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 100 of 108.
KING TUBBYIn the Mix: Classic Dub From the Master(Recall)2cd$ 16.98
Low priced double disc anthology of King Tubby, apparently a part of a series of anthologies of Jamaican artists being released by Recall. Each collection comes with a fair amount of biographical notes on the artist and generally make good starting points if
KOZELEK, MARKIf You Want Blood(Badman)2lp$ 19.98
Limited edition double lp featuring all the tracks from both of Red House Painter Mark Kozelek's solo albums ("Rock n' Roll Singer" and "What's Next To The Moon"). So if you didn't already buy those cds, you now can get Kozelek's acoustic AC/DC interpretations/reinventions on vinyl. Maybe the ghost of Bon Scott insisted. And there's two bonus live tracks as well, to tempt
KUTI, FEMIFight To Win(MCA )cd$ 17.98
New album from the son of Fela Kuti -- the king himself -- and I'm sure it's just as hard not to draw comparisons to his father as it is for him to live in his shadow, but that's the way it is. Femi's got a big studio budget, uses all the appropriate "world
LAINHART, RICHARDTen Thousand Shades Of Blue(IX)2cd$ 14.98
Another winner from AQ fave Phil Niblock's always eclectic and engaging IX label. While sometimes stuff on IX tends a little too much toward the academic (and maybe this one is no different), the music on 'Ten Thousand Shades Of Blue' sounds much more
LOHMANN, ULFBecause Before(Kompakt)cd$ 16.98
Much like his contributions to Kompakt's aptly titled compilation "Pop Ambient," Ulf Lohmann's "Because Before" teeters dangerously close to the corny aspects of electronic ambient music, but manages to infuse enough interesting and puzzling sounds
LOHMANN, ULFBefore(Kompakt)lp$ 9.98
The "Before" LP is the vinyl companion disc to Ulf Lohmann's "Because Before," with the a-side of the album presenting edited versions of the filmic ambient loopings found on the CD. The b-side has a huge unrelenting Mike Ink techno stomp that is nothing like the Pop Ambient sounds from the a-side or the CD version. To quote Kompakt, this untitled piece is a
LOVAGEMusic To Make Love To Your Old Lady By -- Instrumental Version(75 Ark)cd$ 15.98
Dan the Automator strikes again. This here record is the INSTRUMENTAL version of the Lovage album, and in our opinion it is much better! We felt the same way about the Deltron 3030 record, whose instrumental version kicks ass so much we named it Record of the
LUDACRISWord Of Mouf(Island / Def Jam)cd$ 16.98
Still more hip hop bubbles up from the dirty south, from the underground, and spills out all over MTV and hiphop radio. Ludacris has been kicking around for a while, mix tapes etc... But last years's 'Fantasy' track blew up BIG and made Ludacris a household
MARCHETTI, LIONELSirrus(Ground Fault)cd$ 9.98
Recorded at the age of 22 back in 1989 (but just recently released), "Sirrus" stands as one of the earliest documentations from French musique concrete composer Lionel Marchetti. This is a trilogy based upon abstract interpretations of natural phenomenon
MASSACREMeltdown(Tzadik)cd$ 16.98
Massacre has been around since 1981's seminal album Killing Time (which you must seek out if you haven't heard it already). Comprised of guitarist Fred Frith, bassist Bill Laswell, and -- new to the group -- Charles Hayward on drums, Massacre specialize
MATHIEU, STEPHAN & EKKEHARD EHLERSHeroin(Staalplaat)cd$ 14.98
Similar to their relationship with Dutch radio station VPRO which resulted in the Mort Aux Vaches series, Staalplaat has begun a cooperation with the Dutch arts initiative Extrapool to release work from Extrapool's artist in residency program. The goal being What separates both Mathieu and Ehlers from the rest of the glitch electronica field is their wonderful fascination with antiquity and their maintainence of surface noise and grit within a technological setting that typically has an intrinsic aesthetic for cleanliness and sterility. The rich cracklings of surface noise and fuzzy static of an old tube-amp radio emerge throughout their "Heroin" collaboration. Mellotron organs form whimsical melodies before dissolving into warm pools of warbling timbres; a melodica offers playful tunes over a looped and glitched backing track of the same instrument. Occasionally, Mathieu and Ehlers produce something more in step with the purity of the Raster-Noton sound, but for the most part have constructed a beautiful (if mutant) remnant of pop sentimentality, sounding more like a slightly digital version of Philip Jeck.
MONOLAKEPolaroid(Din)12"$ 8.98
Whoa, Monolake does drum and bass? "Polaroid" is just that, with skitterish but mid-tempo Speed Garage breakbeats and hoovering basslines built out of Monolake's signature metallic synthesis. A bit uncharacteristic for a former Chain Reaction artist, but certainly not bad.
MOPS, THEPsychedelic Sounds In Japan(Victor Entertainment)cd$ 21.00
Psychedelic pioneers in their home country, The Mops (great name!) were one of the originators of the Japanese GS (Group Sounds) scene. They were among the first in Japan to experiment with psychedelic studio effects like flanging and phasing, as well as with
MS. TOIThat Girl(Universal)cd$ 17.98
First solo record from Ms. Toi, the girl we all loved from that Ice Cube record ('put your back into it, put your ass into it') that seemed to play every five minutes a year or so back. We were kind of hoping M. Toi would follow the same trajectory as Amil,
MUSEO ROSENBACHZarathustra(Si-Wan)cd$ 15.98
Kick ass Italian '70s prog band's only album, from 1973, reissued on cd in '97 and now here in our store. It's hard to talk about these guys without comparing 'em to other, equally obscure Italian prog acts like the New Trolls and Il Rovescio Della Medaglia,
MY DYING BRIDEThe Dreadful Hours(Peaceville)cd$ 14.98
I, Sadie, am reviewing this record as a devout fan of goth music and soundtracks, who is not that knowledgeable or interested in metal. The name My Dying Bride intrigued me, and I find that their music does too -- the songs are long and gloomy, with beautiful
NIHILIST SPASM BANDEvery Monday Night(Alchemy)cd$ 19.98
This is the third release on the famed Japanese label Alchemy from the London, Ontario group the Nihilist Spasm Band, who since the mid-1960s have been making gloriously evocative and weird improvised music (and have released many other records for a variety
O'ROURKE, JIMInsignificance(Drag City)cd$ 14.98
Upon close investigation into the gleefully genre-jumping career of Jim O'Rourke, a recurring theme becomes glaringly obvious: O'Rourke discovers a highly distinctive sound (i.e. John Fahey, Red Krayola, John Duncan, Sea and Cake), O'Rourke begins to Yet sadly, it seems that on "Insignificance" this isn't quite the case. "Insignificance" has already become known as, quite simply, Jim O'Rourke's "southern rock" album. But O'Rourke's intentions towards southern rock seem far from homage, and it seems he may have slipped drearily down the path of the ironist. The opening cut -- with its (unwittingly?) apt title "All Downhill From Here" -- is a shameless rip-off of "Sweet Home Alabama," performed as if sung by Lou Reed, completed with Steve Miller Band backing "hoo-hoo"s and a terminally shitty drum production straight out of Robert Pollard's basement. O'Rourke sheepishly denies any intentional links between this song and Lynyrd Skynyrd, which seems a bit dubious. A couple of sub-Chicago / Bruce Hornsby ballads -- that do (to be fair) have that lush sound found on his Stereolab production work -- lead into another painful pop culture reference: Edie Brickell's "What I Am". Really. If this is 'conceptual' art, am I supposed to believe what I hear? Is this is an homage to the losers who work at Guitar Center and who have saved $5000 to record their 'great southern rock opera' at a studio where the engineer doesn't give a fuck who's in front of a microphone as long as they're paying? That's not art. That's bullshit. Jim O'Rourke needs to have his tongue surgically removed from his cheek this time. Either that or we should bow down before our copies of The Wire and proclaim that we all love the emperor's new bunny costume.
ORAFinal(ICR)cd$ 16.98
Many moons ago, Darren Tate and Andrew Chalk found their way to Colin Potter's IC Studios, where the three initiated the humble yet eccentric drone project Ora, with occasional help from the likes of Jonathan Coleclough, Daisuke Suzuki, MNortham, and Lol With Darren continuing on as Monos, Andrew working in Mirror, and Colin busy engineering / collaborating with Nurse With Wound, Current 93, Monos, and dozens of other projects, Ora has ceased to be, and "Final" is probably the last Ora document to be released. Culled mostly from the CD-Rs "Live," "Distances," and "New Movements In G," this anthology does also include a couple of unreleased tracks. As the more recent Monos and Mirror recordings reflect, Ora's specialty has been the construction of the opiated drone that implores a sort-of calmness but at the same time actively confronts the listener with its sound rather than floating to the back as aural wallpaper. Built from field recordings, bowed metals, and various electronics, Ora situates their drones within a wide spectrum of textures -- ranging from the sporadic use of angular blurts from Lol Coxhill's sax and accompanying dense scrapes like a huge boulder getting pushed across a concrete floor, to tiny fluctuations from flutes and sitars. "Final" stands as yet another exceptional record from this small aesthetic circle of UK drone artists.
PABLO, AUGUSTUSJah Inspiration(Recall)2cd$ 16.98
Low priced double disc anthology of Augustus Pablo, apparently part of a series of anthologies of Jamaican artists being released by Recall. Each collection comes with a fair amount of biographical notes on the artist and generally make good starting points if
PARKINS / CLINE / MOORELive At Easthampton Town Hall(JMZ)cd$ 13.98
So how many electric harp / electric guitar / electric guitar trio albums do you own? None? Well you should pick this one up then, 'cause it's good, and also sales of this cd benefit the Flywheel Community Arts Space in Easthampton, Mass., which seems like a
PEACHESSet It Off(Kitty-Yo)cd ep$ 8.98
Raunchy freeze-dried lo-fi disco queen Peaches gets the teaches in house and accelerated funk, respectively, from Chick On Speed Tobi Neumann and Detroit's DJ Assault, reworking the title track from her Teaches of Peaches full length. Kid 606 Fucks The Pain
PINKMissundaztood(Arista)cd$ 16.98
The demise of the tv show Star Search back in 1995 (who knew it lasted even that long?!?) left many show biz hopefuls wonderin' "Now what am I gonna do?!" Well, without middle man Ed McMahon, many clearly made it straight to the major labels and top 40.
RAPOON:Just Say The Faith:(Soleilmoon)cd$ 14.98
Even though it's been a decade since Robin Storey left the seminal post-industrial ensemble :Zoviet*France:, he hasn't really extended himself beyond his last few outings with :Z*F: (including "Just An Illusion" and possibly "Shouting At The Ground"). In
RIVAL SCHOOLS / ONELINEDRAWINGRival Schools United By Onelinedrawing(Some)cd ep$ 10.98
I was so excited to find this record a few moths back. I had been waiting like crazy (if one can wait like crazy) for the Rival Schools record (Walter from Quicksand's new band) and here it was. What a score! So I brought it home, threw it on, and it wasn't Track five is a languid, slow rolling moody epic, with rumbling slow strummed guitars, and chiming harmonics sounding like the Wipers or Nirvana's Lithium alllll sloooowed dooooown. The record closes with a bang. A huge crunching, sort of bouncy Quicksand style guitar attack. Crunchy stop-start riffs (ala Helmet's 'In The Meantime') but with Walter's scratchy sad boy wail and totally epic almost sing-along choruses. So so good. I love this record!
ROWE, KEITH & TOSHIMARU NAKAMURAWeather Sky(Erstwhile)cd$ 14.98
Guitarist Keith Rowe is a busy guy. He still plays with British improvising legends AMM, and he also leads the Euro laptop improv conglom MIMEO, plus he's had a bunch of other collaborative and solo releases as of late. Here he teams up with Japanese "onkyo"
SATURDAY PEOPLEs/t(Slumberland)cd$ 13.98
Featuring members of Velocity Girl, The Ropers, Tree Fort Angst and The Castaway Stones. For fans of said groups as well as Biff Bang Pow, Orange Juice, The Grass Roots and The Weather Prophets. Soft, straightforward pop with a blend of '60s soft-rock and
SILVER JEWSBright Flight(Drag City)cd$ 14.98
Mr. David Berman has always sounded the horn of lethargic singers everywhere. This record is no exception: Mr. Silver Jew really sounds as if he'd rather be picking the lint balls off his sweater than sing his songs. And if he doesn't give a shit, why should we? I mean, it wouldn't really be that bad if the songs weren't unremarkable too, but they're simply staid ol' indie rock circa
SIMMONS, SONNYStaying On The Watch(ESP / Aretina)cd$ 14.98
Finally another wave of ESP reissues and more completely essential and seminal sixties free jazz. This disc, recorded in 1966, Simmons' debut as a band leader, is an intense blast of aggresive melody with four extended tracks of raw and relentless skronk
SONGS: OHIAMi Sei Apparso Come Un Fantasma(Paper Cup)cd$ 15.98
A live performance in Italy by Songs:Ohia is captured on this just-shy-of-an-hour-long cd. Jason Molina and co. deliver eight songs of which five are previously unreleased. Always weighted with much heavy melancholia and gut-wrenching sincerity, Mr.
SPIEGEL, LAURIEObsolete Systems(Electronic Music Foundation)cd$ 14.98
A wonderful collection of works composed between 1970 and 1983 from this obscure, criminally overlooked American composer and electronic music pioneer. Instrumentation involves analog electronics (both manual and computer-controlled), electronic tape,
STAHLGREN & FERGUSONPrinting With Magnetic Inks(Hot Air)cd$ 9.98
Hard to tell if "Dr. Stahlgren" and "Dr. Ferguson" are in fact members of Stock, Hausen, & Walkman, but I would imagine they are, as this little 3" CD was released in the series of "educational recordings" on their Hot Air label. Supposedly, these two Of course, the two "doctors" made many hours of recordings of those machines, of course "solved" the problems, and of course this album "Printing With Magnetic Inks" is the resulting collage of those recordings, of course with "some artistic license, editing and processing. With this audio fuck-you (much more listenable than V/VM 's attempts at the same), Hot Air offers yet another exceptionally funny piece of contemporary musique concrete filled with all sorts of whimsical bleeps and bloops.
STROKES, THELast Nite(Rough Trade)cd ep$ 11.98
How do you spell 'lame'? I'll tell ya... This is The Strokes third outrageously priced cd single, yep, that's right just one song - the current HOT single which actually is a pretty catchy romp, but unfortunately has already been sooo overplayed everywhere
SWAMP, DJNever Is Now(Decadent)cd$ 15.98
Most of you probably haven't heard of DJ Swamp, which is not all that surprising. His big claim to fame is his stint as Beck's DJ. But the sound here isn't all that Beck, it's a bit grimier and grungier and 'underground' sounding. There's some good stuff on
THEBOYLUCASOut Of The Wires(Output)cd$ 16.98
We were watching this show on MTV, something like 'The Top 21 Under 21' that was a countdown of all the MTV stars who have hit the big time before they're even old enough to drink. Which was pretty depressing (the authors of this review are well into their
THERIOSs/t(Hollenden)cd-r$ 11.98
We listed Therios' amazing "II" disc last time, and the response was so good that we just brought in a few of this older self-titled Therios release. Like "II", this recording is a studio/computer-assembled one man band project. It's constructed from
TIMBALAND & MAGOOIndecent Proposal(Blackground)cd$ 16.98
By track two on Timbaland and Magoo's second full length, you realise why Timbaland is the man. He makes every drum loop totally his own, every song a slithery hiccupping classic and there's very few producers who have such a knack for crafting such a bizarre
ULTRAVIOLET MAKES ME SICKSoundproof(Camera Obscura)cd$ 14.98
Three adorable Italian boys playing mellow instrumental post-rock. Lots of soaring guitars in the background, with anguished minor key figerpicking up front. More about creating a real mood than about verse-chorus-verse, y'know. Not as loud as Mogwai, not as quiet as Sonna, but drawing from both of those band's vibes. Unremarkable but quite pleasant. It'll be interesting to hear future
V/AA Mutated Christmas(Illegal Art)cd$ 16.98
Thirteen tracks of tweaked out plunderphonic xmas madness from the twisted folks at Illegal Art and RTMark. Conceived and curated by NY sample artist Corporal Blossom (whose work has graced past Illegal Art collections, "Deconstructing Beck" and "Extracted
V/AAnti NY(Gomma)cd$ 15.98
Subtitled "Rare Music from the Early 80ies New York Underground", this is a really good collection of no wave / stark electro funk material from a variety of notable sources. There's an early Jim Jarmusch (the filmmaker) track, and one from Gray, the band Contributing selected remixes are Psychonauts, Funkstorung, and Syrup (people from Poets of Rhythm and Beanfield) etc, but they're forgettable for the most part (the Funkstorung is good); the original tracks are the prime attraction here.
V/ACelebrities At Their Worst Vol.3(Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God)2cd-r$ 14.98
Long awaited volume 3 of the best bloopers comps we've ever come across. This is again a double disc set (actually, cd-rs this time, for some reason). While there aren't as many high points as on the first and second volumes, this is still gonna make you
V/AEthiopiques 10: Tezeta - Ethiopian Blues & Ballads(Buda Musique)cd$ 15.98
The literal translation of the word "Tezeta" is memory, or nostalgia and as it applies to music in Ethiopia it is akin to the American genre known as the blues, hence the subtitle of this collection. But don't worry, you won't hear any imitations of
V/AFluxus Anthology(Zona)lp$ 25.00
We've had this compilation on cd a few different times before but never on lp. As you may recall it went out of print, but then a few more were discovered a while back. Now it's available once again, only now on the long playing phonograph record format (we're still hoping that they'll work their way back to a 78 box set on this one.) The collection itself is a document of the music (and
V/AFuzz, Flaykes, & Shakes Vol 5(Dionysus)cd$ 11.98
Those sweethearts from Dionysus/ Bacchus Archives (who brought us the awesome Hava Narghila Compilation) released this great series of early to mid 60's American garage, a while ago, but we only recently discovered them. Great sound quality, and a
V/AFuzz, Flaykes, & Shakes Vol. 2(Dionysus)cd$ 11.98
Those sweethearts from Dionysus/ Bacchus Archives (who brought us the awesome Hava Narghila Compilation) released this great series of early to mid 60's American garage, a while ago, but we only recently discovered them. Great sound quality, and a
V/AFuzz, Flaykes, & Shakes Vol. 4(Dionysus)cd$ 11.98
Those sweethearts from Dionysus/ Bacchus Archives (who brought us the awesome Hava Narghila Compilation) released this great series of early to mid 60's American garage, a while ago, but we only recently discovered them. Great sound quality, and a
V/AHavana Cuba, ca. 1957: Rhythms Ands Songs For The Orishas(Smithsonian Folkways)cd$ 15.98
I gave up on trying to come up with a more succinct description of these two new cds from Smithsonian Folkways of Cuban music when I discovered they have encapsulated the collections better than I ever could: "Recorded in Havana in 1957, the ritual rhythms and
V/AHey Punk...Get Riddim!(Victory World)cd$ 15.98
There's always been some sort of bond between punk rock and reggae: The Clash, Bad Brains, Fugazi, At The Drive In...whether it be in sound or simply in spirit. So Victory (home to some of the most essential NY hardcore of the past 10 years) has put their money
V/AKing Tubby Meets The Reggae Masters(Jet Star)cd$ 16.98
Though the first word to come to ones head when mentioning the name King Tubby is "dub", you won't find a single track of it here. "King Tubby Meets the Reggae Masters" is a collection of tracks unearthed from his archives after King Tubby passed away in 1989.
V/AMatanzas Cuba, ca. 1957: Afro-Cuban Sacred Music From The Countryside(Smithsonian Folkways)cd$ 15.98
Second in a pair of new releases of early Cuban music on Smithsonian Folkways. They provide their own very good description here: "Recorded in Matanzas in 1957, these ritual rhythms provide a direct link to the music of 19th-century colonial Cuba, and provide