[ aquarius records — Rock Pop ]

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Showing results 2651 through 2700 of 19388.

The third full length by the Butchies (aka Melissa York and Kaia Wilson former drummer and guitarist of beloved queercore hotties Team Dresch, and bassist Alison Martlew). With each album, they've moved farther and farther from their feisty punk days. That's not to say they don't rock out every once in a awhile. No, it's just generally more tempered down, more composed. And this slower,

Chris Butler, former member of The Waitresses (y'know, "Square Pegs", "I Know What Boys Like", "I Could Rule The World If I Could Only Get The Parts"), has written the world's longest pop song according to the Guinness Book Of World Records... well, it held this honor back in 1996 at least. Don't know if it's been beaten yet!

Reissue of the 'Blind Eye Sees All' video featuring amazing vintage footage of the Buttholes at their stumbling, drunken, high on LSD, crowd baiting best, recorded live in 1985 in detroit. Tons of AMAZING live footage, as well as some ridiculous interviews, pontificating by Gibby, nudity, tons of rare photos, a live bonus track, and BUTTHOLES KARAOKE!! This rules. Buy it.

The debut recording by these legendary Texan drug punks, finally available again on vinyl! Brown Reason To live was the Surfers' first record, a seven song ep, originally released in 1983, and reissued later bundled onto a cd with their live PCPP ep, but as good as that live stuff was/is, these tracks all on their own constitute one of THEE legendary punk rock records EVER. And we say punk rock knowing full well that the Buttholes' version of punk rock had almost nothing in common with what the rest of the world at the time considered punk. These songs are damaged and disturbing, wild and chaotic, extended stumbling lysergic blowouts, as likely to erupt into a strange woozy sea shanty or a bit of twangy gallop as a blown out blast of pounding punk, moreso really. And while the sound here is not as overtly whatthefuck as the records that would come right after, it's weird enough that you could tell something freaky was going on, and you can hear the seeds that would blossom into that the Surfers eventually became. The Buttholes merged the punk sounds that surrounded them, with their own twisted take on DIY music making, not to mention lots and lots and lots and lots of drugs. All of these songs are timeless, total classics, but "The Shah Sleeps In Lee Harvey's Grave" is practically a punk rock anthem, or no less than the genre's swan song. Depending on how you look at it, maybe both. For the band anyway, the track was every bit a standard as "Free Bird" was for Skynyrd. Listening to this again now, it seems insane that a band like this - who at one time seemed destined to a life of cult obscurity - achieved such enormous mainstream success. It's all urine under the bridge now though, we try to ignore the last few releases and focus on the years when the Butthole Surfers were untouchable ('83-'88?), and this is where it all started, a ferocious fucked up chunk of drug addled genius called Brown Reason To Live.

Few bands have managed as perfect an opening career salvo as Texas drug addled psychedelic noise rock weirdos the Butthole Surfers. Sure lots of bands have pulled off a perfect debut. And of those, a handful somehow avoided the sophomore slump, and even then, a few managed to make a third record as good as the first two, but by record four, we're talking a very select few, a handful of pantheon worthy bands, who made four records in a row, each one as good, if not better than the last, one of those rare bands would indeed be the Butthole Surfers. Their first four records are pretty much untouchable, their 1984 debut, Psychic... Powerless... Another Man's Sac, 1986's Rembrandt Pussyhorse, Locust Abortion Technician from 1987, and finally 1988's Hairway To Steven. Each a very different, very dementedly fucked up beast, but each a stunning milestone in knuckle dragging outsider psychedelic drug rock, and all four, recently reissued on vinyl for the first time in ages. All four of these records are essential, and hell, even if you already have all four, these are the kind of records that are worth buying again, and again, and again. And if you've somehow made it this far through life without damaging your brain with these cranium crushing sonic gems, now's the time to do some catching up and start eroding those brain cells (and destroying those ear drums)... Hairway To Steven, was the group's last truly great record, and truly great it is, worth the price of admission alone for the opener "Jimi", which is totally one of the greatest songs of all time, thick, buzzy guitar, killer twisted psychedelic leads, garbled processed vocals, low in the beginning, than pitched way up later on, the sound woozy, and warped, oozing and melty, and tripped out and absolutely confusionally warped and warble, and Paul Leary's guitar playing is like a Texas drug rock burn out Hendrix, knuckle dragging guitar god nirvana, and it just goes on and on, and somehow it just gets weirder and weirder and weirder, and then suddenly, after a blast of lazer beam electronics, the song turns into a detuned blues jam, laced with bird song, and the sounds of goats and other barnyard animal, dogs barking, the song trippy and creepy and a weirdly haunting coda to the dirge rock crush of the first half. There's also the classic "I Saw An X-Ray Of A Girl Passing Gas", which sounds a little like R.E.M. after a bad batch of meth, meaning AMAZING, there's the stream of consciousness WTF weirdness of "John E. Smoke", with some of Gibby's best lyrics by far, not to mention the crowd sounds, and more of Leary's amazing guitar playing, and of course "Backass", another track that displays the band as maybe way more accomplished than they pretend not to be, a moody psychedelic dirge that's hypnotic and hauntingly lovely. And like the other Buttholes records, that's only the tip of the iceberg...

MPEG stream: Jimi
MPEG stream: John E. Smoke

Let's get the negative stuff out of the way first. The Butthole Surfers suck. Not in the 'Primus sucks' self deprecating ironic sort of way, they really do suck. They have for years now. Everything post 'Hairway To Steven' has been total dreck. And those of you unfortunate enough to have heard their most recent record thus bore witness to the saddest beck-meets-eminem-meets-land-of-the-loops-meets-king-missile bid for MTV stardom. And on top of that, they are total assholes, as evidenced by their greed-not-common-sense based lawsuit against Touch and Go records, who were basically responsible for their popularity, and who were already paying them probably the best royalty rate in the industry. But apparently that wasn't enough. So it's with a little bit of trepidation that we recommend you buy anything on the Butthole's label Latino Bugger Veil, but RECOMMEND WE MUST! 'Cause this collection of live tracks and outtakes is vintage Butthole Surfers, at their drug-addled, tribal-drumming, chaos-causing, club-crushing, strobe-lighted, naked-dancing, on-stage puking, audience-pulverising BEST! Lots of rare compilation tracks (from P.E.A.C.E., God's Favorite Dog, Cottage Cheese From The Lips Of Death, A Texas Trip, the Roky Erickson tribute), 4 track and 8 track home recordings, practice tapes, outtakes from the Rembrandt Pussyhorse sessions, alternate versions of album tracks, and more. Weird sickly sweet warbly ballads to full on tribal drug stomps, with war whoops and processed vocals careening all over the place. Supposedly culled from close to 300 tapes. Hope there's more on the way!

RealAudio clip: One Hundred Million People Dead
RealAudio clip: I Love You Peggy
RealAudio clip: SpaceI
RealAudio clip: Perry Intro

Few bands have managed as perfect an opening career salvo as Texas drug addled psychedelic noise rock weirdos the Butthole Surfers. Sure lots of bands have pulled off a perfect debut. And of those, a handful somehow avoided the sophomore slump, and even then, a few managed to make a third record as good as the first two, but by record four, we're talking a very select few, a handful of pantheon worthy bands, who made four records in a row, each one as good, if not better than the last, one of those rare bands would indeed be the Butthole Surfers. Their first four records are pretty much untouchable, their 1984 debut, Psychic... Powerless... Another Man's Sac, 1986's Rembrandt Pussyhorse, Locust Abortion Technician from 1987, and finally 1988's Hairway To Steven. Each a very different, very dementedly fucked up beast, but each a stunning milestone in knuckle dragging outsider psychedelic drug rock, and all four, recently reissued on vinyl for the first time in ages. All four of these records are essential, and hell, even if you already have all four, these are the kind of records that are worth buying again, and again, and again. And if you've somehow made it this far through life without damaging your brain with these cranium crushing sonic gems, now's the time to do some catching up and start eroding those brain cells (and destroying those ear drums)... This might be the most famous/infamous Surfers record there is, and a great place to start for newbies, it's definitely the weirdest, with the least proper 'songs' and the most warped sonic experiments, starting with the oft quoted opening intro, culminating in Gibby howling "SATAN SATAN SATAN�" before the band kick into their own damaged version of Sabbath's "Sweet Leaf", hear rechristened "Sweat Loaf", one of the group's finest moments for sure. Then we oughta skip ahead to "Human Cannonball", which is the Surfers at their poppiest, one of the catchiest jams in their arsenal, and were it by any other band would have been a massive hit, but here, it's just still to twisted and freaky and goddamn great. Then there's the truly terrifying "U.S.S.A", with some of the most intense and freaked out vocals ever, all over a weird bed of pulsing buzz, and balloon animal squeak, there's also "Kuntz", a pretty much straight up sample of some Southeast Asian folk song, with just the chorus manipulated to accentuate the unfortunate refrain, all twisted up and pitch shifted and somehow, it becomes crazy and confusionally catchy, and finally, there's "22 Going On 23", which takes a phone call to some sort of call in radio show, and sets it to some classic Buttholes dirgery, and transforms this poor woman's story into the 'lyrics', for one of the most haunting and harrowing songs in their catalog. And somehow between all these classics, there's still even more killer stuff...

MPEG stream: Sweat Loaf
MPEG stream: U.S.S.A
MPEG stream: Kuntz

Few bands have managed as perfect an opening career salvo as Texas drug addled psychedelic noise rock weirdos the Butthole Surfers. Sure lots of bands have pulled off a perfect debut. And of those, a handful somehow avoided the sophomore slump, and even then, a few managed to make a third record as good as the first two, but by record four, we're talking a very select few, a handful of pantheon worthy bands, who made four records in a row, each one as good, if not better than the last, one of those rare bands would indeed be the Butthole Surfers. Their first four records are pretty much untouchable, their 1984 debut, Psychic... Powerless... Another Man's Sac, 1986's Rembrandt Pussyhorse, Locust Abortion Technician from 1987, and finally 1988's Hairway To Steven. Each a very different, very dementedly fucked up beast, but each a stunning milestone in knuckle dragging outsider psychedelic drug rock, and all four, recently reissued on vinyl for the first time in ages. All four of these records are essential, and hell, even if you already have all four, these are the kind of records that are worth buying again, and again, and again. And if you've somehow made it this far through life without damaging your brain with these cranium crushing sonic gems, now's the time to do some catching up and start eroding those brain cells (and destroying those ear drums)... On one of the most perfect debuts EVER, "Concubine" starts things off with a detuned dirge, dueling tribal drumming, and Gibby's hysterical insane vocals, the sound loose, and unhinged, and weirdly crazy catchy. Which really describes most of Psychic, but other highlights include "Negro Observer", which might just be the catchiest Buttholes song ever, there's even some bleating sax, not to mention that main guitar part that is pretty much perfect. There's the old school punkiness of "Butthole Surfer", the stumbling, lumbering "Woly Boly", with its ridiculously demented vox, but then it gets really good. "Lady Sniff", is a lurching sound effects loaded psychedelic dirge, with Gibby doing his best raspy bluesman vocals, and did we mention those sound effects, pure genius. Then in rolls "Cherub", that's like the Buttholes doing krautrock, tranced out and motorik, and it goes on and on, every track here a WTF classic.

MPEG stream: Negro Observer
MPEG stream: Concubine
MPEG stream: Dum Dum

Few bands have managed as perfect an opening career salvo as Texas drug addled psychedelic noise rock weirdos the Butthole Surfers. Sure lots of bands have pulled off a perfect debut. And of those, a handful somehow avoided the sophomore slump, and even then, a few managed to make a third record as good as the first two, but by record four, we're talking a very select few, a handful of pantheon worthy bands, who made four records in a row, each one as good, if not better than the last, one of those rare bands would indeed be the Butthole Surfers. Their first four records are pretty much untouchable, their 1984 debut, Psychic... Powerless... Another Man's Sac, 1986's Rembrandt Pussyhorse, Locust Abortion Technician from 1987, and finally 1988's Hairway To Steven. Each a very different, very dementedly fucked up beast, but each a stunning milestone in knuckle dragging outsider psychedelic drug rock, and all four, recently reissued on vinyl for the first time in ages. All four of these records are essential, and hell, even if you already have all four, these are the kind of records that are worth buying again, and again, and again. And if you've somehow made it this far through life without damaging your brain with these cranium crushing sonic gems, now's the time to do some catching up and start eroding those brain cells (and destroying those ear drums)... Rembrandt Pussyhorse found the Butthole's sound getting a little more polished, but no less demented, starting with "Creep In The Cellar", a haunting, malevolent tribal dirge, with some great lyrics, a wicked hook, and some wild, psychedelic fiddle playing that makes the song. And of course there's the Surfers version of the Guess Who's "American Woman", which has to be one of thee greatest covers EVER, the woozy guitar, the heavily effected drum pummel, the weirdo vocals, the whole thing is just fucking twisted, and yeah, totally genius, with some wicked blown out psych guitar courtesy of an unsung guitar hero, Paul Leary. It's hard to review any of these records without going through the whole thing song by song, cuz they're all so good. "Whirling Hall Of Knives", creepy and weirdly lovely, "Moving To Florida", perhaps the creepiest, grossest blues jam EVER, "Waiting For Jimmy To Kick", piano driven, sample heavy WTF creep out, "TP Parter", who knows what the fuck is going on, or why it's so good, but it is, as is every single song here.

MPEG stream: Creep In The Cellar
MPEG stream: American Woman

Now available for the first time ever on CD. It's hard to believe after the band has been around for what, over 20 years now, has been played on top forty radio and has seen practically everything they've released, down to the most obscure tracks, get reissued, has only now had their first two -- now practically legendary -- eps released on compact disc. "The Shah Sleeps In Lee Harvey's Grave" is practically a punk rock anthem, or no less than the genre's swan song. Depending on how you look at it, maybe both. For the band anyway, the track was every bit a standard as "Free Bird" was for Skynyrd. I don't know what's weirder, the fact that these haven't been reissued until now, or that the band -- who at one time seemed destined to a life of cult obscurity -- has acheived such enormous mainstream success. It's all urine under the bridge now though, as you can have it all on disc and then some. Along with the original self-titled (a.k.a Brown Reason To Live) ep, and the follow up live PCPPEP from 1984, there are an additional three live ("Gary Floyd", "Matchstick" and an additional version of "Something") and one studio ("Sinister Crayon") bonus tracks that make it hard for those of us who already own the vinyl to resist the temptation.

RealAudio clip: The Shah Sleeps In Lee Harvey's Grave
RealAudio clip: Sinister Crayon

Been meaning to list this for a while... Sadly this is the swan song for this fine Vancouver band who decided to call it quits earlier this year. Yeah, we've always given them a good natured hard time over the years about their band name. Quite simply, we felt it seriously undermined their songcraft which was so much more than the goofy moniker expressed. Turn a blind eye to the name, and you'll find that you can't knock their music. With each album they've gotten increasingly dark, lush, smoldery and composed. The dramatic somberness of the Americana stylings (or should that be Canadiana?) is quite a contrast to their earlier hybrid of new wave synth pop and rootsy folk, but Cartography still finds the band striking chords and balances between seeming opposites. The rustic and the elegant. The intimate and the expansive. The stormy and the utterly serene. The subtly applied electronic instrumentation are much more integrated into their rich earthy tapestry. A vocoded vocal here, a softly blooping synth countermelody there. Fans of the deep velvety voiced solemn twang bands such as Lambchop, Handsome Family, Red House Painters and on the other side of the pond Tindersticks or Pulp even, take note! A beautiful brooding farewell! Recommended!

MPEG stream: Cartography
MPEG stream: Water By The Wayside

Okay, we mentioned this already a couple of AQ lists ago, but we've just gotta ask again... what's the deal with so many Canadian indie bands' names? Are they trying to prevent people from checking them out? Take this band for example, they're called The Buttless Chaps! C'mon, that rivals Corn On Macabre or Cream Abdul Babar on the wince-o-meter. Contrary to what almost everyone who has encountered the band's moniker has thought, they are not a joke band! They are in fact a mighty fine hybrid of country and '80s new wave pop... yes, their instrumentation includes a synth *and* a banjo! I know, I know! Even the description makes them sound like a joke band, but give these fellows a listen and you'll surely see things a little differently. They move effortlessly from barnyard boot stompers and moonlight porchswing ballads to ABC-esque synth melodramas - often fusing them together within a single song with nary a smartaleck wink nor a clumsy stumble. They seem quite sincere in their love of both genres. And we haven't even mentioned yet that lead singer Dave has a strong deep voice very well-suited to both musical styles (at times very Martin Fry or Jarvis Cocker). Truly, if they were only a country band or conversely only a retro synth pop band, they'd be a damn good one, and no eyebrows would be raised (uhh, unless they were still called the Buttless Chaps... wink!).

MPEG stream: Numan
MPEG stream: Babbles

Getting a bit caught up with our friends to the north at Mint Records... We've just gotten in a few new and new-to-us titles on this fine Vancouver indie label (this one as well as some by Neko Case's early band Maow, The Awkward Stage, The Pack A.D. and Immaculate Machine)! This somber earthy beauty is from a couple of years back, but still sounds fresh as a daisy today! Actually we also just got in the 'Chaps most recent, terrific (but alas final) album in stock too (it hasn't been reviewed yet, so if you'd like to order it, just ask!). But with regards to this album in front of us... What do you do when a band's name sends unforgivable groaning shudders down your spine... but their albums send warm good tunes to your ears? When a band's this good, you just have to grin and bear it, we s'pose! As we recall, The 'Chaps who made 2003's Love This Time were an unconventional fusion of the new waver and the lonesome cowboy. This time around it sounds like the ol' country boys have taken control of the reins. Still, these Vancouver gents keep us on our toes with occasional injections of cascading empassioned piano, flighty bright horns, and wordy mouthful lyrics like "migratory birds". Definitely for fans of deep voiced shadowy twang artists such as Lambchop, M. Ward, and Tindersticks!

MPEG stream: Blanket Of Pain
MPEG stream: Migratory Birds

Jean-Christophe Van Thienen formed the French new wave project Buzz in 1983, after several formative years spent in the UK soaking up the divergent post-punk scene which spawned the artful pop of Adam & The Ants, the majestic gloom of Anne Clark and The Cure, and the DIY energy of countless bedroom / shed / garage acts tinkering with drum machines, electronics, and tape. Upon returning to Lille, France, he found a local radio station who would let him use the studio during off hours; and as such he recruited a couple of friends and neighbors to come into that studio to flesh out the sketches he had made on a couple of synths and drum machine. See You Sioux was the result of those sessions, self-released in 1985 as a cassette with hand-assembled artwork and press-type lettering in an edition of 250 copies. Van Thienen takes up the elliptical, somber atmospheres of the Belgian post-punk outfit Trisome 21 as well as the eccentric theatrics of Fad Gadget. The songs work through urgent synth melodies, jittery sparkplug guitar scratches, and propulsive rhythms from a nice combination of live drums and drum machines, with Van Thienen conjuring more of a French rock persona, perhaps striving towards the stylings of a Jacques Dutronc. Another great find from Dark Entries.

MPEG stream: Orange Mechanique
MPEG stream: Berlin
MPEG stream: L'Agent Secret

Yes, your eyes and ears aren't deceiving you... this is a brand new Buzzcocks album! Back in 2003 we were caught plenty off-guard when these grandfathers of punk pop reassembled and released a new self-titled album, and now they've gone and given us another surprise wallop in Flat-Pack Philosophy. And again, the band picks right up where they left off. One thing tho' we sure wish the vocals were up front in the mix like the Buzzcocks' recordings of yesteryear, but no, instead they're somewhat buried. Likewise, we were wishing that the guitars were crisper and crunchier, but no, they're more the 'modern' thick wall o' distortion kind that they used on their last album. Sigh, can't have everything can we? We're yearning for the Buzzcocks of old, but the Buzzcocks of new haven't veered too far off their original course. One of the album's highlights is certainly the tenth song ("Dreamin'") with its catchy neat picked guitar counter-melody, but the song that hits closest to home is the second to last song ("I've Had Enough"). The vocals are prominent and guitars crackle with that familiar Shelley/Diggle electricity. Yeah, that's the ticket!

MPEG stream: Dreamin'
MPEG stream: I've Had Enough

A total, absolute, complete, utter classic from this seminal punk pop band! So many hooks! So much energy! So influential! So damn good!

Who doesn't love this band? Who can resist those rapid-fire hooks or that relentless energy? Unlike many other veteran bands who've either continued sloggin' on long past their prime, or conversely broke up early only to reform in recent years, the Buzzcocks haven't stuck with the safe, the tried and true, nor have they become a tired, lackluster version of their former selves. They came together in 1975, kicked pop punk ass (and to this day have had an immeasurable influence on countless bands), split in 1981, reformed in 1989, and here they are fourteen (!) years later with a new super-charged album on Merge Records. As a band, they've not withered nor have they rested on their punk rock laurels. On the up side, the songs are still filled with lots of crunch, but they're also much beefier - often more reminiscent of the Husker Du/Bob Mould fuzzy wall of roaring guitars. On the down side, unfortunately the vocals are buried a bit deeper in the mix which somewhat obscures their wry lyrical wit. Actually come to think of it, this also adds to the Husker Du-iness. However, one thing's for certain, the tip of Pete Shelley and Steve Diggle's songwriting pen sure hasn't dulled over the years. Trademark Buzzcocks' hooks galore. Given that though, we would like to draw your attention to one song here that rang rather familiar not as a Buzzcocks tune but instead as one by the Gin Blossoms - weird! The Diggle penned "Sick City Sometimes" = "Hey Jealousy". Really! Give it a listen. This is definitely much less raw and immediate sounding that the Buzzcocks of old, but this is not at all troublesome nor disappointing, as they've successfully moved onto a much more refined and fleshed out presence. If you want the rambunctious, rough'n'tumble lower-fi pop-punk energy of yesteryear, don't waste another moment, revisit their classic Singles Going Steady. If you want to hear a band who've aged very very well, check out this self-titled album. MPEG Download: "Jerk" [/audio/buzzcocksjerk.mp3] MPEG Stream: "Jerk" [/audio/buzzcocksjerk.m3u]

MPEG stream: Jerk
MPEG stream: Sick City Sometimes

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

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When we first heard about this, we had to check the calendar to make sure the release date wasn't April 1st. But no, this is real, the latest collaborative project undertaken by everyone's favorite Japanese psychedelic heavy rockers, Boris, wherein they team up with, yes, Ian Astbury of The Cult!! Seems like something out of an episode of Ripley's Believe It Or Not, does it not? Well believe it. BXI is Boris + Ian (or times Ian?), and the disc's blatant/redundant title makes the concept plain. So... what do we think? Well what do YOU think? Basically, a lot depends on A) what you think of Ian's singing, which may or may not depend on how big of a Cult fan you are or once were, and B) how much of a hardcore devoted Boris fanboy (or girl) you are. If you like everything Boris and/or Ian Astbury, then this is for you. Otherwise, maybe check out the sound samples before reflexively "adding to cart" just 'cause it's a Boris (related) release. This 20 minute, 4 track ep includes 3 songs newly written by the BXI unit, plus a version of The Cult's "Rain", from their 1985 album Love, sung by Boris guitarist Wata. The fairly dynamic first track, "Teeth And Claws", finds Astbury wailing about how "animals will save us... yeah, yeah they will, yeah they will, yes they will" over some sub-grunge, big-beat, quasi-heavy quasi-psych that wouldn't sound out of place on most modern rock stations. The next song, "We Are Witches", is much "tougher" and more metallic, with chunky distorted guitar chug. After that, comes "Rain", which is the best cut here in our opinion. Wata's gentle, dreamy vocals are a nice change from Astbury's overwrought rock dude yowl, and guest guitarist Michio Kurihara's stinging acid rock leads are glorious. Though, if they'd chosen to cover "Love Removal Machine" we'd have been into it too... The finale, "Magickal Child" is slow and majestic, with Astbury being dramatic but not ridiculous. Still, it's the closest Boris has ever come to U2 territory, that's all. Kurihara also plays guitar on this track too, again a plus. It's kinda funny he's on this disc with Astbury, in a six-degrees of separation way, since Kurihara was a member of Tokyo retro psych act White Heaven, who sounded a lot like The Doors, whose frontman Jim Morrison was of course famously portrayed by Val Kilmer in a movie, wait no that's not it, it's that The surviving Doors recently toured with Ian "The Lizard King II" Astbury as their singer, didn't they? Really, not bad as long as you don't hate Astbury. But also, not what we were hoping for (well, had we ever envisioned this collaboration in the first place). Boris definitely seems to be meeting Astbury much more than halfway here, this coming off more like Astbury with Boris as a backing band (or Boris paying tribute to him for some reason) than Boris doing some weird and heavy Boris thing and then making it weirder by having the guy from The Cult sing on it. Oh well, we'll admit we're Boris (and/or Cult) fans enough to pick this up just for "Rain" alone, and then can enjoy the other tracks to varying degrees, or not... NB. vinyl coming soon (within a couple weeks).

MPEG stream: Teeth And Claws
MPEG stream: We Are Witches
MPEG stream: Rain

Mathy, almost jazzy, instrumental post-rock from a band who manage to be as melodic as they are complex and quirky -- which is to say, quite. Lotsa warmth and emotion here, suffusing their dynamic and dramatic crescendos and deft musical twists and turns. Not so metallic as we'd been led to believe -- although they do rock out a bit here and there (apparently, on a child's drum kit no less!), this is pretty darn soft and sensitive at the same time. One of those bands that's definitely really good, but don't break out of the widdly post rock mold either. However, well worth it to fans of the genre! (That is, they fall somewhere amidst Mogwai, Don Caballero, Sonna, Thee Speaking Canaries, Lynx, Cheval de Frise...not bad company!) This disc clocks in at five tracks, 30 minutes (which by the way is just long enough to make you go, dang it's over? and play it again when its done).

MPEG stream: Stop, Drop And Roll Does Not Work In Hell
MPEG stream: Setting Sail In April

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What was once a 1970 double LP set of live and studio material is now a double cd, with the original "(Untitled)" now accompanied by an extra disc of previously unissued tracks. The lineup: Roger McGuinn, Skip Battin, Clarence White, and Gene Parsons. Worth it alone for the jammed-out sixteen-minute (a whole side of the original vinyl) version of "Eight Miles High." And with all the other stuff here, this is a great place to start with The Byrds as well as an essential item for longtime fans!

**SALE **SALE* *SALE** Y'know the special $5 sale cd list we did a few weeks ago? Well, there's actually a few more really good $5 deals available that we'll try to list, while they last. We reviewed 1968's Notorious Byrds Brothers before, now here's another Byrds gem for just $5 (or, $30, if you wanna spring for the brand new vinyl reissue that just came out!)� Originally issued in '69, with its title track appearing on the soundtrack to Peter Fonda's countercultural film classic Easy Rider, this was The Byrds 8th album, and their last of the '60s, with Roger McGuinn the only original founding member still on board (the other Byrds here being Gene Parsons, Clarence White, and John York). Still, it's a great bunch of songs, including not just the aforementioned Dylan-inspired title track (he wrote some of the lyrics), but also a fine interpretation of Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" (its sad vibes perhaps appropriate for the end of the '60s, the decade's revolutionary promise on the wane). This album also boasts one of our all time Byrds favorites, the rousing, rocking "Jesus Is Just Alright", originally by gospel singer Art Reynolds. Elsewhere, the record is mostly all about melancholic country and old timey folk, lovely songs including a traditional sea shanty and a Woody Guthrie protest number and even a timely drone-folk homage to lunar-landing Apollo astronauts "Armstrong, Aldrin And Collins". Regarding the cd, this nicely done reissue tacks on 7 bonus tracks, alternates and out-takes, including one written by a young Jackson Browne, and a spaced-out synthesizer / Appalachian folk hybrid from McGuinn called "Fiddler A Dram (Moog Experiment)". And, plenty of informative liner notes are to be found in the cd booklet. Well worth the five bucks for sure!

MPEG stream: Ballad Of Easy Rider
MPEG stream: Oil In My Lamp
MPEG stream: Jesus Is Just Alright

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

SORRY.

Previously unreleased live concert recording from '69, with Roger McGuinn/Clarence White/John York/Gene Parsons lineup. Sixteen tracks.

**SALE **SALE* *SALE** Oooh, we love 1968's Notorious Byrd Brothers. Well, most Byrds albums are pretty great, but this one's a reall beaut. Pedal steel and Moog synth co-exist exquisitely, along with 12-string guitar jangle and lovely vocal harmonies, there's songs about drugs and hippies and Vietnam, it's got "Space Odyssey" and other sci-fi mystical stuff while of course they're kinda country too. This reissue includes plenty of liner notes, and six bonus tracks, including "Moog Raga", which is exactly what you think it is, and rad.

MPEG stream: Goin' Back
MPEG stream: Tribal Gathering
MPEG stream: Space Odyssey

Late Byrds album (1968) with Gram Parsons with many more classic songs than required to make an album essential. This inexpensive but nicely appointed reissue features eight never-before-available tracks/outtakes, including a GP vocal.

In 1964 recording engineer Jim Dickson set down on tape the earliest incarnation of the Byrds, even, it seems, before they named themselves that -- they had also used the monikers Beefeaters and Jet Set (a Jet Set single is included here). This is what some The cd comes packaged in a slipcase with an excellent accompanying book of liner notes, many darling photos (those guys were like 20 years old, so young!), 2 nice postcards, discographical info, & comments from all the bandmembers, plus Pamela Des Barres, Domenic Priore, etc. Annoyingly, the LP version, while it is on 180 gm vinyl and features a nice gatefold sleeve for its two albums, only features 28 tracks. The cd version has 40! Huh? And while the 16 of the tracks on the cd version were previously unissued, only 9 from the LP version have never before seen the light. I never understand the logic with these things -- is Sundazed ripping off the LP buyers amongst us, or are they trying to tell us that the extra tracks on the cd version are kinda throwaways anyway? Sigh...

RealAudio clip: You Showed Me (Acoustic)
RealAudio clip: Boston (vers. II)

**SALE **SALE* *SALE**

Much like fellow art rock vet David Bowie, David Byrne keeps a finger firmly planted on the pulse of the music industry, but unlike Bowie he's never been one to jump on board trendy bandwagons. Both in Talking Heads and solo, Byrne has consistently remained ever the elegant and absurd music man with more than a few surprises up his sleeve. The gently lilting lead-off track to the restrained yet gloriously theatrical Grown Backwards is a prime example -- a light musicbox-y melody, smooth low strings, lightly tapped percussion, and Byrne's unmistakable vocals. Wonderfully composed with an ever-present air of slightly melancholic nostalgia, Grown Backwards sidesteps current trends and achieves a much more timeless appeal.

MPEG stream: Glass, Concrete & Stone
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Brand new album from ex-Talking Head David Byrne. Big production with lots of guest musicians. Almost sounds like it was produced by Tchad Blake, but it isn't. The coolest thing about the album is the cover art and moiree effect slip cover. You can pass each panel of the fold out booklet through the slip cover and see: David Byrne blink, scream, a cup break, a hand pass through fire, a

The long awaited follow-up collaboration between these two musical giants is finally here in physical form, after only being available as a digital download. Although, this time it feels more like a David Byrne solo album rather than a revisiting of musical territory from their stellar My Life In The Bush of Ghosts. Not bad though, as long as you're a fan of David Byrne!

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MPEG stream: Everything That Happens

The sheepish smile of Julie Byrne on the cover of this album belies the plaintive, minimalist patter of her beguiling yet melancholy songwriting. The image could very well be a lone snapshot of this woman caught in the daylight and slightly embarrassed that her photo is being taken. The simple and earnest songs of this album paint her more as one who stays inside for the bulk of her existence, with her face shrouded behind that brown mane of hers, hunched in the corner of a bedroom where she gently strums the accompaniments to her weary songs - oftimes bittersweet, wistful, full of longing. Her intimate compositions are little more than acoustic guitar and voice (with that 'little more' often being some tape hiss, or a light wash of reverb, or the sun-flecked monochord organ solos that end each side of this album), recalling the mood of those early Cat Power recordings, Sibylle Baier's hushed hymns of everyday life, and even the moonlit folk ballads of Nick Drake. This lp was dusted off from a couple of cassettes by Owen 'Casiotone For The Painfully Alone' Ashworth for his new imprint Orindal Records. Really lovely stuff!

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A gloriously shambolic, stumbling and clattery lo-fi chunk of strum and clang from Graham Lambkin, pre-Shadow Ring, and it definitely sounds like Shadow Ring, but WAY more low fidelity, like if maybe Shadow Ring put out a cassette on Shrimper way back in the day. Which is not at all a bad thing. Monotonous, detuned guitar strum, THOSE vocals, laid back and weary, deep and heavily accented, spoken, but a little bit song songy, heavily distorted in places, weirdly distant sounding in others, the rhythms sound like pipes hitting other pipes, someone pounding on a cardboard box, or thumping on a table top, it's all very Jandekian, but even more skeletal and haunting, woozy, warped, warbly, plenty of tape hiss and dropouts, all woven together into a strangely ghostly bit of spaced out psychedelic minimal drug folk, or something. Dark and gloomy and creepy and cool, fans of the Shadow Ring will definitely want this, but even folks who just like cool weird dark creepiness, might definitely dig this, and find yet another band to obsess over.

A two-piece band of indie rockers from the Pacific Northwest doing their best to play metal...no, not The Need. It's C-Average -- but these guys might need to think about changing their name, as on this release they've manage to bring their grade point average

Yay! Never had this on vinyl before. This longtime AQ British folk fave from Incredible String band offshoot C.O.B. is back in print again, on deluxe 180 gram vinyl, remastered from original tapes at Abbey Road, packaged with cd version (which includes seven bonus tracks) and a large illustrated color booklet with tons of info, the works! Here's what we had to say about it the first time around: C.O.B. (Clive's Original Band) was the creation of Incredible String Band founding member and one of the grandfathers of today's fringe folk scene, Clive Palmer (R.I.P., he passed away just this year). The incredibly-named Moyshe McStiff And The Tartan Lancers Of The Sacred Heart was C.O.B.'s second and best - or at least most exotic and weird - album, released in 1972. Such beautiful melancholy! Some of the instrumentation here is similar to that of ISB (acoustic guitar, banjo, clarinet) but with lots of harmonium and the addition of a dulcimer with a widened bridge (invented by C.O.B. band member John Bidwell), an odd droning sound that darkens the mood a bit more than most stuff you'll hear from ISB. If you're a fan of British folk in the traditional and/or acid vein such as Shirley Collins, Trees, Forest, Fairport Convention, Vashti Bunyan, even Current 93, this cd promises to be a true wistful pleasure. WAY recommended!!

MPEG stream: Eleven Willows
MPEG stream: Oh Bright Eyed One

C.O.B. (Clive's Original Band) was the creation of Incredible String Band founding member and one of the grandfathers of today's fringe folk scene, Clive Palmer. We don't know if you got the chance to see Mr. Palmer alongside fellow ISB founder Mike Heron at last year's reunion show, but it definitely seemed like his banjo-picking was a little rusty and he looked kind of dazed (no wonder, what with 35 years out of the spotlight). When this record (C.O.B.'s second and best, or at least most exotic and weird) was made in 1972, though, he was in top form, and the result is such beautiful melancholy! Some of the instumentation here is similar to that of ISB (acoustic guitar, banjo, clarinet) but with lots of harmonium and the addition of a dulcimer with a widened bridge (invented by C.O.B. bandmember John Bidwell), an odd droning sound that darkens the mood a bit more than most stuff you'll hear from ISB. If you're a fan of British folk in the traditional and/or acid vein such as Shirley Collins, Trees, Forest Fairport Convention, or current underground folkies such as Espers, Vashti Bunyan, or Current 93, this cd promises to be a true wistful pleasure.

MPEG stream: Eleven Willows
MPEG stream: Oh Bright Eyed One

The Olympia, WA-based duo of Chris Sutton (Dub Narcotic) on drums and Olivia Ness on bass pump out some bare bones quite Meters-inspired grooves while staying true to the lo-fi K Records spirit. At times C.O.C.O.'s off-kilter boy/girl vocals bring to

We've been diggin' some killer late '70s, early '80s French punk rock lately, or "paink" as the as the recent compilation of that name has it, discovering some new obscure faves from the scene we hadn't known of before, bands to file alongside Soggy and Metal Urbain in the realm of Stooges-y, snotty, sometimes synth-laced underground French-speaking rawk from the new wave era. Here's a good example, reissued for the first time on cd (and also on vinyl too, backordered at the moment - but the the cd has 4 previously unreleased bonus tracks anyway). C.O.M.A., aka Clinik Organik Musak Anatomik (great name, whatever it means exactly!), originally unleashed this way weird and super rare full-length, their only album, in 1979. It's some intense & experimental, minimal wave synth punk, manifested with shamboblic precision, their odd "musak" loaded with blurting synthesizer, noisy guitar, mechanical drumbeats, distorted disembodied vocals (often a gravelly croak), and electronic FX galore. Some tracks are more abstract, like the soundscapey segue of "Consequences", consisting of about 50 percent feedback, while others, like "Demain", are more groove-oriented, dark and dancey new wave numbers, still loaded with synth strangeness, to which we can totally imagine stylish French punks doing some kind of robo-pogo. Yup, it's a diverse disc, wherein a moody, sparse piano piece like "Coma" could be followed by the hard-charging mechano-aggro beatdown of "Assaut", complete with wiggly wild guitar/synth solo. The sporadic mad scientist's laboratory bleep bloop of "La Valse A Mutant" kinda has a Francophone "Hardcore Devo" vibe, and definitely Devo were an inspiration on this groop, along with the likes of Kraftwerk, Wire, and The Residents. Think Devo meets Metal Urbain, you're on the right track. Great stuff. C.O.M.A. didn't appear on that Paink comp, we don't know why, they shoulda been, though maybe just a bit weirder than the others. Fans of stuff on Medical and Dark Entries ought to check it out...

MPEG stream: Tete De Gomme
MPEG stream: Assaut
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If The Boredoms and The Singers Unlimited somehow managed to work out a repertoire of Moondog covers, it may sound something close to this. Or perhaps more accurately, imagine if Juana Molina and OOIOO married folk electronics to a heavy percussive tumult in dizzyingly ecstatic chirping odes to the eccentric avant-street classicist. However you swing it, this is great! Cabaret Contemporain are a modern French quintet who have brought an electro-rock performative approach to the avant aesthetics of 20th century maverick compositions of John Cage, Terry Riley, and notably on this release, Moondog. Enlisting Swedish vocalists Isabel Sorling and Linda Olah, the pair charge the material with rapid-fire vocal acrobatics that add another layer of interwoven rhythm and texture to the plucked strings, sputtering electronics and crashing symbols that all together give the music such amazing energy. Includes the master's most endearing songs, "Enough About Human Rights" and "All Is Loneliness". If you have never heard Moondog before, we'd recommend you check out Viking of Sixth Ave. first. But for fans, this is some brilliantly crazy interpretation!

MPEG stream: My Tiny Butterfly
MPEG stream: Why Spend The Dark Night With You
MPEG stream: I'm Just A Hop Head
MPEG stream: All Is Loneliness