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 1 through 50 of 112.
AKERCOCKEThe Goat of Mendes(Peaceville)cd$ 16.98
Akercocke has been touted as England's great black metal hope. A lot to live up to when you consider the UK has produced Venom, the fathers of black metal, and probably the most successful black metal band of all time, Cradle of Filth. Setting a course for
ANTENNA FARMs/t(Phthalo)cd$ 12.98
Working with a huge arsenal of equipment (the press release lists guitars, the springs from an old reverb unit, shortwave static, VLF signals, closed circuit feedback loops, turntables, surface damaged CDs, etc.), Antenna Farm offers an album of grim collages
APHEX TWINDrukqs(Warp / Sire)2cd$ 17.98
It's been five years since the Aphex Twin unleashed his Surrealist-tainted slab of brilliance "The Richard D. James Album," which jauntily skipped around the accepted boundaries of contemporary electronica with surprising ease and an almost voiceless black From the get-go, Aphex Twin wisely sidesteps the currently hip clickery of the Ritornell / Raster labels, jumping straight into his tried and true forms of bastardized drum 'n' bass punctuated by delicate piano-ambient interludes. Unfortunately, Aphex has been following the rather tepid stylings of 2 step and speed garage, instead of the vibrant spasticity of Lesser or the mentally damaged dancehall of DJ Scud. Thus, the ambient artifacts -- which come across as Satie's "Furniture Music" for the H.R. Giger set, being both deliciously macabre yet tonally beautiful -- are the more interesting moments found on the first half of the album. Disc two offers a few classic Aphex sounding tracks of smoldering acid squelchiness, time-stretched vocal snippets, and complex grooves built out of constantly counterpointing rhythms. Again, these are spaced between delicate halcyon piano ambience, something which at times appears as dinner jazz for the IDM set. While certain individual tracks flash a programming brilliance cast with his ever-present sideways smirk, easily putting his contemporaries to shame, "Drukqs" as a whole never really finds a direction; nor, does it makes much progression though all of the various electronica agendas. Nevertheless, those of you already cardcarrying members of the Aphex fanclub won't be disappointed.
APOCALYPTICACult( Spitfire)cd$ 16.98
We listed this back on #108, when it first came out as an import (we were stocking the Canadian version, thanks to our friends at Scratch Records in Vancouver who ordered 'em for us and smuggled 'em down here) but it's taken over a year for this to get a We've been huge fans of this Finnish all-cello quartet for a while now, and how could we not be? Their first record was of them sawing away at all Metallica covers! Their second record was almost all covers too, not just Metallica, but Sepultura and Faith No More. It's not all that surprising that these pseudo classical instrumental versions of metal songs worked so well (sometimes better than the originals), especially considering the epic Wagnerian quality of a lot of metal, especially Metallica. On their third record though, Apocalyptica have almost completely abandoned their metal/Metallica covers (except for a couple bonus tracks) in favor of originals, and the result is probably their best record yet. They have obviously learned all they can from the masters (classical and metal), and have struck out on their own, to create something new, certainly not conventionally metal, but not classical either. Definitely 'heavy' though! The four cellists (here augmented by double bass and all sorts of percussion) craft explosive and complex, super intense epics, fusing classical movements with traditional song structures, bizarre techniques with impeccable chops, all delivered with decidedly un-classical aggression, making for a record way heavier and better than anything Metallica themselves have done in the last few years. Not bad for a bunch of cellists! This new US edition is a little different than the import -- the bonus tracks are the same (two Metallica covers plus their version of Grieg's "Hall Of The Mountain King"), but they've also included a new version of their song "Path" that adds vocals from the woman from the band Guano Apes (who I guess are popular in Europe), and there's also a cd-rom video included for that same cut. While it's neat to see them flailing away at their cellos in the stylish video, if you already have the import it's not enough to make you trade it in for this version. But if you *don't* have the import (and we know quite a few of you missed out), now's your chance to pick up this awesome album! (Oh, quick note to the people who write press sheets for Spitfire: "Hall Of The Mountain King" is NOT a Savatage cover, guys!)
BEAUSOLEIL, BOBBYLucifer Rising Original Soundtrack(White Dog Music)cd-r$ 12.98
Yes, it's a cd-r, but we're stoked to have it -- it's the only way to get a hold of this, the rare soundtrack to cult underground director and Crowley-ite Kenneth Anger's film Lucifer Rising (begun in the mid-'60s, completed in 1980). Originally Jimmy Page was Bobby and the Freedom Orchestra play electric guitars, Fender Rhodes electric pianos, some synths and bass...there's two drummers, and a trumpet player. The result is a sometimes sinister, sometimes blissful, always beautiful and "cosmic" drifting soundscape. Gurgling old-school electronics blend with propulsive rock drumming, while psychedelic guitar soloing tears across the sunset horizon created by the synths...The combination results in what you might imagine an early '70s Tangerine Dream/Ennio Morricone collaboration might have sounded like. It's indeed a lost classic. And the composer's life story is at least as weird and interesting as the music... In the late Sixties, Bobby was a rising star in the LA rock-pop scene, hanging with Zappa, the Beach Boys, and Love. But then a drug deal went bad and he was sent to death row for murder, arrested 3 fays before the Manson killing spree. Fortunately for him, his sentence was eventually commuted, but he's spent like the last 30 years in jail. He's been a model prisoner, pursuing his talents in music and art despite his incarceration, and you'd think that the parole board would have let him out by now (he's been paying his debt to society longer than anybody else has for a similar crime, we're told) but sadly for Bobby, he's got to deal with his association with the notorious Charles Manson. While never a member of Manson's Family (a common misconception), he did play in a band with Manson, and the media hype surrounding anything to do with Manson hasn't helped Bobby's case, as you might imagine! (At least that's the way Beausoleil tells it. But the more one delves into the story of "Lucifer Rising", the weirder things get -- for instance, apparently Bobby was supposed to PLAY the role of Lucifer in the original 1966 version of Anger's film, but the two had a falling out and Bobby allegedly stole the footage and buried it in Death Valley! How this jibes with him later writing this soundtrack, we don't know.) Yet, not being one to simply sit in his cell and rot, Bobby has, as we said, kept quite busy within the clutches of the California Penal system. And now, with his wife Barbara dealing with business on the "outside", he's started the White Dog label to release his music. So far they've put out this soundtrack and also a couple of Bobby's newer compositions, stuff more in the New Age vein. They haven't yet made the jump to "real" cds, but their cd-rs are professionally duplicated and printed, with computer art by Bobby himself. Although for obvious reasons Bobby wouldn't probably approve of the use of the word to describe himself and this soundtrack, in the Aquarius Records' musical context it's quite appropriate: Cult!
BEEHIVE AND THE BARRACUDAS'Plastic Soul' With The White Apes(Swami)cd$ 12.98
San Diego superstars ND (Rocket From The Crypt) and Dirty/Dustin join Kerry from the Red Aunts and a ton of others to form Beehive and The Barracudas. Not unlike the high octane fire power of RFTC, but more garage-y and tough. Fans of the White Stripes or the
BEHRENS, M.Elapsed Time(Intransitive)cd$ 14.98
For his "Elapsed Time" album, the German ultra-minimalist Marc Behrens uncovered a handful of his old cassettes of field recordings and compositions for analogue synthesizer, which he then ran through his current studio set up of digital signal Behrens' has done well to keep his original intent of manifesting a paranoid listening environment with the original recordings, but some of the recordings do show their age from time to time (especially the sporadically used but sorely out of place Arp synth). Certainly recommended to those fans of current ultra-minimalism who have a healthy appetite for the cut-up experiments from the Industrial Culture.
BLACK DAWNBlood For Satan(Necropolis)cd$ 14.98
This has got to be one of the best black metal album covers EVER. A close-up of two corpsepainted mouths, drooling thick, viscous blood. Nice. Blazing fast, old-school black metal. Almost all blast beats and shrieks (the vocals sounding quite a bit like Cradle
BORKNAGAREmpiricism(Century Media)cd$ 14.98
Borknagar record number four I think (maybe 5, but who's counting?) and I'm going to go out on a limb and say this is maybe my favorite Borknagar record so far. The sound has changed quite a bit thanks to a new singer, a new keyboardist and a new
BRAINBOMBSCheap(Load)12"$ 10.98
Four new tracks from everyone's favorite filthy Swedes. Dark, disgusting murky sludge rock with titles like "I Wish I Was Dead She Said" and "Cum In Blood" grace side one. Side two features the highly anticipated and lengthy remix of "It's A Burning Hell" by the one and only Destroyer himself, Alec Empire. Don't think this will make it onto cd anytime soon, so don't delay.
BRODSKY, STEPHENOle Sunday(Magic Bullet)cd$ 13.98
Newest solo offering from Stephen Brodsky, otherwise known as the front man for Radiohead-obsessed metalheads Cave In. While his last solo record was intimate, personal and darkly acoustic, this new one doesn't fare so well. This time around it's a sort of
BROTHOMSTATESClaro(Warp)cd$ 16.98
Much like the recent Chris Clark album on Warp, Brothomstates' "Claro" typifies the direction where Warp has been pushing electronica and the IDM subgenre in particular. The label is not really concerned with the MicroHouse of Mille Plateaux or the
CARPATHIAN FORESTMorbid Fascination Of Death(Avantgarde)cd$ 14.98
Their first record in three years, Norwegians Carpathian Forest return with their dark and primitve 'Misanthropic Black Metal' but with some new twists. Their overall sound hasn't changed too much, a noisy thrash metal assault tempered with the primitve buzz of
CONVOCATION OF..., THEPyramid Technology(Tiger Style)cd$ 14.98
The oddly named The Convocation Of... is the current musical outfit lead by one Mr. Tonie Joy (who has played guitar in almost every influential hardcore band of the '90s: Moss Icon, UOA, Born Against, The Great Unraveling... the list goes on! Oh, and he
COUP, THEParty Music(75 Ark)cd$ 15.98
My favorite hip hop record of the year, along with Cannibal Ox's Cold Vein, is The Coup's Party Music. A lot of you heard *about* it before it ever got released, due to the cover art which depicted The Coup's Boots and Pam the Funkstress blowing up the World
CURE, THEGreatest Hits(Elektra)2cd$ 19.98
Yeah, so what. Another Cure greatest hits record. Most everybody who cares either has all of their albums or has the -last- greatest hits album. But we were particularly interested in the bonus disc of greatest hits performed acoustically. High hopes were dashed a bit though, as the songs weren't -exactly- acoustic, rather full band, with acoustic guitars instead of electric.
DE LA SOUL3 Feet High And Rising (reissue - limited edition 2cd version)(Tommy Boy)2cd$ 17.98
Reissue of one of the few hip hop records everyone can agree on (another is probably PE's 'A Nation Of Millions...'). This record is so clever, so catchy and so kick ass, that even the heads who can't stand 'positive hop-hop' (like me) love this record. Unless
DESTROYERCity Of Daughters(Triple Crown)cd$ 14.98
Not a new album, but a glimpse at some earlier, pre-New Pornographers Dan Bejar's songcraft. This bard of Vancouver, BC's particularly impassioned, often-pinched Hitchcock / Nilsson-esque vocal delivery weaves his eccentric, poetic and moving tales
DEVIL DOLLDies Irae(Hurdy Gurdy)cd$ 14.98
Another disc of horrifying progressive creepiness from Italian underground masters of the bizarre and the frightening, Devil Doll. Never was a band more suited to scoring horror films (since Goblin), but Devil Doll don't, they just weave epic and haunting
DNTELLife Is Full Of Possibilities(Plug Research)cd$ 15.98
Los Angeles-based Jimmy Tamborello, veteran of the SoCal emo/indie rock scene (remember Strictly Ballroom? Further? The Tyde?) and current member of electro pop outfit Figurine returns after a lengthy absence with another solo record as Dntel. After two
DRUNKHORSEBambi(Wantage)7"$ 4.50
With "Dirty Mind" on the flip -- yep, both are Prince covers, done up all rock n' roll by SF's smartest '70s style rockers.
E.A.R.Continuum(Space Age)cd$ 16.98
Aah, in case you'd thought the highly prolific Sonic Boom AKA Experimental Audio Research AKA E.A.R. had perhaps finally fallen silent, along come eight more tracks from his camp. In case you're an equipment geek like me and were wondering with what his
EARTH2 (Special Low Frequency Version)(Sub Pop)cd$ 10.98
(For some reason we never listed this before, so rather than just adding it quietly to the website we thought we'd put it on our email, timely since we're also listing the reissue of Earth's "Sunn Amps..." cd.) Earth. The band that launched a thousand drones. The band that started it all. The heaviest band ever (maybe). Earth was the singular vision of only-permanent-member Dylan Carlson, the long haired guy pictured on the back cover wearing the Morbid Angel longsleeve (whom you might remember from the Kurt & Courtney movie). For 1993's Earth 2, Dylan's guitar was joined by the bass of Dave Harwell, who is pictured holding a cup of coffee on the back cover (and who would go on to disappear completely). All you kids who thrive on an unhealthy diet of the Corrupted, Boris (who even borrowed the Earth 2 tagline "Special Low Frequency Version" for the Southern Lord version of their "Absolutego" album), the Melvins, Thrones, and sludge like that, as well as you avant-art rockers who enjoy 'dronology' and stuff like Mirror and Jonathan Coleclough and even those of you who sit at home in front of your dream machines and wallow in the historical drones of Angus Maclise and Tony Conrad, need look no further than Earth 2 to experience the drone the way it was meant to be heard: huge downtuned guitars playing riffs so slow that each one lasts forever, LOW END that slides and lurches like a blackened glacier of fuzz and hiss, slow motion notes stretched so far that they become a single note washing over you like a sticky wave of tar and molasses, melodies that are indistinguishable because the notes are pulled so far apart they threaten to come apart completely. When we tell someone that a record is heavy, Earth 2 is the barometer by which all other supposedly 'heavy' music is measured. Even recent AQ faves Sunn 0))) are an Earth tribute band (they will even say as much) named for Earth's amp of choice. There are very few records that are 'classics', that stand the test of time, that remain as vital now, as when they originally came out, ten, twenty, or even thirty years earlier, that have influenced so many bands so much, or that have been unequalled, even with so many people trying so hard to be the heaviest or most extreme. The drug addled, accidental brilliance that is Earth 2, to this day remains a complete and utter classic.
EARTHSunn Amps And Smashed Guitars Live(No Quarter)cd$ 12.98
You can read more of our gushing about Earth elsewhere in the list, but needless to say, we LOVE Earth. And if you have no Earth records, we recommend you start with the godlike Earth 2, an epic three track monster of tarpit riffs and slow moving rumbles. But
EINSTURZENDE NEUBAUTEN1991-2001: Strategies Against Architecture III(Mute)2cd$ 17.98
On September 12, Blixa Bargeld wandered into Aquarius after hearing that his US tour with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds had been cancelled. While I had never met the man before, his demeanor was certainly curt and somewhat cold, muttering his disapproval that If I had been able to muster the courage to ask Bargeld for his thoughts, I could imagine that his answer would be something poetic but vaguely haunting, and maybe something a little bit more allegorical than Stockhausen's recent social gaffes. Or maybe, those are the attributes that I'd like his words to have, and he would just shrug it off as another stupid question from another stupid American. Yet, Bargeld and his stalwart project Einsturzende Neubauten have been engaged in presenting multiple possibilities for the end of the world within evolving musical theatres, ranging from their early brutalism of hammering infernal music out of metal and flesh to their more recent offerings of staged melodramas around Bargeld's lyrical complexities and restrained vocalizations. Thus, I would hope that Bargeld may have something intelligent and insightful to say about the WTC attacks. "Strategies Against Architecture III," subtitled "A Comedy of Errors" was obviously never intended to be Bargeld's specific answer; but within the current cultural climate, it does address the general themes. Over the last decade, Neubauten has calmed their industrial clamour and embraced the tasteful palette of a chamber ensemble, with strings and horns fleshing out their recent sound. It is obvious that Neubauten has changed with age, looking back at their early work through eyes that no longer seek expression through self-destruction. Rather, Neubauten stands in the ashes of their attempts at self-destruction seeing that the epistomological forces of life may in fact be stronger than the will to destroy. The gleefully abject explosions that made up their earliest work now quietly smolder within the pleasant, strangely cabaret-like, and almost holistically beneficial music found within "Strategies III." In essence, Neubauten's third compilation of rarities, alternate takes and 'greatest hits' finds their existential angst getting all warm and fuzzy. While I've been wholly disappointed by their work over the past decade, "Strategies III" makes for an nice condensed history for a time period in which existential answers were sought in lieu of taking aesthetic adventures.
EXHALERA DECKBreathe(Black Bean & Placenta)cd$ 11.98
A collection of electronic tracks culled from various 12"s from the man behind Accelera Deck, Chris Jeely. Features two remixes by James (Dntel / Figurine) and David (Figurine). For fans of Darla-esque electronica fluff. On the eclectic Blackbean and Placenta label.
FAUST71 Minutes of Faust(ReR Megacorp)cd$ 16.98
Recommended completes their reissues of all the early Faust material with "71 Minutes of Faust". Essentially the same as the previous reissue known as "71 Minutes of Faust" this compiles the posthumous Faust odds-n-ends LPs "Munic & Elsewhere" and "The
FAUSTBBC Sessions(ReR)cd$ 14.98
Probably if you're a rabid Faust fan (aren't you?) you've already got this, the disc of rarities that was previously only obtainable through purchase of the entire Faust box set. But in case you didn't get the box, the individual discs are now being
FAUSTThe Faust Tapes(ReR)cd$ 16.98
Faust's third album (or fourth if you count the Tony Conrad & Faust "Outside the Dream Syndicate" album), originally released in 1973, is now available for the first time on cd with the original artwork (excepting the box set) instead of the horrible cover
FRIEDL, REINHOLD & MICHAEL VORFELDAu Défaut Du Silence(Trente Oiseaux)cd$ 16.98
Reinhold Friedl and Michael Vorfeld are two stalwarts of the European improvisation scene, who have recorded this album for Bernhard Gunter's Trente Oiseaux label. With the liner notes stating his instrument as "inside piano," Friedl has developed a very
FULKS, ROBBIE13 Hillbilly Giants(Bloodshot)cd$ 14.98
Full length number five follows hot on the heels of number four, but unlike the dreamy poppiness of 'Couples In Trouble' with its melancholy twang and wistful sentiments, '13 Hillbilly Giants' shows Fulks returning to his position as No Depression's bad boy
GALRelisten(Intransitive)cd$ 14.98
Bernhard Gal is an Austrian sound artist involved in the process of extrapolating and dissecting the sound of everyday life to offer new insight into those noises which we take for granted everyday. Unfortunately, Gal stumbles horribly with the pretentious introduction to this album with a clumsy vocal cut-up recalling bad New Media art from the '80s. Things pick up nicely with
GIRA, M. / D. MATZWhat We Did(Young God)cd$ 13.98
At one time, the collaborative project between Michael Gira (Angels of Light / Swans) and Dan Matz (Windsor For The Derby) was called Ourselves, but the two had opted against that in favor of their names. While this may be a silly semantic decision, it
GOEMAbri(12k)cd$ 14.98
"Abri" is the eighty-eleventh album from Goem -- the hyper-prolific Dutch trio of musique concrete artists doing minimalist techno. By now, the Goem sound is starting to show the limitations of working with minimalist rhythms that are so minimal that
GUNTER, BERNHARD / STEVE RODENJapan(Trente Oiseaux)cd$ 16.98
Minimalist composers Bernhard Gunter and Steve Roden had intended on selling this split CD exclusively on their tour in Japan in November 2001, but became so fond of the recordings they decided to let the rest of the world have access to them as well. Gunter
HENRIKSEN, ARVESakuteiki(Rune Grammofon)cd$ 16.98
Henriksen is a member of AQ-faves Supersilent, the unclassifiable and brilliant Norwegian improvising outfit. On this, his debut solo album, he blends his gorgeous, haunting trumpet playing with the drone-ful production of electronicist Deathprod (aka Helge
HER SPACE HOLIDAYManic Expressive(Tigerstyle)cd$ 14.98
Begins with a lovely string arrangement that will easily draw comparisons to recent Rachel's. Not a bad thing, but from there Her Space Holiday tracks a different much more... umm, intergalactic course. Mainman Marc Bianchi (formerly of Mohinder) certainly
HEY MERCEDESEverynight Fire Works(Vagrant)cd$ 14.98
Hey Mercedes has almost everything down pat to be as good of an emo / power-pop band as the Get Up Kids, Jawbreaker, or Rival Schools, but it seems that Bob Nunna doesn't really love the girl he's singing to in all of his songs. He doesn't really want to
HIKASHUHikashu History(Tzadik)cd$ 15.98
Ranging from goofy electronic pop to jazz/rock collage to noise improv, this band really runs the gamut of underground Japanese sound. Of course, they've been at it for about 25 years, so it's not surprising that this collection is so varied and bizarre. As we said, the music here is quite varied, utilizing toys, mellotron, synths, sax, samplers, cornet, guitars, etc. -- and on the more recent material, there's even some turntable scratching courtesy of Otomo Yoshihide, whose Ground Zero band might have taken some inspiration from the cut-ups of Hikashu. The Boredoms probably did too. It's a mixed bag (some of the more poppish stuff wasn't really to our taste, although it certainly has a uniquely Japanese flavor), but for fans of wacked-out left-field Japanese avant-pop-whatever this is one of the more necessary Tzadik releases to date.
HOODCold House(Aesthetics)cd$ 13.98
Album number five from this mysterious UK collective. Though quite disorienting upon first listen, the new musical direction Hood has taken is quite refreshing and highly original. Combinig elements of the Hood we once knew -- melancholic, guitar driven
JAG PANZERMechanized Warfare(Century Media)cd$ 14.98
Wow! This kicked our asses. Traditional '80s metal done real well -- probably 'cause these guys released their first album way back then ("Ample Destruction" circa 1984). After a looong hiatus, they began a comeback attack several years ago, somewhat
JANDEKInterstellar Discussion(Corwood Industries)cd$ 8.98
Released originally on LP in 1984, "Interstellar Discussion" is a mild detour from his first few records which transformed an agitated guitar jangle into damaged blues chords. Here, Jandek and the drummer "John" (which of course could just be Jandek) are
JANDEKNine-Thirty(Corwood Industries)cd$ 8.98
After the raucous squalor of "Interstellar Discussion," Jandek's "Nine-Thirty" -- his tenth album dating back to 1985 -- is certainly his come-down record. It's always difficult to tell how much of the Jandek oeuvre is the result of a psychological
JUCIFERThe Lambs EP(Velocette)cd ep$ 8.98
Terrible name, let's get that out of the way. The band says they wanted something that was both sweet (juice) and sinister (Lucifer), but it wasn't a good idea -- try saying it aloud. Jew-cifer? Whoops. And whether people will mistake them for
KINGS OF CONVENIENCEVersus(Astralwerks)cd$ 16.98
The warm, folky daydream music of Norway's Kings Of Convenience get remixed and remade in a variety of ways by the likes of Four Tet, Andy Votel, Alfie and Ladytron among others. Also included are a collaboration with Erot and some newly arranged tracks (one
KITBUILDERSWake Up(World Electric)cd$ 18.98
After a handful of 12" singles and compilation appearances, "Wake Up" is the much anticipated debut full length from the Cologne-based duo Kitbuilders. Alongside American outfits like Adult. and Fischerspooner, Kitbuilders are at the forefront of the
KUBISCH, CHRISTINAVier Stucke (Four Pieces)(Edition RZ)cd$ 15.98
This CD is the same disc that accompanied the recent monograph that Edition RZ published about the lifework of German electro-acoustic composer Christina Kubisch. With the exception of the first piece which dates back to 1988, "Vier Stucke"
LABELLE, BRANDONShadow Of A Shadow(Selektion)cd$ 15.98
In the extended essay that accompanies his second album for Selektion, Brandon LaBelle offers a semantic argument about his work being located at the border between private and public, the real and the cultural modes of production, field recordings and
LALI PUNAScary World Theory(Morr)cd$ 16.98
Hurrah! The second album has surfaced from this lovely, willowy electronic quartet. Valerie Trebeljahr's breathy vocals drift in and out of the gently stuttering and pulsing beats and soft soothing synth tones and textures. No great departures from their
LANDINGCentrifuge(Music Fellowship)cd ep$ 11.98
Add this to the flurry of Landing releases we've gotten in recently. If you liked the swirl-icious sounds from their split with Windy & Carl or their first full length, this will surely please you as well. This EP floats along in their instrumental spacey