I don't know about you, but for the record nerds we know, every vacation is merely an excuse to check out record stores and discover weird bands and see cool shows. Sure we'll deny it, but we won't ever be allowed to forget the time Andee spent at least half of his first trip to Japan, dragging his fiancee Heather around to little hole in the wall record stores, or when Allan made record shopping a priority in Turkey...
Well, when Andee was in NYC recently, there was, surprisingly enough, a bit of record shopping, and there were two fantastic musical discoveries, the first, was a band called Holy Fuck, whose record we will get soon and feature on the list, the other, was a band called Health, whose full length we also have, but we figured this split 7" would be a good introduction.
Not exactly sure how to describe Health, they're sort of one of those awesome WTF noise rock combos, who weave wildly from sound to sound, while somehow retaining a distinct musical personality. Health, to us at least, sound like part hooky pop, new wave weirdness, Sonic Youth style indie rock soundscaping, and chaotic free noise. Not always in equal measures. The first track here is all chaotic tribal drumming and freaked out noise, angular guitars, and breathy SY style vocals, imagine some hybrid of Sonic Youth, 23 Skidoo and This Heat. Hypnotic and off kilter and so good. The other Health track is some weird eighties electro jam, with weird affected vocals, vintage synths, warm reverbed percussion and even handclaps. But somehow the two tracks sound perfect together...
The flipside is the awesomely named Crystal Castles, who are not only named after one of the coolest video games ever, they also sort of sound like a punk rock version of the Crystal Castles music. The core of their sound is full on 8 bit Nintendo core, all bleeps and bloops and buzzes, but over the top is sprawled some fierce Riot Grrl growl, plenty of distortion and crunch, with howled banshee female vocals, swathed in that weird Cher vocal effect. Weird. And then strangely, the other track removes everything BUT the video game jamz, leaving a tune that sounds like it could be music straight from some secret level in Mario Bros....
Nice thick sleeve, with creepy cover art, and pressed on super thick white vinyl.
A super limited new tape from Berlin based lo-fi noise pop weirdo Jacob Faurholt, aka Crystal Shipsss, only 50 copies in the US, and aQ is the only store carrying them. And this is just the sort of thing that pushes all our warped pop outsider jangle fuzz buttons, and we imagine yours too. At its core, the sound of Crystal Shipsss, is fuzzy, jangly, lilting pop music, sweet sad boy vox, dreamy melodies, plenty of hooks, crazy catchy choruses, but the SOUND is what it's all about. A mad scientist kitchen sink approach to pop songsmithery, with even the sweetest slab of poppiness here wreathed in crumbling distortion, or swirling clouds of fractured FX, the drums are blown out, sounding like they were recording in an airplane hanger one second, on cardboard boxes in a kitchen pantry the next, the vocals wavery and woozy one second, that sweetly crooned the next, the guitars thick and crunchy, exploding into epic, majestic fuzziness, and then slipping right back into dreamy soft focus jangle. Just check out the chorus of "Where The Wild Things Are", it gives Mikal Cronin a run for his money. In fact, this is the kind of record that has us thinking that stuff like this probably won't remain underground for very much longer.
Every track here is a warm, swirling, psychedelic gem, "Crushing Like A Skull", is all warm and melty and shoegazey, what sounds like organs, blurred into thick swaths of chordal shimmer, droned out and so so dreamy, while "Listening To Devil Town" is a weirdly creepy minor key fuzz pop dirge, with brittle rhythms buried in the mix, and some seriously weird lyrics about Daniel Johnston and carrot cake (!). "Dusty Vinyls", is a woozy drone-pop ballad, all distorto strum, hazy swirls of droned out tones wrapped around some sweetly fuzzy poppiness, and "Night Of The Creeps" is a drum machine driven sprawl of spare jangly garage pop shuffle, which disappears into a weird cloud of swirling metallic shimmer and woozy soft noise swirl.
Fans of everything from home made 4-track pop, to fuzzed out garage rock, to DIY shoegaze noise pop, this could very likely be your new favorite jam.
LIMITED TO 50 COPIES!! Includes a download coupon as well!
If our instore cd player had a counter we're pretty sure we would have maxed it out by now with endless repeated plays of the debut full length by Crystal Stilts. As much as their debut ep blew us away (check the review elsewhere on the site for much gushing), this record is taking our love for them to even greater heights, so much so that we're becoming pretty darn obsessed! And how could we not, an entire record filled with smokey and catchy dark pop gems. With crooning vocals and rich hooks imbedded into every song, they've managed to create a record that we're always in the mood to hear and don't think we'll ever get sick of. You can tell that these guys probably love '60s pop and girl groups as much as they do post-punk and psychedelic garage sounds, as the songs on Alight Of Night sound like Phil Spector laying his Wall of Sound on a band whose own sound falls somewhere between The Smiths and Joy Division, or if Spacemen 3 did a record full of Crystals covers. In fact this is reminding us a lot of the Jeremy Jay Airwalker ep that we fell in love with right around this time last year.
It's so cool to see AQ customers of all stripes getting swept up in the 'Stilts' sound, unable to resist as we're blasting it in the store, and it's inevitable that they eventually make their way to the 'now playing' holder to find out who is responsible for these sound getting under their skin in such pleasurable ways. Got a good feeling this will be on many of our year end favorite lists...so damn good!
Most folks around here have been pretty obsessed with Crystal Stilts, since their self titled 2008 debut on Woodsist. But there's definitely a been holdout or two among us. Who, while appreciating that Crystal Stilts were a decent band, didn't necessarily understand what the fuss was all about. That all changes with In Love With Oblivion, and those folks are definitely gonna have to reassess their opinion on those older records too, cuz EVERYone here has gone totally nuts for this new record. Including the previous nonbelievers. Not sure what exactly it is, their sound hasn't changed so dramatically, but there's just something about this record that's totally magical. Dark and brooding, low slung slithery gloom pop, that while lumped in with the current crop of Sacred Bones / Captured Tracks outfits, to these ears are way more beholden to Aussie groups like the Celibate Rifles, the Lime Spiders, the Scientists, the Saints, Radio Birdman, even the Hoodoo Gurus, maybe especially the Hoodoo Gurus. Which is weird, cuz these guys are from Brooklyn. But they have that twangy surf guitar, the Fuzztones style wheezing garage rock organ, everything hazy and reverby, and of course the vox, that's what really does it, deep and dramatic, commanding and intense but still melodic. Opener "Sycamore Tree" is a perfect example, a dead ringer for some lost Celibate Rifles jam, a minimal woozy groove, the percussion a propulsive shuffle, the guitars thick with twang and reverb, the bass dense and driving, and the vocals, the sort of singing that would go on to define noise rock outfits from down under like Lubricated Goat and Kingsnakeroost, eyes closed it feels like being in some dingy club in Australia in the early eighties, packed in like sardines, the sound deafening, the crowd rapt and sweaty, moving to the music, total zoner gloom pop post punk bliss.
Then there's the other side of the band, like on "Through The Floor" where they channel classic girl group sounds, but add their own twist, those deep crooned vox, the whirring organ, lots of sweet back up harmonies, and of course plenty of buzz and reverb. And so it goes, the band switching from shimmery sixties jangle, to dark brooding eighties post punk gloom pop, often melding the two. And while we love both sides of the band, it's the darker side that we find the most mesmerizing. Like on "Alien Rivers", a creepy crawl, all thick undulating organs, shuffling snares, spidery guitars, the vocals especially heavy with reverb and echo, the sound droned out and druggy, divinely hypnotic. And there's the woozy groovy stomp of "Prometheus At Large", classic rock and roll wrapped in murk and grit and grime, a sort of classic fifties style pop transformed into something much more sinister. Elsewhere there's plenty of jangle and shimmer, shuffle and buzz, "Flying Into The Sun" sounds like a lo-fi indie pop Interpol, "Precarious Stair" sounds like some fantastic union of Thee Oh Sees and the Vivian Girls, but with those crooned post punk vox, all the songs buzzy and hooky and heavy in their own way, slipping easily from indie pop to new wave to indie jangle but always infused with the Stilts' dark brood, and fuzzy wall of sound reverby shimmer, and all held together by some impossibly great and catchy songs, and of course those fantastic vocals.
Definite contender for record of the year, and a new unanimous aQ fave for sure!
So much changes in a year. Around this time last year we didn't even know who Crystal Stilts were and now they've become one of our favorite bands, whose ep and full length we've played over and over and have truly become all time AQ favorites. So of course we were thrilled to see Slumberland release this slab of wax with two brand new tracks to obsess over. These two songs find the band at their poppiest yet, truly embracing the '60s girl group sound and production that they seamlessly incorporate into their own sound as they've created this amazing universe that's sort of like Phil Spector's wall of sound invading Tony Wilson's Factory empire. Two more nuggets to tide us over until the next full length...
The last full length from these NYC garage gloom rockers, 2011's In Love With Oblivion, might just rank in the pantheon of all time aQ favorites, and one of the few records that pretty much everyone here loved like crazy. Due in no small part to the opening track, the impossibly catchy "Sycamore Tree", which almost immediately became a mixtape staple around these parts. We dug the subsequent Radiant Door ep, but it just wasn't enough and we were still itching for more. So we were pretty psyched to see a new full length, although Nature Noir has gotten a sort of mixed reception around here. And even after repeated listens, it's obvious why, while the sound remains similar, the vibe is way more dour, the sound lugubrious and sloooow. Total late night, wasted downer pop, that at first seems to be missing much of the hookiness that made that last record such a classic. In fact opener "Spirit In Front Of Me" is a strange choice to start things off, being a murky, muddy crawl, lugubrious and woozy. It's actually pretty dreamy, but it's easy to understand how to some ears it could seem a bit low energy, almost like it's spinning on a portable turntable with dying batteries (which of course sounds awesome to us!), but especially when you hear the second track, "Star Crawl", which is immediately more poppy, with a main hook, that will lodge in your head like crazy within seconds, and that's just the verse, but it's a doozy, and harkens back to In Love With Oblivion for sure. And then right after that, the band cranks it up a bit, and infuses their mope rock with some high energy crunch, and by that point, we were smitten all over again. Nature Noir is maybe a grower, but once it hits, it hits hard, and like the Crystal Stilts records before it, seems like it's suddenly all we want to listen to.
And in the past we constantly compare these guys to Aussie post punks like Celibate Rifles, the Lime Spiders, the Scientists, the Saints, Radio Birdman, even the Hoodoo Gurus, and this shift in sound, this more dirgey sonic torpor only makes that comparison more apt. But for every moment like that, there's a track like "Sticks And Stones", that sounds downright polished, bringing to mind the Tindersticks actually, or possibly something even more mainstream, like the National, the same sort of dour moody gloom pop, some tracks laced with strings, somber string swaddled ballads that are actually quite darkly stirring. But ultimately, it's just another great Crystal Stilts record, and repeated listens most certainly yields optimal results, and while it probably won't bump In Love With Oblivion out of the pantheon, it will most definitely get played to death. And "Star Crawl", as well as a few others, will most likely make it on to a bunch of mixtapes as well...
Pretty much everyone at aQ LOVES Crystal Stilts, and their last full length In Love With Oblivion had to have been one of thee most played records in the shop, getting spun at least once a day, sometimes more, which definitely says a lot. So we were super psyched to discover there was a new ep out, and while we love this new one just as much, it somehow hasn't made us listen to the last one any less, now we just listen to both like crazy. And really what more can we say about these guys that we haven't already, their sound dark and garagey, fuzzy and jangly, organ driven and dreamily dour, we can't help mention all the Aussie bands we're so reminded of, Celibate Rifles, Scientists, Radio Birdman, Hoodoo Gurus, so much so that some of us were actually sorta surprised that these guys are from Brooklyn.
Very much like In Love With Oblivion's opener "Sycamore Tree", which has to be our jam of last year, Radiant Doors opens with another killer, "Dark Eyes", which immediately became a new fave, with its handclap rhythm, thick buzzing organ, reverbed vocals, the whole track hazy and softly psychedelic, weirdly noisy, but the noisiness more dreamy than anything, very droney and washed out and hypnotic, we literally listened to this track 10 times before we could bring ourselves to move on. And as always, we weren't disappointed, the title track is much more dreamy and jangly, more traditionally poppy, the vocals deep and dramatic, the melodies lilting, a pretty perfect pop song for sure, laced with cool little bits of sci-fi synth, but for the most part, stripped down and catchy as heck. The rest of the EP is more of the same, a heady mix of dreamy jangly pop and whirring organ driven droniness, finally finishing up with the droned out and dreamily druggy "Frost Inside the Asylums", that almost sounds like a lo-fi version of the Editors or something, the sort of dramatic gloom pop balladry that could catapult them into the 'big time'.
Unlike many of their lo-fi garage peers, Crystal Stilts are quite restrained when it comes to releasing records. They still have not released a full length since their amazing debut, Alight Of Night from way back in 2008, and we think it's wise they're taking this approach. The only thing we've heard from them since was the incredibly addictive single "Love Is A Wave" which they released as a 7" last year and now finally we get two more brand new songs to whet our hungry appetites for a new album by one of the bands we imagine will outlast so many in the crowded lo-fi crowd they share a scene with. The A side "Shake The Shackles" could be confused with one of our favorite Jeremy Jay songs as it finds the Stilts at their most melodic and inviting yet. The B side "Magnetic Moon" has that perfect dark pop gloom that they do better then almost anyone around. A no brainier for fans of the band, and if you're not a fan or missed the boat the first time around,we urge you to check out their records as they really are something special!
This is some great stripped down psychedelic garage post-punk, and we've been playing it over and over once in the shop once we finally checked it out. Turns out this was actually recorded a few years back but it fits so perfectly with some of the great releases of the last year, the way it channels the likes of Jesus & Mary Chain and Joy Division without sounding like a copycat at all. Filled with delicious reverb, smoky melodies and an overall aura of dark and cool that hits us so right. Like recent releases by Indian Jewelry, The Raveonettes, Jeremy Jay and Psychic Ills, this is a record that exudes such a seductive spell. Something so perfect about an ep from a band that is new to your ears, as all six of these songs are so great and never wear out their welcome. These New Yorkers are further proof that you can channel the ghosts of the past and still create something that sounds so present and alive. Highly recommended!
One of the flagship groups on the Philles Records label run by Phil Spector in the Sixties, The Crystals stand as one of the greatest girl groups of all time. When Spector and The Crystals joined forces, the results encompassed some of the strongest and most moving selections of Spector's production career. There is a reason so many, diverse bands have covered these songs, including Grizzly Bear and Hole. "He Hit Me (It Felt Like A Kiss)" stands as one of the most chilling pop songs of all time. Even the one of the most subversive of artistic minds, Kenneth Anger, knew the power of their pop prowess and included "He's A Rebel" on the soundtrack to his legendary short film Scorpio Rising.
It's been so awesome to get to highlight these reissued Phil Spector recordings (The Ronettes, etc.) over the last few lists, as this is hands down some of the best pop music ever made. And such perfect timing for this release as we hear The Crystals' influence on so many of today's 'it' bands like Hunx & His Punx and Dum Dum Girls. It's that rare kind of recording that both your mom, and the most experimental minded music loving obsessive will love so much, as there's no denying the greatness of The Crystals!
Features 18 remastered tracks, including one previously unreleased cut.
Reissue of the original pressing of monster Phil Spector Girl Group Sounds.
Hailing from Sao Paulo, Brazil, CSS made party waves earlier this year with their debut album on Sub Pop which brought their upbeat party jams to a whole mess of fans in the states. Touring with the likes of Ladytron and ESG has helped them show off their sassy grooves. This new 7" features the irresistible album track "Alala" as well as a b-side number which isn't on the album and is a little more raw and rocking, bringing to mind early Le Tigre or Stereo Total, which of course sounds pretty kick ass blasting through our speakers. Could be the perfect holiday treat for that special sassy someone in your life.
Gimme a C! Gimme an S! Gimme another S! What does that spell? FUN!!! The latest addition to the Sub Pop family comes from Sao Paulo, Brazil! Although the band photo looked like a teenage version of Katrina And The Waves, the only other thing in common with that band is perhaps their stratospheric energy level. CSS are totally gleeful, brightly hued and tingling with electricity. It's like they took all these incredibly familiar pop hooks from the last few decades and made all new songs around them. But here's the giant good thing about it -- they sounds completely earnest. There's not a smidge of hipster irony (well, maybe except for the songs like "Let's Make Love And Listen To Death From Above" and "Meeting Paris Hilton" which is one of the better tunes). Fans of The Go Team will surely take a shine to this group. Positively bustin' at the seams with enthusiasm, they maintain the energy level of a half dozen pep squads throughout the eleven tunes, bubbling over at a breezy tempo. An aside, we were particularly charmed by their pronunciation of "Owff tha hoook". Folks with delicate ears, please note that they do have a bit of a pottymouth... although from their lips it comes across as pretty innocuous. Three cheers for CSS! Psst, in case you were wonderin', the album's title translates from Portuguese to English as "Tired Of Being Sexy". Ooh, such a burden, innit?
You won't be finding any pompoms or pep squad cheers on this the sophomore full length from CSS! They're walking a different walk this time out. Geez, it's almost like a total alter ego. While we were definitely expecting and received an album bursting with sweaty energy from this Brazilian group, we weren't quite anticipating that they'd return with a bit of a chip on their shoulder. Yeah, it sure ain't all smiles and giddiness this time. And admittedly we're a bit disappointed that they've chosen to take this detour into more common girl-fronted modern rock fare, especially after such an exuberant and distinct debut. That said, if you dug the debut album that we reviewed recently by The Ting Tings or the latest Sons & Daughters release, CSS are here to deliver some like-minded punchy, sassy synth-pop for you. Much like the former, this album really made us think of Tegan & Sara kickin' it at some sleek after hours joint like they're Elastica or somethin'. So yeah, much darker in mood and attitude (check out "How I Became Paranoid"), Donkey is as apropos for late night club escapades as Cansei De Ser Sexy was for hot afternoon outdoor frolics. Who knows where they'll go from here!
Three remixes of what just might be everyone's current fave tune from the band who just might be everyone's current fave band from Brazil! Who's doing the deed? Simian Mobile Disco, Calvin Harris, and Hot Chip! Yeah, loosen up, hot stuff! This saucy space robot funk electro disco punk is beckoning you back to the dancefloor.
Cuddle-core lives! Here's the newly remastered reissue of Cub's 1992 debut album Betti-Cola which comes with four bonus tracks. First things first, yes, the remastering did make a difference. This cd does sound a whole lot better than the original!
For those unfamiliar... Once upon a time, three Canadian college friends (including our own Cup, pre-I Am Sponbender and AQ!) with little or no previous band experience got together to have fun trying something new for themselves (yeah, you might think "big deal!", but back then things were different... the indie music scene was even more of a boys club for one thing!). Taking the spirit & ethics of DIY punk rock, but understanding the undeniable joy of '60s girl groups, Cub's basement rehearsal space was where the musical genre cuddlecore was born. Releasing a slew of 7" eps (the bulk of which comprise Betti-Cola) and touring extensively, the three gals were definitely kindred spirits with the scene happening just a few hours south at Olympia' WA's K Records (Beat Happening, Tiger Trap, Lois, etc). They even cover Beat Happening's "Cast A Shadow".
A decade and a half later, Betti-Cola's still burstin' with youthful exuberance and blithe spirit (and topping the college radio charts once again to boot!). The tunes are sweet, peppy, rough around the edges, and a bit unsteady at times just like, yes, a cub! On the surface it may seem a little silly or childlike, but looks can be deceiving. It takes guts to throw caution to the wind like they did. As a result, the trio inspired countless young girls and women to pick up guitars or drumsticks or... Heck, look no further than Ms Neko Case who drummed with the band for a spell!
With each album they grew in confidence, skill and composition (personally we favor their second and third albums Come Out Come Out and Box Of Hair), but this is where it all began. Their bright, playful pop is perfect matched with the cover art custom drawn for them by noneother than Dan DeCarlo of Archie Comics fame!
FYI: Come Out Come Out has also been remastered and reissued, and the band's third and final album Box Of Hair has also been rereleased with a bonus fan-pleasin' item.
Cub's newly remastered and reissued third and final album, Box of Hair, plays up the edgier and urgent side of their cuddle-core ethos. The distortion is upped, the song-writing more heartbroken, the lyrics more snarly in their delivery. Stiffer 'real world experience' influences are more pervasive here than on previous releases, and there's an overall feeling that the band is going for broke, and sensing an end coming, want to leave things with a bang. And that's definitely what Box of Hair is, a maturing sum up of priorities, showcasing their best song-writing and musical craft and taking it as far as it can go. One mesmerizing and charming highlight on the album, "Magic 8 Ball", captures all the Cub essentials - infectious pop hooks and clever, bittersweet lyrics. Box of Hair's not as carefree as their previous releases, but it's probably their most meaningful and resonant. Includes a bonus fan-pleasin' item -- a bright, embroidered patch of the band's sunshiney logo!
Note: If you can endure the seemingly endless chair creakiness ("it's not bed squeaks!" says Cup) at the album's end you'll be rewarded with a truly retarded punk rock finish.
FYI: Along with Box of Hair, Betti-Cola and Come Out Come Out, have also been rereleased with bonus tracks!
Come Out Come Out is Cub's masterpiece. Newly remastered with bonus tracks (a couple of them hidden), it is the culmination of all the DIY spirit of their debut but also shows the band honing their skills as musicians and songwriters into a tight set of upbeat tunes with a joyful edge - although Cub was often skillfully bittersweet. Self-proclaimed cuddle-core trio from Vancouver, BC, Lisa, Lisa and Robynn veered away from the battle cries of their more raucous riot grrrl contemporaries preferring to wave the 'home-crafted' flag with a more confident (and varied) direction. Obviously, legions of fanatic cubsters (likely whipped into a frenzy during thir sugar-pop-overload live shows) got the message. On this their second full length, wonder along to "Everything's Geometry", "New York City" (later covered by They Might Be Giants), and covers of the Go-Gos' "Vacation" and Yoko Ono's "I'm Your Angel"!
Originally released as a triple 7" colored vinyl fiesta with some wonderfully twisted cover art by Canadian artist Fiona Smyth, the extra bonus tracks here include a live version of "Cast A Shadow" featuring some Italian dude who jumped on stage to play harmonica, and a sweet phoned-in version of "My Chinchilla" on Canadian Radio, that really captures the band's energetic live spirit. Another key groop in a line of influential DIY femme trios from The Shaggs, Kleenex, and The Raincoats, to The Marine Girls, Shonen Knife and Le Tigre, it's time once again for Cub!!
FYI: Betti-Cola has also been remastered and reissued, and the band's third and final album Box Of Hair has also been rereleased with a bonus fan-pleasin' item.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
A posthumous Australian import collection of odds and ends from these Vancouver pop gals that quite succinctly documents their 5-year history in music, words, and photos. The ultra-lovely Ear of The Dragon compilation track "Secret Nothing" is worth the price of admission alone.
It's been quite a while since we last heard from those frisky Bay Area residents Cubby Creatures, but they've always had a knack for reappearing right when a bright, warming beam of slightly woozy pop is needed. On their new self-released album After The Deprogramming, they've kept to the basic sound of their handful of past releases -- blending together psych, folk, indie pop and assorted other quirky sweetness -- but seem to have shed their early lower-fi ramshackleness for good, in favor of more composed tunefulness. After The Deprogramming is certainly a much more focused and polished work. That said, there's still a bounce in their step, but the playfulness is now counterbalanced by an occasional dip into darker dramatic territory. Hurrah!
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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Atonal pop mischief that sounds like it could have been on Ralph Records, and sounding at times a little like a dorkier Thinking Fellers Union Local 282. An eclectic jumble of effected vocals, violin, clarinet, and samples.
Here in the Bay Area, those fine Cubby Creatures keep it all low-key, quietly working away on new songs and other crafty endeavors, but burst forth every so often with a rollicking live jamboree or two. This record is the follow-up to their well-received Who Remembers Kathy Barra? cdep which easily drew comparisons to '60s psych-pop like that of the Blues Magoos (but replace that decade's requisite farfisa organs with more timeless woodwinds) or perhaps more so The Millennium, and more recently Olivia Tremor Control (with glimpses of their more experimental leanings). This 3-song 7" features two of their own fab tunes and a splendid reworking of Nick Drake's "Fly" to boot. Bright, warm and a wee bit trippy, sorta like what you might hear if The Archies crossed paths with a mysterious roving band of minstrels. Go Cubbies!
At the end of this much-too-short EP from SF's clever, quirky popsters The Cubby Creatures, you can't help but wanna hit 'play' one more time. Five playful and pretty tunes that sound as if each of the six Cubby folk had a gleeful time performing them and
2nd studio album (after the out of print ECIM) from these far-out Bostonian instrumentalists. A nice one.
I'll be happy to chalk this one up to lack of sleep and too much coffee, but Cul De Sac is sounding an awful lot like a surf band these days (more like the Mermen than the Ventures) with a happy, stonier feel on Glenn Jones' lead guitar lines. There's still plenty of their patented post-Kraut grooves, analogue bubblings, and a dense layering of sound to their instrumentals.
Despite the Emperor t-shirt Cul de Sac's Robin Amos wears so proudly on the inside cover of this new album, the Boston band has not gone black metal (although it's apparently much of what they listen to in the tour vehicle!) Still, this long awaited -- three years in the making -- record from one of our favorite groups is a stylistic breakthru for them, and a very successful one at that. Amos and new member Jake Trussell (electronics/turntables) first created a sonic foundation: samples contributed by each bandmember (everything from a gurgling Missouri River to Peruvian rainforest ambience, a scratchy Cajun 78rpm record, and a 1933 German a capella 5-part harmony group) were looped, treated and otherwise manipulated into electronic roadmaps over which the band then played acoustic bowed bass, warm gentle guitars, muted tickings, violin, sinister twanging sitar, hunting horns, melodica, and more. The electronically manipulated elements were meant to stand equally alongside the organic acoustic sounds -- something Amos points out is attempted often by other musicians but rarely happens successfully. It's really no surprise that if any band could do this well, it would be the always-amazing Cul de Sac.
This record is the hands-down best lull-you-to-sleep record of the year so far -- Reminiscent of lots of AQ faves (Phillip Jeck, No Neck Blues Band, Bohren, Jackie O Motherfucker, Birchville Cat Motel Band, Third Ear Band) but totally amazing and original as always!
Damn, it's hard to believe this album is fourteen years old! Back in print after many years, Cul De Sac's ambitious debut sounds fresher than ever. One of the first bands to directly reference the rhythmic propulsions of Can, while at the same time expanding their musical arsenal to include surf music, psychedelic post-rock, Mediterranean trance music and folk, Cul De Sac have been faves here forever. Ecim reads like a drug-induced travelogue through non-linear time with each song setting up a unique feel distinct from each other yet oddly connected. Covers of Tim Buckley's "Song of the Siren" and "The Portland Cement Factory, at Monolith, California" by John Fahey (with whom they would subsequently collaborate) provide some familiar ground while at the same time offering something completely unexpected. Recommended! And oh yeah, this remastered reissue's got three previously unreleased bonus tracks from 1991, and brand new liner notes!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Eagerly-awaited domestic version of the Flying Nun import.
Quite possibly as subdued and meandering as Cul de Sac can get! Their fifth album (actually recorded live for Brandeis University's WBRS radio in 1999) brings an even greater sense of space to their distinct blend of psych, folk, surf, and krautrock. We seem to recall them as being considerably more composed and dynamic, but "Immortality Lessons" just left me wondering "is this blissfully meditative or just plain boring?" Depends on your mood, of course... but even if we opt to consider it blissful, it's certainly not our all-time favorite Cul de Sac release. Try "I Don't Want To Go To Bed" (also live, but considerably more varied, being cobbled together from rehearsal tapes) or "China Gate" or their collaboration with John Fahey, "The Epiphany of Glenn Jones" if you haven't heard 'em before. However, fans may well want this, especially since in spite of being a live album, most of the songs on here have never before appeared on any other Cul de Sac album, including one written for but cut from that Fahey collab. So, worth it if you're 1) really into 'em and/or 2) in a mellow mood. I guess 'cause it's been years since their last album (1999's "Crashes To Light, Minutes To Its Fall"), maybe our expectations had built up too much -- but they do have two other new discs soon to be released (a brand new studio disc entitled "Death of the Sun" as well as the soundtrack to a film called "The Strangler's Wife") so perhaps they'll knock us out again with one of 'em. Also, look out for them on tour (where? we don't know, maybe it's an East Coast thing), apparently with guest vocalist Damo Suzuki of Can along for the ride!
It's been a great year for fans of Cul de Sac, the experimental/instrumental rock outfit from Boston who wowed us after a more-or-less three year absence with the brilliant Death Of The Sun back in the winter and who now give us a soundtrack album recording in the midst of the Death Of The Sun sessions. We don't know anything about the film for which this music was made, but if it's half as good as this soundtrack, it'd be worth a viewing, or two.
The music here was all composed and edited for specific scenes, or improvised in the studio as the film was being screened by the band. They got pretty creative in constructing this soundtrack, dabbling in diverse styles as befit the action in the film, from motorik krautrock-y jams to Faheyesque acoustic guitar to abstract drone-scapes to divebombing digital hardcore noise assaults! It's a myriad of moods, all expertly rendered, and despite the eclecticism it hangs together really well. It's obviously not at all a casually-tossed off endeavor -- the project was taken quite seriously by Glenn Jones, Robin Amos & co. and contains some of their finest work. Quite possibly, this will be one of those soundtracks that ends up being more significant and memorable than the film itself, though we won't know 'til we see the thing, which as we said we certainly will want to do based on the strength of its sonic component already. At turns, a haunting, propulsive, and suspenseful blend of folk, electronics, and scenic psychedelic rock.
Whoa! It's nearly a Can reunion. Well not really. But it's as close to sounding live-Can-like as a group could possibly get. Ex-Can lead-singer, Damo Suzuki paired up with Boston's instrumental Cul De Sac for a European and US tour performing cataclysmic improvisations throughout. A two cd collection of over two hours of select tracks from the tour are available here on Abhayamudra. Some of the best of these are from Beograd and Berlin sets. Can may never get back together, but here's the closest an undying fan can get to new material.
Boston psych/folk/space rockers Cul de Sac covered a Fahey tune on their first album, Ecim, and here they finally get to collaborate with their hero, an ordeal (so say the liner notes) but with quite excellent results as expected.
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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The more countryish, second album from this early '70s Danish prog-psych outfit. Definitely without any of the Zeppish proto-metal moments of the first album, but nice and pastoral. Includes six bonus tracks.
Reissued on vinyl, nice! (And expensive, it's an import, but worth it, really, it's a heavy seventies progressive cult classic!)
Here's what we said when we first freaked out about this upon the occasion of a cd reissue some years ago:
Three things to note about this album:
1) Good lord, the cover! Have you ever seen a psychedelic cartoon vision of a magic garden inhabited by a freaky gnome like that before?
2) If you ask Mikael Akerfeldt of Swedish death metal / progressive rock geniuses Opeth about what his all-time favorite rare prog rock records are, along with First Utterance by Comus he'll name this one, the 1971 debut from Denmark's Culpeper's Orchard. And, now having heard it thanks to Mikael's endorsement, Allan here would too!
3) You'll probably dig this if you like the idea of blending rustic country-folk, twee hippy psych pop, and some heavy hard rock guitar riffery into one unique acid-prog experience that comes across like a mixture of Jethro Tull, Kaleidoscope UK, Yes, the Incredible String Band, and Zeppelin or Sabbath. A great freeking record.
Hey, here's a new and improved version of an obscure AQ '70s psych-prog favorite...
A few things to note about this album:
1) Good lord, the cover! Have you ever seen a psychedelic cartoon vision of a magic garden inhabited by a freaky gnome like that before?
2) If you ask Mikael Akerfeldt of Swedish death metal / progressive rock geniuses Opeth about what his all-time favorite rare prog rock records are, along with First Utterance by Comus he'll name this one, the 1971 debut from Denmark's Culpeper's Orchard. And, now having heard it thanks to Mikael's endorsement, Allan would too!
3) You'll probably dig this if you like the idea of blending rustic country-folk, twee hippy psych pop, and some heavy hard rock guitar riffery into one unique acid-prog experience that comes across like a mixture of Jethro Tull, Kaleidoscope UK, Yes, the Incredible String Band, and Zeppelin or Sabbath. A great freeking record.
4) Now it's got three bonus tracks, including a pretty killer 9+ minute live performance of a non-album song called "Classified Ads".
More spaced out psychedelic garage from the Cardinal Fuzz label, this one, record number two from UK fuzz merchants Cult Of Dom Keller, whose sound is a perfect fit for the 'Fuzz, all reverbed riffage, simple motorik drum pound, laid back echo drenched spacer vox, all smeared into druggy sprawls of lysergic hypno-rock that falls somewhere between Spacemen 3, Moon Duo, Loop and any number of other like minded drug rock space explorers. The opener "Plague Of All" sets the stage perfectly, with a killer main riff, that's soon bolstered by some primitive rhythmic pound, and spidery distorted guitar melody, doused in FX, and seriously fuzzed out, when the vocals swoop in, the sound gets way more spacey and drifty, the sound seesawing back and forth between ethereal space rock shimmer and swagger psych blooze crunch.
The rest of the record seems to melt and ooze and drift, the template laid down on the first track seemingly left in the sun too long, whirring organs dripping all over loping and lumbering drug-rock grooves, the guitars churning, warm and distorted, on tracks like "The Snake Keeps Changing", the vibe is practically somnambulant, tripped out and gloriously laid back, it's almost impossible to not imagine some crazy psychedelic light show enveloping you when you close your eyes and strap on the headphones. Other tracks add sitar-like buzz, swirling backwards FX, walls of crumbling distortion, some explode into serious heart-of-the-sun Hawkwind like pound, others sprawl and expand into hazy sonic supernovas of sound. Epic spaced out psychedelia for fans of the usual suspects (Carlton Melton, the Heads, White Hills, Wooden Shjips, as well as the rest of the Cardinal Fuzz roster), and SUPER LIMITED of course, pressed on tripped out swirled red/green vinyl...
The third album from this Swedish outfit, and as always they're recommended to all fans of Isis and Neurosis... Katatonia too... and now they nod towards the likes of Godspeed You Black Emperor! and Sigur Ros. This is arty, dirgey, post-rock metalcore. They can be brutally heavy, yet tender and lovely with loooong build-ups of yearning, melodic blissfulness and that can't help but be full of tension at the same time due to our expectation of the eventual crushing kick-in, when the band drops the hammer and unleashes its sheer pummelling might.
Brand new single from this East coast, neo-folk post industrial outfit, whose first record, released on Sacred Bones earlier this year, was a big hit around here, channeling the spirit of industrial legends Death In June through the more modern vibe of their SB labelmates. And the A side here doesn't change up the formula all that much, urgently strummed guitars, deep dramatic crooned vocals, minimal martial percussion, reminding us as much of New Model Army actually as Death In June, mournful horns drifting over a surprisingly wistful melancholic folk, with that minimal percussion building over the course of the song, surrounded by swirls of tinkling melody, finally exploding into some seriously epic industrial folk majesty.
The B side is the big surprise here, a sound well removed from the strum and croon of the flipside, which made more sense once we discovered it was a cover of another aQ fave, Martial Canterel, that band's synthy cold wave reimagined sans synth, the resulting sound a strummy eighties style jangle pop / new wave hybrid, it translates surprisingly well, and it's easy to imagine CoY playing that sort of stuff all the time, but CoY's dour industrialisms definitely seep into the sound, which leads to the kick ass final stretch, a seriously heavy epic coda.
Comes with a download coupon as well.
Full length number two from these East Coast neo-folkies and like the previous record, it displays a sound that we don't immediately associate with Sacred Bones. Urgently strummed guitars, tribal drumming, horns, bellowed dramatic male vox, angelic female vocals, the vibe pagan and witchy, in our review of the other CoY we mention Comus, the Wicker Man soundtrack, and especially Death In June, this time around we might also add Circulus, and maybe even New Model Army, whose influence we hear throughout Love Will Prevail. The sound here is much more upbeat, the arrangements strident and almost rocking at times, definitely more melodic, the new wave element too is a bit more pronounced, but for every track like the opener "Man And Man's Ruin", which is downright poppy and displays shades of Kiss The Anus Of A Black Cat, there's a track like "Garden Of Delights", that's much more brooding and downcast, in fact "Garden Of Delights" might be THEE jam here, the vox particularly vitriolic, the strummed guitar, pounding drums and bleating horns wreathed in a cloud of swirling psychedelic noise, it's pretty intense, and definitely super weird, almost has us wishing the whole record was like this, like some sort of acid folk power electronics. Then there's the final track which is SUPER poppy, trade in the super intense acoustic guitar strumming for some crunchy distortion and you'd have a sweet slab of noise pop, but instead, the horns swoop in, the vocals get all processed and twisted up, and suddenly that poppiness gets warped into something much darker and way more mysterious. Definitely an acquired taste, but one that we seem to have acquired a while ago. And we're guessing some of you may have too.
Normally when we're reviewing a band on Sacred Bones, we find ourselves referencing cold wave or new wave, eighties goth combos or whatever, but Cult Of Youth requires a whole new set of parameters and comparisons. Think post industrial neo-folk, think Pagan sonic rituals, think the Wicker Man soundtrack, think Comus, think Death In June, especially that last one, cuz if we had to pick someone to compare CoY (originally a home brewed one man band, now a band proper) to, it would most definitely be Death In June, the same sort of charged mix of Teutonic bombast, martial percussion, acid folk strum, and booming chantlike vox. Dark and powerful and mysterious, and in its own way a pretty perfect fit for Sacred Bones.
The new multimember incarnation of Cult Of Youth, features mainman/mastermind Sean Ragon, joined by a performance artist/director/painter/occult scholar, a machinist drummer, and a violinist, who most recently arranged strings for the newest Zola Jesus single. Sounds like an eclectic assemblage of talents, but then Cult Of Youth is a pretty eclectic proposition.
The first song sets the scene for the whole record, dense tribal drumming, cyclical and hypnotic, thick distorted bass thrum, urgently strummed acoustic guitar, pounding drums, surrounded by swirling ambience, and moody, mournful minor key violin melodies, and over the top strident prosletyzing vocals, booming and emotional. There's also flute, that flutters dreamily throughout. And while this is essentially neo-folk, there is still a dark sort of cold wavey vibe happening for sure. It's not difficult to imagine these songs recast in a different light, replace the acoustic guitars with synths, program the drums, keep the vocals, we'd be talking some awesome chilly bit of brooding dramatic goth wave, so in one way you can almost imagine this as a folky acoustic take on cold wave, similarly dark and moody, gloomy and gothy and dramatic. There's also a bit of a swampy bluesy vibe, making us think of Birthday Party, Sixteen Horsepower, Woven Hand, especially on the more upbeat numbers, the sound transformed into a rollicking bit of shuffle and strum and howl, still peppered with strange bits of industrial crunch, but sweaty and heaving and overflowing with sonic vitriol.
The slower moments might be the most powerful, like on "Casting Thorns", one of the moments where the group is most obviously channeling seventies British outfits like Comus, Pentangle, Incredible String Band and the like, swoonsome steel string strum, muted low slung bass, the violin, soaring and lyrical, the link to the rest of the record being the vocals, which are even more dramatic and emotional, cracking and wailing, totally intense and over the top, but those folkier moments are fleeting, with the sound most often slipping back into something more propulsive and bombastic, epic and majestic and yeah, Teutonic.
Fans of any of the above mentioned bands should really check out Cult Of Youth, but especially folks into industrial / neo-folk outfits, especially Death In June, but also Current 93, Der Blutharsch, Sol Invictus, Blood Axis, Von Thronstahl, Toroidh and the like. Might also hit the spot for folks who dig seventies British folk and swampy slithery apocalyptic blues, and hell, Captured Tracks obsessives too, might just find a new sound they didn't realize was right up their alley.
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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It's easy to see why this boy/girl duo Cults have been getting so much hype, they traffic in the same sort of jangly retro girl pop as all the current 'girls' bands (Dum Dum, Vivian, At Dawn, etc), their contribution to / variation of THAT sound is adding some electronics, bigger beats and a WAY bigger production, which actually works, the sound is pretty dang irresistible, imagine the Dum Dum Girls mixed with Sleigh Bells, but with more of a droney, druggy, softly psychedelic vibe, not to mention some sweet catchy songs. "Abducted" the first single splits the verses between the boy and girl, but the chorus is all her, chiming melodies, handclap percussion, fuzzy bass buzz, plenty of reverb, soaring vocals and a divine hook, a cool swirly psychedelic breakdown rife with plenty of garage rock guitar twang, not to mention a seriously striking and way creepy video. The second track is a good one too, "Go Outside", which sounds a bit like Best Coast but with programmed beats, and a more modern sheen, and again, a killer catchy chorus.
The sound of Cults is just really great, equal parts modern and retro, snaps and claps and reverby girl group vox, mixed with programmed beats, and swirling synths, some tracks all torch songy and ballady, others more propulsive and electronics, hard to imagine that fans of the above mentioned bands, as well as maybe the Raveonettes, not flipping for these two, we sure did.
Cultural Amnesia would have certainly disappeared entirely, but one of the band's earliest supporters was an 18 year old kid named Geoff Rushton, who later changed his name to John Balance when he formed Coil in 1983 (the same year that Cultural Amnesia ceased activities). Cultural Amnesia managed three cassettes, some compilation tracks, and a half-finished album during that time period, with one of those cassettes being released through Rushton's Hearsay And Heresy label. In all likelihood, Coil completists had come across these cassettes and brought them to light over two decades later. Vinyl On Demand was responsible for one of the anthologies of Cultural Amnesia material, but the better collection was Enormous Savages first released on vinyl by Anna Logue in 2006. This cd version through Klanggalerie flushes out the comp with five tracks recorded in recent years, now that they've gotten back together.
Had it not been for their early demise, this was a band that could have followed in the footsteps of Throbbing Gristle, Clock DVA, Dome, and Cabaret Voltaire circa 1981, as a blank austerity followed through the eccentric darkness grafted onto post-punk songs bristling with inventive if cheap electronics. Choppy sparkplug guitars influenced by Keith Levene's work on PiL's Metal Box punctuate the synthetic melodies, drum machinations, and motorik electronics. Lyrically, these are abject tales of blood, scars, alienation, and British misery, with some of the lyrics penned by Rushton himself. Those painfully eloquent songs are prescient of what Rushton was to bring to Coil's early work on Scatology, but they serve Cultural Amnesia very well on their own. The band had reformed in 2000, and offered 5 new tracks, which actually seem to pick up right where they left off, moving more towards the Pop Group's muscular grooves and fidgety funk, with the same Spartan tape recording which dominated their early work. A very welcome document from Britain's cassette culture.
We would have to be forgiven for missing out on The Cultural Decay from a couple years back. After all, there are eighty-gazillion lost and recently rediscovered post-punk, minimal-wave, and art-rock obscurities from all around the world; but this short-lived Belgian post-punk group from the early 80s is something special and fortunately, Sacred Bones did take notice and should be commended for finally making this available.
From 1980 to 1982, The Cultural Decay only played a handful of gigs, all in Belgium; and they released two singles, one of which was produced by the Revolting Cocks founder Luc Van Acker. From the onset, it's pretty clear that Joy Division was the favorite band of The Cultural Decay, as the guitar and bass interplay of jagged rhythmic guitar chops coupled with loping low-end bass melodies mirrors that of Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook. To be fair, this Belgian band did not have Ian Curtis as a front-man; and they relied more on a snarled monotone delivery similar to those found in the Buzzcocks and Crisis. For those who know fellow Belgian post-punkers Siglo XX, the sound of The Cultural Decay will be very familiar and arguably better! The songs are all darkly tinged post-punk tunes clouded by a dour atmosphere that the band urgently pushes against. Given that this collection features the two studio produced singles and a bunch of 4-track demos, the production quality is a bit uneven; but hey, that's DIY for you! It certainly doesn't detract from the songs themselves, which just get a little rough around the edges.
FYI, The Cultural Decay ran a small label themselves, and were the the original home of that incredible AA single that we reviewed not that long ago. Recommended, for sure!
PS: The cd (not here yet, unfortunately) features FIVE extra tracks not on the lp!
Super limited lp from Anla Courtis, of AQ faves Reynols, teamed up here with UK noisemaker Culver, for a disc of surprisingly serene shimmer, all rumblig shifting sonic swells and gently dulcet drones, drifitng and hazy and gorgeously indistinct. Four tracks, almost an hour of sweet sweet bliss out. This is a reissue of a very limited and long out of print self-released cassette!
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Originally released overseas earlier this year by Australian label Homeless, this degenerate debut by Aussie noiserock scuzz-merchants Cuntz was reissued domestically by Permanent Records last month as a limited Record Store Day release, limited to just 300 copies - like the Homeless edition, vinyl-only, and already now out of print, of course. However, we still have a tiny handful of copies (like, 3 or 4) left over so we figured we'd list it; better act fast if you want one.
Thus we needn't say much about this, and heck if Permanent reissued it you know they had a good reason! Cuntz will definitely do for all your Down Under, downer rawk needs. These misanthropic Melbourne punks specialize in songs of dissipated existence, drinking and doing pills, the singer's gruff vocal gargle spitting out profanity-laced anti-wisdom, backed by plodding rhythms and broken shards of sludgy riffage played with a quite brittle, "shrieky" distorted guitar tone, complete with treble-damaged soloing. It's delightfully maddening and miserable. Imagine an Australian Pissed Jeans, maybe, or these guys' '80s/'90s predecessors Venom P. Stinger (going back further, the Sick Things) on a hard drug binge. Get it (quick) if you like your rock ugly and unhappy, but with a sardonic sense of humor.
Speaking of sardonic humor, we love how the record ends with a brief birthday song. Hilarious. "Wake up, it's your special day, you're the special little guy, it's your fucking birthday... Happy fucking birthday mate"!
These controversial & offensive ('cause of the name, at the very least, though the z in there makes it cuter, right?) Aussies are back again with a steaming new platter of their pissed yet poppy punk. Third album, fourth if you count the live one, and like the others, it's a real, raw good time for anybody into the sort of bilious, loud soundz the Cuntz dish out. Twelve new tracks to make your day (miserable), with song titles that include "Tired", "Evil", "Factory Floor", "Internet (Connect)" and both "Nah" and "Nah Man" among other zippy tunes not destined for the hit parade, except in the homes of sardonic sickos like us. And them. Grungy noisy goodness for fans of Deaf Wish, Venom P. Stinger, Cosmic Psychos, and others in the grand Australian tradition of ugly scuzzy punk rawk.
Limited to 500 copies. Includes download. Nice lavender cover. US tour happening now. Really pretty great.
Vinyl-only documentation of these Melbourne bad boyz assault on America last year, consisting of live recordings of many of the scuzzy, sardonic ugly rock "hits" off their two lps for Homeless and Permanent, recorded at WFMU, Gonerfest, Death By Audio and The Earl (in Atlanta, where the Chunklet crew must have seen 'em). We wish we'd witnessed one (or more!) of these shows ourselves, sadly we didn't, but blasting this LOUD while jumping around the room after downing a few tins of beer ought to give an idea. Noisy bad attitude Aussie punk as catchy as it is shambolic, that's what Cuntz dish out, live AND on record. Must have been a good time. Still can be if you grab one of the 450 copies pressed of this!
This impolitely named band is back from Down Under with another irreverent dose of negative-fun, punked out rock, throbbing with abrasive sonics and wallowing in their own bad attitude. In other words, a real cool time if you dig stuff like Flipper and Pissed Jeans.
Gruff vox sing about all sorts of sick yet quotidian subjects, backed by feedback laced, splintery guitarwork, with tracks like "Solid Mates Theme" almost delving into Brainbombs hypno-sludge territory. Dunno what life's really like in Melbourne, but these aren't jingles the Tourism Board would be happy with. We sure are, though, when in the mood for some humorously abject scuzz punk!
Gatefold sleeve, comes with a digital download.
