Cup has been raging about it for months. Allan finally got a hold of an import dvd of it (and a t-shirt!). Andee's just about to watch it. And we've got the import soundtrack compilation in stock now!
Sooo, what's with all the hubbub?! Well, the center of attention is a mockumentary indie film which may be described as "Driver 23" meets "Heavy Metal Parking Lot" meets "American Movie", but... Canadian. It's all about the tragicomic misadventures of two Molson-chugging burnouts (think a Canadian Bill and Ted, ten years older and wasted most of the time) spewing stoner wisdom like "turn up the good, turn down the suck!"
If that piqued your interest (or not), give the following news a moment's ponder too...
This cd contains a couple of extra special songs performed by AQ ultra-fave Canucks the New Pornographers *and* Sloan (psst, they even do a Rush song)! This very well could be the only peep you'll be hearing from those NPs until they unleash their new album sometime next year, and who knows when we'll be hearing from those Sloan boys? So if you need your fix... FUBAR is where it's at! It's also where you'll find NoMeansNo, Chixdiggit, The Sweet, Girlschool and more. For the most part the concept here is Canadian indie/pop punk bands doing covers of Canadian rock/metal classics from the past: thus, NoMeansNo does Neil Young, GOB tackles Kick Axe's "Heavy Metal Shuffle", Sum 41 performs the Helix anthem "Rock You", while other bands cover April Wine, Loverboy, Toronto, BTO, etc. And lets not forget he-man Canadian metaller Thor (a wonderfully tongue-in-cheek 80's relic himself) doing the film's catchy theme, "FUBAR Is A Super Rocker". Throw in some originals from Creeper (loser metal band of Fubar star "Dean") and some out-of-context dialogue from the film, and what other album could possibly be more fun and surreal?? ...Know what else? These filmmakers received funding from the Canadian government to do this. Fill yer boots, eh!
Finally as a little aside, we'd like to clarify that the Aquarius Records who released this compilation is not us, but a Canadian label with the same name. But, unlike most things on their label, we'd be proud to have put this out ourselves if we were a label... Canada + Comedy + Metal + The New Pornographers + Helix + Thor + Sloan + Kick Axe = Aquarius Record of the Week Big Time!!!
Mixmaster of the moment DJ Spinna shows his impeccable taste in "rock breaks and guitars for funky people" with this compilation (put together by Spinna and Monty Burns). The '70s ride again with the choice cuts found here: tracks by Sly Stone ("Trip To Your Heart", which you'll recognize from its sampled use by LL Cool J on "Mama Said Knock You Out"), Santana, Herbie Hancock's Head
We're so thrilled that the Strut label seems to have come out of hiding recently with not only another great Disco Not Disco comp but now this highly essential collection of jammers from The Compass Point studios in the Bahamas as well. Compass Point was where Chris Blackwell of Island Records fame held court with a house band and production team spearheaded by Sly & Robbie. This collection brings some of the tightest and catchiest jams recorded at Compass Point from 1980-86. Whether it's Grace Jones, Talking Heads, Lizzy Mercier Descloux, Gwen Guthrie (mixed by Larry Levan!), Ian Durry or Chaz Jankel, they were all reaching a creative and grooving peak during this magical era inside Compass Point. While Sly & Robbie have lent their skills to thousands of songs this batch really demonstrates that when they were at their best, those guys helped cultivate a whole new sound and feeling that brought elements of dub and Jamaician roots into disco, soul, funk and new wave.
We can't get enough Funky Nassau, just about every single day since this has arrived whoever's been working up front has been blasting this like crazy (if you've been in lately and now have the lines "I'm Spasticus! Autisticus!" stuck in your head, that's why!) and we're pretty sure this will start getting some heavy rotation on your stereo as well. So damn good!
How many reasons do you need to buy this amazing compilation? The fact that 100% of the proceeds go to non-profit progressive organisations "working to involve more Americans in our political process, to advocate for ordinary people and traditional American values, and to help keep the United States a country all of us can be proud of"? Or how about unreleased tracks by Death Cab For Cutie, Elliott Smith, Tom Waits, Old 97's, Fountains Of Wayne, They Might Be Giants, Nada Surf and more? Well, what about OK Go doing a killer version of the Zombies' "This Will Be Our Year"? Or Jimmy Eat World doing an super kick ass version of Guided By Voices' "Game Of Pricks"? Or live tracks from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Bright Eyes, and The Flaming Lips. Or alternate versions of tracks by Blink 182, R.E.M., The Long Winters and more? I'll stop right there, because as far as reasons go, that's plenty! Definitely the best comp like this in a long while!
We got two different records from the Medical label for Record Store Day, and got enough extra to list for all you far away folks who couldn't make it to aQ in person, a killer Alexander Robotnick collection, reviewed elsewhere on this week's list, and this one, part two in the ongoing Electroconvulsive Therapy series, which collects rare new wave singles, this second volume focusing on a label called Fuzz Dance, gathering up 3 super rare, iconic Italo disco 12"s (along with a couple bonus tracks), from a handful of bands we had never heard before, Trophy, ZED, Mya & The Mirror, Mon Bijou and NAIF Orchestra, but that's kind of the joy of these sorts of comps, and Medical in general, who manage to dig up some crazy cool rarities.
So yeah, Trophy meld some classic eighties new wave pop with their Italo Disco, pulsing synths, strummed guitars, Teutonic vocals, plenty of squelch and echo drenched handclaps, offering up both versions, a vocal and a weirdly electro-dubbed 'instrumental'. ZED give us "Plastic Love" which sounds like it could have been a hit in the eighties, sort of Berlin meets Human League, pulsing synths, dramatic female vox, the instrumental version super stripped down, and sans vocals, sounding surprisingly like a slightly discoier Kraftwerk!! Mya & The Mirror offer up more of the same, sultry electro-disco new wave, the vocals heavily accented and sultry, with some weird horns (!), the "Reflex" version, essentially instrumental, but with way more horns and wilder eighties percussion. Crazy stuff. The extra tracks include Mon Bijou's "Just A Lover", which again, sounds like some could/should have been eighties new wave electro pop hit, while NAIF Orchestra's "Check Out Five" adds some funky guitar strum to pulsing synths, and some super loopy vox, the vibe playful, a little goofy, but super catchy, and like the rest of the tracks here, sounds like it was yanked straight out of some alternate universe eighties new wave hit parade.
No liner notes this time, but comes in a super striking, very Italo-disco looking cover, the vinyl on heavy 180 gram Italian flag colored vinyl (!), and as always, very limited...
Those sweethearts from Dionysus/ Bacchus Archives (who brought us the awesome Hava Narghila Compilation) released this great series of early to mid 60's American garage, a while ago, but we only recently discovered them. Great sound quality, and a
Those sweethearts from Dionysus/ Bacchus Archives (who brought us the awesome Hava Narghila Compilation) released this great series of early to mid 60's American garage, a while ago, but we only recently discovered them. Great sound quality, and a
Those sweethearts from Dionysus/ Bacchus Archives (who brought us the awesome Hava Narghila Compilation) released this great series of early to mid 60's American garage, a while ago, but we only recently discovered them. Great sound quality, and a
Those sweethearts from Dionysus/ Bacchus Archives (who brought us the awesome Hava Narghila Compilation) released this great series of early to mid 60's American garage, a while ago, but we only recently discovered them. Great sound quality, and a collection of obscure songs. Not a greatest hits garage comp that sounds like an hour on an oldies station, but some super hard to find gems with an emphasis on psychedelically tinged garage. Volume six is titled Come Into My World and has tracks from Thackeray Rocke, Those Guys, The Tasmanians, King James and The Royal Jesters, The Night People, The Insects, The Endd, and much more.
Those sweethearts from Dionysus/ Bacchus Archives (who brought us the awesome Hava Narghila Compilation) released this great series of early to mid 60's American garage, a while ago, but we only recently discovered them. Great sound quality, and a collection of obscure songs. Not a greatest hits garage comp that sounds like an hour on an oldies station, but some super hard to find gems with an emphasis on psychedelically tinged garage. Volume 7 garage by the Spirits of Blue Lightning, The Lazy Eggs, The Cindermen and others, including a rarity by a different, not-famous Ides of March.
This delightful new collection from the great British crate-digger Johnny Trunk focuses on the lighter and more whimsical obscurities of British Folk. Think a more kid-friendly Wicker Man Soundtrack-same spooky and wondrous undertones but without all the, er... shall we say, ribald subtext. There is definitely an acidy H.R. Pufnstuf vibe to some of the songs which made some of us imitate those overacting kids on Barney. In fact some of these songs were recorded for children's movement classes in the early seventies, using lots of zany instruments like penny-whistles, kazoos and ocarinas. While this is not strictly aimed at children (some songs like Basil Kirchin's sublime "I Start Counting" might be too slow for full kiddie enjoyment), we think parents would rather have their young kids listening to this stuff than crap like Barney or Raffi. Fans of "incredibly strange music", novelty records, and sixties and seventies folk-pop should check this too. Far out!
When you think the impossibly prolific Robert Pollard couldn't possibly eke out another tune, another whole cd lands in your lap. How does he do it!? Well, you better brace yourself dear fans! Because although this is not a new Robert Pollard album, it is a fifty six track double cd collection which compiles a broad array of tracks from the various Robert Pollard fronted bands on Robert Pollard's Fading Captain label. Some of the groups include Go Back Snowball, The Moping Swans, Circus Devils, Airport 5, Lifeguards, Alien Mofo, Radiation Feeder... the list goes on and on... and yes, it includes Guided By Voices.
And what do you know, you also get six previously unreleased tracks and a 50-page full-color book to boot! This release marks the forty fourth and final release of the Fading Captain Series. Ahoy matey!
If there's something you haven't been getting enough of lately, it's angular female-fronted post-punk from the late 70s/early 80s! If you don't already own the Slits b-side track cover of "Heard It Through The Grapevine", get this cd now! It could be the only reason to buy this cd, except there are other tracks on here that are just as fist poundingly angularishly toe tappingly awesome -- if not MORESO!!
Maximum Joy's "Stretch", Dorothy's "Softness", Delta 5's "Mind Your Own Business", Jajaja's Blondie-esque vocals over trainwreckish spazzmatic bass, ahh!! I'm freaking out. The only weak point might be the jazzy Neneh Cherryesque tone of Rip, Rig and Panic.
So note bene: this is by all means NOT "the current trend" in musical consumerism, HOWEVER, it's an incredibly concise and concentrated comp consisting of totally mind-boggling music. And nevermind the politics, dudes. It's fucking great music!!
When this first arrived, we thought maybe Important Records had re-released Jefre Cantu Ledesma's serpentine drone solo work of the same name that had come out on Spekk last year. But it seems there might just be more than one Jorge Luis Borges fan in the world, and one of them is James Blackshaw. Those of you who were lucky enough to see him perform live here in our store were witness to his magical powers of acoustic alchemy, and between pieces he quietly mentioned this new release that he had compiled. Bringing together avant-acoustic string pieces specifically recorded for this release by Dutch lute player Jozef Van Wissem (also his recent collaborator in Bretheren of The Free Spirit), Swedish cellist Helena Espvall, of Espers, Japanese koto virtuoso Chieko Mori, as well as Blackshaw himself. Beginning and ending with pieces by Cheiko Mori, we are taken through a twisting sojourn of cross-cultural touchstones and stylistic complexities. The range of classical lyricism and free improvisation highlights each individual's unique contributions while also recognizing a vital connection to each other's methods bringing the whole together. Excellent!
Cool vinyl-only comp of German beat groups.
Cool vinyl-only comp of German beat groups - this one including Cindy & Bert's "Hund Der Baskervilles", a re-write of Black Sabbath's "Paranoid"!!!
New Jersey's Gern Blandsten Records celebrate nine years of existence with this compilation of two dozen tracks by two dozen of Gern Blandsten's finest boy bands galore. Running the gamut from Wire / Gang of Four influenced post punk angst (Computer Cougar)
Here's a little something for your lo-fi pop sweet tooth... a compilation 7" record featuring Bart Davenport, Chicken On A Raft as well as Elephant 6ers The Minders and Of Montreal. Mr. Davenport's contribution is a gently sung and strummed ditty called "Tee". Of Montreal's is a spritely demo version of "Epistle To A Pathological Creep". The Minders deliver a droll Young Marble Giants-ish "Jealous Baby" and Chicken On A Raft get all raw, acoustic with "Lone Pilgrim". Limited pressing of 500, so hop to it!
Five year anniversary music issue, featuring Cibo Matto, Money Mark, Automator, LA turntablists the Beat Junkies, DJ Krush, and... Shu Uemura the makeup tycoon. Only 1000 of the issues come with the free Money Mark flexidisc (exclusive material he recorded at the Giant Robot loft), but luckily all of ours have it! There's also the usual little article by Windy talking about "music no one's ever going to hear".
From the label that brought us Dust Sucker and Mersey Trout (the Magic Band live in Liverpool) comes a collection of recordings -- from the 1920's to the 1960's -- which serve to illuminate the vast musical influences of the enigmatic and inimitable Don Van Vliet a.k.a Captain Beefheart. As one might imagine, such a musical map would surely cut a broad swath. While many of the tracks have a direct connection to the Captain's works like "New Minglewood Blues" by the Noah Lewis Jug Band, whose opening lines are exactly the same as "Sure 'Nuff 'n' Yes I Do". Other tracks, like those by Blind Willie Johnson and Rahsaan Roland Kirk point out obvious influences on Vliet's vocal style and proclivity for playing two wind instruments at once. While the majority of tracks here are early blues & string band recordings -- Blind Blake, Victoria Spivey & Lonnie Johnson, Uncle Bud Landress, Al Simmons, Blind Joe Taggert, among others -- there's also plenty of jazz cuts -- Charlie Parker, Cab Calloway -- and oddballs like Lord Buckley, The Fang and Hawaiian slack key players Kanui & Lula. On top of all this are interspersed rare tracks of the Magic Band, interview snippets and random remarks from Captain Beefheart. Whether you're a fan of Captain Beefheart or not, you just might like this collection anyhow as just an interesting mix cd.
No way...yes way! It's a bonafide K-tel compilation devoted to "indie rock." Coulda been quite painful, but amazingly this is actually a really nice collection. I don't know how they went about putting it together, but it's certainly got some stuff atypical of your usual "as-seen-on-tv" K-tel hits package. Husker Du, The Fall, Pussy Galore, Half Japanese, My Dad Is Dead, Yo La Tengo, The Wipers, The Minutemen, Savage Republic, Mekons, Mudhoney, Spacemen 3, Flaming Lips, Black Flag, The Pastels, The Melvins, more! It's like being in college all over again, at least for those of you who are 'our' age. A pretty great compilation!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
For fans of Ultra Chicks and Swinging Mademoiselle comps, wonderful playful french girl pop!
Even if it is last year's fashion (meaning: this was released back in October '05), we've fallen head over heels for this stylish boxset! The tunes, the big booklet, the chic black'n'white hatbox packaging... all of it! The folks at Rhino Records have always made it their mission to dish out the oldies-but-goodies, but they have truly outdone themselves with this '60s girl group extravaganza. Each of the four cds contains thirty songs for a whopping total of one hundred and twenty songs! They cover a lot of ground from pert pop to smoooth soul, from peppery R&B to sashaying country. Many of the featured artists will undoubtably be more than familiar to you, but we'd wager that just as many will be new to you. That said, even if you do recognize the faces, you very well might not recognize the songs. This boxset is dedicated to shining a rosy glowing spotlight on the more obscure tunes. Aaah, some things -- such as good music -- never go out of style.
It's always tough to put together a tribute record. The work is made even tougher when the band is as amazing as the Kinks. Further complicated by the fact, in the case of this particular compilation, that at least half of these bands are just okay, a
Glitter-associated junkshop finds from the '70s.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
A great double single with 4 exclusive tracks all from Glasgow with Mogwai (still the only band that has a right to fill My Bloody Valentine's shoes with the bleak melodic mope rock)... El Hombre Trajeado (if Tortoise were a Factory band... loose bass driven grooves and desolate keyboards)... Yummy Fur (an homage to the late 70's power punk from Fast Products i.e. Gang of Four, Mekons, Scars...)... and The Karelia (very nice bittersweet pop with laidback breakbeats worthy of Creation or Chemikal Underground)...
Yo, hippies! Holy crap, we've just got 3 copies of this fancy box set, which comprises a reissue (on two cds) of the triple LP set documenting performances at the legendary Glastonbury Fayre festival of 1971. Artists on cd one include Hawkwind, David Bowie, The Greatful Dead (a 24 minute "Dark Star...bury"), Marc Bolan, Mighty Baby, Brinsley Schwarz, Pete Townsend, and Skin Alley. Disc two is a doozy too with Daevid Allen & Gong (23 minutes from them), The Pink Fairies (famous renditions of "Do It" and "Uncle Harry's Last Freak-out", which Fairies fans probably have already) and last but not least, the Edgar Broughton Band (their freak anthem "Out Demons Out", 20 minutes long here). Wow. That blows Coachella or the Pitchfork Festival out of the water, don't it?
And then, there's also a DVD in this box, "Glastonbury Fayre - The Movie", featuring performance footage of Terry Reid, Fairport Convention, Family, Arthur Brown, Traffic, Melanie, and Quintessence. Haven't watched it yet but how could it not be cool? NTSC, region free.
The whole thing is packaged as a facsimile of sorts of the original, complete with inserts, poster, etc.
This double 7" is not brand new, but it came with a batch of new stuff we finally got from Kraak, one of our favorite labels. Not sure what this double 7" is exactly, a label sampler maybe, we have a vague recollection of it commemorating a tour with all these bands, regardless, it's a pretty jam packed comp, with lots of aQ faves, the A side is outsider psych folk one man band Amen Dunes, with a track from his recently released Ethio Songs single, which finds him covering obscure Ethiopian pop songs, and it's the perfect combination, the original melodies and lyrics (sounds like he's actually singing the lyrics) still in tact, but the overall sound a bit more ramshackle and reverby, another one of those instances, where we sort of wish it wasn't a cover, and there was just a band that sounded like this all the time. Still, super awesome. The flipside starts out with Warm Climate, who we had never heard before, and whose sound is a sort of feedback drenched post punk, all low slung basslines, tribal drumming, and childlike vox, very rhythmic and propulsive, definitely into hearing more. The second track comes from long time aQ fave Ignatz, a glorious slab of lo-fi bedrooom folk, all detuned guitars and Dylan like vocal drawl, and spidery melodies over muted strum.
The second single starts out with another aQ fave Marisa Anderson, who played an instore here not too long back, and whose track here is a stunner, a fantastic slab of distorted electric guitar blues, lots of slippery slide and Appalachian fingerpicking, so good. Up next is Nathan Bowles, who offers up a short blast of old timey bluegrass stomp, and finally, the whole D side is given over to Bridget Hayden, who weaves a gorgeously minimal sprawl of gauzy Grouper-ish drift, hazy effected vocals over brittle lo-fi guitar strum, all druggy and washed out, softly psychedelic and dreamy.
Fairly limited we'd presume, housed in a swank heavy full color gatefold sleeve!
Record collectors, check it out: in a sense, this is a compilation of tracks from some of the rarest records EVER -- even though they were just recorded last year! That's cause they only existed in editions of, like, one. Ok, this is gonna require some explanation. The Gold Record Studio is the latest contraption/conception from our man Jon Brumit (whom we first met when he brought us field recordings from the San Francisco dump!) and colleague Lisa Mezzacappa... Basically a set-up where one-of-a-kind vinyl records were pressed on-the-spot with an antique record cutter for folks who recorded live (and impromptu) in an open-air, homebuilt studio at a local flea market! This was totally free of charge, with instruments and even guest musicians provided, and apparently proved very popular. This took place over several weekends last spring at the Laney College Swap Meet over in Oakland... the City of Oakland actually ponied up some arts-funding money to help make it happen. And it seems like a pretty cool thing, for both the participants (the "recording artists") and now listeners who get to check out the diverse array of talent (and otherwise) who made records at the flea market, the best (and worst? no such distinctions really being made) have been compiled onto this sprawling double disc set. There's contributions from folks of all ages, backgrounds and ethnicities. Some musical pros show up (including a couple Serbian prog rockers, and the DJ from the Ghetto Boys!), but also many total amateurs, young kids n' senior citizens. Lots of surprises in other words!
This man-in-the-street, instant-gratification, no-rules recording project really let some folks get, shall we say, expressive. And creative. And downright weird. Portions of this do come off like a rather dubious talent show, or drunk mom karaoke -- but lots of tracks could be some really underground, experimental cd-r fodder, too. As a whole, it's almost like a hypothetical installment of the Sublime Frequencies series dedicated to the sounds of why-be-normal urban America, jumping from track to track with ADD abandon. For instance, among the many tracks of disc one, you've got a woozy improv session with a barking dog factored in, followed a few tracks later by a version of "My Favorite Things" recast conversationally (and humorously) between teenage girls. There's also a pretty badass blues rock guitar instrumental, some crazy scat singing, and a song that sounds to us a lot like The Shitty Listener! And much much more... It's mind-boggling and exhausting and pretty darn special. Even the recognizable tunes that people try (for good or ill) are enhanced in our ears by the bustling flea market field recording happening in the background.
And then, there's a whole 'nother disc. 50 cuts on disc two, starting off with some very lovely solo guitar from "Sam"...which is followed by a much more maniacal track with a shouting child... and then some guy singing "Let It Be"... a super-distorted rap by a teenage girl... and on and on and on. There's definitely some Gong Show moments, which are good for a laugh or can be taken as something maybe unintentionally avant-garde. We really like the more "damaged", confusional tracks (of which there's plenty), where it sorta sounds like the people you hear DON'T know they're being recorded, or at least seem unaware of where the microphone is, or when the song is supposed to start or stop.
Even in the age of mp3 and MySpace, this Gold Record Studio project has taken the democratization of the "music industry" a step further, down to street level! There's just something really joyful about it, possibly due to the serendipitous social interaction happening right then and there at the point of creation. You're getting a glimpse at the inner musical burgeonings of people who until that fateful day they were wandering around the flea market, probably never ever ever dreamed that they would so soon be the proud owners of a physical vinyl artifact with their own singing/rapping/playing/barking/whatever on it, whether silly or serious. And that's pretty cool.
Also, if you get this, you'll definitely have some good material to put on your outgoing answering machine message for months to come... file it with stuff like MSR Madness anthologies of song-poem recordings, or Jacob Smigel's Eavesdrop disc of found sound recordings, although this takes its own unique place in that array of oddity...
- MPEG stream: Lee, Jon, Suki, Brian, Tom, Jesse
- MPEG stream: Emily, Amara, Lucio
- MPEG stream: Sam
- MPEG stream: Birana, Tanaya, Shelley, Micha
Where to begin with a review of a cd-rom that includes over 1,500 articles and reviews? Well, this is what I can tell you upon first examination of this disc, but many many hours could be spent exploring the material to be found here. Basically, this is an cross-platform (Mac and PC) cd-rom archive of every issue of Archie Patterson's Eurock fanzine, from 1973 to today, 45 issues worth. Eurock, as you might guess, specializes in European progressive rock sounds (although you'll also find coverage of scenes in Japan, Mexico, and other non-European places). Beginning in '73, it was initially focused on the contemporary krautrock scene (with features on Can, Amon Duul, Tangerine Dream in issue #1!), but as you browse through the issues you'll find stuff on Magma, Kraftwerk, RIO, Guru Guru, and then soon you'll be reading about Franco Battiato, Nektar, Lars Hollmer...it's endless. The Wire review of this of course bagged on the exclusion of much UK prog-rock (as if you'd rather read about Gentle Giant than Le Orme), but Patterson could hardly go back in a time machine and add stuff to the old issues of his zine -- what they wrote then is what you get now, and that's the beauty of it, the sense of "being there", of discovery, and all that...I almost wish that the magazine had been archived PDF fashion, so that you could actually see the original page layout and funky fonts. At least there's a gallery of cover art (unfortunately not viewable at full-size), for fans of the '70 underground press aesthetic.
Oh, and there's some bonus video material as well, an Urban Sax concert (sorry, haven't investigated that yet...) and a cut each from Amon Dull II ("Eye-Shaking King", goddamn!) and Popul Vuh from German TV. Very cool! Oh, and then the regular audio portion of this cd is some inoffensive New Agey symphonic music from one Hiro Kawahara, which might have its uses when trying to relax after several hours of computer-screen staring eyestrain that this cd-rom will surely cause. A fantastic item for folks interested in this sort of stuff (you know who you are)!
Much like the Sub Pop 200 comp which came out in 1988 and was filled with then not so well known bands who would soon become household names across the globe (Mudhoney, Nirvana, Soundgarden, etc.) this Arthur Magazine sponsored, Devendra Banhart curated compilation probably did the same for music of this decade. When it first came out names like Antony, Joanna Newsom, Espers, Iron & Wine, Vetiver, Josephine Foster and Coco Rosie weren't at the tip of indie music lovers tongues like they are now. Free-folk, freak-folk, whatever you wanna call it, this is a great collection of artists which also include such AQ faves as Jack Rose, Vashti Bunyan, White Magic, Troll (featuring our own Scott!), Six Organs of Admittance, etc. While none of these bands/people will probably ever get as big as some of those folks on that Sub Pop comp did, this is great document of one of a recent explosion of a sound and style that has pretty much defined much of the great new music coming out recently. Now repressed (it was previously only available via Arthur magazine), so if you weren't lucky enough to have Devendra throw you one at his Amoeba in store a few years back you can still revel in his mighty fine musical taste!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Featuring David Nudelman of Three Stoned Men singing about how he hates vegetables, Gomez, MC Terror T with Nardwuar (the Human Serviette), Man...Or Astroman?, the Hi-Fives, etc. The highlights of this record are the phone calls "Comfy Jones" (Neil Hamburger?) places to the Original Car Thieves. I would like to know how Outpunk, Pansy Division, and others feel about this saga; but here's how it's been recounted to us: Sven of Planet Pimp called up the Car Thieves and said he liked 'em & wanted to release a 7" record. They said 'Great! And you can do the cover art... "Just don't make it too gay." Sven, righteously disgusted, designed the entire package, songtitles and artwork to portray the band as hot leather boys. The Car Thieves reaction? On this compilation, 'Comfy Jones' calls up the band to tell them how happy he is that they're out and proud and that he can't wait for them to play San Francisco. The bandmembers, who are apparently not too bright and thus don't get that they're being ridiculed, protest that they're not gay and that Sven is just making fun of...homosexuals.
Essentially, "Grain" is the companion disc to the "Variable Resistance" compilation published by local arts group 23five for an exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art about Australian sound art. This album features four artists -- Philip Samartzis, Pimmon, Darrin Verhagen, and David Brown -- who had come to San Francisco to perform in conjunction with a lengthy 'listening room' event of many other artists. Samartzis, who had curated the "Variable Resistance" show, opens this album with a tense collage of post-industrial musique concrete that rummages through terse electrostatic cracklings, mutated calliope melodies, indeterminant creakings, and psychoacoustic drone work that is not unlike the Hafler Trio's best work. Ghostly fluctuations of sound mark Pimmon's contribution as these loops are coupled with miniscule digital vibrations, for one of the most sedate compositions we've heard from Pimmon. Darrin Verhagen (perhaps better known as Shinjuku Filth and Shinjuku Thief) also offers a particularly quiet track of meditative tribal rhythms run through a number of quietly glitchy DSP filters. David Brown (who may in fact be Australia's unsung answer to Keith Rowe) scratches a choral number out of vibrating guitar feedback, dischordant orchestral samples, and nervous electro-acoustic tonal fluctuations. Nice stuff.
Who knew Nevada City, CA was such a hot bed for hip now sounds? Well, since that town is home to the cool recording studio Brighton Sound and new record label Grass Roots Record Co., artists have flocked to NC to put their music to tape.
This compilation offers a broad array of those who have been through their doors in the short time they've been open for business. Sessions took place over the course of just two weeks, during which seventeen diverse artists laid their goods down live direct to tape. The who's who: Hella, Biff Rose, Moore Brothers, Alela Diane, Mariee Sioux, Made In, Alina Estelle Hardin, Kings & Queens, Golden Shoulders, Lee Bob Watson, Casual Fog, Jessica Henry, Benjamin Oak Goodman, Them Hills, Reckon Family, The Snegg Band, RF and Neal Morgan. A wonderfully down-home, close-knit yet welcoming community feel.
Soundtrack to the just released Gravity video. Gravity is the super influential, post punk San Diego record label that released records by Heroin, Clickitat Ikatowi, Mohinder and more almost single handedly creating a sound that is now simply known as that 'Gravity' sound. This soundtrack features AQ favorites Crom Tech, as well as Men's Recovery Project, Monorchid, Autumn Fog and the Makeup.
Live Hawkwind festival jams 1972, alongside Man and
Brinsley Schwarz (and Magic Michael).
Last list we had the Great Googly Moo, a delightful compilation of nonsense novelty tunes from the early rock era, from the mid '50s thru the mid '60s. We mentioned it was the sequel to another comp, this one, Great Googa Mooga, released in 2003. Same idea, songs with wacky verbiage. Like it says on the cover: "These Words Don't Make No Sense!". And what words they are, here's a sampling from some of the song titles, all run together: ookey ook bip bop bip um bow bow bim bam ting ting boom scat voo-it voo-it du-bi-a-do oochie pachie mamo mamo boom pacha boom ooh poo pah doo yacka hoom boom ay la bah mama oom mow mow bama lama bama loo oo-ma-liddi loo-key doo-key!!! Plus of course you get, not only "Great Googa Mooga" (by Tom & Jerrio, 1965), but also "Good Googa Mooga" (by The Magic Tones, 1953). Little Richard appears here, also LaVern Baker, The Rivingtons, Little Anthony & The Imperials, Richard Berry, and plenty others, more obscure, that we hadn't really heard of before (except on the other comp, maybe). The Bobbettes, Billy Byrd & His Penguins, The Chips, Dolly Cooper, King Coleman... There's 27 tracks in total. Some more RnB, some more doo wop, some more surf. Great stuff, just like its sequel, loads of fun. Makes you wonder if these early rock n' rollers were inspired by the church meetings of snake handling holy rollers, the whole speaking-in-tongues thing, 'cause the vocals/lyrics here are positively glossolaliac! There's obviously some connection.
Comes complete with a thick cd booklet of detailed liner notes. Now we want more, hoping a third volume is in the works!
The title says it all. This is a compilation of jumpin' and jivin' treats from the early years of rock n' roll, circa 1955-1965 or thereabouts, and the one thing they all have in common (besides rockin') are NONSENSE LYRICS... thus amongst the 24 tracks here you'll find such wonderful gibberish statements as "Tutti Frutti", "Woojamacooja", "Chop Chop Boom", "Bom Bom Lulu", "Yodee Yakee", "(You Got) The Gamma Goochee", "She Goes Oonka Chicka", "Shtiggy Boom", "From The Top Of Your Guggle (To The Bottom Of Your Zooch)" and more, including of course "Great Googley Moo". Some of this strange lingo represents onomatopoeic sound effects. Others, teen slang that was hip at the time. Or, just plain ol' silliness. And some, no doubt, are euphemistic stand ins for other words, often risque if you read between the lines.
Wow, what a great comp! Fun, fun stuff, this is rock and roll at its purest, it don't have to make sense, it just has to rock, and roll, and make those crazy kids dance!! And, we're pretty sure both Lewis Carroll and Dr. Seuss would approve.
The artists, most of 'em fairly obscure, nowadays anyway, include Little Richard (naturally), Screamin' Jay Hawkins, The Spaniels (with the title track), The Kingsmen, The Tammys, The Premiers, The Astro-Jets, LaVern Baker, Gene & Eunice, Shirley Ellis, The Rivingtons, The Five Blobs, and many others. The thick, colorful, heavily illustrated cd booklet (24 pages) features super detailed notes on each song and artist, along with vintage photos and record label graphics. Really nicely done. Turns out this is actually a sequel to a previous Ace comp along the same lines, called Great Googa Mooga, so we'll have to get that one in soon too...
Sure, Tzadik titles've been really spotty lately and it's getting to be hard to tell the good from the bad, but surprise: the label has totally hit the mark this time. Not only do Bacharach's standards cry out for reinterpretation, but this cd functions as a hearty sampler of downtown NYC scene as it stands today. Thus, while Bacharach's used to Dionne and the Carpenters paying tribute (and royalties), this is a weird and 90% wonderful collection of mostly twisted (but some lovely straightahead) covers of his songs, from Wayne Horvitz's *sublime* "Close To You" to Marc Ribot's signature guitarwork on "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" to Medeski, Martin and Wood's "Do You Know the Way to San Jose," which sounds like it was recorded underwater. Other contributors include Faith No More's Mike Patton, Shelley Hirsch, Lloyd Cole, Robert Quine, Eyvind Kang, Bill Frisell, Cibo Matto's Yuka Honda with Sean Lennon, Dave Douglas, Zeena Parkins, Erik Friedlander, and Guy Klucsevek.
What more do you need to know!?! It's a compilation called GRIND BASTARDS. Subtitled "For The Grind Freaks". Released on the label run by legendary Japanese grinders Unholy Grave. And check out the band list. Tons of killer groups, and a whole bunch new to us, almost all heavy and brutal and kick ass: Mortalized, Insect Warfare, Butcher ABC, Unholy Grave (of course), Exgreed, Disgust, Top Breeder, Motiveless, Gods Of Grind, Little Bastard, Red, 48, Gate, Spiral and more.
Plenty of downtuned chug, furious blasts, growled cookie monster grunts, wild hysterical shrieks, insane chaotic riffing, most songs clocking in at under two minutes, many of those under one, short sharp jagged blasts of grinding fury, with some songs super well produced and heavy as fuck, others blown out almost Japanoise sounding boombox blur, a handful of crusty D-beat pounding, super varied, but super cohesive, heavy as hell, should totally hit the spot for punk rockers and metalheads alike, as long as you like it ultra heavy, ultra sick and blazing fast. The biggest surprise for us, is probably the 51 second long Mortalized track, "Nailing Descartes To The Wall", which just might be the catchiest minute of grind we've ever heard. Similar to how Jon Chang's new bands incorporate eighties metal and crazy power metal hooks into impossible complex grind, Mortalized sound a little like Iron Maiden on 78, or maybe some super catchy 3 minute pop single spun as fast as it will go, the guitars raging and soaring, the hooks undeniable, even some leads, but that main melody has been stuck in our head nonstop. The only solution seems to be listening to that track over and over again. Which we're still doing. And it does seem to be working. We just. Can't. Ever. Stop.
Packaged in cool fold out punk rock sleeve style with each band getting their own little square for artwork and liner notes.
With a title like Grind Bastards, you can safely assume that this comp is indeed directly targeted at you, the grind bastards. And we know there are some serious grind bastards among the aQ faithful. Anyone who has gone nuts in the past for Agoraphobic Nosebleed, or Pig Destroyer, or Discordance Axis, or Last Days Of Humanity, we could go on and on and on, so yeah, dig a little deeper and discover a whole world of grind going on UNDER the underground. Grind Bastards collects some of the best Japanese grind from mostly bands you've never heard of, but NEED to.
Heavy, buzzing, blasting, frenzied, frenetic, pummeling, crushing, a dizzying swirl of metal riffage, furious blast beats, grunted cookie monster vocals, inhuman blackened shrieks, hooks all over the place, and some of the heaviest catchiest under a minute shit you'll ever hear.
Little Bastards, Magnicide, Mortalized, Butcher ABC, Cortecuellos, Brob, Mangirl, Fortitude, Bleeding Humanity, D.I.E., Kutsujoku, Deadly Spawn, Zagio Evha Dilegj and of course Unholy Grave, whose label Grind Freaks released this (and who also run the amazing all black metal and grind and doom record store Grave in Japan). Dense and dizzyingly complex, next level heaviness for sure, fast and crusty enough for punk rockers, riffy and brutal enough for metalheads, and definitely a rad grind primer for the newbies.
BTW: We also have a few copies of Grind Bastards 2, which besides totally ruling as well, just so happens to feature one of our favorite grind jams ever, a 51 second grindpop gem by Mortalized (who have 2 songs here) covering pop punkers Propaghandi.
Okay grind bastards, time for round 4, another awesome collection of some of the best grind that Japan, and the rest of the world, has to offer. But like on past installments, this is not the grind you know and love, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Last Days Of Humanity, Discordance Axis, Hayaino Daisuki, Brutal Truth, Pig Destroyer, Nasum, that's all mainstream by comparison, this is the grind underground, some names you might know, you might even have records by Unholy Grave, whose label Grind Freaks is responsible for this mayhem, or Total Fucking Destruction, and then there's a bunch of bands you probably only know from past installments of Grind Bastards like Mortalized, Fortitude, Little Bastards, and in addition this time around a there's whole new crop of bands we'd never heard 'til now: Vulgaroyal Bloodhill, Zomba Green, Disgunder, Diborce, Ada Max, Black Ganion, and more more more.
This isn't really for dabblers though, this is sort of the grind version of grim, kvlt, true, the sounds here insane and ultra aggressive, over the top, a relentless assault on the senses, a crushing barrage of grinding buzzsaw riffage, blasting hyperspeed drumming, crazed vocals that yelp, howl, grunt, screech, the songs ultra proggy, a million parts and tempos crammed into the space of a minute or two, the sounds vary from blasts of blacknoise, to groovy almost classic metal, to white hot blasts of old school grind, to twisted effects drenched grinding avant metal freakouts, to galloping fastcore, to helping almost Melt-Banana sounding hypergrind, to epic war grind, to some almost poppy grind, some seriously gurgling goregrind, a few tracks get into 3 and 4 even 5 minutes, while others blow by in seconds, furious and frenzied and frantic and fantastically fucked up, this is some of the raddest, heaviest, most brutal and inventive grind you'll hear, anyone into fast and heavy, blasting brutality, this will kick your ass big time, and like past volumes, this would be a pretty epic grind primer, and like those volumes, this couldn't be more recommended.
Killer packaging too, a massive fold out punk rock poster, with each band getting their own little panel of liner notes...
Once again, this one is for all the Grind Bastards out there, the fifth in this long running series of Japanese comps, collecting the best of (mostly) Japanese grind, released on the Grind Freaks label, run by legendary Japanese grinders Unholy Grave, who are present here, along with some other longtime faves: Mortalized, Agothocles and some others. But the best part of these comps is discovering all the weird ultra underground grind outfits you'd most likely not hear anywhere else: Red Ran Amber, Ada Max, Extreme Noise Destroyer, Hell And Hell, Easies, Fortitude, Midnight Resurrector, Naqro, Parasite and more!
Obviously, this comp is called Grind Bastards, on a label called Grind Freaks, so odds are if you made it this far you know what you're getting into, fast and furious, blasting, churning, chugging, GRINDing heaviness, frenzied beats, insane riffing, howled and screeched vox, total metallic chaos, blurry punk mayhem, short sharp blasts of super complex, downtuned intricate metallic grind. We're digging Red Ran Amber, who if all was fair would be getting the same love as say Wormrot, Pig Destroyer or any of the other grind outfits on Relapse, Mortalized offer up another minute long epic, further convincing us that they might have the potential to be our favorite grinders if they only had more material out and it was a lot easier to track down, Extreme Noise Destroyer offer up some sort of distortion drenched bit of acoustic guitar weirdness before launching into some serious downtuned devastation, the Easies spit out blasts of super blown out and in-the-red chaos, Brob offer up some seriously old school powerviolence fastcore grind, their sound thick and caustic, Parasite are almost straight up classic eighties metal, complete with super melodic harmonized guitar leads, while Naqro might be a new favorite, their super raw lo-fi sound impossibly dense and heavy, their sound swinging wildly from frantic grind to swinging almost groovy metallic churn, and Midnight Resurrector kick out the straight up hip hop, not sure if they're normally a grind band or they just have some grind cred (they do infuse their sound with some fat fuzzy bass, and some Hawd Gangstah style bellowed rapping). Already can't wait for volume six! Comes in a cool fold out punk rock poster style sleeve.
