Aquarius Records
New Arrivals #142
26 July 2002

EHLERS, EKKEHARD Plays (Staubgold) cd 14.98
You suckers without turntables get yet another temporary reprieve, as Ekkehard Ehlers' five lovely mini-albums, previously released only on vinyl, are here compiled onto one handy cd. And lovely is most certainly an understatement. This is some of the most gorgeous, sublime and moving electronic/glitch/sample based music we have ever heard. Sounds are completely recontextualised into cloudy, indistinct but somehow emotionally and sonically spot-on homages to some of Ehlers' influences. Falling somewhere between Stephen Mathieu and Oval, Ehlers adds remarkable depth and emotion to what is quite often a cold and clinical artform.
Tracks one and two are the "Plays Cornelius Cardew" lp and are lovely layered soundscapes as only Ehlers can conjure. Sampled sounds are seamlessly woven into dense, textural tone poems again highly reminiscent of Wolfgang Voigt's Gas. The second (track three and four) in the "Plays" series is a 'tribute' to the German beat poet Hubert Fichte. Where those previous tracks are dominated by ephemeral drone work with refined patinas of digital corrosion, this piece curiously sounds like Pole doing free jazz, with erratic squiggles of granular synthesized saxophone and really lazy strums from a guitar seeping up from an electronically sculpted metallic haze. Even those slowly developed basslines that Pole plops into his neo-dub show up in "Plays Hubert Fichte" although Ehlers disregards Pole's structuralism in favor of an amorphous improvisation of deep hovering movements. "Plays John Cassavetes" (tracks five and six) is part three in Ehler's series of 'tributes' and for these pieces he seamlessly weaves orchestral samples into beautiful landscapes of sonic reverberations. Very reminiscent of Wolfgang Voigt's work as Gas, or those brief, subtle moments of bliss found on My Bloody Valentine's "Loveless" record. Tracks seven and eight find Ehlers sampling fragments of Albert Ayler. However, as with most of these pieces, it is debatable as to how much Ayler is actually present on this recording, musically. Consisting entirely of digitally altered cello recordings, these two sidelong pieces gently swell, teeter and expand, forming beautiful, haunting drones that lie beneath digital snippets of arrhythmic ephemera. Somehow, Ehlers manages to restructure a mundane cello recording into a wonderfully reticular songpoem. The final two tracks are from the 'Plays Robert Johnson' 7" which we were never able to get enough of to list. Two short tracks: the first is an abstractly plucked, slow-motion, Reynols-on-cough-syrup style tarpit blues jam, while the final track is all throbbing four-on-the-floor Kompakt style minimal/heroin house.
Trust us, we plow through a lot of pretentious electronic crap that takes itself too seriously -- and while the conceit of the five Ehler tributes might suggest that he could fall into this trap -- he does not. Ehlers delivers, and you'll love this. We all do.
RealAudio clip: "Plays Cornelius Cardew"
RealAudio clip: "Plays Hubert Fichte"
RealAudio clip: "Plays John Cassavetes"
RealAudio clip: "Plays Albert Ayler"
RealAudio clip: "Plays Robert Johnson"

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FLAMING LIPS Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (Warner Bros.) cd 14.98
The Flaming Lips return with yet another gem and it's beginning to look as if they are only getting better with age. We used to think that about Tom Waits, Stereolab, and (some here think) Radiohead, but all those folks have released mediocre (perhaps bad?) records, whereas Flaming Lips' career-long consistency through 12 albums is pretty amazing. Certainly many of their indie rock, pre-Warner fans have long since abandoned their current efforts just as many who discovered them via their hit "She Don't Use Jelly" (or possibly more recently with "Waitin' For A Superman") probably don't find much to enjoy in their early drug addled, psychedleic bombast. But with such a continually evolving yet uncompromising sound, they're bound to alienate some. There's a striking resemblance on Yoshimi to the recent works of Radiohead, but then again there's definitely much that parallels the Lips' career with that of our faves from across the Atlantic. Like Radiohead, The Flaming Lips have chosen ever more increasing studio experimentation, combining electronic music elements with lush arrangements and cohesive album-oriented productions. But more significant perhaps is that Yoshimi, a semi-concept album, shares a similar paranoid and alienated angst that Radiohead has been honing these last several albums. But where as Radiohead takes a decidedly maudlin Orwellian-like approach in their song writing, the Flaming Lips work in an absurdist, comedic fashion more akin to Philip K. Dick. "One More Robot / Sympathy 3000-21" could have been cut straight out of a P.K.D. story: "Unit three thousand twenty one is warming / makes a humming sound -- when its circuits duplicate emotions -- and a sense of coldness detaches as it tries to comfort your sadness..." All this arranged about as close to a Sade song as Coyne and the Lips can conceivably get (which I also see as a friendly jab at the sterile audiophile machinations of modern "soul".) The humanization of machines vs. humanity stripped of love and hate is the theme that's mulled over throughout. Most of the songs on the album are in direct reference to a painful breakup (either real or concocted) and the fictional battle between Yoshimi and the Pink Robots is more of a parable for struggling in the aftermath of having one's heart dashed to pieces. The two themes are intertwined on the album, but loosely enough so that you aren't forced into a Pink Floyd Wall of a concept album. While not as completely rife with hits as The Soft Bulletin, there's a lot to be warmed up to with Yoshimi. At first listen it seemed as though the Lips and Mercury Rev-ifier Dave Fridman had produced nothing but 45 minutes of studio wizardry and ear candy, but continual listens finds these songs opening up like a veritable flower blossom. "In the Morning of the Magicians" with its recurring, heart rending instrumental bridge will even bring a tear to the most desiccated of eyes. And "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" (Part 1, *not* part 2) will have you singing along in your best cracked falsetto soon enough. I imagine the bean counters at AOL/Time Warner had a hard time listening to this more than once, if at all, as they neglected to print up enough copies in the first run and now we -- and stores everywhere I suppose -- are struggling to find a distributor with remaining copies on hand. And we're not sure of the significance or if the title and her appearance on this record are mere coincidences or -gasp- something more, but AQ fave/crushworthy drummer/vocalist Yoshimi of the mighty Boredoms is a musical guest!!
RealAudio clip: "In the Morning of the Magicians"
RealAudio clip: "One More Robot / Sympathy 3000-21"
RealAudio clip: "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots pt. 1"

KREIDLER Eve Future (Wonder) cd 10.98
I've always been a fan of Kreidler's unique sort of post-rock take on electronica -- it reminds me of Fridge's epic Eph album, which many of you reading also love. Well, let me tell you that Kreidler's new mini-album is so great, and so clearly surpasses their previously released work (which was stellar to begin with) that it just takes my breath away. As deeply dramatic and stately as an Ennio Morricone score, the music features gorgeously plucked strings articulating arpeggiated chords over and over in a sort of Reich-ian style of repetition. Glassy, pleasantly chiming melodies bring to mind krautrock of the serene Harmonia / La Dusseldorf variety, and especially the charming driving synth experiments of Cluster's Moebius and Roedelius. Maybe even some Eno. These seven instrumentals sound instantly classic and should appeal to a wide range of listeners -- it's that undeniably good. The cover art is also pretty -- no sleeve, just a mint green woman's torso silkscreened onto the jewel case. Highly recommended! Windy's new favorite record.
RealAudio clip: "La Casa"
RealAudio clip: "Circulus"
RealAudio clip: "Solaris"

VENETIAN SNARES Higgins Ultra Low Track Glue Funk Hits 1972-2006 (Planet Mu) cd 15.98
Aaron Funk steps back from his supercharged darkcore breakbeat noise mashups for a more accessible, yet still jacked up, ass moving and wicked as shit record. With drum programming much like mid-period Aphex Twin and faux fusion jazz breaks ala Squarepusher, "Higgins Ultra Low Track..." sounds as if it could've been on Warp back in 1996. Not a bad thing, though we suspect this record is just a break from the noisecore aesthetic that Funk is so good at. Here we see not-so-old-school rave styles clash with hyperspastic in-yr-face d'n'b attacks. Operatic vocals are mutated, timestretched, diced and recontextualized amidst rapid waves of snare rushes and pummelling beats. Extremely poppy and ultra catchy, this is far far away from the jackhammer assault of his collaboration with Speedranch, "Making Orange Things", but still retains that sinister edge inherent in all of Funk's work.
RealAudio clip: "Dance Like You're Selling Nails"
RealAudio clip: "Make Ronnie Rocket"

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BAROQUE BORDELLO First Trip (QBICO) lp 21.00
Baroque Bordello's "First Trip" is the third in Qbico's series of vinyl editions of Kawabata Makoto's super-limited R.E.P. cassettes from the '80s, and also included in the more recently released but equally limited 10 CD-R box set. Recorded in 1981, when Kawabata was a mere 15 years old and long before he formed Acid Mother's Temple, this album follows the same pattern as Kawabata's earliest ensemble The Dark Revolution Collective, with a constant amount of activity utilising various guitar / bell plinkings and single monochord bass repetitions. Pressed on translucent orange vinyl.

BOWIE, DAVID The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars 30th Anniversary Edition (EMI) 2cd 21.00
Geez what can be said about this record? So massively important and great, it served as the introduction to Ziggy Stardust - David Bowie's sexy androgynous futuristic alter ego. It also featured Rick Wakeman on keyboards and Mick Ronson on guitar and piano. This 30th anniversary celebration release is bound in a suitably beautiful book, with extensive liner notes including quotes from Ian McCulloch of Echo and the Bunnymen, Spandau Ballet's Gary Kemp, and Marc Riley of The Fall among others recalling their first run-ins with the otherworldly glittering glamrock theatrics of Stardust. The first cd is the original release digitally remastered and the second cd compiles various demos and alternate versions, etc. If you don't own a copy of this, seize this opportunity! And if you are a David Bowie completist then you should get this for all of the extra fanciness and beautiful pictures.
RealAudio clip: "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide"
RealAudio clip: "Lady Stardust"
RealAudio clip: "Five Years"
RealAudio clip: "John, Im Only Dancing"
RealAudio clip: "Velvet Goldmine"

BROOKHAVEN Everything That Rises Must Rise (Expel) cd 9.98
Guitars of the willowy twang and trippy spaced-out kind converge, as do bright programmed beats and acoustic percussion in this new instrumental group from San Francisco. Heavy waves of reverb-drenched post-rock chord progressions crash over slinkily plucked melodies. A soaring and at times quite hypnotic 25 minutes. Nice!
RealAudio clip: "The Lines Which Limit Him"
RealAudio clip: "There Were Never Any Others To Speak Of"

CABARET VOLTAIRE The Original Sound Of Sheffield '83/'87. Best of; (Virgin) cd 17.98
The Northern industrialized town of Sheffield, England was home not only to Cabaret Voltaire, but also to Warp Records, which is probably where the notion of a 'sound of Sheffield' came from. The period in question found the 'Cabs' on EMI, thus providing the band with much better access to equipment and good studios. They (Stephen Mallinder and Richard H. Kirk, as Chris Watson had departed to form The Hafler Trio with Andrew McKenzie) took the opportunity to further investigate the William S. Burroughs idea of the cut-up within a system of organized repitition. At the center of the Cabs' slice-n-dice funk, gritty beat-box repititions, and media samples was a urgency that club culture was a viable political atmosphere standing in opposition to mainstream control tactics. The sound that Cabaret Voltaire produced during this period was an incredibly influential one, inspiring Skinny Puppy, Nitzer Ebb, the early incarnations of Wax Trax / Ministry, and the ubiquitous presence of Adrian Sherwood's production work throughout the '80s. This influence ended up becoming a double-edged sword for the Cabs, as many of their innovations - the paranoid repititions of arpeggiating synths and their stuttering use of media samples (as in "Sensoria," with the constant declaration: "Do Right, D-D-Do Right") - have become incredibly tired, vapid signifiers of where Industrial Music was going to end up. There was of course a reason why so many artists had taken the ideas from this period of Cabaret Voltaire: it worked on the dance floor.
RealAudio clip: "Crackdown"
RealAudio clip: "Sensoria"

CAT, THE s/t (Time Stereo) cd 11.98
Frogs. Demonic and / or cult possessions. Caves. Numbers stations. EVP transmissions. VLF static. These have been the subject matters for AQ's favorites from the "Found Sound / Field Recordings" section. Without a doubt, 'The Cat' ranks as one of those great oddball records alongside the Sounds of North American Frogs or the Ghost Orchid or the Conet Project. This album is simply a 45 minute recording of a purring cat whose contented rumblings have been amplified through the careful placement of a contact microphone. The cat in question is named Urchin and resides at Stormy Records in Dearborn, Michigan. There, Windy Weber (of Windy & Carl fame) and Davin Brainard (who helps run Time Stereo) recorded this amazing document of deep-rumbling cat happiness.
Now you can enjoy all the comforting joy of a cat's warm purring without all those nasty hairballs. Allergic? No problem. This cd is hypo-allergenic. No litterbox to clean (or to let get filthy). No fishy cat food to dish out. No unsightly scratching post that the cat will ignore while it shreds your new sofa. What you get instead with The Cat is a marvelous recording of a cat enraptured in drooling bliss. As these recording attest to, Urchin seems to spend a lot of time splashing in water, which isn't normal cat behavior at all. Or at least that's what it sounds like. Maybe he's lapping up milk, or cleaning itself with A LOT of saliva. Anyway, this is a nice disc for you fans of drones and field recordings, who don't have cats of your own to amplify.
And we figured we'd end this review with a couple of timely haiku courtesy of our pal Harvey Sid Fisher:

We're almost equals
I purr to show I love you
Want to smell my butt?

You must scratch me there!
Yes, above my tail!
Behold, elevator butt.
RealAudio clip: "Track 1"
RealAudio clip: "Track 2"

CROOKED The Original Score (WordSound) cd 14.98
Recently profiled in The Wire, Skiz "Spectre" Fernando and his WordSound label have released quite a few "illbient" hip hop records that we've been into here at Aquarius. This compilation highlights several of our faves from the WordSound crew: Scotty Hard, Spectre, Prince Charming, and of course rapper Sensational, among others. It's the soundtrack to Skiz's low-budget, 'student' WordSound film Crooked, which was previously available as a double with the DVD of said film. This is the better deal though, as it's 4 bucks cheaper AND you won't end up watching the decidedly tedious movie. Great soundtrack, though. This version, by the way, has 2 extra tracks but is also about eight minutes shorter, for some reason...OH WAIT, I figured it out: this disc is ENTIRELY DIFFERENT! So, forget what we said about this being a better deal, it's in fact a different deal. That was the "soundtrack", this is the "original score". Hmm. It seems that these are the tracks that were made expressly for the film, but weren't included on the soundtrack cd that came with the dvd. Unlike that disc, there's no previously available stuff on here (which was the case with several of the Sensational cuts on that one). So you gotta get both, WordSound hedz. This one's all about incidental mostly instrumental music from a dark, dubby, hiphop perspective, which is what a lot of WordSound stuff sounds like, even when it's not meant for an actual film. Artists, aside from the above mentioned, included Mentol Nomad, the dreaded Bill Laswell, Mr. Dead, and live drum n' bassers UV Ray.
RealAudio clip: SENSATIONAL "How 'Bout Some Credit"
RealAudio clip: SPECTRE "Father & Son"
RealAudio clip: MR. DEAD "Third Degree Burn"

DUKE, ANDREW Sprung (Bip-Hop) cd 15.98
The French electronica label Bip-Hop should at least be commended for taking the risk of releasing so many albums from relatively unknown artists. Tennis, Bovine Life, and now Andrew Duke are a few of their curatorial selections of experimental techno and have all been interesting counterpoints to high-prolife labels like Mille Plateaux, Scape, and Raster. Andrew Duke is a Canadian artist working mostly with bricolages of static rhythmic structures and fluctuating darkened ambience that's not too far from the aquatic electro sounds of Drexciya and also displays plenty of influence from Coil, Pan Sonic, and Thomas Jirku.
RealAudio clip: "Hell Yeah!"
RealAudio clip: "Chromosome 20"

EXCLIPSECT Point Of Focus (Unit) cd 10.98
Thick, oppressive electronic thud and glitch that doesn't let up for 76 minutes. Abrasive, metallic, repetitive and bass heavy, like a meeting between Digital Hardcore's Panacea and Schematic Records' IDM duo Phoenecia. There's a lot of this kind of music around these days. Some of it is being executed extraordinarily well (example: the aforementioned Phoenecia), some of it much less so. Exclipsect does excel in molding and sculpting his textures and beats, but there's not really much to distinguish it from the rest. If this cd had come out a few years ago, it might be a different story. That's not the case however, so... another way to look at it would be: if you're looking to simply expand the heavier end of your IDM library, this surely won't let you down.
RealAudio clip: "Spirit Vs. Ghost"
RealAudio clip: "Armor Plume"

FENNESZ, O'ROURKE, REHBERG Return of Fenn O' Berg (Mego) cd 15.98
The second production from the Fenn O' Berg laptop trio of Christian Fennesz, Jim O'Rourke, and Peter "Pita" Rehberg adds just a bit more structure to the previous collaboration, but falls in line with the increasing number of Max / MSP improvisations that have been coming out as of late. The general feel for the album retains some of the digitally deconstructed dreaminess found on some of the Stephan Mathieu and Ekkehard Ehlers recordings, but with the additional collaged pitter patter of digital squiggles and clicks. Where Fenn O'Berg succeeds is in their sporadic use of fuzzy rhythms, post-acid melodies, and antiquated samples from carnival music and melodramatic film scores. All of these, of course, get the pixel treatment.
RealAudio clip: "Floating My Boat"
RealAudio clip: "A Viennese Tragedy"

FLYING BURRITO BROTHERS Sin City: The Very Best Of... (A&M) cd 17.98
The Flying Burrito Bros were formed in 1969 by Gram Parsons, dearly departed father of country rock whose legend is still growing ever larger as his influence continues to be felt. I could go on and on and on about what a genius Parsons was, but then this description would be pages long, and anyway Ben Fong-Torres already wrote a book about 'im (Hickory Wind: The Life and Times of Gram Parsons, highly recommended).
After leaving The Byrds, with whom he recorded just a single perfect album, Sweetheart of the Rodeo, Parsons formed the Burritos with ex-Byrd Chris Hillman and other compatriots. Though the Burritos have released many records since their inception, the only ones that Gram appears on are the first two, both of which appear here in their entirety (the "Train Song" single is also included here, making Sin City more complete than the other best-of comp, Farther Along). While the second Burritos album was in progress, Parsons starting hanging with Keith Richards and Mick Jagger, who let him record the stunning version of "Wild Horses" found here. He drifted away from the band (or was asked to leave). In 1971 and '72 he released the two flawless solo albums, GP and Grievous Angel, that sealed his reputation as legend. By 1973 he was dead.
The two Burrito Brothers albums, then, are essential to any Parsons fan's collection, as well as fans of country rock, and "No Depression"-style alt.country in general. The combination of catchy melodies, rollicking good humor, joyous twang, and solid rock backbone make these records essential listening. Get this now!
RealAudio clip: "Sin City"
RealAudio clip: "Christine's Tune"
RealAudio clip: "Wild Horses"

HAMPTON GREASE BAND Music To Eat (Legacy) 2cd 14.98
It's going to be hard to do this one justice... We just got a few copies in of this actually out-of-print double cd. Cheap, too! The Hampton Grease Band released this, their debut and only album, in 1971, to almost universal disinterest and, even, active dislike. It was, famously, the second worst selling album in Columbia history. It might not have helped that Columbia's marketers, doubtless confused by the dadaistic hippy rock weirdness of the Hampton Grease Band, pitched it to stores as a comedy album. It certainly is funny -- funny ha ha and otherwise -- but it's as an avant-garde rock record that we recommend it. Imagine Zappa, Beefheart and a southern rock band all rolled into one absurd, palpitating, guitar-totin' ball. The end result: gorgeous, dissonant, textural guitar-based instrumentals that wouldn't sound out of place on the best Polvo record you've heard, plus the raving loony vocal 'stylings' of one Bruce Hampton (who has kept up his antics as the leader of Col. Hampton's Aquarium Rescue Unit, which we definitely aren't recommending). He's untrained and maniacal and his screechy voice makes this sound at times like Sam Kinison fronting the Allman Brothers. An acquired taste, perhaps, we'll warn you -- it even took a few listens for Allan (the biggest, and maybe only, Hampton Grease Band fan here) to get into this originally. And he doesn't like Zappa, either. But annoyance soon gave way to enjoyment. There's definitely some stoopid stuff on here, but then there's the several extended (around 20 minutes long, three of 'em are) compositions/improvs in complex, interlocking time signatures and whatnot. Not normal rock, not jazz, certainly not jazzrock. Instrumentally, amazing. Lyrically, certainly odd -- Hampton often sang "found lyrics" from whatever text was at hand, like an encyclopedia entry about Halifax or the back of a can of spray paint. As it says in the cd booklet liner notes, the HGB were "an intensely musical group with an intensely non-musical singer".
Speaking of the liner notes, they're hilarious, full of great stories, like about the time the HGB was playing live, and their drummer suddenly stood up and froze in place, holding that pose for over an hour as the band finished their set without drums and most people left the venue! Somehow these gonzo guys got to open for the likes of Beefheart & the Magic Band, the Allmans, Country Joe & the Fish, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Alice Cooper -- and then somehow got signed to a brief, illfated stint on Columbia Records that produced this album.
Humor in music is a difficult thing. When these guys tried to be funny, it wasn't, but they didn't have to try to be weird, and it was. Surely some of you out there will want or need this! Lots more won't and that's fine too. We only have three, presently.
RealAudio clip: "Halifax"

HANDSOME FAMILY Live At Schuba's Tavern (DCN) cd 16.98
As the title states this is a live recording of the old country and bluegrass-y couple known as the Handsome Family (aka Brett and Rennie Sparks). This intimate show took place in Chicago (their hometown since '89) shortly before they relocated to New Mexico, and as such it's steeped in heartfelt sentiment. Plenty of warm, down to earth banter filled with kooky tales comes mainly from the mouth of Mrs. Sparks, while Mr. Sparks' singing thunders deep and thick with reverb like a voice from beyond set over an earthy, twangful backdrop. Very haunting. Having written some of the most beautiful, somber ballads of the last decade - some of which have been performed by a few of their friends like Sally Timms - the Handsome Family can take you directly from a hilarious story about magic balls to the absolute depths of dramatic despair. Note: If you're altogether new to this duo you might want to start with one of their great earlier studio albums such as In The Air or Through The Trees before proceeding to this live one.
RealAudio clip: "My Sister's Tiny Hands"
RealAudio clip: "The Sad Milkman "
RealAudio clip: "I Know You Are There"

HIRSCHE NICHT AUFS SOFA Kuttel Im Frost (Dom) cd 16.98
"Kuttel Im Frost" -- the third album for the German avant-collage-rock ensemble Hirsche Nicht Aufs Sofa -- situates itself between with the idiosyncratic experiments of Nurse With Wound (admittedly HNAS' biggest influence) and the art-damaged strategies from Die Todliche Doris. Essentially HNAS was the duo of Achim P. Li Khan and Christoph Heemann working with a number of likeminded audio oddballs. As heard on their other records, this album features sprawlingly sparse improvisations for noddling guitars, piano, harmonica, bass rumble, and tons of oscillating, spiralling, and otherwise lysergic studio effects, recalling the early Nurse With Wound album "Chance Meeting On A Dissecting Table Of A Sewing Machine And An Umbrella." Yet scattered throughout this album, HNAS places seasick ditties that point to their "Im Schatten Der Mohre" record, as Heemann and Khan set up off-kilter loops (or possibly misaligned vinyl spinning on a turntable) and then awkwardly attempt to play around those loops with standard rock instrumenation. Quite odd indeed.

RealAudio clip: "Widerlicher Mitttelpunkt Der Abendgesellschaft"
RealAudio clip: "Mutter, Von Kunst Versteh' Ich Einen Dreck"
RealAudio clip: "Man Warf 2 Stunden Mobel Aus Dem Fenster"

HIRSCHE NICHT AUFS SOFA Melchior (Dom) cd 16.98
HNAS's fourth album "Im Schatten Der Mohre" has often been cited as the best work from these '80s German eccentrics, following a longstanding opinion from HNAS's Christoph Heemann supporting such a statement. Yet a reissue campaign of four other HNAS recordings (dubiously released by Heemann's estranged HNAS collaborator Achim P. Li Khan) may challenge Heemann's claims. "Melchior" (in my opinion, the best of the HNAS recordings) was the 2nd official album for Hirsche Nicht Aufs Sofa (translated as Moose Without A Sofa), originally released back in 1986 through Steven Stapleton's United Dairies. The presence of Stapleton and his wife Diana Rogerson (aka Chrystal Belle Scrodd) certainly slants "Melchior" into the paratactic Dada and post-Faust idiosyncrasy of mid-'80s Nurse With Wound (especially "Sylvie and Babs"). Just as NWW has always been the studio-driven vehicle for Stapleton's absurd audio experiments, HNAS -- in 1986 the duo of P. Li Khan and Heemann -- used the studio as an alchemical means to recontextualize Krautrock's experimentalism, cheeseball disco, Teutonic chants, and Eastern European prog rock into an aesthetic collision, that always teetered between working brilliantly and collapsing into a mess of delay ridden effects. When Stapleton's freak-out guitar and Rogerson's eeriely disembodied / disaffected voice appear (which I've always been partial to), HNAS gets noticeably better in their monochord guitar blurts, plodding percussion, bleeding 23 Skidoo horns, and unnerving atmospherres. That said, I'll admit my bias in favor of NWW over HNAS. Regardless, "Melchior" should be required 'out-there' listening!
RealAudio clip: "Im Sommer Gibt's Nix Zu Essen"
RealAudio clip: "Mastvieh Ohne Socken"
RealAudio clip: "Tonnenschwer Im Abendkleid"
RealAudio clip: "Speck Des Jahres"

HIRSCHE NICHT AUFS SOFA The Book Of Dingenskirchen (Dom) cd 16.98
Possibly the rarest of all of the HNAS recordings to be re-issued by Achim P. Li Khan's Dom Recordings (much to the disapproval of fellow HNAS collaborator Christoph Heemann), "The Book Of Dingenskirchen" was originally pressed in an edition of a whopping 90 copies (20 black, 70 clear). It's unclear what the vinyl featured in terms of artwork, but Khan has 'restored' the original artwork for this CD reissue, since that tiny vinyl pressing couldn't justify the high costs of a full-color sleeve. It has to be stated that I've always felt HNAS has never risen above their desire to be the German equivalent of Nurse With Wound. This should only be taken as a minor criticism, as NWW is admittedly a synthesis of uncompromisingly vangarde artists as Pierre Henry, Robert Ashley, Sun Ra, and everybody else from the "Nurse With Wound list." Yet HNAS is less about the Dadaist recombinations of previous ideas into newly authored sounds, and more about recreating the idiosyncratic elements that run through Stapleton's recordings. "The Book Of Dingenskirchen" follows many of the ideas that Stapleton put forward on the first NWW record, "Chance Meeting On A Dissecting Table Of A Sewing Machine And An Umbrella" with indifferent guitar noodlings and piano tinklings amidst a variable density of collaged splatter for filtered voices, crashing metallic objects, and loads of studio effects. As with all of these reissues, "The Book of Dingenskirchen" fills up the full 70+ CD with bonus tracks, out-takes, live cuts, etc.
RealAudio clip: "Ich Hatte Im Falschen Moment Die Schnauze Voll"
RealAudio clip: "Gurka"

HIRSCHE NICHT AUFS SOFA / MIESES GEGONGE Abwassermusik (Dom) cd 16.98
This is the CD reissue of the first HNAS album, "Abwassermusik" which was a collaboration with the equally obtuse Mieses Gegonge - a German outfit that produced a few compilation tracks and cassettes in the mid-'80s and not much else. Of all of recordings that have recently been re-released, "Abwassermusik" is the most primitive album for HNAS both in terms of production techniques and sound quality. Furthermore, it's the album that least sounds like Nurse With Wound - the most common comparison for the group. Here, HNAS and Mieses Gegonge bury almost every sound - low end drones, vocal mumblings, two note rock plod, Keith Rowe guitar plucks, indeterminant radio samples, violin squiggles, and various non-specific clatters - within a thick field of tape delay and echo effects. Sometimes it works quite well when both groups allow the sounds space to breathe amidst the cascading delay patterns; other times, it becomes a sloppy heap of cross-phasing, tremolo pulsations. As there are three bonus tracks on this disc attributed to Mieses Gegonge which prominently feature those delay tricks, it's possible to that Mieses Gegone is responsible for the folly of the delay.
RealAudio clip: HNAS / MIESE GEGONGE "Sumpfkuh"
RealAudio clip: HNAS / MIESE GEGONGE "Guenters Rache"
RealAudio clip: MIESE GEGONGE "Gem Himmel"

JESUS & MARY CHAIN 21 Singles: 1984 - 1998 (WB / Rhino) cd 16.98
All of the Reid Brothers' hits are here! Follow their musical travails from their beginnings in '84 to their break-up in '98. This collection more than clearly displays their influential knack for heartstring-pulling pop hooks delivered loud and edgy with squalls of guitar distortion and feedback -- from the early primitive endeavours to the later considerably slicker productions. Without question, the ear is drawn towards the early releases particularly their defining debut Psychocandy. Their more recent recordings showed a shift in tone and approach most notably when William Reid hooked up with Hope Sandoval. Much more barebones and lovey-dovey. A long-overdue thorough 'best of' compilation for those of us whose J+MC albums were listened and loved to a pulp long ago (or a comprehensive J+MC overview for those who missed 'em the first time around).
RealAudio clip: "Just Like Honey"
RealAudio clip: "Sidewalking"
RealAudio clip: "Sometimes Always"

JIRKU, TOMAS Entropy (intr-version) cd 14.98
"Entropy" is a minor stumble for Tomas Jirku, whose previous outings (especially the "Immaterial" album for Subtractif / Alien8) had been some of the better recordings of clean, minimal techno along side Vladislav Delay, Chain Reaction, and Pole. Yet this album never stands beyond the formula of subdued shuffling rhythms, delicate clickery, and those ubiquitous swelling synth pads which sound like a digital cross between a ring modulator and a rhodes organ. On the plus side, the packaging with its sewn booklet is quite nice.
RealAudio clip: "Endothermic"