[ 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 2751 through 2798 of 2798.

These local indie popsters finally release a full length. Super soft and pretty, the songs range from slowly drifting lullabies with bursts of fuzzy cardigan MBVish feedback that threaten to sweep away the often barely audible, fragile vocals to perky, upbeat, poppy numbers with gentle jangling guitars. The sighing, shy girl vocals really reminded me of Rose Melberg's (or those of her Gaze bandmate, Miko Hoffman), but perhaps a bit more hesitant and not quite as note-perfect. One question though... Did they really need to cover the Beatles' "I Will"? Sure, it's a beautiful song (one of my all-time favorites), but their slowed down, K Records folk pop version doesn't really capture the song's magic. Definitely for the shoegazin' indie pop crowd (The Pastels, Ida, The Softies or artists on Slumberland and early SpinArt Records).

RealAudio clip: Kitchen
RealAudio clip: It Will Be Clear
RealAudio clip: I Will

Back in stock!!! Last list's RotW... We normally don't make "now available on cd" releases Record Of The Week. But there are plenty of reasons to do just that with this one! First off, C'MON! It's LEVIATHAN and XASTHUR! On the same disc! Two of the most important, and musically creative black metal one-man-hordes in the new wave of west coast black metal (NWOWCBM?) teamed up for the ultimate NWOWCBM one two punch. Singlehandedly (doublehandedly?) putting USBM back on the black metal map, and completely redefining the genre, grim and brutal and black for sure, but also totally bizarre and avant and experimental. Plus even you folks who picked up the vinyl versions will need this, as there are 4 bonus tracks, three of them are from Xasthur, a brand new unreleased track, a rehearsal track from 2004, and a Katatonia cover! The other bonus track is Leviathan's amazing version of Judas Iscariot's "Where The Winter Beals Incessant"! But even without the bonus tracks, this clash of the black titans is totally essential, some of the most beautifully blackened and furiously fucked up black metal you are ever likely to hear. Xasthur from Southern California and Leviathan from right here in SF are blackened brothers, both exploring similar themes of hate and misery, darkness and death, but coming at 'em from completely different sonic angles. Xasthur is more about mood and atmosphere, with thick swaths of fuzzy riffery, galloping drums, rumbling bass and agonised howls of despair, all dense and dark and claustrophobic. Leviathan is much more technical and a lot weirder, but no less moody, with ultra complex and bizarrely arranged parts, insane drumming, buzzing riffery, and hints of doom and progrock mixed into his bleak and blackened metalscapes. ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL!!

MPEG stream: The Eerie Bliss And Torture (Of Solitude)
MPEG stream: Palace Of Frost (Katatonia cover)
MPEG stream: Unfailing Fall Into Naught

Xiu Xiu, one of the Bay Area's most original bands, is like a synth pop group that doesn't let the shiny happy face of the genre take over. They know the genre is merely a vehicle for expressing the fully intense and anguished emotions they've got bursting out of them. So instead of punchy casios and happy go lucky tunes, the foremost element is this hushed, trembling voice straining towards the epic wail. Yes, it's dramatic but the sincerity of emotion prevents it from becoming melodramatic. Out of the shards of anguish come experimentally structured songs that dart amongst jittery drum machines, wintry minor key piano, fuzzed out noise, clanging percussion. Building new, fresh songs out of raw emotion that might by a lesser band be inarticulate and messy, Xiu Xiu transcend the genre and any of their many influences, which clearly include Joy Division (Ian Curtis is namechecked on a songtitle here) and Talk Talk. Includes a stark, desperately sad cover of Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car." If you're new to Xiu Xiu, check out their first two releases before this one, not that they're better, but they are simply a teensy bit more upbeat amongst the beautiful despair, and that makes 'em that much more accessible. This one is a downer, albeit in a gorgeous, shimmering beautiful way, like Talk Talk's "Laughingstock."

RealAudio clip: Apistat Commander
RealAudio clip: Sad Pony Guerrilla Girl

A brief but sweet 5 song ep from this often misunderstood, experimental, heartbreakingly sad, depressing, eclectic indierock band. As we previously opined: The lead singer's voice is this super intense, desperate, achingly sad, warbly moan (a la The Cure / Talk Talk / Ultravox), and we're used to hearing that kind of voice accompanied with Brit-style synthpop stuff (i.e. "Melt With You"). Yet with Xiu Xiu the backup to that incredible voice is trumpets and saxophones and clattery percussion (bells, gongs, perhaps even pots 'n pans), with a solid yet obviously lo-fi Casio beat keeping time, and a far away echoey tone placed sporadically throughout. Totally accessable pop with an arty creative craziness to it. Xiu Xiu also plays with song structure and tense silences. What a breath of fresh air to find an "indie rock" band who pretty much throw all the predictable stuff out the window, leaving only originality. If you can get past the singer's voice (I can, easily, but Allan and Byram are making fun of it), then you oughta give this a try. Sadie and Windy give this the thumbs up.

RealAudio clip: Ceremony

Fabulous Muscles is the third full length from this Bay Area group whose music has proven to draw rather extreme hot/cold, love/hate responses. Well, for those who may have found Xiu Xiu's past releases to be a bit too overwrought and overflowing with abrasive dissonance, you just might want to check out Fabulous Muscles. Fans of the group will be reassured to find that although they've slightly tempered the wild vocal histrionics and jutting homemade instrument angles, they've not lost any of their inventiveness, impact and edge. Very deeply moving and considerably more accessible and appealing than both Knife Play and A Promise. Recommended.

MPEG stream: Crank Heart
MPEG stream: Little Panda McElroy (b)

On the new full-length from the Bay Area's Xiu Xiu, Jamie Stewart's warbly, throaty vocals inch-worm into your brain and ferment into soundscapes that are at turns grotesque and beautiful. Utilizes a variety of instruments -- including xylophones, glockenspiels, vibraphones, and acoustic guitars -- to create backdrops ranging from synth-pop to bad dream drone. La Foret makes us think of a child whispering a dirty secret and then stabbing his teddy bear. Self-consciously theatrical and unrelentingly unique. Music that makes you hold your head in your hands and question whether your pretty little world is really so pretty after all.

MPEG stream: Muppet Face
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This live Xiu Xiu recording opens quite strangely, with vocalist Jamie Stewart talking to the crowd about a comic that the band had been sent which commented on how chattery the audience was at their last show at that very same venue. A chorus of silly loud shhhh's ensue, then the band begins their first song. As the song's final notes fade out a dull cloud of audience chatter takes over. Yeesh. C'mon people, keep it down! What's it gonna take? Another comic book scolding? Nevertheless this is a terrific live document of the Bay Area group's unflinching craft of beauty in torment, dissonance and abrasion. Comparatively delicate melodic elements blossom up sporadically amid the metallic scrapes and homemade instrument clatter. Deeply moving and drenched in personal angst, much like Bright Eyes, but far spookier and unhinged.

MPEG stream: Crank Heart (Live)
MPEG stream: Fabulous Muscles (Live)

We've been stocking this popular magazine regularly for a little while now and thought we ought to put it on our website so mailorderers looking for more readin' material could get in on the XLR8R action. Focusing primarily on electronica type stuff, XLR8R also dabbles with the rock... This issue features Mr. Oizo on the cover, plus Zomby, the Vivian Girls, Telepathe, Senor Coconut... and much more, including ex-AQ'er Antaeus' band Lazer Sword. It's pretty packed, with reviews, columns, all sorts of stuff. And if that wasn't enough, the plastic bag it's wrapped in also contains an even bigger, BONUS magazine, the very first issue of XLR8R's Vis-Ed publication, devoted to visual arts! Featuring hip artists Rinzen, Kustaa Saksi, Catalina Estrada, Brent Rollins, Brian Roettinger, Laurent Fetis, Seripop, JK5, Freegums, Superdeux...

We won't spend too much time on this one since we only got 20, and it's very likely there's probably WAY more than 20 of you who want one of these long out of print lil' gems. This release is from a while back, it's a single 11 minute track, a collaboration between the Yellow Swans and Spencer Yeh of Burning Star Core. We were lucky to get -any- of these, a bit of random postal confusion is what did it. A box of 20 got lost in the mail, the band made 20 more to replace them, but then the lost box resurfaced and we managed to lay claim to all 20 of the extras! And a good thing too. This is some of the most gorgeous stuff we've heard from either / both of these outfits. Warm atonal guitar strum, angular and purposeful, mournful and minor key, drifts above a bed of skittery glitch and rumbling drones. Eventually the guitars disappear beneath a wild wooly sheet of shrieking sonic turbulence, a whirl of moaning melodies behind a thick curtain of freaked out feedback and squealing skree. Nice and noisy! SUPER LIMITED. THESE ARE THE LAST 20 COPIES THERE ARE! SO ACT FAST!

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MPEG stream: Poor Sailor
MPEG stream: Harmony Isn't As Lonely As You Are But That Doesn't Mean She Isn't Lonely In Her Own Right
MPEG stream: The Sun Is Out

1st actual cd from these exciting Bay Area noisemakers.

Deterioration was originally released as a tour only cassette, which is interesting given that it seems more instantly accessible than many of their more widely available and well-known records. Of course, even though this Portland duo has since broken up, it's going to take a while to slowly sift through their catalog and really make sense of it all. The earlier days found these guys making overtly political noise tracks, devoid of really any discernible melody at all. Towards the end, the final releases (the 12" split with Ex-Cocaine, the 12" collaboration with Burning Star Core, the full length At All Ends, etc.) showed a somewhat different side. More obviously psychedelic, more melodic, and seemingly an increased attention being paid to composition. Not to say that the older tracks were completely improvised, because we can't definitively say without asking, but there is a greater cohesion and flow with releases like this one. It really is a shame the guys parted ways, because the last year or so of their records seemed like one collective Revolver. If you're a fan of YS and haven't picked up anything in a while, you'd be well-served to check this one out.

MPEG stream: Broken Eraser / Time Stretch
MPEG stream: Burnt Dub

It's hard to believe these guys broke up close to two years ago, they keep a higher profile than most active bands, and they definitely release more records than lots of proper not-defunct outfits, but we're not complaining, amongst the many floorcore bands out there, these guys definitely shone brightly, whereas most were content to just plug in a rack of effects and make an ear splitting racket, these guys always did more with their noise(s), sometimes subtly, sometimes not so, even at their noisiest and most abrasive, they infused their crunch and skree with melody and texture, and were definitely capable of crafting some moments of sublime beauty, which is where this newest, and supposedly final Yellow Swans release positions itself. Gorgeously ambient, but Yellow Swans ambient, which means rife with strange layers, and sublimated rhythms, noise, but soft noise, the first track explodes in a cloud of grey noise, but it never gets too harsh, instead the duo soften the edges, add a lurching buried pulse, wrapping everything in a gauze of smeared melody, and woozy shimmer, it almost sounds like krautrock broadcast via shortwave and played back on a wax cylinder, but at extremely high volume, gritty, and hissy, but washed out and dreamlike, all wrapped around a skeletal rhythm, looped and mesmeric, it's only 4 minutes, but we definitely could have dug this track stretched out to fill up the whole record. The 13+ minute "Opt Out" begins all spaced out and dreamy, lots of shifting textures, undulating layers, hazy chordal streaks way off in the distance, eventually building to a white hot squall of psych noise, that is definitely harsh and heavy, but within the chaos of colliding sound particles, rhythms skitter subtly, melodies loop and intertwine, it's almost like pretty Merzbow, if that were even possible, which it seems it is... The rest of the record dials back the noise, instead opting to drift and shimmer and creep, letting the sounds ooze and sprawl, sending notes into the ether, like sonic flower petals drifting on a swirling churning black stream, bits of guitar chime and ring out, the recording glitches out, sound cut out, throb, and pulse, swells of almost SUNNO)))-like buzz surface and then dissipate, streaks of near pop ambience hover over bells and chimes, and looped melodies, fractured chunks of warm whirring sound, crackle and hiss and rumble crafted into crystalline expanses of prismatic glow, long ominous drones unfurl into hushed black ambience, shot through with warm, languid psych guitar skree, with the tracks occasionally building to a howling lysergic speaker shredding climax, but just as often splintering into warped shards of melted muted melody, and allowed to drift lazily and slowly settle into the darkness below, or rise to the heavens above. So gorgeous. These guys are definitely missed. The vinyl version (and ONLY the vinyl version) includes a bonus disc, featuring 70 minutes of extra music, including what sound like reworked and extended versions of some of the songs on the record proper...

MPEG stream: Foiled
MPEG stream: Opt Out
MPEG stream: Sovereign

Between the Yellow Swans and the Skaters, you could fill up a whole shelf at home with limited cd-r's. If you figured Sunburned Hand Of The Man, Birchville Cat Motel, Gray Daturas, Hototogisu, Axolotl and all the rest into the equation you might just need a whole room. So here's one more to try and squeeze in if you can. Recorded live in 2005 at Sound & Fury, a record store in Australia and limited to 150 copies (we got the LAST 24!), we have to say it'll be well worth the trouble to make room for this in the cd-r wing of your musical collection as it's another kick ass installment in what is now a MASSIVE, but surprisingly consistent body of work. This live set is all droney which you know we love (and we know YOU love). The first near twenty minute track is one long shimmer, a warm low end thrum supporting a pulsing dog whistle skree and in between all manner of creaking industrialism and drifting guitar warble, thick whirring vacuum cleaner fuzz and moaning distant feedback. Track two takes the sounds of track one and roughs them up, adding more volume, more power and ultimately more noise, a big thick layer of feedback and rumble and rrrooooaaarrr. The final fifteen minute track continues in a similarly droney direction with another layered soundscape of ultralowend power and ultrahighend sinewave squeal. This time the low end is thicker and more distorted, like a guitar pressed up against the speaker, while the high end is just a distant sheet of white hot shimmer, while in the foreground, guitars oscillate and pulse, not full on noise, but not melodic necessarily either. There are most certainly melodies (or fragments of melodies present, but they are suffocated by the Swans' bulldozing sonic swells. Another winner. Hototogisu heads and fans of other such sonic mayhem will love it! Packaged in a simple brown cardstock sleeve with a black 'Y' wax seal. Hand numbered and limited to 150 copies, includes an actual photo insert. Each one is different. We have 24 copies and then these are gone for good!

MPEG stream: One

It's been a seriously productive year for the Yellow Swans. Multiple cd-r releases, some 7"s, a Australian tour with pals the Grey Daturas, as well as loads of splits and collaaborations with folks like Axolotl and the Skaters as well as teaming up with the Daturas for a couple releases as well. Phew! But thankfully, there seems to be no end in sight. With all those releases, it's a bit surprising to realize the Yellow Swans only have one proper non cd-r release, and that one flew so far under tha radar we wouldn't have known about it at all had one not drifted through here used a while back. So here we have a brand new, shiny silver, actual cd, non-cd-r, blast of Yellow Swans nooooooooooize! Joined on a few of the tracks by fellow noisy folks Inca Ore, Gerritt and Christina Carter (of Charalambides), Psychic Secession is another gorgeous chunk of sweet sweet noise, equal parts glistening shimmer, crushing and jagged skree, skittery diembodied rhythms, haunting ghostly vocals, blistering sheets of distorted electronics, squealing feedback, chiming reverb drenched percussion, glistening delicate ambience, even some ultra processed psychedelic rock, all woven into a dense chaotic and surprisingly gorgeous whole! This will be coming out in the states on Load Records, but not until way later in the year, so for now we got this Australian import version which comes in a super spiffy oversized cardboard sleeve and is a completely different (supposedly 'noisier') mix than the forthcoming Load version!

MPEG stream: Psychic Secession
MPEG stream: I Woke Up

This has been a big year for Bay Area noise combos, with loads of releases, write ups, tours and much higher profiles in general for bands like the Skaters and the Yellow Swans. Oakland free noise duo, the Yellow Swans, also run their own label Jyrk, responsible for lots of AQ favorites recently, including the Yellow Swans / Grey Daturas 2 cd-r collaboration we listed not too long ago. This time around, Dove Yellow Swans (they often switch between different D-words reflecting the sound or mood of each particular record) have taken a handful of older releases and chopped 'em up, and re-assembled and re-worked them into an entirely new beast, forty seven minutes of sputtering, splattery, free noise, drone drenched, druggy and damaged, malfunctioning electronic chaos. However, unlike most noise outfits, the Yellow Swans know a thing or two about dynamics, and are quite adept at taking all sorts of horrible noises and weaving them into an entirely listenable, and often quite gorgeous whole. Drum machines spit out all sorts of random beats and sounds, stumbling and clattering and careening around your head like shotgun pellets, beneath a thick wash of shrieking feedback, sick sounding synths, super processed vocals, and distorted and dizzying guitars. A little bit Wolf Eyes, a little bit Sunroof!, a little bit Merzbow, but all twisted and tangled into it's own deliriously damaged Yellow Swan-ed shape. Packaged in a cool oversized cardboard gatefold, with a bit of black felt to protect the disc. Cover art by Devendra Banhart. And as always, extremely limited!

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Another ultra limited blast of ambient free noise form Bay Area duo the Yellow Swans. This time around they are DRIFT Yellow Swans (their name includes a different 'd' word every time) and the drift couldn't be more appropriate as this lp finds the 'Swans at their most, well, drifty. Three lengthy tracks of shimmering slithering ambience. Electronic grit is smeared over gentle finger picked electric guitars, melodies become more and more abstract, shimmers grow into drones, which grow into sheets of rumble and skree before fading back into swirling slow-shifting tranquility, peppered with clinking chiming industrial clatter. The final 20 minute track builds into an almost Skullflowery wall of distorted guitar, warm and suffocating, before quickly dissipating into gauzy clouds of melodic whir and barely-there drone and rumble. As always, quite lovely. Released on Root Strata (the label of Tarentel's Jefre Cantu) in a limited run of 350 of which we got a big ol' batch, never to get more!! Each lp hand screened and decorated with real gold leaf.

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It must be a blast to stay with the Yellow Swans on tour. Most bands who put up other bands are pretty good hosts, but only to the extent that a punk rock pad can be. Floor space to crash on. Maybe some pasta or pizza. A TV with every episode of the Simpsons on tape. A shower or a bed if you're really lucky. But it seems like that in addition to all that, when you stay with the Yellow Swans, after a nice dinner and some TV, you make a record. We're not complaining (well, okay, maybe we are, that never really happened to us when we were on tour) since most of these collaborations have been completely amazing. We never really considered ourselves 'noise' fans. Sure we love the occasional Merzbow or Masonna, but 'noise' isn't really something you throw on at home while you're cooking dinner, or relaxing reading a book. But somehow, this new breed of noisemakers, have devised a way to make 'noise' interesting again. It's no less caustic and abrasive (well, maybe a little) but it's just more interesting, more varied, more textured, it's less about 'making noise' than it is playing music that just happens to bee noisy. The Yellow Swans are one of the main practitioners of this new noise, and we've pretty much been digging everything we've heard. This here collaboration features the unknown to us Moth Drakula, who team up with their pals the Yellow Swans and proceed to make a seriously corrosive and brutal racket. More than any of the Yellow Swans stuff we've heard, this is most definitely a NOISE record. Recorded live in L.A. last year, these three tracks are white hot, as in white noise, a swirling cacophony of grinding electronics, processed feedback, and maybe there's some real instruments in there, but if so they're beaten into nearly unrecognizable shapes. A squirming squealing shrieking metallic monster, a burst of blinding harsh brutality. Harsh and harrowing, jagged and grating, fierce and fucked up, and very, very, very, very noisy! Packaged in a super cool folded printed cardstock sleeve sort of like one of those Independent Project Press packages.

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Here's the latest Dark Yellow Swans...or you might better know them as simply Yellow Swans! As with most releases by the very DIY San Francisco fella Mike Donovan (Sic Alps, Big Techno Werewolves, Nam, Sounds Of The Barbary Coast, The Ropers, Dial Records), there is only going to be a very small homespun run of these made, so needless to say, don't snoooooze! Pssst... we also have a small number of some of Donovan's other Folding cassette releases, all with hand made covers -- a couple of short ones from Death Sentence: Panda and Donovan's own current band Sic Alps plus a compilation he compiled with artist Chris Johanson called SSSSSOSS2 and one by NVH with Six Organs Of Admittance's Ben Chasny. Dust off yer cassette deck!

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

SORRY.

Super cool new magazine from right here in San Francisco covering all sorts of rad music, art, writing and filled with really top notch photography. This is no sloppy hand xeroxed zine, this is a really nice looking and printed magazine that feels really genuine and earnest in its mission to expose and bring light to lots of the interesting sights and sounds coming out of the Bay Area underground. The debut issue features interviews with Sic Alps, Bridez, a photo spread from Hamburger Eyes, the trippy watercolors of Augustus Thompson and lots more. A really good way for folks from far away to get a nice snapshot of what's going on here in San Francisco, and also a nice reminder for all of us who live here to appreciate all the awesome stuff that is being created here in the Bay Area. ----* ----* Compilations : ----*

Issue #2 of this awesome local magazine, filled with essays, interviews, artwork, short stories, etc. This time out there's interviews with Grass Widow, Goner Records, White Fence, artwork by Joe Roberts, Mattia Lullini, Marc Warren, and tons more. This will keep your eyes and mind beyond entertained, or at least entertained.

Whereas SF gadabout John Dwyer has been maintaining a solemn hush these days with his project OCS/OhSeeS, he might've been missing a vehicle to vent some steam since the demise of his band Coachwhips. Not anymore! Enter his new-ish band Yikes, and their first release. Secrets To Superflipping is a cathartic raucous guitar bash'n'howl recorded live at KPFA. Mixed and mastered by Weasel Walter and the band.

MPEG stream: Poor People
MPEG stream: Putrifiers

A brand new solo incarnation from San Francisco based multi-instrumentalist Trevor Montgomery (Lazarus, Tarentel, The Drift), Young Moon evokes the romantic and wistful jangle pop of early eighties groups such as Durutti Column, The Lilac Time and Autumn Fair. Far from the downer croon of Lazarus, Montgomery employs a hazy autumnal shimmer of synths and guitars with vocal treatments pushed back in the mix in songs that explore love's gains as well as losses. At times Montgomery's vocals evoke early Springsteen with some obscure C86 band backing him, but this album is more than a culmination of influences and moods. It's a genuinely heartfelt and sincere approach to music making with some of Montgomery's best songwriting to date. A beautiful record to wake up to as our warm summers make way for the chill of the fall.

MPEG stream: The Crystal Text
MPEG stream: Walk In White
MPEG stream: Ages of Youth

A killer new two song blast from these SF shoegazers, and both sides kill. The A side sounds like it could have been plucked off one of their records proper, equal parts Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine, thick blown out riffs, blurred into billows of soft noise, simple, driving krautrocky rhythms, thick driving basslines, ethereal angelic vox, super droned out and totally hypnotic, heavily reverbed and gloriously washed out and woozy. The B side might be even better, ditching the more standard elements of 'song' and instead weaving a super thick, dense, atmospheric sprawl of heavily layered guitardrone, channeling the mighty Spacemen 3, or minimal early krautrock, but here, cranked up and doused in distortion, hypnotic and hazy, pulsing and churning, a constantly shifting miasma of buzz and thrum, super heady and heavy and very psychedelic. So great. Definitely has us hankering for a new full length.

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

SORRY.

The long awaited debut full length from Young Prisms, a youthful SF Mission District based quartet who kick out some of the raddest psychedelic shoegaze slacker jams we've heard in ages. Thick clouds of swirling soft focus guitar noise and churning grinding muted crunch obscure drifty indecipherable vocals, spidery guitar melodies running throughout, propulsive indie jangle wreathed in reverb, shuffling drums, loads of effects, somewhere in this swirl of shifting sounds and layered lurk pretty little pop songs, but those pop songs drag along all manner of sonic detritus in their wake, transforming the group's stripped down garage pop into something much more grand, something that sounds like Sonic Youth crossed with My Bloody Valentine, but even more blissed out and ethereal, the vocals lilting and haunting sometimes give the songs a Blonde Redhead vibe, but way more chaotic and dreamily noise drenched, and still with enough jangle and crunch that they can still hang with the cool kids (Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees, etc.), and while these guys are in fact pretty dang cool, they're also still outsiders, noisier, heavier, their sound more washed out and deliriously druggy, the songs, no matter how simple or stripped down in the beginning, seem to always blossom into explosive garage psych blowouts, huge billowing clouds of gauzy hazey buzz and thick clouds of psychdrone blissdrift blur. But never completely obscuring the jangle pop underneath, Which is what makes these guys so good. We dig big time!

MPEG stream: Friends For Now
MPEG stream: If You Want To
MPEG stream: Sugar

Latest from these SF shoegazers, and like the last one, Friends For Now, In Between finds the band's sound falling somewhere between Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine and Blonde Redhead, this time maybe even some Mazzy Star. Right out of the gate, the band take the sound of the last records, and blur it even more, unleashing a lazy, sprawl of smeared chords, breathy female vox, simple skeletal rhythms, all wreathed in a cloud of gauzy shimmer, total mid-nineties style dreampop, and YP do it better than most, taking simple pop songs, and dousing them in effects, the production lush and layered, allowing for a heavy part to somehow get even heavier, usually with a sudden eruption of low end, or a strange thickening of the guitar sound, however they do it, it makes for some heady psych pop bliss out for sure. The rest of the record follows suit, with dreamy boy/girl vox, chiming guitar jangle, swirling effects, hooks galore, soaring choruses, with much of In Between sounding like it could have come from the Slumberland back catalog, which is not a bad thing at all. The band equally adept at fuzzy girl group style reverb shimmer pop and crunchy fuzzy shoegaze, the record rife with MBV-isms, but the band employ them in a way that makes MBV seem like an influence, rather than In Between sounding like an inadvertent homage. There are so many great bands in SF these days, but as far as blissed out jangle and shoegaze dream pop, nobody can touch Young Prisms. So good.

MPEG stream: Floating In Blue
MPEG stream: Dead Flowers
MPEG stream: To Touch You

It's been a busy 2011 for Brontez and The Younger Lovers. They released an awesome full length earlier in the year released on an Austrian label, that sadly we were never able to get enough of to list (but we're told we will be getting a cassette version soon). They made another awesome and endearing music video with aQ pal Gary Fembot, and Brontez's modern dance company performed at museums in the bay area and beyond. On the flipside, they also had a terrible incident happen to them in the summer when Brontez and bandmate Adele Castellon were gay bashed outside of an Oakland club, resulting in five broken bones in Castellon's face (who ironically is heterosexual). But we're super glad they haven't let someone else's ignorance and stupidity bring them down as the band seems to be hitting a new stride as of late. These three new songs are some of their best yet. "Boy From Senegal" features some pretty infectious lalala's by Matthew Melton of The Bare Wires, who also recorded these jams. That track has been stuck in our head for weeks with its Oh Sees like mixture of intensity and poppiness. The other two tracks keep the energy high and the power-pop garage punk sound delivered with raw perfection. The 7" comes with a digital download, and with some UN-intentional punk spirit the labels on each side are wrong so the A side is really the B side.

We're so happy this is now on vinyl as these are songs meant to be slapped on the turntable and blasted in bedrooms for full on pillow fight and punk rock sleep over action. An added bonus is that the vinyl also comes with a cd copy of the record. Now on to the music inside... Full on DIY scrappy and delicious garage punk jams brewed up by the Bay Area's own Brontez, best known for being in Gravy Train and beloved by many for his amazing DJ nights (such great taste in music!) and his overall contagious inviting and exciting spirit and high energy. Ever since moving to the bay from Alabama several years ago he's injected such a great bolt of sexually charged queer spirit into what can often be such a straight and white dominated punk rock scene. In true punk fashion he taught himself how to play guitar and with Gravy Train on a bit of a hiatus had songs pouring out of him that begged for a home so The Younger Lovers was born. His covers of The Rip-Off's and The Replacements show how he loves his rock n roll to be loud, fast, scrappy and full of relentless energy. We love how honest and direct his lyrics are, whether coming clean about his wandering heart in "Ballad For All My Bandmates And Lovers" or singing about how he can't resist a hottie in "Low Top Chucks & Skinny Jeans." You can tell that Brontez loves punk, garage and riot girl a as much as he does girl groups and sassy bubblegum pop. These are songs that are as rocking as they are endearing, making us want to jump and dance as much as they make us wanna lick an ice cream cone and have a pillow fight with a room filled with our punk rock crushes. So damn fun!

MPEG stream: Hey Jody
MPEG stream: Kiss Me On The Bus
MPEG stream: Quoting Poets

This awesome & underrated record by The Younger Lovers is now available on chrome colored cassette with four demos recorded by K.B. from the legendary '70s New York power pop band The Nasty Facts, and they kill! The cassette is limited to 250 copies, so act fast on this one. Here's what we said about this record when it first came out three years ago: Full on DIY scrappy and delicious garage punk jams brewed up by the Bay Area's own Brontez, best known for being in Gravy Train and beloved by many for his amazing DJ nights (such great taste in music!) and his overall contagious inviting and exciting spirit and high energy. Ever since moving to the bay from Alabama several years ago he's injected such a great bolt of sexually charged queer spirit into what can often be such a straight and white dominated punk rock scene. In true punk fashion he taught himself how to play guitar and with Gravy Train on a bit of a hiatus had songs pouring out of him that begged for a home so The Younger Lovers was born. His covers of The Rip-Off's and The Replacements show how he loves his rock n roll to be loud, fast, ramshackle and full of relentless energy. We love how honest and direct his lyrics are, whether coming clean about his wandering heart in "Ballad For All My Bandmates And Lovers" or singing about how he can't resist a hottie in "Low Top Chucks & Skinny Jeans." You can tell that Brontez loves punk, garage and riot girl as much as he does girl groups and sassy bubblegum pop. These are songs that are as rocking as they are endearing, making us want to jump and dance as much as they make us wanna lick an ice cream cone and have a pillow fight with a room filled with our punk rock crushes. So damn fun!

MPEG stream: Hey Jody
MPEG stream: Kiss Me On The Bus
MPEG stream: Quoting Poets

Full on d.i.y. scrappy and delicious garage punk jams brewed up by the Bay Area's own Brontez, best known for being in Gravy Train and beloved by many for his amazing DJ nights (such great taste in music!) and his overall contagious inviting and exciting spirit and high energy. Ever since moving to the bay from Alabama several years ago he's injected such a great bolt of sexually charged queer spirit into what can often be such a straight and white dominated punk rock scene. In true punk fashion he taught himself how to play guitar and with Gravy Train on a bit of a hiatus had songs pouring out of him that begged for a home so The Younger Lovers was born. His covers of The Rip-Off's and The Replacements show how he loves his rock n roll to be loud, fast, scrappy and full of relentless energy. We love how honest and direct his lyrics are, whether coming clean about his wandering heart in "Ballad For All My Bandmates And Lovers" or singing about how he can't resist a hottie in "Low Top Chucks & Skinny Jeans." You can tell that Brontez loves punk, garage and riot girl a as much as he does girl groups and sassy bubblegum pop. These are songs that are as rocking as they are endearing, making us want to jump and dance as much as they make us wanna lick an ice cream cone and have a pillow fight with a room filled with our punk rock crushes. So damn fun!

MPEG stream: Hey Jody
MPEG stream: Kiss Me On The Bus
MPEG stream: Quoting Poets

Burgeoning Bay Area label (and arts collective!) Howell's Transmitter doubles their roster in July and August with releases by Black Fiction (out on July 25th) and Michael Zapruder's Rain Of Frogs (officially out on August 15th, but we've got 'em a bit early). These two dandy, relatively new groups join our beloved Mission District neighbors Ray's Vast Basement and trippy cool Modular Set, pushing the label even further into wonderful eclecticism. Michael Zapruder's Rain Of Frogs is quite a mouthful of a band name, but the music goes down really smooth. New Way Of Letting Go is filled with lavish yet sensitive guy pop in the tradition of Rufus Wainwright, Damien Rice, Elliott Smith, Etienne De Rocher and Sondre Lerche. That's not at all surprising though when we find out that although the band's name might be new to our ears those involved are certainly not! Backing up Mr. Zapruder on his second full length (but first under this moniker) are Camper Van Beethoven's Jonathan Segel, Scott Solter, The Decemberists' Nate Query, Scott of Pink Mountain, and Jon Bernson from Ray's Vast Basement among others! Lush keyboards, horns, guitars, expressive male vocals and female backing vocals are elegantly assembled in each of the album's eleven songs. Pretty darn great!

MPEG stream: The Alchemist
MPEG stream: Shepherd's Purse

Zeigenbock Kopf began as a joke to see if a legitimate techno / house label would put out a cheap imitation of 'gay disco' pseudonymously recorded by a giggling San Francisco rocker boy. Yet, the joke -- complete with S/M stage antics, ditzy sketches, and really clumsy music -- has been dragged out through three releases, unintentionally sparking a firestorm of public outrage and invoking a wide range of discourses on identity politics and cultural appropriation. Zeigenbock Kopf should really just stop these shenanigans, not because of the perceived insult to certain elements of the gay community, but because the musical well has run dry. Overdriving clunky, slightly off-kilter rhythms through distortion pedals, ZK comes across as second or third rate, post-Industrial knock-off of Hunting Lodge or Sleep Chamber, two bands who were mediocre at best. The vocals which monotonously slur through a cheap German accent have lost the ability to carry the joke and now come across as another boring dose of disinterested post-irony which this city has been subjected to for far too long from all of the arts, not just music. MPEG Download: "Boom Car Boys 2" [/audio/zeigenbockkopfboomcar.mp3]

MPEG stream: Boom Car Boys 2

San Francisco rock n' rollers Zen Guerrilla's legendarily energetic live performances are matched only by the energy with which they've been cranking out recorded works lately (we count a heavy metal covers 7", the "Shadows On The Sun" studio album, and a The disc starts off a lot more mellow than we are used to hearing from these notorious jams-kicker-outers, but gradually builds into louder, heavier realms of warm psych guitar swirl and motorik rhythm, not unlike the krautrock grooves of Ash Ra Temple or modern practicioners of the same like Circle and Mogwai. But then about 15 minutes in, it seems like the (presumably drugged-out) characters in the movie have entered some futuristic club or something, as the heavy 70s psych jams suddenly meet bleeping mechanical beats, shortwave radio noise, unintelligible voices, and even some sampled old timey jazz. It turns into a psychedelic funhouse sound collage -- definitely a "trip". It would be nice with visuals for sure. If Zen Guerrila were Monster Magnet, this would be their "25............tab" ep. Pretty darn cool.

RealAudio clip: Plasmic Tears And The Invisible City

These S.F. boys mine the same sound as the Stooges or the MC5, but inject the venom, making it fast and furious and kick ass.

Bay Area hiphop turntablist action from DJ Zeph with additional beats & scratches from fellow DJ's Quest (Live Human), Imperial, and others. There's lots of live playing from local jazz cats, with flavors like flute, sitar, and trombone in addition to upright bass, drums, and electric piano, etc. Several tracks have lyrics from local rapper Azeem (Spearhead), but most are funky

Our in store entertainment wunderkind John Dwyer is apparently unstoppable in his never ending series of releases and this new, ultra-low fi, hiss ridden cassette may be his best yet. 'The Architecture Of Dark Dance' comes after many weeks of research by Dwyer into the fecund techno scene from the city of Unterschleissheim in the state of Bavaria, Germany. Though it took John only a few weeks to saturate hundreds of hours of Unterschleissheimian techno before generating his own, albeit American version of the genre, it sure seemed like months here at Aquarius. We're pretty used to Dwyer coming in on a daily basis to entertain / harrass us, but the period during which he was working on this cassette was an unending daily test of endurance for us at times. At first it was humorous: John walked in one morning about a minute after we'd opened up the store and insisted that we play this twelve inch he'd picked up at the Community Thrift Store down the street. After being informed that the needle on our turntable was busted, John slapped the record on the counter and ran out of the store. It was then with surprise that we watched John return three hours later pulling a Forsell "Air Reference Turntable" on a stainless steel cart and heave the immense beast onto the counter (don't even ask where the hell he 'found' the thing.) After much jimmy-ing with our system, John got the twelve inch playing over our stereo. By the time first distorted snare hit sounded over our speakers Dwyer's eyes were as big as pluots. "FUCK YEAH!!!! THIS IS THE SHIT I'VE BEEN TRYING TO TELL YOU GUYS ABOUT!!!!" Turns out that a local German D.J. that had been living in the city had had to give up his entire collection of dance twelve inches when he was deported for an expired visa as a result of strict immigration rules in our post 9/11 environment. The always pennywise and poundthrift John Dwyer seized his opportunity and ended up buying the entire lot from the store for a mere $20 (instead of the $30 they were asking) after three intense hours of haggling with the clerk. After a period of absorption Dwyer began testing out his own covers, reworkings and even original compositions on us here at Aquarius. Most of these tracks hadn't yet had the vocals laid down, so Dwyer would simply sing them impromptu for us and whoever happened to be shopping in the store at the time. The final result is a lot like a more fucked up version of the Jones Machine's "I'm The Disco Dancing" combined with the manic punk energy of the best DHR releases out there. Songs like "Dance You Idiot" capture the immediacy of dance music as well as its subtle political underpinnings and "I'm At The Club" recreates the common folly of answering one's cellular phone on the dance floor. The 11 songs on this cassette are both boorishly satyrical and strangely addictive. It's the type of joke you know you shouldn't be laughing to but there's no use in resisting. Dwyer says it's not a joke, and ha says it's not him. He has nothing to do with the mysterious Ziegenbok Kopf. Who ya gonna believe?!?!

RealAudio clip: Dance You Idiot
RealAudio clip: I'm At The Club

[ aquarius records — Local ]