Aquarius Records closed in 2016. This site is an archive — a place to rediscover their extraordinary music recommendations. Nothing here is for sale.
Showing results 51 through 91 of 91.
PERRY, LEE 'SCRATCH' & DUB SYNDICATETime Boom X De Devil Dead(EMI)cd$ 16.98
Reissue of Lee Perry's 1987 collaboration with Adrian Sherwood's Dub Syndicate. Perry and Sherwood share the controls and Perry exclusively retains possession of the microphone. Amusing, yes, but it's a bit cursed by that late eighties production -- read new
PIPPILINAUpsquirrel(Independent )cd$ 12.98
What starts off sounding like a malfunctioning music box possessed by Aphex Twin soon mutates into what one would imagine a pillow fight in a video arcade would like. Look out! Ms PacMan's got Super Mario in a half-nelson! San Francisco's Pippilina (aka Astrid Meeks) has been known to make her frisky lil' twinkie tunes utilizing among other things a Gameboy and a Korg Chaos Pad. And on
POLER(Scape-Music)cd$ 17.98
In keeping true to Pole's self-referential titles, "R" is the re-issue of his first single "Raum" along with a handful of reworkings of the tracks off of that single and some remixes by Pole's associates, Burnt Friedman and Kit Clayton. While the original "Raum" tracks featured his signature style of skeletal digi-dub, constructed out of faux-PiL basslines, tinker-toy
PUSSYPussy Plays(Edsel)cd$ 16.98
This release from Hertfordshire UK band Pussy was overlooked upon its release in 1969 but over the years it has become a valuable find for prog/psych enthusiasts, selling now for over hundreds of dollars when originally it languished in the bargain bins. Now
REVOLUTIONARIESAt Channel 1: Dub Plate Specials(Jamaican)lp$ 13.98
From the archives of Channel 1 recording studios in Jamaica comes another fine collection of dubs from circa 1976 featuring house band The Revolutionaries, featuring Sly & Robbie, Tommy McCook, and Skully. Really nice and minimal dubs, many of them stripped
RIP OFF ARTIST, THEBrain Salad Surgery(Hot Air)cd$ 14.98
Nope, not a single Emerson, Lake, & Palmer sample on the album. Didn't mean to get your hopes up, but The Rip Off Artist (aka Matt Haines) does pilfer from the rest of pop culture with reckless abandon, obliterating it within a cut 'n' paste / electronica mindset. This whimsical electro-glitch album has found a perfect home on Hot Air, alongside Stock, Hausen, and Walkman and People
ROTOSCOPEGreat Curves(Jester Records)cd$ 14.98
Yet another baffler from Norway's Jester Records (the weird-ass label run by Garm from Ulver) who in the past have brought us Bogus Blimp, When, Esperanza, and the newer, more experimental Ulver records. This is sort of an electronica record. Sort of.
RZA AS BOBBY DIGITALDigital Bullet(Koch)cd$ 16.98
A few years ago, RZA and the rest of Wu-Tang made a guest appearance on the Upright Citizen's Brigade (the sadly missed show of comic absurdity recently cancelled by Comedy Central in favor of BattleBots... bad move, Comedy Central), lambasting Trotter - the
RZA, THEMusic From The Motion Picture Ghost Dog(Victor Japan)cd$ 28.00
So we know a bunch of you bought the Ghost Dog soundtrack, threw it on, and realised you were listening to a completely mediocre rap compilation that had very little to do with the movie, and thought 'What the fuck?' Well, there is an explantion. If you were
SANTOMIERI, DEANBoy Beneath the Sea(The Foundry)cd$ 12.98
Released on the local ambient label The Foundry, Dean Santomieri's "Boy Beneath The Sea" starts off pleasantly enough with slowly strummed Godspeed / Tarentel guitar riffs complemented by vaguely New Age-ish chimes and polished digital sheen. But Santomieri marrs the atmosphere with an extended monologue about "wonder, fear, guilt, impotence, love, anguish and freedom as uttered from
SCOTT, RAYMONDManhattan Research(Basta)3lp$ 47.00
Previously released as a 2cd set, Raymond Scott's "Manhattan Research" is now available on vinyl as a 3lp set! The academic eggheads that congregate around the musical institutions of the globe have from time to time tried to bring elements of whimsical pop to the sonic weirdness of musique concrete and the electronic oscillators that have continued to gyrate since the 60s. For the most part, the experiments meshing pop & academic New Music have been pretty lame, but not those of Raymond Scott. "The Manhattan Research Inc", now also available as a 3lp (as well as 2cd), collects the "new plastic sounds and electronic abstractions" from Scott's idiosyncratic work from the 50's & 60's, which included space-age ditties for commercials and oddball electronic noodling. As weird as the 60's space electronics from Dick Hyman / Command Records, yet just as complex as Tod Dockstader or Vladislav Ussachevsky, but with Scott's previous work with Carl Stalling scoring cartoons, these recordings retain a solid grasp on the intrinsically catchy pop jingle. Top it all off with commercial voice-overs for detergent and chewing gum for a wonderful collection of electronic esoterica. It should also be noted that, if you didn't know any better, on first listen, there's a good chance you would mistake this for a Tape Beatles or Negativland record!
SECRET CHIEFS 3Book M(Web of Mimicry)cd$ 13.98
Of all the post-Mr. Bungle bands featuring its members, the instrumental Secret Chiefs 3 are carrying the torch for what I most enjoyed about Bungle -- their intense love for all kinds of music, and the irrepressible, joyful schizophrenia that results. Like Secret Chiefs'd like to be as weird and esoteric as the SCGs, and try really hard in the purposefully obtuse liner notes, but let's face it, as great as the Secret Chiefs are, they don't possess the singular sound, feeling and mystery of the Sun City Girls -- instead they're successfully mixing up all those world music influences, Bungle, and the Boredoms. The band is primarily Mr Bungle alumni Trey Spruance & drummer Danny Heifetz, and along with frequent Sonic Youth collaborator / percussionist William Winant, brilliant violinist Eyvind Kang (a frequent SCGs collaborator, hey) is all over this record. The instrumentation is as wide-ranging as to include dumbek, zils, contrabass, sax, electric sitar, organ, and something called a santur. A quite satisfying, surprisingly consistent, well-executed album!
SEOFONZero Point(The Foundry)cd$ 12.98
For "Zero Point," San Francisco ambient technician Seofon has remixed (um, excuse me his term is "recycled") Ambient Temple of Imagination's "Mystery School" and has brought in the talents of Vidna Obmana, Steve Roach, Stephen Kent, Robert Rich, Not Breathing, and Thermal (whew!). With the best intentions of New Age harmony and sonic accomodation, "Zero Point" has become a
SLEPCYAnd Again(Ambush)cd$ 14.98
Pronounced "slepthhhh", meaning "blind man" in their native tongue, this Polish duo cranks out ear splitting noise coated breaks that lie along streaming rivers of distorted symphonic strings. This is pummeling dancefloor destruction for the end of the world.
SOLEXLow Kick and Hard Bop(Matador)cd$ 14.98
Dutch solo gal Elisabeth Esselink creates some real trippy, dippy music incorporating and manipulating found sounds into her mix. Check out the sly "Peter Gunn"-esque bassline on "Comely Row" or the funky rhumba shake of "Not A Hoot!". Although her voice can
SON, AMBULANCEEuphemystic(Saddle Creek)cd$ 13.98
At his sweetest, Joe Knapp (who is also in midwest indie sensations Bright Eyes) approaches the vocal sugariness of Belle and Sebastian, but mostly his quietly epic music has a solemn, introspective flavor that '70s singer songwriters made popular. Full of
SONS OF OTISSongs for Worship(The Music Cartel)cd$ 14.98
Massive, spacey, druggy stoner rock -- for a visual analogy, imagine the big black alien monolith from 2001 if it was actually a giant space-bong. This Canadian band follows up their Man's Ruin releases ("Templeball" being one of the heavier highlights of the
STEREOLABSound-Dust(Elektra)cd$ 16.98
My coworker Cup, whose tolerance for musical sweetness I can only admire and envy, thinks this new Stereolab album displays a lot more thought and effort, and is more intriguingly organic than their recent slick muzak leanings. And certainly the tracks featuring Jim O'Rourke at the controls are very nice. However, in my opinion (and I'm not Cup), this new album sees Stereolab
STILLUPPSTEYPAStories Part Five(Ritornell)cd$ 16.98
Who would have ever guessed that the first photo cover on the clinically sterile Ritornell label would have been this? A slickly produced cover photo of Stilluppsteypa donning faux-regal sparkling capes with huge stiff collars and one of the members (Sigmar?) I would hazard a guess that the visual sensibility of Stilluppsteypa has been informed by the odd conceptual agendas of Leif Elggren who is responsible in part for the Kingdoms of Elgaland / Vargaland (amongst a number of other oddball projects). Both Elggren and Stilluppsteypa play with the notions of royalty, as an residual political emblem of inflated egotism as well as of self-deprecating absurdity. With that entire diatribe on how good the cover is, it needs to be stated that artwork completely betrays the integrity of the music within. Stilluppsteypa has developed into one of the most adventurous staples of the electronica glitch community. "Stories Part Five" deviates slightly from what is expected from Stilluppsteypa with their multipled layers of electro-acoustic minutae exploding into clinical technotic escapades, rippling with deep unwavering basstones. Stilluppsteypa's forays into techno minimalism are not the smooth tendencies of microhouse, instead preferring to enhance the skeletal grooves with a psycho-acoustic tension.
SUPERCHUNKHere's To Shutting Up(Merge)cd$ 14.98
Marking Merge Records' 201st release is Superchunk's eighth full length. And a splendid one it is. Mac, Laura, Jim and Jon have crafted a glowingly polished pop album with all pieces falling gracefully into place. A smooth, lush progression from their last
SURVIVAL, THELa Onda De The Survival()cd$ 16.98
The Survival were a Mexican psychedelic rock band circa 1970, who played morbid, melancholy acid-blues and warped beat music, with an oddly apocalyptic sense of freak-humor, reflected in song titles like "The World Is A Bomb", "Electric Chair", "Nothings
TARENTELThe Order of Things(Neurot)cd$ 15.98
AQ has previously praised the post-rock instrumental drama of popular local kids Tarentel. Certainly fans of Mogwai, Godspeed You Black Emperor, and the like have found Tarentel quite enjoyable as well. Nearly two years after their stunning debut album, From Bone To Satellite, the band is back with The Order of Things, released on Neurosis' label Neurot. In addition to the traditional
THEY MIGHT BE GIANTSMink Car(Restless)cd$ 17.98
The endearingly nasal voices of the two Johns are back. Not as immediately infectious as previous records, "Mink Car" might take a while to grow on you. Even longtime fan Cup isn't quite sure about this one. Ever the quirky, fearless genre-jumpers TMBG deliver their trademark, crafty hooks in a number of different guises - careening from bombastic rock ("Cyclops Rock") into a disco-y, New
U ROYNow(Tabou1)cd$ 16.98
Brand new release by the godfather of dancehall and, some argue, rap, the legendary toaster U Roy. Unfortunately, not a very remarkable album though it features some guest appearances by such notables as Horace Andy, Errol Dunkley, Alton Ellis, Sugar Minott, Max Romeo, Sly & Robbie and more. Those unfamiliar with U Roy are better served by picking up Version Galore, or even
V/AAfro-Rock Volume One(Kona)cd$ 16.98
Kona records presents a new collection of Afro-Soul and Funk tracks taken from the late sixties to the early seventies. 11 tracks from 11 groups that arose out of the Pan African identity movement in the 60's, hailing from Sierra Leone, Kenya, Zaire, Ghana and elsewhere. Super tight, ready to explode afro-funk tracks that will make your butt shake are what you can expect when you put this
V/ADIY-Fest(DHR)cd$ 14.98
A sound and spoken word collection of international DIYers including contributions from Atari Teenage Riot members Nic Endo, Hanin Elias, and Alec Empire as well as Jello Biafra, Dillinger Escape Plan, Ani Difranco, Creation Is Crucifixion, Mystic of Heiroglyphics, Nicole Blackman, William Upski Wimsatt (author of "No More Prisons" and "Bomb The Suburbs"), and more.
V/ADown From The Mountain(Lost Highway)cd$ 17.98
Down From The Mountain is a recording of a live concert held at the Ryman Auditorium (a.k.a. The Grand Ole Opry) that featured many of the artists that appeared on the soundtrack to the Cohen Bros. popular film "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" The concert was documented on film by D.A. Pennebaker (who directed the renowned film on Bob Dylan "Don't Look Back" among many other
V/AHigh Noon(Bear Family Records)cd$ 21.00
The subtitle: "25 Artists, One Song". Yes, here's 27 versions of the theme song from the classic Gary Cooper western recorded in the '50s and '60s. Among them, versions by Tex Ritter (three of 'em, all different), Frankie Laine, Chet Atkins, Ferrante &
V/ANo More Rock N Roll(Make Some Noise / Spiky)cd$ 15.98
Great collection of the current crop of electropunk mash up artists, in the post Digital Hardcore vein. Fourteen previously released tracks from Kid 606, Atari Teenage Riot, DJ Scud, Cobra Killer, Bomb 20, Kid Spatula, 2nd Gen, Aphasic, Hellfish & Producer and more!
V/ANuggets II: Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond 1964-1969(Rhino)4cd$ 65.00
This brilliant cd box set lives up to Rhino's slogan "We collect records so you don't have to." Covering the nether regions of 1964-'69, Nuggets II is a virtually hitless, yet absolutely priceless, collection of mod, psychedelic, British R&B, freakbeat,
V/ASaddam Birthday Party / Jailbreak(Greeensleeves)2lp$ 14.98
Another dancehall collection featuring tracks by singers using the "Saddam Birthday Party" and "Jailbreak" rhythms. All the greats are here: Capleton, Merciless, Elephant Man, Sizzla, Lexxus, Mr Vegas, Frisco Kid, Danny English and more. You just gotta be
V/ASelect Cuts From Blood & Fire, Chapter Two(Select Cuts)cd$ 16.98
Following on the heels of their successful first volume of remixes from the Blood & Fire catalog, Select Cuts has released yet another disc of more of the same. Classic tracks by Scientist, Yabby You, I Roy, King Tubby, Linval Thompson and more are remixed
V/ATeam Mint Volume 2!(Mint)cd$ 4.98
The New Pornographers, Duotang, Neko Case, I Am Spoonbender, Nardwuar The Human Serviette (and his combos Thee Goblins, Thee Skablins and of course, The Evaporators)... sound like an unusual gathering? Hmmm, not really. Y'see, they're all on Vancouver's Mint Records, and a sampling of their songs have been collected together - along with those of sweet-twang Tennessee Twin,
V/AThat's All Folks: Cartoon Songs From Merrie Melodies & Looney Tunes(Rhino / Warner Bros.)2cd$ 30.00
On this double cd you'll find the scores to six *entire* classic WB cartoons (including "What's Opera, Doc?"), in addition to tracks taken from hundreds of others. Every imaginable genre is represented: 19th century art songs, nationalistic tunes from the
V/ATravelling Record Man, the: Historic Down South Recording Trips of Joe Bihari & Ike Turner(Ace)cd$ 16.98
Collection of archived recordings, many of them never before released, of Delta area blues musicians recorded between 1947 and 1953 by Joe Bihari for Modern Records. Accompanied by Ike Turner, then a talent scout for his label (who was responsible for
V/ATurntables By the Bay(Hip Hop Slam)cd$ 11.98
A really nice cd version of the four vinyl Turntables by the Bay comps. This contains most but not all of the tracks from that series, along with really detailed liner notes, contact info for the DJs, etc. With tracks from star turntablists Q-Bert and other
V/A[o]acis box(Raster-Noton)4cd ep$ 23.00
The "Oacis" 4cd box should be confused with the "Oacis" book that Raster-Noton released earlier this year, though both featured the usual suspects in Byetone, Komet, Coh, and Alva Noto. Remixing source material from someone named Lumen (no, not the post-rock Thus, the "Oacis" box is quite solid on the musical front; however, the packaging holds some unfortunate design oversights. First off, the box is housed in the same industrial strength zip-lock bag as the book, which fit the 8.5" x 6" book rather snugly, but overwhelms the 5.5" x 5.5" box. Secondly, the designers had obviously taken great cares in die-cutting all of the innersleeves, but included a lone piece of card stock which inhibits a direct line of sight through the package. Very disappointing design execution from a label that has prided itself on its perfect packaging (like the "20' to 2000" series). Oh well.
VASQUEZ, JHONENFiller Bunny in... I Fill Up 15 Pages(SLG)magazine$ 2.25
Brutally funny first issue of this comic by the creator of Johnny The Homicidal Maniac - Mr. Jhonen Vasquez. Simultaneously super-cute and super-bummer. Quite simply the being known as Filler Bunny exists to fill up space... yep, 15 pages worth. And it
WHIPSong Song(Blackbean & Placenta)cd$ 6.98
11 tracks in 25 minutes, Whip's "Song Song" seams to much more an extended drawl than a collection of songs, in another slight variation of the Palace / Songs:Ohia style of plaintive alt.country guitar strum and meandering hoarse vocal whine.
WOLFMoonlight(House of Kicks)cd ep$ 11.98
Cd single from this band of Swedish youngsters, metalheads who worship the metalgods of the '80s (Maiden and Priest) rather than trying emulate their Nordic corpse-painted peers. Their debut self-titled album was one of the best "true metal" releases of the
WRENCHOscillator Blues(Beard of Stars)cd$ 14.98
Wrench are full on stoner/sludge rock, complete with space sound effects and downtuned key-of-C riff jams. They are akin to Monster Magnet & Kyuss with a healthy dose of psychedelia.