Hard to believe it's been five years since Mark Herlihy and Mark Wasserman started the now-legendary Future Primitive Soundsession series, the good time turntablist and DJ parties that basically catapulted the West Coast DJ breakbeat scene to international stature. The parties are, of course, still happening, and this cd, the fifth in the Future Primitive Recordings series, winningly replicates the feel-good bright 'n upbeat nature of the parties themselves. Good job! Features everyone from the amazing Z-Trip to Rob Swift, DJ Disk, Romanowski, Faust and Shortee, plus a short segment from the infamous 7-11 Slurpee set of all 45s performed by DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist. If you've never heard the fabulous Z-Trip/Radar and Cut Chemist/Shortkut Future Primitive discs, get those too.
Originally released last year some time, and available exclusively from the Castle Face website, due to some strange arrangement with the label and/or the band, this killer comp of all our Castle Face faves covering the Velvet Underground & Nico record in its entirety, is FINALLY more widely available, and should really not need that much of a description considering the lineup: Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, Blasted Canyons, The Fresh & Onlys, The Mallard, Burnt Ones, Warm Soda, Kelly Stoltz and more! Plus we're guessing even this version is probably gonna disappear pretty quick. Fans of any and all those bands are definitely gonna want this and we can attest to the fact that even VU haters might find themselves digging this anyway.
Kelly Stoltz starts things off with his take on "Sunday Morning", which is lush and lovely and dreamily sun dappled, swirling synths drift beneath a slow stately rhythm, soaring strings and Stoltz's warm soft croon. Warm Soda, who are quick becoming our new Castle Face fave, crank up "I'm Waiting For The Man", into a cool, glammy lo-fi, jangle stomp. Ty Segall's "Femme Fatale", adds lots of feedback, and some Stoogesy swagger, noisy and chaotic and super rocking. Thee Oh Sees get seriously loose and free with "European Son", the whole thing a wild, loose, free-rock/free-jazz drift, all detuned guitars, fluttering flute, and wild splattery drumming. Blasted Canyons transform "Venus Furs" into an awesomely creepy sci-fi garage-synth dirge, while The Mallard add some tweaked guitar and woozy psych to their version of "There She Goes Again". Burnt Ones trip out Spacemen 3 style (which we know, is essentially also VU style), with their sprawling cover of "Heroin", and the Fresh & Only's turn "All Tomorrow's Parties" into what could essentially be a F+O original, adding thick swaths of swirling psychedelic synths shimmer. There's more, but by now you should definitely be sold.
With this new release, local underground hiphop/turntablist label Hip Hop Slam goes to war -- against the war, that is. Subtitled Emcee Dubya vs. DJs of Mass Destruction, this anti-war comp takes a plunderphonic approach at the expense of our respected (ha) President and his invasion of Iraq. Contributors include Public Enemy (with a mix of their track "Son of a Bush"), Cat Five, Mr. Lif, Shingo2, Tino Corp, Azeem, and many others, some (like DJ Saddam and DJ Sars) with explictly topical monikers. There's even the inclusion of a track by Steinski & Mass Media, the pioneer of the "political cut-and-paste" electronic music genre whose work inspired so many of these folks. This kind of audio activism can only be applauded, getting out the message that not all Americans are so gung-ho on the Bush regime's program. Bring the noise, fight the power, c'mon. Proceeds from the sale of this not-for-profit project benefit a variety of peace orgs.
San Francisco comp featuring lots of cool melodic indie rock. One disc is bands doing originals while the other disc has them all covering each other. Features folks like French Miama, The Lovely Public, 60 Watt Kid, Tartufi, Little Teeth, Pidgeon, Excuses For Skipping, and lots more.
BACK IN PRINT, this former Record (or Records, or Book, or whatever it is) of the Week!!!
Holy cow!!! A freaking flexidisc BOOK. And if that wasn't already cool enough, just check out the lineup: Thee Oh Sees, Bare Wires, The Fresh & Onlys, Blasted Canyons, Ty Segall And Mikal Cronin. Almost entirely unreleased and exclusive tracks. And did we mention the flexidisc book?
Yeah, a big book, it sort of feels like one of those baby books kids can take in the bath, thick heavy pages, still softcover, but hefty, and the design is incredible, full color, super retro, all the band pages some old product reimagined using the name of the band, presented on thick glossy pages, over which lays the band's flexidisc, printed in cool metallic inks, and see through, so you can see the picture in the book through the record. And just an aside for folks who don't actually know what a flexidisc is, it's a sheet of plastic, into which record grooves are cut, and back in the day, that's how magazines gave away songs, by including flexidiscs (Mad Magazine used to include flexidiscs all the time!), but anyway, five flexidiscs, all housed in this cool spiral wire bound book! And if this wasn't already worth it as just a cool musical object, this musical object just so happens to have ten tracks from five of our favorite bands!
Thee Oh Sees get all abstract and post punky on "Burning Spear", channeling Wire through their reverby garage crunch, before slipping into the shimmy shake of "What You Need (The Porch Boogie Thing)" complete with falsetto vox. The Fresh & Onlys offer up two short sharp tracks of vintage retro jangle pop, all reverby and echoey and hooky as hell, laced with girl group backup vox and warm whirring organ. Bare Wires kick out the jams on two total retro classics, sounding more and more like they were actually transported here from the sixties, total Who worshipping jangley mod-pop radness. Ty Segall and Mikal Cronin try their hand at some Bowie covers, transforming "Fame" into an echo drenched dirge, and "Suffragette City" into a supercharged garagepunk blowout. Recent Record Of The Week-ers Blasted Canyons contribute two songs from their Record Of The Week (this was actually meant to come out first), but if you needed a teaser/taster, these two songs should convince you, fuzzy blown out, synth heavy garage pop space punk bliss, dueling boy/girl vocals, thick buzzing synths, wild crashing drums, big riffs, sixties girl group shimmy via modern garage rock crunch, and of course hooks galore. The mysterious bonus track which was available with the first pressing, and was cut right into the back of the book, is sadly no longer included, but it IS included in the digital download!
INSTRUCTIONS FOR PLAYING YOUR GROUP FLEX: Do not tear out the flexidiscs, just fold the book back, with the record you want to play on top, then set the whole book on your turntable, when it's time to play the next record, simply turn the page, and put the book right back on the turntable. And repeat.
And look out for Group Flex volume 2, which we hear is upcoming!!
Latest mixes from this venerable veteran Bay Area DJ! Always solid and always a great variety of old classics and fresh sounds and grooves!
The seemingly tireless John Vanderslice keeps 'em coming. Fans will surely be delighted by this, his fourth full length and follow-up to Life and Death Of An American Fourtracker. Continuing to do that which he does exceptionally well, Mr. Vanderslice has crafted a dozen more of his distinct, intelligent indie pop tunes. His music is at once expansive yet still very down to earth. From what we can tell, unlike his last couple of full lengths, Cellar Door doesn't seem to be bound by concept and quite possibly as a result it may be his most scaled down and direct work to date. And yet it's still filled with his distinct achingly pretty, soaring melodies and lush array of instrument arrangements. The second to last song "When It Hits My Blood" is a particular heartmelting highlight. Splendid!
Whether he's manning the helm of his Tiny Telephone recording studio or performing his own music, John Vanderslice is a renowned Bay Area crafty, creative and tireless fellow. This is his sixth full length. Very much akin to the recent recordings by Bright Eyes, Mountain Goats, and M. Ward, it might be his most focused and most straightforward pop album to date. Emerald City picks right up from where 2005's Pixel Revolt left off with its nine lush, very easy on the ears folk-edged pop songs whose melodic breeziness stands in stark contrast with his emotively delivered lyrics. They bring a sobering gravity to the proceedings addressing concerns of post 9/11 despair, ongoing political turmoil and personal heartache.
From the label that brought us Death Cab for Cutie comes a local project worthy of your attention: John Vanderslice's solo debut. As any fan of MK Ultra would know, John's brand of pop is complex, interesting, uncompromising, and most EPIC. Like Neutral Milk Hotel, whom Vanderslice obviously adores (enough to name this album after an NMH lyric), there's enough emotional intensity and Brit-pop-worthy melodicism here to satisfy the most demanding of sweet tooths. Recommended.
In every review of a John Vanderslice album you'll undoubtedly find some mention of how nice a guy he is, and that's certainly true... He's also got a great recording studio here in SF... And on average, he's also released one fine album a year for the last five years, and he continues his abundant creative output with Pixel Revolt. Although his two chosen subject matters might be rather disparate (albeit we're sure equally close to his heart) -- the current political climate and the end of a personal relationship -- this album is definitely his most cohesive sounding and contains some of his most accessible, engaging songs to date. His usual roaming sonic explorations seem to have been set aside in favor of keeping more close to 'home' (i.e, traditional song structures). Pretty melodies are in abundance. Over the years, he's drawn comparisons to Neutral Milk Hotel (whom he admittedly admires immensely), Death Cab For Cutie (former Barsuk labelmates), and Mountain Goats, but these days we actually thought that he's sounding like more recent Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst (hey, no complaints there!).
John Vanderslice reaches the seventh album marker with what is arguably his most immediately engaging work to date. He hasn't completely left behind the roaming patchwork-y feel of his previous albums, but each song seems a bit more focused and encapsulated. Softly rumpled like a comfy sweater, Vanderslice's hushed vocal delivery draws the listener in close, and as always, his achingly earnest introspective songs take a pluck at your heartstrings. Slowly playing out intertwined melodies in gentle fashion, the album's multi-layered instrumentation is lush but never seems heavy handed. Gauzily drifting in and out of focus, Romanian Names maintains an airiness throughout. As a point of reference, at times we found it to be quite akin to the latest solo album by Grandaddy's Jason Lytle or Calexico's more pop moments. Good stuff!
Vaniish emerge in the wake of the demise of San Francisco's goth pop quartet Veil Veil Vanish, whose anthemic album Change In The Neon Light was a dramatic sashay of glam pop ballast and urgent emotional bellowing in equal parts to Interpol and The Cure. Personal loss and tragedy left frontman Keven Tecon needing to re-evaluate where his art needed to be. He rechristened the project Vaniish, recruiting his previous collaborator Amy Rosenoff in Veil Veil Vanish to pick up the bass, along with guitarist Adam Beck and perennial Aquarius staffer Nick Ott on drums. There's certainly a maturing in the songwriting from Tecon that is notable between the two projects, with Vaniish becoming far more introspective, more droned-out, and more texturally complex. The immediate references that jump to the foreground are the very first Dead Can Dance album, which if you were to think of modern day takes medieval chants, let us kindly ask that you refresh your memory on the grimly militant goth-punk album that is the debut Dead Can Dance album. A very taut rhythm section of bass and drum offer metronomic pulses as the ground for Vaniish's proto-shoegazing wash of droned synth and flanged guitar. Tecon tempers his vocals within this archetypally 4AD / Creation production as more existentially circumspect as opposed to the brash hedonism of his former self. This was an album that instantly became a staff favorite here at the shop!
San Francisco's The Vanishing proves that a Goth band with a female lead vocalist doesn't have to sound like Siouxsie & The Banshees (but it's not necessarily a bad thing if they do since several other AQ goth novices think this does indeed sound quite a bit like Siouxsie!). Not that I don't find Siouxsie's records quite good (especially "Juju" and "Kaleidoscope"), but the small Gothic resurgence that's paralleling the New Wave revival has mostly been mimicking the aloof theatrics of Joy Division, Bauhaus, Sisters Of Mercy, or Siouxsie, without really saying anything beyond their heroes. Fortunately, the trio of Jessie Trashed (formerly of the Subtonix), Brian Hock, and AQ's own Sadie Shaw (also of The Lies, The Husbands and the co-director of the 8mm indie-gore film "Charm") have developed a pretty unique (or referentially obscure) signature sound. The Vanishing builds an intense, dissonant gloom through monotonous, distorted basslines and Carnival of Souls' organs twisted into sinister melodies, all without any guitars. Jessie's haunted vocals have been treated with an eerie tremolo warble as a well-executed complement to The Vanishing's throbbing music. As Sadie has admitted to having never heard X-Mal Deutschland before, I can safely say that The Vanishing has unintentionally arrived at a Goth sound previously carved out by that oft-forgotten 4AD band. And that's fine by me!
Born from the grim, death disco of the Subtonix and the oppressive gloom rock of The Lies, The Vanishing are no strangers to the Goth aesthetic and manage to pull off the typically stilted genre with a considerable amount of panache. "Songs For Psychotic Children" is the debut album for The Vanishing, who at the time of this recording included the SF's reigning Goth queen Jesse Trashed, Brian Hock, and Aquarius' dearly departed (not dead, just moved on to a new job) sweetie-pie Sadie Shaw who recently left the band to pursue her garage band The Husbands. Rather than turn to portentous swan songs and plodding atmospherics like the kind often produced for Projekt or Cleopatra records, The Vanishing finds success almost entirely through the theatrical wailings and panicky screams of vocalist / bassist Jesse Trashed, who has developed a vocal style that's clearly in keeping with the traditions of Goth culture, but separate from icons like Siouxsie Sioux, Nina Hagen, and Danielle Dax. Driven by her expressive, intense voice and sinewy basslines, The Vanishing furthers their black clad references with Sadie's haunted carnvival organs which would not be out of place on the seminal "Carnival Of Souls" soundtrack and with Brian exhuming the propulsive rhythm sections of the forgotten Batcave bands: Sex Gang Children, Specimen, and The March Violets. "Songs For Psychotic Children" comes together flawlessly, and marks a very good start for this local band.
From the electro-schtick of Soft Pink Truth's rewiring of punk to the DFA's revisitation of the 99 Records catalogue with a artful sense of irony, we are living in an age that has glorified certain stylistic conceits of the '80s. In looking at these revisionist histories, you could get the impression that the '80s were in fact very cool and had none of the banal dreck of disposable major label pop that persists today. Where most of the '80s retro fascination has its tongue firmly planted in cheek, The Vanishing exhumes the whole bloated corpse of the '80s Goth community. There's not just a bunch of black clothes, clove cigarettes, and blood-red wine to go with The Vanishing's Goth revivalism; there's also Nik Fiend's pasty white make-up, smeared black eyeliner, and ripped fishnet stockings and Daniel Ash's insistence on throwing sax solos into Bauhaus songs. Yeah, the Vanishing do a great job of reclaiming this particular Goth sound from the '80s; but that's also their undoing, as the Vanishing aren't really interested in attempting to update this sound. If they are attempting to do on Still Lifes Are Failing, well then they haven't done a very good job. But if it's The Cure's Pornography and Xmal Deutschland's Fetisch that their going for, well that's another story. The Vanishing's spry death disco grooves and primitive synth lines builds a seering claustrophobia which in most instance is the evil little sister of the DFA cocaine beats. So The Vanishing can only really be recommended if you've got that streak of Goth that tickles you from time to time. But if Adult. and The Rapture aren't dark enough for you, then boy do we have a record for you!
Dragging themselves upward from the moist earth of San Francisco's most dilapidated graveyard, local filth merchants Vastum have returned to expel upon the world another pungent platter of churning decrepit death metal. There's no technical wankery to be found herein. There's no prog fusion guitar virtuosity. The approach here is strictly no frills, strictly barbaric. Snaking nauseous guitar harmonies coil around Cro-Magnon drum plods and guttural vomitous vocals. The mood is doomy and grotesque. The guitars are such a thick nebulous mass that even the album's faster moments seem mired in swamp, like an intense dreadful vertigo or the inevitable swallowing horror of sinking into quicksand. But what sets this apart from the myriad other old school death metal bands who seem to have writhed out from the woodwork these past few years is the quality of playing and the quality of the sound. As primitive as this style of pummeling death metal may be, the playing here is tight and deadly, while the production is the perfect balance between cavernous and clean - all of the atmosphere of an empty forgotten mausoleum, but with none of the details lost. If at the altars of the old gods you still worship (translation: Autopsy, Incantation, etc. etc.) then this is an absolute must have.
There was a time when great poppy garage gems were being blasted out of just about every practice space here in San Francisco. It seems like those days are now gone, but luckily The Vaticans have filled that void with some totally fun-filled girl-group inspired garage-pop that hits its mark dead on. Like a more scrappy, stripped down take on early B-52's, the non-electro elements of Stereo Total or the no-frills garage stomp of The Headcoatees. Bubblegum garage-pop done oh so right!
The first proper full-length by San Francisco gothsters Veil Veil Vanish is one hell of a pop record. Drawing from '80s darkwave and '90s post-rock, "Change in the Neon Light" will easily find airplay in both dark, smoky dance clubs and dark, smoky bedrooms covered in Smiths posters. Although comparisons to The Cure are inevitable, they are not determinative. Sometimes Keven Tecon's voice resembles Robert Smith's in tone, but where Smith relied (more and more) on a facade of whiny drama, Tecon's drama seems angrier and truer. The music, too, is definitely harsher than anything The Cure ever did, and as much influenced by shoegaze and glam as anything else.
The album's eponymous opener glides along a cloud of synthesizer and bass guitar, sounding fuller and fuller as the song progresses. "Anthem For A Doomed Youth" adds a little crunch and grit, the heavily distorted bass contrasting nicely with the acoustic (or at least clean-sounding) guitar in the chorus. The fourth song "Modern Lust" might be the catchiest song on the record, the bouncy synth keeping the track moving and shaking, the lyrics kind of scary and breathy. "This is Violet" has some excellent rhythms and guitar work, loud and fast and heavy, and is easily the best song on the record. The production on the album (done by Atom of Yeah Yeah Yeah's fame) feels large but not overdone, the individual tones complimenting each other perfectly, leaving space and filling in holes when necessary. This is a well put together and well written record that comes highly recommended!
In case their moniker and the album title didn't clue you in, this new Bay Area band has a dark, dark heart. We'd venture a guess that these young gents and gal were raised on a wonderfully wan diet of '80s British rock (think: early Cure, Siouxsie, Echo And The Bunnymen). With such sallow complexions that you only get from sulking in angst filled gloomy shadows, fevers and chills are inevitable. Veil Veil Vanish's hot flushes come in big guitar rushes that also bring to mind Swervedriver, Bailterspace, My Bloody Valentine and Killing Joke. Those dynamic injections give their music more depth, fuses the various influences together and helps the band dodge the cloaked clutches of the '80s goth and post-punk revival camps.
Scott from local heavies Kowloon Walled City turned us on to these guys, knowing full well of our love for classic math rock, and holy shit, how did we not know about these guys? Their sound is essentially a modern version of that classic nineties sound, think Rodan, Shellac, June Of 44, A Minor Forest, Rumah Sakit, the same sort of dense, intricate arrangements, melodic and carefully crafted, with a distinct emo vibe, and blasts of explosive heaviness, interspersed with spidery, skeletal passages of delicate melody and woozy loping rhythms, the best parts when those various elements come together. Probably the most distinctive element is the addition of violin, which gives the sound a darkly dramatic vibe, at times conjuring up a slow build tension a la Godspeed, and at others channeling something more like the Dirty Three or Rachel's, but when the drums are pounding and the guitars are crunchy, and the violin is singing, it's pretty goddamn great. The recording too is crisp and clean, letting all the instruments shine, even at its most dense and busy, and the vocals are pretty ace too, usually a weak spot in bands like this.
And while these guys tend toward the more melodic side of math rock (unlike some of the above mentioned bands who leaned toward the heavy), Ventid are certainly capable of some serious rocking, but the fact that the playing is so nimble is what makes this stuff so good, these guys can flit from spidery psychedelic tangle to mathed out churn, to near metallic pound and back again without breaking a sweat. Plenty of stop/starts, and some serious stretches of progged out majesty, and all the while, these guys are writing some seriously catchy songs, you'll find yourselves lulled and entranced by some mathy movement, when all of a sudden a guitar or vocal melody will pop out, and lodge itself in your head. Really great stuff, and kicking ourselves big time for only finding out about these guys now.
Packaged in super cool hand screened jackets, and probably pretty limited.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Oooh, why would we wanna keep this one quiet?! Quite an impressive debut for this Boulder, CO band (now transplanted to Oakland, CA). Its title translated into English is basically "Dying Is Easy", and while that statement may spur many a lengthy late night deep discussion, we can say that the dynamic sounds contained within are mighty easy on the ears. We can certainly see this band's music easily appealing to fans of Interpol, but they're by no means a simple soundalike. Although there is a breathy angstful resemblance in the vocal department, they've definitely got a sound of their own. No, it's in their rich sense of somber mood and shadowy atmosphere where more of the similarities lie. As well, their dark, shoegazer-y and lovely guitar washes bring to mind the glistening waves of M83. If you've a penchant for the abovementioned bands and/or opulent, lush rock in general, please make haste to The Very Hush Hush!
Some folks may know Lisa McGee from Barn Owl side project, Higuma, or her vocal work on Jefre Cantu-Ledesma's Love Is A Stream, or perhaps even Portraits, the zen-minded supergroup of Bay Area improvisationalists. Truth is, McGee has been a muse behind a lot of great recordings in that circle so it's really nice to see her finally in the spotlight via her debut solo effort, Vestals. In some way McGee is channeling Rachel Brook from early nineties Bristol bands, Flying Saucer Attack and Movietone, in her ethereal noise-pop laden songs replete shimmering electric guitar, and featuring Trevor Montgomery's bass and partner Evan Caminiti's bowed guitarscapes. The atmosphere of desolate spaciousness and the smoldering shoegazed distortion that ripple through the Higuma recordings are certainly present; but in Vestals, McGee pushes the song-writing to the forefront with chiming hypno-drone-rock bliss akin to Roy Montgomery channelling the Velvets, which thrums and drones most prominently on the album's lengthy mantra "Of Ripples." But she can also shift into quite the chanteuse, as on the crushed-velvet noise-pop of "Forever Falling" and "In Waking Dreams" where McGee's voice carries the songs to stratospheric crescendos through a hook-laden bliss. A gorgeous debut that limited to a mere 300 copies!
For those of you who loved Vetiver's self-titled debut and/or for those of you who've yet to experience their wistful dream-folk, here's a shorter serving of five new ultra hushed and intimate live and home recordings. Between features a few new originals from the pen of Vetiver main songwriter Andy Cabic plus a casual, off the cuff cover of Fleetwood Mac's song "Save Me A Place"! New full-length upcoming too...
New 7" single from the latest covers ep by local folk rock giants, Vetiver. Features "Hey Doll Baby" a classic fifties R&B hit for both The Clovers and The Everly Brothers and the previously unreleased track "Miles Apart" from late eighties dream popsters, A. R. Kane. The B-side is the reason to get this as they turn a later-period track from these minor 4AD stars into an even better pop confection than the original. Our favorite of all their covers!!!
Another breezy summer jam from local favorites, Vetiver. It's even more apparent on this second release on Sub Pop, that Vetiver is making larger strides towards a wider audience. The songs have a less introspective quality than on their last record while keeping the warm and hazy production intact.
But in the arrangements and especially the song-writing, Andy Cabic and cohorts have stepped up their game big time. We can see this as the soundtrack to many summer barbeques and friendly gatherings for the months to come. Nice!
Vetiver makes the major leap to Sub Pop and it's a good fit indeed! Vetiver's unique blend of airy Americana and sun-dappled country folk seems right at home with groups like Iron and Wine and Fleet Foxes. Using his last record of early seventies covers of obscure folk and country rock as a jumping off point, Andy Cabic makes a sublime record that could easily be mistaken for a lost seventies artifact. But don't expect this to be just a mere genre exercise. Warm soft breezy lullabies, perfect for early morning or late night listening, filled with gentle atmospherics and subtle flourishes of horns and cellos. A bit more introspective than the earlier records, Cabic imbibes the proceedings with plenty of well hewn songwriting heft and master musicianship, especially in the side closers, "Down From Above" and "At Forest Edge" where he performs mostly all the instrumentation himself. Here the lilting keyboard textures and treatments transport us to a different kind of cosmic place altogether. Wonderful!
Oh Man! We haven't been able to stop playing this record from local San Francisco folk heroes Vetiver since the day it arrived. We knew it would be good but we're really surprised at how amazing and fresh it sounds given the tidal wave resurgence of the neo-folk movement that Devendra Banhart and Vetiver front-man Andy Cabic have spawned in the last few years (check out the Devendra-curated Golden Apples of the Sun compilation reviewed elsewhere in this list, to see what we mean). To be honest, the neo-folk scene has become a bit over-saturated as of late. Not that we don't enjoy the music, but there are so many folk acts nowadays that it's become almost too overwhelming to keep up.
So the stakes have been raised quite a bit since Vetiver's quiet self-titled debut, as the past couple of year's have seen Cabic, out on the road touring not only with Vetiver but also as part of Devendra's touring band, starting record label Gnomonsong with Banhart (which released the debut Feathers cd), and garnering a huge amount of praise, attention and expectation. It seems the months on the road have been very good to Vetiver as recent homecoming shows at 12 Galaxies and the Great American have shown, delighting packed audiences and winning new converts who may have overlooked their fine debut. No more playing tiny intimate shows at Adobe Books, a little sad to say, but really, we are very happy for them. To Find Me Gone is more rock-oriented than its predecessor, as the band has evolved from an acoustic guitar, violin, cello trio to include a full time rhythm section (including Otto Hauser from Espers on drums, and Kevin Barker from Currituck Co. and Noah Georgeson on guitars) with spectacularly rich results. Unlike their debut, where the strong songwriting and performances were a bit overshadowed by the heavyweight guest appearances from Hope Sandoval, Colm O'Ciosoig and Joanna Newsom (It also came across in some press as a Devendra side project), Cabic comes fully into his own here, showcasing a sublime quality of world-weariness hewn from months on the road. It's exciting, after hearing their debut, which was years in the making, to not find the usual sophomore slump, but instead witness such naturally self-assured songwriting and arrangements. Opener, "Been So Long (Gb Fade)", a song first heard in a more acoustic arrangement on the Between EP, begins with a raga drone that spaciously opens up into fantastic sighing choral harmonies. In fact there is a subliminal pulsation to the whole album that really brings out Cabic's sweet vocals but also keeps them centrally present as the country tinged ambience of flutes and cellos (played with grace and restraint by Vetiver veteran, Alissa Anderson) swells and swirls around him. Country shuffler, "Won't Be Me" sounds like Yo La Tengo in a rare pop Americana moment while the sudden electric surge on "Red Lantern Girls" is pure shoegazer country-stomp acid folk. The closer "Down at El Rio" co-written with Devendra is so nostalgic and sad, a gorgeous gorgeous song. A long time record collector, and stellar DJ, Cabic mines his influences well. Less "freak-folk" than his friends and contemporaries, Cabic instead follows the compositional path of 70's singer-songwriters like J.J. Cale, Emitt Rhodes and John Phillips. It's a refreshing next step in the ever prevalent neo-folk scene. For a limited time, we have a special limited version of To Find Me Gone with two extra bonus tracks. Beautiful and so totally recommended!
Two dreamy and blissful remixes of "You May Be Blue" and "Been So Long" from the last Vetiver album. Showing frontman, Andy Cabic and collaborator/ producer Thom Monahan (aka Neighbors) successfully opening up their known folk rock imprint into warbled shuffling electronica and kosmiche dub raga drones. Not necessarily for the dance floor, but highly recommended all the same.
First record from local bliss folk heroes Vetiver, channeling the classic sound of sixties hippy rock, seventies British folk and classic songsmithery into a sweet poppy package of shimmery and folky mini-epics, cellos and violins and gently strummed acoustic guitars with dreamy wistful vocals sounding like Nick Drake or even Cat Stevens at times. Fans of the current SF avant folk scene a la Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom and the like will LOVE this. In fact, both Banhart and Newsom guest on this record, as well as Mazzy Star's Hope Sandoval and Warm Invention collaborator, My Bloody Valentine's Colm O'Ciosoig.
At long last the highly anticipated debut from VHOL is here, via Profound Lore. Highly anticipated 'cause VHOL, if you don't already know, are a "supergroup" of sorts. Actually, as far as we're concerned, in more ways than one. Firstly, VHOL (dunno if the name is supposed to be in all-caps, but it looks good to us like that) is formed by members of several other groups we like, band that might not be household names required of supergroup status, but probably ARE household names where people who read the aQ-list dwell. And on top of that, they're all amazing musicians so it's "super" that way too. VHOL consists of guitarist John Cobbett (Hammers Of Misfortune, ex-Ludicra, ex-Slough Feg, etc.) and his former Ludicra bandmate, drummer Aesop Dekker (also of Agalloch, Worm Ouroboros, etc. - and a noted blogger too), plus on bass Sigrid Sheie, who is also in Hammers with John. And making this more than just a San Francisco scene thing, on vocals is Mike Scheidt from Portland's mighty sludge-space-doomsters YOB. With these individuals involved, it sounded pretty good on paper, and now the proof is here, it actually sounds extremely good for real as well!!
Prior to hearing this, we'd been informed that the concept behind VHOL was "psychedelic D-beat" music or something. Well... ok, sorta. Aesop's a punk drummer at heart, to begin with (remember Hickey?). And yeah, having Scheidt provide his unique soaring screaming vox, all spacey and wavery and effected, can't help but make this sound psychedelic, plus the preponderance of mindboggling guitar solo shred from Cobbett helps in that dep't too. Early reports that had VHOL being a full-on Dis-core Crust-Metal band were somewhat misleading, however. Just like Ludicra, Hammers, heck ALL their other bands, this is a hybrid of a whole bunch of different things. And ends up being its own special thing.
But if we had to say, sonically this perhaps aligns closest with John & Aesop's previous outfit, avant-black metallers Ludicra, and with the more black-metally side of Yob. There's some delving into doomy, post-rock depths at points, plus of course Scheidt's distinctive vocals. So a cross between Ludicra and Yob, perhaps. But with some of the grandiose artistry of Hammers too. And both hectic punkish attack and sheer rockin' NWOBHM-inspired old school metal moments as well. Lots of them. Which is really what makes this for us. What a combo - and it works. Both energetic and epic, with churning riffs, intricate soloing, pounding rhythmic chaos, and actual catchy songwriting too. Our knack for finding buried "pop" music in the most unlikely, ugly places is not to be thwarted here, especially ferinstance on track four, "Grace", where some very effective, very poppy hooks are hiding, amidst that track's dense ripping architecture that conjures the sci-fi spectre of old (and new!) Voivod - a connection also suggested by this disc's very Away-like cover artwork, done by Cobbett himself.
Crucially, Scheidt puts on quite a performance, varying his vocals in cleanliness, from clean-ish to unclean, layered over each other even, doing death grunts and blackened rasps and guttural screams as well as his trademark higher-pitched, but distorted wailings - even getting into almost '80s metal ballad territory on the album's closer, "Songs Set To Await Forever".
Favorite tracks are hard to single out, they're all good, but "Arising" really, really impresses - a rollicking tour de force that kinda reminds us of certain latter day Darkthrone efforts, a la some tracks on their recent The Underground Resistance. Some of the same influences at work perhaps.
All in all, VHOL lives up to expectations (whatever they were!), certainly quality-wise. And perhaps confounds some others. But definitely doesn't disappoint. In fact, we might be digging this more than some of the VHOL folks' "main" bands right now, and that's saying a lot.
We got this disc a while back, but like many things around here, it got overlooked in the day to day hustle and bustle, and we only just rediscovered them a couple days ago, and figured we should get it reviewed and up on the list. Cuz it's from a year or two ago, and cuz you know we gotta represent, this horde of black metal warriors is from right here in the Bay Area, Oakland to be exact, and have been playing around town like crazy.
This demo is super raw, practice space style, lo-fi for sure, with loud drums, loud vocals, and the guitars murky and muddy and a little lost in the mix, but the various parts tend to bleed into one another, making for a fuzzy blown out bit of blasting blackness. Chaotic and primal, noisy and almost punky at times, and weirdly enough, there seems to be some super melodic poppy elements creeping in here and there. Which gives the sound (especially the opening track) a really strange vibe.
Full length number two from these local post punk noise poppers, and according to the liner notes, it might also be their last. But with VC, it's pretty hard to tell if they're taking the piss, usually safe to assume they are. And while their self-titled debut was gloriously lo-fi and ramshackle, noisy and chaotic, enough that we made it our Record Of The Week, A Celebration Of Taste manages to be even MORE, with much of it sounding like it was recorded in a cave, or a huge metal box, or underwater, on what we can only assume is probably a broken 4-track, everything with dying batteries, but then out of some impossibly impenetrable murk, will emerge a burst of crunchy, fuzzy power pop, that sounds like an unearthed gem from back in the day. So we figured this one too had to be another Record Of the Week...
Check out the opening 1-2-3 punch, "(I'm A Star) In Outer Space" is some seriously classic songsmithery, jangle guitar galore, some impossibly catchy guitar melodies, plenty of background buzz, keening vocals and hooks for days, but the tinny, no-fi production makes Guided By Voices sound like U2, but then there's "Micro Flesh", which takes that same sound, and piles on the murk, treble turned to zero, bass to ten, then slowed down, so it's a muddy, woozy, warmly creep, grinding, and gristly, before suddenly, "Faster" explodes into action, sounding like some weirdo lost Mod outfit from the sixties, this still lo-fi but cranked up, gloriously noisy and psychedelic, feedback everywhere, and buried under all that noisiness, a fucking killer, classic jam.
And so it goes, these guys dipping their toes into seventies power pop ("I Was Never Young" sounds like an outsider Purling Hiss), glammed out punk rock stomp ("Malleable Love"), all swaggery hip shaking crunch, total experimental noisescapery ("Abductors Pt. 1"), fifties style balladry filtered through cracked modern noise rock, and crumbled into something barely songlike ("Hairline-esque"), super distorted fuzz pop a la GBV ("Someone In This House")... Needless to say, we could go on and on and on. But if anything, this new one is somehow both more fucked up and damaged, and more catchy and well crafted, than their debut, that well crafted-ness pretty much entirely disguised by all the noise, and weirdo production, and detuned damage, and constantly in-flux production, and the varying degrees of shitty sound, but it's all glorious, and freaky, and psychedelic, and catchy and freaked out, and we're really really really hoping this isn't the last we're gonna hear from these guys, cuz this record is some seriously next level outsider pop genius! Fucked up and utterly confusional obviously, but then that's a big part of what makes it so goddamn great.
Includes two inserts and a download code.
For those who missed out on the super limited demo cassette from this SF lo-fi noise pop / post punk outfit, four of the tracks from that tape, have been re-recorded with a full band for this 7", and sound even better now. As we mentioned in our review of the now out of print tape, VC were born from late great punk pop weirdos the Sopors, who basically went mostly unheard outside of their little scene (which also included tUMULt pop heroes the Ovens!). And while Violent Change, at the time of that tape, was essentially a solo record by Sopors mainman Matt Bleyle, has since then, become a proper band, and now also includes Tony from the Ovens. And all of the above mentions of the Ovens is not for nothing, cuz Violent Change definitely has the same sort of pop vibe as the Ovens, but where the Ovens take the Beatles and Weezer and the Champs, Violent Change are a much more twisted and lo-fi proposition, an obvious comparison is definitely Guided By Voices, in fact, we'd imagine fans of GBV would flip for these guys, who kick out perfect pop jams at the drop of a hat, but don't shy away from getting more punky, or twisting a perfectly good pop song into a gloomy chunk of deeply crooned post punk dirgery. That said, the bulk of this four song 7" is some of THEE catchiest lo-fi pop you're bound to hear EVER, with excursions into blasting punk rock, noisy freakouts, and a moment or two here and there that position VC as a dead ringer for the Ovens, but the whole thing is way more fuzzy, and ramshackle and gloriously lo-fi, and punky and catchy and is definitely convincing us that Violent Change might be our (and possibly your) new favorite local band!
LIMITED TO 300 COPIES, each one hand numbered, includes a download coupon as well.
Debut release from this new SF band, born from late great punk pop weirdos the Sopors, who basically went mostly unheard outside of their little scene (which also included pop tUMULt pop heroes the Ovens!). And while we're doing our best to track down copies of the Sopors lp to review, we've got this new record from Violent Change, at the time of this tape essentially a solo record by Sopors mainman Matt Bleyle, although since, the band has been expanded to an actual group that includes Tony from the Ovens. And all of these mentions of the Ovens is not for nothing, cuz Violent Change definitely has the same sort of pop vibe as the Ovens, but where the Ovens take the Beatles and Weezer and the Champs, Violent Change are a much more twisted and lo-fi proposition, an obvious comparison is definitely Guided By Voices, in fact, we'd imagine fans of GBV would flip for these guys, who kick out perfect pop jams at the drop of a hat, but don't shy away from getting more punky, or twisting a perfectly good pop song into a gloomy chunk of deeply crooned post punk dirgery. That said, the bulk of this tape is some of THEE catchiest lo-fi pop you're bound to hear EVER, with excursion into blasting punk rock, noisy freakouts, and at least one track that is a dead ringer for the Ovens, but the whole thing all fuzzy, and ramshackle and gloriously lo-fi, and punky and catchy and probably the most listened to tape in the shop!!
The amazingly beautiful, highly anticipated first full album (after a couple of 10"s and a compilation of those 10"s) from this popular SF trio composed of Mary O'Neil and Brad Johnson, both ex-Wannabe Texans, and Greg Freeman of Lowdown Studios and Pell Mell. Good ole fashioned Americana that sounds like an alt.country version of the Velvet Underground or the Young Marble Giants playing Freakwater songs.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
7 wonderful new songs.
What more do you really need to know? Goat, frontman for legendary Bay Area black metal horde Von, teamed up with Wrest of Leviathan, recorded by John Gossard of Weakling, Asunder and Dispirit. That's some serious black metal firepower for sure. Von Goat is not merely the sum of its constituent parts though, nor is it simply some sort of Von rehash, no, this is something completely different, and plenty twisted.
A murky muddy raw primitive blackness, shot through with all sorts of woozy guitar damage, rumbling growling gurgling vokills, pounding blasting drumming, all wound into lurching lumbering outsider black brutality. Just take album opener "The Gathering", which on the surface sounds like some old school blasting black metal, but it's weirdly melodic, not obviously so, and then there's this constant extra guitar laying these warped keening high end sort-of-leads over the top, that make everything sound detuned, or like the instruments are slowly melting in the hellish heat, the effect is odd, but it's that oddness that makes this stuff so compelling and fucking genius.
"Poison Bottle" is a fantastic dizzying dirge, a murky slow motion death metal churn, all tightly wound riffage, lurching start/stop tempos, more guttural bellows, convoluted and mathy, the whole track oozing blackness, a chugging black creep with brief streaks of minor key melody, and occasional bursts of grinding crunch. "Thru Your Skull" is another muddy blur of deconstructed black riffage, pounding jackhammer beats and monstrous demonic grunts, not to mention another head spinning squall of detuned lead guitar that ends up sounding seriously psychedelic. As does the whole record. This stuff is so dark and twisted and out there, some sort of seriously damaged psychedelic blackness, that should definitely appeal to both the true grim hordes, and folks who like their black metal as fucked up and far our as possible.
As for us, we might just have us another contender for black metal record of the year...
Florid Pagoda marks the return of the enigmatic Von Himmel, a scant few months after we awarded Record Of The Week status to the monolithically awesome Space Communion lp. The four collage-like pieces here conjure all kinds of beautifully disorienting atmospheres and moods. Pulsating melodies provide a rhythmic, breath-like quality to all the tracks, while there seems to be no discernible percussion, and at times it sounds like some subterraneous orchestra is trying to claw its way out from below. In the end, those demonic scrabblings and cavernous rumbles can't help but be overtaken by the majestic swells of melodic noise. At one point in the song "Shadow Locus", from out of the cosmic hugeness there appears to be some sort of synth war, with electronic sounds raining down from above. While at other moments you feel as if you're wandering dreamlike through some creaky old house. Closing number "Luminous Inertia" alters the vibe with Klaus Schultze-like spaciness and sequenced sounds taking things into eternity. Awesome.
Super swank hand painted packaging, and of course ULTRA LIMITED.
Within the last few years, the frequency of Von Himmel and related releases has picked up significantly, and thus, here we are with the band's long in the works follow up to their mighty Space Communion lp. Things have gotten even more insular with this two song monster, offering yet another glimpse into the band's strange and unique soundworld.
"Rock N Roll Animal", aka all of Side 1, comes across like some weird, warped Alice Coltrane number beamed in from another dimension, all woozy and queasy sounding. Stuttering drums merge with glorious cascades of jagged riffing to form a beautiful, strangely cohesive mess. We've mentioned legendary Texas psych pioneers the Red Krayola before when talking about Von Himmel, and the similarities are still evident in their expansive collage-like jams. Jams that manage to be hypnotic and quite lovely at times but also noisy as hell. Things are definitely chaotic, but it's a chaos with purpose, recalling previous VH releases but with what appears to be a new sense of direction, or at least forward momentum. Ramshackle bursts of melodic noise that sound a bit like an orchestra pit warming up, or fucking around, create a suspended dream state before switching gears at the midway point with some majestic cymbal washes and drones. Zoned out bits of German Oak style proto-industrial ambience appear, before things end in a swirling mass of pulsing noise that would make the Taj Mahal Travellers proud.
Side 2, "Traum Esel", begins with a sinister drone intro, heavy and sort of evil sounding, a bit like Harmonia at their most ominous. It's more meditative and subdued than the A side, maybe a little more "focused" than the freewheeling feel of the first track/side. As the song continues, things get seriously krauty with immersive, washed out melodies and sparse bits of looped percussion before ending in clouds of billowing GAS-styled bliss.
Another winner that somehow manages to top their previous release, pushing in new directions, but dragging much of what we loved about that record with them, this lp also marks the inaugural vinyl release for the band's Donkey Disc label. Grab it now!
It's been a while since we last heard from Von Himmel, and this lp is actually a reissue of a now out of print cassette put out by Sloow Tapes a few years back. As was written on that label's website, Space Communion is "absolutely deserving of a vinyl reissue on some hopelessly obscure American private-press psych label." Thankfully the future is now, and if you weren't one of the 70 people to get a tape you'll want to do yourself a favor and pick this up NOW, and not only because the lp is itself limited to a mere 300 copies. You'll want it because Space Communion is a completely mesmerizing piece of multi-layered drifting free psychedelia and one of those records that seems to exist outside of time and location. That said, the major touchstones here are of a decidedly '70s German variety (the band's name no doubt a reference to the song "Von Himmel Hoch" from the first Kraftwerk lp), think Ash Ra Tempel, early Cluster, German Oak, NEU!, and all the other greats. Throw in some ESP-Disk styled experimentation and it only makes sense that we would make this a ROTW.
The album begins with "Moon Moss", where lush atmospheres merge to form an ambiguous, slightly disconcerting vibe not unlike that moment right before the drugs kick in. We were reminded of Sun Ra's wild Moog experiments from the Space Probe album we reviewed a while back, in addition to all the great library music collections we love from labels like Trunk and even more recent favorites like Anworth Kirk. It's not difficult to imagine this as some educational 1970s soundtrack whipped up by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, and one can almost hear David Attenborough's mellow voice describing the living habits of leafcutter ants or something. "Astronomer" opens with what sounds like a flute (or maybe it's a synth?) and some sparse percussion, which slowly builds and shifts to a more aggressive rhythm while still maintaining a degree of restraint. You get an image of bearded longhairs recording in a field under the stars before the drums cease and you are left with pure buzzing bliss. The first song to utilize a more "rock" based structure is "Sun Spots" with its steady rhythm and hypnotic bass groove. Bits of electric guitar strum away in the background as the keyboards swirl their way into the mix. It's similar to something you might hear on a Wooden Shjips record, but even more skeletal. In other words, it's a good one to get lost in. "Mantra" works in some field recordings (we couldn't tell if they were played in reverse or not) of a man chanting as the band's melodies shimmer beautifully loose and free. You close your eyes and zone out, but then you gotta flip the record over to side 2 where Von Himmel ups their experimental tendencies even more with two lengthy tracks. "Strawberry Hill" opens with an evil buzz that sounds like it's seeping out of a medieval dungeon. This one definitely had us thinking of German Oak, as well as something you might here in a film like the Devils or anything else where witches are burnt at the stake, sorta like the snippets between Electric Wizard songs. At around 7 minutes, frantic free jazz drums enter followed by a bleating saxophone, spinning wildly before fading into a barely audible hiss. Closer "Country Bog" begins with a sitar drone and more nature sounds before a subsonic bass gets things rumbling into somewhat doomy territory. The sounds here blend in and out so perfectly before wrapping up with a moaning voice and more clattering percussion.
Space Communion is one of those rare records that exists in its own world, outside the notions of "psychedelic" or "experimental" music that most bands today adhere to. Things here are brilliantly presented on their own terms, not merely as some modern day interpretation of an old Krautrock record. Bold words indeed, but we ain't fucking around, and neither is Von Himmel.
LP number three from these local psychedelic cosmonauts, and like the two previous ones (both of which we made Records Of The Week), the nearly unpronounceable weltraumruckfuhrungsubereinkommen, finds VH delving ever deeper into the cosmic ether, but unlike those past outings, this new one is way less raw, more polished and focused, the recording too, at least in places, much more high fidelity, the sound lush and layered and expansive, the closest they've come to capturing a majestic ur-drone / psychedelic raga bliss out. Still hugely beholden to their krautrock forebears, VH deliver an ever shifting soundworld of dense tangled drumming, flurries of murky rhythmic drift, wreathed in clouds of high end shimmer, which blossoms into straight up psych-kraut drift, all fluttery flutes and loose percussion, not to mention billowing clouds of sitar like buzz, while elsewhere, loping motorik rhythms, drift in and out of dense washes of electronic squiggles, distant melodies, blurred chordal shimmer and soft-noise ambience, all woven into a heady, hypnotic sprawl, anchored by slo-mo caveman drumming, not to mention occasional blasts of kosmische trip out, wedded to mysterious percussion, and woozy spaced out FX, not to mention swaths of keening guitardrone melody, scraped strings, buried tabla like rhythms, everything wreathed in alien electronics, and soft swirls of divine druggy ambience. As always, gorgeous, fantastically tripped out stuff.
LIMITED TO 250 COPIES! We have less than ten that we got direct from the band. If/when we run out, it'll take a little while to get more from the label overseas, and they'll likely be more expensive. So grab one quick while you can, or be prepared to be patient and to pay a bit more...
Packaged in hand screened sleeves, screen printed in two different colors. ----* ----* In Stock, Not Yet Reviewed : ----* If you want to order one of these, just search for the item, then click on the buy button and it will be added to your cart! 20 GUILDERS "New Songs And Wrong Songs For Patricia" (Gulden) cd 14.98 ABDUL-RAUF, LEILA "Cold And Cloud" (Saadi Saati / Pesanta Urfolk) lp 19.98 ANIMA MORTE "The Nightmare Becomes Reality" (Transubstans) lp 19.98 ANNIE GIRL & THE FLIGHT "s/t" (Calar Music) lp 14.98 APHEX TWIN "Selected Ambient Works 85-92" (Apollo / R&S) 2lp 29.00 AQUA NEBULA OSCILLATOR "Spiritus Mundi" (Tee Pee) cd 14.98 BEGGARS "s/t" (Lotus House) 2cd 13.98 BLACK FLAG "What The..." (SST) cd 10.98 BLOOD ORANGE "Cupid Deluxe" (Domino) 2lp 25.00 BOARDS OF CANADA "Twoism" (Warp) lp 21.00 BONNIE PRINCE BILLY "s/t" (Royal Stable) lp/cassette 15.98/8.98 BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS, THE / TEENAGE MONSTER (WALTER GREENE) "OST" (Monstrous Movie Music) cd 27.00 BRAN (...) POS "Den Of Ordure And Iridescence" (Resipiscent) lp 15.98 BUDD, HAROLD "Budd Box" (All Saints) 7cd box 58.00 BURNING TREE "Lammergyer" (Utech) lp 19.98 CAIRO GANG, THE "Tiny Rebels" (Empty Cellar Records) lp 11.98 CALLAHAN, BILL "Dream River" (Drag City) lp 17.98 CARPENTER, JOHN "Assault On Precinct 13" (Death Waltz) cassette 9.98 CHATHAM, RHYS "Outdoor Spell" (Northern Spy) cd/lp 9.98/12.98 CHURCH OF MISERY "Thy Kingdom Scum" (Rise Above / Metal Blade) 2lp 32.00 CLOSED ROOM "s/t" (Valse Sinistre Productions) cd 12.98 CORYELL, LARRY "Barefoot Boy" (BGP) cd 11.98 COUM TRANSMISSIONS "Home Aged & The 18 Month Hope" (Dais) lp 22.00 CYBOTRON "Motor City Machine Music: An Exploration Of Cybotron" (BGP) cd 14.98 DAMNATIONS HAMMER "Disciples Of The Hex" (I Hate Records) cd 16.98 DANTESCO "We Don't Fear Your God" (Inframundo) cd 13.98 DAVIS, MILES "Kind Of Blue" (Columbia) lp 25.00 DAVIS, MILES & THENOLIOUS MONK "Miles & Monk At Newport" (Columbia) lp 25.00 DBUK "The Red Cross Is Giving Out Misinformation / Immaculately Warded Children" (Pesanta Urfolk) 7" 9.98 DE MEESTER, LOUIS "Alpha Recordings" (Dead Cert) lp 24.00 DEMENT, IRIS "Infamous Angel" (Plain) lp 16.98 DESTROYER "Five Spanish Songs" (Merge) 12" 13.98 DOT WIGGIN BAND "Ready! Get! Go!" (Alternative Tentacles) lp 14.98 ENDING PEOPLE "Fill Your Lungs" (Cash Cow Production) lp 14.98 ENTRANCE BAND, THE "Face The Sun" (Beyond) lp 19.98 ERICKSON, ROKY "Don't Slander Me" (Light In The Attic) 2lp 28.00 ERICKSON, ROKY "Gremlins Have Pictures" (Light In The Attic) 2lp + 7" 26.00 EXTINCTION DE LOS INSECTOS "Untitled" (Lupus / Chingaste La Confianza) lp 19.98 FALCON (EX-CIRCLE) "Beer & Ribs b/w Sunset Street" (Full Contact) 7" 8.98 FIGURE STUDY "Lesson One / Pirouette" (Dark Entries) 7" 6.00 FIGURE STUDY "s/t" (Dark Entries) lp 14.98 FLAMIN' GROOVIES "Shake Some Action" (4 Men With Beards) lp 16.98 FONTAINE, BRIGITTE "Comme A La Radio" (Superior Viaduct) cd 15.98 FONTAINE, BRIGITTE "Est... Folle" (Superior Viaduct) cd 15.98 FOUR TET "Beautiful Rewind" (Text) cd/lp 14.98/23.00 FUZZ "s/t" (Easy Rider) cassette 12.98 GENERALISSIMO "s/t" (Arbeit Macht Dinge) 3" + cassette 5.98 GHOST "Opus Eponymous" (Rise Above / Metal Blade) lp 25.00 GLAXO BABIES "Nine Months To The Disco" (Superior Viaduct) cd/lp 14.98/15.98 GOODBYE & AMEN (GUIDO & MAURIZIO DE ANGELIS) "OST" (Intermezzo Media) cd 29.00 GORGUTS "Colored Sands" (Season Of Mist) cd 14.98 GROUP RHODA "12th House" (Not Not Fun) cd/lp 13.98/14.98 GUNN, STEVE & MIKE GANGLOFF "Melodies For A Savage Fix" (Important) lp 24.00 GUTTERIDGE, PETER "Pure" (540 Records / Xpressway) 2lp 28.00 HAZLEWOOD, LEE "Lee Hazlewood Industries: There's A Dream I've Been Saving 1966-1971" (Light In the Attic) 4cd + book + dvd + flexidisc 91.00 HIDDEN MASTERS "Of This & Other Worlds" (Rise Above / Metal Blade) cd/lp 14.98/32.00 HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER "OST" (Intrada / Universal) 2cd 27.00 HOT AND COLD "Any Monkey Is Dangerous" (Maybe Mars) cd 12.98 HUNX & HIS PUNX "Street Punk" (Hardly Art) cd/lp 12.98/13.98 HUSERE GRAV "You Are Transparent" (Crucial Blast) cd+zine+button 9.99 IKEDA, RYOJI "Supercodex" (Raster-Noton) cd 17.98 ILLUSTRATION SONORE "Undisciplined Strips Of Emotions" (Medical) lp INHALT "Occupations" (Dark Entries) 12" 11.98 JACUZZI BOYS "s/t" (Hardly Art) cd/lp 12.98/13.98 JANDEK "Athens Saturday" (Corwood) 2cd 12.98 KEITH, RODD "Black Phoenix Blues" (Roaratorio) lp 17.98 KINIT HER "Storm Of Radiance" (Pesanta Urfolk) 2lp 26.00 LARAAJI "Essence/Universe" (All Saints) cd/lp 15.98/23.00 LAUREL HALO "Chance Of Rain" (Hyperdub) cd 15.98 LEATHER STRIP "Teenage Demos" (Dark Entries) lp 14.98 LIVING MUSIC "To Allen Ginsberg" (Roundtable) lp 22.00 LORD NASTY "Phuck Em And Forget Em" (self-released) cd-r 11.98 LORELLE MEETS THE OBSOLETE "Live In Mexico City" (Captcha) lp 17.98 LORNA DUNE "Miamisphere" (Lo Bit Landscapes) 12" 11.98 LOS SIQUICOS LITORALENOS "Sonido Chipadelico" (Sham Palace) lp 17.98 LOW / SHEARWATER "Stay / Novacane" (Sub Pop) 7" 5.98 MAGIK MARKERS "Surrender To The Fantasy" (Drag City) lp 19.98 MAJEURE "Romance Language" (Temporary Residence Ltd.) 12" 19.98 MANSFIELD, JOE "Beat Box Obsession" (Get On Down) book+cassette 70.00 MASTER MUSICIANS OF BUKAKKE "Far West" (Important Records) lp 17.98 MAZZY STAR "Seasons Of Your Day" (Rhymes Of An Hour / Fontana) cd/lp 15.98/29.00 MCDOWELL, FRED & ANNIE MAE "My Home Is In The Delta" (Sutro Park) lp 14.98 MELNYK, LUBOMYR "Three Solo Pieces" (Unseen Worlds) cd/lp 16.98/23.00 MEN, THE "Campfire Songs" (Sacred Bones) 12" 16.98 MGMT "s/t" (Columbia) lp 31.00 MIMINOKOTO "Chofu, Ekoda, Koenji [Live In & Around Tokyo]" (Plunk's Plan) cd 14.98 MINOT "An Era Of Institutional Failure" (self-released) cd-r 11.98 MIRKWOOD "s/t" (Machu Picchu) lp 22.00 MITTOO, JACKIE "In Cold Blood" (Striker Lee / Ernie B's) lp 17.98 MOCKASIN, CONNAN "Caramel" (Mexican Summer) lp 22.00 MOORE, ANGELO "Sacrifice" (self-released) cd 8.98 MORBID / MAYHEM "A Tribute To The Black Emperors" (Warhammer) cd 10.98 MOTION SICKNESS OF TIME TRAVEL "Ballade For A Beaver Moon" (Motion Sickness Of Time Travel) cd-r 15.98 MR. WILCOX "s/t" (Self Released) cd 7.98 NEW PANTS "Boxset 1998-2011" (Maybe Mars) 7cd box 90.00 NILSEN, BJ "Eye Of The Microphone" (Touch) cd 15.98 NOCTOOA "Adaptation" (Owl & Troll) cd 11.98 NOSTALGIST "Monochromantic" (Nostalgium Directive) 7" 8.98 NOTHING "The Grey Subaudible" (Nostalgium Directive) cassette 8.98 NOVELLER "No Dreams" (Important) cd 14.98 O.RANG "Herd Of Instinct" (Sleuth) lp 24.00 OBSESSED, THE "The Church Within" (Columbia) cd 15.98 OOZING WOUND "Retrash" (Thrill Jockey) lp 19.98 OSCILLATION, THE "From Tomorrow" (All Time Low) cd/lp 14.98/17.98 PAINKILLER "The Prophecy" (Tzadik) cd 16.98 PENNY PENNY "Shaka Bundu" (Awesome Tapes From Africa) 2lp 29.00 QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE "...Like Clockwork (Black-On-Black Edition)" (Matador) 2lp 24.00 QUELLA VILLA ACCANTO AL CIMINTERO (WALTER RIZZATI) "OST" (Beat Records) cd 29.00 RADIOACTIVITY "s/t" (Dirtnap Records) lp 16.98 RAJATTTAJAT "Awopbopaloopop Alopbam Raja" (Ektro) cd 14.98 ROCKEY, PALMER "Rockey's Style (Movie Album)" (Trunk) cd 16.98 RUSSELL, ARTHUR "Another Thought" (Arc Light Editions) lp 28.00 SATAN PANONSKI "Hard Blood Shock" (S-S) lp 15.98 SAVAGE, JON & STUART BAKER "Punk 45: The Singles Cover Art Of Punk 1976-80" (Soul Jazz) book 39.95 SCHICKERT, GUNTER "Kinder In Der Wildnis" (Bureau B) cd/lp 17.98/23.00 SKORNIK, GUY "Pour Pauwels" (Lion) cd 14.98 SOUNDGARDEN "Screaming Life / FOPP" (Sub Pop) cd 12.98 SOUNDS OF THE CITY EXPERIENCE "s/t" (Jazzman) cd 17.98 SPACE LADY, THE "Greatest Hits" (Night School) cd/lp 14.98/21.00 SPINAL TAP "From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack: This Is Spinal Tap" (The Control Group) lp 31.00 SSLEEPERHOLD "Ruleth" (Holodeck) lp 17.98 STARSKATE "Goodnight Nobody" (Goth Horse) lp 11.98 STEEL POLE BATH TUB "Tulip" (Boner) cassette 8.98 TALABOT, JOHN "DJ Kicks" (K7 Records) cd 15.98 TARTUFI "These Factory Days" (Southern) 2lp 23.00 TINDERSTICKS "Les Salauds (OST)" (Lucky Dog) lp 29.00 TOTALLY RADD!! 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STINGER "1986-1991" (Drag City) 2cd 16.98 VILE, KURT "It's A Big World Out There (And I'm Scared)" (Matador) 12" 11.98 VILE, KURT "Walkin On A Pretty Daze (Deluxe Edition)" (Matador) 2cd 15.98 VOIDS "Burial In The Sky" (Popnihil Recordings) cassette 8.98 VON BRAUND, STEVE MAXWELL "Monster Planet" (Dual Planet) lp 27.00 WALKER, PETER "Has Anybody Seen Our Freedoms?" (Delmore Recording Society) lp 21.00 WHEN PROPHECY FAILS "Baffling Configurations" (self-released) cassette 4.98 WHITE, EMILY JANE "Blood/Line" (Important Records) cd 14.98 WIKKID "The Intro (1 Man Black Metal Band Bay Area California)" (self-released) cd ep 4.98 WILDHONEY "Like Me" (Nostalgium Directive) 7" 5.50 YO LA TENGO "Fade (Deluxe Edition)" (Matador) 2cd 16.98 YOUNGS, RICHARD "Calmont Breakdown" (Fourth Dimension) cd 17.98 ZABRISKIE POINT "Original Motion Picture Soundtrack - Double LP Expanded Edition" (Watertower Music / Warner Archive) 2lp 33.00
We're always up for some more tripped out abstract space psych, or some druggy far out improv krautdrone, or even some cracked electronic prog, so this debut cd from local outfit Von Himmel definitely hit the spot, touching on all of those imaginary genres and then some.
The note that arrived with this disc included a bunch of wacked text including bits like: "Recorded through a single mic with the power of a thousand suns" and "First in a series of stone-age crystal technologies' hyper metareverberant mycophiliac outer space groove unit transmissions" and of course "An as yet unknown German psych substitute with free jazz perversions discovered lodged in the core of a meteorite" which all sounds completely wacked, until you wrap your ears around the sounds these guys conjure up.
Picking carefully through those garbled transmissions, we come up with German, free jazz, metareverberant and psych, and you might be getting close. You'd also have to include druggy, krautrock, murky, tripped out, and handful of other descriptors.
Three long songs that manage to sound both abstract and groovy, channeling German Oak as much as any other influence. The German Oak vibe is huge, the cavernous lo-fi production, the strangely funky vibe running throughout. But at the same time, Von Himmel are exploring some lost corner of the galaxy, setting a course for the heart of the sun, they blast through dense clouds of swirling effects, metero belts of tribal percussion, the sky a series of fuzzy smears, their path shifting from blown out psychjam, to laid back sun baked groove to full on drug doused black ambience.
The first two tracks are extended sonic explorations, equal parts Can, Faust, Popol Vuh, German Oak, Amon Duul, looooooong spacey voyages, all long hair and big amps, black lights and bellbottoms, big drums and lots of wah and flange, but for the final track, the band lets loose of all that stuff, leaving some whirring buzzing black hole, which rumbles and reverberates eventually disappearing into the inky blackness.
Definitely for fans of the above mentioned groops, but well worth checking out if you're into stuff like Comets On Fire, Wooden Shjips, Hawkwind, Spacemen 3 and other outer sonic space explorers.
CRAZY LIMITED! Only 50 or so copies...
