SCOTT, RAYMOND ORCHESTRETTE Pushbutton Parfait (Evolver) cd 16.98
The Raymond Scott Orchestrette were so named in homage, obviously, to the Raymond Scott Quintette, who originally performed many of the pioneering composer / inventor's musical works. Most well known for his work with Carl Stalling scoring cartoons (listen to "Powerhouse" -- you'll recognize it instantly), Scott also invented various music making machines and early synthesizers, and even released three albums of music made especially to soothe babies! Now, with the help of Irwin Chusid, AQ friend, customer, and manager of the Scott musical estate, a band has been assembled. The Orchestrette are comprised of piano, violin, bass, accordion, drums, and Brian Dewan on zither / koto / etc. and not only offer choice versions of many of Scott's best loved pieces, they also do pieces Scott never took out of the studio. The version of the all-electronic "Little Miss Echo" as rendered by the all-acoustic Orchestrette is so lovely! I could listen to a whole album of these playful, serene acoustic versions of previously-electronic works.
RealAudio clip: "Little Miss Echo"
RealAudio clip: "Powerhouse"

STARS AS EYES Important Youth Movement / People Kill People (Tigerbeat6) 7" 4.98
A couple of very brief encounters with the electronic duo known as Stars As Eyes (aka Steve Ferrari and Craig Four). One is oh so dreamy and pretty, the other a little more dissonant and unsettling. If you liked their album Freedom Rock this certainly will not let you down. Very lush and atmospheric, it leaves you wishing it was a 12" instead of a 7".

SURFING USSR Surferdelic (Proper Music) cd 12.98
Nope, don't let the name fool you (as it did me)! Although they certainly are a surf band, this group is definitely not from the former Soviet Union. Surfing USSR are a trio from *surprise* New Zealand who play a disarming blend of surf and klezmer. Armed with the basics - guitar, bass and drums - they rally through 16 songs. Most are based on traditional klezmer tunes although you wouldn't guess it from the titles ("Underage Disco"? "Rock Out"?), but a few are... not. They also tackle the over-tackled "Secret Agent Man", as well as Fred Frith's "You Are What You Eat" and a warbly vibrato guitar-laden "007 Medley" that just might amuse Mr. John Barry. Overall? Kooky and slightly intoxicated fun.
RealAudio clip: "You Are What You Eat "
RealAudio clip: "Underage Disco"
RealAudio clip: "007 Medley"

TABLA BEAT SCIENCE Live In San Francisco At Stern Grove (Axiom) 2cd 19.98
A live recording from a local outdoor performance. Tabla Beat Science pretty much typifies world beat music; emphasis on the 'world', emphasis on the 'beat'. Zakir Hussain on tabla, Bill Laswell on bass, former Skratch Pikl DJ Disk wielding turntables, plus personnel supplying sarangi, synths, vocals, etc.
RealAudio clip: "Trajic"

TATSUYA, YOSHIDA Magaibutsu (Review Records) cd 13.98
Cool! A reissue of the long-out-of-print 1991 solo cd debut from Ruins drummer Tatsuya Yoshida, "Magaibutsu" (also the name of his own record label). Yoshida remixed it in 2001, and now there's six bonus tracks appended as well. And when Yoshida makes a solo album, it sure is: he's a one-man-band (literally, he can do most of this stuff live -- with headset microphone, drum kit, keyboard, and a guitar in his lap!) doing crazed compositions that are similar to Ruins fare but even more maniacal. Really. I (Allan) remember buying the original cd when it came out -- at the time I only had one Ruins cd, the magnificent "Stonehenge", and was eager to hear more from that (then) mysterious Japanese avant-rock bass and drums duo. I found "Magaibutsu" somewhere and bought it on the chance that it had something to do with the Ruins (nobody at the place where I bought it knew what it was, but the cover photo collage of, well, ruins, plus the cryptic song titles and Yoshida's at-the-time-unfamiliar-but-definitely-Japanese name made me think it might). When I got it home and put it on, the drums/keys/vocal onslaught of opening track "Joneoik" happily confirmed that it indeed had to be the work of the same crazed musical mastermind behind the Ruins. I was very pleased. And it remains probably one of the most weird and wonderful discs in my collection. Absolutely essential to all Ruins fans, if you don't have this already (or maybe even if you do, 'cause of the bonus tracks, which fit in well but maybe aren't essential in and of themselves), get this! Quirky and hectic songwriting a la Ruins, with of course Yoshida's incredible drumming and nonsensical vocal stylings. Despite the solo format, Yoshida uses a wider variety of instrumental textures than usually appear in Ruins songs -- there's quite a lot of his hockey-rink-sounding organ plinking out maddeningly repetitive and catchy riffs, plus astonishing multitracked vocals, scratchy guitar, and piano ivory tickling. So at points it's sparse and minimal, but at others super-dense and heavy. Magma was still a major influence (and Charles Hayward as well), along with what sounds like some faux-ethnic explorations in the vein of the Sun City Girls (especially notable on "Kasinuc"). Compared to Ruins, this is also more percussive and carnival-esque.
RealAudio clip: "Joneoik"
RealAudio clip: "Vonisch"
RealAudio clip: "Nessang"
RealAudio clip: "Ogatta"
RealAudio clip: "Ijocuff"

WALDAMSEL / FOREST BLACKBIRD s/t (Natural Sound / Wergo) cd 18.98
Most of you who are gonna want this already know you need this before I even describe it. All of you who bought the Conet Project, Sounds Of North American Frogs, recordings of ghosts, telephone wires, caves, burning fires, seals, whales, penguins, cracking knuckles....well here's one you can add to that collection. Field recordings of the Forest Blackbird, supposedly the most gifted songbird measured by our standards of melody, harmony and rhythm. And this recording is in fact quite beautiful, and not just because of the Blackbirds' song, but all the other surrounding sounds as well: the roaring of the sea, Tawny owls, a Robin, a Reed Bunting, a Grasshopper Warbler, rustling of leaves, a Willow Warbler, barking dogs, a Cuckoo, a Wren, a Raven, the engines of Diesel ships at sea, a Lesser Whitethroat, a Blue Tit, a Wood Pigeon and morning breezes. Really quite nice.
RealAudio clip: "One"
RealAudio clip: "Four"
RealAudio clip: "Five"

WAYCROSS Aren't We The Lucky Ones (Waycross) cd 10.98
A new album from this popular local combo who play a full, polished brand of shadowy twang. Delving into the darker side of country music a la Cowboy Junkies and Trailer Bride with layers of sliding, spidery reverbed guitar and gritty organs. The melancholic female lead vocals bring to mind the subdued yet powerful delivery of Hope Sandoval or Carly Simon. They're backed by higher, more angelic vocals. Their decision to include a tripped out cover of Blondie's "Heart Of Glass" seems very strange and out of place. The over the top warbly wah-wah guitars and plodding rhythms totally distracts from the brooding, languid Waycross atmosphere they've so carefully crafted. Instead, it comes across as an alienating, druggy blues rock rendition. Seems like they should've made it either a hidden final track or preferably just reserved it for the live setting in which it's surely a crowd pleaser. That said, if you can program your cd player to skip track 9, you'll have a cohesive, pleasing listen.

RealAudio clip: "B-Sides"
RealAudio clip: "Wicked"
RealAudio clip: "Heart Of Glass"

XENAKIS, IANNIS Persepolis + Remixes Edition 1 (Asphodel) 2cd 14.98
One of legendary 20th century new music composer Iannis Xenakis' most heralded works, "Persepolis" is here remixed by some of today's most adventurous musicians. Though the liner notes clumsily attempt some high brow hoo-ha internationalist theory about why the chosen remixers are appropriate for this project -- "Creative modernism is left with choosing between authoritarianism and religion. Hence, the inclusion of a second disc of remixes..." (hence? huh?) -- the obvious reason why these remixers appear is because, like Xenakis, they manipulate noise, musique concrete, and take experimental music to conceptual and sonic extremes. It makes aural sense; don't give me political wish-wash. Anyway, here's what we've written about Persepolis, which is on the first disc here:
Attention all you avantgarde electronic music fans! Important reissue alert! Iannis Xenakis' "Persepolis" was originally commissioned in 1971 as large-scale sound installation for the Shiraz-Persepolis Festival of the Arts in Iran. "Persepolis" -- Xenakis' longest electro-acoustic composition -- originally involved 8 channels of dense electro-acoustic material broadcast through the vast complex of the ruined Palaces of Persepolis along with a massive display of arclights, fireworks, and bonfires. Xenakis arranges slow tectonic rumbles and rough granular trebliness with extended passages of what could have been the bowed metal of Organum if Jackman et. al. were tumbling down a flight of stairs... "Persepolis" engages the visceral and the physical in a way that no other academic / musique concrete / electro-acoustic / minimalist piece has ever done before. It's frightening how powerful this piece of music is, even to one familiar with more recent massive electronic displays by MB, Merzbow, and Organum.
The remixers include: Ryoji Ikeda, Zbigniew Karkowski, Otomo Yoshihide, Francisco Lopez, Antimatter, Merzbow, Laminar, Ulf Lanheinrich, and more. A veritable noise fest. Construction site rumblings. Very difficult listening. If nothing else, this is a perfect introductory sampler of not only Xenakis but also some of AQ's favorite experimentalists. Nice price -- two discs for the price of one.
RealAudio clip: "Persepolis (Ryoji Ikeda remix)"
RealAudio clip: "Persepolis (Merzbow remix)"

YOSHIHIDE, OTOMO Ensemble Cathode (Improvised Music From Japan) cd 16.98
The latest from Japanese turntable/guitar experimentalist, composer, and sometimes jazz musician Otomo Yoshihide (if he needs an introduction, this isn't the place to start). "Ensemble Cathode" is a beautifully packaged cd -- anyone who's seen the Improvised Music From Japan box set knows about their nice cardboard mini-lp style cd sleeves -- featuring the works "Cathode #3", "Cathode #4" and "Cathode #5", all lengthy (14 to 22 minute) pieces composed by Otomo but allowing for much improvisation from the musicians. Otomo's Tzadik releases "Cathode" and "Anode" have already explored this idea -- small groups of musicans, some playing traditional Japanese instruments (in a modern context, as with Nishi Yoko's "prepared 17-string koto"), some with jazz instruments, others with electronics: samplers, contact mics, and turntables, in a structured improv setting. This Ensemble Cathode disc is as gorgeous and adventurous as those others, full of rumbling percussion, bowed cymbal drone, ethnic coloration, crackling noise, and piercing sine wave tones... The latter courtesy of frequent Otomo Yoshihide collaborator Sachiko M.
Also appearing are Taku Sugimoto (a wonderful, wonderful electric guitar abstractionist), percussionist Ichiraku Ysohimitsu (of the Acid Mothers Temple!), Andrea Neumann (playing "inside piano"), Akiyama Tetzui (who plays a turntable without records), and many others. A quiet, quite lovely listen, with many carefully wrought textures.
RealAudio clip: "Cathode #4"

ZORN, JOHN Filmworks XI (Tzadik) cd 15.98
Here you go Zornophiliacs: the 11th volume in his filmworks series. We turn to resident Zorn expert 'obi' for this review: "The latest volume in a continuing series documenting Zorn's varied and creative work for film features one of his most popular ensembles: Masada String Trio. Their incredible rapport is at its best in this haunting score for Aviva Slesin's documentary film on Jewish children hidden from the Nazis during the Shoah. Orchestral arrangements, intimate improvisations, lyricism and a handful of new Masada tunes make this one of Zorn's most memorable film scores." In other words: if you have I - X, you might as well pick up XI.
RealAudio clip: "Yesoma (vocal)"
RealAudio clip: "The Trap"

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----* Compilations :
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V/A Can't Stop It!: Australian Post-Punk 1978-82 (Chapter) cd 14.98
This is a compilation of Australian post punk and new wave from 1978-82. While not nearly as rocking as the Do The Pop! compilation from a few lists back, this is still a pretty awesome collection. The stuff on this comp leans more towards the no wave, art rock side of the spectrum. Quirky, angular but still punk. There are a few dance-y numbers with badass female vocals that are at times reminiscent of the Slits or Kleenex/Lilliput and some more gritty lofi stuf that reminds us of the Adverts or the Undertones. All in all, a solid document of a time and place that seems like it was most likely totally amazing and inspiring. The perfect companion to the Do The Pop compilation. And if you like the current crop of no wave wonders like SF's Numbers or Erase Errata, you should definitely check this out. Oh yeah, and did we mention there's a band called the Slugfuckers... oh my god.
RealAudio clip: VOIGT 465 "Voices a Drama"
RealAudio clip: THE APARTMENTS "Help"
RealAudio clip: PRIMITIVE CALCULATORS "Pumping Ugly Muscle"
RealAudio clip: THE SLUGFUCKERS "Cacophony"
RealAudio clip: PEOPLE WITH CHAIRS UP THEIR NOSES "Song of the Sea"

V/A Chocolate Soup For Diabetics 4 (PCP) cd 14.98
More than twenty years after the three first volumes, "Chocolate Soup for Diabetics" Vol. 4 and 5 are finally released. Fourteen titles on each lp, twenty one on each disc. Totally great 1960's UK psych, groovy rock, and soul by The Transatlantics, The Perishers, Gary Walker, The Peasants among others. Extensive liner notes for each song. Sooo good. The highlights on vol. 4, for me, are the fuzzy fucked up version of 'You Don't Love Me' by Gary Walker, and 'How Does It Feel' by The Perishers.
RealAudio clip: THE PERISHERS "How Does It Feel"
RealAudio clip: GARY WALKER "You Don't Love Me"

V/A Chocolate Soup For Diabetics 4 (PCP) lp 14.98
More than twenty years after the three first volumes, "Chocolate Soup for Diabetics" Vol. 4 and 5 are finally released. Fourteen titles on each lp, twenty one on each disc. Totally great 1960's UK psych, groovy rock, and soul by The Transatlantics, The Perishers, Gary Walker, The Peasants among others. Extensive liner notes for each song. Sooo good. The highlights on vol. 4, for me, are the fuzzy fucked up version of 'You Don't Love Me' by Gary Walker, and 'How Does It Feel' by The Perishers.

V/A Chocolate Soup For Diabetics 5 (PCP) cd 14.98
More than twenty years after the first three volumes, Chocolate Soup for Diabetics Vol. 4 and 5 are finally released. Fourteen titles on each lp, twenty one on each disc. Totally great 1960's UK psych, groovy rock, and soul by The Transatlantics, The Ways and Means, The Magic Lanterns among others. Extensive liner notes for each song. Sooo good.
RealAudio clip: MAGIC LANTERNS "I Stumbled"
RealAudio clip: THE TRANSATLANTICS "Don't Fight It"
RealAudio clip: THE WAYS AND MEANS "Breaking Up A Dream"

V/A Chocolate Soup For Diabetics 5 (PCP) lp 14.98
More than twenty years after the first three volumes, Chocolate Soup for Diabetics Vol. 4 and 5 are finally released. Fourteen titles on each lp, twenty one on each disc. Totally great 1960's UK psych, groovy rock, and soul by The Transatlantics, The Ways and Means, The Magic Lanterns among others. Extensive liner notes for each song. Sooo good.

V/A Cottage Cheese From The Lips Of Death (Compulsive) cd 13.98
Awesome cd reissue of this legendary compilation of seminal Texas 'hardcore' bands. Features the Butthole Surfers (whose track was recently included on their 'Humpty Dumpty L.S.D.' rarities collection), The Dicks, Watchtower, the Big Boys, D.R.I., Really Red, The Offenders, My Dolls, Not For Sale, Prenatal Lust, Stick Men With Rayguns, Hugh Beaumont Experience, Marching Plague and Bang Gang. Noisy, spazzy, fucked up and essential.
RealAudio clip: STICK MEN WITH RAY GUNS "Christian Rat Attack"
RealAudio clip: HUGH BEUMONT EXPERIENCE "Moo"
RealAudio clip: WATCHTOWER "Meltdown"
RealAudio clip: THE DICKS "Gilbeau"

V/A Hustle! Reggae Disco (Soul Jazz) cd 16.98
The latest Soul Jazz comp gives us eight reggae covers of disco hits originally by the likes of Sugarhill Gang, Chaka Khan, Diana Ross, Michael Jackson and others. While not as essential as the string of great Soul Jazz reggae comps (like the Studio One and Dynamite collections), there are a couple nice tracks here. The Blood Sister's rendition of "Ring My Bell" is the highlight, featuring dubbed out drums and bass and sweet vocals that get the echo treatment toward the end of the track. Latisha's soulfull take on "I'm Every Woman" seems more earthy and convincing than Chaka Khan's (or, uh,Whitney Houston's) version; the darker, richer sound somehow provides a more complex angle on femininity despite the same lyrics. The main stumbling point is Xanadu and Sweet Lady's extremely faithful cover of "Rapper's Delight." It's not like it's bad -- it sounds a lot like Sugarhill Gang's version but with female vocals -- but it's not particularly "reggaefied," and no new angle is provided, it's just a cover of a hit song that probably went over pretty well on the dance floor. Other tracks do give their targeted hits a reggae makeover, which is usually something of an improvement, but nothing super amazing. Hustle! also lacks the extensive, insightful liner notes of other Soul Jazz releases. Maybe that's because "reggae covers of disco hits" is about the extent of what you need to know.
RealAudio clip: BLOOD SISTERS "Ring My Bell"
RealAudio clip: LATISHA "I'm Every Woman"

V/A Hustle! Reggae Disco (Soul Jazz) 2lp 16.98
The latest Soul Jazz comp gives us eight reggae covers of disco hits originally by the likes of Sugarhill Gang, Chaka Khan, Diana Ross, Michael Jackson and others. While not as essential as the string of great Soul Jazz reggae comps (like the Studio One and Dynamite collections), there are a couple nice tracks here. The Blood Sister's rendition of "Ring My Bell" is the highlight, featuring dubbed out drums and bass and sweet vocals that get the echo treatment toward the end of the track. Latisha's soulfull take on "I'm Every Woman" seems more earthy and convincing than Chaka Khan's (or, uh,Whitney Houston's) version; the darker, richer sound somehow provides a more complex angle on femininity despite the same lyrics. The main stumbling point is Xanadu and Sweet Lady's extremely faithful cover of "Rapper's Delight." It's not like it's bad -- it sounds a lot like Sugarhill Gang's version but with female vocals -- but it's not particularly "reggaefied," and no new angle is provided, it's just a cover of a hit song that probably went over pretty well on the dance floor. Other tracks do give their targeted hits a reggae makeover, which is usually something of an improvement, but nothing super amazing. Hustle! also lacks the extensive, insightful liner notes of other Soul Jazz releases. Maybe that's because "reggae covers of disco hits" is about the extent of what you need to know.

V/A Necessary Effect: Screamers Songs Interpreted (Xeroid / Extravertigo) 2cd 17.98
A long-in-the-works tribute to this short-lived, greatly deified, synthesizer-driven, no guitars, seminal punk band from Seattle / Los Angeles (whew!). Sad to say this was kind of a disappointment. Considering just how influential this group was/is and how wildly rabid their ever-growing following is, hopes were high, but unlike the fast and fierce originals, these covers are rather unelectrifying. Much as they try, they simply can't do the songs of the intense, volatile Tomata Du Plenty and company justice. Some of them are even downright bad, but you do get 29 tracks to choose from, so.... There are a couple of notable spots too though (for the guest participants): Spooky Pie with the Screamers' Paul Roessler and a thick and sludgey Rubber O Cement with Karla LaVey. There are double versions of certain songs: "The Beat Goes On", "I'm Going Steady With Twiggy", "I Wanna Hurt" and "Eva Braun". Actually, rumors had been buzzing around of a collaboration between I Am Spoonbender and Jello Biafra (unquestionably the Screamers' biggest fan) on a fiery cover of the latter song, but it's not present here. S'pose we'll just have to wait for that one to emerge elsewhere. This compilation was released by the two labels who also gave us the Screamers "In A Better World" double cd which was action-packed with live recordings and demos.
RealAudio clip: RUBBER O CEMENT W/ KARLA LAVEY "I Wanna Hurt"
RealAudio clip: SPOOKY PIE W/ PAUL ROESSLER "Go Guy"
RealAudio clip: TEEN CTHULHU "Violent World "

V/A Survive And Advance Vol. 1 (Merge) cd 7.98
A new sampler of some of the shining sounds coming from the land of Merge Records these days. Fourteen songs: four of them either already available or soon to be, and ten of them previously unreleased (four of them live). However, the biggest highlight of this compilation is the unveiling of the newest addition to the Merge family... Destroyer! Yay! Yay! Up until now, Daniel Bejar's wonderful music hasn't been as easily accessible as it should. For those of you already familiar with his uniquely beautiful songwriting (in both Destroyer and the New Pornographers) and for those of you completely new to Mr. Bejar, this is cause for celebration. He's in prime company too. There's many an AQ fave on this label: Spoon, Radar Bros, Spaceheads, and the Magnetic Fields' Stephin Merritt (this time in his Gothic Archies guise). And they're all here along with Lambchop, Imperial Teen, Portastatic, Annie Hayden, Ladybug Transistor, Ashley Stove, East River Pipe, David Kilgour, and Crooked Fingers. All this good stuff and it won't hurt your wallet too much either.
RealAudio clip: DESTROYER "Chosen Few "
RealAudio clip: GOTHIC ARCHIES "Smile: No One Cares How You Feel"
RealAudio clip: RADAR BROS "Silver Shoes"

V/A Total Lee!: The Songs Of Lee Hazlewood (Astralwerks / City Slang) cd 21.00
Ah, tribute albums -- an inherently questionable genre. Here we have a tribute to the inimitable Lee Hazlewood, as interpreted by a British press fave (past and present) selection of artists: Tindersticks, Jarvis Cocker, Erland Oye (of Kings of Convenience), St Etienne, Calexico and Lambchop bringing the Americana to the party, Kid Loco, Calvin Johnson, also Stephen Jones and Luke Scott of Babybird (this is Windy's favorite track and now she has to go hunt down some Babybird records), and Evan Dando (UK music press motto: once relevant, always relevant) among others. Absent, of course, are all the covers of Lee Hazlewood songs that have been recorded over the years by artists motivated not by a label putting together a comp but by their love of the songs -- Roland S. Howard and Lydia Lunch's lovely version of "Some Velvet Morning" comes to mind. The best tracks come from artists who are great on their own, and whose sound allows for a seamless translation of Hazlewood's unique take on drifter pop: the Tindersticks doing "My Autumn's Done Come," Calexico with Valerie Leulliiot's "Sundown, Sundown." At worst, the groups' attempts at Hazlewood classics serve as a reminder that you could be spending your time listening to "Cowboy in Sweden" or "Nancy & Lee" instead of, say, sitting through Evan Dando's brilliant idea to put a phaser on his weak ass voice in what I guess is some kind of attempt to live up to Hazlewood's trademark whiskey soaked baritone for "Summer Wine." The most interesting part of this collection comes from the liner notes -- they are comments on what the man himself has to say while listening to these covers. A few times he questions the choice of songs: "it's just the intro to an album.. It's another unfinished song...They chose all the moody things, didn't they?" About the Tindersticks: "Is English his first language?" Overall, he seems pretty pleased with the results and intrigued by what the bands chose to do with the songs: "They all put something interesting into these songs, which I like," even if sometimes he is just being polite: "Yeah, allright, it's interesting. That trumpet sound makes it... interesting," and several times he comments that specific tracks are superior to his own recordings. And well, who's opinion is most important here, anyway? Added bonus: the booklet contains choice photos of Hazlewood flanked by faux mustache sporting children.
RealAudio clip: STEPHEN JONES & LUKE SCOTT "we all make the little flowers grow"
RealAudio clip: WEBB BROTHERS "some velvet morning"

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----* Also New In Stock, Reviews Coming Soon :
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AFFLUX "Azier St. Martin-Sur-Mer Dieppe" (Edition...) cd 14.98
AMBARCHI, OREN "Der Kleine Konig" (Tonschat) 7" 8.98
ANZELLOTTI, TEODORO "Leos Janacek" (Winter & Winter) cd 16.98
AZURE "Zone Beyond Reality" (DTrash) cd-r 10.98
BASTARD NOISE "Mutant" (Manufacture) cd 13.98
BRAXTON, ANTHONY "Actuel Sessions" (Fuel 2000) cd 12.98
BRIGHT EYES "Lifted, Or The Story Is In The Soil, Keep Your Ear To The Ground" (Saddle Creek) cd 14.98
BURNING SPEAR "Rocking Time" (Studio One) cd 14.98
CANDIRIA "The Coma Imprint" (Lakeshore Records) 2cd 17.98
CARDIACS "A Little Man And A House And The Whole World Window" (Alphabet) cd 14.98
CARDIACS "Sing To God - Part Two" (Alphabet) cd 14.98
CARDIACS "Sing To God - Part One" (Alphabet) cd 14.98
CATTLE DECAPITATION "To Serve Man" (Metal Blade) cd 10.98
CERBERUS SHOAL / HERMAN DUNE "The Whys And Hows Of Herman Dune and Cerberus Shoal" (North East Indie) cd 9.98
CHARALAMBIDES "Being As Is" (Crucial Blast) cd-r 6.98
CHERRY, DON "Blue Lake" (BYG / Toho / Get Back) 2lp 19.98
COHRAN, PHILIP AND THE ARTISTIC HERITAGE ENSEMBLE "On The Beach" (Aestuarium) cd/lp 14.98/9.98
COUP, THE "Steal This Double Album" (FOAD) 2cd 14.98
D-STYLES "Felonious Funk" (Audio Research) 12" 6.98
DESTROYER 666 "Cold Steel...For An Iron Age" (Season Of Mist) cd 14.98
ERASE ERRATA / NUMBERS "split" (Tigerbeat6) 3" cd ep 6.98
F_NOISE "s/t" (DTrash) cd-r 10.98
HARRY J "Return Of The Liquidator" (Trojan) 2cd/2lp 14.98/17.98
HAZLEWOOD, LEE "For Every Solution There's a Problem" (City Slang) cd 16.98
HERMANO "...Only A Suggestion" (Tee Pee) 2cd 14.98
HOMER "Grown In U.S.A." (Akarma) cd 15.98
HURLEY, MICHAEL "Blueberry Wine" (Locust) cd 14.98
INFIDEL? / CASTRO! "Infidelicacy" cd-r 8.98
INVISIBL SKRATCH PIKLZ VS. DA KLAMZ UV DETH "Furious Ostrich Tracks" (Asphodel) lp 7.98
JACOB, HENRY'S VORTEX "Electronic Kabuki Mambo" (Locust Music) cd 14.98
KID 606 "Why I Love Life" (Tigerbeat6) cd ep 6.98
LIGHTBOX ORCHESTRA, THE "First Contact!" (Locust Music) cd 14.98
LOCKWELD "Metal Pieces" (Crucial Blast) cd-r 6.98
MAHER SHALAL HASH BAZ "Maher On Water" (Geographic) cd ep 10.98
MALI MUSIC: AFEL BOCOUM, DAMON ALBARN, TOUMARI DIABATE AND FRIENDS "s/t" (Astralwerks) cd 17.98
MARAX "Pass Away Into Heaven" (Crucial Blast) cd-r 5.98
MARAX "The Pleasure In Grieving" (Crucial Blast) cd-r 5.98
MCMS "3" (Last Visible Dog) cd-r 8.98
MCMS "s/t" (Last Visible Dog) cd-r 8.98
MENS, RADBOUD & JAAP BLONK "Bek" (Brombron) cd 15.98
MISERY INDEX / COMMIT SUICIDE "Split CD" (Willowtip) cd 12.98
NOCTURNAL RITES "Shadowland" (Century Media) cd 14.98
NULL, KK "Datacide In Year Zero" cd-r 6.98
ON FILLMORE "On Fillmore" (Locust) cd 14.98
OPIUM JUKEBOX "Bhangra Bloody Bhangra: A Tribute To Black Sabbath" (Underground Inc.) cd 15.98
PROJECT PAT "Layin' Da Smack Down" (Loud) 2cd 16.98
RAMLEH "Too Many Miles" (Dirtier Promotions) cd 17.98
ROWE, KEITH & OREN AMBARCHI "Flypaper" (Staubgold) cd 14.98
SATO, YOKO "s/t" (Last Visible Dog) cd-r 8.98
SCION "Arrange and Process Basic Channel Tracks" (Tresor) cd 16.98
SHIOMI, MIEKO "A Musical Dictionary of 80 People Around Fluxus" (? Records) cd 21.00
STUNT ROCK "Pinnacle of Mediocrity" (DTrash) cd-r 10.98
SUN RA "Live At Palomino" (Transparency) dvd 16.98
SUN RA & HIS SOLAR-MYTH ARKESTRA "The Solar-Myth Approach (Vol 1)" (Actuel) cd 16.98
TAKEMURA, NOBUKAZU "Water's Suite" (Extreme) cd 14.98
TROUM & YEN POX "Mnemonic Induction" (Malignant) cd 14.98
V/A "Asthmatic Worm" (Mobile) cd/2lp 14.98/14.98
V/A "Celebrate Psi Phenomena Retrospective" (Celebrate Psi) cd-r 14.98
V/A "Off Site" (A Bruit Secret) 2cd 23.00
V/A "Warlock Pinchers Impostors" (Braceface Audio) cd 13.98
WARLORD "Rising Out Of The Ashes" (Atrheia) cd 14.98
WHITMAN, KEITH FULLERTON "Live (At The Tremont Theater)" (Tonschacht) 7" 8.98
YERMO "s/t" (Last Visible Dog) cd-r 8.98


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ALLAN'S EVER-EXCITING D&D ADVENTURES UPDATE


...written this week by his fellow D&Der (and AQ-customer) Ankarino Lara, aka the somewhat verbose Professor Wormbog:

As you'll recall from last time, one of our party -- a slimy lout with dripping skin and an offensive, swaggering demeanor -- unintentionally caused a dimensional rip with his extradimensional bag of holding, sending several of us far from our home plane. As Son Ute (of the Seritan Empire), Maxar (the Sorcerer), the slime master (the slime master), and Professor Wormbog (a tall and sturdy tiger-mawed half-orc draped in Victorian finery) recovered from our accidental inter-dimensional trip, we were relieved to find ourselves in the well-ordered plains of Arcadia (itself a Plane). After a short chat with a helpful Arcadian native on one of the roads leading to the nicely shaped walls of the geometrically perfect Arcadian city of Innutan, we decided that we must be off to rescue our lost shaman, Amar, if possible, and also locate the wayward & vile Rakshasa corpse that we desperately needed to speak with. With a knowing nod and a jingle of the power-infused crystals about Prof. Wormbog's tunic, our foursome returned to the Prime Material Plane (PMP) via the manifestation of the Professor's teleportation power. There, after further misadventures in a booby-trapped wizard's chamber, we acquired the necessary looking glass to scry upon our missing shaman and the misplaced body of the Rakshasa.

Retrieving Amar was a tricky endeavor. As we looked into the smoky scrying mirror we were horrified to find Amar, standing on on side of an impossibly large metal cube, floating in a river of molten rock! As our view zoomed in and out, we realized he had fallen into the plane of Acheron, the Hell of eternal battle-men. These cubes, the size of small continents, were many in number, all floating across the sea of lava and colliding with each other with appalling consequences. Further, each cube was swarming with thousands of marauding warriors, resigned to do battle and be killed, only to awake again for another days war. And there among the murderous droves, Amar sat crouched and weeping, trying to hang on to his last bit of life-blood. The Professor and Maxar bravely turned themselves invisible, clasped hands, teleported into Acheron, flew over to the crouching Amar, and teleported him out in the nick of time, as a circling blue dragon swooped for the kill.

Retrieving the Rakshasa corpse was even more convoluted. Gazing into the smoky glass, we spied the dead Rakshasa lying on a crudely made table, and a gruesome, purple-skinned hag loitering by its side. The walls were befouled with carcasses hanging on meat hooks. All manner of corpses littered the floors -- the bodies of Humans, Halflings, Angels, and Devils alike decorated this most fiendish hovel. Fortunately, the Professor speaks Infernal, and overheard the hag bartering feverishly with four tittering insect devils with bloated bellies as they negotiating a price for the prize they found. Rakshasa corpses are in high demand in the Hells, it seems, worth quite a few human souls (in the form of horrid human-headed worms). With a knowing nod and a rub of his crystals, the Professor's tunic unfurled revealing a second set of arms. He manifested a few more powers and announced that he would retrieve the corpse. In a blink, he was gone. Exactly 18 seconds passed, and with a 'pop!' and a hiss, the Professor reappeared, bleeding heavily from a nasty shoulder wound, but carrying the Rakshasa corpse! Astonished, the party asked how he managed to defeat the five devils alone. After a short pause, Professor Wormbog revealed his origins, and explained in great detail what transpired in the hag's chambers...

Next week -- Who is this Professor Wormbog??


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BITCH MAGAZINE BENEFIT


It's Bitch's 3rd Not-Really-Annual-At-All Release Party, Benefit, and Bake
Sale!

When: Wednesday, August 14th, 7pm 'til you wanna go home

Where: The Make-Out Room, 22nd Street (between Mission and Valencia)

Why: Because the Pink Issue (no.17) has just hit the stands, and we're going to celebrate with a few Cosmopolitans. Because we always need to raise money. And because we want to see your pretty faces.

What Else: Oakland's sunny, soulful bliss-pop combo *Call and Response* will play some tunes. DJs *Windy Chien* and *Alicia Vanden Heuvel* will spin some records. Fresh-baked treats made with love by Bitch staff and supporters will be sold at very reasonable prices. And there'll even be a door prize or
two.

How Much: $9-$20, sliding scale. Sorry kids, 21 and over only...


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LANCE HAHN / HONEY BEAR RECORDS


One of the coolest guys in the world, our friend Lance Hahn of J-Church and Honey bear Records, recently saw his Austin, TX building burn down, taking everything he owned with it. In the hopes of spreading the word so that more folks might decide to help, we're reprinting his post-blaze message below.

------------

from:

Hey everybody,

Okay, I slept for the first time in ages last night and ate a meal for the first time since Saturday. My head is a little clearer. So let me let ya know what is up...

Still no confirmation on what started the fire. But here is the word that is going around. Apparantly, the woman who died in the fire had a long history of violence and schizophrenia. I guess she had violent attacks on people including someone who worked for the apartment complex. I know that the cops had been called on her several times for various differnt things. I think she might have been getting evicted. The fire started in her apartment and she died of smoke inhalation. It's kind of crazy, because we were all standing right in front of her apartment after I climbed out of the window. Had no idea that someone was dead in there...

Yeah, I was dicking around on my four track and had my headset on and really had no idea what was happening. If someone hadn't been pounding on my downstairs neighbors door, I wouldn't have noticed anything. I happened to look up and saw flames pass by my window.

I went to the front door and felt the door knob. "Backdraft" was flashing through my mind and since the handle was cold, I opened the door. Big mistake! I was faced with a solid wall of smoke. It was so dense I couldn't even see the ground in front of me.

So, I close the door and for some reason I locked the deadbolt (you know, like that would keep the fire out. I'm a moron.) I went out on the balcony and for the first time noticed that 40 or 50 people were on the sidewalk watching my building burn down. They told me that I had to jump and that the fire had totally consumed the stairway. For a split second I thought that maybe I could run through the fire and, you know, drop and roll or something. Luckily, I came to my senses and decided to try to climb down. Yes, I did somehow scale down the side of the building from the third floor and looking back at the apartment today, that was crazy high. I mean, it was really high.

I managed to make it to the ground in one piece and after standing in front of the fire looking up like a moron, I joined my neighbors on the sidewalk as we watched the flames slowly consume my apartment even before the fire department arrived.

I wandered around asking if anyone had a cell phone I could use. I called information who connected me to Vulcan Video which is where I work. I just told the guy working "Call Jenn! Call Kelly! My house is on fire! Tell them to get over here ASAP!" They're both pals of mine and were the first people I thought to call with the crisis happening and Liberty out of the country.

Thankfully, they showed up, so I at least have a place to stay and everybody is helping me sort stuff out. The hardest part was that Liberty's phone number in China burned up in the fire. So all I could do was go to Kelly's house and send her a brief e-mail. I didn't want to freak her out, so I was a little vague about what happened and told her to call as soon as possible.

I basically couldn't sleep at all and just tried to imagine a floor plan of the apartment to figure out what exactly I had lost. It was the first time I started to feel overcome by anxiety. Up until then I was still sort of dealing with everything kind of laughing in the face of adversity. I mean, I'm like the bad luck guy. Heart problems. House burning. Any number of J Church tour disasters. What will happen next year to make people feel sorry for me?

Anyway, I finally got to talk to Liberty the next night which seemed like forever and it led to my second anxiety attack, heart palpitations and everything.

That sort of brings us up to the present. They started pulling stuff out of my apartment today. They pulled out a lot of our electronic stuff (computers, stereo, amps, etc.) but I really doubt any of it works. A lot of it got burned. All of it got soaked. 99% of my albums have at least water damage and are now worthless. Almost none of my singles and 7"s survived. No clothes. No furniture. 300 fucking Storm the Tower 7"s gone. All the label stuff is gone. All my photos and Cringer and J Church stuff is pretty much gone. Year books. Phone numbers. Stuff for my now on hiatus book on anarhco punk... Still, it's a bit of a relief to at least know where I stand. I dunno. I guess I'm still in denial.

I wanted to thank everyone who has written kind words and offered help. Really, it's all so overwhelming that I really don't know how to reply. I really appreciate it and when I checked my e-mail today there were 100 new messages. I'm sorry that I have to send this blanket e-mail as I really can't reply to everyone individually.

Everyone is asking how to help and I really don't know how to reply to that. I'm very flattered that people have offered to do benefits and send money. But I feel a little weird taking peoples money. Here are the things we are trying to replace if for some strange reason you have extras: Computer Stereo Records? If you are at a record label and are on my list, I probably love your label and would love to get whatever promos you've got lying around.

I don't know. I still don't know what is going on. I want to assure everyone that I plan to carry on with the band and the label and whatever other things I was planning to do. As much as is financially possible, I'm gonna be working the DFI and J Church records coming out this Fall on Honey Bear...

The main thing that would help would be if you could get the info out about what happened. I'm still getting people trying to order stuff and I REALLY don't want people to get any misinformation about what happened. I mean, TWICE in the last decade there have been rumors that I died and that created huge problems for me as you can imagine.

Okay, I'll try to have a normal newsletter next time around. Hopefully, life will start to get back to normal the weekend after next when I at least move into my new apartment.

Lance


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SELECTED UPCOMING RELEASES


---> next week
Queens of the Stone Age "Songs For The Deaf" cd on Interscope
Incredible String Band "5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion/The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter" 2cd reissue on Collector's Choice
Mary J. Blige "Dance For Me" cd on MCA
Rahsaan Roland Kirk reissues
The Pastels "Truckload of Trouble" cd collection

---> August 20th
Sleater Kinney "One Beat" cd/lp on Kill Rock Stars
Spoon "Kill The Moonlight" cd on Merge
Nile "In Their Darkened Shrines" cd on Relapse
Cephalic Carnage "Lucid Interval" cd on Relapse
Mudhoney "Since We've Become Translucent" cd/lp on SubPop
Black Sabbath "Past Lives" 2cd on Sanctuary
Neko Case "Blacklisted" cd on Bloodshot
Phantomsmasher "s/t" cd on Ipecac (aka James Plotkin's Atomsmasher)
Interpol "Turn On The Bright Lights" cd/lp on Matador
Radian "Rec. Extern" cd/lp on Thrill Jockey
Tipsy "Tipsy Remix Party" cd on Asphodel
Orthrelm "2nd18/o4 Norildivoth Crallos-Lomrixth Urthiln" cd/lp on Three One G
Liars "They Threw Us All In A Trench And Stuck A Monument On Top" cd/lp on Mute
Frank Black & The Catholics "Devil's Workshop" cd on SpinArt
The Standard "August" cd on Touch and Go
Mekons "Oooh! (Out of our Heads)" cd on Quarterstick
Pluxus "European Onion" cd on Rocket Girl
Tara Jane O'Neil & Daniel Littleton "Music For A Meteor Shower" cd/2lp on Tiger Style
Mike Johnson "What Would You Do" cd on Up
Hot Snakes "Automatic Midnight" cd/lp back in print on Swami
The Microphones "Song Islands" singles comp cd on K
Wolf Colonel "Something/Everything" cd on L
Rivulets "Thank You Reykjavik" cdep on BlueSanct
Schneider TM "Zoomer" cd on Mute
Latyrx "The Album" cd/2lp reissue on Quannum
Lyrics Born "Hello" 12" on Quannum
MC Paul Barman "Cock Mobster b/w Anarchist Bookstore Pt. 1" 12" on Coup d'Etat
The Berzerker "Dissimulate" cd on Earache
Eric Bachmann "Short Careers: Original Score For The Film Ball Of Wax" cd on Merge
Nightmares On Wax "Know My Name" cdep/12" on Warp
Alexander Von Schlippenbach "The Living Music (1969)" cd on Atavistic
Manfred Schoof "European Echoes (1969)" cd on Atavistic
Mecca Normal "The Family Swan" cd on Kill Rock Stars

---> August 27th
DJ/Rupture "Minesweeper Suite" cd on Tigerbeat6
Incredible String Band "s/t" reissue cd on Sepiatone
Incredible String Band "Liquid Acrobat As Regards The Air" reissue cd on Sepiatone
Sole "Salt On Everything" 12" on Anticon
John Zorn "Filmworks XII: Three Documentaries" cd on Tzadik
Derek Bailey "Pieces For Guitar" cd on Tzadik (his earliest recordings, circa 1966!)
David Shea "Classical Works II" cd on Tzadik

---> also in August we're told
Aimee Mann
The Roots
a bunch more Jandek reissues

---> September 3rd
Tarwater "Dwellers On The Threshold" cd on Mute
Barry Adamson "The King of Nothing Hill" on Mute
In Flames "Reroute To Remain" cd on Nuclear Blast
Today Is The Day "Sadness Will Prevail" 2cd on Relapse
Boom Bip "Seed To Sun" cd/2lp on Lex
Peanut Butter Wolf "Jukebox 45's" cd on Stones Throw
Ralph Dog "Afflictions" cd on Bomb HipHop
Nightmares On Wax "Mind Elevation" cd/2lp on Warp
Raging Slab "(Pronounced Eat Shit)" cd/lp on Tee Pee
Bongzilla "Gateway" cd on Relapse

---> September 10th
Oh-Ok "The Complete Recordings" cd on Collector's Choice Music (thanks Jason)
The Incredible String Band "Wee Tam/The Big Huge" cd reissue on Collector's Choice Music
The Incredible String Band "Changing Horses/I Looked Up" cd reissue on Collector's Choice Music
Richard Buckner "Born Into Giving It Up Again" cdep on Overcoat
Cynthia Dall "Sound Restores Young Men" cd/lp on Drag City
The Pattern "Real Feelness" cd/lp on Lookout
Bangs "Call And Response" cdep on Kill Rock Stars
T-Model Ford "Bad Man" cd on Fat Possum
some reissues by The Fall
Ani DiFranco "So Much Shouting, So Much Laughter" live 2cd on Righteous Babe

---> September 24th
Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz Quintet "Live" cd on DIW
The Wicker Man original soundtrack cd domestic reissue on Silva
John Zorn "Filmworks XIII: Invitation To A Suicide" cd on Tzadik
Wayne Horvitz "The Circus" cd on Tzadik
Steve Earle "Jerusalem" cd on Artemis/E Squared
Iron & Wine "The Creek Drank the Cradle" cd on SubPop
Big Daddy Kane "The Man The Icon" cd on Landspeed


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"If anything, you know what I think this whole thing is, is a weird subconscious reaction to the fact that punk, 30 years later, has ruined everything. Punk rock pretty much said, 'Anybody can do this,' and unfortunately now everyone is doing it, and music is suffering as a result of that. I mean, I come out of punk, but let's face it: there's a punk ethos † punk with a lowercase p † and then there's PunkČ, which is, as we know, total fucking bullshit. I mean, how many more songs with barre chords do we need? From my perspective, as an intelligent person who happens to like intense, fucked-up, weird music, punk rock does not cut it anymore. Punk rock was very relevant at its onset, and a lot of it was very inspired. Now it's just a style, the way a lot of other things are. I honestly think that bands like [Orthrelm, Hella, etc] are reacting against the 'we had one rehearsal and here's our stupid band' thing that's clogging the underground, this laissez-faire disposability of rock."
-- Weasel Walter in this week's SF Bay Guardian


Love,
Windy Cup Allan Andee Jim Byram Sadie and Marcy