[ aquarius records new arrivals — issue 210 ]

Showing results 51 through 79 of 79.

PHTHALOCYANINENo One Said You Didn't(Planet Mu)cd$ 14.98

Dimitri Fergadis' Phthalo label has developed from a pioneer of DIY electronica as one of the first CD-R labels into a proponent of the most forward thinking electronica that America has to offer in releasing records by the likes of Wobbly, OST, and his own Phthalocyanine project. Furthermore, he encouraged artists like Dntel and Daedelus by putting out their earliest works before they jumped into more populist waters. No One Said You Didn't is the second album that Fergadis has outsourced from Phthalo to the venerable Planet Mu, another label not especially known for its sensible take on electronica. Intentional or otherwise, Fergadis seems to take much of the metallic melodies from Mu-Ziq's Tango N' Vectif (which happens to be an early record from Mu Planet label boss Mike Paradinas); and he forces these melodic clusters onto double-time Rotterdam techno stabs of big dum-dum 909 beats and splattered electronics. As cacophonous as this might sound, this is actually the most well-rounded and enjoyable record he's produced to date!

RADAR BROS.The Fallen Leaf Pages(Merge)cd$ 14.98

It's been so long since we've heard from the Bros. (three years since "And The Surrounding Mountains" was released) that we'd taken them for broke-up. Well, we're pleased that our fears were unwarranted. There's no escaping the sounds-like-early-Pink-Floyd chorus of remarks that seems to follow Radar Brothers like an albatross whenever they're played. But then again, that's certainly not a bad comparison, or anything to be ashamed of. They can keep milking this musical cow as long as they want as far as we're concerned, cuz they know how churn it better than anyone. As with their previous recordings, their songs are mostly paced in that unique Radar Bros. snail paced tempo, like they're being pulled through molasses and their lyrics are the stuff of fever dreams. Haunting and dispassionate descriptions of horrific scenes, bleak outlooks and unhappy endings are the stuff of Jim Putnam's song writing, which are then hermetically encased in dreamy, opiate paced songs. You find yourself wanting to sing along with a chorus, but are afraid someone might catch you as the lyrics "Hey, is that blood, coming from me..." slip from your lips. With their songs seemingly floating in a space in between major and minor key, like a good blues, Radar Bros. can write sad songs that warm your cockles. It's a creepy and wonderful warmth of feeling, not unlike crying into a pillow until you fall asleep as a child, only to wake up feeling great. And while we don't want to deceive you into thinking the Radar Bros. resemble, even remotely, a blues band, there's also something -- as Allan pointed out -- timeless about the music of The Radar Brothers. They don't seem to take their cues from what anyone today is doing. If there's anyone they're influenced by it would be the aformentioned Pink Floyd (circa Meddle), or (a severely depressed and macabre) Beach Boys. Like their previous recordings, The Fallen Leaf Pages was recorded entirely at Jim's Skylab (now currently under Phase III) studio, and as you might guess it's absolutely gorgeously produced. Fallen Leaf Pages is an album that will grow on you with each listen. Highly recommended!

RED SPAROWESAt The Soundless Dawn(Neurot )cd$ 14.98

The LA-based band Red Sparowes [sic] make their debut with At The Soundless Dawn, released by our pals at Neurot. And they do have Neurosis connections, these guys, as well as qualifying as being an Isis side-project (three of the Red Sparowes are also in Isis, I believe). It's certainly believable given the sort of lumbering, sprawling post-rock sounds found here. Warm and heavy and spacey and pretty all the same time, reminding us of the downer-pop of Katatonia, and the epic vistas of the Grails, as well as the likes of Explosions In The Sky and Subarachnoid Space. A mostly instrumental blend shoegazery guitars, some pedal steel, keyboards... seven lovely long songs with long long song titles.

ROBERTS, ALASDAIRNo Earthly Man(Drag City)cd$ 14.98

Alasdair Roberts' third solo album comes brimming with his moving renditions of eight traditional Scottish folk songs and sea shanties -- sounding not unlike a kindly Scotsman counterpart to English lass Shirley Collins. On No Earthly Man, the captain of the neo-folk band Appendix Out has certainly immersed himself even deeper into the musical heritage of his homeland. In the past we've commented about the uncanny resemblance between Roberts' voice and Will Oldham's, but this time it's much less so, as the nature of the material draws so much more of the Scottish lilt from his lips.

SATWAs/t(Time-Lag)cd$ 15.98

Probably the best description of the music on this first-time-reissued Brazilian '70s acoustic acid-folk rarity comes in the form of a picture, that's right there on the sleeve -- a drawing on the back cover depicting two naked hippies sitting crosslegged with guitar and sitar. And, they have wings. Winged hippies. One's set of wings is butterfly-like, while the other is sorta batwinged, demonic. And both make sense, as the music is light and pretty enough for the butterfly one but also serious and sad enough for a guy cursed with batwings to play. On this, their eponymous and only album (a private press LP originally released in 1973), the Satwa duo unfurl delicate psychedelic rainforest folk ragas, super pretty, mellow and meandering maaaaaan. These tracks are largely instrumental, but there's are occassionally some wispy vocals wandering high (indeed) over the sparkling string play. And a lil' fuzz guitar makes the mix too. Utterly beautiful stuff. It's kind of a South American, decades-past version of Jewelled Antler faves Ivytree or Skygreen Leopards... If we didn't know any better, we'd suspect Glenn Donaldson had a hand in it. But Glenn's too young, doesn't speak Portuguese, and also doesn't have wings. This cd version comes in a mini-LP style sleeve... lovingly packaged, lovely music.

SIXTEEN HORSEPOWER16HP(Smooch)dvd$ 21.00

Sixteen Horsepower are the masters of apocalyptic swamp folk, a dark and dolorous bluegrass infused with fire and brimstone, tales of Biblical damnation, and spiritual salvation, set to fiddle and accordion, banjo and mandolin, lit by a cresent moon and the dying embers of a campfire, delivered with the vitriol fury of a rivivalist preacher trying desperately to save our souls. Sixteen Horsepower (along with 16HP frontman David Eugene Edwards' side project Woven Hand) have been responsible for some of our favorite records of the last few years. The above description should tell you enough to know that these guys push all our buttons. So we were pretty excited to get this double DVD. The first, is a series of interviews, one a super arty, black and white, with the band by the railroad, among creepy mannequins, beautifully edited and gorgeously shot. The second is a standard sit down interview. The third is interviews with the various band members tracing the timeline of the band. All very interesting, especially to hear Edwards speak so unabashedly about his faith and growing up in the church. All evident in the music of 16HP but still sort of cool to hear explained in greater detail. Disc two is all the videos and some live footage. The videos, if you haven't already seen them, are perfect visual representations of the band's take on the dusty road to damnation, lots of grainy shots of desert, and leafless trees, plenty of high contrast black and white. The highlight being the 16HP video directed by the none other than the Brothers Quay, with animated white and black chalk in some alien battle between light and dark, good and evil, as a backdrop to the band performing!! Never having seent he band, the live footage was amazing. And they are just as intense live as you might imagine. And finally on disc 2 is a European behind the scenes documentary following the band around on tour, lots of backstage footage, travelling, soundchecks, and all that kind of stuff. Intimate and really interesting. This whole collection is a welcome glimpse into the minds and music of one of our favorite bands, which is especially exciting since in the past 16HP have been less than gregarious and hardly forthcoming in terms of interviews and such.

SKATERSDark Rye Bread(Humbug)lp$ 14.98

All you folks who have been in a Sunroof! / Avarus / Kemialliset Ystevat / Jewelled Antler tizzy lately and can't get enough free-noise-drone-folk-psych weirdness, would do well to check out the Skaters, a lesser know outfit from right here in SF. These cats kick up a serious skree, huge swirling clouds of overblow guitars, washes of crumbly distortion, chaotic drumming, all over a bed of caveman percussion and plink plonk ambience. Closest comparison might be Avarus with Keiji Haino on supersonic black hole lead guitar. Or a Dead C / Sunroof! jam session gone mental. SUPER LIMITED. In fact this was tour only, the tour is over and we have the only remaining copies. Released on the Finnish Humbug label.

SLOUGH FEG, THE LORD WEIRD / IRONSWORDHail Brittania Volume One - NWOBHM Tribute(The Miskatonic Foundation)7"$ 7.98

The Miskatonic Foundation -- the cultish, doomy metal label run by Rich Walker, guitarist for UK's Solstice -- has embarked upon a little tribute project here, releasing volume one of a proposed three-volume set of split 7" records devoted to cover versions of Rich's favorite New Wave Of British Heavy Metal songs. And we're not talking the anything obvious like Iron Maiden or Diamond Head, or even Tygers of Pan Tang or Tokyo Blade, we're talking bands like, uh, Nighttime Flyer and Desolation Angels! Real obscure stuff. And that's making a point about what was so incredible about the NWOBHM, the real underground acts that sprung up for just an amazing 7" or LP or two. Rich recruited AQ faves and SF locals The Lord Weird Slough Feg to appear on volume one, sharing the 7" with Portugal's Manilla Road worshipping headbangers Ironsword. Slough Feg are of course a great choice for a NWOBHM tribute, even though they didn't get to do something off of Maiden's Killers... Volumes two and three are slated to feature Orodruin and Scavenger, and Twisted Tower Dire and Revered Bizarre. And the neat thing about a 33 rpm single? Y'know everything sounds great at 45, that's the rule. Both bands' vocalists have voices low enough that on 45 they still sound like metal singers more than chipmunks... but of course you're supposed to play it on 33, and at that speed this is still a lot of fun! Slough Feg's rough-and-tumble cover of a song awesomely-entitled "Heavy Metal Rules" by Nighttime Flyer will endanger your sanity after the chorus gets stuck in your head, as it will. I don't think Slough Feg ever even had heard the song/band before Miskatonic sent 'em a tape from which to chose a track to do -- it was the b-side to Nightime Flyer's only release, a single from '79 -- but they picked it 'cause heck, how can you resist such a title/lyric? And the riffs are remarkably Fegesque in fact. The NWOBHM nugget "Valhalla" by Desolation Angels is ably essayed by Ironsword, who have improved in leaps and bounds since their first album by the way. And they've always had the proper spirit for this sort of thing anyway. This is clearly meant for serious fans...You gotta know Slough Feg and/or Ironsword, and what NWOBMH stands for. The bands being covered aren't even listed on the sleeve, just the song titles! Numbered and limited to 500. We've just got a few. Buy or die, Slough Feg fans! Same goes for NWOBHM freaks, Ironsword maniacs (there must be some) and rabid metal vinyl hounds.

SOUND PROJECTOR, THEThirteenth Issue()magazine$ 12.98

Yay! As aways, a happy day when another hefty issue of the UK's Sound Projector makes an appearance. 170 pages this time, resplendent in red-and-black-and-white as usual. We mentioned in another review recently how much we like *reading* record reviews (as, hopefully you do too). Well that's precisely why we dig The Sound Projector so much, it's almost nothin' but! Handily divided into various idiosyncratic "genre" catagories, this ish we get reviews of everything from "Atoms Of Pure Noise" (noise, such as Wolf Eyes and Space Machine) to "The Droning Ones" (drone music, examples being Birchville Cat Motel and Rosy Parlane) to "Music From Japan" (what it says: Ex-Girl, LSD-march, KK Null, etc.) to "Utter Freakdom" (the likes of Simon Wickham-Smith and Anla Courtis). And more: field recordings, electronics, quiet improv, psych reissues, underground folk, etc. And Merzbow gets his own section. Surprises this time around (there always are) include sections devoted to "Pain!" (black and other metals, with reviews of such artists as Meads Of Asphodel, Abruptum, Esoteric, and even Striborg, a Tasmanian black metal band we've been wanting to list for a long time but never can get enough of to do so), and also a section devoted to pop chart toppers past and present like Justin Timberlake, Madonna, Destiny's Child, Kylie Minogue, and others. Seriously. Yup, Destiny's Child in the same magazine with Coelacanth and Burzum. Hmm, sounds like our list, eh? But we've not heard of some of this stuff ourselves which makes it all the better a resource for us. And aside from the many many reviews of records new and old, you'll also find articles on the Monkees and Brian Wilson and interviews with My Cat Is An Alien, Rob Millis, Ronnie Sundin, and others. All in all, kinda like a fanzine version of The Wire but definitely weirder and more irreverent, eclectic and enthused. Recommended readin' for sure.

SUNN 0))) / BORIS / EARTHReserve Not Yet Met(Southern Lord / Inoxia / Sub Pop)cd single$ 99.00

add to cart [/images/addtocart.gif]/af4105.html In an attempt to record an album that will induce coronaries in record collectors worldwide, the current monsters of sludge: Sunn 0))), Earth and Japan's mighty Boris, got together and recorded a single track, 11 minutes long, one chord, an E to be exact, with each band handling one of the notes in the chord. Sunn 0))) deftly tackle the G, as if it were a blackened, dying sunn. Earth spews forth the B, with as much vitriol as they can muster. And of course Boris offer up a soul crushing E to complete what is quite possibly the heaviest chord ever recorded. EVER! Unfortunately this is super limited, in fact we didn't get any copies at all. We're currently bidding on the only copy in existence on Ebay right now. The Buy It Now was $25,000, so the fact that the bidding is now at $18,301 and the reserve has still not been met is not very encouraging. But c'mon, three bands, three notes, one chord, eleven minutes, one copy. You just can't put a price on that! And while we all want to own the first edition of this already out of print triple threat sludge match cd, rumours on several message boards suggest there will be a repress, another single copy, but this will be the timeshare version. For a small fee, you will be able to own, listen to, and gaze adoringly at the cd for a brief period of time each year (determined by the number of buyers, limited to 365, so at the very leat you can own the disc one day a year), before a courier shows up to deliver it to the next owner. We'll of course keep you posted.

SUNN O)))The GrimmRobe Demos (aka s/t)(Southern Lord)2lp$ 15.98

We know lots of you SunnO))) fanatics missed out on the various versions of the GrimmRobe Demos 2lp. So we're happy to report that we finally got a bunch more of these in. Supposedly the LAST pressing, on good old black vinyl (the best sounding BTW). Not sure how long they'll last, so act fast. Now all serious connoisseurs of depression, death, doom and utter grimness have reason to celebrate. No, we're certainly not talking about G.W. Bush's second-term inauguration! It's music we're going on about, and for fans of that brand of heavy, doomful drone that we know so many of you AQ-customers are, this IS good news: the re-release of the debut album from not-so-dynamic doom duo SUNNO)))! Yes! So log off of eBay, save your ninety bucks (that's what Southern Lord says the original cd was going for) and thank 'em for at last reissuing this disc, previously out on Hydrahead subsidary HH Noise Industries back in 2000. And yes, there's a BONUS TRACK. Sixteen minutes and forty seconds of bonus track entitled "Grimm & Bear It"...those jokers. That brings this album to over 72 minutes in length, perfect for enjoying your own mini-coma in its ambient embrace. Of all the SUNNO))) cds since, this remains perhaps the closest to the original template of worshipping Earth II to a T. For some "historical" perspective (and for any who are puzzled, to explain that last comment), let's revist our original review of this disc, upon its first release: "Whoa, an Earth tribute band! Y'know, Earth, the slower than slow, heavier than heavy Sub Pop combo from a few years back, the band that took the Melvins molasses drone riffing over the edge. They're not around anymore (and weren't that great toward the end anyway) but this project (featuring members of Burning Witch/Goatsnake/Engine Kid) revisits Earth's genius genesis (back when Kurt Cobain used to play with 'em), for some long long tracks of primordial dirge. One track is even named after Earth leader Dylan Carlson. And of course the band name Sunn is derived from the amps of choice for both outfits, appropriately so 'cause it's the amps more than the guitars that you hear here. They're not covering Earth tunes, but are essentially following the same formula towards drone metal godhead. Essential for all devotees of the ultra-heavy!" And as some of you have mentioned to us, the Southern Lord website lists a super limited purple vinyl version, but those are available only via direct mailorder from Southern Lord and are most likely gone already anyway.

SWRAcid Mothers Temple SWR(Very Friendly)cd$ 14.98

Or, title SWR, band name Acid Mothers Temple SWR? It could be the other way around, hard to tell, does it matter? Either way, this is the debut disc of jamming from a rather warped power trio formed by members of Japan's Acid Mothers Temple -- specifically guitarist Kawabata Makoto (him again!), bassist/vocalist Atsushi Tsuyama, and sometime AMT drummer Tatsuya Yoshida, whom you should also know from Ruins! SWR stands for Stone Woman Record, three things these guys like a lot. Yoshida is especially well-known for his interest in stones, Kawabata's album covers tend to emphasize his appreciation of feminine beauty, and records, well, AMT wouldn't exist if vinyl hadn't been invented eh? So, song titles include "Do You Know Where The Second Hand Record Shop Is?" and "More Stones, More Women, and More Records" -- along with other, more puzzling titles like "There Is Nothing To Make You Happy In This Box!", "Eat A Pebble" (an ELP reference?), and "Gustavo Hendi". The records that SWR specifically might be spinning in their practice pad could include krautrockers Guru Guru (is the cover alluding to this?) and the free form freakouts of Hawkwind... There's lotsa weird vocals and effects. The sleeve just lists the instrumentation as bass/guitar/drums with only Tsuyama getting vocal credit, but we're pretty sure we can hear Yoshida's warble as well, along with some violin and perhaps flute. Very trippy and silly and psychedelic. It's more of the '70s psych fantasy that these guys have made themselves masters. Fans of the incestuous Japanese psych/prog scene to which AMT and Ruins belong may be able to get a sense of SWR if we tell you to imagine a cross between Nishinihon and Musica Transonic. That is almost what this is, in terms of who is in the band. Yoshida and Kawabata are both in Muscia Transonic, Kawabata and Tsuyama both in Nishinihon. And for that matter, Tsuyama and Yoshida are both in Akaten, and we could go on and on naming other bands with some shared membership: Zoffy, Mainliner, Seikazoku... oh, actually SWR has *exactly* the same lineup as Seikazoku. But this, while equally as weird as that band, is more aligned with the surreal heavy rock spoofing of Nishinihon... Don't expect anything too easily-digestible here, this ain't gonna convince your pal for whom Queens of the Stone Age is as weird-as-it-gets. SWR's equal parts riff rock and indulgent insanity, with the chaos/groove balance teetering wildly, will make him/her run for cover. Lastly, we've said it before and we'll say it again. How do they find the time?? I mean, sleeping and eating and other necessary bodily functions somehow must all take place when these guys aren't playing (and likely, recording) music. When the heck that is, we don't know. But we hope they never stop.

THEY MIGHT BE GIANTSHere Come The ABCs With TMBG(Disneysound)dvd$ 14.98

More kids stuff from They Might Be Giants! Here's the dvd version of their latest children's cd that we reviewed a couple of AQ Lists back. The Johns enlisted the assistance and talents of various friends to bring the songs to life via super cute and fun computer animation and puppetry -- the endearing puppet stars are from Robin Goldwasser's Deeply Felt Puppet Theater. True TMBG fans will recognize the names of the folks who produced this dvd 'cuz they were responsible for the excellent documentary film about the band, Gigantic: A Tale of Two Johns. Running time: 45 minutes.

TIONTOROTHEDs/t(The End Of All Good Metal)cd$ 15.98

add to cart [/images/addtocart.gif]/af4105.html Imagine if you could have a band that was just the best parts of, say, DestrucTION, KreaTOR, GorgorOTH, and EnslavED. Or maybe even SuffocaTION, AnnihilaTOR, MorgOTH, and DeceasED. Well, imagine no more. TIONTOROTHED arrive to usher in THE END of all good metal. The first band that is simultaneously genre defying AND genre defining. Like the END of every classic metal song, the END of every classic album, all seamlessly joined together into the ultimate metal band, the sort of band that in name and in deed represent THE END of all good metal!

TOPLEY-BIRD, MARTINAAnything(Palm)cd$ 14.98

If all of the customer queries and requests we've been getting about this cd are any indication, Ms Martina Topley-Bird is perhaps most known for her personal and professional ties to Tricky -- she sang on a number of his albums -- but on Anything her voice definitely overrides the gossip-mongers and stands on its own merits. Actually this material on this new release is not really technically new. It's a reworking of her 2003 album Quixotic which was never available domestically and which featured the likes of Mark Lanegan, David Holmes and Queens Of The Stone Age's Josh Homme (on the song "Need One"). In fact, it's fairly unrecognizable from its predecessor -- different running order, three omitted songs, etc. If you've already got Quixotic, you'll probably find this to be quite an altogether different listening experience. If you're unfamiliar with those Tricky albums and haven't seen the sultry album cover photo, you'll be forgiven if you deduced (as some of us did) from Ms Martina's wonderful surname that this might be something akin to the neo-folk of Joanna Newsom or Faun Fables. It's not remotely close! No, this is as far from the pixie-dusted woodlands as you can get, think 'cosmopolitan' and more in the vein of lush smoky trip hop a la Massive Attack or yes, Tricky.

TWEDDLE, CHARLIEFantastic Greatest Hits(Companion)cd$ 14.98

What would happen if you took the songwriting talents of Townes Van Sandt and Terry Allen, fed them a bag of dried hallucinagenic mushrooms, brought in the recording talents of Bjorn Olsson with his recycled cassettes mastered onto a dying tape deck and ran the whole thing through the Jewelled Antler's nature recordings filter? Charlie Tweddle's Fantastic Greatest Hits, that's what. Recorded in 1971 in San Rafael, California, with a backup band of either friends who shared his vision or hired guns, Charlie released the album himself in 1974 under the name of Eilrahc Elddewt in a pressing of 500 copies. Needless to say the record was a flop and -- due to the inclusion of extended periods of silence between tracks -- many were returned as defective. It didn't help that there were no track names and that all of side b was a field recording of frogs and crickets. Charlie Tweddle was quite possibly way ahead of his time. All of his songs are mixed with field recordings and random sounds and most of them have a tendancy to end abruptly. In one song, folky acoustic guitar ballads are mixed in with squawking seagulls, ocean sounds and overdubbed spoken word. The second track, an off-kilter mariachi imitation with acoustic guitar and vocals uses an am radio accompaniment (supplying the mariachi band). This reissue includes the original album in its entirety (recorded directly from an existing copy of the LP) plus six never before released tracks. A definite must for fans of the Jewelled Antler releases, Jandek, or outsider country artists in general.

UNICORNPlaying With Light(Housepig)cd$ 6.98

Goddamn this record is beautiful. We mean seriously beautiful. So beautiful it sort of has us at a loss for words. Not at all what we were expecting as our last exposure to Unicorn was a split with Bastard Noise. But this is definitely one of the most beautiful, and satisfying ambient / drone records in recent memory. Delicate and barely there at times, thick and dense at others, but always imbued with this haunting sense of dread, and loss and loneliness. Hard to put a finger on, but the overall impression is one of longing, a melancholy sense of something missing. Very evocative. From glistening crystalline shimmers atop barely audible melodic drones, with distant freaked out guitars all hazy and indistinct, to a thick fuzzy whir over brief snippets of overheard conversations, to simple melodies constructed from distorted overblown tones, backward rhythmic swells, and high pitched cricket like skree, to gentle, sepia toned ambience beneath chiming melodies and more distant sonic wails. So completely haunting and mesmerizing. And that's just the music. The disc includes a series of short films that the music was composed to accompany, and when coupled with the images, it's totally breathtaking. Strangely decaying home movies, found footage, quite stark and simple, but visually emblematic of lost innocence, or a bitter longing for stolen youth, or just a series of slightly sad memories, set to a music that lays out the sorrow in a way that words never could.

UNKNOWNs/t(???)2cd$ 21.00

add to cart [/images/addtocart.gif]/af4105.html Finally back in stock. We listed this way back in 1999, and due to this disc's ineffable nature, we were unable to find more. UNTIL NOW! A monumental extension of John Cage's "4'33" into the realms of marketing. Absolutely inaudible field recording of empty space, walls of noise digitally obliterated into the void of utter silence, and intricate sampling masterfully worked into nothing at all. Austere and basically impossible to see packaging. An audio and visual allegory of pure nothing. Silence made even more silent. Emptiness completely and utterly emptied. Absolutely nothing. No sound. No art. No disc. Recommended!

V/AA Tribute To Uglakh - Waerloga Compilation Vol. 1(Waerloga)cd$ 14.98

From the Swedish Waerloga label, who you should remember as the folks responsible for the Orc-ish and vampiric dark ambient rituals of the mysterious Za Frumi, comes a massive comp of like minded bands and individuals, all exploring the dark damp recesses of their souls, trolling through moonlit forests, dripping caves, lunar landscapes and other mysterious and dimly lit lost worlds. Pretty exciting comp considering we haven't heard of about 90 percent of these bands and most of this stuff is pretty great. Two tracks from Za Frumi exploring similar territory as on their records proper, a a little dark ambient moodiness from The Soil Bleeds Black, and one track from AQ faves Sagor & Swing, and that's about it for bands we know. But fear not, the rest of the comp travels a similar musical path, dark rumbles, dreamy atmospherics, festive renn-faire frippery, downright scary doomscapes and all creepy and creaking stops in between. By the way we think Uglakh is the name of an orc, not a band...

V/AAlchemism(Alchemy)dvd$ 36.00

Now this is a freakin' treat for all Japanophile music fans like ourselves!! Osaka's Alchemy label, home to so much great Japanese noise, punk, and psychedelic music over the years, has gone and put out a DVD collection for your enjoyment. It's pretty much all live stuff (with the notable exception of a strange MTV-style music video clip for a track from label boss's Jojo Hiroshige's most recent solo album!!) recorded at gigs dating all the way back to the '80s, up to this past year, depending on the band in question. So this covers a pretty good selection from the Alchemy label roster, new and old. Here's the line-up, in part: Masonna, Doodles, Up-Tight, Christine 23 Onna, Ultra Bide, Omoide Hatoba, Sekiri, The Genbaku Onanies, Angel'In Heavy Syrup, Subvert Blaze, Hoburakin, Hijokaidan, S.O.B. Kaidan, Incapacitants, and more... Something for everyone. Highlights for us include the intense fuzz guitar psych dealt out by Up-Tight, the hippy metal of Subvert Blaze, the absurd noise-fest of Hijokaidan's 25th anniversary performance, the wonderful delicate psych-pop of all-girl duo Doodles, and the guitar-smashing, cymbal-chucking noise trance tantrum of the infamous S.O.B Kaidan performance (noise mongers Hijokaidan joining forces with the ledgendary Japanese thrash-metal outfit S.O.B. in 1989). And special mention must be made of Christine 23 Onna's punked-out, super-distorted '60s psych groove assault, which culminates with Maso Yamazaki jumping on, and knocking over his synthesizer before taking a dive into the crowd! Since we'd guess that only a few AQ-customers have been lucky enough to attend very many shows at clubs like Osaka's Eggplant or the Shinjuku Loft in Tokyo over the past two decades, this is even more essential if you're at all a fan of this scene... 117 minutes, NTSC, all regions. ----* ----* In Stock, Not Yet Reviewed : ----* If you want to order one of these, just cut and paste the info into the comments area on the order form, or just email mailorder@aquariusrecords.org. AESOP ROCK "Fast Cars, Danger, Fire And Knives" (Definitive Jax) cd 17.98 AKIYAMA, TETUZI "Route 13 To the Gates of Hell" (DAT-3 / Fader) cd 19.98 AKIYAMA, TETUZI / TOSHIMARU NAKAMURA / OTOMO YOSHIHIDE / TAKU UNAMI "Compositions for Guitar Vol. 2" (A Bruit Secret) cd 17.98 AKRON / FAMILY "s/t" (Young God) cd 13.98 ALIAS "All Things Fixable" (Goodwithmoney) cd 14.98 ANDEREGG, BRENDON "Falling Air" (Psych-O-Path) cd 13.98 ART ENSEMBLE OF CHICAGO "Certain Blacks" (Free America) cd 17.98 ART ENSEMBLE OF CHICAGO "Phase One" (Free America) cd 17.98 ART ENSEMBLE OF CHICAGO "With Fontenella Bass" (Free America) cd 17.98 AUBE "Chain[Re]Action" (Blossoming Noise) cd 14.98 AXOLOTL / YELLOW SWANS / GERRITT "split" (Jyrk) cd 5.98 AYLER, ALBERT "Live On The Riviera" (ESP-Disk) cd 14.98 BEANIE SIGEL "The B. Coming" (Roc-A-Fella) cd 14.98 BECK "Guero" (Interscope) cd 15.98 BEYOND SENSORY EXPERIENCE "Korrelations" (Old Europa Cafe) cd 15.98 BIRCHVILLE CAT MOTEL / BRUCE RUSSELL "s/t" (Celebrate Psi Phenomenon) cd 16.98 BLACK LEOTARD FRONT "Casual Friday" (DFA) 12" 6.98 BRAIN DONOR "s/t" (Mister E) cd 13.98 BRAXTON, ANTHONY "Saxphone Improvisation Series F" (Free America) 2cd 25.00 BUDD, HAROLD "Avalon Sutra" (Samadhisound) cd 17.98 BURTON, JAMES & RALPH MOONEY "Corn Pickin' & Slick Slidin'" (Sundazed) cd 13.98 BUSDRIVER "Fear of a Black Tangent" (Mush) cd 14.98 BY THE END OF TONIGHT "A Tribute To Tigers" (Temporary Res) cd 14.98 CALIBOS "Me And The Window" (Handheld) cd 11.98 CARIBOU "Yeti" (Domino) cd ep 6.98 CEPHALIC CARNAGE "Anomalies" (Relapse) cd 14.98 CHARALAMBIDES "Our Bed Is Green" (Kranky) 2cd 16.98 CHICKS ON SPEED AND THE NO HEADS "Press The Space Bar" (Chicks On Speed) cd 14.98 CLARINETTE "Transmuting Fall" (Celebrate Psi Phenomenon) cd-r 14.98 COH "0397post-pop" (Mego) 2cd 24.00 COLD BLEAK HEAT "It's Magnificent, But It Isn't War" (Family Vineyard) cd 14.98 COMETS ON FIRE / BURNING STAR CORE (Yik Yak) lp 14.98 COPE, JULIAN "Citizen Cain'd" (Head Heritage) 2cd 24.00 COTTEN, ELIZABETH AND JESSE FULLER "Masters Of The Country Blues" (Yazoo) dvd 16.98 CRISTINA "Doll In The Box" (Ze Records) cd 16.98 CRISTINA "Sleep It Off" (Ze Records) cd 16.98 CURRAN, ALVIN "Canti Illuminati" (Fringes Archive) cd 21.00 DAEDELUS "Exquisite Corpse" (Mush) cd 14.98 DAFT PUNK "Human After All" (Virgin) cd 17.98 DALE, JON "Son D'Air" (Rhizome) cd-r DAREDIABLO "Twenty Paces" (Southern) cd 14.98 DARK TRANQUILITY "Character" (Century Media) cd 12.98 DAVENPORT "Marble Seed" (Jyrk Collective) cd-r 5.98 DILLOWAY, AARON "Boggs, Volume 2" (Hanson) cd 14.98 DJ QBERT "Demolition Pumpkin Squeeze Musik" (Gurakutiku Batto Heaa) cd 14.98 DROP THE LIME "This Means Forever" (Tigerbeat 6) cd 14.98 DUNGEN "s/t" (Subliminal Sounds) cd 16.98 EGLIN, FABRICE & JEROME NOETINGER "Psychotic Reactions & Lightnin' Rag" (A Bruit Secret) cd 17.98 ERICKSON, ROKY "I Have Always Been Here Before" (Shout! Factory) 2cd 31.00 EVOL "Magia Potagia" (Mego) cd 16.98 FOG "10th Anniversary Freakout" (Lex) cd 15.98 GANG GANG DANCE "God's Money" (Social Registry) cd 14.98 GHOST "Metamorphosis" (Drag City) cd + dvd 17.98 GRUBBS, DAVID & NIKOS VELIOTIS "The Harmless Dust" (Headz / Fader) cd 19.98 HAFLER TRIO "Being A Firefighter Isn't About Squirting Water" (Important) cd 10.98 HAINO, KEIJI "Uchu Ni Karamitsuiteru" (PSF) cd 19.98 HALF-HANDED CLOUD "Thy Is A Word + Feet Need Lamps" (Asthmatic Kitty) cd 14.98 HALL, ARCH JR "Wild Guitar!" (Norton Records) cd 14.98 HARMONIC 33 "Music For Film, Television & Radio Volume One" (Warp) cd 16.98 HELLA "Church Gone Wild / Chirpin Hard" (Suicide Squeeze) 2cd 15.98 HORTICULTURAL COMPASS "The Apparition Of Bees" (Jewelled Antler) cd-r 9.98 KAMMERFLIMMER KOLLEKTIEF "Absencen" (Staubgold) cd/lp 15.98/14.98 KARKOWSKI, ZBIGNIEW "One And Many" (Sub Rosa) cd 14.98 KASABIAN "s/t" (RCA) cd 12.98 KIRKEGAARD, JACOB "Eldfjall" (Touch) cd 15.98 KOICHI, MAKIGAMI "Koedarake" (Tzadik) cd 15.98 KUTI, FELA "The Best Of Fela Kuti: Music Is The Weapon" (Wrasse) 2cd + dvd 33.00 KYLESA "To Walk A Middle Course" (Prosthetic) cd 11.98 LACY, STEVE "The Gap" (America) cd 17.98 LAST OF THE JUANITAS "In The Dirt" (Wantage) cd 13.98 LAVAGNINO, ANGELO "Gamma 1 Quadrilogy" (Dagored) cd 16.98 LCD SOUNDSYSTEM "Yr City's A Sucker" (DFA) 12" 6.98 MACLEAN, JUAN "I Robot / Less Than Human" (DFA) 10" 6.98 MADLIB "Mind Fusion Vol. 1" (Madlib) cd 16.98 MADLIB "Mind Fusion Vol. 2" (Madlib) cd 16.98 MAEROR TRI "Hypnobasia / Ultimate Time" (Old Europa Cafe) cd-r 25.00 MAGICK MARKERS "I Trust My Guitar, etc." (Ecstatic Peace) lp 16.98 MARSUPILAMI "s/t" (Breathless) cd 15.98 MATHIEU, STEPHAN "The Sad Mac" (Headz / Fader) cd 19.98 MATTHEWS, ERIC "Six Kinds Of Passion Looking For An Exit" (451) cd 14.98 MENCHE, DANIEL "Sirocco" (Important) cd 14.98 MERZBOW "Bariken" (Blossoming Noise) cd 14.98 MF DOOM "Live From Planet X" (Nature Sounds) cd 12.98 MIKAMI, KAN "Bachi" (Abruit Secret) cd 17.98 MILTON, ANTONY "'Sirens' & 'And Where The Coloured Planes Are Rafts" (Last Visible Dog) cd 11.98 MOBY "Hotel" (V2) 2cd 16.98 MORRICONE, ENNIO "La Califfa (OST)" (Dagored) cd 15.98 MOUNTAIN GOATS "Nothing For Juice" (3 Beads of Sweat) cd 14.98 MOUNTAIN GOATS "Zopilote Machine" (3 Beads of Sweat) cd/lp 14.98/14.98 MOUNTAINS "s/t" (Staartje) cd 14.98 MOUTHUS "s/t" (Psych-O-Path) cd 13.98 MU "Out Of Breach (Manchester's Revenge)" (Output) cd 16.98 MULCAHY, MARK "In Pursuit Of Your Happiness" (Mezzotint) cd 15.98 NULL, KK "Prime Radiant" (Blossoming Noise) cd 12.98 OCS "3" (Yik Yak) lp 14.98 OKAY "High Road" (Absolutely Kosher) cd 14.98 OKAY "Low Road" (Absolutely Kosher) cd 14.98 OS MUTANTES "Everything Is Possible!: The Best Of Os Mutantes" (Luaka Bop) cd 12.98 OSBOURNE, OZZY "Prince Of Darkness" (Epic) 4cd boxset 42.00 OUT HUD "Let Us Never Speak Of It Again" (Kranky) cd 14.98 PATTON, CHARLIE "Primeval Blues, Rags, and Gospel Songs" (Yazoo) cd 16.98 PLAIN RIDE "On The Flow" (Ektro) cd 14.98 PREFUSE 73 "Surrounded By Silence" (Warp) cd 15.98 PRINCE PO & RAEKWON "Bump Bump" (Lex) 12" 5.98 QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE "Lullabies To Paralyze" (Interscope) cd 16.98 RAMONES "End Of The Century, The Story Of The Ramones" (Rhino) dvd 23.00 RODEN, STEVE "Ear(th)" (Alyce de Roulet Williamson Gallery) cd 13.98 RUDD, ROSWELL "Roswell Rudd" (Free America) cd 17.98 RUNEMAGICK "Envenom" (Aftermath) cd 14.98 SECTION 25 "So Far" (LTM) dvd 32.00 SEHT "The Voice Of The Taniwha" (Last Visible Dog) cd 11.98 SHEPP, ARCHIE "Black Gipsy" (Free America) cd 17.98 SHIFLET, MIKE "The City Is All In Your Head" (Celebrate Psi Phenomenon) cd-r 14.98 SHINING IV "The Eerie Cold" (Avantgarde Music) cd 14.98 SHIPPING NEWS "Flies The Fields" (Quarterstick) cd/lp 14.98/14.98 SHORTER, ALAN "Tes Esat" (Free America) cd 17.98 SILVER MT. ZION MEMORIAL ORCHESTRA, A "Horse In The Sky" (Constellation) cd/2lp 14.98/19.98 SMEGMA "Rumblings" (Hanson) cd 14.98 SNOW PATROL "The Trip" (Fiction) 2cd 28.00 SPOONBENDER 1.1.1 "Stereo Telepathy Academy - Live In San Francisco 2004" (Seismic Seance Recordings) cd-r 11.98 TAAKE "Doedskvad" (Karisma) cd 14.98 TARWATER "The Needle Was Travelling" (Morr Music) cd 16.98 TERRESTRIAL TONES "Blasted" (Psych-o-path) cd 13.98 TETREAULT, MARTIN & OTOMO YOSHIHIDE "2.Tok" (Dame) cd 15.98 THE INCREDIBLE STRING BAND "Philadelphia Folk Festival 1969" (Tallulah) cd 13.98 THORNTON, CLIFFORD "The Panther And The Lash" (Free America) cd 17.98 THUNDERBIRDS ARE NOW! "Justamustache" (Frenchkiss) cd 14.98 TOMOKAWA, KAZUKI "Itsuka, Toky Mite Ita" (PSF) cd 21.00 TOMOKAWA, KAZUKI "Pistol - Shibuya Apia Live" (PSF) dvd 26.00 TWEET "It's Me Again" (Goldmind) cd 16.98 V/A "12" / 80s" (Family Recordings) 3cd 28.00 V/A "Cold Heat: Heavy Funk Rarities 1968-1974 Vol. 1" (Now-Again) cd/lp 14.98/16.98 V/A "Counter Culture 04: Best of 2004" (Rough Trade) 2cd 24.00 V/A "Definitive Jux Teaser 2005" (Definitive Jux) cd 5.98 V/A "Essential Afrobeat: The Very Best of Afrobeat" (Family Recordings) 3cd 28.00 V/A "Everything Comes & Goes - Black Sabbath Tribute" (Temporary Residence Ltd.) cd/lp 14.98/14.98 V/A "Rio Baile Funk: Favela Booty Beats" (Essay) cd/12" 16.98/9.98 V/A "The Joe South Tribute Record" (Jackpine) cd 14.98 V/A "World Psychedelic Classics 3: Love's A Real Thing" (Luaka Bop) cd 16.98 VANDER, CHRISTIAN "Un Homme... Une Batterie" (Seventh Records) dvd 27.00 VITAMINS FOR YOU "Desole... Monsieur Soleil, C'est Le Neige Qui Va Me Liberer" (Intr.Version) cd ep 10.98 VOLCANO THE BEAR "The Idea Of Wood" (Textile) cd 16.98 WALDRON, MAL & STEVE LACY "Mal Waldron With The Steve Lacy Quintet" (Free America) cd 17.98 WEST, SPEEDY "Steel Guitar" (Sundazed) cd 13.98 WICKHAM-SMITH, SIMON "Buckminsterfullerene / Pange Lingua Gloriosi" (Celebrate Psi Phenomenon) 2 cd-r 16.98 WORKS, THE "s/t" (Subliminal Sounds) cd 16.98 WRIGHT, FRANK "Uhuru Na Umoja" (Free America) cd 17.98 ZORN, JOHN "Rituals" (Tzadik) cd 15.98 _______________________________________________________________________ ABOUT MAILORDER

V/AGrime 2(Rephlex)cd$ 15.98

Ahhh, grime. The next big thing. The new sound that was supposedly gonna sweep the nation. But ummm, what happened? I mean, the UK grime scene did give us Dizzee Rascal and Wiley, but then nothing seemed to happen. Well, Rephlex haven't given up on grime, and neither have we. Grime 2 demonstrates yet again, that his grime stuff is pretty darn cool. Ostensibly some sort of variant of two step garage (pronounced gare-ij), itself a minimal variant of jungle, grime is about as simple as it gets. a bouncy, almost ragga rhythm, that lopps and loops endlessly, with fuzzy bass swells supplying a bit of melody, and random bits of sonic filligree, little bells, a clip from an old kung fu movie, a few extra rhythmic shuffles here and there. Good stuff, but very repetitive and relentless. So unless you're dancing, or chilling out, or are in the mood for some tranced out hypnotic rhythms, grime might be a little, um, uneventful for you. But for us, well, we're always in the mood for some tranced out rhythms and always on the lookout for some good chillout music. The cuts on Grime 2 are simple and mesmerizing, head nodding and hypnotic, and fall somewhere between the extended rhythmic workouts of Muslimgauze, the simple, spartan techno of Kompakt, and the minimal house of Chain Reaction, all with a bit of a ragga vibe. Sounds good to us.

V/AHand/Eye(Hand/Eye)2cd$ 19.98

This isn't brand new, but we just managed to get a bunch, and if this isn't just about the perfect compilation for you free-folk, psychedelic, new weird America fans we don't know what is. The track listing should be enough to convince you: Acid Mothers Temple, Kemialliset Ystavat, Amps For Christ, Greg Weeks, Pelt, Martyn Bates, Currituck County, Fursaxa, Dead Raven Choir, Alasdair Roberts, Stone Breath, the Iditarod, Mason Jones, and more!

V/ASoul Gospel(Soul Jazz)cd$ 19.98

Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooouuuuul... umm... gospel? Yes it is, Amen!! Praise Soul Jazz for bringing us one quality compilation after another! Amen!! Actually, this one could be called a masterpiece. Each song has a solid and glowing fullness to it that's certainly not matched on any other comp we've heard. I'm going on a bit of a tangent here, but I once watched a show hosted by David Attenborough called "The Biological History of Music". As you can imagine, Attenborough drowned himself in different situations, mostly in Nature and knee deep in swamp poo. His goal was to study things like bird calls, whale songs, etc. juxtaposed with the most lude clips of Jimi Hendrix performing live on stage I'd ever seen. Attenborough's theories throughout this special pronounced that music seemed biologically created for three different purposes: 1) mating; 2) protecting/gaining territory; and 3) spirituality. Of course, the whale songs were not be analysed for their spirituality (unfortunately), but several spirituals and gospel songs were used as demonstration. Really, this Soul Gospel compilation would have been THE proof for Attenborough's third biological purpose for music! The songs are each a powerful combination of the Spritual and Secular, proclaiming a belief in something "other", or rather, simply well seated in a sense of "otherness". One of the more moving tracks is one by Odetta. Her "Pastures of Plenty" is deep and haunting. Definitely my favorite. For followers of Soul Jazz releases, this comp is a must have. For lovers of Soul and Gospel, your desire for this is obvious. For anyone who's seen that show of which I speak above, you gotta take a gander at this and you'll see what I mean!

V/ASpirits Of Life: Haitian Vodou(Soul Jazz)cd$ 21.00

Gaining independence from France in 1804, Haiti was the first black republic to claim such from a white colonial government. It's also the only nation in the Caribbean whose music is completely free from western influence. That music, the complex drumming and accompanying call & response singing, is inseparable from the Vodou rituals which themselves come directly from Africa by the slaves that brought them to Haiti over four hundred years ago. Despite attempts by the Catholic Church to convert Haitians to Christianity, over fifty percent of Haitians still practise Vodou, often subverting the Catholic rites into Vodou. Vodou has even played a big part in the government, with dictator "Papa Doc" Duvalier using the religian to instill fear into the hearts of Haiti's citizenry. He even dressed his private militia, the Tontons Macoutes, in uniforms resembling the Vodou spirit of peasant farmers and would often dress himself up in the likeness of Baron Samedi, the spirit of the dead. The singing and drumming on Spirits Of Life are a great document of a vital, flourishing and unique religion in this tiny, struggling and oft overlooked island nation. Comes with a nice 25 page booklet with liner notes and gorgeous photos.

VENETIAN SNARESRossz Csillag Allat Sz�letett(Planet Mu)cd$ 14.98

We've come to expect a lot of things from Aaron Funk and his Venetian Snares. But not this. In the past Funk was the master of splattery, maniacal drum and bass, all chopped up and poundingly complex, relentless and completely brain frying. Which we obviously love, but on this here new record, everything has changed. There's still plenty of maddeningly complex drum programming, but now it's merely a framework for actual songs, gorgeous, achingly mournful and surpsrisingly melodic songs. Piano, soaring strings, delicate pizzicato melodies, horns, moaning cellos, even occasional smokey torch song vocals. Remember the Aphex Twin song "Boy/Girl", quite possibly our favorite Aphex track ever, and rightfully so, a totally catchy, immediately memorable string section, wrapped in spikey swaths of drill and bass. Well, this is basically a whole record like that, but with a decidedly more Eastern European vibe, minor key and melancholy, with entire tracks of just strings and piano, NO rhythms. It sounds a bit like Arvo Part jamming with Aphex Twin if you can imagine that. One of the highlights is track three, a cover of Rezso Seress' notorious "Hungarian Suicide Song" which ends up sounding like some lost track from Portishead or Lamb. Slinky and sexy and so so good. The whole record is just amazing, every track offers up something new, whether it's dark doleful gypsy strings, mournful minimal piano, ridiculously intricate drum programming or all three somehow perfectly melded together. Haunting, deeply emotional and totally intense.

WHITMAN, KEITH FULLERTON / GREG DAVISYearlong(Carpark)cd$ 14.98

Back in 2002, Keith Fullerton Whitman and Greg Davis stopped by Aquarius during their cross-country tour to do an instore performance. If memory serves us correctly, Keith had just had his laptop stolen and was working off of a brand-spankin' new PowerBook. Unfortunately, he hadn't worked out all of the bugs as his machine continuously crashed during the performance. Not that anybody in attendance would have noticed, as he never broke his stoic game face and Davis proved to be more than capable of being able to fill in the blank spaces with digital splutter and post-Mego pixelated abstraction. Alas, none of the material from the Aquarius instore made their way onto this condensation of a year's worth of live laptop improvisations. From that year's worth of performances in New York, Cologne, Utrecht, San Francisco, Marsailles, etc. Whitman and Davis jitter, jink, and jive with their fizzing digi-chunks of sound that pass through the duo's constant manipulation of Max/MSP patches from source material that includes twinkling bells, deep gongs, erratic hammond organs, motorcycle engine blasts, metallic scrapes, etc.

YO LA TENGOPrisoners of Love: A Smattering Of Scintillating Senescent Songs 1985-2003(Matador)3cd$ 17.98

Matador Records strangely opted to release this concurrently as both a double cd and a triple cd, we've opted to carry just the 3cd set 'cause it's only a couple of bucks more for a whole lot more (well, if you *really* want the 2cd version we can certainly order one for you)! The menage-a-trois has the disc that every Yo La Tengo lover's gonna want and need. In case you can't tell from the title, you might consider the first two cds to be sort of a 'greatest hits' collection (although the word 'hit' seems somewhat incongruous when applied to this particular band, doesn't it?). You might also think of this as a pretty concise overview of the band's recorded body of work. The funny thing is that Yo La Tengo is the type of band whose fans are so devoted that they pretty much don't miss a single release that comes out. So the first two discs of this set might seem redundant to those diehard YLT fanatics. Yo la tengo, indeed! But who's complaining? At the very least this serves as a terrific YLT mix tape displaying all the wonderful, remarkably varied shades of the band (from their pre-Matador days even) -- the only song that I (Cup) noticed was 'missing' was "Nowhere Near" from their album Painful. In my opinion, it's one of their best Georgia-sung songs *ever*. Ah well, I'm sure other folks' will find other personal faves absent too, but such is the case with 'best of' collections, right? Someone had to choose, and that someone wasn't you. The only track that we wish was NOT included is their nearly unbearable cover of Sun Ra's Nuclear War". We didn't like it the first time we heard it on their 2002 ep. As we said back then, it's "difficult listening, but not the good kind." But back to the third disc o' rarities and outtakes (complete with its own booklet filled with handwritten liner notes)... it's darn tootin' terrific! All on its own, it's well worth the price of admission. Sixteen songs (five of which are previously unreleased) including their demo for "Big Day Coming", "acoustic versions of "Tom Courtenay" and "Decora" as well as Kevin Shields' remix of "Autumn Sweater". They did get my hopes up when I saw that song #6 was their version of a song called "Dreaming", but it's another Sun Ra song, not their super-duper cover of Blondie's hit. This whole set effectively encapsulates Yo La Tengo's journey of ever-evolving musical adventures -- now twenty years long and showing no signs of stopping! They're smart, crafty big-hearted pop explorers who need no big bells and whistles. Often their most potent material may simply be composed of Georgia or Ira's drowsy voice melting into a lone organ drone and sparse shuffling drum beat, while at other times it's the bristly feedback-y crunch of electric guitar, a warm flush of countrified acoustic guitar or a swooning jazz-inflected horn line. Recommended!

YORK, WILLA Dangerous Interview(Lost Enthusiasm)cd$ 14.98

add to cart [/images/addtocart.gif]/af4105.html Local music journalist and AQ pal Will York finally slaps on a wacky costume and steps up to the mic, releasing a debut solo album that confounds as much as it confuses. An interview, but in the form of a wildly imagined rock opera. Imagine a cross between Lester Bangs, David Fricke, Charlie Rose and early Burzum, and you'll have an idea of the interviewing skills at work here. Imagine a cross between Skullflower, John Fahey, Drop Dead and Merzbow and you'll get some idea of what this interview sounds like. It's that good. It's that heavy. The dialogue between these two individuals is so dense and fucked up. Dark and drone-y and caked in lo-fi tape hiss. Totally incomprehensible, yet completely catchy. Fucking essential.

ZORN, JOHNFirst Words(Tzadik)cd + Book$ 45.00

add to cart [/images/addtocart.gif]/af4105.html It's hard to believe it's already been half a year since John Zorn's 50th birthday party. People are STILL talking about what a great party it was and what an excellent batch of new Tzadik releases related to his septuagenarian anniversary we've been blessed with. Wow. Wow! I mean WOW! And what more of a suitable way of kicking off the second half of this year's batch than with First Words. Recorded in the early months of 1955 by his doting mother (using a portable Wollensack recorder purchased at Sears) as he lay in his crib in his yellow and gray camouflage pajamas, the first track of First Words is exactly as one would expect: The very first words uttered by John Zorn! These two syllables, spoken in the interval of a major second, have mystified Zorn for most of his life. This kernel of music, this germinal source of inspiration, was it meant to lead into something, or was it a cadence? Frustrated in his attempts to understand the genius of his earlier self, Zorn went so far as to enroll in Columbia University's Ph.D. program in musicology in an attempt to analyze and break the code on the brief musical passage. The fruits of his labors resulted in the completion of his thesis: The Ontological Implications Of My First Utterance, which is included in hardback form in this limited edition first pressing. The remaining 11 tracks on the album are all compositions commissioned by Zorn and performed by the Downtown scene's greatest: Steve Lacy, Wayne Horvitz, Ikue Mori, Fred Frith, Marc Ribot, Elliott Sharp, Dave Douglas, Otomo Yoshihide and more!