Along with the Harmonia Live 1974 cd that we're making Record Of The Week, the Water label has reissued the first four solo records of Harmonia, Kraftwerk, and Neu! veteran, Michael Rother. We're reviewing our two favorites here, the others we should get to on a later list.
We'd assume that the majority of AQ regulars are largely familiar with at least one of Michael Rother's projects. Whether it be his his work with Kraftwerk, Neu!, Cluster, or Harmonia, Rother's contributions to the last 30 plus years of music are innumerable. Still, his solo work that has been conspicuously absent from most write-ups and record shelves. Perhaps that's because the early '80s saw Rother in a bit of transition period from his Krautrock glory days to a point where he embraced New Age with arms wide open. Despite naysayers, New Age isn't necessarily a four letter word. Not necessarily. But fear not, while embracing New Age, Rother didn't -- or perhaps couldn't -- completely abandon his musical past. Thankfully, the fine people at Water have made the first four Rother albums available once again, lovingly remastered and repackaged with original art and new liner notes.
Sterntaler is from 1977 and is Rother's second solo work recorded by Conny Plank and featuring Can's Jaki Liebezeit on drums. Similar in scope and feel to Cluster's more pastoral efforts, namely Sowiesoso, Rother's signature gliding guitar playing is recognizable throughout. Think Neu! light. And that's not a diss, although Andee thinks it sounds like an eighties movie montage or the background music in a timeshare video presentation. But you have to remember, Andee doesn't like Can either... And put in context that Rother's first solo album Flammende Herzen sold more than all Neu! records combined, we might understand why Rother would pursue this more New Age-ish direction. And if you're gonna listen to New Age, then stuff like Rother and fellow (former) krautrockers Ashra and Deuter is the way to go. In any event, Sterntaler definitely reaches to the heights of late-period krautrock a la Cluster and for curious fans is very worthy of your time. Lovely and recommended.
Woah! Francais Metal de Proto!!! Dunno if y'all remember a cd-r mix that was floating around a few years ago, featuring such obscure & amazing early '70s French proto-metal, heavy psych acts as Docdail, Les Variations, Chico Magnetic Band, Quo Vadis, Zoo, and this band, Rotomagus. It caused a bit of sensation 'round these parts. Seriously, there was some incredible, ahead-of-its-time heaviness on there. So whenever we track something down by any of those bands we get pretty dang excited. And this is the best reissue related to that to come along yet, an anthology of the complete recorded works of this group, responsible for the raucous, more proto-punk than proto-metal really track "Fighting Cock" on that comp, which also featured Rotomagus' equally radical singles tracks "Eros" and "Madame Wanda". Those are all here, of course, as well as five more tracks from 45s, and entirety of the band's even more maniacal final unreleased 1971 demo session, which includes rawer versions of "Fighting Cock" and a few of the other singles cuts too... 17 tracks in all. Quite a treasure trove!
Now, as we've previously discussed, a LOT of awesome music came out in 1971. But very little if any of it was quite as freaked out and fucking punk as "Fighting Cock"! Elsewhere, among the tracks here, there ARE some poppier, melodic moments, which only make the aggro acid rock explosions of most of the rest of the disc seem even more insane. Certainly the two flowery tracks from the band's debut 1969 single, lush and la-la-la filled, don't provide any warning of how crazed Rotomagus would sound just a year or two later. Too bad the band never got to record a proper album, but presumably the record company heard the full-length demo found here and, shocked, pulled the plug on Rotomagus's career, robbing the world of an early entree into a realm of Raw Power that it would take Iggy & the Stooges another couple years to achieve... Seriously, this stuff is proof that Rotomagus belong in the annals of the "early heavy", high energy division, alongside the likes of the Stooges, MC5, Sir Lord Baltimore, Jerusalem, Night Sun, Crushed Butler, Colored Balls, Cerebrum, May Blitz, and Detroit's Death.
So, if you want a disc full of distorted stomp, wailing wah-wah'd out geetar, and wild vocals, look no further! There's fuzz and FX a-plenty, plus schizoid proggery and other weirdness (like the chipmunk vocals of the single version of "Laureline"). The Hendrix-y title cut is almost tame by comparison to some of the rest of this stuff, which comes off like the Pink Fairies at their most punk... It's funny, France turned out some bands in the late '70s who sounded like the Stooges (Angel Face, Soggy) but who knew they had one this early too?
As with all Lion reissues, nicely appointed, with a 32 page booklet full of liner notes, in both English and French, including the (practically frothing with amazement and disbelief) review of the "Fighting Cock" single that the Seth Man originally scribed for Julian Cope's Head Heritage website a few years ago...
FYI there is also a double lp vinyl version of this planned for release sometime this fall.
There's some awesome old school metal anthems here, though we'd never heard of this band before... how's that? Well, the brilliant thing about Germany's Roxxcalibur is that it's like these guys realized, hey why should they knock themselves out trying to write brand new heavy metal songs when there's so many forgotten gems from the NWOBHM era, killer cuts that only appeared on 7" singles or compilations (like 1980's seminal Metal For Muthas) that they could simply learn and play instead?? All properly credited of course, to the extent of getting the go-ahead - and liner notes - from the original artists.
We jump at any chance we get to use the term "NWOBHM" in a review, or any variant thereof (like NWOFHM). We love the NWOBHM, and heck we love -saying- NWOBHM (pronounced nuh-wobbum). So this is for us. But if we have to explain that NWOBHM stands for the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (a late '70s/early '80s phenomenon of major world historical import!) then well maybe this album by Germany's Roxxcalibur isn't for you. Or then again, maybe it is, if you want an unusual introduction to the NWOBHM.
At first when we heard about this, we were a little skeptical... we're not that into tribute bands normally, and that's what Roxxcalibur are, a very respectful NWOBHM tribute. Roxxcalibur themselves agree, admitting in the cd booklet that they don't much care for tribute bands either. But then, they're not a typical tribute band doing hits by U2 or AC/DC or The Doors or whatever. Nope, how can you argue with this? Thirteen hand picked NWOBHM gems, most of 'em really REALLY obscure, dug up and dusted off by these NWOBHM mega-fans (dudes from a couple German power metal bands that you, and we, have never heard of). Classic tracks brought back to life, to be heard and headbanged to once again. Obviously, seeing this band play live would be a blast (sadly, that's not gonna happen unless we plan a trip to Germany) but this album of theirs is (for us) pretty hard to resist.
You won't find anything by biggies Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, Diamond Head, or Saxon here. Though apparently Roxxcalibur do some songs by better-known bands like those live, they wanted to keep their album pretty much a lesson in obscure classics. The most famous names covered here would be Grim Reaper, Savage, and Witchfinder General. We also were familiar with Chateaux, Jaguar, Dark Star, and Cloven Hoof. But we actually hadn't ever heard of the rest of the bands covered before, we don't think. Jameson Raid, Bleak House, Trident, ARC, Radium, J.J.'s Powerhouse?? Nope. Now we'll have to look out for those on comps and reissues...
They also didn't need to put any Iron Maiden on here for the simple reason that most of this sounds like it could be by Iron Maiden anyway, what with all the galloping guitars, soaring vox, fantasy tropes, and rough n' ready rockin'!
A lot of this wouldn't matter either way if Roxxcalibur weren't, y'know, good, but we're glad to say they seem more than competent. They've got the right spirit -and- the chops to pull this off. We haven't compared any of these tracks back to back with the originals, but the ones we were already really familiar with, like "See You In Hell" and "Let It Loose", sounded pretty much dead-on. The singer's German accent isn't particularly noticeable, and he certainly can hit the high notes.
It's a classy effort all around, from the aforementioned track-by-track commentary from members of the -original- bands included in the thick cd booklet, to the painting on the cover by authentic NWOBHM associated artist Rodney Matthews, to the way the album starts off with the chimes of London's Big Ben! All that going a long way to making this more worthwhile than the "tribute" tag usually suggests.
Heck if this was an album of originals by an all-new metal band, we'd be hailing it as a remarkable retro metal masterpiece. As it is, it's still probably the best album ever released by Limb! (Though, we'll always have a soft spot for Luca Turilli's King Of The Nordic Twilight.) Unlike the generic modern day Euro power metal that label mostly traffics in, this actually rocks. And also displays much more in the way of stylistic quirks, imagination, or basically what you could call originality (ironically enough) if you didn't know this was all a tribute.
If people get into Roxxcalibur, rest assured, they'll have a long career. After all, this album already only reflects a portion of their set list, and there's plenty more ol' NWOBHM nuggets for them to attempt. Maybe next time they'll do some Rogue Male. Or Quartz. Or Tysondog. Or Tokyo Blade. Or Sledgehammer. Or...
Aquarius customers probably know this band already, the famed hardcore progrock bass/drum duo from Tokyo led by drummer extraordinare Tatsuya Yoshida. They're big favorites of several AQ-staffers, being one of Allan and Jeff's favorite bands ever!
This new Skin Graft cd collects (as its title suggests) tracks from the first six years of the Ruins career, which, as great as the Ruins still are today, may have been their best era. There's the happy, hectic (Hella-like, to reference another two-piece we've recently raved about) really early stuff from when Hideki Kawamoto was the Ruins' bassist, and then more massive, majestic material from later on with bassist Kazuyoshi Kimoto and then Ryuichi Masuda (yep, Yoshida is currently playing with bassist number four). About half of these tracks are from long-out-of-print Japanese releases, while (the second) half of the disc pulls from the Ruins' two Shimmy Disc albums, which are also more-or-less out of print as well (the reason we say 'more-or-less' is kinda complicated, ask Allan if you care). And the tracks selected (by Yoshida, who also remixed and remastered 'em) do make for a good "best of" -- we'd have picked many of the same tracks ourselves. (Though Yoshida should have included "Power Shift" from "Burning Stone"! oh well).
Ok, this part of the review is for fellow Ruins fanatics: basically, you don't need this ONLY if you already have the "Burning Stone", "Stonehenge" (the original Shimmy version with the bonus tracks that is), "Ruins III" (aka "Infect"), and "Ruins II & 19 Numbers" cds. Otherwise you definitely need this!! Not to mention, these tracks are remastered, and you probably don't have the track "Cambodia" from the "NG II" comp... And if you've got the rare "Early Works" Ruins cd, don't worry, none of those recordings are on here.
Everybody else -- this is a great collection that we'd highly recommend as a starting place for your Ruins experience, although you'll eventually want to hunt down their out of print cds too, to hear the entire albums. Essentially, essential.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Allan's favorite album ever? Yes, also this one.
Relisting this in case you missed it on our mystery themed in-between list last week (we gave it a new, expanded write-up just for that).
"Japanese duo on John Zorn's domestic label." Good grief, is that ALL we wrote about this when we first listed it way back when (1995)?? Might as well say that the Beatles were "a British quartet on London-based label Parlophone". There's a lot more to the story.
First off, bass and drums two piece Ruins are/were probably our favorite crazy underground Japanese band, next to the Boredoms. Drummer/mastermind Tatsuya Yoshida is a musical genius, and if you've been paying attention to our site over the years you're read our raves about many, many of his various albums and projects, from Ruins to Koenjiyyakei to Korekyojinn to Zubi Zuva... etc., etc.
Hyderomastgroningem (that's a mouthful!) was the first Ruins disc to come out on Tzadik. It features bassist Ryuichi Masuda, who also played on their out of print classic Burning Stone (1992), and may in fact be the only Masuda-era Ruins disc still in print, as well as being the last one that he appeared on (Ruins has had several bassists over the years, all of them amazing, but Masuda was our fave).
There's 20 tracks here of the Ruins' complex, heavy, stripped down Magma-inspired prog madness, some continuing the catchiness of Burning Stone and earlier works, others getting more imrov-like and experimental and noisy... super distorted bass, faux-operatic (and nonsensical) vocals, Yoshida's usual octopoidal drumming, repetitive rhythmic bludgeon... it's all here, along with unique touches to this album, like a track where Masuda plays a radio, for instance.
Japanese duo on John Zorn's domestic label.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Back in print! And a "Special Edition" to boot, meaning Skin Graft have made some slight changes to the artwork and, more importantly, tacked on five previously unheard bonus tracks! That makes for 25 tracks in total of frantic riff-packed precision prog punk on this collection of unreleased studio (4 and 8 track recordings) and live material from one of Japan's most amazing bands, the heavy & hyper drum/bass duo led by Tatsuya Yoshida. Originally released in 1997, this disc featured four songs with former bassist Ryuichi Masuda, while the rest heralded the debut of then-new six-string bass man Sasaki Hisashi (since departed, from Ruins that is). The live tracks also have guests from Boredoms/Omoide Hatoba, Tipographica (a saxophonist, for maximum jazz-Ruins dementia) and other bands, jamming on some of the Ruins' "greatest hits", including such favorites as "Hyderomastgroningem", "Burning Stone", "Dhaskrive", "Del Fanci Kant," and "Infect" (that one particularly enhanced with some intense synth keyboard action). The studio material includes some songs originally written as far back as 1988 but never before recorded, all super killer stuff to say the least! We should mention the track "Still Life", a good portion of which almost sounds like something by Italy's Sinistri, it's so abrupt and sparse. Fittingly, the disc ends with their now notorious prog-rock medley, referencing dozens of obscure riffs -- from King Crimson, Yes, Gong, Goblin, Rush, ELP, Samla Mamas Manna, PFM, Caravan, Area, Magma (of course), and many more -- in a lightning-fast fury. Recommended for all Ruins fanatics of course, probably even if you already have the old version, thanks to the bonus tracks...
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Allan's favorite album ever? Possibly. The domestic debut of Tokyo bass/drum duo Ruins, who when I (Allan) first heard 'em seemed like the unholy melding of the Boredoms and the Melvins. Essential heavy, energetic avant-rock genius.
Fans of the Japanese underground progcore "Zeuhl" two-piece Ruins have been waiting... and waiting... it's been a while since the last Ruins album. Probably 'cause mastermind (and drummer) Tatsuya Yoshida, busy with a million other projects, has apparently never found a suitable replacement for the other half of the duo, bassist number four Sasaki Hisashi having left after 2002's Tzomborgha. But now, he's decided, he doesn't need another bassist. He doesn't need anyone. That's right, he can simply (or rather, complexly) play all the parts his own self!!! Now, we'd not have thought it possible if we hadn't seen him perform solo before, octopoidally attacking drum kit, bass pedals, keyboard, headset microphone, guitar, etc. But he's a maniac, and he can do it. Sure, presumably this studio recording utilized overdubs (it must have) but we wouldn't be at all surprised if he's able to do pretty much the same thing live, Thrones style, somehow.
So, here's the record. 23 tracks, about half of 'em brand new, utterly over the top compositions, the other half being "alone" versions of earlier Ruins tracks (including such old faves as "Grubandgo", "Cambodia", "Dharskrive", "Hyderomastgroningem", "Stonehenge", and "Sanctuary")... plus, as bonus tracks, two of the Ruins' now obligatory medleys - a "Prog Rock Medley" and "Hard Rock Medley", both gleefully ADD insane. Oh, and as another bonus, the surprisingly lovely & placid piano piece "Notturuno".
So, we're not sure if Ruins Alone is the way Ruins will be from now on, or if he's still just waiting for the right bass player to turn up, but for now anyway, if you want Ruins, this is it. And Yoshida (of course) pulls it off! Pretty freaking amazing. Y'know how Ruins already sounded like way more than just 2 people? Same goes here, dude's a one man multitude. While hyper-spastic as always (doing it all by himself sure doesn't slow him down!), Ruins Alone IS a wee bit different sounding than most previous Ruins, in that instead of heavy 5-string bass you get shredding, sizzling keyboards, and that's what makes the many tracks here that are renditions of past Ruins numbers especially interesting to hear for those familiar with the originals. The sound is still quite heavy and fuzzy but also uniquely synth-y, it's like some sort of crazy new wave, Nintendo version of the Ruins here, retro-futuristic in a remarkably "now" sounding way.
IF you're new to Ruins, you certainly could start with this, but we'd recommend checking out the proper duo recordings as well (Burning Stone, if you can find it!!). This as a taster, though, would help determine if you're crazy enough to become obsessed with this "band" or not. And longtime fans, YES you want this. More proof that Yoshida rules, even alone!Which we've known since his solo debut, Magaibutsu, back in 1991...
This Swedish band has been rumbling along for untold eons now (well, it's actually been probably just six years or so, but their music seems more ancient than that). Their doomy tarpit dirge and sludgy trudge conjure prehistoric visions, and their lyrical bent towards the occult also sets them in a cosmic, not human, time frame. But their true ancestors aren't dinosaurs and demons, they are bands such as Hellhammer/Celtic Frost from the '80s and the death metallers of the '90s. Sounding as if it was recorded by torchlight, Runemagick's latest is a 73 minute death knell tolling of Hell's bells, with unrelenting riffage, drums beating like black leather wings, and some sort of eternal, underlying bass drone that's always just under the surface. These unlucky thirteen tracks often seep and segue into one another, making invocations unbroken and epic. It's super heavy stuff with death metal vox, weird atmospheres and arcane inspirations, tough to catagorize exactly (experimental doom death? how about "Monolithic Death", the title of the first track here?) but something we think the doomiest subset of AQ customers should like. Imagine some sort of cross between Corrupted and Candlemass, ordinary death metal slowed down and ritualized...
At last, reissued -- as a 'real' cd (not a cd-r) and cheaper too! This debut DJ/Rupture mix disc was a big hit here at Aquarius (and elsewhere too, apparently). We'd been getting the cd-r version on /Rupture's own Soot label direct from the man himself, but those are no longer available. Kid606 stepped in and signed DJ /Rupture to his Tigerbeat6 label, with a new /Rupture set called "Minesweeper Suite" due for release on August 27th. But, in advance of that, the Kid's other label, Violent Turd, has made the "Gold Teeth Thief" set available once again. Packaged in one of those plastic clamshell cases, with nought but a sticker for artwork, this remains a budget release, but a welcome one. It's also apparently a limited edition reissue, so if you missed it before, don't sleep on it now!! Here's our original glowing review, backed up by being named one of the top 50 best albums of the year by The Wire:
This is one of the best mix cds we've ever heard. And it's not about insane turntable skills, or about that 'isn't-it-weird-and-crazy-how-I've-juxtaposed-hip-hop-and-classic-rock' gimmicky stuff or about how famous or cool the DJ is (in fact, I bet you've never even heard of DJ /Rupture, an American living in Spain). It's about his choice of songs, and how smoothly and creatively they're mixed (live on 3 turntables). This cd is just an amazing and deft mix of dance hall (traditional -and- HARD ala DJ Scud etc.), hip hop, dub and electronica. Nothing fancy just 70 minutes and 43 tracks of some of our favorite shit: Missy Elliott, Nas, DJ Scud, Barrington Levy (a different track than his contribution to the amazing 400% Dynamite compilation, but you'll recognise his oh-so-familiar 'Woah Wooah.'), Nettle, Dead Prez, Bounty Killer, Kid 606, Venetian Snares, Luciano Berio, Shabba Ranks, Non Phixion, Wu-Tang Clan, Cannibal Ox, Djivan Gasparyan, Sub Dub, John Wall, Oval, Project Pat, Muslimgauze and even Paul Simon/Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Miriam Makeba (ending all smooth and pretty with no beats at all). Wow.
British jazz guitarist Ray Russell has been having a renaissance of sorts, first with two albums early '70s albums reissued on import, now with this domestic double cd on Jim O'Rourke's Moikai label. Known for his guitar freakout on the Dr. No soundtrack album (?!), Russell has had a fairly low-profile career, but can count among his fans the likes of O'Rourke, Henry Kaiser, Rudolph Grey, and Alan Licht. The latter contributes very personal liner notes in which he compares Russell to Masayuki Takayanagi, Sonny Sharrock, Jimi Hendrix, and John McLaughlin, concluding that Russell is, for him, the ultimate free jazz/psychedelic rock fusion guitarist. Licht: "Heavy metal guitar heroes are getting harder and harder to find (after all, you don't see Brad Gillis on too many magazine covers these days), and free jazz can be a bore after awhile. This CD restores my faith in both."
Russell's band was definitely a jazz group, with sax, trumpet, piano, etc. appearing on most cuts, but with Russell's solid body guitar skree taking things into the realms of rock, psych, and beyond. Gorgeous stuff. This collection includes both live and studio versions of Russell's most killer composition, "Stained Angel Morning". Thanks, Jim, for making this stuff available!!
What would you think if someone described a band to you, as sounding like a mix of Butthole Surfers, Black Flag, the Brainbombs and black metal? Want if they went on to describe the band's sound in more detail, and they came up with something like "thick oozing ultra distorted, totally chaotic, drone drenched, drugged out, noisy as fuck, weirdly hypnotic, punishing and pulverizing, scuzz drenched doomic plod"? Well your first thought, if you were anything like us, would be "could such a band actually exist?" It does sound too good to be true. Your next thought might be "well okay, if a band like that did exist, not only would they be scary as shit, they'd also probably be my favorite band EVER."
Thus we have Rusted Shut. Going on 20 years now, these Texan noisemakers have somehow only managed two proper records and a single or two, each one of those jammed to overflowing with the abovementioned thick oozing ultra distorted, totally chaotic, pulverizing scuzz drenched plod. When we reviewed their Hot Sex ep, we alluded to the fact that if said ep wasn't an ep, wasn't vinyl only, wasn't over a decade old, and wasn't WAY too fucked up for most normal ears, it would have not only been out Record Of The Week, but our Record Of The YEAR. Of our EVER! Well, it's as if whatever God enjoys inflicting sonic torture on his children heard our prayers and conjured up this festering bit of blackened noise punk brilliance from whatever pit these guys call home.
It's rare that a band 20+ years old makes a record on the tail end of 20 years even half as good as the record that started it all, but we're tempted to say, this just might be the heaviest, freakiest, most brutally brilliant thing we've heard from these guys so far. Which is indeed saying a whole hell of a lot.
The opener "Home", is 5 minutes of blown out punk-drone, the guitars unwinding in thick gnarled tangles, moaning and rumbling and howling, a dense undulating layered swell of roiling sonic filth, fragmented riffs, squiggly downtuned Greg Ginn-ish guitar scrabble, the drums skittery and abstract clouds of cymbal sizzle, bursts of free rock splatter, while over the top, some sort of harsh, whiskey soaked punk rock testifying, spouting all sorts of misanthropic misinformation, like a post punk noise rock gutter scum Whitehouse. The music grows more and more frantic, faster, more freaked out, the various streaks of sound coalescing into riffs, that blur into still more smears of sound, the song an exercise in droned out filth caked tension.
Then there's "Heart Of Hell", total old school punk rock, but filtered through a sort of washed out lo-fi Brainbombs dirginess, the main riff, total classic punk rock, but locked and looped, and played over and over and over and over, totally trancelike, the vocals just as sneeringly scowly as on the first track, but once they drop out, the song locks into a total droned out punked up krautrock groove, that sounds a bit like Circle covering the Brainbombs, albeit doused in crumbling distortion and blurred reverb and delay.
Then comes "Intellect", 15 minutes of total blown out garage dirge bliss, the sound so in the red, that every time a cymbal hits, it swallows up the rest of the sound, the vocals so loud it sounds like the singer grabbed you by the head and locked his lips around your ears, you can feel his hot hellish breath and the spray of spittle. But all the while the music underneath, grows more and more distorted and somehow more and more hypnotic, so damaged and fractured that it sounds like the song might crumble into pieces at any moment. But that's just the first few minutes. Soon the band switch gear and the bass EXPLODES, like suddenly while the band was playing, the bass player went out to his truck and got 3 or 4 more amps and just let fucking loose, low end overload, everything acid drenched and psychedelic, the sound of speakers frying, of headphones melting, the vocals garbled like speaking in tongues, the bass unleashing a sludgey doomy groove, the song an endless noise rock blown out druggy musical brawl that makes the Butthole Surfers at their fiercest sound practically tame.
This song more than anything here reminds us of our first live run in with these weirdos. At SXSW this year, they played an instore, everyone was waiting to see the Mayyors, but Rusted Shut were just destroying the place, super noisy and scuzzy and awesome, and they just NEVER STOPPED PLAYING. The homeless-looking singer/guitarist guy kept getting shocked by the mic, so eventually he simply walked outside, after leaning his guitar up against his amp... some punk dude in the audience then picked up the mic, and freestyled some "I hate SXSW" lyrics... when he was done and threw the mic down, it seemed like the drummer and bassist would wrap it up, but instead they kept on jamming... and jamming... and jamming� then the guitarist came back in after being outside for what felt like (and pretty much WAS) ages, picked up his guitar, and then it seemed like, OK, this must be the grande finale... but that was only the beginning!! They literally kept on playing for another half hour at least. After a while, most of the crowd had gone outside to wait for the Mayyors, driven away by the bands wall of harsh vibes and skull stomping crush, and someone even joked that they should shut the doors of the shop and lock Rusted Shut inside...
These guys are lifers, they're insane, a total mess, which is the only way a piece of glorious sonic filth like this could ever happen. This is not music made by nice guys slumming it, by punk rockers getting their hands dirty, no, this is the sound of old guys pissed and insane, hell bent on punishing the rest of the world, a furious plod and pound fueled by hate, and misery, and drugs. Lots and lots and LOTS of drugs. And that instore, for all of it's confusional chaos, is pretty much the exact same vibe captured here. That is what this band is all about. About relentless endless riffing, hypnotic crustpunk dirges, wild damaged Neanderthal noise rock. The sick sick energy of Rusted Shut is an anomaly. This is not music, this is the sound these guys conjure up from their dead souls and black hearts, a fucked up noise drenched hardcore psychedelic space sludge whathtefuck that's just about the greatest thing we've ever heard.
We're pretty into twisted psychedelic music. The more twisted the better. And that mutant strain of weirdo psychedelia that is CHRISTIAN psych, somehow that seems even weirder and more ridiculous. Even though in some strange way, both Christians and psychedelic freaks were each trying to attain enlightenment, albeit by very different means. Which makes it all the more glorious, to hear the squares try to co-opt the super hip, in hopes of luring some of the lost toward the light. It rarely worked, and in most cases had the exact opposite effect, portraying the co-optors as painfully out of touch, and even more impossibly square. However, Brother John Rydgren might just be the exception. This Lutheran pastor very nearly pulled it off, due in no small part to his amazing voice, equal parts Ken Nordine and Orson Welles, his radio show a twisted dizzyingly psychedelic meditation on love and sex, war and death, set to some seriously fuzzed our psych rock. This double cd collects his three late sixties lps, which were originally only distributed to radio stations and churches (the radio stations instructed to burn them after broadcast, hence their rarity), and it's some of the craziest, coolest stuff you'll ever hear. Every once in a while, when we're playing this in the store, and people are freaking out, laughing, not believing what they're hearing, we sometimes jokingly ask if folks are ready to convert, but listening to this now, it's actually not that far fetched to imagine that back in the day, Rydgren could have really pulled it off, making Christianity cool and convincing druggies and hippies that somehow, that was the more righteously psychedelic path. Really, all it takes is a listen to the opening track, "Music To Watch Girls By", with its fuzz guitar crunch, and exotica vibe, all tropical horns, and groovy rhythms, Brother John intoning over the top, sounding way too lascivious as he describes one girl from head to toe, her lips, hair, her body, her lipstick, hearing that impossibly deep voice say things like: "She likes to be watched", "It's creamy", "Looks like she's ready for a happening", obviously there's a punchline, but it's a pretty uncomfortable wait, until he finally explains, that God created people, girls included, "Quite a design". "God made it", he explains, so you can think about it next time you're out watching girls, he doesn't want to take the fun out of it, it just makes girl watching... mean more! Holy shit, how cool is this Brother, it's okay to watch girls, just know that those gorgeous honeys were created by the man upstairs. And it doesn't get any less weird.
"Personality Doll Of The Week" is a weird anti-war sketch, where a nerdy scientist pulls the string on the back on the Personality Doll Of The Week, and she continues to say the same thing over and over, no matter what question he asks "I don't like war, I think everybody should love everybody else". Then there's "Mercy Mercy Mercy", which lays down a bluesy gospel groove, with Brother John, prosthelytizing over the top. Some seriously sweet sermonizing, and that voice, that VOICE!! Keep digging, up next is the "Hippie Version Of The 23rd Psalm", where Brother John rewrites that iconic psalm in hippie speak, with lots of baby's, and cool's, and dig's, and man's, all over a wild organ driven psych rock freak out. But it's the next track, "Rinky Dink", that sealed the deal, with Brother John's stentorian lyric reading, over another groovy fuzzy psychedelic jam, and thee most ridiculous chorus, Brother John delivering this line in a deep deadpan: "One, two, three, four, rinky dink". Groovy and ridiculous, and sorta crazy catchy too!
It stays relentlessly far out, warped and psychedelic, the music pretty great, choirs, sitars, fuzzed out surf guitar, tribal drumming, streaks of feedback, even some cool collaged experimental soundscapes, replete with samples of popular songs and fragments of Christmas carols, there's "To Sir With Love", a stately bit of baroque pop, over which various women describe love, and how to treat their man, and how their man should treat them, there's "The Happening", where Brother John interviews various people: Smokey Robinson, both Peaches and Herb from Peaches And Herb, one of the guys from the Association, one of the guys from Paul Revere And The Raiders, and bunch of others about God, and their faith, and how drugs are not the way to attain enlightenment, all peppered with Brother John again explaining: "They're young, they think, and some of them live what they think", there's the sultry sitar driven "Dark Side Of The Flower", with Brother John again sounding disturbingly sensual, there's a "Christmas Montage", that mixes Christmas carols, with horrible samples of news reports about people dying from drunk driving, rats overrunning neighborhoods, crying babies, so bizarre!
The whole second half of the first disc finishes with 20 one minute tracks called "They Say", each one a different vignette, delivered over some groovy psychedelia, each one finishing off with Brother John delivering the solution, beginning with the words "They say�" And again, some of them are disturbingly 'sexy', all about what men want, want couples need, etc., and of course, Brother John explains what 'they say' and ties it all back to God. Wow.
The second disc starts off with the "Cantata Of New Life", a sprawling 26 minute epic, rife with choirs, and orchestras, call and response vocals, very dramatic and cinematic, and of course the whole thing's peppered with plenty of fuzzy psych, and Brother John's deep sonorous voice, reminding us a bit of another recent Record Of The Week, William Sheller's Lux Aeterna. But then we get back into yet another collection of his radio broadcasts, and if it's possible, things get even creepier, Brother John in conversation with some mysterious woman, about dying young in car crashes, going AWOL, there's a track about computers, which is goofy and crazy, there's one about how God made rhythm, and more more more. Finally, the two part "This Is Silhouette", a weird collaged soundscape of fuzzed out psych, Brother John telling us how it is, and interviews with young people talking about God and drugs, and one final psychedelic sermon from Brother John!
Seriously incredible stuff, warped and wonderful, disturbing and inspiring in equal measure, fans of sixties spoken word, Christian psych, outsider music of all stripes, weirdo radio broadcasts, and other Omni releases, this one just might take the psychedelic Christian cake!
Packaged in a swank full color six panel digipak, with a huge booklet, with rare photos and extensive liner notes.
You gotta love this band. First off, best band name EVER. Really. Except for the fact that it could get 'em confused with the British rapper The Streets, this band's acronymic moniker S.T.R.E.E.T.S., which stands for Skateboarding Totally Rules, Everything Else Totally Sucks, can't really be beat as a band name. The album title is pretty good too, as is the skeletal skater carvin' in the prog parody cover art complete with faux Roger Dean logo. Or at least that's what we think, and we don't even skate! Too bad they broke up (members went on to Bison B.C. and Children, the latter of whom were possibly named after one of the songs here). But at least this, their third and final album, originally released in 2005, is again available, now reissued in a digipack with 5 bonus tracks! Keep the dream alive!!
The disc starts off with a skit, yes about aliens invading from the Planet Gnars... there's pretty piano, sci-fi warfare sound FX, and a portentous voice-over... before the face-melting retro-trash skatecore riffage of track two "Keep The Dream Alive" kicks in and the band goes off. Spiralling guitar frenzies, chugga chugga riffs, throat ripped vocals, gang shouts, pick squeals, adrenalized hook in mouth songwriting stylez. We're hearing many parts Megadeth, Iron Maiden too (the wooahh-ooaha-ooohs!" of "Peace On Earth" ferinstance, and some galloping action elsewhere), some D.R.I. crossover of course, a touch of Motorhead, and maybe even we're catching a hint of Heart's "Barracuda" in here someplace. Sweet. But whoops, then when you've got 'em pegged as whirlwind skankin' skate party thrash metal, they'll do somethin' like suddenly slow it down and get all moody and post rock there for a minute, like right in that very first song in fact. So S.T.R.E.E.T.S. has some twists, obviously a sense of humor ("Armageddon Wasted" is a song title here... geddit?), and most importantly, they totally rip. Simply bad ass and infectiously grin-inducing, surprisingly melodic mosh fodder.
The ironic thing is that the S.T.R.E.E.T.S. motto that forms their name is proven to be untrue, by the band themselves. Cause they couldn't possibly be skating and playing this music at the same time, and this disc definitely falls into the Rules, as opposed to Sucks category. Basically there's NOTHING that's not ruling about this. They're even Canadian (from Vancouver). It'd be stupid not to have this in your collection, since you're gonna wanna be spinning it all the time, and looking at that cool skeleton on the cover. Equally recommended to fans of 3 Inches Of Blood, and Annihilation Time...
Got something here for fans of Jex Thoth, the No Neck Blues Band, AND weird religious cults... there's probably some overlap there, we imagine! The Ajna Offensive, best known for black metal releases by the likes of Deathspell Omega and Funeral Mist, and also that fancy Bobby Beausoleil box set not long ago, now bring us the Sabbath Assembly, singing "glorious songs of praise to Lucifer, Satan, Christ, and Jehovah". Huh? These are indeed REAL hymns, and all from one church. Some would say, cult. The explanation: ever heard of the Process Church Of The Final Judgment? This is their music, "reProcessed" by a contemporary psychedelic (super)group of underground musicians, including Jex Thoth of, um, Jex Thoth on vocals, David "Xtian" Nuss (NNCK, Angelblood, Under Satan's Sun), and Randall Dunn (Master Musicians Of Bukkake)!�So you can expect this will be ominous and esoteric.
The subject of a recent Feral House book, the Process Church was a '70s phenomenon, of course, a kind of apocalyptic Jesus-freak cult with radical political dimensions. We're told they wore black cloaks (always cool) and had German shepherds (really?). We first heard of 'em years ago thanks to George Clinton's band Funkadelic, who for a while in the early '70s were, if not followers, at least supporters of the Process Church, who presumably had a chapter in Detroit. Several Funkadelic lps feature Process Church teachings (propaganda?) on the sleeves. The music of the Sabbath Assembly doesn't sound much like Funkadelic, though. Not quite that funky! Nor are they metal as you might assume from the label... it's actually often pretty, mellow stuff, presumably sounding close to what the Process Church folks themselves sounded like when singing the Lord's (or Lucifer's?) praises back in the day, these hymns very hippie sounding, churchy and folky, but also garagey, with twangy guitar and groovy organ, building into throbbing rhythmic psych workouts. It even gets a bit jazzy in spots ("The Power That Is Love"). Still, while this isn't heavy in the guitar dep't the way Jex Thoth's regular band is, it is definitely "heavy" in terms of subject matter. Jex is the perfect vocalist for this, her dramatic, devotional delivery at once both innocent and intense, sincere and sinister. Her exaltations and exhortations rise from a delicate whisper to commanding, demanding heights, sometimes unaccompanied, at others, with backing vocals reinforcing the message.
Be warned, this ain't Sunday school. When Jex asks "will you serve the will of God?", it seems like you had darn well better answer (yes!). Dunno if the Process Church is still around (haven't read the book yet) but if they are, there's a good chance this record might recruit some converts... And at least, it's certainly making us curious to read that book. Creepy, yes, and quite catchy too, we can understand why these folks were drawn to reinterpreting these songs. Though of course curious about what the original source material was (lyrics? vintage recordings?). Perhaps it says somewhere inside the lp packaging, we haven't checked for liner notes as yet. This was produced in association with Feral House, so it would seem the Sabbath Assembly had access to whatever inside archival info there was on the Process Church's musical activities.
As "religious" recordings go, this is what we dig! For fans of Jex of course, and Yahowah 13, Family Jams, Sounds Of Ascension, and other "cult" audio... recommended! For now, vinyl-only, 180 gram, gold-colored. There will also be a compact disc version, out later this month sometime.
These self-styled German "Wargods of Metal" return with their third album of pure, unrepentant, and ever-so-slightly ridiculous heavy metal. Definitely an acquired taste, but one that Allan has definitely acquired! Like their European brethren Hammerfall, these guys are all '80s and epic, but are a lot heavier and rawer. No keyboards, no ballads. Previously, most of their songs were not just metal, but ABOUT metal (as with this album's "Metal Is War" for instance). But with this release Sacred Steel have forged a concept album of sorts, the songs linking together to tell a story of an ancient empire and alien gods or something. Anyway, you'll either love them or hate them, and the main deciding factor is what you think of the singer's voice. He's no boring blond-tressed clone, but styles himself after the bizarre banshee wail of original Saint Vitus vocalist Scott Reagers. The result, however, sounds closer to what you might imagine (if you can) Jello Biafra would sound like singing power metal at a high pitch. In other words, warbly and weird. But I love it. He's got personality, a factor totally lacking in most metal "singers". He sounds a bit silly, and I think he knows it. But it's how he wants to sing, he's expressing the unbridled spirit of metal within himself and somehow it really works (for me anyway). Better than the smooth, generic croon of that Hammerfall dork!
Gotta mention the latest from these German wargods of metal. Speedy, yelpy metal in the '80s Metal Blade tradition that is. Some of us here are big fans of this metal for metal's sake band, in part 'cause of the love 'em or hate 'em vocals of lead warbler (it says here "communicative siren channel", actually) Gerrit Mutz, who (as we've said before) sounds like what we'd think Jello Biafra would if he decided to front a power metal band. Gerrit puts his all into his dramatic vox, which range from high-pitched shrieks to melodic crooning to deathly growls. Meanwhile, the other members of Sacred Steel crank out the fist-pumping tuneage, their ragin' retro riffage totally catchy and exciting and utterly without any pretense or sense of irony.
Sacred Steel are all about madness, metal, Satan, speed, slaughter -- sophisticated stuff like that. So we'd suggest that more "mature" folks, cool kids, and of course poseurs should stay far away! If you're a true metalhead though (particularly one who already digs Mutz' vox) this album is a headbanging delight, taking at least one doomy detour with the slowly chugging, grandiosity of the track "The Black Church". Oh, and there's a computer-playable videoclip included for the track "Maniacs Of Speed".
Finally the 'forgotten' Saint Vitus album, C.O.D. (which stands for Children Of Doom, not Cash On Delivery, nor Care Of The Devil) gets its due with this first ever reissue, complete with bonus tracks. When this album originally came out, back in 1992, it was almost the end of the line for the veteran LA doom squad. Their '80s SST era, touring with Black Flag, long past, Saint Vitus, forever born too late, soldiered on. This was their sixth full-length album, and the only one to feature vocalist Christian Linderson, who was drafted in to replace previous frontman Scott "Wino" Weinrich after he jumped ship for greener pastures - his other band, The Obsessed, was signed to a major label! (For about five seconds�).
Linderson, also known as "Lord Chritus", was best known at the time for fronting cult Swedish doomsters Count Raven, and went on post-Vitus to sing in such bands as Terra Firma, Lord Vicar, and Goatess. His melancholy Ozzy-esque wail was of course a good choice for Vitus, though he sure had big boots to fill, and despite his abilities can't help but rank third amongst Vitus's trio of terrific vocalists (Scott Reagers #1!!!!). Not his fault though that Reagers and Wino were both so godly, and Linderson does a fine job here. Likewise, the music is prime Vitus, being ultra heavy and psychedelic garage punk Sabbath dirge rockers with lots of fuzz and muzz, guitarist Dave Chandler's wild and noisy leads cutting crazily through the cobwebs of these horror-stricken songs. The production, courtesy of (fun fact!) none other than Don Dokken, who was a childhood friend of Vitus drummer Armando Acosta, is somewhat more modern and clean sounding than had previously been the Vitus norm, but music this slow and low just can't be glammed up. And Don sure didn't stint on the bass frequencies.
While C.O.D. is probably nobody's absolute top Vitus fave, its ghoulish Jack-O-Lantern grins and grimaces are not to be neglected either, so true doonheads should consider the remastered reissue of this underrated record quite welcome - as are the two rare bonus tracks now included, "To Breed A Solider" and "The Chameleon".
Doom. Vinyl. Die Healing. Need we go on?? Doom metal fans, probably all you need to know is that this album by LA godfathers of doom Saint Vitus, never before on vinyl, and long out of print on cd, is now here. However, we will go on...
Nobody could have guessed it back in 1995, when this album was first released, but 2010 is shaping up to be a pretty good year for ol' Saint Vitus. Not just one reunion show, but an extensive, well-attended tour! Vinyl reissues of their SST era records (we've got some in stock, getting more soon)! And this, a lovingly crafted vinyl version (first time on wax!!) for what was their 7th and final full-length studio album before calling it quits! We also hear rumors of a NEW album being made. However, as much as we'll be excited to hear it, there's no way they can top THIS.
While it might have been their final record, a last hurrah, hardly noticed by an uncaring world, it was also one of their best ever. For one thing, it marked the brief return of their original and best vocalist, the amazing Scott Reagers. Apologies to Wino, who's fronting the band for their current reunion... Some will differ, Wino certainly has his fans, we like him a lot too, Born Too Late and Mournful Cries are great albums, but let's just say there's no other singer quite like Scotty Reagers. Vitus was lucky to have had him in the first place, and lucky to have had him back for this. His dramatic and dynamic delivery, gloomy and ghoulish, yet classic castle-metal through and through, keeps us spellbound. Guitarist Dave Chandler steps up with some great sludgy slo-mo Sabbathy riffs (of course) and wah wah'd out, psychedelic punk soloing (of course). The atmosphere is sooooo despairing. Opener "Dark World", later covered by Reverend Bizarre, is a classic, what a riff! But that's just the beginning... "One Mind", "Let The End Begin", "The Sloth", "Return Of The Zombie", heck all the tracks are awesome, any Vitus fan should agree. The entire album harks back to the feeling of their first few records in the mid '80s, really as if Reagers had never left the band. And again his singing is crucial here, over the top wailing with a wretched, grotesque edge to it. Emotive and eccentric. Perfect for the plodding, fuzz-filled creepy-crawls that fill this pestilent platter. He might be singing about sloths and zombies (he IS singing about sloths and zombies) but damn does it sound sincere and MEANINGFUL - ignore him at your peril. Drop the needle on this and learn what it is to be doomed!!
While we should also list the abovementioned SST reissues, many of them must-haves too, this seemed even more exciting 'cause so few folks ever got the chance to get it, the cds were imports and it was one of the last releases on the label (Hellhound) before it folded. And like we said, there never ever was vinyl. Now there is, and fairly deluxe vinyl at that, complete with embossing on the cover for the Vitus logo. And yeah, of course it's limited... even if it wasn't, though, you gotta get it, we'd just be telling you to buy two of 'em!!
There were other great underground metal bands in the '80s who practiced what doom messiahs Black Sabbath preached: Trouble, Candlemass, Witchfinder General, Pentagram... But it was LA's Saint Vitus who took the Sabbath sound to even further extremes.
Doing a service to the doom community at large, Southern Lord follows up their reissue last year of the long out of print Saint Vitus album V (originally released on the German label Hellhound) with another reissue of an equally long-gone Hellhound release, the Saint Vitus live album, aptly titled Live. Recorded on their second European tour in the fall of '89, this includes live renditions of such classics as "Born Too Late", "Dying Inside", "Look Behind You", and "Clear Windowpane", as performed by the Vitus MK II lineup that featured Scott "Wino" Weinrich (of The Obsessed, later of Spirit Caravan, The Hidden Hand and Place Of Skulls) on vocals. Southern Lord's deluxe re-packaging preserves the original's awesome cover photo (one that makes Wino look like one scary dude, and guitarist Dave Chandler like a really insane hippy freak) and adds a swank 32 page booklet of previously unseen photos (note Chandler's sweat-drenced Dinosaur T-shirt in several of the pics). There's also a short paragraph of new liner notes by Chandler as well, who, always the wise-ass punk, observes that "the print on CD sleeves is always too fucking small to read, so what's the point?"
Basically if you're a Saint Vitus or Wino fan it's hard to see how you wouldn't want this! If you're not already into these guys, it'll certainly provide you with a handy collection of some of Vitus' best tunes, but we're not expecting to sell many of these to the Vitus-ignorant. This is for the fans, old and new. People who'll dig the between song stage banter, and truly appreciate the extended guitar jamming portions sometimes added to their tunes in the live setting. Yessir, this is a hour+ of ponderous riffage and wah-crazed soloing, warts and all, as only Vitus could muster. All hail.
"Welcome to darkness!!" It's a red letter DOOM day here at Aquarius, with the arrival of this long awaited reissue! For some reason, SST had never before released these essential Saint Vitus records on compact disc. Now they're here, officially together on one cd, the LA doom legends' 2nd full length album Hallow's Victim and subsequent 12" ep The Walking Dead, both first unleashed back in 1985! Plus, a bonus track!!
There were other great underground metal bands in the '80s who practiced what doom messiahs Black Sabbath preached: Trouble, Candlemass, Witchfinder General, Pentagram... But it was LA's Saint Vitus who took the Sabbath sound to even further extremes. They were heavier, slower, doomier than anyone else. Psychedelic, wasted, DOOM. Both of these essential doom documents boast the unique vocal presence of Vitus' original singer, Scott Reagers. As we've no doubt mentioned in other reviews, it's been a subject of some debate 'round here about who was the best Vitus vocalist, Reagers or his replacement, Scott "Wino" Weinrich. Whatever your preference, we'd hope you agree that Reagers was pretty AMAZING, his dynamic, dramatic banshee wailings somehow like an unholy hybrid of both Ozzy and Dio! But way more twisted, wretched, and over the top than even that would sound. And although the recent Vitus reunion lineup is with Wino, when we saw 'em, Wino made a point of paying tribute to Reagers, talking about how awed he was to have to try and fill his shoes back in the day. (Man, we wished we'd been at the show in LA, where Reagers did show up on stage to sing a few songs!).
Containing classic tracks like "White Stallions", "War Is Our Destiny", and "Mystic Lady", we can't recommend disc this highly enough to any traditional doom fan who doesn't have this stuff! Druggy frizzy fuzzy punk rock burn out Black Sabbath worship doesn't get much better (maybe Vitus's self-titled debut from '84 edges this out). While guitarist Dave Chandler is technically a mess, he sure had a knack for writing a riff, and his demented wah-happy soloing makes up in sheer psychedelic chutzpah what it lacks in chops. Drummer Armando Acosta and bassist Scott Adams revel in the slow and low, respectively (though Vitus do crank up the speed at plenty of spots on this disc, actually). And then there's the mournful cries of Reagers on the mic, delivering the goods, proving that a scuzzy band of stoners from LA playing the '80s hardcore punk rock circuit might just have had the best metal vocalist of all time EVER... well that's what some of us here think, anyway. Hear for yourself.
The bonus track happens to one of our favorite songs in the Vitus catalog, "Look Behind You". This is the original recording of that tune, as sung by Reagers, taken from SST's 1986 Blasting Concept Vol.II compilation (it was later redone with Wino on the Thirsty And Miserable ep in '87).
Norway strikes again! The amazing Salvatore (not to be confused with the cryptic No Neck Blues Band offshoot K. Salavatore) is a mostly instrumental five piece band from that Scandinavian country. They share a lot with their Finnish neighbors (and AQ-faves)
But Salvatore's urgent, headnodding music possesses a gorgeous charm of its own, as there's a lot more in the way of psychedelic guitar burn and use of feedback in their compositions than is usual with Circle. Some other bands that Salvatore seem to reference along with Circle and Neu!: Can, Pell Mell, Flying Saucer Attack, Village of Savoonga... not bad company.
From the first moment we heard this band, we thought: wow, we've *got* to get more of these, Salvatore is a natural for Aquarius! It took us a couple months, but we were finally able to import a bunch of both their first and second albums at a good price direct from Europe. And, after playing them in the store, we're pretty sure we were right about 'em -- we sold some immediately! So good. Both discs are totally recommended, with "Clingfilm" (2000) being overall more structured and melodically catchy and "Jugend" (also 2000) being perhaps more heady, intense, and soundscapey. And both, of course, are not just recommended, but *mandatory* for fans of Circle!
Yes, at last! The new Salvatore is here! We've been trying to get this, their fifth album, for AGES. For whatever reason, these imports were tough to come by, but finally we've got 'em. And now that it's booming through our stereo here at the store, we know that it was worth the wait. First off, the love of Neu! still beats strongly in the hearts (and, um, beats) of these mostly instrumental Norwegian post-rockers. That motorik percussion propulsion that we love too. Instant hypnosis in other words. Which means that they're still very much of the "Circle-ular" persuasion, leaning towards the likes of Tortoise and Trans Am too. Tortoise's John McEntire did the mix, in fact (and contributes drum machine on one track, "Brugata"). That's alongside drums, guitar x 2, organ, bass, "bassdrones", xylophone, vocoder, "sitter" (sitar?) -- and each track has a slightly different, usually expansive line-up of musicians and instrumentation. The bass and percussive elements are always quite strong, of course, but Salvatore still manage to make their music quite delicate too -- and although Luxus remains on the lighter side of Salvatore's output (the "poppier" path they've followed since 2002's Fresh), there are certainly bolts of electric darkness and grit shivering through these tracks, especially on the scarily reverberating "Fluxus"...while the combination of female vocals, strings, and "fake balaban" (presumably the middle-eastern sounding horn we hear) on the ten-minute-plus title track is simply gorgeous, not scary or dark at all. Speaking of balabans, Luxus establishes that ethnic influences are definitely a part of Salvatore's sound, something that they have in common with krautrockers Can, doubtless another inspiration of theirs. So, for fans of Can, Circle, Neu!, Tortoise, etc. Salvatore has produced another winning album, that we're so glad to finally have, to share with you.
For fans of the heavy, it has been a pretty good year! Cough, Thou, Trees, The Wounded Kings, Asva, et. al. And it just seems to keep getting better and better. Here's one of our latest slow, low, doooooomed-out faves, brought to us by the ever-reliable, ultra-heavy 20 Buck Spin label. Samothrace offer up 4 long tracks of mournful, slo-mo sludge on their debut full length Life's Trade. This not-so-merry band of black stone wielders hail from Lawrence, Kansas but recorded this in Chicago with producer Sanford Parker (Pelican, Buried At Sea, Indian, Minsk, Rwake, Nachtmystium... he knows his heaviness!). They're not the first band to employ emotive loud-soft dynamics, post-rock style, but they do it quite well, and it sounds fantastic, this whole album exuding utter dismal despair. And, hopefully, provoking some form of catharsis. Everything - the guttural vokills, the effects-blanketed guitars - are weary, weeping, wailing lamentations echoing across the Midwestern prairie, finding common cause with our favorite funereal doom from Finland, British doomdeath of the '90s like My Dying Bride, and fellow sludge lords like Atavist and Ocean. Not bad company to keep, if not clinically depressed.
Sometimes it seems that bands move too far away from metal and get into some kinda mediocre, boring post-rock middleground. Like -- fuck, dude, where's the metal? However, Samothrace manages to stay heavy even while incorporating other elements. The thing is, it's not metal with something else thrown in, they take other things and make them metal. At times it's quite pretty and melodic. It's like His Hero is Gone (Fifteen Counts of Arson era) mating with the gorgeous new works by Earth. There's many long, exquisite stretches of mellowed out beauty, calm and quiet, to lull the listener before being bulldozered by fat fuzzed riffage in a more metallic, stoner mode, which sometimes flows into some sweet, Iommi-envious soloing. Samothrace's loping lethargy and mopey melody is such that even at its most crushing, the band's music still seems suffused with the sunset's psychedelic twilight rays, or perhaps radiates its own comforting warmth, somehow. If that speaks to you, grab a copy, spark one, and turn it up. You'll want this one loud. Recommended.
Sanhedolin is the new name for the project that brought together two of the most exciting artists in the Tokyo underground prog-psych scene, AQ faves progcore duo Ruins and dark psych shaman Keiji Haino!! They did a cd on PSF under the name Knead three years ago (and also an LP on the French Fractal label). Now they've teamed up again, but because the Ruins have a new bass player, they've changed the name of this unit to Sanhedolin (though, the Ruins didn't change their name, so go figure). Anyway, this what you get when guitarist/vocalist Haino has the hyper-excitable rhythm section that is the Ruins backing him up. Incendiary improv action! Heavy-duty guitar/bass/drums interplay. And... flute?
Yep, oddly enough (but much to our approval) this album opens up with the lovely sound of the flute! Haino is not credited with playing flute on the sleeve, but it's got to be him. It's not until a track or so later that Haino unleashes his trademark searing electric guitar devastation. He also screams out some very anguished vocals, more soul-wrenching than those from any black metal throat. Haino's presence is key here (and like we said in our review of the Knead cd, although you can hear both the Ruins and Haino doing their respective, distinctive "things", the combination maybe makes it more of Haino's album than the Ruins -- it's like a really fierce Fushitsusha recording with an uncowed, caffinated rhythm section). And really, we like this better than a lot of other Ruins improv projects 'cause it's not just about the spazz-out bass/drums, the iron first of Haino's guitar playing is so STRONG that it keeps the Ruins in line, it's more purposeful I guess. Fans of either and/or both Ruins or Haino though should like this. And by the the way, new Ruins bass player Mitsuru Nasuno is just as nimble as any who've played with Ruins drummer/mastermind Yoshida Tatsuya before, as he'd better be!
Scorched earth skronk from some of the best in the business... that'd be the Japanese underground improv psych power trio super group Sanhedrin, who consist of monster guitarist Keiji Haino of Fushitsusha, monster drummer Tatsuya Yoshida of Ruins, and monster bassist Mitsuru Nasuno of Altered States. Before this, they had a cd on PSF under the name Sanhedolin, and before that, there was a unit called Knead (Haino + Ruins) but basically it's the same thing. Freeform freakout distortodelic action. Really heavy-duty stuff, fans of Haino know what to expect, if you've been waiting a while to really hear him crank it on the axe again, this is the thing to get! There's eight tracks, about 66 minutes filled with feedback and fuzz, recorded live to multitrack in 2007 at two separate performances. A combustible chaos of roiling drums, seesawing rhythms, angular wandering bass grooves, and, above all, thick wooly slabs of ultra-distorted guitar. Chaotic vocal babble (Haino? Yoshida?) intrudes only occasionally, and amidst all the mayhem there are some relatively serene (but heavy) stretches of black metal-ish amplifier drone bzzzz... Pretty killer! We can't imagine hearing any band of noise rocking whippersnappers doing this sort of thing any better.
We don't normally quote from label blurbs, but can't resist this grammatically confused sentence: "Is equal to of the whole body which passion gushes from." Dunno exactly what that means, but y'know, it's probably true! The disc is some kind of limited edition, originally tour-only merch sold at shows in Japan. It's packaged in a glossy black cardstock tri-fold sleeve + obi, adorned with some odd, colorful collage artwork - a typewriter, a dragon, telephones, fish, a frog, a tuba, a Gibson SG guitar, an eyeball with squid-like tentacles...
Got some of this old favorite back in stock, thought we'd list it again in case you'd missed it. Previously we wrote: The image of a pungi player hypnotically swaying the end of his instrument in front of a cobra portrayed in Western books and films is a fairly accurate one" says this disc's notes, and while that may justify this one Western preconception, it does nothing to prepare for how weird and wonderful the music from snake charmers really is. The three different instruments used by snake charmers (the oboe-like pungi and the rhythmic instruments premtal and kanyeri) provide not so much of a sexy sway as one might think, but a herky-jerky set of bobbing rhythms and an odd stop-start style of reed playing. Andee has likened it to the hard disc editing of Oval, Pita, and Jim O'Rourke but played live! Perhaps the snakes are Mego fans... This is a pretty spectacular collection of mysterious and stirring sound. Highly recommended.
Hot on the heels of their much revered debut Court in the Act, fresh-faced youngsters Satan have returned from the foggy English North to deliver another razor sharp slice of very regal, very classic, very BRITISH heavy metal!
Oh wait, did we mention that much revered debut actually came out 30 years ago?? That's right, it's been a LONG time coming, but Satan have reformed with their entire original line up intact (that never happens!) and have against all odds delivered one of the most potent and exhilarating heavy metal records of 2013. Life Sentence is buzzing with a youthful exuberance no one has any right to expect from a band well into its third decade - especially one that's been inactive for so long. The entire record is a blur of infectious riffs, confounding guitar leads and commanding vocals. Seeing as Satan originally emerged from the darker side of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, fans of bands like Angel Witch, Pagan Altar and Witchfynde are obviously going to find lots here to love. But there's something about the combination of Brian Ross' deep theatrical vocals layered over the band's unique brand of eccentric, dramatic heavy metal that also brings to mind Bay Area true metal stalwarts and long time aQ faves Brocas Helm, while some of the dizzying proto-thrash riffing and occasional piercing falsetto wails recall Mercyful Fate in their prime. Otherwise though, Life Sentence is a wholly British affair. Satan's approach to heavy metal feels historical and dignified with a sense of medieval dread running throughout (not unlike their also recently reformed NWOBHM peers Hell) with songs that might not sound out of place soundtracking a dreary English countryside besieged by plague, or perhaps a lively public execution by guillotine in the local town square! The production is appropriately understated and sparse to match, striking the perfect middle ground of a nice clean sound without ever sounding too modern or polished. Highly recommended for any traditional headbangers out there who prefer their metal a little bit dark and a little bit menacing, but still addictive and catchy as hell. Get this... lest ye be judged!
Remember the movie 2000 Maniacs? Where tourists are lured to a small Southern town and are forced to participate in 'games' that are essentially elaborate and ultra gory (and quite inventive) excuses for extreme torture that ultimately lead to their deaths. Or howabout the sixties biker classic Easy Rider? The ultimate drugged out hippie motorcycle road movie. Or maybe the seventies British horror flick Psychomania, about psychopathic suicidal bikers who make a pact with the devil, kill themselves and return from the dead to terrorize the squares? So now, imagine some crazed, druggy, doomy, psychedelic, psychotropic, head spinning mix of all three, and Satan's Satyrs are pretty much the perfect house band. Similarly, Die Screaming is essentially the soundtrack to the above, some impossibly insane, low budget, blood drenched, exploitation-splatter Z-grade alien biker undead epic. The opening track "Thumper's Theme" is uncharacteristically upbeat, but you can almost imagine this fuzzed out organ fueled jam playing beneath the credits as a porky, leather vested biker, presumably "Thumper" rolls into town, as the townsfolk lock their doors and lower their blinds, all to the strains of fuzzed out distorto riffage, wheezing organ, tumbling toms, all a little bit surfy, infused with just a bit of sonic swagger. But it's on "Instruments Of Hellfire" where things get really good, or perhaps bad if you're one of those innocent bystanders, wild squiggly psychedelic leads over blown out Stooges-y metallic garage punk pound, plenty of wild wah wah guitars, totally tripped out, and when the vocals swoop in, totally whiney, high pitched, and echo drenched, somewhere between a young Ozzy, and a more unhinged hysterical version of Uncle Acid, and in fact, Uncle Acid fans should be ALL over this. It's like a more raw and primitive take on the same sort of seventies psychedelic hard rock, but with SS, it all sounds so much more desperate and unhinged, frantic and dangerous. Oh and then out of nowhere, in comes a barrage of bongos and hand percussion, that gives the sound a little bit of a Goat vibe, but only for like 10 seconds, and then it's right back into another, lurching, lumbering psych-doom garage rock blowout.
Apparently UK doomlords Electric Wizard are huge fans, which makes sense, as they share much of the same sonic DNA, a similar psych-doom bent, and the same obsession with exploitation movies, horror flicks from the sixties and seventies, SS's jams even more that EW's evoking rubber suited beasties, blood spurting ultra violence, greasy bikers and bodacious bikini babes, if it's possible for a 'sound' to be greasy, and filthy, dirty and caked in dried blood, well, Die Screaming is as filthy, bloody and lysergic as it gets. And stick around for the sprawling creepfest closer, the 12+ minute title track, which is a drugged out doom crawl: over a bed of whirring organs, SS unfurl a lumbering dirge, a wasted psychedelic downer rock sprawl, that explodes in the last few minutes into a final, frenzied blast of heavy-horror biker rock crush that KILLS!!!
All that, and then when you add in the blood dripping logo, and melting skull cover art, it's pretty much a guaranteed aQ Record Of The Week! YOU WILL DIE SCREAMING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Die Screaming, last year's killer album from these doomed-out, garage-rockin' dement-oids, we made a Record Of The Week, and it landed in several of our year-end top tens too, so yeah we are excited about this, the Satyrs' brand new album, and yeah, it rules!!! But, as with their previous record, it makes a weird first impression; if you haven't heard 'em before it might take a bit to get your head around - but for us, a few songs in and we were 100 percent hooked. It's just that, for a bunch who present themselves like a outlaw biker gang from some '70s, Z-grade exploito-movie shocker, they're more poppy than you might expect. They're psych and metal too, but lead-off track "Full Moon And Empty Veins" is soooo uptempo and upbeat, that it's really glammy pop we're hearing, super distorted and fuzzy, yeah, but also major key happy and bouncy. That poppiness persists in the Satyrs' speedy garage metalpunk sound as the disc spins, these high energy jams replete with fucked up freakout frenzies of solos and perhaps the Satyrs' most distinctive feature, the love 'em or hate 'em vocals - sneering, snotty singing taken to the most gnarled extreme ever. Like Ozzy after having been fed some really strange drugs, causing weird brain damaged speech impediment. Tracks like "(Won't You Be My) Gravedancer" sound like Pentagram's garage demos from the '70s given a bubblegum injection, while several others take off on way out psych-solo excursions - it's the sort of thing that when you've got it cranked, nothing could possibly be cooler.
Definitely another winner from this gang, for fans of Uncle Acid, Zig Zags, Fuzz, King Tuff, and we're just now thinking Fred Cole's pre-Dead Moon '70s band Zipper. Freakin' recommended.
Goddamn this makes us wanna see these guys live - missed 'em the last (and only?) time they were here, opening on tour for their comrades Electric Wizard, argh. It was the night before Record Store Day so we were too busy... Well hopefully they'll be back and we'll be there!
Ready for some galloping rifftasy?? We could be reviewing the new Early Man ep (and we will) but for your metallic delectation this week, we'd rather present you with a reissue of an old fave, a relatively obscure NWOBHM classic. If you don't know what NWOBHM means (and we mention it often enough, like in our Rogue Male reviews recently), this will clue you in with an ace to the face - even though Savage never quite made it up there with more famous New Wave Of British Heavy Metal brethren like Iron Maiden and Def Leppard*, ferinstance. And if you do know what the NWOBHM is, and love it, then this is for you. No need to hesitate. Savage's 1983 debut (they had some other, later releases, but basically blew their wad here, and how) is utterly a classic, even just on the strength of the lead-off track alone, "Let It Loose" (misidentified on the back cover tracklist here as "Letting Loose", d'oh). And the rest of the album is full of quality, crunching metallurgy too, oh yeah. Noted metal scribe Martin Popoff rates it a 10 out of 10, comparing it to the best of Saxon, Witchfinder General, Grim Reaper, & Diamond Head (we'd say it comes closest to the latter). He's quite right, this IS one of those 10/10 NWOBHM stormers that can do no wrong, unquestionably when it comes to "Let It Loose", crackling with electric energy, which sets the tone for a whole disc of white hot, speaker trashing, youthful shred, Savage sounding quite savage indeed, while maintaining the NWOBMH's reputation for pint-draining, party-hardy catchiness.
Need more recommendation? How 'bout that Metallica in their early days used to cover two of this album's songs live?! Lars knew his NWOBHM neckwreckers after all!
Aside from the aforementioned typo, this is an ok reissue, though there's no liner notes included in the cd booklet. Lyrics yes, but no liner notes, what's their excuse? We expect thorough liner notes in our reissues, people! The previous reissue of this on Neat had liners from the guy that did the awesome Mad Maxish cover art! At least this does include the same 3 bonus tracks, taken from Savage's 1979 and '80 demos.
*no, Def Leppard don't suck. Their first few albums are pretty great.
Wow. This new 'zine is not only full of awesome readin', looks great, and comes with a button, but also is dirt cheap! Just $4. Real goddamn fanzines are few and far between these days, kudos to editor Cory Linstrum and friends for putting this one out, and making it so killer too. It shows those blogs a thing or two. Savage Damage Digest is all about music that you don't really read about all that often, and all in one place, thought the artists covered all make total sense together here, you'll see: Link Wray, Teenage Head, Jean-Pierre Massiera, Dave Kilgour & The Clean, Hanoi Rocks, Tank's Algy Ward, Nick Lowe & Brinsley Schwarz! And this debut ish features the only article we've ever come across about the uniquely Australian youth sub-culture of "Sharpies", outside of the liner notes to those Coloured Balls cd reissues, fascinating stuff. 70 pages, lots of vintage photos and magazine ads, nice use of spot color inside, and rounded corners, it's a handsome 'zine all right. Totally recommended to anyone interested in semi-obscure music from the '60s 'til now that ROCKS. Or is weird. Or both.
The cover story on Link is all about his "lost years" in the early-to-mid '70s, albums that tend to get ignored but, having read about 'em here, we want to hear! It's super in-depth, enthused and informative, like all the other articles here. This is sort of 'zine that will definitely turn you on to stuff you need to know about, and we can only hope that issue #2 isn't that far off. This has a lot of potential to be a favorite new regular read... For those who miss the likes of Black To Comm, or Motorbooty, or Fuzz (not to mention Bomp! or Creem)... check this out!!
Whoo-hoo! SDD #2!! Well, in "zine time" getting 2 issues done in as many years isn't that bad. At least, at last, it's here: the 2nd issue of Savage Damage Digest, a 'zine that with but one issue became one of our faves in the realm of enthusiastic dead-tree rock n' roll writin'. As good as the first issue was, this one's maybe even better, it's got great stuff about a wide variety of long-lost legends... '60s UK popsyke geniuses July, '60 NZ garage gods Chants R&B, '70s pub rockers Ducks Deluxe, and more... The cover story, especially interesting for those of us located in the Bay Area, is about '70s San Francisco proto-punks La Rue. No, never heard 'em, but boy do we want to now.
What we love about SDD is that it's the sort of thing that really puts the FAN in fanzine. We mean, they even devote two pages to some non-musical fandom - about the special San Francisco ice cream sandwich known as an It's It! And, most amazingly, there's pages and pages about guitarist Ross The Boss and his various bands over the years: The Dictators, Shakin' Street, Manitoba's Wild Kingdom, and... Manowar!! The Manowar stuff, especially, makes this issue required reading. We just tend to think that a lot of "typical" SDD readers and AQ customers might not already be Manowar fans, but this is the sort of thing that just might covert 'em (you?).
And, this issue comes with a free button, bearing the Vertigo records label swirl design! With accompanying label appreciation essay for anyone not already aware of just how cool UK '70s prog imprint Vertigo was.
Hopefully it won't be another 2 years before issue 3 of Savage Damage Digest comes out, though we won't be holding our breath. But we will be looking forward to it. And, let's say, the highest form of praise we can give a 'zine like SDD is that it makes us want to get to work on our own 'zines, like some of us used to do back in the day.
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.
Local boys Saviours are kind of SF's answer to The Sword from Texas and Early Man from New York. The New Wave Of American Indie Ironic Hipster Metal, y'know? They're on the same label as The Sword, home also to the heavy psych likes of Dungen and Danava. Yet while an argument can be made that The Sword and Early Man are indeed indie ironic hipster metal at best (which doesn't stop 'em from rockin', we should note!), a loud listen to Saviours new full-length Into Abbadon ought to convince the most diehard metaller that these dudes are in fact fully, no foolin, METAL. If the cover art (by Joe "Motorhead" Petagno) didn't already. Nothin' ironic about it. Not that such arguments matter much anyway, what's important is, does this album rule or not? Our call: yea, and verily, it doth rule.
The sinuous guitar harmonies in the first track "Raging Embers" remind us a lot of the late great epic doomsters Solstice, whilst track two, the title track, gallops out of the gate like a mixture of The Fucking Champs and High On Fire... And on it rages, a showcase of sheer metal mastery. No ballads. No death metal monotony, or black metal makeup. No trendy emo bullshit. Just pure pedal to the metal, metal.
The riffage is righteous, the guitars shred, it's old school '80s to the max but HEAVY as heck. The only element that keeps this from attaining total true metal acclaim from the 'heads here at AQ are the punkish vocals, hoarse and shouty and not-so-melodic. Your mileage may vary, lots of folks like that style. But anyway the vocals are more than made up for by the guitars, which provide plenty of melody amidst the aggression, and atmosphere too. As well as, like we said, shred. Tasty solos abound, including guest six string tickling from Tim Lehi of Draugar and Isiah Mitchell of Earthless!
In truth, we're a little surprised by how much we dig this album (and Crucifire too, before it). Maybe because they're local we had been taking Saviours for granted, or feeling a little bit of an unwarranted NWOAIIHM backlash. Also we've seen them live many a time (they have a knack for opening for a lot of touring metal bands we want to see) but didn't really fall under their spell until hearing 'em at home, when all their true metallic grandeur could really sink in, without the distractions of shitty sound systems or somebody spilling beer on us. Songwriting nuances are revealed on record that were were perhaps numb to in person. At the end of the day, we're pretty into Into Abbadon.
The first thing we thought when we heard this was, how the hell do these guys do this without cracking up?? Here's the setup: Tom Scharpling is a DJ on WFMU and takes calls from listeners. Ocassionally one of those callers will be Jon Wurster (Superchunk drummer!), portraying any one of a number of annoying characters and the comedy genius that ensues is, well, GENIUS!
The first track is Hippy Johnny, where Wurster calls up as Hippy Johnny and proceeds to discuss his commune where the men make art and the women make dinner, dressed in fur bikinis, and the children manufacture drain cleaner and other not-so-natural products. It's kind of a twisted Tom's of Maine idea. The funny part is how disgusted Scharpling becomes over the course of the 20 minute call, eventually giving up, exasperated and disgusted. The second call is a Wuster again as a guy who apparently used to be in the little kid punk rock band Old Skull, concerning their REUNION tour. An idea that's ridiculous enough to begin with. As the call progresses, we learn that he was only in the band briefly, none of the main members are involved, and a quick sample of their new music displays a drastic new shift in musical direction. Which of course has Scharpling hysterical. Hard to explain how funny this stuff if, you should definitely listen to the sound samples and know that when we play this in the store, everyone freezes, stops what they're doing and listens intently until everyone in the store seems to be laughing uproariously. The rest of the calls involve a cowoker and his nefarious plans for Tom, a phone call from a two inch tall racist, Gene Simmons' rock and roll car dealership and an epic, brutally funny and painful to listen to call from a guy known simply as Kid eBay. From the same guys who brought us the brilliant Rock, Rot And Rule, Chain Fights, Beer Busts, and Service with a Grin, and New Hope For The Ape-Eared. So highly recommended!!!!!
Hilarious. Bizarre. Amazing. As always. Can you tell we're fans?
The humor of Tom Scharpling and Jon Wurster is one of the reasons that New Jersey's WFMU is one of the best radio stations anywhere. Every time a new cd from these two comes out (there's been four previous releases) we drop everything to put it on in the store and listen and laugh our asses off. And every time, customers previously unfamiliar with Scharping & Wurster start laughing too, ask what the heck we're playing, and instantly buy copies. Basically, the S&W formula is that easily-bemused regular-guy DJ Tom Scharpling is taking calls on this show, when some weirdo and/or jerk (not always obvious as such at first) calls in to talk and the two of them get into some ridiculous verbal battle. Said caller always being played by Jon Wurster. It's a theatre of the absurd, with Scharpling & Wurster spinning some really strange and incredibly funny scenarios which they somehow make almost believable -- in part 'cause they have an uncanny ability not to crack each other up, dunno how they do it, especially since a lot of these calls/tracks go on for upwards of 20 minutes!
Originally we got into S&W 'cause of the indie-rock connection, they love to make fun of rock snobbery (like Wurster's character Ronald Thomas Clontle on the classic Rock, Rot, & Rule). But they don't limit themselves to music-related humor at all -- though the bonus third disc here is devoted entirely to the efforts of the would-be rock star guy originally introduced on New Hope For The Ape-Eared to have his band Mother 13 play on Mount Everest. Meanwhile, disc one features "Jock Squad" (think Geek Squad but different), "The Auteur" (a self-important slasher film director), and "Philly Boy Roy" (a lampooning of such supposed Philadelphia pastimes as the "running of the cheesesteaks" and "Laser Allin"). Disc two has "Andy From Lake Newbridge" (who turns out to live in, not on the lake, and in fact is a carp), "Tornado Todd" (a guy whose life-changing escape from death doesn't stop him from being a total sleazeball), and "Postal Slap Fight" (wherein Tom gets threatened by a guy whose uncle is the Postmaster General). You've got to hear these to understand why they're hilarious, but trust us, they are. Recommended to anyone with a funny bone.
This is the third reissue of a recording by German guitarist/soundscaper Gunter Schickert that we've listed - and also the third that we've made a Record Of The Week. That ought to tell you a little something about just how much we like the music of Herr Schickert! Up until fairly recently, Schickert's work has been shrouded in obscurity, the original albums being super rare and hard to find, reissues equally scarce. But thankfully, just in the last couple of years, several legit, long-deserved reissues, appearing on the Bureau B and Important labels, have helped to make Schickert's mesmerizing music more widely known - and has hopefully established him where he belongs, as one of the crucial names in the classic krautrock pantheon, up there with contemporaries like Klaus Schulze, Manuel Gottsching, Achim Reichel, and Michael Rother. Certainly as far as we're concerned, he is! If you dig any of the aforementioned gentlemen, you should definitely get to know Gunter Schickert as well.
The previous two albums of his we've Record Of The Week-ed, 1974's Samtvogel and 1979's Uberfallig, are both all-time aQ faves. There's not much more to Schickert's small discography - but there is this, and it's another fave for sure. Originally released as a cassette tape in 1983, then reissued again on cassette in the '90s and on cd-r in the early 2000's by the Freeman brothers (of Auricle Magazine / Crack In The Cosmic Egg fame), the material on Kinder In Der Wildnis consists of disparate DIY recordings drawn from Schickert's archives, so it's a bit more varied than either of his earlier albums, though if you've heard those, you'll recognize right away that you're back in Schickert's sonic realm, one of organic field recording atmospheres and trance-inducing minimalist pulsations... but something about this is so much more nervy and dark. More "rocked out" too at times. Maybe it's the influence of the NDW, aka Neue Deutsche Welle (punk new wave music of Germany), but we're still talking krautrock.
Even though Schickert does EVERYTHING himself (guitar, tape, vocals, percussion, trumpet) it somehow sounds like a whole band, and that band sounds like Amon Duul II and Faust trapped together in a bunker, jamming endlessly in the middle of the night, the music dark and claustrophobic despite the environmental nature sounds that (as always) Schickert likes to weave into his recordings. There's the children's voices on here too (his daughter sings on the jittery title track) but that's in stark contrast to the druggy darkness of so much of this. Tracks like "Rabe In Der Nacht" and "Hollentanz" are a dense lo-fi mesh of percolating beats, wailing psych guitar, and sound FX. Bird twitter-y field recordings (and crazy crow-like cawing from Schickert himself, we assume) meet overdubbed layers of chanting vocal parts, including more animal-like cries, in the hallucinatory mix. Swirling drones of synth coalesce into hypnotic throbbing rhythms, over which lilting keyboard motifs hint at the likes of Goblin. Also significant is Schickert's sad, electronically-treated trumpet, heard ferinstance on "07.Mai", alongside pleasingly placid repetitive guitar, phasing effects, and field recordings of fireworks exploding (heard elsewhere on the record as well) that sound like sferic squiggles of electronic sound, buried in the mix along with disembodied unknown voices. The trumpet here foreshadows the future sounds of Supersilent, while the pulsating patterns of proto-glitch music also remind us of This Heat's Repeat.
Yep, it's a freakin' great record all right. Trippy and weird and psychically round the bend. In other words, super satisfying. How it stayed so far under the radar for so long is crazy. Big props to Bureau B for giving it a proper reissue now on both compact disc and vinyl for the very first time, with excellent artwork, liner notes, and even two bonus tracks (on the cd only).
The bonus tracks, fyi, are feeling a lot more NDW, Schickert employing a drum machine it sounds like, a bit dancey, still dark and damaged, looping layers of vocals coming and going amidst the beats. Could easily be something Dark Entries of Medical Records would be expected to reissue. Very cool, fans of Pyrolator / Der Plan will enjoy these as well as the rest of the album. But with or without the bonus tracks, Kinder In Der Wildnis is super recommended, in heavy rotation in the store right now, a record that with Schickert's other two solo albums makes for an impressive trifecta of unsung krautrock genius.
Years ago we fell in love with Gunter Schickert's Uberfalling, a 1980 late-krautrock guitarscape epic. The cd reissue of that is now sadly out of print, but we've recently been turned onto Schickert's first lp from 1974, Samtvogel, which at last has been reissued on vinyl courtesy of the Spanish Import label Wah Wah, who have also recently reissued Heldon, Vainica Doble, Inner Space and other international psych gems. Sure, they're a bit expensive, but everything we've heard from the label has been amazing, so they're pretty much worth it.
Especially this one, a three track epic of cavernous space guitar extrapolations and buried lysergic vocal incantations that sounds like an alternate soundtrack to Fantastic Planet. The first track, "Apricot Brandy" gently introduce us into Schickert's sound world, a spacy lyrical repetitive commune riff with murmured vocals and spindly multi-layered guitar percolations that gently float in an echo-y atmospheric chamber. The second track, "Kriegmaschinen, Fahrt Zur Holle" is nearly 17 minutes of space-echo, belltones and strange echo effects that slowly build into more intense repetitive and multi-layered motifs, sometimes urgent and cinematic, and other moments more billowy and sinuous, reminding us of Achim Reichel and Manuel Gottsching, and even obscure krautrock band Temple. The final twenty-one minute track, "Wald", brings the intensity to the fore, with a buzzing guitarscape that sounds like John Carpenter, but soon gives way to a more lilting spacey bubbling and exploratory improvisation before the intense riffs return and interject and subside in strange surges, finally dissipating in little clouds of helium. A beautiful piece of outsider kosmiche! Highly Recommended!
YES! We're big fans of lesser-known krautrock guitarist Gunter Schickert (who also did production work with Klaus Schulze, like, for Japan's Far East Family Band). As soon as we heard that his Uberfallig album was getting a new reissue, we knew it was going to have to be a Record Of The Week. We've been in love with this record forever, referencing it and Schickert plenty of times in other reviews when we want to cite something incredibly atmospheric and minimalistically trance inducing from deep in the krautrock zone. There was a previous cd edition of this we stocked years ago, but that's been out of print for ages. Now Germany's industrious Bureau B label have stepped in and added this rare late-krautrock masterpiece to their ongoing, essential series of reissues of essential kraut / kosmishe albums. And it's on both digipak cd *and* vinyl now as well!
Uberfallig was Schickert's second album, originally issued in 1979 on the Sky label, the follow up to his 1975 Brain debut Samtvogel. It's hard to believe somebody this good didn't record more, or with other people, but we're only aware of a couple later recordings that have ever surfaced. Here on Uberfallig, Schickert's exceptionally hypnotic space-echo guitar work, similar to Manuel Gottsching of Ashra, is matched by fascinating rhythmic pulsations, at times recalling prime Can-like velocities or the circular bubbliness of aQ faves AR & Machines, and some Pink Floyd Meddle era pastoral psych vibes as well. And it's mostly just Schickert (guitar, voice) and a few friends (drums and vocals) plus nature sounds, deftly deployed.
Opener "Puls" is worth the price of admission alone. It does indeed pulse, for nearly 16 epic minutes, building from calmly rhythmic beginnings to pure hypno-guitar bliss, mixed with subtle, splashy, sploshy field recordings - evoking the idea of Schickert and his drummer colleague Charles M. Heuer wading upstream in the wilds somewhere as their music plays. That begins the recurrent watery theme found on this album, an ever present liquid watery ambience, the sounds of wind and rain and surf and babbling brooks woven in among the "actual" instruments. The cover image of an intense looking Schickert suggests this too, his visage overlaid with what looks like the play of light on the surface of water.
The second cut, "In Der Zeit", is a shorter, folkier number, with more surf-sounds and bird calls and a gentle, hushed female vocal, accompanying Schickert's pleasant, repeating acoustic guitar motif. So nice.
Track three, "Apricot Brandy II", as some may guess from the name, is a sequel to the first track on Schickert's debut Samtvogel (wish we still had a reissue of that - maybe Bureau B will do something about that, too). Again with a watery intro, then the nervous ticking of drumsticks, heralding a quietly unfurling, slightly sinister and suspenseful 12 and a half minute, gently percolating proto-post-rock trip. We're hearing some Can circa Tago Mago, and Tortoise and Circle, too, especially with the murmuring vocals chanting "Apricot Brandy" amidst other drones and moans. It's all druggy and delicate, moody and mesmeric. Quite the tour de force, coming to a close with strange samples and lovely crackling.
If that wasn't enough, the album ends with even more haunting mesmer, the aptly titled, the 8+ minute long "Wanderer", slow and spooky at first, with more of that tick-tock drumming and watery splashes. It's got a twilight sound to it, so beautiful and mysterious and mesmeric, like this whole amazing, organic, echo-laden album.
Includes, along with credits and lyrics, new 2012 liner notes from Schickert's contemporary Asmus Tietchens, in both English and German, and also an interesting note from Schickert, explaining that some of this music was used on the soundtrack to a film about the gay community in New York called Brooklyn 11238, which we'd never have guessed...
While we'll state that this is reissue definitely something crucial for fans of Agitation Free, AR & Machines, Moebius & Rodelius, Michael Rother, You, Ashra, and latter-day krautrockers Village Of Savoonga, we should also make clear that this is NOT just for krautrock collector nerds - even if you've NEVER heard a krautrock record before, we'd still recommend this one, obscure as it is. It's that good.
As you may have heard, Allan here just had a baby! And thus, our last in-between list's special theme was "baby music" - a bunch of suggestions by friends who are parents, of music that they liked to play for their newborns and infants. But, what has Allan really been playing for his little girl? Well, um, actually she's been hearing a lot of the things Allan has been working on reviewing for aQuarius. Fortunately for her, one of 'em was this disc, by German electronic experimentalist Gunter Schlienz, his first full-length cd after quite a few obscure cassette and cd-r releases over the past four or five years.
And it's totally baby-approved and appropriate, these delicate, otherworldly ambient instrumentals full of light and shade and (occasionally eerie) blissfulness, with titles like "Immaculate", "Numb", "Lament", "Shimmer", and, oddly enough, "Janitor".
Schlienz's modular synth and field recordings create Cluster-y swells of sound, moving in gentle waves adorned with simple sweet melodies and darker drones. A few of his friends, including Norm Chambers (aka Panabrite, also the guy who actually made the Science Of The Sea album by "Jurgen Muller" we liked so much) appear as guests on here as well, adding strings, piano, etc.
We're not really sure if Allan's baby likes this a lot or not (hard to tell, as yet), but HE sure does. Consider Contemplation to be a lovely, peaceful set of abstract electronic lullabies for adults, and possibly their children too! Limited to 300 copies, btw.
Last time, we reviewed The Omni Corporation's reissue of a wonderful rare "library music" album entitled Omega 2000 by German composer Peter Thomas and his "Orchestra". Those diligent diggers at Omni Corp. have another one along those lines for us this week, again a '70s library music collection, from the much less well known name of Patrice Sciortino. Can't believe this is the first we've heard of the man and his music, considering that this stuff sounds something like the more outre of Morricone efforts, pretty darn cool. And apparently, there's plenty more where this came from. Wow, thanks Omni!!
Sciortino is classically trained French musician, born in 1922, who eventually established a career in the '60s/'70s as a prolific and somewhat peculiar composer, with, eventually, many obscure recordings to his credit. He's also a poet and playwright. With an interest in both non-Western musics and the most avant-garde of electronics (he studied at GRM), his musical vision, as displayed here, is unusual and otherworldly.
Where that Orchestra Peter Thomas disc was groovy and funky, all about the big bombastic beats, this Sciortino stuff is much more atmospheric and academic sounding... it's like 20th century classical gone soundtrack wacky. Imagine Bernard Herrmann (of Psycho fame) meets Carl Stalling (of Warner Bros. cartoons fame). Or Luigi Nono writing music for TV shows. His music is sometimes ominous, sometimes uplifting, offering plenty of percussive exotica, chimings and tinklings, with shuddering, sawing cello and eerie wordless female vocals. And occasional echo effects intensifying the rhythms.
This disc comprises Sciortino's entire, intriguing 1970 album Chronoradial, plus extensive selections from three different 10" records of his belonging to a library music series out by the Musique Pour L'Image label circa 1967-1968. There's 36 tracks here in all, many of them jittery and unsettling, suspenseful and nervous - but others lively, joyous and beautiful.
Nicely done, in typical Omni fashion, the cd booklet full of informative liner notes, and awesome freaky black and white artwork from the original lps - love that raccoon-like creature with the clocks for eyes!! Quite recommended.
Ok. Go to YouTube and watch this: http://youtube.com/watch?v=8nTGTCSGj30&mode=related&search=
Now, buy this album.
What, you need more???
Ok, but don't think we won't try that ploy again.
So, if'n you don't know, 1972's Lonesome Crow was the first ever album from Germany's Scorpions, a band later to become worldwide heavy metal hitmakers. Here, though, their not-so-humble beginnings are in the realm of heavy, hippie, progressive KRAUTROCK. Of course. In fact, this Conny Plank produced debut was the first ever release in the legendary Brain label 1000-series, catalog number Brain 1001 (and thus it's now getting a nice digipack cd reissue via the Revisited label, along with classic krautrock albums by Klaus Schulze, Eroc, Novalis, and others). It's fully psychedelic heaviness, seriously Sabbathy in spots, featuring the glorious fly-you-to-the-rainbow vocal stylings of a then-bearded and not-yet-balding Klaus Meine and, on virtuoso lead guitar, Michael Schenker, the 16 year old brother of rhythm guitarist Rudy! Young Schenker would soon split the Scorps for what at the time were greener pastures in England's UFO, but since his replacement was the godly Uli Jon Roth, the Scorpions saw no slacking in the dep't. of axe mastery. Still, this first album is definitely sits on its own lonely throne amongst all the amazing early Scorpions records (up thru the last one with Uli, 1977's Taken By Force, you can't really go wrong!).
So fans of the psychedelic proto-metal and krautrock too should check this out...no, it's not like they sound like Can or Faust... but it's not too far off from some Amon Duul II, Lucifer's Friend, Nektar, or even Necronomicon. The title track clocks in at over 13 murky, majestic minutes (that's prog!). And the riffs, well the riffs definitely are Hendrix-Cream-Sabbath influenced, on the road to true metal, sorta an earlier parallel to the evolution of another great '70s metal act, Judas Priest, whose first album was also on the druggy, psychedelic side.
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
Just realized that this '70s metal essential was now available at a bargain price - we've got 'em for only five bucks, while they last! From 1978, long before their MTV fame in the '80s, this was the last studio album by the Scorps to feature the guitar playing of Hendrix-obsessed genius-in-his-own-right Uli Jon Roth, and it features one of Uli's most classic compositions: "The Sails Of Charon", a truly majestic metal milestone. The whole album is a metal milestone, really, 'cause it's one on which you can actually hear "proto-metal" giving way to pure metal metal, the kind that would give rise to the NWOBHM, Metallica, speed metal, thrash, etc., etc., via straight up galloping metal steeds, like "Steamrock Fever" and "He's A Woman - She's A Man". The Scorps, who got their start in the '60s, are still sorta psychedelic on Taken By Force, but so heavy and dark and speedy and gothic. Groovy hippie acoustic strum slams into utter heavy howling headbanging epic riff mania all over the place here. Uli, "The Sails Of Charon" aside, is responsible for most of the hippie stuff, of course, contributing "Foxy Lady" like rocker "I've Got To Be Free" and the beautiful (with bongos!) "Your Light", some majestic jangle there all right. And having mentioned Uli, we should also mention vocalist Klaus Meine, whose performance here also kills, whether screaming his head off, or singing a delicate, tearful ballad (with strings) like album-closer "Born To Touch Your Feelings".
For the longest time, this was a difficult Scorpions disc to come by, we remember searching out expensive import copies, so if you're just picking it up now you're lucky to get it so cheap! And it'd be well worth it at thrice the price, or more, anyway. We can't really do it justice in this brief review. '70s Scorps rules!
Remastered, this edition including two bonus tracks, the cowbell-heavy "Suspender Love" and a live version of "Polar Nights" (but the latter's from Tokyo Tapes, so not such a bonus if you already have that).
Like a modern Switched On Bach, DJ Scotch Egg, armed with modified game boys, and a serious arsenal of 8 bit noisemakers, takes all your favorite Bach tunes and turns them inside out, tangles them all up, slathers them in overloaded electronic buzz and glitch and all sorts of squiggly video game music, and creates some glorious bastard classical gabber electronic classical knee-to-the-nuts techno. And it's a blast. Wild and goofy, funny and sort of funky, but completely brilliantly baffling.
Lots of the pieces are ones you'd recognize, but they are quickly transformed into blown out lo-fi blasts of damaged dance music. Some tracks feature garbled super distorted vocals, and end up sounding like some toy version of Atari Teenage Riot. Allan thinks a lot of this sounds like the video game version of the theme from Bad News Bears or maybe an 8-bit Virgil Fox trapped in a haunted video arcade. However it strikes you, odds are you won't hear a record this weird and this much fun anytime soon. Imagine playing some insane futuristic version of Dance Dance Revolution on a crappy old Atari 2600, but with the sound patched through 1,000 Marshall stacks. Fucking awesome!
If you're anything like us (at least two of us have the sounds of Rastan on our iPods and we have a full size Tron machine in the back room of AQ!) this is so deliriously damaged and absolutely essential!!
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!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Unclassifiable American metal experimentalists Sculptured present their second album. Their sound is a combination of epic Maidenesque guitar melodies, emotional vocals (cleanly sung and otherwise), progressive song structures, and unusual instrumentation, most notably the AMAZING use of trumpet and trombone throughout the album. Yeah, imagine a cross between (death/black/prog metal gods) Opeth and (Utah prog/fusion/improv former metalcore band) Iceburn, with a horn section. Unlike anything else in the metal realm at the moment, and recommended.
