Aquarius Records closed in 2016. This site is an archive — a place to rediscover their extraordinary music recommendations. Nothing here is for sale.
Showing results 201 through 235 of 235.
V/ADon't Fuck With Us(Digital Hardcore)3cd$ 15.98
Alec "The Destroyer" Empire, fed up with the Berlin scene, returned to the New York DHR offices and rummaged through the huge box of demo tapes from numerous underground and largley unheard American artists. These three jam-packed discs feature 35 of those
V/ADowntown 81 soundtrack(Virgin France)cd$ 16.98
Long overdue reissue of this wonderful soundtrack to the film Downtown 81, which starred the now-deceased artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, and was written by Glenn O'Brien. Here we've got 20 tracks representing the breadth and range of the hip downtown NY This is not only a cool document of a scene that was breathtaking in its diversity, but this is also a very handy sampler to the music of this time, much of which is now recognized as seminal. It's rare that a soundtrack documents a scene well (as opposed to just featuring throwaway tracks by bands who saved their best stuff for their own albums), but this album does it! The booklet's got a bunch of film stills and lots of information on the bands. Listen to *all* the soundclips to get an idea of the range of styles represented on this great record.
V/AExtreme Music From Japan(Susan Lawly)cd$ 18.98
The first "extreme music" compilation from Susan Lawly, released in 1994. Along with collections like Come Again II (Vanilla / Furnace) and World Record (Alchemy), Extreme Music From Japan is an indispensible document of noise and power electronics from the
V/AFals.ch(Mego)3"cd-rom$ 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY. Fals.ch is Viennese label Mego's MP3 only online sublabel run by Florian Hecker and Oswald Berthold. This cute little 3"cd-rom contains hours of abraisive noise, subtle drones and clinical cuts from the best of the first twentyfour releases thus far. As this is a cd-rom, it will not be compatible with most consumer electronics, and is best experienced through a personal computer with an MP3 player (software is not included here) so as to view the accompanying notes and art provided in each artists' folders. Featuring the usual Mego and OR Records suspects: Pita, Karkowski, Haswell (with Masami Akita as Satans Tornade), Shirt Trax, Voice Crack, Pimmon, Oval, CD Slopper, Kim Cascone, Massimo, Christoph De Babalon, et al.
V/AFluxus Anthology(Zona)lp$ 25.00
We've had this compilation on cd a few different times before but never on lp. As you may recall it went out of print, but then a few more were discovered a while back. Now it's available once again, only now on the long playing phonograph record format (we're still hoping that they'll work their way back to a 78 box set on this one.) The collection itself is a document of the music (and
V/AIn the Beginning There Was Rhythm(Soul Jazz)cd$ 17.98
Wow. The London based Soul Jazz label does it again. They've already documented the global history of funk and soul in several astonishingly well-executed collections including the universally loved "100-500% Dynamite" series of Jamaican soul, rocksteady, and reggae; the Philadelphia Roots collection; the Nu Yorica albums; that ESG reissue, and even an Art Ensemble of Chicago album. Yet none of these albums has been as highly anticipated or so spot-on timely as this new one from Soul Jazz, "In The Beginning There Was Rhythm." This compilation succeeds in encapsulating that heady time between the years 1978 and 1982, when the "second wave" of British punk bands found inspiration in both the musical and political power of reggae. As the situationist propaganda of Malcolm McLaren and the Sex Pistols spawned a global theater of anarchist shock tactics, even such right-wing idiots as the skinhead, white power, and neo-Nazi parties dared to embrace punk's celebration of chaos. Thus, those (mostly white) musicians within the punk movement who were *opposed* to such unsavory politics stood in solidarity both politically and aesthetically with their black brothers in Jamaica. Incited by the offbeat attack of The Clash and the huge dub bass production from Public Image Limited, the late '70s punk movement began a vast exploration into possibilities of bridging dance music with the revolutionary anthems of punk. While neither The Clash nor PIL are included in this compilation, "In The Beginning There Was Rhythm" does collect some of the best tracks from the huge vaults of post-punk, many of which might have gone forgotten had it not been for this album! Even 20 years after their initial releases, the bands here -- including Gang of Four, Cabaret Voltaire, 23 Skidoo, The Pop Group, A Certain Ratio, The Slits, This Heat, Human League and Throbbing Gristle -- still sound fresh, often melding choppy rhythms with angular slash-and-burn guitar, spit out vocals, rubbery bass, and nascent forms of electronica. We'll say it again -- the music here is simply perfect -- the punk holds back dance music's tendency to get too mechanical 'n boring, while the dance elements impart melody and groove to the punk. Highlighting the compilation are A Certain Ratio's urgent amphetamine funk on "Shack Up" and "Knife Slits Water", melding the unlikely combination of Joy Division's grim urgency with a George Clinton funk arrrangement. Gang Of Four's "To Hell With Poverty" marks their transition from the agitated punk grooves found on their classic (but impossible to find) debut "Entertainment" into a smooth dancefloor-friendly attack punctuated by Marxist rhetoric. The Human League -- who are unfortunately best known for their chart topping new wave singles -- had incredibly adventurous beginnings on the often forgotten punk label Fast (also early home for The Mekons and Gang of Four). Their early offering "Being Boiled" is a primitive piece of spartan electronics loaded with theatrical tension and dark arpeggiations more expected from people like Coil and Throbbing Gristle (who contribute their perverse fascination with ABBA in the subversive aesthetics of "20 Jazz Funk Greats"). But, why is this compilation so short? Judging from how few people today remember or even have heard Section 25, Tunnelvision, DAF, or Fad Gadget, there's plenty more work for Soul Jazz to do in compiling more compilations of this sort! Not just recommended, this is *required* listening. Strongly recommended to any and all!
V/ALuke Vibert's Further Nuggets(Lo)cd$ 15.98
More jacked up space funk and acid drenched future musik from the libraries of Chappell, Southern, iM, Bruton, Peer and Parry. For those unfamiliar, what has come to be known as library music is essentially commissioned music pieces -- usually instrumental (though there's the occasional ambiguous vocal harmonies, la-la-la's and what not) -- and archived for use as backing tracks in film and televison. As expected, some of the heavy hitters of documented library music are here: Roger Roger, Jack Arel, Georges Teperino, Eric Peters, Paul Bonneau, etc. Like Vibert's first volume, this collection rides all sorts of genres, though ultimately what holds everything together is tha funk. There's psychedelic orchestral funk ala Alain Goraguer's "La Planete Sauvage". Roger Davy's aptly titled "Crazy Flute Happy Guitar" fuses distorto hammond space organ with tripped out flute (all breathy and raw like Roland Kirk) and porno wah wah strumming and snazzy horn rawkus. Lots of Moog, tons of drum breaks, and loads and loads of sticky cheese. Big props to Lo for scavanging the choice cuts in the massive collections and making them available to us! A must for any self respecting sample happy musician -- breakbeats and exotica galore! For more space funk dementia, be sure to check out Luke Vibert's Nuggets volume one and Barry 7's Connectors (both on Lo), as well as the Music For Dancefloors collections on Strut!
V/ANanoloop 1.0(Disco Bruit)cd$ 15.98
A collection of tracks produced utilizing Nanoloop, a realtime synthesizer and sequencer for the Nintendo Game Boy developed by Oliver Wittchow at HfbK in Hamburg. Given the limited capabilities inherent in a 4-bit sound chip found on portable game modules, the results are quite impressive and undoubtedly fun (some even downright unbearable given the microtonal capabilities). Many
V/AOr Some Computer Music 2(Or)cd$ 15.98
Or Records' second compilation of computer music finds its definition of computer music in the late '60s and early '70s, when huge mainframe computers were neccessary to calculate not quite random but sequentially diffuse algorithms for the making of computer
V/APop Ambient 2002(Kompakt)cd$ 16.98
Volume two in Kompakt's definitive guide to the tranquil aural haze of Köln. Like its predecessor, Pop Ambient 2002 covers the classic, very distinct Kompakt sound -- dense, gritty and repetitive, always simple and extremely melodic and beautiful. Featuring
V/APopshopping Vol. 2(Crippled Dick Hot Wax!)cd$ 16.98
Aaah, the wonder of advertising jingles! Cleverly, insidiously hooking the consumer through the ear. Love 'em or hate 'em, we've all caught ourselves pleasantly humming a tune only to realize it's for some junk food we'd never ever lay a hand on. Pizza on a
V/ARKK13CD(Reckankreuzungsklankewerkzeuge)cd$ 13.98
Between 1995 and 1997, Hrvatski and various accomplices put together a vinyl only collection of two minute electro-shock / drill 'n' bass tracks called "Attention: Cats." That homage to the short attention span has in turn been reworked into even an even
V/AShock City Shockers(Shock City/Polystar)cd$ 26.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY. At first glance, you may mistake this CD for Beck's "Midnite Vultures". Look closely though and you'll notice that the artwork used by Beck was in fact created two years ago for this compilation on Shock City (a Polystar Japan subsidiary overseen by Boredoms mastermind Yamataka Eye)! Now this collection is finally been made available as an not-absolutely-impossible-to-find import release. Through the 23 tracks and 78 minutes of music, we're taken on a wild ride through the new Osaka underground as seen by Eye: sitars, babbling babies, snake charmers, Jews harps, no-wave electronics, hardcore, new psychedelia, and drums, lots o' drums! Standout selections include tracks by DJ Pika Pika Pika (tweaked-out, beat heavy, electronics-fuckery by Eye), Standing Earth & Touching Air (Yoshimi and Keigo "Cornelius" Oyamada making the most interesting use of Jews harp I've ever heard!), and DJ Tranquilizer (Otomo Yoshihide and Aoyama Yasutomo). Most tracks are both exclusive to this comp (save for the OOIOO and ROVO tracks) and definitely Boredoms related (many variations on the use of EYE in band names!). Great stuff! Beautifully designed, mind melting artwork (as always) by Eye, with sparkly printing, that kicks the ass of the later Beck cover...
V/AStructure of Scientific Misconceptions, The / The System of Scientific Misconstructions(Toyo)cd$ 9.98
Volumes four and five of Toyo's Science Series of split singles, scientifically restructured for confusion and discomfort. Artists featured this time around (unintentionally?) reside in the regions of San Francisco, CA and Olympia, WA. Erase Errata kick off the
V/ATeen Dance Music From China And Malaysia(Thrift Score)cd$ 14.98
Fans of The Steps, Ho: Roady Music From Vietnam and fans of instrumental exotica weirdness take note. We are happy to have chanced upon this brand new collection of gems from the cracks of music history. According to the notes on the back of the case, the
V/AThree The Hard Way(Crossfade Entertainment)cd$ 14.98
A three-way split cd of live sets by DJ SCUD, BOMBARDIER and NITRO. Forty seven tracks of blistering white noize hardcore ragga dancehall fuckstep destruction from some of the finest of the genre. Scud's set includes tracks from Ambush cohorts Aphasic, Nomex
V/ATurkish Delights(Grey Past)cd$ 17.98
We are all quite excited about the cd release of Turkish Delights comp (though Byram's a bit irked 'cause he bought the original vinyl and now is faced with a cd version that adds 11 extra tracks!). In total, there's 26 tracks here, dating from 1965 to 1971, Along with the new cd version, we now have more copies of the "Turkish Delights" LP (which was so hard to get when it first came out that we only ever had a handful and were never able to list it). 15 tracks on this baby instead of the 26 on the cd, but what you lose in bonus cuts you gain in, uh, vinyl. And the art looks better, we think.
V/AVarious Alchemists On...(Alchemy)cd$ 14.98
This limited edition compilation of the current roster of Osaka's Alchemy Records includes a small 2001 desk calendar featuring images of the artists. Longtime artists include: GENBAKU ONANIES (veteran punk rockers); INCAPACITANTS (noise for bankers, Allan's
V/AWrong Application(Tigerbeat6)cd$ 12.98
Holy crap, another compilation from everybody's favorite electronic superstar Kid 606 and friends. Compiled by Andrew Nosnitsky, the concept behind "Wrong Application" was to create audio tracks resulting from non-audio, pure data information origination.
V/VMHate You(Offal)cd$ 13.98
Right from the get-go, the V/VM compilation "Hate You" is easily the most enjoyable (read: not annoying or irritatingly ironic) and well executed collection from this Stockport collective. The basic premise here is, well, pretty much the same as any other V/VM project: take any "shite" track and slice, dice, shred, add tons of distortion and completely destroy the shit out of it.
VAJRASichisiki(PSF)cd$ 21.00
3rd album from the amazing Japanese improv-folk-rock trio of Keiji Haino, Kan Mikami, and Toshiaki Ishitsuka. Fans of Keiji's crazy Fushitsusha guitar style should maybe start with this one.
WHITEHOUSECruise(Susan Lawly)cd$ 16.98
Yes, the notorious Whitehouse are still at it after twenty years. Love them or hate them, you've probably got a strong opinion about Whitehouse. While we at Aquarius do not necessarily agree with the lyrical content of past Whitehouse releases, some of us Whitehouse have always seemed to position themselves in close proximity to the artworld (while at the same time alienating themselves from the music world), and in doing so, may be positioning themselves closer to the accepted forms of transgressive art such as Vito Acconchi's public masturbation or Jeff Koon's airbrushed pornography. Whatever you may think about Whitehouse (i.e. if they are or are not 'art'), that which lies underneathe the packaging is certainly not going to change your mind about them. You probably know already if you need to own this. However, Whitehouse does change things up a bit on 'Cruise', taking their normally ear shredding shrieks, and lowering the ultra high frequencies to a more gritty mid-range analogue noise. ----* ----* Printed Matter : ----* GIANT ROBOT #21 magazine 3.95 Art-focused issue of one of our favorite magazines, celebrating Asian Pop Culture and Beyond. Wong Kar-Wai, Asian haircuts, Superflat Murakami, Seattle grunge photog Charles Peterson's photos of Vietnam, Hong Kong hiphoppers Lazmuthafucka, Katsushige Nakahashi who makes stunning huge sculptures out of polaroids, Tony Leung, qi gong and its psychic potential, etc. ----* ----* In Stock, No Time to Review : ----* BERTHOLO, RENE "Um Argentino no Deserto" (SIRR.ecords) cd 14.98 CAGE, JOHN / DAVID TUDOR "Music of Change" (Hat Hut) cd 16.98 CRAWL UNIT "Stop Listening" (Ground Fault) cd 9.98 CRAWL UNIT "The Future In Reverse" (Povertech Industries) cd 9.98 CRAWL UNIT "Trans History - Works 95-99" (Ignis) cd 9.98 CRAWL UNIT "Vs. Silence" (Povertech Industries) cd 9.98 FAMOUS BOYFRIEND "s/t" (555) cd 14.98 GORILLAZ (the singer from Blur and members of Deltron 3030!) "s/t" (EMI UK) cd 25.00 ITS ALL MEAT "s/t" (Hallucinations) cd 14.98 MUM "Yesterday Was Dramatic - Toady Is OK" (TMT / Thule Music) cd 17.98 PHONOPHANI "Genetic Engineering" (Rune Grammofon) cd 16.98 PINK & BROWN "Final Foods" (Toyo) cd 10.98 ROXY MUSIC "Vintage" (Burning Airlines) cd 12.98 VITRIOL "Randonee 0.06" (SIRR.ecords) cd 14.98 WARWICK, HENRY "Keraunograph" (Kether Music) cd 11.98 _______________________________________________________________________ KOJI ASANO INSTORE APRIL 29th SUNDAY -- 4 pm Experimental musician Koji Asano (who makes his home in Barcelona, Spain, although he's originally from Japan) will be in town at the end of the month, on his first-ever US tour (West Coast, anyway), after playing shows in Italy and Slovenia. He's been a long-time favorite of ours, so we're very pleased to announce that he'll be doing a free in-store performance here at Aquarius! His work has always been super creative and eclectic, so we're really excited to hear what his stuff is going to sound like in person. His recent recordings have focused on computer-assisted electroacoustic drones, full of beautiful feedback and dark mystery. But we'll see what he does here at Aquarius -- be here Sunday April 29th at 4pm to find out! Koji's other Bay Area shows are on these evenings: April 26th -- The Luggage Store, SF April 27th -- Capp Street Community Center / Moving Target Series, SF April 29th -- Tuva Space / Acme Observatory Series, Oakland -->another AQ-fave, LOREN CHASSE (of id battery / Thuja) will also be performing at this show! From our review of his last work, a four-part set called "The Last Shade of Evening Falls": "Japanese composer/experimentalist (and AQ fave sound artist) Koji Asano is known not only for the quality of his work (almost always quite excellent) but for the sheer quantity of his releases over the last few years -- sixteen of 'em as of today, more if you count limited edition cd-rs -- which run the creative gamut from gorgeous piano meditiations, to computer noise, to chamber music, to rock guitar improv." _______________________________________________________________________ RAWA BENEFIT "To prevent music... In shops, hotels, vehicles and rickshaws cassettes and music are prohibited... If any music cassette found in a shop, the shopkeeper should be imprisoned and the shop locked. If cassette found in the vehicle, the vehicle and the driver will be imprisoned. "To prevent music and dances in wedding parties. In the case of violation the head of the family will be arrested and punished. "To prevent the playing of music drum. The prohibition of this should be announced. If anybody does this then the religious elders can decide about it." -- Taliban edicts regarding music Fire Museum is proud to present a benefit concert for the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) at the Stork Club, 2330 Telegraph Avenue in Oakland, featuring the following fine artists (in reverse order of appearance): BLECTUM FROM BLECHDOM THE BRAN (...) POS + PLANETSIZE DEEP DICKOLLECTIVE CONE, featuring members of Zmrzlina SPEZZO ROTTA Saturday, May 5th 2001 The Stork Club (2330 Telegraph Avenue, cross Street 23rd Avenue, near 19th Avenue BART) Oakland doors 7:00 p.m. / $6-$10 sliding scale / 21+ concert website: http://www.geocities.com/tomato_gazelle/Fire_Museum.html _______________________________________________________________________ UPCOMING RELEASES ----> should be here any minute, if not in already! v/a "Clicks & Cuts 2" 3cd (members of) Add N to (X) / Stereolab / Hairy Butter "Alternative 3" soundtrack cd v/a "Bip Hop Generation vol. 2" cd Hazard / Fennesz / Biosphere "Light" tour cd on Touch Hazard "Wind" cd on Ash ----> April 24th (crazy new release day!) Mouse On Mars "Idiology" cd/lp on Thrill Jockey Bardo Pond "Dilate" cd/2lp on Matador Kammerflimmer Kollektief "Maander" cd on Temporary Residence Modest Mouse "Sad Sappy Sucker" cd/lp on K unreleased 1994 recordings + other rarities Vic Chesnutt "Left To His Own Devices" cd on SpinArt (rarities and demos) Mogwai "Rock Action" lp/cd The Ex "Dizzy Spells" cd on Touch And Go US Maple "Acre Thrills" cd/lp on Drag City Steven R. Smith "Tableland" cd on Emperor Jones Paul Burch "Last Of My Kind" cd on Merge Portastatic "Looking For Leonard" cd on Merge The Clientele "Suburban Light" cd on Merge, domestic Nels Cline "Destroy All Nels Cline" cd on Atavistic Raging Slab "s/t" cd reissue on Spitfire Terrie Ex & Han Bennink "The Laughing Owl" cd on Atavistic Danielson Famile "Fetch the Compass Kids" cd/lp on Secretly Canadian Of Montreal "Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies" cd/2lp on Secretly Canadian Vivian Sisters s/t cd on Avant Mekons reissues (Rock 'n' Roll, Curse of, Fun '90) Red Allen "The Folkways Years 1964-83" cd on Smithsonian Folkways The Country Gentlemen "On The Road (And More) cd on Smithsonian Folkways John Zorn "Love, Madness and Mysticism" cd on Tzadik Rothko "In The Pulse Of An Artery" cd on Instinct Destroyer "Streethawk: A Seduction" cd on Misra Ryoji Ikeda & Carsten Nicolai "Cyclo" cd on Raster-Noton ----> May 8 To Rococo Rot "Music is a Hungry Ghost" (Mute) Burning Airlines "Identikit" cd ----> May 15 Autechre "Confield" cd/2lp on Warp Neu! "Neu! 1", "Neu! 2", and "Neu! '75" all legitimately reissued on cd and lp, on Astralwerks! Sonna "We Sing Loud Sing Soft Tonight" cd/lp on Temporary Residence Cannibal Ox "The Cold Vein" lp/cd on Def Jux Borthwick/hollAnd "helene" CD on Temporary Residence Tool "Laterus" new studio album ----> May 22 Absu "Tara" cd on Osmose Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz Quintet "Flutter" cd on Tzadik Abigor "Satanized" on Napalm Mammoth Volume "a single book�" cd on TMC Mark Eitzel "The Invisible Man" cd/lp on Matador ----> May 29 Spirit Caravan "Elusive Truth" cd/lp on Tolotta Plaid "Double Feature" cd/2lp on Warp Karaboudjan "Sbrodj" on Relapse EyeHateGod "10 Years of Abuse and Still Broke" live cd on Century Media ----> also in May Destiny's Child "Independent Women" Oval "Commers" cd/lp on Thrill Jockey Gram Parsons "Anthology" 2cd on Rhino Whiskeytown "Pneumonia" Missy Elliot "Miss E...So Addictive" Mira Calix "Prickle" cdep/12" on Warp Squarepusher "My Red Hot Car" cdep/12" on Warp Zeni Geva "10,000 Light Years" cd on Neurot Candiria "300 Percent Density" cd on Century Media MF Doom "Operation: Doomsday" cd on Sub Verse Ex-Girl "Back To Mono Kero" on Ipecac Deltron 3030 "Tron 3030 (The Instrumentals)" cd/2lp on 75Ark (delayed from way back) ----> June 18 Summer Hymns "A Celebratory Arm Gesture" cd/lp on Misra Jeff Mangum "Live At Jittery Joe's" cd on Orange Twin Bonny Billy (Will Oldham) "More Revery" cdep on Temporary Residence Ltd. Orange Twin Fieldwork (Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel) "Volume 1" on Orange Twin ----> also in June Lucinda Williams "Essence" R.E.M. "Reveal" ----> July 23rd Neutral Milk Hotel "Everything Is" cdep reissue on Orange Twin ----> July Bjork "tba" _______________________________________________________________________ The Aquarius Records New Arrivals list has 5163 subscribers. If you like our list, please buy your records from Aquarius; we produce this list just for you and it's a lot of work! "The first record was pretty much stories about my drugged out childhood plus a little bit of Spinal Tap on top -'I'm gonna rule the world with my leather penis!' or whatever. And then all that stuff started coming true..." --Monster Magnet's Dave Wyndorf on fame, from Terrorizer #86. "I met an undercurrent of peopel that were into severe behavior, weird mind games and weird physical games- Dungeons, high faluting lawyer women who were having these massive fuckin' orgies, with slaves- and in the middle of it all I remember looking out of a hotel room in L.A. smoking a cigarette. The sun was coming up and I just remember thinking 'Who am I? What am I doing?'. And there was this girl lying there that had just applauded me for performing the appropriate torture on her- 'You were a master at it,' and I'm like 'What the fuck am I doing?'" --Monster Magnet's Dave Wyndorf on the influences that shaped the sound of the new album. From Terrorizer #86 Love, Windy Cup Byram Andee Jim Allan and Jeff
WHITEHOUSEQuality Time(Susan Lawly)cd$ 18.98
Repress of the 1995 headsplitter from the masters of extreme electronic music. "Quality Time", their fourteenth (by my count) record, is a massive subsonic masterpiece that transcends the majority of Whitehouse's early work. Along with the prior "Halogen",
WHITMAN, KEITH FULLERTON21:30 For Acoustic Guitar(Apartment B Records)cd ep$ 9.98
You know him as Hrvatski (Boston-based electronica maverick fond of long German words and 'Amen' breaks), we know him as Keith, our friendly sales rep at Forced Exposure distribution. With this new cdep release under his own name, Keith/Hrvatski combines his
WIZARDHead of the Deceiver(Limb)cd$ 15.98
Normally, you can assume it's Andee or Allan reviewing the metal offerings around here. But Jeff was so unexpectedly entranced by this new disc (their fourth, we're told) from German speed metal outfit Wizard, that he had to have a go... With songs like "Drink
WOBBLYLive 99>00(Phthalo)cd$ 10.98
Wobbly (aka Jon Leidecker) cites Dilated Peoples, Goran Bregovic, Julio Iglesias, Stilluppsteypa, Dr. Dre, Montell Jordan, and Daniel Miller as the most 'blatant' samples found within this documentation of his mutated electronica live performances around Wobbly's plunderphonics were born out of his work on Negativland's weekly "Over The Edge" radio show on KPFA; and have developed into a distinctive sound fitting roughly in the Negativland comedy / commentary style of media cut ups. His work never smacks of provocation, as he has been very keen on disfiguring his pop culture references to stand clearly within the parameters of "fair use." As can be inferred from a couple of those aforementioned references, Wobbly's recent work has been venturing into hip hop, but not as another whiteboy ironic appropriation. Rather, it's an exuberant decontextualization of all of hip hop's hyperboles: scratching becomes so excessively technical as to lose all recognition of the rhythm, diva vocals wail and wander through impossible notes for an eternity, breakbeats are decimated into ungroovy robotic anti-funk. Wobbly's closest comparison is in how Matmos performs surgery on house music, sewing everything back together with ample semantic and compositional counterpoints. What is also amazing about Wobbly's live shows is that they involve no laptops, no sequencers, no midi. He edits in real time using just a mixer, a couple of cd players, and several cheap samplers. With an album coming soon on Tigerbeat 6, Wobbly's definitely one to watch!!!
WOBBLYPlaylist(Illegal Art)3"cd$ 9.98
Disguising itself as a demonstrational disc from Broadcast Programming, a corporate music marketing and programming group developed to "help you stay on top of your market", the latest ep from Jon Leidecker presents itself as a conceptual piece
WOBBLYRegards(Wobbly)3" cd-r ep$ 5.98
For years now, Jon "Wobbly" Leidecker has skirted around the edges of the electronica community, collaborating with People Like Us and The Weatherman (that amazing voice in Negativland), and finding more than a few unreleased samples of his work popping up on
WOLF EYESDread(Hanson / American Tapes)lp$ 10.98
Ann Arbor, Michigan. Home to heavy, powerful dirge rock and noise from the likes of Gravitar and Universal Indians and the power electronics sabotage of Nautical Almanac. Somewhere in between lies the homemade electronics power sludge of Wolf Eyes. Aaron Dilloway (Mr. Hanson Records) heads this behemoth, always unpredictable -- from beat driven floor shakers to tweaked out
WOLF EYESs/t(Bulb)cd$ 12.98
This isn't so new, but we finally have some in stock. The first full length from Ann Arbor's doom electronic duo of Aaron Dilloway and Nathan Young, aka Wolf Eyes. Imagine a lo-fi Suicide focused on tweaked out homemade electronic destruction. Or a less punk
XBXRXGop Ist Minee(5RC)cd$ 13.98
Mobile, Alabama's teen superstars are back with their second proper full length recorded in Chicago by Steve Albini. These five, fine young lads have been known to wreak havoc and make the young girls cry in their brilliant live shows: fireworks, costumes and wonderfully choreographed moves (complete with accompanying speedo-clad male dancer/cheerleader) to accompany a frantic, art-damaged garage rock stomp. Gop Ist Minee crams twelve untitled tracks in twenty blurringly scathing minutes, combining the raw energy of their live show with fucked electronic tweaking. Sci-fi b-movie r'n'r madness for your next no wave smackdown pajama party. If Arab On Radar or Six Finger Satellite tickle your funnybone, you might like this. Or you might not... Vinyl supposedly forthcoming.
XBXRX / MISS PUSSYCAT / QUINTRONMardi Gras(Gold Standard Laboratories)7"$ 4.50
Sadly enough, the spaz-bot combo known as XBXRX is no longer with us, but before their demise they did this collaboration with Miss Pussycat and Quintron, New Orleans' reigning art royalty - creators of the Drum Buddy, amazing, twisted puppet shows, and
XENAKIS, IANNISLa L�gende D'eer(Montaigne)cd$ 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY. Repressed, now at a more attractive price! Greek avant garde composer's 1977/78 46-minutework for 8-channel electronic tape. Challenging, to say the least. You dig Merzbow? Well try your mettle on this -- piercing tones from a true master. [/cat/20thcenturycomposers15.html]
ZORN, JOHNIAO: Music In Sacred Light(Tzadik)cd$ 16.98
In dedication to avant filmmaker Kenneth Anger (Lucifer Rising, Scorpio Rising, Invocation Of My Demon Brother, Fireworks, etc.), Zorn has composed "IAO", an epic seven-part suite inspired by the cult auteur's work as well as the Thelemic theology of Aleister Crowley. Through the seven segments, Zorn's latest masterpiece reflects upon the many facets of Alchemy, Metaphysics, Mysticism and Magick, dramatically shifting through newer, unexplored musical dimensions. With assistance from the talented crew of Jamie Saft, Mike Patton, Cyro Baptisa, Bill Laswell, Greg Cohen, Jennifer Charles, Rebecca Moore, Beth Hatton and Jim Pugliese, Zorn furthers his personal exploration of tenebrous sound. From minimalist generative electronic dronings to faux exotic percussive mantras, ritualistic pagan choral seances to full on death metal blowout, "IAO" is possibly Zorn's most ambitious work to date. And he succeeds in crafting a wicked mÈlange of alchemic erraticism, mystical beauty and diabolic witchery. Not since "Grand Guignol", maybe "Weird Little Boy", has Zorn spawned a torturous and stark behemoth of such exquisite magnitude. And I never thought I'd see a Tzadik record with a huge pentagram on the back! Fuck yeah!
ZOVIET FRANCEThe Decriminalization of Country Music(Tramway)cd$ 15.98
We first heard of Zoviet France's latest offering "The Decriminalization of Country Music" back in December; yet it has taken until now for the distribution channels to get into place for this record to finally make its way here to Aquarius. With almost Zoviet France began 20 years ago as an anonymous collective of musicians who embraced the DIY attitudes of Punk and Situationism, yet found inspiration in Terry Riley's tape mechanisms, Lee 'Scratch' Perry's schizoid dub production, and the wonders of non-Western instruments (tablas, bouzoukis, Tibetan bowls, Egyptian reeds, etc.). While each of their albums hold very distinct aesthetics, the basic ZF sound is a eerie cyclical drone built from a interlocking network of tape loops with dubbed intrusions of the aforementioned ethnic instruments. One of the subtle ties between all of the Zoviet France records is the process of recycling material, in which a handful of discreet sound elements repeat throughout the album within a broad spectrum of recognizability. For an album like "Hessian" it would be the surreal chant "OK, Boys!" and for "Feedback" it would be the distant whir of a sputtering drum machine. "The Decriminalization of Country Music" is one of the more obvious examples of Zoviet France's recycling process, as they had been commissioned by the Tramway Gallery in Glasgow, Scotland to re-interpret the sounds of the gallery's extensive redevelopment from a desolate warehouse to a workable exhibition hall. While ZF utilizes various construction site sounds and the resonant properties of the room itself, the dominate theme for "Decriminalization" is the sound of a languorous slide guitar, making comparisons to Ry Cooder inevitable. At the beginning of the record, Zoviet France boldly introduces the haunting guitar sounds against quiet static loops and rich drone synthesis. Yet as the album progresses, the guitar's presence becomes more diffuse, with only a few fragments of muffled twangs hovering amidst the post-industrial ambience by the end of the album. "The Decriminalization of Country Music" stands as Zoviet France's most minimal piece to date, and like all of their records is an amazing, if not required listening experience.