[ aquarius records

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Boston-based guitar improviser Joe Morris busts out the steel-string acoustic for this solo set, which doesn't really sound too far removed from his electric excursions, since he's known for his clean, bright, effects-less sound. In fact, the twang and resonance of the steel-string seems *more* distorted than other stuff of his we've heard. Anyway, this is a nice, mesmerizing,

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1987 recording dedicated to John Coltrane and including three pieces by Moses, two by cult guitarist Mu�os and "Naima" by Saint Coltrane, himself. A very sincere performance featuring John Medeski on piano.

Welcome reissue of this early work by Swiss musical madmen Norbert Moslang and Andy Guhl, better known by their later moniker, Voice Crack. This 1982 recording shows them on their way to the "cracked everyday electronics" sound of VC, coming out of the FMP / European free improv scene in which they got their start. Although "normal" instruments like soprano saxophone do make an

Last year we reviewed a disc by the evocatively named Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble, who we described as "equal parts DJ Shadow's Endtroducing, seventies horror movie soundtracks, late night jazz and super sluggish blown out trip hop" which is exactly what it sounded like. Long languid musical excursions through some dark rainy late night film noir wasteland, ghostly moaning horns, skittering minimal percussion, haunting strings, all tangled into super cinematic musical drama. Another band, who if there was any justice, would be the ones scoring big Hollywood thrillers instead of Danny Elfman... Anyway, we recently learned that the�Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble had an alter ego, a more metallic dark side, called, appropriately enough The�Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation, we were pretty much sold after just hearing the name, so evocative of some mysterious 'star chamber', holed up in a secret underground bunker, tucked in some cave in the mountains, where mysterious hooded figures work alchemical magic creating mysterious and monstrous 'doomjazz'... Supposedly, this Kilimanjaro offshoot was meant to sound a bit like SUNNO))) or Earth, albeit run through with bits of jazziness and smoke-y ambience. Well, it's not quite that heavy, but it is a bit, definitely heavier and darker and more ominous than the KDJE mothership, a sort of drone-y dark ambient drift, long stretches of low tones and distant horns, of rumbling guitars and thick washes of swirling low end. Actually it sounds more like�Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble with all the jazz sucked out, leaving nothing but a blackened husk, a skeletal landscape of bleak blissed out shimmer, and slow creeping nightmare melodies. In some ways it sounds like a jazzier, more ambient, less primitive and ritualistic version of the Taj Mahal Travellers... A couple tracks do rev up to a full on SUNNO)))-y dirge, with the guitars threatening to engulf the dark ambience beneath it, but they never truly explode into actual sludge drenched doom, instead, they sort of drift darkly, roiling like a sky full of thick black clouds... It is most definitely doomy though, just not in the traditional sense, the sounds here are more Lustmord, Nordvargr, Bohren und Der Club Of Gore, Cold Meat Industries, with some more melancholy melody mixed in, disembodied reverbed guitar, the occasional almost-jazzy creep, it's more a sort of ambient slow core, wait a minute, "slowcore ambient doom" might be exactly the descriptor we were searching for.� Definitely recommended for fans of any of the above mentioned bands, or anyone into�slowcore ambient doom!

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SORRY. Mr. Velocity Hopkins, a name familiar to fans of Couch (the one on the pleasantly obnoxious Bulb label). Six guys on drums, guitar, bass, and sax playing as many notes every 45 seconds as possible, resulting in a jazz-rock freakout assault similar to Zorn's Naked City or The Flying Luttenbachers (Weasel Walter of which appears here). A noisy racket, indeed, but with lots of oomph. Not produced or engineered, but sequenced, by Warn Defever.

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SORRY. Happenin' German free-improv go-getter Gunter Muller (on electronics, Minidiscs, and what I'm always amused that he likes to call "selected" percussion) again teams up with the fantabulous Japanese gutiarist Taku Sugimoto (someone my ears sometimes mistake for David Grubbs). Previously they collaborated with Keith Rowe on the "The World Turned Upside Down" cd. Quiet, sparse, beautiful.

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When you think of legendary sixties jazz, you probably don't think of Australia, but this 1967 disc from Charlie Munro and his quartet might just change all that. Arguably one of the most important jazz groups to emerge from Australia, Munro's Eastern Horizons most definitely predates other more well known Eastern Influenced jazz discs of that era, and is just as good. It's definitely free jazz, but the skronk level is quite low, in fact much of the record is moody and muted, due in no small part to the presence of cello and bass violin which add a warm wistful quality to many of the songs. Plus there's marimba and vibraharp as well as "brushes on record cover" (!). Record opener "Islamic Suite" definitely sets the tone, with the horns emulating Eastern instruments, the melodies appropriately Eastern as well, based on an Arab scale according to the liner notes, long form ragas, drones, that slip smoothly into some more traditional sounding bop, but even then, the Eastern influence is still strong. "Malahari Raga" is in fact based on an Indian raga and begins all woozy and swoony, before the drums kick in double time and the song is tranformed into something much more skittery and jazzy. Many of the remaining tracks are delicate and dark, fluttering flute over warm fluid basslines, muted trumpets and lush marimba melodies, until "Minimum", a sprawling free jazz jam, where the horns finally let loose and go wild, pausing briefly for an awesome extended drum solo. There's one more mournful jazzy ballad before the record closes with another chunk of jumpin' jive, skittery rhythms, soaring horns, and an awesome bass solo outro. Killer stuff.

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SORRY.

Another Italian reissue of the great BYG/Actuel back catalogue. Sunny Murray, legendary drummer for free jazz giants Cecil Taylor and Albert Ayler, is joined here by most of the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Recorded in Paris in 1969 (like much of the output on this label), "Sunshine" is a propulsive, adrenaline-fueled monster that'll leave you breathless. Features top-notch performances

1966 recording from the legendary free jazz drummer, originally released on the seminal ESP label. The quintet featured here includes the brilliant Alan Silva, Jack Graham, Jacques Coursil and Byard Lancaster.

This is John Zorn and "Yamantaka" Eye (Boredoms).

This dynamic twenty-first century klezmer ensemble incorporates jazz improv, guitar-hero mannerisms and heavy-ass textual references into the rich klezmer tradition. It's kinda Frankenstein, but successful nevertheless. These are live performances from

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(from the obi:) "Weaving fiery improvisation into complex arrangements in a style reminiscent of Mingus at his best, Boston-based Naftule's Dream [their name a tribute to klezmer pioneer Naftule Brandwein] has created instrumental music of passion and intensity. From adventurous originals to surprising re-interpretations of traditional Jewish classics, this provocative Jazz/Klezmer hybrid is so good you could PLOTZ."

Follow-up to their wonderful klezmer jazz debut The Golden Dreydl, produced by Laswell and including additional elements of rock and improv...

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SORRY. Stars John Zorn, Bill Frisell, Wayne Horvitz, Fred Frith, Joey Baron & Yamantaka Eye. For their re-issue, Zorn has packaged these two albums in a black box, presenting all of the original, controversial artwork in the liner notes. Zorn gives a bit of history behind the graphics for Naked City releases. The albums, one fast and furious, the other slow and brutal, are without equal. They demonstate the most aggressive sides of these incredible musicians.

Holy crap! That's pretty much the first thing we thought when we saw this gorgeously designed box set. And it seems pretty appropriate considering 'holy crap' is what we inevitably think everytime we hear these guys play. For those of you who are new to Naked City, imagine five middle aged guys, short hair, some bald or balding, wearing dockers, and button down shirts, sitting in chairs, reading sheet music, and playing some of the most extreme, fucked up and chaotic genre splicing jazz / noise / twentieth century / metal / cabaret / whatever you've ever heard. Mix in the Zorn factor, band leader John Zorn, perpetually clad in some metal t-shirt and yellow and black camoflauge pants, and the Eye factor, occasional guest vocalist Yamatsuka Eye of the Boredoms, then also figure in a ridiculous obsession with metal, Japanese bondage, and crime scene photography and you've got Naked City. One of the only bands who can skip from country to grindcore to bebop to twentieth century classical to western swing and back and make it seem like they aren't even trying. And more importantly, make it sound like those disparate sounds belong together. Supposedly, Naked City played two weeks straight, every night, for two hours, and never played the same song twice. These guys are insane. So now we come to this here new box, which collects all of the Naked City records, remastered of course, as well as a new track recorded specifically for this box, a 'vocal' version of the Naked City classic "Grand Guignol" featuring Mike Patton. The box includes the all time classic self titled record, Absinthe, Radio, Heretic, and Grand Guignol as well as a massive book. The box and the book are gorgeously designed, like the Tzadik label aesthetic, only taken to the extreme. A thick white box, housing 5 digipaks and a hardcover book, very twenties looking, with flowing decorative script, all in metallic foil of course, the cds are redesigned in a way that incorporates the new look, but still includes ALL of the images and liner notes from the original releases, while the book is full color, black and white, some pages printed on gauzy vellum, all the album artwork, band photos, sketches, musical notation, drawings, testemonials, the whole thing so -designed- it's almost impossible to read sometimes (remember Raygun magazine?), but that sort of just fits with Naked City and their aesthetic obfuscation and confusional musical misdirection. What an amazing fucking band! And with all the records collected in one place, it's hard to imagine any other band collecting such a flawless and timeless body of work. And even though most Naked City fans already have all these records, Allan and Andee (massive fans) can tell you that you're probably gonna want this anyway! And if you've never heard Naked City, well, why not go all out and right that very tragic wrong. You won't be sorry!

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At long last, the archive of live documents of the infamous Downtown supergroup Naked City is being unleashed! Starting out in 1989, the hardcore/grind/jazz/soundtracks/noise/etc. inspired outfit led by John Zorn had yet to include harsh vocalisations in their compositions, future contributions from Brutal Truth's Kevin Sharpe and Boredoms' Yamatsuka Eye had not yet come to fruition. This first volume in Tzadik's Archival Series of Naked City recordings presents the group at their modest beginnings, featuring the lineup of Fred Frith, Wayne Horvitz, Joey Baron, Bill Frisell and Zorn himself. The setlist performed here represents some of the earliest, raw blueprints for what was to become the first (and last!) recording for Elektra's Nonesuch imprint, plus some originals and cover versions of compositions by Ennio Morricone, Johnny Mandel and John Patton that never made their way onto proper studio recordings! Beautifully designed, as expected of all Tzadik releases, with Weegee cover art (again) and many rarely seen photographs of the group in action onstage and off.

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We just got a few new titles in from Japan's Doubtmusic label, which specializes in the outer margins of "jazz" and other avant garde sounds. This one is perhaps of particular interest to underground Japanese music freeks as it's a duo that features none other than guitarist Yamamoto Seiichi, of Boredoms, Omoide Hatoba, and Rovo fame, among many projects. His partner in crime is percussionist Yoshigaki Yasuhiro (from Ground Zero, Altered States, Rovo, ONJO, and others). These guys are old pros when it comes to making an awesome, interesting racket. As you'd expect, it's a disc of somewhat splattery skronk - but quite listenable by skronk standards! There's a certain sort of catchy, chaotic logic to this duo's jittery, jumbled improvs, all performed live, the ten tracks here selected from several Nambajazz shows for this hour-long disc. Some subtle and moody, others utter stompers. Frantic this can be, but also foot-tappin'. Those looking for tangled, heavy-duty Takayanagi style blowouts need look no further than track 3 to get their ears peeled back. Amped-up guitar mayhem and octopoidal bashing in full effect! Elsewhere, the duo's music, led by Yamamoto's innovative and invigorating guitar playing (and "misc."), takes lots of other surprising twists and turns... ferinstance, track 9, "Ten-Kwaurou" ("An Air Corridor"), works in a bit more melody, even snatches of some classical pieces, in the midst of a satisfyingly shambolic, mathrock workout. Definitely one for any fan of Yamamoto's out-guitar stylings, as well as Zornophiles, Improvised Music From Japan subscribers, Boredoms nerds, etc... you know who you are....!

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Milton Nascimento's North American debut record from 1969 came at the end of the huge wave of the bossa nova movement that had infiltrated the American imagination since Astrud Gilberto's "Girl From Ipanema" with Stan Getz in 1963. A&M records and producer Creed Taylor were behind some of the best records of this period including albums by Antonio Carlos Jobim, Sergio Mendes and Joao Gilberto, and Nascimento's Courage is no exception. Beautifully arranged and sung, this is where many of his most popular Brazilian songs were heard for the first time including "Vera Cruz", "Morro Velho" and "Bridges (Travessia)". Singing in Portuguese, English and sometimes wordlessly, this is a breathtaking record. While it doesn't have the psych flourishes and Tropicalia bent of Cluba Da Esquina, from a few years later (a unanimous store favorite!) it's still an essential record and perfect for lazy and wistful summer evenings.

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Yes, it's that time of year again, where all we hear outside the store is the worst Christmas music imaginable playing incessantly everywhere. Luckily over the years, we've been able to find a few select holiday gems to play in the store that don't make our skin crawl. Like John Fahey's The New Possibility, A John Waters' Christmas, Basinski's Silent Night (now sadly out of print) and Low's beautifully solemn Christmas album. This year we got a new treat in the form of this strangely monikered National Jazz Trio Of Scotland. We say strangely monikered because this is neither a trio nor is it jazz, but really what it is is Scottish musician Bill Wells and a handful of like-minded musical compatriots taking apart and rebuilding (respectfully) the traditional Christmas carol canon. Musically, Wells brings an eerie hushed chill and a charming vibrant peacefulness to the proceedings that sound like carols heard shortly after a quiet early morning snowfall. With just keyboards, piano, viola and voices, this is definitely great for keeping the ire of holiday tension down to a sedate manageable minimum. Lovely!

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Natural Yogurt Band??? So many associations come to mind of what kind of band would name themselves that, but without hearing them, you probably wouldn't guess right off jazz, funk or soul. Or if you did, you might think they were of a hippie jam band mentality and not this amazingly tight British jazz combo mining the sounds of late sixties Verve label cool jazz stalwarts like Cal Tjader, Lalo Schifrin, Gary McFarland, and Jimmy Smith. Rife with psychedelic flutes, vibes and organs, Away With Melancholy takes us through a vibrant cinematic sound world propelled by funky Latin rhythms and kaleidescopic compositions. The band isn't merely aping their influences, but extracting their key ingredients and repurposing them into something modern. El Michaels Affair and Clutchy Hopkins may be covering similar territory, but not nearly with the amazing aplomb and spot-on musicianship these guys have. And if you like those groups, the artists mentioned above, that Spiritual Jazz compilation we reviewed a while back, or anything on the Stones Throw label, you should definitely check this out! And, by the way, we've got to say something about the packaging, the metallic silver gatefold mini-LP style sleeve that this cd comes in is eye-catchingly gorgeous, adorned with delicate purple op-art spirals. We had people asking about it in the store just 'cause of the cover! Nice job, Jazzman.

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It's the return of the hard hitting British jazz duo with the really dumb name but the funkiest old school breaks augmented by organ, flutes and marimba. So how could we complain? Sounding like a revival of noirish jazz with occasional Latin tinges from the sixties and seventies, like the best of Creed Taylor's Verve label productions for Lalo Schifrin and Cal Tjader and a host of other cool cats, but with a futuristic twist of Moog-y delight. This new release doesn't change the formula so much from their last one as it expands upon it, including at the end of the the album proper, 18 or so additional "Biscuits" (sort of like J Dilla's "Donuts"), short sketches of organ and Moog squelches or drum breaks for you to sample and manipulate yourself. Cinematic and tightly knit, another score for the Now-Again label!

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The Necks might be our favorite jazz group, most of their records/performances being single hour long pieces, always a lush, patient, slow build, all texture and mood, super dynamic, but in a way most bands can't pull off, just bass drums and piano, their sound dense and dark, doleful and lovely. The last few Necks records have found this minimal band getting a little maximal, their slow build eventually erupting into something dense and driving and almost psychedelic, as if in response to that, Open finds the group and their most hushed and abstract, with the first few minutes featuring a field of tinkling chimes, spare pointillist piano, and only the occasional flurry of bass notes, spacious and mesmeric, as we usually find ourselves saying about these guys, we would have been happy if there was no slow build at all, and the whole record was just this glistening, glimmering sprawl of abstract free jazz drift. But there is a method to their madness, and at about the eight minute mark, the song shifts dramatically, an electronic pulse, some simple hi-hat rhythms, the occasional bass drum, and nothing else, weirdly hypnotic and barely there, the sound soon joined by a buzzing hum, a snare crack here, some bass thrum there, the sound blossoming into a sprawl of subtle tribal drumming, and more shimmering chimes, soon the piano comes back in, and the song begins to take a more jazz-like shape, albeit one that's still quite free and abstract, the lilting piano melody offsetting the busy drumming, the sound shifting again soon after, with a snare roll that sounds almost like radio static, the bass and low notes on the piano unfurling a dense rumble, those chimes tying everything together again, before settling into something much more tranquil and serene, only to return to that strange electronic pulse / hi-hat section, which slips from jazzy shimmer, to abstract free form almost-psychedelia, the snare locked into another roll, adding a buzzy thrum, the sound finally settling into some hushed, laid back jazziness, wreathed in a dreamy droned out shimmer, gradually fading to silence. Recommended, as always!

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We've gone cuckoo for the Australian trio The Necks, and this is the third album we're gonna enthuse over. More brilliance, in other words! Again, the Necks play a hard-to-categorize blend of jazz and rock that's "experimental" yet totally accessible, making use of insanely evocative piano, drums and bass in a hypnotically repetitive, circular, subtly shifting manner. It brings to mind everything from Philip Glass to Stars of the Lid to Miles Davis. That's right. Aether begins as if it is finishing, with long minor key chords and shimmering cymbals that wait until fading from the audible before the next set s-l-o-w-l-y emerges. As with The Necks' relatively more active Hanging Garden album, they set down that evocative sonic foundation for a full twenty minutes before single piano notes sail out surprisingly, hesitatingly stating a melodic line. It's over an hour long and not for a second does it become boring -- despite its stillness there's a warmth, no chill. The piece's closing section (another healthy 20 minutes) is a muted flourish, with the cymbals unendingly shimmering, the piano notes echoing and repeating like the tide is coming in. This is the perfect and only soundtrack to a Sunrise. Amazing. MPEG Download: "excerpt 1" [/audio/necksaether1.mp3] MPEG Stream: "excerpt 1" [/audio/necksaether1.m3u]

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All right, those of you who have still not taken the plunge into the glorious, jazzy drone-y world of Australia's The Necks, here's yet another chance, and a pretty low priced one at that! We finally managed to get a bunch of copies of Aquatic, a cd that we used to carry years ago and that has only now become available again. The Necks explore expansive soundscapes of almost static rhythms, Terry Riley-esque piano figures and a 'songwriting' style that leans more towards Steve Reich than Ornette Coleman. Shuffling snare and ride cymbal, piano and bass weave lush repetitive figures that mesmerise in their barely perceptible shifts resulting in a gorgeously meditative and almost transcendental sort-of-free-jazz. The core three piece is joined on Aquatic by a hurdy gurdy which adds to the overall droniness. Even the jazz hater at AQ is frequently caught listening to the Necks! What more do you need to know?! C'mon! MPEG Download: "Aquatic 1" [/audio/necksaquatic1.mp3] MPEG Stream: "Aquatic 1" [/audio/necksaquatic1.m3u]

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Windy's off in Vietnam and unable to contribute to our review of this, but she did leave the following simple and to the point note: "I LOVE this album." We all do actually. Even jazz-phobic Jim has been caught blissing out to The Necks! And everyone we know seems to have at least one record by Australia's Necks, but why didn't any of them tell me how fricking great this stuff is?!?!? This is a new 4 cd set featuring 4 separate hour-long performances, and once you're familiar with their sound, you'll understand that 4 hours, in hour long chunks, is the perfect way to experience The Necks. It's sort of jazz but not exactly. Sort of 20th century classical, but not exactly. Imagine Charlemagne Palestine or Steve Reich composing for a jazz combo and you might be getting close. Or a more lively Bohren and Der Club of Gore, maybe, at times. Hypnotic shuffling jazz rhythms, skittery high hat and ride cymbals, build a skeletal foundation for throbbing monochromatic bass and chiming, cyclical piano. Repetitive, blissed out and totally hypnotic. Drummer Tony Buck we used to know from Peril and Kletka Red amongst other projects, but now we'll consider The Necks his primary claim to fame. Recommended.

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The Necks are one of those rare bands that we could literally listen to forever. Their sound is just so perfectly hypnotic and so well suited to extended listening. If they invented a new format, where a band could release say, a 24 hour long song, the Necks are the first band we would think of. In fact they actually have played a 24 hour show. We keep hoping it will get released, although the epic scope might be lost split up over 24 discs. This here is the Necks 13th release in about 20 years. And for a band to stay true to their sound for that long, while remaining viable and listenable and exciting is testament to the Necks' unbelievable skill. For those new to the Necks, imagine a three piece jazz ensemble, bass, drums and piano (although, on Chemist, for the first time ever, guitar is introduced, played, oddly enough by drummer Tony Buck), who specialize in extended longform pieces. Ultra minimal, slowly shifting epics, a single riff, a single motif, repeated and looped and subtly colored over the span of ten minutes, 30 minutes, 60 minutes even 24 hours. Totally mesmerizing and hypnotic. Chemist is the most rocking Necks record we can remember. At least the opening 20 minute track. The groove is much more upfront, driving, propulsive, like a stripped down jazzed up Can or Faust. Loping, groovy, mesmeric, small flurries of piano drift and flutter over a super solid bass and drums groove. In fact, this almost sounds like a jazzier version of Finnish drone rockers Circle. The same sort of endless riffing and perfectly propulsive rhythm. The second track is much more spare and straight up jazzy, a soft shimmery shuffle, the final track while not quite as aggressive as the opener, does have a similarly relentless rhythm that turns the jazzy drift into something almost 'rocking'. Hard to say this is our favorite Necks record, as we pretty much love them all, but this is definitely the most aggressive and thus pushes a different set of buttons. Necks fans obviously need this. But some of you Circle / Salvatore fans who are up for something a little more dark and jazzy and moody might just dig this A LOT.

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Here at Aquarius, you might say that 2003 could have been called The Year Of The Necks. Sure, that sounds a bit funny, but what we mean is that this year is when everybody here either discovered or re-discovered this amazing band. We gave rave reviews to four of their older records, after falling in love with a four-cd live box of theirs back in December of last year. And judging from sales, a lot of you have gotten acquainted with The Necks this year as well, and liked 'em. This Aussie trio of piano (and/or organ), bass, and drums can't be easily catagorized: they're not exactly jazz, not ambient, not rock, not post-rock, not electronica...but they are some of the above, and more. Less too, 'cause what they do is so understated, and so specifically Necks. So, what better way is there to celebrate The Year Of The Necks 'round these parts than to revel in the release of this brand new Necks opus, Drive By? And it's definitely the equal of any of The Necks' prodigious output, doing all the things we now expect from them...creating a mesmerizing, hypnotic musical trance-state over a lengthy playing time (in this case, one track, 60 minutes and seventeen gorgeous seconds long). Drive By is a pulsating wonder, steadily building over an hour, the drums becoming more active and restless but always "on", underpinning the constant throb of the bass. Drive By is bejewelled with bright tinkling piano, electronic effects, and other sonic elements, including what sound like crickets joining in around the 11 minute mark. 45+ minutes later, The Necks are still in the groove, channelling ancient rhythm into their extremely modern format. I'm beginning to think that the compact disc is too limiting for these guys. They need a DVD-audio release, so we can hear 'em play for seven hours straight! So, what comparisons can we stretch to make? Some sort of NPR-ized Circle? A prettified Bohren? Steve Reich meets Miles Davis? Ah, hell with that. It's The Year Of The Necks. No comparisons necessary. Just check 'em out.

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Toiling in relative obscurity since 1987, The Necks are an Australian trio who play a hard-to-categorize blend of jazz and rock that's "experimental" yet totally accessible. Hanging Garden (from 1999, but new to me!) is more active than their stunning four-disc set, titled Athenaeum, Homebush, Quay & Raab, which we recently reviewed. The Athenaeum portion of that set, in particular, I found to be quite reminiscent of Keith Jarrett's wintry bare compositions. On Hanging Garden, however, while still making use of their customary piano, drums and bass in a hypnotically repetitive, circular, subtly shifting manner, The Necks colors its palette with a heavy dose of Miles Davis circa his electric fusion mid 1970s phase. The electric organ has an undeniable groove to it, backed up by the throbbing bass, and the drums are positively manic -- shimmering, tinkling and adding texture in a marvelously understated manner. They make you wait over 20 minutes for the stately, elegant piano to kick in with its *gorgeous* melodic theme, but until it comes on you didn't even know you were waiting for it because the sonic foundation they laid is already so satisfying. You've *got* to hear this record. It goes on for one hour and, I (Windy) guarantee, you just don't get tired of it. Yep, that's how good this is. MPEG Download: "Hanging Garden excerpt 1" [/audio/neckshanging1.mp3] MPEG Stream: "Hanging Garden excerpt 1" [/audio/neckshanging1.m3u]

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Looking back on reviews of other Necks records, we find ourselves either struggling to describe the Necks' unique sound, or gushing uncontrollably about how goddamn great they are. More often than not, some mix of the two. And we realized that wasn't likely to change here, with the latest record from these Australian modern jazz minimalists, who do indeed have a sound that's difficult to describe, but that is precisely why they are one of our favorite bands EVER. Jazz or otherwise. And they are most definitely jazz, drums, upright bass and piano, and many jazz music tropes are present in their music, it's just that their music takes the idea of jazz, and stretches it way out, and turns it into something much more about tension (and no release), about timbre and mood... Their songs are generally 20-60 minutes long, most of their records are in fact a single track, and they slowly build a gorgeous lush jazzscape that on the surface appears jazzy, a quick glancing listen and an unsuspecting listener might think, "oh, nice, jazzy", but had they bothered to keep listening, that wasn't just a part in a song they were hearing, it WAS the song, and the Necks masterfully take that part and nurture it, from a hushed whispery skitter, occasionally to an all out roar, but just as often, just a much more dense and intense hushed whispery skitter. The three players impossibly and organically linked, sounding less like a band, and more like pure sound. Like we said, it's hard to explain. In some ways, their music sounds like it could be the result of some sort of audio manipulation, as if some audio alchemist took jazz samples and stretched and layered them into these droned out hypnotic jazz ragas, which in itself is a testament to these guys' skill. On Mindset, the Necks offer up two 21+ minute tracks, the first might be their darkest yet, starting out immediately with some deep low end thrum, some minimal drum skitter, the band immediately locked into a dark almost dirgey groove, and when the piano comes in, it's noisy and surprisingly atonal, the pedals depressed, the tones all bleeding into each other in a thick swirling angular sonic cloud, while the bass and drums remain locked tight. The bass gradually grows more active, and more melodic, as does the piano, the sound impossibly lush and dense, sounding like a way heavier Lubomyr Melnyk, swirling flurries of notes over layered drones, the drums subtly propulsive, it almost sounds like a jazz Godspeed You Black Emperor, so epic and majestic, and darkly moving. Eventually the drums too begin to be more active, and deviate from the groove, the sound building to a cathartic climax, before jettisoning much of the jazz, and turning into a dark droned out abstract psychedelic dirge, with what sounds like effects everywhere, although we're pretty sure they don't use much in the way of effects, there even seems to be what sounds like a guitar, offering up fuzzy squalls of high end buzz, the second half doesn't sound like jazz at all, more like some heavy droney psychedelic post rock outfit. So good. One of our favorite Necks jams for sure. And definitely a good gateway for those aQ-ers who tend toward the jazz-phobic. The second track is a lot more subdued, starting out super abstract and spacious, tinkling melodies, mysterious sound effects, minimal percussion, spacey little glitches, streaks of high end skree, it's not until 5 or 6 minutes in when the song really starts to coalesce, the bass bowed, unfurling lush slow-mo melodies, and then finally, the drums drift in, another motorik shuffle, the sound remaining ethereal and washed out, glimmery and shimmery, very cinematic too, the drums crazy busy, but still holding things down, the track growing more and more frantic, and frenzied, while on the surface, the piano remains languid and tranquil, while beneath it, the rest of the band grows more and more agitated, the sound so dark and tense, and growing ever darker, hints of funkiness are blurred into something more abstract, the groove nearly swallowed up by the bands swirling sonic churn. Maybe THIS one is one of our favorite Necks jams ever. Hell, who needs to pick? Another Necks record that will no doubt rank as one of our forever faves, and again, Mindset definitely seems like the kind of record that could very well convince some folks out there of what we already know, that the Necks are one of thee best bands out there!

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Sometimes it's a struggle to figure out what to write about a record, by a band, whose sound remains fundamentally unchanged from album to album. In many instances that would be reason enough to be patently unimpressed. But with a band like the Necks, 'change' is the last thing you want. Instead, you want their songs, and more specifically their sound, to stretch on and on and on into infinity. And we're getting close, with every release made up of one massive hour plus track. Mosquito / See Through is no different. Two discs, two tracks, an hour plus each! Gorgeous and epic, massive slowly shifting ambient jazzscapes. Drums, bass and piano circle each other warily, before finally engaging, slowly weaving and pulsing, swirling and skittering, until unexpectedly all three instruments are locked into an endlessly hypnotic groove, not like a GROOVE, but a dreamy, shuffling, on the verge of drifting into the ether sort of groove. Like Circle if you were able to slowly pull out sonic elements and distribute them spatially, creating some sort of droning ambient kraut-jazz, propulsive, but just barely, throbbing, but subtly so, ambient, but not ethereal. As always, totally brilliant!

MPEG stream: Mosquito

We've been trying forever to get copies of this Necks record, recorded live in Moscow in 2002, and only now have we managed to get enough to finally list. For those of you unfamiliar with the Necks, imagine a standard jazz trio, piano, drums and double bass, now imagine that group playing a jazz that is anything but standard. Extended pieces, usually cd length, sometimes longer, motifs repeated endlessly, while the instruments circle warily, slowly building, each player adding the tiniest hint of sound, a rumbling shimmering, shuffling jazz drone, that pulses and breathes, stretches and swells, rumbles and shimmers. This is jazz for the avant drone set for sure. Chris Abrahams' piano spits out dense clouds of chords and notes, a swirling melodic sprawl, underpinned by Lloyd Swanton's rumbling droning low end and Tony Buck's ultra restrained drumming, shuffling and skittering, kicking up little percussive squalls that drift lazily into the hypnotic haze of piano chords and double bass thrum. It's like all the parts in every jazz song ever -right before- the band kicks in to the tune, all stitched together into a massive never ending free jazz drone. Feldman plays Monk, or Birchville Cat Motel covering Mingus. Dark and dreamy and totally mesmerizing. Another one of those groups who we can imagine playing a single song FOREVER! And we'd just lay there soaking it in and loving it! Actually there was a rumor of a Necks show recently, where they supposedly performed for 24 hours straight! What we wouldn't do for that to come out as a 24 cd box set! Packaged in a jewel case with a really nice printed vellum booklet.

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Hot damn. A new Necks album. They're one of our favorite bands EVER, and this is (one of the many reasons) why. Silverwater provides 67 minutes of the Necks' unique, hypnotic, keys/bass/drums bliss, all one track of course as is their wont. Over the course of those 67 minutes, though, the music made by this Australian trio varies quite a bit. Their trademark trance-iness is present, always, but at the same time this new album (their first studio record in, like, 3 years) seems more programmatic and propulsive than we're used to from these guys, taking off in directions we haven't necessarily heard from them before, but still sounding more like the Necks than anything else. Yet, parts could be mistaken for an underground ambient psychedelic jam from the likes of Sylvester Anfang, almost. And we'd say this is the Necks record to get Bohren & Der Club Of Gore fans into 'em. Other comparisons we've perhaps made before would be to Circle (in their non-metallic Miljard mode), Supersilent, Alice Coltrane, and AMM... anything that can elicit references to the likes of those is, obviously, amazing. Eerie wavering drones delicately unfurl near the start, quiet and pretty... that gives way to a section that's almost ceremonial, like some percussive ritual. Sparse and deliberate, drums-only for a stretch, to be joined by deep, plucked bass notes... it could be some kinda krautrock jazz... and it does get "jazzier", sort of, with electric organ coloration, and cyclic piano plinkings, but also electronic-y gritty glitchiness overdubbed... Silverwater's shimmering textures and minimalist pulsations are simply beautiful, enthralling. It's a glorious 67 minutes, all right. If you know the Necks, you know you need this. If you're new to the Necks, please do yourself a favor and check this out. Next to seeing them live (which some of us have been lucky enough to do, oh my god they were good), this will demonstrate quite effectively why we hold them in such high regard.

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Could the Necks get any better? I sure hope not because we're running out of superlatives for this eminently dreamy, drone-y, hypno-jazz ensemble. This time around, they've ditched their usual MO of cd-length songs, but fear not, there's a perfectly good reason. This is a soundtrack to an Australian film called The Boys. Don't know much about the film, but judging from this disc it must be one intense, mesmerising melancholic movie. According to the liner notes this is not strictly a soundtrack, instead it incorporates the music used in the film, as well as music composed for, but not actually used. Either way, this is absolutely gorgeous. Repetitive but never boring. Sleepy but always totally engaging. Subtle drumming underscores moody melancholy piano figures, while strange outerspace synths swoop subtly in the hazy distance. And although The Boys is separated into 7 tracks, the whole thing is held together beautifully by the recurring theme "The Boys", featuring an absolutely chilling melody, with quivering theremin filligrees and funereal drumming. So recommended.

MPEG stream: The Boys 1
MPEG stream: He Led Them Into The World

Finally a new Necks record! And as usual, it's a single epic, slowly shifting jazzscape, shuffling and hypnotic, circular and completely gorgeous. Folks around here have been totally smitten by this Australian minimal jazz trio for years now. Every record another new 'song', most of their releases are one long piece, which makes sense once you understand the Necks. If Circle are the masters of repetitive, motorik hypnorock, then the Necks are their jazz equivalent, unfurling endlessly looping, slow shifting Steve Reich-ian dark jazz epics, and like Circle, while there is a motorik element to the rhythm and the groove, it's much more fluid, almost like some strange living shape, and it seems like maybe these guys aren't playing it so much as trying to control the sound, pushing and pulling, stretching and shaping. And the songs are only limited by the length of a compact disc, they all sound like they could, nay should, go on forever (there was a rumor of a Necks 24 hour performance!!). We sometimes joke about Necks records all sounding quite similar, and sure they sort of do, but only on the surface. Each record is a subtle and entirely unique collection of sounds. Much of it has to do with the compositions themselves, but also the fact that many of the recordings are live performances, which capture a piece, but only the way it was performed that one time. Some are more propulsive (Drive By), and some like this one, are more abstract and ambient. On Townsville, a single 54 minute performance recorded live in Australia on February 15th 2007 (Andee's Birthday btw), the band reel in their rhythmic tendencies, instead opting to float and flutter, to drift and swirl, the drums are barely even present over the first half of the performance, offering up soft sizzles and billowing clouds of metallic shimmer, the bass too is merely support, offering up dark dense tendrils of low end sprawl and blurred low end whir. It's all about Chris Abrahams' piano, gorgeous glimmering flurries of notes, tossed in the air like confetti, or falling from the sky like snowflakes. It almost sounds like Lubomyr Melnyk is sitting in, offering up some of his swirling 'continuous music' piano. The whole track is one long slow build, the bass and the drums lurking in the background, offering a soft warm sonic bed over which the various notes and chords from the piano dance and drift, moody and melodic and so mesmerizing. Further into the track, the bass and drums become much more animated, subtly sparring with the piano, the whole band engaged in a series of fluttery swells, but still with the piano leading the way. Easily one of the jazziest of the Necks discs, but without losing its drone-y minimal psychedelic vibe, so much so that certain parts definitely remind us of the more ambient Circle records, like Tower, Empire or Miljard. Imagine Circle featuring Lubomyr Melnyk on the piano, performing a piece co-written by Steve Reich and Terry Riley, and you'll have an idea of what to expect from Townsville. As with all Necks records, totally divine and totally recommended.

MPEG stream: Townsville (excerpt)

Rising from the ashes of Philadelphia art-psych-rock combo Bent Leg Fatima comes this eccentric quintet who play a jumble of experimentations in free jazz and art rock. Sax, organ, drums and other random percussive instruments are tossed into the mix with

RealAudio clip: Track 2
RealAudio clip: Track 6

Third album (their first since '95, about time!) of jazz/klezmer/improv by these popular stalwarts of the "New Jewish Music" scene, featuring Ben Goldberg on clarinet, Kenny Wollesen on drums and Dan Seamans on bass.

The list of players says it all: Albert Ayler, Don Cherry, John Tchicai, Roswell Rudd, Gary Peacock and Sunny Murray. Noisy and free and amazing and completely essential.

Let's Play is the first recording by a drummer / vocalist / noisemaker from the Northwest named Cameron Michael Nichols-Rage, on which he collaborates with Alvarius B, Stuart Dahlquist (Asva, Burning Witch), Masami Kawaguchi (LSD-March), Irr. App. (Ext.), Mason Jones (Numinous Eye), Robert Millis (Climax Golden Twins), John Olsen (Wolf Eyes), Andrew Liles, At Jennie Richie, and a bunch more notable noise folks. Sounds pretty much MADE for aQ. Even moreso when you discover that Cameron is in fact, a 20 month old little boy, who just happens to be the spawn of 1/2 of blacknoize duo Blue Sabbath Black Cheer! The proud papa captured Cameron's wild free jazz drumming, and adorable vocal mewlings and yelps (like a toddler Keiji Haino?) and let the above horde of noiseniks jam along with young Cameron, and the results are pretty spectacular and ALL over the map. Lots of the stuff here has a sort of free jazz / avant rock vibe, Cameron's wild skittery loose drumming 'style' perfectly suited for that sort of thing, but then out of nowhere, the sound will coalesce into a weird churning almost industrial sounding post punk, like on the opening track, Cameron and crew locked into an angular, noise-punk groove. Elsewhere, Appalachian guitars (Cameron's?) are wound around boom-crash drum splatter, and accompanied by Cameron's free form vocal stylings. Some tracks sound like some alien avant-prog, all woozy and warped. others are surprisingly lovely, chiming gamelan like tones drifting above a bed of restless skitter, and still others are dense sprawls of warped detuned blues-murk. The most intense track is probably the Andrew Liles collaboration, that pairs Cameron's drums with moody, haunting piano, bizarre samples, and super distorted agonized screams. Harrowing stuff. But surrounding that blast of sonic intensity, are deep surrealistic dronescapes woven from Cameron's chopped and processed drumming, buzzing kosmische psychedelia, replete with soaring sitar-buzz guitars and crooned vox, and dreamy, organ drenched drifts, again, anchored by Cameron's abstract drum skitter. There's lots more as well, all stripes of free-noise, and dark drone, and black ambience and twisted post industrial weirdness, it's all pretty great too. And really, had we not mentioned it, you'd probably never guess that this was (mostly) the work of a 20 month old little boy!!! So obviously WAY recommended!

MPEG stream: 7CV - Prelude To Night Of The Munchkinder Camaclysm / Night Of The Munchkinder Camaclysm
MPEG stream: The Bent Taxis - Wish Upon Burt Lahr
MPEG stream: irr. app. (ext.) - Mister Basher-Pants
MPEG stream: Numinous Eye - Stay Silly
MPEG stream: Andrew Liles - Fortunate Son

Everyone's favorite bunch of old Canadian guys making crazy noise, the one and only Nihilist Spasm Band of London, Ontario, teamed up with outside jazz saxophonist Joe McPhee for this double cd set of studio and live improvisations. Armed with their usual array

RealAudio clip: Going Too Far
RealAudio clip: Maneater

[ aquarius records — Jazz ]