[ aquarius records — Rock Pop ]

IMPORTANT (Please read to avoid confusion): Some items below may be tagged with a bold, red, all-caps OUT OF PRINT/UNAVAILABLE notice. This does NOT mean that all other items not so tagged are, in fact, in stock — or for that matter, in print and available, though there's a good chance they are. Some folks get confused on this point, and we can see why, so please read this for further clarification and other important before-you-order information. Unlike some mailorder websites, we don't have an electronic inventory system linked to our site, so you can't be sure of what we actually have or don't have in stock at any given moment without asking us — please email our mailorder department for availability status — or better yet, just go ahead and place your order using our shopping cart function and we'll get back to you with the status of each item. If you have general non-mailorder questions, email the store.

Showing results 15251 through 15300 of 19388.

In the 13 years since its original 1997 release, Spiritualized's third lp has become something of a modern classic, and not without good reason. You'll probably want to ignore our original half-assed review of this landmark record, because this is the kind of album which has gotten better - monumentally better, in fact - with age. As the sticker on this handsome reissue states, Ladies and Gentlemen is "A psychedelic gospel album full of confessional songs about heartbreak and drug abuse, a flat out masterpiece." True dat. It is also the album where mainman Jason Pierce was able to bypass the whole "ex-Spacemen 3" tag (though, to be fair, that will probably stick with him for all of eternity, never mind the fact that the dude does go by the name J. Spaceman...) as Spiritualized had definitely come into their own at this point. So, by now many of you are familiar with this album's back story, in which Pierce's ladyfriend/keyboardist Kate Radley up and ran off with Richard Ashcroft of the Verve. Of course, she still found time to play on Ladies and Gentlemen, and Pierce's heartbreak is in full effect here. You will be hard pressed to find beauty and misery done better together than on this record. Instead of whining and whinging, Pierce comes off as legitimately despondent, channeling his deepest emotions to create a vast album that is stoic and ultimately quite triumphant, not to mention pretty rocking and aggressive at points. Pierce's voice sounds like that of a man questioning existence - sometimes sweet and desperate, others times pissed and snotty - as he navigates through a chemically induced state of confusion and sadness. The sophisticated string and horn arrangements are really something else, as are the addition of a full on gospel choir and the keyboard talents of none other than Dr. John. These elements are perfectly integrated into the dreamy, druggy haze Spiritualized has always shrouded themselves in, and it comes as no surprise that this is the big one for most of the band's fans. The mood is established right away with the gentle and depressing title track/intro type thing, and the band then launches into the rocker "Come Together", complete with soulful female backup vocals and a sort of fuck all attitude. "I Think I'm In Love" rides on an interesting atmospheric groove with bluesy harmonica thrown into the mix and some cool wah wah guitar accents. "Electricity" is another supercharged rocker with some cool dirty slide guitar work and the generally perfect sound of a band with a budget to match their ambitions. "Cool Waves" is a warm, drug inspired gospel track that works great as the penultimate song before ending on the 17 minute closer "Cop Shoot Cop" with it's lazy but tense R&B groove and a middle part that sounds like some sort of sonic hurricane. We suspect many loyal aQ readers will already own this, but it sure is great having this amazing album available on some nice 180 gram heavy duty vinyl, with deluxe packaging, and if for some reason you've missed out GET THIS NOW! Especially since it's limited (our supplier is already all out of 'em, for the moment at least).

MPEG stream: Come Together
MPEG stream: I Think I'm In Love
MPEG stream: No God Only Religion
MPEG stream: Cool Waves

Ladies and Gentlemen is "A psychedelic gospel album full of confessional songs about heartbreak and drug abuse, a flat out masterpiece." True dat. It is also the album where mainman Jason Pierce was able to bypass the whole "ex-Spacemen 3" tag (though, to be fair, that will probably stick with him for all of eternity, never mind the fact that the dude does go by the name J. Spaceman...) as Spiritualized had definitely come into their own at this point. So, by now many of you are familiar with this album's back story, in which Pierce's ladyfriend/keyboardist Kate Radley up and ran off with Richard Ashcroft of the Verve. Of course, she still found time to play on Ladies and Gentlemen, and Pierce's heartbreak is in full effect here. You will be hard pressed to find beauty and misery done better together than on this record. Instead of whining and whinging, Pierce comes off as legitimately despondent, channeling his deepest emotions to create a vast album that is stoic and ultimately quite triumphant, not to mention pretty rocking and aggressive at points. Pierce's voice sounds like that of a man questioning existence - sometimes sweet and desperate, others times pissed and snotty - as he navigates through a chemically induced state of confusion and sadness. The sophisticated string and horn arrangements are really something else, as are the addition of a full on gospel choir and the keyboard talents of none other than Dr. John. These elements are perfectly integrated into the dreamy, druggy haze Spiritualized has always shrouded themselves in, and it comes as no surprise that this is the big one for most of the band's fans. The mood is established right away with the gentle and depressing title track/intro type thing, and the band then launches into the rocker "Come Together", complete with soulful female backup vocals and a sort of fuck all attitude. "I Think I'm In Love" rides on an interesting atmospheric groove with bluesy harmonica thrown into the mix and some cool wah wah guitar accents. "Electricity" is another supercharged rocker with some cool dirty slide guitar work and the generally perfect sound of a band with a budget to match their ambitions. "Cool Waves" is a warm, drug inspired gospel track that works great as the penultimate song before ending on the 17 minute closer "Cop Shoot Cop" with it's lazy but tense R&B groove and a middle part that sounds like some sort of sonic hurricane.

MPEG stream: Come Together
MPEG stream: I Think I'm In Love
MPEG stream: No God Only Religion
MPEG stream: Cool Waves

A lot has transpired since the superb "Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space" album from 1997. Members Sean Cook, Damon Reece and Mike Mooney were given the boot, but swiftly moved on to form the very similar sounding Lupine Howl (which we included

If you love Jason Pierce and Spiritualized you'll find plenty to entertain yourself within these Songs In A & E, though the record fails to capture the intensity and otherworldliness of such masterworks as Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space, nor the sonorous integrity of Lazer Guided Melodies. This being Mr. Spaceman's first full length outing since his battle with pneumonia in '05, there is a distinctly weary tone to his voice, as well as notably morbid fixation in the lyrics. The last song ends with him chanting the words "funeral home," repeatedly. And with that said, ironically, one gets the sense that we haven't gotten our last great Spiritualized record, though this isn't it. Rather it seems Pierce is transitioning from a less spaced-out and youthful visionary into a more reflexive and bluesy troubadour. The vocals are far less effected on this record than in previous outings, and the acoustic guitar is allowed more attention in the face of the usual choirs, and luscious orchestration. Perhaps on the heels of his spare contributions to the Mister Lonely soundtrack, this is less significant, but in comparison to the broader patterns in his career, it is. Interestingly, the most richly orchestrated songs on the record are partitioned separately as instrumentals carrying the titles, H1-H5. Still here, naturally, are the shockingly, and sometimes even humorously frank references to heavy drug use, but it's perhaps in that honesty that we need Pierce. He seems to be fighting his way slowly into a new paradigm, the peak of which, we hope, will be something to behold.

MPEG stream: Soul On Fire
MPEG stream: Borrowed Your Gun

After five self titled releases, Kalamazoo Ramones/Black Flag worshipping mongoloid sci-fi garage punks the Spits offer up Kill The Kool, not a new full length obviously, cuz then it would be self titled AGAIN, but instead, KtK is a reissue of a super limited tour only release, now all gussied up, with a whole mess of bonus material, the vinyl a double lp cut at 45rpm, but both the cd and lp versions overflowing with the Spits's twisted mix of knuckle dragging caveman space punk and creepy synthy weirdness, a collection of singles, B-sides, outtakes and demos, and as always, even a collection of odds and sods from these guys is totally and impossibly catchy, playing like a record proper. Opener "2018" sets the stage, the band playing what is essentially three chord punk rock, but something about it transforms dumb punk into something twisted and warped and catchy as fuck. "Atom Age" is another gem, all droney and sorta psychedelic, but ultimately just a pounding punk rock anthem. Oh yeah, then in swoops one of the most retarded/genius 'solos' ever, and you sort of get what these guys are capable of. Sure they may sound like classic punk rock on the surface, but it's all just sort of tweaked and off kilter, enough that even the simples blast of bash and pound is something sorta next level. And as mentioned above, lots of the tracks are laced with weird sci-fi synthiness, often just buzzy tripped out intros, but just as often woven into the fabric of the song, and then there are the true oddities, which tend to be our favorites. The lo-fi psychedelic freakout of "Take Pleasure In Someone Else's Pain" that sounds like it could be Simply Saucer, the druggy, dirgey "Chem Trails", the whole song laced with coughing, and weird heavily effected alien vox, the synth heavy "The Liars", which sounds like Gary Numan by way of the Ramones, and then there's the ridiculous freaked out final track, "Spend The Night In A Haunted House w/ The Spits, which is essentially a drum machines, some synth buzz, weird swirling psychedelic ambience, and what sounds like super distorted field recordings of an actual haunted house, people screaming and freaking out, but also 'characters' growling and shrieking and trying to scare the regular folks. Makes for some seriously genius WTF weirdness, which is pretty much why we love these guys as much as we do!

MPEG stream: 2018
MPEG stream: Atom Age
MPEG stream: Kill The Kool
MPEG stream: Rip Up The Streets
MPEG stream: Autobahn
MPEG stream: Spend The Night In A Haunted House w/The Spits

We had never really heard The Spits before. Pretty sure we just assumed they'd be super generic boring punk rock. But one aQ staffer who'd been living in Seattle until recently was shocked that the rest of us had never checked these guys out, and talked them up as being one of his favorite bands, which was enough of a recommendation for us, and holy shit, do these guys rule. This is full length number 5 (we think), all self titled, and all, we presume, packed to overflowing with killer jams that meld Ramones style three chord punk with blown out Devo-style electro-punkpop, and the results are pretty mindblowing, hooks galore, but often buried in murk and buzz, the vocals slipping from a Joey Ramones style yelp to a mush mouthed heavily effected drawl, with even the most straight ahead jams wreathed in weird streaks of processed guitar buzz or twisted electronics, opener, "All I Want" is a pretty perfect pop song, and yeah, total Ramones worship, but the whole track is underpinned by killer sinister sci-fi guitar sounds and lots of buzz and drone, the result is punky pop, but sort of tense and intense. And "My Mess" is all curdled guitar crunch and tripped out doped up vox, wild drumming, and some rad psychedelic effects drenched breakdowns, and while there's not a proper chorus, somehow the whole goddamn song gets stuck in our heads like crazy. Oh and did we mention the bizarre falling apart interlude replete with dialed telephone tones and all the instruments sounding like they're melting before your ears. Then there are jams like "Tomorrow's Children", with muted muddy riffage wrapped around motorik programmed rhythms, and some druggy Hawkwindy vox, with a distinctly electro vibe throughout. We could go on track by track, but it's hardly necessary. 13 tracks, 21 minutes, short sharp, hooky, heavy, buzzy, fuzzy, catchy and totally ruling, these guys might just be our new (old) favorite band!

MPEG stream: All I Want
MPEG stream: My Mess
MPEG stream: Tomorrow's Children
MPEG stream: Electric Brain

"You get a donkey and you get a baboon and you feed 'em a diet of chili and custard for thirty days and then you get 'em to fuck. Their children would be the Germs." -- Kim Fowley That's just one of the choice quotes in this book, which chronicles the LA punk scene in much the same oral-narrative way that the wonderful Please Kill Me did for the NY punk scene of the '60s and '70s. This book starts in the mid-'60s with the Doors, and covers the Runaways, the Screamers, the Weirdos, X, Germs, the Cramps, Black Flag, SST, Slash magazine, etc etc etc. Everyone is mean and says that Belinda Carlisle was fat and ugly -- aw! The authors went straight to the source, if the sources were still living, so this is a story told from the horse's mouth -- the narrative smoothly constructed from the interviews. While not as perfectly-executed as Please Kill Me, this book is nonetheless highly recommended. COOL BEANS "#14 'The Drugs, Alcohol and Sobriety Issue'" magazine + cd 5.95 New issue of everybody's favorite caffeinated, truck driving, taxi cab, bicycling, indie-rock-music-and-life magazine. This time we've got an interview with our own Andee, on his label, his straight edge lifestyle, and his illogical and unfettered love of drug and booze soaked rock. Also Lee Ranaldo interviews William S. Burroughs, Rob Crow (Thingy, Heavy Vegetable, Pinback), Hood, and much more! CD includes tracks by Circle (2 really short, unreleased tracks), Burmese (doing a Brainbombs cover), Daniel Johnston, Hood, Xiu Xiu, Rob Crow, Mono Pause, Shut Up Little Man! and more. THE WIRE #216 magazine 7.50 Latest dispatch from the UK's preeminent avant rock magazine with Richard Hell (!) on the cover, Gordon Mumma, Rhythm And Sound, a cool primer on music's lunatic fringe (Skip Spence, Wild Man Fischer, etc.), and our own Jim Haynes explores Maurizio Bianchi's Sacher-Pelz box in even greater detail than on a recent AQ list. BROKEN FACE #13 magazine 5.98 Newest issue of one of our new favorite zines. Following a similar path as the Ptolemaic Terrascope, but with a much less hippie, more 'avant' bent, but with lots of love for space rock, psych rock and beyond. Issue #13 has a great interview with Vibracathedral Orchestra wherein Neil Campell fesses up to listening mostly to Dr. Dre, an interview with the reclusive Omit, a piece on the Road Cone label, Marrianne Nowottny, 2001 top tens and tons or reviews!!! ----* ----* In Stock, No Chance to Review : ----* AGATHODAIMON "Chapter III" (Nuclear Blast) cd 15.98 AKITA, MASAMI & ZBIGNIEW KARKOWSKI "MAZK (3)" (Naim) cd 15.98 ALVA NOTO / SIGNAL / BYETONE / KOMET "Mort Aux Vaches" (Staalplaat) 2cd 16.98 AMBARCHI, OREN "Mort Aux Vaches: Song of Separation" (Staalplaat) cd 16.98 ANAKSIMANDROS, THE "Life Is A Skullbow" (Veglia) lp 14.98 ANODYNE "The Outer Dark" (Escape Artist) cd 14.98 BEWITCHED "Rise Of The Antichrist" (Osmose) cd 14.98 BIRCHVILLE CAT MOTEL "Blankangelspace" (Celebrate Psi Phenomena) cd-r 10.98 BIRCHVILLE CAT MOTEL "Creeping Frost Onset" (Celebrate Psi Phenomena) cd-r 10.98 BIRCHVILLE CAT MOTEL "Crop Circle Empires" (Celebrate Psi Phenomena) cd-r 10.98 BIRCHVILLE CAT MOTEL "Long Vanished Spirals" (Celebrate Psi Phenomena) cd-r 10.98 BIRCHVILLE CAT MOTEL "September" (Celebrate Psi Phenomena) cd-r 10.98 BIRCHVILLE CAT MOTEL "Shapeshifter" (Celebrate Psi Phenomena) cd-r 10.98 BOBBITO & DJ SPINNA "Wonder Wrote It Part 2" (Self Released) 2cd 17.98 BOUNTY KILLER "Next Millennium" (TVT) cd 17.98 BRYSON, P. MILES "Alejandro's Carneceria" (Illegal Art) cd 14.98 COIL "Time Machines" (Eskaton) 2lp 25.00 COLECLOUGH, JONATHAN "Cake (version 2)" (Siren / Robot) cd 15.98 DARKNESS REMAINS "To Touch The Depths of Sorrow" (Tribunal) cd 14.98 DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE "Stability" (Barsuk) cdep 8.98 FREESTYLE FELLOWSHIP "Sex In The City" (Ground Control) 12" 6.98 FRITH, FRED "Freedom In Fragments" (Tzadik) cd 16.98 FU MANCHU "California Crossing" (Mammoth) cd 11.98 GILES / GILES / FRIPP "The Brondesbury Tapes (1968)" (Voiceprint) cd 14.98 GUNTER, BERNHARD "Redshift" (Trente Oiseaux) cd 16.98 HALO "Guattari (From the West Flows Grey Ash and Pestilence)" (Relapse) cd 14.98 IDIOT O'CLOCK "(Original First Album)" (Alchemy) cd 19.98 JURADO, DAMIEN AND GATHERED IN SONG "I Break Chairs" (Sub Pop) cd 14.98 LAPORTE, JEAN-FRANCOISE "Mantra" (Metamkine) 3" cd 9.98 LICHT, ALAN "An Emotional Memoir of Martha Quinn" (Drag City Books) book 11.98 LOPEZ, FRANCISCO "Untitled #123" (Alien 8) cd 14.98 MISS KITTIN & THE HACKER "First Album" (International Deejay Gigolo) cd 16.98 MUMMA, GORDON "Live-Electronic Music" (Tzadik) cd 16.98 NATE DOGG "Music & Me" (Elektra) cd 17.98 PEANUT BUTTER WOLF "The Best Of..." (Copasetik) cd 16.98 POISON THE WELL "Tear From The Red" (Trustkill) cd 14.98 PRAM "Owl Service" cd ROOT "Black Seal" (Redblack) cd 14.98 SAXON, SKY SUNLIGHT "Golden Vaults Volume 1" (Timeless) cd-r 12.98 TOWN AND COUNTRY "C'mon" (Thrill Jockey) cd 14.98 V/A "Czech Assault" (Relapse) cd 14.98 V/A "Kosmos: Soundtracks of Eastern Germany's Adventures in Spaace" (All Score Media) cd 16.98 WORKSHOP "Es Liebt Dich Und Korperlichkeit Ein Ausgerflippter" (Blue Chopsticks) cd 14.98

Rob Ellis of PJ Harvey plays a tense mix of Barry Adamson-style Bombast. Features ex-God drummer Lou Giccotelli & ex-PJ Harvey John Parish.

We were a bit thrown for a loop when we first heard this Lampse release by Splint! We've been digging everything Lampse has been putting out (Machinefabriek, Jasper TX, Gultskra Artikler) all of which are more on the noisy, murky, crackly and mysterious side of things. Splint! however has a sound way different then any of their labelmates, but we're always happy to when a label mixes things up and shows us they aren't just a one trick pony. Splint! are a quartet who merge electronics with trumpet, synthesizer, guitar and percussion to create a rich and moody sound that is influenced equally by exploratory jazz (think Bill Laswell's reconstruction of Miles Davis) as it is the sonic explorations of Delia Derbyshire and the archives of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. We weren't grabbed at first, but as the record progresses, it builds and expands, unveiling a more engaging and compelling sound that unfolds blossoming-flower-like after the first couple tracks. In fact there are even moments that make us think of what a group on Rune Grammofon covering later Coil might sound like. So while on the surface this is much different sounding then anything else on Lampse, it still shares those intangible qualities of mystery and suspense that has made Lampse one of our favorite new labels.

MPEG stream: Fooj
MPEG stream: Sintjom
MPEG stream: Bommosytsy

An exhausting, exhilarating compendium from '90s British noise-rock outfit Splintered, Turned Inside Out collects many of the singles, B-sides, demos and unreleased tracks on an expansive double disc anthology. Splintered was often lumped alongside Skullflower, Ramleh, Godflesh, JFK, Terminal Cheesecake, and other malcontent proponents of industrial-noise-crust damage due to similarities in the revolving door policies for each of those projects, the appetites for taking drugs to make music to take drugs to, and of course, the self-immolating noise-rock girded to massively pummeling drum assaults. Richo Johnson was the man at the center of Splintered, whose ideas on post-punk culture, trashy films, Ballard / Burroughs / Beat poets, and the like were drawn out via his Grim Humour fanzine through which he made a considerable amount of contacts in England, Europe, and beyond. A heavy, monolithic rhythm section was formative to Splintered's sound, upon which Johnson and company would lay scalding, black-hole riffs of unholy psychedelic guitar noise, controlled feedback bursts, tape collages of murmuring newsreel / talking heads discussing the horrors of a graphic crime right next to gardening tips, and Johnson's best impression of Gibby Haynes barking through a megaphone. Even though Splintered was known for recording "singles," these were expansive, nine-minute long tracks pushing the boundary of what could physically fit on a seven inch. The compilation is set up chronologically, with disc one featuring two such gaping cuts that originally graced their single for Stefan Jaworzyn's Shock Records label. The second disc continues through this path of obstinant, noise-rock pummel akin to early Swans or Missing Foundation, highlighted on the awesome, apocalyptic hypno-rock track "Smokescreen "(which actually was one of Splintered's singles, though this version was a cassette comp track instead of the single version for some reason or another... they probably lost the master tapes, is our guess). But by the end of 1996 when Johnson called it quits for Splintered (and continued on under the different project name Theme), the guitars, noises, and vocals were acquiring a heavy doom-drone quality with the drums thudding at a slower, more meditative pace, almost prescient of what Nadja would be doing a decade or so later. Pretty fucking brutal we gotta say.

MPEG stream: Land Fall
MPEG stream: Breakdown, Part II
MPEG stream: (Behind The) Smokescreen
MPEG stream: Blood Orchid

Damn, this might be our favorite slab of wax yet from these fabulous four women from right here in the Bay Area. We love how stripped down and raw these songs come crackling out of our speakers, making us think of a more melodic early Sleater Kinney, as both songs have such infectious hooks yet also have this total immediacy brimming under the surface. Along with the latest Grass Widow record, this 7" is bringing us back to the heyday of Kill Rock Stars, K, and Chainsaw Records glory in such awesome ways!

We knew when we heard their debut 7" from last year that The Splinters were going to be a band to keep our ears on. With their debut full length they've shown just how damn good they really are! As these four ladies from right here in the Bay Area have such a knack for creating uptempo, catchy and super smart post-punk jams. What's most refreshing about The Splinters is that they have carved out their own niche at a time when so many other like-minded bands are all going full on lo-fi in their take on Young Marble Giants, Black Tambourine, Vaselines, etc. Splinters have a totally different, much more song based approach that recalls some of our favorite '90s Kill Rock Stars and K records bands. Lots of the songs on Kick have an awesome Sleater Kinney vibe, but way more stripped down, poppy and hooky. It's like they found the magic of the Carrie Brownstein moments on records like The Hot Rock and merged them into their more economic approach to crafting songs, with no wasted space or filler. We're also reminded a bit of totally awesome and underrated bands from the past like Helium and Slant 6. And while we are sure The Splinters would fit just fine on bills with bands like Girls At Dawn, Vivian Girls, Brilliant Colors, etc., it's so awesome they aren't blindly following any trends but instead making music in a way that feels so true to themselves. Awesome!

MPEG stream: Sorry
MPEG stream: Sea Salt Skin
MPEG stream: Cool

Such a great time for Bay Area bands! Every time we look up there seems to be a new awesome band popping up and playing around town and this new female foursome is the perfect example, grabbing a hold of our ears with such commanding and vibrant energy! Taking cues from greats like The Raincoats, the Vaselines, and the Shop Assistants, the Splinters create songs that are both immediate and wear well with many repeated listens. It wouldn't be a far stretch to find The Splinters landing on a label like K or Merge in the years to come as this is a band that knows its underground rock history yet creates songs that feel so completely present and all their own. There's still something so humble and logical about introducing your band to the world on a good ol' 7", and this nearly perfect slab of classic indie pop is indeed a perfect introduction to the Splinters! Now we vote that their next release should be a split 7" with like minded former Bay Area band Brilliant Colors. But whatever shape their next outing comes in, we will be all ears!

A few weeks ago we listed the debut, limited edition 7" single from Finnish/American hardcore hypno-punk supergroup Split Cranium. That was the teaser for this here Hydra Head full length, which includes that single's A side (the B side was a Daniel Menche remix) "Scepters To Rust", along with seven other (mostly) short sharp shocks of this band's noisy, gnarly, D-beat driven loud/fast attack. Featuring our pals Aaron Turner (Mamiffer, Isis, House Of Low Culture, etc.) and Jussi Lehtisalo (Circle, Pharoah Overlord, Steel Mammoth, etc. etc.) along with another of the guys who plays with Jussi in Steel Mammoth. Here's what we said about that track on the single: "Cranium splitting heaviness for sure. Pounding drums, kick ass riffs, massive HEAVY production, some seriously crusty punk blowouts woven into more metallic chug and crunch, peppered with wild squiggly metal shred freakouts, and bizarre echo drenched vocals, that make this sound very Circle-like indeed." Well, a Circle-like version of aggro crusty HC punk anyway (if you've got Circle's Panic cd from a while back, you've had a taste of this). And that pretty much goes for this whole album, starting from the 1:47 blast of "Little Brother", Split Cranium cranking out the raw distorted punkrock in race-to-the-finish, fist-in-your-face fashion. None of the first three tracks break the 2 minute mark, in fact, they get shorter and shorter. But then, with "Blossoms From Boils", the band starts to groove a little more, that's where the Turbonegro-doing-NWOFHM comparison we made in our 7" review comes in. They stretch that one out to almost 5 minutes, and as cranium-splitting headaches go, it's a darn catchy one. A couple tracks further along, we come to "Black Blinding Plague", a track that's about 50 percent just feedback, before the crush and churn and sore throat vokills come in and the party really starts. No wonder they got noisician/droneologist Daniel Menche to do that remix! (Though we wonder, was Merzbow not available?). And then a song called "Yellow Mountain" gets to gallopin', upping the "New Wave Of Finnish Heavy Metal" quotient while also bringing in some soaring, clean, chant-like vocals (mixed under/above the gruff shouty ones). Beginning to hear some early Circle here, circa Meronia, but more punked out for sure. That awesome headbanger is followed by the album's grand finale, the 8+ minute "Retrace The Circle". It takes the sound of "Yellow Mountain" and gets more epic and Isis-y with it, building into grand spaced out drone heaviness and ending with a totally distorted noise flourish. Wow. We're sold. For a project such as this, with key members living many time zones apart, who probably spend more time emailing each other than they ever get to spend jamming together in the same practice space, it's damn convincing. But then, we'd expect nothing less from Jussi and Aaron, et. al. And while Circle and Isis fans should of course be interested in this, we feel Split Cranium is good enough to garner fans on their own merits. If we'd never heard of Circle or Isis or Steel Mammoth, we'd still be digging Split Cranium's freaked out HC. Cd version comes in a nice oversized digipack sleeve, & there's also vinyl but we weren't able to get enough to list this week, hopefully more will show up soon...

MPEG stream: Blossoms From Boils
MPEG stream: Scepters To Rust
MPEG stream: Yellow Mountain

The Andy Votel-affilated Finders Keepers label rarely, if ever, disappoints. They've brought us "Welsh Rare Beat", Jean-Claude Vannier, The Yamasuki Singers, etc., etc. Yep, Finders Keepers dig the crates like nobody's business, coming up with some incredible, unheralded psych/prog/funk gems to reissue. That brings us to Gluckskugel, a very interesting n' entertaining first-time-on-cd collection of music by Germany's Bruno Spoerri, whom we're told is an electronic, musique-concrete composer with Can connections. He certainly made a whole bunch of far-out, fun sounds in the '70s, ranging from rejected TV themes to experimental film soundtracks to industry demos, as documented here. Weird, wild, kinda kitschy! Sometimes augmenting his arsenal of electronics and tape loopings are live jazz/funk musicians, resulting in plenty of percolating, analog-synth laden grooves that recall the work of Goblin or John Carpenter (without the fright factor). Or, Spoerri would work alone at home with his musical gizmos, producing, for instance, the aptly titled "Drillin'" from 1971, using an early-model Japanese drum machine to great effect (and to the annoyance of his family). This comes packaged with cool photos and track-by-track liner notes by Spoerri himself, who promises that more unreleased music of similar vintage might be forthcoming, if he can find the tapes!

MPEG stream: Gluckskugel - The Race
MPEG stream: Les Electroniciens

From 1967-1970, deep in their own little world in Urbana, Ill., the Spoils of War started making peculiar pop songs, layered with exotic instruments and experimental electronics, all performed with infectious warmth and emotion. One moment, the group is creating music that sounds like a jingle that sticks in your head forever, while the next moment, they allowed a folky sense of emotion and levity to rise above all else. You know something pretty great is going on when you hear instruments more common in Afghanistan and Russia -- such as the domra and rubab -- on a record that also encompasses lots of heavy organ, male and female vocals, and a '60s fuzzy rock guitar sound. The Spoils of War had an ability to be both smart and catchy, sultry and playful, haunting and wholesome. They were the even-more-obscure sonic cousins of the United States of America. The spike in the drink of the Free Design. The fun daydream of Van Dyke Parks hanging out with the Monkees. Acid rock with a skip to its feet -- and a whistle in its pocket. Not a new reissue but one we just had to get around to listing. Even the few of us who don't really dig this all that much, LOVE the bonus tracks, live and blown out acid drenched droning krautrocky nirvana, spacey and murky, heavy and so weird and amazing!

MPEG stream: Big Sugar Plantation
MPEG stream: Frosted Windows
MPEG stream: Big City Frank's Drum Solo

The Spooky Dance Band were an offshoot of Belligham's legendary funereal garage folk blues outift The Reeks And The Wrecks. The tragic death of Reeks guitarist Orion Satushek ended several brief but gloriously productive musical collaborations. The Reeks were gone, leaving a recently finished album, released earlier this year on Andee's tUMULt label, as well as a record by the Spooky Dance Band a group that featured Orion, his Reeks bandmate Jason Sands and his good friend Caroline Buchalter. The Spooky Dance Band shares a lot of sonic similarities with the Reeks, a stumbling, basement recorded, home made vibe, sort of dusty and grimy, a ramshackle jubilance, and a totally infectious love of music making that came through in every note they played. But where the Reeks took folk and blues and garage rock and twisted those all up into a beautifully skronky lurch, the SDB take bouncy circus keyboards, gypsy folk and angular new wave and turn it into a lush and bouncy warm and warbly haunted house new wave dance party. Farfissa organs wash over moaning deadpan vocals, wild wah guitars balance atop woozy sea sick rhythms, Buchalter's viola spinning melancholy gypsy melodies over infectious angular new wave punk rock. There's even a couple of covers, truly creepy haunting versions of Brian Eno's "Baby's On FIre" And T. Rex's "Cosmic Dancer", all droned out and slightly atonal, giving them a super otherworldly vibe. Comes packaged in a gorgeous gatefold, with lots of photos and some truly heartfelt liner notes from bandmates and friends. R.I.P. Orion...

New single from AQ pop faves Spoon. Described in a former list as: "rough and raw, simple and dark, late night pop. Breaking up with your girlfriend mixtape pop. Really stripped down sounding with warm guitars and shimmering vibes, and a fucking amazing voice." This single has one track from their recent and brilliant album Girls Can Tell, one non-album track, and a Yo La Tengo

First things first, we've gotta tell y'all that "The Underdog" otherwise known as the first single off of this new Spoon album sounds SOOOOOOO much like Billy Joel! Go on guys, give us a few bars of "I don't care what you say anymore, this is myyyy life!" Not a bad thing in our books really. We bet they'd do an awesome cover of it. Billy Joel has made some fine fine music over the years, hasn't he? Anyways, this is Spoon at their most buoyantly upbeat and poppy. Their usual whip smart core arrangement of drums (and hand claps!) well defined guitars, undercurrents of piano and Britt Daniel's softly husky voice is polished off with some deliciously effervescent horns. Great! Really the only problem we have with Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga is its abrupt end... and it comes much too soon. Thirty six minutes of Spoon? Simply not enough in our books, but... Note: the limited edition cd which we currently have in stock includes a bonus disc of 22 more minutes of Spoon -- basically a mishmash of odds'n'ends like rough renditions of album tracks such as "You Got Yr Cherry Bomb", effected guitar abstractions and the like. Don't know how long they'll last, so if you want one of 'em you'd better act fast!

MPEG stream: The Underdog
MPEG stream: You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb

Geez, life is hard, innit? Don't wanna be a broken record about it, but there aren't enough adjectives in our thesaurus to describe how much we dig this band. Have to admit though, that each time a Spoon release date looms on the horizon, we anticipate it with more than a little trepidation. But there really hasn't been any real cause for concern, Britt and co. have yet to disappoint. Yeah, we totally blew our wad gushing over their brilliant Girls Can Tell album back in 2001, then its follow-up Kill The Moonlight took a little longer to sink its teeth in and find its own cozy place in our hearts. Now its follow-up is here. Marking more subtle shifts in the band's direction and sound, Gimme Fiction definitely dips a toe into some new territory -- very tasteful though, nothing outlandish. Perhaps most noticeable is the lower level of pep and fewer obvious hooks. In their places are darker, somberer tones. The addition of strings, horns and mysterious 'sound effects' build the band's already dynamic mood swings to much more pronounced highs and lows. In fact, the first song "The Beast And Dragon, Adored" is so somber that when we heard the first few piano strains it made us think we'd put on a Black Heart Procession album. Then there's a very strange funky detour on the third song "I Turn My Camera On" in which Daniel affects a Prince-esque falsetto, once again causing us check to make sure that our stereo was indeed playing Spoon. And doesn't "I Summon You" sounds like a scaled down E.L.O. song? In contrast to those three decidedly 'new' directions, there's also lots of warm, familiar Spoonisms like "Two Sides Of Monsieur Valentine", "My Mathematical Mind" and "Merchants Of Soul". Great! With guests John Vanderslice, Crooked Fingers' Eric Bachmann, and members of the Tosca String Quartet. Added Spoon treat, while they last, and only with the cd: you also get a four-song cdep with bonus songs "Carryout Kids" (Byram and Cup thought its piano/vocals beginning sounded like an audition for a Broadway musical) and an incredibly distorted, farty "You Was It" as well as demo versions of "I Summon You" and "Sister Jack".

MPEG stream: The Beast And Dragon, Adored
MPEG stream: I Summon You
MPEG stream: I Turn My Camera On

Not sure how this band has managed to remain so unpopular for so long, 'cause god damn if Spoon aren't one of the best pop bands around. And not sugary sweet Kindercore pop, or retro sixties Elephant Six pop, but more rough and raw, simple and dark, late night pop. Breaking up with your girlfriend mixtape pop. Really stripped down sounding with warm guitars and shimmering vibes, and a fucking amazing voice. Spoon seem to suffer from the Sloan syndrome; being a really creative and intelligent pop band, that doesn't sound enough like other pop bands to 'make it big', and end up being bounced from label to label and dropped, even after recording amazing record after amazing record. It's hard for me to objectively describe Spoon in terms of 'their sound' and/or other bands since they have been one of my favorite bands for so long now and everything they do seems so unique to them. They obviously fit somewhat comfortably on the various labels they have recorded for (Matador, Merge, etc.) which gives you some idea, but their sound is really unique. Definitely for fans of the above (Matador, Merge, Sloan), but maybe also for those folks who feel like they may have outgrown pop or indie rock. This just might do the trick.

RealAudio clip: Everything Hits At Once
RealAudio clip: Lines In The Suit
RealAudio clip: Believing Is Art

What more to say? A new Spoon record! Sure it may only be 4 songs (not 3 like it says on the sleeve), but heck, how long has it been since we've had some new Spoon? Far too long. And "Got Nuffin" is just what we've all been hankering for, nothing super new, no sonic reinvention, but then who wants that, it's just another killer brooding, chugging chunk of moody indie rock, a sound that few other modern rock bands can even come close to. Lots of fuzzy bass, minimal piano plink, some cool effected guitar, and Britt Daniel's unmistakable croon. Catchy and kick ass, sounds like it could have come right off any of their last few full lengths. The other three tracks are all over the map. "Tweakers" is some cool abstract piano and drum experiment. Just a looping drum jam, super muddy and muted, with the occasional bit of electronic crunch, or atonal piano pound, even a little bit of drone-y high end, but it's mostly just the drums, and it's kinda cool. Leads right into "Stroke Their Brains", a shuffling slow burner, all fuzzy jangle and skittery rhythm, minor key melodies, strange effected vocals, an awesome Daniel vocal part, and lots of woozy twang. Then after a few minutes of silence is the "Tweakers" remix, which sounds almost exactly the same, slightly altered, the beat subtly effected, the song a bit chopped up and stuttery, really cool, but then for a brief moment, there's some rapping, yep, rapping, really goofy dorky distorted rapping. It's only for 30 seconds or so, and it somehow works, sort of, but we imagine there's a reason it's tucked away after the silence and is unlisted on the sleeve. Maybe that track's for Spoon freeks only, but the rest of this way too brief ep definitely has us chomping at the bit for a new full length!

MPEG stream: Got Nuffin

Okay, you're all probably just as anxious about this release as we are here. And you're probably wondering, as we were here, "just how the fuck are they going to top Girls Can Tell?"It's a tough thing for any band to take that next step after releasing a -- dare I fucking say -- perfect record. It's twice as hard since everyone is expecting to be blown away from the first beat. So is it as good as the last? Hmmm... Well, it didn't punch anyone's lights out on the first, or second, beats. But after listening through a couple times, 4 out of 6 lovers of the last album feel that this album kicks ass. And while it doesn't have as much immediate impact, or as many sure-fire "hits" on it, that doesn't seem as important. It feels like they're trying something new and completely different. Well, as different as they can be while still retaining their Spoon-isms. A customer new to Spoon described this as the record that Elton John would've made if he had the White Stripes and the Strokes as his backup band. Which is to say it's got a lot of swagger and incandescent hooks, but it's not trendy or prefab in any way -- more like Squeeze with their sparkling, precise, stripped down pop songs. Fucking fantastic. Kill The Moonlight seems like a much more introspective record than Girls Can Tell, rife with a greater amount of studio experimentation and instrumentation. Daniels and crew tinker around with piano, mellotron, *human beat box*, and a great multitude of effects. Which isn't to say that this is an "experimental" record at all. Nor is it all unstructured "jams". No, it's a lean machine with nary an ounce of fat on its almost brief 38 minute run time.

RealAudio clip: The Way We Get By
RealAudio clip: Something To Look Forward To
RealAudio clip: Jonathan Fisk
RealAudio clip: Someone Something

After an absolutely brilliant and criminally overlooked record on a major label (the absolutely essential 'A Series Of Sneaks' which we also carry), Spoon have made the move to the ever-flourishing Merge label. While still undeniably indebted to the almighty Pixies, Spoon just keep getting better and better. We can only hope that people notice and make them the stars they deserve to be. 'Love Ways' is a brooding and tense record, taking the sounds of Yo La Tengo and the Pixies, stretching them out a bit, adding a gravelly, world weary voice, and a dark intensity, without sacrificing their perfect pop hooks. So recommended!

Spoon completist alert... To keep Spoon on your mind and in your ears and in your eyes, Merge Records have just released this cdep following up their great Gimme Fiction album that came out back in May. There's three Spoon treats to listen to and one to watch -- the album track and video for "Sister Jack", a remix of "I Turn My Camera On" by John McEntire and an additional song "Sunday Morning Wednesday Night". Hurrah!

MPEG stream: Sunday Morning Wednesday Night
MPEG stream: I Turn My Camera On (John McEntire Remix)

A little vinyl teaser for those of us that still have the ability to play it. The A side is from these Texans' forthcoming album on Merge and the B has a couple of exclusive tracks. If this 7" is any indication of things to come, fans of Spoon's last album Girls Can Tell will not be disappointed by Kill the Moonlight. "Someone Something" is much like what Britt Daniel and Co. were doing before: Elvis Costello fused with Pixies pop goodness. The two exclusive tracks include "Is This The Last Time?" driven by a pulsing rhythm guitar riff not entirely unlike AC/DC's "For Those About To Rock We Salute You", does not approach the heavy magnitude of AC/DC, but this is Spoon after all and "In The Right Place At The Right Time" is a spacey little ditty, almost an ambient Spoon track which may not appeal to all but the most die hard fans.

Longtime indie rock / perfect pop faves Spoon have this limited edition 45rpm 10" single out for this year's "Black Friday Record Store Day", the A-side being their cool cover of the Cramps song "TV Set" (which also appeared on the soundtrack to the Poltergeist remake/reboot, apparently), with all the hectic fuzz and swagger you'd hope for. Wonder if they thought it was clever, also, since lots of people buy TV sets on Black Friday? On the flip: "Let Me Be Mine (Night Version)", an alternate take on a track from last year's Spoon album They Want My Soul. Pink marbled vinyl, limited stock!

MPEG stream: TV Set

It seems like there are a million bands these days doing their best Spoon impressions. And who can blame then? Spoon are awesome. It's no surprise bands want to sound like them. And who can complain really? We love their dour moody groove and propulsive indie jangle. So the more the merrier. As long as it is in some way acknowledged that they were the first, and remain probably the best at being, well, Spoon! But there was a time, when that dynamic was reversed, when Spoon were the ones cribbing their sound from another band. They weren't alone though. In fact some of your past and current faves were right there along with them. Crafting hauntingly oblique angular indie jangle, whispery loping verses and huge crunchy choruses. Sound familiar? You're thinking Nirvana maybe? Nope, but Nirvana were one of the those bands who also borrowed a critical element of their sound from one of the most influential indie rock bands of the nineties. We're of course talking about everyone's favorite outsider indie, loud/soft rockers the Pixies. The band who singlehandedly launched a million bands. And then of course tons of THOSE bands launched a million more. Back in 1996/97, Spoon were offering up their own take on the Pixies sound. Sometimes it's uncanny actually, Spoon frontman Britt Daniel's crackly croon a dead ringer for Frank Black, the band's loping, muted guitar shuffle and bombastic choruses sounding like they could be some elusive Pixies B-side. In fact the Pixies worship on display here is almost too much for some. Even around here, a bastion of massive Spoon love, a few Spoon fans just can't handle how Pixie-ish these records sound. But heck, every band borrows, the key being to infuse the borrowed sounds with ideas and music that are distinctly your own. And in that respect these two discs are completely brilliant. The seeds of what would blossom into the Spoon we know and love, planted in the rich soil of all the Pixies bombast that came before. Personally, we didn't really notice the Pixies thing until it was pointed out to us. Instead, we dug these records, mostly because they happen to feature Spoon at their most rocking. Imagine Girls Can Tell or Kill The Moonlight supercharged, a little more chaotic and scrabbly, a bit more, dare we say, punk sounding. The guitars are more raw, Daniel's voice is a bit more scratchy and less croony, the arrangements are much more ROCK and a lot more dynamic. It's still Spoon, so there are hooks everywhere, but they're wrapped in big jagged guitars, the drums pound and the production is definitely a hint at Spoon's studio experimentation/mastery to come. On one of our favorite tracks, "All The Negatives Have Been Destroyed," voices and weird sounds careen all over the place in the background, while the band kick out the jams on a track with one of the catchiest choruses ever. This double set collects the 1996 Telephono full length and the 1997 ep Soft Effects, which features one of our other favorite Spoon tracks "Waiting For The Kid To Come Out", a classic Spoon track for sure, but like the rest of the tunes here, much harder edged and just way more rocking. In fact a few of us here, if forced to pick, might just claim these discs as our favorite Spoon records ever. Fans of Spoon who have yet to hear these discs will flip. And if there are somehow, inexplicably, some indie rockers out there who have yet to discover the glorious joy of Spoon's dark moody pop world, or for some reason, wish that Spoon would let loose a little more, well then, this here set should pretty much set you straight! Packaged in cardboard gatefold, housed in a cool two sided slipcover.

MPEG stream: Don't Buy The Realistic
MPEG stream: Not Turning Off
MPEG stream: All The Negatives Have Been Destroyed
MPEG stream: Waiting For The Kid To Come Out

Spoon records are a curious thing in this day and age. Drop any given Spoon record onto an iPod and hit shuffle on said device; each of Spoon's songs will just disappear without their neighbors to act as buffer, buttress, or whatever it is that makes them work so well. It's not that Spoon has ever constructed meta-narratives or long-form mythologies within their albums; they peddle in the brevity of a perfect short story. Get in, get out, get on it with. Girls Can Tell (2001) was arguably the best example of this aspect to Spoon, though pretty much any of their albums (minus a couple of swarthy tracks on Gimme Fiction) would follow this rule of thumb. As has been restated elsewhere by everyone, Spoon took a well needed break following their 2010 album Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga; and the band holed up in a studio with Dave Fridmann (of Flaming Lips production fame) and luxury-brand caliber producer Joe Chiccarelli. It's gotta be said that the songs that Spoon write are the songs that Spoon are ALWAYS gonna write: smart-ass lyrics with world-weary earnestness gracing some impeccable post-power-pop hooks and laced upon those tautly jangled / white-boy swaggering grooves. Fridmann and Chiccarelli roll up their sleeves and give these tracks much more polish than has ever been realized on a Spoon album. It's enough to be noticeable, but not enough to be fussy or get in the way of Spoon's bare simplicity. Like every other album by Spoon, They Want My Soul succeeds in the art of bravado expressed through all the little things that make a perfect pop song.

MPEG stream: Do You
MPEG stream: Knock Knock Knock
MPEG stream: Outlier
MPEG stream: Let Me Be Mine

The return of Spoon always means another batch of subtly kick ass indie rock, and with Transference the same holds true. While lots has changed since the days of Girls Can Tell, still maybe our favorite Spoon record, not counting the early way more rocking ones like Telephono or Soft Effects, later Spoon records seem more like growers, the kind of records the blossom with repeated listens, which is definitely the case with Transference. Minus the obvious single, "Got Nuffin", which was already released on its own, none of the other tracks here leaps out and screams 'Single!' or 'Hit!', but that's the magic of Spoon, that most of the songs here, just like on Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga and Gimme Fiction, will end up stuck in your head, and most definitely on repeat play after a handful of listens. Record closer "Nobody Gets Me But You" is our current fave, stripped down and skeletal, with bloopy bass, and some cool little flurries of piano, and a lazily drawled main hook, but "Written In Reverse" with it's falsetto vocals and vampy piano is another contender, as is "I Saw The Light", which definitely harkens back to the rocking old days, with some crunchy guitar and moody vox, but hell, every listen we pick another one to obsess over. And while Spoon would have to do something seriously stellar to top Girls Can Tell, we're perfectly happy digging into Transference. Again and again...

MPEG stream: Got Nuffin
MPEG stream: Before Destruction
MPEG stream: Is Love Forever?

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

SORRY. From the land of Cornelius, Buffalo Daughter, Pizzicato Five, and the like (Japan, specifically Tokyo), come space/pop/electronauts Spoozys. Silly, fast guitar and synth based beat-o-rama, like robot B-52s dancing with a hyperactive Kraftwerk. Undeniably fun.

We rave on and on elsewhere on this list about the Cardiacs, who are a damaged out-there pop-punk-prog beasty from the UK, described by me as "the Pixies meets the Sweet meets the Toy Dolls meets Uz Jme Doma meets Queen meets the Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack meets XTC but more punk rock, and more prog". Sounds good huh? Well if that sounds good to you (and it should) then check out Spratleys Japs, a logical continuation soundwise of the mighty Cardiacs, with Ms. Spratley, sometime vocalist for the Cardiacs, taking center stage and Cardiacs mainman Tim Smith right there by her side! A little more stariaght forward structurally, the sound is still gorgeous and damaged, with keening high vocals (almost impossible to tell whether it's Smith or Spratley!) perfect hooks, lots of reverbed keyboards, lush harmonies but more space than on the Cardiacs records, lots of shimmer and buzz and stretched out spaces scattered between the dizzying chunks of perfect pop. You might as well buy this one too since I KNOW you're gonna buy both the Cardiacs records and you'll be kicking yourself if you don't!!

RealAudio clip: Vessel
RealAudio clip: Fanny
RealAudio clip: pony

Noise/jazz/improv/rock unit Sprawl has a lineup that includes saxophone legend Peter Brotzmann, bassist extraordinare William Parker and reedsman Alex Buess (of Swiss jazz-industrialists 16-17 as well as Ice and God). Since any of those names by themselves pretty much insures top quality, we had high expectations for this disc, and it's no disappointment. Also in the band, guitarist Stephan Wittiuer and drummer Michael Wertmuller (Alboth!, Caspar Brotzmann Massaker). Fans of those bands, Last Exit, etc., must take note. Looks like a 1997 release, but we've not come across it until now, due to it being a Austrian import.

Twee olde folk.

There are no frills on Bay Area's Sprills Of Ore, and none are needed. Just intimate recordings of hushed folksy acoustic guitar, accordion (we think), cello and breathy soft female vocals by Ms Eva Kelly. Nine songs total, and each of them really really lovely!

MPEG stream: Midnight Moon
MPEG stream: Blackened Skies

MPEG stream: With Out Words
MPEG stream: 1,000 Yards

Deluxe 77-track career retrospective.