The kids love this energetic San Francisco trio, who have recently been seen touring about with Erase Errata and Sleater Kinney. And Sleater-Kinney comparisons, while sometimes arising out of a reviewer's lack of familiarity with a broad range of female oriented post punk sounds, are relevant here to describe The Quails girl-girl-boy vocal interchanges. At points, the heavily affected vocal stylings make us here put our hands over our collective ears, although "Atmosphere" is definitely not as ouch! as their testicle liberation opera "Bon Soir." If you do dig the vocals, or at least don't mind them, you'll have a great time getting down to their highly accessible, poppy take on the arty punk thang.
Who can resist feisty art punk with horns? If you can't, the first song on this album is for YOU! Made us eager for more, but unfortunately the trumpet only appears on that opening track. Dang! But the rest is pretty great nonetheless, packed with edgy female vocals (still drawing comparisons to Sleater-Kinney's Corin Tucker) occasionally coupled with more subdued male backing vocals, angular raw guitars that veer and twist as if teetering precariously on a cliff, and a driving firecracker drumbeat that seems considerably tighter than on previous releases. Actually the whole picture seems a lot more feverishly focussed (and a little less poppy) that their last full length, the well received Atmosphere+. Hmmm, a bill of The Quails coupled with Erase Errata and Sleater-Kinney would make for a damn fine show. Yeah, I know this has already happened -- these bands have toured together in the past. However on The Song Is Love, The Quails are bursting with an increased confidence and attitude that would surely add ample fuel to such a blistering fun evening of rock. Indeed The Quails seem to be the bridge between those two bands -- particularly in the aforementioned swooping grrrl vocals of S.K., the jagged postpunk dissonance of E.E., and the volatile energy of both. Right on!
Local trio featuring Jen Smith, Julianna Bright and Seth Lorinczi formerly of Circus Lupus (although *don't* take that to mean that if you liked the late great Circus Lupus, you'll neccesarily like The Quails). Herky jerky quirky pop with all members
BLACK SABBATH! There. Got your attention. Now let's explain.
We thought we were pretty up on all the bands that followed the Sabbatherian path: Witchfinder General, Angel Witch, Trouble, Saint Vitus, Cathedral, Candlemass, Pentagram, etc. etc. But we'd missed out on one -- Quartz, from Sabbath's hometown of Birmingham, England, in fact. Turns out that this New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) band definitely also deserves a place in that list -- because they're very, VERY Sabbathy and also an awesome band! First off, this, their self-titled debut LP from 1977 (ok, predating the NWOBHM explosion by a couple years actually, though their later records were in the thick of it) was produced by none other than Black Sabbath's riff king Tony Iommi!! And, also, one of the Quartz guys, Geoff Nichols, ended up playing keyboards for the Sabs later on...
Yet Quartz don't sound very much like any of those other aforementioned Sabbath-worshiping bands. Not at all. That's because, with Iommi at the helm, this takes after what Sabbath sounded like at the time, albums like Sabotage (1975), Technical Ecstasy ('76), and Never Say Die ('78). If you're familiar with those, you'll definitely hear their influence here! This later '70s Sabbath sound isn't as often emulated, being so much more proggy and polished than their rawer, earlier, doomier LPs. Which is great, 'cause it's not a done-to-death sort of Sabbath sound. As the Sabbath clones proliferate, even today, -these- guys still sound fresh. It also helps that they seemingly share the Sabbath attitude that they're just playing rock music, not something as strictly defined as 'heavy metal'. There's no metal formula being followed. So while this IS heavy and metallic '70s style, there's bombastic prog and pretty pop and acoustic folkiness here too, with Tony Iommi contributing an uncredited flute solo to "Sugar Rain". (Ozzy apparently also sang back-up on that track!) Furthermore, Quartz, formerly known as Bandy Legs, had their roots in '60s psych-pop (featuring members of obscure acts Idle Race and World Of Oz). Though sounding -most- like Sabbath, you'll also hear Yes and Queen and Rush and the Beatles and more...
But if it's Sabbath parallels you want, you got 'em: their vocalist exudes sincerity and emotion, echoing Ozzy's loss-of-control laments. And Tony's mid-seventies guitar (and synth) sound is reproduced perfectly...apparently he's playing on a couple tracks, in fact. The riffs on here could have been written by the man -- "Around and Around" sounds like it should have been on Sabotage! And leadoff track "Mainline Riders", one of the heaviest here, sounds remarkably like Sabbath's "Heaven And Hell" even though the latter wasn't recorded until three years later... hmm, who was influencing whom?
Ultimately, Quartz' debut is a great, varied, hard-rockin' album that uniquely captures all the energetic yet melancholic charm of the latter days of Ozzy's original tenure with the Sabs, unlike any other band ever did. A lost classic for sure. We wish someone had told us about Quartz before, which is why we're duty bound to tell you about 'em now that we have this new reissue!!
These early tracks reveal a much moodier, heavier, tweaked Quasi which seems to have resurfaced on their newest "Sword of God" album. Kinda like the Olivia Tremor Control's entwined pop melodies and swirling sonic experimentation, but more rocked up and
Album #2 for this Portland, OR dynamic duo! The 'Quasi' sound really clicked into gear on this one!
Lyrically they're bittersweet and occasionally razor tongued, musically they strike a balance between dreamy pop and driving rock with fantastic vocal harmonies and '60s organ stylings. Don't miss!
The third full length from Portland, OR duo Sam Coomes (Heatmiser, Donner Party) and Janet Weiss (Sleater Kinney) is overflowing with well-crafted pop. With Farfisa organs, dreamy strings, girl/boy harmonies, catchy hooks, and a dollop of full-on rock to boot, each song is an irresistible treat! Fans of Built to Spill's 'Keep It Like a Secret' and the Flaming Lips' 'Soft Bulletin' should definitely take note. When this gets played in the store, we invariably end up hitting 'play' again as soon as it ends... a few times at least! Really. Recommended!
Added attraction: Coomes' former Heatmiser bandmate Elliott Smith plays a little bass on three songs.
On our first couple of listens to this new Quasi (and an additional couple of looks at the rather uncharacteristic cover art), well, we really weren't sure what to make of it! Taking into consideration the most recent oddity from Quasi mainman Sam Coomes -- the swampy psych-blues stomp of Blues Goblins -- we already knew things were taking a different path from the dreamy, yet sometime crunchin' pop of Quasi's past. Has Mr. Coomes lost his marbles? Hopped aboard a boxcar? Freed his mind? All of the above? Whether it be the second song's endless riffin' on a single note, the third song's odd false start and subsequent super rawk guitar solo or the anguished handwringing of "No One", it sounds as though they're determined to let it all hang out. Very somber, tripped-out and tormented by Quasi standards with loose-limbed guitars and seemingly stream of consciousness lyrics. In fact, the only thing that seems on solid ground is Janet Weiss' drumming. Nonetheless, not unlike each of Quasi's past releases, this seems to have the strong potential of a 'grow on you' kind of album, and we don't hesitate to recommend it.
Portland, Oregon's guitar/drums indierock duo Quasi deliver a fourth album (not including their recently reissued Early Recordings) on a new label, Touch and Go. It may be their best one yet. The boy/girl harmonies are pristine, the melodies are
AQ faves Sam Coombes and Janet Weiss are back with their sixth Quasi album... with the worst cover art... ever. Whoa, what an eyesore. Fortunately the same can't be said about the music. Whew, Quasi fans rejoice. Yaaaaay! Weiss is an aggressive dynamo on the kit, likewise Coombes on the piano and guitar. When The Going Gets Dark features some of his most valiant cascading piano flourishes. Their performances are looser and more impassioned than ever. We always wish she'd sing more, but we're somewhat disappointed to report that this album has the fewest appearances of Ms Janet on the mic. On the rare occasions when she does chime in with Sam on vocals, the sun shines a little brighter. On his side of things, Coombes has exhibited some bizarre behavior on his own solo releases (for instance the swampy bluesy psych of Blues Goblin), and some of it has definitely trickled into the Quasi pot. This is evident right from the get-go, as the first track "Alice The Goon" comes tumbling out of our speakers. As well, our musical antennae picked up a few oddly familiar melodic progressions that we more than suspect he nicked from some old classics -- the closing song "Invisible Star" shockingly trickles into Procol Harum's "Whiter Shade Of Pale" territory, and the second to last song "Death Culture Blues" has an ominous plodding section that strongly recalls Brian Wilson's "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow". But then again, Quasi always toss in a couple of eyebrow raisers to keep up on our toes. Apart from the cover art, the only other downside of this album is the somewhat murky sound quality. This is a little surprising since studio whiz David Fridmann was at the production helm, but despite his successes working with other pop wonders such as the Delgados, Flaming Lips, and Janet's other band Sleater-Kinney, his overdriven, blown-out style seems to overwhelm and disrupt the Quasi pop balance. That said, nothing can really tarnish the radiant force of Quasi. Their greatness always shines through, and so we proclaim, "Recommended!!!"
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Now would this qualify as a compilation or is it still a split? At any rate this is a gorgeously packaged record that is now in its second pressing. Quasi graces this release with a very lovely number entitled "Desire and Love". Hurry hurry! This is limited to 1100: 450 on copper, 650 on beautiful blue paper with added embellishments. We have the blue ones. The first pressing featured four different sleeve designs, but unfortunately it is very sold out. Don't miss out this time around.
As many records as we write about, we actually don't often get a lot of chances to write about some of our favorite bands. And as much as we love so many obscure, underground, and mysterious bands and sounds, we still have some big-name all-time favorites that will always be a part of our musical lives. Queen is one of those bands for many of us here. When we saw that Queen II had just been reissued along with a bonus disc, we knew it was a great excuse and opportunity to list one of our favorite records of all time from one of THEE greatest bands of all time.
Queen II really displays the range and versatility of Queen better then any other record. From their most magical, mystical and pastoral to their balls-to-the-wall anthemic chops and undeniable pop sensibilities. Somehow prog, glam, rock, metal, and pop all at the same time. Released in 1974, it doesn't contain many of Queen's hits usually included in best of collections, but most of these songs are as good as if not even better than some of the hits, and it's a record that proves what a unique vision Queen had in their prime. It's also such a true 'album', one that really needs to be listened to from start to finish. There are so many peaks and valleys, introspection erupting into ecstatic revelations that explode into psychedelic pop enchantment. It's a record that we know has made such a huge influence on such a wide range of bands and artists spanning the likes of The Smashing Pumpkins, Dungen, Blind Guardian, The Cult, Cheap Trick, Slough Feg, Foo Fighters, Jellyfish, Redd Kross, Citay, Zolar X, Dinosaur Jr, Hedwig & The Angry Inch, The Polyphonic Spree, Titan, Turbonegro, and on and on. If you don't own this, we hope/urge that you will! And heck, while you're at it, you probably oughta buy ALL the Queen records...
The bonus disc includes two BBC session tracks, a live track, an instrumental mix and a B side.
Part two of my huge high school/college 'Kate' crush (the other being Kate from Haysi Fantaysee). This is Katie Jane Garside's new outfit. You may remember her as the filthy little waif in a tattered sackcloth dress and wild blonde dreads from Daisy Chainsaw. While Daisy Chainsaw was all pent up teenage agression and buzzsaw guitars, Queen Adreena is slow simmering bitterness and warm languid instruments over Portishead-y rhythms. Don't be fooled by track one, it's definitely a winner; a crashing and monstrously heavy two minute barn burner that could have been a PJ Harvey 'Dry' era outtake, the rest of the record, while not as rocking, is certainly worth a listen. Dark and brooding and intense, almost goth. Fans of Portishead, PJ Harvey and the like should check this out. Includes a video for your computer, nice Quay brothers/Charlie Chaplin mix, with a nude (!) Katie astride her bandmate. BIG import price, not sure when/if the domestic is coming.
Along with the Nudity album also reviewed on this week's list, another rad, totally rockin' lp recorded by Tim Green (The Fucking Champs) at his Louder Studios up in Grass Valley, this one the debut lp from local act Queen Crescent, which you already know about if you follow us on Instagram (hint, hint, it's aquariusrecordssf), we posted about this right when they brought it in, with hella hashtags like #flute #heavy #psych #femalevox #badass... and that's what you get, heavy female-fronted (and female-backed) psychedelic hard rock with flute that's definitely badass.
Obviously, Toronto's Blood Ceremony would be a reference point, if you like them, you gotta like this, what with the flute and female vocals and heavy '70s vibe. Also if you're into other local SF acts like Hot Lunch and Glitter Wizard, specifically, these gals are totally a part of that scene and you'll dig 'em too. They've got great vocals, a proggy early King Crimsonish vibe at times (um, the first song is called "In The Court Of The Crescent Queen"), lotsa flute which we LOVE, heavy riffs which we love too... Recommended to all non-lameos. The SF acid rock renaissance is happening, with bands like Queen Crescent!! Limited vinyl-only release, includes download code!
Really cool doomy layered folk by Nick Malkin, who is now a member of Sun Araw. Like a slowcore record covered with gobs of dirt and dust. We were only able to get a few of these from him when Sun Araw were last in town so grab one of these before they are gone.
Queen Adreena is everything PJ Harvey should have been. Could have been. And sort of was, for a brief spell there. Groundbreaking, threatening, inspiring, empowering, controversial. Unfortunately for us Americans, Queen Adreena has remained a barely heard, mostly unattainable, always incredibly expensive mystery, until now. Imagine PJ Harvey, if she were a filthy, waifish, sexed up firebrand, with a mop of tangled blonde curls and dressed in tattered doll like dresses, with a voice that swings from a sultry croon to a glass shattering Bjorkish squeal to a raspy wail, all in a single line, fronting a motley groop spitting out a pill popping, gas huffing, crazily chaotic, swaggering, smoldering sexrock with LOUD fuzz guitars pounding tribal drumming and wild and unhinged and insanely sexy vocals. Some sort of bastard spawn of PJ Harvey, Bow Wow Wow, Kate Bush, heavy metal and seventies glam rock. Lots of grinding guitars, breathy breakdowns, slithering seedy sexiness, and some unbeleivably killer songs. Often maligned as the "sleaze-metal PJ Harvey" in the UK press, but that's actually a pretty darn good description if you ask us. And if someone told us about some band that sounded like that we'd be all over it in a second. This is one of those records we've been listening to so much it's hard to put into words exactly what it is about it that drive us so crazy. Just listen to the sound samples and you'll immediately hear how ferocious and fucking amazing this record is.
Era Vulgaris is Josh Homme and co's fifth album. At this point he's got quite the well oiled stoner rock cruise mobile. Willfully poppy amid his more testosteroned hard rock brethren, Homme ably brews up some big beef and grit from the guitars and drums while his unmistakable multilayered vocals satiate any sugar fix with those candy-coated choruses. He definitely doesn't shy away from the tasty hooks. It's a full course stick-to-yer-ribs meal. Always great late night driving music. Distinctly west coast-y, and almost sun baked as his old outfit Kyuss. Features a guest appearance by The Strokes' Julian Casablanca.
Ok, c'mon. Do we really need to tell you about Queens Of The Stone Age? Seems to us that pretty much everyone we knows loves 'em. Whether you're an MTV teenybopper, a stoner rock dude clinging to some sort of misplaced Kyuss loyalty, a metalhead who likes the occasional melodic rock record, or a total music nerd who finds QOTSA a perfect guilty pleasure. But what's there to be guilty about? This stuff totally rocks and absolutely rules! Warm fuzzy guitars wrapped around perfect pop hooks and Josh Homme's velvety croon. There seems to be a lot less all out rocking this time around, and a lot more almost-ballady crooning which is fine, those songs are still killer, but it's when Homme's semi-secret stoner desert rock past peaks through that things get good. Rollicking and riff heavy, head banging and fist pumping. Crashing drums and that umistakable fuzz guitar. How can you feel guilty about that?
The post-Kyuss band formed by guitarist (and now vocalist) Josh Homme follows up their great self-titled debut (a sleeper hit here at Aquarius, and elsewhere), with this new album for Interscope. Not nearly as all-over laid back and catchy as the debut, this disc is more eclectic (with a variety of guests and instrumentation -- everything from lap steel to piano to a horn section). Mark Lanegan shows up to sing on a couple of songs, and they've even pursuaded Rob Halford to do some backing vocals on one track (tho why you'd want him to do backing vocals rather than the lead puzzles me, especially when your own lead vocals are passable but certainly not up to the "Metal God"'s standards!). "R" veers from raucous drug-fueled grunge to the more mellow "desert rock" Homme & Co. coined in Kyuss, to some avant-garde pseudo-jazz shennanigans. Will this get played on the radio? Hard to say.
Now, WITHOUT the limited bonus dvd disc! Here's what we said about this last time for those that somehow overlooked it... This one scarcely needs a review. By now you've been hearing this record on the radio and MTV and in malls. Odds are you already own this if you like the Queens Of The Stone Age previous albums, or you bought it for the single. Or you loved Kyuss and think the Queens suck. But setting all that aside, and taking this record just on its musical merits, 'Songs For The Deaf' is a kick ass hard rock/pop rock record. Great sound, great songs! What's not to like? This is easily their best record since their super heavy debut. 'Songs For The Deaf' has it's heavy moments, and the warm fuzzy Kyuss guitars are still in effect, but it's way more of a pop record. And while they do stretch out occasionally, with headbanging stoned desert jams, things always return to the hook. Which is not a bad thing. Just the opposite. And the addition of Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters, Nirvana) and Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees and solo) have added a lot in terms of sonic breadth and songwriting complexity. Way more dynamic and WAY MORE CATCHY. Listen to the sound samples and you'll be sold. The last "hidden" track is a piano driven, string laden psychedelic pop epic. It -sounds- great, but just wish it was a better song (although our friend Drew is convinced it is a 'masterpiece'). But so what? This record is full of great songs!! Plus lots of weird guests: Dean Ween, Twiggy Ramirez, Casey Chaos, Blag Dahlia! The only downside, which has been an annoying QOTSA quirk from the beginning, is their relentless in-joking. This record is rife with said in-jokes, a bunch of stupid fake radio DJ's, occasional joke songs and the like. Easy to skip by but they tend to kill the flow of an otherwise solid record.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Intercontinental stoner rock summit between Queen of the Stone Age (the reincarnation of Kyuss, although they freshen up the Kyuss sound with seeming nods to Foo Fighters and Black Flag) and Beaver, sludge rock from Holland, where you'd think there'd be lots of competition in the stoner rock field, and yep, they're good.
We first heard Queens Of The Stone Age on a split with late great stoner rock legends Kyuss way back in 1997, and at the time, QOTSA, a side project of Kyuss axeman Josh Homme, didn't sound all that different than Kyuss, in fact in some ways it sounded even better, a little bit stranger, slightly more poppy, whatever it was we dug it, A LOT. Then came the first full length in 1998, and holy shit, an ass kicking, catchy as fuck, post stoner rock metallic pop wallop, every song a killer, heavy and hooky like few bands before or after. It's easy to forget how good that first QOTSA record really was, in the decade plus since, QOTSA have become a sort of mainstream/MTV/jock band, there have been multiple grammy nominations, there has also been the Eagles Of Death Metal, but if you can forget about all that, this reissue of that record will totally blow you away.
Reissued on Homme's own label, all of these songs sound as good as they did the first time around. The Kyuss vibe was still huge here, especially in Homme's blown out guitar tone, but Homme's vocals definitely suited these poppier songs, which while poppier, were still plenty heavy, just rife with groove and hooks killer chorus, and even more killer verses, the drums powerful and catchy in their own way (a bit like Dave Grohl's drumming in Nirvana, where you find your self humming drum fills!), and the songs, unbeatable. "Regular John" melds thick distorto riffage with some sweet vocalizing, and some cool mathy arrangements, and some crazy catchy melodies, while "Avon" is a dirgey doomy slice of chugging heaviness, but it too is impossibly poppy, a sound so distinctly QOTSA at this point, but when we first heard this stuff, we were so smitten, and we're realizing we sort of still are.
This is one of those records where we could go track by track, and talk about every one and how rad it is, and the thing is, a record that's both heavy and poppy, metallic and sorta weird, those records are rare, few and far between, and odds are like us, it's probably been a while since you've heard this, so might be time to revisit, and odds are you'll kick yourself for not listening to this all the time, cuz it RULES.
One complaint, the new version comes in a slipcover with a huge CENSORED over the original artwork, a black light style painting of a scantily clad woman, hardly censor worthy, makes us wondering if it was a plot to titillate, or simply a requirement to get into Walmart and other conservative spots, either way, kinda silly...
It may be difficult to believe at this point, but we don't actually love everything from Finland. Nor do we love everything from Japan. And what might be equally hard to believe, is that we don't love every band with a crazy name, a monicker equal parts ridiculousness and ultraviolence, Lord Of The Rings and Star Wars, medieval and futuristic. Nor does the presence of flute supersede all other sonic considerations. And being chaotic and damaged and heavy and downright baffling is not, on its own, enough (although it's very very close).
But, and this is the very big BUT we must concern ourselves with here, we do love EVERY SINGLE band we've heard who hail from Japan, via Finland, with an awesomely over the top super metal name, who are heavy and noisy and mathy and fucked up and sort of black metal, and have tons and tons of FLUTE. But then again, there's only one band that fits that description. Japan's Quest For Blood. Released on Jussi from Circle's Ektro label, championed by Reverend Bizarre's Albert Witchfinder (who also did the artwork and wrote the band's bio on the Ektro website), who create a dizzying complex bombast of proggy heaviness, of complex arrangements, of blackened metallic majesty, all gnarled riffing, furious drumming, riffy and groovy and buzzy, and flute everywhere, and it's the flute that defines the sound of Quest For Blood, whose sound is both metal and some sort of jazz, equally composed and abstract, black and buzzy, epic and deliriously dense, heavy yet folky and free. Quest For Blood began life as a slightly more traditional black metal band called Magane, but after a chance meeting with Yukihiro Isso, who had in the past played with Tatsuya Yoshida and Keiji Haino, the band changed direction, and blossomed into something else entirely, creating a sound never really heard before, and a sound that we now realize is one we had been fantasizing about for ages, black metal, Japanese folk, wild free flute, blast beats, weird chanted vocals, well, okay, we -would- have fantasized about it, had we ever imagined a band like that could actually exist. Well...
If you're anything like us, you'll be hooked after the first track, which begins with what sounds like Jew's harp and marimba, before launching into some blackened post metal riffing, over which a flute flutters and soars over the top, at once intense and melodic, but also airy and ethereal, it's like super dense metallic math rock meets black metal meets jazzprog, until suddenly the band drops out, leaving just solo flute, for 2 plus minutes, wild free jazz fluttery, folky, freaky, the melodies chaotic and complex one second, gentle and lilting the next, squeaks, skronks, wheezes, whistles, the sound falling somewhere between traditional Shakuhachi folk music and manic free jazz. Until finally, the band return, with some Japanese chanting, and epic Viking style riffery, the flute flitting right along, in its own way as aggressive and intense as the riffing beneath it. The second song follows suit, a roiling churning melee of riffs and blast beats, of serpentine riffing, of buzz and crunch, the flute again weaving dense tangled webs of melody draped over everything, a constant fluttering flitting sonic presence, relentless and breathless and truly dizzying.
The whole record is truly relentless, the flute in full on wild solo jam mode continuously, as the band wind and weave various metallic frameworks underneath. And while the sound is dynamic in its own way, it's also utterly ferocious and unrelenting, occasionally allowed some space, when the song unwinds and the flute is left to drift in long stretches of abstract shimmer, or the band slips into something slightly less manic, but for the most part, this is a gloriously mind blowing progjazzmathmetal onslaught.
As if the record wasn't already weird enough, it gets even weirder, and more varied, near the end, as the songs become more dynamic, the arrangements more stop / start, the various woodwinds offering up underwater gurgles and squiggly manic melodies, than more traditional flute sounds. "Yayema" sounds almost gospel-y, very melodic and dramatic, a little over the top, the melodies major key and majestic, but of course peppered with bursts of furious blasts and wild squall of flute freakout. "Uchina" begins like many of the other tracks, a jazz metal blow out, this time with raspy creature-like vocals, and some pounding piano, until the band drops out, leaving just drums and flute and vocals, reminding us a bit of a more freaked out version of that Dave Lombardo plays Vivaldi record, but with far out chanting, distant raspy vocalizations, all very tribal and weird, with a definite Ruins vibe, before launching back into full on metal mode, now with wailing guitar leads all tangled up with the wild flute.
The final track begins with solo flute, before the band joins in, all rough and raw and lo-fi, pounding out a simple mesmerizing riff, almost Circle style, the drums a murky thud, the flute ethereal and transcendent, eventually, the drums sputtering into some wide open space, before getting all wound up with streaks of scrabbly off kilter guitar in some sort of Ginn-ish guitar drum duel, laced with atonal piano pound, fiery flute and crumbling noisy chaos, finally finishing off in a blaze of metallic murk and abstract black jazz whatthefuck.
So awesome. And confusionally genius. Some seemingly impossible mix of black metal, free jazz, Italian prog, traditional Japanese folk, math rock and noise rock; a mind bending, ear melting mash up of Osanna, the Ruins, Absu, Solar Anus, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Comus, Cromagnon, Ghost, Finntroll, Jethro Tull, Circle, Xynfonica, and who the fuck knows what else.
Needless to say, or perhaps worth saying over and over and over. WAY RECOMMENDED. And another contender for metal (or whatever) record of the year.
Not sure why we never listed the first record from these guys, but we figured record number two was the perfect opportunity to right that wrong. Quest For Fire are a band of psychedelic space rockers from Canada, who craft gorgeously brooding and occasionally explosive psychrock epics, slow burning string laden drifts that gradually build into explosive psychedelic squalls, or swirling shoegazey folk pop blowouts, equal parts Godspeed You Black Emperor, Spacemen 3, and Kyuss, or maybe Queens Of The Stoneage, since there is definitely a distinct pop element here. Unlike some of our other favorite psychedelic jammers, Quest For Fire seem first and foremost concerned with songs, sure the songs do often unfurl into extended spaced out megajams, but most of the tracks here barely crack the 5 minute mark, and a few hover around the 3 minute pop song mark. Those are definitely the most succinct and hookiest. "Set Out Alone" is a fuzz drenched stomper, the vocals weary and laid back, but the guitars crunchy and crumbly, the drums wild and propulsive, the song peppered with killer psych leads. "Strange Vacation" is strummy washed out psychedelic pop drift, sounding very sixties, while "In The Place Of A Storm" sounds a bit like some Monster Magnet / Spacemen 3 hybrid. We also hear plenty of Wooden Shjips, Sleepy Sun and other modern psychedelic sonic explorers throughout.
Then there are the longer songs, that manage to be the perfect mix of QfF's folky psych pop, and seriously in-the-red space rock psychedelia, like on the 9+ minute close "Sessions Of Light", which spends most of its time brooding and drifting and smoldering, driven by a stripped down loping rhythm, and gorgeous world weary Pink Floyd-ish vocals, but when the band finally let loose, it's epic, and heavy and intense and explosive! Definitely one of those times you wish the song went on for another 10 minutes, just so you these guys could go wild, and we could luxuriate in the epic spaced out shredding.
Seriously great stuff. Definitely recommended for fans of Wooden Shjips, Sleepy Sun, Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound, Comets On Fire and any of the current crop of like minded sonic explorers...
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Hardcore intensity that veers into math-y territory at times. Seriously shredded vocal chords. The harsh and raw side of California emo-core. Recorded by Ryan Massey of American Steel.
Question Mark are indeed obscure... but when you hear 'em it'll be no mystery why we think they're awesome! And, despite some similar garagey allegiances, they're not to be confused with Detroit's ? & The Mysterians from the '60s. This Question Mark is a band from Africa, circa 1974. That's right, yet another one to add to the grand stash of international psych reissue riches being industriously dug up by labels like Shadoks, Soundway, and Now-Again. Yep, we've all been lucky lately, getting reissues of '70s groovy garage fuzz groove monsters from Zambia's "Zam Rock" scene (Rikki Ililonga, Witch, Amanaz, Chrissy Zebby Tembo, Ngozi Family), also from Nigeria (Blo, Ofege, Tirogo) and Ghana too (The Psychedelic Aliens)... Now here's Question Mark, a Nigerian band who recorded this, their sole album, in Kenya. And they totally fit right in with those mentioned. Really, all we should need to say is that, if you like the same label's earlier reissues of Witch and Tirogo and the rest, you'll want Question Mark.
Fuzz guitar, pulsating organ, driving beats, it's irresistible stuff, with that definite African "feel" to the rhythms, though the pleasant vocals are all in English (most of the lyrics are about girls: "Oh My Girl", "Hey Hey Girl", "Mary Anne") and clearly Question Mark's music is indebted to Western influences, especially the softer songs like the sunshiney "Oh My Girl" sounding like they could be off an American Nuggets comp. But don't worry, they never get too "ordinary", there's also plenty of off-kilter psychedelic jamming and warbling organ, indeed they they follow that melodic number with the manic "Freaking Out", which by the way is the song here we realized we'd heard before, maybe you have too, it appeared on Soundway's compilation Nigeria Rock Special: Psychedelic Afro-Rock & Fuzz. And they really couldn't have selected anything more appropriate for a comp of that title! Well, unless they'd picked some of the other tracks from this album...
First time reissued on cd, complete with fat cd booklet packed with informative liner notes - there's an extensive interview about the history of the band with lead vocalist/organist Frank Izuorah and percussionist Uzo Agulefo, both of whom now reside in Texas (one's a family therapist, the other a Professor of Economics), who also offer their commentary on each of the disc's 8 tracks. Wherein we learn that the title track was their attempt at copying Ofege's style...
Debut from new David Yow (Jesus Lizard) fronted band.
Qui. Who? A francophone band now featuring the vocal stylings of the inimitable David Yow? Well, no, they're not really French, but Qui sounds just as foreign and incongruous to the man who wreaked havoc with his former bands Jesus Lizard and Scratch Acid! Many might not realize that this band existed prior to Yow's involvement (they have one pre-Yow album), and adding such a distinct and potent individual can undoubtedly raise a few eyebrows and issues. The main one: how to integrate the two entities without it becoming the Yow Show. Fortunately both Yow and Qui's original members Matt Cronk and Paul Christensen are up for the challenge. He's still unquestionably untethered and unhinged, but it manifests itself in different ways and sounds. They're trippy and strange and as defiant and fucked up as pretty much everything else on Mike Patton's Ipecac label.
Qui's sound cherry picks the ripest fruit of Jesus Lizard and Melvins and Frank Zappa and Pere Ubu.
For those who like their music loose slung, high strung, tightly wound and dampened with mysterious body fluid. Yow.
What's up with that cover though?
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Hot dang! Two discs of vintage Frisco ballroom '60s psych from the influential QMS. Disc one comes live from '68, showcasing Quicksilver's advanced abilities at both playing and arranging. The lineup is the same as on their first two classic albums, the self-titled debut and "Happy Trails" (meaning, the acid guitar sound of John Cipollina is in full-effect). Excellent live audio quality too. The material ranges from blues to folk to hardrock, including versions of "Back Door Man," "Codine," "Smokestack Lightning," "Who Do You Love," etc. The second disc features rare demos and alternate, early versions of QMS classics, as well as stuff from a film soundtrack and a single release.
Quickspace's third album is firmly planted in 1994 when Too Pure was a consistently good label with Moonshake, Stereolab, and th' Faith Healers (some of whose members consitute Quickspace, not surprisingly). Bracingly melodic yet dissonant indie-pop heralds a shoegazing revival. Oh yeah, there's a singing saw to prove that they've heard an Elephant 6 band or two.
Georgia's answer to Emeralds? That's probably not too far off the mark. Quiet Evenings are the psychedelically laced ambient duo of Rachel and Grant Evans; the former is known for her beloved Motion Sickness In Time Travel project which recently unleashed several epic albums for Digitalis that match monochromatic electronica to the humid surroundings of rural Georgia and plenty of stoned gazes up at the satellites orbiting the earth. Grant has his own moniker, Nova Scotia Arms, which up until now has released a bunch of cassettes of impressively washed-out psychedelic drone-song. Their Quiet Evenings project is suitably blissed-out in their slow-moving ambient constructs. "Manna From The New Age" is about as perfect as title as Quiet Evenings could give to one of their side-long tracks on Intrepid Trips. Splashes of guitar plucked with spectral effects and sodden delay ripple through the brightly toned ambient swoosh coupled with Rachel's voice extended into a sustained chorale. "Radiant Endless" interjects all of the smeared paisley ambience of classic Tangerine Dream and Popul Vuh with subtle sequenced percolations, oceanic currents of glowing synth-tone, and delicately crackles of what might as well be rain on a contact microphone. It easily harkens to John Elliott's work over the years in Emeralds, Outer Space, Imaginary Softwoods, etc. This beautifully trance-enducing album is pretty damn limited, just a little over 300 copies were made. All on purple vinyl and certainly not long for this world.
Great English prog group's only album, circa 1975, featuring Charles Hayward on drums (pre-This Heat). Also Phil Manzanera (Roxy Music) on guitar. Includes one of the best song titles ever: "Mummy Was An Asteroid, Daddy Was A Small Non-Stick Kitchen Utensil" (which is also one of the best tracks here, too).
So fresh, so lush, and so totally breezy that we've been glowing in summer's warmth with this as our soundtrack, on constant repeat. Quiet Village are a DJ Shadow style sampling duo who take full advantage of their crate digging expertise and a great ear for the softer sounds in life, to create a really rewarding record that effortlessly skips through all sorts of musical landscapes. With nods to everything from the grandiose orchestration of David Axelrod, the smooth and soulful vibrations of Stevie Wonder, the exotica charm of Martin Denny, the new-age lightness of Andreas Vollenweider, the dreaminess of Air, and the more wistful and melancholic side of Ennio Morricone. In lesser hands what Quiet Village do would and has ended up being likable yet pretty innocuous 'chill-out' music, but with Silent Movie QV have created an album that has soul and a core and the perfect musical ingredients for a blissed out afternoon.
Full length number two from this Boston indie psych folk combo, whose first record got a lot of love around aQ, and this one might be even better. The sound could have been transported straight from the sixties or seventies, the only thing giving away the fact that this is NOT an old record, is the lush modern production, and the occasional burst of tripped out FX, but for the most part this is a perfect mix of jangly power pop, witchy psychedelic folk, and good old classic rock. The vocals are incredible, the harmonies lush and lovely. Vocalist Anna Fox Rochinski has one of those rare voices, that slips easily from wispy and ethereal to throaty and powerful, the oddly titled opener "Arctic Shark" is the perfect introduction, with Rochinski's vocals soaring into a fantastic falsetto, surrounded by clouds of sitar like buzz, rife with killer hooks and memorable melodies, a sweet little perfect pop gem, infused with some serious sixties psych shimmer. That track bleeds right into "Saturday Bride", which is much more rocking, still rife with that psychedelic buzz, the vibe here though Fleetwood Mac via Incredible String Band? Or something, sounds weird, but it's a pretty perfect pairing, and the whole record traffics in variations of that hybrid, some tracks sound a little Kinks-y, others sound like the early orchestral pop of the Bee Gees, some get all fuzzy and garage-y, and still others drift into Stereolab / New Lines / Rollo Treadway retro pop territory, but really, all the tracks here are gorgeous, and have been getting played like crazy lately. Just a fantastic collection of retro pop psychedelic folk dreaminess, that should definitely appeal to fans of classic popsmithery, but also new labels who dabble in modern strains of psych folks, neo-Appalachia and retro pop, like Woodsist, Sacred Bones, Captured Tracks, etc.
Quilt have returned with their third full length on psychedelic powerhouse label Mexican Summer and are sounding almost impossibly better than ever. Luscious Beatles-circa-Revolver-esque harmonies, perfectly light string arrangements, warm seventies jangly guitar, and a driving rhythm section contribute to the most timeless yet timely sound. Their amalgam of tripped out psychedelic folk rock and Kinks-y power pop manages to walk in step with, yet stand apart from, their contemporaries Real Estate, Woods, and Widowspeak. Anna Fox's simultaneously strong and shimmery vocals have hit a new high on Plaza (some of our favorite moments are on "Passerby" and "Hissing My Plea"), at times recalling Nico in her solo prime. This album is pure spun-gold, day-dreamy fun and we anticipate this gorgeous piece soundtracking all of our best spring adventures. (Bonus points: The radical "Roller" music video looks like a religious cult family as reimagined by Wes Anderson, plus seamless inclusion of roller skates. Too cool.)
This is the first we've heard from these Boston indie rockers, who find themselves on uber hip taste-making label Mexican Summer, which is definitely a good fit, although the more we listen, the more it almost sounds like something that could/should have been on Sacred Bones or Woodsist, it's a sort of jangly, dreamy, folky, psychedelic pop, the sound stripped down but still lovely and lush, the female vox wreathed in reverb and doused in some subtly but strange effects, and while on the surface, these songs sound pretty straight ahead, there's lots of weird stuff going on just below the surface, twisted melodies, all manner of swirling tripped out FX, the opening track starts off all simple and sunshiney jangle, but as it progresses, it seems to get dubbier and trippier and way more spaced out.
Which is basically a good description of Quilt's sound, a classic pop sound, equal parts psychedelic folk and seventies folk, we hear hints of Pentangle and Incredible String band, not to mention sixties SF style psych rock woven into the band's dreamy jangle and fuzzy blissed out shuffle.
A few of the tracks do get downright rocking, reminding us of the current crop of garage rockers, like Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, Mikal Cronin, etc (albeit with a subtle sort of hippie / Godspell vibe) but most of the record is spent somewhere else much more jangly and folky and fuzzy, washed out and sun dappled. Be sure and stick around for the closer, a killer chunk of freak folk Appalachian stomp.
