We Offer You The Guru might be a folk record, in some other time, and some other world. Sure there are steel string guitars, harmonica, jews harp, even sruti box and electric dulcimer, and there is a melancholy strumminess, and dreamy twanginess to be sure, but Matt Valentine and Erika Elder (aka MV / EE) wrap their druggy spaced out folk in a dense cloud of thick reverb and smoky ambience, traditional folk melodies are stretched and twisted apart into creepy snippets and fuzzed out musical vignettes, the whole thing reminding us a little bit of the movie Gummo at times, very cinematic in a fucked up and back woods-y sort of way, damaged and not a little drug addled, but at the same time hauntingly beautiful. Elder's vocals are slurred and indistinct, intertwined with wheezing harmonicas and plinking plonking Jandek-ian guitars. Valentine's usual droney raga steel strings, aren't so droney here, instead they become lovingly lugubrious deconstructed strums and picked apart picking, textural and abstract, a rickety framework for the ghostly clouds of vocal / harmonica interplay drifting through these hazy shimmery soundscapes.
Subtitled "An Urban Ceremonial", this super limited new release from AQ faves the No Neck Blues Band documents a live performance at the Greene Naftali Gallery in November of 2004. It's been a little while since we've heard from these guys, but thankfully they sound as good as ever, maybe a little more subdued and subtle, although that could just be the venue or even this particular performance. As always, the NNBB offer up a langorous, dreamily exotic tribal soundscape of crystalline shimmers, drifting ambient slivers of high end, muted tribal drumming, subtle velvet shadings of reverbed guitar, simple shuffling rhythms, chimes and bells, ghostly woodwinds, drifting psych guitar drone, occasional clang and clatter, music box-like melodies all swirled into a rambling soundscape of tribal ambience, krautrock creep and pagan folk ritual.
Packaged in an oversized carboard sleeve with a poster. And again EXTREMELY LIMITED!
There's very few comparisons to listening to Nokturnal Mortum. The Charlie Daniels Band jammin' with Emperor? Bizarre black metal hoedown? Some sort of line dancing campfire jamboree gone horribly horribly wrong? The unholy spawn of the grimmest black metal and a hauntingly festive medieval gypsy folk? Okay, so maybe there are more than a few comparisons, but they all tend to center around NM's unlikely country-gypsy-folk / black metal hybrid. Precisely what makes them so completely and bizarrely brilliant. This Ukranian horde unleash the ghost hounds and the battle commences with the sounds of galloping horses, strange battle horns, the strangled cries of wounded beasts, the clatter of steel on chain mail, sounds that continue throughout the entire record. It's almost like a field recording of some epic medieval battle, a mad dash through corpse strewn villages, with occasional bursts of black metal buzz from some random corpsepainted ghouls playing in the smoking rubble of a burnt and blackened tavern, or from within a copse of twisted trees, the metal soon drifts into the background as you head deeper into the forest, are farther out upon the battlefield. Nokturnal Mortum's particular take on black metal tends toward the buzzing midtempo gallop and lope, thick and gnarled and fuzzed out, a la Burzum, Graveland, Woodtemple, etc. But more often than not, these black bursts twist into unlikely shapes, blackened metallic jigs, strangely festive and rollicking but still razor sharp and dense with guitar buzz and ripping riffs, jubilant (yet still slightly ominous) gypsy stomps, but laced with spiky guitars and blasting drums. Most noticeable this time around are the extensive ambient interludes, swooshy, starlit night twinkle and shimmer, lush wooshes over tinkly melodies, almost new age-y at moments, but it's not long before you are felled once again by a sharp slab of utter blackness, or a rollicking jubilant mace to the temple, all part of the curious journey through Nokturnal Mortum's bizarrely blackened world.
While they last we have the super deluxe oversized hardcover book version (limited to 1000 copies), once we run out of those you'll get the regular jewel case version (which also happens to be cheaper!).
Less of a collaboration and more a solo Z'ev album with some source material provided by Chris Watson and K.K. Null, this album begins with a very heavy-handed conceptual framework, manifesting in three elements that Z'ev proposed to his contributors. The first element was to use the structure of the Noh Theater cycle as the basis for the composition; the second was to consider the initial sound development in terms of developing characters which would then interact with one another through the specific scene which is a fairly non-traditional way to work with sound elements; and the final element was to place the character interactions as the figure inside of particular sound-scapes as the ground. In executing this concept, Z'ev collected the source material -- including Null's vibrator-on-guitar-strings / faux-Frippertronics and Watson's field recordings from East Africa -- and ran them through a whole arsenal of mesmerizing DSP effects, which are very similar to those used in the Z'ev / Organum recordings. In keeping to his idea that the sounds would pose as characters interacting with each other, Z'ev repeats various snippets from the composition in a manner that may be a simulation of speech. Good ideas, they all may be; but Z'ev often stumbles under the heavy burden of his conceptual conceits. Still quite interesting.
Wow...This is their best yet! Their first for Kill Rock Stars (after three releases on Tigerbeat 6) and the shift in labels also marks a major shift in sound for this SF trio. While Numbers became known for their diy approach to electro-pop, "we're animals" finds them ready to move on and into different directions. The sound is much fuller and you get the feeling that lots of thought was put into making a full album as opposed to just throwing together a bunch of songs. In lots of ways this is sort of like their Milk Man (the Deerhoof album, that is). Guitars and keyboards which take their cue from early Eno rock albums with moments of washed out sounds that shimmer and sizzle. No more traces of gimmickry. What hasn't changed for Numbers is that their presence and energy is still undeniable. So nice to see when a band has the courage to make a change that might alienate their past fan base but in the process come out on the other end with a record so much better then if they had just continued to go through the expected motions.
Super limited cassette tape of Six Organs Of Admittance's Ben Chasny and NVH! Please note: tht's N V H not N M H (i.e, Neutral Milk Hotel) as some customers have mistakenly thought! Released by AQ pal Mike Donovan (Sic Alps, Big Techno Werewolves, Nam, Sounds Of The Barbary Coast, The Ropers, Dial Records) as part of his ongoing cassette tape series. Only about 200 of these are being made, so needless to say, don't snoooooze! Pssst... we also have a small number of some other Folding cassette releases, all with hand made covers -- a couple of short ones from Death Sentence: Panda and Donovan's own current band Sic Alps, plus one by Dark Yellow Swans (aka Yellow Swans) and a compilation he compiled with artist Chris Johanson called SSSSSOSS2. Dust off yer cassette deck!
This long out of print Partridge/Budd collaboration has been reissued with different cover art, more liner notes (offering an account of how these two unlikely musical bedfellows came to meet and how these recordings came to be) and a bonus track! For those unfamiliar with the album from its original release back in 1994 and those who might be expecting more of a pop presence considering the intelligent hook-writing talents of XTC's frontman Partridge, you'll soon discover that this album sounds nothing like XTC and everything like Harold Budd. The seventeen tracks are divided into seven sections -- Prelude, Geography, Interlude, Structures, Interlude, Artifacts and Postlude. Meditative soundscapes with occasional spoken word segments (actually Partridge's poetry as read aloud by Budd). Shimmery percussive washes weighted by solemn piano and guitar lines, analog synthesizer textures and cycles played out on Indian and African bells. Elegant and beautiful.
Listen closely to all the recordings by Mark Gergis, and you'll discover a very interesting, subversive thread running through all of his work. Whether it be in his impeccable contributions to the Sublime Frequencies series (i.e. Choubi Choubi, Cambodian Cassette Archives, I Remember Syrai, Molam: Thai Country Groove From Isan), the gleeful recreation of Thai Pop in Neung Phak, or his media reclamation projects Mono Pause and Porest, Gergis delights in what mainstream American culture discounts as alien, invalid, or profane. On occasion, this delight has been tempered with a political animosity, as is most evident in Gergis' curatorial choices on the Choubi Choubi collection of Iraqi pop songs; but through his experiments in media sabotage through Mono Pause and his solo project Porest, Gergis' recontextualization is spiked with searing dissent. Mood Noose is the second outing for Gergis as Porest, and it's a bit of a detour from the Negativland / People Like Us like collages of his earlier work which relied so heavily on black humor in its juxtaposition of sound. Nevertheless, Gergis has constructed an impressive and wholly decentered album in Mood Noose. Opening with spy-thriller horns marching on top of crunchy electronic rhythms, Gergis presents Mood Noose as something of a splattered electronica album full of rewired circuits, hypersaturated granular synthesis, Geiger-counter pinpricks, and slabs of digi-noise. At times, the album seems more in keeping with the Dada-electronic works of Stilluppsteypa or even a fragmented version of some of Bruce Gilbert's solo projects. But these references don't hold much water by the end of the record, as the compositions take wildly divergent paths, as collages of barking dogs and warbled moans crash into Russian pop songs. The most disturbing segment to Mood Noose is the violent argument between a couple as read by two computerized voices, offering a dispassionate delivery of "ouch, Tom, you're hurting me." This is one of those records that will certainly haunt you well after you've stopped listening to it.
Ah, Finland! You never cease to amaze us with the wealth of intruding sounds that emerge from your arctic landscape; and you've once again provided us with somebody new to get excited about. While our obsession with Finnish music has been typically centered on the liminal psychedelia of Circle, Kemiallyset Ystavat, Avarus, and all things Fonal, we've also been quite taken by the frigid electronica that Pan Sonic has been making for many years now. Antti Rannisto comes from the same mold as Pan Sonic's Mika Vainio in sculpting a compelling post-techno electric field of phase-shifting throbs and sine-wave tones with impeccable precision. In many ways, Aaniesineita mirrors what Vainio did on his solo records Metri and Tulkinta. There really is not very much to Rannisto's work, often just a hyper-repetitive 4/4 pulse with subtle shifts of panning, EQ envelope manipulation, and phase shifting of tonal elements. According to Rannisto, it's all about rotation. That pretty much says it all.
A customer recommended we check out Rehtaf Ruo (Our Father backwards, how very evil!) describing them as more insane and out there sounding than Benighted Leams. Well, we could hardly resist after that! Happy to report that Boiled In Goat Blood is indeed quite possibly (one of) the weirdest, most fucked up black metal records we have ever heard. And that's assuming you could even classify this as black metal. It's so bizarre it's a bit hard to describe. We were a little cautious throwing this on, the first track was a haunting and creepy slow motion drone, obviously an introduction, but black and ominous enough. Then the record proper started and we were floored, blown away by the sheer musical perversity on display, so damaged and abstract, and so goddamn scary sounding, it really couldn't be more black. The riffs are so lo-fi and so murky, they don't even sound like guitars, more like fuzzy drones, not like Burzum fuzzy, but completely indistinct smears of sound, and the drums are right down there with the guitars, barely audible, except for the occasional REALLY LOUD burst of impossibly fast double kick drum that sounds like a jackhammer or a woodpecker, very static and industrial. But it's the vocals that define Rehtaf Ruo, from a harsh hoarse growl, to a super affected hellish gargle, to a burping grunt, the vocals are SO FUCKING FRIGHTENING. Way more evil than most BM frontmen, it helps that the vocals are WAY louder than the music, their only competition those bursts of spastic double kick, or the occasional very evil Rigor Sardonicous style trash can lid cymbal crash. There are some intensely bizarre moments of abstraction, a track that sounds like a more black metal Jacula, some murky martial percusssion beneath raspy invocations, super sudden fade outs, chiming church bells, some creepy ambient soundscapes made from guitars so distorted they crumble into what sounds like radio static, strange looped freakouts that sound like a more fucked up Jeck or Basinski, or even recent AQ faves WOLD, grizzled guitar clang and the sounds of chains against stone, and of course some ridiculously anguished vocal torture. The final track is a massive ten plus minute horrorscape, of super processed drums, wild hysterical vocalizing, clattery dungeon percussion, moaning minor key melodies, but to get there, you'll have to crawl on your hands and knees, bloodied and blackened, through a field of fire and broken glass, corpses and barbed wire and some of the weirdest black metal EVER.
Made infamous as the man responsible for Robert Plant's voice blasting on classic rock radio for years to never end, 'cause Reid turned down Jimmy Page's request in 1968 to be the singer for his new band The New Yardbirds which of course became Led Zeppelin (and Reid actually was the one to suggest in his place Plant and also John Bonham for Page's new outfit). A pretty good guitar player in his own right, he didn't want to be just the singer for a band so he stayed on his own. This collections compiles tracks from his first two albums (including covers of Dylan and Donovan) as well as some bonus material. The first two tracks are absolute killers, on par with his older more country tinged haunting sound (as heard also on the Devil's Rejects soundtrack!), while the rest of this collection leans more toward solid blues tinged rock, from a man who could have been...
We've got some serious catching up to do. We can barely keep up with the flood of new releases, especially when there are loads of amazing microlabels putting out disc after disc after bloody brilliant disc. So it is with Antony Milton's PseudoArcana label, and this gorgeous disc from Ben Reynolds. Five tracks, 30 minutes, of ultra dense, super lush droned out bliss. Reynolds weaves massive washes of near static sound, like Sunroof! or Vibracathedral Orchestra but smoothed out and stretched out into even more blissful realms, slow flowing rivers of warm warble and thick chordal thrum. Part way through there is a brief and delicate folk interlude of fingerpicked steel string guitar and tinkling chimes, very Fahey-esque, but it quickly segues into perhaps the heaviest track on the disc, the nine minute "Howlers", another extended Ur-drone, but this time augmented by the previous track's chimes, and strange alien chirps that sound a bit like bird calls (Howlers?). Truly gorgeous stuff.
The tireless SF DJ Romanowski brings good tidings with his brand new festive mix, Holidays With Romanowski! His turntable boughs are weighed heavily with old soul and hip hop classics. Nice.
Yes, at last! The new Salvatore is here! We've been trying to get this, their fifth album, for AGES. For whatever reason, these imports were tough to come by, but finally we've got 'em. And now that it's booming through our stereo here at the store, we know that it was worth the wait. First off, the love of Neu! still beats strongly in the hearts (and, um, beats) of these mostly instrumental Norwegian post-rockers. That motorik percussion propulsion that we love too. Instant hypnosis in other words. Which means that they're still very much of the "Circle-ular" persuasion, leaning towards the likes of Tortoise and Trans Am too. Tortoise's John McEntire did the mix, in fact (and contributes drum machine on one track, "Brugata"). That's alongside drums, guitar x 2, organ, bass, "bassdrones", xylophone, vocoder, "sitter" (sitar?) -- and each track has a slightly different, usually expansive line-up of musicians and instrumentation. The bass and percussive elements are always quite strong, of course, but Salvatore still manage to make their music quite delicate too -- and although Luxus remains on the lighter side of Salvatore's output (the "poppier" path they've followed since 2002's Fresh), there are certainly bolts of electric darkness and grit shivering through these tracks, especially on the scarily reverberating "Fluxus"...while the combination of female vocals, strings, and "fake balaban" (presumably the middle-eastern sounding horn we hear) on the ten-minute-plus title track is simply gorgeous, not scary or dark at all. Speaking of balabans, Luxus establishes that ethnic influences are definitely a part of Salvatore's sound, something that they have in common with krautrockers Can, doubtless another inspiration of theirs. So, for fans of Can, Circle, Neu!, Tortoise, etc. Salvatore has produced another winning album, that we're so glad to finally have, to share with you.
A couple years after making its rounds of the indie film fest circuits (heck, we've had the soundtrack for ages!), Jon Moritsugu's latest film Scumrock is finally available on dvd!!!
As we mentioned in the cd's review, the film revolves around the tangled struggles of indie filmmakers and indie bands. It features many AQ-familiar faces including a pre-TV On The Radio Kyp Malone in one of the lead roles, Moritsugu's partner in crime and awesome illustrator Amy Davis, I Am Spoonbender's Dustin Donaldson as the bad-ass Church, fellow filmmakers Craig Baldwin and Danny Plotnick, J-Church's Lance Hahn and our own Cup as eager film students, and let's not forget Windy's ol' Trans Am! Oh, and there's James Duval (aka Donnie Darko's Frank aka the freaky bunny) too. Plus music by Casiotone For The Painfully Alone, J-Church, and Moritsugu and Davis' band Toni-Ann. Have we missed anyone?
Unflinchingly dedicated to keepin' it raw 'n' real, this renegade indie filmmaker keeps on keepin' on and critics and kids continue to shower him the accolades. Scumrock received some very high honors and hip cred including 'Best Feature' at both the Chicago and New York Underground Film Festivals and one of the Village Voice film critics' pick of 2003. Be forewarned though if you're an image- and/or audio-phile seeking crystal clarity, the glare'n'grit laden Scum Rock might not be for you. Possessing an appreciation for all of the different qualities and kinds of film and video, Moritsugu doesn't look at one as better than another. No, he view the image 'quality' variances as simply a personality trait of each format. He just as much celebrates the overblown, hazy images caught on Hi-8 as the razor crispness of HD. He'll shoot in whatever format suits his current creative vision and the project's budget. Degraded images and distorted sound are all part of Moritsugu's wild underground film playground. In turn, dizzying, disorienting, giddy, awkward, and sincere.
Moritsugu fans, we've been alerted that next in line for dvd-ification will be Fame Whore! ----* ----* 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. 3/4 HAD BEEN ELIMINATED "A Year Of The Aural Gauge Operation" (Hapna) cd 16.98 ACID BATH "Demos: 1993-1996" (Rotten) cd 14.98 AFRICAN BROTHERS / KING TUBBY "The African Brothers Meet King Tubby In Dub" (Nature Sounds) cd 14.98 ALPHANE MOON / OUR GLASSIE AZOTH "Experimenting With An Amen / The Magician's Heavenly Chaos" (Oggum) cd 15.98 ANOREXIA NERVOSA "The September E.P." (Listenable) cd ep 13.98 ANTONY & THE JOHNSONS "You Are My Sister" (Secretly Canadian) cd ep 5.98 AOKI TAKAMASA + TUJIKO NORIKO "28" (Fat Cat) cd 15.98 ARCTURUS "Sideshow Symphonies" (Season Of Mist) cd 16.98 BAUHAUS "Shadow of Light / Archive" (Beggars Banquet) dvd 15.98 BIBLE OF THE DEVIL "Brutality - Majesty - Eternity" (Scarey Records) cd 11.98 BIGG JUS "Poor People's Day" (Mush) cd 14.98 BJORK "Medula Videos" (Elektra) dvd 15.98 BORBETOMAGUS "Barbed Wire Maggots" (Agaric) cd 15.98 BRIGHT "Bells Break Their Towers" (Strange Attractors Audio House) cd BRUMIT, JON "Vendetta Retreat: Motion Picture Soundtrack" (Edgetone Records) cd 10.98 BURZUM "Draugen - Rarities" (Back On Black) cd 19.98 CASSETTEBOY "Dead Horse" (Barry's Bootlegs) cd 17.98 CAVE-IN "Perfect Pitch Black" (Hydra Head) cd 11.98 CHARTIER, RICHARD "Re'Post'Postfabricated" (DSP) 2cd 18.98 CHIODOS "All's Well That Ends Well" (Equal Vision) cd 13.98 CLARK, TODD TAMANEND "Nova Psychedelia (1975-1985)" (Anopheles) 2cd 21.00 CROWPATH "Son Of Sulphur" (Willowtip) cd 14.98 DARK FOG "Cosmic Tone" (Original Sound Recordings) cd 10.98 DARKNESS, THE "One Way Ticket To Hell" (Atlantic) cd 17.98 DEADBOY & THE ELEPHANTMEN "We Are Night Sky" (Fat Possum) cd 14.98 DEATH FROM ABOVE 1979 "Romance Bloody Romance: Remixes & B-Sides" (Vice) cd 14.98 DJ/RUPTURE, SISTER NANCY, & KID 606 "Little More Oil" (Soul Jazz) 12" 10.98 DOCKSTADER, TOD "Aerial #2" (Sub Rosa) cd 14.98 DRIVER, TOBY "In the L..L..Library Loft" (Tzadik) cd 15.98 F/I "Blanga" (Lexicon Devil) cd 16.98 FIRE ENGINES "Codex Teenage Premonition" (Domino) cd 14.98 FORREST, JASON "Shamelessly Exciting" (Sonig) cd 14.98 FRIPP, ROBERT "Love Cannot Bear: Soundscapes - Live In The USA" (Discipline Global Mobile) cd 15.98 GUIDED BY VOICES "Suitcase 2" (Fading Captain Series) 4cd boxset 45.00 GUIDED BY VOICES "The Electrifying Conclusion" (Plexifilm) dvd 24.00 HAEMOTH "Kontamination" (Southern Lord) cd 11.98 HARVESTMAN "Lashing The Rye" (Neurot) cd 14.98 HASEGAWA-SHIZUO "Gene Packs" (PSF) cd 22.00 HICKS, BILL "Sane Man" (Rykodisc) dvd 16.98 HIDDEN HAND "Devoid Of Color" (Southern Lord) cd 14.98 ILDJARN "Ildjarn is Dead" (Northern Heritage) 2cd 25.00 IMMORTAL "Sons Of Northern Darkness - Deluxe Edition" (Nuclear Blast) cd + dvd 16.98 JACKIE-O MOTHERFUCKER "Flags Of The Sacred Harp" (All Tomorrow's Parties) cd 15.98 JANE "Coconuts" (Psych-o-path) cd 14.98 JAPANTHER "Yer Living Grave" (Menlo Park) cd 10.98 JOAO, KARE "2" (Jester) cd 15.98 KANE, JONATHAN "February" (Table Of The Elements) cd/lp 14.98/14.98 KELLY, R. "Trapped In The Closet" (Zomba) dvd 21.00 KILL THE CLIENT "Escalation Of Hostility" (Willowtip) cd 14.98 KING, CAST "Saw Mill Man" (Locust) cd 14.98 KORAY, ERKIN "s/t" (Istanbul Plak) cd 19.98 KUBISCH, CHRISTINA "Armonica" (Semishigure) cd 17.98 LUBELSKI, SAMARA "Spectacular Of Passages" (Social Registry) cd 14.98 LUMSK "Troll" (Tabu) cd 16.98 MAGNETOPHONE "The Man Who Ate The Man" (4AD) cd 13.98 MASS, THE "Perfect Picture" (Crucial Blast) cd 13.98 MAXIMUM JOY "Unlimited (1979-1983)" (Crippled Dick Hot Wax) cd 16.98 MOONDOG "The Viking of Sixth Avenue" (Honest Jon's) cd/2lp 26.00/27.00 MORRICONE, ENNIO "Crime And Dissonance" (Ipecac) 2cd 16.98 MY CAT IS AN ALIEN "The Cosmological Eye Trilogy" (Last Visible Dog) 3cd 16.98 MY DAD IS DEAD "A Divided House" (Unhinged) cd 11.98 MYTHOLOGICAL COLD TOWERS "The Vanished Pantheon" (Firedoom) cd 14.98 NINE HORSES "Snow Borne Sorrow" (Samadhisound) cd 17.98 NMS "Imperial Letters Of Protection" (Big Dada) cd 14.98 NURSE WITH WOUND "Shipwreck Radio Volume Two" (ICR) 2cd 25.00 ORCUSTUS "Wrathrash b/w Grin Of Deceit" (Southern Lord) 7" 3.98 OZZBORN, ONRY "In Between" (Camobear) cd 13.98 REID, STEVE "Spirit Walk" (Soul Jazz) cd 21.00 RIOT "Narita" (Rock Candy) cd 17.98 ROOT "Madness Of The Graves" (Redblack Productions) cd 14.98 SAWS "s/t" (InTone) cd 14.98 SCHMICKLER, MARCUS / JOHN TILBURY "Variety" (A-Musik) cd 17.98 SHALABI EFFECT "Unfortunately" (Alien8) cd 14.98 SHEA, DAVID "The Book Of Scenes" (Sub Rosa) cd 14.98 SONDHEIM, ALAN / RITUAL ALL 770 "The Songs" (Fire Museum) cd 13.98 SONGS OF GREEN PHEASANT "s/t" (Fat Cat) cd 15.98 SONIC YOUTH WITH TIM BARNES "Koncertas Stan Brakhage Prisiminimui" (SYR) cd 13.98 SORCERY "Stunt Rock (OST)" (Akarma) cd 15.98 SPUNK "En Aldeles Forferdelig Sykdom" (Rune Grammofon) cd 16.98 STEVENS, MICK "The Englishman / The River" (Shadoks) 2cd 18.98 STRAWBERRY PATH "When The Raven Has Come To The Earth" (Radioactive) cd 17.98 STRIBORG "Black Desolate Winter / Depressive Hibernation" (Asgard) cd 13.98 SUSUMU YOKOTA & ROTHKO "Distant Sounds Of Summer" (Lo Recordings) cd 14.98 SWORD "Lord By Fire" (We Are The Label) cd 10.98 T2 "It'll All Work Out In Boomland" (Akarma) lp 23.00 TAAKE "Nattestid...." (Wounded Love) cd 14.98 TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI "Action Direct" (Beta-lactam Ring) cd 33.00 THRALLDOM "The Seven Heads Of The Lion-Serpent" (Deathstrike) 7" 6.98 TIMEOUT DRAWER, THE "Nowonmai" (Consumer Research and Development) TRAVIS, MERLE "Strictly Guitar" (Sundazed) cd 13.98 TSUNODA, TOSHIYA "Ridge of Undulation" (Hapna) cd 15.98 V/A "Die Grosse Untergangsshow : Festival Genialer Dilletanten" (Vinyl On Demand) cd+dvd/cd+dvd+2lp 60.00/94.00 V/A "For A Decade Of Sin: 11 Years Of Bloodshot Records" (Bloodshot) 2cd 16.98 V/A "Looking For Europe" (Auerbach Tontrager) 4cd 29.00 V/A "More Arctic Hysteria / Son Of Arctic Hysteria - The Later Years Of Early Finnish Avant-Garde" (Love Records) cd 25.00 V/A "Never The Same: Leave-Taking From The British Folk Revival 1970-1977" (Honest Jons) cd 26.00 V/A "Studio One Women" (Soul Jazz) cd/2lp 21.00/24.00 V/A "The Environmental Sounds Of Crawford, Texas" (Koch) cd 10.98 V/A "This Bird Has Flown: A 40th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles' Rubber Soul" (Razor & Tie) cd 17.98 VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR "The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other" (Virgin / EMI) cd 16.98 VELVET CACOON "Northsuite" (Full Moon Productions) cd 12.98 VENOM "MMV" (Castle) cd 56.00 WATCHMAKER "Erased From The Memory Of Man" (Willowtip) cd 12.98 WEST, SPEEDY "Guitar Spectacular" (Sundazed) cd 13.98 WHIP "Atheist Lovesongs To God" (Resonant) cd 17.98 WOLF EYES & PRURIENT "The Warriors" (Hospital Productions) cd 14.98 WRAY, LINK "Law Of The Jungle! The Swan Demos '64" (Sundazed) cd 14.98 YOUNG PEOPLE "Five Sunsets In Four Days" (Too Pure) cd ep 5.98 YURA YURA TEIKOKU "na.ma.shi.bi.re.na.ma.me.ma.i" (Mesh-Key) cd 11.98 ZORN, JOHN "Mysterium" (Tzadik) cd 15.98 ZU "Way of the Animal Powers" (Xeng) cd 15.98 ZU / MATS GUSTAFSSON "How To Raise An Ox" (Atavistic) cd 14.98 _______________________________________________________________________ ABOUT MAILORDER
Here's a short cassette released by AQ pal Mike Donovan (Big Techno Werewolves, Nam, Sounds Of The Barbary Coast, The Ropers, Dial Records) of his current band Sic Alps whome you might recall from their split 7" with California Lightening (featuring members of Erase Errata)! As with most releases by the very DIY San Francisco fella Mr. Donovan, there is only going to be a very small homespun run of these made, so needless to say, don't snoooooze!
Pssst... we also have a small number of some other Folding cassette releases, all with hand made covers -- a short one from Death Sentence: Panda plus a compilation he compiled with artist Chris Johanson called SSSSSOSS2 and ones by Dark Yellow Swans (aka Yellow Swans) and NVH with Six Organs Of Admittance's Ben Chasny. Dust off yer cassette deck!
Skapel are two electronic musicans from Poland who do an incredible sample/cut/paste job with some obscure and anonymous (to us) '70 Eastern European jazz LPs being used for their sound sources. This duo is right on in their constructions built from mellow bass grooves, funky drum loops, glistening vibes, horn vamps, snatches of soulful female vox, etc., generating a head-nodding, smokey, noir-ish atmosphere of breakbeat jazz plunderphonica. Imagine an extremely jazz-oriented DJ Shadow and you'd be close... DJ Shadow meets '70s Miles Davis or Herbie Hancock maybe. Throw some of David Shire's the Taking Of Pelham 1-2-3 soundtrack in there too. As with Shadow, these tracks are built from other folks' records but stand on their own, the edits all flowing, the samples (including some record crackle to hint at their origin) integrated seamlessly, such that you might be fooled into thinking you were listening to the product of a real live band of musicans actually all playing together at the same time and place... though some electronic manipulation and looping will clue you otherwise. Still, there's no wip-wip-wap turntablism going on to get in the way of the music and mood. Really nice (though you've gotta like jazz of course). And it certainly makes us wish that the Skalpel guys would put together a compilation of Polish '70s fusion so we could check out the originals too!
The cd version of this comes with a bonus remix disc entitled 1958 Breaks, featuring remixes by Skalpel and others (Quantic, Dr. Rubberfunk, Backini, Paradowski, etc.) of stuff from Skalpel's first album. It has its moments but I won't be listening to it as much as the main disc 'cause the more techno/hiphop/whatever mixes tend to detract from the "I can't believe it's not real live jazz" authenticity that Konfusion does so well.
Madlib strikes again! This might be the best record to merge hip-hop production and aesthetics with funk and soul. Like the Yesterdays New Quintet records he has made with jazz lineups playing great instrumental versions of early Stevie Wonder songs. With this Sound Directions record Madlib has taken his love of obscure early 70's funk and soul to new heights. A production team which also includes Peanut Butter Wolf and instrumentation that includes kalimba, electric muffle, trumpet and a whole lot more. Interpretations of David Axelrod and Cliff Nobles and even more obscure '60s/'70s gems. A breezy undertone accents the entire record. The kind of record you want to play when you have some folks over for food drinks and a good time. Madlib's touch can be felt in the overall vibe of the recording. Smooth but not polished, a tad lo-fi but still infectious. True soul lives on.
The ultimate studio nerd publication, that just so happens to be a pretty killer read whether you spend all day in front of a mixing board, trying to get thet perfect sound, or just in front of your speaker enjoying the perfect sounds somebody else found. This month an interview with guitar pioneer Les Paul, producer Phil Ramone, Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins, an article on Sengalese hip hop and guerilla recording, interviews with a bunch of engineers we've never heard of, cd reviews, gear reviews and more!
We're big ol' Thrones fans here, and so the arrival of a third Thrones opus the other day was pretty darn exciting! It's been five years since the magnificent Sperm Whale, after all! And we're happy to report that Day Late, Dollar Short, despite its title, does not disappoint in any way (though, it's not exactly an entirely new album, more on that in a sec). Now, you know that the double necked guitart/bass wielding Joe Preston -- for he is Thrones and Thrones is he -- has quite the heaviness pedigree. He's played in the unholy heavy trinity of Earth, the Melvins, and SUNNO))), and he's currently the bassist for stoner metal lords High On Fire. Thus, from his one-man-band project Thrones you'd expect nothing less than H-E-A-V-Y, and you'd be right. But it's more than merely heavy. Thrones ain't just rubbery, head-caving bass, lotsa feedback nastiness, machine beats, and throat-rasped vox. Thrones is also really, really weird. As you'd expect from Joe, who used to be in the Melvins after all. There's certainly plenty of Melvins style fuckery going on here!
I mean, after the sheer noxious pummel (we like!) of track one, "The Suckling", you'll wonder what's going on with track two, "Young Savage". Punky and uptempo, with a gang-vocal chorus, it threw us for a bit of a loop until we figured out it was an Ultravox cover. That's then followed by the disarmingly gentle (but disturbingly child-voiced) "Algol". What's going on? Whatever the heck Joe wants, basically. And that's okay 'cause what he wants is to unleash a torrent of creativity that encompasses such things as utter sludge drone dirge, Buttholes Surfers-ish mania, indie rock pop (with some non-effected, clean singing even), drum machines kickin' old school hip hop beats, crazy prog structures, all-out rawk, thrashy riffs, electronic filtering, etc... almost all of which you'll hear in, say, track fifteen, "Obolus", which starts off doing the Melvinsy doom thing but with Bruce Haack/Electric Lucifer robot singing before segueing into a soundscape of bird twitters, bells and chimes, and waves of white noise (this from the "soundtrack" to La Foresta Della Norte). Then there's all the crazy covers that Joe tries his hand at: along with the Ultravox, this includes a Residents cover, a Blue Oyster Cult cover, and yes, unreleased track "A Quick One" is indeed a cover of a portion of the Who's "A Quick One While He's Away". Wow. Not afraid of a challenge, this guy.
And we do mean "unleash a torrent" -- there's 19 tracks here, almost 80 minutes of Thrones insanity, much of it compiled from rare, out-of-print singles, cassettes and comps, with some previously unreleased tracks as well, spanning the years 1994-2001. The lovely, bunny-adorned packaging (Mr. Stephen O'Malley, take a bow) also features personal notes on each track by Joe hizzelf. Here's hoping that he'll find time away from his regular gig in High On Fire to do a real *brand new* Thrones album... but in the meantime we're happy to have this "incomplete collection of smaller projects" all on one handy cd.
These Bay Area guys have followed up their 2003 debut, God Bless The Electric Freak, with another wigged-out heavy ass-kicker. They were plenty beefy last time around when they were a three piece, and now Technicolourmother launches their recorded existence as an even beefier quartet. Ready to get yer speakers drenched with equal parts stoner rock, metallic pop and space rock?
Now available on vinyl!
Right up front, let me just say that the Afghan Whigs were one of my favorite bands on Sub Pop. Sure, Soundgarden were monlithic and heavy, channelling Blue Oyster Cult and Led Zeppelin, and Mudhoney were wild, scum rock stoners trying to be the Stooges, but what the fuck were the Afghan Whigs?! They were sort of jangly indie rock in a way, but the guitars were so brittle and keening, and the mood was so intense and uncomfortably miserable. And then there was Greg Dulli's tortured, miserable whine, spinning tales of drugs and women and misery. Weird and unlikely (especially on Sub Pop, this sure as hell wasn't 'grunge') but so utterly compelling. And they just kept getting better. Culminating in 1993's Gentlemen, the perfect distillation of Dulli's bitter, self loathing, relationship-phobic lyrics and the band's sweeping morose soundscapes, and minor key moody jangle. Unfortunately it was all down hill from there. The Whigs lost their edge and Dulli's R+B obsession turned their caustic rock into a bland, watered down indie rock. There were definitely moments, but for the most part it seemed like the spark was gone. Even the first glimpse of the Twilight Singers a few years back revealed more of the same Whigs' indie R+B whatever.
So this, THIS, is what we've been waiting for. The return of Greg Dulli, the cynical miserable bastard, willing to spill his guts over a gorgeous minor key tableau of moody claustrophobia and suffocating melancholia for all the world to see. Like Arab Strap if they were raised on blue eyed soul and had a little more outward pointing vitriol then self-loathing misery. Sonically reminiscent of the Afghan Whigs' Gentlemen, with sweeping arrangements (including horns, electronic beats, and breathy female backup vocals), intense and uncomfortable lyrics, mostly mumbled but occasionally belted out in anguished howls, and a brutally dark ambience that invades every shadowy corner of this gorgeous record. There are glimmers of hope, but it's that sort of hopeless hope, knowing she'll never come back, and you'll never get out, and it'll never get better, but maybe...if only...
Afghan Whigs / Dulli fans will rejoice with this return to form, but all the rest of you who are into dark and depressing rock ala American Music Club, Red House Painters, Arab Strap and the like should give the Twilight Singers a chance. You can always use a new record to drown your sorrows in.
Holy crap! This is just about the most amazing box set we've ever seen! The second we heard about it, we knew it was going to be good, but we weren't prepared for just HOW GOOD. Not sure how many of you are familiar with Bear Family Records, but they're a German label who specialize in super elaborate, incredibly detailed and well researched releases, especially box sets, running the gamut from the women of Sun Records to the Everly Brothers to Ernest Tubb to Perez Prado to Flatt And Scruggs and on and on. Always very expensive and often hard to get, but once you lay your eyes and ears on one of their releases you realize it was worth all the trouble and worth every penny. And never was it truer than with Atomic Platters. This years in the works set is a five cd, DVD, hardcover book, box set collecting "Cold War Music From The Golden Age Of Homeland Security", 5 plus hours of fifties and sixties, rock and roll, R&B and soul, either warning us of the dangers of Communism and the impending atomic war, or more playfully using the A bomb and Uranium and Communism as metaphors for love and romance and partying ("You Hit Me Baby Like An Atom Bomb", "Atomic Baby", "Fujiyama Mama", "Uranium Rock", etc.). Scattered throughout are loads of civl defense spots, most appallingly naive and utterly ridiculous, there's Groucho Marx explaining that we have a good chance of surviving an atomic war, Art Linkletter warning us to not use the phone in case of an atomic attack, and lots of other misguided warnings and advice from Bob Hope, Tony Bennett, Fred MacMurray, Tom Lehrer, Pat Boone, Connie Francis, Don Pardo, Johnny Cash, Boris Karloff and lots more, as well as tons of bizarre civil defense dramatizations and creepy little Leave It To Beaver style vignettes. Then there's the music, lots of favorites you've heard on other comps, but an amazing amount or material you've never heard (and probably never thought you'd hear) anywhere as well as totally obscure tracks from some not so obscure artists. Some of the more recognizable folks: Roy Acuff, The Sons Of The Pioneers, Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan, Bo Diddley, Dexter Gordon, The Louvin Brothers, Carl Perkins, Bing Crosby, Bill Haley, Doris Day, Hank Williams and more, but the lure is definitely the hundred or so other tracks, all catchy or bizarre or both, from a wild cast of one hit wonders.
As if that weren't enough, there is also a disc containing two full length spoken word records released in 1961, If The Bomb Falls and The Complacent Americans, both ridiculous and paranoid, laughable and goofy, but also sort of sad and creepy. Wow. Then there's the DVD which contains 9 short films, over two hours of educational films, teaching us about Communism, the impending Atomic War, and the infamous "Duck And Cover" method of surviving an atomic bomb attack (and we're fairly sure that the narrator of one of the films is none other than Thurl Ravenscroft, the voice of Disneyland's Haunted Mansion, and the singer of the "You're A Mean One Mr. Grinch"). Finally, there is the book, a massive 11" x 12" hard cover tome, chock full of illustrations, liner notes, photos, and a full page description with pictures and all sorts of extra info for every track in the box. Unbelievable. This is absolutely essential for all lovers of strange sounds and weird music as well as being perfect for history buffs too. And as it's that gift giving season, we can't possibly imagine a more perfect and amazing gift! WOW!
These are a bit too expensive to keeep a bunch in stock, but if you want one let us know and we'll be getting as many as we need next week!
In terms of hip International music trends here in the States, the Bollywood music craze seems to have recently died down in favor of the sounds of Ethiopia (thanks in part to its inclusion on major motion picture soundtracks such as Broken Flowers). Our love for both certainly hasn't waned nor wavered. So we're more than happy to welcome this new compilation of Indian film music. If you're seeking a thorough overview of the genre, this is a great place to start. The first disc dishes out a dozen delirious classics from the '50s, '60s and '70s, while the second disc offers eleven more 'modern' tunes, from the '90s. Of course, tracks by Bollywood deities Asha Bhosle, Lata Mangeshkar and Mohammed Rafi (check out the intense vocal performance on "Madhuban Mein Radhika"!) are in abundance on both discs. Oh such vibrant, manic, aural opulence! Recommended!
The first two Nuggets box sets have become pretty much legendary, absolutely essential for ANY music lover. And rightfully so. The popularity of the music in the first two Nuggets boxes is often attributed to Greg Shaw, who wrote a magazine (Who Put The Bomp) that then became the Bomp! record label and who later ran the Voxx label and who was almost soley responsible for the popularization of sixties style garage rock in the US and thus was essential in spreading the gospel on the musics we now hold near and dear: mod, psychedelic, British R&B, freakbeat, twee-pop, American garage rock, you name it. But what hath those Nuggets wrought? Well, of course the Children Of Nuggets, a selection of neo-garage, eighties power pop, paisley underground psych and all the other microgenres spawned by all that groovy and funky sixties psychedelic rock. Completely amazing collection of bands you already love, bands you thought you didn't like but are actually pretty fucking great and bands you have never heard of but if you had you would definitely love them: The Dukes of Stratosphear, Lyres, Bangles, Barracudas, Flamin Groovies, Hoodoo Gurus, the Posies, The Rain Parade, the dB's, Revillos, Plimsouls, Sun Dial, Screaming Trees, The Chills, The Last, The Mummies, The La's, Green Telescope, Dream Syndicate, Untamed Youth, The Milkshakes, The Droogs, the Swingin' Neckbreakers, Teenage Fanclub, The Church, Julian Cope, The Cynics, Green On Red, United States Of Existence, Plasticland, The Lime Spiders, The Pandoras and so many more!
Includes a massive book, with liner notes, photos and extensive notes on each and every track!
I (Allan) have been waiting for this to come out for a while. The reason why is that a friend of mine used to have an old 7" record from the '50s (it was his dad's, actually) by the comedian Wally Cox, who was apparently once known as TV's Mr. Peepers, also a Hollywood Squares regular and (we recently discovered) the grandfather of Courtney Cox. The b-side of the single was a silly sort of yodelling song but the a-side is what always cracked us up, it's called "What A Crazy Guy (Dufo)" and it's a monologue about a character named Dufo who's always getting himself (or others) into trouble. Cox does the whole thing in an Italian-American accent, like he's from the Bronx, and his delivery is so deadpan that it's almost not comedy... certainly not punchline rimshot material. But we found it both weird and funny. We practically had the whole thing memorized, in fact. That was years ago, but recently I got to wondering if "What A Crazy Guy (Dufo)" or any other Wally Cox stuff was out on cd. Well, an internet search turned up this cd, not yet released at the time, that not only featured "What A Crazy Guy" but took its title from it. So I had to order it when it came out, and here it is! Dunno if all of you will find Wally's routine as funny as I did (and still do!) but even if you don't, there's plenty more on here to amuse. These twenty tracks are from the postwar era, spanning the years 1945-'53, and encompass classic vaudeville styled material (the disc leads off with a classic: Abbott and Costello's famous "Who's On First" routine -- if you haven't heard it in a while, it's still pretty funny) as well as more "modern" stuff like the beat/jazz humor of Steve Allen, and Stan Freberg's Dragnet spoof, for example. There's quite a few musical numbers, including an amazing bit of opera parody insanity from Spike Jones & His City Slickers. Musical yucks are also to be heard from Spike's competitors Red Ingle & His Natural Seven, as well as Bob Hope & Bing Crosby (with Doris Day), Jimmy Durante, Beatrice Kay, and Dusty Fletcher, amongst others. Then there's a bunch of what you might call "hick humour" on here as well, the best example of which might be "Deacon" Andy Griffith's "What It Was, Was Football", wherein a country bumpkin tells of attending, but not understanding, a football match. Other great names in comedy, like Jerry Lewis, Groucho Marx, and Victor Borge also appear. Certainly some of this shows its age, but really that's part of the charm. It's mostly still funny yet kinda quaint -- and sometimes not very PC, as with Buddy Hackett's unfortunate "The Chinese Waiter". But some of this stuff is so different from what you'd hear from a comedian today that it seems NEW. You're not quite sure you're even "getting" what's supposed to be funny about it (as opposed to what's unintentionally funny), which makes it seem weirder, which makes it funnier in the end... like the Wally Cox thing that lead me to this in the first place.
If you or someone you know has a penchant for percussion, holy smokes, have we got just the cd for you or him or her! Moe! Staiano (of Moe!kestra, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and formerly Idiot Flesh) brought these in for our drum delight. It's a double cd compilation containing 36 tracks by more dextrous drummers than you can shake a (drum)stick at! The second disc is particularly notable as it includes the stellar likes of William Winant (whose performed with John Zorn, Sonic Youth, Kronos String Quartet, Secret Chiefs 3, Mr. Bungle, Oingo Boingo to name just a few), Trey Spruance (of Asva, Secret Chiefs 3, Faxed Head, Mr. Bungle, etc), Ches Smith (Secret Chiefs 3, Trevor Dunn's Trio-Convulsant, 7 Year Rabbit Cycle among others), Karen Stackpole and Mr. Staiano himself. Released by Fever Pitch Music (which is also the label of DJ Jester and which is also a magazine from Wisconsin).
Cool local cassette compilation compiled by Mike Donovan (Sic Alps, Big Techno Werewolves, Nam, Sounds Of The Barbary Coast, The Ropers, Dial Records) and artist Chris Johanson. Features tracks by Coachwhips, Big Techno Werewolves, No Doctors, Condor, California Lightening, Enablers, Ponies, Tits and a bunch more! As with most releases by these two fellows, there is only going to be a very small homespun run of these made, so needless to say, don't snoooooze! Pssst... we also have a very small number of some other Folding cassette releases, all with hand made covers -- a couple of short ones from Death Sentence: Panda and Donovan's own band Sic Alps plus ones by Dark Yellow Swans (aka Yellow Swans) and NVH with Six Organs Of Admittance's Ben Chasny. Dust off yer cassette deck!
Subtitled: "Hip shaking grooves from Germany 1966-1974". Hence the "kraut" in the title -- nothing to do with the "krautrock" of Can/Faust/Amon Duul/etc., though. Nope, this very entertaining collection of twenty obscure cuts culled from rare soundtracks, singles, and library music sources is all about swingin' stuff for lounge pad hipsters, with a Teutonic twist. It starts off with the Marlene Dietrichish "From Here On It Got Rough" by Hildergard Knef, which could be a campy cabaret classic, and then ventures on into red light district funk, stoned jungle soul, and big band psychedelia, a lot of it performed by middle aged German jazz and pop musicans cashing in on the younger generation's trends. The Peter Thomas Sound Orchestra even does a cool cover of "Jumpin' Jack Flash", believe it or not (never thought I'd really enjoy hearing that particular song again so much). And there's definitely a spirit of the age, tongue-in-cheek sense of humor on display, from Kuno & The Marihuana Brass's "Marihuana Mantra" to Vivi Bach and Dietmar Schonherr's "Molotow Coctail Party". And (applause, please) the compilers have provided a cd booklet full of detailed notes on each track, full color cover pictures of the original records, and bad puns like the title ("kraut-pleasers").
Been listening to this non-stop since we got it. And selling 'em too, as soon as customers hear it (or even just hear about it, if they're like us). Wow. Now, you probably know that here at Aquarius we're partial to the prog. So, when we heard that a DJ mix of obscure tracks from the catalog of '70s UK label Vertigo, who specialized in prog, heavy psych, and weird-ass jazz rock was to be released, we were, well, psyched. And jazzed. And, uh, progged? Indeed. We were thinking that this could be something really great, as after all there were a lot of great records released on Vertigo (home of the famed "swirl" label). And great it IS, both in terms of the source material and the "60 course psychedelic smorgasbord" medley-like sound-collage approach taken to putting it together, which maximizes the amount of brilliant hooks and grooves that could be packed into one cd, while making for one dizzying, "swirl" worthy ride.
The story there is that DJ Andy Votel (who compiled the Folk Is Not A Four Letter Word disc we listed last time, among other things) was asked, in a dream-come-true moment, to put together a "best of Vertigo" collection. But since, in his own words, progressive rock tracks are "not short, they're EPIC" he was faced with a dilemma. How to fit more than just three or four songs on the cd?? His solution was to boil down his favorite Vertigo LPs to short excerpts, stitching together these many "vinyl snippets" into a 68 minute mega-mix. The overall effect is still very "prog" indeed, as it's definitely a prog move to jump around from one motif to the next, dynamically or schizophrenically changing things up in a short span of time. Yet it all flows well together, this could almost be one tour-de-force album from one AMAZING band!!
The credits list 38 songs by 29 artists, all from Votel's personal Vertigo vinyl collection -- Aphrodite's Child, Gracious, Colosseum, Affinity, Juicy Lucy, Uriah Heep, May Blitz, Warhorse, Gravy Train, Baker Gurvitz Army, Cressida, Patto, Flied Egg, Nucleus, Atlantis, Frumpy, Freedom, and many more, most of 'em hailing from the UK but also some from overseas, including Japan and Greece. Vertigo's best known signing has to be Black Sabbath, and while they don't appear in the credits I trust you'll hear something from 'em on here too, first thing (and later on as well, when Votel mixes the harp blowing from "The Wizard" into a May Blitz tune).
Thusly loaded with heaviness, groove, and Mellotrons, you get everthing from (old school) acid jazz to flutey prog to raw proto-metal -- all kinds of what gets called "hairy funk" here. Votel also makes use of interjections from what might be radio promo spots for Vertigo -- voices exclaiming "Vertigo! Vertigo!" and the like -- in order to smooth up his segues. In some ways, this might remind you a little bit of DJ Shadow's Entroducing, actually, not that these tracks have been fully edited into new compostions. But the love of dusty old prog grooves is the same.
Votel provides liner notes elaborating his enthusiasm for Vertigo (the label's role in his musical development, as a hip hop DJ with a fondness for prog) and his agonies over this project. Also you get a profile of Barry Winton, famed as the world's foremost Vertigo vinyl collector. And in addition, a portion of the cd booket is devoted to an appreciation of Keef, resident cover artist/graphic designer for Vertigo...which makes us think it would have been cool if they also presented a selection of covers here to look at, ah well.
Could be the best comp/DJ mix we've heard in ages. Boiling down an entire label to its essence over the span of one cd has got to be a tough task, and of course what Votel has selected is only a portion of the whole Vertigo story. But we can't nitpick with what he's done, this is a classy piece of work and deserving of kudos from all lovers of ye olde prog/psych. It might even convert some new lovers too! Recommended!!!
Back in stock, and just in time!
Seems like most Christmas records are, justifiably, albums you want to run screaming from. Very few have weighed anchor at our port, Low's Christmas album being a notable exception, and I think we're probably one of the only stores that doesn't drag out the hideous Christmas/Holiday section every year. So it was interesting to see this new collection come in from the same label that brought us the wonderful (and gorgeous) Goodbye, Babylon box set. You'd think they've got a theme going here -- though the collection's producer Dick Spottswood states in the accompanying booklet: "in the spirit of fairness, we've tried to designate equal time for sacred and secular, for Christ and Santa Claus, and for respectable and rowdy". It don't matter though really. We're convinced these Dust To Digital fellas could come up with any theme and put out a kick ass collection, as this is just that -- x-mas or no x-mas. Some of the greats we all know and love are here: banjo player / singer Buell Kazee, Lead Belly, Lightnin' Hopkins, Maddox Bros. & Rose, and Bessie Smith. Along with all the great blues, country, gospel, and early jazz tracks you can expect, DTD has expanded their library beyond American roots music and have included some great tracks from Puerto Rico (a great guitar trio), Trinidad (a couple calypsos from Lord Executor and Lord Beginner), Italy (a bizarre instrumental belted out on a pair of strange bagpipe like instruments, the zampogna and the ciaramella), and The Ukraine (a hauntingly sultry violin, cymbaly, bass and sleigh bell tune). One of the highlights though, is a tune by the ever wonderful Alabama Sacred Harp Singers that'll stand your hair on end. I don't think there's another religious choir that sounds more possessed. Singing, nay practically yelling, in a sort of round fashion, this tune will have you shouting "Fuck Yeah!" The disc comes packaged in a fold out wallet and comes with a "Christmas In Jail" postcard (that you can actually use) and a cute little booklet.
Jack 'n' Meg fans, here's a lil' something to stuff in a stocking of someone near and dear (or of your very own)! Not sure why they chose to do so, but the duo have covered Canadian twin sisters Tegan and Sara's tune "Walking With A Ghost" and made it the title track of their latest release... and it's quite a different, strange and gnarly rendition if we do say so ourselves... but then again that might be a good or not so good thing depending on your particular palate. Also included are live versions of "Same Boy You've Always Known", "As Ugly As I Seem", "The Denial Twist" and "Screwdriver". Sure to please diehard fans, but it might not be the best place to start for someone who has yet to be White Striped.
We always considered German black metallers Wigrid to be the true heirs to the throne of blackened buzz vacated by Burzum as he descended into neo-Naziism and fruity Peter And The Wolf keyboard music. The first Wigrid record was a frosty blast of Burzumic fury, a plodding midtempo swirl of fuzzed out riffs and primitive minor key droning depressing darkness. One of the all time BM essentials for sure. A lot has changed since then, and we're not sure what could have caused such a dramatic shift (is the band photo a clue? Sole member Ulfhednir, now sports short hair, a neck beard, t-shirt, tattoos, jeans and a chain wallet), although no matter how bummed out some of the more true grim BM warriors have been with Die Asche Eines Levens, we are loving this, as we imagine you will too. Sure it's still grim and buzzy, heavy and drone-y, but the sound is so much more post rock than blck metal it's a bit shocking. Think Mogwai, Slint, Godspeed, Kinski, My Bloody Valentine, Bardo Pond, Aereogramme, that epic repetitive slow building majestic sort of post rock, then add a bit of black buzz, some howling anguished vocals and you'll get a rough idea of what this new Wigrid sounds like. Gorgeously melancholy riffing, haunting arpeggiated guitar melodies, over that instantly recognizable Wigrid struggling, midtempo drum machine drumming, all wrapped up in a propulsive, emotionally charged cinematic epic slow burning post rock crescendo, stretched out over each of the five lengthy ten minute tracks. So gorgeous. We've been digging all those sludge metal / post rock hybrids lately (Conifer, Tides, Mouth Of The Architect, Pelican, Isis, Baroness, etc.) so maybe this is the next logical step, that most recent Deathspell Omega was pretty post rock too. Call it black post metal, or post black metal, or blackened post rock. Whatever you call it, it's fucking awesome! And even though this new Wigrid is maybe more Mogwai than Burzum, it finishes off with a not so subtle Burzum homage, a thirteen minute ambient synthesizer swirl (a la Filosofem?), delicate and crystalline, simple notes chiming and tinkling, a sweetly mournful haunting lullaby.
While they last we have the super limited digipak version, once we run out of those you'll get the regular jewel case version (which might be a buck or two cheaper!).
Regardless on the time of year, we usually have a handful of Christmas-y cds in stock, and now we've got some holiday themed music on vinyl too! Here's a limited edition split 7" from a couple of Midwest music makers, one of whom we know and love so well, Windy & Carl! Their side has two suitably frosty songs "Christmas Time Is Here" and "Snowing". The flip side features one track, the cut'n'paste sample-icious "Spanky The Christmas Elf" from Frankie & The S.E.M.M. The clear green vinyl platter comes in a pretty handmade watercolor-y paper sleeve which comes in a clear plastic sleeve festooned with round colored stickers which bring to mind Christmas tree balls. But wait, there's more! Accompanying the record is a bonus (Mac/PC compatible) cd-rom with some strange footage of an early nineties call in Santa Christmas television show, with the sound a little chopped and remixed giving the whole proceedings a very tripped out surreal vibe.
Recorded at the same time as the recently listed (and now out of print) collaboration between the YS, Axolotl and Gerritt, this disc treads much of the same sonic space, glistening high end feedback, distant crumbling drones, smears of sparkling glitchery, burbling underwater cd skipping, grinding industrial whir. Not jagged or harsh at all, not what you would expect from these noiseniks. Quite dreamy and soothing, all the harsh bits have the edges smoothed into a slow flowing dronee bliss-scape. Comes with a photocopied copy of Martin Luther King Jr.'s Vietnam speech and comes in a gorgeous hand painted sleeve. As with all Jyrk cd-r's it seems, SUPER LIMITED, already out of print, and we have the last 30. So again, act fast if you want one of these. Once they are gone they are gone for good.
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Here's the latest Dark Yellow Swans...or you might better know them as simply Yellow Swans! As with most releases by the very DIY San Francisco fella Mike Donovan (Sic Alps, Big Techno Werewolves, Nam, Sounds Of The Barbary Coast, The Ropers, Dial Records), there is only going to be a very small homespun run of these made, so needless to say, don't snoooooze! Pssst... we also have a small number of some of Donovan's other Folding cassette releases, all with hand made covers -- a couple of short ones from Death Sentence: Panda and Donovan's own current band Sic Alps plus a compilation he compiled with artist Chris Johanson called SSSSSOSS2 and one by NVH with Six Organs Of Admittance's Ben Chasny. Dust off yer cassette deck!
Back in October, 2005, Die Stadt invited these four artists to perform at the Lagerhaus in Bremen; and consequently released this curious double seven inch / double CD in conjunction with that concert. The seven inches contains exclusive tracks by each of the artists, and the CD consists of remixes by those same artists, reworking the original material from the seven inches. For his seven-inch piece, Z'ev piece delves into the archives of his performance from the now legendary Atonal Festival dating back to 1983, for an intense mix of his percussive clamour. On the CD, Z'ev gets to mix Duncan's impeccable shortwave / drone composition, and Duncan returns the favor by transforming Z'ev's percussive work into a skittering, time-stretched blur of noise. Aidan Baker (whose name may be to familar to some from the Nadja album on Alien8 we made Record of the Week so recently, as that's his band) provides a deep driftscape more in keeping with Troum or Jonathan Coleclough; his remix of Fear Falls Burning (which is the nom de plume for Vidna Obmana) continues along a similarly dark path. Like the Vidna Obmana work, Fear Falls Burning mirrors the classic ambient works of Brian Eno, both in the original piece on the seven inch and in the remix of Baker's work. This version is strictly limited to 300 copies.
