[ aquarius records

IMPORTANT (Please read to avoid confusion): Some items below may be tagged with a bold, red, all-caps OUT OF PRINT/UNAVAILABLE notice. This does NOT mean that all other items not so tagged are, in fact, in stock — or for that matter, in print and available, though there's a good chance they are. Some folks get confused on this point, and we can see why, so please read this for further clarification and other important before-you-order information. Unlike some mailorder websites, we don't have an electronic inventory system linked to our site, so you can't be sure of what we actually have or don't have in stock at any given moment without asking us — please email our mailorder department for availability status — or better yet, just go ahead and place your order using our shopping cart function and we'll get back to you with the status of each item. If you have general non-mailorder questions, email the store.

Showing results 801 through 850 of 2798.

Prince of Truth, the follow-up to 2008's Hello, Voyager, walks a beautiful, cacophonous path. Carla Bozulich, the force behind Evangelista, is definitely one of a kind, or at least one of a very, very select few. She has assembled a group of excellent musicians that weave equal doses of melody and chaos around loose structures of songs without having them dissolve into utter randomness or pretentious noodling. Dominic Cramp on keys knows when to really take it up a notch and when to compliment others by adding just that little extra something; Tara Barnes, Carla's longtime low-end collaborator, is a rock on which to cling in choppy waters; Nels Cline on guitar needs no introduction; and the incomparable Ches Smith (of Xiu Xiu / Good for Cows / John Zorn) on drums... these are just a few of the amazing musicians on Prince of Truth. The record opens with "The Slayer": two and a half minutes of noise introduce the listener to what is to come before Carla's vocals and a few cymbal washes add solidity to the mix. Cellos and what sounds like tape loops start off the second track, "Tremble Dragonfly," before they fade into a slow dirge held together by Carla's voice, some sleigh bells and strings. "Dragonfly" sounds like a really, really drugged out B-side off Tom Waits' Black Rider. What could be better? Though the chaos is prepared to perfection, when the album gets a bit stripped down you can really tell that Evangelista is a rare gem indeed. "I Lay There in Front of Me Covered in Ice" is possibly the most melodic song on the record. Multiple vocal tracks ride high over an electric organ and minimal percussion, combining into something that makes us want to cry everytime we listen to it. Carla Bozulich has been a staple of the underground music scene for a long time, and we have loved everything from the Geraldine Fibbers to Ethyl Meatplow to her latest incarnation as Evangelista. If you haven't discovered her genius yet, Prince of Truth is a perfect introduction.

MPEG stream: The Slayer
MPEG stream: I Lay There in Front of Me Covered in Ice
MPEG stream: You Are a Jaguar

For those who love rhythm, attention! Is it Fire?, Jessie Evans' first solo record, has enough percussion to satisfy even the most energetic dancefloor junkie. Latin- and African-inspired beats programmed by Jessie are masterfully enhanced with live percussion performed by Toby Dammit (of Iggy Pop fame) and, on a few tracks, none other than Budgie (of the Banshees/Creatures). For the most part, the instrumentation is kept to a minimum, letting the rhythm drive the songs. Saxophone and bass played by Jessie add melody, and the occasional trumpet and other horns (played by Martin Wenk of Calexico) enhance the Latin air. A couple of songs are even sung in Spanish. Synths pop up every once in a while, and, except on a track or three, are left buried in the mix, serving only to add a little flavor. Sometimes, as on the last Vanishing LP, the vocals are fuzzed out into incomprehension, more of a washy layer than a narrative, opting to let the drums tell the story. And what a story they tell! Don't misunderstand: there's a lot going on within every track. Jessie had been bringing us great music for years, now: The Subtonix, The Vanishing, Autonervous. Is it Fire? is a strong notch on the belt of an artist who will hopefully continue to bring us great music for a long time.

MPEG stream: Is it Fire?
MPEG stream: Ninos del Espacio
MPEG stream: To the Sun

The 6-song debut from these SF dark, seething rockers is a drugged-out and writhing affair. Shades of Sonic Youth and Radiohead. Their use of sexy boy vocal harmonies and lovely melodies are quite alluring. I can't wait to see what they go on to become. Very

RealAudio clip: Near Death

These Everlasting Arms embrace (sorry for the pun, we couldn't resist) the moody angularities of post punk. Some of the more shadowy, dramatic, tumultuous moments brings to mind the awesome but dearly departed SF band Pleasure Forever, while others project a more straightforward rock-ness. Propulsive, occasionally explosive and mathy with angstful male vocals that you would guess comes from SoCal (think: ThreeOneG or Gold Standard Labs). Pressed on vinyl the color of popcorn Jelly Bellys (pale swirly yellow) with sleeves hand-silkscreened by the band themselves.

Heads up! Better late than never, Every Move A Picture have arrived with their V2 debut album. Their pouty boy vocals, '80s synths, crunchy guitars and butt-shakin' beat are all primed and ready to out-Faint The Faint, out-Killers The Killers and... aw, you get the picture, doncha? They do a mighty fine job of it too. Nothing you haven't heard before, but well-written and slickly executed, and pretty much guaranteed to get the kids on the dancefloor.

MPEG stream: Mission Bell
MPEG stream: The Best Is On The Outside

Combine equal doses of Brit pop (Pulp, Supergrass and Blur) and danse-punque (The Faint, Franz Ferdinand) and maybe a dash of Iggy Pop's "Lust For Life" for good measure, and what do you get? Well, not quite a mojito, but more like the debut EP from this new SF band! Five sleek, stylishly coiffed, appealingly infectious songs composed of all the ingredients for a good time -- lanky electric guitars, arpeggiated bleep-blops and synth strings, cocky (we assume faux?) Britboy vocals and an omnipresent thumpin' beat. Sure to fit very nicely alongside those bands mentioned above as well as current hip bands like Kaiser Chiefs and Bloc Party. After just one listen, I could already tell this'll make for some great dancin' and drivin' music (and I don't even drive!).

MPEG stream: Signs Of Life
MPEG stream: Chemical Burns

Everything But The Gargoyle is a new project spearheaded by San Francisco's Ferrara Brain Pan and fellow Californian Kyra Pixy. Working under the guise of Forms Of Things Unknown, Ferrara has previously mustered occult atmospheres with plenty of nods to Nurse With Wound, Coil, and even some Ryoji Ikeda through an ever intriguing mixture of bass clarinet, electronics, bowed psaltry, and then some. His uneasy and evocative sound design pairs with the breathy cooing of Kyra Pixy, who's reciting the poetry of one G. James Wyrick. The nature of the lyrics is somewhat obscured by the breathy nature of Pixy's delivery, although a pretty good guess would land this somewhere in the supernatural horror and the oblique gothic. The arrangements are well suited to these themes, with martial overtures of slow motion drums lumbering behind eerie reeds that hold the apocalyptic mysticism that Coil achieved on Horse Rotovator many years ago. On other tracks, a slinky noir approach is taken, with the clarinets matching a smokey Barry Adamson / Angelo Badalamenti vibe, making for a brief 4 track ep that's well done and certainly a teaser for a future full-length recording.

MPEG stream: Susto
MPEG stream: The Hum Of Blood

Even though Ex-Cult (formerly Sex Cult) hail from Memphis, the sound of their debut owes the Bay Area big time. Not only is it produced by SF garage pop wunderkind and repeat aQ Record Of The Weeker Ty Segall, sonically, it definitely sounds like these guys were born from the same fertile fields that gave us lots of favorites, Thee Oh Sees, Blasted Canyons, Bare Wires, The Mallard, Mikal Cronin. Sure the sound is a bit more raw and urgent, and a bit punkier, but then these guys did actually start out as a proper punk band. But with a clutch of new songs, and Segall behind the mixing board, their sound has transformed into something distinctly garagey poppy, urgent and swaggery, definitely Stooges-y (but then really what garage rock isn't), but without losing any punk energy. Close listening reveals lots of stuff that will sound familiar to the SF scene, and Segall in particular, check out the back up vox on "Don't Feel Anything" for instance, but Ex-Cult definitely channel classic punk into their garage pop sound, we hear lots of old SST, even some Orange County HC, but deftly woven into some crazy catchy jams, that have been sticking in our heads like crazy, and getting tons of play around aQ.

MPEG stream: Knives On Both Sides
MPEG stream: Don't Feel Anything
MPEG stream: M.P.D.
MPEG stream: Day To Day

Some terrific pop from right here in SF! Featuring members formally of Blue Gum Art and Aerosal Species, Excuses For Skipping hit the ground running on their debut album Out Of Work Early. Their tunes balance an energetic punchiness and a breezy wistfulness. Their emotive vocals are sweet but not sugary. Actually they remind us quite a bit of some old faves Velocity Girl, Hazel, Metric, and the early poppiness of the Bay Area's Tartufi too (as opposed to their more proggy leanings). We also sense some of the soft, dreamy inspiration of Stereolab and Sarah Records. Really infectiously good!

MPEG stream: Gravity
MPEG stream: Decision To Be Normal

Latest from these local death/thrash favorites, one of the Bay Area's current big time underground metal exports. Gory Carcass-lovin' metal as you'd expect. Divebomb guitars, teeth-gnashing drums, it's the sort of stuff headbangers and hairtwirlers can't help but like. Nothing new, nothing surprising, but fast and furious and executed to perfection.

MPEG stream: Waxwork

Second, and even better, album from these Bay Area Carcass-worshippers. Gory death metal done the old school-way. Nothing novel, but very well done.

Oakland's Experimental Dental School come crashing in with their latest twisted concoction. They've done split releases with Japan's Limited Express in the past, and that entirely makes sense as they're very much of the same imaginative art-rock ilk. Their music also brings to mind the rollercoaster-y quirks of Melt Banana and Deerhoof -- actually the latter band's Greg Saunier makes a guest appearance on a few songs. Drawing influence from both the carnivalesque multi-personalities of Mr. Bungle and the dissonant angst of Sonic Youth, 2 1/2 Creatures confirms that E.D.S. are more than capable of making themselves equally at home in indie post-rock and no wave basements, jazz joints and circus tents. The first song sprints out of the gate with some very frantic organ playing that sounds like a disjointed "Flight of the Bumblebee". Their effected high trebly vocals, pinchy electric guitars and keyboards balance precariously atop the loosely strung bass and thick synth lines. Very cool!

MPEG stream: Our Blood Is Laughing
MPEG stream: A Little Bird Told Me

Two tracks each from SF's own Experimental Dental School and Limited Express (Has Gone?) from Kyoto, Japan, whose Tzadik release from last year we likened to Melt Banana and Deerhoof. It's like an exchange program for avant-rock zaniness. Limited stock.

MPEG stream: Mophin' Fellet
MPEG stream: Poison Reverb

Debut release from local lo-fi minimal bedroom synth poppers Exray's, and it comes in the form of one of the most lavishly packaged cassette tapes we've seen in AGES. Born of now defunct SF twang-flecked classic rock / folk combo Ray's Vast Basement, the Exray's duo, craft short sharp slabs of synth soaked minimal pop, the keyboards wheezing and shimmering, the programmed rhythms sparse and skeletal, the vocals weary and laid back, the Sparklehorse vibe of RVB still in full effect, but here cast more in the form of the woozy, languid vocalizing, which perfectly balances the warm mechanical pop, which itself is rife with little bits of twang, and classic FM radio melodies, while the sound itself shifts from crisp and cool, to warm and wonderfully muted and murky, an ever shifting blend of classic pop/rock songsmithery and home brewed electronics, the sound dusty and worn, dreamy and sun dappled, an old timey vision of the future, modern music crafted through unmodern means, really really cool LIMITED TO 500 COPIES. Each one hand numbered. The J-card full color, spray painted metallic silver on the outside, and elaborately lazer cut, leaving all sorts of geometric cut outs, revealing different colors and panels, includes a tiny triangle insert with the link to an mp3 download.

Latest from this local electronic pop combo, who construct their songs mad scientist style, wrapping lilting melodies in strange looped mechanical melodies, weaving buzzing synths into fields of glitch and static, the production simultaneously low fidelity, lush and layered. Pulsing and pulsating darkly electronic one minute, playful lo-fi electro pop the next, usually the two wound into one, a dark folkiness underpinning the modern sci-fi sounds, the result a strange hybrid of folky pop (not that far removed from mainman Jon Bernson's previous outfit Ray's Vast Basement), and modern electronic pop, the record seeming to follow a trajectory that starts out fully electronic, and gradually becomes more song based, but the best moments are definitely where the line between the two remains blurred, like on "Dark_Light", which is a low slung slow groover, that has a sort of sci-fi soul vibe, a loping rhythm wreathed in slithery melodies, and cool boy/girl harmonies, or the old school new wave electro pop of "Tresspassing", which again infuses the sound with a more standard folkiness which makes for a curious combo. Comes packaged in a full color J-card, and includes a link to a download of the full album as well. LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!

MPEG stream: Something Else
MPEG stream: You Can Trust A Robot

Take the brass of Eastern European group Fanfare Ciocarila, throw in a healthy dose of Test Dept. circa A Good Night Out, turn the punk rock knob up to ten and what do you get? Why San Francisco's very own inimitable Extra Action Marching Band. While we've been lucky enough to enjoy them here live for a few years now, a recording to share with our geographically challenged customers has been a long time coming. The twelve tracks on this disc were recorded live on the Motorship Stubnitz in July of 2004 while the band was on a European tour. A German ship built in 1964 and purchased by Swiss idealist Urs Blaser, the Stubnitz now serves as a floating cultural center and includes in its berth art studios, labs, workshops, two performance venues and a recording studio. Like any self respectin marching band, the Extra Action's core repertoire are arrangements of "popular" tunes for brass and drums, only the tunes they choose to cover are perhaps a little more esoteric than your average marching band. The theme to "Enter The Dragon", and "Lucky Seven" from Cheech & Chong's Up In Smoke and (maybe not that obscure, but a fucking great arrangement none the less) Black Sabbath's "The Wizard". A definite must have for fans of those popular Poly High and Schoolhouse Funk comps!

MPEG stream: Black Chicken
MPEG stream: The Wizard

F-Space is the brainchild of Scot Jenerik and Ethan Port, two veterans of the West Coast noise / punk community. In many ways, Jenerik fully embodies the Burning Man ethos (or at least the way Burning Man presented itself about a decade ago), still proclaiming that the apocalypse is coming and when it does, he'll be out in the desert celebrating the destruction of society along with a bunch of other Mad Max renegades with their recycled art cars and homebuilt flamethrowers. His solo performances and installations find Jenerik in a literal circle of fire while hammering out post-Neubauten jack-hammer rhythms on abused pieces of metal. This visual appeal for immolation infiltrates the stage presence of F-Space, while the musical side shows much greater ties to his creative roots harkening back to his days in Savage Republic and Death Ride 69. Sprawling blasts of dueling monochord guitars drive the F-Space sound which marches through pounding tribal drums (compliments of Aleph Kali of Chrome) and slow-burning gritty walls of guitar sound which situate themselves somewhere between the early Skullflower albums and a slightly less psychedelic Acid Mother's Temple. On occasion, the Arabic motifs which haunted the later Savage Republic recordings emerge on F-Space as well. If DIY destruction is your bag, then boy do we have a record for you!

MPEG stream: Through The Night Softly
MPEG stream: Sans Soleil

After months of digging, we were finally able to track some of these down. For those of you not in the know, Factrix just happen to be AQ faves Wolf Eyes favorite band, so much so that not only do they try to sound like them, but to this day they continue to send their industrial-doom heroes letters of gratitutde and worship! Factrix originally manufactured their proto-Wolf Eyes sound in San Francisco some 20+ years ago. The history of underground music on the West Coast in the late '70s is not an easy one to trace. Unlike the punk explosion in England or New York, the influences and disturbances of the musical circuits manifested collusions of ideas that never really fit into the marketable ideas of punk or new wave. Even before those terms were commonplace, California was home to such anomalies in artrock as the Residents and the Los Angeles Free Music Society, who both experimented freely with technology, dadaism, culture jamming, and the detritus of post-psychedelia and bad acid trips. This was the environment that also spawned such genre unfriendly projects as The Screamers, Savage Republic, Non, Survival Reseach Laboratories, Nervous Gender, Negativland, and -- Factrix. In truth, SF's Factrix belonged to the original Industrial culture of Throbbing Gristle, SPK, and Cabaret Voltaire, although their take on trangressive themes and their grim abuse of technology never reached as wide an audience as those icons of Industrial Records. In their short lifespan from 1978 - 1982, Factrix developed a language that clearly rivalled that of their European comrades; but in many ways, Factrix owed their sound to their San Francisco roots, as they inverted the paisley pretenses of psychedelia into a grim seance of sound in which free love became sexual taboos, universal peace became soul-crushing dread, and transcendence became morbidity. This inversion of psychedelia used many of the same tools of Haight-Ashbury in composing through non-structured improvisations as well as through a steady diet of psilocybin mushrooms; but the sound came out all wrong. Factrix devolved '70s pop banalities into dissonant slabs of noise with squiggling guitar feedback and all-encompassing dirges from over-distorted basslines, with a continuous, tinny pulse from an abused drum machine. The process of free association carried over in the vocal duties, which were typically shared amongst the chief protagonists Bond Bergland, Cole Palme, and Joseph Jacobs, although industrial culture celeb Monte Cazzaza was also known to offer his demented lisp to Factrix. While not presented as a 'best-of' collection, "Artifact" features the best material that Factrix had produced, including all of the tracks from their seminal "Schentot" LP on Adolescent Records and a ton of live material, which has been digitally salvaged so as to sound great. "Artifact" is an essential artifact, in fact and a great surprise!

MPEG stream: Empire Of Passion
MPEG stream: Snuff Box

About ten years ago, we championed the San Francisco industrial prodigies Factrix via their Artifact 2cd anthology released on Storm, in fact, we made it a Record Of The Week. That went out of print quickly; so we are now quite grateful to Superior Viaduct for at last reissuing two of this band's seminal recordings! Factrix originally manufactured their proto-Wolf Eyes sound in San Francisco some 30+ years ago. The history of underground music on the West Coast in the late '70s is not an easy one to trace. Unlike the punk explosion in England or New York, the influences and disturbances of the musical circuits manifested collusions of ideas that never really fit into the marketable ideas of punk or new wave. Even before those terms were commonplace, California was home to such anomalies in artrock as the Residents and the Los Angeles Free Music Society, who both experimented freely with technology, dadaism, culture jamming, and the detritus of post-psychedelia and bad acid trips. This was the environment that also spawned such genre unfriendly projects as The Screamers, Savage Republic, Non, Survival Research Laboratories, Nervous Gender, Negativland, and - Factrix. In truth, SF's Factrix belonged to the original Industrial culture of Throbbing Gristle, SPK, and Cabaret Voltaire, although their take on transgressive themes and their grim abuse of technology never reached as wide an audience as those icons of Industrial Records. In their short lifespan from 1978 - 1982, Factrix developed a language that clearly rivalled that of their European comrades; but in many ways, Factrix owed their sound to their San Francisco roots, as they inverted the paisley pretenses of psychedelia into a grim seance of sound in which free love became sexual taboos, universal peace became soul-crushing dread, and transcendence became morbidity. This inversion of psychedelia used many of the same tools of Haight-Ashbury in composing through non-structured improvisations as well as through a steady diet of psilocybin mushrooms; but the sound came out all wrong. Factrix devolved '70s pop banalities into dissonant slabs of noise with squiggling guitar feedback and all-encompassing dirges from over-distorted basslines, with a continuous, tinny pulse from an abused drum machine. The process of free association carried over in the vocal duties, which were typically shared amongst the chief protagonists Bond Bergland, Cole Palme, and Joseph Jacobs. Scheintot was the only studio album from Factrix, originally released on Adolescent Records in 1981. Its dark lysergic murk and obsessive decomposition crawls through scabrous guitars, clanking metal, distorted electronics, shadow-cast vocals and atmospheric doom, certainly paralleling the death-factory churn of TG's Second Annual Report and SPK's Leichenshrei. It must be stated that all of the tracks here (including the cd's two bonus tracks!) were present on the aforementioned Artifact 2cd; but with that long out of print, this becomes a recommended purchase!

MPEG stream: Heavy Breathing
MPEG stream: Center Of The Doll
MPEG stream: Thin Line

About ten years ago, we championed the San Francisco industrial prodigies Factrix via their Artifact 2cd anthology released on Storm, in fact, we made it a Record Of The Week. That went out of print quickly; so we are now quite grateful to Superior Viaduct for at last reissuing two of this band's seminal recordings! Factrix originally manufactured their proto-Wolf Eyes sound in San Francisco some 30+ years ago. The history of underground music on the West Coast in the late '70s is not an easy one to trace. Unlike the punk explosion in England or New York, the influences and disturbances of the musical circuits manifested collusions of ideas that never really fit into the marketable ideas of punk or new wave. Even before those terms were commonplace, California was home to such anomalies in artrock as the Residents and the Los Angeles Free Music Society, who both experimented freely with technology, dadaism, culture jamming, and the detritus of post-psychedelia and bad acid trips. This was the environment that also spawned such genre unfriendly projects as The Screamers, Savage Republic, Non, Survival Research Laboratories, Nervous Gender, Negativland, and - Factrix. In truth, SF's Factrix belonged to the original Industrial culture of Throbbing Gristle, SPK, and Cabaret Voltaire, although their take on transgressive themes and their grim abuse of technology never reached as wide an audience as those icons of Industrial Records, even as Factrix teamed up with fellow San Franciscan provocateur Monte Cazazza for this Spartan yet very caustic live recording. California Babylon was originally released by Subterranean Records back in 1982. There are songs lurking throughout the scalding guitar noise, announced through repetitive, lurching basslines that sound like Flipper tunes played at super slow-motion. Growling slabs of toxic noise, grim electronic murk, tape collages (including some rather diabolical rants from somebody who sounds a lot like Jim Jones), and plenty of guttural No Wave deconstruction spew out from underneath those bass throbs, with Monte Cazazza occasionally spitting his own transgressive venom with his unmistakable, devilish lisp. There's even an appearance from Z'ev on a couple tracks clanking on found metal objects! The bonus tracks on California Babylon are pretty amazing, we have to say; and all of these were in fact featured on that aforementioned Artifact compilation. On these tracks, the trio was certainly honing their songwriting craft, but they had not eschewed the noise, the murk, nor the bad vibes. "Silver River" is an awesome slab of downer, drone-rock orchestration that could very easily be mistaken for some New Zealand / Expressway gem by Gate or Alastair Galbraith, where "No Trees" reprises Factrix' searing guitar noise with staccato punk vocals and deconstructed post-punk basslines. The accompanying dvd (which comes only with the cd edition, not the vinyl) features "Night Of The Succubus", the video that was shot at the same California Babylon live recordings. Like Scheintot, California Babylon is an essential document of San Francisco's industrial culture!

MPEG stream: Death By Hanging
MPEG stream: )

New San Francisco band featuring ex-members of Elephone. While they're still in their infancy as a band they have recorded a debut ep, almost like a demo, just to get their music out in the world. And from the sounds of these four songs they're off to a pretty good start. Driving guitar fueled rockers that remind us a bit of folks like Interpol, The Editors and even Afghan Whigs. Will be cool to see what the future holds for them. And super cool that this ep so cheap.

MPEG stream: Mouth To Speak
MPEG stream: Few Plus One

This fifth entry (it says here sixth but we think they skipped one) in the so-far-totally-great Jewelled Antler Library series of cute lil' 3" cd-r eps is something a bit different, yet familar too to Jewelled Antler aficionados. It features the Blithe Sons (Glenn Donaldson and Loren Chasse, both also of Thuja and much else besides) joined by Eleanor Harwood on vocals. This trio's music is totally inspired by '70s art rock ensemble Slapp Happy, it's actually an intentional tribute of sorts. Eleanor is the heart of this, and we must say that for an untrained vocalist in an improvised setting, she's very impressive! Singing lyrics taken from a book of Kenneth Patchen poetry that was near to hand, "The Famous Boating Party", she totally inhabits the Dagmar Krause role, her vocals all wonderfully warbly and birdlike and lovely. She reminds us of Bjork at times too, no bad thing! Backing her up/leading her on, Glenn strums melodically on his 6 & 12 string guitars and adds comforting keyboard coloration, while Loren's "percussion & noises" both provide a steady beat and contribute the usual detailed, natural Jewelled Antler ambiance. It's very hazy and folky and fairytale like, a summer's afternoon encapsulated in a magical music box. Maybe not to everyone's taste (Slapp Happy certainly isn't either) but for some this will be a highlight in the Library series. MPEG Download: "White Butterfly" [/audio/famousboatwhitebutter.mp3] MPEG Stream: "White Butterfly" [/audio/famousboatwhitebutter.m3u]

MPEG stream: White Butterfly
MPEG stream: The Orange Bears

Animated, yes. Suspended, no -- except for the listener's disbelief, perhaps. Sheer carnivalesque carnage here, folks, just like you expect from these guys. After the relatively calm, droned-out ambience of their epic Delerium Cordia album from last year, for this release Fantomas now take us back to the Naked City/Melt-Banana inspired short sharp shock style they delivered on their self-titled debut in '99. There's 30 (!!!) tracks here, each one a violently freaked out, spastic collision of metal, electronics, cartoon music and avant-garde composition that likey adds another unexpected sonic ingredient to the mix. Utterly dizzying and complex, executed by pros. Seriously, you couldn't think of four guys more well-suited to the task: Mike Patton, Dave Lombardo, Buzz Osbourne and Trevor Dunn (past and present members of such notable noise-makers as Mr. Bungle, Melvins, Slayer, and Faith No More, as we're sure you're aware). I mean, they could have added John Zorn or Eye Yamataka or Brian Chippendale to the line-up but it would hardly be necessary, these four already have this stuff DOWN. And the brief Osbourne/Patton vocal duet in track ten is a special thrill. We're at a loss to provide much more in the way of description, it's something you just need to experience for yourself, if you're up for it. Definitely if you're into the genre of music that is ALL genres rolled into one, the Attention Defecit Disorder frenzies of Suspended Animation will provide utmost entertainment. And for the moment, we have the version of this that, for some reason we don't know but won't question, comes in limited-edition packaging incorporating a spiral-bound April 2004 calendar designed and illustrated by hip Japanese artist Yoshitmo Nara. Pretty cool! Too bad April is just about over. But it's not like you were gonna use it as a dayplanner anyway, just admire it for the art.

MPEG stream: 04/09/05 Saturday
MPEG stream: 04/13/05 Wednesday
RealAudio clip: 04/21/05 Thursday

Over the past few years, aQuarius pal, music obsessive, and multi-instrumentalist Monte Cimino has brought us many interesting releases of dirgey postmetal heaviness (Burial Tree), ambient drone (Time Spent), kosmiche bliss (Dark Matter Halo), and experimental new age noise (When Prophecy Fails). Now here's a demo disc from a new project he's in. Named after actor Michael Fassbender (??), this is a band playing not ambient noise nor brooding postrock, but instead straight up HARDCORE! A la '80s crossover acts like DRI and SOD. Aggro, metallic, fast and loud. Six songs in seven minutes. Monte plays guitar in this five piece, which also features members of local power violence unit Venkman and globetrotting punk vets Conquest For Death. It's very moshable, raging stuff, that slows up for some nice heavy breakdowns. Not sure what they're all pissed off about (though one song is called "Fuck You, Hipster") but they are definitely working up a sweat here ripping somebody a new one. And they've obviously got a sense of humor too. If you liked the Iron Reagan we listed last time, you'll dig this as well. No frills packaging, a plain ol' cd-r in a plastic sleeve, with black & white xeroxed cover and insert with their scrawled notes for the drummer on how these songs are supposed to be played. FYI, if you're local and want to check 'em out live, Fassbender will be playing a Southern Lord showcase gig at the Knockout on October 21st...

MPEG stream: Diverse Beliefs
MPEG stream: Heads Up, Shovels Down

The return of Fastest! Longtime readers of the list are by now no doubt familiar with this weirdo outsider one man band, whose sound seems to meld eighties video game music, midi synth guitar metal, almost hip hop style grooves, growled/crooned sort of metal vocals, into a twisted head spinning concoction that either has people freaking out and wanting every single release, or freaking out and wanting it to stop. Odds are this most recent record will be no less divisive. It's funny to see regular aQ customers come in and FREAK OUT that there's a new Fastest, a way more visceral reaction that lots of other more high profile (and yeah, less ridiculous) releases. But that should tell you something. Odds are, everyone out there who bought most/all of the other Fastest cd-r's, are gonna want this one too cuz it's another twisted whatthefuck batch of homebrewed midi-metal weirdness, just check out the opening track "Fantasy II", with its chugging churning almost metallic riffing, the weirdly catchy atonal main melody, the whispered/crooned vox, the stumbling stuttery programmed drums, the track displaying some surprising malevolence, slipping easily from Legend Of Zelda style cloying 8-bit synth swoon, to weird electronic guitar chug crunch, and then stripped down bass driven dirgery before a strange syncopated breakdown. It's genius, and ridiculous, and impossible to stop listening too, and if you're like us, you can never have enough Fastest. The rest of the record is more of the same, churning dark synth heavy, drum machine driven musical drama, wild blast of Bollywood drumming, all tangled up with woozy synth melodies, thick rumbling distortion and weird blown out production, there's definitely an eighties vibe, but also an alien video game vibe too, heck there's even a seriously warped 'dance' number this time around too! This is the sort of thing people like James Ferraro are trying to conjure up, but this is the real deal, the genius inner workings of a truly and fantastically warped musical mind, and a sound that is truly unique, and unlike anything you've heard. EVER. Join us in our ridiculous fascination / obsession with the fucked up musical world of Fastest! This is in fact record number EIGHT, counting the awesomely titled greatest hits collection Magicmancy, if you need any/all of the other ones just ask, a few are reviewed on the aQ site, including Theme, which was a Record Of The Week. So if you're up for some seriously whatthefuck sounds, it really doesn't get much more damaged and awesomely demented than this.

MPEG stream: Fantasy II
MPEG stream: Alter Fate
MPEG stream: Make It Real
MPEG stream: Through Your Eyes (Vanessa's Secret Version)

Fastest's Theme, a Record Of The Week a few lists back, was a surprise hit around here (not a surprise for everyone though, some of us knew, few would be able to resist the twisted confusional home brewed madness that is Fastest), but we sold them like crazy, and in that review we mentioned Fastest also had a handful of other records, and got a bunch of reponses from folks wanting more. So here you go, Into The Night, not sure where it falls in the Fastest catalog, which is now up to 8 or 10 releases, but it's another one of our favorites, second only to Theme, and like Theme, the sound here is pretty idiosyncratic and difficult to describe, warbly buzzying synths, stumbling weirdly programmed drums, that seem to explode into impossibly tangled rhythmic flurries, that is when they're not locked into some warped robotic groove, the melodies are twisted as well, moody and melancholy one second, then all sunshiney the next, like the music for the final screen on some old school video game, all 8 bit bleep and bloop, underpinned by weirdly bloopy low slung bass, and those chaotic beats. And did we mention the vocals, sort of sung/spoken, Allan here thinks it sounds like rapping, and likens Fastest to mush mouthed headphone rapper Sensational, but Fastest is much more strident, his vocals urgent and dramatic, often delivered in what sounds like a growled death metal grunt, but just as often whispered or crooned, the vocals locked tight with staccato rhythms, the ominous buzzing synths, the midi guitar melodies, slipping from epic and intense and almost heavy, to fuzzy and bouncy, but more often than not somewhere right in between. In some ways, Into The Night is a bit darker than Theme, and the spastic avalanche like drum programming sounds even more out of control, which is most definitely a good thing. For more on our obsession with Fastest, check out our review of Theme elsewhere on the aQ site, but if you've yet to check out the fractured and fantastically fucked up musical stylings of this one man band, this is as good a place to start as any, and who knows, you might find yourselves needing ALL of them. We did! Like Theme, the packaging is awesome and over the top and a bit confusional. A custom (not real) barcode right on the front cover, a cool tray card that wraps up and around the edge, the Fastest logo all sharp and heavy metal looking, notes exclaiming "digital audio compact disc" and "state of the art phonorecord", the ASCAP publishing logo/info not less than FOUR times on the back cover, a shoutout to TDK, and of course, like Theme, a production credit for someone/something named Daemaeen Hephaestus Chastical. Oh, and a cool lazer etched discface! Needless to say (but we will anyway) CRAZY RECOMMENDED.

MPEG stream: Mnemonic Dreams
MPEG stream: Prevail
MPEG stream: Effusive Feelings
MPEG stream: Legend

Enchanting! The mysterious Faun Fables is primarily the work of Ms Dawn McCarthy. On occasion however, she's joined by Mr. Nils Frykdahl of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. This is her third magical album of timeless, transportive music. Her songs truly seem spirited from another era. This earthy, dramatic Family Album is not unlike encountering a pagan festival or... the Wickerman film! With both solo and chorus performances of empassioned male and female vocals, as well as some lively flutes and strings.

MPEG stream: Eyes Of A Bird
MPEG stream: Lucy Belle

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

SORRY. Everyone's favorite deformed "desk metallers" return with a new album sure to whip all Bungle-worshippers into a noisy metallic frenzy.

More "handicapped" "metal" for Bungle/Caroliner fans, recorded on the Head's Japan tour.

Local DJ / turntablist / sonic collagist / audio alchemist DJ Female Convict Scorpion (aka Josh Pollock of aQ beloved local psychedelic space rockers 3 Leafs) returns with another twisted slab of mutant fuzz funk, outsider psychedelia, tripped out cosmic prog, and whatever else he has in his record bag, but as always employed in such a way that the original track blur into one twisted single sonic miasma, from which Pollock pulls some seriously twisted musical madness. This time, the framework is Bill Cosby's iconic Talks To Kids About Drugs record, with DJ Female Convict Scorpion, actually showing the kids what being on drugs sounds like, and even to those of us here who don't partake, it sounds pretty goddamn god. Warped and wild, a super psychedelic dance party that sounds a bit like a more lo-fi Andy Votel, with much of this sounding like it could be some obscure Finders Keepers mix/comp. The opener begins with Cosby explaining the purpose of the record, to talk to kids about drugs, and then DJFCS takes over, with a blast of grinding distorted psychedelic skree, bellowed slowed down monster vox, wild tangles of psych guitar freakout, before settling into a serious groove, wreathed in sci-fi FX squiggles, and woozy sonic swells, a swirl of Jeck-like turntable manipulations, some funky wah guitar, deep ominous drones, fluttering flutes, fragments of sixties pop songs, vocal harmonies surfacing then fading away, seriously trippy for sure. And the rest of the record follows suit, with each track incorporating the original, whether as an intro, or slowing it down, so those wise words of wisdom, become a scary demonic invocation, and what follows, is all over the map, one track slips into a sprawl of record crackle and distant shimmer, over which is laid some seventies acid folk vocals, hand claps, and strange alien sound effects, the result is a stunning stretch of alien seventies freak folk (listen close and you'll even hear the Star Trek warning klaxon!), another starts off slow and contemplative, before exploding into some seriously heavy psych rock crunch, made even more freaky when the track begins to skip and locks into a woozy loop, over which DJFCS adds all sorts of warped sound effects, bleating trumpets, the looped bassline transformed into a throbbing droned out thrum, and yet another dissolves into a cloud of swirling druggy murk, before an old spiritual surfaces through the swirl, again the juxtaposition so deftly engineered, that the resulting combination is strangely moving and haunting. And there's so so much more. Like all DJ Female Convict Scorpion mixes, there's much to discover, sonic subtleties that only surface on repeated listens, and even music nerds like us find ourselves constantly trumped by the sources, crazy obscure, we're barely able to pick out any of them, which has a lot to do of course with DJFCS's mastery of weaving all of these disparate sounds and sonic fragments into one, dizzying, seriously psychedelic whole!

MPEG stream: Downers & Uppers
MPEG stream: Questions And Answers
MPEG stream: Bill Talks About Hard Drugs
MPEG stream: Captain Junkie

We love the mix tape. Or maybe now it's the mix cd. Regardless, it's hard to beat a killer mix of obscure sonic weirdness, the best mixes being the ones where the various tracks and elements blend into a new musical experience entirely. With the occasional glimpse of a recognizable tune, melody or sonic snippet surfacing here and there, the sort of collection that rewards close listening, but sounds just as good in a background music capacity. Such is the case with the latest disc from local DJ / turntablist DJ Female Convict Scorpion (who also manages whistle, sampler and theremin!). Anyone who names themselves after Shunya Ito's classic series of Japanese woman in prison / revenge flicks is definitely on the right wavelength. Constance Towers is more mix than turntable experiment, but there are plenty of subtle sonic mysteries lurking beneath the excellent song choice and deft mixing. Beginning all soulful and jazzy, groovy and laid back, a slowed down funk work out, sun baked and washed out, peppered with subtle effects and bits of dialogue, the disc soon morphs into blessed out dub, transforming quickly into some haunting soundtrack, all swooning strings and drawn out drones, before exploding into some super kick ass blown out 70's cop show funk, with buzzing synths and fuzzy guitar. And that's just the first few tracks, the rest of the disc veers wildly all over the map, somehow managing to sound perfectly cohesive. Freaked out percussion jams, creepy exotica, propulsive krautrock, wild afrojazz, super distorted post punk jams, honkey tonk country, but all tangled and woven into each other, shifting speeds and tempos, drifting voices and effects, multiple tracks piled on one another, a gorgeous, hypnotic, sonic trip. Funky and groovy enough to jam at your next dance party, but dark and varied and mysterious enough for headphone deep listening...

MPEG stream: 12:00 am - Prologue / Mozart And The Dolomites
MPEG stream: 1:00 am - Constance Towers
MPEG stream: 2:00 am - Emergeth... Borts Minorts

Mix number two from mysterious local turntablist and DJ, the brilliantly monickered DJ Female Convict Scorpion, whose mixes are less DJ mash-ups and more haunting artistic assemblages, incorporating free jazz, fuzzy funk, found sounds, bits of dialogue, sampled instruments, stripped down beats, pretty much no genre is off limits, but those genres are basically meaningless once everything is mixed together. From the opening track, with its ominous chiming bells beneath Tom Waits' gravelly voice spinning a yarn, the mix slips smoothly, into a deep laid back minimal grooves, surrounded by swirling sheets of soft focus effects, before the mix shifts, and wailing female vox are draped over a thumping beat, a sea of record crackle, bits of hum and distant whir, Shadow wouldn't be all that far off as a reference, but imagine if Shadow was raised on prog and punk rock and art films and free jazz, then how would a mix of his sound? A bit like this perhaps. The tracks veer wildly from super rhythmic workouts, to drifting minimal soundscapes, strange electronics drift in and out, mournful horns, spidery guitars, strings are bowed and plucked, deep rumbles surface from below, tribal drumming is laid beneath tangled world music voices, creating gorgeous and unintended harmonies, dense clouds of blooping bleeping effects over skittery free jazz skronk, dark reverbed noir-ish guitars shimmering beneath subtle percussion, breathless vocalizing and steel string scrape, deep ritualistic chanting drifting over the sound of sirens, funky drumming and subtle barely there dronemusic in the distance, Really good stuff. Made even better by the fact that we weren't able to identify a single source for any of the sounds within!! Beautiful packaging. Full color printing on thick matte paper, super haunting and tripped out imagery, pressed on black cd-r's each with an actual postage from some other country affixed to the face.

MPEG stream: Dum Sechs Unt Glum eine Rum
MPEG stream: Floorshow At The Top OF The World
MPEG stream: The Peaches 'n' Herb Of Freak Folk

The latest tripped out DJ mix from DJ Female Convict Scorpion aka Josh Pollack from local psychedelic space rockers 3 Leafs, and like the three before it, on Wizards (named for the genius Ralph Bakshi movie, and featuring a drawing of the movie poster done by a young Josh way back when), Pollack once again displays not just a knack for digging up insanely obscure jams, but for weaving disparate sounds together into utterly unrecognizable but totally mesmerizing sonic tableaus. Just check out the opener, "5 Terrorists", which drapes some strange buzzing percussive Asian stringed instrument, some fluttering flute, and some echo drenched vocals, over some spaced out progged out jamming, pretty impossible to tell which parts Pollack mixed, and how much of the song was already the song, which again is the magic of these DJFCS mixes, and when that first track gradually switches gears, and disappears in a field of ominous buzz, and seems to transform into a drum heavy krautprog groove, it KILLS. And so it goes, low slung slithery funk, strange movie samples, spaced out psychedelia, stuttery old school hip hop, DJ Shadow like moodiness, primitive (but effective turntable manipulation, again hard to say which is part of the music and which is Pollack), strange crooning, weird psych folk, draped over thick sinister chordal swell, shimmery dreamlike ambience drifting into fierce driving fuzzfunk, all manner of backward swoops and swirls, moaning strings, disembodied voices, glistening strings, some of the combinations more moving and intense than the originals, lots of a capellas wedded to unlikely instrumental accompaniment, everything wreathed in echo and reverb and loads of warm record crackle, and just some downright bad ass jams and grooves, not to mention the easy listening Sabbath that finishes things off. Essential listening. And most definitely the DJ you want at your wedding, assuming your goal is to alienate or downright freak out 90 percent of the guests. But that other ten percent, including us (we're invited, right?), will be in whatthefuck weirdo music HEAVEN!

MPEG stream: 5 Terrorists
MPEG stream: Righteousness Prevails (White Sabbath)
MPEG stream: You Know Nothing, In Fact You Know Less Than Nothing
MPEG stream: Necron 99

Killer slice of Bay Area psych from this new outfit made up of members of Comets On Fire, Drunk Horse and Nudity, a fierce blast of murky fuzzed out seventies style heavy psych hard rocking, that sounds SO much like the genuine artifact, wouldn't be at all difficult to believe that this was some lost seventies hard rock rarity/reissue, the production is super old school, the A side all big riffs, pounding drums, an epic catchy chorus, and of course some sweet shredding leads, definitely reminiscent of another Valley King artist, recent Record of the Weekers Golden Void, but where Golden Void are more sun baked and laid back, Feral Ohms, are, well, more feral for sure, fierce and snarly, crunchy and fuzzy and blown out, in the red, dense and driving, but catchy like crazy too. The flipside is a little bit more slithery and groovy, but still similarly hard rocking and psychedelic, distorted, a little bit lo-fi and super rocking. As with all the Valley King singles, super swank silkscreened Alan Forbes artwork, each one hand numbered and signed. Includes a sticker and is LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!!!

This is the first we've heard from local songstress/soundscaper Feverwitch, and with that band name, the strange song titles, the unorthodox characters/spelling, you might be thinking Witch House, a genre we all loved but which seemed to have been a bit of a flash in the pan - and to a degree you'd be right, from the very first few second of the first track FW unfurls some seriously haunting slomo mesmer, ritualistic and cinematic, whirling organs, slowed down male vocals drone beneath FW's dramatic croon, what sound like strings swoop and soar, darkly mysterious and almost liturgical, like a lo-fi 4 track Arvo Part, spectral and shimmery, murky and moody, the perfect late night chill out bliss out, with a slightly witchy/demonic edge to it. And really, that's how the whole tape plays out, vibes of Twin Peaks, hints of Grouper, definitely plenty of Witch House residue, gothy and gloomy, some of the tracks are like otherworldly ballads, FW's distinctive vocals nestled in fields of processed vocals, delicate tinkling piano, crystalline expanses of hushed thrum, others build to strident singer/songwriter drama, albeit steeped in thick clouds of reverb and delay, and when the drums come in (which is seldom), they had some heft, some rhythmic gravitas that gives the song a ghostly propulsion. Swirls of cosmic synths drift in, adding a sort of new age / sci-fi vibe, everything blurred into a washed out lysergic sonic haze, that's darkly and dreamily divine. Then there's the final track, where FW really gives her voice a workout, letting loose with the sort of voice that gives you chills, dramatic operatic, somewhere between Kate Bush and Diamanda Galas, wild trills, soaring impossible melodies, all over sweeping faux strings and brooding atmospheric swirl. Wow. Really nice, fans of Grouper, Zola Jesus, Chelsea Wolfe should check this out for sure!

MPEG stream: Veni^2
MPEG stream: Bower Bird

Back in 1995 Aquarius Records organized an all-day show benefitting us (and the IRS); performers included a short list of some of our favorite artists, such as Dirty Three, Barbara Manning, Mark Eitzel, Dieselhed, Virginia Dare, and J Church. One of the most highly-anticipated sets was the reunion of experimental psychedelic freaks The Fifty Foot Hose, led by original member (and current neon sculptor) Cork Marcheschi and featuring bass playing by Lennie Bova of Tripod Jimmie, plus a host of other likeminded folk. While Cork has issued the original Fifty Foot Hose album on his own Weasel Disc label (available here), this is a document of their fabulous live set from the Bottom of the Hill, and includes a 10+ minute encore jam that left some folks melting in their shoes and others' ears changed forever. Japanese import. Photos by Gail Butensky.

Film School's latest offering comes in the form of a 2-song 7" record. The A-side "Harmed" is a sneak preview of their forthcoming full length, and the B-side "The Longest Way" is exclusive to this release. They're a pair of very somber indie rock songs with male vocals that sound as if they're being sung by the sullen little brother of Pinback's Rob Crow... which suits us just fine!

Here's a hint of what's to come in Film School land! These New Yorkers found a new label home at Beggars Banquet and have a new full length slated for January of next year. From the very '80s British influenced sounds of these new songs, it's gonna be a perfect fit. We've gotta say that it's probably unlikely that Robert Smith is gonna be retiring as lead vocalist of The Cure any time soon, but if he did (or even if he called in sick or wanted to play hooky one day), Film School's lead singer Krayg Burton could step right in at the wink of an eye. Oddly enough the last time we heard from these guys was their Harmed 7" earlier this year, and back then his vocals were more along the lines of Pinback's Rob Crow. Anyhoo, On & On blends a romantic vocal angst (a la mid-period Cure) with fuzzy, swirling shoegazer guitars like those of Slowdive, Ride or The Church. Note: the cd version features one additional tune "February".

MPEG stream: On & On
MPEG stream: Plus One

For Film School's full length debut on Beggars Banquet, they've skillfully pieced together the well-worn pages of your beloved '80s British alternative rock scrapbook. We definitely hear echoes of The Cure, The Church and yes, Echo And The Bunnymen from lead singer Krayg Burton's unmistakable Robert Smithian, on-the-verge emotiveness to the distinct effected guitar sound. Lushly swirling shoegazer dreaminess that occasionally lingers on an unexpectedly atmospheric passage. What Film School lack in originality they more than make up in execution on this self-titled album. They could almost revive the dour yet romantic boy rock style all by their lonesome... well, with the assistance of one of the most appropriate labels around. Includes "On & On", one of the band's best songs to date, and the title track of the teaser ep that came out late last year.

MPEG stream: Harmed
MPEG stream: Like You Know

Now on vinyl! Here's what we said about the cd version back in 2005: A no-frills and super down to earth debut. As the title states this is a half dozen tunes (plus one extra titled "Come Sit Beside Me" on the LP!) from Bay Area folksy folks The Finches. The duo of Ms Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs and Aaron Morgan share the singin' and guitar playin' duties, and Morgan also handles the bass playin' too. Each of their songs is thoughtful, well-crafted and slightly rough around the edges much like Carolyn's lovely lino-cut cover art. Achingly intimate and pretty, and quite along the lines of folk-pop songstresses such as Cat Power or Julie Doiron. Nice!

The Finches' Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs and Aaron Morgan follow us their self released debut 6-song ep with this full length. Human Like A House is comprised of some of the gentlest folk pop imaginable. It's a bit more polished and fleshed out with the addition of cello, pedal steel and percussion joining their Spartan vocals, guitar and bass. As charming as their previous release, the dozen tunes are dewy skinned and doe eyed, sort of like the aural equivalent of a Margaret Keane painting.

MPEG stream: Human Like A House
MPEG stream: Two Ghosts

[ aquarius records — Local ]