[ aquarius records — Electronic ]

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 3401 through 3450 of 5033.

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

SORRY. A super limited lathe cut 10" (pressed by Peter King in NZ) from the man XLR8R magazine calls "the John Coltrane of techno" also known as O.S.T. Caustic metallic tones and bleak timestretched drones fight for space with the heavy clatter of drum programming which slowly dissolve into a rather sad electronica number. I could see this thing being one of those legendary releases that IDM fanatics will shell out alot of money for in about five years. Now's your chance.

Rope's "It's No Fun To Compute" is his second album for Alec Empire's oddball label Geist. This Berlin outfit specializes in layered electronica wackiness not unlike Blechtum from Blechdom. Digitally disfigured funk grooves, swanky French pop, stolen conversations via scanner, loopy downtempo breakbeats, tinny production techniques, and an excess of wildly shifting effects make up the majority of the knob twiddling excitement. A vast improvement over his previous record which was way too heavy on the Tortoise/post rock.

EM Records strikes again! This time, the always-interesting Japanese (mostly) reissue label brings us a disc of pioneering experimental electronic music (a la the Barton Smith set highlighted last list) that's both obscure and unusual. What do we mean by that in this case? Well the album's title isn't any sort of metaphor. Composer/performer David Rosenboom is credited with playing "piano and brainwaves" on several of these pieces. Actually they ALL feature brainwaves, not always piano. Real live brainwaves, captured and processed electronically. It's a '70s sorta hippy/new age/sci-fi musical concept brought to fruition: bio-feedback as a tool for making electronic music! A cool idea that Rosenboom has made work -- if you're a drone-head it's great listening!! Long wavering drones, spacey-synthy-sounding, shimmery beautifully, calm and just a bit spooky. Serene, blissed-out zwooshing electronic gurgle. The piano playing is in minimalist, pulsing style, and one of the track adds drifting vocal samples, almost like thoughts reconstituted from the brainwaves themselves. Three of the tracks here, pieces from 1971, '72, and '74, were originally released on vinyl by the Canadian label A.R.C. back in 1976. This 2006 compact disc edition adds an extra 17 minutes newly recorded just for this release. The one from '72 was recorded live at the International Carnival of Experimental Sound (ICES) in London, England, an event that must have been awesome from what little documentation we've seen or heard of it! From the cd booklet, here's the composer's statement about what he's up to with his Brainwave Music: "Metaphors about the concurrency and succession of events in undefined spaces and the spread of energetic phenomena throughout resonant fields operate heavily in this music. Perhaps, they may lead us forward in developing of untapped sensibilities still residing deep within us. Perhaps, we will be able to conceive of an idea of resonance unbounded by our limited views of time and space and expand our appreciation of the universality of music even more." Hmm. Something to think about. And as you're doing that, just imagine what sounds David Rosenboom could conjure if he had your brain hooked up to his bio-feedback machinery right now! This comes in a special, extra-thick Japanese jewel case to fit the 42 page booklet we suppose. Unfortunately for us Americans, only a couple of pages of the booklet are in English, but there are plenty of cool photos, graphics, schematics, and musical scores to look at. As with all the EM stuff we've stocked, totally recommended!

MPEG stream: Portable Gold And Philosopher's Stones (Music From Brains In Fours)
MPEG stream: Chilean Drought

It's hard to keep up with this Rinse series, so much so that we just realized we actually haven't ever reviewed any of the mixes at all, even though they include some killer sets by folks like Skream, Skepta, Kisma, and more. But we couldn't let ourselves sleep on this one, as Roska has emerged as one of our absolute favorite artists in the UK electronic dance scene. His debut full length is a record we still blast loud on repeat all the time, filled with soul and such high energy, blasting sounds. We can't think of a DJ we would like to hear more when we're out on the floor. And that's what this disc is all about, over an hour of dance floor intensity that mixes dub step, house, and UK garage. Along with his own tracks, he also remixes and mixes in tracks by Katy B, Magnetic Man, Ms. Dynamite, and a bunch of other dubstep and Garage names, many new to us completely. What separates Roska from the flock is that the man undeniably has soul oozing from his body, as all the tracks he makes, selects, and remixes have a kinetic energy that even the stiffest of folks would be hard pressed not to move to. Roska stands as one of our favorite electronic musicians to emerge in the last few years, from the UK or otherwise, and this is just another record that further seals the deal. So damn good!

MPEG stream: Untitled 9 {Shy One}
MPEG stream: Nexx (Roska Edit) {Zinc}
MPEG stream: I Need Air (Redlight Remix) {Magnetic Man}
MPEG stream: Squark VIP

One of the coolest things about the dubstep scene in the last couple years is how many different, new and exciting directions that sound has been stretched and twisted and expanded into. There has been everything from rave-step to tech-step to dark-step and even drone-step! Roska use dubstep as an undercurrent to their totally upbeat, dancey and housey soulful sound. Sitting somewhere pretty exciting between the all out party sounds of Zomby and the more soulful and hypnotic elements of Burial. Or imagine any of our dubstep favorites infusing a touch of Lil' Louis and C+C Music Factory energy into their grooves (and we mean that in a good way!). Not sure if this will be dubbed house-step but we got to say it's a pretty awesome and refreshing sound. While so much dubstep has a very menacing, tough, ultra ominous bent, we love the feminine and R&B fueled perspective that Roska brings to the sound, all the while still having incredible beat making skills that can't be denied. In some of the more squeeching and swirling tracks we even think of what would happen if Mouse On Mars dipped their toes into the world of dubstep. A few tracks feature vocals including "I Need Love" which is one of the best, hypnotic dance tracks we've heard in ages. We think this is one of those records that not only dubstep fans will enjoy but a whole lot of other folks into the more soulful and free side of dance music as well. So damn good!

MPEG stream: I Need Love : Featuring Anesha
MPEG stream: Time Stamp
MPEG stream: Tomorrow Is Today

Yet another baffler from Norway's Jester Records (the weird-ass label run by Garm from Ulver) who in the past have brought us Bogus Blimp, When, Esperanza, and the newer, more experimental Ulver records. This is sort of an electronica record. Sort of.

RealAudio clip: The Bogota Sub
RealAudio clip: Noiserok Orkesterissa
RealAudio clip: Carpet Illusions

At long last we have this much-sought after Japanese title back in stock, thanks new local label Incidental who have licensed it for domestic release. Here's what we said about the import version: SF's KUSF radio station has had this Japanese band in heavy rotation for months now...what's all the fuss about? Rovo is a new group featuring violinist Katsui Yuji (of Bondage Fruit) and All that still applies to this version (although there's no bonus 3" cd like the import came with). The band is soon to be touring here as well, in July. They'll be playing in San Francisco with Live Human, which should be a good, interesting matchup. Also look for a future live release on Zorn's Tzadik label...

RealAudio clip: Larva

Here's the sophomore release from this Norwegian duo! Whereas their debut Melody A.M. was a relatively downtempo groovy affair, this one immediately comes across as much more pumped and primed for the dancefloor -- but we should add, not at all jarringly so. One dozen ultra sleek Euro-dance productions that mirror all the good looking folks posing with their cocktails. Want some?

MPEG stream: 49 Percent
MPEG stream: Only This Moment

Another collection of maddening footwork genius, this one from one of the big names in the jukin' scene RP Boo. We've reviewed two collections of footwork jams, a twisted offshoot of hip hop, very specific to a certain style of dance, called jukin', and the sound is crazy catchy, but also insanely repetitive, so much so, that in every review, we make it clear, that while some folks (us for instance) can't get enough of this stuff, plenty of other people can't handle more than a track or two. Which is kinda understandable. Every track is essentially a single skittery programed rhythm, generally a single melodic loop, and ONE sample, chopped up, looped and layered and repeated ad infinitum. For us it's sort of trancelike, super mesmerizing and hypnotic, almost like a single measure, looped and looped and looped and looped... you get the picture. Some of our favorite tracks on the above mentioned comps came courtesy of RP Boo, so we were super psyched for this full length, and it's everything we hoped for, groovy, funky, dark, with a definite sense of humor and a serious flair for creative loopscaping. Give a listen to "Battle In The Jungle", which is probably our favorite jam here, where the main melody is a sliced and diced and manipulate sample of Tarzan's distinctive yell, here transformed into a woozy, stuttery melody, SO GREAT! Or check out the final track "Area 72", which is super cinematic and soundtracky, a dense layered loopscape of soaring synths, intoned vocals samples, and wild skittery beats. In between, there's all sorts of twisted variations, the crazy cartoon music of "Robotbutizm", the slow burn soul of "The Opponent, or the sinister string laden opener "Steamidity". Check out the samples, it'll only take a minute or two for you to figure out which side you're on, odds are, if you're regular aQ list reader, this stuff is probably weird and wild enough that its maddening insane repetition and endless loopage will only make it that much more appealing. We've been playing this like incessantly and driving people CRAZY! Love it!

MPEG stream: Battle In The Jungle
MPEG stream: Area 72
MPEG stream: Invisibu Boogie!
MPEG stream: Robotbutizm

Local artist Rroland creates videogame soundtrack worthy synth-scapes with Reflections On A Past Life. These fifteen compositions proffer whimsical prog transmitted through some pretty lo-fi production. The single instrument used throughout is indeed a Roland synth. He seems to have a bit of an infatuation with Momus as per some hints on his website, but we won't hold that against him. Bring us more, Rroland!

MPEG stream: Frozen River
MPEG stream: The Shame Village

Another batch of tapes from our pal Jason's Ormolycka label means another batch of HOLY WTF!!! Starting with this, the first we've heard from / heard of Rubbed Raw, even an internet search revealed nothing but a bare bones Tumblr, talking about the tape on Ormolycka, which is a rarity in the age of everything everywhere at your fingertips, but you'd be surprised how often that happens with stuff on Ormolycka. So we have nothing to offer in the way of background, no idea who these guys are, where they're from, if it's even guys (although a couple are picture on the cover). What we can tell you, is this was originally recorded in 2008, when some guy we never heard of, who probably had something to do with the band disappeared, and it remained unreleased until now. Although that could be bullshit, hardly matters though, cuz what does matter is that this is a stone cold killer slab of twisted lo-fi, beat driven electronic weirdness. The first track along should seal the deal, weird fragmented vocals over spare electronics, that soon blossom into what is maybe the noisiest heaviest blast of electronic music we've heard in ages, a fat fuzzy bassline, big bombastic drumming, and sky full of wild squiggles and tangled feedback drenched skree, it almost sounds like the home brewed electronic version of one of the psych rock bands that everyone digs so much these days, total drugged out megajam, but just electronic, and sort of damaged and WTF. It's hard to explain, but it RULES, and we jammed the first track maybe ten times before we dug any deeper, and as unlikely as it might seem, even after that first track, it just kept getting better, blown out noisy outsider electro, colliding with mad scientist 8-bit noise drenched techno, and weirdo lo-fi dub, all blendered into the sort of thing you might imagine blasting from the speakers in a clown car shaped like a giant skull, being driven by the scariest mother fucker you've ever seen, just cruising up and down the street, top down, system booming, or rather buzzing and howling and skittering and droning and feeding back, while he trolls for his next victim. Holy shit this rules! And of course is crazy limited, so don't blow it...

It doesn't get much more breezy and subtly seductive then this one sided 12" by Rubies, with their pal Feist lending her sultry voice to the cause. We've been really anxious to hear Rubies, fronted by Simone Rubi who we always loved in her old band Call & Response. Much like her Call & Response cohort Daniel Judd who is now making some of the smartest and most satisfying electronic music around as Sorcerer, Rubies seems to also have a nice dreamy dance vibe going on. A little more subdued and mellow then the rest of the Italians Do It Better camp, this still fits perfectly on this label that's been doing an amazing job of creating a new legion of disco inspired sounds for this generation. While we wish there was another track on the 'b' side, the almost nine minutes of "I Feel Electric" as remixed by TieDye has been hitting the spot for summertime dancin' with glasses overflowing with bubbly, and fresh strawberries in hand. So sweet and flowing.

At long last the soundtrack to the indie film of the moment (Blair Witch excepted of course). Includes two songs by the lead actress Franka Potente and a bunch of remixes.

For those who've dug into the groovy instrumental sounds of Run Return's recent debut album Metro-North (or for those just looking for a quick samplin'), you can get your fix right here on the vinyl format! Mind you, the title track does reappear on the cd, but it is a really good one though! Imagine a chops'n'creativity meeting of Fly Pan Am and Tortoise.

MPEG stream: Animals Are Beautiful People

Although this trio have been together since 1999, Metro-North is Run Return's full length debut. It features some exceptionally well done dark groovy city scene soundscapes -- a generous serving of eighteen! Each of them sound as though they were composed specifically for a rain-soaked midnight hour. Check out two of the album's best tracks -- the very Chicago post-rock sounding, jazzy glider "Sea Plane" and the perfect-for-late-night-driving thirteenth track which is also the title track of their recent 7" "Animals Are Beautiful People". Captures a chill-out mellowness but is also sonically and rhythmically active enough to keep you on your toes.

MPEG stream: Animals Are Beautiful People
MPEG stream: Sea Plane

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

SORRY. If you are looking for Lita Ford or Joan Jett, sadly you have found the wrong Runaways. If you are looking for that blunted Mo'Wax-style experimental instrumental hip hop found on the label's legendary Headz compilations, then you're in luck. This outift (formerly known as RPM) combines the sharpest of breaks and witty turntable tricknology for one of 97's BEST records of this genre.

If you are looking for Lita Ford or Joan Jett, sadly you have found the wrong Runaways. If you are looking for that blunted Mo'Wax-style experimental instrumental tricknology found on the label's legendary Headz compilations, then you're in luck. One of the best instrumental hip hop records of 1997 has finally been re-issued here in the States. A stunning combination of the sharpest of breaks and witty turntablism, with the addition of classical guitar on a coupla tracks, for fans of the old Mo' Wax sound found on the first Headz compilation (the Runaways personnel is two guys from Mo'Wax group RPM). It's all midtempo and very accessible.

UK (duh) group follow up their almost-all instrumental hiphop classic "Classic Tales" with this new effort. Progress? Hmm, well it's no longer as unique and Mo'Wax-y, with a bunch of guest MCs this time droppin' rhymes, including Masta Ace.

At last, reissued -- as a 'real' cd (not a cd-r) and cheaper too! This debut DJ/Rupture mix disc was a big hit here at Aquarius (and elsewhere too, apparently). We'd been getting the cd-r version on /Rupture's own Soot label direct from the man himself, but those are no longer available. Kid606 stepped in and signed DJ /Rupture to his Tigerbeat6 label, with a new /Rupture set called "Minesweeper Suite" due for release on August 27th. But, in advance of that, the Kid's other label, Violent Turd, has made the "Gold Teeth Thief" set available once again. Packaged in one of those plastic clamshell cases, with nought but a sticker for artwork, this remains a budget release, but a welcome one. It's also apparently a limited edition reissue, so if you missed it before, don't sleep on it now!! Here's our original glowing review, backed up by being named one of the top 50 best albums of the year by The Wire: This is one of the best mix cds we've ever heard. And it's not about insane turntable skills, or about that 'isn't-it-weird-and-crazy-how-I've-juxtaposed-hip-hop-and-classic-rock' gimmicky stuff or about how famous or cool the DJ is (in fact, I bet you've never even heard of DJ /Rupture, an American living in Spain). It's about his choice of songs, and how smoothly and creatively they're mixed (live on 3 turntables). This cd is just an amazing and deft mix of dance hall (traditional -and- HARD ala DJ Scud etc.), hip hop, dub and electronica. Nothing fancy just 70 minutes and 43 tracks of some of our favorite shit: Missy Elliott, Nas, DJ Scud, Barrington Levy (a different track than his contribution to the amazing 400% Dynamite compilation, but you'll recognise his oh-so-familiar 'Woah Wooah.'), Nettle, Dead Prez, Bounty Killer, Kid 606, Venetian Snares, Luciano Berio, Shabba Ranks, Non Phixion, Wu-Tang Clan, Cannibal Ox, Djivan Gasparyan, Sub Dub, John Wall, Oval, Project Pat, Muslimgauze and even Paul Simon/Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Miriam Makeba (ending all smooth and pretty with no beats at all). Wow.

RealAudio clip: track 2
RealAudio clip: track 5
RealAudio clip: track 1
RealAudio clip: track 3
RealAudio clip: track 6

As promised, the new DJ Rupture set is here on Tigerbeat6 and it does not disappoint. As on his last release, Gold Teeth Thief, Rupture's strong points, and this can't be emphasized enough, are combined in his great taste in a variety of musics and his smMOOOOVve mixing skills. There's also nothing ironic about his choices of source material and, maybe more importantly, he is only too happy to oblige us with the names of the cuts that he's mixing (well, most of them, presumably the ones he got permission to use). So obliging is he, that he makes the point of including label names and even URLs where applicable. So if you're curious enough you can track down all the individual cuts for yourself (which is actually a fun task to perform because you can hear what Rupture has tweaked through pitch and EQ from the sources to achieve his goals.) Unlike Gold Teeth Thief, which starts off like a stick of dynamite, Minesweeper Suite -- as I suppose its name suggests -- catches one off-guard. It begins with a pleasant track from Nubian musician Mahmoud Fadl gradually mixed in with the smooth dub sounds of J-Boogie and the two slowly pitched up together until by six minutes into the CD, Rupture has got the tempo up to a grinding pulse with all manner of breakbeats, dancehall, arabic music and hip hop weaving seamlessly in and out of the mix. In all, Minesweeper Suite is a much more ambitious undertaking than Gold Teeth Thief in that the source material that Rupture pools together for this set seems to consitently come from a wide variety of music from around the globe. Where the "world music" filled second half of his Gold Teeth Thief set may have seemed the weaker part of that disc, here it seems Rupture has increased his skills enough to throw just about anything into the mix and have it sound as if it were meant to be completely natural. Among the music sampled are Foxy Brown, dancehall from Cutty Ranks, Sade, Nina Simone, Robert Flack, Dead Prez, Djivan Gasparyan, Kid606, Cex, DOnna Summer, Wax Poetic, Dat Politics, even Cul de Sac. Quite an experience.

RealAudio clip: track 15 excerpt
RealAudio clip: track 3 excerpt
RealAudio clip: track 12 excerpt
RealAudio clip: track 20 excerpt
RealAudio clip: track 9 excerpt

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

SORRY. We finally got our hands on enough of these to list. The title is a nod to Marcel Duchamp's famous, scandalous painting Nude Descending A Staircase. This 7" by DJ Rupture will most definitely not raise anywhere near the frenzy that the great surrealist's work did. Two tracks that you may recognize from his incredible "Gold Teeth Thief" mix cd.

It's been a while, but finally a new record from AQ fave DJ /Rupture. Unlike his previous releases, which were essentially mix tapes, this is a bonafide record of original tracks produced and arranged by Rupture with all sorts of guest vocalists and musicians. Now obviously it would be hard to create a record that stood up to your past releases, when they are all culled from the cream of your record collection, but Rupture makes a go of it and fares pretty well. The tone on Special Gunpowder is much more laid back and mellow that previous releases, and way less experimental. While your need for weird might not be fully satisfied, this is definitely much easier listening. A smooth mix of reggae and dancehall, as well as muted Eastern rhythmic ambience ala Muslimgauze. The dancehall tracks are awesome, but not at all aggressive like the Bug. Wicked Act, Junior Cat, Wayne Lonesome and a handful of others toast over darkly delerious, pulsing dancehall rhythms, nestled in Rupture's unique sonic stew. There are a few missteps, the opening spoken word bit is a little cringeworthy, and Eugene from Oxbow (who can do no wrong in our eyes) pops up smack dab in the middle of the record, mewling and howling over a creepy musical backdrop, and while we can never get enough Eugene, it definitely feels out of place and disrupts the flow. Other than a few hiccups, Special Gunpowder is a prety cool spin, and it's definitely cool that Rupture chose to write and record a record instead of cruising along on his impeccably hip record collection.

MPEG stream: Little More Oil ft. Sister Nancy
MPEG stream: Leech Wisdom
MPEG stream: No Heathen ft. Wicked Act (Blacksmith Mix)

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

SORRY. Now on vinyl! First half of the vinyl version of the most recent DJ Rupture. Check it out: It's been a while, but finally a new record from AQ fave DJ /Rupture. Unlike his previous releases, which were essentially mix tapes, this is a bonafide record of original tracks produced and arranged by Rupture with all sorts of guest vocalists and musicians. Now obviously it would be hard to create a record that stood up to your past releases, when they are all culled from the cream of your record collection, but Rupture makes a go of it and fares pretty well. The tone on Special Gunpowder is much more laid back and mellow that previous releases, and way less experimental. While your need for weird might not be fully satisfied, this is definitely much easier listening. A smooth mix of reggae and dancehall, as well as muted Eastern rhythmic ambience ala Muslimgauze. The dancehall tracks are awesome, but not at all aggressive like the Bug. Wicked Act, Junior Cat, Wayne Lonesome and a handful of others toast over darkly delerious, pulsing dancehall rhythms, nestled in Rupture's unique sonic stew. There are a few missteps, the opening spoken word bit is a little cringeworthy, and Eugene from Oxbow (who can do no wrong in our eyes) pops up smack dab in the middle of the record, mewling and howling over a creepy musical backdrop, and while we can never get enough Eugene, it definitely feels out of place and disrupts the flow. Other than a few hiccups, Special Gunpowder is a prety cool spin, and it's definitely cool that Rupture chose to write and record a record instead of cruising along on his impeccably hip record collection.

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

SORRY. Now on vinyl! Second half of the vinyl version of the most recent DJ Rupture. Check it out: It's been a while, but finally a new record from AQ fave DJ /Rupture. Unlike his previous releases, which were essentially mix tapes, this is a bonafide record of original tracks produced and arranged by Rupture with all sorts of guest vocalists and musicians. Now obviously it would be hard to create a record that stood up to your past releases, when they are all culled from the cream of your record collection, but Rupture makes a go of it and fares pretty well. The tone on Special Gunpowder is much more laid back and mellow that previous releases, and way less experimental. While your need for weird might not be fully satisfied, this is definitely much easier listening. A smooth mix of reggae and dancehall, as well as muted Eastern rhythmic ambience ala Muslimgauze. The dancehall tracks are awesome, but not at all aggressive like the Bug. Wicked Act, Junior Cat, Wayne Lonesome and a handful of others toast over darkly delerious, pulsing dancehall rhythms, nestled in Rupture's unique sonic stew. There are a few missteps, the opening spoken word bit is a little cringeworthy, and Eugene from Oxbow (who can do no wrong in our eyes) pops up smack dab in the middle of the record, mewling and howling over a creepy musical backdrop, and while we can never get enough Eugene, it definitely feels out of place and disrupts the flow. Other than a few hiccups, Special Gunpowder is a prety cool spin, and it's definitely cool that Rupture chose to write and record a record instead of cruising along on his impeccably hip record collection.

Wow, a super special "nice price" deal on this longtime AQ fave. Great collaboration betwixt - His Lord Majesty - Mad Professor, and the mysterious Douggie Digital, circa 1995. Deep, pulsing dub underlayed with jungle beats. It works great, and if that ain't enough, there's a cameo appearance from - His Royal Nuttiness - Lee Scratch Perry!

MPEG stream: Perry In The Dub Jungle
MPEG stream: Kunte Kinte Jungle
MPEG stream: Organic Pressure

Not to be confused with the similarly-minded Roska, Rusko, aka Christopher Mercer, seems destined to be the next hardest working producer in dubstep. Taking the dark serious side of the genre into more uproarious and exuberant blends of house, soul, rave and dancehall, Rusko strives to fit so many genre-busting ideas in one record that it makes for a rather head-spinning listen. But each delirious track stands out on its own. Much like the Major Lazer debut, they're a lot of guests including Gucci Mane and The Dirty Projector's Amber Coffman (whose track "Hold On" is one of our favorite tracks this year!) There's lots of hip hop autotune vocal hooks, eighties synth washes, rave sirens, donks, sped-up yelps, 8-bit woots, but Rusko weaves them into sublimely energetic and soulful motifs. It's more than a pastiche of previously explored sounds, Rusko creates a winning dance combination that we'll be listening to all summer long!

MPEG stream: Hold On
MPEG stream: Kumon Kumon
MPEG stream: You're On My Mind
MPEG stream: District Line

MPEG stream: Hold On
MPEG stream: Kumon Kumon
MPEG stream: You're On My Mind
MPEG stream: District Line

Finally released on vinyl, Another Thought was the first posthumous collection of unreleased tracks by the great Arthur Russell. Released in 1994, shortly after he passed away and years before his wide-ranging musical genius would be recognized by a larger audience, it contains tracks spanning over a 10 year period, some in demo form documenting early versions of songs he was preparing for his next release after World of Echo. Yet of all the many Russell collections that have subsequently come out, Another Thought has the reputation of being the most difficult to digest. Long in length and minimal in economy (most of the tracks are just voice and cello, with the occasional addition of other instruments like bongos and horns), it is certainly the most intimate and unadorned of all of Russell's work. Which is why the vinyl release does this collection a great service by giving the songs ample space to breathe over four long sides. There is an incredible amount of nuance and grace in every one of these tracks, and for being so close to death, Russell remains unhurried in his approach. And unhurried is the way it should be listened to. Incredibly gorgeous, passionate and devastating.

MPEG stream: Another Thought
MPEG stream: This Is How We Walk On The Moon

A few weeks back we listed Soul Jazz's The World of Arthur Russell, the eagerly awaited collection of hard-to-find music from that downtown NYC "disco visionary". Released almost simultaneously with that disc was this disc of previously unreleased tracks recorded between 1985 and 1990. (Russell died in 1992, leaving behind tons of unissued music). If you liked the Soul Jazz comp, you'll like this. With Russell's laid back, oft-effected vocals, drum programming, trademark cello, as well as trombone and other instruments, this is some mellow, groovy, experimental dance music indeed. It's super artsy and '80s, and thus very cool now. While no one here at AQ has become a big Arthur Russell fan, we're not surprised to have sold a lot of these already. Perhaps our favorite track on here is "The Platform On The Ocean", featuring some nice fuzz sounds (fuzz cello?) and Arthur's looped, delayed voice intoning the track title.

MPEG stream: The Platform On The Ocean
MPEG stream: You And Me Both

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

SORRY. A few weeks back we listed Soul Jazz's The World of Arthur Russell, the eagerly awaited collection of hard-to-find music from that downtown NYC "disco visionary". Released almost simultaneously with that disc was this disc of previously unreleased tracks recorded between 1985 and 1990. (Russell died in 1992, leaving behind tons of unissued music). If you liked the Soul Jazz comp, you'll like this. With Russell's laid back, oft-effected vocals, drum programming, trademark cello, as well as trombone and other instruments, this is some mellow, groovy, experimental dance music indeed. It's super artsy and '80s, and thus very cool now. While no one here at AQ has become a big Arthur Russell fan, we're not surprised to have sold a lot of these already. Perhaps our favorite track on here is "The Platform On The Ocean", featuring some nice fuzz sounds (fuzz cello?) and Arthur's looped, delayed voice intoning the track title.

MPEG stream: The Platform On The Ocean
MPEG stream: You And Me Both

With this one track from 1986, Arthur Russell clearly set his sights for the future of dance music and pretty much became the godfather of chillwave, balearic house and other modern day pop forms dedicated to all that's the sun-kissed, blissful and breezy. This newly remastered version features three dubs of the song (Gulf Stream, Puppy Surf, and Coastal, the last one mixed by the legendary Walter Gibbons!) and a previously unreleased track called "Make 1.2 (Gem Spa Dub)", that has a more funk oriented vibe, but still as left-field as can be. There have been rumors that Arthur Russell had made 96 separate mixes of "Let's Go Swimming", and the versions here don't sound exactly like previously released versions on other compilations like Strut's Disco Not Disco 2 or Soul Jazz's The World of Arthur Russell, which felt more orientated to the dancefloor and could have been stripped down mixes by Gibbons and others. The Gulf Stream Dub may be the truest of the three mixes here to Russell's original vision of the song, a submerged percolating paean to the return to innocence of summertimes past. But the three mixes here are like one extended jam of the song going into a more balearic house mode on the Puppy Surf Dub then into Gibbons' more economic and percussive but mind-bending and body shaking Coastal Dub. Essential!

MPEG stream: Let's Go Swimming (Gulf Stream Dub)
MPEG stream: Make 1.2 (Gem Spa Dub)

Yesss! Everyone knows we love pretty much all sides of the late Arthur Russell. But as much as we love his avant composer and country pop tangents, we always keep coming back to his left-field disco productions of the late seventies/early eighties which is what introduced him to us in the first place. On this excellent compilation, we get 10 mixes from Russell's legendary Sleeping Bag Record imprint, and luckily it's not all a rehash of what's been featured on other Arthur Russell compilations. Using lots of different monikers, we get cuts from Bonzo Goes To Washington (Featuring Bootsy Collins), Felix, Dinosaur L, Indian Ocean, Sounds of JHS 126, and Clandestine (w/ Ned Sublette). With a penchant for odd sounds, strange vocal inflections, and long late-night dancefloor stability, Russell imbued his mixes with off kilter breaks and enough subtle rhythmic details that keep you invested in the groove without them ever becoming monotonous. Highlights include the Ronald Reagan cut up fuckery of Bonzo goes to Washington and the underwater hip-hop of Sounds of JHS 126's "Chill Pill" with its slightly staggered hard panned dual vocals creating a kind of Terry Riley "You're No Good" effect. But the star track is Walter Gibbon's 12 minute plus mix of Dinosaur L's "Go Bang!". We were a bit wary when we saw this wasn't the Francois Kevorkian mix, because in our minds that track is just about untouchable, it's so damn awesome. But Gibbons breaks down the original slowly stripping it to its essence and making a whole new song out of it that isn't so much mutant disco as it is early house. Yet he still manages to keep its oddities in tact: the shrill organ drones that last a little too long, the changes every 24 measures, Lola Blank's flat delivery (here cut up and reformed into new shapes). So awesome and Soooo Recommended!!!!!!

MPEG stream: 5 Minutes (B-B-B Boming Mix)
MPEG stream: You Can't Hold Me Down (Extended Version)
MPEG stream: Go Bang! (Walter Gibbons Mix)

A lot of people have been dying to hear this stuff for a long time now. As the legend and legacy of NYC dance music pioneer Arthur Russell grows, so has the demand for his out of print wax. Now the Soul Jazz label comes to the rescue as they so often do, with this collection of Russell produced and/or penned cuts. (And, happily more A.R. just got released by another label, the Calling Out Of Context collection on Audika, soon to be reviewed by us as well). We won't go into the whole story of Arthur Russell here, but a brief introduction is in order. Russell started off as a high brow musician, a cellist, with training in Eastern modes as well as the classical music of the West. But after moving to New York in the late '70s he became involved in downtown NYC's vibrant underground dance culture, producing 12" disco tracks for others (like Loose Joints) and himself (under the guise of Dinosaur L as well as his own name). His productions are light, minimalist examples of disco funk, not quite yet house or garage but its own early, original, and influential sound. You won't hear a lot of cello on these tracks -- just a little at the start of Arthur's "Keeping Up" for instance -- but you will hear what we can only describe as an angelic sort of dub disco, in perfectly blissful extended mixes, certainly clubby and campy as well (the disco diva vocals date this for sure). Sadly Russell died of AIDS in '92, but he's not forgotten. If you've heard and loved his cuts on those Disco Not Disco comps or Soul Jazz's more recent New York Noise collection, you probably want this!

MPEG stream: Keeping Up
MPEG stream: Is It All Over My Face (Larry Levan mix)

Having recently listed the highly popular Love Is Overtaking Me, we thought we'd bring in the other side of the Arthur Russell sound, World of Echo, a magical record he released towards the end of his life. We surprised ourselves realizing we never listed it previously, so it's time to do it some justice. While Love Is Overtaking Me introduced a previously unheard side to Arthur Russell fans, it also brought in a new audience perhaps less in tune with Russell's more high-minded musical pursuits. World of Echo is a perfect in-between place for fans and new-comers. Released in 1987, World of Echo concentrates on Russell's use of the cello, percussion and voice filtered through a bank of effects. There is a minimalist oceanic dub vibe that weaves through these highly personal songs that are affecting, not so much by what he is singing but how. Soft and low, his voice quavers over spare echoing instrumentation that bends towards the beautifully abstract. Like floating in calm oceans towards the void of the sun, melting into its warmth, this is a record that influenced a generation of music makers (Grizzly Bear, Coconut, Final Fantasy, Juana Molina, Animal Collective / Panda Bear, Hanne Hukkelberg, etc) and continues to beguile us. Highly recommended!

MPEG stream: Place I Know-Kid Like You
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Another excellent reissue of the work of French experimental / pop musician Thierry Müller (who we know from the reissues of his pre-Ruth albums under the Ilitch moniker, one of which we recently reviewed). Fast becoming a unanimous staff favorite, Ruth's Remastered with three lengthy bonus cuts from 1982 and 1984 that teeter on more experimental ground, like Müller's celebrated work as Ilitch, which was more of a dark, droney, experimental prog guitar / synth project.

RealAudio clip: Polaroid / Roman / Photo
RealAudio clip: Polaroid/Roman/Photo (Instrumental First Mix, 1982)
RealAudio clip: She Brings The Rain

Here's one that may appeal to those interested in the recent post punk reissues such as The Pop Group, A Certain Ratio, the In The Beginning compilation, etc. From the same label that put out the 'Select Cuts From Blood & Fire' compilations comes a reissue of London's Ruts DC. Originally known as Ruts, the group added the additional initials after losing their front man Malcolm Owen to a heroin overdose. The remaining members of the group restructured their sound, modelling it much closer to the reggae and dub that had informed their rock foundation. After the unsuccessful 1981 release 'Animal Now', the group hooked up with Mad Professor at his newly constructed Ariwa Studio the following year and hammered out the 8 tracks for 'Rhythm Collision'. Although they couldn't claim to be the first of the "second wave" of punk groups to cite dub as an influence, they certainly took reggae music to heart and the overall sound of 'Rhythm Collision' is perhaps the most identifiably "reggae" of any to come out of the London scene. Combined with Mad Professor's technical wizardry the album was impressive in its ability to absorb the aesthetics of dub while avoiding being merely Jamaican imitators. Depending on one's prior familiarity with the album the indelible eighties production stamp on these tracks can be an obstacle, as can the occasional harmonica solos and cheesy vocals. But thank the heavens their bassist avoids the funky / slap bass urge on all but one track. It's really not as bad as all that, sounding at times a lot like what Tones On Tail did years later. As a bonus to the original tracks from 'Rhythm Collision' are five bonus remixes courtesy of Mad Professor. AND, on top of the original album and the Mad Professor remixes, there's an additional disc of remixes by Zion Train which were executed at Ariwa in 1998 on Mad Professor's now antique, or classic, gear.

RealAudio clip: Militant
RealAudio clip: Weak Heart Dub

We really didn't know what to expect from these guys (this guy), just what we read on various music blogs. This was one of those records that was getting hyped to high heaven, which definitely has us wanting to not like it. But damn if if this isn't some seriously gorgeous darkened psychedelic IDM. Yeah, it's dance music, but not the sort of music you'd hear on any proper dancefloor, this is the sort of mysterious electronica that is made to be the soundtracks for mysterious late night drives, strange encounters, dimly lit dives at the top of stainless steel skyscrapers, the sort of dark skitter that leaks from the headphones of darkened figures as they move through the shadows, the sounds at once lush and lovely, but raw and lo-fi, the low end buzzy and glitchy, the beats stuttery and gristly, the sound slipping from almost droned out mesmer, to near ambient shimmer and back again, never fully erupting into full on beat heavy crunch, but there is plenty of crunch nonetheless, the beats sounding like decaying tapes of chirping crickets one second, some sort of rumbling engine the next, while those beats are surrounded by swirls of sci-fi FX flutter and creaking post industrial thrum, the sound blurry and bleary and fantastically tripped out, the sort of electronica they don't really make anymore, and actually come to think of it, never really did. Fans of the various mutant strains of electronic music would do well to check this out, but even the beat-phobic and dancefloor averse might find much to love in RxRy's twisted electronic underworld. LIMITED TO 400 COPIES!

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