[ aquarius records new arrivals

IMPORTANT (Please read to avoid confusion): Some items below may be tagged with a bold, red, all-caps OUT OF PRINT/UNAVAILABLE notice. This does NOT mean that all other items not so tagged are, in fact, in stock — or for that matter, in print and available, though there's a good chance they are. Some folks get confused on this point, and we can see why, so please read this for further clarification and other important before-you-order information. Unlike some mailorder websites, we don't have an electronic inventory system linked to our site, so you can't be sure of what we actually have or don't have in stock at any given moment without asking us — please email our mailorder department for availability status — or better yet, just go ahead and place your order using our shopping cart function and we'll get back to you with the status of each item. If you have general non-mailorder questions, email the store.

Showing results 1 through 50 of 101.

Can you say "Suicide"? The band, that is. No, this isn't a new Suicide project, but everything -- from the music to the back cover basically says "Alan Vega, I so want to be you." From the same uber-hyped NYC scene that produced the Mouldy Peaches and The Strokes.

The soundtrack to this 'lost classic' soft core space movie is separated into 2 different movements, sort of. The tracks entitled 'Seli' of which there are 5, are cheesy and hippy shimmery vocal workouts ala many sixties/seventies low budget fantasy films. But

RealAudio clip: Seli (Main Title)
RealAudio clip: 4.3.2.1...MORTE! (Seq.3)

Of the three recent releases / discoveries from the Los Angeles Free Music Society through the Cortical Foundation, Airway's "Beyond The Pink" is the strongest, if not the most listenable. Joe Potts -- one of the more prominent players in the LAFMS --

RealAudio clip: Beyond The Pink Live

If you have a radio or MTV you're probably already familiar with this band's cover of Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal". It's actually pretty great. Too bad they didn't do a whole record of MJ covers. Instead, the rest of the disc is fairly standard nu-metal that *sounds* good but isn't super-catchy. Maybe it'll grow on us if we give it a chance, except that we keep skipping

RealAudio clip: Smooth Criminal

This limited edition cd ep was released by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in conjunction with the exhibition "010101: Art in Technological Times". Carsten Nicolai (Noto) and Robin Rimbaud (Scanner) did a three-hour set as part of the opening of the Both the digipak design and the sounds on the cd lean towards the Raster-Noton aesthetic -- minimal clicks and cuts style, starting with a pleasant insectoid buzz and gradually adding layers of crackle and drone (and what sounds like crickets chirping or frogs croaking!). As the piece progresses, these "synthetic late summer night" sounds are augmented by high, wavering electronic tones. Really a gorgeous listen! This disc is apparently only available at the SFMOMA store, as well as locations in Berlin, London and Tokyo -- and here at Aquarius, which was nice of the SFMOMA people. Get it while you can...

RealAudio clip: Uniform (excerpt1)
RealAudio clip: Uniform (excerpt2)

The guys from the seminal UK "free improv" group AMM, whose pioneering and still unique sounds first turned people's heads way back in 1965, are of course still very much in the, um, avantgarde of avantgarde music making, both as individuals and as the

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Jeff was supposed to review this new Arab On Radar atrocity (their fourth long-player), 'cause he's one of the only folks here at Aquarius who actually likes these Providence, RI art-spazz noisemakers. Heck he even usually has one of their discs of yelping no-wave chaos stuck in his car stereo. For most of us, this would be pretty far from "driving music" but not for Jeff! Anyway,

RealAudio clip: Birth Control Blues
RealAudio clip: My Mind Is A Muffler

Those are the two songs on this new 7" from San Diego's low-key kings of melancholy. It's a picture disc, and we'll probably run out of 'em before you even get this list. Sorry.

If you're a fan of the lo-fi pop stylings of Owen and his Casiotone For The Painfully Alone, check out his energetic, a bit more amped-up pals The Blast Rocks. Playfully messy, lo-fi punky pop fancied up with casio keyboards that also reminded me of the Rondelles-related Albuquerque combo Luxo Champ or Olympia party pop king Gene Defcon.

RealAudio clip: Joyce
RealAudio clip: My Boyfriend Is A Zombie

We just got a few copies of this kinda-hard-to-find cd reissue of a much harder to find (only 200 copies pressed!) 1972 lp by a hard rock band from Florida who are kinda legendary for their song "Dead Meat", a over-15-minute opus of proto-doom metal, which appears here as the album closer. Combining sub-Cooper schlock horror stage theatrics and sub-Sabbath riffage, "Dead Meat" was

RealAudio clip: Got That Feeling
RealAudio clip: Dead Meat

AKA "Vision Recreation by EYE". The fourth installment in the R.E.B.O.R.E. series of remixes isn't necessarily a "remix" of Boredoms material, but a reconstruction, or recreation as the title suggests. Contained are seven wonderful tracks of blissed out

RealAudio clip: 777

A two-song single from this project featuring Julian Cope (the former The Teardrop Explodes guy and self-proclaimed Krautrock expert) and two guys from Spiritualized, playing propulsive, heavy Stooges-style punkrock (Iggyish vox, loads of distorted

Imagine Neil Hamburger backed up by a drunk Albert Ayler. Imagine the worst comedian you've ever seen competing for your attention with an avant jazz musician in the same room. Imagine a 10 minute comedy sketch based on the assumption that DVD stands for I mean, we're well aware that there's a healthy chunk of Aquarius customers that scan our lists specifically for things we describe as 'fucked' or 'ridiculous' or 'bizarre' or even just 'stupid'. Well, you're in for it now. You have been warned. Anthony Braxton, much revered performer/composer/improviser, in yet another incomprehensible collaborative epiphany, has finally teamed up with...a stand up comedian. It's true. And of course, it wouldn't be true improvisation if the comedian weren't improvising as well, so what we're left with, is a series of skronks and squeals, and a series of witty (read: fucking stupid) riffs on newspaper headlines that are NOT FUNNY. REALLY NOT FUNNY. I don't mean Neil Hamburger not funny, I mean plain old bad not funny...unbearably painful. So painful in fact that our own Andee qualifies this as a must own!!

RealAudio clip: Composition No.281

Okay, in case the "Live at the Apollo Volume II" deluxe 2cd set that we listed in AQL #118 wasn't enough for you, here's a special anniversary edition of this previously unreleased 1968 James Brown concert extravaganza (which means it came out in 1998, but we

Bwana are a super-obscure psychedelic-funk-jazz-rock band from Colombia circa 1970. Lotsa Latin percussion, acid rock guitar, jammin' organ... Spanish language vocals for the most part, although actually the majority of this consists of instrumental

RealAudio clip: Tema De Bwana
RealAudio clip: Motemba

These local favorites, that for painfully obvious reasons, have made it big (-ish). The worst song on this cd is the hit on MTV. With embarrassing lyrics, funky, kooky riffs, and gratuitous poppy bullshit, this release was unbearable for me to listen to. Yuck.

Full length number two from the mighty Cavendish Sanguine (1/2 of the demented team that run the awesome UK fucked-electronic label Fflint) and it's just as good as we've come to expect from everything they put out. CS was always the moodiest, least So good.

RealAudio clip: Hall of Tendrils
RealAudio clip: Plague
RealAudio clip: South Stack

From NYC, mellow indie-pop that references the likes of Big Star and the Pernice Brothers. Sweet (but not sugary) stuff with twinkling vibes and wistful male vocals. Lilting and gentle. It made me think "a modern-day Bread" which is a-ok. Oh yes, and if

RealAudio clip: Hard to Be Easy
RealAudio clip: See You Around
RealAudio clip: Special Guest Star

Collection of this premier French soundpoem artist's work from 1956 to 1980, including stereo voice/breathing pieces and very cool stuttering electronics. Definitely for fans of the San Francisco Tape Music Center all-stars (Oliveros, Subotnick, Reich). Recommended.

While most of his bandmates proceeded on with other musical projects following the demise of AQ ultra-faves Olivia Tremor Control, Will Cullen Hart instead chose to focus his attention on other artistic endeavours - primarily his painting. But now he's returned The song entitled "Joy" almost made Cup weep right in the middle of the store. And not surprisingly, he's assisted by all his ol' Elephant 6 co-horts Jeff Mangum, Pete Erchick, Scott Spillane, Julian Koster to name a few. Be forewarned that the quality of the recording is a lot more lo-fi than the pristine OTC records, but the songwriting, harmonies, and musicianship still shine thru.

RealAudio clip: Joy

No one wanted to like Eminem, but we all sort of did, at least musically (definitely not lyrically/politically) and the same holds true for Eminem's 'band' D12. With all the hype and the controversy, you just sort of want to pretend they don't exist, but

RealAudio clip: Purple P****

Geez, how did I miss this release from last year? If you like the euro-pop quirkiness of Stereo-Total and/or Charles Wilp as I do, press 'play' on this baby. A very eclectic array of musical styles (lounge, retro-synth pop, strummy acoustic, Bacharach, polka, etc), but the bottom line is kitchy playfulness. Camille's smooth, warm voice really brought to mind a hybrid of Karen Carpenter,

RealAudio clip: I Am
RealAudio clip: Your Spice

Virginia's Deceased started as a Voivod-worshipping death metal band, before transforming into a throwback to '80s speed/true metal, featuring denim-clad dual axemen in Maidenesque harmony heaven, and singing drummer/record collector King Fowley belting out his horror-film derived lyrics in a voice uncannily similar to Cronos of Venom. Yet they retain the brutality and complexity

Here's the label-supplied blurb: "'Positive Contact' is the new single from the most talked-about Space Age Hip Hop Opera of the 31st Century, Deltron 3030. Featuring remixes of both 'Positive Contact' and 'Time Keeps On Slipping' (featuring Damon Albarn of Blur). Track listing includes radio edits, instrumentals, acapellas. Remixes by Charlie Clouser (Nince Inch Nails), Cut Chemist

It's too easy to call this band a blend of Black Sabbath and the Allman Bros. but they do share elements of both. '70s lovin' stoner rock from three long-haired Southern boys in power trio formation. The star of the show is Trinidad Leal, their singing

RealAudio clip: Thunderfoot

The Cortical Foundation continues in its excavation of the screwball antics of the Los Angeles Free Music Society, which took anti-rock, noise, and free jazz to new room clearing limits. The Doo-Dooettes were lead by Dream Syndicate drummer Dennis Duck, and offered a free jazz soundtrack in "Think Space" to film on the Viking Space Probe in 1975, sounding very much like the No Neck

Hmm. These experimental ambient drone electronics guys sure keep themselves -- and each other -- busy. Elsewhere on this list you'll find another double cd that sees Lopez teaming up with Zbignew Karkowski. And there's also a Karkowski/Xopher Davidson disc too. Etc. But if they can't get enough of the drones, well, that's 'cause neither can you, right? So check this out... Both

RealAudio clip: Flex
RealAudio clip: Gate

Like a wonderful melding of Spoon (Girls Can Tell) and The Jam (but not Jam & Spoon!), this is the third full-length from this super-sharp Canadian pop duo (their first two were "Smash the Ships and Raise the Beams" and "The Cons and the Pros") with a

RealAudio clip: Present Blind
RealAudio clip: Toast To The Life-Long Friends
RealAudio clip: The Witch Hunters
RealAudio clip: Words of Simon

Very impressive. Much less randomly aurally assaultive than her previous works. Atari Teenage Riot's Ms Endo has steadied her aim, and carefully selected her angles of attack. Not a constant barrage of pummelling abrasiveness, but instead more of a

RealAudio clip: One Night Domination
RealAudio clip: The Program And The Brides
RealAudio clip: Mask Identity
RealAudio clip: Neon Sunrise

First off, in the long tradition of bands with people's names, Erna Schmidt is a band, not a person. Okay. Now that that's sorted, Erna Schmidt were a German band signed to the Ohr label, that never managed to release an lp due to the untimely departure of their flute player. But live they were a terror, with songs stretching past the 45 minute mark and often completely improvised, furious and rocking, but also melodic and dreamy. This disc really captures all that. Recorded live during the years 69-71, this definitely captures the raw intensity of their stage show and the sound quality is really great. Meandering epics that run the gamut from ethereal melodic folkishness to stampeding freaked out psych rock, to groovy boogie breakdowns. Heavy on the flute, heavy on the guitar solos, and some truly kick ass drumming.

RealAudio clip: Weib Gott

Two Dollar Guitar head honcho Tim Foljahn, lays down said guitar and dips his toes into the field recording/drone/improv pool, coming up with somewhat ho-hum results. Kind of a shame too, since as a HUGE Two Dollar Guitar fan, I was so excited for this, thinking we'd be treated to more depressive back porch twang, but instead, Foljahn takes ambient sounds and turns them into raw

Eight songs of '70s influenced (everything from krautrock to Budgie) progressive, psychedelic "stoner rock" from this new Spanish band. A bit odd, as they mix a lot of things together: Middle Eastern atmospheres, soft Pink Floydish mellowness, and raging hard

The soundtrack to one of my favorite movies of all time, Fulci's gross out masterpiece 'The Beyond'. And Frizzi's score is up to the mighty task of musically keeping up. Dark and a bit Goblin-esque and truly creepy. And surprisingly, it never stumbles into

RealAudio clip: Verso L'ignoto

The daughter of ECM Jazz gent Jan Garbarek follows in her papa's footsteps but chooses to take a different musical path. Slowly sinking into an ultra-lush, shadowy sweetness. Wispy vocals with shades of Stina Nordenstam, the Cardigans, and a bit of Bjork. Ms

RealAudio clip: Spin The Context
RealAudio clip: The Diver

From SF's criminally underrecognized Granfaloon Bus comes a stunning new album, full of slide guitar, lush guitar, epic backup singing, and super earnest male vocals that spin out incandescently gorgeous lyrics like "It orbits within the glare as time stands still in there the suspense grows / Bend one till it becomes all others, drink the carousel in circles, till vendors mine

RealAudio clip: The Bender

Probably better known for his famous pop-star progeny (that's Beck Hansen to you), Al Hansen is one of the grandaddys of the Fluxus movement. This is a collage of 1986 recordings by the "New York City Audio/Visual Group." Figures like Gerard Malanga, Angus MacLise, Valerie Solanas, Warhol are called out and memorialized with absurb little cut-up poems.

Very well executed, but somewhat bland contemporary jazz grooves from the seemingly relentless percussionist Doug Scharin (former member of Codeine, Rex, June of 44). While Him's previous effort 5/6 In Dub was a very good, short and sweet take on a sort of millenial Afro-funk sound (albeit filtered through a white guy in Brooklyn), this record stretches out the grooves into

RealAudio clip: Sea Level

We've dearly missed our daily visits from J Church mainman Lance Hahn since he moved away from SF to Texas, but we're pleased as punch to see he's been keeping healthy and busy. Released on his label, Meaty, Beaty, Shitty is subtitled "Singles and shit from

RealAudio clip: Tightrope
RealAudio clip: Telephone Line

Polish-born, Japanese-dwelling experimental electronics artist Karkowski (well known for his solo work, as well as his many collaborations with the likes of Merzbow, the Hafler Trio and John Duncan) here teams up with one Xopher Davidson (who has

Panacea, our favorite formerly-corpulent German beat terrorist returns under another pseudonym (after also going by Rich Kid, Bad Street Boy, and M2) -- Kate Mosh. The music is trademark Panacea -- crushingly heavy beats and super doom-laden atmospheres, staccato highs and scattered static-laden vocal samples. It's very fun, very aggro and heavy. Everyone from fans of Atari Teenage

RealAudio clip: Across the Universe

Some of you may be aware of Russian artists Komar and Melamid's art experiment where they polled people from all over the world, asking them about art, their favorite colors, least favorite colors, their favorite subject matter, their favorite subject matter, And if you're a regular listener to public radio's "This American Life" you'll know (via a recent feature on that show) that these crazy guys have now applied that same idea to music (oh no!) -- and came up with the 'most wanted' song and the 'most unwanted' song as voted on by you, the American public. The results included: Most liked instrument: guitar, piano, cello Most unliked instrument: bagpipes, accordian, tuba Most wanted singing style: rock, blues/R&B, opera Most unwanted singing style: opera, rap, country And on and on, including many other preferences: least favorite subject matter, preferred tempos, numbers of performers, volume, subject matter, duration etc. So, according to Komar and Melamid's research, the most wanted song ends up being a short, guitar based rock/soul song, of moderate volume, medium tempo, singable lyrics about a love story sung by a low voiced female. The most unwanted song is a twenty-plus minute rap/opera/country hybid with far too many performers, far too many tempo changes, sung by children and a high voiced female, with an unmemorable melody and lyrics about holidays. A song supposedly scientifically proven that "fewer than 200 individuals of the world's population will enjoy"! (Hmm, wait a sec, that sounds suspicously similar to Steven Schultz' "Stalin Claus Superstar" rock opera, reviewed here for AQ-list #112!!) With these lame/absurd parameters in hand, our intrepid musicologists got weird-music guy David Soldier (most recently of Thai Elephant Orchestra fame!) to compose the most and least wanted songs, and then hired people (including Vernon Reid) to perform and record these two tunes. This cd contains the unfortunate results! To be honest, both these songs kind of suck (well, no surprise there -- indeed, the "good" song might be the worst song EVER, and the "bad" song isn't much better!) but this disc is pretty funny and pretty brilliant, conceptually. Definitely another album to file under 'fucked.'

RealAudio clip: The Most Wanted Song

Look out, it's the fifth album from Brazil's most deadly death metal band (you know 'em, you love 'em). Rollercoaster, lightspeed guitars and drums (mixed a little too loud, unfortunately) in the service of Satan!

RealAudio clip: Ageless Venomous

Here's three more in the continuing onslaught of reissues of classic records by the King of Afro-beat. Since we're still working sifting through the last dozen, again we'll just list that we have these and hopefully provide some more specific reviews at some future date!

An official "bootleg" released by the band themselves. As per the bootleg norm, the cover is a simple black and white Xerox-looking photo, and most song titles (and the band's name) are wonkily misspelled... intentionally. Lo-fi packaging aside,

RealAudio clip: Aleidas Theme
RealAudio clip: Masschussettes
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Three tracks of dark, subdued electronic murmurings. Gently lulling. Ambient music of the pretty kind that ideally would stretch on much longer than the limited length of a 7".

Why does Mr. Laswell anger me so? Well, while there is no question he is a very talented man, perhaps it is his shameless genre-bandwagon jumping and his insidious cashing in on other people's accomplishments that irks me. Yes, I think that's it.

Unintended for a proper release, this rare gem of the LAFMS has been unearthed and given the Cortical treatment. The brainchild of a then fifteen year old Rick Potts, this 1973 recording is the precursor to Le Forte Four's debut 'Bikini Tennis Shoes' LP, when "Boris the Spider" is a screwball "reworking" of The Who's song of the same name, along with amateur plundering of the Potts' collection of Frank Zappa and Disney records. Also includes a split 7": Slimy Adenoid and the Pablums (featuring Joe and Tom Potts as well as Dennis Duck) do a song about the Residents, cleverly titled "The Residents" backed with Joe Potts' "Mother/Daughter". Limited edition of 700 copies.

As decreed by the dual monarchs of the Kingsdom of Elgaland / Vargaland (those being CM von Hausswolff and Leif Elggren), Swedish composer Rune Lindblad should be held in the same canonical reverie as Karlheinz Stockhausen, John Cage, and Pierre Schaeffer. For Lindblad engaged the spirit of ardent innovation, brash risktaking, and an unwavering social agenda that could easily be found in The lp is much more loose in its interpretation of Lindblad with Brommage Dub pulling off a good Monolake / Chain Reaction piece of minimalist techno, and Jean-Louis HuhtaJ offering some leftfield electronica a la Two Lone Swordsmen or Plaid. Nice work, but doesn't really hold much insight into Lindblad's work beyond distant samples. Nevertheless, this is an excellent overview of Lindblad's work and his influence over contemporary Swedish experimental electronics.

[ aquarius records new arrivals — issue 119 ]