[ 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.

Showing results 201 through 250 of 550.

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

SORRY. Surprisingly excellent, heartwarming and not-at-all-smarmy documentary about Guided By Voices, made by local filmmaker Banks Tarver, who has directed most of their video clips (also included here). Most hilarious are interviews with Pete, GBV's Manager For Life, and the episode where GBV disses the supremely dis-able Picasso Trigger.

Watch 'em comb their hair! And rock like mofos. Japanese greasy garage rock at its most unhinged and high-concept.

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

SORRY. In honor of Haino's 50th birthday, in addition to his long overdue recognition on the cover of highbrow experimental music rag The Wire, PSF has issued a video document of a rare performance for voice and percussion instruments. Enigmatic and mysterious when merely only listened to, this video gives an anticipated insight to the physicality and trancendence of space experienced when witnessing Keiji Haino in full force, for seeing Haino perform in the flesh is an experience like no other. Unlike the previous video offered by PSF, an excerpt of a Fushitsusha performance (only 45 minutes of a supposed three hour set!), this offers a complete peek into the mystical genius of Keiji Haino. See Haino reduce a poor tambourine to its raw elements, tearing away at its flesh, drawing away its spirit, and exposing its corpse.

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

SORRY. Three gods of the Japanese underground, captured on film!

I have to say that the whole Neil Hamburger 'thing' works a lot better when left to the imagination. While Mr. Hamburger in the flesh comes reasonably close to how you might picture him, it's impossible for him to be as cartoonishly pathetic, and brutally sad and rundown as I always imagined he would be. That said, this document is suitably depressing, and brutal and really funny, but funny in that trainwreck sort of way. Nicely shot, with lots of hilarious interviews of dog track patrons who could care less about Neil Hamburger. The one down side is the hipster filled audience, who of course, like you and me, find Hamburger's unbearable unfunniness pretty darn hilarious, but which kind of defeats the whole concept of there being REAL hecklers and dead silence after every joke. The jokes definitely still suck, that's the point after all, but that amazing Neil Hamburger aura of pathetic-and- depressing-bus-stop-nightclub-comic-playing-for-old-ladies-waiting-for-the-midtown-express-night after-night-drinking-himsef-into-a-stupor is sort of ruined by hooting and heckling indie rockers. Thankfully that problem can easily be corrected with the alternate audio tracks. You can choose from Stadium Applause, Mexican Guy or Japanese Girl! Really. Pretty funny actually. There are some DVD extras, the coolest being a mini-documentary about the dog track, the trainers and the various dogs.

Boy do we have a soft spot for Mr. Anus and Mr. Horribly Charred Infant. Otherwise known as the Happy Flowers. Most of you in your thirties (like most of us) grew up on classic college radio, loving everything on Merge, Homestead, Matador, Amphetamine Reptile, Touch And Go, Ajax, bands like Butthole Surfers, Scratch Acid, the Frogs, Bastro, Squirrel Bait, Killdozer and of course the HAPPY FLOWERS! for those of you who are either too young, or somehow missed out, the Happy Flowers were two guys who recorded totally improvised noise drenched records that explored the subtle nuances of being a kid, and all the pain that that entailed. The music was an ear blasting, exercise in chaotic noise, no riffs or melodies, just thick slabs of guitarnoise, feedback, and scabbling, scraping, squealing, while over the top, the duo screamed and shouted heartbreaking tales of toddler and teenage terror, "They Cleaned My Cut Out With A Wire Brush", "Mom And Dad Like The Baby More Than Me", "Charlie Got A Haircut", "More Mittens", "If This Gun Were Real (I Could Shoot You And Sleep In The Big Bed With Mommy)" and the legendary "Mom, I Gave The Cat Some Acid." Warped wailing brutality, an acquired taste for sure, but how could you not loved these guys. Totally giving the middle finger to the more 'typical' bands of the day, finding strange fans (James McNew of Yo La Tengo was a member at once point) and creating a truly infamous body of work. So, imagine how totally geeked we were to discover Mr Horribly Charred Infant was a mailorder customer of ours!!! We had a massive music nerd meltdown. Anyway, back in 2004, Mr. Anus and Mr. HCI reunited for a 20th anniversary reuinion show, at the Tokyo Rose in Charlottesville, Virginia and before a small but appropriately worshipful crowd, they proceeded to totally and utterly destroy. Joined on stage by drummer Mike Malinin (from the Goo Goo Dolls, we kid you not!) the 2004 version of the Happy Flowers was a totally different beast (reflecting the later more refined hardcore side of the Flowers), songs that were just ear splitting smears of nasty noise, became pumelling hardcore jams, free noise freakouts got pinned down by the pounding drums and sheets of guitarnoise became actual riffs, and the band ripped through revamped versions of all their classics. They even revisit their unlikely version of Big Star's "Thirteen"! Who would of thought the Happy Flowers would ever try anything like that. But it works and totally kills. Well shot, the sound is great, the between song banter is a blast, makes me kick myself for missing it. Thankfully we managed to get a handful of these DVD-r's, released on Japanese label Lost Frog, and limited to only 100 copies, so act fast, or prepare to be very very disappointed. Insert and cover art by Mr. Anus. Shhhhh... but rumour has it that our own Andee has been talking with Mr. Horribly Charred Infant about the possibility of some sort of Happy Flowers boxset, but that's all we're at liberty to say right now... ----* ----* In Stock, Not Yet Reviewed : ----* If you want to order one of these, just do a search on the item you want, and when the result comes up just click on the BUY button! 7 YEAR RABBIT CYCLE "Ache Horns" (Free Porcupine Society) cd 14.98 A SCANNER DARKLY "s/t" (Gilead Media) cd 10.98 A-TRAK "Oh No You Didn't" (Disque Primeur) cd 15.98 ABOMINABLE IRON SLOTH, THE "s/t" (Goodfellow) cd 15.98 ACID MOTHERS GONG "Live In Nagoya" (Vivo) cd 15.98 ADAMS, JOHN LUTHER "The Mathematics of Resonant Bodies" (Cantaloupe) cd 21.00 AGENTS DEL FUTURO "Mydrone" (Dielectric) cd-r 11.98 ALOG "Catch That Totem" (Melektronik) cd 16.98 ANIMALS & MEN "Revel In The Static" (Hyped To Death) cd 13.98 AREA C "Traffics + Discoveries" (Last Visible Dog) cd 11.98 ASTERIADI, POPI WITH LAKIS PAPPAS "Another Sunday Gone" (World Psychedelic Ltd.) cd 17.98 ATAVIST "s/t" (Invada) cd 15.98 JON AUER "Songs From The Year Of Our... " (Pattern 25) cd 13.98 BARR "Beyond Reinforced Jewel Case" (5 Rue Christine) cd 14.98 BATTIATO, FRANCO "Fetus" (Water) cd 15.98 BATTISTI, LUCIO "Amore E Non Amore" (Water) cd 14.98 BENGA "Newstop" (Beng) cd 16.98 BIRD SHOW "Lightning Show" (Kranky) cd 14.98 BLACK COBRA "Bestial" (At A Loss) cd 13.98 BLACKOUT "s/t" (World Psychedelic Ltd.) cd 17.98 BLACK OX ORKESTAR "Nisht Azoy" (Constellation) cd/lp 14.98/16.98 BOXCUTTER "Oneiric" (Planet Mu) cd 14.98 BRAZOES, OS "s/t" cd 21.00 BULLWACKIES ALL STARS "Dub Unlimited" (Wackies) cd 15.98 COLOSSAL YES "Acapulco Roughs" (Ba Da Bing) cd 13.98 CONGOS, THE & FRIENDS "Fisherman Style" (Blood And Fire) 2cd 17.98 COUNTRY TEASERS "The Empire Strikes Back" (In The Red) cd 13.98 COUP, THE "Pick A Bigger Weapon" (Epitaph) cd 13.98 COURT AND SPARK, THE "Hearts" (Absolutely Kosher) cd DAEDELUS "Denies The Day's Demise" (Mush) cd 13.98 DANIELSON "Ships" (Secretly Canadian) cd/lp 14.98 DATURAH "s/t" (Graveface) cd 10.98 DIM MAK "Knives Of Ice" (Willowtip) cd 14.98 EDISON WOODS "Nest Of Machines" (Habit Of Creation) cd 13.98 EHLERS, EKKEHARD "A Life Without Fear" (Staubgold) cd 15.98 EMBRUJO "s/t" (Amort) cd 17.98 EMERGENCY "Homage To Peace" (America) cd 17.98 ERSEN "Dunden Bugune" (Underground Masters) cd 21.00 EXCEPTER / LEB-LAZE "split" (Hoss) 12" 11.98 FATHER YOD AND THE SPIRIT OF '76 "Contraction" (Swordfish) cd 17.98 FLAT EARTH SOCIETY / THE LOST "Waleeco / Space Kids" (Arf! Arf!) cd 16.98 GAMELAN SON OF LION "Metal Notes" (Locust) cd 14.98 GIBSON, JON "Two Solo Pieces" (New Tone) cd 24.00 GIBSON, JON "Visitations I & II + Thirties" (New Tone) cd 24.00 GULTSKRA ARTIKLER "Pofigistka" (Lampse) cd 15.98 HANS GRUSEL'S KRANKENKABINET "Happy As Pitch" (C.i.p.) cd 11.98 HEADS, THE "Under The Stress Of A Headlong Dive" (Invada) cd 15.98 INSTANT AUTOMATONS "Another Wasted Sunday Afternoon" (Hyped2Death) cd 13.98 ISLANDS "Return To The Sea" (Equator) cd 14.98 JANDEK "What Else Does The Time Mean" (Corwood) cd 8.98 KAITO "Hundred Million Light Years" (Kompakt) cd 15.98 KALAS "s/t" (Tee Pee) cd 15.98 KALEVALA "People No Names/Boogie Jungle" (Walhalla) cd 21.00 KANE, JONATHAN "I Looked At The Sun" (Radium/Table Of Elements) cd 12.98 KAWABATA, MAKOTO "Inui 1" (VHF) cd 13.98 KUUPUU "Kulta Sulka" (self released) cd-r 8.98 LAZY FARMER "s/t" (Sunbeam Records) cd 16.98 LOPEZ, FRANCISCO "Absolute Noise Ensemble" (Blossoming Noise) 2cd 16.98 LYE, LEN "Composing Motion" (Atoll) cd 17.98 MAGIK MARKERS "Inverted Belgium" (Hospital) lp 16.98 MAHER SHALAL HASH BAZ "Live 1984-85" (P.S.F.) cd 21.00 MAJOR STARS "Synoptikon" (Important) cd/lp 14.98/14.98 MATADORS, THE "s/t" (World Psychedelia Ltd.) cd 17.98 MGR "Nova Lux" (Neurot) cd 14.98 MIDNIGHT CIRCUS, THE "s/t" (Hyped2Death) cd 13.98 MONSTER MAGNET "25 Tab" (SPV) cd 14.98 MONSTER MAGNET "Spine Of God" (SPV) cd 13.98 MOONKYTE "Count Me Out" (Sunbeam Records) cd 16.98 MORD "Christendom Perished" (Southern Lord) cd 14.98 MOULTON, TOM "A Tom Moulton Mix" (Soul Jazz) cd 23.00 MY CAT IS AN ALIEN "Cosmic Light of the Third Millennium" (Important) cd 14.98 OBSESSED, THE "Lunar Womb" (Meteor City) cd 14.98 ORIENTAL SUNSHINE "Dedicated To The Bird We Love" (Sunbeam) cd 16.98 OS BRAZOES "s/t" (RGE) cd 17.98 OS MUTANTES "Jardim Eletrico (#4)" (Universal / Polydor Brazil) cd 19.98 OS MUTANTES "Mutantes E Seus Cometas No Pais Do Baurets (#5)" (Universal / Polydor Brazil) cd 19.98 OTOMO YOSHIHIDE / BILL LASWELL / YOSHIDA TATSUYA "Episome" (Tzadik) cd 16.98 OVO "Miastenia" (Load) cd/lp 14.98/11.98 PALMER, CLIVE "Banjoland" (Sunbeam Records) cd 16.98 PEEESSEYE (PSI) "Oo-Ee-Oo (Burnt Offering)" (Evolving Ear) cd-r 8.98 PEKLER, ANDREW "Four B-Movies - Aim Jukebox Series" (Aim) 7" 4.50 PELT "Skullfuck / Bestio Tergum" (VHF) cd 13.98 PENTAGRAM "Be Forewarned" (Peaceville) cd 14.98 PINK MOUNTAINTOPS "Axis Of Evol" (Jagjaguwar) cd 14.98 PLACE OF SKULLS "Black Is Never Far Away" (Exile On Mainstream) cd 14.98 PRINCE "3121" (Universal) cd 15.98 PUMICE "Yeahnahvienna" (Soft Abuse) cd 13.98 REIGNS "We Lowered A Microphone Into The Ground" (Jonson Family Records) cd 14.98 ROWE, KEITH / TOSHIMARU NAKAMURA "Between" (Erstwhile) 2cd 27.00 RUBINHO E MAURO ASSUMPCAO "Perfeitamente, Justamente Quando Cheguei" (Discos Mariposa) cd 17.98 SAKHI, HOMAYUN "Music Of Central Asia Vol. 3: The Art Of The Afghan Rubab" (Smithsonian Folkways) cd+dvd 21.00 SALA "Arhimo" (Last Visible Dog) cd 12.98 SATA, KOKANKO "s/t" (Honest Jon's Records) cd 16.98 SCHNITZLER, CONRAD "Blau" (Captain Trip) cd 25.00 SCHNITZLER, CONRAD "Gelb" (Captian Trip) cd 25.00 SCHNITZLER, CONRAD "Grun" (Captian Trip) cd 25.00 SCHNITZLER, CONRAD "Rot" (Captain Trip) cd 25.00 SCHNITZLER, CONRAD "Schwarz" (Captain Trip) cd 25.00 SCHNITZLER, CONRAD "Zug" (Qbico) lp 25.00 SEIKAZOKU "Live In Japan" (Vivo) cd 15.98 SERENA-MANEESH "s/t" (Honeymilk) cd 13.98 SHANKAR, ANANDA "A Life In Music" (Times Square) 2cd 16.98 SICKOAKES "Seawards" (Type Records) cd 15.98 SMITH, CHES "Congs For Brums" (Free Porcupine Society) cd 14.98 SMITH, TERRY "Fall Out" (Sunbeam Records) cd 16.98 SNOWBLOOD "The Human Tragedy" (SuperFi / Lawgiver) cd 13.98 SONIC YOUTH "Helen Lundeburg / Eyeliner" ( SYR) 7" 4.50 SPECTRE FOLK "s/t" (3 Lobed) cd 14.98 STAX, MIKE, ANDY NEILL & JOHN BAKER "Ugly Things Magazine Presents: Don't Bring Me Down... Under - The Pretty Things In New Zealand, 1965" (UT Publishing) book 18.95 STORM, THE "s/t" (Wah Wah) cd 21.00 STORY, THE "Tale Spin" (Sunbeam Records) cd 16.98 SUBTLE "Wishingbone" (Lex) 2cd 11.98 SUISHOU NO FUNE "Where The Spirits Are" (Holy Mountain) cd 13.98 SUN DIAL "Other Way Out / Other Way In" (Relapse) 2cd 14.98 SUN DIAL "Return Journey" (Relapse) cd 12.98 SWAGGER JACK "The Feral Blood Of..." (Last Visible Dog) cd 12.98 TELESCOPES, THE "Taste" (Rev-Ola) cd 17.98 TERRESTRIAL TONES "Dead Drunk" (Paw Tracks) cd 14.98 THRALLDOM "A Shaman Steering The Vessel Of Vastness" (Profound Lore) cd 13.98 TOYOZUMI, SABU & EXIAS-J "Son's Scapegoat" (Siwa) cd 14.98 TUSK "Get Ready" (He Who Corrupts Inc.) cd 14.98 V/A "Hijos Del Agobio Y Del Dolor" (Dro Atlantic) 2cd 37.00 V/A "Human Element - The World's First Human Beatbox Compilation" (108) cd 14.98 V/A "Lagos All Routes: Juju & Highlife, Apala & Fuji" (Honest Jon's) cd 16.98 V/A "Lagos Chop Up: Fuji & Afrobeat, Highlife & Juju" (Honest Jon's) cd 16.98 V/A "Never The Same: Leave-Taking From The British Folk Revival 1970-1977" (Honest Jons) cd 16.98 V/A "Panama!" (Sound Way) cd/2lp 16.98/21.00 VAN BOVEN "I.E.D." (Edgetone) cd 9.98 VOLCANO THE BEAR "Classic Erasmus Fusion" (Beta-Lactam Ring) 2cd 15.98 WARA "El Inca" (Revista) cd 17.98 WERREN, PHILLIP "Electronic Music" (Cast Exotic) 2cd 21.00 WHITMAN, KEITH FULLERTON "Recorded In Lisbon" (Kranky) cd 10.98 WITCHERY "Don't Fear The Reaper" (Century Media) cd 12.98 WORLD OF OZ, THE "s/t" (Repertoire) cd 24.00 WORMS OF SABNOCK "Dark Harmonies" (Firestorm) cd 14.98 _______________________________________________________________________ ABOUT MAILORDER

Considering how quick Grouper stuff blows out of here, this one most likely doesn't need too much of a description. Divide is the first book of original artwork from Liz Harris (aka Grouper), black and white, and super striking, intricate branch like patterns, washed out water colors, tangled knots, mysterious patterned mandalas, crystalline arrangements of lines and space, a style most aQ-ers will recognize from various Grouper releases. The softcover book measures 7" by 7", and has beautiful full color front and back covers, and includes a dvd, featuring an original video by Harris, accompanied by a gorgeous Grouper soundtrack (featuring Rob Fisk from Common Eider, King Eider on viola), and as you might expect, it's another fantastic dreamlike sonic drift, all warm whirling otherworldly haze and gauzy ethereal shimmer. So nice. LIMITED TO 500 COPIES, we have less than 10, and most likely will NOT be able to get more...

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

SORRY. Live tour footage from 1997 in Bellingham and Chicago.

So it took the rest of the world a while to catch on. Don't be too hard on them. Harvey Milk are one difficult proposition. Don't blame us though. We've been there all along trying to convince everybody just how brilliant this bafflingly bizarre sludge combo really was. Andee even reissued their seminal Courtesy And Good Will Toward Men album on his tUMULt label. And don't blame Henry at Chunklet, the man responsible for this here document. In fact he was right there every step of the way, a one man Harvey Milk archivist and booster club. And of course we don't blame you, loyal AQ list readers, cuz we know you feel the same way we do, you just can't get enough of Harvey Milk's pummeling, crushing, obtuse and confusional heaviness. Well for you, and for us, and for the heavy music lovers of the world who have yet to discover the difficult joy of Harvey Milk, life is is about to get a whole lot sweeter. Courtesy And Good Will is getting reissued again, on Relapse, any day now, there's a BRAND NEW Harvey Milk record due sometime in the next month or so, there are rumors of a deluxe reissue of the long out of print Harvey Milk debut, a serious holy grail, My Love Is Higher Than Your Assessment of What My Love Could Be, maybe with an extra disc, and then there's THIS. Four long years in the making, and it was worth every single second. Most of us who dig Harvey Milk, even those of us who might go so far as to say we are obsessed, never actually got to see the band play live. And this three and a half hour DVD collection of live shows spanning over 12 years is just as much a revelation as we knew it would be. From super grainy early live footage, when the band was much more of a punk rock, Touch And Go / AmRep sort of beast, you can, out of the corner of your eye, see the sludginess and fuckedupness creep up through the music, slowly and subtly infusing every song and sound with some ineffable something, that helped turn Harvey Milk into a band that sounded unlike any other band, then or now. Theirs was a career trajectory based entirely on getting weirder and sludgier and more obtuse and WAY more difficult and fucked up, a bit like the Melvins, but without the unexpected mainstream success and major label deal. Harvey Milk also unexpectedly shifted gears for a while, letting their ZZ Top obsession take control, and becoming impossibly groovy and rocking, which only lasted a single record before the band returned EVEN MORE damaged and slow and brutal, as if that was even possible. The band look so unassuming, frontman Creston Spiers just an every day Joe until he opens his mouth and unleashes that impossible low banshee-like howl, bass player Stephen Tanner, with his weird, fey, Doogie Howser look, goofy smile and even goofier sexy hip swivel. And the drums, the drummers... Harvey Milk's songs are so full of space, so slow and stretched out, the drums are often the only thing holding the songs together. Whether they are shuffling in the background, or pounding out a massive slow motion throb, it's the drums that allow the guitars to spin off into space and the songs to unfurl into confusing super spacious epics. Probably the most amazing part of the disc is when Creston wields a sledgehammer, pounding an anvil in time with the downtuned bass and pounding drums, while howling in that anguished banshee wail of his. Normally it would be weird to see a band set-up like that -- bass, drums and sledgehammer -- but somehow, for Harvey Milk it seems perfect. Creston swaying back and forth, cradling the hammer like it was a guitar, while the band pounds out a sludgy dirge behind him. So good! Woven in to the older material are plenty of long slow drawn out moody post rockisms, with drifting simple mournful melodies, and mumbled crooned vocals that eventually build into the epic whirls of swirling sludge we hold so near and dear to our hearts. The biggest surprise here is how much footage there is from the band's "ZZ Top period," a stretch that on record only lasted a single album, but live seemed to have spanned several years. A wild and hair twirling, head banging super groovy sort-of-Southern rock with howled and yelped superrock vocals, less obviously sludgy, but still ultra heavy. This was never really a favorite sound for lots of Milk fans (although it is Allan's favorite) but seeing these songs performed live is enough to convince us that maybe we were WAY off and this stuff is some of the best Harvey Milk EVER!!! It sounds like southern rock filtered through the Melvins. Or Ram Jam played by the Corrupted. It's just so awesome to watch with drummer Kyle Spence's massive Boham-esque kit (complete with Bonham's logo on the bass drum head) a huge gong, just tearing it up Bill Ward style holding the whole thing together... And because of the film stock and the sound and the style, it's almost feels like watching some recently unearthed German television footage of some ultra heavy long lost proto metal band from the seventies, they even whip out a little "Pinball Wizard!" Someone needs to reissue The Pleaser now. C'mon!! Maybe we just weren't in the right frame of mind when it first came out, but we're pretty sure that record would kick our asses now! After that, the band sort of drifted off and disappeared, before resurfacing in 2005, as a much grungier, hairier looking Milk, all jeans and long hair and Voivod t-shirts, and they sound like it too. A return to the impossibly glacial dirge of Courtesy, but even heavier and somehow more even more fucked up sounding. Like Sabbath at 16rpm, massive lumbering, blown out sludgerock divinity. How many ways can we say it. WE LOVE HARVEY MILK!!! THEY ARE WITHOUT A DOUBT ONE OF THE GREATEST BANDS OF THE LAST 20 YEARS!! There's also a DVD Easter egg (thanks Jace!): just go to the credits menu and push up until "40 Watt '93" is highlighted, for some footage from an April Fool's show where the band tackle three R.E.M. covers, taken from a show where the band covered R.E.M.'s Reckoning in its entirety. Seriously! (the also once did a whole set of Hank Williams covers, let's pray someone has a tape of that stashed!) It's pretty dang cool to see one generation of Athens rock take on another. And they don't really sludge it up all that much, playing 'em pretty straight, but managing to make them -almost- sound like Harvey Milk originals! Also included is a four song 3"cd containing previously unreleased, super rare tracks, one of which is their version of R.E.M.'s "South Central Rain"!!! And of course the packaging is breathtaking. Designed by Stephen O'Malley and Henry Chunklet, it's a gorgeous oversized DVD style, fold over interlocking cardstock sleeve, greenish brown, with O'Malley's instantly recognizable graphic shards in dark brown, the title in embossed reflective silver, inside copious liner notes from Henry printed in metallic silver, the back has an angular H and M diecut, through which you can see the inside sleeve, a black folded cardstock gatefold with silver metallic ink which houses both the DVD and the 3" cd affixed to the inside on little nubs. So awesome! LIMITED ONE TIME PRESSING OF 1000 COPIES!!!!!!!!

MPEG stream: Bubble Buster
MPEG stream: South Central Rain

It's a bold move to offer a debut recording as a DVD; but that's what the East Bay improv / drone / noise HBK Trio has issued forth. Well it's DVD-R; but still! This trio features such stalwarts of the Bay Area sound community as Jim Kaiser (Petit Mal, NF Orchest, French Radio) on his trusted bowed bicycle wheel and other slabs of metal, Angela Hsu (NF Orchest) on violin and electronics, and Adrian Bayless on horns and electronics. As an ensemble, the three capture the spirit of AMM or even some of the Fonal adventurousness (minus the freak folk attributes) with all of the intertwining gestures and expressive bouts of sustained tones and softened noise generated acoustically and tempered with effects. The film comes in two distinct variations; but both of which document the biodiversity of the many creatures living in the East Bay: wasps, beetles, ravens, blackbirds, ants, and bees seen amongst the hurricane fencing, train tracks, and telephone wires. Shot digitally in video, the film enjoys some very nice static shots of insects scurrying about, then with rapid cuts of ravens marauding in the sky. You might ask yourself, is this limited? Hell, yes!

We've been sitting on this one for a couple weeks 'cause we wanted to be sure it got everyone's full attention.�On the surface�this may appear to be just another comedy dvd, but�it's considerably more than that. It's a�potent posthumous release and historical document of, for lack of better words, 'highlights' of the mighty Bill Hicks' career as a stand-up comedian.� Arguably, the bulk of the current crop of incisively insightful comedians are reduced to mere fluff when held up to the unforgiving fire of Hicks (who passed away in 1994 at the age of 32)... and they fuckin' know it! Many (David Cross, Patton Oswalt, Dave Attell to name a few) bow their heads in deep reverence to the memory of this seriously groundbreaking individual, and others would do well to do the same. Much of their material comes directly from the provocative seeds this man sowed. Much of his material comes across as fresh and as relevant as it did over a decade ago. When you hear him speak of President Bush, it's startling to realize he's speaking of Bush 41 not Bush 43. He blazed his own trail in much the same unrestrained and unrelenting tradition as Richard Pryor, Lenny Bruce or�George Carlin. Not always funny nor entertaining per se, and not always giving the audience what they want... that wasn't the point. He had things to say. He raised�and skewered topics -- often scathing and remarkably direct -- that other people (comedian or otherwise) would cower away from. Don't be mistaken though, when Hicks deemed it time to be 'funny', he laid to waste all in his presence. The title says it all. It's impossible and completely inaccurate to simply peg this man solely as a comedian. It can truly be said that he was one of the best in each category. With the increased prominence of indie comedians -- particularly stand-up and sketch on television (Mr. Show, Insomniac, etc) -- over the past half decade, the time is more than ripe for this dvd which contains three of his 1991 performances (in Chicago, Montreal and London which for years have only been circulating in grainy vhs copies) plus a documentary. His diehard cult following has certainly grown over the years, but now with this dvd and the aforementioned individuals' giving props to him in their interviews, Hicks will hopefully receive the attention and respect long overdue. This dvd includes one of�Hicks' most moving and insightful segments --�his�imagined editorial comment�for a news broadcast: "Today a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves... Here's Tom with the weather." Fucking brilliant. Seriously. Not to be missed!

Fans of the late Bill Hicks will surely welcome this new dvd which features the first complete Hicks stand-up performance ever filmed -- the year was 1989, the place Austin, TX. In fact, you'll probably be well acquainted with most if not all of his material on Sane Man, but that said, there's still a bunch of bonus stuff that will surely pique the interest of even his most diehard fans (unseen footage, outtakes, etc). Keep in mind that, the sound and picture quality are far from pristine, but if you've seen the homespun VHS copies that have been circulating for years, you know that Hicks' fury and message burn right through the murk. If you've yet to familiarize yourself with this man's fierce, vitriolic wit and incredibly prescient and topical subject matter, you might wish to start your education with the Live - Satirist, Social Critic, Stand-Up Comedian dvd which we were raging about last year (please see our review, please see the dvd!), and then proceed to this. Nonetheless, truly amazing and empassioned.

The fire yet burns. Guitarist/vocalist Matt Pike's three-piece pissed-off stoner metal juggernaut presents their fourth album, and while we can't say we were disappointed or anything (you get what you've come to expect from HoF), neither were we super blown away either, really. Though we never would have predicted it a few years ago, to our minds it would seem that Pike's former bandmates from seminal stoned-on-Sabbath dopesmokers Sleep are up to something a little more interesting at this juncture, in their outfit Om. Or, we're just more in the mood for Om's brand of mystical, minimal weirdness rather than the more bloodyminded bludgeon being beaten into our skulls by High On Fire. But if that's what you want, look no further. Death Is The Communion delivers the goods: Wardrums pound. Lemmylike vocals gargle forth and froth. Clenched fist riffage rakes your flesh. Yeah! And, as the album bulldozers along, the mood gets more somber, and some diversity is to be had, from majestic, morose keyboard melancholia to surprisingly introspective, un-metally acoustic guitar interludes. So, another fine HoF outing. And by the way, bassist Joe Preston is gone, High On Fire just another notch on his bedpost of one-night-stands-in-bands (as per his stints with Earth and the Melvins). His replacement, Jeff Matz of Zeke. And by the way, this edition comes with a bonus DVD disc featuring 40 minutes of in-the-studio footage n' stuff.

MPEG stream: Death Is This Communion
MPEG stream: DII

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SORRY. Wow! Live High Rise action, the Tokyo psych blasters on DVD!!

The Lord Of The Noise? Well it's either Hijokaidan or Merzbow, innit? And this "best of" (greatest hits??) disc and dvd is a strong argument in Hijokaidan's favor. Though any fan of Japanese noise is probably a fan of both artists. And to purchase The Lord Of The Noise, you'd almost certainly have to be a fan, although, price aside, this actually might qualify as a good entry-album for novices. That's 'cause it brings together a 78+ minute, six track sampling of their most chaotic, noisy, mayhem from recordings spanning the years 1979 to 2004, including such ear-raping classics as "Before The Heat". And (in case you didn't know, or haven't figured out) chaos, noise and mayhem are what Hijokaidan are all about! Don't believe us? Well, check out the DVD disc. That's the real treat here for fans: four archival live performances in living color (mostly black), two from '81, one from '87 and the most recent from 2003. The earliest two have the most physical chaos and absurdity, but all of 'em are plenty noisy! Don't expect easy listening, or even easy viewing: the video footage is dark and grainy from the early years, and even the 2003 performance is a strobe-fueled apocalypse. In other words, utterly how it should be.

MPEG stream: Angel Dust

Japan's Jojo Hiroshige, self proclaimed King Of Noise (noise fans commence argument now), has been abusing guitars for years as the leader of seminal 'Japanoise' outfit Hijokaidan. He's also responsible for many solo recordings and collaborations, many of them tempering the pure noise aesthetic of Hijokaidan with more rock, psych, or folk elements... likewise with the label he runs, the eclectic and extreme Alchemy, which delves into noise, psych, punk, improv, and heavy rock. In the Japanese noisy underground music scene, Jojo's the man. And he's also quite the performer, as this dvd will prove. He very definitely has a stage presence -- and knows how to make a racket! One track will feature Jojo solo, shirtless, dramatically lit, with a mirrored stage backdrop, Gibson SG and microphone his weapons for unleashing relentless drone and cathartic screams... or, you'll find him in another segment wearing a leather jacket, wielding a baseball bat and a boombox, on stage with Masonna... or, in a more sedate setting, seated, jamming with the girls in Doodles, or members of Angel In'Heavy Syrup... there's even an MTV style promo video for a track from Jojo's Boku Wa Mo Utawanai Daro album (which also appeared on the Alchemism 2dvd collection). All in all, in addition to that promo clip, you'll find 15 different performances from the past few years documented here, including the bonus track that finds Jojo kicking out the jams with free folk legend Kan Mikami! It's a really nice package of music and visuals for the Jojo fan.

Pretty much what it says!

Not one to rest on his rump, Mr. Neil Michael Hagerty (yeah, y'know him... ex of Pussy Galore and Royal Trux) delivers a second Howling Hex album in 2005! You Can't Beat Tomorrow picks up right where All-Night Fox left off back in February in its all-out freewheelin' strangeness. Aha, a pattern? One was released a month from the beginning of the year and the other one released a month from the year's end with a dvd. Are we scrutinizing trivialities? Makin' a mountain outta a molehill? 'Kay, we'll just move along to the music then, shall we? First things first, if you dug All-Night Fox, this ain't anything like that. Perhaps, it's the influence of his You Can't Beat Tomorrow backing band o' Texans, the very rootsy Theater Fire? Perhaps, it's just a result of Hagerty tryin' another 'something new' as he is wont to do. Unfortunately, he ditched the female vocals that made All-Night Fox so right-on, but if you're a Hagerty fan you'll find plenty to love in his newest rough-hewn eccentricity-laden path. Still bluesy, still rockin', but with more of a moonshine-drenched swampy hillbilly feel. Hmmm, it almost veers into quirksome Quintron or Ween (circa Pure Guava) cheezy territory with its weeny electric guitar lines, rudimentary drumming, funky basslines, woozied-up horns and murky vocals. The dvd features The Howling Variety Show by noneother than Neil Michael Hagerty. It's a just-over-half-an-hour, haphazard and decidedly lo-fi program of music, animation and sketches (!), and is apparently a pilot episode... so there very well might be more where that came from. Far be for us to tell you what to do, but we'd strongly suggest lightin' up a big fatty prior to hitting 'play'. With or without 'refreshments', it's an all-around entertaining hoot!

MPEG stream: Cobra Heart
MPEG stream: You Can't Beat Tomorrow

A-haaaaaa! Laughing is fun... and healthful too! We're quite partial to a hearty belly laugh now and then. And if you share our sense of humor -- which we're pretty sure many of you do (test question #1: did you love the original BBC series The Office more than the US version? Are you becoming dangerously obsessed with Peep Show, the UK's version of Curb Your Enthusiasm?!)-- then you'll be doing lots of it too while watching this dvd which has finally been released domestically! Stateside awareness of Steve Coogan, the British comic madman of many less than savory personas, has certainly grown significantly in the past year, mostly due to his prominent appearances in hip movies such as Tristram Shandy and Marie Antoinette. That said, this is the one and only Coogan domestic release that truly matters... at least where Cup is concerned. This dvd showcases Coogan at his best, most wickedly funny, most uncomfortable. It's amazing how completely immersed he is in this character. The title is no lie! We're talking about a remarkably fully realized, deceptively complex, alternately despicable and pitiful, genuine wince'n'cringe individual. It oozes from his pores, revealing itself in every word and mannerism, both conscious and unconscious. The fictional story in a nutshell: Once upon a time, Partridge was a former TV variety show host (his program was called "Knowing Me Knowing You" -- yes, he has a thing for ABBA which in itself equals more brownie points with Cup) and news show The Day Today's sports reporter, but is now a small town early bird radio show DJ living in a motor lodge, and desperately in pursuit of his former 'glory'. Partridge vacillates between helpless, awkward manchild and horseblinder-ed arrogant wanker. But one thing is for sure, all that he does, he does with absolute conviction and determination with his own (distorted to everyone but himself) sense of logic -- regardless of (and oblivious to) the degree to which he may be making an appalling, insensitive ass of himself. His interactions with others, namely the small staff at the Linton Travel Tavern and his dutiful P.A. Lynn, are nothing short of priceless. One of the brilliant-est things about this show is that there's not only plenty of the 'holy shit, that's hilarious!' kind of moments, but also the gradual cumulative squirm that we find somehow ever so perversely irresistible. This is razor sharp, brutally frank, but equally subtle television comedy as only the Brits can do, and they've been doing it for years! Hard to believe that this series originally aired back in '97. Stateside comedies simply can't touch 'em (and really should stop trying!), and invariably end up coming off as forced, trying too hard for shock value, and ultimately missing all of the key nuances. Really, the only American shows that's come anywhere close to this delicious discomfort are maybe Curb Your Enthusiasm and the ahead-of-the-curve Larry Sanders Show, and the latter's release on dvd got stalled at Season One... yeesh. Actually for those of familiar with the The Office (UK) and The Larry Sanders Show, think of this as the missing link between the two. Oooh! (or should that be "Ewww!") Doesn't that sound good? C'mon now, get "up with a Partridge!"

Next best thing to seeing the Stooges back in the day (let's see your hands...anyone...no one?) I guess would be to see 'em now, at one of their rare, raved-about reunion shows like this one in Detroit last year, headlining over Sonic Youth and the Von Bondies. And the next best thing to being at the show, is seeing it on your TV screen. Next best is next best is next best but still, this is Iggy and the Stooges we're talking about! Iggy's still got it, a wiggling wriggling rock star to the end, really more and more of a fascinating grotesque to watch the older he gets, while the Ashton brothers on guitar and drums prove that you don't have to have Iggy's physique to kick ass, even if you're old dudes. And Mike Watt is obviously having the time of his life, subbing for deceased bassist Dave Alexander. Funhouse saxophonist Steve Mackay shows up too. It's not gonna change your life, but it's a good show, you can even forgive them the one new song they play (otherwise it's only songs from the first two albums, nothing from Raw Power, which makes us wonder why this says Iggy & The Stooges on it not just The Stooges?). No fancy stage production or lights or anything, just a band playing songs they wrote 30 years ago and tearing it up. DVD extras include an entire in-store performance, just Iggy and the Ashtons, which demonstrates that even at a low-key show where he's sitting on a chair half the time, Iggy still has to take off his shirt before it's over. And there's Mike Watt's audio diary, and a bunch of Stooges stills from the pages of Creem magazine.

Maybe not your typical jazz trio, this Japanese group. Not that we'd expect anything typical from the Doubtmusic label. Bandleader Imai Kazuo (of Marginal Consort) plays amplified acoustic guitar, Suzuki Manabu is credited with electronics, and the third member of the trio, Ito Atsuhiro, performs on something called an "optron". As near as we can tell, that unusual instrument is a homebuilt device resembling a florescent tube light fixture. In fact, it IS a florescent light fixture, with some modifications. Kazuo's "controllable instrument" the guitar handles the orthodox musical content here, playing some lovely, recognizable melodies and jazzy chords, though he switches to sudden atonal outbursts of frantic skronk sometimes too. But it's the other two members of the trio who really bring the noise and nothing but, the "uncontrollable" electronics and optron outputting a varied, often quite cacophonous improvised barrage of buzzings and cracklings and feedback, all fritzed and glitched like malfunctioning mad scientist laboratory equipment! It can be calm, as with their version of avant composer/vocalist Annette Peacock's "Nothing Ever Was, Anyway" that features Imai picking out slow, sparse notes on his guitar amidst near-ambient hum and static from Ito's optron and what sounds a lot like video-arcade machine sounds emulated by Suzuki's electronics. But at (many) points, this gets pretty intensely dense with distortion and noisiness. Definitely a crossover from straight jazz into full-on, Hijokaidan or Merzbow style Japanese noise territory, as on the totally freaked out title track, another composition by Annette Peacock. These guys are REALLY into Peacock, there's in fact four of her pieces on the cd, alongside tunes originally by Cole Porter, Thelonious Monk, Lee Konitz, Georges Brassens, and even J.S. Bach! The inclusion of several well-known standards serves to make this seem even noisier, yet also more accessible at the same time. For instance, Cole Porter's "So In Love" sounds like you're hearing it via a shortwave radio transmission, with heavy hissing atmospheric interference. Not surprisingly, it turns out that the 54 year old Imai had been a student of the late great guitarist Masayuki Takayanagi, who pioneered some of the noisiest jazz ever but also performed traditional stuff too. (In the '70s, Imai briefly played with Takayanagi's New Directions Unit - and also the Taj Mahal Travellers and East Bionic Symphonia too!). So if Imai were to "play pretty" it makes sense he would do so in a context such as this. And, packaged along with the cd in the thick, gatefold miniature LP style sleeve, there's also a 40-minute dvd disc included here too, wherein you can see the optron in action, intermittently blinking brightly in Ito's lap as it makes its strange sounds. In close up shots, it's as if the trio is performing amidst flashes of lightning. The dvd features alternate takes of a couple of the tracks from the cd, as well as three Imai originals and yet another composition by Annette Peacock. As with the cd, this material was recorded live in the GOK Sound studio... some of the tracks in front of a studio audience, all of whom are politely acknowledged by name on the sleeve.

MPEG stream: Sarabande
MPEG stream: Blood
MPEG stream: Well You Needn't

The return of Immortal!!! These frosty warriors may have hung up their spiked gauntlets, but their legacy still looms large. Easily one of our favorite black metal hordes EVER, these records have been frustratingly tough to keep in stock over the years. Thankfully, they've all been reissued, in all their frostbitten black blurred glory! Finally, this, the final Immortal album, from 2002, gets the deluxe reissue treatment, now with a bonus DVD! From the cold frozen north (Norway) comes this, the very last (R.I.P.) cd from one of our favorite corpse-painted bands ever, Immortal. It's their seventh album but their first (and sadly last) for new, big-time label Nuclear Blast, so expectations were indeed high. And Sons Of Northern Darkness delivers, in fine Immortal fashion. It's got the unmistakable Popeye-gone-metal vocal stylings of guitarist Abbath, who rasps out the frostbitten fantasy lyrics penned by their former guitarist, the crippled Demonaz, all backed by a blizzard of drums from hefty skinbeater Horgh. Followers of Immortal's career know that they began as your basic, howling at the moon, primitive blasting black metal outfit. They quickly developed a reputation as the fastest band out there, reaching a peak of pure speed with the classic Battles In The North. Unable to top that, they did an album of Morbid Angel worship, the hectic Blizzard Beasts...and then Demonaz left the band, unable to play guitar due to "arm disease". Regrouping, Immortal shifted in a newly melodic, heavy-metal-riff oriented direction, releasing the brilliant At The Heart of Winter. Some old fans (Josh from The Fucking Champs, you know who you are) were disappointed that the songs wasn't as fast, and the production not as "necro" as before, but the drums still blazed and the better production (courtesy of Peter Tagtgren's Abyss Studio) combined with their improved song-craft made for a true masterpiece. They followed that up with At The Heart of Winter Part II (actual title: Damned In Black), and now here we are with what is essentially part three, Sons Of Northern Darkness. No, it doesn't top At The Heart of Winter but it's indeed more of the same quality Immortal, totally satisfying! While their blasting abilities are still incredible, this disc is perhaps at its best on the slower songs, like "Tyrants". Cold, cold stuff. There's even a song about Antarctica! The DVD captures an entire live show recorded in 2003 live at BB Kings Club in New York, filmed with a camcorder, this is raw and fuzzy footage, but the sound is good and there's plenty of corpepaint and windmilling hair, and that unmistakable Immortal frostbitten black metal blur. Immortal. Sometimes, there's nothing better.

MPEG stream: Sons Of Northern Darkness
MPEG stream: Tyrants

Here's one of those beautiful drone albums that should resonate with anyone keen on something to follow Stars Of The Lid, The Caretaker, or Basinski. The Ingenting Kollektiva remains something of a mystery both to us and, so it seems, to the rest of the world. Some information about their ideas are available (thanks to the impressionistic "art of memory" blog run by the Kollectiva's M. Swiezynski), but much remains purposefully arcane, which suits their smoke and mirror approach to sound design. The Kollectiva's first album seemed an homage to Ingmar Bergman's definition of nothingness, in spanning the existential gap between the mundane and the eternal void. It also channelled a zeitgeist that threaded together various pieces of music and film from 1969, but the results of that project formed an ethereal set of dronemuzik that found a particular voice that transcended the cultural references. The ghostly mood and nocturnal spell of their first album continues here on Lost Beyond Telling, tracking further back in time with references to Messiaen and Baudelaire. And again, the Kollecktiva finds itself making a slow, almost liturgical album of minimalist serenades through heavy processed instruments (guitar, cello, psaltry, etc.), field recordings, and manipulated pieces of crusty vinyl. A beautiful night sea music opens the album with pools of deep drones that gradually fracture into Basinski-like looping patterns phased through a refined use tremolo and delay. Comparatively scabrous textures churn through spiralling bird-song-like twitter on "The Dark Backward Abysm Of Time" all leading up to the somber, twenty-three minute conclusion of damp field recordings and backmasked bells dragging through a darkened loveliness of oceanic driftscaping getting close to a Salt Marie Celeste vibe. So nice! The dvd portion of the program features two distinct visual aesthetics from within the Kollektiva. The first four short films come by way of Tarrl Lightowler, who operates with an intense stroboscopic flickering of ever magnifying, ever vibrant images. Thickets of wire, bright petals, chunks of ice, and piles of leaves are just a scant number of the images that Lightowler projects in his videos, all siphoning out of a violent vortex of pulsing light. For all of its natural source materials, his videos are quite violent, countering the hypnotic wash of the sound, much of which originates from the material on the cd. Brilliant stuff for sure, but please watch carefully, as retinal fatigue comes on very quickly with these films. The two latter films are from Matthew Swiezynski, whose videos are far murkier with whisps of fire and shadows of the landscape dominating the darkened field of vision. On both of his films, the sounds are wholly unique based on creepy sounding loops that could have been culled from Tibetan horns and harmonium.

MPEG stream: Visions Obscurcies
MPEG stream: A Suffering That Turns To Light
MPEG stream: The Dark Backward Abysm Of Time
MPEG stream: Everything Is Abyss

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

SORRY.

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

SORRY. From the back cover... "In Annual 2, grab your popcorn & seats because 'Sneak Attack' - the 1st ANIMATED SKRATCH MUSIC VIDEO [QBert's Wave Twisters] and one of many chapters to complete the Wave Twisters movie is installed in this video for your viewing enjoyment. Learn how to perform test tones with DJ World Champion 8-Ball. Sneak inside another World Champion skratch practice session with Vinroc, Craze, Develope, and Babu. Tips and Secrets from DJ Swamp, Lamb Chop, and Butchwax! A frightening Halloween! Magic tricks! Cage dancing! The heckling Masked Skratcher! Mardi Gras! A shark attack! Skratchy Seal tours the NAMM show! Toenail Man! Beautiful women! Unbelieveable performances by QBert, Revolution and the Scratch Perverts! All this and much more from the No. 1 DJ video series in the world, TURNTABLE TV!!!"

Another must have for Maiden fans. The concert you've been watching on VHS for years, plus more stuff... History of Iron Maiden Pt. 2!

This dvd set is so cool, two AQ staffers wanted/needed to review it... Cup sez: This 2-dvd set is fantastic! The band really shows their love and respect for their legions of fans with such a super generous helping of rare Maiden treasures (and the price tag's pretty kind too). In particular, I found The Early Days documentary on this dvd to be sooo inspiring and impactful (and entertaining too... especially hearing Bruce Dickinson talking about wearing his "jimjams"!). For one thing, it has proven to amply refuel the fires of hardcore Maiden fans' Dickinson vs. Di'Anno frontman debate. That said it also resonates even if you're a non-Maiden fan, a not-yet-a-Maiden fan or simply not a metal fan at all, and you might discover (as I did) that you have newfound respect for Steve Harris and co. Awesome! When I (Allan) ordered this, I actually thought it was just one dvd, with a bunch of classic Iron Maiden live stuff on it that I probably had already seen on videotape but figured would be cool to have on DVD since I'm such a big Maiden fan. And I assumed a few AQ customers would think so too. But then when it showed up, I discovered that there's TWO discs, and the second one is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL to anyone into Maiden, '80s nostalgia, or air guitar (I'll explain in a sec). On the first disc, you get three concert films: 1981's Live At The Rainbow with Di'Anno singing, plus 1982's Beast Over Hammersmith and 1983's Live In Dortmund both with Bruce on the mic. In just three years, quite an arc of triumph. Turns out some of this I had seen, but some of it is previously unavailable footage. So, that disc is cool in and of itself. And then there's Disc Two. As Cup alluded to above, there's a documentary, The Early Days (90 minutes) which is so in-depth it's insane, and quite entertaining, the documentarians talking to everyone and anyone who had anything to do with Maiden, telling the story of Maiden from the band's modest inception in the punky mid '70s through their world-conquering Number Of The Beast album and tour. But what really made me exclaim "Heavens to Eddie!" is the episode of an 1981 British TV entertainment/documentary programme called 20th Century Box that focused on the burgeoning New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) as exemplified by the young Iron Maiden and their legions of fans. This is where the air guitar comes in...well not just air guitar, cardboard guitar! Apparently it was quite a pastime of the punters who populated clubs like the Soundhouse (whose resident DJ, Neal Kay, provides some unintentionally hilarious interview moments, like talking about how he doesn't approve of the term "heavy metal" while wearing a t-shirt with those very words on it) to make their own cardboard guitars and bring 'em out for a night of competitive headbanging. We don't want to spoil it by telling you more... it's great though. If you like Heavy Metal Parking lot you'll love this. If that wasn't enough, true Maiden fans will then be utterly freaked out to see the amazing Live At The Ruskin, 45 minutes of live Maiden shot with a home video cam from the crowd at the show in a tiny club celebrating the release of their very first album. Wow. Incredible. Plus there's tons of extras: 5 promo videos, early TV appearances (Top Of The Pops!), photo and art galleries, etc. They really did a bang-up job with this DVD package. Basically, Maiden rules, early Maiden rules even more, and if you like Iron Maiden, you must get this!!

Maryland's Iron Man, as you might be able to guess from their name, started off as a Black Sabbath tribute band. And we bet they were a pretty good one! Guitarist Alfred Morris III is basically the African-American Tony Iommi, complete with facial hair, fringed leather jacket, and Gibson SG. Total Iommi-worship. We wouldn't be surprised if to find out he'd cut off the tips of a few of his fingers to be more like his hero. So, obviously, old school doom metal is the name of the game here, and this album, originally released in 1994, is a minor classic of the genre for fans of Sabbath (natch), The Obsessed, Trouble, Candlemass, Witchfinder General, Saint Vitus, Solitude Aeternus, etc. Aside from the fact that the band had black guys in it ("blacker than Black Sabbath" they were billed!), Iron Man didn't really get much notice back when their records came out in the early '90s. Now the metal scene is different, doom is a bit more popular, and at last maybe this band will finally get their due. Certainly it's cool that this album has been reissued, 'cause we always thought it was their best, with their best singer -- who doesn't try to sound like Ozzy. To man the mic on The Passage, Iommi-dude Alfred Morris III found his very own Ronnie James Dio, by the name of Dan Michalak. He's the rather beefy-looking fellow with feathered hair in the back cover band photo. No elf, he. But he sure sounds a lot like Dio, his muscular, melodic, dramatic delivery giving the heavier-than-thou Sabbatherian riffage of Iron Man an extra dose of that epic doom magic that should have been heard by more folks the first time around. We can thank Japan's Leafhound label for bringing this back (newly remastered), much like they've rescued some other out of print doom discs by Revelation and Blood Farmers that also originally appeared alongside Iron Man in the early nineties on Germany's Hellhound label (clearly a big inspiration for Leafhound). Today, Iron Man's still around, dooming on, with (another) different lineup... speaking of lineups, this album has got Gary Isom on drums, a stalwart of the now-legendary Maryland doom scene from whence Iron Man hail, having played in Unorthodox, Pentagram, and Spirit Caravan among others.

MPEG stream: The Fury
MPEG stream: Unjust Reform

Subtitled: Visual / Aural Fragments And Excerpts 2001-2005. That means, if you're an Isis fan you'll be buying this, we're pretty sure. But actually, it's also the sort of thing that might turn you INTO an Isis fan, if you weren't already. Check it out -- a selection of live performances, seven individual songs filmed at various venues 'round the world in 2001 and 2005, plus a full 70+ minute live set captured in Australia last year. The full scope of Isis's blend of crushing heaviness and mesmerizing post-rock beauty is on display here, much of it professionally shot and edited. Totally arty and moody like we'd expect from 'em. Even the dvd menu and chapter title screens are works of art. Besides the live footage, the music video for "In Fiction" is also included, along with miscellaneous extras like a discography and photo gallery. Plus a 20 page dvd booklet with liner notes, art, graphics, and even lyrics. Pretty sweet. Heck we don't really think you can call yourself an Isis fan if you don't get this, eh? So, pick this up and ready yourself and your DVD player for a devastating dose of the dark, dynamic, precision post-metal that you've hopefully already experienced Isis delivering live in person (if you haven't, all the more reason to invest in this).

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

SORRY.

Just when you think you have Jandek figured out. Nearly fifty releases, several this year, you sort of figure he has his 'thing' and does it when the inspiration strikes him. But then along comes Glasgow Monday and we are totally thrown for a loop. Where to begin. First off it's a single track, spread out over TWO discs, a track called "The Cell" nine parts, near ninety minutes. Recorded live in Scotland, May 23, 2005, this is the 47th Jandek release, and FOURTH of 2006. BUT, gone is the strangled blues guitar that pretty much defined Jandek's sound, and its place, piano. Just piano. And vocals. Some strange scraping buzz and subtle percussion, some rumbling cello way in the background, but this is almost entirely piano and vocals, and you know what? It's absolutely gorgeous. This just might be the disc to win over all you Jandek haters out there. The piano is lilting and lovely, strange melodies hover and dissipate, notes and chords trail and drift, hands wandering along the keyboard, slightly melancholy, the sound just glistens and shimmers, while Jandek sings over the top, a sort of spoken croon, tentative, hushed, almost whispered, very dreamy and delicate. This is really nothing like any of the other Jandek records you have ever heard. A dark and mysterious, lovely and dreamlike record. Intimate and inspired, gentle and delicate, without a doubt the loveliest Jandek yet...

MPEG stream: The Cell: Part One
MPEG stream: The Cell: Part Two

After 26 years of cultivating an identity of secrecy, Jandek emerged on October 17, 2004 to perform live for the first time at a festival held at The Arches in Glasgow, Scotland. Many have expressed disappointment at the fact that the famously reclusive Jandek has "thrown away" his cultural cache by making a public appearance; but if you consider that Jandek declined to speak to anyone before or after the show and only spoke in undisclosed communications with the promoter and his collaborators, Jandek continues to take considerable efforts to maintain his distance from the public. So don't fret. Even though he has made this public appearance, do we really know more about Jandek than we did prior to this event? No, not really. The only thing that we can know for sure is that he's more clued into the avant-garde that had been previously thought since his collaborators were Richard Youngs and Alex Neilsen, though that could have been the doing of the festival's promoter. Plus Jandek's whole career makes it clear that he should, can and does do what he wants. Glasgow Sunday is the recording of that historic Jandek performance; and no matter what your opinion is of Jandek's decision to make a public appearance, this recording is fantastic. Youngs and Neilsen keep their input strictly as a rhythm section never to upstage Jandek himself. Throughout the entire set, Richard Youngs keeps his bass within a controlled variation of an elliptical throb and Neilsen does the quiet tumble down the stairs thing on the drum kit. But it's Jandek who really shines. His strangulated blues chords have the same jangling atonality of his earliest records (i.e. Ready For The House), and his deepened baritone voice snakes through his signature revelatory darkness: "I'm floating in a sea of red / Drowning down, can't get no air / And you done told me / I've got no life / I'm rolling my eyes / The last gasp is coming on." If Jandek's going to come out of his shell to make records this good, who are we to complain!?

MPEG stream: Sea of Red
MPEG stream: Blue Blue World

45th release, 2nd of 2006, double disc, 90 minutes long, an amazing live recording documenting Jandek's live perfromance at The Sage Gateshead England on May 22, 2005.

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

SORRY. Jandek is definitely an acquired taste, what with his deconstructed blues guitar and atonal moaning vocals. Totally powerful and personal but very very difficult. The accusation is often levelled that hipsters don't like Jandek because of the music, but because of the music's inherent unlistenability, thus ensuring hipsters are the only ones (the elite) to love Jandek. Probably true in some instances, but there is definitely a beauty and sadness in the music of Jandek, and of course the mystery definitely adds to the allure. Until a few weeks ago, Jandek, had never performed live. In twenty something years. Only one or two people had ever spoken to him or met him. He was the ultimate outsider musician, prolific, brilliant, and completely reclusive. Obviously the perfect subject for a film. Albeit a very difficult subject as source material would obviously be quite limited. Dircetor Chad Freidrichs did a pretty great job of putting together an engrossing and fascinating documentary using mostly album covers, talking heads / interviews and constructed surreal tableaus. The meat of the movie is a series of interviews with record collectors / rabid fans like John Trubee and Byron Coley talking about how they first heard Jandek and what the music meant and all that kind of stuff. The most controversial part of the movie is the only known recorded interview with Jandek, which is really kind of cute and makes Jandek even more appealing, like a regular quiet guy who just likes to make music instead of a creepy recluse. The timing of the DVD's release is a bit remarkable because as we mentioned Jandek recently performed live for the first time in 25 years, which does sort of detract from the mystery of the film, although we imagine it will probably help sales quite a bit. Definitely a cool movie, essential for Jandek fans, and certainly a good way to initiate the Jandek unfamiliar. Even my ex-housemate, who had never heard Jandek, watched the move with me and ended up buying a couple Jandek records soon after! Bonus features include: audio commentary, music only audio track, an album cover featurette, the complete John Trubee interview, audio essay by music critic Douglas Wolk, selections from Jandek albums since the movie was made, interviews with "Jandek scholars" Byron Coley, Irwin Chusid, and Phil Milstein, articles by Katy Vine and Richie Unterberger, reviews and the movie trailer.

Had this in stock for little while, should definitely list it, it's pretty great... It's released on Numero, but instead of the deep funk and soul they usually dig up, this dvd release is about the visuals - it's a collection of clever, brief, animated films from public television. You might have seen a few of 'em if you were a kid, watching Sesame Street in the '70s! Taking an avant garde approach that prefigured many techniques now familiar from MTV videos and advertising, filmmaker Jarnow made educational animations that were quite artistic as well. Beautiful, fascinating stuff. And even adults might learn (or re-learn) something about science and math from this. Plus, anyone with kids, this is perfect. There's a total of 45 short 16mm films in this collection, nicely presented in a slipcased package that comes with a large, 60 page book filled, as they say, with "essays and ephemera". The dvd extras include a documentary about Jarnow's creative process, as well as index and playlists. Super duper nice. You can look up Jarnow on YouTube to get a taste of this, but if you like what you see, you definitely would want the complete package.

Those expecting a documentary in the traditional sense, wherein a huge film crew with lighting rigs and hired security take over a small village while an authoritative voice-over gives you a blow by blow account of what unfolds before your eyes may be disappointed. This is a one man, one camera production. Shot entirely at night, relying on the good will of the participants, and leaving the interpretation up to you, the viewer, filmmaker Hisham Mayet takes us on a tour of Marrakech, Morocco's Jemma El Fna -- "the central square of the final outpost before one ventures into the great beyond of the western Sahara desert". All along the square people, mostly men, gather in circles around individual and groups of musicians. playing oud, banjo (!!!), various bowed instruments and percussion, the performers are accompanied by singers ranging from seasoned veterens working the crowd to youthful amateurs. In one section a young girl, maybe 7 or 8 years old sings and dances as an envious peer looks on. Perhaps one of the coolest moments though is when our cameraman stops by a gentleman set up in the square with his portable turntable and classic 7"s, sampling for us some of his favorites, crackly with age, and carefully wiping off the beautiful but worn jackets for us to see. Clocking in at 50 minutes, there's not a dull moment on this disc. While we forwarn those living overseas that this disc is NTSC, it is also region-free for those with multi-region players.

Visionary cult cinephiles get ready to drool! If you were as excited as we were about the recent reissue of Kenneth Anger's early films, then this incredibly packaged and affordable 4dvd+2cd box set of the early films of Chilean theatrical genius Alejandro Jodorowsky will surely make your head explode!!! Fando Y Lis! El Topo!!, HOLY MOUNTAIN!!!! Marvelously restored and beautifully remastered, there is so much amazing material here that has either never been available before, or only available previously as extremely hard to find poor quality transfers from mediocre prints. AND there's more! This set also includes the absolutely killer SOUNDTRACKS to both El Topo and yes, Holy Mountain!!! The Holy Mountain Soundtrack has never been released before and it so totally kills, and why wouldn't it, Don Cherry is all over it! But more about that in a minute, there's also bonus features, interviews, deleted scenes, audio commentary, a documentary and a short film from 1957 that was presumed lost until it was found early last year. So for those who may be unfamiliar with Jodorowsky's films, a bit of back story: Born in Chile and struggling to become an actor, Jodorowsky became fed up with the idea of scripted theatre and moved to Paris to study mime. Working with the great mime, Marcel Marceau while at the same time influenced by the Surrealists, Antonin Artaud's Theatre of Cruelty, Jean Cocteau's mythical fantasias, and the European Art House cinema of Fellini and Bunuel, Jodorowsky relocated to Mexico to form the theatre troupe, The Panic Movement, which would stage early happenings (involving lots of nudity and rotting food) and existentialist plays by Ionesco, Beckett and Fernando Arrabel. It was Arrabel's play, "Fando Y Lis" that would inspire him to move away from the theatre into cinema, but far from any structured or direct form of filmmaking. Jodorowsky wanted to re-interpret Arrabel's play by filming it completely from memory and in a remote and ruggedly extreme locale. Here he would bring together all the soul-baring psyche of experimental theatre, the role-playing excess of costumes, props and pageantry, the ritualistic entanglements of violence and beauty as catalysts of transformation, and most importantly the notion of existence as a journey through all kinds of personal and mystical revelations both sacred and profane. All of these qualities permeate each of the three films here. Ok, you get the idea. So let's just break it down for you, what you get from this awesome box set: --Fando Y Lis (1968): Jodorowsky's first full length black and white feature started riots at its premiere at the Acapulco Film Festival and was banned in Mexico due to its violent sexual imagery and ritualistic mocking of church beliefs. Based on Arrabel's play about a pair of dysfunctional lovers (one impotent, the other paralyzed) in a Fellini-esque quest for the spiritual city of Tar. Extras on this disc include the 1994 French documentary, La Constellation which features interviews with Marcel Marceau, Peter Gabriel (who was inspired by El Topo, when he wrote The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway), and the French sci-fi illustrator, Moebius, who began working with Jodorowsky on the failed attempt to film Frank Herbert's Dune, which sparked Jodorowsky's interest in graphic novels. --El Topo (1970): The bloody surreal western that spawned the Midnight Movie. Funded by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, this film is like a Sergio Leone film on a serious dose of brown acid. Extras include an interview with Jodorowsky about the Midnight Movie phenomenon. --Holy Mountain (1973): The ultimate spiritual quest film. Jodorowsky takes us through every imaginable belief system only to completely shatter our preconceptions about spiritual enlightenment. Extras include deleted scenes and commentary about Jodorowsky's continuing interest in the Tarot. --La Cravate (1957): A 35 minute silent film in color based on Thomas Mann's The Transposed Heads about a girl who sells heads and the men who are her customers. This film was presumed lost until its discovery last year in someone's attic in Germany! --El Topo Soundtrack: 18 tracks composed by Jodorowsky and John Barham inspired by both the soundtrack work of Ennio Morricone and Nino Rota. Full of flutes and droning horns, accordions and organs and twisted Mariachi styles. --Holy Mountain Soundtrack: 24 tracks composed by Jodorowsky, Don Cherry and Ronald Frangipane. Ranging from spiritual free drones to acid rock to Moroccan desert jams to pensive marches to soft jazz and everywhere in between. There are even themes for each of the nine planetary characters. Such a wild, weird, and wonderful soundtrack and it alone is worth the price of admission. Phew! So can you guess, that this is totally and absolutely recommended!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MPEG stream: La Catedral De Los Puercos (The Pigs Monastery)
MPEG stream: Vals Fantasma
MPEG stream: Las Flores Nacen En El Barro (Flowers Born In the Mud)
MPEG stream: Trance Mutation
MPEG stream: Psychedelic Weapons
MPEG stream: Baby Snakes

Ltd to 300 numbered copies. Includes dvd, poster.