[ aquarius records — Dvd Video Film ]

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

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

SORRY.

We always seem to go on and on about loads of rare prog. We love that stuff. Lost Italian prog, rare South American prog psych. But let's not give short shrift to American and British progressive groups, especially the more popular mainstream acts. No prog lover worth his salt would dare deny the brilliance of Yes, or Jethro Tull or E.L.P. Especially E.L.P. In fact if you asked Andee who his favorite band was, not just prog band, but band period, he just might answer E.L.P. Why? Because they are the ultimate prog band. Excessive in everything they did, instruments, outfits, song choices, song lengths, solos, EVERYTHING. Plus all three members of E.L.P. were unbelievable players. When rock kids were worshipping at the altar of Neil Peart, some of us were bowing before the godlike drumming of Carl Palmer. This double DVD is jam packed with so much classic E.L.P. footage it's unbelievable. There's a bit of pre-E.L.P. stuff: the video for "Fire" by the Crazy World Of Arthur Brown, which features a masked Carl Palmer on drums, King Crimson live in Hyde Park in 1969, the Nice on German TV show Beat Club in 1968, all amazing. Even just the DVD menu footage features lots of classic E.L.P. images, the band in their silk kimonos getting on stage in Japan, the infamous semi trailers, each printed with one band member's name on top, billboards, fireworks and pyrotechnics. Then there's just loads and loads of amazing live footage from Europe, the UK, Japan, including their debut performance at the Isle Of Wright festival with Carl Palmer disrobing during his drum solo and Keith Emerson playing his keyboard from the wrong side, pounding it, jumping over it, then launching cannons from either side of the stage. Holy fuck! They definitely don't make bands like that any more. There's lots of videos too, from European TV, including an amazing Carl Palmer drum solo filmed live on a TV show called Aquarius, where he plays chimes, timpanis, four bass drums and even rings a bell with his mouth! Disc two features E.L.P.'s whole California Jam set as well. Bonus footage includes an unseen rehearsal film from 1973, interviews with Bob Moog about his relationship with E.L.P., analysis of the album covers, videos and more. But even without the extras, heck, even without disc two, there is just so many amazing sights and sounds and performances here. This stuff is so absurd and so brilliant, and the songs are so classic, and the playing is so goddamn good, it just makes me feel like an old man for lamenting the state of modern music. Anyone out there who wants to start an E.L.P. for the new millennium get in touch with Andee via the store!

What needs to be said about the 'Em. You all know him. You all already either love him or hate him. I happen to really like a lot of Eminem songs. And this new record is pretty darn good. Some catchy songs, some wickedly funny lyrics. The real weak point is when Em gets all sensitive and trys to SING. Ugh. Badbadbadbad. And the wicked Dre production that was all over the Marshall Mathers lp isn't quite as prevalent this time around which is too bad. But overall, a big fun, catchy dumb record. Limited edition comes with a bonus disc DVD!

Our favorite proggy Viking black metallers, Enslaved, turn in a fierce performance on this live DVD release, documenting a show recorded May 2005 in their hometown of Bergen, Norway. It features mostly tracks from their most recent disc, Isa (a typically brilliant album which we have called a "progressive part of their now hallowed legacy, replete with menace and grandeur"). Like their previous DVD effort, Live Retaliation, this is a professional, polished production with multiple cameras and great sound -- though with the cutting and zooming and the video projection they have behind 'em on stage, the results are perhaps a lot more MTV-like than you'd expect from what to us has always seemed like an "underground" band. But if proggy Viking black metal can rise to MTV-levels anywhere, I guess Norway would be the place. More power to 'em. As bonus material you get about 25 minutes of documentary tour footage, a band interview, and the music video for the track "Isa" (previously seen as a cd-rom extra on the domestic version of the Isa cd).

We've got just a *single copy* of this hard-to-find video documenting The Ex, stalwarts of the underground avant rock scene since they began in 1979 -- that's over 20 years ago! Contains lots of footage documenting their famously intense live shows, conversations with all of the band members, rehearsals, much insight into their view of punk as DIY way of living, which they apply in activities such as self-releasing records, etc. A nice glimpse into the world of a band that has inspired cultish devotion amongst many (including some here at AQ) not to mention Tortoise, Sonic Youth, Dutch avant jazz pioneer Han Bennink, Tom Cora, etc. 52 minutes. Color. Made by Swedish filmmakers, subtitled. First come...

It's usually the case that improvised music is best experienced live. It's usually made live after all. Seeing as well as hearing the interactions of the improvising musicians often adds a lot to the experience. A live cd or lp of an improv session can be great, but it's not the same as being there in the moment as the music was happening. Next best thing to being there? A live audio-visual document. Anyone into the extreme sounds of Japanese electronics and jazz improv outfit Exias-J is thus in for a treat with this release, a DVD on the PSF label presenting live footage from three shows, two in Tokyo and one at the Tonic (R.I.P.) in NYC. Exias-J head honcho, guitarist Hideaki Kondo, explains that in addition to the usual free improv process, these performances find his group experimenting with more conceptual, structured forms and restrictions, minimalism, sonatas, compositional stuff like that. Whatever their methods, though, they kick up a heck of a ruckus, featuring guitars, computers, analog synth, piano, live electronics, cello, contrabass, drums and percussion. 142 minutes, region free, NTSC.

About ten minutes into this I came to the conclusion that I had to buy one. This is awesome. Any Fahey fan will freak out watching this dvd. The 1996 material by itself is great -- a concert at Berkeley's Freight and Salvage that maybe some of you reading this were lucky enough to attend, plus backstage interview footage wherein ol' John Fahey reveals both some of his history, and his humor. But it was the 1969 portion of this I watched first, which consists of a much more youthful, clean-shaven John Fahey guesting on some sort of guitar-oriented TV talk show, hosted by a woman who is clearly both a big fan of Fahey's playing and also somewhat bemused/confused by his musical eccentricities. She even almost scolds him for doing something that she tells her own guitar students not to do, though they determine that he had a good reason for it... Fahey proves himself to be quite a charming character, smoking a cigarette as he answers the host's questions and demonstrates his techniques, playing quite a few lovely lovely songs. It's amazing viewing for anyone already under the spell of the man's music and persona. Fans, get this!

Slowly but surely indie filmmaker Jon Moritsugu's works are being released on dvd, and here is his fifth feature length flick, 1997's Fame Whore. While each of his films is rough-hewn and jawdroppingly outrageous in its own way, Fame Whore is quite possibly his most engaging and entertaining from start to finish. The film tells three tales, the focal characters of which have, in some form or another, one thing in common -- fame. Perhaps most notable is the tennis star character Jody George (as portrayed by Peter Friedrich) who had us in stitches every time he was on screen. In the second of the film's three lead roles is Moritsugu's constant companion (and his films' element of consistency), the chameleon-esque Amy Davis as a beyond-driven business woman. Victor Of Acquitane plays the third lead, a pet shop owner with an imaginary 'friend' who is a giant dog (!). Yes, delusions abound. As always, there's a hip indie music soundtrack, this one features the likes of Emily's Sassy Lime, Dub Narcotic Sound System, Angry Samoans, Barbara Manning and Amy's father Mel Davis!

In theory, this DVD produced by Austrian electronic experimentalists Farmer's Manual consists of "every locatable live recording and more dating from 1995 until 2003." The press release goes on to describe that these performances were "about algorithms and their artifacts. Clicks and textural discontinuities were rampant. The demeanor of the performers was stoic: that of accountants working a spreadsheet program rather than artists expressing themselves. Despite the apparent detachment of the performers, the musical pace was extremely rapid, both in terms of events per second and the speed of textural change." Despite the claim of a total running time of whopping 03:21:38:03 (d:h:m:s), all that could be extracted from computers-as-DVD-players we rely on here at Aquarius was 17 minutes of footage of 3 guys aimlessly breaking through a cheaply constructed wall. But maybe it's just as well we didn't find three whole days of that! Caveat emptor.

Ahh, the German sense of humor. Once, while flying somewhere, my German neighbor told me a "German joke"... it turned out to be in actuality a philosophical puzzle, and not very funny. For some reason, German jokes and joking around has this heavy sillyness that I love. It's never actually all that "funny" per se, but so so endearing! That said, this Faust dvd opens with some 8mm footage from the 70s. The band is in their hometown of Wumme, Germany and approached by a giant panda bear who read about the band in a newspaper while tanning on the beach. It's a very strange, probably very stoned interaction set to a Faust song. Not that funny really, but totally endearing. Cause it's Faust! One of the most abstract of core Krautrock bands. But then that's it!!! I mean, as far as actual visual documentation from the band during the 1970s. The remaining classic Faust tracks on here are set to horrendous, freshman-year-art-student video collage made recently by Faust's Zappi Diermaier as interpretations of the songs' original themes. Every track and "film" is a nauseating combination and so incredibly confusing to us. Even more puzling is why Zappi decided to add additional accompaniment to some of the audio tracks. Man. As extremely devout Faust fans, we have to say, "WTF?!" Is there no other footage of the band -- either playing concerts, or interviews, or any photos, or then even commentary? There's also an audio cd included that has no Faust songs, but new tracks by Zappi that are from a dvd of his solo stuff coming out in the future. Writing all this down is making us feel like we need to cry or something. Wish there was more FAUST to SEE. We don't know what Zappi was thinking. Sure do hope that all the feedback (like this) from fans will inspire the band to get something together for an actual document-worthy dvd at some point in the future. That little nugget of Faust and the polar bear, boy. That's something special. Can't imagine what we'd do with a whole dvd full of that sorta stuff! Meanwhile, all we can do is keep on sitting around listening to Faust IV over and over again.

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

SORRY. Fear Falls Burning is the work of one Dirk Serries, who is probably better know for his work as VidnaObmana. FFB was started a little over a year ago to allow Serries to explore the world of post rock and lo-fi drone music. This dvd-audio disc contains over 4 1/2 hours of recordings from a series of live shows in Germany, The Netherlands and Belgium and are all lengthy slow burn improvisations for thick, slithering distorted drone guitar. If you can imagine a way less metal SUNNO))) or maybe a super distorted big amped version of Loren Mazzacane Connors you might get an idea of FFB's sound. It's spare and spacious, but thick and textured, the guitar more like some droning noisemaker than an actual guitar, letting wispy tendrils of warm shimmery fuzz unfurl, and twist and drift, often becoming more and more tangled into thick dirge like walls of slow motion riffing. Ghostly abstract melodies rendered in downtuned chiaroscuro, grinding string scrape smeared into layered swirls of buzz, twinkling harmonics drift like little clouds of glitter, the throb and pulse create abstract rumbling rhythms while in the distance all sorts of soft focus colors fade and blur. Perfect late night, spaced out, free drift, dreampsych guitar drone bliss. Fans of Growing, Main, Spacemen 3, SUNNO))), Chalk, Coleclough and all practitioners of the droney drift will be in absolute heaven. Amazing oversized 6 panel textured and stained thick woodgrain paper sleeve manufactured exclusively for this release by Shantilal & Sons of Bombay, India, a built in pocket, three oversized postcards printed with cool blurry live shots, and an elaborate folded set of liner notes printed in metallic gold ink on beautiful paper embedded with bits of glitter and tiny little colored cloth fragments. Around the outside is wrapped an obi printed in the same ink on the same lovely paper. One of the nicest packages we've seen! LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!

In 1893 composer/prankster Erik Satie wrote a short piece for piano called "Vexations". Though the score fits easily on one page and is simple enough for even the the most novice of pianists (once they get over the note "spelling" jokes peppered within) to perform, the piece was never played in its entirety -- as the composer indicated -- until 1963. This was due to the performance instructions provided by Satie that the piece be repeated a mere 840 times, a command that would extend the length of the piece to well over an entire day -- give or take a few hours depending on one's tempo. Seventy years later John Cage and several friends, working in shifts, managed to complete it in a brief 17 hours. While Satie's intentions may have been of a humorously philosophical nature, the following century would see a veritable pissing match of composers writing longer and longer symphonies for bigger and bigger orchestras. While Morton Feldman would most certainly never be confused with the likes of grandpa Mahler, he had an ever exceding tendency for maximilizing the minimalism of his later works. We saw not long ago here at Aquarius the release of his 4 hour marathon "For Philip Guston". In a country where, with every passing year, A.D.D. is less a rare condition than the norm, Feldman's large scale works such as this exist as an anomaly. Webern's brief atonal morsels of the early 20th century seem more fitting to our current temperment. Feldman's later compositions are not only unrealistic for concert performance -- world premiers aside, they won't be entering the short list of the performance canon any time soon. At times the raison d'etre of these pieces seems to be more of an ascetic exercise for aspiring young performers. This performance of String Quartet No. 2, clocking in at a little over 6 hours, is a true test of a musician's endurance. A whole new set of preparations are to be taken into consideration, not the least of which is how to deal with nature's eventual call. And you can bet that prestigious, well paid string quartets like Arditti are not likely to be found cooped up in a studio for something like this. No, this is for young bucks paying their dues. While prestigious in their own rite, having played around the globe at numerous festivals to acclaim, the photo on the inside of this package of the Flux Quartet shows four young -- most certainly recently graduated from fine conservatories -- musicians with smiles on their faces (presumably this was before their non-stop performance of the piece). And while the continuing dedication of performers willing to endure such suffering is certainly a testament to the importance of Morton Feldman as one of the great composers of the late 20th century, it has still taken technology a little more time to catch up. While a single compact disc is good enough to hold the entirety of Beethoven's 9th symphony, it falls way short of handling the behemoths penned by Mr. Feldman. "For Philip Guston" which needs to be chopped up and spread out over 4 CDs would have necessitated 10 LPs back in 1984 and "String Quartet No. 2" exceeds Guston by two hours. Enter the DVD. With its ridiculous storage capacity, a single DVD can retain even the longest of compositions. You can put on "String Quartet No. 2" as you sit down for lunch and be finished as you sit down for dinner. For those of you *still* without a DVD player in this day and age, all is not lost. This edition also comes in the traditional CD form and it takes up a mere 5 discs. Don't worry, Feldman wouldn't begrudge you to listen to this piecemeal. His expectations of the listener are much less than that of the performer (and you can read all you want into his opinions on both) and he would probably encourage you to approach it in much the same way as one would approach a painting in a museum. Or maybe, as Satie might have wished, an elegant piece of furniture.

RealAudio clip: "String Quartet No. 2
RealAudio clip: "String Quartet No. 2

Uh... two films by Mr. Ferraro. One short one, where he delivers a guided tour of LA, focusing heavily on OJ Simpson related sites. This one is bemusingly funny, and we're assuming its a clever put-on. The other one, is an endless editing together of scenes from B-grade '80s sci-fi VHS tapes, with Dutch subtitles for some reason. Some cool stuff on there too, but it went on and on and we didn't finish watching it, sorry. Hmm.

Here's the super cool new issue of the young dvdzine Fingered! It features rad Bay Area indie bands Erase Errata (live clip and tour diary), Tussle, Clip'd Beaks, Fuckwolf, Lemonade, and Black Fiction; plus work from visual artists Olivia Park and Krak! May be best consumed in a somewhat altered state. To boot, the dvd-r comes in a cool screenprinted sewn canvas sleeve, perfect for toting your assorted amenities.

Here's a novel concept... Why not let Fischerspooner be your tourguide to gettin' around New York City? Those obsessive who-what-where-when mavens at Time Out (makers of those hip city guides that are usually found in magazine and book form) thought it a dandy idea, and have issued a series of three travel guide dualdisc (cd one side, dvd on the other) sets compiled by select taste-makin' startlets from London (Damian Lazarus), Paris (Black Strobe) and New York (Fischerspooner). The eclectic musical selections are a funfilled romp although they're oddly not limited to New York based artists -- Bloc Party, Fiery Furnaces, Au Pairs, Princess Superstar, Broadcast, David Carretta, Plastique De Reve, Big Boys, Lassigue Bendthaus, Electronicat, Thomas Schumacher, Model 500, Richard Bartz, Martin Rev, Pixeltan and Laurie Anderson. Of course, shrewd businessmen that they are, they also include one of their own in the mix -- a remix of "Emerge". The dvd side of The Other Side is hosted by Casey Spooner and offers a glimpse of his choice picks around the Big Apple.

MPEG stream: Jealous Guy
MPEG stream: Rodeo Mechanique

FLAMING LIPS FANS!!! THE SOFT BULLETIN IS BACK!!! BIGGER AND BETTER THAN EVER!!! Okay, sorry for all the yelling, but we figured that this newly renovate cd/dvd edition of an AQ all-time favorite deserved a gigantic monster truck rally kind of (re)introduction, don't you? Now you can experience it in "Advanced Resolution Surround Sound". Oooooh, got yer bong loaded? The audio section of the dvd contains the full album presented in the abovementioned Advanced Resolution 5.1 Surround Sound (24bit 96kHz) as well as Advanced Resolution 2.0 Stereo (24bit 96kHz). The video section of the dvd includes what is descriptively named "Bleep-Blop Visualizations" with Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound (16bit 44.1kHz) and Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo (16bit 44.1kHz). Maybe more notably than that, there's also videos for "Waitin' For Superman" and "Race For The Prize", outtakes for "1000ft Hands", "The Captain" and "Satellite Of You", and finally, radio sessions of "Up Above The Daily Hum", The Switch That Turns Off The Universe", "We Can't Predict The Future" and "It Remains Unrealizable" (all Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo 16bit 44.1kHz). If you grow weary of all the high tech whachamacallits, there's also a so-called conventional cd for when you wanna rough it. Heh heh. In case your memory's a bit rusty or you've somehow yet to encounter Soft Bulletin, here's what we said about the album waaay back in 1999: Following a wholly unique progression, from drug-addled psych rock jam band to off kilter pop geniuses, the Flaming Lips keep on stretching the boundaries of 'pop' music, never losing sight of the song. They seem to have a unique understanding of the absurdity of the music they produce. We're not talking about the garden variety, pedestrian pastiche efforts of so many of today's indie pop bands (i.e. avant garde = birdsounds or 'out there' segues). The Lips' weirdness isn't manufactured or forced, it seems rather to be the result of some sort of dropped-on-their-head childhood mishap or an unprecedented series of synaptic misfires. It comes as less of a surprise then that this band was dragged kicking and screaming into mainstream success by a catchy little pop song about masturbation. The Flaming Lips seem to be taking great advantage of their lofty position on a major label, doing their best to piss off the business minded folk of Warner, while at the same time managing to make truly amazing and creative records, like their last release Zaireeka' a 4 cd set composed to be listened to simultaneously on four separate cd players. While certainly not as labor-intensive for the listener as Zaireeka, The Soft Bulletin is another set of perfectly imperfect popsongs, albeit now accessible to the traditional one cd player household. It's hard to describe The Flaming Lips without providing a visual reference, take their live show at Slims a few years back. It began with a pathetic solitary spotlight illuminating the band huddled around their instruments and plucking fragile solitary notes. With the initial crack of the drums, a dizzying kaleidoscope of tens of thousands of Christmas lights burst to life and engulfed Slims, offereing a hallucinatory visual equal to the Lips' psychedelic pop dadaism. The Lips' disparate and patently un-pop elements; huge and fuzzy John Bonham-esque percussive bombast, ultra low frequency Moog oscillations, Wayne Coyne's still-getting-out-of-puberty voice crack, bizarre song struture, and an insane mastery of recording studio-as-instrument, come together more seamlessly than ever on The Soft Bulletin, making it our record of the week, and for some of us, record of the year.

MPEG stream: Race For The Prize
MPEG stream: Waitin' For Superman

We love the Flaming Lips. We always have. From their ramshackle psychedelic drugfuck daze, to their modern orchestral bliss pop incarnation, they just totally and completely kick our ass. Musically AND visually. The thing that really set them apart, especially way back in the early days, was their visual presentation. Sure they were a sloppy chaotic stumbling drunken psych rock mess, but their visuals matched up perfectly, smoke machines, Xmas lights, bubble machines, strobe lights, crazy day glo thrift store clothes, dyed hair, and stages and record covers full of all sorts of crap. It was totally overwhelming, but it a good way. As they got more and more popular and their budget grew with them, their unique aesthetic remained the same, but was just a whole lot fancier. So here we have 13 years worth of videos, all of them in fact, and all of them amazing, visually stunning to different degrees, from big budget high concept to camcorder in the garage, it didn't really matter with the Lips, they just always knew how to make the most of what they had to work with. So every video here is a druggy psychedelic feast for the eyes, and they all fit strangely well together too from the oldest to the newest, a bit like the coolest weirdest video mix tape you've ever seen. Completely remixed in 5.1 surround sound with band optional band commentary, liner notes and a nifty sticker! ----* ----* In Stock, Not Yet Reviewed : ----* If you want to order one of these, just cut and paste the info into the comments area on the order form, or just email mailorder@aquariusrecords.org. AKIYAMA, MITCHELL "Mort Aux Vaches" (Staalplaat) cd 21.00 ALIAS "All Things Fixable" (Goodwithmoney) cd 14.98 BAD DUDES "s/t" (Brain Burger) cd 12.98 BANGO "s/t" (Normal Records) cd 15.98 BATTLETORN "Evil Chains" (Mega Blade) cd 13.98 BLOC PARTY "Silent Alarm Remixed" (Vice) 2cd 14.98 CAGE "Hell's Winter" (Definitive Jux) cd 16.98 CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (ORTOLANI, RIZ) "OST" (Red Stream) cd 11.98 CAVE-IN "Perfect Pitch Black" (Hydra Head) cd 12.98 CIRCULUS "The Lick On The Tip Of An Envelope Yet To Be Sent" (Candlelight) cd 14.98 COE, DAVID ALLAN "Penitentiary Blues" (Hack Tone) cd 16.98 COIL "...And The Ambulance Died In His Arms" (Threshold) cd 19.98 CURL UP AND DIE "The One Above All, The End Of All That Is" (Revelation) cd 13.98 DOUBLE, THE "Loose In The Air" (Matador) cd/lp 13.98/11.98 EDISON ELECTRIC BAND "Bless You Dr. Woodward" (Water) cd 15.98 EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER "Beyond The Beginning" (Sanctuary Records) dvd 27.00 GILMORE, JIMMIE DALE "Come On Back" (Rounder) cd 16.98 HAACK, BRUCE "The Electric Lucifer" (Columbia) lp 12.98 HAINO, KEIJI "Global Ancient Atmosphere" (PSF) cd 21.00 HELL, RICHARD "Spurts: The Richard Hell Story" (Rhino / Warner) cd 16.98 HOLY MCGRAIL "Collecting Earthquakes" (Head Heritage) cd 14.98 KUUPUU "Illusia" (Time-Lag) 7" 8.98 M83 "s/t" (Gooom) cd 15.98 MAGIC AUM GIGI "MMMM" (Sparkling Spare Wheel) lp 21.00 MT. EERIE "Singers" (P.W. Elverum & Sun) lp + cd 16.98 NADA SURF "The Weight Is A Gift" (Barsuk) 2cd 14.98 NANJO, ASAHITO "Greed" (Sparkling Spare Wheel) lp 21.00 NECKS, THE "Photosynthetic" (Long Arms) cd 15.98 NERVE NET NOISE "Radio Life" (Staalplaat) cd 19.98 NUMAN, GARY "Living Ornaments '79" (Beggars Banquet) 2cd 10.98 NUMAN, GARY "Living Ornaments '80" (Beggars Banquet) 2cd 10.98 NUMAN, GARY "Living Ornaments '81" (Beggars Banquet) 2cd 10.98 ONEIDA / PLASTIC CRIMEWAVE SOUND "split" (JagJaguwar) 12" 11.98 POSIES "Every Kind Of Light" (Ryko) cd 15.98 REID, TERRY "Superlungs" (Astralwerks) cd 15.98 RODEN, STEVE "Airforms" (Line) cd 14.98 SANHEDOLIN "Manjoicchi Wa Muko" (PSF) cd 21.00 SHE MOB "Not In My World" (She Mob) cd 9.98 SHEAVY "Republic?" (Candlelight) cd 14.98 STELLASTARR "Harmonies For The Haunted" (RCA) cd 12.98 STOLTZ, KELLEY "Crockodials" (Beautiful Happiness) cd 9.98 STOOGES, THE "Fun House Deluxe" (Elektra) 2cd 21.00 STOOGES, THE "Heavy Liquid" (Easy Action) 6cd 82.00 STOOGES, THE "Stooges" (Rhino) 2cd 21.00 TAAKE "Helnorsk Sbartmetall" (Karisma) cd 14.98 TIA CARRERA "The November Session" (Australian Cattle God) cd 12.98 TIMES NEW VIKING "Dig Yourself" (Siltbreeze) cd 13.98 TIVOL "Early Teeth" (Holy Mountain) lp 14.98 TOY DOLLS "Cheerio And Toodlepop! The Complete Singles" (Castle) 2cd 21.00 TRAFFIC SOUND "Yellow Sea Years" (Vampisoul) cd 21.00 V/A "Cambodian Rocks Vol. 4" (Khmer Rocks) cd 14.98 V/A "Speaking My Mind: New Rubble Volume 2" (Past & Present) cd 17.98 V/A "Welsh Rare Beat" (Finders Keepers) cd 21.00 WEST, KANYE "Late Registration" (Roc-A-Fella) cd 15.98 YA HO WHA 13 "Re-Visiting Father and the Source Family" (Swordfish) dvd 28.00

Wow. We mean WOW! Haven't watched the whole movie but from what we've seen already, HOLY CRAP! How many bands are lucky enough to have a next door neighbor / past pal who just happens to be an experimental film maker, and who just happens to have filmed everything for the last decade, videos, parties, shows, birthdays, EVERYTHING. This is a delirious travelogue through the strange life of the Flaming Lips, from their beginnings as a ramshackle psych noise band, to their re-invention as pop experimentalists to their Grammy and beyond! All filmed in that cool guerilla, fucked-with-film-stock, overexposed / underexposed, short attention span style we've come to equate with the Lips through their videos. Fear not though. There's plenty of intense emotional stuff going on beneath the visual fireworks. Highlights include a particularly brutal scene involving drummer Steven Drozd shooting up while he discusses his addiction (which the band chose to address together instead of kicking him out of the band), and another scene wherein main Lip Wayne visits his older brother who lives in the bad part of town and discusses his jailtime as well as his involvement in local crime. Plus loads of goofy fun, wild rocking and stuff that makes no sense at all but is fun nonetheless, like the scene in which Wayne and two kids re-enact a robbery at the Long John Silver's where Wayne used to work or the scene where Wayne helps his mom repair the rain gutters! Tons of amazing footage, old class photos, many many embarassing haircuts, loads of amazing music, all presented in a suitably tripped out psychedelic framework. Bonus features include live clips, slide shows, bloopers, deleted scenes, outtakes and really funny commentary from both the director and the band. Recommended, already.

We had been holding off on reviewing this until someone here had actually watched the Flaming Lips movie, but it's been so busy around here we haven't had time. And since most Flaming Lips fans are gonna want this no matter what, and folks who have yet to discover the joys of the Lips, would most likely be better off starting a little further back in their catalog, we figured what the heck, let's review the record, the score to the movie, and give a brief synopsis of the movie, just so folks can actually buy it and check it out for themselves. So the record, is not a NEW Flaming Lips record, in fact it's not even a proper Flaming Lips record, as mentioned above it's the score to the film of the same name, the one the band has been working on for close to a decade. So there's no big drums, none of Wayne Coyne's wavery vocalizing, no lush popscapes or BIG hooks, but the thing is, with all of those critical Lips elements removed, the band manage to still make Christmas On Mars sound like a Flaming Lips record, albeit a stripped down sort of ambient one. But heck, remember Zaireeka? The 4 disc set that had the various tracks broken down and spread out over the various discs so to hear the complete songs you had to have 4 stereos and play them all simultaneously? Well, in some ways this almost sounds like ONE disc from Zaireeka, like the backgrounds for proper Lips pop songs. haunting disembodied voices, lush harps and zithers, faux strings, creepy orchestrations, strange sound effects, choirs, shimmering drones, but all shot through with a little bit of Christmas, be it a melody here, or an instrument there. Even removed from the visuals, this plays like some super avant, outsider Christmas record, which, it sort of is. So yeah, recommended for open minded fans of the band, and for folks into space-y (holiday) weirdness, or wonderfully creepy film scores like that Bernard Hermann Brave New World disc we listed awhile back. But that's not all. Both the cd and the lp version (which has a different name for some reason) contain a dvd containing the film Christmas On Mars, a sort of updated but still WAY low budget Plan 9 From Outerspace, starring the bands and lots of their friends. What little we've seen looks really fun, and pretty silly, and definitely demented, again, movie buffs might not love it (movie buffs into kitsch and so-bad-they're-good movies might though) but fans will go nuts for it. The trailer is amazing, super stylized and very very strange, definitely has us wanting to see it bad. One of these days. But for now, check it out. Lips fans, this is essential obviously, the rest of you, depends on how you feel about the band and their music, or how you feel about a green alien with antennae who saves Christmas. The lp, titled Once Beyond Hopelessness, not only contains the same music as the cd, and the movie on dvd, it also includes a BONUS 7" with exclusive music NOT on the cd!

MPEG stream: Once Beyond Hopelessness
MPEG stream: In Excelsior Vagianlistic
MPEG stream: Space Bible With Volume Lumps

MPEG stream: Once Beyond Hopelessness
MPEG stream: In Excelsior Vagianlistic
MPEG stream: Space Bible With Volume Lumps

Before there was Torche, there was Floor. And if you love the super hooky, impossibly heavy sludge pop of Torche, then you'd do well to investigate Floor, who were like a slightly sludgier, slightly less poppy Torche. We recently reviewed the (now sadly sold out) massive 8 cd complete Floor collection, but this might be a bit easier to digest. And hell, if you DID buy that Floor box, you're probably gonna want this too, cuz nothing here was included in that set!! And if you don't own Floor's Dove record, find it. NOW. Some of the heaviest hookiest shit EVER. Floor never made it big, and were way more unsung than they deserved, and of course, Steve Brooks went on to form Torche, but with the love and hype surrounding Torche, it was inevitable that folks would finally discover Floor, which culminated in that 8 cd set, and a couple live reunion shows last year, one of which is what's contained on the first disc in this double disc set, a massive two hour live set, split into three separate sections, each featuring a different drummer, and the songs that drummer played on. It's a pretty epic and crushing collection, blown out, downtuned, EPIC, heavy as hell and hooks galore, total blissed out sludge pop radness, and all three versions of the band DESTROY. Also included on the first disc is a short documentary/interview with the band and all three drummers, including tons of super rare old live footage and lots of photographs. As if that weren't enough, the second disc is a data disc containing, high quality audio files of both reunion shows (not just the one from the first disc), the complete and unedited film of Floor, everything that was cut, restored to a massive 2+ hours, and a whole bunch of super rare live videos, spanning the band's entire existence, from 1993 all the way to their final shows in 2002. LIMITED TO 700 COPIES. Housed in a super elaborate origami like silkscreened package, similar to the Harvey Milk Anthem release, a printed insert with both discs affixed to it, housed in a six panel jacket, all metallic ink on heavy textured cardstock. Nice!

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

SORRY. This newest DVD release from Sublime Frequencies, shot by Hisham Mayet (the man behind the Morocco DVD on SF), focuses its lense on the Taureg people. Filmed in the oasis town of Ghadames in Western Libya (bordering both Tunesia and Algeria), Mayet's camera follows the performances of men, women and children alike in what appears be a local music festival of sorts. Like the previous DVD releases from Sublime Frequencies, this one has no narration or commentary; you, the viewer, guided by the excellent single camera shooting, are left to figure it out for yourself. In the accompanying booklet Mayet points out that the Taureg are unique amongst their neighbors in that not only are they nominally Muslim -- still incorporating their unique and ancient practices that predate the religion -- but are also a matriarchical society (indeed, many of the men appear to be wearing full veils). Running 60 minutes, this DVD is region free NTSC format.

Geez, should we be calling this release Four Tet's 'black' album? Besides the predominant color of the cover art, the music contained within is some of the darkest to date from Mr. Kieran Hebden aka Four tet. This album follows up his Everything Ecstatic 'white' album which came out last summer, and which offered some hints as to the heavier, edgier direction in which he was apparently heading. This jam-packed Part 2 is comprised of a dvd filled with videos and animated bits plus a cd with five new tracks (including radically expanded and revised versions of a couple of numbers from Part 1). We'll cheekily propose that the second track places Hebden firmly in the running to uproot Philip Glass from his Koyaanisqatsi soundtrack throne. These thirty five minutes of music are at times meditative and hypnotic, at others highly kinetic and frenetic. In fact, there's an explosive segment around the ten minute mark of the lengthy lead-off "Turtle Turtle Up" during which it wouldn't be at all surprising for a big pink stuffed teddy bear to drop from the ceiling amid a cloud of streamers, confetti, bells and whistles. Yay, you win!

MPEG stream: Turtle Turtle Up (Extended Version)
MPEG stream: Sun Drums And Soil (Part 2)

Another amazing batch of dreamy psych-folk unearthed from the dregs of obscurity by the Sunbeam label, this lone album by Mark Fry from 1972, recorded while still a teenager, has it all. Songs about witches, a girl named Alice, lutes and flutes and mandolins, sitars, a song that unravels each verse between other songs, and even a song played entirely backwards. With a soft voice similar to Roger Rodier, whose lone album was also reissued on Sunbeam (which we also raved about!), we had only heard of Mark Fry previously through his contribution (a sadly truncated three minute version of the eight minute long "Mandolin Man") to the British edition of the Love Peace and Poetry psych compilation. Recorded in Rome and only limitedly released in Italy, it soon faded into the ether, and Fry turned to his other love, painting, in which he has had a more successful career. This reissue features two additional bonus tracks from 1975, and boasts liner notes from Fry himself telling the fascinating story of the making of this album, and beyond. Thanks Sunbeam for making this amazing album available to us again! Absolutely Recommended!!

MPEG stream: The Witch
MPEG stream: Mandolin Man
MPEG stream: Rehtorb Ym No Hcram

What happens when you open a hotel that rests on one of the seven gateways of hell? Let me tell you - eyes will be gouged out, skin burned off, heads melted away, humans will be crucified and spiders will eat out tongues (and lets not fail to mention all the flesh-eating zombies). Thank Satan himself that Lucio Fulci's masterpiece THE BEYOND is back on the racks, rereleased just in time for a Merry Xmas (whoops, we should have listed it last month!). This gored-out unrated, uncensored, nauseatingly unyielding version of said splatter masterpiece now features a 5.1 surround sound experience, providing live bleeding from the eerie score by Fabio Frizzi (The Gates Of Hell, Manhattan Baby, Zombi 2). With an intro and commentary by actress/screamer Catriona MacColl. A must see film for those who like to test how dark their visuals can get.

This here dvd is pretty much a must for all fans of what might be the world's most intense, original free-rock band. The dark lord of Tokyo psych Keiji Haino and his power trio Fushitsusha were captured on film performing live in Tokyo at the La Mama Club way back on September 26th, 1991. Yes, the same year Fushitsusha released their first cd document, the untitled monumental masterpiece known to fans as Live II or Double Live (PSF 15/16), a true classic of avant-heaviness. They've made a great many great records since then, but it's hard to argue that they ever really topped the output of this era... So of course it's great that this concert was preserved for posterity (they were opening for John Zorn's Painkiller, who were recording the live album Rituals, on which Haino guests) and is finally now being issued on dvd (it was previously available from PSF as a VHS video cassette, and is Fushitsusha's only official video release). Not much point in further description, really -- we figure this one's for Fushitsusha fans and if you're one, you want this. 53 minutes, all regions.

MPEG stream: Strychnine
MPEG stream: Nine Months Later
MPEG stream: She's My Witch

Thirteen years after the band's demise, patient Galaxie 500 fans receive a treasure trove of visual delights. This double dvd set features their four music videos, a television appearance, and live pro and fan footage from seven of their shows (Cambridge MA, Boston MA, Hollywood, Atlanta GA, London UK, and two here in San Francisco). The live clips were all hand-picked by the bandmembers, and we should note that there is repeat performances of some songs, but there's also a couple of unreleased numbers too. It's all topped off with a booklet packed with plentiful photos and a band interview with Yo La Tengo's James McNew.

Every metalhead we know has been freaking out over Hellhammer worshipping all girl crusty black metal outfit Gallhammer. And for good reason, the dew spit up a filthy sludgey blackened pound, that pays proper homage to the 'Hammer that came before. But truth be told, there is a bit of novelty to their appeal, hard to argue with three young cute Japanese girls in bullet belts and Amebix shirts, adorned in spikes and smeared black raccoon eye makeup, making this gloriously unholy racket. And we'd be lying if we didn't admit to at least a few aQ staffers having a bit of a metal girl crush on Ms. Vivian Slaughter. Thus, those not afforded the luxury of actually seeing Gallhammer play live, have been clamoring for a live video. The music is awesome, but somehow more awesome when that harsh hellish howl is coming out of such a diminutive frontwoman, and this din is being produced by this all female trio. So here you have it, Gallhammer, performing live, like the title says in "the ruin of a church", the band set up upon the altar, in front of glowing stained glass windows, pretty striking visually for sure, and the sound is fantastic, thick and chuggy, pounding and blackened, the vocals a blasphemous presence in this house of God. BUT, the band aren't all that exciting to watch play. They don't headbang, they don't jump around or thrash wildly, and to be fair, maybe this music doesn't lend itself to that sort of action. Instead the band sort of sway back and forth, entranced, occasionally stepping to the mic to bellow hellishly (and it's revealed that both axeslingers have wails that could peel paint!). So minus any sort of extreme action, it is mesmerizing, helped along by the massive riffs and pounding rhythms, the whole band conjuring up some early eighties demons and channeling them into filthy crusty buzz. There are plenty of extras, two other live shows, a bunch of videos (that are mostly the band rocking out live, but they rock out WAY harder for the camera), a photo gallery (!), and a band interview, but again, it's slow going as it's subtitled, and being translated, so there's plenty of waiting for questions, answers, and nothing wild or shocking, just a mellow conversation, interesting for sure, but not mind blowing. But so what. It's GALLHAMMER!!! And for all our minor kvetching, this disc is pretty cool, and for now, as close as we're gonna get to sweating and swaying wildly in the pit at a Gallhammer show, and certainly as close as we'll ever get to actually talking to Vivian. Swooooon. So yeah, recommended. ----* ----* In Stock, Not Yet Reviewed : ----* If you want to order one of these, just search for the item, then click on the buy button and it will be added to your cart! ABSOLUT NULL PUNKT "Absolute Magnitude" (Blossoming Noise) cd 14.98 AETHENOR "Betimes Black" (VHF) cd/lp 13.98/14.98 AIR "Moon Safari" (EMI) cd + dvd + book 26.00 ALLIEN, ELLEN "Sool" (BPitch Control) cd/lp 15.98/19.98 AMEBIX "No Sanctuary" (Alternative Tentacles) cd/lp+7" 14.98/13.98 AMON DUUL II "Hijack" (Revisited Records) cd 17.98 ANAKRID "Banishment Rituals of The Disenlightened" (Beta-lactam Ring) cd 16.98 ANAKRID "s/t" (Fever Dream Fever) lp 13.98 ANAL MAGIC & REV. DWIGHT FRIZZELL "Beyond The Black Crack" (Paridigm) cd 16.98 ANIMUS "Hallucinations: Ideals Surrounding Water, Sand, And Clouds Of Dust" (Ars Manga) cd 14.98 ANNIVERSARY, THE "Devil on Our Side: B-Sides & Rarities" (Vagrant) cd 14.98 ATAVIST "Alchemic Resurrection" (Rise Above) 10" 17.98 AVSKY "Malignant" (Moribund) cd 14.98 BEHEXEN "My Soul For His Glory" (Moribund) cd 14.98 BUN B "II Trill-(Chopped up not Blopped up version)" (Rap-A-Lot) cd 14.98 BUN B "II Trill" (Rap-a-lot) cd 14.98 BURNING BRIDES "Anhedonia" (Cobraside) cd 14.98 CELESTIAL BLOODSHED "Cursed, Scarred and Forever Possessed" (Moribund) cd 14.98 CLOUDLAND CANYON / MYTHICAL BEAST "split" (Not Not Fun) lp 14.98 CLOUDS "We Are Above You" (Hydra Head) cd 14.98 COFFINS "Buried Death" (20 Buck Spin) cd 14.98 COFFINS "Mortuary Of Darkness" (Kreation Records) 2lp 22.00 COUGH "Sigillum Luciferi" (Forcefield Records) cd 10.98 COURTIS, ANLA / SEIICHI YAMAMOTO / YOSHIMI "Live At Kanadian" (Public Eyesore) cd 10.98 DEADBIRD "Twilight Ritual" (At A Loss) cd 13.98 DISKJOKKE "Staying In" (Smalltown Supersound) cd 16.98 DRUMM, KEVIN "Imperial Distortion" (Hospital) 2cd 19.98 DRUNK INJUNS "From Where The Sun Now Stands I Will Fight No More, Forever" (Alternative Tentacles) cd 10.98 EATER "The Album + Singles Plus" (Anagram) 2cd 17.98 EMPIRE AURIGA "Auriga Dying" (Moribund) cd 14.98 FERN KNIGHT "s/t" (VHF) cd 13.98 FLAMES OF HELL "Fire and Steel" (Draconian Records) cd 18.98 FLEET FOXES "s/t" (Sub Pop) cd/lp 13.98/15.98 GOTO80 "Made On Internet" (Pinipung) cd 17.98 HOLLENTHON "Opus Magnum" (Napalm Records) cd 15.98 I SHALT BECOME "Requiem" (Moribund Records) cd 15.98 IHSAN "Angl" (Candlelight USA) cd 12.98 INDIAN JEWELRY "Fake and Cheap" (dLTD) lp 17.98 INDRICOTHERE "s/t" (Gilead Media) lp+cd 14.98 ITAL TEK "Cyclical" (Planet Mu) cd 14.98 JEPSON, WARNER "Totentanz and Other Electronic Works, 1958 - 1973" (Melon Expander) cd 19.98 JEX THOTH / PAGAN ALTAR "split" (I Hate Records) 7" 12.98 JIMMY CAKE, THE "Spectre & Crown" (Pilatus) cd 17.98 JOAN AS POLICE WOMAN "To Survival" (Chrysalis) cd 13.98 KULTIVATOR "Barndomens Stigar" (Mellotronen) 2cd 28.00 KWELI, TALIB "Eardrum" (Blacksmith) cd 13.98 LES TROUBADOURS DU ROI BAUDOIN "Missa Luba" (El / Cherry Red) cd 17.98 LIL MAMA "VYP Voice Of the Young People" (Zomba) cd 17.98 MACHINEFABRIEK "Bijeen" (Kning Disk) cd 14.98 MACHINEFABRIEK & STEPHEN VITIELLO "Box Music" (12K) cd 14.98 MANIACS DREAM "Turku Hold 'Em" (Lal Lal Lal) cd 15.98 MASTERS, MARC "No Wave" (Black Dog Publishing) book 29.95 MGR "Wavering On The Cresting Heft" (Conspiracy) cd 14.98 MONOLAKE "Hongkong (Remastered)" (Monolake) cd 17.98 MONOTONIX "Body Language" (Drag City) cd/lp 12.98/12.98 MORGEN "s/t" (Phoenix) cd 17.98 MY MORNING JACKET "Evil Urges" (ATO Records) cd 13.98 N.E.R.D. "Seeing Sounds" (Star Trak) cd 14.98 NACHTMYSTIUM "Assassins: Black Meddle Part 1" (Century Media) cd 13.98 NATURAL FOOD "s/t" (Porter Records) cd 16.98 NEED MORE SOURCES "Shed" (Moteer) cd 15.98 NEGATIVLAND "A Big 10-8 Place" (Seeland) 2cd 15.98 NEGATIVLAND "Presents Thigmotactic" (Seeland) cd 13.98 NEMESIS "The Day Of Retribution" (GMR Music) cd 23.00 O LEVEL (TEENAGE FILMSTARS) "A Day In The Life of Gilbert and George: 1977-1980" (Artpop!) cd 17.98 OMEGA "10000 Lepes" (Hungatron) cd 17.98 OPETH "Watershed (Collector's Edition)" (Roadrunner) 2cd 23.00 PATE, JOHNNY "Outrageous" (Dusty Groove) cd PEACE, THE "Black Power" (Groo) lp 30.00 PENTEMPLE "s/t" (Southern Lord) cd 15.98 PINK FAIRIES "Finland Freakout 1971" (MLP (Major League Productions)) cd 27.00 PLUXUS "Solid State" (Kompakt) cd 16.98 PRISONERS, THE "Rare And Unissued" (Big Beat) cd 17.98 PUMICE "Quo" (Soft Abuse) cd 14.98 QUANTEC "Unusual Signals" (Echochord) cd 16.98 REATARD, JAY "Singles 06-07" (In The Red) 2cd 17.98 RILEY, TERRY "The Last Camel In Paris" (Elision Fields) cd 14.98 RUSSIAN CIRCLES "Station" (Suicide Squeeze) cd 14.98 SARMANTO, HEIKKI "Moonflower" (Porter Records) cd 16.98 SEMIMUUMIO "Vamos" (Lal Lal Lal) cd 15.98 SEVEN THAT SPELLS "Black OM Rising" (Beta-Lactam) cd 26.00 SHY CHILD "Noise Won't Stop" (Kill Rock Stars) cd 14.98 SIC ALPS "U.S. EZ" (Siltbreeze) cd 13.98 STAR STANGLED BANGER "s/t" (Aztec) cd 24.00 STOOGES, THE "Gimme Some Skin" (Get Back) cd/lp 17.98/16.98 STUDIO "Yearbook 2" (Information) cd 17.98 TAPE "Luminarium" (Hapna) cd 16.98 TILLY AND THE WALL "s/t" (Team Love) cd 15.98 U.S. CHRISTMAS "Eat The Low Dogs" (Neurot Recordings) cd 14.98 UNEARTHLY TRANCE "Electrocution" (Relapse) cd 15.98 V/A "Des Jeunes Gens Modernes" (Naive) 2cd 27.00 V/A "Disco Italia" (Strut) cd 14.98 V/A "Do The Pop! Redux Part One" (Savage Beat) 2cd 24.00 V/A "Ed Rec Vol III" (Ed Banger) 2lp 29.00 V/A "Ethiopiques 23 : Orchestra Ethiopia" (Buda Musique) cd 15.98 V/A "Japanese New Music Festival 2008" (Magaibutsu) cd 13.98 V/A "Well Hung: 20 Funk-Rock Eruptions From Beneath Communist Hungary - Vol.1" (Finders Keepers) cd 23.00 VILLALOBOS, RICARDO "Enfants (MAGMA REMIXES)" (SED) 12" 17.98 WHITE STRIPES, THE "De Stijl" (Third Man / Warner) cd 12.98 WHITE STRIPES, THE "Elephant" (Third Man / Warner) cd 13.98 WHITE STRIPES, THE "Get Behind Me Satan" (Third Man / Warner) cd 14.98 WHITE STRIPES, THE "Icky Thump" (Warner Bros.) cd 16.98 WHITE STRIPES, THE "s/t" (Third Man / Warner) cd 13.98 WHITE STRIPES, THE "White Blood Cells" (Third Man / Warner) cd 14.98 WHO'S YOUR FAVORITE SON GOD "Out of Body Diva" (Holy Mountain) cd 13.98 WICKHAM-SMITH, SIMON "Love & Lamentation" (Pogus Productions) cd 14.98 WICKHAM-SMITH, SIMON & RICHARD YOUNGS "Veil (For Greg)" (Jagjaguwar) cd 14.98 WILSON, GARY "You Think You Really Know Me: The Gary Wilson Story" (Plexifilm) dvd 26.00 WOLF PARADE "At Mount Zoomer" (Sub Pop) cd/lp 14.98/14.98 YA HO WHA 13 "Feather Of Wisdom" (Phoenix) lp 23.00 YELLOW SWANS "Deterioration" (Modern Radio Record Label) cd 11.98 _______________________________________________________________________ ABOUT MAILORDER

In the voice of Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons: "Best band EVER." No, we're not actually implying an endorsement of Gallhammer by Comic Book Guy. But, IF Comic Book Guy was into old school death/black/doom metal and crusty punk (which, we'd imagine he probably isn't) -and- was really into cute Japanese girls (which, chances are, he is), then, well, Gallhammer would be one of his favorite bands. We can't help but like 'em lot ourselves. We reviewed their debut cd Gloomy Lights back on list 235, and pointed out then that while a trio of cute, Japanese girls with raccoon eyes playing in the style of '80s doom pioneers Hellhammer was an obvious high-concept selling point, from -listening- to it you sure couldn't tell they were cute or even female. But you could tell that their music was utterly grim and wretched and heavy as hell, which for us was enough to recommend it. Glacial riffs, pounding drums, atmospheric breaks, deathly croaks... raw and primitive and very effective! We also reported that they'd gotten signed to Peaceville, who have cleverly determined that the best way to introduce Gallhammer to the masses isn't with a new album (still upcoming) but with this, a collection of demos and rehearsal tracks. Oh, and with a DVD disc of live performances. That's the clever part. Once you see vocalist/bassist Vivian Slaughter in her Celtic Frost t-shirt, staring blankly into space and grunting inhumanly into the microphone, you'll be smitten. Or watch drummer Risa Reaper thrash her kit, providing back-up screams too. Or witness guitarist Mika Penetrator (Amebix t-shirt for her) crank out the riffage whilst contributing blood-curdling vokills as well... it's all over. Is there a fan club? Where do we sign up? Seriously, though, the live footage is convincing. They're a killer band. And have a great sense of theatrics, looking so much like those spooky girls you always see in Japanese horror films with their long black hair and hollow eyes. The DVD features 24 songs from six shows filmed at various venues in Japan between 2005 and 2006. Some are pro shot (the show at Okayama Pepper Land which is presented in its entirety) and others are more bootleggy lookin' but still perfectly acceptable. And there's also a photo gallery of stills to stimulate more fanboy drool. Meanwhile, on the audio disc, you get twelve tracks including two exclusive demos of (brutal) brand new songs, along with rarities going back to before the Gloomy Lights album. If you've heard Gallhammer before, you know this is gonna be crushing. Far from cartoonish. If you haven't heard 'em, this a good place to enter their haunted world of misanthropic moody metal. Imagine if Unsane, Corrupted and Zeni Geva got together in a cave to make the soundtrack to some freaky J-horror flick, after listening to nothing but Tom G. Warrior's earliest output and the occasional Velvet Underground album for inspiration. Cool, eh?

MPEG stream: At The Onset Of The Age Of Despair
MPEG stream: Beyond The Hate Red

Here's a beautiful dvd-r from Richard Garet and Asher Thal-Nir. While Garet's greysmear minimalism has hypnotized us via his previous releases, it's his visual sensibility that provides the sublime, slow-motion drama here. Asher, too, is an exceptional understated composer whose signature lines of soft-focus static gird his musical accompaniment to Garet's film. There are only a few interlocking elements to the sounds and visuals for Melting Ground, with Garet providing a single tracking shot of a series of Alaskan glaciers viewed from above by way of helicopter; and Asher's piano interludes look back to the delicate compositions of Satie, hovering above that audio snow that he so often uses within his work. The treatment that Garet gives to his film is quite remarkable, as he really does an excellent job in simulating the antique patina of a hand-cranked camera whose imperfect motion creates a pulsing flicker with overexposed flashes of bleaching white and Rorschach blots of underexposed inky blacks. Coupled with a fine coat of fabricated film-dust, scratches, and debris, the film itself has the bruised visual corollary to so many of the sounds generated out of Phillip Jeck's vintage turntables. The pacing of the film is deliberately slow, panning across enormous mountains of crumpled earth jutting out of looming banks of suspended fog and vast patterned surfaces of ice. The effect is one of a found-piece of film, uncovered from somewhere deep within one of those glaciers as an artifact from a lost team of explorers. The elegiac timbre of Asher's composition supports a similar antiquity, given the early 20th century references he seems to be making. Even the softened static that grounds all of his clustered piano notes, seem to have been extracted from the surface noise of a wax cylinder from that same time period. There is a sense of wonder, awe, fear, and beauty to this piece, one that parallels Leif Elggren's minimalist abstraction Arranging for an Opening of a Teleport to Shangri-La, which appropriated Frank Capra's early film Lost Horizon into a smear of drone and slow-burning visuals. Melting Ground's magic lantern approach to the material gives it more of a haunted, excavated aesthetic, with all of it addressing an allusion to the perils of climate change, especially in its impact upon the glaciers which hold so much of the world's fresh water. Limited to a mere 150 copies, and nicely packaged in an oversized folio.

MPEG stream: Melting Ground (audio extract)

One of two new dvds from the always amazing Sublime Frequencies label, this one, like a visual version of those Sublime Frequencies "Radio�" compilations, where the compilers would flip through the radio stations in whatever country they were visiting, capturing little chunks of sound, radio plays, pop jams, folk music, etc. And while this is not quite as short-attention-span as those comps, it's generally the same idea, a sprawling, musical and visual collage of live shows, impromptu performances, local scenery, bits of television shows, nature footage, night markets, street scenes, all woven into a slightly psychedelic expanse of sights and sounds, with of course a KILLER soundtrack. From live nightclub hip hop workouts (covering House Of Pain no less!), to casual jam sessions, seated around a coffee table, players smoking and relaxing on couches, to funky musical reviews, complete with a journeyman band and a sexy dancing and signing teen superstar frontwoman, to far out sci-fi monster movie clips, to strange performances from variety shows, homeless dudes rocking out on busted old Casio keyboards, lots and lots of birds, chirping and trilling over mysterious dronemusic , violin players weaving a cacophonous tuning-up din, gorgeous haunting classical music complete with the instructor correcting his students, sultry nightclub torch singing, amazing traditional folk music and costumed performances, incredible broken glass dancing, acoustic beach jams, complete with the sound of the surf, children playing, and best of all, just tons of footage of people, and places, playing music, hanging out, doing business, relaxing, dining, traveling, living their lives, all set to an incredibly varied selection of music, from folk to pop, to classical and anything in between. Includes a bunch of extra footage, more amazing performances, extra footage of some of our favorite bands in the feature proper, as well as a a whole segment of trailers for other Sublime Frequencies dvds.

Ghost and Drag City bring us this cd + dvd set, a quite fine, fan-o-centric release that will definitely excite the many folks devoted to these modern masters of Japanese psych! Indeed, one customer of ours, Brent from Chattanooga, already chimed in with a review (to save us some time and trouble he says), which goes something like this: "OK, first things first, for all of you Ghost freaks out there, there's no reason you will need to even read this review. Just order it now, cause it's great, it's songs that're not on anything else you've got, and it's, well, it's Ghost. One hour of folked-up improv music, from their early days, say late 80's. Plus not to mention the two hour DVD that spans they're entire career. But, if this is not enough, well read on. For all you fiends of the Finnish psych bands like Avarus and the rest, then this disc will please. Very krauty, droney, out there stuff that sounds like it was recorded in some dark forest in a remote part of Japan. Tribal, chants, moans, it's all here. Even the Jewelled Antler fans will love this stuff..." And that's pretty much our take on it too. (Thanks, Brent!) We'll expand a bit on his review by saying that although at first glance the music cd is perhaps overshadowed by the novelty of the DVD that's got two hours of rare live video footage (of a band that not all that many people over here in the States have had the opportunity to see, after all), we think that it's the cd that's what you'll keep coming back to, after you've several viewings of the DVD of course. The cd is certainly not a *new* Ghost album or anything -- and is about as far from the professionally progged-out compositions of Ghost's well-liked, most recent album Hypnotic Underworld as you can get. These "Unreleased Ghost Tracks From the 1980s" see Ghost in sorta Sunburned Hand of The Man or NNCK territory (or the Finnish/Jewelled Antler realm as suggested by Brent), doing improvised fractured folk (a la first album outtake "Cow's Green Cosmic") and noisy free-jazz freak-outs (as on the half-hour minute track "Children Of The Earth"). Even without the dvd disc, we'd be recommending this, it's right up the AQ alley. Meanwhile, the DVD assembles home video style footage of Ghost performances from the early days (all the way back to a solo Masaki Batoh protest "concert" in front of the Chinese embassy in Tokyo, back in 1984!!) up through 2004. The more recent footage (along with the menu graphics and box cover) reveal just how dangerously slick Ghost have gotten, while the earlier stuff has a charming amateur edge to it. In either case, a treat for Ghost fans -- though we wonder if a band that makes such otherworldly music (and is named Ghost, after all) risks losing some of their mystery by being documented visually like this... But fans can't really complain! Comes packaged with a booket containing notes and credits for everything you'll see and hear here.

MPEG stream: Hakkyou Dojin (1989 live)
MPEG stream: Improvisation (1987 live)

It's a downright pleasure to hear (and see) the enthusiasm this band still has for their music and their fans (really, so much more than many artists these days can even seem to muster a fraction of!). They've been making wonderful music individually and as a group for over a quarter of a decade! Nowhere is it currently more on display than on this live Go-Betweens dvd/cd set! The dvd features a fantastic performance of theirs in Brisbane last August as well as a batch of stories as told by band leaders Grant McLennan and Robert Forster themselves the day after. As an added convenience, the cd features a 70 minute long audio recording of the show. needless to say, an awesome fan pleaser! Hats off to the Go-Betweens!

MPEG stream: Finding You (live)
MPEG stream: The Clock (live)

Presented for your party pleasure: this DVD compiles a performance by righteous party-monger Gold Chains at San Francisco's Beta Lounge, along with plenty of extra videos and live performances, including the awesome "I Come From San Francisco" video, shot on a BART train! Locals: look for yourself and your friends in the videos. Out-of towners: experience the magic of a Gold Chains show from the comfort of your living room. The live at Beta Lounge portion comes peppered by unfortunate amounts of clean-cut white girls in flygirl pose mode and art-school graduate ghetto parody, but Gold Chains himself puts on a helluva show as always, making the most uptight of booties shake and temporarily redeeming the white-boy indie-electronic hip-hop genre (at least until the next time I'm reminded of the existence of Cex). Although it's funny; I know I was pretty drunk that night, but I remember the show being totally crazy, like crowd surfing, buckets of sweat, jam-packed dance-your-ass-off crazy. Somehow, the video doesn't quite seem to convey the mayhem. Perhaps the filming would have benefitted from another approach, or maybe I was just more wasted than I realized. Hmmm.

Sculptor Andy Goldworthy approaches a natural location in search of its flow or energy. He then seeks to directly respond, build upon or otherwise reflect upon that energy through a piece of sculpture, using only materials found in that natural space. His artwork transcends observation of entropy and chaos in nature as his pieces take shape from the land, are impermanent and meant to be absorbed or responded to in turn by nature, thus creating a natural flow of discourse between himself and the land. Goldsworthy notes that often "it is the very element that [he's] used in a piece that could cause it's own destruction." In taking very little or no prior study of the commissioned location prior to his arrival in the environment, Goldsworthy claims, "Movement, change, light, growth and decay are the lifeblood of nature, the energies that I try to tap through my work. I need the shock of touch, the resistance of place, materials and weather, the earth as my source. Nature is in a state of change and that change is the key to understanding. Transience in my work reflects what I find in nature." This acclaimed documentary film by German film maker Thomas Riedelsheimer captures him at his home in Penpont, Scotland, and in the field (literally) making his sculptures in France, Nova Scotia and New York. It does a fine job of visually explaning the artist's process of creating his site-specific commissioned pieces and consequently, nature's reaction to them. Use of Goldsworthy's own explanation is slightly incumbering though does not ruin the film. Music by maverick composer/improviser Fred Frith -- whose Rivers And Tides soundtrack cd we already made a Record Of The Week back in 2003 -- marries itself to the meditative qualities of both Goldworthy's art and nature itself to create a truly wonderful film experience overall. A nice bonus on this DVD is extra footage presented in seven short films. Highly recommended!

Awesome collection of videos from director Michel Gondry. You may not know the name, but you definitely know his work, the White Stripes Lego video being probably the most talked about. But you'll also immediately recognise the 6 videos he's done for Bjork, the two other White Stripes videos, as well as videos for Kylie Minogue, Chemical Brothers, Foo Fighters, Daft Punk, Cibo Matto, the Rolling Stones, Massive Attack and more. The DVD also includes a 75 minute film about Gondry, tons of shorts, live concert footage, and a huge 52 page book full of stories, interviews, drawings and photos.