Aquarius Records closed in 2016. This site is an archive — a place to rediscover their extraordinary music recommendations. Nothing here is for sale.
[ aquarius records new arrivals — issue 397 ]
Showing results 101 through 103 of 103.
WOODS / AMPS FOR CHRISTSplit(Shrimper)lp$ 14.98
Maybe not a match made in heaven, but definitely a match made in some twisted sonic otherverse where we want to spend the rest of forever, this brand new split finds East Coast psych folk combo Woods teaming up with ex- Man Is The Bastard weirdo psych noise SoCal shaman Henry Barnes aka Amps For Christ for a record of heady psychedelic drift and cosmic lo-fi sonic experimentation, that sounds just about as good as we figured it would. The track listing is a little bit confusing. Opener "Sleep" while credited to Woods, definitely sounds like a collaboration, the music itself is lilting sun dappled folk, all chiming and sweetly melodic, but underneath, a crazy distorted droned out guitar like buzz undulates and pulses, adding a strange sort of raga like vibe, and for folks new to Amps For Christ, definitely sounds like one of Barnes' gorgeous and gorgeously ramshackle homemade noise generators, which often look like some old kitchen cabinet you might find by the side of the road, all warped plywood, and strange nails, often screwdrivers and wild tangles of wires, and more often than not, everything decorated with strange drawings of winged guitars and bits of twisted bible verse. However, once we get to a track we know is a collaboration, we realize maybe that first track was just Woods paying homage to the twisted genius of AfC, "From Oatmeal To Buttermilk" a wild glitched out buzzing droney electronic raga, that squelches and chitters, a field of hazy electronic interference over mysterious electronic bagpipe like melodies. Soon after, we return to the tranquil dream folk of Woods, who seem to have infused all their songs with some mysterious psychedelic buzz, buried way down in the mix, a raga-like buzz underpinning the folky flutter, the campfire twang, and the abstract Appalachia, all before we get to the final three song suite, which finds Barnes and his Amps For Christ unfurling some surprisingly dreamy folk of his own (if the track listing is to be believed), acoustic guitars, simple hand drums, shakers and percussion, distant buzz and warm atmospheric shimmer, falsetto vox, and while we were expecting some crazy electronic freakout from the oddly named final jam, the nearly ten minute "Roto Koto In C Major", instead we're treated to a darkly hypnotic, brooding expanse of bas driven psychedelia, laced with bits of twang, flurries of acoustic guitar, more percussion, all very spare and spaced out, hauntingly mesmerizing, and dreamily trippy and druggy and woozily soft focus.
Fans of both bands will definitely dig, and this may just be the most easy to digest Amps For Christ record yet, certainly the perfect place to start for the uninitiated, and we can hope the perfect gateway record to all the weird electronic darkness that lurks beyond.
Maybe not a match made in heaven, but definitely a match made in some twisted sonic otherverse where we want to spend the rest of forever, this brand new split finds East Coast psych folk combo Woods teaming up with ex- Man Is The Bastard weirdo psych noise SoCal shaman Henry Barnes aka Amps For Christ for a record of heady psychedelic drift and cosmic lo-fi sonic experimentation, that sounds just about as good as we figured it would. The track listing is a little bit confusing. Opener "Sleep" while credited to Woods, definitely sounds like a collaboration, the music itself is lilting sun dappled folk, all chiming and sweetly melodic, but underneath, a crazy distorted droned out guitar like buzz undulates and pulses, adding a strange sort of raga like vibe, and for folks new to Amps For Christ, definitely sounds like one of Barnes' gorgeous and gorgeously ramshackle homemade noise generators, which often look like some old kitchen cabinet you might find by the side of the road, all warped plywood, and strange nails, often screwdrivers and wild tangles of wires, and more often than not, everything decorated with strange drawings of winged guitars and bits of twisted bible verse. However, once we get to a track we know is a collaboration, we realize maybe that first track was just Woods paying homage to the twisted genius of AfC, "From Oatmeal To Buttermilk" a wild glitched out buzzing droney electronic raga, that squelches and chitters, a field of hazy electronic interference over mysterious electronic bagpipe like melodies. Soon after, we return to the tranquil dream folk of Woods, who seem to have infused all their songs with some mysterious psychedelic buzz, buried way down in the mix, a raga-like buzz underpinning the folky flutter, the campfire twang, and the abstract Appalachia, all before we get to the final three song suite, which finds Barnes and his Amps For Christ unfurling some surprisingly dreamy folk of his own (if the track listing is to be believed), acoustic guitars, simple hand drums, shakers and percussion, distant buzz and warm atmospheric shimmer, falsetto vox, and while we were expecting some crazy electronic freakout from the oddly named final jam, the nearly ten minute "Roto Koto In C Major", instead we're treated to a darkly hypnotic, brooding expanse of bas driven psychedelia, laced with bits of twang, flurries of acoustic guitar, more percussion, all very spare and spaced out, hauntingly mesmerizing, and dreamily trippy and druggy and woozily soft focus.
Fans of both bands will definitely dig, and this may just be the most easy to digest Amps For Christ record yet, certainly the perfect place to start for the uninitiated, and we can hope the perfect gateway record to all the weird electronic darkness that lurks beyond.
Latest single from this Factums side project, and like their previous 12", the sound of Yves / Son / Ace is worlds removed from the Factums mothership, and while the sound here can maybe be loosely described as garage rock, the six songs here are all over the map, and even the ones that DO sound like the garage rock you're familiar with, Y/S/A manages to fuck it up big time. The opener is a dirgey murky slab of primitive outsider garage pop, driven by a simple skeletal rhythm and goofy sing-song vocals, while the next track quickly devolves into something darkly Jandek-ian, a damaged detuned folk, shambolic and on the verge of collapse, but then the sound lurches dramatically into a super blown out, noisy reverb drenched guitar heavy garage punk pound. From there things seem to get even further out, first some tripped out lo-fi new wave-y creep, which blossoms into a sort of deranged almost industrial sounding sci-fi surf rock before finally finishing off in a blaze of chaotic angular noise rock garage blooze. Definitely recommended for folks who like their garage rock/pop with a healthy dose of outsider WTF.
