[ 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 10901 through 10950 of 19388.

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

SORRY.

It seems Ilya Monosov has been letting down his hair of late and going sonically all out (or all in?), and following his muse wherever it might take him, creating a varied and vast array of wild and wonderful sounds. From his Gainsbourg inspired solo outing on Language Of Stone to his latest 12" of tropical fucked up late night sleeze offered up by The Shining Path, these wildly disparate and super passionate sounds feel light-years away from his earlier, much more academic leanings. These four songs, clocking in at about thirty minutes total, find Ilya completely on fire! The opener "Always Look To You (Extended Mix)" is a motorik burner full of fiery Suicide-isms and a very Wooden Shjips like groove. Next comes "Tropical Relaxation", a dark and infectious prog-like jam rife with otherworldly sounds that unravel into a hypnotic chaos that we could lose ourselves in forever. The B side opens with "Belly Womb" a dissonant track would feel right at home on an early Matmos record, referencing the more fucked up side of Excepter/Black Dice. The record closes with "Unnatural Ways" which sounds like some late night DJ fading in and out of records by Master Musicians Of Joujouka, Throbbing Gristle, Sun Ra and Cabaret Voltaire. We can't stop playing this 12", so full of vibrant color and bombastic energy while hitting all its idiosyncratic targets so right on!

MPEG stream: Always Look To You (Extended Mix)
MPEG stream: Unnatural Ways

Latest from Ilya Monosov, a one time member of psychedelic outfit The Shining Path, as well as one half of the Monosov Swirnoff duo (along with Irwin's brother Preston), we weren't sure what to expect, but somehow this really wasn't it. That said, we're digging it a lot. The sound is still psychedelic, but it's almost like a classic rock sort of psychedelic, urgently strummed acoustic guitars, crunchy riffs, big drums, even some tambourines, wheezing organs, some rad wild super distorted leads, really, in some way, this could be some classic slab of old school hard rocking psych, EXCEPT for the vocals, which transform this into something else entirely. Not sung, or crooned, but more sort of spoken, delivered in a seriously creepy, whisper, we thought maybe it was just an affectation on the first track, but the vocals are like that throughout, a sort of gruff Tom Waits sung/spoken rasp, ominous and a little bit sinister, all over barrelhouse piano, classical guitar, buzzing rumbling strings, horns and various percussion, dreamy female background vocals, druggy effected 12 string guitars, plenty of fuzz, what sounds like maybe a Theremin, and really, the music sans vocals is all shades of the Doors, and Santana, and War, and Big Star, and Crazy Horse and the like, but then those vocals change everything, and really, that's gonna determine how much you dig this. We're digging it quite a bit. Includes a download coupon as well!

MPEG stream: All Day All Night
MPEG stream: Bird
MPEG stream: Sailor Man

Multi-talented experimental music maker shows his softer more self reflective side. With a set of songs in the tradition of Serge Gainsbourg, Vincent Gallo, and Leonard Cohen.

First off, go see these guys if you get the chance. It's a crazed rock spectacle, kinda like Japan's DMBQ but more dangerous, or at least shirtless. They live up to the hype you may have heard about their live performances, that's for sure. This guitar/drums/vocals trio from Israel are very, very rock n' roll, and they know how to put on a show. Probably everyone who's ever seen them has a good story, likely to include the drummer soloing whilst simultaneously crowd surfing, and the band's wiry, longhaired, mustachioed frontman (who looks like a cross between Iggy Pop and Doug Henning) energetically scampering about, spilling many, many audience members' beers (grabbing 'em with his teeth and tossing them back over his head, usually, at least if they're served in plastic cups). Allan's Monotonix show story even involves a goat! But, the question remains, does any of that translate on record? Well this six song, 24 minute Drag City debut should answer that question. It reveals some depth to the riffy, hard and heavy, good times rock they dish out at their shows, with more melody and intricacy certainly (surprisingly). The title track, ferinstance, is almost prog pop! Yet, they don't stint on the fuzzy guitar and pounding drums we were expecting either, so if you play it loud, you might manage to spill a beer or two on yourself at home. If you just see 'em live, what you'll remember is how they played, not what they played. But spin this a few times, and some of these riffs may get stuck in your bangin' head. However, Monotonix live is a tough act to follow, which is their own damn fault, and so this still seems a bit secondary, like, they've gotta make records, if only to have something to sell on tour. But it is nice to see that they've put some effort into this aspect of the Monotonix experience too, instead of totally coasting on their live insanity.

MPEG stream: Body Language
MPEG stream: No Metal

If you've ever heard anyone speaking about Israeli trio Monotonix, you've no doubt heard one main detail: the band is fucking INSANE live. There's not even enough hyperbole that could accurately describe the sensation of seeing these three hairy, scantily clad, mustachioed dudes chugging Red Bull (no, really, there wasn't a beer in sight, just... Red Bull... and lots of it) and rocking their balls off like, well, no one else. Their super stripped down approach, consisting of guitar, drums, and a singer decked out in nothing but a pair of short shorts, is sure to appeal to fans of sleazy, sweaty rock in the vein of the Estrus Records roster, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, and Royal Trux. The band's unhinged live performances have certainly set the bar pretty high and sort of jinxed any attempts to review their albums, because no one - NO ONE - could ever capture that kind of energy in the studio. And even still, Monotonix know how to bring it, and their albums are a perfect lesson in relentlessly wild, bloozey fun. While the sound is not exactly "tight", the band has mastered the art of holding it together in their own way, never missing a beat in the process. The sound of Monotonix is relatively simple, but very effective: Super thick, octaved guitars, heavily accented wildman vocals, and drumming that is even more impressive when you see the guy being hoisted up on his bass drum while audience members hold the snare and the hi-hat and pass him through the crowd. All in all, Monotonix make ridiculously fun music, giving you the freedom to get drunker than drunk while they do all the hard work. Instant party. 'Nuff said.

MPEG stream: Flesh And Blood
MPEG stream: My Needs
MPEG stream: Spit It On Your Face

Upon first seeing the robed, glow-in-the-blacklight performance artist/superhero/lo-fi synth mistress Monotrona last year, chanting distorted gibberish while striking imposing stances onstage, we were ready to beleive she was from outer space. However, evidence of her involvement in Duotron (with New Orlean's Mr. Quintron) canceled that theory, and recent reports link her to New York. Her songs have something to do with the cosmology of a set of superbeings, of which "Hawkeye & Firebird" represent the heroine/slave. Or something; I guess we'll find out when her website is built up more. This is frantic, weird, sugary-to-sinister synth ultra-pop videogame music, sung in a language resembling bizarro japanese- and there's a smashing cover of Doo Rag's "Thermos Malling's Coin." Like a J-pop Matthew Ritchie trapped in a gameboy, Monotrona has created a strange, alternate universe, governed by it's own gods and languages -- definitely an interesting place to spend the next 20 minutes.

RealAudio clip: Cadillac Fantasy

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

SORRY.

Everyone loves the '80s right? Well, no, but that doesn't mean that we can't take the good stuff that the '80s created and turn it around and make it better. That's what Monozid (from Leipzig, Germany) does time and time again on their debut full-length. There's a few post-punk bits, an early Sonic Youth noise-guitar element, and a lot of Three Imaginary Boys/Seventeen Seconds era Cure, but all of it topped with a 21st century sensibility. Monozid is not re-hashing old tricks worn out twenty years ago; they're using what came before to make great modern pop music. Some songs are instrumentals, the remaining are either sung in German or English. With song titles like "Du Bist Mein Mann, Sabrina" ("You are my man, Sabrina") we wish we could speak more than infant-German to understand just what they're singing about! Recommended.

MPEG stream: Let's Shake Hands and Wonder
MPEG stream: Soundtrack zur Frisur
MPEG stream: Stanislawa Popielska

Recorded live for Dutch radio, an all-acoustic set of old and unreleased Monroe Mustang tunes, plus one Pete Townsend cover. Plaintive and lovely.

Sleepy and lo fi, Austin outfit Monroe Mustang release this 20 minute slice of deep melancholia, calling to mind the bleakness of Will Oldham, the quiet delicacy of Bedhead, and the lush minor epics of Black Heart Procession. Two part lead vocals complement the softly clanging guitars. Nice.

RealAudio clip: Weren't Cone

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

SORRY. Austin quartet whose label compares them to the Byrds crossed with Bowie. Epic and sweeping. John from the Mountain Goats compares them to Pink Floyd circa the first two albums, minus the spacerock.

The second record from these Austin shoe-gazing lo-fi twang popsters find them retreating even more from the rock, and lands them somewhere between the dreamy slo-rock of Bedhead / American Analog Set and the murky drones of Stars of the Lid. Recommended!

What struck me first when I heard Monster Island was how the soft female vocals and one-speed plunky-chunky guitar were more than a little bit reminiscent of the Young Marble Giants... but with further listening a psychedelic, slightly strange, off-kilter edge

RealAudio clip: The Dead Father
RealAudio clip: Halloween

We posted this on the New Arrivals list a couple times sans review, just so the MM fanatics and various other folks who didn't necessarily need a review to know this was something they needed, but promised then that we would offer a more comprehensive review of this, a brand new 10" (the second in a series) from our favorite Space Lord Motherfuckers, the mighty Monster Magnet, who whipped up these jams to sell on their recently wrapped up Dopes To Infinity 2011 tour, which as the name suggests, found the band revisiting their classic album of the same name from 1995, which is what this 10" is all about, three tracks from Dopes To Infinity, "King Of Mars", "All Friends and Kingdom Come", and the title track, all reimagined, reworked and according to the band, "Lo-fi, decidedly deranged and extremely psychedelic", which definitely describes these doped up, blissed out, cosmic stoner rock space-psych blowouts. "All Friends" is definitely more lo-fi than the original, transformed into more of a spaced out creep, with lots of extra effects, but it's not until "King Of Mars", that the reimagining becomes more dramatic, the sound even trippier than the original, ominous and satanically sinister, total drug rock ear candy for sure, and then "Dopes To Infinity", which was already pretty much perfect as it was way back in 1995, is just somehow made MORE perfect, or maybe -differently- perfect, it's tough to even listen objectively, cuz once that instantly familiar riff came in we were GONE, totally transported to some hedonistic offworld drug den, where MM are the house band, black lights and alien babes and amps from here to high heaven. Fucking awesome! Of course. And as we've mentioned in other MM reviews, it's a satanic drug thing, you wouldn't... well, wait a second... since you're reading the aQ list, you probably DO understand. So grab one of these before they're gone (we're one of the only places this is available)...

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

SORRY. Hands down, Monster Magnet are Andee's favorite stoner metal / cock rock band. Huge riffs, catchy songs, and the most brilliantly inane lyrics about the universe, sponge baths, asteroids, volcanoes, muscle cars, love slaves, Satan, pot, death, and of course, penises! Really.

Monster Magnet might just be one of our favorite bands ever. Pretty much every incarnation too. From the early days, the "satanic drug thing you wouldn't understand" era, all Hawkwind channeling heavy psychedelic drugged out stoner rock megajams, to the Kiss worshipping, over the top, cockrock ridiculousness of Dopes To Infinity and Powertrip. The crazy videos, the insane lyrics, the impossibly catchy songs, the choruses to die for, if we were doing a Weird Science sort of scenario, but instead of building the perfect dream girl, we were conjuring up the perfect band, it very well might end up sounding just like Monster Magnet. We were warned that this new one was something different altogether again, that it was darker and moodier, and not nearly as bombastic or heavy, all of which is true, but even so, we're digging this like crazy, the core sound still pure Monster Magnet, the brooding, dramatic majesty, the crushing metallic heft, the psychedelic space rock shredding, and while songs like the opener are sort of moody and minimal, there are just as many tracks, like the title track for example, that are just primo MM, pounding drumming, space lord motherfucker riffage, Dave Wyndorf's distinctive dramatic rock god vox, and again, hooks galore, the band able to take crazy poppiness, and disguise it as spaced out heaviness. And yeah, lots of Last Patrol is dark and folky, lots of acoustic guitars, the vibe actually sort of MM via Spacemen 3 which as you might imagine is not a bad thing AT ALL. In fact, we'd say maybe 50 percent of the record is sort of dark, acoustic, psychedelic, druggy space folk, the vibe very classic seventies, think all that classic acid folk, but done MM style, and for every bit of bongo laced, string laden acoustic guitar cosmic broodery, there's some classic heavy psych drug rock heavy metal stomp to balance it out. Another classic from these space lord motherfuckers, and thus, needless to say (but we'll say it anyway), WAY recommended. And while they last, we have the digipack version with bonus tracks.

MPEG stream: I Live Behind The Clouds
MPEG stream: Last Patrol
MPEG stream: Three Kingfishers
MPEG stream: Stay Tuned

We're gonna just come out and say it. Monster Magnet have NEVER made a bad record. Ever. They've come close for sure. And there have definitely been some bad songs, but every record has had at least a handful of MM classics. Sure maybe once they made the shift to a more pop oriented sound, there was no hope of them ever making another Spine Of God. But that was just fine with us, we love Dopes To Infinity or Powertrip as much as we love Spine Of God. To be fair, being superfans, we're probably not the most objective when it comes to MM, but we will say, the last couple of records, Monolithic Baby and 4-Way Diablo, were probably the weakest of all the MM records. That said, there was plenty on both to dig, just in comparison to some of the other stone cold classics, those two maybe paled. So we were maybe expecting more of the same, another Monster Magnet record, that maybe didn't rule, but that was pretty great, and had at least a few killer jams, but then BLAM. First song in, and we're digging the heaviest, fiercest MM record in ages. "Hallucination Bomb" is low slung and sinister, swaggering epic stoner space rock bliss, fat fuzzy bass, a killer main riff, wild loose leads, and ridiculous over the top lyrics, what more could we ask for? How about a whole record that good! That's right, you got it, solid top to bottom, with another clutch of ridiculously genius song titles too: "Bored With Sorcery", "The Titan Who Cried Like A Baby", insanely inspired lyrics like "I'm a pumped out freak on a big wheel..." and some of the sickest riffs since God Says No. We could go song by song, but why bother, if you're like us, you'd buy a new Monster Magnet no matter what, and the fact that it totally rules, only makes it that much better. And if you've somehow made it this far without hearing MM, holy shit man, what's wrong with you, total epic over the top stoner space rock genius of the highest order, buy this one, then go get Spine Of God, Superjudge, Dopes To Infinity, hell, you're gonna want them all. And odds are you'll have a new favorite band. It's a Satanic drug thing, you wouldn't understand. Trust us. Absolutely recommended.

MPEG stream: Hallucination Bomb
MPEG stream: Bored With Sorcery
MPEG stream: The Titan Who Cried Like A Baby
MPEG stream: When The Planes Fall From The Sky

Fancy Black Friday Record Store Day version of this latest slab of hook filled stoner space rock heaviness from these long time aQ faves, comes as a deluxe digibook, with two bonus tracks, housed in a fancy box with a little window through which you can peep the USB drive, which contains the whole record in MP3 form, bonus tracks and all, as well as ringtones, an interview with MM mastermind Dave Wyndorf, desktop wallpapers and a Napalm Records sampler... We're gonna just come out and say it. Monster Magnet have NEVER made a bad record. Ever. They've come close for sure. And there have definitely been some bad songs, but every record has had at least a handful of MM classics. Sure maybe once they made the shift to a more pop oriented sound, there was no hope of them ever making another Spine Of God. But that was just fine with us, we love Dopes To Infinity or Powertrip as much as we love Spine Of God. To be fair, being superfans, we're probably not the most objective when it comes to MM, but we will say, the last couple of records, Monolithic Baby and 4-Way Diablo, were probably the weakest of all the MM records. That said, there was plenty on both to dig, just in comparison to some of the other stone cold classics, those two maybe paled. So we were maybe expecting more of the same, another Monster Magnet record, that maybe didn't rule, but that was pretty great, and had at least a few killer jams, but then BLAM. First song in, and we're digging the heaviest, fiercest MM record in ages. "Hallucination Bomb" is low slung and sinister, swaggering epic stoner space rock bliss, fat fuzzy bass, a killer main riff, wild loose leads, and ridiculous over the top lyrics, what more could we ask for? How about a whole record that good! That's right, you got it, solid top to bottom, with another clutch of ridiculously genius song titles too: "Bored With Sorcery", "The Titan Who Cried Like A Baby", insanely inspired lyrics like "I'm a pumped out freak on a big wheel..." and some of the sickest riffs since God Says No. We could go song by song, but why bother, if you're like us, you'd buy a new Monster Magnet no matter what, and the fact that it totally rules, only makes it that much better. And if you've somehow made it this far without hearing MM, holy shit man, what's wrong with you, total epic over the top stoner space rock genius of the highest order, buy this one, then go get Spine Of God, Superjudge, Dopes To Infinity, hell, you're gonna want them all. And odds are you'll have a new favorite band. It's a Satanic drug thing, you wouldn't understand. Trust us. Absolutely recommended.

MPEG stream: Hallucination Bomb
MPEG stream: Bored With Sorcery
MPEG stream: The Titan Who Cried Like A Baby
MPEG stream: When The Planes Fall From The Sky

"It's A Satanic Drug Thing ...You Wouldn't Understand". Monster Magnet's motto, emblazoned on the back of the cd booklet, is something that they really did live up to, sonically and otherwise, back in the day. Maybe not the healthiest lifestyle choice (frontman Dave Wyndorf actually almost died recently from, yes, a drug overdose), but it sums up Monster Magnet, musically speaking. If you want to hear some "stoner rock" that's both spacier and scarier and Stoogier than most, early Monster Magnet (before they got big) is the way to go. We reviewed their droniest bad trip masterpiece, the reissued 25...Tab ep a couple lists back, and now follow-up with a review of another favorite, their debut full-length entitled Spine Of God, originally released by Caroline in 1992 and now reissued by SPV with snazzier graphics and bonus track (a demo version of "Ozium"). This came out at the height of the grunge era, but sounds just as Stonehenge (a la Hawkwind) as it does Seattle (a la Mudhoney). It includes their Grand Funk cover, "Sin's A Good Man's Brother", alongside such downer, druggy hits from some parallel just-say-yes universe as "Pill Shovel", "Nod Scene", and "Zodiac Lung". A wasted, burn-out classic, laid-back and leaden, dazed and phased.

MPEG stream: Nod Scene
MPEG stream: Snake Dance

We've been digging the latest Monster Magnet record Mastermind lately bigtime (you should be too!), a total return to form for sure, and as if that wasn't enough MM for all the space lord motherfuckers out there, along comes this, a super limited tour only 10", that besides being available exclusively from the band on tour, or from the band's website, is also available from aQ! We're one of, if not THEE only store to have these, and we won't have em for long, limited to just 500 copies, we got a batch direct from the band, so grab one while you can. The A side is a rerecorded version of the MM classic "Superjudge", a stripped down version, that manages to be as heavy and psychedelic as the original, all spaced out with spidery Eastern guitar melodies, minimal drumming, and some SERIOUSLY fuzzed out bass buzz, that gives the song some skull caving crunch for sure, killer vox, a dead ringer for the original, but set amidst this new arrangement, pretty hard to fuck with, and pretty awesome that decades on, these guys can still slay, and like all MM jams, the song blossoms into an awesome spacey psychedelic freakout near the end, not super heavy and blown out, more sort of trippy and druggy, which suits the new version to a tee. The B side is a similarly rerecorded version of a song from Mastermind, the main riff like a muddy, murky slowed down Stooges, and like "Superjudge", it's a stripped down practice space jam, more minimal, but still explosive and heavy and epic, a little dirgier than the original, complete with those majestic cock-rockin' choruses and the sort of epic space rock riffery that still kicks ass over most of the other wannabe spacerockers out there. Released on the band's own label, limited to 500 copies, we got a handful, but guessing these might go quick...

Early last year an album simply titled Transistor arrived on our doorstep. It swiftly swept us up in its wispy pop charms. We soon discovered that the band behind it was lead by Christian Savill of the wonderful Slowdive. Now that we're fondly acquainted we've eagerly anticipated a new Monster Movie full length, and here it is! The duo's third album is the musical equivalent of snowflakes caught on your eyelashes, golden tendrils brushing your cheek and dandelion puffs floating in a gentle breeze. The second song "Vanishing Act" is a total heartbreaker with its angelic male and female vocals (courtesy of guest singer Rachel Staggs). Oh so dreamy, ephemeral and achingly lovely imbued with shades of '60s pop and '70s soft rock. The cover art illustration of a fella scarfing down handfuls of candy hints at the sweetness within, but doesn't really do the album justice. Sigh inducing!

MPEG stream: Vanishing Act
MPEG stream: Return To Yesterday

Shhhhh... This cd arrived quietly with very little fanfare, but that's totally in line with its unassuming, hushed dream pop sounds. If you dig the airy, acoustic prettiness of bands such as Scotland's Camera Obscura and Belle And Sebastian, Monster Movie might be next on your list o' UK sweethearts. Actually if you look a little bit closer, you might spy a familiar face in this 'Movie's cast from an old beloved band. Who? What? Why, it's noneother than Slowdive's Christian Savill who along with Sean Hewson and Austin, TX based vocalist Rachel Staggs form the current line-up (actually the band's been around in some shape or form since way back in '89). Released on Graveface Records, home to some other fine bands we've been diggin of late -- namely Dreamend and Spires That In The Sunset Rise.

MPEG stream: Chances Are High
MPEG stream: Letting You Know

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

SORRY.

MPEG stream: Grand Luxe
MPEG stream: Temps Partiel
MPEG stream: Perfect Vision

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

SORRY.

Hmmm, if Euro smooth operators Air were indie popsters their music might sound something like this! Going Places definitely has an international flair, but at the same time it charms with a less sleek, more bedroom-y kind of feel. The man behind this album is Montag, one lone fellow whom his parents call Antoine Bedard. A couple of years ago he put a call out beckoning contributors and collaborators for his recording project We Have Sound aka his third full length. He got responses back in spades from around the globe from the hippest now-est artists -- M83's Anthony Gonzales, Stars' Amy Millan, Ghislain Poirier, Owen Pallett of Final Fantasy, Beach House's Victoria Legrand, Ida Nilsen of Great Aunt Ida, Leah Abramson, and Au Revoir Simone. All of them lend their sweet singing to Montag's dreamy electronic pop tunes. Quite akin to Stephin Merritt's The Sixths or Dntel's latest album Dumb Luck (on which the mastermind wrote and performed the and got friends and fellow artists to sing!), and definitely for fans of Dntel, Casiotone For The Painfully Alone and the Morr Music label.

MPEG stream: I Have Sound
MPEG stream: Best Boy Electric

"Then those little Yankee microlabels put them out and they floated to the top of the seven-inch glut, and we drank 'em down, and bought 'em up, and traded 'em for foolish amounts of money after they sold out." This quote, from the liner notes, perfectly describes the near constant stream of Roy Montgomery singles which seemed to be coming out every week in 1995 - 1996. This very prolific period of Roy Montgomery's career follows the shift in his aesthetic from the post-Velvets/Joy Division/Wire strum of his early days with Dadamah to his current soaring,guitar reverb space-rock mantras. Aside from the convenient consolidation of all of these out-of-print singles onto one disc, this really is some of his best material. Also contains four previously-unreleased tracks, along with guests including Bill Direen and Barbara Manning.

This excellent collection of early Roy Montgomery material gets the limited vinyl treatment courtesy of Yellow Electric, the imprint run by Liz Harris, aka Grouper. Originally released on cd in 1999 on Drunken Fish, this album documents the more vocal-centric output of Roy Montgomery's early solo work after leaving New Zealand and setting up temporary residence in New York (the address of the title is where most of these tracks were recorded.) "Then those little Yankee microlabels put them out and they floated to the top of the seven-inch glut, and we drank 'em down, and bought 'em up, and traded 'em for foolish amounts of money after they sold out." This quote, from the liner notes, perfectly describes the near constant stream of Roy Montgomery singles which seemed to be coming out every week in 1995 - 1996. This very prolific period of Roy Montgomery's career follows the shift in his aesthetic from the post-Velvets/Joy Division/Wire strum of his early days with Dadamah, The Pin Group and The Shallows (whose only single begins this collection) to his current soaring, guitar reverb space-rock mantras. Aside from the convenient consolidation of all of these out-of-print singles, this really is some of his best material. Also contains four previously-unreleased tracks (Also on the cd btw), along with guests including Bill Direen and Barbara Manning, as well as some awesome covers of Wire ("Used To") and The Victor Dimisich Band ("It's Cold Outside").

MPEG stream: She Said (The Shallows)
MPEG stream: Used To
MPEG stream: E.N.D.
MPEG stream: Intertidal

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

SORRY. Released especially to coincide with Terrastock weekend! Gorgeous washes of moody guitar.

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

SORRY. Great NZ guitarist.

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

SORRY. Solo guitarist from New Zealand outfits Dadamah and Dissolve.

AQ's favorite New Zealand solo guitar explorer presents his latest Tascam 4-track recorded output. "Silver Wheel of Prayer" is at times hauntingly beautiful, with a definite "krautrock" vibe. We maybe could have done without the electronic rhythms found on the disc's last few tracks (which take away a bit from the lulling, dreamy and almost heavy mood established on the majority of the album) but no matter, it's still a compelling listen.

RealAudio clip: Disoriented
RealAudio clip: Dispossessed

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

SORRY. Ex-Dadamah, Dissolve guitarist, who played an Aquarius instore in 1997.

New Zealand guitarist/songwriter Roy M. presents a new, all-instrumental album, recorded at home in 1998. As usual, lovely stuff. Incredibly emotive guitarwork, murky, shimmering, meditative.

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

SORRY. Thing-of-the-moment guitarist weighs in with 2 instrumentals on Enraptured.

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

SORRY. Everyone's favorite prolific New Zealand guitarist! Five pieces recorded on a four track back about three years ago, including variations on themes by the Velvet Underground, Joy Division and the Clean...

We had a vinyl version of this split between ethereal bliss-scaper Liz Harris aka Grouper, and legendary NZ guitarist Roy Montgomery, a while back, but we got so few copies, and had such a rush on the ones we did get, that we never had a chance to review it, and thus it never even made it up onto the site. But now it's finally been reissued on cd, and with a bonus Roy Montgomery track to boot! Roy's original track/side was a gorgeously epic bit of dreamy strum and steel string drift, titled "Fantasia On A Theme By Sandy Bull (Slight Return)", just that instantly recognizable guitar, a cloud of buzzing steel strings, a sort of blissed out Appalachia spread out over nearly 20 minutes, the sound slipping smoothly from that urgent strum, to something much more hushed and minimal, abstract and softly space-y, and over the course of the track, drifting between the two. Hypnotic and haunting and quite lovely. His bonus track is a billowy cloud of chiming shimmering guitar, sweet melancholy melodies, piled atop a jangly strum, notes wreathed in delay and reverb and echo, the sound somehow both ethereal and propulsive, ghostly and insistent, the sounds hazy and gauzy and washed out, but subtly tense, with a sense of mystery and loss and longing, the aural equivalent of watching the world through rain slicked windows, in fact, Montgomery seems impossibly deft at creating the perfect rainy day soundtrack. Grouper's half of the split begins with "Hollow Press", and the sound of whispering wind, for nearly two minutes, before ethereal effected vocals drift in, floating atop the swirling soft white noise, which leads directly into "Vessel", a haunting elegy of weirdly distorted guitar, unfurled in spidery tendrils, the vocals nearly free of effects, and sounding as angelic as ever, a gorgeous hushed lullaby. "Hold The Way" is another gentle bit of crystalline drift, a looped muted guitar figure, undulating softly beneath sweetly crooned vox, a dream pop slowed down and blurred into something much more ethereal and ephemeral. Finally, "Pulse" sends reverbed guitars drifting from speaker to speaker, the stereo field dizzyingly panned, softly psychedelic, slowly the wind returns, and guitar fading out leaving just the sound of wind, and a barking dog, a hazy outro of found sound, wiping away all the traces of the sounds that came before, like the surf smoothing out sand on the beach. So Lovely. The new cd version is housed in a swank digipak, and is still most likely WAY too limited...

MPEG stream: Hollow Press
MPEG stream: Vessel
MPEG stream: Fantasia on a Theme by Sandy Bull (Slight Return)

For two albums, New Zealand stratospheric space rockers Roy Montgomery and Chris Heaphy have collaborated as Dissolve. Roy had composed this music for the North Island play of the same title while isolated on the South Island. As the original compositions were turning out to be more delicate and skeletal than the improvised haze of Dissolve, Roy and Chris decided not to use the Dissolve moniker for the album...

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

SORRY. New label by the brains behind Che has issued this UK single featuring Roy's rainy day guitar strum joined with the dead pan vocals of Kirk Lake.

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

SORRY.

Bay Area folks might remember Derek Monypeny from the ferociously explosive, improvisational trio Oaxacan. Their fiery brand of Eastern flecked, face-melting psych mastery was truly amazing to behold live. Sadly their time as a band was short-lived, but guitarist Derek Monypeny continues his journey into the desert cosmos with his debut lp of solo oud. Though he has also played guitar in Sir Richard Bishop's touring band, Mr. Monypeny decided to put the blaring fuzz and virtuosic six-string tendencies aside and opted for a more traditional approach here. These beautifully minimal pieces of eloquent, contemplative oud unfold like ancient narratives, evoking dramatic images of ghostly mirages, shimmering horizons and the desert sun sinking under pale dunes. Side A unfolds with gorgeously sparse, delicate movements of slowly picked oud, each note rising up then dropping down like diamonds in the sand. We love the patient, reflective pace of the songs, each note carefully plucked and sent off like a gentle offering into the night. While side A reveals Monypeny employing the art of restraint and patience, side B finds Monypeny on the periphery of tradition, drenching the oud in hazy reverb and other effects that tastefully reiterate the instrument's Saharan roots. Reminiscent of Sandy Bull's oud outings, these final two pieces warble and melt in the hot sun, tremolo washes and smeared melody hover in the arid sky as the rhythmic haze and gentle noise lull you deeper into the cosmic badlands. So gorgeous and so perfect. Highly recommended for fans of anything related to Sublime Frequencies for sure. Limited to an edition of 250, don't be left in the Saharan dust!

YESS!!! Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod! Those are direct quotes from Allan the day he discovered, totally out of the blue, that this album had been reissued on cd by the Japanese label EM Records (same folks who put out the Symphony of the Birds reish reviewed elsewhere this list). Kerry and Andee were both in the office that day and can attest that Allan just about jumped out of his skin, his voice positively yelping with excitement. And now we're ALL going ohmigod, ohmigod too since the box from Japan that Allan ordered arrived and Moolah is among us. Ok, so what the heck is Moolah?? Well we're talking a super-obscure psychedelic/experimental Holy Grail album here. Allan only knew about it 'cause he'd heard some of it on a cd-r burn that our pal Loren Chasse had gotten from Jan Anderzen of Finland's Kemialliset Ystavat. Totally weird, damaged, krautrocky cosmic psych with electronic drones, haunting classical piano, and fucked up rhythms! According to Anderzen, it was an ultra rare LP from the '70s by a band called Moolah, entitled Woe Ye Demons Possessed. Wow. Allan found it hard to believe that was really true, and that it wasn't just something recorded by some genius Finnish forest freak friend of Anderzen's directly for the cd-r. But some diligent research revealed that the mysterious Moolah was indeed a band from New York who released an album on what was probably their own label, Druidstone (!), in 1974. But it was still pretty much unknown and almost utterly unobtainable. It didn't seem to have ever been reissued. And even our most '70s knowledgable psych-rock reissue supplier in Sweden hadn't heard of it at all. But we never lost hope. And now, thanks to the extremely strange and cool Japanese label EM Records, here at last we present to you Moolah on cd! We're still left in the dark about a lot of the details of this mysterious record's history (EM's sales info is mostly in Japanese) but from the album cover notes reproduced in the cd package we can tell you that the men behind Moolah were a duo named Walter Burns and Maurice Roberson, who recorded this, "their paranormal concertwork ...a cosmic rock relaxation creation" at a "secret studio in New York's Greenwich Village". There's also some amazing pagan poetry on the sleeve, here's a few lines: "Licking BLOOD Drinking TEARS Sacrificing LOVE on the Altar of Tomorrow Eating FRUITS of Stolen Vineyards With Withered Young Mouthes That Sing The OLD SONGS WHICH WERE FORBID". And the music is as amazing as what Allan remembered. Dreamy, beautiful ambience -and- disturbingly chaotic, claustrophobic sounds. Shimmery, murky, distorted, primitive... is it even rock music? For the day, about as far out as you could get. Indeed, ahead of its time. Such tracks as "Crystal Waters", "Terror Is Real" and "The Hatd Hit" are lo-fi jams full of dubby echo effects, indistinct voices intoning New Age ideas, crazy backwards percussion, and insectoid squiggles of electronics. And we think we heard a purring cat in there too. The question is: did the Moolah duo simply inhabit their own, messed-up, mystical little world (which seems likely, judging by those sleeve notes of theirs), or had these guys heard records by early Kraftwerk, Amon Duul, Kluster, and Neu!? We wonder. But either way, the krautrock scene's freakiest had nothing on Moolah. File with such rare, eccentric, outsider psych artifacts as the Cromagnon's Orgasm, Yahowha 13's Penetration, and Comus' First Utterance. What a find. If you like weird, lost, lovely, maybe a bit frightening music THIS IS FOR YOU.

MPEG stream: Crystal Waters
MPEG stream: Courage
MPEG stream: Mirror's

What do you really need to know here? A NEW MOON DUO 7" (their first?), and the inaugural release for new UK label Agitated Records. We know by now that the Moon Duo of Erik "Ripley" Johnson (um, of Wooden Shjips if you haven't already heard...) and Sanae Yamada are unstoppable, and once again, they deliver. "Catch As Catch Can" is the band's most energetic song to date with a super distorted fuzz organ riff and a guitar that sounds like a shimmering sheet of white noise. It's relentless and catchy as hell, sure to stick in your mind for days. The B-side is a cover of a Scientists tune, and in contrast to the A-side, this represents Moon Duo's slower, more groove oriented persona. The stuttered beat is accompanied by heavily saturated fuzz chords and pleasant little synth blips before rising to a crazy and amazing fuzz solo. Bonus points for the cool as fuck magic eye cover art. Yep, this one kills, and at only 1000 copies worldwide, just know it won't be sticking around for long.

Record number three from aQ beloved modern minimalist psych-kraut combo Moon Duo, initially an offshoot of psych rockers Wooden Shjips, but over the last few years, it seems the 'Duo have been way more active than the mothershjip. This latest record from the Shjips' Ripley Johnson and his partner, Sanae Yamada, taking up right where the last one, Mazes, left off, the duo weaving lush, hypnotic, jams, expanding their sound with every record, Circle being the most polished, and certainly the most poppy. They still worship at the altar of Spacemen 3, you can't really play this sort of music and not, but the sound this time around is definitely less dark, more sun dappled and dreamy, and the pop element is huge, with some of the songs sounding downright noisepoppy, even the more tranced out krauty jams, find the duo adding multiple melodies, layering their guitars and synths, and most excitingly, singing together much more, the boy/girl harmonies downright dreamy. While the opener "Sleepwalker" is about as close to classic Moon Duo as Circles gets, it sort of feels like they're easing us into it, cuz "I Can See" is propulsive and driving, a little bit bouncy, but Yamada and Johnson sing the chorus together, before Johnson lets loose with some wild gouts of psych guitar. The sound is still plenty sinister, and darkly hued, but that is NOT the case on the title track, which is fuzzy and super poppy the intertwined vocals and the killer chorus, not to mention a super melodic lead, it's a sunshinier side of Moon Duo, one that we sort of like. "I Been Gone" is almost new wavey, a percolating melody over a driving groove, and another pretty excellent chorus. Our only complaint with past Moon Duo records really, and a minor one at that, was that their songs were less songs, so much as just cool parts, the band would play the part, a killer psychedelic krautrocky groove, until they stopped, this was even more evident live, where they would push play on the drum machine, then start the song, then eventually stop, the programmed rhythm continuing on unwavering, until they pushed stop. Here, the songs sound much more crafted, and composed, as if they were meant to be the length they are, a certain number of verses and choruses, and then end, and somehow they manage that without losing that sense of endless jamminess, which was part of the joy of Moon Duo's sound. And for all the took of new sounds and more poppiness, fear not, there's still plenty of tranced out psychedelic brood, and looped hypno rock mesmer. "Sparks" is classic Moon Duo, as is the epic loping closer "Rolling Out", with its Spacemen 3 riff and monster groove, but then out of nowhere comes the weird, pulsing, effects drenched stomp of "Free Action", with its stuttering guitars and woozy descending almost glammy sounding chorus. So good, just enough of the classic old sound, balanced with a whole lot of the new, is making this a big fave around here for sure!

MPEG stream: Sleepwalker
MPEG stream: I Can See
MPEG stream: Circles
MPEG stream: I Been Gone

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

SORRY.

Right on. Moon Duo are back with another four song blast of spaced out, super rhythmic psychedelic goodness. Escape arrives on the heels of two 12" eps, and it is by far their best effort yet. Of course we loved those previous releases, but Escape is the sound of a band who has really hit their stride now, and the songs are more mysterious, more relentless, and just more rocking than anything up to this point. We're not sure if there are real drums on this release (yes?) instead of a drum machine, but whatever the case, the rhythms here just grab hold and throttle you, while Ripley Johnson, he of local favorites Wooden Shjips, takes things beyond the stratosphere with his trademark fuzz solos, which are among the best you will currently hear on planet Earth. "Motorcycle, I Love You" opens the album in perfect fashion with a vaguely evil two note riff, murky vocals bubbling out of the haze, swirling keyboard drones, and yeah, an awesome extended solo that kicks in and stays there. Goddamn. "In The Trees" is a steady rocker, like a hyped up Velvet Underground jam simplified and done west coast style. A nice tambourine hit accents the pounding drums, while the spacey guitar builds an impenetrable wall of beautiful, melodic white noise. "Stumbling 22nd St" - hey, that sounds familiar - is driven by a simple keyboard melody riding above subsonic fuzz guitar and a tight rhythm. When the riff switches to riff #2 (there aren't really choruses or any of that unnecessary shit here), you will know why we think this is the best stuff Moon Duo has produced so far. The changes in their songs, subtle as they may often be, are what make it clear that this isn't just stupid psychedelic rambling. There is some awesome songcraft going on, and we love it. The title track brings the album to its end. "Escape" is by far the poppiest and most upbeat song on the album, sounding like an extended take of the best pop song in the world working its way through some phased out vortex. The recording quality, lo-fi but perfectly appropriate, definitely gives this a nice timeless quality. It sounds like this stuff could have been recorded at any point within the last 40 years, while never sounding anything but current. Good stuff for sure. Yeah, it's easy to see why people are digging Moon Duo so much. There is nothing not to like, and while this type of music can be rendered totally boring in the wrong hands, some people just know what's up. Moon Duo knows what's up.

MPEG stream: Motorcycle, I Love You
MPEG stream: Escape