[ 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 8101 through 8150 of 19388.

MPEG stream: The Forest We've Been
MPEG stream: Wooded Reel

On their second outing as a fully realized band (as distinguished from Keith Wood's solo foresty folk experimentalism of their earlier Digitalis releases), Hush Arbors are quickly becoming the band to watch! Produced by J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr., their combination of bucolic psych-rock and strong rootsy songs tread a similar path to many of the bands currently on the Sub Pop roster but thankfully avoid all the sensitive dude pitfalls many of those bands suffer. Mascis's presence is definitely felt in the shoegazey guitar work of the final track, "Devil Made You High" but it's Wood's strong falsetto delivery that moves the songs into all the right places. Like a more driving Six Organs, Yankee Reality is just as satisfying as their last self-titled release for Ecstatic Peace. Keep 'em coming!

MPEG stream: Day Before
MPEG stream: Fast Asleep
MPEG stream: Devil Made You High

In the past Keith Wood has released all kinds of material under the Hush Arbors moniker, so we had no idea what to expect from this new record on Ecstatic Peace. Turns out it's a seriously awesome album of psych folk psychosis! It really grew on us, the perfect album to play in the store. With a simple charm that totally hinges on catchy, rootsy guitar licks and soft, falsetto vocals that are ever-so effective in completely captivating. Slipping between quietly sung finger picked ballads and rowdy full-band jammers, these are the kind of songs that stay in your head longer than you'd like, but you don't mind because they're awesome. Wood and his partner, Leon Dufficy, have conjured a magical release that falls somewhere between a forested acoustic ritual and a boozed up, barn burning hoedown. Wood's somber songwriting is clever and touching, combining the tenderness of Neil Young with the atmospheric obscurity of Six Organs (Ben Chasny even makes an appearance on the second track!). Very cool! Complete with a beautifully collaged cover featuring a picture of the man himself. Needless to say, don't miss out, this is highly recommended!

MPEG stream: Follow Closely
MPEG stream: Rue Hollow

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

SORRY.

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

SORRY.

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

SORRY.

Back in stock! A synopsis of this self-titled debut by The Huxtables themselves: "In the beginning, there were two sweaters, a drum sweater and a guitar sweater. We attempted to win but lost a battle of the bands at our high school. At that point, we finally became a real family. Of course the guitar and drums are the parents and the drawings, video, bass and keyboards are the kids, uncles and aunts. On this recording, half of its songs are from a small concrete closet in Washington DC. At one point the closet was storage space for an up-right bass. We finished the album in a kitchen in Boston while in a tussle with the police. What they did to us in that kitchen forced us to become a collective notion and stop being a band. New songs are being worked out and the collective's future album will be called The Mere Pressure Of My Hand." The Huxtables are two 17 year old boys from New York who make art and music that's noisy, naive, raw and a little bit silly. But awesome and fun!

MPEG stream: Dragonfly Society
MPEG stream: Nothing Can Stop Us Now

There are always gonna be special bands, the ones that hold a unique place in your heart. That band you heard when you were on a trip. The band you have loved since the first time you heard them. The band whose songs featured heavily on that mix tape. And then any variation of the 'first' band, the band whose show you were at the first time you got drunk, laid, high, the night you met 'the one', then there's the band whose songs are always stuck in your head, the first -any genre here- band you ever liked, the band that helped you make it through that breakup / rehab / depression / that tough time in your life. But then there's the sort of band you have that weird protective proprietary selfish love for. The band only you like. The band you don't want everyone else listening to. The band you discovered and only you truly love. You know what we mean. It's a rare band that can inspire that sort of love and dedication. Well, we're a little embarrassed to admit it, but we sort of felt that way about Hwyl Nofio. A friend in the UK turned us on to them years back, and from the moment we first laid ears on them, we were smitten, obsessed even. This mysterious outfit crafting these dark and ominous worlds of strange and beautiful sound. It was hard to not keep it all to ourselves, this dark cave of sound that we could explore and call our own. But we like to think we've outgrown that sort of stuff, since we get as much satisfaction from turning other folks on to new music as we do discovering it for ourselves. More so in most cases. But it definitely speaks to the power of Hwyl Nofio, and the effect of their murky and mysterious music has on our ears, and brains, and hearts and souls. Hounded By Fury is record number four from this UK drone outfit. The band is mostly the work of one man, Steve Parry, who handles the bulk of the sound making, utilizing all manner of guitars: strummed, plucked, bowed, adapted and otherwise, ukulele, piano, organs: church and otherwise, viola, bass and electronics, while a series of guests add their two cents with saxophone, Chinese guzheng, acoustic guitar processing, imagined banjo (?) and midi fractal image converter (!). Recorded at various locations including an old church Hounded By Fury is a definitely a drone record at its heart, but it's what the band do with those drones that makes Hwyl Nofio so special. The sound this time around is a bit more ominous than on past outings. There's more scraping and scrabbling steel strings, a sort of grinding industrial screech that surfaces in some form or another on many of the tracks, sometimes right up front, a keening high end wail, sometimes just another element in a multilayered droneworld, subtly blended into a slow sleepy swirl with thee rest of the sounds. The opening track is the former, with steel strings singing as they are scraped and scratched, a shrill screech stretched taut over a warm reverberant low end, strange tinkling wooden chimes and twinkling music box melodies, while in the background a moaning mournful melody, strummed softly so that the strums blend together. From that point on, it's a slow journey through a nighttime world of slow burn jazz minimalism a la Bohren, buzzing raga like rumble, and abstract ambient flutter. Layers of bowed strings sit atop minimal pulsing rhythms, a minimal throb usually constructed from one or two notes, long sustaining tones are stretched out side by side, the overtones shimmering and shifting, the resulting soundfield like drifting along some alien river, staring at a sky full of different stars, a head full of strange and unrecognizable sounds. Bizarre disembodied jangle is stripped of melody, until it's just a warm ridged texture, atonal Jandekian guitar figures warped and twisted, slowed down and sped up, sprinkled with cymbal sizzle and muted reverb ricochets, all stretched and twisted into various forms of drone. One of the most intense tracks is "Child Woman", a choral sounding minor key lament, deep dark strings and mournful melodies, almost traditional settled as it is amidst an album of abstract experimental drone music., but very emotional and cinematic. It seems like a turning point for the record too as the next few tracks sound downright sunny, bright colors replace the dark, guitars twang, a trippy tangled slow motion free folk, the melodies not so dour, but the sunshine soon dims as black clouds fill the sky and timestretched metallic reverberations fill our ears like a million alarm clocks going off at once and then slowed down into a wall of alien trills, the mood shift is further enforced by some super sharp atonal guitars, swooping dizzily about, sounding a bit like the guitars on the Butthole Surfers' Hairway To Steven record, sort of damaged and deranged. But then the record's coda brings us back to Hwyl's soft shimmer, the delicate drone, a haunting ghostlike swoon, fuzzy and gauzey, obscured by falling rain, a dreamy drift into the void, a slow sad slide into the bright white, the pitch black left far behind.

MPEG stream: Living In Shadows
MPEG stream: Sanctify
MPEG stream: Riding The Echoes Of A Strange Situation

We weren't really sure to expect from this band. We were sort of taking a chance on the cool name, the striking cover and the sticker that explained that Hylozoists were in fact a 10 piece ensemble including vibraphones, double drums, organ, piano, strings, glockenspiel, flugelhorn, brass, pedal steel and more... Wow. How could we not be smitten already? Without even having heard it. Thankfully, it's just as cool as we hoped. Obvious points of reference are Stereolab, the Coctails, Neu!, Japancakes, Rachel's. Calexico, even Godspeed! You Black Emperor. Lilting dreamy chamber pop, lush and languorous, a little bit cocktail jazz, a little exotica, some krautrock groove, a bit of twang, some slow burning moodiness, some spaghetti Western campiness, some effervescent pop. A glorious and playful, propulsive indie-chamber-pop chamber epic postrock record for sure. Some sweet female vocals surface in the middle of the record, but for the most part this is all instrumental, and all dreamy and divine. Featuring members of the Weakerthans, Broken Social Scene, Fembots and Final Fantasy.

MPEG stream: The Fifty Minute Hour
MPEG stream: Elementary Particles

New mysterious lp from the equally mysterious duo, Hype Williams. Housed in a blank white 12" sleeve with a blank white label and white vinyl and no identifying information whatsoever, except for a sticker on the shrink wrap. Hell, it took us awhile to even figure out what speed it's supposed to play at and we're still not really sure. Crackly and hollowed out synth washes and bouncy but distant drum machines play in deceptively basic minimal-funk pitch-shifted arrangements that slowly wooze and morph into dreamy soul refractions. Hazy and murky like their witch-house contemporaries would be good descriptors, but it's much more of a hot muddled electro mess than spindly goth horror daydream. Dam-Funk on Nyquil, perhaps? Supposedly these songs have titles, but there is no listing, maybe if we slavishly followed the blogs, we might have a clue, but it's hard to tell where one track ends and another one starts. We don't even know which is side one or two. Hype Williams may revel in their particular brand of confounding prankishness and seem not to care if you are in on their joke or not, but if their output wasn't so curiously intriguing, we might have not given this a second thought. Truth be told, we can't stop trying to wrap our heads around it, so that's gotta be something, right?

Here's another band for all those folks freaking over the blissed out post black metal jangle pop of groups like Alcest, Amesoeurs, Les Discrets, Sleeping Peonies and all the rest. This Dutch one man band began life as something much more black and grim, but gradually shed all of that as the sound drifted toward something way more shoegazey and poppy. And that's essentially what this is, a shoegaze record, a fuzzed out dream pop record, albeit one with buzzing brittle guitars, occasional squalls of frenzied fast picking, and once-in-a-while blast beats, and any of the elements that would normally go toward creating a grim black buzz, are transformed into a prismatic psychedelic shimmer, a fuzzy, a blissed out shoegaze buzz equal parts super sunny jangle pop and slow building instrumental crystalline post rock, soaring and epic and emotional, oozing with glistening melodic shimmer, wreathed in warm sonic swirls. If we had to pick one band to compare Hypomanie to, it would probably be Slowdive, a sort of blackened post rock Slowdive, but that same sort of wistful melancholia, and epic shoegazey swells, not to mention the occasional sweeping string like synths. There's also a huge Jesu vibe in the guitar tone and the epic crescendos (which also remind us of M83), and there's a strange looped vibe to many of the tracks, as if the songs were constructed and assembled, which gives the whole thing a dizzying, alien feel, which certainly suits the strange dreamlike sounds. And throughout the record, there are definitely some subtle hints of Hypomanie's black metal roots, in the buzzing guitars, the tremelo picking, the strange production, and here and there, the sound does actually explode into some serious black metal, like the closing bit of the opening track, which bursts into some furious soaring frenzied buzzing, anchored to some double kick driven blast beats, but even then it's all kaleidoscopic and dreamy, the blasting drums buried in the lush sonic swirl, a sound so epic and cinematic and fantastically grandiose. Gorgeous stuff for sure, and ANYone into the post black metal jangle pop usual suspects (mentioned above), will definitely dig this big time.

MPEG stream: You Never Gazed At The Clouds
MPEG stream: She Couldn't Find A Flower, But There Was Snow

The latest from this Dutch one man shoegaze black metal band, whose A City In Mono record was a big hit around here, with it's fuzzed out dream poppiness and weirdly looped sounding construction. Well if anything, on Calm Down, You Weren't Set On Fire it's gotten even harder to refer to Hypomanie as a black metal band, no matter how much you qualify it, any black buzz here is wreathed in prismatic swaths of sun dappled shimmer, the soaring guitars are processed to the point that they almost sound like horns and the programmed drums aren't driving as much as they are textural. Utterly blissed out and airy, fuzzy and dreamily soft focus, even when the sound is in fact blasting, the blast seems to be floating heavenward, in a cloud of blurred chordal thrum and majestic bleary eyed shimmer. But the band spend relatively little time bliss-blasting, instead unfurling long expanses of jangly shimmer, and post rocky dream poppy lope. And on tracks like "Alissa Loves Perfume", while the band do rock, all driving and intense, with the guitars super distorted to the point that they seem to crumble, it doesn't make it sound heavy at all, just fantastically produced and poppy, making us think of a more home brewed M83, which is not a bad thing at all, in fact, we've been listening to this like crazy. It's just that for all intents and purposes, Hypomanie are not a metal band, they are instead a heavy shoegaze dream pop band, and a really good one, the songs here super catchy, and almost soundtracky at times, the sort of jams you can imagine would be on the soundtrack to a John Hughes movie, if he was making Sixteen Candles in 2012. Fans of M83, Phoenix, Craft Spells, Beach House, and yeah okay, Alcest, Amesoeurs, Les Discrets and the like. LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!!!

MPEG stream: 19 Stars And The Sweet Smell Of Cinnamon
MPEG stream: Alissa Loves Perfume
MPEG stream: Pale Blue

Wow, we've been waiting for someone to tell the definitive story behind one of Korea's most influential but sadly obscure guitarists and bandleaders. How influential? Well, Fender Guitars has recently made the 72 year old psych-rock veteran his own Custom Shop Tribute Series Guitar - the sixth one ever, after Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen. How obscure? Well, every past review in which we've ever mentioned him, his name has had a slightly different spelling. We couldn't find much written about him except that he was considered the "Godfather of Korean Rock". His signature song, the 18 minute epic, "Beautiful Rivers And Mountains" has been featured on two other releases we reviewed but with different titles and lengths. An edited version closed the Asian installment of the Love, Peace and Poetry series under the title, "Korean Title A2" by Jung Hyun and The Men, and the Shin Jung Hyun and The Men cd we listed in the past, credits the song as "Beautiful Country", at least that one had the full length version. The edited 10 minute version is featured here too, but it's understandable given that this is a compilation that highlights how multifaceted his career has been through this fertile 16-year period, often playing behind singers who got top billing (Kim Sun, Kim Jung Mi, Jang Hyun and Lee Jung Hwa) or in a variety of Ga-yo (pop-rock) groups (Golden Grapes. ADD4, Bloozetet, Club Date, The Donkeys, etc.), But Shin Joong Hyun's signature guitar style, moody and soulful, but with a fuzzy, distorted grooviness, is evident throughout. What's even more amazing is Hyun's arranging skills, often augmenting his guitar sound with trippy psych organ and big booming drum tones (check out the opening break on "The Man Who Must Leave" to see what we mean). Hyun got his start in the late fifties when he found lucrative work playing on American army bases after the Korean War. The opening track "Moon Watching" is from that period. It also afforded him the opportunity to stretch out stylistically away from the Korean traditional pop sound, into more western influenced pop, R&B and psychedelic styles. But while Hyun's songwriting and arranging is often hook-inflected and groovy, there is a serious soulfulness to the songs that give them a powerful melancholic quality. For instance, Kim Jung Mi's "The Sun" sounds like a song Galaxie 500 might have ripped off and made their own (maybe they did?). Jang Hyun's "Sunset" could have easily been featured on that Forge Your Own Chains comp of Heavy Dirges we raved about recently too. As Hyun's career hit the seventies, he was more interested in expanding his guitar sound with his band and moving away from the shorter poppier numbers of his sixties past. "'J' Blues 72" is the longest track on here at 15 minutes and it's all just fuzzy acid-groove freakout. But it's the title track here that takes the prize for most amazing song. One of our favorite Asian psych tracks ever, it's really interesting to hear the incredible story behind it, as it was sadly the song that led to Hyun's professional undoing and to the beginning of a seven year forced musical exile. It turns out a representative of the corrupt leader of South Korea, Park Jung-hee, called upon Hyun to write a song about him, but he refused. The leader than asked him to write a song about the government and Hyun refused again. So perplexed and understandably, a bit paranoid about the exchange, Hyun retreated and wrote his own song about his feelings toward his country and brought it to his band to record. Since it was an eighteen minute song recorded live, the process of recording was unusually grueling, because if any mistakes were made, the band had to start over. Getting it onto a release was difficult as well because of its length but was eventually added to the B side of the singer Jang Hyun's album, originally called Jang Hyun and The Men which Shin Hyun later renamed Shin Jung Hyun and The Men (which is why we figure there have been many different names of the song and credits). Finally having it recorded, Hyun had the opportunity to perform it on TV. The song, with its simple depictions of how Korea is made up of beautiful nature and people, angered the leader and led to a subsequent country-wide musical ban, and years of interrogation, probation and oppression, until the leader's eventual assassination in 1979. Shin Joong Hyun's return to music after this period has been slow and much more low-key. Light In The Attic has done a tremendous job compiling these tracks and doing the research into Hyun's topsy-turvy life and career, even getting the man himself to annotate all the recordings with his own personal stories of how they came to be made. With a 40 page full color booklet with photos of record covers and all of the great pop acts Hyun worked with over the period. This is not just a great document of an amazing musician, but a great view into the sixties and seventies pop-world of a little documented region of Asian music. Fans of other old and new Asian psych we love like He 6, San Ul Lim, Korean Black Eyes, Mops, Acid Mothers Temple, Up-Tight, Onna, and Satoshi Sonoda will find much to love here. Highest Recommendation!

MPEG stream: Beautiful Rivers And Mountains
MPEG stream: Sunset
MPEG stream: The Sun
MPEG stream: The Man Who Must Leave
MPEG stream: I've Got Nothing To Say

A while back we made the Shin Joong Hyun anthology Beautiful Rivers And Mountains put out by the Light In The Attic label a Record Of The Week, and it was deservedly very popular. So hopefully you already know all about this legendary Korean rock n' roller, but if you don't, you could go read that lengthy review for a lot more information. He certainly has had an interesting life and career, with lots of ups and some serious downs; he began playing rock music back in the '50s for the G.I.'s on American military bases, saw a lot of success in the '60s writing hits for an assortment of singers, by the '70s his rebellious rock n' roll attitude landed him on the conservative South Korean government's shitlist, he wound up getting busted for pot and was tortured in an insane asylum and blacklisted, but eventually things changed for the better and his work resumed, though not the same as before, and he still makes music to this day. What we have here is a 1974 album, the debut from a three-piece unit Shin formed called the Yup Juns ('brass coins'). None of the songs here appear on that Light In The Attic compilation except for one, there in an alternate recording that was used on a film soundtrack. But if you liked what we described in that review as the guitarist's signature style of being "moody and soulful, but with a fuzzy, distorted grooviness" then this album is full of that - awesome Korean '70s poppy psych action that's VERY GROOVY indeed, with an exotic, Asiatic flair. Halfway through the album, the track "I Love You" seems to channel some traditional Buddhist chant, with bells and percussion in lieu of Shin's guitar, a placid interlude amidst the other songs which look to get heads bopping and hips swivelling out on the dancefloor. The compact disc version of this comes in a miniature-lp-style sleeve, and includes a thick 20 page booklet with extensive liner notes, lyrics and photos, which are also included with the 180 gram vinyl version. And it's an official release, in cooperation with Shin Joong Hyun himself. Nicely done, so happy to have this. This week we happen to be listing another reissue from 1974 by another international psych guitar great, Erkin Koray. What Erkin Koray is to Turkey, we suppose you could say Shin Joong Hyun is to South Korea. We recommend getting both albums, while they draw from totally different cultures and traditions (well, except for rock n' roll), they're both great and it'd be tough to decide between the two...

MPEG stream: Beautiful Woman
MPEG stream: Think
MPEG stream: Long, Long Night

Another one for everybody who loved the groovy HE 6 album we listed not long ago! Guitar player Shin Jung Hyun was a big deal in the South Korean rock n' roll scene, going as far back as the '50s, when he played for the GIs on American military bases. His music even was apparently the subject of a tribute album a few years ago. In the late sixties/early seventies psychedelia took hold, and Shin Jung Hyun did it as well or better than anyone... totally funky, tripped-out, acid-rock freakdom. Lots and lots of acid-fuzz guitar jamming with bass, drums, organ and some flute too. Maybe for that reason this reminds us a bit of Dungen, actually. The material on this album (which may actually be entited It's A Lie, we're not sure) dates around 1972 or so. Though 44 minutes long, there's just three songs here, "Beautiful Country", "It's A Lie" and "Woman In The Mist", all consequently long and meandering (yet rhythmically tight, believe it), and mostly instrumental. It seems that these three might have originally been the extended flip-sides to shorter, more commerical cuts, compiled onto this disc for the benefit of anyone into far-out psych jamming as wedded to Asian pop of the era. Not so much heavy as it is simply seriously groovy and right-on, Shin Jung and The Men blend garage rock/surf/Frisco ballroom styles into a head-nodding, toe-tapping, mind-blowing, utterly dazzling unravelling of whatever "song" it seems they started off playing. That means: the singer does some nice kinda soft psych pop crooning to start things off, but he soon disappears and the band just takes off into outer realms, doing their thing and stretching out without care for commerical (radio play) considerations. Eventually the singer shows up again, but it's as if he left the room and then came back in some minutes later to finish the song, utterly unaware of what his band had been up to in the interim! We can only imagine what their live shows were like, must have been killer -- as this disc is, killer.

MPEG stream: Beautiful Country

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

SORRY. Along with the reactivation of the Khrystanthoney label (check out reviews of Korouva and Melankoli elsewhere on this week's list), comes the introduction of a new label, a Khrysanthoney sub-label, the first two releases, both EXTREMELY limited eps from UK 'dreamo' outfit I Am A Lake Of Burning Orchids, whose sounds is a gloriously distorted, ultra blown out, electronics heavy blackened, crumbling shoegaze. And it's just as good as that sounds. Just check out the first track on "Summer In My Veins" from the group's first ep, which sounds like My Bloody Valentine, Mohinder, Tim Hecker all blended up and mixed by Alec Empire, or something. It's a dizzyingly dense tangle of ultra buzzy crumble, grinding distorto electronics, shrieked vox buried in the mix, lilting minor key melodies transformed into jagged streaks of furious fuzz, the production too, warped and woozy, almost Faxed Head style, with the sound swooping in and out, fading to near silence, then exploding into blow out speaker shredding howls, the sound stuttering and glitching out, often woven into strangely dynamic sprawls of start stop psychedelic noise, just as often smeared into prismatic FX drenched swirls. Some of the music sounds a bit like a crappy old Casio keyboard run through a million distortion pedals and then broadcast through a wall of Marshall amps, some sounds like pure abstract electronic komische melted down into pure, swirling, crystalline noise, and some sounds like malfunctioning techno, draped with harsh vokills and then doused in gouts of distortion and fuzz. Glorious, ear melting, head spinning, rainbow colored, blown out, buzz drenched, metallic dreamo bliss out of the highest order. Morning - Hands is IAALOBO's second ep and explores a different side of the group, harnessing many of the same sounds and textures, but trading in the Melt-Banana style short-sharp-shocks for long sprawling dronescapes, total Tim Hecker style epic crumble, like a super distorted blown out Caretaker record, the tracks here rumble and smolder, the sound delivered in swells, that build and build, before decaying into abstract swirls of sound the opening salvo is just total droned out heavy psychedelic dream-noise mesmer, but the second half is much more abstract and ambient, slipping from hushed hazy drift, all warm soft swirls and muted gauze-y crackle, to an almost krautrocky like komische, albeit one doused in distortion and effects, and finally, a sprawl of processed field recordings, which gradually blur into a murky sprawl of grey thrum, before dissipating and once again revealing the found sounds within. Both eps are SO GREAT, such a crime they're so limited. How limited? THESE ARE LIMITED TO JUST 50 COPIES!!! We have only a handful of each, and then they're gone for good. Beautifully packaged in an 8" x 17" fold out insert, housed in a translucent envelope, hand numbered in metallic ink.

MPEG stream: Waiting
MPEG stream: Transit
MPEG stream: Sojourn

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

MPEG stream: Summer In My Veins
MPEG stream: I Hereby Promise
MPEG stream: My First Kiss Was In The Rain, It's Gone Downhill Since Then
MPEG stream: Garden Of Light I - The Flowers Of Crete

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

SORRY. Limited edition large poster screenprinted on blueprint paper - so each is one-of-a-kind! Features the face of Crack: We Are Rock member Erin. Designed by Slang (who's responsible for a number of other stunning, highly covetted, non-paper posters for SF artists like Church Steps, Sounds Of The Barbary Coast, Kit Clayton, and O.S.T. go to: www.slanginternational.org).

1" button: uniquely shiny chrome with black print of the band's head-bending-fork logo.

1" button: uniquely shiny chrome with black print of the Teletwin logo.

A brand new IAS 1.25" button to go with their brand new album! Uniquely shiny chrome with black print of the 'magic/magnetic hand' image from the front cover of their Buy Hidden Persuaders limited edition album.

By the time this is read, I Am Spoonbender will have�played their first show in 3 years. A meticulously planned and extensively elaborate sonic and visual feast for the eyes and the ears. In honor of this rare and long overdue live performance, IAS have�made a limited cd pressing of their latest full length album,�which was previously only available as a�free download from their website. It too is meticulous and elaborate, sonically and visually! From the beginning,�IAS (featuring AQ's own Cup, it must be said) have always had their feet planted firmly outside the traditional trappings�of what it means to be a band. Instead, they are more aligned with the tradition of performance art and ongoing dialogue, which�sometimes takes the shape of albums and songs while other times is expressed through imagery, mirrors,�card sets, film scores, and their psychedelic 1.1.1 alter-ego. Buy Hidden Persuaders finds IAS in the unique�position of being both avant-minded yet so immediate�and musical. Proggy and spazzy, paranoid and�poppy, rife with futuristic undertones and oh so undeniably melodic.�Elements of electronic progsters Heldon and prime-time new wavey Gary Numan are still integral parts of the IAS fabric. BHP is the�sound of a new propaganda created by examining the effects on the psyche�of the onslaught of insidious images and ideas, the ones we are bombarded with on a�daily basis. Fighting fire with fire, or more specifically with a driving and rhythmic�musical flame much like the trick candles on a�birthday cake that refuse to ever go out. Inextinguishable, it will burn images and ideas into your mind until you're armed with�new questions, and no simple�answers.�A contagious conflagration n' confrontation in musical form. Presented in a special lp-sized gatefold, with their�trademark immaculate packaging and filled with stream�of consciousness text that further underscores their ongoing�desire to create, illuminate and compel. Very limited so�don't blink...

MPEG stream: Which Brand Are You?
MPEG stream: The Drug Companies Did A Good Job
MPEG stream: ESPionage

New I Am Spoonbender stickers are now here! Striking Egyptian motif. Bright orange, black and white weather-proof vinyl. 2" wide by 6" high.

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

SORRY. Ultra-super-limited pressing of this Japanese import only available in the U.S. from us here at AQ. Features two songs: the A-side is a retitled "Replaced By Toys" from their first album "Sender/Receiver" now called "Plastic Lips" The exclusive B-side is an electro-op-pop cover of the wonderful Young Marble Giants' song "Searching For Mr. Right"! Note: if you're quick like a bunny you might even get one of the extra-ultra-super-limited number of these that were pressed on white vinyl. Definitely buy now or cry later.

The debut album from the San Francisco avantgardists I Am Spoonbender is quite a brilliant fare, in which the telephone operates as metaphor to semiological, aural, and sidereal transmissions (Andee's interpretation: "They sing into phones"). But this object finds itself in need of repair, disrupting and misinterpreting the original signals of This Heat and Gary Numan into mutant grooves propelled by Dustin's post-Jaki Leibezeit percussion and Brian's prog bass angularity. On top of all of this rhythmic disruption, Cup's delicate synth melodies fall somewhere in between the tropes of early 80's new wave and Nurse With Wound's Soliloquy for Lilith. Yeah, I already run the risk of making this review far more advanced than it really need be, so I say that this - the aural equivalent of Avital Ronell's Telephone Book - is one of my favorite records of the year. No shit.

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

SORRY. First time on vinyl, and in the form of a beautiful picture disc at that! The only thing that is missing from this version of I Am Spoonbender's first full length is the peic final track "Mr. Knife Miss Fork". Unfortunately due to the time constraints of the vinyl format, the track simply would no fit. Nevertheless even without the final track, the debut album from the San Francisco avantgardists I Am Spoonbender is quite a brilliant fare, in which the telephone operates as metaphor to semiological, aural, and sidereal transmissions (Andee's interpretation: "They sing into phones."). But this object finds itself in need of repair, disrupting and re-interpreting the original signals of This Heat and Gary Numan into mutant grooves propelled by Dustin Donaldson's post-Jaki Leibezeit percussion and Brian Jackson's prog bass angularity. On top of all of this rhythmic disruption, Cup's delicate vocal / synth melodies fall somewhere in between the tropes of late '70s new wave and Nurse With Wound's Soliloquy For Lilith. Yeah, I already run the risk of making this review far more advanced than it really need be, so I say that this -- the aural equivalent of Avital Ronell's Telephone Book -- is one of my favorite records of the year. No shit. Limited pressing.

MPEG stream: Replaced By Toys
MPEG stream: Waking Dream Seance

During the two years between I Am Spoonbender's "Teletwin" EP and the "Shown Actual Size" 3-song EP, electro-revivalism -- or perhaps better known as the stupid cliche 'electroclash' (who's fighting anyway?) -- has self-destructed. Once a succinct manifestation of perfectly machined rhythms and plastic passion with an android sheen (e.g. Adult.), electro-revivalism is now just a vapidly stylistic coke dream of robot sex and perfectly coiffed hair. Indeed, I Am Spoonbender have developed a tight, very flashy live persona complete with choreographed lighting, op-art film references, and sharp costuming. However, beneath their theatrical glitz, I Am Spoonbender remains dedicated to crafting an avant-pop homunculus out of This Heat and Gary Numan, or perhaps alternately stated, IAS strives for a means to rock without guitars. For Spoonbender, electro has simply been a convenient vehicle to attain some of their goals (art? popularity? world domination?). That said, "Shown Actual Size" is probably the least electro sounding record from I Am Spoonbender, centered upon the vocal duets of Donaldson and Cup (yes, the same Cup whose smiling face can be found behind the counter at Aquarius) fronting punchy synthetic grooves and metronomic electrical sparks (plus bass guitar played by Dave Edwardson of Neurosis!). These two voices bounce between fractured narratives that not only imply a humanistic optimism about extracting meaning out of miscommunication, but also a cautiousness towards the technologies which may be complicating the lives that they seek to improve. Hopefully, more material will soon follow these far too brief 13 minutes. The album cover is a psychedelic / sci-fi '70s photograph of a phallic burst of water shooting into an androgynous mouth that you may recognise as the cover of Ash Ra's "Correlations", borrowed here -with permission- from Storm, the man behind Hipgnosis, the design firm responsible for that image as well as many other legendary album covers (Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and tons more).

RealAudio clip: I Went And Had My Knives Sharpened
RealAudio clip: Re-Dial Meant Remember

'You have been suggested': This is the 1st of 3 in a series of what I Am Spoonbender call 'Hypnotic Trance Pamphlets' -- sort of an 'Oblique Strategies' for the memetic engineering mindset. Ten 2" by 3" cards unique to each series, imprinted with an array of provocative IAS word/image concepts, thoughts and musings enclosed in a hand-numbered red vellum envelope. Tres sublime. Each edition will be limited to 333 copies. When I snap my fingers, you will not snooze on this...

This is the 2nd series of 'Hypnotic Trance Pamphlets' by the Spoonbender Sleep Research Team (the printed-word annex of I Am Spoonbender). Enclosed in each metallic anthracite-hued paper, die-cut envelope are ten 2" by 3" cards (unique to each series), imprinted with an array of provocative IAS word/image concepts, thoughts and musings. Think a sort of 'Oblique Strategies' for the memetic-engineering mindset, although this set has some sociomagico narrative-generating possibilities... mix 'em up! Tres sublime! As with the 1st (and forthcoming 3rd edition), these are limited to 333 hand-numbered copies. Hypnotico! Arouseo! Awakeup!

After the tricky 3-sided-but-on-a-single-12" vinyl release, I Am Spoonbender offers the (one-sided) cd version of Teletwin. This 41-minute ep starts with an altered version of "Stopwatch Static" (here titled "Clocks Grow Old" to expand the meaning of the original), one of the avant-pop numbers from their 1998 album Sender / Receiver which then fades into "Infinity Limiter", a Steve Reich-ian tune for synths, which has become a staple in the I Am Spoonbender live 'Dream Set'. "Where Do Words Go?" at first appears to be a pretty straightforward cover of Berlin's new wave classic "The Metro" -- but upon closer inspection you realize that it is a 'tele-twin' of sorts, with completely different lyrics exactly set to the original melody! This makes IAS' version an imposter -- passing for the orginal, but actually completely different. Lyrically and conceptually, this now places the song entirely within the IAS ethos (illusion / reality, etc). Furthermore, the song eventually detours into layers of melodic deconstructions and time signature shakeups which somehow all reconvene back into the original song structure for its finish. For "Frozen Dog Futurist", IAS generate Heldon-esque synths with an obsessive bassline matching the disorienting punch of Dustin Donaldson's live drumming. This decomposes into digital glitch manipulated organ drones which could easily have origins in the soundtrack to the classic, freaky film Carnival Of Souls. That is followed by "October Blurred By", a hypnotic rhythmic track of flanged bass repeating a complex anti-funk groove that could be mistaken for a Tones On Tail out-take! "They Don't Have Mirrors" continues the aural relay with a caustic electronic wash which gives way to a blast of percussive math cluster bombs topped by slippery bass distortion before breaking down into thick recordings of steam engine horns with backwards digital skittering... and then erupts back into the aforementioned structure. For all of the plastic / new wave sheen that I Am Spoonbender applies to their songs, their structures may in fact be closer to This Heat or Funkstorung's experiments with fracturing electronica by shifting rhythmic elements in and out of atmospheric moods. Note: we have both the Canadian import version released on Mint Records which features extra-stylin' black jewelcase packaging as well as the domestic version released on Little Army Records.

MPEG stream: Clocks Grow Old
MPEG stream: They Don't Have Mirrors
MPEG stream: Frozen Dog Futurist

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

SORRY. The original IAS sticker design! 8"long by 1.5"wide vinyl sticker with silver band name and shiny black antique fork design on matte black background.

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

SORRY. 2" high by 5"wide vinyl sticker with white band name and silver logo on matte black background.

Limited edition 1.5" button: uniquely shiny chrome with black print of the phrase "I went to see I Am Spoonbender and all I got were memories."

Back in stock! An unexpected I Am Spoonbender object for your multidimensional delight and reflection. It's a limited edition 2.25" circular mirror! These were formerly only available from the group at their performances and have been long long gone. However, to commemorate the release of their latest album Buy Hidden Persuaders which has mirror themes running throughout, IAS have made a fresh batch. We've got a small quantity here at aQ. The back is imprinted in black with their logo and the phrase "this is a 2 way mirror" (Who is on the other side? And where are they watching from?) on the same sleekly unique chrome finish as their 1" buttons. Perfectly stylin' and perfectly handy.

A brand new I Am Spoonbender t-shirt design to go with their brand new album! Black 50/50 t-shirt with metallic silver and red print of the 'magic / magnetic hand' image from the front cover of the Buy Hidden Persuaders limited edition album. Sizes: YL, S, M, L, XL. Please specify in the comments section of the order form which size shirt you want.

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

SORRY. This black 50/50 t-shirt is graced by a white telephone handset design that glows in the dark! It's surrounded by thin red lines. Adult extra large only.

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

SORRY. Black 50/50 t-shirt with metallic silver print of the band's head-bending-fork logo. Various sizes available. Please inquire.

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

SORRY. Black 50/50 t-shirt with red telephone and white lines design. Large only.

Black 50/50 t-shirt with metallic silver print of the three forkmen from the Teletwin album. Various sizes available. Please inquire.

The retrospective compilation of the short-lived NY hardcore band known as I Robot includes three previously unreleased tracks, as well as a couple of 7" cuts and a live performance on KXLU Radio. Most notable about the music here is the contrasting vocals of Matt Grande and Peter Bisso (now in Homesick For Space) - an acidic, shriek-yell assault much like that of The Locust in which any moment you expect to be hit in the eye by a projectile tonsil versus a considerably more gentle emo-boy approach. And the music is right there along with them alternating from moments of subdued, lulling guitar post rock to more imposingly raging walls of guitars.

RealAudio clip: The Answer
RealAudio clip: He Who Cares Not Loses In The End

This might be the coolest, weirdest release yet from Medical Records, which is saying a lot considering how much cool, weird stuff they put out. From the French synth pop of Mathemetiques Modernes, to the twisted WTF? guitar & synth one man band Lou Champagne System (a previous Record Of The Week!), and from the space-y psychedelic synthscapery of Axxess (another past ROTW!), to Swiss teenage electro poppers Guyer's Connection, it's all so good, and we could go on, but you get the picture. We love this label, and their ability to consistently dig up the most amazing, baffling, brilliant gems, maybe none so brilliant and baffling than this rarity, a 1979 record from an Italian outfit called I Signori Della Galassia, who play cosmic prog space disco, but with plenty of sonic twists and turns. Might as well start with the cover, a stunning super surreal painting of a stylized naked woman, whose bottom half is a tree, her roots and branches disappearing into the sand of what looks like an alien beach. Flip the record over, and peep the band members' photos, they all look like regular seventies rockers, that is except for the giant collars on their different colored capes/jumpsuits!!! Holy cow, everything is screaming PROG so far, and opener Proxima Centauri (prog title too, no?) does not disappoint, 8+ minutes of pulsing sci-fi, futuristic chase music, swirling synths, wild percussion, loads of FX, crazy catchy melodies, the beat is definitely disco, but it's pretty progged out too. Fans of groups like Majeure, Zombi and Umberto, will FLIP. The Carpenter and Goblin vibe is obviously huge, but when combined with some pulsing Euro-disco propulsion, the track explodes into some serious space-disco-prog radness! It sounds like the follow up track is more of the same, if anything, even MORE prog, heavier, with some fuzzy acid riffing, the vibe darker, laced with swirling soundtracky strings, and this time vocals, super dramatic, alternately pushing the sound toward something more disco, but then something poppier and proggier. Super dynamic, super psychedelic, and pretty goddamn heavy! Things slow down around track three, the sound growing even more cinematic, pulsing and puslating, droned out and ominous, tinkling synth melodies over a bed of cosmic shimmer, and sinister low end thrum, some acoustic guitars, as well as strange voices, and mysterious effects, and then suddenly, about halfway through, the song explodes into a weird, almost jaunty groove, proggy and funky, and SO GOOD! And so it goes, the band laying down carnivalesque keyboards, fuzzy guitars, and then BLAM, track 4 turns into what sounds like the music for Christmas On Ice, goofy and playful, the main motif totally holiday, but all the while, Eastern guitar melodies swirl in the background, a push pull between festive and exotic, at one point sounding a bit like a disco-prog version of Perrey And Kingsley! And it only gets weirder from there on out. Slipping into some seventies yacht rock balladry, lush and heartfelt, before flitting right back into more disco-prog, this time heavier on the disco, it's not hard to imagine some alien discotheque, I Signori the house band, the dancefloor looking like the Cantina scene in Star Wars. Later, the sound is transformed into creepy cosmic balladry, Tangerine Dream synths wrapped around grooving hard rock drums, Queen like guitars, and some super twisted processed vocals, before finally moving into a songsuite that is total cosmic disco-prog bliss out, swirling synths, wild drumming, complex arrangements, the sound lush and epic, spacey and psychedelic, until the very strange closer, which begins like it might be another pulsing prog out, even when the vocals come in, it's total classic Italo-prog, a synth driven chorale, that is suddenly transformed into some treacly seventies yacht pop, which is somehow still peppered with bursts of tangled prog, not to mention some weirdly abrupt stops and starts. So weird, and SO GREAT! Like all Medical Records releases, elaborately packaged, pressed on 180 gram silver vinyl, and LIMITED TO 600 COPIES!!!

MPEG stream: Proxima Cantauri
MPEG stream: Puoi Sentirmi
MPEG stream: Fermate La Reazione

Bombastic '70s progressive rock proto-metal from Italy! I Teoremi were a quartet who really kicked out the jams hard, specializing in muscular, complex stuff that, amazingly enough, at its most extreme reminds us of the prog-punk of much more recent bands like Stinking Lizaveta, Breadwinner, and Ruins! Seriously. For 1971 (when this, their only album, was released), they're one of the heaviest and most spazz-tastic we've heard. Sure, you have to enjoy some grandiose vocals in the typical dramatic Italian prog style, but mostly this is about their instrumental ass-kicking. With its herky-jerky riffing and spiralling guitar patterns, "Il Dialogo d'un Pazzo" could be a song off of one of the first two albums by Greg Ginn's Gone for gosh shakes! Now, we should mention that there's actually a somewhat more recent reissue of this on Arkarma, in one of their mini-lp style digipaks, that's got a bonus track...but we won't be getting any of those 'til we get rid of the two copies of this older jewel case version we happen to have. So we're selling 'em cheap, come n' get 'em! Everyone (well, two people) into early '70s hard prog and metal need to hear this.

RealAudio clip: Passi da Gigante
RealAudio clip: Il Dialogo d'un Pazzo

I'm From Barcelona is a pop music army, or at least a pop brigade. Sergeant Emmanuel Lundgren (on hiatus from his former band Valley Days) has teamed up with TWENTY EIGHT of his closest friends to, somewhat unexpectedly, bring you Let Me Introduce My Friends. Although all twenty-eight band members have appeared on stage at once (and a one-time show band they thought they would be), the album sounds a bit more like a tag team effort. Each individual song is not indicative of a band with so many members but a sum of its parts. The power chord guitar riffs reminiscent of the glory days of Kindercore Records, muted trumpets and xylophones present in some songs are replaced in others by banjos, keyboards and (possibly the only sign of such a large band in a single song) choiresque multi-person harmonies much like those of The Polyphonic Spree. Unfortunately, I'm From Barcelona may lose the battle in lyrical depth, but they win the war for creating an album that not only reminds listeners of giddy feelings often conjured up by new love or the first days of spring, but may be a nice soundtrack for these moments as well.

MPEG stream: Oversleeping
MPEG stream: Jenny

New age. Pretty much the ultimate diss when you want to put down someone's musical taste. Or harsh on some band, or record. Tough to think of a more purely musical putdown. Sellout? Maybe. Poser? Definitely, but not necessarily musical. But New Age. Oof. Moms and Grandmas listen to new age. Yanni ferchrissakes! And with all the ambient music we love so much here at AQ, we're extra conscious of negative New Age connotations, cuz it's always a fine line between shimmery droney dreaminess and whooshy New Age schmaltz. But c'mon, trust us, trust the folks at EM Records, and take our word that if you're only ever gonna buy one unabashed actual New Age album (and Andee hasn't already forced you to get some George Winston or Kitaro), then this should absolutely be the one. Iasos was born in Greece and moved to America when he was 4, began playing piano at 8, then flute at 10. In the late sixties, he began to hear a 'new' music in his head and moved to California to try and realize this "heavenly music". And finally in 1975, he did it! Iasos 'invented' new age music with the release of 1975's Inter-Dimensional Music Through IASOS, which has now been reissued by the fine folks at EM, and has stood the test of time pretty darn well. It's all here, tinkling piano, swooshing synthesizers, running water sounds, bird calls, maudlin melodies, fluttering flutes, crickets chirping, lots of nature sounds, thunderstorms, strange sound effects, gentle keening drones, whirling sonic washes and sweet swirls of soft focus sound. Even the song titles: "The Bubble Massage", "Rainbow Canyon", "Crystal Petals", "Clouds Prayer", Libra Sunrise." Yep, this is definitely New Age, there's no two ways about it, but if you can look past that 'stigma', this record is actually quite beautiful. And mysterious. And delicately lovely. It has lots of elements that plenty of AQ faves share, strange production, lots of fuzzy airy drones, plenty of insect sounds, bird calls, all wrapped into sweet expanses of dreamy sound. In fact if we listed this as some super limited cd-r on some upstart microlabel in Tasmania, and it had some murky forest photo on the cover, we'd sell tons, and no one would be the wiser. It's easy to forget that the modern crop of drifting ambient experimentalists owe quite a bit to new age pioneers. And let's not forget about all the pretty cool bands who either WERE new age, became new age, or incorporated elements of new age into their sound: Popol Vuh, Ashra, Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Deuter, Jean-Michel Jarre, and Vangelis. But Inter-Dimensional Music, regardless of pedigree, or genre classification, is just a dang good record. A little cheesy in places maybe but so what, hasn't stopped us from listening to this practically every day!! Like all EM releases, the packaging is amazing. But the Iasos has a truly striking cover, even by the already impossibly high EM Records standards. Metallic gold embossed printing on glossy white paper. the cover image a man's torso, emerging from a cloud, arm upraised holding a flute, which is being struck by lightning. Some of you may recognize the image as it was stolen for a record cover many years back by Canadian noiserock guitarmy Superconductor. And of course there's also gold and white obi, as well as a massive booklet full of liner notes (all in Japanese, sorry) and loads of photos. As with all EM releases, SO RECOMMENDED!!!!

MPEG stream: Libra Sunshine
MPEG stream: Formentera Sunset Clouds
MPEG stream: Lueena Coast
MPEG stream: Rainbow Canyon

First thing you'll notice about this 'new' record from LA psych punks the Icarus Line, is that the title is very similar to their last full length Slave Vows, and apparently, that's cuz this ep is a companion of sorts, a five track addendum to that record's furious swagger, and if anything, these extra jams are even darker and more sinister, sounding like the Stooges fused to Einsturzende, with wild, blown out psychedelic freakouts bookended by some almost industrial sounding creep. Opener "Leeches And Seeds" almost sounds like Woven Hand, with 'testifying' vox over distorted bass throb, wreathed in tripped out FX, a brooding sprawl of sonic tension, peppered with wild bursts of wild psychedelic swagger, those blowouts wrapped in wild squalls of dense psych guitar shred and shards of screeching feedback. Fierce as fuck for sure. And the rest of the ep follows suit, the band adding tons of space, and dynamics to their sound, "Junkadelic" is almost glammy, swagger and brooding in equal measure, while "Raise Your Crown" is all loping psychedelic blooze, sound like the bastard offspring of the Rock*A*Teens and the Swans. But it's "Salem Slims", an apparent live favorite, that blows the roof off, a heavy guitar wild psych blow-out, again heavy on the glammy swagger, the guitar blown out and in-the-red, a furious, freaky glam-psych garage punk stomp that KILLS. Finally, things finish off with "The Father / The Priest", a sprawling 13+ minute epic, a smoldering slow burn that spends the first ten minutes grooving ominously, swampy and slithery, before the finale, a heavy as fuck blow out, that sounds like what Jack White must be trying for, heavy, psychedelic blooze, that's fierce and furious, noisy and twisted and the sort of damaged psych weirdness that we could imagine stretching out long enough to transform this ep into a full length. If only...

MPEG stream: Leeches And Seeds
MPEG stream: Salem Slims
MPEG stream: The Father / The Priest

For whatever reason, we never paid much attention to LA psych/punk rockers the Icarus Line. As we mentioned in our review of their Live In London lp (the first time we had actually heard the Icarus Line) we did of course know of the legendary story where during a show at the Hard Rock Cafe, the singer smashed a display case and pulled down one of Stevie Ray Vaughn's guitars, before being tackled by security, which is of course supreme rock radness, but still, until that live Record Store Day lp, we kinda didn't know what we had been missing. So since then, since discovering that these guys were and are indeed seriously kick ass, we've been playing catch up, going back and tracking down as many of their old records as possible, and making it a point to not miss any new ones. Which brings us to Slave Vows, the group's FIFTH full length, and like the ones before it that we've tracked down, it's a doozy. The opening track along should have most aQ psych/space headz similarly reassessing their stance on The Icarus Line, that is if they weren't fans already. "Dark Circles" spends it's first 6 minutes building up from a hushed shimmer, pounding tribal drumming, swirling clouds of buzzing guitar, buried vocals, eventually arriving at some tranced out psych-noise climax, which we were convinced would continue for the remaining 5 minutes, all screeching guitar skree, doused in feedback, swirling and dense and darkly psychedelic, but instead, these guys do just the opposite, peeling away all the noise and buzz, leaving a woozy, wistful shimmer, subtle percussion, soft tendrils of clean guitar melody, crooned proper vox, the vibe almost folky, broody and while some buzz does surface here and there, the rest of the song is a sort of swaggery apocalyptic psych folk that KILLS. And that's just the first track. And in fact, the rest of the record splits the difference between those two sides of the band, the howling psych freek-outs, and something more swaggery and bloozy. In fact, much of Slave Vows sounds like aQ faves Woven Hand, just cranked up and doused in psychedelic energy, check out "Marathon Man", which starts out all laid back and woozy, finishing off the same way, but in between exploding into a squall of blown out guitarnoise and damaged FX. There's definitely a little White Stripes vibe too, in places, but again, way more freaky and psychedelic. Fans of another aQ fave Hookworms would do well to check these guys out too, a similar mix of Stooges-y swagger and stomp, and heart of the sun heavy psych trip-out, which also means if you're into Carlton Melton, the Heads, Mugstar, Bardo Pond and the like, odds are you're gonna dig these guys too. A LOT.

MPEG stream: Dark Circles
MPEG stream: Don't Let Me Save Your Soul
MPEG stream: Marathon Man
MPEG stream: No Money Music

Brand new on Agitated, the label that has brought us jams from Bardo Pond, Carlton Melton, Moon Duo, Mugstar, the Scientists and the Heads, comes the latest from L.A. psych rockers The Icarus Line, who we had never heard before, which is weird, cuz they have tons of records out, but who we have to say are thoroughly kicking our asses. The A side is a bluesy creep, all dark and skeletal, a brooding sonic monster laced with wild squalls of psych guitar and delivered in a swaggery drawl, a slow build that eventually explodes into a serious psych-dirge blowout, the vocals following suit, soaring and wailing, a wild slab of bluesy psych that we've probably listened to 20 times since this came in. The flipside is a cover of the the Flamin' Groovies "Slow Death", which is pretty faithful to the original, just sort of cranking it up a bit, the guitars wild and slippery, swooping all over the place, distorted and in-the-red, a wild garage rock stomp that sound like it could be an Icarus Line original, with the way these guys own it. Total garage psych bliss for sure. Way recommended, obviously, and we're gonna head out and track down all the Icarus Line records we can, as should you... LIMITED TO 700 COPIES!!

Another Record Store Day release, that we managed to snag a few extra copies of for our mailorder folks to get a crack at, a super limited live bootleg style lp from these LA psychedelic hard rockers, who as some of you might remember, we only really heard for the first time a few months back via a 7" on Agitated, and were promptly blown the fuck away. Before that, we had only really know the Icarus Line as that punk band who during a show at a Hard Rock Cafe, ended up smashing a display case, and pulling down one of Stevie Ray Vaughn's guitars, with the intention of plugging it in and rocking out, only to be tackled by security. Pretty bad ass for sure. But it wasn't until we heard that single, that we realized that there was more to these guys than wild onstage antics. But wild onstage performance are definitely a huge part of what makes these guys so good, and this lp captures them in fine form. The sound fuzzy and heavy and psychedelic, the drums booming, fuzzed out bass, and wild tangles of lead guitar, not to mention seriously crunchy chugging riffage, the band flitting from swaggery Stoogesy stomp to druggy dirge, in fact the band seems to spend a lot of time in 'brought down' mode, you know where the singer instructs the band to "bring it down", and the guitars disappear, and it's just a slithery bass and drums backdrop, while the singer does some wild testifying, before the band explode back into another blast of super rocking crush, whether it be loose chaotic psychedelic freakouts or churning downtuned creep, these guys kill, and this record does a pretty good job of capturing that killer live energy. Packaged like the Heads Record Store Day lp reviewed elsewhere on this week's list, a plain white sleeve, with photocopied artwork pasted on. Super limited, this was in fact a special Record Store Day release, it's already sold out at the label and out of print, we do have a handful of copies, but these are the last ones we'll see.