Dean Roberts, he's one of those 'regular name' guys, y'know, like David Grubbs, Alan Licht, Jim O'Rourke... Like them, his output is eclectic, you might hear him singing a song or doing out-guitar drone, as in his old band Thela. Experimental, electro-acoustic indie-rock I guess is his genre? Anyway, he's usually doing something cool, and this disc is no exception. Although Roberts hails from New Zealand (which always seems to be a good thing!), this was recorded in Italy, with several of his Italian friends joining on guitars and drums, while Roberts played acoustic and electric guitars, piano, bass, harmonium, glass harmonica and percussion. His hushed vocals are also present, but these tracks are soft and slow and sad and more about sound than songcraft. Be Mine Tonight is good driving through the woods at night music -- I know 'cause I did just that this past weekend on the way up to Mendocino. This low-key album is really less likely to spark a mood than it is to perhaps simply capture *your* mood, if listened to at the right time (like, driving through the woods in darkness). Roberts and his comrades 'rock out' for brief moments, but overall it's got a sleepy, fragile feel. Editing and processing are key to these results, along with the performances, with this having some of the same live-instruments-meet-glitchy-drone vibes as Roberts' amazing (and sadly out of print) Ritornelle release And The Black Moths Play The Grand Cinema from a few years back. Quite nice.
Got some of this old favorite back in stock, thought we'd list it again in case you'd missed it. Previously we wrote: The image of a pungi player hypnotically swaying the end of his instrument in front of a cobra portrayed in Western books and films is a fairly accurate one" says this disc's notes, and while that may justify this one Western preconception, it does nothing to prepare for how weird and wonderful the music from snake charmers really is. The three different instruments used by snake charmers (the oboe-like pungi and the rhythmic instruments premtal and kanyeri) provide not so much of a sexy sway as one might think, but a herky-jerky set of bobbing rhythms and an odd stop-start style of reed playing. Andee has likened it to the hard disc editing of Oval, Pita, and Jim O'Rourke but played live! Perhaps the snakes are Mego fans... This is a pretty spectacular collection of mysterious and stirring sound. Highly recommended.
The Sonic Catering Band were a fairly recent discovery for us, even though they've been around for several years now, and they seemed a perfect match for our strange tastes here at Aquarius. A large ensemble, that physically, prepare, cook and consume meals, while the sounds of cutlery, cookware, conversation, cooking, and eating are all captured, recorded, tweaked and presented as their own strange sonic architecture. Their last double cd, a collection of live recordings, was a dreamy and drone-y collage of rumbles and whirs and purrs and hums. One of the best drone records we'd heard in a while. The new record takes an entirely different sonic path at least for the first half of the record, with the drones pushed to the background, supporting an abstract assemblage of percussive clatter, dynamic and dense. The website claims definitively and defiantly that there are no beats, however, there are abstract rhythms and almost-structures, that surface from the kitcheny chaos. The two final tracks though will have drone-freaks drooling. Two lengthy static explorations, into the deep, dark, rumbling depths of dronology, with throbbing pulses stretched into warm sheets of sound, hiss and whir spread out over everything like a thick layer of peanut butter, and a humming, reverberating thrum dripped over both tracks like sonic molasses. As an added bonus, the website explains that with the addition of several new members, and those members particular dietary requirements, the Sonic Catering Band are no longer a vegetarian entity. Thankfully, vegetarians can still enjoy the results, relatively guilt free.
We sold a bunch of these in the store before anyone really knew what it was, mostly to folks who were from Michigan, as it's an entire suite of songs about Michigan. Thanks to our pal Barbara Duffield who turned us on to this (she's from Michigan too!). But trust us, there's plenty to love here, even if you're not from Michigan (although if you are, stop reading here and just buy it. It's great. There's even a map inside so you can follow along and know which song goes with which place). Sufjan Stevens is a new discovery for us, and maybe for you too, but judging from how great this record is, he probably won't stay unknown for long. Dark and dreamy, sad and lonely, drifting and soulful, shimmery and sun dappled, gently strummed acoustic guitars, dark muted horns and lots of banjo, along with Stevens' delicate crackle of a voice, sounding not unlike a more depressed Archer Prewitt, with occasional female background vocals on a handful of the tracks making for wonderful harmonies! This record is chock full of warm and warbly, melancholic melodies, pastoral folk-pop soundscapes, and some of the best songwriting we've heard in a while. Fans of Palace, Songs:Ohia, Arab Strap, Sixteen Horsepower, Woven Hand, the Decemberists and that sort of mopey melancholia will love this! This just might be the best twangy indie-folk-pop record since Iron And Wine!
Japan's Taku Sugimoto is best known for super minimalist guitar improvisation. But he also writes for other stringed instruments, as this new collection of Chamber Music will attest. The first track, which clocks in at just under a half hour, is entitled "Sonata for Violin and Piano". Yet, there's a third 'instrument' here, one present on all Sugimoto recordings: silence. Part of listening to and enjoying Sugimoto's music is, simply, waiting. Waiting for the next sound. It's not music for the impatient. Brief bleatings from the violin take turns with lonely notes from the piano. When one instrumental voice occupies the sound field for longer than a second, it's an event. Next is the 33 minute "Music for Violin, Cello and Piano" which follows the same minimalist scheme, the cello certainly not elbowing the silence out of the picture. There's almost a monk-like discipline required to enjoy this music. It's meditation as much as it is listening, the pay-off is in the process. A three minute coda for guitar and banjo (and silence) wraps things up, jaunty by comparison to the rest of the disc, but just barely. As always with Sugimoto, spending an hour with this will provide a kind of perverse delight to those attuned to his aesthetic.
It's pretty amazing that one of the most talked about underground bands in the world, one that has graced the cover of the Wire, as well as the inside of numerous other hipster music bibles, has no actual cd releases, and in fact, has nothing currently in print. EXCEPT for this 7". And that won't last long either as we're fairly sure we won't be able to get more of these. It's also too bad that these two tracks don't do much to demonstrate what SHOTM are capable of. Side one is a fairly tepid free percussion jam / hippy drum circle, sort of stumbling and meandering. Fairly pleasant but nothing to knock your improv socks off. Side two fares a little better, a little wilder and more focused, but the track doesn't really get going until about 20 seconds before it's over, when a wicked Can-ish groove kicks in only to be snuffed out moment later. Leaves you wanting more definitely. Not sure a 7" is the ideal medium for a sprawling, wandering, free form inprov outfit, but since this is all they got right now, if it sounds like your cup of tea, don't dawdle or you'll be out of luck.
Here's what you gotta do. You have to ignore the legion of frat boys that bang their heads wildly to Tenacious D songs, and try to forget the overproduced debut album, and just clear your mind and succumb to the D. This shit is GODLIKE. Originally a sort of spinoff from the equally godlike Mr. Show, Tenacious D concerned the exploits of the greatest band in the world, and their continuing struggles at various open mic nights. As well as the occasional run ins with Sasquatch, Satan, cults, and crazed fans. All of you who only discovered Jack Black from his recent School Of Rock or hosting Saturday Night Live, NEED to see this, and understand why people knew he was destined to rock our fucking socks off. Disc one is titles 'For Fans' and features an entire live performance in London and is amazing, complete with JB battling a giant inflatable dragon with his mighty sword a la Dio, and plenty of onstage tantrums and bickering. Disc one also contains all 6 episodes which until now had been only available as nth generation dubs, and are so good, they'd be worth $20 all on their own. The episodes are a brilliant and hilarious mix of sketch comedy a la Mr. Show and live acoustic performances, and that's how these songs sound best, just two acoustic guitars, two amazing voices, and some of the best songs ever! If you haven't seen these you are in for a treat. Disc two is titled 'For Psycho Fans' and is pretty much just that. Features three very peurile and disgusting short films like Butt Baby and JB's BJ. You just have to see them. There's also some behind the scens in the studio footage and television appearances on MadTV, Crank Yankers and Late Night. But disc two also has their videos which are amazing. The Spike Jonez directed "Wonderboy", a Lord of the Rings style epic (as well as the making of), "Tribute" (as well as the making of) and the totally amazing "FHG (Fuck Her Gently)" animated video directed by the same guy who did Ren And Stimpy! Finally there's a documentary about life on the road with the D. Worth it for the episodes alone, but even more worth it with all that extra crap!!
Here's couple new 10"s from Ryan Moore, a.k.a. Twilight Circus Dub Soundsystem, which can only point to a full length in the works. And since the last thing we've seen from Moore was a best of from almost a year ago, it's about time something new is due. What's perhaps most notable with these new morsels from the Twilight Circus is that for the first time Moore has begun working with vocalists. An interesting choice of vocalists, Moore got a DJ era toaster -- Big Youth -- and a 90's dancehall era singer -- Luciano -- to showcase his contrasting asthetic capabilities as a producer.
Much more traditional of an arrangement than the Luciano cut, "Love Is What We Need" is a rootsy number with -- if not real, very convincing -- drums, horn section, piano, and bass. The 10" features one vocal and three dub versions. The first dub being pretty straight up and unmodified, the second features added instrumentation (mostly in the form of a synth lead replacing the vocals) and the third being a classic effects laden dub.
"What We Gotta Do" features three vocal versions and one dub. Production here is much like other more recent works from Moore. Gone are the loud, live drum sounds of old, in their stead a pumping four on the floor step-sequenced kick and high hat combo. The only exception is the final track, an acoustic version, a slow tempo reworking of the vocal accompanied by acoustic guitar and conga.
Volume 6 in Soul Jazz's never-ending x(100)% Dynamite series. 17 tracks picked by Soul Jazz's own soundsystem DJ's including a version of the dancehall classic "Under Mi Sensi" reworked by Alozade And Hollow Point, Yabby You's "Conquering Lion", Johnny Osbourne's "Budy Bye", Tenor Saw's "Golden Hen", Sister Nancy's "Transport Connection" and more. We can't say this one's better than the last percenter, but if you've got all the previous volumes and love them, this one's not going to disappoint.
This is really gorgeous and it's taking a lot of self control to keep us from all taking one of these home. And as Christmas draws near, self control seems to matter less and less. Whether it's a gift for some music freak you love, or a sneaky gift for yourself amidst the rest of your shopping, you couldn't do much better than this. A super fancy, slip cased box set documenting the 2000 Erstwhile festival in Tokyo, put on annually by the label of the same name. Seven discs of some of the best improv/abstract/free jazz/noise you'll ever hear. Most of the recordings are from the actual festival, but two discs are from club shows around the actual festival, while one disc is a performance by an all-star guitar septet made up of Keith Rowe, Tetuzi Akiyama, Oren Ambarchi, Toshimaru Nakamura, Otomo Yoshihide, Burkhard Stangl and Taku Sugimoto and another is a studio recording by the duo of Gánter Máller and Toshimaru Nakamura. Wow! There's also a DVD document of the festival by filmmaker Jonas Leddington and a huge booklet with photos and twenty essays! Ready to buy it now? Well here's the track listing:
CD 1 (outside festival shows): 1. Thomas Lehn/Toshimaru Nakamura, 2. Gánter Máller/Tetuzi Akiyama/Nakamura, 3. Christof Kurzmann/Nakamura, 4. Lehn/Nakamura/Taku Sugimoto. CD 2 (studio sessions): Gánter Máller/Toshimaru Nakamura-tint. CD 3 (festival): 1. Cosmos (Sachiko M/Ami Yoshida), 2. Keith Rowe/Lehn/Marcus Schmickler. CD 4 (festival): 1. Máller/Otomo Yoshihide, 2. Lehn/Schmickler. CD 5 (festival): 1. Burkhard Stangl/Kurzmann/Sugimoto, 2. Rowe/Nakamura. CD 6 (festival): 1. Stangl/Máller, 2. Nakamura/Sachiko. CD 7: (seven guitars): 1. seven guitarists: Rowe/Akiyama/Oren Ambarchi/Nakamura/Otomo/Stangl/Sugimoto (Cornelius Cardew-Treatise, pp. 82-84), 2. seven guitarists (improvisation).
Okay, how about now?!?!? C'mon...you know you want it. I sure do!! No sound samples cuz we're all still trying to fight the need to own this so we haven't even cracked one open yet!
Basic Channel had a short existence, but was incredibly influential on the future of techno. Between 1993 and 1995, Basic Channel released 9 singles that infused the jack hammering acid tracks of Detroit Techno with the ghostly hiss that accumulated on Lee Perry's dub productions in the '70s. However, this was not the electronic dub of Pole or Kit Clayton, although both were obviously huge fans of Basic Channel. Rather, Basic Channel offered an hyper-abstract vision of techno that never sacrificed the integrity of the rhythm. Amidst the aersolized sounds, gray modulations, and purposefully murky timbres, the Basic Channel producers Moritz von Oswald and Mark Ernestus (who would later go on to form Rhythm And Sound) always centered their work along the skeleton of a propulsive techno beat.
This Basic Channel compilation is now in its third pressing; the original came out in 1995 in a fittingly non-descript cardboard sleeve and later in the metal tin designs that were used for their later Chain Reaction series. This compiled the more ambient and abstract cuts on those singles. If you're looking for the heavier tracks from Chain Reaction on cd, the mix found on "Scion Arrange and Process Basic Channel Tracks" is unrelentingly good, but if you just want to bliss out and drift off and be narcoticized by throbbing pulses and fuzzy grit, you can't do much better than this.
Someome at Trunk records has a very dirty mind. And apparently a very dirty collection of recordings. But lucky for us, they're happy to share their dirty little treasures with the rest of the world. Flexi-sex compiles actual recordings originally issued as flexi discs that came free with certain British porn mags in the late seventies/early eighties (Whitehouse and Rustler if you must know) and contain some of the most hilarious and patently un-sexy sexy recordings we have ever heard. Over cheesy, bawdy seventies porno-jazz-schmaltz, older sounding British women, recite their sexy scripts, some more convincingly than others. Lots of talk of pricks and shafts and tits and hairy balls (Kathy Mcginty anyone?) and stems and bottoms and fannies (and fanny means something much different in the UK, needless to say there are no fannypacks over there...) and lots of heavy breathing and sighing and moaning, but all delivered in super prim sounding British accents. Which maybe could make it more sexy, that whole Educating Rita thing, but actually seems to have the opposite affect. Several of the women also make sure to let you know that while they may not be the sexiest women around, they are most definitely the horniest. Good to know. Be warned before you listen to the sound samples that this is definitely X-rated (well, at least R rated) so prudes steer clear.
Once again, right up front, be warned. We only got twenty of these and we were already told by our distributor that we will NOT be able to get more. Pity too, because this is an amazing compilation, gorgeous looking AND sounding. This definitive document of Norwegian improv/electronica/ambient/jazz/whatever label Rune Grammofon, a full sized, full color hardcover book / double cd compilation is the sort-of-sequel to the Love Comes Shining compliation from a few years back, and celebrates 5 years and thirty releases. The book, designed by Kim Hiorthoy, includes an interview with RG bossman Rune Kristofferson, essays from Rob Young of the Wire magazine and designer Adrian Shaugnessy, and features tons of album covers, sketches for covers, photos, and design elements that will no doubt be quite familiar to fans of the labels uniquely minimal aesthetic. It's all a little self congratulatory but what the hell, it's their party! The cds contain exclusive tracks from Supersilent, Biosphere, Alog, Food, Deathprod, Jaga Jazzist, Arve Henriksen, Kim Hiorthoy, Nils Okland, Phonophani, Archetti/Wiget, Lasse Marhaug, Information, Martin Horntveth, Fe-mail, Svalastog, Skyphone, Andre Borgen, Isak Anderssen, Stronen/Storlokken, Oivind Idso, Andreas Meland and Susanna and the Magical Orchestra as well as previously released tracks from SPUNK, Maja Ratkje, Tove Nilsen, Scorch Trio, Arne Nordheim, Jono el Grande and Monolight. Really good stuff. So act fast!
Be forewarned, we have very few of these (about 15 total) and once they're gone, they're gone for good. A massive collection of experimental Finnish music from the label that brought us the Avarus live cd-r a little while back. Hand decorated, this double cd-r has lots of familiar faces, Uton, Avarus, Ektroverde, Can Can Heads, Kroko but even more unfamiliar ones: Slaughterhouse Quintet, Kilometritehdas, Kvantti, Testicles, Sonic Temple Assassins, Skullpture, Short Eyes, Blubberheads, Du Hex, Plat Ypus, Brasptreet and tons more. The sound is stumbling, abstract free folk clatter, very reminiscent of Jewelled Antler at its folkiest, while sounding a bit like the abstract Acid Mothers Temple space jams at its free-est. A totally gorgeous and a surprisingly consistent listen, espcially for a comp with 46 bands/tracks!
MPEG Stream: UTON "Vihrean Tuuman Hengitys" [/audio/tididiiuton.m3u]
Packaged like a miniature passport, this 3" cd by the globetrotting French-Canadian duo Vialka squeezes five hectic songs into about 22 minutes. They're a quirky bass and drums two-piece, a bit along the lines of Ruins, Sabot, or Hella, with the drummer (a woman) providing most of the somewhat dramatic vox, that go well with the skronky twists and turns of their energetic music. These songs were apparently written in a small mountain village in Slovenia this past winter and recorded in "a fit of early morning low-fidelity mayhem" in Geneva, Switzerland this summer. We don't know much else about this band, but they just played here in San Francisco and we bought a few (six) copies of this release, that's all we have and all we're gonna have so be quick if you want one of these "Vialka Passeports".
On its own, Rufus Wainwright's voice can take you away better than any ol' Calgon bath salts. Positively swoon-inducing, he's fully capable of performing gloriously stirring renditions of just about anything... a grocery list, the alphabet, 99 Bottles of Beer? Okay, we're exaggerating, but there's no question that Wainwright is more than just a very pretty voice. Fortunately for the music lovin' world he's using it for 'good'... which is, finely crafting sophisticated chamber pop songs a-plenty that are unmistakably his own. On Want One, the assemblage of instruments surrounding him is lusher than ever, but it doesn't crowd him. His oft-flamboyant cabaret piano stylings rub velvety shoulders with the sweeping orchestrations - certainly not shying away from grand theatrical flair. Sure to please his legions of adoring fans and make him a fair number of new ones too.
This is the first release on Brazillian label Essence music, run by AQ pal Uirajara Resende, and is the second release from Portuguese dark ambient technicians Wolfskin. Campos De Matanca, literally translated as "Fields Of Slaughter" is actually a reworked/expanded version of a super limited and long out of print cd-r. Kudos to Uirajara for unearthing this utterly mesmerising and terrifying slab of dark dronology!
This is the kind of gorgeous and brutally abject dark ambient drone that only a chosen few can actually pull off. And you can add Wolfskin to that list. Voices and bells, rumbles and whirs all stretched into a thick blanket of inky blackness, a sonic black hole that sucks you in and buries you beneath tons of static thrum. Ominous and crushing, and truly frightening. Lustmord and Coleclough, Noisegate and Brighter Death Now, Band Of Pain and Troum. You get the picture. Wolfskin also occasionally haul out the drums and indulge in a little Der Blutharsch style miltarism, with static, battlefield percussion, Laibach-ish vocals, all over a crumbling industrial backdrop. This militarism surfaces occasionally throughout the record, but is always quickly subsumed and overtaken by the monstrous, magma-like flows of sound. This record thematically represents "forgotten Keltik fertilization rituals, honour and victories of ancient civilisations and a profound respect for the nature and its untamable forces" utilising an unlikely arsenal of sonic weaponry: carillion, bells, accordion, tin whistle, talara, ceramic box and a curious array of field recordings even including "the slaughter of pigs in winter." Woah. Pretty heavy stuff. But this whole record is heavy. And dense. And dark. And grim. And bone-chillingly, soul-crushingly, heart-breakingly brilliant.
The focal point of Young People's second album is set squarely on Katie Eastburn's lilting, sedated vocals -- an odd mix of beleaguered'n'world weary and tentative, sweet, almost childlike. Her untethered, off the cuff delivery runs the gamut from top-of-her-lungs exuberance to lullaby hushed, and this unpredictability is right in line with the group's overall offkilter, earthy dissonance. From song to song, she along with fellow members Jeff Rosenberg and Jarrett Silberman trade off on guitar, bass and percussion duties. Guitars are raw and sinewy, drums are loose and primal. Although at times the art-folk proceedings may seem rather unstable and ramshackle even, they're not without structure. War Prayers is definitely a much more devil-may-care, dynamic array of songs than those of YP's self-titled debut, and they resonate with an increased confidence and energy.
