Leave it to John Zorn's Tzadik to unearth the most absurd and maddening Japanese underground groups for our amusment/amazement. Certainly this one qualifies in that regard. Composer Adachi Tomomi leads this eight-member vocals-only ensemble, who don't let their lack of instruments hold them back musically! Nope, the human voice is the only instrument they need. Perhaps you remember the accapella Ruins side-project Zubi Zuva that also had a Tzadik release some years back? Well, this is kinda like that, but with more than twice as many voices, both male and female. Adachi's songs oft utilize a complex overlap of voices and precise arrangements that sometimes fall into a repetitive Minimalist compositional zone, and at other times will remind you of Warner Bros. cartoon scores. It's zany conceptual experimental stuff that touches on a lot of sounds and styles of singing, both with words and wordless. There's a certain amount of humor at play as well -- one of the highlights here is "Gu", an 8-minute epic of sleeping, snoring sounds!
MPEG Download: "Ganzin" [/audio/adachiganzin.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "Ganzin" [/audio/adachiganzin.m3u]
Yet another gorgeously packaged, impeccaby recorded piece of modern minimalism from Idea records. We raved about the now out of print COH double lp a few lists back, and this release is just as nice. This time it's Australian Oren Ambarchi, who's delicate, barely-there guitar improvisations are gorgeously wispy and ethereal and float dreamily from the speakers towards your ears taking thier own sweet time. Notes hang suspended in space shimmering and slowly fading, until another note comes to join it or move it on its way. Super thick gatefold sleeve in an extra thick plastic sleeve. Double lp on super heavy 220 gram vinyl. The copies we have also come with a 7" featuring two extended remixes by Tom Rechion of the Los Angeles Free Music Society. So nice.
2002's Anomoanan release Asleep Many Years in the Wood was, in my opinion, their high point, but this li'l EP ain't bad either. Led by Ned Oldham (yep, brother to Will Oldham), the sound is a familiar AM-radio sort of lite rock, with lovely warbly harmonies, comforting harmonica, and sleepy guitars. But while Asleep... had a rockin' cowbell knockin' vibe, Envoi Villon is a less hook-ridden, more laid back affair remarkably similar to Will Oldham and other downer twang outfits like Songs:Ohia. Lyrics on the four songs are all by Francois Villon, the oft-jailed, 13th century renegade French poet.
MPEG Download: "Ballade of Good Doctrine to Those of Ill Life" [/audio/anomoananballade.mp3]
An Austrian band (we think) playing what they (or their label) like to call "slo-mo-kraut-progck". Hmm? Well what this is, is downtempo, bass-heavy post-rock with half-buried whispery female vox, all kinda creepy and emotionally portentous. The drummer's rhythms are plodding, head-nodding. There's lots of electronics filling out the sound, with both grand, dark synth washes and glitchy details. It's a late night cinematic sound, very moody, but maybe not quite as gripping as the vocalist wants it to be. It gets more interesting when they get heavier and freak out a bit instrumentally, adding clarinet, trumpet, violin, etc. to the mix.
MPEG Download: "Uv" [/audio/bosuv.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "Uv" [/audio/bosuv.m3u]
This French band is seemingly named after an '80s video game, and aptly so, 'cause that's what a lot of this sounds like. Bleepage from dusty, vintage videogame consoles, but put to use in pretty lil' micro-songs with wistful singing. Simultaneously cute and sad. The title is also apt: alien (that's the video game sounds), folk (that's the melodic element) and trash (that's the distortion), sure. Imagine, say, the melancholic folky music of AQ-fave Greg Weeks colliding with some post-DHR distorted DIY electronics. Very pretty and fucked up. One track will feature acoustic guitar strum, the next quirky Aphex Twin-ish breakbeats. Some, both. It's very personal, homemade sounding stuff, which makes sense 'cause while we called this a band up top, actually Boulder dDash is really pretty much just one guy, a French fellow named Jean-Baptiste Hanak, with additional vocals on four of the twenty tracks by someone named The Very Ape (possibly Hanak's girlfriend?) who is even more sad sounding than he is. But as sad as the singing can be, this is a fun album. There's a song about comic book hero Fillerbunny, and another is dedicated to labelmates Electronicat. Oh, and this disc includes an entire bonus album of mp3s called "The Dark Side Of Boulder dDash" that's rather more crazed and stupid, like Hanak got really drunk and tried to make some hip-hop tracks. Weird.
MPEG Download: "On The Road Again" [/audio/boulderontheroad.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "On The Road Again" [/audio/boulderontheroad.m3u]
MPEG Download: "Ur.So (feat. the Very Ape)" [/audio/boulderurso.mp3]
Who would have thought that the joyous occasion of the first tUMULt 7" vinyl release would also bring such sadness and despair. But sadly it's true, the Brainbombs are no more. But thankfully, they've gone out with a bang. The bang being this grungy, scuzzy, pummelling 45 rpm, two song farewell kick in the face. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Sweden's Brainbombs, think prime Stooges, recorded in a smelly sweaty basement, on a boom box, amidst scattered porno mags, corpses, weapons and human excrement. While a whining vocalist spits up mysogynistic and misanthropic tales of hyper violence. Then add in the occasional bleat of a demented-jazz trumpet and some fucked up fuzzy blown-tweeter bass. So good. And these two tracks are some of the best Brianbombs material ever. The A side starts with a stuttery, super distorted beat before the sky collapses and you're buried in a pile of violently squirming barbed wire guitars, while a ghostly, sort-of-Eastern melody weaves surreptitiously through the melee. Track two trawls similarly dark territory, a 'Fun House'-ish dirge with a warbley trumpet melody desperately trying to keep from being sucked under by the muck and grime. While the Brainbombs may be dead, they have not entirely ruled out the possibility of more mayhem in the future. But for now, this is a suitably brutal and brilliant epitaph. On thick white vinyl. And we mean THICK. Maybe the thickest vinyl we've ever seen!! Seriously, it's like a ceramic salad plate or something! ----* ----* Selected New Arrivals : ----*
Oh how we fancy field recordings here at AQ - of both the unaltered, pristine kind and the modified, manipulated variety. The man behind this release is one Mr. Jon Brumit, and as the title states, he captured these sounds at the city dump. In the liner notes, it is specified that no effects processors were used. Sound sources and equipment included minidisc recorders, a dr sample, a cheap microphone, a full drum kit, a Mac G3 computer and the impressive array of stuff that the dump had to offer... among them were a Nerf Ballzooka, joggin trampolines, a Hello Dolly soundtrack lp, an espresso maker, a mint children's drumkit, bowling balls, a 16mm projector with a silent cowgirl film, a marquee sign, a 100' tape measure, a chandelier, a wetsuit and an assortment of boom boxes and clock radios.
MPEG Download: "Dawn of Time" [/audio/jonbrummitdawnoftime.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "Dawn of Time" [/audio/jonbrummitdawnoftime.m3u]
Swedish metal/doomcore outfit return to demonstrate once again that Neurosis aren't the only ones who can kick out the crushing, nihilistic, doom metal jams. Like their record before this one, The Beyond is a series of pummelling and epic, minor key dirges, equal parts Neurosis, Katatonia, Isis and classic doom metal. Mid tempo bulldozing rhythms and an absolutely punishing wall of guitars smothers your broken heart and battered spirit in sheer heaviness. It all sounds a little familiar, especially for those of us who already dig Neurosis and Isis. But Cult Of Luna manage to pull a little ahead of their doomy brethren with their deft use of melody and their flair for the unlikely arrangements/dynamics. I mean, you would never hear 3 minutes of gentle slide guitar on a Neurosis record would you? Folks who dug the first Cult Of Luna as well as fans of the above bands will dig this a lot.
MPEG Download: "Receiver" [/audio/cultoflunareceiver.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "Receiver" [/audio/cultoflunareceiver.m3u]
This is the second reissue of Dat Politics' "Tracto Flirt," originally reissued through A-Muzik. The side project of Tone Rec specializes in excessive high-end squealiness, digitally distorted Nintendo crackle, post new-wave electronica (a la Cheap Records) and Mouse on Mars abstract techno wackiness.
The first salvo of electronic vinyl madness from AQ pal Drucifer's new label comes in the form of four 12"s, beautifully packaged in distinctive orange sleeves (dance 12" style) and on nice thick vinyl, and sonically running the gamut from stuttery glitched out electronica to shimmery drones to speaker shredding digital rhythms to dreamy beatscapes.
Carson Day (NOT Carson Daly!) is a 17 year old SF local who according to the Dielectric website likes Tool, White Zombie, Boards Of Canada, Autechre and loads more. Don't notice much of the Tool or White Zombie influence, but the Boards/Autechre vibe is present in spades. Stuttery, skittery rhythms over dreamy pastoral backdrops, with hyper-distorted melodies, the occasional grinding, rib cage rattling low-end bass line and bursts of almost jungle peppering these dreamy, late night electronic workouts. Definitely for fans of Autechre, Boards Of Canada and the like.
MPEG Download: "Different Agendas" [/audio/daydifferent.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "Different Agendas" [/audio/daydifferent.m3u]
The first salvo of electronic vinyl madness from AQ pal Drucifer's new label comes in the form of four 12"s, beautifully packaged in distinctive orange sleeves (dance 12" style) and on nice thick vinyl, and sonically running the gamut from stuttery glitched out electronica to shimmery drones to speaker shredding digital rhythms to dreamy beatscapes.
Die Elektrischen is the project of Dielectric label head honcho Drew Webster (affectionately known around here as Drucifer) and is a stereo punishing exploration of recording detritus. Inspired by Philip Jeck and Christian Marclay, Drucifer collected a multitude of junked turntables and cut-up and glued together thrift-store records for this project. Assembled from all sorts of recording castoffs, digital clicks, feedback, distorted/clipped signals from various recording projects, these 4 tracks are definitely a true test of your stereo system's constitution. Throbbing, grinding, buzzing digital crunch that occasionally relents just long enough for super distorted beats, or chopped drum loops to surface before they are quickly knocked to the floor by another blast of GGGRRRZZZVVVT. The final track is a dreamy droney sprawl that helps soothe after the punishment of the first three tracks. Brutal and beautiful.
MPEG Download: "Overload" [/audio/dieoverload.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "Overload" [/audio/dieoverload.m3u]
The Hanson label (home to Wolf Eyes) brings us some heavy duty electronic noise hijinks from Chicago guitar experimentalist Kevin Drumm. Basically, if you just can't wait (five minutes) for the next Merzbow release, you'll be more than satisfied with this one from Drumm. He's really left behind the abstract avant-improv silences of his earlier recordings for the sheer hellish miasma of grinding drone chaos (as typified by his Mego album from last year entitled "Sheer Hellish Miasma"). That's what you get here, the sort of electronic music that non-fans will deride as 'vacuum cleaner' or 'lawnmower' or 'low-flying plane crashing into my house' music while those of us into this stuff say 'heck yeah!'.
The first of the this disc's three tracks moves in sixteen minutes from pleasantly distorted drone-destruction (your stereo speakers or headphones will sound like they are continuously blowing up) into more chaotic, violent territory that's harder to zone out to, before Kevin steamrollers everything heard previously with some REALLY hardcore noise. After than, the screaming clanking howling mayhem of the six-and-a-half minute second track is practically dancefloor material. Actually this one's got industrial sounds of a nightmare factory thing going on that's almost silly. Next up is the 13+ minute third and final track, which just happens to be our favorite here, a slowly swirling, swooping symphony of insectoid drone sound. Dense, yet smooth, and like all the cuts on "Land of Lurches", definitely dangerous at high volumes (though not so much as track 1 or 2). A good one for fans of Koji Asano's drones. All in all, noisebuffs will find this Kevin Drumm album a bit like Merzbow's "Hard Lovin' Man" intercut with slices of Masonna. Heavy drone noise meets maniac freak noise.
MPEG Download: "track 3" [/audio/drummlurches3.mp3]
In 1998, the American expatriot sound artist John Duncan made contact with Australian sound archivist Densil Cabrera, in hopes of arranging a project based on oceanic, seismic, and atmospheric measurements. While his resume points towards an academic background in electroacoustics and sound installation, Cabera presented these recordings to Duncan as raw scientific data, having translated three centuries (yes, centuries!) of the tidal spectra published by the Australian National Tide Tables into a far more digestible recording that compressed one year of data down to one second. Further recordings transposed barometric pressure recordings from two Australian air force bases and others used seismometers to produce images from a number of earthquakes and nuclear tests. In researching how he wanted to proceed with these recordings, Duncan was also hoping to form an impression of Densil's personality. However, during the five years it took for this collaboration to be completed, Duncan came to the realisation that he knew nothing more about Densil then when he started. Thus, he applied this detachment of scientific rigor to the production of Densil's recordings. "Infrasound - Tidal" emerges as a stark album of subtle tonal shifts, mostly low rattling frequencies that transition into gray static flutterings, resulting in an album not unlike the best of Francisco Lopez' "Belle Confusion" series. Like all of Duncan's recordings, "Infrasound - Tidal" seeks wisdom and knowledge through the process of sound construction and metaphoric conceptualization. While he may not have found what he wanted, Duncan wonderfully took what was given to him and realized a fantastic atmosphere of stark desolation.
MPEG Download: "Infrasound - Tidal (excerpt 1)" [/audio/duncaninfrasound1.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "Infrasound - Tidal (excerpt 1)" [/audio/duncaninfrasound1.m3u]
MPEG Download: "Infrasound - Tidal (excerpt 2)" [/audio/duncaninfrasound2.mp3]
As Third Eye Foundation, Matt Elliott was one of the pillars of the Bristol post-rock sound, producing a volatile concoction of drum and bass breaks suffocating under the weight of space-rock dissonance and apocalyptic references. It's been reported that Elliott was disbanding Third Eye Foundation and stepping away from music for good. Thankfully, those reports have turned out to be false and he's begun what we can only hope will be a long and fruitful 'solo' career. On "The Mess We Made," Elliott turns the corner on the rhythmic aspect of his work, instead building outward from melancholic piano melodies that fall between drunken-sailor waltzes, the paranoiac isolationism of David Shire's soundtrack to "The Conversation," and the more deconstructed renderings of Radiohead's "Kid A" or "Amnesiac." Using these morosely fragile melodies as the foundation for his music, Elliott saturates his music with theatrical orchestrations of french horns, accordions, lilting Spanish guitar lines, and windswept ambience. He furthers the creepy melodrama on "The Mess We Made" with an unusual production technique that warbles some of the sounds into an antiquated vibrato as if transmitted through a haunted Victrola from the 1930s. The title track to the album stands out with a two minute interlude of drum & bass, as Elliott tosses in a caustic Amen workout into the baroque cobwebs that dominate the remainder of this album. A very welcome return for Mr. Elliott!
MPEG Download: "The Mess We Made" [/audio/mattelliottmesswemade.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "The Mess We Made" [/audio/mattelliottmesswemade.m3u]
Norway's Enslaved are by now established as being at the top of the black metal heap, a band from which you can expect nothing less than sheer brilliance. As such, it's hard to write a review that doesn't simply revisit all the superlatives we've already applied to their previous releases. So we won't even try with this, their seventh full-length album, other than to say it's great and you should buy one! ...well okay, here's a little bit about what it sounds like:
A lot like previous album "Monumension" and the one before that, AQ-Record-of-the-Week "Mardraum"! Though, the lineup is a little different -- this marks the first appearance of new lead guitarist Arve Isdal (replacing Roy Kronheim). Longtime drummer Dirge Rep does play on this, but has since left the band. But anyway, more of the same in Enslaved terms is not a bad thing. Basically, they're in a similar situation career-wise as fellow metal masterminds Opeth. Can they get any better? You know what, they just don't need to! And also just like Opeth, Enslaved are brilliant at making juxtapostions of melody and heaviness (spacey psychedelic Pink Floyd interludes vs. raging thrash, clean singing/chant vs. death growls and screams).
For instance, in the very first track, you get the pairing of a slow, melancholy, even sappily beautiful guitar solo by Ivar with lower-than-low death metal belches and furious drums. The next song concentrates on utter metal ripping but also incorporates electronic embellishments that could have wandered in from a Radiohead album, and is followed by the disarming acoustic intro to the pummelling and majestic track three, a song which demonstrates Enslaved's command of heavy 'post rock' a la Isis. Total Kinski/Godspeed might mixed with andrenalized, angular riffing. The Fucking Champs doing spacerock maybe? Yet another track begins with some fruity leftfield chamber jazz/prog (w/ flutes!) to make you doublecheck your stereo, before the metal soars into view again, tumultous and epic. After that, martial progressive rock drumming is backed by a heathen choir.
Yet to me, the key to Enslaved's appeal is that, however weird they get, they always keep it kind of simple too, never losing sight of the rock n' roll imperative. So unlike, say, the last Emperor album, with all its jazz fusion parts and circusy convolutions, you can still definitely rock out to Enslaved. Avant art rock with Viking majesty and headbanging energy -- no wonder they're Allan's favorite black metal band!
MPEG Download: "As Fire Swept Clean The Earth" [/audio/enslavedasfire.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "As Fire Swept Clean The Earth" [/audio/enslavedasfire.m3u]
Our friends in Finland are a prolific lot. From the label that just brought us that wonderful Magyar Posse album, comes another band, this time with some familiar faces -- it features members of Circle, Ektroverde, Pharaoh Overlord, Kirvasto and Keuhkot. Eturivi, however, have their own weird sound. Creaking, creepy stuff, with droning science fictional tool shop electronics and glitchy rhythms. Electric organ, rattling percussion, plinking guitars all make for a mysterious background to the equally mysterious voices you'll hear. This has what seems like a bit of a theatrical aspect, with dramatic vocals declaiming something in Finnish (we presume) over the junkyard folk music. It's kinda quiet (in a noisy way though), until the next to last track, "Lian Jaljilla", when chugging guitars kick in and Eturivi fully reveals their Circle lineage, dealing out distorted stabs of motorik spacerock. The prevalence of spoken foreign-language vocals might not make this as accessible as some of Jussi & co.'s other projects -- you do feel like you're missing something by not understanding the words -- but it's still one that lots of fans will want to add to their shelf-ful of Finnish weirdness.
MPEG Download: "Saavutus" [/audio/eturivisaavutus.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "Saavutus" [/audio/eturivisaavutus.m3u]
This fifth entry (it says here sixth but we think they skipped one) in the so-far-totally-great Jewelled Antler Library series of cute lil' 3" cd-r eps is something a bit different, yet familar too to Jewelled Antler aficionados. It features the Blithe Sons (Glenn Donaldson and Loren Chasse, both also of Thuja and much else besides) joined by Eleanor Harwood on vocals. This trio's music is totally inspired by '70s art rock ensemble Slapp Happy, it's actually an intentional tribute of sorts. Eleanor is the heart of this, and we must say that for an untrained vocalist in an improvised setting, she's very impressive! Singing lyrics taken from a book of Kenneth Patchen poetry that was near to hand, "The Famous Boating Party", she totally inhabits the Dagmar Krause role, her vocals all wonderfully warbly and birdlike and lovely. She reminds us of Bjork at times too, no bad thing! Backing her up/leading her on, Glenn strums melodically on his 6 & 12 string guitars and adds comforting keyboard coloration, while Loren's "percussion & noises" both provide a steady beat and contribute the usual detailed, natural Jewelled Antler ambiance. It's very hazy and folky and fairytale like, a summer's afternoon encapsulated in a magical music box. Maybe not to everyone's taste (Slapp Happy certainly isn't either) but for some this will be a highlight in the Library series.
MPEG Download: "White Butterfly" [/audio/famousboatwhitebutter.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "White Butterfly" [/audio/famousboatwhitebutter.m3u]
As their name suggests, this is music by, or at least for, Finnish trolls. They should tour with Za Frumi, the Swedish orc band. Their self-described brand of black metal polka (or "humpa", as the Finns call it) has made 'em a fave here at Aquarius where anything less ridiculous gets barely a listen, after all.
This third album from Finntroll sports a sticker on the front reading "Special Price Acoustic Album". Well, the price isn't any more special than their others, and it's also not an acoustic album, so we're not sure what's going on there. It is, however, pretty special! Starting off with ominous forest noises, this soon builds into a doleful (is that an oboe?) square dance for monsters, stomping and growling. That's followed by some rather more lively jigs, that sound a bit like Czech maniacs Uz Jsme Doma, if they had a chorus of grim-voiced trolls backing them up. Other numbers are on the bombastic side, symphonic in scope even, very medieval and fantastical of course.
I guess the deep-woods hoedown aspect is what prompted Spikefarm to label this "acoustic" even when there's obviously lots of non-acoustic instruments (keyboards, electric guitars!) being used along with traditional Finnish/trollish instruments like jaw harps and handclaps... and it certainly is Finntroll's least "metal" album. Finntroll goes in the direction of early In Extremo, cool.
MPEG Download: "Asfagelns Dod" [/audio/finntrollasfagelns.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "Asfagelns Dod" [/audio/finntrollasfagelns.m3u]
True to all the projects we've heard from Andrew Broder, aka The Fog, there's a laid back, almost meandery approach to the pacing of his albums. You never know where they're going to go but you sorta trust 'em, as on his selftitled first record (IMO still his best), which switched between manic samples, hip hop beats, hazy turntable scratching, and impassioned indie rock. This album is similar only waaay turned down, and inward, and slow. No explosions, but definitely some gentle swells amidst the quiet glitchiness. In fact, whispers, bird calls, wintry piano are all that make up some of the songs. It's good, just not your typically beats-oriented Ninjatune album at all. Get this and listen from the standpoint of expecting a bedroom indierock album -- and in this way it shines.
MPEG Download: "No Boys Allowed" [/audio/fognoboys.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "No Boys Allowed" [/audio/fognoboys.m3u]
This new disc on PSF from Tokyo's legendary Fushistusha isn't new at all -- it's a live recording from *twenty five years ago* that goes some way to explaining that legendary status of Keiji Haino's band. So what was Keiji Haino up to in 1978? Not disco! Current fans will have no trouble recognizing his distinctive guitar and vocal stylings. Indeed, the fact that this sounds so much like something Haino & co. could do now -- aside from a certain, slight crustiness to the recording, which adds to the ambiance rather than detracts -- makes us all the more eager for a new Fushitsusha recording that will push beyond, much in the way their last one "Origin's Hesitation" (which took the bold step of removing Haino's guitar from the mix) did. Back in '78 though, Haino's guitar was in full force, his sidemen being, well, sidemen. The two tracks on here (one 14, the other 35 minutes in length) don't stint on the feedback guitar skronk, nor on Haino's lonely, anguished vocal cries. The quieter parts are full of crinkly, piercing tones and drones -- which could be some laptop computer noise but ain't of course. It's his trusty guitar and amp in unholy communion. The rest of the band (a different line-up than more recent incarnations) backs him up ably, the bass plodding heavily or throwing in some jazzy figures, the drums quiet then crashing, the trio together all eventually building (of course) into storming dense chaotic catharsis. Wow. Not too many acts circa '78 could have been bringing the noise like this. So, as the earliest ever released Fushitsusha recording, this cd is gonna be essential for fans who want to check 'em out back at the beginning -- Haino formed the band that very year. And as we said, his trademark style is already quite present, though some stuff he plays on here does sound a bit different from what you'd expect from him these days -- there's some 'no-wave' ish surprise bits that maybe sound more like Rudoph Grey, for instance. One for connoisseurs to debate!
MPEG Download: "track 1" [/audio/fushitsusha19781.mp3]
Not only referencing a rare strain of flower, but also an AQ favorite collection of ghost voices, otherwise known as the Electronic Voice Phenomenon, the Ghost Orchids stand in direct contrast to the confrontational screamo-spazzcore of most of their San Francisco contemporaries, with their cold, detracted aesthetic of new wave electronics and goth theatricality. "The King Is Dead" is the Ghost Orchid's debut full length, having recorded the album at I Am Spoonbender's Seismic Seance studios. Much of the avant-pop plasticity which coats the Spoonbender aesthetic carries over into The Ghost Orchids' sound, although the Ghost Orchids have dropped all of the Factory label references of their "Architecture" EP in favor of the detached electro stares of contemporaries like Adult. but keeping truer to the '80s darkwave electronics of Clock DVA or Cassandra Complex with spartan, repetitive programming and hard EBM rhythms. Black eyeliner required.
MPEG Download: "A New Bloodtype" [/audio/ghostorchidsanewblood.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "A New Bloodtype" [/audio/ghostorchidsanewblood.m3u]
Superior black metal with raspy vocal screams, buzzing guitar, symphonic masses of sound, and an undefinable weird vibe. Long an unknown, unsung masterpiece. Austrian black metal obscurity Golden Dawn originally released "The Art Of Dreaming" in 1996 on the now-defunct Dark Matter label and it was just about impossible to find even when it was in print. It's been a favorite of Andee and Allan ever since one of the guys in Weakling turned 'em on to it a few years back, and have always wanted to track down copies to share with AQ customers. Of course we were thrilled when out of the blue, Napalm reissued (& remastered) this disc, and also -- ohmigod -- released a brand-new second Golden Dawn album, which we'll review here next time. For now, though, just bow down to this one. It's just an incredible piece of idiosyncratic metallic dark art, with majestic medieval riffs, bizarre keyboard interludes, and schizoid changes (from techno-ish jams to Magmoid choruses to gothic folk). We'd compare it to Satyricon or Cradle Of Filth maybe, it's certainly that good, but unlike anything else exactly. Solid, original black metal. Anyway, now it's got a second chance to be recognized as a classic. This reissue's got so-so new artwork (definitely not up to the amazing art and design of the original digipak release, oh well -- I think they stole that cover art and had to change it), but the tracks are the same as the original, and is thus highly recommended.
MPEG Download: "My Confession To War" [/audio/goldendawnmyconfession.mp3]
Awright, listen up and get ready to get down. Somewhere in the sweaty intersection of blues-damaged southern rock and Bratmobile covering the Misfits, the Gossip bring us another album of booze-fuled, raw and dirty rock n' roll and stripped down, slow and heavy blues punk. Singer Beth Ditto has a great tough n' sexy holler, and the barebones guitar and drums get straight to the party-rockin' point. A bit like the Yeah Yeah Yeah's minus the hype-- actually, this new Gossip rocks a lot harder.
MPEG Download: "No No No" [/audio/gossipnonono.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "No No No" [/audio/gossipnonono.m3u]
The fourth in the Jewelled Antler Library series of 3" cd-r releases comes from Thuja's Steven R. Smith, who has taken up the Hala Strana moniker for his Eastern European-folk music inspired meditations. "Karst" continues down the path of his previous Jewelled Antler production "Kohl" (which is slated for a reissue on 12" by Emperor Jones) with a more ramshackle production for his dense acoustic arrangements for guitar and scratchy violin, which often hints at Eastern European timbres but as played by Nikki Sudden. In fact two of Smith's tracks are versions of traditional Polish and Romanian folk songs. Often beginning with a clutter of loose sounds, Smith coaxes his orchestrations into melancholic melodies and has smothered everything with an unusual patina of crunchy vinyl static, giving the 18 minutes a distinctly antiquated feel. A great entry in a great series.
MPEG Download: "Sztajer" [/audio/halastranasztajer.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "Sztajer" [/audio/halastranasztajer.m3u]
From his dixieland roots in New Orleans in the 60's and continuing through to today, saxophonist Noah Howard has done the rounds of free music heavies, playing with Sun Ra, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Archie Shepp, Albert Ayler, and tons more. Like so many jazz musicians, he seems to be way better known in Europe than in the U.S. This recording, on Swedish label Ayler Records, finds Howard playing alto and tenor in Chicago with the help of Bobby Few on Piano, Wilber Morris on bass, and Calyer Duncan on drums. Helpfully translated from Swedish on the Ayler site: "He opens with a simple, kind of to the gallery melody on the alto saxophone. The other musicians back up. Tests his ideas and peels of the ephemeral of the music, its superficial beauty. In order to drill deeper, down towards one reflection of the music and its absolute being. Then everything closes to a new, beautiful syntheses."
There was a time where I would buy ANYTHING that came out on Sub Pop. ANYTHING. And I still kind of miss those days once in a while. Where you didn't say "I like, ya know... Mudhoney, Soundgarden, and Nirvana", you just said "Yeah, I like Sub Pop". Where there was a label 'sound': you know, grunge or whatever, you knew that if you liked Tad and the Thrown Ups and Mudhoney, you were probably gonna dig the Afghan Whigs and Soundgarden. And I was the first to balk when Sub Pop started deviating from their 'sound'. A sound so comfortable and familiar. But whether it was a desperate attempt to battle the massive grunge backlash or just label heads Jon and Bruce showing their age, or an attempt to actually do something really new and exciting, the end result is a catalogue at once brilliant, and totally confounding, perfect, but not right at all. Sure there were some real stinkers, and some records that were definitely 'friend rock' (you know, the only reason we put this out is because they're our friends), but nonetheless some of the most essential and under appreciated gems of the last decade exist -because- of this varied and eclectic take on indie/underground music. The two Zumpano records are all time unanimous AQ favorites, and there's the twangy rootsy country rock/pop of Beachwood Sparks and Chapaquidick Skyline, the gorgeous stripped down pop of Damien Jurado, as well as Mark Kozelek, Mark Lanegan, the Pernice Brothers and now, the debut from Florida's Iron And Wine, a one-man-and-his-4-track, stripped down, Southern, country/folk/mope rock wash of dirgey back woods ballads sung in a plaintive whisper accompanied by banjo and acoustic guitar. SOOOOOOO NICE. So nice in fact, that this would definitely have been my (Andee's) record of the year if it wasn't for last list's Woven Hand record. And that said, it's definitely threatening to overtake the 'Hand as my most listened to record. You've all heard the lonely boy with a guitar, dreamy twangy heartbroken singer songwriter. It's been done to death (but what hasn't? Don't get me started!) But once in a while it's just -done right-. So right in fact, that it transcends its meager aspirations and becomes a volatile and intense emotional piece of art. Such is the case with Iron And Wine. Simple songs are strummed and plucked, the vocals are sort of whispered/sung, melodies surface occasionally to embed themselves permanently in your brain, banjos and acoustic guitars gently lift the vocals above the fuzzy dreamy ambience with a recording quality that makes everything sound like it's dappled with morning sunlight. Think a less damaged Elliott Smith. Think America or Bread (but think it in a nice way, c'mon). Think early Sebadoh without the jokes. Think Sentridoh recording for Folkways 50 years ago. Think Bread recording for K records and playing basements in Olympia. If there was any justice in the world, this would be the record all the little grrrls would put on their mix tapes, this would be the hapless singer songwriter that gets co-opted by the man and inexplicably records soundtracks and ends up playing a song on the Grammies and this would be the next big thing. But it's not, and it won't be, so that just leaves us with Iron And Wine, a twangy, shimmery, dreamy missive full of aching heartbreak, unrequited love, wistful hope, bitter resentment, untapped faith and inevitable diappointment, and a soul soothing contentment with the ways of the world. The perfect record to wile away breezy summer afternoons, to drive aimlessly through the rain, music keeping time with the windshield wipers, to fall asleep to, or to break the heart that keeps yours from breaking. One of the nicest records this year.
This record is so goddamn beautiful. Hard to know how to describe it. It reminds me of the sonic equivalent of those time lapse films where you watch the seasons pass in a matter of minutes, sunrise, sunset, plants slowly unfurling and blossoming, before wilting and falling to the ground, snow and then rain and then sun, everything moving at an accelerated pace, but blending and merging into a completely mesmeric and hypnotic fugue. Sort of like that. The tag on the cd mentions Godspeed and the Rachel's, and while those are the easiest comparisons (Godspeed because it's so epic, and the Rachel's because it's sort of chamber music) they don't at all hint at the complexity and depth of this Kopernik record. Thick and throbbing, undulating bass is the foundation, cellos, and upright basses, double basses, bowed and plucked, create a viscous and dense bed of rumbling, pulsing low end over which delicate, glistening melodies are sprinkled. This is ambient music, but so rich with layer after layer of delicate sound, that form an impossibly complex and challenging and beautiful listen. While rooted in this bass heavy, epic classical ambience, these songs do stretch in all sorts of improbable directions. Gorgeously lush chamber music, with digital glitches and hiccups, reminscent of Oval's Diskont, but instead of sounding underwater it sounds like it's floating in midair. A medieval court music, sort of grand and pompous, but also a bit forboding, like a much more GRIM Penguin Cafe Orchestra with burbling bass and loping melodies. Dark and cinematic, suspenseful and harrowing noirscapes with thick walls of lower register thrum with heavily affected backward vocals. Lonely and desolate, but so sincere and emotional. A perfect late night record of soothing dreaminess and nocturnal mesmer, but unlike many similar records, it can stand up to serious listening, offering even more when time is taken to explore its rich mysteries.
The Middle Eastern psych rock obsession continues to rage here at Aquarius! Nothin' better than the exotic sounds of swingin' sixties Istanbul (or a close approximation). Here's a cd reissue of a 1974 album by guitarist/vocalist Erkin Koray, known as the Jimi Hendrix of Turkey. Maybe that comparison isn't the most accurate (there's nothing as heavy as "Purple Haze" here), but at least it gives you an idea of the East-meets-West grooves found on "Elektronik Turkuler". Two cultures, one counterculture, it seems. With sinuous "belly-dancing" tunes rocked up with distorted electric guitar, rock n' roll beats, some wild flute playing, and the occasional lysergic organ freakout, this is an authentic "magic carpet ride" as it were, culminating in the 9-minute "Turku" complete with spoken word incantations and freaky sound effects. The traditional-sounding vocals are all in Turkish, some of the tunes are clearly adaptations of traditional Turkish music as well. Anyone who really dug the John Berberian "Middle Eastern Rock" disc we listed a few months back, or loves those great "Turkish Delights" or "Hava Nargile" compilations (both of which feature Koray tracks), should check this album out. Unfortunately we only have 8 copies in stock at the moment, so please act fast, or be patient...
MPEG Download: "Karli Daglar" [/audio/koraykarli.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "Karli Daglar" [/audio/koraykarli.m3u]
Kousokuya are a Japanese heavy psych rock outfit that's been operating for years in the dark shadow cast by fellow Tokyo act Fushitsusha, though they emit a mighty blackness themselves. One reason for their obscurity is the paucity of Kousokuya releases -- one live disc on Forced Exposure many years ago, another with them joined by avant-saxophonist Masayoshi Urabe on PSF also a few years back, not much else really, though some of you might have picked up their guitarist Kaneko Jutok's excellent PSF solo set "Endless Ruins" we reviewed in mid-2001. Now we have this cd reissue of their first LP (+ bonus track), from 1991, and with it more evidence of the debt both Fushitsusha and Kousokuya owe to those mythical heroes of Japanese '70s psych, Les Rallizes Denudes.
The Haino-like cries and guitar feedback skree will remind you of Fushitsusha (and I wouldn't be surprised if the band wears shades on stage too) but there's less 'free jazz' improv, more conventionally heavy '60s/'70s rock stuff going on, some melody even. It's somewhere between Fushitsusha and White Heaven I guess, and really more 'doomy' than either, what with their torpid sometimes Sabbath-heavy bass sound and the melancholic wail of the singer. Totally slow, doomy psych indeed -- though the slowest, saddest song here abruptly cuts off at the end, as then band then launches into a garagey number with Quicksilver-meets-Black Flag guitar. Cool. So, especially if you're already into other dark bands from the Tokyo psych underground like Shizuka and Overhang Party and Ohkami No Jikan, don't neglect Kousokuya -- and this is the disc to get.
MPEG Download: "The Dreams Of The Recollections" [/audio/kousokuya2.mp3]
Here's the Japanese cello and violin duo of Kuwayama Kiyoharu & Kijima Rina's second release for Bernard Gunter's Trente Oiseaux label. Their creaking, mysterious improvisations are always set within a larger sound-environment. Their previous disc had them playing next to a highway at midnight, this one finds them in a warehouse on a pier, so rather than the buzz of traffic the ambient sounds are gently lapping, sloshing water in a large acoustic space, interwoven with their fog horn cello droning and deep string stroke scritch-scratch. Really nice and evocative, for fans of both modern free improv and field recordings -- it's maybe like violinist Malcolm Goldstein jamming with field recordist Toshiya Tsunoda. We're also somewhat reminded of works by Pauline Oliveros, Koji Asano, Philipp Wachsmann, and Akio Suzuki.
MPEG Download: "02.08.31 e" [/audio/kuwayama020823.mp3]
Lovely has done a good thing and reissued some classic Joan La Barbara recordings from the seventies along with some rarities from the eighties to boot. When it comes to extended vocal technique, La Barbara is the queen. Not only can she boast a lengthy career as one of the top vocal performers in the avant garde and a strong resume of academic compositions, but she's even got a film credit as the voice of one of the evil baby aliens in Alien Resurrection. How many performers of her stature in academia can claim to have voiced a slimy little puppet? Not many we'd guess. The set is divided up into an "Explorations" disc and "The Music" disc, and includes her entire 1976 self-released album "Voice Is The Original Instrument". The "Explorations" half is all live, and/or real time, solo voice performances. None of them use any form of processing (digital or otherwise) of the voice and as such are not just intimate, but down right claustrophobic to listen to. Reactions here in the store (from customers and staff alike) range from extreme discomfort to uncontrolled mirth. Andee said that this was the kind of stuff he liked to do as a kid. La Barbara's vocalizations range from slow hooting glissandos like a breathing exercise gone awry to feral animal-esque growls. The second disc, while including much of the same vocal techniques as the first, contains La Barbara's studio works using multi-tracks to over lay multiple overdubbings of growls and such on tape. A definite must for fans of sound poetry.
MPEG Download: "Circular Song" [/audio/joanlabarbcircular.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "Circular Song" [/audio/joanlabarbcircular.m3u]
The tongue-twistingly monikered Lexaunculpt, who certainly has more possible awkward (mis-)pronunciations than Autechre, is one Southern Californian 'technical electrician' Alex Graham. An admitted 'Skinny Puppy retard' with a taste for bodyrockin' hip hop breaks, Graham has situated himself in the IDM genre of electronic music, populated by the likes of Autechre, Aphex Twin, and early Mu-Ziq. Despite having worked in the genre since 1996 with a couple of singles on Isophlux and Orange, "The Blurring Of Trees" is his first full album. On this album, Graham struggles to break free from the redundant mimicry that most IDM suffers from, with a modicum of success. In loosening his grip on the polyrhythmic whirrings and dense programming, Graham focuses on a rich, though occasionally heavy-handed melodrama of orchestrated samples that reference alienation and human anguish through a tightly restrained use of minor chords stretched out as pointillist smears of emotional resonance. In essense, Lexaunculpt stands for the gothic aesthetic of an anachronistic future, weeping in PVC leather and jet black hair about the addictions that humanity has to technology.
MPEG Download: "Drowning Cricket Quartet" [/audio/lexaunculptdrowning.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "Drowning Cricket Quartet" [/audio/lexaunculptdrowning.m3u]
How many times can you re-release the same record? Many times it seems. So here is yet another version of the Locust's ultra-brief masterpice of spazzy, keyboard-flecked new wave grind. The twist this time is that the tracks are split up over 4 colored vinyl 7"s that just happen to be shaped like puzzle pieces, that all fit together to form.....a four colored...ummm...square! Kinda hoping for some sort of picture or something, but it's still pretty cool. AND VERY COLLECTABLE of course!!!! Limited to 3000.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?"
At last, a reissue of the debut album from Japanese heavy psych trio Mainliner. It came out on Charnel Music in '96, but has been out of print for a long while now and with its unavailability has grown in stature. Of course, it's a great record, the one that Acid Mothers Temple were trying to emulate on their recent "Electric Heavyland" set. And yep, it does feature AMT's Kawabata Makoto on 'motorpsycho' guitar, along with free jazzer Hajime Koizumi on drums and bassist Nanjo Asahito of the legendary High Rise. Mainliner always was just a slight variant on the High Rise template (themselves a variant on the Les Rallizes Denudes template it seems), formed originally by Nanjo 'cause his High Rise bandmates were averse to touring and he wanted to take his rock on the road, or so the story goes. Anyway, this disc was Mainliner's first and best, all players outdoing themselves in the realms of psychedelic heavy garage improv distortion overload. So, if you missed it the first time around, now's your chance to experience this classic. It's nice to have it back in just 'cause now we're listening to it again and we'd forgotten how great it is. Rock!
MPEG Download: "Black Sky" [/audio/mainlinerblack.mp3]
All right, those of you who have still not taken the plunge into the glorious, jazzy drone-y world of Australia's The Necks, here's yet another chance, and a pretty low priced one at that! We finally managed to get a bunch of copies of Aquatic, a cd that we used to carry years ago and that has only now become available again. The Necks explore expansive soundscapes of almost static rhythms, Terry Riley-esque piano figures and a 'songwriting' style that leans more towards Steve Reich than Ornette Coleman. Shuffling snare and ride cymbal, piano and bass weave lush repetitive figures that mesmerise in their barely perceptible shifts resulting in a gorgeously meditative and almost transcendental sort-of-free-jazz. The core three piece is joined on Aquatic by a hurdy gurdy which adds to the overall droniness. Even the jazz hater at AQ is frequently caught listening to the Necks! What more do you need to know?! C'mon!
MPEG Download: "Aquatic 1" [/audio/necksaquatic1.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "Aquatic 1" [/audio/necksaquatic1.m3u]
This band features members of Girls Against Boys (Scott McCloud and Johnny Temple) and it certainly shows. Actually through the first few tracks of this their fourth album, you might even mistake it for a GVSB album especially compared to their most recent material. The main band line-up is rounded out by Charles Bennington (saxophone), Nick Pelleciotto (drums, ex-Edsel) and Geoff Turner (guitar, ex-Grey Matter), but they're also joined on a handful of tracks by Geoff Sanoff (guitar, keyboards, loops, vocoder), Enrico Biondetti (guitar), and Sophie Toulouse. Past NWK recordings have been much more deeply in the NY arty jazz-rock vein. On This Is Glamorous, the herky-jerk horns and rhythmic twists are much less dominant although they do surface prominently on tracks such as "Real World Tonight". And although Scott McCloud once again dons his hoarse sneering Mark E. Smith-esque vocal hat , in fact, the overall tone of this album is much more sleekly groovin' dance pop rock like... dare we say it? Jesus Jones or Pop Will Eat Itself, and with its sax-driven-ness it's also quite a bit like Morphine too.
MPEG Download: "Real World Tonight" [/audio/newwetkojakrealworld.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "Real World Tonight" [/audio/newwetkojakrealworld.m3u]
There's a lot of weird stuff going on with this Noxagt band. First, it's maybe not the kind of band you would imagine finding experimental drone guitarist Kjetil Brandsal fronting. And playing bass no less. You might not expect it, but once you hear it, it makes perfect sense. And Noxagt has an instrumental line-up that you definitely don't see everyday: bass, drums, and...viola! But once you hear the viola, again it makes perfect sense. And you also then wouldn't necessarily expect to find this band on Rhode Island's Load records, although they fit quite nicely between the neanderthal noise rock of Pink And Brown and the spastic grind prog of Lightning Bolt. So here we are, the second record from Norway's Noxagt, a sludgy thud rock band in the finest tradition of pummelling crunch and spastic clomp. Pretty fucking heavy for just a bass and a viola. Take some Jesus Lizard, some Load rock, some Bulb rock, some eighties Homestead rock, and some modern noise rock (Laddio Bolocko maybe) and mush it all together into a stinky little rehearsal space or an even stinkier little van, and you get this brief (26 minutes) blast of burly, instrumental quasi-abstract abrasiveness. Produced by heaviness guru Billy Anderson (Sleep, High On Fire, Cathedral, etc.) with really funny liner notes by Stefan Jaworzyn (Skullflower, Whitehouse, Ascension, etc.) And the inside is one of those amazing pictures that when you stare at it long enough with your eyes blurred just the right way a hidden 3-D image pops up. So cool!
MPEG Download: "Mek It Burn" [/audio/noxagtmekitburn.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "Mek It Burn" [/audio/noxagtmekitburn.m3u]
Time to tear some shit up with a postumous release from energetic SF/LA guitar, drums & costumes spazzers Pink (aka John Dwyer) & Brown (aka Jeff Rosenberg). At the beginning of the year, the duo took time off from being broken up to terrorize a basement full of San Francisco party-goers and do a bit of recording for this record (5 new songs), which also serves as a complete Pink & Brown discography, collecting the tracks from their Toyo Records "Final Foods" album and the vinyl-only Deathdrug split. 22 pummeling tracks of hyper noise rock antics, out of which exactly one exceeds three minutes. R.I.P Pink & Brown.
While the cd is a complete discography, the "Shame Fantasy II" LP offers up just the 5 new songs, a tasty vinyl package for those of you who already have Pink & Brown's previous recordings.
MPEG Download: "Black Pearl" [/audio/pinkandbrownblackpearl.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "Black Pearl" [/audio/pinkandbrownblackpearl.m3u]
Release the bats! It's another case of ex hardcore kids discovering the joys of rockin' the dark side-- Pleasure Forever used to be the Slaves who were most of the VSS, and they play wonderfully dark-tinged pop with piano, guitar and drums. Comparisons to the likes of Nick Cave/ Birthday Party, the Doors and These Immortal Souls have been cropping up in adulatory reviews, and those references (These Immortal Souls especially) are certainly in evidence in these very catchy yet slightly sinister tunes. The piano really makes their sound, transforming the whole thing into an intensely heady rock cabaret that reminds me of that "hit" Black Heart Procession song "Release."
Yeah, skits are stupid (although some of the skits on here had me giggling a bit) but Prince Paul is THE skit man. That's sort of what he's known for. Which is kind of a shame seeing as how banging the tracks on this new record are. And it's the skits that will keep people from making it to the actual tracks. This is still basically a party record, but the beats are BIG and funky and pretty weird, with amazing production and all sorts of wicked guests: Erick Sermon, Kokane, Masta Ace, Guru, Planet Asia, Chuck D, Ice-T, Chubb rock, MF doom and more. No way to avoid the skits so you just gotta grin and bear it. At least a couple of the skits have Dave Chapelle who is pretty damn funny.
MPEG Download: "Controversial Headlines AKA Champion Sound (Pt. 2)" [/audio/princepcontroversial.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "Controversial Headlines AKA Champion Sound (Pt. 2)" [/audio/princepcontroversial.m3u]
MPEG Download: "Not Tryin To Hear That" [/audio/princepnot.mp3]
Pianist John Tilbury and guitarist/shortwave manipulator Keith Rowe are two-thirds of the classic British improvising institution known as AMM. This wonderful, droney double cd (approx. 130 minutes!) is their first ever duo recording, and it's a doozy. We asked AQ pal Loren Chasse -- a long-time AMM admirer -- to pen some words about it, as follows:
"This sonic eulogy for John Tilbury's mother, Doris, is yet another reason why AMM music could be considered the primer for all 'experimental' music. What makes their music seem so timeless is the degree to which they are succesfully 'listening', so present with one another as listeners during performance that you can only imagine that their ears must extend far into the reaches of the music culture at any given time -- spanning the years since 1966 with the release of the first AMM record -- always sounding like the 'latest thing'. Despite AMM percussionist Eddie Prevost's absence on this recording, the mysteries of the music are no less dynamic and evocative. There is no pretense that this is not a piano being played, but bred with the crusty electronic palette of Keith Rowe's tabletop guitar laboratory, the image of a piano gives way to one of sonic apparitions that flutter, moan and dissolve, wholly obscuring their origins in the hands and instruments of two English gentlemen. Maybe it is because of some basic craft here of objects being manipulated, of a microphone strategically amplifying the long decay of tones in a piano's guts while the hum of an amplifier is expertly finessed, of a monumental physicality, that makes Duos for Doris seem so much more essential and exciting than its already 'dated' contemporaries stuck in the middle of a drone waiting for software updates."
In other words, quite recommended!
MPEG Download: "Cathnor" [/audio/rowetilburydoris.mp3]
The carefree, pretty pop that Chicago's Sea and Cake specialize in has, with their seventh full length, veered so far to the electronic side of things that the 3 remixes found here barely stray far from their current sound. Said remixers include Stereolab, Broadcast (both remixes sounding exactly as you'd expect 'em to), and even one by Detroit techno prodcer Carl Craig. There's still the languid breathy vocals of Sam Prekop, the experimental stylings of percussionist John McEntire (Tortoise), and the coctail (heh) guitar of Archer Prewitt, but the added synthesizers' sophisticated buzz and hum flowing constantly behind each song give it a machinized sheen. Nice. Four new songs and 3 remixes, plus one very cute little animated movie filled with abstract shapes dancing along to the music. It's by Richard McGuire of Liquid Liquid!
MPEG Download: "To the Author (Version 1)" [/audio/seacakeauthor1.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "To the Author (Version 1)" [/audio/seacakeauthor1.m3u]
I somehow knew this was an Aquarius Record of the Week the minute I first laid eyes on it. Well, okay, maybe that's not entirely true. But it had the potential, that much I knew for sure, just from the cover: a huge double bass drumkit, set up in the middle of the forest with the name 'Earl' scrawled on one of the bass drums. A very evocative image, combining our love of heavy rock (the kit), with my personal thing for drums (the kit again) and our love of all things forest-y: naturesounds, field recordings, animal sounds and all that. My mind was reeling. Was it a drummer just playing solos out in the woods? Was it some sort of Jewelled Antler style rock band / field recording hybrid? Or something else entirely? Stranger yet, the song titles were all in German while the label was British. Intriguing. Better give it a listen... Well, the first track revealed very little. A weird minimal rhythmic workout composed entirely of backwards drums and cymbals. Thhwwp....thhhwwwwip...sssssssp.... Very cool, but was that the gist of it? After a minute or so of that, the record exploded into something entirely unexpected -- a crushing metal riff, with weird syncopated drumming, a sort of chunky Pantera / Prong meets the Fucking Champs vibe, with whispered vocals. Then it shifted gears again and entered into a super melodic Carcass-style death metal breakdown with howled black metal vocals before it shifted back to the machine-like opening riff. And then I knew for sure. Record of the Week!
Only later, with some Internet research, did we figure out what the heck was going on. The dedication on the inside to UK death metal crusties Bolt Thrower should have been our first clue, as it turns out that Earl Shilton is a pseudonym for Alex Thomas, former drummer for those very same metalheads. For some unknown reason, Earl Shilton is the name he has assumed for this project "of crushing death metal brutality and total corpse raping necro-blast carnage" as his website puts it. Indeed!
Furthermore, that website tells us that on tour, the band features a quite young, brother and sister rhythm section! Live, Earl steps from behind the kit to handle the guitars and vocals, while the brother plays bass, and the 16 year old sister mans the drums!!! Fuck yeah! This is getting more Record of the Week by the minute, we're thinking! And the music is well worthy too, lest we forget --
"Two Rooms (Full Of Insects)" is a blasting, hyper complex, super varied blast of metallic mayhem. From motorik, ultra-precise technical riffery, to stop/start math-metal complexity, from grooving, galloping death metal fury, to screeching blasting black metal, from eighties Earache style thrash to modern metallic fury, with all sorts of tripped out breakdowns, fucked up production and some really really weird parts, like the breakdown a little more than halfway through the album where everything drops out except for a simple, quietly played hypnotic tom tom rhythm, joined by backwards, super creepy Orcish vocals, and the hissing backwards drumming that started the record, before the whole thing bursts back into motion, in an explosion of grandioise Maiden-ish metal. Whew, so good. And while it may not be the best (or truest) metal record on this list, it certainly is the weirdest. And the coolest. And certainly the one most suited to being Record of the Week!
Several years ago, while listening to excellent Bay Area college radio station KFJC, a particular track of hypnotic, droning psych caught my ear -- buzzing, repetitive acoustic guitar and organ and a mysterious voice intoning "prayer for the su-unnnn..." over and over, all building into a loose, dirgey trance. Gorgeous. Further listening revealed the mysterious voice as belonging to Ben Chasny, aka Six Organs of Admittance. Soon thereafter, my ever thoughtful roommates returned from a John Fahey show, at which Six Organs had been the opener, bearing an LP on which I was excited to find the track I loved. A bit of time passed, and lamentably, so did John Fahey; Six Organs has gone on to make two great albums as well as lending a considerable hand to Comets On Fire on their awesome "Field Recordings from the Sun." This here is a long-awaited cd reissue of that first Six Organs LP, with the addition of 2 tracks from a limited 8" lathe-cut disc. While Chasny seems to be getting better and better, as evidenced by his best and most recent record "Dark Noontide," the darkly psychedelic 4-track ramblings on this disc find his signature sound fully in place-- an immediately recognizable way of attacking an acoustic guitar into a state of humming, reverbrating submission, that resonant baritone, and detours into percussive experimentation, all ritualistic and, I'll say it again, thoroughly hypnotic. So Nice.
MPEG Download: "Sum of All Heaven" [/audio/sixorganssumofallheaven.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "Sum of All Heaven" [/audio/sixorganssumofallheaven.m3u]
We managed to get a hold of a couple copies of this 5 track single which Sonic Youth produced in support of their 1993 Australia and New Zealand tour. The first cut 'Sugar Kane' was from their 1992 "Goo" album, while the rest of the tracks were unreleased, including a New York Dolls cover ('Personality Crisis') and an Alice Cooper cover ('It's My Body'). Definitely fits in with the same hypno-alt-rock that Sonic Youth had produced for "Goo" and "Experimental Jet Set, Trash, and No Star." Once these are gone, they will not be coming back.
The first salvo of electronic vinyl madness from AQ pal Drucifer's new label comes in the form of four 12"s, beautifully packaged in distinctive orange sleeves (dance 12" style) and on nice thick vinyl, and sonically running the gamut from stuttery glitched out electronica to shimmery drones to speaker shredding digital rhythms to dreamy beatscapes.
Sote (who also has a record out on Warp) veers wildly all over the electronic music spectrum, from hyperactive, staccato jackhammer beats to lush hypnotic beatscapes, employing fuzzy block-rocking beats, swirling melodies, crunchy digital glitches, sampled harmony vocals, washes of warm distortion, crickety clicks, super-distorted female torch singing, buzzing insect melodies, and all sorts of rhythmic and melodic mayhem.
MPEG Download: "Musick" [/audio/sotemusick.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "Musick" [/audio/sotemusick.m3u]
Another hefty 170 pages of music-obsessed text from Ed Pinsent and crew! Yay. We love this UK-based magazine, it's kinda like a hyper-enthused homebrewed 'zine version of The Wire, packed solidly with intelligent reviews reviews reviews of cool sounds both new and old, whatever sonic weirdness strikes their fancy from "throaty roarage" to "punk synth" to "maladroit rhythms of rock" (some of the review section titles here). This issue is a Seattle experimental music special, featuring interviews with Climax Golden Twins, Matt Shoemaker, Scott Colburn and others from that scene. In addition, there's talks with the likes of Francisco Lopez, Mnortham, William Basinski, and others as well. An awesome read, essentially essential to all AQ-list devotees!
The first salvo of electronic vinyl madness from AQ pal Drucifer's new label comes in the form of four 12"s, beautifully packaged in distinctive orange sleeves (dance 12" style) and on nice thick vinyl, and sonically running the gamut from stuttery glitched out electronica to shimmery drones to speaker shredding digital rhythms to dreamy beatscapes.
On probably our favorite of these first four Dielectric releases, Karen Stackpole employs an elaborate arsenal of percussion instruments: lots of gongs as well as cymbals, tibetan bowls, Thai tuned gongs, wind-up toys, music boxes, metal rods, dried bean pods and more. These are all played, rubbed, pounded, bowed, and struck to create a dense but spacious ambient soundscape of thunderous low end, rumbling ripples that wash lugubriously outward, as high-end shimmers and squeaks nestle alongside clatter and tinkle and splashes of percussive splatter. Gorgeous and thick, noisy and hypnotic, drony and transcendental, somewhere between 20th century classical, the stumbing free-rhythm workouts of No Neck Blues Band or Sunburned Hand Of The Man, and the dreamy upper register Ur-drone of Sunroof! or Vibracathedral Orchestra. So nice!
MPEG Download: "One" [/audio/stackpoleone.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "One" [/audio/stackpoleone.m3u]
- MPEG stream: One
- MPEG stream: Two
Here's a weird one. Imagine a late-sixties jazz-funk combo playing fucked up versions of children's songs written in the 40s and 50s by Hoagy Carmichael. Actually, you don't have to imagine that, if you just listen to this disc. 'Cause that's what's happening here. The first eight tracks on this cd were orginally released in 1970 as "The Stark Reality Discovers Hoagy Carmichael's Music Shop" LP. Dunno what kids thought of it, but the heads must have loved it, unless it tripped 'em out too much. The idea (hatched by Hoagy's son Bix, who worked at Boston's WGBH public TV station with musican Monty Stark, the leader of The Stark Reality) was to psychedelize ol' Hoagy's music for hippie youngsters. The result were these awkwardly funky, severely distorted (in every possible way), jazzed-out cuts, featuring Stark's crazily atonal fuzz-equipped vibes and bizarrely straight singing/rhyming. The music appeared in a WGBH kid's show, then was released on LP. That LP is apparently quite an expensive rarity these days, with those that have heard it either thinking it brilliant or insane or both. The LP track "Rocket Ship" was one of Windy's favorite cuts on Peanut Butter Wolf's recent "Jukebox 45" mix cd, and he has now reissued the whole album on his Stones Throw label, so we all can judge its merits, along with several non-Hoagy bonus cuts. The thorough liner notes do their best to explain the whole deal, and indicate that more than one lucky beat-diggin' hip hop DJ has made this their secret weapon.
It's utterly ridiculous yet oddly compelling. You'll either have to turn it off after two minutes or it'll become an all-time fave, that's the sort of record this is! Easily the most warped, heaviest jams ever on subjects like basic musical notation, remembering the number of days in each month, and recipes for cooking stew. I mean, some of this makes Sun Ra's wiggiest solos sound normal.
