[ aquarius records — Rock Pop ]

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We've raved about these damaged metal weirdos in the past, from their band name (with its constantly shifting spelling), to the always garish and usually puerile cover art, from the amazing song titles (always "Something OF Something Else") to the amazing warped take on classic metal, and that's not even mentioning the twisted lyrics and ridiculous vox. As we mentioned before in a past review, we first discovered these guys on a split with faux handicapped metal outcasts Faxed Head, which makes perfect sense, these guys seem like Faxed Head's more earnest, equally drug addled little brothers, and their half of that 7" consisted of nothing but metal song intros, repeated over and over and over. Twisted but genius. The lps are not so high concept, in fact if anything, they're extremely LOW concept. This lp is not a new one, in fact, it's a reissue of an early record, but even back then, all the Breathilizor parts were in place. Album name: "For The Ultimate Pain Of Medusa's Love a.k.a. Evil Grotokhan VI". Check. Cover art: a drawing by the infamous Mike Diana (of Boiled Angel infamy) of a snake headed, Old Crow drinking, satellite crashing (?), limb severing monster lady. Check. Song titles: "Baby Of Witch", "Graveyard Of Night", "Nuclear Of Power", "Sombrero Of Doom", "Dracula Of Hell", and of course "Something Of Something Pt. IV". Check. The music: total classic metal riffing, with harmonized lead guitars, occasional bursts of blasting thrash, but usually more sort of eighties style riffery, and the vocals, ridiculous and over the top, sorta raspy and metally but also goofy and almost cartoonish, ridiculous over the top lyrics, shit, what's not to love. Total classic weirdo whatthefuck outsider metal radness! Includes a printed insert with all the LYRICS!!!

These guys have to be the dumbest, most brilliantly demented and damaged metal band ever. Which we know, is saying a lot, cuz as a genre, you'd be hard pressed to find a more concentrated selection of dumbness and ridiculousness, but then there is Breathilizor, tangentially linked to Midwestern retardo punks Sockeye, these guys first came to our attention via a split single with the legendary, and legendarily silly Faxed Head, the Breathilizor side was basically an epic metal intro played over and over and over and over. Every time, just when you thought the song was about to kick in, they'd play the intro again. And again. Sounds annoying, and it sort of was, but it was also funny as fuck, and the thing was, the metal was AWESOME. It didn't even occur to us that they might still be a band, but the man behind black metal weirdos Cloak Of Displacement decided to put us in touch with them and are we ever glad they did. Apparently, they've released an lp, and a clutch of cd-r's, but this here, is their latest, the ridiculously titled Metal Dump Of Outer Space's Confusion AKA Hamburglar's Toast. And it rules. And it's totally dumb. Let us count the ways we love Breathilizor. One: They change the spelling of their name seemingly arbitrarily from Breathilizor to Breathilizer and back again, whenever. Two: Every song is called "Something OF Something Else". Every song. On every record. This time around it's "Creatures Of Prehistoric", "Pirate Ship Of U.F.O.", "Monster Of Loch Ness", Count Chocula Of Blood", "Demon Of Ice", "Ghost Of Cowboy", "Gnome Of Entrapment" and "SLC Of Death Metal". Three: The music rules. They lay down some killer classic sounding metal, chugging hooky riffs, wild leads, pounding drums, somewhere between slowed down death metal and classic New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. Four: That classic timeless metal is balanced by totally goofy insane and ridiculous vocals, a whiney nasally Venom-y voice that more speaks than sings, cramming way too many words into each line, and spitting out some of the most ridiculous shit ever. Tales of monsters and demons and space and aliens and basically anything they think of. We could go on, but by now, you know if you need this or not. The dumb factor is through the roof, but goddamn it's funny, and the songs rule, and there are lyrics too so you can follow along, which only makes it that much funnier and stupidly brilliant.

Easily the world's most twisted outsider metal mashup. Damaged and demented aQ faves, Midwest metal militia Breathilizor (to read more about our undying love of Breathilizor, check out the review of their Metal Dump 7" elsewhere on the aQ website), teamed up here with the brilliantly monikered Doktor Bitch, who we know absolutely nothing about, but who somehow sound like Breathilizor's sick sonic soulmates. Before we get to the music, we sometimes like to take in all the visuals, all the non musical elements that help set the scene, and in this case, what a scene. Let's take the Breathilizor side first. The cover art is incredible, super glossy and full color, some sort of zombie holiday elf, horned and fanged, eating the brain and chewing on the spind of a soon to be deceased metalhead, all beneath the album title: Imperative Of The Electron Snake AKA Baffled By The Blood Moat, and their awesome, super slick new logo. Inside, there are band photos, assembled in the shape of an upside down cross, some of the band wearing corpsepaint, some regular dudes, and much mayhem and destruction evident. There's also the legend: "Breathilizor is a nun's laughter. A nun's laughter is Breathilizor." Hmmm. And then there are the song titles, as we mentioned in the review of their 7", the songs follow a strict title code of "SOMETHING ---OF--- SOMETHING ELSE", so this time around, it's "Troll Of Spinal Chord's Destruction" (guess that's a troll on the cover), "Mountain Of Manson", "Stevie Nicks Of Goat Head Metal", "Virus Of Hollywood Sequel", "Infirmities Of Metal", "Albatross Of Gossamer", "Softball League Of Satan" and "Something Of Something Part VII". And we won't even get into the lyrics, needless to say, they are insane and brilliant. On to the Doktor Bitch side, another glossy full color cover, this one featuring a brain fondling radioactive zombie, some Japanese characters in a square puddle of blood, and the band name in big 3D blood red letters. Inside over a photo of seamonsters beating each other with sticks, the band members are listed: Alozzamas, Necroponde and Pat Minotaur, as are the song titles: "Lavender Trainwreck", "Axial Rake/Radius Gash", "Have 'N A Relapse", "Vaguilla", "How Is That For Evil? (For Poopy)", "Super Fast Night Dump" and finally "You Chop My Head Off". There are liner notes to, most tellingly, thank you's sent out to "butt, eggs, ciggies and inmates". So after all that, what the hell does it sound like? And why do both sides/halves seem like they could be the same band? Well, that's cuz some of the Breathilizors are also in Doktor Bitch! So for those not familiar with Breathilizor, imagine some sort of classic chugging metal, a dizzying mix of Venom and Slayer, all tangled up with elements of doom and sludge, but focused mostly on riff heavy super rocking, and blasting thrashing heaviness, then of course there are the lyrics, delivered in a strange nasally drawl, a sort of underground outsider metal version of Jello Biafra maybe, jamming tons of words into small spaces, spinning far out yarns, and tales of the impossible, and the unknowable and the downright evil! Doktor Bitch, somehow take the Breathilizor sound, and fuck it even further up, wrapping it in sonic murk, and transforming it it into a grinding punky metallic noise rock, plenty of chugging riffage, but those riffs often collapse into tangled gnarled squalls of churning blackened metalnoize, before eventually returning to the riff. The vocals are grunted and gurgly, the sound chaotic and loose and frenzied, laced with the occasional bit of lead guitar, but mostly heavy on the downtuned low end, a muddy, blackened sludge drenched riff rock to counter Breathilizor's by-comparison classic (albeit fucked up and fractured) metal sound. Needless to say, if you like your heaviness damaged and demented and baffling and confusional and whatthefuck, then you just may have found you weirdo metal dream team match up.

It's hard to believe it's been six years since Title TK, the Deal sisters last "comeback" effort that polarized longtime fans into either defenders or dissenters. The unpolished production and sometimes awkwardly strung out delivery of that record left many people cold at the time. Yet as time moved on, more and more folks have warmed up to its rough sheen (or at least they are now admitting it!). There's always an air of dubious speculation and scrutiny around a Breeders release that you don't find with, say a new Black Francis album. Perhaps it's due to their scant discography (only 4 records in 18 years, 5 if you include the one-off Breeders-in-drag side project, The Amps), rotating line-ups, problematic drug habits, or the hopeful but unlikely chance that they'll outshine their 13-year-old breakout hit, "Cannonball". (They don't btw, but really they've long moved on, can't we?) So here we are with a brand new Breeders album, the best work they've done in ages, but one with scars still on full display. Using the same line-up as Title TK, the arrangements are still raw but with a richer envelope of production around the edges (especially with the vocals) that harkens back to their classic sound. There are plenty of driving rock numbers, "Overglazed, "Bang On" ,"Walk It Off", tempered with softer, majestic tracks, such as "Night of Joy", and "We're Gonna Rise". At the same time, they attempt to break new ground with various song forms, not all of which are equally successful. The Eastern trance atmosphere of "Istanbul" is stunning, but the Kelly-sung Spanish ballad, "Regalam Esta Noche" delves a bit too far into Linda Ronstadt territory for us. Overall, it's a great record but one with flaws. The first half of the record is nearly perfect, but stumbles through the second half where the flow is weakened by too many meandering changes from slow numbers to faster ones. The biggest weakness being the last song, which also happens to be the title track, trailing off into a long whimper without a definable ending, when they had much stronger songs to end with. But it's really not that the songs themselves are bad, they aren't. It's just that the order of the songs adversely reveal their faults instead of highlighting their strengths. We recommend listening to this on shuffle for best overall effect. Still, a new Breeders record is always welcome, and we'll listen to it to death because they'll always have those songs that make us achingly happy, even if we can't help picking them apart. Because when it comes down to it, we'd rather listen to the worst Breeders record than the best Black Francis record any day (although his new record might have us rethinking that)!

MPEG stream: Bang On
MPEG stream: Night Of Joy
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Here it is... the return of Kim Deal and sister Kelley after such a long silence, and they're joined by a whole new gang of fellows for this Breeders incarnation. It's not a bad record (think how easily it could've been!) but it's not very exciting either. Sounds like they're taking things at their own pace and not trying too hard, despite knowing that both fan and critic expectations are probably pretty high after all this time. The songs are stark and nicely stripped down, almost like demos (me, I tend to like demos better than finished stuff in general anyway, see PJ Harvey's 4-track material). Their former trademark bright, jangling hooks and harmonies are scarce. Instead, the songs are darker, and steeped with a somber, melancholic edge. Ms Deal's deliciously precise way of singing is intact, tho' she sounds slightly bummed out and fed up, but still driven to make music. There's nothing here as good as "Cannonball". Byram equated it to a musical yawn. Windy gives them a little credit for not making anyone remix them. Yet. Knock wood.

RealAudio clip: Off You
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The first two and best Breeder's records finally get their well-deserved vinyl reissue treatment!! A portentous title if there ever was one, 1993's Last Splash was the bands biggest release, but one that crippled their lasting impact. With Kim Deal in full control and the Pixies broken up, she was able to broker this blockbuster release on the strength of a few singles, especially the mega-crossover hit, "Cannonball". That song played everywhere!!! Its hooky riff was even used as a sample in another worldwide smash hit, "Firestarter" by The Prodigy, securing Deal plenty of royalties. With Deal's twin sister, Kelly replacing Tanya Donnelly, the band gained creative intensity with stronger songwriting. But they also gained some heavy baggage, as their sudden superstar status took the band down some dark roads in order to deal with the relentless pressures of fame and touring. It took nearly ten years for the band to release their next record, but they were forever changed. One of the best alternative rock records of the nineties, at least time has been kind to Last Splash, still holding up after all these years. But not without leaving a near-fatal mark that the band is just now finally recovering from.

The first two and best Breeder's records finally get their well-deserved vinyl reissue treatment! Pod was first released in 1990 as a side-project for Kim Deal of the Pixies and Tanya Donnelly from Throwing Muses to finally express some of the creative freedom they were lacking in their main bands. Joined by Josephine Wiggs of Perfect Disaster and produced by Steve Albini, The Breeders turned out an album with far more potential and fun than either of the two records the Pixies (Bossanova) and the Muses (Hunkpapa) put out at the time. Though the line-up was short-lived (Donnelly left shortly after to form her own band, Belly), Pod has become over the years a widely beloved record with more creative urgency and risk-taking than its more commercially successful follow-up. It pretty much jump-started what music would become in the nineties and still hasn't lost any of its timeless power. So awesome!

A couple lists back, we reviewed a Brainbombs related record called Regler, which was a terrifically and geniusly difficult listen (and yeah, we still have a few copies left, just ask), consisting of one side a continuous, blasting D-beat noise jam, the other side near silence, a high concept sprawl of musique concrete, ostensibly made up of all the cutting room floor between song silences, but c'mon, why wouldn't you expect difficult listening from one of the Brainbombs? Somehow we missed out on the debut from this -other- Brainbombs offshoot, which is a much easier sonic pill to swallow for sure, but still plenty weird. In fact, if you can imagine the droned out miserablist garage sludge of that band, recast as something more tripped out and krautrocky, well, then Bremen is right up your alley. Long tracks, consisting of loping basslines, motorik rhythms, woozy, psychedelic organs, all blurred into hazy mesmeric grooves, with some weird fixation on space, so there's definitely something kosmische going on, but it's murky, and muddy, lo-fi, tranced out and darkly druggy, long layered tones draped over skeletal rhythms, and wreathed in thick siren like swirls, and nestled in thick, syrupy low-end. And that's just the first track. The sound slips into something much more ambient and downright dreamy, a swirling hazy of disembodied guitar buzz, and smeared organ chords, slivers of reversed twang, all stretched way out into a dark, mellifluous thrum, haunting and downright lovely, eventually, blossoming into sweetly soaring, harmonic flecked psychedelic shimmer. For the rest of the lp, the sound remains rooted firmly in the abstract, ditching the drums completely, instead unfurling lush waves of psychedelic space drift, droned out kraut-psych, and softly swirling cosmic ambience, only slipping into something rhythmic right near the end, a pulsing tribal rhythm surfacing amidst the pulsing murk. And so it goes, the 3rd side sounds like some strange hybrid of Expo '70 and Earth, lacing shimmering synths, with twang flecked riffage, a sprawling ambience, that sounds like the soundtrack to a moonlit desert beneath a field of stars. And that track is also pocked with coughing, as if this was just a couple guys messing around, which maybe it is, but it's also sort of weirdly transcendent and beautiful, especially considering it's the guy from the Brainbombs!!! The final side is even more blessed out and pretty, a spare, almost Durutti Column-ish guitarscape, that drifts and glimmers and shimmers, all washed out and sound dappled and impossibly lovely. Wow. Unexpected, and unexpectedly fantastic. Not at all necessarily recommended for fans of the Brainbombs, but anyone into spacey, shimmery prettiness, and psychedelic cosmic ambience, this will definitely hit the spot.

Now available on vinyl!!! The hermetic concern with dualities, whether they be natural and spiritual, mysteries veiled and revealed, fertility and drought, or as the the title of this disc alludes to the religiously symbolic wolf and lamb, greatly inform this collaboration between avant-lutist Jozef Van Wissem and twelve-string wunderkind James Blackshaw. Named after a 13th century cult of Northern European heretics, this is the second installment for the duo, who give us four more pieces to mirror the four from the first installment. Where on their debut disc we felt the sonic fullness of Blackshaw's cascading twelve string repetitions and on one track Van Wissem's progressive use of distorted electronics, on this new album, the sound is more ascetically restrained, favoring Van Wissem's use of reconfigured medieval and classical renaissance compositions into spiraling but lyrically melodic motifs in which Blackshaw adds interlocking labyrinthian figures in DADEAD tuning. This is sacred music for mad monks!

MPEG stream: The Wolf Also Shall Dwell with The Lamb
MPEG stream: Into The Dust of The Earth

Brethren indeed. This is the work of two consummate stringed instrument manipulators working in the improvised avant-folk idiom... Brother #1, from England, AQ fave James Blackshaw (who just blew us away with an amazing solo instore performance two weeks ago!), a dexterous master of the 12 string guitar. Brother #2, from Belgium, Renaissance lute player Jozef Van Wissem (who was also recently scheduled for an AQ instore alongside his pal Tetuzi Akiyama but unfortunately had to cancel due to a bad cold or flu). Van Wissem has received acclaim from us and others for his solo recordings incorporating electronics and field recordings alongside his innovations on classical lute improvisation. Together, it's a perfect pairing, Blackshaw and Van Wissem conjuring a delicately dense intertwining of forward-flowing fingerpicked minimalist melodies... stately spiritual praises that are all instrumental but for a brief Current 93ish spoken coda to track one, "...The Lifting Of The Veil". And track three, "How The Unencumbered Soul Advises That One Not Refuse The Calls Of A Good Spirit", is more of an electrically-charged, expansive soundscape of moody string-strike. Electronics, "tennis edits" (??) and the "feline vocals" of one Bun Bun are also woven into the mix with Blackshaw's 12 string and Van Wissem's baroque lute. To sum up: alchemical loveliness, utterly mesmeric! Really our only complaint about this is also a compliment: at just under a half hour total (28:39), we wish it were longer! The trance-like reveries this induces are too soon interrupted unless we set our cd player on repeat... (not an option with the super-limited vinyl version of this of course.) That's right, the lp version is LIMITED TO 330 COPIES. Whereas the cd is limited to a mere 1000. And we only have a few of the vinyl...

MPEG stream: ...The Lifting Of The Veil
MPEG stream: All Things Are From Him, Through Him And In Him

The hermetic concern with dualities, whether they be natural and spiritual, mysteries veiled and revealed, fertility and drought, or as the the title of this disc alludes to the religiously symbolic wolf and lamb, greatly inform this collaboration between avant-lutist Jozef Van Wissem and twelve-string wunderkind James Blackshaw. Named after a 13th century cult of Northern European heretics, this is the second installment for the duo, who give us four more pieces to mirror the four from the first installment. Where on their debut disc we felt the sonic fullness of Blackshaw's cascading twelve string repetitions and on one track Van Wissem's progressive use of distorted electronics, on this new album, the sound is more ascetically restrained, favoring Van Wissem's use of reconfigured medieval and classical renaissance compositions into spiraling but lyrically melodic motifs in which Blackshaw adds interlocking labyrinthian figures in DADEAD tuning. This is sacred music for mad monks!

MPEG stream: The Wolf Also Shall Dwell with The Lamb
MPEG stream: Into The Dust of The Earth

Isn't it nice when friends become friends with other friends? We sorta get that feeling from this release, as local boys Brian Fraser and Chris Palmatier were AQ faves upon the release of their second album Vectors and now this new disc sees them joining the illustrious ranks of the Dielectric Recordings Empire run by *our* friends Drew and Stephanie... Better yet, B and C don't disappoint with 3, it's a fine disc of light and airy (Airy?) indie rock infused electronica (or electronica infused indie rock?), very creative and summery and mellow and pretty, with room for laptops and guitars and panpipes and random voice recordings and much studio-as-instrument-goings-on. We sell a lot of the likes of the Postal Service and The Books and Boards Of Canada and there's no reason this shouldn't go in the shopping basket with the rest of 'em. Nice.

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If Jim O'Rourke wasn't so afflicted with attention deficit disorder, if Boards of Canada weren't so s-l-o-w in making new records, if the Champs weren't on tour all the time -- maybe they all coulda gotten together and made a record as pretty as this one. Brian and Chris are a coolly eclectic local duo whose record is so fresh, gentle, accomplished and unhurried that it's taken us by surprise. When an album is this eclectic we are usually a little suspicious -- but Brian & Chris' "Vectors" album totally works. Bravo. Starting with a shuffling bass groove layered over with atmospherics full of texture and grit, the record would at first seem to be yet more popular electronics in the vein of Mouse on Mars or Boards of Canada. But before you know it the electronics have been replaced by echoing acoustic blues guitar that's foregrounded right in your eardrum, while tinny jungle beats cavort way in the background, used more as texture than as booty movers. It's a nice combination you'd like to hear longer, but before long chiming, fingerpicked guitars accompany a lilting, ethereal female voice, soon to be followed by angular shards of art-post-rock very similar to Gastr del Sol (in a good way, not pretentious at all). And as if that weren't fun enough, by the end of the album the perfectly seamless segueways between the genre-bending tracks have placed you squarely in the middle of a Champs-style rock guitar workout. Wow. Highly recommended!

RealAudio clip: Jakarta International Airport
RealAudio clip: Pristina
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The follow-up to last year's 6-song EP "Zero: Songs From The Album 'Bravery, Repetition And Noise'" (which it should be noted actually only contained 3 of the songs from this full length) and 1998's album-proper '"Strung Out In Heaven" finds Brian

RealAudio clip: Open Heart Surgery
RealAudio clip: If I Love You

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This is the cd reissue of a very hard to find collection of early recordings of this infamous SF band. It was originally released as a limited-to-500 vinyl pressing back in 1993, then on cd in '96. So, who's behind this album's re-surfacing? Why it's none other than the Committee To Keep Music Evil label run by Brian Jonestown Massacre's kingpin Mr. Anton Newcombe. Over the years, BJM have gone through many different incarnations both member-wise (seriously, they defined the phrase "revolving door of musicians") and sound-wise (frequently making complete stylistic 180's from dreamy Brit showgazerness to druggy trippiness to volatile blues rawk), but they've always kept a hand on the psychedelic knob. This is BJM in their softer, hazy, droning rock mode a bit more folky too. Sort of like the Stone Roses tripping out with Guided By Voices. We've had a few customers positively swoon when this has been played in the store. C'mon don't ya wanna space out with Spacegirl too. And hey, BJM sweeten the deal even more with a half dozen bonus songs!

MPEG stream: That Girl Suicide
MPEG stream: Spacegirl

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Since 1991, BJM has offered the public a rock soap opera of sorts. Sideburns, Drugs & Rock 'n Roll, yeah. Providing songs to do drugs to for over a decade now, BJM's label has brought forth a heavy 2 disc retrospective obviously to coincide with the Sundance-acclaimed documentary by Ondi Timoner, "Dig!" Could only a clueless megalomaniac warrant such shameless media attention? You decide. Regardless, Tepid Peppermint Wonderland bequeaths 44 tracks of steady, mid-tempo Notorious Byrd Brothers-meets-Ride/Stone Roses glassy-eyed sonic numbness, including some previously unreleased studio and live songs.

MPEG stream: All Around You (Intro)
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Man, it's been a while since we heard the name Brick Layer Cake. Ten, twelve years maybe? Brick Layer Cake is Todd Trainer, drummer for Shellac, and while he is definitely partially responsible for the huge racket that Shellac kicks up, BLC is a much

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RealAudio clip: Whats Her Face

More No-Wave spasticity and vocal caterwauling from former Scissor Girl A.Z. and her compadres.

Sometimes you just gotta get down and dirty, sleazy and rocking, and we have to say it's been hard to find bands doing that sort of thing right these days. So thank the stars for Bridez, a San Francisco band who make sounds made reckless nights on the dancefloor, beer soaked chaos, reminding us that rock n roll is supposed to be trashy and wild and impassioned! There is definitely a '90s vibe happening on Evilroad that reminds us of all those great records by bands like L7, Babes In Toyland, 7 Year Bitch, Hole, Mudhoney, The Gits, Royal Trux, etc. that we've recently been revisiting, reveling in how damn good they still are. For their debut full length Bridez teamed up with Greg Ashley of Gris Gris fame producing and he definitely brings his keen sense of melody and atmosphere to the Bridez' high energy infectious rock assault. While we're sure lead singer Liza Thorn is sick of the Courtney Love comparisons, there is no denying that her voice and energy conjures images of the Courtney we used to go crazy for circa Pretty On The Inside and Live Through This. But while she commands plenty of attention the rest of the band have some serious chops as well and a truly relentless spirit which helps make Bridez a full on band to take notice of. While much of their reputation surrounds their reckless and chaotic live shows, it's awesome to hear that behind all the commotion and mayhem, this band has some seriously great songs running happening too. So fucking good!

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Bridez front woman, and the cover star of this here 7" single, is none other then Liza Thorn, who was responsible for unleashing a thrilling and damaging whirlwind of fierce energy here in the Bay Area with her previous band So So Many White White Tigers. While Bridez is a much more song based endeavor, there is still that reckless energy and dirty quality to their songs that makes this such a fun, fiery and righteously sleazy debut. We hear healthy doses of Pussy Galore, early Hole and the early recordings of The Runaways. Bringing a much needed element of danger and drunken passion to fucked up rock n' roll. So good!

The many unknown (to us, that is, for the most part) '60s psych rock reissues from labels like Akarma, Gear Fab, Sundazed, and Shadoks tend to be hit or miss affairs, with some truly being unearthed gems (Dreamies, Arzachel, Mad River) but quite a few being duds. Unfortunately, Brigade doesn't qualify as a gem, though it's not entirely the latter either. Garage psych pop (with lotsa pretty pre-prog keyboards) from Portland, Oregon that's nice and inoffensive and has a certain appeal to connoisseurs of the era no doubt, but lacks the x-factor (pop genius, heaviness, weirdness?) that would pique our interest. (More fuzz, please!) Recommended for collectors only. Probably the coolest thing about this band is that they won a KLSN Radio Portland Teen Fair Battle Of The Bands in 1968 and got a 1954 custom purple Cadillac hearse as the prize! Thankfully the current batch of Shadoks reissues includes a much better West Coast rock entry (SoCal's Peacepipe, reviewed elsewhere) and a bonafide gem (British folkies Tony, Caro & John, also reviewed elsewhere), so they're still batting over .500.

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Not sure why I always thought this band was English. Maybe the name? Maybe the labels that have released their records? Maybe the music? It must just be me. On second thought actually, it could be the music. This American duo weave lush, blissed out, dreamy,

RealAudio clip: Heart Of The Park
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AQ-friend B. Goldberg's handy description: "Krautrocky pop with psych overtones... Delay on guitar and vocals... Improvised songs with lots of overdubs..."

Conor Oberst sure keeps his legions and legions of adoring Bright Eyes fans happy... that is, contentedly weepy'n'wallowin' in a steady stream of his unmistakable melancholia. He follows up his two 2005 Bright Eyes albums and a sprawling 2006 rarities collection with something considerably more concise and accessible. Oberst opens Cassadaga with a swirling collage of orchestral strains which borrow a thing (or two or three) from The Beatles' "Revolution 9". Singing in an unexpectedly restrained, low register, Oberst's voice is almost unrecognizable. So much more muted and soft than usual, he could almost be mistaken for Dean Wareham. From there he sweeps into more familiarly Bright Eyes-ian folk pop territory with rollicking fiddle and his voice receding back to the withered weepy range you know and love. With this his sixth album, Oberst fully sheds his well worn indie folk cover boy beginnings as he assumes a more broadly appealing veteran Americana singer/songwriter stature. He does so with absolute ease and composure, and some very welcome support from M. Ward and Gillian Welch. Solidly onwards and upwards!

MPEG stream: Clairaudients (Kill Or Be Killed)
MPEG stream: If The Brakeman Turns My Way

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Aw heck, these two new Bright Eyes albums probably need no introduction... folks have been askin' for them for weeks! However, in case you've been snoozing, there are TWO new Bright Eyes full lengths. And for those of you raising your eyebrows wondering how each stands up, let's just say right up front that there's nary a bit of filler nor padding in sight. Mr. Conor Oberst has become one darn prolific and consistent music man. With two such solid offerings, let's watch the legions of B.E. fans grow and grow and grow! As the title suggests, this Bright Eyes album encorporates instrumentation of the digital kind into his usually earthy acoustic folk pop assembly. And although the programmed drums can be a bit intrusive and jarring at times, they're tempered by the inclusion of a string quartet, as well as some harp and flute. Actually many of these songs sound more like they've been plucked from a recent Flaming Lips album than one you'd expect from Bright Eyes. Much like on his other current album I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning, Conor Oberst's performance comes across as much more aggressive and empassioned than on past recordings... particularly on one of the album's highlights, the seventh song "I Believe In Symmetry". Guests include Nick Zinner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs), Jimmy Tamborello (Postal Service, Dntel), and Clark Baechle (The Faint). NOTE: this has a street date of 1/25/05 so that means we can't sell it 'til Tuesday, but go ahead and order it now if you like.

MPEG stream: Gold Mine Gutted
MPEG stream: I Believe In Symmetry

Fevers and Mirrors begins with a lone guitar and the spoken words of a child, rather reminiscent of 'Dear God' by XTC, but don't let that first taste send you down the wrong path. Certainly this is music of disappointment and dismay, but far from the melodramatic. Mournful, searching melodies fleshed out with the sounds of accordion, piano, mellotron, pedal steel, vibraphone, and the fragile, hoarse voice of Conor Oberst, who sings as if there were a gun held up to his head. This is perfect for slumping on a bar stool when life's dealt you a bad hand... that is, until track 3 when you decide to launch your pint straight at the wall or someone's head. Quite possibly Bright Eyes best work to date complete with beautiful mirror cover art. "Like a dream they came to cure the fever of my brain, and sooth my burning throat." A lovely downer of an album. For fans of the more stripped down side of Built to Spill.

With this generous six-song ep, Conor Oberst dangles a little samplin' of what's to come on his next Bright Eyes album! The title track will reappear on the full length due out in April (with guest stars Gillian Welch and M. Ward among others), but the other five songs are dandy exclusive 'B-sides'! Not ones to scrimp on their label's crown jewel, Saddle Creek has pressed these records on primo 180 gram vinyl!

Aw heck, these two new Bright Eyes albums probably need no introduction... folks have been askin' for them for weeks! However, in case you were snoozing, there are TWO new Bright Eyes full lengths. And for those of you raising your eyebrows wondering how each stands up, let's just say right up front that there's nary a bit of filler nor padding in sight. Mr. Conor Oberst has become one darn prolific and consistent music man. With two such solid offerings, watch the legions of B.E. fans grow and grow and grow. The way this album starts -- with Oberst tellin' a story -- you'd almost think you were listening to an old King Missile album (not a bad thing, by the way!), his hesitant storytelling here resembles that of John S. Hall quite a bit. Anyways, aside from that minor musing, the first thing we noticed when we gave this album a spin was just how robust and feisty Oberst's voice sounds. It's so much more so than we've come to expect, but never fear, his trademark brittle warble (that you may or may not know and love) is very much still present. Plus, he's got quite an assembly of skilled musicians backing him up. Together they weave super lush and often rollicking rootsy folk arrangements that somehow don't overshadow or crowd his voice. A surprising guest appearance on this album is that of Emmylou Harris (other guests include The Faint's Clark Baechle and My Morning Jacket's Jim James). She sings on three songs (with varying degrees of prominence) and we only wish she were on more! Her presence as well as Oberst's own growing performance composure and songwriting refinement push this album beyond the mopey indie borderlines that have bound Bright Eyes' past releases. In closing, we'd venture to say that this is the stronger of the two new albums. Recommended. NOTE: this has a street date of 1/25/05 so that means we can't sell it 'til Tuesday, but go ahead and order it now if you like.

MPEG stream: Train Under Water
MPEG stream: Land Locked Blues

If you're partial to music that stirs from beyond the point of one's deepest melancholia - clawing at the walls in despair, drowning in a sea of tear-soaked handkerchiefs, clinging to the last sliver of hope... get the picture? - Nebraska's Bright Eyes may be for you. Primarily the work of Mr. Conor Oberst, B.E. already has an ever-growing flock of admirers for his previous two full lengths on which his frail warble of a voice threatened to collapse under the weight of his words. Much more fleshed out than on past recordings, B.E.'s lush musical backdrop on many songs seems to bolster Oberst (check out "False Advertising" or the absolutely beautiful "Nothing Gets Crossed Out" with its the sweet female vocal backups - heartbreaking!), and it's this support that seems to propel him forth as he weaves his earnest, raw, folky tales. It also serves to make the impact that much greater when the grand strings and horns are stripped away for the more minimal, acoustic moments ("Don't Know When But A Day Is Gonna Come"), not to mention how it expands the music's overall appeal. Tormented and introspective, the emotions flow from him in torrents almost beyond his control. Similar to, but still much more bare bones than the Microphones and less lyrically surreal than Neutral Milk Hotel, it also brings to mind Tom Waits or the Pogues in the carnivalesque or minstrel tones. I'd have to say my favorite songs here are the aforementioned "Nothing Gets...." and "From A Balance Beam". They're perhaps the most fully realized of the bunch, the latter was also the first song on the cdep that preceded the album. There's a hefty list of participants on this album filling out B.E.'s choirs, horn and string sections, and drum corps including folks from The Faint. Recommended.

RealAudio clip: Nothing Gets Crossed Out
RealAudio clip: False Advertising
RealAudio clip: From A Balance Beam
RealAudio clip: Don't Know When But A Day Is Gonna Come

Are you prepared for the imminent Conor Oberst onslaught? Huh, what are we talkin' about? Y'mean you didn't know that there's two full Bright Eyes albums comin' out in a couple of months? Well, to get your feet wet, here's two new eps that serve as sort of a sneak peek at each new full length. This one is "Lua" and the respective upcoming B.E. album that it's from is the characteristically brittle emo-folk I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning. To sweeten the deal further, there's three non-album songs that'll surely draw a few more tears from your melacholic warbly pop-lovin' eyes.

MPEG stream: Lua
MPEG stream: True Blue

Two more sadsack songs from Omaha, Nebraska's Conor Oberst and co. Songwriting of the bleak and despairing kind. On a swirly storm cloud of grey vinyl.

Yes, half of this album's title is accurate. This is Conor Oberst and company in concert. They sound great. Although these tracks were recorded during the 2005 I'm Wide Awake It's Morning tour in front of massive hordes of rabid B.E. fans, the crowd noise is surprisingly unobtrusive. Fifteen tracks including a couple covers of Feist and Elliott Smith songs ("Mushaboom" and "The Biggest Lie" respectively)! Rest assured, you won't be experiencing an ounce of nausea or dizziness... unless you're just not a Bright Eyes fan!

MPEG stream: We Are Nowhere And It's Now
MPEG stream: The Biggest Lie

You get a little bit of everything on this new Bright Eyes rarities collection -- singles, b-sides, unreleased stuff, a Spoon cover ("Spent On Rainy Days")-- but you especially get Conor Oberst's trademark most heartfelt of heartfelt indie boy poetics sung in those endearingly wimpery, near breathless vocals. Seriously folks, we've said it before but we'll say it again, he sounds like he's either being dangled by a thread over a cliff or he's got someone with a gun to his head or he got caught in a chilly downpour without an umbrella. Definitely an acquired taste! The second song "I Will Be Grateful For This Day" brings blasts of thick distortion that interrupt the delicate electronics laced indie folk pop melody. Other tunes are more straightforward folk singer/songwriter numbers, of which he become increasingly adept at writing. Total heart string tuggin', pit of your stomach sentiments. So Bright Eyes fans, consider this a little something to tide you over 'til Oberst hits the studio for his next album!

MPEG stream: I Will Be Grateful For This Day
MPEG stream: Amy In The White Coat
MPEG stream: Spent On Rainy Days

And yes Bright Eyes fans, we do have this release on double LP too! This vinyl version includes five bonus tracks not on the CD! Here's what we said about the CD version... You get a little bit of everything on this new Bright Eyes rarities collection -- singles, b-sides, unreleased stuff, a Spoon cover ("Spent On Rainy Days")-- but you especially get Conor Oberst's trademark most heartfelt of heartfelt indie boy poetics sung in those endearingly wimpery, near breathless vocals. Seriously folks, we've said it before but we'll say it again, he sounds like he's either being dangled by a thread over a cliff or he's got someone with a gun to his head or he got caught in a chilly downpour without an umbrella. Definitely an acquired taste! The second song "I Will Be Grateful For This Day" brings blasts of thick distortion that interrupt the delicate electronics laced indie folk pop melody. Other tunes are more straightforward folk singer/songwriter numbers, of which he become increasingly adept at writing. Total heart string tuggin', pit of your stomach sentiments. So Bright Eyes fans, consider this a little something to tide you over 'til Oberst hits the studio for his next album!

MPEG stream: I Will Be Grateful For This Day
MPEG stream: Amy In The White Coat
MPEG stream: Spent On Rainy Days

Are you prepared for the imminent Conor Oberst onslaught? Huh, what are we talkin' about? Y'mean you didn't know that there's two full Bright Eyes albums comin' out in a couple of months? Well, to get your feet wet, here's two new eps that serve as sort of a sneak peek at each new full length. This one is "Take It Easy (Love Nothing)" and the respective upcoming B.E. album that it's from is the startlingly non-folk oriented Digital Ash In A Digital Urn (that, if this ep is any indication, will be both somewhat more aligned with the sound of his other harder-hitting band Desparecidos and also a venturing out into as yet unchartered B.E. territory). To sweeten the deal further, there's two non-album tracks that'll surely surprise fans (one is a cover of the Simon Joyner song "Burn Rubber").

MPEG stream: Take It Easy (Love Nothing)
MPEG stream: Burn Rubber

Just under twenty minutes of new music from Omaha, Nebraska's favorite heavyhearted combo Bright Eyes! Don't mean to bum out any of their ultra-mope-core fans, but... Conor Oberst seems - dare we say it? - much more energetic and spirited than usual. Perhaps it was the feisty emo pop influence of his other group Desaparecidos that put the tiger in his tank? We're not sure, but one thing we don't have to worry about is that his songwriting hasn't suffered a bit in this subtle transformation. Raw emotion continues to flow from each of folkish numbers. These new songs just might appeal to fans of the lush, bittersweet pop of The Microphones or The Weakerthans. Features musical input from Simon Joyner, as well as a few of his Saddle Creek labelmates and Nebraska pals Todd and Clark Baechle (of The Faint) among others. Please note that the lead-off track will also be included on the forthcoming full length, but there's three others that won't so if you're a particularly impatient Bright Eyes fan, you won't wanna miss this.

RealAudio clip: From A Balance Beam
RealAudio clip: We Are Free Men

By the time you read this, adoring fans of Mr. Conor 'Bright Eyes' Oberst will undoubtably have already scooped up a copy (or two) of this seven record set. If you count yourself among those legions, but are also a cardcarrying member of the slowpoke club then... guess what?! There's a seven record box set of Bright Eyes! It includes five of his albums (many of which have been out of print for some time) plus other rare goodies. Here's the lowdown: A Collection of Songs Written and Recorded 1995-1997 (pressed on 2 lps, first time on vinyl!), Letting off the Happiness (with its original cover art and a Japanese import bonus song), the Every Day and Every Night ep, the excellent Fevers and Mirrors (remastered on 2 lps and including two Japanese import bonus songs), Don't Be Frightened of Turning the Page (aka the four B.E. songs from Oh Holy Fools - The Music of Son, Ambulance and Bright Eyes plus two bonus songs). If you're not familiar with the woeful, trembling indie folk sounds of B.E. yet, this might not be the place to start (unless you're also a vinyl nut and an extreme completist to boot). Maybe first check out his most recent full length Lifted Or The Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground.

Back in print! We had this very fleetingly a couple of years ago. Since then, the popularity of both fellows' respective musical endeavours has ballooned. For those of you who missed out the first time around, the cd's been reissued. Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst and and Spoon's Britt Daniel got together a whiles back and collaborated on a number of songs. These four songs are the result -- Oberst wrote the first and third and Daniel penned the second and fourth. Sure to please fans of both artists!

MPEG stream: Spent On Rainy Days
MPEG stream: You Get Yours

When we first put this disc on for a spin, many here recognized the indie folk sound of Bright Eyes right away (without seeing the artists' and cd's names), but the vocals seemed unfamiliar. Either Conor Oberst has swiftly become a very mature, composed singer or someone else is handling some of the vocal duties. Well, to reassure those who adore Oberst's woebegone voice, it's the latter. Yup, hot on the heels of the Bright Eyes/Britt Daniel reissued split EP comes another Oberst pairing -- this time with fellow Omaha, Nebraskans Neva Dinova. You can certainly take the title as a tip-off that these two parties got together to drown their sorrows in wine and song. The six songs are warm and casual including bits of chitchat in the opening tune. On the non-Oberst-sung songs, things tend towards a lush, countrified Coldplay sound (check out the third song "Poison"). This may not win Bright Eyes many new admirers, but it surely should pique interest in Neva Dinova.

MPEG stream: Poison
MPEG stream: Black Comedy

This is a split release featuring Omaha-based indie popsters Bright Eyes and related band Son, Ambulance, who each do four songs. Bright Eyes member Joe Knapp is the mastermind behind Son, Ambulance who, despite sounding super lo-fi and sort of patched together, aspire to the lofty heights of sophistico Brit pop, complete with orchestrated bits and surprisingly good arrangements that nonetheless sound like you've already heard them in a Bacharach or Squeeze song or something. Very quiet, introspective, and not super exciting. Bright Eyes are headed by the trembly-voiced mouse Conor Oberst whose hold-nothing-back style lays his emotions bare right out there on the floor for everyone to see -- his only peer in the break your heart with his voice category is Jeff Mangum of Netural Milk Hotel. You'll either love it or hate it. The last song was written for AQ-pal Kathy w/a K!

RealAudio clip: Brown Park
RealAudio clip: Going for the Gold
RealAudio clip: Kathy with a K's song