[ aquarius records — Rock Pop ]

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Showing results 11051 through 11100 of 19388.

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Rachel Evans brings her humid, oozing synth explorations to Spectrum Spools, which has become quite the launching pad for a wide array of outsider electronics as curated through the judicious ear of Emeralds' John Elliott. The name of Evans' project is lifted from William S. Burroughs' novel The Soft Machine; and with her decentering, liminal drift of half-formed / half-dissolved constructions, she finds herself peering between the kudzu-encrusted fields of her native Lagrange, Georgia and the imagined soundscapes of a primordial Gondwanaland (time-travel for her seems to go backwards in time, not forwards). After close to a couple dozen releases (mostly in the micro-edition format), she's either gotten the doseage right on the Dramamine, or she's acclimated to the queasy side effects of jumping between time and space, as this eponymous record isn't nearly as woozy and narcotized as her previous work. "The Dream" starts out quite dark, with backward-masked slashes that parallel the thickets of razored noise from Current 93's early collage work; but she quickly escapes from these bad vibes into a lengthy daydream of shimmering ambience laced with bright, effervescent sequences and some rather Vangelis-like triumphant synth stabs. "The Center" spins around a latticework of crystalline sequences that blur into massive, oceanic pools of rippling sound, with her voice looped and smeared into an ethereal bliss. "Summer Of The Cat's Eye" is a mellow impressionist piece of synth jamminess akin to Tangerine Dream's wanderings across the keyboard. "One Perfect Moment" is very reverential of John Elliott's work in Emeralds and all of his solo projects, with a sequenced glissando streaming beneath the slow unfurling of bittersweet tonal chords and Evans' pleading vocal delivery. Easily, the most arresting track she's recorded to date, rounding out another fantastic album from Evans' Motion Sickness Of Time Travel.

Tommy Lee is the reason Andee got a cowbell back in the day!

Klunk, the debut from the Sprocketsy electronic duo Motor, was the unexpected dancefloor hit last year here -- that is if AQ had a dancefloor and if you asked Allan what the hit was. Unexpected especially since Allan's not known for his love of club music. Now Motor are back with a new album, Unhuman, and it's got the same distorted techno beat buzz and bleep goin' on, from the jittering funk that is "Bleep #1" to the sinister, more song-y "Night Drive" to the power tool robotics of "Flashback" (other evocative titles include "Drug Punk", "20 Volts Of Steel", and "Sikk"). There's obvious Detroit and Kraftwerk influences, and certainly lots of folks have regurgitated sounds like these since the '80s, but Motor have a special knack for this all right. It's the rigid, relentless, crunching beats, and the synth sizzle... going and going and going... in fact it's hard to write this review as I'm trancing out as I type thisisisisisisisisisisisisisisisisisisisisisisisisisisisisisisis.... Fresh off tour (including a stint opening for industrial icons Nitzer Ebb), these guys are proud of their live, "punk" energy. It's stressed that Motor are a real band not purely the product of a computer or a DJ spinning stuff. As a result they've perhaps incorporated more melody (and vocals, sometimes scarily processed) into the mix this time 'round, but the more machine-like, brutal aspects of the debut haven't been disposed of either, so Allan says thumbs up on this one as well. Definitely get this if you liked their debut as much as he did.

MPEG stream: Flashback
MPEG stream: Night Drive

**SALE **SALE* *SALE**

Having been around for years and years (with the cult following to show for it), this Norwegian band now release their umpteeth album, however just their third for Rune Grammofon. Apparently we missed their vinyl-only 2nd one for the label, whoops, but we really liked their RG debut a couple years ago, Little Lucid Moments. And again, this is a similar hard-to-pin-down hybrid of trippy space rock, indie rock pop, and, as befits this disc's Blue-Oyster-Cult-lyric-derived title, even a little bit of metal. Maybe more than a little bit on the 13 minute opening track "Starhammer (Feat. The Electric Psalmon)", which goes through several musical mood-swings, at certain, most metallic points sounding a lot like Black Label Society, believe it or not, complete with big grungy riffs and harmonic pinch squeals a la Zakk Wylde, with vocals too that sound a bit Ozzy-esque, though elsewhere on that track (and album as a whole) they wander far out into abstract Pink Floydian space... By the way that's not the longest song on here, either, the disc wrapping up in epic fashion with a 20 minute, 4 part suite entitled "Gullible's Travails". In between, there's some shorter songs, including the delicate piano lullaby "Close Your Eyes" and the rockin' roadhouse spaceout "The Bomb-Proof Roll And Beyond (For Arnie Hassle)", but their kitchen-sink-inclusive prog aesthetic is operative throughout, Motorpsycho utilizing Moogs and mellotrons, horn players borrowed from Jaga Jazzist, dreamy vocal choruses, and plenty of hard rock guitar. Occasionally they take some twists and turns we don't like quite so much as others, and also they're one of those bands we'd probably like even better if they didn't sing in English, but mostly Motorpsycho's arty indie/stoner rock meets cinematic synth sound, confusionally crammed with shimmering psychedelic jamming, edgy energetic rock riffage, and lovely laidback poppiness, is quite pleasing!

MPEG stream: Starhammer (Feat. The Electric Psalmon)
MPEG stream: The Bomb-Proof Roll And Beyond (For Arnie Hassle)
MPEG stream: W.B.A.T.

Norwegian indie rock band Motorpsycho certainly have their fans. For years and years, several of our friends have been singing their praises, telling us to check 'em out. And some of what we've heard, we've liked. Poppy, psychy, sometimes sorta heavy, also rather quirky. But still, they never quite "clicked" with us. Until now. This new Motorpsycho album we're totally digging. (And no, it's not just 'cause it was released by Rune Grammofon, a label we usually like.) Sparklingly melodic and super energetic and full of guitar guitar guitar... Motorpsycho really get pretty wild with the acid rock guitar soloing here, almost to Kawabata Makoto levels, whom we recall liked to say he played 'motorpsycho' guitar. Hmm. There's plenty of room for them to stretch out with the guitars and FX as this disc consists of four long songs (longest, 21:05, shortest 11:26). But they *are* ultimately pop songs, with vocals (in English) and hooks and all. With that pop element going full bore too, they've (at last?) hit the sweet spot of successfully mixing '70s bombast with '90s college radio / indie rock. As long as you realize we mean this in a really good way, we'll go ahead and describe Little Lucid Moments as sounding sorta like the Foo Fighters gone prog. They've definitely got some little lucid Pink Floyd moments in there too, via Voivod perhaps, who themselves dabbled in the pop punk thing too... As long as we're confusing things with seemingly random references to other artists, let's also cite Sloan -and- Circle as two more disparate bands this reminds us of, at times! Sloan for all the ambitious rockin' pop stuff here, while the spaced out guitars and motorik chuggery of "The Alchemyst" could easily be Circle or Motorpsycho's countryfolk Salvatore. And then in the track "She Left On The Sun Ship" it sounds like they're getting into the twisty, sinuous vein of rockin' post rockers Drive Like Jehu, with some little Champs-y licks thrown in too. Who else should we mention? 31Knots? Ok, another good prog-pop-indie blend. The Beach Boys? Yep, in the vocals sometimes. But all this successfully adds up to something cool that's uniquely Motorpsycho (and nothing like the gearhead garagabilly rock their name might imply). So, it's taken a looong time but we're finally convinced. We're Motorpsycho fans. We know a guy in Holland (hi Frankco!) who will be very pleased. Now we'll have to go back and reconsider all the umpteen Motorpsycho records we'd been ignoring all this time...argh! No, that's a good thing. Always nice to have a not-so-new band to newly like... Highly, surprisingly recommended.

MPEG stream: Suite: Little Lucid Moments
MPEG stream: She Left On The Sun Ship
MPEG stream: The Alchemyst

Another installment in Konkurrent's In The Fishtank series. So far there's been collaborations from Tortoise with The Ex, Low with Dirty Three, Willard Grant Conspiracy with Telefunk as well as Sonic Youth, I.C.P. and The Ex. Individual efforts have included June Of 44. This time it was a Norwegian experimental get-together with Motorpsycho and the horn section from Jaga Jazzist. The results are an impressive slow groovin' jazzy postrock affair.

MPEG stream: Bombay Brassiere

We should probably let the band themselves begin this review, describing what to expect from the first side of this new 7" from the (maybe not so) mysterious Finnish outfit Motorspandex: "Listening to Motorspandex's debut 7" can be a traumatizing experience: the very moment the needle touches the vinyl, black smoke begins to fill the room. You suddenly find it very hard to breathe, and realize, that the air pouring into your lungs is made out of crusty, rusty metal. A mechanized nightmare appears, veiled in nothing but motorized tight pants. It steps out of the smoke, grabs you by the throat, and enters your life forever." We probably couldn't do much better ourselves, but we'll give it a go. Starting with the amazing cover, which features a photo of a pale, long haired, shirtless fella who looks suspiciously like Jussi from Circle, doing his best Dio, 'invisible oranges' pose, standing on an expanse of snow in front of a mighty mountain, the music inside fits almost perfectly with that majestic and very metal image. Sort of. Imagine classic eighties metal, some Motorhead, but played on clean guitars, with almost no distortion, then add in some super distorted monstrous growling vocals, and have the songs be super damaged and weird, shifting suddenly without warning, super dynamic, stop and starts, dizzyingly complex, but somehow striped down and simple at the same time. Not heavy so much as rocking and relentless. And it should come as no big surprise that Motorspandex seems to have a similar lineup as Krypt Axeripper, and Steel Mammoth, and thus, probably includes at least one (if not more) member of Finnish hypnorockers Circle. And you can actually hear it in Motorspandex, maybe more so than in those other "New Wave Of Finnish Heavy Metal" Circle satellites. Plenty of tripped out ambience, some clean, almost Comus-y folky vocals, wailing leads, but at its core, it does sound a bit like a sped up, metalled up Circle. Even the vocals almost sound like a more metal Mika. Plus some of the best song titles ever: "Frantic Slave", "Torment Star", "Tutankhamon Uranus", "Creepy Rabbit", "Steellicker"! As if you didn't already figure it out, Motorspandex rule! Heavy and hooky, repetitive and metallic, mesmerizing and weird weird weird.

Deluxe reish.

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Geeeeez, somebody please take the studio gizmos away from Bob Mould right now! While we certainly can't frown upon anyone gettin' all excited about trying something new, we sure can't cheer on Mr. Mould's decision to actually include those wonky effected Cher-vocals on his records. To be totally blunt, they sound downright dumb... and they sounded dumb on his last album. Even if he's using them tongue-in-cheek (which we sorta suspected with the album's second song and its title "(Shine Your) Light Love Hope" that seemed to be a silly take on those 'as seen on tv' dance compilation tracks with their parenthetical titles), they stick out like the worst sore thumb. Body Of Song arrived without much fanfare, and so when it appeared the other day it was a genuine pleasant surprise. It seems we'd somehow wiped 2002's disappointment Modulate from our memory banks. After a couple of songs though our smiles turned to winces. Those painful memories came rushing back and were joined by new ones. Ugh. Fortunately Mould has toned down his previous penchant for bland rave-y techno. The songs without the 'special effects' come across as fond familiar ol' Bob, and they definitely kept this one from joining Modulate in the dumper. Approach with caution.`

MPEG stream: (Shine Your) Light Love Hope
MPEG stream: Beating Heart The Prize

An agonizing kick in the teeth to Husker Du fans everywhere. This is appalling. Pseudo-rave, cheezy, electronic dance music that perhaps only Stephin Merritt and his Future Bible Heroes can get away with... and we're not even goin' near those over-Cher-ified

RealAudio clip: 180 Rain
RealAudio clip: Comeonstrong

MPEG stream: Harry Smith's Cats
MPEG stream: Night Night

We're really gonna have to reassess our stance (that means, Andee's stance) on 'blues rock', cuz this is the THIRD record from these Ohio hard rocking blooze blasters, and the third of their records that we're CRAZY into, even though it seems like we really shouldn't be. It's not super psychedelic, not crazy weird, not experimental, not very metal, not avant, not even noisy or lo-fi or anything, it's really just seriously kick ass, hook heavy, hard blues rock, and it kills. Imagine a way more hard rocking Black Crowes, or modern Southern rockers Antler, or all time aQ faves Raging Slab, these guys definitely fit somewhere in there, we're hearing a lot of psychedelic hard rock and proto-metal too, but they kind of fall closer to straight up blues rock, but still, there's just something about these guys, that even the most blues rock phobic here at aQ, i.e. Andee, maybe even especially, ends up flipping out over every record. And this new one is no different. Shit kicking hard rocking psychedelic blooze, with big killer riffs, muscly drumming, a killer production, raspy whiskey and cigarettes, Chris Robinson like vocals, hooks like crazy, and some kick ass shredding leads, it's hard to resist, but it's also easy to see these guys being the perfect match for groups like Howlin' Rain and the Chris Robinson Brotherhood, the kind of thing fans of those bands would and should be losing their shit for. But by the same token, there's still plenty here for folks into the current crop of retro psych heaviness, all those Rise Above bands, Sir Admiral Cloudsley Shovell, Uncle Acid, etc. So yeah, if you like hard rocking psychedelic blues, and count bands like Jerusalem, Blue Cheer, Budgie, Captain Beyond, Leaf Hound, Ten Years After, Humble Pie, Zeppelin and cream among your faves, might as well add Mount Carmel to the list. If you haven't already!

MPEG stream: Gold
MPEG stream: Back On It
MPEG stream: Whisper

Latest blast of psychedelic proto metal blues rock heaviness from these retro rockers, their second for Siltbreeze (which still seems like a weird home for these guys), which finds the band continuing to hone a sound that is disturbingly (and we mean that in a good way) indistinguishable from the real deal. We'd be hard pressed to pick these guys out of a name-that-tune style lineup with a batch of genuine seventies hard rock outfits. The sound, the songs, the vocals, the production, this is total hard/blues/southern rock nirvana for folks who dig shit like Humble Pie, Zeppelin, Cream, ZZ Top, Skynrd, Ten Years After and the like. And Jerusalem - as we mentioned in our review of the first MC, the singer sounds a whole lot like the guy from Jersualem. And while you might imagine this Ohio combo must be tongue-in-cheeking it, nothing could be further from the truth, this is the real deal, or as real as it gets circa 2012. And while the usual Siltbreeze fanbase might find this a bit too, well, classic rock, for everybody else, this stuff is pretty tough to resist, slithery riffage, hard rocking grooves, hooks galore, killer leads, stoney jams and some serious psychedelic heaviness.

MPEG stream: Swaggs
MPEG stream: Real Women
MPEG stream: Oh Louisa

Blues rock sometimes gets a bad rap around aQ, one aQuarius employee in particular is fond of hurling the descriptor 'blues rock' as an epithet, used to describe lots of cheesy bar rock, and hokey dad rock, and all manner of stuff that sounds more suited for pubs or parking lots than the hallowed halls of aQ. But even that aQ-er will happily admit, that there's plenty of blues rock that does indeed kick heaps of ass, Blue Cheer, ZZ Top, Budgie, Captain Beyond, Moses, Juan De La Cruz, Leaf Hound, Jerusalem... Gotta mention Jerusalem in the case of this new blues rockin' Siltbreeze band from Columbus Ohio, considering that the vocals here are a dead ringer for the Jerusalem dude, and there's of course Zeppelin-isms galore, it's that perfect mix of super distorted bluesy fuzz, and hooky pop, not to mention some killer psychedelic leads, and some awesome lazy vox that perfectly suit the band's serpentine sonic slither. Another band these guys totally remind us of are retro heavy rock revivalists The Want, whose only full length sounded like it could have in fact been a reissue of some lost seventies hard rock gem. Which is definitely the case here, the song writing, the guitar tone, the songs, definitely not of this time, cemented by the 11 minute final track, a live in the studio jam, all skittery rhythms, wild tangled fuzz guitar leads, throbbing bass, that totally sounds like it was lifted from some chunk of seventies vinyl. Further proving they're really the real blues rock deal, they even do a Ten Years After cover. Not sure how (or why) these guys ended up on Siltbreeze, but these jams definitely have us embracing the blues rock, BIG time.

MPEG stream: Livin Like I Wanna
MPEG stream: Still Listening
MPEG stream: ZZ Breakers

With a title like Black Wooden, we would have imagined that the latest installment in the limited edition Latitudes series, from Mount Eerie, aka Phil Elverum, would be sonically akin to his recent Wind's Poem record, which was a gorgeous hybrid of grim frosty buzzing black metal and dark droney folk, and while conceptually, Black Wooden is in fact related to Elverum's interest in black metal, as well as time spent in Norway, sonically, it has much more in common with the other, less black metal records in Mount Eerie's catalog. And while we were maybe a tad disappointed, once we got over it, we were treated to another fantastic collection of brooding, haunting, introspective, minimal folk, the title Black Wooden suddenly revealing itself to be almost literal, taking elements and perhaps themes of black metal music, and rendering them via wood, on mostly acoustic guitar. The sound hushed and harrowing, introspective but slightly ominous, reminding us immediately of Elverum's collaboration with Julie Doiron, from a few years back, Lost Wisdom, so perfectly dark, moody and melodic, the acoustic guitars, augmented by warm swells of spidery, desert-y twang, and thick swirling soft focus buzz, infusing a bit of that later era Earth-iness, minor key and mesmerizing, Elverum's voice fragile and intimate, sometimes switching to an about-to-crack falsetto, the whole sound just so urgent and personal and dark and emotionally frayed. It's hard to believe these songs were put together and quickly recorded on tour, in the hours before a gig, but they were, like all the Latitudes releases, created to let bands write and record quickly, although we'd imagine in many cases, it probably doesn't come together so cohesively or so powerfully.

MPEG stream: Black Wooden
MPEG stream: If We Knew

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

SORRY. We have just 3 copies of this, left over from Record Store Day. Never listed it. Only 100 copies made. It's movies of FOG. Yes. Perfect for Mt. Eerie's music. More specifically: it's Mount Eerie recorded live in the basement of City Hall, Anacortes, Washington, at What The Heck Fest, July 20th, 2007, "set to movies of the world looking slow and beautiful in bad weather".

If there's one thing musicians, and heck, even fans of music hate, it's a dabbler. Someone well established in one arena who decides to dabble in some other sound or scene, often 'slumming', experimenting with a sound or style that they would never integrate into their actual sound. And no one hates dabblers more than metalheads, who came up with a new name for those dabblers, POSERS. But without a little dabbling, music would remain stagnant, genres would go on forever unchanged, or more likely would die out because everything would have been done. The key is two fold, to dabble, or experiment respectfully, and to then incorporate those borrowed sounds into something new, and original, that while heavily indebted to the new sounds, is also firmly rooted in the original sound. It would make no sense for some punk band to just switch gears and come out with a country record (although it has happened), one would question that band's integrity for sure, how serious could they have been about punk if they could just chuck it for something else without a thought? It makes more sense for that band to infuse their punk with some twang, or add some slide guitar to the thrashing howl, and already, even just describing, it sounds way more interesting. Needless to say, we were WAY skeptical when we heard that there was a Mount Eerie 'black metal' record in the works. We were never that into Mount Eerie, or the Microphones, it took the recent collaboration with Julie Dorion to win us over, and that record remains one of our favorites. But we had been reading about Mount Eerie mainman Phil Elverum discovering Xasthur and getting the black metal bug. Which is fine, that's sort of what this store is all about after all, but there's a difference between just digging black metal, and suddenly adding black metal to your dark bedroom folk. In theory it sounds like an intriguing combination, but we remained skeptical... Which proved to be unnecessary, cuz wow, this is a strange and beautiful beast of a record. Right from the start, the title track explodes in a squall of thick corrosive buzz, where does a folky learn to kick up a sound like that? And since BM is not his first musical language, the result is truly unique and strange, there are some lurching strange arrangements, and then of course the black metal is peeled back to reveal some soulful crooning, and the hybrid is just as cool as we hoped it might be, a mournful sad boy Sebadoh like croon, buried amidst heaving walls of crumbling buzz, that explode into furious clouds of caustic crunch, only to recede once again, revealing those sad boy vocals again, and some strange plodding drums alongside a moaning minor key main melody, and the cool thing is, Elverum's distinct melodic style, immediately recognizable since we listened to Lost Wisdom so much, is perfectly fused with the buzzy blasts and blackened atmosphere. Really really cool. And that's only the first track. As mentioned above, the key to successful dabbling is not abandoning your original sound, since theoretically, the music you make, you make because that's the sound you hear in your head, and your heart, and Elverum continues to craft gorgeous brooding dark folk, the second track, is a wheezing organ driven drone, with hushed angelic vocals, and a haunting deeeeep drone outro, which leads right into a gorgeous reverb drenched bit of mist shrouded drift, all spidery guitars, and warm whirring distant keyboards, and more crooned vocals, all subtly sinister and harrowing, but quite beautiful. Fear not, that opener was not just a one shot. "The Hidden Stone" is another super distorted blast of blackened heaviness, and again, the magic here is that the buzz and fuzz is wrapped around distinctly UN-black metal melodies and song structures, the result sounds like a blackened Mount Eerie, lilting and sorrowful, but simultaneously distorted and blown out. And the record continues to strike the perfect balance between drifting, droney melodiousness and blackened buzzy crush, the best moments being when the two are fused, which thankfully is most of the time. "The Mouth Of Sky" unleashes some incredibly cool, over saturated hyper distorted guitars and what sounds like processed cymbals, weaving them into a loping dark melody, the result is a super heavy, noise drenched, metallic shoegaze-y psychedelic blow out, the sort of track we wish was about 10 times longer. "(Something)" clocks in at a little over two minutes, and is obviously an experiment, but is one of our favorite tracks, a super strange, heavily panned, crunchy, distorted rhythmic, looped dronescape which gives way to a soft, shimmery, glistening dreamscape. "Lost Wisdom Pt. 2" is another killer blast of black folk buzz, about as frenzied as any of the blackness here gets, but divided into a strange lumbering tempo, which gives the whole song a sort of seasick vibe, lurching and lumbering and so EPIC, before all the distortion is stripped away, leaving just hushed vocals, a warm distant buzz, and some muted distortion, and the immediately recognizable melody from the original "Lost Wisdom", and finally the record finishes off with a long sprawling slow motion drone-folk drift, the bed of which is all warm organ and softly strummed acoustic guitar, interrupted only briefly before a slow motion explosion of super processed cymbal shimmer, leads into a gorgeous, outro of dark dreamy Neil Young-ness, finishing off like a Mount Eerie record should, haunting, resonant, mournful and melancholy. Not sure what else to say. It should speak volumes that we were so skeptical and so cynical, and were actually not even all that interested in hearing this, and now here we are proclaiming it our Record Of The Week. We stand before you humbled, but happy, with ears full of this strange confusional sound. Which makes sense really, as lots of our favorite metal these days is some sort of hybrid, some strange mix, or twisted take, and while we will always love the primitive blasting raw buzz of true black metal, we'll never get tired of people pushing that sound, one of our FAVORITE sounds, in new, exciting and unlikely directions. And we definitely can't think of anything less likely than indie folk and black metal... Incredible packaging, the cd a fold out full color oversized accordion style matte finish booklet, with frosty forest images on one side, lyrics and liner notes on the other, the band name and album title in reflective gold metallic ink. The lp similarly deluxe but a fancy gatfold jacket instead.

MPEG stream: Wind's Dark Poem
MPEG stream: Through The Trees
MPEG stream: The Mouth Of Sky
MPEG stream: (Something)

Mount Eerie has always been a bit hit or miss for us, same with the Microphones, both musical projects of the quite prolific Phil Elverum. The sound tends towards a hushed downer bedroom folk, simple instrumentation, heartfelt lyrics, vocals almost whispered, but various record have twisted that sound into different shapes, especially in the Microphones, where Elverum would add bursts of distorted psychedelic rock, jagged guitars, or horns, or Stereolab style Moog buzz, but the thing with the Microphones was that the sound was always better than the songs it was wrapped around. With Mount Eerie, it seemed Elverum was exploring a more intimate side to his sound, his Sentridoh to the Microphones' Sebadoh. But even then, we were never totally taken with any of the Mount Eerie releases. At least until now. Lost Wisdom is absolutely gorgeous. We're tempted to credit the addition of Eric's Trip's Julie Doiron, but while that's a HUGE part of it, the songs here are fantastic. Recorded beautifully, wonderfully arranged. At times it sounds like an acoustic Built To Spill covering the first Iron & Wine record, if that makes any sense. Acoustic guitars, some subtle distorted crunch, simple barely there percussion, it's mostly about the vocals, Elverum and Doiron creating amazing harmonies, each wandering off on their own here and there, before returning once again only to get all wrapped up in each others' melodies. Sweet and sorrowful and sad, dreamy and melancholy, Elverum slips from warm soft croon to fluttery falsetto, Doiron's voice is fantastic as always, so melodic and rich, but also raw and rough around the edges, passionate and the perfect foil to Elverum's sad boy swoon. And the songs are gorgeous. Minor key and strangely lush for being so stripped down. The opening title track is worth the price of admission alone, just listen to the sound sample, so dark and beautiful, so wistful and haunting, a strange arrangement, full of tension and release, and some gorgeously obtuse melodies, even some strange room clatter in the background that ends up sounding like as much a part of the song as any of the instruments. We've been playing this whole record like crazy, but that first track, wow, just might be one of our favorite songs of the year. WAY recommended.

MPEG stream: Lost Wisdom
MPEG stream: Voice In Headphones
MPEG stream: You Swan Go On

Not the doom country we were expecting seeing that this country rock outfit features one of the dudes (THEE dude in fact) from ambient doom drone lords Horseback on guitar. Probably best to forget that trivial tidbit as Mount Moriah sound miles away from Horseback's dirgey and blackened sonic miasma. Instead, Mount Moriah mine a late eighties/early nineties female fronted alt-country sound like that of Lone Justice, Cowboy Junkies and a bit of early Mazzy Star. Fans of Neko Case will definitely dig this too. Like a modern Dolly Parton album with a hipper backing band. Pretty, well-written songs that smack of heartbreak and bitter regret.

MPEG stream: Younger Days
MPEG stream: Bright Light

Mount Vicious certainly have a lot of fun. Their live shows feature (count 'em) three guitar players, one of whom (Conan) usually rips his shirt off and throws his guitar down to more easily interact with the crowd. The other two often play back to back, axe necks bobbing in unison. Really, with song titles like "Steroid Unicorn," "Wherewolf," and "We Enjoy Fucking (To This Music)" how can YOU not have fun listening (or maybe fucking?) to this music? Mount Vicious features Conan Neutron and Chris Bolig of local loudnicks Replicator and Alli Pheteplace of The Holy Kiss, both of which are now, sadly, defunct. Mount Vicious plays a more straightforward (a.k.a. fistpumping) brand of hard rock than either of those two outfits, well utilizing the technique of the harmonized guitar solo. Conan sounds surprisingly like a Misfits-era Glenn Danzig, with a little Mike Patton thrown in for good measure. Listen to this record at high volume.

MPEG stream: Da Proposition
MPEG stream: Princess of the Brodeo
MPEG stream: Steroid Unicorn

This is John Darnielle's wonderful home-spun alternate rendition of his latest album, The Sunset Tree, released on vinyl only. Taking into consideration the songs' rough-hewn state and the fact that there's also a studio recorded album consisting of most of these songs, some folks might refer to these recordings as demos. To that we utter a robust "Pshaw!" 'Cuz as with most every release in the history of Sir Darnielle, Come Come To The Sunset Tree stands as a finished work on its own merits. He recorded these eleven songs at his home in North Carolina, and he recorded the 4AD CD release version at Prairie Sun Studios in Cotati, CA. Keep in mind, apart from the obvious differences in production, you'll also find additional distinctions between the LP and CD in their respective song selections and running orders. If you're a serious Mountain Goats fan, you'll no doubt need both versions! The bare bones intimacy of these home recordings brings back fond memories of his early releases. Wonderful! Each record is packaged in a one-of-a-kind handcrafted cover (festooned with photos, comic strip panels, colored construction paper, paint and felt tip markers). Ultra limited pressing of whihc we only got a handful and they're going very very fast, so don't you dare snooze on this one!

Another year, another Mountain Goats album? You betcha! Mr. John Darnielle keeps the goodness a-comin'. Yes, even though we thought he might take a breather following the heart-baringly personal catharsis of The Sunset Tree last year, he's swiftly come back with the comparative stability of Get Lonely. Right from the first listen, this album's like a good ol' friend, seeming utterly comforting and familiar, but seldomly redundant -- even within the massive body of music he's created to date. He's joined once again by his frequent collaborating pals Franklin Bruno and Peter Hughes. Their close almost familial bond shows in the ease with which they make music together. The songs sound so effortlessly off the cuff. Accompanying the trio are multi-instrumentalist/producer Scott Solter (whose latest fine solo album we got in a short time ago), cellist Erik Friedlander (whose own music you can find on John Zorn's Tzadik label) and nimble drummer Corey Fogel. Sure to please Mountain Goats fans new and old! (This isn't actually out until Tuesday 8.22.06, so if you want a Mountain Goats, your order won't ship before then)

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Now re-pressed and available again on vinyl! Here's the review from when we first listed it way back in 2002: Same ol' dependable John Darnielle making some of the most witty yet heartfelt singer songwriter material to tickle our fancy here at AQ. While he has forged a completely unique style all his own that is consistently evident here, this album is also a slight departure of sorts. It's on respected British label 4AD which means Vaughan Oliver (that M Oliver has designed one of his album covers sends Darnielle into paroxysms of ecstasy). Being on 4AD also afforded John the opportunity to go to England to record the album with Tony Doogan, who has worked with Belle & Sebastian. Thus the album has a more produced feel, but that's not bad. It's simply a long way from Darnielle's singing into a boombox days. There are unusual, for Mountain Goats, touches such as shimmering cymbals and (what sound like) occasional doubletracked vocals. We weren't disappointed, however, and neither will you be. Very nice.

Another beautiful, deeply moving album from longtime AQ faves Mountain Goats! Sounds like it was a pretty intense recording session -- Mr. John Darnielle along with Franklin Bruno (piano and organ), Peter Hughes (bass), Nora Danielson (violins), Christopher McGuire (drums) holed up in the studio for just ten days! -- resulting in sixteen completed songs, thirteen of which make up We Shall All Be Healed. Whew! By the way, has anyone else noticed that Mr. Darnielle's singing voice is sounding more and more like that of Daniel Bejar (of Destroyer and New Pornographers)? It used to seem the other way around, but perhaps it's simply the works of two kindred spirits drawing closer (although we've heard that Mr. Bejar has taken Destroyer in a radically different direction with his forthcoming album). There's certainly an affinity between the two fellows' songwriting -- poetic, earnest, and at once both starkly observative and richly imaginative. There's so many fine moments on this album, many of which glow even brighter with the pianowork of his Extra Glenns' partner in crime Mr. Bruno. Check out "Home Again Garden Grove" and "The Young Thousands". Seems like Mountain Goats have found a well-suited middle ground between his beloved bare bones early recordings and those that make up their more recent higher-fi 4AD releases. Wonderful! Produced by John Vanderslice (who also has a dandy new album out now!). Very recommended!

MPEG stream: The Young Thousands
MPEG stream: Home Again Garden Grove

It's easy to imagine Mountain Goats mainman (and in the beginning, ONLY man), John Darnielle, reaching a sort of crossroads in life. Having to decide between two callings, music, or writing. One likes to think that had Darnielle chosen writing, he would have taken his knack for hooks and melody, as well as his nerd worthy obsession with bands and records (death metal in particular) along with him, but lucky for the legions of MG fans, he instead chose music, but seemingly could never really make peace with that decision, which ended up being fine, as Darnielle is an unparalleled rock lyricist, pithy, clever, funny, heartfelt, approaching songs like novellas, each track elaborate in its story, whether ultra personal and intimate, or emblematic and rabble rousing. Folks like the Decemberists' Colin Meloy get lots of critical acclaim for they wordy, lit heavy lyrics, but few can hold a candle to Darnielle, besides like the best lyricists he's not just an intellectual, he's as deft as getting a laugh as he is at getting the listener to choke up. Much gets written about Darnielle's lyrics, but none of that would mean shit if he didn't have the music to back it up, and in the early days, that music consisted of nothing but a beat up old acoustic guitar, strummed wildly while Darnielle belted out those lyrics in a super distinctive nasal yelp, all captured on a creepy old boom box. He helped define the whole Inland Empire / Shrimper sound of the nineties. And demonstrated even back then his knack for popsmithery. And back then, as much as we loved the MG's, we could hardly predict the sort of trajectory Darnielle's career would take, ditching the acoustic guitar and boombox for a full band and a real studio, signing to 4AD, then Merge, performing on Letterman and Colbert, and essentially, becoming a real band, and a real popular one at that. All Eternals Deck is the Mountain Goats' latest, and while Darnielle's vocals have definitely gotten more controlled over the years, it's still that same distinctive voice, and those incredible lyrics, and the music, well, anyone who has been listening these last few years, the music is a whole new ballgame, about as far from lo-fi as you can get, fantastic, BIG production, layered guitars, piano, great drumming (courtesy of Jon from Superchunk), all woven into epic strummy folky indie pop, a sound that's definitely on the commercial side, but then it's a logical progression for sure, and while some folks will continue to lament the loss of those super raw early MG recordings, it's been long enough that maybe it's best to consider that a whole other thing, MG mach I, meanwhile everyone else can dig into All Eternals Deck, yet another batch of killer Mountain Goats jams. Also, we were lucky enough to get a small handful of the VERY limited, originally mailorder only, demo cassette, All Survivors Pack, featuring demo versions of songs from the album, as well as a handful of unreleased track! Plus each tape was hand colored by Mr. Darnielle himself. We got so few though, we're having a raffle, which you will be automatically entered in, by purchasing this, the new record, on either lp or cd. We'll pick the winners next week. Good luck!

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Originally released way back in 2001, now available again, with a clutch of killer bonus tracks, as well as new liner notes from Mr. Mountain Goat himself, John Darnielle. Here's an updated version of our original review of AHWT, which was of course his last record before moving to 4AD, and before the MG sound changed dramatically... The most lo-fi of John Darnielle's recent albums is paradoxically also one of his best. He spends much of the liner notes explaining how the recording was mostly made on a battered, thought-to-be-broken Panasonic 4-track, the self same 4 track that much of the older MG records were recorded on, and this here record was that machine's swansong, before finally giving up the ghost, resulting in a sound quality that's intimate and warmly fuzzy, and awfully well-suited to his sound. And the songs? While the tried and true prolific Mountain Goats *musical* formula pretty much remains the same with each record (furiously melancholy strummed acoustic guitar, half spoken / half sung vocals), it's Darnielle's lyrics that color each album differently, thus keeping 'em interesting while adding more facets to the expanding Mountain Goats oeuvre. (Yes, we said oeuvre! In the case of John Darnielle this is more than appropriate.) Interestingly, this album has none of the series songs (Alpha, Going To...) that've appeared on his albums since the beginning. Well worth it just for "The Best Ever Death Metal Band In Denton", which might be our favorite track here, but that one's definitely got lots of competition, nearly every song a potential MG classic, all woven together into one of Darnielle's strongest albums... So, for fans of the old Mountain Goats sound, the gloriously intimate and stark lo-fi warmth and warble here will absolutely hit the spot. For fans of more recent, full band MG records, at first this might not seem like your cup of tea, but give it a chance, the new songs are really essentially just old songs all fancied up, and hearing them stripped down and raw, definitely reveals the true strength of Darnielle's idiosyncratic songcraft.

MPEG stream: The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton
MPEG stream: Fall of the Star High School Running Back
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Babylon Springs is a short five song follow-up to John Darnielle's achingly beautiful Mountain Goats album The Sunset Tree. From the sounds of this EP Darnielle's on a roll, continuing his trademark deeply personal storytelling that lays bare his heart and his scars in an increasingly polished and produced setting. A definite highlight is the fourth song "Sometimes I Still Feel The Bruise" which could easily appeal to a much broader audience. Really really good!

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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.

SORRY.

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

SORRY. John Darnielle's early Mountain Goats work is compiled here, in this second compilation (after "Protein Source for the Future") of rarities and out of print tracks. Contains the entirety of the amazing first 7" and also the infamous covers of "Sail On" and "The Sign". Stark solo guitar work with wry and literate lyrics and hooks that you'd love if you knew what was good for you. Recommended!

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

SORRY. Third and final limited edition 12" from The Mountain Goats, available thru YoYo mailorder and us! Five more stripped down, melodic songs from the master, plus a cover of "Dirty Old Town". Vinyl only. Side B is again an etching by Nikki McClure (which is very YoYo-ish and childlike, but not very Mountain Goatsy). Get 'em while you can.

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

SORRY. John Darnielle with the added talents of New Zealander Alastair Galbraith on violin. One of the few artists we can think of who keeps putting out records that top his previous output.

The third and final compilation, after Protein Source for the Future and Bitter Melon Farm, that collects all the stray songs from various sources that you may or may not have heard on one handy cd. And there's one song that's never been released before! John For all of us die hard completists, here are the original sources from which the 31 songs on Ghana came from: Object Lessons (the Beerframe compilation) Songs About Fire 7" the Wedding Record 7" (wedding invitation) Orange Raja, Blood Royal 7" with kiwi experimental fiddler Alastair Galbraith Cool Beans #4 zine comp Taking the Dative cassette Back to the Egg, Asshole tape comp a live comp from KSPC Corkscrewed, a British cassette comp tje Tropical Depression split single with Furniture Huschle the Goar 7" comp from Germany Hard Core Acoustic tape comp the Fast Forward 2 double cd comp from Holland the Cyanide Guilt Trip 7" comp and finally, the Hey Dan K. comp that was never released.

RealAudio clip: Golden Boy
RealAudio clip: Leaving Home

It's been said before but we will say it again, there might not be a better story teller around then John Darnielle. He has this uncanny ability to bring you right into a moment, evoking some of the simples memories that hold in them the deepest impact. Over the years he's transformed The Mountain Goats from an uber-lo-fi cassette only underground secret to a full fledged indie rock ensemble with lush production, soaring strings, moody keys, sold out live shows, etc, without losing one bit of integrity or passion along the way. At the core of The Mountain Goats still remains a chilling honesty that gives each song an ability to give the listener goosebumps or bring grown men to tears, often both at the same time. Heretic Pride finds Darnielle and company in extra fine form. While the last couple outings were devastating and sorrowful and ultra personal, Heretic Pride is a little more upbeat and rocking with the gaze turning more outward, yet the songs are still filled with fire and immediacy. This is grabbing us right away on our first few listens and we're sure this will turn into another Mountain Goats record that we end up spending lots quality time with. Highly recommended!

MPEG stream: San Bernardino
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Mountain Goats fans already familiar with John Darnielle's signature combination of smart, stark vocals with intensely strummed guitar and angular melodies will find this record does not disappoint. It is a collection of 6 songs, softer and more gentle than other Mountain Goats song cycles but no less emotional or intense for its rounded edges. With Lalitree Darnielle guesting on This is the second in a reported series of three 12" releases by The Mountain Goats on Yoyo Recordings. Vinyl only. Side B is an etching by Nikki McClure. This is mainly available thru Yoyo mailorder, but we're happy to be carrying several copies.

Well well well, here's the new single from Mountain Goats' latest full length treasure We Shall All Be Healed, and wouldn't you know it? It's Cup's fave song from the album! "Letter From Belgium" is its title and for those keepin' track, it is the fourth song on the album. This rollicking number is joined by the comparatively spartan, low key "Nova Scotia" and the cd version of this EP also includes a rousing singalong called "Attention All Pickpockets". Both songs were recorded in France with a little help from some "cheap but delicious red wine" (according to the liner notes). Yum, red wine! Yay, John Darnielle!

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Sometimes it really is strange to contrast the Mountain Goats of today with the Mountain Goats of old. It's not really that strange for bands to develop and grow, to explore and expand their sonic palette, but for YEARS, the Mountain Goats WAS John Darnielle, a super aggressively strummed acoustic guitar, and his nasally whine, belted out at full volume, but it wasn't that simple, the songs, as bare bones as they may have appeared on the surface, were incredible, catchy and deep, melodic and super rocking (for an acoustic guitars), and the lyrics, by turns clever and bitter and funny and literate, all still totally punk rock, recorded on boomboxes, released on lo-fi mainstay Shrimper. Never in a million years would we have expected Darnielle and his Mountain Goats to end up on 4AD, nor would we have imagined the sound of the Mountain Goats could change so dramatically. But it did, and we've made our peace with it, those lo-fi days are long gone, which in some ways, makes us a little sad, but we would never have glimpsed this other side of Darnielle, which would have been a damn shame, as he's proven himself to be quite a songwriter and arranger, the NEW Mountain Goats, a whole new proposition, still with brief glimpses of the MG's of old, but for the most part, a proper band, sometimes rocking, other times brooding, always a little dark, the lyrics still awesome, so much so you sometimes wonder how Darnielle became a musician and not a writer, but the combination of super literate lyrics and more traditional rock arrangements still hits the spot. Life Of The World To Come is a dark record, even by MG's standards, every track named for a verse of the Bible, although the lyrical content is not explicitly connected to said verses, at least not on the surface. The sound is lovely, lush and moody and dark and a bit mournful, the opening track is hushed and intimate, Darnielle's vocals restrained, the guitars muted, muffled percussion, everything murky and mysterious. The second track is much more 'rocking', with Darnielle slipping into his old vocal style, which is a good match for the chugging riffs, and pounding drums. The record explores lots of stylistic territory, but the finest moments (much of the record in fact) find Darnielle abandoning the guitar for piano, the dark chords ominous and lush, backed by strings sometimes, getting a little chamber, which sounds fantastic, it's deeply moving, haunting and emotional. A couple of the more rocking numbers are a bit lite, and sound a tad mainstream, but invariably, they lead right back to something much darker, and ominously lovely. Available both on cd and super deluxe double black vinyl. There were some purple copies, but those colored vinyl versions are long gone... plus black vinyl does sound better anyway!

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Purple vinyl all gone... but we still do have black vinyl of this! Sometimes it really is strange to contrast the Mountain Goats of today with the Mountain Goats of old. It's not really that strange for bands to develop and grow, to explore and expand their sonic palette, but for YEARS, the Mountain Goats WAS John Darnielle, a super aggressively strummed acoustic guitar, and his nasally whine, belted out at full volume, but it wasn't that simple, the songs, as bare bones as they may have appeared on the surface, were incredible, catchy and deep, melodic and super rocking (for an acoustic guitars), and the lyrics, by turns clever and bitter and funny and literate, all still totally punk rock, recorded on boomboxes, released on lo-fi mainstay Shrimper. Never in a million years would we have expected Darnielle and his Mountain Goats to end up on 4AD, nor would we have imagined the sound of the Mountain Goats could change so dramatically. But it did, and we've made our peace with it, those lo-fi days are long gone, which in some ways, makes us a little sad, but we would never have glimpsed this other side of Darnielle, which would have been a damn shame, as he's proven himself to be quite a songwriter and arranger, the NEW Mountain Goats, a whole new proposition, still with brief glimpses of the MG's of old, but for the most part, a proper band, sometimes rocking, other times brooding, always a little dark, the lyrics still awesome, so much so you sometimes wonder how Darnielle became a musician and not a writer, but the combination of super literate lyrics and more traditional rock arrangements still hits the spot. Life Of The World To Come is a dark record, even by MG's standards, every track named for a verse of the Bible, although the lyrical content is not explicitly connected to said verses, at least not on the surface. The sound is lovely, lush and moody and dark and a bit mournful, the opening track is hushed and intimate, Darnielle's vocals restrained, the guitars muted, muffled percussion, everything murky and mysterious. The second track is much more 'rocking', with Darnielle slipping into his old vocal style, which is a good match for the chugging riffs, and pounding drums. The record explores lots of stylistic territory, but the finest moments (much of the record in fact) find Darnielle abandoning the guitar for piano, the dark chords ominous and lush, backed by strings sometimes, getting a little chamber, which sounds fantastic, it's deeply moving, haunting and emotional. A couple of the more rocking numbers are a bit lite, and sound a tad mainstream, but invariably, they lead right back to something much darker, and ominously lovely. Available both on cd and super deluxe double black vinyl. There were some purple copies, but those colored vinyl versions are long gone... plus black vinyl does sound better anyway!

MPEG stream: 1 Samuel 15:23
MPEG stream: Psalms 40:2
MPEG stream: Genesis 3:23
MPEG stream: Ezekiel 7 And The Permanent Efficacy Of Grace

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

SORRY. Despite John Darnielle's propensity for calling cds "those miserable silver things", this new album is available on disc only. MG this time is John and Rachel (playing bass and harmonizing). I find this combination somewhat diluted, but if he's happy then perhaps we should all be happy for him. The last song features the gloriously sexy Allen Callaci of Refrigerator on phoned-in vocals (a là Daniel Johnston and Yo La Tengo on the famed "Speeding Motorcycle" recording) to the radio station in Chicago where the rest of MG played along.

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

SORRY. Aloha Mountain Goats fans! Some of your oldest and dearest faves have finally been reissued on cd and lp! This one, their first studio recorded album Nothing For Juice (originally released back in 1996), has been out of print for years, so it's definitely time to do a little celebratory hollerin' from the hilltops. Now, we all know that Mr. Darnielle is one darn tireless artist and this jam-packed early album bears the bountiful fruits of his and his singing partner in crime Rachel Ware's labors. They do a couple covers (including a super hushed one of Robert Johnson's "Hellhound on My Trail"!) revisits a older MG fave "Alpha Double Negative: Going to Catalina" and even fits in a trio of collaborations he did with Graeme Jefferies (of The Cakekitchen and This Kind Of Punishment). Almost without exception, each Mountain Goats song is imbued with a comforting old friend presence, well-worn and dearly heartfelt. And we welcome these ones back with open arms and ears!

MPEG stream: Hellhound On My Trail
MPEG stream: Going To Scotland