[ aquarius records — Dvd Video Film ]

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Showing results 301 through 350 of 550.

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Second release from Video Horror Show, a new label releasing, as the name implies, VHS tapes, featuring original music, accompanied by tripped out visuals. The logical extension of the renewed interest in audio cassette tapes we presume, yet somehow even more retro, we can hardly wait for someone to start releasing tapes on betamax! Or microcassette! Even better, how about a laserdisc label?! Anyway, like the first installment (now out of print), a buzzing black metal sprawl from the awesomely monickered Suffer The Shards Of The Lost Culture Of Silence, The Five Wounds is another twisted sonic excursion, still plenty 'black', but instead of metal, this comes via witch house weirdos Mascara (spelled of course with the A's replaced by triangles, and the word separated by a little black pyramid, a spelling that for whatever reason comes out all gobbedlygook on our website), an epic 15 minute electro-goth synthdrone creepscape, all fuzzy distorted keyboards, moaning chanted vocals, lurching lumbering skeletal rhythms, everything hazy and blurry and gauzy and washed out, the sort of music you can imagine hearing in some dark smoke filled club in a David Lynch movie, so much smoke and dry ice, that it's nothing but shadows and strange amorphous shapes, and the sounds are muffled and mutated and refracted by the thick atmosphere, the voices slowed down to a crawl, the beat hypnotic and unrelenting, the synths buzzing and brittle, the vibe tranced out and deliriously druggy. The accompanying video most definitely suits the sound, super trippy and lysergic with loads of lo-fi effects, grainy film stock, double exposures, burnt out images, swirling landscapes, slow motion sort-of-3D, strange shapes and figures, warped clips from horror movies, eye popping colors, ever shifting kaleidoscopic tableaus of murder and mayhem and terror, forests, and altars, and basements, and dark hallways and lonely roads. They don't call it Video Horror Show for nothing. Needless to say, both sonically and visually, totally far out and mesmerizing, and pretty fucking awesome. LIMITED TO 100 COPIES, each one hand numbered, in a white clamshell old school video tape case, with two color hand screened inserts, recorded onto a blue videotape, and comes with a download code (just for the music) as well!!

MPEG stream: The Five Wounds

Directed by Antonio Ferrara.

Amazing, very METAL metalcore is what Atlanta's Mastodon crank out. These guys used to be in AQ-faves Today Is The Day, which is quite obvious when you hear 'em. They're heavy, aggressive, technical, and -- most importantly -- imaginative. Already up there with the likes of Coalesce and Converge in our estimation. Mastodon seems even more metal than those metalcore worthies, though. Maybe it's how the guitarist is partial to spitting out those Zakk Wylde-style harmonic squeals. Or maybe it's simply the crushing, crunching, complex riffs and drumming. But there's also some quite pretty melody to be found amidst Mastodon's math n' mayhem, and they have an almost 'post-rock' sense of dynamics (something most 'extreme' metal acts lack). Imagine your favorite old AmRep noise-rock act gone metal...or, Dazzling Killmen mixed with The Champs? Something like that. Also, they cut back on the movie samples that cluttered up their otherwise awesome debut ep (as per our suggestion?). Very impressive.

RealAudio clip: March Of The Fire Ants
RealAudio clip: Ol'e Nessie
RealAudio clip: Workhorse
RealAudio clip: Mother Puncher

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SORRY. Hurrah! A fan-pleasin' Mates Of State documentary shot by director (and M.O.S. fan) Thadd Day and the band themselves. It follows the pop sweethearts out on the road and into the studio (for the recording of their last full length Team Boo). Live clips capture them in the Midwest, Austin, Toronto and Japan. Keep your eyes peeled, maybe you'll spot yourself in the crowd! Also included on this dvd are a photo gallery and a couple of videos for their songs "Fluke" and "Ha Ha".

The latest in the ever expanding Sublime Frequencies collection of audio and video sonic treasures from around the world. This most recent dvd focuses on "ancient mystical brotherhoods' in Morocco, small groups of stringed instruments and drums, players managing to create intense and intensely emotional sounds and songs, that range from dark and simple, sweetly contemplative, to fierce and fiery and jubilant, explosive and over the top. As always, the scenery and setting is as breathtaking as the music., lots of amazing shots of Morocco, crumbling buildings, bustling harbors, cobblestone streets, vast deserts, winding highways, cozy apartments and most importantly, bustling street markets, lit by fires and lamplight, a huge after dark celebration, story telling, eating, socializing but most importantly making music... Small lantern lit clusters of people gather around old record players, home made amplifiers, rusty old speakers, strange (to our eyes) stringed instruments, all manner of drums and percussion, the crowd eager to bask in this amazing music, and just as often to participate, whether it be as another drummer, a singer, a dancer or even just as an onlooker. The music, is a stripped down blues, the buzzing strings, the gorgeous hypnotic melodies, looped and cyclical, so hypnotic and catchy, the vocals soulful and impassioned, from solo crooning to strange harmonies, to chanting, and lots of festive sing alongs. The focus is the buzzing strings and the pounding drums, and there are plenty of both, but there are also buzzing snake charmer style horns, wild dancing, costumes, and of course the usual outdoor crowd sounds, folks talking and laughing, cars driving past. It's so much like wandering through Morocco, it's amazing. And sonically, WOW. The rhythms and the melodies, a constant barrage of groove and drone, simple percussive thumps and shuffles, haunting melodies, huge tribal drum jams and of course some incredible riffing. Our favorite segments feature what appears to be a traditional banjo, but electrified and plugged into a rusty old handmade amplifier, turning the banjo into an awesome buzzing sitar like beast, emitting intense almost metallic chunks of incendiary riffing, raw and emotional, super distorted and intense, underpinning the wailing vocals and dense drumming. As awesome as this is to watch, the sounds themselves are plenty, so even after a few viewings, you'll end up listening to this dvd over and over. Fans of the sadly out of print Group Inerane lp, also on Sublime Frequencies, as much of the music here has that same feral blues buzz and dark looped riffing.

Pretty much everything we've heard on Sublime Frequencies has totally blown us away, the music so emotional and passionate, and in many ways so alien, sounding like nothing we've heard before. It's a music that transports us, fills our minds with images of the musicians, of their homes, the clubs, of all these places we've never been, the people, the children, their families, the instruments, we can't help but imagine this music as it's being made. Thankfully, the fine folks at SF have also been releasing dvd's, allowing us to see these musicians performing, recording, each dvd focusing on a region or a style of music, and every one breathtaking, whether it's the impossible expanse of the desert, the gorgeous landscape, the houses and town squares, experiencing late night markets, wild parties, impromptu performances, crazy jams, we've never been anything less than enthralled and blown away by these documents. And this one is no different. Shot over two years, Mayet travelled all over Africa, specifically Southern Morocco and the Mauritanian capital of Nouakchott, no narrative, just a dreamlike journey across vast expanses of land, long stretches of ragged road, amazing buildings, and ruins, into people's homes, and public spaces for (sometimes private) performances with some amazing groups, in particular aQ faves Group Doueh, whose two songs are dramatically different, one is at home, and features a man on guitar, and a woman on drum and vocals, the two reclining in what appears to be their living room, the second, is an actual performance, in a club, packed with women in the most dazzling clothing, Technicolor and elaborate, a huge video screen playing videos, and the band just chilling on a couch against the wall jamming, while some of the ladies dance. So awesome! So much amazing music, lots of it by groups we hadn't heard until now, but need to hear more from, so much to see, to take in, sometimes it's just the ambient sounds, the people, the cars, daily life, other times those scenes of daily life are set to music, but the real magic comes from being transported right into someone's home and getting to sit right in front of the players and experience the sound, as it's being created. Magical. LIMITED TO 1000 COPIES. All region.

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Dethklok is back!!! Our favorite animated purveyors of apocalyptic metal destruction have returned to face their demons both mighty and petty. In season two, they venture into the horrors of fashion, P.R., detox, the dating scene, state politics, as well as staging the largest public criminal execution of all time and of course botching it big time. This season they are faced with new mortal enemies from the Tribunal (one voiced by Malcolm McDowell), as well as an army of disfigured and damaged former fans called The Revengencers. Can Dethklok finally release their new record to save the World Economy, or will they be crippled by their childish infighting and developmentally challenged destructive behaviors? We never listed the first season, but we were all pretty much OBSESSED. The music is amazing, so good it's hard to believe they're not a real band, and the band members various accents are SO impossible to understand which almost makes it funnier and will probably have you turning on the subtitles, and the carnage, oh the carnage, so much blood... Brutal!

Our favorite "world music" label has gotta be Sublime Frequencies, their dedicated operatives backpacking through the far reaches of the non-Western world, documenting so much amazing music and sound. While SF mostly does limited edition vinyl and cds, they also do dvd releases too, adding equally 'exotic' visuals to the mix. Here's one such dvd, a film by Robert Millis of the Climax Golden Twins, whom you probably know also as a prolific field recordist and collector of 78s. Here he shares the sound and imagery from a journey he took, from Mumbai to Madurai and back. "Filmed live and in the moment in South India" this is a narrative-free exploration of the wonders (to us) of what must be rather mundane (to them, there). It's fascinating, odd, dreamlike, colorful, with much beauty, and moments of humor. The film is full of woozy close-ups and cross-fades of peeling murals painted on pockmarked walls. Religious processions. Traffic-clogged streets. Beach amusements. Strange scenes on flickering TV screens. Temple performances. Laundry being done. Street musicians. Cows, elephants! It's all reality, yet unreal, a bit hallucinatory. Helped along by (of course) the evocative field recordings and Bollywood samplings that serve as the soundtrack. One of the most mind blowing bits, for us at least, was the visit to the Experimental Instrument Museum in Chennai, revealing such treasures as the "revolving tambura". Wow. Makes Lark In The Morning seem pretty lame. Want. To. Go. There. 55 minutes, indexed into chapters accessible from the menu screen. Also includes an equally compelling photo gallery slideshow section.

92 minutes of live Minor Threat footage, from three shows (1980, 1982, and 1983 in DC and NJ), including a Q&A session with Ian filmed in '83. There's a sixteen page booklet in here as well. Haven't had a chance to watch this yet, but we imagine all true Minor Threat fans will want this. And punk fans of today (if you're reading this) could probably learn a thing or two from these kids... man do they look young in the pictures on the DVD case!

At the risk of getting a huge amount of grief, we have to be honest and admit we were never all that into the Minutemen. Sure we dug the concept. And the energy. And the politics. And they seemed like super cool guys. And of course they were down with all of our favorite bands of that time, Black Flag, Descendents, Husker Du, Minor Threat, Sonic Youth, the whole SST stable. But their sound, at least at the time, was just a little too funky. Watching this movie though, definitely gives us pause, and had us re-evaluating, and it's suddenly so obvious how much those guys owed to groups like P.I.L., the Pop Group and especially Wire, and now, how much they beat the current wave of new wave post punk revivalists to the punch by 20 years. As a film, though, We Jam Econo is as much about the time and the scene as it is about the band. Amazing interviews with all our punk rock heroes all grown up, Henry Rollins, Ian MacKaye, Jack Brewer, Dez Cadena, Nels Cline, Kira Roessler, Lee Ranaldo, Raymond Pettibon, Mike Mills, Thurston Moore, David Markey, J Mascis, John Doe, Jello Biafra, Milo Aukerman, Joe Baiza, Chuck Dukowski, Flea, Grant Hart, Greg Norton, Curt Kirkwood, Colin Newman and loads more. But it's pretty much the Mike Watt show, as he drives around in his old beat up Econoline, pointing out all the punk rock historical landmarks that are now Petco's or condos, as he gives an insane rambling account of the Minutemen's convoluted and endlessly fascinating history. There's some amazing live footage and a cool interview with the whole band, and D. Boon does seem like the coolest nicest guy in the world. And the tragedy of his passing really hits home after living vicariously through those years via this film. Not sure that we necessarily LOVE the Minutemen now, but we do dig them a bit more, and the movie was awesome, and there are for sure a few songs that stuck, and will have us hunting down some Minutemen discs for sure. Includes tons of amazing footage, and lots of extras, including videos, a set of acoustic covers performed live, uncut interviews, deleted scenes and more. The second disc includes 62 songs from three live performances, at the Starwood in 1980, at the 9:30 club in 1984 and at the Acoustic Blowout in 1985. Also includes a massive booklet packed with photos, notes from the filmmaker, and liner notes from David Rees who does the killer comic Get Your War On! NTSC. All Region.

In the past couple months, we've gotten a pair of terrific dvds documenting two venerable bands' recent resurrections. They are 'Loud Quiet Loud: A Film About The Pixies' and this one 'Mission Of Burma: Not A Photograph'. It recounts the period leading up to and including the 2002 reunion of this immensely cerebral and creative seminal post-punk band from Boston. Includes early footage from the late '70s onwards. Powerful. Listen (and watch) and learn!

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SORRY. There's a disembodied cartoon wrist on cover.

We've been assured by the man himself that slowly but surely badboy indie filmmaker Jon Moritsugu's acclaimed cult films (including his most recent totally rad pair, Fame Whore and Scum Rock) will become available on dvd. Well, looks like 1994's Mod Fuck Explosion is the first to come out of the gate. If you dig ultra raw and trashy cult films then you're surely already well familiar with Moritsugu, and if you're not already acquainted... well, here's your chance to give him your undivided attention. A totally punk flick.

We love Mogwai. And we probably always will. Their Young Team record still ranks at the very tippy top of the slow burning, slow building, quiet loud quiet LOUD, post rock ouvre, and a million bands since, trying their damnedest to do the same thing, haven't dulled or diminished that love at all. In fact if anything, all it did was enforce how genius these guys really are. And while they're in the unenviable position of having a ridiculously iconic record that all subsequent records are inevitably compared to, when one can ignore that looming sonic spectre, then all of their records rule. Intense, and emotional, epic and majestic, heavy and melodic, soundtracky and cinematic. It really is remarkable listening to Mogwai and then hearing Pelican or Isis or any of the other bands who do something similar, and while Mogwai are maybe not BETTER, they are special, and unique, with a sound that impossibly manages to sound ONLY like them. Special Moves is a documentary / live concert film, gorgeously shot, featuring selections from throughout their entire career, from big crashing bombastic epics, to brooding moody meanders, their live sound as lush and lovely as their records proper. All black and white, stark, high contrast live footage, interspersed with shots of random people on the streets, rain swept cities, crowd shots, sound checks, empty clubs, blurred lights, close ups of fingers and strings, all very impressionistic, and it all suits the music so perfectly. It includes some bonus live footage, which looks just as good as the movie. And there's also a soundtrack disc, featuring all the tracks from the movie and then some, more of that epic Mogwai majesty, not necessarily all that different from the recorded versions, but heck, any excuse for more Mogwai is fine by us, and some of the tracks DO get reworked a bit, but if you've been hankering for some smoldering, swelling post rock quiet/loud epicness, this should hit the spot. Also includes a bonus download of 6 more live tracks!

MPEG stream: I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead
MPEG stream: Mogwai Fear Satan
MPEG stream: Like Heord

Psychedelic, surreal, bizarre, expansive, campy, politically charged, charming, stylized, kitschy, technicolorful, captivating. Oh my god, what the heck could all of those adjectives apply to? The Monkees' Head of course! Yup, it is all of that and so much more! If you've passed on watching Head in the past because you saw The Monkees' name on it, you've been seriously missing out on a work that is *exactly* whatever you might think The Monkees and their music was, but it also reaches far beyond their scope as well as that of more shall we say 'serious' auteurs... and successfully so. Co-written and co-produced by Jack Nicholson and director Bob Rafelson, this 1968 movie continues to kick ass almost forty years after its original release. Seriously, DO NOT MISS THIS!

Oh man! Where would we be without the Moog (pronounced MOAG, not MOOG). We wouldn't have Stereolab, or Tortoise, or E.L.P. (says Andee!) or almost any of the risk taking bands of the last thirty years. Well, we'd probably still have 'em but boy would they sound completely different. And most certainly not nearly as good! The history of Robert Moog (who is unbelievably cute and so effusive about his keyboards and the folks who play them) and the development of the synthesizer is totally fascinating, especially so for music tech nerds, but definitely fun for anyone to watch. Loads of insane footage from the sixties and seventies: Moog instructional videos, live performances, interviews, and up close examinations of the machine itself, a snarled mass of wires and knobs and plugs that look almost organic, like the inside of a human being! But it's definitely the live performances that drive the point home, showing the Moog in its element demonstrating quite easily how it managed to define and recreate the possibilities of synthesized sound! A particularly awesome clip features Gershon Kingsley (of Perrey and Kinglsey) defending the Moog against critics who at the time claimed it was a machine NOT a musical instrument, some Stereolab shot right here in SF, and of course some INSANE Keith Emerson Moog jams. Later in the film there's a brief bit on the theremin, but for the most part it's all about the moog! Extra stuff includes deleted scenes, interviews with DJ Spooky, TIm Gane of Stereolab, Charlie Clouser of Nine Inch Nails, and more Bob Moog himself, as well as extra live footage from Money Mark, The Album Leaf, and more. Probably the most amazing extra though is a Schaefer Beer commercial, where a dude all decked out in his seventies finery, plays a wild Moog-ed up version of the Schaefer beer theme before pouring himself a tall cool one!!

What can we say about this movie that hasn't been said already? To sum it up: Soon after the towers fell in NY, the Bush Administration let the guy who committed the worst terrorist attack on our nation basically go free, while plotting to attack a country that hadn't attacked us. They also flew his entire family out of this country and back to Saudi Arabia while thousands upon thousands of Americans were left stranded in cities, physically and emotionally frozen. Dense layers of sobering details of the Bush Administration's fuck-up-for-oil are laid out here in very clear, very broad terms for anyone and everyone to absorb, regardless of race, creed or politics. Michael Moore (Bowling for Columbine) does an excellent job of making sense of it all for us. If you want the clearest, film-based explanation of what the hell has been going on with our government these last three years since 9/11 and in years leading up to it, this is a must-see. No, it's not entirely fair and balanced, but it's scary and sobering. Moore can be funny, but mostly this is frightening. Surprisingly on the expensive side, maybe the best way to purchase this is to combine dollars with your friends, family or neighbors and buy a copy to share. It's well worth the investment by also offering some powerful special features: a new scene -- homeland security, Miami style; outside Abu Ghraib Prison; an eyewitness acount from Samara, Iraq; a montage of the people of Iraq on the eve of the US invasion; an extended interview with Abdul Henderson; Lila Lipscomb at the DC premiere; Condoleeza Rice's 9/11 Commision testimony and more - all important to view and share with others before voting on November 2nd, and again thereafter for posterity's sake, giving new meaning to the phrase "never forget".

This is the most beautiful movie we have ever seen. EVER. And it is so appropriately Aquarius. Similar to how we love records buried in shortwave interference and vinyl hiss, and embrace all the crackle and pops and skips that add such depth and color to otherwise sterile recordings, Decasia takes that same tack with the visual. Compiled entirely from found film stock that had been archived and for the most part improperly stored, this is a gorgeous and meditative collage of stirring images, made even more so by the chemical reactions that threaten to overtake the images on screen, like some sort of plague or demon. Grainy and rich, the films have been affected in all sorts of beautiful ways by the elements: changing colors, stuttering frames, amorphous shapes, rotting filmstock with pure light shining through and every permutation in between. Obviously visually stunning, but equally thrilling is the score performed by the Bang On A Can Ensemble who in composing and performing this, simulated sonic decay by detuning their instruments and using prepared pianos. The result is totally haunting and absolutely mesmerising. My girlfriend's uncle showed me a film once called Alexander Nevsky by the late great Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein, an epic tale of Russian resiliance. He had gone to great lengths to find a restored copy, where both the picture and the score had been repaired and now looked and sounded as close to flawless as was possible. I finally discovered a copy for myself, but it was an early version, not restored, with all sorts of visual detritus, and the sound was really scratchy and fuzzy and often indistinct. But it was so much better than the restored version, like a lost artifact (which it sort of was) finally unearthed, a mysterious glimpse into another time, the years and years imprinted on the film like the lines on an aging face, or the green cast of tarnished copper. Decasia celebrates deterioration and disintegration in very much the same way, letting time and nature run its course and simply observing the natural beauty inherent in decay.

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SORRY. We have just 3 copies of this, left over from Record Store Day. Never listed it. Only 100 copies made. It's movies of FOG. Yes. Perfect for Mt. Eerie's music. More specifically: it's Mount Eerie recorded live in the basement of City Hall, Anacortes, Washington, at What The Heck Fest, July 20th, 2007, "set to movies of the world looking slow and beautiful in bad weather".

What will it take for us to convince you that Mr. Show is the greatest "sketch" comedy show EVER? Thimbles? Fake poo? Wyckyd Sceptre? Marilyn Monster Pizza Parlors? Probably nothing will do it at this point, you're either with us or against us. Us Mr. Show fans have to enjoy our obsession in secret (some of us here even have to sneak out of bed late at night and watch with headphones, so as not to wake our significant other who'd surely discipline such behavior). For those of you who do love Mr. Show and miss anticipating a new season every year, be sated with these final two discs. Not only will you get to relive the final ten episodes, but also enjoy some new items. Like the DVD reissues of the earlier seasons, this one has the usual hilarious commentary with Bob & David on all but one episode. Plus there's outtakes from the first three seasons, bloopers, "The Naked Improv" from a 1998 Comic Relief appearance, "The Grand Reunion" featurette and a Mr. Show Jukebox of songs from the entire series.

Best sketch comedy show ever. Hard to know what else to say. Everyone here has been OBSESSED with Mr. Show since it first aired on HBO years ago. To the point that some of us even spent a fortune buying crappy quality bootleg tapes on Ebay just to be able to see the show again! So we were SO EXCITED that HBO finally planned on releasing all four seasons! FUCK YEAH! A crazy mix of video and live sketch comedy starring Bob Odenkirk and David Cross. Cross you might recognise from his numerous guest appearances: Men In Black 2, Scary Movie 2, and about a million TV shows as well as his comedy record on Sub Pop 'Shut Up You Fucking Baby.' Mr. Show is brilliantly twisted, offensive and foul mouthed, ridiculous and unbelievably clever, obsessed with sex, drugs, rock and roll, reality police shows, old folks, streaking, British people, and of course cock rings! This is season three and features the amazing Sid And Marty Croft spoof Drugachussetts which is worth the thirty five bucks all by itself. And if you decide you are as obsessed as us, we can also order you the first and second season DVD set!

The latest from aQ beloved psychedelic space rockers Mugstar is not a proper new album, but is instead a soundtrack to a film called Ad Marginem, Mugstar providing a brooding and moody score, their usual space-prog heaviness dialed back a bit, the group weaving lush landscapes of tribal drumming, and low slung riffage, a perfect match for the film, shot mostly in black and white, with dramatic burst of abstract color in the beginning, and at certain points throughout, Mugstar spend much of the record/film locked into a sort of hypnorock mesmer, that most fans of Circle will find immediately appealing, a single riff, looped and layered and repeated, while the group wreathes that main groove in subtle sonic colorations, the vibe is definitely post rock, or very minimal psych rock, the guitar slipping from jangle to muted chug, the drums driving and propulsive, but the whole thing tense and dramatic, a very slow build, swirling organs drifting in and out, Slint like minor key melodies, quite effective and intense, it's not until near the end of the first side, and obviously at an appropriate place in the film, that the band lets loose, exploding into a stretch of rollicking psych rock, laced with soaring leads, pounding drums, the sound fierce and heavy, before slipping right back into the more pensive sonic brooding. The B side follows a similar pattern, spending most of its time in loping cyclical dirge mode, still minor key and moody, this time, near the films end, slipping into a long stretch of slow, hushed, near ambience, a drifty bit of psychedelic shimmer, brooding and ominous, until finally, the drums slowly creep in, the guitars build to a roar, the sound explodes into something more heavy and hypnotic, super intense and dramatic, a sort of space psych Godspeed moment, a noisy super intense sonic coda, as the film fades to black. The film might be something you watch only once or twice, but like the best scores/soundtracks, Mugstar's music for Ad Marginem, even separated from the visuals, still sounds amazing, and essentially plays like a Mugstar record proper, albeit a slightly more mellow one, but fantastic nonetheless!

Oh boy! A DVD filmed at San Francisco's famed Musee Mechanique, that fantastic collection of turn of the century penny arcade machines!! Cool. We figure that many of our customers who've bought the cds of music from the Musee that we sell (three volumes so far, you'll find 'em elsewhere on our site) haven't actually had the chance to visit the place themselves, so this is perfect. And if you HAVE been to the Musee -- especially the old Cliff House location -- you'll want this for the memories. And it'll make you want to head on down there soon enough again to visit in person, so it's double the nostagia trip (for the early 1900's, and for the last time you were there). For those who haven't even heard of the place, basically the Musee Mechanique, now located on Pier 45 down at Fisherman's Wharf, is filled with coin-operated mechanical amusements ranging from music boxes and player-piano type contraptions (several with an orchestra's worth of sounds) to various games of skill and chance to quaint "peep shows" to fortune tellers to animated dioramas (what are called "working models") to Musee mascot Laughing Sal... all are to be found on this DVD, filmed in action, as collector/curator Edward Zelinsky takes viewers on a guided tour of the Musee's many attractions, even stopping to try his hand at the "Love Tester". Sometimes he talks about when/where/how he ended up acquiring the machine he's showing off, but just as often he just drops the quarter in and gives a "hey, wow, gee whiz" reaction just like a kid. The documentary has its cheesy (but charming) moments -- someone gets carried away with video effects a few times, for instance -- but we're mighty pleased with it overall. It's very cool to get a glimpse at the inner workings of both the Musee and its machines. Maybe our favorite thing about this DVD is the way the camera really gets up close and personal with the "working models", taking the viewer into the scene (fire house, farm, graveyard, and our favorite, the opium den!!) in a way that you can't really experience even in person. Especially with that creepy opium den diorama, we were reminded of a Brothers Quay film or Tool video... Ed Zelinsky passed away in 2004 (his tour was filmed when the Musee was still at the Cliff house) but his collection is in the capable hands of his son Daniel, who had been running the Musee and fixing the machines for many years already, and appears in several of the "extras" included. Total running time 68:45.

Completing our library of cult filmmaker Jon Moritsugu's flicks he's self-released on dvd (at least as of June 2011... we're sure there'll be more to come, since he's currently working on a new film!) is this early one from 1989. It was Moritsugu's first feature length freakout! Shot on 16mm, this trashy, kitschy, ultra lo-fi, truly underground film features a fictitious female rock trio, but its cast also includes a real pig's head. Super DIY, super strange, garish and fun! With music from Bongwater, Halo Of Flies, Vomit Launch, and Gov't Issue. And while we're diggin' '80s movies about awesome punk rawk girl groups, definitely also check out Ladies And Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains. A film from 1981 which often gets mentioned in the same breath as this one by indie flick aficionados. Much to Cup's delight it also finally got released on dvd a couple years ago, and we've got it in stock now too!

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

SORRY. It used to be a list wouldn't pass with something new from Aidan Baker or his doomdrone duo Nadja, we were beginning to worry since it had been a little while now, but as if to make up for it, we now present you with this sprawling double dvd featuring SIX HOURS of music from both Nadja and Baker solo, recorded live in 2003 and 2007, accompanied by experimental visuals by more than FIFTEEN filmmakers. All housed in a gorgeous book like digpak sleeve, and accompanied by an extensive set of liner notes, with details of the performances, and the various films and filmmakers. This is most likely not for the uninitiated, for those of you new to Baker and Nadja, who are looking to dip your toes, 6 hours of live video might not be ideal, and there are no shortage of choices, have a look elsewhere on the aQ site, so many fantastic releases from both Nadja and Baker solo, but for fans, most of whom tend toward the obsessive, this double dvd set is a mindblower. The sounds of course are incredible, the Nadja disc slips from hushed dense drone music to barely there shimmer to full bore doomic shoegaze crush, the Baker disc is much more minimal and shimmery, dark drifting dronemusic, that occasionally erupts into something noisier, but spends more of it's time hovering and glimmering, the visuals designed to match, gauzy indistinct shapes and colors, cool black and white images of undersea life, blurred landscapes and softly psychedelic collages, while the Nadja films are more varied, weird shots of colored fire, tripped out psychedelic lights, grainy super 8 footage of mysterious signs and streets, blurred black and white, super saturated lysergic shapes, occasionally intercut with footage of the band on stage hunkered over their instruments in front of the films. The label describes this disc as "the ultimate video aquarium for the acid-minded", and that's not far off, throw this up on your big screen TV, strap on some headphones, and TRIP OUT, or just toss this in your dvd player, sans TV, and you've got a brand new 6 hour album of blissed out drone-y psychedelic shoegaze heaviness. Can't argue with that. Region free!

If you have even a tiny inkling of who or what Nardwuar The Human Serviette is, you know this is a big fucking deal! For years and years, the contents of his monumental interview archive vaults have only been accessible in bits and pieces on his home-compiled VHS tapes, on his weekly college radio show in Vancouver and on brief Much Music appearances in Canada, but now finally you can take a heaping double platter home with you!!! Are you prepared? For five and a half hours worth? Well, if you're unsure as to whether you have the endurance for it, we strongly recommend that you brace/pace yourself, and don't be dissuaded. Stock up on snacks, take the phone off the hook, you'll be okay. Hell, you don't have to watch it all in one sitting, but once you get started it might be hard to stop. Many less observant, less hardy folks might dismiss the tartan capped, high-pitched Nardwuar The Human Serviette as simply a hyperactive irritant with a microphone -- lumping him in with seemingly similar in-your-face tightly-wound personalities such as fellow Canuck Tom Green, but first (and second) impressions can be deceiving. While we have to admit many of his disarming, oft-infuriating, absurd tactics do closely resemble those of more self-aggrandizing gonzo interviewers, there's definitely something else going on with this infamous irrepressible staunch Canadian. Let's take for example his unbelievably obsessive researching skills. For each and every potential interview subject, he consistently bloodhounds out the obscurest, mundanest, yet oddly fascinating facts that effectively stop the interviewee in his/her tracks. Y'know, those little skeletons in the closet that they themselves don't even remember, and that via Nardwuar have come back to haunt them much to their glee or chagrin. In the early days, he started out by primarily digging into the nooks and crannies of the indie music scene doing interviews for his radio show. As his own notoriety grew so did his scope, broadening to encompass the whole show biz industry. Along the way he's also delved deeper and deeper into other media related areas and points of interest (politics, self-help, tele-evangelism to name a few). The list of people to whom he's somehow gained access is in itself nothing short of mind-blowing (over 60 interviews are featured on this dvd set and that's a mere drop in this Serviette's bucket) -- Mikhail Gorbachev, Dan Quayle, Gene Simmons, Pam Grier, Marilyn Manson, Destiny's Child, Gwar, Kelly Osborne, Slayer, Ian MacKaye, Vanilla Ice, Franz Ferdinand, Wesley Willis, David Cross, Busta Rhymes, Michael Moore, Cradle Of Filth, Blur, Henry Rollins, Thor, Ernest Angley.... And that's not even counting his multiple interview encounters with Snoop Dogg, Courtney Love and Jello Biafra over the past decade. Clearly people love him, hate him and love to hate him, but when he suffered a brain hemmorhage a few years back, it was nothing but an outpouring of love and admiration that came his way from all walks of life. While hospitalized he received an avalanche of gifts and well-wishes (including a painting by and from David Lee Roth!), and even had to have his own bedside payphone to take all the calls that came flooding in. But now fortunately he is back on his feet wreaking havoc with this, his most comprehensive crowning glory to date. Granted it's not for everyone, but those who rise to the challenge will be duly rewarded with a thorough schooling of headscratching useful and useless facts, figures and trivia, will be thoroughly entertained along the way, and will find themselves responding with a resounding "Doot Doo!" Also included: lots of sights and sounds of Nardwuar's bands (The Evaporators and Thee Goblins), an eye-straining 16 page boooklet, and yes of course, audio commentary!

Time to give your eyes, ears and funny bone a workout! To prepare yourself we suggest you drop and give us twenty! Heh heh... here's the prequel to Nardwuar The Human Serviette's 2006 double dvd interview extravaganza Doot Doola Doot Doo... Doot Doo! (please see our review of that release if you need a Nardwuar tutorial). What d'ya know, it's another double dvd interview extravaganza! How does he do it?! The superhuman Canadian Nardwuar packs every nook and cranny of these dvds with wild'n'woolly entertainment. Totalling a whopping five and a half hours in running time, Welcome To My Castle! contains his two cable TV specials that he produced back in the '90s, and a plethora of interviews with such varied celebrities as Bob "Gilligan" Denver, The Monkees' Mickey Dolenz, Tommy Chong, Ron Jeremy, Timothy Leary, Cynthia Plaster Caster, Jello Biafra, Flea, Courtney Love, Sonic Youth, Nirvana, Anthony Robbins, Tom Vu, former U.S. President Gerald Ford, former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau, and many many more! Some are total gutbusters, some are jawdroppers, some are a bit tense, and some are sublime. Plus you also get a bunch of new vids by his band Thee Evaporators (be sure to check out their latest full length Gassy Jack And Other Tales which we've also reviewed on this here list!). Pssst, the dvds' menus and chapter titles were all hand-lettered by our own Cup!

This one is definitely for the true fans only. The grim, the troo, the obsessive. A double dvd collection designed to give the listener / viewer a glimpse into the soul and spirit of Kanwulf, the man who IS Nargaroth. Through the music of Nargaroth obviously, but also, plenty of more personal stuff, some introspective writing, and lots of Vietnam, but more on that in a second. The first disc, is the live stuff, all shot pretty lo-fi, handheld camcorders, either from the crowd or the side of the stage, the sound super blown out and buzzy, the vocals so high in the mix they nearly swallow up the rest of the music. But the band are tight, the crowds wild, head banging, thrashing, horns held high, recorded live in Belgium, Austria, Portugal and Italy. Having listened to Nargaroth for so long, not only is it weird to see them/him performing live, but also weird to see them playing in what appears to be a school gymnasium, or a small rock club. The music of Nargaroth is so epic and sweeping and majestic, we always envisioned flaming chariots, and dark snowy forests, storm clouds and black skies, so it takes a minute to adjust to the idea that they are in fact an actual band. And even the shit sound quality doesn't detract from the fierce performances. The second disc is where it gets weird and personal, but in doing so, makes this so much more interesting than your run of the mill music dvd. The first section is called "Dead Shoots", one subsection is marked "Private" and is a slide show of band photos, live shots, images of hills, and seas and trees and skies, plenty of candid "dudes at rock clubs" shots, LOADS of photos of Kanwulf, hanging out with other metalheads, lurking in the forest, or sitting on a station wagon in front of his parent's house, intercut with images of Kanwulf when he was in the army, or sporting Vietnam style camo, all set to some neo-classical soundtrack. But then, Kanwulf is obsessed with the Vietnam War, the last record was called Semper Fi after all, and the next section of the dvd, called "'Nam" is nothing but images from the Vietnam War set to the music of Jefferson Airplane and classical music. Weird! But pretty interesting. The next section is called "Live Shoots" and is all clips from the various live shows on he first disc, a slideshow set to Nargaroth songs, not sure what these are for, since the other disc has all the same images LIVE, but still some cool shots. Next up is a section called "Digital Thoughts", personal writings and thoughts from Kanwulf, on making the dvd, and on his development as a person and an artist, very cool and personal, and not at all hung up on the usual grimmer than though stuff. The there's LOTS more Vietnam. First a section called "Swamp Thing", A sort of homemade Vietnam documentary featuring some amazing shots of the war, images of helicopters and soldiers, jungles smothered in smoke, this time set to the Doors' "The End", Hendrix and other sixties rock, with voiceover from Kanwulf (we presume) telling the story of Vietnam, and its affect on him. In the same section, another menu leads us to another section, this one called "Vietnam", where Kanwulf writes extensively on Vietnam, his feelings on the war, and how the war influenced his thinking, feeling and music making, as well as his plans to visit Vietnam to try and understand and experience what went on. There's also a documentary called "No Mexican Tequila Massacre", which is a short film about an aborted Mexican tour, lots of rehearsing, hanging out and drinking, smoking, some jamming, but lots of nothing going on, the guys in the practice space, changing strings, waiting for the show(s) to be confirmed, which they never are. Plus you get to see Kanwulf in Birkenstocks� The final section is called "A Way" and is a surprisingly personal missive about Kanwulf's development as a person from when he started Nargaroth, moving away from hate and emptiness to become more of a real person with real feeling and emotions, scene politics be damned, not at all what you might expect from a black metal legend, but pretty refreshing and heartfelt. The first disc will definitely appeal to true black metalheads, some awesome rare live footage, appropriately lo-fi and grim, thrashing and black, but the second disc turns this into something way weirder, and way more intimate, as Kanwulf constantly states on the dvd, this is not the sort of thing that endears him to 'the scene', sharing and feeling and honesty are not typically selling points for black metal, but then, this is far from a typical black metal dvd. Packaged in a full color cover, with a complete discography (including shirts even!) on the flip side visible through the clear dvd case, full color booklet, with notes, and photos, and strangely the second disc seems to be a dvd-r, while the first disc is a proper factory produced dvd. All region.

Like the Jemaa El Fna DVD on Sublime Frequencies, the Nat Pwe DVD also contains no voice over, authoritative or not, to mis-guide you through the festivities. Instead, using the camera in the same way someone might make a field recording in the traditional auditory realm, you are led merely by the camera angles and edits chosen. As a way of background, here's what Sublime Frequencies writes about the event contained here: "In Burma, many people believe in ghost spirits called NATs. These spirits are historical figures who met tragic or violent deaths. They are said to possess the power to assist or devastate the lives of those who recognize them. A PWE is a ceremony held to appease a Nat. Pwes are arranged daily throughout Burma for many purposes including the achievement of success in business, a happy marriage, or improving one's health. A Nat is summoned through a Kadaw; the flamboyent and charismatic master of the Pwe dressed in elegant costume. The Kadaw is a spirit medium, dancer, storyteller, and magician who exposes the crowd to a living incarnation of the Nat brought forth through opening ritual and careful observance of tradition. Many of the Kadaws are male crossdressers performing the role of female Nats and the Nat culture attracts the homosexual, occult, artistically expressive and more outgoing elements of the Burmese population. Cash money is thrown and cigarettes and whiskey are hand delivered by the Kadaw to the willing faithful. Audience participants are often ecstatic, spontaneously launching into trance as the Nat spirit possesses their bodies while the melodically ornamental and thundering sound of the Nat Pwe orchestra plays on as perhaps the last, great unknown musical juggernaut existing anywhere. Each Pwe has its own mood and Nats can dictate a variety of happenings and unpredictable phenomenon. Since the 11th century, there have been 37 officially recognized Nats and every August, in the village of Taungbyon, there is a festival dedicated to two of them. This festival is one of the greatest spectacles on earth. At the peak of the Taungbyon celebration, there are dozens of very intimate venues holding continuous Pwe's for 48 hours without interruption bubbling with excitement and intensity all within the narrow alleys of bamboo shelters amidst a vibe of mysterious, electric charm. What results is the magnetic, unexplainable concoction of conservative tradition, free expression, music, dance, spirit possession, and anomolous synchronicities of Burma's Carnival Of Spirit Soul." Insane stuff. The film begins in the daytime following hundreds of pilgrims as they make their way to the event and ends late into the night after the festivities have reached a zenith of frenzied performance and audience participation. The camera wanders from tent to tent, each one containing a Kadaw, a Nat Pwe Orchestra (a completely crazed percussion ensemble about as removed from Burmese Harp music as you can get) and crammed with people making offerings (mostly pinning money to the Kadaw's head dress and blouse). There's really no way to do it justice in describing this event. If there were ever a comparison in the U.S. it would have to be like a transvestite tent revival held in a New Orleans graveyard with musical accompaniment by the Ruins. Running 85 minutes, I've found this disc also works nicely just as an audio recording. For those of you with a multi-format disc player, it makes a truly cool CD as well. While we forwarn those living overseas that this disc is NTSC, it is also region-free, so if you can handle the format you're in like Flint. Comes with an 8 page booklet of notes and photos.

Hurrah, finally something new(ish) from Negativland! For A Few Of Our Favorite Things, Negativland takes a similar to fellow Bay Area enigmas The Residents who released a dvd compilation a few years back which brought together the old and the new. They enlisted eighteen non-'band' member filmmakers to cut-up, collage, collaborate and create new and often very appropriate videos for a whole bunch of the group's classic recordings such as "Time Zones", "Christianity Is Stupid", "No Business", "Over The Hiccups" (one of Cup's faves!), "U2", "Guns", "Aluminum Or Glass", "Truth In Advertising", "Freedom's Waiting", the list goes on and on! Their works have always been loaded with social and political commentary, subversion, absurdity and black humor. Why stop now? Awesome! Oh and also included is an audio cd featuring The 180-Gs...uhhh, who?!?! The 180-Gs! Apparently they're a Detroit, MI a cappella doo-wop group who cover Negativland 'songs', but it's so bizarre a thought that we're suspicious that our leg is being pulled... hard.

As much as we warmly welcome the commentary by Mystery Science Theatre 3000's Mike Nelson, we have to say our reception to a colorized Carnival Of Souls is nothing short of lukewarm. Who asked for it? Who thought it was a good idea? At least they were wise enough to include the original black and white version too!!

The new, eagerly awaited full-length from the Bay Area's biggest metal band -- whoops, are they really a metal band anymore? They really haven't embraced that tag for a while now, if ever, being more artsy and tribal and droney and avantgarde than what most

RealAudio clip: The Tide
RealAudio clip: Watchfire

A very nice pairing of East Bay improvising post-industrialists NF Orchest and the abstractionist filmmaker Jerry Smith. NF Orchest's contribution is a documentation of a live action at The Lab in San Francisco, opening for irr. app. (ext.) back in 2010. The turgid atmosphere is set through a bed of gray crumbling noises, sculpted through murky electronics and shortwave radio noises. Out of this carcinogenic haze, NF Orchest scribbles slow gestures of creepy-crawling drones and nails-on-the-chalkboard screeches from viola and prepared bicycle wheel, whilst the bed of noise detonates in a cavernous hall with a Maurizio Bianchi-like pall of ash and slumped depression working throughout the metallic scrapings. Jerry Smith's video was conceived after the performance had transpired, and he manipulated found footage to match the sounds' progression. Ghostly flickerings of light emerge from static landscapes, darkened through various masks and overlays from additional footage, prismatic refractions, and residues from grainy filmstock. A slow-motion series of watery reflections of light on water is transformed into a choreography of near calligraphic marks dancing on a black backdrop. As one of those smoldering crescendos of noise builds towards the end of this 27 minute video, arcing flares of color jump-cut back and forth next to deep blue tidal waves, spiralling mandalas, and geometric elements. Limited to something like 50 copies.

We've been a huge fan of Phill Niblock for ages, the elder statesman of minimal drone, who while having composed and performed numerous pieces, only began releasing his recordings quite recently (in the overall scheme of things), choosing to wait for technology and storage / playback media to catch up, allowing Niblock to record his lengthy compositions without breaking them up into pieces. But Niblock was also a photographer and an experimental film maker. The Magic Sun, from 1966, is an amazing example of not only Niblock's unique film making, but also an abstract and appropriately off kilter look into the weird and wonderful world of Sun Ra And His Solar Arkestra. This short fifteen minute film uses a unique negative process and was composed entirely of ultra tight shots of Sun Ra and his band performing, faces, fingers, strings, sticks, a confusing but compelling visual accompaniment to Sun Ra's joyous musical cacophony. A gorgeously tripped out psychedelic abstract free-for-all in grayscale. White shapes hover and twist, eyes and fingers become comets and eclipsed suns, faces become subtle white smears across a vast expanse of black, cymbals are the rings around a black planet, the fretboard a mysterious nighttime highway, the piano keys, fence posts or streaks of chalk on a blackboard. So intense and alien and perfect. The bonus feature here is amazing as well, a slide show of rare sixties photos, accompanied by unreleaed recordings, music as well as never heard before philosophical proclamations from Sun Ra, tripped out and bizarre discussing Sun Ra himself, mythology, jazz, the band, the United States, Russia and all sorts of other spaced out wisdom. So cool! ----* ----* 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. A CERTAIN RATIO "Live - America 1985" (Melodic) cd 14.98 AC/DC "Family Jewels" (Epic Music Video) dvd 21.00 AFRIRAMPO "Kore Ga Mayaku Da" (Tzadik) cd 15.98 AKSAK MABOUL "Onze Danses Pour Combattre La Migraine" (Crammed) cd 24.00 ALIO DIE & FRANCESCO PALADINO "Angel's Fly Souvenir" (Hic Sunt Leones) cd 14.98 ARCHETTI, LUIGI / BO WIGET "Low Tide Digitals II" (Rune Grammofon) cd 16.98 BERNOCCHI, ERALDO & HAROLD BUDD "Music For 'Fragments From The Inside'" (Sub Rosa) cd 14.98 BIRDS, THE "Birds Birds Birds In The World" (Important) cd 14.98 BIZARRE "Hannicap Circus" (Sanctuary Urban) cd 16.98 BLACK DAHLIA MURDER "Miasma" (Metal Blade) cd 13.98 BLIR "s/t" (Raster-Noton) cd 15.98 BLUT AUS NORD "Memoria Vetusta I" (Candlelight) cd 13.98 BLUT AUS NORD "Ultima Thulee" (Candlelight) cd 13.98 BRETSCHNEIDER + STEINBRUCHEL "Status" (12k) cd 14.98 BRIGMAN, GEORGE AND SPLIT "I Can Hear The Ants Dancin'" (Solid) cd 16.98 BURNING STAR CORE "Let's Play Wild Like" (RRR) cd 11.98 CAESARS "Paper Tigers" (EMI) cd 13.98 CAN "Future Days (Remastered)" (Spoon) cd 16.98 CHARM "Original Soundtrack + The Movie" (5RC) cd + dvd 14.98 CHINESE STARS "T.V. Grows Arms / The Drowning" (Kitty Play) lp 11.98 COOPER, DON "Howlin' At the Moon" (Delay 68) cd 17.98 COUP, THE "The Best Coup DVD Ever!" dvd 14.98 DANGER: DIABOLIK (Paramount) dvd 14.98 DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE "Drive Well, Sleep Carefully" (Plexifilm) dvd 24.00 DEMONS & WIZARDS "Touched By The Crimson King" (SPV) cd 16.98 DRUNK HORSE "In Tongues" (Tee Pee) cd 15.98 EYEHATEGOD "Preaching The "End-Time" Message" (Emetic) cd 14.98 FALL, THE "The Complete Peel Sessions 1978-2004" (Sanctuary) 6cd 67.00 FAY, BILL "s/t" (Eclectic Discs) cd 21.00 FAY, BILL "Time of the Last Persecution" (Eclectic Discs) cd 21.00 FEDERATION X "Rally Day" (Estrus) cd 14.98 FORENSICS "Hogback Mountain Sessions Vol.1" (Magic Bullet) cd 8.98 FURSAXA "Lepidoptera" (ATP) cd 15.98 GORILLA "Gimme Some..." (Beard Of Stars) cd 14.98 HAL "s/t" (Rough Trade) cd 15.98 ICKY BOYFRIENDS "A Love Obscene" (Menlo Park) 2cd 15.98 ILK "Canticle" (VHF) cd 13.98 IRON MAIDEN "The Essential Iron Maiden" (Sony) 2cd 21.00 KAWABATA, MAKOTO "Jellyfish Rising" (Funfundvierzig) cd 14.98 KELLY, R. "TP.3 Reloaded" (Jive) cd + dvd 17.98 KEUHKOT "Toiminatatapoja Olioille" (Ektro) cd 14.98 KIRCHIN, BASIL "Abstractions of the Industrial North" (Trunk) cd 17.98 LAST EXIT "Koln" (Atavistic) cd 14.98 LEE, RITA "Build Up" (Cherry Red) cd 17.98 LIPPOK, ROBERT & BARBARA MORGENSTERN "Tesri" (Monika) cd 15.98 MCGUIRE, DAN "Jamnation" (Prestidigitation) cd 14.98 MILK FROM CHELTENHAM "Triptych of Poisoners" (Alga Marghen) cd 17.98 MONOS "Generators" (Die Stadt) cd 27.00 NETHER DAWN, THE "Whiskey Mute-Down" (Last Visible Dog) cd 11.98 POSIES "Every Kind Of Light" (Ryko) cd 15.98 PREFUSE 73 "Reads The Books E.P." (Warp) cd/12" /10.98 RAMESSES "The Tomb" (Invada) cd 15.98 RILEY, TERRY & STEFANO SCODANIBBIO "Diamond Fiddle Language" (Wergo) cd 24.00 RINALDI, RENATO "Hoarse Frenzy" (Last Visible Dog) cd 11.98 SCHMIDT, CHARLIE "Xanthe Terra" (Strange Attractors Audio House) cd 13.98 SON VOLT "Okemah And The Melody Of Riot" (Transmit Sound) dual cd/dvd 19.98 SPIRES THAT IN THE SUNSET RISE "Four Winds the Walker" (Secret Eye) cd 13.98 SUZUKITON "Service - Repair Handbook" (Crucial Blast) cd 14.98 TAMBURO, MIKE "Beating of the Rewound Son" (Music Fellowship) cd 14.98 THEMSELVES "Live II" (Purple Guerilla) cd 13.98 THOR "An-Thor-Logy" dvd 22.00 TODD "Purity Pledge" (Southern) cd 14.98 TRAFFIC SOUND "Yellow Sea Years" (Vampisoul) cd 21.00 TRALALA "s/t" (Audika) cd 14.98 ULTRALYD "Chromosome Gun" (Load) cd 14.98 V/A "Ikon Records Story" (Frantic) 2cd 26.00 V/A "Studio One Lovers" (Soul Jazz) cd/2lp 21.00/24.00 VIRUS SYNDICATE "The Work Related Illness" (Planet Mu) cd 14.98 WHITE MICE "ASSPhIXXXEATATESHUN" (Load) cd 13.98 WINGDALE COMMUNITY SINGERS "s/t" (Plain) cd 14.98 WOODEN WAND "Harem Of The Sundrum & The Witness Figg" (Soft Abuse) cd 14.98 WRIGHT, FRANK "The Complete ESP-Disk' Recordings" (ESP-Disk') 2cd 24.00 XIU XIU "La Foret" (5RC) cd 14.98 ZION I "True & Livin" (LiveUp) cd 15.98

Sublime Frequencies videographer Hisham Mayet strikes again! This time Hisham takes to the Sahel region of Niger to witness for ourselves a culture in resistance to environmental hazards (severe droughts) and extreme poverty, and a country that's at the cultural crossroads of Subsaharan Africa and the Middle East. Like all of Mayet's films there is no authoritative narrator to disrupt the flow, or otherwise direct our interests. Which isn't to say Mayet leaves us completely in the dark as concerns his motivations and whereabouts in shooting this footage. For that we are given ample liner notes detailing the film's unfolding in chronological order of events. The video begins in rural Dogondoutchi where Hisham documents the music of the Mawri people. Several performances are caught here of musicians playing a banjo like instrument which is simultaneously struck across the drum as it is strummed and plucked, turning the performer into a veritable one-man-band. Also taped are some amazing fiddle players using an array of instruments, each seemingly unique to its possessor. Across the river Niger, Mayet takes us to the village of Boubon to a cowry shell divination, a spirit posession ceremony, and a truly strange performance of sexual coming of age by the young girls of the village in which they taunt the boys with... Ahem! Rather "randy" dance moves. As the film progresses it moves further from acoustic / rural / animist Niger to urban / Christian / electric Niger. We're witnesses to a gospel revival meeting at a Pentacostal church combining both traditional instruments and percussion with electric bass and keyboards. Almost directly from there Mayet takes us to a dive bar to hear a beautiful pick-up band of electric guitar, bass, drums and percussion. The sound is almost like that of a punk rock Ali Farka Toure, if you can imagine that. And in the end we are taken to the compound of Bibi Ahmed to hear some very Nubian sounding trance rock, like a dronier version of Ali Hassan Kuban. Excellent!

Finland's self-proclaimed Undisputed Kings of Lasermetal are back! Note that 'Lasermetal' as a genre exists ONLY in connection to Nightsatan, and is definitely NOT actually metal, though these guys do look pretty metal - you've got one guy, Inhalator II, wearing all sorts of studded gear, including studded headband; another guy, Wolf-Rami, who has a scary skull face inside his motorcycle helmet; and a third, Mazathoth, who wears a Boba Fett style helmet, and a cape, and has antlers inexplicably growing out of his back. But they're an instrumental synth trio, not metal in the slightest, except conceptually perhaps. If you recall, we made Nightsatan's debut album Midnight Laser Warrior an aQuarius Record Of The Week a few years back, blown away by their brand of "crazy, futuristic, electro prog", a soundtracky, synth-heavy sound inspired by John Carpenter and Tangerine Dream, not unlike Zombi or Umberto, but taking that into a ridiculously fantastical Finnish realm of over-the-topness. Well, with this new release they somehow go even FURTHER over the top, 'cause instead of just sounding like a soundtrack, it IS a soundtrack, to a real movie that's included here on its own dvd disc packaged with the cd. And the movie stars Nightsatan, playing themsleves, as surreal sci-fi superheroes wandering a futuristic wasteland encountering (and slaying, or having sex with) strange characters. It's an homage of sorts to Italian '80s post-apocalyptic exploitation cinema, complete with dialog dubbed in Italian (English subtitles are provided). It comes across like a mix of Mad Max and Jodorowsky's Holy Mountain, truly bizarre and absurd, full of gory special FX and nudity. Sex, violence, and synthesizers! Basically, an extended, insane music video for Nightsatan. It's a professional production, including some impressive special effects (it's worth watching the 'making of' bonus feature to see how they did it - 'cuz we didn't think they had deserts in Finland), with a plot involving, yes, 'loops of doom' - we can't explain it but it does sort of make sense. it's really a bit disturbing at moments, and twistedly funny too, and of course the music is pretty rad, and you can enjoy it alone on the soundtrack cd, which is twice as long as the movie, consisting of 14 tracks, 48 minutes of Nightsatan's retro-futuristic synth-splorations, droning and glistening, often underlaid with propulsive beats via Inhalator II's 'laserdrums'. Mood-wise it ranges from sinister suspensefulness, to exciting electro-rock, to maudin, melodic 'love theme' moments. Fans of Umberto, Trans Am, Blizaro, Emeralds, all ought to dig - imagine a mix of all those, but with an added element of pure Finnish WTF?-ness. It's hard to believe that Nightsatan are NOT one of the so-called NWOFHM bands put together by the guys in Circle, like Steel Mammoth. But nope, they're just friends, apparently this sort of thing just what they do in Finland these days. Ah, Finland. Ah, Nightsatan!

MPEG stream: Theme From Loops Of Doom
MPEG stream: Secret Of The Mystery
MPEG stream: Battle Knights

Nirvana were always a pretty iffy proposition live. Always sloppy and chaotic, sometimes inspiringly so, other times not so much. It wasn't always clear whether it was a drug thing, or a disdain for playing live, or being sick of the music business, but for all of the perfect pop and classic heaviness to be found on their records, live, things often devolved into total mayhem, often gloriously so. Fucking up songs, destroying drum kits, mixing in random covers, letting songs just sort of stumble to a halt, or more famously, changing the lyrics, singing in a deep baritone and hamming it up when forced to lipsync on TV, or not playing the hit the TV people were expecting, instead playing one of the super noisy thrashers. All part of what made Nirvana so cool, and so fun to watch. We had the records if we wanted to hear those songs, we'd much rather see the trainwreck that often occurred live. This show, for all it's fucked-up-ness and weird goings on, was anything BUT a trainwreck. Widely considered to be one of the best live recordings of the band, hearing this again, all polished up definitely drives that point home. Lots of stuff from both Bleach and Nevermind, the band sound incredible, the recording does too, and even Kurt's vocals are pretty together, the crowd goes apeshit between songs, and rightfully so, witnessing a band totally hitting their stride, and for a band prone to falling apart live, just utterly destroying. For folks who don't necessarily watch music videos, the cd should be plenty, but we'd have to recommend getting the dvd too, as there was some crazy shit going on (Kurt being rolled on stage in a wheelchair wearing a hospital gown), hilarious between song banter, some equipment destruction and other stuff worth seeing, that was edited out of the recording for the proper release. Essential for Nirvana fans, and if you need some convincing as to the merits of Nirvana, check out some of the other reviews elsewhere on the aQ website, and we'll do our very best to convince you that Nirvana were indeed one of the best bands EVER.

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Been trying to figure out what to write about this for a while now. Every time I sit down to write it, I feel like I'm trying to write a euology for an old friend. Which should speak volumes. We knew this was coming. And man, were we excited. And it is not a disappointment in any way. If anything, it's more than we could have hoped for. See, everyone loves Nirvana. Everyone. Those of you who say you don't are just trying to be c'ool'. Sort of like the people who talk about how the Beatles suck. The Beatles did not suck. They wrote more perfect pop songs than any band in the history of rock and roll. Nirvana also don't suck. And are also responsible for some of the best songs ever. It's not cool to pretend you don't like Nirvana. Not at all. In fact, it's unbelievably UNCOOL. Why deny yourself some of the most important, visceral music of the last 15 years? Because it gets played on MTV? Because jocks blast "Smells Like Teen Spirit" after the big game? Nope, sorry. Not good enough. Nirvana were one of those bands we could all love. Heavy enough to appeal to headbangers, raucous enough to still be punk, but equipped with a pop sense unrivalled, and thus able to whip out the most beautifu pop song in the world without a second thought -- usually sandwiched between two swirling snarling blasts of stage destroying chaotic rrroooaaaar. But that's part of what was so charming about Nirvana. Even when they were huge, they acted like you or me. Stupid jokes, smashing guitars, unlikely covers, ripped jeans and t-shirts and greasy long hair. It was like your pal or your older brother was snatched out of your suburban hellhole of a life and made a rock star. And how could you not love that (once you got over wishing it was you)? Which also goes to why it was such a blow when Kurt Cobain died. I literally cried. At the time I remember thinking "Why the fuck am I crying." I mean, it's not like he was a friend of mine or something. But he was something special. To me. To everyone I know. And Nirvana was something special. Our generation's Beatles? Maybe. But definitely the most important band of the nineties. Responsible for reshaping popular music, killing off hair metal, and giving us music that would be the soundtrack to our lives: breakups, mixtapes, road trips, broken hearts, life and death, fucking and fighting. Sounds like hyperbole but it's really not. This band was and is really important to me, and millions of other folks. Which is pretty remarkable. After the death of Cobain, and after getting over the sheer sadness and loss, one could not help but think about all the amazing music and the songs that would now never be written. Callous maybe, but the music is what made us love him/them. Their recent greatest hits disc offered us the unreleased "You Know You're Right", which was at the time the greatest thing we could've heard, a song as good as any of their others, seemingly pulled from the ether. And now we have this. A collection of what is supposedly everything. or at least everything worth releasing. And it is absolutely fantastic. I literally got all teary listeing to this, and the DVD had me all choked up as well. Can't remember the last time a record did that to me. So, what's on it? If you're like me, it hardly matters. Just knowing that it's stuffed to the gills with rare and unreleased Nirvana songs and I'm sold. If you need more than that, here goes. Don't sell back your greatest hits though, "You Know You're Right" only appears here as a solo acoustic recording from 1994. This version may not rock as hard, but it is a lot more intense and personal. The box is basically in chronological order, so disc one is definitely gonna hit the spot for those of us (like Allan) who loved Bleach the best. Demos and acoustic tracks and live on the radio, this is all Holy Grail sort of stuff. Live versions of Zeppelin's "Heartbreaker" and "Moby Dick" done in suitably ramshackle chaotic Nirvana style. Live versions and demos of tracks that would show up on Bleach. But by far the most exciting tracks are the unreleased songs. "White Lace And Strange", "Help Me I'm Hungry", "Mrs. Butterworth", "Grey Goose", "Token Eastern Song" and more. Disc two has less unreleased tracks but lots of alternate versions of tracks from future records, as well as loads of b-sides (their split with the Jesus Lizard, maybe one of the best Nirvana songs ever) and covers (Wipers!) and a big ol' chunk of solo acoustic versions of classic tracks that sound even more intense and harrowing performed sans band. Disc three brings us close to the end. A handful of demos and more solo acoustic versions of songs you already know and love. Highlights include the track "Sappy" which was a secret track on a benefit compliation and was originally titled "Verse Chorus Verse" and is another of their best curiously relegated to being hidden uncredited at the end of a random comp ("Train In Vain" anyone?). Also "Marigold", the only Nirvana song sung by Dave Grohl, an obscure b-side, that hints at Grohl's Foo Fighter future. A sweet and jangly Vaselines cover and more. The set ends with a solo acoustic version of "All Apologies" and if you hadn't gotten all emotional yet, this one will definitely do it to you. The DVD is pretty amazing as well and adds to the whole feeling of Kurt being an old friend who passed away. Mostly home movies, the first chunk is a party / rehearsal in Krist's mom's house and features the band rocking out in a panelled, carpeted basement, while various rockers sit around drinking beer. Cute and sad, and funny and sort of remarkable how amazing they were as a band even so early on. The rest of the DVD is made up of various tracks filmed live in various locations, from small clubs to huge arenas. Lots of hilarious onstage banter, lots of drum kit destroying, and lots of powerfully off kilter versions of all of the best Nirvana songs. Beautifully packaged in an oversized hardcover book, on the front an embossed metal plate featuring the band in their Sunday best, as if they were at a funeral. Or a wake. Because as sad as this is, and as much as this makes us miss someone we felt we knew as well as our best friend, and a band who meant more to us than almost any in our memory, under the circumstances, we couldn't be happier.

MPEG stream: Blandest (Demo 1998)
MPEG stream: Token Eastern Song (Demo 1989)
MPEG stream: Opinion (Solo Acoustic 1990)
MPEG stream: Oh The Guilt (B Side 1992)
MPEG stream: Marigold (B Side 1993)
MPEG stream: You Know You're Right (Solo Acoustic 1994)

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

SORRY.

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Ever wonder what sort of depraved and demented home movies might be the result of a prurient glimpse into the private life of Darkthrone's Nocturno Culto? Well, wonder no more. But be prepared to be disappointed, at least if all you're looking for is lots of metal and blood and mayhem. The opening scene pretty much sets the tone, a light hearted bit of ice fishing, with NC and Grutle from Enslaved, as they lay on the ice and dangle tiny little poles over a hole cut in the ice, not wearing spikes or leather, but instead the best Northface has to offer. Nocturno Culto even kisses the first fish he catches. And so it goes, a meandering journey through the life of Nocturno Culto, sure there's plenty of metal, the score is all Darkthrone tracks (a few Aura Noir tunes here and there) and droning ambience composed by NC for the film, but it's interspersed with plenty of light hearted fun, slow sweeping images of the vast and untamed beauty of Norway, and all sorts of other random bits and pieces. Darkthrone fans will NEED this obviously, not just for the amazing rehearsal footage, with Fenriz complaining about the price of cymbals (hasn't bought a new one in 13 years) and the duo setting up in a little rec room style basement complete with flowered drapes and Iron Maiden poster, their primitive lo-fi buzz interspersed with amazing shots of them wandering through snowy forests, but for a private glimpse into a world and country that are wreathed in mystery and that most metal folks only experience filtered through black buzz or smeared corpsepaint. As fun as it is to get lost in the drama and showmanship, it's equally interesting to experience what life as a musician in Norway must be like, and how living amidst forests and fjords, snow and sky, informs the music we've come to love so much. Besides the rehearsal footage, some of the highlights include: gorgeous footage of waterfalls and autumn forests, overlaid with ghostly images of the band, all to the strains of Darkthrone's buzzing grimness, complete with subtitles so you can finally understand the words, some hanging out with an old man who used to be a circus performer and his constantly barking dog, Aura Noir signing their recording contract, on a table in front of a wall full of nailed up antlers, followed by a very quiet repast of smoking and drinking... and playing Chinese checkers, a trip to Japan for Peter Beste's black metal photo show opening, featuring Nocturno Culto and Aaron from Iran playing a Kodo drummer video game, and crusty heartthrobs Gallhammer!!! We're even more crushed out if that were even possible. Some killer live footage as well as photo sessions, the Aura Noir record release party, backstage boredom, onstage mayhem, in a tiny club complete with those grade school acoustical tiles not more than a foot or two overhead, some footage of the downtime in the studio during the recording of Sardonic Wrath, a record label meeting, that takes place on a hillside around a campfire... and then a graveyard, and loads more. It's very abstract, a bit arty, but eminently watchable. Sometimes dark and bleak, other times sort of goofy and laid back, usually we tend to reach for the remote and skip around, but this The Misanthrope had us watching the whole thing end to end. And made us want to listen to nothing but Darkthrone! Extras on the first disc include a gallery of stills (or not-so-stills, as the pictures tend to shift and shimmer with the aid of some strange video effect), set to some dizzying Darkthrone tuneage, some amazing old old old footage of Darkthrone, 2 killer tracks from way back, the band looking like they're all of 12 years old (which they probably are), as well as the 'video' for "Too Old Too Cold" which almost plays like a mini version of the movie, graveyards, forests, and plenty of headbanging... Also included is a bonus second disc, a cd featuring all new music composed by NC specifically for the film, lots of rumbling crumbling dark ambience, all the haunting mood music from the movie. Spacey and abstract, creepy and shimmering, droney and dark, some of it pulsing and ethereal like some lost Tangerine Dream track, a few tracks super abstract guitarscapes, one track, a totally demented metal jam, with ultra processed guitars, tangled leads and goofy distorted vocals, but most of it is some seriously bleak and strangely lovely ambient minimalism.... Packaged in an oversized dvd style cd superjewel case with a big booklet of liner notes and photos, including one in which Darkthrone and Aura Noir are posed in the woods, snarling and brandishing what appear to be magazines and fireplace tools. Awesome. All region, NTSC.

Our Ms Cup has long been a Klaus Nomi devotee, but -- save for his one song appearance in the Urgh! A Music War film and the now out-of-print Eclipsed: Best Of Klaus Nomi compilation -- there's never been enough documentation from back in the day to satiate any craving for this ultra stylized, provocative and enigmatic figure. So she was thrilled and a bit trepidatious to hear that a documentary was being made. After many failed attempts to go see the film in the theater, she was then delighted to hear that it was coming out on dvd. Her verdict? Superlatives galore. This fantastic documentary was made with absolute loving care and imaginative attention to detail. One of the most obvious (and unique) examples of this comes in the segments featuring the voice of Nomi's aunt. "Why just her voice?" you might ask. Well, apparently she's really camera shy, and the filmmakers came up with a novel way to present her likeness in the film. They crafted accurately detailed miniature dioramas of various locations (such as her living room with a mini slide projector and backyard with shrubbery and garden hose) in which they sat a paper doll with a picture of her face. The interview clips (each filmed in front of a very thought out, appropriate backdrop), audio and video footage sheds much light on his life and music career (including more background info about the abovementioned Urgh! appearance), totally capturing the vitality, tragedy and defiance of Nomi the individual as well as of the underground New York New Wave scene as a whole during those years. He cut such a striking, unmistakable, indelible silhouette. Unforgettable. The dvd includes a bunch of exclusive remixes by Scissor Sisters' Ana Matronic, Richard Barone, The Moog Cookbook and Man Parrish (formerly of The Fast, Man2Man and more!)

Plastic Palace Alice? Let's hear it for Scott Walker, first of all; but the mad genius of baroque pop has nothing in common with the long-form stupor and granular synthesis that these stalwarts of the avant-garde produced way back in 1991. At that time, O'Rourke was a recent graduate of music school with a head full of knowledge about vangarde composition, the whole Luc Ferrari back catalogue, and an standing invitation to perform / record within Chicago's preeminent postindustrial ensemble Illusion Of Safety; and Heemann was in the process of dissolving his seminal dada-montage project H.N.A.S. The two began a correspondence that led to him travelling to Germany where they jumped into a heady collaboration in Heemann's studio. Why none of these recordings have yet to see the light of day is anybody's guess, but here's what may be the first in a series of archival recordings produced by O'Rourke and Heemann. A buzzsaw drone gradually introduces the first of three long-form pieces of stratified minimalism. As the piece grows and blossoms, an uneasy set of harmonic overtones dominates the stage, holding a firm grasp on the psychoacoustic properties that an epic Eliane Radigue or Phill Niblock piece can achieve. The track collapses through a weird gurgling of electronics only to swell back again with a chorus of LaMonte Young inspired drone-vocalization rasped through electronics and / or coupled with sympathetic drones from a guitar, only to mutate into a spasmodic explosion of electronic granularity and sine-tone modulation. Really amazing stuff, for sure! The second track, picks up with what we'll assume to be O'Rourke's buzzing guitar drones giving way to a devilish montage of vocalized growling, suffocating gaspings for air, and other grim sound poetics that look forward simultaneously to the lupine babbling of Sudden Infant and the tortured incidental black-metal ambience of Spektr. The profound spookiness of the second track dissolves into the pools of shimmered tone and radiant beauty of the third, as something of a harbinger of where Heemann would direct the Mirror project with Andrew Chalk almost a decade later. So nice! Again, we have to wonder why the hell did it take so long for these recordings to come out? They are simply too good to have been sitting dormant on some shelf!

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