[ aquarius records — Rock Pop ]

Showing results 8551 through 8600 of 19388.

JASPER TXSinging Stones(Fang Bomb)cd$ 23.00

JAUMET, ETIENNENight Music(Domino)cd$ 14.98

We love it when something unexpected, unknown, and essentially totally off our radar shows up and then completely blows us away! Which is exactly what happened with this chunk of epic cosmic psychedelic space-out by French artist Etienne Jaumet. By the looks of his photo on the cover we first thought this was going to be some sort of smarty pants singer songwriter, Jarvis Cocker sort of thing, but talk about about how you shouldn't judge a book by its cover! Instead, Night Music is one of the most satisfying and fully realized analog synth driven discs we've heard in ages. Imagine Goblin and Kraftwerk gliding through cosmic space, as the record's opening 20+ minute track really does evoke some sort of interstellar autobahn, the listener whirling through the stars and sky, Night Music a deep rich and nuanced soundtrack for that late night cosmic excursion. We also think about some of our fave modern psych-space rockers, like try to imagine Expo 70 remixed by Jonas Reinhardt, or Arp channeling Franco Battiato or Subway stretched way out into a sonic stratosphere pioneered by Conrad Schnitzler and Klaus Schulze. Folks who dug the Altres record we listed last time should definitely dig this too. We'd also bet the Black Devil Disco folks and both Zombi and Zomby lovers will find loads to love on Night Music. Oddly enough when we starting doing some digging to find out more about Jaumet we discovered he was in a group called Zombie Zombie (not however, related to the above Zomby/i's). You can tell that Jaumet also has a deep love of cosmic free-jazz as he introduces subtle saxophone on parts of the record with perfectly understated results, bringing to mind Herbie Hancock's Sextant album for sure, and also Sun Ra as reimagined by Four Tet, particularly on that epic opener "For Falling Asleep" - the very next track sure says "wake up", though, bringing in more of a techno thump to the proceedings, but still staying wonderfully spaced out. Pretty much every time we play this in the store either a customer or one of us who works here asks if this is a reissue of some long lost kosmiche gem, maybe from Germany in the 1970s. In fact we found out that Jaumet based the sequencing of the record on many of those same amazing cosmic psych records from the '70s, where first side of the vinyl is one long track and the other side is filled with shorter tracks. Jaumet also has such an obvious understanding of composition, especially how to stretch tracks out without letting them overstay their welcome, and thus Night Music is just long enough to totally transport us to another dimension, yet focused enough to stay listenable and sonically complex the entire time. Something which only makes us love this record even more was the discovery that long time AQ favorite, '70s French folk-psychstress Emmanuelle Parrenin adds her voice as texture on a couple tracks (sounding very Yoko Ono, at times) as well as playing harp and hurdy gurdy. Furthermore, the mix was "directed and imagined" by none other than Carl Craig and you can totally tell, as the whole record flows with such a lush layered sound and driving pulse that is both immediately satisfying and utterly hypnotic!

JAVELINABeasts Among Sheep(Translation Loss)cd$ 14.98

Any record that starts with a solid 30 seconds of feedback is definitely gonna be good, and then when it explodes into a frenzy of melodic crusty metal, with super distorted howled vocals (and some competing black metal shrieks), spidery harmonized guitar melodies and thick swells of stonery sludge, it pretty much seals the deal. Which is precisely the case with Beasts Among Sheep, the latest from Philly's Javelina, named for a tusked swine that terrorizes the Southwest, killing small animals and destroying gardens, but this Javelina is something way more imposing and terrifying, a lurching, ultra distorted sludge metal juggernaut, that takes what could be a head spinning kitchen sink approach to their craft and instead fuses all sorts of disparate elements into something super heavy, groovy, melodic and rocking, definite references would include NOLA bands like Kylesa, Baroness, Down, Eyehategod, Crowbar, that same sort of swampy groovy and downtuned sludge, but the guitars are straight up NWOBHM, often busting out incredible harmonized leads right in the midst of a plodding tarpit sludge workout. And the vocals, flip from cookie monster growl to demonic shriek, giving the record a totally different vibe, the bass driving everything, especially when they slow it down and get all brooding and doomy, but shit, the riffs, some of the most kick ass riffing we've heard in ages. Fans of Mastodon and High On Fire will probably dig the shit out of this too, but it's away weirder and rawer and so much more catchy and fucked up and original as far as we're concerned. Be sure and stick around after the records' doomcrustprog blowout closer "Beware The Wrath Of The Patient Man", for the frenzied crust sludge secret track tucked away at the end. Absolutely essential heaviness for sure...

JAVERLING, RICKARDTwo Times Five Lullaby(Yesternow Recording)cd$ 15.98

A debut album from a Swedish travelin' man that has totally won us over. Instrumental songs for a long daytime drive in the country. A beautiful pastoral ambiance that speaks of Javerling's time living in Glasgow and Ireland. You can almost see the wet green grass, the clouds floating in the blue sky, the birds soaring in soft circles. Imagine the instrumentation of Sufjan Stevens or if Colleen traded in her electronics and moved to the country. Erik Malmberg of Sagor and Swing makes guests on two of our favorite songs. So soothing and tender but never too sweet or syrupy. A musical world where nothing crazy or out of the ordinary happens but the sheer beauty of the surroundings totally and utterly sweeps you off your feet. So lovely!

JAWBOXFor Your Own Special Sweetheart(De Soto / Dischord)cd$ 13.98

When it comes to classic nineties indie rock, you pretty much had to love Jawbox. Along with Sunny Day Real Estate and Drive Like Jehu and Hum and a handful of others, that was the long drive mixtape unattainable crush soundtrack of our twenties, big muscular crunchy guitars, killer melodies, unforgettable hooks, big pounding drums, and songs that KILLED. In fact, speaking of songs that killed, Jawbox's "Savory" is probably one of those songs we've listened to about a million times. A minor hit, even had a video on MTV, but rightfully so, with its killer start stop riffing, awesome lyrics, amazing solo, it's definitely one of the best jams of the nineties, and thus it's saying a lot that most of the other tracks on For Your Own Special Sweetheart are nearly as good. It's definitely emo, but so much more, post punk, post rock, math rock, pop even, with super unique arrangements, seriously fierce chops, and above all SONGS, incredible unforgettable songs. Some folks here think Jawbox sounds like Steve Albini gone pop, with that throbbing bass and big dry drum sound, angular guitars, and anthemic choruses, but really, these guys (and gal) helped define a sound, and an era, and it still sounds fresh and amazing more than 15 years later. If you somehow missed out on this back in the day, do yourself a favor and pick this up, you don't know what you've been missing. Includes all of the B-sides from the "Savory" single, all of which are as good as anything on the record proper.

JAWBREAKER24 Hour Revenge(Communion)cd$ 0.00

JAWBREAKERBivouac(Communion)cd$ 0.00

JAWBREAKERChesterfield King(Blackball)12"$ 10.98

JAWBREAKERDear You(Blackball)cd$ 13.98

Finally. MY favorite Jawbreaker record gets reissued. For years I've had a crappy cd-r copy because I was unwilling to spend $50 or $100 on Ebay for a copy. And I know, Unfun is the best Jawbreaker record. No need to email me and tell me how much Dear You sucks and that I'm a dumbshit. I'm well aware that Dear You, while being Jawbreaker's major label debut, also represented a stylistic shift that alienated most of their fans. Outside of Green Day, Jawbreaker were one of the most discussed punk rock sell outs. But hell, as far as 'sell out' records go, this is definitely one of the best. A lot of the raw energy of early Jawbreaker may have gotten a little lost in the shuffle. But not a bad sacrifice for the amazing songwriting and the killer production. Crunchy chugging riffs, Blake's throaty rasp, Adam and Chris's tight-as-fuck rhythm section, and just killer songs. Dear You owes way more to Nirvana and nineties indie/college rock than it does to crusty Gilman Street punk rock. By the time Dear You was recorded Jawbreaker were getting too old for that shit anyway. And you can definitely hear shades of Blake's future project Jets To Brazil in the poppy songsmithery and occasional indie jangle. Re-issued on Jawbreaker drummer Adam's Blackball label after years of legal wrangling with their former label Geffen. Includes bonus tracks and the video for their should-have-been-a-hit "Fireman".

JAWBREAKEREtc.(Blackball)cd$ 13.98

The demise of this awesome punk pop group broke many hearts. And though you thought you'd heard everything that they recorded, thankfully there is more. A plethora of b-sides, compilation tracks, and unreleased songs from 1988-1995 collected together on this long-awaited cd released on Jawbreaker drummer Adam Pfahler's Blackball Records. One thing's for certain, they sure did cover a heap of hits in their time: REM, U2, The Psychedelic Furs, The Misfits, and The Vapors. With super extensive liner notes from the tireless pen of Aaron Cometbus (whose Cometbus Omnibus book is also listed here!) as well as complete release info and cover art, not to mention comments from the band members themselves.

JAWBREAKERLive 4/30/96(Blackball)cd$ 13.98

JAWBREAKERUnfun(Blackball)cd$ 13.98

There are those bands from your youth that you liked, some that you loved, and then those special few that managed strike a nerve, to get inside your psyche and speak right to you in a way that almost nothing else could. For many of us, Jawbreaker were that band! They were a group you would become obsessed with, get tattoos of their logo, memorize their lyrics, drive hundreds of miles just to see them if they didn't play in your hometown. Makes us feel old, but this is the 20th anniversary of their amazing debut, Unfun, which came out in 1990 and was the soundtrack to ours and so many others coming of age. Punchy, catchy, and fast yet filled with so much raw emotion and personal conviction. While they played a lot at places like Gilman Street and were associated with the now made-famous-by-Green-Day East Bay punk scene, there was something much more vital and real in Jawbreaker's music than in so many of their contemporaries. Their music was for people who loved the sweat, energy and passion of punk but also hated the rigid/forced and contrived politics and fashion that the music was so often aligned with. This was a new voice. While other bands were singing copycat tired played out songs about smashing the state, Jawbreaker were writing songs about real moments in life that we could all relate to. It was the soundtrack to the house party you felt awkward at, the first encounter with that person you had a crush on, the solitary moments when you found yourself walking aimlessly with a zine in your back pocket and duct tape holding your shoes together as you tried to figure out what was coming next in your life. Unfun was smart pop-punk, not the Warped Tour/Epitaph brand that would soon sweep over the nation. It was born from the influences of '80s bands like Husker Du, The Replacements and Rites Of Spring. They truly were going against the punk rock grain at the time which was ruled by very narrow minded scene politics and silly posturing. With lyrics like 'Sorry we're not hard enough to piss your parents off', they were actively distancing themselves while critiquing the clique/silly nature of the scene they were thrown into, yet they embodied so many of the real reasons why people fall in love with punk rock in the first place. While the sound was definitely quite different, their music had the same kind of integrity and passion as Fugazi. They meant every single note, every single word. And for sure the words are such a big part of Jawbreaker's legacy. Front man Blake Schwarzenback was like the J.D. Salinger of the '90s punk/indie rock generation. He had an insight and ability to really nail so many truths about interpersonal relationships, daily life, and constant struggles with the mundane, as well as crises of spirit, of love and loss. Yet the music never let the lyrics overpower, as the band was such a triumphant and kick ass and tightly connected unit. Putting this on all these years later, not only do a flood of emotions and memories hit us, but it still sounds so fucking good and relevant! Since Jawbreaker were so true to their own vision (even if it meant that the punk police of the time thought they were too soft or didn't have the right haircuts) they were able to create a music with so much true soul and such an undying spirit that it still holds up so strongly to this day. An absolute all time classic and favorite! This remastered reissue also includes some bonus tracks from the Whack & Bite ep, which are great too, but it hardly matters, as the record is pretty much perfect as it is.

JAWORZYN, STEFANEP 2(Shock)12"$ 17.98

The ever quotable Stefan Jaworzyn, maybe most famous for his membership in Skullflower in the early days, has returned with his first batch of newly recorded material in almost twenty years. When Jaworzyn began the production process of reissuing those first three Skullflower records along with a fourth disc of singles, he rediscovered the joy of tinkering around with electronics. Digital, analog, virtual - our man Jaworzyn doesn't give a fuck, as long as it sounds good. His own words carry considerable gravitas, so we'll let Jaworzyn pick up the story from here: "Once I'd done a bit of recording I thought, 'This sounds pretty twisted, I might as well release it - what's the worst that could happen? People don't like it and say I'm a cunt? What else is new.'" Nope, we don't think that about you, Stefan; and we're actually quite fond of this twenty minute EP. "Make A Joyful Noise" is an aptly named track with its almost jaunty locomotive rhythms and relatively warm (dare we say inviting?) flares from the fizzing electronic melodies that still crack with considerable distortion, but in way that's more akin to the Tim Heckers of the world as opposed to the um, well, Skullflowers. Still twisted in that way that is still quite Jaworzynian. "Bilharzia" is a hot-wired chunk of cascading, modular synth squiggling that resembles the sharp plonk, plunk, and plink of fractured shards of ice spilling down from the inside of a collapsing Arctic cave. An automaton, steamrolling rhythm and blank-stare drone suspension puncture all of the frigid, percolating electronics. Altogether it comes off like some fucked-up hybrid of Bernard Parmegiani and the classic Broken Flag aesthetic. Limited? Yeah, probably.

JAWORZYN, STEFANEaten Away By Shadows(Shock)cd$ 21.00

Eaten Away By Shadows collects a bunch of archival material from Stefan Jaworzyn (once a member of Skullflower, Ascension and other industrial/noise outfits) produced from 1982-83 with some of this material making its way onto compilations and onto a single released by Fusetron sometime in the early '90s. In the equally delightful liner notes to this album, Jaworzyn gleefully extols the virtues of bashing microphones with pieces of metal, and at least on one instance, an axe! The results of these Neubauten-esque excursions are most obvious on the junk-yard clamor of the only untitled piece from this collection. Throughout the clang and bash, Jaworzyn set forth a marching drum machine and distorto-muffled bass riffs whose structured sonic latticework seemed to be standard scum-fuck procedure for early Skullflower, Throbbing Gristle, SPK, etc. A good chunk of the album follows this strategy, with some surprisingly graceful moments, especially on the spacious "M.O.R" which could be some Soft Moon demo track with its eerily spectral guitars hung upon primitive drum machine rhythms. But the latter half of the album gets nasty. Really nasty, through gnarled feedback demolition and unhinged free noise explosions. Such volatility, noted on the very Susan Lawly sounding "Second Orgasm" or the two "Guitar" tracks which made their way onto the above mentioned Fusetron single, all share a transcendent self-immolation with the likes of Merzbow and even Keiji Haino that's far more primordial than any of the stylized ultra-violence of Whitehouse or Sutcliffe Jugend. Fuck! And perhaps you're wondering why it's only on cd? And not vinyl? Well Jaworzyn has very strong feelings about cds and vinyl, as he does about most things, so in his own, creatively combative words, here's a recent missive he sent out about a 12" series he's planning, the recent Skullflower reissues, his intense feelings about vinyl, and more: "Almost every sales site/label/distro seems to be concentrating on vinyl. I don't get it. It's stupidly expensive to produce (and buy - especially considering international postage costs); there doesn't seem to be any way to break even on runs of 300 or less unless you sell most of 'em full price yourself; pressings are regularly horrible (coloured/gimmick vinyl etc is an abomination, 'super-heavy' vinyl a joke); 99% of vinyl is mastered from digital sources anyway so don't give me that drivel about 'analogue sound'... Oh, I could go on and on... So the 12" series is going to lose me quite a lot. But if I sell a relatively small number of CDs I'll break even much faster, can put out another release sooner and I don't feel like a spaz having spunked over a grand on a record no one wants...AND CDs SOUND BETTER. Yes, I said it. CDs sound better. Oh, so you've got a mono UK original Piper at the Gates of Dawn, have you? Sold your kids to Estonian sex-traffickers for it, eh? How droll. Well I have it on CD and IT SOUNDS BETTER THAN THE VINYL. I mean it, man. OK, here's another. Form Destroyer. The LP version is horrible. The cut was rubbish, the pressing was rubbish (the master tapes were fine). The new CD sounds better than any other version. No, your vinyl version is not much cooler, it's simply unlistenable. (Xaman sounds fine on vinyl as it was mastered from the � wait, what, no � DIGITAL MASTER!) What is this crap always polluting discogs: 'when's the vinyl coming out?' I'll tell you when the vinyl's coming out: 'Fuck right off time' is when the vinyl's coming out. But no, let's pay �20.00 for an LP, which probably doesn't include a download (mp3s are digital smegma), so where do you get your 'listening copy'? You pay ALMOST THE SAME PRICE AS A CD for some shitty flacs, or a quid less for the mpfucking3s. What, are we slobbering slack-jawed mongoloids? Why on bog's green earth would anyone pay around a tenner for flacs? So they can make their own CD? Duh. Oh, flacs are just dandy if you've got a 250GB shitpad that plays them. And they're so convenient to load onto your portable device, eh? Right, just kill me now." Oh yeah, and to end with a delightfully apt Jaworzyn quip, also from the liner notes: "we don't want to hear any moaning about the fact it's in a jewel case, not a repulsive digipak!" Amen, brother.

JAY, JEREMYA Place Where We Could Go(K Records)cd$ 14.98

Jeremy Jaw emerged as one of our favorite new voices last year. His debut ep Airwalker swept us off our feet and we've been in love with the dreamy boy from the city of angels ever since. There were also several 7"s and an there's an amazing instrumental soundtrack Dreamland that we hope to get our hands on soon. A Place Where We Could Go, though, is actually the first proper full length from Jeremy and it shows a very different side to his sound. While Airwalker reminded us of some lost early '80s gem from the Factory records vaults, the songs here have much more in common with the rebels and heartthrobs of an even more bygone era of the '50s and '60s. Jeremy's swooning voice and romantic vision has us thinking more of folks like Richie Valens, Buddy Holly and French pop singers Jacque Dutronc and Francoise Hardy. Much less rock and full band sounding then the Airwalker ep, this is way more in a singer songwriter style, which will no doubt also bring comparisons to Jonathan Richman. We love how Jeremy is so confident and brave in his unabashed romantic world view and it's so refreshing to hear a young male voice that's not whining for once! Still so young and at such an exciting creative moment, there are lots of new songs he played while he was in SF that we were so excited about that aren't even on this album and will be on upcoming 7"s (check out the great new Alpharhythms 7" on this list!) and the new album that he says is already just about finished. A Place Where We Could go is much more of a grower and a bit less immediate then his other outings and while we prefer when Jeremy rides more of a groove into his songs, this album is still quite a delight to listen to.

JAY, JEREMYAbandoned Apartments(K)cd$ 12.98

JAY, JEREMYAirwalker(K)cd ep$ 5.98

Wow! We've got ourselves a big time winter crush! A youngster living in LA, Jeremy Jay has made an ep that we've been playing on repeat pretty much nonstop since we first got our ears on it. By far the best thing K has put out in ages. While it's a brand new record it has a charm and feel that made many of us think it was some amazing lost gem from the early eighties. Tapping into the poppier side of the early Factory vaults, Jeremy Jay's Airwalker reminds us of great early '80s records by The Wake and The Go-Betweens. He's like some amazing twee incarnation of Ian Curtis. Imagine Kings Of Convenience doing Joy Division covers. This is one of those rare records that just about everyone on the AQ staff has been smitten by. It's pretty impossible not to get swept away by his young fey pop chops filled with a richness and spark that demands you to pay attention. Somehow managing to cover both Blondie and Siouxsie & The Banshees while making those songs his own, this is a kid we're pretty certain the world will be taking notice of very soon. We haven't been this enamored with a new, young indie-pop voice in ages. This could very well sneak on to some of our best of 2007 lists. Highly recommended!

JAY, JEREMYAlpharhythm(K)7"$ 4.50

No one has mastered the art of the infectious ep or 7" in recent times quite like Jeremy Jay, laying down the kind of tracks that you want to listen to over and over and over, and his latest single continues the smoking hot streak. "Alpharhythm" catches its sultry groove right from the get go and unfolds into a dancey hot number. It's the kind of song that would be perfect if the art kids, outcasts and dreamers actually got to make the soundtrack to their perfect prom. The B side, "Moonbeam Window", though very brief is so great, with a hot/cold vibe and a sound that feels like it's some lost post-punk gem recorded in a garage filled with smoke machines and an old glimmering disco ball hanging from the ceiling. There is something about Jeremy Jay's music that is just so effortless and is undeniably the essence of cool. Highly recommended!

JAY, JEREMYDreamland(Saint Ives)lp$ 13.98

Awesome instrumental score that Jeremy Jay created for a short film called Dreamland. Lots of moody and sensual piano playing. So rad!

JAY, JEREMYLove Everlasting(K Records)12"$ 6.98

Oh Jeremy, we can never get enough of your airwalking dreamy and dancey delights! The 12" is such a perfect format for his songs, as he really is a singles artist in so many ways. Creating such memorable songs that can stand on their own and lend themselves to obsessive repeated listens. Love Everlasting is the late night, slow burning dance floor with a disco light shining bright side to Jeremy's arsenal of charming and seductive songwriting. You can almost see the steam rising off these tracks as you lay the needle into the grooves. This is exactly what you would want to hear the DJ throw on as it gets close to closing time and you're sipping your last drink and all you want to do is slow dance the final moments of the blurry, fun-filled night away. So great!

JAY, JEREMYSlow Dance(K)cd$ 14.98

Whether sizzling with sensual dancefloor jams or slowburnin' with melodies and late-nite disco sounding keyboards, the newest Jeremy Jay record has reaffirmed that this young man from Los Angeles has a very special ability to create songs that make you swoon as they seep into your consciousness. The sort of swoonsome songs that will get your body moving like Molly Ringwald circa Sixteen Candles / The Breakfast Club! With a sound that's equal parts '50s innocence, early '80s new romantic, and late night disco clouds of heaven, Slow Dance finds Jeremy Jay proving that he truly has a unique vision and voice. His debut ep, Airwalker, was like some lost Factory gem while the debut full length A Place Where We Could Go had more of a singer songwriter vibe, Slow Dance finds Jeremy Jay riding such sweet grooves with a record that while less rocking than Airwalker and more dancey then A Place Where We Could Go, soars delightfully, jam packed with such sparkling romantic pop chops. This is exactly the sort of record that could unite fans of melty disco delights those who thrive on a steady diet of The Smiths. There is no denying the infectious charisma that simply oozes from Jeremy and his music. His songs and stage presence reminds us of another eighties movie trope: that beautiful rebel you desperately want to go to prom with, and you do, but then you guys ditch out early and he drives you to inspiration point and plays you his new song. Slow Dance sounds almost how we imagine David Bowie, if he were in his early 20's today and releasing records on Italians Do It Better. It's kind of ridiculous how many times we've played this already, just within the first week of its arrival, and we don't think we're going to grow tired of it anytime soon. Highly recommended!

JAY, JEREMYSplash(K Records)cd$ 14.98

Our favorite wide eyed and romantic indie rock singer/songwriter is back with another full length of songs about longing, love, long distance relationships, carefree bike rides, waiting for the telephone to ring, and daydreaming. All themes we can totally relate to and get behind and all delivered in Jeremy's irresistible manner. This time out it's a much more guitar driven affair then last years synth heavy Slow Dance. More a combination of sounds, somewhere between his debut ep. Airwalker which made us fall in love for him so hard in the first place, and some of the more laid back moments that made up his first full length, A Place Where We Could Go. The record boasts possibly the best three songs in a row we've heard on a record in ages. The one, two, three punch of "Just Dial My Number", "Splash", and "It Happened Before Our Time", pretty much pop perfection, each in different ways. "Splash" may just be a contender for best song of the year, the most rocking song on the album, one of those songs that has an intense immediacy that stuns you with joy on first listen and keeps you feeling that same way every time you listen to it. While those three are for sure the standouts on the record, luckily the other six tracks on Splash aren't too shabby themselves. Conjuring images of Jens Leckman doing Smiths covers with a kind of innocence and unabashed romanticism that is quite endearing. Now splitting his time living not only in Los Angeles but also in Paris and London (where he recorded Splash) there is a strong sense that this young man is for sure soaking up all of his new surroundings while feeling the inevitable longing of places that he's been to and left. No matter where he lands we will always have our ears wide open for his songs, as we're still so so smitten...

JAY, JEREMYWe Were There(K Records)7"$ 4.98

If you've been in AQ more then a few times in the last few months you probably already know how obsessed we've become with Jeremy Jay. There's a pretty good chance we were swaying back and forth listening to his ep Airwalker over and over as we have countless times, and we still aren't even close to getting sick of it. Mixing a twee sensibility with the power of the Factory Records vaults, creating songs that invite you to jump right in and throw up your arms as you close your eyes and enter a world so dreamy and infectious. So of course we've been starving for anything else to get our hands and ears on by Jay, and luckily we have two new songs on this 7" to get lost with. The tracks here are quite different than the songs on Airwalker and show that Jay is not content with having an easily defined sound. The A side "We Were There" made us think of prime time Make-Up with it's sassy rhythms and spoken/sung delivery. The B side "Beautiful Dreamer" is what's getting us the most, with it's sparkling and dizzying cloudy sonics and late night haze. Two more reasons to love this young talent from LA!

JAYHAWKSBlue Earth(Ryko / Restless / Twintone)cd$ 15.98

Avid readers of the list know how much we LOVE the Jayhawks. From their twangy No Depression-ish Hollwood Town Hall major label debut, to their super-produced ultra-lush masterpiece Tommorow The Green Grass to the stripped down classic pop of their most recent Rainy Day Music, reviewed a couple lists back. This is the second Jayhawks release, but was actually just a collection of demos that were gussied up a bit for release. Thus, being demos, the songs do sound a little rough, and lack the production and lush vocal interplay that eventually defined the Jayhawks sound, but even so, they still manage to be pretty darn good. Cause as far as we're concerned, even the worst Jayhawks songs are better than the best songs of most bands. Disc opener 'Two Angels' resurfaces on their amazing Hollywood Town Hall album in a much more finished form. But it's cool to hear the song before it got worked over and got the Rick Rubin big production. And so it goes for most of Blue Earth, a lot of these tracks might have blossomed had they been re-recorded and reworked, but as they are, they are gorgeous, twangy, catchy diamonds in the rough. Comes with three additional unreleased demos as well as new liner notes. MPEG Download: "Two Angels" [/audio/jayhawkstwoangels.mp3] MPEG Stream: "Two Angels" [/audio/jayhawkstwoangels.m3u]

JAYHAWKSHollywood Town Hall(American)cd$ 14.98

A while back we reviewed a killer collection / career retrospective from one of our favorite bands ever. The Jayhawks. A band we would rank right up there with Uncle Tupelo in that whole No Depression / alt country movement. But a band who was much more than alt country, they were classic pop songsmiths, like the Byrds, with two singers whose harmonies could rival any songwriting partnership of the last 50 years. But like all great bands, a collection only scratches the surface, bands like the Jayhawks didn't just write songs, they wrote records, so while a greatest hits package is definitely fine, it's the records proper where they really shine. So we were super psyched to discover that two of our favorite Jayhawks records got reissued, both on cd AND lp, the cd versions with tons of extra material. First, a little Jayhawks history lesson, from our review of the anthology: The whole No Depression movement spawned so many great bands, Uncle Tupelo of course, and post UT, Wilco and Son Volt, Blue Mountain, Whiskeytown, Freakwater, Old 97's, Scud Mountain Boys, Robbie Fulks, Tarnation, Split Lip Rayfield, and on and on. Very few of those bands, no matter how good or how much we dig 'em, come close to the sheer song writing genius and kick ass rocking of genre namesakes Uncle Tupelo, except for one. The Jayhawks, a consistently amazing band. Every record jam packed with incredible timeless songsmithery, the two vocalists, Gary Louris and Mark Olson had voices like angels, crafting perfect soaring harmonies, and both were incredible songwriters, one of those partnerships that comes along once in a blue moon. And the band, a crack collection of amazing players, they had EVERYTHING going for them. Yet for their whole career, success eluded them. While other, lesser bands went on to become critical darlings, or to make shit tons of money, the Jayhawks toiled in relative obscurity. So legendary was their bad luck that they were the subject of an extensive article in a national magazine (Newsweek, Business Day?) all about how to survive as a band, or not, as was the case with the Jayhawks. And their bad luck extended beyond the music business, as Mark Olson left at the height of the band's popularity to care for his wife, Victoria Williams who was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. And listening to these songs again, it is criminal, and tragic, and simply hard to believe that a band this good, and songs this amazing, managed to remain so under the radar for so long. But there's something to be said for a cult following, and the Jayhawks have that in spades, fans are generally obsessed, and fans FOR LIFE. With Wilco or Ryan Adams, ask fans of those bands, and you'll probably get a "yeah, they're cool", or "sure I totally dig them, the new record is killer", but talk to ANY Jayhawks fan (Andee for instance) and you'll get an explosion of superlatives, a rant about how much better the Jayhawks are than ANY of their contemporaries, and how fucked it is that they were never huge, and since it's Andee who is writing this, well, needless to say, the Jayhawks ARE better than all of their contemporaries, and yeah, we're including Wilco and whoever else you want to stack up against these guys. It's a little country, a little rock, a little folk, a lot of pop, but they've created a sound and a style so immediately recognizable, and those voices, you'll never mistake these guys for anyone else. Easily some of the best music of the last 20 years, country, No Depression or otherwise. Totally perfect, twang flecked, utterly timeless pop music of the highest order, or maybe it IS country music, but whatever you want to call it, to these ears it sounds heavenly, and like the Jayhawks and no one else. Hollywood Town Hall was the band's third album, but for most folks, ourselves included, it was our first exposure to these guys, and all it took was one song, album opener "Waiting For The Sun", with it's minor key riff, and those soaring crystal clear vocals, the dark introspective verses and the contrastingly vibrant sunshiney chorus, not to mention, all the little sonic subtleties, the warm whirring organ, the minimal piano, it's pretty much a perfect pop song, in the guise of alt country. And the record just doesn't let up every song here is gorgeous, melancholy and twangy one minute, rollicking and rocking the next, but always, those hooks, those harmonies, the arrangements, it's hard to know what to say. Just listen to those sound samples, and if you can somehow resist, well, we give up. The cd version tacks on 5 bonus tracks, two previously unreleased, three single B-sides, and all of them just as good as anything on the record proper. Also includes extensive new liner notes, and lots of photos.

JAYHAWKSMusic From The North County: The Jayhawks Anthology(American)cd$ 13.98

The whole No Depression movement spawned so many great bands, Uncle Tupelo of course, and post UT acts Wilco and Son Volt, Blue Mountain, Whiskeytown, Freakwater, Old 97's, Scud Mountain Boys, Robbie Fulks, Tarnation, Split Lip Rayfield, and on and on. Very few of those bands, no matter how good or how much we dig 'em, come close to the sheer song writing genius and kick ass rocking of genre namesakes Uncle Tupelo, except for one. The Jayhawks, a consistently amazing band. Every record jam packed with incredible timeless songsmithery. The two vocalists, Gary Louris and Mark Olson, had voices like angels, crafting perfect soaring harmonies, and both were incredible songwriters, one of those partnerships that comes along once in a blue moon. And the band, a crack collection of amazing players, they had EVERYTHING going for them. Yet for their whole career, success eluded them. While other, lesser bands went on to become critical darlings, or to make shit tons of money, the Jayhawks toiled in relative obscurity. So legendary was their bad luck that they were the subject of an extensive article in a national magazine (Newsweek, Business Day?) all about how to survive as a band, or not, as was the case with the Jayhawks. And their bad luck extended beyond the music business, as Mark Olson left at the height of the band's popularity to care for his wife, Victoria Williams, who was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. And listening to these songs again, it is criminal, and tragic, and simply hard to believe that a band this good, and songs this amazing, managed to remain so under the radar for so long. But there's something to be said for a cult following, and the Jayhawks have that in spades, fans are generally obsessed, and fans FOR LIFE. With Wilco or Ryan Adams, ask fans of those bands, and you'll probably get a "yeah, they're cool", or "sure I totally dig them, the new record is killer", but talk to ANY Jayhawks fan (Andee for instance) and you'll get an explosion of superlatives, a rant about how much better the Jayhawks are than ANY of their contemporaries, and how fucked it is that they were never huge, and since it's Andee who is writing this, well, needless to say, the Jayhawks ARE better than all of their contemporaries, and yeah, we're including Wilco and whoever else you want to stack up against these guys. It's a little country, a little rock, a little folk, a lot of pop, but they've created a sound and a style so immediately recognizable, and those voices, you'll never mistake these guys for anyone else. Easily some of the best music of the last 20 years, country, No Depression or otherwise. Listen to the sound samples, that should really be all it takes, totally perfect, twang flecked, utterly timeless pop music of the highest order, or maybe it IS country music, but whatever you want to call it, to these ears it sounds heavenly, and like the Jayhawks and no one else. For diehards, and anyone who is totally blown away by the sound samples below, there's also a super deluxe version with a second disc of rarities and unreleased tracks, as well as a DVD featuring all the bands videos, $33, needless to say WELL worth it. If you want that one, it's on the aQ site, search for it and add it to your cart. Otherwise, this single disc version is the perfect introduction to a group that could be your new favorite band.

JAYHAWKSRainy Day Music(American)2cd$ 16.98

Boy do we still love the Jayhawks. Although we still sometimes notice the loss of original singer Mark Olson and miss the sound of the old Jayhawks, they still manage to make amazingly beautiful and totally catchy records. Gary Louris, who now basically IS the Jayhawks made the most of a tough situation, replacing Olson, and manages to get better and better. The sound, while still lush, is not nearly as 'produced' as their last record Smile. Actually reminds me a lot of Hollywood Town Hall from years back. Lots of jangle and strum, hooks galore, a LOT of Byrds/Beatles worship, and some amazing players/vocalists (including guest vocals from Matthew Sweet and Jakob Dylan) make this a truly divine listen. And unlike a lot of Jayhawks records, this record isn't immediately catchy, which is actually a good thing. On first listen, I wasn't all that impressed, but now, the more I listen to it, the more and more I like it. And I have been playing it nonstop. Nothing avant or underground or genre-defying, just timeless, perfect pop. Includes a 6 track bonus disc including a track from a Spanish magazine, 2 acoustic versions, 2 demos, and a live version of the Jayhawks classic 'Waiting For The Sun'. MPEG Download: "Stumbling Through The Dark" [/audio/jayhawksstumbling.mp3] MPEG Stream: "Stumbling Through The Dark" [/audio/jayhawksstumbling.m3u] MPEG Download: "Tailspin" [/audio/jayhawkstailspin.mp3]

JAYHAWKSSmile(Columbia)cd$ 15.98

The Jayhawks took what could have been a fatal blow when they lost main man Mark Olson, who was pretty much *the voice* of the band. (For what Mark's doing these days with wife Victoria Williams in the Original Harmony Ridge Creekdippers, see their three self-released, wonderful albums, all of which we carry.) But Gary Louris and the rest of the Jayhawks have managed pretty nicely without Olson, it seems. (For the full story, see the long feature on them in this month's No Depression magazine.) A super rocking big time production courtesy of producer Bob Ezrin (Kiss, Alice Cooper, Pink Floyd etc.), "Smile" is both a blessing and perhaps the worst thing that could've happened. Three or four of the tracks are truly among the best they've ever recorded, full of crackly twang and perfect hooks that'll have you singing along. The album is completely worth it for those songs alone. But at times the band veers into Beatles-y lush pop directions, an ill-advised decision for such a band. I mean, there's *synthesizers* on this record. And, oh god, on some of the songs the drummer is supplanted by f**king *breakbeats*. This is a Jayhawks record! Is nothing sacred? Now, Aquarius is the last place to be all crotchety and unwilling to accept that bands change and mature and whatEVER, but... . It might sound a little weird, but the best thing about "Smile" (besides the few really awesome songs on it) is that it has made Windy re-fall in love with the Jayhawks back catalog and Andee gets to crow (in a scene seemingly straight from Hi Fidelity) "Man, I always loved the Jayhawks. But their *early* stuff is the best'. All their previous output, especially "Hollywood Town Hall," "Tomorrow the Green Grass," and the underappreciated "Sound of Lies" are fucking amazing records so worth your time. Completely timeless and classic.

JAYHAWKSTomorrow The Green Grass(American)lp$ 17.98

A while back we reviewed a killer collection / career retrospective from one of our favorite bands ever. The Jayhawks. A band we would rank right up there with Uncle Tupelo in that whole No Depression / alt country movement. But a band who was much more than alt country, they were classic pop songsmiths, like the Byrds, with two singers whose harmonies could rival any songwriting partnership of the last 50 years. But like all great bands, a collection only scratches the surface, bands like the Jayhawks didn't just write songs, they wrote records, so while a greatest hits package is definitely fine, it's the records proper where they really shine. So we were super psyched to discover that two of our favorite Jayhawks records got reissued, both with tons of extra material. First, a little Jayhawks history lesson, from our review of the anthology: The whole No Depression movement spawned so many great bands, Uncle Tupelo of course, and post UT, Wilco and Son Volt, Blue Mountain, Whiskeytown, Freakwater, Old 97's, Scud Mountain Boys, Robbie Fulks, Tarnation, Split Lip Rayfield, and on and on. Very few of those bands, no matter how good or how much we dig 'em, come close to the sheer song writing genius and kick ass rocking of genre namesakes Uncle Tupelo, except for one. The Jayhawks, a consistently amazing band. Every record jam packed with incredible timeless songsmithery, the two vocalists, Gary Louris and Mark Olson had voices like angels, crafting perfect soaring harmonies, and both were incredible songwriters, one of those partnerships that comes along once in a blue moon. And the band, a crack collection of amazing players, they had EVERYTHING going for them. Yet for their whole career, success eluded them. While other, lesser bands went on to become critical darlings, or to make shit tons of money, the Jayhawks toiled in relative obscurity. So legendary was their bad luck that they were the subject of an extensive article in a national magazine (Newsweek, Business Day?) all about how to survive as a band, or not, as was the case with the Jayhawks. And their bad luck extended beyond the music business, as Mark Olson left at the height of the band's popularity to care for his wife, Victoria Williams who was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. And listening to these songs again, it is criminal, and tragic, and simply hard to believe that a band this good, and songs this amazing, managed to remain so under the radar for so long. But there's something to be said for a cult following, and the Jayhawks have that in spades, fans are generally obsessed, and fans FOR LIFE. With Wilco or Ryan Adams, ask fans of those bands, and you'll probably get a "yeah, they're cool", or "sure I totally dig them, the new record is killer", but talk to ANY Jayhawks fan (Andee for instance) and you'll get an explosion of superlatives, a rant about how much better the Jayhawks are than ANY of their contemporaries, and how fucked it is that they were never huge, and since it's Andee who is writing this, well, needless to say, the Jayhawks ARE better than all of their contemporaries, and yeah, we're including Wilco and whoever else you want to stack up against these guys. It's a little country, a little rock, a little folk, a lot of pop, but they've created a sound and a style so immediately recognizable, and those voices, you'll never mistake these guys for anyone else. Easily some of the best music of the last 20 years, country, No Depression or otherwise. Totally perfect, twang flecked, utterly timeless pop music of the highest order, or maybe it IS country music, but whatever you want to call it, to these ears it sounds heavenly, and like the Jayhawks and no one else. Tomorrow The Green Grass was record number four, but the group's second release on American, and was maybe their most fully realized record up to that point, with easily some of their best songs. In fact, check out the sample for "Blue", which just might be our favorite Jayhawks song EVER, that effortless blend of melancholy country and big pop, strings and fiddles and piano, guitars and drums, and those perfect harmony vocals, and a killer chorus, not to mention a bridge that somehow manages to be even catchier. And like Hollywood Town Hall before it, Tomorrow The Green Grass just keeps the hits coming, "I'd Run Away" is another practically perfect jam, with it's loping melancholy piano flecked verse, and it's soaring string laden chorus, and so it goes, not a single bit of fluff or filler, seriously one of our favorite, most listened to records EVER. The first disc tacks on 5 bonus tracks, three unreleased, two B-sides, and damn if "Tomorrow The Green Grass", which somehow got left off the album of the same name, doesn't sound just like Canadian power poppers Sloan, and listening to it now, the pop element in the rest of the record seems to blossom before our very ears. But "TTGG" is definitely a killer, as are the rest of the extras. And as if that weren't enough, there's a whole bonus disc, the elusive "Mystery Demos", an incredible collection of stripped down early versions of tracks that would end up on later records, as well as a bunch of songs that never made it past the demo stage, just acoustic guitar, fiddle and vocals, and even stripped down, these guys manage to sound amazing, the harmonies still effortless even in this rough state. Not necessarily crucial listening for dabblers, but fans will be in heaven. And just further evidence that these guys should have been superstars. Includes a big booklet with lots of liner notes, and tons of photos.

JAYHAWKSTomorrow The Green Grass (Legacy Edition)(American)2cd$ 17.98

A while back we reviewed a killer collection / career retrospective from one of our favorite bands ever. The Jayhawks. A band we would rank right up there with Uncle Tupelo in that whole No Depression / alt country movement. But a band who was much more than alt country, they were classic pop songsmiths, like the Byrds, with two singers whose harmonies could rival any songwriting partnership of the last 50 years. But like all great bands, a collection only scratches the surface, bands like the Jayhawks didn't just write songs, they wrote records, so while a greatest hits package is definitely fine, it's the records proper where they really shine. So we were super psyched to discover that two of our favorite Jayhawks records got reissued, both on cd AND lp, the cd versions with tons of extra material. First, a little Jayhawks history lesson, from our review of the anthology: The whole No Depression movement spawned so many great bands, Uncle Tupelo of course, and post UT, Wilco and Son Volt, Blue Mountain, Whiskeytown, Freakwater, Old 97's, Scud Mountain Boys, Robbie Fulks, Tarnation, Split Lip Rayfield, and on and on. Very few of those bands, no matter how good or how much we dig 'em, come close to the sheer song writing genius and kick ass rocking of genre namesakes Uncle Tupelo, except for one. The Jayhawks, a consistently amazing band. Every record jam packed with incredible timeless songsmithery, the two vocalists, Gary Louris and Mark Olson had voices like angels, crafting perfect soaring harmonies, and both were incredible songwriters, one of those partnerships that comes along once in a blue moon. And the band, a crack collection of amazing players, they had EVERYTHING going for them. Yet for their whole career, success eluded them. While other, lesser bands went on to become critical darlings, or to make shit tons of money, the Jayhawks toiled in relative obscurity. So legendary was their bad luck that they were the subject of an extensive article in a national magazine (Newsweek, Business Day?) all about how to survive as a band, or not, as was the case with the Jayhawks. And their bad luck extended beyond the music business, as Mark Olson left at the height of the band's popularity to care for his wife, Victoria Williams who was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. And listening to these songs again, it is criminal, and tragic, and simply hard to believe that a band this good, and songs this amazing, managed to remain so under the radar for so long. But there's something to be said for a cult following, and the Jayhawks have that in spades, fans are generally obsessed, and fans FOR LIFE. With Wilco or Ryan Adams, ask fans of those bands, and you'll probably get a "yeah, they're cool", or "sure I totally dig them, the new record is killer", but talk to ANY Jayhawks fan (Andee for instance) and you'll get an explosion of superlatives, a rant about how much better the Jayhawks are than ANY of their contemporaries, and how fucked it is that they were never huge, and since it's Andee who is writing this, well, needless to say, the Jayhawks ARE better than all of their contemporaries, and yeah, we're including Wilco and whoever else you want to stack up against these guys. It's a little country, a little rock, a little folk, a lot of pop, but they've created a sound and a style so immediately recognizable, and those voices, you'll never mistake these guys for anyone else. Easily some of the best music of the last 20 years, country, No Depression or otherwise. Totally perfect, twang flecked, utterly timeless pop music of the highest order, or maybe it IS country music, but whatever you want to call it, to these ears it sounds heavenly, and like the Jayhawks and no one else. Tomorrow The Green Grass was record number four, but the group's second release on American, and was maybe their most fully realized record up to that point, with easily some of their best songs. In fact, check out the sample for "Blue", which just might be our favorite Jayhawks song EVER, that effortless blend of melancholy country and big pop, strings and fiddles and piano, guitars and drums, and those perfect harmony vocals, and a killer chorus, not to mention a bridge that somehow manages to be even catchier. And like Hollywood Town Hall before it, Tomorrow The Green Grass just keeps the hits coming, "I'd Run Away" is another practically perfect jam, with it's loping melancholy piano flecked verse, and it's soaring string laden chorus, and so it goes, not a single bit of fluff or filler, seriously one of our favorite, most listened to records EVER. The first disc tacks on 5 bonus tracks, three unreleased, two B-sides, and damn if "Tomorrow The Green Grass", which somehow got left off the album of the same name, doesn't sound just like Canadian power poppers Sloan, and listening to it now, the pop element in the rest of the record seems to blossom before our very ears. But "TTGG" is definitely a killer, as are the rest of the extras. And as if that weren't enough, there's a whole bonus disc, the elusive "Mystery Demos", an incredible collection of stripped down early versions of tracks that would end up on later records, as well as a bunch of songs that never made it past the demo stage, just acoustic guitar, fiddle and vocals, and even stripped down, these guys manage to sound amazing, the harmonies still effortless even in this rough state. Not necessarily crucial listening for dabblers, but fans will be in heaven. And just further evidence that these guys should have been superstars. Includes a big booklet with lots of liner notes, and tons of photos.

JAZZ BUTCHER, THEFree Lunch(Rev-Ola)cd$ 14.98

JE SUIS LE PETIT CHEVALIERAge Of Wonder(Shelter Press )lp$ 22.00

The monicker of Felicia Atkinson's solo project hails from Nico's Desert Shore, that mysteriously bleak 1970 album by the Velvet Underground's troubled chanteuse; and a similarly poetic mysteriousness oozes from Atkinsons' deconstructed songs. Age Of Wonder is the second piece of vinyl for Je Suit Le Petit Chevalier, strengthening her work through a handful of limited cassettes and cd-r out of an amorphous droning psychedelia and into a smoldering intense alchemy of allegorical post-ambience. On this spooky, hypnotic, and harrowing album conjured through ever-shifting, ever-blossoming, ever-defalting soundscapes, she references the psychotropic holiness of Fursaxa, the deep-sleep surrealism of Motion Sickness Of Time Travel, and the expository minimalism of Taj Mahal Travellers. Voice, synths, loops, and electronics are the tools at her disposal, which she uses to build sprawling passages of sodden drones brightened by twinkling synths playing half-melodies and accentuated by her narcoleptic vocals cycling through wordless, but emotively sad lullablies alternating with spectral bellowings swathed in deep, washed-out reverb. The layered accretion of plainsong vocalizations and dank atmopsherics opaquely reimagines that which is natural, mystical, metaphysical, and/or mundane, always positioned as something of a mirror looking back to the human psyche as unknowable and existentially sublime. Brilliantly done.

JE SUIS LE PETIT CHEVALIERDark Morse(Shelter Press)cassette$ 10.98

Dark Morse is a super limited cassette from the brilliant Belgian drone-songstress Felicia Atkinson aka Je Suis Le Petit Chevalier, a moniker snatched from Nico's Desertshore album. Her synth, reverb, and vocal concoctions earn her favorable comparisons to Motion Sickness Of Time Travel and Grouper; but she's continuing to delve into deeper waters away from any psychedelic inclinations and toward a darkly psychological sentiment. Dark Morse is based on the Don Delillo collection of short stories The Angel Esmeralda, whose thematic arcs and intertwining narratives bristle with rape, murder, and surreal miracles popping up on highway billboards. Atkinson's condensation of Delillo's work adheres to a suitably sinister atmosphere. Shadowy, occluded sounds of ghost-clattering rhythms, narcoleptic vocals, and ill-tempered drone-melodies sprawl across the 38 minutes as shape-shifting amalgams that come in and out of existence through an ectoplasmic ambience. The witchiness of it all makes us think that this wouldn't be too far out of place alongside the Demdike Stare associates / affiliates of Anworth Kirk, Slant Azymuth, Suum Cuique, and David Orphan. While 200 copies may seem like a beefy production run for a cassette, this is too good to be sitting around for long.

JEALOUSYPaid For It(Moniker Records)lp$ 14.98

The return of SF's preeminent weirdo dark wave kraut-psych one man band (there's more than one?) and like his aQ beloved debut Viles, it's another mind blowing slab of haunting, skeletal gloom and droned out downer dirgery. Mumbled mush mouthed vocals are draped languorously over Velvetsy guitar drawl, reverbed percussion is splattered throughout, the whole record wreathed in a thick, doped out fug. There re some rockers, that tap into old Hawkwind, and maybe the Stooges, but rendered here as cosmic smears and brain damaged, drug addled, Buttholes style blowouts. But that's just the beginning, with Paid For It transforming into cool retro synth wave balladry, a little kosmische swirl wound around a pulsing chase scene rhythm, and again wrapped in a production that sounds like an oozing caul of sonic steel wool. If anything this time around, the vibe is more stoned and dethroned, groovy, slow burn soporific drone rocking, a wild concoction of lysergic groove and bleary brained hypno-rock that makes for a heady slab of far out, fucked up, DIY, alien psych genius.

JEALOUSYViles(Moniker)lp$ 12.98

This stunning slab of outsider electro krautpsych coldwave gloom pop came out of nowhere (well, San Francisco actually!), but is quickly becoming a new obsession around here. Dark and mechanoid, dense and noisy, skeletal and mesmerizing, shoegazey and totally warped in equal measure. While there's been no shortage of weirdo/outsider pop in the last couple years, it's starting to become a way too crowded field for sure, and more and more it feels like lots of these weirdo pop groups aren't truly weird. That seems like a strange distinction, but think about the Shaggs, truly inspired, creating music within limited means, out of a pure desire to be creative, the results totally bafflingly brilliant. Now think about all the bands who cite the Shaggs as an influence, how many of those bands just simply suck, but for some reason consider sucking somehow analogous to the naivete and primitivism of the Shaggs. Such seems to be the case with 'weirdness' these days, it's not as if any pedestrian boring group can just slop on effects, or record their record poorly, or sing in a crazzzeee voice, and suddenly it's art. That stuff, the real thing at least, true outsider sonic art, is absolutely inspired, it comes from the heart, and the soul, you can fake weirdness, but you can't fake genius. Which brings us back to Jealousy, who are most definitely weird. In the most wonderfully and organic way, and who are totally brilliant, pushing all of our buttons, sounding alternatingly like an even more cracked lo-fi Suicide, or a more industrial cold wave Moon Duo, the vibe paranoid and druggy, the music warped and woozy, mesmerizing and motorik. After a wild squall of echo drenched reverbed garbled vox, the record kicks into gear, all low slung, frigid basslines, shimmery echoey guitars, creepy sung/spoken vocals, lots of space, very spare and skeletal, the krautrock vibe is huge, but only surfaces here and there, in between jealousy offer up bursts of chaotic softly noisy murk, heavy drifts of distorted shoegaze, abstract arrhythmic grooves, from weirdo coldwave pop, to clinical industrial creep, to tripped out krautpsych mesmer, our favorite jam might be the super spare spacekraut workout of "Night Stalking", which takes up most of the B side, sounding like a seriously stripped down Moon Duo, mixed with some This Heat, and a little Throbbing Gristle, spidery and psychedelic, one of those tracks you wish would go on forever, totally tranced out rhythmic bliss. The record closes with another favorite, the evocatively titled "Drug Sores", which wraps weirdly distorted speaking-in-tongues Buttholes-like vocals over Spacemen 3 style droney heavily effected space psych guitars, creating something both darkly mesmerizing, and ominously disturbing, which pretty much captures the vibe of the whole record. TOTALLY recommended.

JEEPNEYSLats Yerk(Human Ear)7"$ 4.50

JEFF THE BROTHERHOODDark Energy(Warner Brothers)7"$ 8.98

This limited edition 7" featuring one our our favorite songs from JEFF The Brotherhood's fantastic Hypnotic Nights album came out as special 2012 "Black Friday Record Store Day" release. Album version of that song on the A side, with an exclusive alternate mix (lead vocal by special guest Tristen Gaspadarek) on the flip.

JEFF THE BROTHERHOODHypnotic Nights(Warner Brothers)cd$ 14.98

Armed with just three drums, three cymbals, and three strings, this ramshackle noise pop continue to kick ass, every record another unlikely collection of perfect power pop. We first discovered these guys via a split with Best Coast, their side of the split, the impossibly catchy "Bummer" was equal parts Weezer, Further and the Ovens, and their genius fuzz pop full length We Are The Champions only sealed the deal, mixing classic power pop, cheesy cock rock, prog and metal, into a totally irresistible confection, and like aQ faves the Ovens, we constantly imagine that were they slightly more conventional, they'd be HUGE, but then they'd be way less cool, and as it is, it's their warped, goofy sense of humor, and tendency to mar perfect pop songs with blasts of progged out noise, or their love of handclaps, or their audience baiting, which we observed recently when they opened for Best Coast and tortured the audience with a serious MBV worthy blast of shrieking feedback white noise to finish off their set. Hypnotic Nights is their major label debut, and thankfully nothing has changed, but then, why should anything changed, they were already poppy enough to con Warner Brothers into believing they might be the next Weezer, and there's plenty of jams here that make it seem less like a con. Just check out "Sixpack", which is about a million times better than the last five Weezer singles, and if there was any justice in the world, these guys would be all over the radio and wherever videos play now that MTV doesn't really exist (YouTube?). Anyway, this shit is loose and wild, ramshackle, heavy at times, a little proggy too, but mostly a noisy and fuzzy and poppy and crazy catchy, and seriously if you miss the days of Weezer's Blue album, this might be the band to fill that Weezer shaped hole in your heart. Now someone just has to make an Ovens / JTB tour happen and we can die happy!

JEFF THE BROTHERHOODUpstairs at United(453 Music)12"$ 14.98

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

SORRY.

JEFF THE BROTHERHOODWe Are The Champions(Infinity Cat)cd$ 12.98

The first we heard from this fuzz pop duo was on a split 7" with Best Coast, and as much as we love BC, it was the oddly monikered Jeff The Brotherhood that knocked our socks off, due in part to low expectations based on the goofy name, but mostly based on their impeccable popsmithery. We described their sound as reminding us of "classic Weezer or old school noise poppers Further, also SF pop geniuses Ovens, super distorted guitars, weary stoned boy vocals, sweet harmonies, killer hooks, crazy catchy, with some tripped out spacey squiggly FX". Thankfully, nothing has changed on JtB's debut full length, included is the aforementioned jam ("Bummer"), the track that had us smitten in the first place, but there's a whole mess of jams equally as fun and fuzzy and hooky, alternating between pure power pop janglefests, casio laced fuzz punk blowouts, stomping fuzzy dirges and hazy psychedelic sixties dream pop ballads, with the band infusing their standard instrumentation with plenty of swirling effects, old school indie rock guitar leads, strange falsetto vox, sitar like buzz, lo-fi practice space drums, and a 4 track production that manages to sound DIY but still totally rocking and fuzzed out. Fans of the above bands will LOVE these guys, as well as folks into classic nineties indie rock like Sebadoh, Dinosaur Jr and all the rest, as well as modern retro poppers like Best Coast. Easily one of our new favorite pop records!

JEFFERIES, PETERElevator Madness(Emperor Jones/Trance)cd$ 13.98

JEFFERIES, PETERLast Great Challenge In A Dull World(De Stijl)cd$ 14.98

Last Great Challenge In A Dull World was the debut solo cassette from NZ legend Peter Jefferies (This Kind Of Punishment, Nocturnal Projections) originally released on the Xpressway label way back in 1990. It's one of our favorite records from that era, and the extremely fertile New Zealand underground rock scene of the time, with Jefferies joined by a who's who of NZ outrock royalty, members of the Dead C, the 3D's, Look Blue Go Purple, Alastair Galbraith, and more, but it's Jefferies' show, crafting a super idiosyncratic, avant singer/songwriter record that broods and blasts in equal measure, obviously homebrewed, lo-fi for sure, but with a sound that's impossibly lush and layered. Crunchy, distorted guitars, wrapped around pounded piano, murky drumming drifting way down in the mix, Jefferies' deep, heavily accented, dramatic sung/spoken vox, all manner of sound effects, field recording, musique concrete fused to classic pop songsmithery, moody, haunting minimalism alongside pounding distorto rock, alongside strange experimental soundscapes. The magic is in Jefferies' ability to transform non-musical sound experiments into minimal masterpieces, songs that have no right to being so catchy, but that will get stuck in your head like crazy. Whether it's the strange found sound driven "Domesticia", which creates a domestic symphony of household sounds, running water, the clink of silverware in glasses, footsteps, pouring liquid, garbage disposals, over which Jefferies croons a sweetly melancholic lament, or "The House Of Weariness", which takes what sounds like some abstract 20th century classical music, fuses it to some primitive manipulated samples, all draped over stately mournful piano, Jefferies' vocals super processed, but somehow, it all falls together pretty much perfectly. And between these more experimental pop songs, are tracks like "On An Unknown Beach", which has to be one of the darkest, prettiest songs ever, all softly reverbed pianos, multi tracked vocals, warm haunting harmonies, or the opener "Chain Or Reaction", which is a killer slab of near perfect pop, all fuzzy guitar, piano pound and driving drumming, and Jefferies' super distinctive vox. And so it goes, striking a perfect balance between, moody, swoonsome, minimal 4 track popsmithery, and fuzzy, distorted, avant NZ lo-fi noise pop, with most tracks falling somewhere right in between. One of our all time faves finally, and deservedly available again!!

JEFFERSON AIRPLANEAfter Bathing At Baxter's(RCA)cd$ 5.00

**SALE **SALE* *SALE**

JEFFERSON AIRPLANECrown Of Creation(RCA)cd$ 5.00

**SALE **SALE* *SALE** If you never really realized just how freaky and experimental San Francisco '60s ballroom psych legends the Jefferson Airpane were, this is a good one to check out. 1968's Crown Of Creation, their 4th album, features approximately none of their classic rock hits, instead it's way dark and psychedelic and weird - even the songs that are mostly acoustic and folky, like the David Crosby penned menage-a-trois ode "Triad", rejected by the Byrds for being too risque. Or opener "Lather", seemingly so lovely, yet with lyrics that are really rather disturbing - and Grace Slick's intense spooky delivery, plus musique concrete sound FX, puts it over the top. Other songs on the album get into a jamming heavy rock bag, with lashings of psych guitar, among 'em the apocalyptic album-closer "The House At Pooneil Corners", its bass-heavy, doomy vibe and trippy anti-war lyrics suitable for the record's mushroom clouded cover art. Definitely a highly recommended '60s rock fave with some deep cuts for those who might have not given the Jefferson Airplane a good listen lately, or ever.

JEFFERTITTI'S NILEHypnotic Rivers Of Sound(Jnile)lp$ 9.98

JELLYFISHBellybutton(Omnivore)2cd$ 19.98

While lacking some of the Queen-like bombast and the lush, layered, studio-as-instrument production of their 1993 swansong Spilt Milk (reviewed on the last list), beloved powerpoppers Jellyfish still began their career with a bang, in the form of their 1990 debut Bellybutton, whose pop, while perhaps more paisley than power, introduced a group with an uncanny mastery of timeless songsmithery and a whole mess of hooks, which ended up spawning a bunch of pretty big hits, their videos were everywhere in the early nineties, and while their over the top fashion sometimes eclipsed just how goddamn good they really were, Bellybutton was surprisingly a way bigger commercial success than that record's seemingly more polished and professional follow-up. In one way it's not actually all that surprising, first records often display a band hungry for success, and with songs they've been working on since the beginning, and there's no shortage of stone cold classics on Bellybutton, and while the production is definitely of its time, it's also part of that record's charm for sure, the sound is scrappy and a little loose, more like a real rock band than the studio-masters who made Spilt Milk, and yet Bellybutton is still rife with impossible vocal harmonies, amazing playing, and most importantly, some seriously killer songs. We gushed in out review of Spilt Milk that some of us consider it to be one of THEE best records ever, and in some ways, that record could never have happened without Bellybutton, and in others, BB is really just it's own special set of songs. We're reminded of the Posies' Dear 23, another band we love who transformed from a fuzzy, paisley pop band into a super well oiled power pop machine. And just like the Posies, we love both sides of Jellyfish's sonic personality as well. This new version of Belybutton, like the reissue of Spilt Milk is another double disc, tacking on a ton of bonus tracks, with new liner notes and rare art/photos, etc.

JELLYFISHSpilt Milk(Charisma)cd$ 12.98

We are definitely masters of hyperbole. We admit it. So many of our reviews boldly proclaim records to be "the best ever" or "the most retarded ever" or the ever popular "most fucked ever". The thing is, at least from where we're sitting, there CAN be more than one "best ever", and there ARE many "most fucked" records ever... why not? It depends on your mood, what you're doing, where you are, stereo or headphones, car or computer, happy or sad, depressed or romantic, and hell, it could be as simple as a whim. Sometimes, you feel like listening to a specific record, and for that 40 minutes, it is without a doubt, THE BEST RECORD EVER. Now, granted, some 'best records ever' are all time top 10's, while some are favorite records of the summer, and others are favorite make out records, or whatever, but all of them are awesome. For us to make that sort of proclamation, a record has to completely rule, totally kick our ass, and get the shit played out of it! But sometimes, it's not hyperbole. Sometimes a record ABSOLUTELY IS, one of the best pop records EVER MADE. Like Jellyfish's Spilt Milk. This is not a new release or anything, not even a remastered reissue, but 13 years after it was released, it still gets played A LOT, and still pretty much destroys every other pop record around. Jellyfish started out as a bellbottomed, paisley psychedelic retro combo, but quickly blossomed into a completely amazing, heavy rock power pop supergroup. Not in the sense of being made up of members of other famous bands, but in the sense that they were an absolutely super amazing rock group!!! Jellyfish took the over the top bombast and incredible harmonies of Queen, the perfect summery pop of the Beach Boys and mixed in their own off kilter approach to power pop. Incredibly intricate and complex arrangements, but done so deftly as to never take away from the inherent catchiness of the songs. The guitars are huge, crunchy and heavy, like a super charged Brian May, the drumming is incredible, heavy hitting, super creative, and as catchy on their own as any of the guitar parts or vocal lines. In fact, the one time we saw Jellyfish live, vocalist / drummer Andy Sturmer managed to sing all of these incredible harmonies WHILE playing incredible drum parts, on a STAND UP kit!! Totally blew our mind. A look at the cover and the incredible arrangement of instruments in the studio gives an idea of how epic and amazing this record sounds, gongs, timpani, strings, piano, organ, acoustic guitar, harp, xylophone and more and more and on an on. Some of the songs are delicate and sweet, soft and shimmery, some are bombastic and heavy, some are sweet simple lullabies, others are incredibly complicated slabs of ultra complex prog pop, but every song on here is a stone cold classic. If there were any justice in the world this record would have been HUGE, and Jellyfish would be playing arenas and making music videos and still making even more incredible records. But sadly, the world wasn't ready for this kind of intelligent, heavy, proggy power pop and the band hung it up soon after. But what a way to go. Just listen to the sound samples and see if you aren't immediately kicking yourself for waiting more than a decade to dig in to this utter pop brilliance.

JELLYFISHStack-A-Tracks(Omnivore)2cd$ 21.00

Originally released for Record Store Day 2012, this cool for-fans-only power pop artifact is now available again, for those of you who weren't able to nab one on RSD. We recently reviewed the reissue of Jellyfish's second record and swansong Spilt Milk. Not sure we could describe Jellyfish any better than we did in that review, so probably best to revisit that really quick: Even 13 years after it was released, Spilt Milk still gets played A LOT, and still pretty much destroys every other pop record around. Jellyfish started out as a bellbottomed, paisley psychedelic retro combo, but quickly blossomed into a completely amazing, heavy rock power pop supergroup. Not in the sense of being made up of members of other famous bands, but in the sense that they were an absolutely super amazing rock group!!! Jellyfish took the over the top bombast and incredible harmonies of Queen, the perfect summery pop of the Beach Boys and mixed in their own off kilter approach to power pop. Incredibly intricate and complex arrangements, but done so deftly as to never take away from the inherent catchiness of the songs. The guitars are huge, crunchy and heavy, like a super charged Brian May, the drumming is incredible, heavy hitting, super creative, and as catchy on their own as any of the guitar parts or vocal lines. In fact, the one time we saw Jellyfish live, vocalist / drummer Andy Sturmer managed to sing all of these incredible harmonies WHILE playing incredible drum parts, on a STAND UP kit!! Totally blew our mind. A look at the cover and the incredible arrangement of instruments in the studio gives an idea of how epic and amazing this record sounds, gongs, timpani, strings,piano, organ, acoustic guitar, harp, xylophone and more and more and on an on. Some of the songs are delicate and sweet, soft and shimmery, some are bombastic and heavy, some are sweet simple lullabies, others are incredibly complicated slabs of ultra complex prog pop, but every song on here is a stone cold classic. So if you notice the mention of all the instruments in the studio and the impossibly lush production, and well, once the vocals were added to the music, the vocals being incredible, with insane harmonies, bordering on Queen-worthy, a lot of the sonic subtleties that the band labored over for months, and in some cases years, were lost. So the band decided to release this double disc, that includes instrumental versions of both Jellyfish records, 1990's Bellybutton, and 1993's Spilt Milk, so obsessive fans, which most Jellyfish fans are, could here all of the amazing sonic weirdness that band conjured up to make some of the greatest pop music EVER. And as a fan it's pretty incredible, the songs sound so crazy sans vocals, and some parts that were nearly inaudible on the record proper, jump to the fore with the vocals removed, and give the songs a whole different vibe. Really not sure why we even wrote this much, Jellyfish fans are absolutely gonna want this, nay NEED this, and for casual listeners, or folks who are intrigued enough to check these guys out, start with the Spilt Milk album proper, you won't be sorry.

JENNIFER GENTLEThe Midnight Room(Sub Pop)cd$ 13.98

Yay! The return of the all too underrated Italian outfit known as Jennifer Gentle. Their 2005 release Valende was in constant rotation when it came out and we've been looking forward to the follow up ever since. Now down to a solo project of Marco Fasalo, yet just as dynamic and pleasing as the prior outings as a full band. Think Syd Barrett era-Pink Floyd filled with off-kilter melodies, eerie and demented instrumentation and some downright catchy harmonies! Making the most out of some strange and lovely sounds, piano, guitar and even kazoos, some of us fell instantly in love with this and it just keeps sounding better and better every time we hear it. While they come at pop songs from a distinctly different direction, thsy seem to be kindred spirits of Deerhoof, as they both use a sonic pallete of crazy colors and wild flights of musical fancy. So good!

JENNIFER GENTLEValende(SubPop)cd$ 13.98

There is something about this band I really like, though I can't necessarily put my finger on it. A friend of mine described Jennifer Gentle in the following manner and I don't think I could have done a better job. "Jennifer Gentle is like biting into an acid sandwich. It's like Deerhoof reading Alice In Wonderland. Like Sister Seance Stepple, her eyes as black as treacle, sitting in a cave of candy floss, on the side of Witch Mountain. It makes the goblins giggle with delight." Ok... to this I'll add the following: Jennifer Gentle is an Italian duo, their band name derived from a Pink Floyd lyric. Valende is their US debut release. Their music generates something I'm not sure exactly how to digest but that's why I like it so!! Jennifer Gentle tours as five piece this year in support of AQ faves Dead Meadow so be sure to go check em out!