[ aquarius records new arrivals — issue 181 ]

Showing results 51 through 59 of 59.

V/ADisco Not Disco 2(Strut)cd$ 17.98

As you probably know, the first volume of Strut's Disco Not Disco compilation has been a big hit here at AQ, with customers and staff alike. Well, we're happy to report that volume 2 is also great. It's a look back at the early days of *underground* disco

V/AEvolved As One(Evolved As One)cd$ 14.98

Beautiful compilation of minimal / ambient / drone music. Exclusive tracks from AQ faves Troum, Dual, Ultrasound as well as tracks by a bunch of unknown-to-us-until-now artists including Moljebka Pvlse, Srmeixner, Cats Of Tel Aviv and Ure Thrall. Beautiful and serene, shimmery and dreamy. Fans of Hudak, Basinski, Coleclough, Troum and the like should definitely pick this up.

V/AGlory, Dominion, Power, Majesty(PK)cd$ 18.98

From the label that helped put out the swell "Darker Than Blue" reggae/soul compilation, comes a new, even more obscure collection of great tracks. Everything on this collection comes from the vaults of the Canadian label / recording studio Half Moon, sort of a Great White Northern version of Wackies and every bit as good. Lots of crispy, crunchy hi-hats and boomy-muffled bass surround the vocalists in a sandwich of audio love. There's a really nice rootsy reworking of Michigan & Smiley's "Nice Up The Dance" rhythm with some vocals by Johnny Osbourne. Along with Osbourne many Jamaican stars came to visit and record with the in house Super 8 Corporation band during the eighties. Included on this set are Joe Higgs, Stranger Cole, Leroy Sibbles as well as the home team's own vocalists. In addition to the vocal tracks there's some really sweet dubs on here to boot, fairly stripped down in style with a little added instrumentation here, a little more spring reverb and delay there -- very tasteful. The recording quality is very reminiscent of Lee Perry's early Black Ark era stuff, cramming as much signal onto the magnetic tape as will saturate (just caint do that darn thing with that digital crap!) Quite nice. Comes packaged in a nicely printed cardboard box. Our only regret with this release is that they shot the wad on the outer sleeve and neglected to include any liner notes, not even a cover for the actual CD case within. But we can't bitch too much, it's a great collection filled with rarities.

V/AHot Hands: A Tribute To Throwing Muses & Kristin Hersh(Kuma-Chan)cd$ 11.98

As this jam-packed tribute compilation began, we thought, "hmm, sound like these aren't going to be straightforward renditions of Throwing Muses tunes". The lead-off song is a softly groovy version performed by Sharashka who was mistaken for SF's pretty popsters Loquat. The second by The Blood Group is somewhat more faithful to Hersh's unmistakable reeling voice and guitar. From there it scatters into many, many directions. The impressive array includes full-on power rock riffin' by Dirty Power, the distraught shifting angularities of Xiu Xiu, the electronic rock stomp of Hypofixx and thirteen others. The songs sound good in all fashions presented here. Perhaps what this really exemplifies and confirms (i.e, that these songs hold up in a such a variety of stylistic renderings) is just how fine a songwriter Kristin Hersh is. A truly eclectic and respectful homage to a fabulous band and songwriter.

V/AI Remember Syria(Sublime Frequencies)cd$ 16.98

That it's the first double disc in the Sublime Frequencies series says something about I Remember Syria. Recorded by Mark Gergis (Monopause / Neung Phak, Porest) in 1998 and 2000, I Remember Syria is an impressive collection of sounds, interviews and music from a country that's essentially unknown to the western world. Vilified by Bush, Rumsfeld et al. There's really no access to the wonderful culture of Syria. Gergis successfully attempts to alleviate that with the two plus hours presented here. Recorded using a stereo mic. and minidisc recorder, and subsidized with excerpts from television and radio. Disc one focuses on the city of Damascus, while disc two features recordings from throughout Syria. Along with recordings of street musicians, wedding processions, prayers, mosque interiors and open air markets are brief interviews with Syrian citizens reflecting on the US Govt. and the west in general. I Remember Syria is an impressive and unique audio documentary of a country that deserves more positive exposure.

V/APrincess Nicotine: Folk & Pop Music of Myanmar (Burma) Vol. 1(Sublime Frequencies)cd$ 14.98

If you have the Sublime Frequencies Nat Pwe DVD reviewed a few months back, then you at least have a rough idea of what you're getting yourself into here. But even if you're familiar with Burmese music, you'll find this compilation truly weird and wonderful. Unlike the handful of Burmese releases on Shanachie, this is a completely raw and unfettered, whole grain Burmese sonic assault. In other words: it's absolutely manic! At its most insane, it's akin to taking your standard off the wall Bollywood arrangement and running it through a prog rock or free jazz filter. Nasal double reed instruments parallel vocal lines, clashing cymbals emphasize every beat, while the pat wain (a set of rice paste tuned drums which encircle the performer) smacks out its own melody like a set of out of tune roto-toms. On the mellower side of things there's strange hallucinogenic Appalachia featuring sudden bursts of piano, interjecting banjo, violin, flute, horn and most oddly: sultry female vocals offset by distorted male vocals. There's also hazy semi-Hawaiian psychedelia, with piano and keyboards pounding out the occasional random chord progression. If you have to chose just one record to blow your mind this year, definitely make it this one!

V/ARadio Morocco(Sublime Frequencies)cd$ 14.98

Recorded by SCG man Alan Bishop during a summer 1983 visit to Morocco. Like Radio Java and palestine discs, the material for this 20 year old collection of recordings is taken straight off the radio. But unlike the Radio Palestine recording Morocco is much less attention deficit disorder ridden. Rather than clipping along in ten second and less sound bites, songs are actually allowed to develop and even finish on many a track. Tucked in alongside news reports, commercials and short snippets of Moroccan Serge Gainsbourg impersonations there are some really amazing Moroccan originals. "Radio Fes" features a live recording of a Moroccan orchestra supercharged with organ and electric guitar -- listen for the howls of joy from the back of the hall during the quiet sections. Other tracks feature traditional musicians cranking their sound out via low wattage transmitters and lo-fi equipment to produce a squashed ethno garage sound. There's a huge variety of stuff here and it all mixes well together without sounding too chaotically eclectic. As a bonus for those die hard SCG fans, there's a couple of classics that you may recognize here in their original form. A few more Sublime Frequencies recordings like this and someone will be able to put together a handsome "Roots of the Sun City Girls" comp.

V/ARadio Palestine: Sounds of the Eastern Mediterranean(Sublime Frequencies)cd$ 14.98

Another collection of music, commercials, news reports and noise culled from radio broadcasts recorded by Alan Bishop. The tracks here were captured by Mr. Bishop in 1985 in Egypt and Jerusalem. Of the three radio discs released to date by Sublime Frequencies, this one is the most ADD afflicted. The bulk of the sound samples collected here are less than 30 seconds in length, some of them mere seconds, with most of the edits even seemingly to have been done using the radio dial at the time of their being recorded. That said, there's an abundance of odd music and sounds crammed into the 66 minutes of this disc: BBC news, a Soviet-esque female chorus with piano, romantic instrumentals, hammered dulcimer and drone, chipper singers with orchestral accompaniment, psychedelic electric oud solos, commercials, religious broadcasts, radio noise and more. Sit back and let Alan take control of the remote for an hour.

Z-TRIPLive: Los Angeles, CA 2003()cd$ 14.98

For most AQ customers, DJ Z-Trip needs no introduction. Nor does this new live, limited edition (natch) cd from Z-Trip need much of a description! He's the man, what can we say? Along with DJs Jester and Q-bert, Z-Trip is one of AQ's favorite turntablists, always delightfully mashing up the hip hop with classic rock (and doing it *live* not on a computer, as he points out in his liner notes, and as you'll hear on this cd). Sure it's a gimmick, but it works! Plus he's playing this stuff 'cause he loves it. Here he provides 74 more minutes of 'Uneasy Listening' for fans, "to hold you over 'til the major label album drops" as it says on the back of the cd. Sure sounds like a party. Janis Joplin, Outkast, Tool, Black Sabbath, Rush, Run-DMC, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Joan Jett, Pink Floyd, Nirvana, and a zillion other disparate artists all feed into the Z-Trip blender as he shows off his ADD DJing skills at mixing the beats and riffs. Cutting stuff up the way he does, you'll actually hear more classic rock in the 74 minutes of this cd than you would over the same span of time on a radio station like The Bone, ferchrisakes! Z-Trip was kind enough to bring some by the store himself when he was just in town on tour, and he told us he didn't make a whole heck of a lot of 'em -- this is definitely not gonna be in print for long, so be quick or be deadly bummed you didn't get this rockin' Z-Trip document.