[ 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.

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

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Psychedelic pioneers in their home country, The Mops (great name!) were one of the originators of the Japanese GS (Group Sounds) scene. They were among the first in Japan to experiment with psychedelic studio effects like flanging and phasing, as well as with

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We rarely get hate mail, but when we do, it's usually pretty good. And our positive review of Morbid Angel's most recent record, Illud Divinum Insanus, elicited some of the best hate mail ever. We were accused, among other things, of being poseurs, of being the whole problem with San Francisco, and why no one wants to live here, and of liking that Morbid Angel record ironically (all somehow connected). We'd like to believe none of that is true, especially the part about our ironic love of that Morbid Angel album. As long time readers of the aQ list must certainly know by now, we tend to love lots of ridiculous, crazy, stupid, demented shit, and if anything qualified as all of those, it was Illud Divinum Insanus. Have a look at that review if you missed it the first time, and you can see what all the hubbub was about. Sure that record had some classic death metal, but it also had some weird nineties style industrialisms, and some (sort of) rapping. Even the folks here that hated that record, were perversely obsessed with it. And the folks who loved it were also perversely obsessed with it, and even THOSE folks found at least one of the tracks nearly impossible to like. So really, it came as no surprise that the whole record was due for a double disc remix, with all the tracks redone, remixed, reimagined and reworked by all manner of industrial / techno musicians / producers. And again, the haters were appalled, but strangely intrigued, and the rest of us, well, we were pushing it for Record Of The Week, cuz really, this is some Judgement Night style shit, a maybe bad idea pushed about as far as it could go, and in the process, becoming something strangely cool, and surprisingly listenable (for some of us, at least). So yeah, the vestiges of the originals are nearly wiped completely away on most of these tracks, and what's left is usually just a riff, or only the vocals, the originals totally transformed into pounding gabber, or martial industrial, or creepy electronica, or glitched out weirdness, the sound definitely heavily nineties, hard to avoid when the core of the sound is electronica/industrial crossed with metal guitars, the Ministry vibe looms large, but somehow, these songs work better as nineties industrial metal jams than death metal, especially the more problematic tracks like "Too Extreme". No matter what, or how much, we write, most haters will not be swayed, which is totally fine, but for folks into the WAY weirder/demented side of metal, or who dig nineties industrial metal, or even folks just into the whole traffic accident can't look away vibe of this ridiculous release, this is pretty fucking cool/weird. And if it wasn't actually a Morbid Angel record, and was instead just some super fucked up comp of metal industrial, we imagine lots of folks might be a little obsessed. Cuz lots of this is really fucking cool. Igorrr (1/2 of aQ faves Whourkr) turn their track into a dizzying chopped up, head spinning collage of stuttering guitars and processed riffs, the sound blenderized and junglized and blasted into a squall of fractured melodies and skittery beats, a track then sounds like it could have come off the Igorrr record proper. The Laibach remix is incredible, adding harpsichord, flutes, swooping backwards guitars, and the vox from the original into a dizzying psychedelic Teutonic pound that KILLS. cEvin Key of Skinny Puppy takes his track and adds a tolling bell, chanted vox, squiggly sci-fi effects, and transforms it into a weirdly cinematic string laden dirge. Tek-One adds thick rib cage rattling bass warble for a bad ass death metaldubstep mash-up, DJ Ruffneck goes full on gabber, pounding and relentless, laced with shards of guitar solos from the original, Black Lung takes the original and blurs it into a murky smear, and spreads that out beneath a heavy house music churn, while Mondkopf buries the original in squelches and low end buzz, turning it into a lurching low end creep, Scott Brown turns his track into full on HI-NRG rave, which is hilarious, but kind of awesome, Fixhead offers up another crazy head spinning heavy dubstep workout, we could go on and on, but they're all pretty great, and weird, and while some are dumb and fun, others are dark and fucked up and fierce, others still tripped out and confusional. Folks who hated the original, and who were offended by our UN-ironic love of that record (we're not poseurs dude - we're TOO EXTREME!!) will most definitely want to steer WELL clear of this monstrosity, but for everyone else, we have to say, we've been listening to this like crazy, nonstop, and that shows no sign of changing any time soon, which always the real measure of a record. In fact, folks who hated Illud Divinum Insanus for being a mockery of a Morbid Angel album, might be able to like this, since it's not even pretending to be death metal. Includes a download coupon for even MORE remixes, not included on the discs proper.

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We're huge fans of Brooklyn psych folk combo Woods, as well as the more garage rocking Babies, both bands featuring Kevin Morby. Morby played bass in Woods, but fronted the Babies alongside Vivian Girl Cassie Ramone. Now he's apparently relocated to Los Angeles, and made this, his first solo record. And while we were secretly maybe hoping for another Babies style record, Harlem River is pretty great anyway, much more aligned with the sun dappled pop-psych of Woods, laid back and stripped down, mostly just guitar, organ and drums, Morby's vocals more world weary, delicately dusted with reverb, the songs minor key and melancholic. The opener "Miles, Miles, Miles" sets the tone, the whir of the organ wrapping everything in its warm chordal shimmer, the guitars hushed and minimal, the vocals, a warm, comfortable croon, the arrangement pretty straight ahead, except for a cool, rhythmic shift, that's one of those cool little details that sort of MAKES the song. But for the most part, this is a pretty straight ahead psychedelic folk / garage pop record, leaning toward the slowcore side of the spectrum, a dour indie rock, moody and minimal, personal and introspective, we're definitely reminded of Kurt Vile, which is not a bad thing at all. Repeated listens reveal lots of subtle details, melodies and hooks that seems to come into focus, the textures surprisingly lush, even though the instrumentation is so simple, lovingly arranged, the recording rich and warm and organic. It's the kind of record you might curl up with on a rainy day, sitting by the window, watching the water run down the glass, reading and daydreaming, Morby's wistful songcraft the perfect soundtrack. With every listen we dig this more and more...

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The singing saw creates a sound that is so indescribably eerily and ethereally beautiful, and if used right can send little shivers of nostalgia down your spine and make you ache for years you never even lived. Incidentally, that's more or less exactly how we feel about Kevin Morby's rich, timeless, vaguely psych-y Americana folk rock, especially on this third full-length, Singing Saw. Seeing as how much we loved Morby's past work in psych-folk combo Woods and garage-pop group The Babies (along with Cassie Ramone of Vivian Girls), it was no surprise when we fell for his comfortably warm troubadour solo work. In the tradition of Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan, Morby's tone generally runs a little world-weary, and while Singing Saw retains some of the wistfulness of his previous albums, it also feels optimistic and celebratory. This joyous openness is reflected in the slightly up-scaled arrangements, with prominently featured strings (which delicately walk a line between symphonic grandeur and grounded folk fiddle), choral backing vocals, and bright trumpet solos. As always, Justin Sullivan's drumming is the backbone of this album: understated, but lending Morby's gorgeously ambling guitar melodies all the steady directionality of an ironclad train. While all of the tracks on this album are heart-wrenchingly stunning, "Drunk And On A Star" is a particularly enchanting little gem; perfectly layered and dripping with just the right amount of reverb, it feels (like much of this album) as though it's sweetly echoing out into a summer night's sky.

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Spit is the debut full length from Ron Morelli, probably best know as the man who runs the L.I.E.S. label, whose American Noise / Volume One 2cd comp was a big hit around here, but instead of doing the record himself, Morelli found his way to Dom Fernow's Hospital label, and it's a really good fit, Morelli's murky electronic minimalism definitely in keeping with the music Fernow makes and releases, fans of Vatican Shadow, Christian Cosmos, Rainforest Spiritual Enslavement, Silent Servant will find much to dig here. The opening track "Radar Version", in fact sounds like it could be Fernow, all gothed out industrial gloom, skeletal pulsations over woozy buried melodies, everything dubbed out and doused in effects, and swathed in a grey ambience, which by the end of the track is also buried beneath soft synth shimmers and blasts of electronic noise. The tempo is cranked up a bit for the second track, "Modern Paranoia", a sort of lo-fi, ultra minimal electro, but even then, it's soon joined by some garbled bass warble, like a a dubstep wobble, all melting and oozing and slowed way down, soon there are handclaps and weird percussion, and that rhythm reveals itself as some super cheesy Casio style beat, still beneath that woozy bass. And from there on out, it only gets better, the crunchy acid-y electronic squelch and motorik pulsations of "Crack Microbes", the churning looped industrial noisescapery of "Sledgehammer II", the abstract electro dub weirdness of "Fake Rush", the blooping, bleeping, sample laced primitive early electronics worship of "Director Of...", the gritty, gristly, night-kraut, goth-groove of "No Real Reason", and finally, the blurred, grey-noise drone-drift ambience of "Slow Drown." So good. Totally recommended for Hospital label obsessives, fans of Fernow's various projects, and anyone into grim, gothic industrial minimalism, or if you're like us, all three!

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Peter who? Moren! Y'know that Peter, the Swedish gent without whom there would only be Bjorn And John, and that band would be an instrumental duo! This is his solo debut, and if you love PBAJ, this will surely please your ears too. Not surprisingly, The Last Tycoon is a fine album filled with well crafted, charming, sensitive lad pop songs written and sung by one charming, sensitive lad! Who'd think we'd be gettin' all cozy with a tycoon?! But we sure are with this one!

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As heavy-ish late sixties psychedelia from the garage goes, this one-off 1969 album from Long Island's Morgen is a worthy contender. The b&w Edvard Munch "Scream" on the cover is perhaps a clue that this will be fairly dark and tripped out, and it is, with druggy lyrics like: "Come take a bite from my gingerbread house, and let your troubles fade away...". That's from the album's first (and we think bestest) track, a definite fuzz psych classic, "Welcome To The Void". The fuzz is so thick, you could cut it with a knife. The singer (who's a better guitarist) delivers some turned on tales of popular nursery rhyme characters, but mainly you'll be hearing fuzzzz. And there's lotsa wild guitar and more fuzz as the album goes on. For fans of Electric Prunes, Plastic Cloud, The Litter, etc. If you haven't found a previous reissue of this already, we now have this limited numbered edition put out in the UK by Phoenix.

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Sometimes a record just comes at the perfect time. It was one of the first truly crisp and cold days we've experienced this winter here in San Francisco and Barbara Morgenstern's new record landed at aQ offering up songs that were just made to be heard during the colder months of the year. With a live band by her side and her great piano playing mixed with subtle electronics, this is an album filled with driving strength and such a strong and shining elegance. Kind of like if The Notwist and PJ Harvey or Marianne Faithfull got to collaborate, pop songs that are so smartly arranged but don't waste time trying to show you how smart they are. Morgenstern's not afraid to unleash her pop sensibility and does it with a piercing determination creating the kind of record that doesn't give in to easy emotions or one sided perspective. It's fitting that she alternates between English and German vocals. A record that you can listen to when you're sad or happy, determined or in a rut. It makes you want to put on your heaviest and sharpest looking pea coat and take to the icy streets watching your breath become clouds and taking in the simple pleasures, just soaking up your surroundings. Morgenstern also covers Robert Wyatt's "Camouflage" and Wyatt sings with her as apparently he's a big fan of her work. They both display that rare elegance that's hard to find in modern music without it feeling too forced or saccharine. Morgenstern has come a long way from her techno beginnings and we're so excited to enjoy that evolution. While this is turning out to be one of our favorite records for the cold and rainy days that lie ahead we're pretty sure this will be a record we keep near us at all times, rain or shine.

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This futuristic-psychedelic Italian band from the Malleus/Ufomammut outer space orbit has come back to visit Earth again, blasting and baffling our senses with the intense radiation of the three long tracks that comprise this 40 minute disc/trip. As with their previous Monstro, the trio of Lin, Lan and Len again indulge in heavy, throbbing, occasionally spaced-out instrumentals with a rhythmic, industrial edge - something like Godflesh gone postrock amok. Or imagine the soundtrack to an alien autopsy that mixed up the internal organs of Lightning Bolt, Shellac, and Ufomammut. Sick. MoRkObOt's guitars (both basses!) are distorted and drilling, laced with noise and FX, that gives way to moody electronic expanses, brushed with restrained, jazzy drumming. Indeed, we said "occasionally spaced-out" but maybe it's the other way around, the bulk the album actually consisting of near-ambient void-drone interrupted by the frantic panic of urgent, abrupt riffage and rigid clangorous rhythms. While this idiosyncratic band doesn't sound like most of the "doom" music we sell, believe us it's plenty ominous and intense, the doom it portends (a catastrophic asteroid impact? our sun going nova? the eventual heat-death of the universe?) not in doubt.

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Dunno how we missed it when the Sundazed label put out this sweet reissue last year, but better late than never to list the early '70s heavy psych awesomeness of Morly Grey - any psychedelic rock freaks out there who didn't know about it should be super stoked! This Youngstown, Ohio band's sole, privately pressed lp came out in 1972 and has long been considered a desirable underground artifact of hippiness and heaviness, the sort of thing that actually lives up to the collectors' hype, with original copies being relatively rare and expensive (and bootlegs prevalent). It's a blend of fuzzy acid rock guitars, mellow West Coast-y folkiness, and proggy ambition (the trippy title track, which incorporates an instrumental arrangement of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home", takes up a whole album side, at over 17 minutes in length). Plus a healthy dose of flowers and beads bedecked pop that harks back to the '60s sounds of the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, and Jefferson Airplane, all acts no doubt influential upon the Morly Grey guys, even as they display nascent headbanging riff rock inclinations as well. So while a song like "Who Can I Say You Are" may mostly be all delicate and melodic (with vocals worthy of Bobb Trimble), it also kicks in with the heaviness at times too. That song, by the way, you may have heard already on that great Forge Your Own Chains: Heavy Psychedelic Ballads and Dirges compilation that came out a couple years ago. Elsewhere, there's parts that remind us of krautrockers Agitation Free, and spacerockers Hawkwind... while lead-off cut "Peace Officer" could almost be early Blue Oyster Cult at their most psychedelic and proto-metallic. We remember a long time ago, this was available as a compact disc reissue via Italy's Akarma label, but this nicely digipacked Sundazed reish is much superior, being totally legit and more than complete, as it includes a bunch of rare (and excellent) bonus tracks, totalling an additional 28+ minutes of music! There's also enlightening liner notes, based on interviews with surviving band members, by Doug Sheppard of Ugly Things magazine.

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Watch out Girls (the band!) cause there's another sweet sounding Bay Area pop band we think could be the next big 'breakout' Bay Area band. Well, except for the fact that they've moved away to Brooklyn or someplace already. With Big Echo, their Rough Trade debut, The Morning Benders have created a sweeping and sensational indie pop record that brings to mind a more driving, sunshiney Grizzly Bear, The Shins at their most effervescent, and Death Cab For Cutie at their most triumphant. While there has been no shortage of bands drawing from similar influences, there is something so warm and sincere about The Morning Benders' sound. The songs never feel forced and resonate with an authentic heartfelt quality. The album brimming with totally catchy hooks, the kind that should be blasting all over commercial radio in a perfect world. If (like us) you love exquisite indie pop that stays in your head and just begs to find its way on to a mix tape for your secret crush, you can't do much better than The Morning Benders!

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A few months ago our ears were treated to the newest record from Morning Recordings, The Welcome Kinetic. While it was our first time hearing from this Chicago based project led by Pramod Tummala, it felt like hearing from an old dear friend who you turn to when you need lots of warmth and woozy comfort. Needless to say we've grown so much in love with that record, that we decided we definitely wanted to check out their earlier release, since somehow we missed out the first time around. Music For Places is another gem of delicately crafted and richly layered mellow and drifty pop that's perfect for daydreams and those mornings when you barely wanna do anything except roll around in your pajamas and sip some delicious tea. Tummala uses everything from harmonium, vibraphone, optigan, guitar, piano, Hammond organ and his narcotic and soothing voice to create a record that so gently lifts you up and makes you float ever so slightly on cool summer breezes, but with a musical core to the songs that warms you up at the same time. With a bunch of his talented friends from the Chicago scene lending a hand (Fred Lonberg-Holm, Barry Phipps, Jon Hensley, etc.) Music For Places has that same richness and soft touch that reminds us of Yo La Tengo's And Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out, Red Stars Theory's swan song Life In A Bubble Can Be Beautiful and Bedhead's Transaction de Novo. All beautiful albums, and we can now add Music For Places to that illustrious list. Highly recommended!

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Dreamy. Drowsy. Droney. Dulcet. Aww shucks, we have to admit we're a sucker for anything with hammered dulcimer and vibes. Aren't you!? Those round warm tones just feel so right! But this Chicago band's second album has a lot more goin' on with that our ears are snuggling up close to. They're distinctly 'Chicago' sounding (the city not the band). We knew as soon as we heard a few bars that they were from the Windy City. In fact, fans of gentle jazzy pop with chops breezers Sea And Cake and Archer Prewitt, take note! This might be your new favorite too! Seemingly equally inspired by '70s soft rock (think: 10CC, Bread, Burt Bacharach), '60s exotica (a la Les Baxter, Martin Denny), '90s slowcore (y'know, Low, Ida, Yo La Tengo's Georgia Hubley)... yeah, all the good stuff! Hushed, intimate and sweet, Morning Recordings make it seem like they're playing their music just for you. Have you guessed yet that we're pretty smitten with this album? Well, they push our newfound luv over the top when they let it be known that their roster includes Barry Phipps (of The Coctails) and guest singer Edith Frost -- both longtime aQ faves. We could continue gushing, but let's just say, "Wow, what a dreamboat!" So very very recommended! PS: While quantities last, when you purchase this cd you'll also receive the This Is Motion album by Melochrome (Morning Recordings' main man Pramod Tummala's previous music project)!

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Here's the debut album from this SF sweet sunny group. The male and female lead singers take turns charming the listener with their very dissimilar singing styles. It actually sounds like two completely different bands. The male sung songs sound a lot like Destroyer or Mountain Goats. Very folky and wistful. In sharp contrast, the female sung tunes are much more toothsome 'n' perky. Very much like K Records' Pacific Northwest-y lo-fi pop. It'll be interesting to see on future recordings if either one ends up becoming the dominant sound of the band or if they continue to keep things as markedly split personality.

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If you recall Morning Spy's debut cd Subsequent Light from 2004, you may remember this SF band having something of a split personality (with each side defined mostly by boy versus girl vocals and folksy versus pop styles)... and they still do, although as we predicted, they're leaning more heavily to one side these days (psst, it's the boy-sung side). For those who're unfamiliar with this bright'n'breezy band, here's the lowdown: when the fella sings (on songs such as "Ask Us To Dance"), Morning Spy sound totally like a fine hybrid of Luna and Destroyer (albeit minus Dan Bejar's tweaked lyrics). When the gal sings it's a much more pastel-hued pop affair a la K Records' International Pop Underground circa 1992. A great sophomore release!

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Soooo wonderfully vacuous! Unabashed rump-shakin' boogie beats, ebullient falsetto vocals... what more do you want from disco king Mr. Moroder? This is the re-issue of his 1979 release of completely electronic dance tracks - one of the earliest examples of such music. Co-produced by Harold Faltermeyer. Oh and just so you know, if you got the Best Of compilation that we reviewed a few lists

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Morphine rarities, from soundtracks, singles, live radio shows, Japanese bonus tracks, compilations, all that sort of thing.

A live Morphine gig from '94, on the "Cure For Pain Tour", captured by a fan in the audience and hence admittedly lo-fi, but band-approved, with some of the proceeds from this release going to the Mark Sandman Music Education Fund, in memory of the late Morphine main-man. Includes two 'enhanced' cd-rom tracks.

Posthumous release by Morphine.

Having been released both in excerpt and complete form at various times in the past, the Mad God... label has decided to take a stab as well as part of their Celebrities At Their Worst series. The story goes that Bert Berns, who ran the label "Bang" on which

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Four years have passed since his last album Maladjusted, and it's comforting to know that Morrissey still sounds like Morrissey. Ever passionate, slightly poncy and petulant, he's always been the man with a brimming breast pocket full of wry metaphors and razor-sharp insult /compliments both self-deprecatory and directed at other. Grand orchestrations of stormy guitars, strings, flute (!) and keyboards provide the lush backdrop for the unmistakable soar and swoop of his voice. Be forewarned though that hearing the lead-off song might leave you wincing and worrying (as we were) that his bitter-bittersweet heartbreak poetry might be in short supply. Granted when you have a history of writing such stunning clever treasures as "The Boy With A Thorn In His Side" and "Girlfriend In A Coma", you've set the bar to a lofty height. Yet on this first song, Morrissey chose to set aside matters of the heart in favor of very pointed socio-political commentary. Suitably jarring, the very first words uttered are "America, your head's too big" (he also sings "America, they brought you the hamburger"!). The directness of his lyric writing is admirable, when it works it's like a graceful arrow piercing your heart, but what it doesn't, it's like a royal pain in the gullet. That said, fret not! Once he gets "America Is Not The World" off his chest it's back to his trademark imploring melancholia and cheeky cynicisms.

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The follow up to You Are The Quary, a record that many of us felt was probably the best and most charged album Morrisey had made since The Smiths were still around. At this point you either love the man or loath him, but we all lean way more towards the love. He continues to write such great songs, the perfect phrase, wit in tact, heart on sleeve - connecting with that outsider inside all of us. While this isn't quite as great as You Are The Quary this is still a good record for sure. The strong songs are amongst some of the best in his catalog. His dramatic flare on full flame, he even enlisted Ennio Morricone for arrangements on one track. Recently it was reported he turned down five million dollars to reunite The Smiths. Under his larger than life and iconic persona, Morrissey has proven that he does represent integrity, smart songwriting, and being a ringleader for all of us outcasts and underdogs.

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Something happened to Morrissey when he moved to Los Angeles. It allowed him a new beginning of sorts. For the first time in his career he had dropped out of the limelight, he went almost seven years without releasing a record and for the first time since the beginning of The Smiths he really became a true underdog, and cult figure, gaining a revival of fans who maybe weren't around for the first, Smiths wave of Morrissey mania. When he finally returned with a new record, 2004's You Are The Quarry it really did feel like the triumphant second act to an already dramatic and amazing career. His two records since then have maintained that momentum and Swords collects many of the B-sides and non-album tracks from this era. Many of us who are Morrissey fanatics had grabbed some of the import 7"s that some of these songs come from, which are arguably as strong as any of his album tracks. There's also tons on tracks, not even the most tenacious fans around here were ever able to get their hands on, and all of it has the urgent punch and full sound that his defined his music over the last few albums, which rank up there with some of his best stuff. So many others who once possessed such golden voices really lose it as they grow older, but it's remarkable how intact and spot on Morrissey's vocal delivery has remained. And his songwriting remains utterly clever, strong minded, emotional, political, self deprecating and moving. We really can't think of any of his peers from those early '80s days who have remained so vital in creating great music all these years later.

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While so many of his big name '80s peers have either vanished or started churning out sub-par sounds in recent years (The Cure, Depeche Mode, New Order, etc.) Morrissey has kept great quality control and has been aging so so gracefully. Years of Refusal might be his most punchy, rocking and self assured solo outing to date. With his golden voice still so warm and rich and powerful and his brutish band offering some muscular back up, this is a set of songs that rely not only on Morrissey's always clever and dramatic word play but the rockin' music backing it up as well! His last album Ringleaders Of The Tormentors, though filled with some great songs, tripped up a bit on its over-ambition and pretension. Years Of Refusal gets it all right, with a sound palette very similar to one of his great recent outings You Are The Quarry. These songs bristle with such natural force and those magical melodies that Morrissey has been creating for over twenty-five years now are in full effect. Even folks here at AQ who are far from being devoted Morrissey fanatics have been digging this big time! And those of us who do have that special place in our hearts for Morrissey are finding this to be such an infectious album that only reaffirms that despite what one might think of his persona or mystique, this is truly one of the greatest songwriters and singers of our generation!

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This Swedish progrock supergroup got together to interpret great horror film soundtracks, like Komeda's theme to "Rosemary's Baby" and Frizzi's music from "City Of The Living Dead" and "The Beyond". This should definitely appeal to fans of Goblin (who get covered here too, of course). Includes an amazing, epic 20-minute piece that will even satisfy Godspeed You Black Emperor fans looking for their filmic music fix.

What can one say about Mortiis? Hmmm, he's apparently acquired a new set of ears since his last pair were stolen while on tour many moons ago. But one may ask, "has along with his new elfin ears come a new look and sound too?" An emphatic "yes!" From the

RealAudio clip: Spirit In A Vacuum
RealAudio clip: Antimental

1971 strikes again! Proto-metal freaks, rejoice! Connoisseurs of the "early heavy" have reason to be excited about this, the lone album from this raw n' heavy psychedelic blues rock power trio from Denmark, originally released in '71, finally available as a legit cd reissue complete with liner notes and vintage photos in the cd booklet. Recalling Vincebus Eruptum era Blue Cheer (big time!!) and early, bluesy Black Sabbath a bit too, Moses deliver blown-out, fuzz-bombed, acid-laced, hairy hippy proto-metal of Biblical proportions. Full of stoned vocals, loping riffs, and lots of wailing, wasted acid rock guitar soloing (worthy of Blue Cheer's Leigh Stephens and/or Randy Holden), Changes is highly recommended to anyone whose interest has been piqued by anything we've just mentioned or referenced. There's six songs here, nothing complex, certainly catchy though, what more to say? Each one provides the good vibes of ye olde primitive proto-metal, starting with the thudding blues brutality of title track "Changes" (which has nothing to do with the Black Sabbath piano ballad of the same name, by the way). Later on, "Beginning" gives the drummer some, ready for some DJ to mine for a crude breakbeat. "Skaev" is the only one here sung in Danish, but the lurching, surging riffage requires no translation. We're glad the final track, 7 minute track "Warning" is in English, though, 'cause we're getting a kick out of the lyrics, a story of a "straight" falling in with a turned-on crowd, which include lines like: "...and suddenly the girl gives him two feeling good pills, eat them if you can, a little after in a big discussion, forgotten everything about his wife, moving with the others in a big procession, he shouts out, this is life!" Awesome. So, anyone into early Blue Cheer, Randy Holden's Population II, and the recently reissued Speed Glue & Shinki from Japan, stuff like that, will dig Moses for sure. Also, having just reviewed a bunch of '70s garage fuzz monsters from Africa, like Ngozi Family and Witch, we're hearing a lot of similarities here (minus the African thing, of course, but not the fuzz and groove). We bet if we said this was from Zambia or Nigeria, people would be freaking! Denmark is less "exotic", but that's not what's important when banging your head to these 1971 sounds.

MPEG stream: Changes
MPEG stream: I'm Coming Home
MPEG stream: Skaev

Temporary Residence does it again, after the recent Record Of The Week reissue of the complete works from nineties math rock gods Bitch Magnet, comes yet another amazing archival release, this one digging back even a little further, from the same sonic pool that so obviously informs TRL's taste in contemporary sounds - it's the complete recorded works of the late great Moss Icon, who in the mid/late eighties were crafting a super unique strain of post punk / hardcore / math rock / emo / gloom pop, that while definitely sonically tied to other groups in the underground at the time, drew from super disparate influences, and created a sound most definitely all their own, a sound that would eventually influence a whole slew of bands to follow. Imagine a mix of eighties hardcore and nineties post rock, a dizzying hybrid of the the Wipers, Bad Brains, Black Flag, Slint, Fugazi, Joy Division, all thick slithery low slung bass lines, jagged slashes of angular guitar, chiming chords and churning riffage, spidery melodies, the songs super intricate, and often nearly prog in their arrangements, super dynamic with soaring swell of near metallic heft, and long stretches of brooding mesmer, over which the usually howled vox slip into more of a spoken word, sometimes delivered in a haunting deadpan intonation, other times a fervent rant, the sound super tranced out, the band locking into long stretches of hypnotic almost looped riffing, driven by darkly propulsive rhythms, a sprawling moody psychedelia that's the perfect backdrop for vocalist Jonathan Vance's socio-political sonic shamanism. There are moments of surprising poppiness throughout, but usually tucked away amidst long stretches of droned out mesmer, fierce blasts of emotionally wounded heaviness and a relentless barrage of driving melodic crush and controlled sonic chaos. One of the great unsung bands from that era, and an incredible collection of sonically and emotionally powerful music that deserves to be (re)discovered. PS: Guitarist Tonie Joy would go on to play in Born Against, the Great Unraveling, Universal Order Of Armageddon, The Convocation Of and others, and ALL of those bands were definitely a product of the sounds and songs here.

MPEG stream: Mirroe
MPEG stream: I'm Back Sleeping, Or Fucking, Or Something
MPEG stream: Divinity Cove
MPEG stream: Lyburnum - Wit's End (Liberation Fly)
MPEG stream: Guatemala

Meet the new kids on the block at this Canadian label home to Broken Social Scene and their Torontonian kin Apostle Of Hustle and Stars. The Most Serene Republic are just a hop, skip and a jump away, based in the small town of Milton on the western outskirts of the greater Toronto area. Due to the bands' proximity both geographically and label-wise, comparisons are definitely gonna flourish, and what can we say? They aren't unfounded. Once you hear Underwater Cinematographer, we're sure you'll agree. In many ways The Most Serene Republic's music does resemble the rest of the Arts & Crafts' roster, but with lead vocals that also remind us of Benjamin Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie/Postal Service. This is not a bad thing! No, drawing from such an exuberant mish mash of influences and styles, their album fits in well between You Forgot It In People and Set Yourself On Fire. Actually with their subtle eccentricities scurrying out here and there, The Most Serene Republic's music brings to mind BSS and Frog Eyes having a low-key get-together... which is a mighty pleasing thought, indeed.

MPEG stream: Proposition 61
MPEG stream: Where Cedar Nouns And Adverbs Walk

The debut full length from the Moth Wranglers, otherwise known as AQ-pal Chris Xefos (ex-King Missile) and LD Beghtol (Flare, and also one of the four vocalists from the Magnetic Fields 69 Love Songs box). They have made a polished mellow record in a variety

RealAudio clip: Miss Fire
RealAudio clip: I Never Will Marry

Billed as the world's first all-synthesizer band, the trio of Dave Borden, Judy Borsher and Steve Drews were obscure '70s "electronica" pioneers. This cd reissues their second (and last) album, originally released in 1976. Influenced by repetitive

RealAudio clip: C-A-G-E Part II
RealAudio clip: All Set
RealAudio clip: Waterwheel

First time release of these 1976-77 recordings by Moog minimalism pioneer Dave Borden and his Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpice Company, oddly enough released on the World Arbiter label, from whence we got the great "Lost Sounds of the Tao" and "Roots of Gamelan" cds we've recently praised. I guess their notion of world music can encompass white Americans with synths as well! Composer Borden's all-Moog ensemble drew upon his experiences as Bob Moog's "test pilot" in the late '60s, and acknowledged inspirations Philip Glass and Terry Riley. As demonstrated here, Mother Mallard was all about looooong tracks of repetitive, bubbling synths, pleasantly trancey and mesmerizing, with complex interlocking cyclic rhythmic layers like a futuristic (circa the '70s) take on Medieval cantos. The cover photo shows a whole choir onstage behind the long-haired Moog-operators, and indeed after many minutes of build-up, human voices join the electronics. Famed avant-garde singer Joan LaBarbra solos, backed by the Thomas Sokol Chorale. It sounds a bit Magma-like, actually, certainly religious -- the text comes from the Revelation of St. John the Divine. If you liked the Cuneiform reissue of this band's "Like A Duck To Water" or dig on the idea of Moogs n' minimalism, check this out. MPEG Download: "The Continuing Story of Counterpoint Part 3" [/audio/mothermallardcontinuing.mp3]

MPEG stream: The Continuing Story of Counterpoint Part 3

The Mothmen were a blip in the continuum of British post-punk, having formed in 1979, recorded their first record in 1981, and disbanded a year later, with its various members achieving much greater recognition elsewhere. Chris Joyce and Tony Bowers later went on as the rhythm section for Simply Red and Bob Harding founded the iconic Blood & Fire label. Simply Red is hardly a musical reference that really figures into the sound of the Mothmen, but the Blood & Fire reference is apt as the Mothmen's lone album is a lost classic on par with the Slits' Cut and The Pop Group's Y as an exemplar of the avant-punk-dub template that still gets worked over by revisionists to this day. Pay Attention was issued by Adrian Sherwood's nascent On U Sound, having the distinction of being the second release on his label, though Sherwood did not actually produce or mix any of the music. The opening number "Afghan Farmer Driving Cattle" is driven by slippery dub-basslines that vamp as goth-dub overtures to Bauhaus and Siouxsie, but as the thoroughly angular guitar chops and complicated bursts of rhythmic tumbles and riffs on the next batch of tracks, The Mothmen found their equals in the idiosyncratic avant-jitteriness of This Heat, Dome, and Scritti Politi. "Mothman" is a side-long track of psycho-mantra proportions, almost like lost Can session from Tago Mago that got caught in This Heat's tape loop mechanisms and spit out as the soundtrack for a voodoo exorcism for the ghost town youth of London. The cd version of Pay Attention fills out the album with six pretty amazing bonus tracks, all unreleased from those recording sessions; while the vinyl is an exact reproduction of the On U Sound original, but does come with a download code with those bonus tracks.

MPEG stream: Afghan Farmer Driving Cattle
MPEG stream: Please Let Go
MPEG stream: Mothman

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

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Geez, Rachel Evans is really developing into quite the electronic songstress. Over the past four years or so, her Motion Sickness Of Time Travel has grown from her exploratory bedroom synth-drones into impressionistically sparkling electronica born from the retro-futurism of Harmonia and Delia Derbyshire, with tinges of deconstructed electro, through the druggy, rounded basslines that gird a couple of her tracks on this new cassette on Old Frontiers. "Cut Away" sprinkles bright glissandos of kosmische synths on top of those strange basslines with Evans' wordless voice drifting through the mix in piles of reverb. "Rising" tonebends sad, little melodies amidst a burbling, step-sequencing, arpeggiated fizzings, and star-burst electric blossomings. "In Our Dreams" cycles in a satellite orbit with terse, deep-space bleeps echoing into a shimmering reflection pool of blue-green ambient wash, whose driftscape is wrapped in Evans dubbed-out / washed-out breathy vocalizations. So nice. Twenty-one minutes on this cassette, in a pressing of 100 copies.

MPEG stream: Cut Away

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

SORRY.

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

SORRY.

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

SORRY. The sixth in the year-long series from Motion Sickness Of Time Travel dedicated to the North American naming tradition of the full moons. The snow moon is ascribed to February full moon, and her rumination on this particular moon is wintery without being gloomy. There's a crystallization of sound through her kosmische synth sequences, trilling melodies, moon-muzik spells, and ethereal vocalizations that captures the snowblinding radiance of the sun casting its rays through the icicles that hang from her Georgian farmhouse. We've got only a handful of these with no chance of a restock. Limited to 50 copies.

MPEG stream: Ballade For A Snow Moon (excerpt)

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SORRY.The Ballade monthly cd-r series from Motion Sickness Of Time Travel's with each release thematically linked to the farmer's almanac names of the full moons, is finally nearing completion. The Strawberry Moon (also known as the Honey Moon) corresponds with the lunar cycle that lands in June, which for 2014 happened to be a Friday The 13th, for those astrologically / numerologically inclined. Rachel Evans (aka Motion Sickness Of Time Travel) sinks into her blissed-out kosmische synth drone with church organ ethereal airiness and firefly illumined paisley patterns of pleasantly nocturnal ambience. We've always gotten limited stock on this series, and Strawberry Moon is no exception. Just 50 copies exist, so you know what that means...

MPEG stream: Ballade For A Strawberry Moon

Motion Sickness Of Time Travel is the spellbinding synth and voice project of Georgia's Rachel Evans. Up until late 2010, she had released a bunch of tiny edition cassettes and cd-rs through her Hooker Vision imprint, after which her work caught the attention of Digitalis, who released the highly acclaimed album Seeping Through The Veil Of The Unconscious. So acclaimed in fact, that all of three pressings of that album went out of print before we had a chance to wax poetic about the record on our list. It's easy to hear why Motion Sickness Of Time Travel would cause such a stir, as there's something to the easy quip that Rachel Evans is a synth version of Grouper. Evans deconstructs an ethereal pop down to hypnotic looping synth structures and her own whispering voice, all the edges are blurred and softened to a heavenly, glowing gaseousness. Her synth applications typically build from glistening arpeggios and sustained church organ tones, giving many of her arrangements a levitating, Kosmische touch considerably more vaporous in her psychedelic visions than the likes of Emeralds and Oneohtrix in her Cluster fixation. Yet, tracks like the aptly named "Day Glow" eagerly appropriate tone-bent melodies and acid-squelchiness from post-rave ambient engineers (think back to Future Sound Of London), suspended amongst the reverb glide of her breathy vocals. Then there's the oceanic and mysterious drone-waltz found on the lysergically titled "The Walls Were Dripping With Stars" which flickers with backmasked vocalizations and intermittently dubbed out whisperings. Luminaries & Synastry is a real gem; and if past performance is indicative of anything, this album will not be around terribly long. The lp comes with a cd of all the material found on the vinyl, plus a couple of a extra tracks.

MPEG stream: Late Day Sun Silhouettes
MPEG stream: Day Glow
MPEG stream: Like Dunes

Probably, the most Conrad Schnitzler we've heard in Motion Sickness Of Time Travel, and you better believe that's a very good thing. The cosmic arpeggiations that Rachel Evans uses to drive the side long track "Initiation" are very dark and squelchy, with the propulsive, '70s cyborg vibe that Schnitzler brought to Ballet Stratique; but with her signature incorporation of a hushed, heavenly voice and solar-flare streams of long synth melodies, the track is very much her own and one of the better things we've heard from her! "Growing Things" is a much airier affair of effervescent electronics that flange through aquatically spluttering sequencing and slowly evolve into the backdrop for Evans' lullaby vocals. Both tracks were recorded on Halloween of 2012, with the first seeming very much in tune with the holiday and the latter being a Spartan response anticipating the grey winter skies of rural Georgia. Just 100 copies were printed of this one, and it's a 32 minute long tape. Don't expect this one to last be around for long.

MPEG stream: Initiation