It's nice to know that no matter how many records are reissued, or rare gems discovered, or mysterious private press releases rescued from oblivion, there will always be more. And even though sometimes we feel like the bottom of the reissue barrel has been reached, based on some dubious reissues, all it takes is a record like this, to remind us that there are truly some mind benignly fantastic records that have yet to be unearthed. And yeah, this is some truly next level, mind bending stuff. EVERYBODY here digs it, so we knew we had to make it a Record Of The Week, even though a week ago, we'd never heard of Mar-Vista. Sounds like of like a motel or something.
Originally a private press record, released in a run of just 200 copies in 1976, and packaged in blank white sleeves, and sold locally in France, this deliriously trippy and over the top chunk of French psychedelic synth prog is so good, and so weird, it really is one of those rare records, that's makes it hard to believe it could've remained lost for so long. Cuz really, anyone hearing this, would immediately freak out. We most definitely did. Apparently this duo was heavily influenced by minimalists like La Monte Young and Terry Riley, and krautrock combos like Ashra Tempel and Popol Vuh and while that's not actually bad band math when trying to describe Mar-Vista, the truth of the sound is so much stranger.
A single 41 minute song suite, separated into 6 movements, Visions Of Sodal Ye begins with primitive lo-fi drum machine (or drumming that sounds programmed), beneath whirring organs, fingerpicked acoustic guitars, droning synths and shimmering melodies, with laid back vox way down in the mix, not to mention some killer distorted psych guitar shred, the whole thing wrapped in warped sonic warble. There are plenty of weird production glitches, drop outs, and tape decay/damage from the original masters we would assume, but it only adds to the sound, a sound that soon blossoms into soaring kosmische synth swirls, anchored by more of those primitive drum machine like rhythms, and wreathed in what sounds like whipping winds, and jaw harp like spring melodies, more plink plonk, sing songy synths, and a fierce squall of psychedelic noise guitar. The movements merge into one sprawling epic, continuing with the coolest, creepiest track of the bunch, a dour, murky dirge, a tripped out sort of doom-kraut creep, with low buzzing synths, skittery rhythms, and multiple vocal lines, all wound up into a haunting, intense, organ and synth drenched lumber, that could be the weirdest heaviest French psych-prog jam EVER. That quickly (d)evolves into a cool, groovy sixties style psychedelic blow out, all cascading synth melodies, pulsing hip shaking rhythms, and super distorted theremin like squiggles over the top, before settling into some pulsating, cosmic shimmer, tinged with just a little bit new age, some serious synth prog that blossoms into awesome John Carpenter like soundtrackiness! The record/songsuite culminates in the final 21+ minute movement, a sprawling cinematic synth epic, a twisted dronescape of layered synths and extended tones, ominous and sinister, minor key and darkly malevolent, again, like it could be from the some lost Carpenter movie, all creepy slo-mo melodies, and crumbling textures, plenty of tension, haunting and shadowy and mysterious.
And generally bonus tracks are bonus tracks for a reason, cast offs, throw aways, songs that weren't good enough to make the cut, but not here, the two bonus tracks (found only on the cd!!) are crazy, and crazy cool, the first, "Synthetik Way", is a glistening, glimmering planetarium style cosmic synth workout, all lush, hushed and tranquil one second, then distorted and wildly psychedelic the next, while the second "Crash '73", is an impossibly trippy, surprisingly heavy psych rock jam, with in-the-red distorted guitar and skittery drumming, beneath a wild tangle of snake charmer synth shred, and a totally WTF twisted stuttery finale, which had us imagining a whole other record tucked away with more of this outsider synth-prog-psych weirdness�
So incredible, quite possibly the reissue of the year! Minimal liner notes, a reproduction of the original sleeve, but sadly somewhat flimsy packaging on the digipack cd...
The cd version is limited to 500 copies, the lp just 300.
Eeep, that rather gnarly album title and one particularly excessive guitar solo in the 11th track aside, this live album from nouveau world proggy youths The Mars Volta will surely please their many fans (hell, maybe those two things won't bother you). Although it clocks in at just under 74 minutes (not really all that long for a prog-rock journey, is it?) of tripped-out jams, more structured songs and surprising little crowd noise, some of us found Scabdates to be somewhat long-winded and self-indulgent... but we're sure for the diehards the time will fly by. Not the first nor best place to start if you're just now getting around to a first encounter with these fellows though (if that's the case, check out their awesome debut Tremulant cdep -- a tight concise workout to launch you into the MV orbit).
Hark, all ye kids and collectors! The B-side of this 12" single is a live version of The Mars Volta's heartfelt power-prog ballad "The Widow" recorded at LA's Wiltern Theater on May 6th, 2004. The album version can be heard on their latest release, Frances The Mute (which happens to also be the title of the A-side of this record), but you probably already knew that.
We've raved about instrumental post rockers Maserati in the past, and they just keep getting better and better, while oddly enough, they seem to gradually be moving away from their early sound, which was pretty much straight ahead nineties style post rock, which we love, toward something much more synthy and krautrocky, more groovy and almost dancey, which we also love. It probably has to do with the fact that drummer Jerry Fuchs (who tragically passed away last year) also played drums for !!! (Chik Chik Chik), so it was maybe inevitable that some of that funkiness might creep into his other group, since it's Fuchs' beats that pretty much drive this Maserati, propulsive and intricate, mathy and tight, but also super fluid. The guitars follow suit, looped and effected, cascading and chiming, all of that underpinned by some serious eighties style synths, pulsing like some supercharged John Carpenter soundtrack, and that's what makes Maserati sound so good, the collision of heavy crunchy guitars, propulsive motorik krautrock, and that sort of new age/wave-y synth. That's also why Maserati sound more like Zombi or Majeure these days, albeit a way more rocking, way heavier version. And hell, who could argue with a way heavier Zombi? Not us, that's for sure.
But really, to be fair, this new record is not all that far removed from past records, as far back as their Inventions For The New Season record, we were already describing some of their music as sounding like a "coke-fuelled Circle/Tortoise/Zombi jam" or as the perfect soundtrack for "an episode of Miami Vice, like for a scene (filmed from a helicopter) of an exciting power-boat chase across a deep blue, beautiful, sunshiney sea." And that vibe is still present, only now, it's for an episode of some futuristic sci-fi noir program, and instead of a speedboat chase, it's a hovership chase, between Bladerunner like buildings, culminating in a wild shootout in some sort of futuristic space disco. Which sounds pretty dang good to us.
Recommended for fans of Majeure, Zombi, Solar Bears, and other modern spacekraut sci-fi synth explorers, but also post/math/hypno rockers like Circle, Salvatore, Parlour, K-X-P, Magyar Posse, Cave, Russian Circles, etc.
Massacre has been around since 1981's seminal album Killing Time (which you must seek out if you haven't heard it already). Comprised of guitarist Fred Frith, bassist Bill Laswell, and -- new to the group -- Charles Hayward on drums, Massacre specialize
We'd never normally accuse the Finders Keepers Label of being slow on the draw, having turned us on to so much stuff we wouldn't know about otherwise. But we thought it a bit odd that they just released this Jean-Pierre Massiera compilation so soon after the Mucho Gusto label released the two incredible Psychoses compilations (Discoids and Freakoids) showcasing the eccentric prog, pop and disco productions of this incredible French mad genius. Yet while there is some crossover (six songs here are also on the Freakoids comp; three are also on Discoids), there is about half of Midnight Massiera that's from other outfits not featured on those two previous comps. Some we've heard of (Les Maledictus Sound, who contribute two tracks), others we've heard of but didn't realize Massiera was involved in their production (Chico Magnetic Band and Chris Gallbert, the same track featured on the awesome earlier Mucho Gusto comp, Total Freak Out!), and finally there are a few groups totally new to us: the spaghetti western Moog weirdness of S.E.M. Studios; the one and only Jesus, who contributes two tracks - one loungey freak beat, the other melancholy folk; a percussive fuzz interlude by Atlantide, and the cinematic psych-folk of Afterlife. Visitors, Hermans Rocket, Human Egg, Basile (with two tracks) Les Chats, Les Monegasques, The Pyranhas, and The Starlights make repeat appearances. Folks who already have the two previous compilations (plus the Les Maledictus Sound, Visitors, and Chico Magnetic Band albums, as well as the Total Freak Out compilation), may not want to shell out more for this. But for a one-stop Massiera compilation, this is very wide ranging and well curated, featuring most of the best of the Mucho Gusto compilations, as well as our favorite tracks from Les Maledictus Sound. If you haven't already purchased any of the previous Massiera related releases available, and need a really good introduction, this one will do quite nicely!
A distant variation on Alvin Lucier's "I Am Sitting In A Room", First Accents Of A Rustic Flute by the San Franciscan intermedia artist Collin McKelvey cycles and layers the sonic errata, resonance, and distortions from a closed-circuit loop between cassette playback and condenser microphones inside a small room. The two 20 minute pieces are accretions of modular synth playback and found-sound detritus in a volume pedal ebb-and-flow that blossoms through slow-rotational, fractalized patterns of flange and flutter with thickened drone of reflected kirlian frequencies and inner-motor amplification. Already sold out at the source, with these being the only copies that we could get!
We love having this disc to put in our "Holiday Music" section when that time of the year rolls around. But it's great anytime of the year, a definite Melvins classic.
Full length number two from these Canadian noise rockers, creatively titled II, finds these aQ faves continuing to pound and howl with the best of them. Channeling everything we loved about the meanest, noisiest of our favorite nineties outfits, and sneaking some sick melodies whenever the opportunity presents itself, which to be honest, is hardly ever, all the tracks here dense and driving and distorted, but that doesn't keep them from cramming 'em in anyway. Which transforms knuckle dragging, pigfuck churn into something strangely catchy, and seriously headbangable. Sitting comfortably between Mudhoney, Pissed Jeans and Jesus Lizard, but embracing an unlikely poppiness even more than they did on the debut.
The tracks swing wildly from blown out bass buzzing brutality, to tranced out cyclical hypno-rock, to weirdly hooky psychedelic garage punk crunch. A raw, in-the-red production only adds to the goodness, the reverb drenched vocals manage to straddle the line between gloomy, growly croon, and throat shredding bellow, all driven by some seriously transcendent drum pummel. And like the best records of this ilk, the sound on its own is enough to get our noise rock juices flowing, but repeated listens reveal some surprising songcraft, that again borrows from the nineties, that stripped of all its crumbling crunch and chaotic bluster, wouldn't be out of place on a Sebadoh or Pavement record. So just imagine your favorite track by one of those bands, revved WAY the fuck up, doused in distortion, the swagger and swing cranked all the way up, the sound bloody, sweaty and bruised, wasted and belligerent, which if you're anything like us, that's a noise rock recipe for your new favorite record.
We haven't heard from these guys in a while, not since their Perils disc on Mimicry from a few years back. And now they're back, as part of the ever expanding Latitudes series. Featuring members of long time AQ faves Guapo, Miasma are equally as progtastic as Guapo, but where Guapo channel the hard and heavy side of classic prog, Miasma, are more dramatic, with a gipsy folk flair, an Eastern European vibe, jaunty, and playful, cinematic and a bit over the top. Like the soundtrack to some Edward Gorey cartoon come to life. Dark and dangerous, but wild and weirdly wonderful at the same time.
The opening track here begins with a moody gipsy folk hoedown, stings and horns, woven in an intricate dance, before the drums kick in and the song is transformed into epic and intense krautrocky prog. Warm wheezing keyboards, angular riffing, wild octopoidal drumming, intricate arrangements, super dramatic keyboards and strings
A bit of a Goblin vibe, the song builds and builds and builds, a frenzied musical pagan ritual, it's hard not to imagine the band in all black, flowing robes and witches hats, performing in front of some huge stone circle on the top of a massive hill. The second track is a creeping dark ambient sprawl, lurching "Boris The Spider" bassline over whispering winds, clouds of cymbal sizzle, deep cavernous rumbles, haunting organs, mysterious effects that drift from speaker to speaker�
The final track begins like a simple piano and violin chamber music piece, with a definite Eastern European flair, before about halfway through, when the drums and bass kick in, and we're back in the prog, the drums complex and intricate, the bass, lumbering and minor key, the piano more and more frenzied as if trying to keep up with the drums, finally all the parts coalescing into a massive moody riff, bordering on classic doom territory, before everything drops out once again leaving just the piano and strings, until the drums come back in, then finally the bass and the guitar, the climax, intense and dramatic, epic and majestic!
Comes packaged in a super intricate hand screened die cut fold over sleeve with a full color insert. The cover has a sticker affixed to the front and each copy is hand stamped and numbered. Limited to 1000 copies worldwide, 500 of which made it to the United States, we got about 25 copies...
Featuring two members of AQ-faves Guapo, this instrumental band from the UK plays a kind of dark, baroque chamber-prog that's seemingly trying to evoke the magick of Aleister Crowley and the drawings of Edward Gorey, and also sorta sounds like eerie Eastern European circus music or a sinister silent movie orchestra or something. Theirs is a refined sort of precise prog bombast that would be ok to play as background music at the right sort of dinner party (in a candlelit English manor house, perhaps, with some murders occuring before the night is through). The song titles ("The Mage", "Whitening: Foxes Templar", "Reddening: The Blood Of The Pelican", "Asmodius Arise", etc.) suggest that some sort of occult narrative is being played out. Fans of the likes of Univers Zero and Devil Doll should definitely investigate.
Folk-psych fans, 'tis time to gambol in the old oak tree grove at dusk, wander the windy moors, or perhaps sit by a fire, recounting sad tales of ancient times. Because those are the vibes of the perfectly named Midwinter - bleak and beautiful - an obscure underground '70s British acid-folk outfit whose 1973 demo recordings are collected on this disc (they never released an actual album, though they did later morph into the band Stone Angel, whose privately-pressed lp from '75 is another English folk-psych gem). So this should sound good to anyone into Stone Angel or others of that ilk: Mellow Candle, Trees, Caedemon, Shide & Acorn, Parameter, etc., not to mention better known hippie Brit-folkies like Fairport Convention and Pentangle.
Midwinter's music is nicely melancholic, tweeness balanced by darkness, with folk instrumentation such as acoustic guitar, recorder, autoharp, mandolin, dulcimer, banjo, jews harp, and hand percussion joined by occasional lashings of distorted electric guitar. There's a female vocalist with a lovely lilting voice, singing lyrics seemingly passed down over many dusty centuries. Meanwhile, the male vocals remind us a bit of the wonderful Roy Harper. They do an especially haunting rendition of "Scarborough Fair", alongside other traditional numbers as well as those written by Midwinter, all quite nice and evocative.
'Twas previously released on cd in the early '90s on the Kissing Spell label, by the way, with a different cover. This disc also includes two bonus tracks taken from Midwinter/Stone Angel frontman Ken Saul's solo single, circa 1970. And there's plentiful liner notes.
Yay, the '70s Japanese psych rock reissues continue! Years ago this one was available on cd as a fancy expensive Japanese import, but that's been gone for ages so it's nice to have this new reish. A Path Through Haze (great title, eh?) is the mostly instrumental 1971 solo album from acid guitarist Mizutani, a fixture of the scene as a session axe, you'll find him supplying the fuzzed out leads on such records as Love Live Life +1's Love Will Make A Better You and People's Ceremony - Buddha Meets Rock. With this, he stepped out on his own with what proved to be his only album as leader. It's an ambitious affair, employing not only an all-star cast of his heavy friends from the psych scene, but also both string quartet and woodwind quartets. Also prominent on this record is the Hammond organ, piano, and Moog synth of Masahiko Satoh, who did his own album also entitled A Path Through Haze somewhat later. Confusing, eh? "A Path Through Haze" is also a song on both albums, it seems it's a Satoh composition. Here that song starts off with gentle keyboard shimmer, before Mizutani gets his licks in about halfway through, amidst much spaceiness of effects. And that's sorta how it goes with this record, lots of pretty keyboards, yes, plenty of nice moody melody, but Mizutani (usually) eventually unleashes the fuzz, particularly on rockier/riffier numbers like the Hendrix-y "One For Janis". The "chamber rock" restraint characteristic of some of this record only lasts so long, the likes of "Tell Me What You Saw" being a bit of a freak-out, with mathy prog rock rippage galore. And its Satoh's synth that goes nuts some of the time too.
This one didn't make the top 50 in Julian Cope's Japrocksampler, by the way... in fact, he actually bags on this one a bit, but WE like it, so there. Cope also didn't like Foodbrain either. While we'll agree that we'd have been happy to hear Mizutani wail away here even more than he does, it's still a beautiful album, and even its most stonery sit-com soundtrack fusion moments have a certain charm.
John Carpenter. Goblin. Eighties sci-fi soundtracks. If those words have you frothing at the mouth, then this is for you. Also consider the facts: 2 new songs by 1/2 of Zombi, synth wizard Steve Moore, pressed onto limited edition 10" vinyl by Brooklyn's Mexican Summer label. They made just 500 copies, we only got a dozen. 'Nuff said? Another chunk of gloriously grooving yet sinister instrumental electronic sci-fi spaceouts, that sound like they could have been lifted straight out of some late night, straight to video, lost Carpenter flick. It of course sounds quite a bit like Steve's band Zombi, and thus suggest the above mentioned soundtrack music, but could also (like some of Zombi's output too) find a spot in a stargazing "cosmic disco" DJ's set.
Soaring synths, pulsing rhythms, fuzzy synthesized bass, mournful minor key melodies, primitive programmed rhythms, dramatic and moody and mysterious, so totally evocative and dreamy, and a bit cheesy, but in a good way. Shades of Tangerine Dream, this is definitely at the crossroads of spacey sci fi synth music and new age drift, bloopy and bleepy, almost video game sounding at times, but more often like the mood music from Phantasm or Halloween, where the main character is driving along the dark roads, it's probably raining, and while it's not explicitly scary yet, darkness and danger lurk just up ahead.
Ethereal and washed out, minimal and even a bit cold wave, this is total cinematic sci-fi new age space prog dream synth bliss.
Gorgeous packaging, extra thick vinyl, LIMITED TO 500 COPIES, each one machine numbered...
Last list, we had Solar Maximum, the new one from Majeure, aka Zombi drummer A.E. Paterra. It was all kinds of cosmic synth new age disco-tinged bliss, naturally. And, as we mentioned then, there's also a new solo album from the OTHER half of the Zombi duo, Mr. Steve Moore. Here 'tis, Light Echoes, released on the venerable prog rock/new music label Cuneiform, which is kind of like when a modern '80s styled heavy metal band like In Solitude or Slough Feg gets signed to Metal Blade.
Moore is not to be outdone by Majeure, delivering the spacey, synthy, shimmering hypno-minimalism over six tracks, the last one ("Ancient Shorelines II") stretching out for nearly a half-hour...
Any fan of the more melodic and atmospheric side of Zombi (or Majeure), should find Moore's glowing and glimmering electronic pulsations here quite enjoyable.
This might be called Light Echoes, and it has its blissful moments for sure, but it's not all light and fluffy, not at all. "Aldebran Exchange" is super moody gloomy piece, leaning heavily on pitched-down drones. So, throughout, there's some shades of somber darkness to these echoes of light.
Early '70s jazz rock fusion from this British band, pioneers in the field, who later contributed members to Soft Machine. With an instrumental line-up that included trumpet, piano, oboe, sax, flute, bass, guitar, and drums, this never before released live 1971 radio concert recording demonstrates the funky rhythmic drive of the band, and features some of the wild acid guitar skronk of the legendary Ray Russell in his only recorded (and previously unknown) appearance with Nucleus! With him on board, this is not quite so loose and out-limits pushing as Miles' 70s rock/jazz ensembles, but gettin' there.
Latest sprawling collection of next level avant guitar shreddery from Mr. Mick Barr, he of black metal horde Krallice, spazzed out angular mathcore duo Crom-Tech, his sometime drum machine driven solo project Octis, and of course our beloved Ocrilim, another solo vehicle for multi tracked solo guitar, and whose sound is positioned somewhere between maddeningly repetitive Reichian/Riley-ian experimental guitarscapery, and black metal riffery sans everything but the guitar, which ultimately amounts to almost the same thing, soaring, epic, frenzied, tangled guitar insanity. And as much as we love all of Barr's various projects, we find ourselves returning to Ocrilim the most, and while, as we've mentioned in other reviews, most folks find much of Barr's output difficult, bordering on unlistenable, Ocrilim is fantastically mesmerizing, hypnotically rhythmic, lushly textured, intensely frantic, but somehow weirdly listenable, so much so that we find ourselves constantly pushing repeat, even though the majority of these songs are 20-30 minutes long. It's so easy to get lost in Barr's dense dizzying guitarscapes, and the tracks here function both as background music, a swirling psychedelic blur, that bleeds into a buzzing backdrop to whatever you're doing, and as rich fodder for active listening, an impossible intricate collection of modern maximalism composition, one that pushes the listener's limits in terms of sonic endurance, but also in an understanding of the music's varied complexities. The fact that a frantic sprawl of rapid fire notes can blossom into a soaring swirl of black metal style buzz and vice versa only makes it that much cooler, and perhaps even demonstrates the innate avant elements in black metal. A sequel of sorts to the first Annwn release, which came out on Hydra Head, these tracks were recorded back in 2007, and have not been released until now.
Barr put this out on his own label, and of course the cover features Barr's distinctive sci-fi line-drawing art, and as you might imagine, there aren't too many of these, it's LIMITED TO 100 COPIES!!!
Christian Vander's post-Magma "jazz" project, along the lines of Alice Coltrane's or Pharoah Sanders' 70s stuff mixed with his drumming in Magma. Fantastic. Vander comments: "3rd album of Offering and a decisive new step in my evolution. For the very first time, I apply my theories: don't dream, be aware of reality, don't lose yourself in the maze of intellectual endless sentences; Dig profoundly to learn how to go higher but with your feet still on the ground. It's a key-album, which announces what will be my next albums."
Offering is Magma mastermind Christian Vander's '70s style cosmic jazz meets Magma outfit, and this box set collects their four albums and additionally includes a half-hour bonus track. Thumbs up from Allan the Magma maniac.
Over the top, '70s worshipping B-movie sci-fi stoner rock? Yes indeedy. You gotta give 'em props for this. Whacked out heavies Ogre from up in Maine - who we already liked for their riff rockin' retro-proto-doom-metal on such previous albums as Dawn Of The Proto-man and Seven Hells - have upped the ante with this new release, totally progging it up with a concept album consisting of just one long song (that's right, one track, but it's over 37 minutes long)! Although it's programmed as one track on the cd, it consists of eleven seamlessly segueing parts, including "II: End-Days", "IV: Queen Of Gasoline", "VIII: Battle At Doom Capital", and "XI: Dawn Of The Proto-man". To be sure, after a few listens, we're still not quite ready or able to summarize the narrative here, but we get the idea that it has something to do with a post-apocalyptic scenario involving environmental catastrophy, gasoline rationing and rampaging dog-men? It's all very Flash Gordon, campy and comic book-y (hence the Kirby-esqe cover artwork) with an underground comix '70s Heavy Metal magazine vibe.
Musically, at various points, and for various reasons, this reminds us of King Crimson, Black Sabbath, Blue Oyster Cult, Queen, Jesus Christ Superstar, and, let's see, Steamhammer's Speech (at about the 27 minute mark). Among other things... The storytelling aspect also might appeal to fans of Hammers Of Misfortune's The Bastard and Slough Feg's Traveller (which also features dog-men), though Ogre isn't at all power metal.
Vocally, Ogre are as always eccentric and expressive, the singer sounding sorta Ozzy-ish, but really dramatic, rising into unhinged screams. He's a bit Mike Patton-y, too (circa The Real Thing?). Once again, we have to say that the vocals here will make it or break it for a lot of folks. Well, that and the whole uber-prog concept deal. Yup, Plague Of The Planet is a love it or hate it proposition for sure. We happen to love it, and say kudos to them for going for it like this. And there's no question that the rollicking riffage on offer is gonna be a positive for anybody who likes, you know, heavy music. (Heavy this is, several members of Ogre also now having joined the new lineup of cult doomsters Blood Farmers by the way.)
This was originally released last year on the Japanese stoner/doom label Leaf Hound, who have unfortunately since folded. Thankfully, Shadow Kingdom in the USA has picked up this disc for domestic reissue.
Whew! Housed in a bright pink digipack, this is a seriously WEIRD reissue (or not so seriously, 'cause it's pretty silly, but weird in any case). 30 tracks, 74 minutes of pure WTF?, '70s style. A private press rarity from Baltimore, originally released in 1974, OHO's Okinawa is one of those obscure underground '70s artifacts that combine experimental prog, psych, and proto-punk into one trippy package. Deserving of whatever cult status it has, no doubt.
Some folks will be drawn to this for its garagey, manic energy and and shocking angular guitar action, but you gotta be able to deal with the gonzoid goofiness too. And unhinged vocals that even have a bit of Jello Biafra-like warble to 'em... though sometimes the singing is quite lovely, like at the outset of the song "A Frog For You", which features a chorus of voices sweetly intoning such lines as: "What's that on your face... it looks like shit... ", before some screaming begins, and someone yells, "Let's rock!", and indeed they do, (sarcastically?) channelling Chuck Berry/Jerry Lee Lewis, tossing in some Zeppish riffs too.
We'd have to assume that these musicians had some Frank Zappa and the Mothers records in their collections. But they avoid jazzy wank (though there are horns), and their hippy freak humor isn't as obnoxious as your typical Zappa fare. Less scatological, more surreal and non-sequitur. Song titles like "Ain't Life Dumb", "Brown Algae Is Attractive", "The Unfortunate Frankfurter Vendor", "Hairy Bag", "Chess Is Boring", "Fast Bananas", and "Pale Hippo" might give you some idea. Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd could be another inspiration for all this trippiness, they also kinda remind us of the Hampton Grease Band, Beefheart, and some of the wackier British prog acts of the ear.
This handsomely packaged, remastered reissue, includes a ton of bonus material recorded at the album sessions that wasn't included on the original release. We mentioned 30 tracks (some of them but brief interludes), only 16 actually appeared on the 1974 lp. But now that it's on cd, you get the entire extreme OHO Okinawa experience/overload as it was meant to be. It's acid-fried, theatrical, quite intentionally insane, and actually pretty amusing... plus prog and hard psych types will enjoy all the distorted guitar stabs and crazy changes. Fans of modern day, mathy indie pop acts like Heavy Vegetable might also dig.
Whoohoo! Another Bjorn Olsson album, that always makes us happy here at Aquarius. So far the Swedish composer/multi-instrumentalist has yet to disappoint. This is his fourth album, the third in what seems to be a seafood-themed series, this one with a crab on the cover. Like his previous discs, this one begs the question: what would Bjorn Olsson do without spaghetti westerns? I don't know if we'll ever find out and that's ok. However, while the spaghetti western style whistling that was so prominent on his last album (one of the best whistling records EVER) is still present, it takes a back seat to Bjorn's guitar. This is his most guitar-centric disc to date, and it means that the melodies with which he's so marvellous seem here seem to possess a definite rock lineage. Certain tracks will seemingly contain echoes of some Beatles, Stones or Stooges song into which it seems Bjorn's guitar strum will soon coalesce, but instead his instrumentals always drift off into a looser, more droned-out zone. Yet the tunes seem so totally familiar, that's his knack. You think you kinda know these songs already, but can't quite place your finger on 'em. Brilliant, 'cause he obviously owes so much to certain other composers (Ennio Morricone!!) yet makes something that you can't really hear anywhere else than on a Bjorn Olsson album. Though, listening to this we can make tenuous connections to such disparate artists as the Sun City Girls (hints of their more garagey folk style), the desert instrumentals of Calexico, and the drone ragas of Henry Flynt. A lot of that has to do with the grimy, dusty quality of the recording. We suspect that Bjorn's tape recorder slowly falling apart, as each album he makes gets more and more lo fi -- which is a good thing! This one's got all kinds of hiss and hum and drop outs and grit that make his music all the more dream-like. Wonderful!
Oakland's Once And Future Band, featuring among their ranks guitarist Eli Eckert (ex-Drunkhorse) and keyboardist/vocalist Joel Robinow (ex-Howlin' Rain), have become minor sensations in the local scene, with friends of ours like Phil Manley (Trans Am, Life Coach), singing their praises. And having heard this record, and also having seen 'em live, we can see why - musically, they're REALLY GOOD, and they have to be, 'cause their chosen style - super '70s soundin' laid back groovy pop prog jazz fusion (!!!) is all about chops, after all. And they have 'em. Chops, chops, chops - more chops than a kung-fu flick. But, also due to their chosen style, we can see how one -could- have a differing opinion about 'em. Depends on your taste/tolerance for certain aspects of '70s kitsch. What we mean, is, ok, virtuosic '70s keyboard prog, yeah, we like, a lot actually, maybe more than we should (ELP! ELP!). So go whole hog on that, ok. Er, but then, the more yacht-y, Steely Dan-ish side of Once And Future Band, well, is it ironic? Is it NOT ironic? We suppose it doesn't matter, if you like Steely Dan, which you certainly can. Still, it's funny how these guys are SO perfect at every detail of what they're doing that it comes off a bit like historical reenactment. That's not a criticism - in fact, it might be a compliment. A matter of perspective. We never complain about bands that sound like Goblin, after all, and parts here do. A band like these guys, who also have parts that sound like Caravan, and parts that sound like Return To Forever, is perhaps just braver and bolder (and better?) than most.
Anyway, Brain, their 24 minute mini-album debut, is what they call "a four-song suite of soaring psychic jazz and Rundgrensque pop" and well that does describe it pretty well, leaving aside the question of just what is 'psychic jazz'. Something to do with their collective chops perhaps. But Brain is about more than chops, melody is big too. The songs and the singing strongly support the pop side, and all in all, it's pretty dang impressive - and quite enjoyable, if you like listening to music now that, when very similar music was made in the '70s, was more or less the reason punk rock happened (in reaction to it). Let the pendulum swing back!!
140 gram vinyl, gatefold sleeve, download included.
One of our very favorite metal bands returns with a new album, a domestic release for big-league metal label Roadrunner, which made us wonder if they'd somehow gone all nu-metal on us. Opeth as an Ozzfest band? Well, this is the slickest Opeth record yet, surely. And there's clean singing on here that does seem like it might be geared for (gasp) radio airplay...but, that singing is in the same song with total death metal growling. So it's really the same ol' Opeth we know and love. A well produced, super dynamic and atmospheric blend of death metal and progressive rock, with epic-length songs, ripping technical playing, and sensitive acoustic interludes. And a healthy dose of Mellotron and other keys, moreso even than in the past, as they've now made their keyboardist an official, permanent band member. It could be we're hearing a hint of nu-metal in some of the bouncier, stop start bits...but put that in the context of proggy baroque keyboards, and this is definitely not Slipknot or Korn, that's for sure. And if Opeth can turn what they do into "pop" music and get away with it, more power to 'em. Not that that's likely...
Is this eighth Opeth opus destined to be considered a classic like several of their earlier albums? Well, c'mon, it's undeniably tough for 'em to top what they've done in the past, regardless of how good this is! We are glad to have all the shades of Opeth back together on one album after the heavy disc/light disc dichotomy of their twin previous releases Deliverance and Damnation. And anyway, at this point we can't imagine any Opeth fan daring to not purchase, listen to, and (out of love or awe) worship this!
Lion Productions brings us another super obscure psych/prog reish that's pretty darn cool. France, 1972: the dawning of Ophicus, an astrologically inclined band staffed by some serious musicians from the French rock/pop scene, including a former member of Zoo. They certainly had a lot of promise, this debut album of theirs being a gorgeous and eclectic (and sometimes experimental) stylistic mix, encompassing everything from lilting acoustic folk to lush symphonic pop to raw backporch blues to heavy fuzz acid rockin' grooviness (Francais Metal de Proto ooh la la!). Sublime string orchestration, lovely vocal arrangements, and memorable melodies contribute to the wonderful moody atmosphere that pervades this album despite its diversity.
There's a lot to like here. This disc's 20 tracks include eight bonus cuts taken from a unreleased second album, among them several English language versions of songs from the debut meant for international release. And Lion (as is typical of them) provides a fairly hefty cd booklet into the bargain, full of photos, lyrics, and brand new liner notes from the band themselves, including commentaries on each track (for example: "'Darbouka' was meant to silently convey the feeling of oppression and the impossibility of expressing where it comes from"). If you liked the previous Lion reissues from France (Classical M, Ilous & Decuyper) you definitely should check out Ophicus, likewise if you've been digging that Pop Made In France comp we highlighted recently.
3rd album from this aQ fave band with perhaps the best "truth in advertising" name in the realm of psychedelic doomy druggy heaviness. They also have some of the strangest album titles too. A project of Sami "Albert Witchfinder" Hynninen, of Reverend Bizarre (R.I.P.) and The Puritan fame, Opium Warlords' brand of doom metal is often on the minimalist, avantgarde ambient side of things, and oddly prog-inflected. Sprawling Finnish weird-ass doom dirgery at its best!
These slo-mo riffscapes meld the sombre Sabbathy-ness of Reverend Bizarre with the more experimental, extreme likes of early Earth (Extra-Capsular Extraction era), some of the tracks being stripped down to just guitar only, others accompanied by the plodding of a live drummer, or the even more precise plodding of a drum machine. They can range from the somnolently super-sludged to the curiously acoustic, always massively moody in any case, simple and effective. Several are purely instrumental, while some feature Sami's deep voiced vocals ponderously intoning melancholic lyrics, like on the morose, majestic organ-laced 12 minute epic "The Self-Made Man" (which concludes with a noodling, jamming outro that Orthodox might do in one of their more Greg Ginn-ish moments). Sami also occasionally unleashes some wretched black metal style anguish in the vokill dep't. as well, as on the quietly despairing "The God In Ruins".
Depressive and dreary, but strangely comforting and beautifully mesmeric at the same time, Opium Warlords have again come up with a hard to describe, quite original slab of less-is-more, confusion-infused doom (or doom-infused confusion). Scratch your heads and bow down, as they doom on!
In a word, wow. That's how our review of the debut, 2012 Orchestra Of The Upper Atmosphere release wrapped up, after several gushing paragraphs. Let's cut to the chase and simply open this review the same way; in a word, wow!
This 2nd Orchestra Of The Upper Atmosphere double cd set is their 2nd Aquarius Record Of The Week, and that was an easy decision to make. Nobody else out there sounds like this, 'cause nobody else out there thinks this BIG, and combines all these elements so perfectly - experimental electronics, improv jazz, avant-classical choral music, chamber rock, modern minimalism, pulsating krautrock beats, progressive symphonics, ambient drone, and much more� Possibly you could liken the OUA to a 'big band' version of Norway's Supersilent, just possibly, to get started. Aptly named, this Orchestra is a large scale project, and it's no wonder, so far, that they always make fully-packed double disc sets.
Led by Martin Archer (who appeared on another recent aQ list with the latest from the avant-industrial Combat Astronomy project, of which he is part) and Chris Bywater, the UK's Orchestra Of The Upper Atmosphere is indeed a large ensemble, the multi-instrumental Archer/Bywater duo (organ, electronics, electric piano, saxophones, clarinet, synthesizers, samples, percussion, voice, electric violin, etc., etc.) joined by a half dozen additional musicians bringing in everything from electric bass to flutes to glockenspiel, that core unit then further augmented by the participation of various satellite groups with which there is some overlap of personnel: the 20-person Juxtavoices chorus, the La Garotte String Quartet, and The Divine Winds.
While the first OUA album took several years to complete, this one came together in a shorter span of time, constructed from edits of live improvisations, and is no less impressive for that. It's mysterious and moody, as well as active and dramatic - when the Juxtavoices get involved, look out!
The first disc begins with "Dominant Growth Direction" - a powerful intro that zooms and whooshes with such physical heft, heck it should be used for the Dolby THX they play in the movie theater before the movie starts. That's followed by the beautiful, haunting grooves of "Paratacamite"; more atmospheric even is the next track, "Bilateral Coordination Activities Are Calming", featuring field recordings (birds, water) woven in among the drones and woodwinds and percussive sounds. Next, "Modus" is a glitchy avant-funk fusion jam, like some sort of electric Miles meets This Heat hybrid, with a definite David Shire "Taking Of Pelham 1-2-3" suspense soundtrack vibe as well. Want some even more out there 'band math' from this review? Skip ahead to disc one's blissfully grooving 14+ minute finale, which we're thinkin' sounds like a spaced out Oren Ambarchi/Augustus Pablo collaboration!!
Ok, but we can't go on describing this track by track, even briefly. That's not even all of the first disc we've covered. You want to read an even lengthier OUA review, look at our last one (and we do have a few of those sets back in stock, by the way). There's a lot here, and all of it is awesome, you get the idea.
And the thing is, for as vast and sprawling as these discs (and each track on 'em) are, there are no missteps. It's tight like that. So tastefully, cleverly crafted. It's compelling, intriguing, and evocative; ambitious but never over indulgent, never taking any wrong turns. Always on point. Or at least, that's what we think, what can we say, this just brings together a lot of sounds we like, we're hearing echoes of everything from Circle to Alice Coltrane, from Supersilent to Lumerians, from 3 Leafs to Terry Riley (just to drop a few names) and does it so dang well, and uniquely. Can we say wow, again?!
As soon as we heard this the massive and mesmeric sounds found here on the debut from the Orchestra Of The Upper Atmosphere, we knew it was Record Of The Week material! And while it's the record of our week (and many weeks to come, we imagine), it was three years in the making, a grandiose accomplishment involving the efforts of around 40 musicians and singers.
The British new music ensemble responsible for this sprawling double cd has an appropriately evocative name, they are in the business of generating clouds of sound from on high, and they are indeed a sort of Orchestra, certainly a lot of musicians on a lot of intruments making a BIG sound, the actual core group of the UOA itself comprising only five folks, but they're augmented by a string quartet (the La Garotte String Quartet), a woodwinds ensemble (The Divine Winds), and a 25 person avant-garde choral group (Juxtavoices).
Together, the UOA and friends create a hybrid akin to 20th century classical chamber music meets propulsive krautrock meets '70s cosmic jazz (some parts, like the ten minute track "Coherent Backscattering" that closes the first disc, remind us of the wonderful Alice Coltrane With Strings album World Galaxy, complete with what sounds like varispeed tape manipulation)� But it's probably most heavily influenced by the work of modern minimalist master Terry Riley in particular - imagine portions of the Riley/Cale album Church Of Anthrax heavied up by a psychedelic stage band, with tons of synth and electronics amidst the strings and horns and percussive skitter. Other comparisons we could cite include the Swedish sixties psych groups Parson Sound/International Harvester (also big Riley fans), some large prog jazz rock ensembles of the '70s, like Keith Tippett's Canterbury based Centipede, and krautrockers Out Of Focus (circa Four Letter Monday Afternoon), as well as various underground free drone ensembles of more recent vintage.
The two part, twenty-plus-minute "Seen From Above" early in the first disc is really worth the price of admission alone, a tour de force that sums up the glories of the OUA without revealing quite all the secrets that you'll encounter elsewhere on these two densely-packed discs (77+ minutes disc 1, 76+ minutes disc 2, no wasted space in other words, you get your money's worth!). The piece is full of droning deep rumbles that resolve into strong bass pulsations, graced with gorgeous organ tones, and dramatic drum rolls and cymbal crashes.
But the next track, the 10 minute plus "The Opposition Effect" is equally impressive, getting even heavier with the krautROCK elements, and brings the Juxtavoices to bear as well, with some intense vocal chant that reminds us of the aforementioned International Harvester.
And so it goes, and goes, the UOA at times bombastic and heavy, at others more hauntingly subtle and murmuring, with squeaks and mumbles, like an orchestra tuning up, in a murky sonic miasma. Much of this is stirring & cinematic, with parts that remind us of Godspeed! You Black Emperor and experimental Norwegian "death-jazzers" Supersilent too. The latter especially on disc two, which opens in an even, ah, moodier mood, the sound ever more abstract and ambient on "An Open Vista Is Revealed", followed by "He Died Before I Could Get My Revenge", which begins with shimmering jittering electronics and stumbling drums. Towards the end of that track, the Juxtavoices ensemble is employed to provide a bed of buried, layered and effected vocal snippets on the subject of the track's disturbing title (giving both a "hearing creepy voices in your head" and "overheard noisy cocktail party conversation" vibe at once). On both discs, the Juxtavoices talents are used judiciously in ways that really put this over the top in the sheer weirdness dep't., really letting it all out in feral, primal form amidst the murk of disc two's closer "Their Dark Presence Stretches Through The Void".
Oh, and eventually of course the krauty drum propulsion kicks in on this disc as well.
Essentially, the UOA take krautrock derived, pounding rhythmic hypnosis a la Circle, and combines it with the symphonic majesty of something like another recent aQ Record Of The Week, the reissue of William Sheller's glorious Lux Aeterna, if you can imagine that, or (if you've ever heard it) Richard Youngs' pseudo prog-rock Ilk project taken to Magma-like orchestral extremes.
At the core of the UOA, is English composer/improviser Martin Archer, also a member of The Divine Winds, and organizer of Juxtavoices. He's a quite prolific musician, who runs the Discus label that put this out, and we should really review more of his releases in future. Previously, Archer's name HAS appeared on the aQ list as a key member of crushing industrial doom/free jazz prog outfit Combat Astronomy, much loved by us; he's also the fellow responsible for the Saint Agnes Fountain album from about ten years ago, a clever hoax that purported to be an early '70s recording from a fictional female Japanese minimalist composer named Masayo Asahara (and if you liked that Martin Archer alter-ego as much as we did, you'll totally dig the UOA, they seem to share a lot of the same sonic inspirations).
Martin, we're impressed. And this couldn't be more up our alley, as you can perhaps judge by the artists we've attempted to compare this to. In a word, wow.
At last!! It's been a while since we last caught up with entirely UN-orthodox Spanish dooooooooooom mongers Orthodox. Yeah, doom with so many o's that we're surprised they had any left for the 3 in their name. But also doom that takes a lot of strange twists and turns into the furthest far out zones of the genre.
This band's first two outstanding albums, Gran Poder and Amanecer En Puerta Oscura, were issued stateside by Southern Lord back in 2007. Now, six years later, we have the Spanish release of the their fourth opus, Baal. (Their third album, 2009's Sentencia was MIA at aQ, but maybe we'll be able to get some now that we tracked down an import supplier for this new one.) Billed as a return to their heavy doom Gran Poder roots, after the psychedelic, almost jazz-like experimentation of the last couple, this IS hellishly heavy, though still quite avant-garde, as well.
Lead off instrumental track "Alto Padre", despite its deep distorted low-end, is definitely more psych than doom, in fact... skittering percussive pitter-patter and chiming guitars conjure a hazy, mellow mood. It's a woozy ritual that could easily appeal to Six Organs Of Admittance fans, for instance. But then the band brings the doom hammer down, big time, on the next song, "Taurus", quite a surprise for some of us here who didn't know what we were listening to... Crushing, crashing chords and peals of feedback begin the jagged death march that continues over Baal's remaining four tracks. You don't listen to this for conventional "songishness", nor really even for riffs (though there are RIFFS), more for the totality of the experience of Orthodox's tectonic rumble and psychedelic sickness... It's a combo of lumbering sludge bulldozing, twisted gnarled leads, and alien, underwatery atmospheres. And vocals - with a weird, wavering effect on 'em, very much like OM meets YOB, intoning grim and desperate chant. With those vocals, one starts to think about the band inhaling from a balloon filled with, not helium, but some other, psychotropic gas... actually maybe not sucking on the balloon, but being sucked INTO it, the entire band inhabiting some impossible, drug-filled inner space. Which also sounds like it could be deep under the earth. Soon you'll be trapped there too, possessed by the churning metallic attacks, spacious drones, and proggy freakouts found throughout the demonic Baal...
The grande finale, 14 minute "Abrase Le Tierra" sums it up, explosions of distortion detonating over drum clatter and organ drone, then the guitarist goes offffff and it's a doomed out Earthless... before a wild, heavily effected finish. Imagine a mix of Yob, Gallhammer, Earth, and even Comets On Fire, here!
If the well-used terms psychedelic and heavy, which have been cited umpteen thousand times on this list alone, have any relevance to your listening habits, especially at their extremes, then we suggest you get this Orthodox album (and The Wounded Kings also this list, and the Elder reviewed last time, too, for that matter, if you haven't already), you'll be happy you did!
Orthrelm spells...? Not relief from headache, that's for sure! Notorious guitarist Mick Barr (ex-Crom Tech, and of Octis and Flying Luttenbachers infamy also) and drummer Josh Blair continue their assault on musical sanity with Ov, newly released by Mike Patton's envelope-pushing Ipecac label. Ov leaves the envelope pretty much pushed beyond what most people can take -- it will be quite the endurance test for some, but pure bliss for a select few. By the end of this review you should know who you are if you don't already (owning other records involving Barr is one clue).
Way back when we reviewed Orthrelm's debut ep Iorxhscimtor, we admitted that we'd been under the mistaken impression that Orthrelm was supposed to be "some sort of droney, doomy thing with super-long songs". It wasn't... but now it is. Sort of. Unlike previous Orthrelm releases (and Barr's other project Octis), Ov isn't about a million trebly tracks of stop-start skronk. No, here the duo's frenetic drumming and insidious ADD guitar squiggle are harnessed into a single, 45 minute long track of intense, almost metallic, repetitive minimalism. A high-pitched, note-dense, trance-inducing (maybe seizures too?), insectoid symphony that slowly shifts gears and builds tension but offers little respite or resolution until its 45 minutes are up or your ears/speakers/the disc iself shatters from the stress. Yet, if you can take it, Ov's continuous rumble of drums and precision frenzies of tinny guitar shred also create a thing of static, maddening beauty. I think...or maybe I've lost it. Am I crazy when I think that some of the feedbackier parts remind me of moments of the Boredoms' Super Ae? Or that this is not entirely unlike something that Boris or SUNNO))) would do... but with a million times more emphasis on the high end, and the notion of motion on the micro if not macro level??
- MPEG stream: "Ov
- MPEG stream: "Ov
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
We've got just a few copies of this recently reissued live disc by the legendary Mutantes -- but be warned, this is post-Rita Lee, mid-'seventies Mutantes, a much different beast than the Tropicalia psych-pop group that made those all-time AQ-fave classics "Os Mutantes" and "Mutantes" (no songs from which appear here). By the time "Ao Vivo" was recorded in 1976, they'd turned into a full-blown Progressive Rock band. Not that that's bad, at all, it's just that this will appeal more to keen Mutantes completists (and Yes fans) than people looking for more of the irresistably genius sounds of their '60s incarnation.
Woah. Kinda pricey but NICE import vinyl version of this super rare, Italian '70s hard rock / prog rock gem. We reviewed a cd reissue of this many, many moons ago. Neat to have it in stock again, on a nice big gatefold lp so the kitschy colorful artwork (and cool band photo on the back) can be fully appreciated.
These guys take the likes of contemporaries Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, High Tide, maybe some freaky Zappa, that sort of thing, add a bit of an American Indian theme-shtick, and just GO FOR IT in an absurdly wonderful over the top blazing heavy guitar attack that seems almost tongue-in-cheek (parodic of the genre) but is so good you know they mean it. Those moments are the highlights, but there's lots else to recommend this: delicate pastoral interludes, pop vocal choruses, weird chanting, the rockin' prog bombast, and complex psychedelic passages. Another obscure bellbottomed rock treasure from the fabulous '70s. A proud addition to any truly badass, proggy poppy proto-metal vinyl collection...
Super rare, Italian '70s hard rock / prog rock now on cd. These guys take the likes of contemporaries Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, High Tide, maybe some Zappa, that sort of thing, add a bit of an American Indian theme-shtick, and just Go For It in an absurdly wonderful over the top blazing heavy guitar attack that seems almost tongue-in-cheek (parodic of the genre) but is so GOOD you know they mean it. Those moments are the highlights, but there's lots else to recommend this: delicate pastoral interludes, pop vocal choruses, weird chanting, the rockin' prog bombast, and complex psychelelic passages. Another obscure bellbottomed rock treasure from the fabulous '70s. Two bonus tracks too.
Ok, here they are, the first and best three albums (reissued on cd) by "possibly Allan and Andee's all time favorite prog band" Osanna, as we boldly declared in our review of another Italian prog rock fave, Il Balleto Di Bronzo. Yep, we've got the Osanna discs now, so you can judge for yourself. Even limiting our discussion to the realm of Italian prog, it would be difficult to claim that Osanna are objectively better than the also amazing likes of Il Balleto, Le Orme, Area, New Trolls, Franco Battiato, Goblin, I Teoremi, RDM, Museo Rosenbach, etc. But, Osanna do somehow combine the key elements of what we like about those bands and prog in general into these three crazy, colorful records, and thus deserve our hype. Ripping flute and sax solos, heavy psych guitar, powerful vocal choruses, hard rockin' prog drumming, weird musical changes and juxtapositions, electronic synth experimentation... Catchy, fun, fucked up prog from five nutty Italians, who want to rock out as much as be arty and display their adept musicanship.
The wonders of Italian prog have been revealed to us in a gradual process of discovery -- finding a used cd with a cool cover, or reading somwhere about another strange band, or getting a recommendation from a friend or customer. Neither of us grew up in Italy, or had a geeky older brother to hand down his PFM and Goblin LPs. In the case of Osanna, Andee's the one who came across 'em first, while travelling in Japan, actually. Rather randomly, the guy from the Boredoms-meets-St. Vitus doom/trance band Solar Anus (soon to have a mindblowing tUMULt label release) gave Andee a tape of Osanna to take home, promising him he'd like it. Well, Solar Anus dude knew whereof he spoke! Soon we were on-line, trying to track down the LPs, or cd reissues. Not long thereafter, Andee and Allan both possessed the complete works of Osanna on cd. But it took more than a few months for us to find a wholesale supplier so we could stock 'em at Aquarius and share our Osanna-excitement with you, our prog-lovin' customers... Actually we hope that self-proclaimed "prog" dedication is not necessary for enjoyment of Osanna, as we think that these discs are good and weird and silly enough for AQ-customers into whatever sort of musical extremity (experimental, krautrock, psych, metal, classic rock) to dig.
Osanna's 1971 debut "L'Uomo" may be the most song-oriented of these three albums, their Crimson and Tull influences easy to spot. They sound a bit like a proggier, Italian version of Mexican contemporaries Dug Dugs, if that's of any help -- equally into weird psychedelic effects, hard rock, and pop. A couple of the poppier songs are sung in English, and those might result in a few uncomfortable moments of "what am I listening to here?" panic. But the sheer exuberance and fuzzed out riffing of "L'Uomo" as a whole can't be argued with!
Yay! The two albums on this two-fer cd have been out of print and unavailable for too long, considering that they're two of our faves in the realm of prog rock craziness, the first two from Italian '70s proggers Osanna. Nice to have 'em back in one handy, inexpensive-for-an-import package (though, the no-frills graphic design of the digipak leaves something to be desired, wish they would have included full-sized album art, for one thing).
"Allan and Andee's all time favorite prog band", is how we boldly described Osanna in our review of another Italian prog rock fave, Il Balletto Di Bronzo. Ok, even limiting our discussion to the realm of Italian prog, it would be difficult to claim that Osanna are objectively better than the also amazing likes of Il Balleto, Le Orme, Area, New Trolls, Franco Battiato, Goblin, I Teoremi, RDM, Museo Rosenbach, etc. But, Osanna do somehow combine the key elements of what we like about those bands and prog in general into these three crazy, colorful records, and thus deserve our hype. Ripping flute and sax solos, heavy psych guitar, powerful vocal choruses, hard rockin' prog drumming, weird musical changes and juxtapositions, electronic synth experimentation... Catchy, fun, fucked up prog from five nutty Italians, who want to rock out as much as be arty and display their adept musicianship.
The wonders of Italian prog have been revealed to us in a gradual process of discovery - finding a used cd with a cool cover, or reading somewhere about another strange band, or getting a recommendation from a friend or customer. Neither of us grew up in Italy, or had a geeky older brother to hand down his PFM and Goblin lps. In the case of Osanna, Andee's the one who came across 'em first, while travelling in Japan, actually. Rather randomly, the guy from the Boredoms-meets-St. Vitus doom/trance band Solar Anus (released on Andee's tUMULt label) gave Andee a tape of Osanna to take home, promising him he'd like it. Well, Solar Anus dude knew whereof he spoke! Soon we were on-line, trying to track down the LPs, or cd reissues. Not long thereafter, Andee and Allan both possessed the complete works of Osanna. Ever since we've been super psyched to share our Osanna-excitement with you, our prog-lovin' customers... Actually we hope that self-proclaimed "prog" dedication is not necessary for enjoyment of Osanna, as we think that these discs are good and weird and silly enough for aQ-customers into whatever sort of musical extremity (experimental, krautrock, psych, metal, classic rock) to dig.
Osanna's 1971 (!!!) debut L'Uomo may be the most song-oriented of their albums, their Crimson and Tull influences easy to spot. They sound a bit like a proggier, Italian version of Mexican contemporaries Dug Dugs, if that's of any help - equally into weird psychedelic effects, hard rock, and pop. A couple of the poppier songs are sung in English, and those might result in a few uncomfortable moments of "what am I listening to here?" panic. But the sheer exuberance and fuzzed out riffing of L'Uomo as a whole can't be argued with!
Then, the second Osanna album, from '72, was a soundtrack to a film called Milano Calibro 9. Working in collaboration with arranger Luis Bacalov, who is also known for his work with the New Trolls' symphonic efforts, this album incorporates strings, piano, and classical motifs. And, as befits a film soundtrack, many moods are touched upon... We don't know what the movie was all about, but it must have featured a fair amount of action, and trippy scenes. Osanna come up with super bombastic themes, high-energy instrumental freak-outs, suspenseful bits of jazziness, pretty vocal interludes, bleepy-bloopy synth fx, heavy electronic organ riff-drone, and the most heavy metal flute soloing you've ever heard. Totally kick ass. Osanna, you rock. Goblin was never this heavy.
Another one of our all time favorite Italian prog records, by one of our all time favorite Italian prog bands, reissued on vinyl! The cds have ben out of print for ages, so it seems this might be the only way to get this for now...
"Allan and Andee's all time favorite prog band", is how we boldly described Osanna in our review of another Italian prog rock fave, Il Balleto Di Bronzo. We've now got Osanna's L'uomo in stock on vinyl, so you can judge for yourself. Even limiting our discussion to the realm of Italian prog, it would be difficult to claim that Osanna are objectively better than the also amazing likes of Il Balleto, Le Orme, Area, New Trolls, Franco Battiato, Goblin, I Teoremi, RDM, Museo Rosenbach, etc. But, Osanna do somehow combine the key elements of what we like about those bands and prog in general into these three crazy, colorful records, and thus deserve our hype. Ripping flute and sax solos, heavy psych guitar, powerful vocal choruses, hard rockin' prog drumming, weird musical changes and juxtapositions, electronic synth experimentation... Catchy, fun, fucked up prog from five nutty Italians, who want to rock out as much as be arty and display their adept musicanship.
The wonders of Italian prog have been revealed to us in a gradual process of discovery -- finding a used cd with a cool cover, or reading somwhere about another strange band, or getting a recommendation from a friend or customer. Neither of us grew up in Italy, or had a geeky older brother to hand down his PFM and Goblin LPs. In the case of Osanna, Andee's the one who came across 'em first, while travelling in Japan, actually. Rather randomly, the guy from the Boredoms-meets-St. Vitus doom/trance band Solar Anus (released on Andee's tUMULt label) gave Andee a tape of Osanna to take home, promising him he'd like it. Well, Solar Anus dude knew whereof he spoke! Soon we were on-line, trying to track down the LPs, or cd reissues. Not long thereafter, Andee and Allan both possessed the complete works of Osanna. Ever since we've been super psyched to share our Osanna-excitement with you, our prog-lovin' customers... Actually we hope that self-proclaimed "prog" dedication is not necessary for enjoyment of Osanna, as we think that these discs are good and weird and silly enough for AQ-customers into whatever sort of musical extremity (experimental, krautrock, psych, metal, classic rock) to dig.
Osanna's 1971 debut "L'Uomo" may be the most song-oriented of the first three 'essential' albums, their Crimson and Tull influences easy to spot. They sound a bit like a proggier, Italian version of Mexican contemporaries Dug Dugs, if that's of any help -- equally into weird psychedelic effects, hard rock, and pop. A couple of the poppier songs are sung in English, and those might result in a few uncomfortable moments of "what am I listening to here?" panic. But the sheer exuberance and fuzzed out riffing of "L'Uomo" as a whole can't be argued with!
Ok, here they are, the first and best three albums (reissued on cd) by "possibly Allan and Andee's all time favorite prog band" Osanna, as we boldly declared in our review of another Italian prog rock fave, Il Balleto Di Bronzo. Yep, we've got the Osanna discs now, so you can judge for yourself. Even limiting our discussion to the realm of Italian prog, it would be difficult to claim that Osanna are objectively better than the also amazing likes of Il Balleto, Le Orme, Area, New Trolls, Franco Battiato, Goblin, I Teoremi, RDM, Museo Rosenbach, etc. But, Osanna do somehow combine the key elements of what we like about those bands and prog in general into these three crazy, colorful records, and thus deserve our hype. Ripping flute and sax solos, heavy psych guitar, powerful vocal choruses, hard rockin' prog drumming, weird musical changes and juxtapositions, electronic synth experimentation... Catchy, fun, fucked up prog from five nutty Italians, who want to rock out as much as be arty and display their adept musicanship.
The wonders of Italian prog have been revealed to us in a gradual process of discovery -- finding a used cd with a cool cover, or reading somwhere about another strange band, or getting a recommendation from a friend or customer. Neither of us grew up in Italy, or had a geeky older brother to hand down his PFM and Goblin LPs. In the case of Osanna, Andee's the one who came across 'em first, while travelling in Japan, actually. Rather randomly, the guy from the Boredoms-meets-St. Vitus doom/trance band Solar Anus (soon to have a mindblowing tUMULt label release) gave Andee a tape of Osanna to take home, promising him he'd like it. Well, Solar Anus dude knew whereof he spoke! Soon we were on-line, trying to track down the LPs, or cd reissues. Not long thereafter, Andee and Allan both possessed the complete works of Osanna on cd. But it took more than a few months for us to find a wholesale supplier so we could stock 'em at Aquarius and share our Osanna-excitement with you, our prog-lovin' customers... Actually we hope that self-proclaimed "prog" dedication is not necessary for enjoyment of Osanna, as we think that these discs are good and weird and silly enough for AQ-customers into whatever sort of musical extremity (experimental, krautrock, psych, metal, classic rock) to dig.
1972's Osanna album, their second, was a soundtrack to a film called "Milano Calibro 9". Working in collaboration with arranger Luis Bacalov, who is also known for his work with the New Trolls' symphonic efforts, this album incorporates strings, piano, and classical motifs. And, as befits a film soundtrack, many moods are touched upon... We don't know what the movie was all about, but it must have featured a fair amount of action, and trippy scenes. Osanna come up with super bombastic themes, high-energy instrumental freak-outs, suspenseful bits of jazziness, pretty vocal interludes, bleepy-bloopy synth fx, heavy electronic organ riff-drone, and the most heavy metal flute soloing you've ever heard. Totally kick ass. Osanna, you rock. Goblin was never this heavy.
Ok, here they are, the first and best three albums (reissued on cd) by "possibly Allan and Andee's all time favorite prog band" Osanna, as we boldly declared in our review of another Italian prog rock fave, Il Balleto Di Bronzo. Yep, we've got the Osanna discs now, so you can judge for yourself. Even limiting our discussion to the realm of Italian prog, it would be difficult to claim that Osanna are objectively better than the also amazing likes of Il Balleto, Le Orme, Area, New Trolls, Franco Battiato, Goblin, I Teoremi, RDM, Museo Rosenbach, etc. But, Osanna do somehow combine the key elements of what we like about those bands and prog in general into these three crazy, colorful records, and thus deserve our hype. Ripping flute and sax solos, heavy psych guitar, powerful vocal choruses, hard rockin' prog drumming, weird musical changes and juxtapositions, electronic synth experimentation... Catchy, fun, fucked up prog from five nutty Italians, who want to rock out as much as be arty and display their adept musicanship.
The wonders of Italian prog have been revealed to us in a gradual process of discovery -- finding a used cd with a cool cover, or reading somwhere about another strange band, or getting a recommendation from a friend or customer. Neither of us grew up in Italy, or had a geeky older brother to hand down his PFM and Goblin LPs. In the case of Osanna, Andee's the one who came across 'em first, while travelling in Japan, actually. Rather randomly, the guy from the Boredoms-meets-St. Vitus doom/trance band Solar Anus (soon to have a mindblowing tUMULt label release) gave Andee a tape of Osanna to take home, promising him he'd like it. Well, Solar Anus dude knew whereof he spoke! Soon we were on-line, trying to track down the LPs, or cd reissues. Not long thereafter, Andee and Allan both possessed the complete works of Osanna on cd. But it took more than a few months for us to find a wholesale supplier so we could stock 'em at Aquarius and share our Osanna-excitement with you, our prog-lovin' customers... Actually we hope that self-proclaimed "prog" dedication is not necessary for enjoyment of Osanna, as we think that these discs are good and weird and silly enough for AQ-customers into whatever sort of musical extremity (experimental, krautrock, psych, metal, classic rock) to dig.
"Palepoli" was Osanna's third album, originally released in 1973. Getting even proggier perhaps, the record consists of but three tracks: two long (18 and 21 minute) tracks divided by a brief, under 2 minute interlude. These extended suites blenderize all previous elements of Osanna's music, both light and heavy. Grandiose pop collides with mathy instrumental interplay, gentle, ethnic flavored passages of voice and flute suddenly give way to bombastic guitar and sax attacks, drums n' bass gallops are interrupted by electronic squiggles. Some field recordings of street sounds even make it into the mix. We, the goofy, cheesy, '70s prog fiends we are, like each part individually, the crazy combination of musical moods is but a bonus, as with their other albums as well...
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
The Finnish band Paine (which in their language means not Pain, but Pressure) features at least three ex-members of Circle...and you can tell. Like Circle, Paine construct tight, repetitive riffs and rhythms, mostly instrumental. Darker and scarier though, with bombastic grooves and distorted vocal snippets. It's a sort of mechanical brutality, like Circle gone Industrial. Paine march in endless, relentless circles in a sci-fi wasteland. Paine, pressure, pleasure. This six-song cd-r is actually a reissue (with 2 additional tracks and new, fancy oversized packaging -- a blue vellum envelope with acetate inserts) of a previous limited cd-r release. This one's limited too (there's 150 of 'em), we've only got what we've got -- 12 copies -- and that's it.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Some heavy, mostly instrumental French prog-rock from '78, newly reissued. A generally spooky atmosphere with moments of prettiness, with influences ranging from jazz to classical to (of course!) fellow French jazz-classical progsters Magma... This reissue includes over thirty minutes of live material. Not up there with Magma, Heldon, or Shub Niggurath, but still some second-tier stuff worth checking out for fans of that genre/scene.
This, my friends, is a not a book, but a tome. Over 700 pages, collecting together almost every important piece of writing that appeared in Archie Patterson's Eurock 'zine during its existence from 1973 to 1990, and more. Eurock magazine was all about prog / psych / krautrock / space rock / electronic stuff (in later years, entering into New Age territory to be sure), not just from Europe actually but from around the world. The earlier material is particularily cool 'cause Eurock's coverage of bands like Amon Duul and Can is like reading a current magazine's stuff about Godspeed You Black Emperor! or Acid Mothers Temple...it puts things then and now into perspective. There's tons of obscure lore in here to uncover -- paging through at random I found articles about Ash Ra Tempel and Area, a piece on '70s Yugoslavian rock, a recent interview with Magma's Christian Vander, a review of a 1980 Rock In Opposition festival, and even an interview with our favorite '70s Italian prog band Osanna! In addition, as a special bonus, this book includes a seven-page appreciation of Amon Duul written in 1971 (for Creem magazine) by famous rock crit Lester Bangs, that I for one have always wanted to read. Basically, this book, I mean, tome, is highly recommended to all weird kraut / psych / prog music fiends!
NB: All of this and more (excepting some new pieces and the Bangs article), I believe, is also to be found on the still-available Eurock cd-rom production "Golden Age" that we reviewed on AQ list #105 -- but we have to say that the book format is far superior for reading and browsing, though of course it lacks the multi-media content etc. I'd pick this up a lot more often than I'd pop the cd-rom into my Mac.
We had been hearing about this collaboration for a while now, definitely excited but not sure what to expect from a meeting of the warped musical minds between weirdo outsider noise jazz terrorists Talibam! and just plain weirdos Peeesseye, who would prevail, jazz or noise? Would it be unlistenable? Would it be unlistenable in a GOOD WAY? Would it rock?
So while the answers are both, both, no, yes, yes, all you need to know is this is a serious chunk of psychedelic spaced out jazz flecked heaviness. It is on Invada after all, home to both the Heads and White Hills, so in that sense, this does sort of fit. The opening track is basically a super charged jazz kraut blow out, the guitars fuzzed out, the organ warbly and wild, everything wreathed in thick clouds of buzz and hiss, loads of effects, total post Hawkwind psych drone free jazz freakout, which shifts gears at some point and becomes even more of a krautrock jam, crunchy and distorted, with some weirdo vocals buried in the mix, eventually exploding into a frenzied freakout, before finishing off with a super distorted, in-the-red churning chugging space drone dirge finale. Phew.
The next track offers some recovery time, a gorgeous raga like buzzscape, minimal percussion, weird production, some abstract twang, but the core sound a thick shimmering layered dreamlike drone. Ten minutes of pure cosmic bliss.
But c'mon, that can't last long with these guys, "Everything for Everyone" is a crumbling, fractured noisefest, weirdly melodic, but chaotic and harsh, some slice and dice weirdness, fields of feedback, and more upper register drones, "A Grey Mountain of Shit" is full on freaked out psychedelic free jazz, with some incredible drumming, wild tangled guitaring, and a weirdo stumbling whatthefuck outro, all Tom Waits like growls, warped synths, and more wild unhinged drumming.
The record closes with the 17+ minute "Year of the Moral Orgy / Grit of the Ghost", which begins life as a sprawling bit of psychedelic dronefolk, a distant buzz, little curlicues of high end melody, random percussion, a smoldering minimally tense dronescape, which grows more and more chaotic and intense, the drone threatening to swallow the song whole, never fully exploding, instead, stumbling to a confusional halt, complete with garbled vox and a slowly collapsing universe of sound.
Attention, all worshippers of WITCHCRAFT!! What we have here is the next best thing to new music from that more '70s than thou band of Swedish heavy prog downer doomsters, and huge AQ faves. It's the debut solo recording from Witchcraft frontman Magnus Pelander, a four song, 21 minute ep. If you're a real Witchcraft fan, you'll want this. Since Magnus is the prime mover in Witchcraft, and this highlights his distinctive, mellifluous voice as well as guitar playing and songwriting talents, it's one of those "solo" projects that doesn't sound too different from the main band.... except it's mostly acoustic! A few years back, one time when Witchcraft were playing in San Francisco, Magnus told us he had plans to team up with a friend of his back home, who's also his guitar teacher, to do an acoustic album. We'd been eagerly waiting ever since, and it seems that their project has finally borne fruit. Magnus plays 6 string acoustic guitar, electric as well, plus drums and percussion. And of course sings. Meanwhile, his friend Mike (first name only given here, he's shy or something) plays 6 and 12 steel string acoustic guitars, plus piano, bass, percussion, and handles the string arrangements.
AQ's Allan, actually, was lucky enough to get to see the duo's first ever performance, this year at the Roadburn festival in Holland. For him, it was definitely a highlight of the fest, though Magnus and Mike were frustrated by some technical difficulties during their set. Still, they rose to the occasion and delivered some of the most "musical" moments of the whole Roadburn experience. Let's put it this way: Magnus is no slouch on guitar, but this guy Mike was really phenomenal!
The glorious, intricate interplay of guitars Allan heard there is fully on display here, as is the manner in which Magnus bears his heart vocally and lyrically, these songs so personal and emotive, like a lot of the most moving Witchcraft tunes. Some of this has got that sad Sabbath "Solitude" vibe, though the ep starts out on the brighter side with "A Sinner's Child", featuring melodious whistling, and lovely female backing ah-ah-ah's, but also lyrics like "I am a sinner's child / you better wait a while / before you take my hand / can you see Satan smile?" keeping it well within the realm of something dark and occultic that Witchcraft themselves might do. "Hope", which begins just with voice and piano, getting even more intimate in feel than the first track, soon turns into even more of a showcase for this duo's impressive 6 and 12 string chops. They rip... acoustically. Track 3, "You Have Got No Friends To Turn To" is by far the heaviest offering here, Magnus busting out the electric guitar for some plodding riff stomp and amped-up psychedelic soloing, though the track is still adorned with plenty of acoustic filigree and hand percussion. Certainly another one that wouldn't be out of place on a Witchcraft album.
The last, and longest, track, "Stardust", is an achingly beautiful and melancholic ballad, Magus's singing starting off hushed, the strumming almost sacred, a string section gradually building up in the background, piano notes intertwined with the guitar lines, it gets pretty progged out and epic! Allan definitely remembers this one from Roadburn, even in the stripped down way they played it there.
This record recalls at moments the likes of Comus and Six Organs and Aztec Two-Step and even, unintentionally but awesomely, Tenacious D, just a teeny bit. Fellow Swedes Dungen and Bjorn Olsson would be other references. And while in our experience, most people into the whole current indie acid folk scene already do dig Witchcraft, those who haven't heard 'em might find this to be a particularly lush, gorgeous, somewhat mellowed out entree.
LIMITED IMPORT RELEASE, cd version limited to 500 copies. We have black vinyl, with nice thick sleeves.
