[ aquarius records — Rock Pop ]

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Showing results 8301 through 8350 of 19388.

If slow and steady wins the race, Interpol's third album will surely be in the winner's circle. Moody post punk pop for the masses? Maybe! Their first release on a major label happens to be their most moderate and perhaps most broadly appealing. Few studio pyrotechnics and overarching productions, Our Love To Admire is simply a solidly crafted and executed. Tastefully tame, it is. In particular Paul Banks sullenly tormented vocals are more restrained that on either of their previous albums. In some ways this is a plus. That is, his performance comes across as much more effortless, but we do miss some of his bombastic anguished ennunciations. After a couple listens we can say that none of the songs have jumped out and bitten us on the nose nor nailed us in the heart quite yet. However much like Antics did, we have a sneakin' suspicion that this will be a 'grow on you' album, gradually taking root with each listen. (Andee listened to it on the plane back from New York, in an exhausted sleep deprived stupor, and emerged with Our Love To Admire as one of his new favorites, its languid droniness and laid back dolor the perfect soundtrack for being lost in strange cities, being trapped in grey walled airports, staying up all night, and wandering through sweltering summer city streets!) Psst, for super fans and collectors, there's also a limited deluxe version which comes in an elegant black hardcover book style package with a 24-page booklet and 18"x24" poster. Don't know exactly how limited it will be, so hop to it if you wanna secure a copy for yourself.

MPEG stream: Pioneer To The Falls
MPEG stream: Mammoth

If slow and steady wins the race, Interpol's third album will surely be in the winner's circle. Moody post punk pop for the masses? Maybe! Their first release on a major label happens to be their most moderate and perhaps most broadly appealing. Few studio pyrotechnics and overarching productions, Our Love To Admire is simply a solidly crafted and executed. Tastefully tame, it is. In particular Paul Banks sullenly tormented vocals are more restrained that on either of their previous albums. In some ways this is a plus. That is, his performance comes across as much more effortless, but we do miss some of his bombastic anguished ennunciations. After a couple listens we can say that none of the songs have jumped out and bitten us on the nose nor nailed us in the heart quite yet. However much like Antics did, we have a sneakin' suspicion that this will be a 'grow on you' album, gradually taking root with each listen. (Andee listened to it on the plane back from New York, in an exhausted sleep deprived stupor, and emerged with Our Love To Admire as one of his new favorites, its languid droniness and laid back dolor the perfect soundtrack for being lost in strange cities, being trapped in grey walled airports, staying up all night, and wandering through sweltering summer city streets!) This deluxe version comes in a hardcover book style sleeve, with a bunch of extra photos and a poster, but no extra music....

MPEG stream: Pioneer To The Falls
MPEG stream: Mammoth

We recently listed the double cd reissue of Interpol's Antics, with an extra disc of remixes. For those of you who really wanted the remixes but didn't want to have to buy the whole dang thing over again, here you go. Four tracks, just the remixes: "Song Seven", "Narc (Paul Banks Remix)", "Not Even Jail (Daniel Kessler Remix)", "Fog Vs. Mould For The Length Of Love", "Public Pervert (Carlos D Remix)".

MPEG stream: Narc (Paul Banks Remix)
MPEG stream: Not Even Jail (Daniel Kessler Remix)

What to do with the most hyped band in the land (except for maybe the Strokes) while the world waits for a new album to drop? That's right an EP of alternate versions of tracks we already love! Six tracks, the first, "Say Hello To The Angels", from their brilliant full length Turn On The Bright Lights, the second, NYC, a demo version from 2001. The other 4 are from the Black Session, live recordings for French Radio, of the tracks "Obstacle 1", "Specialist", "Leif Erickson", and "PDA". The live versions are a little sloppy and the vocals aren't always 'on' but it's fun to hear the band let down their hair, loosen their ties, and rock a little. Definitely for hardcore Interpol fans. And if you're not, get their Turn On The Bright Lights and you soon will be.

MPEG stream: NYC (demo)
MPEG stream: Obstacle 1 (Black Session)

Three remixes of this track from Interpol's most recent record, reworked by Ikonika, Banjo Or Freakout and Salem. Yep, Salem! Odds are while all three mixes are pretty cool, that's the one that will most likely seal the deal. Ikonika takes Paul Banks' original vox and drapes them over some swirling strings, and some skittery dubstep big beats, lacing the track with squiggly effects and bloopy synth melodies. Banjo Or Freakout leave some of the original track intact, but bookend those bits with some heady psychedelic swirl and dreamy looped mesmer. Salem basically obliterate any trace of the original track, barring some chopped and screwed snippets of Banks' vox and a tiny bit of guitar right at the end, leaving just a fantastically twisted wreckage of classic cough syrupy Salem trip out, the sounds all woozy and warped, total dreamy drag, the primitive drum programming, over thick crunchy swells of symphonic synth, effects swirling all over the places. Hell, if you didn't know it was a remix, you could easily believe this was yanked right off their King Night full length. Worth it for the Salem mix alone for sure, but even more worth it for all three!!

MPEG stream: Try it On (Salem Remix)

The Strokes, Andrew W.K., The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Liars, and now Interpol are part of a recent rash of New York punkish bands birthed from the music hype machine as the great salvation of rock 'n' roll. Strange that these bands would garner such praise, since none of them operate outside of the arena of the homage -- either as ironic hyperbole in Andrew W.K. or as The Strokes' downward mobility to blue collar rockisms. Of all the aforementioned bands, Interpol seem the most interesting as they've managed to successfully resurrect Ian Curtis, a task that hasn't really met with much success in other bands. I mention just Curtis, as his persona seems to resonate much more strongly with Interpol than Joy Division as a whole. Sure there are ghosts of Factory's post-punk jaggedness and mororsely bleak temperament; but Interpol's forceful minor keys offer other roadstops past The Strokes' take on brightly-colored, guitar jangle and the sublime washes of fuzzy feedback heard in the early '90s shoegazer bands (MBV, Ride, Slowdive, etc.). Musically, Interpol's debut "Turn On The Bright Lights" is an excellent marriage of those aforementioned styles; but like Joy Division, Interpol is driven by a charismatic singer with a flair for dramatic bombast and a predilection for angst. Paul Banks, Interpol's singer, is a rare breed in the contemporary world of depressed vocalists who have typically followed the emo-centric whimper and scream approach of Sunny Day Real Estate to infuse any lyrical content with immediacy and passion. Instead, Banks can actually really sing, his nervous vibrato echoing the musical accompaniment played between depressed weariness and urgent conviction. Much of Interpol's aesthetic choices and lyrical content (love / hate relationships, urban isolationism, and sexual dependency) have already been done to death, but few have been able to do them as well. "Turn On The Bright Lights" is a fantastic record and actually lives up to all of the hype that has surrounded it.

RealAudio clip: Untitled
RealAudio clip: Obstacle 1
RealAudio clip: Say Hello To The Angels
RealAudio clip: Stella Was A Diverr And She Was Always Down

It's hard to believe it's been ten years since this record originally came out. But when it did it was a revelation. It got played to death here, and the songs were lodged in our head pretty much permanently, and as often happens, we played this so much, that eventually we did sort of overdose. But it's been just long enough, that these songs sound super fresh, and again prove themselves to be SO much better than the legions of Interpol wannabes that surfaced in the wake of this record. And while in 2002, Turn On The Bright Lights was already sort of retro, looking back to the classic post punk era, especially Joy Division, somehow, listening to this now, it seems less retro, or at least a different kind of retro, looking back to the early 2000's as opposed to the early 1980s. The thing with Interpol, was they took that dour jangle, and low slung broodiness, and infused it with the sort of hooks most bands would kill for, we're talking near perfect pop, wedded to angular crunch and gloom punk buzz, and the result was a record that was pretty much perfect all the way through. And again, ten plus years on, and it sounds as great as ever. This new deluxe anniversary version tacks on a whole mess of extras, including 17 bonus tracks, many of them never on vinyl, one never before released at all, four unreleased demos, eight B sides, four Peel Session tracks, two of those unreleased, all the videos, as well as rare live footage, the cd comes in a cool hardcover book style package, the lp in a swank gatefold, definitely worth revisiting, and if you loved this record as much as we did, probably worth buying again for the extras. Here's our review of the record from WAY back in 2002, when we were in the throes of our newfound obsession with these guys: The Strokes, Andrew W.K., The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Liars, and now Interpol are part of a recent (as in 2002) rash of New York punkish bands birthed from the music hype machine as the great salvation of rock 'n' roll. Strange that these bands would garner such praise, since none of them operate outside of the arena of the homage -- either as ironic hyperbole in Andrew W.K. or as The Strokes' downward mobility to blue collar rockisms. Of all the aforementioned bands, Interpol seem the most interesting as they've managed to successfully resurrect Ian Curtis, a task that hasn't really met with much success in other bands. We mention just Curtis, as his persona seems to resonate much more strongly with Interpol than Joy Division as a whole. Sure there are ghosts of Factory's post-punk jaggedness and mororsely bleak temperament; but Interpol's forceful minor keys offer other roadstops past The Strokes' take on brightly-colored, guitar jangle and the sublime washes of fuzzy feedback heard in the early '90s shoegazer bands (MBV, Ride, Slowdive, etc.). Musically, Interpol's debut "Turn On The Bright Lights" is an excellent marriage of those aforementioned styles; but like Joy Division, Interpol is driven by a charismatic singer with a flair for dramatic bombast and a predilection for angst. Paul Banks, said singer, is a rare breed in the contemporary world of depressed vocalists who have typically followed the emo-centric whimper and scream approach of Sunny Day Real Estate to infuse any lyrical content with immediacy and passion. Instead, Banks can actually really sing, his nervous vibrato echoing the musical accompaniment played between depressed weariness and urgent conviction. Much of Interpol's aesthetic choices and lyrical content (love / hate relationships, urban isolationism, and sexual dependency) have already been done to death, but few have been able to do them as well. "Turn On The Bright Lights" is a fantastic record and actually lives up to all of the hype that has surrounded it.

MPEG stream: Obstacle 1
MPEG stream: NYC
MPEG stream: PDA
MPEG stream: Obstacle 2

Interpol aren't groundbreaking or anything, but boy does this NYC quartet sound good. (They probably look good too, got the 'scrod' style DOWN.) The singer's voice has the arch desperation of Joy Division's Ian Curtis. The music is dominated by intertwining guitars that're sometimes angular and choppy, sometimes pensively creating a lush blanket of minor key intensity. Very Factory Records, very Echo & the Bunnymen... but not annoyingly so, for a modern group. I like it! This is a three song, inexpensive teaser single in preparation for the full length to be released August 2002.

RealAudio clip: PDA
RealAudio clip: NYC

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

SORRY. Interpol aren't groundbreaking or anything, but boy does this NYC quartet sound good. (They probably look good too, got the 'scrod' style DOWN.) The singer's voice has the arch desperation of Joy Division's Ian Curtis. The music is dominated by intertwining guitars that're sometimes angular and choppy, sometimes pensively creating a lush blanket of minor key intensity. Very Factory Records, very Echo & the Bunnymen... but not annoyingly so, for a modern group. I like it! This is a three song, inexpensive teaser single in preparation for the full length to be released August 2002.

RealAudio clip: PDA
RealAudio clip: NYC

Quite possibly the reason for Intersystem's being was to re-create John Cage's "Indeterminancy" but with a hell of a lot more drugs involved. "Peachy" is the first album from Intersystems and dates back to 1967. While the group had expanded throughout their brief career with the addition of several visual artists (such as the installation artist Michael Hayden), Intersystems' core members were poet / acid prohet Blake Parker and electronic knob twiddler John Mills-Cockrell. "Peachy" simply featured that core duo with Parker offering his best John Cage impression in the recitation of emphatically spoken vignettes of lysergically apocalyptic poetry, and Mills-Cockrell playing David Tudor with his surreal punctuations through electronic noise and musique concrete elements. The end result is very strange, even for Aquarius' tastes, and is certainly worth checking out if you're into Nurse With Wound.

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SORRY. Hey indie pop fans, check out this fine new Bay Area band! Invisible Cities easily go from fun, bouncy indie pop to considerably darker somber numbers in the wink of an eye. The first few gal-sung songs brought to mind a thoroughly charming combination of Bangles style sweetness, Lois' indie chutzpah, and the smart crunch of Throwing Muses. At the fifth tune "Shooting Star" though, a fella steps up to the mic lending a more slouchy boyishness to the proceedings a la Quasi or Portastatic, and he returns for the title track too. A very promising debut!

MPEG stream: Instaglo
MPEG stream: Shooting Star

While not straying too far from the rest of the Italians Do It Better catalog (which we'll admit we're big suckers for!) Invisible Conga People definitely, defiantly have their own identity. A bit more dark and brooding then most of their labelmates, there is most definitely a really rich sense of atmosphere in their slow burning electronic sizzlers. You can tell there is some love for the minimal leanings of krautrock and post punk channeled into their dark corner of a seedy dance club. This isn't as much for the dancefloor (though it would be on dancefloors we would frequent) as it is for late wasted nights alone in your bedroom when you just want to close your eyes and get lost in some sizzling sensations. Full on sensual seduction!

The cliff notes version of Invisible Hands might read something like "spaghetti-western cow-punk from Cairo with one of dudes from the Sun City Girls." The dude in question is the curmudgeonly Alan Bishop (aka Alvarius B.) here working with four Egyptian musicians, two of whom had been in the Egyptian rock band Eskenderella. As we mentioned before in the previous review about Invisible Hands' first album, this is a remarkably sensible project for Alan Bishop, known for his confrontational fuck-you-in-eyeball attitude and discordant avant-folk splutter. Where the first album had a sand-blasted alt-rock prettiness about akin to Giant Sand and Calexico, Teslam finds Bishop pushing more of the insidious, diabolical aesthetics for which he is known. "Eyes In The Back Of Your Head" is a blackened, sardonic waltz with Bishop and Co. alternating between languid Morricone-esque melodies and harshly plucked Brechtian venom, all in the steampunk time of three. When Bishop and fellow Invisible Hands Aya Hemeda sing in tandem as on "Slaughterhouse" and "The Great Implosion", it's akin to the unkempt harmonies that Exene Cervenka and John Doe delivered in X.

MPEG stream: Slaughterhouse
MPEG stream: Places
MPEG stream: Eyes In The Back Of Your Head

Here's another Record Store Day find for you! The Invisible Hands is one of the new projects for the Sun City Girls' Alan Bishop, here working with a cadre of Egyptian musicians to produced a decidedly less volatile sound than what we are used to from Bishop in either the Sun City Girls or his solo project Alvarius B. All of the material found on this super limited 7" comes from the Alan Bishop songbook, with the medley on the A side of "Insect Dilemma / Disallowed" culled from the legendary 330,003 Crossdressers From Beyond The Rig Veda album by the Sun City Girls and the self-titled 2lp from Alvarius B respectively. The B side is a cover of a Moroccan folk song entitled "Lili Twil", but those who know the SCG back catalogue will recognize the tune as "Cruel & Thin" also from 330,003 Crossdressers From Beyond The Rig Veda, but with Bishop reconfiguring the words into neological gobbledigook. Musically, this follows what Bishop arranged for the Invisible Hands album released earlier in 2013, with straightforward rhythm sections straddling the desert blues ethos and American indie-rock songsmithery, with the lead guitars buzzing with Arabic intonations and fanciful flourishes. The cover of "Lili Twil" is sung by Aya Hemeda, whose languid vocals do recall the beautiful folk melodies that Selda recorded back in the '70s. To top it all off, when you buy an Invisible Hands 7", you will be automatically entered in a contest to win either an Invisible Hands banner or an Invisible Hands throw pillow, both of which feature crudely painted Egyptian imagery of minstrels and cats eviscerating chickens.

What?! A somewhat sort of sensible Alan Bishop recording? We had thought the amazing Baroque Primitiva from 2011 might have been the most polite thing the former Sun City Girl had ever released; but his latest project under the moniker Invisible Hands might just take the cake, as this one can be downright lovely, not too far from Giant Sand or Calexico weirdly enough. Nope, there's none of the misogyny or misanthropy which Bishop routinely tosses into his lyrics for the Sun City Girls or as Alvarius B, and most definitely nothing as rude and wild and over the top as his Uncle Jim pseudonym; and that may have to do with the company he's keeping. The Invisible Hands ensemble is comprised of members of the Egyptian rock band Eskenderella; and they recorded this album in the summer of 2011 after the ousting of Hosni Mubarak and the upheaval that spread throughout Northern Africa. Perhaps, the timing was such that it would be unwise to record an album with the sorts of provocative subjects that Bishop is generally known for; but then again, it might have been equally improper to have recorded an album that might have been offensive to an Egyptian sensibility. To Bishop, it might be one thing to offend his politically correct audience in America and another thing to offend his hosts in Egypt, 'cause that would be rude. Eh. Or hell, maybe we're just getting a glimpse of a lesser seen sonic side to this musical misanthrope... Either way, the album's arrangements are lovely and spacious, mostly driven by acoustic guitar with plenty of those Morricone nods common to the Bishop songbook, but there's some more aggressive turns with the theatrical gravity of Tom Waits and a few incendiary psychedelic moments that had us wondering aloud "Hey, when is somebody gonna reissue Torch Of The Mystics?" In fact, one of the songs here "Black Weather Shoes" is a pretty radical reinterpretation of an old Sun City Girls track from their record Grotto Of Miracles. We've been told that there's an Arabic version of these recordings under the Arabic name El Ayadi El Khafeyya, but that's only being sold in the Middle East. Major bummer, dude! That would be a very cool thing to hear, although this is cool as it is. Let's petition the White House and force them to comment on an Alan Bishop record!

MPEG stream: Black Weather Shoes
MPEG stream: Black Blood
MPEG stream: Death Zoo

Home Is The Sun is the debut from guitar and drums duo Invisible Things, which is made up of Mark Shippy, he of late great weirdo noise rockers U.S. Maple, and Jim Sykes of Parts & Labor. On the surface, this might initially seem like a cool chunk of slightly angular, sort of experimental avant rock, which it most definitely is, but it's also a lot more than that. While the first few minutes to explode right out of the gate in proper rock song form, complete with vocals and everything, sounding a bit like Polvo actually, or yeah, U.S. Maple, but it doesn't take long for that song to fracture into its actual form, a loose billowing cloud of abstract textured guitar noise, which is beautiful and blissed out, and we would have been happy if that's stretched out to fill up the whole record, but that's really only part of what's going on here. Apparently, the drumming is based on Sri Lankan percussion, and is applied to a modern rock drum kit, the result is a wild and loose, polyrhythmic sprawl of free percussion freakout, flitting from rhythmic churn, to wild frenzied chaos, to abstract propulsive pummel, the guitars thus left to work their way around Sykes' constantly mutating rhythms. And Shippy is more than up to the task, his guitar unfurling frantic gouts of wildly tangled psychedelic freakouts one second, lush textural shimmer the next, the two surprisingly synchronized, what could have been a mess of free rock wankery, somehow coalesces into proper songs, albeit wildly fractured and dizzingly abstract and obtuse songs, but they're eminently listenable, the vocals drifting in and out, hazy and settled way down in the mix, the sound shifting constantly, but all of the tracks woven into one epic song suite, somehow sounding not at all improvised, it's obvious that much of this WAS, but somehow these two lock tight from the very first few minutes, and react to each other, the results super dynamic, rife with gorgeous sonic tension, and some surprising melodies. The overall somehow both loose and tight at the same time, the two players able to each drift off into the ether and let loose with dense clouds of sound, but somehow never losing sight of the other, and when everything does settle down into something more traditionally 'rock' sounding, it's pretty exhilarating, but it's not long before the sound splinters, and things warp and mutate once again. But the magic here is just that, the constant shifts, the wild tangles, the far out exploration, somehow, those seemingly free and abstract elements are part of a way bigger picture that isn't always visible, but IS always felt. Imagine the weirdest, loosest, free-est, avant indie noise rock record ever, one that includes all the stuff you love about indie/noise rock, all the tropes, all the sonic signifiers, but then ignores them completely, or more accurately, reimagines them, and somehow recontextualizes them into something at once entirely new, but also eminently beholden to what came before. A new favorite for sure!

Detroit's Small Stone label is the one of the most reliable "stoner rock" standard bearers these days. While we don't necessarily like everything they put out, you can bet your bong it's ALL stoner rock. And they do have some great bands on their roster, a few that really push the stoner rock thing into interesting psychedelic directions, including recently reviewed discs from AQ faves Los Natas (El Nuevo Orden De La Libertad) and Sons Of Otis (Exiled), both highlights on our last couple lists. So we figure its worth checking out other stuff on the label, and guess what? Here's one from last year that we had overlooked when it came out, but just one listen and we knew we should get some copies in and review it! Basically, we could describe Salt Lake City's Iota as being a mixture of trippy Hawkwindiness and more aggressive blues based hard rockin', sorta like (early) Soundgarden or Skin Yard meets the heavier, more spaced out sounds of Sons Of Otis or UFOmammut. One reason we mention Soundgarden and Skin Yard is 'cause of the grungy melodic vocals, which bear a certain resemblance to that of those bands, but otherwise this is HEAVIER and SPACIER than any Seattle grunge for sure. And it's not like the singing is the focus of any of this, whereas interstellar jamming IS. However, it's easy shorthand to say Soundgarden + Sons Of Otis, when you hear this you know what we mean. The five tracks on this 50 minute disc are programed so you get the two stormers out of the gate, tracks 1 and 2 being the throbbing metallic riff attacks of "New Mantis" and "We Are The Yithians", respectively. Then, it's time to blast off and bliss out, as tracks 3 and 4 are extended trips into the alien drug fantasies depicted in the disc's cool cover art. Those two cuts, "The Sleeping Heathen" (10:42) and the even more massive, nearly 23 minute "Dimensional Orbiter", are equally as heavy as the disc's first two tracks, but just a lot more spaced out. Then there's the fifth and final track, Tales closing with the 8+ minute bluesy nod scene that is the harmonica-laced "Opiate Blues", though it still seems it's a transmission from outer space, despite the earthier overt blues element. Like we said, one listen and we were bowing down, Iota's Tales pushing all our psychedelic stoner rock buttons, with killer guitar soloing, scifi freakiness, sheer heaviosity, and surprisingly excellent vocals. Very, very cool.

MPEG stream: New Mantis
MPEG stream: Dimensional Orbiter
MPEG stream: Opiate Blues

What was your teenage dream? IQU (formerly a trio known as ICU, now a duo, but still pronounced ee-koo) and friends give hints to their adolescent aspirations in the liner notes of this cd. "Teenage Dream" just happens to be the name of an IQU song (featuring some very rock guitar and various samples of Japanese singing, greetings and spoken word), and it gets the remix up and down by such pop electronic luminaries as Looper (aka Stuart David ex-Belle And Sebastian) and Sonic Boom. The latter track is one of the two cd-only bonuses. The other is IQU's own K.O. treatment. Quite boogie-worthy indeed.

Better known as ICU, this Olympian electronica trio provides a minimalist downtempo electro squiggle for Miranda July to do her best Laurie Anderson impression.

The eagerly anticipated follow up to the nearly perfect noise pop tUMULt twofer of Iran's s/t and Moon Boys albums, whose sound was a strange hybrid of Pavement-y jangle, Sebadoh sad boy folky flutter, and full bore crumbling Merzbowian noise. We described Iran back then as Smog covering Skullflower, Pavement on Siltbreeze, Harry Pussy covering Built To Spill, you get the idea. But much has changed in the years and years since those records were recorded. First off, Iran mainman Aaron Aites moved to Norway and made a movie about black metal called Until The Light Takes Us (doing the festival circuit, maybe coming to a theater near you soon!), then returned to the states ending up in New York (instead of SF) and reconnecting with former Iran member Kyp Malone, now of course in TV On The Radio (Kyp also played in an awesome band out here in SF called Rocket Science and The Nigger Loving Faggots, wonder how come that band never gets mentioned in TVOTR press releases haha), and spent a good long while recording Dissolver with Kyp, two new bandmates as well as Kyp's TVOTR bandmade Dave Sitek, producer extrordinaire, handling the production. Sounds like a recipe for a hit record, and Dissolver is definitely about as close to a hit record as Iran's come. To give you an example, I (Andee, who put out those first two Iran records) heard this playing up in the front of the store, went up to see what was playing thinking it was either the Evan Dando solo record, or some weird Lemonheads disc. A lot of that has to do with Aites' voice, which is definitely Dando-esque (in the old days it was buried in buzz and hiss), but also, the new sound is all super well produced jangle, lush guitars, skittery drumming, and multitracked vocals, plenty of harmonies, oooh's and aaah's, even a bit of soul here and there. There are still some noisy experimental bits, but on Dissolver those are relegated to their own tracks, like "Digital Clock And Phone", a swirl of processed psych guitar, but even that ends up sounding less chaotic and more textured and cool. There are also some moments of punky thrash, bits of blown out pop psych and various shades of jangle and drift, but this is basically just a classic sounding slab of nineties style indie pop, a little modernized maybe, a little more fucked up and freaked out than usual, but catchy and hooky as hell. Fair warning to the noise poppers that loved the first two Irans, the pop is fully in tact, but the noise is sadly (for some) nearly no more...

MPEG stream: Buddy
MPEG stream: I Already Know You're Wrong
MPEG stream: Airport '79
MPEG stream: Digital Clock And Phone

After a small break comes yet another record in the massive avalanche of tUMULt releases headed our way in the next few weeks (Iran, Painted Black, Leviathan, OCS, Diamatregon, Worms). This is the second missive from San Francisco's premier NOISEPOP band, not 'noise pop' in the jangly-pop-punk-San-Francisco-festival-Creeper-Lagoon-Overwhelming-Colorfast-Fastbacks sense but the gorgeous-pop-songs-buried-under-a-thick-splattery-wall-of-buzz-hum-whir-skree-guitars-set-on-self-destruct-Beatles-flitered-through-Skullflower sense. Like Sebadoh or Pavement being backed up by Throbbing Gristle or Whitehouse. Or Nurse With Wound fronted by Elliott Smith. If you get our drift. For record number two, Iran has scaled back the noise just a bit and let the pop shine through. And shine it does. Gorgeous, heart-breaking, voice-cracking lo-fi love (and un-love) songs, delivered in a wavery falsetto, over gentle guitars, naive drumming and strange but wonderful backgrounds woven from vocals, amp hum, guitar buzz, as well as rumbling low end and squealing feedback. When the noise does kick in, it's not noise for noise sake, Iran handle the squirming serpent with a deft hand, molding gorgeous sonic squalls and speaker shredding skree from overdriven amps and detuned guitars, with buried melodies and strange and mysterious rhythms laying beneath the storm, like looking through a murky pond at the secret life below. Adventurous indie rockers could very well be looking at their new favorite band, and experimetal/avant garde-niks may just find themselves developing a sweet tooth, cause everyone know the sugar goes down easier with a mouthful of medicine.

RealAudio clip: Four Armed Star
RealAudio clip: We Could Go Away For A While
RealAudio clip: The Moon Shines Bright

Another new release from tUMULt laboratories, finds our coworker Andee's label dipping its toes into pop, and recoiling in horror, as it pulls its feet back covered in muck and crud. Iran take 'Indie rock' and bury it in fuzz and hiss, taking ultra catchy pop, and dragging it through the detritus of lo-fi noise rock, picking up an ungodly assortment of buzz and blur and scuzz. Imagine a Pavement record on Siltbreeze. Or Sebadoh, if Lou Barlow was a jaded fuck instead of a sappy romantic. Or old Smog covering Skullflower. Or Harry Pussy playing Built To Spill. A beautifully cacophonous mess. Iran play damaged folk music, bombarded on all sides by a wild assortment of squeals and shrieks, static and hiss, and speaker clogging grit. Huge and slowly shifting, dronescapes that evolve into perfect little pop songs and then explode into jagged shards of high end skree. Iran are psychedelic and textural and noisey and totally catchy, hardcore, hook-filled low fidelity un-pop noise. Pop. Plus fucking wicked 'tiger' cover art.

MPEG stream: Pick Up/Stillborn
MPEG stream: San Diego

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

SORRY. These two San Francisco bands, take their indie rock streaks, and bury them under a layer of buzz and hiss and electronic skree. Iran sound a little like the Grifters if they were on Siltbreeze, and you were listening to them through a shortwave radio. The Church Steps take the lofi, and use the hifi to make it sound even more lo fi. Both sound beautifully damaged.

You'd think Neurosis and Isis would be getting royalties at this point for the sheer number of bands that have 'borrowed' their sound. Then again, if that's how it worked, everybody in Slint and the Pixies would be millionaires. But as we've stated repeatedly in the past, maybe there's nothing new under the sun, and yeah all bands steal/borrow/are influenced by other bands, but it's what you do with those borrowed sounds afterwards that makes a difference. Sure, without Neurosis there would be no Isis, but Isis took their Neurosis obsession and went in a whole new direction and created their own super distinctive sonic world. Hence most of the Isis and Neurosis influenced bands we love, have done just that, taken certain parts, and incorporated their own angle, added their own unlikely influences, and created a sound that if not ALL their own, was at least a unique take on a familiar sound. Irepress definitely fit right in that whole post rock metal crowd. So all you fans of Isis, Pelican, Rosetta, Mouth Of The Architect, Tides, Grails, Angel Eyes, Conifer and the like, can probably just stop right here and press that BUY button and be done with it. But for those of you who are maybe a little saturated in terns of the whole postrockmetal thing, and wonder why exactly you should free up precious space on your cd shelf for Irepress, well, we'll tell you. First off, these songs are just awesome. angular and complex, convoluted and tense. Emotional and super catchy. Not as metal as a lot of their brethren, but still pretty dang heavy, crunchy riffs, that go from jagged and harsh, to smooth and spacey often in the same song. But what makes Irepress really stand out is their unabashed, over the top progginess. Sure the genre itself has a built in prog aspect, with long songs and lots of parts, but Irepress take it even further, with LOTS of super proggy spacey breakdowns, swoony and blissed out, but mathy and a bit noodly as well, guitars are muted and understated, weaving complex soundscapes of subtle shuffle incorporating hand drums, trumpet, spaced out FX, drifting minor key melody, lots of delay and reverb, and a whole bunch of super unexpected little flourishes before lurching back into some loping monstrous metallic groove. Some of those parts sound like Santana, others like Genesis, but the thing is, they aren't just little breaks, they are as much a part of the sound and the songs as the crushing riffage or the mathy post rock. It's a strange combination, it takes a little while to get used to, imagine some jammed out fusion breaking into some almost Maidenesque guitar over a chugging metalcore breakdown, or some blissed out percussive ambience slowly building into a massive sludgy epic. Beyond the bands unique progginess, a lot of the riffs themselves are really strange, cobbled together from or broken up into convoluted chugs and soaring high end leads, bits of indie jangle and some seriously downtuned crunch. A super strange band for sure, pushing lots of our favorite buttons, moody math rock, crushing metallic groove, spacey proggy noodle, dreamy ambience, all pretty dizzying actually, which is exactly why we can't seem to stop listening to this!

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The first Irepress record was one of those essential discs for folks into that whole post rock metal hybrid Neur-Isis thing, Pelican, Rosetta, Mouth Of The Architect, Tides, Grails, Angel Eyes Conifer, and yeah, we still love that stuff. And Irepress's take on that sound was definitely bad ass, angular and complex and mathy, but with plenty of spaciness and a little bit of fusion(!), we know, we know, that's a scary word, but in the context of the songs it was just another element that sounded so right. If anything, this new Irepress is like a way more advanced version of the first record, which makes sense. The songs are way more epic, the playing is incredible, so tight and impossibly tangled and intricate, the fusion aspect is cranked up a bit too, which to some might be a bit off putting, but as far as we're concerned it makes Irepress just that much weirder. In fact a few times throughout the record the band slip into something almost funky, with handclaps and weird jangly guitars, but whenever that happens, you're usually only seconds away from an explosive blast of Meshuggah like chug, or soaring Godspeed-ish slow builds. Anyone into the above mentioned bands, or THAT sound, these guys are definitely stretching the boundaries, the opening track is a dense chug fest, with crazy stop start lurching rhythms, and a long cool stretch where the band infuses little flurries of grinding crunch into glimmering chiming drifts of ethereal guitar, and then a cool sort of hard to describe groove, where the guitar seems all swathed in glitchy electronics. Cool stuff. And the whole record is pretty out there, definitely not your typical post metal thing at all. Lots of long mellow melodic bits, and some of the metal parts are super intense and grindingly brutal, but those are more than balanced by all the weirdness, fucked up almost jungle jams, woozy melancholy buzz, soaring tangles of lead guitar, lurching start stops, plenty of programmed beats, and weird power metalisms, although most of the record is definitely spent shimmery and jangly and in that 'fusion' mode, which only makes the heavier parts that much more explosive and intense. But be warned, folks looking for nonstop heaviness will either be confused or disappointed, we however are digging this big time!

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Two-fer of early eighties rock from founding member of The Jaggerz. Back on the Streets from 1980 and King Cool from 1981.

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SORRY. Ara Anderson's sure stacked the decks in his favor for his debut release with a supporting cast that includes the beloved Jolie Holland on vocals, guitar and violin (perhaps repaying the kind favor of his stellar performance on her own Escondida album), and fine SF composer Erik Walker (psst, we also just got his wonderful album in stock on which you can also hear Mr. Anderson play). Much like that of Ms Holland, Mr. Anderson's music has an earthy, somber old tyme-y feel that's quite an anomaly these days. Much like the namesake of the seventh song ("Musee Mechanique" - the fabulous antique penny arcade here in SF) it's almost as though he's conjured his songbook pages from a very distant yesteryear. Richly expressive instrumentals are woven from player piano style ivory-tickling frolicks, wheezily congested horns, downtrodden strings and sullen woodwinds among other things -- occasionally off-kilter, whimsically carnivalesque, and often very melancholic. You might even wonder if Anderson was a silent movie score composer in a past life. The easiest (or, ahem, laziest) comparison that could be made is that many of these songs sound very much like the intimate rough-hewn music of Tom Waits minus the voice of Tom Waits (and actually Anderson has appeared on a couple of Waits' albums, Blood Money and Alice!), while others can be likened to the eccentric splendor of the Tin Hat Trio. Fans of both (as well as the abovementioned artists) should certainly take note of this talented gent. Simply wonderful!

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Seeing Iron And Wine perform live in the store recently was a revelation. We've long been huge fans of Sam Beam and his gorgeous hushed country folk (and even the later, more ramped up, full band sound), but seeing him play live, with just an acoustic guitar, and hearing the SOUND he conjured all by his lonesome, was totally breathtaking, impossibly lush and expansive, while remaining totally whispery and intimate, intricate fingerpicked guitar that didn't sound intricate, and his voice, so warm and soothing and almost angelic, and of course the songs, totally lovely and captivating and emotional and moving (we spied at least one person in the crowd and the I&W instore fighting back tears!). Around The Well is a collection of odds and ends, B-sides, unreleased tracks, radio sessions, live performances and coolest of all, a whole bunch of unlikely covers. The songs throughout tend more toward his earlier stripped down, guy-and-his-guitar sound, which as far as we're concerned is what we like the best, it does seem to be in some sort of chronological order, as by the end of the second disc, Beam is joined by a full band, and while still stripped down, the songs are kitted out with bass and piano and even drums here and there (featuring Joey Burns of Calexico). Not sure what to say about Iron And Wine that we haven't already. Check the multitude of gushing reviews on the aQ site, listen to the sound samples, Iron And Wine are just amazing. Beam creates some of the most moving, achingly heartfelt modern country folk we've ever heard, his voice is magic, his guitar playing sublime, even here, on what amounts to a collection of songs that didn't make it on the records proper, there's not a bad one in the bunch. And the above mentioned covers, Postal Service, Flaming Lips, New Order, even Stereolab, Beam totally makes them his own, folks not familiar with the originals would certainly be forgiven for assuming they were I&W originals. It says a lot that a singles / B-sides comp holds up to an artist's records proper, but Around The Well certainly does, lately we find ourselves digging this as much as The Creek Drank The Cradle, the debut record that started it all. Like all Iron And wine, so very recommended. The triple vinyl version includes a download coupon for mp3s of all the tracks, by the way.

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A little sneak peek at what's to come on the new Iron & Wine album which isn't comin' out until September. Oh cruel world, can we wait that long?! Well, we're just gonna have to. So in the meantime let's enjoy this one album track and two b-sides. Fifteen quality minutes of Iron & Wine is better than nothing. There's no drastic departures, maybe a few variations in instrumentation is all. Sam Beam sticks to his tried and true sleepyhead folk pop dreaminess.

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We got a taste of Iron And Wine's new sound on the Walking Far From Home cd ep released a while back, the title track of which opens up the new full length as well, so we figured we oughta just revisit what we said about that track when we first heard it: Still present are Sam Beam's gorgeous vocals, and the lush instrumentation, piano, guitar, but what is missing, is the low key almost lo-fi sound, and in its place, is a seriously lush production, not to mention a fleshed out band, complete with piano, keyboard, background vocals (which swoop and soar E.L.O. style!) and all sorts of buzzy basslines, and random dubbed out percussion. It's jarring at first, but it only takes a few seconds where you begin to wonder why Beam didn't try his hand at lush dubbed out orchestral pop before, cuz "Walking Far From Home" is totally fantastic. The sort of song that will finally get folks to listen to Iron And Wine, who might have found the old stuff too folky. We're definitely hearing some Animal Collective, and other forward thinking pop groops too, seems unlikely, but damn, we've listened to this song about 20 times. So great. And since then, we've probably listened to that song another fifty times at least. And it still sounds just as good, and just as exciting as it did the first time. And once you hear Beam and Co. playing this lush, Technicolor pop music, it makes the old stuff sound more like sketches of what was to come. Nothing will ever replace those records, they're gorgeous and practically perfect just the way they are, but it was definitely time for Beam to try something new. And this new direction is pretty fantastic, although it's bound to alienate plenty of long time I+W fans. The sound is way more slick, and thus more commercial, some of these tracks, it's not hard to imagine hearing them on a commercial, or in Starbucks, but maybe that speaks more to the times than to the particular sound, cuz really, the sound is not THAT far removed, it is the same voice, and the same songwriter after all, and the last few I+W records were moving in this direction anyway, it's the same songs, just cleaned up, and dressed in organs and chimes, and swirling harmonies, and keyboards and synthesizers, but it's still Beam's voice that defines the sound, whether it's the almost Beach Boys sounding harmonies of "Tree By The River", or the whispery croon on the weirdly funky "Monkeys Uptown", or the old school I+W vox laced over the dubbed out wah guitar driven psychedelia of "Rabbit Will Run", it still sounds distinctly like Iron And Wine and nobody else. And these experiments are still rooted in the timeless sound of Iron And Wine's old records, "Half Moon" stripped down, could have been off his debut, but here, with extra harmonies, the song sounds almost like Iron And Wine covering Fleetwood Mac, and "Godless Brother In Love" at its core sounds like classic Iron And Wine, but here it's piano instead of guitar that drives the song, not to mention strings and lush vocal harmonies, and thus musically it sounds more like Joanna Newsom or Antony or Rufus Wainwright, but it suits him, this all does (well most of it, there is one clunker, a WAY too funky groover with too much sax. No amount of tripped out synth or lovely vocalizing can tip those scales back). All in all, a wonderfully eclectic and exciting new chapter in the ever evolving sound of Iron And Wine, and one that we're digging quite a bit.

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SORRY.

In a perect world, we would have a new Iron And Wine record every day. EVERY DAY! We NEVER get sick of Sam Beam and his summery dream folk. Lilting and sweetly melancholic. Shimmering crystalline melodies and hushed angelic vocal harmonies over lush and suble instrumentation. So so gorgeous. But since we will apparently never get our wish of a daily Iron And Wine, this three track ep will have to hold us over. One track from the recent album and two unreleased tunes. All three absolutely PERFECT!

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Okay, is this lame or is it awesome? Sub Pop has re-released Iron & Wine's admittedly fantastic rendition of "Such Great Heights" (one of their labelmates Postal Service's bestest songs). The cover version originally appeared on PS's 2003 ep by the same name. While we're more than happy to hear the song again, we're not so sure as to whether folks need to buy it again. Granted there are two previously unreleased live recordings from Radio Vienna, but the pair don't veer all that far from the original studio versions. They are "Naked As We Came" (the studio version can be found on Our Endless Numbered Days) and "Trapeze Swinger" (the studio version was on the In Good Company movie soundtrack). Plus, the cover art is just a hurriedly dashed off pencil crayon copy of the cover to Our Endless Numbered Days. We don't wanna get all harsh on Sam Beam and co. but, geez! That said, if you missed the title track the first time around and/or are an Iron & Wine completist, this may still become a cherished addition to your music library.

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There was a time where we would buy ANYTHING that came out on Sub Pop. ANYTHING. And we still kind of miss those days once in a while. Where you didn't say "I like, ya know... Mudhoney, Soundgarden, and Nirvana", you just said "Yeah, I like Sub Pop". Where there was a label 'sound': you know, grunge or whatever, you knew that if you liked Tad and the Thrown Ups and Mudhoney, you were probably gonna dig the Afghan Whigs and Soundgarden. And we were the first to balk when Sub Pop started deviating from their 'sound'. A sound so comfortable and familiar. But whether it was a desperate attempt to battle the massive grunge backlash or just label heads Jon and Bruce showing their age, or an attempt to actually do something really new and exciting, the end result is a catalogue at once brilliant, and totally confounding, perfect, but not right at all. Sure there were some real stinkers, and some records that were definitely 'friend rock' (you know, the only reason we put this out is because they're our friends), but nonetheless some of the most essential and under appreciated gems of the last decade exist -because- of this varied and eclectic take on indie/underground music. The two Zumpano records are all time unanimous aQ favorites, and there's the twangy rootsy country rock/pop of Beachwood Sparks and Chapaquidick Skyline, the gorgeous stripped down pop of Damien Jurado, as well as Mark Kozelek, Mark Lanegan, the Pernice Brothers and this one, the debut from Florida's Iron And Wine, a one-man-and-his-4-track, stripped down, Southern, country/folk/mope rock wash of dirgey back woods ballads sung in a plaintive whisper accompanied by banjo and acoustic guitar. SOOOOOOO NICE. So nice in fact, that this would definitely have been our record of the year if it wasn't for the near simultaneous release of the equally brilliant, but infinitely darker, Woven Hand record. And that said, it's definitely threatening to overtake the 'Hand as one of our most listened to records. You've all heard the lonely boy with a guitar, dreamy twangy heartbroken singer songwriter. It's been done to death (but what hasn't? Don't get us started!) But once in a while it's just -done right-. So right in fact, that it transcends its meager aspirations and becomes a volatile and intense emotional piece of art. Such is the case with Iron And Wine. Simple songs are strummed and plucked, the vocals are sort of whispered/sung, melodies surface occasionally to embed themselves permanently in your brain, banjos and acoustic guitars gently lift the vocals above the fuzzy dreamy ambience with a recording quality that makes everything sound like it's dappled with morning sunlight. Think a less damaged Elliott Smith. Think America or Bread (but think it in a nice way, c'mon). Think early Sebadoh without the jokes. Think Sentridoh recording for Folkways 50 years ago. Think Bread recording for K records and playing basements in Olympia. If there was any justice in the world, this would be the record all the little grrrls would put on their mix tapes, this would be the hapless singer songwriter that gets co-opted by the man and inexplicably records soundtracks and ends up playing a song on the Grammies and this would be the next big thing (which since this was first released, actually sort of is/did!!). But at the time, it seemed like it never would be, so that just leaves us with Iron And Wine, a twangy, shimmery, dreamy missive full of aching heartbreak, unrequited love, wistful hope, bitter resentment, untapped faith and inevitable diappointment, and a soul soothing contentment with the ways of the world. The perfect record to wile away breezy summer afternoons, to drive aimlessly through the rain, music keeping time with the windshield wipers, to fall asleep to, or to break the heart that keeps yours from breaking. One of the nicest records this year.

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Hard to know exactly what to say about this record. I gushed endlessly about the full length, and it being one of my 2 or 3 favorite records of the year. And like any great record, you're always left wanting more. So here ya go. MORE. More of the same. Five more songs of sun dappled, melancholy strum and twang, totally understated, but all the more powerful because of it. Wistful and heart wrenching, dreamy and soulful, mournful and completely perfect. Simple acoustic guitar strum and plucked banjo weave simultaneously lush and spare, perfect little folk masterpieces. Lyrics of surprising depth and intimacy are given subtle urgency by Sam Beam's gorgeously smooth croon, equal parts Elliott Smith, Joe Pernice, and Nick Drake, with a melodic sense that is uncannily Bread like. And that is NOT a bad thing. Everyone who bought the full length definitely needs this, and those who didn't, it's an inexpensive way to convince you that you need BOTH. The perfect addendum to one of the best records of the year.

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Ahhhh. Finally. A new Iron And Wine. Another delicate intimate breathy song cycle from Mr. Sam Beam. Every record is an absolute gem, and�this one is no different. But wait, this one is actually quite different... Still a gem, but a whole new sonic world, much more varied and lush, expansive and haunting, with what sounds like a serious backup band, other voices, strings and percussion, it would be enough to get our heads spinning if the songs weren't so goddamn perfect.� In the past, on other Iron And Wine records, you know those slow motion shots of fields and plains, the horizon going on forever in every direction, the sun making rainbow flares, and little bits of dust and pollen drifting in the hot afternoon sun, billowy white clouds drifting in a deep blue sky... that's what those records sounded like. Exactly. Slow and lazy and languorous, soft focus, hushed an intimate. Eyes closed, you were immediately transported to some lost field filled with flowers, laying in the breeze, staring at the sky, the blades of grass tickling your skin... But with each successive record, the sound of I+W got a little bit darker, a little bit less fluttery and folky, more rocking, but never veering too far from that immediately recognizable safe and warm sound... until now.� This is a dark record, especially for Iron And Wine, minor key, intense, propulsive, with a strange steely edge, a little ominous, and yeah, just a little bit dark. Not all the way through, glimmers and hints here and there. But on some songs, like "White Tooth Man", the sound is definitely edgy and slightly sinister, electric slide guitar offering�up menacing little filigree, the strumming more insistent than usual, even the vocals are frenzied, slipping into a gorgeous falsetto. All very tense. The rest of the record is more classic I+W sounding, that mysterious dark edge, more a shadow in the background, but the sound is like a whole 'nother band, lots of percussion, drumming, warm organ, harmonica, electric guitar, it almost pushes the sound into Eagles / America territory, bands Iron And Wine definitely had some affinity with in the past, but now made more solid, sonically. It's definitely a nice change, and lets the songs spread their wings. And while these changes were hinted at on the Woman King ep, Beam and Co. have definitely made those changes more sweeping, creating a whole new Iron And Wine sound in the process. And those aren't the only changes, check out "Boy With A Coin", with its strange almost electronic rhythms, weeping slide guitars and stuttery handclap backdrop, strange and alien sounding but really really cool.�� Maybe this new sound is not quite as intimate, it no longer sounds like Beam is sitting at the foot of your bed, singing for you, whispering in your ear, every song a special personal lullaby, but these new songs have other riches to offer, layers of sound to unwrap, melodies to unfurl, now it's more like sitting in some strange clearing, late at night, around a fire, all the players cloaked in shadow, the branches casting strange black shapes on the ground, the songs coming to life and filling the night air with music both lovely and haunting, mysterious and familiar...

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A "Black Friday Record Store Day" 3 song teaser for the new Iron And Wine full length due early next year, and our first glimpse of I&W's new sound. Still present are Sam Beam's gorgeous vocals, and the lush instrumentation, piano, guitar, but what is missing, is the low key almost lo-fi sound, and in its place, is a seriously lush production, not to mention a fleshed out band, complete with piano, keyboard, background vocals (which swoop and soar E.L.O. style!) and all sorts of buzzy basslines, and random dubbed out percussion. It's jarring at first, but it only takes a few seconds where you begin to wonder why Beam didn't try his hand at lush dubbed out orchestral pop before, cuz "Walking Far From Home" is totally fantastic. The sort of song that will finally get folks to listen to Iron And Wine, who might have found the old stuff too folky. We're definitely hearing some Animal Collective, and other forward thinking pop groops, seems unlikely, but damn, we've listened to this song about 20 times. So great. And the two exclusive non-album tracks are equally kick ass. "Summer In Savannah" is all jazzy and krautrocky, you can almost imagine the song rearranged for OLD Iron And Wine, lazy and softly strummed, but here, the basslines buzz, the guitars are alternately jangly and jagged, there's an almost funky vibe, playful xylophone like melodies, more lush background vocals, swooping backwards effects. Again so unexpected. And then there's "Biting Your Tail", which might be the most surprising of the bunch. A weird bit of minimal electro pop, all clipped skittery beats, buzzing basslines, squelchy electronics, all laid beneath lush vocals, steel drum like melodies, and some glistening psychedelically shimmery crescendos, and a distinctly rhythmic post rock vibe running throughout. Wow. We never would have guessed, but we're definitely digging this big time, and are dying to hear the full length...

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It's really difficult for a musician to develop a distinct sound, and then to progress from record to record in such a way, that your 'sound' continues to grow and change without losing the elements that made it so unique and personal in the first place. Sometimes, if you like a band enough, you don't mind if every record sounds the same, ten more songs that sound like the last ten songs you absolutely loved can only be more of a good thing, right? But it's the folks who do manage that delicate balancing act of moving forward but remaining true to their original vision that continue to truly inspire and blow us away. Iron & Wine happen to be one of those bands. After two full lengths and one ep in about two years, this newest ep takes Iron & Wine's hushed melancholia, with its gently strummed guitars, Sam Beam's whispered/sung breathless vocals, sweetly miserable arrangements, and brings the songs' emotional urgency to the fore, where before it was only hinted at lyrically and alluded to in minor key melodies and bleak lyrical imagery. This new batch of songs is much more aggressive in tone, reflected by more percussion, more propulsive tempos and a bigger reliance on different instrumentation (violin, piano, etc.) adding a sonic veil of death and despondency to this already mournful / melancholy song cycle. But even without these changes, there seems to be no end to Sam Beam's songwriting genius. Every song is a new dreamlike world, populated by pain and sorrow, hope and happiness, love and loss, immediately warm and recognizable, like a long lost memory from your childhood, or a song you already love and cherish, but at the same time each song is a wholly unique new musical discovery full of unlikely melodies and gorgeous musical landscapes that stick with you, as if the song is an experience you lived through and remember, catchy, timeless and totally unforgettable.

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SORRY. Originally intended to be released for Record Store Day, this split lp features long time aQ faves Iron And Wine, teamed up with new aQ faves the Low Anthem, both performing live (from a recent tour they did together). The four Iron And Wine tracks are expanded to a whole 100 minute set with the download coupon, and is heavy on the newer stuff, with a whole band, fairly rocking, big drums, horns, synths, if you dig the new sound, the new songs sound great live, as do the old ones. Not for newbies so much as for already-fans. The flipside finds the Low Anthem doing their dark brooding folk thing, taming a rowdy crowd, their sound, lush and dreamlike, haunting and meditative, lush vocal harmonies, all melancholy and sweetly moody, nearly 30 minutes of folky softly psychedelic drift. LIMITED TO 1000 COPIES. Supposedly only available and indie stores, it's apparently already out of print, we have just 5 copies left, and then that's it! Comes in a full color jacket, with a swank letter pressed 2 color silk screened insert, and includes a download coupon, with the Low Anthem tracks and the WHOLE Iron And Wine set.

Rockadrome's Vintage label has been on a roll of late, delving into the misty, musty, mystic proto-metal past to find some heavy holy grails - first and foremost, our recent Record Of The Week, 1972's self-titled album by Jerusalem! Also a reissue from New Zealand heavies Human Instinct, and now this, the eagerly awaited yet ultra obscure collection of previously unreleased tracks from a '70s Scottish band called Iron Claw. Well, previously unreleased except for bootlegs, which accounts for the anticipation with which we looked forward to this fully authorized, carefully compiled disc. Iron Claw never managed to put out an album in their lifetime, but they did record quite a few studio demos circa 1970-1974, which is what you'll hear here. And yes the Claw is HEAVY. We've heard plenty of bands over the years who have tried to sound like Black Sabbath in various ways. A lot of our favorites in fact, being as into doom metal as we are. But before Witchfinder General and Saint Vitus and Trouble, before Candlemass and Cathedral, before Sleep and Sheavy and Electric Wizard and Witchcraft... there was Iron Claw. They didn't grow up listening to Black Sabbath albums. No, this is a band who fell under Black Sabbath's spell after seeing 'em play... in 1969! That was *before* the first Sabbath album came out, please note. (Which brings up another interesting story - apparently Iron Claw's bassist had actually recorded that Sabbath gig - and not long ago made a pretty penny selling the tapes to Ozzy and Sharon, it being the earliest known live Sabbath material extant.) Pretty soon after this "revelation" of seeing Sabbath, the mostly teenaged blues rock combo Iron Claw became what must have been the world's first Black Sabbath tribute band, doing Sabbath covers, while simultaneously working on original material for the first time. So the influence of Sabbath over Iron Claw's own songs is pretty strong, especially in the guitar dep't, less so with the vocals. But for heaviness and a general doomy vibe, Iron Claw are clearly indebted to Iommi & Co., while also reminding us of such bands as T2, May Blitz, Nazareth, and Budgie. Maybe some Grand Funk Railroad too. This was heavy stuff, especially for the era. Heck you've got to admit that the band name (which comes from the lyrics to King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man") is pretty darn metal. IRON CLAW!!! Plus, good grief, they did a song called "Skullcrusher" in 1970 when everybody else (except for Sabbath) was all peace and love and flowers and beads. Inspired by Sabbath they sure were, but they get credit for being one of the first, taking it (down?) to the next level of underground downer rock worship and metallic menace. Later on when bands like Judas Priest and then the whole NWOBHM thing took over, these guys must have known they'd been ahead of the curve. The sixteen tracks here span several years and several slightly differing Iron Claw lineups, and we were impressed by all of 'em, from their earliest, rawest recordings like the lumbering, blown-out "Clawstrophobia" (about the mental breakdown of someone stuck in an elevator!) to the riffy blitz of "Crossrocker" to their occasional attempts at something more 'pop' (but still heavy, even with horns, as on "Loving You").... all the way to the proggier final phase of Iron Claw's existence, on tracks like "Winter", with flute, yay! There's also a bit o' harmonica on "Strait Jacket" (a la "The Wizard"). But mostly, the Claw is all crunching guitar distortion, pounding drums and wailing vocals. Plus, psychedelic freakiness abounds in interludes (like the backwards Mellotron at the start of "Pavement Artist" and the spooky tripped out FX going into "Devils" - a song inspired by the band seeing the premiere of the Ken Russell movie of the same name at the Edinburgh Film Festival). It's all pretty badass early doom action. Seriously we think folks into Sabbath (of course), Witchcraft and suchlike are gonna be blown away by a lot of this. And it's a really nicely done disc, the cd booklet featuring photos and several pages of band history, along with lyrics and notes on each track written by one of the surviving Iron Claw dudes (sadly, a couple of the members have passed away already). Sound-wise, it varies, generally lo-fi but pretty decent for demos, and not nearly so rough as that Bedemon disc ferinstance. No complaints there. Way to go Rockadrome, again! Now that they've unearthed the Claw, perhaps we can look forward to a sequel second cd of archival live material - we'd love to hear Iron Claw's cover of "War Pigs" with complete with their use of Ozzy's original, alternate lyrics....

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MPEG stream: Sabotage
MPEG stream: Rock Band Blues
MPEG stream: Winter

The Iron Dogs are a Stratocaster-wielding power trio playing '80s inspired denim n' leather, punked out speed metal, that sorta sounds like a hybrid of Speedwolf and Slough Feg. They hail from the far northern climes of Ottawa, Canada, where it's not that hard to find husky sled dogs to pose with a naked bloody warrior woman in the snow for the cover photo of your album, apparently! That somewhat cheesy cover pic and the band's fairly generic name (they're on a label whose roster includes at least two other "Iron" bands, Iron Kobra and Iron Curtain, by the way), while piquing our curiosity, had actually kept our expectations low; little did we know that Iron Dogs would become one our our favorite new metal bands once we actually heard 'em - indeed Allan here has become a little bit obsessed, proclaiming this to be his fave metal album of the year thus far, though technically it came out in 2012, but definitely hasn't been widely distributed or reviewed. Seriously, as you can imagine, we listen to so much new music here all the time that if something winds up in actual heavy rotation, garnering repeat play, can't wait to go home and listen to that disc again and AGAIN status, it's something pretty special. Their name provides a few clues. First off, it clearly references two of their biggest influences, namely Iron Maiden and the English Dogs. With Maiden, we're talking first two albums, short haired singer Paul di'Anno era, and English Dogs, they were an '80s punk band who just happened to do a couple of amazing heavy metal albums - so yeah, think NWOBHM at its closest intersect with '77 punk. Also, "Iron Dogs" was a song from the first album by Canadian speed metal pioneers Exciter, so they're named after that too. And they live up to it all, totally back alley punk, totally fist waving metal, plus they possess their own special, undefinable X-factor that just puts this over the top. Vocalist/guitarist Jo Capitalicide is no Paul Di'Anno but his rushed, rough vocals still possess yobbish punk charm and sound both sincere and spirited, and totally works with this music, which is soooooo energetic and catchy, played with sloppy, off-the-rails abandon. The lo-fi garage production is totally PERFECT for this too. The combo of their rollicking riffs and the raw sound is just killer, Iron Dogs rockin' like excited, inspired kids. Lead off cut "Razors Of Doom" gallops into view riding a riff that's straight up Iron Maiden Paul Di'Anno era. Ooooh-yeah. Then the magnificent "Dragon Chord" appears, a song that's somehow a punk rock version of mystical Manilla Road metal. Literally fantastic. Next up, "Wrath Of The Barbarians" has got another one of those classic Maiden-ish riffs to it, it's (again) quite a stormer� but heck we could go on and on talking about each and every one of the nine tracks on here, they're all great, full of hooks and feeling, it was friggin' tough to pick which ones to make sound samples of, or maybe it was easy since we couldn't go wrong with any of 'em. Basically, THIS is metal at both its purest, and punkest. It's practically joyous. Probably not for everyone, but if you "get" this you'll really really love it. By the way, anybody who might be worried that the aforementioned cover or album title is (however quaintly) not that PC, should be comforted by this note from inside the cd: "Iron Dogs is fiercely anti-fascist! Homophobes, sexist idiots & bigots: F.O.A.D.!!" They also proudly state: "Only Fender Stratocasters were used in this recording! Total Strat-metal!" Maybe that's the X-factor?

MPEG stream: Wrath Of The Barbarian
MPEG stream: Dragon Chord
MPEG stream: Death's Driver
MPEG stream: Cold Bitch