[ aquarius records — Rock Pop ]

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

Showing results 701 through 750 of 19388.

Not downer slo-mo indie-rock as you might surmise from the band name and minimalist Seam/Codeine styled artwork, not at all. This is actually two discs of early '80s inspired synth/new-wave songsmithery, reminding us of Depeche Mode, Xymox, and especially New Order. No wonder the "kids" are clamoring for it. Well, I do wonder, but this is pretty well done, and at least a surprise.

Full length number two from this Canadian combo, and like on their oddly titled debut, Through The Cervix Of Hawaah, Antediluvian continue to hone their warped, damaged and demented blackened death metal, and based on the opening track here, have succeeded in sounding even more fantastically fucked up this time around. Their death metal still bordering on a mutant strain of black metal, the sound here sees the group moving sonically closer to outfits like Wold or Portal, a grinding, dense, chaotic churn of frenzied riffage, wild mathed out drumming, monstrous gurgling vocals, and dense blackened atmospheres. The aforementioned opener begins with what sounds like chanting, some old liturgical music, only to erupt seconds later into a dense, dizzying tangle of downtuned blackened metallic churn, a furious, frenetic tangle of sounds and parts, it's so wild and woolly and there's so much going on, it's nearly impossible to imagine this being actually composed, and to think of this as a song, as much as pure black sound, cuz the sound of it is more than enough to have us utterly mesmerized, a sort of blacknoise rendered in progged out chaotic death metal form. There are moments of doomy dirgery, and crusty thrashing, but it all seems to be woven into a bigger, more fractured and fucked up whole. We described the group's debut as being some of "thee most gnarled and twisted blackened heaviness" we'd heard, but that honor now seems to describe this new one even more, as it takes everything we loved about that first record, and pushes it even further, a dizzying. An utterly exhausting, exhilarating listen, total blackened tech-metal doom-death genius for sure, and like the first record, another roiling, churning, dizzying, mathed out blackdeath blowout. Fans of diSEMBOWELMENT, Wold, Winter, Abyssal, Gevurah and other weirdo death metal, rejoice!

MPEG stream: Homunculus Daimon-Eon (Awakening)
MPEG stream: Consumate Spellbound Synapses
MPEG stream: Towers Of Silence

Finally available on vinyl! A very welcomed reissue of this wonderful, incredibly obscure band's music from 1982. Although it's called Camino Del Sol (the title of their 5-song mini-lp debut), this cd includes lots of other material (compilation tracks and the like) as well as an additional three bonus tracks, swelling the total song count to fourteen swoonsome delights! Back in the day, when he first heard Antena's breezy Brazillian tropicalia styled tunes crafted with unexpected instrumentation (early puttering drum machines and analog synthesizers), former British music journalist / Pet Shop Boy Neil Tennant tagged them 'electro-samba'. And the label suits them well, they even do a spaced-out, jazzy version of "Girl From Ipanema" (renamed "Boy From Ipanema" and produced by John Foxx). Imagine if seminal electro-punk duo Suicide were suddenly magically transformed into a light, airy female-sung group, and you'd have a pretty accurate picture of Antena's sound. Blending genres and instrumentations way ahead of the pack, the stylish trio can easily be seen as a French precursor to such groups as Stereolab. You can also hear where young Brit upstarts Electrelane probably got ample birdlike vocal inspiration on the song "To Climb The Cliff". Fans of the Gilberto family (Joao, Astrud and Bebel) will surely also want to check out Antena too. Really, this album sounds perfectly fresh today.

MPEG stream: Camino Del Sol
MPEG stream: The Boy From Ipanema

All you basement-dwelling, drug-gobbling fuzzfiends, today's yer lucky day! Not only do we have the deluxe (and ULTRA deluxe) reissue of 2000's Everybody Knows We Got Nowhere by UK underground garage psych stoner masters The Heads, reviewed elsewhere on this list, but also this, a brand NEW album from the Heads side project with a raspberry of a name, Anthroprophh, a groop led by Heads guitar wrangler Paul Allen. This is already the 3rd lp we've had from 'em - the first, from 2012, was just Allen solo, but recently he enlisted the two guys from powerful Bristol noise rockers The Big Naturals, to make Anthroprophh a trio, as heard earlier this year on their already out of print Cardinal Fuzz lp. Their sound has expanded too, this is a big HEAVY album, going off in all sorts of psychedelic directions, you've got some of the percussive tribal krauty drift heard on their previous lps, but also lots of heads down, pedals smashed, FX dosed High Rise/Blue Cheer styled biker rock, tracks full of fuzzy, repetitive riffage, rife with distortion n' feedback! Opener "Returning" unleashes a lumbering attack of Amon Duul II inspired heavy hypno-rock, the exotic, extended jamming adorned by Allen's trippily effected, echoing frog-in-throat vocals. It's followed by the more Monster Magnet-y blacklight bashing of "Dead Man On The Scene", and then the desperation dirge of "2013 And She Told Me I Was Die", a super gnarly noisy march into oblivion. Man, those first three tracks had us at hello. Hell yeah. But wait, there's more - one of this album's several short ambient interludes, most of 'em around a minute long, is up next, and there's another after that, done with drones and noise and backwards voices. Then, more psychedelic shambolic rockin' follows (we're reminded at times of those obscure English '80 hippy punks Afflicted Man, that sort of Hendrix/Hawkwind headbang thing), as do bouts of acoustic guitar spookiness and zombie zoner ceremony, the album spinning further and further into weird realms of wasteoid rock (and not-so-rock, what with those atmospheric interludes), all of it awesome. Think Twink's Think Pink meets GNOD, and you'll get the rough idea. Freaking great freaky stuff! Some great song titles, too: "Crow With Sore Throat", "Space Box Zonk Machine", and the almost Haino-esque "Detached And In Its Own Mind Riding A Ghost Train Through A Fairground It Had Built Itself"!

MPEG stream: Returning
MPEG stream: Detatched And In Its Own Mind Riding A Ghost Train Through A Fairground It Had Built Itself
MPEG stream: Dog

Got a big ol' batch of new releases from UK psych label Cardinal Fuzz, and while we're one of the only places in the US to carry em, they're super limited so odds are they won't be around for long. This one is full length number two from Anthroprophh, aka Paul Allen, frontman of psychedelic space rockers The Heads, but the sounds here, like on the debut, are pretty well removed from the blown out heavy psych of The Heads, instead, Allen weaves long form kraut-psych sprawls, two side long epics this time around, the first, a woozy spaced out shimmer, draped over some motorik tribal rhythms, a tranced out drift that soon morphs into some seriously propulsive hypnorock, with muted guitar chug, softly swirling FX, and eventually, some wild Hendrixian guitar shred, blown out and wildly psychedelic, while in the background, that rhythm churns away, wreathed in billows of spaced out thrum. The flipside adds some creepy Carpenter vibe to the mix, another loping drum rhythm, this time laced with strange industrial clanks and clatter, over which snake charmer melodies buzz and warble, before the guitars swoop in, adding extra layers of riffy buzz and blistering arcs of distorto guitar, before gradually slipping back into a hazy drone-psych swirl, which stretches way out into an extended finale of woozy, drifty sonic mesmer. SUPER LIMITED, housed in cool black on green silkscreened sleeves, and NO download.

MPEG stream: Precession

Rarely does a band make it to its third or fourth record, especially when the band plays sloppy, trashy, violent, totally uncommercial punk rock. But here it is, the year 2000, and Antiseen are still carving their messy, bloody swath across the punk underground, 15 years and counting. Especially amazing considering that frontman Jeff Clayton has been abusing his body in true rock and roll style, ending every show in a bloody disheveled heap on the floor. This is a collection of 7"s, compilation tracks, weird out of print stuff and some unreleased songs, as well as a bunch of covers (Roky Erickson, Screaming Lord Sutch, Troggs, Stooges) showcasing Antiseen at their trashy, fucked up, southern-fried best.

The return of our favorite classic hard rocking, shit kicking, wild eyed Southern rock band. Okay so, there's not a whole lot of them left, but that's exactly why we gotta love the ones we got. There's Raging Slab of course. Our love for them is eternal. There's new kids on the block, Black Stone Cherry, who are cool, but get a little close to mainstream MTV Nickelback territory. Then there's Antler. Who we originally thought were indie rock kids taking the piss. But their debut was just too fucking good. And too fucking genuine to be anything but. Allan and Andee saw them live at CMJ, in front of a slightly confused crowd, who were obviously unprepared to the cowboy boots, the cowboy hats, the Southern boogie, the twang and the killer classic Southern rock that was exactly what we were there to see. Record number two finds the band in fine form. Still channeling Lynrd Skynrd, the Allman Brothers, the Outlaws, Blackfoot, but adding some extra stomp, some more crunchy guitar, but staying true to their Southern rock roots. It's perplexing why these guys were on Indie meta label Tortuga and are now part of Small Stone's stoner rock stable. These guys should be HUGE. On some major label. Playing stadiums, touring the Midwest and the South, showing rednecks worldwide that real Southern rock and roll is not dead. These guys should be wrapped in Confederate flags and showered with whiskey and weed, a harem of pretty little trailer trash girls, a private jet with a big set of antlers painted on the tail. That's what this sounds like. Kids who were 15 and 16 when Skynrd's Pronounced... came out, were getting high, getting drunk, and blasting shit like this in their Dad's pick up, parking by the lake and trying to get to second base with their second cousin. Maybe one of these days, some label bigwig will figure out what the hell is going on, wine and dine these motherfuckers, hustle them into some penthouse office, ply them with booze and drugs, have them sign in blood on the dotted line, shove them in a tour bus and set them free to rule the rock and roll world like the boogie born Southern Rock scions they truly are!

MPEG stream: The Gentle Butcher
MPEG stream: Deep In A Hole
MPEG stream: A Little Goes A Long Way

When we first got this we were so psyched. Totally gorgeous layout / design courtesy of Hydra Head Honcho Aaron Turner, all silver metallic filligree on what looks like tooled leather. Cool band name, properly tough and mysterious. It's on Hydra Head sub label Tortuga, home to Old Man Gloom, 5ive, Tusk and other like minded metallic dronesters. So when we actually got around to listening to it we were a little confused. Actually a lot confused. We were convinced it had to be a joke. Or at least some HH/Tortuga heavy band's tongue in cheek side project. Straight up MTV country tinged rock. Full on fist in the air, beer in one hand, American (or Confederate!) flag in the other, epic arrangements and super throaty Eddie Vedder / Layne Staley / that-guy-from-Creed vocals, wailing guitar leads, heartfelt ballads, songs about cigarettes, and tombstones, and blood and battles and love and soulful, belted out lyrics like "It ain't right..." and " All I know...." and "I believe in you..." We absolutely hated it. I mean why wouldn't we? But then something happened. I don't know what it was. I just decided to like it. There it is. Not sure why. No idea. I just did. And now I do like it. A lot! I love it actually. And I've been listening to it like crazy. It's just plain old super kick ass rock! It's sort of like Nickelback for the metalhead indie rock hipster set. That may not sound all that good, but it is. Trust me. I mean, c'mon, why should MTV watching lemmings get all the majestic arena cockrock, slide guitars, lighters held aloft and all that? It's not fair. So Antler is here to settle the score. And settle it they do. Hard to say if this is tongue in cheek or totally genuine, but it's not really funny, or cheesy enough to be a joke (unless it's the most subtle joke ever), it's just totally commercial and radio ready. But in a good way. Just regular old stadium rock. But with that sort of glam western edge that was so popular a decade ago. Definitely makes me feel 17 again. Tooling around in my crappy 4 cylinder Mustang, feathered hair, ripped jeans, glam rock cowboy hat, blasting the first Bon Jovi record. Or maybe the Hangmen record. Yep. Just like that. Allan and Elliott think the ballads sound like the Red Hot Chili Peppers at their most melodic and commercial, you know like that "Under The Bridge" song. But if you've been paying attention to the AQ list, you know how much Allan likes the RHCP so no matter how much he denies it, that can only be an endorsement coming from him!

MPEG stream: Tombstones And Cigarettes
MPEG stream: 1975
MPEG stream: I Got Lost

The lead off track on this cd is so wintry you can almost see your breath while it's playing! Branches is the new album from Oregon band Antlerand, and it's a fine introduction. While they initially appear to be treading shimmering sonic ground that's already been well worn by the post rock likes of Mogwai and Sigur Ros, it soon becomes apparent that they're combining it with intelligent pop sensibilities akin to sensitive, smart pop folks Bright Eyes, Arcade Fire and Destroyer... and they're doing it exceptionally well. Chamber strings and horns join the sinewy electric guitars that just might send chills down your spine. Piano, stuttery electronics and chimes pretty things up, as do the sweet female vocals on songs such as "Maybe We're Still Running" and "Make Nothing Happen" which further the comparisons to Bright Eyes when Jenny Lewis is accompanying Conor Oberst. This is simply lovely!

MPEG stream: Rows Of Unbending Lines
MPEG stream: Maybe We're Still Running

Antony's most recent live appearance in San Francisco transpired earlier this year at the Nob Hill Masonic Center, and it will most likely go down as one of THE concerts of the year for many of us who witnessed it. Besides having William Basinski as his opener and then playing an incredibly rich, intimate and moving set, one of the highlights came when Antony and his band did an amazing version of the Beyonce hit "Crazy In Love". After they played it someone in the audience yelled out, "You are so much better then her" to which Antony immediately replied "Excuse me?! She is extremely talented!" Haha. We totally agree and that made us love Antony even more, if that was even possible. This single offers up a studio recorded version of that amazing cover as well as "Aeon" from the latest album The Crying Light.

MPEG stream: Aeon
MPEG stream: Crazy In Love

It's been three years since Antony & The Johnsons captivated us, along with the rest of the world, with the devastatingly gorgeous I Am A Bird Now. But luckily we've been able to hear his voice on lots of releases since, as he's lent his striking vocals to records by folks like Bjork, Matmos, Current 93, Yoko Ono, Michael Cashmore, Nico Muhly and channeled his inner disco diva on the great Hercules & Love Affair debut. But of course we've still been craving a new full on Antony & The Johnsons album and it looks like that's on the horizon, but for now there is this brand new five song ep that once gain offers up that ineffable magic in Antony's voice and that unique songwriting that is still such a sound to behold. The title track, which leads off the ep. literally made us freeze and fill with goosebumps the second we first heard it and "Shake That Devil" would make the best companion piece to Nina Simone's "Take Me To The Water/I'm Going Back Home". The ep's closer is filled with solemn soul and mournful glory making this a totally essential slab of dark beauty. Only one of these songs will be on the brand new album, so of course this is a must have for all Antony fans!

MPEG stream: Another World
MPEG stream: Shake That Devil

Second single from I Am A Bird Now, from mysterious androgynous ingenue / torch singer Antony and his group the Johnsons. Smokey piano driven, gospel flecked ballads featuring Antony's amazing and impossible to describe voice, that we had described as "A rich throaty tenor, that slips effortlessly into a keening falsetto. A luxurious vibrato, trilling and wrapping itself around every note. Equal parts Nina Simone, Tiny Tim, Tracy Chapman, Jimmy Scott and even a little Elvis Presley." It truly is unlike anything you'll ever hear. This single features the gut wrenching "Hope There's Someone" (you can hear a sounds sample with the review for I Am A Bird Now) as well as two unreleased tracks, both nearly as emotional and intense. The cd features a video for "Hope There's Someone" that is as creepy and darkly lovely as the song.

MPEG stream: Frankenstein

Always time to rejoice around here when we're graced by new music from Antony. This ep has three brand new songs as well as two covers (Dylan, Lennon). It opens up with, what for Antony is an almost upbeat and rocking song that doesn't come off as immediately devastating as most Antony record openers, but instead demonstrates the rage of textures and dynamics that Antony is capable of creating. The next two songs slip back into Antony's more slow and swoonsome sound. And then the record closes with covers of Bob Dylan's "Pressing On", a cool choice for a cover as it came from Dylan's 1980 born again record Save. And Antony latches on to the melancholy gospel themes of survival in such a beautiful way. The record closes with a cover of "Imagine" where Antony is joined by Kevin Barker and William Basinski. That might be our least favorite of the songs from this ep but luckily we love the other tracks so much that it almost doesn't matter.

MPEG stream: Thank You For Your Love
MPEG stream: You Are The Treasure
MPEG stream: Pressing On

MPEG stream: Thank You For Your Love
MPEG stream: You Are The Treasure
MPEG stream: Pressing On

While we had the fantastic Another World ep to tide us over last year while we waited patiently, the time has finally come and we now get a brand new full length from Antony and it DOES NOT disappoint, not one bit! I Am A Bird Now is a really touch act to follow, but The Crying Light glows in its own unique beauty. Filled with lush arrangements and gorgeous orchestration, and of course Antony's one of a kind magical voice that is absolutely heavenly. Exploring similarly emotional and stunning stratospheres as folks like Rene Joly, Nina Simone, Bryan Ferry, Arthur Russell and Boy George, while employing a remarkable group of musicians (Nico Mushily, Greg Cohen, Doug Wieselman, etc.), but ultimately it's Antony's incredible songwriting and delivery that elevate his work to that highest level of musical achievement. While not a dramatic departure from the haunting and emotionally charged sounds of I Am A Bird Now, this record still finds its own voice. Focusing on nature, and our relationship to nature in the smallest and most grandiose ways, Antony ponders our lives, births and deaths, as these songs make you stop in your tracks and soak up the wind and air and spirits that surround us. This is the kind of record that keeps revealing itself on repeated listens. Of course, highly recommended!

MPEG stream: The Crying Light
MPEG stream: Kiss My Name
MPEG stream: Aeon

Besides putting out one of the year's best albums I am a Bird Now, Antony also put on one of the most moving and brilliant live shows of the year in his SF appearance at the Palace of Fine Arts this fall. Like myself, so many people I know were brought to both tears and laughter that night. We left knowing we would never forget that night and of course wanting more Antony as soon as possible. Well here are three NEW songs as well as "You Are My Sister" a great single from the last LP with Boy George lending his vocals. If you're like us and you need an Antony fix to remember what's really important then this EP will hold you over for a bit.

MPEG stream: Forest Of Love
MPEG stream: Paddy's Gone

Holy shit, this record destroys me. Within 30 seconds, this record had already given me chills, unnerved me, and literally made me want to cry. On the first listen even! Just listen to the first sound sample and you'll know just what I mean. It's all about Antony's voice. A rich throaty tenor, that slips effortlessly into a keening falsetto. A luxurious vibrato, trilling and wrapping itself around every note. Equal parts Nina Simone, Tiny Tim, Tracy Chapman, Jimmy Scott and even a little Elvis Presley. The instrumentation is minimal, piano, upright bass, shuffling jazz drums, occasional electric guitar. Some songs sound like jazz standards, some like lost gospel classics, others like timeless spirituals. Soaring and maudlin, without becoming overwrought or overly dramatic. He's sort of like an otherworldly, avant-garde Rufus Wainwright. Or the sort of singer you would find in a piano bar in your strangest dreams. Not sure what it was that kept us from getting into Antony And the Johnsons in the past, whether it was the overplayed Coil / Current 93 connection or the whole gender bending novelty aspect, but this record has definitely turned us around. Totally chilling, absolutely haunting and completely beautiful. Features guest performances by Rufus Wainwright, Boy George, Lou Reed and Devandra Banhart.

MPEG stream: Hope There's Someone
MPEG stream: My Lady Story

Swanlights might be the most giving, emotional and personal record yet from Antony & The Johnsons. Right from the get go, you've got "Everything Is New" which builds to a triumphant climax and captures the same kind of intensity that "I Hope There Is Someone" conjured, the opener to the 2005 release I Am Bird Now, which so strongly reeled us in to the world of Antony at the time. The follow up to that record, The Crying Light, was much more stark and insular, distant even, yet was still so haunting and intense. But with Swanlights it feels like Antony is coming to these songs from a much more personal and intimate point of view, and as always his voice and the song structures just totally make us melt and give us chills and the effects of these songs linger and linger... Besides having a song called "I'm In Love" we get the exciting feeling that Antony may very well in fact be in love in a way we haven't heard from him before. There are several tracks with a much more wide eyed and under-the-influence, blood-rushing-love sound then on any of his past recordings. So while there is a more hopeful and uplifting tone to Swanlights, there are still lots of great somber and haunting moments, including a truly chilling duet with Bjork. Once again another stunning set of songs from Antony that we'll be listening to for a long time to come.

MPEG stream: Everything Is New
MPEG stream: I'm In Love
MPEG stream: Fl�tta (featuring Bjork)

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 Anvil! Though, right now, maybe they'd like to be. This Bay Area metal band, is another from the '80s that had even less success than those now famous Canucks. Much less. Back in the day, Anvil Chorus never managed to get signed, and released only demos and singles, never an album - until now. It wasn't 'cause they weren't good, in fact, they were commonly known as "the Bay Area's best unsigned metal band". It was more due to mere bad luck. And maybe 'cause their music crossed too many genre lines, from NWOBHM power, to party time LA pop metal, to progressive wank, to speed metal tech. Who knows. But it's cool that they got back together, got back in the studio, and FINALLY have released their debut album, via the Rockadrome label (who've been blessing us with some awesome proto-metal reissues lately, you should recall). Anyone who digs '80s metal ought to check this out. There's certainly plenty of shred. And don't worry, most of these songs are ones demoed back in the day thus and have that "only in the '80s" authenticity to 'em, although they're newly recorded. Criticisms? Well, Anvil Chorus do have a tendency to a bit of cheesiness, mainly due to overuse of keyboards, that's their weak spot taste-wise. And they've probably only grown in "adulthood", towards such prog-metal pitfalls, also evinced by the awful album cover. Cheesy, yeah. Still, even their cheese can be kinda enjoyable, so this is just a warning to those who can't handle a whiff of it. Their song "European" for instance, might be too poppy for some, but it's ultimately pretty good, a classy track, though we prefer it when they're killing us with the equally classy "Deadly Weapons"! Anyway, among the 12 songs here there's lots to make folks into heavy, riffy, rippin' bands like Riot, Armored Saint, and Metal Church happy... along with pleasing the Queensryche fans that their cheesier prog side indulges. So check it out, it's some Bay Area heavy metal history come back to life (they even played a show the other night!). Oh, and making amends for the cover art, the cd booklet includes lyrics, vintage photos of the band in action in the '80s, and a band history/appreciation by local metal celeb Ron Quintana.

MPEG stream: Deadly Weapons
MPEG stream: Blue Flames
MPEG stream: Phase To Phase

Shacklecross is the third installment in an ongoing series of hauntological vinyl explorations from this mysterious musical brotherhood, rumored to in fact be none other than Demdike Stare, along with Finders Keepers head honcho Andy Votel. Rooted in all manner of arcane esoterica, AK engage in an impossibly obtuse and all over the map crazed kitchen sink sonic alchemy, that results in a topographical musical map that leads to some strange other/inner world, where the sky is streaked with Phantasm like synth squelch, wheezing keyboards, strange sound effects swirls, and railroad crossing percussion. Grim horror movie ambience unfurls revealing detuned plucks, creaky old man vox and keening string scrape. The production warped and woozy, bursts of martial snare and blasts of white noise crunch, beneath thumb piano melodies, and Muslimgauze style grooves. At one point the drums explode into bombastic chaos, cascading over mesmerizing Middle Eastern vocal loops, sounding like some wild Sublime Frequencies remix, before fading into a field recording flecked ambience, all kosmische synth swirl and fluttery birdsong, pocked with bits of skitter and glitch, which seem to melt into a sort of sci-fi sprawl of warped wooze. The flipside begins with the introduction of tabla like beats over wavery drones and lush layered tones, all wreathed in crackle and buzz. The sound shifting into a creaking Pierre Bastien like robotic clatter, skeletal and oddly propulsive, draped over distant swaths of feedback drenched electronics, all culminating in a droned out doomy drift, driven by industrial clatter and clang, all over a roiling sea of moaning rumbles and bird song like electronic squiggles. Finally the sound returns to the first 'movement', dark squelchy synths beneath bombastic drumming, funky breakbeats and guitar twang mired in murky gurgles, all of which blossoms into an almost Morricone-esque coda, but more blurry and bleary and much more warped and sinister. LIMITED TO 700 COPIES, spin at 45rpm, or 33 if you dare!

Demdike Stare fans listen up! There's a new dark mysterious stranger in town by the name of Anworth Kirk, and for fans of Demdike Stare's haunted dub sound paintings or that Broadcast and The Focus Group record we keep raving about, or any of the vintage horror soundtracks from Trunk Records, you will surely want to give this a listen. No, Anworth Kirk is not really a person, or a band, as far as we can tell, but it's the first release on the new archival imprint Pre-Cert Home Entertainment that will be devoted to releasing a series of limited vinyl missives of contemporary musical and non-musical strangeness. Most definitely associated with DJ Andy Votel and the B-Music crew as well as Demdike Stare themselves (in fact, we're pretty sure Anworth Kirk IS Andy Votel and Sean Canty of Demdike, who run the Pre-Cert label), the music presented here is a mind-bending collage of haunting creaking loops, far away noises of babies crying and dogs barking, slow motion creeping synths, library music, and eldritch incantations culled from dusty corners of British horror. So haunting and beautiful! Limited to 500 copies, it is basically already out of print, so grab one of the few we have while you can!

Record number two from this psychedelic raga-rock supergroup finds the lineup slightly altered but with very little shift in their sound. Still present of course are Cedric Bixler Zavala of the Mars Volta, Christian Eric Beaulieu of the late great Triclops! and Mike Watt (Minutemen, firehose et. al.), but gone is Rachel from dream poppers Sleepy Sun and in her place is Toshi Kasai from Big Business, but as we mentioned before, the sound still remains relatively unchanged, which is a good thing, considering how much we dug their debut. The A side title track, named for a Grateful Dead record, is all wild tumbling drums, that flit from rhythmic and motorik to chaotic and progged out, heavily strummed acoustic guitars, shimmery keyboards, the whole thing very spaced out and darkly proggy, almost like the intro to some sidelong seventies prog rock epic, but here kept well in check, minimal, tight, a little raga-like, but super mesmerizing and hypnotic. The flipside sounds almost like a continuation of the first track, but blossoms into some soaring strummy psychedelic rock, with high, crystalline vox, over a bed of steel string strum, and more busy drumming, all blurred into something much more dreamy, with a distinctly seventies Yes vibe (which is most definitely a good thing), the vocals processed into swoonsome sheets of shimmery melody and lush layered texture, again, having the feel of being one part of a much bigger whole, that we just haven't heard yet. Fantastic. And after two singles, we're definitely hankering to hear what these guys can do with a full length. Like everything on Valley King, super deluxe, gorgeously designed slikscreened sleeves, with original artwork from Alan Forbes. LIMITED TO 500 COPIES, each one hand numbered. And pretty much entirely sold out. We should be able to get a few more copies when this first batch sells out, but most likely not many, so as always, grab one quick...

MPEG stream: Infrared Moses

Anywhere began life as a sort of Mars Volta side project, featuring Cedric Bixler Zavala and Mike Watt as well as members of Sleepy Sun and Triclops, but after two singles, Zavala and Watt are out, and Anywhere now seems to have morphed into something a bit more ambiguous, a sort of ever shifting musical collective, which this time around includes Dale Crover (The Melvins, Altamont), Ethan Miller (Comets On Fire, Howlin' Rain), Toshi Kasai (Big Business), Krist Novoselic (Nirvana!), Christian Eric Beaulieu (Triclops), Jonathan Hischke (Hella), Bret Constatino (Sleepy Sun), Matt Holliman (Sleepy Sun) and Cyrus Comisky (Drunk Horse, Howlin' Rain). That's a lot of cooks in this musical kitchen, but it works, and really doesn't stray too far from those early singles, spaced out psychedelic prog jams, all big booming drums, swirling guitars, tangled melodies, buried vocals, the opener is pretty epic and bombastic, slipping into some near Queen like majesty at one point, while the second track drift into a more acid folkiness, all softly strummed acoustic guitars, wild bongos, not sure if it's just us, but we might be hearing a little Comus going on here, which is never a bad thing. The flipside remains in acoustic guitar mode, sounding almost like a continuation from the A side, the urgent steel string strum, and frenzied hand drumming now augmented by some cool psychedelic lead guitar, the vibe very seventies prog-folk for sure, before drifting into the spaced out closer, all hazy, drowsy, druggy drift, churning rhythms, more acoustic guitar strum, even some harmonica, but all blurred and smeary, and sort of Spacemen 3-ish, a sprawling, smoldering slow build space jam that is seriously psychedelic, and wouldn't sound out of place on Rocket or Agitated, spacey stoner psych bliss!! LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!! With some seriously kick ass eye popping full color picture disc art by Alan Forbes.

Local label Valley King are on fire, after singles by local space rockers Carlton Melton, SF psych stoners Golden Void, witchy Swedish rockers Spiders and Sweet Apple, the project of Witch's Dave Sweetapple, comes this, the debut from L.A. supergroup Anywhere, which we have to say, we were a wee bit skeptical about. Not just because of the often bandied about 'supergroup' tag, but also cuz it seemed like a strange hodgepodge member-wise, Cedric Bixler Zavala of The Mars Volta and At The Drive In, Christian Eric Beaulieu of the late great Triclops!, Mike Watt of the Minutemen and fIREHOSE obviously, and finally Rachel Fannan from SF dreampsych combo Sleepy Sun. Weird right? The label explains how these folks all fell in together, but even then we weren't sure what to expect, but whatever it was, it wasn't this, a weird sort of psychedelic rhythmic acoustic guitar driven dronerock, laced with electronics, and tabla like percussion, a bit proggy and druggy and dreamy, the A side plays out like the first movement of an epic sidelong prog masterpiece, the guitars lush and shimmery, those tabla sound rhythms often run through glitched out effects, the melodies majestic and soaring, some classic sixties psych guitar laid over the top, it's a shame it ends after only 5 minutes, when we had been plotting out the rest of the imagined song in our heads. Needless to say, it was a hugely pleasant surprise and had us hankering for more. The B side adds vocals to the mix, Fannan's hazy stoned croon, perfectly complimented by the warm, whirling acoustic strum and toy xylophone like percussion, the song ebbing and flowing in soft swells, even more than the first side, sounding like some lost sixties band, all Laurel Canyon, witchy folk flecked psychedelic classic rock, brooding and moody and darkly dreamy. Gorgeous stuff for sure, and here's hoping they can manage a full length! LIMITED TO 500 COPIES! Already sold out, we have the last 20 copies, and then this is gone for good. Like the other Valley King releases, super swank sleeves with striking cover art by artist Alan Forbes, signed and numbered, includes a sticker as well.

The completely rad, hectic debut full length release from this Washington, D.C. quartet! The Apes have replaced the position of lead guitar with organ, giving their music a dark, creepy feel, while still staying totally rock. 14 raw'n'raunchy, bluesy,

RealAudio clip: Black Tears
RealAudio clip: Ape Town

Canadian lad Andrew Whiteman is the Apostle Of Hustle, but you might be more familiar with him as one of the main guys from Broken Social Scene. His solo album Folkloric Feel is filled with his roaming musical adventures with catchy bits of postrock, krautrock, jazz and folk surfacing throughout. Not surprisingly, some tread along very much the same path as BSS's non-electronic material, and will most definitely appeal to their growing legions of admirers. Plus this release shows even further that Canada has some damn potent music communities (e.g. the loosely strung collaborative networks spearheaded by groups such as Godspeed You Black Emperor and the New Pornographers), as Whiteman is joined by other BSS-ites (many of them multi-band musicians) as well as members of fellow Canadian indie pop band Stars.

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Those Broken Social Scene folks don't let grass grow beneath their feet in between albums. Heck no, much like fellow Canadian music collective/family Godspeed You Black Emperor, side projects and offshoots abound. And they're all quite different from each other! And they're all quite good! Andrew Whiteman is the lead guitarist for BSS, but he also goes it alone as mildly eccentric The Apostle Of Hustle (well, sorta, his BSS bantams have been known to sit in on occasion). This is the follow-up to his solo debut Folkloric Feel from 2004. His suave laid-back charm is pretty hard to resist particularly when he's singing in Spanish. Yes indeedie, National Anthem Of Nowhere is filled with tasty horns, flamenco tinged guitars and subtle Latin influences (perhaps even more so than on his debut which he recorded shortly after returning from a culturally enriched stay with his godmother in El Barrio Santa Suarez, Cuba). That said, National Anthem Of Nowhere's definitely got some energetic, quirkful, peppy pop propulsion. A definite standout is the dreamy fifth track "Cheap Like Sebastien" with its organ drones and sweet female backing vocals. Very reminiscent of Stereolab or Broadcast. Really good.

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Full length number two from these Midwestern true doomlords, who hail from the very metal state of Indiana, featuring former Gates Of Slumber drummer Chuck Brown (who sings and plays guitar here), and who do indeed traffic in TROO DOOM! By now you should know what that means, huge distorted Sabbathy riffs, slow doomy grooves, big crushing drums, clean soaring dramatic vocals, epic and soulful, with occasional stretches of more subdued shimmery clean guitar drift, mournful guitar harmonies, as well as brief blasts of almost all out thrashing, but those moments are indeed brief, the majority of the record is spent in full doom groove mode, lurching, lumbering, pounding, heavy and majestic, the sound definitely softened by the VERY melodic vocals, but it also makes their sound pretty unique. Emo doom, maybe? And like the last record, AoS really like to do covers, and they sure can pick em. Last time they did Sabbath's "Electric Funeral", and while it was killer, it also did what great covers often inadvertently do, outshine the band's originals. So this time around the band run into the same problem, they slay on absolutely killer covers of The Obsessed, the Misfits and Born Against for fuck's sake! And all three RULE, but end up sounding WAY better than anything on the record. We were joking that you should buy this awesome 3 song covers ep, which comes with a bonus album of all originals, and if you're really feeling these covers, you can track down the European version, which features DIFFERENT bonus tracks, Thin Lizzy, Celtic Frost and a different Misfits jam. Either way, good stuff, but you may find your self returning to the covers more than the record proper, especially the Born Against cover which destroys. And we won't even go into the atrocious cover photo featuring what looks like a jock on a date with a fifty year old European mom, the two of them having decided to engage in an extremely unlikely suicide pact... WTF? Well these guys like to be different, anyway. What other true doom band would have someone wearing a Neutral Milk Hotel t-shirt in their band photo, either?

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We've carried a 7" by this one man band (Mr. Alex Stimmel formerly of Court & Spark) for about a year, and we've been wonderin' when he was gonna grace our ears with more 'Hymns. Well, that time is now. Trowel And Era is his debut full length filled with music quite fitting for overcast (but not gloomy!), laidback afternoons. It's considerably more polished and expansive than the pair of intimate, low-key songs on the introductory single. Electric guitars slink like a cat stretching its limbs after stirring from a nap. An assortment of other stringed instruments are delicately plucked and strummed. The inclusion of soft glockenspiel, flute, kalimba, and autoharp glisten up the impressive psych-folk proceedings. The second song actually brought to mind Pink Floyd at a Ren Faire (particularly in the vocal department), and as the album progresses those visions get even more vividly so. Psst, the song "The Marigold" from the above mentioned 7"s b-side makes a reappearance here.

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MPEG stream: Watching The Bay (A Sailor Song)

Walls begins on familiar ground for German electronic artist / producer Apparat (aka Sascha Ring) -- chiming music box-y melancholics with strings that slide silkily across the glistening sonic icicles. From there Apparat skitters all over the musical map, only touching down briefly on his well-travelled techno and IDM hotspots. Although this is definitely far heavier and darker in mood than his wispy 2003 album Duplex, it's by no means lacking in emotion and warmth. The unexpected but very welcome soulful vocals of Raz Ohara certainly play a major role in this regard. Nice.

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Just a 3-track dose of Apparat Organ Quartet, and to be frank, it really doesn't do this group justice. You only get a mere glimpse of this Icelandic organ-synthesizer-keyboard-allsorts foursome's scope. The first percolating track sounds a lot like a slightly more aggressive Postal Service, whereas the second is a little more insistent and rockin' like a slightly less aggressive Add N To (X) or Trans Am, and the third is a revisiting of the first track. Not quite as good as some of their contributions to compilations that we've carried in the past, but pretty fun nonetheless. Their label notes Karlheinz Stockhausen, Steve Reich, and '70s horror soundtracks as influences, and that very well may be true. However, the most audible influence on this ep is that of Kraftwerk. FYI: AOQ members have worked with the likes of Marc Almond, Hafler Trio, Sigur Ros, Barry Adamson, Stillupsteypa, Mum, Pan Sonic and... Hermann Nitsch!

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Finally, the seemingly impossible to get full length release from this amazing Icelandic organ-synthesizer-keyboard combo gets a proper widespread release! Think Stereolab, Trans Am, Kraftwerk, M83, mix in a little Add N To (X), a little Postal Service and you'll be in the ballpark. From straight-up Stereolab worship, the first track is the best Stereolab song that never was (albeit with a Speak And Spell on lead vocals), to full on synth-rock with buzzy guitars and huge thick burping fuzz organ basslines with cool Kraftwerky computer vocals, to blissy M83 style romantic fuzzscapes, to goofy burbly loungy bleep and bloop, to some distinctly Kraftwerkian krautrock. AOQ's quadruple organ attack is tough to beat. You know how when a band had two guitarists, maybe three, it just made the guitar sound that much thicker and in your face, well, just imagine FOUR ORGANS rocking full on! Woah! And one of the organs just so happens to be manned by AQ fave Johan Johannsson (who also produced the record). In the past various AOQ members have worked with the likes of Marc Almond, Hafler Trio, Sigur Ros, Barry Adamson, Stillupsteypa, Mum, Pan Sonic and even Hermann Nitsch! But you won't find any blood soaked cacophony here. Nope, this is all warm and warbly, dreamy and bouncy, fun and fuzzy. Gorgeous cover art featuring oil paintings of the various members of the band as Playmobile figures!!

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This is definitely on the poppy side of things for the Hapna label, in our experience, Hans Appelqvist being a singer-songwriter-with-a-guitar kind of guy, but this self-described "patchwork symphony" brings in a lot of other, weirder sounds as well. It's apparently his 3rd album for Hapna and 4th overall, and we're sorry we missed the others 'cause this is really nice, delightful even, though with a sinister underbelly... it's music that someone like Bjork might hear in her dreams, magical and moody, with singing (in Swedish) and guitar strum and piano and bells and also all sorts of cartoony sound effects, playful children's voices, dogs barking, birds cawing, crickets chirping... all woven into a gorgeous patchwork indeed. If you like your Swedish indie pop to conjure an intimate, mysterious and quirky soundworld, Hans Appelqvist is your man. There's 12 tracks, but many of them are interludes only a bit over a minute, so it's about 25 mins total. As a bonus, though, you get a Quicktime video clip for "Tank Att Himlens Alla Stjarnor", which puts Appelqvist into a colorful and enchanting animated visual representation of that soundworld... you'll get to "see" some of the stranger sounds that crop up on that track!

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Dark and forlorn hillbilly country dirges from this Scottish group. Very reminiscent of Palace or Songs:ohia (to the point where, when we play this cd, people always ask if it is Palace), so fans of Will Oldham will LOVE this. Sparse and achingly beautiful.

Appendix Out are a Scottish outfit whose plaintive neo-folk style has been compared to Palace's Will Oldham. But Appendix Out's sound is free of the patented Oldham quirkiness that I can't seem get past anymore, that calls more attention to its style than the beauty of simply written and performed songs. Somehow, after hearing Olhdam records for so many many years, Apprendix Out

RealAudio clip: Golden Tablets of the Sun
RealAudio clip: Year Waxing, Year Waning

Really nice, stark, warm yet wintry folk from Scotland group. Newest Drag City release will DEFINITELY appeal to Palace fans.

Oh Fiona...you make everything so difficult, but we love you for it. The album that we thought might not ever come out. You maybe heard about the early Jon Brion version that apparently the record label said no to. But then Fiona said actually she didn't like it and it was her choice to re-record it. She enlisted sometime hip-hop producer Mike Elizondo and the result is maybe her best record yet! But beyond all the confusion and delay and mixed messages the important part is that Fiona is for sure one of the smartest pop stars around. Her songs so rich and her voice always so evocative and dead on. In a perfect world she would be number one on the pop charts without a doubt. The dual disc includes live performances at Club Largo (where Jon Brion did his residency) as well as a really funny video for "Not About Love" starring chubby bearded comedian Zach Galinakis. Speaking of "Not About Love", has their ever been a heavier torch song? We don't think so, you can almost imagine Codeine or some doom metal band covering it, with it's weird stop start chorus and pounding minor key dirges. So amazing. Apple may be one of the only real divas who will stand the test of time.

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Another guest review here courtesy of longtime aQ pal and expert music enthusiast David Katznelson (also head honcho of both the Sutro Park and Birdman labels, amongst others), this time he's raving about a sixties artifact that's been blowing his mind lately: It is unbelievable to me that after all of this time, and all the reissues that have been coming out steadily for years, that there are still unknown gems from the psychedelic period of the late '60s that surface. And yet, there was a UK band called The Apple who released An Apple A Day in 1969 and over 40 years later, they are being played nonstop around my house. Think Open Mind... July (yes!!)... maybe even The Move: call it freakbeat or RnB fueled psych. Whatever you call it, An Apple A Day is a mighty fine platter. It starts with an instant classic (and great suggestion), "Let's Take A Trip Down The Line" and flows into a song that I truly do not understand how it never made a Nuggets comp: "The Otherside", complete with a more poppy (in a good way) groove and a great guitar line. Side B is harder... more aggressive... with some great covers (The Yardbirds, Loving Spoonful) leading the way for a dirty and power-filled psych-blues set. This reissue comes with a very English recipe pamphlet around "Cooking With Apples". I have not tried the recipes yet, but something tells me that with the right ingredients, this record could take off into universes still unknown. 180 gram vinyl, with inserts including lengthy liner notes.

Hip hip hooray, super great news! Apples In Stereo's long out of print albums -- The Discovery Of A World Inside The Moone and Fun Trick Noisemaker -- have been reissued! With such a beloved band, you might be wondering why we never reviewed these awesome early Apples In Stereo delights. We were asking ourselves the same question, then we realized that the records predate our aQ website and review writing. Yeah, waaay back before we had the invention known as the computer! Now, we get to take another kick at the can (and replace our own worn copies!), but when an album has been so near and dear for so long, it can be extra difficult to put your love into words. Fun Trick Noisemaker is one such thing! This is indie pop, pure and not so simple! Dare we say, some of the best ever made. It's the soundtrack to that perfect world where you never get a flat tire, your scoop of ice cream never falls from its cone, your record needle never skips, and your secret crush crushes you right back. Each song is its own snugglefest bursting with the peppiest energy, the sweetest melodies and the most irresistible hooks. While on later albums, main man Robert Schneider would surrender completely to the shrine of Brian Wilson, here the influence is indeed central to the band's sound, but not all-encompassingly so. If you want/need a smile-inducing, delicious pop album, look no further! Absolutely, unequivocally recommended straight from the warmed-up cockles of our hearts.

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The return of the most polished and shiny of the Elephant 6 pop groups. The songs are slower, more layered, and more substantial than on previous Apples records, which is a good thing: for example, if you like Strawberry Fields Forever you will LOVE this album. In fact, any fan of the Beatles should welcome this record with open arms -- yes it is that good. Robert Schneider's voice is even more perfectly juicy than ever before. Highly recommended.