We listed the individual vinyl installments of Tarentel's Ghetto Beats On The Surface Of The Sun a while back (all now out of print so don't order!), each one a mind blowing blast of druggy, psychedelic free form rhythmic bliss out, and each one could well have been an AQ record of the week. But good thing we held off, cuz here we are a year or so later, and all four slabs of wax have been digitized and compiled as a massive double cd set, and needless to say, four -possible- records of the week, all piled on top of one another, can only mean one thing! Well, yeah, obviously, this absolutely had to be a record of the week. Quite possibly (and very probably) the best music we've heard from these guys, which is saying a lot considering how much we dig most everything Tarentel does...
When we first heard the title of Tarentel's 2cd (formerly FOUR lp) set, Ghetto Beats On The Surface Of The Sun, we were pretty sure they were being ironic, or facetious, or something, and there would be no beats, ghetto or otherwise, to be found anywhere, just their usual gorgeously slow shifting epic postrock soundscapes. But actually, Ghetto Beats IS all about the beats, not sure if they're 'ghetto' or not, but they sure are dense and funky and weirdly rhythmic, from blissed out shuffling skitter to super propulsive krautrocky pound, these discs are definitely a whole new side of Tarentel. A much more raw and ragged, caustic and groove based beast. It almost sounds like Tarentel covering This Heat, or a krautrock No Neck Blues Band, or maybe even Tussle via This Heat with a bit of 23 Skidoo thrown in for good measure.
While the framework of most of these songs is some dense web of percussive clatter or some sort-of-funky drum jam, these gorgeously hypnotic skeletal rhythms are surrounded on all sides by thick swaths of crumbling ambience, disembodied guitar loops and rumbling bass, thick swells of warm whir and all sorts of other random dreamlike shimmer. Often building into seriously caustic squalls, big churning white hot sonic swirls, each wrapped around beats that seem on the edge of falling apart, or splintering into rhythmic fragments. Maybe that's the ghetto angle, the beats are super lo-fi, blown out, strangely recorded, so they sound sort of alien, with lots of strange FX and stuttering stumbling variations. So fucking awesome.
We originally reviewed Ghetto Beats one lp at a time, and while they do work perfectly as one epic cohesive chunk of sound, they still sort of play out like the separate movements they started out as...
The first movement (lp #1) is six tracks, a little over a half an hour, a dense assemblage of abstract rhythms and brooding, swirling psychedelia, heavy on the This Heat worship, beats stretched out over huge expanses of industrial whir and jagged angular guitars, very loping and hypnotic, brooding and drone-y, mysterious tribal rituals stretched out into epic spaced out, abstract rhythmic jams.
Part two (lp #2) is 4 tracks, 40 minutes, two epic jams, both 16+ minutes, separated by two shorter tracks. The opener starts with an endlessly hypnotic, near metal drum jam, over which guitars and sound makers creak and keen, a crystalline web of high end sonics over a swirling tribal rhythm. It could seemingly go on forever, and it sort of does, but near the end it dissipates into a dark spacious soundscape of distant clatter and thick rumbling buzz. After a one minute rhythmic experiment, all freaked out psych rock effects and super distorted drum sputter, the second lengthy jam kicks in, and it's definitely the most mellow and blissed out track so far, some muted free jazz skitter, over a slow burning expanse of chiming guitars and smears of abstract melody all stretched into a near static glacial groove. So nice. As if that weren't enough, the last 5 minutes is some of that fuzzy crumbling blurry ambience we can never seem to get enough of. Soft focus and indistinct, shimmering guitars wrapped in thick crumbling guitars and a glistening sonic glow, like Tim Hecker, Fennesz, and that sort of thing, a gorgeous late night coda of dreamy drone-y bliss.
For part three (originally the third lp), the group start out by moving even further out into space (rock) on the ten minute "Stellar Envelope", blown out crumbling sheets of distorted psych guitar and dizzying FX wrapped around propulsive tribal beats, feedback everywhere, it almost sounds like Hawkwind with all the structure sucked out, leaving a huge swirling mass of psychedelic tribal ambience, while managing to still rock somehow. The rest of volume three area gorgeously obfuscated drift through a sonic landscape at once rough and lo-fi and blissfully lush, strange industrial clatter and clang is muted and smeared into mumbly ambience, guitars are looped into hypnotic stretches of throbbing drone, bits of dreamlike melody, simple spacious piano, are wreathed in fuzz and warped into gorgeous slabs of pop ambient fuzz, the whole thing is surprisingly tranquil and shimmery, especially after that opening salvo, and the dense rhythmic intensity of the first two movements, but within the context of Tarentel's seriously epic Ghetto Beat symphony, it couldn't sound more perfect.
The final movement (the 4th and last lp in the series) offers up Ghetto Beats' heaviest moment in the form of "Somebody Fucks With Everybody", a sidelong doom dirge blow out, referencing everyone from SUNNO))) to Growing to Nadja, a thick glacial swirl of downtuned guitars, wreathed in effulgent streaks of damaged outerspace FX and psychrock solar flares, all underpinned by Neurosis style tribal rhythms, constantly sounding as if any second the song will kick into the heaviest riff of all time, but instead, it stretches on and on, building and building, some sort of cosmic lo-fi krautrock ambience, massive and heavy, but strangely dreamy and blissful.
The rest of Ghetto Beats pretty much eschews the titular beats entirely, instead offering up several brief ambient drifts, the far away foresty folk hovering above slow moving slabs of glacial low end of "Where Time Forgot", the ultra brief scrape and shuffle of "Isalais Delay", the murky disembodied post rock of "You Do This. I'll Do That", a strange landscape of fuzzy melodies and indistinct song fragments, all woven into some sort of soft focus fever dream, and finally, "Lake Light", a two minute outro, the glorious final flurry of sound in this epic sonic travelogue spread out over 2cds, a gorgeously hopeful, sparkling glistening drift of shimmery harmonics, and misty minor key flutter...
Like we mentioned before, we've loved everything Tarentel has done in the past, but this is by far our favorite, and how could it not be after drifting dreamily through two plus glorious hours of Ghetto Beats, immersing ourselves in a dreamy, druggy, murky world of drifting space drones and propulsive beats, of fuzzed out shimmer and barely there ambience... So amazing!
Packaged in a super striking, full color, eight panel fold out sleeve, limited to 3000 copies, each with a numbered metallic sticker affixed to the front.
Girl power! Sister power! Twin power! Yay for the Quins! They've kept both the fans and fires stoked from their last album So Jealous with their fifth full length, the super confident and composed The Con. Their dynamic dual vocals are in top form, drawing comparisons to a young Stevie Nicks or those punchy '90s college rock gals Veruca Salt ("Volcano Girls"). And they've proven themselves to be no slouches in the heartstring-plucking lyric and songwriting department too. So many tunes here are irresistibly hummable and singalongable. Strangely appealing to all walks of life -- pop kids, hipsters. tough metal dudes, moms and pops.
FYI: This time around they chose to record outside of their homeland, travelling to the distant climes of Portland, OR where they were assisted in their mission by The Rentals' Matt Sharp, Hunter from AFI, and Death Cab's Jason McGerr and Chris Walla.
We won't go into too much detail with this as we only got 10 copies and we're pretty sure we won't be able to get more. A super limited (less than 100) lathe cut 7" from UK space rock institution The Telescopes. But don't be expecting any Loop like grooves (Loop the band, not loop the... um.. loop) or Hawkwind heart of the sun psychrock blow outs, or even any introspective shoe gazing, instead, this is the Telescopes at their most abstract and minimal, emitting a gorgeous multi-layered high end squall, very much like Sunroof! or Vibracathedral Orchestra. Sheets of wail and skree, keening streaks of feedback and wavering shimmering washes of glimmer and glisten. Two tracks, both barely shifting high end drones, and both quite lovely.�
The cool thing about this single is, that it comes with a cd-r containing the same tracks that are on the 7", so since it's a lathe cut, and lathe cuts lose a little on every play, you can play it like crazy, letting it degrade slightly with each listen, enjoying the every changing sound quality, allowing for more crackle and hiss and distortion, probably getting more and more beautiful, without sacrificing the original tunes. Plus the cd-r also includes a QuickTime movie of the band performing in 2006 in Ireland...
Awesome.
Thee More Shallows have a new unexpected home on the usually hip hop-centric Bay Area label Anticon, but we shouldn't really be all that surprised now, should we? Heck, music genre boundaries have been dissolving left right and center over the past few years. The SF band's sound on their new full length is a little unexpected too. Since their last release 2006's Monkey Vs. Shark, the formerly more rootsy rock band's already broadening scope seems to have expanded in all directions with impressive results. Book Of Bad Breaks journeys through many moods -- alternately romping, rocking and reclining -- but always with a shadowed, subtle druggy headiness.
Quietly gently Theodore And Hamblin's debut album creeps out of our speakers and tiptoe into our ears. Their name might recall Hollywood musical maestros Rodgers And Hammerstein or Las Vegas magic men Ziegfied And Roy (at least to us it did!), but this pair's electronics based music is far more low key and intimate than either of those duos' works. Rain droplet chimes ring out amid the deeper tones that undulate and flutter. Rounded 4/4 beats pulse softly as if they're being broadcast through many layers of blankets. Yes, this is music best suited for nestlin'.
After numerous extracurricular activities, reissues and special projects, They Might Be Giants return with their first studio album in three years. Not counting 2005's children's record Here Come The ABCs, their last full band album was The Spine which was released in 2004.
So this many moons later, what do the two Johns sound like? Themselves! Well, sort of... the first song sounds strangely like Fat Boy Slim's "Praise You". Lots of rock/pop variety and lots of weird voices, but their trademark dual nasality reigns geeky supreme. The strangest notable thing about The Else is how much everything gleams with a glossy sheen which may be attributed to the production by The Dust Brothers. Nevertheless another TMBG fan pleaser!
PLUS: If you hop to it quickly enough, you'll get the limited first edition which includes a bonus full length cd filled with even more They Might Be Giants new tunes!!!
We went a little nuts for the is Richmond, VA outfit a while back, when we reviewed their demo tape. So now they're back, and they still totally kick our ass, with their modern take on sludgy chaotic Amrep style mathy noise rock. Everything we loved on the tape is here in full effect, heavy, crushing drumming, huge chugging bass, ultra tangled riffery, with grooves buried amidst the murk and crush, lots of distortion, howled vocals, crumbling downtuned guitars, it's a sound we miss a lot and so few bands are able to pull it off, but these guys can, BIG TIME. Amrep, Dazzling Killmen, Drive Like Jehu, if that stuff pushes your buttons, you gotta get this (and the tape while you're at it).
On the flipside, Brooklyn comb Apeshit also channel some retro sounds, but their sound is yet another one we've been missing like crazy, and hardly any bands can manage anymore. That super spastic, over the top Gravity style screamo, think Heroin, Orchid, Mohinder.... short furious bursts of damaged thrash chaos, loads of feedback, thick swaths of scrape and grind, super lo-fi but still crazy heavy, tons of tempo changes, super dynamic with killer bits of epic drama and speaker shredding blasts of white hot howl and buzz.
Together these two bands sound like they must destroy live, the sort of show you crawl from, bruised and bloody, deaf and drenched in sweat, and dying for more. The ultimate noise-rock / screamo tagteam matchup...
Gorgeous full color cover, printed insert with liner notes and lyrics, pressed on transparent lavender vinyl. And as all things like this, crazy limited!
Is there no end to the wonderful musical mysteries Finland has to offer? We sure hope not. Whether it's demented black metal, crushing doom sludge, freaky forest folk, or shimmery pop, Finland never disappoints. And now you can add, ultra minimal outsider solo guitar to that list.
Topias Tiheasalo, who we know absolutely nothing about, and google searches also reveal practically nothing, other than the fact that he is 29 years old, is less of a "guitarist" and more of a guitar explorer, a guitar experimentalist. Falling somewhere between the abstract scrabble of Derek Bailey and the moody minimalism of Loren Connors, Tiheasalo, crawls all over the guitar, spending as much time thumping the body, scraping the bridge, and coaxing all manner of buzz and rattle from his guitar as he does either picking or strumming. The opening track is a strange percussive soundscape, punctuated by an awesome deep reverberent buzz drenched throb, as well as some fragmented chunks of slide. While all around these almost-melodies, lurk tons of black space, and all manner or subtle shuffle and accidental squeaks and creaks. Later on, some deliberately stumbling strum becomes a harmonic drenched melody, lurching and stuttering along a very abstract path. Elsewhere the guitar is rubbed to create strange whispery ambience, notes are hurled violently from the guitar, left to flutter to the ground, where they are sprinkled with glistening flurries of harmonics. Lots of angularity and atonality, but their are bits of delicate beauty tucked amidst the twisted and convoluted guitarscapes.
A strange strange record. Not beautiful in any sort of typical way, but damaged and difficult and in that musical obstinance, quite lovely indeed. Fans of Bailey, Connors, Taku Sugimoto, Fabrice Eglin and of course Keith Rowe as well as other atypical six stringers will find much to explore and enjoy...
Mike Patton has so many darn concept supergroup projects (Fantomas, Maldoror, Lovage, Peeping Tom...) but Tomahawk seems to be the one which is the most steadfastly rock and yet also quite unpredictable and open to thematic whims. On this their third album, Patton along with Tomahawk band mates Duane Denison (Jesus Lizard) and John Stanier (Battles, Helmet) set about exploring and reinterpreting the early music of the North American indigenous peoples. Needless to say, the trio combines awesome musicianship and craft which is both reverential and yes, quite rocking. Fierce, passionate and darkly captivating.
Okay, so this disc was one of our favorite releases of 2005. A massive, pummeling ultra catchy slab of hook filled sludge pop. Or something. Like Nirvana but a million times heavier. Anyway, we played the shit out of this disc, and still do.
Recently, the band decided to re-record the record, not completely, but they were unhappy with the mix, especially the vocals, so this here, as the title explains, is reissued, remastered, and partially re-recorded. Hard to say how different it is without doing a side by side comparison. It does sound a bit louder, maybe a little clearer, the vocals sound pretty much the same, maybe a teensy bit more in tune, but so what. The record was already perfect the way it was. If anything, now it's just a little bit more perfect-er!! Probably not worth buying again if you already have it, but if you somehow missed out on the divine slab of sludgy pop brilliance, the gods have chosen to bless you with one more chance...
This is totally kick ass stoner sludge pop! So right up our alley! Not surprising, as Torche is fronted by the main guy from equally heavy / poppy AQ faves Floor and also features one of the guys from AQ faves Cavity as well. Try to imagine the Melvins mixed with the the Foo Fighters and you'll get a rough idea. Massive downtuned metal riffs, stoner rock slowed waaaay dooown, and then wrapped in pop hooks and perfect harmonies. Ultra catchy sing songy melodies draped over pummelling dirges, like Christmas lights strung over a tarpit. AQ pal Josh was touting this as record of the year. And who are we to argue?! We dream about the day that this is the top forty we see on MTV and hear on the radio. It's as catchy if not catchier than most of the crap that gets shoved down kids' throats. And we're all for that 'your chocolate in my peanut butter' sort of unlikely combo, and you don't get much more unlikely than this. Sludge pop? Dirge pop? Stoner pop? Hardly matters. This is the record of the summer, the one you'll be blasting with the top down as you cruise along the beach. Assuming of course that it's the dead of night, and your car is black with bones hanging from the rearview mirror, and the stickshift has a human skull on it, and there's a corpse in your trunk, and your car is engulfed in a cloud of vampire bats, and all the windows are tinted blood red and you run down every one in your path. Exactly. Now there's no excuse for the metalhead in your life to safely indulge his or her musical sweet tooth!
It's no secret that we have a soft spot for uncommon Christian music especially when it dwells on the fringe such as the "white metal" of the E.E.E. recordings label or the earnest out-pop of groups like The Shaggs and New Creation. Another fringe arena is in liturgical hippie folk with bands like Simaril, Parchment, and this beautiful reissue of the Trees Community first album, The Christ Tree. We had this previously only as a box set, which grouped their first album with 3 other cds of later live material. Not the most ideal way to ease yourself into their uniquely arcane and highly reverential sound. So it's nice to have this single disc reissue that adds several bonus tracks to the original album. If you are fans of wyrd minstrely acid-folk groups like Comus, Ougenwiede, Springuns, and Extradition, you will definitely dig this, a collective of male and female musical performers from New York who played traditional acoustic and eastern instruments such as sitar, folk harp, pump organ, flute, koto, tamboura and Chinese gong in long raga-like hymns with pretty male and female vocal harmonies and strangely mystical and spacious passages. Christ Tree was the their first album and it's a live recording of a performance at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in 1975. Oddly beautiful!
The identity of The Tuss has become a matter of net-born mystery and conspiracy, yet the fingerprints of Richard D. James (aka Aphex Twin) are smeared all over the cross referenced Myspace accounts of possibily fictionalized characters. James has always had a knack for media sleights of hand in half-heartedly disguising his work. Certainly the entire hullabaloo behind The Tuss makes the album all the more interesting; and what you'll find is exactly what you would expect from the mastermind of Aphex Twin and all of those other projects that may or may not be authored by Richard D. James. There's the archetypal breakbeat skitter which developed out of James' involvement with post-rave hardcore techno and tumbled into drum 'n' bass snare crashes; there's plenty of acid squiggles and vocoder squelchiness to provide a electro edginess; and then there's the unmistakable idiosyncratic constructs of perpetual melody streams and hyper complex drum programming that always seem perfectly at ease with their speed and delivery. The Tuss is probably not the most innovative offering from James (hence, the hidden identity we'd imagine, if it is indeed a James production), but there's something quite refreshing to hear just how good these musical signatures and templates still sound today.
How do you follow a sprawling double cd of out-there guitar/drums improv? With a triple cd set of course! That is, if you've got the hyperactive musical genius of Japanese drum god Tatsuya Yoshida (Ruins, Koenjihyakkei, etc.) and his guitar-wielding partner here, Uchihashi Kazuhisa (Ground Zero, Altered States). No problem. Last year's amazing first volume of jagged live rock Improvisations from this duo was 146 minutes long. To accomplish the 214 minutes (42 tracks) of this second volume, they have brought in some help: there's guest appearances on portions of these three cds from Sato Kenji (bass), Umezu Kazutoki (reeds), Nasuno Mitsuru (bass), Komori Keiko (sax), and the Boredoms' Yamamoto Seiichi (guitar). With Yoshida's uninhibited vocals and use of sampler, and Kazuhisa's mastery of gtr fx as well, this is a veritable cornucopia of chaotic creativity -- intricate ADD prog, full-on freakouts, jazz flavored sketches, delicate melodies, spiky speedballs, fuzzy riffage, and many moods more. Ruins fans will be STOKED. Exhilarating -and- exhausting listening as you'd expect.
Nicely packaged in a tri-fold digi designed by Yoshida with his usual photos of ancient stones in vibrant color.
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Our very own mailorder underlord Matt just got back from a month long US tour with his band Wildildlife, hope you got to catch them live. We grabbed a bunch of this tape that Matt was selling on tour, a recording of his solo project, the bizarrely titled Usputuspud. When he's not shirtless and flailing wildly on stage with a bloodied and battered guitar, he's apparently holed up in a dark corner of some basement with some tapes, a 4 track, a different guitar and a harmonica (!). That's right, harmonica. But fear not, these aren't a bunch of back porch blues jams, this is some seriously dark and droney ambience. Deep resonant swells, drift and shimmer, melodies are pulled apart, the constituent notes allowed to float freely along the mysterious black tide, dramatic, melodic and strangely cinematic, you can almost imagine some vocalist like Nick Cave, crooning over the top, some hellish end of the world balladeering. Mysterious and mystical, a muted mumbly soundscape of rumble and shimmer, a gauzy low end smear, through which all sorts of subtle sonic colorings are visible, everything druggy and subtly psychedelic, an ominous creeping crawl into some dark pit of sound, glowing red, lit from below by some mysterious fire below. Essential for fans of all things slow and low, but wouldn't be entirely out of place in your tape case, next to your Yellow Swans, Skaters and Quetzolcoatl cassettes...
For every band that manages a record every few months, there are bands who we like just as much, but who we don't hear from nearly enough. Such is the case with Finnish combo Uton. In the space of time it takes for us to get a new record from these guys, a band like Circle spit out 2 or 3 (even more if you count side projects). But with Uton it's well worth the wait.
Alitaju is another epic expanse of mysterious murk and long form ambience. A dizzying mix of Finnish free folk, and haunting dark ambience. Uton's sound is always both massive and cavernous, as well as intimate and highly detailed. This record is no different. Uton drags us along on a strange and wondrous journey through long muddy swirls of muted melody and wide open stretches of indistinct blur and shadow, almost festive percussion jams draped over wheezing accordions and distorted feedback, all wrapped in foggy swirls of fuzz, chaotic free jazz freakouts with mad drumming, and wildly fluttering flutes, and all stops in between.
The long tracks here tend to be slow moving glacial crawls, with all the instruments smeared into one blurry whole, a drifting stretch of warm muted soft sound, that just sort of envelops you with it's haunting mystery and dense creeping beauty, those tracks separated by the more rhythmic passages, almost like a rise in the road,where the fog clears and you can see for miles into the distance, before you dip back down under cover of the grey clouds and billowing fog. As always, gorgeous and mysterious.
When we first heard about this Box Of Dub comp on Soul Jazz, we were super so psyched. Regular readers of the AQ list by now have heard us grouse about the paucity of grime and dubstep releases in the US. And a quick look at the lineup here, had us convinced this would be a killer collection of modern dubstep. Which it is. Sort of.
In fact, more than 'dubstep' as we've come to know it, Box Of Dub is exactly what it purports to be. A box of dub. Modern dub, maybe. Future dub, also maybe, but not always dubstep per se. In fact, most of the tracks on Box Of Dub remind us more of stuff like On U Sound and The Bush Chemists and Adrian Sherwood and African Head Charge and the whole legion of modern electronic dub. Which is not a bad thing. Not at all, just wasn't what we were expecting. That said, there are lots of distinctly dubstep moments, sudden bursts of blown out bass lines, super fuzzy distorted synths and the like. "Dread Cowboy", credited to Tayo Meets Acid Rockers Uptown, would be a straight ahead dub jam, complete with melodica melodies, but draped over the whole track is that trademark dubstep oscillating superdistorted bass line. And "Respirator" by Scuba, is a thick, lurching bass heavy dubstepper for sure. Kode9 contributes "Magnetic City", a dark shuffling dubstep jam, but it too is heavy on the melodica and classic dub guitar lines.
But most of the rest of the record, is more killer modern electronic dub than dubstep, blissed out beats, plenty of reverb, that reggae rhythm, lots of melodica, reggae crooning, but with bits of dubstep mixed in here and there. The beats are slightly darker and distorted, the synths and basslines are thicker and more raw, pulsing and throbbing. In some ways, if you didn't know what dubstep was, this might be the ultimate dub compilation, all the best parts of dub, stripped down, skeletal, but with the bass pumped and all sorts of extra synthy buzz and rhythmic skitter.
It may all just be semantics. Whatever you call it, we can't stop listening to it. And it sounds sooooooo good turned way up with the bass on ten, makes the whole shop rattle. Fans of recent AQ faves like Burial, Kode9 (both on here!), Milanese, the Skull Disco comp, the Science Faction: Dubstep comp, will absolutely need this too...
A fascinating documentary that will interest drummers, DJ's, record geeks, hip-hop nuts and fans of Brazilian music alike. Following the group Keepintime, a super collective of high profile DJ's (Cut Chemist, Madlib, J. Rocc, Babu, DJ Nuts) and veteran L.A. session drummers (Paul Humphrey, James Gadson, Roy Porter and Earl Palmer) who initially got together as part of a photo-shoot and interview but ended up jamming together, evolving to play out highly popular live improvised sets.
Invited to Sao Paolo to play, the group hooks up with some of the most legendary drummers Brazil has produced, including Joao Parahyba who drummed on "Comanche" by Jorge Ben, Ivan "Mamao" Conti of Azymuth and Samba legend, Wilson Das Neves. While the live performances kill, there are also really great tag-along scenes where we get to see the performers in their element of process: the American drummers visiting a local percussion shop; the DJ's record shopping, comparing notes and trying to one up each other on their finds; lots of cool footage of vintage Brazilian records and artists that'll make the headz drool; Madlib creating beats in his hotel room; and even a frustrating "band practice" scene involving the DJ's. Along the way, there are plenty of stony segways where we learn about the religious roots of Samba, the regional origins of classic Brazilian percussive instruments, growing up in the favelas, and the ups and downs of being an in-demand session player in Brazil. It's almost too much, but near impossible to stop watching. Includes a bonus disc of special features, interviews and photos. So Awesome! ----* ----* In Stock, Not Yet Reviewed : ----* If you want to order one of these, just search on thee item you're looking for, then click on the buy button and it will be added to your cart! AFRICAN MUSIC MACHINE "Black Water Gold" (Fuel) cd 10.98 AIR CONDITIONING "Dead Rails" (Load) cd 14.98 AKERCOCKE "Words That Go Unspoken, Deeds That Go Undone" (Earache) cd 15.98 AKIMBO "Navigating The Bronze" (Alternative Tentacles) cd 13.98 ALOG "Amateur" (Rune Grammofon) cd/2lp 16.98/27.00 ANAL CUNT "Defenders Of The Hate" (Menace To Sobriety) cd 14.98 APPELQVIST, HANS "Sifantin Och Morkret" (Hapna) cd 16.98 ARCTIC MONKEYS "Favorite Worst Nightmare" (Domino) cd 14.98 ASTRAL SOCIAL CLUB "Neon Pibroch" (Important) cd 14.98 ASTRAL SOCIAL CLUB "Super Grease" (Important) lp 16.98 BACHI DA PIETRA "Non Io" (Die Schachtel) cd 19.98 BAD PLUS, THE "Prog" (Heads Up) cd 17.98 BAD RELIGION "New Maps Of Hell" (Epitaph) cd 14.98 BOXCUTTER "Brood VIP" (Abucus) 12" 12.98 BRETSCHNEIDER, FRANK "Rhythm" (Raster-Noton) cd 17.98 BROOM DUSTERS "Sound From The Bottom Of The Tokyo Underground" (Siwa) lp 24.00 BUDOS BAND "II" (Daptone) cd 14.98 BURNING BRIDES "Hang Love" (ModArt) cd 14.98 CALIX, MIRA "Eyes Set Against The Sun" (Warp) cd 25.00 CARIBOU "Andorra" (Merge) cd/lp 13.98/16.98 CHARNEL VALLEY "The Igneous Race" (Paragon) cd 14.98 CHEMICAL BROTHERS "We Are The Night" (Astralwerks) cd 13.98 COMMON "Finding Forever" (Geffen) cd 14.98 CUB "Betti-Cola" (Mint) cd 15.98 CUB "Come Out Come Out" (Mint) cd 15.98 DALEK "A Purge of Dissidents" (Ipecac) book+DVD+CD 31.00 DARKEST HOUR "Deliver Us" (Victory) cd 15.98 DEADBEAT "Journeyman's Annual" (Scape) cd 16.98 DEATH AMBIENT "Drunken Forest" (Tzadik) cd 16.98 DEMBELE, DACUDA "s/t" (Yaala Yaala) cd 14.98 DIMENTIANON / RIGOR SARDONICOUS "split" (Largactyl) cd 14.98 DIZA STAR & THE PINK LADIES "Featuring Mani Neumeier" (Fractal) cd 23.00 DOPPLEREFFEKT "Calabi Yau Space" (Rephlex) cd/2lp 16.98/19.98 ELEGI "Sistereis" (Miasmah) cd 17.98 EMBRYO "Steig Aus" (Revisited) cd 17.98 EVERGREEN TERRACE "Wolfbiker" (Metal Blade) cd 14.98 EVOKEN "Embrace The Emptiness" (Elegy / Solitude) cd 14.98 EX-COCAINE "Keep America Mellow" (Killertree) lp 14.98 EXCEPTER "Streams 01" (Fusetron) cd 15.98 EXIAS-J "Live Document 2003-2005" (PSF) dvd 27.00 EXPO '70 "Audio Archive 001 - Music From Inaudible Depths" (Kill Shaman) cd-r 5.98 EXPO '70 "Audio Archive 002" (Kill Shaman) cd-r 5.98 FAUST "So Far" (Universal) cd 17.98 FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS "The Distant Future" (Sub Pop) cd ep 3.98 GOATREIGN "s/t" (Wabana) cd 16.98 HELLA "There's No 666 in Outer Space" (Ipecac) cd 16.98 HORSEFLESH "Journey To The East" (Chambara) cd-r 6.98 JABLADAV "3K Hum" (self released) cd-r/cassette 7.98/5.00 JABLADAV "Black As Pitch" (self released) cd-r/cassette 9.98/4.50 JASPER TX "In A Cool Monsoon" (Pumpkin Seeds In The Sand) cd 11.98 JESUS LIZARD, THE "Live" (MVD Visual) dvd 16.98 KAMMERFLIMMER KOLLEKTIEF "Jinx" (Staubgold) cd/lp 15.98/15.98 KANG, EYVIND "Athlantis" (Ipecac) cd 16.98 LAS MALAS AMISTADES "Patio Bonito" (Honest Jons) cd 25.00 LEXIE MOUNTAIN / LICHENS "Split" (Hoss) lp 14.98 LICHENS "Omns" (Kranky) cd + dvd 16.98 LIFE ON EARTH "Look!! There Is Life On Earth!" (Subliminal Sounds) cd 16.98 LIGHT, THE "Turn On... The Light" (UT Records) cd 13.98 LINDSTROM (V/A) "Late Night Tales" (Azuli) cd 25.00 LIZZIE BORDEN "Master Of Disguise" (Metal Blade) cd 14.98 MANES "How The World Came To An End" (Candlelight) cd 12.98 MANIERISME "s/t" (Nekrokult Nihilism) cd 13.98 MANSON, CHARLES "The Summer Of Hate - The '67 Sessions" (Arte Lupo) cd 15.98 MARDUK "Rom 5:12" (Regain) cd 14.98 MARGINAL CONSORT "s/t" (Improvised Music From Japan) 4cd 79.00 MARTIN, AARON "Almond" (Preservation) cd 15.98 MARTIN, AARON & MACHINEFABRIEK "Cello Recycling / Cello Drowning" (Type) 10" 11.98 MASERATI "Inventions For The New Season" (Temporary Residence) cd 14.98 MAYHEM "Ordo Ad Chao" (Seasons Of Mist) cd 14.98 MCGONIGAL, MIKE "33 1/3 Series: Loveless" (Continuum) book 9.95 MEAT PUPPETS "Rise To Your Knees" (Anodyne) cd 14.98 MEIZTER, K. "Dark Matters" (Old Europa Cafe) cd + 3"cd 23.00 MEKURYA, GETATCHEW & THE EX "Moa Anbessa" (Terp) cd 18.98 MENCHE, DANIEL & KEVIN DRUMM "Gauntlet" (Editions Mego) cd 14.98 MIRAH AND SPECTRATONE INTERNATIONAL "Share This Place" (K) cd 14.98 MODERN SHIT "Modern Shit: The Stories Told By Record Covers" (Alga Marghen) book+cd 70.00 MORI, IKUE "Bhima Swarga" (Tzadik) dvd 30.00 MORTUUS "De Contemplanda Morte" (Ajna) cd 13.98 NADJA "Guilted By The Sun" (Elevation) cd 8.98 NARROWS, THE "Benjamin" (Wantage USA) cd 12.98 NATHAMUNI BROTHERS "Madras 1974" (Fire Musem) cd 14.98 NEED MORE SOURCES "Shed" (Moteer) cd 15.98 NEGATIVE PLANE "Et In Saecula Saeculorum" (AJNA) 2lp 27.00 NEMESIS "The Day Of Retribution" (GMR Music) cd 23.00 OS MUNDI "43 Minuten" (Revisited) cd 17.98 PESTE NOIRE "K.P.N. / La Sanie Des Siecles - Panegyrique De La Degenerescence" (De Profundis / Rosenkrantz) cd 13.98 PETIT, CHRISTOPHER "Radio On" (Plexifilm) dvd 22.00 PHAROAHE MONCH "Desire" (Universal / Motown) cd 14.98 PHAZM "Antebellum Death 'N' Roll" (Osmose Productions) cd+dvd 13.98 PHIL MOORE & HIS ORCHESTRA "Polynesian" (EM Records) cd PIAF, EDITH "Chansons De Films 1936 - 1961" (Trema) cd 14.98 PIAZZOLLA, ASTOR "Pulsacion" (Circular Moves) cd 16.98 PIG DESTROYER "Phantom Limb" (Relapse) cd/lp 14.98/16.98 PILIA, STEFANO "The Suncrows Fall and Tree" (Sedimental) cd 14.98 PINEBENDER "Working Nine To Wolf" (Lovitt) cd 12.98 PINK REASON "Cleaning The Mirror" (Siltbreeze) cd 13.98 PJUSK "Start" (12K) cd 14.98 PLACES, THE "Fawns With Fangs: Selections From The Dark Heart Of The Thicket" (High Plains) cd-r 9.98 PRIESTBIRD "In Your Time" (Kemado) cd 13.98 PROFUNDI "The Omega Rising" (Profound Lore) cd 15.98 PULSEFEAR "Perichroresis" (Profound Lore) cd 10.98 QUI "Baby Kisses" (Heart Of A Champion) cd 12.98 RAMESES "Misanthropic Alchemy" (Feto) cd 14.98 ROBBERS ON HIGH STREET "Grand Animals" (New Line) cd 14.98 ROKY ERICKSON "You're Gonna Miss Me" (Palm / Manga) dvd 33.00 RUNEMAGICK / OCEAN CHIEF "The Northern Lights" (Chapter 53) cd 14.98 SAXON "s/t" (EMI) cd 12.98 SAXON "Strong Arm Of The Law" (EMI) cd 12.98 SAXON "Wheels Of Steel" (EMI) cd 12.98 SCHENKER, MICHAEL GROUP "s/t" (EMI) cd 12.98 SCORPIONS "Lonesome Crow" (Brain) cd 17.98 SHAIN'S, LOS "Anthology" (Iempsa) 2cd 21.00 SHEARER, HARRY "Songs Pointed & Pointless" (Courgette) cd 14.98 SHIRE, DAVID "The Hindenberg (OST)" (Intrada) cd 30.00 SHIRE, DAVID "Zodiac (OST)" (Varese Sarabande) cd 16.98 SHITMAT "Grooverider" (Planet Mu) cd 14.98 SIGNAL "Robotron" (Raster-Noton) cd 17.98 SKREAM & CLUEKID "Sandsnake" (Disfigured Dubz) 12" 12.98 SOLSTICE "Halcyon" (Cyclone Empire) cd 16.98 SOLSTICE "Lamentations" (Candlelight) cd 16.98 SONDE "En Concert" (Oral) cd 16.98 SONDE "En Ordes" (Oral) cd 16.98 SOUVENIR'S YOUNG AMERICA "An Ocean Without Water" (Crucial Blast) cd 14.98 SPECTRE, AARON "Say More Fire" (Rag & Bone) 12" 12.98 SPIRITUALAIRES, THE OF HURTSBORO, ALABAMA "Singing Songs Of Praise" (CaseQuarter) cd 14.98 SPOOKY, DJ "System Error. Al-Yamamah Mix" (Horus) cd 17.98 STEVENS, MEIC "Sackcloth and Ashes: The EPs Vol. 2" (Sunbeam) cd 16.98 STINY PLAMENU "Odpadni Galerie" (NAGA) cd 14.98 STORMCROW / SANCTUM "split" (20 Buck Spin) cd 13.98 SUB VERSION "s/t" (Future Dub) 2lp 24.00 SUN RA "Shadows Took Shape" (Transparency) 2cd 15.98 SUN RA "The Creator Of The Universe" (Transparancy) 2cd 16.98 SUPERBAD "OST" (Lakeshore) cd 16.98 TARWATER "Spider Smile" (Morr Music) cd 16.98 TAYLOR, MIKE QUARTET "Pendulum" (Sunbeam) cd 16.98 TERRESTRIAL TONES "Dead Drunk" (Paw Tracks) cd 14.98 THE BEST OF "LONE WOLF AND CUB" "OST" (La-La Land Records) cd 11.98 TINY VIPERS "Hands Across The Void" (Sub Pop) cd 13.98 TODAY IS THE DAY "Willpower" (SuperNova) cd 14.98 TORSO / UNICORN "split" (Divorce) cd 8.98 TORTURIUM "Black Lunatic Chaos" (Aura Mystique) cd 15.98 TOTAL FUCKING DESTRUCTION "Zen And The Art Of Total Fucking Destruction" (Translation Loss) cd 14.98 TRANSMISSION 0 "Memory Of A Dream" (Candlelight) cd 13.98 TULSA DRONE "Songs From A Mean Season" (The Perpetual Motion Machine) cd 10.98 TUSS, THE "Confederation Trough EP" (Rephlex) cd ep 11.98 U-ZIQ "Duntisbourne Abbots Soulmate Devastation Technique" (Planet Mu) cd 14.98 UFO "Force It" (EMI) cd 12.98 UFO "Phenomenon" (EMI) cd 12.98 ULTRALYD "Conditions For A Piece Of Music" (Rune Grammofon) cd 16.98 UNDER SATAN'S SUN "s/t" (self released) cd-r 8.98 UNKLE "War Stories" (Surrender All) cd 13.98 UPSILON ACRUX "Galapagos Momentum" (Cuneiform) cd 16.98 V/A "Molam: Thai Country Groove From Isan Vol. 2" (Sublime Frequencies) cd 16.98 V/A "Phoning It In" (West Main Development) cd 11.98 V/A "Searchin' For Shakes" (Amigo) cd 17.98 V/A "Silver Monk Time: A Tribute To The Monks" (Play Loud) 2cd 21.00 V/A "Some Songs Stuck In My Mind" (Crazy Apple Boutique) cd 21.00 V/A "The Busy Drone" (BVHAAST) cd 17.98 VENETIAN SNARES "Pink + Green" (Sublight) cd 15.98 VEX'D "Degenerate" (Planet Mu) 2cd 14.98 VILE CHERUBS "The Man Who Has No Eats Has No Sweats" (Afterburn) cd 13.98 VILLAINS "Drenched In The Posions" (Aurora Borealis) cd 14.98 VIRUS SYNDICATE "Present: Contagious Vol. 1" (Tyke) cd 17.98 VIRUS SYNDICATE "The Wasted EP" (Tyke / Planet Mu) 12" 12.98 VISITATIONS "s/t" (Time Lag Records) cd 16.98 VXPXC "Porchmass" (Digitalis) cd 11.98 WAGONER, PORTER "The Rubber Room" (Omni Recording Company) cd 21.00 WEEDEATER "God Luck And Good Speed" (Southern Lord) cd 15.98 WHITE STRIPES, THE "Icky Thump" (Warner Bros.) cd 16.98 WIJLEN WIJ "s/t" (Aesthetic Death) cd 15.98 WILDILDLIFE "Peas Feast" (Chicas De Hoy) cd-r 4.98 ZORN, JOHN "From Silence To Sorcery" (Tzadik) cd 16.98 ZWEINSTEIN "Trip / Flip Out / Meditation" (Captain Trip) 3cd 88.00
The Numero Group's "Eccentric Soul" series lives up to its name with this new entry, lucky number seven in the series, which also lives up to the high expectations all its bumpin' predecessors have created for it -- Capsoul, Bandit, Deep City, all the rest, some better liked here than others but all pretty great when you get down to it... and get down to it is what you will, what this shit's all about. Long lost soul/funk/r&b gems from back in the day, regional obscurities that never had the breakout hit they deserved. Dunno why such soul men as Eddie Ray and Marion Black, heard here, didn't become stars. Wasn't for lack of talent.
Ranging from Stax style soul, to chicken scratch geetar funk in a right-on JB's vein, and even to some funked psychedelic instrumental wailing, this disc features 19 killer tracks, eight of them previously unreleased (demos and even finished masters recently discovered at an estate sale!), recorded circa 1969-1973 for the obscure Columbus, Ohio based label Prix. Yes, more amazing stuff from the same town that supported the Capsoul label documented on the very first Numero Eccentric Soul comp. If you like soul and funk from the era, you owe it to yourself to take a listen, and then you'll owe thanks to Numero for digging these tracks up. A great comp in a great series.
When the summer occasionally heats things up around here, it's sometimes hard to get into the really heavy music we get so much of. Andee's been rocking the early eighties power pop in the back and in that same vein we've been really getting into the early predecessor of eighties power-pop, mid-sixties British psych-pop or "psyke-pop" as Nick Saloman calls it on his latest Psychic Circle compilation. We haven't had a good soft-psych compilation in awhile so this sounds particularly good with a lot of uncommon picks from the likes of The San Francisco Earthquake, Barry Benson (formerly PJ. Proby's hairdresser), Iain Matthews (pre-Fairport Convention), and Gallagher & Lyle. Highly "Bird"-obsessive, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of female perspective in these songs as some of the lyrics, like "I've got to train her to want me" have left some of the female employees here amusingly bemused. Gender pitfalls aside, this is another satisfying comp from Psychic Circle, whom we hope will release something more femme-centric really soon.
Another double disc jetsetter extravaganza compiled by the one and only DJ Tom Thump. This one is infused with the influences of Latin and African sounds and features a mix of familiar faces and newcomers -- Ocote Soul Sounds as remixed by Thievery Corporation, Romanowski, Aloe Blacc, John Beltran, Patato Valdes, Do featuring Omar Sosa and Greg Landau, Bobi Cespedes, Dtek, Zeb, 4Hero with Hector Calderon, Osunlade, Combo Moderna with Gerardo Frisina, Fort Knox Five with Mo'Horizons and many more!
A rare occurrence happened the other day when LA producer and promoter Andrew Lojero came by the shop selling this collection he put together of underground L.A. artists from the hip and difficult-to-classify hybrid genres of soul, jazz and electronica. We recognized a few of the artists such as the Madlib produced Yesterday's New Quintet and Sound Directions as well as Flying Lotus and Georgia Anne Muldrow, so we bought a couple and when we put it on in the store, two people came up and immediately bought both copies we had. Sensing a hit on our hands, we called Andrew up while he was still in town and ordered a bunch more and it has been selling rather steadily without much assistance from us. But we're listing it anyway, because it's really, really good.
Not so much a compilation as it is a collection of specially made tracks that showcase the sunny multifaceted vitality of the urban LA scene. Tripped out broken beats, lounge-y interludes, jazzy R&B inflected grooves, sometimes edgy, sometimes mellow and all sounding remarkably fresh. Along with each track, Lojero asked contemporary LA artists to design a unique piece of art, all of which are featured in the accompanying booklet. 17 tracks of blissful awesomeness awaits you. Don't hesitate.
Yo, hippies! Holy crap, we've just got 3 copies of this fancy box set, which comprises a reissue (on two cds) of the triple LP set documenting performances at the legendary Glastonbury Fayre festival of 1971. Artists on cd one include Hawkwind, David Bowie, The Greatful Dead (a 24 minute "Dark Star...bury"), Marc Bolan, Mighty Baby, Brinsley Schwarz, Pete Townsend, and Skin Alley. Disc two is a doozy too with Daevid Allen & Gong (23 minutes from them), The Pink Fairies (famous renditions of "Do It" and "Uncle Harry's Last Freak-out", which Fairies fans probably have already) and last but not least, the Edgar Broughton Band (their freak anthem "Out Demons Out", 20 minutes long here). Wow. That blows Coachella or the Pitchfork Festival out of the water, don't it?
And then, there's also a DVD in this box, "Glastonbury Fayre - The Movie", featuring performance footage of Terry Reid, Fairport Convention, Family, Arthur Brown, Traffic, Melanie, and Quintessence. Haven't watched it yet but how could it not be cool? NTSC, region free.
The whole thing is packaged as a facsimile of sorts of the original, complete with inserts, poster, etc.
The title of this one pretty much says it all! How can you go wrong with ultra raw covers of songs originally by the godfather of soul, recorded during those golden funk years of 1968-1974. All sorts of obscure funk outfits from across the globe were taking their worship of The Funky President to great heights, punching out covers that scream with raw soul and gritty funk. We've been blasting this in the store pretty much everyday since we got it. No matter how obscure the artist, they all totally understood the power and infectious quality of James Brown and his bad ass funk genius. Put this on and everyone around you will immediately start moving and shaking. So fun and funky!
There are a handful of compilations, so well thought out, so well put together, with just the perfect artists and the best songs, that function like an impossibly perfect record. If you could somehow imagine that said compilation was in fact, a record by some band it would be absolutely the greatest record ever. Never has that been more true than in the case of a couple of black metal comps from back in the nineties. One is the amazing Darkthrone tribute, Darkthrone Holy Darkthrone, an absolutely stellar comp featuring Satyricon, Enslaved, Marduk, Thorns, Emperor, Dodheimsgard, Gorgoroth. So it should come as no surprise that another 'perfect record' comp is this one right here, Nordic Metal: A Tribute To Euronymous. While we're still waiting for that Darkthrone comp to be reissued, it's no small consolation that this one has been resurrected, to demonstrate once again, that no matter how amazing bands are now and how far black metal has come, it really was never better than in 1995.
A tribute to Euronymous, the fallen leader of Mayhem, who was murdered by Count Grishnack aka Burzum, beginning the non-musical 'Lords Of Chaos' saga of Norwegian black metal that would become tabloid fodder for the next decade, this compilation was actually already in the works as a showcase for the Scandinavian bands of the time, but Euronymous ended up dying before he could release it on his own label Deathlike Silence. So it was completed by his allies at Necropolis Records (RIP) as a tribute to their fallen 'leader'.
Like that Darkthrone comp, a look at the bands should be enough to tell you that this is something special: Abruptum, Mayhem, Dissection, Emperor, Mysticum, Marduk, Thorns, Opthalamia, Enslaved, Mortiis and Arcturus. Basically every band that mattered, the bands that defined Nordic black metal. Plus these aren't just any tracks, these are almost all some of these bands' best tracks.
Abruptum's "De Profundis Mors Vas Cousumet" is still a tweaked and damaged BM classic, completely unhinged, with angelic female vocals, warbly pitch shifts, blackened blasts, and those vocals... the perfect way to start things off. Next up "The Freezing Moon" by Euronymous and Mayhem, frosty and grim, but melodic and catchy and an all time classic. The reverb drenched blasts sandwiched between gorgeously melancholy melodies. And then Disssection's "Where Dead Angels Lie", maybe one of the greatest black metal songs of all time, with a killer fucking hook and some of the most amazing guitar playing EVER. And it just goes on from there, most serious black metal fans will most likely have all of these tracks, but it's like the ultimate BM primer. If they taught a class in black metal, this would absolutely be essential listening. (And it was indeed studied intently by those of us who were working here at Aquarius back during our big black metal discovery phase in the mid-nineties, we have fond memories of this album!).
Other highlights include Thorns' "Aerie Descends", a lurching slow motion blackened trudge, with creepy circusy keyboards and weird whispered vocals, a very cabaret vibe mixed in with seriously grim blackness. Then there's a killer rehearsal version of Emperor's "Moon Over Kata-Shehr" which proves it wasn't the production or the recordings that made them so good, it's the songs. Epic and complex and fucking fantastic. There's some classic Enslaved, and even back then at their grimmest and most buzzy, they still demonstrated all sorts of prog tendencies.
Pretty much every track on here is essential. Even if you have most of these, it's like the ultimate classic black metal mixtape, and like we mentioned before, if you've been hesitant to explore black metal, this is probably the best possible place to start!
Awesome two disc introduction to the amazing ESP Disc label, arguably one of the most important labels in the history of free jazz. Not sure what to say about this collection, other than if you have ANY interest in the history of jazz, modern free jazz, and modern new music in general, and have yet to dip into the ESP label, not only have you been missing out on some of the most amazing and important music of the twentieth century, you should go out and buy every ESP record you can get your hands on. Or barring that, pick this up, and after listening to this endlessly over and over as you almost inevitably will, THEN, go out and buy every ESP record you can find.
Just look at the lineup: Marzette Watts, Albert Ayler, Sun Ra, Milford Graves, Sunny Murray, Charles Tyner, Giuseppi Logan, Fred Hampton, Ornette Coleman, Sonny Simmons, The Free Music Quintet and more more more!
It's a little frustrating as most of these tracks are edits, culled from looooong tracks, but they're definitely enough to whet your ears. A gorgeous assemblage of horns that moan and skronk, wheeze and wail, drums ALL OVER THE PLACE, from subtle shuffle to full on chaotic splatter, basses throbbing and slithering, every single track on here, be it slow and shimmery, or blown out and wild, is absolute perfection.
As if two discs of amazing music wasn't enough, they come with a perfect bound book, written by this collection's compiler. Who happens to be Wu Ming 1, a member of the Wu Ming collective of anonymous Italian authors (Allan's been reading their bleak historical-political novel, Q). It includes an excerpt in both English and Italian from his solo-written novel, New Thing, about free jazz and 'black' music, as well as a handful of amazing never before seen photos, as well as track by track notes for all the songs. Both the cds (housed in a folded oversized jacket) and the book are packaged in a super swank slip cover. The perfect introduction to ESP. You will never listen to modern music the same way again.
We're super picky when it comes to noise, and noise rock, okay so maybe we're just really picky, but like techno, it takes something special to really win us over. We were a little wary at first of this comp, which collects a bunch of music and bands "From Providence And Olneyville Rhode Island". Sure there are tons of those bands who totally rule, but there are also a whole bunch of one off costume rock joke bands. Thankfully this comp is pretty fucking solid all the way through, splitting the difference between aggro noise rock, and weird damaged metal, and pretty much every stop in between. All the usual suspects are here, Landed, Necronomitron, Mindflayer, Prurient, Drop Dead, Lightning Bolt, White Mice, Kites.... But there are also plenty of noisy newbies, Knights Of Timbre, Em Dath Rir, Football Rabbit, Suffering Bastard, Bloodthrone, Knifestorm, Smashed Femur Dance Party, Patootie Lobe and more...
Standout tracks include the technical metal mayhem of Necronomitron, the Lightning Bolt-ish psychdamaged drum/synth freakout of Mindflayer, the cartoon cutup buzz and glitch of Knights Of Timbre, the 20 second hyperspeed blast of female voiced brutality from Bloodthrone, The electro sludge of Football Rabbit, the damaged turntable manipulation of Mahi Mahi and so much more.
Never thought we'd say it, but pretty much every single track on this noise comp kicked our ass, and at least a few had us wanting to hear LOTS more!
Volume 3 of the Folding Cassettes compilation series featuring tons of badass weirdo rock outfits, lots we already love, and a few we've never heard before... Sic Alps, Metallic Falcons, Fuckwolf, Octis, Numbers, Car Clutch, Si-Cops, Andrew Duke, Patrick Michael Mullins, Arsenio, Gass & The Bleed Sea, Tre Ferocious, Mammals, Bananas, and Magic Bag.
Cover art by Jo Jackson and Chris Johanson!!
Another killer installment in the Sublime Frequencies series of wondrous and fantastical musics from around the world, and although we've probably proclaimed this about past volumes, this just may be the best one yet. The hardest thing about enjoying strange musics from other lands, though, is realizing that the music only seems strange to us. And with that realization comes a responsibility, c'mon, the pop music popular in the US must seem just as strange to folks in other countries, Avril Lavigne, Britney, every singer from American Idol, or how about Weird Al? So you sort of have to take into account that knowing the language, and growing up listening to the various popular musics of a region, would probably help to contextualize the strange hybridized pop music that we love to listen to and that is such a cornerstone of this series. Imagine how different it would be listening to a band like Circle if you understood Finnish. Might not seem so crazy. But that's part of the joy, it does sound crazy, and wild and weird, and wonderful, and there's certainly nothing wrong with being fascinated by seeming strangeness of the music, or enjoying the lyrics as just another instrument since we don't speak the language, and digging the seemingly bizarre juxtapositions, as long as we respect the heritage and the makers of this music that gives us such pleasure. And we do.
And holy crap does this latest installment give us all kinds of pleasure. It -is- wild, an awesomely confusional mix of Molam, Bollywood, Ethiopian groove, funk, soul, American pop and surf rock, all tangled up into amazing shapes, and peppered with killer hooks, amazing vocalists, bizarre production techniques, but most of all amazing amazing songs. The sort of songs that get stuck in your head and you find yourself humming to yourself, wondering if it was something you heard on the radio or something that was playing in some store you were just in, then realizing it was actually some seventies Thai pop song!
We knew this collection was going to be amazing before we even got to the music. Past installments in this series focusing on Thai music were already among our favorites, the photos are awesome, and check out some of these song titles: "There Are Many Handsome Men Out There", "You Should Die By Bullets", "Drinking Whiskey Until I'm Blurred", "Look Whose Underwear Is Showing", "Monthly Wife", "Uncle Dee Is A Drunk"...
And the music is just as fun and funky, crazy and catchy. A killer collection of Thai disco classics, music from Thai films, a bunch of stone cold pop gems, some unknown, some by Thai superstars, and a totally tweaked version of "The Night Chicago Died".
Some of our favorites are "Dance Of The Ngeo" by Johnny Guitar, a bad ass surf guitar jam, that begins with some strange trash can percussion, that surfaces again and again throughout, as well as some awesome fuzz organ, all making it sound like the coolest weirdest track Joe Meek never recorded, "You Should Die By Bullets" by Chailai Chaiyata & Sawanee Patana, a super funky slab of tripped out Bollywood style disco, with some truly damaged alien synths, and some amazing vocals, "We Both Think We're The Best" by Sangthong Seesai, a seasick, slithery groove, all blown out percussion, fuzzy organ, really grimey and groovy and sultry sounding, "Long Time No See" by Generation, a badass Barney Miller wah guitar groove, strutting and sexy, with a super strange totally blown out cymbal that gives the track a really strange shimmer, "Wise Old Man" by Gawao Siangthong, a funky horn flecked funk workout, that almost sounds like the Thai version of an Ethiopian Grooves track,
there's even a weird breakdown in the middle of the song, where the two vocalists joke and banter, before launching right back into the song, "Title Theme from Live From The Rocket Festival" by Chalermpon Malakum, a space age seventies sitcom soundtrack groove, with weird warbly synths, funky horns, and a killer psychedelic guitar solo, and maybe our favorite (although it's practically impossible to choose), "Papaya Salad Merchant, by Onuma Singsiri, a slow burning shuffle, moody and brooding, with super sultry vocals, a wicked Morricone-ish Spaghetti Western twang guitar, some subtle waka waka rhythms, and a main melody to die for.
It's hard to describe any of these tracks without the word 'groove', as the above would seem to demonstrate, and that's because almost all of these tracks are indeed groovy, full of funky horns, wah wah guitars, bouncy bass lines, wild percussion, wicked drumming, and an incredible array of vocals and vocalists... but even the tracks that aren't inherently groovy, still seem to groove somehow... and even though we picked our favorites above, the more we listen, the more -every- song here is becoming one of our favorites... so so great!
Unlike a lot of other titles in this series where the sources were dubbed tapes or unlabeled recordings or radio broadcasts, each track here is credited to the performer (and hopefully, we assume, the performers will see some of the profits this time around?), each with it's original Thai title and translated English title, as well as what album the song is taken from, and there are liner notes from Sublime Frequencies head honcho (and Sun City Girl) Alan Bishop and frequent SF contributor Mark Gergis.
For those unfamiliar with The Bay Bridged, it's a bountiful website dedicated to Bay Area independent music (podcast, blogs, videos, show reviews, concert calendar, you name it!). Now they've released a bountiful compilation featuring a mix of previously released and unreleased tracks by eleven of the fine bands they covered -- Tartufi, Social Studies, Love Is Chemicals, Finest Dearest, The Lonely Hearts, The Dont's, Peloton, Tempo No Tempo, Or The Whale, and The Dodo's.
Damn. Bevis Frond fan or not, you've gotta be impressed with Bevis's Nick Saloman's new career as the curator of kick-ass comps for the Psychic Circle label. We've already highlighted one of 'em recently, the On The Brink collection of instrumental swingin' psych groovers. Also reviewed this list: the fine British popsike comp Fairytales Can Come True. But this one might just be our favorite so far, seeing as how we're all into the early proto-metal HEAVINESS thing. "Heavy Psych And Power Fuzz From The USA 68-72" is the mouth-watering subtitle here. Sounds right up our alley, and it is.
Saloman must have a heckuva record collection. Taking a look at this disc's track list, we only recognized a few of the twenty bands/songs: Thunder & Roses, The Power Of Zeus, Banchee, Road, Fields... that's about it. And we figured if the unknown others were half as good as we knew those to be, we were in for a treat. Well such is the case, for the most part!! Saloman has dug up some beauts, plenty of ultra-rare, fuzzed-out examples of greasy garage muscle, freaky hairy funk, and Purple Hazey proto-metal riff rockin' from all over the US of A that are making our day in a big way. It starts off strong (and stays that way) with the wailing acid rock guitar and equally wailing vocals of "Penetration" by Detroit outfit Third Power. Next up, this comp takes its name from the contribution by Philly's Thunder & Roses, a very Cream-y track that was later covered by Nirvana (whose punked-out version was a worthy tribute). We also hear from Detroit's The Power Of Zeus, with their stone classic "It Couldn't Be Me" that hiphop headz might recognize as having been sampled on an Obie Trice track. LA's Road, featuring former Hendrix bassist Noel Redding, sound very Captain Beyond on their "Spaceship Earth". And then there's the Zeppish "Steel Dog Man" by a Boston outfit saddled with the unfortunate name Brother Fox And The Tar Baby (can't see 'em hitting the stadiums with that handle). In fact, names might be what held a bunch of these bands back, like The Lemonade Charade and The Yellow Payges, ferinstance. Hardly indicative of the long haired biker badassitude and Hendrix/Steppenwolf/Yardbirds worship found here in abundance. This comp also proves that said badassitude can coexist with some groovy horns on occasion, no problem.
For the record, here's the names of the other bands appearing here that we don't have room to discuss individually: The Hook, Blue Mountain Eagle, Genesis, The Illinois Speed Press, Eden's Children, T.I.M.E., Underbeat, The Uniques, and The Fort Mudge Memorial Dump! And yes, the cd booklet includes notes from NS on each track. Oh and for those heavy psych devotees keeping up / keeping score, you might want to know, is this as good as that excellent Psychedelic Minds Vol. 1 comp from last year on World In Sound? Yes, yes indeed.
Psychic Circle is rapidly becoming our favorite compilations label for '60s psych (and related genres). Can't go too wrong with any of the discs we've stocked so far -- On The Brink, White Lace And Strange, A Visit To The Space Ship Factory, Fairytales Can Come True -- and this one's a winner too. Compiled by Nick Saloman of Bevis Frond fame, a bloke whose record collection is probably more impressive than yours (certainly beats any of us!) as far as '60s rarities goes, there's 20 "nuggets" here from almost no one we'd ever heard of before. The theme this time is American (and Canadian) sixties garage bands and that covers a broad scope of song stylin's -- flowery psych to folky pop to frat house stompers -- so it's a varied comp as regards the music, but not in terms of quality, which is uniformly right on. We'd say what really ties all this together, is that when you hear these tracks, you'll wonder why you'd never heard 'em before, 'cause many should be minor classics. And we guess they are, forgotten classics we can thank Mr. Saloman for turning us all on to. And you really probably have never heard them, 'cause when Saloman sez they're "previously uncomped" we're pretty sure he knows what he's talking about. Our favorite among these would have to be the stark drama of Simon T. Stokes' "Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction" but that's not the only gem to be found here, from The Love Society's fairly heavy version of "Tobacco Road" to Kinetic Energy's moody "Margaret Ann" to the groovy "Cloud 76" by Peck's Bad Boys, among selections from other artists including: Randy Johnson, The Love Society, The Liberty Bells, The Great Train Robbery, The Will-O-Bees, The Yankee Dollar, The Lords Of T.O.N.K., Merrell Fankhauser & HMS Bounty, The 13th Precinct, The Countdown Five, The British Walkers, The Moanin' Glories, Cast Of Thousands, Kin Vassy, The Good Feeling, and The Blue Things.
Oh and of course, the cd booklet is full of text, graphics, and photos to help these tracks to be a little bit less obscure than they otherwise would...
Whether he's manning the helm of his Tiny Telephone recording studio or performing his own music, John Vanderslice is a renowned Bay Area crafty, creative and tireless fellow. This is his sixth full length. Very much akin to the recent recordings by Bright Eyes, Mountain Goats, and M. Ward, it might be his most focused and most straightforward pop album to date. Emerald City picks right up from where 2005's Pixel Revolt left off with its nine lush, very easy on the ears folk-edged pop songs whose melodic breeziness stands in stark contrast with his emotively delivered lyrics. They bring a sobering gravity to the proceedings addressing concerns of post 9/11 despair, ongoing political turmoil and personal heartache.
As much as we dug the most recent record from Prurient, a seriously caustic slab of NOISE (and we're VERY picky about our noise) we're beginning to think Prurient mainman Dominick Fernow's true calling is playing in an actual band. It doesn't really matter what kind, as long as it's noisy and distorted and heavy and fucking LOUD. We've been freaking out about Fernow's black metal duo Ash Pool, a buzzing black beast as blown out as any noise combo, but here we have another of Fernow's bands, this one more rock than black metal, at least as far as we can tell. Actually for all we know the Vegas Martyrs could be black metal too, it's sort of hard to tell under all that noise and static and buzz and hiss.
There's lots of melody peeking out through the chaos which leads us to believe that somewhere in there lurks a rock band.
Like Ash Pool, Bone Awl, and Ancestors, it's all about the recording and the sound around the songs, which here means a swirling dense cloud of harsh buzz and whir, crumbling and grinding and hissing. But underneath are looped hypnotic melodies, howled vocals, pounding drums, all but completely obscured by that layer of blown out noise. It's almost like some rock band recorded by Merzbow and then mixed by Tim Hecker if that makes any sense. Or imagine the My Bloody Valentine model applied to noise rock instead of indie rock, less dreamy and blissy and more harsh and chaotic. Heavy, brutal, cacophonous, grating, in the red, overblown, ear splitting and dissonant, but at the same time, weirdly and impossibly pretty.
Packaged in a thick black and white sleeve, and pressed on super thick clear green vinyl. Limited to 750 copies, only 250 on green!
First release from this Midwest duo (now trio), who traffic in a murky buzzing old school black metal, not all that far removed from classic Darkthrone,�old Ulver or early Emperor, that immediately recognizable Norwegian sound, but with a bit of their own sound mixed in, a definite classic metal vibe in the riffs. Not sure if it's Maiden or Priest, but lots of the riffs don't sound like that same old generic black buzz, they sound classic, like they were plucked straight from the eighties, which is actually a very good thing. Those mid paced riffs slither and grind, occasionally building into furious squalls of buzzing blackness, but no straight up blasts, the music of Velnias�stays pretty midtempo, except on occasion when it slips into slowed down lurching doom, or when the band stretches out into Opeth-y stretches of folky flutter. The production is decidedly lo-fi, but instead of hindering, it only helps to add a grimy kultish sheen to the already grim buzz, making�Pacing The Cyclic Nether sound like it could actually be some lost slab of nineties Norwegian blackness. Cool stuff.
Summer's here and what better way to celebrate than to put on this gorgeous reissue of the very first Tropicalia record, the stunning 1968 debut of Caetano Veloso. As big in Brazil as Sgt. Peppers was in England and America, its fusion of Brazilian popular music with pop, psychedelia and politically pointed lyrics gave birth to the Tropicalia movement and earned Veloso a brief stint in jail for "anti-government activities". Today, even without understanding it's political subtext, the celebratory freedom that is conveyed in these vivacious and effervescent songs couldn't resonate more. Leave it to the Brazilians to make the radically political a party as well. Fuck Yeah!
This went out of print way too fast, not long after we listed it and has finally been re-pressed. Here's what we had to say about it last time:
We were sold on this band before we even heard 'em (thanks AQ pal Drucifer for the recommendation). First off, they're called Velvet Cacoon. That's right C A C O O N. WTF? Not sure if it's just a typo that was never corrected, to maybe save face, or if it means something entirely different that we couldn't possibly understand... Second, they're a super reclusive eco-fascist (huh?) black metal horde from Oregon. Yep, OREGON. And finally they invented, designed and built an instrument they call a dieselharp, a sort of diesel fuel powered pick up driven fuzz-drone-guitar thing. Wow. So before we even threw this on, we were already pretty into it. And thankfully, the music is every bit as cool and weird and grim and haunting as we could've hoped. Massive slabs of blackened fuzz, and we mean FUZZ. Imagine the buzziest fuzziest Burzum riff, smeared and stretched into a mesmerizing black metal blur. The droning dieselharp is the key, turning what could otherwise be some straight up grim black metal, into a blown out, buzzing black drone. The drums and vocals are barely even there, satisfied to lurk under an oppressive cloak of suffocating heaviness and the seemingly endless, relentlessly hypnotic crush. Fans of the buzzy drone-y end of the black metal spectrum will be blown away. And drone freaks will luxuriate in the absolutely gorgeous final twenty minute track, a slow building lowercase shimmer, worthy of Chalk, Coleclough, Hafler Trio and the like.
We fell in love with this band before we even heard 'em! And the more we find out about this mysterious outfit the more we can't get enough! A while back an aQ customer suggested we check out this bizarre black metal band from Portland called Velvet Cacoon. Supposedly they were super reclusive eco-fascists who built their own instruments, their main home-built instrument was the diesel harp, a huge diesel powered guitar contraption that spit out impossibly fuzzy and Burzumic drones, and when we finally heard the record, we could totally tell! No guitar could sound that heavy and fuzzy! It was that fucking diesel harp! Holy shit. That record (which we still have in stock) was a dense drone-like slab of buzzing black metal like we had naver heard, heavy enough for metal heads but deep, dark and droney enough for folks into stuff like Troum and Lustmord to get into.
Well, a year or so later, another aQ customer pointed us toward a website where they had posted an interview with the band, and guess what? It was all a hoax. Well, not the music obviously, but they were not in fact eco-fascists, there was no diesel harp, they were just a couple dudes from Portland who loved black metal but were intent on pissing off the black metal community. In the interview the band went on to talk about how they had short hair, and listened to Nina Simone, and that one or both of them played music in a local wine bar. Pretty hilarious actually. And then if you went to the Velvet Cacoon website, there was a solitary link, to an Air mp3. Yep, the French electronic group Air. What the fuck? But c'mon, it just made us dig their band even more! They now have a much less mysterious website and Velvet Cacoon now apparently consists of just Josh "and his dreampop muse Angela, two souls mesmerized by chemicals and the after-hours". Woah.
So no more mysterious politics, no more homemade instruments, but the band are indeed working on a second album, but in the meantime, their first two demos have been packed up and released as a single cd. And WOW! It's just as amazing as the first one. The oldest demo, Music For Falling Bulidings, shows the band at the beginning, when they were super raw, super aggressive, total Burzum / Darkthrone worship, fierce and fuzzed out and furious, but even back then, they employed plenty of experimentalism, strange ambient interludes, studio fuckery, found sounds. The later demo, Red Steeples, finds the band much closer to where they would end up with Genevieve. A buzzing droney black metal mixed with suffocating dark ambience. Monstrous drones, rumbling minimalism, fuzzed out soundscapes, above, below, beneath and amidst thick swaths of ultra grim black metal. Considering how much we love Genevieve it's really saying something when we say that this whole disc is AS good as, if not even better, due in no small part to the fact that it's WAY more damaged and freaked out sounding, and you know how much we love that!
There is a long tradition of famous offspring failing to achieve the same level of success and/or artistry as their more talented folks (Jacob Dylan, Lisa Marie Presley, Julian Lennon, Ziggy Marley, etc...) So you can understand why we might have had some reservations when we heard that the son of the late great Ali Farka Toure, was coming out with his own album. Those reservations disappeared the second we pressed play. We were immediately swept away by the soulful and richly melodic sounds of Vieux's amazing music. There is no doubt that he was blessed with much of the musical talent his father possessed, and it's obvious that this music needed to be heard. His dad had actually forbidden him to play music when he was growing up as he didn't want him to face the same hardships that he did. Luckily Vieux rebelled, unable to suppress the music that clearly flows through is veins. This debut is so good! There is of course a deep similarity to the sound of his father, but in a way that feels so connected and yet with a soul of its own. Ali Farka actually appears on the record on two tracks, the last recordings he made before his passing last year. Toumani Diabate, the renowned kora master also plays on the record adding a layer of delicate beauty to Vieux's songs. It's funny how Vieux actually means old in French, and in so many ways when you listen to his songs, despite his young age there is a richness and quality and timelessness to his voice and music that has you feeling like you're listening to the music of an old-soul. In many ways this is like a calmer side to the great new Tinariwen record we are still so in love with. A wonderful debut and we can't wait to see what the future holds for Vieux!
Virgin Passages are a UK trio who rose from the ashes of the UK quintet Wardrobe. Mandalay is not an album proper, this is actually a compilation of early odds'n'ends (4-track recordings, demos, live cuts, cdrs, cassettes, and the like). The band's official debut album is still forthcoming, but it's clear that they're primed and ready to win over many new friends and fans in the earthy, mid-fi, ambient, psych folk freak scene. Hey Wooden Wand, Vanishing Voice and Ariel Pink, scoot over a bit and make some room for Virgin Passages! Their loosely structured 'kitchen sink' arrangements are haunting and a little eerie. It's all pieced and patched together into something that threatens to tumble into 'bad trip' territory. Can't wait for the full length!
More shambolic weirdness from this noisemaking, Nurse With Wound approved UK outfit. Recorded at a live show in Leicester, England June 2006, this starts off just as intense as they've ever been, with a wailing ceremonial-sounding piece, like some sort of 20th century classical freakout, or a droning witches' sabbath... then during subsequent tracks, things calm down into more improv-y regions. The drones become more broken, with "jazz" horns in the mix, clattering rhythms, and occasional vocal turns that suggest a twisted, psychedelic cabaret and/or damaged folk balladry. It's a disjointed mix of bedlam and beauty, with twilight soon approaching, the ominous darkness threatened by the first track being kept at bay for only so long...
For his eightieth birthday and fifty-fifth year as one of Nashville's most striking country music ambassadors, Porter Wagoner delivers an amazingly solid new recording that shows him still at the top of his game. Simply and starkly produced by the legendary Marty Stuart, there are no hipster cameos or attempts to contemporaneously connect to a modern sound or scene, just lots of pedal steel and an aged baritone tinged with loss and redemption. Most people who aren't avid country music fans, probably know Porter Wagoner for two things: he made Dolly Parton famous (though, he did try to hold her career back), and "The Rubber Room", one of the eerily strangest but coolest country songs ever recorded. That song was on a classic album from 1972 called What Ain't To Be, Just Might Happen and it's full of low-life characters losing their grips on reality, and recorded with lots of tape echo and other studio effects amongst the standard twang which really made it stand apart. On Wagonmaster, Wagoner revisits those themes on "Committed To Parkview", a song written for him by Johnny Cash but was never recorded until now. For those who like a little Nick Cave in their country music but have exhausted the Johnny Cash catalog, you should take a listen here to a country master who can delve fearlessly into the dark side while wearing the most sparkling of Nashville finery.
What supercool, snazzy, 138 page magazine has Mandrill on the cover this month? Wax Poetics of course. Featuring in-depth articles and tons of cool photos (lots of rare record covers to drool over especially) all about the best of '60s, '70s, '80s and on up to today in the realm of hiphop, jazz, funk and soul, Wax Poetics is pretty much a must if you're into that sort of stuff. This issue will also hip you to Brazilian legend Marcos Valle, DJ Andy Smith, old school rap MC Eddie Cheba, producer Kenton Nix, jazz cat Joe Sample, "boogie king" Leroy Burgess, Winstons drummer G.C. Coleman, and LOTS more. Especially rad: a feature (full color illustrated of course) all about James Brown playbills/programs.
While it's been noted that White Stains began in the mid-'80s as a garage band out of Sweden, the earliest known recordings of the group were inextricably linked to Genesis P-Orridge, as a couple of the White Stains members had founded a Swedish chapter of P-Orridge's Temple of Psychick Youth. By 1994, White Stains had decided to call it quits, leaving behind a series of dark electronic eccentricities over the course of 5 albums, including one album in the legendary Anckarstrom series which included exceptional releases from The Hafler Trio, John Duncan, Arcane Device, Zbigniew Karkowski, Phauss, and the Sons of God. Exploratorium is a collection of their more esoteric and abstract recordings, many of which had originated as soundtracks to experimental films and a couple of tracks from that Anckarstrom album. White Stains infuse an absurdly darkened glee to their synthesizer driven tunes, resembling the clunky fumble of Hans Edler or Keuhkot with plenty of Teutonic militant Der Blutharsch-esque overtones.
What would a band composed of members of such notable post-rock / metalcore bands as Isis, Red Sparowes, Anodyne and 27 sound like? Well Windmills By The Ocean answers that question authoritatively, as this shortlived Boston band's sole album, recorded in 2003 but never before released, features musicians who went on to play in all those bands! And it's just about what you'd expect, heavy moody monumental mostly instrumental music, but it some ways it's actually quite surprising, much mathier and more aggressive than any of the bands that would come after.�
Most of the tracks begin soft and shimmery, a sort of Godspeed slow build before the band begins to churn out some seriously vitriolic post rock, heck, a lot of this is straight up metal, chugging downtuned heaviness, but it's the delivery and the arrangements that make it so special, the band will be plowing through dense riffs and blown out space rock when they suddenly lock into a groove and don't quit. Endlessly over and over and over, so deliriously intense, we wish those parts would never end. Little chunks of Gore (the Dutch hypnometallers) pepper the whole record, and give Windmills an amazing and hugely hypnotic vibe. And heavy, man, this is heavy as fuck, the guitars are huge, the drums and guitars locked in mortal battle, often circling each other for what seems like forever. And those are the best parts, the metallic stalemate that results in endless mesmerizing riffage.
At first we though Windmills sounded a bit like a metal Shellac, and it sort of does, mostly because of the�super clinical and LOUD drums, constantly pounding out deceptively complex rhythms, but the sound is so repetitive and circular, it's hard not to hear a bit of Circle in there. Maybe if you crossbred Circle with Neurosis, you'd come up with something like Windmills.�
This�has been pushing all of our hypnometal and epic post rock and dizzying math rock buttons like crazy... The first song alone routinely sends us into paroxysms of unfettered head banging... which of course means WAY recommended!
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Yay! Two NEW songs from AQ faves Witchcraft, the Swedish sensations beloved of all those who dig '70s doom/psych like Sabbath and Pentagram as much as they do, and folky proggy stuff too. They're on tour in the US as we write this, go see 'em if you can, we did last night and they were awesome! They played the driving, groovy A-side of this single, "If Crimson Was Your Colour" and it went down a storm. The bluesier B-side, "I Know You Killed Someone" is also a winner, recalling their primal Roky Erickson influence. Seven inch 45 rpm RED VINYL format only, & we only have so many!
By the way, if you do go see them this tour, you might see 'em sporting AQ t-shirts, as they were just in the shop today and we traded 'em for Witchcraft tees...
The return of our favorite apostrophe challenged true dooooom overlords, Wizar'd! We've yet to figure out why exactly that apostrophe is in there. All we can figure is that the band name is actually a verb, as in "You have been Wizar'd!!!!"
Regardless, these guys rule, fans of classic doom, Sabbath, Pentagram, and the like need to bee into this band. After a brief organ intro, complete with creepy guitar harmonics, the band launch into "Smouldering Sinners" [sic], total classic old school doom, killer riffing, really strange vocals, nasal and whiney, but super distinctive and cool, in much the same way Ozzy's vocals always were. Plus the recording is bizarre as well, making the drums sound a bit like a drum machine. The flipside is their theme song "The Wizar'd" and is more of the same, plodding classic true metal doom, the vocals less whiney, but just as cool.
And if there's any question as to where these guys are coming from, the liner notes offer up the dedication to the "masters of metal: Manilla Road, Pagan Altar and Death SS." Hell yeah! ----* ----* Compilations : ----*
