually Mira Billotte, Christina's sister, who's also in Quix*o*tic too. Her unlike-anyone-but-her-sister vocals are accompanied by her guitar and piano, plus the guitar and drums and handclaps of a couple other folks. There's six songs on this mini-album debut, mostly of artsy, moody, even a little bit bluesy indie-folk, culminating in the Heart-like rock finale of "Apocalypse".
Damn, we've been anxiously awaiting this 7" for quite a while now. When White Magic performed a magical instore earlier this year, she expected to have them then, but they never showed, and in fact, it's been almost two years since rumors began to circulate about the impending release of this mysterious single.
Being that its the first release that Mira Billotte (aka White Magic) has put out herself, and the fact that she's been on tour, and just moved to Los Angeles after a lifetime on the East Coast, it's totally understandable that this record was in limbo for so long. But some artists are well worth waiting for, and "White Widow" is one of the most raw and haunting songs yet from White Magic. We're reminded that Mira's old band Quixotic (check out their amazing two albums if you don't have them!) once covered Black Sabbath, and "White Widow" really does cast such a doomic and mysteriously mystical spell. The flip-side is an awesome and rocking cover of Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit", and since Billotte's entrancing vocals have often been compared to Grace Slick at her peak, it's a perfect match. This will for sure please big time White Magic fans, but we also think folks who may not have listened to WM much before but who dig bands like Dead Meadow, Bardo Pond, The Entrance Band, Bark Psychosis, and the like might just love this as well!
The latest release from local label and psychedelic powerhouse Valley King is the latest record from stoner psych space rock visionaries White Manna, and like the two Holy Mountain records that came before, Come Down Safari, is another gloriously tripped out sonic sprawl, all hazy, buzzy throb and tranced out heart-of-the-sun mesmer, looooong tracks that seem to unfurl endlessly, the drums and bass weaving lush languorous backgrounds, that seem to pulse and ooze, over which the guitars soar and howl, melodic streaks blurred into heaving washes of chordal shimmer, riffs stretched out into druggy sonic mantras, the sound slipping effortlessly from churning psychedelic heaviness, to soporific, dream-drone drift, WM channeling the sound of their psychedelic forefathers, into heady, abstract sonic rituals, that manage to take the sound of classic early space rock and fuse it to a more modern take on retro psych.
Fans of the usual suspects (the Heads, White Hills, Mammatus, Carlton Melton, etc.) should already be WAY into these guys, and if they're not, this should fix that pretty quick.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES, eye popping psychedelic picture disc artwork by Alan Forbes!
On their second Holy Mountain release, the heavy stoner psych rockers from up in Arcata, California leave their sunless world of redwood forests and venture into the blinding light and open climes of Dune Worship. With its slow grinding rhythms and spiraling washes of feedback, this album is a more hypnotic and meditative shamanistic exploration. These guys go so deep into visionary states, they even have a song called "Illusion Of Illusion," which begins with a low hum and builds into a ten-minute freakout, to crack open your slumbering third eye into a rude awakening with the pounding onslaught of "Ascension" that follows. For White Manna are no gentle psychedelicists, they always carry with them the swagger of the Stooges - even an unabashed wink at Jim Morrison can be heard in the vox throughout. For a more "modern" comparison, we'd recommend 'em to fans of Wooden Shjips and Psychic Ills both.
More heavy duty jammage from these Arcata hard psych space rockers, whose sound is often described as Hawkwind meets the Stooges, and not sure what else we can add cuz that's pretty dang spot on. This new one on UK psych/space label Cardinal Fuzz is a live set from Europe, recorded on tour in 2013, and finds the band unleashing their particular brand of heavy space rocking, all epic druggy sprawls of fuzzed out stoner stomp, and droney motorik fuzz rock drift, woozy, super melodic Sabbath like basslines and some seriously muscular drumming, all wrapped up in squalls of freaky guitar-noise and crunchy, buzzing riffage. The vocals are drawled and echo drenched, and surface throughout, but really, like most bands of their ilk, White Manna are all about the jams, and like their last record, Come Down Safari (originally a picture disc on Valley King, recently reissued on cd by Captcha) the band can jettison 'the song' at any point, and head for the heart of the sun, or the outer reaches of the cosmos, or the depths of some subterranean pit, filling whatever space they end up with oodles of psych freakout ("Acid Head"), but they can just as easily lock into straight up droned out, hard rocking psych pop ("Evil"), or sometimes that above mentioned Sabbathy vibe gets pushed right to the fore, with some super doomy heaviness ("X Ray"). Needless to say, heavy psych nerds and space rock headz are gonna want to grab one of these quick, before they're gone, and it's SUPER LIMITED, and on Cardinal Fuzz, so odds are they'll be gone before you know it.
Housed in a cool acid blotter sleeve. Includes a download too!
Disorganized folks we are, sometimes it happens that more than one AQ staffer writes a review for the same release! When that happens, we try to meld 'em together... or heck just run 'em both, its sorta interesting to see how similarly (or not) the reviews turn out. In this case, two views that aren't very far apart at all. See if you can tell which one was written by Andee and which one was written by Kirk...
Review A:
Another blast of transcendent, spaced out, garage psych from these Arcata stoners, and like past records, it's another gloriously drug fueled, FX heavy excursion into the outer reaches of the sonic stratosphere. Pan starts off with a bang, that bang being a heady sprawl of Stooges-y swagger, doused in some serious Hawkwindy-y swirl, a pounding, churning tranced out hypno-rock that never lets up. The vox are buried, a mumbled wasted drawl, psychedelic organs shimmer in the background, multiple guitars tangle into wild serpentine shapes, the songs oozing organically, stretched out into endless zoner jams, occasionally settling into something a little more tranquil, only to explode into action moments later, and once in a while, winding down into something even more drone-y and dirge-like. And while the rock shorthand for Manna was always Stooges + Hawkwind, Pan is maybe the most perfect distillation of those two sides of the band's sonic psyche, maybe their most rocking, but without sacrificing a bit of the seventies style bongsmoke freakouts, in fact, most of the tracks leave the pop realm altogether within minutes of launch, and never look back.
Review B:
Attention all stoners, trippers, rockers, punks, druggies, freaks, hippies, weirdos, and, well, psych and space rock fans, Arcata, California's own White Manna are back with full length number four (not counting the live one on Cardinal Fuzz)! If you've ever heard a White Manna album before, you already know that on Pan they'll be summoning the dense environs of their hometown, with huge walls of meditative psych dirge. And if you've listened to these guys before, you know they have a unique punk edge to them, often getting compared (by us) to the Stooges. On Pan, right off the bat you get back-to-back repetitive rock riffs that build and twist into spacey trips, definitely giving us that Stooges-meets-Hawkwind vibe. The attitude on Pan has definitely gotten meaner, and more aggressive, calling to mind the last release by Sonoran Desert heavies Destruction Unit. They aren't afraid to really let a song really breath, either, getting into some krautrock territory in some tracks, building and grooving into some 10+ minute jams.
Fans of our other favorite psych bands (Heads, Mugstar, White Hills) and the more punk psych bands like the aforementioned Destruction Unit are in for a treat. Far out.
Oh, and by the way, Captcha also released this as a digipak cd as well as on vinyl... except, that it's not a real cd for some reason, it's just a pro-printed cd-r. So, out of protest at them nonsensically not pressing a REAL cd, we're just listing the vinyl, but heck if you want the cd-r version, let us know, we can get it for you (and unlike the vinyl, it's got a live bonus track, a Hawkwind cover, "Master Of The Universe").
MPEG Stream: "Pan" [/audio/whitemannapan.m3u]
MPEG Stream: "Dunes I" [/audio/whitemannadunesi.m3u]
MPEG Stream: "Evil" [/audio/whitemannaevil.m3u] ----* ----* Relatively New In Stock, Not Yet Reviewed : ----* 999 "The Biggest Tour In Sport/The Biggest Prize In Sport" (Let Them Eat Vinyl) 2lp 31.00
ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE AND THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. "High On Heaven: Live In New Haven" (Safety Meeting) 3lp 38.00
AKKOR, KAMURAN "s/t" (Pharaway Sounds) lp 28.00
ALABAMA SHAKES "Sound & Color" (ATO) 2lp 28.00
ALTAMONT "The Monkees Uncle" (Valley King) picture disc 30.00
ALVA NOTO "Xerrox Vol. 3" (Raster-Noton) cd 17.98
AMBARCHI, OREN "Sleepwalker's Conviction" (Black Truffle) lp 26.00
APHEX TWIN "MARCHROMT30a Edit 2b 96" (Warp) 12" 14.98
AYLER, ROBERT "Spirits Rejoice" (ESP-Disk) lp 27.00
BAD GUYS "Bad Guynaecology" (Riot Season) cd/lp 16.98/27.00
BENSIINI "R" (Ektro) cd 14.98
BEST COAST "California Nights" (Harvest) cd/lp 13.98/23.00
BJORK "Vulnicura" (One Little Indian) 2lp 26.00
BLACK MARE / LYCIA "Low Crimes / Silver Leaf" (Magic Bullet) 7" 8.98
BLANCK MASS "Dumb Flesh" (Sacred Bones) cd/2lp 12.98/19.98
BORROWED TIME "s/t" (High Roller) cd 11.98
BRINKMANN, THOMAS "What You Hear (Is What You Hear)" (Editions Mego) cd/2lp 16.98/32.00
BROWNOUT "Brownout Presents: Brown Sabbath" (Ubiquity) cd 15.98
BUDOS BAND "Magus Mountain" (Daptone) 7" 6.98
BUILT TO SPILL "Untethered Moon" (Warner Bros.) cd 14.98
BURROUGHS, WILLIAM "In Dub" (Echo Beach) lp+cd 27.00
CALEXICO "Edge of the Sun" (Anti-) cd/lp 15.98/23.00
CARDUCCI, JOE "Life Against Dementia" (Redoubt Press) book 22.95
CAVE IN "White Silence" (Hydra Head) lp 22.00
CCR HEADCLEANER "Cokesmoker" (Stale Heat/Pollen Season) 12" 14.98
CHADWICK, SARAH MARY "9 Classic Tracks" (Siltbreeze) lp 15.98
CHASNY, BEN "The Hexadic System" (Drag City) book/playing cards 22.00/12.98
CHERRY, DON "Mu Pt. 1 & 2/Orient" (Charly) 2cd 21.00
CIRCLE "Silta" (Ektro) dvd 15.98
CIRCUIT DES YEUX "In Plain Speech" (Thrill Jockey) cd/lp 14.98/17.98
COHEN, CHARLES "Brother I Prove You Wrong" (Morphine) 2lp 26.00
COLE, CRYS "Sand/Layna" (Black Truffle) lp 25.00
COMMUNIONS "s/t" (Tough Love) 12" 12.98
CONFESSOR "Condemned" (Earache) lp 16.98
COTTRELL, DORTHIA "Dorthia Cottrell" (Forcefield) cd 8.98
CRAMPS, THE "Psychedelic Jungle" (Vinilissimo) lp 27.00
CROCODILES "Boys" (Zoo) cd/lp 13.98/15.98
CROOKS ON TAPE "In The Realm Of The Ancient Minor" (Pure Or Gone) lp 16.98
CROWN LARKS "Blood Dancer" (Space Lung/Land Breathing) cd/lp 6.98/12.98
DAMAGED BUG "Cold Hot Plumbs" (Castle Face) cd/lp 13.98/15.98
DAWN OF MIDI "Dysnomia" (Erased Tapes) 2lp 27.00
DEATH "N.E.W." (Tryangle) lp 22.00
DEATH GRIPS "The Powers That B" (Harvest) 2cd 14.98
DECERF, JEAN-PIERRE "Space Oddities 1975-1979" (Born Bad) cd/lp 15.98/21.00
DESTRUCTION UNIT "Live In San Francisco" (Castle Face) lp 15.98
DEVO "Hardcore Devo: Live" (MVD Audio) 2lp 31.00
DIAMOND YOUTH "Nothing Matters" (Top Shelf Records) lp 19.98
DISAPPEARING PEOPLE "Inventory" (Self Released) cassette 4.98
DOCTOR SMITH "Into The Unknown" (Stormspell) cd 11.98
DREAM, THE "Get Dreamy" (Cherry Red/RPM) cd 12.98
DROP DEAD "s/t" (Armageddon) lp 21.00
DUB CONNECTION (PRINCE JAMMY & THE UPSETTERS) "s/t" (Auralux) cd 9.98
EL HIJO DE LA AURORA "The Enigma Of Evil" (Minotauro) cd 17.98
ELECTRIC WIZARD "Dopethrone" (Rise Above) 2lp 34.00
ENFORCER "From Beyond" (Nuclear Blast) cd 13.98
ENSLAVED "In Times" (Nuclear Blast) 2lp 35.00
FAHEY, JOHN "Volume I: Blind Joe Death" (4 Men With Beards) lp 19.98
FAHEY, JOHN "Volume II: Death Chants, Breakdowns and Military Waltzes" (4 Men With Beards) lp 19.98
FAIRHORNS "Fuckup Rush" (Kindarad!) cd 14.98
FAITH NO MORE "Sol Invictus" (Reclamation) cd 13.98
FATHER JOHN MISTY "I Love You, Honeybear" (Sub Pop) 2lp 21.00
FELL, MARK & GABOR LAZAR "The Neurobiology Of Moral Decision Making" (The Death Of Rave) 2lp 28.00
FEVRE, BERNARD "Cosmos 2043" (Anthology) lp 22.00
FEVRE, BERNARD "Suspense" (Anthology) lp 22.00
FF "Ffeeling" (300 Mics) lp/lp+blotter paper 17.98/24.00
FIORE, GIACOMO "IV: American Electric Guitars" (self-released) lp 23.00
FUNKADELIC "Free Your Mind And Your Ass Will Follow" (Westbound / Ace) lp 17.98
FUZZ, THE "Golden Cage" (Genjing Records) 7" 9.98
GASCOIGNE, BRIAN "Phase IV OST" (Waxwork) lp 29.00
GERMS "Forming" (Superior Viaduct) 7" 10.98
GIBSON, DAUGHN "Carnation" (Sub Pop) lp 16.98
GILBERTO, JOAO "The Warm World Of Joao Gilberto" (WaxTime) lp 19.98
GORGUTS "...And Then Comes Lividity Vol 1" (War On Music) lp 21.00
GORGUTS "...And Then Comes Lividity Vol 2" (War On Music) lp 23.00
GORGUTS "...And Then Comes Lividity Vol 3" (War On Music) lp+7" 28.00
GRASSOW, MATHIAS & JOHN HAUGHM "Mosaic" (Dammerung Arts/Anthem) lp 17.98
GULD, MAX "For Enden Af Corridoren" (Dark Entries) lp 17.98
GUNN, STEVE & THE BLACK TWIG PICKERS "Seasonal Hire" (Thrill Jockey) lp 19.98
HAMMER KING "Kingdom of the Hammer King" (Cruz Del Sur) cd 16.98
HANZ BRONZE "s/t" (Range Life) cassette 5.98
HARLEY, RUFUS "King/Queens" (Atlantic) cd 10.98
HAWN "Badmans" (self-released) cassette 4.98
HAXAN: WITCHCRAFT THROUGH THE AGES (WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS) "(OST)" (Sotpackan) cd 17.98
HEADLESS LIZZY AND HER ICEBOX PUSSY "Criminalien Manipulature" (Ophidian Rhythym) cd 9.98
HENRY BLACKER "Summer Tombs" (Riot Season) lp 30.00
HIPERSON "No Need For Another History" (Maybe Mars) 2lp 24.00
HOCKEY NIGHT "Neutral Zone Trap" (Ikuisuus) lp 14.98
HOLDERLIN "Holderlins Traum" (Zyx) lp 21.00
HOLY SERPENT "s/t" (Riding Easy) lp 19.98
HOLYDRUG COUPLE, THE "Moonlust" (Sacred Bones) lp 15.98
HOME BLITZ "Foremost & Fair" (Richie) lp 15.98
IMPLODES "Reverser" (Gilead) 12" 24.00
KING DIAMOND "Tells the Tale of Abigail" (self-released) lp 23.00
KING KHAN & BBQ SHOW, THE "Bad News Boys" (In The Red) lp 15.98
KISS CAM "Kiss and Tell" (self-released) cassette 3.98
KOZELEK, MARK "Rock 'N' Roll Singer" (Badman) lp 17.98
LAST EXIT "Iron Path" (ESP) cd 14.98
LEER, THOMAS "Private Plane International" (Dark Entries) 12" 14.98
LELAND "A Self-Taught, Decathlon, Hard Rock Musician!" (Stoned Circle) cd 17.98
LEVY, BARRINGTON "Shaolin Temple" (Auralux) cd 11.98
LITTLE WINGS "Explains" (Woodsist) lp 15.98
MAY, BRIAN "Turkey Shoot OST" (Dual Planet) cd 14.98
MCLUSKY "Mcluskyism" (Too Pure) lp 17.98
MEDIEVAL "One Morbid" (Buried By Time And Dust) 2lp 32.00
MICACHU "Feeling Romantic Feeling Tropical Feeling Ill" (DDS) 2lp 28.00
MINSK "The Crash And The Draw" (Relapse) cd 14.98
MODEST MOUSE "Strangers To Ourselves" (Epic) 2lp 29.00
MONDO DRAG "New Rituals" (Alive) cd/lp 9.98/12.98
MONDO DRAG "s/t" (Kozmik Artifactz) cd/lp 14.98/22.00
MORRICONE, ENNIO "Veruschka OST" (Dagored) lp 34.00
MORRISSEY "Autobiography" (Penguin Classics) book 18.00
MOTHMEN, THE "Pay Attention" (On U) cd/lp 16.98/22.00
MOUNTAIN GOATS, THE "Beat The Champ" (Merge) 2lp 23.00
NIGHT DEMON "Curse Of The Damned" (Century Media) lp 16.98
NISENNENMONDAI "Live" (Clouds Hill) cd 16.98
NO JOY "More Faithful" (Kemado) lp 23.00
NO MORE "A Rose Is A Rose" (Dark Entries) lp 22.00
NOACK, EDDIE "Ain't The Reaping Ever Done (1962-1976)" (Omni Recording Corporation) cd 17.98
NUN "s/t" (HoZac) lp 14.98
OBNOX "Know America" (Ever / never) lp 17.98
OGRE "Dawn Of The Proto-Man" (Minotauro) cd 17.98
OGRE "Seven Hells" (Minotauro) cd + dvd 17.98
ORCHESTRA BAOBAB "Pirates Choice" (World Circuit) 2lp 30.00
OUR LOVE WILL DESTROY THE WORLD "Carnivorous Rainbows" (Ba Da Bing) lp 17.98
OVERSCAN "Conscious" (Constellation Tatsu) cassette 4.98
PEOPLE OF THE NORTH "Era Of Manifestations" (Thrill Jockey) lp 18.98
PHILLIPE, ANNIE "Sensationnel!: Ye-Ye Bonbons 1965-1968" (Ace) lp 17.98
PLANNING FOR BURIAL "Leaving" (Flenser) 2lp 25.00
POLLARD, ROBERT "Faulty Superheroes" (Rockathon) lp 15.98
POPULARE MECHANIK "Kollektion 03" (Bureau B) cd/lp 19.98/27.00
PORES "Zero Swim" (self-released) cassette 4.98
PORTOPIA '81 "Jet Stream" (Constellation Tatsu) cassette 4.98
PREKOP, SAM "The Republic" (Thrill Jockey) cd/lp 14.98/17.98
PRINCE JAMMY VS CRUCIAL BUNNY "Dub Contest" (Auralux) cd 8.98
PRISONERS, THE "A Taste Of Pink!" (Big Beat) lp 17.98
PYRAMIDS "A Northern Meadow" (Profound Lore) lp 34.00
QUTTINIRPAAQ "Dead September" (Rural Isolation) lp 13.98
ROBERTSON, TIM "Outer Planetary Church Music" (Aguirre) lp 25.00
RUSSELL, ARTHUR "Corn" (Audika) cd/cd 16.98/21.00
SAN UL LIM "The Second" (Granadilla) lp 27.00
SANDWITCHES, THE "Our Toast" (Empty Cellar) lp 17.98
SCHARPLING & WURSTER "The Best Of The Best Show" (Numero Group) 16cd+book 113.00
SCHLIPPENBACH, ALEXANDER VON "Pakistani Pomade" (Cien Fuegos) lp 32.00
SCORPIONS "Lonesome Crow" (Universal) lp 27.00
SETH "s/t" (Minotauro) 2cd 17.98
SHANA FALANA "Set Your Lightning Fire Free" (Team Love) lp 14.98
SHERWOOD, ADRIAN "Sherwood At The Controls Volume 1: 1979-1984" (On U) cd/2lp 16.98/27.00
SHOVELS "s/t" (Homeless) lp 19.98
SILENCE, THE "s/t" (Drag City) lp 25.00
SILVERFISH "Fat Axl" (Southern) lp 16.98
SIR LORD VON RAVEN "The Age Of Machines" (Guitars And Bongos) 2lp 24.00
SLEAFORD MODS "Tiswas" (Invada) 12" 26.00
SNICKERS "On The Hi-Fi" (Poor L'Amour) 7" 4.98
SNIPES, JONATHAN "Starry Eyes OST" (Waxwork) lp 34.00
SOCIETY OF ROCKETS "Plutonian Blues" (self-released) lp 14.98
SONIC YOUTH "Bad Moon Rising" (Goofin') lp 15.98
SOUND PROJECTOR, THE "Presents Pandaemonium" magazine 9.98
SPEAKING CANARIES, THEE "Platter Base Must Be Constructed Of Moon-Rock" (Chunklet) lp 16.98
SPELLJAMMER "Vol. 2" (Riding Easy) lp 19.98
SPRINGSTEEN, BRUCE "Born in the USA" (Columbia) lp 23.00
SPRINGSTEEN, BRUCE "Born To Run" (Columbia) lp 23.00
SPRINGSTEEN, BRUCE "Darkness on the Edge of Town" (Columbia) lp 23.00
SPRINGSTEEN, BRUCE "Greeting From Asbury Park, N.J." (Columbia) lp 23.00
SPRINGSTEEN, BRUCE "The River" (Columbia) 2lp 38.00
SPRINGSTEEN, BRUCE "The Wild, The Innocent, & The E Street Shuffle" (Columbia) lp 23.00
STRINGTRONICS "Mind Bender" (Fifth Dimension) cd 17.98
SUN RA "The Heliocentric World Of Sun Ra Vol. 1" (ESP) lp 27.00
SUN RA "The Heliocentric World Of Sun Ra Vol. 2" (ESP) lp 27.00
SWAMI JOHN REIS & THE BLIND SHAKE "Modern Surf Classics" (Swami) lp 14.98
SYNTOMA "s/t" (EM) cd 22.00
TACTICS "The Re-Mastered Plan" (Minotauro) 2cd + dvd 32.00
TAU CROSS "s/t" (Relapse) lp 23.00
TEENAGER "The Magic Of True Love" (Essex Records) lp 19.98
TELESCOPES / DEADLY CRADLE DEATH "split" (Genjing) 7" 9.98
THEESATISFACTION "Earthee" (Sub Pop) lp 17.98
THEM ARE US TOO "Remain" (Dais) lp 21.00
TIARAS "s/t" (Mt. St. Mtn.) lp 15.98
TONY TEARS "Follow The Signs of the Times" (Minotauro) cd 13.98
TOOP, DAVID "Lost Shadows: In Defense Of The Soul (Yanonami Shamism, Songs, Ritual, 1978)" (Sub Rosa) 2cd 19.98
TRAFFIC SOUND "A Bailar A Go Go" (Lion Productions / Repsychled) cd 15.98
TUNNEL, THE "Apparition Overdrive" (Glorious Alchemical) cd 9.98
TWIN PEAKS "Wild Onion" (Grand Jury) lp 19.98
U/V LIGHT "Cenotaph" (Medical) lp 21.00
UFO "UFO 2: Flying One Hour Space Rock" (Repertoire) lp 27.00
UMBERTO & ANTONI MAIOVVI "Law Unit" (Death Waltz) lp 37.00
UMILIANI, PIERO "L'uomo Nello Spazio" (Dagored) lp 28.00
UNDER THE SKIN (MICA LEVI) "OST" (Rough Trade) lp 19.98
UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA "Multi-Love" (Jagjaguwar) lp 17.98
UNREST "Imperial F.F.R.R." (Teen Beat) lp 19.98
V/A "Des Jeunes Gens Modernes Vol. 2: Post Punk, Cold Wave Et Culture Novo En France 1978-1983" (Born Bad) cd/lp 15.98/19.98
V/A "Don't Think I've Forgotten: Cambodia's Lost Rock And Roll OST" (Dust To Digital) cd 14.98
V/A "Ever Alive: A Tribute To Snowy Red" (Weyrd Son Records) 2lp 27.00
V/A "Punky Reggae Selecta: 19 Punk Club Classics" (Spectrum) cd 9.98
V/A "Remembering Mountains: Unheard Songs by Karen Dalton" (Tompkins Square) cd/lp 14.98/17.98
V/A "Step Inside My Soul: Rare '70s And Modern Soul" (Cree / Bear Family) 2lp 25.00
V/A "Synesthesia: Medical Records - The First Five Years" (Medical) 2lp 25.00
V/A "White Glove Test: Louisville Punk Flyers 1978-1994" (Drag City) book 60.98
V/A (OBSIDIAN TONGUE / IN HUMAN FORM / AUTOLATRY / INFERA BRUO "Northeastern Hymns" (Acephale Winter) cassette 6.98
VALKYRIE "Shadows" (Relapse) lp 23.00
VASAS "s/t" (Space Cassette) 7" 5.98
VATICAN SHADOW / CUT HANDS "Azar Swan Variations" (Handmade Birds) 12" 22.00
VIET CONG "Cassette" (Mexican Summer) lp 22.00
VISION FORTUNE "Mas Fiestas Con El Grupo" (Faux / Gringo) lp 24.00
WALLS "Urals" (Ecstatic) cd 17.98
WARNER, EDDIE "Progressive Percussions" (Fifth Dimension) cd 17.98
WAXAHATCHEE "Ivy Tripp" (Merge) lp 17.98
WEEPING RAT "Tar" (Handmade Birds) cd 10.98
WELBURN, JAMES "Hold" (Miasmah) cd 19.98
WHITE EYES "s/t" (Numero Group) lp 16.98
WICKED WINDS "Eyes On The Road" (self-released) cd ep 6.98
WICKER MAN, THE "OST" (Silva Screen) lp 44.00
WIRE "s/t" (Pink Flag) lp 29.00
WITCHGRAVE "s/t" (High Roller) cd 11.98
WITCHTHROAT SERPENT "s/t" (Emetic) lp 22.00
YOUNGS, RICHARD "No Fans Compendium" (VHF) 7cd 45.00
ZERO DOWN "No Limit To Evil" (Minotauro) cd 12.98
It's about time Arcata, California produced a spacey psych band, don't ya think? It is, after all, the home of drop-out hippies and farmers of Mary J. Wanna. Happily, we report that Humboldt County's sons are just as tripped out on distortion and fuzz as the new wave of other space-rock outfits - Lumerians, White Hills, Sweden's just plain 'ol Hills, and a whole host of other bands whose names may or may not contain the word "owl." But judging by the album art, White Manna don't want to travel space so much as explore the dense redwood forests of their homeland. What has this quartet found in the thick of those gentle giants? 1. Massive volume, on levels akin to that of a Who concert. 2. Crazy wah-wah sounds and spiraling guitar solos, like you just took a hit off a four-footer for the first time since 10th grade. 3. Vocals shouted from the depths of a tunnel.
Best of all, White Manna distinguish themselves with their ability to hang a song on the nail of a bluesy hook. Further, they forego slow build-ups - the addition of saxophone on the opening of "Don't Gun Us Down" is about as much of a prelude as you're going to get here - and tend to cut to the chase pretty quickly on each of this strong EP's five tracks. It's almost as if they want you to actually dance to their particular brand of neo-psychedelia, unlike Holy Mountain label-mates Wooden Shjips, whom we enjoy equally but differently. Track 2, "Keep Your Lantern Burning," blares with a Stooges three-chord dissonance. The last two tracks, "Don't Gun Us Down," and "Sweet Jesus," seriously boogie. The latter boldly ends with a variation of the "Mr. Mojo Rising" mantra until it breaks free into the most sprawling freak out of the whole set. We thank White Manna for ushering us behind the redwood curtain and can't wait to see what they do next.
White Medal! What an awesome name for a metal band. Not to be confused with white metal, or unblack metal, this is not any sort of Christian metal, this is some twisted damaged doom-ed blackened heaviness the likes of which we've never really heard before.
This stripped down UK horde, open up proceedings with gentle clean guitar, minor key melodies, a bit of dreamy drift, until the track explodes into a hyper distorted blown out chugfest, super stripped down and raw, but SO distorted, it was a bit difficult to tell if the band was plodding along doomily or blasting furiously, just a massive blown out rrrooooaaaaar. The drums pound away beneath an epic metallic riff that churns and throbs, slathered in blistering distortion, the sound almost more like Godflesh or Pitchshifter than black metal, too hot and loud to be lo-fi but the same sort of texture and timbre. Keyboards (it sounds like keyboards) enter the fray and the track builds to some sort of total majestic metal blow out. Like Godspeed versus Bone Awl or something.
The flipside starts with some static high end guitar buzz, and just like the A side, the song erupts into a furious chaotic pound, the sound on this side much more distinctly fast and blackened, but with the same super saturated ultra distorted guitar, buried drums and shrieked vocals, there are a few tranquil moments, the guitar still distorted and buzzy, just sort of hovering dreamily before the band launches back in.
The label compares this to stuff like Bone Awl, Ildjarn, Ancestors and stuff like that, and while we do hear a bit of that, the sound is also massive and majestic, making us think of bands like Godspeed, Menace Ruine and a bit of that postrockmetaldrone we dig so much. WAY recommended.
LIMITED of course, packaged in cool hand screened sleeves.
The return of White Medal. And that's MEDAL not METAL. There's nothing god fearing or white or light or positive or hopeful about the sound this grim horde spew forth. We had their 7" a while back, and it was a primo slab of blown out almost industrial sounding blackness. Like a black metal Godflesh, crossed with maybe some of the more raw stuff like Bone Awl or Ash Pool, but with a bit of post rock epic-ness mixed in. Not sure how all that stuff worked together but it did. We dug it big time.
So now here's release number two, this time a super limited cassette / patch combo, limited to 100 copies, and finds the band going in a bit more of a raw, old school black metal direction. Beginning with an awesome washed out creepy ambient intro, all clean guitar shimmer and dark moody creep, the band soon launch into a full on buzzy pound, the guitars murky and muddy, the drums a buried in the mix plod, the vocals weirdly effected, the whole thing gloriously gurgly and lo-fi, almost d-beat sounding at times, with some cool languid and woozy folky interludes.
The flip side is much more frenzied and furious and somehow even more-lo-fi, total washed out black buzz murk, everything wreathed in hiss and distortion and buried in an all mids and lows and no highs mix, making the sound almost sludgey and doomy even though the band is blasting frantically. So blurred and smeared, that the buzz and blast gets smudged into droning epic blackness, that occasionally slips back into crunch and chug, but more often swirls and shimmers, if the sound was even a tiny bit more washed out or even a little bit more lo-fi this could have ended up an awesome blackdrone record. Killer stuff. We definitely need to hear a full length from these guys one of these days.
Comes with a cool cassette sized embroidered black and white patch, featuring the band name, the legend: Tread The Earth, and a cool image of a strange skeletal figure wielding a scythe over a garden of what appears to be body parts.
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES!!!!!! We got about 20, and after that we will not be able to get more.
Long overdue collection from this UK black metal horde, gathering up a bunch of various way-too-limited demos, as well as a handful of unreleased tracks, the sound raw and seriously lo-fi, melding lurching doomed creeps to punkish almost D-beat pound and the occasional bout of furious black buzz.
But part of what we like about these guys (this guy?), is how stripped down and Spartan the sound can be, the drums are simple and workmanlike, the guitars buzz, but not blackly, more almost sort of jangly, check out the first track here, which begins as a haunting darkly melodic dirge, clean guitar melodies draped over murky buzz and doomy drum plod, before exploding into something much faster, but which in some weird way, sounds almost punk, or even noise poppy, minus the productions, and the demonic croaked vokills, this could easily be some weird indie rock outfit, but with the vox, and the swirling low fidelity buzz, it ends up being more melodic BM. And it's that mix that sort of defines the sound, and actually is a hallmark of much of the black metal we like, that stripped off the overt black metal tropes, could be some weird murky doom pop or some experimental noise rock. The second track here is a gloriously minimal murk rock blowout, that even with the vocals, still sounds more like some metallic cold wave oddity than pure black metal.
The second demo here (starting at track 8), dials up the muddy, murky, dirge, and takes all that poppiness and buries it, at least on the first track, a lumbering monstrous black doom trudge that kills, and that sonic filth spills over into the rest of the tracks, the sound way more black and grim, but again, close listening, it's easy to hear the melody and more traditional songcraft that lurks beneath the surface, whether intentional or not. The two previously unreleased tracks are the blackest of the bunch, with the second of the two boasting some super sick vokills, and a soaring majestic arrangement that manages to be both dirgey and doomy, epic and intense. The final track is from some comp and is definitely the weirdest one here, with big booming drums, super distorted guitar buzz, belched harsh vox, the whole thing confusional and stumbly and gloriously chaotic.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!!!
This is at least record number 3 or 4 from White Mice, but somehow, we've never reviewed anything by these drugged out noise makers before now. Not sure how that happened exactly but these guys are long overdue for some aQ love...
Lots of bands, especially if they're sort of spacey and druggy get compared to the Butthole Surfers, who pretty much defined spaced out drug rock, but no one truly embodies the same sort of fucked up frenzied sonic chaos like White Mice, who sound a bit like Lightning Bolt crossed with Shit And Shine, which if we do the math correctly does basically add up to the Butthole Surfers, or at least some way heavier, way noisier modern day equivalent.
Take album opener "Passsthefissst" one part, pounded on over and over and over, wild relentless tribal drumming, throbbing buzzy bass, and distorted to oblivion guitars, locked into an endless loop, hypnotic and mesmerizing and mantra like but also totally blown out and filthy and noisy and heavy, with some sinister demonic vocalizations over the top. You can almost imagine how insane this shit must be live, nothing but strobe lights, the band a blinking blur, the crowd a writhing mass of bodies, an endless lysergic freak out free for all.
And that's pretty much how the White Mice roll, every song is another effects drenched low slung damaged psychedelic sludge jam, sometimes frantic and super intense, other times slowed down and all Brainbombs-y, but always totally in the red and blown out and trippy and freaked out. Makes sense that these guys are from Providence Rhode Island, home of Lightning Bolt and Landed and Pink And Brown (R.I.P) and all of those like minded costumed noiserockers, pretty sure they're part of the same crew too, the best part about them being from RI, is that there's a good chance they play live with big ol' tails and fucked up furry mice heads, which is pretty much the only way you could make this stuff any better.
