[ aquarius records — International Asia ]

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Showing results 101 through 150 of 379.

MPEG stream: Saughand: Vilambit Ektal
MPEG stream: Saughand: Drut Tintal

It all started with a video on YouTube. Odds are one of your music nerd friends sent it to you already, or maybe you WERE one of those music nerds, sending it to everyone you know. Check it out: KHUN NARIN ELECTRIC PHIN BAND [http://youtu.be/IYGl-l0Toig?list=FLCuwmGlbaOAStwXMiPVY5Kw] A mysterious video with very little in the way of description, but really, it hardly needed a description, the sound was incredible, a wild, percussive, effusive, droning psychedelia, like a Thai version of Konono No.1, all buzzing distorted melodies, hypnotic rhythms, we, like many of you, must have watched that video a hundred times. And the visuals too, a group of musicians, relaxing in plastic chairs, in a town square, all in matching red vests, presumably from their jobs as taxi drivers, the sound pumped out through a wheeled, home built PA, all manner of instruments, double necked guitar style lutes, hand cymbals, drums, percussion, while all around them, people mill about, seemingly oblivious, to the psychedelic genius going on right before their strangely averted eyes! Well somehow, some fella got in touch with the band in the video, and organized a proper recording for the group, which we discovered was in fact, Khun Narin Phin Sing, or Khun Narin's Electric Phin Band, the name taken from the group's use of an electrified, double necked version of a traditional Thai instrument, the lute-like phin. As for the folks in the video that seem to be ignoring the music and the musicians, apparently this sort of music is pretty commonplace in Thailand, even former aQ staffer Byram, who lived there for the last few years, told us he'd wander past bands like this playing all over, all the time, but for the rest of us, this stuff is a revelation, and Khun Narin Phin Sing crazy new Thai psych rock stars that we're totally obsessed with. The record itself was recorded in a way to as closely as possible replicate the YouTube video, no fancy studios, no expensive mics and multi-track recorders, no overdubs, instead, the band set up in a field right outside their town, in the mountains on Thailand's Northern border, and the music was captured field recording style, live, one take, the group made up of multiple generations, from kids in high school, to men in their '60s, the band running their instruments through chains of guitar pedals, using home built instruments and amplifiers, and of course that custom PA system, a visually and sonically striking behemoth made of 8 loudspeaker horns mounted atop a huge bass cabinet, with wheels of course, and the group just let loose, unfurling a glorious sprawl of droning, buzzy, heady, hypnotic Thai psychedelia, spidery distorted guitar melodies over motorik rhythms, minimal percussion, loping sinewy basslines, the sounds growing more urgent and frenzied, the wild phin shredding drifting atop a roiling bed of constantly swirling and shimmering buzz and thrum, gloriously mesmerizing, and totally transcendent, so utterly amazing, and absolutely recommended to anyone into weird and wonderful sounds, but especially fans of Sublime Frequencies style desert psych, who will be in heaven!! Vinyl version comes with a download card, btw.

MPEG stream: Lam Phu Thai
MPEG stream: Lai Sing
MPEG stream: Show Wong Khun Narin

All of you who loved Light In The Attic's career-spanning collection of music by Korean psych guitar maestro Shin Joong Hyun, that we recently made Record Of The Week, should be happy about this. It's an brand new official reissue, the first in a series, of Shin Joong Hyun related albums. As you perhaps recall, soothing psych-pop-folk singer Kim Jung Mi, backed by Shin Joong Hyun and his group The Men, appeared on that Beautiful Rivers And Mountains anthology with a song called "The Sun", which we said reminded us of Galaxie 500! This 1973 full-length from Kim Jung Mi, as masterminded by Shin Joong Hyun, is also quite special. "The Sun" is just but one of the ten dreamily melodic tracks found here, including a four minute version of the song "Beautiful Rivers And Mountains" itself, a signature Shin Joong Hyun tune. Other titles include "Wind", "Blow Spring Breeze", "It's Raining", and "Lonely Heart", and although the lyrics are all in Korean, we get the idea that love and nature form much of the subject matter here (actually, the thick cd booklet provides English translations of the lyrics, along with EXTENSIVE, ultra-laudatory liner notes and lots of full-color photos of the sexy young chanteuse). In those liner notes, Shin Joong Hyun is quoted as having said: "There is no person who can sing Psychedelic music as well as Kim Joong Mi". Kim Jung Mi's lovely voice will go straight to your heart, and the emotive music accompanying her is moodily lush, majestically melancholic... it's not really about hard-edged fuzz guitars, though they surface occasionally, as more often do propulsive psych "beat" grooves, but for the most part this album seems to hover on a higher, more heavenly pop plane of psychedelia than that suggests... The groovier stuff, though, reminds us of Serge Gainsbourg's Historie De Melody Nelson at times (on "Your Dream" especially). And it's no stretch that the liner notes call Kim Jung Mi the "Francoise Hardy of Korea". Recommended to any fan of the Forge Your Own Chains comp, in addition to those who already heard her on that Shin Joong Hyun collection. Gorgeous! Comes nicely packaged in a miniature lp-style sleeve, with that aforementioned info/photo packed booklet. There's a vinyl version forthcoming as well, fyi.

MPEG stream: Wind
MPEG stream: Your Dream
MPEG stream: Beautiful Rivers And Mountains

We've been meaning to review this for a while now, a fantastic release from composer / ethnomusicologist / field recordist Laurent Jeaneau, who is also a contributor to the Sublime Frequencies series, which makes sense listening to Xinjiang, a gloriously mesmerizing world music audio collage, named for the province in China where all of these sounds were captured. Xinjiang has a similar vibe as those 'Radio' collections on Sublime Frequencies, a dizzying sampling of local musics, but also the sounds of the city and the country and the people, a series of seamlessly arranged soundscapes made up of gently manipulated field recordings, voices from the radio, rural folk music, the sounds of animals, the clip clop of horses' hooves, bowed and plucked strings, simple percussion, mournful melodies, the various recordings varying dramatically in tone and timbre, some lush and vibrant, as if you were right there, others tinny and warbly, as if being broadcast from the past, but all blurred into a mesmerizing whole. In places the music gets super frenetic with wild percussion and manic melodies, but for the most part, the vibe is much more meditative and laid back. The sound slipping effortlessly from almost bluesy twang to dense melodic tangle, often rhythmic and tranced out, at times sounding like some sort of Chinese court music, with fluttering woodwinds, strange detuned string buzz and martial percussion, while other times like some timeless folk music. The A side is much more varied, and peppered with much of the more obviously constructed elements, while the B side is much more tranquil, stripped down and mostly acoustic. The collage aspect is really quite subtle throughout, with much of the record sounding more like an actual recording of indigenous musics, complete with the ambient sounds of the locations, the only overtly collaged aspect is the mix of the broadcasts, and the occasional shortwave interference, but strap on some headphones, or crank those speakers, and the machinations become a bit more obvious, and the record reveals itself as a gorgeously and meticulously arranged sonic construct, all of which only somehow makes it that much cooler. LIMITED TO 300 COPIES!

Another incredible archival discovery from Sublime Frequencies, this the first in a series of releases chronicling Indonesian popular music from the fifties through the seventies. Koes Bersaudara were a band of brothers, heavily influenced by the Beatles, the Everly Brothers, the Byrds, and this collection is the first ever reissue of two of their impossible to find recordings, most notably, To The So-Called "The Guilties", considered by music historians THEE Indonesian garage rock masterpiece. And it is fantastic, jangly guitars, soaring vocals, some awesome guitar playing, super catchy, very poppy, but with hints of darkness running though many of the songs, which is not surprising, considering how difficult it was to be a rock band in Indonesia at the time, especially one playing Western styled rock and roll. In fact at one point, the brothers were jailed for three months for performing Beatles covers. Another interesting fact, is that aQ faves Dara Puspita (whose PlusTapes reissues we carried a while back) were performing around the same time, and rumors were circulating about various power plays, the Koeswoyo brothers being perhaps considered too difficult to control, with their flagrant disdain for authority, not just covering the Beatles, but for writing songs about the leader that imprisoned them ("Poor Clown") and many songs chronicling their time in jail ("In Jail", "The Ballad Of Room 15") Once out of jail, their old label didn't want to have anything to do with them, but as the climate became more conducive to the modern styles of music, they found a new home, and recorded To The So-Called "The Guilties", the first album in Indonesian history to challenge the ruling regime. Their story is so fantastic and inspiring, it's strange to hear this music, which on the surface seems so innocuous, knowing just how controversial it was and how much of a harbinger of change it would be for Indonesian music. But for fans of classic '60s garage rock, regardless of the back story, this is some seriously good stuff, the power and energy of life surrounding the music only infusing it with a passion and energy that transforms it from simple rock and roll to something more. This reissue includes the To The So-Called "The Guilties" lp, a 10" recorded the same year, with a bonus compilation track, extensive liner notes, chronicling the history of the band, the recording of these albums, the producer, and the music scene in Indonesia at the time. Tons of photos too, all in a swank digipak, the nicest Sublime Frequencies packaging yet. WAY recommended.

MPEG stream: Hari Ini (Today)
MPEG stream:
MPEG stream: Poor Clown
MPEG stream: Balada Kamar 15 (The Ballad Of Room 15)
MPEG stream: Djadikan Aku Domba Mu (Make Me Your Sheep)

Another release in the continuing series of archival releases of Indonesian popular music brought to us by the always awesome Sublime Frequencies, this one comes from Koes Plus, the "Beatles of Indonesia", perhaps the most beloved pop group ever in Indonesia, who began life as Koes Bersaudara, and whose music was collected on another recent Sublime Frequencies compilation, but for all the promise shown by the controversial Koes Bersaudara, who were jailed for covering the Beatles, it's when they streamlined their sound, and became Koes Plus that they EXPLODED, recording more than 40 albums throughout the seventies, even going so far as to record albums in specific styles catering to fans of different genres. And it all paid off. According to the liner notes, TODAY, there are Koes Plus fanclubs in nearly every city, there are more than 60 Koes Plus cover bands on the island of Java ALONE, there are multiple radio shows dedicated to the group's music, all that and they have remained relatively unheard and unknown outside of Indonesia. This collection compiles their first two insanely rare albums, Dheg Dheg Plas and Volume Two, both fantastic examples of the group's mastery of Western pop music, the Beatles comparisons are definitely apt, but they did more than ape their heroes, these songs are fantastic, catchy and melodic, jangly and dreamy, vocal harmonies, intricate guitar playing, it's not just the Beatles they're indebted to either, the Byrds, the Bee Gees, and judging from "Pent Juri Hati (Heart Stealer)", even the Monks, it's a DEAD ringer, fuzzed out guitar, wild drumming, and howled vocals that sound JUST like the Monks, definitely the odd track out, but it hints at where these guys could have ended up had things been a bit different. But for fans of classic garage rock, and sixties / seventies psychedelic pop, Indonesian music of all stripes, this stuff is really fantastic, it's still difficult to believe virtually no one outside of Indonesia has heard this stuff until now. Some folks have suggested that had these guys been based in the UK or the US during the sixties or seventies, they would have been one of the most popular bands in the world, and listening to them now it's not hard to believe. Housed in a fancy 6 panel digipak, with a huge booklet, packed with liner notes and loads of rare photos.

MPEG stream: Kelelawar (The Bats)
MPEG stream: Derita (Suffer)
MPEG stream: Awan Hitam (The Black Cloud)
MPEG stream: Tiba Tiba Aku Menangis (Suddenly I Cried)
MPEG stream: Bergembira (Have Fun)

After a flurry of contemporary releases, Chris Connely, Chicago Thrash Ensemble, Mako Sica, PlusTapes returns with another mindblowing archival release, this one comes from Korea, and is the collected works of an all girl trashy rock and roll garage band called the Korean Black Eyes, who totally kick ass. Brash and snotty and groovy. The opening jam, is all buzzing bass, reverbed surf guitar, pounding drums, bleating sax, and some seriously raspy bad ass lead vocals, complete with wild throat shredding screams, her voice rough and raw and so passionate. The second track finds the Black Eyes getting all groovy and funky and soulful, adding some warm whirring organ to the mix, channeling Sly Stone and Funkadelic, but giving it their own twist. The vocals are amazing, and pretty much make the band, sung in English, but with a SUPER thick accent, and it's that total rock bad girl voice, weathered from whiskey and cigarettes, but still so sexy and sultry. The interesting thing, as with many of these bands, is how did a band like this survive in Korea in the early seventies? In a time when this sort of rock was not at all encouraged. And most certainly not by women. But we're so glad they did. And we're so glad PlusTapes tracked this stuff down. The B side even gets all ballady, opening with a Moody Blues cover, but it's not at all cheesy, their version is smokey and mysterious, sung in Korean, the sax slithery and slippery, the sound humid and heavy. And then they go off and finish the record with "Jesus Christ Superstar", epic and groovy, and subtly psychedelic, and again the vocals just seal the deal. It's criminal how good these women are. In different circumstances they could have been, should have been huge, and certainly the vocalist would have been a superstar with her tough and sexy Tina Turner / Janis Joplin yowl. Total kick ass bad girl garage rock and roll genius. LIMITED TO 100 COPIES!! Pink tapes, each one hand numbered and hand decorated, with cover art by Plastic Crimewave.

When Allan said that we were getting a CD of recordings of the "Hawaiian guitar of India", I had visions of Gabby Pahinui being backed up by fast and furious tablas. In reality, the music of Gopal Krishan and the vichitra (or strange) veena is nothing like Hawaiian music, so clean that out of your head. No, the reason why Hawaiian guitar is mentioned in connnection with this strange veena instrument is due to the fact that, unlike the sitar, this zither has no frets and instead the performer utilizes a pieces of stone (glass, or wood), much like a Hawaiian guitar, over the strings to reach the proper pitch. This slide guitar like way of performing allows not only for much longer sustained notes -- the decay resulting from bending a pitch via applying pressure to the string on a sitar or sarod is much quicker -- but greater precision and variability of pitch: hence, greater possibility for expression. Another item that apparently makes this veena particularly strange is that, unlike other instruments in the veena family which don't generally have sympathetic strings, it does. And not only that, because the plucked strings are quieter than normal, the sympathetic strings sound much louder relative to the melody. As far as performers of the vichitra veena, Mr. Krishan is pretty much it. The guy has an unintentional monopoly on the instrument and as such, gets to travel far and wee to play it for fascinated crowds. Each disc contains one track, that divided into three parts: a solo prelude by the veena and then two sections accompanied by tabla, the second faster than the first. Beautiful and sublime. Comes with a heaping portion of liner notes in French, English and German.

RealAudio clip: Raga Jog - Alap
RealAudio clip: Raga Jog - Teen Tal Drut

We've already sold a ton of these. It's not hard to see why. Everybody loves Bollywood film music, and Asha Bhosle is the queen of Indian cinema singers. And the always-adventurous chamber group the Kronos Quartet are pretty cool as well, aren't they? So the idea of Kronos teaming up with Bhosle to record a bunch of the best film songs written by famous Bollywood composer Rahul Dev Burman (1939-1994) is a fine one, and it's worked out marvelously on this disc. Rather than the hyperkinetic, energetic style of music that accompanies the big production dance numbers so often characteristic of Bollywood film, these tracks are of a more languid, moody variety, full of tender sentiment and romantic yearning. Perfect for the sad yet uplifting strings of Kronos (with help on tabla and other percussion from guest Zakir Hussain, and also Wu Man on pipa). And of course perfect for the lovely voice of Bhosle, who sang so many of these songs originally. We said "moody" but these moods do range widely, from sad to seductive to joyous. This package (which comes ensconced in a nice metallic cardstock slipcase) includes a thick booklet full of detailed notes and photos. You get lyrics and even a synopsis of each of the films in which these songs first appeared, generally back in the early '70s. All in all, gorgeous tribute to Burman and his classic Bollywood ballads, and mostly likely a worthy introduction to them for many.

MPEG stream: Dum Maro Dum (Take Another Toke)
MPEG stream: Mehbooba Mehbooba (Beloved, O Beloved)
MPEG stream: Nodir Pare Utthchhe Dhnoa (Smoke Rises Across The River)

The best cover versions, we always think, are the ones where the band doing the covering really makes the song being covered their own, do you agree? Then, that makes this one of the best covers albums ever, 'cause regardless of whether Kuvezin and Yat-Kha are doing Led Zeppelin or Kraftwerk, it sounds like the music of the steppes. That's right, Yat-Kha are the band from Tuva in Central Asia whose music is already a hybrid of the rustic folk traditions of their native land and Western rock, on records like Yenisei-Punk and Tuva-Rock. We like 'em very much. I mean, a rock band with a throat-singer is hard to beat! Vocalist Albert Kuvezin is always a regular member of Yat-Kha (he's the band leader in fact), but he gets special star billing here I guess 'cause the songs they're doing are his selections, reflecting his influences outside of Tuvan folk music. You can tell that the counter-cultural Kuvezin is no garage-band or electro-clash obsessed youngster, but the tracks he's picked are, taste-wise, pretty right-on. A good balance of the hip, classic, and obscure. The aforementioned Zeppelin and Kraftwerk songs are also joined by the works of Hank Williams, Iron Butterfly (it says "via Slayer" but we don't hear any of the latter), Joy Division, Captain Beefheart (whose voice Kuvezin must love!), Motorhead (another vocalist Kuvezin clearly appreciates), the Rolling Stones, Bob Marley, and others, including some less familiar names like Russian cult figure Vladmir Vysotskiy and Tuvan symphonic composer Alexei Baktrevitch Tchyrgal. There's notes on each track (about why they were chosen, what they mean to Albert and Yat-Kha) and even a map pinpointing the geographical origins of the original artists. There's of course a novelty aspect to this in part, we can't deny (just as we can't deny that it's just plain cool to hear "Orgasmatron" performed acoustically with a singer who makes Lemmy's gargle sound like the voice of a song-bird) but it's not as if Kuvezin and Yat-Kha aren't serious, and like we said, they really make these songs their own -- you might not always immediately figure out what you're hearing, and even when you do, if you didn't know better you might be able to believe that "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" was originally a Tuvan tune, for example, meant for Kuvezin's rumbling voice and the high lonesome Country Eastern sounds of Yat-Kha's traditional instrumentation.

MPEG stream: In A Gadda Da Vida
MPEG stream: Love Will Tear Us Apart

More Chinese music, thanks to our pal Ricky, who's been bringing us all kinds of amazing music from overseas, this one from a guy called Li Dai Guo, a super skilled improvisor who's proficient on at least a dozen traditional instruments, and who fuses those with more modern sounds, samples, beatboxing (!), experimental vocals, the result is pretty fantastic based on this single, which apparently consists of a series of sonic advertisements for various locations he found appealing during his 6 year stay in the city of Chengdu, the buzz of a traditional Chinese stringed instrument, is laid over weird percussive burbling, and laced with fluttering flute like melodies, before blossoming into a strangely lush bit of choral drift, throat singing, beatboxing, and all manner of humming and crooning. Other tracks take the traditional instruments, and add a bit of propulsion, while others get downright far out, chirping birds, what sounds like prepared instrumentation, operatic vocals, moaning violin like melodies, moving and dramatic, and still others add horns and approximate what sounds a bit like Klezmer music. From there on out, the sound flits from modern grooves to minimal Chinese folk, to what sounds like a strange electronic musique concrete / traditional folk hybrid. So cool. Housed in a super cool fold out map sleeve, with pasted on artwork. Probably quite limited too, and if/when we run out, be patient as we have to order more from China!

51 minutes, 1 track. 1 guitar, 1 guy: Li Jianhong. No, we didn't think we'd ever heard of him, either. But this is an aRCHIVE release, super limited and super swank, which means that we HAD to order a bunch in. We trust those guys, aRCHIVE. And we're glad we did, this is great! That is, if you're into distortion and feedback and heavy drone guitar like we are. This is extremely droney, very vast and very physical, sheets of glorious amped up fuzz. What's not to like? It moves forward with energy, building, swelling, keening, billowing. Rising and falling, at about 30 minutes in, subsiding from a dense, intense drone-tone into a mellower respite, before Li Jianhong leans on his amps/pedals/volume knob/etc. and dials up the distortion yet again. He's the Chinese Keiji Haino perhaps, but without any of the shrieking vocals. Yep, this is some nice, thick, bleak psychedelia (it says so on the sleeve, "bleak" and "psychedelia" being some of the only text not in Chinese, and it's true). Turns out Li's a member of PSF label noise band D!O!D!O!D!, reviewed here a while back, and has some other solo works out on his own label... we'll definitely look out for more from him in future... While D!O!O!O!D! was one for improv skree-lovin' noiseniks only, we wouldn't hesitate to recommend THIS to fans of, say, Boris's Feedbacker. And the likes of Suishou No Fune and LSD-march. Also Nadja, Fear Falls Burning, Birchville Cat Motel... LIMITED TO ONLY 500 copies. Packaged in a tri-fold sleeve featuring live photos of an impassioned performance by Li, inside a tri-fold vellum wrapper bearing a image of a craggy mountain peak.

MPEG stream: San Sheng Shi (excerpt 1)
MPEG stream: San Sheng Shi (excerpt 2)

This new record from ex-Captain Beefheart's Magic Band guitarist Gary Lucas is a gorgeous and heartfelt musical love letter to the Chinese pop that changed his life. The liner notes detail his years spent in Taipei, in the midst of a torrid love affair where he first discovered this languid, lush pop, that would influence his playing and songwriting for years and plant the seed that would become a full blown obsession with Chinese vocalist Chow Hsuan (who you may have heard on the soundtrack to Wong Kar Wai's In The Mood For Love). This record is totally gorgeous. No Beefheart skronk or Magic Band mayhem here, just dreamy and ethereal, wistful and delicate, perfect pop. So lovely. Gently fingerpicked guitars, and soaring, songbird vocals, with lilting melancholy melodies and spare, spacious arrangements. Also, amidst these gorgeous pop songs are scattered solo guitar pieces, also traditional Chinese although they don't always sound it, that are really beautiful and sound quite a bit like John Fahey or Jim O'Rourke, ranging from faux Appalachian abstract blues folk to shimmery, heavily reverbed minor key soundscapes, albeit with slightly Eastern tinged melodies. But it's the gorgeous vocals that are the centerpiece here, from two amazing vocalists, effortlessly channelling the spirit and sound of Chow Hsuan and the Chinese pop of the mid twentieth century. So nice.

MPEG stream: Old Dreams
MPEG stream: Please Allow Me To Look At You Again
MPEG stream: The Mad World
MPEG stream: The Wall

First of all, love that cover! Rainbow-hued multiples of bespectacled Indian flute player T.R. "Mali" Mahalingham, two of whom's crucial albums, from 1969 and 1970, respectively, are collected here on this double cd (or double vinyl) release, brought to us by, it's no surprise, the always interesting and unusual Japanese reissue label EM, who were most recently responsible for Bharat Karki & Party's International Music, another amazing, obscure '70s Indian artifact. While that record was a wild explosion of exotic, psychedelic funk, this one is on a whole different level - spiritual, calm, acoustic, lovely, but yes also exotic, from an innovative virtuoso of the humble bamboo flute. Across these two discs, "Mali", steeped in Carnatic music tradition, utilizing his own special "parrot clutch" fingering, weaves mesmerizing, fluttering ragas and folk melodies, accompanied by gentle hand percussion and happily droning strings. It's very "Indian-sounding", perhaps not like most flute you've heard, and also as we said, very spiritual. He would sometimes (he claimed) see GOD when he played... and if that happened, he'd stop, concert over, 'cause why go on at that point? We're also told that he could communicate with birds via his flute playing. Seems possible. Although we'll confess we'd never heard of Mahalingham before (have you?), and that's why we love labels like EM, apparently he was legendary in India, and influenced important Western fans like composers Terry Riley, La Monte Young, and Oliver Messiaen. We're becoming addicted to this, it gets played in the store several times a day by different staffers, and makes us all feel good. As with all EM releases, the packaging is lovely, though the deluxe crazy limited vinyl version IS quite expensive.

MPEG stream: Ragamalika
MPEG stream: Raga: Shankarabharanam (Thala: Adi)

If you like the wonderful Sublime Frequencies series that we've been in love with here at AQ, here is a new cd-r compiled by an AQ customer that is not a part of that series but for sure captures the same sprit and raw aesthetic as those releases. These are sounds rarely heard outside of Burma. A drum and gong ensemble that accompanies marionette performances which is part of a tradition found both in India and China. During these performances the gong ensemble of 21 or 22 drums are tuned by adding or removing a paste (yes, paste) located at the center of each drum head. The paste itself is a mixture of ash and rice powder. The sounds that are created are so amazingly raw and pleasing. Often instrumental but at times off kilter female vocals lay on top of the percussion. You get the feeling everything could all fall apart at any moment and that sense of chaos mixed with sounds steeped in a rich tradition all make for a totally one-of-a-kind listening experience. We love how it's playful, rhythmic and at times catches a blissed out blown out vibe that you could imagine hearing as part of a warped Boredoms side-project. This recording was taken straight from a cassette that made its way to the states. With no information inside and several unsuccessful attempts to get a hold of anyone involved in the project in Burma, Blueberry Buddha decided to release on c-r a very limited run with all profits going to Burma Forum a nonprofit group which serves as a watchdog and advocate of humanitarian issues in Burma. Highly recommended!

MPEG stream: Candle Light Dance
MPEG stream: Pagan Dance 1

In the Rough Guide To Bollywood Legends series. She is a Legend indeed.

Long overdue reissue of this lost psychedelic Indian funk gem from one of Iran's top sitarists, his only record, recorded sometime in the seventies, and a holy grail ever since. The liner notes claim this is one of the rarest and most in demand albums from Iran, and it's easy to hear why. Imagine your favorite jams from the Ethiopiques series, WITH SITAR and FLUTE, and we're talking total psych funk groove nirvana. Heavy and fuzzy and druggy and a little bit space-y these mostly untitled jams totally destroy, we can only imagine the sort of joyous meltdown any crate digger lucky enough to snag one of these must have experienced, the drums are fierce, powerful, organs swirl, flutes soar and flutter, and all over the tracks that sitar buzzes gloriously. Some of the songs are a bit folkier and more pastoral, sounding like some seventies acid folk record only with sitar and haunting Eastern melodies. But it's the stomping funk workouts that seal the deal, especially the 11 minute funk rock epic "African Jumbo" (one of only two songs here with titles), that sounds straight out of some seventies sitcom, or like it was purloined by Tarantino for one of his soundtracks, looped and hypnotic, super melodic and catchy as all get out. A few of the tracks feature vocals, deep and dramatic, and those songs slip into Bollywood love scene territory for sure, mysterious and moody, in fact the last few songs tend toward ballad territory, until the record closer, a bonus track taken from a super rare tape, that is murky and heavy with strings and wah guitar, total Indian blaxploitation soundtrack groove, that slips from sexy strut, to dreamy croon, to cinematic soar and back again. Amazing stuff. Fans of the Ethiopiques series and the funkier Sublime Frequencies releases will definitely dig...

MPEG stream: 1
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MPEG stream: African Jumbo

We were pretty obsessed with this record when it was first reissued back in 2009, a lost psychedelic Indian funk gem from one of Iran's top sitarists, his only record, recorded sometime in the seventies, and a holy grail ever since. Known as one of the rarest and most in demand albums from Iran EVER, finally hearing it for ourselves, it wasn't hard to hear why. Imagine your favorite jams from the Ethiopiques series, WITH SITAR and FLUTE, and we're talking total psych funk groove nirvana. The other version is out of print, but fear not, now the fine folks at Pharaway Sounds (who seem to have also undertaken a long overdue Erkin Koray reissue campaign, among other tantalizing releases) have fleshed that original out even further, including that original rare record in its entirety, and a whole bunch of bonus tracks from equally rare 45's!!! Heavy and fuzzy and druggy and a little bit space-y these far out jams totally destroy, we can only imagine the sort of joyous meltdown any crate digger lucky enough to snag one of these must have experienced, the drums are fierce, powerful, organs swirl, flutes soar and flutter, and all over the tracks that sitar buzzes gloriously. Some of the songs are a bit folkier and more pastoral, sounding like some seventies acid folk record only with sitar and haunting Eastern melodies. But it's the stomping funk workouts that seal the deal, especially the 11 minute funk rock epic "African Jumbo", which sounds straight out of some seventies sitcom, or like it was purloined by Tarantino for one of his soundtracks, looped and hypnotic, super melodic and catchy as all get out. A few of the tracks feature vocals, deep and dramatic, and those songs slip into Bollywood love scene territory for sure, mysterious and moody, in fact a few songs tend toward full on ballad territory, until inevitably along comes another blast of murky and heavy Indian sitar-funk, rife with strings or wah guitar, often slipping into total Indian blaxploitation soundtrack grooves, that slip from sexy strut, to dreamy croon, to cinematic soar and back again. Amazing stuff. Fans of the Ethiopiques series and the funkier Sublime Frequencies releases will definitely dig. And even folks who already have that other reissue, if you're anything like us, you'll probably wanna buy this one now too!!

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It seems like field recordings from southeast Asia have become one of the most popular emergent genres here at Aquarius Records. And while we're not sure if just 'cause you took a trip and recorded stuff you should really get your name on record (like you're some sort of hoity-toity 'sound artist'), we still appreciate the efforts of such recordists as Loren Nerell, the Bishop brothers, and now Robert Millis. The truth is, ambient sound from some street in Thailand or Indonesia can be a lot more fascinating than yet another disc of computerized feedback or lowercase glitch! Never a substitute for going places yourself and using your ears (and other senses) but certainly a valid listening option at home. So no complaints, we'll continue to sing the praises of quality releases in the 'field recordings' genre like those on the Sublime Frequencies label. And certainly if you liked the recent Princess Nicotine disc on Sublime Freq, you'll probably also want to check out Leaf Music Drunks Distant Drums. Actually Millis (a member of American experimentalists Climax Golden Twins) had some involvement in the production of the Sublime Frequencies' dvd release Nat Pwe: Burma's Carnival Of Spirit Soul, and portions of this release were recorded on the same 'expedition'. Listening to this artfully edited distillation of the hours and hours of recordings that this disc represents, you'll be able to tell that Millis obviously spent a lot of time on the ground in SE Asia, ears alert for interesting sonics (musical and otherwise). It'll transport you into an environment that includes the following and more: "improvisation performed by an elephant mahout using only a leaf, ethereal temple orchestras, blind street musicians, insect choruses, stagecoach rides, singing cabbies, drunken spirit orchestras performing Leo Sayer songs..." Byram was especially taken with the track that sounds like a guy sobbing through a bullhorn! A great listen thats very well mixed, segueing nicely, and at a nice pace, from track to track.

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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.

One of a whole handful of Chinese indie rock and noise pop releases on this week's list, this is the first we've heard from Mr. Graceless, who like a lot of the other Chinese bands we've been digging lately, seem especially beholden to a certain era of American music, that we too are quite partial to, that would be the nineties, and the sort of college/indie rock we still love to this day. And sure, it could be cuz we sort of musically came of age in that era, but we don't seem to ever get tired of My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, Sebadoh, the Pixies, and the multitude of bands who carried that sonic torch ever since. So yeah, if you like that sort of stuff, or have been digging the recent Chinese releases we've been featuring on past lists (White+, Boyz & Girl, Car-Sick Cars, Dear Eloise, Duck Fight Goose, etc.), then Mr. Graceless will be right up your alley. And while they do obviously count all that nineties American stuff as a huge influence, they also seem to push that sound into more overtly poppy indie jangle realms, with lots of soaring chiming clean guitar and some seriously sweet vocals, positioning the sound of Mr. Graceless a bit closer to pop outfits like the Shins, Avi Buffalo, Spoon, Death Cab, Papercuts, etc. But imagine that sound with just a bit more crunch and fuzz. Super melodic, ultra poppy, crazy catchy, and way recommended for all you (indie/nineties) pop nerds...

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More music coming to us from China, a bunch of new records and bands on this week's list. One of our favorites being the oddly monikered Muscle Snog, who masterfully mix avant experimentalism with classic jangle pop, shoegaze noisiness with angular post punk crunch. After a trippy ambient opener, the band launch into what at first sounds like some straight up noise pop, all thick fuzzy bass, chiming guitars, laid back vox, but then BAM, the song explodes into some fierce noise rock crunch, a la Sonic Youth, grinding freaked out psychedelic heaviness, swirling guitar weirdness over wild pounding drumming, and then they slip right back into it. And this is where we usually say something like "and the rest of the record plays out similarly", but this time it really doesn't, the band flitting from tripped out sound to tripped out sound. "Fuzz Rabbit" sounds like OOIOO via AmRep, with a bit of Lightning Bolt in the mix, melding playful twee pop, with buzzing, grinding heaviness, while "Happy Dreamer On A Sad Bad" sounds like a trippier Blonde Redhead, all spacey and prettily post rocky, and "Call It A Pop Song" is actually a killer pop song, sounding like the Swirlies mixed with Smashing Pumpkins, albeit a bit noisier. A few tracks get a little Melt-Banana-y, others get sort of Boredoms-ish, shades of another Chinese favorite White+ arise here and there, but really, Muscle Snog are fucking nuts, and not in sonically scatterbrained way, there's definitely a method to their madness, and it IS mad. The record is peppered with short experimental interludes, that somehow work perfectly with the proper songs, and that's probably cuz the songs are full of weird experimental bits. And as much as Beatles covers are played out, MS's version of "A Day In The Life" transforms the original into a noise drenched buzz-sludge creep, and it totally works. Fans of all the other Chinese stuff we've listed (White+, Carsick Cars, Dear Eloise, Boyz & Girl, etc.), this is fast becoming our new fave, and it's probably the weirdest of the bunch!

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

SORRY. A while back we reviewed a cd called Siamese Temple Ball. A truly mysterious disc, with very little in the way of liner notes or any information really, but a record that we all became a little obsessed with and thus listened to it NONstop. We sold tons of copies too. Then recently, we get a new batch of records from the always amazing Mississippi Records, and one of the records is entitled simply Mysterious Thai LP. So of course we're intrigued. We throw it on, and lo and behold, it's the very same record. Siamese Temple Ball, now on vinyl. Not sure how this happened, if it was random, or if as we posited back in the day, that maybe Siamese Temple Ball was not actually music from Thailand, but an incredibly well played homage by some Sun City Girls-like worshippers of Eastern musical tradition. Hardly matters, the music is fantastic, wild, emotional, dense, joyous and yes, very very mysterious. The cd version featured a sticker that proclaimed in faux pidgen English: "Flight comes to Thailand in the Year of the Rat. Siamese Temple Ball provide the lilting soundtrack for a chemical journey. Schoolgirls dance bashfully for the expectant throng. Life continues at a comparatively slow pace away from the rigours of fierce sun-light." Which was then followed by the (label's) description: "In the tradition of Sun City Girls, Ya Ho Wha 13, The Spacious Mind, Taj Mahal Travellers, Mu, Word of Life, Group 1850, and Ghost, Siamese Temple Ball give maximum pleasure for thirsty brains." Quite a roster of comparisons, the most fitting of which is definitely the Sun City Girls. So while we assume that this record was recorded by a group of precocious, dilettante, ethnomusicologist hipsters, we like to suspend our disbelief and imagine this to be a genuine Folkways-style field recording, as the recording certainly has a genuine field recording presence - a single stereo microphone in a good location. The music itself is a catchy and mesmerizing steady pulse of various and sundry percussion instruments (metal, wood, skin), hollers, yelps, and rococo melodic lines spun out by tinny electric guitars, xylophones, flutes and Khan (mouth organ.) And besides all that, it's really pretty great! The Mississippi lp version has all new artwork, even more mysterious than the cd, housed in a thick matte finish sleeve, with NO information at all, not even on the lp labels. We're not sure in what capacity, but it was apparently put out in conjunction with Exiled - also from Portland - another great record store. So recommended. And of course, probably WAY too limited...

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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.

Way back in 2005, we reviewed the first volume of the Nath Family's Sounds Of The Indian Snake Charmer, a collection of recordings made by Wolf Eyes' Aaron Dilloway, when he was living in Nepal with his wife. While she was in school, Dilloway befriended the Nath family, a group of hustlers / street performers / snake charmers, and spent virtually all his time, in a tiny alley, recording the family's performances. The first volume was a collection of proper recording, captured on a digital recorder, and mixed in stereo, with various instruments panned to create a super stereo (and super psychedelic) sound field. For volume two, Dilloway selected recordings culled from video tapes and cassette tapes, so the recordings this time around are more raw and lo-fi, but no less psychedelic and mesmerizing. And like the first volume, these three tracks are dizzyingly melodic and exotic, multiple horns unfurling buzzing, bleating melodies, all tangled up into strange harmonies, draped over super tranced out percussion, propulsive and hypnotic, woozy and wildly psychedelic, it's not hard to imagine cobras being mesmerized by these amazing sounds, cuz even we humans find it pretty difficult to resist. These recordings also offer up a little slice of life in Nepal, as street sounds are everywhere, voices, honking horns, shouting, footsteps, and those sounds seem to be as much a part of the Nath Family's music, as that music is a part of the fabric of daily life. Gorgeous, mysterious, magical stuff, that's so highly recommended! Originally released on cassette in 2005, now available on vinyl, LIMITED TO 600 COPIES, and housed in a super swank silkscreened sleeve.

On a brief break from bursting ear drums and shredding synthesizers and destroying clubs in Wolf Eyes, Aaron Dilloway spent a brief period living in Nepal with his wife. While she studied, Dilloway wandered the streets, where he encountered the Nath family, Titu, Kala, Sukha and Ram Chendra, three generations, all street performers, hustlers, and SNAKE CHARMERS. Well, Dilloway quickly befriended the family, hung out, drank, smoked and most importantly recorded their amazing talents. Haunting and dizzying Eastern melodies, performed on traditional bamboo reed instruments called pungis and accompanied by a stringed percussion instrument called a premtal. So lovely, swaying and swooning, droney and buzzy, all hovering above a fluctuating framework of tribal pecussion and shuffling, rattling rhythms. At times playful and bouncy (supposedly that's some Bollywood music) but more often mesmerizing and hypnotic, a wavering warbling drone. You can't really hear the swaying cobras, but if you listen really close you can hear folks walking past, talking, cars, all adding to the feeling that you are right there, in an alley in Nepal, seated before huge hooded snakes, being lulled into a trance by the endlessly droning Eastern buzz. Comes in a super snazzy three color silkscreened sleeve. Vinyl only, and limited!!

***MISSISSIPPI RECORDS!!!***MISSISSIPPI RECORDS!!!***MISSISSIPPI RECORDS!!!***MISSISSIPPI RECORDS!!!*** Like a Pavlovian bell, just the mere utterance of this vinyl-only Portland label gets everyone aflutter, ready to eagerly acquire, no matter what the sounds contained inside. We suppose if they put out a record solely of sounds made by cement mixers, back-hoes or traffic noises and packaged it in a sweet homemade album cover with nostalgic photos of antique construction equipment, and called it something like "My Heart Belongs To The Public Works", we'd sell out of them just as fast as their awesome compilations of pre-war blues or their reissues of obscure post-punk groups. As cool as that actually sounds, the not one, but TWO Mississippi releases we have this week are both super stellar and we know everyone is going to want at least one if not both of them. Earth Groove is a reissue of the debut 1968 recording by Master Hindustani classical singer Pandit Pran Nath. Considering his major influence on the giants of twentieth-century minimalist composition and drone music of all forms, as well as the amazing dearth of available recordings on cd let alone on vinyl, this is a MUST HAVE!! Featuring two fantastic side long ragas, Raaga Bhoopali designed for meditation after sunset and Raaga Asavari designed for meditation after sunrise, this is spiritual music of the highest order made for the purpose of destroying negative energy. But it is its amazing sounds of buzzing tamboura drones and tabla rhythms with Pran Nath's perfectly intonated and slowly unfolding vocal style that should please all fans of otherworldly cosmic sounds. Master of the Kirana Ghirana school, it is believed that Pran Nath spent five years of his life in a cave perfecting his austere intonated singing style. Heavily emphasizing the alap, the opening section of the raga that is unmetered, improvised and unaccompanied (except for the tamboura drone), that sets up a slow tempo and can often last more than an hour. Pran Nath's unwavering adherence to the principles of his vocal style was not that popular to the ears of modern Indians, but it is this recording that reached the open minds of minimalist composer La Monte Young and visual artist Marion Zazeela who persuaded Pran Nath to move to America and start his own school of music in New York. Just rattling off the names of his top students shows what an indelible influence Pran Nath was to late twentieth century music: Terry Riley, Charlemagne Palestine, Henry Flynt, Jon Hassell, Douglas Leedy, Don Cherry, Lee Konitz, Jon Gibson, Yoshi Wada, Rhys Chatham, Michael Harrison, W. A. Mathieu, Sufi Pir Shabda Kahn, Catherine Christer Hennix, and Simone Forti. Enough said. After being completely enraptured with the extensive and expensive double disc Midnight we reviewed a while back, some folks may not have had the time or means to see what we were raving about, so it's really nice to have this perfect and affordable introduction to Pran Nath's intense and penetratingly beautiful sound world, while they last!

This recording, the musical life of Pandit Pran Nath, his influence on Western minimalism, his importance to music, both modern and traditional, is steeped in history, but just as important, if not harder to describe, is the sound. A warm drifting dreamscape, layers of buzz and hum and drone, Nath's perfectly intonated vocals, hovering weightless above a thick swirl of Sitar string buzz and slowly shifting drones. This is true drone music. Warm and rich, thick and effervescent. Densely layered but light and airy. Truly difficult to describe, but a record that has immmediately become one of the most played / listened to records around these parts. Nath spent most of his life studying and performing in India, and became well known for his strict adherence to the authentic rendering of traditional ragas and an unwillingness to change his style or sound to be more 'modern'. His focus on the slower 'alap' sections of ragas was an obvious influence on seventies minimalists like La Monte Young and Terry Riley (both students of his), and other students / followers included Don Cherry, Rhys Chatham, Henry Flynt and many others. He eventually became a US citizen and continued performing, composing and teaching right up until his death. There is a definite dearth of recordings, considering how long Nath had been performing, this 2 disc set was originally released in 2002, and has luckily been reissued. The price tag is steep, but once these sounds hit your ears, any thoughts of price or money as well as all of your other earthly worries will just drift away. Both of these performances, one from 1971 recorded in San Francisco, the other in NYC in 1976, feautre Nath accompanied by Western musicians, Terry Riley, Ann Riley, La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela, who seem perfectly in tune with Nath's sound and vision. Anyone who loves the music of Chalk, Coleclough, Mirror, Ora, Organum, any of that minimal drone music, would do well to dig deep and discover the roots of that music. This is most definitely some of the most beautiful, transcendental drone music we have ever heard.

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

SORRY.

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PHAK YEAH!! It's been, like, ten years since this local groop, the 'South East Asian' alter ego of sonic subversives Mono Pause, put out their debut album, which became quite a bit of a hit here at aQ. Now at long last they've recorded a follow-up full-length, featuring the anthemic track "Fucking USA" which appeared on a 7" single some years back, along with ten more brand new cuts of their exuberant ethno-rock exotica. Among several AQ pals, Neung Phak's ranks include Mark Gergis (of Porest), who is the man responsible for a lot of our favorite Sublime Frequencies releases (and who now runs the likeminded Sham Palace label too). So you know that this band's take on various forms of traditional pop musics from Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, and elsewhere is well researched, steeped in firsthand knowledge probably gleaned on a backpacking / cassette-tape-digging trip overseas... Neung Phak should definitely appeal to fans of Dengue Fever, trafficking in the same sort of groovy vintage Cambodian Rocks style psych pop, but with more of a twisted, fucked up edge to it, in the tradition of the late great Sun City Girls - whose Abduction label put this out, and whose Alan Bishop makes a cameo appearance. "Fucking USA", which they would have us believe was recorded in Pyongyang, is probably the most punk rockish thing on here, but the whole album is exceedingly energetic and effervescent. And full of surprises - like the distorted electronic noise and free jazz freakouts that erupt in the middle of foreign-language funk vamp "Sa-Ha". Make no mistake, though, even with the sometimes crazed vocals and distorted acid rock guitars, many of these tracks are dancefloor fillers, for sure! Their wild East-West hybrid may have its faux-ethnic elements, but they don't fake the funk. It's like the music Funkadelic would have made if drafted and sent to Vietnam in the '70s, then gone AWOL and playing in some dive bar with local musicians. Meanwhile, the disc's closer, "Sad Chatri", is a seven-minute psychedelic slow burner, its grooves more for nodding out than getting down. Damn good, as is this whole album, highly recommended! By the way, this was also released on limited vinyl as well, a couple months ago, but that lp version went out of print too darn fast for us to list - though we may just have 1 copy left if you act quick...

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Yet another blast of fantastically noisy indie rock from China, this time from a group called Next Years Love, who sound gloriously distorted and super blown out, the guitars crumbling and noisy, the drums a simple tribal pound, everything wreathed in psychedelic noisiness, but then the vocals, a wild Kim Gordon like caterwaul, which gives the sound a definite Sonic Youth style noise rock vibe. The flipside, dials it back a bit, getting a bit more broody and introspective, a little bit shoegaze-y, sounding almost something that could be on Sacred Bones or Captured tracks, but still rife with plenty of seriously crunchy noise guitar. Pressed on bright blue vinyl!!

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A book that happens to be all about many of the Chinese indie rock bands we carry!!

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SORRY. In the late 19th century the Burmese (now Myanmarese) were introduced to the piano and were immediately impressed with the exotic instrument. They set about learning to play the entire repertoire of Burmese harp (the most refined music of Burma) and other court musics on it. In the process they developed a new genre of Burmese music (disregrading European methods completely) known today as "Sandaya." Master pianist U Yee Nwe plays traditional and contemporary pieces both solo and accomanied by traditional instruments. A beautiful combination of the strangely familiar and plainly foreign.

Reissued now for obvious reasons, this 1974 concert recording documents an example of the vital and exciting musical tradition that Afghanistan's former Taliban regime attempted to outlaw. The late Ustad Mohammad Omar was most certainly a virtuoso on the

RealAudio clip: Emen/Tintal

Like a lot of you, we flipped for Chinoiseries, a killer collection of sample heavy jams from French-Vietnamese producer Onra, the sources for which were all culled from old records scored while crate digging in Asia, the result was a dizzying barrage of beat driven almost Bollywood craziness, folk music, opera, classical, pop, chopped and looped and wrapped around funky beats, transformed into crazy catchy crackly grooves. We were psyched to discover there was more Onra out there, although this is not so much an album proper as it is a sort of beats and breaks record, and it's not new material, it's archival (check the date as title), but even so, all the breaks here KILL! The song titles are pretty self explanatory: "Porn", "Hit The Bong", "Dirty Loop", "Disco", and as you might imagine, those tracks do in fact sound like the title suggest, but not exactly. Onra definitely has a knack for twisting up sounds and making them weird and warped. Vocals are clipped and layered, collaged and recontextualized, lots of wah guitar, breathy exhalations, plenty of sci-fi synths, bloopy bleepy electro-funk, electronic squelch wrapped around passionate porno moans, bubbling bong sounds over woozy grooves, blasts of disco skitter, much of the record definitely falling into a sort of psychedelic / fuzzed out, almost Blaxploitation sort of vibe/sound, with a bunch of the tracks getting all RZA like, one in particular with fuzzy flutes, squiggly effects and a gaggle of giggling girls. So cool!

Every crate digger worth their salt has come upon the Asian record dilemma. Records (often Chinese) that look so awesome and full of promise with their mysterious photography, strange graphics and humorous English misspellings, only to be underwhelmed by the most boring, pedestrian and oft-times sickly sweet music contained within. But what's a cratedigger to do when they are actually IN Asia and have to wade through stacks upon stacks of such records knowing they can only bring home a tiny batch? That's the dilemma the French-Vietnamese producer Onra found himself in on a trip to Vietnam where scouring through various flea markets, he picked up a stack of promising but highly worn records. Like the best of recent instrumental hip-hop records by J Dilla, Madlib (especially his Beat Konducta Indian series), and Oh No processed through the radio collage filters of Sublime Frequencies, Onra was able to mine pure gold from the scratchy sounds he collected abroad. Bits of operatic theater, odd sixties easy-listening covers, traditional flute and string ensembles, love songs and obscure soundtracks chopped into loops and grooves with all the rough crackle and sheen kept in tact. Soooo Awesome!!!!

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WOW!!! When I (Irwin) started working at AQ over a year ago it was kind of like being the luckiest kid in the greatest candy store ever. All this amazing music surrounding me, every day getting to hear something I'd never heard and being blown away again and again. Of course like any good obsessive music fanatic I tried to think of some titles that maybe the store didn't have but totally should. This disc by Kazahkhstan's Rausan Orazbaeva was pretty much at the top of my list. Allan and Andee were able to get some for the store but we never were able to get enough to list...until now! So what has been a nice little secret for our in store shoppers can now be a treasure for everyone to enjoy. Orazbaeva is considered to be the greatest living interpreter of her highly unique instrument, the kyl-koblz, which is kind of like a 2 string cello held vertically and kept very close to the body when bowed. Orazbaeva is a pioneer in many ways, one of which is that it hasn't been until very recently that Kazakh women were even allowed to play this sacred instrument. But what makes Akku such an amazing record is not just that Orazbaeva is a master at her instrument but like those few rare masters she also evokes so much soul, emotion, fragility and power in her playing. These are sounds that you just have to surrender to. Graceful yet commanding. Flowing with beauty but also with moments of dynamic dissonance. Even this week when Andee had a million reviews to be writing and should have been glued to his desk he couldn't help but come up front every time we were playing this just to get a closer listen. You could almost imagine folks like Bjork and the Kronos Quartet freaking out and thinking how great it would be to collaborate with her. The kind of record that transcends genres, traditions, and geography and lands itself in that special section in our record collections designated for absolute brilliance! (In case you come in, don't look for the "Absolute Brilliance" section, cuz it doesn't really exist, but you know what we're talking about...)

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

SORRY. AMAZING! Sounds like experimental electronic or ambient beauty, yet it's done completely on mouth organs in Bangladesh. The Murung people are an isolated society from a densely forested region of Bangladesh. Just as their religion has remained a type of spirit worship, Murung's ritualist music has developed independently from the rest of the world. It is a hypnotic cyclical music which has preceded the minimalism of Terry Riley and Steve Reich (but done much better!!!) by eons. The Murung perform their songs on 'plung' - mouth organs built of gourds punctured by bamboo and reeds resulting in eerie sustained trills. It may be an irrelavent point, but during these rituals, the Murung get pretty drunk on rice beer - yet remain calm, mirroring the methodic pulse of the ecstatic sounds emanating from their mouth organs. An excellent documentation. Anyone who enjoyed the compilation of music by the Ede people of Vietnam which was one of our 'records of the month' back in February should check this out too!

RealAudio clip: Piece Pour Orchestre De Plung

We've been reviewing tons of amazing Chinese indie rock and experimental underground rock over the last year, we even made one record by the duo White+ our Record Of The Week, but have also raved about Boyz & Girl and Dear Eloise, and if you come in the store, you'll see a Chinese Rock section overflowing with artists and titles, that we're attempting to gradually get reviewed and up on the site. One of those groups is P.K.14, one of the longest running (going on 15 years now) and most respected bands in the Chinese underground, and beyond, having won lots of awards and performed with lots of big name bands, this newest record found the band flying to the US and recording with none other than Steve Albini. But don't be expecting any sort of noise rock, P.K.14 are more like Television, or maybe the Talking Heads, their sound stripped down and a little bit angular, the vocals in particular super distinctive, a keening croon, often soaring into a near falsetto, emotional and dramatic. But the music on 1984 definitely suits Albini's aesthetic, a darkly brooding hypnorock, that at times sounds a little bit like Nirvana, at others a bit like the Pixies, the sound slipping from angular jangle to moody minimalism, the traditional rock instrumentation augmented by piano, which is often employed in weirdly angular clusters, giving the sound a dark off kilter sound. And again, this is not super underground, not especially noisy or psychedelic or krautrocky or whatever. This is basically dark moody rock music, definitely bordering on mainstream, maybe an American analogue would be Radiohead, or the Editors, or something like that. But there's definitely some excellent songcraft going on here, and the production is fantastic. The lyrics are Chinese, which makes the sound more interesting as well, but on the lyric sheet are translated into English too, so you can (sort of) follow along. Very few copies of these, got them direct from the label, features some super twisted intense cover art, includes a printed inner sleeve with liner notes and lyrics in Chinese/English, and a download coupon as well!

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We sold a whole bunch of the newest release from this Chinese outfit, one of the longest running and most respected groups in the Chinese underground, but as we explained in that review, not so underground. Unlike a lot of the other Chinese bands we've been championing of late, P.K.14 are extremely well known, and have won many awards, and performed with big bands at huge venues, but nonetheless, that record, 1984, was a big hit around here. Recorded in the US with Steve Albini, we described that record as sounding like Television or Talking Heads, so we were curious to hear what P.K.14 sounded like earlier on, assuming it would be more raw and less polished, which in fact proved to be true, but even here, several records before their 1984 album, the band sound pretty mature, dark and brooding, their sound more akin to maybe Radiohead or The National or the Afghan Whigs. The opener is a ballady creep, all haunting piano, crooned vox, over a bed of distant static, and laced with little bits of electronic glitchery, spidery guitar filigree and barely there percussion, a brooding bit of minimal slowcore that leads directly into something a bit more upbeat, the second track laced with violin, guitars that jangle and chime, woozy wandering basslines, a little bit angular, all building to a soaring string laden chorus, dramatic and bombastic, and sonically very much more mainstream. And while they are essentially a mainstream band, that doesn't keep them from experimenting, the whole record rife with interesting sonic oddities, little stretches of hushed guitar texture, big booming drum blowouts, buzzing guitars processed to sound like synths, programmed drum machines, weird crumbling lo-fi riffs dotting more standard sounding rock songs, in fact while the songs themselves tend toward more standard rock forms, they're all separated by weird little experimental interludes, that experimentalism finding its way into many of the songs proper. Cool stuff for sure. Not nearly as freaky and far out as much of the Chinese stuff we champion, but if you dig modern rock, and wanna check out the Chinese equivalent, and/or if you dug their 1984 record, which we reviewed a while back, give this one a try (too)!

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There is something so thrilling about Burmese instrumentation. The Nai Htaw Paing Ensemble are regarded as masters of traditional Mon music. Using instruments like the Kyam (known as the crocodile zither, a 3-string zither with frets shaped like a crocodile), the Batt Kine, a row of around fourteen pitched gongs, and the Mon violin, a three-string fiddle that's played upright. While this isn't as damaged or fucked up as some of the music from Burma we've gotten our hands on in recent times (like the amazing Mandalay Marionette Music disc we listed at the end of last year), this is still pretty amazing. A really nice example of the more traditional yet still totally fascinating feel of Burmese music.

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The first we heard from this Chinese noise rock duo was via a self released cd-r/dvd-r sent to us by a friend who was traveling in China. And we were immediately obsessed, their sound equal parts lo-fi punked out pop, swaggery UK style new wave infused post punk, and wild noisy shitgaze indie rock radness. Rumor was these guys were a big deal over there and it's easy to see why. We sold a ton of those cd-r's and then recently, the band got in touch to let us know there was a proper full length coming out, a double lp in fact, and here it is, the awesomely titled If This Cockroach Doesn't Die, I Will, and much like the cd-r, it's another killer collection of raw, distorto garage punk indie noise crunch and jangle, that the band describes the record like this: "Some pretty good tracks. Songs about frustration, cock suckery, idiots being in positions of power and a heap of other worldly themes." The inside of the gatefold features liner notes which are essentially a casual letter to the listeners, a pretty funny conversation about the internet, and what it's like being a band now versus then, even offering you the record for free, at least offering to see what they can do, inviting other bands to come to China to tour, and finally, apologizing for the vocals, saying simply "they can be rough in parts". And yeah, they can be, but it's part of their charm, and a big part of the sound, slipping from yowl to howl to a sung/spoken thing that reminds us of the Fall or maybe Art Brut. The music this time around is similarly noisy, the drums dense and tribal, the guitar super distorted, the riffs pretty simple, but woozy and jagged, Pairs locking into some seriously tranced out passages, that almost sound like caveman This Heat. But there's plenty of noisy, angular noise pop too, which is mainly what Pairs traffic in, and they definitely sound more and more British every time we hear them, the vocals have a lot to do with it (pretty sure the singer is a British or Aussie ex-pat), and that aforementioned sung/spoken delivery, all wrapped around raw, urgent primitive post punk pound, it's not hard to imagine these two blowing up in the world of NME and Rough Trade, cuz anyone who digs bands like Arctic Monkeys, Art Brut, Franz Ferdinand and all those groups. But Pairs are WAY more punk, their sound way more raw and DIY and noisy, the rough production, not to mention the seriously twisted experimental bent making their sound way more of an underground proposition, but that's also exactly what makes it so good. And you wouldn't hear a band like Franz Ferdinand lock into a super long stretch of noise drenched, angular, minor key, hypno rock pound, but when Pairs do, it's pretty much totally irresistible, and seems to be a good balance to their noise-poppier side. Here's hoping these two make it over here to play shows, they're definitely one of those bands, as we mentioned in our other review, who sound like they'd be nuts live, wild, sweat soaked, bloody and bruised, the vibe emotional and passionate and seriously intense. And thus WAY recommended. Comes packaged in a nice thick full color gatefold jacket. No download, but check the liner notes, we're sure you can email them and work something out!

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A friend of aQ has been travelling / living in China, and recently sent us some records by bands he discovered and dug and thought we would dig too. Pairs is a duo from Shanghai who kick out heavy hypnotic lo-fi shit rock punk pop that kills, their sound dense and noisy and jangly and chaotic, the sound rooted in classic indie rock for sure, but here delivered in a sort of shitgaze style, definitely had us thinking of Times New Viking and Psychedelic Horseshit, the sort of band you might hear on Siltbreeze too, urgent and intense, most of the songs just one or two parts, the guitars a wild effects drenched jangle that goes from chiming and melodic to blown out and shoegazey, the drumming wild and chaotic, the vocals a howled feral yelp buried in the mix, and while most of these jams are the kind of tracks that would have a pit heaving, and inspire the same sort of sweat soaked bloody knuckled live actions as groups like The Oh Sees, amongst all this punked out energy and frantic noise pop fervor, there are hidden gems, "No Regrets" is about as perfectly poppy as these guys get, this is a lovesong indie rock mixtape jam if there ever was one, and the awesomely titled closer "My Body Is Not A Wonderland", which finds the vocalist just listing off all the things wrong with his body, over a droned out jangle and pound, the whole thing sounding like the Fall or Art Brut. In fact, the more we listen, the more all of these songs blossom from noisy kinetic energy into hook filled noise pop gems. Definitely a new favorite. And it's sort of so good we're wondering why these guys haven't been snapped up by somebody, Matador maybe, or Siltbreeze, we're guessing it's only a matter of time. Packaged in a no-frills dvd sized cardboard sleeve printed on one side, with a glued on tracklist on the other. Comes with a dvd-r that is a hodgepodge of home movies, of various friends of the band, various places in China, what seems to be lots of other bands playing too, confusing, but surprisingly fun to watch. LIMITED TO 1500 COPIES(!), each one hand numbered. And while that may seem like a lot, not sure we can actually get more once these run out.

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While Esquivel, Les Baxter and Arthur Lyman are usually the first names that come to mind when people talk about classic exotica, for our money the leader of the pack should for sure be Korla Pandit. Filled with charisma and a quirky disposition he used his Hammond B-3 organ to create sounds that evoke the sounds of a haunted carnival in a mysterious section of India via a b-movie made on a back lot of a studio in Hollywood. Pandit is best known for his TV show which aired in the 1950's on KTLA and through syndication throughout lots of the country. You got to check out Youtube clips of it right away, it's simple and stunning black & white filmstock zooming in on the beautiful face of Pandit as he wailed away on his organ, sometimes even playing two of them simultaneously. Adorned in a turban, a voice-over would introduce him and his 'Universal language of music.' While it was often believed that he was born in New Delhi the truth was he was actually born in Missouri and was truly one of the first iconic musicians to create such an elaborate alter ego. We love how Pandit's music was not just throwaway novelty fare. There is true mystique, suspense and playful uneasiness in the sounds he created. It makes so much sense that shortly before Pandit died Tim Burton made sure to get him on the silver screen for a cameo role in Ed Wood. It also makes so much sense that after his run on the KTLA show he was replaced by Liberace. While Liberace may have gained more fame and fortune, Pandit is the one who taps into the imagination and hearts of those of us who love strange and enchanting sounds.

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