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Aquarius Records
New Arrivals #126
November 30 2001
                        
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CIRCUS DEVILS Ringworm Interiors (Fading Captain) cd 15.98
New project from Robert Pollard of Guided By Voices... and it's great, probably the best thing he's done in years. Thank goodness! We were afraid he'd lost it, y'know. The guy is so prolific that it's hard to keep up the enthusiasm when the quality of his recent work has been, to put it nicely, inconsistent. But lemme tell ya, he paired up with the right band this time, brothers Todd and Tim Tobias (anybody know from these guys?), who inject the GBV jangly indie sound with adrenaline, distortion, kick ass energy, and *noise*. Actually the only relation to GBV here is Pollard's delivery, cos the music is completely different. When Pollard isn't singing, the Tobiases take over with howls and yowls of pure instrumental ferocity. Parts of it are angular and arty, like Gang of Four or Wire. Sometimes there's a Stooges-like hollow roar, sometimes it's a metallic blast of Pere Ubu-style Cleveland punk... 28 short sharp snapshot songs in 42 minutes. Excellent.
(We also have the LP for 14.98, although this is probably limited.)
RealAudio clip: "Feel Try Fury"
RealAudio clip: "Spectacle"
RealAudio clip: "Lizard Food"
RealAudio clip: "Knife Song"

GUENTNER, MARKUS In Moll (Kompakt) cd 16.98
Squelches and whirrs nestle in rolling hills of fuzzy dreamy drones as clicks and pops struggle for air beneath a downy blanket of suffocatingly gorgeous billowy clouds of synth wash. Sound good? It does.
It's German electronica artist Markus Guentner's debut cd for the Kompakt label. For those of you who don't know, the Kompakt label has developed an almost timeless aesthetic, not unlike the 'heroin house' sound of Chain Reaction. The Kompakt sound is an application of the often invoked but rarely successful working model of 'ambient techno'. A good example of this sort of thing that AQ-customers probably know about ('cause we sell so many of 'em) is the Wolfgang Voigt project Gas. His minimalist techno releases (in particular the Gas album "Konigsforst") are some of the few electronica albums that all Aquarians can agree on and strongly endorse.
In creating "In Moll," Markus Guentner has done more than his part to fill the void created by Voigt's unusual absence, with a disc that captures much of the feel we liked so much about the Gas records, a sort of dreamy melancholy that manages to be both wistful and hopeful, lonely and warm. Jeff thinks it has a real "change of seasons" vibe, that harkens, again, to Gas. And while the Gas comparison is surely accurate (if you haven't caught our drift already, let's state: fans of Gas should pick this up without a second thought!), Guenter does add his own flair to Voigt's signature sound though, creating a more varied and more dynamic soundscape than Voigt's pastoral hum and thump.
RealAudio clip: "In Moll 3"
RealAudio clip: "In Moll 5"
RealAudio clip: "In Moll 7"

BUSTA RHYMES Genesis (Flipmode) cd 16.98
Busta Rhymes has always been a sort of guilty pleasure...well, not really a guilty pleasure, since I've never really felt at all guilty for digging this stuff, but more like a pleasure that's tough to explain. People have a hard time believing (and rightfully so) that an MTV/radio staple can produce stuff that's creative, unique and totally fucking mad, but BR has consistently come up with some of the coolest, weirdest hip hop. His speedy tongue-twisting flow, his knack for weird hooks and his ridiculous videos (if you have MTV) have made him a huge hit, which is surprising for someone who would normally be found way out on the fringe. But his likeable goofball persona has made him way more approachable and MTV-friendly than other hip-hop weirdos: Sensational, Cannibal Ox, Anti Pop Consortium, etc... and made it easier for him to sneak some truly wacked out stuff onto MTV. But all of that aside, this shit is so completely fucked and bizarre it's practically impossible to believe that he's so huge. Like trying to get your head around the concept of the Boredoms or the Melvins on a major label. And while this stuff may be weird, it still manages to be funky and groovy and fill dancefloors, with folks gyrating spasmodically to his blurry, hiccuping, choppy, stuttering, pounding, bumping, kick ass ragga-tinged kick-ass hip hop. His best yet!
RealAudio clip: "Break Ya Neck"
RealAudio clip: "As I Come Back"
RealAudio clip: "What It Is"

LUDACRIS Word Of Mouf (Island / Def Jam) cd 16.98
Still more hip hop bubbles up from the dirty south, from the underground, and spills out all over MTV and hiphop radio. Ludacris has been kicking around for a while, mix tapes etc... But last years's 'Fantasy' track blew up BIG and made Ludacris a household word. Now, it's a year later, and there's a new record, even better than the last one, a new completely hilarious 'big-headed' video, and Ludacris is even a goddamn MTV host!! But it was bound to happen. As MTV started dipping their toes in 'underground hip hop' (Cash Money, No Limit, Nelly, St. Lunatics, etc.) and embraced the dirty south sound, the underground pretty much stopped being underground at all. Videos, clothing lines, commercials all became de rigeur. And thankfully shit like Mase and Puff Daddy finally have some competition. Plus folks like Nelly and Ludacris, while still 'gangsta', manage to be cute and goofy at the same time and therefore pretty appealing to the teenyboppers and hip hop lightweights. Ludacris takes the sparse, bouncy southern sound of No Limit and Cash Money, and mixes in some big beats, a little skittery jungle, and some Miami bass. But as always, it's about the vocals. And Ludacris manages to mix his forceful, gruff delivery, with some silly falsetto bits, some goofy lines, and a really stuttered syncopated unique flow, that borrows from No Limit but ultimately is all Ludacris. The sound is sort of 'gangsta' but at the same time it's so over the top it's almost like he's showing us he knows how ridiculous that shit is, but he thinks it's fun and 'it ain't hurtin nobody'. Like Ice Cube he still peppers the record with 'bitch's and 'dick's and 'nigga's and 'ho's (especially the latter) but again, it's so completely goofy, you can't really take it too seriously. In fact, he kinda takes the 'ho' thing far enough that it *really* seems like maybe he's making fun of it, the same way the skit on here wherein "random white people" try to rap Ludacris' greatest hits kinda makes fun of Ludacris' lyrics as much as it does the white folks' dopey "off-beat-as-fuck" delivery. But if lots of dick/shit/bitch/ho stuff weirds you out then steer clear, he's not named LEWDacris for nothin'. But if you're cruising around in a lowered El Camino with dubs, tinted windows and a booming sytem, or if you're like me and just wish that you were, this is the shit for you.
RealAudio clip: "Rollout"
RealAudio clip: "Coming To America"
RealAudio clip: "Cold Outside"

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----* New Ethiopiques Volumes! :
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V/A Ethiopiques 10: Tezeta - Ethiopian Blues & Ballads (Buda Musique) cd 15.98
The literal translation of the word "Tezeta" is memory, or nostalgia and as it applies to music in Ethiopia it is akin to the American genre known as the blues, hence the subtitle of this collection. But don't worry, you won't hear any imitations of western blues progressions here. When I first put this on though, I instantly got a feeling of nostalgia before I realised that I'd heard these songs before. In fact, over half of the material on this disc has already been released by Buda in previous collections of Ethiopiques. Four tracks appeared on Ethiopiques #1 (three if you count Getatchew Kassa's split "Tezeta" slow/fast as one track) and two tracks were present on the instrumental collection of Ethiopiques #4. If you've got those two comps already, then you'll be paying a hefty price for the six new tracks you get on this collection. So is it worth it? Well, I may be a sucker, but the extra tracks are pretty damn impressive. Mahmoud Ahmed's 12 and a half minute version of "Tezeta" is absolutely dreamy and all three of the previously unissued cuts by Alemayehu Eshete are excellent. The general feel of this collection shares a lot with volume 4 in the series. Along with the two tracks that were already on Ethiopiques #4, the one instrumental track from Ethiopiques #1 is included here, and the remaining vocal tracks on the disc are all down tempo, sorrowful ballads that'll jerk the tears from your eye sockets. In a way, you could see this collection as a sort of "best of" Ethiopiques and more than recommending it to owners of the rest of the series I would suggest it as a great place to start for those who've still not taken the plunge into Ethiopia's wonderful and unique musical treasure chest. [Note to all the Santa's out there: great stocking stuffer for the un-initiated.]
RealAudio clip: ESHETE, ALEMAYEHU "Teredtchewalehu"
RealAudio clip: AHMED, MAHMOUD "Tezeta"
RealAudio clip: ESHETE, ALEMAYEHU "Man Yehon Telleq Sew"

AGA, ALEMU Ethiopiques 11: The Harp of King David (Buda Musique) cd 15.98
We were pretty surprised to see an eleventh volume in the Ethiopiques series here, since we were all under the impression that the collection was slated to end at volume ten. Well, turns out we were wrong and we are happy to be wrong because 11 is an excellent disc in its own right. Of all the discs in the series, Ethiopiques 11 shares the closest resemblance to volumes 2 or 5, but only in that it's a complete departure musically from the rest -- 2 and 5 included. Ethiopiques 11 features Alemu Aga playing the beguena, a large lyre with ten paired tuned strings. The beguena is often called the "Harp of King David" because it is believed that David (as in David and Goliath) played a similar such instrument to accompany his psalms way back when. As would be expected, the beguena has always been closely tied with the church -- Coptic Orthodox -- and had a rich repertoire that was very nearly destroyed along with all the other great music and arts during the Stalinist period of Ethiopia's history which began in 1974. Twenty years later Alemu Aga (this album was recorded in 1994) and others were finally able to continue with the instrument's traditions and now, slowly, the beguena is being returned to its place in society.
As stated earlier, you won't find much similarity in the music here to the rest of the series. Consisting solely of Alemu's soft voice accompanied by the beguena songs have a mesmerising quality. The beguena's strings buzz and rattle as Alemu Aga sings both religious and secular songs in a low, smoky voice. If you skip through the tracks on the disc you might be fooled into thinking you're hearing the same track over and over again. Yet although the instrument's melodies are seemingly repetitive -- given its limited range and single tuning -- they form an interesting counterpoint to Aga's vocal lines.
RealAudio clip: "Tew Semagn Hagere"

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----* Selected New Arrivals :
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20 MINUTE LOOP Decline of Day (Fortune Records) cd 11.98
The second release from this San Francisco pop group unveils a looser, much more confident presence with an added dash of pop bombast. Brings to mind a hybrid of REM and - as with their previous release - the Throwing Muses with its well-executed, slightly twisted melodies, slinky guitars, and varied tempos... not to mention the very Stipe-esque male and Hersh-ish female vocals. Gentle, slow prettiness sits comfortably next to the considerably more upbeat and energetic. Quite a solid sophomore effort that'll surely win them a sizable batch of new supporters.
RealAudio clip: "Jubilation"
RealAudio clip: "Elephant"

ADULT. Hand To Phone (Clone) 12" 9.98
Four versions of fab Detroit electro duo Adult.'s track "Hand To Phone". They are: the original as heard on their awesome album 'Resuscitation', an instrumental mix by the group themselves (which in my opinion falls a bit short without Nicola's unflinchingly icy vocals), plus two remixes by Carl Craig and Mat 101. Come over!

AGGROVATORS, THE Dubbing It Studio 1 Style (Jamaican) cd 16.98
It's now getting to the point where, not only can I pick out a new disc from the Jamaican Recordings label from 15 feet by their distinctive layouts, but I almost have a Pavlovian response when I see a new one. Because Jamaican recordings continues to prove that they're a label to be reckoned with. Not only do they consistenly pick out excellent and often rare tracks, but the recordings themselves are always of top notch fidelity. This collection of dubs by producer Bunny "Striker" Lee's session / super group The Aggrovators is no exception to the reputation that Jamaican is earning here at AQ. The tracks on this collection were originally recorded at Randy's Studio 17, Channel 1 and Dynamic Sounds and are all dubs of tracks that were Jamaican versions of American and U.K. soul and R&B. Being three times removed from the original song you'd be hard pressed to know what cover is being dubbed unless you pick out a clue from the periodic fade ins of the vocal tracks laden with reverb and delay.
RealAudio clip: "Not Just Another Dub"
RealAudio clip: "Live & Learn Dub"

ALOG Duck-Rabbit (Rune Grammofon) cd 16.98
Record number two from the acclaimed Norwegian duo. Alog's Eide and Haugan discreetly tiptoe their way through a plethora of styles, as on their debut "Red Shift Swing". "Duck-Rabbit", however, was mostly inspired by ideas and themes created through improvisations in their live performances. Complex, playful and rich in texture. Opaque freeform organic sounds, acoustic instrumentation and field recordings evolve through dsp (digital signal processing) manipulation (a la Oval) into dense, beat saturated dancefloor rhythms. Gleefully wonderful!
RealAudio clip: "Duck-Rabbit"
RealAudio clip: "Objects Began To Appear From The Future"

ANDY, HORACE Roots and Classics (Recall) 2cd 16.98
Low priced double disc anthology of vocalist Horace Andy, apparently a part of a series of anthologies of Jamaican artists being released by Recall. Each collection comes with a fair amount of biographical notes on the artist and generally make good starting points if you don't have anything already. The one problem with the collection here of Horace Andy is that all the tracks, including his classics such as Skylarking, See A Man's Face and Love Is A Treasure are not the original versions. Instead they're really crappy late eighties or early nineties productions with shitty drum machines and MIDI instrumentation. I would advise against purchasing this collection and instead just pick up Andy's Skylarking or Dance Hall Style.
RealAudio clip: "Love Is A Treasure"

ANTENNA FARM / MAIN AF_M (split cd) (Staalplaat) cd 15.98
About 10 years ago, Robert Hampson dissolved his incendiary psych-rock outfit Loop, and ever since has been gradually shedding the layers of his once volatile sound. Recorded under the moniker Main, the first experiments in Hampson's dismantling process succeeded through their swarming guitar drones and rolling basslines, and were heralded as the vanguard recordings for the early 90's Isolationist school. Since then, Hampson has continued to distance himself from the structuralism of rock, removing rhythm, melody, and anything that could be qualified as part of a song. Unfortunately, Main's recent output has merely sounded indifferent, rather than pensive or restrained. Perhaps he's realized this design flaw and has therefore been looking for inspiration by actively collaborating with a number of artists such as Organum, Janek Schaeffer, and now Antenna Farm. In all three instances, Hampson's previous success in creating dis-quiet and dis-ease through a sparse use of sound have once again returned.
Hampson's collaboration with Antenna Farm (the duo of Alastair Leslie and David Howell, recently responsible for a very good album on Phthalo) marks the first release on Staalplaat's Brombrom series of collaborative works. "AF_M" originates from recordings of VLF crackle, shortwave modulations, and various domestic events, yet the three slowly pixillate these sounds into spiralling collages of smoldering electronics and muddled glitches. Quite nice.
RealAudio clip: "Track One"
RealAudio clip: "Track Three"

ARFORD, SCOTT / RANDY H.Y. YAU Edit For Unconsciousness (Ground Fault) cd 9.98
In response to the incendiary buzzes and periodic electrified gasps of sharp noise emanating from the stereo at the front of the store, Andee had to wonder if Aquarius had unbeknownst to him started offering free tattoos with every purchase. Unfortunately, such a service is out of our league (sorry) and the noises in question originated from the exceptional split release from Bay Area composers Scott Arford (aka Radiosonde) and Randy Yau. As directors for the 23five sound arts organization, Arford and Yau have been quite active promoting an assortment of experimental and noise artists through their annual 'Activating The Media' festivals and the sporadic performances at 7Hz. Their "Edit For Unconsciousness" disc proves that Arford and Yau are not merely noble benefactors, but also worthy sonic comrades with John Duncan, Zbigniew Karkowski, and Francisco Lopez (all of whom have graced San Francisco with 23five's help).
Yau opens the procedings with a muscular application of the Carsten Nicolai / Mika Vainio glitch, as jagged static cracklings collapse into low end rumblings and nervous electrical tones. Arford's follow-up incorporates similarly tense cracklings, but releases them into expansive swells of grey noise. Gradually the record's tension disperses and the lines between whose sound is whose dissolve, as the electrical hissing previously mentioned as replicating the rapid machinations from a tattoo gun slowly take over, softening further into hypnotic vibrations. Very impressive.
RealAudio clip: RANDY YAU "Realia"
RealAudio clip: SCOTT ARFORD "Drift Counter"

AUTECHRE Chiastic Slide (Warp) cd 14.98
This isn't even remotely new, but it does happen to be perhaps the best Autechre record to date. And as it is only now being released domestically and at a decent price (it was $20 until now) we figured it was time to give this record its due. Besides being my favorite Autechre record, it is also their least melodic (which could be why I like it so much), eschewing much of their flair for sad simple little melodies in favor of crunching digital crush, with maniacally skittering breakbeats and super intense walls of digital distortion. Harsh and brittle but somehow warm and 'catchy' at the same time. Some of the melodies -do- remain, but they are buried under an avalanche of chopped up beats and angular glitch. Listening to this record, it's easy to see why these guys inspired such a massive wave of imitators. If you love any of the Autechre albums or are fans of any of the many wannabes (Funkstorung, etc...) then do yourself a favor and check this shit out.
RealAudio clip: "Chiastic Slide 1"
RealAudio clip: "Chiastic Slide 2"
RealAudio clip: "Chiastic Slide 3"

AUTECHRE Chiastic Slide (Warp) lp 14.98
This isn't even remotely new, but it does happen to be perhaps the best Autechre record to date. And as it is only now being released domestically and at a decent price (it was $20 until now) we figured it was time to give this record its due. Besides being my favorite Autechre record, it is also their least melodic (which could be why I like it so much), eschewing much of their flair for sad simple little melodies in favor of crunching digital crush, with maniacally skittering breakbeats and super intense walls of digital distortion. Harsh and brittle but somehow warm and 'catchy' at the same time. Some of the melodies -do- remain, but they are buried under an avalanche of chopped up beats and angular glitch. Listening to this record, it's easy to see why these guys inspired such a massive wave of imitators. If you love any of the Autechre albums or are fans of any of the many wannabes (Funkstorung, etc...) then do yourself a favor and check this shit out.

BARBIERI QUARTET, GATO In Search Of The Mystery (ESP / Aretina) cd 14.98
A new wave of ESP reissues has finally arrived bringing a handful of obscure gems back into print.
This disc is the Gato Barbieri from the old days, 1967 to be exact, before he had softened up and mellowed out and was still a major player in the jazz avant garde. Dark and rumbling jazzscapes of bowed cello and skittering, slithering percussion and haunting reverbed pianos underscore wickedly inspired solos from session leader Barbieri. Unlikely melodies and furious harmolodic runs are peppered with intense screeching and soulful wailing. Truly inspired and still amazing even after almost 35 years!
RealAudio clip: "In Search Of The Mystery"

BASTARD NOISE Descent To Mimas (Ground Fault) cd 9.98
Take an hour-long sci-fi noise journey with John Wiese's and Eric Wood's latest Ground Fault release. These ex-Man Is The Bastard noiseniks provide all the squelching rumbling grinding hissing droning distorted sounds you love, but structure it like program music -- unlike the often monolithic sonic assaults of Japanese competition (Incapacitants, Hijokaidan, and Merzbow for instance), Bastard Noise's "Descent To Mimas" has (perhaps) a narrative concept: some sort of story about outer space exploration/adventure/disaster on some far off frozen asteroid or something. At least, the titles to this four-part journey seem to indicate as much ("Lunar Nest Guard" , "Beneath Ice Skin", "Space Coffin") and the electronics are of course harsh (like space) and suitably alien. You can imagine everything from plasma bursts to malfunctioning HAL-like computers. Or maybe that's just me. Imagination is the key. All that aside, this is a damn fine noise album, quite listenable as these things go, with dynamics and a variety of textures.
RealAudio clip: "Descent To Mimas"
RealAudio clip: "Beneath Ice Skin"

BELLE & SEBASTIAN I'm Waking Up To Us (Matador) cd 6.98
A li'l cd ep for all you Belle & Sebastian fans out there. Three songs in all. As you'll be happy and not at all surprised to discover, their folksy, honeyed, bittersweet romance brand of Scottish pop is in full bloom. With a puppy dog record sleeve to match the soft'n'cuddly tunes.

BELLE & SEBASTIAN I'm Waking Up To Us (Matador) 12" 5.98
A li'l 12" EP for all you Belle & Sebastian fans out there. Three songs in all. As you'll be happy and not at all surprised to discover, their folksy, honeyed, bittersweet romance brand of Scottish pop is in full bloom. With a puppy dog record sleeve to match the soft'n'cuddly tunes.

BLUE SANDLEWOOD SOAP Loring Park Love Ins (Dionysus/Bacchus Archives) cd 11.98
Blue Sandlewood Soap was unique in 1967/1968 around Minneapolis / St. Paul in that they had no lead guitarist and their use of crazy tempos and strange time signatures rendered their songs completely undanceable. They were also the first band in their scene to play mostly originals! Drugged out psychedelic space garage with cool sounding Farfisa and spacey dippy 12-string guitar playing sweet melodies. Some really cool and crazy, stoney, psych-rock.
RealAudio clip: "Nickel Bag Of Blue"
RealAudio clip: "The Girl Stares Coldly"

CALE, JOHN Dream Interpretation: Inside The Dream Syndicate Volume II (Table Of The Elements) cd 15.98
Second in a three-disc series of recordings culled from John Cale's personal archive of material from the late '60s. Upon listening to these visceral documents, one realizes that Cale, a founding member of the Velvet Underground, was more likely than not the one responsible for the wailing screech and howl that makes such Velvets songs as "Sister Ray" so stunning, and that it was the push and pull of his drone-leanings balanced with Lou Reed's more conventional songwriting that made the band great. Here, the Welshman Cale bestows upon us two pieces recorded with kindred spirit Tony Conrad on violin, with Cale on viola -- their twenty minute "Dream Interpretation" is a wonderful shimmering drone that is at once warm and organic yet also metallic and grating. "Ex-Cathedra", my favorite track here, is from 1967/68 and features Cale simply pumping on Vox organ, conjuring up yet another tense yet melodic, trebly drone that's macabre (isn't the sound of an organ often delightfully macabre?) and strangely lulling. Other tracks include Cale making solo electronic sounds, and a 'duet' with Angus Maclise (another founding member of the Velvet Underground) on cimbalon, an Eastern European hammered dulcimer. The only dud features Cale "playing" piano, innards and all, a rather been-there-done-that idea even in the late '60s.
If you're a fan of the noise-loving modern heirs to the Cale droneologist throne, bands such as Skullflower, Pelt, and Sunroof!, you've got to hear this. Recommended.
RealAudio clip: "Ex-Cathedra"

CALE, JOHN Stainless Gamelan: Inside The Dream Syndicate Volume III (Table Of The Elements) cd 15.98
Third in a three-disc series of recordings culled from John Cale's personal archive of material from the late '60s. Upon listening to these visceral documents, one realizes that Cale, a founding member of the Velvet Underground, was more likely than not the one responsible for the wailing screech and howl that makes such Velvets songs as "Sister Ray" so stunning, and that it was the push and pull of his drone-leanings balanced with Lou Reed's more conventional songwriting that made the band great.
As with volume II of this series, there are a few great tracks here that make the price of ths disc worth it, and some throwaways that're of limited interest. The 10-minute "Stainless Steel Gamelan" track is the highlight here, and it's excellent even thought it has nothing to do with gamelan per se. It features the Velvet's Sterling Morrison and Cale both "playing" the same guitar at the same time, an experiment which resulted in shimmering atmospherics and metallic percussive pulses, sounds that're as usefully evocative for today's DJ Shadow or the Aphex Twin as they are here, maybe 30 years earlier. Also included on this disc is a funny hoedown of a piece wherein Cale plays with tape delay, Angus Maclise pounds various hand drums, and Terry Jennings -- a free saxophonist and crony of Lamonte Young -- sings on soprano sax. There's also a tremendous piece with Tony Conrad on a Vox reverb unit and Cale on electric piano -- it sounds like the soundtrack to a nightmare that won't end.
If you're a fan of the noise-loving modern heirs to the Cale droneologist throne, bands such as Skullflower, Pelt, and Sunroof!, you've got to hear this. Recommended.
RealAudio clip: "Stainless Steel Gamelan"
RealAudio clip: "Terry's Cha-Cha"

CALIBAN VS. HEAVEN SHALL BURN The Split Program (Lifeforce) cd 12.98
German metalcore showdown! Two of the best metalcore bands around (both German, and both so metal it's sort of selling them short to not just call them metal) face off on this split cd. Caliban spit out Slayer style west coast death metal complete with chugging riffs and with plenty of I-can't-believe-it's-not-Swedish furious metallic mayhem but throw in some emo earnestness. Heaven Shall Burn mix East Coast metalcore (Converge, Coalesce) with furious black metal riffing and mix in the occasional bizarre breakdown. This is a good introduction to both bands, but believe us, both full lengths (which we also carry) are essential for anyone who likes it hard and heavy.
RealAudio clip: CALIBAN "Assassin Of Love"
RealAudio clip: CALIBAN "A Summerdream"
RealAudio clip: HEAVEN SHALL BURN "Suffocated In The Exhaust Of Our Machines"
RealAudio clip: HEAVEN SHALL BURN "No Single Inch"

CAMPBELL, NEIL / RICHARD YOUNGS How The Garden Is (Harpenden) lp 12.98
Flutes. For Andee that seems to be all that really matters for a record to be incredible. But for the rest of us who need a little more than flutes to convince of a piece of music's merits, we're quite pleased that Neil Campbell and Richard Youngs seemed to have used a hell of a lot more than flutes for their exceptional new collaboration "How The Garden Is." Both Campbell and Youngs are veterans of the psych-infused UK free noise scene that counts as members, Skullflower, Total, and Ax, as well as Campbell's project The Vibracathedral and Matthew Bower's Sunroof , and all of the Richard Youngs/Simon Wickham-Smith collaborations. Violin skree, the clattering of bells, the gentle metallic hammering of guitar strings, Youngs' distinctive Scottish wail, clunky Casiotone electronics, and those flutes are all woven together into a swirling mass of trebly sound and structural effervesence. Limited 500 copies.
RealAudio clip: "Holly Bush Lane"
RealAudio clip: "Soil"

CANTELOUPE, PROFESSOR / DON BOLLES The Plasmodian World of Canteloupe & Bolles 12" 6.98
If you're familiar with the radio show Glossolalia on KXLU in LA then you just might have heard some of the sound snippets that've found their home on this chunk of vinyl. A mad scientist's experiment gone a wee bit awry? This sonic collage was created by the mysterious Professor Canteloupe and the irrepressible Don Bolles (former member of the Germs, Celebrity Skin, 45 Grave, Three Day Stubble and engineer for Throbbing Gristle's 'Mission of Dead Souls'). Comprised mainly of spaced out ambient drones that "end" with a lock-groove to keep your atmosphere rolling.

CAPTAIN BEEFHEART Grow Fins Vol. III: Grow Fins (Xeric / Table Of The Elements) 2lp 19.98
Gee willickers! It's been what? TWO years since the second Grow Fins box set was released. We were pretty much convinced that Table of the Elements had given up on ever completing their promise to finish releasing this collection on vinyl. But hey, here we are, well into a new millennium, and T.O.T.E. -- around here we just call them "Tote", like tote-bag, we're on a familiar basis with their shenanigans at this point -- in the spirit of "better way-fucking-late than fucking-never" has finally stopped gazing glassy-eyed at their M.F.A.s, gotten off their artsy fartsy asses and just put the damn thing out. Who gives a shit at this point? Hell if I know, I'm just glad I picked up the cd instead from Revenant instead, those LP-ROMs never work on my darn computer any hoo. Hopefully those of you without cd players who've got a legitimate reason (ie: not E-bay) to have been waiting for this will be able to get a copy before this ridiculously limited pressing goes bye bye.

CHADBOURNE, EUGENE Ayler Undead (Grob) cd 16.98
Eugene Chadbourne (you know him, you love him?) teams up with two Berlin-based free jazzers for this tribute to the late great saxophonist Albert Ayler on the always interesting Grob label. Joe Williamson (Kletka Red) plays double bass, Uli Jennessen is on drums, and Herr Doktor Chadbourne handles Ayler's central role in the trio, playing acoustic and electric guitars, and his beloved banjo as well. Chadbourne (a fan of Ayler's since he first heard one of his ESP titles in the listening room of the Calgary Alberta public library, 1972) has been known to cover Ayler compositions before, but this is his first recording devoted solely to 'em. According to the liner notes, this was originally envisioned as a big band project, with lots o' horns and all, but thankfully circumstances dictated a smaller group, so that Chadbourne's string-twiddling could take center stage -- he's at his best here, playing with passion and virtuosity. Regardless of what you think of Chadbourne's other releases (he's got a lot, and some, particularily the ones with singing, are often too goofy for some of us), this one is definitely worth checking out, if you're at all into improv skronk stuff (and/or, of course, Albert Ayler). Chadbourne IS a great player, and the rest of the band isn't too shabby either. Ayler is also a fine subject for tribute, as somehow his signature combination of folky melody and outside blowing is so appropriate for a country-western-rock-jazz weirdo like Chadbourne. He puts it best in the liners: "There is no one who made music as truly psychedelic as Ayler...Ayler's music was always these strange little themes, most importantly followed by complete freaking out...[he] had a vision that I can best summarize as pretty fucking weird, and pretty fucking magnificent." Recorded live in Cologne with some overdubs recorded later at home in North Carolina. There's also two solo pieces, including the only non-Ayler composition: a wild take on "La Marseillaise" that Ayler would have been proud of. Hendrix too. Packaged with lots of text, art, and an intriguing graphic illustrating the links between Ayler and Chadbourne.
RealAudio clip: "Omega Is The Alpha"
RealAudio clip: "La Marseillaise"
RealAudio clip: "Witches & Devils"

CHESSIE Overnight (Plug Research) cd 16.98
Beautifully hypnotic, guitar-driven electronica from the Virginian duo of Stephen Gardner and Ben Bailes. Their third full length and first for Los Angeles-based Plug Research, "Overnight" is quite a departure from Chessie's underachieving, experimental-electronic beginnings. Infusing a stronger approach to texture and songwriting (sans vocals), as well as emphasis on live instrumentation (at least guitars and bass, the drums are probably all electronic), it may be incorrect to classify this music as purely "electronic" as it ranks up there with the shoegazer dreaminess of My Bloody Valentine and Hood, or more recently, Fennesz and Stephan Mathieu. Another wonderful release from the groundbreaking Plug Research, continuing to blur the borders between rock and electronica as previously witnessed on the recent Dntel album, "Life Is Full Of Possibilities."
RealAudio clip: "Daylight"
RealAudio clip: "Eyes And Smiles"
RealAudio clip: "Pantograph"

COMETS ON FIRE s/t (self released) lp 11.98
Psychedelic speed garage punk from Santa Cruz! Comets On Fire fuse the amphetamine energy of High Rise with hyper-distorted vocals and electronic tweakery. The SF/Bay Area has been sprouting lots of intense garage-punk acts lately, most of which (try to) rehash the sound of the MC5 and cop the style of the Stooges (it's hard not to), but what really sets these boys ahead of all the others is the use of noise and effects -- thanks to electronics tweak-maestro Noel Harmonson (of Santa Cruz no-wave rascals The Lowdown) on an Echoplex! If you edited out the actual rock songs on here, and just left the noises of their track endings and segues, you could create what would sound like a pretty interesting experimental abstract electronica album. But, with the rock, it's even better. A really fucking excellent debut from outta nowhere! Self released, vinyl only and very, very limited (the kinda thing collectors will salivate over in ten, twenty years)...

COPPER PRESS issue #8 magazine 4.00
AQ faves Mates of State and how in love they are, The Shins, Hey Mercedes, Victory at Sea, Doug Martsch of Built to Spill, the American Analog Set, a Burton snowboard roundtable, SF's own Jim Yoshii Pile-Up, artist Jason Krause, Jimmy Eat World, lots of photos and snowboarding info.

COUP, THE Party Music (75 ARK) lp 14.98
Now on vinyl!! Here's what Windy wrote about this record-of-the-week cd last time:
My favorite hip hop record of the year, along with Cannibal Ox's Cold Vein, is The Coup's Party Music. A lot of you heard *about* it before it ever got released, due to the cover art which depicted The Coup's Boots and Pam the Funkstress blowing up the World Trade Center with a mixing board / detonator. Pretty incendiary stuff. And it was supposed to come out the same week! The cover was conceived long before the WTC attacks, and obviously was supposed to symbolize The Coup's stance against capitalism in general. Anyway, the album has a new cover (a molotov cocktail) but the lyrics are just as revolutionary as ever. The hardhitting lyrics complement the music nicely, in fact, cos the music is relatively light, not "gangsta", not creepy or weirdo like much of the other hip hop AQ likes lately (Cannibal Ox, Sensational, etc) -- it's funk-filled and danceable and righteous and even approaches De La Soul territory on songs like "Wear Clean Draws", Boots' sweet song filled with advice for his daughter, which features Pam the Funkstress either playing with a squeaky doll or just doing some mighty deft scratching. Highly recommended!
RealAudio clip: "Everythang"
RealAudio clip: "Wear Clean Draws"
RealAudio clip: "5 Million Ways to Kill a C.E.O."

CUBBY CREATURES Who Remembers Kathy Barra? (Cubby Control) 10" 7.98
At the end of this much-too-short EP from SF's clever, quirky popsters The Cubby Creatures, you can't help but wanna hit 'play' one more time. Five playful and pretty tunes that sound as if each of the six Cubby folk had a gleeful time performing them and want to draw you into the festivities too. Much more melodic and less ramshackle than their previous release "Blessed Invention". A tilt-a-whirl of clarinet and violin-flourished melodies tossing different styles and spoken word interludes (which stretch the actual track count on your cd player from five to ten in total) into the mix with a jubilant abandon. The rollicking second song "Knitting Bee" is truly a deadringer for an Olivia Tremor Control tune, and y'know the Cubby Creatures could snugly slip in to fill the space vacanted by the defunct OTC - although actually all of the OTC offshoot projects have been doing that quite well on their own.

CUBBY CREATURES Who Remembers Kathy Barra? (Cubby Control) cdep 7.98
At the end of this much-too-short EP from SF's clever, quirky popsters The Cubby Creatures, you can't help but wanna hit 'play' one more time. Five playful and pretty tunes that sound as if each of the six Cubby folk had a gleeful time performing them and want to draw you into the festivities too. Much more melodic and less ramshackle than their previous release "Blessed Invention". A tilt-a-whirl of clarinet and violin-flourished melodies tossing different styles and spoken word interludes (which stretch the actual track count on your cd player from five to ten in total) into the mix with a jubilant abandon. The rollicking second song "Knitting Bee" is truly a deadringer for an Olivia Tremor Control tune, and y'know the Cubby Creatures could snugly slip in to fill the space vacanted by the defunct OTC - although actually all of the OTC offshoot projects have been doing that quite well on their own.
RealAudio clip: "Knitting Bee"

DEATH LINE OST (Spinney) cd 13.98
You know how a lot of soundtrack recordings are padded out with multiple versions of the same theme, reprised or otherwise repeated, when there's really only about 20 minutes of music written for the film? Well they didn't do that with this soundtrack -- it's just two cuts (the main theme, and "incidental pieces"), slightly over 20 minutes in total length.
Death Line was a British horror flick from 1972, about monsters in the London Underground or something, and the soundtrack by Will Malone is apparently a bit of a collectors' item. The main theme is more funky than it is creepy (with some great '70s bassy synth sounds), and I can totally imagine DJs salivating over the rare vinyl version. The rest of the disc is certainly eerier stuff, taking your typical horror movie soundtrack motifs (slowly bowed strings, violin stabs, spooky choral vocals) and combining 'em with some more fat, droney synth electronics. Quirkily atmospheric, likely worth the 14 bucks to soundtrack freaks.
RealAudio clip: "Main Theme"
RealAudio clip: "Incidental Pieces"

DISK ORCHESTRA [k] (Rather Interesting) cd 16.98
Not an actual orchestra, but yet another creative persona for Mr. Uwe Schmidt (aka Atom Heart, AtomÚ, Senor Coconut, et al.). Plunderphonics are alive and kicking shins as Disk Orchestra takes absolutely anything in its path and renders them completely unrecognizable (save for a timestetched orchestral piece that we'll leave unnamed). Playful, irreverent, and just plain ridiculous as expected with all AtomÚ/Rather Interesting releases.
RealAudio clip: "Track 55"

ELECTRIC BIRDS Strata Frames (U Cover) cd 13.98
Third record from Mike Martinez and his Electric Birds. The earthy, organic textures formerly prominent on past EB releases collide with a newfound love of dub and the cold microhouse rhythms of Berlin. Not too distant from the arctic dub stylings of Pole and Kit Clayton. Limited press on U-cover of Belgium.
RealAudio clip: "Stem"

ENTOMBED Morning Star (Threeman) cd 16.98
Like last year's comeback album "Uprising", the new disc from these Swedes hits hard. Death n' roll, baby. Their death metal roots (these guys were the most brutal deathsters back in the day, on albums like "Left Hand Path") combined with their most rockin' of rock impulses (their former drummer now fronts The Hellacopters, y'know) produced a new sub-genre, which they ruled briefly with 1993's "Wolverine Blues". Then for a while there, they almost forgot about the metal, even releasing a so-so alternative-ish album, but eventually figured out their mistakes, and with "Uprising" and now "Morning Star" they've returned, taking no prisoners. Punishing riffing, punk energy, sandpaper vocals -- it's a heavy, headbanging assault indeed. Kinda like an AmRep rock band (remember?) on a death metal ride.
RealAudio clip: "I For An Eye"
RealAudio clip: "Fractures"

FORBIDDEN PLANET s/t (self-released) cd-r 14.98
Bay Area improv dude and Rastascan label owner Gino Robair (drums, "materials") teams up with AQ-fave Bjoern Eichstaedt (keys, voice) and fellow Germans Pit Schmidt (sax, tapes) and Thomas Maos (guitar, "mts modulation" whatever that is) for this live session, recorded April 15th 2000 at Club Voltaire, Tuebingen Germany. If you read our lists closely, you'll know Eichstaedt as a very creative and eclectic musician, responsible for solo electronic recordings, the Bunglized jazz/rock of Bretzel Killing Machine, AND the utter black metal weirdness that is Caacrinolas! Eichstaedt's new Forbidden Planet project incorporates his pal Robair's improv jazz sensibilities into a crazy half-hour-plus stew of everything from mellow noir-jazz to full-on Hendrix-style distorted guitar skree to sizzling electronic scrape-scapes to Patton-esque abstract vocal blurt. Quite a trip. Must have been a great show, although of course this was edited down from the raw recordings. It's a cd-r, numbered and limited to 100, packaged in an ever-popular *sandpaper* cover!
RealAudio clip: "Track 2"

FRIESEN, ERIC Friesen Hell (Courtesy Productions) cd-r 11.98
Eric Friesen is one of those guys who takes the "classical music was the heavy metal of the 1700s" idea seriously. He's best known (to a small cult following) as one of the two guitarists in the underground black metal band Windham Hell, who hail from the mountain forests of the Pacific Northwest. Windham Hell has always incorporated classical influences (and indeed, classical compositions) into their weird, lo-fi, hyper-technical, semi-industrial take on black metal. We've described them before as "an eccentric, homemade mixture of Bathory and Bach"... So it's no surprise that Friesen's two solo efforts (self-released on his own cd-r label) are home recorded exercises in guitar shred in a classical music context. 1999's punningly titled "Friesen Hell" features two Tchaikovsky pieces, along with eight originals that could easily be Windham Hell instrumentals, with dark atmospheres, blasting drum machine, and Eric's fretboard frenzies. Excellent, heavy stuff. But his "Friesenberg Concertos", from 2000, takes the classical concept a step further, as Eric tackles works by Bach, Vivaldi, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and even John Williams. No originals this time, it's just his tribute to his heroes. As he so eloquently puts it in the liner notes: "I just wanted to jam with the masters...unfortunately I do not read music. I learned these pieces by ear. Please forgive the imperfections, as these are my arrangements and translations of the GREAT MASTERS. HAIL TO THE GODS! I submit my insignificant tribulations to them as they sleep in pale death. Let their bones not twist in agony as I shred their dusty scribblings. I have no remorse for this sin, but have hope everlasting as the music comforteth my weary soul..." He need not beg forgiveness. 40+ minutes of pure classical shred, like a black metal Yngwie. Both discs rule.
RealAudio clip: "Awareness, I Suffer"
RealAudio clip: "To Crest In Violent Slumber"

FRIESEN, ERIC Friesenberg Concertos (Courtesy Productions) cd-r 11.98
Eric Friesen is one of those guys who takes the "classical music was the heavy metal of the 1700s" idea seriously. He's best known (to a small cult following) as one of the two guitarists in the underground black metal band Windham Hell, who hail from the mountain forests of the Pacific Northwest. Windham Hell has always incorporated classical influences (and indeed, classical compositions) into their weird, lo-fi, hyper-technical, semi-industrial take on black metal. We've described them before as "an eccentric, homemade mixture of Bathory and Bach"... So it's no surprise that Friesen's two solo efforts (self-released on his own cd-r label) are home recorded exercises in guitar shred in a classical music context. 1999's punningly titled "Friesen Hell" features two Tchaikovsky pieces, along with eight originals that could easily be Windham Hell instrumentals, with dark atmospheres, blasting drum machine, and Eric's fretboard frenzies. Excellent, heavy stuff. But his "Friesenberg Concertos", from 2000, takes the classical concept a step further, as Eric tackles (mostly minor-key) works by Bach, Vivaldi, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and even John Williams. No originals this time, it's just his tribute to his heroes. As he so eloquently puts it in the liner notes: "I just wanted to jam with the masters...unfortunately I do not read music. I learned these pieces by ear. Please forgive the imperfections, as these are my arrangements and translations of the GREAT MASTERS. HAIL TO THE GODS! I submit my insignificant tribulations to them as they sleep in pale death. Let their bones not twist in agony as I shred their dusty scribblings. I have no remorse for this sin, but have hope everlasting as the music comforteth my weary soul..." He need not beg forgiveness. 40+ minutes of pure classical shred, like a black metal Yngwie. Both discs rule.
RealAudio clip: "Winter Concerto for Guitar in F minor"
RealAudio clip: "Guitar Concerto No. 1 in A minor"

FRIZZELL, DWIGHT Bullfrog Devildog President (Sparkling Beatnik) cd 14.98
Every town -- no matter how great or small -- has that infamous artist / musician / creator who to some is a Harry Smith-like shaman making the most amazing outsider art, but to rest he is just the village idiot. I would imagine that AQ-regular John Dwyer (Pink & Brown, Coachwhips, Dig That Body Up It's Alive, etc) currently holds that honor for San Francisco, but for the past three decades, the Rev. Dwight Frizzell has held throne of sage / villiage idiot in Kansas City, making sacrosanct films, composing crackpot symphonic catastrophes, and organizing baffling performances with a small army of likeminded freethinkers. "Bullfrog Devildog President" is his latest offering of half-serious charm, loosely based upon an album that he found of President Harry S Truman playing choppy piano waltzes. With no straightforward structure to be found, Frizzell haphazardly picks through the gigantic cultural grab bag that is America, pulling out political manifestos, religious proclamations, the history of free jazz and even the geography of Missouri itself. If it's possible to imagine an Ozark hillbilly performing an impenetrable homage to Nurse With Wound or Sun Ra, but only using what an Ozark hillbilly might have lying around (a banjo, a hammer, some cicadas, the organ at the neighborhood church, a set of bongos, and that Harry S Truman album), you'll come close to wonderful absurdity that is Rev Dwight Frizzell.
RealAudio clip: "The Irish Wilderness"
RealAudio clip: "Black Hawk Waltz 2"
RealAudio clip: "Anamnesis 1"

GET UP KIDS, THE Eudora (Vagrant) cd 14.98
The current darlings of emo pop/punk scene have released this collection of odds 'n' out-of-print ends for anyone who hasn't been collecting since day one. Those of us addicted to melodic pop with punk energy and lots of sentimental boy feelings (just imagine 'em hunched up over a piano, wincing with the weight of the world) will already be familiar with Get Up Kids, the band that arguably does it the best (at least right now). Included are a bunch of covers, some of which are due to Get Up Kids constantly being invited to contribute tracks to various tribute albums: The Pixies, Motley Crue, The Cure, Bowie, New Order, Replacements, Coalesce, and Metroschifter. The remaining nine original tracks are culled from split 7"s, alternate takes, both their Sub Pop Singles Club songs, and the like. Accessible and fun.
RealAudio clip: "On With the Show"
RealAudio clip: "Burned Bridges"
RealAudio clip: "Close to Me"

GHOSTFACE KILLAH Bulletproof Wallets (Epic) cd 16.98
There's definitely a division in the clan, Wu-Tang that is. There's the upper tier, Method Man, Old Dirty Bastard, RZA, GZA, the ones whose solo records are as good, if not better than the proper Wu-Tang records, the ones who are too busy producing, filming movies, and guesting in other folks' videos to actually show up for Wu-Tang shows leaving angry crowds pissed that they paid $25 to check out U-God. Then there is the lower tier, the ones who HAVE to show up for every show, the ones who get solo records and guest spots on upper tier records to keep them from complaining too much, U-God, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah. But Raekwan and GFK both seem poised to make the leap from lower to upper tier, as their records get better and their guest appearances seem more an event than a concession. But sadly, both never seem able to get over. Weak production, lackluster flow, stupid songs, even stupider skits, and SLOW JAMS...ugh. So while this is the best Ghostface Killah record yet, it's still not nearly as good as any Method Man or RZA. It's like that old saying 'the worst song on a Method Man record is better than the best song on a Ghostface Killah record'. Or something. There are some gems, but probably only for Wu-Tang fanatics.
RealAudio clip: "Flowers"

GREEN PAJAMAS, THE The Carolers' Song (Hidden Agenda) cd 11.98
Seattle's Green Pajamas are still making their flawless blend of pretty, '60s-influenced psych-pop after 17 years and eight albums. Despite the past few years' popular resurgence of sweet pop stylings, the Green Pajamas are still sadly underappreciated, which is a pity cos they're *so good*! Imagine the Pretty Things mixed with the Kinks and the Olivia Tremor Control. This time they've bundled up a special album of what first appears to be holiday themed sounds. However, only the first song is clearly of this ilk - complete with jingly bells! The songs brought to mind many things, some of which were a gathering of knights and fair maidens (on "Abbots Bromley"), and the sounds of the Beatles and Olivia Tremor Control (on "Felicity Cross"). Very nice.
RealAudio clip: "The Carolers' Song"
RealAudio clip: "Abbots Bromley"
RealAudio clip: "Felicity Cross"

ILLUMINATI CDEP1 (Planet Sounds) cd 5.98
More fringe electronica from the UK. Seems to be quite a healthy electronic music scene over there. How come we only hear from Scanner and Spooky and Pita and Fennesz ad infinitum when there's so much more to draw from? Guess these guys (like AQ faves Fflint central) aren't quite cool enough for the Wire or Ars Electronica. Hardly matters. This stuff is so good it's only a matter of time before Mego has to actually work to put out good records instead of just recycling the same crap over and over. From sputtering, spasming electronic free for alls to earpiercing and ribcage rattling rumbles and squeals to brutal headphone-shredding digital skree to overloading-sampler-malfunction rhythmic crunch, this stuff is fierce and intense and right on. My favorite track though is the oddball track two, a dreamy wash of moody reverbed guitars and skittering hard-panned squelches and squiggles, sounding a bit like Boards Of Canada on horse tranquilizers. Nice.
RealAudio clip: "Winter.Fire"
RealAudio clip: "Argenteum.Astrum"

INNOCENCE MISSION Small Planes: Lost And Found Songs 1996-2001 (What Are Records?) cd 16.98
The Innocence Mission have been around the block a few times - since 1982 actually in some shape or form. Problem is, so much time passes between each of their releases that their fans have often been left fretting that the band is no more. This collection presents them in all their wistful pop glory. And once again, the comparisons to The Sundays cannot be ignored, but perhaps imagine that this time Bjork has stepped in on vocals in a few spots. Eleven lilting, wintery songs.
RealAudio clip: "Today"

JIMMY CAKE, THE Brains (Pilatus) cd 11.98
Aaaah, thought you'd heard all the post rock you could possibly need? Hold yer horses, 'cause up pops The Jimmy Cake with an albumful of very pleasingly pretty, and most importantly, original post-rock. This sizeable Scottish ensemble spill lush washes of warm and beautiful chords all over taut and tight post rock rhythm section, weaving a lush soundscape with instruments uncommon to rock (clarinets, accordions, and trumpets) and guitars that alternate between dronecore wash and angular chopiness. The Jimmy Cake adeptly succeed in filling this sound with a hazy bittersweetness that occasionally delves into the morose melancholy of fellow Scotsmen like Mogwai and Arab Strap. Fans of Tristeza and the Temporary Residence label will not be disappointed!
RealAudio clip: "Ignite The Doom Carriage"
RealAudio clip: "Elevenses"

JUAN DE LA CRUZ Shake Your Brains (Crystal Emporium) cd 17.98
Juan De La Cruz (a band, not a man, so it's filed under "J") was a hard-rock powerhouse powertrio from the Phillippines who flourished in the nineteen seventies. If you're hip to other obscurites from the era, imagine a cross between Buffalo and Los Dug Dug's! This bootleg-looking disc reissues one of their earliest albums (no date given, sorry, but we'd guess '71 or so), and it's a killer. Totally rocked out bluesy stoner jams, with brilliantly fucked sex and party obsessed lyrics ("get drunk all day, get down all night", "I'll just wait for you down in the alley / and I'll show you how it can be"). And guitarist Wally Gonzales has got his acid-psych leads down, man! It's not clear who's singing (it might be the drummer, an American who previously played in the equally primal Japanese psychrock band Speed, Glue, & Shinki) but whoever it is, he's got the perfect delivery for this stuff, which includes one of our all-time favorite garage-psych songs, "I Wanna Say Yeah" -- perhaps the ultimate rock n' roll song title/lyric *EVER*. I mean, yeah! None of today's punks, stoners, or garage revivalists can touch that. (Although, parts of this album *do* remind us a bit of Drunkhorse!)
We'll soon have another Juan de la Cruz reissue, a 1970 recording called "Up In Arms" that Shadoks is putting out real soon. Apparently it's got a ton of unreleased live stuff on it, can't wait!
RealAudio clip: "I Wanna Say Yeah"
RealAudio clip: "Shake Your Brains"

JUDAS PRIEST Hell Bent For Leather (Columbia / Legacy) cd 12.98
More Priest remastered reissues! Their new album, "Demolition" turned out to be a big piece of crap but that makes these old reissues even more necessary, as a reminder of their former glories in the days of Halford, particularily in the '70s. 1978's "Hell Bent For Leather" (UK title: "Killing Machine") has been a classic album since the day it was released, and nothing's going to change that. This has their great Fleetwood Mac cover "The Green Manalishi (With The Two Pronged Crown)", that inspired further cover versions by both the Melvins and The Need. Includes two bonus tracks: a live "Riding on the Wind" and an unreleased studio recording called "Fight For Your Life".

JUDAS PRIEST Sin After Sin (Columbia / Legacy) cd 12.98
The one with their Joan Baez cover, "Diamonds And Rust". Plus the song Slayer later covered, "Dissident Aggressor". And "Sinner" and "Last Rose of Summer" and more. Early Priest rules, and this was their first album for Columbia, from '77 (and thus the earliest in this reissue series). While not the equal of its amazing predecessor, 1974's "Sad Wings Of Destiny", it's still essential. It comes remastered with the requisite two bonus tracks, that honestly haven't been all that worthwhile on any of the reissues we've checked out. But it's the actual albums that count, so if you don't have this one or the others, get 'em!

JUDAS PRIEST Stained Class (Columbia / Legacy) cd 12.98
Another Priest classic! If you're any sort of metalhead, you'll have this 1978 album in your collection. "Exciter", "Invader", "Beyond The Realms of Death", "Saints In Hell"...so many great songs. This disc is of course remastered and includes two bonus tracks, one live, one studio.

JUDAS PRIEST Unleashed In The East (Columbia / Legacy) cd 12.98
Known to fans as "Unleashed In The Studio", this is their 'live' album recorded in 1979 in Japan. Overdubbed or not, it's another essential metal artifact from the band that pioneered on-stage motorcycle riding. For once, the bonus tracks on this remaster make it a superior album to its previous incarnation, adding 4 "Hell Bent For Leather" era live cuts to your home 'concert' experience.

KAITO Everlasting (Kompakt) 12" 9.98
Certainly much more dancefloor friendly than the recent output from Kompakt, Kaito's "Everlasting" features a laid back shuffling tech-house groove flushed out by low slung basslines and constantly syncopating Carl Craig like synth pads.

KHANATE s/t (Southern Lord) lp 14.98
Now available on vinyl, which is just as heavy as the cd, which we described thusly on list #122:
Khanate = slow, plodding, dark, distortion-filled, droney, dissonant DOOM, in the (sliced and bleeding) vein of Esoteric, Burning Witch, Corrupted, Earth, Boris, Eyehategod...5 looong tracks (56+ minutes total). And if you haven't heard, this new doom-metal band is a veritable supergroup of underground dirge-warriors. To start with, Khanate boasts the bass guitar and production of James Plotkin and the "vokills" of Alan Dubin (both former members of Earache avant-metal geniuses OLD, who happen to be one of Allan's all-time favorite bands!). Post-OLD, Plotkin of course went on to become a celebrated experimental-ambient guitarist (recently making a return to "metal" with his great glitch-grind Atomsmasher project), but this is the first we've heard from Dubin since Old's final "Formula" album back in '95. And in addition to these OLD dudes, also in Khanate: guitarist Stephen O'Malley, who you know from his bands SUNN0))) and Burning Witch (as well as for his album art/design for the likes of Emperor, Cathedral, Sigh, Warhorse, Solstice, and many others). Drummer Tim Wyskida is the only unknown (to us) but we're told was at one time a member of Blind Idiot God. Ok, so it's established that Khanate's membership ought to known what they're doing, but do they deliver? Indeed they do! They sound closer to O'Malley's bands than OLD, but Plotkin's presence highlights what we all know: doom-metal can be the HEAVIEST form of ambient music!
RealAudio clip: "Skin Coat"
RealAudio clip: "Under Rotting Sky"

KID 606 & ELECTRIC COMPANY / KEVIN BLECHDOM $, Vol. 6 (Tigerbeat6) 7" 6.98
Volume six in the notorious Tigerbeat singles series, Kid 606 teams up with Electric Company as Kevin Blechdom does "Long Thong Silver", a ridiculous cover of Sisqo's "Thong Song" that's just wrong-wr-wrong-wrong-wrong. I guess it was funny the first time, though... Yes, these are limited.

KING TUBBY In the Mix: Classic Dub From the Master (Recall) 2cd 16.98
Low priced double disc anthology of King Tubby, apparently a part of a series of anthologies of Jamaican artists being released by Recall. Each collection comes with a fair amount of biographical notes on the artist and generally make good starting points if you don't have anything already. Generally acknowledged as the father of dub, King Tubby has left a huge legacy of recordings as a producer and has been an ongoing influence and inspiration to engineers and dub aficionados from Jamaica to the Netherlands. If you have any of the numerous collections of King Tubby's then you're likely to get a good deal of overlap here, as even with a cursory listen I noticed several tracks that have been released already. In fact, I don't think you'll find a rare track on here. But if you love dub and don't already own any Tubby then there's really no reason you shouldn't just pick this up. It's cheap, packed with classic seventies dub and it comes with a decent bio on the King.
RealAudio clip: "Don't Try To Use Me"
RealAudio clip: "Fittest of the Fittest"

KOZELEK, MARK If You Want Blood (Badman) 2lp 19.98
Limited edition double lp featuring all the tracks from both of Red House Painter Mark Kozelek's solo albums ("Rock n' Roll Singer" and "What's Next To The Moon"). So if you didn't already buy those cds, you now can get Kozelek's acoustic AC/DC interpretations/reinventions on vinyl. Maybe the ghost of Bon Scott insisted. And there's two bonus live tracks as well, to tempt those who did already get the cds.
RealAudio clip: "Find Me, Ruben Olivares"
RealAudio clip: "Up to My Neck in You"
RealAudio clip: "What's Next to the Moon"
RealAudio clip: "You Ain't Got a Hold On Me"

KUTI, FEMI Fight To Win (MCA ) cd 17.98
New album from the son of Fela Kuti -- the king himself -- and I'm sure it's just as hard not to draw comparisons to his father as it is for him to live in his shadow, but that's the way it is. Femi's got a big studio budget, uses all the appropriate "world beat" signifiers in his arrangements, and the result sounds like a head on collision betwixt Fishbone and Peter Gabriel... Ouch. I'll stick with papa's old tricks.
RealAudio clip: "Walk On the Right Side"

LAINHART, RICHARD Ten Thousand Shades Of Blue (IX) 2cd 14.98
Another winner from AQ fave Phil Niblock's always eclectic and engaging IX label. While sometimes stuff on IX tends a little too much toward the academic (and maybe this one is no different), the music on 'Ten Thousand Shades Of Blue' sounds much more organic, pure and intense and dreamy. Monochromatic dronescapes built from multi-tracked and processed bowed tam-tams, bowed Japanese temple bells, voices, bowed and struck vibraphones, and a realtime interactive computer music system. Expansive and soothing washes of humming low end. One of my best late night/sleeping/chillout records of the year.
RealAudio clip: "Bronze Cloud Disk"

LOHMANN, ULF Because Before (Kompakt) cd 16.98
Much like his contributions to Kompakt's aptly titled compilation "Pop Ambient," Ulf Lohmann's "Because Before" teeters dangerously close to the corny aspects of electronic ambient music, but manages to infuse enough interesting and puzzling sounds into his lighthearted proceedings to skirt the whole New Age curse. Samples of chimes and bells emerge within Lohmann's wholly digital production of warm ambient washes that are often very similar to the seminal ambient recordings of Brian Eno or Gas' "Pop" album. Yet, Lohmann fragments those sounds though weird clipping delays and looping structures that intentionally stop short of being fluid. The end result is sort of like Christmas music at the mall with the tape warbling from age or wandering the mall at Christmas, completely high.
RealAudio clip: "Because Before 5"
RealAudio clip: "Because Before 9"

LOHMANN, ULF Before (Kompakt) lp 9.98
The "Before" LP is the vinyl companion disc to Ulf Lohmann's "Because Before," with the a-side of the album presenting edited versions of the filmic ambient loopings found on the CD. The b-side has a huge unrelenting Mike Ink techno stomp that is nothing like the Pop Ambient sounds from the a-side or the CD version. To quote Kompakt, this untitled piece is a "rectanglebasslinemonstertrack" and is one of those Kompakt floorfillers which doesn't quite sound right at either 45 or 33: it's too fast at 45, and the bass is too muddled at 33. I guess that's what the pitch control is for.

LOVAGE Music To Make Love To Your Old Lady By -- Instrumental Version (75 Ark) cd 15.98
Dan the Automator strikes again. This here record is the INSTRUMENTAL version of the Lovage album, and in our opinion it is much better! We felt the same way about the Deltron 3030 record, whose instrumental version kicks ass so much we named it Record of the Week. Here, the down-on-my-luck love duets that call to mind Serge Gainsbourg as much as Isaac Hayes are stripped of their annoying breathy modern rock vocals, in order to showcase the deft scratching and beatmaking courtesy Dan and his guests Kid Koala, Prince Paul, etc. The result is *a lot* like a more groovin' DJ Shadow record -- atmospheric, subtle, darkly melodic.
RealAudio clip: "Sex (I'm a)"

MARCHETTI, LIONEL Sirrus (Ground Fault) cd 9.98
Recorded at the age of 22 back in 1989 (but just recently released), "Sirrus" stands as one of the earliest documentations from French musique concrete composer Lionel Marchetti. This is a trilogy based upon abstract interpretations of natural phenomenon using a variety of speaker techniques coupled with musique concrete tape splices. As a whole the album is a decentralised construction, where the various interludes throughout the album appear to hold resemblances to a narrative that continues from point-a to point-b, but are stopped short of reaching a resolution with a harsh edit that leads into another interlude of sound. At times these interludes are wild flanges on analogue electronics, other times they are dense multi-tracked recrordings of clattering wood (very much like Xenakis's "Concret PH" with its amplifications of burning charcoal), others are controlled feedback squeallings from microphone and speaker constructions, and others again are eerie drones toppled by bursting noises. Quite complex and powerful, this is easily my favorite composition from Marchetti.
RealAudio clip: "Sirrus (excerpt)"

MASSACRE Meltdown (Tzadik) cd 16.98
Massacre has been around since 1981's seminal album Killing Time (which you must seek out if you haven't heard it already). Comprised of guitarist Fred Frith, bassist Bill Laswell, and -- new to the group -- Charles Hayward on drums, Massacre specialize in improvised avant rock -- propulsive rhythms, plink-plonking bass, scraping schizo textural guitarwork. Recorded live at Robert Wyatt's 2001 Meltdown Festival, it all adds up to an intense listening experience, especially when the trio lets loose with climactic fervor. As the founder of the legendary This Heat, Hayward's name makes this even more of a supergroup than before. Luckily the music lives up to that, although we'd still recommend Killing Time to start with.
RealAudio clip: "Closing the Circles and Loose End"
RealAudio clip: "Up For It"

MATHIEU, STEPHAN & EKKEHARD EHLERS Heroin (Staalplaat) cd 14.98
Similar to their relationship with Dutch radio station VPRO which resulted in the Mort Aux Vaches series, Staalplaat has begun a cooperation with the Dutch arts initiative Extrapool to release work from Extrapool's artist in residency program. The goal being to encourage strange and interesting combinations. In light of this program, Extrapool's choice of laptop glitch technicians Stephan Mathieu and Ekkehard Ehlers is almost too obvious, as both artists have developed similar styles, digitally recombining disfigured yet emotionally dynamic sounds. One of Mathieu's recent projects has been the Full Swing "Edits" 10"s of confounding remixes for Kit Clayton's Orthlorng Musork, and Ehlers too has been on the remix tip with his reconfigurations of Albert Aylers and Cassavettes.
What separates both Mathieu and Ehlers from the rest of the glitch electronica field is their wonderful fascination with antiquity and their maintainence of surface noise and grit within a technological setting that typically has an intrinsic aesthetic for cleanliness and sterility. The rich cracklings of surface noise and fuzzy static of an old tube-amp radio emerge throughout their "Heroin" collaboration. Mellotron organs form whimsical melodies before dissolving into warm pools of warbling timbres; a melodica offers playful tunes over a looped and glitched backing track of the same instrument. Occasionally, Mathieu and Ehlers produce something more in step with the purity of the Raster-Noton sound, but for the most part have constructed a beautiful (if mutant) remnant of pop sentimentality, sounding more like a slightly digital version of Philip Jeck.
RealAudio clip: "Herz"
RealAudio clip: "Rose"

MONOLAKE Polaroid (Din) 12" 8.98
Whoa, Monolake does drum and bass? "Polaroid" is just that, with skitterish but mid-tempo Speed Garage breakbeats and hoovering basslines built out of Monolake's signature metallic synthesis. A bit uncharacteristic for a former Chain Reaction artist, but certainly not bad.

MOPS, THE Psychedelic Sounds In Japan (Victor Entertainment) cd 21.00
Psychedelic pioneers in their home country, The Mops (great name!) were one of the originators of the Japanese GS (Group Sounds) scene. They were among the first in Japan to experiment with psychedelic studio effects like flanging and phasing, as well as with psychedelic stage lighting effects -- trying as best they could to make up for the scarcity of hallucinogenic drugs like LSD in Japan! This cd reissues their 1968 debut LP, which is supposedly their best although we haven't heard the other seven albums they later released. This album's colorful, Peter Max/Yellow Submarine styled artwork should clue you in to what they were all about -- a trip to the San Francisco Summer of Love of their imagination, full of fuzz and fantasy. As with most teen rock bands of the period, these kids played a lot of sometimes-cheesy covers of big British and American bands -- The Animals, Jefferson Airplane, The Doors -- but they also wrote originals, such as their Monkees-like theme song, the wonderful "I'm Just A Mops" (which was one of the many gems in the recent Nuggets II box set). Derivative and dated, yes, of course, The Mops were and are -- but at their best (doing their own stuff particularily) they're also irresistably enthusiastic and energized. There were better Japanese GS bands, for sure -- the melancholy, timeless sounds of The Jacks being a good example -- but when they're telling you they're just a Mops, can you ask for more? Charming stuff.
RealAudio clip: "track 1"
RealAudio clip: "I'm Just A Mops"
RealAudio clip: "track 7"

MS. TOI That Girl (Universal) cd 17.98
First solo record from Ms. Toi, the girl we all loved from that Ice Cube record ('put your back into it, put your ass into it') that seemed to play every five minutes a year or so back. We were kind of hoping M. Toi would follow the same trajectory as Amil, another guest-vocalist-turned-hip-hop-diva, who guested on a racy Jay-Z track and then put out a record on her own that was hard, and mean, and funky and fucking great. Unfortunately, it seems like it was more luck than talent that got Ms. Toi on Cube's track. This record has none of the grit or hardness, or catchiness and instead offers up a lightweight, lukewarm funk/R+B mess of watered down Young MC style hip hop and slow jam pap.

MUSEO ROSENBACH Zarathustra (Si-Wan) cd 15.98
Kick ass Italian '70s prog band's only album, from 1973, reissued on cd in '97 and now here in our store. It's hard to talk about these guys without comparing 'em to other, equally obscure Italian prog acts like the New Trolls and Il Rovescio Della Medaglia, but I'll try. Take your better-known British prog bands like ELP, King Crimson, Yes, and Van Der Graaf Generator, and then imagine them with dramatic Italian language vocals, even more over-the-top faux classical arrangements, and being way heavier to boot -- that's Museo Rosenbach. In other words, fucking great!
RealAudio clip: "Dell'Eterno Ritorno"

MY DYING BRIDE The Dreadful Hours (Peaceville) cd 14.98
I, Sadie, am reviewing this record as a devout fan of goth music and soundtracks, who is not that knowledgeable or interested in metal. The name My Dying Bride intrigued me, and I find that their music does too -- the songs are long and gloomy, with beautiful layers of sad strings and escalating, chunky guitar. The vocals range from metal / cookie monster to clean deep and gothy. I prefer the latter, but can appreciate the variety. This record is certainly dark and sinister. The far away piano and slow outros remind me of the music from cult horror movies such as "Lets Scare Jessica To Death" or "The Haunting of Julie". The building, epic intros and long songs cause a tension throughout the record that is creepy and lovely at the same time. Consulting with our metal experts here at Aquarius, they suggest I mention that this is the latest in a long line of doom-filled albums from this UK metal band, one that evokes not only MDB's past works of gothic doom splendor but reminds us of other heavies like Solstice (whose old guitarist was shanghaied into MDB for this album) and Trouble. Vocal-wise, however, they tell me they prefer the death-growls to the clean goth singing. So, something for everyone, as long as everyone is a metaller or goth!
RealAudio clip: "My Hope, The Destroyer"

NIHILIST SPASM BAND Every Monday Night (Alchemy) cd 19.98
This is the third release on the famed Japanese label Alchemy from the London, Ontario group the Nihilist Spasm Band, who since the mid-1960s have been making gloriously evocative and weird improvised music (and have released many other records for a variety of labels, not just Alchemy mind you). They've been championed by everyone from Bananafish magazine to Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore to the Japanoise scene in Osaka. And while they can do the wall-of-noise thing so well -- honed to perfection from their continuing-for-over-30-years Monday night live performances -- more often on this recording they are playing very restrained, very careful, spare improv on kazoo, thumb pan, cooking pot, guitar, drums, and a handmade instrument invented by one of the members, called a Pratt-a-various. Over the whole thing is vocalist Bill Exley's declamatory surrealist recitations. Check it out, these guys are, like, 50 years old. You'll either love it or hate it!
RealAudio clip: "I Dreamt I Was Living in Paradise"

NOTTA LOTTA LOVE (Evil Twin Publications) zine 4.50
Notta Lotta Love is the title of the fourth My Evil Twin Sister publication, Evil Twin being the joint project of identical twins Amber Gayle (writing) and Stacy Wakefield (design / bookmaking). Notta Lotta Love is my favorite of the series (I'm Windy). Due to Amber's unpretentious, down-to-earth writing style, it reads like a novel even thought it's just 44 pages and is simply a series of remembrances, told in chronological order, of Amber's lovers. She observes hippies, flirts with fellow Green Tortoise passengers, dates a German who wears designer underwear, falls in love with naturalists and raw foodies... Something about the way Amber writes, her sweet, genuine, brutally honest tone, makes me love this. While I can't speak for the guys on our list, I suspect some of you ladies may really find a lot to identify with here. Lovely.

O'ROURKE, JIM Insignificance (Drag City) cd 14.98
Upon close investigation into the gleefully genre-jumping career of Jim O'Rourke, a recurring theme becomes glaringly obvious: O'Rourke discovers a highly distinctive sound (i.e. John Fahey, Red Krayola, John Duncan, Sea and Cake), O'Rourke begins to communicate with the authors of the aforementioned sound, O'Rourke works with authors as a collaborator, producer, or engineer, and finally O'Rourke's next album bares more than a striking similarity to the artists with whom he's just worked. There's of course nothing wrong with an genuine homage, but you have to be careful or else it can become an ironic parody at worst or a sloppy pastiche at best. For the most part, O'Rourke has spoken the language of the homage with great skill, unusual dexterity, and usually a great deal of reverence for the original.
Yet sadly, it seems that on "Insignificance" this isn't quite the case. "Insignificance" has already become known as, quite simply, Jim O'Rourke's "southern rock" album. But O'Rourke's intentions towards southern rock seem far from homage, and it seems he may have slipped drearily down the path of the ironist. The opening cut -- with its (unwittingly?) apt title "All Downhill From Here" -- is a shameless rip-off of "Sweet Home Alabama," performed as if sung by Lou Reed, completed with Steve Miller Band backing "hoo-hoo"s and a terminally shitty drum production straight out of Robert Pollard's basement. O'Rourke sheepishly denies any intentional links between this song and Lynyrd Skynyrd, which seems a bit dubious. A couple of sub-Chicago / Bruce Hornsby ballads -- that do (to be fair) have that lush sound found on his Stereolab production work -- lead into another painful pop culture reference: Edie Brickell's "What I Am". Really.
If this is 'conceptual' art, am I supposed to believe what I hear? Is this is an homage to the losers who work at Guitar Center and who have saved $5000 to record their 'great southern rock opera' at a studio where the engineer doesn't give a fuck who's in front of a microphone as long as they're paying? That's not art. That's bullshit. Jim O'Rourke needs to have his tongue surgically removed from his cheek this time. Either that or we should bow down before our copies of The Wire and proclaim that we all love the emperor's new bunny costume.
RealAudio clip: "Get A Room"
RealAudio clip: "All Downhill From Here"

O'ROURKE, JIM Insignificance (Drag City) lp 14.98
Upon close investigation into the gleefully genre-jumping career of Jim O'Rourke, a recurring theme becomes glaringly obvious: O'Rourke discovers a highly distinctive sound (i.e. John Fahey, Red Krayola, John Duncan, Sea and Cake), O'Rourke begins to communicate with the authors of the aforementioned sound, O'Rourke works with authors as a collaborator, producer, or engineer, and finally O'Rourke's next album bares more than a striking similarity to the artists with whom he's just worked. There's of course nothing wrong with an genuine homage, but you have to be careful or else it can become an ironic parody at worst or a sloppy pastiche at best. For the most part, O'Rourke has spoken the language of the homage with great skill, unusual dexterity, and usually a great deal of reverence for the original.
Yet sadly, it seems that on "Insignificance" this isn't quite the case. "Insignificance" has already become known as, quite simply, Jim O'Rourke's "southern rock" album. But O'Rourke's intentions towards southern rock seem far from homage, and it seems he may have slipped drearily down the path of the ironist. The opening cut -- with its (unwittingly?) apt title "All Downhill From Here" -- is a shameless rip-off of "Sweet Home Alabama," performed as if sung by Lou Reed, completed with Steve Miller Band backing "hoo-hoo"s and a terminally shitty drum production straight out of Robert Pollard's basement. O'Rourke sheepishly denies any intentional links between this song and Lynyrd Skynyrd, which seems a bit dubious. A couple of sub-Chicago / Bruce Hornsby ballads -- that do (to be fair) have that lush sound found on his Stereolab production work -- lead into another painful pop culture reference: Edie Brickell's "What I Am". Really.
If this is 'conceptual' art, am I supposed to believe what I hear? Is this is an homage to the losers who work at Guitar Center and who have saved $5000 to record their 'great southern rock opera' at a studio where the engineer doesn't give a fuck who's in front of a microphone as long as they're paying? That's not art. That's bullshit. Jim O'Rourke needs to have his tongue surgically removed from his cheek this time. Either that or we should bow down before our copies of The Wire and proclaim that we all love the emperor's new bunny costume.

ORA Final (ICR) cd 16.98
Many moons ago, Darren Tate and Andrew Chalk found their way to Colin Potter's IC Studios, where the three initiated the humble yet eccentric drone project Ora, with occasional help from the likes of Jonathan Coleclough, Daisuke Suzuki, MNortham, and Lol Coxhill. The majority of the Ora releases have been small editions of CD-Rs following in the tradition of the UK underground cassette culture, where artists would simply release things themselves whenever the albums were finished and without having to adhere to the timetable of a record label. The obvious disadvantage in Ora's case is that their limited nature discouraged many from ever discovering the beautiful sounds found on Ora's odd CD-Rs. Fortunately, Ora has compiled several anthologies from those CD-Rs, the first being the Streamline 2LP "Aureum" (which has unfortunately received the same fate of the CD-Rs and has gone out of print), and more recently, the "Final" CD released on Colin Potter's ICR label.
With Darren continuing on as Monos, Andrew working in Mirror, and Colin busy engineering / collaborating with Nurse With Wound, Current 93, Monos, and dozens of other projects, Ora has ceased to be, and "Final" is probably the last Ora document to be released. Culled mostly from the CD-Rs "Live," "Distances," and "New Movements In G," this anthology does also include a couple of unreleased tracks. As the more recent Monos and Mirror recordings reflect, Ora's specialty has been the construction of the opiated drone that implores a sort-of calmness but at the same time actively confronts the listener with its sound rather than floating to the back as aural wallpaper. Built from field recordings, bowed metals, and various electronics, Ora situates their drones within a wide spectrum of textures -- ranging from the sporadic use of angular blurts from Lol Coxhill's sax and accompanying dense scrapes like a huge boulder getting pushed across a concrete floor, to tiny fluctuations from flutes and sitars. "Final" stands as yet another exceptional record from this small aesthetic circle of UK drone artists.
RealAudio clip: "Distances"
RealAudio clip: "New Movement In G"
RealAudio clip: "Roses?"

PABLO, AUGUSTUS Jah Inspiration (Recall) 2cd 16.98
Low priced double disc anthology of Augustus Pablo, apparently part of a series of anthologies of Jamaican artists being released by Recall. Each collection comes with a fair amount of biographical notes on the artist and generally make good starting points if you don't have anything already. 30 dub tracks by the melodica king grace this collection, the second disc almost completely dominated by King Tubby's productions but the set in general seems to span his career from the early seventies on through the nineties. There aren't any rareties on here and a good deal of later recordings so if you have plenty of Augustus Pablo's recordings you're better off passing this one up but not a bad place to start for the beginner.
RealAudio clip: "Magnificent Dub"
RealAudio clip: "Pablo In Black Ark"

PARKINS / CLINE / MOORE Live At Easthampton Town Hall (JMZ) cd 13.98
So how many electric harp / electric guitar / electric guitar trio albums do you own? None? Well you should pick this one up then, 'cause it's good, and also sales of this cd benefit the Flywheel Community Arts Space in Easthampton, Mass., which seems like a cool place. (Normally, releasing a disc of noisy improv music wouldn't be such a brilliant fundraising idea, but the presence of Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore in the line-up probably will help sell a few copies.) Of course, his contribution is only one-third of the whole. Downtown NYC harpist Zeena Parkins and LA-based guitarist Nels Cline (we're always raving about him, y'know) are just as good reasons to check this out. Together, the trio make a rather beautiful, loud racket. It's a fifty minute string-scribble strum-storm that really builds into some frenzied peaks of outward-bound heaviness!

PEACHES Set It Off (Kitty-Yo) 12" 9.98
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 Away, Spring Break style, armed with Eazy-E and hair farm riffage. I want my MTV!
RealAudio clip: "Fuck The Pain Away (Kid 606 Going Back To Bali Remix)"

PINK Missundaztood (Arista) cd 16.98
The demise of the tv show Star Search back in 1995 (who knew it lasted even that long?!?) left many show biz hopefuls wonderin' "Now what am I gonna do?!" Well, without middle man Ed McMahon, many clearly made it straight to the major labels and top 40. These more than capable, but snoringly devoid of individuality, soul or personality r&b/pop vocal gymnasts litter the radio dial today. Of course, there are certainly a few exceptions though it's often hard to find them in all the clutter. With 'Missundaztood', Pink sets herself apart, exuding plenty of confidence, personality and fun. Yeah, it's fluffy and ultra-produced. Yeah, there's some overwrought teen soul balladry and the first song really reminded me of Sheryl Crow's hit "All I Wanna Do", but it also is a really exuberant, sassy, good time and she does have a great voice. Capturing high-spirited, teenage bounce with the single "Get The Party Started" or conveying the world weary tone of someone twice her age (on "Misery" with Steven Tyler). You may already be familiar with Pink from her previous 'Can't Take Me Home' album, but this is actually a lot more fresh and spunky with fewer diva-esque moans. Seems she's taken the wheel of this boogie bus -- kicking the serious party butt.
RealAudio clip: "Get The Party Started "
RealAudio clip: "Misery"

QBERT: WAVE TWISTERS THE MOVIE (DVD) (Thud Rumble) dvd 27.00
Finally out, it's the DVD film of Wave Twisters, which is a truly incredible film edited to correspond exactly with Invisibl Skratch Pikl DJ QBert's album of the same name. Even the vocal snippets from the record become dialogue on the film, a seamless integration! Needless to say, the film is hilarious, with the hero Inner Space Dental Commander trying to revive the four pillars of hip hop (graffiti, breakdancing, rapping, and DJing) while the evil villains played by the Skratch Piklz thwart his attempts... There's all kinds of animation too -- stop motion, photographic, etc. Also included are film stills presented specifically so people can animate them themselves, creating new episodes in the Wave Twisters saga, the trailer for the turntablist film Scratch, deleted scenes, a commentary track from the filmmakers, subtitles in French, German, Japanese, Russian, etc, and extra live footage of the Scratch Piklz in action. Pretty incredible! This dvd has been flying out the door ever since we got it a few weeks ago.

RAPOON :Just Say The Faith: (Soleilmoon) cd 14.98
Even though it's been a decade since Robin Storey left the seminal post-industrial ensemble :Zoviet*France:, he hasn't really extended himself beyond his last few outings with :Z*F: (including "Just An Illusion" and possibly "Shouting At The Ground"). In :Zoviet*France:, he mastered the technique of multitracking tape loops, often of murky recordings from non-specific ethnic percussion, and then splattering them with a profuse amount of dub delay to create very effective hypnotic drones. ":Just Say The Faith:" find his current project Rapoon softening the edges of all of the looping rhythms to give a less foreboding and dreamily celestial ambience to his sounds. Unfortunately, in lightening the mood, Rapoon verges on a soundtrack for commercials about soothing bath salts and exfoliating sugar scrubs, or for the next Peter Gabriel multi-media experience. Originally, this album was released as a vinyl only limited release, but now gets a CD-reissue with a few extra tracks.
RealAudio clip: "Fuck The Wire"

RIVAL SCHOOLS / ONELINEDRAWING Rival Schools United By Onelinedrawing (Some) cd ep 10.98
I was so excited to find this record a few moths back. I had been waiting like crazy (if one can wait like crazy) for the Rival Schools record (Walter from Quicksand's new band) and here it was. What a score! So I brought it home, threw it on, and it wasn't quite what I expected. Really jangly and poppy, but the voice was definitely Quicksand, and the songs did have sort of the same feel. It was just different. Then I remembered there were rumours about a post-Quicksand power pop band so it sort of made sense. Then we were informed that this was actually a split cd, 3 songs by Rival Schools and 3 by Onelinedrawing which made no sense because by this time I was LOVING this record, listening to it every day, playing it over and over, and had fully accepted that it was a Rival Schools Record. Well, it ends up that it's not a split exactly, but more like a collaboration, with Rival Schools and one man band Onelinedrawing. Either way, the results are fantastic. The record starts off in frustrating Guided By Voices style with a gorgeous song fragment, that was well on its way to being an unbelievable pop song, before it dissipates 30 seconds into it, only to explode into track two, which sounds like a supercharged Knack or like Quicksand doing a Romantics cover, only faster and meaner and with those soaring majestic Quicksand choruses. Track three has a dark and whispery minor chord refrain that is stuck in my head ALL THE TIME and rollicking almost-emo verses. Track four slows it down, with acoustic guitars, a lazy galloping drum beat, and a summery 'bop bop bop' refrain sounding all Uncle Tupelo or Whiskeytown with that slight twang and a wickedly catchy melody.
Track five is a languid, slow rolling moody epic, with rumbling slow strummed guitars, and chiming harmonics sounding like the Wipers or Nirvana's Lithium alllll sloooowed dooooown. The record closes with a bang. A huge crunching, sort of bouncy Quicksand style guitar attack. Crunchy stop-start riffs (ala Helmet's 'In The Meantime') but with Walter's scratchy sad boy wail and totally epic almost sing-along choruses. So so good. I love this record!
RealAudio clip: "Always"
RealAudio clip: "Where I'm From"
RealAudio clip: "Be Real"
RealAudio clip: "Take One For The Team"

ROWE, KEITH & TOSHIMARU NAKAMURA Weather Sky (Erstwhile) cd 14.98
Guitarist Keith Rowe is a busy guy. He still plays with British improvising legends AMM, and he also leads the Euro laptop improv conglom MIMEO, plus he's had a bunch of other collaborative and solo releases as of late. Here he teams up with Japanese "onkyo" experimentalist Toshimaru Nakamura, he of "No Input Mixing Board" fame. Slowly unfolding soundscapes of hiss, bleep, drone, and flutter are the not-unexpected result. Rowe works hard (or, maybe not) with his guitar to match the "emptiness" of Nakamura's electronics, yet somehow together they manage to fill up this cd (three long tracks, totalling over 70 minutes) with interesting sounds for the sine-wave improv set. Another nice disc from Rowe (& Co.)
RealAudio clip: "Weather Sky #2"

SATURDAY PEOPLE s/t (Slumberland) cd 13.98
Featuring members of Velocity Girl, The Ropers, Tree Fort Angst and The Castaway Stones. For fans of said groups as well as Biff Bang Pow, Orange Juice, The Grass Roots and The Weather Prophets. Soft, straightforward pop with a blend of '60s soft-rock and '80s folk-pop influences. So very much at home on the sweetie-pop label Slumberland, who time and time again have proven their impeccable taste by releasing such great bands as The Aislers Set.
RealAudio clip: "Find out "
RealAudio clip: "Working for the Weekend"

SILVER JEWS Bright Flight (Drag City) cd 14.98
Mr. David Berman has always sounded the horn of lethargic singers everywhere. This record is no exception: Mr. Silver Jew really sounds as if he'd rather be picking the lint balls off his sweater than sing his songs. And if he doesn't give a shit, why should we? I mean, it wouldn't really be that bad if the songs weren't unremarkable too, but they're simply staid ol' indie rock circa 1992. This record has been receiving favorable reviews, but I just don't get it -- he's doing the exact same thing, the same thing that lost any relevance years ago. Wake up, Dave!
RealAudio clip: "I Remember Me"
RealAudio clip: "Tennessee"

SILVER JEWS Bright Flight (Drag City) lp 14.98
Mr. David Berman has always sounded the horn of lethargic singers everywhere. This record is no exception: Mr. Silver Jew really sounds as if he'd rather be picking the lint balls off his sweater than singing his songs. And if he doesn't give a shit, why should we? I mean, it wouldn't really be that bad if the songs weren't unremarkable too, but they're simply staid ol' indie rock circa 1992. This record has been receiving favorable reviews, but I just don't get it -- he's doing the exact same thing, the same thing that lost any relevance years ago. Wake up, Dave!

SIMMONS, SONNY Staying On The Watch (ESP / Aretina) cd 14.98
Finally another wave of ESP reissues and more completely essential and seminal sixties free jazz. This disc, recorded in 1966, Simmons' debut as a band leader, is an intense blast of aggresive melody with four extended tracks of raw and relentless skronk and skree with some inspired playing from Barbara Donald (trumpet), John Hicks (piano), Teddy Smith (bass), and Marvin Pattillo (drums). So nice.
RealAudio clip: "Metamorphosis"
RealAudio clip: "A Distant Voice"

SIMMONS, SONNY Staying On The Watch (ESP / Get Back) lp 14.98
Finally another wave of ESP reissues and more completely essential and seminal sixties free jazz. This disc, recorded in 1966, Simmons' debut as a band leader, is an intense blast of aggresive melody with four extended tracks of raw and relentless skronk and skree with some inspired playing from Barbara Donald (trumpet), John Hicks (piano), Teddy Smith (bass), and Marvin Pattillo (drums). So nice.

SONGS: OHIA Mi Sei Apparso Come Un Fantasma (Paper Cup) cd 15.98
A live performance in Italy by Songs:Ohia is captured on this just-shy-of-an-hour-long cd. Jason Molina and co. deliver eight songs of which five are previously unreleased. Always weighted with much heavy melancholia and gut-wrenching sincerity, Mr. Molina's vocal style never fails to draw comparisons to those of Will Oldham, but on this release I'd also throw a bit of Jeff Mangum into the mix as well. It's backed by some very rich and moving quiet/loud instrumentation - sparse guitars and percussion that build and build to a dark apex then fall away leaving the vocals to linger.
RealAudio clip: "Being In Love"
RealAudio clip: "Untitled (track 6)"

SPIEGEL, LAURIE Obsolete Systems (Electronic Music Foundation) cd 14.98
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, Echoplex, early realtime digital synthesis and Bell Labs' GROOVE Hybrid system (a very early digital-analog hybrid synthesizer). A system designer and software developer responsible for many interactive music applications (most notably Music Mouse for Macintosh), Spiegel's technical background doesn't overshadow her compositional abilities, nor does it reduce her work to simply "technical". Beautiful, textural sonicscapes comparable to Schnitzler or Ligeti.
RealAudio clip: "Drums"
RealAudio clip: "Improvisation On A "Concerto Generator""

STAHLGREN & FERGUSON Printing With Magnetic Inks (Hot Air) cd 9.98
Hard to tell if "Dr. Stahlgren" and "Dr. Ferguson" are in fact members of Stock, Hausen, & Walkman, but I would imagine they are, as this little 3" CD was released in the series of "educational recordings" on their Hot Air label. Supposedly, these two "doctors" were asked by "Omag Magnetizing Systems" to apply their expertise in "diagnostic sound recordring" to uncover "various problems encountered in the Magnetic Ink Numbering System used to mechanically sort virtually all of the paper cheques passing through the World Banking Systems today."
Of course, the two "doctors" made many hours of recordings of those machines, of course "solved" the problems, and of course this album "Printing With Magnetic Inks" is the resulting collage of those recordings, of course with "some artistic license, editing and processing.
With this audio fuck-you (much more listenable than V/VM 's attempts at the same), Hot Air offers yet another exceptionally funny piece of contemporary musique concrete filled with all sorts of whimsical bleeps and bloops.
RealAudio clip: "Dead Thixotropic Code Flux"
RealAudio clip: "Shrinking Disinclination Loop"

STROKES, THE Last Nite (Rough Trade) cd ep 11.98
How do you spell 'lame'? I'll tell ya... This is The Strokes third outrageously priced cd single, yep, that's right just one song - the current HOT single which actually is a pretty catchy romp, but unfortunately has already been sooo overplayed everywhere that owning a cd single of it makes no sense at all -- even with the one lonely (lackluster) bonus track! Y'know, if it were a $3.00 7" single, it'd be a different story, but $11.98!? Yeesh! (But, if you have the import version of the full-length, this is how to get the track they replaced "New York City Cops" with on the domestic, although for this price you might as well just look for a used copy of the domestic album instead.)

SWAMP, DJ Never Is Now (Decadent) cd 15.98
Most of you probably haven't heard of DJ Swamp, which is not all that surprising. His big claim to fame is his stint as Beck's DJ. But the sound here isn't all that Beck, it's a bit grimier and grungier and 'underground' sounding. There's some good stuff on here, unfortunately, the sound is marred by the rapping, a sort of uninspired whiny whitey-boy drawl. Really detracts from some of his fairly impressive mixing/sampling skills. Not bad. Here's to hoping the next one is instrumental!
RealAudio clip: "Ring Of Fire"
RealAudio clip: "Worship The Robots"

THEBOYLUCAS Out Of The Wires (Output) cd 16.98
We were watching this show on MTV, something like 'The Top 21 Under 21' that was a countdown of all the MTV stars who have hit the big time before they're even old enough to drink. Which was pretty depressing (the authors of this review are well into their thirties) even though it all sucked. So imagine how the barely-out-of-his-teens Theboylucas makes us feel. Granted it's not quite the big time, but this record is so goddamn good. Okay. Back up. End Rant. Start again. We usually look to the Output label for dirge-y death dub or super skeletal hip hop, all sparse and bare bones with slightly sinister overtones, like Skull or Rhythm and Sound. But Theboylucas takes a different tack altogether. Theboylucas is a twenty year old kid from the UK (arggh!) who takes lo-fi acoustic sad boy indie rock (ala Badly Drawn Boy, Elliott Smith) and filters it through a handful of Warp Records 12"s and a motley assortment of effects boxes, buries it all under a dreamy wash of Oval-ish glitch and Autechre-ish skitter and comes up with one of the most original takes on indie electronica we've heard in a long while. Imagine Boards Of Canada with a handful of dodgy patch chords, some crappy old gear, and fronted by a scruffy tattooed punk in cut off fatigues and converse hi tops with a laptop instead of a guitar and who just broke up with his girlfriend. Or imagine if Lou Barlow grew up listening to Aphex Twin and put records out records on Warp or....well you know what I'm getting at. 'Out Of The Wires' takes the hushed, close miked urgency of Sparklehorse, the warbly sad boy vocals of Songs:Ohia (only very rarely, as it's mostly instrumental), the skittery glitched-out electro-dub of Pole or Kit Clayton, and sprinkle in a little EMO, and we're talking late-night-chillout, new-friend-make-out, two-in-the-morning-doze-off, first-thing-in-the-morning-mellow-out, FIRST-MIX-TAPE-FOR-THAT GUY/GIRL perfect indie-electronica. At moments, it's reminiscent of the super blissed out post rock of Hood or the spacey electronica of Third Eye Foundation and somehow manages to be dreamy and ambient without drifting into Darla style 'bliss out' wussy electronica. A definite must for fans of Boards Of Canada and everyone who bought the DNTEL from the last list, and a pretty good gamble for all you really adventurous indie rockers! SO good.
RealAudio clip: "There Are Great Monsters Going Past"
RealAudio clip: "Ferris Wheel"
RealAudio clip: "Go On, Crease Your Carhartts"

THERIOS s/t (Hollenden) cd-r 11.98
We listed Therios' amazing "II" disc last time, and the response was so good that we just brought in a few of this older self-titled Therios release. Like "II", this recording is a studio/computer-assembled one man band project. It's constructed from samples, but as the back cover specifies, "Therios does not sample the work of others" -- this guy plays all the instruments himself and then chops and splices everything into noisy, chaotic, metallic compositions. This disc is somewhat less "metal" than its successor, however, sounding a little bit like stuff the Boredoms were doing back in their "Soul Discharge" days. Over the top distorted insanity.
RealAudio clip: "Components Of Lucifer Refraction"
RealAudio clip: "Cortex Implant"

TIMBALAND & MAGOO Indecent Proposal (Blackground) cd 16.98
By track two on Timbaland and Magoo's second full length, you realise why Timbaland is the man. He makes every drum loop totally his own, every song a slithery hiccupping classic and there's very few producers who have such a knack for crafting such a bizarre and recognizable (and surprisingly popular) sound. Almost every song on the radio these days is either recorded, written or produced by the T-land, who almost single handedly changed the face of modern R+B/hip hop, taking the stale predictable 'funk', and chopping it up, coming up with his quirky, stuttery signature sound (and with those trademark 'What....uh huh.....what...' background vocals). And on 'Indecent Proposal'. Timbaland steps out from behind the mixing board and up to the plate to show the world just why everyone comes to him for -that- sound.
RealAudio clip: "Drop"
RealAudio clip: "Indian Carpet"
RealAudio clip: "Party People"

ULTRAVIOLET MAKES ME SICK Soundproof (Camera Obscura) cd 14.98
Three adorable Italian boys playing mellow instrumental post-rock. Lots of soaring guitars in the background, with anguished minor key figerpicking up front. More about creating a real mood than about verse-chorus-verse, y'know. Not as loud as Mogwai, not as quiet as Sonna, but drawing from both of those band's vibes. Unremarkable but quite pleasant. It'll be interesting to hear future material when they truly find their own sound.
RealAudio clip: "Faye"

VOLCANO THE BEAR Five Hundred Boy Piano (United Dairies) cd 17.98
Released under the guidance of Nurse With Wound's Steven Stapleton for his United Dairies label, Volcano The Bear has produced an album of such absurdist proportions that very few things (art, film, literature) can warrant comparisons. Volcano The Bear could ostensibly be an English folk band in the vein of the pagan folk of The Wicker Man soundtrack, with deft instrumentation for violin, guitars, piano hand drums, and banjo, but they always manage to throw in something really out of place like a free-jazz burst or a bellowing chorus of drunks. It's sort of like Captain Beefheart and Charles Hayward meeting at a Renaissance Fair, and neither knows if they should trash the place, make fun of everybody, or just join the merriment with a goblet of mead or maybe a couple tabs of acid. Really weird, even by Aquarius' standards.
RealAudio clip: "Hairy Queen"
RealAudio clip: "Five Hundred Boy Piano"

WATTS, MARZETTE s/t (ESP / Aretina) cd 14.98
Another in the recent spate of ESP reissues and easily my favorite of the bunch. Recorded in 1966 and featuring a large ensemble (8 players) on flute, clarinet, cornet, trombone, vibes as well as the mighty Sonny Sharrock on guitar. Much more laid back and a bit less skronky than a lot of stuff on ESP, Watts favors rich mid-range runs instead of Ayler-ish squeals and weaves a dense wash of melodies, rhythms and riffs with wild vibes, dueling horns, shuffling percussion and Sharrock's unmistakably wild, muted guitar runs. Completely hypnotic and amazing!
RealAudio clip: "Backdrop For Urban Revolution"

WATTS, MARZETTE s/t (ESP / Get Back) lp 14.98
Another in the recent spate of ESP reissues and easily my favorite of the bunch. Recorded in 1966 and featuring a large ensemble (8 players) on flute, clarinet, cornet, trombone, vibes as well as the mighty Sonny Sharrock on guitar. Much more laid back and a bit less skronky than a lot of stuff on ESP, Watts favors rich mid-range runs instead of Ayler-ish squeals and weaves a dense wash of melodies, rhythms and riffs with wild vibes, dueling horns, shuffling percussion and Sharrock's unmistakably wild, muted guitar runs. Completely hypnotic and amazing!

WINDSOR FOR THE DERBY The Awkwardness (Aesthetics) cd ep 9.98
"The Awkwardness" is an EP of remixes by Carnival Wave, Pulseprogramming, I-Sound, Calla, and Windsor For The Derby themselves. Very few of these remixes bear much resemblance to the original downer, math-rock sound of Windsor For The Derby. Only Calla incoporates Windsor's taut rhythms and rigid structures into their remix, while everyone else takes an electronica bliss-out approach with Pulseprogramming doing a pretty good Kit Clayton impression and I-Sound fragmenting Windsor into digitally abused drill 'n' bass plod. Certainly more for fans of the remixers than the original artist.
RealAudio clip: PULSEPROGRAMMING "I Change.C?"
RealAudio clip: I-SOUND "Ice Age Blues"

WISHBONE ASH s/t (MCA) cd 10.98
This is one of those classic rock '70s bands that I (Allan) had always heard of (their claim to fame was pioneering the twin guitar harmony thing, inspiring Thin Lizzy and later Iron Maiden) but had never heard... Nobody was like, "Dude! Wishbone Ash! You gotta hear 'em!". Still, I've been curious, and finally a copy of this album, Wishbone Ash's 1970 debut fell into my hands. And yep, it's pretty great. I've investigated further, and it might be that this was really their best album. It's like a combination of heavy British blues-rock a la Cream with harmony guitars that, yes, sound like Thin Lizzy (or The Champs). The vocals sound kinda like Greg Lake of King Crimson/ELP, but they do some vocal harmonies that sound more old-timey, Brit-folk style. It's not super heavy though it has its moments, it's definitely not metal, but it IS hard rock, with lengthy songs (including two that exceed ten minutes) featuring almost-Allmans-like guitar jamming. Great stuff, if you're like me and dig songs with titles like "Lady Whiskey" and "Queen of Torture". While not a discovery on par with finding out that Uriah Heep was actually pretty amazing (allow me -- "Dude! Uriah Heep! Go get 'Look At Yourself'!! The one with the mirror on the cover, you've seen it a thousand times. It's really great!") but I'm glad to now to be hip to Wishbone Ash, this album at least. Recommended to those into the '70s/stoner rock thing, who like guitars, and some mellowness and melody -- and harmonies too!
RealAudio clip: "Lady Wiskey"
RealAudio clip: "Errors Of My Ways"

YOSHIHIDE, OTOMO Anode (Tzadik) cd 15.98
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 abraisive, exploring territories reminiscent of John Cage, emphasizing minimalist aesthetics and chance. Another wonderful electroacoustic piece from the amazing Otomo Yoshihide!
RealAudio clip: "Anode 2"
RealAudio clip: "Anode 1"

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V/A A Mutated Christmas (Illegal Art) cd 16.98
Thirteen tracks of tweaked out plunderphonic xmas madness from the twisted folks at Illegal Art and RTMark. Conceived and curated by NY sample artist Corporal Blossom (whose work has graced past Illegal Art collections, "Deconstructing Beck" and "Extracted Celluloid"), he is joined by DJ Olive, Lustmord ("Silent Night" coated with recordings of bombings and gunfire!), Grassy Knoll, Fognode, No-L, Mom & Daddy, Lovecraft Technologies, Steven (?) and DJ Kudzu. The opening "White Christmas" by Corporal Blossom features an all-star cast of unmentionable yuletide crooners set to a sampledelic hip hop backing track. Mutated indeed!
RealAudio clip: CORPORAL BLOSSOM "White Christmas"
RealAudio clip: LUSTMORD "Silent Night"

V/A Anti NY (Gomma) cd 15.98
Subtitled "Rare Music from the Early 80ies New York Underground", this is a really good collection of no wave / stark electro funk material from a variety of notable sources. There's an early Jim Jarmusch (the filmmaker) track, and one from Gray, the band formed by artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. The absolute high point is Sexual Harrassment's "If I Gave You a Party", which is from 1983 and is odd paleface electro, stripped down and sort of stiff in a funny way, like the Flying Lizards, and this song alone is worth the price of the disc! Speaking of Flying Lizards, that band's Vivien Goldman contributes a song here, produced by John Lydon and Keith Levene. And Konk's "Love Attack" is prime post-punk disco with a heavy Latin rhythmic vibe; its quality reminds me of the Arthur Russell tracks from that other esteemed early '80s punk / no wave / disco compilation Disco Not Disco.
Contributing selected remixes are Psychonauts, Funkstorung, and Syrup (people from Poets of Rhythm and Beanfield) etc, but they're forgettable for the most part (the Funkstorung is good); the original tracks are the prime attraction here.
RealAudio clip: SEXUAL HARRASSMENT "If I Gave You a Party"
RealAudio clip: KONK "Love Attack"

V/A Anti NY (Gomma) lp 15.98
Subtitled "Rare Music from the Early 80ies New York Underground", this is a really good collection of no wave / stark electro funk material from a variety of notable sources. There's an early Jim Jarmusch (the filmmaker) track, and one from Gray, the band formed by artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. The absolute high point is Sexual Harrassment's "If I Gave You a Party", which is from 1983 and is odd paleface electro, stripped down and sort of stiff in a funny way, like the Flying Lizards, and this song alone is worth the price of the disc! Speaking of Flying Lizards, that band's Vivien Goldman contributes a song here, produced by John Lydon and Keith Levene. And Konk's "Love Attack" is prime post-punk disco with a heavy Latin rhythmic vibe; its quality reminds me of the Arthur Russell tracks from that other esteemed early '80s punk / no wave / disco compilation Disco Not Disco.
Contributing selected remixes are Psychonauts, Funkstorung, and Syrup (people from Poets of Rhythm and Beanfield) etc, but they're forgettable for the most part (the Funkstorung is good); the original tracks are the prime attraction here.

V/A Celebrities At Their Worst Vol.3 (Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God) 2cd-r 14.98
Long awaited volume 3 of the best bloopers comps we've ever come across. This is again a double disc set (actually, cd-rs this time, for some reason). While there aren't as many high points as on the first and second volumes, this is still gonna make you laugh. Highlights include Kurt Cobain (the infamous, disturbing message the doped-up Kurt left on writer Lynn Hirshberg's machine), Roseanne singing her infamous rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, GG Allin, Ozzy talking about eating pussy (yeah, Ozzy at his worst, what a concept!), the entirety of one of Madonna's Letterman appearances (she says FUCK a lot, gasp!), GW Bush, the Rolling Stones, Howard Cosell, X-Files outtakes, etc.
RealAudio clip: "Roseanne"
RealAudio clip: "Clovers"

V/A Fluxus 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 "sound events") of the Fluxus art movement. Contributors include: Nam June Paik, Yoko Ono, Joseph Beuys, John Cage, La Monte Young, Philip Corner, and many others. Edited by Maurizio Nannucci. We're not sure what the continued availablity of this collection is in this format or any other, so unless you're hoping they'll get to wax cylinders you should pick this up sooner rather than later.

V/A Fuzz, Flaykes, & Shakes Vol. 2 (Dionysus) cd 11.98
Those sweethearts from Dionysus/ Bacchus Archives (who brought us the awesome Hava Narghila Compilation) released this great series of early to mid 60's American garage, a while ago, but we only recently discovered them. Great sound quality, and a collection of obscure songs. Not a greatest hits garage comp that sounds like an hour on an oldies station, but some super hard to find gems with an emphasis on psychedelically tinged garage. Volume two has teenage garage craziness from Dave Travis Extreme, John English & Lemondrops, Zorba & The Greeks, The Sunrisers, Soul Inc. The Amoeba, The Last Chapter, The Deepest Blue, The Backgrounds, The Graven Image, The Hackers, The Tracers, The Other Four, The Denims, Flowers, Fruits & Pretty Things, The Druids, The Search plus a lost song by The Traces of Time.
RealAudio clip: JOHN ENGLISH & LEMONDROPS "Just Dont Complain"
RealAudio clip: TRACES OF TIME "Oh Bob"

V/A Fuzz, Flaykes, & Shakes Vol. 4 (Dionysus) cd 11.98
Those sweethearts from Dionysus/ Bacchus Archives (who brought us the awesome Hava Narghila Compilation) released this great series of early to mid 60's American garage, a while ago, but we only recently discovered them. Great sound quality, and a collection of obscure songs. Not a greatest hits garage comp that sounds like an hour on an oldies station, but some super hard to find gems with an emphasis on psychedelically tinged garage. Volume four includes The Rock Shop's "Is That Your Halo," a previously unreleased Canterbury Fair track, Apperson Jackrabbit, The Menaces, and more.
RealAudio clip: TROJANS OF EVOL "Why Girl"
RealAudio clip: PRIMATES "She"

V/A Fuzz, Flaykes, & Shakes Vol 5 (Dionysus) cd 11.98
Those sweethearts from Dionysus/ Bacchus Archives (who brought us the awesome Hava Narghila Compilation) released this great series of early to mid 60's American garage, a while ago, but we only recently discovered them. Great sound quality, and a collection of obscure songs. Not a greatest hits garage comp that sounds like an hour on an oldies station, but some super hard to find gems with an emphasis on psychedelically tinged garage. Volume Five has The Bram Rigg Sets, The Seven Dwarfs, Glass Candle, The Bittersweets and many more.
RealAudio clip: THE NOBLEMEN "She Still Thinks I Love Her"
RealAudio clip: CREATURES "Letters Of Love"

V/A Havana Cuba, ca. 1957: Rhythms Ands Songs For The Orishas (Smithsonian Folkways) cd 15.98
I gave up on trying to come up with a more succinct description of these two new cds from Smithsonian Folkways of Cuban music when I discovered they have encapsulated the collections better than I ever could: "Recorded in Havana in 1957, the ritual rhythms and songs collected by Lydia Cabrera and Josefina Tarafa feature the batá drums, used by practitioners of Santería to salute and summon the gods (orishas). The disc includes a complete cycle of batá salutes to the orishas, called the orú de igbodú, as well as rhythms played during ceremonies to mark the presence of an orisha. With origins in Yoruba religion in West Africa, this disc serves as a hub of Afro-Atlantic music, with ties to related religions in New York, Miami, the Caribbean, and Brazil." As usual with S/F, you get almost as much written information as you do audio. A detailed 24 page booklet of liner notes and track annotations is a valuble accompaniment to this issue.
RealAudio clip: "Obatala / Odudua"
RealAudio clip: "Ibarabo Ago Mo Juba"

V/A Hey Punk...Get Riddim! (Victory World) cd 15.98
There's always been some sort of bond between punk rock and reggae: The Clash, Bad Brains, Fugazi, At The Drive In...whether it be in sound or simply in spirit. So Victory (home to some of the most essential NY hardcore of the past 10 years) has put their money where there mouth is by putting out this here compilation of dancehall/reggae/dub specifically as a primer for you young punks, who have yet to discover the joys of Sizzla, Tenor Saw, Sugar Minott, Lee Scatch Perry, Black Uhuru, Yellowman, Beenie Man and the like. Definitely not for those of you who are already immersed in the Trojan sound and the 100%-500% Dynamite collections, but not a bad place to start for the newbies.

V/A King Tubby Meets The Reggae Masters (Jet Star) cd 16.98
Though the first word to come to ones head when mentioning the name King Tubby is "dub", you won't find a single track of it here. "King Tubby Meets the Reggae Masters" is a collection of tracks unearthed from his archives after King Tubby passed away in 1989. Half of the tracks on the album were produced by King Tubby and the rest were produced by such luminaries as Striker Lee and Blackbeard who, after laying down the tracks at studios such as Randy's, Channel One and elsewhere, would mix them at King Tubby's -- hence their being reposited in his archives. Rare tracks by Bob Marley & the Wailers (pre-Island Records), Black Uhuru, Barrington Levy, Dennis Brown, Horace Andy, Linval Thompson, Freddie McKay and more.
RealAudio clip: THOMPSON, LINVAL "Feed the Children"
RealAudio clip: MARLEY, BOB & THE WAILERS "Mr Chatter Box"

V/A Matanzas Cuba, ca. 1957: Afro-Cuban Sacred Music From The Countryside (Smithsonian Folkways) cd 15.98
Second in a pair of new releases of early Cuban music on Smithsonian Folkways. They provide their own very good description here: "Recorded in Matanzas in 1957, these ritual rhythms provide a direct link to the music of 19th-century colonial Cuba, and provide a window into the religious life of the first generations of Africans who worked the sugar mills. Collected by Lydia Cabrera and Josefina Tarafa, these recordings preserve extremely rare bembé lukumi ritual drumming used by practitioners of Santería to summon the gods or salute Cuba's African nations. It is remarkably different from the urban style heard today in Havana, although some of the same songs were sung in both city and countryside. With origins in Yoruba religion in West Africa, this music reveals the roots of today's Afro-Cuban ceremonial practices." As usual with S/F, you get almost as much written information as you do audio. A detailed 28 page booklet of liner notes and track annotations is a valuble accompaniment to this issue.
RealAudio clip: "Toque Oyo"
RealAudio clip: "Babaluaiye"

V/A Night Owls 01 (Deluxe) cd 13.98
While this is certainly a pleasant compilation from the dependable electronica label Deluxe, the wide range of artists represented unfortunately turn in uniformly similar pieces. Not to generalize too much, but most all of the tracks sit somewhere between Boards of Canada-style melancholy chord progressions and Mego-worthy precise clicks, glitches and pops. Very nice, listenable, and enjoyable, but if everyone's doing it, is it that *remarkable*? I know the point of it is that the comp has a theme (night owls, night music, relaxing stuff), but if you hadn't told me it was a collection of various artists, I woulda thought it was just one artist, and somehow that realization is a bit of a bummer. With Chessie, Esa, Ruoho, Parts:Places (Mike Martinez of Electric Birds and Jon Santos), Llips, etc.
RealAudio clip: ASPIC "Mr. Ouik"

V/A Output 64: Delete All Data - Input 64 Remixed 2/X (Enduro) 12" 9.98
Second vinyl accompaniment to the Output 64 remix compilation cd. Features tracks found on said disc by Raumagent Alpha (an extended version) and Computerjockeys as well as two unreleased cuts by The Bikini Machine and Cut Out (an excellent version of the brilliant "Arkanoid").

V/A There Is No Eye: Music For Photographs (Smithsonian Folkways) cd 14.98
Reason #954,765,841 to compile a compilation: A photo was taken of the musician by a fellow musician. Okay, granted there's more to this than meets the eye, but when an album is sub-subtitled "Recordings Of Musicians Photographed By John Cohen", you have to think, "What next?!" The story goes that Mr. Cohen (filmmaker, photographer and member of the New Lost City Ramblers) had a book of the photographs in question published at the same time as the release of this cd. And what an amazing array of musicians he had as photographic subjects! Alice Gerard, Hazel Dickens, Woody Guthrie, Alan Lomax, Reverend Gary Davis, Muddy Waters, Bob Dylan, Bill Monroe, Elizabeth Cotten, Doc Watson to name a few, and that's barely making a dent in the list of rootsy Americana artists included on this collection. I suppose to fully appreciate John Cohen's endeavours, the companion book should be kept close at hand while you listen to the cd, and you'd think they would've thought "Hey, let's sell them together!" but alas that is not the case. So, please note we are only able to offer you the aural version. Nonetheless, a fine fine collection of old country, blues and folk.
RealAudio clip: YVONNE HUNTER "Have You Ever Been Mistreated"
RealAudio clip: RUFUS COHEN / WADE PATTERSON "So Long: Go"
RealAudio clip: NEW LOST CITY RAMBLERS "Buck Creek Girls"

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COPPER PRESS "issue #8" magazine 4.00
AQ faves Mates of State and how in love they are, The Shins, Hey Mercedes, Victory at Sea, Doug Martsch of Built to Spill, the American Analog Set, a Burton snowboard roundtable, SF's own Jim Yoshii Pile-Up, artist Jason Krause, Jimmy Eat World, lots of photos and snowboarding info.

NOTTA LOTTA LOVE (Evil Twin Publications) zine 4.50
Notta Lotta Love is the title of the fourth My Evil Twin Sister publication, Evil Twin being the joint project of identical twins Amber Gayle (writing) and Stacy Wakefield (design / bookmaking). Notta Lotta Love is my favorite of the series (I'm Windy). Due to Amber's unpretentious, down-to-earth writing style, it reads like a novel even thought it's just 44 pages and is simply a series of remembrances, told in chronological order, of Amber's lovers. She observes hippies, flirts with fellow Green Tortoise passengers, dates a German who wears designer underwear, falls in love with naturalists and raw foodies... Something about the way Amber writes, her sweet, genuine, brutally honest tone, makes me love this. While I can't speak for the guys on our list, I suspect some of you ladies may really find a lot to identify with here. Lovely.

THE WIRE issue #214 magazine 7.50
Mercury Rev on the cover, also features Madlib the rapper, Alog, Hong Kong scene report, Kirk DeGiorgio on the Invisible Jukebox, Cornelius Cardew of AMM, a primer on Islamic music,


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ANDREW W.K. "I Get Wet" cd (Euro import) 27.00
AIRPLANES ARE BETTER "Power" (ReSTART) cd ep 5.98
ANTI-POP CONSORTIUM "Shopping Carts Crashing" (Antipop Recordings) cd 25.00
CAGE, JOHN "Credo In Us" (Wergo) cd 19.98
CASIOTONE FOR THE PAINFULLY ALONE "Pocket Symphonies For Lonesome Subway Cars" (Tomlab) cd/lp 15.98/13.98
CHERRY, DON / KRZYSZTOF PENDERECKI "Actions" (Intuition) cd 14.98
CLIFFORD THORNTON NEW ART ENSEMBLE "Freedom & Unity" (Atavistic / Unheard Music) cd 14.98
ELECTRIC COMPANY "Greatest Hits" (Tigerbeat6) cd 14.98
FALL "Are You Missing" (Cog Sinister) cd 21.00
FOUR TET "Paws Remixes" (Domino) cd ep 6.98
FREEFORM "Audiotourism: Original Music Vietnam And China" (Quatermass) cd 15.98
IKEDA, RYOJI "Time / Space" (Staalplaat) 12" 12.98
KARMA TO BURN "Almost Heathen" (Spitfire) cd 16.98
KEMIALLISET YSTAVAT "Suurempi Pieni Palatsi" (Alice In Wonder) cd 16.98
KONK PACK "Warp Out" (Grob) cd 16.98
LOCUST "Wrong" (Touch) 2cd 21.98
MAHARAHJ "Repetition" (Now or Never) cd 12.98
MCPHEE, JOE "Underground Railroad / Live At Holy Cross Monastery" (Atavistic / Unheard Music Series) 2cd 17.98
MIRRORS "Hands In My Pockets" (Overground) cd 15.98
MIRZA "Last Clouds" (Ba Da Bing) cd 13.98
MOUSE ON MARS "Agit Itter It It" (Sonig) 12" 11.98
MR CHEEKS "John P. Kelly" (Universal) cd 17.98
NAFTULE'S DREAM "Job" (Tzadik) cd 15.98
NAGISA NI TE "Songs For A Simple Moment" (Geographic) cd 17.98
PAN SONIC + BARRY ADAMSON + HAFLER TRIO "Motorlab #3" (Kitchen Motors) cd 15.98
PATCHA KUTEK "Lomito Saltado" (Beta Bodega) cd 12.98
PHOENECIA "Odd Job Discrimination" (Schematic) cd 12.98
PLACE OF SKULLS (Southern Lord) 7" 4.98
PULP "We Love Life" (Universal Island, Australia) cd 21.00
RILEY, TERRY / PIERRE MARIETAN "Keyboard Study 2 / Initiative" (Get Back) lp 16.98
SHARROCK, SONNY "Monkey-Pockie-Boo" (Get Back) lp 16.98
TONO-BUNGAY "Kluge" (Twisted Village) lp 9.98
V/A "Anthology 2: Come Org Archives (81-82)" (Susan Lawly) cd 16.98
V/A "Building With Bricks 1996 > 2001: Mixed By Beyonder" (Brick) cd 11.98
V/A "Love Peace & Poetry: British Psychedelic Music" (Norma/QDK) cd/lp 14.98/16.98
V/A "Love Peace & Poetry: Japanese Psychedelic Music" (Norma/QDK) cd/lp 14.98/16.98
VON SCHIRACH, OTTO "Escalo Frio" (Schematic) cd/2lp 14.98/14.98


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WOLF EYES COMING TO BAY AREA


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 electronics to skate rock covers, always entertaining, never disappointing. "Dread", the appropriately titled second full length from the trio (which boasts members of the aforementioned Nautical Almanac and Universal Indians as well as the legendary Galen), is a slow motion hyperemian snowball, destined for pure annihilation.

Wed. 12/12 @ Covered Wagon Saloon
w/ Omnivorous Scecilium, Thomas Day & Matt Ingals, Burmese, DJ Duce

Thurs. 12/13 @ Salsa Club (this might be Galia, next to Doc's Clock, but we aren't sure)
w/ Lo-fi Niesans, Chiara

Fri. 12/14 @ Stork Club (Oakland)
w/ Crack, Strategy, Numbers, Randall Jones


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BENEFIT : REVOLUTIONARY ASSOCIATION OF THE WOMEN OF AFGHANISTAN


Aquarius is proud to spread the word about this event (and maybe you'll win our gift cert in the raffle!) For more information contact ASAP (Acting in Solidarity with Afghan People) http://www.asap-net.org or 415 273-4681. RAWA website: http://www.rawa.org.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 16TH -- 8:00 P.M.
EL RIO -- 3158 MISSION ST.
$6-60 SLIDING SCALE

----> ERASE ERRATA:
"Their songs are propelled forward on choppy waves of jerky rhythms and guitar lines that wrap their way around your brain like a copper wire. The vocals weave in and out, from calamity to croon, all anchored by sharp-edged, tin can beats." level plane "This excellent Bay Area band had folks lined up around the block at Brownies' last week. They have a penchant for skronked-up, wiry new/no wave stylings. True fiery art-punk spirit when indie rock needs it most!" WFMU

----> 20 MINUTE LOOP:
"20 Minute Loop plays jagged and crunchy pop with an irresistible capriciousness. Think of them as the crash that might result from X, Pavement and Devo all running red lights at the same intersection in front of the methadone clinic. Or simply delight in these mercurial, shimmering and lyrically sharp songs." - Riffage.com

----> MARK GROWDEN:
"Growden's Music is a calliope of tangos, marches, pedal steel blues, and eloquent acoustic ballads. In his hands, parade scores unravel to become inebriated waltzes. Ballads are stretched thin and poked with forks. Melodies dance like wicked children...He's adept at knocking traditional notions of music slightly off- kilter, to better fit our ears." - John Paczkoski - S.F. Bay Guardian

----> GOLD DUST TWINS:
Gold Dust Twins in their premiere performance. Beth Lisick on voice (author of This Too Can Be Yours and Monkey Girl available on Manic D press), Andrew Borger on drums, George Cremaschi on double bass and Eli Crews on guitar. These folks hail from such bands as the Beth Lisick Ordeal, the Roofies, and the Tom Waits band. -Band Bio


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SELECTED UPCOMING RELEASES (slow 'cause of the holidays you see)


----> any second now
Enslaved "Monumension" cd/lp on Osmose
Impaled Nazerene "Absence of War Does Not Mean Peace" cd on Osmose
Anorexia Nervosa "New Obscurantis Order" cd on Osmose
Juan De La Cruz "Up In Arms" cd reissue on Shadoks Music
Shiver "s/t" cd reissue on Shadoks Music

----> December 4th
De La Soul "AOI: Bionics -- Better, Faster, Stronger" cd/lp on Tommy Boy
Cypress Hill "Stoned Raiders" cd

----> December 11th
Lamb "What Sound" cd
Pentagram "Sub-Basement" cd on Southern Lord
Blind Guardian "And There Was Silence" cdep on Century Media

----> also in December
Fushitsusha "Origin's Hesitation" cd on PSF
Magma "30th Anniversary" live concert DVD on Seventh Records

----> January 8th
Cylob "Cut The Midrange Drop The Bass" cdep/12" on Rephlex
Cylob "Mood Bells" cd on Rephlex

----> January 15th
Bolt Thrower "Honour-Valour-Pride" cd on Metal Blade

----> January 22nd
SunnO))) "Flight of the Behemoth" cd on Southern Lord (w/ special guest Merzbow!)
Bad Religion "The Process of Belief" cd on Epitaph
Susie Ibarra "Songbird Suite" cd on Tzadik
John Zorn "Cobra" cd on Tzadik
Gordon Mumma "Live-Electronic Music" cd on Tzadik
Tomas Koner "Daikan"
Cave In "Lost In The Air/Lift Off" 7" on Hydra Head
Burnt By The Sun "Soundtrack To The Personal Revolution" cd on Relapse
v/a "Czech Assault" cd on Relapse
Mr. Lif "Live From The Middle East" cd

----> future (like, next year)
The Mountain Goats "All Hail West Texas" cd/lp on Emperor Jones
v/a "Painted Black" on tUMULt
Circle "Taantalums" picture disc LP (and, eventually, cd w/bonus tracks) on tUMULt
Acid Mothers Temple "41st Century Splendid Man" picture disc LP on tUMULt
Solar Anus "Skull Alcoholic: The Complete Solar Anus" 2cd on tUMULt
Cradle of Filth "Heavy Left Handed and Candid" live DVD on Abracadaver
Silkworm "tba" cd/lp on Touch and Go
Dirty Three live dvd/cd on Touch and Go
Alastair Galbraith & Matt De Gennaro "North Island" cd on Emperor Jones
Thuja "Ghost Plants" on Emperor Jones
Windsor For The Derby "Ernest Powers" on Emperor Jones
Sonic Youth + Friends "In The Fishtank" cdep/12"
The Music Tapes "Music Tapes For Clouds And Tornados" cd/lp on Merge
Spaceheads "tba" cd on Merge
Place of Skulls "Nailed" cd on Southern Lord


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"The letter "W" was, is, and always will be the world of strength
and unity - the shape of 2 arms locked in unyeilding power.
Like a steel cabled bridge that remains sturdy even in the
strongest winds, but has the ability to snap, break, blind,
and crumble into the black boiling ice cold sea waters - at will."
--Andrew WK on the W in his name. andrewwk.com


Love,
Windy Cup Jim Andee Byram Sadie Allan and Jeff!