We have been hearing about Little Dragon for quite a while now as lots of folks around here had seen them live and been blown away and kept urging us to check out their stuff and to see what an amazing presence their Swedish-Japanese singer has. Unfortunately, most of LD's releases where hard-to-track-down imports up 'til now, but luckily with the release of this newest album Machine Dreams we get to hear why all our friends were so excited about Little Dragon.
Machine Dreams is completely refreshing, bright and colorful electro-pop that eschews all the detached and cold cliches that so many in the scene rely on, opting instead for elements of soul, house, downtempo, and an overall warmth and sincerity of sound that really makes LD stick out.
Imagine a more uptempo and cheery Fever Ray, or if Lali Puna stopped navel gazing and reached their hands and hearts to the sky, or if Matthew Herbert got to produce a record for Gwen Guthrie! We hear wonderful hints of LD's influences too, everything from Massive Attack to Pizzicato Five, yet they manage to really shine with their own identity, displaying a really great range, from uptempo catchy dancefloor moments to more drowsy, sultry bittwersweet slow burners. We are feeling this so much!
Yeah, we know it must get kinda tired, and it must be a blessing and a curse for Carolyn Mark to always have another artist mentioned in her albums' reviews even if that artist is a friend and collaborator. But if it helps get people to check out her great music, we hope she'll understand! The vivacious namesake of her pal Neko Case's early rollicking tune "Karoline", Carolyn Mark strikes a balance between the bold and the gentle, the ribald and the romantic. The lyrics of that song really nail it, "The path you walk is on fire, so wild and unashamed with a passion you inspire" and "The web you weave is so tender I'm tangled by your gaze". Spend a few moments in her presence and you'll be captivated and charmed too. She's such a great storyteller, both in spoken word and music, both in off-the-cuff impromptu and more composed settings. She can have your guts aching with laughter, and then your heart aching with sorrow.
Mark delivers the goods with her latest album, a collaboration with the awesomely named N.Q. Arbuckle who are not a person, but a band from Toronto. As you may know, Ms Mark has amassed quite an impressive body of homespun Canadiana all by her lonesome as well as in collaboration with her many incredibly talented musical friends. Over the years she's proven to be a splendid hostess, welcoming all into her musical kitchen with a giddy batting of her big false lashes, a generous glass of cheer, her home cookin' (psst, she makes cookbooks filled with her pals' and her own recipes too!) and plenty of song of course. You might recall the Tribute To Nashville cd re-enactment of the soundtrack to Robert Altman's 1975 film which she orchestrated a few years back. Such a curiously wonderful labor of love. So needless to say, any news of fresh collaborations with this lady is good news! Here, she and N.Q. Arbuckle make a great pairing, definitely kindred spirits. Despite the title, there's actually a sense of travel (she anecdotally namechecks Canadian cities along the way. Yes, you get a little geography lesson on each of her albums!), of movement, of restlessness, but also a yearning for the warm embrace of home. Call us crazy, but some of the songs (such as "Officer Down") conjured imaginings of a countrified Fleetwood Mac (Hmmm, we just noticed on the shrinkwrap sticker it sez "Carolyn lovingly calls it her Rumours". So we're not crazy!), while others (such as "Downtime") recall the electrified earthy hey day of Uncle Tupelo (but then again maybe that's because Neville Quinlan's voice is a deadringer for Jay Farrar's!). Both are very good points of reference in our books! Recommended.
MISSISSIPPI ALERT!!!!!!!!
This reissue of Fred McDowell's 1966 second lp for the Arhoolie label is arguably one of the Mississippi delta bluesman's best outings. Discovered in the late fifties by Alan Lomax, McDowell has become since then and until his death in 1972, one of the more famous practitioners of the delta blues tradition. His most well known song, "You Got To Move", included here, was famously covered by the Rolling Stones, and his world-weary voice that ranges from drawling mumble to intense emphatic howls comes from a deep but humble spiritual core. Though he honed his craft at fish fries and dances, many of his songs were laments and spirituals about trying evils, redemption, and longing for love. Here on some tracks he is accompanied by close friends, Eli Green on second guitar, and his wife Anne on second voice. The track "I Wish I Was In Heaven Sittin' Down" was recorded with the Hunter's Chapel Spiritual Singers, whom Fred performed with often on Sunday Mornings. A fine and essential addition to the Mississippi Records catalog and your Mississippi Records collection!
Y'know, the Melvins have been one of our favorite bands for so long we practically take 'em for granted. But when a new album comes out, it's still pretty exciting. Almost like it must have been in the '60s when, like, a new Beatles LP would be released, that's what it's like for us and the Melvins... except heck the Melvins have been around now for, like, 100x as long as the Beatles' whole career lasted.
So, yes, yah, yay, it's a new Melvins! Again on Ipecac, which means it's yet another Melvins cd with the front cover on the back and the tracklist on the front. You think they'd be over that by now, but the Melvins are all about being quirky now aren't they? Well, being quirky and HEAVY. And we're pleased to report that Nude With Boots is plenty heavy! As expected, though with the Melvins you also have to expect the unexpected too. But from the get go, Nude With Boots hammers it down, maybe a bit more uptempo rockin' than typical, lead-off track "The Kicking Machine" being just that, ass kicking that is, a hooky slab of classic rockin' riffola. Replete with chunky guitars, catchy vocal choruses, and splattering percussion to spare. The next track up, "Billy Fish" is another big, bangin' number. And then when track three, "Dog Island" hits, though, it's CRUSHING. And you realize that the album's only getting started. That song's 7 and a half minutes of herky-jerky slo-mo heaviness, creeped out and melodically fist-waving too. Yep, this is shaping up to be a quite satisfying Melvins experience, one that so far stacks up with the likes of Houdini. No kidding.
How do they do it? The Melvins have such an *authoritative* sound. Heavier than thou for sure. Distinctively untouchable. It's like they have access to better stuff than anyone. Stuff? Dunno, gear, drugs, organic vegetables, whatever it is that makes them sound like they do, the Melvins are in a league unto themselves.
One not so secret weapon: Buzz's always amazing, melodic yet gritty vocals, which we realize sound like Gene Simmons crossed with Ozzy Osbourne. And, as well, his usual cryptic, imagistic lyrics.
Furthermore, there's simply so much geetar badassitude on this album, Buzz blasting riffs and sweet licks all over the place, and of course Dale's drum fills are sweet (and punishing) too. We defy you to try to listen to this album and not a) air-guitar b) air-drum or c) at the very least, headbang. Maybe even sing along! If you can figure out the words that is.
Of course, along with the rippin' rock, this also has its copious share of abstractly wacked weirdness, ambient interludes like the 1:05 "Flush" ferinstance. Or the atmospheric moody SUNNO))) styled murk of the cleverly titled "Dies Iraea". Or the bizarre bludgeon n' scrape of "The Savage Hippy" and the even more out there "It Tastes Better Than the Truth", a twofer in the extreme tradition of Melvins album-enders, the latter practically sounding like a chaotic Khanate on a ketamine bender. Or Wildildlife...
So, sometimes it almost sounds like this is a uber-produced Ozzy or Alice Cooper album from the '80s or '90s that's been taken over by the real inmates of one of the padded cell insane asylums that those two cartoon characters always were checking into/outof (on the album covers anyway, rehabs in real life), hard rock pop that's been utterly warped and weirded out...
Maybe it's just as well that Melvins never got as huge as pals Nirvana during the Grunge years. They had a major label dalliance, yes, but survived it, and are still with us to crank out what's simply the classic rock of our generation (with a heavy dose of weirdness). Nude With Boots makes you remember, oh yeah, ROCK MUSIC. We love rock music. Damn, it's good. We've been really into the rejuvenated Harvey Milk lately, a Melvinsy band for sure, but you've gotta give it up to the originals, the one and only Melvins. All hail.
Man, this issue of Mojo is just screaming, buy me, buy me! A bright red cover featuring the Kraftwerk, complete with bonus cd compilation of Kraftwerk inspired/related music from OMD, Tangerine Dream, LCD Soundsystem, Ultravox, M83, Jean Michel Jarre, Hot Chip, Four Tet, Komputer, The Orb, Kraftwerk themselves, and others! Inside, there's an exclusive 13 page interview with the robotic German geniuses. Plus: AC/DC! Big Star! Yoko Ono! A secret history of grunge! And plenty more. Always a great read.
Something happened to Morrissey when he moved to Los Angeles. It allowed him a new beginning of sorts. For the first time in his career he had dropped out of the limelight, he went almost seven years without releasing a record and for the first time since the beginning of The Smiths he really became a true underdog, and cult figure, gaining a revival of fans who maybe weren't around for the first, Smiths wave of Morrissey mania. When he finally returned with a new record, 2004's You Are The Quarry it really did feel like the triumphant second act to an already dramatic and amazing career. His two records since then have maintained that momentum and Swords collects many of the B-sides and non-album tracks from this era.
Many of us who are Morrissey fanatics had grabbed some of the import 7"s that some of these songs come from, which are arguably as strong as any of his album tracks. There's also tons on tracks, not even the most tenacious fans around here were ever able to get their hands on, and all of it has the urgent punch and full sound that his defined his music over the last few albums, which rank up there with some of his best stuff. So many others who once possessed such golden voices really lose it as they grow older, but it's remarkable how intact and spot on Morrissey's vocal delivery has remained. And his songwriting remains utterly clever, strong minded, emotional, political, self deprecating and moving. We really can't think of any of his peers from those early '80s days who have remained so vital in creating great music all these years later.
Natural Yogurt Band??? So many associations come to mind of what kind of band would name themselves that, but without hearing them, you probably wouldn't guess right off jazz, funk or soul. Or if you did, you might think they were of a hippie jam band mentality and not this amazingly tight British jazz combo mining the sounds of late sixties Verve label cool jazz stalwarts like Cal Tjader, Lalo Schifrin, Gary McFarland, and Jimmy Smith. Rife with psychedelic flutes, vibes and organs, Away With Melancholy takes us through a vibrant cinematic sound world propelled by funky Latin rhythms and kaleidescopic compositions. The band isn't merely aping their influences, but extracting their key ingredients and repurposing them into something modern. El Michaels Affair and Clutchy Hopkins may be covering similar territory, but not nearly with the amazing aplomb and spot-on musicianship these guys have. And if you like those groups, the artists mentioned above, that Spiritual Jazz compilation we reviewed a while back, or anything on the Stones Throw label, you should definitely check this out! And, by the way, we've got to say something about the packaging, the metallic silver gatefold mini-LP style sleeve that this cd comes in is eye-catchingly gorgeous, adorned with delicate purple op-art spirals. We had people asking about it in the store just 'cause of the cover! Nice job, Jazzman.
No Age have always lovingly worn their influences (and their hearts) right there on their sleeves for all to see, and of those influences, we can't think of a band who has shaped No Age's sound more than Husker Du, so it was perfect that at a recent appearance here in San Francisco No Age were joined by Bob Mould during their encore to perform "New Day Rising"!
No Age's love of Husker Du continues to shine as this new 12" finds them balancing their washed out and more atmospheric tendencies along side all out HD-like burners, especially the record's standout closer "You're A Target". No Age are one of the few super hyped bands that truly deserve their success and popularity, breathing new life into a punk aesthetic and infusing their noisy chaotic rock with more atmospheric shoegaze-y elements. It's not surprising how many bands have formed in just the last couple of years who have been clearly influenced by No Age.
As always the packaging and art are totally great, and while this won't be coming out on cd, the record does come with a digital download.
Awesome archival release from one of the most referenced bands on this here aQ list. Whenever we need to describe something abstract and clattery, stumbly and mysterious, percussive and otherworldly, rhythmic and fractured and psychedelic, we'll often invoke this long standing New York based free form sonic institution. And this disc is a definite reminder of why we were so immediately taken with this band when we first heard them close to 15 years ago.
Languid Red Marchetti was recorded in 1994, close to the birth of the band, and features a stripped down quartet, and the sound is raw, feral, super abstract, very percussive and atmospheric, all clang and clatter and scrape, buzz and rumble and skree, a cacophonous exploration of time and space, what sounds like disparate bursts of crunch and creak, woven into an almost lyrical expanse of sound. Sometimes hushed and sinister, other times angular and primitive, the record ebbs and flows, drifts gorgeously between two extremes, spending most if its time right in between, a lush jagged world of rhythm and sound, noise and texture.
Any one into NNBB will definitely be all over this, especially if you miss the No Neck of old, performing in squats, with busted up old gear, wrapped in old blankets, wreathed in shadows, dimly lit spaces, magical mystery conjured from the ether, every performance some sort of alchemical ritual, some ancient rite, like something you might stumble on in the forest, an ages old musical communion with nature, or the spirits, or the darkside, an abstract avant improv filtered through some grimy, fractured junkyard punk rock, totally transcendent.
A bit pricey, but NNCK records are almost more art than sound, as much visual and tactile as sonic, Languid Red Marchetti is no different. limited to just over 300 copies, housed in a printed full color inner sleeve, a gorgeous full color spot varnished jacket, includes a thick paper insert with some truly dense liner notes.
Short and sweet. This 24 minute piece from London's obscurant drone duo Nos Phillipe (aka Jonathan Webb and Robert Hopps) is pretty damn good, having been culled from field recordings, guitar, turntable, and lots of electronics. Elongated tones brightly shine with the sheen of a chrome surface being struck by rakish streaks from the sun, countered by a fluctuating low-end rumble, locating the work somewhere near the early constructions of Jonathan Coleclough. Aerated rotations, which could be field recordings of wind billowing over a pipe or maybe that's the sound of the turntable heavily compressed, transitions these earlier drones into a bending chorus somewhere between Tibetan horn bleats, an Amazonian insect chorus, and the blurred distortion of Birchville Cat Motel. These sounds buzz, hum, swarm, and shift into a time-stretched growl of low-end drones which leads the piece to a gradual conclusion. Pretty damn good...
We really couldn't resist the charm of the first two Nouevelle Vague records. Filled with covers of so many post-punk favorites all done in the groop's smooth and sultry samba soaked style. But on this latest record, any sense of their own unique take or interpretation of songs seems to have been lost and thus, the whole thing just falls pretty flat and sounds lifeless to our ears. Not sure if the world needed any more covers of the Violent Femmes "Blister In The Sun" and maybe it's time for Nouvelle Vague to listen to a Smiths song they haven't covered yet:"That Jokes Not Funny Anymore". 'Cause this time out everything feels so phoned in and lacking any true excitement or creativity...we really ain't feeling this one.
Remember our review not long ago praising the spaced out heaviness of Utah's Iota? We mentioned how we've learned now to pay attention to the label they're on, Small Stone, for such heavy psychedelic gems. Here's another, Obiat! Small Stone are ostensibly a "stoner rock" label, but this London based band (with members from England, Poland, and Hungary), while certainly quite HEAVY and also certainly sometimes spacey, perhaps belong more in the "Neur-Isis" metalcore post rock fold, they've got those post rock loud-soft dynamics anyway... Well, mostly loud, though the six-minute "Passive Attack" is all delicate atmosphere. Vocally, though, they remind us more of doomlords Yob, soaring Ozzishly in a higher pitched mode with what we could call "dark grunge" overtones (we see both Alice In Chains and Jesus Lizard t-shirts in the band photos). In fact, if you were to combine Yob with Iota and also, say, Samothrace, you'd get something like this awesome and oddly titled Obiat album, their third since 2002 though we've never seen the other self-released ones. Gotta start looking.
The seven songs here are all pretty long, 5, 6, 9 minutes, they stretch things out to 12 on the most epic one, "Serpents' Rites". And every minute is either crushingly heavy or quietly fraught with haunting portents of impending doooooom. We most definitely like. Chalk another one up for Small Stone, who went out a bit further on the stoner rock limb with this one, to where it branches into international alt-prog-ambient-post-rock not quite like anything else.
Oceans Of Silver And Blood is an awesomely unexpected collaboration between Joachim Nordwall and Mark Wastell. The Swedish half (i.e. Nordwall) is one of the members of The Skull Defekts and the Alvars Orchestra; he also runs the exceptional label Ideal Recordings. The Englishman (Wastell) is a preeminent improviser of longform tones and disgorged acoustic drones; and he runs the highly impressive Sound 323 shop / label out of London. With Nordwall on a modular synth and Wastell on his 32" gong (I guess it's technically a tam-tam), the two broadcast sheets of heavy, heavy deep-wave minimalism. At first, Nordwall's synth produces an ominous throb of dark oscillating electrical pulses, matched with thrumbing acoustic drones from that massive gong of Wastell. Their trajectory glides into a hushed din echoing with Wastell's slow and rhythmic chiming of his gong, but gradually they couple the paranoiac sound design of analogue synthesis with the reflective, yet dark shimmer of the gong. When Wastell drops what seems to be a small motor onto the surface of his gong, the darkened drone explodes with an metallic squeal. Imagine the Jean-Francois Laporte vibration studies of what we thought to be a Zamboni remixed by Deathprod. Great stuff and limited to 200 copies!
You know the drill by now. Dwyer and company kick up some fuzzy, distorted lo-fi sixties pop infused garage rock that totally rocks. Crunchy, distorted, fuzzy, groovy, doused in reverb and delay, the vocals a distorted yelp, the guitars all jangly, this time around there's even some harmonica, stomping and hooky and kick ass. That's just the A side. The flipside just might be one of our favorite Oh Sees jams yet, all brooding and power poppy, reminding us of the Wipers, but with strange bloopy keyboards, and a weary washed out minor key vibe, so super catchy, we find ourselves humming it through the days, and running to the front of the store when it gets played. Awesome.
Insanely limited, to only 638 copies, we got about 50, which is probably all we'll ever get. Hand screened covers, in all sorts of different colors and variations, same with the vinyl, white, black, pink, blue, green, and all sorts of marbled in betweens, it's random though so don't ask, you'll get what you get, and it will be cool. Includes an insert with original Dwyer art and of course each one is hand numbered!
Oh, OOIOO! No one makes spazzed out splashes of sonic color with more energy and spirit than you. While Yoshimi will always be best known for being a member of The Boredoms and the inspiration for a Flaming Lips album (Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots) we think her output with her band OOIOO over the years definitely stands on its own. Able to meld psychedelia into an infectious and dizzying pulsation of sound, OOIOO give us more of what we love with Armonico Hewa, which sonically falls somewhere between the circular and lysergic sounds of our favorite OOIOO record Gold & Green and the more tribal and repetitive groove of their last outing, Taiga.
So many folks have taken ingredients from OOIOO and gotten lots of mileage and attention out of it, for instance, we can't help but think that Gang Gang Dance owe much of their sound and visual aesthetic to OOIOO. Herky, jerky and no-wave, rich with the spirit and energy of vintage Plastic Ono Band. Folks who love OOIOO and Yoshimi will of course love this to death, but we also think this will totally hit the spot for Boredoms fans who miss the varied sound of records like Super AE. Also, be sure to see OOIOO live if they come anywhere close to you as they are for sure one of our favorite live bands around.
If you're looking to get to dreamboat island there really is no better way than to go with the Pastels & Tenniscoats as your dreamy and breezy ship captains. We're not sure how Glasgow legends Pastels and Tokyo's Tenniscoats linked up but it makes complete perfect sense as they each have perfected soft and soothing twee escapades like no one else. Pastels have been around the block, beginning in the 1980's where they helped usher in a new refreshing sound that would influence folks across the globe and plant the seeds for labels like K records. Tenniscoats have been around for the last few years and ever since we heard their pastoral and blissful take on hushed pop we became big fans. Our love of them only increased when their singer Saya performed at an instore here at AQ with Satomi of Deerhoof in their side project OneOne. This is truly a collaborative effort with members from both bands playing on every track and vocals trade off quite nicely and equally between each group, but all together the sounds of each band mesh with each other so well and with such ease that nothing feels forced about the combination of these two groups. So perfect that the artwork inside features a picture of the groups together sitting on such lush green grass, as we always want to be laying in some scenic peaceful park starring into the sky when we hear the dreamy sounds these groups create. Dreamboat island, we have arrived!
Killer combo for sure, blissed out doom metal shoegaze duo Nadja, and sort-of-black-metal Hydra Head weirdos Pyramids, we weren't sure what to expect, heavy? Spacey? Trippy? Would it be more Nadja? Or more Pyramids? Having listened to this a bunch now, we can safely say, we have no idea.
There are definitely elements from both bands, but the two entities seem to have merged into something wholly new. Which seems ideal, why bother starting a new band just to sound like your old band. Four long tracks, each one a slow burning, gradually sprawling experiment in blown out sound, the opener definitely more toward the blissed out and ambient side of things, with ethereal vocals, huge sweeping sheets of shimmer, sun dappled and psychedelic, until three quarters of the way through, when the team up gets HEAVY, and suddenly we're in Nadja territory, a slow billowy lumber than pushes all out Jesu buttons, the vocals buried beneath an avalanche of swirling buzzing sound.
The second track starts off a bit more aggressively, with some crunchy FX laden guitars, only to drift off, the sound thickening, some skittery rhythmic splatter, some keening melodies, moody and ephemeral, the beats get a bit more caustic, almost jungly, super clipped and jagged, while underneath the soft sounds continue to swirl, and then vocals, LOUD vocals, way up in the mix, total keening indie boy croon, dreamy and heartfelt, before a big heaving swell of low end, and then a gradual drift to silence.
The 22 minute "Sound Of Ice And Grass" seems to be the centerpiece of the record, beginning with delicate piano, deep rumbles, ghostly vox, and swooping backwards effects. Dark and hushed, until those vocals return, sounding more choral this time, and laid over big distorted doomy guitars, reverb and delay pushing everything closer to chaos, before a blast beat erupts, but way down in the mix, the rest of the song continues to plod and drift, the vocals soft, the ambience muted and minimal, while the drums thrash wildly beneath, a strange juxtaposition, but cool sounding for sure. The second half of the song is a series of string laden, effects drenched chordal swells, and fractured melodies, gauzy vox, and all manner of buzz and crackle and whir, eventually building to a wall of grey sound.
The record closes with what sounds to these ears the most like a distillation of the two bands' sounds, beginning with layered melodies, Animal Collective like vocals, layered drones, downtuned guitar buzz, thick slabs of rumbling riffage, and some blasting metallic drum action, again muted and washed out until it's almost textural more than rhythmic, but the stretch with the bast beats is divine, dreamy, ethereal and gorgeous, eventually exploding into a full on Nadja+Pyramids drone / shoegaze / post metal / dream pop blow out. Cool!
Gorgeous packaging too, a min lp style gatefold sleeve, adorned with lush landscapes of trees and forest and streams on the outside, a strange drawing of trees and an owl on the inside, with a printed full color booklet featuring more abstract foliage.
Record number two from this mysterious metallic math rock band. Reflector's first record Flugangst was a surprise hit around here, a crunching math metal juggernaut, perpetrated by the now ubiquitous guitar/drums/no bass lineup, but Reflector certainly didn't suffer for it. Heavy and complex and brooding and massive, with plenty of doomy slow core bits and shimmery drone-y drifts.
If anything, Pass takes everything we liked about Flugangst and cranks it up, the sound is incredible, lush and thick and expansive, REALLY hard to believe they're a bass-less two piece here, the guitars are hard and dense and chuggy, the drums crushing, the two locked into killer grooves, Neurosis like lumbering plod one second, super tangled post rock weirdness the next, even some slow motion Slayer riffing here and there.
It's criminal these guys aren't huge, they should be touring with Mastodon and Baroness and all those low slung bearded sludgelords, but this ain't sludge (although they are perfectly capable of getting plenty sludge-y!), this is almost some sort of pop infused downtuned metal, shot through with plenty of post rock mathisms, strange textures, catchy melodies, and riffs that KILL.
We don't have a whole lot of these, so if we run out be patient, we have to get more from overseas, but hell, anyone into slow and low heaviness, or the new breed of post / math / metal / gaze / whatever, these guys could very well be your new favorite band.
It seems with early seventies metaphysical songstress, Collie Ryan, you either get a little or a lot. We first heard her amazing track, "Cricket" on the Numero Group's great Wayfaring Strangers: Ladies of The Canyon compilation. Then at the beginning of the year, we were treated to a vinyl only best of compilation called The Hour Is Now. But now we have the completists dream come true of all three of her self-released records from 1973 (Indian Harvest, The Giving Tree, and Taking Your Turn 'Round The Corner Of Your Day) available on a 3cd set released on compact disc for the first time. 41 songs, phew!!!
Ryan recorded these songs (as well as making the paintings that grace her albums) as a means to further her spiritual investigations as a student of Theosophy. With just her voice, her unique guitar style and some cushioning reverb, Ryan's songbird voice soars through the heavens singing about mystical connections to nature, cycles of change, and thresholds of light. She only recorded these three records before going off the grid and painting hubcaps in the desert for a living. Though she can be compared to Joan Baez, Linda Perhacs and Elyse, Collie Ryan was really out doing her own thing unfettered by musical trends of the time. Three cds may be a lot to take in all at once, but such visionary singers come around so rarely that it's a truly a transcendent experience to be completely absorbed in her blissful cosmology.
If we picked our Records Of The Week based on how likely they were to inspire massive bouts of head banging and air guitaring (and come to think of it, why the heck don't we?) then this new album from San Francisco's Saviours would easily be the Record Of The Week this week. And maybe next week too, and again and again for some weeks to come, since we don't know who'd want to mess with 'em, they might be tough to dethrone. Do you feel lucky, punk? they'd be asking all future pretenders to Record Of The Week status. Seriously, maybe the only reason we just made this a highlight on our list instead is that while Saviours are so good at what they do, what they do is perhaps a bit more circumscribed than the sort of metal we would make a Record Of The Week (such as the more eccentric likes of The Lord Weird Slough Feg's Ape Uprising a while back... though we'd definitely imagine any fan of that band would dig a lot of what's happenin' on this Saviours platter). But if you're in the mood for ragin' METAL and nothin' but, have we got a record for you!
Saviours, whom most metal inclined AQ customers already know we hope, are punkish proponents of adrenaline fuelled, NWOBHM lovin', thrash infected, uber metal up your ass gallop. Punkish maybe only 'cause they ooze attitude, also in part from the hoarse and shouty nature of the vocals (which we dig more on this album than in the past it must be said). As we have come to expect, then, Accelerated Living is in large part the sound of triumphant twin axes rampaging together, wet and red with poseurs' blood, lashing out left and right with slash and burn soloing. There's of course plenty of crushing low end heaviness and dominating battery propelling things along at a breakneck pace. But number one in our book are the guitars, dealing out heroic harmonies and rambunctious riffery. Oh yeah, this has got riffs, good ones. Riffs piling upon riffs. As much as we liked the Skeletonwitch album reviewed last time, THIS is way catchier and more memorable (maybe 'cause it lacks the more modern and monotonous black/death aspect, going only for the thrash/punk and trad '80s metal thing). We're even ready to sing along with the vocals, dammit! This is the type of album where it's tough to pick which tracks to make sound samples of for our review, 'cause they're almost all standouts. We kept thinking, ok, this one, then we'd listen to the next track, and be like, this one too, and on and on through the record. Of course, in the end that meant we could pick any 3 random tracks to sample and that'd be fine, let's just that sample making out of the way so we can put the album on again from the beginning, loud, and bang our heads!!
Our appetite for this rad, rippin' release was whetted by the limited edition trilogy of 7"s that preceded it, featuring spirited covers of Saxon and Judas Priest as well as demo versions of some of Accelerated Living's songs. They sound even better here, the album produced by Phil Manley (of Trans Am, The Fucking Champs, etc.). Recommended, if you couldn't tell.
FYI vinyl of this is forthcoming, not out yet though, we should have the LP version later in November.
Ah, Miasmah! After the likes of Elegi, Jacazek, and Kreng, we're pretty much automatically interested in any new release on Norway's Miasmah label. Like this one. Add in some bits of trivia, like that Scott was once the drummer for shoegazers Slowdive, and that this disc features a guest cameo from another Miasmah artist we love, Jasper TX, and we're already pretty intrigued. We also weren't at all surprised, but certainly pleased, by the gentle swells of ambient sonics that seep sleepily from the speakers when one hits play. The first two tracks, "Introduction Of Cambridge" and "Under Crumbling Skies", are blissfully replete with quiet hum and shimmering textures, forming into and out of drifting diaphanous melodies, blurry and melancholic. Some sparse, slowed down drum skitter adds a touch of Bohren to the proceedings in the first track, while the second employs a glorious chorus of angelic drones, that graces one's ears again and again throughout the disc.
Then, suddenly upping the volume, the third track "Flood Inn" seemingly enters into a subterranean realm full of soft fuzzy distortion. Quasi-industrially rhythmic, with a distant tolling bell heard amidst the crackle, this is ambience of the heavier (but not harsh) variety, almost like something from a Nadja or Jesu album.
Having given warning of a more sinister side, the disc continues on, with seven tracks more, being a beautiful blend of dreaminess, drone and distortion. There are almost pop songs hidden here, with buried rhythms and barely-there vocals (in one instance contributed by 12K's Sanae Yamasaki, aka Moskitoo), electronic treatments rendering the sound sources (guitar, sitar, violin, cello, flute, field recordings, voice, ???) all one lush, hushed, beautifully bleary, gorgeous warm bath of song-like drone...
It's a moodier, shoegazier take on Pop Ambient perhaps, certainly something that fans of Tim Hecker, Fennesz, Final, Jasper TX, and of course those other Miasmah wonders should check out!
We first got a teaser for this long promised full length matchup way back in 2002 on the Spectre record Parts Unknown, which featured super stoned rapper Sensational on 4 tracks, and it was solid gold, Spectre's creepy ominous dubscapes, and Sensational's mushmouthed mumble, twisted, druggy, off kilter and so good.
So who should come by Aquarius just now, but Spectre himself, dropping off this latest disc, a full length showdown / match up / tag team, and it's just as good as those 4 tracks from way back when. Seems like Spectre has dialed back the sinister, instead crafting some very Sensational appropriate tracks, loopy and loping, twisted and stuttery, muted and abstract, clipped and cracking, the perfect bed for Sensational to lay down his drugged out stream of consciousness fffffflow, woozy, warped and warbly, strings sing, horns bleat, a skeletal beat skitters, weaving an almost Hitchcock sounding backdrop for some drawled genius. Slowed down vocals, demonic and growly (remember those from Spectre records?) ooze over some crunchy stabs and some hiccupping beats, lazer fire from some sci-fi movie wraps around a hazy Wu-worthy should sample, looped Led Zep gives way to pizzicatto strings and looped birdsong, Spectre has always been a beat master, and this disc proves he's only gotten better, how come he's not doing beats for the big guys, if we were Kanye or Jay-Z or 50 Cent and heard this shit, we'd get Spectre up to the compound and get him crafting beats PRONTO. And along those same lines, why does everyone want T-Pain and Lil' Wayne to guest on their records? Hell, can you imagine some MTV hip hop jam breaking down into a cough syrup trudge and Sensational strolling out rapping some unintelligable weirdness into a pair of headphones? If only...
For the dubstep obsessed among us, especially those of us who aren't scouring DJ shops for white labels and limited 12"s, this collection is a godsend. Gathering up, as the title suggests, 3 eps from one of our favorite dubsteppers, Shackleton, who faithful aQ-ers probably remember from the Skull Disco collections, the Steppas' Delight comps and the recent split with Mordant Music. The music of Shackleton is not just your regular old dubstep, it's super lush and expansive, skittery and groovy, dark and haunting, and these jams are no different.
Spare and skeletal, yet impossibly full and dense, minimal on the melodies as well as the beats, these eps are super stripped down, even by Shackleton standards, these tracks are not as bass heavy as you might imagine, more light and ethereal, not light in spirit, but in sound, the vibe is still dark and mysterious.
The strange vocal snippets in "(No More) Negative Thoughts", the twisted woozy melodies and stuttery hand claps on "It's Time For Love", the cool tabla laced drift of "Mountains Of Ashes", the super dark and noisy droniness of "There's A Slow Train Coming", which is about as sinister as it gets here, the record is jam packed with cool stark beats, and all sorts of moody melody and bleak ambience, culminating in the closer "Something Has Got To Give", with it's chopped up vox, creepy processed laughter, koto style strings, shimmering minor key drones and the brittle barely there beat, it's almost like a dubstep soundtrack for a lost giallo, malevolent and cinematic and seriously sinister!
Can you handle some noize? The French trio Sister Iodine have apparently been around in the underground for some years now. Jim here recalls that their early stuff was more akin to no-wave, angular rock music (and was quite curious about them having a disc out on Mego). The rest of us here hadn't heard 'em before... but really dig this, which is definitely much more in the noiserock vein of, say, Wolf Eyes, than DNA-ish no-wave. Yep, noiserock a la Wolf Eyes, Shit & Shine, Cadaver In Drag, Hair Police, heck even Hijokaidan. Total distortion overload, the very first track coming off like an exploding minefield of noise, shit blowing up all around. But at the same time, it's not JUST noise, there's enough rhythmic structure to qualify this as rock music, made with guitar, drums, Korg PS3010 synth, and little regard for common standards of musical practice, like, say, melody, or even, really, riffs. Instead these 12 "songs" are all about interesting varieties of throb and rumble, flangey FX and feedback. Further keeping us entranced are the ponderously heavy drum hits, making things almost Khanate-like in parts, run through some sort of monster Merzbowian filter, as on the slumping slomping sizzling trudge of "Terminal Pain".
It's all instrumental (or at least, we can't HEAR any human vocals amidst everything else) but the song titles perhaps give some sense of Sister Iodine's mood: "Lava Junkie", "Black Trauma Delice", "Napalmee", "You Burned", etc. are all in keeping with their general sonic demeanor. Yeah, kind of a negative vibe, yet paradoxically gleeful as the cathartic impact of noisemaking with such abandon takes effect as well. This is the type of noise rock action we find most satisfying, and it even works at low volumes, as gritty textural drone, but turn it up (if you dare) to be fully cleansed in the controlled crinkum-crankum chaos of their howling rocket launching saucer landing skree!
This album was originally released a while ago on vinyl (limited and long gone presumably), and is now reissued on cd with 2 bonus tracks by Editions Mego, in nice, slightly oversized folder packaging like they like to do. Limited to 500 copies, and quite recommended.
One of TWO new double lp releases from Humboldt's Starving Weirdos, the other, a killer reissue of the long out of print Self-Hypnosis, with a whole extra side of unreleased material tacked on, and this one right here, Path Of Lightning, which as far as we can tell, is a brand new record, or at least one we've never heard before.
Sonically though it definitely sounds more like recent SW outings. Less bombastic and pipe fight-y, more drone-y and shimmery, treading a similar sonic path as their free noise compatriots in No Neck Blues Band and Sunburned Hand Of The Man. On Path Of Lightning, the band seemed to have abandoned rhythms, or at least relegated it to the background, more an occasional pulse or stutter, than anything, snippets of voices surface here and there, intercepted transmissions, streaks of ethereal feedback, deep ominous rumbles, shimmery expanses of hushed minimal drift, haunting and lovely, any noisiness is muted, smoothed out into blurs of soft noise texture.
Four side long tracks, by side three, there does seem to be a drummer in the mix, but he doesn't seem to be drumming as much as using his kit the way the other two guys in SW approach their guitars, as a soundmaking tool, subverted from its original purpose. The drumming here is more an occasional skitter, a shuffly scrabble way off in the background, while the Weirdos weave a haunting gauzy sprawling dronescape, that sounds like it could be some Jeck turntable piece, all warbly and warped and looped sounding.
The final side is yet another extended bit of murky drift, muddied percussion floats on layers of ethereal guitar, and woozy tangled melodies, a black ambient buzz that seems to be draped over something more music, shadows and shapes of whatever melody lurks below, barely visible through the softly undulating murk, all wrapped in a patina of ephemeral distant high end shimmer and buzz. So awesome.
Like the Self-Hypnosis record, Path of Lightning is pressed on ultra thick vinyl, and comes in a super heavy gatefold sleeve, and has some of the most eye poppingly sci-fi artwork ever, a topless warrior babe with a machine gun riding a giant spider! Hell yeah! LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!
Hard to believe it was only a matter of months ago when two guys from Humboldt sent Andee a stack of 15 full length cd-r's. All mysteriously packaged, with bizarre collage art, strange song titles, and music that was stranger still. We went apeshit and insisted they make us a sort of best of disc, which they did and we sold about a million (we still have a bunch in stock too!). Word spread and now the Starving Weirdos are like a real band, with releases coming out all over the place, including a recent one on Root Strata, and this here gem on the Yellow Swans' Jyrk label. They were even in the latest issue of Vice Magazine!! Thankfully all of this hasn't gone to their heads and this blast of murky free psych weirdness is just as fucked up, demented and downright beautiful as anything else we've heard from them. Huge spacious recordings of Dead C like clatter, cavernous swells of haunting ambience, like exploring some lost sewer system that leads right to the center of the earth. Clatter and clang, percussive splatter drenched in natural reverb, like some sort of silverware war in an abandoned cistern. Free jazz played on scrap metal in a cave. Cool and creepy.
The second lengthy track introduces sax, but not in that annnoying sax-ruins-everything sort of way. No, this is more of a deep listening sort of sax, long foghorn like blasts, rumbling and reverberating, drifting into the reverby distance, a slow low meditative series of short rich drones, the whole thing a barely recognized melody stretched into it's constituent parts. A foghorn symphony played on duck calls and broken reeded bagpipes. The final 15 minute epic is a return to the metallic clang of track one. A pipe fight to the death, taking place at the bottom of a black pit, walled with stone and the crushed skulls of past pipefighters, between Z'ev and David Jackman, each hurling broken cymbals, warped gongs, bent cutlery and assorted car parts at each other, while in the background a mad scientist boils up an unspeakable brew of warm wheezing guitars and gurgling electronic drones, each and every sound wrapped in a thick smear of reverb, drizzled with delay, and sent drifting back to the surface where they were recorded onto a wax cylinder. Fucking awesome!
Hand screened cardboard sleeve, photcopied insert. Limited to 200 copies!
Sufjan Stevens fans, last we heard from the gent was his Songs For Christmas back in 2006, but he hasn't been sitting idly by. We've just received a double whammy of proof! Yup, you've got two reasons to rejoice... well, maybe three even if you're counting actual discs of aural and visual enjoyment. There's his collaboration with the Osso String Quartet titled Run Rabbit Run, as well as this mind-boggling dvd/cd set in homage and examination of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway! Huh? What's that?!? Yeah, you heard us correctly. All signs point to Mr. Stevens throwing us another curve ball, and indeed he has. Mind you, there was some prompting from The Brooklyn Academy of Music who commissioned him to create a film and music stage production about the BQE. Although the film does address some weighty sociopolitical implications (think: a sort of mini lo-fi Koyaanisqatsi), somewhere along the way the project itself mushroomed to incorporate hula-hoops, comic books and extraterrestrial superheroes. The dvd features the original film from (not of) the performance, and the cd features the impressive orchestral soundtrack. Plus, there's a hefty eye-popping 40-page insert booklet and a charming stereoscopic image reel too (y'all are gonna need to dust off your old Viewmasters for that one!). Expansive and ambitious, it's really quite overwhelming actually!
Sufjan Stevens fans, last we heard from the gent was his Songs For Christmas back in 2006, but he hasn't been sitting idly by. We've just received a double whammy of proof! Yup, you've got two reasons to rejoice... well, maybe three even if you're counting actual discs of aural and visual enjoyment. There's his mind-boggling film and music dvd/cd set in homage of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, as well as this his latest cd Run Rabbit Run! You might recall his second album, 2001's Chinese Zodiac themed Enjoy Your Rabbit which stood in stark head-scratching contrast to his other musical output up to that point. It was filled with shimmery electronic instrumentals as opposed to mellow folksy acoustic balladeering. Well, he's taken the 'Rabbit into new territory again, transforming it into chamber compositions for New York string quartet Osso. They bear little resemblance to the originals, but they are all plucky stringed and gorgeous in their own way. We took a particular liking to "Year Of The Monkey" and "Year Of The Horse". How 'bout you? What's your sign, baby? Haha, wonder if we'll be hearing a dub or metal version in a few years!
The boys in Stirling Says have really beefed up their sound and cranked the amps and feedback since we last heard from them on their split 7" with Katie The Pest. And we think this added punch serves them so well! Balboa has such an awesomely raw and free wheeling guitar driven sound, reminding us of that awesome intersection of the late '80s SST scene (Dinosaur Jr, Leaving Trains, Screaming Trees, Das Damen) and the early beginnings of the Sub Pop roster (Eric's Trip, Seaweed, Sebadoh) and that sound is so totally refreshing right now! So much of the recent output of guitar driven rock seems to be so centered on its lo-fi/outsider aesthetic, we've been missing what it feels like to just have a great short two minute song hit you in the gut with a wall of guitars and soaring vocals. This is the kind of record perfect for roadtrips as the songs on Balboa really do flow with a never-ending summer charm.
As we were waiting patiently for the new Striborg full length, Southwest Passage, we discovered ANOTHER new Striborg release, a split with a band called Claustrophobia, released on Sin Nanna of Striborg's own label Finsternis Productions, so we contacted Sin Nanna directly (the reports of his reclusiveness, living in a shack with no telephone or computer, turned out to be greatly exaggerated!) and ordered a bunch, and we're happy to report that the new Striborg material is as twisted and blackly brilliant as always.
Just when you thought Striborg couldn't get any more buzzy and fuzz drenched, along comes "Psychic Visions", a 12 minute dirge, buried completely under a sheet of hiss and whir, but where this track is different is the gorgeously creepy keyboard textures laid over the top, giving the whole track a ghostly, weirdly melodic, strangely lovely quality. Sure the drums are minimal and the vocals are an indecipherable growl, and the guitars, well, if they were riffs, they've been blurred and smeared into thick streaks of warm muted buzz, but once the whole track is wreathed in that looping shimmering ghostlike keyboard ambience, it becomes this blackened beautiful thing. The drums shift gear and the keyboards follow, the entire song seems to waver in communion, before slipping back into the initial opening dirge.
After a brief instrumental drone interlude, Sin Nanna offers up another bizarre blast, the drums WAY up in the mix this time, the same sheet of hiss, and again the whirling ghostly keyboards, but this time, the sound is much more atonal, tense and jagged, an almost suspense full horror movie feel, a strange but sonically sound balance for the strange beauty of the first track.
Sin Nanna seems to have found a kindred spirit in a person called Raped Corpse, who is behind the band Claustrophobia. From China we think, regardless, the two groups definitely share sonic sensibilities, the same hiss/fuzz drenched ambience, stumbling drumming, anguished vocals, strange keyboards, the tracks play out the same almost, long song, short interlude, slightly less long song. But Claustrophobia's opener is much more rocking, with some wild chaotic drumming, and over the top keyboards, LOUD drums, the second track, the nearly nine minute closer is a doozy, almost like a grim blackened Goblin, so creepy and emotional and moody and haunting, the melodies minor key, the keyboards evoking such dread, definitely want to hear more from this guy.
If you're in the market for some mysterious and creepy, buzz drenched melancholic blackness, both Striborg and Claustrophobia should do it for you.
Now, can't wait for Southwest Passage...
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES! Each one hand numbered...
Wow, we're getting old. Our favorite Norwegian electronic/jazz/WTF improvising unit, Supersilent, are already up to number 9 in their discography! Almost into double digits. (Of course, that's not nearly as prolific as some bands, imagine if Circle, Nadja, or good grief Acid Mothers Temple numbered their releases. you'd never be able to recall which one was which, that's for sure. But, hey, you would at least know what order they came in... c'mon AMT fans, do you remember if Ominous From The Cosmic Inferno predated Iao Chant From The Cosmic Inferno, or maybe it was Journey Into The Cosmic Inferno that came first? And where do Demons From Nipples and Crystal Rainbow Pyramid Under The Stars fit in, chronologically? Not that you really need to know either. Ok, enough with that digression...)
So, what's Supersilent all about this time? As usual, the lack of titles and artwork don't give a lot to go on. The Kim Hiorthoy designed digipak is a bright sort of blue this time, for what that's worth (being about the only design decision Hiorthoy has to make for each otherwise identically generic looking Supersilent release, probably a lot of thought goes into the color choice). Well it turns out that Supersilent 9 is one of their more atmospheric, almost ambient efforts, with band member / producer Deathprod's aesthetic to the fore. There's four tracks, none of 'em short, ranging from 11:43, to the longest at 14:32... plenty of time for the listener to get lost in their carefully improvised, mostly quiet and slowly unfolding soundworlds... Arve Henriksen's breathy trumpet is ultra muted, really we're not sure if we are hearing it or not, and in terms of percussion, Supersilent 9 is entirely without the quirky rhythmic elements that characterized their chaotically skittery debut Supersilent 1-3 or the almost Autechre-ish glitchery of Supersilent 4. Instead, this, when rhythmic at all, evinces more of slow sawing whirr or thick throb, as on the droning and kinda doomy second track (the loudest one here as well), which pulses with shuddering distortion and has a bit of an atonal 20th century classical vibe to it. The tracks on Supersilent 9 are also more "of a piece", not as eclectic as on 6 or 8... There's certainly variation but it's constrained, the group taking a "less is more", minimalistic approach to this disc. The surprise vocals and psych-rock moves of Supersilent 8 are nowhere to be found this time 'round. Instead this hews closest to the glacial bliss of Supersilent 5, if we recall correctly, but in even more of an abstract manner. In parts, this comes quite close to literally living up to the band name. Dreamy and drifty, this is. And so very nice.
What we've since learned about the (even by Supersilent standards) unusual nature of this disc is that their drummer quit the band right before they recorded this... and the remaining three members all decided to play Hammond organ exclusively for this session! Not that you'd guess that's all you were hearing. Ultimately, another very satisfying release from this unique outfit! Leaving us curious about what direction they'll take in the future, when it's time for number 10.
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For many years now, Darren Tate has been content to issue micro-editions of his work, his earliest recordings with Andrew Chalk and Colin Potter as Ora almost always emerging as an edition of 50 copies or so on cd-r or cassette before warranting a larger pressing on vinyl or cd. Yet recently, the editions on his Fungal imprint have remained the tiny editions with little notion that any will resurface later. True, Tate's eccentric droning, autodidact guitarwork, and psychedelic electronics equate with far more difficult listening than the impressionist blurs of Ora's grand atmospheres; but the paucity of these releases (augmented by their peculiar nature) makes them treasures all the more.
Let's assume this album to be an exaggerated view of what Darren might be meditating upon when he stares out his window. While he's been known to incorporate field recordings from various sources into his work, the flutter of moth wings or the buzz of a wasp won't be found here. The insectoid repetition from the seasickly swooshing glissando that opens the album is the weird science mimesis you get instead; and from there, Tate presents an ever collapsing set of two note melodies (very much on the Giancarlo Toniutti / Maurizio Bianchi end of the hypno-melodic drone spectrum), flanging oscillations, spectral Tetuzi Akiyama style stabs at his guitar, and plenty of asynchronous tone clusters to hang in empty space.
Limited to 75 copies, and that's it!
We'd been hearing lots about this energetic San Francisco band but our ears had yet to be graced by them until now, and we like what we hear! Angular and melodic post-punk that's reminding us a lot of the crisp energy of the 90's D.C./Dischord scene (Jawbox, Q & Not U, Faraquet) as well as having some of the spunk and relentless uptempo demeanor as folks like Les Savy Fav, Black Eyes, or a less spazzy Mae Shi. We bet these guys are super fun to see live. The LP comes on clear vinyl with a coupon for a free digital download.
We were WAY skeptical of the claim that Tiger Throat sounded like "an Instrumental Bone Awl thrown into a blender with Mono and HEALTH", but it kind of really does, and even though such a description would piss off the misanthropic Bone Awl, we're pretty into it.
This are only three songs (even though there are 10 actual tracks, the rest are weird noisy interludes), but those 3 songs cram in a crazy amount of wild spastic drumming, frenetic buzzing riffage, and all manner of blown out glitch and skitter. The record opens with a soaring almost Cave-like fuzzy hypno krautrock workout, pounding and epic and melodic but still pretty raw and frenzied, until part way through the track crumbles, the song lurching through a field of downtuned guitar groan, grinding effects, backwards drumming, only to explode in an almost D-beat blast, while somehow remaining poppy as fuck, like a more fractured and melodic Ancestors? Whatever you compare these guys to, it works, the track winds down into something more slowcore and post rock, all loping drums and sprawling downtuned buzz. All kinds of sounds worm into the mix. And even though it thrashes pretty hard, it's also catchy and sort of fun. Plenty of weird electronic parts (the HEALTH influence) mixed with the aforementioned thrashy, punkish energy. Pretty unique in parts, pretty psychedelic and very melodic.
The second track is way more dirgey and doomy, but in a sort of spaced out post rock way, the guitar shimmering and ringing out, not really distorted, the drums WAY in the red, very practice space sounding, until the track shifts gears and the guitars explode, and vocals come in, super processed and warped, the whole track music and vocals seems to undulate and twist, like a sonic funhouse mirror, but it's also probably the blackest moment on the record, it goes on for a few minutes, but we were sort of wishing it would KEEP going. So rad.
The final track opens with a mathy manic start stop, you can hear a band member breathlessly counting it off in the background, the result is a lurching squelchy skronky no wave-ish electronic noise rock jam, that gets more and more dense and harsh as the track progresses, finally spilling into a rad hypnotic dirge, the guitars are all overblown while the drumming is teetering on the edge of distorting, the track winding up with a cool staccato grinding metallic outro.
Probably not metal enough for most metal heads, even with the Bone Awl / Ancestors references, it's obvious from the artwork and band name that the black metal influence, while definitely there, is more sort of abstract and just another part of the noise, that said, adventurous metalheads line up here, and for the rest of you, who dig noisy, hooky, electronic, metallic, psych rock weirdness, this is WAY recommended.
We've been digging this band for a while, but weirdly enough this is the first record of theirs we've reviewed. When we first heard about Toil, they were described to us as a band that sounded "exactly like the Cure, only with harsh black metal vocals," which sounded pretty good to us, gloomy gothic, new wave indie rock with black metal vocals? Awesome. And it was!
Things have changed a bit on Lullabies For Insects, the Cure vibe is still there (they do a Cure cover after all, more on that in a second), but the sound is more metal, more rocking, and if anything, Toil sound quite a bit like Lifelover, the same sort of strange juxtaposition of howling harsh vox and melodic almost indie sounding black metal. In fact, opener "Moth With Fractured Wings" is a dead ringer for Lifelover, which is not at all a bad thing, c'mon, there are a million bands who sound like Darkthrone, and more keep popping up every day, we're pretty psyched on all these bands exploring their poppier side.
After a cool 5 minute noisdrone piece, the band launch into a depressive dirge, that musically reminds us of Urfaust, or Hypothermia, lilting, loping, the vocals still frayed and maniacal, but the music, so warm and melodic, with some cool breaks with clean guitar and drums. And then finally, the Cure cover, a pretty straight version of "Love Song", except for the vocals, which are insanely over the top, a shrieky demonic falsetto, totally at odds with the music, which is what makes it so ridiculous and so awesome!
Cool packaging, one of those 3" cd's embedded in a normal cd sized plastic disc, with the artwork printed over the whole thing!
Jonny Trunk is a true tastemaker. With his Trunk label he has unearthed gems from the likes of Basil Kirchin, John Baker, Sven Libaek, Desmond Leslie, and more more more. His fine taste for rare soundtrack grooves and left of center electronics has always totally hit the spot for us here in AQ land. But with the release of Scrapbook, Trunk mixes it up and shifts into the role of musical creator instead of just music aficionado and the results are totally terrific.
If you've followed the releases on Trunk, his own musical stylings should make perfect sense as these are all instrumental jams and grooves that could be the sounds of some great lost library music collection. Short satisfying tracks filled with breaks you could totally imagine on a J Dilla or Madlib record. Trunk is extremely self deprecating in the funny liner notes and you can tell as someone who has released other people's exquisite music over the years he has been reluctant to release his own bedroom recordings from the last decade, and while we appreciate his humble and self-conscious musings they are so not necessary as Scrapbook more than holds its own, held up alongside any of the lost treasures he's helped shine a light on. We'll take Jonny Trunk's scraps anytime!
Doubtless many movie (and music) buffs would agree that Italian '70s and '80s "giallo" (horror/thriller) cinema, from directors like Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci, had soundtracks usually as evocative and inspirational as any visual aspect of the films, soundtracks which often stand as effective works of art all on their own. The scores by prog band Goblin being perhaps best known, influencing such modern day bands as Zombi and Crime In Choir. Now here's another, utterly blatant and most excellent example of Italian giallo soundtrack worship by a current artist: Umberto!
Umberto is actually a one-man band, that man being Matt Hill, live collaborator / touring member of AQ faves Expo '70! Under his guise of Umberto, he has just released his first album as limited edition cassette and cd-r on the Sonic Mediations label run by Expo '70 mainman Justin Wright. While Expo '70 has proven to be especially adept at channelling the heavy kosmiche bliss of prime '70s krautrock a la Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel, Umberto is equally savvy at conjuring the dark, suspenseful soundtrack-y sounds of Goblin and the like. With, some cosmic Klaus-y krauty-ness thrown in as well. This definitely sounds like it could be an actual soundtrack, in fact, someone should MAKE a film just to use this as a soundtrack. You can certainly do so in your imagination, aided perhaps by the cinematically suggestive track titles, which include "Running Blade", "Intermission", "Dream Sequence", "Shower Scene", and "End Credits" (the only track here with vocals, otherwise it's all instrumental... and the vocals on this last track are some sort of hard-to understand, chant-like invocation). Listen with the lights off for best results.
Umberto has a heavily synthesized sound, keyboards buzzing and droning and squelching, crunchily distorted or eerily ethereal, sounding at once like ominous Gothic organ music and also spacey futuristic electronica. Mechanical drumming plods along, propulsive beats adding to the menacing atmosphere. There's also plenty of fat disco synth-bass, and we bet folks into Italians Do It Better 12"s, or Black Devil Disco Club, or even skweee would get a kick out of this too, not just Goblin fanatics... but yeah Goblin fanatics (and John Carpenter and Zombi fans too) REALLY ought to check this out! Very cool, very creepy, and even at times kinda catchy-groovy.
We have been dying for this. A double disc collection, gathering up all the bad ass-est 12" sides from the last 5 years, released on the Hyperdub label, who have pretty much single handedly transformed dubstep into something more than just a beat and a bassline, so much so, it's not entirely accurate to call this a dubstep comp, sure a lot of this will push all your dubstep buttons, that beat, the fuzzy synth basslines, but so many of these songs use those elements as a jumping off point, taking THAT sound in a million different directions. Check the list of artists, and that alone should probably have most of you reaching for that click to buy button: Kode9 & The Spaceape, Darkstar, Zomby, Burial, Flying Lotus, Martyn, Joker, The Bug, and loads more.
But it's the sound, and the sounds happening on these 12"s, that have helped make Hyperdub, THE electronic label, and listening to these two discs, it's easy to see why. Dark, heavy, haunting, mysterious, stuttery, groovy, the interesting thing is how many of these jams are vocal driven, which in most cases would be a total turnoff, but instead, the vocals are seamlessly incorporated, sometimes being chopped and looped into rhythms, other times carrying the melody, in the case of Spaceape, offering a haunting dialogue, but those vocals add a pop element that make many of these songs crazy catchy. Sure, lots of the songs are stripped down dubbed out instrumentals, and those tracks do rule, but it's a measure of the label. and the artists that they've helped redefine a sound with fairly distinct parameters, and in doing so created some of the most far out and progressive electronic music we've heard in ages. From super skeletal stripped down dubstep, to skittery glitchstep, to warm languid pulsing minimalism, to block rocking big beated synth step, to loping electro future funk, to lush, almost indie sounding downtempo, to 8-bit Goblin-esque squiggle and glitch... it goes on and on. There are some serious classics, Kode9's "9 Samurai" is so evocative, like a dubstep DJ Shadow, "South London Burroughs" by Burial, is fierce and jagged and about as heavy as dubstep gets, we could probably go track by track, but you probably get the picture, this RULES. Easily the most essential electronic music / dubstep / whatever collection of the year!
Comes in a cool mini, slimline dvd style case, with full color cover and printed full color booklet / insert / tracklisting.
The last volume of De Wolfe Library grooves we had went out of print pretty fast, so don't hesitate on this one if you are so inclined. This is actually not the sequel to Jason Willet's DJ-curated Music De Wolfe Vol. 1 we listed a couple of years ago, but the sequel to a comp we didn't carry called Bite Hard, now sadly gone. Only two of the songs on Music De Wolfe vol. 1 appear here. The De Wolfe Studio (aka Music De Wolfe Sound Library) began in 1909 as a studio for music to accompany silent films, but it's heyday was in the seventies as the go-to studio for killer crime funk. Spy chases, criminal action films and tense moody thrillers were De Wolfe's specialty and have since been key source material for many hip-hop samples from Kool G. Rap, High & Mighty and Cam'ron. Compiled by Joel Martin, the record nut behind the Dawn of the Dead unreleased soundtrack music (all of those cues too were from the De Wolfe library) and Warren De Wolfe, this is the first compilation to be released directly from the De Wolfe studio. Let's hope there's plenty more!
Most of the time, compilations are intended to bring you the "best" of something. This one, though, is different! The compilers have deliberately put together a compilation of the WORST. A collection of "the obscure, the peculiar, and in some cases the downright disturbing". And of course, we recommend it! Now, the Psychic Circle label is known for all their keen compilations of '60s psych pop, "instro-hipster" groove, glam rock, and other vintage obscurities. Many of their discs are compiled by Nick "Bevis Frond" Saloman, who here, along with colleague Mick Dillingham, delve into a very different, and certainly much less cool/good/valuable, section of what must be vast, vast record collections. The section labeled "incredibly strange (or daft) music"! Collectable perhaps, but definitely more as a compulsion than an investment. They're mostly flea market and junk shop finds, we imagine. Barmy commercial jingles. Novelty tunes. Celebrity cash-ins. Easy listening attempts to be hip. Embarrassing (though fairly witty) rapping by an old white Englishman promoting his darts themed TV quiz show. Disco-sploitation. Would-be exotica and/or erotica. Super sappy lovesongs. "Ethnic" oddities (including more rapping). Et cetera, et cetera. Like other Psychic Circle comps, it's stuff from from the '60s and '70s (though it's possible that the ones with the rapping could be from the early '80s), some tracks having an increased humor factor due to their datedness. The other humor factor: how terrible, terrible this music is. Quite painful some of it. But also really funny. And sometimes pretty darn catchy. Which actually is a dangerous thing - you might wind up with some really bizarre stuff stuck in your head as a result of listening to this. Don't say we didn't warn you. But who wouldn't want, ferinstance, "These Boots Are Made For Walking" as performed (for some reason) by an outfit appropriately called Balsara & His Singing Sitars stuck in their head? Certainly not you.
There's an overwhelming 33 tracks here (OMG!). And immediately you'll find confusional, cringeworthy fodder for your next voicemail greeting, or something to render the next mix tape (cd-r, playlist, whatever) you make just a little bit weirder! Most of the stuff here was previously quite unknown to us (though we venture to guess that if you grew up in the UK, there's a chance you might be more familiar with some of the entries). And even if we knew the artists, such as the celebrity contingent of David McCallum, David Carradine, and Xaviera "The Happy Hooker" Hollander (performing separately, not together, now that would be REALLY crazy), that didn't really prepare us for what their tracks were all about. Or maybe it did. Bizarre stuff in any case, as are all the rest of the tracks here, which include everything from Micky Katz's Yiddish version of "K'nock Around The Clock" to a silly shoe advert ("The Weakling In Thom McCann Shoes") to opera singer Cathy Berberian's faux-classical take on the Beatles' "I Want To Hold Your Hand" to a big band version of the Monkees theme to naive outsider homemade pop to discofied Pink Floyd. Just when you think it can't get any worse or weirder, it does!! And let's not forget, this starts off pretty insane, with track two being about the weirdest bit of civic boosterism ever, a song called "Energy In Northampton", commissioned by The Northampton Development Corporation and sung by one Linda Jardim, this song tells of aliens from outer space crash landing in the town of Northampton and finding it quite to their liking!
It's like Saloman and Dillingham took turns one-upping each other with the most absurd, atrocious recorded artifacts they (perversely) treasure... "Oh, you thought that was bad? Get a load of THIS!" and you get to hear it all, in its awesome/awful glory. The cd booklet provides some mercifully brief details about each track along with appropriate accompanying graphics in full color (and also reveals that most of the blame here goes to Mr. Dillingham, from whose crazy collection most if not all of these records were sourced). We're sorta surprised this is on Psychic Circle, and not, say, the Trunk label. This disc seems destined to become a beloved best seller... at least here at Aquarius!
Fuzz and groove from the Andes, mostly circa 1969-1974, uh huh! If there's anything we've learned from all the cool comps and reissues that have come out over the years, is that almost ANYPLACE on Earth you can think of, no matter how out of the way, chances are they had their own happenin' psychedelic garage rock band scene back in the day, chock full of cool bands that we'd never have ever heard of but for the diligent efforts of collectors and compilers. Certainly we already know this to be the case in '60s/'70s Peru, as we're already in love with such great bands from that land as Traffic Sound, We All Together, and Tarkus. Now from the same Lima-based label, Repsychled, that just so happens to be responsible for reissues of albums by all of those, we get this killer compilation devoted to bands from Peru's second largest city, Arequipa, located in the south of the country, high up in the Andes. None of these groups recorded full albums, but they did release rare singles and make live 'party' cassettes and left behind enough cool music that this disc is packed, 21 tracks from five bands: Los Texao, Free Love System, Los Incognitos, Madera Fresca, and Opus.
Los Texao, named after the type of flower associated with Arequipa, have the lion's share of the tracks, ten of 'em, including some covers (Cream, The Guess Who, Steppenwolf). They are also responsible for several of the best originals on here, especially their druggy groovy freakout "Stone", which by itself may justify the purchase of this disc, and exemplifies their own musical style called niebla (= fog in English), we're told "because of the effect produced by the band's rotor amps and reverb and echo effects". But Free Love System don't let us, or Arequipa, down either (with a name like that, you gotta be good!) and their four cuts are also pretty cool and, uh, foggy, including one with driving fuzz guitars and a kind of "You Really Got Me" riff, entitled "Correteando Anoranzas". They (as well as Los Texao and the others) also do some dreamy pop stuff, with melancholic psych guitar solos, so it's not all heavy and rockin', but mellow and moody too.
Meanwhile Los Incognitos have more of a twang, sounding a bit like something out of a Spaghetti Western on their four cuts. And then there's a couple by Madera Fresca. In particular, their track "Anytime" is pretty crazed, though also extremely lo-fi (fortunately it's the exception in that regard amongst the tracks here), and heck even if it wasn't, that'd be ok with us, we'd happily crank a whole album of this sort of distorted worbbly-warbly instrumental jamming. And then Opus, a band formed by Free Love System's former guitarist in '76, wraps up the disc with track #21, the only one on the disc that's not actually from the '69-'74 time frame, though it sounds it, despite being recorded as late as 1982.
Whoo! Along with our recent initiation into the wonderfulness of the "chicha" sound (which combined Andean folk traditions with psych/beat influences), this comp certainly adds to our infatuation with Peruvian music of the psychedelic era. If you dig stuff like the Love, Peace & Poetry: Latin America comp you'll want to hear this. The cd booklet is illustrated with vintage photos and press clippings, and includes informative liner notes in Spanish and (somewhat abridged) English.
Sublime Frequencies seemingly can do no wrong. A keen ear and a deft curatorial skill means that every release is not just interesting sociologically, but is musically kick ass as well. Singapore A-Go-Go is a collection of singles recorded and released during a brief period in the sixties and seventies, when various Southeast Asian countries were bucking the stringent requirements of the Chinese state, embracing both Western pop and traditional Chinese music, which were essentially banned. Thanks to American G.I.s and Radio Free Asia, young people grew up listening to both Chinese music, and all manner of Western pop, the fact that the economy was booming, also meant that kids could afford records and record players, and musicians could afford instruments and studio time, which of course meant tons of records reflecting this classical Chinese / Western pop hybrid. The liner notes this time around are dense and fascinating, all about the time and the culture and the climate, the musicians and the proliferation of small labels, which is all just icing, on this amazing compilation of gorgeous garage-y girl group pop, the mix of cultures and sounds is definitely heady. Morricone-ish twang, soulful grooves, and sing songy traditional Chinese music will coexist peacefully and perfectly within the same song, pounding drums, whirring organs, Joe Meek style instrumental surf rock will wrap around jazzy vibraphones, and funky basslines, some songs sound like American TV show themes, others sound almost Bollywood, while still others sound like Perrey & Kingsley. Soft easy listening Lawrence Welkisms flow right into more rocking psychedelic rock, the Mission Impossible theme is reappropriated, with vocals added for a cool brooding surfy rock jam, Eastern style melodies are infused into classic sixties girl group sounds, and the vocals mostly female, are exuberant and girlish and wide eyed and playful, and make this whole collection so much fun. Like everything on Sublime Frequencies, way way way recommended!
Writer Daniel Ekeroth really loves death metal. Specifically SWEDISH death metal. He's Swedish, yes, and plays in a Swedish death metal band, so maybe he's biased... but we DO have to agree, there's something special about the death metal scene in Sweden, particularly back in the very early '90s when it was at its fullest flower. Sweden has bestowed upon the world some of the best in guttural growling and blasting beats, crypt-rattling riffs and of course the "Sunlight sound". We reviewed Ekeroth's encyclopedic book Swedish Death Metal a while ago. Now, here's the audio companion compilation to said book. Maybe reading a 456 page tome all about the wonders of Swedish death metal is more than you're ready for. But even if you didn't read the book (and most definitely if you DID) you might still be interested in this. Either from reading the book you'll be curious to hear the obscure bands collected here, or from listening to this you too will develop an obsession with Swedish death metal and thus need to read the book... and listen to nothing else but Swedish death metal for the foreseeable future! Don't say we didn't warn you.
Lovingly put together, this triple cd set is packed with crucial examples of the SDM phenomenon. Mostly rare demo tracks, or songs taken from vinyl-only eps... There's quite a few of the big names of course (Grave, Entombed, Dismember, At The Gates, Unleashed, etc.) but also many, many more obscure but also important bands. There's pioneering early tracks from the likes of Obscurity, Merciless, and Nihilist. Forgotten and/or underrated greats like Crematory, Afflicted, and Nirvana 2002. And, keeping death alive, the set wraps up with a couple newer bands, like genius throwbacks Repugnant!
Here's some more names either to pique your curiosity, or if you know 'em, to whet your appetite: Edge Of Sanity, General Surgery, Grotesque, Desultory, Sorcery, Carbonized, Carnage, Tiamat, Furbowl, Seance... and there's tons and tons more. 52 tracks here by 48 bands!!! And we're telling you, it's quite possible, nay probable, that the heaviest, most brutal song EVER is one of the ones included on this cd. It must be.
Disc one, covering 1986-1990 is the rawest, thrashiest stuff, exploring the cult origins of the movement, some if it super lo-fi but still crushing. What's a little tape hiss and distortion when you're listening to singing that sounds like an asthmatic cookie monster anyway? Disc two, 1989-'93, includes some all time classics, in Ekeroth's book and ours, and also delves into death/black crossover with tracks from Marduk and Dissection. And then disc three celebrates some lesser known greats, mostly covering the period 1990-1994, with a track from '98 and another from 2007 just to demonstrate that true Swedish death metal will never die.
Like we said, this is clearly a labor of love, packaged in a handsome book-like package (it looks like the book, we mean). The four-panel digipack includes a thick cd booklet with notes on each and every track by author Ekeroth, who of course was one of this release's compilers. Awesome.
We told the story of Volataic Omen when we reviewed the Supreme Satanic Substorm cd-r a while back, but it definitely bears repeating:
It all began with two unidentified mp3's sent via email, no message, no anything, just to HUGE files. We were wondering if there was something wrong with our email, and then POW. Two songs, identified only by title, but nothing about what they were, the name of the band, where they came from. Our first impulse was to just trash em, but we thought what the heck? And holy shit were we immediately floored. Exactly the sort of buzzing warped blackness we love around these parts, lo-fi, tripped out, druggy, heavy, space-y, we had to figure out who the heck this band was and how to get MORE!! After a few emails back and forth, we discovered this filthy black chaos was the work of a one man band from the Northwest called Voltaic Omen, a little more digging revealed than not only did that one man have the most bad ass corpse paint, but his corpsepainted visage was an integral part of one of the VO logos, one of the best black metal logos ever by the way.
So we were smitten, if one can be smitten by something as grim and fucked up and blown out as Voltaic Omen, there is a tUMULt release in the works, and at the rate this guys kicks out tracks, there's bound to be an avalanche of grim blackness down the line, but for now, you gotta grab one of these filthy little gems while you can, this one is LIMITED TO 25 COPIES, and we got them ALL, but these are gonna fly outta here, so grimlords be quick.
Oh right, what's the fuss about this Voltaic Omen stuff anyway? More of that fractured fucked up lo-fi stumbling buzzy black weirdness we can't ever seem to get enough of. Damaged drum machines blast over woozy washed out black buzz, the vocals are insane, moaning and screeching, even though the drums are blasting, the music is slow and sludgey and lurching and lumbering, a weird, dizzyingly off kilter sonic squall. One of the tracks here begins all punk rock, but then gets all oompah, still shrieky and buzzy and bizarre, but wrapped around a weird 1-2-1-2-1-2 sort of rhythm, but flip it over, and things get all doomy and filthy and abject and blown the fuck out. So goddamn good. You like Furze, Striborg, Lonesummer, Amocoma, Anwech, Wrnlrd, Jabladav, Xasthur, Draugar, Vorak, Necrofrost? You probably like Volatic Omen. Way recommended and WAY LIMITED.
And for those folks who want to get WAY into VO, we have a couple other releases, 2 tapes and a 3"cd-r, which we only got a very few copies of, but they're cheap if you want em, just ask, cuz as far as we're concerned you should get as much Voltaic Omen as you can handle...
Early '70s krautrock stylings by way of Canada circa 2009, all the while channelling the visionary plainsongs from the 12th Century abbess Hildegarde Von Bingen! This Von Bingen began when two members of an East Coast psychedeliclatter project called Hildegard moved to Canada, met up with one of satellite members of Jackie O Motherfucker, and rebranded themselves. While the nature of the earlier band has escaped us, this Von Bingen has emerged fully formed, crawling out from the same primordial soup that spawned the likes of Amon Duul II, Hawkwind, Psychic Ills, Bardo Pond, and The Wooden Shjips. Yeah, they're pretty damn good!
A subdued yet motorik rhythm sets the stage for the opening track circled with interlocking guitars, electronics, and bass right out of the songbook of Faust IV, all of which are brought into relief with a sporadically used melodic jump out of the dronerock mentality. A paranoiac piece of incidental music links these grooves with droning lament for flute, giving way to a subterranean plod that almost sounds like a Throbbing Gristle piece remade a decade earlier as a transgressive piece of psychedelia laced with weird horns and Arabesque guitar leads. The flipside begins with an extended piece of cosmic ritualism through sustained mod synth drone and church organ tones twisting along side more of that wistful flute and gradually coalescing into a proto-Suicide pulsation of psychedelic electronics and downer melodies. The finale of the album centers upon a dazed guitar riff coming in and out of focus amidst the druggy atmosphere of synth drones, simple bouts of percussion, freeform flutes, and squeals of electricity. To say this is a trip is quite the understatement. Do not let this one pass you by!
We weren't really sure what we'd get from a band named "White Denim," but we're happy to report that it's not only better than we expected, but pretty damn rad. White Denim hail from Austin, TX, and they whip up a frenzied chunk of heavily grooving guitar rock with a nice psychedelic feel and some cool moments of skronky (sometime sax inflected) weirdness that come as a nice surprise. The songs on Fits are energetic and fun, and the super tight production really makes things stand out. This band must just own it live. At times they comes off a bit like the post-Karp/pre-Big Business band Tight Bros. From Way Back When, meaning pretty much that this is a group of indie rockers taking a stab at a MC5/Stooges/Grand Funk thing, we know it sounds shitty on paper, but this is actually hitting the spot quite nicely, and you probably won't even mind when the band busts out a sitar solo... everything just blends together really well, even though things are all jagged, noisy, and frequently atonal. These guys definitely rock hard and they certainly satisfy our hunger for dumb (in a good way), testosterone fueled rock. Fans of the aforementioned Tight Bros., the Estrus records roster, and Monotonix will totally dig this.
Oh, yeah! The vinyl contains a free download card, PLUS their first album as a second slab of wax!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
A one line review is all we need here, and in fact, that one line could be used just to explain that we only got 30, that's all we're getting, and have already sold at least a third of those before we even had a chance to list this, so act fast ! And oh yeah, the review? This here's a split 7" featuring local psych sensations Wooden Shjips on one side (Spacemen 3 cover "I Believe It"), and a rare track from psych drone legends Spacemen 3 ("Big City", unreleased alternate demo version) on the other. About all you need to know...
ONE PER CUSTOMER!!!!! ----* ----* In Stock, Not Yet Reviewed : ----* If you want to order one of these, just search for the item, then click on the buy button and it will be added to your cart! AGUAYO, MATIAS "Ay Ay Ay" (Kompakt) cd 15.98 ANTI-POP CONSORTIUM "Fluorescent Black" (Big Dada) cd/2lp 15.98/23.00 ANVIL CHORUS "The Killing Sun" (Rockadrome) cd 12.98 APHRODITE'S CHILD "End Of The World" (World Psychedelia Ltd.) cd 17.98 ARCKANUM "PPPPPPPPPPP" (Moribund) cd 16.98 BARONESS "Blue Record" (Relapse) 2cd 15.98 BIGOT, FRED "Mono-Stereo" (Holy Mountain) cd 13.98 BLACK BREATH "Razor to Oblivion" (Southern Lord) cd 12.98 BRAINSTORM "Smile A While" (Lion Productions) cd 14.98 CAETHUA "The Long Afternoon Of Earth" (Preservation) 2cd 19.98 CASPA "Everybody's Talking, Nobody's Listening!" (Fabric) cd 11.98 CELAN "Halo" (Exile On Mainstream) cd 14.98 CINDYTALK "The Crackle Of My Soul" (Editions Mego) cd 17.98 CITAY "Remixes" (Dead Oceans) lp 17.98 COBRA KILLER "Uppers And Downers" (Monika 666) cd 15.98 COWLEY, PATRICK & JORGE SOCARRAS "Catholic" (Macro) cd 17.98 CYMBALS EAT GUITARS "Why Are There Mountains" (Sister's Den) cd 13.98 DEKHA JAYE GA / UF YEH BEVIAN "OST" (Finders Keepers) cd 23.00 DEVO "Are We Not Men?" (Warner Bros.) cd 14.98 DEVO "Freedom of Choice" (Warner Bros.) cd/lp 14.98/24.00 EARTH AND FIRE "s/t" (Esoteric) cd 23.00 ESPVALL, HELENA & MASAKI BATOH "Overloaded Ark" (Drag City) cd/lp 14.98/21.00 FAHEY, JOHN "America" (4 Men With Beards) 2lp 25.00 FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS "I Told You I Was Freaky" (Sub Pop) cd/lp 15.98/21.00 FLY GIRLZ, THE "Da' Brats From Da' Ville" (True Panther Sounds) cd/lp 14.98/16.98 FROST, BEN "By The Throat" (Bedroom Community) cd 16.98 GODS GIFT "Pathology: Manchester 1979-84" (Messthetics) cd 12.98 GOES CUBE "Another Day Has Passed" (The End) cd 14.98 HIGGINS, GARY "Seconds" (Drag City) cd 14.98 HOLLENTHON "Tyrants & Wraiths" (Napalm) cd 12.98 HOLY SONS "Criminal's Return" (Important) cd 14.98 KIRK, ROLAND "The Inflated Tear" (Atlantic / Rhino) lp 13.98 KRALLICE "Dimensional Bleedthrough" (Profound Lore) cd 13.98 LANDSCAPE "From The Tea-Rooms Of Mars .... To The Hell-Holes Of Uranus" (Cherry Red) cd 16.98 LIFE ON EARTH (EDWARD WILLIAMS) "OST" (Trunk) cd 17.98 LIMITS OF CONTROL "OST" (Lakeshore Records) cd 17.98 LITMUS "Aurora" (Metal Blade / Rise Above) cd 14.98 MANIAC / LILES / CZRAL "Det Skjedde Noe Nar Var I Belgia" (Dirter) cd 17.98 METALUCIFER "Heavy Metal Bulldozer" lp 17.98 MICHAEL AND THE MUMBLES "s/t" (De Stijl) lp 14.98 MIST AND MAST "Action At A Distance" (self released) cd 6.98 MOLINA & JOHNSON "s/t" (Secretly Canadian) cd 14.98 MORDANT MUSIC "SyMptoMs (Version)" (Mordant Music) 10" 12.98 MORDANT MUSIC "SyMptoMs" (Mordant Music) cd 17.98 MUDHONEY "Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge" (Sub Pop) lp 14.98 MUDHONEY "s/t" (Sub Pop) lp 14.98 MUDHONEY "Superfuzz Bigmuff" (Sub Pop) lp 12.98 NIRVANA "Bleach (20th Anniversary)" (Sub Pop) 2cd/2lp 15.98/28.00 NURSE WITH WOUND "Space Music" (Beta-lactam Ring) cd 15.98 PARASOL, RYKARDA "For Blood and Wine" (self released) cd 12.98 PORT O'BRIEN "Threadbare" (TBD Records) cd 12.98 RAINCOATS, THE "s/t" (Kill Rock Stars) lp 16.98 RAINEY, MA "Those Dogs Of Mine" (Monk) lp 22.00 REYKJAVIK! "The Blood" (Kimi) cd 16.98 RITA J "Artist Workshop" (All Natural Inc.) cd 13.98 ROCKCELONA "La Bruja" (Estereo Fonico Country) cd 21.00 SECRETS OF THE MOON "Privilegium" (Lupus Lounge) cd 14.98 SHINDIG! "November - December, Vol.2 Issue 13" magazine 9.98 SHINDIG! "Psychotic Reaction" magazine 11.98 SLAYER "World Painted Blood" (American) cd/lp 14.98/24.00 SPIRAL STAIRS "The Real Feel" (Matador) cd/lp 13.98/16.98 SYLVIAN, DAVID "Manafon" (Samadhisound) cd 15.98 V/A "D-Funk: Funk, Disco & Boogie Grooves From Germany 1972-2002" (Marina) cd 17.98 V/A "Earle Brown Contemporary Sound Series" (Wergo) 3cd 53.00 V/A "Fire In My Bones" (Tompkins Square) 3cd 30.00 V/A "Forge Your Own Chains" (Now-Again) cd 17.98 V/A "Messthetics #107" (Hyped To Death) cd 14.98 V/A "More Andergraun Vibrations" (Hundergum) cd 25.00 V/A "Mutant Disco Volume 3: Garage Sale" (Ze) cd 16.98 V/A "Tumbele! Biguine, Afro & Latin Sounds From The French Caribbean, 1963-74" (Sound Way) cd/2lp 16.98/23.00 V/A "Warp 20 (Chosen)" (Warp) 2cd 22.00 V/A "Warp 20 (Recreated)" (Warp) 2cd 25.00 V/A (CROOKERS) "I Love Techno 2009" (Lektro Luv) cd 17.98 VHS HEAD "Video Club" (Skam) cd 9.98 VOIVOD "Infini" (Relapse) cd 14.98 WARMTH "Original Warmth" (Turgid Animal) cd 12.98 YE OLDE MAIDS "God Blesses Us, Mother Dresses Us" (Art Fag) lp 17.98 YONKERS, MICHAEL & PLASTIC CRIME WAVE "Bleed Out" (Spiral Staircase) lp 16.98 YOUNGS, RICHARD "Under Stellar Stream" (Jagjaguwar) cd/lp 14.98/16.98 _______________________________________________________________________ Please place your order via our website. [1] We will contact you to verify your order and let you know when it will be shipped. Please note that occasionally it may take a day or two for us to reply. We are not a faceless bunch of computers replying to your order -- we are human beings! [2] If we are out of some of your items and we think we will get them within the same week, we can wait to ship. Or... If it's going to be more than a few days to complete your order, we will ship what we have and then will contact you as the remainders arrive. [ note ] Due to the everchanging nature of the independent record business, we are not responsible for listed price changes (due to supplier price changes) and often cannot update our site fast enough to reflect these changes, but we will always try to let you know of any differences.
There's weird black metal, and then there's WEIRD black metal. Generally the weird stuff tends toward either the stumbling and inept, or the super avant and ridiculously proficient, but the strangeness of Wrnlrd seems so much more organic, as if the sound of Wrnlrd was not in fact strange, but more that all the other sounds around it were way too normal. Nothing sounds forced, or ridiculous, but it all sounds twisted and freaky, and most definitely unlike any other black metal you've ever heard. Could be because the man behind Wrnlrd grew up playing bluegrass, could be these are just the sounds he hears in his head, whatever it is, we're grateful, cuz every Wrnlrd record seems to blow our mind more than the last.
Just check out the opener here, the guitars -almost- out of tune, the melody strangely atonal, the drums buried in the mix, the bass warbly and warped, and what sounds like some sort of bleating tuba supplying the low end, chugging riffage over strange snippets of found sound, tangled saxophones (?), bellowed vocals, all the sounds relentless and all tangled up in a swirling blackened mass, harmonized guitars, weird jagged shards of metallic crunch, and then the song suddenly shifts, the key changes to something slightly more melodic and major, and female vocals, soulful and almost operatic wail over the top. What? Really? How does it work? And why does it sound so goddamn amazing? You'll probably be asking yourself that over and over as you dig into Myrmidon, that is if you can stop yourself from headbanging or pry the headphones off your ears. That first track is a sort-of-template for the whole record, the soaring female vocals, the gnarled crunchy riffage, the lurching start stop arrangements, everything murky and downtuned, a bit noisy, blurred and buzzy, dense and so chaotic, but somehow it all works, and the result is some seriously transcendent black art.
Super thick vinyl, 180 gram, comes with a digital download too!!
Holy shit!!!! This has been in absolute constant rotation for us since we got it and sadly it's taken a while for us to get enough to list but here it is and we think it's going to be tough to beat this as the best electronic record of the year! Think 8-bit rave bangers with mescaline fueled glow sticks and you start to get an idea of the charged, frantic and colorful world Zomby have created with One Foot Ahead Of The Other.
Zomby manage to tap into all the aspects of electronic music we love and comes across almost like a new supercharged version of skweee! But the greatness of Zomby is that the songs and sounds on One Foot Ahead Of Another screams FUCK LABELS LET'S REACH SONIC LEVELS OF ECSTASY! while the rest of the electronic music world is constantly divided into way too many confusing sub-genres. This transcends all that, big time!
While past Zomby releases have aligned the 'group' with the dubstep scene, Zomby really does move to the beat of his own unique and unclassifiable rhythm. And the results are so fucking electrifying!
We're happy that there are no hidden cameras following us during our daily lives cuz when we have this on our headphones as we walk through the city we totally bust out impromptu contorted dance freakouts, cuz it's just totally impossible to stand still when this is playing. It has the same kind of frenetic energy that made us fall in love with folks like Aphex Twin and Squarepusher back in the day. One Foot Ahead Of The Other is the kind of record that folks like Black Dice, Fuck Buttons and Excepter all secretly wish they could make. Not a wasted moment to be found, all killer and no filler... and for sure one of our favorite records of the year!
