[ aquarius records — Rock Pop ]

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

Showing results 8751 through 8800 of 19388.

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SORRY. Somewhere between the stumbling free-folk of the No Neck Blues Band, the dark strummed dreaminess of the Tower Recordings, the lush guitarscapes of Scott Tuma and the sparse twang of Red Red Meat and Califone falls Joshua Burkett. Laid back and dreamy and super relaxed (the liner notes say it was recorded when he wasn't swimming/sleeping/walking his dog), Joshua plays simple, repetitive guitar figures that loop and drone, seeming to go on forever (and you find yourself often wishing they would), with subtle horns and partially obscured melodies. Fuzzy and hazy and shimmering soundscapes of finger picked guitar and mumbled vocals, usually buried deep in the mix. The sound is druggy and hypnotic, tranced out and serene, slowly weaving between gorgeously simple instrumental parts, dark dissonance and purposeful tunelessness (ala Jandek). Features guests Six Organs Of Admittance, PG Six and someone else from the Tower Recordings! Some advice to prospective purchasers: while the gold tray looks great (and ties in with the records title), we suggest swapping trays when you get it home, since the tray is just spray painted gold, and seems like it could eventually do your disc harm!

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Debut solo release from Mike Jourgensen, whose name you may not recognize, but who has some sort of connection to the mighty Longmont Potion Castle. But don't be expecting any goofy deadpan crank calls, or squiggly over the top instru-metal. Nope, Jourgensen is all about the indie rock. And the sound of I've Had It is uncanny. It's like it's 1990 all over again. Seriously. Somehow, Jourgensen manages to channel Dinosaur Jr., the Lemonheads, Superchunk, all the greats, taking bits and pieces and weaving them into prefect chunks of winsome melancholy indie rock. Guitars alternately jangle and crunch, the rhythms are simple and propulsive. Hooks everywhere, some songs are soft and bittersweet, others are super rocking and almost grungy, and Jourgensen has the perfect indie rock voice, sort of soft and sad boy, struggling to hit the super high notes, earnest and emotional, capable of a coy whisper as much as a rock yowl. Nothing brand new for sure, but with all the indie rock revisiting we've been doing lately (Sebadoh, Lemonheads, Chavez, etc.) this totally hits the spot!

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Someone called this remix of Japanese band J.O.Y., by DFA's Tim Goldsworthy and James Murphy the advent of a "strange dream band, where Bjork fronts the Slits in No-Wave Heaven." I suppose that's pretty accurate. Those who know of Major Force, Skylab and UNKLE will recognize J.O.Y.'s members, K.U.D.O. and Kan Takagi (who's also a solo artist in his own right). The two have also helped to found Ape Sounds Records, an off-shoot of the immensely popular j-pop clothing label, A Bathing Ape. For the song Sunplus, the duo enlisted Yoshimi P-We of the Boredoms/OOIOO to create a side-winding and drum-heavy pop single. They sure got something going on. I hope they can elaborate on it soon and bring it!! Perhaps even without the production gloss of DFA.

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Legit live recordings from the vaults of Factory Records. Disc one is comprised of one night at Les Baines Douches in Paris, 1979. Intended for radio broadcast, this quality recording does well to capture the raw, vibrant energy of Joy Division at the peak of their powers. Disc two combines live tracks recorded the following year in Amsterdam and Eindoven. Packaged in a sturdy gatefold

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Imagine this scene, the Elephant 6 Collective are having a lil' summertime picnic in the park (yes, the Olivias, Apples, Of Montreal... heck, they're all there). The trio known as Joy Zipper peek out from behind a nearby tree and break out into song. Upon hearing the sweet popness, the E6 gang invite them over and lovely cozy melodies ensue. Dreamy guitar and keyboards. Youthful boy/girl vocals. Moments of quirky twists. Fans of the Apples in Stereo, Death Cab For Cutie or Elliott Smith, take note. If this is any indication, each and every time we've played this in the store we've received multiple inquiries asking who this pop wonder is. Cup says "Yeah!"

In the last edition of the Wire, while listening to records for the Invisible Jukebox, Stereolab mistook Joyce for AQ-favorites Os Mutantes. Like Os Mutantes, this brazillian songstress fuses american psychadelia with traditional Brazillian folk music and ends up sounding like a folkier, more soothing Os Mutantes.

Somewhere in the company of Bob Dylan, John Darnielle and Daniel Johnston sits the quirky folk of Nebraskan Simon Joyner. This cd gathers together a heap of his long-gone tunes (offered in non-chronological order). Some are genuine lo-fi folk treasures, while others... well, let's just say, some things are best left in the vaults. Such is the case with the fourth song "Jeff Engel Rules" which is horribly disfigured by a gawdawfully out of tune violin. Yikes. That song does serve a purpose though. It makes you appreciate the next somber song "Don't Begrudge A Man His Funeral" all the more. Twenty one intimate bare-boned weepers, most of them acoustic, so very fitting for these drizzly days.

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Acoustic guitar and sparse instrumentation, plus quietly dissonant vocals a la Dylan, from this British member of the Shrimper/lo-fi nation.

Beloved Omaha, Nebraska native singer-songwriter combines the best elements of Leonard Cohen poetry and pacing, Nick Cave's simply drawn drama and lush, lazy instrumentation. For fans Vic Chestnut and Bob Dylan.

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Simon Joyner finds a new home at Jagjaguwar, and it's more than fitting. For instance, the label is also home to hushed heartfelt Canadian folk chanteuse Julie Doiron... oooh, perhaps a duet could be arranged?! Simply put, Lost With The Lights On is comprised of eight of his trademark downer spartan folk story-songs. Definitely a man of consistency, you may find yourself noticing that he often used the same waltzing tempo. Makes you kinda wonder if each time he records a new album he's recycling his backing tracks from previous ones! Nonetheless, his voice is in top weary, bleary-eyed form, and the earthy instrumental backdrop supports and echoes the weight of his folk melancholia. A prime example of this is the second song "Evening Song To Sally". Surely will not disappoint his longtime fans! And we should also note that for those unfamiliar with his music, if you've enjoyed the fine albums by such artists as Arab Strap's Malcolm Middleton, Crooked Fingers or the above-mentioned Ms Doiron, you very well should lend Mr. Joyner your ear.

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More heartfelt folksy singer songwriter material from the beloved Simon Joyner, accompanying himself on acoustic guitar and sounding like a sweet cousin to Bob Dylan, Townes Van Zandt and Vic Chestnut, with the fragile

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The singer/songwriter brethren is a sizable lot, and we've definitely all got our personal faves. This fellow has pleased our ears plenty over the years -- evolving from late '90s lo-fi troubadour to today's lush, earthy and comparatively hi-fi wonder. He's drawn many a comparison to Leonard Cohen, Townes Van Zandt, Mark Eitzel and Bob Dylan, and these reference points continue to fit. On Skeleton Blues however, his voice sounds more weathered and wryly akin to Robyn Hitchcock. Which is by no means a bad thing... just a little unexpected for those familiar with his older recordings. A fine album nonetheless!

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From the heir to Eitzel and Cohen. Sad sad songs. When is the rest of the world going to catch on?

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SORRY. Elliott Smith does not have to be the only folk troubadour of the '90s... Not when Simon Joyner can follow in Leonard Cohen's footsteps of sad crooner songs and heart breaking melodies.

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Apart from their moniker, there's nary a hint of the '80s TV show Dallas in JR Ewing's music. They are in fact an aggressive quintet from Oslo, Norway whose second album has found a perfect home on Gold Standard Laboratories. Hard rockin' chunks of crunchy guitars, pounding bass and drums with scream-sung vocals. Amid all the thrashing, there hides a hook or two which made me think of a heavier more abrasive Hives. However, these guys are far more hardcore than garage punk, and they've got a trick or two of their own up their sleeves which occasionally take shape via the addition of electronics and noise detailing. While nudging at the boundaries of hardcore, Ride Paranoia just might take out an eye or cause blistering on tender eardrums. MPEG Download: "Repetition Is Failure" [/audio/jrewingrepetition.mp3] MPEG Stream: "Repetition Is Failure" [/audio/jrewingrepetition.m3u]

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Some time ago we raved about a disc entitled Shake Your Brains by a real-deal '70s stoner rock band from the Phillipines called the Juan Dela Cruz band. Turns out that disc, now long-gone and out of print, was actually a compilation of tracks taken from the Juan Dela Cruz albums Himig Natin and Maskara, which we discovered have just recently been reissued in their native land. Our mission was clear, and now we've managed to track down copies of both discs from a Phillipine supplier. They're supposedly "digitally remastered" but suffer from no-frills packaging, though, without much in the way of a booklet (pet peeve #493 strikes again) and chintzy "now on cd!" graphics marring the cover art repro. Still, these are the only way to acquire the most killer stuff by these obscure heavy rock legends. Here's some of what we said about that Shake Your Brains disc if you missed it: "Juan De La Cruz (a band, not a man, so it's filed under "J") was a hard-rock powerhouse powertrio from the Phillippines. If you're hip to other obscurites from the era, imagine a cross between Buffalo and Los Dug Dug's! Totally rocked out bluesy stoner jams, with brilliantly fucked sex and party obsessed lyrics ("get drunk all day, get down all night", "I'll just wait for you down in the alley / and I'll show you how it can be"). And guitarist Wally Gonzales has got his acid-psych leads down, man! It's not clear who's singing (it might be the drummer, who previously played in the equally primal Japanese psychrock band Speed, Glue, & Shinki) but whoever it is, he's got the perfect delivery for this stuff, which includes one of our all-time favorite garage-psych songs, "I Wanna Say Yeah" -- perhaps the ultimate rock n' roll song title/lyric *EVER*. I mean, yeah! None of today's punks, stoners, or garage revivalists can touch that." That Shake Your Brains disc consisted of ten songs -- taking four of Himig Natin's nine tracks and six of Masakara's dozen -- about half of each. And probably the better half of each, we have to say. But some stuff not selected that you'll find on these albums is just as good, and besides which you can't get Shake Your Brains anymore. So if you want to hear "Beep Beep" and "I Wanna Say Yeah" and "Shake Your Brains" you've gotta get these two discs! Himig Natin came out originally in 1973 and features, as both albums do, the line-up of Wally Gonzales (guitar), Mike Hanopol (bass), and Joseph Smith (drums, acoustic guitar). It's got the aforementioned "I Wanna Say Yeah" and the song with the "down in the alley" lyrics, "Take You Home" (also recorded by Speed Glue & Shinki), among other highlights. Some cuts are on the bluesier side, they do one Chuck Berry song ("Round And Round"), and another one's a Greatful Dead cover! It's a rollicking version of "Big Boss Man", not being a Deadhead I don't know if that's an obscure cover or not, and I also wouldn't have guessed it was a Dead song either. The album winds up with the rather pretty title track, wherein Smith's acoustic comes into play.

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Some time ago we raved about a disc entitled Shake Your Brains by a real-deal '70s stoner rock band from the Phillipines called the Juan Dela Cruz band. Turns out that disc, now long-gone and out of print, was actually a compilation of tracks taken from the Juan Dela Cruz albums Himig Natin and Maskara, which we discovered have just recently been reissued in their native land. Our mission was clear, and now we've managed to track down copies of both discs from a Phillipine supplier. They're supposedly "digitally remastered" but suffer from no-frills packaging, though, without much in the way of a booklet (pet peeve #493 strikes again) and chintzy "now on cd!" graphics marring the cover art repro. Still, these are the only way to acquire the most killer stuff by these obscure heavy rock legends. Here's some of what we said about that Shake Your Brains disc if you missed it: "Juan De La Cruz (a band, not a man, so it's filed under "J") was a hard-rock powerhouse powertrio from the Phillippines. If you're hip to other obscurites from the era, imagine a cross between Buffalo and Los Dug Dug's! Totally rocked out bluesy stoner jams, with brilliantly fucked sex and party obsessed lyrics ("get drunk all day, get down all night", "I'll just wait for you down in the alley / and I'll show you how it can be"). And guitarist Wally Gonzales has got his acid-psych leads down, man! It's not clear who's singing (it might be the drummer, who previously played in the equally primal Japanese psychrock band Speed, Glue, & Shinki) but whoever it is, he's got the perfect delivery for this stuff, which includes one of our all-time favorite garage-psych songs, "I Wanna Say Yeah" -- perhaps the ultimate rock n' roll song title/lyric *EVER*. I mean, yeah! None of today's punks, stoners, or garage revivalists can touch that." That Shake Your Brains disc consisted of ten songs -- taking four of Himig Natin's nine tracks and six of Masakara's dozen -- about half of each. And probably the better half of each, we have to say. But some stuff not selected that you'll find on these albums is just as good, and besides which you can't get Shake Your Brains anymore. So if you want to hear "Beep Beep" and "I Wanna Say Yeah" and "Shake Your Brains" you've gotta get these two discs! The title of 1974's Masakara might possibly relate in some way to the sleeve photo of the band in facepaint... So cool. They mellow out on a few of the tracks, but mostly these are heavy duty rockers! A few highlights: "Pinoy Blues", "Nadapa Sa Arina", "Beep Beep", "We Love You", "Palengke", and "Pagod Sa Pahinga" -- a lot more Tagalog language lyrics/titles here than on the previous album. And no covers this time, as far as we know.

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Juan De La Cruz (a band, not a man, so it's filed under "J") was a hard-rock powerhouse powertrio from the Phillippines who flourished in the nineteen seventies. If you're hip to other obscurites from the era, imagine a cross between Buffalo and Los Dug We'll soon have another Juan de la Cruz reissue, a 1970 recording called "Up In Arms" that Shadoks is putting out real soon. Apparently it's got a ton of unreleased live stuff on it, can't wait!

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Here's that other Juan de la Cruz reissue we promised last list in our review of their "Shake Your Brains" album. "Up In Arms" was the band's debut from 1971. Like "Shake Your Brains" this is psychedelic hard rock, but it's a bit more psych, and less hard, than

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Jucifer made me woozy. Not a bad thing! When it started with delicate female vocals over shoegazer psychedelia, I thought "one part My Bloody Valentine, one part Lush, one part Veruca Salt", but that didn't last too long. Add "five parts Melvins". The breathy female vox soon meet ballsy thick fuzz guitars. Pretty damn rockin'... and it all gets progressively more so. By the fourth song ("Queen B"), the heavy duty nutbusters have been unleashed, although they pretty things up again later, always keeping you guessing as to when the crushing riffs will come in. If you've been paying attention (unlike me) you'd have been expecting this from our review of Jucifer's previous effort, "The Lambs EP". To recap: Jucifer are a massively-amped two-piece from Georgia or someplace, with a frenzied, hard-hitting male drummer and a heavier-than-thou female guitarist, who also handles the singing, a blend of beastly and beautiful that is this duo's forte. "Death Pop" they call it. The 15 tracks here vary the predominant drums/guitar brutality with some hypnotic keyboard atmospheres and effects. Boris meets the Breeders?

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Sweet southern shoegazer stoner dirge metal?? Well it makes lots of sense here. It's been two years since this band's last release, the (excellent) ep War Bird. A long wait but worth it, as Jucifer have become one of our go-to bands for music that's both punishingly heavy yet also thoroughly laced with indie-pop prettiness, and this new one does not disappoint on either score. For those of you that need the intro, these fuzzed-out faves of ours are a male/female two-piece from Georgia (home to Harvey Milk as well, and we imagine some sort of kinship), the guy on drums and the gal on guitar and vox, pushing more air than most five-piece bands, amp on 11, crushingly heavy but with enough spaciousness in the mix to allow for the lady's lovely, breathy vocals to soar over her doomier than thou riffage. She can also manage some stressed out banshee screams when necessary. We've always compared Jucifer to an unholy mixture of the Melvins and the Breeders and that holds true here on If Thine Enemy Hunger, their first album for diverse metal label Relapse. And we're not sure why we never thought of it before, maybe it's more noticeable on this album, but listening to this we're thinking Nirvana Nirvana Nirvana, it's very In Utero sounding at times!! Which we can't help but like. Some of it's just that catchy, and that moody. Just in time for the current AQ grunge obsession! (Though this is more like a stripped down, alt-rock Boris than a grunge band, we should note). We're in love.

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Just about the last thing we'd expect from this boy/girl Southern doom-dirge duo (and sometimes shoegazing indie-pop pair) is a concept album about the French Revolution. But with tracks like "Fall Of The Bastille" and "Procession A La Guillotine" that's what you get here, though!! The 21 tracks here veer wildly from thrashing hardcore (with rabid vokills) one moment, to grungy rock riffage graced with blissed out female vocals (some in French) the next... There's a hushed acoustic interlude or three, and vast tracts of crushing glacial doooooooom as well. From track to track, this is all over the place, you'll never know quite what to expect next. It's eccentric, ambitious, sorta schizo, and heck we're impressed. More importantly, entertained, 'cause even with all the variety, Jucifer fans (such as ourselves) can count on this 66 minutes of music to include plenty of the band's usual distorto-sludge amp worshiping heavy rockin' heaviness a la Boris, as well as plenty of guitarist Amber Valentine's lovely, breathy melodic vox, the other crucial element of the unusual but effective Jucifer formula. It's sorta like you've got the Melvins playing loud on the stereo in one corner of your room, while you're also listening to Mirah or Mary Timony singing sweetly on your iPod headphones. And again, on top of that, it's about the French Revolution. Way to go Jucifer, really threw us for a loop. Vive La Revolution!

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Terrible name, let's get that out of the way. The band says they wanted something that was both sweet (juice) and sinister (Lucifer), but it wasn't a good idea -- try saying it aloud. Jew-cifer? Whoops. And whether people will mistake them for

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Latest from this heavy boy-girl two-piece. Comes with download card.

Yay, a new EP from this AQ fave, a guitar/drums girl/boy two-piece who produce massive MELVINSy heaviness and then caress said heaviness with breathy, beautiful female vocals, as if trying to soothe a wild beast of their own creation. She even sings in French on one track. As we've come to expect from 'em, War Bird is indeed lumbering, distorted, droning dirge-metal blessed with some quiet/mellow interludes as the band occasionally stops to smell the flowers before trampling them underfoot. From surging to soporific, there's six songs here including one acoustic country-folk anomaly -- about 23 minutes of music in total -- plus an additional 46 minute track that's a field recording of (mainly) crickets! Presumably, recorded in their backyard in Georgia. Thus, a 69 minute ep!

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SORRY. Once you realize this amazing single is totally acapella, the title finally makes sense! Jud Jud do stunningly perfect straight-edge punk/grindcore/emo -- except that every cymbal crash, every wail of guitar feedback, every single note is done acapella! Must be heard to be believed! This is their second single. Now if only they would do a covers album...

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SORRY. Probably one of the funniest records we have ever heard, this is a parody of early 80's straight edge complete with tour posters of Jud Jud headlining over Minor Threat, Seven Seconds, and Uniform Choice and a heartfelt mention of friendships and motivation and dreams becoming reality and the importance of their lyrics. Only Jud Jud's lyrics go a bit like this: JUD JUD JAH, JUD JUD JUD, JUD JUD JAH, TSSS TSSS TSSSSS, JUD JUD EEEEEEE, JUD JUD EEEEEE, JUD JAAAAAAAAA, JUD JUD, JUD JUD JAAAAAAAA, JUD JUD JUD, WAH NAH, JUD JUD JUD, WAH NAH, JUD JUD JUD, NING NING NING, JUD JUD, DIGGA DIGGA DIGGA, JUD JUD, EEEEEEEE, DUJ DUJ, DIGGA DIGGA DIGGA, JUD JUD JUD, JUD JUD, BBBDDDTLUM PPPPP, BBBDDDTLUM PPPP, JUD JUD JUD, DUJ DUJ, EEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU, JUD JUD. And that's it--no guitars, no drums. Yep, that's right. Exactly like every straight edge single you've ever heard, only it's A CAPELLA! Even the 'feedback' whines are a capella! Excellent and hilarious.

There's absolutely no information about Judah as to the who, the what, or the when. We could be really bold and say that this bleak, murky synth-punk outfit was active in the early '80s emerging out of the Bowery alongside the likes of Suicide and Dark Day; but in all likelihood, this is a contemporary project that has all of the minimal wave trappings. The arrangements on this eponymous album are suitably stripped down with just syncopated bass-tones, monophunk drum machines, and motorik pulses through pure analogue electronics with very little touching on melody. The vocalist (whoever that may be) strikes a sneering rock pose certainly modeled on the rockabilly vocals of Alan Vega with a few funhouse Elvis grinds by way of Karl Blake of Shock Headed Peters. This is a pretty damn compelling record, and one that we wish we could tell you more about. Unfortunately, we do have very limited stock on this, with very little hope of getting more...

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Bay Area band Judith And Holofernes take traditional Portuguese fado music and give it a gentle twist. Gracefully picked guitar flourishes are accompanied by male and female vocals that actually bring to mind those of Low's Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker (particularly on their last album The Great Destroyer). In fact, at times, Judith And Holofernes seem to be not so distant rural cousins of those somber slowcore faves. Pressing the comparisons even closer, electric guitar drones thicken the album's atmosphere and give the proceedings a bit more gravity. May we recommend that Abraca A Tristeza be listened to by candlelight? Yes! Enjoy these moody beauties as they glimmer in and out of the shadows.

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Not only does our pal Jason run the weirdo tape label Ormolycka label, responsible for a whole mess of awesome releases including jams from Lil Ugly Mane, Death Grips, Burqa Boyz, Pictureplane, M Ax Noi Mach and tons more, he also puts together amazing shows at the Sutro Baths, that happen in THE CAVE!!! Which is even more remarkable considering he lives in New York City! The 5th annual Oromolycka Cave show just happened this last weekend, and it was awesome, tons of folks showed up, there was free BBQ and the bands KILLED. It ended up being a wild hip hop cave show, with even M Ax Noi Mach doing some rapping, but it was Lil Ugly Mane that stole the show, the whole crowd singing along to every single line. Here we have yet another rad/weird Ormolycka release, this one from Milwaukee rapper and energy drink entrepreneur (we kid you not) Juiceboxx, whose sound is like a whinier goofier version of Lil Ugly Mane, sped up soul samples, skittery beats, the vibe a little bit crunk, very Southern in places, all sorts of twisted samples, squelchy synths, and lots of that weird sports horn sound, EVERYwhere. Total party rap that's pretty fun, pretty silly, but definitely self aware and clever, hints of Eminem, Beastie Boys (all the usual white boy rapper touchstones), but Juiceboxx definitely has that outsider Ormolycka hip hop thing going on which makes this well worth checking out, and odds are you'll be blasting this big time, for what remains of Summer. Comes in a cool old school double cassette case, with two different J card / covers for each album, one a Springsteen homage/pisstake (!!). And yeah, SUPER limited!

With a bandname like that, you might be expecting a power pop trio or some other energetic upbeat combo, but no! This new addition to the ever-growing, wide-ranging Absolutely Kosher label family (Wrens, Xiu Xiu, Mountain Goats, Frog Eyes, Court & Spark et al) is a subdued, contemplative earthy ensemble. Their music suggests more so an antique wind-up musicbox than an electric jukebox. Quite akin to recent neo-folksters such as Joanna Newsom, Vetiver and Faun Fables. They make the kind of airy, enchanting music that draws you near, you'll want/need to lean in close to catch every hushed, chiming note and drifting seraphim vocal. So pretty!

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Classical inspired daydream electronic ambience crafted with an immaculate touch. Marsen Jules should be familiar to anyone who loves the blissed out sounds found on Kompakt's yearly Pop Ambient series, as he's had tracks featured on four of those collections. Nostalgia is rife with solemn undertones, making it the perfect soundtrack for broken hearts and tearful moments, surrendering to the intensity of the moment. It's music that would perfectly suit some 16mm gauzy Kodachrome film panning through the sky, city, and glimpses of old friends, lovers and faded memories. A record that makes us think of our favorite outings by Sylvain Chauveau, Gas, Biosphere, and Klimek. Completely gorgeous.

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SORRY.

It's always exciting to get to experience an artist at the beginning of what you know will be a long and rewarding journey of musical and artistic exploration. We first encountered Julius Smack (aka Peter Hernandez) by chance. Some of us here love the avant-drag party High Fantasy thrown every Tuesday night at one of the last standing gay bars in the Tenderloin, Aunt Charlie's. One night we saw an artist whose performance consisted of cool projections, a super distinctive look and persona, meditative movements and even some full on voguing. But what struck us the most, was the alluring music playing during this performance, especially some beautiful entrancing vocals. Our first thought was "Oh my god, how cool, a drag/performance artist using unreleased Arthur Russell tracks as his music!" So we approached him after his stunning performance and asked what the music was and if it was Arthur Russell as we suspected? He humbly replied that the music and the vocals were his own, and that's when we know we had encountered something special. This debut release features his take on left-field electronic pop, with warm melting synths, and that irresistible voice. It's impossible to not hear Arthur Russell in Julius Smack, but we also hear touches of Owen Pallett and maybe a more clubby version of David Sylvian. This ep features four original tracks, some tasteful interludes laced with field recordings, a few remixes of the title track, and two covers. His take on Al Green's "I'm Still In Love With You" is a stunner... and make sure to stick around for the 'secret' Arthur Russell cover (of course) which appears after the last track. This is music that is both delicate and self assured, bold without being flashy, and sensual without relying on played out signifiers. Not sure how many of these were pressed, so best to grab one quick so you can say you knew him when...

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