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IMPORTANT (Please read to avoid confusion): Some items below may be tagged with a bold, red, all-caps OUT OF PRINT/UNAVAILABLE notice. This does NOT mean that all other items not so tagged are, in fact, in stock — or for that matter, in print and available, though there's a good chance they are. Some folks get confused on this point, and we can see why, so please read this for further clarification and other important before-you-order information. Unlike some mailorder websites, we don't have an electronic inventory system linked to our site, so you can't be sure of what we actually have or don't have in stock at any given moment without asking us — please email our mailorder department for availability status — or better yet, just go ahead and place your order using our shopping cart function and we'll get back to you with the status of each item. If you have general non-mailorder questions, email the store.

Showing results 1 through 50 of 65.

No thank you. We'd rather do PCP with the James Gang. Or smoke drano with the Commodores. Or even drink Liquid Plumber and horse piss smoothies with Funkadelic. Or better yet, how 'bout we just listen to the original version by the Magnetic Fields and skip this all together...

How can you not love a band called Agents of Abhorrence? Or a record called Covert Lobotomy? Well, with names like those you can probably guess what sort of business these agents get up to. A thrashing grinding buzz of epic proportions. Swarms of bombinating riffs and spastically thrashing drums, howled vocals and ultraprecise ultracomplex song structures. Massive and masterful grind! Pete from the mighty Whitehorse hipped us to these guys and he was right on the money. Clear vinyl packaged in a gorgeous cut-away sleeve, hard to describe but really, really cool looking. Beautiful and of course VERY LIMITED!!

The Small Explosions That Are Yours To Keep (if you purchase this, that is, which we recommend you do) are the eleven instrumental songs/soundscapes found on this latest, lovely electro-acoustic outing from Montreal's Mitchell Akiyama. His is a dreamy world of stuttering electronica, abstract yet pretty, with fragments of melody coaxed from what sound like swooning strings, accordion wheezes, delicate piano, and tinkling bells amongst other playthings. The gauzy glitch and crackle put us in mind of Tarwater, Oval, Alog and Philip Jeck. It's just really really nice... Allan's mom (visiting SF) heard this playing in the store and immediately bought a copy she liked it so much! In fact, he was gonna get her to review it, but that didn't happen unfortunately. He does remember her saying that she thought that each track sounded like a different insect, some happy, some sad, young and old, producing some sort of sap or syrup...honey I guess. Something like that. We can kind of hear where she's coming from with that. You (or your mom) might come up with a different mental image, but we imagine that if you like gentle, moody rainy-day electronica with a certain 'clicks n' cuts' element you'd like this too. Likewise even if you didn't know you liked any sort of electronica (like Allan's mom previous to hearing this). Recommended!

MPEG stream: Strategies For Combatting Invisibility
MPEG stream: Full Then Felt
MPEG stream: Contrapuntal Lung Apparatus

Ok, while I don't think we're gonna stock and review EVERY entry in Shout! Factory/A&M's new "Herb Alpert Signature Series", we did just list the reissue of the all-time classic Whipped Cream & Other Delights by Herb and his Tijuana Brass (and sold a bunch to some happy customers) so we'd be remiss then if we didn't also give some attention to this other classic Tijuana Brass album, Whipped Cream's follow-up Going Places. Also from 1965, this LP sported a bandolier of boppy south-of-the-border styled instrumental pop hits like "Tijuana Taxi" and "Spanish Flea" (which will ring bells with some of your for sure from its use on the old TV game show the Dating Game). Then there's the sweet "More And More Amor" and the lush va-va-va-vooom of "Mae". Also: Herb's Tijuana version of surf nugget "Walk Don't Run" alongside other familiar tunes like "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You", "Zorba The Greek" and the "3rd Man Theme". It's hard to keep a smile off the face while listening to this, really! Sunny fun from a pop world very different from today's.

MPEG stream: Tijuana Taxi
MPEG stream: Walk Don't Run

Insen is the exquisite follow-up to Vrioon, which was the first collaborative outing for seminal electronic musicians Alva Noto (aka Carsten Nicolai) and Ryuichi Sakamoto that came out in 2003. As on their first album, Insen centers upon the balance between the impressionist piano passages of Sakamoto and the cold yet graceful production of Nicolai. While the differences between the two records are subtle, they are certainly noteworthy as Nicolai slices up Sakamoto's piano into fine slivers of time-stretched fragments, terse rhythms, and blurred ambience. In turn, Nicolai realigns these sounds with Sakamoto's untreated notes, providing a complex interplay between the piano and its fractured electronic mimesis. In structuring all of the pieces on Insen, Nicolai occasionally situates his electronics along a parallel path to Sakamoto's piano, and slowly moves the two paths toward different directions, with Nicolai's rhythms achieving velocity and tension whereas Sakamoto's pointillist notes remain weighless and transient. Yet, Nicolai always teases with losing control over the composition, as he often snaps back into a somber atmosphere of minimalist smears, resorting to a similiar strategy as heard on Eno's epic Thursday Afternoon. Stunning.

MPEG stream: Aurora
MPEG stream: Logic Moon

Could the time be any more right for an album of intimate, individual psychedelic folk music from three decades ago to be reissued? This is almost more 'now' than it was then, really! Ed Askew's Ask The Unicorn was originally released on LP by the legendary, eccentric free-jazz and folk label ESP-Disk back in 1969. Now at last it's on cd (twice, in fact, more on that in a sec). We think anyone into, say, Devendra Banhart will enjoy this. In fact, we wonder what Mr. Askew thinks of the music of Mr. Banhart (if he's ever heard him). We'd imagine he'd think... "Not bad, but I did that 30 years ago!!" One artsy guy with a weird imagination and a nasally-but-nice, gentle, emotive voice and a guitar, singing and playing from the heart, his tripped out lyrics turning tight circles with their rhyme schemes, Askew comes across a bit like a druggier, rawer, more obscure and stream-of-conciousness Bob Dylan or something. Note: weirdly enough, two different editions of this have just been released on cd. The one we've got doesn't actually say Ask The Unicorn on it (except as a song title) but is indeed that album, with three bonus tracks and a sticker proclaiming this to be the "Artist's Edition". Not sure what's going on there, as we also received word that Askew, while happy this was in stores, didn't actually know it was coming out! The extra tracks apparently come from a cd-r version he'd been circulating to friends or something. Anyway, this version seems to be the better deal, and we're only mentioning all this so as to preempt any confusion about what exactly this is. The bonus tracks are quite worthwhile, with two ("The Accordion Man" and "Green Song") dating from back in the day and one ("A Soldier's Song") from 2005! Yeah, the new track sticks out, both his voice and the production being quite different, and Askew even seems to be deliberately making it seem up to date with references to computer mice and monitors -- and there's even a drum machine part that starts up halfway through the song! But actually it's a nice tune and comes last on the disc so its inclusion isn't too jarring. Indeed, it helps bring this great music into the present, where it belongs.

MPEG stream: Fancy That
MPEG stream: The Accordion Man

Not long after we reviewed the recent collaboration between dark ambient drone legends, Nordvargr and Drakh (who started out as partners in the legendary black industrial drone outfit MZ412), we received an email from Drakh, thanking us for the review, and letting us know about his main project Beyond Sensory Experience. What a weird coincidence. Some of us around here were already huge fans of BSE, but had no idea who was behind it. Although sonically it makes perfect sense. Beyond Sensory Experience is an exploration into bleak sonic darkness, vast expanses of suffocating drones and desiccated melodies, haunting disembodied voices and ghostly glimpses into the dark soul. Korrelations is a remix record of sorts. Four original tracks, seven re-interpretations. One from ex-partner Nordvargr, the rest from like minded isolationists Alexxx, Doshaka, P3, Zdan and Alko. While occasionally the new versions introduce Muslimgauze-like tribal percussion, traditional drum kit and electric guitars, the bulk of the record is dark and dreary and rumblingly minimal. Muted pulses underscore streaks of black and grey, distant throbs beat out funereal rhythms beneath huge swaths of thick fuzzy drone, all flecked with bizarre sonic bits of lost dialogue, cracked and creaking flutters, and a completely claustrophobic and creepy ambience.

MPEG stream: Korrelations
MPEG stream: The Two-Trace Problem (Alexxx)
MPEG stream: Tortuna (Henriknordvargrbjorkk)

Finally we're starting to be able to get records by Nordvargr on a regular basis. Many of us here have been totally obsessed with Nordvargr for ages but it's been so tough to get his records in with any regularity and never enough to list. For those unfamiliar, Mr. Nordvagr was a member of seminal black metal ambient drone outfit MZ412, and later went on to form the miltaristic drone folk ensembles Toroidh and Folkstorm, as well as releasing stuff under his given name. The Dead Never Sleep is Nordvargr's newest release and definitely harkens back to his days in MZ412. This is one of the darkest, bleakest most abject drone records ever. Super minimal and pitch black. A million shades of black and grey, all slowly and barely shifting. Vast expanses of slow motion reverberations and distant rumbles, the sounds of hearts beating and gongs shimmering and winds whipping and waves crashing but all heard through the tiny end of a mile long, black hole telescope. Planets imploding struggling to be heard through the deadness of space. A barely there smear of subsonic thrum, gorgeously serene, like a peaceful boat trip, drifting lazily down a river of black pitch, through the blackened caverns of the underworld. Definitely one of the most evocative, and brilliantly bleak collections of drone musick in recent memory!

MPEG stream: Algenon
MPEG stream: Noma Klaw

There's a show coming up you can't miss. Next month, July 9th, Saturday night. ALL NIGHT. The cream of the Japanese stoner sludge crop. All perfroming in the same venue on the same night. Boris, Green Machine, Church Of Misery and Eternal Elysium! (Plus 'special guests' Pelican!) Holy Crap!! C'mon, let's go!! Oh, wait. The tickets may be only $30, but the plane fare to get there is $800, 'cause it's happening in Tokyo, Japan of course. And of course hotels will cost us about $600 for the weekend. And then of course food and all that. So right around $1600, to see the ultimate Japanese Heavy Rock Showcase?! Well, if there ever WAS a show worth $1600, it would probably be this one. Thankfully, we've got this $35 dvd for those of us with a much more sensible show-going budget. Beautifully packaged (designed of course by a certain member of Boris aka Fangs Anal Satan) the Wizard's Convention DVD gathers live footage from all four bands from 2003-2004 at various venues in and around Tokyo. Shot professionally, all the sets are awesome, super high energy, ultra kinetic, wild and rocking, hair flailing, lights flashing, all before very polite (but headbanging) Japanese crowds. The coolest thing about this disc is seeing that most of the purveyors of this filthy, sludgy, crusty, doomy, metallic brutality, are not in fact the scraggly tattooed beasts you imagine when listening to this stuff, instead they all seem to be not-scraggly-at-all skinny ultra cuties. Especially the serial killer obssesed Church Of Misery, who in a different setting could be some kind of boy band. And of course we can never get enough of Boris guitarist Wata whose tiny girl frame belies the crushing guitar god she proves to be, unleashing an ultra heavy torrent of relentless riffing, seemingly without even breaking a sweat. This DVD is ALL REGION!

This new Brookhaven album unwinds like a slow waking from a dream. Nine hazy, mesmerizing instrumental beauties. In turn Transitive Verses brings to mind four 'M's -- M83, Mogwai, My Bloody Valentine and Morricone -- but wholly without being imitative. On this, their follow-up to 2001's Everything That Rises Must Rise, they've taken their music to a whole new plane. Some elements have been retained such as their warm shimmery guitar twang and their blend of acoustic drumming and programmed beats plus some lingering shadows of post-rock-ness, while others have been set aside for the time being. For one thing, although there is a heavier synthesizer presence on this album, this is definitely less woozily spacey than their previous work, and much more composed. Whereas much of Everything Rises took a gradual meandering path that drifted in and out of focus seemingly at random, their new material seems more fully realized, with each song following a more defined arch. The results are ultra dynamic, but somehow still thoroughly gentle at the same time. Wonderful!

MPEG stream: Transitive Verses
MPEG stream: Static In The Valley

You know how much we love the Bunnybrains around here. Their chaotic retarded garage rock chaos gets us everytime. We were blown away by the recent Box The Bunny release, that collected all their old recordings and included a DVD of insane and ridiculous footage. So you can imagine how psyched we were to learn that there was a brand new Bunnybrains record! So why the 88 you ask? Well, apparently there were two seperate bands that joined forces in 1988 and became the Bunny brains we know and love. After 17 years or so, rock and roll took its toll and the Bunnybrains split back into two seperate units. Both bands are 100% Bunnybrains (or at least 98%) and both bands kick ass! This new 10" from Bunnybrains 88 is ULTRA LIMITED to only 333 copies, the first 88 of which came in super fancy boxes and were $50 or more and are now out of print. But do not fear, the other 245 copies are nearly as cool, gorgeously packaged in custom letterpressed Bruce Licher sleeves, an elaborate cardstock interlocking foldover, with lovely maroon and white text and filigree. The vinyl is breathtaking as well, half clear, half opaque red, and the sleeve has a nifty sparkley pink stick affixed to the front. One track on one side, and two simultaneous tracks on the other! Includes a bunch of inserts incluing a sticker and FAQ that goes into greater depth about the whole two Bunnybrains thing. These are gorgeously packaged and thus INCREDIBLY LIMITED and also quite expensive. We got a handful, and we're not sure when / if we'll be able to get more. Each copy is also hand numbered! WOW!

Oooh, my pretty! Bye Bye Beaute is the debut album from Ms Coralie Clement, and yes, it does certainly beg to be renamed "Bonjour Beaute" 'cuz chances are you're gonna wanna get to know her music better (rather than bid it au revoir). Her voice enchants with a soft, airy sophistication, but some songs have a bit of a kicky sashay to them too. Providing the occasional contrasting energetic drive to her whispery bliss are a buzzing electric guitar strum, some '70s soft rock horns and a YeYe girl stompin' beat -- all composed and produced by her own brother Benjamin Biolay. Very much in the tradition of lovely French chanteuses such as Francoiz Breut, Jane Birkin, and Francoise Hardy. Plus there's even a very Gainsbourg-esque duet with Daniel Lorca (of Nada Surf!!).

MPEG stream: Indecise
MPEG stream: Mais Portant

Another killer release from Australian label Goatowarex, who also released the two amazing Urfaust records and the Planet Aids record reviewed elsewhere on this list. Coldness is ultra sick, ultra raw, ultra grim black metal. Guitars so raw each riff is like having a swath of flesh flayed off and set afire. Thrashy and midtempo, with stretches of doomy dirge as well as burts of overblown vocals and blasts of hyperspeed rrroaaarrrrrr. Insane vocals that go from raw demonic howls to paint peeling shrieks to inhuman squeals. This is some truly weird, super lo-fi black metal for sure. It's not just the music. The cd booklet lists the band "line-up" as "Coldness = Nocturnus Horrendus, Nocturnus Horrendus = one minus one." Huh? Then there are the messages printed throughout: "N.H. bows to P.B.C., alcohol and all the rest that contributes to make life harder to live but no doubt more interesting", and "Lick the joy out of my rotten essence", or "P.B.C. a poisoned gift / grant, a poisoned gift / demand." Huh, again? And then finally there's the photo collage inside the booklet of Nocturnus Horrendus masturbating into a wine glass, then cutting his arm and bleeding into the same glass, and then of course drinking it all down. Weird indeed. For fans of all things brutal and sick and grim and evil!!

MPEG stream: I Destroyed The I
MPEG stream: Living A Lie
MPEG stream: That Is All

Don't hate them cuz they're beautiful... love 'em! Yes, this band is obscenely huge and popular, but for once it's deservingly so. Really, they've yet to disappoint. Coldplay make some of the most elegant, evocative music coming out of mainstream radio these days. It stands in such a contrast to the constant glut of blandness and mediocrity that floods the radio and video dials. The earnest emotional drench of Coldplay's music always verges on the sappy, but somehow never stumbles across the line. On X & Y all the pieces of Coldplay lock in magically -- catchy choruses, richly atmospheric layers of guitars, synths and piano, and of course those unmistakable vocals. Chris Martin has one of the most effortless swoop-up-to-falsetto voices around. Depending on what time of the year you're listening to this album, you might find many songs on X & Y capturing that end of the school year or end of summer romance wistful ache... which pretty much guarantees their inclusion in an upcoming teen movie soundtrack. However, the band continues to buck the obvious or easy routes. Take for instance the album's immediately engaging third song "White Shadows", it seems like it would've been the obvious pick for the first single instead of the less hooky seventh song "Speed Of Sound". Striking a balance between instant treats and more involving ones, this is a work that invites repeat listens, and we're happy to oblige. Grand and gorgeous.

MPEG stream: White Shadows
MPEG stream: X & Y

This is Mr. Chris Stroffolino and co.'s follow-up to their warmly received debut album Exile In Babyville from a couple of years ago. Once again Stroffolino's expressive saloon-style piano playing is a key ingredient to C.P.'s potency. It shines forth from the backdrop which is solid rootsy rock with some Pavement-y indie boy slouchiness. Comparisons to Silver Jews (with whom Stroffolino has played keyboards) are still very apropos. That said, Ms Mia Lipman's backing vocals certainly offer a nice contrast to his world weary 'n' whisky'd delivery. Prior to entering the musical realm, Stroffolino put his thoughts to paper rather than music, writing numerous books of poetry and prose. His literary past definitely surfaces in his evocative lyrics which take primarily an intimate, observational, first person perspective. They're granted ample space to unwind and sink in, given the songs' mostly slow to mid tempos. That said, occasionally the band kicks up a cloud of dirt for more rollicking numbers such as "You Don't Believe In Nuthin'".

MPEG stream: All I'm Saying
MPEG stream: You Don't Believe In Nuthin'

Attention Dirtbombs completists! Here's a two-disc compilations of rare songs, singles, eight new songs and over 20 covers (Gun Club, Rolling Stones, Yoko Ono, Flipper, ESG, Ohio Players, Stevie Wonder, among others)! Many of the tracks found here were recorded and just never released by the labels that took 'em on. A nice 24-page booklet accompanies the discs with tons of photos and track notes. Love your Dirtbomb grungey gutter punk rock all day long.

MPEG stream: Broke Again
MPEG stream: Ha Ha Ha
MPEG stream: Little Miss Chocolate Syrup

You like your metal raging and misanthropic? Probably you do. After all, mellow, have-a-nice-day metal just isn't that popular, we've noticed. Well this second album from up n'coming Moonfog act Disiplin sure as heck ain't filled with a lot of love for their fellow man! Instead these Norwegians are full up with aggression and negativity. A powerful production here showcases Disiplin's violent blend of black and death and thrash metal brutality...thrash blackened thrash! But very modern and mechanized mayhem this is, and unrelenting. Maybe a song will start swith a sample, and/or a few moments of atmospheric string-scrape...however it's not long before you (or the inner demons you intend to exorcise with this particular listening regime) are being trampled by vicious riffage, blasting drums, and the throat-scorching bile-spew of the vocalist. For fans of more recent Satyricon, Myrkskog, Grimfist, Zyklon, etc. Includes bonus video clip for the title track.

MPEG stream: Feed The Fucker To The Dogs
MPEG stream: Anti-Life

It's been an Earth kinda year so far, eh? Once considered a going-beyond-the-Melvins joke, notable mainly for the early involvement of one Kurt Cobain, Earth's status has grown and grown over the years. They've got to be much more popular now than when their first few Sub Pop albums came out in the early '90s. Back then, only a few folks -- that'd probably be me, you, and those guys who later formed SUNNO))) -- were into Earth, and understood the immense genius of their slo-motion, drone-heavy ambient doom riffage. Now, we sell more copies of Earth 2 every week than Aquarius probably sold the year it came out (well, that might be a slight exaggeration, but we do sell a heck of a lot of Earth 2, considering). And SUNNO))), Boris and all the rest of 'em owe a lot to Earth's Dylan Carlson and his various cohorts. So far, 2004-2005 has seen the release of two new (though, live) Earth albums and a 7". And now this. You know you've made it when the remix album comes out! Handpicked by Carlson himself, the remixers here are an interesting lot: Mogwai, Russell Haswell, Jim O'Rourke, Autechre, Justin Broadrick, and surprise surprise SUNNO)))! Now, on one hand that's an exciting line-up, sure, while on the other, it'd might be even more interesting to hear those blokes remix something like Brittany Spears, right? For subversion's sake anyway. But they're all Earth fans, and Earth is fans of them, and we're pretty sure Earth fans are gonna like what they've done here. And even if you think that the presence of SUNNO))) is a little...redundant, or that Jim O'Rourke, cool as he is, need never trouble himself with yet another remix, overall no complaints! We like how Mogwai has introduced what sound like avant-classical violin into "Teeth Of Lions Rule The Divine", we found Russell Haswell's Merzbow-ization of the almost Champs-y "Tibetan Quaaludes" enjoyable, and SUNNO)))'s sixteen-minute "Rule The Divine (Mysteria Caelestis Mugivi)" sounds the most Earth-like of all these remixes, which might be to be expected, dontcha think? Interestingly, no one remixed anything from the first Earth album Extra-Capsular Extraction, while two mixes are from the same Earth 2 track, and three of the remixers (Haswell, O'Rourke, and Broadrick) picked songs from the out of print Phase 3: Thrones And Dominions. Autechre went even further afield and chose a song from Earth's fourth and last (also out of print) studio album, Pentastar: In The Style Of Demons. Hmmm. While I would have liked to hear something from Extra-Capsular, perhaps the presence of all those Phase 3 derived tracks will convince Sub Pop to reissue that album! Some of the remixes, like Haswell's, feature obvious fuckery, whereas others, like Broadrick's more trebley, buzzier "Harvey" almost need to be played back-to-back with the original to tell which is the remix and which is the real Earth. Though, that "Harvey" sounds like it could also easily be a track by Broadrick's awesome new Jesu project as well! All in all, SUNNO))) excepted, this is generally a bit less riffy and "doomy" than the Earth originals, concentrating instead on Earth's drone-washed trance elements. Almost makes sense that the cd booklet art looks kinda looks like a Pop Ambient cd! Now, it doesn't usually take much of a recommendation from us to convince AQ customers to buy anything Earth-related, but we did like this, a lot!

MPEG stream: Coda Maestoso In F (flat) Minor
MPEG stream: Harvey

THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SORRY. Only have 3 or 4 of these. Probably won't ever get more. Limited to 330 copies and originally only available on the 2003 Earth / Null European tour. Some are on pink vinyl, some on light blue. Two lengthy tracks!

Wow! Some sorta transformation has taken place with this band in the couple of years since their last release, the 2003 Mur Murs ep. They're definitely much more confident, complex and dynamic, and these developments are made more than apparent right from the get-go. Indeed, you need look/hear no further that the excellent lead-off track "Sonorous", but of course with such tantalizing edgy pop sounds you'll want to! It's a lengthy number (subsectioned into "Time To Echolocate" and "Ear Of The Other") that effectively presents the many facets of the band. They've veered away from they're former Chicago post-rock scene leanings, into something more un-pinpointable. Their increased attention to song structures and arrangements do much to define a sound of their own. Like an agile juggler they keep their atmospheres, time signature shifts and multi-part vocals aloft. Speaking of which, the vocals are definitely a key ingredient in Ebb & Flow's magic. The wonderful soaring female vocals contrast nicely with the male ones which approach a moody, withery Interpol-ness. Pretty darn great!

MPEG stream: Sonorous
MPEG stream: Body And Soul

Bo Diddley goes Electro? Uh-huh, some of this sounds a bit like that. Yes, France's Electronicat (aka Fred Bigot) is back with another neigh-irresistable album of glammed-up, poppy, punky, distortion n' groove engorged electronica. If you liked Electronicat's previous disc 21st Century Toy you'll like this. His clash of electric guitar fuzz and "shuffletime" techno beat-throb works its usual magic here, this album perhaps getting even more into, um, a Powerbook psychobilly thang. Lead off track/single "Dans Les Bois" sets the tone with Bigot's voodoo man lyrics (in English, with a French accent) about being "lost in the jungle". Oui, there's something kinda campy about it all, but we can't help but like it nonetheless. And that thumpin' fuzz is so satisfying. Includes a big ol' lyric sheet with cryptic personal notes on each track's genesis as well.

MPEG stream: Dans Les Bois
MPEG stream: Non

Oakland's Experimental Dental School come crashing in with their latest twisted concoction. They've done split releases with Japan's Limited Express in the past, and that entirely makes sense as they're very much of the same imaginative art-rock ilk. Their music also brings to mind the rollercoaster-y quirks of Melt Banana and Deerhoof -- actually the latter band's Greg Saunier makes a guest appearance on a few songs. Drawing influence from both the carnivalesque multi-personalities of Mr. Bungle and the dissonant angst of Sonic Youth, 2 1/2 Creatures confirms that E.D.S. are more than capable of making themselves equally at home in indie post-rock and no wave basements, jazz joints and circus tents. The first song sprints out of the gate with some very frantic organ playing that sounds like a disjointed "Flight of the Bumblebee". Their effected high trebly vocals, pinchy electric guitars and keyboards balance precariously atop the loosely strung bass and thick synth lines. Very cool!

MPEG stream: Our Blood Is Laughing
MPEG stream: A Little Bird Told Me

Okay, Bore-fanatics, we only have a handful of these and we will NOT be getting more. A brand new book of original art from Boredoms frontman Eye Yamataka, in the style of the graphics of all the many Boredoms and related (UFO or Die, DJ Hellshit & MC Carhouse, DJ Pica Pica Pica etc.) releases over the years. All the colorful, splattery, scribbly, chaotic collaged weirdness we've come to love! It's kinda like children's art, by a very punk rock little kid, on drugs. Eye's "Bore Flag" logo is a repeated motif. Released through Australian imprint P.A.M., these are gorgeous full color 36 page perfect bound books, 5 1/2" by 8 1/2", quite cool. And again: EXTREMELY LIMITED. Once this batch is gone, they are gone for good!

Very few things have changed for Simon Finn's mythological folk music in the twenty-five years between his nearly forgotten debut Pass The Distance (1970) and his second album Magic Moments (2005). If anything, the current infatuation with the acid folk meanderings of Six Organs of Admittance, Devendra Banhart, the Skygreen Leopards, and Fursaxa has opened the way for obscure folk artists from the '70s such as Simon Finn. Without David Michael of Current 93 stumbling across one of few original copies of Pass The Distance, Finn would have continued to toil as farmer in Canada; but fortunately, David (don't call him Tibet anymore!) Michael reissued the album with much acclaim and provided Finn with the impetus to record many of the songs that he has been quietly composing during his 25 year hiatus. Like Pass The Distance, Magic Moments still speaks of a Gnostic mythology, in which knowledge, revelation, and secrets creep throughout his tales of death, sex, gods, devils, and his relationship with those archetypes. It's the darker side of psychedelia, hallucinations, and liminal thought that Finn explores; but the music itself remains a simple vehicle for Finn's expressionism, as his arrangements are little more than voice and acoustic guitar. This bare aesthetic is the major difference from his Pass The Distance album, which enjoyed a complex production with wild stereo pans and eccentric instrumentation from collaborator David Toop. Also missing is the epileptic rage which punctuated several of the tracks from Pass The Distance, but Finn is considerably older allowing his lyrical content to speak through his Syd Barrett meets Cat Stevens voice rather than through phlegm and spit. All things considered, Magic Moments is certainly recommended listening for acid folk fans.

MPEG stream: Walkie Talkie
MPEG stream: Eros

Holy smokin' haz-mat howdoyoudo's! This is the debut release from SF art-noise project Le Flange Du Mal... and quite an introduction it is. Despite their moniker, as far as we can tell none of the participants are French. A quick'n'dirty translation of their name is The Flange Of The Evil, but that's not quite as poetic, is it? Doesn't really slip as gracefully off the tongue. Anyways, the leader of Le Flange pack is Mr. Chris Rolls. He's the head honcho of the very varied SF indie label Kimosciotic Records (home to art-noisies Ezee Tiger and Crack W.A.R., electronic experimentalists Not Breathing, and hip hop lone wolf Unagi), and he's also been in the ranks of SF shit-disturbers Ziegenbock Kopf and Earwicker. He's joined by Chris Cones (also of Earwicker and Subarachnoid Space), Crack We Are Rock's Jason Stamberger and MurderMurder's Liz Allbee, and they make music that runs the gamut just as much as the artists whom he releases on his label. With their multi-barrelled toxic industrial-bootybass-sludge assault, they come careening right at you with their foot nowhere near the brakes, swerving woozily to avoid other vehicles in their path, cruising through the no wave and art rock zones, and through a musty gothy batcave (check out the track "Nightcrawler") too.

MPEG stream: Silent Cock
MPEG stream: Nightcrawler

We see that the press release for this new ep from WFMU DJ Jason Forrest (nee Donna Summer) mentions that his previous full-length The Unrelenting Songs Of The 1979 Post Disco Crash "surprised many with its revolutionary rock-disco sample ideology". Well, yeah, it was pretty cool if that's what they mean! We dig Forrest's "rock-disco sample ideology" quite a bit! So now he's back with a teaser for his next full-length. There's four tracks here (with a bonus fifth on the vinyl only), starting off with a blissfully droney piece entitled "The Work Ahead Of Us" that's got the "feedback guitar" of none other than David Grubbs on it somewhere, for some reason. You can't tell it's Grubbs of course, but it is a nice shimmery cut, though not what we expect from Forrest exactly -- but what we expect (mash-up madness!) does for sure come into play on the next (title) track, a computer-assisted collison of prog and jazz, chaotically cut up and then synth-smoothed. Following that, there's "The Lure Of You" which sees Forrest collaborating with vocalist Margareth Kamerer for a schizophrenically new-wavey *and* folky pop number. Lastly, "Sperry And Foil" wraps things up with eight minutes of blenderized beats and snatches of spacey melody, including a sample of something we really like that we totally know but just can't quite put our fingers on right this second -- what is it? Some krautrock electronics, or Joe Meek or something? Argh it's gonna drive us crazy. You'd think that if Grubbs and Kamerer are gonna be credited, this significant sample should be too.... wait a sec, we figured it out, it's Neu! Anyway, the track is great, a little more manic than something DJ Shadow would do, but not that far from his stuff really. A nice lil' ep then, and we're looking forward to the upcoming album!

MPEG stream: Sperry And Foil
MPEG stream: The Work Ahead Of Us

Everything Ecstatic introduces an unexpected, fresh direction for Four Tet. We haveta say though that the title does seem somewhat incongruous with the music. After referring to the dictionary, we wouldn't say this album evokes: 1. a state of being beyond reason and self-control; 2. a state of overwhelming emotion; especially: rapturous delight; 3. trance; especially: a mystic or prophetic trance; nor 4. a synthetic amphetamine analogue... (with) mood-enhancing and hallucinogenic properties. Nope, none of the above. Really, that title seems like it would've been more fitting for any of Kieran Hebden's previous releases. The song titles are oddly playful and sweet too. Weird, maybe Hebden was ON ecstacy when he was naming stuff and deciding on the kooky album art?! Hmmm. Anyways, after a consistent stream of well-crafted, dreamy, shimmery electronica, Hebden (also of Fridge) has allowed the storm clouds to build. This is a much darker, heavier and even funkier Four Tet, encorporating considerably more aggressive rhythms and ominous sounds (for instance deep resonant chimes replace delicate tinkly cymbal washes). Edges are harder, resulting in tracks that come across as more sturdily constructed and defined. It's not a complete transformation however, you'll still find some of the old Four Tet loveliness lingering.

MPEG stream: A Joy
MPEG stream: Turtle Turtle Up

Some changes have taken place in the Gorillaz 'virtual band' ranks since their wildly popular, super vibrant and fun self-titled debut in 2000. That album was a wholly collaborative effort between Blur-man Damon Albarn, man-of-many-hats Dan The Automator, and cartoon illustrator Jamie Hewlett along with contributions from Miho Hatori, Ibrahim Ferrer and Del Tha Funkee Homosapien. For one thing, Mr. Automator has left the clubhouse, leaving Albarn as the lone lord of the musical manor. An immediate clue-in to the contrast between 'old' and 'new' Gorillaz can be read in the album's title and seen in Hewlett's latest Gorillaz' illustrations. He continues to provide the visual representation of the group, but his former palette of playful cartoonish hues have been replaced by the darker tones found in the more mature subject matter of graphic novels -- a suitable match for the headier undertones of the music. On the cover characters' faces there's nothing but grimaces and suspicious scowls. When we heard that Danger Mouse was slipping into the production control seat formerly occupied by The Automator, we were expecting some manner of radical changes in the Gorillaz's actual sound -- perhaps a little wilder approach or sumthin'? -- but it's really not that drastic of a departure from their past recordings. No, the primary difference is in the album's moodier undercurrent. Whereas the conceptual and sonic effervescence of its predecessor offered a sense of escapism, once you delve beneath the shiny pop surface of Demon Days, things feel somewhat more claustrophobic, sinister and foreboding. Guests this time include Neneh Cherry, Martina Topley-Bird, Happy Mondays' Shaun Ryder (!), London Community Gospel Choir, San Fernandez Youth Chorus and even Dennis Hopper! Dig it!

MPEG stream: Last Living Souls
MPEG stream: Dare

This second full-length album from Japan's Green Milk From The Planet Orange proclaims boldly on its sleeve that "Progressive Rock Is Not Dead"! Well, WE never thought it was anyhow, but if you yourself have doubts, a loud dose of this should correct your thinking. Though, while quite lively (and rather live-sounding too, on this recording), GMFTPO's brand of prog rock definitely does look to the past for inspiration, from cosmic psych-scapes of krautrock to the precision epics of Yes. And we're also hearing some not-entirely-welcome No Wave-ish yelping dissonance on one track here as well. But when song-lengths can hit the double digits as they do here (there's four tracks, the shortest clocking in an prog-respectable seven minutes and the longest stretching out to over 38!!) and you've got musicians capable of turning on a dime like these guys, something ELSE is gonna happen before the song's over for sure. So you get tripped out atmospheres AND fully cranked acid-rock electric guitar mayhem, prog-complex song constructs and punk raucousness. Some will find this eclecticism exhilirating (and of course somewhat typical of the genre-bending Japanese underground that we've been fans ever since the Boredoms first freaked us out years ago) while others might wish that they'd stick to one thing -- taking the Yessism all the way, or the psych guitar skree. But check 'em out (live too if possible -- they've toured the US a couple times already, and knocked out a great instore performance here at AQ last year, with the drummer playing a 'kit' jerry-rigged from empty soda cans, a tamborine, and duct tape) and see what you think... fans of AMT and DMBQ both might quite like.

MPEG stream: Concrete City Breakdown
MPEG stream: Demagog

Yes, the man loves a mini-series. There have been many sequels, triptychs, and serial works for the Hafler Trio, the tech-Gnostic program of grandiose minimalism and conceptualized electronic manifestations of sound, engineered by the lone member of the Halfer Trio, Andrew M. McKenzie. Exactly As I Do falls within a sub-series of a larger body of related work dealing with the essence of the human voice, and this album is the second album in a triptych centered upon the voice of Sigur Ros' Jonsi Birgisson. With the first album called Exactly As I Say and packaged in the same oversized folio, McKenzie is not making it easy for anybody in calling this album Exactly As I Do. Nevertheless, these are two distinctive albums which are variations upon a theme (in this case Birgisson's voice). As a preamble to Exactly As I Do, McKenzie states that he is investigating "voice, the most human expression of a person, striped down and elabrated to show the essence of a person, and a human leading towards the divine. Hopefully." As far as his essentialization of Jonsi Birgisson's voice, McKenzie extracts particular tones, frequencies, and breathy fragments, which he recontextualizes into dense chorales of majestic drones tinged with a bout of melancholia. In a lot of ways, these drones resemble that kid's toy consisting of a flexible plastic tube that you swing in a circle over your head to produce a constant hoovering sound. McKenzie, of course, twists and folds all of these sounds into a beautiful maelstrom of polyphonous Birgissons. Sorry, McKenzie firmly disapproves of offering song samples and we will oblige his wishes with no sound clips of his work on our website.

Primitive electric no wave noise planes. Sound pretty good huh? It is, actually! For certain moods, certain people, certain places, times and things. The Lexington, KY trio of Robert Beatty, Mike Connelly (Wolf Eyes) and Trevor Tremaine open our ears enough to bleed all over the place with this penetrating severist noise. You can even catch Wolf Eyes' John Olsen for a brutal saxophone cameo on the title track. Constantly Terrified will be most utterly enjoyed by brutal noise fans and others who heart the pummelling noise/rock of Burmese, Wolf Eyes, Dead Machines, etc.

MPEG stream: The Haunting
MPEG stream: My Skull Is My Face

A new cd from Skullflower / Sunroof! mainman Matthew Bower's other ambient free noise outfit Hototogisu, and it's about time too, as most of the other Hototogisu and Sunroof! releases have been on cd-r and have been tough to get back in stock. Hototogisu is now, and has been for a while, a duo with Marcia Bassett of the Double Leopards, and their sound is definitely a bit more noisy and aggressive than in the past (as hinted at on the sleeve with the instrumentation listed as Bower on "oooowwwhh" and Bassett on "rrrggghh"), with sheets of corrosive guitars, spread into thick washes of screeching feedback, all over thick gurgling backgrounds of rumbling drones and glitchy malfunctioning electronics, occasionally splattered with bursts of chaotic percussion and maniacal abstract drum programming. But all of that random clatter and aggressive pummel is harnessed into an epic record of thick, throbbing guitar drone, not all that unlike Bower's old Total outift, or Skullflower at their most guitar heavy and free. Heavy and noisy indeed, but also blissfully hypnotic in that way that only a massive slab of droning guitars can be!

MPEG stream: Hellbore
MPEG stream: Crimson Streams

Man, what a great set of releases the Numero Group is building. Each one not only details a particular artist/label in song, but through well-considered packaging and extensive liner notes we get a great sense of what went on behind the music. Amazing! Well, this time round, we have Fern Jones. A gifted gospel singer, who's voice carries similar croon power and soul-fire intensity as Patsy Cline or a young Elvis. Fern's career was bittersweet, however. Early on, Fern and husband played/sang their hearts out through Evangelical tent tours all over the South, selling a vanity recording (The Joneses Sing) out of the back of their sedan. Dot Records soon released Singing A Happy Song in 1959, for which Fern had acquired a stunning backing band: Hank "Sugarfoot" Garland on guitar (Roy Orbison, Marty Robbins, Conway Twitty, Hank Williams Sr., Everly Brothers), Floyd Cramer on piano (Booby Bare, Patsy Cline, Wings, Johny Cash, Chet Atkins), Joe Zinkan on bass (Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn), and Buddy Harman on drums (Reba McEntire, Hank Snow, Willie Nelson) -- all of whom were fresh off a 1958 session with Elvis. Despite several tours (without a single to promote), Fern's "rockabilly gospel style" songs never caught on with a conservative buying public. Fern soon stopped performing all together and found it impossible to gain back the rights to her songs after the label's lease was up. After constant threat that the master tapes might be destroyed (as were all others from that era of Dot) and a fifteen-year letter-writing campaign, Dot Records' second owners, MCA, finally awarded her the rights to these songs once again. And thankfully so. They're amazingly powerful devotionals. If you're a fan of Patsy Cline, and who isn't, you'll love love love these Fern Jones songs!

MPEG stream: By And By
MPEG stream: Be Thankful You're You

Good ol' Honest Jon's. Always with the nice packaging for one and, as evinced by the wonderful Cedric Im Brooks reissue of a couple years ago, excellent choice in music. Super rootsy, super heavy reggae from the 70's. Recorded at the Black Ark, Joe Gibbs and King Tubby's with guesting from Fred Locks, Pablove Black, Zoot Sims and engineering talents from Joseph Robinson (who worked on Light Of Saba). Possible bummer: this is one of those vocal, version, vocal, version style anthologies, so if you're not into hearing the same rhythm doubled on every other track you might want to program your CD player to play all the even numbered tracks (for vocals) and all the odd numbered tracks (for the versions). Comes in a beautifully printed digipak with glossy black ink on matte red and white.

MPEG stream: Look Out For the Devil
MPEG stream: Cobre Version

From the album cover -- an oddly staged photo featuring four long haired dudes with peculiar, only-in the-seventies fashion sense (high top Converse sneakers or bare feet, tube socks, floral print shirt and white vest and pants, bathrobe, shorts, little red hat...) relaxing at a cafe table -- you wouldn't necessarily guess that this is as heavy as it is. But it is. Though this first (and best) album by Spanish hard rockers Leno dates from 1979, it definitely sounds a few years older than that. Total early '70s heavy proto-metal in sound (which means that if you come into the store looking for it, you'll find it in our new "heavy '70s proto metal" section that lives in our "vintage psych rock" rack) for fans of all that stuff like Dust, Toad, Bang, Buffalo, Budgie, Blues Creation, Socrates Drank The Conium, etc. Wild, riffy stuff with tough, rough wailing (Spanish-language) vocals and lots and lots of *killer* guitar that gets almost Sabbathy in spots. Man, we love finding obscure stuff like this that sounds so classic the second you put it on. Pretty darn kick ass.

MPEG stream: El Oportunista
MPEG stream: Este Madrid

Yes. Yes. Yes. Hmmmm, yes. Yes. And Yes! While some people around here might be incredibly annoyed by our ridiculous French-Canadian electropop-artrock-postpunk friends, Les Georges Lenningrad, others of us can't get enough of 'em. Ainsi, pour nous qui t'adore [so for those of us who adore them], this remix cd ep lands on open ears and, um, dancing feet. And as always, it features some cool handmade-or-sewn-'n-scanned artwork. Meow. I wish they would handmake me a fuzzy shirt.

MPEG stream: Akufen Soutien-Georges - remix

First off, this is indeed a CASSETTE. Second of all this is EXTREMELY LIMITED. Extremely. Originally intended to be released along with the most recent issue of Oaken Throne Magazine, due to some unforseen manufacturing delays, Demos - 2000 is now available all on its own. And for a tiny piece of plastic this tape packs a mighty blackened wallop. Culled from the same material as Leviathan's debut 2cd Verrater (now out of print), these early demos are just as dark and bleak and weird and amazing as his subsequent releases. Maybe a little murkier, a little more buzzy and lo-fi, but hell, this is a BLACK METAL TAPE after all!!! Limited to 500 copies, of which we got the last handful. There is a forthcoming cd of demos on Moribund, but these tracks are -exclusive- to this cassette, unless of course you're one of the lucky few with a secret stash of early Leviathan tapes and cd-r's. But since you're probably not, odds are YOU NEED THIS!! AS with all things Leviathan, absolutely essential black metal listening!

You think by now we'd be sick of crank calls. And we sort of are, but as with any 'artform' there are always a select few who manage to take that 'artform' to another level. Thus we have the enigmatic Longmont Potion Castle. This master of deadpan confusional telephone terror. Mr. Longmont no longer practices his art, having hung up his phone (hee hee... sorry) several years ago. But the kind folks at Reptilian have unearthed "the last known recordings of phone fun made at the Longmont Potion Castle." And fun it is. The cool thing about LPC, is he's not an asshole, and he doesn't necessarily set out to piss people off, even though it's obviously inevitable. And when he does get in a tough guy "I'll kick your ass" sort of verbal sparring match, his choice of threats are so ridiculous and nonsensical, you find yourself almost embarassed for him, like the little tiny kid who is oblivious to his mortality and insists on standing up to the bully and always gets his ass whupped. The add in his obsession with squid meat and an amazing litany of bizarre items / objects / names / services he invokes or offers or pretends to be looking for: Spencer Zebra, Aqualamb, Chowder Julius, Wovenloaf, Frickey Weaver, Chimp Giraffe Loop (making me laugh just typing those!). Wow! It really is amazingly funny. And bizarre. If you've never heard longmont this is as good a place to start as any! Sad that it's the last time we'll hear that oh so familiar dedpan drawl looking for Spencer Zebra or threatening to bring various household objects "to ya lip."

MPEG stream: UPS Freakout 1
MPEG stream: Spencer Zebra
MPEG stream: Aqualamb
MPEG stream: Loud Tones

When we listed the Maximo Park ep a few lists back, in the review we proclaimed that if only it had been a full length it would have been record of the week for sure. Well, here we are a few months later, and what do ya know? Maximo Park is record of the week. It wasn't a done deal though, not at all. That first four-song ep was so perfect, Interpol meets XTC, flawless angular pop, we listened to it non-stop. So much so that when we first threw this on, it didn't quite live up to our expectations. Those first four songs from the ep set the bar pretty high. Maybe too high. But like all great records, each subsequent listen offered us more, and revealed each song to be even catchier than the one before. A Certain Trigger has quickly become the pop record of the year for us. Hyperbole? Maybe, but we just can't stop listening to this record. As we've mentioned many times before, we fought tooth and nail against this whole new wave dance punk revival, but a good band is a good band. What can you do? And ya know, we dug Interpol, Franz Ferdinand, Kaiser Chiefs, but hell if Maximo Park doesn't trounce them all. They do have "the sound", that sort of jagged off kilter post punk pop that will ensure that they get lumped in with the flavors of the month. But the songs here are so much more timeless sounding. Unlike the loads of bands just aping Gang Of Four, Maximo Park sound like their own band, sure they share some sonic elements, but they sound like they could have easily existed in 1980 as much as 2005. And they draw their inspiration not only from the obvious, Gang Of Four, XTC, Interpol, but also incorporate the moody dramatic electropop of Ultravox, the gloomy buzz and burn of Joy Division, and even bouncy eighties power pop, with super fuzzed out synths, kinetic new wave rhythms, and of course MP frontman Paul Smith's immediately engaging vocals. The songs are bouncy and poppy, but manage to be dark and minor key and edgy enough to give the whole record an intense emotional buzz. Two songs from the ep are present, our pop song of the year "Apply Some Pressure" and the XTC worshipping "The Coast Is Always Changing" (you can hear samples of both with the review of the "Apply Some Pressure" ep), but there are plenty of new classics that have been getting repeat play here like crazy. The massively catchy "Now I'm All Over The Shop" with its pounding piano and weirdly arpeggiated rhythm, and a vocal melody that literally gives us chills, like that one song on a mixtape that makes you want to either smash everything to bits or run across town to declare your true love. And then there's the bouncy XTC count-by-numbers pop of "The Night I Lost My Head" with its angelic background Oooo's and a weird stop start chorus, and the gloomy bass driven "Once, A Glimpse" with it's chiming guitars, tribal rhythms and guitar heavy refrain and the gorgeously languid "Acrobat" that sounds like an updated version of Ultravox's "Vienna". So pretty. All of A Certain Trigger is totally classic sounding, enough that it was tough to pick which songs to make sound samples for. So yeah, all you folks who froth at the mouth for every band that has any of that Killers / Franz Ferdinand / Bloc Party sound going on will probably love this record, but it's way more than just another one of -those- bands. Maximo Park are an amazing pop band, and this is an amazing pop record, with enough sonic precedents to make it feel familiar and classic, but enough new stuff going on and enough killer classic songs to make it one of our favorite new records. Period. For a limited time, a bonus disc is included featuring 7 tracks recorded live in Japan!

MPEG stream: Now I'm All Over The Shop
MPEG stream: Limassol
MPEG stream: The Night I Lose My Head
MPEG stream: Once, A Glimpse

Sound piled upon sound piled upon sound and piled on more sound is the signature of Michael Northam's process in his installations and compositions. Far from the irritating collisions of sound in Merzbow, Northam softens, rounds, and blurs his dense collages into a shadowy minimalism; and the Molecular Knot Phase One is an excellent example of Northam's methods. He began this short 20 minute composition with source material he produced with Seth Nehil, whereby the two gently struck a variety of zithers and found objects. Northam then extracted tiny sounds (hence the title) from that source material, stretched and compounded them into timbral drones, then densely collaged those sounds into the eerie mass found on Molecular Knot Phase One. Very nicely done.

MPEG stream: Molecular Knot Phase One

The expatriate American sound artist Michael Northam has been wandering across Europe for many years now, finding himself in various residency programs where he has built an impressive body of installations, collaborations, and recordings from densely superimposed sounds that result in gorgeous swarms of magnetic vibrations and droning minimalism. For better or for worse, Northam has consistently released his work on small labels in small editions, meaning that we've not been able to dedicate as much to his work as we would like. Porous is one of those, released on the Cloudmirror label, which Northam had a hand in establishing. This lengthy, two-part composition is a reworking of a 24 channel installation Northam produced for the Klangturm in St. Polten, Austria back in September of 2001. Northam typically begins with acoustic instruments or phenomenon; and Porous is no different, as he collects tiny sounds from plucked pine cones, rustled leaves, and scribblings from other found objects. Slowly, he builds these textural sounds into quiet thrashings of muffled events that begin to echo and fold on top of each other into a thick droning mass. A very nice record, Porous ends up sounding not too far from the best work of Francisco Lopez, Andrew Chalk, Ellen Fullman, and Loren Chasse.

MPEG stream: Porous 1
MPEG stream: Porous 2

Another moody, beautiful film score by Morricone for this 1971 thriller by Aldo Lado, also known as Short Night of the Glass Dolls. It's about a guy who's girlfriend (a young Barbara Bach) disappears, he finds himself "awake" in a comatose state trying to figure out what happened, and tries to come out of it before they autopsy him. The score, as you can imagine, is a little spooky of course though it also features lots of moaning. Profondo Italiano.

MPEG stream: Valzer
MPEG stream: Notte E Bambole

A classic Spaghetti Western soundtrack from 1969. This film, Tepepa (also known as Blood And Guns or Long Live The Revolution), features Orson Welles as the evil Colonel Cascorro. Sounds of the film, such as desert noises or gunshots, punctuate the orchestral swells of the music. A stunning and beautiful classic.

MPEG stream: Viva La Revolucion (Tepepa)
MPEG stream: Tradimento Primo

This is John Darnielle's wonderful home-spun alternate rendition of his latest album, The Sunset Tree, released on vinyl only. Taking into consideration the songs' rough-hewn state and the fact that there's also a studio recorded album consisting of most of these songs, some folks might refer to these recordings as demos. To that we utter a robust "Pshaw!" 'Cuz as with most every release in the history of Sir Darnielle, Come Come To The Sunset Tree stands as a finished work on its own merits. He recorded these eleven songs at his home in North Carolina, and he recorded the 4AD CD release version at Prairie Sun Studios in Cotati, CA. Keep in mind, apart from the obvious differences in production, you'll also find additional distinctions between the LP and CD in their respective song selections and running orders. If you're a serious Mountain Goats fan, you'll no doubt need both versions! The bare bones intimacy of these home recordings brings back fond memories of his early releases. Wonderful! Each record is packaged in a one-of-a-kind handcrafted cover (festooned with photos, comic strip panels, colored construction paper, paint and felt tip markers). Ultra limited pressing of whihc we only got a handful and they're going very very fast, so don't you dare snooze on this one!

Finally, a new release from Campbell Kneale's (Birchville Cat Motel) 'metal' label Battlecruiser. This time from the cryptically named Mrtyu. And upon first listen, not all that metal. Not to say that it's not good, it is. Really good. It just sounds like it might have been just at home on Kneale's more drift / drone / freenoise oriented label Celebrate Psi Phenomenon. Sheets of shimmering feedback drift over crumbly rumbling super distorted guitar background noise. Very static and raga-like, quite reminiscent of Total or Skullflower. But then track two hits and we understand why this is a Battlecruiser release. A lo-fi doom dirge, with jagged brittle guitars, distorted vocals (not howls or shrieks, but like indie crooning, all 'distorted' up). A brief blast of Melvins-y sludge but with the high end pushed into the red. Almost like a indie pop song, but deconstructed and dipped in stoner sludge. Cool. And SUPER LIMITED. We only got 15 and will not be able to get more.

MPEG stream: track 1
MPEG stream: track 2

Not new, but we've been fans of this record for years and had never reviewed it, in part 'cause in recent years stuff on the Second Battle label has been notoriously difficult to stock consistently. But one of our suppliers just managed to score a batch of these so we saw our opportunity to write it up for those of you as yet uninitiated into the krautrock awesomeness of My Solid Ground. How awesome is that? Well, the very first track is called "Dirty Yellow Mist" and is over 13 minutes long, featuring a relentlessly repeating distorted guitar riff ceremonially intoning over and over and over as wordless female vocals, droning organ and tribal percussion build up around it. If you're like, "cool!" then this record is for you, it's as good as that sounds. This 1971 (aha, 1971! says Allan) album exemplifies druggy, downer spaced-out psych, being very reminiscent of Pink Floyd circa Meddle (another awesome album that we really should properly review some day!) and Amon Duul II -- along with other krautrockers like Siloah, Necronomicon, Agitation Free and early Guru Guru. And the Floyd feel isn't just 'cause of the cartoon pigs that adorn the cover art either. But there's also a side to the band that's more along the lines of garagey hard rock, with several Kinks-riffed attacks to shake your shack. As primitive heaviness goes, this is a classic. Hazy and weighty and often ominous (check out the mumbling vocals on "The Executioner"). Includes seven bonus tracks (the original 24 minute version of "Flash" not least among them), and comes packaged in a swank digipack.

MPEG stream: Dirty Yellow Mist
MPEG stream: Flash Part IV

"Featuring The Cateroeternally Live Sound" it says, whatever that means...well, it means it's from the psychedelic '60s of course! Yep, the '60s psych pop reissues never seem to stop coming. Obscure bands with one collectable LP to their name having their tunes dug up and put out on cd at long last. In trying to keep up with the constant deluge, we've of course learned that not every reissue shoulda been -- but this 1967 album IS a good example of a worthwhile reish! Dunno much about 'em, and being a Radioactive disc there ain't much in the way of liner notes, but we know The Nova Local were an American band (from Chapel Hill, NC), who seem equally influenced by both Hendrix and the Beatles. Their songs feature lovely vocal harmonies alongside heavy organ and psych fuzz guitar work, and range from garagey, Nuggetsy fare a la the Electric Prunes to more orchestrated lite-psych, with some trippy interludes of surreal '60s silliness. The first track on side one, "$5 A Ticket" deserves minor hit status, we think (and no, of course it's not a song about going to a Fugazi show!). And they do a really great, uniquely laid-back and lengthy version of the oft-covered "Tobacco Road". One thing that makes this band something special is the voice of rhythm guitarist Randy Winburn, who sings lead on a lot of these tracks. Randy is indeed a fella, but his voice is high, almost weirdly womanly, contributing to the band's nice blend of dark and light here.

MPEG stream: $5 A Ticket
MPEG stream: Hitch Hike

Horns! We love 'em! Especially when they're Canadian horns! What the hell do we mean by that?! Thanks for askin'... we're particularly recalling with much fondness those fine brassy tones of ol' AQ faves Zumpano. Ah, but we digress. These Canucks are label brethren of the New Pornographers and well ... there really must be something in the water up there! From the first track Novillero mean business! There's a balance of mature urgency and youthful exuberance in their latest full length Aim Right For The Holes In Their Lives. Lead vocalist Rod Slaughter sounds positively fired up. Have to say, some new musical magic has definitely clicked into place with his new band. Whereas his former two-piece Duotang (another fine Mint Records' pop band) crafted amazingly full, '60s-influenced mod-ish tunes with just vocals, bass guitar and drums, the Novillero quartet encorporates a much broader spectrum of sounds blending organ, piano, accordion, Moog synths, the aforementioned horns and a healthy dose of tambourine into the mix. Each band member tackles an array of instruments. Theirs is pop music that packs a (still mod-tinged) punch with snappy choruses, soaring melodies and buoyant vocal harmonies that ring with the joyous highs akin to not only those of Carl Newman and co., but also Sloan or The Posies -- the latter particularly when bandmate Grant Johnson takes the mic. However, this album's lusher side also align the band with fellow current gorgeous grand popsters such as Arcade Fire, Stars and The Dears, but with a bigger tiger in their tank. Check out their wonderful "Insomnia" and "The Hypothesist". They spend eleven songs igniting their dazzling pop fireworks, and bring things to a soft, sweet finish with the duet "Let's Pull Over Here". Oooh, the song recalls classic swooning duets by the likes of Gainsbourg and Bardot. Recommended.

MPEG stream: The Hypothesist
MPEG stream: Insomnia

Well, this is a bit of a weird one. Planet Aids is actually the side project of a band we've yet to review beacuse their records have been so difficult to get. But whatever, here's the story, there's a Belgian ultra doom band called Bunkur, whose records are supposedly on the way to us right now and should be reviewed on the next list. They are of the slow motion funereal doom variety, like Skepticism or Thergothon or Khanate. In fact they sound quite a bit like Khanate but with weirder dubbier rhythms. Well, in the process of trying to get Bunkur records for the store, Bunkur mainman Manuel suggested we check out his other band Planet Aids, who he said were way more fucked up and noisy, and damn if he wasn't right. The problematically monickered Planet Aids offer up one 30 minute track of sick glacial death doom, ultra de-tuned guitars, gargling hellish howls, and rumbling bowel churning bass. Sounds good huh? Well, it gets even better, as every once in a while, the crusty murk gets interrupted by bursts of bizarre industrial rhythms, that sound like a malfunctioning Godflesh. Weird as fuck but so so cool. On the same label that released the two equally amazing Urfaust records.

MPEG stream: Apokalyptik AIDS (excerpt)

For those unfamiliar, The Remote Viewer is an off shoot of the UK band Hood (as well as other projects The Boats and The Famous Boyfriend), and their music is not all that dissimilar, perhaps drawing even closer together with each subsequent release. Both of them fuse indie pop with ambient electronic glitch in their instrumentals and vocal songs and draw from a broad spectrum of influences. Faint pop melodies waft through, percussive chimes materialize occasionally suggesting Far East inspirations. The sixth song "I'm Sad Feeling!" sounds like it'd fit very well alongside the beloved Piano Magic album Low Birth Weight. Ever so delicate and dreamy but with a somber heaviness flowing just under the surface.

MPEG stream: I'm Sad Feeling!
MPEG stream: Last Night You Said Goodbye, Now It Seems Years.

[ aquarius records new arrivals — issue 215 ]