[ aquarius records — Rock Pop ]

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Showing results 12701 through 12750 of 19388.

Dunno. You either have them all already, or you don't, is probably the first response to seeing a Pixies "Best Of". However, kudos to 4AD for not trying to screw with everyone by lumping a live cd with a best of like Elektra/4AD did with their "Death To The Pixies" two cd collection. What first time Pixies buyer would be tempted to shell out $23 for a best of collection? Better still, for this much cheaper price of $13.98, Pixies initiates get six more tracks (for a hefty total of 23 great Pixies tunes) than the former anthology. Along with classics "Bone Machine", "Caribou", "Gigantic", "Monkey Gone To Heaven", "Wave of Mutilation", "Broken Face", "Vamo", "Where is My Mind?", "Tame" (and much more) this collection includes the excellent cover the Pixies did of Neil Young's "Winterlong" for the Bridge School tribute album years ago.

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What we had hoped to be a collection of previously unknown, unheard, and unreleased songs from the Pixies is not that at all. Essentially, this album features the remnant tracks from the demo tape (aka "The Purple Tape") that the Pixies sent to 4AD, who in turn picked 8 of the 17 demo tracks for the Pixies' debut "Come On Pilgrim." All of the songs (with the possible exception of "Rock A My Soul") have made their way onto later recordings, albeit with much better production. So there are the demo versions of "Broken Face," "Break My Body," "I'm Amazed" (all appearing on "Surfer Rosa"), "Here Comes Your Man" (making its way onto "Doolittle"), "Down To The Well" (landing on "Bossanova"), and "Subbacultcha" (later on "Trompe Le Monde") with "Build High" being a B-side track and the raucously howled version of "In Heaven" from David Lynch's "Eraserhead" which had been a BBC session and a live standard. It's a little disheartening to know that there's nothing new on this album, but would probably make die-hard fans happy. If you're new to the Pixies get "Surfer Rosa" or "Doolittle" instead, as those albums, filled with whores, mutilation, and obsessively catchy indie-rock cacophony, still rank as some of the best records ever.

RealAudio clip: I'm Amazed (Demo)
RealAudio clip: In Heaven (Demo)

In the past couple months, we've gotten a pair of dvds documenting two venerable bands' recent resurrections: 'Mission Of Burma: Not A Photograph' and this one 'Loud Quiet Loud: A Film About The Pixies'. Filmmakers Steven Cantor and Matthew Galkin followed the four original members Frank Black (ahem, Black Francis), Kim Deal, Joey Santiago and David Lovering on their sold-out 2004 reunion trek across North America and Europe eleven years after their split. Lots of live and backstage footage reveal that despite their audiences' rabid adoration, the band members aren't exactly having a bonding experience. At times the atmosphere of interpersonal tension and alienation could be cut with a knife. Bringing the viewer into this air of uneasy distance is the fact that oddly enough it's not the band's music that furnishes the documentary's incidental soundtrack but that of Daniel Lanois! Loud Quiet Loud features some fan-thrilling live footage, but it's not a good time ride by any means.

Pizza is either the best name or the worst name for a band, depending on what the band sounds like. From the cover art, we were expecting this to be another Dodos wannabe band, in which case, the name would be terrible! But we we're pleasantly surprised and thankful that this doesn't sound anything like that. Pizza is a local Mission district male / female duo that channel the cute lo-fi pop of early Deerhoof, Tenniscoats and Coconut with the homemade woozy hip-hop vibe of groups like Black Moth Super Rainbow and Why? These six songs (strangely without titles) over 17 minutes are some of the most endearingly refreshing and snarky weirdo pop we've heard in awhile. Thus making their name oddly fitting. Who can say no to pizza?

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Wherein the Japanese trio play with Junglish beats along with their normal Bacharach-inspired pop.

Swank new disc from these Japanese pop faves.

Compiles the series of 12" remixes of material from P5's Happy End Of The World album, plus a couple of new remixes... Remixers include The Automator, Dimitri From Paris, Oval, 808 State, Sean O'Hagan (High Llamas), John "Plunderphonics" Oswald, Saint Etienne, Momus, Gusgus, and others.

John "Plunderphonics" Oswald and Oval take a stab at it.

Polished sweet-tart pop with vocals to melt your heart. The Places are Amy Annelle and Ryan Stowe, and I believe all they need to get things done are their gentle guitars and her voice which is a warm and honeyed combination of Karen Carpenter and Lois. On this record however, the instrumentation swells to lush proportions with a full band including strings, keyboards, and accordion. Hear them make everything soft and laidback and lovely.

The Places' new album is filled with drifty, dreamy folk pop that every so often detours into more cacophonous realms. It makes for a slightly off-kilter and woozy listen (maybe that's where the creeps in the title come in?). Simple strummed acoustic guitars provide a warm blanketing foundation while the electric six-strings splinter off noisy shards. Lead singer Amy Annelle's voice has acquired a few more quirky earthy edges since we last heard her on Autopilot Knows You Best back in 2000. Indeed, these days her voice draws more comparisons to Julie Doiron, Lisa Germano and the Be Good Tanyas, than Karen Carpenter or Lois. Quite affecting and wonderfully world-weary.

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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. Eureka, CA based power trio operating on the Blue Cheer/Fushitsusha axis of heavy psych sound with an unusual "folk-vibe" that permeates the murk.

On our pal Jussi of Circle's Ektro label, here's the debut from a Finnish band called Plain Ride, who are sorta psychedelic and folky but are also sorta plain ol' alt-rock. Nothing wrong with that though -- and Circle fans should note that this band features the guitar and vocals of Janne Westerlund, currently the lead guitarist in Circle (if you saw 'em on tour in the States this year, he was the one least likely to be wearing a shirt). Citing Nick Drake and the Soft Boys (among others) as influences, he sings in English, and perhaps only his Finnish accent and the occasional echoes of Circle's propulsive krautrocky rhythms and prog-friendly keyboards will betray this album's origins, as it's for sure one of the most "mainstream" things we've heard yet from the Circle camp. Not top 40 radio mainstream of course, but also not freaky hypnotic spacerock or stoner drone either! Janne & co.'s songs are moody and dramatic, conventionally melodic with verse-chorus-verse structures... quite nice indie-rock for the most part if you're not looking for Circle's brand of weirdness. We might like this a bit better if the lyrics weren't in English, but that might just be our bias against...um...lyrics. The band is a quartet, plus guests. So in addition to your basic guitar/bass/drums and keys, you get some lapsteel, piano (ivories tinkled by Mika Ratto of Circle), and even a little trombone.

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Second, equally nice album from this indie rock side project by the guitarist from Circle!!

A shiny new quartet is here in SF delivering buoyant, jangly guitar pop that initally seems quite straightforward. But wait! Plan To Pink are gonna keep you on your toes with their fair share of unexpected twists and turns in both tempo and style. They move confidently from rollicking feisty punk pop to almost-lullaby mellowness often within the span of one tune. Tandem singers Andria Alefhi and Jaime Borschuk keep right in pace, shifting their vocal delivery (often quite drastically) with grace and ease. Their vocals alternately bring to mind Throwing Muses and Helium. Add some xylophone, viola and a dash of cornet and clarinet for good measure. Voila! What a fine introduction! With production help from Peter Conheim (of Monopause, Negativland).

RealAudio clip: Vaudeville Trickster
RealAudio clip: Winner At Macy's

Plan To Pink have made leaps and bounds in polishin' up and fleshin' out their already glowing indie pop sounds. This is the follow-up to 2002's perky punchy Debutante's Ball. Press Your Luck eases back on the feist of its predecessor in favor of the pretty with the sweetest results. The eleven sunshiney swoonsome tunes would make an ideal soundtrack for a day at the beach. Definitely for fans of Dressy Bessy, Tiger Trap and Aisler's Set, but maybe also the Rob Crow / Heavy Vegetable camp too (particularly on the final song "Hazard Lights"). Note: the two songs from their previous Spring Project / Lemon Fresh 7" make a reappearance here.

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A light, dreamy and all too short record from these Bay Area honey-pie popsters. Me thinks these two songs -- "The Spring Project" and "Lemon Fresh" -- might tickle the fancy of pretty pop fans even more than the quartet's fine Debutante Ball cd from late last year! Super soft and sweet.

New disc from this local (track 7: "Lost On Valencia") instrumental surf rock combo. Solid stuff for the genre, groovy, catchy and reverby just like it should be, with a bit of a '60s psych vibe, and also some underlying menace -- you can understand why the

RealAudio clip: Jack Scratch
RealAudio clip: Long Ride

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

SORRY. AKA Tower Recordings. Another nice disc of lofi psych folk from these guys.

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

SORRY.

Freakin' awesome steel stringed explorations through space and time with Dewey Mahood, guitarist of Portland's Eternal Tapestry! He's released a handful of tapes in the past, but Crystal Wizard is the first cd-r release from this psychedelic mystery man, and it's a doozy. Layers of bells, hazy vocal drones and colorful whips of delayed guitar adorn the steel-stringed compositions. Roots music meets psychedelia in a wild hoopla of acoustic trippiness. Super limited and complete with cosmic artwork by Mr. Mahood himself. Yes!

MPEG stream: Still Water
MPEG stream: Serenity Boundless in Black Night

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

SORRY. Latest solo excursion from Dewey Mahood of Portland's top notch psych force, Eternal Tapestry. We popped this into the tape deck expecting droning guitar and swirls of drifting loops, but we couldn't be more worng. Mahood presents two sides of dry steel-string fingerpicking, loosely and effortlessly delivered for a haunting offering of home recorded Americana. Recorded after the unfortunate passing of Jack Rose, Mahood was inspired to put the effects pedals aside and record his acousitc compositions straight to tape.

Warning: Emotional devastation alert! Planning For Burial is a one man project from New Jersey whose been toiling tirelessly (and gloomily) for a good few years now, and although this is only his second proper full length, Thom Wasluck has at least 12 releases to his name and with this latest monolith of gorgeously devastating post rock finally seems primed to reach the wider audience he so rightfully deserves. Coming courtesy of the ever-reliable Flenser Records, a local label fast gaining a Profound Lore-like reputation for its meticulous selection of dark fringe music free of genre constraints, Desideratum is an enthralling and mesmerizing blend of post rock, doom, shoegaze and ambient. It's at times pummeling but also beautifully melodic, undeniably sad but also lush and warm - a warmth that's offset by clinical programmed drums, all regimented and martial - which lend a really cool contrast. Contemplative piano rises over the plod of monotonous percussion and the heartbreak static wash of layers upon layers of guitar. The dusty fading light of drifting cinematic synths melts into freeform vocalizing and woozy guitar picking. Sparse riffing builds and builds to the point of breathless exhaustion. Then that dirge of sludgy downpicked guitar emerges again, draped over distant mournful singing and minimal synthetic drums. It's that perfectly irresistible crossroad between abrasive noise and gut wrenching bittersweet melody. At times bringing to mind Jesu and at other times Soundtracks For The Blind-era Swans, or even our recently reviewed (and raved about) Nothing and Have A Nice Life records. For fans of those bands and anything heavy & heartstring tugging this is a total must have, and a no brainer for an Album Of The Year contender.

MPEG stream: Where You Rest Your Head At Night
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Originally released as a limited cd back in 2010, this gloriously downtrodden slab of hazy, gazey doom-meets-slowcore is finally available once more courtesy of the increasingly essential hometown heroes at Flenser Records. Planning For Burial's last full length Desideratum was a serious staff favorite over here at aQ HQ last year, and while PFB has approximately a squillion (and a half) eps, demos and splits to his name, that aforementioned masterpiece of glistening gloom was in fact only the second Planning For Burial full length. And here presented for the first time on monolithic wax is the first Planning For Burial album, originally released as a limited (and now impossible to come by) cd in 2010 by Enemies List. It's a shockingly fully realized testament to all things beautiful, sad & heavy. Those already familiar with Desideratum may at least somewhat know what to expect here (think Jesu meets Red House Painters, Swans meets Elliott Smith, Khanate meets My Bloody Valentine). But the truth is Planning For Burial don't make the kind of records you can really *prepare* yourself for. Instead, they make records to sink into, records to wrap yourself in. The music is beautiful but not necessarily comforting, somber but not necessarily depressing. It's a bittersweet listening experience. A little sad maybe, but also altogether hugely cathartic. Heart swelling melodies flutter amidst a hailstorm of crackling gravel guitar thrum, the plodding simplicity of an automated drum machine at wonderful odds with the raw emotion in the music. The vocals a distant and warm hum, beckoning you back to some half remembered place you might have seen once in a dream when you were eight years old. A computerized voice reflects on past loves & regrets. Sorry, this might all sound a bit dramatic, but that's exactly what Leaving is: an unapologetically lush monolith of blossoming doom, glittering with starlit twinkling bells collapsing under the looming dread comfort of an enormous bass rattle, leaving behind an empty expanse of delicately plucked strings and contemplative piano. It's a mythical record, the kind that builds its own world up around you while you listen, a world of lush greenery & cloudy skies & open fields forgotten and discarded by time. It's the kind of record hyperbole was made for, and for 55 minutes nothing else in this world will matter.

MPEG stream: Wearing Sadness And Regret Upon Our Faces
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For a lot of folks, the Plasmatics were a band that was more seen than actually heard. With Wendy O. Williams and her mohawk and duct tape covered nipples, nearly seven foot tall guitarist Richie Stotts, often clad in a mask and a French maid's outfit, the whole band was a motley crew of subversive imagery, punk, metal, bondage, sex and violence. When this record came out in 1983, a lot of us were just getting into metal, and the Plasmatics just seemed too PUNK. Sure, the young boys among us couldn't get enough of the near nude Williams destroying guitars with a chainsaw, or amps with a sledgehammer or even cars and buildings. But we just figured we wouldn't dig the music. When we finally did hear the band, this record specifically, we were blown away and kicking ourselves BIG TIME. This was indeed METAL. Sure it was punky in a lot of ways, but more than anything the Plasmatics were whipping up some serious heavy metal. Described as "One part Grand Guignol, one part minimalist / kamikaze conceptual art and one part Texas Chainsaw Massacre," the Plasmatics also managed to be one part AC/DC, one part Motorhead, and one part New Wave Of American Heavy Metal (NWOAHM?). It was easy to forget that the Plasmatics were actually a band. A good one. Live shows were orgies of destruction, blowing up cars, smashing televisions, destroying instruments, in magazines and interviews, that's all anyone wanted to talk about. That and the nipples, but fuck if this isn't an absolutely killer metal record. Huge riffs, classic eighties metal hooks, and Williams' throaty growl/howl. Catchy and complex, head banging and fists in the air, like a female fronted AC/DC-Motorhead hybrid, with strange little bits of glistening pop here and there, where Williams would really sing, delicate and lovely, before launching back into a vitriolic face smashing metallic pummel. Awesome! Totally remastered, with extensive liner notes, tons of photos, and FOUR bonus tracks: two demos, a work-in-progress recording and a hilarious radio ad! This is the first release we've reviewed from a new line of eighties hard rock and metal reissues on the Rock Candy label. Other releases include records by Armored Saint, Icon, Ted Nugent, Billy Squier, Coney Hatch, Ram Jam, Helix, Riot and more!!!

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This well-regarded one-shot '60 psych artifact has now been reissued on vinyl, too, yay! Canada's Plastic Cloud (they have to be psych with a name like that, eh?) issued this, their sole album, on the Allied label in 1968. And if you like fuzz, it's for you! These darkly melodic psychedelic tunes, maybe something like a harder-edged Kaleidoscope (UK), don't stint on the killer fuzz tone. The band - four modish lookin' gents in their early twenties named Brian, Randy, Mike and Don - sure got the fuzz-laced, post-Peppers acid-psych-pop sound down, complete with sinewy pseudo Eastern sitar-ish stylings, vocal harmonies, and trippy lyrics with themes ranging from notions of reality to anti-war polemic. Includes the original J.R.R.-meets-the-Jabberwocky liner notes, lyrics, and an insert facsimile of the press release that heralded the lp's original release. As melodic '60s vocal psych-pop goes, this is pretty decent (though no major threat to the Beatles or the Beach Boys)... but when they unleash the fuzz guitar, that's when your hair will get hard if you're at all receptive to such soundz. A must-have for fuzz-freaks, essential to any serious '60s psych collection, no doubt. And dabblers may be get hooked too. Limited to 500 copies in this new vinyl edition.

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Here's a new reissue of this well-regarded one-shot '60 psych artifact. Canada's Plastic Cloud (they have to be psych with a name like that, eh?) issued this, their sole album, on the Allied label in 1968. And if you like fuzz, it's for you! These darkly melodic psychedelic tunes, maybe something like a harder-edged Kaleidoscope (UK), don't stint on the killer fuzz tone. The band -- four modish lookin' gents in their early '20s named Brian, Randy, Mike and Don -- sure got the fuzz-laced, post-Peppers acid-psych-pop sound down, complete with sinewy psuedo Eastern sitarish stylings, vocal harmonies, and trippy lyrics with themes ranging from notions of reality to anti-war polemic. Those lyrics are presented in this cd's booklet alongside the LP's original J.R.R.-meets-the-Jabberwocky liner notes, photos, and a facsimile of the press release that heralded the LP's release. As melodic '60s vocal psych-pop goes, this is pretty decent (though no threat to the Beatles or the Beach Boys)...but when they unleash the fuzz guitar, that's when your hair will get hard if you're at all receptive to such soundz. A must-have for fuzz-freaks, essential to any serious '60s psych collection, no doubt. And dabblers may be get hooked too. Fer instance, if you took a shot on the Sam Gopal reish we reviewed recently, and were satisfied, you might wanna make this next item for your personal '60s hit parade.

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Don't know too much about Mr. Plastic Crimewave (that's right Plastic Crimewave is the man, the PCW -Sound- is the band), do know that he is an underground psych rock guru from Chicago who has played with loads of Japanese psych rock legends and likeminded free/folk rockers like Charalambides, Six Organs of Admittance, Comets on Fire, Pelt, etc. This five piece kicks out the jams, a sloppy, nasty, scuzzy, acid-fried, freak out psychedelia garage-grunge, with brief detours into drone-y lo-fi Velvets inspired gloom rock, rhythmic psych-folk, and even some shimmery, summery shoe-gazey space rock. Fans of Acid Mothers Temple will definitely dig this.

Two massive slabs of modern psychedelic space rock. Plastic Crimewave are about the closest any modern band has come to channeling the spirit and the sound of vintage Hawkwind, which means FUCK YEAH! Slow burning, psychedelic dirges, thick sinewy basslines, tripped out acid guitars, dense with reverb and echo, a brain melting excursion to the outer reaches of the galaxy, each track a slow building epic, a droning druggy dirge rock, eventually exploding into jagged shards of spastic feedback freakout. Occasionally they'll burst into corrosive chunks of Stooges style stomp and swagger, still doused in reverb and wrapped in layer after layer of thick psychedelic fuzz. Features a who's who of new weird underground psych folk superstar guests: Devendra Banhart, Tara Burke (Fursaxa), Josephine Foster, Spires That In The Sunset Rise, as well as Michael Yonkers!! Super thick vinyl in an unbelievably deluxe gatefold.

The welcome return of the mighty Plastic Crimewave and his druggy spaced out SOUND. Another vinyl only missive from the outer reaches of whatever galaxy these guys call home. Unequal parts Stooges, Monster Magnet, Hawkwind and the Butthole Surfers. Freaked out murky space garage jams, with plenty of psych guitar crunch, woozy, drone-y melodies, wild squiggly leads, plenty of groove and swagger, snarled vocals that remind us of Crazyhead or Zodiac Mindwarp (how are those for obscure references), all wound up into swirling buzzy blowouts, that go from slow burning throb to heart of the sun freakout, the guitars unfurling distorted streaks of sound, the drums solid and steady, the bass spreading out like a thick black fog. Been digging the Heads, White Hills, Titan and that stuff, and somehow missed out on Plastic Crimewave? Now's your chance to catch up. The second side finishes off with a super long, sprawling space kraut dirge, that sounds a bit like a more psychedelic Circle, looped and reptitive and hypnotic, tons of effects, a repeated riff, the background a ever increasing swirl of buzz and whir and reverb and delay, the whole track seeming to slow down and melt into an oozing ambience, that drifts and shimmers and rumbles before fading out completely. What more do you need to know? If you're jonesing for a druggy tripped out krautdrone space rock fix, you've come to the right place...

Another gem from the Dark Entries label, this one featuring the art-fueled electronic music of Greek female composer and poet Lena Platonos. Gallop was released in 1985, and is her second solo album after years of collaborating with the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation. Recorded after a difficult break-up, its central themes of utopian mythology against the backdrop of personal heartbreak, desires and dreams, predicts the future of computer and technological infiltration into the urban landscape. Platonos narrates her surrealistic poem-songs over futuristic minimal wave pop balladry, sounding a bit like an art-house John Carpenter and Vangelis dance project with dystopically cold romantic leanings. The cover is an exact replica of the 1985 edition, featuring Lena's original collage. Each copy includes a two-sided lavender 11"x11" insert with lyrics, photos and liner notes by Lena, filmmaker Antonis Boskoitis, and fellow Greek musician Vassilikos. Cool and glamorous with a biting edge. Though song titles are in Greek characters and difficult to translate, one track we found translates to "Bloody Shadows From Afar". Indeed!

MPEG stream: An Unresolved Exercise In Physics
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Another blast of fuzzy, jangly, distorto surf garage pop, that will no doubt appeal to fans of Wavves, Drums, Best Coast and the rest of the current crop of retro poppers. Plateaus' sound is all crunchy drums, fuzzed out guitars and lazy, laid back beach boy vox, there's a definite sixties vibe, plenty of reverb, and a warm beach-y sonic haze, but it's way more crisp and crunchy than many of their reverb dependent brethren. The opener's a short sharp chunk of blissed out 3 chord jangle pop, while the second track on the A side manages to sound a bit punkier, but also a bit power poppier. The B side is the reason to grab this though, a super hooky, ultra power poppy jangly gem, killer melodies, a chorus to die for, sounding a bit like Eat Skull crossed with The Fresh & Onlys which is most definitely not a bad thing at all.

We reviewed the debut 7" from these San Diego garage pop surf punks a while back, and recommended them to fans of Waaves, Drums and Best Coast, and on this most recent single, not too much has changed. They may have dialed back the surfiness a bit, but otherwise, there's still plenty of jangle and crunch, the A side a short sharp burst of off kilter noise pop, super hooky, with a crazy sing song-y vocal line, laced with squalls of psych guitars, while the B side has an old school classic girl group vibe, sounding a bit like Phil Spector produced era Ramones, tribal drums, murky riffage, snarly vox, crazy catchy harmonies and a wicked main hook. Good stuff, and still dying for a full length� LIMITED TO 475 COPIES!!

Looks like we've got a new contender for pop record of the year! After a clutch of kick ass singles, the debut full length from these San Diego garage pop punks more than fulfills the promise of those 7"s, a non stop barrage of hook heavy noise pop bliss out, big jangly crunchy guitars, pounding drums, echo drenched whiney boy vox, hooks galore, crazy catchy choruses, everything sort of lo-fi and blown out, the songs laced with occasional squalls of psychguitar freakout, and super distorted guitar melodies woven into the jangle and crunch, the sound a little bit surfy, a lot bit garagey. Some of the tracks definitely remind us of Thee Oh Sees, some of the others like Jeff The Brotherhood, we described these guys in a past review as Eat Skull crossed with the Fresh & Onlys, which is still pretty on the mark, although on this full length, Plateaus have really come into their own, taking everything they've borrowed and transforming it into something their very own, all the sounds cranked, and in the red, the vibe is loud as fuck, but still beholden to classic jangle pop. It's not hard to imagine these guys actually hailing from NZ and not SD, their sound rife with classic Kiwi jangle popisms, but obviously filtered through the current crop of garage pop. Not sure what else to say, other than we can't stop listening to this, and every time we play it we have a new favorite songs. Summer may be gone but drop that top, put on a hat and scarf, bundle up and blast this like you were cruising down the coast, basking in the summer sun...

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New record from these ex-Rorshach, ex-Kiss It Goodbye folks, so you can imagine what it sounds like. Roaring, complex, pummeling east cost style metal core. No huge progression, but if Coalesce, Kiss It Goodbye, and that sort of stuff is your bag, this'll hit the spot.

If you like The Strokes, this new SF group sound JUST LIKE THEM! The lead vocalist is a deadringer for Julian Casablancas. Slouchy sullen singing over hectic, jangly guitars. MPEG Download: "If You Can Afford It" [/audio/pleasedifyoucanafford.mp3]

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Release the bats! It's another case of ex hardcore kids discovering the joys of rockin' the dark side-- Pleasure Forever used to be the Slaves who were most of the VSS, and they play wonderfully dark-tinged pop with piano, guitar and drums. Comparisons to the likes of Nick Cave/ Birthday Party, the Doors and These Immortal Souls have been cropping up in adulatory reviews, and those references (These Immortal Souls especially) are certainly in evidence in these very catchy yet slightly sinister tunes. The piano really makes their sound, transforming the whole thing into an intensely heady rock cabaret that reminds me of that "hit" Black Heart Procession song "Release."

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Over the course of only a few brief years and two albums, these fervent music makers drew an equally fervent following. So many hands were wrung and much despair was expressed when word got out that Pleasure Forever had disbanded a few years ago. Granted the individuals have continued on making stellar music separately as Andrew Douglas Rothbard, Rabbits and Red Sparowes, but... it's just not the same! Which brings us to this posthumous Pleasure Forever release. We welcome it with open arms and eager ears. Bodies Need Rest is comprised of equal parts originals (previously unreleased numbers, rarities and compilation tracks) and covers. Throughout these eight tracks which span the band's existence, the trio maintains their trademark piercing focus while perpetually on the verge of spinning wildly out of control. They fuel Black Flag's "The Bars" with their own rage, then just as ably enter irony-free into tender territory with their hazy dream rendition of ABBA's "Honey Honey". Drums, guitars, vocals and keyboards come together, a musical tempest as fierce as it is beautiful. Recommended.

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Combining beautiful harmonies and heartbreaking epic songs, this first effort from these local boys as Pleasure Forever (formerly Slaves), displays elements of the Doors if they were good and the sadder parts of great eighties rock, such as Swans or the Birthday Party. The recording itself is so complex and layered it's hard to believe this band is a 3-piece.

RealAudio clip: Any Port In A Storm

The year is 1965 and a feisty teenage Suzi Quatro is kicking ass on all the boys in town. Yep, that's pre-Leather Tuscadero, sweetcakes! Ultra-raw, raunchy garage rock straight from the day re-issued by the fab garage mavens at Norton Records. Hot!

Interpol were always a little sleazy. Their slicked back hair and skinny moustaches and black suits. That whole vibe. But hell, it suited them, and it didn't matter all that much cuz the songs were so fucking great. Even though officially the identity of Julian Plenti is a big secret, only the truly dense won't have figured out that this is in fact Paul Banks from Interpol. There is after all a picture of him on the cover, and his voice is pretty unmistakable, and the songwriting too, definitely reminiscent of Interpol. This was supposedly his "sexy" and "sleazy" record, by his sexy sleazy alter ego, but disregard all the pretentious bullshit, what this is, is a pretty bad ass dark pop record, laced with plenty of electronics, nods galore to classic Interpol, and some awesome songs. The last Interpol record was a bit of a let down for a lot of folks, so while this is not necessarily a return to form, and not really an Interpol record, it does for us, function as something to tide us over until Interpol get their shit together and come up with another record to rival Turn On The Bright Lights. Opener "Only If You Run" is total Interpol right out of the gate, with some extra electronic flourishes, but a loping gloomy bass line, Banks's recognizable croon, a killer hook, some weird production, some chiming guitars and big drums, synths too, and a little bit of skittery programming. Track two, "Fun That We Have" is even better", some crunchy guitar, a moe menacing vibe, yet another very Interpol sounding melody, some glitchy electronics, some weird lyrics, and some lush production. "Games For Days" is another killer, muted electronic percussion, brittle guitar chug, dense dark minor key chorus, some big crunchy guitars and yes, yet another Interpol sounding vocal line. Don't hold it against him, Banks is a huge part of Interpol, so Interpol is of course a big part of him, and thus informs his songwriting, which as we mentioned before doesn't bother us one bit. We're digging this a LOT.

MPEG stream: Only If You Run
MPEG stream: Skyscraper
MPEG stream: Games For Days