The current flavor of the day in the music scenester hype parade seems to be the Scissor Sisters, and they're definitely receiving the love 'em / hate 'em reception around AQ (more so the latter actually). The lovers aren't going to give a poop what we say, and likewise, the haters. Nonetheless, here's our take on this album...
An ultra party affair, a mishmash of already mishmashy genres such as faux soul, glammy rock, disco drag, and poncy new romantic! The album as a whole sorta made Cup think it was a 2004 remake of the Flashdance soundtrack complete with a "Maniac"-style aerobics class-ready track (see "Music Is The Victim"). Think of Scissor Sisters as plugging into a similarly contrived, irony-heavy, nostalgic vein as the combined excessively stylized and slickly produced forces of The Darkness and Fischerspooner. Sound good to you? Will probably be filed in many record libraries under "guilty pleasure".
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Take a healthy dose of the Brit rock swagger of Pulp, some Canadian earnest buoyancy a la Hot Hot Heat and a bit of the New York rawk slouch of The Strokes, mix well. Then give'r all a blast of Bay Area sun-kissed breeziness and you might find yourself cuttin' a rug with Scissors For Lefty. Unlike many of their contemporaries whose dance rock tunes are simply one dimensional repetitions of a so-so melodic line that rely heavily on the button-pushing 4/4 thump to do all the work for 'em, Scissors For Lefty's equally dancefloor worthy tracks are full-fledged songs that actually go somewhere, following charmingly witty story arcs. If they ever remake the movie Valley Girl, the album's ninth song "Got Your Moments" should be first in line to appear on the soundtrack! Fun!
Siltbreeze continues to reissue some of our favorite classic underground New Zealand rarities, a while back there was the amazing Pin Group reissue, and now we have this, the complete recorded works of Scorched Earth Policy, who existed for 2 or 3 years in the mid eighties, and only ever recorded two 12"s for the legendary Flying Nun label, both of which are collected here. And while you might not know Scorched Earth Policy, you no doubt know some of the bands the various members also did time in: Vacuum, Pin Group, Terminals, Max Block, Renderers and a bunch more. The sound of Scorched Earth Policy was a sort of post punk flecked psychedelic garage rock, lots of low slung basslines, simple stripped down drumming, whirring organs, jagged angular riffage and fuzzed out jangle, boy/girl vocals, even some violin. The core 'sound' of SEP will definitely be familiar to fans of Flying Nun and NZ rock of the time, and everybody who digs the Bats and the Chills and the 3D's, the Verlaines, Snapper, etc, will probably dig these guys too (if they don't already) but even within that recognizable sound, the band definitely did their own thing, whether it was wild, loose punky jangle, or woozy, creepy almost country (foreshadowing the Renderers for sure), fuzzy playful poppiness, or brooding post punk, haunting organ driven balladry (which reminds us of Peter Jefferies as well!), or swaggery noise rock crunch. So good!
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!!! Includes a download coupon as well!!
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If Belle & Sebastian went bad, had a penchant for petty arson, fist fights, and heavy drinking, and wrote some downright mean pop songs, they would have been New Zealand's Scorched Earth Policy. "Keep Away From The Wires" collects the handful of the recordings made during the tumultous career of the band which only lasted from 1982 - 1986 after which the band dissolved to focus on other projects like The Terminals, The Pin Group, and The Renderers.
Nuclear Blast, after wowing us with the latest from Kadavar and the debut from Free Fall, not to mention the as yet un-aQ-reviewed new album from unabashed Sabbath appropriators Orchid, have just come out with ANOTHER catchy, killer album in the '70s retro-rock style, the debut full-length by a bombastic band from Austin, Texas called Scorpion Child. These guys list proto-metal & heavy krautrock acts like Pentagram, Hairy Chapter and Lucifer's Friend as influences, and yeah, we hear those for sure, but it must be admitted that they also have a bit of Sunset Strip swagger to 'em, if they were from LA in the '80s they'd probably have made it onto MTV. That's in part 'cuz the lead singer's raucous wailing vox are very Robert Plant-ish, and a lot of the '80s hair bands were trying really hard to sound like Led Zeppelin after all - so Scorpion Child woulda fit right in with the likes of Badlands or Blue Murder, ferinstance. They even throw in some Zeppish power ballady acoustic stylings on the album closing epic "Red Blood (The River Flows)". The singer also reminds us a lot of Dave King from Fastway, which we consider a plus. But Scorpion Child definitely sport a grittier, more vintage sound that all you '70s proto-metal lovers out there will dig, rocking out like a more party-hardy Graveyard or something, with muscular grooves, sticky choruses, and that aforementioned sensual yowl leading the charge. Just listen to tracks like "Kings Highway" or "Polygon Of Eyes"... one word (or is it two?) will do: badass.
Domestic vinyl version soon forthcoming. The gatefold compact disc includes a bonus track, that may or may not also be on the vinyl, however.
Ok. Go to YouTube and watch this: http://youtube.com/watch?v=8nTGTCSGj30&mode=related&search=
Now, buy this album.
What, you need more???
Ok, but don't think we won't try that ploy again.
So, if'n you don't know, 1972's Lonesome Crow was the first ever album from Germany's Scorpions, a band later to become worldwide heavy metal hitmakers. Here, though, their not-so-humble beginnings are in the realm of heavy, hippie, progressive KRAUTROCK. Of course. In fact, this Conny Plank produced debut was the first ever release in the legendary Brain label 1000-series, catalog number Brain 1001 (and thus it's now getting a nice digipack cd reissue via the Revisited label, along with classic krautrock albums by Klaus Schulze, Eroc, Novalis, and others). It's fully psychedelic heaviness, seriously Sabbathy in spots, featuring the glorious fly-you-to-the-rainbow vocal stylings of a then-bearded and not-yet-balding Klaus Meine and, on virtuoso lead guitar, Michael Schenker, the 16 year old brother of rhythm guitarist Rudy! Young Schenker would soon split the Scorps for what at the time were greener pastures in England's UFO, but since his replacement was the godly Uli Jon Roth, the Scorpions saw no slacking in the dep't. of axe mastery. Still, this first album is definitely sits on its own lonely throne amongst all the amazing early Scorpions records (up thru the last one with Uli, 1977's Taken By Force, you can't really go wrong!).
So fans of the psychedelic proto-metal and krautrock too should check this out...no, it's not like they sound like Can or Faust... but it's not too far off from some Amon Duul II, Lucifer's Friend, Nektar, or even Necronomicon. The title track clocks in at over 13 murky, majestic minutes (that's prog!). And the riffs, well the riffs definitely are Hendrix-Cream-Sabbath influenced, on the road to true metal, sorta an earlier parallel to the evolution of another great '70s metal act, Judas Priest, whose first album was also on the druggy, psychedelic side.
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
Just realized that this '70s metal essential was now available at a bargain price - we've got 'em for only five bucks, while they last! From 1978, long before their MTV fame in the '80s, this was the last studio album by the Scorps to feature the guitar playing of Hendrix-obsessed genius-in-his-own-right Uli Jon Roth, and it features one of Uli's most classic compositions: "The Sails Of Charon", a truly majestic metal milestone. The whole album is a metal milestone, really, 'cause it's one on which you can actually hear "proto-metal" giving way to pure metal metal, the kind that would give rise to the NWOBHM, Metallica, speed metal, thrash, etc., etc., via straight up galloping metal steeds, like "Steamrock Fever" and "He's A Woman - She's A Man". The Scorps, who got their start in the '60s, are still sorta psychedelic on Taken By Force, but so heavy and dark and speedy and gothic. Groovy hippie acoustic strum slams into utter heavy howling headbanging epic riff mania all over the place here. Uli, "The Sails Of Charon" aside, is responsible for most of the hippie stuff, of course, contributing "Foxy Lady" like rocker "I've Got To Be Free" and the beautiful (with bongos!) "Your Light", some majestic jangle there all right. And having mentioned Uli, we should also mention vocalist Klaus Meine, whose performance here also kills, whether screaming his head off, or singing a delicate, tearful ballad (with strings) like album-closer "Born To Touch Your Feelings".
For the longest time, this was a difficult Scorpions disc to come by, we remember searching out expensive import copies, so if you're just picking it up now you're lucky to get it so cheap! And it'd be well worth it at thrice the price, or more, anyway. We can't really do it justice in this brief review. '70s Scorps rules!
Remastered, this edition including two bonus tracks, the cowbell-heavy "Suspender Love" and a live version of "Polar Nights" (but the latter's from Tokyo Tapes, so not such a bonus if you already have that).
NOW ON VINYL!
Another manic blast of freaked out 8-bit jams from this curiously monickered purveyor of blown out video game gabber. The sound of Scotch Egg is a bit hard to describe, the closest we can get is, maybe imagine being in an arcade, playing your favorite eighties video game, when inexplicably, lightning strikes the arcade, and the electricity surges through the wiring and right into the video game you're playing, suddenly, the machine freaks out, shooting sparks, the characters on the screen transform into weird shapes and start doing unspeakable things, and the sounds, oh the sounds, that music you grew up with, the soothing lullaby of primitive computer melodies, gone totally haywire, exploding into squalls of utter 8-bit chaos, the rhythms fast and furious tangled and chaotic, flurries of tones, melodies become gnarled and dizzying.
You know that part in Galaga where the mother ship comes down and captures one of your men so you can shoot id down later and have a dual shooter? The sound it makes when it sends out its green and blue tractor beam? Now imagine that sound stretched into a whole song, with the dude from Hella going apeshit on the drums in the background. That perfectly describes one of the songs here. Some of the other tracks sound like the Boredoms if they were transported back to the eighties and tapped to do music for Dig Dug and Mr. Do. Or maybe imagine Venetian Snares, zapped Tron style and beamed into a video game, and these are his desperate musical cries for help. Sound wacked? Well, it is, WAY wacked.
The sounds are all over the map, many you'll recognize as being purloined from some of your favorite video games, but here, they're just tiny parts of a ear pummeling barrage of sound, from Melt Banana style video game grind, to weirdly intense 8-bit drones, all the 'death' music from video games stretched out into actual songs, There are some real drums here and there, some guitar, some fucked up vocals, some tracks even sound like damaged video game free jazz, while others sound like creepy computer math rock, but for the most part it's just frenzied electronic gabber video game lo-fi 8-bit freak out dancefloor destroying mayhem and we LOVE it. Be sure and stick around for the final track, a weird looped groove assembled from what sounds like a tape recorded video game, all lo fi and muddy, but here looped and assembled into some druggy repetitive almost krautrocky drone jam.
Simon Scott produced one of the best records of 2009 with Navigare, an album whose shoegaze dronemusic was dotted with radioluminescent dream-pop numbers. It was hardly a surprise to us when we learned that he was the drummer of Slowdive way back when. Since then, Scott has produced a single for Immune and a collaboration with Jasper TX, both equally fantastic. For his second proper record, Scott makes a slight detour; but one that is well suited to everything else that's been released by the hauntologically leaning Miasmah records. The album opens with a languid series of smoke and mirror abstractions flickering above a nocturnal jazz rhythm that gives way to a Caretaker-esque melody of disembodied historicism amidst subterranean clatter and eerie scrapings. A walking bassline follows this as the only constant to the next track "Betty" whose distant cacophonous guitars slide into audibility through a dense fog of reverb, with a trip along the drumkit taking one tempestuous fill before succumbing to Scott's omnivorous reverb, sounding not all that far from Supersilent at their grooviest and some of those bleached Crescent instrumentals, if anybody remembers that Bristol outfit. With the breathtaking "Radiances," Scott relives his shoegaze past with a song directly out of the Slowdive playbook: a halo of guitar ambience brightens a classic Brit-pop maudlin rhythm section, where the droning slipperiness of the guitar is perfectly countered by the easy pace of the bassline. It really does sound like "Albatross" off of the Blue Day album by Slowdive, and we mean that as quite a high complement. Scott reprises this dream-pop sensibility on the equally deft "Drilla," with electro-static crackling and plenty of ephemeral drone-guitar work to fill in the blanks.
Ah, Miasmah! After the likes of Elegi, Jacazek, and Kreng, we're pretty much automatically interested in any new release on Norway's Miasmah label. Like this one. Add in some bits of trivia, like that Scott was once the drummer for shoegazers Slowdive, and that this disc features a guest cameo from another Miasmah artist we love, Jasper TX, and we're already pretty intrigued. We also weren't at all surprised, but certainly pleased, by the gentle swells of ambient sonics that seep sleepily from the speakers when one hits play. The first two tracks, "Introduction Of Cambridge" and "Under Crumbling Skies", are blissfully replete with quiet hum and shimmering textures, forming into and out of drifting diaphanous melodies, blurry and melancholic. Some sparse, slowed down drum skitter adds a touch of Bohren to the proceedings in the first track, while the second employs a glorious chorus of angelic drones, that graces one's ears again and again throughout the disc.
Then, suddenly upping the volume, the third track "Flood Inn" seemingly enters into a subterranean realm full of soft fuzzy distortion. Quasi-industrially rhythmic, with a distant tolling bell heard amidst the crackle, this is ambience of the heavier (but not harsh) variety, almost like something from a Nadja or Jesu album.
Having given warning of a more sinister side, the disc continues on, with seven tracks more, being a beautiful blend of dreaminess, drone and distortion. There are almost pop songs hidden here, with buried rhythms and barely-there vocals (in one instance contributed by 12K's Sanae Yamasaki, aka Moskitoo), electronic treatments rendering the sound sources (guitar, sitar, violin, cello, flute, field recordings, voice, ???) all one lush, hushed, beautifully bleary, gorgeous warm bath of song-like drone...
It's a moodier, shoegazier take on Pop Ambient perhaps, certainly something that fans of Tim Hecker, Fennesz, Final, Jasper TX, and of course those other Miasmah wonders should check out!
Yay! More from the UK dronester with two first names, who was once upon a time the drummer for shoegazers Slowdive, but only really recently came to our attention via his full-length for the Miasmah label last year, entitled Navigare. We loved, loved, loved that record, as we do most things Miasmah, and compared it to everything from Nadja to Jesu to Jasper TX to Tim Hecker... Now Scott is back with a four-song mini-lp follow-up for the Immune imprint, a vinyl-only 12" that comes with an mp3 download coupon. It's 24 minutes or so of of shimmering, shifting, sometimes sombre, dense drone bliss. Consisting of calm crackle, haunting hum, and buried melody, these abstract soundscapes are immersive, Pop Ambient drift that's physical, yet soothing. Originally begun during the Navigare sessions, but completed later, we're told, these tracks certainly share much in common with Navigare in terms of mood and method (they're apparently, though not that obviously, constructed from digitally processed acoustic instruments, and field recordings, among other sound sources). Mysterious though they may be, we're somehow not surprised when we're further told that certain of Scott's inspirations for these songs include a bout of tinnitus he once suffered, and the sad fate of an alcoholic submariner relative of his.
We wish we had the language - the poetry - to say more about this, to really put into words what this sounds like, but maybe that's not necessary anyway. Those of you appreciative of music like this, addicted to music like this, hopefully already have an inkling that this is for you from what we've already said (or what you've already heard), to which we'll only add our typical, but meaningful, "Nice".
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES.
We dug this album the first time it crossed our path in 2004. Now it's been reissued by those fine folks at Three Ring Records, and in the process it's acquired a delightful new song (a cover of +/-'s "Yo Yo Yo") and a mastering treatment!
Here's what we said about it last year: Hurray! SF indie pop craftin' Scrabbel (formerly a duo now the solo project of Dan Lee with some help from his musical pals) didn't keep us waiting for their second full length (the way they did for their first... just kiddin'!). Ever so gentle and contemplative, the album's much less spritely and more melancholic than its predecessor. Some of their song titles suggest an ending of things ("Last Train", "Out Of Time" and their cover of The Kinks' "Waterloo Sunset"), and the music itself gradually makes it way into your heart with a well-placed wistful ache or two. Dan's vocals are at times quite reminiscent of Death Cab's Ben Gibbard, and when combined with his friend Natalie's, the overall sound is like what we'd imagine comin' from Yo La Tengo's younger cousins. They start things off with the very Big Star-y harmonious "Sena Song". Other songs seem tossed together in a carefree, meandering fashion, but it's definitely not disorganized nor messy. There's a subtle order to their loosely woven gauzy pop arrangements of acoustic guitars, strings and organs. This is particularly the case on their soaring Beatles-esque finale "Riot Series". Their songs alternately take you for a dreamy stroll beneath the shade of weeping willow trees or reach out sweetly like a tentative hand to hold. Recommended!
We've been waitin' so long for these folks' to bring copies of this in. They dropped off a copy for us to check out many months ago, to which we swiftly said "yes, please!". At last it's here and just in time for summer, and y'know what? That's the perfect season for Scrabbel's debut! These two pals of the Aislers Set (actually Dan Lee is the new keyboardist for the 'Set, while Becky Baron can also be found behind the drumkit for the band #Poundsign#) fit well alongside A.S., exuding a youthful sing-song air that also made me think of a less hyper, acoustic Apples In Stereo - perhaps in part due to their girl/boy buttercream icing vocals and strummy guitars. However, they do throw their own tasty twists and shimmies in there: a mellow loungey organ melody, a lo-fi drum machine beat, an assortment of kitschy samples and various other noisemakers (horns and kazoos!). Delightful.
Finally got more of these back in! Now in a jewel case with a few extra photos. Still super limited, so we're not sure how long we'll have these in stock. If you want one, don't dawdle. Amazing seminal punk group the Screamers hailed from Seattle/LA and,
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Much like the equally amazing Cramps Live At Napa State Mental Hospital video, for years this live footage of the Screamers' seminal synth-punk action has been circulating in increasingly grainy, on the verge of disintegrating VHS copies. Not anymore! This must-see legendary video document has finally been dvd'd! Hallelujah! Hell yeah!
It was the chilling fury that Liz Mahoney brought to Screature's recent gig opening for Lydia Lunch here in San Francisco in the summer of 2015 that caused us to really stand up and take notice of the band. Let's be clear though, Screature's post-punk propulsion and unsmiling drone rock never achieved the searing misanthropy of Lydia Lunch's four decades of hellish show-womanship. Yup, that something for Screature to strive for! But that's nothing to diminish how good this band is, and how great their records continue to be.
Four Columns is their second album, and there's no sign of a sophomore slump here. This follows the perpetual car-crash of black denim goth that Screature delivered on their eponymous debut. Mahoney's full-bodied voice bellows with all of the operatic falsetto of Diamanda Galas and Siouxsie (especially on her notoriously bar-clearing rendition of "The Lord's Prayer"), while the band behind her rips through the songs with a serrated, pneumatic pulse of jagged guitar riffs akin to Killing Joke and early Christian Death, with thumping backbeats that keep the clock ticking rather quick-like while alternating between disco-punk grooviness and VU-primitivism, and bass-synth lines that give this a psychoid Martin Rev feel to the whole album. Modern day, death-rock par excellence!
We got some flak for being honest with our disappointment for the recent turn that Zola Jesus took away from the more feral approach of her earlier recordings on Sacred Bones and towards a more polished approach for her Mute records. Part of the criticism on our part has been that she's really never worked with a guitarist, instead going with electronics and sometimes live drums even during her earliest recordings. But if she WERE to have fronted an emaciated goth-punk quartet on a Christian Death / Rubella Ballet tip, it might have sounded as good Screature - a totally amazing deathrock outfit from Sacramento. This is their first album, from 2013, which originally was a self-released affair only to now get a small repress via Sacramento's punk-HQ, SS Records, produced by one of the dudes from A Frames. The biggest WTF? about this band might be that their debut show was opening for Death Grips. No pressure there. But with the full-bodied voice from Liz Mahoney at the foreground, Screature has nothing to worry about in terms of their confidence to belt, scream, yelp, and howl. She's got an amazing side kick in guitarist Chris Orr, who is Rik Agnew to her Rozz Williams (that being the infernal guitar / voice axis to the first Christian Death line-up). The rhythm section is pretty back-to-basics with duotone bass-synth hammerings courtesy Sarah Scherer and Dum Dum backbeats from Miranda Vera. These driving Siouxsie / X-Mal inspired songs are certainly driven by Mahoney's presence with the scalpel slicing / suburban gloom colored by Orr's guitar; and they make for one hell of a great record - yup, the one that Zola Jesus should have been making years ago.
By the way, this is their first album, but SS has also just released a brand new Screature as well, Four Columns, on both vinyl and cd, that we also have in stock and will doubtless be reviewing (and raving about) soon, too.
We first heard the Scrotum Poles on one of those Messthetics collections, and obviously we were intrigued by the name, though weirdly enough, their sound didn't live up the puerile promise (threat?) of their band name, instead the 'Poles trafficked in some seriously hooky punkish pop, way more pop than punk, similar to say the Television Personalities or even the Go-Betweens at times. This long in the works reissue compiles a load of unreleased home and studio recordings from these Scottish punks, and they're pretty fantastic, catchy, hooky, stumbly, the sound ultra lo-fi, murky and muddy, but the dodgy recording suits the songs, which range from solo acoustic rave ups to pounding punkish jams, pure power pop to sloppy super rocking indie jangle, and several shades in between. After only a handful of listens we've been finding ourselves with lot of these tracks firmly lodged in our heads, which pretty much says it all.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES. Packed with photos and lyrics and liner notes, and housed in a thick fold out sleeve.
We first stumbled upon Scrotum Poles (sounds painful!) about a year and a half ago with the Auchmithie Forever anthology, knowing not much else other than their contribution to one of those cool Messthetics comps and the fact that they owned one of the best AND worst band names of all time. Hey, that's a start.
Scrotum Poles sprang to life in the late 1970s in a sea of similarly shambolic punk bands forming all over the UK and the rest of the world, though the sound is also quite similar to what's happening in the indie realm here in 2011. Jangly, scuzzy, snotty, and catchy as all hell, you would be forgiven if you mistook these guys for a bunch of young upstarts on Siltbreeze or Woodsist. Or, ya know, the Dulc-I-Tone label itself. But this five song 7" is in fact from 1980, and if you dig Television Personalities (who the band professes their love of on the sleeve), Orange Juice, and 14 Iced Bears (on uppers), then Revelation should find a nice home on your shelf. Side 1, the "Sad Side" begins with "Why Don't You Come Out Tonight?", a jangling minor key number with sort of Zombies-ish vocals, as sung by a crazy art punk. It's a great way to kick off the record and much more serious than you would expect from a band counting Burt Spurt and Smeg Pole among its members. "Night Train" is an ominous plodding number, very much in the vein of Wire. The "Happy Side" begins, happily enough, with "Pick The Cat's Eyes Out". For a band with a firm grasp on super catchy jangle pop, Scrotum Poles' nihilistic side still cuts through the bullshit, and boy does it sound fun. "Helicopter Honeymoon" is another frenzied number teeming with snotty energy, and the record closes with "Radio Tay", the punkest moment on here. It's funny, after taking in all those awesome Crass reissues, we find ourselves more and more interested in the crazy skiffle influenced origins of punk rock, and this tune flows with a similarly herky jerky abandon.
Another welcome archival reissue that's made us want to find out more about whatever the hell made these guys tick.
First new music in 17 years from the aQ beloved Scud Mountain Boys, whose records predated the advent of the overly verbose extended tomes that the aQ list reviews have become, so the reviews of those records that we did manage for the Scuds were only a couple sentences long, when in fact, those records, ALL of their records, were deserving of so much more. In those reviews we mention late great SF mope rockers American Music Club, Gram Parsons, even the Eagles (but as we clarify, only if the Eagles were melancholy, introspective nerds!), and those comparisons still most definitely ring true, of course fans of Bonnie Prince Billy, Fleet Foxes and other modern retro, country/folk sadsacks who have yet to discover the joys of the Scuds, will be in heaven, and will most likely find themselves needing to track down every Scud record they can.
Scud frontman Joe Pernice has been plenty busy since the dissolution of the Scuds, recording a bunch of records under his own name and in groups like the Pernice Brothers, Chappaquiddick Skyline and the new Mendicants, and the return to the Scud Mountain Boys is really not that much of a sonic shift, most notably, shedding some of the classic pop-isms that defined Pernice's post-Scud projects, and returning to a stripped down, hushed, melancholic country music, most tracks just an acoustic guitar, super minimal bass, stripped down drumming, some reverby lap steel and vocals, and it's really all about Pernice's delicate dreamy vocals, which sound as perfect as they did back in the day, delivering aching laments in a voice that's so distinctive, and melodies that immediately take us back to the early Scud records, the opening two tracks set the stage with some of the most hushed and haunting Scud loveliness we've heard, the opener sounds like it could have been recorded for one of the old records, pitch perfect Scuds, adding some lush impossibly perfect vocal harmonies, while the second track is a gorgeously wistful twang flecked lament that totally tug at the heartstrings. And so it goes, gorgeous country ballad after soft psychedelic country rocker, some of the other Scuds take their turns at the mic, but for the most part, this remains Pernice's show, and pretty much every track here is a total stunner, we can't even remember a time when a band reformed after so long and made a record this good, and this much like records from the group's classic era, without sounding like a tired rehash, in fact, Do You Love The Sound pretty much sounds like it could have been recorded right after the group's 1996 swansong Massachusetts.
Welcome back Scud Mountain Boys, oh how we missed you.
More mature and full-sounding than Dance the Night Away, this is the album that ought to earn Scud Mtn Boys a place in heaven *and* a place in yr sad heart, preferably the one vacated by American Music Club now that Mark is writing 'jazz' (well he called it that himself but as long as he's happy then we're happy you know). Not that Scud Mtn Boys sound anything like AMC; they're much closer to the Eagles and Gram Parsons' slow songs. Lyrics so plaintive, plain, stark, beautiful. Highly recommended.
This double-cd set reissues the out-of-print Pine Box (never before on cd!) and Dance The Night Away albums by this AQ-all-time-favorite band. As if the Eagles were melancholy, introspective nerds. So many beautiful, sad, lovely songs!
The soundtrack to Jon Moritsugu's latest award-winning independent film - this one about the tangled struggles of indie filmmakers and indie bands - is just as packed with friends of AQ as the film itself. Dustin from I Am Spoonbender plays the bad-ass Church, our very own Cup and J-Church's Lance Hahn make cameo appearances as eager film students, and Windy's bitchin' Trans Am even has a guest spot! The soundtrack features ample doses of Casiotone For The Painfully Alone and J-Church, as well as Moritsugu and Amy Davis' own band Toni Ann. Good, raw, lo-fi fun!
A couple years after making its rounds of the indie film fest circuits (heck, we've had the soundtrack for ages!), Jon Moritsugu's latest film Scumrock is finally available on dvd!!!
As we mentioned in the cd's review, the film revolves around the tangled struggles of indie filmmakers and indie bands. It features many AQ-familiar faces including a pre-TV On The Radio Kyp Malone in one of the lead roles, Moritsugu's partner in crime and awesome illustrator Amy Davis, I Am Spoonbender's Dustin Donaldson as the bad-ass Church, fellow filmmakers Craig Baldwin and Danny Plotnick, J-Church's Lance Hahn and our own Cup as eager film students, and let's not forget Windy's ol' Trans Am! Oh, and there's James Duval (aka Donnie Darko's Frank aka the freaky bunny) too. Plus music by Casiotone For The Painfully Alone, J-Church, and Moritsugu and Davis' band Toni-Ann. Have we missed anyone?
Unflinchingly dedicated to keepin' it raw 'n' real, this renegade indie filmmaker keeps on keepin' on and critics and kids continue to shower him the accolades. Scumrock received some very high honors and hip cred including 'Best Feature' at both the Chicago and New York Underground Film Festivals and one of the Village Voice film critics' pick of 2003. Be forewarned though if you're an image- and/or audio-phile seeking crystal clarity, the glare'n'grit laden Scum Rock might not be for you. Possessing an appreciation for all of the different qualities and kinds of film and video, Moritsugu doesn't look at one as better than another. No, he view the image 'quality' variances as simply a personality trait of each format. He just as much celebrates the overblown, hazy images caught on Hi-8 as the razor crispness of HD. He'll shoot in whatever format suits his current creative vision and the project's budget. Degraded images and distorted sound are all part of Moritsugu's wild underground film playground. In turn, dizzying, disorienting, giddy, awkward, and sincere.
Moritsugu fans, we've been alerted that next in line for dvd-ification will be Fame Whore! ----* ----* In Stock, Not Yet Reviewed : ----* If you want to order one of these, just cut and paste the info into the comments area on the order form, or just email mailorder@aquariusrecords.org. 3/4 HAD BEEN ELIMINATED "A Year Of The Aural Gauge Operation" (Hapna) cd 16.98 ACID BATH "Demos: 1993-1996" (Rotten) cd 14.98 AFRICAN BROTHERS / KING TUBBY "The African Brothers Meet King Tubby In Dub" (Nature Sounds) cd 14.98 ALPHANE MOON / OUR GLASSIE AZOTH "Experimenting With An Amen / The Magician's Heavenly Chaos" (Oggum) cd 15.98 ANOREXIA NERVOSA "The September E.P." (Listenable) cd ep 13.98 ANTONY & THE JOHNSONS "You Are My Sister" (Secretly Canadian) cd ep 5.98 AOKI TAKAMASA + TUJIKO NORIKO "28" (Fat Cat) cd 15.98 ARCTURUS "Sideshow Symphonies" (Season Of Mist) cd 16.98 BAUHAUS "Shadow of Light / Archive" (Beggars Banquet) dvd 15.98 BIBLE OF THE DEVIL "Brutality - Majesty - Eternity" (Scarey Records) cd 11.98 BIGG JUS "Poor People's Day" (Mush) cd 14.98 BJORK "Medula Videos" (Elektra) dvd 15.98 BORBETOMAGUS "Barbed Wire Maggots" (Agaric) cd 15.98 BRIGHT "Bells Break Their Towers" (Strange Attractors Audio House) cd BRUMIT, JON "Vendetta Retreat: Motion Picture Soundtrack" (Edgetone Records) cd 10.98 BURZUM "Draugen - Rarities" (Back On Black) cd 19.98 CASSETTEBOY "Dead Horse" (Barry's Bootlegs) cd 17.98 CAVE-IN "Perfect Pitch Black" (Hydra Head) cd 11.98 CHARTIER, RICHARD "Re'Post'Postfabricated" (DSP) 2cd 18.98 CHIODOS "All's Well That Ends Well" (Equal Vision) cd 13.98 CLARK, TODD TAMANEND "Nova Psychedelia (1975-1985)" (Anopheles) 2cd 21.00 CROWPATH "Son Of Sulphur" (Willowtip) cd 14.98 DARK FOG "Cosmic Tone" (Original Sound Recordings) cd 10.98 DARKNESS, THE "One Way Ticket To Hell" (Atlantic) cd 17.98 DEADBOY & THE ELEPHANTMEN "We Are Night Sky" (Fat Possum) cd 14.98 DEATH FROM ABOVE 1979 "Romance Bloody Romance: Remixes & B-Sides" (Vice) cd 14.98 DJ/RUPTURE, SISTER NANCY, & KID 606 "Little More Oil" (Soul Jazz) 12" 10.98 DOCKSTADER, TOD "Aerial #2" (Sub Rosa) cd 14.98 DRIVER, TOBY "In the L..L..Library Loft" (Tzadik) cd 15.98 F/I "Blanga" (Lexicon Devil) cd 16.98 FIRE ENGINES "Codex Teenage Premonition" (Domino) cd 14.98 FORREST, JASON "Shamelessly Exciting" (Sonig) cd 14.98 FRIPP, ROBERT "Love Cannot Bear: Soundscapes - Live In The USA" (Discipline Global Mobile) cd 15.98 GUIDED BY VOICES "Suitcase 2" (Fading Captain Series) 4cd boxset 45.00 GUIDED BY VOICES "The Electrifying Conclusion" (Plexifilm) dvd 24.00 HAEMOTH "Kontamination" (Southern Lord) cd 11.98 HARVESTMAN "Lashing The Rye" (Neurot) cd 14.98 HASEGAWA-SHIZUO "Gene Packs" (PSF) cd 22.00 HICKS, BILL "Sane Man" (Rykodisc) dvd 16.98 HIDDEN HAND "Devoid Of Color" (Southern Lord) cd 14.98 ILDJARN "Ildjarn is Dead" (Northern Heritage) 2cd 25.00 IMMORTAL "Sons Of Northern Darkness - Deluxe Edition" (Nuclear Blast) cd + dvd 16.98 JACKIE-O MOTHERFUCKER "Flags Of The Sacred Harp" (All Tomorrow's Parties) cd 15.98 JANE "Coconuts" (Psych-o-path) cd 14.98 JAPANTHER "Yer Living Grave" (Menlo Park) cd 10.98 JOAO, KARE "2" (Jester) cd 15.98 KANE, JONATHAN "February" (Table Of The Elements) cd/lp 14.98/14.98 KELLY, R. "Trapped In The Closet" (Zomba) dvd 21.00 KILL THE CLIENT "Escalation Of Hostility" (Willowtip) cd 14.98 KING, CAST "Saw Mill Man" (Locust) cd 14.98 KORAY, ERKIN "s/t" (Istanbul Plak) cd 19.98 KUBISCH, CHRISTINA "Armonica" (Semishigure) cd 17.98 LUBELSKI, SAMARA "Spectacular Of Passages" (Social Registry) cd 14.98 LUMSK "Troll" (Tabu) cd 16.98 MAGNETOPHONE "The Man Who Ate The Man" (4AD) cd 13.98 MASS, THE "Perfect Picture" (Crucial Blast) cd 13.98 MAXIMUM JOY "Unlimited (1979-1983)" (Crippled Dick Hot Wax) cd 16.98 MOONDOG "The Viking of Sixth Avenue" (Honest Jon's) cd/2lp 26.00/27.00 MORRICONE, ENNIO "Crime And Dissonance" (Ipecac) 2cd 16.98 MY CAT IS AN ALIEN "The Cosmological Eye Trilogy" (Last Visible Dog) 3cd 16.98 MY DAD IS DEAD "A Divided House" (Unhinged) cd 11.98 MYTHOLOGICAL COLD TOWERS "The Vanished Pantheon" (Firedoom) cd 14.98 NINE HORSES "Snow Borne Sorrow" (Samadhisound) cd 17.98 NMS "Imperial Letters Of Protection" (Big Dada) cd 14.98 NURSE WITH WOUND "Shipwreck Radio Volume Two" (ICR) 2cd 25.00 ORCUSTUS "Wrathrash b/w Grin Of Deceit" (Southern Lord) 7" 3.98 OZZBORN, ONRY "In Between" (Camobear) cd 13.98 REID, STEVE "Spirit Walk" (Soul Jazz) cd 21.00 RIOT "Narita" (Rock Candy) cd 17.98 ROOT "Madness Of The Graves" (Redblack Productions) cd 14.98 SAWS "s/t" (InTone) cd 14.98 SCHMICKLER, MARCUS / JOHN TILBURY "Variety" (A-Musik) cd 17.98 SHALABI EFFECT "Unfortunately" (Alien8) cd 14.98 SHEA, DAVID "The Book Of Scenes" (Sub Rosa) cd 14.98 SONDHEIM, ALAN / RITUAL ALL 770 "The Songs" (Fire Museum) cd 13.98 SONGS OF GREEN PHEASANT "s/t" (Fat Cat) cd 15.98 SONIC YOUTH WITH TIM BARNES "Koncertas Stan Brakhage Prisiminimui" (SYR) cd 13.98 SORCERY "Stunt Rock (OST)" (Akarma) cd 15.98 SPUNK "En Aldeles Forferdelig Sykdom" (Rune Grammofon) cd 16.98 STEVENS, MICK "The Englishman / The River" (Shadoks) 2cd 18.98 STRAWBERRY PATH "When The Raven Has Come To The Earth" (Radioactive) cd 17.98 STRIBORG "Black Desolate Winter / Depressive Hibernation" (Asgard) cd 13.98 SUSUMU YOKOTA & ROTHKO "Distant Sounds Of Summer" (Lo Recordings) cd 14.98 SWORD "Lord By Fire" (We Are The Label) cd 10.98 T2 "It'll All Work Out In Boomland" (Akarma) lp 23.00 TAAKE "Nattestid...." (Wounded Love) cd 14.98 TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI "Action Direct" (Beta-lactam Ring) cd 33.00 THRALLDOM "The Seven Heads Of The Lion-Serpent" (Deathstrike) 7" 6.98 TIMEOUT DRAWER, THE "Nowonmai" (Consumer Research and Development) TRAVIS, MERLE "Strictly Guitar" (Sundazed) cd 13.98 TSUNODA, TOSHIYA "Ridge of Undulation" (Hapna) cd 15.98 V/A "Die Grosse Untergangsshow : Festival Genialer Dilletanten" (Vinyl On Demand) cd+dvd/cd+dvd+2lp 60.00/94.00 V/A "For A Decade Of Sin: 11 Years Of Bloodshot Records" (Bloodshot) 2cd 16.98 V/A "Looking For Europe" (Auerbach Tontrager) 4cd 29.00 V/A "More Arctic Hysteria / Son Of Arctic Hysteria - The Later Years Of Early Finnish Avant-Garde" (Love Records) cd 25.00 V/A "Never The Same: Leave-Taking From The British Folk Revival 1970-1977" (Honest Jons) cd 26.00 V/A "Studio One Women" (Soul Jazz) cd/2lp 21.00/24.00 V/A "The Environmental Sounds Of Crawford, Texas" (Koch) cd 10.98 V/A "This Bird Has Flown: A 40th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles' Rubber Soul" (Razor & Tie) cd 17.98 VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR "The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other" (Virgin / EMI) cd 16.98 VELVET CACOON "Northsuite" (Full Moon Productions) cd 12.98 VENOM "MMV" (Castle) cd 56.00 WATCHMAKER "Erased From The Memory Of Man" (Willowtip) cd 12.98 WEST, SPEEDY "Guitar Spectacular" (Sundazed) cd 13.98 WHIP "Atheist Lovesongs To God" (Resonant) cd 17.98 WOLF EYES & PRURIENT "The Warriors" (Hospital Productions) cd 14.98 WRAY, LINK "Law Of The Jungle! The Swan Demos '64" (Sundazed) cd 14.98 YOUNG PEOPLE "Five Sunsets In Four Days" (Too Pure) cd ep 5.98 YURA YURA TEIKOKU "na.ma.shi.bi.re.na.ma.me.ma.i" (Mesh-Key) cd 11.98 ZORN, JOHN "Mysterium" (Tzadik) cd 15.98 ZU "Way of the Animal Powers" (Xeng) cd 15.98 ZU / MATS GUSTAFSSON "How To Raise An Ox" (Atavistic) cd 14.98 _______________________________________________________________________ ABOUT MAILORDER
It's hard to believe that The Sea And Cake have been around for almost fifteen years now. That's making us feel pretty old, but it's also reminding us what unsung heroes of the indie scene these guys really are. They're a bit like that good friend you don't necessarily see all the time but when you do you are immediately reminded how special they are and how comfortable around them you feel.
Over the course of all those years The Sea And Cake have never let us down, always releasing records both breezy and confident, often imitated but never duplicated, a singular sound and vision that Sam Prekop, Archer Prewitt, Eric Claridge and John McEntire have made so much their own.
Car Alarm finds them in top form, much like Pinback and Stereolab, the Sea And Cake are a band who don't stray too far from the template they've seemingly perfected, but instead concentrate on continually creating rich and well constructed songs and albums within that framework, music that will stand the test of time and remain unaffected by passing fads. The Sea And Cake were never the most hip or cool or crazy band so we weren't surprised to see Vice magazine dissing them so hard in a recent issue, because in so many ways the band represent everything that is not flashy, shocking or schlocky. Instead it's about the music, about substance and integrity, always delivering a breath of fresh air in a musical world polluted with so many wannabes trying way too hard. The Sea And Cake never sound like they're trying to be anything that they are not, their music always just flows with such perfect ease. And Car Alarm proves once again that the band have not lost any of their charm or musical sophistication, and in fact they are sounding better than ever!
It's been four long years since the last Sea And Cake full length, and it sounds like Sam and the boys might've drank a couple of Red Bulls to get the juices flowing before laying down these tracks. Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but honestly, Everybody surprised all of us with its unexpected burst of energy. It's downright lively by Sea And Cake standards, and the change is a welcome one. Early on there were many around here who swooned to the sounds of Sea And Cake. What wasn't to love? Archer Prewitt, Sam Prekop and John McEntire? Sold! But over the years the band's sound mellowed out more and more and more, until it resembled the most vanilla easy listening '70s AM radio fodder. And we'll admit somewhere along the way we drifted apart, but this new album has drawn us back into this Chicago band's aural embrace and then some. Fear not dear fans near and far tho', it's not a jarring shift. All of the key Sea And Cake treasured elements -- gently grooving guitar and bass melodies, kickass drumming, and adorably dulcet vocals -- remain still completely intact. Wonderful.
The carefree, pretty pop that Chicago's Sea and Cake specialize in has, with their seventh full length, veered so far to the electronic side of things that the 3 remixes found here barely stray far from their current sound. Said remixers include Stereolab, Broadcast (both remixes sounding exactly as you'd expect 'em to), and even one by Detroit techno producer Carl Craig. There's still the languid breathy vocals of Sam Prekop, the experimental stylings of percussionist John McEntire (Tortoise), and the coctail (heh) guitar of Archer Prewitt, but the added synthesizers' sophisticated buzz and hum flowing constantly behind each song give it a machinized sheen. Nice. Four new songs and 3 remixes, plus one very cute little animated movie filled with abstract shapes dancing along to the music. It's by Richard McGuire of Liquid Liquid!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
For their sixth full length, those Sea & Cakes are venturing even deeper into the groovy electronic chillroom and away from their former sunkissed and breezy acoustic path. Super spacious and dreamy, but with considerably more euro jetset flair. Fluid organ tones, wispy string sounds, jazzy shuffling beats. Sam Prekop's voice is still as mellow and as effortless as ever, but this time there's the added eleganza vocal depth of the Navin brothers from the Aluminum Group -- certainly no slouches themselves in the charm'n'croon department. They're joined by Archer Prewitt and Prekop's subtle guitar interplay and the solid-as-ever rhythm section of bassist Erik Claridge and John McEntire on drums. Oh yes, and to top it all off, they do a cover of Bowie's "Sound And Vision". A blissful beauty!
After a three year hiatus, a somewhat lackluster fourth outing from beloved Chicago outfit who craft an original, quiet, airy sound somewhere between "cocktail lounge" and Style Council pop. Light, dreamy strings and horns. The ever-present vibes and some positively dewy vocals. At times it veers toward Steely Dan territory, which can be a good thing -- see Sea and Cake member Archer Prewitt's truly wonderful "In the Sun" -- but in "Oui" ends up more generic style than substance. A pleasant if slightly doleful effort. If you like the Sea and Cake already (and judging by sales, you probably do), you'll probably like this too, but if you're new to them, AQ's advice is to start with their great self-titled first album, which we always carry.
Third album by this charming band made up of folks from the Coctails, Tortoise, and other Chicago outfits. John McEntire plays a most desirable and sought-after analog synth, the EML Electrocomp 101, also heard used to stunning effect by Cul De Sac.
Over their last few releases, The Sea And Cake have added some pep and punch to their trademark breezy pop. While they continue with moments of higher energy on The Moonlight Butterfly, it's also an album that contains some of their most dreamy and seductive sounds yet. Sam Prekop's vocals continue to induce swoons like very few modern male vocalists can, and the layers of sounds that glide and shimmer alongside his voice have had us swaying side to side, reminding us why The Sea & Cake continues to be such an amazing band. Much like Stereolab, it's easy to take them for granted. Yet they never slip up, they never make a bad record, and they maintain a level of excellence that is so rare for bands that have been around as long as they have.
We last heard from Prekop, on his surprising experimental, electronic solo outing Old Punch Card, and perhaps it was that exploration that led to all the nice warm layers that really make this album sound so great on repeated listens. In fact the title track, is the most unexpected Sea and Cake song yet. An electronic composition that sounds like Aphex Twin playing Philip Glass, but somehow infusing it with the same breeziness and warmth that makes their sound so infectious. While we've been talking so much about Prekop, it's important to note just how amazing this permanent 'super group' is, as folks like Archer Prewitt and John McEntire continue to help shape the texture and architecture of Prekop's unique vision. Crazy to think that it's now almost 20 years since The Sea And Cake released their debut, and even crazier to think that we've loved everything they've done over these past two decades. If you've slept on their last few outings, we urge you to get back with them on this. One of the best pop albums of the year!
3 interesting remixes (created and "titled" by Bundy K. Brown, Designer, and Jimmy O'Rourke) and 2 brand new songs.
With a lot of stuff on the AQ list, to us at least, the music often transcends its genre. And part of the fun of reviewing a record like that, is getting people who don't normally listen to that kind of music to check it out, and maybe even dig it. You know, some metal record that's so fucked up and damaged that it might appeal to folks into noise music or experimental music. Or some pop band that's so heavy and intense, that even metalheads might dig it.
Well, with this, the long long long overdue reissue of the first and only record from San Francisco's very own Sea Hags, we're not even gonna bother. This isn't fucked up or noisy or experimental. It's heavy, groovy, glammy hard rock that totally kicks ass. And if you don't dig stuff like Aerosmith, Guns N' Roses, Hanoi Rocks and the like, then odds are you aren't gonna dig this. But if you do (and if you don't what the hell's wrong with you?!), and somehow you missed out on the greatest hard rock band to ever come out of SF, then for fuck's sake, pick this up NOW.
Hailed back in the day as the next Guns N' Roses, and described by their manager thusly: "There's only so far you can go with three junkies and one alcoholic�", the Sea Hags were Bay Area rock heroes, who would hang out with Courtney Love, have Metallica's Kirk Hammett play lead on one of their tracks, almost get a song on the Sid And Nancy soundtrack after a tip from Love (who was fronting Faith No More at the time!), record with Mike Clink who produced Appetite For Destruction, kick their drummer out while recording, have the band nearly break up on tour after being busted for drugs, and (sadly) have one member die at age 26 of an heroin overdose a year after the band breaks up, but more importantly than all of that, record one of the best hard rock records of the nineties, and one of the greatest hard rock tracks EVER in the form of "Half The Way Valley".
Just listen to the sound samples and you'll be sold. Filthy and dangerous, groovy and bluesy, glammy and heavy, and so crazy catchy, a pinch of the Stones, a bit of the Yardbirds, lots of Aerosmith, plenty of GN'R , all mixed up with their own unique take on sixties pop and seventies hard rock. Kick ass riffing, pounding drumming, boozy world weary vocals, and hooks galore.
Not sure what else to say. Amongst the hard rockers around these parts, the reissue of the Sea Hags record was a HUGE deal. So much so, that had it not happened, Andee and Allan might have considered it for their fledgling eighties metal reissue label!
Needless to say, this is essential listening for hard rockers. One of our favorite discs from the nineties. Finally reissued, and damn if it don't sound as kick ass as ever!
As with all the Rock Candy reissues, the packaging and presentation are amazing. If only ALL reissues were this well done. Bonus tracks, tons of photos, extensive liner notes, interviews with bandleader Ron Yocom, as well as track by track notes and a band history.
Where Are You is the first we've heard from local outfit Sea Knight, but it's a stunner, dreamy, and strummy, and psychedelic, moody and melancholic, the traditional guitar/bass/drums augmented by violin, which gives the sound a sweeping, epic and emotional vibe, not to mention the powerful vocals. All it takes is about two minutes of opener "Chasm", and you'll be sold, equal parts Pixies / Breeders pop smarts, and shoegaze-y Mazzy Star haze, simple steel string strum, chiming melody, a spidery guitar, the vocals dreamy and ethereal, the sound laid back and soft focus, slow building to something much more epic, maybe like a girl pop Godspeed if that makes any sense. It's definitely indie pop, but with a lush sonic palette, and a propensity for epicry that definitely makes Sea Knight something special. And is often the case, it took about 10 listens of the first track before we were able to dig any deeper. Which is always a good sign. The rest of the record holds up just as well, a perfect mix of folky strum, a little twang, classic old school indie rock, heavy on the nineties, with plenty of noisiness and unexpected mathiness mixed in, check out the sweetly melodic "Concrete", which blossoms into something much noise poppier, or the heavy droned out modern rock-ish "Crows Came And Spoke Of New Beginnings", with its smoldering buzzguitars, and haunting soaring vocals, again the Godspeed as indie pop band definitely comes into play, and apparently, as a live proposition, these songs all get a lot heavier and noiser, which is something we definitely wanna hear!
From the dynamics of Mogwai to the freefloating chemical-psychedelia of Spacemen 3's late-period organ pieces, Sea Monster presents the highlights of space-rock over the past decade.
