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IMPORTANT (Please read to avoid confusion): Some items below may be tagged with a bold, red, all-caps OUT OF PRINT/UNAVAILABLE notice. This does NOT mean that all other items not so tagged are, in fact, in stock — or for that matter, in print and available, though there's a good chance they are. Some folks get confused on this point, and we can see why, so please read this for further clarification and other important before-you-order information. Unlike some mailorder websites, we don't have an electronic inventory system linked to our site, so you can't be sure of what we actually have or don't have in stock at any given moment without asking us — please email our mailorder department for availability status — or better yet, just go ahead and place your order using our shopping cart function and we'll get back to you with the status of each item. If you have general non-mailorder questions, email the store.

Showing results 151 through 200 of 235.

Second LP from the mysterious Chicago duo (I think), who create destructive lo-fi electronics music. Not "electronic music", but modified Casios and Speak & Spells and cryptic tape manipulations assembled in a fucked up, nonlinear pastiche of ataxia. Such volatile eccentricities and an arhythmic approach unfortunately make not for a record that sounds great, but a record that has

Way back in the 20th century, 1991 to be precise, media pranksters Negativland got themselves into a legal tussle with Island Records when they naively released a single on SST that covered U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and revealed

RealAudio clip: Special Edit Radio Mix - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
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Packaged in a deluxe gatefold LP sleeve with a handful of gory-but-beautiful, blood-drenched photographs overprinted with shimmering transparent lettering, this triple cd is a partial documentation of the third day of Hermann Nitsch's epic six day Unlike previous releases of Nitsch's musical works where visual evidence of his "actions" (for which his music provides the soundtrack) appear only as album cover art, this time we get a CD-Rom with video of portions of Day 3's activities (the usual Nitsch spectacle of people stomping tomatoes, disembowling butchered pigs, crucifying naked participants, and pouring lots and lots of blood over everything). But regardless of whether that sort of thing interests you, the two audio cds in the set provide what we have come to expect from Hermann Nitsch's orchestrations: tense, swelling masses of atonal strings, the performers told to play loud, and then to play even louder. The major difference in these scores is in how Nitsch arranges the breakdowns of these swells. On one of the discs, Nitsch inserts some festive Polka tunes between his signature walls of sound; on the other, Nitsch required a drummer to back up the drones with stumbling, haphazard beats. His truncated fills and erratic rhythms making it into something almost "free jazz", if anything this dark and droney could be so described. You get the impression that this drummer is slipping and sliding off his drum stool because of all of the blood, and randomly striking his drums on the way down. In conjunction with the ominous, building strings and horns this creates a sound not at all unlike recent AQ fave Crystal Fist. As with almost everything we've heard from Nitsch, droning and mesmerising and magnificent.

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Packaged exactly the same as the triple cd (in the same deluxe gatefold LP sleeve adorned with blood drenched photographs), this vinyl album is the second partial documentation of the third day of Hermann Nitsch's epic six day performance, and features

THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SORRY. Four cds of intense, grinding drones. Beautiful, but intense and cacophonous. "Like a musical bloodletting" says Andee. Hermann Nitsch is perhaps the most renowned artist spawned from the Austrian Wiener Aktionismus movement producing some of the most brutal and violent art and performance ever. Nitsch always accompanied his Orgien-Mysterien-Theatre performances with walls off orchestral drones--and here they are. Beautiful packaging with performance photos and liner notes by Gunter Brus.

Solo project of Mick Barr, formerly of DC superheroes CROM TECH! Octis is the polar opposite of Mick's other current band, Orthrelm, which wields lengthy pummeling epics. Octis is seventy two tracks of lightning fast lo-fi speed metal guitar solos

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Full on noise attack from this international "supergroup" of sorts. Featuring ex-members of To Live And Shave In LA, Fear Of God, Sudden Infant and Schimpfluch-Gruppe (who, along with Runzlestirn & Gurgelstock, collaborated with noise giant Masonna a while back on the "Arschloch-onna" disc on Japan Overseas), the group utilizes the human voice as the main source of sound, employing a multitude of electronic manipulations guaranteed to destroy eardrums as well as irritate the fuck out of your neighbors. Totally retarded and highly recommended to fans of the above or those needing a fix for what was once the consistent output of the dearly missed RRRecords of Massachussets. On the newly established Ohne label, a subsidiary of the acclaimed Viennese power electronics tastemakers Mego.

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This is the second album from Osaka's OOIOO (say it with us: "oh-oh-eye-oh-oh"), an all female quartet led by Yoshimi (of the Boredoms, UFO or Die, Free Kitten, etc.) More melodic than their first outing, while heavier than last year's Green and Gold,

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In 1989 Canadian audio artist John Oswald released his tour de force of sound appropriation "Plunderphonic", a cd that was never intended for sale, and found himself face to face with The Canadian Recording Industry Association and their lawyers. Whether they Despite its extremely limited release "Plunderphonic" (reasonably) became something of a holy grail of tape manipulation and champions of its artistic validity have been making it available by making cassette copies for a small fee and even more recently the cd has been uploaded -- sans artwork -- for anyone with a fast connection to download (I, myself spent three days downloading it on a 28.8 dial up three years ago... nerd.) Now, over eleven years after its creation, for the first time ever "Plunderphonic" is now available, in somewhat steady supply and hopefully without legal interruptions... for sale. Initially Oswald had intended to see this edition released "legitimately" (in the eyes of publishing companies and major record labels) by clearing all the samples, but quickly ran into problems with music industry bean counters who have little patience for fair use (especially now, I suppose, that the disc is being offered up for sale.) As a way of bypassing the authorization process Seeland Records has thankfully stepped in and "stolen" the disc for, err... *from* Oswald and produced it themselves. And yet, saying that this is merely a reissue of "Plunderphonic" would be an extreme misnomer. Although all of the original tracks from Plunderphonic are here on this collection, many have been reworked -- some slightly, and some greatly -- and sequenced differently than on the original album. So those of you that have cdr's of the original might not want to start using them as coasters just yet. Also included on this anthology is Oswald's 1991 commissioned work for Elektra Records' anniversary (and previously only released as a promotional item), the five song ep "Elektrax" (Elektra chose to rename it "Rubaiyat") in which Oswald was given free reign to plunder anything in Elektra's vaults. On top of all that are several tracks from Oswald's 1991 release "Discosphere" (released by ReR / Cuneiform and consisting of tracks commissioned for dance), several miscellaneous cuts and tracks made for compilations dating as far back as 1975 and excerpts from Oswald's 1993 piece de resistance "Plexure" (Avant, Japan), a 20 minute opus featuring over 1,000 sampled artists. Also included is a 46 page interview with John Oswald which alone is worth the cost of admission here. Along with going through all the tracks in the set and explaining the methodology behind each, Oswald details the events that led up to the cease and desist of the original cd. The two discs are packaged in a deluxe, hard bound long box and though the exterior artwork is much different than the original -- all of the original artwork is reproduced inside, along with additional plundervisuals by Oswald. As a final note, many of you are probably wondering what the legal status & future longevity is of this edition. Well here's the scoop: this pressing has already been exhausted, we have 30 copies left as of this writing. However, we have been assured that this is NOT going to disappear or be a limited edition item. There are already 10,000 books made waiting for more cds to fill them, but that will probably be a month or two before that happens. So if you want your Plunderphonics now you should place an order ASAP, otherwise you will need to wait for the next batch of discs to be pressed.

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That's Otomo Yoshihide, Keith Rowe and Taku Sugimoto. Recorded at LMCSound in London, the three iconoclastic guitarists team up for an excruciatingly patient exercise in restraint and controlled ferocity. High volume static crackle, lo-fi rumbles and anonymous shortwave radio transmissions (broadcasted in the trademark Rowe fashion through the pickups of his tabletop guitar) are situated against frail bowed strings resembling a grouping of fractured hurdy-gurdys. Pair that with subtle, minimalist textures unheard in much of guitar based music, very similar in texture to the muted piano characteristics of, say for example, Morton Feldman's works. Not for impatient ears, "Ajar" can be quite engaging for those adventurous enough...

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Three part composition exploring noise, free jazz and minimalist structures. The basic conditions in which the performance of these pieces are executed: Do not respond to the sound of others / Do not form a course from the introduction to the conclusion / Avoid any popular rhythm, melody, cliche, etc. The first part, "Anode 1", buries a heavy percussive jam (six percussionists!) under an ear splitting assault of sine waves and high frequency test tones. Very much like the electronic works of Greek composer Iannis Xenakis. Parts two and three are intentionally less abrasive, exploring territories reminiscent of John Cage, emphasizing minimalist aesthetics and chance. Another wonderful electroacoustic piece from the amazing Otomo Yoshihide!

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Imagine some gorgeous, high energy free jazz (including compositions by Eric Dolphy and Gerry Mulligan) melded with electronic drones, sine wave tones, and some Merzbow-style noise. That's what our favorite Japanese new music guru (turntablist/experimentalist/jazzbo Otomo Yoshihide) delivers with this new album on John Zorn's Tzadik label. Otomo and four other stellar players from the venerable Japanese free jazz scene are joined by none other than Merbow's Masami Akita and frequent Otomo collaborator Sachiko M (she's the one playing the "empty sampler w/ sine wave"). Fans who're already into his work with Ground Zero, ISO, Filament, and all the rest will have an idea of what this sounds like if we say it's a cross between the amazing Ground Zero "Plays Standards" disc and the minimalist clicks & drones of his more recent ISO project. Also it follows on nicely from his previous Tzadik release "Cathode", mixing the acoustic and electronic elements as on that disc. In other words, Otomo fans, it's essential! For those who have yet to explore the man's work (and who like jazz!) this would be a great starting place. There's moody parts with record crackle and smokey sax soloing, and then there's full-on intense combustions of improv interplay, total electronics/jazz freakouts. Here's a more detailed rundown: the opening title track is a ten and a half minute exercise in tension: skittering drums, suspenseful noir film bass lines, slowly ascending distorted guitar feedback, topped with badass horn interplay straight outta "The Shape of Jazz to Come", and layered with ear piercing high frequency sine wave tones, courtesy of Sachiko M. "Spin" is a delirious hyperfrenetic bebop jam with subtle blasts of noise and space age guitar jabs that whirlpools into an ending that has to be heard to be believed! The two Dolphy numbers covered are "Les" and "Serene". Then the album concludes with an epic twenty two minute track that begins with the sweet sound of Gerry Mulligan's "Night Lights" and transforms into the beautifully abstract, Otomo-composed "Density". The whole disc is fantastic, beautiful stuff, something we're sure was conceived partly in tribute to a young Otomo's 1970s Japanese free jazz heroes, who no doubt would approve. Brilliant and highly recommended.

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Raunchy freeze-dried lo-fi disco queen Peaches gets the teaches in house and accelerated funk, respectively, from Chick On Speed Tobi Neumann and Detroit's DJ Assault, reworking the title track from her Teaches of Peaches full length. Kid 606 Fucks The Pain

RealAudio clip: Fuck The Pain Away (Kid 606 Going Back To Bali Remix)

You are hereby forewarned that five AQ staffers totally hate this record, while two others like it a lot. AQ fistfight! We'd heard a lot from various customers recently about this female rapper with a disc on German indie-electronica label Kitty-Yo, so we finally had to order some in, and it's proved to be very controversial indeed. Here's what the thumbs-downers have to say: Yuck! Someone take that groovebox away from her, and wash her pottymouth out with soap. This is... really stupid and bad. Sheer aural annoyance. I could go on, but don't want to waste the space. File under: Chicks On Speed (no, actually it's worse than that). And here's the other side of the coin: Sure, Peaches is shallow ear candy, but we all need sugar sometime. With songtitles like "Fuck the Pain Away" and "Lovertits," Peaches far surpasses Li'l Kim in raunchiness, and her cool vocal delivery is equal parts coked-out ice-queen, white girl trying out hip hop a la Debbie Harry, and fierce punk yowler on the level of PJ Harvey and Kathleen Hanna. The music is super simple freeze-dried disco / wannabe electro / digital hardcore complete with stark drum programming and disembodied armies of handclaps. The whole package is slightly tongue in cheek -- Peaches has got the Sandra Bernhard-style parody / pathetic reality thing down cold. Those who would spend their money on Chicks on Speed should really check this out instead. Peaches delivers. P.S. Interview between Le Tigre and Peaches at http://tvwww.webfreetv.com/de/de/de_national/culture_zone_de/musicrules/peach/.

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Second installment in Load Records' split 12" series. Five new songs by the Providence via SF/LA duo Pink and Brown. Yes, one performs in pink while the other in brown. These new tracks, recorded last year around the time of their US tour with longtime pals Lightning Bolt, offer more groove and danceability while retaining the harshness and sonic dissonance of "Final Foods", and

Four track debut from Brooklyn art punk outfit Pixeltan. Heavy, rhythmic, overdriven grooves recalling the no-funk of Downtown NY circa 1981, only faster, nastier, and pumped full of echo and fucked up electronics. Beats courtesy of Hisham Bharoocha of Black

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Ever since the release of that great Soul Jazz "In The Beginning There Was Rhythm" compilation on which The Pop Group appear, and also with the rise of current artists like San Francisco's Erase Errata whose work shares and reflects the spirit and energy of Formed in 1978 by four young men from Bristol, The Pop Group unleashed itself from the frigid political environment of their native England and its narrowing punk scene. Lyrically and visually committed to leftist political ideals (much like their peers in Crass and some time later, The Ex), and sonically more "out" and dissonant than any other "punk" act of their time, The Pop Group abandoned the "no future" stereotypes for more serious and thought provoking ideas both ideological and musical. Produced by veteran reggae/dub producer and musician Dennis Bovell, who was also responsible for "Cut" by The Slits, another post-punk outfit with whom The Pop Group happened to share an early single (the fabulous "Where There's A Will" backed by The Slits' "In The Beginning There Was Rhythm"), this explosive 1979 debut kicks off with "Thief Of Fire" in which short blasts of guitar noise fills in the gaps where an aggressive bass funk and a primitive percussive drive weave in and out of each other. From there on, the record just gets more and more angular, outrageous, and weird as it unfolds. "Snowgirl" features crackling guitarwork accompanied by macabre tinkling piano and the odd wail of vocalist Mark Stewart (who would go on to form Tackhead and become an integral part of the On-U Sound collective). And of course there's the "hit" single (and arguably their defining moment), "She Is Beyond Good And Evil", a must-hear (it's also on the "In The Beginning There Was Rhythm" comp). The booklet has lyrics in English and Japanese as well as a nice collage of photos. Highly recommended! While we are sure to soon run out of this hard-to-get import, we've been assured we'll be able to get more of them within a few weeks, never fear.

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Carly Ptak, one half of Chicago's Nautical Almanac, presents her solo effort through her own Here See label. Hot rodded primitive electronic machines and overdriven contact mics are manipulated and sonically mutilated by this young experimental music killer.

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Peter "Pita" Rehberg and Ramon Bauer betray all of Mego's artsy mythologies of being a completely serious project, by opening this album with a lame speedfreak MC introducing Rehberg and Bauer at some festival in Australia, with the nonsensical outburst: "Oh Considering that Rehberg and Bauer follow this act of puerile behaviour with a stoicly quiet piece for muffled cable hums and pops, this introduction, at best, is irony through contradiction; at worst, is self-congratulatory arrogance. The rest of the album picks up considerably with their trademarked dense layers of digital grit, harsh noise, and occasional motorcyclical melodies. Brilliantly packaged by Jon Wozencroft, after all it's on Touch.

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THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SORRY. The unanimous AQ staff favorite of the week. Disc one is totally stuck in our cd player...it's only about 20 minutes long, but it may as well be infinite, 'cause we just keep playing it over and over. Appropriate, because, as with much of the late '60s work of American minimalist composer Terry Riley's work, repetition (with subtle changes) is the modus operandi here. The original source song "You're No Good", a pop-latin-boogaloo number released by Harvey Averne in 1968 (he's not credited in the liner notes to this, strangely) is a great tune in its own right. But soon after the original song's release. Terry Riley got his hands on it and created what oughta become one of his all time classic tracks. Riley used pedal-driven tape-loops and the Moog to take the infectious "You're No Good" chorus to extreme, abstract, mesmerizing lengths. It's looped over and under itself, at first sounding completely normal and then imperceptibly gets weirder and weirder until it's so odd that the customers in the store start looking concerned and asking if the cd player is skipping. It stutters wonderfully! Sometimes the left and right channels are playing different parts of the song simultaneously, to eerily beautiful effect. That the original song is so insanely catchy and hook-filled (it's a "Dancing in the Streets"-style pop number) definitely contributes to the accessibility and fun of the piece. Disco minimalism? Hell yeah. Apparently it was commissioned as theme song for what must have been a very avant-garde Philly dance club, the operator of which was a Terry Riley fan present at the concert documented on disc one... Brilliant. By the way, the original Averne song can be found on the compilation Dusty Fingers Vol. 2, and we've added a clip of the original below for you to compare. Disc 2 of this archival set is live material from one of Terry's Poppy Nogood All Night Concerts held in Philadelphia in the fall of 1967. The lovely drones produced by his soprano sax and "time-lag accumulator" must have kept the attendees happy and hypnotized in their sleeping bags 'til dawn, and now we can experience a cd's worth of it now at whatever time of day or night we choose. Nice.

RealAudio clip: You're Nogood
RealAudio clip: You're No Good (note: this does NOT appear on the Riley record!)

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.

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Another excellent reissue of the work of French experimental / pop musician Thierry Müller (who we know from the reissues of his pre-Ruth albums under the Ilitch moniker, one of which we recently reviewed). Fast becoming a unanimous staff favorite, Ruth's Remastered with three lengthy bonus cuts from 1982 and 1984 that teeter on more experimental ground, like Müller's celebrated work as Ilitch, which was more of a dark, droney, experimental prog guitar / synth project.

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RealAudio clip: Polaroid/Roman/Photo (Instrumental First Mix, 1982)
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THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SORRY. Another new Alchemy title that we've imported from Japan, this one kind of an all-star Japanoise fest featuring noise guitarist Jojo (Alchemy boss and Hijokaidan mastermind), vocalist Miki Sawaguchi (of dubious "Big Boobs" fame), Masami Akita (aka Merzbow) on Macintosh computer, and Masahiko Ohno of noisicians Solmania playing one of his self-built electric guitar monsters (he's also responsible for the lovely graphic design, as he is for most all equally-keen looking Alchemy releases). Naoko Otani plays live drums. Three tracks, one "remix" (I think that's Merzbow's role with his Macintosh), one studio, one live. All pretty great, ranging from rumbling foghorn soundcapes with delicate female spoken vocals, to churning noise accompanied by Yoko Ono-inspired shrieking.

The amazing Sonny Sharrock cranks out three lengthy tracks for the BYG/Actuel label, accompanied by his lovely wife Linda, bassist Bob Guerin, and drummer Jacques Thollot. "27th Day" is a seventeen minute free psych epic that begins with minimal abstraction (and Sharrock on a slide whistle!) and slowly builds into a massive freakout fireball. "Soon", written by Linda Sharrock, is

First time available on cd ever! Fucking incredible document of early seventies free jazz recorded live in Paris, in December 1970. We shouldn't have to do anything but tell you who plays on this to convince you that this is utterly essential. Fans of Sun Ra, Art Ensemble of Chicago (most of whom, play on this) and all things ESP, MUST own this. Seriously beautiful and epic outer-jazz-space exploration. And here's the freakin' lineup: Alan Silva - leader, bass, electric-violin, electric-sarangi, bow and spring (two French electroacoustic instruments) / Bernard Vitet - trumpet, french horn / Lester Bowie (AEC) - trumpet, flugelhorn / Alan Shorter - trumpet / Joseph Jarman (AEC) - saxes, flute, bassoon / Steve Lacy - soprano saxophone / Ronnie Beer - tenor and soprano saxophone, flute / Roscoe Mitchell (AEC)- saxes, flute, oboe / Robin Kenyatta - alto sax, flute / Michel Portal - alto sax, clarinet / Dieter Gewissler - electric violin / Jouk Minor - electric viola / Kent Carter - cello / Irene Aebi - cello, celeste / Dave Burrell - piano / Beb Guerin - bass / Don Moye (AEC) - drums, percussion / Jerome Cooper - drums, percussion, bronte / Oliver Johnson - tympani, percussion. Compact disc release limited to 1500 copies, so don't hold out on this one!

Fucking incredible document of early seventies free jazz recorded live in Paris, in December 1970. We shouldn't have to do anything but tell you who plays on this to convince you that this is utterly essential. Fans of Sun Ra, Art Ensemble of Chicago And here's the freakin' lineup: Alan Silva - leader, bass, electric-violin, electric-sarangi, bow and spring (two French electroacoustic instruments) / Bernard Vitet - trumpet, french horn / Lester Bowie (AEC) - trumpet, flugelhorn / Alan Shorter - trumpet / Joseph Jarman (AEC) - saxes, flute, bassoon / Steve Lacy - soprano saxophone / Ronnie Beer - tenor and soprano saxophone, flute / Roscoe Mitchell (AEC)- saxes, flute, oboe / Robin Kenyatta - alto sax, flute / Michel Portal - alto sax, clarinet / Dieter Gewissler - electric violin / Jouk Minor - electric viola / Kent Carter - cello / Irene Aebi - cello, celeste / Dave Burrell - piano / Beb Guerin - bass / Don Moye (AEC) - drums, percussion / Jerome Cooper - drums, percussion, bronte / Oliver Johnson - tympani, percussion

John Wiese (Bastard Noise) and his pal Cory Ronnau deliver what is probably the world's first plunderphonic grindcore record. Although in this case all of the plundering is self inflicted and self directed as the two record their own two piece (guitar and

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Striking another blow for true metal, which as we all know belongs on vinyl, collectable vinyl at that (says Allan, who does not own a record player), our favorite San Francisco heavy metallers (featuring members of Hammers of Misfortune, don't forget) San Francisco's epic metal geniuses unleash their third opus. Sheer heavy metal mastery. Damn! If you like some real, melodic heavy metal once and while (instead of the "brutality" and "evil" of that ol' black metal/death metal stuff we love too) the way they used to do it back in the '70s and '80s, with all the crazy fantasy lyrics and shredding dual lead guitar solos you can handle, then you need to hear these guys. This is their best yet, really, with better production than their previous disc, "Twilight Of The Idols", but with equally wicked songs. This band is usually described as a mixture of Maiden, Lizzy, and Sabbath... That's true, they're all that, and not in just a wanna-be, "those are our influences" kinda way either -- 'cause after listening to "Down Among The Deadmen" you could imagine Slough Feg getting in the wayback machine and sharing the stage with any of 'em at Castle Donnington and holding their own just fine! This is one of the only bands I know of where the musicians started as punk/rockers but realized that instrumental virtuosity and compositional craft characteristic of their childhood/teenage metal heroes WERE valuable and could be put to non-ironic, non-lame use. And were talented enough to do it. So, inspired by the past they are, but they're also their own weird thing, a cult act if there ever was one. With songs about Roger Corman movies ("Death Machine" is based on motorcycles-in-the-future David Carridine flick "Death Sport"), fantasy Celtic mythology (the "Heavy Metal Monk/Fergus Mac Roich/Cauldron Of Blood" tryptych) and the classic science fiction roleplaying game Traveller ("Traders & Gunboats"), with Mike's decidely unordinary (but great) deepvoiced vocal majesty, and the plethora of amazing RIFFS, these guys rule! For those who need an obscure indie/metal reference, it's kind of like The Champs meet Cirith Ungol or something; bizarre, epic, baroque, proud, a bit silly, masterful, very metal. So worthy of the delightful cover painting by cult D&D illustrator Erol Otus. The true heavy metal record of the year. Unbelievable!

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Yet another pseudonym for the insanely prolific Matt Wand, one half of Stock, Hausen & Walkman and Hot Air head honcho. Small Rocks is a bubbly squeaky beat monster that just might send Mouse On Mars, Atom (tm) and even Blectum From Blechdom running home

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Osaka-based artist Takushi "Maso" Yamazaki has taken quite a turn these past couple of years. His more well-known alter-ego Masonna is best known for ear shredding cut'n'paste sonic assaults. Masonna's live performances consisted of Yamazaki screaming

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Originally released in 1998, and now available on vinyl again (and still available on cd), Good Morning Spider was record number 2 from the late Mark Linkous and band, following their debut, Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot. The interesting thing about GMS, is that it was a huge stylistic and sonic shift for the band, much more somber and introspective that its predecessor, in part, most assume, because just before the recording of GMS, Linkous overdosed in a London hotel room, collapsed and was clinically dead for several minutes, he also spent the next few months in a wheelchair after a surgery that threatened to keep him in that chair forever. But if that particular black cloud did indeed have a silver lining, it's the absolutely inspired, ultra personal, intimate and heart wrenching beauty that is Good Morning Spider. While the record still strikes a precarious balance between rambunctious rocking and more darkly balladic introspection, the scales seem to be tipping toward delicate crystalline beauty, dark, hushed, whispery, haunting and so lovely. But even the more rocking numbers are infused with some serious pathos, and of course plenty of melancholy and heartbreak. The whole record is a marvel, gorgeously and idiosyncratically produced, lots of crackle, and buzz, and processed vocals, effected instrumentation, strings, lush twang flecked indie rock one second, dreamy about-to-collapse balladry the next, fragmented perfect pop the next. The record begins with the brief blast of "Pig", is a serious chunk of incendiary crunch, but so rife with impossibly hooky melodies, and some super dramatic layered vocals, not to mention plenty of twisted sounds and atmosphere. And then it's all dialed WAY down, "Painbirds" is a lilting bit of sweetly sorrowful shuffling slowcore, "Saint Mary" is a hushed bit of slo-mo Appalachian pop, Linkous' fragile vox drifting over a simple strum, but it is so much more than the sum of its parts. "Sick Of Goodbyes" is another more rocking track, but that rocking squall is brief, as the record shifts back into slow sorrowful drift. One of our favorite tracks has to be "Chaos Of The Galaxy / Happy Man", which begins as a whirling FX flecked bit of organ warble, mysterious voices, ethereal and dreamlike, a brief intro to what sounds like bad radio reception, the song "Happy Man" struggling to be heard through the static and hiss, even cutting out completely at points, until finally kicking in, and it's such a perfect pop song, with an incredible hook, and some super intense vocals, and killer guitar playing, and then once again, the record slips back into darkness, and for the remainder of the record, slips seamlessly between angstful distorted jangly crunch and shimmery drifty introspection. So good. Anyone who loves stuff like Vic Chestnut, Lambchop, Neutral Milk Hotel, Palace/Will Oldham/Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Songs:Ohia and the like, who somehow missed out on Good Morning Spider, here's another chance... Includes a digital download card!

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The record that started it all. 'It' in this case being our neverending, undying love for Mark Linkous and the desperately beautiful Sparklehorse. This is Sparklehorse's first album, finally available again on cd after being shamefully out of print for way too long. Certainly a must for anyone who's got both Good Morning Spider and It's A Wonderful Life, but also a great place to start for those who've yet to discover the wonderful musical realm of Mark Linkous. From the slow singing-right-in-your-ear intimate "Spirit Ditch" to the rockin' summer sing-a-long "Rainmaker" to the sort-of-hit "Someday I will Treat You Good", each tune that Linkous writes is a gem: lush ballads, twangy 'No Depression' pop and experimental musical miniatures. Though at times comparisons to Camper Van Beethoven sans art school pretensions are fitting, fans of Uncle Tupelo, Palace, Vic Chesnutt, Lambchop, Wisdom of Harry and great pop in general should all take heed and check out Sparklehorse. You won't be sorry.

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A wonderful collection of works composed between 1970 and 1983 from this obscure, criminally overlooked American composer and electronic music pioneer. Instrumentation involves analog electronics (both manual and computer-controlled), electronic tape,

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A very impressive debut from the strangely wonderful Norwegian quartet known as Spunk. Unearthly rock and jazz structures and improvisations, simultaneously dark and childlike. Also check out the follow-up release 'Filtered Through Friends' which features remixes by Kim Hiorthoy, Phonophani, Martin Horntveth, Upper Rooms, Svalastog, (X, Y, Z), Andreas Meland, Jorgen Traeen, Sun Demon, Risto Holopainen, Lasse Marhaug, Andreas Mjos and Spunk's own Kristin Andersen.

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Remixes of the strangely wonderful Norwegian quartet, whose impressive debut "Det Eneste Jeg Vet Er At Det Ikke Er En Stovsuger" fused modern classical composition (member Maja Ratkje is a renowned young composer in her native Norway) with their unearthly

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Following on the heels of his "My Red Hot Car" single, Tom Jenkinson has blessed us with an additional 9 tracks of Squarepusher salvation. Though the single is by far the best track on the album, you can be rest assured that fretless bass licks, Miles Davis

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Another Euro-pop swingin' shimmy-shake affair from the very cosmopolitan Stereo Total. Once again, a lyrical cocktail shaker of French, German, English and... Turkish! Many moments that would make obscure, eccentric '60s lounge-y/ad jingle composer Charles

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Five remixes of the instant classic that Stereo Total has been performing live for the past four or so years, only recorded recently for their latest long player, "Musique Automatique". Remixers include Candie Hank (aka Patric Catani of EC8OR, Audio Chocolate, Flex Busterman, et al), Felix Kubin, Christopher Just (producer of a handful of Chicks On Speed tracks), Bis and Brezel

San Francisco's Seth Horvitz aka Sutekh returns with the follow up to 2000's "Periods Make Sense" for Mille Plateuax. After a handful of tech-house singles on various labels like Force Lab, Delay, Plug Research and his own Context Free Media label, "Fell" sees Sutekh fleeing from the confines of the dancefloor, pursuing an exploration of texture and the nature of sound through electroacoustic analysis. Fractured timelapse rhythms collide with clinical pulses and piercing tones in a superdistorted faux exotic world of minimalist dub and triphop. A microcosmic journey into the anatomy and dissection of pure sonics. Slow paced and expansive, yet highly cerebral and thoroughly engaging. Another beautiful release from the enchanting folks at Orthlorng Musork.

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The Taj-Mahal Travellers double cd 'August 1974' has to be one of the most essential drone music documents of the 20th century. Our description of that record describes the Taj Mahal Travellers sound perfectly: "epic higher key improvised drone extravaganzas Three extended tracks of sublime and transcendental musique concrete/drone. Sparse and spacious. With vocals and electronic trumpets augmenting the violin, contrabass, harmonica, sheet iron, castanet, vibraphone, guitar, percussion and radio oscillators. Dreamy and otherworldly, three epic tracks of hum and rumble, squeak and skree, clatter and tinkle envelop you in a completely new world of sound. So essential.

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Another in Alchemy's new Inner Mind Music series of spacey delights -- "Live at Alpha Centauri" it says on the inside. The Tangerine Dream Syndicate wears its influences proudly -- the band is made up of Tommy Conrad (cello, violin), Johnny Conrad

We're excited to finally be able to get hold of this second release by this Tokyo drums and electronics duo! Former Melt-Banana drummer Toshiaki Sudoh and Gaji guitarist Yui Kimijima, together known as Thermo, have been fixtures on Tokyo's avant improvisational underground for quite some time now. Having both been featured in separate improvisational settings on the excellent document "The Improvisation Meeting At Bar Aoyama", as well as numerous performances within their native country, these guys have been unstoppable. In Thermo, Kimijima sets aside his guitar in favor of an assortment of electronic devices and effects, through which he filters the unrelenting fiery force of Sudoh's unstoppable percussive attack. The result isn't as repetitive as one would think -- certainly most appealing to drummers and those into breakbeat culture and instrumental rhythmic jams, the duo's mechanical distorto beats, crunching funktronix and ballistic breakbeats also cough up rhythms and sonics reminiscent of ESG and This Heat. Very cool -- although, be warned, the casual listener (like your housemates, say) may be driven insane by this.

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It would be nice to think that These Records have only been releasing the reissues of "Deceit" -- This Heat's second and final proper album -- every ten years after the original release of the album in 1981. The first CD pressings arrived on 1991, and this Almost all of the histories of UK avant-garde music have claim allegiances to This Heat, as Punk, New Wave, Industrial, Prog Rock, Jim O'Rourke, and even Electronica place the seminal outfit somewhere at the beginnings of their respective etymologies. To a certain extent all of these histories may be true, but then again the broad aesthetic and ideological contexts between all of those different styles may cross-each other out, leaving This Heat as one of the few artistic forces that truly exists all by itself. Just a trio comprised of Charles Hayward, Charles Bullen, and Gareth Williams, This Heat manifested an incredibly explosive sound that hybridized all of the countercultural fury of Punk and Situationism, within a sonic context informed by technological advances of musique concrete techniques and electro-acoustic synthesis. Musically speaking, This Heat did not espouse the three chord structures or the snarling postures of Punk, instead injecting the complex pop agendas of Brian Eno (which were purposefully seeking to conflict the archetypes of rock into a new aesthetic language) with nervous tension building up to dramatic cathartic releases. "Deceit" is a record that was so ahead of its time that it has taken twenty years for artists like Fennesz and Radiohead to articulate ideas with such intensity and attention to the play between musical creation and technological advances. So highly recommended.

Now, if you read our list regularly, or look at the tags on the cds in the store, you know that we at AQ tend to use the word "ridiculous" (in a good way) quite a lot. And we're also partial to the, again positively-meant, term "fucked". We use these words Yann Tomita's "An Adventure Of Inevitable Chance" is either a genius work of audio pastiche or a complete put on (or both). To begin with, the album opens with an academic-sounding lecture telling us that Tomita's music is a completely synthetic re-creation of a number of established genres. Yet the musical examples illustrating these genres do not match up. For example, their idea of "Acid Rock" is a banal karaoke lounge tune, and "Country" is represented by what seems to be an excerpt from Sun Ra's "Space Is The Place"! Also, this is supposed to be a live concert from 1993 (with no overdubs, we're told), but...is it? Certainly it would be an amazing, disorienting one, as this disc moves track-by-track through propulsive early-Kraftwerk electronics, simple violin plucking augmented by analog delays, Carl Stalling / Martin Denny exotica, Cornelius-esque whimsy-rock, Barney Miller / Night Court TV show theme style jazzfunk, radio tunings and sputterings, and late '80s cheesy electric dub! Oh, two of the tracks are John Cage pieces, including a not-quite silent version of 4'33"... It's all so unexpected and unfathomable, while often being amazingly quirky and catchy. Tomita claims that his work has influenced countless musicians, DJs, journalists, and fans alike. Some of you may recognize his name from his remix on the Boredoms' Super Roots 8! For those of us who have just encounted his work for the first time here, he claims that he has "influenced you subliminally as well." In the booklets (there's two) you'll find much more to puzzle over (like the catalog of other Tomita releases, including a 7" record with a doughnut on top of it, and a 12" with an ashtray in the shape of a miniature steel drum...there are photos). Oh, in possibly the most brilliantly ridiculously fucked move EVER, this disc is actually packaged as a double cd -- but one of the discs (entitled "Heart Beat") is made of cardboard! (Thus making it unplayable for those of us with *normal* cd players). Odd is an understatement. We're thinking now that if we've judged our customers right, odds are we'll have to try and order more of these pronto...

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Part of me sees the development of the Jamaican DJ as truly bizarre. I try to imagine the Aquarius equivalent with say, our J. Allan Horrocks (who's initials are JAH, coincidentally enough) waxing poetic over The Lord Weird Slough Feg and cutting the tracks

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According to the *well documented* liner notes, this album was originally released on cassette in South East Asia in 1982. The The music on the disc is classic Hot Air material though: quirky and humorous electronica, squeaks, farts and irreverence (thumbs in the face to the pretensions of high brow electronica abound.) The disc starts off with a field recording of insects buzzing on a lonesome highway and then goes into some ping pong ball bouncy electronica with ersatz-Asian melodies that almost sounds like an attempt to imitate Burmese Pat Wiang (a melodic circular set of drums that sound like rototoms). Included also are a lot of really cheesy gamelan-esque samples and synth sounds in to boot. The end result is audio tourism where the tourist never even leaves home, but just comes up with a fictional vacation. Our mysterious tour guides Obeng & Jalan (most certainly Matt Wand -- we're making an "ass" of "u" and "me" here that it's Mr. Wand behind this) have produced some wickedly funny /possibly offensive electronic fuckery. Hot Air has released this mini cd as part of their "Hot Air Global Education Series" in cooperation with "The Hotairian Institute".

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Odd 3"cd-r compilation from Berlin-based misterministeck.com - a website run by artist Norbert Bayer, who makes pictures and objects using ministeck, a children's creativity game in which plastic pins are placed on a grid to create an image. Bayer

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Finally! The excellent, now out-of-print 3" cd gets the vinyl treatment it fully deserves. Fourteen artists pay "tribute" to the notorious gangsta crew from straight outta Compton. NWA get the Plunderphonics treatment from Kid 606, Lesser (with a ridiculous version of "Fat Girl on my Jock"!), Matmos, Hrvatski, Cex, Pimmon, Pisstank, Dat Politics, Christoph de Babalon, V/VM, Team

Continuing in Lo's series of today's electronic artist's selections of "classic" unheard music (the first being Luke Vibert's Nuggets), Add N to (X)'s Barry 7 scours the libraries of Chappell, Southern and PIL for some rare gems screaming to be heard. For

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