[ aquarius records — Rock Pop ]

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Showing results 6851 through 6900 of 19388.

This is the 20th Anniversary Special Edition cd from the Lucio Fulci (Argento produced) classic ZOMBI! Features six bonus tracks not featured on the original release...whoops, we screwed up with this description. One of our favorite customers, Jordan Perry, happened to catch our mistake, so we thought we'd just put his whole email about it up here to clarify matters: "...you list the Goblin soundtrack "Zombi" as being directed by Fulci. But it's not. And it's a complicated story, so please, bear with me. "Zombi" is actually Argento's Italian cut of Romero's "Dawn of the Dead." Argento was the producer of the film, and for it's release in Italy, he chose the film to be edited in slightly different ways than Romero had. Goblin composed a soundtrack, but from my understanding, Romero didn't much like it and only used it sparingly in his cut of the film. Argento, however, I'm guessing used more of Goblin's music in his version, perhaps explaining why this soundtrack is called "Zombi" instead of the much better-known title "Dawn of the Dead." But then there's Fulci's zombie film too, which was called (in Italy) "Zombi 2," likely an attempt to cash in on the success of Romero's/Argento's film by claiming itself a sequel. For its American release though, it was simply called "Zombie." The chance for confusion here then is obvious: Fulci's American title is only one letter different from Romero's/Argento's Italian title. Most important in all of this though is that Goblin did NOT compose the soundtrack to Fulci's film. Rather, that was Fulci-regular Fabio Frizzi (The Beyond, City of the Living Dead, Manhattan Baby), and IT is an amazing soundtrack, far better I think than Goblin's for their zombie film, particularly Frizzi's chilling main theme that got me so into horror soundtracks in the first place (this was about four months ago, and now I've got over 30 horror soundtracks in my collection). And I've been spending heaps of time renting horror movies of late, that is why I have all these facts down pat. And if you've only heard the soundtrack to Suspiria and not seen the movie, I most highly recommend you do see it. Of the fifteen or so horror movies I have seen in this past month's spree, Suspiria still easily ranks at the top (due in large part to the brilliant Goblin soundtrack for it). So... yeah. Do what you wish with this information." Thanks Jordan, for all the interesting info. Sorry for our misinformation!

By now you must realize we're total suckers for a ridiculous band name. Bathtub Shitter, Fuck, I'm Dead, Lurker Of Chalice, Goat Thrower, we could go one and on. But when faced with a band name like Goblin Cock. Well as far as we're concerned we're pretty much sold already. Then incorporate some classic fantasy art depicting a goblin, seated upon a throne, surrounded by fire, with his lengthy member protruding from his voluminous robes, like a sleeping serpent (and while we're at it, why not put a huge gold hoop through the tip?!), and then add some band photos, cloaked in mist, the band members be-robed skeletons, all crowded around and cradling a glowing metal skull. Okay, enough already! We love it. Well the surprising thing here, is that this is not in fact some crazy metal band, or some troop of weird metal ironists, no Goblin Cock is actually the latest group masterminded by Mr. Rob Crow, who you may know better as a member of Pinback, or Thingy, or Heavy Vegetable. And while this was purported to be Rob Crow's metal record (Heavy Metal Vegetable?), it's not all that far removed from the complex and off kilter pop we've come to expect. The guitars are definitely heavier, lots of distorted chug, and there's all sorts of metallic pounding drummage and plenty of very 'metal' moments, but the songs are still catchy, ridiculously so sometimes, and Rob's voice is killer as always, every song a twisted snarl of buzzing guitars, rich harmonies, strange arrangements and hooks galore, albeit wrapped snugly in leather and denim and spikes and blackened hoods! Probably not metal enough to get Goblin Cock a slot on Ozzfest, but just heavy enough to supply your indie rock collection with a much needed dose of heavy metal thunder. Sort of. And if you're not sold already, check this out: http://www.wormwoodfilms.com/movies/goblin_cock_2.mpg

MPEG stream: Stumped
MPEG stream: The Crusher
MPEG stream: Ichiro's Dilemma
MPEG stream: The Revenge Of Snufalufagus

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

SORRY.

Not to be confused with '90s Pathological Records heavies God, THIS God were from Australia, and in the eighties, these teenagers kicked up a serious ruckus, a ramshackle rambunctious grinding guitar heavy punk rock equal parts Stooges, KISS, the Replacements, the Ramones, the riffs crunchy and fuzzy, the drums wild and loose, the vocals a buried bark here, a deep Nick Cave-ish croon there, the songs KILLER, heavy and hooky and melodic, the vibe snarly and snarky and pissed off, just listen to "Gunk" and you'll be sold, a seriously hard and heavy blast of punky pop, churning riffs giving way to some sweet melodies and some bad ass guitar leads, and that's just the first track, from there on out, it's non stop rock. Big riffs, big hooks, fuzzy and distorted, trashy and ramshackle, occasionally dipping into something a bit more restrained, more melodic, but it's never long until the next burst of adrenalized crunch and pound. This is definitely some primal rock energy, essential listening for all worshippers of THE RIFF. Super nice packaging, their complete recordings on two discs, all remastered, including singles, and rare covers (KISS and the Stooges!), as well as a recording of their final gig in 1989, also includes a big ol' booklet of liner notes and photos.

MPEG stream: Gunk
MPEG stream: Headin' For The Id
MPEG stream: Golly Wolly Golly Wolly Hoo Ha
MPEG stream: Sook
MPEG stream: Snake Charmer

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

SORRY. Newest from these always-fun NYC queer-positive artskronk rockers.

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

SORRY. We've also got the West Coast exclusive on the newest GIMCP cd, which was recorded for their European tour and is therefore limited to 500 copies, most of which presumably belong to Europeans now. Chaotic downtown New York intensity with a rollicking punk/no wave edge, God Is My Co-Pilot has been one of our favorite bands for years. This release includes covers of Spaceheads (who confirmed their Terrastock appearance, yay!), Frances Gall, the Carter Family, and Beausoleil.

22 tracks of GIMCP's favorites. Including "Steal Yr. Girlfriend."

God Is My Copilot.

After the four song Decline & Fall ep from earlier this year, legendary industrial metal duo Godflesh follow it up with their first full length in THIRTEEN YEARS, the first since 2001's Hymns, and like Decline & Fall, it's a total time machine trip, the band sounding pretty much as good as they did back in the day. All the elements are present, the robotic drum machine pummel, the crushing down tuned riffage, the thick rumbling bass, Justin Broadrick's throaty bellow. When we first heard about Godflesh's reformation and return, we were sort of expecting it to be more of a Godflesh lite, with some of Broadrick's other more poppy band Jesu finding its way into Godflesh's new sound. But that new sound is pretty much their old sound, and we're definitely not complaining. Other than the first couple Pitchshifter records, which were widely considered to be Godflesh ripoffs anyway, no other industrial metal band has managed to pull it off like these guys, creating epically tranced out mechanical metal mesmer, pounding, and churning, a bleakly psychedelic mechanoid doom, that at times had us thinking of modern, machine-making, one man doom band Author & Punisher, which makes sense since he no doubt owes pretty much his whole sound to Godflesh, but for folks late to the party, young 'uns who maybe missed out on Godflesh the first time around, and who have been digging stuff like A&P, this is the OG shit, or the OIM (original industrial metal?) shit. And it's not just the sound, the songs too, long stretches of grinding riffage, give way to more spaced out psychedelic passages, cascades of minor key melody draped over stuttering drum machines, and undulating bass buzz, the vocals too, even occasionally slip into a more sort of monk-like chant before returning to that distinctive bark, the songs weirdly catchy, which is quite a feat for music like this, but for every atmospheric bit, every buried hook, every melodic moment, it's more than made up for by some seriously brutal metallic crush, flurries of pounding behemoth beats, and probably some of the most punishing, skull-caving, down-tuned distorto, industrial-doom riffage you've likely heard in a long, long time. Killer.

MPEG stream: Deadend
MPEG stream: Life Giver Life Taker
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Listening to "Ringer", the first track on Godflesh's new Decline And Fall ep, it would be easy to imagine that this wasn't in fact the duo's first new record since 2001, the sound, as we were assured by folks who heard it before us, was very much like old Godflesh, and now that we -have- heard it, we most definitely concur. Sure there are some subtle differences, the production for one, less raw and abrasive, a bit warmer, as well as some strange sonic filigree that sounds like it could have been lifted off of a Jesu or Pale Sketcher record, and more dynamics too, with some cool psychedelic passages, and more minimal soundscapey bits, but at it's core, and for the bulk of the ep, the new Godflesh hews pretty close to the old. The guitars gristly and crunchy and abrasive, the bass thick and buzzing and corrosive, the drum machine locked into churning, unwavering, industrial rhythms, Broadrick's vocals the same sort of pre-Jesu bellow, the songs strangely catchy, with the occasional soaring melody draped over that instantly recognizable industrial machine metal, laced with shards of feedback, and arc of grinding down tuned crush. The whole thing tranced out and hypnotically headbangable, and a serious return to form, one that has us hankering for a proper full length.

MPEG stream: Ringer
MPEG stream: Dogbite

It's weird to think that amongst the legions of fans out there who LOVE Jesu, there are probably loads of folks who don't realize that Jesu was born out of the mighty behemoth that was Godflesh. Justin Broadrick, who started off in grind pioneers Napalm Death, made a quick pitstop in Head Of David, and eventually struck out on his own in Godflesh. These days, drum machines and metal are not strange bedfellows, but back in the day, this was some seriously what-the-fuck action. Metalheads and punk rockers alike were confused, but got over it pretty quick once they realized that Godflesh might just be the heaviest fiercest thing they had ever heard. And Godflesh at their heaviest was to be found right here, on Streetcleaner, adorned with the now iconic image of crucified men on crossed in front of a cascade of burning lava (a frame from the genius movie Altered States), this record, originally released in 1989, still sounds as fearsome as ever. And now that we have a handful of Jesu records to reference, it's easy to hear that some of the seeds that would eventually blossom into the dreamy shoegazy metallic bliss of Jesu, were present even back then, albeit buried beneath a black hole crush of churning downtuned riffage and blistering skull rattling programmed beats. Our old three sentence, 14 word review of this still says it best: "One of the heaviest, scariest "metal" albums EVER. Drum machine doom death. Godflesh's best." NOW ON VINYL!!! And holy crap if that cover doesn't look even more amazing all blown back up to its proper lp size!!

MPEG stream: Christbait Rising
MPEG stream: Mighty Trust Krusher

This pioneering industrial-metal duo return with another slab of sledgehammer pain. Too bad they're just to stoned to know that the drum'n'bass breaks they're using are just a little tired. And Justin Broadrick's grunting vocals haven't gotten any easier to take. Still, this delivers some of the trademark Godflesh sound that made their classic Streetcleaner one of the most nihilistically heavy albums ever.

More thunder-core from these two maniacs, the biggest sounding bass-drums duo in the world. The hit single this time out? A cover of "In The Air Tonight" that will give Phil Collins nightmares, similar to the tongue-in-cheek, metaller-than-thou cover art and spiky logo.

Sebadoh performed a new song at Sub Pop birthday bash recently; the lyrics went something like "MYWIFETHINKS GODHEADSILOARETHEGREATESTFUCKINGBANDINTHEWORLD!"

"The early Manchester scene was anchored by The Fall, Joy Division, a few straight-ahead punks, and the more idiosyncratic denizens of the Manchester Musicians Collective. And Gods Gift out-did them all - in diffidence, darkness, pure feral energy and gleeful musical anarchy. Their successes were epic, but their failures, too, left indelible impressions. Guitarist Steve Murphy put it simply: "If things were going wrong, we'd make them go more wrong." Singer Steven Edwards once shouted out to a baffled London crowd, "Wotcha dancing for? � it's tuneless, you pillock!"Pathology spans GG's career from 1979 to 1984, drawing material from their records, a Manchester Musicians Collective compilation, several demos and two full-length cassette albums. 12-page booklet with photos and extensive bio; 75 minutes of pounding, insistent, magnificent noise"

Second cd from these political punk rockers. Jarring, chunky yet oddly catchy hardcore that takes some weird twists and turns. Sort of early Fugazi/Bad Religion-ish. Includes a cd-rom of video clips and zine stuff. Recorded by Ryan Massey of American Steel.

While it does take a while for this Canadian nine-piece to build through the opening murky drones, this debut album (originally issued on vinyl through the small Canadian label Constellation) evolves into a dynamic orchestration that falls somewhere in between Dirty Three and Village of Savoonga. The most innovative album from Kranky in a very long time!

The Canadian ensemble Godspeed You Black Emperor has provided a Quebecoise doubling of the title of their third release: one in English, the other an Anglicized French. Throughout their relatively brief but impressive career, Godspeed You Black Emperor has successfully translated a melodramatic psychic desolation into droning orchestrations that soar into majestic crescendos for strings, a trio of guitars, twin bassists and percussionists. Totally majestic and epic. However, the aura of socially-concerned pretentiousness -- which had been held at bay on the last two releases -- really makes itself known on this record. The title's blatantly obvious search for pathos, more unneeded street poetry, and some 'ironic' found sounds from a grocery store's intercom sales announcement are some of GYBE's pretentious excesses on this album. Musically, Godspeed You Black Emperor moves along similar paths as on their previous records... sure it's beautiful, sure it's emotional (except the first track on disc one, in which GYBE tries to make happy music -- a mistake). What was so great about Godspeed's first releases was the remarkable freshness of the sound, as if they emerged from nowhere to produce incredible compositions. But with nothing really new or innovative to push them forward, Godspeed You Black Emperor has gotten a little schmaltzy, a little stale. Mood music without meaning. Furthermore -- put your gossip hats on -- we hear that Godspeed rather repeatedly behaves like uptight cheap assholes to more than several bands they agreed to play shows with, but that's another story. Sorry to be so negative, folks -- it's a fine record and if you haven't heard them before then you should most definitely pick up a Godspped record. It's just that if you're already a big fan, this might disappoint just a little.

The second release from the Canadian nine piece ensemble is about as epic as 28 minutes can get. As with 'F#A#oo", Godspeed render the psychic desolation of the Canadian tundra as an intense soundtrack that swells from glacial strings to dense yet melodic orchestrations for guitars, bass, bells, percussion, and their string section. Certainly inspired by Morricone's mighty scores, "Slow Riot..." is also reminiscient of the dark musings of their contemporaries: Village of Savoonga, Rachel's, Mogwai, etc... Haunting. Beautiful. Awesome. A unanimous staff favorite.

It's a new Godspeed record, and it's got all you've come to know and love about them. Yanqui U.X.O. shows their epic cinematic post-rock gestures getting perhaps even more sweeping and grandiose. The various samples making pointed social criticiscms that appeared throughout Lift Your Skinny Fists... are absent this time around, much to the relief of several AQ staffers who found the politics heavy handed. That doesn't neccesarily mean this record is apolitical-- the taut, tension filled sounds still feel like the soundtrack to a revolution, and the back cover diagram explicates connections between various major labels and weapons manufacturers. GYBE are not going to give up resisting Yanqui neo-imperialism just because they're an instrumental band. The irony of resisting the capitalist war machine by selling a product is not lost on the band, but then again, you might just want to close your eyes and let the warm sheets of Godspeed sound wash over you, and not think about any of that political stuff, right? Well allright. Cryptic message from the liner notes: "& hope still, a little resistance always maybe stubborntiny lights vs. clustering darkness foreverok? thankslovegodspeedyou!blackemperorbyexoxoxox"

RealAudio clip: 09-15-00 track 1
RealAudio clip: 09-15-00 track 2

Godspeed are one of those rare bands who enjoy a slavish dedication from their fans, a nearly unrivaled level of hero worship style extreme fandom, the sort of thing enjoyed by very few others (Neurosis? Neutral Milk Hotel?), with fans treating GYBE like a post rock Grateful Dead or an alternative underground Phish, following them from show to show, state to state, hoarding live recordings and patiently awaiting the second coming. And by second coming, we of course mean the first Godspeed record in a decade! And ever since word leaked, that there was in fact a new record on the horizon, and especially as soon as the band started playing shows, and playing the new material, we've been barraged with requests for the new record, questions about the release date, months and months before it was actually released (heck, probably before it was even recorded). But here we are, and the new Godspeed is in fact among us, and we are pleased to say, it's definitely pretty goddamn great. We had actually cooled a bit on Godspeed, having LOVED their debut, and Slow Riot almost as much. But both Lift Your Skinny Fists and Yanqui didn't quite do it for us the way those first two did. This one though, is a whole 'nother story. The record is split into two twenty minute tracks, and two 6 minute interludes, the two proper tracks are exactly what you'd expect, and want, from a new Godspeed record, droned out psychedelia, layered tones and soft swirls of melody, the opener all brooding slow build mesmer that over the course of the few minutes builds in lush billows of sound, before the drums kick in, and the song gains momentum, sort of Hawkwindy at first, before exploding into what sounds to these ears like full on psychedelic space rock, as in Heads, White Hills, and the like, driving, distorted, spiraling leads, swirling effects, propulsive almost krautrock like drumming, but it is Godspeed, so there are plenty of Eastern melodies, strange textures, lush layers, and after a bout of FX drenched wig out, the song gradually settles down into a slow fade outro, one that is pocked with bursts of psychedelic freakout and shard of abstract heaviness, looped and cyclical and gorgeously majestic, the final two minutes, near symphonic and utterly breathtaking. The second proper track is much more subdued, the strings taking up much of the melodies, tinkling chimes over spidery guitars, and simple spare drumming, the sound dynamic and dramatic, but never quite exploding into full on freakout, instead just building and releasing tension, the way only Godspeed can. There is a bout near the end, where they again dabble in some psychedelic space rock, but it's Godspeed style, and like the first track it leads to another final few minutes that explode dramatically and tug on heartstrings, creating another majestic finale. The shorter tracks are more abstract, droned out and minimal, textural and atmospheric, definitely gorgeous in their own right, the first, acting as a brief interlude between the two slabs of post rock bombast, the second, a haunting outro, a winding down, a fading out, after the sonic catharsis that is Allelujah! FYI, the vinyl version of this is currently MIA, being repressed, so we'll have to list it another time, soon we hope...

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MPEG stream: We Drift Like Worried Fire

Woah! The first album of new material from Godspeed! You Black Emperor since 2002, as 2012's Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! was actually a collection of unfinished / unreleased recordings from back in their heyday at the turn of the millennium. The re-awakening of Godspeed seemed almost inevitable given the politics of grassroots collectivism which emerged out of the Occupy Movement. Their grandiose orchestrations for bombast and pathos through their dramatic surges of strings, guitars, and militant rhythms is tailor made for the current strain of scrappy, emotionally charged politics from the left. At the same time, Godspeed's productions of huge post-rock explosions strafed with maudlin melodies has launched thousands of indie bands with much less scruples than Godspeed's anarcho-politicking. So, with Godspeed's return, we get exactly what we expect and crave from a Godspeed! You Black Emperor album - atonal clashes of guitar and strings that are all resolved at the height of a climactic build of turgid backbeats turned to triumphantalist marches. The album erupts from that onset with a symphonic crash of urgency that the ensemble deftly dials back to reveal a larger framework for the album through a slow ascent from the solemn drone-rock and meditative ambient pools which are located at the first half of the album. But with the album's two lengthy final tracks (both of which together clock close to 25 minutes of exhausting drama), these Canadians hit that majestic, dynamic explosiveness that has become their signature sound.

MPEG stream: Peasantry or 'Light! Inside of Light!'
MPEG stream: Piss Crowns Are Trebled

In a world (our world at least) full to overflowing with drone records, dirge records, doom records, and yes, dirgedoomdrone records, the mysterious Gog have somehow always managed to transcend. From their very first release, the subtly spectacular Noriah Mills, Gog have continued to mine similar territory as so many other soundmakers, but with the resultant whole so much more than its constituent parts. The music of Gog, while on the surface, perhaps seemingly simple, minimal, abstract, is the sort of sound that requires deep listening, upon which, the guitars then reveal themselves as so much more than electronic tone generators, the long strands of feedback and the layers of dense billowy buzz, so much more than just texture and timbre. And while on past releases, the band hinted at something a bit more black, their occasionally blissed out ambience drifting into darker and darker greys, on Mist From The Random More, the band have fully committed, creating what for them is a haunting otherworldly black metal suite, a droned out, blissed out, buzz drenched, almost static expanse of smoldering grimness, shot through with glimmering glistening effulgence, a bit like wrapping a black gauze around an exploding sun, the results, again, transcendent. The record begins with a gorgeous, slow burning bit of guitar drone, that owes more to the kosmiche sounds of krautdrone than the downtuned glacial fug of more doom-ed entities. These guitars soar and shimmer, warm gouts of feedback enfolded by deep rich sheets of coruscating soft focus heaviness, any other band would stretch this out to fill up a whole album, and rightfully so, we'd probably be gushing just as much if Gog chose to do the same thing, but these Sunroof-ian solar sonics are only part of Gog's grand vision for Mist From The Random More. The title track, taking up the bulk of the record, finds Gog fully immersing themselves in black metal, or at least their (very) loose approximation of what black metal is, or could be. The sound is grim, and frosty, but only in the sense that it reflects much of the black metal that came before, in every other way, it's anything but, the guitars glow, the riffs are fluid, organic, wrapped in a soft burnished buzz, that reminds us a bit of Jesu or Nadja, but the arrangement is more Necks. In fact, a shorthand descriptor might be "a black metal Necks", which if you're anything like us, would be all it would take. Simple skittery minimal drumming, almost looped sounding if it weren't so abstract, beneath a roiling cloud of layered guitars, grinding and whirring and hissing, and within that cloud, some gorgeously melancholic low end melodies, difficult to describe the strange blend of loveliness and heaviness, but there it is, a distinctly lovely heaviness, washed out and blurry, and hypnotic and epic and melodic, within this seemingly static structure, the sound swings and slips through various incarnations, moving from total blurred buzz, to a more slowcore lope, always wreathed in swirling clouds of blackened shimmer, until the end, when the track explodes in climax of effects drenched psychedelic churn. The closing track offers a chance to decompress, a strange assemblage of soothing tones, shot through with streaks of feedback, very cool and clinical, almost a Raster-Noton sort of sound, there's a brief burst of super distorted crumbling sonic chaos, almost Merzbowian in its intensity, transforming into a haunting post industrial doomscape, before again returning to the relative tranquility of the first few minutes, eventually leaving just a single upper register tone, which also finally fades into the shadows. Another fantastic record from Utech (after a whole mess of incredible releases, including last list's Aluk Todolo Record Of The Week), gorgeous packaging, an abstract skull, rendered in some kind of white dust (cocaine?), on a spare black background, a gatefold with printed liner notes inside, and yes, probably limited...

MPEG stream: Night Zoe
MPEG stream: Mist From The Random More

Sounds like the GoGoGoAirheart fellows have shifted their music making approach just a little for their fourth full length, focusing more on guitars and pop-structured songs and less on their more familiar extended dubby bass, post punk jams. In the process, they've relinquished a bit of the tension that made the music on both their self-titled and "Love My Life Hate My Friends" albums so immediate and absorbing. It's in those jams that the best of GGGAH surfaces. Likewise, live, they can be hit or miss, but when their improvs lock into a groove... Hoo boy, they are amazing -- especially when the fluid bass playing of A. Vyas is given room to move. The angstful howl'n'yelp of main vocalist Michael Vermilion is still very much in the vein of The Pop Group particularly on the longer numbers ("Here Comes Attack"), but quite often in the shorter punky songs his voice also takes on a nasality reminiscent of the Buzzcocks' Pete Shelley ("Sincerely P.S."). He's joined on vocal duties by Vyas and guitarist Benjamin White. Also thrown into the instrument mix are trumpet, piano, programmed drums, Moog synths and organ.

RealAudio clip: Here Comes Attack
RealAudio clip: Sincerely P.S.
RealAudio clip: When The Flesh Hits
RealAudio clip: Good Things

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

SORRY. This album fades in as though we've just encountered the GoGoGo boys well into one of their lengthy improvisational sessions. Constantly changing in instrumentation, sometimes there's two drummers, sometimes a cellist, and sometimes who knows? But it's always anchored by some truly awesome bass playing. Live, they can be a tightly wound, convulsive unit channeling the ghosts of The Pop Group and The Fall, or a quietly meditative dubby discovery of notes and rhythms. Includes a reworking of A Certain Ratio's "Do The Du".

San Diego's Gogogo Airheart play their own version of late '70s style arty post-punk. From dabbling in dub realms to punching out frenetic, spasmatic, pop dislocation, Gogogo Airheart doesn't hide their affinity with The Pop Group, whose song "Trap" they in fact cover. There are also ample references to Wire's "Pink Flag" and even neo-Krautrock by way of The Fall, making for an excellent follow-up to GGGAH's great "Love My Life Hate My Friends" album. See them live. Buy their records. Gogogo Airheart kick ass.

You might've noticed the recent flurry of Eastern European inspired bands -- for instance the dreamy rural acoustic sounds of Beirut, A Hawk And A Hacksaw and the Bay Area's own Karpov. Since 1999, New Yorkers Gogol Bordello have been taking similar influences into a decidedly more urban setting and whipping it up into an art punked gypsy-fied frenzy. Indeed, on their latest album, they opt for blinding neon brights versus the abovementioned groups' warm earthy hues. Leader of the pack Eugene Hutz might maybe have true Slavic roots but we thinks that this is not without a healthy dose of irony. At times Super Taranta! charges head first into a pirate-ish many bottles of rum drunken traipsing of the plank. Not ones for the subtle nor the soft, theirs is a garish, sweaty, loud and loose vaudevillian circus which the hipster scene has been all over for years. It screams 'New York' at the top of its lungs! This is the kind of wild, tawdry partying where glasses are smashed, clothing gets torn, and everything else gets trampled in its path. Good times? Fuck yeah!

MPEG stream: Wonderlust King
MPEG stream: Forces Of Victory

MPEG stream: The Silver Lining
MPEG stream: The Ornament
MPEG stream: Endless Dope

All it took was about 30 seconds, and we knew this was probably gonna become out favorite new electronica record, heck, maybe just our favorite new record period. The best way we can think to describe Gold Panda is like a more lo-fi DIY version of The Field, if that makes any sense. Where The Field take samples, and loops and layers them, rendering them almost unrecognizable, and creating lush house-y soundscapes, Gold Panda does something quite similar, but without the goal of disguising the source or the samples, a vocal loop is chopped up and processed and woven into a stuttering melody, over a simple looped beat, and warm whirling melodies, that looped sample makes the whole thing sound so playful, and at least on the opener, "You", whose sample is the word 'you' chopped and looped, that melody ends up sounding strangely Indian, like some electro raga, although over the course of the track, the tone and timbre and pitch changes, so it slips from Oval like shimmer, to skittery faux Indian raga, to loping super melodic playful trip hop. And the whole record is like that, the construction of the tracks is obvious, the glitch and static and crackle and pop of the source records, are all part of the sound, the samples assembled to create rhythms, to fashion melodies, draped over whirring skeletal beats, woven into Philip Jeck like cracklescapes, gamelan like melodies are layered into a lush tangle of melodies and placed atop a sea of hiss and a spare stripped down beat, soft melodic swells are truncated and left to rise and fall, creating a woozy rhythm, the whole thing wrapped in playful chimes and clipped minimal beats, every track is playful and lovely and dreamy in its own way, not so dependent on the beat, as much as the arrangement of samples, which is inevitably perfect, and conjures up the perfect mood and atmosphere. There are some definitely oddballs, the two minutes of folky acoustic guitar on "Parents", that manages to be quite pretty and sweet on its own, and fit with the rest of the more sample heavy tracks pretty perfectly, there's also the buzzy sitar laced "India Lately", which does chop up Indian ragas, sitars and tablas, and weaves those parts into a gorgeously shoegazy stretch of pop ambience, and finally, the record finishes off by revisiting "You", this time with strings and chimes, and a less manic arrangement, instead opting for something much more subdued and dreamlike. So great! All this amazing electronica coming out lately, we can't get enough, but this one just might take the cake!

MPEG stream: You
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Contemporary improvised 'free' jazz from this young-ish group. Recorded live in various venues throughout the midwest, the Gold Sparkle band take the wildest sounds of NY's downtown scene and imbue them with Ayler-ish free-bop glee. Reminds me of Sixties ESP jazz mixed with some of todays mainstays, David S. Ware, Tim Berne, John Zorn, Spy Vs. Spy. The first track is a killer, sputtering stuttering squealing structureless mayhem. Drums way up in the mix, melodies batted wildly back and forth. Nice. Once in a while the bottom seems to drop out, but they recover deftly and quickly. The record winds up with the almost half hour final track, a gorgeous funereal free jazz dirge, that builds and builds into a pounding orgiastic tribal workout. Pretty cool.

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Slumberland are certainly making up for lost time. This iconic pop label seemed to disappear for a while there a few years back, but since they reemerged, a month hasn't gone by without a new record by some new band (or an old favorite), and if it was any other label, we might be wondering "where the heck do they find these bands" but this is Slumberland, whose track record for discovering bands is pretty much totally untouchable. SO thus we have Gold-Bears, the latest new band on Slumberland, and we're digging it big time. Big jangly, distortion drenched noise pop, the label mentions Boyracer (one of our all time favorite pop bands who for some reason have never made it onto the aQ list) and the Wedding Present, both of which definitely fit, as do some of the other Slumberland bands like Pains Of Being Pure At Heart and Summer Cats, but hell, there are bits of Neutral Milk Hotel and other Elephant Six bands going on here and there. Gold-Bears' pop is rife with angelic female background vox, lots of 'la la la's and 'ooooooh's, horns and unlikely instrumentation, strange production, the sound slipping from murky punky and lo-fi, to big bombastic to jangly and shimmery, the record oozing hooks, none so much as the opener, a summer jam if there ever was one, plus it's called "Record Store", noisy, jangly, catchy as heck, super dynamic, crazy melodic, a total mixtape track for sure. And like all great records, Are You Falling In Love? is full of those sorts of tracks, the whole thing immediately catchy, but the sort of record where every song has the potential to be your favorite, and if you listen enough, they eventually all will be. So good.

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I just realised we have never listed any Pond records. Which is a crying shame as they are responsible for two of my favorite records EVER, having slowly mutated from a dirgy grungy (they were on Sub Pop after all) sludgy rock band, to a gorgeously lush and quirky pop band, making one of the greatest pop records ever, Rock Collection. That major label debut disappeared from the radar without even a blip, most likely resulting in the end of the band. We'll remedy the Pond situation on some later list, but for now, we can talk about the new album from Pond mainman Charlie Campbell, and his new band Goldcard, which is essentially Pond (it features one of the other two Pond guys) as well as Quasi frontman Sam Coomes and a bunch of other folks. This is gorgeously quirky, super catchy really really strange indie pop, but the strangeness in no way interferes with the pop-ness, in fact it only serves to make it sound miles more original than any of the other folks reaping greater rewards than the way more deserving Campbell and his Goldcard. Campbell has an unbelievable knack for interesting arrangements/instrumentation and unlikely melodies, so unlikely in fact, that they stick in your head like bubble gum on hot asphalt. Seriously. And the lyrics are absure and surreal, about bunnies and cars and random weirdness, but are somehow achingly perfect in capturing moods and emotions, without resorting to actually talking about them. A rare gift indeed. Goldcard almost sounds like a much more intimate, stripped down Pond record, with less emphasis on the rock, and more on arrangements, and moods and experimenting, which is a good thing. The record starts off with this weird shimmering guitar part (which was all over the last Pond record), that Campbell talks about in the liner notes, realising that he didn't in fact invent it but inadvertently stole it from the Flaming Lips. All the songs have extensive notes that only tangentially relate to the songs themselves and are really funny! Once again, when I'm faced with a record that I am digging SO MUCH and listening to non-stop, I feel like no matter what or how much I write I can't do it justice or explain just why it's so good. And it is SO GOOD! Fans of the Flaming Lips, Grandaddy, Pond obviously, Built To Spill, Quasi, Modest Mouse and all that plaintive, moody, catchy indie pop will be rewarded greatly and maybe have a new treasure trove of perfect mixtape material!

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A poem: Great chops like the ones that these guys possess Are plenty impressive, on this we'll attest... But when used to make music like this, we proclaim: "Funk groovin' on you ain't becoming. Abstain!" Unless you're baked outta your mind and/or like Phish... avoid! This is a mish mash of styles that sure sound as though they were having a great time playing and following their muse, but whether or not that translates into something that's as pleasurable to listen to, is highly debatable. Me thinks your ears deserve better. There're many other skilled players out there making music that won't give you aural indigestion.

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Epic post/math-rock project's 2nd album. Fans of Don Caballero and Trans Am (who contribute guitarist Phil) take note.

Golden Birds have offered up not one but two fine releases for our indie rock lovin' ears (one on Paranoid Records and the other self-released). The band aligns itself well with the likes of early-mid period Wedding Present as well as Bright Eyes and Interpol (particular in the emotive vocal department). This is their energetic debut full length which expands on an earlier ep that the band released when they went by the name Carrier. You might recall that back in 2002 we carried Home Movies which was another of their self-released eps. They're quite a different sounding band these days, distancing themselves considerably from their more postrock-ish and atmospheric beginnings in favor of poppy punch. Note: one song is shared by both releases "Sioux Falls South Dakota".

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Golden Birds have offered up not one but two fine releases for our indie rock lovin' ears (one on Paranoid Records and the other self-released). The band aligns itself well with the likes of early-mid period Wedding Present as well as Bright Eyes and Interpol (particular in the emotive vocal department). This is a special cdep of acoustic numbers that the band self-released to coincide with a tour this past summer. Wistful, sensitive pop without drums, but with warm guitar strumming, pretty glockenspiel and some dreamy boy/girl vocals. Note: one song is shared by both releases "Sioux Falls".

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Golden Dawn were 1960's Texas brethren of Thirteenth Floor elevators, but their brand of psych garage involves a more British invasion type sound- like Aftermath era Stones or the Kinks. OK, like the Kinks if they smoked massive amounts of the "power plant" and were heavily into occult metaphysics. This is the only album they ever made, and it contains some pretty great poppy psych-garage gems. While not as heavy or whacked out as Texas contemporaries such as the Elevators or Red Krayola, Golden Dawn are badass and solid none the less, and well deserving of this handsome lp-styled cd reissue.

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Local indie rock with a fondness for the extra stripped down, super lo-fi pop hooks that early Elephant 6 bands displayed (like Apples in Stereo and the Olivias).

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Got just a few copies of this left, released for this year's Record Store Day, the first release by a group called Golden Gunn, a collaboration that's one part Steve Gunn, and one part Hiss Golden Messenger (featuring former members of the late great Court And Spark!), hence the name. And it sounds a lot like you might imagine, fusing HGM's Grateful Dead / Dylan style classic country folk with Steve Gunn's penchant for tripped out FX heavy psych. Check out the opener "Vysehrad" a lush, psych-folk sprawl that takes a groovy acoustic guitar riff, a simple skeletal beat, and then wreathes it in swirling synths, billowing clouds of cymbal shimmer, woozy backwards swoops, then lacing in some spidery leads, a seriously dreamy, dark-psych jam that ends way too early even at 8+ minutes. Then there's "Dickie's Theme" which is slithery and soulfully bluesy, with some fuzzy bass, and sinewy minor key melodies, which leads right into "Let Me Shine (Deathhouse)" which finds HGM frontman MC Taylor doing his best Dylan crooning over a bed of snarly psychedelic blues. And so it goes, the sound shifting from dark psychedelia, to dreamy pastoral Appalachia, to drowsy drum machine driven folk flecked country dirgery, to lush seventies sounding Laurel Canyon classic rock, and right back again. Fans of either band will no doubt dig big time. And really anyone into folky psychedelia will want to check this out as well. Too bad they made it so limited. We wanted to get enough to write a m,ore extensive review and properly list it, but it's apparently out of print for now, and it seems these are very likely the last copies we'll have, until it gets repressed, if it ever does. So grab a copy before they're gone, in case these are truly the last ones...

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It's always a little nerve wracking listening to a friend's record. Hoping that it's good so you don't have to hem and haw and eventually say something like "Wow...really interesting" or "Wow. Great guitar sound" or some other non-committal could-be-construed-as-saying-you-like-the-record sort of thing. So it's even more intense when it's someone's -first- record. But luckily, this time, there was no need to worry, 'cause this Golden Hotel record is a gorgeous, droney, space-y, drugged out psychedelic folk record. Golden Hotel is our customer Cayce (who has appeared in several of the AQ neighborhood films, he's the bearded fellow with the dog Cowboy) and his brother Sidney who is in AQ faves Torrez. And the Torrez connection definitely shows, with shimmery guitars and warm thick atmosphere, but the female vocals of Torrez are replaced with the brothers' rough but melodic warm warbly rasps and the sound is a little less lush and a bit more buzzing and immediate (plenty of instrument buzz, lip smacking, breathing). Warm swells of thick guitar wash over shimmering high end harmonics whirling quietly in the background as gently strummed acoustic guitar underpins delicate minor key melodies. Lots of stray sounds, varied instrumentation and production fuckery augment these ultimately simple folk songs, turning them into languid, stoned epics, with simple stumbling percussion, fuzzy far-away guitar, droning buzzing harmonies, pulsing underwater bass, and dreamy blissed out ambience. Definitely influenced by/reminiscent of Greg Weeks, Six Organs Of Admittance, Charalambides, Joshua, Songs:Ohia, Herman Dune, and other current practitioners of modern psych-folk. A great surprise and a fantastic record.

RealAudio clip: Summer, Silver Lake/The Trouble Behind Mr. Peterson's Eyes
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Latest in a long line of records from Anton Fier, mastermind behind Golden Palominos (former member of Feelies, Pere Ubu, etc), who since 1981 has been making increasingly smoother and more conventional pop music. But this is about a hundred times better than what you're going to get on the radio, of course.The Palominos' apparent open door policy with regards to membership has meant that artists as diverse as Peter Blegvad, Bill Laswell, T-Bone Burnett, Bob Mould, & Richard Thompson have all appeared on the records. There are absolutely no liner notes on the album, so I'm mystified as to the personnel on this album, much less who the new vocalist is (Syd Straw, Lori Carson, PiL's John Lydon, Michael Stipe have all previously guested), and am also similarly mystified as to why there are two versions of a really old Golden Palominos track here -- "The Animal Speaks". Hmmm. Anyway, the pop songs are pretty luscious and beautiful; you may want to pick this up.

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For their Thrill Jockey debut, the duo of Matt Carlson and Jonathan Sielaff make surprisingly rich long form electronic music using basic monophonic instrumentation of bass clarinet and analog modular synthesizers. We have been big fans of their Root Strata releases, especially their last long player, Light Cones, which took their dynamic interplay into all sorts of unexpected territory. But we couldn't help but wonder where they could go from there. Fortunately, upon first listen of Occupied With The Unspoken, we realized we didn't need to worry at all. Over the course of four tracks, the duo created extended recordings and carefully edited them into succinct passages focusing on melodic compositional interplay over free-form improvisation, allowing more ideas to come into play. This results in a more fully realized vison of cosmic uplift than in previous recordings. In fact, this may just be our favorite release from these guys so far!

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We won't go into too much detail with this as it's limited to a mere 100 copies and odds are will be sold out or nearly so by the time you're reading this. Golden Retriever is the duo of Matt Carlson, from Bonus, who we've raved about in the past, along with multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Sielaff, the two use synthesizer and bass clarinet to evoke images of some dystopian future, or the streets of some dying city, the synths buzz and rumble, whir and thrum, the clarinet soars and sings lyrically, subtly intertwined with the synth buzz, the two occasionally falling together perfectly, creating a thick swath of ominous sound. The clarinet flutter and flits, occasionally slipping into some abstract jazziness, other times offering counterpoint for the synths' low end melodic buzz, or unfurling long long Niblockian tones, which is when GR sound the best, when the synth and clarinet are locked into longform stretches of near static sound, tense and intense, minimal and mysterious. Gorgeous packaging, elaborately folded vellum sleeve, with the full color disc visible from within, and a small printed insert. LIMITED TO 100 COPIES.

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