Gosh. We're just constantly amazed at the wealth of obscure psych/prog "buried treasure" from all over the world that's continually being unearthed by all the industrious reissue labels out there. Lion Productions in particular has a darn good track record, we'd say (they blew us away earlier this year with the Classical M disc, amongst other cool reissues). Here's a great example, as out of the blue they present us the lone album by a Greek band called The 4 Levels Of Existence, originally released as a (now very rare and expensive) private press LP in 1976. And while a few of our far-gone record collector geek friends knew about this already, we sure hadn't ever heard of it before, but we're glad to get introduced to it now! It's a real folk-flavored fuzz monster, full of wailing guitar leads, melancholic lyrics (sung in their native Greek), majestic melodies, acoustic interludes, and did we say FUZZ? With all the fuzz this is fairly hard and heavy, but in a '60s garage band sorta way (despite being from the mid-'70s, this sounds earlier). Pretty much exactly what you'd hope a bunch of young, basement dwelling longhairs from an Athens suburb would create if they spent all their time jamming, studying philosophy, and drinking ouzo, as we can pretty much assume was the case here. Prog-laced and imbued with traditional folk melody, in a lot of ways this has got a similar vibe to the many awesome '60s and '70s Turkish psych bands we dig, even though Turkey and Greece have been far from friendly neighbors historically.
This legendary record (as we now know it to be) certainly is one of the coolest things we've heard from Greece from back when, alongside Socrates Drank The Conium and Aphrodite's Child. And as we've come to expect from Lion, this reish is no shoddy package. It comes with a thick booklet of liner notes (scribed by 4 Levels' rhythm/acoustic guitarist Athanasios Alatas), lyrics (in both Greek and translated into English too), and photos. Recommended.
Funny that a band can get so over-rated they become supremely under-rated. It could be that one of the best rock bands of all time has maintained their overall showmanship, but without the illustrious and crazed Bon Scott on lead vocals, their pure fire got lost in the huge rock-band-production of the '80s and '90s. Lightshows and media blitzes (not to mention excessive usage of their music for major league sporting events) seemed to dilute their early naked raw energy. Though, these days they certainly still do have raucous energy to spare, just ask anyone who's seen them in recent years. However, the young ravenous intensity of the band in the mid-to-late '70s is, in comparison, incredibly impressive to witness. Thankfully, several choice moments from that time in the band's career is presented on this Family Jewels (ahem) double dvd.
Disc one (20 songs from 1975-1980) features priceless footage of early performances and some incredibly scrappy but amazing music videos. Of the live shows, one that stands out is the footage from their notoriously impressive performance at University of Essex on a UK television series called Rock Goes To College.
In the music video for "Jailbreak" (which has become a staple on VH1 Classic), you see the band (with Angus shockingly in only something that looks to be a paper thin pajama set), freezing their asses off, "playing" the song with instruments up on some windy hill somewhere, "escaping from jail" and dodging some home-made explosives. The look of the film, quick cuts matched by the song's memorable sound quality make for one of the best music videos of all time. I get chills everytime I watch it.
In clip after clip, the surprisingly unpredictable and witty showman Scott keeps you thoroughly entertained. Keep an eye out for bagpipe-playin' Bon and schoolgirl Bon alongside schoolboy Angus! Speaking of which, the playfully rambunctious chemistry between the two is great, adding a totally distinct personality to their on-stage energy that's sadly missed in the later Johnson-era performances. To boot, it's pretty cool too to watch the evolution of Angus' student uniform.
Disc two (20 more tracks, 1980-1993) draws from the Brian Johnson years (AC/DC's singer after Bon's untimely death), and so one of the unexpected things that this double cd set inadvertenty offers is the opportunity for the Scott versus Johnson debate teams to re-ignite their rallying charges (just as the Iron Maiden Early Years double-dvd did for the Dickinson and DiAnno supporters). Which side are you on? So far, we're siding with Bon...all except for Allan who votes for Brian. You can take it up with him.
The ethnic influence that so defined Agitation Free's debut is not as much a factor on 1973's "Second" -- but both the West Coast style guitar jamming AND the way-out-there electronics experimentation really come to the fore. Again, mostly instrumental (one exception being the ominous, electronically treated reading of an Edgar Allen Poe poem that forms the last track, backed by gloomy Mellotron-led prog rock), psychedelic, trippy stuff, utterly gorgeous. Electronically created environmental sounds, wild and spacey synths, and relaxed, melodic guitar are all to be found here in abundance. "Second" was the second great album from this brilliant, often overlooked, Krautrock band. After "Second" they departed the scene with their excellent swansong live album, "Last" (not yet reissued by Garden of Delights, but still available on Spalax), though some other posthumous live/archival documents have subsequently been released.
Split apart from the more politicized fraction known as Amon Duul I (Psychedelic Underground, etc.), Amon Duul II emerged in 1969 when they released this fantastic debut album. It's a masterwork of drug-dazed guitar psych, long tracks, middle eastern
The absolute hardest albums to write about are those we hold in the highest esteem and though we have an aversion to the general notion of a "desert island selection", this Amon Duul II disc is one of those albums that we could see as an definite inclusion on
Finally! The first in a series of super limited, artist designed aQ T-Shirts, featuring original art by some of our favorite artists, who just so happen to be loyal aQ customers as well! Each one will be super special, totally unique, and will only be available for a limited time, as we're only making a finite amount of each.
The first shirt design is by aQ pal and infamous killustrator Justin Bartlett, whose style many of you no doubt will recognize. He's done tons of drawings for Oaken Throne black metal magazine, as well as record covers for grim groups like SUNNO))), Moss, Nadja, Pentemple and loads more. His style is incredible, super detailed, pen and ink with tons of stippling, lots of skulls and guts and demons and various crusty oozing offal. For aQ he's designed a super creepy and super evil mother and child, heads in bags, their rotten innards spilling out, skulls on spikes, and "Aquarius Records" carved into the stone archway in the background. It looks amazing, and will for sure get some eyes a popping as you wander through the grocery store or sit in church (heaven forbid).
The back features a small aQ logo up near the collar, the shirts are white on black, they are Hanes heavyweight T's, 100% preshrunk cotton, and we have sizes all the way from Youth Large (for kids and little ladies) all the way up to XXL (for the big guys).
We will only be selling these for a couple months, so don't miss out. Once they are gone, they won't be reprinted. EVER.
Future aQ Artist Edition T's will include designs by Savage Pencil, Stephen O'Malley, Aaron Turner and more more more!!!
Finally! The first in a series of super limited, artist designed aQ T-Shirts, featuring original art by some of our favorite artists, who just so happen to be loyal aQ customers as well! Each one will be super special, totally unique, and will only be available for a limited time, as we're only making a finite amount of each.
The first shirt design is by aQ pal and infamous killustrator Justin Bartlett, whose style many of you no doubt will recognize. He's done tons of drawings for Oaken Throne black metal magazine, as well as record covers for grim groups like SUNNO))), Moss, Nadja, Pentemple and loads more. His style is incredible, super detailed, pen and ink with tons of stippling, lots of skulls and guts and demons and various crusty oozing offal. For aQ he's designed a super creepy and super evil mother and child, heads in bags, their rotten innards spilling out, skulls on spikes, and "Aquarius Records" carved into the stone archway in the background. It looks amazing, and will for sure get some eyes a popping as you wander through the grocery store or sit in church (heaven forbid).
The back features a small aQ logo up near the collar, the shirts are white on black, they are Hanes heavyweight T's, 100% preshrunk cotton, and we have sizes all the way from Youth Large (for kids and little ladies) all the way up to XXL (for the big guys).
We will only be selling these for a couple months, so don't miss out. Once they are gone, they won't be reprinted. EVER.
Future aQ Artist Edition T's will include designs by Savage Pencil, Stephen O'Malley, Aaron Turner and more more more!!!
Finally! The first in a series of super limited, artist designed aQ T-Shirts, featuring original art by some of our favorite artists, who just so happen to be loyal aQ customers as well! Each one will be super special, totally unique, and will only be available for a limited time, as we're only making a finite amount of each.
The first shirt design is by aQ pal and infamous killustrator Justin Bartlett, whose style many of you no doubt will recognize. He's done tons of drawings for Oaken Throne black metal magazine, as well as record covers for grim groups like SUNNO))), Moss, Nadja, Pentemple and loads more. His style is incredible, super detailed, pen and ink with tons of stippling, lots of skulls and guts and demons and various crusty oozing offal. For aQ he's designed a super creepy and super evil mother and child, heads in bags, their rotten innards spilling out, skulls on spikes, and "Aquarius Records" carved into the stone archway in the background. It looks amazing, and will for sure get some eyes a popping as you wander through the grocery store or sit in church (heaven forbid).
The back features a small aQ logo up near the collar, the shirts are white on black, they are Hanes heavyweight T's, 100% preshrunk cotton, and we have sizes all the way from Youth Large (for kids and little ladies) all the way up to XXL (for the big guys).
We will only be selling these for a couple months, so don't miss out. Once they are gone, they won't be reprinted. EVER.
Future aQ Artist Edition T's will include designs by Savage Pencil, Stephen O'Malley, Aaron Turner and more more more!!!
Finally! The first in a series of super limited, artist designed aQ T-Shirts, featuring original art by some of our favorite artists, who just so happen to be loyal aQ customers as well! Each one will be super special, totally unique, and will only be available for a limited time, as we're only making a finite amount of each.
The first shirt design is by aQ pal and infamous killustrator Justin Bartlett, whose style many of you no doubt will recognize. He's done tons of drawings for Oaken Throne black metal magazine, as well as record covers for grim groups like SUNNO))), Moss, Nadja, Pentemple and loads more. His style is incredible, super detailed, pen and ink with tons of stippling, lots of skulls and guts and demons and various crusty oozing offal. For aQ he's designed a super creepy and super evil mother and child, heads in bags, their rotten innards spilling out, skulls on spikes, and "Aquarius Records" carved into the stone archway in the background. It looks amazing, and will for sure get some eyes a popping as you wander through the grocery store or sit in church (heaven forbid).
The back features a small aQ logo up near the collar, the shirts are white on black, they are Hanes heavyweight T's, 100% preshrunk cotton, and we have sizes all the way from Youth Large (for kids and little ladies) all the way up to XXL (for the big guys).
We will only be selling these for a couple months, so don't miss out. Once they are gone, they won't be reprinted. EVER.
Future aQ Artist Edition T's will include designs by Savage Pencil, Stephen O'Malley, Aaron Turner and more more more!!!
Finally! The first in a series of super limited, artist designed aQ T-Shirts, featuring original art by some of our favorite artists, who just so happen to be loyal aQ customers as well! Each one will be super special, totally unique, and will only be available for a limited time, as we're only making a finite amount of each.
The first shirt design is by aQ pal and infamous killustrator Justin Bartlett, whose style many of you no doubt will recognize. He's done tons of drawings for Oaken Throne black metal magazine, as well as record covers for grim groups like SUNNO))), Moss, Nadja, Pentemple and loads more. His style is incredible, super detailed, pen and ink with tons of stippling, lots of skulls and guts and demons and various crusty oozing offal. For aQ he's designed a super creepy and super evil mother and child, heads in bags, their rotten innards spilling out, skulls on spikes, and "Aquarius Records" carved into the stone archway in the background. It looks amazing, and will for sure get some eyes a popping as you wander through the grocery store or sit in church (heaven forbid).
The back features a small aQ logo up near the collar, the shirts are white on black, they are Hanes heavyweight T's, 100% preshrunk cotton, and we have sizes all the way from Youth Large (for kids and little ladies) all the way up to XXL (for the big guys).
We will only be selling these for a couple months, so don't miss out. Once they are gone, they won't be reprinted. EVER.
Future aQ Artist Edition T's will include designs by Savage Pencil, Stephen O'Malley, Aaron Turner and more more more!!!
Finally! The first in a series of super limited, artist designed aQ T-Shirts, featuring original art by some of our favorite artists, who just so happen to be loyal aQ customers as well! Each one will be super special, totally unique, and will only be available for a limited time, as we're only making a finite amount of each.
The first shirt design is by aQ pal and infamous killustrator Justin Bartlett, whose style many of you no doubt will recognize. He's done tons of drawings for Oaken Throne black metal magazine, as well as record covers for grim groups like SUNNO))), Moss, Nadja, Pentemple and loads more. His style is incredible, super detailed, pen and ink with tons of stippling, lots of skulls and guts and demons and various crusty oozing offal. For aQ he's designed a super creepy and super evil mother and child, heads in bags, their rotten innards spilling out, skulls on spikes, and "Aquarius Records" carved into the stone archway in the background. It looks amazing, and will for sure get some eyes a popping as you wander through the grocery store or sit in church (heaven forbid).
The back features a small aQ logo up near the collar, the shirts are white on black, they are Hanes heavyweight T's, 100% preshrunk cotton, and we have sizes all the way from Youth Large (for kids and little ladies) all the way up to XXL (for the big guys).
We will only be selling these for a couple months, so don't miss out. Once they are gone, they won't be reprinted. EVER.
Future aQ Artist Edition T's will include designs by Savage Pencil, Stephen O'Malley, Aaron Turner and more more more!!! ----* ----* Highlights : ----*
Dust, Captain Beyond, Toad, Pentagram, Highway Robbery, T2, Buffalo, Budgie, Blue Cheer, Lucifer's Friend...if these names mean anything to you, you're probably one of our customers who dig that heavy '70s acid rock proto-metal stuff. Whenever we find a reissue of another lost gem from the era we try to share it with you. So, here, at last, are discs by the legendary Bang, a trio from Florida (by way of Philly) circa '71-'73 who managed to crank out some Sabbath-like riffing to go with the very Ozzy-like vocals of lead singer and bassist Frank Ferrara!
Bang never got big -- although they did share stages with everyone from Alice Cooper to the Allman Brothers to Chuck Berry to Funkadelic to Black Sabbath themselves, apparently had a #1 hit in Hong Kong and at one point owned their own private plane! They released three albums in their career (for a US major label in fact) plus they recorded some singles and made an entire unreleased album as well. Their entire output has now been reissued on two cds, the first of which (this one) contains their self-titled debut, recorded in February of '72, as well as their follow-up sophomore album recorded that same year in November (groups back then didn't dilly dally with putting out one album every couple of years like today's bands).
As we said, Bang, especially on their first album, bore a remarkable resemblance to the Sabs, which was really unusual for their era, when bands were more likely to copy Zeppelin or Purple or just be stuck in the '60s. Kinda lo-fi, but quite heavy, "Bang" delievers doomy hard rock, with a kinda Comus-y Pagan slant, that also brings to mind the most powerful early King Crimson. Like most heavy bands of the period, Bang weren't cognizant of the "metal" concept, and probably saw themselves as a pop rock group -- a dark and pyschedelic pop rock group to be sure -- and so sometimes the hard riffing lets up to allow for some happier or more gentle fare, which is not always a bad thing anyway (this a phenomenon we discussed in our review of the Dust albums not long ago).
Bang's 2nd album was oddly presented as two distinct side-long mini-albums, each with its own 'front' cover. Side one (the heavier) being "Mother" with side two dubbed "Bow To The King". Both sides together were not as Sabbathy as the debut perhaps, but still excellent '70s proto-metal indeed.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
This is one pedigreed post-rock combo here! Battles consists of Ian Williams (Don Caballero, Storm And Stress), Tyondai Braxton (son of jazz genius Anthony and solo artist in his own right), John Stanier (Helmet, Tomahawk) and Dave Konopka (Lynx). These gents have joined forces to tangle their guitar strings, various drum implements, and electronic gadgetry into a big knot that might seem loose but is probably really tight if you were to try and unravel it. And while their compositions might be 'difficult', listening to this is not. Battles sounds like a post rock band (a la Don Cab or Lynx) playing the music of Conlon Nancarrow on Raymond Scott's Manhattan Research equipment. Or Gershon Kingsley making math rock. Weird, complex, delightful. And rather than debut with a full length, they've released two new eps in various formats. There are the five tracks of EP C cd ep, and the two-song limited Tras 12" vinyl and cd ep (the latter of which also includes a video clip).
The thing with Campbell Kneale's Birchville Cat Motel, is everything he puts out is great. Really. There are very few bands we can say that about. And even fewer who have such a ridiculously extensive catalog of releases. So what is it that makes one record worthy of Record of the Week status? Well, to be quite honest, almost any of the BCM records -could- be a record of the week, but every once in a while, BCM offer up something -really- special. And as much as we totally love all things Birchville and love to immerse ourselves in their (actually, his) blissed out ambient drone ragas, we can't help but love the fact that lately, BCM mainman (only man?) Campbell Kneale has developed a thing for metal, even proudly wearing a Darkthrone T on his recent US tour. Better late than never we say. The first evidence of this new found metallic leaning, was the launching of a new label (Kneale owns and operates the Celebrate Psi Phenomenon label) called Battlecruiser, a series of limited 3" cd-r's chronicling a weird sect of underground metal, mostly made by NZ noise / drone guys who had also caught the metal bug (two new Battlecruiser releases get reviewed elsewhere on this list). One of the first Battlecruiser releases was by an outfit called Black Boned Angel, which just so happened to BE Campbell Kneale, and was a massive pummelling sludgy black hole of SUNN-like dirge metal. Recently re-released on cd and reviewed again on the AQ list, everyone here could not get enough of Kneale's weird drifting almost ambient take on blackened metal. Fans of Earth and SUNN and all that sort of slow motion doom definitely found a new band to love. Little did we expect that Kneale's metal would leak on over into his main project, but it has, and we couldn't be happier. The first three tracks on Chi Vampires are classic BCM, gorgeous ambient prog, like a blissed-out take on Goblin's creepiest horror film interludes, with slowly drifting swaths of thick warm sonic swirl, sun dappled and dreamily indistinct, but also slightly ominous. Completely epic and the sort of music that either rocks you to sleep, or puts you in a trance, sending you on a trip through your inner senses, dizzying and mesmerizing. Those tracks alone could have had us pushing for a BCM record of the week, at last. But then the final track "Chi Vampires" hits, and it hits hard. Huge guitar riffs, not processed guitar drones, but ACTUAL RIFFS, bulldoze and crush all in their path, massive and intense, ultra low, and ultra heavy, with haunting heavily reverbed chanting offering the only counterpoint. This is like SUNNO))), but sped up to say 18 or 19 rpm, and with actual melodies, and the chanting, so creepy, like a drone metal ritual being performed at the bottom of a massive cavern, riffs filling the room with thick low end, making it hard to breathe, hard to see, the chanting distracting you only enough to maybe worry about escaping with your life, making it to the surface without being sucked into the blackness. The riffs eventually drift off, as the mysterious makers of these sounds trudge slowly back to the center of the earth, chanting as they go, the reverb of the cave turning the chants into indistinct vocal blurs, until they too fade into blackness, and you're left dazed, unable to move, staring into the void. So intense and haunting and heavy and utterly amazing!
As you may know, Boris are perhaps Japan's number one Melvins worshippers! But that's not to say they're unoriginal, rather the opposite, since the Melvins themselves are so unpredictable and eccentric. But in terms of heaviness, Boris measure up. If you
This beloved 1970 folk album is back on its original format... VINYL LP! Plus this reissue comes with a bonus 7"! Hurrah!
Here's what we said about the cd version:
We're pretty damn excited that this album is now available again. Inspiration for this turn of events must certainly have something to do with Ms Bunyan turning up on Devendra Banhart's recordings recently. Without a doubt Vashti Bunyan has played a big influence on the young Banhart's song writing, and fans of Devendra should definitely take note. This record is so incredibly charming! Having been expelled from a London art school in 1964 for not narrowing her field of studies to either music or painting, Vashti Bunyan took to singing her songs on the streets of London. She eventually left the city, hitching up a cart and horse to journey across the countryside, heading for the remote Outer Hebrides islands. It wasn't long before fans tracked her down to record an album. The album was released in 1970 and disappeared in relative obscurity -- only later being sought out fanatically by record collectors. Featuring accompaniment by such notables as Robin Williamson (fiddle, mandolin, Irish Harp) of The Incredible String Band and Simon Nicol (banjo) of Fairport Convention, Robert Kirby (string and recorder arrangements) who played with Nick Drake, Vashti Bunyan's music is an exquisitely delicate folk music with melodies reminiscent of hornpipes and shanties. Her clear voice is so full of innocence, and she sings so earnestly about her horse and the countryside full of hayfields and waiting for love and the simple rewards, like nice tea, that await after a long day's journey. It's so beautiful, it makes me want to dress in peasant garb (like Vashti on the cover) and forget all about the 21st century.
This is Krautrock at its absolute dreamiest. Next to Ege Bamyasi, this is one of our most favorite Can albums. A regulation-size track, "Moonshake" is surrounded by three long ones to create a lush, lifting journey. Suzuki's vocals just merely whisper in and out of the scene as the percussion and organ work itself into a transfixed polyrhythmic atmosphere and becomes balanced again through use of some contant and pulsating bass. "Moonshake" is a Can-brand pop track, barely truly "pop-ish" but as much in that vein as they ever reached. Then the album ends in pure elegance and glory. We're still hard pressed to see a huge difference in these remasterings vs. their cd predecessors, but happy they're here and sooooo available, the classic Krautrock albums that they are.
This one's a long time fave! Gene Moore's creepy organ soundtrack of eerily offkey, slowed down carnival music for this low-budget 1962 cult classic by producer/director Herk Hervey set a lot of standards for the use of these sounds in future horror films. According to the liner notes by screenwriter John Clifford, the idea was for the music to take up as much of the soundtrack as possible, in order to save money on having actors read lines! So it's close to being a silent film, with the organ music music actually being integral to the plot of the film, which involves a talented young female organist, um, haunted by her involvement in a car accident. The music perfectly complements the film's striking black & white visual imagery, the hordes of dancing ghouls that increasingly inhabit her waking nightmare world... it's like she's lost in her very own, very goth, Day Of The Dead celebration. This soundtrack reissue consists of 37 tracks over 49 minutes, including some snippets of the film dialog, given titles like "First Trip To The Carnival", "You Can't Live In Isolation", "Church Is Just A Place Of Business", "Dark Entry", etc... 4 of 'em are cues that were actually unused in the film, and all were apparently sourced from slightly scratchy old acetates, which just gives this even more creepy atmosphere.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
San Francisco's Champs (or C4AM95 as they prefer to be called for silly legal reasons) are an amazing two guitars and drums no bass, sometimes three guitars no drums, very rarely any vocals, trio that on this their debut album crank out over seventy minutes of catchy, complex, mostly instrumental metal in indie/math-rock clothing. Kind of like the indie-prog of Don Caballero or Breadwinner, with touches of Trans Am (the bombast and occasional "techno electronica" interlude) ...and healthy helpings of Iron Maiden, Thin Lizzy, Metallica, Carcass, Motley Crue, Priest, etc. I could go on. Mesmerizing live, they're on tour now but will be back soon so I hope y'all went to their shows. For what it's worth, there's a former member of Nation of Ulysses in their ranks. Rec-o-f'n-mended.
Another blast (two blasts, actually) from the past, from our favorite Finns. It's been a long time since we've had copies of these, Hissi and Fraten, the 3rd and 4th albums respectively by the now-near-legendary hypno-rock outfit Circle. Originally released on the Metamorphos label, they've been out of print for ages. Ektro Records has finally arranged to put out remastered reissues, for those that missed 'em the first time around. It's interesting to have 'em back, considering them now in context of Circle's subsequent, prolific career in the years since they first appeared. When Hissi came out in 1996, we saw it as a major stylistic shift, but that's before we learned that Circle would amazingly morph through so many unexpected styles as they progressed over album after album - all the while keeping it quite "Circular" though. At the time, we stated that if their first full-length (Meronia) could be described as AmRep grunge meets Gregorian chants, and if the second (Zopalki) entered into a kraut-rocky chamber music realm with strings, etc., then Hissi was Circle's stab at post-rock electronica... The vocals are gone on all but one or two tracks, and Circle's trademark repetitive sound is less about riffs on this record than beats. And it's true, Hissi was mostly instrumental, there's no "Meronian" chanting (and certainly none of the faux-metallic operatics of latter-day Circle vocalist Mika Ratto, as found on many more recent albums). The whole "NWOFHM" thing that Circle & friends later invented is also far from evident, this isn't Circle in any of their bombastic, heavy modes at all. It's not truly electronica either, really, but there are a lot of keys, and effects. Synth sounds insinuate everywhere amidst the nervous percolations of the drums and percussion. It's low-key and motorik, moody and atmospheric, quite creepy even (in keeping with the cover and interior photos of a grotesque, grimacing old man marionette). '70s avant or krautrock bands like This Heat and Faust are assuredly influences, and the darkly suspenseful, slightly jazzy results align somewhat with the likes of '90s post rock contemporaries Tortoise and the Kammerflimmer Kollektief. But, as we also said, about Hissi's original release: still like nothing else, exactly. And quite recommended. This new, remastered edition features additional graphics, and a brief 2012 note from sole constant Circle member Jussi Lehthisalo, looking back, saying "this album was the starting point for calmer and lighter days that lasted until the end of the decade", also letting us know that Hissi was indeed written as instrumental puppet theater music!
Then there's Fraten, from 1997. What at the time we referred to as another album of "beautiful repetition" from Circle that was "not quite so heavy or dark as previous releases" but that nonetheless "explores (somewhat) mellower territory with equally hypnotic results as before". Indeed it does. While Hissi had its frightening moments, on the effects laden build up of "Kuukaarme" for instance, Fraten is a sunnier proposition to an extent, bright and playful, though it definitely has some dark undercurrents too (with the doleful double bass and plodding beats of "Kentta = Areend" for instance). But the gentle, lazy groove of something like "Hytti = Ser Ozm" is hardly sinister at all. Circle are clearly keeping powerful forces in reserve, operating with care and restraint. The glitchy electronics and dubby FX explosions that infiltrate these rhythmically propulsive tracks are mysterious, perhaps, but not threatening. Lovely, lovely. We certainly can't decide which album, Hissi or Fraten, we like better, and why should we? Both are great, and definitely (despite some slight lineup differences) belong to the same crucial creative era of Circle output, when the mesmeric art rock ideas of their landmark 2nd album Zopalki were being developed in various new musical directions.
The booklet for the remastered reissue of Fraten includes various graphics (show fliers, set lists, photos) not seen in the original. Also there's brand new liner notes, written by the bass player on the album, Tomi Harrivaara, who was with Circle from 1996-1998. He provides an interesting glimpse into Circle's past, from his perspective. In his essay, the likes of Bernard Hermann, Witold Lutoslawski, Arnold Schoenberg, Philip Glass, and Steve Reich are cited as compositional influences on the songs of Fraten, not such a surprise really.
Another blast (two blasts, actually) from the past, from our favorite Finns. It's been a long time since we've had copies of these, Hissi and Fraten, the 3rd and 4th albums respectively by the now-near-legendary hypno-rock outfit Circle. Originally released on the Metamorphos label, they've been out of print for ages. Ektro Records has finally arranged to put out remastered reissues, for those that missed 'em the first time around. It's interesting to have 'em back, considering them now in context of Circle's subsequent, prolific career in the years since they first appeared. When Hissi came out in 1996, we saw it as a major stylistic shift, but that's before we learned that Circle would amazingly morph through so many unexpected styles as they progressed over album after album - all the while keeping it quite "Circular" though. At the time, we stated that if their first full-length (Meronia) could be described as AmRep grunge meets Gregorian chants, and if the second (Zopalki) entered into a kraut-rocky chamber music realm with strings, etc., then Hissi was Circle's stab at post-rock electronica... The vocals are gone on all but one or two tracks, and Circle's trademark repetitive sound is less about riffs on this record than beats. And it's true, Hissi was mostly instrumental, there's no "Meronian" chanting (and certainly none of the faux-metallic operatics of latter-day Circle vocalist Mika Ratto, as found on many more recent albums). The whole "NWOFHM" thing that Circle & friends later invented is also far from evident, this isn't Circle in any of their bombastic, heavy modes at all. It's not truly electronica either, really, but there are a lot of keys, and effects. Synth sounds insinuate everywhere amidst the nervous percolations of the drums and percussion. It's low-key and motorik, moody and atmospheric, quite creepy even (in keeping with the cover and interior photos of a grotesque, grimacing old man marionette). '70s avant or krautrock bands like This Heat and Faust are assuredly influences, and the darkly suspenseful, slightly jazzy results align somewhat with the likes of '90s post rock contemporaries Tortoise and the Kammerflimmer Kollektief. But, as we also said, about Hissi's original release: still like nothing else, exactly. And quite recommended. This new, remastered edition features additional graphics, and a brief 2012 note from sole constant Circle member Jussi Lehthisalo, looking back, saying "this album was the starting point for calmer and lighter days that lasted until the end of the decade", also letting us know that Hissi was indeed written as instrumental puppet theater music!
Then there's Fraten, from 1997. What at the time we referred to as another album of "beautiful repetition" from Circle that was "not quite so heavy or dark as previous releases" but that nonetheless "explores (somewhat) mellower territory with equally hypnotic results as before". Indeed it does. While Hissi had its frightening moments, on the effects laden build up of "Kuukaarme" for instance, Fraten is a sunnier proposition to an extent, bright and playful, though it definitely has some dark undercurrents too (with the doleful double bass and plodding beats of "Kentta = Areend" for instance). But the gentle, lazy groove of something like "Hytti = Ser Ozm" is hardly sinister at all. Circle are clearly keeping powerful forces in reserve, operating with care and restraint. The glitchy electronics and dubby FX explosions that infiltrate these rhythmically propulsive tracks are mysterious, perhaps, but not threatening. Lovely, lovely. We certainly can't decide which album, Hissi or Fraten, we like better, and why should we? Both are great, and definitely (despite some slight lineup differences) belong to the same crucial creative era of Circle output, when the mesmeric art rock ideas of their landmark 2nd album Zopalki were being developed in various new musical directions.
The booklet for the remastered reissue of Fraten includes various graphics (show fliers, set lists, photos) not seen in the original. Also there's brand new liner notes, written by the bass player on the album, Tomi Harrivaara, who was with Circle from 1996-1998. He provides an interesting glimpse into Circle's past, from his perspective. In his essay, the likes of Bernard Hermann, Witold Lutoslawski, Arnold Schoenberg, Philip Glass, and Steve Reich are cited as compositional influences on the songs of Fraten, not such a surprise really.
It's here! Saturnus Reality is the first ever dvd release from the amazing & unclassifiable (prog? space rock? metal? psych?) Finnish band Circle. And being Circle, the dvd is unclassifiable too. It's not any sort of straightforward live concert film, or even interview-style documentary. Instead, it's more of an art film, a subverted, semi-pretend DIY documentary, with a lot of "meta" elements, ostensibly showing the band recording one of their recent albums (apparently Miljard? we didn't even figure that out) at a remote cabin in the Finnish mountains. For the pristine winter scenery alone, with snowy forests and a frozen lake, this is wonderful to watch. So lovely, it really makes us want to visit Finland!! And making the visuals even more strange and beautiful, director Esko Lonnberg has crafted this film in a visual approximation of Circle's trademark "circular" musical style, that is, with lots of repetition, certain shots recurring again later... it's all quite dreamlike, also because of his extensive use of cinematic layering, ghostly images double or triple projected over what you think is the "real" scene, which shifts in a hallucinatory fashion.
Meanwhile of course, the documentary's "subjects" themselves, Circle, also provide much weirdness. Making the seemingly mundane into something mystical and mysterious, they get up to all sorts of bizarre, ritualistic antics, that seem inspired both by religious ceremony and old silent film comedies. If we hadn't met these guys before, we might think it was a big put-on... well it is, sort of, but not really. They DO act like this, we know! Silly people, with serious purpose. Or the other way around, maybe. In any event, a lot of it is really funny. At our screening, some folks in the audience were laughing out loud. But it helped that they were some of the biggest Circle fans in the room. Others might not have been paying close enough attention to what's going on to notice the humor.
But more than being amusing, Saturnus Reality is simply gorgeous. With all the trippy visuals and Circle's hypnotic music on the soundtrack, it's quite mesmerizing. We've seen it multiple times (we helped host a pre-release screening party for it at a local bar back in February, and also watched it at home more than once), and haven't been bored. But someone who's not already a Circle fan might have trouble getting into it (unless they're big into avant-garde cinema). And even Circle fans have to realize that they're not going to see much live footage of the band in action. They do perform - but not always music! The actual rehearsal scenes are NOT the focus of the film. Instead they're busy filming the filming of this "documentary", indulgently creating their own cryptic Circle mythology in the process, playing characters that may or may not be themselves. Really, rather than thinking of this as a film "about" Circle, it's more like another Circle album, just in a different than usual medium.
It's in Finnish, but with English subtitles, thankfully. And the dvd specs are: NTSC, all region, 98 minutes in length.
Brilliant, shockingly brilliant! Herewith we present to you what we can only say is the headbangingest record yet from our Finnish friends Circle (containing also, paradoxically, a couple of their most gentle numbers). The Circle concept is one of repetition, and while ALL their records are in fact great, one can find some of them to be a lot like another. So it's nice that this new Circle really goes out on a limb, with so much success, while totally managing to remain Circle to the core. How do they do it?
The album opens with "Nopeuskuningas", seemingly Circle's answer to Judas Priest's "Breaking The Law"! Down and dirty hard rock riffing (cyclic and repetitive in the trademark Circle way, of course) with keyboardist/vocalist Mika Ratto -- a relatively recent, and significant, addition to Circle's lineup on their past three or four discs -- simultaneously channeling screechy metal gods Rob Halford (Judas Priest), Klaus Meine (Scorpions), and Brian Johnson (AC/DC), but in an indeciperable, or Finnish at least, babble. It stretches to nearly eight minutes after the space-rock effects and swirly keys kick in. But then, when you think this is going to be The Heavy Metal Circle album, track two gets all mellow and pretty and folked-out, even MORE unlike any previous Circle we've ever heard. Acoustic guitar, and lots of la la la's from Mika. Unbelievable -- and lovely. But then the next song triggers the dormant motorik Circle drum pulse, overlaid with heavy guitars and vocal histrionics akin to the opening track. Plus new wavey/Axel F keyboards. Hit material here! Following that, track four, "Vaanen Valtiatar", heads back to the forest glade where Circle do that hippy jamming again a la track two, but more plugged-in, turning into a spacey jam session. And then, as you might now expect, it's back to the mosh pit for the monstrous rifferama of the next song, "Kylan Suurin Miekka". Evil stuff. This is True Circular Metal indeed. From then on the album maintains the heaviness, getting spacier and spacier though, culminating in the droning fifteen-minute "Lokki".
Wow. An amazing album, making effective use of Mika's unusual/unique vocals -- he's developed some sort of exotic (Middle Eastern? American Indian?) meets metal style, delivered in a manner as over-the-top as the most insane Italian prog of the '70s. Throw in some violin and moog and of course all the heavy metal moves, and you've got a bizarre blend of, uh, Yoko Ono, Hawkwind, Judas Priest, and of course Circle's krautrock forerunners Neu! and Can.
While "Sunrise" is in many ways a departure for Circle, it can also be seen as an album harking back to their hard-rockin' roots (they've nodded that way on the guitar-heavy "Prospekt" and Jussi's Kyuss-ish Pharoah Overlord side project, but you've got to also remember that the very first Circle album, "Meronia", drew quite a few comparisons to Helmet at the time). Recommended.
Finally! We can't even begin to tell you how long we have been waiting to list this. Forever going in and out of print and when available it was always super expensive, Cluster's 1974 album Zuckerzeit has finally been given the proper and readily available reissue (Thanks Revisited!) it absolutely deserves. Probably our favorite Cluster album, it is most notably famous for helming their transition from concrete synth dronescapers to their more well known persona as crafters of pastorally cosmic electronica. Adding crisp and propulsive drum programming to their haunting synth melodies, Moebius and Roedelius split the composing duties with Moebius leaning to the more experimental while Roedelius provides the melodic sheen. Zuckerzeit hailed a new direction and focus in German music of the early seventies, with groups like Kraftwerk, and Neu moving through similar reshapes in sound. Obviously, Boards of Canada and Aphex Twin have spent some time absorbing this album. Timeless and classic, we cannot recommend this album enough!
Although Alice Coltrane released few recordings back when she was performing regularly in the '60s and '70s, several welcome reissues have come to light in recent years. This is the first time on cd for Transfigurations, a live performance from 1976 at
What has to be our favorite British pagan folk psychedelic prog rock album ever (in other words, quite possibly our favorite album ever, period!) is finally available again on cd, and in a gorgeous Japanese mini-lp gatefold sleeve to boot, with the disc itself all state-of-the-art remastered, sounding great.
THIS RECORD SCARES US. Hearing it is like stumbling upon some forbidden ancient ritual that scares you to death. You stand paralyzed, too afraid to look away. Comus's singular, frightening sound and violently poetic lyrics have kept them from taking their rightful place alongside Fairport Convention, Incredible String Band, and the rest of Britain's psychedelic folk royalty.
And we don't write the words psychedelic folk royalty without a certain amount of trepidation. At first glance Comus would seem to fit squarely in the Ren-Faire camp: bongos, flute, oboe, 12-string guitar, and no drummer. But never has the whole of a band so completely defied its parts; their sound is as mesmerizing as it is repulsive. Upon the record's initial release, one British music journalist wrote that she "didn't get past the first track, which sounded like a cross between a frenzied version of the witches chorus from Macbeth, and Marc Bolan being squeezed to death." Funny thing is, that's a fairly apt description. Tales of murder, rape, insanity, and witchcraft unfold amid a swirling abyss of seething acid folk. Squalls of shamanistic wailing jut uncomfortably from serene, tranquil melodies; guttural growls battle a delicate angelic chorus, echoing the violent struggle of the lyrics. Flutes, hand drums, acoustic guitars, and a violin clamber atop one another in a chaotic melee, creating a pagan folk not unlike that of The Wicker Man soundtrack gone totally bonkers.
Although the band has been resolutely ignored by mainstream music fans, the press, and the majority of the underground, a small rabid following has kept a reverential vigil beside the corpse of Comus.
Nurse with Wound cronies Current 93 modeled their '90s sound after '70s British folk, Comus especially. They even went so far as to cover "Diana," Comus's only single, on their album Horsey. Swedish progressive black metallers Opeth have always been outspoken about their love of Comus. Their acclaimed 1998 album was called My Arms, Your Hearse, after the lyrics of "Drip Drip" (on First Utterance). And it's not surprising. This record is so powerful and frightening and totally devastating even 30 years later.
And never would I have thought that a record as old as me, with flutes and bongos fer chrissakes, could be so absolutely malevolent, both sonically and lyrically! But like I said, this record scares us. And we know you like to be scared too!
We were hoping that this new cd edition would include the two bonus tracks from from an early single that the Italian vinyl reissue included as a bonus 12", but such is not the case. Oh well. Still ranks as one of our all time favorites.
Yet another release from Campbell Kneale's (of Birchville Cat Motel) Battlecruiser label, a sub division of his free drone Celebrate Psi Phenomenon label, specializing in METAL, or at least sort-of-metal, or maybe more accurately very heavy music that is the sort of 'metal' music ambient dronesters make when they're trying to get heads banging. So far in the series we've had loads of slow motion sludge metal, some Steve Reich style repeated NWOBHM riffs and even some almost ambient metal. Now we have the Cops. Who don't really sound all that metal at all on first listen. But then again, one man's metal is another man's circus organ flecked industrial sludge spazz grind. Or something like that. The Cops sound a little like the Locust, if the lead guitarist played one of the Fisher Price guitars with the buttons on the neck that unleash noodly squiggly guitar solos, and if the whole thing was recorded on a boom box. Massively overblown recording, super ultra-distorted angular riffs (some very metal indeed), loads of squealing feedback, suffocating washes of distortion over howled banshee vocals, programmed blast beats, and occasional Godflesh like industrial rhythms. Weird but pretty effing cool! Maybe a bit aggro for your typical metalhead. But anyone who wants a quick (11 minutes) furious electronicly grinding drum-machined metallic knee to the nards can definitely count on these Cops!
SUPER LIMITED AS ALWAYS!! NOT SURE WE'LL BE ABLE TO GET MORE WHEN THESE ARE GONE!
Leaps and bounds from their already impressive self-titled debut from a couple of years ago, Crime In Choir's second full length reveals sharper chops both in composition and musicianship. They've adapted a much more prog aspect into their post rock instrumental sound with definite shades of Goblin. A sophomore success from this mathy, Moogy San Fran quartet, who now have replaced drummer Zach Hill of Hella with drummer Jay Pellici of Dilute and 31 Knots. Recommended!
We love Mr. Show. And we LOVE David Cross. And we loved his double cd on Sub Pop, And now we LOVE this DVD. I threw it on only expecting to watch a little chunk of it, but we ended up watching the whole thing and laughing hysterically the whole time. It's not a concert film, in fact there's very little stand up at all, it's more like a tour video, documenting the travelling, and the fans, and the freaks, and the drunks, and the club owners and Cross's unique response to all of them. Highlights include a segment where he hands the mic to a girl in the crowd mid set so he can go take a piss, and the part where he spends an entire set talking about the asshole club owner, who then tries to kick him out after the show, while Cross draws it out as long as humanly possible, tormenting the guy. So uncomfortable. But so brilliant. The whole thing is like that, so uncomfortable it's funny!
Psychedelic rock music inspired by and/or the cause of various psychological anomalies and psychic phenomena! Seriously. The Davis Redford Triad is the fully levitational drone-rock unit centered on the outer-mind guitar explorations of Steven Wray Lobdell (just don't call him Stevie Wray!). He's the bearded hippy with the brow, holding the dog in his lap, both of whom stare out at you from the back cover of this release. You may also know him from his other projects (Baseball Astrologer, Sufi Mind Game, and the lovely acoustic solo set "Automatic Writing By The Moon", also on Holy Mountain). Oh, and of course he's also the guitarist in Faust! Yes, although Lobdell's from the Pacific Northwest, he somehow ended up playing guitar with those re-united krautrockers on their last few albums. Faust of course wouldn't hire just any old long-hair to play guitar, and our favorite 'new Faust' album "Ravvivando" wouldn't have been nearly as excellent without him.
We really liked the Triad's second album, 2000's German-titled but Eastern-tinged "Ewige Blumenkraft" but really, *really* liked their much heavier first LP, "The Mystical Path Of The Number Eighty Six". Originally released in 1997 as a limited edition vinyl artifact, the Triad's debut album has long been in need of compact disc reissue, and at last here it is. This classic has now re-emerged in remixed and re-sequenced form, and includes a theremin track mysteriously missing from the LP version...
It's a really good late night listen, as Lobdell & co. conjur a kosmic kraut vibe via deep, droney instrumental psych jams on guitar and organ, with drums on one track and some electronics thrown in. But mostly guitar, lots of guitar! It's essentially a solo album. Fans of Kejiji Haino (another Faust collaborator) and his band Fushitsusha should dig this...though Fushitsusha can be a lot more abrasive. Lobdell's clouds of distortion are rather more 'round' and pleasant than the extremes of Haino's skree. Yet amid the Triad's transportational anthems you'll find some abrasive distorto-grind to be sure (right in the very loud, very dark first track actually). Other comparisons could be made to guitarists like Caspar Brotzman (at his most Hendrix-feeling), or Blue Cheer's Randy Holden (at his most abstract)...
Truly essential for anyone into heavy drone-psych guitar from Bardo Pond to Population II to Fushistsusha. Even if you have the original vinyl, you should check this cd out, as it's quite a bit different. And look for a new Triad release in the fall.
Finally reissued on cd last year were these three albums by Miles Davis' funky ex-wife, who should be famous in her own right for the tough, heavy duty '70s funk she waxed on those records. Now they're available, briefly, as LPs once again, but we've only got a couple of each and don't think we'll be able to get more (they're limited or something), so you'd better hurry on down if you want to get down with Betty on vinyl.
Reissue of 1975's "Nasty Gal", Betty Davis' third album of sexy funk. This one is more of the same, maybe a little more "rock" than before. Slightly less essential than the others.
Finally reissued on cd last year were these three albums by Miles Davis' funky ex-wife, who should be famous in her own right for the tough, heavy duty '70s funk she waxed on those records. Now they're available, briefly, as LPs once again, but we've only got a couple of each and don't think we'll be able to get more (they're limited or something), so you'd better hurry on down if you want to get down with Betty on vinyl.
Her second album, "They Say I'm Different", continued Betty's Afrodelic party, with guests Buddy Miles and others, and made the list of "100 Records That Set The World On Fire" in The Wire magazine a few years back. And it features a song specifically about ex-husband Miles, "He Was A Big Freak"!
For all aficionados of the Funk, here's cause for celebration! The long-awaited cd reissues of these early '70s albums by Betty Davis, ex-wife of Miles (famously, the subject "They Say I'm Different"'s second track, "He Was A Big Freak")! Betty belts out her lowdown lyrics over some super heavy funk grooves, kinda like a rawer version of Lyn Collins backed not by the JBs but by the swampier P-Funk band. Betty doesn't hold back and her band does their best to match her attitude. Both records (her third, "Nasty Girl", still awaits reissue but should soon be making the scene) are the quote unquote bomb. The self-titled one is her 1973 debut, and features jams like "If I'm In Luck I Might Get Picked Up" and "Game Is My Middle Name". Larry Graham's the bassist, and Neal Schon (!) appears on guitar. The follow-up, "They Say I'm Different", continued Betty's Afrodelic party, with guests Buddy Miles and others, and made the list of "100 Records That Set The World On Fire" in The Wire magazine a few years back. Tough, sexy funk classics unearthed, don't miss 'em!
First of all, this album is undeniably incredible. Secondly, if you don't already own this or the expensive Complete Jack Johnson Sessions, buy it. For yourself, for friends, for your stuffed animals, whatever. Make sure you have a copy around you at all times. This album, the object of cult-like fascination for decades, is now remastered and easily available once again.
Inspired by his own deep passion for the art of boxing, Miles created this soundtrack in 1970 for the documentary about legend-in-his-own-time boxer, Jack Johnson. A time change in the very first couple of measures hints that the two twenty-five minute tracks here were captured mid-jam. Musicians involved on these sessions also worked on Bitches Brew (1969) and include John McLaughlin and his soon-to-be fellow Mahavishnu Orchestra member Billy Cobham on, respectively, guitar and drums; electric bassist Michael Henderson; soprano saxist Steve Grossman; accidental walk-in Herbie Hancock on Farfisa organ; and, on the second track, "Yesternow," an uncredited Sonny Sharrock on additional electric guitar. Jimi Hendrix was also meant to be involved but sadly shuffled off his mortal coil prior to the session. Even without the Hendrix element, Tribute is by far the closest Davis ever really came to ROCK. Not your typical white pop-song/performance-driven rock of the time (for instance, The Who and other artists who joined Davis at the legendary Isle of Wight festival in 1970), but a deep, spacious jazz funk rock fusion that one would absorb introspectively rather than conjure up an immediate energized reaction. This "music" was way ahead of its time. Rock audiences of the time couldn't fully grasp Davis' electric direction here, and on the flip side, jazz audiences/critics blasted him for his deviances from classic (acoustic) jazz. It may sound a little gratuitous, but honestly it's as totally mind-blowing today as it must of been then, perhaps and hopefully now more welcomed by a broader audience. Again, we must insist you BUY THIS NOW. You will not regret it.
You know when you buy a present for your boyfriend (or girlfriend) and it's really so you can enjoy it yourself -- also fondly called Homer Simpson gifting? Well, I have to admit my own HSG guilt, the gift being this Miles Electric dvd. Honestly, I wasn't really sure what to expect. But man, am I glad I bought it for "our" enjoyment. It's an incredible look inside later period (electric) Miles Davis. With in-depth and well-edited interviews of his Isle Of Wight era musicians (Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea) as well as Carlos Santana, and others, this documentary explains how the Electric took shape in the eyes of Miles, in the studio (with Bitches Brew) and in juxtoposition to the acoustic jazz establishment from which Miles' electricity exploded to a seriously unprepared audience.
The unfolding dramatization culminates with the 1970 Isle Of Wight Festival performance by Miles and his septet before 600,000 festival-goers in its 38 minute entirety. Some extra talking head style interviews give further explanation of Miles at that time. The film itself could be critiqued at length, though its interviews render such a full story, there should be no doubt of this documentary's importance.
Finally this all-time AQ favorite is back in print!
Dawn Of The Dead is pretty much the greatest zombie movie ever made. It definitely set the standard, and EVERY walking dead movie since has basically just been a riff off the original. And of course the Goblin score was amazing, proggy, scary and occasionally silly, but always perfect in some unlikely way. But most of the REALLY scary parts weren't scored by Goblin but instead were one of over 2000 musical cues used in the film. This comp collects some of the longer cues (many were mere seconds long, that in the context of the film were perfect, but wouldn't make for good listening here) and some of the most memorable songs that weren't included in the Goblin score. Most of this stuff is creepy and scary and totally brings back all the spine tingly feelings you had the first time you saw the movie. But there are also some super dorky bits that were as much a part of the film and its subtle (or not so subtle) humor. There's the opening track "The Gonk", a goofy, bouncy ragtime / cartoon music workout, the hippy country folk ditty "Cause I'm A Man" played by the Electric Banana (which just happened to feature members of the Pretty Things!!). And who can forget the scene in the mall, and the weird medley of marching band / ragtime / progressive rock organ workout that accompanied it? But outside of those whimsical moments, the rest of this collection is really really intense and spooky. From creepy, slithering orchestral drones, shimmering gongs and tinkling chimes to Bernard Hermann-ish suspenseful minor key soundtrack stuff, all tense strings and foreboding DUH DUH's to scary outerspace synth sounds, reverbed and super affected to good ol' classic Halloween / Friday The Thirteenth style horror movie suspense music. So awesome!
We had a reissue some years back of this soundtrack but the audio was terrible (sounded like somebody had taken the soundtrack straight off the speaker of their Zenith television set). Now it comes remastered, apparently from the master tapes by the sound of it, and err.. expanded. If you've only seen or heard of one porn film it's most likely going to be Deep Throat. It was for a long time (and may still be) the highest grossing independent film ever. It's even made it into US political history in the form of the informant so named by Woodward and Bernstein during the Watergate brouhaha. Fitting then that, according to the liner notes, Richard Nixon was said to posses his own personal copy at the Whitehouse (Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. apparently also had copies). Deep Throat brought porn kicking and screaming into the mainstream. While much of the music is typical of your standard porn soundtrack: raunchy funk with loads of wah-wah guitar and peppy hammond organ, there are also plenty of atypical numbers including a laid back, let it all hang out cover of Mickey & Sylvia's "Love Is Strange". But the best track, or worst depending how you look at it, has to be the ballad "Deep Throat To You All" with breathy male vocals singing "deep throat, deeper than deep, your throat... don't row the boat, don't get your goat, that's all she wrote". It's truly truly inspired in that special way, like a classic song poem. Like those Deep Note compilations, Light In the Attic has included some of the finer parts of the movie's dialog for your enjoyment. Also included as a bonus is the soundtrack to Deep Throat's incredibly unsuccessful sequel. The music here is a pallid imitation of the original film's score, but you can take it or leave it at this price. Included is a full color booklet with a personal account on the film's impact by one viewer and an interview with Ron Jeremy on the film and its legacy.
Repressed and back in stock!!
Our original review: It is incredible that this prog damaged pop group from San Francisco, which thrives on simplicity, can continually create complexly playful and riddling compositions while maintaining a bashful earnestness that totally offsets any and all chances that their musical prowess and ingenuity will falter into the category of 'wank'. Through Deerhoof's ten year existence, there have been numerous changes in personnel and instrumentation, but even through these variables there is a solidarity and consistency in the songwriting that is uniquely Deerhoof. While not as wildly cacophonous and volatile as 1997's The Man The King The Girl, there has been a return of sorts here (as on last year's Apple O') to a certain looseness that had been held back on the lushly crafted Reveille. Milk Man, their sixth long player, maintains the taut rock sound perfected on Apple O' whilst introducing more sonically diverse elements to the everyday Deerhoof palette (most notably: crackling electronics, horns and/or woodwinds - is that a flute or a pocket trumpet on 'Milking'? - synthesizers and organs, and what sounds like to these ears, a Happy Apple*?) John Deiterich and Chris Cohen's awkwardly perfect harmonizations weave into Greg Saunier's John-French-by-way-of-Keith-Moon drum blasts, emblazoned with Satomi Matsuzaki's mesmerizing vocal ornaments on rockers like the opening title track, 'That Big Orange Sun Run Over Speed Light' and 'Milking'. The lovely 'Desaparecere' is an electronically backed number that evokes the Brazilian work of Joao and Astrud Gilberto (though the lyrics are in Spanish rather than Portuguese...). The previously released single 'C', is reprised here in all its hand-clapping and falsetto glory. As beautiful and bewildering as past releases, what I think shines through most on Milk Man is its cohesive solidarity as a single album.
*for those who are curious (like Allan, who had to ask), a Happy Apple was a children's toy made by Fisher Price in the seventies. It's basically a six inch tall plastic apple with a happy face that, when shaken, makes a pretty polyphonic "chiming bells" sound. Kinda like windchimes, but muted since the elements which makes the sounds are encased in plastic. If you crack one open, you'll see that it's a simple circular design of four or five metal rods of varying length, with a pendulum-like ball in the center that hammers at them when agitated. I have a few of 'em at home, I always pick them up at flea markets. No two sound exactly alike! Anyway, there are occasional chiming sounds on this new Deerhoof record that I suspect are in fact from a Happy Apple, but I could be wrong...
We've reviewed a bunch of fine DVD releases over these last few lists, but out of 'em all, my pick for the raddest has gotta be this Devo DVD. Of course, they're probably in my (Allan's) top five bands of all time list, so I'm somewhat biased already.
Lots of Devo fans may have seen much of this already on video tape or even laserdisc (there's several clips included here of the Devo boys explaining the virtues of the futuristic laserdisc format) but now you can see that stuff again, and more besides, on this DVD. You get the original Kent State post-graduate student film In The Beginning Was The End: The Truth About De-Evolution, that started it all and introduced the world to such characters as Booji Boy and General Boy and some mighty odd and awesome pop tuneage. Then there's pretty much all of Devo's pioneering, wigged-out music videos, from Come Back Jonee and Satisfaction through Whip It and Girl U Want to Through Being Cool, Love Without Anger, and Peek-A-Boo. And more. All amazing, fairly low-budget (rubber masks galore), and completely cracked. A couple of the songs from the tail end of their recording career aren't so hot but that's a small fraction of the mostly-genius-stuff on here. Then there's the special features, which include an historic b&w video clip from the first ever Devo gig (1972!), a bonus video (Bruce Connor's Mongoloid), an interview with Devo video collaborator/instigator Chuck Statler, still photo galleries of Devo memorabilia that are so extensive you have to watch 'em in slow motion, and -- perhaps best of all -- a bonus audio commentary track for the majority of the disc done by chief Devo spuds Gerald V. Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh! That alone makes this pretty much essential to all true Devo fans, even if you already have the original stuff on video cassette. Hours of de-evolved fascination and fun await, an incredible dose of Devo philosophy, history, music and visuals.
Back in stock! There was quite a run on these recently after Pitchfork gave this a rave review...hey didn't anyone read *our* review of this some months before? Anyway, we've got a few more (at a slightly better price, the label repressed 'em and made 'em cheaper too) and here's what we said about it before: Like fellow Swede and AQ-fave Bjorn Olsson, Gustav Ejstes is a brillant timewarped melody-maker. Though, his "solo" project Dungen sounds more like a band than Olsson's albums do. Wunderkind Ejstes is certainly enamored of '60s/'70s psych-pop and his obsession has borne some fabulous fruit. This is his third album to date (the first being a vinyl-only affair we have yet to hear, the second being the now-hard-to-find Stadsvandringar cd that Allan raved about on our list two years ago). So we were pleased to hear about the release of Ta Det Lugnt. It rocks more than the last one, being brasher, with more in the way of electric guitar frenzies in a Hendrix kinda style. But otherwise it's pretty similar, with Ejstes singing his hook-filled songs in the same somewhat nasal, Swedish langage voice as before. There's jazz jamming, folk frolics, and plenty of fuzz. A retro trip indeed from searing electric rippage to spaced-out, sentimental melodicism.
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
Upon their release, Paid In Full (1987) and Follow The Leader (1988) were instant classics. Pioneering the recipe of simple beats, perfect samples (including a first use of James Brown) and powerful bad-ass rhyming with super smooth flow, EB&R led hip-hop into new territory and have since not quite been matched in their effortless style and effectiveness. If you've lost your cassette tape versions of these classic albums and didn't go for any earlier overly expensive reissues, here's your chance to get 'em pretty true to the original album with only a few new remixes.
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
Upon their release, Paid In Full (1987) and Follow The Leader (1988) were instant classics. Pioneering the recipe of simple beats, perfect samples (including a first use of James Brown) and powerful bad-ass rhyming with super smooth flow, EB&R led hip-hop into new territory and have since not quite been matched in their effortless style and effectiveness. If you've lost your cassette tape versions of these classic albums and didn't go for any earlier overly expensive reissues, here's your chance to get 'em pretty true to the original album with only a few new remixes.
We've gotta admit it, due to this comprehensive double cd collection of songs by the legendary Roky Erickson, those of us that weren't already are now newly devout fans of his work. Sure, we always liked his hits with '60s Texas psych pioneers the 13th Floor Elevators, of course, but god DAMN. Wow. This collection touches on the best of the 13th Floor Elevators while moreso elaborating on the multitude of music Roky created afterward, solo and with his band The Aliens (among others). Of course we knew that "You're Gonna Miss Me" was a stone classic of slightly-psycho garage-psych, and that 'chooga-chooga' electric jug sound (the 13th Floor Elevators' trademark) has also never failed to fascinate. But somehow we'd never investigated much further, thinking that perhaps the sad saga of Erickson's life (a psychedelic drug-damaged downward spiral) might be more interesting than his music. How wrong we were... disc two here is all post-1980 and a lot of it is brilliant. And of course totally weird.
Maybe you know the story of how, after the inevitable break-up of the LSD-fueled Elevators, Roky was busted for pot in 1969 and, given the choice between spending time in jail or in a mental institution, he chose the latter, claiming insanity. Doing so, however, only led him to suffer through painful shock-therapy and liquid thorazine treatments, rendering him more frail and emotionally damaged than before his admittance. Years after this "therapy", while living in a housing project in Austin, Erickson was busted for mail fraud. He had been stealing his neighbors' mail, taping it up on his apartment walls, unopened. So, you get the gist that the fellow's mental state is precarious at best, right? Add his obsession with schlocky horror films and you get songs like "I Think Up Demons" and his band being called Bleib Alien (bleib, an anagram for Bible).
So, disc one (22 tracks) starts off with a bunch of his '60s singles with The Spades and the 13th Floor Elevators, before moving on to the first of several "comebacks" in the mid-'70s. The songs that followed his institutionalization were either blissful country-type psych tunes or outer-space paranoia-laced ragers. "Starry Eyes" is one of our favorites. A beautiful, earnest, heart-felt melody and that lends loveliness to his throat-scratched lyricism. And then there's "Click Your Fingers Applauding The Play." Not really sure how he got his guitar to sound like that, but it's pretty amazing. Searing and raging with electricity. Really, there are so many amazing tracks on the first disc. Listening to 'em all, we were half-expecting the second disc to pale in comparison. BUT NO. It's totally jammin with his later-era songs, 21 of 'em. One (new) fave of ours here is the doomy "Bloody Hammer" from 1981 which totally makes us understand how that Swedish band Witchcraft was influnced by Erickson just as much as by Pentagram -- it sounds so much like it coulda been on Witchcraft's album! But even as late as '95 Erikson was releasing solid material in his inimitable style. With the same effectiveness in songwriting capability as later-era Johnny Cash, Erickson offers us "True Love Cast Out All Evil" (from 1988) among others.
Yup, this anthology is some essential stuff all right. And it's nicely packaged with liner notes that give a pretty good biographical picture of Erickson and detail the music and its players. You gotta check out the incredible assortment of photos too!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Very cool, fancy import vinyl reissue of this Carpenter classic (and onetime aQ Record Of The Week), from a mysterious UK label who have just started doing a whole series of uber desirable soundtrack reissues on lp. We're always going on about John Carpenter, citing his music as a big influence on a lot of underground bands today, and this is definitely a good example of what we love about his stuff.
Here's what we said about this when we made the cd reish a ROTW back in '05:
Why are we making a soundtrack for a movie from 1983 starring Kurt Russell (who hams it up in a piratical eye-patch) our Record Of The Week, this week? Well, we've got a few reasons... first off, the music is awesome and we love it (good reason right there). Secondly, this cd has been out of print and hard to find for several years now, going for silly sums on eBay, sought after by soundtrack collectors and electronic music fans.
While director John Carpenter is known for making quite a few classic films in the B-grade horror and sci-fi thriller genres (Halloween, The Thing, Assault On Precinct 13, The Fog, They Live etc.), it's perhaps not as well known that he personally composed the soundtrack music to many of his movies, starting with his first flick Dark Star back in 1974. Working out of a home studio with what was technically advanced equipment at the time (machines which would now be considered awesomely vintage), he composed electronic music soundtracks that some might say are even better than the movies themselves. Certainly they're worthy to stand on their own, anyway (just like Goblin's soundtracks for Argento's films). Carpenter's compositions have influenced other musicians, and not just soundtrack writers. Anyone who loved the Zombi album we recommended last year needs to have some John Carpenter in their collection for sure!
And we recommend Escape From New York as being one of his best. Somehow it combines a lot of stuff that we figure a lot of you like: suspenseful Goblinesque darkness, droning old school synths, kitchy Disco Not Disco style NYC '80s groove... Loaded with claustrophobic nervous tension, these tracks make use of taut, minimalistic, hypnotically repetitive rhythms that make us imagine an Electro version of AQ faves Circle. The atmosphere is further enhanced by the inclusion of sound FX from the film and snippets of dialogue - the tough guy banter of Kurt Russell's wiseass anti-hero "Snake" Plissken is priceless, especially due to Russell's constipated Clint Eastwood delivery.
Set in a dystopian, wartorn then-future of 1997, Escape From New York sends "Snake" into the maximum security prison that the island of Manhattan has become to rescue (at pain of death) the President of the United States, who is being held captive there by the city's "inmates" after Air Force One made a particularly poor choice of a place to crash-land! The film also stars the likes of Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine, Harry Dean Stanton, Adrienne Barbeau, Donald Pleasence, and Isaac Hayes, all of 'em capable of chewing the scenery right along with Russell. You definitely don't need to have seen Escape From New York to get a kick out of this soundtrack, but the movie is an enjoyable '80s action thriller worthy of its cult status and listening to this will probably get you to go rent it.
Carpenter composed and performed the score in association with sound designer Alan Howarth, whose home studio (stocked with an ARP Quadra, an ARP Avatar with 16 step sequencer, a Prophet 5 programmable analog synthesizer, and a Linn LM-1 drum machine) was used for the recording. Howarth was further responsible for remixing and remastering the album for the release of this "expanded edition" which first appeared in 2000. It includes several cues originally meant for scenes deleted from the theatrical release of the film, and runs to over 57 minutes in length. 'Bout time it was back in circulation!
This vinyl version includes a poster of its exclusive over art, by Jay 'Iron Jaiden' Shaw, along with liner notes from both Howarth and Shaw.
How many other groups can you think of that have been equally embraced by the house, the hip hop, and the punk scenes? There ain't no one but ESG. The four black Scroggins sisters from the South Bronx formed their band in the late '70s (mom bought 'em intruments to keep them off the streets). They released their first single on Factory in the UK, and on 99 Records (No-Wave home of Liquid Liquid, Glenn Branca, etc) in the US. So not only did they play with groups such as The Clash and Gang of Four, but their single "Moody" was a bona fide disco hit, and the B-side of that single "UFO" has become one of the most recognizable, most sampled parts in the history of hip hop. Everyone from LL Cool J to 3rd Bass to Marley Marl to Big Daddy Kane has sampled ESG, you will be AMAZED when you listen to these original tracks. Super stripped-down, raw percussive tracks with enough groove to make a girl forget she's not swimming in jewels. Three full lengths and a couple of singles later, ESG (Emerald Sapphire and Gold) gets the best-of treatment in this excellent compilation of the group's best tracks (including Windy's personal favorite "Erase You": "Well I got news for you boys / I'm gonna erase you / just like a drawing / Erase you / flush you like my toilet / Pump it up girls!"
We've been wanting to correct a glaring omission from our site for some time now. Well, its not so much an omission as it's an overdue update on a very old review; one that was made when our reviews served only as shelf-talkers in the store instead of entryways into the vast online catalog of our website. And now with an affordable reissue with a bonus disc of rare BBC radio sessions and alternate versions, the time is right to reappraise this mighty, weird, and awesome jewel of classic krautrock greatness that is Faust IV.
Essential as any krautrock album we can name, including Can's Tago Mago or Future Days, Amon Duul II's Yeti, or Neu! 1, Cluster, Kraftwerk etc. It's also the record that coined the term "krautrock" which is the title of the nearly 12 minute opening track, a thick pulsating rumble of motorik groove that out-Neu's Neu!. But things definitely get stranger after that with bizarre forays into reggae, pretty ballads, prog, pop and free jazz. Yet for all the weirdness, this is the record to get if you've never heard Faust before as it's their most accessible and structured. Not nearly as kaleidoscopic and avant as, So Far or Faust Tapes, and even with the genre-hopping, the songs all seem to belong together. "The Sad Skinhead" has got to be the most left-field excursion into reggae we've heard, complete with marimba passages and echoing vocals, while "Jennifer" has to be about the prettiest song ever made. Each song linked together by odd passages of detuned piano, far away screams and noisy stews of synth warbles and feedback stabs. "Giggly Smile" obviously influenced Battles recent debut Mirrors, as strange effected vocals accompany groovy prog excursions that abruptly shift tempos into one of our favorite rocking moments ever put to tape before suddenly ending, launching into the sublime folk groove of "Lauft... Heisst Das Es Lauft Oder Es Kommt Bald... Lauft". And it just keeps getting better and better.
The bonus disc features many alternate versions of the songs including a much longer version of "Just A Second (Starts Like That!)", plus rare BBC radio sessions of two songs "The Lurcher" and "Do So" and one previously unreleased piece, called appropriately "Piano Piece".
This is definitely one of those records, where we wish we could just invoke some physical force to reach out and grab you through the computer by the shoulders and just scream "Buy this already!!!!!!"
Faust's third album (or fourth if you count the Tony Conrad & Faust "Outside the Dream Syndicate" album), originally released in 1973, is now available for the first time on cd with the original artwork (excepting the box set) instead of the horrible cover
