[ aquarius records new arrivals — issue 147 ]

Showing results 51 through 85 of 85.

MELT BANANA666(Level Plane)6"$ 3.98

SUPER LIMITED 6" (that's right 6", not 7"!!) from one of our favorite Japanese aggro-spazz-math-grind-pop bands. Don't dawdle, these are gonna go fast.

MORRICONE, ENNIOIl Mercenario(Gianni Dell'Orso)cd$ 16.98

This is the Ennio Morricone soundtrack to the 1968 film "Il Mercenario', a story about a Mexican General of the Revolution and his corrupt hired mercenary. Stereotypically spaghetti western stuff (lots of whoops and yee haws). Creepy whistling amidst dramatic reverb percussion and western acoustic guitar, interspersed with drunken rowdy songs sung in Spanish. There are some extremely beautiful and lonely guitar n' organ moments on this soundtrack, and it is at these times you can tell there is some sort of love story amidst all the fighting. The chorus with trumpet in the finale places this in ranks of other Morricone western greats like A Fistful of Dollars and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly!

NEGATIVLANDDeath Sentences Of The Polished And Structurally Weak(Seeland)cd + book$ 22.00

This one's been in the works for so long I was sure it was only to be a pipe dream. Death Sentences is really two almost completely independent Negativland projects combined as one for release. The book, a collection of photographs of junk yard automobiles and their contents, is the brain child of Richard Lyons -- one of the founding members of the group and an on again, off again contributor in recent times. Lyons spent years visiting junkyards (remember he's the auto obsessed maniac behind the O.T.E. "Starting Line" show), digging through battered cars for tell-tale documents that might give insight into their former owners. Each page contains a scanned image of a letter, or other -- primarily hand written -- short memo overleafed with a photo of the now demolished car from which it was retrieved. All of this handsomely packaged within a sleeve mock-up of an accident report. The book is at once impossible to put down and difficult to trudge through. Not because it's poorly put together (on the contrary, like most Negativland releases, it's gorgeously laid out and beautifully packaged), but because the contents are so incredibly depressing. Several letters are apparently written from prison, or rehab, with the author's pledge that this time when they get out they'll straighten up and fly right. This contrasted with a demolished car, some from brutal accidents, windshields containing shattered buldges where the occupants once sat, reposed in a bleak and overcast auto graveyard in the Pacific Northwest (one of the most depressing areas of the U.S., for those unfamiliar with our messed up little country.) The disc, for its part, is a bit of a departure for Negativland. One might refer to this as their "instrumental" album, for while there are voice tapes processed and buried within the mix, there isn't a narrative driving the album like pretty much all of their albums have had in the last 10 years or so. In a way, Death Sentences brings Negativland back to the beginning of their career with their eponymous release of 1980. Which makes one wonder if the band, having become so bogged down in copyright this and fair use that, is either trying to reinvent themselves or if Death Sentences is in fact their swan song. Its success as an album is perhaps best judged by one's tolerance for freeform electronic improv. While there are moments of cohesion here, for the most part the disc sounds like someone crossfaded together all the improv segue sections from Negativland's live shows. In the end though, even if the CD isn't your cup of tea, the book more than carries its weight for the set. In that case you can view the inclusion of the disc as a free bonus to your purchase of the book.

NICOLAI, BRUNO100,000 Dollari Per Ringo(Gianni Dell'Orso)cd$ 16.98

We all love Morricone's western soundtracks. Fistful Of Dollars, The Good, The Bad And The Ugly, For A Few Dollars More. They are all so evocative and gorgeous, able to stand comfortably on their own removed from the films they are so inexorably linked to, which can't be said for most soundtracks. Don't know a whole lot about Bruno Nicolai, but either he owes a huge debt to Morricone, or Morricone has a secret influence....100,000 Dollari Per Ringo has all the sights and sounds and smells (well the sounds at least) we've come to expect from an Italian western soundtrack, soaring strings, lonely harmonica, whistles and gently strummed guitars, bellowing almost-operatic male vocals. But there's just something about this particular collection that moves me in a way no other Italian soundtrack has, Morricone or otherwise. I don't know about you, but I rarely listen to a whole soundtrack all the way through there are usually specific parts or songs that I want to hear. But with 100,00 Dollari, it flows so perfectly I end up listening to the whole thing all the time, sometimes forgetting what I'm listening to, and having to check, because it doesn't always sound like an 'Italian Western'. Which is part of what makes it so great. Vocal tracks, sleepy, dusky instrumentals, and roaring, bombastic epics all balanced and sequenced erfectly. It helps that the opening track, Ringo Come To Fight, is one of the greatest 'cowboy vocal songs' EVER with gorgeous sorrowful vocals and a gorgeous arrangement. And track two, Sfida Eroica, is THE most kick ass song ever. Seriously. Makes me want to leap out the window and join the shootout in progress across the street in the saloon, rescue my lady from the jail, leap on my horse and ride into the desert, not before I retrieve the sack of gold, my trusty sidekick and my dog Ringo. It's like the soundtrack equivalent of a song that makes you HAVE TO air guitar or air drum. And the rest of the soundtrack kicks holy ass as well. Morricone fans obviously need this, but there's stuff on here that would appeal to fans of Godspeed, Calexico, Lanterna and dreamy, twangy rock in general. Give it a try.

PIMMONSecret Sleeping Birds(Sirr.e cords)cd$ 14.98

Paul Gough who records under the moniker Pimmon has been one of the more prolific exports from the Australian sound art community. His work deals specifically with sonic abstraction using the tools of the digital age to expand the practices of '60 academic composers such as Parmegiani's chaos-theory constructions or Xenakis' stochastic models. Yet Pimmon's work never comfortably sits in the space of modernist thinking towards 'art for art's sake;' there is a filmic theatricality and clever use of playful motifs that run throughout his work. This is particularly true for "XXXX" where little toy piano melodies spin in tandem with devilish air raid mantras whilst everything has been shattered under the hammer of digital signal processing. Such contradictory sounds, which run rampant through all of the Pimmon recordings, are not at all ironic, but speak of an acute understanding of metaphoric complexity. Pimmon's use of laptop trickery is quite unique, as it tends to focus on thick chunks of looping sound rather than the minutae of granular synthesis. If Autechre continues towards rhythmic antithesis, they'll probably end up where Pimmon started.

PTOLEMAIC TERRASCOPEIssue #32()mag + cd$ 11.98

Phil McMullen's famed Ptolemaic Terrascope is back with another big, shiny A4-sized issue, just in time for next week's Terrastock 5 shindig in Boston USA. Here at AQ, we were most excited about this issue 'cause it's got a six page interview with early '70s UK folk-psych geniuses Forest (done by Camera Obscura's Tony Dale)!! Wow. Maybe you remember Allan's review of the Forest double cd reissue we listed a few months back? What a neat surprise to get to read about this amazing, obscure band in the pages of PT. AND, just to crank our excitement level up to 11, the compact disc compilation that accompanies this issue of the Terrascope includes not one but two previously unreleased Forest songs, stuff that hasn't been heard by anyone for about thirty years!!! And they're great. Thank you Phil, thank you Tony, thank you Forest. Elsewhere in this issue, you'll find features on the lofi Texas bedroom psych of Charalambides, former Can vocalist Damo Suzuki, Northwestern cosmic fuzz merchants Kinski, Elephant 6 popsters Apples In Stereo, indie-drone act Landing, too-twee-for-me folk psych of The Iditarod, '60s Bosstown psych band Ultimate Spinach, and more. And many of those acts and others also appear on the cd comp. And, like all good 'zines, after the interviews you get the reviews, of course. So, twelve bucks well spent I think.

RANDOM INCWalking In Jerusalem(Mille Plateaux)cd$ 16.98

This is ostensibly a walk through Jeruselem as recorded by Random Inc. (who was a member of Autopoeises) and then processed/altered/fucked with by himself and a handful of guests including Tim Hecker, Electric Birds, the Rip-Off Artist, Ultra-Red and more. The results are pretty fantastic. I've listened to almost nothing else for the last few nights. This falls somewhere between AQ faves Stefan Mathieu and Oval, sort of gritty, buzzy, and hypnotic dreamscapes, but much darker and more cinematic, partly because of the recorded snippets of life/people/music in Jerusalem, but also because of the musical choices made by the contributors. This is a really dreary, somber, hypnotic, droning affair, with lots of buzz and click and hum and skitter. And the artists gentle touch with the original sound sources results in some totally breathtaking moments. I haven't dug a record this much since Oval's Diskont. Great stuff.

RAPTURE, THEHouse of Jealous Lovers(DFA)12"$ 7.98

This single has been making DJs of all stripes cream their pants since it was released earlier this year. "House of Jealous Lovers" (as well as its Morgan Geist remix version, also on this DFA 12") has been showing up at house nights, electro clubs, and post-punk DJ sets by hipster british video artists. It's the kind of song that is equally irrisitable to art punkers, San Francisco disco divas, discriminating indie kids and Brooklyn fashion victims. No, that's absolutely not a criticism-- it's an illustration of how, like their best funk-punk predecessors, the Rapture bridge the gap between rock and dance music undergrounds. Basically, this single kicks all kinds of asses all over the dance floor, whether it be located in a sweaty club or in your bedroom.

ROYAL TRUXHand of Glory(Drag City)cd$ 14.98

For all you Royal Trux fans, here is a thirteen year old recording of what was going to be their second record on Drag City. Neil and Jennifer decided to ditch this and came up instead with their classic/finest moment: Twin Infinitives. Here's what you missed. Noisy, crazy, and completely fucked up.

SECTION 25Always Now(Les Temps Modernes)cd$ 16.98

Of all of the Factory Records gloom merchants, Section 25 has never really garnered much critical success, yet they won over enough allies (notably Joy Division's Ian Curtis and Bernard Sumner) that they were able to last as a self-sustaining project well into the late-80s when they called it quits. Formed in Blackpool by brothers Larry and Vincent Cassidy in 1979, Section 25 was marked by skeletal instrumentation with various emotive patinas that began as post-punk grimness and steadily lightened to a glowing prototype of acid-house (complete with 303 percolations!). "Always Now" -- the group's debut recording released on Factory in 1981 -- falls under the latter camp of lead-colored, death-disco grooves propelled by a spry, if monochromatic rhythm section and jagged swatches of guitar drone. While many of the Factory bands (Crispy Ambulance, Names, Tunnelvision, The Wake, etc.) had been slagged as Joy Division clones, Section 25 admitted their allegiance to Public Image Limited's zenith, "Metal Box" (aka "Second Edition"), even though much of the material from their first EPs were recorded months before Lydon and crew went into the studio. The differences between PiL and SXXV (a nifty shorthand mentioned in their biography by James Nice) are of course noticeable; with Lydon still striving for Situationist revolt through great art and the Cassidy brothers attempting to emote the bleakness of Northern England by hollowing sound as a illusory shadow of music. In essence, Section 25's "Always Now" was an isolationist model for living. It was effective in its bleakness and brilliant in its poetry. While the Soul Jazz compilation "In The Beginning, There Was Rhythm" offered a solid introduction into the groove-oriented punk of the late '70s / early '80s, its flaws were in its omissions. Fortunately, LTM has kept "Always Now" in print on CD (with tons of extra singles including the Ian Curtis-produced 'Girls Don't Count'), so history may in fact be kind to a band that deserved much better.

SECTION 25From The Hip(Les Temps Modernes)cd$ 16.98

To mention the terms "new wave" and "80s electro" these days will undoubtedly prompt images of Fisherspooner, Adult., The Faint, I Am Spoonbender and other bands with a flashy sense of style, undercurrents of anxiety, and an effectively punishing use of roboto-rhythms. Yet, these bands have fixated upon a specific strain of retro-garde historicism, which has the unintended result of disregarding other variations of what "new wave" and "80s electro" meant back in the day. Contrary to the impression that the electronic aftermath of punk was always abrasive, intense, and angular, there were dozens of bands which softened their once bleak image (perhaps due to commercial pressure or shifting artistic temperament). One such band was Section 25, whose preceeding albums "Always Now" and "The Key of Dreams" had been spartan productions of death disco born out of urban blight. "From The Hip" -- the band's third album -- was a considerable departure towards more commercial waters with fluffy if slightly moody synth driven pop matched by proto-twee male / female vocals. It may have been the band's biggest commercial success but clearly wasn't as adventurous as their earlier records. Rather this is more on par the idea of "new wave" and "80s electro" that would draw comparisons to Human League, Thompson Twins, Bronski Beat, and Erasure.

SENOR COCONUTElectrolatino(Emperor Norton)12"$ 7.98

It's been awhile since we last heard from Uwe Schmidt's latin playboy alter ego Senor Coconut. Not at all surprising with all of his other personas and projects in the works - Atom Heart, Mambotur, Los Samplers, Geeez'n'Gosh, Roger Tubesound, Disk Orchestra, Midisport and the list goes on! But at long last, here's a small vinyl dose. No Kraftwerk covers here, these are three versions of his effervescent track "Electrolatino" (one of them a DJ Rodriguez remix). Nice.

SHINJUKU THIEFThe Witch Haven(Dorobo)cd$ 14.98

While most of the imaginary filmscores follow Barry Adamson's approach: psychologically involved, noirish atmospheres with plenty of spy thriller references, Darrin Verhagen takes the imaginary filmscore to the realm of medieval epics for wizards, ghouls, and dragons. These dark post-classical compositions (which are entirely sampler based, rather than orchestrated) are reminiscent of the Cold Meat Industries aesthetic of bombastic Wagnerian elements and dark Industrial references to In Slaughter Natives. This marks the final installment to the Witch Trilogy after "The Witch Hammer" and "The Witch Hunter".

SIR HEDGEHOGs/t()cd$ 11.98

Get ready for some glorious seventies-worshipping heavy rock via the self-released debut cd from this oddly named Vancouver band. Not as overtly Sabbath-derived as fellow Canadian rockers Sheavy, but similarly excellent (and Sir Hedgehog's "Bitchlord" *does*

SOFT BOYS, THENextdoorland(Matador)cd$ 14.98

I have truly mixed feelings about the reunions of bands whose decades-past acheivements I hold in high esteem. On one hand, it's the only way I can share in the experience of seeing them live- and bands like Wire and Mission of Burma prove that that can be a rewarding experience. On the other hand, as soon as those bands channel their tour reunion energy into a studio album, my skepticism increases tenfold. The Soft Boys had a very succesful and by all accounts excellent reunion tour, and here's the inevitable reunion album. Well. Let's keep in mind the fact that these fellows are responsible for truly brilliant albums like "Underwater Moonlight" and "A Can of Bees," that Robyn Hitchcock has released some very fine solo work, and be thankful. Diehard Hitchcock fans will undoubtably find something to appreciate in "Nextdoorland," which definitely isn't a terrible record, just a relatively non-essential one that most of us can safely pass over. This assesment may be a tad unfair-- the jangly pop found here might just need some "growing time"-- but I'm sticking to it for now.

SPROUT, TOBINSentimental Stations(Recordhead)cd$ 12.98

Pretty-pop from the non-Bob Pollard mainstay of Guided by Voices. A seven song teaser for his upacoming full length. Dreamy and lush and kind of eighties sounding but really good. Fans of GBV obviously need this!

STEREO TOTALMusique Automatique(Bobsled)cd$ 14.98

Another Euro-pop swingin' shimmy-shake affair from the very cosmopolitan Stereo Total. Once again, a lyrical cocktail shaker of French, German, English and... Turkish! Many moments that would make obscure, eccentric '60s lounge-y/ad jingle composer Charles

STICKMEN WITH RAYGUNSSome People Deserve To Suffer(Emperor Jones)cd$ 14.98

Killer reissue of the collected recordings of the -OTHER- legendary-drug-addled-shirtless-drunk-stumbling-rocking-LOUD-punk-as-fuck-Texas-combo (other than the Buttholes that is). And while the Stickmen have a lot in common with the Butthole Surfers (see above) their sound tends towards the noisy rocky end of the spectrum, rather than the tripped out space jam the Surfers were so fond of. And you may recognise the name as the Stickmen were one of the standout bands on the recently reissued Texas punk comp. Cottage Cheese From The Lips Of Death. Been listening to this like crazy. So great! Fans of the Butthole Surfers, Scratch Acid, punk rock and early Homestead records, should really check this out.

STILLUPPSTEYPAThe Immediate Past Is Of No Interest To Us - 10 Years Of Continuous Pointless Activities(Bottrop-Boy)cd$ 15.98

Stilluppsteypa has reduced their ranks down to the duo of Siggtrygur Berg Sigmarsson and Helgi Thorsson as Heimir Bjorgulfsson has left to pursue his career as an electo-glitch superslueth in the Vacuum Boys. Yet the mission of these Icelandic transplants remains as convoluted as ever. Even the nature of this record is a bit of a puzzle; "The Immediate Past" may be a Stilluppsteypa retrospective drawing from their 10 years of recording, but also could be contemporary reworkings of older archival materials, or just their 10th year anniversary present to themselves. The only thing that can be said with any certainty is that the tracks on this album haven't appeared (in these forms) on any of the earlier Stilluppsteypa recordings. Upon asking Siggtrygur about the album, the response was a vague declaration of everything being "pretty new stuff" followed by an inexplicable AAAARRRRRHGGGG, YEAH! HA! and something about robots. If you allow yourself to be seduced by Stilluppstyepa, you'll see the logic there. It's something I really can't explain, but it's beautiful. Regardless, "The Immediate Past Is Of No Interest To Us" is another brilliant Stilluppsteypa album of damaged electronics framed by semiotic slippages. Where the drone and the glitch had been previous focal points for the Icelanders, Stilluppsteypa centers upon the rhythm. With breakbeats constantly atomized into their granular parts, bounced backwards and forewards, and filtered through densely packed filters, this isn't music to dance to; but like fellow obtuse pop technicians Matmos, Stilluppsteypa isn't exactly music to think about. Stilluppstepa operate in a funhouse where they happily pull the trapdoor levers to let everybody (including themselves) tumble down to the nether regions below. Really fantastic!

SUNN O)))3: Flight Of The Behemoth(Southern Lord)cd$ 13.98

The third (duh) album from the lower-than-low doom duo of Stephen O'Malley (Burning Witch, Khanate) and Greg Anderson (Goatsnake, ex-Engine Kid). SUNN O))), formed in tribute to defunct Sub Pop heavies Earth, never fails to warm our doom-drone lovin' hearts, The first two tracks, totalling 22 minutes, constitute a new SUNN original, with dark waves of Earth-worthy droneriff rolling relentlessly ever onward. (Track one is called "Mocking Solemnity" and track two is called "Death Becomes You", but there's no discernable break between them, it'll really all one piece.) Then come the two mixes, and the surprise is that they're even better than the SUNN-alone tracks! Maybe that's 'cause they were produced by Masami Akita, aka the notorious Japanese noise artist Merzbow! His first mix (5 mins) drops some atonal piano into the dronezone of Sunn, while mix number 2 (13 mins) really goes for a grinding godhead experience. He really takes it to another level. After the Merzbow tracks, "Flight" closes out with another original track called "F.W.T.B.T.", and it's another good 'un, featuring guests "Bootsy Kronos" on bass, and, uh, "Aspirin Feast" on drums. Drums! Steve O'Malley did a great job with the album design, too, somehow emulating the graphics of Earth's "2" with nicely colored picture of a hunting dog, a shot of the SUNN boys looking like long haired, black clad twins, and -- get this -- what appears to be Ozzy Osbourne's Klonopin perscription from a Beverly Hills pharmacy! Southern Lord recommends this to fans of Earth, Melvins, Thrones, Thomas Koner...and we do too!! Add to that list Boris, Corrupted, Fushitsusha, and Loop (the last two are SUNN fan Julian Cope's comparisons)... "Flight of the Behemoth" is truly a massive, rumbling, varied, experimental DRONEDOOM ESSENTIAL!

SUTEKHIncest: Sutekh Live(Force Inc)cd$ 17.98

San Francisco's Sutekh straddles the ever increasing chasm between all night parties of the Bay Area's longstanding populist house scene and the SF avant-electronica community of Matmos, Kid 606, Lesser, OST, and the Blechdums. "Incest: Sutekh Live" is characteristic of his live Laptop Techno sets, with digitally factured, whirring samples bouncing within a taut and occasionally minimalist tech-house groove. Everything -- from the rhythms to the melodies and especially the basslines -- on this album has the strange appearance of being pitched up abnormally high. I guess that's why Force Inc can call this avant-garde.

TAAKE...Bjoergvin...(Wounded Love)cd$ 14.98

Second album from these obscure, grim black metallers. While not well-known, we really dug their debut ("Nattestid....") as an extremely well-executed slice of true black metal in the classic tradition, and this disc offers more of Taake's majestic dark-forest hymns. The songwriting operates within genre norms, but with much interest and variety, employing raspy lead vocals, clean choruses, fast parts, slow parts, strong melodies, and diverse instrumentation. They make use of piano and even jaw harp! The "boing boing" of that in the album's third track may seem humorous, but is really unsettling. Runic warriors of rock n' roll, Taake join the likes of Kvist, Khold, Nagelfar, Potentiam, and Keep of Kalessin in the ranks of AQ-fave black metal acts that lack the hype of the Emperors and Dimmu Borgirs of the world, but are equally worthy of your attention. So, this album gets a definite thumbs up from AQ's own runic warriors Allan and Andee. It's one they'd play for curious and open-minded non-black-metal fan friends. Meanwhile, black-metal otaku, get this while you wait for the new Satyricon.

TEEN CTHULHURide The Blade(Rage Of Achilles)cd$ 10.98

Finally a full length from the mighty Teen Cthulhu. The northwest's answer to Cradle Of Filth, or Neurosis, or Pig Destroyer. Acually more like some Frankensteinian mix of all three. Relentless and pummelling sludge, filtered through some bombasic black metal and peppered with bits of grind. Teen Chtulhu manage to keep everything interesting by incorporating all sorts of non-metal elements (a bit like the new Isis), remnants from their indie/post rock past perhaps? Cool melodic breakdowns, bizarre un-black metal melodies, and just some really weird, interesting and quite unlikely parts.

THEMSELVESThe No Music(Anticon)cd$ 14.98

Themselves is the renamed Them, a project of Doseone and Jel who also do time in the more well known cLOUDEAD. Them put out a record a couple of years back that we didn't list for some reason, but was one of the best post-hip-hop excursions into blissed out beat-oriented hip-hop flecked space rock. Or something. Hard to accurately describe what these cats do. Use cLOUDEAD and Anticon and Mush as a starting point, but then head way out. No, I mean WAAAAAY OUT! This is no longer hip-hop. It's gone beyond that. Kind of like the way the Boredoms are not 'rock'. This is epic and expansive; soundscapes of thick stuttery beats, washes of rumbling groove, creepy snatches of ghostly piano, disembodied voices and weird, WEIRD loops. And then there's the vocals. While it -is- rapping, it's gone beyond that too. A relentless, never ending, ultra nimble flow of whiny invective. Doseone's vocals are like a mix of whiny indie rock boy and Cypress Hill's B-Real. But they are all over the place, going from actual SINGING to ridiculously tongue twisting , head spinning rapping/scatting. Definitely for fans of Anticon and Shadow, but hip-hop-heads that aren't afraid to try some WEIRD stuff should definitely give this a listen.

THORAX WACHDie Euch Geht's Ja Noch Viel Zu Gut(Knack)lp$ 9.98

Had it not been for this LP re-issue, the obscure German project Thorax-Wach would have certainly disappeared forever, and been forever unknown to us. Thankfully, that didn't happen. That said, we still don't know about this group other than that we like 'em, and the basic biographical info that they were a Berlin-based duo who originally released "Die Euch Geht's Ja Noch Viel Zu Gut" as a cassette back in 1979. Everything else about the band is a mystery to us. Musically, they appeared to have been sympathetic with (if not comrades of) the Berlin punk community of 'destructive dilletantes' like Malaria!, Der Plan, Einstuerzende Neubauten, Sprung Aus Den Wolken, and especially Die Todliche Doris. Armed with two Korg synths and a chicken scratch guitar, Thorax-Wach build simple electronic arppegiations that alternate between abrasive Throbbing Gristle noise and sneering, synthetic noirish pop tunes matched with dueling German vocals about eating children, old people, the body, and German serial killers!! Much of the vocals play with pre-existing structures ("Happy Birthday" being of note) and take on much of Die Todliche Doris' dada / fluxist sense of the absurd. Definitely one for the retro-electro crowd. Vinyl only. Note: we got the half-dozen we have direct from the label, so they're relatively cheap. But when we run out, we'll have to get 'em from a distro, and the price will go up to $13.98 -- so, act fast!

TOBIN, AMONVerbal(Zen Cuts)cd ep$ 9.98

Yes!! The long awaited new Amon Tobin cd ep / 12" is totally killer. Tobin's music, as typified by his two most recent album Supermodified and Permutations, which is deeply beloved by just about everyone who works here at AQ, not to mention many many AQ customers such as yourself, is to take samples of the most wildly diverse material -- no programmed beats for this Brazilian-turned-Briton -- and recombine them into a style utterly his own. That might not sound like much of a feat, and yeah sure everyone's doing it, but like fellow vinyl sampler DJ Shadow, Tobin really does make irrelevant the fact that the source material is sampled, so seamlessly and proficiently does he elicit his own style. In fact, when Kup heard this record, even though the *elements* of "Verbal" -- cartoonish speed rapping courtesy MC Decimal R, flamenco-ish guitar -- weren't typically Tobin fodder, she correctly pointed out that the *sound* of the music made it nonetheless totally recognizable as his own. There's film noir-ish tension, thundering big beats, tumbling tomtoms, itchy chatterings and menacing flutterings amidst the jungly energy. So interesting, never repetitive or predictable. If you're already into him, you know you need to get this now, and if you're new to Amon Tobin, start right here. You won't be disappointed. Note: The 12" has just the "Verbal" track, plus an a capella and an instrumental version. The cdep has 3 other non-album tracks that are very worth picking this up in addition to the upcoming album.

UEHs/t(Acid Mothers Temple)2cd$ 25.00

Acid Mothers Temple followers might already be aware of this obscure French five-piece instrumental psych-rock outfit, if only because of their inclusion on the Acid Mothers Temple Family Compliation "Do Whatever You Want" that we listed not so long ago. This double cd offering (a rare 'real' cd release on the Acid Mothers Temple label) takes off from the sound of the comp's Ueh track (which appears again here): slowly unfolding soundscapes featuring tear drops of melancholy, melodic guitar, deep, warm, almost Bohren-like bass tones, and a sparse, kinda-krautrock-ish rhythmic base laid down by their drummer, the single-named Frederic (who also had a solo track on that AMT Family Compilation, and his own disc on AMT, which we haven't heard). It's psychedelic, we suppose, but really more akin to post rock -- post rock that Temporary Residence Ltd. bands would envy, although Ueh pretty much stick to the quiet part of the usual post-rock loud-soft dynamics formula. Kinda like good old Tortoise. We could imagine this as a Kranky or Strange Audio Attractors House label release as well. Ueh's languid sunset drones and jazzy, vibesy details are really, really beautiful. In our reviews, we try not to quote press releases, but the description we were given of this uses many of the words we'd like to: dreamy, soft, mellow, film soundtracks... You get the picture. Great music for when you're not sure you want to listen to anything at all. Apparently, one disc (the first, louder, jazzier) features their composed songs, while the other disc (the second, quieter, without song titles) is all improvised, but you probably couldn't tell which was which if you had to guess! Limited to 500 copies by the way, of which we have only a few.

UGLY THINGSIssue #20()magazine$ 6.95

"Wild Sounds From Past Dimensions", indeed -- this thick tome (192 pages) of a magazine covers in great depth all sorts of psych, garage, proto-punk, etc. rock n' roll from decades past. Definitely one of our favorite magazines! Whether you're familiar with the subjects or not, their features, full of information and anecdotes, are always fascinating. This time, attention is paid to The Yardbirds, Love, Eater, Public Nuisance, The Treniers, The Misunderstood, and many more. Plus, "Food and Wine" editor Johan Kugelberg offers part 2 of his DIY 7" overview (required reading for those of you into Hyped To Death's Messthetics cd-r comp series) and, in the print reviews section, is sure to rile some tempers with his delightfully brutal rip on Sonic Youth and Steve Albini (in his review of Michael Azerrad's Our Band Could Be Your Life). Oh yeah, record reviews, there's lots of those too. A solid week's worth of reading there, I'd think. Mike Fornatale's reviews deserve special mention: #1 he's hilarious, #2 he makes you want to jump up and slap on whatever record he's writing about, his enthusiasm is so infectious. Kudos to editor/publisher Mike Stax and co. for once again demonstrating how good a music 'zine can be.

V/ADocument 03 - Diffuse(Dorobo)cd$ 14.98

"Diffuse" is a collection of work produced by the graduates from the Media Arts Department of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia, under the guidance of noted Australian electro-glitch composer Philip Samartzis. It seems that Samartzis has clearly taught his students about a number of contemporary electronic manifestations of sound, but has impressed the neccessity for space and silence for sound to breath and move. Thus, none of his students have presented the claustrophobic assaults of noise culture, rather these are nano-technological movements that bridge the Raster / Ikeda purity of digital sound and the Surreal drama of French musique concrete. Artists include Troy Allan, Thembi Soddell, Andie Reynolds, Bruce Mowson, Camilla Hannan, G_S, James Celil, Sianna Lee, Phillip Pietruschka, 24k, and Haima. Heard of any of 'em? Neither have I, but hopefully they'll put out more work soon.

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  • RealAudio clip: Outside

V/AOff Site(A Bruit Secret)2cd$ 23.00

Last year, AQ-fave Japanese guitar experimentalist Taku Sugimoto put together a series of "Composed Music" concerts at a Tokyo venue called Off Site, featuring pieces written and performed by a who's who of the current Japanese underground jazz/noise/experimental/electronic scene. This disc collects some live recordings from those shows. Disc one opens with Otomo Yoshihide's sixteen-piece "Portable Orchestra". It's the "home electronics equipment version" and that means the musicians, among them Taku Sugimoto, Sachiko M, Utah Kawasaki, Masahiro Uemura, Tetuzi Akiyama, and Otomo himself, are improvising with "instruments" like food mixers, electric drills, shavers, cel phones, gameboys, cameras! Avant-improv music for a [insert dept. store name]. Intriguing as presented here (unless you just can't stand that dentist drill sound!), but probably even better in person, watching these folks fool around with these gadgets and tools. Moving on, the next three tracks are for a more traditional ensemble: an acoustic guitar trio, albeit one with so few notes being played (or even sounds being made) that the involvement of more than one guitarist seems almost superfluous. The rest of the disc, with pieces by Toshimaru Nakamura and Taku Sugimoto for solo saxophone and turntable/sinewaves, respectively, also feature quite a lot of silence, a hallmark of the oh-so-quiet and abstract "onkyo" style attributed to these musicians. The subtle drones and delicate (and not-so-delicate) noises of that final 30-minute turntable/sinewave track should be found to be especially beautiful and interesting by listeners with patience and the right mindset. Disc two starts with Annette Krebs, Sachiko M, and Taku Sugimoto performing a piece for paper and contact mic, ripping and tearing. Other pieces involve radios, accordions, electric and acoustic guitars -- all very abstract and sparse, sometimes self-evidently pretty, mostly just mystifying. The idea here seems to be for there to be some odd juxtapostions of composer/performer/instrument -- there's even a track wherein Otomo Yoshihide plays a Sachiko M compostion on an acoustic guitar! (We'll assume, if you've read this far, you're familiar enough with these musicians to think that a bit unusual.)

V/ARagga Jungle Anthems Volume 1(Greensleeves)cd$ 14.98

Yeah, you're right, these aren't new collections. In fact they're over six years old at this point. But imagine our surprise, johnny-come-latelys we are with these comps, when we picked them up for the store and discovered that we were already familiar with one of the tracks from a record of the week pick of a year ago. What I'm speaking of is DJ Rupture's inclusion of the Greensleeves (via Ridley Don) jungle remix of Barrington Levy's "Here I Come" on volume two. While Rupture did in fact add his own treatment to the mix, pitching it down drastically half way through, we were a little miffed that the mix -- which we thought was one of the best parts of the Gold Teeth Thief -- wasn't his own. Like the Trojan Jungle collections the two Ragga Jungle Anthem volumes are merely previously released tracks that have been remixed with breakbeat jungle rhythms, but where as the Trojan collections worked with classic reggae and ska material, the Ragga Jungle Anthem collections are all contemporary dancehall, which lends itself to such remixing. And sure the beats aren't new or groundbreaking, or even that original, but hell, it sounds SOOOOO GOOD. That classic jungle rhythm the got us in so into jungle in the first place. No tech step or hard step or dark core or whatever, just big dumb fun floor shaking wall rattling JUNGLE rhythms under some classic dancehall. You can't go wrong.

V/ARagga Jungle Anthems Volume 2(Greensleeves)cd$ 14.98

Yeah, you're right, these aren't new collections. In fact they're over six years old at this point. But imagine our surprise, johnny-come-latelys we are with these comps, when we picked them up for the store and discovered that we were already familiar with one of the tracks from a record of the week pick of a year ago. What I'm speaking of is DJ Rupture's inclusion of the Greensleeves (via Ridley Don) jungle remix of Barrington Levy's "Here I Come" on volume two. While Rupture did in fact add his own treatment to the mix, pitching it down drastically half way through, we were a little miffed that the mix -- which we thought was one of the best parts of the Gold Teeth Thief -- wasn't his own. Like the Trojan Jungle collections the two Ragga Jungle Anthem volumes are merely previously released tracks that have been remixed with breakbeat jungle rhythms, but where as the Trojan collections worked with classic reggae and ska material, the Ragga Jungle Anthem collections are all contemporary dancehall, which lends itself to such remixing. And sure the beats aren't new or groundbreaking, or even that original, but hell, it sounds SOOOOO GOOD. That classic jungle rhythm the got us in so into jungle in the first place. No tech step or hard step or dark core or whatever. just big dumb fun floor shaking wall rattling JUNGLE rhythms under some classic dancehall. You can't go wrong.

V/ATrojan Calypso Box Set(Trojan)3cd$ 15.98

Though most commonly associated with Trinidad, calypso was also a big hit throughout the Caribbean and even the U.K. The style grew out of a melange of influences including shango, kumina and European song. While displaying a happy face melodically, the underlying messages of much of the earliest songs -- Caribbean slaves were often forced to perform for their masters -- were excoriating criticisms of the slave owners. The lyrical acrobatics continued through the style's development through the 20th century, with double entendres being a requisite part of any master vocalist's cache of tricks. The Jamaican form of calypso, and its outgrowth mento, increased steadily in popularity with working class Jamaicans despite the almost complete blackout of radio and label interest in the music. This box set contains some of the best in the business -- Lord Kitchener, Count Lasher, Lord Creator, The Mighty Sparrow (from Trinidad and considered the king of calypso) and more -- along with some greats that are more familiar names in the later ska and rocksteady genres such as: Tommy McCook & the Supersonics, Phyllis Dillon, Derrick Harriott, The Maytals and more. The third disc in the set is a collection of recordings from the U.K. calypso scene and, ironically enough, are also the oldest dated cuts, recorded between 1956 and 1958. The first two discs in this collection are of West Indies calypso and their tracks were recorded primarily between 1960 and 1968, with a few tracks taken from the early seventies.

WOODBINEs/t(Domino)cd$ 14.98

Subdued, drowsy and so pretty! This is the music that bridges awake and asleep. The languid instrumentation flows along gracefully as the sparse percussion taps out a gentle rhythm, but Woodbine's all about the vocals - layers of whispers, murmurs and sighs. Actually you might recognize vocalist Susan Dillane from her recent appearance on the Dirty Vegas album, however, this is nothing like that group at all! In fact it often brought to mind the considerably more innocent pop of Adventures In Stereo's dreamalicious Monomania album. That said, Woodbine does occasionally veer into late night woozy, chemically altered trip hop territory. Surprisingly they've been around since '95 but this is their full length debut!

YORKSTON, JAMES AND THE ATHLETESMoving Up Country(Domino)cd$ 14.98

Scottish gent James Yorkston writes pretty, earthy, intelligent acoustic songs not unlike those of a rather subdued Robyn Hitchcock. Gently lulling and wistful, he and the Athletes' music is loosely woven from hushed vocals and strummed guitars, embellished by soft swells of piano, strings, and some very minimal percussion. An impressive debut.