[ 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 1601 through 1650 of 19388.

A wonderful end-of-summer album. If there's something you know you can always count on, it's a wonderful beach blanket good time with Big Sandy. Slow dance under the stars to such surf dream instrumentals as "In The Steel Of The Night". Or shake a tail feather to more upbeat numbers like "Hey Lowdown!" All powered by some great steel guitar stylings by Lee Jeffries.

Big Search is one man from L.A. His name is Mr. Matt Popieluch. While he is also in two other bands (Foreign Born and Ceramic Isles), he finds time to make music all by his lonesome too... with a little bass and drum assistance from his pal from The Papercuts, Mr. Jason Quever. Mysticism Vs. Classicism bears the fruits of his solo endeavors. These are his no frills 'studio in a garage' recordings from 2003/03 which are now seeing the light of day courtesy of young indie label Grand Gallop Music. Eight strummy, breezy and laidback folk pop numbers with vocals that are soft'n'sensitive with a subtle cabaret-ish flair that brings to mind both Rufus Wainwright and Robyn Hitchcock. Limited pressing of 300 copies packaged in hand-screened brown cardstock sleeves.

MPEG stream: Coastal Authority
MPEG stream: I Long For You

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

SORRY. The first two records of Alex Chilton's seminal kick ass pop band now available on one cd. With the exception of the two songs written by bassist Hummel everything here is a gem. One summer I drove across the mid-west and nary could remove my tape of these two albums from my car stereo. Crucial!

Big Star's legendary third lp (duh) also called Sister Lovers, finally released on vinyl for the first time since 1978 with the original cover art, including complete liner notes as well as the original mixes and the original track listing. Pressed on 180 gram vinyl and mastered from the original tapes. But why should you care? Because 3rd is one of the greatest pop records of all time. In fact the first three Big Star records, #1 Record, Radio City and 3rd, are like the ultimate classic pop triumvirate. There's not a real power pop band in the last 30 years who would have or could have existed if it wasn't for Big Star. And lord knows there would never have been a Replacements! Unlike the first two Big Star records though, 3rd replaced their glistening perfect pop with ragged rock, tortured angst and a serious experimental streak, all exacerbated by frontman Alex Chilton's fragile mental state and the fact that 3rd is almost just a Chilton solo record, with the other two Big Stars just backing him up. But that's the kind of tension and just the sort of uncomfortable personal dynamics that make for intense, dramatic, and moving music. And 3rd is without a doubt all of those things. So chock full of killer tunes, dark and rocking and weirdly haunting, check out "Big Black Car", "Kangaroo", "Holocaust"... Some of the most gorgeously catchy and emotionally harrowing pop you'll ever hear!

Holy smokes, a new Big Star album?! Yes, it's true, well, kinda. With surprisingly little fanfare, the band who inspired countless other AQ fave pop bands -- The Posies, The Shins, Teenage Fanclub, New Pornographers and many more -- has returned with their first studio full length in 27 years (not counting 1993's Columbia: Live At Missouri University). Mind you, it's a new-ish incarnation of the band, but needless to say theirs is a sound we adore, and hence we were pretty darn excited to see this show up the other day. Happy to report that they do not disappoint! The first few songs particularly bring out the sunshine and smiles. By the way, do you recognize some of the voices singing those wonderful soaring harmonies? Joining elder members Alex Chilton and Jody Stephens in this incarnation are the immensely Big Star influenced gents from The Posies, Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow. So this actually comes across as less a distinctly classic Big Star sounding album, and in a sense more like a Big Star influenced collaboration.

MPEG stream: Dony
MPEG stream: Lady Sweet

If you've never heard Big Star before, and you've got $80 to burn, buy this NOW. You could probably buy the three records proper on their own for way less, but odds are, once you dig in to Big Star, you're gonna become obsessed, and want everything you can get. They're that kind of band, and these songs are just so goddamn good. Even if you're not familiar with Big Star, you are almost for sure familiar with about a million bands who owe everything they are to this legendary Southern power pop band. And we're not talking bubblegum pop, Big Star wrote dark and serious songs, emotional and super personal, able to rock with the best of them, but also able to weave gorgeous minimal intimate tales of love and loss and death. You've no doubt heard some of these songs before, even if you didn't realize it was them. Keep An Eye On The Sky includes some of their best tracks from all three of their records, but also tacks on FIFTY TWO unreleased tracks, demos, alternate takes, live tracks, as well as the only existing film footage of the band. The packaging is deluxe and gorgeous and expansive, a huge fold out book jammed with liner notes and photos, this is a great introduction to the band for sure, and is of course absolutely ESSENTIAL if you're already a super fan. And how could you not be?! These are such seminal, lifechanging sounds, and this is such timeless music. Big Star are most definitely, one of THE all time great rock bands. Up there with the Stones, the Beatles, the Velvet Underground, Led Zeppelin. Really. And really essential.

Demos and rarities.

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

SORRY. 23 tracks in all -- including 5 demos done for Elektra in 1977, 7 songs from a '74 radio session rehearsal, outtakes from Alex Chilton's "Flies on Sherbert" and more. Note the label -- this may or may not be the most legal of releases but the quality is very good and well... it's Big Star!

It's a battle between order and chaos in this split release from Big Techno Werewolves, featuring Crack: We Are Rock's King Riff, and Caroliner offshoot Hans Grusel's Krankenkabinet. Big Techno pits guitar pickin', pie-ana plinkin' and gutter blues against total tape loop annihilation, while in Hans Grusel's world, creepy organ requiems occasionally surface beneath electronic noise in a portrait of circuit-driven madness deep in the black forest. Cd packed in a big velvety black dvd case.

RealAudio clip: Star Mystic
RealAudio clip: Kranker Tans Suite

While Joe Pernice's recent work as Chappaquiddick Skyline and Pernice Brothers explored his singular take on lush, layered orchestrated Pop, this new album calls to mind the more plaintive and twang-inflected albums he made as part of the (stellar) Scud Mountain Boys. Pernice's hushed vocal delivery (think David Gates/Bread) is so intimate it seems as if he's sitting right in front of you, strumming a guitar, telling it like it is. That voice of his carries everything along with it: delicately plucked mandolin, rhodes piano, sweetly coo-ing lap steel, etc. This is a lovely album of perfectly crafted songs from a perennially overlooked genius.

RealAudio clip: Bum Leg

We know very little about this band Big Troubles, but damn, the four songs on this 7" are totally kicking our asses. Reminding some of us of being stoned in a dorm room in the '90s listening to Unrest, Guided By Voices, Sentridoh, and The Pastels, all at their most DIY and primitive. With a fucked up lo-fi and reverb filled sound, Big Troubles do have a similar aesthetic as so many of the recent wave of lo-fi pop peddlers like Woods, Blank Dogs and Best Coast but they also tap into that cool C86 sound that the Art Museums explored earlier this year. But there is something a bit more scrappy and fucked up indie rock sounding about these jams. The 7" starts off with a guitar sound reminiscent of the opening to My Bloody Valentine's Isn't Anything, and then proceeds to slip into a more rudimentary rocking sound. We've loved so much of what Olde English Spelling Bee has put out (Ducktails, Rangers, Julian Lynch, Forest Swords, James Ferraro, etc.) and we're stoked to see them entering the world of 7"s now as this is the label's debut in this format.

Big Troubles' recent Sad Girls 7", reviewed on our previous list, marked a big sonic change for this aQ beloved weirdo pop combo, one that we were loathe to embrace. Our experience is that typically, when bands 'mature' and their sound changes, becoming less weird and less idiosyncratic, in most cases the band also essentially becomes less GOOD. So we feared the worst, word was Big Troubles had shed much of their warped quirkiness and were headed for jangle pop central with an about to pop new album on Slumberland. But we need to fear anything, cuz while we may lament the band's old sound, much of the pop core, that made them so awesome in the first place, still remains, just cleaned up a little. And as they say, these boys sure do clean up nice. And the new Big Troubles are a perfect fit for Slumberland, a dreamy mix of modern fuzz pop and classic nineties indiepop jangle, the A side of the aforementioned single is here, and as we descirbed it before, it "sounds like a classic slab of nineties Britpop, all big soaring fuzzy guitars, hazy dreamy vocals, shimmery, glimmering and hooky as all get out, a huge hit in a perfect world, but since this is not, it will remain an underground perfect pop gem." Which really applies to most of the record. While "Sad Girls" might be the obvious single, opener "She Smiles For Pictures" is a close second, with its cool quirky main riff, its sweetly melancholy melody, warm muted jangle and the lush dreamy vox that slip easily into a soaring falsetto, there's even a couple brief squalls of psychedelic noisiness, but they are brief and deftly woven into the group's perfect pop. And pretty much perfect is what it is, any one into other Slumberland bands who maybe found Big Troubles too weird, just might find themselves with an unlikely new favorite band. We've been listening to this non stop (along with Slumberland's Veronica Falls record, also reviewed on this week's list), and we can't stop listening to either, total pop heaven bliss!

MPEG stream: Sad Girls
MPEG stream: She Smiles For Pictures
MPEG stream: Misery
MPEG stream: Make It Worse

With an impending full length on dream pop label Slumberland, and a new, surprisingly poppier, and less warped and warbly sound, our first impulse might have been to write off Big Troubles completely, and lament the loss of another quirky fucked up outsider pop combo, but the thing is, these two new songs might be the best things BT have ever recorded. Sure some of the twisted woozy weirdo effects are gone, but they're hardly missed, cuz these songs are pretty much PERFECT. We always knew they had it in them, even on past jams, no amount of effects and fractured production could disguise the pure pop that lurked underneath. That pop lurks no more. Instead it shines brightly, the A side here sounds like a classic slab of nineties Britpop, all bit soaring shimmering guitars, hazy dreamy vocals, shimmery, glimmering and hooky as all get out, a huge hit in a perfect world, but since this is not, it will remain an underground perfect pop gem. Or hopefully maybe not! The flipside takes another stab at classic nineties British pop, this time channeling Swervedriver, the sound heavier and grungier, shoegazey with a melody infused fuzz, some seriously crunchy buzzy guitars, and pounding rhythms all beneath the same soaring dreamy vox as the A side, resulting in a blissed out chunk of heavy dreamy shoegazy fuzzpop that is tough to beat. This might just be our new favorite single, and definitely has us dying to hear the new full length.

First single from Big Troubles' most recent full length, one of our favorite pop records in recent memory, even more remarkable for the fact that BT had transformed from lysergic noisy warped weirdo pop into straight up jangly un-ironic eighties beholden classic pop, and it truly suited them. The A side here is on the record proper, a fantastic slab of fuzzy dream pop, with a quirky main riff, a sweetly melancholy melody, warm muted jangle and lush dreamy vox that slip easily into a soaring falsetto. The B side though is worth the price of admission alone, hard to imagine why they left it off the record, as it's easily as good as anything else on the full length, in fact, in some ways it sounds even bigger, almost like Teenage Fanclub or something, all fuzzy and jangly, with a killer chorus and hooks for days. If you LOVED the full length, this is definitely worth picking up for the extra track, or if you just want to get a taste of Big Troubles, this will definitely do it, and very likely whet your appetite for more.

We hadn't heard anything from these New Jersey retro poppers other than a brief 4 song 7", but that's all it took to convince us that these guys were more than capable of pushing all our musical buttons, fuzzed out drum machine driven new wave flecked shoe gaze garage pop of the highest order, a modern take on iconic John Hughes soundtrack indie rock, Simple Minds filtered through M83, jangle pop bliss all ramshackle and fuzz drenched and oozing hooks and melody. The 7" reminded us of Unrest, Guided By Voices, Sebadoh, the Pastels, as well as more modern practitioners of the same sort of sound, Woods, Best Coast, Blank Dogs, but Big Troubles definitely have their own masterful take on the whole C86 pop sound, meshing rudimentary stumble pop, with massive speaker melting squalls of shoegaze shimmer, and crunchy DIY lo-fi pop, into a stunningly varied selection of songs, from dense and driving to skeletal and simple, from hazy and haunting to lush and summery, the thread holding them all together is a weird pop vibe that seems to instantly evoke memories of young love and misspent youth, of wandering aimlessly before the shackles of adulthood and responsibility had truly taken hold, transporting the listener to an age of youth, that vibe and emotion rendered in fuzz guitar, propulsive rhythms, cascading sheets of blurred distorted guitars, buried vocals, perfect melodies, every song major mixtape material, which is about the highest praise we can imagine.

Despite their band name, we wonder if a more appropriate mode of transportation for Bikeride might be a horse-driven circus cart or enchanted flying carpet. Their fifth album The Kiss is a kaleidoscope of minstrel folk and psychedelic pop, very much in the dreamy delirious tradition of the Elephant Six collective (particularly Olivia Tremor Control and The Minders). Check out "The Mystery Of Magnet Power". The band alternately waltzing through the carnival, the cabaret and the open desert plain. Pretty darn tootin' good!

MPEG stream: Your Lips And You
MPEG stream: The Mystery Of Magnet Power

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

SORRY. Another sparkling, snarling single to make you and me feel GOOD.

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

SORRY.

As any solid Marxist-feminist will tell you, a girl's gotta own the means of production, right? Well, the influential and groundbreaking riot grrrl band Bikini Kill finally went and started their own record label. In honor of the 20th anniversary of their self-titled 1992 release, the band are reissuing their entire catalogue on cd and vinyl (plus downloads) - the eponymous debut record being the first. We know you riot grrl OG's out there already have the entire Bikini Kill catalog, but in case you partied too hard with your original releases (and you should have, because this record rawks), you might need a replacement by now. Also, you should know that the lp comes packed with a 34" x 21" poster (just like the White Album!) that includes snippets from drummer Tobi Vail's famed feminist 'zine, Jigsaw, photos, interviews with the likes of album producer and Minor Threat/Fugazi member Ian MacKaye, and other goodies. For those who have not heard this album, a) why the heck not? and b) it's sixteen minutes of pure punk rock heaven. The only way to explain it is to listen to it really, really loud - preferably while wearing a slip and tube socks (boys, that means you, too) and screaming along with Kathleen Hanna's defiant wail at the top of your lungs. For all the haters out there, look: You don't have to have an abusive father to protest patriarchal control over women's sexuality, as does Hanna in "Suck My Left One." Bikini Kill weren't man-haters, they just wanted to start the revolution grrrl-style. It's not too late to join them!

Jeepers, we've an abundance of Bikneva for you! Two equally lovely cds, their self-titled debut from 2002 and this, their second slightly more outerspace sounding full length. Ultra lush, atmospheric keyboard-laden music that occasionally drifts into easy listenin' lounge territory. Not in a bad (i.e, cheesy) way though! Not at all. I've also seen Bikneva listed online under 'ambient' and 'new age"' but I can't really say that either of those tags fit. Each smooooth, languid track soothes in its own moody way that's often very reminiscent of Angelo Badalamenti's gorgeous work on the Twin Peaks soundtrack. You almost expect Julee Cruise to flutter in with her angelic vocals, but instead there's a gentlemanly chorus of ba-da-ba's in the track "I'm In I'm Walking". Very nice!

MPEG stream: Guncleaning
MPEG stream: I'm In I'm Walking

Jeepers, we've an abundance of Bikneva for you! Two equally lovely cds, their second full length called Even Stars Burn Out On Their Own and this, their self-titled debut from 2002. Ultra lush, atmospheric mostly keyboard-laden (organ and piano) music that occasionally drifts into easy listenin' lounge territory. Not in a bad (i.e, cheesy) way though! Not at all. I've also seen Bikneva listed online under 'ambient' and 'new age"' but I can't really say that either of those tags fit. Each smooooth, languid track soothes in its own moody way that's often very reminiscent of Angelo Badalamenti's gorgeous work on the Twin Peaks soundtrack. You almost expect Julee Cruise to flutter in with her angelic vocals, instead you get a gentlemanly chorus, some loudspeaker spoken word samples, maybe some gentle banjo and guitar as well as static-y crackles that sound like dust on your turntable needle. Very nice!

MPEG stream: Seed The Clouds

Back in the beginning of 2013, we were super thrilled to host an instore performance by legendary NZ singer songwriter Bill Direen, and it was as great as we could have hoped, all of us having been huge fans of his work, but in particular, his records with the combo Bilders, which over the years has included pretty much every notable member of the NZ underground. While the band never really broke up, we were still pretty excited to discover a brand new release from the Bilders in 2014, one that features a different line-hop on each track to boot. There might be a bit more polish, but the sound is still distinctly NZ, and distinctly Direen, his urgent, distinctive sung/spoken vox, wound around a sinewy almost post punk sounding backdrop, replete with tinkling chimes and some dreamy female background vox, and it all still manages to sound rough and raw, and fantastically shadowy. The two tracks on the B side delve even deeper into the murk, the first all swaggery and slithery, low slung bass throb and tribal percussion, laced with wheezing organ, spidery guitars, and a surprisingly poppy chorus, while the second, is live, recorded on a recent Euro tour, and is a bit more noisy, the vocals more urgent and bellowed, the music following suit, loose with plenty of swing, both tracks a bit swampy, and blooze-y, the whole thing displaying Direen and company in fine fine form.

A tasty three disc set from Billion Dollar Babies, the band comprised of three former Alice Cooper Band members who namd themselves after an Alice Cooper song and recorded just one album in 1977 -- Battle Axe. While disc one is the entire Battle Axe

RealAudio clip: Shine Your Love
RealAudio clip: I Miss You (live)

We made the brand new record by Spanish noise rocker and audio experimentalist Billy Bao our Record Of The Week last list, a dizzying collision of sludgey filthy Brainbombs like dirge, howling Whitehouse styled invective, and weirdest of all, a flurry of Fela-ish highlife horns, all tangled up with sheets of feedback, squalls of effects, and whatever else BB could whip up. The result was transcendent, and well worthy of ROTW status, managing to be punishing and heavy as fuck, but still catchy and blown out and super fun. So here we have BB's preceding release, the wonderfully titled Dialectics Of Shit, and we're happy to report, that while the horns seem to be M.I.A here, everything else is present and accounted for, BIG TIME. A gloriously filthy, in-the-red, sludge fueled noise drenched monster. Weirdly produced, super chaotic, rife with sharp angular skree, pounding Neanderthal drums and a growled phlegmy vocal that seethes maniacally. All that stuff is locked around single, KILLER riffs, each track, a looped hypnotic crush, that riff pounded out over and over and over and over, while the various other elements swirl and careen all around it. Insane bursts of grinding crunch, thick sheets of Merzbowian hiss, long stretches of brittle jangle and thump that will suddenly get swallowed up by a blown out wave of sub sonic low end, or a cloud of white noise will well up obliterating everything in its path, all the while the bass and drums 'groove' churns away, often emerging from one of those disruptions a whole different beats, a sort of muted murky bit of surf guitar, some weird twang, everything off kilter and woozy and noisy and INTENSE. The guitars are sharp and jagged and rough edged, slippery and warped, the riffs seem to be melting, or crumbling to pieces before your ears, the whole record a stumbling, lurching, blackened dirge noise behemoth. All the while, little hooks, and insanely catchy flourishes surface here and there, keeping the record weirdly catchy, and almost poppy occasionally, the sound is schizophrenic, about faces all over the place, sudden edits, overlapping sounds that don't seem to fit (but somehow do), voices all tangled up in guitar melodies tripping over struggling drum pound, everything on the very edge of total collapse, somehow held together in one massive speaker destroying chunk of tweaked and twisted heaviness.

We were definitely a bit skeptical when we read descriptions of Spanish noise rockers Billy Bao as sounding like Brainbombs, Fela and Whitehouse. Even more so when we got the record in and noticed those were the three bands BB thank on the sleeve, we figured, okay, lazy reviewing, BB love those bands so heck, they probably sound like that, or at least sort of. So imagine our surprise upon actually hearing this, and realizing that the Fela / Whitehouse / Brainbombs was somehow, pretty right on. At least in as far as one can actually describe a band as awesomely weird and fucked up as Billy Bao. The core sound is definitely Brainbombs, low slung fuzzy sludge bass, in the red, super distorted and impossibly blown out. The drums a Neanderthal pound that borders on the machinelike here and there, howled vocals, alternating shouting and sort of crooning a non stop stream of invective, the sound crusty and filthy and punk rock and garage rock, but with a weird electronic vibe, bordering on industrial now and again. The relentless crunch occasionally screeches to a halt, and launches into a weird super dynamic stop start thing, sometimes even getting all stuttery as the guitars dissolve into fractured electronics. And the horns, did we mention the horns? Not like the moaning bleat of the Brainbombs' dented trumpet, these are full on festive high life horns, buried way down in the mix, sampled we're guessing, quite possibly actually Fela, but low enough in the mix that only the horns make it through the murk, except for a few moments where the horns / samples slip into the stuttery spaces, only adding to the off kilter chaos. The B-side sounds like Burmese on angel dust, and since Burmese ALREADY sound like they're on angel dust, BAD angel dust, you can get an idea of how fucked up and fierce and bass heavy this side long jam is, the music a wall of blown out, super tangled, in the red bass riffage and low end buzz, so noisy that the song teeters back and forth between intense riffage and full on speaker shredding NOISE, over which the vocals are a feral frenzied Whitehouse style yowl. Heavy and fucked up and noisy and genius. WAY WAY WAY recommended. A few more listens and we might just have us a new favorite band. The sleeve is just a single long missive from the band, there are liner notes and thanks lists in there, but for the most part it's all a stream of consciousness rant against war and government and industry and copyright and loads more, the inside cover features two full color photos of just the sort of death and destruction and human misery they're talking about.

A killer cd compilation from Spain-via-New-York noise rocker and audio experimentalist Billy Bao, whose May 08 lp we made Record Of The Week, and whose Dialectics Of Shit we reviewed recently as well. This cd collects that Dialectics lp, as well as a handful of earlier releases. The whole thing is packaged in a jewel case, then wrapped in sandpaper and sealed shut with duct tape. Here's a review of the Dialectics lp, now cd, and after that we'll give a quick rundown of the other stuff compiled here. So first up is the wonderfully titled Dialectics Of Shit, and we're happy to report, that while the horns that were all ovr May 08 seem to be M.I.A here, everything else is present and accounted for, BIG TIME. A gloriously filthy, in-the-red, sludge fueled noise drenched monster. Weirdly produced, super chaotic, rife with sharp angular skree, pounding Neanderthal drums and a growled phlegmy vocal that seethes maniacally. All that stuff is locked around single, KILLER riffs, each track, a looped hypnotic crush, that riff pounded out over and over and over and over, while the various other elements swirl and careen all around it. Insane bursts of grinding crunch, thick sheets of Merzbowian hiss, long stretches of brittle jangle and thump that will suddenly get swallowed up by a blown out wave of sub sonic low end, or a cloud of white noise will well up obliterating everything in its path, all the while the bass and drums 'groove' churns away, often emerging from one of those disruptions a whole different beats, a sort of muted murky bit of surf guitar, some weird twang, everything off kilter and woozy and noisy and INTENSE. The guitars are sharp and jagged and rough edged, slippery and warped, the riffs seem to be melting, or crumbling to pieces before your ears, the whole record a stumbling, lurching, blackened dirge noise behemoth. All the while, little hooks, and insanely catchy flourishes surface here and there, keeping the record weirdly catchy, and almost poppy occasionally, the sound is schizophrenic, about faces all over the place, sudden edits, overlapping sounds that don't seem to fit (but somehow do), voices all tangled up in guitar melodies tripping over struggling drum pound, everything on the very edge of total collapse, somehow held together in one massive speaker destroying chunk of tweaked and twisted heaviness. The weird thing when you finally see these tracks in your cd player, is that all the songs are of an exact length, almost all the songs on Dialectics are 3:00 long, the two songs from the ep are exactly 10:00 each, and all ten of the tracks from the 7" are exactly 1:00 long. Weird. ANyway, the Fuck Separation ep from 2007 is two ten minute long jams, the whole thing, all twenty minutes made up of the same riff, a killer for sure, looped and locked and pounded out over and over and over, while the vocals howl, the sound shifts from sharp and jagged to murky and muddy, only near the end, does it begin to unravel and fall apart in a glorious pile of broken beats shrieking feedback, the riff never letting up until the very very end. The Accumulation 7", also from 2007, follows a similar pattern, locking into a single sludgey garage-y Brainbombs style groove, while the vocals howl and mewl, and the sound gets more and more brittle and noise and fucked up until it devolves into a blonw out nearly white noise damaged psych free-for-all. Incredible stuff. Heavy and heady, fucked up and freaked out and damaged and demented, and some of the best shit we've heard in forEVER.

MPEG stream: I Am Billy Bao, Right Here Right Now!
MPEG stream: Tight Ass Bleeds
MPEG stream: I Am A Mirror / Putrefied Egos
MPEG stream: Borders Of Mass Deception
MPEG stream: 1
MPEG stream: 2

All right, a new Billy bao, a crazy expensive fancy pants lp, sorry about that, not sure why it's so expensive, it's super limited, imported from overseas, original artwork by HENRY FLYNT!, cool silkscreened plastic sleeves, all that stuff probably contributed to the crazy price, but for the noise obsessed, and specifically BB obsessed among you, it'll take more than $36 to keep you away from another slab of damaged, caustic noise punk weirdness from this demented noisenik. And demented this stuff is, beginning with a loooooong stretch of barely there hushed crawl, voices, drones, all way down in the mix, played in the store it almost sounds silent, but don't crank the volume, cuz soon from the silence explodes a monstrous chunk of downtuned dirgery, wrapped in swirls of warped buzz and woozy layered crunch, a simple caveman beat pounding away, weirdly hypnotic, like some sort of kraut-noise-rock, which gives way to stuttery staticky stop and start rhythmic hiss, spitting out an almost martial sounding rhythm, underpinned by strange mumbled vox and peppered with shards of feedback and deep tectonic rumbles. After still more near silence, BB and co. spew some seriously Merzbowian thud rock, all wrapped in jagged squalls of white noise and grinding feedback, stumbling rhythms, that sound like they were made out of distorted voices. Soon after comes maybe the coolest part of the record, a twisted bit of skipping stuttering skittery free jazz, almost like some drunk turntablist spinning dusty old Coltrane records, at the wrong speed, while some nervous footed punter continually kicks the plug out of the wall only to plug it right back in again, dizzying and almost carnivalesque. After still more whispered drift, another bout of pounding feedback drenched noiserock, culminating in a final stretch of near silence, punctuated by sharp bursts of caustic blown out crunch and fucked up grinding howl, rhythmic and dementedly mesmerizing. Woah. Some serious outsider noiserock damage for sure. Definitely headphone listening, but headphones WITH earplugs! As mentioned above, super swank packaging, pressed on 140 gram vinyl, housed in a jacket with original artwork by Henry Flynt, in a cool hand screened sleeve, imported and limited, and thus the hefty price tag...

We really wish we could tell you more about the Billy Boys. Other than that they're Finnish, and they're batshit bonkers (we suspect some causality there). Leave it to Jussi from Circle to unleash this sonic weirdness on an unsuspecting public. Ostensibly only of interest to the nerdiest of Finnish music historians, and of course aQuarius Records and all the weirdo Finnish music obsessives that sail with her, the Billy Boys were a super obscure Finnish outfit, featuring one member of legendary Finnish punk band Terveet Kadet, formed with the idea of creating a "country influenced trash rock band", which to a certain degree was a success. There are moments that definitely could be described that way, but as the label explains, that sound "mutated into something more grotesque". But then if you believe Jussi, the radiation from the Chernobyl meltdown poisoned the drinking water in Finland in the eighties, and did irreparable damaged to the Billy Boys, aka Mr. Hank Morlock, and Mr. Johnny Helicopters, actual brothers in fact. Grotesque it is, label misinformation be damned, but gloriously grotesque, in that way it seems only Finnish music can truly be. Sure lots of you love Circle and Pharaoh Overlord, Avarus and Kemialliset Ystavat. But what about Aavikko, Deep Turtle, Death Trip, Liimanarina, Worms, Sperm, Chainsmoker, Radiopuhelimet, Dr. Gunni, Sweetheart, The Vacuum Cleaners, weirdo one man band Keuhkot, the haunting outsider psychedelic folk of Pekka Streng, the Cleaning Women (a bunch of Finns who dress up like housewives and play all manner of kitchen appliances and implements), Mieskuoro Huutajat (the Finnish men's shouting choir, who wear ties made from old innertubes and shout national anthems)?? Now that we read over all of that, maybe there really IS something in the water over there. Cuz what else could account for so much whatthefuck music being created in one little country? Whatever it is, we're grateful - we can't get enough of Finnish musical weirdness, and the Billy Boys are definitely right at home on that list, and are definitely toward the WTF? side of the Finnish sonic spectrum. Sure, take that "country influenced trash rock" thing, add some primitive synth blurt, some insanely low-fi production, crappy drum machines, probably throw in a lot of drugs, and go from there. The collection starts off with the group's 1984 single "Mystery Train", which could be a sort of catchy pop ditty, had it not seemingly been recorded in a tin can, in a bus station bathroom - the resulting low fidelity as much a part of the Billy Boys' sound as the music itself. Tinkling melodies, yelped vox, a bloopy bleepy rhythm, all doused in blown out white noise crumble, which as you listen reveals itself as either a guitar or a keyboard, so distorted it just becomes a blur of sonic gristle, but somehow, it manages to be a kinda catchy ditty. From there on out, all best are off. "Get It On" takes a sonar ping rhythm, adds some weird electronic glitch, and some mumbled Finnish vox, not to mention some buzz and weird malfunctioning effects. The suddenly you realize, it's a cover of T-Rex's "Bang A Gong", but only once you hear the title moaned in heavily accented English, over what sounds like a primitive pong machine. WTF indeed! Some tracks do actually do sound like countrified trash rock, with jangly guitars, crooned vocals and galloping rhythms, but in some cases, like on "Lonesome Train" after a minute or so, the track devolves into something else entirely, in this case a speaker blowing squall of noise, before transforming into a creepy slo-mo dirge, female vocals over stumbling drums and constantly shredding guitars way down in the mix. Elsewhere, that 'trash rock' devolves into an electronic flecked dirge, laced with all sorts of random sounds, detuned guitar strum, pulsating synthesizers, howled shrieks. And then check out "Harley Man" with its twang guitar and handclap rhythm, wrapped around enthusiastically belted out cookie monster vocals, or "The Spider And The Fly" which is a haunting sprawl of experimental minimal pop, that sounds a little like the Residents, or "My Wild Love", which is about as close as these guys get to a heartfelt ballad, croony and creepy, but weirdly beautiful. The rest of the record unwinds just as confusionally, with blurts of damaged honky tonk, Teutonic echo-drenched industrial throb, warped drugged out damaged blooze blowouts, some cool twisted sort of rockabilly grooves, stumbling cold wave minimalism, a disturbing slo-mo cover of "Love Me Tender" that sounds like the soundtrack to a particularly twisted nightmare, some electronic flecked minimal dirge punk, super abstract experimental pop, that occasionally consists of motorik drumming over, hushed whispers and woozy low end thrum, or super spaced out glitch and skitter, flecked with fragmented vocals, and heck even some almost straight ahead pop, but of course the Billy Boys add some creepy ghastly vocals, and suddenly it is transformed into something "more grotesque". There's so much going on here. Total warped whatthefuck outsider genius. There are moments of serious sonic brilliance for sure, peppered amidst some mouth breathing, knuckle dragging, confusional, demented sonic damage, but somehow, those two sides of the Billy Boys balance, and the result is a twisted, and valuable artifact of outsider Finnish underground music genius. Not for everyone, obviously, maybe not even for most people, but we're pretty into this stuff, and have been listening to it like crazy. If you dig any of the weirdo Finnish outfits mentioned above, or just love totally twisted warped outsider sounds, these guys might be your new (old) favorite band. And odds are you can drive everyone else in your house batshit at the same time! Includes a massive fold out booklet, with extensive liner notes, IN FINNISH, and lots of photos.

MPEG stream: Mystery Train '84
MPEG stream: Get It On
MPEG stream: Mr. Death
MPEG stream: Lonesome Train / Pearl Of Berlin
MPEG stream: The Spider And The Fly
MPEG stream: Love Me Tender
MPEG stream: Sun Of The Gun
MPEG stream: Mystery Train '58 Mic Test

Obscure but awesome, ugly yet catchy, crusty underground noiserock here! We gotta thank our pals in Megaton Leviathan for hepping us to this now defunct band (2000-2006). In fact, one of Megaton dudes put this disc out on his own label a while back, and we just got a handful direct from them at a bargain price. Not sure if there was ever any membership connection between the two bands or not, could be, but we do know the Billy Dirt Cult started off in Anchorage, Alaska, eking out a DIY punkrock existence up there in the frozen north for several years before migrating down to the relatively milder climes of Portland, Oregon, and then subsequently morphing into another band called Theda Bara whom we're also now curious to hear, after getting into this document of BDC's particular brooding darkness. With the Megaton Leviathan endorsement, you'd expect Billy Dirt Cult to be heavy, and they are. But while Megaton Leviathan traffic in what might be called "soft doom" or "doomgaze", Billy Dirt Cult is a much nastier beast, though like we said, quite catchy, and in their way quite artful, and political. This disc collects a 2001 demo, their half of a split lp with some fellow Alaskans called Eu Vusahm, and unreleased tracks, 12 cuts in all. Rife with caustic vocals, rumbling guitars, pounding drums, feedback, all that good stuff. Gets more and more distorted and crusty as it goes along, it seems, culminating though in the disc's surprising grand finale, an instrumental epic called "February", kind of a post-rock apocalypse, all shades of light and dark in one gripping, gnarled, blown-out fuzzfest whose only flaw is that it eventually fades out instead of going on forever. Worth the price of admission right there for that one, but we are diggin' on the whole thing, whether BDC be in driving scuzzpunk mode or doing the plodding crashing doomic stuff, or both.

MPEG stream: Darkness
MPEG stream: T.V. Wars
MPEG stream: February

A band, not a guy. A British instrumental quartet, playing stuff roughly in the Mogwai/Tortoise realm (influenced by, and hyped as such, at least). They did a split single with AQ's UK-post-rock faves Rothko. We're fairly certain that if this was playing in the store and a fan of the aforementioned bands walked in, they'd be intrigued by Billy Mahonie. And as one of their song titles states: "We Accept American Dollars."

Pulsating electronic euro-pop from Sweden. Co-released by syrup-pop label Kindercore and light'n'fluffy electronic pop label Emperor Norton. The perfect place for this release to be. At times sounding very much like the soundtrack to Sega Saturn's Bomberman videogame. Soothing, swirling and sweet.

It's been 4 years since we last heard from New Orleans' goofily monickered Bipolaroid. We went a little crazy for their acid drenched Pink Floyd worship. And we were actually wondering what happened to them not too long ago, when weirdly enough, we got a call from a lawyer who was representing Polaroid and were thinking about suing the band! Fortunately, it seems nothing came of that, especially since only a little later we got a brand new Bipolaroid album in the mail. And thankfully it takes up pretty much right where the last one left off.� Tripped out sixties style psychedelia, woozy and warbly and weary and druggy, whirring organs, shimmery guitar strum, wild drumming, soaring arrangements, swirling space-y effects everywhere, vocals that are a dead ringer for Syd Barrett's, often doused in delay or weird "Hurdy Gurdy Man" style FX, but like on the first record, Bipolaroid take their love of Floyd and supercharge it, adding a heaping dose of Hawkwind in places, creating an awesome space rock / sixties drug rock hybrid. Some of the songs are slow and slithery and sexy, with fluttery flutes, moody piano, and drawled mournful vox, others, like the opener, are wild and rollicking with the vocals nearly buried under a psychrock blowout, the drums all over the place, strings soaring in the background, and everything soaked in fuzzy organ, sounding all Deep and way Purple. The rest hover somewhere right in between, slipping effortlessly from strummed folky meander to propulsive trippy space groove and right back again. Any one into classic psychedelia and sixties prog will most likely dig this a lot. And Elephant 6 folks might get into this as well, since it shares much of the same retro aesthetic. The recording definitely sounds of the time, and even the songwriting would be tough to peg as modern, in fact, you could definitely pass this off as some reissued unearthed psych rarity. But none of that really matters, ultimately, this is just a killer tripped out psych pop record, and like the first one, we find ourselves going a little nuts and playing it over and over and over...

MPEG stream: Day In The Life Of A Raincloud
MPEG stream: Transparent Make-Believe
MPEG stream: Cucumbersome

It seems like ages since we last heard from East Coast acid psych combo Bipolaroid, but in fact it's been about 4 years, which seems to be about how long it takes these guys between records, but as always, it's well worth the wait. The first two Bipolaroid records were big hits around here, both E(i)ther Or and Transparent Make Believe took early Pink Floyd as their starting point, but the band took that sound and stretched it way out, weaving woozy, tripped out, psychscapes, all whirring organs, fuzzy guitars, swirling strings, spaced out effects and laid back drawled vox that were at times a dead ringer for Syd Barrett. It was easy to get lost in those records, the sounds hooky and hazy and hypnotic, and even four years on, very little has changed, if anything, the band sound a bit heavier, the production more lush, the songs more propulsive and pounding, but also a bit more warped, almost like classic sounds dosed with some particularly virulent strain of LSD, the guitars a little tweaked and atonal, horns here and there, sounds drone and warble, pure psychedelia for sure, that minus the shiny new production, definitely sounds like it could be some unearthed sixties rarity. The guitars are wild and wooly, buzzy and fuzzy, squiggly and distorted, slipping from riff to jangle, wild psychedelic lead to wrapped tangled atonal crunch, unfurling melodies wreathed in wah wah, draped over loping waltzes, and swaggery stomps, the vocals still a laid back drawl, settled just so in the mix, lots of acoustic guitars, and swirling keyboards, the vibe is jangly and psychedelic, but also a little dark, and a little bit wasted, the whole record a gloriously twisted sonic funhouse mirror, a wonderfully warped collection of dark twisted modern psychedelia, that should for sure hit the spot for old school psych obsessives, but might also appeal to folks into more modern psychedelic sounds... LIMITED TO 100 COPIES!!

MPEG stream: Vampires On Montegut
MPEG stream: Black Is The New Black
MPEG stream: Dead Horse
MPEG stream: Here Lies Sorrow

Latest blast of sixties style psychedelic pop from these aQ faves - two short sharp ditties, one clocking in at about 90 seconds, the other a little over two minutes, but that's plenty of time for Bipolaroid to deliver some seriously sunshiney psychedelia, chiming percussion, shuffling rhythms, dreamy guitar jangle, whirring organ, all dreamily druggy and a little bit garage-y, with a sound that like past records, if you didn't know it was new, it would be easy to believe this one some unearthed sixties pop rarity. The B side slips into something a tiny bit darker and more driving, the vocals getting sweetly falsetto in places - and speaking of the vocals, on past Bipolaroid records, the vocals (and the sound in general) were a dead ringer for Pink Floyd, but the now the singing has grown much more distinctive, cooler and weirder, adding a definite twist to Bipolaroid's sun dapped psychedelic jangle.

Transparent Make Believe was the first we ever heard from Pink Floyd worshipping psychedelic space rockers, and that debut is now available as a super limited lp, only 100 copies, each one hand numbered, in super swank hand silkscreened jackets, here's what we had to say about the record, when we reviewed the cd version way back in 2004: Holy Pink Floyd! New Orleans' Bipolaroid are definitely channeling some serious Syd Barrett on the acid drenched Transparent Make Believe. In fact, everytime we've played this in the store, someone has come up and asked if it was in fact some strange lost Pink Floyd record. From the first track, a bizarre hybrid of the Beach Boys' "In My Room" and Pink Floyd's "Astronomy Domine" you know things are gonna get weird. The Floydisms abound, swirling psychedelic swoosh, drunken Barrett-ish vocals, loping drug addled waltzes. But mix in lots of strings, some serious spaced out heavy bits and you have a totally wicked heavy rock Floyd meets Hawkwind hybrid. The sound is so authentic you'd be hard pressed to convince someone this record wasn't recorded 30 years ago. But who cares. Definitely for fans of all things druggy and psychedelic. And why not tease your psych nerd know it all friends with this long lost psychedelic gem before you bring the hammer down and shatter their already fragile egos!

MPEG stream: Farewell And Godspeed
MPEG stream: King Of Cabbages

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

SORRY. The debut album from this enigmatic New Zealand noise outfit who recently released an album for the great Drunken Fish label. Nauseating electronics, guitar noise, and cymbal crashing that comes off as an amalgamation between Solmania and Skullflower. Packaged somewhat annoyingly in an oversized 7" package and zip-lock bag.

There was a time when Campbell Kneale and his Birchville Cat Motel were all about the drone. Channelling classic minimalists and modern skree merchants, offering up drifting droning soundscapes, tranquil and freeeeee. But then something happened. Not sure if it was some sort of regression to his teenage years, or hanging with the wrong crowd, but suddenly Kneale started becoming mildly obsessed with metal. And the sound of BCM began to reflect that. The drones were still in place, but now they were constructed from screaming guitars and huge slabs of ultra distorted slow motion riffs. This new direction, which would later result in the formation of post-BCM outfit Black Boned Angel, first surfaced on the appropriately titled Screamformelongbeach which we originally referred to as BCM's quote unquote rock record, and whose cover art featured a Campbell-Kneale-as-rock-god-in-action blurred photo. Our Love Will Destroy The World is actually a reissue of Screamformelongbeach with almost a half hour of extra music from the same time period. Here's what we had to say about Screamformelongbeach when we first had it: While this is certainly BCM's most rock record to date, it's be no means -that- sort of rock record. A groovy seventies rock riff gets looped and repeated FOREVER, while Kneale sprays grinding skree, viscous fuzz and squealing feedback all over. Before a strange purposeful stadium rock drum beat emerges from the chaos, and the sonic deluge eventually abates, skipping and skittering into a spare and abstract rhythmscape. Very reminiscent of the most recent Skullflower, whose Sabbath-hypno-Hawkwind-mantra turned 'the riff' into psychotropic drone rock nirvana. The bonus tracks pretty much follow the same sort of course, some riff is blown out and buried in sheets of corrosive feedback and sludge guitars, drums are buried and nearly swallowed whole by the din. A beautifully pumelling guitar on fire to the face! Essential for fans of the last few Skullflower records, the last Vibracathedral Orchestra, as well as stuff like SUNNO))), Boris and the like, although BCM on this recording at least is less slow and low and more high and dry!

MPEG stream: Heavens Flaming Horse
MPEG stream: 55,000 Flowers For The Hero

This purports to be BCM's 'rock record', hence the title and the Campbell-Kneale-as-rock-god-in-action blurred cover photo. And while this is certainly BCM's most rock record to date, it's be no means -that- sort of rock record. A groovy seventies rock riff gets looped and repeated FOREVER, while Kneale sprays grinding skree, viscous fuzz and squealing feedback all over. Before a strange purposeful stadium rock drum beat emerges from the chaos, and the sonic deluge eventually abates, skipping and skittering into a spare and abstract rhythmscape. Very reminiscent of the most recent Skullflower, whose Sabbath-hypno-Hawkwind-mantra turned 'the riff' into psychotropic drone rock nirvana.

MPEG stream: 55,000 Flowers For The Hero

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

SORRY. An enigmatic stateside debut from this New Zealand (I think... they are pretty enigmatic after all...) ensemble which drones on through guitar, appliances, cymbals, and some dizzying device which generates a warbling tonality which hits some pretty nauseating (in a good way, like rollercoasters are entertainment through nausea) frequencies.

There's no shame in our game when we tell you that pretty much every single one of us here at AQ are huge Hall & Oates fans. Not even in some ironic way, we just think there is no denying how damn good, suave and catchy their songs were and are. In fact our own Andee and his pal Jay Lesser even spent some time trying to get their H+O cover band Rich Girl going (although to be fair, much of it had to do with the then current swarthy state of Jay's facial hair, which in Andee's eyes made him a dead ringer for John Oates, but we digress...). In so many ways the music of Hall & Oats is more relevant then ever these days, with a whole new generation of sensitive boys channeling blue eyed soul and swoonsome dance beats (Junior Boys, Washed Out, Hot Chip, Neon Indian, Postal Service, etc.). So it was only a matter of time that someone cashed in on how damn great their songs were and made an entire record of covers. The Bird And The Bee have stepped up and tackled all the biggest and best Hall & Oates hits. "One On One", "Private Eyes", "Rich Girl", "Sara Smile", "Maneater", they're all here. All the songs that have seeped into your subconscious on one level or another, whether you wanted them to or not. But why would you not? As their moniker would imply The Bird And The Bee are a duo who keep things very easy and breezy. The kind of group who has major NPR and KCRW affiliations. Some of us here think they make a great match for these Hall & Oates tunes, letting the songs shine through without ruining them with any forced gimmicks or sonic shtick. Very laid back and simple covers that also display moments where the band are able to really make these songs their own. Sort of. Since so many of us are huge Hall & Oates fans,we did listen to this with very skeptical and critical ears and it's true some of us aren't feeling it as much as others. Lets just say those folks are humming along, sure, but not finding this to be any sort of an improvement on the originals. But if you can use a little light, carefree and smooth interpretations of Hall & Oates classics (sung by a girl, by the way) in your life then this does the trick mighty fine.

MPEG stream: I Can't Go For That
MPEG stream: Sara Smile
MPEG stream: Private Eyes

The Bird And The Bee describe their music as sounding like "A futuristic 1960's American film set in Brazil."�This may be an accurate depiction of their sound, but the sixties are long gone.�Fast forward to 2007 where, you too, may have noticed the ever-growing popularity of indie-pop backing primetime programming. Our money is on the band's music gracing the soundtrack of shows like The O.C. or Grey's Anatomy. The L.A. based duo's sound is not innovative, but a very well done version of the same lounge-pop we have grown to know and love from bands like Broadcast and Camera Obscura.�In fact, the whimsical vocal styling of Inara George is so familiar, you might find it difficult not to go digging through your record collection to pinpoint her former projects. A quick web search reveals that George met band mate Greg Kurstin a few years ago. The two quickly formed a friendship predicated upon their mutual love for old jazz standards (George is the daughter of the late Little Feat guitarist/singer Lowell George; Kurstin studied jazz piano with Mingus's pianist).�In 2005 George recorded a solo album with producer Mike Andrews � Kurstin provided some of the backing instrumentation for that album. While the pair's love of old jazz standards may only shine through for the discerning ear, anyone can appreciate the talent brought forth on their debut album.�Kurstin plays nearly all of the instruments on the record, and you don't have to be a jazz aficionado to realize that he is a damn good pianist.�The electric organ and synth melodies are unpretentious and come off California-surfy on some songs and a tinge psychedelic on others, but never distract from the bitter-sweet airy vocals put forth by George as she describes the often gritty push and pull of life and love.

MPEG stream: Again & Again
MPEG stream: F-cking Boyfriend