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 79 of 79.
SAVAGE REPUBLICBox Set(Mobilization)4cd$ 54.00
The beautifully packaged boxset of all of the recent Savage Republic reissues ("Tragic Figures," "Ceremonial," "Jamahiriya," and "Customs") has of course been designed by former-Savage Republic member Bruce Licher and his reknowned Independent Project Press and is a bargain if you plan on buying all four.
SAVAGE REPUBLICCeremonial + Trudge(Mobilization)cd$ 14.98
Upon the release of the "Ceremonial" album and the "Trudge" ep in the mid-'80s, Savage Republic underwent a number of personnel changes which altered the group's sound from the primitive, percussion heavy art-punk found on "Tragic Figures" toward a far more Again, beautifully packaged by Bruce Licher and Independent Project Press.
SAVAGE REPUBLICCustoms(Mobilization)cd$ 14.98
"Customs" was the final studio album from Savage Republic, recorded under considerable duress in Greece during an ill-fated 1988 tour in which all of their gear was confiscated by Greek customs! Thus, "Customs" was recorded entirely on borrowed equipment. The
SAVAGE REPUBLICJamahiriya Democratique(Mobilization)cd$ 14.98
Since Savage Republic dissolved in the late '80s, most of its members went onto other projects, with Bruce Licher and Robert Loveless forming Scenic, Ethan Port working with Scot Jenerik in F-Space, and Thom Furhmann founding the amazing but shortlived
SAVAGE REPUBLICTragic Figures(Mobilization)cd$ 14.98
Savage Republic was one of Los Angeles' leading art-punk bands, fusing gritty post-Joy Division basslines, slashing guitars with occasional Arabic cadences, and a massive clatter of dense percussion at times worthy of comparisons to Test Dept. or Einsturzende The band's Bruce Licher has since gone on to form the acclaimed Independent Projects Press, developing a unique, celebrated style of beautifully letterpressed packaging, of course utilized for these new Savage Republic reissues on Scot Jenerik's Mobilization label. This disc features all of the tracks from previous CD editions, including the proper recordings from "Tragic Figures," the "Film Noir" 7" and a couple of alternate versions.
SCHOLOMANCEThe Immortality Murder(The End)2cd$ 12.98
This band offers a bouquet made of slide rules and roses ('cause they play technical, math-metal with gothic/romantic keyboard flourishes). They're maybe the heaviest, most intense band to make piano a major part of their sound (Alboth! excepted).
SEAWORTHYThe Ride(Jet Set)cd$ 15.98
Hurrah! This is the first solo album from the very talented Josh McKay of Macha. Have to say though that if you were expecting for this to sound all Macha-y, try again. You certainly won't be disappointed though. The rich craftsmanship that he's applied to his
SIMMONS, GENEKiss and Make-Up(Crown)book$ 25.95
This is it. The autobiography. With tons of pictures, some in color, and lots of kiss-and-tell. You know you want it.
SKYGREEN LEOPARDS, THEShe Rode On A Pink Gazelle & Other Dreams(Jewelled Antler)cd-r$ 8.98
Wow! The Skygreen Leopards are yet another brilliant facet of psychedelic oddities to shine forth from San Francisco's loose Jewelled Antler collective, featuring the incredibily prolific Glenn Donaldson (Thuja, Blithe Sons, Knit Separates, ex-Mirza, As with all of the Jewelled Antler manifestations, there's a strong pull by the British psychedelic era, but here far more entranced by druggy, carefree pop songs than the mythologically charged folk scene. The Skygreen Leopards maintain the same wistful, melancholic reminiscence as many of the psychedelic revivalists from the past decade (embraced by such labels as Elephant 6, Creation, and early Spin Art), but have developed a wonderfully playful sense of songwriting. Behind rich guitar leads that have been bathed in colorful, echoplex reverb, Donaldson and Quinn march through acoustic guitar jangles contrasted with breathy vocals floating freely in the distance, sort of sounding like early Pink Floyd or Tyrannosaurus Rex. Like those VHF releases we recently listed, Jewelled Antler is one of those CD-R outlets that is certainly worth checking out, with exceptional music on the inside and nicely conceived artwork on the outside.
SOUNDS OF AMERICAN DOOMSDAY CULTS VOL. 14The Church Universal and Triumphant Inc. feat. Elizabeth Clare Prophet(Faithways / Mighty I Am Presence)lp$ 16.98
It's hard to believe this is real. In fact, it took a lot to convince Andee, who was sure this was some Gregg Turkington prank. But the thing that really puts CUT on the map for us is their way of conducting their religious services, and the fact that someone managed to tape it. The tapes of this service have been floating around for years already. Those of you familiar with Negativland's 1989 album "Escape From Noise" will already be familiar with an excerpt of one of the tracks on this album, as they used it for the track "Michael Jackson", and Steve Fisk has been using these tapes for years as well. This record features live recordings of Clare Prophet 'speaking' out against the evils of rock music. She sounds perfectly normal as she introduces her 'psalms' or 'songs' or 'speeches' or whatever they are. But when she gets going, it's amazing. And so goddamn funny. Her rapid fire high pitched testifying sounds a bit like an insane mix of an auctioneer, a yodeller, the guy who sings the directions at a square dance, Neil Hamburger huffing helium, variations of baseball's 'hey batter batter' chant only faster. It's like that sound you make when you sort of hum/breathe out and move your finger up and down between your lips making a sort of 'bebubebubebubebubebubebubebubebu' sound. It's one of the most amazing things we've ever heard! A must for all cult fanatics, new age withdrawal victims, seekers of the truly strange, and fans of extended vocal techniques. Ever so highly recommended!
STARSNightsongs(Le Grand Magistery)cd$ 14.98
Finding their home on the more than appropriate swanky pop label Le Grand Magistery (Momus, Kahimi Karie, etc) are this Montreal-based group who reveal a definite penchant for high drama. Light'n'fluffy but heavy in melancholia. They even deliver a
SUNSHINE FIX, THEAge of the Sun(Kindercore Records)cd$ 16.98
For those of you who dug the vibrant, psych-twisted sounds of The Sunshine Fix's EP last year, here's a full dose. Lead by pop craftsman Bill Doss (co-founder of the beloved, but defunct Olivia Tremor Control... and in case you're trying to keep the family
SWANSGreat Annihilator, the(Young God)cd$ 14.98
My co-worker Byram once asked the rhetorical question of Morton Feldman, "what self-respecting composer doesn't have their ouevre divided into three periods?" Maybe this is a reasonable question (albeit a bit silly), yet the same division of aesthetics
TAKEMURA, NOBUKAZUSign(Thrill Jockey)2cd$ 14.98
This cd issue of The Sign 12" from last year might as well be considered a new album from Powerbook maestro Nobukazu Takemura, cos it's over an hour long. The title track is bubbly electronica / pop with attention to texture -- very reminiscent of Moebius' and There's a second disc with a great animated video of "The Sign" by Japanese artist Moshino, who also did the cover to this record.
THUJAGhost Plants(Emperor Jones)cd$ 14.98
We're super-happy to herald the arrival of "Ghost Plants", the brand-new second album from San Francisco's Thuja! (That's pronounced "thoo-zhuh," by the way, and it's the genus name of the North American cedar tree.) We loved their debut cd "The Deer Lay Down Their Bones" (released on our own Andee's tUMULt label, in fact) and try not to miss their rare live performances, which in addition to their transcendental music also often incorporate video projections of trees, piles of branches, and other atmospheric, extra-musical additions. With "Ghost Plants", the four members of Thuja -- AQ-fave experimental sound artist Loren Chasse, pianist Rob Reger, and former members of ambient-psych rockers Mirza Stephen R. Smith and Glenn Donaldson -- have crafted another utterly lovely, improv instrumental masterpiece! In comparision to their first album, this disc seems darker and heavier, somehow more "rock" production-wise although Thuja are hardly a rock band. Thuja's music is very organic and "natural" sounding, with their quietly meandering, melodic guitar and piano explorations seeming set amidst wood, wind and water -- you can imagine a Thuja concert taking place on a darkened forest floor, with Chasse's crackling branches and stone rubbings. At their most "rock" Thuja goes "kraut" with Chasse's drum-kit rhythms, and at their most "experimental ambient" the tinklings of percussion blend with ominous (yet pleasant) humming dronesc(r)apes of organ and bass and other things quite blissfully. Whilst not exactly 'folky' you can still draw a connection between the woodland vistas of Thuja and the fractured folkpsych of Tower Recordings, or Finland's Kemialliset Ystavat (Thuja being more abstract than KY, who are more abstract than TR). We'd also cite the likes of Labradford, Richard Youngs/Simon Wickham-Smith, the No Neck Blues Band, the Taj Mahal Travellers, Popol Vuh, Gunter Schickert, and :Zoviet*France: as fellow travellers in the psychedelic realms that Thuja carefully tread. This disc offers 13 untitled tracks in just under 40 minutes -- a very nice length indeed for an afternoon's reverie, perhaps one of the few improv-drone discs you'll find yourself hitting the "repeat" button on frequently. If you enjoy the solo work of Stephen R. Smith or L. Chasse (also of id battery and Coelacanth), or liked Mirza's drifting atmospheres, and haven't listened to Thuja yet, what are you waiting for? Everyone else, check ALL these guys stuff out, starting with this disc! So beautiful.
ULTRAs/t(Monster)cd$ 12.98
Thin Lizzy meets ZZ Top, basically. Ultra was a mid-'70s quartet of hard rockin' Texans featuring a twin lead guitar attack through some big ass Marshall stacks. Like a lot of Monster Records' other '70s re-discoveries (Truth & Janey, Winterhawk) Ultra's
V/A45'18"(Korm Plastics)cd$ 15.98
This is a compilation of various interpretations / performances / covers of John Cage's infamous composition 4'33," by Keith Rowe, Artificial Memory Trace, Thurston Moore, Pauline Oliveros, Jio Shimizu, Voice Crack, Clive Graham, Toshiya Tsunoda, Alignment, and
V/AAll Tomorrow's Parties 1.1(ATPR)cd$ 14.98
Audio document of the too frequent 'All Tomorrow's Parties' festival, a huge rock and roll gathering, curated by different indie rock royalty each time. This most recent compilation/festival (curated by Sonic Youth and scheduled to take place in March 2002)
V/AAnalogue Eats Digital(www.misterministeck.com)3" cd-r$ 14.98
Odd 3"cd-r compilation from Berlin-based misterministeck.com - a website run by artist Norbert Bayer, who makes pictures and objects using ministeck, a children's creativity game in which plastic pins are placed on a grid to create an image. Bayer
V/ABlank Generation / Dancing Barefoot()dvd$ 25.00
The cult '70s New York punk film Blank Generation sees a reissue on the spankin' new DVD format. With rare, you-were-there shots of the bands on stage and off, there's Television, Blondie, Ramones, Talking Heads, Patti Smith Group, The Heartbreakers, The
V/ABuilding With Bricks 1996 > 2001: Mixed By Beyonder(Brick)cd$ 11.98
This is a compilation celebrating 5 years for the Brick label. Some of the best underground hip hop around, with most of these tracks never being available on cd before now. Features: MF Doom, Mr. Lif, Lucky Dice, Rebel Alliance, MF Grimm, Insight,
V/AGlobal Accordion: Early Recordings(Wergo)cd$ 18.98
This recording may be viewed as either a joyful celebration of the ubiquitous nature of the instrument throughout the world by accordian lovers or an admonishment to those who hate it, to give up now: there is nowhere to hide. Much like the turntable of
V/AI Am Sam OST(V2)cd$ 17.98
The soundtrack to this Sean Penn / Michelle Pfeiffer tearjerker is comprised entirely of Beatles covers, and I'm sorry to say that it's pretty dire, except for the wonderfully earnest Rufus Wainwright rendition of "Across the Universe". Wainwright's voice just
V/APark Avenue Hiilbillies and West End Cowboys(Collector's Choice)cd$ 16.98
Awesome collection of 40's and 50's big band novelty songs. The sound ranges from the torch song vocals of Dorothy Shay, to the cheesy big band Lawrence Welk Orchestra sound of the Four Lads to the twangy redneck hick humor of Arthur Godfrey. We just threw
V/AThe Teenbeat Sampler 2002(Teenbeat)cd$ 5.98
Another yearbook of sorts from Mark Robinson's label. Reliably lo-priced compilation featuring many familiar TeenBeat faces: Air Miami, Flin Flon, Juliet Swango, The Pacific Ocean, True Love Always, Phil Krauth, Aden, Versus, Jonny Cohen, and the man himself.
V/AWayang Golek: The Sound & Celebration of Sundanese Puppet Theater(Music of the Earth)6cd$ 32.00
Let's see if I can do this set the justice it deserves and be as brief as possible. Wayang, or puppet theater, is the premier form of dramatic expression in much of Indonesia and exists in a myriad of forms, often unique to particular regions. It is performed for weddings, graduations, circumcisions and numerous other auspicious occasions and social events. Combining music, song, and story telling it can relate moral, historical, political, and puerile functions using stories taken from familiar classic tales (most often used are the Indian epics Mahabarata and Ramayana.) What's more, puppet theater is an event that combines high and low culture that could, in western terms, only be expressed analogously as a melange (which it is not) say, of Shakespeare meets Bach's "Matthew's Passion" meets Star Wars meets Wagner's "Ring Cycle" meets Bevis & Butthead and then some. As such, it is a dramatic form that can truly be grasped and appreciated by all members of society regardless of age or education. Though puppet theater, like much performance in Java and Bali, is a synergetic event, it is the dalang, or puppeteer, that is the real star of the show. He must not only have an excellent story telling, comedic and musical ability (with loads of great improvisational skills), but must be able to bring the puppets to life as well -- often manipulating several at once -- and be able to do all this for very long stretches without a single break. A truly great dalang is also an excellent builder of puppets, the more ornate the better. The enclosed booklet details some of the recent developments in puppet technology, including puppets that actually squirt blood, puke noodles and that can be decapitated. The dalang is not only charged with controlling the puppets and the unfurling of the story, but by extension the gamelan and singers as well by giving them cues (often quite brief) to begin and end the musical pieces which frame events in the story or to accompany battle scenes and the like. Though the general framework of a story is fixed, the dalang's art is in his ability to embellish his narration of the tale, contextualizing it to the event at hand, often delivering witty barbs at the wayang's sponsors or members of the gamelan. The political possibilities of such an event are pretty much limitless and dalang often use the performance as a means of criticizing government corruption and oppression, which has even resulted in the persecution and imprisonment of dalang. What makes this recording uniquely special is that it is the first time an entire live performance of wayang golek has been recorded and released. There have been plenty of cassette and cd issues of abbreviated wayang performances, many being done in a recording studio. But, clocking in at just under 7 hours (squeezed onto 6 cds), it's no wonder performances of wayang golek are not released in their entirety. This recording was made in 1994 and was sponsored by the national telecommunications company PTT Telkom. The dalang for the performance, Asep Sunandar Sunarya Giri Harja III, is considered one of the best living dalang in West Java and is heavily sought after for performances. Born into a family of dalang (not only was his father a famous dalang, but three brothers are also professional dalang) he received first prize in the annual wayang golek competition in 1985. The performance begins with a 41 minute instrumental suite that serves to both warm up the musicians and draw guests to the performance area and is ended with a brief introductory speech over the P.A. system by the event's sponsors. Once the performance gets under way, the shrewd and minimal recording method reveals itself: with one microphone over the dalang and another 12 feet away, over the singers and musicians, the super-wide spaced stereo pair is able to pick up as much of the performance as directly as possible. This was important because apparently, just beyond the group was an archaic P.A. system through which the dalang (as well as the female singers) was being reinforced to the crowd of several thousand that were seated beyond the invited guests of a hundred or so. The resulting recording has a bizarre quality; combining the acoustic and unamplified instruments of the gamelan with voice of the dalang picked up by the microphone above him along with the delayed echo of the dalang's voice as it bounces back from distant walls like a bullhorn. The performance moves dreamlike between songs, dialog (with the dalang taking on various voices of the characters in the story), and combinations of both where the dalang will interrupt the singers in the middle of a song with humorous quips, generating mirth from the audience. Although a significant portion of the performance is merely dialog (in fact, during the requisite midnight "clown scene" the dalang sounds almost like a stand up comedian doing a routine at a West Java night club) it is in this writer's opinion that the recording still holds a certain fascination in texture alone. But you needn't worry about missing out on the fun here because the producer has painstakingly gone through the trouble of translating the *entire* performance into English and including it as a .pdf document on the sixth disc (it is also available in Sundanese and bahasa Indonesia if those suit better) which you can print out so you can follow along while listening. Along with the 7 hours of the wayang golek performance and the complete text translation, this set also comes with a detailed 44 page booklet. The very detailed and superbly researched notes cover the history of wayang golek, the puppets, music, plus information specific to this performance such as a story synopsis as well as its origin, and information on the performers involved. Andrew Weintraub, a professor of ethnomusicology at the University of Pittsburgh who specializes in the performing arts of West Java, put together the set (recording the performance, translating the dialog and writing the liner notes) and has done a remarkable job. Though some may find this a bit steep of an investment for an introduction to wayang or Sundanese music in general, it is a remarkable and unique production and one that's worth the bite into the old leather bi-fold. And given how cheap this set is, you're hardly paying much per disc. Highly recommended!
WARE, CHRISAcme Novelty Library #15 (v7 pt2)(Fantagraphics)comic$ 10.95
Long awaited newest volume of Chris Ware's unmatchably beautiful comic. This issue is really large (11" x 18") so any mailorders for it will be shipped separate from any other items you may be ordering, and the shipping will be $4.00 (sorry).
WAXPOETICS#1()magazine$ 6.00
Wow! An extremely well-done new magazine for hip hop heads, rare grooves collectors, and just appreciators of fine culture everywhere. Highly recommended! Gorgeous looking, perfect-bound, printed on thick paper in full color and just BEAUTIFULLY designed. Not only that, but you get articles on Bobbito (super famous hip hop radio DJ), cult-fave book The Humument, AQ-fave hip hopper Scotty Hard (with great photos of all of his vintage recording gear), an interview with DJ Shadow and the Cut Chemist, a profile of David Axelrod, cult-fave drummer Idris Muhammad (with full color photos of his entire discography), Lootpack beatmaker Madlib, blaxploitation films, and some long overdue nice 'n' detailed instructions on how to make your own LP shelving for about $10 per cube (that holds 85 records apiece). YOUR FLESH #46 magazine 5.00 Your Flesh magazine is now 20 years old and it seems that it might just be time to hang it up. Where YF once seemed vital and challenging, it now just seems tired. As a friend at an unamed distributor said in his best Simpsons comic book guy : "Worst Issue Ever." Still some stuff of interest though: Mark Lanegan, The Ex, Bob Bert, Joe Morris as well as a bunch of book/record/movie reviews. ----* ----* In Stock, No Chance to Review : ----* ANODYNE "The Outer Dark" (Escape Artist) cd 14.98 ATIVIN "Interiors" (Secretly Canadian) cd 13.98 BROTHER JT "Maybe We Should Take Some More?" (Birdman) cd 13.98 CANCER CONSPIRACY, THE "The Audio Medium" (Big Wheel Recreation) cd 14.98 CHADBOURNE, EUGENE / HAN BENNINK "Miss Ann / Wow!" (Ecstatic Yod) 7" 3.98 CHAINSMOKER "Guarana Planet" (Bad Vugum) cd 15.98 CONSUMERS "All My Friends Are Dead" (In The Red) 13.98 CORNER, PHILIP "Gong +" (Alga Marghen) cd 16.98 FONTAINE, BRIGITTE / ARESKI "L'Incendie" (Get Back) lp 14.98 GONG "Camembert Electrique" (Get Back) lp 14.98 GUERRERO, TOMMY "Junk Collector" (Mo'Wax) cd ep 8.98 GUIDED BY VOICES "The Who Went Home And Cried" (Rockathon) dvd 18.98 IBARRA, SUSIE TRIO "Songbird Suite" (Tzadik) cd 15.98 ILITCH "10 Suicides" (Fractal) 2cd 21.00 ILLUSION OF SAFETY "In Opposition To Our Acceleration" (Die Stadt) cd 17.98 JAPANESE TELECOM "Virtual Geisha" (Gigolo Records) cd/2lp 16.98/16.98 LEWIS, HERSCHELL GORDON "Eye-Popping Sounds Of..." (Birdman) cd 13.98 MUMMA, GORDON "Live-Electronic Music" (Tzadik) cd 16.98 PIETERS / RUSSELL / STAPLETON "Cold Sweat" (Ecstatic Yod) 7" 4.98 RUTH "Polaroid/Roman/Photo" (Fractal) cd 16.98 SHIPP, MATTHEW "Nu Bop" (Thirsty Ear) cd 16.98 SINISTER "Creative Killings" (Martyr Music Group) cd 14.98 SIZZLA "Blaze Fire Blaze" (Whodat) cd 14.98 T CELLS "s/t" (Smash) 10" 8.98 TREN BROTHERS & SISTER "Swing Pts. 1 & 2" (Chapter) 7" 4.98 V/A "Soul of Angola: Anthologie de la Musique Angolaise 1965/1975" (Lusafrica) 2cd 28.00 WILLARD GRANT CONSPIRACY / TELEFUNK "In the Fishtank 8" (Konkurrent) cd 11.98 XENAKIS, IANNIS "Musique Electro-Acoustic" (Fractal) cd 16.98
WIENER, OSWALD & HELMUT SCHOENERTeam of Jeremy Roht: West Dawson, Yukon Territory(Suppose)cd$ 16.98
Right now I can almost hear the groans of the 60% of AQL readers that will think we are absolutely nuts in our enthusiasm for this recording. "First they try to convince me to buy a cd of some damn elephants banging on trash can lids and blowing on harmonicas