[ aquarius records — Rock Pop ]

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Showing results 4901 through 4950 of 19388.

The Dodos continue to remain one of the most immediate and satisfying voices to rise above the crowded indie rock scene. With each subsequent record they've built on what came before, pushing it a little further every time, their sound becoming more fleshed out and fully realized, and the songs just getting better and better. With their last outing, Time To Die, Dodos showed they could make a record that kept their frenetic energy but also really raised the bar on their songwriting capacity. On No Color, they've made an album that so perfectly melds their unique ability to sound so urgent while also being rife with such lush melodic layers, unique time changes, incredible guitar shredding, and powerful percussion, all of which really makes their songs sound like sonic marching orders to get through the mundane of the every day. There is an epic nature to these tracks, as Dodos have the rare ability to make a four minute song sound so big and wide in scope, yet still remain grounded by an intimacy that shines through it all. It doesn't hurt that their pal Neko Case joined them on many of these songs. Alongside Pinback, they stand as one of the most substantial and engaging indie rock bands around!

MPEG stream: Black Night
MPEG stream: Don't Try And Hide It
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Long gone are the days when Meric Long's sweet vocals and talented songwriting skills were just our little secret. After carrying his debut self released cd-r from a few years back, Meric has merged his forces into creating one of the most refreshing and rewarding bands in the modern indie-pop landscape. The Dodos have proven to be a force to be reckoned with, their record from last year, Visiter, launched them into the stratosphere and rewarded them with a whole new and very large fan base. Which was well deserved considering that Visiter was most definitely the sound of a band finding their sound, everything falling into place perfectly, passion, hooks and creative instrumentation. Time To Die finds the band sounding even more assured with a refined sound that is pretty darn irresistible. Like a more effervescent Built To Spill, The Dodos create songs that have maximum mix-tape potency, every song here a gem, really not a wasted moment or a throwaway track anywhere to be found. While not many of today's indie rock bands really do it for us, The Dodos are a shining exception!

MPEG stream: Two Medicines
MPEG stream: Fables
MPEG stream: Time To Die

Now On Vinyl! Meric Long, the man behind The Dodos, was calling his band The Dodo Bird for a spell, which just so happened to be the title of his debut cd-r release which we carried earlier this year (which was billed as a Meric Long album). Now they go by the abbreviated The Dodos. Confused? Well, all you need to remember is that Meric Long along with percussionist Logan Kroeber are The Dodos. Their engaging music makes keeping them in mind and heart as easy as pie! As far as we can tell unlike their namesake they are neither feathered and flightless nor extinct. In fact, from the sounds of this, their first full length cd, these Dodos are flourishing, blossoming, ready to take flight. With his contemplative lyrics, terrific songwriting and rich arrangements of vocals, acoustic guitar, piano, percussion and... trombone(!), Long more than makes good on the impressive promise he showed on his debut. Throughout the proceedings he exudes a warm charm and confidence and an occasional willingness to gently nudge the boundaries of the acoustic folk singer/songwriter terrain. Jeff Mangum and John Darnielle, set a place at the table for The Dodos!

MPEG stream: Beards
MPEG stream: The Ball

It seems like just yesterday (when in fact it was a decade ago) that a sweet & soft-spoken young man came into aQ with copies of his self released cd called Dodo Bird. We were hooked right away and it wasn't long when that young man, Meric Long, would team up with the drumming excellence of Logan Kroeber to form The Dodos. With their rabid fan-base as solid proof, The Dodos have been one of the most engaging, rewarding, and infectious indie rock bands of the last decade. They haven't had a slip in quality in any of their releases, and this new outing shows them on-point once again with a set of songs that ring with resonance and an almost melancholic triumph that burns through the whole album. It's striking what an individual sound the band has created for itself over the years; frenetic energy, gorgeous vocals, melodic hooks, and playing that is both technically spectacular yet also so creative and full of emotion. Somehow, Individ is able to be both driving and infectious, smooth and angular, bright and pulsating. It's like if you were somehow able to mix the best parts of Pinback, Jawbox, and Phoenix. So damn good!

MPEG stream: The Tide
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It's really exciting to be digging a band just as they are hitting their special 'moment in time.' Such is the case with San Francisco's The Dodos. We've been championing the work of Meric Long for the last couple years with his self-released records, released under his given name, also as The Dodo Birds and finally as The Dodos. With Visiter, The Dodos are no longer our little secret, as the rest of the world has finally taken notice of Meric and Logan Kroeber and their fantastic debut for French Kiss. We love when every once in a while a band who truly deserves the hype and press, actually gets it. From the opening seconds of this record you can hear and feel that this is a record that they poured all of themselves into. Their is an immediacy and urgency in Visiter that draws you right in and makes you want to listen again and again. The instrumentation is so well thought out and the recording keeps things punchy and tight but never too glossy or slick. We hear the influence of recent Animal Collective, the rich back catalog of the Elephant Six collective, Polvo, the more rocking elements of Vetiver and we also are reminded a lot of a way underrated band from Boston from the late '90s / early '00s called The Wicked Farleys (yes bad name but they were so rad!) What really sets The Dodos apart from the indie rock herd is what a great vocalist Meric Long is, he has a truly beautiful voice that he isn't afraid to actually USE, but is also never too precious with, even occasionally letting out some exhilarating screams as well. And while other bands who have a great vocalist usually lack, and tend to bore with their instrumentation, The Dodos truly have the entire package. Musically they are so charged and varied, creating sounds that get you to stand tall at attention as they make your heart beat a bit faster and give you goosebumps. Whew. Highly recommended!

MPEG stream: Red And Purple
MPEG stream: Paint The Rust
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THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SORRY.

Meric Long, the man behind Dodo Bird, is now calling his band Dodo Bird, which just so happened to be the title of his debut cd-r release which we carried earlier this year (which was billed as a Meric Long album). Confused? Just get this, that Meric Long along with percussionist Logan Kroeber are now Dodo Bird, but as far as we can tell unlike their namesake they are neither feathered and flightless nor extinct. In fact, from the sounds of this, their first full length cd, this Dodo Bird is flourishing, blossoming, ready to take flight. With his contemplative lyrics, terrific songwriting and rich arrangements of vocals, acoustic guitar, piano, percussion and... trombone(!), Long more than makes good on the impressive promise he showed on his debut. Throughout the proceedings he exudes a warm charm and confidence and an occasional willingness to gently nudge the boundaries of the acoustic folk singer/songwriter terrain. Jeff Mangum and John Darnielle, set a place at the table for Dodo Bird!

MPEG stream: Beards
MPEG stream: The Ball

Oh how we wanted to hate this band. The hype. The blogs. The cheeky name. The fact that they were signed to a huge record deal based on two MySpace tracks. We're sure there are more reasons, but for now that's plenty. The glut of total dancey electronic bullshit, overhyped blog-house, it's killing us. Not to sound like old men, but remember when bands played instruments and wrote songs, and spend months, maybe years working on albums, recorded in studios? Yeah, we don't either actually. But fuck it, we wanted to hate it, but it would be foolish not to just accept the fact that this record rules. We can't stop listening to it. The opener is a dancefloor destroying banger. Huge fuzzy synths, lots of squelch and grind and buzz, tearing a page straight out of Justice's playbook and scribbling all over it with dayglo crayons. But that's the only track on the record that sounds like that. The rest of the disc is all over the map, angular dancepunk, total cotton candy synth pop, and in fact, most of the disc is much more song-y, verses choruses, crunchy guitars pounding drums, wild howled vocals, and HOOKS everywhere. But fear not synthies, there is still plenty of electronic weirdness and synth overload, but that stuff is deftly woven into actual songs. The second track is a killer as well, super grindy guitars, funky propulsive drumming, howled vocals, super proggy arrangements, swirling synths, dense and heavy, but still funky and groovy. The next track veers back a bit toward the vibe of the opener, but this time it's all vocodered Kraftwerk worship, peppered with sweeping synth buzz and funky cowbell, and a pretty irresistible hook. Our favorite right now (although it changes every time we listen to it) is probably "Dawn Of The Dead", a total eighties pop jam. Sounding like it came straight out of a John Hughes movie, soaring and bubblegummy, big guitars lush harmonies, it dangerously close to being cheesy, but it's so fucking awesome. Later there are some surfy carnival organ jams, more eighties technopop, some unabashed total Daft Punk worship, some angular jangle guitar artpunk, flecked with skittery drum machines, and a massive hook filled chorus, the record is almost so scattered that it threatens to be a total mess, but somehow, the songs all sort of fit together, forming some dizzying sugar rush of technicolor techno flecked pop punk synth fuzz bliss. We're gonna go blog about it. Right now (ummm, not really, just kidding, we SWEAR...). Though I guess this comes close.

MPEG stream: Battle Royale
MPEG stream: With A Heavy Heart (I Regret To Inform You)
MPEG stream: Dawn Of The Dead

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.

You know him from his great track on the Too Slow To Disco comp.

Two releases by the wonderful Julie Doiron just received their well-deserved reissue! And here's one of them. You may recall that she was once in the heavily Sonic Youth influenced Eric's Trip, but after they split she directed her songwriting pen to much more barebones, quiet and deeply personal music. On this album however she returns to more upbeat tempo collaborating with fellow Canadian indie quartet The Wooden Stars. These songs are considerably more full and fleshed out than those she performs all by her lonesome. The Wooden Stars provide the warm blend of guitars, piano, bass, horns, Rhodes, samples and some vocals, while Doiron plays guitar and sings. Combined they make a lovely mellow din with shades of folk and jazz. On some, she sings with a gusto that's very uncharacteristic of her but no less effective. And yet, throughout these eleven songs there's a lingering sense of sadness that's everpresent in Doiron's music.

RealAudio clip: Seven
RealAudio clip: Au Contraire

When this album was first released back in '96, the limited pressing of 1000 copies was gone almost immediately. It's been highly sought ever since - so beloved is Julie Doiron in Canadian indie circles (and admiration for her on this side of the border continues to grow). This was her debut as a solo artist following the demise of her band Eric's Trip under the name Broken Girl, and it articulates softly all the yearning and emotional upheaval of separation. Regardless of moniker, she skillfully wove some of the most hushed, fragile, deeply moving music around, and she did so with little more than her lilting voice and acoustic guitar. Recorded and mixed in '94 by her fellow Eric's Tripper Rick White. As an added bonus this re-issue includes the songs from her first two 7"s which swells the song count to a bountiful nineteen. So achingly down to earth pretty. For fans of Rose Melberg or Barbara Manning. MPEG Download: "Dance Music" [/audio/doirondancemusic.mp3] MPEG Stream: "Dance Music" [/audio/doirondancemusic.m3u]

MPEG stream: Dance Music
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Since her departure from the fuzzy, feedback-laden world of Eric's Trip many moons ago, Julie Doiron has quietly and steadily amassed a lovely, intimate and sizeable body of work under her own name as well as under the moniker Broken Girl - garnering her

RealAudio clip: La Jeune Amoreuse
RealAudio clip: Don't Ask

The ever-consistent Ms Doiron continues to comfort the indie world with her distinct fragile folk pop. Long ago she used to record under the moniker Broken Girl, however of all her releases thus far, this one seems best suited to that name. Comprised of one dozen hushed, sparsely instrumented (primarily guitar, and some keyboards and banjo), whispery sung songs, Goodnight Nobody might be her loneliest, most weary, downer album to date.

MPEG stream: Snow Falls In November
MPEG stream: Dance All Night

Much like that of Chan Marshall (Cat Power) or Karla Schickele (of Ida), Ms Doiron's lilting, low voice has the ability to either gently lull you to sleep or bring you to tears depending on your state of mind. There's a palpable heavy-heartedness tugging

RealAudio clip: All Their Broken Hearts
RealAudio clip: Oh These Walls

With all the hype and hoopla folks like Cat Power, Neko Case and Kimya Dawson have received in the last few years (deserved of course!) it's such a crime that Julie Doiron hasn't enjoyed the same sort of attention and acclaim, since as far as we're concerned, she's just as talented, if not more so. We've pretty much loved her since her early days playing bass and singing for '90s Sub Pop stalwarts Eric's Trip and her recent solo outings have had some of her most emotionally impacting songs to date. It was her voice and presence that really helped make the latest Mount Eerie record Lost Wisdom such a favorite around here. I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day picks up where her great previous album Woke Myself Up left off. Still drenched in heartbreak and filled with such honest yearning yet enough rad rocking moments to keep things interesting. For those that are kind of sad that Chan Marshall has headed towards smoother horizons, Doiron just may be the perfect person to fill that void. Smokey, beautiful vocals that can be as charming as they can be devastating. One of those records made for mix tape inspiration, and the perfect companion for anyone who knows the lasting ache of love. And we love how the record ends with "Glad To Be Alive", a strong and moving missive about being thankful for what we do have as much as we mourn and miss what we have lost. Truly a great record from one of the most underrated ladies making amazing music out there today!

MPEG stream: Spill Yer Lungs
MPEG stream: Consolation Prize
MPEG stream: Glad To Be Alive

Two releases by the wonderful Julie Doiron receive their well-deserved reissue! And here's one of them. This was her second solo effort under her own name (she also recorded under the name Broken Girl). Soooo hushed and drowsy. This ep could easily be subtitled something like 'Five Lullabies'. She sings with such an expressive, emotive lilt. It's all sweet, gentle wistfulness over a sparse backdrop comprised of guitar, vibraphone, bass, piano and even a little Wurlitzer! Her words are never less than truly earnest and from the heart. An immediate example is the title of this cdep, sure it's a much used title, but with her it seems nothing but appropriate and sincere. Music from Ms Doiron is always a lovely downer treat.

RealAudio clip: He Will Forget

We've always been fans of Julie Doiron and her wonderfully sweet voice. From all the way back to the '90s when she was in Sub Pop lo-fi pop combo Eric's Trip, to her many solo outings. However, none of her solo records captured her essence, they were good but not great. But with Woke Myself Up, it sounds like she finally got it right! Oh so right! The sound is so immediate, so bare and achingly intimate. So much presence. With honest heartfelt lyrics and a vocal delivery that recall some of our favorites, Edith Frost and Cat Power. Much like Frost's last outing, It's A Game, this is born of heart break and heart ache. The instrumentation is the perfect combination of sparse and chilling, allowing Doiron's voice to get right to the core of it all. So totally beautiful!

MPEG stream: Me And My Friend
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This is a split release between two Jagjaguwar Records artists that features all new songs, however it was released by the Spanish label Acuarela Records. Canadian indie fave Julie Doiron offers up some incredibly intimate home recordings that alone are worth the price of admission. She gently strums her acoustic guitar and sings/murmurs five delicate, heartbaring songs. Doiron's companion on this cd is the Austin, TX based band Okkervil River with four songs of their own. Their vocals are of the plaintive, untethered kind that brings to mind Jeff Mangum or John Darnielle. They're backed by some fine rootsy banjo, violin, and guitar. Nice! MPEG Stream: JULIE DOIRON "The Sweetest Eyes (When You Laugh)" [/audio/doironsweetest.m3u]

MPEG stream: The Sweetest Eyes (When You Laugh)

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

SORRY. Super Metsa is the new cd-r label run by our Finnish friend Jussi Lehtisalo (Circle, Pharoah Overlord, Ektro label, etc.) and one of his pals. For their first batch of releases, they've hit us with three titles by the previously-unknown-to-us band Doktor Kettu, each cd-r in a limited edition of 100. Purposefully mysterious, we can't tell you anything about who's in Doktor Kettu, but we did find out that Kettu is Finnish for 'fox'. Running about an hour and featuring two or three tracks apiece, all three are pretty great for those into this sort of thing. What sort of thing is that? Well, Jussi describes Doktor Kettu as being an "apocalyptic drone-free-psychedelic-low-fi-massacre..... three guitars, bass and drums" and they do indeed make some very *murky* (not just the production, as much as the music itelf) instrumental improv space rock with a high drone-quotient. Imagine a cross between Circle and Thuja, perhaps, if that could possibly mean anything to you. Doktor Kettu (with two MORE Super Metsa releases in the pipeline) may become Finland's answer to the USA's Sunburned Hand Of The Man, if Avarus doesn't object. Two tracks on this, the second Doktor Kettu cd-r. English titles. The 17 minute "Moonwork" sounds like Father Moo in a pipefight, and that's just the drumming. The 39 minute "Battle Of Clouds" *does* sound like a battle of clouds, with some heavy artillery up there in the heavens. Dunno what more to say -- these are hard to review. The music is softly throbbing, repetition fx in gear. So is my brain. Throbbing. I need to sit down to keep listening. Yeah. Turn it up. Thanks.

MPEG stream: Moonwork

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

SORRY. Another foray into the drugged-out, lo-fi spacerock improv murk that is the Doktor Kettu experience. This mysterious Finnish ensemble (which may or may not include members of Circle) offer up their sixth full-length, limited-edition cd-r document, this one released by the Finnish label Haamumaa. Their previous discs are now all out of print and surely this one is destined to follow that same path into the mists of obscurity, and it's fairly misty music to begin with. Imagine Hawkwind or Acid Mothers Temple locked in a cave with broken instruments, some of their limbs bound behind their backs, given super-slow-motion-inducing drugs and commanded to make music -- but quietly and not quite. That's the three tracks (12, 20 and 19 minutes) that you get here. Rumbling droning free-form psych, the night cries and murmers of some large, scary-looking but perhaps friendly beast... Safe to say that if you are the proud owner of all five of the good Doktor's previous, now out-of-print Super Metsa cd-rs, you need this too -- or if you missed those but are falling for the freaky allure of the Finnish forest-folk scene and want to explore its darker depths, then you'll want this too!

MPEG stream: Odin Bunker

For those who've only just surfaced from the daze imposed upon them by the sonics of Doktor Kettu's previous three cd-rs, well the Doktor is back and your therapy can continue! For those new to Doktor Kettu, be aware that the Doktor's drug of choice involves hazy electric guitars and stumbling drums improvising organically, like some Fushit-Thuja hybrid, to make a punny and obscure reference. From Finland, the mysterious Doktor is a group that may or may not include members of AQ-faves Circle. What we do know is that so far DK discs have been the sole output of the Super Metsa cd-r label, partly run by Circle's Jussi Lehtisalo. All five cd-rs so far seem like installments from some massive on-going jam still happening right now in a dingy Finnish basement, or perhaps outdoors under the ever-dark winter sky. Their music is the murky drone of armored seagulls, flying over electric waves of distortion and hiss. High Revolution features three long tracks, all in the lo-fi, low-key freakout mode we've come to expect. Lonely caverns are slowly filled with an unknown gas. Distant apes play with sticks and then pass out. Jurassic cries emerge from deep beneath rocks and stones. Moss talks to moss. In similar fashion, I Really Like Diamonds consists of but one track ("Severed Minds") stretching out for 43 minutes -- and don't ask why a one-track album has a different title than the track itself. Like a lot of things to do with this band, we have the feeling that it's a Finnish drug thing you wouldn't understand. Each disc limited to 100 copies, fyi.

MPEG stream: Perception and Instruments

MPEG stream: Severed Minds

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

SORRY. Super Metsa is the new cd-r label run by our Finnish friend Jussi Lehtisalo (Circle, Pharoah Overlord, Ektro label, etc.) and one of his pals. For their first batch of releases, they've hit us with three titles by the previously-unknown-to-us band Doktor Kettu, each cd-r in a limited edition of 100. Purposefully mysterious, we can't tell you anything about who's in Doktor Kettu, but we did find out that Kettu is Finnish for 'fox'. Running about an hour and featuring two or three tracks apiece, all three are pretty great for those into this sort of thing. What sort of thing is that? Well, Jussi describes Doktor Kettu as being an "apocalyptic drone-free-psychedelic-low-fi-massacre..... three guitars, bass and drums" and they do indeed make some very *murky* (not just the production, as much as the music itelf) instrumental improv space rock with a high drone-quotient. Imagine a cross between Circle and Thuja, perhaps, if that could possibly mean anything to you. Doktor Kettu (with two MORE Super Metsa releases in the pipeline) may become Finland's answer to the USA's Sunburned Hand Of The Man, if Avarus doesn't object. Super Metsa Doktor Kettu number three has got German titles, and three tracks. Imagine if you had neighbors who lived below you in a WWII bunker and all they did all day was listen to certain Fushitsusha albums, this is what you might hear through the floor. Muted a la some Zoviet France stuff. A hazy wash of sound. Nice.

MPEG stream: Kopf Im Schnee

Many of you will recall that a few years back, we had the pleasure of reviewing six (6) different limited edition cd-r releases by this murky and mysterious improvised instrumental free rock ensemble from Finland, which features members (we eventually determined for sure) of mega AQ faves Circle! In those reviews, which taxed our powers of description, we said things like: "A Finnish drug thing you wouldn't understand." "Lo-fi, low-key freakout." "Imagine a cross between Circle and Thuja." "Imagine Hawkwind or Acid Mothers Temple locked in a cave with broken instruments." "Installments from some massive on-going jam still happening right now... outdoors under the ever-dark winter sky." "Slow, meandering, very stoned ambient psych jamming to the max." "Imagine if you had neighbors who lived below you in a WWII bunker and all they did all day was listen to certain Fushitsusha albums, this is what you might hear through the floor." Now, all six of those cd-r's have been out of print for some time now. But Doktor Kettu's spacey jamming is indeed on-going, and now they're back with a brand new disc, Soft Delirium, and ALL our lines quoted above could easily apply, again. This time it's a real cd, not a cd-r, from Super-Metsa, a division of our friend Jussi's Ektro label that brings us so much stuff by his band Circle and other strange treats. In the typical Doktor Kettu tradition, there's but three long tracks on this disc, each of them an extended, wandering journey through darkness and light. The twelve minute, 44 second "Wulff" which opens the disc, billows forth, amplifier hum and droning chords riding abstract waves of percussive tinkerings to eventually unleash some seriously dense, distorted muzz. Someone's having a Tokyo Flashback, even though these guys are from Finland! Track two, "Triggeri" (9:56) is a bit gentler. Rather pretty, reminding us a bit of Circle's exquisite Miljard. Quiet music you'll want to play loud. And then the disc's third and final track "Kosmonaut", provides even more brooding ambience, exhibiting the ominous, twilight moodiness of another AQ fave, Bohren & Der Club Of Gore. It's over seventeen minutes long, but for us that's barely long enough. These pale rumblings, with surges of percussive texture and slow, slow hints of melody, could flow on endlessly and we'd be forever entranced...

MPEG stream: Wulff
MPEG stream: Kosmonaut

By now we've listed numerous recordings from Bali already, and with good reason: the people of Bali live and breathe music and art. It's no wonder that they've been the source of fascination from artists dating back to Walter Spies and are currently inundated with the clumsey feet of foreign tourists who flock to the island every year. Much like the beloved Indonesian Soundscapes, Night Recordings From Bali is a collection of field recordings -- made by Alan Bishop and Manford Cain in 1989 -- of the sort not likely to be captured by traditional "ethnomusicologists" or found on the likes of an Explorer or even Smithsonian Folkways disc. For instance: "Rubber Television", a recording of a television drama or soap opera accompanied by gamelan, dripping water sound effects that warbles pathetically like they were being recorded with a dying cassette deck (courtesy of Bali's notorious humidity maybe?) While many of the other recordings are of Bali's numerous, well exposed gamelan and sundry other music ensembles like anklung, kebyar and kecak, the man-on-the-spot style recording fuses the sounds of the frogs and insects to the performances where another recordist might have isolated the ensemble. Additionally, there are recordings here of wild life segueing between musical performances and even a recording of a cremation ceremony where the surviving loved ones battle in a traditional tug of war between those wishing to bring the body to the pyre and those resisting the inevitable final journey.

MPEG stream: Legian Minstrels
MPEG stream: Rubber Television
MPEG stream: Night Village Barong #2

This fine space rock/post rock outfit's second album for Kranky.

A bit more varied than previous albums, this disc sees Doldrums taking their usual krautrock-inspired drone and adding more vocals than before, while making overt moves into indie-rock, free noise and avant jazz...

With prior releases on both the VHF and Kranky labels, this band certainly has some credentials in the indie/spacerock scene, able to drone with the best of them and also maintain interest with krautrock-derived rhythmic elements. That said, the gorgeous Feng Shui focuses primarily on the blissful, ambient side of the band (i.e. less rock more space). Very nice.

Jonathan and Robert Scott aka The Doleful Lions only really sound doleful on a couple of songs here. For the better part of Song Cyclops Volume Two they unfurl warm breezy pop that's inflected with numerous incongruous stylistic elements -- very much in the Elephant Six Collective's tradition of crafting mid-fi tripped-out musical mosaics. Amid the generous serving of twenty two songs are five well-selected covers originally done by The Descendents, The Beach Boys, The Misfits, Close Lobsters and The Crystals. With their melted boyish vocals, shyly picked and strummed guitars, gentle bursts on hissy distortion and smattering of synths, the Brothers Scott might be likened to a bastard child of the Beach Boys and T-Rex. The eleventh song "Chinese Rockets", one of their originals, is a perfect example of this. Songs such as the seventeenth "Chrome Submarine" are sweetly woozy. Fans of Ariel Pink might find themselves equally tickled pink by these lads.

MPEG stream: Chinese Rockets
MPEG stream: Chrome Submarine

Herzog! Weed! Swearin'! Milk Music! You've probably been noticing us freaking out over a whole mess of new bands heavily influenced by the sound of the nineties underground, so we figured it was the perfect time to heap some serious praise on a couple actual records from the nineties, and not just the underground, the WAY WAY underground, in fact, if you didn't live in central Illinois, you likely had never heard, or even heard OF these guys, but goddamn, now that we have, we're kind of obsessed! And we were warned. The guys at the Bird Dialect label had been talking up this nineties Chicago grunge/noise/power pop outfit for ages, we had never heard of them, and hadn't heard a lick of music, and were thus a bit skeptical, cuz really, what label DOESN'T hype their next release? But holy shit, these guys are amazing. It's hard to imagine a band like this not making it big. Cuz they had it all, heavy and hooky, killer songs, a vocalist with a seriously rad raspy yowl, the band whipping up a sort of grungy, glammy power pop, but with shades of classic Twin/Tone bands, and early Homestead Records, if we had heard these guys in the nineties, no doubt they'd be one of our favorite bands. Swaggery glam punk meets garage pop, fuzzy grunge meets ramshackle noise rock. The label calls them Peoria's answer to Urge Overkill, and we can definitely hear that, but imagine UO without all the kitsch and smarm, and add WAY more grit and punk rock swagger, we also hear tons of early/classic Aerosmith, there's a huge Seattle grunge vibe a la Green River/Mudhoney or actually more like grunge lesser knowns like Swallow, we also hear lots of Skunk (pre-Chavez), and heck maybe some Chavez too, definitely Soul Asylum as well, back when they were AWESOME (which they were, for a long time), not to mention Finnish grunge/glam wastoids Smack, and heck, if we're going totally obscure, they reminded some of us of the band Clumsy, whose Center Of Attention Deficit Disorder is a mostly unheard nineties classic. So yeah, these guys, at least sonically, seemed poised for the big time, and listening to this now, it's almost criminal that more people haven't heard (of) these guys. Their 1994 debut Corvette Summer is a stone cold classic, opener "Kick The Ball" opens with a grungy, blown out riff, the sound is sort of power pop in punk rock clothing, like a meaner, noisier Cheap Trick, it's the sort of jam you can imagine inspiring some seriously sweaty crowds to go apeshit, the song lurching from chugging noise pop, to tangly noise rock and back again. "Timi Yuro Song" ups the pop ante, but that grunge vibe still shines through, especially when it slips into a low slung chug/dirge/swagger, and that voice, cigarettes and whiskey definitely played a part, and here we're definitely hearing some Love Battery, which is most definitely a good thing. "Half A Chance" is total Aerosmith worship, all woozy guitar shimmer, a total slow build ballad, like Dollface's "Dream On", and yeah, we don't make that comparison lightly, and we should mention the part where the vocalist sings "make them scream" and in the background, you can suddenly hear the sound of a wildly screaming crowd. Brooding, intense, minor key, some serious pathos heavy hard rock for sure. We could go track by track, but odds are you know by now if this is your thing, and if you're ANYthing like us, it most definitely is. The band do mix it up - there's the the power pop bounce of "Opportunities", the fuzzy almost psychedelic jangle of "Valentines Day", the playful pop punk of "No Duh No Doi", there's even hand claps on a few tracks, not to mention some seriously anthem worthy choruses, as well as some goofy, but pretty funny lyrics, all of which is well balanced by the bands grungier, more hard rocking side. This is fast becoming a new favorite, and definite contender for reissue of the year!

MPEG stream: Kick The Ball
MPEG stream: Timi Yuro Song
MPEG stream: Half A Chance

Herzog! Weed! Swearin'! Milk Music! You've probably been noticing us freaking out over a whole mess of new bands heavily influenced by the sound of the nineties underground, so we figured it was the perfect time to heap some serious praise on a couple actual records from the nineties, and not just the underground, the WAY WAY underground, in fact, if you didn't live in central Illinois, you likely had never heard, or even heard OF these guys, but goddamn, now that we have, we're kind of obsessed! And we were warned. The guys at the Bird Dialect label had been talking up this nineties Chicago grunge/noise/power pop outfit for ages, we had never heard of them, and hadn't heard a lick of music, and were thus a bit skeptical, cuz really, what label DOESN'T hype their next release? But holy shit, these guys are amazing. It's hard to imagine a band like this not making it big. Cuz they had it all, heavy and hooky, killer songs, a vocalist with a seriously rad raspy yowl, the band whipping up a sort of grungy, glammy power pop, but with shades of classic Twin/Tone bands, and early Homestead Records, if we had heard these guys in the nineties, no doubt they'd be one of our favorite bands. Swaggery glam punk meets garage pop, fuzzy grunge meets ramshackle noise rock. The label calls them Peoria's answer to Urge Overkill, and we can definitely hear that, but imagine UO without all the kitsch and smarm, and add WAY more grit and punk rock swagger, we also hear tons of early/classic Aerosmith, there's a huge Seattle grunge vibe a la Green River/Mudhoney or actually more like grunge lesser knowns like Swallow, we also hear lots of Skunk (pre-Chavez), and heck maybe some Chavez too, definitely Soul Asylum as well, back when they were AWESOME (which they were, for a long time), not to mention Finnish grunge/glam wastoids Smack, and heck, if we're going totally obscure, they reminded some of us of the band Clumsy, whose Center Of Attention Deficit Disorder is a mostly unheard nineties classic. So yeah, these guys, at least sonically, seemed poised for the big time, and listening to this now, it's almost criminal that more people haven't heard (of) these guys. Lights The Pilot!!! was the band's second record, originally released in 1996, and like Corvette Summer, it's a hard rocking doozy, just give a listen to "Destiny, Oh Destiny", which sounds like some lost Nirvana B-side, right down to the vocalist's inflection, and the weird chugging grunginess, in fact, anyone who digs Nirvana (and modern Nirvana worshippers like Roomrunner) will lose their shit for this. It's like the weirder, darker, noisier side of Nirvana, which was sort of always our favorite, super melodic busy basslines, crumbling distorted guitar jangle and crunch, two and a half minutes that you'll likely find yourself playing over and over and over. But the rest of the record is not too shabby either, slipping from the pogo-y punk pop of "Rods And Cones", to the fuzzy, noisy, grunged out power pop of "I Breakdown And Cry", with its killer woozy bridge, and the awesome, about-to-crack vocals, and from the crazy catchy, chugging jangle pop of "Atlantis", to the the twisted experimental new wave weirdness of "I Light The Pilot, and so it goes. We hear some Rocket From The Crypt, some Hot Snakes (especially on "Monkey House"), lots of familiar sounds for sure, but all wound up into a pretty unique package, one that pushes pretty much all our nineties rock buttons, and along with Dollface's Corvette Summer debut, these are getting played around here like crazy!

MPEG stream: Destiny, Oh Destiny
MPEG stream: Rods And Cones
MPEG stream: I Breakdown And Cry
MPEG stream: I Light The Pilot

Fans of the recent Low / Dirty Three In the Fishtank collaborations should clamber and swoon to this new SF outfit. Sparse drumming and strumming, and lulling bass and strings share the space with the quietly emotive female vocals. Mellow and melancholic.

This long out of print lp, now available on cd, thanks to our pals at Fonal Records in Finland. Here's our review from when we first reviewed the vinyl way back in the beginning of 2011... Hard to believe, but this is the very first release from Dolphins Into The Future that we've managed to get enough of to review and list. That's after about a bajillion cd-r's and tapes and limited lps... Dolphins Into The Future operate in the same orbit as James Ferraro and Monopoly Child Star Searchers, Explorers and High Wolf, and all the other similarly sonic minded floorcore combos, crafting druggy lysergic soundscapes made up of primitive synths, and analog loops, tape manipulation and malfunctioning samplers, and while each of those bands definitely has their own method, and methodology, Dolphins mainman (and only man) Lieven Martens seems to take his moniker seriously, not only incorporating the sounds of dolphins and the surf and seagulls, but also creating a sound that evokes undersea life, as much as we can imagine it. On the surface, it's a synthy new agey drift, all warm whirling soft focus melodies, steel drum like tones, washed out synth swirl, tranquil melodies and dreamlike drift, like an updated slightly more avant version of those old meditation tapes you might find in a new age bookstore, which, we would imagine is precisely what Martens and his sonic compatriots are going for. That said, for every bit of super simple new age shimmer, there's a bit of crumbing, weirdly looped crunch, or warped woozy almost Oval like swoon, all the sounds, on this record at least, held together by the sound of life on the shore, or on the deck of a boat, these slowly unfurling new age-scapes, are lush and laid back, minimal and mysteriously lovely, and the perfect soundtrack to bright sun, blue water and not a care in the world...

MPEG stream: On High Seas
MPEG stream: Lapse - Dream
MPEG stream: Aftermath - Isle Of Self

After producing three seminal art-punk records from 1977 to 1980 that moved in rapid trajectory away from the short-sharp economy of Pink Flag to the tongue-twisting surfaces of 154, Wire dissolved for the first time. Call it a hiatus, call it an acrimonious break-up, call it a fuck-you to the major label that signed them; but regardless of what may or may have transpired in 1980, there were just too many ideas in those four blokes to be contained in the trappings of a four-piece punk band. Given what came immediately after 154, it's pretty clear where all of those radical shifts came from - Graham Lewis and Bruce Gilbert. Sure, Colin Newman produced a pretty decent solo record in A-Z, but in all of the projects that Lewis & Gilbert produced, there was a torrent of amazing material that included Duet Emmo, Cupol, P'O, and what proved to the best of the lot - Dome. In quick succession, Dome produced four albums between 1980 and 1982, all of which now are just referred to by their numerical order, although Dome 4 was originally released under the title Will You Speak This World. As much as these records were explorations of deconstructing the punk song into drone, atonality, minimal synth abrasion, and polyglot perversity, Lewis & Gilbert would also tease with hints at what Wire had previously manifested. This audience baiting was also demonstrated on Wire's live lp Document & Eyewitness which condensed the classic Wire songs "12xU" down to 15 second fragment that never launched into that pogo-punk beat. As such, Dome would build songs out of repetitive guitar & bass patterns that would parallel one of the exuberant numbers like "Outdoor Miner" or "Mannequin" but the song would then detour into ellipsis with alien drones and discordant counterpoints. "Here We Go" from Dome 1 was a prime example of this punk-tease, furthered by tracks like the wild-eyed delirium of Lewis' ranting on "Cancel Your Order" also from Dome 1. The much ballyhooed highlight from that first record is the sublime track "Cruel When Complete" sung by Angela Conway, who coos breathily over an elegant if very cold electronic pattern with quintessential minimal wave detachment. Dome 2 continues along the convoluted art-punk abstraction through the two part "Red Tent" framed by plenty of abstracted electronic fragments and rhythmic work-outs that parallel what This Heat was doing at the same time. Dome 3 found the duo hitting their stride, where the synthetic rhythms and loops play a central role in the arrangements accompanied by weird percussion, distorted vocals, feverish minimalism, abstractionist drones, and industrial overtures. All of the tracks are given names more fitting to Kurt Schwitters "Ursonate" such as "Ar-Gu," "Roos-An," and "An-An-An-D-D-D," providing more of a connection to Dada than to punk. Through these synthetic noises, Dome find them the perfect bridge between Throbbing Gristle and Zoviet France. Dome 4 stretches out the fragmentary brilliance of Dome 3 into longer, more thoughtfully composed pieces such as the archaic sounding folk-hymnal "To Speak" where Lewis' baritone intertwines with a languid violin and lots of cathedral reverberations. Jump some 8 years to when Wire had reformed to produce a couple of fantastic art-pop records, when Dome also reconvened with the aid of late-80s technology: samplers and MIDI sequencing (as opposed to the tape loop and primitive synth work of the early recordings); and they recorded an album entitled Yclept which didn't get released for another decade. Here, the machined rhythms, repetitive noise collages, and loping basslines rejoin the realm of the song, albeit fractured somewhere between Aphex Twin, Greater Than One, and SPK, with Lewis crooning as he would occasionally do in Wire and on his under-appreciated He Said solo projects. These 5 lps come packaged in large box filled with photographs, posters, and liner notes plus the requisite download coupon and inexplicably a box of matches. Don't set yourself on fire, please.

MPEG stream: Cruel When Complete
MPEG stream: Danz
MPEG stream: Ar-Gu
MPEG stream: To Speak
MPEG stream: Because We Must (Version 1)
MPEG stream: Virtual Sweden (V.S.#1)

These instrumental math rockers best album. Wait we said American Don was. Well this is too.

The fourth and finest album yet from popular math-rock mainstay Don Caballero. Certainly the instrumental trio have perfected the complicated urgency they're renowned for -- time-signature-defying drumming and bright shards of crackling guitar. And at this point, Don Cab are genuinely making music like no other, having progressed leaps and bounds on every album with no sign of slowing down. On "American Don", they strip all traces of their early metal riffage, instead building and deconstructing layers of beautiful chiming guitars backed with a sturdy rhythm section, sounding almost cleanly electronic at times. Softening the anger, brightening the guitar picking until its sunny bleats make us think even the jaded Don Cabs are smiling behind the complexity. Quite possibly the heaviest record ever made without distortion and definitely their most forward-thinking album to date, which means they will likely lose some fans but also gain some more.

RealAudio clip: Fire Back About Your New Baby's Sex
RealAudio clip: Ones All Over the Place

Math rock / post rock / noise rock nerds, celebrate! Henry Owings and Chunklet once again deliver a sonic holy grail that we didn't even know existed. Most recently it was a killer collection from late great unsung Chicago noise rock minimalists Tar, and now comes a whole unreleased record from nineties math rock legends Don Caballero!! And holy shit is it a doozy, recorded in 1991 at Carnegie Mellon as a three piece, the sound is super raw, ultra fierce, crazy heavy, and mathy as fuck, a furious frenzy of wild octopoidal drumming, chugging distorted guitars, fuzzed out low slung bass, the songs already twisted and tangled, and weirdly catchy, the sort of head nodding matched out heaviness few bands then or now could match, and the recording only makes it sound that much better, blown out and in the red, fierce and in your face, relentlessly rocking. A bunch (but not all) of the tracks would show up in different forms later, on early singles and their debut full-length For Respect, but they almost sound even better here, more raw and intense for sure. Fans of this group, this era and this sound, grab one of these before they're gone, cuz odds are these are the only ones we'll be able to get. Housed in a full color gatefold sleeve, includes a download of the whole record, as well as the band's second ever live show as a bonus (and that's even more raw and blown out!!)...

MPEG stream: Schuman Center '91
MPEG stream: For Respect
MPEG stream: Our Caballero

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

SORRY.

You know these guys. A seminal outfit of the post rock ilk, one without whom... well let's just say there's a good reason they'll be namechecked in every Battles or Hella review we're or anyone else who knows what's what is gonna write. Pittsburgh's finest, the SCTV lovin' Don Cab, led by drummer extraordinaire Damon Che, are back with yet another lineup, and their second Relapse release (7th album overall if you count the singles comp). While the "metal" leanings of their 2006 Relapse debut World Class Listening Problem have been scaled back a bunch here, it's still another dazzling display of their trademark instrumental mathrock chops. Except, this time, it's not all instrumental! There's vocals on some (about a third) of these 14 tracks, and they're surprisingly melodious. (Maybe not so surprising if you've ever heard Che's other band, Thee Speaking Canaries, in which he sings and plays guitar.) But don't worry, aside from the sometime singing, everything else is 100 percent Don Cab: Wise ass song title non sequiturs. Stop on a dime changes. Complex song structures. Unusual time signatures. Loud-soft dynamics. Proggy perplexity. And quite a lot of pretty parts too! Several tracks are much more harmonious than hectic, soundscapes with airy grooves and lulling, lovely vocals. But an album called Punkgasm can't be a total blissout, it's usually a bit busier. On most tracks, the guitars - sometimes bright and chiming, at other times heavy and distorted - mesh with precision into the spinning gears of Che's constantly percolating, plentiful percussion. Imagine a King Crimson "Projekt" gone indie rock, but better.

MPEG stream: Loudest Shop Vac In The World
MPEG stream: Celestial Dusty Groove
MPEG stream: Lord Krepelka

(The epitome of) instrumental math-rock, complex and playful. Their long-awaited third album.

If you're a fan of virtuoso instrumental math-rock madness, look no further... there are two new releases on Relapse for you to nerd, we mean rock, out to! One is the long awaited fifth album from scene grandaddies Don Caballero (without whom...) and the other is from the more whippershapperish Dysrhythmia. We're totally enjoying the new Don Cab, 'though the world has caught up with 'em -- wise ass instrumental math-rock is all the rage (these guys should get royalty checks from Hella, Chevreuil, Orthrelm, Behold The Arctopus, et al), and so this new album, their first in six years, can't have the same impact as their records did back in the mid-'90s. But lone remaining original member drummer Damon Che still has crazy chops and his all-new lineup does the Don Cab brand name justice, getting a bit more metal in the process perhaps ('cause they're on metal label Relapse now?). And then for those whose heads want even more scrambling, Dysrhythmia's new one is also recommended. Their complex compositions are played energetically and octopoidally, and are maybe a bit more metallic than the Don Cab, though they do dabble in proggy, atmospheric passages here and there. Indeed, while both World Class Listening Problem and Barriers and Passages have plenty of the technical herky-jerk, they are also strangely relaxing. Not just the relaxation of sheer exhaustion when it's all over -- both records give the listener some welcome chances to chill while they're still playing as well.

MPEG stream: Mmmmm Acting, I Love Me Some Good Acting
MPEG stream: And And And, He Lowered The Twin Down

Donnas C., F., A., and R. are here to rock for you, the title really says it all. South Bay girls, all still in their teens, with major attitude.

We are all graciously awaiting the release of "The Donnas Hit Menopause" when the age of the band will finally reach the current average age of their male fans. More kick ass, power pop/punk ala The Runaways/Ramones/Redd Kross etc...