[ aquarius records new arrivals

IMPORTANT (Please read to avoid confusion): Some items below may be tagged with a bold, red, all-caps OUT OF PRINT/UNAVAILABLE notice. This does NOT mean that all other items not so tagged are, in fact, in stock — or for that matter, in print and available, though there's a good chance they are. Some folks get confused on this point, and we can see why, so please read this for further clarification and other important before-you-order information. Unlike some mailorder websites, we don't have an electronic inventory system linked to our site, so you can't be sure of what we actually have or don't have in stock at any given moment without asking us — please email our mailorder department for availability status — or better yet, just go ahead and place your order using our shopping cart function and we'll get back to you with the status of each item. If you have general non-mailorder questions, email the store.

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This is an odd release for Korm Plastics, a subsidiary of Staalplaat, who have, in the past, released some truely nasty pieces of electro-shock noise. Antenne is a Danish trip hop ensemble which completes rainy electronic grooves with bleary-eyed female vocals that sound an awful lot like Heidi Berry. The album opens with an cover of Nick Drake's "Black Eyed Dog." Strange.

RealAudio clip: Black Eyed Dog

If I had a dime for everytime someone has picked up a copy of Ethiopiques #4 and asked if we had it available on vinyl I'd probably be able to afford to buy the original pressing of "Ethio Jazz" for the price it fetches on e-bay. But now for a mere 170 dimes vinyl lovers everywhere can at last have a copy of their own. Mulatu Astatke's "Ethio Jazz" was released as Volume 4 of Ethiopiques (expanded from 9 to 14 tracks for the CD issue) and is easily the single most popular release in the series (at least here at AQ anyway.) Astatke had the unique privilege to be sent off to school in 1960 (at the age of 17) to study music in London. From there he continued on to the United States, attending The Berklee School of Music in Boston and later moving to New York. One can imagine he picked up a wide range of influence, and that he did. He became absorbed in Latin and Caribbean musics, eventually forming his own group the Ethiopian Quartet in New York. Upon his return to Ethiopia in the late sixties he was treated like a king, being hailed as "the first-Ethiopian-musician-educated-abroad" and as a arranger/bandleader he was unequalled. This record is an absolutely stunning collection of instrumentals. Most are composed by Astatke, while others are arrangements of traditional songs or other composers. A "jazz" record, yes this is, but hardly just. "Ethio Jazz" is a wonderful amalgam of swinging jazz tunes, sweet soul and punchy funk and laden with fuzzy electric guitars and tremolo drenched electic pianos. What's more is that, unlike the afro-funk of Nigeria, the rest of Africa or the world even, the unique scales of Ethiopian music produce the most haunting melodies that we've ever heard. For better or worse, this record has probably the broadest appeal of any release we've had. Very highly recommended (and for CD buyers, if you haven't picked up Ethiopiques #4 yet we always keep them in stock.)

RealAudio clip: Netsanet
RealAudio clip: Sabye
RealAudio clip: Gubelye

"A Touch Of Brimstone" was intended to be the 10th anniversary release for the Dutch ambient / industrial duo Beequeen (Frans De Waard and Freek Kinkelaar), but the nature of Beequeen's extensive side projects delayed the anniversary by almost 4 years. Nevertheless, this album collects a number of (mostly) unreleased tracks from 1989 to 1995, with the one previously released track coming from their debut recording "Scala Destillans" which was issued in a whopping pressing of 250 copies. The Beequeen sound has been and probably will always be a synthesis of a number of pre-existing ideas. At this time, those references for Beequeen were the phasing ambience of Klaus Schultz and Brian Eno, the isolationist practices of Maeror Tri, the clinical feedback noise of early SPK, and the magickal psychedelia of the Legendary Pink Dots. Thus, soft drones, ghosts of songs, and distant drum machine pulsatsions structure Beequeen's ongoing activities.

RealAudio clip: A Touch Of Brimstone

Satanic sci-fi metallic ritual enacted by a band led by a metalhead Brian Eno lookalike! The brutality and intensity (and weird, star-devouring vision) of Polish death/black metal masters Behemoth are unmatched. In the realm of extreme metal, they're a sure bet, and this lastest release only ups the ante. Fast n' furious, "Zos Kia Cultus" is a juggernaut ride through epic vistas, crammed with baroque detail. Are you (as you should be) a fan of the Mesopotamian majesty of mighty death metal kingpins Morbid Angel? Or their proteges Nile? And of the panache & extremity of black metal innovators Satyricon? Well you're probably a Behmoth fan then too! While supplies last, we've got the import digipak version w/ bonus cd-rom video track.

RealAudio clip: Here And Beyond

We told it like it really is last time with our harsh-but-honest assessment of Kevin Blechdom's "Your Butt" ep...so there's no going back now. But perhaps this new disc from quite a few people's favorite female Oakland electronics and cabaret duo is deserving of a better fate. Or perhaps not. From the vaginal themed artwork to song titles like "Shithole" and "Toilet Trouble" this celebrates the side of BFB that we just don't appreciate, their not so much childlike as childish aesthetic... Of course, ample warning is given where it says on the sleeve that "this is a compilation of BFB's most drunken and messy live musical moments." Still, the resulting glitchy sound-world of computers gone bad features plenty of crunchy bleepy beats and drones, that, seemingly mechanical and random as they are, aren't unpleasant. But, when the duo start singing, that's when this slides from "kinda cool, kitschy instrumental electronica act" to "annoying, noisy joke band that's just not for us"... Again though, it can't be denied that BFB do indeed have their fans, and doubtless fans will want and need this disc, more power to 'em. We'll just agree to disagree, no hard feelings. Apparently, this is to be the last ever BFB release, but now have two separate full-fledged solo careers to, er, look forward to.

RealAudio clip: Jump Jo Bones
RealAudio clip: Open Fly

I, Andee, was shopping for a present for my soon to be father-in-law, who is a huge jazz head, just like me, and I thought it would be cool to get him some lps to go with his brand new turntable, but as we sat in my room listening to records trying to decide what he would or wouldn't like, it seemed my taste/collection was a bit on the way-out/free/abrasive side compared to his, especially many of my favorite ESP reissues. That is until we threw on this recently reissued Boykins disc. While retaining the free-skree-skronk that I love so much about ESP, "The Will Come, Is Now" reins it all in a bit, wrapping Boykins' freak-out tendencies in a warm rich blanket of almost traditional bop/post-bop and really accessible-without-being-cheesy melodies. As much as I am digging ALL the recent ESP reissues, this is the one I find myself throwing on more and more often!

RealAudio clip: The Will Come, Is Now
RealAudio clip: Starlight At the Wonder Inn

Mats and Co. are back with another great issue of Broken Face, always a cause for celebration 'round these parts. Issue #15 is packed with all the psych-indie-folk-pop-drone music writing you'd expect, from an international array of contributors (BF is published in Sweden). It's kind of like the venerable Ptolemaic Terrascope magazine -- the audience is more-or-less the same -- but with a bit more of a contemporary and experimental bent. This ish they do delve into the past for an interview with the amazing Swedish psych outfit Parson Sound/Harvester/Trad Gras Och Stenar (we're all huge fans, so that by itself makes this essential). Then there's chats with SF's own Thuja, Japan's Nagisa Ni Te, Philly's Fursaxa, and local faves Tarentel, among others. A pretty fine line-up indeed! Plus there's a report on this past fall's Terrastock 5 festival in Boston, and the ususal plethora of reviews. Oh yeah, you'll also find Top Fifteen lists of the best of 2002 from a bunch of BF regulars in this issue. Yep, one of the music mag must-reads wethinks.

Coltrane. Larger than life jazz legend. One of the greatest tenors, ever. Musical genius. Some people even think he's a goddamn saint. And yet, I just didn't care all that much. Giant Steps, Love Supreme -- pleasant enough stuff, for sure, but it always somehow struck me as background music. OK, jazz lover, put down your hand! You don't need to slap sense into me. Ascension already did that. Slappped me -- knocked me flat on my ass, actually, the first time I ever heard it. Listening to Ascension really is an intensely physical experience, as you are just pummeled by this wall of sound and emotion and expression. It's seriously one of the most intense and powerful recordings of any kind of music, ever. Hearing it made everything else Coltrane ever recorded make some kind of sense to me, as documents of a search for the ultimate means of expression and spiritual connection through sound. On Ascension, the results of that search reach a kind of force and power that belongs more often to nature than to mere musical recordings. While many critics and fans recognized the utter brilliance of this record upon its initial release, others were unable to follow Coltrane into the outer limits of free expression. Basically, the work reveals itself as a fierce and undeniable classic to the serious and adventerous listener (i.e. most Aquarius customers), although to some people it might still come across as anti-jazz. For Ascension, Coltrane assembled a ten-person ensemble which included the "classic quartet" lineup of Jimmy Garrison, Elvin Jones and Mccoy Tyner, with the addition of Pharoah Sanders and Archie Shepp (tenors), Freddie Hubbard and Dewey Johnson (trumpets), and Marion Brown and John Tchicai (altos). The structure, as such, involves a string of solos bookended by freeform group improv, continuing uninterupted for approximately 40 minutes. The orginizational ideas reflect Coltrane's interest in and respect for free jazz innovators Albert Ayler and especially Ornette Coleman, whose landmark 1960 record Free Jazz is Ascension's clearest antecedent in terms of structure and innovation -- but Ascension pushes the envelope of unfettered expression even farther than that record. The recording session resulted in two different takes; Coltrane changed his mind about which version he preferred after the album's initial release, with represses presenting the alternate take. This Impulse cd, originally re-issued in 2000 but unlisted by us until now, contains both versions for your listening -- I don't know if "pleasure" is quite exactly the right word, as that might imply that the reward doesn't take a bit of work on the listener's part; let's say "for you're listening benefit." Ascension is a true masterpiece, a work to be approached with a degree of awe. Words like "mindblowing" and "essential" seem understated, despcription wise. It altered my understanding, both of John Coltrane and Jazz itself. Anyone interested in improvisational music owes it to themselves to own this.

RealAudio clip: Ascension Edition II excerpt one
RealAudio clip: Ascension Edition II excerpt two

Creeper Lagoon's first post-Dreamworks release finds its home on the Arena Rock Recording Company. An aching melancholia continues to flow throughout the music of this SF quartet (which also made them a perfect presence on the recent Nothing Left To Lose: Tribute To Kris Kristofferson compilation, they did a beautiful rendition of "Why Me"). Each of these five sleekly produced songs is steeped in the lushest of aches and yearnings even despite the uptempo-ness of a couple of them. Spacy, glistening and drifting, it stirred thoughts of an imaginary encounter between the Alan Parsons Project and producer David Fridmann (Sparklehorse, Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev). A lovely, subdued downer affair.

RealAudio clip: The Way It Goes
RealAudio clip: Kisses And Pills

Here in the Bay Area, those fine Cubby Creatures keep it all low-key, quietly working away on new songs and other crafty endeavors, but burst forth every so often with a rollicking live jamboree or two. This record is the follow-up to their well-received Who Remembers Kathy Barra? cdep which easily drew comparisons to '60s psych-pop like that of the Blues Magoos (but replace that decade's requisite farfisa organs with more timeless woodwinds) or perhaps more so The Millennium, and more recently Olivia Tremor Control (with glimpses of their more experimental leanings). This 3-song 7" features two of their own fab tunes and a splendid reworking of Nick Drake's "Fly" to boot. Bright, warm and a wee bit trippy, sorta like what you might hear if The Archies crossed paths with a mysterious roving band of minstrels. Go Cubbies!

Conceptually following the "All the Stars Burning Bright" album, "Outward" by eM (aka Foundry label boss Michael Bentley) is an ambient excursion that begins here on earth with a series of digitally manipulated recordings of insects, animals, and earthquakes, moves out towards the far orbits of our planet with processed sounds of satellite telemetry, and arrives quite optimistically in the quasi-mystical pulsations of deep space, implying the "infinity that lies beyond what we have explored." Bentley's methods for the construction of his ambience are conventional mostly achieved by overloading synthesizers and digital samples with tons of reverb and nebulous swooshing sounds, complementing most of the spacemusic ambience often heard of the Hearts of Space radio programs.

RealAudio clip: Across The Milky Way

Ah, the Jewelled Antler collective! The Franciscan Hobbies is yet another facet of the same opiated psych-improv collective that has evolved into a number of projects including Thuja, The Blithe Sons, The Birdtree, The Skygreen Leopards, The Child Readers, The Knit Separates, etc. Usual suspects Glenn Donaldson, Rob Reger, Loren Chasse, and Jason Honea all appear on this -- perhaps the largest and loosest of the Jewelled Antler projects -- alongside relative newcomers to the collective: Greg Bianchini (of SF folksters The Muons), Kerry McLaughlin, Buffy Vice Sick, Dylan Brock, Christine Boepple, and Aquarius' own Dungeon Master Jeremiah Allan Horrocks (singing into an electronic toy while lying on his back somewhere in Golden Gate Park one sunny day, he tells us, but bets you won't be able to pick that out while listening to this). In working with such a large citizenship, The Franciscan Hobbies wisely eschews structure, favoring the psych-improv equivalent of front porch noodling that ends up sounding like a more sedate version of Birchville Cat Motel, the Vibracathedral Orchestra, or the hillbilly minimalism of Henry Flynt. Yet the druggy, murky atmosphere that dominates so much of Thuja's recordings takes a backstage to the quiet sound of semi-strummed, semi-plucked banjos, ouds, guitars, and occasional Tom Waits-esque tossin' junk in the kitchen sink percussion. Beautiful and mysterious, "Caterpillars Of The Oak Beauty" makes for another very nice cd-r release from Jewelled Antler!

RealAudio clip: The Secret Forces
RealAudio clip: Festival Of Sticks And Grasses

Talk about a dynamic duo. Drummer Tatsuya Yoshida, the madman responsible for Japanese prog-core band Ruins' insane music, teams up here with pianist Satoko Fuji, a lady who seems equally excitable. In addition to their prowess on their respective instruments, both provide bizarre and even beautiful vocals. Recorded live at the 2002 Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville, Quebec, this performance veers from precisely composed, hyper high-speed workouts to sheer improv weirdness (quite melodic much of it though). Piano music genres like boogie woogie and tango are bent into the Ruins realm. With its insistent repetitive rhythmic attacks and Morse code piano parts a la Yoshida's classic solo album "Magaibutsu", this is gonna satisfy fans of Yoshida's brand of musical mayhem for sure. Amazing. And nuts! I think Yoshida is playing a contact mic'd zipper in one song...

RealAudio clip: Omjhonz
RealAudio clip: Kiretsu

Here it is, the highly anticipated album from the voice of Portishead - Ms Beth Gibbons! Much like such artists as Joni Mitchell or Leonard Cohen, Gibbons possesses a timeless, immensely affecting voice that exists outside of passing fancies and dated trends. Out Of Season dispells any question of that, presenting a very different -perhaps more accessible- backdrop than that of Portishead, but a no less dramatic and fitting one. The former embodies a mysterious, complex and haunting otherworldliness, the latter is much more familiar, folkish and earthbound. But who is Rustin Man with whom Ms Gibbon's is collaborating, you might ask? Why he is the alter ego of her friend Paul Webb (formerly of Talk Talk). And we should also note the presence throughout this album of her Portishead comrade Adrian Utley in both performance and production mode. A great line-up, indeed. Grand orchestral, big band and cabaret arrangements sit well beside more minimal instrumentations and Gibbons conveying her trademark deepest of despairs chameleons gracefully into the changing landscapes. This is apparent very early on with the expansive John Barry-esque lushness of "Tom The Model". Following that number is the sparsely beautiful "Show" with its assembly of cello, flute, double bass and piano, and a vocal performance that echoes the emotional brittleness of Chet Baker's "My Funny Valentine". While she still often stirs up those Shirley Bassey-esque inflections as she did in Portishead, in our opinion, she's at her best without them. Refined and elegant. Recommended.

RealAudio clip: Tom The Model
RealAudio clip: Spider Monkey

A real nice collection of dubs from Joe Gibbs and Errol Thompson. The two were responsible for recording some of Jamaica's hottest tunes in the mid-seventies. Joe Gibbs was an electrical engineer by trade, but was seduced into the music business after he began selling records on the side in his television / radio repair shop. His early successes in his career eventually led him to an introduction to Randy's legendary house engineer Errol Thompson who he subsequently stole away from the studio, forming a lasting and very successful professional relationship. The dubs here are all taken from roots productions the two did at the height of their career. Along with lots of great keyboard and piano solos, echoey horn sections, and the reverbed out rocker rhythms of Sly Dunbar there are plenty of dubs which show off the uninhibited creativity of the pair: using mics to pick up car horns, bubbling and running water, crying babies and other sound effects to mix into the pot. Comes with a decent four pages of liner notes, photos and a handsome outer paper sleeve.

RealAudio clip: C/W Burning Version
RealAudio clip: War Is Over

This new SF band's debut is quite immediately reminiscent of the dreamy, swirling late '90s Brit rock bands like Spiritualized or The Church - all shimmering, spacy guitars with soft shoegazer male lead vocals. But Go Go Galaxion set themselves apart from those groups with an ever-present upbeat mood that's propelled along by some considerably West Coast sunny bouncy tempos and warm vocal harmonies - maybe placing them more in line with polished pop bands like Beulah or the Posies in that regard. Nice.

RealAudio clip: Breathe
RealAudio clip: Living Space

Presented for your party pleasure: this DVD compiles a performance by righteous party-monger Gold Chains at San Francisco's Beta Lounge, along with plenty of extra videos and live performances, including the awesome "I Come From San Francisco" video, shot on a BART train! Locals: look for yourself and your friends in the videos. Out-of towners: experience the magic of a Gold Chains show from the comfort of your living room. The live at Beta Lounge portion comes peppered by unfortunate amounts of clean-cut white girls in flygirl pose mode and art-school graduate ghetto parody, but Gold Chains himself puts on a helluva show as always, making the most uptight of booties shake and temporarily redeeming the white-boy indie-electronic hip-hop genre (at least until the next time I'm reminded of the existence of Cex). Although it's funny; I know I was pretty drunk that night, but I remember the show being totally crazy, like crowd surfing, buckets of sweat, jam-packed dance-your-ass-off crazy. Somehow, the video doesn't quite seem to convey the mayhem. Perhaps the filming would have benefitted from another approach, or maybe I was just more wasted than I realized. Hmmm.

"Sketchbook" is an apt title for the debut recording for Swedish lowercase composer Johannes Helden, as this album is an earnest collection of fragmented and processed field recordings, which originated during Helden's travels from his native Sweden through Norway and into Russia. There's an up and coming school of travelogue field recordists operating under the broad banner of 'phonography.' While it's possible to qualify this album as a travelogue, Helden has composed these field recordings as a series of empathic impressions of the environment's desolate beauty and numbing cold; furthermore, "Sketchbook" shares little of that aforementioned aesthetic's specificity of references (i.e. rain, cars, market sounds, etc.). This album very comfortably situates itself within the parameters of the Trente Oiseaux label and the productions of Bernhard Gunter: slow moving structures bracketed by pronounced silences, muted tonalities and blurred sounds as if the sounds were 'out of focus' (to use a visual analogy), and pointillist digital markings that don't quite manifest as the granular based glitch-electronica. Somatic pulsations flicker, and drones evolve into symphonic swells resembling Feldman's handling of woodwinds more than any given field recording. Makes for good headphone listening.

RealAudio clip: Sketchbook 1
RealAudio clip: Sketchbook 2

Our good customer and friend Daniel Coffeen loves this album so much we invited him to write about it. Take it away, D... Compared to HATFYR's last record, Shock and Struts, Felt is streamlined, restrained, clean. But then again, these are the facts you requested and as is their nature, they deliver the goods with a stylistic excess. The result is that Felt is at once understated and deluxe, careful and daring, contrived and pathetic. As usual, the band moves through the breadth of pop music. But unlike say, Ween (a certain influence), The Facts don't quote genres: they metabolize them. The result is that while listeners may hear strains of Prince or Bongwater or Flaming Lips these same listeners will always here The Facts: songs that are round and luscious, happy and crafty, clever and sprawling, a grab bag of boys, girls, guitars, trumpets, beats, harmonies, samples, and strumming. Three different songwriters and four different singers take turns showing off -- from the Prince-laden Peas to the bubbilicious stereophonic Tulip to the boy ballad, Remember, this record covers a lot of territory. It's inspiring to hear an album that offers so much -- and that's downright joyous to boot. Like the best pop music, Felt is complex, odd, familiar and unfamiliar, embedded in pop tradition and utterly and thoroughly itself. And as is usually the case with such music, it takes some time, some patience, precisely because it proffers the new. Listen well to this record and you will be felt. Check out "Tulip" and the truly exquisite, crafty "Homebody".

RealAudio clip: Tulip
RealAudio clip: Homebody

We're used to hearing clinical clicks from Japanese electronic composer Ryoji Ikeda -- so what's this then? 21st century classical, all acoustic stringed instruments, no electronics at all?? Yes, and it's great. With help from Belgian chamber-prog group Art Zoyd, Ikeda has crafted a gorgeous soundtrack-like suite of droning string bliss, that's far from the chopped-up aesthetic of his earlier use of orchestral elements in the electronic realm. Two years ago, Ikeda released "Matrix" -- an amazing double cd split between pure sinewave aggrevation on one disc and smooth, post-techno click 'n' grooves on the other. While that album was the conclusion of a trilogy of electronic works that also included "0 Degrees Celsius" and "+/-," it remains unclear if the arrival of "op." also marks a disavowal of electronics altogether (as good as this is, we hope not). While the German avant-garde ensemble Zeitkratzer have done very well for themselves in translating electronoise works by John Duncan and Merzbow into atonal orchestrations for classical instruments, Ikeda's "classical" debut bares little resemblance to anything he's done in the past. No cyclical pulses. No clinical precision. No irritants to speak of. Instead, Ikeda's compositions for strings (one piece for 9 strings and the rest for quartet) gracefully glide in and out of complex timbres, with plenty of breathing room in between all of the harmonic tones. Indeed, the closest resemblance to Ikeda's past work is how initial attack of bows on strings can sound uncannily like the electronically-generated tones on the sinewave half of "Matrix"... Soon they reveal themselves for the acoustic orchestra instruments they are, Ikeda apparently using them to tap into the emotions of sadness and majesty, which rock musicians also have appropriated from romantic composers. Yet, with its stoic simplicity and stately pacing, "op." also mirrors the fascination that fellow minimalist Bernhard Gunter holds for Morton Feldman and Luigi Nono, although Gunter's approach has remained within the scope of sampling and hasn't yet arrived at full blown orchestrations. As beautiful and compelling as Ikeda's "op." is, Ikeda has to ask himself how he can build a language that not only reflects back upon successes of his previous electronic works but also understand the peculiarities intrinsic to this form of composition. He's already issued vague statements about his electronic works building "invisible patterns filling the listening space." Is this a strong enough bridge between Ikeda's electronic masterpieces and the possible future for other classical compositions? Only time will tell...

RealAudio clip: op.1 movement 2
RealAudio clip: op.2 version 2

I've been fretting over what to say about this not-so-newly released record, so let's keep it simple. This is a straight-up, totally solid album of unassuming but great hip-hop, classic style. Long delayed in official release and boasting production from DJ Premier, Pete Rock, and Prince Paul, this one comes highly recommended.

RealAudio clip: All Of The Above
RealAudio clip: Do That Shit

What more to say about Jandek? Well, obviously he's got more to say as he's reached album number 33 with the "Humility of Pain." There's still the detuned open chord guitar strum with all of the notes clashing in a completely atonal fashion; and his voice which previously hovered in the upper registers no longer defies gravity on lithium and depression, as Jandek's voice has dropped an octave as was also indicated on his last album "I Threw You Away." While the clarity of Jandek's vocals has never been his strong suit, his voice takes on a drunken slur, possibly an emotional affectation or maybe he really is just drunk, which never the less makes his words even harder to decipher than before. What's curious about these recent recordings (and this one in particular) is that the quality of the production has drastically improved from the 'stick-the-mic-in-the-middle-of-the-room' technique which dominated so many of the early recordings. "Humility Of Pain" is tough record to take even for Jandek fans like me, but it raises some interesting questions as to why he's taken such care to record such damaged music.

RealAudio clip: You Know You Need

Local experimental guitarist Mason Jones -- you know him from his popular space rock band Subaranoid Space, and perhaps also from his isolationist guitar explorations under the name Trance (a moniker it seems he's dispensed with here), or his Japan-o-centric music 'zine Ongaku Otaku, or his former label Charnel Music, or his other dabblings in the world of Japanese noise, etc. -- presents this cd-r of guitar music. Really beautiful, spaced-out guitar music. These nine tracks incorporate both lovely, melodic note-picking and echo-effected ambience. We know Mason's got a ton of effects pedals and isn't afraid to use 'em, but the underwater drones and neighing-horse symphonies he creates don't stop him from actually utilizing his guitar in a more conventional sense here as well. Mason's pleasant, kinda sixties-sci-fi-sounding playing on this solo project (live to DAT, with subsequent edits) falls in zone somewhere betwixt the pretty post-rock dynamics of, say, Sonna, and the physicality and psychedelia of a Kawabata Makoto... good stuff Mason!

RealAudio clip: Snow In The Morning
RealAudio clip: The Last Remembered Moment

Not a new release -- nor even a new reissue -- but we just manage to get some and wanted to list it 'cause it's something that several of us here have been listening to a lot lately! This Kaleidoscope were a sixties British pop psych band (not to be confused with the various other Kaleidoscopes of the era from the US and Mexico) and we believe these guys might in fact have been THE ULTIMATE psychedelic pop band ever. This album (also not to be confused with the famous Krautrock/soundtrack outfit with the same name as the album's title) is just incredible. Gorgeous vocals, killer melodies, lush orchestrations, and, especially, beautifully baroque psych-speak lyrics that put "Strawberry Fields Forever" to shame -- with lines like "Battalions in baby blue are bursting beige balloons / the water pistols are all filled with lemonade / the jester and the goldfish have joined minds above the moon / oh please kiss the flowers and you too will be safe / oh swing and sway..." It's very British, twee and dreamy, being that perfect blend of sunshine and melancholy so many psych pop bands of the era were striving for. The Kaleidoscope did it best right here. I mean, if you like the Zombies and the Hollies and heck the Olivia Tremor Control you should know about these gents too. Indee, the original 1967 album's final track (followed here by six bonus tracks), "The Sky Children", might be THE ULTIMATE pop-psych track on this ultimate pop-psych record. (Hey a little hyperbole never hurt anybody.) It's an eight-minute epic, with a thrilling vocal hook on endless repeat, and amazing lyrics continually pouring forth the whole time. Truly awe-some, if you're attuned to the vibe.

RealAudio clip: Dive Into Yesterday
RealAudio clip: Flight From Ashiya

THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SORRY. The day we first got this in stock, it was pouring rain -- appropriately enough, because playing this made it seem like it was raining in the store as well as outside, quite a lovely effect we thought. Truly, this is a stunningly beautiful concert/field recording, the culmination of a series of concerts held at (the very rainy) Koukiji temple in Japan. The concerts were organized by Yasushi Utsunomia -- whose claim to fame was as recording engineer for art rockers After Dinner. According to Utsunomia, his initial efforts were unsuccessful due in part to demanding and flaky performers (apparently all rock bands) and a crappy sound reinforcement system supplied by the temple. In the end, the first problem was solved by turning to traditional musicians and the second by constructing a sound reinforcement system worthy of such a space (a detailed diagram of the performance space and speaker locations is included on the back of the booklet's cover.) The performances heard here are on shakuhachi, ryuteki (both Japanese bamboo flutes), sitar and stone flute (played by the legendary shamanistic composer Akio Suzuki). All are accompanied by rain, from soft patter to heavy downpour. At times the rain is so loud it completely drowns out the soft playing of the instruments, essentially being an instrument itself -- and as a warning to those who would say otherwise, says Suzuki: "I'll tear out the ears of whoever says this is just rain." For its part, the electro-acoustic elements added via DSP and Utsunomia's custom built horn loaded speaker array are all but completely transparent for much of the concert. During Korei Deguchi's ryuteki performance is when the processing is most noticeable, with what sounds like the work of a harmonizer. Aside from that, the musicians' playing, the space, the rain and Utsunomia's equipment are seamlessly wedded and, if nothing else, you'll feel drenched by the time you finish listening. This numbered edition comes beautifully packaged with a nicely printed cover drawing (some thick rubbery ink that feels nice to pass ones fingers over) of a couple of cats performing for an audience of felines, and is hand-stamped on the inside. Also it includes a printed fold out with liner notes in Japanese and English. The whole thing -- package, idea, music -- is simply beautiful. Several of us here (Andee, Byram, Allan, at least) have already taken copies home...

RealAudio clip: Stone Flute
RealAudio clip: Sitar
RealAudio clip: Ryuteki

A dark, spartan work of sonic disintegrations and accumulations. At times, very much akin to Village of Savoonga or Godspeed. Metallic abrasions, clouds of hiss and static, field recordings (of birds and airplanes), and short purring loops surface, mingle and dissipate. The two lengthy tracks are punctuated by the occasional appearance of frail A haunting and lovely 24 minutes from the duo of Dorothy Geller and Douglas Wolf, recorded in 1999.

RealAudio clip: Excerpt 1

Depending on which side of the fence you're sitting in the cd-r debate, one of the pluses or pitfalls of self-recorded and released cd-rs is that the artists may continue to expand or alter a work that they've already "released" - potentially resulting in some amount of confusion and/or disgruntlement on the part of the consumer. However, it may also be argued that another plus is the usually low price tag for some pretty great sounds. That said, SF's Liquid Cop has released a full length cd-r hot on the heels of his Clear Album EP. Yes, it does include the tracks from that EP, however it isn't simply tacked onto the end "w/ bonus ep" style. No, the older tracks have all been interspersed among the new ones, making for an altogether new sequence of LC aural scenes. Fluidly integrating shades of playful exotica, glitch-y electronics, and soundscapes like a more minimal Milk Cult, Liquid Cop has composed twenty delightful collages from samples, field recordings, guitar, vocals and digital gleeps 'n' meeps. Very nice!

RealAudio clip: Pet Yr Cat, Pet Them, Pet Yrself, Then Pet Me

Throughout the greater part of her debut album, Lisa Alice weaves the sweetest of acoustic gal pop very much in the vein of the dreamy, wistful side of K Records - think the Softies, Gaze or Mary Lou Lord. However, on songs like "You Win" her vocal delivery also brings to mind more recent female indie singer/songwriters like Tegan & Sara, Bonfire Madigan or Emm Gryner who themselves possess degrees of the confidence and raw determination of the Difranco kind. Very down to earth, no frills, heart on your sleeve songs. If you've been seeking something of this variety, That Thing In Your Hand might be just the thing for your ears.

RealAudio clip: Mother Time
RealAudio clip: You Win

Recorded live in Japan on St. Patrick's Day of 2002, the line-up for this electronic / improvisation performance has Kaffe Matthews on sampler / laptop, Andrea Neumann on prepared piano, and Sachiko M using sinewaves and a contact microphone. Neumann's use of the piano is rather unconventional as she performs exclusively within the piano itself, scraping and plucking the strings with metal objects and motors, avoiding the keyboard altogether. Sachiko M, who has become a ubiquitous presence in the ever-growing field of electronic improvisation, is qualititatively active in her manipulation of her raw sinewaves. But Matthews has placed herself at the center of activity, controlling the tightly looped samples culled from her collaborators and building loose structures of pulses, clicks, and rhythms within this extended performance.

RealAudio clip: Track 3

Gen Ken Montgomery is a New York based sound artist who actively creates unusual noises from the abuse of common place objects and consumer electronics. The emphasis for Montgomery is less on the quality of the end result and more on the process, the act of creation, and the artistic risk involved. It's not surprising to find an inherent silliness and absurdity within his compositions with such self-evident titles: "Bird Eating," "Bath Drain," "Egnekn's Fridge," "Crayoning Around," "The Aquarium Fishtank Symphony," etc. While Montgomery was an incredibly prolific member of the underground cassette culture in the '80s, his work has shifted more recently towards multi-channel installations, where the chorus of channels and haphazard peaks of tape distortion aid Montgomery's purpose of creating new experiences from these everyday objects. The collection of work found on "Pondfloorsample" has a few of Montgomery's installation tapes compressed down from their 'octophonic glory' but most tracks focus on his more commonplace stereo field compositions. Montgomery never tries to compel you into thinking that these sounds are interesting, but rather prods the audience through his obsessive documentation / reguritation of sound into asking themselves: "Am I missing something?" For fans of Fluxus.

RealAudio clip: Fusebox-Comtemplating Columbus

This is a send-shivers-up-your-spine record, and I mean that in a couple ways -- it all depends on where you stand opinion wise in regards to Nico's talent, in or out of the context of the Velvet Underground. I personally beleive that Nico is an artist of some great depth, as evidenced by this immeasurably cold and beautiful record from the ultimate ice queen. On "Desertshore," originally released in 1970 and now repressed on vinyl by the good people at 4 Men With Beards, the primary instrumentation is Nico's harmonium, with additional backing from John Cale. The harmonium, Cale's viola, and Nico's distinctive voice blend to create multiple layers of incredibly dark, extended, buzzing drones. The overall picture is mysterious and bleak; it's not only my favorite Nico record, but also one of the best post-Velvets records by any former members.

The Paradise Boys wanna sex you up with their poolside... errrr, dancefloor manner. Led by Jeff Fare (aka DJ Jeffrodeeziak and former member of The Calculators), PB are probably not for those seeking a deep listening experience. No way, they're definitely more for those out lookin' for action! This debut EP, mixed at Seismic Seance Studios (home of I Am Spoonbender), contains a total of four tracks rooted in the primal dancefloor urge. The lead-off (and title) cut is filled with ample servings of melodramatic vocals, uncomplicated midi arpeggiated basslines and electronic handclaps, but things get progressively more interesting in the subsequent remixes. Vocals are suitably fragmented and processed, and each of the three remixes generally sound much more polished and fully articulated. PB have enlisted Broker/Dealer who break down the repetitive nature of the track and add a bit more booty thumpin' to the proceedings, and Nikki Anderson with All The Way Lovers who adds a welcome dose of mood and mystery to the mix.

RealAudio clip: Gonna Make You Mine (Pair-Of-Dice Mix)

A shiny new quartet is here in SF delivering buoyant, jangly guitar pop that initally seems quite straightforward. But wait! Plan To Pink are gonna keep you on your toes with their fair share of unexpected twists and turns in both tempo and style. They move confidently from rollicking feisty punk pop to almost-lullaby mellowness often within the span of one tune. Tandem singers Andria Alefhi and Jaime Borschuk keep right in pace, shifting their vocal delivery (often quite drastically) with grace and ease. Their vocals alternately bring to mind Throwing Muses and Helium. Add some xylophone, viola and a dash of cornet and clarinet for good measure. Voila! What a fine introduction! With production help from Peter Conheim (of Monopause, Negativland).

RealAudio clip: Vaudeville Trickster
RealAudio clip: Winner At Macy's

For the potential disaster of free-improv cacophonic sound that these five could have produced, "Thumb" is remarkably restrained and almost contemplative in its singleminded pursuit of the tiniest of details. Recorded live at the Parisian club, Instants Chavires on May 29, 2001, Rowe, Ambarchi, Sachiko M, Yoshihide, and Avenaim focus their activity on the buzzing of amplifiers and the shimmer of close-looped feedback, which they have resampled, tweaked, and modulated into a fluttering drone that is too irritable to be seductive or meditative, but is remains an understated constant. Delicate scrapings and small electrical disturbances occasionally make themselves evident, but mostly these five remain very calm. It's such a restrained effort that at the end of the brief 30 minute program the environmental din outside of Aquarius made for a nice complement to the sounds on "Thumb." How Cageian of them.

RealAudio clip: Thumb

Schizoid was responsible for our favorite tracks on the massive (and massively good) 'Don't Fuck With Us' 3 cd compilation of North American digital hardcore compiled by the 'expert' on such things, Mr. Alec Empire. We described Schizoid as "Burzum goes DHR" and that's still pretty right on. But now we have a whole disc, so there's much more variation and much more mayhem! Super distorted, heavily effected, totally evil vocals over dense electronic soundscapes, with chopped up metal guitars, pounding hardcore/gabber/drill'n'bass rhythms. Way more intense and aggressive than almost anything on DHR, and certainly more fucked up and pummelling than almost any electronic music we've heard lately, without falling into the boring, repetitive sameness of most gabber/digital hardcore. Super varied, with full on speed metal gabber, lots of spaced out ambient breaks, electronic drones, and some seriously damaged mid tempo primitive-black-metal-electronica. This is definitely some of the best (and most brutal) electronica to come our way since we first heard 'The Destroyer'. For fans of DHR, The Berserker, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Pig Destroyer, Venetian Snares, Atomsmasher, Burzum, Darkthrone and all that evil stuff.

RealAudio clip: All Things Are Connected
RealAudio clip: New God
RealAudio clip: Grim Prospects
RealAudio clip: Extinct And Obsolete

From the same company that brought us Frogs, Woodfire, Deep Into The Earth and Whales comes another appropriate nature recording: dolphins. Everybody loves dolphins, they're the clowns of the sea. And yet something's not quite right here. Oreade music is a little disingenuous about the recording's execution. Like their other releases in the series, Oreade claims this recording "offers pure nature sounds; no voices are added, no human-induced noises are heard". Which is true, I suppose, but the implication is that this is somehow a pure, unfettered, field recording. But it seems that the producers weren't happy with Flipper's performance on a dry mike and decided to soak him with a little 'large hall' reverb. And I guess just plain a capella squeals weren't good enough either so they mixed in some above water recordings of lapping swells to keep people interested: hence, the "Sea & Dolphins" title. Which is all a bit disappointing. But enough uptight, uber-purist, nature sound bitching, it does at least come with a nice poem about dolphin love.

RealAudio clip: Sea & Dolphins

These SF eccentric songsters have released a new 7" that's chock full o' nuts - five suitably off-kilter new songs. The Slow Poisoners are definitely a hard group to pinpoint. Led by mainman Andrew Goldfarb, they've followed their muse hopping from genre to genre and mood to mood for five years now. Perhaps we could call this folk-glam? Hmmm... sorta, but not quite. Give 'er a spin!

This is sadly the final album from the wonderful instrumental quartet from Baltimore. Sonna play the most complex quiet music we've heard in a long time. The drums and shimmering cymbals are forefront in the mix and are so tight, delicate, and careful. The two lead guitars quietly weave in and out of each other making melodies even more sweetly pretty by way of the resulting harmonies. The guitars sound frail but the combination of the two makes them strong as spider silk. And there are real dynamics here, carefully thought out shades of color and mood. A post rock band that delivers. Recommended. In fact, this is the first Sonna album that Allan has even admitted to liking!

RealAudio clip: Frone Taj

Laris Kreslins and Fred Cisterna deliver another thick and satisfyin' volume of their Sound Collector magazine. Who and what's in this issue? Alan Bishop of Sun City Girls, Eric Dolphy, Grandmaster Flash, Slowdive, Francoiz Breut and Dominique A plus and illustration by Daniel Johnston. With the exception of the fantastic full color section of photos from the rock'n'roll girls' camp, all photos and text are in a lovely shade of magenta! Includes a bonus 17-track compilation cd featuring the likes of Iron & Wine, Stephen Basho-Junghans, Francoiz Breut, Zammuto, and Calla.

Wouldn't really be an AQ list without a little gushing from Andee. So that said. SUNBURNED HAND OF THE MAN is my new favorite band!! Which is pretty amazing seeing as they have kept a pretty low profile. And I eventually had to get in touch directly with the band to get a hold of their stuff, but I WAS NOT disappointed. This lp is their first official release, although they have released 8 cd-r's (of a proposed series of FIFTY!!!) six of which we will have in stock and list in the near future. But what the hell does it sound like?!?!?! Well, the easiest comparison is the No Neck Blues Band, especially since they supposedly share a member or two. But unlike NNBB's free form hippy drum circle drug rock neanderthal clatter, Sunburned Hand take their hippy psych folk and mix in all sorts of disparate elements, motorik krautrock, droning ambient soundscapes, ROCK, free jazz, ESP style caveman thud, and delicate melodies and hints of seventies British folk. Also unlike NNBB, Sunburned Hand forego primitivism for primitivism's sake and weave all those elements together seamlessly, and musically, and most importantly, with a lush and rich and surprisingly full production. With a lineup eleven members strong, and instrumentation consisting of guitar, flutes, drums, keyboards, congas, blades of grass, whistles, djembe, shakers, trumpet, stunts, spirit, organ, horns, 'mountain top leads', 'the jazz', 'breath' and of course 'the looking glass', how can you go wrong? Well, you can't. So for now, this lp is the only way you'll be able to sample Sunburned Hand's otherworldly psych/kraut/rock/folk/drone/thrum/hum/skree until we eventually get some of the cd-r's. And there may be a release on tUMULt eventually as well!!!

Torrez features Sidney Lindner, who is brother of AQ regular/wildman Cayce (who you may rememeber from several of the Neighborhood Films) and one half of AQ faves Golden Hotel with Cayce. Sidney's production seems to have a great deal to do with both bands' sound: a rich, thick, miasma of warm hums, shimmering reverb, and spooky ambience. In Torrez, unlike the meandering drug addled psych folk of the Golden Hotel, the focus is definitely more on the songs, and especially the vocals of Kim Torrez, who has a gorgeous, langorous torch singer voice, dark and deep and throaty but also dreamy and ethereal. This is the sophomore album from Torrez and reveals a more fleshed out and accessible sound for this New Hampshire group which I'm not so sure is a good thing. Mind you it's definitely not a BAD thing. It's just that Lindner's unsettling and off kilter soundscapes kept Torrez from slipping into Norah Jones/Dido/Sarah McLachlan territory. And while it's definitely nowhere near that point, there's less of the smoldering, slightly unsettling energy that loomed gloriously over their 2001 debut. Things are generally more evenkeeled and thus more accessible. Rumour has it their apparently-not-so-indie-after-all label KimChee rejected the first version of The Evening Drag for being too fucked up and not commercial enough...hmmmmm....would love to hear that original mix! A standout song is "The Evening Sun" in which they conjured a secret gathering of Godspeed, the Dirty Three, Mazzy Star and Cowboy Junkies. Still quite lovely and miles above their more famous contemporaries.

RealAudio clip: The Girls will Haunt You
RealAudio clip: After The Carnival

Yes! Maximum damaged Swedish guitar psych jamming in the house! Knowing how much we at AQ LOVE the sixties Swedish psych sounds of Parson Sound/International Harvester/Harvester/Trad Gras Och Stenar (multiple manifestations of basically the same band, whose crucial original LPs and unreleased recordings have been reissued on cd over the past couple of years, a boon to music-lovers everywhere -- see elsewhere on our website for reviews) you can imagine how excited we were to find out that TWO MORE Trad Gras Och Stenar LPs of early seventies vintage were now being reissued by new US label 1/2 Special, who indeed do a bang up job with these two discs. The booklets feature lots of photos and posters, a discography, and detailed liner notes from the band (delving into remembrance of the personal and social transformations of the hippie era). Plus, each disc's got a hefty bonus track (32 minutes on "Djungelns" and 27 on "Mors")! And of course it's the music that really makes these essential. Influenced by Scandinavian folk music, drugs, radical politics, Terry Riley, the Velvet Underground, Jimi Hendrix, Indian ragas, etc. this is some awesomely messed-up far-out rock music for sure. If these guys were German instead of Swedish, we'd be talking about a Krautrock legend. TGOS, as the final incarnation of group that started as Parson Sound, features a stripped-down line-up playing music that is perhaps more conventionally "rock" based than earlier formations, but definitely the heavy minimalism of Parson Sound and the Amon Duulish folked-out trippiness of Harvester remain important elements of their lugubrous sound. "Djungelns Lag" ("Jungle Law" in English), originally issued in 1972, collects tracks recorded by TGOS on tour in Sweden and Norway during the summer and fall of 1971. You get extended dual guitar tangle and lovely sad folk laments, brief bouts of sunshiney nonsense vocals backed with acoustic guitar strum ("Dibio"), and even hippie hoedown jaw-harp jams ("Munfiol"). Wherever they wander, this is generally mellow yet moving, always measured and stately even when at its most abstract and electric. Likewise with "Mors Mors" (aka "Bye Bye"), a 1973 album of tracks originating on tour in Sweden and Denmark in '72, which continues with both the gentle freakiness and distorted thud. The Rolling Stone's "Last Time" gets a TGOS treatment (not quite as blasted as their take on "Satisfaction" found on their self-titled album, though) and again their originals feature plenty of what we dig: moments of ragged Haino-worthy axe attack, tripped-out Quicksilver leads, and lovely pastoral folk-drone... So it's appropriate that both discs were reissued simultaneously, if you want one you'll want 'em both. What else can we say...well, anyone who buys Acid Mothers Temple discs ought to be sure to take some Trad Gras Och Stenar home too, that's for sure. As with all the reissues from this camp, highly recommended.

RealAudio clip: Var Vila
RealAudio clip: Munfiol

Yes! Maximum damaged Swedish guitar psych jamming in the house! Knowing how much we at AQ LOVE the sixties Swedish psych sounds of Parson Sound/International Harvester/Harvester/Trad Gras Och Stenar (multiple manifestations of basically the same band, whose crucial original LPs and unreleased recordings have been reissued on cd over the past couple of years, a boon to music-lovers everywhere -- see elsewhere on our website for reviews) you can imagine how excited we were to find out that TWO MORE Trad Gras Och Stenar LPs of early seventies vintage were now being reissued by new US label 1/2 Special, who indeed do a bang up job with these two discs. The booklets feature lots of photos and posters, a discography, and detailed liner notes from the band (delving into remembrance of the personal and social transformations of the hippie era). Plus, each disc's got a hefty bonus track (32 minutes on "Djungelns" and 27 on "Mors")! And of course it's the music that really makes these essential. Influenced by Scandinavian folk music, drugs, radical politics, Terry Riley, the Velvet Underground, Jimi Hendrix, Indian ragas, etc. this is some awesomely messed-up far-out rock music for sure. If these guys were German instead of Swedish, we'd be talking about a Krautrock legend. TGOS, as the final incarnation of group that started as Parson Sound, features a stripped-down line-up playing music that is perhaps more conventionally "rock" based than earlier formations, but definitely the heavy minimalism of Parson Sound and the Amon Duulish folked-out trippiness of Harvester remain important elements of their lugubrous sound. "Djungelns Lag", originally issued in 1972, collects tracks recorded by TGOS on tour in Sweden and Norway during the summer and fall of 1971. You get extended dual guitar tangle and lovely sad folk laments, brief bouts of sunshiney nonsense vocals backed with acoustic guitar strum ("Dibio"), and even hippie hoedown jaw-harp jams ("Munfiol"). Wherever they wander, this is generally mellow yet moving, always measured and stately even when at its most abstract and electric. Likewise with "Mors Mors" (a 1973 album of tracks originating on tour in Sweden and Denmark in '72), which continues with both the gentle freakiness and distorted thud. The Rolling Stone's "Last Time" gets a TGOS treatment (not quite as blasted as their take on "Satisfaction" found on their self-titled album, though) and again their originals feature plenty of what we dig: moments of ragged Haino-worthy axe attack, tripped-out Quicksilver leads, and lovely folk-drone... So it's appropriate that both discs were reissued simultaneously, if you want one you'll want 'em both. What else can we say...well, anyone who buys Acid Mothers Temple discs ought to be sure to take some Trad Gras Och Stenar home too, that's for sure. As with all the reissues from this camp, highly recommended.

RealAudio clip: Rocktrall
RealAudio clip: Klangbron

We discovered the D-Trash label (and consequently Unitus) via the amazing DHR 'Don't Fuck With Us' compilation from a few lists ago. Unitus is definitely very beat heavy ala DHR, but lays the beats down in a thick, dark miasma of digital crunch and ambient drones and rumbles. Making for an almost dreamy, definitely droney, hypnotic drum and bass workout with stretches of ambient whir, reminding us quite a bit of the seminal Third Eye Foundation 12" 'Semtex' from a few years back. Nice thick analog sounding dirgescapes, with simple, skittery beats woven throughout . Really fucking great! Myabe electronic music isn't dead after all. You just have to know where to look.

RealAudio clip: Obmutecre
RealAudio clip: Recombinant
RealAudio clip: 23

Adventurous British "stereo guitar" improviser Gary Smith has recorded with some interesting folks before (Hugh Hopper, Joe Gallivan, Nanjo Asahito, Shoji Hano, Aufgehoben No Process, Lou Ciccotelli, and Rhys Chatham among others) and here he teams up with stellar out-alto saxophonist Masayoshi Urabe to head in a new late-night improv direction. These two long tracks are more about the delicate, sometimes painful, yet beautiful style of Urabe (as evidenced on his recent solo set "Urklang" -- see that review for more words on him) than the noisy fusion jazz-rock of Smith's last few projects. Here Smith and Urabe interact like coughing, sputtering, swooping bats in a dripping cave...I mean, that's kind of what it sounds like if you use your imagination. Silence, sudden violence, shrill harmonica (Urabe), jazzy string-skree (Smith) -- it's all pretty dark and intense though not particularily loud n' heavy, which just makes you listen all that harder to this hard-to-listen-to (in a good way) music.

RealAudio clip: track 2

For those who devoured the first delightful volume of Barry 7's Connectors: Rare Italian Library Tracks, here's an entire second volume! A cornucopia of sonic frolics very much in the same spirit as Luke Vibert's Nuggets and many of the Crippled Dick Hot Wax compilations. Unfamiliar with any of those? Well then, strap on your seatbelt 'cause you're in for a treat! Over the top Euro kitsch, melodrama and campiness! So perfect if you're on the lookout for a diverse array of rather flamboyant theatrical music 'cause these tracks - originally catalogued for '60s and '70s television and radio production backing use - are overflowing with bontempi-esque organs, analog synthesizers, choral singers, and flutes! And four of them come from a gent named Ennio Morricone (very much of the delirously wonderful Danger Diabolik period). Curious who this Mr. Barry 7 is who wants you to hear the unheard music? Why, he's one third of that analog synth jammin' UK group Add N To (X) who clearly have drawn much inspiration from these works. Splendid!

RealAudio clip: New Situation
RealAudio clip: Stato Confusionale

Those frisky, fine folks at Bloodshot Records sure aren't the kind to leave anybody out in the cold. The proof is in the pudding, and the pudding is this CHILDREN'S album! They've even enlisted the help of non-Bloodshoters like Neko Case's pal and fellow Corn Sister Carolyn Mark to join in the tykes' merriment. Much in the way of storytelling and singalongs abound. I know firsthand that while hanging out with your favorite baby, toddler or child, the music that they usually have, and sadly are programmed to like, sucks. It could drive a well-meaning mom or caregiver nuts! Disney and 'We Sing Silly Songs' and such. This release is a pleasant change in that it is fun for kids and easy to listen to for adults (psst... another choice pick in the kids' category is They Might Be Giants' "No!" from earlier this year). Robbie Fulks' "Godfrey" ("the sickly unemployed amateur children's magician"!) is worth the price in chuckles alone. Plus I think it is our duty as musically tasteful people to introduce our children to music that doesn't suck from early on. Right?

RealAudio clip: Godfrey
RealAudio clip: Lullaby

[ aquarius records new arrivals — issue 153 ]