[ aquarius records — Rock Pop ]

MPEG stream: My Dad's A Fucking Alcoholic
MPEG stream: Nazis In My Neighborhood
MPEG stream: Twist & Burn
MPEG stream: Forced Away
MPEG stream: Cops Are Punks

We knew we could count on Numero Group for an especially cool Record Store Day release. This year, it's another volume in Numero's Local Customs series. They delved into the vaults of Cleveland, Ohio pressing plant Boddie, a place where local acts took their tunes for private pressings from the late '60s through the mid '80s, and turned up some amazing gems indeed. And the even better news is, that while it's a limited release, we still have a few! The rare tracks here, by such unknown artists as Jus' Us, Los Nombres, Slippery When Wet (not a Bon Jovi cover band!), Bill Spoon, The Defaulters, The Harmonics, The Donations, Love For Dollars And Cents, Hot Chocolate, The Basement, Wicked Lester (not, we're pretty sure, the KISS-related Wicked Lester), and more, tend mostly towards steamy soul, raw funk and smooth disco, yet there's lots of surprises. Wicked Lester's fuzzed out, uptempo garage grunt is one of those highlights for us, along with Russell Potter's solo steel string guitar stylings, in a Fahey/Takoma mode. The indie pop plod of Donald Eckert's druggily dismal "Play It Slow" would be another one. Oh, and the dour electronic new wave beats of Berlin West. But never fear, there's plenty of sunshiney soul to pep things up throughout. In fact, even a song called "Soul and Sunshine" by the wonderfully named Harvey & The Phenomenals. Rather extravagantly, Numero released this on not only cd and lp, but also cassette tape! Each differently, and appropriately titled (Burned, Pressed, and Dubbed, respectively). You get 17 tracks on the cd and cassette, 18 on the double vinyl, which also comes with a 18"x24" poster. We have only a tiny handful of the cassettes left, and not really that many more of the other two formats, either... "All formats have the same liner notes and discography (font sizes vary)." Those liner notes are quite interesting, all about Boddie though, not the artists. And the discography (everything Boddie ever pressed/burned/dubbed, pretty much) is very, very long.

MPEG stream: Loving You
MPEG stream: Woman You're Gonna Pay For This
MPEG stream: Funky Music
MPEG stream: Play It Slow

We knew we could count on Numero Group for an especially cool Record Store Day release. This year, it's another volume in Numero's Local Customs series. They delved into the vaults of Cleveland, Ohio pressing plant Boddie, a place where local acts took their tunes for private pressings from the late '60s through the mid '80s, and turned up some amazing gems indeed. And the even better news is, that while it's a limited release, we still have a few! The rare tracks here, by such unknown artists as Jus' Us, Los Nombres, Slippery When Wet (not a Bon Jovi cover band!), Bill Spoon, The Defaulters, The Harmonics, The Donations, Love For Dollars And Cents, Hot Chocolate, The Basement, Wicked Lester (not, we're pretty sure, the KISS-related Wicked Lester), and more, tend mostly towards steamy soul, raw funk and smooth disco, yet there's lots of surprises. Wicked Lester's fuzzed out, uptempo garage grunt is one of those highlights for us, along with Russell Potter's solo steel string guitar stylings, in a Fahey/Takoma mode. The indie pop plod of Donald Eckert's druggily dismal "Play It Slow" would be another one. Oh, and the dour electronic new wave beats of Berlin West. But never fear, there's plenty of sunshiney soul to pep things up throughout. In fact, even a song called "Soul and Sunshine" by the wonderfully named Harvey & The Phenomenals. Rather extravagantly, Numero released this on not only cd and lp, but also cassette tape! Each differently, and appropriately titled (Burned, Pressed, and Dubbed, respectively). You get 17 tracks on the cd and cassette, 18 on the double vinyl, which also comes with a 18"x24" poster. We have only a tiny handful of the cassettes left, and not really that many more of the other two formats, either... "All formats have the same liner notes and discography (font sizes vary)." Those liner notes are quite interesting, all about Boddie though, not the artists. And the discography (everything Boddie ever pressed/burned/dubbed, pretty much) is very, very long.

MPEG stream: Loving You
MPEG stream: Woman You're Gonna Pay For This
MPEG stream: Funky Music
MPEG stream: Play It Slow

For the second edition of their Local Customs series, The Numero Group dig deep into the heart of Beaumont, Texas and uncover a regional archive of dusty, sunscorched sounds from Lowland Studios. Operating from the late sixties to the early seventies and barely surviving even in the best of times, the studio recorded a wide range of local flavor from a tight knit scene of bands for small independent labels. The 22 tracks here fall into primarily three groups: Heavy southern-fried boogie rock, Crosby Stills and Nash-ish folk, and nascent Yacht Rock, even though we're sure no one here had a yacht to rock out on. While some tracks on here aren't necessarily our cup of tea, it's hard not to get caught up in the music when the Numero Group has done such an amazing job of documenting the history of this scene, with thorough liner notes, a family tree of players and bands and lots of cool photos. A really fancy package. We like the boogie stuff best, especially the bands Boot Hill and D.O.A. (and they look awesome too!). But then there's the final song by Donald Thomas called "Black Night Is Calling Me Home" with its too-high-in-the-mix vocalised guitar riff, a real hoot! Some of us here gonna get this just for that. We're sure anyone into classic rock from 1970-77 featuring dudes with long hair and mustaches singing about their ladies (think Molly Hatchet, Little Feat, Audience, CSN, BTO, Ten Wheel Drive, etc.) will probably find lots to like here. Though all we could think about while listening to this is: MORE COWBELL!!!!!

MPEG stream: Trash One
MPEG stream: Lady Tell Me Why
MPEG stream: Where's Love Gone Today
MPEG stream: No Control
MPEG stream: Black Night Is Calling Me Home

We knew we could count on Numero Group for an especially cool Record Store Day release. This year, it's another volume in Numero's Local Customs series. They delved into the vaults of Cleveland, Ohio pressing plant Boddie, a place where local acts took their tunes for private pressings from the late '60s through the mid '80s, and turned up some amazing gems indeed. And the even better news is, that while it's a limited release, we still have a few! The rare tracks here, by such unknown artists as Jus' Us, Los Nombres, Slippery When Wet (not a Bon Jovi cover band!), Bill Spoon, The Defaulters, The Harmonics, The Donations, Love For Dollars And Cents, Hot Chocolate, The Basement, Wicked Lester (not, we're pretty sure, the KISS-related Wicked Lester), and more, tend mostly towards steamy soul, raw funk and smooth disco, yet there's lots of surprises. Wicked Lester's fuzzed out, uptempo garage grunt is one of those highlights for us, along with Russell Potter's solo steel string guitar stylings, in a Fahey/Takoma mode. The indie pop plod of Donald Eckert's druggily dismal "Play It Slow" would be another one. Oh, and the dour electronic new wave beats of Berlin West. But never fear, there's plenty of sunshiney soul to pep things up throughout. In fact, even a song called "Soul and Sunshine" by the wonderfully named Harvey & The Phenomenals. Rather extravagantly, Numero released this on not only cd and lp, but also cassette tape! Each differently, and appropriately titled (Burned, Pressed, and Dubbed, respectively). You get 17 tracks on the cd and cassette, 18 on the double vinyl, which also comes with a 18"x24" poster. We have only a tiny handful of the cassettes left, and not really that many more of the other two formats, either... "All formats have the same liner notes and discography (font sizes vary)." Those liner notes are quite interesting, all about Boddie though, not the artists. And the discography (everything Boddie ever pressed/burned/dubbed, pretty much) is very, very long.

MPEG stream: Loving You
MPEG stream: Woman You're Gonna Pay For This
MPEG stream: Funky Music
MPEG stream: Play It Slow

Inspired by his plentiful good times spent down in Sydney, Australia, DJ Tom Thump has compiled a double cd mix of twenty two tracks. One disc is appropriately titled 'Get Up', and the other 'Get Down'. Included are tracks by Playgroup, Chicken Lips, Frankie Knuckles, Cordovan, Makossa & Megablast, Julius Papp & Charles Spencer, Hideo Kobayashi & Pheeko Dubfunk, Chuck Love, Loopwreckas, Salvo, Shrift, and many more. You don't need to travel abroad to put this mix to good use as your own late night soundtrack to some randy loose'n'lively action.

MPEG stream: Livin' At Night
MPEG stream: What U Need

Ahh, Thrill Jockey. Bringing us well behaved musical goodies for over 13 years, Chicago's indie label celebrates their 100th release with this dvd. Conceptualized by label owner, Bettina Richards, Looking For A Thrill asks one question of 112 musicians. The question? What was your defining musical moment of inspiration? Recollections featured include those from Mike Watt, Thurston Moore, Hamid Drake, Bjork, Yo La Tengo, Tortoise, Trans Am, Jon Spencer, Vic Chestnutt, Fred Anderson, Giant Sand, as well as members of... oh just buy that damn thing and watch for yourself! It's a great collection. Great editing by Ian Williams (Battles / Don Caballero / Storm And Stress). Over five hours of mostly interesting rock reminiscence and recollection. ----* ----* In Stock, Not Yet Reviewed : ----* If you want to order one of these, just cut and paste the info into the comments area on the order form, or just email mailorder@aquariusrecords.org. AESOP ROCK "Fast Cars, Danger, Fire And Knives" (Definitive Jax) cd 17.98 AGF / DELAY "Explode" (AGF) cd 15.98 ALBATROSS NOTE "The Dracula E.P." (Trillium Press) 9" 20.00 ALOG "Miniatures" (Rune Grammofon) cd 16.98 AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD "Worlds Apart" (Interscope) cd 14.98 AYLER, ALBERT "Live On The Riviera" (ESP-Disk) cd 14.98 BIG BUSINESS "Head For The Shallow" (Hydrahead) cd 14.98 BLACK LEOTARD FRONT "Casual Friday" (DFA) 12" 6.98 BY THE END OF TONIGHT "A Tribute To Tigers" (Temporary Res) cd 14.98 CHARLEBOIS, ROBERT "Avec Louise Forestier" (Unidisc Music) cd 13.98 COLD BLACK HEAT "It's Magnificent, But It Isn't War" (Family Vineyard) cd 14.98 CURRAN, ALVIN "Canti Illuminati" (Fringes Archive) cd 21.00 DAVE GLEASON'S WASTED DAYS "Midnight, California" (Dollar Record Records) lp 11.98 DREAM DEATH "Back From The Dead" (Penance Music) cd 14.98 DROP THE LIME "This Means Forever" (Tigerbeat 6) cd 14.98 ELUVIUM "Talk Amongst The Trees" (Temporary Res) cd 14.98 ERICKSON, ROKY "I Have Always Been Here Before" (Shout! Factory) 2cd 29.00 FAITHFULL, MARIANNE "Before The Poison" (Anti) cd 15.98 FAY, BILL GROUP "Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow" (Durtro / Jnana) cd 14.98 FIELD MICE, THE "For Keeps" (LTM) cd 17.98 FIELD MICE, THE "Skywriting" (LTM) 2cd 17.98 FIELD MICE, THE "Snowball" (LTM) cd 17.98 GEIST, MORGAN "Unclassics" (Environ) cd 16.98 HALF-HANDED CLOUD "Thy Is A Word + Feet Need Lamps" (Asthmatic Kitty) cd 14.98 HALL OF FAME "Paradise Now" (The Special Registry) cd 14.98 HARMONIC 33 "Music For Film, Television & Radio Volume One" (Warp) cd 16.98 HARPER, ROY "Bullinamingvase" (Science Friction) cd 17.98 HARPER, ROY "Flat Baroque And Berserk" (Science Friction) cd 17.98 HARPER, ROY "Folkjokeopus" (Science Friction) cd 17.98 HECKER, MAXIMILLIAN "Lady Sleep" (Kitty-Yo) cd 16.98 HITCHCOCK, ROBYN "Spooked" (Yep Roc) cd 16.98 HORTICULTURAL COMPASS "The Apparition Of Bees" (Jewelled Antler) cd-r 9.98 IKEDA, RYOJI "Formula" (Forma) cd + dvd 39.00 IMPALED "Death After Life" (Century Media) cd 12.98 IN SLAUGHTER NATIVES "Resurrection: the Return of a King" (Cold Meat Industry) cd 19.98 JUDAS PRIEST "Angel Of Retribution" (Sony) cd/cd + dvd 17.98/24.00 KOHNCKE, JUSTUS "Doppelleben" (Kontakt) cd 16.98 LADD, MIKE "Negrophilia [The Album]" (Thirsty Ear) cd 16.98 LCD SOUNDSYSTEM "Yr City's A Sucker" (DFA) 12" 6.98 LILES, ANDREW "New York Doll" (Infraction) cd 17.98 LIMITED EXPRESS / EXPERIMENTAL DENTAL SCHOOL "Experimental Express Explorer" (Deleted Art) 7" 8.98 M83 "Don't Save Us From The Flames" (Gooom / Mute) cd ep 8.98 MACLEAN, JUAN "I Robot / Less Than Human" (DFA) 10" 6.98 MAGMA "Concert Bobino 1981" (Seventh / AKT) dvd 26.00 MAKOTO, KAWABATA "Inui.3" (VHF) cd 13.98 MATTHEWS, ERIC "Six Kinds Of Passion Looking For An Exit" (451) cd 14.98 MONTAG "Alone, Not Alone" (Gooom / Carpark) cd 14.98 MU "Out Of Breach (Manchester's Revenge)" (Output) cd 16.98 MY CAT IS AN ALIEN "Through The Reflex Of The Rain" (Free Porcupine) cd 14.98 NAGISA NI TE "Dream Sounds" (Jagjaguar) cd 14.98 NEW IDEA SOCIETY "You Are Awake Or Asleep" (Magic Bullet) cd 14.98 OATHEAN "Fading Away Into The Grave Of Nothingness" (The End) cd 11.98 OKLAND, NILS "Bris" (Rune Grammofon) cd 16.98 OLD GRANDAD "Hocus Corpus" (Double Down) cd 12.98 PATTON, MIKE / X-ECUTIONERS "General Patton Vs. X-ecutioners" (Ipecac) cd 15.98 PEDESTRIAN "Volume One: Unindian Songs" (Anticon) cd 14.98 PHAZM "Hate At First Seed" (Osmose) cd 11.98 PREKOP, SAM "Who's Your New Professor" (Thrill Jockey) cd 14.98 PRIMORDIAL "The Gathering Wilderness" (Metal Blade) cd 15.98 SATWA "s/t" (Time-Lag) cd/lp 15.98/ 17.98 SCREAMING TREES "Clairvoyance" (Hall Of Records) cd 14.98 SHAPE OF DESPAIR "Illusion's Play" (Spikefarm) cd 16.98 SHINING "In The Kingdom Of Kitsch You Will Be A Monster" (Rune Grammofon) cd 16.98 SMEGMA "Rumblings" (Hanson) cd 14.98 SOLE "Live From Rome" (Anticon) cd/lp 14.98/14.98 SOLEX + M.A.E. "In The Fishtank 13" (Konkurrant) cd 11.98 SONS OF OTIS "X" (Small Stone) cd 14.98 SPACE: 1999 "OST" (Silva) cd 16.98 STARZ "Attention Shoppers!" (Ryko) cd 12.98 STARZ "Coliseum Rock" (Ryko) cd 12.98 STARZ "s/t" (Ryko) cd 12.98 STARZ "Violation" (Ryko) cd 12.98 STEREOLAB "Switched On" (Too Pure) cd 13.98 SUBARACHNOID SPACE "The Red Veil" (Strange Attractors Audio House) cd 13.98 SUN RA "Heliocentric Worlds Vol. 3 - The Lost Tapes" (ESP-Disk) cd 14.98 TARENTEL "Big Black Square" (Temporary Res) cd 9.98 TARENTEL "Paper White" (Temporary Res) cd 9.98 TEXTURES "Polars" (Listenable) cd 14.98 THIEVERY CORPORATION "The Cosmic Game" (ESL Music) cd 16.98 TODD, MIA DOI "Manzanita" (Plug Research) cd 16.98 TREMBLING BLUE STARS "The Seven Autumn Flowers" (Bar None) cd 15.98 UCHIHASHI, KAZUHISA & TATSUYA YOSHIDA "Improvisations" (Magaibutsu) 2cd 18.98 V/A "Camping" (Bpitch Control) cd 15.98 V/A "Grime 2" (Rephlex) cd/2lp 15.98/17.98 V/A "Sleeping In The Market: Ethiopian Music & Sounds From Amhara" (Latitude) cd 14.98 V/A "Spire: Live In Geneva Cathedral - Saint Pierre" (Touch) 2cd 19.98 V/A "Team Kitty-Yo" (Kitty-Yo) cd 16.98 VANDER, CHRISTIAN "Un Homme... Une Batterie" (Seventh Records) dvd 26.00 _______________________________________________________________________ ABOUT MAILORDER

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. I'm all for the concept of compilations when the purpose served is to expose unknown bands, or give folks a cheap way to check out lots of different bands, or to present a really cool concept, or to document something that hasn't already been documented to death. It seems more and more, compilations are a cheap way for a label to make money, and God knows, it's much easier to convince a 'famous' band to contribute one track as opposed to an album! This compilation, is for the most part, made up of bands that are already famous, at least kind of, from a scene/town that is already 'legendary' and that has been fairly well documented. So why make a compilation of tracks most of the bands chose not to release? Who knows? While there are a few gems here (the At Right Angles track is a gorgeous Fahey-esque instrumental), the bulk of this comp is out-takes and alternate versions of previously released songs. Overall I still think it feels a lot like 'I better take advantage of the Louisville hype and time's running out!!'. If you already own the albums many of these songs appear on, don't bother buying this. But if you want an okay introduction to a few great Louisville bands like Crain, Papa M, Evergreen, Tara Jane O'Neil, and Bonnie Prince Billy, then by all means check this out.

RealAudio clip: Kiss the Midwest For Me

One of THREE new lps on Mississippi Records on this list. One brand new release, and two re-presses of records that slipped under the radar first time around. And we are giving mighty thanks to the folks at Mississippi for repressing those (this is one), because they are fantastic!! (Surprised? You shouldn't be, by our count Mississippi is batting 1000!!! not a stinker in the bunch so far). Love Is Love in particular, we've been waiting and waiting for, a killer collection of African music, from Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Kenya, South Africa, Zambia, Nairobi and Tanzania. Super varied, from Ethiopian groove to high life, to African blues, juju to pop, every track a total gem. Fans of the out of print Lipa Kodi comp also on Mississippi NEED this. We were pretty much hooked from the very first track, a smoky sexy slab of groovy Ethiopiques from Alemayno Eshintay, but the rest of the tracks are just as fantastic, jubilant highlife grooves, every track, swinging, jazzy, funky. The B side is a bit more folky and bluesy, lots of acoustic guitars, sweetly sung vocals, much less groove and swing, definitely more African blues and folk, but still just as lovely and magical. Another amazing collection, housed in gorgeous sleeves, an actual photographic print affixed to the cover, and like all things Mississippi, when we run out of these, be prepared for a bit of a wait as the label represses, considering they've got about 5 or 6 musical irons in the fire at any one time...

It's just past the fortieth anniversary of the Summer of Love, and while we San Franciscans have never stopped being reminded of those legendary months of drug abuse, panhandling and squatting, perhaps the rest of the world needs a large dose of that dirty hippy love. And in what better form than this latest installment of the Nuggets box set series? Unlike past volumes, what we have here is a 120 page book full of rare photos detailing the scene and 4 cds compiled under various themes: "Seismic Rumbles", "Suburbia", "Summer Of Love," and "The Man Can't Bust Our Music". Beginning with Dino Valenti's original version of "Let's Get Together" and ending with the Youngblood's more famous version, this Nuggets edition includes many famous and familiar San Francisco bands including Jefferson Airplane, Country Joe & The Fish, The Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Count Five, Blue Cheer, The Great Society, The Charlatans, Sly and The Family Stone, Santana and Big Brother and The Holding Company. Some with more than one track. But the real price of admission is for the obscurities: The Syndicate of Sound, The Harbinger Complex, The Stained Glass, Fifty Foot Hose, Kak, Salvation, The Vejtables, The Wildflower, The Tikis, The Frantics, The Serpent Power, and Frumious Bandersnatch. There are only a few omissions, like Cold Blood, The Fire Escape, Tripsichord, and Parish Hall (though some would argue those aren't really omissions at all) that would make for a more well-rounded collection focusing more on the obscurities (the reason we like Nuggets in the first place) rather than the heavyweights who are quite well represented on plenty of other more mainstream compilations. But if anyone is looking for the definitive San Francisco music experience of the sixties, you probably won't find one more lovingly detailed than this. Trip on and Trip out!

This latest installment in the on-going, ever-awesome Love, Peace & Poetry compilation series of rare psych rock music from around the world features tracks from African bands. While not as far-fetched as the Extreme Music From Africa comp we used to stock some time back, some might still be surprised by this. Of course, previous volumes in the LP&P series have conclusively demonstrated the all-pervading influence of the Western '60s rock revolution on the rest of the world, and we've stocked lots of cd reissues of LPs by acid-rockers from such 'exotic' locales as Turkey, Brazil, and the Phillipines. Not to mention all those Cambodian Rock collections! So of course there's gonna be African bands for Shadoks to compile. And in fact, we think they maybe included more South African (i.e. white) bands here than they really needed to -- not that the chosen tracks aren't worthy, just that they give the impression that Shadoks couldn't find enough stuff from the rest of the continent. Maybe their definition of "psychedelic music" is a little narrower than ours, but we'd have thought some Ethiopian groove stuff, or early Orchestra Baobab, would do nicely here. Too funky maybe? But already this collection boasts a wide range of styles from jazzy to spacey to folkish to heavy, hard rock. There's room here for both fuzz guitar fests (Chrissy Zebby Tembo & Ngozi Family's "Oh Ye Ye") and Beatles-esque balladry (Quentin E. Kolpjaeger's "Weatherman"). 17 tracks total, with several standouts including Nigeria's Blo (now that's some authentic African psych rock there) and South Africa's Freedoms Children (who managed to land three cuts on here) and the proto-metal of fellow countrymen Suck, among others. Perhaps not the strongest of the series (heck, that preceeding Mexican volume was a tough act to follow) but as always, well-stocked with gems -- stuff you're unlikely to hear elsewhere, either!

MPEG stream: Time To Face The Sun
MPEG stream: Love Is The Only Way
MPEG stream: Oh Ye Ye

American version of the above. It's not nearly as immediately catchy as the Latin American comp, but nonetheless is a great way to sample the sounds of Damon, Darius, Hickory Wind, and the New Tweedy Bros.

The Love, Peace & Poetry series compiles the obscurest of the obscure lost psychedelic music of the sixties, records that collectors spend vast sums of money on. Following the American and Latin American volumes, this long-awaited third volume brings together gems from Japan, Korea, India, Cambodia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Turkey, spanning the years 1967 to 1977. Authoritative liner notes from OR Records' Stan Denski round out the package. Get this and soon you too will be a fan of such artists as The Mops, Erkin Koray, Jung Hyun & the Men, Mogollar, and the unknown Cambodian combo that provides this disc's very rockin' track five. Recommended!

Spanning 1969 to 1978, the newest volume of Love, Peace & Poetry brings to light totally rare gems from the Brazilian psychedelic rock movement. While we may all be relatively familiar with the giants of the Tropicalia scene -- Os Mutantes (Windy's favorite band ever), Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, Caetano Veloso, etc -- this comp features far more obscure groups whose albums are sought-after treasures in the underground psych LP collecting community (you know who you are!). But less obsessive folk now too have the opportunity to enjoy these obscurities! Springing from the creatively fertile ground of an at the time politically oppressive society, this is a fantastic collection of songs ranging from sunny Beatles-esque, Byrds-y jangle pop to other harder stuff more explicitly influenced by the Doors, Hendrix, and other fuzzed out acidheads. Highlights include the latter type of thing from Modulo 1000, a track from Brazilian psych crown jewel Lula Cortes e Ze Ramalho, the Zep-worthy hard rock groove (with a touch of proto-new wave in one guitar break) of Terco, and a track by Spectrum (whose utterly brilliant film soundtrack album "Geracao Bendita" album has been reissued in its entirety, due for review soon in an upcoming New Arrivals list, although you can come buy it now if you want!). Some tracks pay allegiance to Tropicalia, others are straight-up freak rock, and all are pretty cool. As with all the Love, Peace and Poetry comps, this is highly recommended not only because it's good listening, but also because it's damn hard to find full lengths from most of these groups, not 'til someone reissues 'em! The liner notes are again by our pal Stan Denski, cover art is again a cheesecake blond go go girl courtesy famed photog Bunny Yeager.

RealAudio clip: Trilha Antiga
RealAudio clip: Miragem
RealAudio clip: Revolucao Organica

Another new entry in Normal's Love, Peace & Poetry series devoted to giving a round-the-world tour of rare album tracks from the psychedelic era. Unlike some of the other volumes in the series (Latin American, Asian, the newly released Japanese volume, and There's a few heavy, rockin' tracks here too, like the Blue Cheer-ish acid rock of The Dark, or Bodkin's Deep Purple-isms, but mostly it's folkier fare (Parameter, Mark Fry, Oliver), spacey, proggy stuff (Forever Amber, Lightyears Away), and some late '60s pop-psych too (Gary Walker & The Rain). Also: Pussy, Dogfeet, Motherlight, Candida Pax, Andwellas Dream, and Red Dirt. Most come armed with a lot of fuzz-distortion. Not our favorite of the LP&P series, but definitely worthwhile for fans of drugged-out hippie rock!

RealAudio clip: There Are No Greater Heroes
RealAudio clip: Maypole
RealAudio clip: Yesterday

For their tenth installment in the Love Peace and Poetry series, Shadoks once again takes us to South America. At first we must admit we were disappointed. This is the fourth volume in the series to cover Latin American psych and so many other regions in the world remain potentially untapped by this series (Italy, Poland, Scandinavia, Indonesia, North Africa, to name but a few). But then we thought better, because we've always known Chile to be an amazing source of some of the best South American psych and sure enough many of the bands on this compilation are amongst our very favorite: Embrujo, Congregacion, Blops, Los Macs, El Congresso, Kissing Spell. Yet there's others here just as good we'd never heard before. In fact this is one of the better volumes in the series, not just because the music is so good, but that much of it was made under hostile political conditions and barely managed to survive, as most records made after 1973 were often contraband, and many master tapes were subsequently destroyed. (Pinochet's CIA-installed military dictatorship ruled until 1990!) It's surprising that given the constantly changing political climate, that bands took so much risk with their music, and album art. Like Aguaturbia, a sort of Latin Brainticket featuring a female vocalist (a rarity on these comps), depicted the singer naked and crucified (a la Salvador Dali) on their second album cover, and even one of the two songs representing them is called "Erotica" feauturing some hot and heavy sounds. Other bands like Congregacion and Sacros take a more mystical and spiritual approach. Some bands are deeply inspired by Hendrix and Deep Purple (Tumulto and Escombros), and others more influenced by the jangle pop of the Byrds and Beatles (Los Macs, Los Beat 4 and Los Vidrios Quebrados). But for all the bands heavily influenced by American and British psych and R&B, it's nice to hear more Andean roots come in to play from bands like Los Jaivas, who mix electric and traditional folk instruments. Another score in this amazing series with hopes for farther flung outings in the future.

MPEG stream: Foto De Primera Comunion
MPEG stream: La Muerte De Mi Hermano
MPEG stream: I Wonder Who
MPEG stream: Asi Seras

Following the excellent Latin American psych and Asian psych collections in the Love, Peace & Poetry series (and the not as hot American one) comes two new comps, one devoted to British bands and this one, dedicated to the wild and crazy sounds of As with the rest of the Love, Peace & Poetry series, it should be noted that all the cheesecake blonde girl photos decorating the cd package were taken by Bunny Yeager, the awesome woman photographer most famous for her work with Betty Page. That doesn't mean that they're terribly appropriate images to this comp, but still, Bunny Yeager, yeah.

RealAudio clip: Freedom Of A Mad Paper Lantern
RealAudio clip: Run and Hide
RealAudio clip: Gloomy Flower

Ignore the cheesy pinup girl cover art and instead give thanks that someone finally compiled someof the best tracks from Latin American psych pop groups of the '60s, most of whose original LPs now change hands for hundreds of dollars, and whose cd reissues even seem overpriced. We're talking bands like Traffic Sound, Laghonia, Kissing Spell, and Kaleidoscope, etc. A great intro to this scene, provided you have a very strong stomach for Beatles ripoffs; it sounds very much Of Its Time.

Any disc that opens with Los Dug Dug's doing their super catchy and fuzzed-out "Lost In My World" is all right by us! The rest of the cd is pretty great too. This new installment in the always-cool Love, Peace & Poetry series of comps -- which bring us an international array of wonderous '60s and '70s psych songs you might never otherwise encounter -- proves that things were shaking south of the border way back when, in the realm of rock n' roll. The strength of the Mexican psych rock scene was hinted at by an earlier volume in this series, Latin American Psychedelic Music, which is where we found out about Dug Dug's in the first place. While the USA had Woodstock (and Altamont), Mexico had 1971's Avandaro Music Festival, and several of the bands featured here performed at that event -- and were then banned from playing regular clubs because of government repression. Bummed out by politics and driven undergound, these bands let loose with tons of fuzz (and some melody). These 17 tracks mostly date from about 1970-72, with a few late '60s entries. You'll experience punky garage numbers, some hippy blues workouts, lots of acid rock dementia, and even some lighter, folk-rock efforts -- all sorts of psychedelic era indulgence indeed. The bands: Dug Dug's, The Kaleidoscope, El Tarro De Mostaza, La Vida, The Flying Karpets, The Spiders, Tocho Pilatos, Three Souls In My Mind, Grupo Ciruela, Los Ovnis, The Survival, Nahuatl, La Fachada De Piedra, La Libre Expreession, Ernan Roch, Renaissnace, and La Revolution De Emiliano Zapata. As with the rest of this series, unrelated-to-the-music beach bunny cover photos by Bunny Yeager, informative-about-the-music liner notes by Stan Denski.

MPEG stream: Lost In My World
MPEG stream: El Ruido Del Silencio

We were so excited when we heard that the newest installment in the always-cool Love Peace And Poetry series was going to focus on Turkish Psychedelic music! For a few years now, we've been loving all the '60s and '70s Turkish psych we could lay our hands on (which unfortunately is not as much as we'd like). We've had reissues of such bands as Mogollar, 3 Hur-el, Erkin Koray, Edip Akbayram, and Bulent. So, when we heard about this comp, we were excited -- but also wary of getting TOO excited, faced with the possibilty that this would simply consist of tracks by artists we already know and love, from records we already own, with nothing new and unknown to sate our appetite for more Middle Eastern psych treats. Well, holy halva! We couldn't have been more blown away when we finally got this in. Of the sixteen tracks, only five were by the above mentioned artists, while the rest were by artists totally unknown to us. And on top of that, EVERY track is amazing! From the Eastern-tinged, faux sitar, raga-like sixties garage rock of Selda, to the sunny proggy keyboard heavy folk of Ozdemir Erdogan, to the crooning soulful psych of Alpay, to the almost disco-y wild guitar groove of Hardal, to the strange Ethiopiques meets ska horns of Erkut Tackin. Wow! A lot of killer cuts on this one. We just can't stop playing it. Definitely lives up to the standards set by the two compilations that pretty much first introduced us to the Turkish psych scene, Hava Narghile on Bacchus Archives and (the now out of print) Turkish Delights on Grey Past. And why do we like Turkish psych so much? Well, Turkey has a long tradition of musical talent to begin with, and being a part of Europe as well as Asia, the whole phenomenon of East-meets-West hybridization (in this case, traditional Anatolian folk and '60s pop beat) makes for some amazing music that couldn't come from anyplace else. Plus, psychedelia as a musical genre has always held a fascination with the East, the exotic... so psych music FROM such lands has a built-in advantage. Just check this out and you'll see.

MPEG stream: Uzun Ince Bir Yoldayim
MPEG stream: Bundan Sonra
MPEG stream: Kirpiklerin Ok Ok Eyle
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RECORD STORE DAY 2015!! Another cool RSD release this year that we haven't had much of a chance to spin, but man it looks cool, the Numero Group's, excuse us, Numbero label's latest vinyl-only compilation, this one devoted to wild teenage garage pysch '60s bands from the Kansas City area. No there's not really a part one, or 53 previous volumes in the series, they're just playing with you, making it look like the kind of classic, bootleggy '60s garage comp that compilers of comps like this love - specifically the Highs In The Mid Sixties series. But the music is real, and good fun, charming covers mostly of hits like "Tobacco Road", "Hey Joe", "I Can Only Give You Everything", "I'm A Man", and other '60s garage staples, in the style of Them and The Yardbirds, that sort of thing. All recorded at Independence, Missouri's low-budget Cavern studio, subject of another recent Numero compilation in their Local Customs series. Bands featured include: American Sound Ltd, Bobby And The Fantastics, Changing Times, Dearly Beloved, Here And After, The Montaris, The Mystics, and The Town Criers. Detailed liner notes are provided on each. This is a Record Store Day release, so we have a limited amount of these left, and when we sell out, we might not be able to get more, yadda yadda yadda.

Maybe this will make up for all the Satanic Norwegian church-burning music we sell! A compilation of, as the subtitle puts it, "A Selection Of Norwegian Christian Jazz, Psych, Funk & Folk 1970-1980". And it's quite fantastic. Quasi-kitschy Xtian funky and folky fun, with an acid-rock edge, really good stuff indeed, and 'cause the lyrics are all in Norwegian, those of us with an aversion to God-talk can comfortably listen to this without feeling like we're being preached to! Well you can tell when they sing "Hallelujah" and "Jesus" but the accent makes it cool. Apparently, there was quite a burgeoning youth-oriented Christian music scene and attendant recording industry in Norway in the '70s, kickstarted in the late '60s by something called the Ten-Sing or Teenage Singing movement, a kind of Norwegian version of Up With People!, further powered by the whole Jesus Freak thing that came along when hippies everywhere started to find God. So, this music, while Christian, isn't exactly square. It's full of fuzz guitars and fuzzy analog synth, gorgeous female vocals and bombastic brass, and is moving not just in spiritual way, but also movin' in more of a GROOVY kind of way. And is very delightfully very seventies sounding, from jazzy disco fusion to rock opera to delicate singer-songwriter stuff. There's 20 tracks in all on this import cd (13 on the vinyl version), sunshiney testifyin' from the following artists: Joyful Singers, Good News, That's Why, Arnold Borud, Keryx, The Crossing, Angelos, Sky Sing, The Heralds, Jan Simonsens, Kari Hansa & Gregers Hes, Grete Salomensen, Soli Deo, Reflex, and Presens. The digipak cd comes with a 36 page booklet, and the lp too has a printed insert, featuring extensive liner notes and vintage photos. Hip '70s Norwegian groovy gospel music, who knew? Hallelujah! Highly recommended.

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For a mere $14.98, what could be better than a cd (in hand-assembled, colorful felt-tip art adorned sleeves) featuring fifteen tracks from such Finnish underground free-freak-folk luminaries as Kiila, Lau Nau, Kemialliset Ystavat, Paivansade, Avarus, Kuupuu, Pekko K”ppi, Islaja, and a host of others whom we've mostly never heard before (Hertta Lussu Assa, Sala-Arhimo,Taikuri Tali, Lauhkeat Lampaat, Keijo & Jussi Karsikas, Tomutonttu, and SewerPyysalos) but prove to be equally as wonderful as the ones already mentioned?? Well, how 'bout such a cd, with all those folks on it, and... a twig? Yep, Maan Matoset is referred to 'round these parts as "the Finnish twig comp" because it comes with an authentic twig, borrowed from some Finnish tree or bush, and built right into the packaging. We're already sold a lot of these in the store -- maybe the twig caught people's attention -- and listing it now we hardly need to give it a recommendation, 'cause we know AQ customers love all things Finnish, and twigs too. But it is indeed recommended, if you like haunting gentle sounds from the forest, including nature noises, female voices, electronics, bells, flutes, and myriad creaking things... The tracks range from abstract dronology to melodic, structured song singing, always hazy and mysterious in that imaginative, experimental, Finnish folk-psych fashion. A must have for fans of this scene and great introduction for those just tuning in! By the way, should we start a section in the store for discs that come with twigs? Ok, so far there's only a few we can think of, mainly out of print cd-rs on the Jewelled Antler label, but then there was Romanian avant-black metal act Negura Bunget's deluxe digibook cd that came with a twig. Of course that's out of print too. So, I guess if you want a twig with a cd you've gotta get this. You won't be disappointed.

MPEG stream: Meri on maailman veri
MPEG stream: Keinu taipuu alla
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We were so blown away by this film. One of those rare rock docs that is totally fascinating and fun to watch whether you like the bands or not. Although if you already love the bands, and the sound of that scene, then even better! Sort of like a filmic version of Mojo magazine (no matter who's on the cover, even if it's someone you don't care about at all, the article about them is always totally captivating)! So Made In Sheffield focuses on a bunch of bands we all dug at one time or another, Human League, Cabaret Voltaire ABC, Heaven 17 as well as loads of band from that scene we had never even heard of: Artery (one of John Peel's favorite according to his interview in the film) the Extras, I'm So Hollow and more. But as with most films like this, it's the clips, live and video, that make this movie so amazing, Human League on the BBC, tons of hand shot video footage of early shows and clubs, some rare early live Kraftwerk footage (inspiration for much of the scene), an interview with a very cranky Chris Watson (one of our favorite field recordists, and former member of Cabaret Voltaire), some killer Top Of The Pops footage, and sure Human League were sleek and good looking and beautiful back in the day, but somehow they still look just as good twenty years later!! Weird. Extra stuff includes live footage of Sheffield lesser known legends Vice Versa, Artery, I'm So Hollow, extra interviews with Phil Oakley of the Human League, Chris Watson, Martyn Ware and Jarvis Cocker of Pulp, the trailer, and loads of photos. Also comes with a big booklet of liner notes and cool rare photos! ----* ----* In Stock, Not Yet Reviewed : ----* If you want to order one of these, just cut and paste the info into the comments area on the order form, or just email mailorder@aquariusrecords.org. A CERTAIN RATIO "Live America 1985" (Melodic) cd 14.98 AC/DC "Family Jewels" (Epic Music Video) dvd 21.00 ACID KING "III" (Small Stone) cd 15.98 AFRIRAMPO "Kore Ga Mayaku Da" (Tzadik) cd 15.98 ALIO DIE & FRANCESCO PALADINO "Angel's Fly Souvenir" (Hic Sunt Leones) cd 14.98 ALLIEN, ELLEN "Thrills" (BPitch Control) cd 15.98 ARCHETTI, LUIGI / BO WIGET "Low Tide Digitals II" (Rune Grammofon) cd 16.98 BAND OF BEES, A "Free The Bees" (Astralwerks) cd 17.98 BLACK SABBATH "Master of Reality" (Get Back) lp 16.98 BLACK SABBATH "Paranoid" (Get Back) lp 16.98 BLACK SABBATH "s/t" (Get Back) lp 16.98 BLACK SABBATH "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" (Get Back) lp 16.98 BLACK SABBATH "Vol 4" (Get Back) lp 16.98 BLUT AUS NORD "Memoria Vetusta I" (Candlelight) cd 13.98 BLUT AUS NORD "Ultima Thulee" (Candlelight) cd 13.98 BRIGMAN, GEORGE AND SPLIT "I Can Hear The Ants Dancin'" (Solid) cd 16.98 BUZZOV-EN "Welcome To Violence" (Alt Tentacles) cd 14.98 CAN "Future Days (Remastered)" (Spoon) cd 16.98 CAN "Landed (Remastered)" (Spoon) cd 16.98 CAN "Soon Over Babaluma" (Spoon) cd 16.98 CAN "Unlimited Edition (Remastered)" (Spoon) cd 16.98 CARTER, TOM & MARCIA BASSETT "Zaika I-IV" (Eclipse) lp 14.98 COUP, THE "The Best Coup DVD Ever!" dvd 14.98 DANGER DIABOLIK (Paramount) dvd 14.98 DEMONS & WIZARDS "Touched By The Crimson King" (SPV) cd 16.98 DRUNK HORSE "In Tongues" (Tee Pee) cd 15.98 ENBILULUGUGAL "Noizemongers For Goatserpent" (Rusty Axe) cd-r 7.98 ENO, BRIAN "Another Day On Earth" (Opal / Hannibal) cd 16.98 EYEHATEGOD "Preaching The "End-Time" Message" (Emetic) cd 14.98 FAY, BILL "s/t" (Eclectic Discs) cd 21.00 FAY, BILL "Time of the Last Persecution" (Eclectic Discs) cd 21.00 FENNESZ / SAKAMOTO "Sala Santa Cecilia" (Touch) cd ep 12.98 FOO FIGHTERS "In Your Honor" (Sony) 2cd 17.98 FORREST, JASON / DONNA SUMMER "Mastadon Razor / 100% Goodiepal" (LJUD) 7" 9.98 GENE LOVES JEZEBEL "Discover" (Beggars Banquet) 2cd 13.98 GENE LOVES JEZEBEL "Immigrant" (Beggars Banquet) 2cd 13.98 GENE LOVES JEZEBEL "Promise" (Beggars Banquet) 2cd 13.98 GORILLA "Gimme Some..." (Beard Of Stars) cd 14.98 GRAHAM, DAVY "Folk, Blues & Beyond" (Fledg'ling) cd 16.98 GRAHAM, DAVY "Hat" (Fledg'ling) cd 16.98 GROWING "Dry Drunk On Woman b/w Residual Effects of Inertia II" (Nail In the Coffin / Mega Blade) 7" 4.98 ICKY BOYFRIENDS "A Love Obscene" (Menlo Park) 2cd 15.98 KIRCHIN, BASIL "Abstractions of the Industrial North" (Trunk) cd 17.98 LAST EXIT "Koln" (Atavistic) cd 14.98 LEE, RITA "Build Up" (Cherry Red) cd 17.98 LIPPOK, ROBERT & BARBARA MORGENSTERN "Tesri" (Monika) cd 15.98 MASADA "Sanhedrin" (Tzadik) 2cd 34.00 MC5 "1965-1968" (Get Back) 2lp 17.98 MC5 "Are You Ready To Testify! The Live Bootleg Anthology" (Sanctuary) 3cd 21.00 MC5 "Rehearsals" (Get Back) 2lp 17.98 MONOLAKE "Polygon Cities" (Monolake) cd 16.98 MONOS "Generators" (Die Stadt) cd 27.00 MONOSOV, ILYA & PRESTON SWIRNOFF "Seven Recorded Works" (Eclipse) lp 13.98 MONOSOV, ILYA & PRESTON SWIRNOFF "The Shining Path" (Eclipse) lp 13.98 MOPING SWANS, THE "Lightninghead To Coffeepot" (Fading Captain) cd 10.98 MY CAT IS AN ALIEN "When The Windmill's Whirl Dies" (Eclipse) 2lp 15.98 NARITA MUNEHIRO "s/t" (PSF) cd 19.98 NDEGEOCELLO, MESHELLE "The Spirit Music Jamia: Dance Of The Infidel" (Shanachie) cd 16.98 NEGURA BUNGET "Inarborat Kosmos" (Code 666) cd 13.98 NETHER DAWN, THE "Whiskey Mute-Down" (Last Visible Dog) cd 11.98 NETO, LULIEN "Le Fumeur de Ciel" (Type) cd 16.98 NORDENSTAM, STINA "The World Is Saved" (V2) cd 14.98 NUDGE "Cached" (Kranky) cd 14.98 OCEAN, THE "Fluxion" (Throne) cd 13.98 ODD NOSDAM "Burner" (Anticon) cd 14.98 OFERMOD "Mysterion Tes Anomias" (Norma Evangelium Diaboli) cd ep 13.98 OL' DIRTY BASTARD "The Definitive Story" (Atlantic) cd 17.98 ONDSKAPT "Dodens Evangelium" (Next Horizon) cd 14.98 PEPPERMINTS "Jesus Chryst" (Paw Tracks) cd 15.98 PERNICE BROTHERS "Discover A Lovelier You" (Ashmont) cd 15.98 POSIES "Every Kind Of Light" (Ryko) cd 15.98 RAMASES "Space Hymns" (Vertigo) cd 19.98 RIBOT, MARC "Spiritual Unity" (Pi Recordings) cd 15.98 RINALDI, RENATO "Hoarse Frenzy" (Last Visible Dog) cd 11.98 SCHMIDT, CHARLIE "Xanthe Terra" (Strange Attractors Audio House) cd 13.98 SEVENTH SONS "Raga (4 A.M. at Frank's)" (ESP-Disk) cd 15.98 SHOCKED, MICHELLE "Threesome (Limited Edition)" 3cd 33.00 SIRONE "Live" (Atavistic) cd 14.98 SO SO MANY WHITE WHITE TIGERS "s/t" (Weird Forest) picture disc 11.98 SPIRES THAT IN THE SUNSET RISE "Four Winds the Walker" (Secret Eye) cd 13.98 SPOOKY, DJ & DAVE LOMBARDO "Drums Of Death" (Thirsty Ear) cd 15.98 STILL "Remains" (Public Guilt) cd 14.98 SUGIMOTO, TAKU "Live In Australia" (Improvised Music of Japan) cd 27.00 TAR PET "The Artist Revealed Is Taralie Dawn" (Eclipse) lp 14.98 TARENTEL "Ghost Weight" (Acuarela) cd 11.98 THING, THE "Live at Bla" (Smalltown Superjazzz) cd 16.98 TLC "Now & Forever: The Hits" (Arista) cd 16.98 TRAFFIC SOUND "Yellow Sea Years" (Vampisoul) cd 21.00 V/A "Down In A Mirror: A Second Tribute To Jandek" (Summersteps) cd 12.98 V/A "Ikon Records Story" (Frantic) 2cd 26.00 V/A "Lean Into It: A Tribute To Die Kreuzen" (Erosion) cd 13.98 V/A "PSF & Alchemy: 20th Anniversary Live" (PSF) cd 19.98 V/A "Vertigo Mixed ...by Andy Votel" (Vertigo / Family Recordings) cd 19.98 WALKABOUTS "Slow Days With Nina" (Shingle Street) cd ep 5.98 WHITE MICE "ASSPhIXXXEATATESHUN" (Load) cd/lp 13.98/13.98 WOLD "L.O.T.M.P." (Profound Lore) cd 10.98 WOODEN WAND AND THE VANISHING VOICE "Xiao" (Troubleman Unlimited) cd 13.98 WRIGHT, FRANK "The Complete ESP-Disk' Recordings" (ESP-Disk) 2cd 24.00 XIU XIU "La Foret" (5RC) cd 14.98 ZION I "True & Livin" (LiveUp) cd 15.98 ZS "Karate Bump" (Planaria) cd 8.98 ZZZZ / UZ JSME DOMA "split" (PolyVinyl) 7" 4.98

To commemorate their 100th release, Bloodshot Records put out this release which is loaded with out of print or hard to find singles. There's plenty of lively covers (of Funkadelic, Loretta Lynn, Poison, and Madonna to name a few) and a handful of previously unreleased treasures too. Tracks include: Waco Brothers "Harder They Come", Kelly Hogan "1,000,001" (previously unreleased), Ryan Adams "Goodbye Honey" (previously unreleased from the "Heartbreaker" sessions), Andre Williams & 2 Star Tabernacle "Lilly White Mama/Jet Black Daddy", Moonshine Willy "Complicated Games, The Meat Purveyors "The Madonna Trilogy", Neko Case & the Sadies "Rated X", Rex Hobart & the Misery Boys "Every Rose Has Its Thorn", The Sadies "Little Sadie", Moonshine Willy "George Set Me Strait", The Volebeats "Maggot Brain, Parts 1 & 2", Kelly Hogan & the Mellocremes "Hanky Panky Woman", Ryan Adams "To Be Young" (previously unreleased acoustic version), Rex Hobart & the Misery Boys "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights", Kelly Hogan & John Wesley Harding "It's Only Make Believe" (previously unreleased), Andre Williams & 2 Star Tabernacle "Ramblin' Man", Moonshine Willy "Alone", and Jonboy Langford "Nashville Radio".

RealAudio clip: Ramblin' Man
RealAudio clip: Little Sadie

First off, while B-Music/Finders Keepers have come up with some good puns before (Welsh Rare Beat ferinstance) we gotta give it up to 'em for the title to this comp. So we were already predisposed to like this, a collection of vintage heavy rock and rockin' bumblegum, all by manly bands from Manchester, England, if you haven't figured that part out yet. Also those are genres we're totally into, and besides when has a B-Music comp not delivered? Never! So this is quite recommended, 18 tracks (17 on the vinyl) by a bunch of obscure '70s Mancunian bands, most of which we'd never heard before. Rare singles and unissued demos full of fuzz guitars and sleazy horns and "hairy funk" and all that. A person or band called Oscar starts things off, setting the mood with a stomping song about wanting a "Good Lovin' Woman", whom they'd also prefer to be good looking as well if possible. That brand of grunt continues throughout the disc, the heavier side of things represented by tracks by, among others, gritty blues bashers Stackwaddy. But it's a variety pack, ferinstance the delightfully named Greasy Bear gets a little bit country, sounding like Southern rockers on "Windy Day", while disco rears its head on the catchy "Come On In" by Sliped Disc, which somehow sorta turns into a ballad. Socrates throw down with some honkin' horns on the funkified "Johnny"; Plasma are fairly funky too, busting out with some seriously groovy instrumental prog. And freaky heavy psych is not neglected - J.C. Heavy deliver some driving, female-fronted (but still tough) proto-doom on the spookadelic, organ-laden "Is This Really Me?", which we remember well from another comp, and aQ faves The Way We Live (aka Tractor) offer up one of their classics, "King Dick II". Good stuff all around, packaged with the usual Finders Keepers informative care and colorful flair. We should list the other artists on here since some of the names are so great: Urbane Gorilla, Savoury Duck, Spider Jive, Sweet Chariot, Samsun, So On And So Forth, Grisby Dike, Young And Renshaw, & Chris Statham.

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'70s glam songster Bolan gets his due as a great composer up there with Serge Gainsbourg and Burt Bacharach in this third installment of Tzadik's tribute series. Worshippers include the Tall Dwarfs, Buckethead, Melvins, Cake Like, Mike Patton, Marc Ribot, Kramer, Sean Lennon & Yuka Honda (Cibo Matto), Trey Spruance (Mr. Bungle), Medeski Martin & Wood, etc.

Holy cow! Matador Records has turned 21!! Hard to believe that it's been over 2 decades, and that what was once a tiny little indie label has turned into one of, if not THEE biggest independent labels in the world. But it's not all that surprising when you look at the records Matador has released, and the bands who call (or called) Matador home, just off the top of our heads: Pavement, Guided By Voices, Interpol, Yo La Tengo, Bardo Pond, Chavez, Belle And Sebastian, Matmos, Arab Strap, Cat Power, New Pornographers, Fucked Up, Sonic Youth, Ted Leo... We could go on, but you get the drift, in fact, if you're reading this, odds are you own a whole bunch of those records, and your house is probably overflowing with Matador jams. So to celebrate the big TWO-ONE, Matador had a huge party in Las Vegas, with tons of awesome bands playing, and released this incredible 6cd box set (or 2lp, not so incredible, more on that at the end of the review, vinyl folks might as well skip the next bit as it only applies to the cd version). Six discs, a massive sprawling greatest hits collection, spanning the label's entire history, chronologically. The first disc is maybe the most exciting, as it features tons of the lesser known Matador outfits: Dust Devils, Toiling Midgets, Bailter Space, Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, Come, Bettie Serveert, Chain Gang, Circle X, H.P. Zinker as well as Unsane, Superchunk, Railroad Jerk (one of Andee's favorite bands EVER), Teenage Fanclub and more. The next few discs feature all of the bands mentioned in the first paragraph, as well as Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Pizzicato Five, 18th Dye, Guitar Wolf, San Francisco Seals, Helium, Boards Of Canada, Spoon, Pole, Mogwai, Cornelius, Dizzee Rascal, Dead Meadow, Mission Of Burma, Early Man, Pretty Girls Make Graves, Shearwater, Jennifer O'Connor, Stephen Malkmus, Lavender Diamond, Kurt Vile, Times New Viking, Jay Reatard, Harlem, Ted Leo, Magic Kids, Perfume Genius, Cold Cave and more more more! As if that weren't enough, there's a sixth disc featuring all unreleased recordings from Matador's 10th anniversary show back in 1999, live tracks from Pavement, Come, Bardo Pond, Cat Power and Mogwai! Those all come in a super swank box, with an 80 page book, packed with liner notes, a history of the label, photos, emails and other goodies, and finally, 36 custom Matador poker chips (in keeping with their Las Vegas celebration, we presume). Phew! Basically the raddest Matador mixtape EVER. Vinyl folks are not so luck, the lp version is a more stripped down greatest hits double lp, featuring a handful of jams from Matador and Matador sublabel True Panther Sounds from Fucked Up, Sonic Youth, Kurt Vile, Yo La Tengo, Kurt Vile, Jay Reatard, Times New Viking, Ted Leo, Cold Cave, Girls, Interpol, Cat Power, Delorean and a few more. Still a pretty excellent mix/collection, but in this case, seems like probably the cd version is the way to go, $43 for 6 discs, poker chips and a swank box is not bad at all...

It's a Matador Records 15th birthday fest, and the party favors are two cds and a dvd containing highlights from 1999 through 2004, the years since their tenth birthday compilation! The dvd features a dozen videos by the likes of Pavement, Mogwai, Wisdom Of Harry, New Pornographers, Mary Timony, Stephen Malkmus, Interpol, Cat Power, Pretty Girls Make Graves, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Matmos and Cornelius. On the audio side of things, one disc compiles eighteen 'greatest hits' by artists such as Guided By Voices, Interpol, the New Pornographers, Yo La Tengo, Matmos, Bardo Pond, Dead Meadow, Belle & Sabastian, Mogwai, Cat Power, Mission Of Burma among others. The second disc is the crowd pleaser tho' with sixteen rare and previously unreleased songs kicking off with the compilation's best track "Graceland" by the New Pornographers -- totally great! it's worth buying this comp for this song alone! -- plus Stephen Malkmus live in Spain, Mission Of Burma live in Boston, Yo La Tengo live acoustic in Australia as well as remixes of Mogwai and Preston School of Industry... oh yeah, and did we mention the New Pornographers' "Graceland"? We did!

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'60s beat music gettin' crazy and psychedelic, but not too flower-powery psych, more hard and frenzied, that's "freakbeat", music that took throbbing distortion and unhinged vocals to outta control heights never before heard on this planet, and rarely since with this much swinging sixties style. The early Who, maybe The Sonics in the USA, that's freakbeat: rockin' stuff to which terms like "deranged" and "psychotic" can be applied with abandon. Supposedly most authentic freakbeat dates from 1966, certainly many of the 21 tracks here do, on this killer comp of bands from the UK and elsewhere doing the freakbeat thing. You've heard of the Troggs, they're on there doing "Lost Girl", maybe also you know Syndicat ("Crawdaddy Simone") and Wimple Witch ("Save My Soul"), if you do you'll be curious to hear the other acts you maybe haven't heard of, and if you DON'T know those songs, you're in for a treat, they're classics indeed. Sinister grooves, sneering vox, this stuff was about as punk as it got back then, catchy and chaotic. The besides the three we mentioned, the lineup here includes Elois, Red Squares, Truth, Lee Kings, Crying Shames, Southern Sound, Missing Links, Mark Four, Wheels, Game, Mascots, Fairies, Motions, Thor's Hammer, Allen Pound's Get Rich, Primitives, and Ricketts. Originally released about 10 years ago, now back in print thanks to Past & Present, who appreciate a good compilation (see their own Maximum Prog highlighted this list for an example).

MPEG stream: Save My Soul
MPEG stream: Lost Girl
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Those industrious diggers over at the Past & Present label bring us another cool comp of vintage jams, subtitled "16 Rare Gems From The Golden Age Of British Progressive Rock", though the title itself pretty much tells you all you need to know: MAXIMUM PROG! Which is a bit of a bold claim, given just how "maximum" much prog can be by definition, the prog genre all about indulgence, excess, and bombast, that is if you take the likes of ELP as a prime example. And we do (bow down to ELP!). So at any rate, even if you believe as we do that too much progginess is never enough, this disc certainly will provide plenty more than the recommended MINIMUM daily dose of the stuff!! There's well over an hour of music here, but squeezing 16 bands on means that the compliers necessarily could NOT pick the most epic-length songs, so there's no 20+ minute side long suites here, in fact, nothing even in the double digits, some songs even as short as (gasp) 3 minutes, like "normal" pop music. But aside from the relatively reined-in track lengths, this stuff is definitely the proggermost of the poppermost! If not the toppermost of the proggermost, in terms of renown - while we consider ourselves pretty "into" prog, the some of these acts being well off our radar, we'd heard of only maybe a third of 'em previously (though perusal of the informative liner notes reveal many connections to other bands and artists we do know). Here's the whole lineup: Aardvark, Abacus, Big Sleep, Brainchild, Czar, Don Shinn, Goliath, Heaven, 9:30 Fly, Quicksand, Quiet World, Rock Workshop, Samurai, Second Hand, Sweet Slag, and Titus Groan. All tracks circa 1969-'73, most from right around '70 and '71. And as you'd expect, the music here is rather more complexified than just plain ol' psych pop or hard rock, variously employing classical-sounding keyboards or fluttering flutes or jazzy horns, but not forgetting the acid rock guitar action either, with instrumental flurries and ambitious arrangements and (yup) plenty of bombast... but also some killer grooves and catchy melodies. A few of our faves have got to be the heavy, distorted keyboard riffage of Aardvark's still rather lovely "Copper Sunset", the urgently freaked out "Wade In The Water" from Rock Workshop (a group featuring cult jazz/rock guitarist Ray Russell, playing a wild solo here) and Sweet Slag's rollicking n' riffy "Specific", amongst non-specific others. There's lots of nifty prog treats here, we're guessing the compliers probably cherrypicked some of the best tracks even from what might prove to be somewhat dodgy full-lengths... Basically an unofficial, overachieving volume 5 in Past & Present's popular Electric Asylum series, as far as we're concerned, so if you liked those check this out too! Booklet includes notes and discographical info about each obscure band, along with vintage photos and clippings.

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Smokin' collection of Spanish groovers and rockers from the '60s and '70s. The opener from Rudy Ventura could get any disco floor shaking, past or present, while the rest of the record goes more in a catchy pop/rock direction with healthy doses of soul, funk and garage, reminding us a lot of that great Sensacional Soul collection we went crazy for a few years back. Barely any of these artists were familiar to us before except for maybe Los Shakers and Los Rollers, which is fine with us, as it's always exciting to get turned on to all sorts of awesome Spanish sounds we weren't hip to. The price tag might be a bit hefty, but luckily the songs on this collection are well worth the price of admission!

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Are you one of the many aQ customers just waiting for the perfect compilation of psych folk goodness from around the world? Well, illustrator Jake Blanchard and the Blackest Rainbow label have answered your call. They've complied 10 tracks from the most prominent psych-folk gurus around including MV & EE, the Skygreen Leopards, and Ben Nash! There's also a few tracks from some not-so-well-know folkies who are fresh to the scene and ready to impress, like Cam Deas (young solo guitarist from Manchester), Winter Drones (a member of Hush Arbor's live band) and Jerusalem and the Starbaskets. Also included are two live tracks from the hallowed Hush Arbors and Beequeen. Housed in super beautiful silk screened covers with illustrations by Jake Blanchard himself, Menagerie was pressed in a limited edition of 500 on cd and should NOT be missed!

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People have been clamoring for this long in the works compilation from UK label Blackest Rainbow, mostly for the two looooooong exclusive tracks from SF space kraut combo Moon Duo and French psychedelic dronefolk duo Natural Snow Buildings, and those tracks do rule, and are well worth the price of admission on their own, but there's way more going on, both sonically and visually. Eight exclusive tracks on the lp, including a handful of bands we had never even heard of, as well as a printed full color zine, featuring original artwork from 8 different artists, presumably with each artist's piece representing one of the tracks. Let's start with the vinyl, and with Moon Duo, who offer up another fantastic, sprawling synth heavy psychedelic space groove blowout, looped, motorik and mesmerizing, the guitar and keyboard locked into pulsing fuzzed out melodies, the guitars buzzy and crunchy, the synths thick and spacey, heavily reverbed vox floating over the top, the whole thing laced with awesome super melodic, warped and woozy psychedelic leads. Murky, dreamy, druggy, a whole lot of Spacemen 3, a whole lot of krautrock, nods to fellow astral travelers like White Hills and the Heads, and like Moon Duo related outfit Wooden Shjips, a little Doors as well, albeit WAY more tripped out and abstract. The other main attraction comes courtesy of Natural Snow Buildings, who offer up a gorgeous soundscape of luminescent layered guitars and sprawling epic slow motion melodies, the vibe dreamily dark and majestic, a little brooding and ominous, a smoldering slow build, that eventually settles and slips back into a more tranquil drift, an almost new agey haze, laced with soaring wordless vocals, steel string guitars and deep lush astral shimmer. Beyond that, there's Akron/Family's warm soft sun dappled psychedelia, crystalline acoustic guitars, clouds of processed melodic drift, sweetly dramatic and lush, WAND's seventies style West Coast country folk pop, acoustic guitars, piano, simple percussion, and heartfelt vocals, Joanne Robertson and Matthew Ashworth's hushed doomfolk dronescape, all blurred buzz and spidery melodies, Married In Berdichev's dreamy washed out psychfolk, gauzy streaks of fractured melody, layered loops and jangly percussion, underpinning more dramatic vocals and finishing with a squall of soft noise, Seadog's poppy folky soft psychedelia, rife with lush strings and muted drones, sounding spacey and almost Pink Floyd-ish, and finally, The See See, who sound like they time traveled from the late sixties / early seventies, their sound total pitch perfect classic California country pop, the Eagles, the Byrds, Fleetwood Mac, gorgeous harmonies, and incredible arrangements. The accompanying booklet/zine, is about DVD sized and includes all sorts of artwork, from a bunch of cool artists, most notably, long time fave Pete Fowler, the art ranges from super abstract and colorful, to stylized rock poster designs, to simple and cartoony, to druggy and seriously tripped out. Pressed on nice heavy vinyl. Both the jacket and booklet printed on heavy stock. LIMITED TO 500 COPIES.

Here's the first two promised discs in the revised, regionally-based Messthetics series. (Which is a MUCH BETTER way to do it than the old, alphabetically-organized Messthetics cd-rs!) Messthetics, if you don't know, is the Hyped To Death label's term for all the arty D.I.Y. kinda punk lo-fi amateur rock/pop goodness n' weirdness spawned in the UK during the late '70s and early '80s. Obscure bands that only made cassettes, or appeared on rare 7" vinyl comps, that sort of thing. A few of the bands developed cult followings or went on to evolve into more well-known, professional acts. But most of 'em were but brief blips, if that, on the cultural radar. However, thanks to the loving efforts that have gone in to compiling these and forthcoming Messthetics volumes, now 25 years later these otherwise lost gems can still be enjoyed. Both #101 and #102 are focussed on the heart of the Empire, bands hailing from the Big Smoke, London. Messthetics #101 (full subtitle: D.I.Y. and (very) indie post-punk from London and the Home Counties '78-81, pt I) includes The Homosexuals, George Harassment, Take It, Scissor Fits, and Milkshake Melon, Exhibit A, Different I's, Acid Drops, Funboy Five, Blue Screaming, Karel Fialka, Tiny Town, Grinder, The Door And The Window, Collective Horizontal, Jimmy Nipper Five, Rejects, Rich & Famous, Existence, Twelve Cubic Feet, and Outrageous Flesh. There's 22 regular audio tracks on the cd, and an additional five bonus mp3 tracks as well! Of course, some of these bands are better n' others... and everybody will have their own favorites. Plenty to chose from for sure. Messthetics #102 is indeed part II, another 23 tracks (no mp3s on this one) from Steve Treatment, London PX, Dry Rib, Vacants, Auntie Pus, Astronauts, Lines, Frank Details, Dad, Lines, Tea Set, Walking Floors, MLR, Restricted Hours, The Syrups, Metrophase, Nigel Simpkins, and Innerpropriates. Yeah, we haven't heard of many of these either (well, maybe we have but only in context of the old Messthetics cd-rs), but that's just the point!! Where the heck else are you gonna hear such weird ditties as "Marmelade Freak" and "Drive Your Car To The Middle Of Your Brain" and "I Don't Wanna Work For British Airways"? Sure, for a more consistent track-to-track collection of pop smarts of similar styles, vintage and geographic origin, we recommend getting that recently reviewed 7" Up comp before these... but for the type of creativity that can only come when artists have ABSOLUTELY no expectations, Messthetics is the place to go. We're eagerly awaiting further volumes!

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Here's the first two promised discs in the revised, regionally-based Messthetics series. (Which is a MUCH BETTER way to do it than the old, alphabetically-organized Messthetics cd-rs!) Messthetics, if you don't know, is the Hyped To Death label's term for all the arty D.I.Y. kinda punk lo-fi amateur rock/pop goodness n' weirdness spawned in the UK during the late '70s and early '80s. Obscure bands that only made cassettes, or appeared on rare 7" vinyl comps, that sort of thing. A few of the bands developed cult followings or went on to evolve into more well-known, professional acts. But most of 'em were but brief blips, if that, on the cultural radar. However, thanks to the loving efforts that have gone in to compiling these and forthcoming Messthetics volumes, now 25 years later these otherwise lost gems can still be enjoyed. Both #101 and #102 are focussed on the heart of the Empire, bands hailing from the Big Smoke, London. Messthetics #101 (full subtitle: D.I.Y. and (very) indie post-punk from London and the Home Counties '78-81, pt I) includes The Homosexuals, George Harassment, Take It, Scissor Fits, and Milkshake Melon, Exhibit A, Different I's, Acid Drops, Funboy Five, Blue Screaming, Karel Fialka, Tiny Town, Grinder, The Door And The Window, Collective Horizontal, Jimmy Nipper Five, Rejects, Rich & Famous, Existence, Twelve Cubic Feet, and Outrageous Flesh. There's 22 regular audio tracks on the cd, and an additional five bonus mp3 tracks as well! Of course, some of these bands are better n' others... and everybody will have their own favorites. Plenty to chose from for sure. Messthetics #102 is indeed part II, another 23 tracks (no mp3s on this one) from Steve Treatment, London PX, Dry Rib, Vacants, Auntie Pus, Astronauts, Lines, Frank Details, Dad, Lines, Tea Set, Walking Floors, MLR, Restricted Hours, The Syrups, Metrophase, Nigel Simpkins, and Innerpropriates. Yeah, we haven't heard of many of these either (well, maybe we have but only in context of the old Messthetics cd-rs), but that's just the point!! Where the heck else are you gonna hear such weird ditties as "Marmelade Freak" and "Drive Your Car To The Middle Of Your Brain" and "I Don't Wanna Work For British Airways"? Sure, for a more consistent track-to-track collection of pop smarts of similar styles, vintage and geographic origin, we recommend getting that recently reviewed 7" Up comp before these... but for the type of creativity that can only come when artists have ABSOLUTELY no expectations, Messthetics is the place to go. We're eagerly awaiting further volumes!

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The Messthetics series marches on! Now we visit the grotty Midlands, where (we're told, we weren't there) the avant/pop/punk DIY scene of the late '70s and early '80s was meager in comparison to the rest of the UK on account of the NWOBHM explosion taking place there then. Yet, the industrious compliers at Hyped To Death have managed to dig up a whole disc's worth (and then some, as there are bonus mp3 tracks here as well) of interestin' rare tracks from kids making non-metallic (but still loud and often obnoxious) noise. The best-known of the slew of bands found here would be the Swell Maps, and also there's a band, the Versatile Newts, who was later on to become Felt. Also: Human Cabbages, The Shapes, Domestic Bliss, Cult Figures, School Meals, Hardware, Prefects, The Buzz, Famous Explorers, Digital Dinosaurs, 021, Lester and the Brew, Cravats, Cracked Actors, the Accused (not the Martha Splatterhead Accused, obviously), Dangerous Girls, Spizzoil, and Profile. 22 tracks in all plus 4 mp3s. And as always, there's copious liner notes and graphics in the booklet, chock full of information on all these weird bands. Once you get started on the Messthetics series, we're pretty sure you'll want 'em all, and #103 provides no objection to that notion.

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This deep and delightful series of late '70s/early '80s UK post-punk DIY art school pop weirdness continues its ongoing region-by-region march. This volume, Messthetics #104, brings us 23 tracks (29 counting bonus mp3s) of super freakin' obscure tracks from South Wales bands circa 1977-81, with some emphasis on a scene surrounding the Cardiff indie label Z-Block. For what it's worth here's the lineup of bands: Czechs, Current Obsessions, What To Wear, Tax Exiles, Flying Brix, Immortal Invisibles, Spitfire Boys, Decadent Few, The Sane, Discount Chiefs, Table Table (now there's a name), Crash Action Winners (doing a Red Crayola cover), Reptile Ranch, Addiction, Boywonders, Hugh Volk, Ralph & The Ponytails, Janet & Johns, and Puritan Guitars (plus Autonomes, John Marlon, and Filmstars among the bonus mp3 tracks). Sounds range from fuzzed out aggro punkishness to naive, singsongy twee pop klutz stuff, all of it wonderfully eccentric and lo, lo, lo-fi. There's enough goodness here to make it tough to pick faves, though Reptile Ranch's "(Don't Give) The Lifeguard (A Second Chance)" stands out as sounding like the music from the scene in a psychsploitation flick when there's a montage of laughing mouths, hedonistic grape-crushing, and dancing girls. You gotta hand it to Hyped To Death label owner and Messthetics compiler Chuck Warner. This is a true labor of love, and he knows his stuff. No slapdash, ill-informed compilations these! Instead, you get a bunch of brilliant (or at least entertainingly interesting) music you'd probably never ever hear otherwise, packaged with a thick 24 page booklet stuffed with detailed notes on each track, photos, 7" sleeve art, even a comic strip. Super informative, super fun. Warner points out that Wales was never given a lot of attention by the UK music industry, so the whole DIY thing really had an impact there, giving the Messthetics series plenty of treats to dole out this time 'round! (PS also new in stock, to be reviewed next time: Messthetics #105, a Scottish volume.)

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This deep and delightful series of late '70s/early '80s UK post-punk DIY indie pop weirdness continues its ongoing region-by-region march! This volume, Messthetics #105, brings us 24 tracks (33 counting bonus mp3s) of super freakin' obscure tracks from 7" singles and demo cassettes by Scottish bands circa 1977-81, with a focus on the extremely underground, art-school spawned "Sound Of Young Scotland". Best known band here is probably Fire Engines. And let's not forget Scrotum Poles. But for sure there's plenty of gems (as usual with these comps), in fact, track for track this may be one of the best so far. This also includes the likes of 35mm Dreams, The Exile, Fakes, Metropak, Radio Ghosts, Rapid Dance, Restricted Code, Brills, Dirty Reds (pre-Fire Engines), He's Dead Jim, and many more. Lots of lo-fi bands that formed before they either owned instruments or knew how to play them. And they were only tangentially inspired by the '77 punk explosion down London way. The band Vertical Smiles even offer a critique of the commercial aspect of the punk movement on their sarcastic song "New Clash Single". Some of the acts here go for an energetic attack but we're most taken with the more moody, melodic, sometimes monotonic skinny tie new wavey ones... As usual, this labor of love is packed to the max with photos, art, and well-researched, extensive track notes in the super thick cd booklet. This is the comp to pick up before you go getting anything else by, say, Franz Ferdinand.

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These Messthetics comps are so great. Truly a labor of love. So meticulously researched, pretty much ever single collection chock full of bands we've never heard of, with liner notes that read like a book about whatever scene or band is the focus of the comp. So here we go again, number 106 collects a bunch of rarities from The Manchester Musicians Collective. Heard of it? Neither had we. The Fall and Joy Division were the focal points, but this comp proves there were amazing things happening outside of the limelight. According to the liner notes, the four reasons that the MMC scene was different from the various other scenes were as follows: 1. The Buzzcocks, who inspired the scene to make it happen, to get involved, pick up instruments and start bands, set up shows and release records. 2. Live performances. The various meetings of the group helped fledgling bands get their shit together live and on stage, performing in front of their pals and peers, getting tight and honing their sound. 3. The MMC was not just for rocker dudes, there were plenty of gay teenagers and women making just as much noise as the guys in a scene predominantly male. And finally: 4. Incorporating more than just guitars into the sound, keyboards, synths, electronics, effects, all giving the bands a unique sound. There's plenty more about the history and the development of the MMC, but as with anything it's all about the sound, and the songs, and the groups, and starting with the MMC's stars: Joy Division, The Fall and the Buzzcocks, you can get a pretty good idea of where they were coming from. But then there's groups like the Mud Hutters, who combined angular post punk guitars, with yowled throaty vocals and lurching tribal rhythms, with sheets of insectoid buzz. Or Grow-Up, who adding horns to their new wave, and wrapped it all around jangly guitar and funky rhythms, or Liggers, a punk rock band made up of three Catholic school girls who obsessed over Patty Smith but sounded more like Toto Coelo, or Passage, who tangled up simple rhythms with buzzing low end synths and spoken / sung vocals, or Bee Vamp, whose sound was very Devo, jagged jangle guitar, skronky synths, tribal drumming, and killer glammy vocals... and on and on it goes. So many amazing bands, one hit wonders (minus the hit), and groups who barely existed outside of the MMC scene, and who essentially don't exist at all outside of this comp. Hyped To Death should get some sort of grant, preserving musical history, like a punk rock Smithsonian. As will all of the Messthetics collections and pretty much everything on Hyped to Death, totally recommended.

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At this point in this fantastic on-going series, with us having already reviewed Messthetics #101-106 plus both Messethetics Greatest HITS and Messthetics Greatest HISS, we probably don't have to introduce you to the whole Messethetics concept, that being archival anthologies of DIY recordings by obscure post-punk bands from the UK, circa 1977-1983 or so, some noisier, some poppier, some weirder, some cruder... You know what we're talking about - if not, please look up all our reviews of the previous installments in this series, you're in for a treat! So, here's #107, subtitled "D.I.Y. '78-81 London III", meaning it's the third collection of London-based bands in the series, returning to the city previously documented by #101 and #102. Of course, there's a been lot of great bands from there! There's 23 audio tracks on the cd, plus 7 bonus songs in mp3 format included here. Here's the lineup of bands: Stepping Talk, Jelly Babies, Avocados, Occult Chemistry, Patterns, Six Minute War, Demon Preacher, Methodishca Tune, Jangletties, Stolen Power, Flags, Steppes, Disco Zombies, Insex, 49 Americans, The Milkmen, Design For Living, Twilight Zoners, and Club Tango, with a few more only on mp3. Not too many household names there, eh? But you will find, if you peruse the incredibly extensive liner notes in the thick cd booklet (filled also with photos, fliers, and 7" artwork), that folks participating in some these acts also played in the likes of Alien Sex Fiend, Flying Lizards, A Certain Ratio, and others. More of a recommendation, really, is simply that it's another volume of Messthetics - they're ALWAYS awesome, so collect 'em all! As usual with a Messthetics volume, this disc is packed with long-unheard gems that are so charmingly THEN but also so perfectly NOW considering the sort of retro influenced stuff we've been hearing from the current DIY pop scene. Naive shambolic pop rubs shoulders with machine-driven punk angst, dubby rhythms mix it up with melodic jangle and skronky guitars... off kilter lo-fi avant garde action abounds! If we had to pick a fave, we'd say the Disco Zombies for some reason jumped out at us when we gave this the first of several spins thus far. But you'll doubtless latch onto your own faves here if you give it a few listens yourself. Another great addition to the Messthetics library, as always we give big thanks to Hyped To Death for performing this valuable service for all music lovers whose collections aren't quite vast enough to already contain all these obscurities.

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Hey Messthetics fans! Here's the latest volume in this very worthwhile series of comps of way underground UK music from the late '70s/early '80s. This one is specifically devoted to "South Coast 'D.I.Y.' and (very) indie postpunk '77-81" though we find that their geographic organization of these discs means very little to us. Each one is always awesome, full of gems we're glad to get to hear (and probably never would have otherwise). If you're into Messthetics, this one's another quality comp, featuring 24 songs (plus even more mp3-only bonus tracks and one bonus video), from almost as many bands, here's the lineup, for what it's worth ('cause you probably HAVEN'T heard of any of 'em, that's the idea after all): Chimes, Chiefs, Bloated Toads, Again Again, Objeks, Greeting No. 4, Poison Girls, Lillettes, Renaldo & The Loaf (ok, there's one we'd heard of!), Thought Police, April & The Fools, Vitamins, Pink Flamingos, Joe Dash, Relatives, Legendary Tenfoots, Attic, Indifferent Dance Centre, Almost Cruelty, Mike Malignant & The Parasites, Right Profile, 3D, Forward Edge, Intestines, The Passengers, Venus In Furs, and Butcher, who run the gamut from distorted punk stomp to stark drum machine mope. If the usual run of Messthetics bands are obscure, these are even more so 'cause according to the always-expert liner notes the South Coast scene was generally ignored by the London labels & press. And speaking of liner notes, the thick cd booklet is practically a little 'zine all by itself, each band's super detailed write-up often including a mini-interview! And lots of vintage photos and graphics. As always, a true labor of love. For those just tuning in, H2D and their Messthetics series is like the Sublime Frequencies of reissue labels. Rather than backpack the world looking for far out field recordings, H2D delves into the past, excavating long lost cassettes and rare vinyl 7"s from the post punk weirdos found in such out of the way corners of Great Britain, such as what's documented here, bands from Bournemouth, Brighton, Southhampton, Portsmouth. The text on the tray card of this cd says "Between 1977 and '83, hundreds of bands in the UK put out their own records and cassettes..." The Messthetics series, now on its umpteenth installment has not only proved that assertion many times over, but also demonstrated that many of those bands were pretty great besides! Check 'em out.

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What an awesomely punny title, Messthetics Greatest Hiss. Meaning, these are all tracks (circa 1979-'82), representing from the DIY cassette culture only, not taken from vinyl singles and 12" comps, as underground as they may be. Which means the stuff here is maybe even more "outsidery" than the usual run of Messthetics treats, as DIY got -really- DIY when the cassette culture thing took off. So, you can expect lots of fantastic -and- really weird tracks here, possibly more so than usual with a Messthetics comp. And the timing of this release is perfect too, as funnily enough cassettes have been making a bit of comeback. Maybe it's that kids today find 'em to be more of novelty than cds and cd-rs, or it's part of an analog backlash against digital, we've certainly been selling limited run cassette tapes like crazy here at AQ lately. Cassette tape, the new (old) cd-r! Listening to this, you'll definitely have a flashback to your own home taping experiences. The clicks of the cassette deck starting and stopping as edits are made - such as at the start of Funhouse's track "Teenage Bedrooms", which begins with someone yelling "Roight! Enough of this pratting about [click], this song's called 'Teenage Bedrooms'"... and then what follows almost could be the Frogs. The clicks, the whir, the (yes) hiss. Of course, production values vary from half-decent to practically non-existent. But that lo-fi-ness is all part of the charm. As is the creative, anything goes aesthetic of these bands and "bands". Some "well-known" names (relatively speaking) here and some less-so, from this most underground of underground scenes. Some of 'em quite "pop", others more experimental/industrial/electronic, many combining both. Thee artists: The Jelly Babies, Danny & the Dressmakers, Storm Bugs, Colin Potter, Event Group, The Get, Instant Automatons, Missing Persons, Gravity Craze, Farming Jim & his Hepcat Groovstas, 391, The Chromosomes, Mike Jones, The Living Dead no. 5, Digital Dinosaurs, The Twizlers, Aconite, Casual Labourers, Midnight Circus, Milkshake Melon, Funhouse, Cultural Amnesia, Stripey Zebras, Chimp Eats Bananas (pre-Chumbawamba we're told), and Dean Johnson. Everything from crunching electronic distortion to percussive jams (The Event Group) to sub-sub-sub New Wave. Talk about "noise pop", try Cultural Amnesia's track on for size! So much great stuff. As usual, bursting with value. 25 songs on the cd, plus five more mp3 bonus tracks! A thick, info-packed 24 page cd booklet! And of course it's but volume 1. Bring on volumes 2, 3, 4, etc. we say!

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Maybe you remember some years back we used to stock compilation cd-rs in an amazing series called Messthetics, devoted to all kinds of cool tracks by obscure British DIY artpunk outfits from the late '70s/early '80s? Well those cd-rs are long gone now, but at last here's a real cd collecting a bunch of the "greatest hits" from that series! Since almost by definition these bands didn't really have "hits", it's really more the complier's choice. We're sure it was tough to pick and choose from all the good stuff (there were like eight cd-rs in the series) but definitely not hard to make this disc a good 'un, and they've certainly included quite a few of our favorites: Scrotum Poles, Instant Automatons, Steve Treatment, Take It, Thin Yoghurts, Danny & The Dressmakers, and more, 22 tracks in all, from rare singles, cassette comps and other dusty sources. Styles range from distorted new wave dance tracks to twee pop to utter experimental punk n' electronics. Some others on here include such bands as Anorexia, Digital Dinosaurs, Puritan Guitars, Mud Hutters, Reptile Ranch, O Level, and pre-Homosexuals formation the Rejects. Seminal DIY outfit The Desperate Bicycles oddly enough aren't on here, but they are in spirit, as all these productions hold true to or were inspired by their slogan (a lyric from one of their songs), "It was easy, it was cheap: go and do it!" Yeah! The tracks compiled here remain equally fun and inspirational even today, twenty+ years later. As with the original Messthetics cd-rs, this release includes copious small-print liner notes about each band/track, as well as an essay about the whole messy aesthetics of the DIY movement, explaining how it differed from (and was a reaction to) the mainstreaming of the punk rock boom of '77. And there's full-color (but still mostly black and white xerox style) reproductions of flyers and singles cover art included too. There's several full-length discs from Messthetics bands either already out or coming soon from this label, as well as an upcoming series of geographically-based Messthetics comps also on regular cds like this one. So stay tuned...

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