NWOFHM. That's what it says on the inside of the cd booklet, in big bold letters. NWOFHM? WTF? If you don't get the joke, explaining it won't help, but here goes: New Wave Of Finnish Heavy Metal. Our Finnish friends Circle are apparently referencing the famed NWOBHM (New Wave Of British Heavy Metal) that took the rock world by storm circa 1979, giving us Saxon, Angel Witch, Def Leppard, Iron Maiden, Venom, Samson, and many many many more. What's that got to do with the Can and Neu! pulsed space/prog/post-rock normally practiced by Circle?? Well Circle fans know that these guys have indeed established their very own trademark "circular" sound (repetitive, rhythmic, looping, hypnotic rock) that, whirlpool-like, pulls in all sorts of influences, from the aforementioned Krautrock forefathers to jazz and dub and lo-fi drone improv and, yes, metal. When you get a new Circle album, you kinda both know what to expect *and* never know what to expect. Well we'll tell you about Circle's latest studio effort, Tulikoria. In part, it's Circle donning the leather and spikes (metaphorically, perhaps, though they do threaten to do so for real live on stage at their show in San Francisco THIS FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2nd, THAT'S TONIGHT IF YOU'RE READING THIS THE DAY WE SENT OUT THIS LIST!! SO GET DOWN THERE!!). Ahem. Circle's love of metal, specifically the true, traditional heavy metal of the '80s, has borne fruit before, on several of the songs from their amazing Sunrise album released in 2002 (sadly now out of print). So, the heavy metal component present on Tulikoira is precedented in the Circle discog. But, like Sunrise, this isn't just Circle "doing metal". It's a lot of other things besides! Nobody will confuse it for an "actual" metal album. But heavy metal is definitely, proudly an element here, amongst others. And graphically, too, it's an inspiration, as you'll see from Circle's new fangled, tough-looking symmetrical logo, which even incorporates a lightning bolt!
There's four tracks here, starting with "Rautakaarme", an atmospheric seven-minute cut featuring monkish chant, eerie drone, and energetic bursts of rock action. Second track "Tulilintu" is *entirely* active and energetic, really bringing in the headbanging, fist-pumping metal, complete with guitar leads and soaring screams in the manner of Rob Halford. Seriously. The lyrics are in Finnish (presumably) so we don't know how tongue-in-cheek-or-not they are. Track three, "Berserk", is kinda weird, another atmospheric exercise with some lines in English like "I'm a scorpion" and "I'm a crocodile" spoken over rather spooky, bass-heavy grooves. A lot of tension in this one. Could almost be a noirish film soundtrack from the '70s, but with additional "circular" electric guitar riffing. Then the final track "Puutiikeri" arrives, pretty much taking over the album since it's an epic 24 minute affair, beginning and ending with authentic heavy metal riffing, but journeying far and wide in-between. Creaky improv splatter, lush keyboards, gently whispering vocals, spacey electronic effects, chugging, pulsating rhythms (of course!), and even some quasi-techno beats (!) are stirred into this weird mix. Ranging in mood from calm tranquility to flat out rockin', this is a real trip, as is all of Tulikoira. If you've been following Circle's output in recent years, and rolling with all their eccentricies, from Sunrise to Guillotine to Forest to Empire, you'll be happy to add Tulikoria to your collection too!
This 2005 Circle album, out of print for a bit, is now newly reissued on cd, this time its jewel case wrapped in a spiffy slipcase, featuring some cool new artwork (and a "no posers" symbol)!
NWOFHM. That's what it says on the inside of the cd booklet, in big bold letters. NWOFHM? WTF? If you don't get the joke, explaining it won't help, but here goes: New Wave Of Finnish Heavy Metal. Our Finnish friends Circle are apparently referencing the famed NWOBHM (New Wave Of British Heavy Metal) that took the rock world by storm circa 1979, giving us Saxon, Angel Witch, Def Leppard, Iron Maiden, Venom, Samson, and many many many more. What's that got to do with the Can and Neu! pulsed space/prog/post-rock normally practiced by Circle?? Well Circle fans know that these guys have indeed established their very own trademark "circular" sound (repetitive, rhythmic, looping, hypnotic rock) that, whirlpool-like, pulls in all sorts of influences, from the aforementioned Krautrock forefathers to jazz and dub and lo-fi drone improv and, yes, metal. When you get a new Circle album, you kinda both know what to expect *and* never know what to expect. Well we'll tell you about Circle's latest studio effort, Tulikoria. In part, it's Circle donning the leather and spikes (metaphorically, perhaps, though they threatened to do so for real live on stage at their show in San Francisco that was happening the night we originally posted this review). Circle's love of metal, specifically the true, traditional heavy metal of the '80s, has borne fruit before, on several of the songs from their amazing Sunrise album released in 2002. So, the heavy metal component present on Tulikoira is precedented in the Circle discog. But, like Sunrise, this isn't just Circle "doing metal". It's a lot of other things besides! Nobody will confuse it for an "actual" metal album. But heavy metal is definitely, proudly an element here, amongst others. And graphically, too, it's an inspiration, as you'll see from Circle's new fangled, tough-looking symmetrical logo, which even incorporates a lightning bolt!
There's four tracks here, starting with "Rautakaarme", an atmospheric seven-minute cut featuring monkish chant, eerie drone, and energetic bursts of rock action. Second track "Tulilintu" is *entirely* active and energetic, really bringing in the headbanging, fist-pumping metal, complete with guitar leads and soaring screams in the manner of Rob Halford. Seriously. The lyrics are in Finnish (presumably) so we don't know how tongue-in-cheek-or-not they are. Track three, "Berserk", is kinda weird, another atmospheric exercise with some lines in English like "I'm a scorpion" and "I'm a crocodile" spoken over rather spooky, bass-heavy grooves. A lot of tension in this one. Could almost be a noirish film soundtrack from the '70s, but with additional "circular" electric guitar riffing. Then the final track "Puutiikeri" arrives, pretty much taking over the album since it's an epic 24 minute affair, beginning and ending with authentic heavy metal riffing, but journeying far and wide in-between. Creaky improv splatter, lush keyboards, gently whispering vocals, spacey electronic effects, chugging, pulsating rhythms (of course!), and even some quasi-techno beats (!) are stirred into this weird mix. Ranging in mood from calm tranquility to flat out rockin', this is a real trip, as is all of Tulikoira. If you've been following Circle's output in recent years, and rolling with all their eccentricities, from Sunrise to Guillotine to Forest to Empire, you'll be happy to add Tulikoria to your collection too!
We made the cd version of this Circle disc our Record Of The Week a while back, only for it to go out of print WAY quicker than anyone expected. So now, Tyrant is available once again, for a limited time, on vinyl, a double lp to be precise. But again, like all Latitudes stuff, very very limited, and add to that the fact that it's Circle, well, you should know what that means. Here's what we had to say about Tyrant when we first got it WAY back in 2006!! Be sure to read to the end though, as there's some extras with the lp edition....
BRAND NEW CIRCLE ALBUM!!! TYRANT!! INCREDIBLY LIMITED LATEST INSTALLMENT IN THE LATITUDES SERIES!!! IT'S HERE!!!!
Okay, just wanted to get your attention. We've been waiting for this for a long, long time. As have many of you, we imagine. We've all been loving the Latitudes series of ultra limited releases from bands like Ginnungagap, Shit And Shine, the Grails, Ariel Pink, Sir Richard Bishop... so when we heard that Finland's gods of metallic hypno drone rock were going to do one, we were so psyched, and so we waited anxiously, but patiently, until finally, after months of waiting, they arrived, just a few days ago, and as if we even have to tell you, IT'S AWESOME!!!
But this declaration of awesomeness does require a bit more elaboration, as Circle have a wide variety of awesome sounds: murky propulsive modern day krautrock, wild guitar heavy NWOFHM proto-metal, extended ambient drones, loping mesmeric jazzy shuffle, it's really hard to know where the band will head next. As if it were too much to wish for, Tyrant, somehow manages to combine all of their disparate sounds into one practically perfect whole, and some of us are declaring this our favorite Circle record in ages (no mean feat, since their last one, Miljard, was fantastic, a Record Of The Week too). Three 15 minute tracks, each one a slow building epic, droning, dense, dark, hypnotic, but each with its own unique elements.
The opener, "Screaming Luovutus", is an endlessly looping space rock drone mantra, a relentlessly throbbing bassline, haunting little swirls of fluttering keyboard melody, little bits of guitar filigree, simple propulsive rhythmic shuffle, all woven into a endlessly throbbing krautrocky swirl, when suddenly over the top strange whispery demonic growls surface, super distorted, another layer of fuzzy sound, howling and whispering all ragged and harsh, almost like Circle covering Abruptum or a black metal Necks, if that makes any sense. Dizzying and weirdly heavy, a black ambient krautrock drone groove, if such a thing were possible. And if it were, you know Circle would be the ones, ahem, ARE the ones to make it happen.
The second track, with the very metal title "Steel Torment Warrior", is maybe the least metal of the batch. A super creepy, almost jazzy, soundscape, of muted rumble, bursts of super effected dubbed out drums, flurries of spaced out FX, hushed hissed vocals, splattery free jazz skitter, warbly, seasick guitar tangles all wrapped in a druggy blissy ambience. It's like a less propulsive Necks, a damaged jazzy shuffle looping into infinity, but twisted into a uniquely Circular shape.
The closer, with the even MORE metal title of "Amputation Crusade", is the grooviest and space rockiest of the three, a simple darkly melodic guitar figure, loops lazily above a slow slithery bassline and a super laid back, barely there rhythmic shuffle, like Can or Faust in extreme slow motion... you can hear the Necks again, but the band add some extra druggy fuzz guitar, and the laid back riffing is pregnant with the possibility of imminent explosion. Strange vocals lurk below the surface, the whole thing an epic trawl through some jazzy black space rock soundscape. Near the end, things build to a bit of a subdued climax, the guitars ringing and chiming, the drums pounding a bit more, very epic and majestic, but still somehow muted and laid back, petering out into a creepy little coda of guitar FX and gurgling monster vocals...
Wow. Seriously, we love Circle and everything, more than most folks, but this disc is an absolute killer!! Heavy and droney, groovy and jazzy and completely epic and mesmerizing and amazing!!
Comes packaged in the usual black and white Latitudes diecut 12" sleeve, includes the same black and white insert from the cd, featuring the band posing with spiked gauntlets in front of Stonehenge!!! Well, actually, in front of the chainlink fence in front of Stonehenge, which somehow makes more sense. The inner lp label has two strange NWOFHM / Tyrant (the 't's in tyrant are battle axes of course) hooded knights. And as if that weren't enough, the second disc is a PICTURE DISC, one side features the Stonehenge band photo blown up, the other side is an image of... well, an lp, in fact the -other- record in the set, complete with the hooded knights in the center and printed record grooves, which while actually being playable grooves, seem to be there just for show....
Either way, one more chance to pick up this kick ass Circle record, and on vinyl to boot!
LIMITED TO 1000 COPIES!!!!
BRAND NEW CIRCLE ALBUM!!! TYRANT!! INCREDIBLY LIMITED LATEST INSTALLMENT IN THE LATITUDES SERIES!!! IT'S HERE!!!!
Okay, just wanted to get your attention. We've been waiting for this for a long, long time. As have many of you, we imagine. We've all been loving the Latitudes series of ultra limited releases from bands like Ginnungagap, Shit And Shine, the Grails, Ariel Pink, Sir Richard Bishop... so when we heard that Finland's gods of metallic hypno drone rock were going to do one, we were so psyched, and so we waited anxiously, but patiently, until finally, after months of waiting, they arrived, just a few days ago, and as if we even have to tell you, IT'S AWESOME!!!
But this declaration of awesomeness does require a bit more elaboration, as Circle have a wide variety of awesome sounds: murky propulsive modern day krautrock, wild guitar heavy NWOFHM proto-metal, extended ambient drones, loping mesmeric jazzy shuffle, it's really hard to know where the band will head next. As if it were too much to wish for, Tyrant, somehow manages to combine all of their disparate sounds into one practically perfect whole, and some of us are declaring this our favorite Circle record in ages (no mean feat, since their last one, Miljard, was fantastic, a Record Of The Week too). Three 15 minute tracks, each one a slow building epic, droning, dense, dark, hypnotic, but each with its own unique elements.
The opener, "Screaming Luovutus", is an endlessly looping space rock drone mantra, a relentlessly throbbing bassline, haunting little swirls of fluttering keyboard melody, little bits of guitar filigree, simple propulsive rhythmic shuffle, all woven into a endlessly throbbing krautrocky swirl, when suddenly over the top strange whispery demonic growls surface, super distorted, another layer of fuzzy sound, howling and whispering all ragged and harsh, almost like Circle covering Abruptum or a black metal Necks, if that makes any sense. Dizzying and weirdly heavy, a black ambient krautrock drone groove, if such a thing were possible. And if it were, you know Circle would be the ones, ahem, ARE the ones to make it happen.
The second track, with the very metal title "Steel Torment Warrior", is maybe the least metal of the batch. A super creepy, almost jazzy, soundscape, of muted rumble, bursts of super effected dubbed out drums, flurries of spaced out FX, hushed hissed vocals, splattery free jazz skitter, warbly, seasick guitar tangles all wrapped in a druggy blissy ambience. It's like a less propulsive Necks, a damaged jazzy shuffle looping into infinity, but twisted into a uniquely Circular shape.
The closer, with the even MORE metal title of "Amputation Crusade", is the grooviest and space rockiest of the three, a simple darkly melodic guitar figure, loops lazily above a slow slithery bassline and a super laid back, barely there rhythmic shuffle, like Can or Faust in extreme slow motion... you can hear the Necks again, but the band add some extra druggy fuzz guitar, and the laid back riffing is pregnant with the possibility of imminent explosion. Strange vocals lurk below the surface, the whole thing an epic trawl through some jazzy black space rock soundscape. Near the end, things build to a bit of a subdued climax, the guitars ringing and chiming, the drums pounding a bit more, very epic and majestic, but still somehow muted and laid back, petering out into a creepy little coda of guitar FX and gurgling monster vocals...
Wow. Seriously, we love Circle and everything, more than most folks, but this disc is an absolute killer!! Heavy and droney, groovy and jazzy and completely epic and mesmerizing and amazing!!
Comes packaged in a super intricate hand screened die cut fold over sleeve with a full color insert (featuring the band posing with spiked gauntlets in front of Stonehenge!!! Well, actually, in front of the chainlink fence in front of Stonehenge, which somehow makes more sense). The cover has two strange NWOFHM / Tyrant (the 't's in tyrant are battle axes of course) hooded knights silkscreened on the front and each copy is hand stamped and numbered. Limited to 1000 copies worldwide, 500 of which made it to the United States, about 250 of which made it HERE. That's right, we got an entire quarter of the pressing. And we're pretty sure that still won't be enough, we guarantee these will not be around for long...
ATTENTION FINNISH MUSIC FREEKS AND CIRCLE OBSESSIVES!!! ULTRA LIMITED CIRCLE 7" ALERT!!! Fans of these freaky Finns best act fast as this is a super limited, already out of print, brand new seven inch single featuring two preciously unreleased songs. In Trensmat's series of ultra limited 7", usually limited to 100 copies or less, we convinced the label to double their pressing, half of which came to aQuarius, but needless to say, like all things Circle, these will not last long, and once they are gone, they are gone forever...
So here you go, two new tracks, of that instantly recognizable motorik Circular hypnorock. No metal, or ambience, this is the classic Circle sound, the A side is Circle at their most stripped down, the drums and guitars locked into a constant loop, the bass following right along, so mesmerizing and seemingly endless, the vocals a barely there whisper, while off in the distance lurk all manner of random clatter and mysterious percussive events. Right in the middle there's an awesome stumbling atonal guitar 'solo' before the band slips right back into that same groove. Goes on and on and if we had our say it would have kept right on going and filled up both sides of a 12".
The flip side is another single riffed hypnojam, a bit less languorous and a little more propulsive, very krautrocky, with lots of harmonica (!) and the vocals much more of a focal point, higher in the mix and leading the groove behind them. Throughout the song are cool tripped out new wave-y synth washes, lazily draped over that impossible catchy Circle rhythm. The end though holds a bit of a surprise with a super bizarre harmonized low vocal coda, a bit like a chorus of Orcs, creepy and kind of what-the-fuck, cool to, and it's Circle, so you should be prepared for them to toss in an Orc chorus now and then.
Cool packaging, a very metal Circle logo, designed by Krypt (who we can only assume is Krypt Axeripper aka Jussi of Circle) sinking into a Finnish seaside, while on the flip is a strange pencil drawing of four guys who look nothing like Circle. Pressed on red vinyl, and as we mentioned above, SUPER SUPER LIMITED AND ALREADY OUT OF PRINT AT THE LABEL!!!
Everybody knows that we at aQuarius are HUGE fans of the Finnish space/prog/hypnorock band Circle, right? We have raved about 'em for years, even had 'em play our 35th Anniversary Party back in 2000. So, naturally we get lots of folks, just starting out with their own Circle obsession, who ask us, which Circle album is The One To Get? 'Cause there's at least, like, over thirty albums in Circle's vast discography, thus far (though not all are still in print), and they're all pretty great. Well, among the longterm Circle fans here at aQ, the answer to that difficult question is, when it comes down to it, if we have to chose: Zopalki, Circle's second album, originally released back in 1996 by the Bad Vugum label. For a lot of us, it's arguably Circle's best ever record, among many great ones. And, significantly, it's also the one that we first heard, that first caused us to totally freak out about Circle, and led us to become such ardent fans, ever after. So, yeah, Zopalki! But, for years and years, it's unfortunately been one of those out of print titles. Kind of a holy grail for latter day Circle initiates. Until now - because we just got the brand new remastered, reissued version on Circle's own Ektro label in the mail. And thus, an automatic Record Of The Week!
Like we said, this is The One that, so many years ago, turned us on to Circle's unique brand of rhythmic psychedelic hypnosis. It's heavy, it's atmospheric, it's tight, it's sprawling, it's incredible. The staccato Helmet-like riffage of their debut Meronia is still in effect, but even proggier experimentation is afoot, with a darker, murkier, neo-krautrock, chamber rock vibe pervading the proceedings. There's choppy guitars, dubby drumbeats, sinister string arrangements, and eerie Gregorian chant style vox (yes, this was many Circle lineups ago, long before current operatic weirdo Mikka Ratto joined the band, but the vocals are still quite unusual).
Originally released on vinyl also, as a double lp (the new liner notes in this edition amusingly explain the "negotiation" with their record label that resulted in this being a double), it's got a dozen tracks stretching over 72 minutes. They range from explosive & percussively propelled to the dolefully droned out (often accomplishing both feats in the same epic composition). "Bonoroid" is among the most blissful, "Sector" the most psychotically hectic, "Argont" perhaps the most grindingly heavy, but heck we just picked a favorite Circle album, don't make us pick a favorite song too!
Our only complaint about this reissue, is we wish they'd have included the bonus track found only on the long-gone vinyl version... for a moment we thought this reissue had the bonus track, but it's just that for some accidental reason the tracklist here says the final song is "Contact" (which was that bonus track) when it's actually "Gregorium Vaernd Valerii", which closed the original cd. Whoops.
Regardless, we're SO glad to have this back. It's remastered (louder!), and the redesigned, expanded cd booklet now contains Zopalki-era photos of the band, as well as brand new retrospective liner notes from former guitarist Teemu Elo, from which we learn that "Zopalki" means "matchsticks" in Polish (though we don't learn why that was chosen for the title, or why the title was in Polish). More importantly, we learn a lot about the young band's struggle to make the record. It's worth noting that he says, "Zopalki caught most of us in the process of widening our horizons more than any other Circle album". It widened OUR horizons too...
WOW. Maybe it took taking a while off, and letting some other guys make a super-heavy (death metal!) album under the name Circle, while goofing around with the ironic '80s pop of alter-ego band Falcon, but Circle, now that they're Circle again, have really managed to blow us away with this one, even entrancing some of us here who aren't the 'usual' Circle fanatics. Despite all the silly high concept stuff they delight in, Leviatan once again proves that these guys are serious artists, geniuses really. No sharks have been jumped as yet.
The sticker on the cover proclaims: "Circle (ex-Falcon) have returned from Falcon-land in exquisite atmo-psych form!" which we can surely attest to and wholeheartedly agree with. Leviatan pretty much became a unanimous store favorite as soon as we first laid ears on it. Yet before we did, we didn't quite expect what they meant by "atmo-psych" to actually be such a beautifully delivered kraut-tinged acid folk record almost entirely played on acoustic instruments, conjuring up legendary associations with Comus (especially on the song "Protectorate"), Fresh Maggots, Faust, The Inner Space, Joakim Skogsberg and other ye olde folky aQ faves and yet also sounding as intense and psychically heavy as the latest Swans album, To Be Kind (though not quite as sprawling!).
Opening with gentle and primeval filigreed acoustic guitar riffs churning like smoke, swirling and building in on each other, anchoring subtle spacey tones taken from NASA satelite recordings and setting the tone for a processional recitation of an old Finnish text. Next, a medieval trio of banjo, bouzouki, and hand percussion and some deep monolithic chanting propel a kind of ritual invocation that nearly turns savage as Mika's vocals get more intense and paganish. But every dark passage on Leviatan is mirrored by some of the prettiest music we have heard from Circle in a while, especially on the Faust-ish ballad, "Post-Kapitalismus" and the sweet instrumental "Rakeita". Elsewhere moody folk jams, deep mystical paeans and avant Finnish-folk group sing-alongs, lead us to a final rounding call of solemn guitar weaving and ghostly breaths in what could only represent a slow-fading chiming forest-y death. Incredible!
What? Another disc ALREADY from our favorite Finnish psych/space/prog/metal/drone/wtf? rockers, the one and only Circle? Good grief, we're still reeling from their amazing Miljard two cd set on Ektro, and their even more recent, mindblowing Tyrant disc in the limited edition Latitudes series! Who do they think they are, Acid Mothers Temple? Well, to be fair, this new album Tower wasn't actually supposed to come out until April. But it seems that one of the Last Visible Dog label's distributors, gripped perhaps by Circle-mania, accidentally jumped the gun on the release date and started shipping it early -- so, well, here it is! And we can't complain, who wants to wait when a new Circle is concerned?? Especially when we're all trying to keep up with (as it says on the face of this cd) the "NWONWOFHM", in other words, the "New Wave Of" the "New Wave Of Finnish Heavy Metal"... which, as it turns out, isn't in any way metal at all! Nope, the all-instrumental Tower follows Miljard in exploring the really really pretty side of the Circle sound. But unlike Miljard, which was slowly unfolding, almost stately, Tower has much more of an uptempo, rapid pulse.
The album seems to divide into two parts. The first four tracks flow together in sort of suite, burbling beautifully and hypnotically...just so so pleasant. No heavy riffs, nothing edgy at all. Then there's a pause, and the remaining two tracks reveal something of a darker, more mysterious sound. Just a bit though, like a bright sunny day edging towards twilight, the knowledge of the coming night starting to seep into one's consciousness, some clouds drifting in as well, but the sun still shining...
Also, you'll note that this album is billed to Circle "featuring Verde" -- referring to special guest Mika Rintala, who has played with Circle and their jazzier cousin Ektroverde as well, and whose solo albums, recorded under the Verde monicker, we've raved about here before. We're not sure how to judge the "Verde-factor" here, but we do note that in addition to playing on this album he also recorded and mixed it. Maybe this does remind us a bit of some of Ektroverde's output, come to think of it... there's definitely a spaced-out, jazzy fusion groove here, of shuffling drums and chiming synths, that makes for a relaxing soundtrack we wouldn't feel foolish recommending to fans of The Necks and Miles Davis as well as Ektroverde, Verde and Circle too of course...
Now we wonder, what will the NWONWONWOFMHM be like? At this rate, chances are we'll find out sometime soon...
Split cd from AQ faves Circle and Japan's Marble Sheep, recorded in 1996 (Circle) and 1989 (Marble Sheep) and released 1998. Circle contribute a stellar live set of their perfect cyclical drone rock including a haunting and breathtaking cover version of
Originally a cd released on Last Visible Dog back in 2006, Tower has now gotten a super swank vinyl reissue on Full Contact, a label run by Jussi from Circle (the vinyl-only offshoot of his Ektro label). And in typical Circle fashion, the sleeve of this new version has been updated with the self deprecatingly boastful legend: *Slightly disappointing jams from 2006 by "The Best Band In The World 2010"*
Haha!
So here's what WE had to say about Tower when first listed it way back in 2007...
What? Another disc ALREADY from our favorite Finnish psych/space/prog/metal/drone/wtf? rockers, the one and only Circle? Good grief, we're still reeling from their amazing Miljard two cd set on Ektro, and their even more recent, mindblowing Tyrant disc in the limited edition Latitudes series! Who do they think they are, Acid Mothers Temple?
But we can't complain, who wants to wait when a new Circle is concerned?? Especially when we're all trying to keep up with (as it says on the face of this cd) the "NWONWOFHM", in other words, the "New Wave Of" the "New Wave Of Finnish Heavy Metal"... which, as it turns out, isn't in any way metal at all! Nope, the all-instrumental Tower follows Miljard in exploring the really really pretty side of the Circle sound. But unlike Miljard, which was slowly unfolding, almost stately, Tower has much more of an uptempo, rapid pulse.
The album seems to divide into two parts. The first four tracks flow together in sort of suite, burbling beautifully and hypnotically...just so so pleasant. No heavy riffs, nothing edgy at all. Then there's a pause, and the remaining two tracks reveal something of a darker, more mysterious sound. Just a bit though, like a bright sunny day edging towards twilight, the knowledge of the coming night starting to seep into one's consciousness, some clouds drifting in as well, but the sun still shining...
Also, you'll note that this album is billed to Circle "featuring Verde" - referring to special guest Mika Rintala, who has played with Circle and their jazzier cousin Ektroverde as well, and whose solo albums, recorded under the Verde monicker, we've raved about here before. We're not sure how to judge the "Verde-factor" here, but we do note that in addition to playing on this album he also recorded and mixed it. Maybe this does remind us a bit of some of Ektroverde's output, come to think of it... there's definitely a spaced-out, jazzy fusion groove here, of shuffling drums and chiming synths, that makes for a relaxing soundtrack we wouldn't feel foolish recommending to fans of The Necks and Miles Davis as well as Ektroverde, Verde and Circle too of course...
Now we wonder, what will the NWONWONWOFMHM be like? At this rate, chances are we'll find out sometime soon...
We've had these for a while now, meant to list this ages ago, not sure what happened, but regardless, here you go, the latest, greatest blast of grinding death metal brutality from the brilliantly named Circle Of Dead Children. A furiously fast, ultra downtuned selection of brief blasting bursts of death metal drenched ultragrind, most clocking in at under a minute, but even the briefest blasts pack in a million parts and a billion notes. Head spinning, ear splitting, mind meltingly technical grind, think Discordance Axis, Creation Is Crucifixion, Cephalic Carnage, you know the sort of blazing destruction we're talking about. Plus awesome cover art and killer song titles like "No Tears Fall Through Hollow Eye Sockets", "Chemical Goat". Just what you need for that next gore soaked, techgrind, mathmetal fix for sure!
Not any black metal band can share a split with the mighty and mighty bizarre Urfaust, with their blustery buzz and crazy crooning. But Finland's Circle Of Ouroborus were well up to the task. In fact they actually sound quite bit like Urfaust, albeit in a way more damaged way, which is saying a lot.
On the split with Urfaust we reviewed recently, Circle Of Ouroborus offered up their own cracked take on buzzing black metal, murky almost punky, super lo-fi, practice space production, mumble warbly guitars, drums tinny and buried in the mix, and a totally demented vocalist wailing in a growling cracked croon, WAY up in the mix, shouting and howling. We thought they sounded a bit like a grim black metal Fall.
On Shores, the band stretch out a bit, but still hew close to the sound they share with their sonic brethren in Urfaust, a loping lurching, midtempo buzz, sing songy melodies, a murky black swirl, downtuned and droney, but stumblingly propulsive. Seasick and swaying drunkenly, these tracks sound more like blackened versions of some eighties British post punk band than some cult black metal band. And when the vocals kick in it pretty much seals the deal. When Mark E. Smith dies, and the Fall are no more, he'll strike a deal with the devil, come back from the dead, and this is where he'll end up. Crooning, in that nasally whine, sing/speaking for some mysterious jangly black metal post punk rock band. And if there was any doubt, Circle Of Ouroborus cover "She's Lost Control" by Joy Division. It's not particularly black either, it's gloomy and gothy and propulsively punky, guitars slide and slither, the vocals a dark croon. It almost sounds like a lo-fi live recording of Interpol or some long lost Damned track. Which is a very good thing for sure. It's just weird that these guys exist as a underground, grim and cult black metal band, when sonically, they owe as much to punk rock, and goth rock, and new wave as they do Darkthrone or Mayhem. Sure there's plenty of buzz and suffocating black atmosphere, but to truly dig this you'll definitely need either a love of totally bizarre and not entirely black metal, or a soft spot for classic newwavepostpunk (Fall, Wire, Gang Of Four, Joy Division) or preferably BOTH! And we definitely have both in spades, so as you might imagine this is WAY recommended!
Just take a gander at that cover, sleazy, glittery, cross dressing, drugged out sexiness, like a modern Royal Trux, this Aussie duo don't just look the part, they play it as well, the sound equally trashy and glammy, a bluesy bit of swampy dirgery, noise drenched, low slung and slithery, his vocals a wounded croon, hers a feral yowl, the uneasy harmonies set atop stumbling skeletal beats, and simple chug and jangle, and wound all around it, spidery sinewy tendrils of effects-drenched psychedelic guitar filigree, the Stones via Pussy Galore, with plenty of Velvets mixed in, not to mention some Gun Club, a little Birthday Party, the band dipping their crusty toes into sixties girl group style balladry here and there, fuzzy old school scumrock, loose garage grooves, all infused with a wild pounding punk energy and a surprising knack for crafting pop hooks and then wrapping them in filth. A wickedly woozy collection of gutter anthems and hook filled primal garage blues, that with each listen reveals more of its feral, grimy dirge pop heart.
Latest chunk of gritty grimy scuzz punk from this Australian boy/girl duo, who on the surface seem like the Aussie answer to Royal Trux, but this here single is a bit of a surprise, the band ditch their sleazy glammy grit, and abrasive punky pound, instead offering up some sweetly moody, shoegazey drift, sounding a bit like M83 via Crystal Stilts, an eighties style ballad about taking drugs and having sex, but wreathed in a sweetly washed out softly psychedelic dream pop ballad, all hazy smoldering synths, minimal pulsing percussion, simple guitar strum, and some darkly gorgeous boy girl harmonies, almost like a more lo-fi Raveonettes.
We figured the flipside would get things back to normal, with some wild crunch and cacophony, but instead, it's another dreamy brooding ballad, all simple steel string strum, warm whirring organ and some mournful guitar harmonies, a dark minor key lament, the vocals slipping into Nick Cave territory, softened by the sweet female back up vox, the song dirgey and darkly doleful, gradually growing more and more hazy and washed out and softly psychedelic, and ultimately sounding like it could be some new band on Captured Tracks or Sacred Bones.
Some seriously striking (and a little disturbing) cover art too...
Another blast of crusty, druggy, swaggery, slithery blues groove garage sleaze from this Australian duo. A sort of garagey noise pop dipped in glitter and blow and blasted through busted Marshall stacks. The sound on these two jams is a lot heavier than their Siltbreeze full length (which we loved), in-the-red and deliriously glammy, the guitars crunchy and corrosive, the drums pounding and relentless, a bed of musical nails for the wailing bad ass vox draped over the top, all wound into a serious back alley blues explosion.
The B side cranks up the glam element even more, sounding like T-Rex/Gary Glitter via the New York Dolls or Hanoi Rocks, but filtered through that distinctly Aussie Lubricated Goat / King Snake Roost noise/blues rock continuum, replete with big stadium style hand clappy hooks and soaring sing along choruses, all wrapped in a tattered cloak of filthy buzz. Awesome. And killer almost DHR looking collaged cover art too...
Okay, so Circle Takes The Square may not be the best band name. In fact, it's pretty dumb. It also gives no clue as to what an intense and amazing record As The Roots Undo is. But as with monikers like the "Flaming Lips", or even the "Beatles", the name will grow on you, which is good, because you're gonna be telling everyone you know about this record. Trust us! From the cover, a gorgeous gold and silver metallic digipak that folds together IPR style, to the music, a bizarre hybrid of old school crusty hardcore complete with shouted boy/girl vocals, modern metalcore, indie/post rock, seriously complex and innovative prog, and even some weird ambient electronic bits, you won't know what hit you. Sounds like it could be a mess, but somehow it all falls together perfectly. Emotional and intense, alternately heavy and intense, melodic and melancholy. Massive Neurosis-style riffery gives way to weird clean guitar breakdowns, spoken word parts and blooping electronic programming. Buzzing grindcore splinters into jangly, rhythmic almost-pop. Definitely schizophrenic. But in a good way. The core of the record is a thrashy, complex grind metal, but the vocals are so distinctive and emotional and the arrangements are so creative that it turns what could have been a run of the mill punk rock record into one of our favorite new records, period.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
First proper full length from this mysterious seventies outfit, who formed in Kentucky (some argue that Circle X were the first punk band from Louisville), the band eventually relocated to the Big Apple where they became a small part of the burgeoning no-wave underground, a scene at the time that consisted of bands like Mars and DNA, they would later graduate into the second wave of NYC noisemakers like Swans, Sonic Youth, Cop Shoot Cop, Live Skull and others.
Unlike the raw primal fury of their debut ep, Prehistory, originally released in 1983, is much more restrained and rhythmic, the drums tribal and trancelike, the arrangements less like songs and more like rituals, the guitar abstract and angular, the bass locked into mesmerizing loops, the vocals gloomy and emotive, the mood dark and depressing, the drums very reminiscent of Southern California tribalists Crash Worship, in fact, much of Prehistory references the ritualistic drum jams. But Circle X, due in no small part to the company they keep, injected plenty of moody miserablism into their decidedly gothic sprawl, a strange hybrid of chaotic post punk, junkyard crash and clatter, and dark depressing almost new wave. Jagged guitars are tossed about by frenzied percussion and buzzing low end synth drones, melodies are mostly angular and atonal, although here and there the band do inadvertently slip into something bordering on catchy and lovely, wild vocal caterwauls wrap themselves around, flurries of intense drumming, and long drawn out rhythms, Jandekian guitars surface and blurt out some strangled melody before sinking back into the mire, it's definitely a strange sonic miasma, a quick listen reveals mostly chaos, but beneath it all, the band had some strange twisted pop sense, which somehow holds the whole rickety thing together.
Circle X were a mysterious and mythical aggro angular artrock band formed in Louisville in the late seventies, eventually relocating to NYC and falling in with the No Wave crowd, stumbling on the noise rock periphery for years, even recording a record in 1994, before disappearing completely not long after. We have been huge fans since we first heard these guys way back when, all of their records are amazing, and amazingly difficult, all unfortunately out of print, including this one apparently, but a distributor found a stash so we grabbed all we could so you all could get a gander at the filthy, sweaty, fucked up sound of Kentucky art rock circa 1979.
Of all their recordings, this short sharp blast (4 songs, 11:33) of growling vitriolic fury is probably our favorite. It's the meanest and leanest, essentially a punk rock record, with lots of swagger and snarl, a sort of damaged art rock version of the Stooges: fuzzed out jagged guitars, often soaring into squealing angular harmonies, pounding drums, that often explode into convoluted splattery fills or stumble into bizarre almost tribal anti-rhythms, and the vocals, woah! A raspy howl, that always sounds on the verge of cracking completely, wild and untamed, half shout, half spoken, but so emotive and intense. A breathless furious delivery that perfectly suits the band's primal pound. On their dirge-y version of "Onward Christian Soldiers" you can definitely hear bits of early Swans, Copshootcop, and other NYC junkyard thugs, with its relentless pound and tangled atonal washes of super distorted guitar. This shit is raw and intense and primal and so goddamn good.
Fans of down and dirty, scuzzy garage rock stomp will be way into this (think Brainbombs, Stooges, etc.) as will art rockers not afraid to get a little dirty.
WE ONLY HAVE ABOUT 15 COPIES!!! And since this is way out of print, when these are gone they are gone for good!
Latest batch of brooding gothic balladry from Ms. Haley Fohr, aka Circuit Des Yeux, and like the three albums that came before, Overdue finds Fohr weaving, lushly ominous landscapes of gloomy psychedelic folk and brooding hushed minimalism, but the opening track is maybe the real gem here, showing Zola Jesus just how it's done, at least when it comes to fusing symphonic strings with gothic songcraft, Fohr's voice way up in the front, deep and lustrous, rich and nuanced, while swirling all around are sinister strings, and swoonsome swells, a super dramatic chamber music backdrop that is stunning and haunting, especially about halfway through, where the strings get all Bernard Herrmann like, intense stabs, notes sawed violently, while a dense squall of feedback and noise surfaces and begins to envelop the proceedings, before fading out, and leaving just the strings. That track had us wishing for an all orchestral / symphonic CdY record, but the following track returns to the Circuit Des Yeux of old, more stripped down and folky, mostly just guitar and vocals, but no less effective. But hold tight, the production on this record is fantastic, super varied and nuanced, a few minutes in, jagged shards of distorto guitar swoop in, and then in come more strings, this time though, the strings are all washed out and faded, almost like the song was given to the Caretaker for orchestration, resulting in something fantastically blissed out and woozily ethereal.
The rest of the record uses a similar template, but in all sorts of different ways, from the spare dubbed out apocalyptic folk of "Acarina", with some truly anguished vocals, lots of tripped out effects, and loads of space, to the feral distorted blown out guitar heavy "I Am", that sounds like a meaner, more unhinged PJ Harvey, or the FX heavy minimal dream folk of "My Name Is Rune", replete with backwards tape loops, and woozy buried melodies, and finally, the sprawling nearly 9 minute closer, "Helen, You Bitch", all murky rumbling drone, and weird sampled sound bites, eventually swallowed up by clouds of noise, distorted crumbling guitar buzz, and knuckle dragging tribal drumming, a killer, near metallic, churning noise-psych-dirge finale. Heavy and hypnotic!
Record number three from Ms. Haley Fohr, aka Circuit Des Yeux, who crafts witchy, shadowy psychedelic folk music, that sounds a bit like a more rural version of Zola Jesus, of maybe a little like a female Jandek via Grouper, her voice deep and commanding, slipping easily into a near operatic wail, but most of the vocals delivered in a dark throaty croon, over wheezing organs, simple strummed guitars, mournful piano with occasional squalls of wild psychedelia.
The songs seem to take two routes, one a simple sort of classic folk music, pop music rendered in acoustic guitar and moody atmosphere, the other a sort of vocal driven raga, with Fohr crooning over haunting chordal drones. Those two sides of her sonic personality, perfectly exemplified by the opening tracks on Portrait. "Falling Out" is all hazy warbly drone, a thick whir, over simple monochromatic strumming, peppered with lush blossoms of Technicolor psychedelia, the organ drones growing more and more lush, Fohr's vocals powerful and intense, especially when she slips into a near falsetto, trilling and swooping, but the music adds an intense gravitas to the already dark moodiness of the haunting vocals. But we find ourselves most moved by songs like "3311", which sounds like some classic torch song or some old country song, all acoustic guitar and reverbed piano, Fohr's voice doing all the work, mostly unadorned, deep and sultry, the lyrics mournful and melancholy, the vocals occasionally piling up into glorious harmonies, only to slip right back into the dark brood and strum.
The rest of the record deftly balances the folk and the drone, the classic songcraft and experimental, "Crying Chair" is a twisted almost Nurse With Wound like electronic warble-scape, Fohr's vocals processed and twisted into strange ships, the result druggy and divine, while "Twenty And Dry" sounds like a girl and her guitar, simple finger picked acoustic, and a second, more fierce and distorted offering melodic counterpoint, and again, the vocals, so moving and emotional, doing most of the heavy lifting. Gorgeous stuff. And WAY recommended for fans of Grouper, Zola Jesus, U.S. Girls, and other purveyors of dark ritualistic femme folk.
Holy shit! Some things are just worth the wait, even when the wait is almost an entire decade! It was over eight years ago that Will Cullen Hart put out a record as Circulatory System after the dissolution of his legendary Elephant Six flagship outfit Olivia Tremor Control. And ever since we've been waiting for more...
Signal Morning is a dazzling, fucked up pop record that ranks near the top of anything to come out of the great Elephant Six movement. With a bunch of E6 folks playing on the record including the ever elusive Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel fame drumming on some tracks. It's fuzzy, layered, crackling, and then bursting with such dynamic melodies and a triumphant spirit that's as warped as it is colorful and chaotic. It's easy to forget that Hart and the Elephant Six folks were doing fractured multilayered glorious pop way before Animal Collective were even a band.
Signal Morning is just such a charged and monumental sounding record, you can tell that Hart poured every ounce of himself into every single moment of the record. Kind of cool that this is coming out right around the same time all The Beatles reissues have been released as Hart was one of the folks to best realize how to take The Beatles sound into entirely new sonic realms, adding enough layers and undercurrents of weirdness to make something all his own out of that holy grail of pop. There is some serious fuzz and distortion going on amidst all the glorious pop music, in fact a customer who was in the store the first time we played this thought we were playing some great lost pop tinged This Heat record. Maybe (maybe) even better than Olivia Tremor Control's finest moment Dusk At Cubist Castle, and that's saying a hell of a lot! This one's gonna be a contender for record of the year, so damn great!
While most of his bandmates proceeded on with other musical projects following the demise of AQ ultra-faves Olivia Tremor Control, Will Cullen Hart instead chose to focus his attention on other artistic endeavours - primarily his painting. But now he's returned
The song entitled "Joy" almost made Cup weep right in the middle of the store. And not surprisingly, he's assisted by all his ol' Elephant 6 co-horts Jeff Mangum, Pete Erchick, Scott Spillane, Julian Koster to name a few. Be forewarned that the quality of the recording is a lot more lo-fi than the pristine OTC records, but the songwriting, harmonies, and musicianship still shine thru.
Why are we highlighting this fairly obscure, UK prog/pop/jazz band's one-off album from 1969? For an AQ prog-pick this Circus reissue is not all that weird, it's not really heavy (though there's some moments of killer fuzz), not from some exotic locale, not "cosmic", not a lot of other things that we normally get off on regarding this genre of music, no, BUT it's one that we found very appealing regardless, when we first randomly encountered this record some years ago. It's simply a classy, enjoyable album from a bygone era, combining pleasant psych pop rock with the freeform exuberance of jazz improv. Generally laidback and melodic, it also grooves hard when it wants. We were probably initially won over by the way the album opens, with an awesomely fuzzed out (and also swingingly jazzy too, somehow) version of the Beatles' "Norwegian Wood". Especially towards the end of this lengthy jamming track, the guitarist really wails in full fuzz-garage fashion, while elsewhere non-sucky sax soloing is actually incorporated quite effectively. As Beatles covers go, it's a keeper, and almost alone worth the price of admission! That track is followed by the much mellower "Pleasures Of A Lifetime", and indeed as we said a lot of the rest of this album is rather laid back, with gentle vocals and a melancholic vibe, though some tracks boast funky flute and groovy percussion as well, not so melancholic those, more sunny really, even with a tropical island feel.
Another highlight is their version of "II B.S." by Charles Mingus. Again, a groovy launch pad for improv, which apparently was a big part of the live Circus show, whose performances of "II B.S." and "Norwegian Wood" each could stretch out for 20-30 minutes on stage we're told. (They clock in at 7:20 and 6:34 here, respectively.)
So it's neat that this has just been nicely reissued again, as it's a minor classic in a genre that doesn't really exist anymore (though there were a spate of SST bands in the '90s exploring some of the same jazz crossover elements, we're thinking of Hotel X in particular, who also covered "II B.S." on their debut A Random History Of The Avant-Groove in '93, but we digress). Anyway we'd recommend this to those that liked previous prog-picks of ours such as Bachdenkel and East Of Eden, NSU and Luv Machine. For fans of Caravan and King Crimson too - in fact, Circus features future King Crimson member Mel Collins on flute and tenor saxophone. You can definitely hear here why/how Collins would wind up in KC, playing on several of their early/mid period albums that had a sort of pastoral vibe to 'em. Collins' career actually started before Circus, and continued far beyond KC, his quite impressive c.v. including appearances over the years on a myriad of records from such diverse artists as Camel, Caravan, the Alan Parsons Project, the Rolling Stones, Eric Burdon, Baron Rojo, Dire Straits, Tears For Fears, David Sylvian, the Stray Cats, the Small Faces, Uriah Heep, Phil Lynott, the list goes on and on... In Circus, though, he's not just a sideman but definitely one of the stars, though the guitarist gets his share of the spotlight too!
Not surprisingly, the follow-up to the C.D.s' very well-received debut "Ringworm Interiors" has arrived swiftly. Why unsurprisingly? Well, because the man behind this group is none other than the more-than-prolific Robert Pollard. Revealing once again a wonderfully strange and trippy side with shades of Pere Ubu, Pink Floyd and Captain Beefheart, this is much less poppy and more off-kilter, noisy and eccentric. Mr. Pollard and brothers Todd and Tim Tobias take you by tha hand and lead you on their bizarre, psychedelic trek scattered with, among other things, wheezing church organs, watery pianos, and bristly guitars. Listening to Circus Devils can be quite akin to finding yourself in an altered state -chemically or otherwise induced. Sounds and voices are slightly tweaked and distorted, time is skewed, and you'll find these 44 minutes are over all too soon. Recommended.
If you 'sort of' like Guided By Voices, but they're just a little too poppy or Beatle-esque for you, then maybe the Circus Devils is the band you've been waiting for. Featuring uber-prolific GBV mainman Robert Pollard on vocals, the Circus Devils are truly the handiwork of brothers Tim and Todd Tobias, and the sonic world they inhabit is anything but poppy. Its a murky, effects laden, psychedelic underworld of fuzzy guitars, thrashing drums, groovy riffs and howled vocals. Grungy and heavy and very druggy, but of course, in a decidedly lo-fi manner. Pollard sounds as un-Pollard like as he ever has, wailing and belting it out big time. In fact the first track sounds quite a bit like Alice In Chains (!), even the vocals. Especially the vocals. All gloomy riffs and dramatic minor key melancholia. This is apparently some sort of rock opera, with the lyrics all divided into lines by different characters, but as far as we can tell, Pollard plays all the parts. While there are still some definite melodic GBV style tracks, this might be a little raw and tripped out for all but the truly dedicated/daring Guided By Voices fan. But it might just be the deciding factor for the GBV doubters out there, and might also surprise some of you psych-rock lovers out there as well.
New project from Robert Pollard of Guided By Voices... and it's great, probably the best thing he's done in years. Thank goodness! We were afraid he'd lost it, y'know. The guy is so prolific that it's hard to keep up the enthusiasm when the quality of his
(We also have the LP for 14.98, although this is probably limited.)
A slow soothing glide of string sounds opens Circus Circus Devils' fourth full length (yes, despite what you might assume from the title, this is not the fifth album!), but that's just their gentle way of easing you into the often bizarre, frequently cacaphonous world that Robert Pollard and Todd Tobias roam. If you're unfamiliar with Circus Devils (but dig the pop stylings of Robert Pollard and his former band Guided By Voices) we should forewarn you that this is definitely much more obtuse and downright strange than Pollard's other projects. That said, we totally dig 'em. In fact, their first album released back in 2001 was a particular fave around here (it was an AQ Record Of The Week). With the blurts of noisy guitar feedback, aggressive drumming, unstructured picked guitar lines, and slurred vocals that drift in and out of focus as if Pollard is talking/shouting in his sleep, this is just as weirdly wonderful. Oh yeah, and for those of you who are counting, this is #34 of the Fading Captain Series.
Two more tracks of swirling, murky, druggy dub from Sleep / OM frontman Al Cisneros, whose love of dub seemed fairly evident even in those outfits, but recently, Cisneros has been going full dub, on a handful of singles and eps. The time around, his take on classic dub remains darkly groovy, washed out and laid back, and like his other dub joints, definitely beholden to outfits like African Head Charge and Muslimgauze. The strange/cool thing about these two tracks, is that they sort of sound like the theme music from some obscure seventies cop show, but slowed way down, dipped in FX and stretched out into something way more lysergic and psychedelic. Like his other releases, Cisneros basically just lays down a simple, mesmeric drug-dub loop and lets it roll (we've compared his dub to a slowed down version of Finnish hypno-rockers Circle), tranced out and cyclical, with the variations subtle and minimal, this time around, the main loop/riff/groove is augmented by some distant drones, some hushed metallic swells, over which the ghostly, distorted, lo-fi vocals drift, ghostly and ethereal. It's fantastically murky and moody, as is the B side which is the dub version, stripping away the already minimal vocals, and letting the track itself just smolder and slither, a slowly swirling, head nodding dubbed out murk, that fans of classic dub will no doubt dig, with a sonic connection to Sleep and Om that seems pretty obvious to us. Druggy dubwise divinity that comes HIGHLY recommended.
LIMITED TO 1000 COPIES!! And exquisitely packaged, with hand stamped vinyl labels, housed in a letter pressed chipboard jacket and dust sleeve, with a screen printed insert, all printed on a vintage 1910 press, with stunning artwork from artist David D'Andrea and released on his Samaritan Press imprint. Originally ONLY available on the OM tour, and from D'Andrea's website, we got a handful for the shop, but not sure how long those will last.
Oh, and FYI, we also just got yet another Al Cisneros dub 7", entitled Lantern Of The Soul, released on his own label Sinai. We'll list that next time, assuming we still have copies. Those are only $5.98.
It's been a couple years since Citay's great sophomore outing Little Kingdom, and since then the band has experienced significant lineup changes which included the loss of former guitarist Jesse Reiner who left to concentrate on his awesome new band Jonas Reinhardt. Luckily Citay mastermind Ezra Feinberg was able to get some bigtime heavy hitters to become part of this new incarnation of Citay including virtuoso guitarist Sean Smith and the multitalented and super-prolific Josh Pollock (3 Leafs, Auricle, etc.), joining the already present guitar powerhouse that is Tim Green, who was the original cohort of Feinberg when Citay was first born.
So while this is in some ways a more beefed up and full sounding Citay, the elements that made us fall in love with them in the first place still shine so bright. Their ability to create songs that feel epic yet never indulgent. The way they are able to inhabit so many worlds at once while never feeling disjointed. Citay truly are a gateway band. They can lead you to heavier psychedelia, they can show you the intricacy and dreaminess of West Coast pop, they can take you to the woods, the sky, the forest, and the backyard yet every turn they take feels so right and true to their own unique vision.
Dream Get Together has a rushing current of lush and full sounds that makes you want to blast it so loud and just get swept up in its sound. Long passages without vocals that let their wide arrange of instrumentation take center stage and then Feinberg's wonderful expansive vocal delivery adds another layer of depth to the experience. Meryl Press and Thaliah Harbour add their beautiful voices throughout, maintaining that awesome balance of masculine/feminine that has been such a refreshing aspect of Citay's sound. There is also a really nice guest vocal by Merril Garbus of Tune-Yards. Citay really have carved out such an instantly recognizable and unique sound that is so much all their own. We could tell you that Dream Get Together kind of sounds like Heart hijacked by Robert Fripp and Dungen, but the truth is Citay continue to create music that has its feet in so many musical worlds that the sound they've created is undeniably deep and exists entirely in their own wonderful world. Highly recommended!
It's quite remarkable that only two records into their existence Citay have managed to carve out a sound that is so instantaneously recognizable and distinctive. With their soaring guitars, glorious melodies and harmonies that sound as if they're raining down from the sky, this ensemble led by Ezra Feinberg has quickly become one of the shining lights of the San Francisco music scene, but we think that folks from all over the globe should be hearing them, so they too can be swept away by Citay's carefully crafted songs.
Little Kingdom is the follow up to their debut which was a unanimous AQ favorite when it came out around two years back. With a similar sound and feel as that first outing they have widened their reach as the songs descend with a much more expansive quality. Brimming with a crisp sensation Little Kingdom is matching our autumnal mood so perfectly.
We love how Citay always sound so monumental without resorting to the typical quiet...quiet...loud...eruption formula that so many post-rock groups use when they want to sound grand. What makes Citay so great is that they don't TRY to sound grand or monumental, it's just that the songs they make require a presentation that the band understand so well and do so effortlessly. Little Kingdom makes us want to run into leaves and feel the wind rushing against our skin, whisking us away, the sounds of the strings on guitars summoning us to a greater place!
Wow! We haven't been this excited about a new project in quite a while. Citay is a new band created by Ezra Feinberg (Piano Magic) along with Tim Green (The Fucking Champs, and about a million other projects). What an amazing exercise in how you can take from influences that have been exhausted by so many in all the wrong ways yet somehow find a way to discover the gold that's never been mined before. According to Feinberg, Citay is influenced by Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Queen, and Heart...but wait don't think this is about irony or played-out 70's rock worship. Citay get to the blissed out acoustic moments of the above mentioned bands (think Queen II, Sabbath Vol.4) to create something that sounds so fresh, breezy and full of the right kind of dirt and sunlight. With an onslaught of guitars (mostly acoustic and including some 12 strings), nice textural sounds created by mandolin, flute, organ, piano, vibes and a an overall sound that is hard to talk about without using really over the top words like..perfect! They nailed how this kind of record should sound. The guitars are so sweeping yet intimate, the vocals seep into your skin and all of a sudden it feels like the longest summer day ever, the kind that you never want to end. We can't stop listening to this and each time we do, all we can think about is finding our old huffy and riding through dirt lots as the sun shimmers down on us and we pedal through twilight. So totally recommended!
For the debut release of Kip Ulhorn's (of Cloudland Canyon) new label, Intercoastal Artists, two of our faves, Citay and Cloudland Canyon, both pay tribute to one of their seminal but less obvious influences, Galaxie 500, with two amazing interpretations.
Citay's take on "Tugboat" (also featured on their last full length, Dream Get Together) begins with what is perhaps a straight forward take until the end, where Citay's baroque dual guitar lines recast the warm glowing evocative sheen of the original into a whole new majestic light.
Cloudland Canyon's lovingly lysergic version of "Temperature's Rising" begins with what sounds like a Mellotron line from another song before the familiarity of the song abruptly jumps in and takes off. Being one of Galaxie 500's faster songs, the cover serves Cloudland Canyon well as a single, that is both exploratory and concise, allowing just enough room to allow some hypno-psych flourishes, but keeping the satisfaction of a good pop song well intact.
Very limited!!! We're not sure we'll be able to get more after we run out, so act fast. Each 7" includes a uniquely designed sleeve - no two are exactly alike. Look out for future 7" releases on this label from Pocahaunted/ Eden Express, Sun Circle, and The Alps!
Just in, straight from the source (yup, CF bassist Jasper brought these in to us), Citizen Fish have just issued their third collection of odds'n'ends on cd-r (the previous two were released on cassette). Not to be mistaken for their newest album out now
We all were really excited when we saw that Animal Collective had picked Grouper to open their tour, how cool that Grouper's dreamy and hazy sounds would reach so many new ears at all of their sold out shows. While it might not seem like an obvious match, we think there is much in Panda Bear's aesthetic that drew him and the rest of his gang to Grouper's daydream delights. Enter City Center, who we first heard on a split 7" with Grouper and who to our ears sound a lot like a much more slowed down and blissed out and dreamy Panda Bear. While using similar sounds and ideas, tons of reverb and the same sort of repetition that made the Panda Bear album so unique, City Center never reaches the same kind of ecstatic boiling point, instead keeping things in more understated and lingering. Like the perfect foggy Sunday morning or lazy laid back late night soundtrack, the sound of City Center floats and flows with such ease. Fred Thomas, better known for his band Saturday Looks Good To me, will probably now end up being more well known for City Center, building from his indie-pop roots into something a bit more atmospheric. Nice.
When we first discovered mysterious Northwestern black metal outfit Velvet Cacoon, it wasn't just their blown out buzz that had us enraptured, it was all the rumors and weird stories about the band itself, that they were some sort of eco-fascists, who had built a huge gasoline-driven HARP which was responsible for their massive buzz. We later discovered that the whole eco-fascist / droneharp thing was a ruse, a put on, the band intentionally fucking with what they considered to be a contemptible black metal scene. It was then revealed that Velvet Cacoon were in fact a couple of drug obsessed dandies, who when they weren't crafting some of the most stunning black metal weirdness, were waxing about the various drugs they took, and their decadent lifestyle. But all that stuff only made them more interesting, and gave the sound a certain twisted cachet, coming as it did from these unlikely creators.
As it happened, the band got fed up with the drama and the internet message board bullshit, and decided to scrap Velvet Cacoon entirely and start fresh. A new band, a new name and a new sound. Thus we have Clair Cassis, whose sound really is not all that far removed from the washed out black buzz of VC, but does distinguish itself in some important ways. The first being the song length. The band described CC in an interview as being a more pop Velvet Cacoon, and so it is, the shortest song is under 3 minutes, the longest just less than 7, the band forcing themselves to be more succinct, to move through their musical ideas in a more structured and less unhindered way, instead of letting songs and parts drone on and on. Not that we minded before, in fact, we like it when our black metal drones and buzzes endlessly, but there's something to be said for the opposite approach, which tends to force the write to craft SONGS more than SOUNDS. The other big difference is the bass. And with that the above mentioned pop element. The lack of bass in black metal is practically a running joke, the brittle buzz and furious blasting of most black metal generally relegating bass to a barely there buzz, so when a black metal band takes the bass, and makes it as much a part of the sound as the guitar, it changes the whole shape of the sound, in the case of Clair Cassis, gives it a sort of woozy, gothic, cold wave vibe, black metal is dour and depressive by its very nature, but here it's gloomy and haunting, an emotional sort of darkness and depression.
This new sound/direction is immediately noticeable on opener "Ambercandle" which begins all warped and woozy, the riffs twisted and seemingly melting over the pounding doomy drums, when the track finally kicks into gear, the bass drives the songs, thick and dense, the notes slippery, haunting gloomy low end swells that add some pathos to the already loping minor key dirge, besides that it makes the sound so much heavier. Even on the next track, "The Feathered Fog" which begins with a somewhat standard burst of blackness, droney and relentless, still the bass is there adding heft, and a melodic counterpoint to the frenzied riffage, and then when the song switches gear, lurches into halftime, the bass swoops right to the front and the song transforms into a woozy seasick dirge.
And as you listen, the record definitely reveals itself as more than buzzing black metal, and knowing what we do about the folks behind it, it's not hard to imagine them creating this otherworldly pop music, and simply choosing to cloak it in black metal finery, which definitely explains the catchiness, the heavy bass and buried grooves, but it's probably best to not analyze it too much. A casual glancing listen will definitely provide plenty of black metal pleasure, the guitars are thick and gnarled, the drumming (real this time it sounds like) heavy and blasting, the arrangements trancelike and hypnotic, with long stretches of deep shimmering drone music, as well as plenty of pounding doomic dirgery, Velvet Cacoon fans won't be disappointed, but digging deeper reveals all the other subtle sonic alterations that make Clair Cassis simultaneously much more accessible, but also even weirder than VC. The songs may be shorter, but they're no less complex and convoluted, in fact in some ways, they're even more, considering parts don't drone on, the band flits from part to part, from blast to plod to drift to blast again.
"Pearls & Pinesmoke" is another standout, a soaring blasting droner, thick with bass rumble and throb, grim enough, the drums a little loose and chaotic, the vocals a creepy croak, and then the breakdown comes, and it's total melodic black nirvana, half tempo, the guitar still buzzy, but the bass unfurling an insanely melodic and ridiculously catchy part, that totally transforms the song, and then the sound shifts again back to blasting buzz, somehow the bass remains, adding unlikely melody to even the blackest bits, and fear not, a part that good comes back again, fans of Alcest and Amesoeurs will be in heaven. And after a strange interlude, the track shifts again, into another woozy, differently melodic dirge, laced with more melodic bass, but this time wrapped around spidery acoustic guitars, all still wreathed in crumbling buzz.
Finally the record finishes with the awesomely titled "Hazelhearted In The Seaparlour", which explodes immediately into a dense churning blast, heavy and harsh and layered, with a strange midtempo bridge/chorus, that features a strangely bouncy, and again surprisingly melodic bassline, way up in the mix, changing the focus of the song, before dropping out again and letting the guitars take over, before the track finally fades out, leaving nothing but the wheezing strains of what almost sounds like elevator music, or the music they play in the middle of the night at outside malls, the sound here replete with random bits of found sound, footsteps and other curious ambience.
And just leave it to the fickle folks who disbanded Velvet Cacoon at the height of their popularity to nip their new band in the bud as well, which apparently is exactly what happened. Clair Cassis is no more. But what a way to go. There is a second record floating around, who knows if it will ever get properly released, but for now, this one is not surprisingly shaping up to be a serious contender for black metal record of the year!
BACK IN STOCK!!
When we first discovered mysterious Northwestern black metal outfit Velvet Cacoon, it wasn't just their blown out buzz that had us enraptured, it was all the rumors and weird stories about the band itself, that they were some sort of eco-fascists, who had built a huge gasoline-driven HARP which was responsible for their massive buzz. We later discovered that the whole eco-fascist / droneharp thing was a ruse, a put on, the band intentionally fucking with what they considered to be a contemptible black metal scene. It was then revealed that Velvet Cacoon were in fact a couple of drug obsessed dandies, who when they weren't crafting some of the most stunning black metal weirdness, were waxing about the various drugs they took, and their decadent lifestyle. But all that stuff only made them more interesting, and gave the sound a certain twisted cachet, coming as it did from these unlikely creators.
As it happened, the band got fed up with the drama and the internet message board bullshit, and decided to scrap Velvet Cacoon entirely and start fresh. A new band, a new name and a new sound. Thus we have Clair Cassis, whose sound really is not all that far removed from the washed out black buzz of VC, but does distinguish itself in some important ways. The first being the song length. The band described CC in an interview as being a more pop Velvet Cacoon, and so it is, the shortest song is under 3 minutes, the longest just less than 7, the band forcing themselves to be more succinct, to move through their musical ideas in a more structured and less unhindered way, instead of letting songs and parts drone on and on. Not that we minded before, in fact, we like it when our black metal drones and buzzes endlessly, but there's something to be said for the opposite approach, which tends to force the write to craft SONGS more than SOUNDS. The other big difference is the bass. And with that the above mentioned pop element. The lack of bass in black metal is practically a running joke, the brittle buzz and furious blasting of most black metal generally relegating bass to a barely there buzz, so when a black metal band takes the bass, and makes it as much a part of the sound as the guitar, it changes the whole shape of the sound, in the case of Clair Cassis, gives it a sort of woozy, gothic, cold wave vibe, black metal is dour and depressive by its very nature, but here it's gloomy and haunting, an emotional sort of darkness and depression.
This new sound/direction is immediately noticeable on opener "Ambercandle" which begins all warped and woozy, the riffs twisted and seemingly melting over the pounding doomy drums, when the track finally kicks into gear, the bass drives the songs, thick and dense, the notes slippery, haunting gloomy low end swells that add some pathos to the already loping minor key dirge, besides that it makes the sound so much heavier. Even on the next track, "The Feathered Fog" which begins with a somewhat standard burst of blackness, droney and relentless, still the bass is there adding heft, and a melodic counterpoint to the frenzied riffage, and then when the song switches gear, lurches into halftime, the bass swoops right to the front and the song transforms into a woozy seasick dirge.
And as you listen, the record definitely reveals itself as more than buzzing black metal, and knowing what we do about the folks behind it, it's not hard to imagine them creating this otherworldly pop music, and simply choosing to cloak it in black metal finery, which definitely explains the catchiness, the heavy bass and buried grooves, but it's probably best to not analyze it too much. A casual glancing listen will definitely provide plenty of black metal pleasure, the guitars are thick and gnarled, the drumming (real this time it sounds like) heavy and blasting, the arrangements trancelike and hypnotic, with long stretches of deep shimmering drone music, as well as plenty of pounding doomic dirgery, Velvet Cacoon fans won't be disappointed, but digging deeper reveals all the other subtle sonic alterations that make Clair Cassis simultaneously much more accessible, but also even weirder than VC. The songs may be shorter, but they're no less complex and convoluted, in fact in some ways, they're even more, considering parts don't drone on, the band flits from part to part, from blast to plod to drift to blast again.
"Pearls & Pinesmoke" is another standout, a soaring blasting droner, thick with bass rumble and throb, grim enough, the drums a little loose and chaotic, the vocals a creepy croak, and then the breakdown comes, and it's total melodic black nirvana, half tempo, the guitar still buzzy, but the bass unfurling an insanely melodic and ridiculously catchy part, that totally transforms the song, and then the sound shifts again back to blasting buzz, somehow the bass remains, adding unlikely melody to even the blackest bits, and fear not, a part that good comes back again, fans of Alcest and Amesoeurs will be in heaven. And after a strange interlude, the track shifts again, into another woozy, differently melodic dirge, laced with more melodic bass, but this time wrapped around spidery acoustic guitars, all still wreathed in crumbling buzz.
Finally the record finishes with the awesomely titled "Hazelhearted In The Seaparlour", which explodes immediately into a dense churning blast, heavy and harsh and layered, with a strange midtempo bridge/chorus, that features a strangely bouncy, and again surprisingly melodic bassline, way up in the mix, changing the focus of the song, before dropping out again and letting the guitars take over, before the track finally fades out, leaving nothing but the wheezing strains of what almost sounds like elevator music, or the music they play in the middle of the night at outside malls, the sound here replete with random bits of found sound, footsteps and other curious ambience.
And just leave it to the fickle folks who disbanded Velvet Cacoon at the height of their popularity to nip their new band in the bud as well, which apparently is exactly what happened. Clair Cassis is no more. But what a way to go. There is a second record floating around, who knows if it will ever get properly released, but for now, this one is not surprisingly shaping up to be a serious contender for black metal record of the year!
When talk of this band comes up in conversation, some folks around here do indeed clap their hands and say "Yeah!" Others cross their arms and say "Meh." Some make a fist and say "Fuck no!" And still others simply scratch their heads and wonder what the fuss is all about. Sooo, with whom will you be sharing your Valentine's sweets this year? Not sure? Well, perhaps the new self-released album from these exclamatory tweaked popsters will help you decide. A sizable deciding factor definitely seems to be band leader Alec Ounsworth's winsome vocals which might be endearingly nasal in a David Byrne sort of way to some, and shrilly whining to others. Produced by Dave Fridmann, Some Loud Thunder is the sophomore release by this Brooklyn, NY quintet.
Eccentric, folksy, retro-tinged pop is all around us these days. Following in the footsteps of fine bands such as Hidden Cameras, Frog Eyes, Architecture In Helsinki and Arcade Fire, here's one of the latest bands to be causing a minor ruckus (and for once, it's not a Canadian band! haha!). This release hasn't been easy to get a hold of. Folks have been feverishly requesting it for weeks, but we've only just recently been able to track down the self-released, very sparsely distributed and not so readily available cd. So what's the fuss all about? We shrug. While we can certainly see the appeal in their very 'now' sound, when we put the disc on for a spin, our reaction was nothing short of tepid (there were even some groans). In the first couple of tracks, there's some very Television styled, emotively yelped vocals, but overall, it's as if Clap Your Hands, Say Yeah randomly picked the Talking Heads and The Violent Femmes from the pool of '80s bands, and fused the voices of David Byrne and Gordon Gano into that ubiquitous clunked-art-dance-punk sound. We'd recommend first visiting the music of the far superior bands mentioned above before heading in the direction of CYHSY.
Each and every one of Allen Clapp's songs exude a wide-eyed earnestness. Here's seventeen of 'em for you to cuddle up to! This was *the* indie pop sound of the early '90s -- sweet, pretty, strummy jangle guitars and boyish vocals filled with adorable charm. He was the male counterpart to Amelia Fletcher (of Heavenly, Talulah Gosh and Marine Research) or Rose Melberg (of The Softies, Go Sailor and Tiger Trap). The forecast here is nuthin' but sunshine and sweethearts!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
In a word: WEIRD. Man, listening to this we veered from thinking it was the best thing ever, to totally painful, and back again. The truth of course lies somewhere in between (and in each of us as individuals). But it's hard not to be intrigued by this, anyway... This Todd Tamaend Clark guy was (is) a psychedelic, avantgarde rock n' roller who toiled in obscurity for many many years though clearly he should at the very least have a cult following. Thankfully the diligent Anopheles label has put together this chronological collection of a large part of Mr. Clark's out-there output, and more folks will have a chance to appreciate what a few lucky collectors (and Mr. Clark's friends) must have been amazed and amused by for years! He's a bit of a Roky Erickson-like figure, though fortunately not so tragic.
Inspired by the comic books and sci-films of his childhood (he was born in 1952), Pennsylvanian part-American Indian Todd Tamanend Clark's musical career was perhaps destined for weirdness. Especially after seeing Monkee Mickey Dolenz playing a Moog on TV in 1968, the same year the United States Of America LP came out, both of which were life-changing musical experiences for Clark... his love of '60s garage psych (borne out by covers of the Electric Prunes and Paul Revere & The Raiders found here) warped into a realm of DIY electronics. Thus the list of synths and effects used on this 2cd set is a long one!! Yup, heavy doses of spacey synth and distorted garagey punk riffery (a '60s-ish Lightning Bolt meets Sun Ra??) are the norm here throughout Clark's varied output, which includes lengthy psychedelic epics, weird experiments in murky electronics, earnest songsmithery, and brash rockers. There's an atonal droning "outsider art" quality to a lot of this that will make and/or break it for most folks. The vocals are the toughest part... an over the top, slurred mix of Jim Morrison and Jandek, perhaps? All the weird poetry he's spouting sure goes with the freaky music even though you'll probably have no idea what's he on about. And with all the prog twists and haunted house synth noises going we're sure it makes perfect sense somehow. The earlier stuff at the beginning of the first disc is heavy on the primitive electronics (best example: the overwhelming 13 minute opening soundscape "March Of The Legion") and druggy vocal delivery, while later in the two-disc set, when we enter the '80s, the songs get more "pop"...in Clark's mind anyway. Things have tightened up a bit, though that doesn't preclude the appearance of a 14 minute track ("The Grim Rider") nor a fucked up, computerized version of the "Star Spangled Banner"! And the use of new wave '80s technology only makes things kitschier. If you dug the Happy Dragon-Band and Zolar X reissues, you might find this stuff to tickle the same fancies.
All the tracks are taken from Clark's various ultra-rare, self-released LPs and 7"s spanning the years 1975-1985, including all the material from such albums as New Gods: Aardvark Thru Zymurgy, We're Not Safe!, and Into The Vision, released under various names (The Eyes, Todd Clark Group, The Stars). He didn't do all of this alone, y'know. Over the course of these 33 tracks (150 minutes of music!!) you'll hear contributions from many of Clark's friends, and family too. In fact, a few famous names appear, with one track featuring the voice of William S. Burroughs and on others, instruments played by Cheetah Chrome of the Dead Boys and Pere Ubu's Allen Ravenstine!
With typical Anopheles throughness, this comes with a 20 page booklet stuffed with biographical information, photos, equipment lists, musician credits, and liner notes, including track-by-track comments from Clark himself.
Not everyone's gonna need/want all 150 minutes of this, to be honest. Could have been a short, more bearable "best of". But then again, WE want to hear it all. So maybe you do too. And you can always make your own best of after you've listened to the whole crazy shebang. We'll end this review the way it began, with a word it seems most AQ customers respond to well: WEIRD.
