Another gorgeous, gorgeous minimal drone record. Not sure what to say. Our drone thesaurus is darn near tapped out. Shimmering, rumbling, drifting, ethereal, dreamy, Signal To Noise is all of those and more. The first two tracks are composed and performed utilizing only an old Yamaha SY77 synthesizer, filtered, pitch shifted and processed into two lengthy smears of glacial sonic whir. The last track was composed using filtered noise and granular delays to emulate a thunderstorm. A barely there ambient crawl, like a lonely hike through the desert late at night, with the occasional crackle and boom of artificial thunder. Haunting and quite lovely.
The most recent batch of Fat Cat 12"s couldn't be more perfectly AQ! There's the 'believe it or not' Konono No.1 / Dead C split (frustratingly, we're out of those already -- we didn't get our full order and now we have to wait for them to be repressed, argh!) and also this here slab of wax, featuring Jewelled Antler outfit The Ivytree and Australian guitarist Chris Smith. The Ivytree is the solo project of Glenn Donaldson, Jewelled Antler honcho and member of Thuja, Blither Sons, Skygreen Leopards, etc. These five tracks are delicate fragments of crystalline folk, reverb drenched acoustic guitar, warm whirring organs, tinkling chimes and shuffling percussion, and of course Donaldson's sweet falsetto croon. So gorgeous. Like a lazy summer afternoon, flowers blooming, leaves drifting lazily to the ground. grass swaying in the cool breeze, the forest whispering in the wind, with bits of melody drifting by as we lay in the shade letting the sun make random shapes, glowing a muted orange through are closed eyelids. Chris Smith has a whole different take on dreamy tranquility, choosing to instead find his special place using cascading sheets of distorted guitars, a slowly shifting smear of churning chords, roiling riffs and melodies crushed into thick sonic swirls.
After 26 years of cultivating an identity of secrecy, Jandek emerged on October 17, 2004 to perform live for the first time at a festival held at The Arches in Glasgow, Scotland. Many have expressed disappointment at the fact that the famously reclusive Jandek has "thrown away" his cultural cache by making a public appearance; but if you consider that Jandek declined to speak to anyone before or after the show and only spoke in undisclosed communications with the promoter and his collaborators, Jandek continues to take considerable efforts to maintain his distance from the public. So don't fret. Even though he has made this public appearance, do we really know more about Jandek than we did prior to this event? No, not really. The only thing that we can know for sure is that he's more clued into the avant-garde that had been previously thought since his collaborators were Richard Youngs and Alex Neilsen, though that could have been the doing of the festival's promoter. Plus Jandek's whole career makes it clear that he should, can and does do what he wants.
Glasgow Sunday is the recording of that historic Jandek performance; and no matter what your opinion is of Jandek's decision to make a public appearance, this recording is fantastic. Youngs and Neilsen keep their input strictly as a rhythm section never to upstage Jandek himself. Throughout the entire set, Richard Youngs keeps his bass within a controlled variation of an elliptical throb and Neilsen does the quiet tumble down the stairs thing on the drum kit. But it's Jandek who really shines. His strangulated blues chords have the same jangling atonality of his earliest records (i.e. Ready For The House), and his deepened baritone voice snakes through his signature revelatory darkness: "I'm floating in a sea of red / Drowning down, can't get no air / And you done told me / I've got no life / I'm rolling my eyes / The last gasp is coming on." If Jandek's going to come out of his shell to make records this good, who are we to complain!?
Hallelujah! More droning, buzzing, flickering folk-psych from Finland's mysterious Kemialliset Ystavat collective. Sure, we know who's in the band -- Broken Face 'zine artist/contributor Jan Anderzen, Fonal label head Sami Sanpakkila (Es, Kiila), and a host of other Finns -- but they still SOUND mysterious. The damaged four-track folk sound of NYC's Tower Recordings filtered through the forest ambience of AQ-fave improv-psych outfit Thuja might, MIGHT be an approximation of Kemialliset's sonic space. They inhabit that territory previously explored by the likes of Amon Duul, Ghost, Kalacakra, Toho Sara, Parson Sound, International Harvester, Amps For Christ, Six Organs Of Admittance, Algarnas Tradgard, etc. If any of these names bring a warm sensation to your frontal lobes, then you're likely already a Kemialliset fan even if you haven't yet heard 'em. Each track (there's 17 of 'em, spread over 47 minutes) is a psychedelic miniature constructed of drifting, chanting vocals, gentle melodies, and primitive rhythms, contrasting distorted electric guitar wash with pretty, chiming percussion, strings and woodwinds. Freaky and far-out yet mostly mellow and warm and cosy. Fucking lovely. Ah, Finland.
If the cd packaging didn't clue you in that this was a Kid Loco release, you'd probably never be able guess. Nothing jumps out and bites you on the nose, nothing give you even a hint of distinct Loco-ness, nor does it really draw your attention at all. Haven't seen the film yet, so unfortunately we can't comment on how the audio matches up with the visuals or storyline... but the music is generally slowly shifting moods which don't have any 'events' to sync up anyway. So this soundtrack for the film The Graffiti Artist does serve its purpose as background music very well, providing unobtrusive ambience and an occasional shuffling trip hop beat. Taken on its own, it might disappoint folks who've been eagerly awaiting fresh funky Kid Loco action. It's a far less sexy and more sedate listening. Actually crediting this cd to Kid Loco is a bit misleading because although he did handle all of the recording, mixing and producing, in fact the music was written by Kid Bravo and played by Tim Keegan (guitar), Jerome Bensoussan (trumpet, clarinet) and Erik Jansson (Rhodes keyboards)... and they did a fine job!
Loud, heavy, energetic, supple, jaunty, nimble. That's these guys. The instrumental outfit Korekyojinn consists of drummer Tatsuya Yoshida of Ruins, guitarist Kido Natsuki of Bondage Fruits and Nasuno Mitsuru of Altered States -- an utter prog power trio blasting out of Tokyo. They're responsible for two chops-crazed studio albums already, a self-titled debut on Tzadik from '99 and last year's Arabesque on Magaibutsu (which is now out of print). And if you thought that this band was impressive on those cds (which they damn sure were), wait until you hear 'em playing live on Isotope!! Yep, this release is a live in concert recording featuring tracks taken from two shows in Tokyo, June and October 2004. Man are they tight. Spot-on playing of Yoshida's typically riffy, complex compositions. Your ears will be falling all over themselves trying to follow this stuff, it's amazing that the musicians aren't. Of course, some will consider this to be beyond-Berklee widdle-wank... and maybe it is, but you can still love it. Any fan of fan of the mad mathiness of Ruins, Stinking Lizaveta, Breadwinner, Orthrelm, that sort of thing ought to. Along with 13 live cuts, this disc also includes one prev. unreleased studio track (the punishing "Hash") that was left over from the sessions from Arabesque.
FINALLY RE-PRESSED AND BACK IN STOCK! An AQ Record Of The Week back in January, gone AWOL for some months now.
Wasn't sure what to expect with this one. A lost soundtrack from 1971 (a magic year for music, just ask Allan) to a movie none of us had ever heard of, directed by and starring Peter Fonda. Could go either way. But the second we threw it on, we knew this was IT! A dark and langorous abstract country psych folk gem. Seriously. Hearing this for the first time, you'd be forgiven for guessing it was Scott Tuma, Souled American, Califone, Golden Hotel, Thuja, Woven Hand or some totally obscure cd-r on some little tiny label from some mysterious band of psychedelic country folk minstrels. Slow and mournful, delicate and dreamy, acoustic guitars, farfisa organs, harmonicas and an echoplex. Spare and skeletal, mini epics of melancholic twang. Imagine if Sergio Leone had Ennio Morricone assemble a band cobbled together from members of the Jewelled Antler Collective, the No Neck Blues Band and Souled American to score one of his Westerns. Definitely recommended if you dig any of the folks mentioned above (including Morricone). And if like most of us, you've been digging all sorts of those obscure so-called "new weird America" outfits, maybe it's about time we all dug into some "OLD weird America."
And by the way, now we HAVE seen the film (it was re-released on DVD not too long ago) and it's GREAT!
It's still very early in their career, but those hectic Rogers Sisters, real-life sisters Jennifer and Laura along with their honorary bro' Miyuki Furtado, have already demonstrated a penchant for brevity in each of their releases. Why belabor the subject? Why waste time? Just get in, have yer fun and get out! The Brooklyn-based trio's latest is no exception coming in the form of a bilingual 2-song cd single. The title song is sung in Japanese by Jennifer while the other "45 Prayers" is sung in French by Miyuki. Note: If you've already got their album Three Fingers, you might not really need this unless you're a total completist 'cuz you've already got these songs, albeit in slightly different versions. If you don't have Three Fingers and/or have never heard them yet, this makes for a nice little sneak peek. Very much following in the footsteps of the 70s/80s female post-punk, no wave, and stripped-down funk bands such as Slits, Liliput and ESG with jutting guitars, skronky sax and whooped vocals. Pretty rad!
You know that feeling when you meet a new acquaintance who bears an uncanny resemblance to a dear old friend, and you automatically feel a warm familiarity towards him/her? Such is the case with this new Love As Laughter album. Yes, as the title tells us, this is their fifth album, and on it they try a little of this 'n' a little of that (some folksy twang and some 'blues' with kazoo!), but through it all they remain steadfast indie rockers. Really they've nailed the sound with such remarkable accuracy that '90s college radio stations would've gobbled this up in a second. In fact, to put it another way, Laughter's Fifth sounds as though the band took the ghosts of indie rock icons Pavement, the Replacements, Dinosaur Jr. and maybe even some Jesus And Mary Chain too (particularly on track 9 "Pulsar Radio") and slipped those bands' secret formulas into their pocket. Oddly enough back in those days it seemed like L.A.L.'s mainman Sam Jayne's previous band Lync was doin' its noisy, abrasive emo-punk best to fly in the face of such un-fiery fodder. Hmmm, not anymore. A mellowing with age? Dunno, but while they're definitely not breaking any new ground, they have made an album filled with very well-done songs of that ilk.
Single number two (or is it number three?) from the recent M83 record and damn if that record doesn't sound better and better as we re-examine it single by single. A perfect warm flush of gossamer dreaminess, lush buzzing synths and breathy otherworldly vocals. You should really already have the title track by now, if you don't, for chrissakes order yourself a copy of Before The Dawn Heals Us and then come on back. So it's the two bonus tracks that are the reason to pick this up. There's the exclusive-to-this-single track "Addicted To Self Mutilation", a slow burning soundscape of falsetto harmonies, like the Beach Boys on peyote, slipping and slithering over a simple electronic shuffle and a jagged buzz-guitar drone. Hard to figure how a band can come up with sonic leftovers WAY better than most bands' main courses! The other track is a reworking of "Teen Angst", by Montag, a fellow Gooom Records sonic alchemist, who was responsible for the soaring string arrangements on both of the M83 records (and whose lastest record we'll be reviewing soon!). Montag takes the lush and fuzzy original and strips it way down, leaving just a skeletal electronic rhythm, with ghostly traces of the original synths swirling amidst the hushed vocals and mournful minor key melodies, eventually allowing the whole thing to build to an intense and chaotic rhythmic frenzy that simply blinks out, leaving residual traces of synth and skitter floating through your head.
Ah, unless our ears deceive, it's another delightful Hammond organ fantasia from Sweden's dreamy Sagor & Swing...yay! Well actually it's not quite a new Sagor & Swing album, as this is the product of just one half of S&S, but it contains the crucial element, as Eric Malmberg was the organist is that now defunct duo. So this sounds like a lot more than just fifty percent of Sagor & Swing for sure. Not to slight the contribution of Malmberg's former partner, drummer Ulf Moeller, but it's the so very Bo Hansson inspired Hammond organ playing of Malmberg that really makes the magic (Bo Hannson being the jazz-psych-prog genius whose 1970 Lord Of The Rings album is an all time AQ fave). Without the drumming of Moeller, this is definitely less jazzy, all the more airy and ambient, spacey and even a little droney. And, as always, so very very lovely, full of the pretty melodies that Malberg seems to conjure as effortlessly as does his equally ear-soothing countryman Bjorn Olsson (also a big Bo Hansson fan).
This is entirely a solo, instrumental affair, though presumably recorded with the aid of overdubbing. And it's *only* Hammond organ. No other synths at all. The Hammond was indeed the sole sound source, a point of pride for Malmberg, making him a bit of hero to all Hammond-lovers! Some tracks employ the tick-tock beats of the Hammond's built-in rhythm box (harking back a bit to early krautrock Kraftwerkian electronics) whilst others simply drift memerizingly without. Meanwhile his keyboard arpeggios and gentle seagull sonics lull the the listener, so sweetly.
To our ears, this is quite possibly better than the final Sagor & Swing album Orgelplaneten, or at any rate is certainly quite different, tending more towards vibe of mellow forest folkiness of the earlier S&S and not the brasher, uptempo stuff on the jazzed-up Orgelplaneten. Recommended!
Madeline is the first release from these two Japanese gals currently calling SF their home. Prior to moving to the States, the pair were in a band called Small Universe, and one member is also currently the bassist for The Ass Baboons Of Venus! They dish out five very short (and only occasionally sweet) jolts of super raucous and lo-lo-fi, truly garage-style pop. Primitive thumpin' drumbeats, trashy guitar chords, girl gang vocals and the howl of uncontrolled feedback.
You ever have that problem where you're in an internet sex chat room, and you make a date with some pervy girl for a phone sex session, and then when you call her up it's actually some jerk with a sampler loaded with a sexy female voice telling you things
A few of the callers figure it out, and then it gets even more pathetic as they continue to masturbate, being such geeks that they're turned on by the technical details of the joke (one guy asks, excitedly, about if the sampler is triggered by keyboard or mouse). But most of the guys are so clueless and horny that they're completely unfazed by Kathy's bizarre comments ("I think you might be racist", "I want to have your retarded babies", "I've got a pickle in my ass") and limited vocabulary (she says "Yesssss!" the same way every time), or her deafeningly noisy, Merzbow-level obviously-looped screams of orgasmic ecstasy. We could go on, but we don't want to reveal too much. Just get this, it's the best crank call disc we've heard in a long time. You'll be playing it for everyone you know, except maybe your mom. Absurdly funny.
In the bizarre musical world of Japan's Melt Banana, seven inch singles are hedgehogs, and MB's got a whole mess of em, most WAY out of print and long unavailable. So finally, all of these long sought after hedgehogs, all released between 1994 and 1999, have been gathered up, gussied up, digitized and released on one single compact disc. 13 Hedgehogs featuring all of MB's tracks from the singles "Hedgehog", "It's In The Pillcase", "Untitled (Piano One)", "Eleventh" and "Dead Spex" as well as their tracks from splits with God Is My Co-Pilot, Discordance Axis, Pencilneck, Target Shoppers, Stilluppsteypa, Plainfield, Xerobot, and Killout Trash. Phew. 56 tracks of maniacal squealing and squeaking, stop-start, ultra dense, mega complex confusional punk / grind / pop / whatthefuck! So ridiculous and so totally amazing!
Now considered something of a classic, here's an awesome acid-folk rarity recorded thirty-five years ago by a gaggle of hippies in Barcelona. This is something we've had sporadically in stock before ('cause people in the know were asking about it) but now at last we've got enough to list -- and they're cheaper than they were before, too! This, Musica Dispersa's only album, was originally released in 1970 and now appears on cd, digitally remastered, in a nice digipack complete with folded booklet/poster (the liner notes are all in Spanish but there are lots of sepia-toned photos for non Spanish readers to look at).
Their sound is both danity and drugged-out, occassionally playful but most often melancholic and mellow... with moaning vocals, sad flute, organ, mandolin, piano, bongos, and various other percussion instruments, Musica Dispersa made quite quiet and gentle, dismally beautiful music (that was apparently very political in the context of their times/place as well). They tend to draw comparison to both the archaic, acoustic approach of the Incredible String Band and other UK folk acts of the era, and the freaky freeform ramblings of early Amon Duul. And we're strongly reminded of another krautrock band, AQ faves Siloah. Definitely something for which the phrase "weird and wonderful" was always intended. Recommended.
Such a great title wasted on an album so lacking any bite. Groan, sorry, but how can you resist when it's served up on a platter like that?! So prepare yourself, you're probably gonna be reading a bunch of similar pun-infested NIN reviews.
Trent Reznor must've had a falling out with the old friendly wizard who guided him in the creation of his career defining brilliant album The Downward Spiral 'cause nothing he's done since has come anywhere near its stunning magic and potency. The most immediately noticeable difference on this, his first full album in five years, is the prominence of vocals. Yes, we were forewarned with prerelease interviews and press releases of this new focus, but we weren't quite prepared for Reznor actually *singing* this much. Frankly, next to his lyrics which do have a tendency to be cliche-ridden and nursery rhyme-y ("Will you bite the hand that feeds? Will you get up off your knees?"), his voice is his weakest instrument. It's great when he screams or whispers, but anything in between falls into uh-oh territory. That said, when his teeth-baring rage does surface (such as when he screams "Don't you fucking know what you are?!), it still seems somewhat forced and hollow. The fact that he says/screams/sings the word 'fuck' rather frequently offers little compensation. It's just a lazy substitute for actual fury. Furthermore, he recycles elements from Downward Spiral with far weaker results here (such as the 'stripping things down from an angry wall of guitars to a solitary piano' treatment -- even ending the album in said fashion). While Reznor has certainly crafted a great *sounding* album, he's done little to distinguish it from the rest of the pack. There's so many bands that sound like this these days. His past influence on other artists seems to have come full circle and collapsed in on itself. For instance, the thumpin' industrial dance-y fourth song "The Hand That Feeds" could easily be mistaken for something by The Faint, while at other points his delivery drips with faceless nu-metal emotiveness. Most puzzlingly though is the album's lead-off track "All The Love In The World" that veers off into a funkiness oddly resembling Fat Boy Slim's gospel-tinged "Praise You". Strange... and strangely disappointing.
Ah, the sweeter side of John Dwyer. It's always been a struggle for Dwyer, between his sweat soaked spazz rock, club smashing, instrument battering side (Landed, Pink And Brown, Coachwhips) and his lonely boy, mix tape, bedroom, acoustic and sensitive side (OCS). Well it appears, that for the time being at least, with the end of the Coachwhips, OCS is Dwyer's main focus. Dr. Jeckel has regained control and banished Mr Hyde to wait patiently in the dakness....
Like the first OCS record, released on Andee's tUMULt label, this is a massive, beuatifully packaged double disc collection of beautifully ramshackle, intimate and home recorded lo-fi indie bedroom folk. However, unlike the tUMULt release, where disc two was a clattery, crunchy, crashing NOISE record, both discs here are chock full of simple strummed guitars, echoey percussiony, big empty room rhythmic clatter, distant distorted melancholy melodies, haunting reverby electric guitar, quavery falsetto vocals, drowsily affected jangle shuffling snare drums and hazy atmospheres....all occasionally peppered with swooping stuttering psych rock space effects, chirping birds, and creaking rattling soundmakers of all kinds. For fans of Sentridoh, Shrimper and all things 4-track, lo-fi, jangley, shuffley and strummy! The lp is is the OCS '3' record only, you gotta buy the double cd to get both '3' and '4'!
Ah, the sweeter side of John Dwyer. It's always been a struggle for Dwyer, between his sweat soaked spazz rock, club smashing, instrument battering side (Landed, Pink And Brown, Coachwhips) and his lonely boy, mix tape, bedroom, acoustic and sensitive side (OCS). Well it appears, that for the time being at least, with the end of the Coachwhips, OCS is Dwyer's main focus. Dr. Jeckel has regained control and banished Mr Hyde to wait patiently in the dakness....
Like the first OCS record, released on Andee's tUMULt label, this is a massive, beuatifully packaged double disc collection of beautifully ramshackle, intimate and home recorded lo-fi indie bedroom folk. However, unlike the tUMULt release, where disc two was a clattery, crunchy, crashing NOISE record, both discs here are chock full of simple strummed guitars, echoey percussiony, big empty room rhythmic clatter, distant distorted melancholy melodies, haunting reverby electric guitar, quavery falsetto vocals, drowsily affected jangle shuffling snare drums and hazy atmospheres....all occasionally peppered with swooping stuttering psych rock space effects, chirping birds, and creaking rattling soundmakers of all kinds. For fans of Sentridoh, Shrimper and all things 4-track, lo-fi, jangley, shuffley and strummy!
A new name in the Celebrate Psi Phenomenon stable, this Scottish outfit manage to take the low tuned, tectonic guitar rumble of Earth / Sunn 0))) / etc., rev it up a little, add some melody and make it sort of rock, in a seasick, lurching through six inches of tar, being crushed beneath a black sky sort of way. And that's only the first track. Track two is a dizzying expanse of creaking machinery, dubby guitars, reverb and echo all over the place, some seriously overblown, guitar soaked dark ambience. Track three manages to mix the two together. The guitars are still there, fuzzing and buzzing and squriming like downed electrical wires, but they're spitting sparks from beneath a warm ocean of thick chords and muted feedback, melodic and drifting dreamily, a bit like Sunroof! or Vibracathedral Orchestra. Really nice. Fans of the Earth / Sunn 0))) / Corrupted / dirgedronedoom axis will NEED this for track one, but drone freeks will find the whole thing essential listening. SUPER LIMITED AS ALWAYS!! NOT SURE WE'LL BE ABLE TO GET MORE WHEN THESE ARE GONE!
Love him or... don't love him ("hate him" seems a little extreme for a man as benign as Harry Partch), he had to have been the greatest idealist in the history of Western music -- not to mention the greatest iconoclast. It's not enough to disassemble the chromatic scale and build an entirely new harmonic theory around a division of some 43 tones to the octave or assemble an entire orchestra of insanely gorgeous hand built instruments, but he also insisted on a corporeal execution of almost all his works. The Bewitched was the first large scale composition in which the musicians were also expected to sing and dance as they played. Not something that most performers or audiences would balk at today, but this was 1957, not 1967. Even today his music sounds completely unreal and haunting. Bewitched begins with an 18 minute prologue, an aural genesis of his music. It begins with just the rumblings of the marimba eroica, the two note bass marimba, which are almost inaudible unless you have some serious subwoofer action. One by one the entire cast of the Partch orchestra chimes in on different melodic themes, and building in counterpoint with one another at each turn. Musically it's an extremely strong composition, with great thematic development, beautiful and haunting melodies (as wonderful as any in his other compositions). One of the greatest aspects of The Bewitched however is Partch's treatment of the human voice. Whether done intentionally to stress the "primitive" aspirations of his music, or for lack of a worthy libretto, all the vocals are wordless chanting and singing. I know a lot of people can't seem to get into Partch's works (like "Revelation In A Courthouse Park" and "Barsto") because they find the lyrics corny. Those who can't get into his music because of this might want to give Partch a second chance with The Bewitched. The voice of the performer playing The Witch, the lead role in The Bewitched, sounds an awful lot like Yma Sumac. In fact the whole compositions sounds a lot like a more academic Martin Denny scoring an episode of Star Trek (Shatner, not Stewart for all you young-uns) -- what with all the marimba-like instruments. And yet in sections which feature clarinet, piccolo and cello Partch's themes begin to sound surprisingly pastoral, like his antithetical contemporary Copland. Which is not to make Partch look like some stuffed shirt. I don't think anyone would confuse his music for the offspring of a tenured faculty at some ivy league school. One need look no further than the titles for each scene to see that Partch's sense of humor wouldn't be caught dead in academia. For instance, scene five is titled "Visions Fill the Eyes of a Defeated Basketball Team in the Shower Room", or scene ten: "The Cogniscenti Are Plunged into a Demonic Descent While at Cocktails". Like the other discs in this Partch reissue series this one comes with a nice fat booklet with historical and biographical notes, photos and detailed descriptions of each scene in the performance (which, by the way, is the original 1957 monaural recording). Highly recommended!
A few months back we raved about the Primitive Calculators anthology which came out on Chapter Music. Thanks to that review, we were contacted by Denise Hilton who had been one of the electronic wizards for that seminal Australian synth punk and had some rare singles that she was willing to part with. The Glitter Kids single was recorded live at the Champion Hotel in Fitzroy, just outside of Melbourne back in 1979. The three tracks fuse the electric arpeggiations of Suicide with DNA's brittle guitar attacks on top of a quintessential punk antagonism, and they don't appear on that afforementioned CD anthology. We only have a few of these, so don't dawdle!
The Danish duo shrug off the hype machine and produce an album that's enjoyable in ways far different from their previous garage-y albums The Chain Gang Of Love and Whip It On. Surprisingly not brash nor rebellious in the least, Pretty In Black is dreamy almost to the point of being downright tame! This time their retro feel draws even more inspiration from '60s American girl group Phil Spector productions. In fact, many of the songs sound as though the band took melodies of old classics and build new Raveonettes' songs around them. While they do offer a couple of actual cover versions ("My Boyfriend's Back" and "Be My Baby"), familiar strains of other old tunes surface in songs that are definitely not covers. Tell me I'm not crazy, do you not hear New Order's "Blue Monday" in the song "You Say You Lie"? Ditto for the following "Ode To L.A." which bears more than a passing resemblance to the abovementioned Ronettes' song, and not just because of the presence of special guest vocalist Ronnie Spector! For additional cool points tho' they got a couple of other rock icons Martin Rev and Moe Tucker on board (to supply some programmed beats and drumming respectively) however their contributions are much less apparent. Anyways, some might find the above concerns a bit problematic, while others might relish in the album's pop nostalgia. We're finding ourselves leaning way more towards the latter.
Another mysterious collection of droning wonder from Celebrate Psi Phenomenon, this time from off-duty electrician Mike Shiflet whose 5 pieces on The City Is All In Your Head are excerts from a 12 hour performance which accompanied a sonic sculpture installation. Drone is the order of the day here, and these five tracks are all gorgeously rendered explorations of the vast and varied ambient drone spectrum. From warm fuzzy, warbly organ drones that sound like a surprisingly sonorous vaccuum cleaner rife with shimmering overtones, to a caustic dental drill, to hollow mouthed reverb grinding thrum all pulsing and throbbing, to a crystalline outerspace drone - a static upper register cluster of sound with shifting fuzzy soinc shhhh's underneath and huge fist-to-the-side-of-an-empty-dumpster percussion. All gathered reverentially around the record's centerpiece, a thirty minute slab of massive earth shaking low end rumble, so nice! SUPER LIMITED AS ALWAYS!! NOT SURE WE'LL BE ABLE TO GET MORE WHEN THESE ARE GONE!
Since their split from DGC many moons ago, these Canadian boys' music has been next to impossible to get here. At long last, Koch has been able to bring their music back to our hungry ears. It's about time too!
It's hard to know what to say about Sloan, they're one of those bands that just makes us want to scream "What do you mean why are they so great? I don't know, they just are!!! You need to buy all their records NOW!" Everyone here just loves their perfect pop so much. Equal parts crunchy guitars, Beach Boys like harmonies, impossibly catchy hooks, stumblingly chaotic drumming, perfect jangle and strum guitars. And then there's the fact that each member of Sloan takes turn singing, playing guitar, and playing bass. How many bands can you say that about?! And the thing is, they all completely kick ass at all three. And as you get familiar with the band you start identifying songs as a 'Jay song' or an 'Andrew song'. That's sort of the appeal, they are crack songsmiths, and most definitely rock stars (certainly in Canada) but at the same time they are so self effacing, dorky and lovable. Their music is totally earnest and over the top bombastic at the same time. Sometimes it shuffles along all moody and downcast, sometimes it's a blast of high energy RAWK, sometimes they'll whip out some full on Chicago horns. And it all sounds great, fitting perfectly into Sloan's perfect pop puzzle. The second half of this greatest hits packed less of that Sloan pop wallop we so hold dear and more of an arena rock flair (which is sort of the direction their records have been taking, but hell, we'd rather Sloan be rocking the stadium than Janet Jackson or Counting Crows!). If you somehow missed Sloan the first time around (or if you just plain miss them!), this singles compilation serves quite well as shorthand summary of their many albums (although Andee and Cup wish a few other choice cuts had been included). This is essential pop, power or otherwise. PLUS while supplies last you get a whole DVD of all of their videos, which are all totally fun and funny and wildly entertaining. Plus it's a blast to watch the band go through an impossible number of hairstyles over the years! Anyone who loves the Posies, Weezer, Jellyfish, Big Star, Silver Sun, the Fastbacks, Superchunk, the Stereo, Zumpano, the New Pornographers, Fallout Boy, the Get Up Kids or any of that stuff, who doesn't already have a big chunk of Sloan in their collection has a lot of catching up to do. This is as good a place as any to start!
Geez, life is hard, innit? Don't wanna be a broken record about it, but there aren't enough adjectives in our thesaurus to describe how much we dig this band. Have to admit though, that each time a Spoon release date looms on the horizon, we anticipate it with more than a little trepidation. But there really hasn't been any real cause for concern, Britt and co. have yet to disappoint. Yeah, we totally blew our wad gushing over their brilliant Girls Can Tell album back in 2001, then its follow-up Kill The Moonlight took a little longer to sink its teeth in and find its own cozy place in our hearts. Now its follow-up is here. Marking more subtle shifts in the band's direction and sound, Gimme Fiction definitely dips a toe into some new territory -- very tasteful though, nothing outlandish. Perhaps most noticeable is the lower level of pep and fewer obvious hooks. In their places are darker, somberer tones. The addition of strings, horns and mysterious 'sound effects' build the band's already dynamic mood swings to much more pronounced highs and lows. In fact, the first song "The Beast And Dragon, Adored" is so somber that when we heard the first few piano strains it made us think we'd put on a Black Heart Procession album. Then there's a very strange funky detour on the third song "I Turn My Camera On" in which Daniel affects a Prince-esque falsetto, once again causing us check to make sure that our stereo was indeed playing Spoon. And doesn't "I Summon You" sounds like a scaled down E.L.O. song? In contrast to those three decidedly 'new' directions, there's also lots of warm, familiar Spoonisms like "Two Sides Of Monsieur Valentine", "My Mathematical Mind" and "Merchants Of Soul". Great! With guests John Vanderslice, Crooked Fingers' Eric Bachmann, and members of the Tosca String Quartet.
Added Spoon treat, while they last, and only with the cd: you also get a four-song cdep with bonus songs "Carryout Kids" (Byram and Cup thought its piano/vocals beginning sounded like an audition for a Broadway musical) and an incredibly distorted, farty "You Was It" as well as demo versions of "I Summon You" and "Sister Jack".
Cassette archive reissue number four from Eclipse brings us two more long out of print Sun City Girls cassettes. Like the previous releases, these LPs do not definitively reproduce those old cassettes, but both include tracks previously unreleased and lack the inclusion of several tracks on those original cassettes. Folk Songs of the Rich and Evil comes out of the Girls' old stomping grounds of Phoenix, Arizona circa 1985. Through and through this one's an avant-punk-free-jazz-nightmare, demographically designed to fuck with the hopes and aspirations of the ethno rock loving crowd. Elliott likens Alan's fever pitched vocals to that of sleep talker Dion McGregor. The tracks on Exotica on $5 a Day come primarily from 1983 and 1985, also recorded in and around Arizona. For the tracks on side A brothers Alan and Richard drop their guitar and bass to join Charlie in a maniacal tribal faux-Native American drum and vocal jam. Ironically enough, the final -- bonus -- track on this side "Hopi Ceremonious" was recorded at a Big Mountain benefit in 1986. Side B is a set of droney improvised tunes, the likes of which must certainly be seen as sowing the seeds for a future No Neck Blues Band.
What's your favorite TMBG song? "Ana Ng", "Birdhouse In Your Soul", "Don't Let's Start", "Particle Man", "Spider", "I Palindrome I", "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)"? Well, you've got another prime opportunity to figure it out! Yup, here's yet another They Might Be Giants compilation, but it's a much more concise one. Whereas its double disc predecessors "Dial-A-Song: 20 Years of They Might Be Giants" and "Then: The Earlier Years" were a bit pricey and overwhelming, this new collection has somehow whittled their highlights down to one single ultra concentrated cd serving of TMBG bliss. It's still a whopping 29 songs long though! They could've easily called it "The Best Of..." or "Greatest Hits", but dubbing it a "User's Guide" works just fine. It's sorta one step away from those "...For Dummies" or "Idiot's Guide To..." how-to series -- perfect for that rare guy or gal who has yet to experience the assorted pop mastery of the 'Two Johns'. The liner notes even includes an assortment of both relevant and seemingly irrelevant trivia facts and figures. One thing tho', you'll need a magnifying glass to read them. The print is teeny tiny!
We love post rock. There. We said it. And we certainly love when our post rock is delivered with a healthy dose of metallic crunch! And indeed, there's been a bit of a post rock resurgence around these parts lately, from regular old post rock instrumental rhythmic workouts to massive metallic onslaughts, and everything in between. Needless to say we're digging every minute of it. So along comes a band called Tides, whose particularly epic and excellent brand of metallic post rock comes to us in a rather roundabout way. A friend of ours works for a magazine that has a VERY narrow stylistic focus. And we do mean VERY. So anything sent to the magazine that falls even slightly outside this focus ends up in what is lovingly referred to as the reject box. And this dutiful friend goes through the reject box and discovers and delivers to us gem after gem, whose only reasons for being cast into this box of rejection seems to be wholly unique and original attempts at music making. Whether it's too metal, not punk enough, too weird... whatever it is that keeps those folks from listening to something tends to be precisely what makes us LOVE IT. Thus we have Tides. A mysterious instrumental outfit that explores similar sonic territory as Isis, Pelican, Conifer and the like. Not at all what you'd expect from a label called Teenage Disco Bloodbath. Dirge-y fuzzy stoner grooves, huge undulating riffs with wailing keening melodies, majestic and mournful, relentless and epic, often splintering into stretches of blissy tripped out space rock, and sublime dreamy interludes of subtle drumming and acoustic guitar, slow building and gorgeously propulsive. All stretched over a framework of murky, moody post rock mesmer. Totally hypnotic, completely rocking and intensely emotional. Definitely one of our new favorites. Fans of Isis, Neurosis, Pelican, Circle, Old Man Gloom, Conifer, and all things post rock, metal and beyond should definitely check this out.
There's such wonderful chemistry between Mr. Jann Tiersen (composer of numerous soundtrack works for films such as Amelie and Good Bye Lenin) and Ms Shannon Wright (singer/songwriter of four fine dark, druggy folk rock albums). Whoever thought of this inspired pairing deserves a hearty toast! Tiersen's presence seems to offer a grander scale to Wright's usually more intimate works which in the past have drawn plenty of comparisons to a PJ Harvey fronted Dirty Three. With its gorgeous arrangements composed mainly of piano, strings, electric guitar, and vocals, this collaboration actually serves as quite a smooth and fitting progression from Wright's last solo album, Over The Sun (which was a particular fave around here). Fans of hers will surely not be disappointed. With each track the pair delve deeper and deeper into the shadowy depths of lost hopes and despair -- only breaking briefly from this downward spiral at the sixth song "While You Sleep". It's like a sudden surfacing, a desperate gasp for breath in the midst of a drowning, a shattering of the relative calm. Check out the howling violin and empassioned vocal performance, thrashing and clawing to escape the misery. Whoa, that in itself was a sudden geyser of metaphors, but the music definitely stirs up such imagery.
Geeky and proud artrock prog math madness from the same scene, more or less, as Infidel?/Castro!, Behold The Arctopus, and Kayo Dot. So if you're into those bands, and Mr. Bungle, Secret Chiefs, Estradasphere, Idiot Flesh, that sort of thing, then this new release on John Zorn's Tzadik label might just be the ticket for you. But then again, they're probably not quite what you'd expect (which is the idea). While sometimes heavy and more often mathy, they aren't really so much of a metal deal like some of those other bands. Plenty of indie rock melody makes it into their quirky, claustrophobic mix. We're actually reminded a bit of Heavy Vegetable (remember them?) and we're pretty sure that both OK Computer and Angel Dust just might be in somebody in this band's top 10. Along with lots of the poppier '70s and '80s prog.
They're a quartet (augmented by a guest trumpeter and vocalists, including Julee Cruise) and a look at the cd booklet will reveal that one guy, for instance, is credited with "keyboards, vocals, guitar, machine parts, hair dryer and sequencing" which might give you some idea of the weirdness amid the melody that they get up to here.
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
A few weeks back, we listed the CD & DVD set of Berlin Super 80 with the caveat that the set was strictly limited, with a second edition of the DVD to be made available shortly. Well, now there's a double LP set, which will be the only way to get the musical program from that aforementioned CD & DVD set. Of course vinyl goes out of print pretty quickly too... Here's what we wrote earlier:
In the late '70s and early '80s, Berlin developed a caustic community of avant-punk musicians, filmmakers, artists, and hangers-on, whose aesthetics of alienation, angst, bewildered ecstacy, terminal revulsion, etc. were certainly impacted by the wall that seperated their city. Einsturzende Neubauten is clearly the most respected export from this community; but it could be argued that Neubauten (or any of the original members from that once close-knit community, for that matter) haven't quite the compulsion to make the magnificently explosive music as they did when the Berlin Wall was still standing. While likeminded bands such as Malaria!, Die Todliche Doris, and Sprung Aus Den Wolken have been served well by recent reissues of their work from that time period, much of the accompanying visual ephemera (film, performance, painting, photography, etc.) has rarely been seen outside of its original context, barring a few exhibitions in art-spaces and festivals.
Fortunately, Berlin Super 80 offers an extraordinary glimpse into the community of existential expressionists who erupted in Berlin during the late '70s and early '80s. Neubauten, Doris, Malaria, and Sprung Aus Den Wolken offer some of their quintessentially great pieces. YThe discovery of previously unknown (although not unreleased) tracks from Mona Mur, Mono/45 UPM, Kosmonautentraum, and Flucht nach Vorn with their propulsive death-disco grooves and skeletal synthesizes make Berlin Super 80 well worth the price of admission.
Be warned, the 2LP is LIMITED to only 1000 copies!
Never been much for poetry, but this one was tough to resist. First you've got a big ol' book of poetry, most of it actually quite good, from young American poets, and all about love, as the title and subtitle suggest. Very few names were familiar, David Berman of the Silver Jews and Jeff Tweedy being the only two we immediately recognized, but then again we're not exactly plugged into the poetry scene, hip and young or otherwise. So besides a pretty cool book of poetry you've got a cd with exclusive tracks from VIC CHESNUTT, COCOROSIE, DOUNG MARTSCH (Bulit To Spill), MAGNOLIA ELECTRIC COMPANY (Songs:Ohia), NINA NASTASIA, RICHARD BUCKNER, RAY'S VAST BASEMENT, SILVER JEWS, MARK MULCAHY (Miracle Legion), JENNY TOOMEY, NANANG TATANG, NEW RADIANT STORM KING and more!!
Wondering who is Joe South? Some of us here were too. Born Joe Souter, he was the songwriter behind a remarkable number of those AM radio favorites about which you might've found yourself thinkin' "who wrote that?" Now are ya wondering which songs? Oh you know 'em alright! "Hush" (as recorded by Deep Purple), "Rose Garden" (as sung by Lynn Anderson, y'know "I beg your pardon, I never promised you a..."), "Down In The Boondocks" (as sung by Billy Joe Royal), "Games People Play" (as sung by the man himself) and the list goes on. Kelly Hogan, Kelley Stoltz, Persephone's Bees, Chris Von Sneidern, Chuck Prophet, Ron Silva & The New Believers, Jesse DeNatale, Tom Heyman, Stephanie Finch, Ted Roddy, Paul Cebar and Otis Clay have all paid their respects to South and the broad, indelible mark he made on American popular music of the '60s and '70s by performing their renditions of twelve of his songs (many of them very faithful to the original). Since a bunch of the songs were conveniently recorded in the same studio here in SF, folks ended up playing on each others' songs quite a bit. This lends a consistency as well as a warm family gathering feel to the compilation. Also joining in to play a few bars are Mark Greenberg (ex-Coctails) and Marc Capelle (American Music Club).
A few months back we raved about the Primitive Calculators anthology which came out on Chapter Music. Thanks to that review, we were contacted by Denise Hilton who had been one of the electronic wizards in that seminal Australian synth punk and had some rare singles that she was willing to part with. I'm not sure why this is called "The Little Band" EP, as it doesn't say that anywhere on this super-rare 7," but supposedly that's the title. Anyway each of the four bands -- Too Fat To Fit Through The Door, Morpions, The Take, and Ronnie & The Rhythm Boys -- are side projects of the Primitive Calculators. whose synth-punk / no-wave axis of Suicide meets DNA is present in some, way, shape or form on all of the tracks. This is especially true on the Ronnie and The Rhythm Boys electrically shrill version of "Hey Joe," but The Take offers something a bit closer to Young Marble Giants with their delicately constructed number of perfect punk-pop. This is actually an original pressing from back in 1979 (with reconstructed covers since the originals succumbed to mold), and it's unlikely that we'll get any more copies.
Now available on vinyl!! Minus two of the 12 tracks on the cd (they didn't have space for Manu Dibango and Gasper Lawai, unfortunately)...
What we said about the cd, a recent Record Of The Week: It's hard to argue with this one. Indeed, we're gonna do quite the opposite and make it a Record Of The Week! This collection, the third in the World Psychedelic Classics series on Luaka Bop (David Byrne's "world music" label), after an Os Mutantes collection and that incredible Shuggie Otis album, is further subtitled: "The Funky, Fuzzy Sounds Of West Africa". Stress on the funk we thinks. Yup, authentic '70s West African funk with a 'delic bent. Really really hard stuff not to like.
The dozen tracks here have got it all: Afro-centric chants, polyrhythmic percussion, James Brown style raspy yelps, wicked organ workouts, and even hard wah-wah acid fuzz jams (Ofo & The Black Company's bad-ass "Allah Wakbarr" is about the last word in that department, though we'd like to hear more). Though some come closer to the compilers' stated concept than others, all the tracks are winners, from the moody, marimba-based soundtrack theme of Manu Dibango's "Ceddo End Title" to the Cuban stylings of No. 1 de No. 1's "Guajira Van" to the percolating political space-funk of William Onyeabor's "Better Change Your Mind". And Alison simply says that "Ifa" by Tunji Oyelana and the Benders is her favorite. Probably because it sets itself apart from the other tracks by utilizing a more scrappy electronic sound to back its stripped-down politically-bent Afro-pop-style lyricism.
All the tracks come from the decade of the '70s, and the bands that recorded them hail from the West African countries of Ghana, Guinea, Senegal, Mali, Gambia, Benin, and Nigeria (but only two tracks overlap with the now-out-of-print 3cd Nigeria 70 compilation). And we think the compliers did a damn fine job, though it seems any survey of West African psych shoulda included a track by Blo, the closest thing to Cream the continent produced as far as we know. Ah well... we can hope for a second volume someday perhaps. Meanwhile, anyone who digs James Brown, Fela, Funkadelic, Orchestra Baobab, or more recent AQ reviewees Konono No. 1 and Black Merda, for instance, will certainly find that love IS a real thing when it comes to how you're gonna feel about this compilation!!
The liner notes go on about the psychedelic aspect of these bands, and while this stuff is definitely far out and groovy it's way more James Brown than brown acid. Mention of Haight-Ashbury seems a stretch, and the music of these bands has got as much or more to do with their motherland than, say, the generally more Western-derived psych we've heard from Thailand, Cambodia, or Turkey on various other comps we've carried. Then again, when you look at rock music influencing African music, you've got a full-circle phenomenon to examine. And when we reviewed the (currently unavailable) Love Peace & Poetry: African Psychedelic Music compiliation some months back, the stuff on this new comp is exactly what we felt was missing and should have been included.
In any case, proper psych or not, and with or without much fuzz, this is definitely FUNKY.
Allan's been wanting to review this for while, it's not new or anything (it came out in 2003 and the music on it is much older than that) but he got a copy a few months ago and just fell in love with it... Rather surprising to him, really, since this is a compilation of soft rock tunes! "20 Junkshop Soft Rock Singles from 1970-1974" to be precise. In the same series with the ever-popular Velvet Tinmine glam rock comp, this disc takes a look at a different aspect of the UK '70s pop scene. The realm of the sensitive singer-songwriter. If you're not British (and of a certain age?) chances are you've probably never heard any of these singles before. Some were one hit wonders, some from folks with lengthy careers... but none of 'em probably got much play, if any at all, this side of the pond. Though, they maybe could've. I mean, the twenty tracks collected here kinda *sound* like '70s hits by the likes of Elton John, CSNY, or Billy Joel in his piano man days, without actually being songs that you've heard 1000 times already.
You've heard of Tim Rose and Leo Sayer, perhaps. And Neil MacArthur turns out to be an commercially ill-advised alias for Colin Blunstone from the Zombies. But Laurie Styvers? Ewan Stephens? Ray Fenwick? The Startedt Brothers? Curtiss Maldoon? Clifford T. Ward? Not ringing a lot of bells. Maybe if we read more Mojo mag. But all of 'em, one-offs or not, are making me nostaglic for an UK radio childhood I never had. Loads of lush mini-epics arranged for strings and piano and voices both gentle and strong... melancholic and nostalgic themselves. From the haunting, majestic "El Doomo" by obscure Roger Daltrey produced classic rockers Ellis to the very Don Maclean -esque "Chinese Restaurant" by the Startedt Brothers to the Bob Dylan stylings of Ewan Stephens, everything on here is pretty darn enjoyable if you're in the mood -- and mood is what this certainly sets. Thoroughly annnotated, and nicely presented with a '70s graphic flair inspired by a UK pop magzine of the era called Zigzag -- hence the title as well!
Oh Weezer, we read and hear so much about Rivers Cuomo and his dysfunctional band, and all the lineup changes and how he's giving up music to go back to school and he's going to be celibate but then WAIT, a new record is in the works, but the band hates each other, but he is still the master of pop music, and they're on the cover of Rolling Stone and on and on and on. You think with that kind of drama and attention this 5 years in the works new Weezer record would be tense and intense and emotionally fragile and darkly aggressive and maybe the pop record to end all pop records. But it's not. Not even close. It's tepid, Weezer-by-the-numbers, the single "Beverly Hills" is the most anemic pop song we've heard in ages, with embarassingly trite lyrics and a hook that has been used in no less than 5 other Weezer songs. But wait, things definitely pick up after that, a return to Weezer of old? Not quite, but it's not all that bad, in fact some of the songs are pretty darn good. It's no blue album, it's no Pinkerton, it's no green album either. But that's a whole lot to hope for. And while he may be a pop genius, anyone so distracted by school and personal insecurity and band unrest would be hard pressed to squeeze out a masterpiece. But a masterpiece is what we expect, and we know he's capable of it. He's pulled it off at least three times! It just feels like the passion is gone, the fire, the emotion, like Weezer is no longer something he NEEDS to do, just something he has to do. It still sounds great, in fact better than ever, BIG Rick Rubin production, big guitars, lush harmonies, but the songs just don't live up to the sound. That said, we still LOVE Weezer, we've been dying for this record to come out, and we'll hang on to this, and listen to it over and over, hoping that the pop genius is of the slow growing variety, and eventually it will just hit us, and then we'll feel pretty dumb for writing this review. Here's hoping!
Yet another earful from Campbell Kneale's always impressive Celebrate Psi Phenomenon label. This double cd-r is a companion of sorts to an earlier Wickham-Smith release, Twofordancin', which was a strange ambien ethnic rhtymic workout als Muslimgauze. It seems that Twofordancin' was in fact two separate pieces put together, so what we've got here is the two original pieces pulled apart and presented independently. One disc sounds quite similar to the Twofordancin' combo, albeit a tad more stripped down. A simple shuffling rhythm, nestled in random ambien detritus with occasional backward swoops and studio twiddles. The other disc is much more abstract, offering up a series of glitches and creaks and stutters, as well as some distant chordal swells and even more distant tribal vocalizing. Pretty cool listen even if you don't have the Twofordancin' combo, in fact they might even work better on their own.
We realize that lots of folks might have only recently discovered aQuarius, and may have missed out on lots of past favorites we consider essential listening. Many of those same people may not relaize that our very own Andee runs the tUMULt label, on which some of our all time favorite records have been released. Since the world has finally caught on, caught up and plain old caught a serious case of Finnish fever (Circle, Avarus, Anaksimandros, Islaja, Kemiallisett Ystevat, etc.) we figured it was high time to re-list this slab of beautiful brutality, from mighty and mysterious outfit, Worms:
Will Finland never cease to surprise us? How can one tiny country continue to produce so much progressive, transgressive, creative and fucking perfect experimental rock? Circle, Keuhkot, Avarus, Anaksimandros, Mieskuoro Huutajaat, Pharoah Overlord, Ektroverde, Skepticism, Kemialisett Ystavat, and now Worms!
The Worms may be new to us (and actually to most people in Finland, surprisingly) but they have been a fixture of the Finnish underground for over a decade. And even after a decade, their entire recorded output consisted of three 7" singles and a few compilation tracks. So Andee's tUMULt label managed to track down the band, and discovered that they actually recorded a full length a few years back, but the label that was supposed to release it dropped the ball.
So here it is finally and man is it something. Five tracks of beautiful brutality. A dark and wintry, more motorik My Bloody Valentine, mixed with a little Circle and a little Filth-era Swans. Or some Frankensteinian dirge rock band, equal parts Godflesh, My Bloody Valentine, the Shadow Ring, and the Swans.
The disc starts off with a massive 30 minute medley, a droning hypnotic dirge, like Terry Riley composing for Godflesh or the Melvins and not a little reminiscent of Dutch riff gods Gore. Endless and hypnotic, crushing and brutal. The next three tracks display Worms more melodic side, letting a little pop shine through, with lilting vocals and darkly melancholic melodies and frontman Veli Pesonen's deep Michael Gira like drawl intoning simple mantra-like lyrics, over jangly strummed riffs, more melodic maybe, but still drone-y and hypnotic and dreamy. Think late era Swans, or maybe the Terminals, or the Clean, that sort of dreary, jangly New Zealand rock. The twenty minute 'Border' closes proceedings with a glorious din of shimmering but harrowing guitars, buried melodies and relentlessly propulsive rhythms. This was a long time coming, but once you hear it you'll agree it was well worth the wait. Definitely for fans of all the above mentioned bands as well as connoisseurs of drone/dirge/doom. Crushingly beautiful. And of course essential.
Hell yeah! Here's the absolute rock'n'roll O.G. on the appropriately O.G. format! This is the way you wanna hear Link Wray... the man who invented amplifier distortion... the man who invented the power chord... the man whose electrifying rock'n'roll energy and passion still puts men who are half (a third? a quarter?) of his age to shame. Whether they realize it or not, virtually every band you can think of owes a truckload of guitar picks to this man. He planted the seeds that allowed a multitude of musical genres to sprout. His totally influential, totally inspiring, fierce gritty guitar instrumentals have been pressed on 180 gram virgin vinyl from the original Swan mono master tapes. In fact, this beauty is an exact reproduction of the original 1963 LP. Slap it on yer record player and show 'em who's boss!
Oh geeez, this timely reissue comes at such an opportune moment, providing even more new bands with a solid schooling on the how-tos of great pop music making. You're prolly already plenty familiar with some of the recent retro-styled young'uns who've clearly learned a thing or two from XTC (Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party, Maximo Park, Hot Hot Heat to name a handful), but few can really hold a candle to the original. Andy Partridge and his crew were responsible for some truly brilliant smart pop songs, and this compilation features eighteen of 'em drawn from seven of their albums leading up to the comp's release. It's fantastic to hear 'em again! Awesome!
