[ aquarius records — Rock Pop ]

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Showing results 14351 through 14400 of 19388.

We'd been hearing about this new San Francisco band The She's for a while now, friends who have seen them live have been totally raving to us about 'em. We can see why now, as this is full on bright colored, punchy pop bliss! While we are in the crisp and cold time of winter right now, these songs are bringing us the hope of warmth and sunshine that springtime and summer will surely bring. Such an awesome feeling when the first time you ever hear a band you immediately feel the same way you did when you heard bands that have become all-time favorites. Think of some awesome version of Best Coast stripping away the lo-fi vibes and going on a road trip in a red convertible with the first Weezer album and The Breeders' Last Splash, and you start to get an idea of what kind of pop perfection The She's have created with this debut. While lots of other new bands have been great at tapping into a sound or era with their aesthetic, The She's are a refreshing reminder of how great it is to hear a new band that believes in SONGS. Pretty much every song on here is filled with such inciting hooks and melodies. We have a strong feeling that The She's could be the next San Francisco band who could make it kinda big, this is awesome!

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Seems only logical that local songsmith Dylan Shearer would end up on Castle Face, the record label run By John Dwyer from Thee Oh Sees, even though Shearer's music is markedly different than most of the fuzzy, jangly garage punk/pop that is CF's bread and butter. But Shearer is a master songsmith, his music darkly psychedelic, broody and hypnotic, from the very first few seconds of opener "Time To Go", deep vocals, and laid back piano, shuffling percussion, all blurred into a hazy, softly psychedelic baroque pop reminiscent of Cardinal, the Moles, the Elephant Six bands, even going as far back as Van Dyke Parks, early Bee Gees, lush and lovely, grandiose, and timeless. The whole rest of the record follows suit, a stunningly mature songsuite, that really does sound out of time. And really, this is actually the record that should be getting all the hype that's being heaped on that Mac Demarco record, they both seem to be drawing inspiration from the same sonic gene pool, but while both most definitely count the Kinks and the Beatles and the Zombies as influences, Demarco's music ends up sounding more like a Jack Johnson / Jimmy Buffet style easy listening classic rock, while Shearer's most definitely positions itself in that selfsame pantheon, crafting moody, lovely chamber pop, and haunting softly psychedelic balladry, that taps into a classic strain of modern pop music, adding a few modern flourishes here and there, but ultimately, Garagearray sounds like some long lost classic from the vaults, some rediscovered and recently reissued lost holy grail of vintage psychedelic pop. Maybe too mellow and laid back for some of the Castle Face diehards, but for the rest of us, a stone cold modern / retro pop-psych classic.

MPEG stream: Time To Go
MPEG stream: Meadow Pines (Fort Polio)
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We first heard local singer songwriter Dylan Shearer on the In A Cloud sampler of local SF artists and were immediately smitten by his gorgeous old school retro sixties style pop, think Kinks, Zombies, early Bee Gees, Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd, lush but spare instrumentation, dreamily strummed guitar, delicate piano, minimal drum skitter, instantly irresistible melodies, classic pop songsmithery, all driven by Shearer's distinctive dramatic croon, and all wreathed in a lush softly reverbed old school production. Dreamy and melancholic, definitely a sound out of time, reminds us of aQ faves Cardinal, the New Lines, Still Corners, Bipolaroid and other aQ beloved retro poppers. But where those bands definitely veer toward the experimental, Shearer plays it pretty straight relying more on the songs themselves, which effortlessly transport the listener to a simpler time, Porchpuddles the perfect soundtrack to that bygone era of classic baroque dream pop. Includes a download coupon of the whole record PLUS seven bonus tracks!!!

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Following their acclaimed 2007 concept album Palo Santo, Texas band Shearwater deliver another haunting, dramatic work. Whether its title refers to the bird or chess piece of the same name we aren't certain (it's probably the second because main man Jonathan Meiburg studies ornithology), but both are quite apropos. The ten songs are imbued with the airborne grace of the former and the formidable icy stone gravity of the latter. If you've yet to hear this band's music, imagining a more ominous Coldplay (whom the band has opened for in concert) is a good place to start. Their sound at once harkens back to '70s UK folk rock as well as perhaps early '90s Talk Talk and the late '90s epic loud-quiet postrock of Godspeed or Mogwai. The swooping high vocals of Meiburg conjuring comparisons to Nick Drake, Mark Kozelek or Ron Sexsmith. Fans of any/all of the above, definitely check this somber beauty out!

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

SORRY.

Your first reaction to his Canadian band will be: "I can't believe it's not Black Sabbath!" In a blind test, their singer could not be distinguished from Ozzy Osbourne by a panel of experts--it seems the only difference is that the guy in sHeavy hasn't bitten the head off any live animal (yet). That, and his band's got some better tunes for him to sing than what Ozzy's been up to lately. Normally, something that's this much of a copy would deserve scorn, but they're so damn good at it that you have to love it. This came out last year as an import, and now here's the domestic version, adding a (non-bogus) bonus track.

New album from Steve Albini, et al. Almost sounds like an Olympia band doing Shellac. Much more melodic, with more singing and less testifying. Some really beautiful quiet parts and some amazing over distorted loud bits. People have been freaking out, saying this is the best thing Albini's ever done, although Rapeman and Big Black still hold that honor. Comes in a mini cardboard open reel style tape box.

Hey. Never listed this classic, and now we've got some vinyl in, so here's a review!! Steve Albini may be most well known for being a producer / engineer, having probably recorded a million of your favorite records, or for being a hilariously outspoken and opinionated loudmouth, and yeah, he's both of those, but more importantly, he was the architect /guitarist / mouthpiece for legendary industrial tinged drum machine driven noise rockers Big Black, not to mention the way less well known, but even better (as far as we're concerned) Rapeman, and then there's Shellac, Albini's minimalist rock trio with Bob Weston (Volcano Suns) and Todd Trainer (Rifle Sport, Brick Layer Cake), a band that bucks convention in pretty much every way possible, playing only occasionally, and more for fun, than promotion, recording and releasing records even more occasionally, running their band much like Albini runs his recording studio, never asking for outrageous amounts of money, offering to play first in order to get folks out early to see the other bands, their live performances a sort of spectacle, besides being insanely tight, there's lots of hilarious stage banter, not to mention some strange choreographed movements that would seem to be at odds with such a 'serious band'. Which is really the key to what makes Shellac so good, they ARE funny guys, and they DO have a great sense of humor, and that humor does worm its way into their sound, no matter how subtly. And that sound! It's like someone went into a laboratory and concocted our perfect band. Sinewy, angular chiming guitars, thick buzzing bass, and incredible, ridiculously mathy and super powerful drumming, all wound around gorgeously skeletal songs, that manage to be wickedly catchy, while remaining extremely difficult and abstract, so much so that their popularity does sometimes seem baffling, cuz this shit is fucking far out. A woozy fuzzy groove will suddenly splinter into a baffling stop start stretch of seemingly 'free' post / noise rock drift, a sprawling stretch of high end guitar / splattery crash and boom drum duel will stretch out for minutes, before suddenly locking into a proper, almost poppy sounding song, the record constantly veering from dense mathy indie rock to total experimental noise rock minimalism, often those two elements bleeding like crazy into one another. And Albini's pissed off snarly vox are the perfect fit, there aren't a lot of vocals, but when they do come in, it adds an awesome bit of menace to the proceedings. If you haven't heard At Action Park, man are you in for a surprise, heavy and mathy and abstract and noisy and brutal and catchy and still one of the best records from that era. Now if they'd just reissue those first three 7"s, long out of print and never reissued in any form, but pretty much a perfect trifecta of stripped down angular minimal math rock...

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The best comment we heard amidst all the bitching about the recent U2 record, you know the one that just showed up in your iTunes, uninvited (and in most cases, unwanted), was that there would have been a whole lot less complaining had we all woken up to find THIS record in our iTunes. If only... So yeah, it's a new Shellac record, and people have been freaking out (ourselves included) since word first leaked about its impending release, and its goofy/brilliant title. Thankfully, and maybe not surprisingly, very little has changed since their last record, 2007's Excellent Italian Greyhound. Right from the get go, the title track finds Steve Albini, laying down what sounds suspiciously like a lost ZZ Top riff (harkening back to that bad ass Rapeman cover of "Just Got Paid"), but then in comes Todd Trainer's ultra precise drumming, and Bob Weston's thick sinewy bass, and BAM, couldn't be anything other than Shellac, especially when Albini's sung/spoken vocals come in, and then the lyrics, a snippet of which includes the line "we'll go where the females congregate, perhaps they'll let us fuck them, and on the way, we'll have adventure", or something like that. And the sound, pure Shellac, super tight, lots of chug and pound, crazy dynamic (check out the super weirdly arranged "Compliant", that veers from some very Big Black sounding churn, to ultra spaced out stop/start breakdowns, and then some downright prettiness, along with some surprisingly croony vox!), but also UN-dynamic for much of the record, the band doing what they do best, and locking into tense / tranced out grooves, that could go on forever. Some of the tracks, like "You Came In Me" (with more 'fucking' lyrics), are super fierce, minus some goofy call and response vox, that one's a stunner, with some wild, octopoidal drumming, and one of the best guitar sounds we've heard in ages. "Riding Bikes" is a sweet curious slab of downer slowcore pound, while the beginning of "All The Surveyors" starts off with one of those parts, like the Shellac classic "Wingwalker", where live they all spread their arms out like the wings of a plane, and do a little a capella bit. Here the band do yet another little vocal intro, culminating in them howling "FUCK THE KING!!", not to mention Albini making crazed bird calls throughout. Which is kind of what makes this record (and Shellac in general) so good, and so fun. They never gave a fuck, that was obvious, but somehow now they seem to give even less of a fuck, taking the music utterly seriously, but injecting humor, whenever or wherever they feel like, the sort of stuff that to us on the outside is so obviously some sort of inside joke, or something dumb from the van or the rehearsal space, but the band take that stuff, and transform it into something as crucial to the song and sound as the music itself. That said, even without that stuff, the music itself, BY itself, is more than enough. Tracks like "The People's Microphone" are so tight, so progged out, but not wanky, it's math rock, but ultra minimal math rock, every note, and hit, concise and perfect, they're like a machine, but one that emotes, bleeds, broods, and most importantly, thinks that really goofy shit is hilarious! Like the monkey-hoisting-another-monkey-over-his-head-pro-wrestling-style cover art. And yeah, probably every review of this record will end like this, but how can we resist? Dude, INCREDIBLE!

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It's hard not to love Shellac. They are definitely�one of the best sounding bands in the world. And they still manage to be as weird as all get out. Sonically, their recordings are so loud and live sounding. The players are unbelievably tight and efficient. The drums are like a machine, way up in the mix, driving the songs, so precise and perfect, but somehow still impossibly groovy. The arrangements are simple, but manage to be intense and convoluted and confusing at the same time. Albini is the absolute master of the jagged angular riff. Stripped down minimal math rock, no one does it better.� So what's a band to do, instead of making another perfect sounding record? Well, howsabout making a not-so-perfect sounding record? Or more specifically making a -mostly- perfect sounding record, but making it so weird and fucked up that it's bound to drive some folks nuts? Which is exactly what they've done.� The long in the works (6 or 7 years it seems like)�Excellent Italian Greyhound definitely sounds like a Shellac record, and in that, we already love it. And it does sound perfect. Most of the songs are relentless and intense, the guitar a precisely tuned rrrrroooooar, veering from sharp shards to warm crunch, in fact, Steve Albini's guitar tone sounds warmer than ever,�the bass a throbbing anchor, and the drums, holy shit, Todd Trainer is a mathrock drum cyborg alien master. And the songs! "Steady As She Goes" (we were secretly hoping it was a Raconteurs cover) is a post rock math rock post punk masterpiece. Tightly wound with a killer half time breakdown, and some relentlessly catchy riffing. The next track too, "Be Prepared", is about as good as stuff like this gets. A weird hook, a seasick rhythm, and amazing vocals.�And that voice, the same tortured whine, which in the past was another minimal element in Shellac's minimalist sound, is now taking center stage, often wailing all by its lonesome. And�while we're on the subject of vocals, that's one way in which Albini and Co. seemingly decided to fuck with us.�Albini's lyrics in Shellac were always a bit, um... mysterious, but here they're downright bizarre, and almost goofy. The opening track "The End Of Radio" has some slightly cheesy bits, some radio style sloganeering, sure there is a point, but it still sounds a little out of place. But leave it to Shellac to take those lyrics and couple them with the weirdest song on the record, musically, with Trainer and Albini seemingly playing two different songs, maybe not even listening to each other, but clicking every few measures, making it obvious that it was meant to be exactly that way. But the song that will probably be the most discussed (in this review as well) is the nine minute long "Genuine Lulabelle", most of which sees Albini crooning romantically a capella. Singing about partying and cum and other weirdness. But as if that wasn't strange enough, other voices enter the fray, the Moviefone guy (?), even Strongbad (?!?!), from Homestarrunner.com... At first we were convinced that Albini had lost it, but the more we hear it, the more it seems just weird enough that it manages to transform the song from annoying and goofy to damaged and demented. And there ain't nothing wrong with damaged and demented.� The rest of the record is rife with little bits of weirdness, the false starts on "Be Prepared", the jangly surf rock TV theme intro to "Spoke", as well as the usual deconstructed melodies, and abstract rhythmic workouts, but it all fits, it just takes standing back and seeing the big picture, no matter how convoluted and confusing and un-right it seems on the surface. Trust them. They're Shellac.�

MPEG stream: The End Of Radio
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We actually originally discovered this record in a thrift store, years ago, and ended up buying it for $5 or whatever, just cuz the cover was super trippy, and it was printed on cool prismatic reflective paper, and of course, we had no idea what to expect, and while we dug it, a LOT, and listened to it constantly, for whatever reason, it never occurred to us that what we had was some treasured rarity lost psychedelic artifact, one that certain discerning producers have mined for killer breaks, until we found out this reissue was on the way. So we revisited the record and holy crap!!!! How could we not have known?! So insane, and inspired, and ridiculous, and over the top, and ahead of its time, and it totally out trip-outs almost any record we can think of! Needless to say, we're super psyched to have this reissue, which features that original record, along with a whole mess of bonus tracks!! So the record proper, Lux Aeterna, was originally composed to celebrate a friend of William Shaller's wedding, thematically driven by concepts of union and togetherness, and ostensibly based on the Catholic mass, this is far from any sort of religious music you've ever heard. Following in the footsteps of other iconoclastic composers, like Serge Gainsbourg, Jean-Claude Vannier, Lee Hazlewood, David Axelrod, Scott Walker and of course Magma (more on that in a second), Sheller conjured up what is at once an over the top symphonic prog epic, but also a strangely meditative operatic chorale, the sound a gorgeous and dizzying fusion of bombastic prog, classical opera, tripped out seventies psych, outsider jazzfunk, and soaring symphonic majesty. The first track alone should convince you, with its groovy loping stripped down rhythm, its woozy bassline, its swoonsome strings, its slippery slide guitar (!!), its lush operatic vox. That cut is equal parts lost soundtrack and weird Morricone-esque krautfunk, sort of, the sound epic and dramatic and VERY cinematic, dark and subtly sinister, minor key and haunting, but then with about a minute to go BAM, the the sound shifts, sort of fractures, and gets super lo-fi, soaked in phaser and flanger, swirling and tripped out, laced with psychedelic wah guitar, a woozy, melting fad out groove. Holy WOW. So fucking awesome. And that's pretty much how the rest of the record plays out, with Sheller weaving these lush orchestral epics, alternatingly symphonic or operatic, when all of a sudden he'll mix in some trippy sci fi freak out FX or fuse rock drums to soaring operatic vox and symphonic strings. Some tracks play it totally straight, like "Ave Frater, Rosae Et Aurae", which really could have been plucked right out of a mass, but then in swoops "Opus Magnum Pt. 2", with its driving kraut-ish groove, reprising the opening theme, but adding some seriously loopy bleeps and bloops, squelches, and reverby blurps, tripped out laser fire squiggles and swirling analog electronics. Only to then settle right back down into some hushed string driven drift, but a minute or two later and the sound explodes again in a frenzy of FX, the song gathering momentum, and heft, and transforming into a sort of dirgey driving jam, wreathed in strings and an avalanche of glitched out electronics. And so it goes, slipping from haunting ritualistic choral music, to tripped out psychedelic seventies prog funk grooviness and back again, sounding quite often like Magma, or some similarly epic prog combo, stopping occasionally to dip into a bit of musique concrete or twentieth century classical, or introducing seriously terrifying children's spoken word, reciting what sounds like scripture, before finally finishing off with a gorgeous melancholy piano coda, again a refrain of that opening melody. Quite a strange and twisted record for someone's wedding, sure WE'D all be psyched, but in 1972? Wow. After a two minute track of silence, meant to separate the programs, comes, as the first of a big batch of bonus tracks, several pieces from Sheller's soundtrack for a 1969 film called Erotissimo, the music appropriately psychedelic and seventies hippie rocking, but of course laced with strings, and surprisingly some heavy proto metal riffing, wild psych guitar leads, dreamy female vocals, the whole thing building to a killer fuzzy psych rock blowout, before slipping back into something a bit more fuzzy and woozy. After that is "My Year Is A Day", Sheller's big hit, a fantastic slab of orchestral pop, that reminds us of early Bee Gees and the Zombies, and fans of either/both will flip. The rest of the record is more of the same, fuzzed out psychedelic orchestral pop, "Couleurs" being a standout, with its freaked out effects heavy breakdowns, and sitar like buzz running throughout, but really all twenty tracks are killer, making us thing there must be a whole lot more William Sheller we need to track down. Maybe Omni will follow up with another reissue. Here's hoping! Like all Omni releases, lots of photos, and extensive liner notes, as well as some weird unseen art and reproductions of the covers of some of the singles that are included as bonus tracks!

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Two of the founding members of the seminal British punk-pop band the Buzzcocks have reconvened over twenty five years after their first band's inception. It's Pete Shelley (also known as the stoic figure behind the icy synth-pop alienation classic

RealAudio clip: Can You See Me Shining?

We found ourselves showering Doug Shepherd's two new-to-us releases with much adoration even before finding out that he's stacked his decks over the years with terrific guest players from aQ faves Aislers Set and Calexico! Certain familiar traits of those two bands -- bittersweet pop inflections and a bit of rustic desert twang -- make their presence felt, but not obtrusively so. This Portland, OR gent's folk pop songcraft stands strong all on its own. His music runs the pop gamut from gentle and lulling to uptempo and peppery to breezy and janglin'. Aww, all the stuff we love. Mass Amount Of Love is his 2001 debut full length that was actually recorded back in 1998 right here in SF by one Mr. Wyatt Cusick (of Aislers Set, Track Star and Still Flyin). Imperial Teen's Roddy Bottum and the whole Aislers Set gang contributed to this indie pop luv fest. So wide-eyed and charming, the album closes with a terrific cover of Opal's "A Falling Star". Psst, the other release that we just got in stock from the man himself is a limited edition cd-r recorded at the famed Wavelab Studios in Tucson, AZ where the wonderful likes of Calexico, M. Ward, Giant Sand and Neko Case frequently work their aural magic. Both are mighty fine and very recommended for fans of all of the abovementioned folks.

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We found ourselves showering Doug Shepherd's two new-to-us releases with much adoration even before finding out that he's stacked his decks over the years with terrific guest players from aQ faves Calexico and Aislers Set! Certain familiar traits of those two bands -- rustic desert twang and bittersweet pop inflections -- can't help but make their presence felt, but not obtrusively so. This Portland, OR gent's folk pop songcraft stands strong all on its own. His music runs the pop gamut from gentle and lulling to upbeat and peppery to breezy and janglin'. Aww, all the stuff we love. The ep's delights start right from the opening track "Liquid Gold" which is graced with pretty female backing vocals and some trumpet too (we're guessing it is Rachel Blumberg and Jacob Valenzuela respectively, the credits aren't specific). The following bright tune "Pure Cinema" kicks the tempo up considerably. Good stuff! This limited edition cd-r's five songs are from a session recorded at the Tucson, AZ studio where the likes of Calexico, M. Ward, Giant Sand and Neko Case regularly lay down their awesome tracks. It's the second release in the studio's Wavelab Sessions series, and is limited to 200! Be quick like a jackalope!

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So many cd-r's come our way on what seems like a daily basis, but it isn't often that one of them immediately stops us in our tracks on first listen. These seven tracks by Aaron Sheppard have done just that. Haunting psychedelic solo guitar that manages to be both meditative, spacey, and focused all at the same time. We had no idea who Sheppard was when this first showed up, but his playing won us over immediately. Like Roy Montgomery and James Blackshaw conjuring up a soundtrack for a dazed afternoon, Leverage also has moments that make us think of vintage Robert Fripp, the beauty of Heldon's second album Allez Teia, as well as the recent mind blowing output of Matt Baldwin that we've raved about in the last year. Alternating between more grounded finger-picking tracks to more melting and stretched out sounds, this is by far one of the most engaging and rewarding solo guitar records we've heard in so long. We actually want to go and on about how much this record has been moving us, but the cd-r is limited to 50 copies, so we should probably stop talking now and give you the chance to grab one of these before they are gone for good...

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Sheriff is the Swedish duo Magnus Granberg (vocals, piano, guitar) and Henrik Olsson (percussion), and this is their second release. They are not men of many words. Absolute barebones, intimate, slow and resonant. A piano's keys are struck, the notes allowed to linger languidly. After a few moments they're joined by a deep, very present male voice sing-speaking a handful of lyrics. Each word joins the notes in the air hanging like amber pendants. The following four tracks offer much the same but the piano is occasionally replaced or joined by low plucked guitar strings and strikes of percussion and bowls. An example of just how Spartan the proceedings are: the third song is titled "Stay, Stay" and that word repeated solemnly over and over again forms the better part of the song's lyrics. Brings to mind the most minimal moments of Slint. Hushed and meditative, Sail, Sail Away is an exercise in utter restraint. Super limited, and soon gone, as we only were able to get a handful...

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

SORRY. A mellow, minimal, post-rock, indie-pop duo (guitar/piano and drums) from Gothenburg, Sweden. On the same tip as Palace Bros. Gatr Del Sol and early Low. On Hapna, home to Sagor & Swing, Tape, etc.

Classic acid folk reissue.

Wow! Awesome Vistas brings us another stunner with the debut musical release from Sacramento-based artist Christine Shields. Shields, known in the Bay Area for her portraits and ghostly paintings of child spirits, trees and landscapes that evoke a lost Victorian past, has been making and performing music with various groups for awhile, but this is the first time we've heard a full recording and we must say we're quite blown away! Reminding us a bit of Opal or White Magic, Shields and her group have created an amazing record of hauntingly atmospheric chamber folk. Organic vocal harmonies, intricate guitar work, melodica, piano, percussion and bells, evoke a world of beauty and loss, shipwrecks and spirits, dark and light, that is gentle and melancholic but not at all fragile. The songwriting and production are breathtaking and creates the pitch-perfect mood to draw us in and never lets us go. With gorgeous hand-screened covers. Highest Recommendation!

One of the joys of working at record stores and doing college radio shows is how much access you end up getting to amazing records that otherwise you might not ever get to come across. And the cool thing about both radio and record stores, is that you're then in a position to share that music with everyone! One such record was by an Australian band called The Hungry Ghosts who released one full length album in 1999 called Alone, Alone. One of those records whose beauty strikes you on first listen and continues to move you a hundred listens down the line. Hungry Ghosts utilized an approach similar to their Australian cohorts, The Dirty Three, yet somehow managed to make their sound maybe even more gorgeous and heartbreaking. I (Irwin) remember playing it for the first time back when I had a show on KSPC in southern California and instantly falling in love. Sadly they seemed to disappear after that record. No trace of them anywhere. I even tried writing them and never heard back. Turns out I wasn't the only one who couldn't find them. John Brooks who was a founding member of the group is said to have entered a black hole of sorts. Later to be found at the Tara institute, a Tibetan Buddhist meditation center in Melbourne. It's there that he went back to his surname of Shilo and with a four-track donated by a fellow resident he began to record music often by candlelight and the results are this absolutely stunning record. You can feel the solitude, the still, the searching and the moments of transcendence. Musical sketches that evoke such a moody elegance. Kind of like if Do Make Say Think and the GYBE camp were forced to trade in all their outbursts and grandiose climaxes and instead go deep within to find the essence of their sound. Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth knew he had to put this out when he finally got the tapes from Shilo and we're so happy he did. Every time we play this in the store someone comes up to see what it is and usually leaves with a copy for themselves. A timeless and totally beautiful record!

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These laidback SF popsters make light, sweet-tart songs, and here's a six-song ep for your listening delight! A little backyard ramshackleness, a little swirly 'n' spacy psych-folkish, a little '60s beach blanket worthy with warm vocals, jangly guitars, some horns and hey, was that a recorder we just heard tooting away too? Actually they wouldn't be at all out of place in the warm, creative company of the Elephant 6 collective. Nice.

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You'd think by now, that we'd all be sick of reverby garage rock, the whole retro girl group thing that seems to be the M.O. of every new band that pops up these days, but beyond the onslaught of sound alike bands, it's a sound that's tough NOT to love, and when done right, and creatively, it still pushes all our buttons and we can't get enough of it. But more and more these days, the bands that do in fact do it right, are few and far between. Which brings us to Shimmering Stars, a Canadian reverb heavy Spector worshipping dream pop group whose debut, this right here, takes that sixties sound, and melds it to a more fifties sound, reflected by the band's sonic obsession with the Everly Brothers and Del Shannon, and that makes all the difference. Besides the classic, sound all distorted and reverby, dreamy and jangly, the band have come up with some crazy catchy songs, that besides sounding fantastic, also actually sound like they could actually be from the fifties. If someone told you these were all covers, it wouldn't be tough to believe. Granted, the sound here is way more fuzzy and distorted, but the songs are just so perfect, classic and catchy, simple but dreamily melodic. The opening three song salvo here should have you smitten in no time. But the whole record is bursting with could have been classics, in some alternate universe fifties, these guys would have been the biggest band in the land. And be sure to stick around for the closer "Walk Away", a dreamy dirgey chunk of shimmery reverb heavy garage rock pound that while still channeling the fifties should have fans of Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, Mikal Cronin and all the rest freaking out big time. Another new pop favorite, which we'll most likely be jamming nonstop along with the new Veronica Falls and the new Big Troubles. SO GOOD!

MPEG stream: Walk Away
MPEG stream: Believe
MPEG stream: I'm Gonna Try
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Two new releases from UK psych/space label this week, and both are fairly dramatic departures from the label's usual sound, which tends toward the drugged out, heart of the sun, Hawkwind worshipping mega space jammage of groups like the Janitors, Hills, etc. The other new Cardinal Fuzz record is from a Philly outfit called Lantern, who channel the Stooges' swagger garage psych on their new record, and then there's this, which is essentially straight up sixties style psych, the group made up of members who've done time in the Black Angels, the Rondelles, Woven Bones and others, and who have crafted a seriously kick ass chunk of psychedelia, that barring the modern production, sounds like it could actually be some lost sixties psych artifact, the songs especially, pitch perfect psychedelic jangle, groovy riffage, killer harmony vocals, buzzing organs, swaggery and a sound closer to the Fuzztones or the Lyres or Redd Kross or any number of other sixties psych worshippers, but these guys do get spaced out and heavy, unfurling some seriously fierce psych guitar blowouts, and the sound is fantastically druggy and fuzzy and far out, and the songs crazy catchy, the production too, super hot, all the sounds in-the-red... We were honestly thrown a bit at first, expecting something way more spaced out, but the more we listen to this, the more we're digging it, and the fact that these songs are so catchy, definitely makes this potentially a serious repeat listen, even after a few times though, a handful of these songs are pretty firmly lodged in our heads. A new favorite for sure, but psychedelic spacelords maybe listen to the sound samples first, but anyone else into heavy sixties psych, and jangly retro garage rock, this will definitely hit the spot. LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!! Comes with a download code that includes the album proper PLUS three bonus tracks!

MPEG stream: Climb The Ladder
MPEG stream: Creation
MPEG stream: Innocent Girl
MPEG stream: So Many People

The previous Rune Grammofon album from Norwegian electronica/jazz outfit Shining (2005's In The Kingdom Of Kitsch You Will Be A Monster) we liked quite a bit -- and sold quite a few copies of as well. But we don't remember it being quite as hard and heavy as this new disc! Some of this is almost industrial-metal, seriously. Herky-jerky rhythms one moment, sheer droning heaviness the next, with moody male and female vox amidst the instrumental/electronic onslaught. This has a sinister circusiness that makes you think that Mike Patton (Fantomas/Faith No More/etc.) must somehow be involved, though of course he's not. Doubtless he'd like how spunky, brassy, swirly, and dark this is, and that Shining haven't lost their any of their intense cinematic Morricone-ish sensibility.

MPEG stream: In The Kingdom Of Kitsch You Will Be A Monster
MPEG stream: Psalm
MPEG stream: Fight Dusk With Dawn

NOW ON VINYL! Not one but two albums by this weird sorta jazz electronica group on Rune G. Here's a review cobbled together from our write-ups of the cd versions of the relevant records... In The Kingdom Of Kitsch You Will Be A Monster was the 2005 debut of Shining, from Norway (not to be confused with the black metal Shining from Sweden). What be they if not black metal? Hmm, let's listen...good grief, dunno the genre for this even...it's jazz we guess...of sorts. Powerful and freaky and technological. Lead by Jorgen Munkby (ex-Jaga Jazzist, as is the Shining's keyboardist) who plays (on here) everything from sax to accordion to church organ to guitar to mellotron to synths, and does drum programming too. But Shining is a five-piece band so as multi-instrumental as Jorgen is, he's doesn't have to do it all at once. And they leave the tubular bells to a guest musician. So, you get the idea that there's potentially a lot going on. The requiste Kim Hiorthoy cover art, which kinda looks like a blown-to-bits website, implies as much. The ten tracks here veer from booming bombast to melodic moodiness. Energetic ADD explosions of horns and percussion are calmed with weird wordless vocal parts, rhythmic frenzies give way to eerie grooves, and the players' jazz chops are chopped up. There's plenty of tension, and release, let's say! Just imagine some hotshot jazz guys gone on a dark, cinematic bender, unhealthily obsessed with Carl Stalling cartoon scores and arty prog rock and all possibilities of modern electronics. Your ears will feel fully exercised (and dare we say delighted) after a session with Shining. Very cool. Then in 2007, Grindstone came out. Compared to the debut, it seemed quite a bit harder and heavier than we remember! Some of this is almost industrial-metal, seriously. Herky-jerky rhythms one moment, sheer droning heaviness the next, with moody male and female vox amidst the instrumental/electronic onslaught. This has a sinister circusiness that makes you think that Mike Patton (Fantomas/Faith No More/etc.) must somehow be involved, though of course he's not. Doubtless he'd like how spunky, brassy, swirly, and dark this is, and that Shining haven't lost their any of their intense cinematic Morricone-ish sensibility. A handsome gatefold package, limited to 500 copies.

MPEG stream: Goretex Weather Report
MPEG stream: Aleister Explains Everything
MPEG stream: The Smoking Dog
MPEG stream: In The Kingdom Of Kitsch You Will Be A Monster
MPEG stream: Psalm
MPEG stream: Fight Dusk With Dawn

Killer vinyl reissue of a long out of print cassette from the Shining Path, aka Ilya Monosov and Preston Swirnoff, brother of our very own Irwin. Originally released on T.B.T.D and now long gone. Sort of taking off from where Shining Path's first Holy Mountain release left off, these guys take synths, vocals, organs, hurdy gurdy, drum machine and guitar and whip them into a blown out krautrock, wild noise space rock frenzy, some baffling mix of Can, Hawkwind, High Rise and Suicide, that sounds perfect together, a confusionally brilliant wild eyed blowout. Total WTF? free psych heaven! From the opening burst of blown out heart-of-the-sun psychrock meltdown, to a stretch of spacious drifting, mesmerizing motorik fuzzstomp, to the final chunk of weird drum machine driven, electronic krautdrone, these guys are absolutely melt minds and destroy speakers, and we can't get enough. The flipside is another burst of furious dubbed out druggy psych, this batch of tuneage recorded live in Brooklyn in 2006 with guests Little Howlin' Wolf and Peter Barry. Recommended of course.

Latest release from Holy Mountain, a new 12" from The Shining Path, the duo of Ilya Monosov, and Preston Swirnoff. We've dug pretty much everything we've gotten our hands on so far, and this 12" is no different. Well, actually it is, sort of. And no we don't mean it's different as in we don't dig it, but no, as in it sounds WAY different than other SP releases. Where as other records were overdriven dubbed out druggy psych rock, Chocolate Gasoline has a bit of, well, a sort of calypso vibe mixed into their usual psychedelic stew. It's really strange, sort of sleazy sounding, WAY tripped out, but we still love it. Stripped down percussion, moaning reverbed guitar, blown out FX drenched leads, strange vocals, that almost sound like Jamaican style toasting, and that calypso vibe. It continues on through most of the record, occasionally interrupted by dubbed out rhythms, clouds of electronic glitch, all dizzy and druggy, it actually sounds a bit like this: imagine the house band in some dark dingy calypso bar, a bar you just stumbled into after being heavily dosed with LSD, everything spinning and twisting into freaky shapes, the band jamming in the corner, begins to lift off the ground, their sounds becoming colors, the bar fading until just you and the band are standing on some other planet, watching the Earth melt in the background while the band jams on, and the little rock you're on drifts closer and closer to the sun. Packaged in an eye popping 12" style sleeve, all reds and blues and yellows, just begging for some 3-D glasses!

The Shining Path is the psych rock alter ego minimalist experimental duo Ilya Monosov and Preston Swirnoff, and in the past we've raved about their blown out kraut flecked space rock. This new 7" captures the group live in 2005, two tracks from one of their very rare live performances. The opener is a deep slow burning dirge, glistening and glowing, the sound of a planet slowly drifting into the orbit of a collapsing sun, guitars swirl and soar, grind and growl, effulgent and resplendent. This is drone rock rendered almost static, the riffs crawl, the bass throbs, the whole track creeps, or more appropriately, floats weightless, in a cloud of layered red hot psych guitar, spit out in thick glowing gouts, shot through with feedback, it's like High Rise covering Stars Of The Lid! The second track is a bit more rocking, the drums and bass locked into a motorik groove, while the guitar, still super distorted and blown out, spits out riffs in sudden bursts, eventually coalescing into one constant stream of psychfuzz, pelted by fragments of super effected vocals, strange little squalls of FX, and then the bass gets all dubbed out, bouncing back and forth beneath the buzz and fuzz. Like all Trensmat 7"s, the vinyl comes bundled with a bonus cd-r, this one featuring an extra live track, a heavy rocker, with some serious riffing and harmonica (!), as well as four live videos from various performances, nicely filmed, cool effects, tripped out lighting, and most importantly, more awesome music, with bleated sax, moaning horns, droney raga-like buzz, chanted vocals, creepy ambience, thick walls of guitars, rumbling throbbing bass, all woven into some seriously spaced out psychedelic dronerock. Pressed on white vinyl and of course, VERY LIMITED!

MPEG stream: Live At The Voltaire Commune
MPEG stream: Lonely Hearts

Brand new super limited cassette release from this droned out space rocking duo made up of Ilya Monosov, and Preston Swirnoff, who just happens to be the brother of our very own Irwin! Sort of taking off from where their Holy Mountain release left off, these guys take synths, vocals, organs, hurdy gurdy, drum machine and guitar and whip them into a blown out krautrock, wild noise space rock frenzy, some baffling mix of Can, Hawkwind, High Rise and Suicide, that sounds perfect together, a confusionally brilliant wild eyed blowout. Total WTF? free psych heaven!�From the opening burst of blown out heart-of-the-sun psychrock meltdown, to a stretch of spacious drifting, mesmerizing motorik fuzzstomp, to the final chunk of weird drum machine driven, electronic krautdrone, these guys are absolutely melt minds and destroy speakers, and we can't get enough.� Packaged in gorgeous fold over, card stock envelope like sleeves, hand painted, with pasted on gull color tripped out artwork, on red cassette tapes, with full color picnic blanket colored inserts. LIMITED TO ONLY 100 COPIES, each hand numbered...

Wow! Holy Mountain hits the bullseye once again. This time out it's with the rock incarnation of Monosov Swirnoff, who first showed us the Shining Path on the second volume of their vinyl only series of lps on Eclipse. This is some seriously blown out and ecstatic raw and relentless rock that is equally influenced by the amazing early punk scene in Australia (think Primitive Calculators) as it is the menacing hypnotic qualities of Suicide, the blasting moments of Can and the psych guitar overload of Japan's High Rise. We love how the Shining Path offer us a taste of what can happen when punks get psychedelic. This isn't just '70s psychrock rehash/worship, instead there is a really cool urgency and momentum that's often lacking in modern day psych excursions. The Shining Path is kind of like the sweat and guts of early punk rock under the influence of Les Rallizes Denudes. While Monosov and Swirnoff reside on opposite sides of the country and thus are rarely able to perform live they did manage a short tour last summer with outsider genius Little Howlin Wolf, those lucky enough to catch them in the East got a total treat. Here's hoping that The Shining Path are able to play some shows around here as we would love to hear and feel these radiating scorchers in the flesh, but until that happens this record is gonna be blasting through our speakers nonstop! The LP comes with a cd as well, so you get the best of both worlds for the same price...

MPEG stream: The Day When He Himself Shall Wipe Away My Tears
MPEG stream: Moroccan Summer
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Not the Speed, not the Glue - it's just the Shinki, here. After reissuing the two classics of drugged out early '70s Japanese heavy psych by proto-metal power trio Speed, Glue and Shinki, makes sense that the Phoenix label would turn their attentions to the solo effort by that band's guitarist, Shinki Chen, originally released in 1972, also featuring Hiro Yanagida on keys, and George Yanagi from Flied Egg / Strawberry Path on bass and vocals. For those keeping score at home, this doesn't get nearly the love from Julian Cope's Japrocksampler as do Shinki's albums with Speed and Glue, but we still figure any Speed Glue & Shinki fan will certainly wanna check it out, 'cause it's pretty cool in our book. Truth is, as far as STONER rock goes, its hard to imagine music much more stoned than this comfortably numb slab of swirling, psychedelic blooze rawk. Just look at the album cover... crazy long hair, red eyes, puffing on a joint... that's this album, all right. It starts off with a weird, semi-ambient opening track, "The Dark Sea Dream", five fairly abstract minutes of tinkling piano, barely-there percussion, distant voices (?), amp buzz and feedback drone which would fit right in on a current Miasmah label release, say. After that, the "regular" (though quite relaxed) rock n' roll kicks in, on melodic blues-based songs with such wonderful titles as "Freedom Of A Mad Paper Lantern", "Gloomy Reflections", and "Corpse". Shinki's guitar gently weeps, his riffage more slumbering than lumbering, the rhythms lazy and loping, everything often overwhelmed by blissed out layers of synth shimmer. And it's all quite enjoyable in fact, with a vibe sorta similar to the California dreamin' of Captain Beyond's Sufficiently Breathless (though without the jazziness of that album, which we just realized we've never reviewed!). And definitely of interest to fans of Too Much, Far Out, and of course SG&S. In any case, Shinki and friends fuzz it up nicely here, and remarkably enough, on the album's last cut, the nearly 13 minute long "Farewell To Hypocrites", they suddenly start to display some energy, the drummer at last bestirring himself, making for a rousing finale to a record that otherwise often sorta sounds like heavy Hendrix on 'ludes. Nothing wrong with that, though, if you're in the mood! Hmm, maybe they recorded this last track first, who knows? Limited, numbered, mini-LP sleeve styled gatefold packaging.

MPEG stream: Gloomy Reflections
MPEG stream: It Was Only Yesterday
MPEG stream: Farewell To Hypocrites

Oh so very full of sunshine and bounce. Whereas their debut album presented The Shins in a very Beach Boys-y light, their new full length bears more than a passing resemblance to New Pornographer Carl Newman's former band Zumpano whose two albums were released on the very same label. At times, it's almost eerily so. What with the success of the New Pornographers, any hopes of a new Zumpano album have been dashed. Well folks, sounds like SubPop's found a band who're itchin' to slip their feet into those sizable shiny Z-band's shoes. That's not to say The Shins have become complete Zumpano facsimiles, but the resemblance is more than noticeable on songs like the thoughtful, keyboard and strings driven "Saint Simon", the ultra-exuberant "Turn A Square" and the album's first single "So Say I". That said, The Shins also draw comparisons to sensitive British songsmith The Jazz Butcher (check out the second song "Mines Not A High Horse"). What does this all mean? Geez... that The Shins have a firm grasp on the art of joyful vocal harmonies and elaborate pop orchestrations, but falter in the originality department? Granted the aforementioned artists were by no means groundbreaking, but they made their sounds their own and were just sooo good! Nonetheless, these ten intelligent, lush and very retro-pop tunes filled with falsetto male vocals, elaborate harmonies, jangly guitars, and strong piano melodies make for a pretty great end-of-summer album.

MPEG stream: Kissing The Lipless
MPEG stream: Saint Simon

Tour only cd ep from AQ faves the Shins, who are the masters of shiny and sweet, jangly complex pop. This ep features "Fighting In A Sack", one of the best tracks from their recent Chutes Too Narrow album, as well as the video for "So Says I", that record's first single. Also included are two bonus tracks, a T-Rex cover, and a live version of "New Slang" on which the Shins are joined by Iron And Wine!!

MPEG stream: Baby Boomerang
MPEG stream: New Slang

Built To Spill... meet Peter Cetera. Just kidding, that's just what struck me within the first few bars of this album. Sunshine-y retro-pop tunes with very Beach Boys-esque soaring vocal harmonies. Definitely listen before buying.

RealAudio clip: Girl on the Wing
RealAudio clip: Know Your Onion

It's been a few years since The Shins transformed from indie rock's little secret to international superstars thanks in big part to Zach Braff and the exposure that Garden State gave them. But every now and then a really good band gets the grand attention they deserve and it looks as if The Shins will continue to make solid and undeniably smart pop records seemingly unfazed by their recent burst in popularity. This is a 3 song teaser that will hold us over till their follow up to Chutes Too Narrow comes out soon after new years. It's got stocking stuffer written all over it!

MPEG stream: Phantom Limb
MPEG stream: Split Needles (alt version)

For just being a lil' 3-song ep, So Say I offers quite a wide overview of what The Shins have been up to since their 2001 debut Oh Inverted World. The rollicking, retro, very Zumpano-esque title track is the first single off of their forthcoming album. Hopping in the back seat for this short ride along the beach are the considerably mellower, earthier "Mild Child" and an alternate live-in-the-basement version of the album's ninth song "Gone For Good".

MPEG stream: Mild Child

What do you do when one day, you're just another decent, sort of well known indie rock band who writes really great songs and then suddenly you become probably the most famous indie rock band around thanks to a big Hollywood movie and waves of big time hype. Well if you are The Shins you just keep writing totally great songs and remain the same great band that made us all fall in love with them in the first place. It's so nice to see how unfazed they seem to be after their huge rise in popularity. You get the feeling that Wincing The Night Away is the same record they would have made, had luck not been how it was and they still remained a somewhat obscure (by mainstream standards) indie rock band from New Mexico. The infectious breezy melodies are definitely still there. Smart pop that draws upon the richest of influences yet now sounds so singularly their own. Songs that seep into your head and have no plan of leaving anytime soon. Wincing The Night Away also finds them exploring a more moody side. The Shins are like that great friend who gets famous but still calls every time they are in town and you aren't jealous of their fame just super happy for them. PS. The first batch of these come with an awesome 7" with a non-album track and the e.p. version of Split Needles, can't promise 'em forever but you'll get one with your purchase while they last... PPS. Also note that these don't go on sale 'til Tuesday 1/23, we can't sell 'em 'til then!

MPEG stream: Australia
MPEG stream: Black Wave

As much as we might be led to believe otherwise, post rock is alive and well. And we mean post rock in the 'classic' sense, you know, the late nineties, post-Slint, instrumental mood rock, June Of 44, Tortoise, Rodan, Engine Kid, Bastro and all those bands we loved and still love. As evidenced by the post rockisms of recent aQ faves Chevreuil, Isis, Conifer and now the return of one of the classic post rock bands the Shipping News. We are admittedly suckers for a lot of sounds, the buzz and blur of frosty black metal, the classic amen break drum and bass, big crunchy metallic emo, but almost more than all of those, we can't get enough of that stretched out, hypnotic and rhythmic, brooding, propulsive post rock. Sinewy guitar lines, wound around crisp, intricate drumming, throbbing bass and spoken /sung / shouted vocals. Well, to be honest we -can- get enough of the vocals, in fact the vocals here were almost enough to put us off this record completely, but there's just something about this record that grew on us, even the vocals, especially the vocals. It's got this super dark, claustrophobic vibe, expansive and loose but weirdly tense and paranoid so completely reminiscent of THE post rock record, Slint's Spiderland. And while every band that has employed the quiet-loud, hard-soft song structure has been accused of ripping off Slint, a handful of bands just happened to occupy a similar sonic niche, deftly exploring the structure of rock, dismantling it and re-assembling it as a crystalline framework, delicate, but razor sharp, wrapped in warm melodies, subtle and woozily minor key. But unlike some of their post rock brethren, Shipping News don't ever really get loud, their dynamics are conveyed instead through intensity, and arrangement, owing a sonic debt of sorts to bands like Godspeed and Silver Mt. Zion as much as Slint. Regardless of its influences or precedents, Flies The Fields is just a gorgeously languid, mesmerizingly rhythmic, completely hypnotic epic rock record. Post or otherwise.

MPEG stream: Axons And Dendrites
MPEG stream: Sheets And Cylinders

2 ex-Rodan peoples.

Please note this is not a new Shipping News album! Although it does include three new songs, it's mainly a compilation of their three fairly recent yet now out-of-print RMSN series eps ("Carrier", "Variegated" and "Sickening Bridge"). With the releases (some subtly retitled) strung together in this fashion, the group's musical diversity is revealed over the course of the fourteen songs, making for a rather strangely intriguing journey. And it's a lengthy one too with a running time of 69 minutes. While the songs have all the earmarks of post-rock - stop-starts, loud-quiets, multiple time signatures and tempo shifts - there are also plenty more experimental excursions. FYI: the new songs are "Variegated", "Wax Museum", "The Architect In Hell" and "Everglade".

RealAudio clip: You Can't Hide The Mark Inside
RealAudio clip: Wax Museum

The family that brought us Rodan, Rachel's and June of 44 returns after four years with a new album and the results are, well, not worth waiting four years for. Decidedly slower and moodier than their previous releases, Shipping News are unfortunately starting to fall into 'Anahata'-era June of 44 territory. With production that is only marginally better than their live recordings, this album is likely to frustrate fans that eagerly await a return to classic June of 44 rock-rage. Shipping News is going somewhere, but who knows if it's worth the wait.

Awesome mix, as we would expect from firsthand experience, when he DJ'd in the store!

Latest blast of outsider sonic WTF and avant rhythmic weirdness from these Texas noise rockers turned avant beat making electronic experimentalists. And they're back on Rock Is Hell, one of our favorite labels, specializing in the bizarre and baffling, and as if to celebrate this reunion, Shit And Shine offer up what we can only describe as, their 'jazz' record? No bashing blowouts, no fractured drum machine rhythms, instead, the vibe is cool and mellow, skittery and softly skronky, woozy and a little psychedelic. A subtle krautrock influence runs throughout as well. Just check out the 16 minute opener "Denim Do's And Don'ts" which is a sprawling, late night shuffle, all languid organs and electric piano, draped over a hypnotic, minimal groove, and peppered with horns here and there, all the background for a strange narration, the vibe is sort of rainy night in an empty city mixed with a beat up old lounge in the middle of nowhere, both populated by shady characters, and all manner of mysterious shapes lurking in the shadows. We kept expecting the record to explode into some crushing cacophony, or splinter into some sort of fractured beatscape, but instead, the band just sort of unwind, the house band at some jazz dive, jamming into the wee hours. And we'd like to say there are moments of fucked up, damaged Shit And Shine weirdness, but the fact that there's really NOT, is precisely what makes this so fucked up, and so strangely cool. A few tracks do almost devolve into more twisted murk, but really, they never drift to far from this a moody, dimly lit downer jazz, EXCEPT for "Jump On The Feeder", which sounds like one of the other tracks, slowly melting and crumbling, the voice too processed, and gnarled into an alien spoken word. But yeah, who thought they had it in 'em?! And who woulda thought King Coffey of the Butthole Surfers would be behind the kit on a record that sounds less like drugged out chaos than moody minimalism. We certainly wouldn't have, but goddamn we dig it. And as always, Rock Is Hell pull out all the stops - colored vinyl, super thick sleeves, all unique, and a download code to boot!

MPEG stream: Denim Do's And Don'ts
MPEG stream: TJC 16
MPEG stream: Jump On The Feeder