Originally released especially for this year's Record Store Day, we managed to get about eight extra copies for folks who may have missed out. Sadly these are the very last copies we'll ever be able to get. which is really too bad, cuz this comp is a doozy. A look at the lineup is really all it should take: Alvarius B, Lee Ranaldo, Six Organs Of Admittance, Sir Richard Bishop, Danny Paul Grody, David Daniell, Steve Gunn and William Tyler. The theme seems to be different approaches to the guitar, whether it be the raw field recorded blues of Alvarius B, complete with all manner of street noise in the background, children's voices, passing cars, or the woozy acid psych folk of Six Organs, all the sounds blurred and bleary, the vocals strangely processed, a whirling, swirling druggy drift, or the dense tangles of old School Appalachia offered up by Steve Gunn. Danny Grody delivers a brief bit of harmonic rich ethereal guitardrone that's quite lovely, and far too short, while David Daniell, an ultra minimalist in his group St. Augustin, here weaves something much more lush and lustrous, a heady sprawl of layered steel strings and rich warm guitar buzz. Lee Ranaldo also delves into his own version of Appalachia, peppering it with some very Sonic Youth-y chords, creating a strangely beautiful bit of twisted acoustic blues, even vocalizing a bit near the end. Sir Richard Bishop's track sounds very African or Ethiopian, almost like he's covering Group Doueh or Group Inerane, lyrical and lovely, and finally, William Tyler, who we'd not heard of before, gives us some seriously gorgeous steel string Appalachia of his own, his playing incredible, the arrangement lush and intricate and sweetly melodic, rife with buzz and drone, deftly woven into what might be one of the best tracks here.
Beautifully packaged in an oversized fold together matchbook style jacket, comes with a download coupon, and again, already out of print, these are the very last copies, so it might be a good idea (as always) to list alternates if you order it...
Speaking of Couch, they're featured on this compilation of the best bands from the German Kollaps, Kitty-Yo, and Payola labels. You'll find art rock on one track, electronica the next, or more likely some combination thereof--these are bands that apparently draw inspiration from both This Heat and Bjork, Can and Locust...such as Subraum Kader, Tarwater, Potawatomi, Tied & Tickled Trio, and more.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
"The Story of Volkslied Into Krautrock Goes On"...yes, the third and fourth volumes of the previously vinyl-only "Pre-Kraut Pandaemonium" series are compiled onto cd. 29 tracks of crazee German '60s beat music.
This one should hardly need a description. C'mon, it's called PSYCHEDELIC SITAR HEAD SWIRLERS! And it's a massive 5 disc collection of Eastern tinged garage rock from the sixties and the seventies, from all over the world, all the songs linked together by one common sonic theme, the gorgeous hypnotic buzz of the sitar. Sometimes subtle and minimal, other times, intense and distorted and buzzy, the songs themselves ranging from hippie folk pop, to crunchy sitar drenched garage rock pound, to organ driven groovers, featuring a whole mess of bands you no doubt are already familiar with (or should be), many of whom we've raved about on past lists: J.K & Co, The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, The Pretty Things, July, Ramases, C.O.B., Meic Stevens, Erkin Koray, Popol Vuh, Brainticket, The Chocolate Watch Band, The Amboy Dukes, The Strawberry Alarm Clocks, Them, Krokodil, Mecki-Mark Men, The New Tweedy Brothers, Kuni Kawachi, The Book Of A.M., Shocking Blue, Pentangle, Sheila Chandra, Ananda Shankar, but for every band you already know and love, there's a handful you've probably never heard: Wylde Olde Souls, Popera Cosmic, Stuntz's Blue Leg Expedition, The Misty Wizards, Mushroom's God, Mystic Astrologic Crystal Band, United States Of Existence, we could go on, but needless to say, this collection is pretty incredible.
From the opening droney sitar spoken word tale, the collection flits from groovy flute flecked hippie jangle, to woozy, druggy almost Spacemen 3 like hazy buzzy drift, from jangly power pop to warm woozy psychedelic dream pop, from twangy strummy folk to sitar-ed Beatles covers, with much of the comp heavy on the drone, the sitar's distinctive buzz transforming even the simplest most standard chunk of sixties pop, into something more exotic and far out, more trancelike and WAY more psychedelic. So awesome.
Each disc comes in its own full color sleeve, all housed in a thick full color box, with a massive booklet packed with photos, record covers, and of course liner notes detailing the various songs and artists.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
The cd edition of the"Pre-Kraut Pandaemonium" lps vol. 1 & 2, crazy German beat music from the late 60's, before the punks went cosmic, the same scene that spawned the Monks (who appeared on a later edition in the Pre-Kraut Pandaemonium series). Cryptic liner notes indicate that there's indeed some pre-Can (then called Inner Space), pre-Amon Duul etc. musicians on here.
Back in stock! (And, also, when we reviewed this a few weeks ago, we spaced out and somehow listed it under the title of Electro Grind Holocaust, which is a totally different comp on the same label, whoops!)
For those of you who just flipped over our recent Record Of The Week selection the Drum>MachineGun compilation, and want MORE crazed drum machine grindcore insanity, this other collection entitled Electro Grind Gore Compilation should also be of interest! It's slanted a bit more toward the underground and obscure than the Drum>MachineGun comp, and also more towards the porno/gore obsessed side of this bizarre metal/punk subgenre -- a subgenre that features, as displayed here, razor sharp spastic guitar riffage, techno dance beats, belching death metal grunts and growls (some so subsonically extreme that they sound like bubblings from below the earth), non-sequitorial samples (often offensive and, um, humorous), and lots of bleepy bleepy bleargh distortion and noise. There's a unexpectedly high catchiness quotient, in spots, but these tracks are definitely utterly maddening at the same time. It's kind of a "chocolate-in-my-peanut-butter" deal with the electro danciness and the harsh splattermetalgrindnoise in collision. In fact, it's kind of unclear just who this sort of music is supposed to appeal to: we can't imagine techno fans digging all the noise and gore, and we didn't think so many metalheads liked techno-dance beats -- but I guess we were wrong! Of course we like it, so...
Electro Grind Gore contains 28 tracks from 17 bands, most of whom we'd never heard of before. Some names: Atomik Surfing, Shunt Incision, Basket Of Death, Vomitrone, Skrotum, 666.Porn.Star, SMES, Posthuman Worm, Absurd God, Tourette Syndrom, Firbrosarcoma... A very international line-up indeed, the bands hailing from Brazil, Japan, Mexico, France, Croatia, Holland, Germany, Panama, Spain, Australia, and Italy. It's a veritable World Cup of sick underground electro grind! While here at Aquarius we're better versed in black metal, doom, and "true" metal, if we ever do decide to turn this drum machine fueled electronic grindcore deviancy into an AQ specialty, we'd definitely start by tracking down more stuff by the bands on this comp!
One of two new Medical Records releases on this week's New Arrivals list, this one the first ever Medical compilation, gathering up a collection of extremely rare singles in conjunction with the like minded Crispy Nuggets blog. Electroconvulsive Therapy gathers up five rare singles, both the A and B sides and tacks on two super obscure compilation tracks. Fans of Medical Records will no doubt be thrilled by these obscure gems, and like most Medical releases, we can safely say we'd never heard, or even heard OF any of these. Up first is The Electronic Circus, who hail from the UK and feature Chris Payne, who played on Gary Numan's Pleasure Principle. The sound here is much more synth poppy though, female vocals and swirling synths over pulsating rhythms and pulsing percussion, the B side though is much more strange, at least contextually, just stately solo piano, wreathed in reverb, and laced with subtle synthiness. Up next is Psychic Youth, from Boston, both sides of their only single, originally released in 1982, the sound is more cold wave, frosty female vocals over minimal synthwave, the B side featuring male vocals, but otherwise sonically similar, arpeggiated step sequenced synths and stripped down programmed rhythms. Then there's another UK band, this one going by the strange moniker Aaaah...!, their sound classic eighties synth pop, moody and minor key, with dramatic crooned vocals, the B side warped and woozy and squelchy, and definitely the more twisted of the two.
Then there's Shazam, another obscurity, whose A side sounds a bit like Depeche Mode via Men Without Hats, swirling synths, and skittery programed rhythms, and a main melody that sounds lifted straight from another classic song you'll no doubt recognize, the B side more stripped down and spacey. Finally, the last complete single is from Claude Arto, he of another outfit recently reissued by Medical, Mathematiques Modernes, the A side another purloined classic melody, here wreathed in bleeps and bloops and squelchy synths, while the B side is all crunchy distorted synths and tangled melodies. The comp tracks come from N.A. Pop 2000, whose song is a moody slab of dark electro pop, complete with some really cool, weird female vocals, dramatic and affected, and Berliner Strasse from Yugoslavia, who adds some guitar jangle to woozy, bloop, bleep synths and some super icy, male vox, the whole thing fantastically woozy and warped.
Fantastic stuff for sure. Medical Records obsessives will definitely want, as will anyone into rare synth pop and vintage cold / new / synth wave weirdness. Super deluxe packaging as always, the vinyl pressed on 180 gram paint splatter transparent green vinyl, housed in a heavy, full color jacket, and like most things on Medical, very, very limited!
Whoops, how'd this one slip under our radar? Encyclopedia Asthmatica Vol. 1 presents 32 playful, whimsical visuals from the ultra blissed out indie label's roster of gentle folk and electronic pop - Sufjan Stevens, The Curtains, Castanets, Shapes And Sizes, Half-Handed Cloud, Rafter, Bunky, Liz Janes, My Brightest Diamond! A hi-fi and lo-fi mix of animation, live clips, found footage and more, the dvd's probably worth nabbing for the Stevens clips alone, but the rest are super dreamy delights too!
Holy crap! An epic, double cd, FORTY THREE band, label sampler from local label 20 Sided Records (who recently released the awesome new Trainwreck Riders album!), featuring a bunch of bands from right here in SF, but also LA, Fresno, Santa Cruz, Long Beach, Oakland, and as far away as Seattle, Bellingham, Spokane, Phoenix, Portland and Denver. The really crazy thing, is that of those 43 bands, we actually had only even heard of 5 or 6, and more than half of those are from right here!
So this is a pretty awesome introduction to a whole bunch of new bands, a list of which we would imagine wouldn't mean much, since odds are you probably wouldn't know most of these groups either, but there's definitely some good stuff, the sounds super varied, heavy on the indie rock and variations thereof, but still all over the map: crunchy, fuzzed out twee pop, jangly Pavement style indie rock, Ramones-y garage punk, chugging math metal, blown out shoegazey Built To spill sounding indie pop, bluesy garage stomp, rollicking chaotic garage stomp a la Thee Oh Sees, dreamy echo drenched folkiness, brooding slow build epic post rock drift, and that's just a tiny taste, and heck, screw it, here's a list of the bands, the ones we know: Blank Tapes, Slow Trucks, Ugly Winner, Hazel's Wart, Ash Reiter (who has a new full length on 20 Sided!), Trainwreck Riders, and the ones we don't: Sci-Fi Caper, The Suicides, Quiet Americans, High Horse, Wild Pack Of Canaries, Saything, The Hoot Hoots, Mosshead, Big Mittens, Future Space And Time, The Palisades, Smalls, One Hundred Percent, Eureka California, Myth Ship, Rosa Grande, The Fay Wrays, San Joaquin Steamers, Vows, Fpod Bpod, Li Xi, Rubedo, Cannons & Clouds, Sugar Candy Mountain, Pony Village, The Cat From Hue, Pro Wings, Street Pyramids, Upstairs Downstairs, The Wild Kindness, Excited States, One F, Candysound, Animal Eyes, Former Friends Of Young Americans, Owl Paws and Speak Friend. Phew! It almost reads like one of those Robert Pollard / Guided By Voices box sets, where every song is credited to a different made up band! And usually we're pretty wary of comps where most of the bands are names we don't know, but lots of this stuff is pretty great, and odds are if you dig all the strains of indie/garage/fuzz pop/rock/punk, there's lots to love here!!
This past record store day, we were super excited about this amazing book by Johan Kugelberg, "Enjoy the Experience: Homemade Records 1958-1992", a hefty, 508-page tome that thoroughly chronicles the history and obsessions of one of the largely misunderstood and under-appreciated niches of recorded music, the "vanity record" - also known as "private press recordings" - also known as outsider weirdness! With that book came a download coupon for an amazing compilation of some of the artists included in the book, and now that compilation has been released by Now & Again on double cd and vinyl and it's both super amazing and completely bonkers in all the best ways. It includes some old faves like Arcesia, whose operatically crooned "White Panther" some might recall from the American edition of the Love Peace & Poetry psych series; the love damaged soul-punk balladeer Gary Wilson (who can forget that line at the end of his song "6.4 = Makeout"? "She's a real groovy girl and she's got red LIPS! She's Real! She's Real!! SHE'S REAL!!!!"? Well, not us anyway), and Florida lounge maestro, Michael Farneti, whose Good Morning Kisses lp we featured on one of our Outsiders & Eccentrics In-between lists. But there are plenty of new-to-us goodies, including one of our new faves, Medico Doktor Vibes, whose Caribbean-inflected witch doctor bedroom funk recorded in LA in 1979 will soon be reissued by local label Companion Records sometime in the near future. As per the Now & Again sound, there are plenty of outsider funk, soul and disco rarities, some naive lounge, burnt out yacht rock, creepy exotica and country pop and just plain weird sounds - like 33 1/3 whose jungle themed "Monkey Bridge" would make any Kid Creole & The Coconuts fan smile. Here's the rest of the line-up: Vinny Roma, Steven David Heitkotter, Joe E., Ray Harlowe & Gyp Fox, Russ Saul, Jade, Boa, Circuit Rider, Dennis The Fox, Bob Harrison, Gary Schneider, The Muzzy Band, The Invaders, Carol-Leigh & Hank Mindlin.
Fun freaky shit!
Along with putting out the three Cambodian Rocks compilations that have rendered the original Parallel World label comp of the same name virtually obsolete, Khmer Rocks also has a plethora of other khmer music compilations that we're only just beginning to scratch the surface of. While every bit as great as the three Rocks comps we reviewed previously, they're also not marketed as much for the greater population... ie: these are more for the Khmer community. To this end, there's no translation of the song titles or artists. Additionally this collection is on CD-R, but we can't complain because it's also only 9.98. You're probably wondering what a Spanish title is doing on a collection of Cambodian rock music and, well, so were we. The first track, with the word "espanola" featured prominently in the lyrics, clears all that up: yes, it's Cambodian Cha-Cha and Latin tinged Cambodian rock. There are even trumpet flourishes and string sections lifted straight out of a bolero. Not to give you the wrong idea however, only a handful of the tracks on Espanola are actually Latin influenced. Like the Cambodian Rocks series, there's plenty of good old fashioned go-go and garage rock make up the bulk of the collection. Plus the closer, a fuzzed out "hard rock" encore of a track is about as unlike anything in the previous comps. For those of you who already own the other anthologies, as far as we've been able to tell from listening -- another downside to not having English liner notes -- there's no overlap with any of the previous Cambodian collections we've been selling. Muy bien Khmer Rocks!
Year after year Dave Crider (formerly of the Monomen) slings out heaps of primo-garage releases from around the world on his Bellingham, WA label Estrus. This is the second volume of rough rawk nuggets culled from his extensive catalog. Starring The Monkeywrench, The Insomniacs, Estrella 20/20, The Von Zippers and twenty more trashy garage wonders! Plus a super-duper price!
No way around it, this is an amazing comp, culled from limited the singles Trensmat released over the last three years, just check out the lineup: Circle, White Hills, Telescopes, Bardo Pond, Cave, Heavy Winged, Astral Social Club, The Shining Path, Area C, Cheval Sombre, Mugstar, and Magnetize, probably couldn't assemble a more bad ass, or more aQ sounding comp if we tried! But, the bummer is, that this collects only ONE song from each single, which while keeping the 7"s special, and relevant, it is sort of a bummer, might have opted for a double disc with ALL the songs, plus a few of these tracks are taken from the series Trensmat did of bands covering Hawkwind, complete with killer Hawkwind style cover art, seems weird to pluck one or two at random, when that series was begging for a proper cd release with ALL the covers, but really, small complaints, once you dig into this comp, and niggling doubts will be quickly washed way by all the amazing tripped out sonics contained within. Some highlights include:
The Telescopes deliver a droning, buzzing raga-like dreamscape, flitting bird-like flutes that swirl and float over a blackened drift of guitar rumble and pulled apart riffs, until the drums kick in, and then it's like you've been launched into space, a full on drug drenched, FX heavy psychedelic space rock jam, with a thick bassy organ groove, wild flutes and effects EVERYWHERE. Dirge-y and groovy and dreamlike.
White Hills ditch much of their usual spaceiness for something a bit harder, and tackle Hawkwind's "Be Yourself" with crunchy chugging guitars, pounding drums, wild tangles of distortion drenched leads over the top, the band not so much covering the original, as transforming it into an endless psychedelic hard rock loop, the band churning and grinding out a steady stream of psychedelia over that endless main riff, before drifting off into a cloud of glittering soft psych shimmer.
Mugstar's track is a super synth heavy, weird sort of post punk noise rock, almost kind of mathy, a bit like a supercharged, way more metallic Stereolab, which intensifies until it explodes into wild psychedelic squalls of acid fried synths and freaked out guitarnoise.
Circle's track finds them at their most stripped down, the drums and guitars locked into a constant loop, the bass following right along, so mesmerizing and seemingly endless, the vocals a barely there whisper, while off in the distance lurk all manner of random clatter and mysterious percussive events. Right in the middle there's an awesome stumbling atonal guitar 'solo' before the band slips right back into that same groove.
Bardo Pond add female vocals to their take on Hawkwind's "Lord Of Light", the vocals drifting ethereally, over a roiling black cloud of FX drenched guitars and some seriously pounding drums, even a bit of flute (we think), and maybe more than any of the others managing to meld the sound of the original with their own, plenty of wah wah guitar, loads of effects, most of the track spent drifting through space, cloaked in blown out super distorted psych guitar and shimmering outer space ambience. Surprisingly heavy and totally blissed out.
Cave contribute "Machines & Muscles" with its Circle-like guitar groove, some hand drums, very tribal and looped sounding, suspended in a field of space streakings and smears of soft effects in the background, the drums get a little more obtuse, a bit busier, but that main riff stays LOCKED in, until it begins to get ALL tripped out, distorted, effects drenched, swinging from speaker to speaker, dizzyingly tripped out, and then finally, the drums kick in proper, and we're in total hynorock bliss, little bits of keyboard pepper, the stuttery rhythm, the main riff staying solid and unwavering, while all around it various other sounds swoop and shimmer.
Astral Social Club surprised us with their jam, total minimal house music, sort of. The main beat a stripped down pulse and squelch, with synthy basslines, and some haunting disembodied piano drifting over the top, making for a truly creepy mash up. Maybe one of our favorite Astral tracks ever!
The Shining Path's contribution is seriously rocking, the drums and bass locked into a motorik groove, while the guitar, super distorted and blown out, spits out riffs in sudden bursts, eventually coalescing into one constant stream of psychfuzz, pelted by fragments of super effected vocals, strange little squalls of FX, and then the bass gets all dubbed out, bouncing back and forth beneath the buzz and fuzz.
We could go on, but why bother, this collection is pretty fucking kick ass, here's hoping they decide to do a second volume that gathers up the rest of those 7"s tracks, but hell, for now, this is definitely hitting the spot.
We remember when Temporary Residence's Jeremy Devine was first putting this tribute to Ozzy-years Sabbath together, some years ago. Before The Osbournes, the Sabbath Ozzfest reunions, the Kelly and Jack backlash, etc. etc. At long last, though, he's finally got it finished. And for Sabbath fans (aren't you one??) it's good fun, and might be a neat way to introduce some young indie-rock-only friend of yours to the music of the best band ever (sez Allan). There's an odd, random assortment of participants to be found here, none of 'em metal bands, and they take a variety of approaches to the material at hand... Wisely, several opt for doing instrumental versions, cutting back on the amount of faux-Ozzy crooning, the likely failure of which would have detracted from what turns out to be a quite enjoyable collection. Thankfully, also, the rule that the weirder and less-like-the-original a cover is, the better, is generally observed here as well.
Briefly, track-by-track:
Track 1, Matmos. Taking the piss? They do the non-song "Fx" off of Vol. 4. A good joke, and very Matmos appropriate.
Track 2, here Japan's Ruins almost render the rest of the compilation obsolete, cramming almost every famous Sabbath riff into one of their insane medlies! Wow. This also appeared as a bonus track on their last album Tzomborgha, though.
Track 3, a blissful post-rock instrumental version of "Black Sabbath" from Grails, lacking the menace of the original but enhancing the melodicism.
Track 4, Fourtet. Lovely. But is it really "Iron Man"? Definitely the least recognizable cover on here. Which gets a lot of points 'cause of the rule mentioned above.
Track 5, Curtis Harvey (of Rex and Pullman) and friends turn in a kinda No Depression country-folk version of "Changes" with female vocals. Real nice and a darn sight better than Ozzy n' Kelly!
Track 6, Paul Newman do "Fairies Wear Boots". More instrumental post rock (hey this IS on Temporary Residence) and very very good. A fine interpretation, recognizable yet renewed, wound up with that post rock tension...
Track 7, The Anomoanon play and sing "Planet Caravan". One of Sabbath's most haunting numbers, not "heavy", well-suited to these folks. A respectful cover that you should try on any Sabbath-haters. It can't be denied. A spacey, psychedelic, folky beauty.
Track 8, shifts moods again, as the maniacs known as Racebannon fuck shit up with a noisy rampage through "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath". Their art-punk-mayhem is the most racous thing on here so far, and certainly captures the "going insane" vibe of mid-to-late Ozzy era Sabbath.
Track 9, maybe the odd one out here, and not only 'cause we have no idea who Greeness w/ Philly G is (thankfully Philly G is not a rapper, indeed, he's got the Ozziest vox on the comp). Whoever they are, they do a grunge by way of the Butthole Surfers run-through of stoner nugget "Sweet Leaf" that ends this comp with a clear reminder of Sabbath's riff mastery.
Overall, something like this is hard to review -- curiousity as much as anything ought to compel fans of the Sabs and/or any of these artists to pick this up. We certainly can say that this is a varied and enjoyable listen!!
Wow. Gerard, everything sure is nice. This price is nice: 3 cds for 9.98!? OK, the vinyl is a pretty standard price but vinyl in general costs more to manufacture than cds, so that's OK; actually it's really nice, too, that you put all of the previously-unreleased tracks on vinyl. That's so nice. Unreleased (and very nice) tracks by Mogwai, Guided By Voices, Yo La Tengo, Bardo Pond, Wisdom of Harry, Pavement, and a lot of other really nice bands. Oh, and the other cds (those nice unreleased tracks are all on one of the three cds), oh, I almost forgot how nice they are with greatest hits from almost all of your favouritest and nicest bands from the nicest label in the world, Matador.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Tribute to the Residents featuring Thinking Fellers, Primus, Eskimo, Stan Ridgway, Shaking Ray Levis, UBZUB, Heavy Vegetable, Amy Denio, Fibulator, Snakefinger, etc.
This is a super strange compilation, seemingly curated to document a scene, it's just hard to say which scene that might be. Witch house, nu-gaze, chill wave, there are lots of micro genres happening these days, and lots of these bands fit in more than one, while some, seem to us, to not fit in any of them. But unless you're overly concerned with how to label a certain band or sound, then the important thing is the music, and while this comp is most definitely crazy varied, it's also crazy good, with lots of faves, and even more new discoveries.
Balam Acab, ostensibly witch housers, offer up their awesomely haunted minimal electro workout "See Birds", a fuzz bass drone ambient groovescape, that has to be one of the best tracks we've heard from the witch house scene; Washed Out offer up some of their hazy retro chill out pop, all hazy and dreamlike, and well, washed out, laid back and summery; Animal Collective should need no introduction, and their "My Girls" is already sort of an indie anthem, but definitely represents the more popular / commercial side of this scene's (or these scene's) sound; Crystal Castles team up with Health for some awesome electro new wave, fuzzy and a little bit 8-bit-y; oOoOO deliver more witchy mystery, looped and murky and glacial and chopped and screwed, a buzzing electro chill wave ghostly ballad; Bear In Heaven inject some electro pop shoegaze into the proceedings, and that's pretty much for the bands we've heard before.
But like all good comps, it's the unknowns that definitely impress and surprise, Baghdaddy's track sounds like an outtake from recent Record Of The Weekers Salem, which is in no way a bad thing, thick and warped and synthy and tripped out; Small Black reimagine eighties new wave as some buzzy lo fi electronic pop; Truman Peyote take house music and wrap it in hypnogogic loops, and a swirly shoegazey gauze; Raw Moans offer up some twisted hazy pop flecked electronics, dreamy and blurred and blissy; Pictureplane get all M83 with their fuzz drenched dream pop; Hideous Men craft a head spinning bit of smeared pop psychedelia, with lots of fuzzy synth and angelic ethereal vocodered vox, and so it goes, on and on. It's pretty much all good, and even though the sounds do vary quite a bit, they somehow manage to flow nicely as a whole, which does in a way speak to the pointlessness of all these super specific microgenres, but f*>k it, like we said, it's all about the music, and this is a killer comp, and there's definitely some amazing stuff here that merits further investigation.
When the summer occasionally heats things up around here, it's sometimes hard to get into the really heavy music we get so much of. Andee's been rocking the early eighties power pop in the back and in that same vein we've been really getting into the early predecessor of eighties power-pop, mid-sixties British psych-pop or "psyke-pop" as Nick Saloman calls it on his latest Psychic Circle compilation. We haven't had a good soft-psych compilation in awhile so this sounds particularly good with a lot of uncommon picks from the likes of The San Francisco Earthquake, Barry Benson (formerly PJ. Proby's hairdresser), Iain Matthews (pre-Fairport Convention), and Gallagher & Lyle. Highly "Bird"-obsessive, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of female perspective in these songs as some of the lyrics, like "I've got to train her to want me" have left some of the female employees here amusingly bemused. Gender pitfalls aside, this is another satisfying comp from Psychic Circle, whom we hope will release something more femme-centric really soon.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Soundtrack to Jon Moritsugu film features 2 previously unreleased Barbara Manning pieces (she made me cry during "The Arsonist's Song" at Terrastock), 2 previously unreleased Emily's Sassy Lime songs, and others by No No Boy, Dub Narcotic Sound System, and Dixieland.
A nine song compilation featuring the varied musical stylings of Chrome, Endemic Void, Elixir, Buckfunk 3000, Nad, Tao, Circadian Rhythms, Phosphorus, and Bio Muse.
In 2002, Gallery 16 here in San Francisco exhibited The Bowie Show, which collected art, writing, and music that takes David Bowie as inspiration. This is an arty, spiral bound, full color, glossy-paged book with a cd and nicely embossed cover. Contributors include Rick Moody, Jason Mecier, Michelle Tea, Doug Coupland, Cliff Hengst, Scott Hewicker, Ann Magnuson, etc. And the (all exclusive!) tracks on the cd are each covers of a song off Bowie's Low album. The music runs the gamut from Matmos' slinky electronics on "A New Career in a New Town" to Troll's simmering Talk-Talk-meets-Nina-Simone take on "Warszawa". Other musical participants include Glenn Donaldson of local faves Thuja), Wayne Smith of Aero Mic'd, The Sadnesses, Tom Recchion and more.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Super low priced sampler of Howling Bull's wares, from grindcore, to speed metal, to funky silly pop. Yellow Machine Gun, United, Taiho, Hellchild, Space Combine, Garlic Boys, Force, and more.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
We haven't had a new Kill Rock Stars comp in a while (after a pretty steady schedule of almost yearly installments). It seems like maybe they've been saving them up! 2 cds of KRS stuff that is all over the place. But with so much varied stuff there's bound to be a lot of good and bad. My reactions varied from super stoked to "what the fuck is this shit?!". But as compilations go, this one is pretty good with a lot of not-so-well-known bands getting some good exposure like Beehive and the Barracudas or the Dishes. Plus unreleased tracks by by current hyped bands of the moment Erase Errata and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Other notable contributors include The Aislers Set, The Rock*A*Teens, The Bangs, Red Monkey, Neko Case, Quails, Deerhoof, Quasi, Stereo Total, Comet Gain, and loads more. Kill Rock Stars seem to be slowly but surely getting back on track releasing the kind of cool off kilter indie rock that made us dig them in the first place.
Volume two in Crawlspace's compilation of New Zealand noisemakers. Just like volume one, the tracks here are culled from Crawlspace's Artist Series, which are all unique eight inch polycarbonate (as opposed to conventional vinyl) records individually handpressed at King Records in New Zealand. All original editions are long gone, but selections from series two are available
Third volume of this truly international space-psych rock compilation series, for all you cosmopolitan (and cosmic) Terrastockers out there. You've got a few relatively well-known names like Acid Mothers Temple (Japan), Amp (England), Magic Carpathians (Poland), Smoking the Century Away (Mexico), alongside others less well known from Germany, Sweden, Texas, Italy, Greece, Hungary... Ranging from the poppy to the proggy, with synths and exotic instrumentation in equal doses. There's nothing too heavy to behold on here, with some bands more genuinely psychedelic than others, but it's at least a pleasant ride nonetheless.
What first caught our attention about this international compilation of "space rock" bands was the presence of both utter AQ-faves Circle and equally fantastic (and Finnish) Circle-variant Ektroverde! Those band's tracks (both over nine minutes each, bookending
British DJ Andy Votel (also responsible for the mindblowing Vertigo Mixed set that we'll be reviewing as soon as we have enough!) has compiled this fantastic disc devoted to, as you might expect, some way cool "folk" music sounds from approx. three decades ago... he's selected tracks from acts that range from pagan UK acid folk to SoCal styled sunshine popsyke to would-be Joni Mitchell songstress stuff to far-out hippy jams. Even a Polish blues band. Some of this had unrealized commercial potential, other stuff was willfully experimental...all of it is mellow and pretty, sometimes melancholic, sometimes sunny and buoyant. The folksters found here are mostly pretty obscure and uncelebrated, though AQ customers are likely to be already familiar with, say, Brigitte Fontaine and Linda Perhacs. And there's a track from Spain's wonderfully stoned Musica Dispersa, whose reissued album we so recently reviewed.
Here's all the artists: Carol Batton, Kathy Smith, Sarofeen & Smoke, Brigitte Fontaine, Linda Perhacs, Breakout, Musica Dispersa, The Poppy Family, Wendy & Bonnie, Bonnie Koloc, Heaven & Earth, Erica Pomerace, Audience, The Roundtable, Sidan. Lots of lovely female voices, some menfolk too. As you'd expect, a lot of this is a wee bit twee -- some cuts are more our thing than others -- but it's a fine comp with no duds and lots of gentle gems. Votel provides enthusiastic and well-researched liner notes with info on each artist featured. Nicely done!
Originally released for Record Store Day earlier this year, this killer comp is finally more widely available, and thankfully less limited. And there were definitely lots of Record Store Day releases to be excited about, but we were especially psyched on this one, a sprawling double lp collection of lost sixties psychedelic jams, collected from the Vanguard vaults, this collection marking the first time those vaults have been explored for lost records and 45's, gathered with the intention of an elaborate and extensive digital reissue project, but 18 of the best were gathered up and compiled here for Record Store Day. And holy crap. Some of you may recognize some of these bands, and maybe some of these songs, but for the most part, this was mostly all new stuff to us.
The Third Power's "Getting Together" which sounds, as impossible as it may seem, like the bastard child of Jimi Hendrix and Kiss. Or Erik's "You Said / But I've Got My Way", with its weirdly distorted guitar buzz, and brooding minimal lowslung stripped down sound. Listening offer up "Stoned Is", with a music example of just what stoned is, with whirring organs, warm washed out guitars, wild psychedelic leads, skittery drums, and weary druggy vox. The 31st Of February deliver the oddly named "A Nickel's Worth Of Benny's Help" a fuzzy, distorted garage-y groove, with some awesome weirdly effected percussion, and Elizabeth's (a band not a person) "You Should Be More Careful" is a jangle drenched rapid fire lyrical warning, while Jeff Monn's "I Can Understand Your Problem" is a brooding, slithery, organ drenched Doorsy jam, all murky and moody�
We could pretty much go on and on, track by track, but you get the drift, there's not a weak one in the bunch. Tripped out, psychedelic, groovy, fuzzy, heavy, jangly, garagey, surfy, and pretty much every and any stop in between, every one of these most definitely a lost gem, making this one of our favorite psych reissue comps in ages!
Incredible packaging too. Pressed on ultra heavy vinyl, with the original Vanguard inner sleeves, all housed in a super thick full color gatefold sleeve, with extensive liner notes, as well as descriptions of each band, and eye popping psychedelic graphics.
We're embarassed to say we were late in getting hip to the damaged druggy folk genius of Pearls Before Swine. But a recent spate of reissues, had us rushing back to catch up on all the stuff we missed. And apparently we were the only ones so sadly far behind the curve, as this Tom Rapp / Pearls Before Swine tribute, featuring loads of AQ favorites, is already on volume 2 and 3. Oh well, better late than never. So this double cd features a who's who of the underground indie free folk scene: Kemialliset Ystevat, The Olivetree (Glenn from Thuja, Blithe sons, etc...), Bardo Pond, Acid Mothers Temple's Kawabata Makoto, Thurston Moore, Mike Watt, Oren Ambarchi, Black Forest / Black Sea, Noxagt, Fursaxa, Alastair Galbraith, Dead Raven Choir and those are just the bands we're familiar with. There's a whole host of others including Marissa Nadler, Aquarium Poppers, Gentle Tasaday, Prydwyn, James Jackson Toth, Bevel, Ron Chelsvig, Cauldren, Mutter and a bunch more.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Interpretation of the work of Tom Rapp and Pearls Before Swine. With such luminaries as Flying Saucer Attack, Ghost's Masaki Batoh, Damon and Naomi, Bevis Frond, Mourning Cloak, and Tom Rapp himself.
A collection of covers of Depeche Mode songs from The Cure, Monster Magnet, Meat Beat Manifesto, Rammstein, Smashing Pumpkins, etc.... But the two that take the cake are the brilliant interpretations by Hooverphonic ("Shake the Disease" a wistful noirish trip hop track that recalls Portishead) and Locust ("Master & Servant" smooth dark basslines that sounds more like Barry Adamson than the electronica shards normally constructed by Locust).
As elemental to psychedelic music of the sixties and seventies as fuzz-fueled freakouts and surreal mystical lyricism, was the dirge! Those slow and heavy head-nodding anthems of bittersweet self-reflection often replete with powerful descending chord progressions and moody and soulful angst-laden vocal crooning.
The amazing folks at the Now-Again label (who usually focus on the funk side of the psychedelic equation) have assembled quite a tour-de-force with these rare heavy-hitters from around the globe, including long-time aQ favorites as well as plenty of new discoveries. Here's the line-up: Top Drawer (Kentucky), Sensational Saints (Cleveland, OH), East of Underground (USA via Germany), D.R. Hooker (New Haven, CT), Shin Jung Hyun & The Men (Korea), T. Zchiew & The Johnny (Thailand), The Strangers (Nigeria), Damon (Los Angeles, CA), Ellison (Montreal), Morly Grey (Cleveland, OH), Shadrack Chameleon (Dakota City, IA), Ofege (Nigeria), Ana Y Jaime (Columbia), Kourosh Yaghmaei (Iran), and Baby Grandmothers (Sweden)! Focusing not only on the rare, but also the rather unconventional modes of the ballad, this compilation doesn't just cover heavy psych territory, but also crosses currents with gospel, soul and downbeat international funk by obscure artists who sought after their own kind of sound. Just in time for those cold winter months, this is perfect fireside listening. In fact, it's the perfect, sad and beautiful companion to the energetic exuberance of that Psych Funk 101 compilation, we raved about a couple of lists ago. Meaning, it's a total must-have!
The cd comes with a beautiful booklet of album covers and notes about each band.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
You may recall a couple of AQ lists back (#114) we were raving about Adult., and named it one of the records of the week. Well, Adam Miller (one half of the Detroit duo and Ersatz Audio label mastermind) has many more electro gems up his lab coat sleeve and on his label. He shares a sampling of them with us on this dark, kinetic compilation which documents the music on Ersatz Audio from 1995-99. Included are a handful of tracks from each of his own projects LeCar, Adult. and Artificial Material, as well as notable cuts from Platex, Third Electric and G.D.Luxxe. Pulsating beats and thick synths prod your boogie mechanism as spartan synthetic voices seep through to the inner reaches of your ears.
A new San Francisco music compilation that totally runs the gamut style-wise. Comprised of tracks by 16 diverse artists including Twenty Minute Loop, Etienne De Rocher, John Vanderslice, and Ian Brennan.
Subtitled "A Collection of Music From Around the World", this compilation contains twenty-five tracks, all of which are 30 seconds apiece, from the likes of Faust, Skullflower's Stefan Jaworzyn, Merzbow, Incapacitants, Pickle Factory, Illusion of Safety, Nurse With Wound, Lee Ranaldo, and many others. We've had this on 10" vinyl before, but this is the first time it's been available on disc.
Benefit compilation for Jason Baldwin, Damien Echols & Jessie Misskelley, otherwise known as the "West Memphis 3". In 1993 the three men, then teenagers, were tried and convicted for murder (Damien is currently awaiting lethal injection). The case is pretty heart rendingly laid out in the documentary "Paradise Lost", and if you haven't seen it I recommend it. According to the liner notes, the three "liked the kind of music that's on this CD." Though the producers and artists' hearts are in the right place with this comp, I think that these aren't the satanic rock and roll bands that the town was so upset over, and I don't know that the kids had even heard of Steve Earle, Rocket From The Crypt, Tom Waits, Supersuckers, Kelley Deal, Mark Lanegan, L7, John Doe, Murder City Devils or even Nashville Pussy. But they and more artists appear here to assist in their legal fund, and we applaud that. The tracks are all exclusive to this album and quite a few are covers, of the sort of stuff that Damien & Co. probably did listen to: Kelley Deal performs a Pantera song ("Fucking Hostile"--next to the Carnival In Coal version of this, our favorite Pantera cover ever), Murder City Devils play the Misfits ("She"), Zeke does Iron Maiden ("Wrathchild"), Nashville Pussy busts out some AC/DC ("Highway To Hell") and much more.
If you think you don't know Bread's music, think again. It might just be that you don't know the name of the artist behind that old tune you know and love so well. Many of Bread's songs have become so much a part of the day-to-day (let alone Musak'd ad nauseum), that song credits are seldom mentioned.
Who doesn't know the '70s tear-jerkers "If", "The Goodbye Girl", "Everything I Own", "Make It With You" or the puzzlingly titled "Baby, I'm A Want You" by this band? Do you remember, as Cup does, that there was even a non-Muppet puppet performance set to that song on the Muppet Show!? Well, it seems there's plenty of other folks who have a fond Bread memory or two or three too. '70s nostalgia is here with a -- albeit gentle -- vengeance, and Bread were definitely a soft rock staple of that decade. Sure those songs that we heard on AM radio back then were as vanilla as can be, but you have to admit the popcraft is still the sweetest something to behold. Main songwriter David Gates skillfully captured the weepy lows of love lost or unrequited. Oh so much yearning and heartache! This tribute kicks off with Josh Rouse doin' his best Gates impersonation on "It Doesn't Matter To Me". Following him are much less faithful but still very respectful covers performed by Kings Of Convenience's Erland Oye ("Friends & Lovers"), Call And Response ("Baby, I'm A Want You"), Oranger ("Make It With You"), Paula Frazer ("Everything I Own"), The Moore Brothers ("Look At Me"), Parchman Farm's Eric Shea with Bart Davenport ("Goodbye Girl"), Mojave 3's Rachel Goswell ("If"), Emily Sparks ("Too Much Love"), Cake ("The Guitar Man"), Holy Sons ("The Last Time"), Dambuilders' Dave Derby ("I Use The Soap"), and the Posies fellas Jonathan Auer and Ken Stringfellow doin' one song each on his own ("Games Of Magic" and "Down On My Knees" respectively). If you're too young to have experienced these songs firsthand, you might still wanna give this comp a listen 'cause it offers shining examples of fine pop artists present coming together with fine pop songs past.
The annual all-day Frisco Freakout psychedelic festival has happened on two occasions so far, most recently earlier this month and also back in October of '08. Perhaps you were there! You shoulda been, it was a great show, both years. Co-sponsored by KUSF radio, Arthur Magazine, and yours truly Aquarius Records, and organized in part by Ripley from Wooden Shjips, the Frisco Freakout benefits Creativity Explored, a worthy cause right here in the Mission, where developmentally challenged adults get to express themselves artistically (and make amazing art they do!).
This year at the festival, there was a limited edition compilation cassette for sale featuring a selection of live performances recorded at the first Freakout. We scored a few copies - and are selling 'em for what we paid for 'em, $5 each, all of which goes to Creativity Explored. They only made 100 tapes and we of course just have a handful, when they're gone they're gone, so first come first served, and sorry if you don't get one.
There's songs here from Crystal Antlers, Art Lessing, Wooden Shjips, Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound, Ascended Master, The Bad Trips, Greg Ashley, Sequin Trails, and Earthless (who's track is an excerpt 'cause of course an entire Earthless jam would have probably filled a whole side of this tape!).
You know that guy with the Grizzly Adams beard you're always seeing skating down Valencia 'n dumpster diving outside Ti Couz? That would be the world famous artist that AQ knows as nice Mr Chris Johansson, who has single handedly released this double disc set featuring almost 50 of his favorite Bay Area rockscene bands (many of the tracks live). Everyone from Coachwhips to Caesura, Touched By a Janitor, Vetiver, Mr and Mrs Evil, Tarentel, Veronica Lipgloss, Trackstar, Total Shutdown, Quails, Troll, Erase Errata, A Tension, Tussle, Virginia Dare, Zmrzlina, Aislers Set, Tommy Guerrero, Crack W.A.R., Sonny Smith, Zeigenbock Kopf, Deep Throats, and so many more.
As with most comps meant to survey a local scene, this is a mixed bag, but there's tons more good stuff here than bad, and it's a real good way to taste what the local scene has to offer if you're not one of those folks that goes out to hear live music all the time. An exciting listen.
Double disc foldout digipack features artwork by local artists Jo Jackson, Chris Corales, Tony Cox, Dave Schubert, many more, but not, as far as I can tell, any of Johansson's stuff.
A remastered reissue of this compilation of word and sound from 1980! The title might be From Brussels With Love -- the city where the original release's label Les Disques Crepuscule was based -- but the contributions are by artists from well beyond that city's limits drawing from comrades in Manchester and London (many from the Factory Records camp). It features many wellknowns, soon to be wellknowns and certainly more obscure artists from back in the day: John Foxx, Thomas Dolby, Repetition, Harold Budd, Durutti Column, Martin Hannett, Michael Nyman, Phill Niblock, Richard Jobson, Bill Nelson, Kevin Hewick, New Order, Radio Romance, Gavin Bryars, Der Plan, B.C. Gilbert and Graham Lewis. Along with the music are included two interview clips with Jeanne Moreau and Brian Eno. The latter is layered with Niblock's gently droning "Third Trombone". Although it does come with a 20 page booklet, unfortunately this new cd version doesn't come with any special packaging unlike the original cassette release which purportedly came in a PVC jacket with a badge and booklet. A very cool and incredibly varied historical document.
If you dig the two New York Noise comps that Soul Jazz released recently, here comes another comp that is an absolute must have. While the Noise on those aforementioned comps actually leaned more towards the rhythmic and even dancy side of the early 80's NY scene, the newest installment in the Kitchen Archives series gets a little more down and dirty. It kicks off with two very rare versions of early Sonic Youth tracks the first featuring lyrics, vocals and guitar contributed by Michael Gira! (Swans, Angels of Light, Young God Records), then Swans jump in with two tracks of their own, from back in their pre-Jarboe existence. Then it's Arthur Russell time! We can never get enough of the totally wild and wide range of sounds Russell created in in his all too short life. His tracks here focus more on his no-wave minimalist, rough around the edges and completely haunting sounding as opposed to his later dancefloor leanings. And no comp focusing on early '80s sonic exploration in NYC would be complete without Christian Marclay whose turntable manipulations would foreshadow so much of the 'turntablism' and experimental music in general that was to follow in the upcoming decades. Rhys Chatham represents with his classic "Guitar Trio" and the disc is rounded out by a free jazz influenced rock-out track by Elliott Sharp. Another totally tasty slice of that early '80s NY underground that we can't stop eating up.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Experimental hardcore, power violence, noise, crust, etc. comp--starring Amps For Christ, Bastard Noise, Bullet In The Head, Drop Dead, Lightning Bolt, Men's Recovery Project, Rubber O Cement, Tit Wrench, and many others.
