This is the first we've heard from the brilliantly named Manbeard, the fucked up freak folk cabaret offshoot of old aQ faves Urdog. Here they share a cd-r with furry Finnish folk combo Avarus, originally a tour only release, and while it might not seem like it, weirdly it's kind of a good match. Manbeard are tough to explain. Very jaunty and sing songy, almost like sea shanties, big drums, dramatic WAY over the top vocals, angular riffing, a little bit gloomy and dark, gothic even, with squiggly synths, damaged percussion, and really twisted songs. And really bizarre overdubs, strange characters making announcements, speaking to the listener, adding their 2 cents to various songs. Definitely an acquired taste, but if you're into the same weird stuff we are, then acquiring it might not be that difficult. The weird thing is, this disc is jam packed with short-ish Manbeard songs, then right in the middle, tack 5 in fact, is the ONE Avarus song, a massive half hour jam, recorded live, all ramshackle rhythms, and detuned guitars, chanted vocals, fluttering woodwinds, raga like buzzing, stumbling druggy far out freaked out damaged outsider genius for sure. It sounds like a blast, like they just set up on the street in the middle of rush hour, and their merrymaking just sucked in a massive crowd, dancing and howling and whooping and wildly frolicking through the streets of Helsinki. At least that's what it sounds like.�
Then it's time again for more Manbeard weirdness, fragmented song experiments, fucked up drones, lo-fi off kilter bedroom folk, fractured dada-ist pop and whatever else crossed their twisted musical minds.�
In cool hand screened color sleeves, with printed inserts. We got these direct from The Manbeard when he was in town, and he mentioned these might be the last copies, so if we run out that might be it.
MPEG Stream: MANBEARD "Original Performance Of The Manbeard Denizens Folk Classic, Manbearde Folk Classic, Manbeard Factory" [/audio/manbeardoriginal.m3u]
A while ago we reviewed an incredible, and incredibly far out collection of strange electronic music from South Africa, the comp was called Shangaan Electro: New Wave Dance Music from South Africa, and boy did the music live up to the promise of that title. We described the sound as being part Congotronics, part Nintendo, part Omar Souleyman, part karaoke, sounds pretty weird and amazing, and it was, a huge favorite around here. Some of the coolest, weirdest most damaged and deliriously fucked up 'dance' music we had maybe ever heard.
So now comes another missive from that same scene, this one a gospel record, Shangaan electro-gospel to be precise, which already sounds amazing. Plaintive, moody emotional heartfelt vocals draped over simple skeletal Casio keyboard rhythms, looped whirring accordion like textures, goofy lo-fi 8 bit video game music and a weird wheezy whistle (which is a hallmark of Shangaan, and tweets throughout all the tracks here), and a much more traditional sounding chorus of female vocalists, providing gorgeous harmonies to accompany the main vocal, and the strange tweeting, wheezing, skittering music underneath.
It sounds really strange, and definitely a little goofy, but the music is hauntingly beautiful and quite mesmerizing, and the more you listen, the more you become utterly mesmerized, the sounds lulling and soothing and transporting, transcending the limitations of the instrumentation (if those are truly limitations, we're not so sure!), and creating something moving, emotional and truly spiritual.
Easily the coolest release from this year's Black Friday Record Store Day, and thankfully one that didn't disappear after the day, Joe Mansfield's Beat Box is a loving homage to the drum machines that have driven so much of the music we love - and holy cow, is this total record nerd / gear geek nirvana, a huge hardcover book, featuring page after page of glossy shots of pretty much every drum machine we've ever seen, as well as TONS we had never even heard of. In addition to pix of the drum machines themselves, there are also drawings, paintings, shots of the original packaging, old ads, even schematics and instruction manuals, totally obsessive and totally amazing! The drum machines covered go all the way from the fifties to the present day, big old hulking behemoths, to tiny toy like gizmos, the machines themselves displaying some incredible industrial design, the sort of thing that won't just appeal to drum machine dorks, but also design buffs, and heck, even folks who just dig big beautiful art books. Of course most aQ-ers probably find themselves in all three camps! We got a taste of this book on this past April's Record Store Day, with the release of a sort of mini-Beat Box, that featured a couple pages from the book, as well as two exclusive flexi-discs (we still somehow have a couple of those left, just ask!), but even that didn't prepare us for how crazy cool the actual book is. And it's not just the book itself either, the book comes housed in an oversized hard box/slipcover/leatherette case, that sort of has the feel of an actual drum machine, and in fact, one side of the box is printed with the schematic for the Rhythm Composer TR-808 drum machine, while the other side features little cutouts, one that houses a 7" single, with the legendary "Paul Revere" beat, as well as a cassette tape with bonus beats. The book also features a download card with beats from the various drum machines featured in the book! Easily just about the coolest Christmas gift we can imagine this year, even if (and maybe especially if) it's just a present for yourself!
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Compiled by legendary musician / producer / remixer Kurtis Mantronik, this is a collection of tracks from the late '70s and early '80s, all of which he considers not only super influential on his own work, but also typical of the groundbreaking dance / hip hop / electro / disco / house music being made in New York at this time. If you're a fan of ESG or any of the music on the two "Disco not Disco" comps, you're gonna love this too. It's a fantastic collection of tracks covering everyone from Art of Noise to Yellow Magic Orchestra, Visage, Yello and T-La Rock. More than easily standing up to today's scrutiny, none of the tracks sound dated in a bad way at all. Another great comp from Soul Jazz, the London store/label that brought us the In the Beginning There Was Rhythm comp, the 100-400% Dynamite collections, etc. Highly recommended!
Originally released in 2005 as a cd-r limited to a mere 55 copies, and then later as a tape, limited to 144 copies, this killer split FINALLY gets a proper reissue, with new art, and an extra track, thanks to the always kick ass Tour De Garde label.
Ben a while since we've heard from Hungarian horde Marblebog, although they've been doing tons of split releases over the last few years, this one though is with Brazilian black metallers Draugurz, who long time aQ metalheads will probably remember from their raved about A Yell From The Past record.
Marblebog open the proceedings with some swirling drones and creepy black ambience, before introducing some spidery melancholic guitar, a tangled web of crystalline melody, which gives way to a burst of murky lo-fi buzz, a pounding midtempo depressive dirge, all weepy minor key chords and booming basement drums, with some seriously raspy and hellish vox, reminiscent of Hypothermia for sure, that sort of blackened post rock lope, but the band definitely get grim, exploding into blurred blasts of old school blackness, interspersed with strangely melodic stretches of meandery drift and shades of gloom pop. The other Marblebog track is all solo guitar, a distorted woozy blackened riffscape, creepy and solitary and haunting, a strange tension, as if at any point the drums might kick in, or the song might begin proper, but instead, the riff, twists and transforms, a dense sprawl of mournful buzz and trancelike drone. So cool.
Draugurz counter with some ultra raw, primitive black crunch, punkish guitars, stumbling drums, howled distorted vox, the songs sometimes slowing down into woozy warped doomy plods, with tangled minor key leads, sometimes locking into mesmerizing chunks of hypnodrone black metal, like a grim frosty Circle, building to dense blown out crescendos before slipping into more primitive pound.
This cd version tacks on an extra Draugurz track, a creepy ambient synthscape, all majestic percussion shimmering layered mournful buzz, with a super strange tripped out synth flute interlude, all clipped bleats and alien flutters, before returning to the stately march that started the track.
Killer stuff, from both bands, and probably still limited...
Hungarian black metal lords Marblebog have been a longstanding favorite here at aQuarius, and this split with fellow countrymen Vorkuta marks a triumphant return indeed. Both bands specialize in abject black metal with smatterings of goth and punk. Oddly enough, at various moments throughout the record, each band brought to mind Dance With Me era T.S.O.L. - but maybe that's just us. Either way, we're digging it.
The record begins with Marblebog's "Uttalan Utakon", a seven minute blast of furious black metal that also sounds surprisingly like early American hardcore, at least before the harsh goblin vocals croak their way into the mix. The momentum is kept going with super fast drums and buzzy guitars before a weird, gothy outro plays out over siren like feedback. Vorkuta's "Prophecies" is a three part display of classic, Darkthrone-esque black metal outlining the joys of killing. While the band doesn't have to work too hard to prove their metal credentials, they also work in an interesting instrumental middle part with backwards tape effects and slow, distorted drums suggesting a somewhat psychedelic approach to their music. Definitely looking forward to checking out more from these dudes, who seem to specialize in splits.
A glorious slab of concentrated blackness, limited to 500 copies and pressed on bonechilling pink vinyl.
Originally released in 2008 (hence the title) as a tape and a 7", this killer two way split is now available on cd, featuring two Hungarian hordes: long time aQ faves Marblebog, and Vorkuta, who have just one split to their name, but about a million splits.
Marblebog should need no introduction, a weird group of nature obsessed black metal warriors whose sound shifts easily from blackened atmospheric drift to blazing buzzing blackness. Their contribution here falls into the latter category, with some of the heaviest Marblebog we've heard, churning Burzumic riffage, over pounding drums, and some of the creepiest sickest vocals EVER, an impossibly distorted raspy gargle, demonic and alien, and so cool. The track is a long one, and slips from frenzied blast to almost doomy pound to woozy melodic midtempo lope, complete with reverbed guitar solos, to epic almost Viking sounding metallic majesty, to skeletal clean guitar post metal meander. So good.
Vorkuta, counter with an epic 3 part single track, that explodes out of the gate, super raw and primitive, buzzing insectoid riffing, pounding blast beats, and weird croaked sing songy demonic growls that follow the guitar melody exactly, making the whole song seem seasick and twisted, until it breaks down into a tribal drummed churning breakdown, only to lurch right back into the frantic blasting blackness. Vorkuta too dabble in some abstract ambience, clean spidery guitars over crystalline shimmer, cool effected backwards loops, distant chimes, before finishing off with a buzz drenched tangle of grinding black crunch.
Definitely need to hear more from these guys. Who knew that Hungary had such a serious BM scene, beyond just these two outfits too? Judging from the list of related bands, and the pedigree of both Marblebog and Vorkuta, we definitely have some more digging to do...
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Wherein Built to Spill cover a Heavenly song ("By The Way"), and the ex-Heavenly people now known as Marine Research do a Built to Spill cover ("Sick & Wrong").
Double disc reissue of legendary producer Marley Marl's first two full length albums, released in '88 and '91 respectively. Queens-born Marley Marl *founded* the Cold Chillin' label whose Juice Crew in turn launched the careers of Roxanne Shante, Masta Ace, Biz Markie, Kool G Rap, etc. These two albums feature all of those mentioned above, also LL Cool J (Marl produced his million-selling Mama Said Knock You Out), Big Daddy Kane, Heavy D, and more. The cuts are bright and crisp with sampled 'n looped hooks galore. Cool.
In contrast to the exceptional compilation from Trojan records of 70's Jamaican producers and vocalists performing Marley's numbers, this reeks of major label exploitation. "Duets" with the legendary Bob Marley and contemporary chartbusters Erykah Badu, Krayzie Bone, Guru, Rakim, Busta Rhymes, Lauren Hill, Lost Boyz, MC Lyte, The Marley Brother & The Ghetto Youths Crew, Steven Tyler & Joe Perry, Chuck D, and The Roots.
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Latest from Minneapolis one man raw black metal horde Marsh, who we last heard from on a split with black metal weirdos Lonesummer. Here, Marsh is teamed up with a group called Thorazine Gaze, who we had never heard before but who are pretty amazing, starting things out with a plodding bit of freaked out, depressive, super creepy plodding black metal, the guitars raw and echoe-y, the recording super lo-fi, the vocals super distorted and insanely inhuman sounding, also wrapped in delay and reverb, the result is a dark droning, blackened trudge, with a gloriously melancholy main riff. The next track picks up the pace a little, but the sound remains, grim and miserable, yet still strangely minor key and melodic, the music almost pretty, but the vocals, so intense and tortured and so processed and distorted they end up sounding like dense squalls of white noise, drifting over the pounding D-beat flecked grimnity underneath. The record tends toward the midtempo, but those fucked up vocals push this more toward the realms of groups like Bone Awl or Akitsa, which is absolutely a good thing.
Marsh starts of his side with a stretch of creepy, soundtracky black ambience, laced with strange industrial creaks and whirs, looped melody, a haunting tense slow build, swirling FX, downtuned distorted crumble, echo drenched melodies, before finally exploding into song, but instead of the frenzied black blast we were expecting, it's some creepy depressive gothy doom pop, deep dramatic vocals, clean guitars, low slung Joy Division basslines, all wrapped in a gauzy lo-fi swirl, the rhythms programmed and machinelike, the track laced with occasional shrieked vokills, but for the most part it's weirdly dark and melodic, before finally stumbling into something way more black and harsh, stumbling drums, strange atonal guitars, harsh vox, twisted melodies, everything woozy and off kilter, abstract and gnarled. Finally finishing off with a bit of pounding post rock / black metal, that manages to buzz and brood, the sound blown out, but definitely still warm and melodic. Good stuff for sure. Wondering when some label's gonna finally step up and release a Marsh full length. Until then, better act fast. LIMITED TO 50 COPIES!! We have about 10, not sure we can get more...
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As of the end of 2013, the San Francisco Museum Of Modern Art has temporarily closed its physical doors at its Third Street location, with plans to expand outward and upward from that structural footprint. Collin McKelvey and John Davis are two Bay Area media artists who happen to work at SFMOMA; and the two embarked on their Episteme project to document the ephemera and non-Art objects that would have typically gone unnoticed by the visitors and even the staff. A book was published for a short-lived exhibition of the visual documentation of said ephemera. Included with that book was a 7" of processed field recordings of the more banal, behind-the-scenes sounds at SFMOMA. The book seems to be sold out, but we did get a hold of some of these 7" singles of which we think there were about 100 copies in total. Each artist offers their own interpretation with McKelvey taking an abstract, phonographer approach with various shuffles, creaking wheels, HVAC purrs, and forgotten institutional clatter. Davis' track takes an opposite approach, recontextualizing various snippets of field recordings into motorik rhythms and radiophonic swarms with a nice Schnitzler / Moebius vibe.
The return of our favorite crust punk obsessed black metal horde, Meads Of Asphodel. Not sure if they've always been so into eighties punk, but over the last few records, the band have seen fit to mix it up, sprinkling classic covers amidst their epic pagan black metal jams, seems like a weird mix, but somehow, in the twisted sonic world these guys inhabit, it sort of works.
Two new tracks, a creepy, medieval intro, buzzy synths, rumbling drones, a growled distorted proclamation, some weirdly cheesy piano, tinkling chimes, sirens, a serious dose of whatthefuck, which gives way to 7 minutes of totally majestic, and classic sounding pagan blackness. NWOBHM inspired guitar harmonies, wrapped around pounding drums, chugging black riffs, the arrangements convoluted and complex, peppered with soaring synths, creepy processed vokills, some haunting interludes, with more of that creepy spoken word, and then right back into the tangled epic thrashing. And then it's on to the covers, some of which make perfect sense, some of which don't at all, which only makes them that much cooler. Doom, Hellbastard and Conflict, the Meads versions of which are appropriately raw and pounding and thrashing, the Hellbastard track has some strange piano melodies draped over chugging guitars and monklike chants, the Conflict cover is weirdly produced, turning the metallic crust punk into something almost cabaret sounding. We had never heard Skeptix before, but the Meads version is awesome, fierce and fast and melodic and heavy as fuck, definitely gonna have to track down the original. Then there's the last cover, going waaaaay back to the roots of heavy metal, The Kinks' "You Really Got me", which the Meads tweak, making the main riff minor key, so it definitely sounds black metal, the vocals over the top and WAY goofy, at first it seems so silly, but as the track plays on it makes some sort of twisted sense, and definitely suits the Meads' fucked up sound.
The Meads share this disc with countrymen Old Corpse Road, a sort of naturalistic folk flecked black metal band, but barring the intro of the first song, there's nary any folk to be found, the band spitting out epic, almost orchestral sounding blackness, not that far removed from Cradle Of Filth, with keyboards WAY up in the mix, wild shrieking vox, even some creepy plonking piano melodies, and that's when the folk comes in, the band breaks down into a sort of jig, launching into a jam that wouldn't be out of place on a Finntroll record, complete with group sing along, incredibly catchy, and the more we listen to this, the more we find ourselves digging these guys. Three looooong tracks, super dramatic, over the top, keyboards all over the place, wild vocals that slip from deep croon to hysterical shriek, a tangled almost circusy bit of blackened chaos that is totally kicking our asses. Which means WAY recommended, for both Meads AND Old Corpse Road, and we definitely need to hear more OCR...
I'm sure that, by now, we're way passed that point that divides the completists with those that are content with two or three volumes of this series. And yet, though speaking partially from a completist's viewpoint, volume 14 might be one that anyone who's enjoyed previous Ethiopiques releases to take note of. Volume 14 is a re-release of a 1970 Philips Ethiopia recording of G�tatch�w M�kurya. M�kurya, a saxophonist, is apparently considered the Albert Ayler of Ethiopia. But before y'all non-free jazz aficionados get scared off by thoughts of atonal scree, you can rest assured that there's not a lick of that here. Probably what was most likely intended by such a comparison was either Ayler's propensity for using folk melodies in his works, or maybe even... marches. The cornerstone of M�kurya's style is derived from a strictly vocal style associated with war known as "shellela". Apparently M�kurya got the idea of transcribing this singing style to saxophone. Brash and insistent as it is, it's really nothing like even the tamest "sheets of sound" from Coltrane's pre-free jazz days. Entirely instrumental, the music of G�tatch�w M�kurya is, while familiar in the scope of Ethiopian music we've come to know and love, also much different than all that's preceded it. It probably most resembles Ethiopiques Volume Four in respect to their both lacking in vocals, but there the similarities stop. The band is stripped down to organ, guitar, bass and drums and accompaniment usually consists of a steady, uptempo ostinato over which M�kurya then plays his rapid and rococo melodic improvisations (often alternating with the squealing farfisa-like organ). Also included as a bonus track for this CD issue is a late fifties rarity from M�kurya. Yet again, we highly recommend this newest Ethiopiques release for both sometimes fans and -- it goes without saying I suppose -- completists as well.
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Fans of Japan's Melt Banana know that they're always great at doing covers. On their side of this split 7" they do "Monkey Man" by Toots And The Maytals. Really. And of course they sound like they're on 45 even when they're on 33 like they always do, super hectic, the least-mellow reggae you've ever heard. Some of us thought it was a cartoon theme or music from an ad for a kid's toy or something. There's also a Melt Banana original called "Operation: 3rd Attack" on here, with some turntable scratching, that's equally wild.
The flip side features US ska act Big D And The Kids Table, they do an original and a Ministry cover ("Thieves")...there's got to be some novelty value in that. Actually, we *think* they're a ska band. But even their original sounds more like a metal or hardcore band with a horn section than your typical ska stuff. So, kinda cool too.
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Second chance on this, last copies EVER!!
We hate to do this to you, but there's not much we can do about it. THIS IS INCREDIBLY LIMITED!! WE ONLY GOT A HANDFUL OF COPIES, MOST LIKELY NEVER TO GET MORE! SO ACT FAST. This 10" is limited to a couple thousand worldwide, only 700 or so made it to the US and only 20 made it to AQ. So definitely don't dawdle. Yet another split from masters of the split record, Japanese ultra spaz rockers Melt-Banana, this time teamed up with another unlikely, but still quite cool band we've never heard of. The strangely monickered Chung offer up short sharp bursts of angular post punk on their side, kinetic new wave rhythms, fuzzy organs and yelped vocals. Like a punkier mix of the Fall, Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand and all those sorts of bands. Melt-Banana counter with some of their most unlikely music to date, confounding and confusing with their three tracks (be sure to play their side on 45 -- we were WAY more confused when we mistakenly played it at 33 the first time). Strangely sparse, with a bouncy minimal rhythm, poundiing piano (!) and even some horns all sort of new wave-y and abstractly angular with lots of blooping space sound effects, rockabilly guitar and a trippy tweaked out production. Definitely MB's most melodic and least spastic record to date. But just to remind us who we're dealing with, they finish things off with a mega distorted blast of classic Melt-Banana style spaz-grind-pop weirdness. Comes packaged in an amazing sleeve, thick screened cardstock, and affixed to the front is one of those lenticular stereo 3D cards that moves when you shift the image, the image just in this case is a cartoon city and a giant fly and a madman with a flyswatter and an explosion.WOW. And once again, VERY LIMITED!
As thriving as the garage rock scene is in San Francisco, it's important to note there is some pretty amazing pop being crafted in these parts as well. We loved what we heard on the debut 12" by Melted Toys on Underwater Peoples that we listed a few months back, so we were super excited to get a brand new track of their low-key, yet so infectious breezy and subtly washed out pop.
Dominant Legs, we first heard when they opened for Girls at a breathtaking show at the Swedish American Hall a couple years ago. In fact, the band's main man, Ryan Williams Lynch is one of the guitarists in Girls, and there has always been something about him on stage that made us keep our eyes locked on him, as we knew there was something pretty special about his presence. Along side Hannah Hunt, and a full band with super strong chops, they create such a wonderful version of 2011 boy/girl cuddle-core. Think Belle & Sebastian meets The Softies doing Roy Orbison covers.
Released by the French label, Atelier Cesium, the 7" comes with a digital download.
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Boy, did we get lucky. We heard about this and at first wrongly assumed it was Mike Patton with the Melvins. And as much as we love Mike Patton, we were pretty tickled to discover that in was in fact, Patton Oswalt, one of our favorite comedians, sharing this split with the Melvins.
The thing is, this was never technically available to stores or distros. But we did manage to track a handful down for our AQ faithful. Unfortunately, because of the scarcity and the fact that technically they weren't available wholesale, the price ended up being a bit steep. But hey, $16 from us is is a whole heckuva lot better than $75 on eBay!
So act fast, these will disappear in a blink of an eye.
As with all Chunklet stuff, gorgeously packaged with killer (and hilarious) Jay Ryan cover art, screen printed onto thick cardstock sleeves.
And like with all ultra limited stuff, only one per customer please...
Another record that was originally a Record Store Day exclusive, now thankfully more widely available. We were initially excited about this three way split for the new jams from aQ faves Milk Music, who start off with a killer Creedence Clearwater Revival cover ("Effigy"), which like all great covers, sounds like it could be a MM original, the guitars blown out, the vocals drenched in FX, the song gorgeously minor key and drowsily noisy, reminding us a little of Sub Pop unknowns (but also aQ faves) Rein Sanction. The second MM track sounds like it could have been plucked right off the last record, and weirdly enough, sounds like it could be another cover as well, all fuzzy and twangy, and then they finish off with another cover perfectly suited to MM's sound, Johnny Thunders' "You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory".
Destruction Unit deliver a blast of swagger, noise drenched garage punk, with bellowed dramatic vocals over, dizzying swirls of distort guitar, all wrapped around a churning lo-fi crunch, bathed in feedback, and noisy as fuck, but crazy catchy too, slipping easily into stretched out psych jams, before slipping right back into some stomping garage rock crunch. And finally, Merchandise from Florida, get all spacey and gloomy and dramatic, a drifty, slow core creep, laced with steel string shimmer, low slung bass buzz, and some deep, dark vocal crooning, the first track, a smoldering dark ballad, the second a bit more post punky sounding a bit like a popper, jangler Wipers. Cool stuff all around.
Comes with a cool, full color insert/booklet, and no download.
Although it says that this is not a remix record on the sticker, not sure what else you could call it. A bunch of folks incorporate bits of the Merzbow record Amlux into their original compositions. The sound is all over the place. From hip-hop instrumentals to crazy turntablism to glitched out big beats to all out noise to malfunctioning video game sounds to riot grrl-ish techno to droning soundscapes and beyond. Features: DJ Spooky, DJ/ Rupture, Plug, Alec Empire, Negativland, Hrvatski, Mouse On Mars, KK Null, Kim Cascone, Kim Hiorthoy, Nobukazu Takemura, E.A.R./Sonic Boom, Cornelius, Atom, Custom Drummer, Bola, Jack Dangers, Freiband and a bunch more. Two discs!
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The latest in this high profile series of split 12"s. Merzbow is at his most melodic, coming up with an almost hummable bit of white noise. The AMM side is all rhythm, primarily beautifully meandering chimes and bells.
Merzbow may be prolific to the point of no return by now, and so you may scoff at yet another release (that makes what, 10 so far this year?) but don't pass this one up. All of us around here have been mildly obsessed with Swedish ambient / noise / drone technician Nordvargr, from his days in the dark-ambient-in black-metal's-clothing outfit MZ412 to his later militaristic folk ensembles Toroidh and Folkstorm. Strangely these two noiseniks make the perfect combination, Japanoise meets Scandanavian power electronics and the result is a crushing slab of low end doom drone dirge. Merzbow created the source material for Nordvargr to process in his inimitably grim fashion. Three lengthy tracks. The first is a spine tinglingly creepy and gut churningly, ominously oppresive rumbling glitchy throb, crumbling slabs of low end over sinister whir and brittle crackling skeletal beats like the scary parts of Tron, or the part in some demonic anime snuff film when you first discover the true face of evil. Track two turns crushing ambient sludge into HUGE crunchy stuttering beats, not just block rocking beats, but beats that flatten entire neighborhoods like Autechre or Aphex twin jamming with Sunn 0))), spare and skittery, wandering through a precarious landscape of hissing blasts of Japanoise and keening squalls of high end iridescence. The final track is clicky, glitchy, haunting almost-IDM filtered through the noxious fumes of demon's breath and dipped in boiling pitch. ominous and frighteningly lovely. One of the best noise / sludge / drone / slow-motion-dance-music-for-demons record of the year!
Collected on cd for the first time, Norton unleases 75 minutes of classic R&B/soul/funk singles sides from turban-wearing singer, including such great cuts as "Big Chief Hug-Um An' Kiss-Um", "Jerkin' The Dog", "Fishin' Pole", "The Truth Shall Make You Free"
Another Record Store Day exclusive, and one of the few we had enough (maybe) copies of after the big day, to list and review, for all our beloved aQ-ers who live far and wide. And it's a good one. Matching up Jenks Miller, he of big time aQ faves Horseback, and James Toth, of Wooden Wand, and once again, as with recent Horseback joints, Miller continues to confound, pushing his sound in whole new directions, moving ever further from the blackdrone creep of those early HB records. After a brief bit of psychedelic blooze drift, Miller launches into some organ driven, super distorted twang flecked post rock, all grizzled melodies, motorik rhythms, swirling FX, still pretty bluesy, but a sort of minor key psych blues, which is even more surprising when the vocals come in, a softly distorted croon, transforming the sound into something like a more metallic, more psychedelic Sparklehorse maybe? Not a bad thing at all. The final track from Miller name checks Roy Montgomery in the title, and sonically is essentially an homage, a sky full of layered, pulsing guitars, looped into slow shifting shimmers, and smeared chordal swirls, before disappearing into a cloud of dreamy distortion, and adding some subtle propulsion, the second half a gorgeous, fuzzy, druggy, droned out psychedelic drift. So good!
Toth's side is much more stripped down, acoustic guitars wedded to wheezing harmoniums, and strange clattery percussion off in the background, a woozy campfire drone-folk that's quite lovely. And while the vibe is abstract and spacey, the vocals bring it back down to earth, transforming it into more of a dark Appalachian psych folk, but the minute the vocals fade out, the song seems to soar skyward once again. The other two tracks are shorter, and less abstract/experimental, the first, more psych folk, the second like some lost Laurel Canyon classic folk-rock B-side, right down to the female back up vox.
SUPER LIMITED, as in these are likely the very last copies we'll see, so you know the drill. Also includes a download code, and comes housed in a handsome full color, matte finish gatefold jacket.
We reviewed a tape from Nick Millevoi a while back, released on local label The Flenser, and at the time, it was maybe the weirdest thing on the label, precisely because it was so little like anything else they'd put out, solo electric guitar, spaced out, super abstract dronescapes, looped and raga-like, a bit like a metal Terry Riley or Steve Reich, which obviously pushed lots of our buttons. So here we are a couple years later, and we've got more new music from Millevoi, a split with some improv jazz group called Onibaba, but first up, Millevoi unfurls a gorgeously languid sprawl of distorted guitars, delivered in waves, slow subtle swells, with long extended decay, the sounds crumbling and pulsing, over the opening track's 21 minutes, growing more and more noisy, swaths of feedback winding their noisy tendrils around the increasingly frantic riffage, which by now has transformed into thick squalls of buzz, a dense psychedelic noise, that manages to be textural and listenable, but also a bit caustic and chaotic. Millevoi's other two tracks get way further out, the first all wild squiggles, and woozy detuned strings, atonal and abstract, loose and noisy, and dizzying, the second taking the first and adding some Haino-esque freak outs over the top, dense tangles of high end squiggle and grinding, avant psych shred, blurred into a swirling dervish of psychedelic noise!
The Onibaba tracks, while ostensibly 'jazz', are similarly abstract and freeform, the first, a slow, smoldering expanse of buried rhythms, and moody murk, of distant clatter and industrial whir, all wreathed in soft focus clouds of keening feedback, the vibe loose and noisy and ethereal, sounding a bit like a more placid, tranquil Wolf Eyes actually, the sound growing more urgent and rhythmic, until the murk clears, leaving a sky full of chiming high end shimmer, and clouds of bowed metallic thrum. The second track is even more minimal, a hushed, lowercase dronescape, all groaning, moaning, barely there rumbles, pocked with bits of glitch and squelch, a sort of minimal industrial dub, but smeared into indistinct blurs, hazy, and heady, hushed and hypnotic.
Housed in an oversized purple and white, printed gatefold sleeve. LIMITED TO 250 COPIES.
It seems like field recordings from southeast Asia have become one of the most popular emergent genres here at Aquarius Records. And while we're not sure if just 'cause you took a trip and recorded stuff you should really get your name on record (like you're some sort of hoity-toity 'sound artist'), we still appreciate the efforts of such recordists as Loren Nerell, the Bishop brothers, and now Robert Millis. The truth is, ambient sound from some street in Thailand or Indonesia can be a lot more fascinating than yet another disc of computerized feedback or lowercase glitch! Never a substitute for going places yourself and using your ears (and other senses) but certainly a valid listening option at home. So no complaints, we'll continue to sing the praises of quality releases in the 'field recordings' genre like those on the Sublime Frequencies label. And certainly if you liked the recent Princess Nicotine disc on Sublime Freq, you'll probably also want to check out Leaf Music Drunks Distant Drums. Actually Millis (a member of American experimentalists Climax Golden Twins) had some involvement in the production of the Sublime Frequencies' dvd release Nat Pwe: Burma's Carnival Of Spirit Soul, and portions of this release were recorded on the same 'expedition'. Listening to this artfully edited distillation of the hours and hours of recordings that this disc represents, you'll be able to tell that Millis obviously spent a lot of time on the ground in SE Asia, ears alert for interesting sonics (musical and otherwise). It'll transport you into an environment that includes the following and more: "improvisation performed by an elephant mahout using only a leaf, ethereal temple orchestras, blind street musicians, insect choruses, stagecoach rides, singing cabbies, drunken spirit orchestras performing Leo Sayer songs..." Byram was especially taken with the track that sounds like a guy sobbing through a bullhorn! A great listen thats very well mixed, segueing nicely, and at a nice pace, from track to track.
What the world needs now is... more BATHTUB SHITTER!!! And what the world needs, our shit obsessed grindmetal pals from the East are here to provide. Two brand new blasts of grinding freaked out, spazzy and shrieking grind metal, occupying some impossible musical space between Brutal Truth, the Boredoms, Cannibal Corpse, skate thrash and eighties hardcore. So weird and so fucking awesome!!! We kind of want to figure out a way to fly the guys in Bathtub Shitter to the US so they could be the AQ house band, blasting and bleating dissonant serenades to our customers 24 hours a day. Okay, maybe not, but we still love 'em!
The 'Shitter are teamed up here with Maryland's own grindmetal destruction crew Misery Index, who unleash one track of downtuned grinding nirvana as well as a blown out blast that is a Napalm Death cover.
Comes packaged in a super swank gatefold 7" sleeve, with BS's side a haunting airbrushed watercolor batwinged, horn headed child demon flipping us the ubiquitous peace sign hand gesture (although his hands sport huge demonic talons!). Cool!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Props to Thrill Jockey. Not only did they come up with a batch of Record Store Day releases this year that were all truly worthy (unlike some other RSD stuff that seems more about collectability than good music), they also made sure that they'd last a bit beyond Record Store Day itself, being limited but not soooooo super limited that they're already on eBay. So, you'll find a bunch of 'em on this list, like the Oval/Liturgy 12", and this, the vinyl-only debut lp from the guitar duo of Mitchell and Manley.
If you're familiar with Isaiah Mitchell's playing in his band Earthless, you kinda know what to expect... endless, tripped out, set the controls for the heart of the sun electric guitar soloing... Meanwhile, Phil Manley is no slouch on the axe himself, as he's demonstrated in Trans Am, The Fucking Champs, Oneida, Jonas Reinhardt, etc. Plus, if you've heard his recent solo album Life Coach, you know he's totally tuned in to '70s kosmiche krautrock electronics. In this context, Isaiah is perhaps more about fingers on frets, and Phil about feets on pedals, but the division of labor isn't all that clear-cut.
And if you were here on Sunday for their instore (their first ever live performance together!), you got a taste of what the two of them are capable of (and, probably already bought this lp). However, that instore was, despite everyone's best intentions (sorry, neighbors!) a bit louder and "face melting" than how Mitchell and Manley come off on record, which Phil had told us was kind of "new-agey". And Norcal Values does mellow it out a bit, on two side-long cuts, "San Francisco Values" (we're proud of them, dammit, and just love Nancy Pelosi!) and "Sausalito Values" (adding a little Marin to the mix).
Basically, this is just what we expected (and wanted)... something that combines the never-ending jamming aspect of Earthless, with the more blissed out vibe of much of Phil's solo album. Shred vs. shimmer, here. Improvised live, with no overdubs. Guitar solos, like it says on the cover.
Although this was released on 4/16, for Record Store Day, it could just have easily come out on 4/20... what we're sayin' is that this is stoner music. Not sure how long these will be around, they are limited to 1000, so better hurry and grab one now - you can mellow out and relax (and light one up) AFTER you've scored a copy. Comes with digital download, btw.
Aside from the many problems which arose from the movie that accompanies this 'soundtrack', it should be noted that Metamkine - the brilliant musique concrete label from Paris - began a series called "Cinema for the Ear" about eight years ago. Unfortunately for Jerome (the man behind Metamkine), this movie did not even come close to acknowledging Metamkine and only gave namechecking references to Stockhausen and Cage.
As a compilation that documents the history of populist electronic music from the past 20 years, it hits on some important players but acts more as a canonizing agent than as a collection of 'fresh' sounds. The drum & bass representatives of Panacea, Aphrodite, and Goldie sound unimpressively dated, the one unifying problem for all of electronica with a few exceptions. Fortunately, two of those exceptions are present - Giorgio Moroder's production on the diva-disco classic Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" and "No UFOs" by Model 500, the track which spawned the Detroit sound of techno.
At best this is a mixed bag of tracks, and we certainly recommend that you check out the full albums by some of the artists present (i.e. Giorgio Moroder, Afrika Bambaataa, Model 500 / Juan Atkins, LFO, Derrick May, Panacea, Ryoji Ikeda, Coldcut, and To Rococo Rot...) and the singles from Metalheadz (cos Goldie's full length albums have been utter crap) and Aphrodite (ditto).
The UK magazine for music both classic and indie is back with another big issue. On the cover, Mojo's "band of the year", Fleet Foxes. Also they honour a bunch of other of their faves, including Yoko Ono, ZZ Top, and Johnny Marr. Then there's stuff on Tinariwen, TV On The Radio, Blur, and a rare interview with Bob Dylan. And there's more, the usual ton of reviews and news and stuff. Also there's a look back at the Rolling Stones' famous 1969 Hyde Park concert. AND as always there's a cd (in jewel case!) stuck to the cover, this time a comp called New Harvest of "modern North American song" including tracks by Fleet Foxes, Bill Callahan, The Dodos, Iron & Wine, and others.
The Boss is on the cover, as is a bonus cd comp of some of Springsteen's favorite songs (by the likes of Calexico, Neko Case, Jimmy Reed, Alan Vega, and others). Also, inside: Joanna Newsom, Devo, Ozzy, Ian Hunter, and lots more including the usual news, reviews, etc. that makes this British magazine a must for most music fans...
Jimmy Page is the cover star. Inside, everything from Shane Macgowan to Midlake to Slayer! (The latter article specifically being about their signature speed metal album Reign In Blood). Plus there's the usual ton of reviews and news and "this month back then" features... Also this issue, Mojo's 2010 releases preview.
Oh, and there's a free cd on the cover, compiled by The Amorphous Androgynous (the psychedelic DJ alter ego of members of FSOL), a pretty killer mix including cuts by Comus, Can, Shogun Kunitoki, Can, July, Dungen, Jean-Claude Vannier, and others.
Syd Barrett is the cover star, this issue featuring "the inside story of Madcap Laughs" with input from David Gilmour, Robert Wyatt and others. Also this ish: Captain Beefheart, Dr. Feelgood, Charlotte Gainsbourg, the reader's poll 2009, and more. Including, believe it or not, an interview with Sly Stone, who has a new album coming out! As always, LOTS to keep most music junkies busy reading here. Plus there's a free cd on the cover, a "recreation" of Madcap Laughs, covered track-by-track by a diverse selection of artist including Hush Arbours, Skygreen Leopards, Hawkwind, J Mascis, REM, Jennifer Gentle, Hope Sandoval, Robyn Hitchcock, and more!
Man, this issue of Mojo is just screaming, buy me, buy me! A bright red cover featuring the Kraftwerk, complete with bonus cd compilation of Kraftwerk inspired/related music from OMD, Tangerine Dream, LCD Soundsystem, Ultravox, M83, Jean Michel Jarre, Hot Chip, Four Tet, Komputer, The Orb, Kraftwerk themselves, and others! Inside, there's an exclusive 13 page interview with the robotic German geniuses. Plus: AC/DC! Big Star! Yoko Ono! A secret history of grunge! And plenty more. Always a great read.
The Beatles on the cover, this issue featuring an exclusive interview with Sir Paul discussing the remasters, and Rock Band... There's also a free cd stuck to the cover (in a jewel case like they do!) featuring cover versions of songs from Abbey Road done by the likes of Cornershop, Robyn Hitchcock, Jeffrey Lewis, Gomez, and some less familiar names as well. But it's not all Beatles this ish, we're pleased to see a piece on Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells! Also: Bunny Wailer, Prefab Sprout, The Who, The Cribs (now w/ Johnny Marr), and more... the usual pages and pages of well informed reviews, plus news, photos, etc. etc. to keep your music obsessed brain busy for a while.
Arctic Monkeys on the cover of this month's Mojo, while inside:Sky Saxon, Beastie Boys Comus, Billy Childish, an interview with David Sylvian, White Denim, Queen photgrapher Peter Hince, J.J. Cale, Michael Jackson, The Housemartins plus reviews galore, as well as a cover mounted cd featuring a killer collection of "essential mindblowing summer grooves", from Tinariwen, Tony Allan, Ali Farka Toure, Konono No.1 and more...
Doesn't get much heavier than this. Louisiana sludgelords Thou matched up with UK ultradoom heavies Moloch (not to be confused with the Ukrainian black metallers Moloch).
By now, like us, you're probably pretty obsessed with Thou, of the multitudes of practitioners of the incredibly slow and low, Thou probably come closest to capturing the spirit of the bands who got us into that sort of heaviness in the first place, Eyehategod, Bongzilla, Weedeater, Noothgrush, disEMBOWELMENT, Winter, Sleep, 16, Buzzoven, the Melvins, but they do it so well and they do it in a way that few others can, and that's by infusing some serious pop into their sound. Fear not, it's not obvious, not at all, and most folks might not hear it, but it's there, and it transforms their sludge entirely.
The first track is the perfect example, sludgy and sour, everything wrapped in a warm distortion blanket. Great vokillz as always. The drums pounding away mercilessly, the guitars sounding like they're in slow motion, churning and chugging, the tone insanely corrosive and blown out, but then there are these intense chiming melodies, that change the vibe completely, some weird hybrid of the Melvins, Nirvana and Eyehategod, slipping from NOLA style Southern sludgey groove, to full on ultradoom plod, to what sounds almost like death metal slowed down to a crawl, to what sounds like their cover of Nirvana's "Sifting", which finally answers our prayers, whenever a killer band does a cover of another band, and it's amazing, and we can't help but wish there was just a band that sounded LIKE THAT, not just when they were covering songs by other bands, well, here you go!! The second track offers up more heavy bliss, opening with a riff like Sleep's "Jerusalem" before the rest of the band kicks in and things get all tense and dark before breaking out into some melodic serpentine riffery. So grim and doomy and sludgy but you can still hear all the definition of the song, before it eventually builds into an ultra depressive lament. Fuck yeah.
Moloch counter with some of their own filthy crusty sludge. Opening with a glacial squall of barely moving but steady black buzz riffage. Hardcore vocals and Neanderthal drum pound and knuckle dragging amp buzz that rides out with seemingly infinite sustain, evolving into an abject midtempo sonic beatdown. The second track introduces some groove, but Moloch's idea of groove is way less groovy and way more menacing, the lurching lumbering crush laced with hateful throat shredding howls, and some super harmonic riffage.
Super nice woodcut style packaging with a heavy printed inner sleeve and nice thick jacket, pressed on cloudy clear vinyl, LIMITED TO 1000 COPIES.
As some of you already probably know, this limited 12" is a split release on both NYC based post rock label Temprorary Residence, and now-L.A. based thinking man's metal label Hydra Head. Accordingly there are about 7 or 8 different versions, some on Hydra Head, some on TRL, some with different colored labels, but you know what? That's just tough. We have to draw the line somewhere, and it's now right here. We have about 30 copies of the Temporary Residence version, which is already out of print. When we run out of these, we might get some of the HH version(s). Not sure which ones. This collectable vinyl business is beginning to obscure the whole reason we all buy records, because we love music, and we love to hear amazing music, and this record is absolutely fantastic. So try to stop worrying about the color of the vinyl or the number pressed or any of that stuff and just pick this up because it's so damn beautiful. Pelican deliver a massive slice of gorgeously grandiose post rock, sweeping and emotional, melancholy and but weirdly hopeful with its minor key arrangement. Not a trace of 'metal' to be found here. Which is fine by us. Imagine a slightly heavier version of the song that plays during the final scene at the end of the movie, after the boy has gotten the girl and we finally realize everything is going to be okay. It sounds a little like that. Really beautiful. The second track makes up for it though, as James Plotkin (Khanate, Joy of Disease) takes Pelican at their dirgiest / sludgiest and adds tons of extra grind and grit and grrr and effects and crumbling distortion and malfunctioning electronics. Like your favorite Pelican song dipped in blood and rolled in the dirt. Wow.
Mono, who are often touted as being metal, stick closer to their mighty epic post rock sound with a sidelong track that is as Godspeed You Black Emperor as a non-Godspeed band is likely to get. Brooding and melancholy, building to a huge explosive coda, before drifting back into a creeping maudlin dirge, that sort of drifts and fades into the dark. So nice. And as we mentioned before, far too limited.
Split between east-bay ethno-rockers Mono Pause and Icelandic organ power-trio Aavikko, with each band covering the other's work. Mono Pause takes a mighty fine stab at "El Cebo", slowing down the tempo and filling out the arrangement with guitar, ud (mandolin? other ethnic-lute-thingy?), whacked synths, drums, bass, trumpet and more. After a Kraftwerk style vocoder intro, Aavikko, for their part, do almost the opposite with their arrangement of their chosen Mono Pause tune: stripping it down to fit their organ, organ and drum format and speeding up the tempo to a lively jaunt. Very purdy cover art on this Seeland release, makes it worth the slightly steep 7" price. We wonder if Seeland has designs on possibly reissuing some of that out of print Aavikko stuff.
We had a vinyl version of this split between ethereal bliss-scaper Liz Harris aka Grouper, and legendary NZ guitarist Roy Montgomery, a while back, but we got so few copies, and had such a rush on the ones we did get, that we never had a chance to review it, and thus it never even made it up onto the site. But now it's finally been reissued on cd, and with a bonus Roy Montgomery track to boot!
Roy's original track/side was a gorgeously epic bit of dreamy strum and steel string drift, titled "Fantasia On A Theme By Sandy Bull (Slight Return)", just that instantly recognizable guitar, a cloud of buzzing steel strings, a sort of blissed out Appalachia spread out over nearly 20 minutes, the sound slipping smoothly from that urgent strum, to something much more hushed and minimal, abstract and softly space-y, and over the course of the track, drifting between the two. Hypnotic and haunting and quite lovely.
His bonus track is a billowy cloud of chiming shimmering guitar, sweet melancholy melodies, piled atop a jangly strum, notes wreathed in delay and reverb and echo, the sound somehow both ethereal and propulsive, ghostly and insistent, the sounds hazy and gauzy and washed out, but subtly tense, with a sense of mystery and loss and longing, the aural equivalent of watching the world through rain slicked windows, in fact, Montgomery seems impossibly deft at creating the perfect rainy day soundtrack.
Grouper's half of the split begins with "Hollow Press", and the sound of whispering wind, for nearly two minutes, before ethereal effected vocals drift in, floating atop the swirling soft white noise, which leads directly into "Vessel", a haunting elegy of weirdly distorted guitar, unfurled in spidery tendrils, the vocals nearly free of effects, and sounding as angelic as ever, a gorgeous hushed lullaby. "Hold The Way" is another gentle bit of crystalline drift, a looped muted guitar figure, undulating softly beneath sweetly crooned vox, a dream pop slowed down and blurred into something much more ethereal and ephemeral. Finally, "Pulse" sends reverbed guitars drifting from speaker to speaker, the stereo field dizzyingly panned, softly psychedelic, slowly the wind returns, and guitar fading out leaving just the sound of wind, and a barking dog, a hazy outro of found sound, wiping away all the traces of the sounds that came before, like the surf smoothing out sand on the beach. So Lovely.
The new cd version is housed in a swank digipak, and is still most likely WAY too limited...
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
New label by the brains behind Che has issued this UK single featuring Roy's rainy day guitar strum joined with the dead pan vocals of Kirk Lake.
