CAVE Hunt Like Devil (Permanent Records) lp+cd 13.98
At first glance, it might be difficult to know what this record it all about. The sleeve is just a photo of trees and leaves, a dense overgrown forest. Pull out the cd, that too is cryptic, just some random letters on the disc, the sleeve, an old crinkled photo from some seventies porn mag of a topless cowgirl with a gun in her mouth. There's an insert, with a bunch of strange shapes, the word CAVE right at the top. But we know what it is. We've been waiting for this disc for ages. The debut recording from, wait for itŠ CAVE! Who just so happen to be the spacerock krautrock dronerock riff heavy jam band side project of one Warhammer 48K, who were already spacey and krauty and droney to begin with, so needless to say this is some seriously kick ass, aQ freakout worthy shit.
For the attention span impaired, howabout some Hawkwind, Can, Circle, Lightning Bolt, Pharaoh Overlord? Sounds good huh? Well, it's easy to hear bits and pieces of all of those bands in the sound of Cave, a dual drummer-ed riff heavy psych rock, that takes single riffs and hammers at them, pounding and pummeling, repetitive and mesmerizing, a sort of kraut flecked hypnorock, but with all sorts of strange twists and turns, bizarre arrangements, baffling breakdowns, but woven into longform jams that should have anyone into the above mentioned bands frothing at the mouth.
The opening track is a gorgeous little tangle of minor key melodies, looped and repeated, over a tense distant drone, thick swaths of keyboard whir over soft tangles of acoustic guitar and space-y backwards guitar swoops, but then the opening riff of the second track kicks in, and it's all fuzzy and feral, the greatest riff Pharoah Overlord never wrote, and they just hang on it, way longer than any normal band would, FOREVER, before the drums kick in, and they're off, a relentless and hooky groove, with brief blasts of super dynamic chaos, before slipping right back into it. Keyboards lay still more hypnotic melodies over the top, vocals, when there are any, are shouted way down in the mix, or are wordless falsetto la-la-la's, adding more texture and sonic complexity than anything. The dual drummers mix it up spitting out occasional tribal squalls, sometimes thick swirls of staticky fuzz wash over the proceedings, but their propulsive fortitude never falters. The first two tracks would almost be enough. Nearly 12 minutes of heavy freaked out space jam nirvana. You can practically feel the walls heaving and the sweat dripping through the speakers. You'll probably need a lie down afterwards. But there's no time, cuz hell, there's 6 more tracks to dig through. The sound is punk rock, lo-fi, but lush and epic, damaged and delirious, like garage rockers raised on Magma and Faust, there's plenty of Neu! in there, Stereolab too then, but it's way heavier than that, the guitars crunchy and thick, occasionally opening up into wailing psychrock blowouts, the drums getting more and more distorted and frenzied. Imagine an amphetamine fueled Circle or Can, but via the basement, the sound a sweat soaked drug drenched mostly instrumental kraut groove
Mathy, murky, like the fucked up younger brother of Yes, a Neanderthal krautrock, laced with awesome grinding space rock riffage, blown out squalls of ur-psych, flurries of percussive splatter, chanting cult vocals, bits of what the fuck vocoder (!), but for all the weirdness, the core sound of Cave is THE RIFF. Whether it's a warbly synth, or a superdistorted guitar, or tra-la-la vocals, they all align themselves with that riff, the mission, to entrance, to ensorcel, a heaving, pulsing, throbbing mass, the sound magnetic and irresistible. Endless jams that aren't really, but feel like they should be. Like they are anyway. Transcending the laws of time and space, dragging us kicking and screaming, bouncing and bobbing, into some blissed out basement at the end of the universe, where we subsist of nothing but riffs, drums and FX. We never want to leave.
Killer packaging, it's an lp AND a cd, same music on both, fold over full color sleeve, full color one sided cd sleeve (all described above) and a full color thick cardstock insert. And of course, limited, only 500 copies!
MPEG Stream: "HLD 2"
MPEG Stream: "Hunt Like Devil"
MPEG Stream: "Seans Inner Ear"

GOSLINGS, THE Occasion (Not Not Fun) cd 12.98
Not many artists can lay claim to their very own musical genre, but Hollywood, Florida's The Goslings are among the elite few who most definitely can. On first listen their sound seems to fit pretty comfortably amongst the current crop of distorted deconstructed decaying blissed out dreamy dirge rock that seems to be all the rave (Nadja, Alcest, Hjarnidaudi, Procer Veneficus, etc.), after all they often get described as half SUNNO))) and half My Bloody Valentine, but that's really only half (again) true. And while their sound does share some of the elements of those other bands, The Goslings are their own perfect, synergetic sonic force, an organic, original soundworld that has absorbed and re-synthesized those influences entirely. In other words, on this latest record, they somehow manage to sound way, way heavier and much, much more lush, transforming any vestiges of other bands' sounds into something distinctly theirs. Formerly just a husband and wife duo, Max and Leslie Soren, Occasion finds the couple joined by two apparently full-time members which does nothing but help make their sound, thicker, and more dense, more intense, more distorted, and impossibly, more beautiful. It's not a huge departure from the sound of their previous outings, but that's not really a bad thing. Occasion just serves to demonstrate that their sound is now even more of a particularly refined and menacing chunk of skull crushingly gorgeous sound.
Each of The Goslings' records has been self-recorded straight onto tape in their $15 an hour rehearsal space. Before it was a 4-track, now it's a reel-to-reel 8-track tape, with any additional tracks being added at a friend's house in Pro Tools -- a slight upgrade, but again, one that merely serves to push their sound even further into some hellish sonic realm. Mastered by James Plotkin, their commitment to relatively lo-fi, analog recording a significant part of why each and every track is so totally ear-stabbingly, skull-fuckingly shit heavy. But beneath the obvious doom veneer, the crushing sludge, the washed out hiss and buzz, there are buried some lovely melodies and more of the Goslings' near perfect pop songs. Fear not though, it's not like Nadja or Jesu, where there is potentially enough of said pop to turn-off those more dedicated to the seriously heavy and/or utterly grim. Regardless of the surprising melodic structures lay hidden beneath the blown out bluster, or the prettiness of Leslie's vocals drifting ethereally throughout, the music, the sound, the Goslings' sheer power continually threatens to overwhelm, a bludgeoning slab of sonic destruction that's systematically destroying your entire life, note by note. Then out of nowhere, there's a weird little bluegrass number, a brief respite before the band lurch back into motion, unleashing another avalanche of village crushing, ultradistorted, stumbling, downtuned beautiful brutality.
A higher recommendation would be difficult to give. Essential!
MPEG Stream: "Mew"
MPEG Stream: "Parsley Halo"
MPEG Stream: "Vitium"

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AFCGT (A FRAMES + CLIMAX GOLDEN TWINS) s/t (Fire Breathing Turtle) cd-r 11.98
Holy shit, this is fucking great! And who would have ever thought that the A Frames and the Climax Golden Twins would make a record together? And who would have imagined that it would be this fucking awesome? It's all superlatives and all expletives in describing the first collaborative production from AFCGT. The A Frames had managed to raise some eyebrows here through their post-punk appropriations of early Wire and early Fall, but the vocals had always been something of a miss for them especially on the last Sub Pop album. But in working with the AQ-endorsed Climax Golden Twins who are a band accustomed to delivering exemplary instrumentals from literally every corner of the avant-rock landscape, the A Frames have the permission to shut the hell up and let the Climax Golden Twins dump the fucking kitchen sink all over A Frames rhythmic swagger. The album opens with a tumultuous blast of glue-huffing noise-rock, sort of like a fistfight between the Butthole Surfers and the Sun City Girls. Soon after, a series of bad-ass Birthday Party / Oxbow swamp rock riffs explode with spindly space-age gamelan leads; elsewhere, the No Wave ghosts of R.L. Crutchfield-era DNA emerge with of jagged chops across the guitar pick-ups, bloodied fingers and all. Fuck, it all sounds fucking great! It's a damn shame that this thing is only limited to 50 copies! That perhaps is our only complaint.
MPEG Stream: "New Punk"
MPEG Stream: "Old Spy"
MPEG Stream: "Thug"

AGITATED RADIO PILOT / THE NETHER DAWN split (PseudoArcana) cd-r 14.98
Originally released as a lathe cut in a couple of ultra limited pressings (and we're talking ULTRA, as in two pressings, 50 copies each) pressed by lathe legend Peter King, thus of course gone in the blink of an eye, this little gem is now available as a cd-r to appease all you digital only folks. It's also probably limited, but thankfully not nearly so.
A split record teaming up PseudoArcana head Milton and his Nether Dawn project with Irish one man band Agitated Radio Pilot. And it's a perfect match up, each bands' sound perfectly complimenting the other's.
Agitated Radio Pilot unfurls slow growing, wheezing melancholy melodies and warm warbly atmospheres, split into 4 tracks, it sounds more like one lengthy extended pastoral drift, a lazy wander beneath leafy trees and a burnt orange late afternoon sky, laid back and blissed out. Melancholy and gauzy. The muted buzz of guitars, warbly melodies, all very hazy and indistinct.
Nether Dawn (this time accompanied by fellow NZ noisemaker James Kirk) counter with their own brand of blurry haziness. Long drawn out drones, hushed whispered vocals, smeared buzz, distant washes of distorted guitar and muted rhythmic clatter. It sounds like pop songs stretched out and pulled apart into spare skeletal stretches of somnambulant sound. Like ARP, it's all very soft focus and dreamlike. So lovely.
MPEG Stream: AGITATED RADIO PILOT "Leading A Small Ghost Home By The Hand"
MPEG Stream: THE NETHER DAWN "Under Your Night"

AJILVSGA Gathering Of Owls (Digitalis) cassette 8.98
Some super experimental low end doom drone minimalism from Brad Rose, who besides playing in The North Sea, Corsican Paintbrush, Jade Emperor also runs the insanely cool Digitalis label.
Up until now, most of what we've heard from Rose has been on the folky side of things, who knew he had this in him. A seriously grindingly dense churning buzzscape. Caustic and thick, huge slabs of heaving low end, layer upon layer of black hole heaviness. Dentist drill high end surfaces here and there, but overall, every track here is some sort of leap into sonic tar, struggling to breath or even hear, your ears clogged with crumbling back grit, your body pinned to the ground beneath wave after wave of slow motion blacknoise pummel.
You know if you need this. If you're into the slow, and low and HEAVY, you probably do. But this was LIMITED TO ONLY 72 COPIES. It's out of print. We have 15. Do the math.
Red cassette cases, red cassettes, cool full color sleeves on nice textured paper, each copy hand numbered.

ANGEL Kalmukia (Editions Mego) cd 17.98
Oooh, moody. Ilpo Vaisanen of Pan Sonic and Dirk Dresselhaus (aka Schneider TM) have recorded as Angel before, exploring the realms of noise and drone with discs on the Bip-Hop and Oral labels, bringing in guest cellist Hildur Guonadottir for the latter. Now they're officially a trio, and offer up a fantastic third album, released on Editions Mego, where this four part, hour long, totally epic album fits in nicely alongside the digitaldoomdrone likes of O'Malley and Rehberg's KTL.
Kalmukia opens with the evocative "Bones In The Sand" which definitely has a desert-y feel, the wide open spaces, barren badlands. Desolation. Dunno about you, but it had us immediately thinking Earth (Hex-era and after Earth), with cavernous slide guitar riffs echoing forth across the wastes...
The tremulous electric humming of the title track is next, nearly 20 quietly mysterious minutes long, graced with droning cello on the edge of feedback. The creepy loveliness continues on through "Effect Of Discovery", which builds up into a shimmering drone laced with metallic electronic whip-cracks and waverings. Full on distorted rumble is kept in reserve, hinted at throughout the thick buzzing beauty of album-closer "Aftermath: The Mutation", which is also filled with delicate percussive chimings and some of this album's most melodic moments.
Packaged all fancy-like in an oversized rectangular sleeve, this is definitely one that fans of the most abstract/ambient side of Southern Lord's output (Oren Ambarchi for instance) should appreciate, along with those into Pan Sonic, KTL, etc.
Satan was an angel, once, too.
MPEG Stream: "Bones In The Sand"
MPEG Stream: "Aftermath: The Mutation"

ATLAS SOUND Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel (Kranky) cd 14.98
From his work with Deerhunter to his excellent solo project Atlas Sound to other various artistic projects, Bradford Cox has some serious creative consistency. It seems like part of that reliability is based on the fact that all of his work seems to be approaching the same types of emotions from slightly different angles. That's not to say the sonic spectrum he occupies is not varied, but there is the feeling that everything operates based on the same type of tension. Well, Atlas Sound's Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel is no different. In Deerhunter, the more upbeat '60s influenced indie pop and the glistening analog landscapes seem more distant from each other. Here, Cox seems to have fused the two into a more singular package, in a good way. All of the songs are in a similar range, but the presentation of various melodies is interesting enough for everything to stand alone. Ah, let's see, maybe those hungry for specific band comparisons can take faith in an impressive list. For instance: Jesus and Mary Chain, Seefeel, Ulrich Schnauss, Caribou, and ... White Rainbow and Valet, which is interesting. Why? Well, because Adam Forkner of White Rainbow and Honey Owens of Valet are two members of the Atlas Sound live band. Alongside the crew are also Brian Foote of Nudge (along with Ms. Owens), and someone we just don't know named Stephanie Macksey. But in company like that, we're sure she's done great stuff too! If you, like us, occasionally need to embark upon an interstellar journey into emotions both inspirational and bleak, look no further, here's your guide. Recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Ativan"
MPEG Stream: "Winter Vacation"

B.SON Black Shape Of Nexus (Vendetta) cd 17.98
A while back we listed a super limited lp from these German doomlords (we still have a couple left, but after those are gone, the vinyl version is gone gone gone), a record that completely and utterly kicked our asses. Now it's available on cd, and it includes not only the tracks from the lp, but also, their tracks from a recent vinyl only split with Crowskin, another German doom/drone/sludge combo we have yet to hear...
As for the sound of B.Son, well, by now, you must all realize how much we at aQ love us some ultra doom, some seriously sick slowness, you know, that doooooom, that is so glacial, that the songs begin to crumble and ooze into viscous black pools. We do. But sometimes we just want our doom to ROCK. Sounds contrary but it's been known to happen. Doom can be slow and low and still rock. Take B.Son for example. Whose particular brand of doomic energy is drawn from bands like Harvey Milk, Karp, The Melvins, godheadSilo, more a sort of downtuned propulsive sludge with doom elements, than pure doom. But goddamn if it isn't just as brutal and heck, doomy...
Thick ropy buzzbass, pounding destructo drums, throaty howls, grinding guitars, all lurching and swaying like some drugged and demented superrock doombeast, all filtered through a bit of grinding screamo and some buzzed out metallic blackness. There are moments of blisssed out post rockiness, and weird laid back grooves, stretched out near ambience and dense little mathy jams, but those moments just serve to keep the doomed sludge rock fury from becoming too much.
Produced by James Plotkin. The cd is packaged in a golden metal fold open cd box (much like the last Caacrinolas) with a full color, four panel, thick paper insert.
MPEG Stream: "IV"
MPEG Stream: "III"

BACHDENKEL Lemmings (Ork) cd 17.98
Several cool things about this newly reissued album, originally released in 1973 (recorded in 1970). First, it's called Lemmings. Who doesn't have a soft spot for those doomed little critters? And then there's the cover art, a black and white drawing depicting a flood of rather spooky looking lemmings, under a starry night sky, with an owl hovering ominously above... But most importantly, the music! The music on Lemmings makes it a bit of a cult classic in the annals of British prog rock. Darkly melancholic, super melodic and gentle, yet quite powerful too, as the guitarist occasionally lets loose with some really tasty, acid psych soloing... the warm vocals are another strong suit, both feeding into emotional epics, songs of alienation (as Lemmings is subtitled) and Eastern-influenced hippie philosophy.
Bachdenkel began as a Birmingham UK psych pop outfit called The U NO Who. They then changed their name to the much more you-don't-know-who Bachdenkel, and finding little success in England, hove off to France where they could really indulge themselves in going fully prog, though they never lost their knack for the '60s psych pop side of things, reminding us sometimes of AQ faves Kaleidoscope, with the heavier edge of a T2 or NSU.
Maybe 'cause they were based in France, and did their own unique untrendy thing, focussing on songs more than flash, they remained fairly obscure, but this album (the first of two, the second of which, Stalingrad, we've yet to hear) is nonetheless worthy of consideration as a prog masterpiece, up there with the much better known likes of early King Crimson.
Reissued by Ork, a division of Cherry Red, this disc is has been remastered by original producer Karel Beer, and features 3 bonus tracks including an unreleased single from 1969. Also, the cd booklet is stuffed with liner notes and photos detailing the whole Bachdenkel story.
MPEG Stream: "Translation"
MPEG Stream: "An Appointment With The Master"
MPEG Stream: "The Settlement Song"

BASS COMMUNION Pacific Codex (Equation) cd+dvd 30.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
As much as we tried, and we have, we could just never get that into Porcupine Tree. And before you flood us with emails, we tried, we really did. And it's not that it's bad or anything, just not our cup of tea. Steven Wilson's other project though, Bass Communion is a whole 'nother story. Bass Communion as a project explores worlds of deep deep low end, a literal bass communion, how could it not appeal to the aQ drone obsessed?
This release was outrageously limited, and thus we ended up getting only a fraction of the copies we ordered (as in 17 copies is all we have) so we won't go into too much detail, just know that if you want one, best act fast.
Originally Pacific Codex was intended to be released on vinyl, but apparently the notes were so low and the bass so heavy and intense, that they could not be fully realized on vinyl, so the project was reimagined as a cd / dvd release as those digital formats could in fact handle the deep tones. And deep they are. This is some seriously deep, low end sound. At low volumes, much of it is barely audible, at high volumes, the room literally shakes, and the woofers vibrate so intensely the papers on the desk next to the speakers flutter and are blown across the table top. Woah.
And we love bass. We know you do too, so this is like the ultimate low end document, huge billowing metallic shimmers, deep rib cage rattling rumbles, melodies rendered in slow motion, transformed into glacial smears, the feeling is that of being underwater, but WAY underwater, maybe several miles below the surface, everything inky black, save for a few glowing fish, and stray bits of light that somehow made it down from the surface.
What else to say, drone obsessives will lose their mind over this. Imagine cranking your favorite most minimal Lustmord record with the bass cranked to 10 and the treble down to zero. This is the sort of record you don't hear as much as you feel. And yeah, it's minimal sure, but the low end is maximal, threatening to split your stereo right down the middle like some beautiful seismic serenade.
The accompanying dvd is dvd-AUDIO (5.1 surround), so don't try watching it, it's just a black screen, but it is sort of the perfect visual representation of the music within.
Two discs, one cd, one dvd, both housed in a deluxe gatefold sleeve, with a full color perfect bound cd sized book filled with gorgeous textural photos of the sea and sky, a printed insert card on super thick textured paper each one hand numbered, all housed in a heavy gauge box / slipcase.
Again, we only have a handful, so when these are gone we will NOT be able to get more as it's already out of print at the label.
MPEG Stream: "Pacific Codex 1 (excerpt)"
MPEG Stream: "Pacific Codex 2 (excerpt)"

BELONG Colorloss Record (St. Ives) lp 13.98
Belong are just one of many new bands exploring the sound of decay. The sound of music within murk, the sound of pop, melted down and smeared into shapeless forms. For a while there it seemed like every band was lacing their delicate pop with bits of glitch and electronic shimmer. To the point where ANY band, no matter what they sounded like originally, were suddenly 'experimental' with nothing but a bit of crackle and bleep added to the mix. A similar thing has happened lately, another movement has taken hold, of bands burying their sounds under distorted drones, blistering feedback, bleary eyed shimmer, oceans of crackle, sounds pulled apart and layered into strange organic ambient blurs. We're not complaining though, we've long been proponents of distressed sound. The more distressed and heavy and fucked up and crackly and distorted the better. The problem lies in the fact that a movement usually entails everyone and their brother suddenly wanting to sound like whatever band or sound is 'happening' at the moment. SUNNO))) spawned a legion off doomdrone combos, and these movements are not all that different.
A band, be they pop or metal or whatever, can wrap everything in buzz and distortion and suddenly whatever genre they were can get hyphenated with the suffix GAZE, or alternately, a band can blur everything, slow it down, make it muddier and murkier and dronier, and voila, become a doomdronewhatever outfit.
But with all these things, it's not as easy as the truly amazing artists make it sound. And this becomes evident on almost first listen. Anyone can plug their guitar into a laptop, but no one can create gauzy gristly soundscapes like Fennesz. Anyone can tune way down and let their guitars ring out, let riffs crumble to pieces, but it takes more than that to make something a compelling listen.
From the very first listen to Belong's last full length, October Language, we knew these guys were special. They were one of those bands who had the sound down, but were using the sound to create glorious sonic worlds of their own invention. Not aping anyone else's sounds, merely absorbing elements, and transforming them into something new, and distinctly Belong. And the other thing about Belong, was they weren't just making beautiful noise, they were writing songs, that were infused with beautiful noises, sometimes obfuscated by them, but there was always a song, a melody, never just sound for sound's sake.
This new four song ep takes things even further, by being about someone else's songs. Reinventing, reimagining, reinterpreting the sounds of four different artists, and making them all sound like they could have come from nowhere else than this mysterious entity known as Belong.
The first might be the best of the bunch, and it's no coincidence that it's the most song-y. A Syd Barrett cover, via the somewhat more obscure Cleaners From Venus, "Late Night" in the hands of Belong becomes an epic sweeping cinematic warped record spinning underwater, on the surface of some alien moon, beneath the warm glow of twin suns. Soaring vocals, gorgeous melodies, all beneath a thick churning lush wall of crumbling, shimmering sound. Woozy and seasick, dizzying, dense and warm and absolutely gorgeous, it's almost like a more blurred and buzzed version of Oval, digital skipping replaced by indistinct slow motion riffage, everything gauzy and washed out. The other three tracks, covers of '60s psych pop songs by Tintern Abbey, Billy Nicholls and July, are even more ethereal, almost choral sounding, voices and streaks of sound drifting in a softly churning sea of hum and whir, and breathy blur. The final track a thick, viscous outro, the July original barely audible beneath a blown out swirl of creeping low end and free floating metallic flutter, somehow sounding heavy and intense, but laid back and soporific at the same time, eventually fading to a whispery hum. So good. Definitely one of our favorite groups exploring the world of distressed / decayed / deconstructed / dreamy / dronelike sound.
SUPER LIMITED! ONLY 300 COPIES!! Each one hand made by the group using recycled sleeves.
MPEG Stream: "Late Night"
MPEG Stream: "My Clown"

BIXOBAL Number 2 January 2008 (Ri Be Xibalba) magazine 2.00
Seems that our pal Eric Lanzillotta (former proprietor of Anomalous Records) is serious about this 'zine publishing venture. Issue one of Bixobal appeared just three or four short months ago, now here's the equally interestin' issue number two, again a bargain at two bucks. It's a digest-sized black and white 55 page xeroxed affair, crammed with cool things to read if you're into stuff along the lines of experimental drone, free improv, and international exotica. Based in the Pacific Northwest, Bixobal's got various folks from Sun City Girls/Climax Golden Twins axis on board as contributors. Contents this ish include among other things Part II of Sir Richard Bishop's Indian travelogue, interviews with avant vocalist Phil Minton and electronic musician Robert Haigh, an article about the whys and wherefores of collecting "bad records" with advice about doing so, a Rob Millis essay about the wondrous "talking machine", and a hilarious rant from cranky old Uncle Jim taking music journalism to task for the overuse of certain words, like "jangly" and "soundscape" (good thing we're careful never ever to use such terms, ha!). Plus then there's 24 densely packed pages of music reviews, from Angelblood to Zashiki Warashi. Plenty of readin' here to entertain and inform the average AQ customer for sure!

BLACK COBRA Feather And Stone (At A Loss) cd 13.98
Two man heavy riff-machine Black Cobra return with another pummeling release on At A Loss. Picking up right where Bestial left off, Feather And Stone shreds from the start. Brutally punishing circular riffs, heavy as all hell doomy moments, throat ripping screams, and incredibly hard hitting and precise drums. The fact that this massive sound comes from two fellas is pretty damn amazing. The album has all kinds of peaks and valleys. Amidst the constant time signature shifting, and brain-burning riff heavitude, there are a couple of beautifully dark intros and outros thrown in, giving the album a very balanced feeling. But it's mostly just crushingly heavy and ripping. If you can imagine a heavier, much more misanthropic Karp, that's kind of what they remind us of. Feather And Stone is a must for anybody needing a little taste of thrashing triumphant, sometimes doomy and dark, sometimes fast and techy, but always heavy and punk as fuck ROCK music. It tastes good. This is also an enhanced disc, including some pretty righteous footage of the Cobra ripping at Roadburn! Proving these guys really are that HEAVY, even with just the power of two! For fans of Cavity, Karp, Floor, Torche, and things that kill shit!
MPEG Stream: "Five Daggers"
MPEG Stream: "Ascension"

BLUE SABBATH, BLACK CHEER / ANAKRID s/t (Black Horizons / Steronucleosis / PsychForm) lp 14.98
The return of Blue Sabbath Black Cheer. This time teaming up with fellow low end noisemakers Anakrid. For this tag team effort, each band gets a side, and uses mostly the other band's sound as source material. We weren't able to tell which side was which, but they were both awesome, and because of the cross pollination, either side could have come from either band.
The A side is a dark stuttery dronescape, bits of hiss and static, fluttering lowend synth, some sort of moody minimal new wave, a cinematic drone with a subtle underlying beat, murky and propulsive, creepy and throbbing, sounding not unlike Wolf Eyes recording for Kompakt. A buzzing lo-fi doomdrone black ambient sort-of techno maybe? Whatever it is, it's killer.
The flip side is more post industrial drone, a bleak barren soundscape, peppered with crumbling rhythmic crunch, all manner of grinding metallic whirs, deep ribcage rattling rumbles, almost like some slowed down caveman krautrock, blinding streaks of feedback melted into soft smears and strewn over boiler room hiss and no-radio-reception static, the track morphs into something much more lovely, a beautifully subdued percussive outro, but peppered with sharp bursts of demonic growls or thunder cracks or slowed down bullwhip cracks, or all three woven into super creepy blasts of harsh weirdness, made even more so by the beautiful drift lurking beneath.
Gorgeously packaged. Thick plastic sleeves, printed vellum inserts, the record pressed on thick coke bottle clear vinyl, the ink black and metallic silver. So nice.
LIMITED TO 324 COPIES!!

BORIS Statement (Southern Lord) 7" 3.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
New Boris record. We toyed with the idea of just leaving it at that. Three simple words. Certainly enough to produce a frenzy of adding to cart and buy-button mashing. For Boris obsessives, the above should indeed be enough. Hop to it. NEW BORIS RECORD!!! It's limited. Of course. Colored vinyl. And if you don't buy one now you'll be shelling out $50 for it a few months down the line on eBay. But you knew that already.
For the rest of you, and in the interest of the folks who still want to know what it might sound like before they pull the trigger, allow us to continue the review forthwith:
Two tracks, both short and sweet. One from the forthcoming new album Smile, one exclusive to this here 7" (and perhaps a forthcoming import 12"), but for the collector or completist inclined among you, again,the B side will not be on the album.
The A side is pretty killer, fans of Boris' Pink will feel right at home. A serious Kiss like riff, some cowbell, and then some ridiculously blown out in the red acid psych lead guitar. It's weirdly lo-fi sounding, but still fierce, and if the band sounds a bit fuzzy and muddy, the leads sound like Wata is IN your headphones, ramming her guitar straight into your ears. It's pretty amazing actually. The music is a wild wooly garage metal stomp, tons of FX, wah wah, the vocals though are a bit of surprise. Weirdly poppy. Double tracked. Super melodic, almost sing-along-able. But it's all about the riffy groove and those impossibly acidic guitar freakouts. WOW.
The flipside, "Floor Shaker", starts out all ambient and shimmery, slow groovy guitars, eventually the track kicks in and we're in some seriously poppy territory, the vocals soaring and melodic, it almost sounds like some lost grunge band, that sort of punky riffage wrapped around pop hooks, near the end of the track it gets all weirdly distorted, but it's kind of an exciting new direction, some sort of metallic grunge pop. Looking forward to hearing Smile now for sure.
The packaging as always is over the top. Yellow vinyl, yellow inner sleeve, the band in full glam mode on the cover, all glamour poses and teased hair, inside, Wata reclining on a little Orange amp, facing a MASSIVE stack with THREE cabinets, and THREE heads. A total Japanese psych freek guitar geek pin up if there ever was one.
Again, super limited, only 3000 copies worldwide, we got tons, but as with most Boris stuff, these are gonna fly out of here. Which also means ONLY ONE PER CUSTOMER!!!

BRETHREN OF THE FREE SPIRIT All Things Are From Him, Through Him And In Him (Audiomer) cd 22.00
Brethren indeed. This is the work of two consummate stringed instrument manipulators working in the improvised avant-folk idiom... Brother #1, from England, AQ fave James Blackshaw (who just blew us away with an amazing solo instore performance two weeks ago!), a dexterous master of the 12 string guitar. Brother #2, from Belgium, Renaissance lute player Jozef Van Wissem (who was also recently scheduled for an AQ instore alongside his pal Tetuzi Akiyama but unfortunately had to cancel due to a bad cold or flu). Van Wissem has received acclaim from us and others for his solo recordings incorporating electronics and field recordings alongside his innovations on classical lute improvisation.
Together, it's a perfect pairing, Blackshaw and Van Wissem conjuring a delicately dense intertwining of forward-flowing fingerpicked minimalist melodies... stately spiritual praises that are all instrumental but for a brief Current 93ish spoken coda to track one, "...The Lifting Of The Veil". And track three, "How The Unencumbered Soul Advises That One Not Refuse The Calls Of A Good Spirit", is more of an electrically-charged, expansive soundscape of moody string-strike. Electronics, "tennis edits" (??) and the "feline vocals" of one Bun Bun are also woven into the mix with Blackshaw's 12 string and Van Wissem's baroque lute.
To sum up: alchemical loveliness, utterly mesmeric! Really our only complaint about this is also a compliment: at just under a half hour total (28:39), we wish it were longer! The trance-like reveries this induces are too soon interrupted unless we set our cd player on repeat... (not an option with the super-limited vinyl version of this of course.) That's right, the lp version is LIMITED TO 330 COPIES. Whereas the cd is limited to a mere 1000. And we only have a few of the vinyl...
MPEG Stream: "...The Lifting Of The Veil"
MPEG Stream: "All Things Are From Him, Through Him And In Him"

BRETHREN OF THE FREE SPIRIT All Things Are From Him, Through Him And In Him (Audiomer) lp 30.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Brethren indeed. This is the work of two consummate stringed instrument manipulators working in the improvised avant-folk idiom... Brother #1, from England, AQ fave James Blackshaw (who just blew us away with an amazing solo instore performance two weeks ago!), a dexterous master of the 12 string guitar. Brother #2, from Belgium, Renaissance lute player Jozef Van Wissem (who was also recently scheduled for an AQ instore alongside his pal Tetuzi Akiyama but unfortunately had to cancel due to a bad cold or flu). Van Wissem has received acclaim from us and others for his solo recordings incorporating electronics and field recordings alongside his innovations on classical lute improvisation.
Together, it's a perfect pairing, Blackshaw and Van Wissem conjuring a delicately dense intertwining of forward-flowing fingerpicked minimalist melodies... stately spiritual praises that are all instrumental but for a brief Current 93ish spoken coda to track one, "...The Lifting Of The Veil". And track three, "How The Unencumbered Soul Advises That One Not Refuse The Calls Of A Good Spirit", is more of an electrically-charged, expansive soundscape of moody string-strike. Electronics, "tennis edits" (??) and the "feline vocals" of one Bun Bun are also woven into the mix with Blackshaw's 12 string and Van Wissem's baroque lute.
To sum up: alchemical loveliness, utterly mesmeric! Really our only complaint about this is also a compliment: at just under a half hour total (28:39), we wish it were longer! The trance-like reveries this induces are too soon interrupted unless we set our cd player on repeat... (not an option with the super-limited vinyl version of this of course.) That's right, the lp version is LIMITED TO 330 COPIES. Whereas the cd is limited to a mere 1000. And we only have a few of the vinyl...
MPEG Stream: "...The Lifting Of The Veil"
MPEG Stream: "All Things Are From Him, Through Him And In Him"

BROTHERS OF THE OCCULT SISTERHOOD Odalisque At Secret Vortex (Akoustic Desease) cd-r 13.98
More mysterious and otherworldy sounds from our favorite Australian free folk brother / sister duo, and it sounds just as good as ever. Their sound is still like a down under cousin to the foresty folk of Finnish groups like Avarus and Anaksimandros, which makes a lot of sense since both groups end up releasing records on many of the same labels.
This is BOTOS's first release for Italian cd-r label Akoustic Desease (another AD release, Siddhi, is reviewed elsewhere on this list) and it's a beaut. Mixing soft shimmery strum, convoluted glitched out electronic stutter, dark ominous drones, tribal rhythms, abstract ambience into a sprawling exploration of lost sonic rituals and stumbling noise making free for alls.
The percussion is mostly found (at least it sounds that way), clanks and clunks, rattles and scrapes, here and there some actual drumming surface, but even then it's simple and muted, various strings buzz and creak and scrape, bits of twang, atonal strum, detuned chords, all wound into stretched out melodic tangles, above it all, flutes flutter, horns moan and whistle, it's all gloriously ramshackle, the vibe is a bunch of folks gathered around a pile of noisemakers, in the shade of a big tree beneath a blue sky and Summer sun. It's not at all dark or creepy or ominous, it's more festive and celebratory, voices drift in and out, chimes tinkle, bells ring, drums skitter, occasionally everything locks into a distinct groove, sounding almost like some skeletal krautrock, but for the most part, the sound meanders and drifts, lazy and lost, laid back and content, carefree and happy.
Housed in an oversized ultra thick fold over cardstock sleeve, the cd affixed to a nub inside, LIMITED TO 116 COPIES, each one hand numbered!!
MPEG Stream: "I See The Buddha In Your Eyes"
MPEG Stream: "Humming Key"

CHALK, ANDREW & DAISUKE SUZUKI The Days After (Faraway Press) cd 24.00
Chalk and Daisuke Suzuki have known each other for many years now, as Suzuki runs the Siren label out of Japan and had released Sumac, Chalk's masterful collaboration with Jonathan Coleclough. Suzuki is also responsible for one of the very few published interviews with the somewhat reclusive Chalk. Their friendship certainly runs deep, and out of this friendship came the impetus to collaborate once again (both Suzuki and Chalk had contributed to the now defunct Ora project well over a decade ago). Slippery drones open the album, declaring that Andrew Chalk is definitely a principle author of this album and mimicking many of the fog-enveloped sounds that Chalk brought to Mirror's Eye Of The Storm. While these sounds quiver like a distant mirage out on the open desert for a passage of time that could be 5 minutes or it could be 25, the long-string drones begin to separate into a series of alien plucks which bear more than a passing resemblance to the expressionist poetics of Keiji Haino at his most introspective. Echoes and vibrations of these plucks ripple underneath in the shadowy reflection pool of echo and shimmer. As the album progresses, the enveloping opiated drone wrapping around cold, cold, cold field recordings of arctic winds racing across a seashore becomes the center piece, reflecting just how good Andrew Chalk's sounds are. Lo and behold, it's another excellent Andrew Chalk record.
MPEG Stream: "Kasuri"
MPEG Stream: "Flaxen"

DEAD LETTERS SPELL OUT DEAD WORDS A Line : Align (Mystery Sea) cd-r 17.98
This is the first time we've reviewed anything by Swedish dronescaper Thomas Ekelund, aka Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words, which is weird as folks around here are big fans. It's not for lack of releases, he's been pretty prolific, it just one of those things, so many releases, artists, records, so little time.
Well, we aim to change that all right now, with this, the latest from Ekelund, a limited cd-r released on night-ocean-drone label Mystery Sea, and Ekelund's sounds here sound right at home. Three looooong tracks, the first, ultra minimal, it takes minutes to get going, but once it does, it's a fantastic expanse of ultra minimalism, so minimal in fact that much of it borders on Francisco Lopez territory. But turn it up, and listen close, and Ekelund's soundworld will reveal itself to you. A washed out murmur, peppered part way through with footsteps, the sound of metal on metal, some sort of random field recording, of men working, the clang and clatter overshadowing the whispery sounds beneath, but by the end of the first track, those whispery sounds have built into growling swells, thick smears of muted melody, crumbling and almost industrial sounding when paired with the grind and creak of the workmen.
The second track starts off in a similar fashion, strange super close mic'd sounds, thumps and scrapes, crinkles and cracks, over a super busy microscopic dronescape, all hisses and whirs and little bits of almost invisible melody, but it doesn't take long for that track to also swell into something dense and thick, high end tones rest atop a pulsing sea swell like drone, the low end fading out leaving a strangely dreamy high end shimmer, eventually fading out and leaving just those strange clunks and scrapes and that whirling swirling whisper beneath.
The closing track is a continuation of track two, in fact, they all sort of fit together into one sprawling soundscape, but the closer remains murky and minimal, a subtle scraping floating on a thick, but soft and smeared low end rumble, it's only in the last minute or two that other sounds join in, strange twinkles and glimmers, like laying on the ocean floor and watching bits of sunlight slowly make their way through the swirling blue grey sea.
Amazing packaging too, full color tray card, numbered, the booklet a half booklet, leaving half of the cd face exposed. Very striking.
And as always LIMITED TO 100 COPIES.
MPEG Stream: "At Keiller's Park (Summer 2006)"
MPEG Stream: "At Keiller's Park (Fall 2007)"

EARTH The Bee Made Honey in the Skull of the Lion (Southern Lord) cd 14.98
Our beloved Earth return, and continue to move ever farther away from their pioneering slowmotion riffage, into a world much more stately and elegiac. A sound that more and more resembles A Cormac McCarthy novel rendered in notes and chords. In fact, some forward thinking movie exec, might consider having the modern incarnation of Earth score the next (inevitable) McCarthy movie adaptation. Blood Meridian? Would be pretty amazing. And almost overkill. As the sound of Earth evokes all of those images all on its own. The heat rising off sunbaked desert highways, animal carcasses beneath leafless tress, carrion circling overhead, old farmhouses burnt out and abandoned. The sky thick with a haze of campfire smoke, a dusty path stretching out forever into the horizon.
The sound on Bees is not a huge departure from Hibernaculum, more a subtle progression. The first track sounds as if since the last record, the fields have grown more fallow, the creek dried up, the youngest passed away and is buried in the backyard, beneath a pile of stones so the coyotes don't dig her up, the factory in town closed down, everything quietly and sadly fading away, leaving nothing but ghost towns and weed choked fields.
But the music on Bees, is not all as dour as that, it's also strangely hopeful, glimmers of sunlight through the slowly parting clouds, the chords major, the melodies, sweeping and majestic, it's hard with Earth to not think in cinematic terms, like coming over the hill to discover a verdant valley, a rushing river, and cows grazing, fattened on the bounty of the land.
The guitars on Bees are thick and full, but not distorted or heavy really, just massive, paired up with piano, and organ, thick ropy bass, leaving plenty of space, lots of drift and shimmer, the drums not so much a pound as a soft insistent shuffle, the music moving in waves, like a heavier Low playing country music, or Godspeed slowed way down, darkened and simplified. Earth is now a four piece and it shows, the sound is definitely more expansive and sprawling, cinematic and subtly complex. They're even augmented by jazz guitarist Bill Frisell on a few tracks.
Fans already know they need this (and probably already have it), but folks who have yet to check out Earth, or found their doomdrone trailblazing unappealing, might really dig this, as might fans of the Dirty Three, Calexico, Friends Of Dean Martinez and other outfits who traffic in the twangier strains of dark dolorous slowcore.
Cool cover art by Arik Roper, housed in a gorgeous black slipcover, letterpressed and printed in gold metallic ink.
MPEG Stream: "Omens And Portents I: The Driver"
MPEG Stream: "Rise To Glory"
MPEG Stream: "Miami Morning Coming Down II (Shine)"

ELEMENTAL CHRYSALIS, THE The Dark Path To Spiritual Expansion (Glass Throat Recordings) 2cd 23.00
Finally, the return of the Elemental Chrysalis, the duo of Chett Scott (aka Ruhr Hunter, he also runs Glass Throat Recordings) and James Woodhead, who were responsible for The Calocybe Collection, one of our favorite discs of 2005. A sprawling woodlandscape of dark ominous dronemusick and fluttery forest folk. It's been 3 years but once you hear The Dark Path To Spiritual Expansion, you'll understand what took so long.
A gorgeously packaged double disc set, looooooong tracks, four songs on each disc, the shortest clocking in at 7:32, the longest at 26:55. Gone is much of the drone, leaving their sound much more folky, the focus on the strings, plucked and strummed, buzzing and humming, the sound a mysterious mystical crawl, foresty, funereal, dark and dolorous and dreamlike.
The first nearly 15 minutes of the opening track consist of the same acoustic melody, repeated over and over, like some magical mantra, and it works somehow, the repetition trancelike, the subtle variations, propelling the track forward. Eventually, the track spreads out, the vocals ghostly moans, the strums become more abstract, the sound underpinned by haunting shimmers and whirs.
While these guys do get lumped in with the free folk or freak folk of forest folk movements, on The Dark Path, they are definitely something more akin to classic seventies folk. It could be some lost disc from a mysterious UK hippy commune in 1971. Opening for Comus and The Incredible String Band. This is some serious Wickerman shit. But without all the silliness or overt weirdness. The Elemental Chrysalis have created timeless folkmusic. A sort of foresty country music. Bits of twang definitely inform the band's dark wistful threnodies. The pace is lugubrious, the sound is sprawling and soporific, the voices drawled to the extent that they often sound like just another instrument. And the instrument list again is extensive and massive, a handful we'd never even heard of, but the band don't do the usual, everything and the kitchen sink, instead, they are employed subtly and judiciously, so much that you could be forgive for believing it to be just voice and guitar and a bit extra ambience. There are a few moments, especially on the second disc, where the band stretch out and craft some serious sonic soundscapes, but even then, they tend to drift above that same gorgeous forest floor folk flutter.
A gorgeously languorous countrified folk flecked slowcore, that will no doubt appeal to all the various folks mentioned above, but should also appeal to fans of later Earth, and anyone into dark beauty and haunting musical mystery.
Fantastic packaging, an oversized thick cardstock 6 panel fold over sleeve, green and black, stunning cover art, linernotes and credits, the cds mounted on nubs on two of the panels...
MPEG Stream: "In Through A Desert Door Of A Wooded Heart"
MPEG Stream: "Procession Of Burning Flowers"
MPEG Stream: "Hehaka"

FENNESZ Transition (Touch) 7" 8.98
The master returns. To teach the young ones a thing or two about the guitar. And about turning that guitar into something wholly other.
It's been a while since we've heard from Christian Fennesz, but thankfully, very little has changed, he can still take a guitar and a laptop and create a dense world of dreamlike shimmer, with a deftness that puts most other soundmakers to shame. So here's a brief two song taste of what Fennesz has been up to lately. And if this single is any indication, the upcoming full length is going to be the drone-y dreamy disc of the year!
But for now, we'll take these two, and just play them over and over. The A side finds the guitar completely transformed into muted smears, the overall sound a shifting sea of corrosive crumbling distortion, but rendered in breathless whispers and washed out hues. The metallic thrum is spread out into soft shimmers, a murk that would almost sound industrial if it wasn't so pretty.
The flipside is more guitar oriented, a steel string acoustic, the melodies branching out in simple softly strummed strands, a skeletal framework for swirls of soft hiss and chunks of fragmented melody drifting by like leaves on a forest stream. The sound is like some simple folk music, broadcast via a staticky short wave radio, but beneath the guitar, and the dreamy hiss, are lush, stately swells melodic and cinematic, that infuse the track with a dark, but sweetly sorrowful elegiac quality. Gorgeous.

FORGOTTEN WOODS Sjel Av Natten (No Colours) lp 19.98
Now available on vinyl! It's pricey because of the terrible exchange rate and overseas shipping for heavy heavy vinyl, but it's worth it, it's Forgotten Woods!
Before all you Forgotten Woods fanatics freak out the way we did when we first saw this, let us say that most of this disc IS included in the still available Baklengs Mot Stupet 1992-1996 triple cd set. But don't stop reading, there is definitely still a good reason to pick this up, even if you have the 3cd set. There are basically two possibilities for wanting to own this, a brand new reissue of Sjel Av Natten. Either you're a newbie, who wants to check out FW, but doesn't want to drop $25. Although we can pretty much guarantee, that once you wrap your ears around this you WILL want everything you can get your hands on. Or, you already own the set, but desperately need every bit of Forgotten Woods there ever was, and the fact that this record contains two exclusive, unreleased FW jams is enough to send you scooting toward the buy button.
For the newbie, let's explain the wonder and allure that is Forgotten Woods (we'll get to the extra tracks in a second):
So...what's the big deal you ask, why are these Forgotten Woods so unforgettable? Well, first off, and at first listen, this will definitely appeal to the whole raw, old-school, Nordic forest black metal necrocrowd. Really good grim stuff in the unholy spirit of classic Darkthrone and Burzum, but with that extra kinda inept, Benighted Leamsish fuckedupedness to it that of course makes us love it all the more. And, additionally and importantly, there's also always a strange, unexpected sort of poppiness underlying everything. As a friend (who also likes this band, and is a member of Thuja, the Blithe Sons, Buried Civilizations, the Skygreen Leopards and a bunch of other Jewelled Antler acts) put it, "man it's good...completely inept, like they're barely pulling it off, total 13-year-old-metal-kid-in-the-basement drums." So, this is most definitely the kind of black metal (like Benighted Leams, Xasthur, Lugubrum, Leviathan, Abruptum, Meads of Asphodel, Ved Buens Ende, and Sigh for example) that we have to recommend to all of our customers who are into (not-necessarily metal) weirdness.
So for the rest of you, the ones who already love and cherish their Forgotten Woods discs, there are indeed two unreleased tracks (three, if you count the weird 10 second spoken word outro), both incredibly raw, some sort of rehearsal or practice space recordings, but even in that form, maybe especially, they completely kick ass, heavy and stumblingly brutal, but with an incredible pop sensibility buried right below the surface. The second track has a definite Slinty Ved Buens Ende vibe, but both are amazing, proving that besides being grim and true, these guys, whether they realized it or not, were incredible songwriters as well. So recommended, as is the triple cd set (maybe even more so!).
MPEG Stream: "Untitled 1"
MPEG Stream: "Untitled 2"

FORGOTTEN WOODS The Curse Of Mankind (No Colours) 2lp 26.00
Finally, the last piece of the Forgotten Woods puzzle. We listed the amazing 3cd box Baklengs Mot Stupet 1992-1996 ages ago, and STILL we can barely keep it in stock. It collected most of the essential FW material, all of it mindblowing. Recently, one by one, the various releases included in the 3cd box have been getting reissued on vinyl. This, The Curse Of Mankind is the last one to hit wax, a bit prciey as the exchange rate sucks and overseas shipping on heavy heavy vinyl is steep, but it's a doozy. A massive double lp.
If you're new to the wondrous and cracked black world of Forgotten Woods, then read on...
Clearly this '90s Norwegian black metal band has a cult following! But just why are these Forgotten Woods so unforgettable? Well, first off, and at first listen, this will definitely appeal to the whole raw, old-school, Nordic forest black metal necrocrowd. Really good grim stuff in the unholy spirit of classic Darkthrone and Burzum, but with that extra kinda inept, Benighted Leamsish fuckedupedness to it that of course makes us love it all the more. And, additionally and importantly, there's also always a strange, unexpected sort of poppiness underlying everything, despite song titles like "Grip Of Frost" and "Dimension Of The Blackest Dark". As a friend (who also likes this band, and is a member of Thuja, the Blithe Sons, Buried Civilizations, the Skygreen Leopards and a bunch of other Jewelled Antler acts) put it, "man it's good...completely inept, like they're barely pulling it off, total 13-year-old-metal-kid-in-the-basement drums." That by itself would be enough to explain this band's appeal. But our sensibilities here at AQ are further stoked by the fact that the more you delve into these discs, the more you find yourself wondering just what the hell you're listening to...as Forgotten Woods mysteriously morphs by the third cd into something that sounds like jazz-inflected, naive indie-rock mopery, with clean jangly guitars that starts to sound like Felt or The Church or even Maher Shalal Hash Baz! Other tracks seem to echo The Cure, all slow and post-punkish... what a weird band! We can only wonder at what they thought they were doing, and wonder even more so at why they're so accepted by the grim black metal underground. It's the kind of black metal (like Benighted Leams, Xasthur, Lugubrum, Leviathan, Abruptum, Meads of Asphodel, Ved Buens Ende, and Sigh for example) that we have to recommend to all of our customers who are into (not-necessarily metal) weirdness.

FORMBY, RICHARD Vol. 1 (Mind Expansion) cd 12.98
Richard Formby is someone you are probably less familiar with than most of the bands he has worked with: Vibracathedral Orchestra, The Telescopes, The Jazz Butcher Conspiracy, Fuxa, Mogwai, Spaceman 3, Dean & Britta, The Pale Saints, Hood, the list goes on. Known mostly as a producer and remixer for the past twenty years, this is his first release as a musician, and we're surprised it's taken so long as this is really quite good. Part of a planned three volume set, Volume 1 is comprised of 8 instrumental compositions perfect for a blissful night-drive. From the motorik propulsions of "Karoli" (a memorium to Can's Michael Karoli),the minimalist groove of "Oscillate", the cinematic "Universi", and the wistful chamber pop of "Crater Ives" to the dreamy loping drones of the 20 minute final track, "The Church Bells at Filey". Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Karoli"
MPEG Stream: "The Seveneight"
MPEG Stream: "Crater Ives"

GHOST TO FALCO Like This Forever (Below PDX) cd 12.98
Anyone remotely familiar with aQ knows we've long had a soft spot for earthy, psych-tinged music that weaves its way along beautiful shadowy paths through the dewy glimmers and murky sludge. Well, here's something new that fits the bill and has been pleasing many an ear around here! We actually put a call out to these Portland, OR folks back in October to send some of their music down the coast. A few months have passed and here we are finally with cds in hand, and we think it was worth the wait! Heck, in the short time we've had Like This Forever in stock, in-store play has already been stirring up many many queries with at least one purchased each time it's spun.
Stormy waves of electric guitar distortion and reedy woodwinds crash upon one another, then melt into clear smooth bell chimes. Horns and piano also enter the fray that ebbs and flows around mainman Eric Crespo's emotive vocals that have been compared to those of Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes. As you listen you get a sense that Crespo and co. may have been raised on a balanced diet of Pink Floyd and Fleetwood Mac as well as Pavement and Slint. Yes, all the most nutritious and tastiest food groups! Recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Hopeless Or Not"
MPEG Stream: "The End"

GHOST TO FALCO Like This Forever (Below PDX) lp 12.98
Anyone remotely familiar with aQ knows we've long had a soft spot for earthy, psych-tinged music that weaves its way along beautiful shadowy paths through the dewy glimmers and murky sludge. Well, here's something new that fits the bill and has been pleasing many an ear around here! We actually put a call out to these Portland, OR folks back in October to send some of their music down the coast. A few months have passed and here we are finally with cds in hand, and we think it was worth the wait! Heck, in the short time we've had Like This Forever in stock, in-store play has already been stirring up many many queries with at least one purchased each time it's spun.
Stormy waves of electric guitar distortion and reedy woodwinds crash upon one another, then melt into clear smooth bell chimes. Horns and piano also enter the fray that ebbs and flows around mainman Eric Crespo's emotive vocals that have been compared to those of Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes. As you listen you get a sense that Crespo and co. may have been raised on a balanced diet of Pink Floyd and Fleetwood Mac as well as Pavement and Slint. Yes, all the most nutritious and tastiest food groups! Recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Hopeless Or Not"
MPEG Stream: "The End"

GNAW THEIR TONGUES Dawn Breaks Open Like A Wound That Bleeds Afresh (Universal Tongue) 3"cd-r 8.98
We almost missed out on this one completely. Limited to 100 copies or so, we tried to order 40 and were informed they only had a handful left. So we begged and pleaded, and the label agreed to press up 40 more copies just for us, and thus for you. Whew! Since we discovered this band we've become pretty obsessed. As have you all, judging from how quick we sell out of Gnaw records. They're heavy, they're super fucked up, it's not just black metal or sludge, it's some head spinning hybrid equal parts abstract industrial, ambient collageblasting blackness, hyperspeed grind, blackdrone, harsh and hellish, but strangely musical, their last record, the recently reviewed An Epiphanic Vomiting Of Blood (they have a knack for titles too) is pretty much a shoe in for record of the year. Have a look at that review for some serious gushing.
This 3 song ep, is GTT at their most black metal. The first two tracks, while laced with bits of orchestral grandeur, and blown out crumbling bliss, spend most of their time blasting away, but even then, there are bits of melodic flair here and there, the distortion is so thick and intense, the whole thing threatens to blur into some thick whirring drone, the opener has a killer breakdown groove, utterly majestic and epic, before flitting back to the black blast. The second track is another blackened monster, furiously thrashing and convulsing wildly, but it too is peppered with bits of glimmering effulgence, and a middle breakdown where distorted guitars are pitched up and allowed to shimmer ominously like some Bernard Hermann score, before the metal drops back in, transforming the track into a pummeling slow motion Godflesh style industrial dirge that eventually launches itself back into a furious burst of grim brutality.
The final track is the creepiest of the bunch, long drawn out synth drones, wavering ominously, wrapped in bis of whir and metallic buzz, samples distorted and effected drifting amidst the swirling black ambience, the moodiness eventually overtaken by a thick wave of white noise distortion and what sounds like voices screaming in terror, finally splintering into a hellish black frenzy.
Packaged in a mini 3" dvd-style case, with full color artwork, and pressed on a black cd-r. Limited to these 40 copies, once they're gone, might be tough to convince them to make us more again...
MPEG Stream: "Blood Drenched Altars"
MPEG Stream: "Knife... Martyr... Despair"

GRIS Il Etait Une Foret (Sepulchral Productions) cd 13.98
We loved the debut release from the band Niflheim, as much as you can love something that dark and dour and depressing and miserable, but love it we did. A crushing chunk of soul shearing Burzumic buzz, laced with strange drones, and bits of haunting ambience.
For some reason the band changed their name to Gris, and this, Il Etait Une Foret, is the first under the new monicker, but, it's actually the 2nd chapter in Gris/Niflheim's musical quest which is apparently meant to span seven volumes. But we're off to a pretty good startŠ
But with the name change, the sound has changed as well, pretty dramatically actually, but before we get into it, we feel that we have to preface the following with this disclaimer: we definitely get pretty hyperbolic about the music we love, proclaiming things the best ever, the most fucked of all time, the heaviest, but you know, there's nothing wrong with that really, cuz often, for that moment, whatever we're listening to really is. You're not playing things side by side, not comparing two records, you're letting a single record and the music within overwhelm you and engulf you and carry you away, so it's no wonder, that in the throes of that sort of listening, whatever that record is, it IS in fact for that moment the MOST. The great records are the ones that continue to be the most even on repeated listens.
Okay with that out of the way, this Gris record has some strange ineffable quality, some wondrous confluence of heaviness and prettiness, that in short order has quickly made it our most listened to and probably favorite black metal record of the year so far. It's not the heaviest, or the fastest, or the grimmest, but it is truly strange, beautifully unique, mournful yet majestic, depressive yet dreamy.
The sound is definitely Burzumic, a loping lurching almost midtempo buzz, the guitar super brittle and crunchy, the arpeggiated notes dripping with crumbling distortion, the vocals some of the most anguished we've heard, recalling Weakling for sure, as well as groups like Hekel and Malcuidant. A raspy near hysterical wail, always on the verge of cracking completely. The riffs are moody and melancholy, intense and emotional, often a second, acoustic, guitar, offers up a melodic counterpoint, giving the depressive dirge a strangely stately and classical vibe. The songs often burst into epic crescendos, the screams growing even more tortured, strings soaring, it's like a black metal opera, over the top and super intense, cinematic and totally heart wrenching. Rare is the band of any stripe, especially black metal, that is able to illicit that sort of response in the listener.
Some of the tracks are just acoustic guitar and drums, a loose skeletal framework, the vocals a howling banshee wail scrawled across the rhythms below, bursts of machinegun like double kick drum, soaring guitar leads, flurries of piano notes, those tracks occasionally erupting into walls of blasting buzzing neo classical blackness, but still rife with mournful melodies and strange sonic flourishes, choral vocals, drifting drones, but the core is this super intense, ultra moving heaviness that loses none of it's emotional impact even when it's furiously pounding away.
Other tracks find the piano picking out a sad melody beneath a crushing doomic plod, wrapped in yet more strings, and the vocals, continuing their harsh howling lament.
Then there's the closing track, a full on classical piece, none of that fake synth ambient classical bullshit, this is a dense chunk of modern classical, strings and piano, wound into tense melodies, weaving back and forth, creating an epic and moving coda, dark and evocative haunting and mysterious, gloriously emotional and so stirring and lovely.
Not sure what else to say, at the risk of slipping into hyperbole again (but you -were- warned!), this record is absolutely amazing, a definite contender for BM record of the year, and not only does it have already anxiously awaiting chapter three, it's got us all fired up to go back and revisit the first one as well. SO recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Il Etait Une Foret..."
MPEG Stream: "Le Gala Des Gens Heureux"
MPEG Stream: "Cicatrices"

GROWING Lateral (Social Registry) cd 9.98
Brooklyn-based ambient-drone duo Growing never fails to please the devoted. It could also easily be said that the duo has failed to truly diverge from their original starting point. Although, part of the charm of this sort of music is indulging in a process of creation that celebrates the difference and repetition within a given theme or concept; expanding or investigating a specific idea over a length of time. Thus, if you like Growing, you'll love this EP. All of the usual landmarks are here: a Nadja on opium meets some sort of Windy & Carl and Labradford hybrid, heavy filter manipulations, masked, aquatic tremolo and chorus leads, and full-on auto-pan attacks that completely embrace stereo dynamics. We've read that -- specifically within the ambient-drone scene -- Growing has been particularly reluctant to utilize computers, preferring to employ pedals and more organic looping techniques. Still, a quick listen to this release unearths enough digital-sounding distortion to make the listener wonder whether or not these two dronesters have finally caved in or not. Fans of long, drawn-out melodic landscapes or psychedelic explorations won't want to miss out on this one. Definitely recommended.
MPEG Stream: "First Contact"
MPEG Stream: "Lateral"

GROWING Lateral (Social Registry) lp 13.98
Brooklyn-based ambient-drone duo Growing never fails to please the devoted. It could also easily be said that the duo has failed to truly diverge from their original starting point. Although, part of the charm of this sort of music is indulging in a process of creation that celebrates the difference and repetition within a given theme or concept; expanding or investigating a specific idea over a length of time. Thus, if you like Growing, you'll love this EP. All of the usual landmarks are here: a Nadja on opium meets some sort of Windy & Carl and Labradford hybrid, heavy filter manipulations, masked, aquatic tremolo and chorus leads, and full-on auto-pan attacks that completely embrace stereo dynamics. We've read that -- specifically within the ambient-drone scene -- Growing has been particularly reluctant to utilize computers, preferring to employ pedals and more organic looping techniques. Still, a quick listen to this release unearths enough digital-sounding distortion to make the listener wonder whether or not these two dronesters have finally caved in or not. Fans of long, drawn-out melodic landscapes or psychedelic explorations won't want to miss out on this one. Definitely recommended.
MPEG Stream: "First Contact"
MPEG Stream: "Lateral"

GUAPO Elixirs (Neurot) cd 14.98
Prog nutters? These guys are, definitely. And be prepared to go prog nuts yourself for this new release from AQ-faves Guapo. This British band is now on Neurosis' Neurot label, after releases for (among others) Mike Patton's Ipecac and our own Andee's tUMULt. We've been fans of 'em for a long time, obviously, and are in good company! This new one is everything we'd expect from Guapo: extended, mostly instrumental cinematic symphonics, dark and moody, played with the virtuosity and verve of their '70s prog rock ancestors. Heck, I (Allan) played a 15 minute track from this, "King Lindorm", on my prog / krautrock radio show last night, Klaus To The Edge (www.westaddradio.com/klaus), and it fit right in perfectly alongside the '70s likes of Cornucopia and Gnidrolog!! Droning strings. Eastern melodies. Bombastic battery. Elegant eeriness.
Yet at this point, Guapo have developed their own sound to a degree where you can't just tag them as a retro proposition. Creatively, they're bringing their old school prog rock inspirations into the 21st century, and have refined their approach to a point where they have as much in common with modern post rock soundscapers as they do with the eccentricities of hoary prog heroes Magma.
As always, the duo of Daniel O'Sullivan (Fender Rhodes, piano, bass, guitars, harmonium, modular synthesizers, autoharp, voice, electronics -- whew!) and David J. Smith (drumkit, percussion) are their own veritable prog rock orchestra, though they do have occasional help from guests, including vocalist Jarboe from the Swans on one song. That'd be "The Selenotrope", one of two tracks originally from Guapo's tour-only Twisted Stems cdep, both of which are included here, and which we previously described as sounding something like a horror movie soundtracks scored by The Necks. (To Guapo fans who happen to already have Twisted Stems, we say no worries, you'll still be getting well over 40 minutes of brand new music on Elixirs too.)
All this proggy goodness comes wrapped up in a snazzy black & white artwork, packaged in a jewelcase with cardstock slipcase.
MPEG Stream: "Jewelled Turtle"
MPEG Stream: "Arthur, Elise, and Frances"

HOT CHIP Made In The Dark (deluxe) (Astralwerks) cd+dvd 17.98
In the last few years Hot Chip have made the transition from being a well kept electro-pop secret to one of the more popular bands in the world of indie/electro-rock. It's for good reason as they really found a refreshing way to tap into both the more interesting elements of electronic pop while also delivering jams that you can really shake your stuff too. Incorporating elements of indie rock, electronica, pop, and even sneaking some avant garde and experimental influences into their super catchy blend of music for the masses, a sound that doesn't pander but instead creates a super fun place where music lovers of all stripes and persuasions can come together for a super good time. Tapping into everything from OMD to Daft Punk, Prince to Gary Numan, Justin Timberlake to Soft Pink Truth. This is what the kids are going crazy for at the moment, and they could be doing lots worse cause Hot Chip are really good!
MPEG Stream: "Ready For The Floor"
MPEG Stream: "Don't Dance"

ICON Night Of The Crime (Rock Candy) cd 17.98
Most of the metalheads we know, especially ones with a soft spot for classic eighties metal, are unanimous in their love of Phoenix hard rockers Icon. Their first disc was an all time classic, super rocking, crazy catchy, hooks galore and a raspy vocalist with a voice that sounded quite a bit like Blackie Lawless from W.A.S.P., in fact the whole band was sort of a dead ringer for W.A.S.P., or early Great White even. One of those records we NEVER get tired of listening to. Both Allan and Andee rank it as one of their all time favorites.
Icon's follow up was this disc right here, finally given a super deluxe reissue treatment, by Rock Candy, the UK label that gave us killer reissues from the Sea Hags, Zodiac Mindwarp, the Plasmatics, Billy Squier, and now this, Night Of The Crime.
The liner notes call this "without doubt one of the greatest melodic hard rock records ever made," and while we might not go quite that far, it is pretty awesome. But be warned, it's way more AOR than hard rock a lot of the time, plenty of keyboards, some ballad-y bits. But the songs are all crazy catchy, and the hardest rockers, like "Raise The Hammer" and "The Whites Of Their Eyes" could easily have been outtakes from their first record.
The sound hovers somewhere between Whitesnake, Autograph that sort of poppy hard rocking eighties sound and more commercial fare like John Parr. But it's the hooks and the killer voice that makes this stand out. The songs stick in your head like crazy, and it's difficult to imagine why these guys weren't huge. The liner notes are packed with photos and stories, the band had some serious Behind The Music drama going on, it makes for a good read. But again, if you don't dig the sound of the eighties, poppy melodic radio ready hard rock, big hair, all that, you might not be able to get into this. Allan and Andee both love the first Icon desperately, but only Andee is willing to stand up for this one, but he stands proud, hair teased, spandex pants, bullet belt, Chuck Taylors, lots and lots of scarves, head banging to his heart's content.
MPEG Stream: "Raise The Hammer"
MPEG Stream: "The Whites Of Their Eyes"
MPEG Stream: "Rock My Radio"

INQUISITION Nefarious Dismal Orations (No Colours) picture disc lp 27.00
Finally availabe on vinyl! And not just any vinyl, super evil full color picture disc vinyl! Packged in a full color gatefold sleeve, the picture disc an eye popping detail of the bizarre oil painting on the cover. Sorta pricey cuz of the bad exchange rate and overseas shipping, but well worth it, after all, how else will all you vinyl obsessives be able to TOUCH THE MAGIC HOOF?!
Two years ago, we just about sold our souls to Satan in tribute to the glorious magnificence of this band's Magnificent Glorification Of Lucifer album. Allan's favorite black metal record of 2005 by far. Now this two-man cult is back with a new album for No Colours and we're sacrificing babies over here in celebration. Well not really but guitarist Dagon and drummer Incubus would probably like to hear that. And if anyone was gonna convince us through the power of stabbing riffage, flashing battery, and croaking vox that Satanism is the way to go, these are the dudes to do it!!
What makes the storming black metal of this Seattle duo so special? Certainly not just their love of Satan, though they do seem more sincerely devoted than most. No, they're just -different- from the hordes of hordes out there. For one thing, Dagon's vocals aren't the usual high-pitched anguished rasps, nor are they deathly grunts. They're more like droning crypt-creakings, layered and insidious, truly "nefarious dismal orations", an integral part of Inquisition's trance-inducing doomic atmospheres -- along with the varispeed velocity of their attack, seemingly simultaneously plodding yet blurred with speed. Then there's the RIFFS. You can't argue there. Inquisition understand old school heavy metal hookiness without being overtly retro, y'know? And this stuff oozes METAL as much as it gives off a sinister shine of actual originality and serious Satanic faith. Pure metalness plus weirdness (in the arcane, occult sense of "the weird"), yeah! We're spellbound. And what the heck is going on with the buried, backwards masked munchkinisms we think we're hearing at the end of the amazing title track?
Clearly Germany's No Colours, a label with lots of staggeringly excellent, evil bands, is well aware that Inquisition is indeed a cut above and deserving of special treatment. They've produced a limited edition initial run of this cd, a thousand copies packaged inside a black cardboard slipcase with a die-cut pentagram!! If that wasn't enough, there's also a full-colour poster folded up and inserted inside the slipcase too. We got a bunch of 'em but don't know how long these will last.
It would be wrong and misleading to say that this sounds like Om meets Watain, but somehow it we think it has the EFFECT of what such a indescribable hybrid would sound like. But if we did have to compare Inquisition on this album to anybody, we're reminded the most of good ol' Immortal. Recommended as if you couldn't tell already.
MPEG Stream: "Ancient Monumental War Hymn"
MPEG Stream: "Where Darkness Is Lord And Death The Beginnning"

ISUNGSET, TERJE Ice Concerts (All Ice) cd 16.98
The return of perhaps the world's only musician whose main instrument is in fact ICE. That's right, ice. Fashioned into percussive instruments and horns. Listening to this, we're once again completely baffled by how ice can be made to sound so, well, musical. The sound is like a gamelan, or a xylophone, some notes deep and rich, others delicate tinkles. And then there's the horns, fashioned from ice, their sound can range from high pitched whistle to conch shell moan. We've yet to see a performance in person, but he sounds here are so fantastical, and so compelling, we're beginning to think a trip to colder climes is definitely in order.
This particular disc, one of two new ones from musician and ice sculptor Terje Isungset, is a document of the very first ice music tour, 29 concerts performed in Norway and Japan and Norway. And the liner notes cleverly point out that "No concerts were cancelled due to bad weather". Each track is from a different performance, the liner notes explain what instruments were played on each track, ice percussion, icefon, icehorn or simply ice, and who accompanied Isungset and on what, flute, trumpet, sampler, vocals. In addition, the weather conditions during the recording of each track are recorded: "3 degrees below zero, no wind, aurora borealis", "6 degrees below zero, clear sky, no wind". So cool.
While there are accompanists on most of the tracks (Supersilent's Arve Henriksen shows up on many of the tracks), some of them just ice instruments, most of the rest feature ethereal female vocals. The results are soft and shimmery, the tones rich and resonant, a sort of wintery new age drift, it's not difficult to imagine Bjork getting Isungset to play on her next record, many of the vocalists do affect a similarly Bjork-like coo. But whatever else is going on, it's the magic and the mystery of the ice, and it's impossible not to be wowed by these sounds. When we play it in the store, people literally will not believe this is the sound of ice. Check out the sound samples and you'll see what we mean.
Dreamy, delicate, soft and sleepy, and very very beautiful.
And like the two ice music releases before it, Ice Concerts also boasts some of the most amazing packaging we have ever seen. The booklet and tray card are semi-transparent vellum, printed images of ice, the bubbles trapped inside the ice, in gorgeous deep blues, the whole thing wrapped in a thick slip cover made from a thick foggy semi transparent textured plastic, the front with various sized circles cut out like little bubbles, the edge cut away to reveal the cd's spine, which is filled with water, with tiny bubbles drifting back and forth, and yes, we mean ACTUAL water, in a little custom made vial, so perfect it does indeed look like the cd tray is full of water, just waiting to be frozen and played! So awesome!
MPEG Stream: "Dolosaigi"
MPEG Stream: "Kveldssong For Blakken"
MPEG Stream: "Contemplations"

LUMERIANS, THE Corkscrew Trepanation (Subterranean Elephants Recording Company) 12" 12.98
Well, it looks like the Wooden Shjips don't have the market cornered on sixties inspired drone drenched psychedelic drug rock after all. The Lumerians offer up their own take on modern psych with their debut ep, 5 songs, all of them looooong and gorgeously tripped out. Where as the Shjips seem to be channeling the Doors, the Lumerians take ? And The Mysterians, mix in some Fuzztones, and filter it through the sound of Spacemen 3 and Loop resulting in a mesmerizing, repetitive organ infused doped up hypnorock.
The second the opening track kicked in we were SOLD. Fuzzy blown organ, pounding simple drum beat, super sixties vibe, buzzy and trippy and druggy and totally divine. The vocals drawling over that relentless beat and that warm thick organ. Wooden Shjips fans will freak, and just might have found a new favorite local band.
The second track is just as cool, but way different, super minimal, almost jazzy, with muted percussion, subtle bass grooves, soft shimmery synths, very spacious (and space-y) and laid back, like a druggier more psychedelic Necks.
The B side is all slow lugubrious organ drenched crawl, shuffling drums, a wall of washed out buzz, with one track introducing some ethereal, blissed out female vocals, drifting weightless above the fuzzy groove, giving that track a serious shoegaze vibe.
Killer stuff. Super limited. Only 500 copies, each pressed on nice thick clear vinyl, housed in a plastic PVC jacket with a thick color cardstock insert, and comes with a code, so you can download MP3's for your iPod as well.

MAMALEEK s/t (self released) cd-r 6.98
We complain a lot about the glut of cd-r releases. The whole, "even my Mom has a cd-r out" (and yes, her new limited 3" cd-r will be out soon, ahem)Š The ease of recording and pressing up 50 copies, means that lots of stuff that maybe shouldn't get released does. Not everything recorded deserves to be released, and not everything played even deserves to be recorded. A serious lack of quality control for sure. But with the bad comes the good, and in this case, the good is often VERY good, and thus it's well worth slogging through all the shit, to get glimpses into some of the twisted creative musical minds, that otherwise might have toiled away in obscurity with no one but their housemate or mother (depending on the circumstances) hearing the amazing fucked up and far out sounds they've been creating.
It sometimes boggles our minds to think about the various songs and recordings, that due to lack of resource or technology, or even initiative, were lost forever, or were just never even recorded at all. We don't have that problem so much anymore (see above), but what it does mean is that folks who might be too timid to start a band, or too isolated to find likeminded folks, still have ways to create, to attempt to realize the sounds they hear in their heads.
And some of our favorite records of the last few years have been just that, random home recorded cd-r's produced not for cool points, or scene cred, but because the artists were driven to do so. The cd-r micro label is now a cottage industry, my Mom doesn't just have a new cd-r out, she also has her own labelŠ but that is still where we find the most vibrant and ultra personal music being made.
Mamaleek is a one man band from right here in SF, this is his long in the works debut and it's a killer, equal parts blissed out metalgaze, furious hyper grind, and buzzing ambient murk. In some ways, it's almost the perfect aQ record, bits and pieces of all the stuff we can't get enough of. But deftly assembled into something cohesive and pretty original. Nods to Jesu, Nadja, Xasthur, the Angelic Process, the usual suspects, but Mamaleek are definitely their own queer beast. The lo-fi recording adding to the murk and mystery, and of course the fuzzy blissy vibe.
The record opens with reverb drenched piano, lazy and laid back, all sepia toned and warm summer porch-ed, which makes the second track sound even more epic and massive. A crushing roiling slow motion riff, superdistorted and almost crumbling, the melodies in the distance soaring, the track shifts briefly into a blast of processed grind, before returning to its majestic trudge, sounding like Jesu, if Jesu still sounded like Godflesh. The track flips back and forth, slipping into a tinny, black ambient interlude halfway through, only to transform into a spacious almost math rock drift.
The rest of the record sort of slips easily between those two sounds, harsh washed out blackened bliss, often peppered with jagged sonic shards, and haunting drones, and murky ambience. The disc's centerpiece is the nearly 20 minute long "Shout On, Children", beginning with some straight up bluegrass guitar pickin', still muddy and lo-fi, some slippery slide and some fret buzz, but then, the programmed drums kick in, some gurgling demonic vocals, and then thick sheets of coruscating sunburnt guitar buzz, but that acoustic twang continues on right below the surface. But it never gets HEAVY, it just shifts between gradations of buzziness, murkiness and blur, some parts are wide open, a skeletal rhythm over smears of horn like synth and throbbing bass, other parts are gauzy, the guitar chopped into haunting pulses and layered over washed out whirs, and others incorporate operatic vocals and barely there shimmer, finally finishing off with a brief blast of ultra-lo-fi blackened metal.
The last four tracks lean toward metallic bliss, and pounding buzzing heaviness, the guitars thick and buzzy, the vocals a fierce growl, the drums simple and mechanical, everything whipped into pulsing waves of sound, occasionally coalescing into blasting blackness, but just as often, becoming unmoored, and drifting skyward the various riffs and beats spreading out like a sky full of black wraiths shot through with sunbeams.
Handmade packaging. Fold over cardstock sleeves, with paste on full color front and back images, and a printed insert on nice thick textured paper. LIMITED TO 100 COPIES!
MPEG Stream: "I Wish I Was Dead"
MPEG Stream: "Winter'll Soon Be Over"

MARBLEBOG Wind Of Moors (Tour De Garde) cd 11.98
Finally available again, the gorgeous all ambient second album from Hungary's Marblebog, who on other records (which we gushed about on past aQ lists) combined bits of ambient drone with their mournful black buzz, but for Wind Of Moors, they jettisoned all traces of metal completely, and in their place, crafted a gorgeous slow moving world of drifting melancholy ambience. Very krautrocky, and quite reminiscent of Klaus Schulze, Popol Vuh and the like, the opening track is soft and sun dappled, gentle muted bongos, beneath a constant low level raga like buzz, soft synth swells, shimmering streaks of ethereal whir, a gorgeous laid back sprawl of nearly new age mesmer.
The next track is even lighter and dreamier, chords smeared into shadows as they drift by, chords suspended in soft swirls of sound, the notes, floating weightless, a breathless whisper of a song.
The third track has a bit of muted propulsion, a gentle heartbeat like pulse, beneath some thick, but still soft, buzz, a gorgeous minor key melody played out in high end tones, draped over the droning blurred raga below, so completely entrancing and hypnotic. Slightly ominous, dark clouds drifting across a steel blue sky, but still, the vibe is more like a forest just before the storm, hauntingly calm but still slightly uneasy.
The final track is the darkest of the bunch, a creeping sonic fog, layered melodies, gauzy and shimmering, slowly drifting, casting dark shadows, filling the speakers with dead leaves and cold rain. A chilling, but mysteriously lovely bit of dreamlike sound.
MPEG Stream: "Waves Of Inner Seas"
MPEG Stream: "Gateless Gate Of Nothingness"

MILES DEVENS (IGNATZ) Atlantic Woman (Pacific City Sound Visions) cd-r 9.98
Elsewhere on this week's list you'll find the first release from the Monopoly Child Star Searchers, a Skaters side project that we have been digging like crazy, it's also the first release on a new cd-r label run by Spencer from The Skaters called Pacific City Sound Visions, mostly to release his Monopoly Child Star Searchers cd-r's, seeing as 4 of the first 5 releases are in fact his own records, but the 5th is by some mysterious entity called Miles Devens, which we later discovered was in fact another moniker for the fellow behind aQ faves Ignatz, which made perfect sense when we threw this one. And thus, this is essentially a new Ignataz record, two tracks of alien Appalachia and haunting ambient buzz.
Two tracks, each over twenty minutes long, but each, split into movements, separate songs woven together. The opener begins with haunting glimmering high end shimmer, soft sweet melodies, a sea of sparkle and upper register effulgence, strings buzzing, the track shifts into a sing songy little lullaby, all hushed vocals and tiny melodic curlicues, which are soon overtaken by some deep raga like buzz, a shimmering metallic whir laced with murmured melodies, a woozy warbly sprawl, which shifts again, and becomes a muted campfire hoedown, more hushed vocals, little flurries of acoustic twang, eventually giving way to a super distorted, lo-fi ballad, with mumbled vocals, angular guitar, and lots of gauzy reverb and delay.
The second track begins super spare, a lonely acoustic guitar, lots of room reverb, a slow hushed drift, dreamy and haunting. The second part is all frenzied guitar squiggle, like sped up Applachia, some drawled effected vocals, which gives way to a murky cloudy dreamy dronefolk drift, soft stately melodies, in a dense field of effects, vocals wrapped in reverb and allowed to float and flutter, the low end rolling off until the sound is like some alien shortwave broadcast, all twang and strum, but all treble, fading into a gorgeously murky swampy slow motion electronic drone outro.
MPEG Stream: "1"
MPEG Stream: "2"

MONADE Monstre Cosmic (Too Pure) cd 13.98
Oh, Latetitia Sadier you can sing in our ear anytime! Of course best known for her main groop, Stereolab, Sadier has also kept busy over the years with her project Monade, an outfit that leans much more toward the laid back elements of Stereolab. Monstre Cosmic finds Monade in top form, with rich and lush instrumentation, a range of tempos and of course Sadier's trademark suave vocals, in French and sounding so damn irresistible! The color palette that Monade's songs invoke are just as wide and dazzling as those of Stereolab with enough highs and lows to keep you on your toes but with just the right feeling of comfort to makes you want to just dive into these sounds and stay forever, and bask in their swirling melodies and groove filled charm. Like so much of her best work, we love how the songs unfold and reveal more of themselves with repeated listens. Monstre Cosmic sounds great on first listen but it's when you begin to get hooked and are listening over and over again that you really begin to fall in love with this batch of musical goodness. Laid back without being lazy, driving and catchy without being too perky. It's just the right ingredients mixed and made with total pop perfection. Highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Regarde"
MPEG Stream: "Tout En Tour Est Un"
MPEG Stream: "Lost Language"

MONOPOLY CHILD STAR SEARCHERS Gitchii Manitou (12 Step Retrance Program For Troubled Dream Warriors) (Pacific City Sound Visions) cd-r 9.98
The name Monopoly Child Star Searchers might not be all that familiar to you, but the man behind the music probably is, it's Spencer from long time AQ faves the Skaters, with a brand new solo tape, under yet another new and obtuse monicker.
But as weird as the band name is, it probably won't prepare you for what lurks inside. Sonically, it's definitely reminiscent of the Skaters, but where the Skaters dabbled in murky tribal jams, and stumbling free folk rituals, the sound here is much more chaotic and playful, almost circusy at times, sounding like some cracked pop record rolled in tape his, and played back at the wrong speed, all bass and no treble, so even the high end sounds like a buzzy blur. Super hypnotic, a looped landscape of hiccupping stuttering melodies, dizzying and dense, while in the background, long drawn out tones drift in the background, synths or vocals, hard to tell, but they sound angelic and haunting. The tape is all variations on this strange looped alchemy, sometimes stripped down to just percussion, but even then it's a mumbled barrage of thumps and skitters, all jumbled up into a chaotic little tangle of rhythms.
Not sure if you can tell from the above, but this just might be our the best thing we've heard from the Skaters camp EVER!
MPEG Stream: "1"
MPEG Stream: "2"
MPEG Stream: "3"

MOUNTAIN GOATS, THE Heretic Pride (4AD) cd 13.98
It's been said before but we will say it again, there might not be a better story teller around then John Darnielle. He has this uncanny ability to bring you right into a moment, evoking some of the simples memories that hold in them the deepest impact. Over the years he's transformed The Mountain Goats from an uber-lo-fi cassette only underground secret to a full fledged indie rock ensemble with lush production, soaring strings, moody keys, sold out live shows, etc, without losing one bit of integrity or passion along the way.
At the core of The Mountain Goats still remains a chilling honesty that gives each song an ability to give the listener goosebumps or bring grown men to tears, often both at the same time. Heretic Pride finds Darnielle and company in extra fine form. While the last couple outings were devastating and sorrowful and ultra personal, Heretic Pride is a little more upbeat and rocking with the gaze turning more outward, yet the songs are still filled with fire and immediacy. This is grabbing us right away on our first few listens and we're sure this will turn into another Mountain Goats record that we end up spending lots quality time with. Highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "San Bernardino"
MPEG Stream: "Heretic Pride"
MPEG Stream: "Marduk T-Shirt Men's Room Incident"

NEMETH Film (Thrill Jockey) cd 14.98
Nemeth is the first solo outing from Stefan Nemeth who we know best for his work with Radian, one of the more compelling and stimulating electronic post rock outfits of the last several years. It makes perfect sense that he has also been hard at work scoring various films projects since he has such obvious skills for creating brooding sounds that sizzle with subtlety and mounting tension. Over the last several years Nemeth found himself creating soundscapes for experimental filmmakers and installation artists. He used those works as his source material in creating this debut solo work. This is by no means a laptop project, as Nemeth used lots of organic instrumentation like guitars, percussion and synthesizers along with his electronics and programming skills to create these chilling sounds. It's pretty impossible to tell which sounds are real and which are electronically generated in this work and that's what makes Nemeth's music so spectacular. He treats all of the elements he uses with a fluidity that makes all the disparate sounds wash into each other. Film reminds us a bit of the more subdued and ominous elements of Pan Sonic, the hypnotic qualities of Circle, the ghostly decay of Thomas Brinkmann. All great company to be in, Nemeth has created a record that uses all its layers and textures with mindful perfection!
MPEG Stream: "Luukkaankangas"
MPEG Stream: "Field"

O'MALLEY, STEPHEN & ATTILA CSIHAR 6°F Skyquake (Editions Mego) cd 17.98
SUNNO))) freeks, heads up! This here is a super limited recording, of a piece used in an art show by Banks Violette. You might remember Violette from a dvd we carry featuring an installation he did Norwegian black metal outfit Thorns supplying the sounds.
We'd like to tell you more about what this piece is all about, but the description of the art, and the music, is in that insanely convoluted artspeak, so we'll just try to go it alone.
Originally recorded in 2001, this piece features Stephen O'Malley (SUNNO))) et al) playing a Travis Bean guitar through a Fender Twin Reverb amplifier, and Hungarian vocalist Attila Csihar (Mayhem, Aborym, SUNNO))), Tormentor), this recording is a portion of the original lengthy recording and finds the two crafting some sort of blackened sinister liturgical ceremony.
O'Malley's guitar is used mostly to make creaks and rumbles, piercing shards of feedback, crashing chordal fragments, but mostly it works as a tone generator, various bits of feedback allowed to stretch out and slowly shift, creating strange tonal variations and layered expanses of extreme sonics and minimal ambience.
Csihar contributes vocals, haunting and mesmerizing, delivered in a deep monk like chant. Lots of reverb and natural delay, the result sounds ancient, like some middle ages church ceremony. Those two elements O'Malley's tones, and Csihar's vocals combined, sound a bit like Ryoji Ikeda jamming along to vespers.
Not at all an easy listen, but definitely creepy and mysterious.
Cool oversized sleeve with photos of Violette's art as well as band photos, and the lyrics printed in both English and Hungarian.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES.
MPEG Stream: "6ºF Skyquake"

RADAR BROTHERS Auditorium (Merge) cd 14.98
The vastly different music groups Dengue Fever and Radar Brothers share the bass playing excellence of Senon Williams. He must be a very busy man -- both have awesome new albums out now! Don't want to belabor the point too much, but the contrast is remarkable between the international technicolor frenzy of Dengue Fever and the Pink Floydian space-rock of Radar Brothers. One gets your heart pumpin' and brings a flush to your cheeks. The other offers unwinding, soothing dreaminess (a possible point of comparison: an earthier Flaming Lips!). Both stir the listener to open channels and let go! Despite the implied audience and artist stage enclosure of title, the Radar Brothers' fourth full length is for roaming open spaces and star-gazing while keeping an introspective mood. No walls in sight. Simply beautiful.
MPEG Stream: "When Cold Air Goes To Sleep"
MPEG Stream: "Hearts of Crows"

SIDDHI In The Wind (Akoustic Desease) cd-r 13.98
A few lists back, we got a great response to a disc we listed by Sicilian drone duo Comet III, their debut album Astral Voyager, a totally "kosmiche" trip in ye olde krautrock vein. One half of Comet III, their "space guitarist", has a new cd-r out recorded under the name Siddhi, released by the Italian micro-label Akoustic Desease, and we of course grabbed some asap (they're limited to just 115 numbered copies). So we have a few to share with you and then that's probably it!
Space guitarist indeed. This is way spacey, yet with a folky vibe. 5 songs, 45 psychedelic minutes. Drifting electronic drones, quiet and lovely. Rustling percussive rattle. Repetitive guitar ornament. Slow and stately. Mellow melancholic bliss. Forgive us the sentence fragments, it's just that we're trancing out within Siddhi's cosmic, elemental embrace...
As we said, super limited. Packaged in colorful, stiff cardboard sleeves.
MPEG Stream: "Spirals"
MPEG Stream: "Waters"

SLOTH A Whole Other World Of Fun aka 13 Songs 13 Samples (At War With False Noise) cd 10.98
Some of you probably already know Sloth, a mysterious band of Midwestern sludgelords who in the past shared splits with folks like Corrupted, Grief, Upsidedown Cross, Floor, Noothgrush and Grief, and sonically, these guys were a pretty perfect fit amidst such illustrious company, but even back in the day, the sound of Sloth was a bit cracked, a bit demented, hints of some serious psychosis lurking beneath their lurching, downtuned exterior.
Surprisingly, this is their first full length EVER, but maybe not so surprisingly, given a whole cd to stretch out on, the weirdness factor is through the roof. This is most definitely not a proper sludge record, although there are some seriously sludge-y moments. There's also lots of weirdo rock, a bit of classic sounding grunge, some Amrep style postpunk noise, some cracked pop, and some seriously what-the-fuck sonic action all over the place. It sounds a bit like a musical clusterfuck, and it sort of is, but in a good way, and all those disparate sounds sort of fitting together, like some musical Frankenstein's monster. Not to mention, as the title suggests, the record is split into 13 songs and 13 samples, with each sample, some as short as 4 seconds getting their own track.
So yeah, even with such an amazing sludge pedigree, we're not sure we would necessarily recommend this to those looking for something like Corrupted, Moss, Bunkur and the like. A Whole Other World Of Fun is more for folks who like their music, heavy, difficult, troublesome, confusional and very very very fucked up. Just have a listen to the sound samples and maybe it will start to make sense. Probably not though...
The record opens with some grungy redneck punk rock, somewhere between Scissorfight and Fucked Up, but with some killer riffing, some weird death metal grunts, and some awesome post rock-y breakdowns. The rest of the tracks are really all over the place, from creeping Slintish mathrock (complete with spoken word vocals) and a twisted howled banshee like chorus, to a super blown out space rock groove, with an ultra distorted riff, some bizarre vocals, and some haunting keyboards making it weirdly propulsive and a bit krauty, to a sea shanty forest folk sing along, to killer lo-fi buzzing indie rock, plodding primitive black metal and every stop in between. The only truly sludge-y track is "Pike Flower Shop", a lurching, stumbling ultradirge, but even then, it's peppered with weird electric organs, raspy vocals, and fucked up production. There's also a bit of a Ween vibe throughout the whole disc, that is if Ween were some sort of weirdo power violence band.
The record ends with a murky bass and drums plod, run through with buried in the mix group vocals, occasionally interrupted by a feral death metal howl, twice as loud as the rest of the music. Fucked up for sure, bizarre, but pretty damn cool. Which basically describes the whole record.
Way recommended, but only for folks with a twisted sense of humor and a taste for heavy, all-over-the-map weirdness.
MPEG Stream: "The Wooleybear Looked At You?"
MPEG Stream: "A Night At The Park"
MPEG Stream: "UFO Zombies"
MPEG Stream: "Lagoons"

SOTE Wake Up (Record Label) 12" 11.98
It's been a while since we've listed something from Sote, who had a few killer releases on Warp and aQ pal Drew's Dielectric label. Since lately most of the electronic music we've been reviewing has been super murky and minimal, sort of Kompakt style techno, this 12" is an awesome nod to the good old days, the days of Aphex Twin, Autechre, Boards Of Canada, Squarepusher and the like. But Sote doesn't just ape those folks, he has his own sound, in fact he seems to have two distinct sounds, one is a sort of Middle Eastern ethno-electronica, but even then those sounds are all tangled up with what seems top be Sote's other distinct sound, crunchy junglized beats, and thick buzzing basslines, and that's what we get here. Three tracks from Sote's old Warp Records days...
The A side is a total dancefloor destroyer. Thick grinding lowend sytnhs over crazy skittery breakbeats, a massive roiling wall of old school jungle, but infused with elements of dubstep and electroclash, it's all a bit grime-y and fuzzy, the beats are wicked, the low end seriously devastating. Some moody skitter surfaces part way through, an interlude with pizzicato melodies and some almost ambience, but then the beat drops again, and the record runs out a furious and dense beatscape.
The flipside is a bit more spacious and laid back, with some wooshing string swells, and some new age-y synths, but even within this more subdued sound, there lurks some skittery drum tangle and some fierce spastic programming. It's all good stuff for sure, but the A side is worth the price of admission on its own.
Thick, swirled, colored vinyl, house in gorgeous hand sewn fabric sleeves. All hand made, and so of course VERY VERY limited. Only 300 copies.

SOUL MERCHANTS 1985-1987 (Smooch) 2cd 15.98
When you think of leather trenchcoats, black eyeliner, big hair, Doc Maartens, graveyards, reverbed guitars, murky low end, simple propulsive basslines, deep baritone vocals, sideburns, goth and gloom, odds are you don't probably think of Colorado. But every town in the eighties had its own little scene like that, a place for the misfits, the outcasts, kids who dug Sisters Of Mercy, Joy Division, the Mission UK, Jane's Addiction, died their hair, pierced their noses and in general embraced the darker side.
Denver was no different. Except that underground music in Colorado, had a much tougher time making it OUT, to find sympathetic ears, especially pre-internet. One of the casualties was the the Soul Merchants, who perhaps more centrally located, or with access to hipper venues, could have been as popular as any of their much more successful peers. Once described as the Doors meets Sisters Of Mercy, the Soul Merchants sound to our ears at least, like they belonged in Los Angeles, playing clubs like the Scream, with bands like Kommunity FK, Tender Fury, Abecedarians, Tex And The Horseheads and of course Jane's Addiction.
They had that lurching murky droniness, the weary deeeeep vocals, lots of reverb and delay, big booming eighties drums, killer serpentine basslines, but they also had some AMAZING songs, packed with killer hooks, and the fact that it all sounds so good, dense, heavy, lush, is even more remarkable considering most of these songs were recorded on a 4-track. And while it is distinctly doomy and way gothy, there's also a lot of jangle going on, some parts sound like R.E.M., other parts like the Jacobites, there's some Virgin Prunes, some sixties psychedelia, all woven into the Soul Merchants' distinctive sound. The liner notes call the Soul Merchants "Denver's premier purveyors of psychedelic doom", and while around here, psychedelic doom might have slightly different connotations, the music here is definitely dark and doomy and psychedelic. And so of course, recommended.
Packaged in a deluxe double digipak, booklet inside, liner notes and lots of vintage photos.
MPEG Stream: "Crown Of Glory "
MPEG Stream: "Joanna"
MPEG Stream: "It Hurts"
MPEG Stream: "Mary Had"

SUNKEN Eye Electric Organ, Brain Electric Nerve (PseudoArcana) cd-r 14.98
Yet another collection of haunting and gorgeous dronemusic from Antony Milton, who in addition recording as Sunken with Stefan Neville, plays in the Stumps, Mrtyu, The Nether Dawn and about a million others, PLUS he runs the PseudoArcana label, and we think he might even have a real job as well. Not sure how he does it, we're just glad he does.
So as we mentioned above, Sunken is Milton and his pal Neville who also records as Pumice. In Sunken, the two mainly play organs, reed and Hammond, but the two also make sounds with intercoms, tapes, delay pedals, guitars and of course vocals. But the organs are what Sunken is all about, and the sound is awesomely fuzzy, simultaneously lo-fi and lush. The opening track is 30 minutes long and throughout organs whir and wheeze, the sounds they produce so rich and textured, so fuzzy and buzzy and imperfect, the tones crumbling and shifting, the chords wavering and warbly, long drawn out melodies, that sound sort of drunken or seasick, thick tangled layers of sounds, heaving and whirring and churning out long Niblockian drones, but not nearly as static. It almost sounds like obscure NZ outfit Wreck Small Speakers On Expensive Stereos covering the Dead C. A sort of droned out free rock, rendered in quavering organ tones and hissy fuzzy warble. Here and there, the tracks splinter apart briefly offering up some skittering electronic glitchery, some analog stutter and skip, before slipping right back into that woozy mesmer.
The second track is a bit more abrasive, what sounds like guitar is strummed into a field of blurred high end buzz and shimmer, but within, tones materialize, bits of percussive whatsits thump and creak, all manner of sonic detritus drifts by, always surrounded by a cloud of organ and guitar whir. And boy does this track remind us of Wreck Small Speakers, which in case we didn't make it obvious already is most definitely a good thing.
The record finishes off with a little lullaby outro, some sweet swoonsome organ, over the top some distorted minor key guitar, the perfect warm and warbly finish...
MPEG Stream: "Sounding / Salt / Seacow"

SWIRNOFF, PRESTON Maariv (Last Visible Dog) cd 11.98
Wow, Preston Swirnoff has been one busy (and versatile) bee over the last several years. From his collaborative vinyl only releases on Eclipse with Ilya Monosov, to their blown out psych-rock band The Shining Path, his avant jazz outfit, The Seesaw Ensemble and his amazing dub project Habitat Sound System, a record we were blasting all last summer. Maariv is a collection of solo works composed and performed by Swirnoff from 2004-05 only now finally seeing its much deserved moment in the sun. Using 20th century minimalism, ritual drones and early tape and electronic sound experiments as his launching pad, he's tapped into a mystical realm that can be both gorgeous and disturbing.
Each of the four pieces use a different set of instrumentation and various tape loops. The opener filled with rolling piano thunder and a delicious fog of electronics had some of our favorite AQ customers drooling as they heard it blasting from our speakers, as it recalls some of the most breathtaking work by Charlemagne Palestine. The next piece is probably the most intense and disturbing of the lot, as a room full of organs create a cacophony of sound which radiate with a scary and relentless passion. Then comes the most delicate and pretty track in the collection where Swirnoff uses a sequence that Ilya Monosov played on electric-guitar and uses a tape machine and speed control to create an otherworldly gamelan-like sound that would be right at home on a Colleen record. The album ends with a really nice nod to the kind of works that came out of the SF tape music center of the '60s as four tape machines go back and forth between speeds and pitches to create a mesmerizing mood that we could listen to forever!
Whether tapping into the power of Gyorgy Ligeti or showing an amazing range that rivals Barton Smith, Preston has created a vivid work of electroacoustic music that will most surely stand the test of time! Highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Maariv 1 (For Piano & Electronics)"
MPEG Stream: "Maariv 4 (For Four Tape Machines)"
MPEG Stream: "Maariv 3 (For Electric Guitar)"
MPEG Stream: "Maariv 2 (For A Room Full Of Organs)"

TAD Busted Circuits And Ringing Ears (MVD Visual) cd 14.98
TAD!!! Fuck yeah! We've long championed grunge around here. Green River, Mother Love Bone, Afghan Whigs, Mudhoney, Rein Sanction, Nirvana, and most of the grunge obsessives here were members of the Sub Pop single of the month club, and cherish records by The Fluid, Blood Circus, Malfunkshun, Love Battery, Soundgarden, Screaming Trees, Cat Butt, The U-Men, Skin Yard, Gruntruck, Swallow, Green Magnet School, Les Thugs, Pond, Sprinkler and loads more, many of whom only released one or two 7"s. Grunge quickly became a bad word, as the mainstream caught on, and suddenly it was a movement, a style of dressing, a movie with Matt Dillon, but it never took away from how powerful the music was, a sloppy, glammy punky mix of garage rock, heavy metal and punk rock, with huge heapings of POP mixed in. And no one did it better, or heavier, than Tad.
Tad Doyle the man, fronted TAD the band, one of the coolest of the grunge crop. As heavy and intense as any of the other bands at the time, but with a surprising amount of musical complexity, not to mention killer hooks galore. Plus they were just such a cool and weird looking band. Outside of the Screaming Trees, you were not gonna see another HUGE long haired dude fronting a killer rock band. And they played up the whole scary mountain man, right down to the song titles ("Wood Goblins") to the promo photos, that were almost always in the woods, and Tad almost always seemed to be brandishing a chainsaw.
When we discovered there was a documentary about Tad, we were so psyched. We also wondered how a whole movie about Tad would play out, since they weren't a hugely Behind The Music worthy outfit, nobody died, nobody O.D.'d, minimal bad blood between ex-band members, they never got HUGELY popular, they sort of just plugged along. But thankfully the movie is super fun, and super watchable, due in no small part to the fact that Tad is super fucking charming. As is his bandmate Kurt Danielson. They talk about all the different records, their co-headlining tour in Europe with Nirvana, the 8-Way Santa record cover lawsuit, their first major label experience, resulting in being dropped midtour, and their second, with the same result, the "Jack Pepsi" lawsuit, lots of drinking, smoking pot, drugs, interviews with Mark Arm of Mudhoney, Krist Novoselic from Nirvana, Bruce and Jonathan who ran Sub Pop, but most importantly, so much rocking. Amazing live footage of Tad in action, the band were a powerhouse, and Tad's between song banter was funny as shit, and it's amazing to see Tad leaping into terrified crowds.
We even watched it with someone who wasn't all that into Tad or grunge, and they thoroughly enjoyed it as well. Maybe not as much as us. For some reason Tad elicits all sorts of fanboy adoration in even the most jaded of rockers. Might be because they always seemed like underdogs, and they always seemed like cool guys too, but most importantly they just completely RULED. One of the grunge bands that almost all heavy music lovers seem to completely dig. This dvd had us going nuts relistening to all our Tad records, and even suddenly wanting to track down the last two major label records as well.
One of our favorite music dvds of the year for sure. And if that weren't enough, it also includes all the Tad videos, which like Tad, the man AND the band, completely rule.

TENHORNEDBEAST / MARZURAAN split (Aurora Borealis) cd 15.98
Every once in a while, someone will release a record, and we can't help but feel like it was made specifically for us. And for you. Some records just perfectly speak to the aQ aesthetic, as undefinable as that seems to be. This is another one of those cases. Someone thought it would be a perfect combination to match up UK one man ambient drone outfit Tenhornedbeast, with UK slow motion doomlords Marzuraan. And it is perfect. And a fantastic idea, but just because something is a great idea, doesn't always mean someone thinks of it. And we're not saying we had been thinking someone should get these two bands together specifically, we're just glad they did, and we sort of wish we HAD thought of it. But that's neither here nor there. The important thing is that it happened, and now we can all luxuriate in the deep dark heaviness both of these bands explore. And while the bands are indeed different, their aesthetics are not all that far removed. The both exist in some blackened nether region, haunting sonic realms, where heaviness can be expressed in both utter darkness and extreme force, sometimes both, and once in awhile neither.
Tenhornedbeast offer up a nearly 30 minute long sonic ritual, beginning as a bit of swirling black minimalism, but slowly building to a truly intense wall of doomdrone, the sound thick and textured, a churning cauldron of low end buzz and downtuned disembodied riffs, all brought to a boil and poured out in a viscous black torrent, left to flow like some subterranean river. But these deep drones are laced with melodies, and keening high end shards, allowed to shine forth occasionally, but often swallowed up before they can fill those caves with their unnatural light. The track continually changes shape, sound and timbre, various shades of grey and black, lightening and darkening as the landscape changes, a haunting journey through some lost world, where sound replaces sight, allowing us to navigate ever deeper.
Marzuraan counter with what must be one of their prettiest tracks ever. It's still sludgey and doomy, but the notes ring out, the melodies almost soar, the sound fuzzy and glimmering, almost like these guys have caught the shoegaze bug as well. Washed out and blissy, super melodic and melancholy, but the coolest part is that the track seems to warble and waver, almost like someone is manually adjusting the tape speed, so the notes sound drunken and drugged, the track lurches and weaves drunkenly, only adding to the haunting and off kilter beauty. Part way through, the riffs get a little more riffy, and then the vocals come in, a moaning distant croon, and we're most definitely in serious Jesu territory, but that weird speed shifting hitch, keeps it from sounding too pretty, or two blissy. But if these guys keep heading in this direction, they could definitely give Jesu, and Nadja and other metallic shoegazers a run for their money.
The packaging is super swank, a three panel gatefold, each of the front panels diecut with each band's symbol, printed inside and out, housed in a thick plastic sleeve with a sticker affixed to the front.
MPEG Stream: TENHORNEDBEAST "Law Of The Needle"
MPEG Stream: MARZURAAN "Into Countless Battles"

THUJA s/t (Important) lp 16.98
A brand new vinyl only full length from aQ beloved ambient improvised free rock explorers Thuja. The core group is all present, Loren Chasse, Glenn Donaldson, Steven R. Smith and Rob Reger, joined for these sessions by Thuja satellite members: Greg Bianchini, Keith Evans, Bryan DeRoo and former aQ mailorder mistress Christine Boepple. Collected from various live performances, these tracks find Thuja setting up in various venues around the Bay Area, and transforming each location, at least briefly, into a forest glade, or a darkened wood, or a fog shrouded seashore, using traditional instruments as well as sticks and stones and other found objects to conjure up ghostlike soundscapes , each track, every performance, a slow burning sprawl of humid and humming minimalism.
Almost the entirety of the A side is taken up by an epic stretch of alchemical minimalism, a muted series of washed out melodies, of gentle scrapes and distant shimmers, various notes and chords expressed in long streaks, the guitar lines unfurling lazily, the band eventually coalesce into a glistening high end crescendo, suddenly reminding us of Sunroof! with their upper register ur-drone skree, but here that skree is more muted and muddied, a mournful keening, before the band elves back into a more minimal moonlit crawl. Disembodied slowed down riffs are draped over whispered whirs, while the band lurk in the shadows, letting tiny bits of light spill out, creating barely there sonic patterns, and dusty dreamlike song skeletons.
The B side is even more understated, each track a brief soundscape, exploring dark dusty corners, shuffling through a blanket of dead leaves, the band barely there at all. Almost like they set up their instruments and just stood there, letting the wind and the wildlife create the sounds. When the music does materialize, and take more solid form, the guitars weave themselves into delicate little tangles, drifting over deep resonant swells, all around sounds betray the environment, but become inexorable parts of the organic sound being created, snippets of conversation, voices, footsteps, alongside subtle bits of percussive thump, warbly distant melodies, a deep dark ambience, a gorgeously subtle sound that manages to be quietly propulsive even as it seems to hover motionless.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!!

UNO ACTU Hors Des Chemins De La Raison (Tour De Garde) cassette 5.00
Fuck, we love this band. We've only heard one tape from these Canadian electronic black ambient weirdos, but we immediately fell under their spell, and have been dying for new music ever since.
This is the latest tape of their damaged outsider alchemical sonic rituals, and if the first one was mysterious and strange, this one, is fucking baffling. All over the map, and completely wacked.
Opening with some fucked up creepy circusy synths, a buzzy tangle of haunting minor key video game forest drone. Then all of a sudden, they launch into a reverb drenched stumble, the drums blown out and spluttering, the guitar sawing away and emitting a cloud of noxious buzzing riffage, dual vocals, one a black metal rasp, the other a moaning whale call off in the distance. Freaky and super awesome. Those muted percussive thumps get more and more chaotic as the musical tension grows and grows, a lurching dirgey lo-fi doom damage workout. And it keeps getting better. And weirder. The next track is all folky, a strummed acoustic guitar, moaned vocals, all sorts of strange drifting FX, followed up by another acoustic crawl, creeping and slithery, the vocals growled beneath minor key piano plinking. Sheets of electric guitar buzz, insectoid electronic grizzle, huge echoey rumbling baritone moans, more mournful acoustic guitar...
Dense and washed out and fuzzy and murky and muddy and fucking genius. Fans of Dead Reptile Shrine, Circle Of Ouroborus, and other outsider metal outfits should be on all fours, cowering at the feet of Uno Actu, and offering up blood sacrifices as homage. We sure as hell are.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES. Each tape hand numbered.

V/A Carolina Funk: First in Funk: 1968-77 (Jazzman) cd 15.98
We know, we know... at this point you're probably as skeptical as we are of yet another compilation of ultra-rare, super heavy funk 45s from the dustiest corners of small-town USA, but believe us when we say that the crate diggers behind UK reissue label Jazzman have outdone themselves with this look at the undiscovered funk gems of North and South Carolina. You might recall how excited we here at aQ were about the Florida Funk compilation from last year and this installment is every bit as satisfying.
You'll hear a wide range of styles represented on this collection, from straight up deep funk to tracks that touch on psych, jazz and smooth soul -- 22 tracks in all of fuzzed out guitars, horn hits, break beats, flute solos, shouts, wails, and powerfully soulful vocals. However, where Jazzman really stands out from other reissue labels is in the meticulously assembled liner notes that accompany the record. You'll learn not only about the songs and artists themselves, but also information about the different parts of the Carolinas from which they came. It's a lovingly assembled package of songs, stories, background info, label scans and rare photographs on par with any of the reissue comps to come from Soul Jazz or Numero (and that's saying something!).
We've been spinning this one a lot in the store as of late, and it's been the perfect way to heat up these grey February days. So good!
MPEG Stream: SUNDIA "Stand Up And Be A Man"
MPEG Stream: MONGOOSE "King Cobra"
MPEG Stream: SHIRLEAN WILLIAMS & THE TEMPO'S BAND "Ease It To Me"

V/A Dr. Boogie Presents: Rarities From The Bob Hite Vaults (Sub Rosa) cd 15.98
Search on the keyword "boogie" on our website and you'll get, uh, let's see... 133 hits. This item being the latest, one that would go right to the top if we had the appropriate relevance algorithm at work. And there's actually 19 boogie hits here (well, obscurities actually), rare tracks circa 1941 to 1958. What's this compilation of American oldies music doing on the Belgian avantgarde label Sub Rosa?? And not, say, on Arhoolie or Bear Family? Well we're not sure exactly, but it has something to do with this Dr. Boogie character, he's a DJ from Belgium who has compiled this collection of boogie tracks, all of 'em from awesomely crackly old 78 rpm records that had been amassed over the years by boogie fanatic Bob "The Bear" Hite, better known as the lead singer of Woodstock-era hippie blues rock band Canned Heat (y'know, "Going Up The Country"), who passed away in 1981. Dunno if any of you folks are fans of Canned Heat, but regardless, it makes sense (and is pretty cool) that their vocalist had such a deep record collection devoted to old time rock n' blues boogie woogie. Apparently back in the sixties, he used to host all-night listening parties in his Topanga Canyon pad, and the cuts collected here ought to give you an idea of what those sessions must have sounded like. Wild boogie fun!
How couldn't it be, when it starts off with the excellently titled "Death Ray Boogie" by piano player Pete Johnson? And there's no slack on the next track, Googie Rene's "Wiggle Tail". There's a bunch more uptempo, jumpin' numbers like that one (such as rock n' roll pioneer Bill Haley's "Birth Of The Boogie"), while other tracks here are more languidly bluesy (like guitarist Clarence's Brown's smokey "Taking My Chance"). It's all pretty great old time good times. Other names here, some famous, some now more or less forgotten except by hardcore collectors: Earl King, Etta James, Elmore James, Clarence Brown, Johnny Otis, Otis Rush, Chuck Higgins, Eddie Hope, The Hot Shots, and some crazy cat called Mad Mel Sebastian!
Recommended... and we're happy to hear that more volumes drawn from Hite's historic collection are forthcoming.
MPEG Stream: GOOGIE RENE "Wiggle Tail"
MPEG Stream: ELMORE JAMES "Please Find My Baby"
MPEG Stream: CLARENCE BROWN "Taking My Chance"

V/A Garden Of Forking Paths (Important Records) cd 14.98
When this first arrived, we thought maybe Important Records had re-released Jefre Cantu Ledesma's serpentine drone solo work of the same name that had come out on Spekk last year. But it seems there might just be more than one Jorge Luis Borges fan in the world, and one of them is James Blackshaw. Those of you who were lucky enough to see him perform live here in our store were witness to his magical powers of acoustic alchemy, and between pieces he quietly mentioned this new release that he had compiled. Bringing together avant-acoustic string pieces specifically recorded for this release by Dutch lute player Jozef Van Wissem (also his recent collaborator in Bretheren of The Free Spirit), Swedish cellist Helena Espvall, of Espers, Japanese koto virtuoso Chieko Mori, as well as Blackshaw himself. Beginning and ending with pieces by Cheiko Mori, we are taken through a twisting sojourn of cross-cultural touchstones and stylistic complexities. The range of classical lyricism and free improvisation highlights each individual's unique contributions while also recognizing a vital connection to each other's methods bringing the whole together. Excellent!
MPEG Stream: CHEIKO MORI "Spiral Wave"
MPEG Stream: JAMES BLACKSHAW "The Broken Hourglass"
MPEG Stream: HELENA ESPVALL "Home of Shadows and Whirlwinds"

V/A Tropicalia (Lilith) cd 21.00
Lilith is really on top of the Tropicalia reissues and this time we see back in stock the compilation / collaboration that served as the Brazilian movement's defining manifesto while also highlighting the key musical players: Gil Gilberto, Caetano Veloso, Os Mutantes, Gal Costa and producer Rogerio Duprat (with contributions from Nara Leao, Tom Ze, and Vicente Celestino among others). We were surprised to find we didn't review this ten years ago when we first discovered and raved about Os Mutantes and heard about the Tropicalia movement from the late sixties with all this amazing and creative art, poetry and music. Although it's easy to be blinded by Os Mutantes' genius, as they were definitely the most rocking and performative component of the movement, which was made up of mostly singer-songwriters that came from more traditional musical forms of Samba, Fado and Bossa Nova. So perhaps we were less floored musically with that aspect of this compilation at the time, or just didn't appreciate enough the then-radical concept of mashing all these disparate forms of psychedelic rock, Afro-Caribbean rhythms and Brazilian popular styles together in a country that nationalized its traditional music to such a degree that even electric instruments were considered anathema. We are definitely appreciating it much more now. Especially after becoming more familiar with the solo work of each of the contributors, we're more open this time around to the softer nuances of the song writing and performances. Panis et Circencis (Bread and Circuses) is both a celebration and a political critique, a collaboration of unity and vitality and most of all longevity.
MPEG Stream: OS MUTANTES "Panis et Circensis"
MPEG Stream: CAETANO VELOSO "Enquanto Seu Lobo Nao Vem"
MPEG Stream: GAL COSTA "Mamae Coragem"

VEEE DEEE s/t (At War With False Noise) 2x3"cd-r 10.98
Another blast of caustic freaked out psychedelic overload from this Japanese duo (well, they LIVE in Japan, they're Canadian, or at least one of em is), and while they may not BE Japanese, they sure sound Japanese. Trafficking in a sound that definitely touches on modern Japanese psych, White Heaven, Fushitsusha (even though the duo despise Mr. Haino), and the like, these two spit out fierce fiery ultra thick blasts of snarling buzz and in-the-red psychrock chaos.
But since they're a guitar and drums duo, their sound ends up going in all sorts of different directions. They don't kick up a Lightning Bolt style skree here as much as weave thick buzzscapes, the guitar impossibly heavy, unfurling massive layered waves of blown out buzz, the drums beneath pounding and skittering, shuffling and blasting away. If anything they fall closer to bands like the Psychic Paramount, rhythmic and HEAVY as all get out.
The first disc is just that, a fucking furious wash of thick buzzing guitars and octopoidal drumming, pausing partway through for some mathy postrock skitter and meander, before the band rev it back up, working their way through some pounding chaos, eventually returning to that soaring epicness of the opening few minutes. Some seriously majestic buzz. Verging on shoegaze territory, which is not a bad thing at all. And stick around after the fade out as the band return for a brief burst of buzz that we wish had gone on for the length of the disc again.
The second disc begins with some serpentine riffing, and some random drum splatter, and some howled vocals, and sort of drifts aimlessly for a while, very sort of old school emo, the vocals sparring with the drums while the guitars percolate underneath, but about 4 minutes in, the guitar kicks it up and starts roaring, spitting out gorgeous super distorted slabs of sound, the drums growing equally intense, the two sparring back and forth building to a serious frenzied freakout, before starting the process all over again, another gradual build from minimal splatter to full bore crush. Definitely some Ruins and Lightning Bolt going on here, and the band do it well, taking elements of those two influences but tangling them all up and smashing them to pieces, and tossing the pieces into a woodchopper and spraying them out the other side into your headphones.
Packaged in super fancy cd sized double dvd style digipak, cardstock covers facing out, lyrics and liner notes facing in, visible through the clear case, pro printed 3" cd-r's.
MPEG Stream: "Ikebukuro Incinerator (excerpt)"

WRATH OF THE WEAK Just A Momentary Diversion On The Road To The Grave (Earth.Space Noise Research Laboratories) cassette 4.98
A two song blast of extreme noise drenched buzz to tide us over until the next Wrath Of The Weak full length (which we actually have in stock, we just haven't gotten around to reviewing it yet). When it was first suggested we check out WOTW, we were told they were the BUZZIEST black metal band around, and damn if it wasn't pretty much true. But if that first record was indeed the buzziest, not sure what this tape is all about. If anything it's even more droney and dense, whatever riffs are happening are blurred and smeared and stretched into one massive roiling buzzscape. There might be drums in there, but if they are they are buried deep beneath the churning black mass of buzz above it. Very close listening reveals some distinct riffage, and even some melody, but back away and it's like standing in a super collider, gloriously and ear splittingly, head spinningly, rib cage rattlingly LOUD. The second side is a bit more defined, but only in that the sound is a little murkier, a little more melancholy, a heaving dirge-y dismal minor key drone, that seems to shift druggily back and forth between two thick shimmering buzz drenched chords, creating a creepy, melancholy melody out of massive walls of crumbling fuzz and blasting black blur. Barely even black metal, but fucking awesome nonetheless.
Fantastic packaging, an all black tape, not even a little window in the middle. Spare black and white sleeve, white on the outside, black on the inside, minimal text, housed in a black and yellow transparent slipcover. Super striking. CRAZY LIMITED TOO. ONLY 100 COPIES. Out of print already, we got a bunch, but they won't last long...

WRNLRD Cperadt (Small Sacrifice / Order Of The Cloven Eye) cd-r 8.98
The Midwest is beginning to feel like the new Norway. So is the South. Tons of fucked up grim blackness seems to be constantly seeping outward from the blackened heartland. We're gonna have to come up with some new sobriquets for these apparent movements, MWBM is now a new, more region specific USBM, or maybe ECBM, for those in the South, but the sudden onslaught from middle and Eastern America is threatening to overtake the much lauded West Coast scene, which while still represented by the few elite metal warriors (Leviathan, Xasthur, etc.), hasn't really produced the same number of outrageously creative black metal outfits lately. Much of could well have much to do with the places these guys call home. Black metal is all about isolation, looking inward, darkness and depression, and while those emotions and ideals are indeed universal, it sometimes seems more difficult to be miserable and suicidal and full of grim energy when you're wandering through green trees beneath a sunshiney Spring California day.
But whatever. All you need to know for now, is that the strangely monickered Wrnlrd (thanks to aQ pal Will for the recommendation) is from Virginia, (hail VABM!) And offers up a dense twisted blown out frenzy of utter blackness.
And it's hard to think of a better word to describe it than frenzied. The sound is so thick and gnarled, the riffs so distorted they seem to exist in a churning sonic morass, the guitars and vocals constantly on the verge of crumbling to pieces, the sound so blown out, the drums are barely audible, a flurry of beats buried way in the mix, but that drumless feel only adds to the organic sound of Wrnlrd, this epic heaving cloud of black swirling sonic mayhem, slowly and systematically engulfing everything in its path. But that's not so say the riffs here aren't amazing, they are, and the tracks are surprisingly catchy, and the overall sound is very textural, almost like someone like Christian Fennesz or Tim Hecker recorded it, and occasionally things slow down and the band lurches onto some staggering buzzy dirge, here and there the tracks spread out into near ambient drifts, the guitars ghostly and haunting, but it's all about the gorgeous wall of sound this guy can produce, managing to sound utterly frosty and grim, but also epic and majestic, woozy, drone-y, druggy and utterly and terrifyingly black.
MPEG Stream: "1590"
MPEG Stream: "Mnemonomagia"
MPEG Stream: "Blood"
MPEG Stream: "Flower"

XELA The Illuminated (Digitalis) cassette 8.98
A super limited missive from Xela, aka John Twells, head honcho of the super kick ass Type label. But his work as Xela is much darker than his label might lead you to believe. His is a world of doom. Not old school heavy metal doom. But truly ominous darkened worlds of doom. His is not a doom of huge riffs and pounding drums, but instead, rumbling sinister drones, and haunting ambience. Crumbling black landscapes of mysterious buzz and whispered menace. The A side of this tape is like a field recording of a rickety old dock, jutting out into the choppy waters of the River Styx, old rust chains rattle, rusty lanterns clang against one another, the rotted wood groans and creaks, the wind howls, the choppy water laps at the pilings, black birds circle overhead, an old boat tied up to the dock rocking wildly in the water, straining against the frayed rope, while in the distance, an ominous buzz permeates the air like the stink of decaying flesh, and somewhere, below the surface of the water, or hidden behind the black clouds overhead, some unspeakable beast growls, his ominous rumble like thunder filling the sky.
The B side takes up where the first side left off, that same dock, being lashed by a fierce storm, but instead of rain and lightning, it's decaying black buzz, and howled vocals, a stumbling, lurching doomy drone, recorded on an old tape, the sound dropping out, the speed shifting, slowing down and speeding up, as much a part of the sound as the obfuscated riffs, and the creeping mournful melodies. Fucking awesome.
Red cassettes with metallic gold sticker, in a cryptic printed black and white sleeve, photocopied insert. LIMITED TO 111 COPIES. Already out of print. We got the last batch so act fast.

ZARACH'BAAL'THARAGH Eternal Darkness (At War With False Noise) cd 10.98
Woah, this is some seriously filthy and hateful, damaged and demented, utterly raw black metal primitivism. A collection of long out of print demos from the tongue twistingly titled Zarach'Baal'Tharagh, a band/man the label refers to as "The French master of bedroom black metal", and who are we to argue.
Right off the bat, we should just say, that all of you who are into the weirdest of the weird, the damaged, retarded, stumbling, freaked out what-the-fuck black metal we can't ever get enough of, a la Necrofrost, Furze, Dead Reptile Shrine, Striborg, then this is pretty much ESSENTIAL.
The sound will also definitely appeal to folks who dig the ultra personal grimnity of the French Black Legions, but Zarach'Baal'Tharagh takes that sound, and douses it with noise, lets riffs unravel, lets rhythms unwind, songs collapse, and then suddenly seem to fall back together, the drums blast and splatter, stumble and shuffle, the guitars roar and buzz, the vocals a paint peeling rasp, and then there are the leads, wild and dizzyingly off kilter, somewhere between actual shredding and completely random noodling, but all wound up into the buzzing swirl, it sounds perfect. A massively head spinning unhinged blackened assault.
The slow parts are gorgeous and creepy, the guitars wavery and warbly, the drums a stuttery tattoo, some tracks are killer stretches of FX drenched ambience, vocals reverbed and delayed into strange sonic echoes, everything including the blasts of black are muddy and murky and ultra lo-fi.
The record is separated into three parts, Primitive Era, Apocalypse, and maybe our favorite El Borak, the harshest and heaviest of the bunch, the guitar supercharged, the four parts of El Borak, laced with completely wacked Buttholes Surfers style leads, spidery and chaotic, the four parts together forming a totally mesmerizing chunk of looped sounding black buzz, with some AWESOME riffing, but the riff is locked into an endless black groove, over and over and over, the whole thing dragged into some completely other dimension by the damaged lead guitar. So fucking awesome. Some of us around here can't help but think (even though technically this stuff is not 'new') that this could very well be a contender for black metal record of the year. At the very least, damaged demented outsider what-the-fuck black metal record of the year. Either way, totally recommended.
MPEG Stream: "In Your Grave"
MPEG Stream: "Demon Seed"
MPEG Stream: "El Borak"

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ARTIFACT SHORE Fun Is Near (Interference Shift) cd ep 9.98
We carried a split release some time ago by this Minneapolis band and SF's Linedotstar (see our review for the details)... and quite a cool one it was! On the opening track "2 In 24" on their latest cdep Fun Is Near, Artifact Shore initially seem to be continuing on with their prickly post-post-rock blend of noise abrasions and aggressive rhythms. The very next song however reveals other facets of the band's scope. The title track flows a bit smoother and more melodious, gently fuzzy and maybe even a bit shoegazerish, but still with periodic bursts of distortion. And so these five tracks progress, gradually from fervent sharp insistence into drowsy near-poptronic stuttery dreaminess.
MPEG Stream: "2 In 24"
MPEG Stream: "Stupid Coma"

BECK Odelay (Deluxe Edition) (Universal) cd 27.00
For those of you who've worn your beloved copy of Odelay down to dust... and who have a few extra bucks in their pockets! Beck's arguably best album is the latest to grace the Universal Music deluxe reissue series. Hard to believe that Odelay was released almost a dozen years ago, but indeed it was! You can once again revel in the slacker glory of "The New Pollution", "Devil's Haircut", "Where It's At", and the other eleven album tracks. Yes, sooo good, but you don't have to stop there! On this double disc set you also get three bonus tracks, plus a second cd with three remixes (by Aphex Twin, U.N.K.L.E., and Mickey P) and a slew of b-sides!
MPEG Stream: "Where It's At"
MPEG Stream: "Richard's Hairpiece (Aphex Twin's Remix Of "Devil's Haircut")"

BOX Studio 1 (Rune Grammofon) cd 17.98
We just love it when a plan comes together. Somebody thought it would be a good idea for these three Norwegians and one American to form a band and knock out some killer electric avant jazz improv jams. And indeed it was! Of course, just WHO these Norwegians and American were made a big difference: Box consists of guitarist Raoul Bjorkenheim (Scorch Trio and a million other projects over the years), bassist Trevor Dunn (Fantomas, Secret Chiefs 3, Mr. Bungle, etc. etc.), drummer Morgan Agren (Mats//Morgan Band), and on electronics & keyboards, Stale Storlokken (Supersilent, Humcrush). None of 'em novices at acting and reacting as interesting sound-makers in diverse contexts.
The first track, "Untitled 9", is the longest, at 17 minutes, and pretty much says "Shred". Loud and clear. If you liked the Scorch Trio's scorching disc on Rune Grammofon, you'll probably dig this too. And the remaining five tracks here are also worthy, offering up plenty more moody bass burble, glitchy synth textures, threatening electric guitar, and percussive percolation. And though the disc is entitled Studio 1, we should note that this was all improvised live to analog tape with no overdubs or edits. Just pure badass instrumental interplay from four dudes who know what they're doin'.
MPEG Stream: "Untitled 9"
MPEG Stream: "Untitled 13"

BRITISH SEA POWER Do You Like Rock Music? (Rough Trade) cd 14.98
British Sea Power's recent Krankenhaus? (their question mark not ours) cdep revealed the band as a musical entity with a scope and prowess far beyond that of its fellow early-'00s dance rock Brits. Sure they can still kick out a right-on rollicking anthem like "Atom", but they can also execute a remarkably epic and grand passage filled with dynamics and nuance that gives Sigur Ros, Radiohead or Godspeed You Black Emperor a run for their money. That might be a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the picture, doncha? And they don't stop there. Nope, they go ahead and expertly dish out the smooth dreamy number "Open The Door" that's equal parts The Go-Betweens and Yo La Tengo. Really really good and recommended!
MPEG Stream: "The Great Skua"
MPEG Stream: "Open The Door"

FERN KNIGHT Music For Witches And Alchemists (Eclipse) lp 21.00
NOW ON VINYL!!!
Another gorgeous missive from the ever expanding world of modern freak folk, this time from Philly based singer, songwriter, guitarist, cellist Margaret Wienk, who with Music For Witches and Alchemists has crafted a darkly dramatic gem of moody mournful melancholia. Equal parts Pentangle, Incredible String Band, and of course some of her more modern sonic compatriots, Brightblack, Vetiver, Espers (Greg Weeks and Meg Baird both play on Music For Witches and Alchemists) and the like, Fern Knight is most definitely modern folk, but at the same time sounds so classic, the songwriting, Wienk's voice, the arrangements, a perfect combination. But the band manage to take that classic sound and infuse it with some sweet sonic mystery, due in no small part to the unlikely instrumentation, the sweet moaning cellos, dreamy swaths of harp, alien melodies on the singing saw, the twang of the Jew's harp, the wheezing harmonium, but unlike most bands, those sounds don't define Fern Knight's sound, merely add to the texture and mood of the music, which even stripped to its bare basics would still sound as sweet.
MPEG Stream: "Song For Ireland"
MPEG Stream: "Awake, Angel Snake"

FUXA Fuxa Commits Suicide (Mind Expansion) cd 9.98
Wow, haven't heard from Fuxa in awhile (hey, didn't we start another Fuxa review with a similar sentiment?). The Michigan space dreamers have never received as much attention as their peers, Windy and Carl, or Add N to (X), but maybe cuz their records are so few and far between. Well, it's always nice to hear from them, and their latest offering is this single which features a cover and collaboration with of all bands, Suicide!? Well, it sort of makes sense, doesn't it, as Suicide were a key bridge between minimalist punk and space rock. Fuxa with the help of Martin Rev along with Dean Wareham (Galaxie 500, Lun, Dean & Britta)and Sonic Boom (Spaceman 3, Spectrum) take on a gorgeous and driving retelling of Suicide's classic "Cheree" that sounds a bit like all of these bands combined. Hopefully, it won't be forever before a new Fuxa full length.
MPEG Stream: "Cheree (Richard Formby Mix)"
MPEG Stream: "Girl"

HABIBIYYA, THE If Man But Knew (Sunbeam) 2lp 34.00
Now availiable on 180g double-vinyl!
We were intrigued the moment we saw a copy of this reissued early '70s Eastern-influenced tranquil psych gem. The back cover displays dark and mysteries photos of the five men in The Habibiya. All clad in turbans and sporting long beards (whoops, actually one's a woman and she's not bearded!). We could almost hear the mystique before we pushed play. When we did finally listen we were steadily reeled into their raga like hypnotic sounds, influenced heavily by the music of Sufi Muslims from Morocco, where they visited on what was apparently an extremely moving trip for them in 1971. In fact we had no idea at first that The Habibiyya weren't from somewhere in the East, as the music we were hearing sounded so effortless and true. We later learned that they were in fact from London and featured ex-members of Mighty Baby (kind of the UK equivalent of The Grateful Dead). But where the Mighty Baby stuff we heard was cool and jammy it never really transported us like this recording does. It's music to close your eyes to, as the rich sounds sweep you away, aiming for the sky as its deep hitting core glows with an undeniable spiritual force. While most bands of the era had their backstage area filled with booze and groupies, The Habibiyya mostly just had books with them backstage like the I Ching and texts from mystic minds like G.I. Gurdjieff and Aleister Crowley.
Using zither, piano, banjo, oboe, koto, shakuhachis and an adaptation of classical Moroccan Andalusi singing they were able to create a sound that felt both ancient and timeless. We can all agree that what usually happens when Western musicians try to tap into an eastern sound and feeling, is that the sound can fall miserably short, sounding tepid and watered down, but there are those special rare occasions, when regardless of origin or location, musicians can tap into a special spirit and make sounds that transcend place and time. The Habibiyya did just that!
MPEG Stream: "The Eye-Witness"
MPEG Stream: "Peregrinations Continued"
MPEG Stream: "Bird In God's Garden"

HEY WILLPOWER P.D.A. (Tomlab) cd 15.98
It's taken quite a while for local boys Hey Willpower to have their debut full length come out here in the states. But finally it has arrived, and the party jams are a plenty. The mastermind of Will Schwartz, also of Imperial Teen with most of the music and beats created by Tomo Yasuda from Tussle & Coconut. Hey Willpower have really perfected their live show over the years with impeccable and endearing dance moves and a stage presence that's as sassy as it is sincere. P.D.A. has a couple tracks re-recorded from their debut ep as well as nine brand new songs that tap into their feel good take at unadulterated dance minded pop that lands somewhere between the Junior Boys and Justin Timberlake.
MPEG Stream: "Hundredaire"
MPEG Stream: "In The Basement"

HUMAN BEAST Volume One (Sunbeam) lp 24.00
Now also reissued on vinyl...
Heavy-ish prog/psych power trio action outta Edinburgh, Scotland circa 1969, here's the sole album by this obscure but well-regarded band. This is its first fully official reissue, done with the help of the band members themselves. This moody Beast was apparently much heavier in live performance than on this comparatively tame studio recording (a common problem for bands back then, lamented in the liner notes by bassist Ed Jones, who claims that only about 45 seconds of the record really reflects their earbleeding live sound). Even then, Volume One isn't without, well, volume. And power. Explosive electric guitar breaks and urgent rhythms, alternating with plodding and poetic dreamscapes. Wah-wah'd chicka chicka chicka guitar with Eastern-inflected melodies wending around and around. The first song is called "Mystic Man" and indeed the entirety of The Human Beast's album evokes a mystic, almost creepy feeling, accentuated by cryptic lyrics, lines like "We celebrate the feel of human meat" and "Mind escapes you, flies to freedom / Leaves your hollow gargoyle kingdom". There's certainly a special weirdness to The Human Beast, a peculiar, pagan freakiness. Their cover of The Incredible String Band's "Maybe Someday" fits right in. Very effective.
And while the production never lets them get quite as Beastly as they wanted to be, for 1969 this is still pretty badass. These guys probably never heard Randy Holden's Population II, but they probably would have liked it. And they'd certainly heard their share of Jimi Hendrix and Iron Butterfly... While more '60s psych than '70s proto-metal (at their heaviest here, closer to Cream than Sabbath), we'd certainly rank 'em in alongside the likes of High Tide, Sam Gopal, NSU, The Dark, Arzachel, and Andromeda...
MPEG Stream: "Appearance Is Everything, Style Is A Way Of Living"
MPEG Stream: "Maybe Someday"
MPEG Stream: "Reality Presented As An Alternative"

INTERZONA Numero 14 (Octubre 2007) magazine + 2 x cd 6.00
We're not sure how many aQ customers out there are Spanish speakers, but this magazine was just too good to pass up. Hopefully, there ARE a few folks out there who do indeed speak and read Spanish, and who will be super psyched to discover this amazing music magazine, while the rest of us can lament the fact that there's not an English version. That said, however, some adventurous non-Spanish speaking music lovers out there might just want to pick this up anyway. Oversized, glossy full color cover, and packed with articles about, interviews with and photos of Animal Collective, Vashti Bunyan, Low, Matt Elliott, Carla Bozulich, Grizzly Bear, Pere Ubu, SUNNO))), Jens Lekman, Battles, Scott Walker and more. 120 pages, tons of record reviews, illustrations by Jennifer Heremma and Ariel Pink / Jason Yates as well as 2 free cd-r compilations, one from Constellation Records, featuring tracks by Hrsta, Hangedup, Les Fly Pan Am, Black Ox Orkestar, A Silver Mt. Zion and what appears to be a live 17 minute exclusive track from Godspeed You Black Emperor, and the other from Finland's Lal Lal Lal label (run by one of the members of Avarus), featuring tracks by Maniacs Dream, Avarus, Kemialliset Ystavat, Fricara Pacchu, The Anaksimandros, Keijo and a whole bunch of Finnish acts we've never even heard of!

KONDO, HIDEAKI Structures (PSF) cd 16.98
Fans of the late great Japanese free improv guitar master Masayuki Takayanagi take note of this release. Guitarist Kondo and his group pay tribute with a version of Takayangi's gorgeous, gradually projected "Herdsman's Pipe Of Spain". And the rest of this is quite in keeping with the spirit of Takayangi's pioneering New Directions Unit. And while therefore pretty "out" sounding, it's also quite a bit different from some of the more extreme offerings we've heard from Kondo's other band, the electronics n' computers plus free jazz noisemaking ensemble Exias-J, known for their droning and distorted Borbetomagus-like jams. Here things are often calmer and more, dare we say, melodic. Though this is still pretty darn avant-garde. It opens with a solo guitar piece, finding Kondo playing a "ten-string gut guitar", which is an impressively large, plank-like instrument. Later on, he's accompanied by a group featuring flute, percussion and contrabass.
And this is called Structures for a reason. Even though there's a large improvisational element to Kondo's music (with certain tracks designated as such) he's really into experimenting with improvisations within particularly strict and unusual theoretical structures. Or at least that's the idea we get from what we've read about it, and certainly the very meticulous music here, full of moody pink-plonk, rumble-fumble, and scritch-scrape, seems like it could creatively stem from such complex, intellectualized musical methodologies...
MPEG Stream: "Herdsman's Pipe Of Spain"
MPEG Stream: "The Secondary Object Of Mode One, Crossing Lines"

KUHNE, KADET Holding Pattern III Infinite Delay (Tektonic Shift) dvd 21.00
You might recall Ms Kadet Kuhne's two exceptional IDM albums 2001's Seismic and 2004's Thin Air. In the years since she moved to LA and has now returned to the Bay Area with this dvd. We always knew that she was one heck of a multimedia force -- filmmaker, electronic music composer, installation artist -- just as adept at sculpting atmospheres through visuals as via artfully textured glitch and drone audio... and this document reconfirms it! Holding Pattern III: Infinite Delay is an audio/video work of hers from 2006. Otherworldly languid live-processed soundscapes with dreamy underwater imagery. She's joined by like-minded artists mem1. Immersive and beautifully crafted.

ONG ONG Issue 4 magazine 6.98
Issue #4 of this Seattle zine has arrived! You simply seldom see this sort of lovingly handmade, cut'n'paste publication these days! Features include stories about Grouper and Blue Cheer, animal facts, assorted other writings, comics, collage, drawings, and reviews of gigs and... beer! The 52-page zine comes in a plastic sleeve which also corrals a handful of odds'n'ends -- some screenprinted stickers and a cd-r of educational, spoken word and children's LP obscurities. Limited to 450 copies!

REID, STEVE ENSEMBLE Daxaar (Domino) cd 15.98
Steve Reid's resume speaks for itself. Over the last four decades his drumming has pretty much done it all! Mentored by with John Coltrane, playing in ensembles with Sun Ra and Fela Kuti, laying down the beats for Motown hits from Martha Reeves & The Vandellas to his own avant outings and recent collaborations with Kieren Hebden of Four Tet fame. Daxaar was recorded in Senegal with a large ensemble including Hebden on electronics, Khadim Badji on percussion and Jimi Mbaye on guitar. This was by no means Reid's first time in Africa, as he made the pilgrimage there very early in his musical career inspired by the visits to Africa that had such a strong impact on many of his musical heroes like Don Cherry and Art Blakey. Daxaar opens with a welcoming track played by Isa Kouyate on korah and vocals and the rest of the record finds Reid leading his ensemble through some really nice cosmic afro-jazz. There are a few moments that sound a little more fusiony then we usually expect from Reid, whose taste is for the most part always spot on. Not quite as out as some of his recent offerings but just as skilled, flawlessly executed and another bit of proof as to why he's one of the greatest jazz musicians still going strong!
MPEG Stream: "Big G's Family"
MPEG Stream: "Jiggy Jiggy"

ROBEDOOR Pained Seer (Caligulan Records) cassette 4.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A beautiful swirling murk drone mass from the always transcendent Robedoor! Pained Seer is the first cassette document of Robedoor we've gotten our hands on here at aQ, and it's a gorgeous vision quest to be sure!
The first track, "Acid Collapse", Is an undulating sonic dream, pulsating and writhing, feedback and fuzz rising and falling, spooked vocals mutter desperate incantations in the distance, all buried under an acid tongued drone. The sound is warm and enveloping, wrapping the mind in a twilight, come-down trip blanket, made of ghostly tones and acerbic pulsations. Building slowly in intensity, the sound becomes more and more excited, percussive elements enter to punctuate the brain burning death rattle, eyes rolling back into the head, sun caving in, by the end of it there's a hole blown in your head, and a vacuous peace where your mind used to be.
The flip side, "Reverse Vision", proceeds in the same mode, but perhaps a bit darker. Doomy even. A blackend progression is played on what sounds like a cheap keyboard set to cello, or maybe bassoon, hissing otherworldly vocals sing fractured melodies, all buried in murk-fuzz reverberating textures. This must have been recorded in some deep dark cavern situated far below LA, some place where that California sun cannot reach. The sound so dense and distorted, harrowingly dark visions creep through the mind's eye like lost sonic specters searching for a vessel. The piece drifts and drones and floats away into the ether, the progression remaining until the bitter end.
This tape, much like the Swanox / Scraps Of Dogs also on Caligulan featured on this list, is packaged beautifully. A photo of the sun coming through the trees on the cover, with these rad fleur d'lys cut outs on the corners of the inside flap. And A Magic The Gathering card is included in every cassette! Radical shit. Unfortunately, we got the last ten copies of this wonder, so when they're gone they're gone. Get it.

STIMULUS Untitled Landscapes One (ICR) cd-r 17.98
A small pressing of some 100 copies on Colin Potter's ICR label from this little known project Stimulus. Supposedly, this ensemble began life in a more abstract electronica vein; but here they've managed an excellent recapitulation of the classic Organum sound, with open-ended acoustic drones crafted out of growling textures and distended bellows massing into a dense, static cloud of acoustic energy. Further on, Stimulus blurs guitars and vibraphone into more of a distort-o-shoegazer drone much more in line with Fennesz or Machinefabriek, then shift to a heavy subharmonic bass drone coupled with elongated church organ tonalities. Well worth investigating!
MPEG Stream: "Untitled 1"
MPEG Stream: "Untitled 3"
MPEG Stream: "Untitled 4"

SWANOX / SCRAPS OF DOGS Split (Caligulan Records) cassette 4.50
A beautiful and harrowingly dark cassette release from the mysterious new tape label, Caligulan! Based right here in not so sunny these days San Francisco, Caligulan brings the droney, woozy, doomy skull fuck sounds that make a tape head cringe with sorrowful delight!
The Swanox side is one long track, called "Forests Of Pluto", and indeed sounds like an exploration of some alien, yet wooded planet. Deep and dark doomy folk, other worldly voices emmanating from blackened caves, the sounds of ancient trees creaking in the haunted winter winds, reverb drenched guitars plunked by some wraithy wood elf of the unspoiled natural landscape of old. The sounds of Swanox on this release are both haunting and contemplative, letting the mind drift off into the spectral world of tones. Spooky and strangely beautiful music!
The Scraps Of Dogs side is also a dark beauty, but much nosier and much heavier. The first track, "Nag Hammadi" is sort of a metallic drift. The sounds of metal scraping against metal, churning and contorting itself into every changing sonic shapes. Bass tones rumble in a deathlike scree, creating beautifully distorted drones and thick swells of darkened texture. The second track, "Leave Your Body Behind", Is all fuzz and rumble. It sounds like an Orcish army on a death march, in blizzard conditions. The distorted textures undulate in a syncopated way, while more high end elements swirl around your head, like some cold blowing, northern wind. Drifting drones made up of thick fuzz and crackle, mixed up in some evil witch's cauldron, along with a few blackend frog gullets, filtered through the grimmest, most kult coffee machine you could imagine, till it fills your sonic pot with oozing nefarious soundscapes. The coffee machine of grimnity!
The packaging on this fella is beautiful! Much like the Robedoor tape featured on this list, which is also on Caligulan, The cover is adorned with a gorgeous photo of the Northern Woods. More accurately the Pacific North Western woods, where these two doomy bummers originally hail from. The inside is spraypainted to look like some far off galaxy, and there's a beautiful handmade insert to boot! Along with this tape, and the Robedoor, we got the last 10 copies of this gem, so act now or forever hold your deathlike peace!!!

TAKEN BY TREES Sweet Child o' Mine (Rough Trade) 7" 3.98
Oh how we love Victoria Bergsman. From her days with Swedish indie pop sensations The Concretes to her new life as Taken By Trees nobody does bitter sweet pop as spot on perfect as her! Open Field, her debut full length as Taken By Trees was one of our favorite pop records of last year. This new 45 finds her doing the Guns N' Roses classic on the A side, of course in her trademark somber and pretty style and the B side is a new original track that's oh so short but oh so sweet.

TENNISCOATS Tan-Tan Therapy (Hapna) cd 16.98
We loooooooooove the spare and wistful dream pop of Tenniscoats (See, we can put as just as many "o's" in "love" as we do in 'doom'.). Although we must admit, it took us awhile to really get into Tan-Tan Therapy as this time around they collaborated with Swedish band Tape along with other Swedish musicians, resulting in a much broader and much more lush production but also with an even more somber and melancholy feel. The chamber pop instrumentation of horns, woodwinds, organ, cello, zither and glockenspiels along with some subtle electronic flourishes definitely provides richer textures, but we were kind of missing at first Saya and Takashi Ueno's more spare and naive side that comes closer to their Maher Shalal Hash Baz roots. But this release is definitely a grower, and one with each new listen we are loving it more and more.
MPEG Stream: "Baibaba Bimba"
MPEG Stream: "One Swam Swim"

WEISMAN, KURT Spiritual Sci-Fi (Important Records) cd 14.98
While we have been fans of most of Kurt Weisman's previous projects (Feathers, Witch, King Tuff), this first solo outing on Important has really thrown us for a loop. Spazzy sped up strings, sprightly jigs, woodwind-led free jazz and wincing pitch-shifted vocals remind us more of Cocorosie than the Van Dyke Parks comparisons touted on the label. Weird? Definitely. Wonderful? Not so much.
MPEG Stream: "The Young Pioneers Discover Magic"
MPEG Stream: "Mother Daughter Day"

WIRE, THE #289 March magazine 9.98
New Wire magazine time. The usual dizzying assortment of weird new music, from jazz to noise and pretty much every stop in between. On the cover British improv legend John Butcher. Inside, singer songwriter Baby Dee, aQ fave soundmaker Brendan Murray, another a fave, freedrone one woman combo Valet, Global Ear on Brisbane, composer Jed Speare, an awesome Invisible Jukebox with Andrew WK, electronica legends Autechre, artist and folkie Michael Hurley, and of course the usual array of reviews, cds, dvds, lps, eps, performances, installations, festivals, shows, books, movies and loads more. Back page Epiphany found in Atari Teenage Riot's The Future Of War. As always a great read, and if you're anything like us you'll probably end up with a big ol' list of new records and books to track down...

WOLFMANGLER Dwelling In A Dead Raven For The Glory Of Crucified Wolves (Aurora Borealis) 2lp 25.00
Here now on vinyl, this Wolfmangler release from a few years back...
The return of Wolfmangler, aka Smolken, who also just so happens to be the man behind Dead Raven Choir. Hot on the heels of a split with UK ultra doomlords Moss, Wolfmangler continue to explore the dark world of doom in their own truly peculiar manner. With bass, electric bass, drum, flute, trombone and bassoon (each band member is also credited with things like umber bulk, water nymph, floating eye, tengu, trapper and of course leprechaun) the Wolfmangler ensemble create a truly unique doom, woven together from wheezing woodwinds, throbbing low end, simple occasional drum beats and weird grumbled growly vocals. The result is not so much a massive doom sound as a creepy ancient court music, plodding and funereal. You can almost imagine some black clad procession trudging along the winding cobblestone streets within some walled fortress. Kerry though it sounded like punk rock slowed waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down.
Texturally it's unlike anything we've ever heard. The closest reference might be Skepticism, the way it sounded like their music is being heard through the floor or from a building next door. Wolfmangler's sound has a similar timbre, a bit like some high school marching band dipped in tar and forced to march through a desert of black sand, or maybe like holding a stylus in one hand, and a scratched up 45 of Fleetwood Mac's tusk in the other, and trying to manually play the record by dragging the needle along each groove. Warbly and dizzyingly warped, Dwelling In A Dead Raven For The Glory Of Crucified Wolves is some sort of hellish circus music, the soundtrack to a Fellini film, showed one frame at a time, a New Orleans Funeral Jazz band 78 played at 16 rpm on an old dusty victrola. So gorgeously slow, so pretty and creepy and dreamily doomy.
MPEG Stream: "Dirge For A Viking Asshole"
MPEG Stream: "The Last Elegy"

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V/A Eccentric Soul: The Outskirts of Deep City (Numero) lp 17.98
Now On Vinyl!!
At this point the Numero Group's Eccentric Soul series is no longer any sort of secret. The world couldn't help but take notice of the amazing job the label has done at digging deep into uncharted and forgotten regional labels and scenes from the heyday of soul and funk. So now, we usually don't have to turn people on to the series but instead we're often asked -which- of the Eccentric Soul comps is our favorite. A very tough question as they have yet to release a dud. But there are two of the releases so far that are a step or two above the rest in their golden soul perfection. The collection from The Big Mack label out of Detroit and Florida's Deep City label, a collection that we still listen to all the time.
So we were quite excited when we found out that Numero was going to mine even further into the Deep City vaults with a follow up collection from the amazing Florida label. Apparently Numero Group got their hands on a box of lost Deep City master tapes so seven of those tracks are on here as well as killer tracks from some of the other Miami labels putting out sizzling soul 45's back in the day. Every song we've ever heard from Helene Smith fills us with chills of excitement and she has two more on this collection, alongside amazing songs from a young Betty Wright, Lynn Willliams, Clarence Reid, The Rollers, etc. Anyone who has been taken by the spell of Miami soul needs to get this immediately and in fact this could very well become our new favorite of all the amazing Eccentric Soul releases. So damn pleasing!
MPEG Stream: HELENE SMITH "Pot Can't Talk About The Kettle"
MPEG Stream: THE ROLLERS "Knockin' At The Wrong Door"
MPEG Stream: LYNN WILLIAMS "Don't Be Surprised"

V/A Gold Record Studio: Live At Laney Flea Market (Edgetone Records) 2cd 14.98
BACK IN STOCK! Record collectors, check it out: in a sense, this is a compilation of tracks from some of the rarest records EVER -- even though they were just recorded last year! That's cause they only existed in editions of, like, one. Ok, this is gonna require some explanation. The Gold Record Studio is the latest contraption/conception from our man Jon Brumit (whom we first met when he brought us field recordings from the San Francisco dump!) and colleague Lisa Mezzacappa... Basically a set-up where one-of-a-kind vinyl records were pressed on-the-spot with an antique record cutter for folks who recorded live (and impromptu) in an open-air, homebuilt studio at a local flea market! This was totally free of charge, with instruments and even guest musicians provided, and apparently proved very popular. This took place over several weekends last spring at the Laney College Swap Meet over in Oakland... the City of Oakland actually ponied up some arts-funding money to help make it happen. And it seems like a pretty cool thing, for both the participants (the "recording artists") and now listeners who get to check out the diverse array of talent (and otherwise) who made records at the flea market, the best (and worst? no such distinctions really being made) have been compiled onto this sprawling double disc set. There's contributions from folks of all ages, backgrounds and ethnicities. Some musical pros show up (including a couple Serbian prog rockers, and the DJ from the Ghetto Boys!), but also many total amateurs, young kids n' senior citizens. Lots of surprises in other words!
This man-in-the-street, instant-gratification, no-rules recording project really let some folks get, shall we say, expressive. And creative. And downright weird. Portions of this do come off like a rather dubious talent show, or drunk mom karaoke -- but lots of tracks could be some really underground, experimental cd-r fodder, too. As a whole, it's almost like a hypothetical installment of the Sublime Frequencies series dedicated to the sounds of why-be-normal urban America, jumping from track to track with ADD abandon. For instance, among the many tracks of disc one, you've got a woozy improv session with a barking dog factored in, followed a few tracks later by a version of "My Favorite Things" recast conversationally (and humorously) between teenage girls. There's also a pretty badass blues rock guitar instrumental, some crazy scat singing, and a song that sounds to us a lot like The Shitty Listener! And much much more... It's mind-boggling and exhausting and pretty darn special. Even the recognizable tunes that people try (for good or ill) are enhanced in our ears by the bustling flea market field recording happening in the background.
And then, there's a whole 'nother disc. 50 cuts on disc two, starting off with some very lovely solo guitar from "Sam"...which is followed by a much more maniacal track with a shouting child... and then some guy singing "Let It Be"... a super-distorted rap by a teenage girl... and on and on and on. There's definitely some Gong Show moments, which are good for a laugh or can be taken as something maybe unintentionally avant-garde. We really like the more "damaged", confusional tracks (of which there's plenty), where it sorta sounds like the people you hear DON'T know they're being recorded, or at least seem unaware of where the microphone is, or when the song is supposed to start or stop.
Even in the age of mp3 and MySpace, this Gold Record Studio project has taken the democratization of the "music industry" a step further, down to street level! There's just something really joyful about it, possibly due to the serendipitous social interaction happening right then and there at the point of creation. You're getting a glimpse at the inner musical burgeonings of people who until that fateful day they were wandering around the flea market, probably never ever ever dreamed that they would so soon be the proud owners of a physical vinyl artifact with their own singing/rapping/playing/barking/whatever on it, whether silly or serious. And that's pretty cool.
Also, if you get this, you'll definitely have some good material to put on your outgoing answering machine message for months to come... file it with stuff like MSR Madness anthologies of song-poem recordings, or Jacob Smigel's Eavesdrop disc of found sound recordings, although this takes its own unique place in that array of oddity...
MPEG Stream: "Lee, Jon, Suki, Brian, Tom, Jesse"
MPEG Stream: "Emily, Amara, Lucio"
MPEG Stream: "Sam"
MPEG Stream: "Birana, Tanaya, Shelley, Micha"

V/A Welsh Rare Beat 2 (Finders Keepers) cd 23.00
That the Welsh well of groovy folk and psych rarities from the '60s and '70s hasn't run dry, is plentifully proven by this album. Finders Keepers presents a second volume of Welsh Rare Beat, again compiled by DJ Andy Votel and two of the guys from Super Furry Animals. Lots of w's and y's in the artist and track names here, there's tunes from the the likes of Galwad Y Mynydd (also the subject of a separate reissue on Finders Keepers), Y Gwenwyn, YNhw, Y Tebot Piws, Chwys, Meic Stevens, Bran, Sidan, Morus Elfryn, Heather Jones, Edward H. Dafis, AD 73, Bara Menyn, Hergest, and more. No, we haven't heard of most of 'em either -- and the ones we do know, we probably heard first on the original Welsh Rare Beat. And while we'd rate that volume a little higher, there's treats galore here, from rustic acid folk to glammy rock to disco prog! Even a kids TV show character takes a stab at rock n' roll. All with a unique Cymaru bent, often with glorious traditional melodies woven through, and gentle voices singing in the slightly phlegmy and certainly indecipherable (to us) Welsh tongue. Informative liner notes are provided, though, to clue us to who these artists were and what they were on about.
MPEG Stream: ELERI LLWYD "Cariad Cyntaf"
MPEG Stream: SIDAN "Ar Goll"
MPEG Stream: CHWYS "Gwr Bonheddig"

V/A Welsh Rare Beat 2 (Finders Keepers) lp 30.00
That the Welsh well of groovy folk and psych rarities from the '60s and '70s hasn't run dry, is plentifully proven by this album. Finders Keepers presents a second volume of Welsh Rare Beat, again compiled by DJ Andy Votel and two of the guys from Super Furry Animals. Lots of w's and y's in the artist and track names here, there's tunes from the the likes of Galwad Y Mynydd (also the subject of a separate reissue on Finders Keepers), Y Gwenwyn, YNhw, Y Tebot Piws, Chwys, Meic Stevens, Bran, Sidan, Morus Elfryn, Heather Jones, Edward H. Dafis, AD 73, Bara Menyn, Hergest, and more. No, we haven't heard of most of 'em either -- and the ones we do know, we probably heard first on the original Welsh Rare Beat. And while we'd rate that volume a little higher, there's treats galore here, from rustic acid folk to glammy rock to disco prog! Even a kids TV show character takes a stab at rock n' roll. All with a unique Cymaru bent, often with glorious traditional melodies woven through, and gentle voices singing in the slightly phlegmy and certainly indecipherable (to us) Welsh tongue. Informative liner notes are provided, though, to clue us to who these artists were and what they were on about.
MPEG Stream: ELERI LLWYD "Cariad Cyntaf"
MPEG Stream: SIDAN "Ar Goll"
MPEG Stream: CHWYS "Gwr Bonheddig"

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3/3 "s/t" (P-Vine) 2cd 42.00
ACID MOTHER'S TEMPLE "Festival Vol. 5" (Acid Mother's Temple) dvd 21.00
AHOUSEN "s/t" (PSF) cd 22.00
ALTER EGO "Why Not?!" (Klang Elektronik) cd 16.98
AMERICAN MUSIC CLUB "Golden Age" (Merge) cd 14.98
ANAAL NATHRAKH "Hell Is Empty, And All The Devils Are Here" (Feto) cd 14.98
AUTISTIC DAUGHTERS "Uneasy Flowers" (Kranky) cd 14.98
AXA HOUR OF DARA BLEU "Clones Of Eros" (Fire Museum) cd 13.98
AXELROD, DAVID "Earth Rot" (Capitol) lp 11.98
AXELROD, DAVID "Live: Royal Festival Hall" (Mochilla Films) dvd 28.00
AXELROD, DAVID "Seriously Deep" (Dusty Groove) cd 14.98
AXELROD, DAVID "Songs Of Experience" (Capitol) lp 11.98
AXOLOTL "s/t" (Fuck It Tapes) cassette 9.98
BAGS "Survive" (Artifix) 7" 4.98
BAGS, THE "All Bagged Up" (Artifix) lp 14.98
BEHOLD THE ARCTOPUS "Skullgrid" (Metal Blade) cd 12.98
BETTER BEATLES, THE "Mercy Beat" (Hook or Crook) cd 11.98
BIRCHVILLE CAT MOTEL "Seventh Ruined Hex" (Important) cd 14.98
BLACK MOUNTAIN "In The Future" (Jagjaguwar) cd/lp 14.98/14.98
BLEY, PAUL TRIO "Closer" (ESP) cd 13.98
BOND, BILLY Y LA PESADA DEL ROCK AND ROLL "Volume 3 & 4" (Cloud Forest) cd 17.98
BOSCOE "s/t" (Numero Group) cd 14.98
BOSMANN, KARL "Eskalation" (You Don't Have To Call It Music) lp 38.00
BOTTOMLESS PIT "Hammer Of The Gods" (Comedy Minus One) cd 12.98
BOY DIRT CAR "Spoken Answer To A Silent Question" (Aftermusic) cd 14.98
BRIDGEWATER, DEE DEE "Red earth: A Malian Journey" (DDB Records) cd 16.98
BROTZMANN, PETER "Born Broke" (Atavistic) 2cd 21.00
BRYARS, GAVIN "The Marvellous Aphorisms Of Gavin Bryars: The Early Years" (Mode) cd 16.98
BY THE END OF TONIGHT / TERA MELOS "Complex Full of Phantoms" (Temporary Residence) cd 10.98
C.C.C.C. "Chaos Is The Cosmos" (Cold Spring) cd 15.98
CARBONARA, ERIC "Exodus Bulldornadius" (Locust) cd 15.98
CASH, JOHNNY "Best of the Johnny Cash Show" (Columbia) dvd 15.98
CHERRY, DON "Tibet" (Piccadilly) lp 12.98
CHERRY, DON QUINTET "Live At Cafe Monmartre 1966" (ESP) cd+dvd 16.98
CINDYTALK "Camoflage Heart" (wheesht) cd/lp 22.00/23.00
CINDYTALK "In This World" (wheesht) cd/2lp 22.00/33.00
COPE, JULIAN "You Gotta Problem" (Head Heritage) 2cd 27.00
CRYPTACIZE "Dig That Treasure" (Asthmatic Kitty) cd 14.98
DANAVA "Unonou" (Kemado) cd 13.98
DIRTBOMBS, THE "We Have You Surrounded" (In the Red) cd/lp 13.98/13.98
DOO SOO, KIM "Ten Days Butterfly" (PSF) cd 22.00
DOWN "III: Over The Under" (Down Records) cd 17.98
DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS "Brighter Than Creation's Dark" (New West) cd 16.98
ESKIBOY "The Best Of Tunnel Vision" (Baked Goods) 2cd 22.00
FAUST "Od Serca Do Duszy" (Lumberton Trading Company) cd 24.00
FIFTY FOOT HOSE "Cauldron" (Phoenix Records) lp 24.00
FOLK SPECTRE, THE "The Blackest Medicine" (Wodsist) lp 14.98
FOOD "Molecular Gastronomy" (Rune Grammofon) cd 17.98
GALWAD Y MYNYDD "s/t" (Finders Keepers) cd/lp 23.00/30.00
GAZHEART (RITA ACKERMAN / DAVE NUSS) "s/t" (Locust) lp 23.00
GENDAI SOKKYO "s/t" (PSF) cd 22.00
GENGHIS TRON "Board Up The House" (Relapse) cd 14.98
GHOST "Overture; Live In Nippon Yusen Soko 2006" (Drag City) cd + dvd 17.98
GILLESPIE, DANA "Foolish Season" (Rev-Ola) cd 16.98
GRAVEYARD "s/t" (Tee Pee) cd 13.98
GRUDZIEN, PETER "The Unicorn" (Subliminal Sounds) 2lp 39.00
GRUPO AMIGOS "Paloma Mensajera" (Guerssen) cd 22.00
GRUPPO D'IMPROVVISAZIONE "Nuova Consonanza" (Cherry Red) cd 17.98
HALF MAKESHIFT "Final" (Small Doses) cd-r 7.98
HAUSER, FRITZ & MICHAEL ASKILL "Space: Music For Bells, Cymbals And Gong" (Celestial Harmonies) cd 15.98
HEXLOVE "Knew Abloom (Life's Hood)" (Holy Mountain) cd 13.98
HIGGINS, GARY "Red Hash" (Drag City) lp 21.00
HIGUCHI, HISATO "Butterfly Horse Street" (Family Vineyard) cd 14.98
HORSEFLESH "Synthenesia I" (Chambara) cd-r 6.98
HUMAN INSTINCT "Stoned Guitar" (Rockadrome) cd 14.98
I SHALT BECOME "In The Falling Snow" (No Colours) cd 17.98
IRIS, DONNIE "Back On The Streets / King Cool" (Universal) cd 14.98
IRR. APP. (EXT.) / PANICVILLE "split" (Nihilist Records) lp 21.00
ISLAND "Orakel" (Vendlus) cd 13.98
ISUNGSET, TERJE "Iceman Is" (All Ice) cd 16.98
JACKIE-O MOTHERFUCKER "Valley Of Fire" (Textile) cd 15.98
JOLY, RENE "Chimene" (Magic) cd 17.98
KLIMEK "Dedications" (Anticipata) cd 15.98
KOHNCKE, JUSTUS "Safe & Sound" (Kompakt) cd 15.98
KOLLEKTIV "s/t" (Long Hair) cd 27.00
KRONOS QUARTET AND WU MAN "Terry Riley: The Cusp of Magic" (Nonesuch) cd 16.98
LACY, STEVE "The Forest And The Zoo" (ESP) cd 13.98
LANER, BRAD "Neighbor Singing" (Hometapes) cd 14.98
LANG, K.D. "Watershed" (Nonesuch) cd 16.98
LAST EXIT "Headfirst Into The Flames: Live In Europe" (Downtown Music Gallery) cd 14.98
LOUIS XIV "Slick Dogs And Ponies" (Pineapple / Atlantic) cd 13.98
MACHINEFABRIEK "Bijeen" (Kning Disk) cd 14.98
MACHINEFABRIEK "Music For Intermittent Movements (Soundtracks For Films By John Price)" (self released) cd-r 16.98
MAYFIELD, CURTIS "Curtis" (Rhino) cd 12.98
MEGAFAUN "Bury the Square" (Radium) cd 16.98
METABOLISMUS "Snowy Meadows / Somnia" (The Social Registry) 7" 6.98
MONKEYWRENCH "Gabriel's Horn" (Birdman) cd 14.98
MONO "The Sky Remains The Same As Ever" (Temporary Residence Ltd.) dvd 17.98
MONOPOLY CHILD STAR SEARCHERS "Mandala Levitations" (Pacific City Sound Visions) cd-r 9.98
MONOPOLY CHILD STAR SEARCHERS "Piper Maru" (Pacific City Sound Visions) cd-r 9.98
MONOPOLY CHILD STAR SEARCHERS "Start Levitating Now!" (Pacific City Sound Visions) cd-r 9.98
MONSTER MAGNET "4-Way Diablo" (SPV) cd 16.98
MOORE, GRAHAM / THURSTON MOORE "split" (Nihilist) 12" 19.98
MORI, IKUE "Bhima Swarga" (Tzadik) dvd 30.00
MOULD, BOB "District Line" (Anti) cd 16.98
MURPHY BLEND "First Loss" (Kuckuck) cd 15.98
MUSICA DISPERSA "s/t" (Wah Wah) lp 29.00
NERVE NET NOISE "Dark Garden" (Intransitive) cd 14.98
NEW RISEN THRONE "Whispers Of The Approaching Wastefulness" (Cyclic Law) cd 15.98
OAKEATER "Molech" (Nihilist) lp 21.00
OCEAN, THE "Precambrian" (Metal Blade) cd 14.98
ONNA "Katawa" (PSF) cd 22.00
OPETH "The Roundhouse Tapes" (Peaceville) 2cd 16.98
OPHIUCUS "s/t" (Lion Productions) cd 16.98
PACIFIC U.V. "Longplay 2" (Warm) cd 13.98
PINCH "Underwater Dancehall" (Tectonic) 2cd 22.00
PINHAS, RICHARD "East / West" (Cuneiform) cd 15.98
PLOTKIN, JAMES "Indirmek" (Utech) cd 14.98
POCAHAUNTED / ROBEDOOR "Hunted Gathered" (Digitalis) 2cd 22.00
POLLARD, ROBERT "Superman was a Rocker" (Needmore Songs) cd 10.98
PROTEST THE HERO "Fortress" (Vagrant) cd 14.98
RANDALL OF NAZARETH "s/t" (Drag City) cd/lp 14.98/15.98
RAVEONETTES, THE "Lust Lust Lust" (Vice) cd 14.98
REITZEL, BRIAN "30 Days Of Night OST" (Ipecac) cd 16.98
RELIGIOUS KNIVES "It's After Dark" (Troubleman) cd 13.98
RIGGS, DAX "We Sing Of Only Blood Or Love" (Fat Possum) cd 14.98
RIMPOCHE, BOKAR "Sacred Chants & Tibetan Rituals From The Monestary Of Mirik" (Sub Rosa) cd 15.98
ROBEDOOR "Rancor Keeper" (Release the Bats) cd 15.98
ROBIN WILLIAMS ON FIRE "Jungle Gym Of Crucifixes" (Deathbomb Arc) 7" 5.98
RODRIGUEZ-LOPEZ, OMAR "Calibration" (n20 Records) cd 13.98
ROOT "Daemon Viam Invenient" (Shindy) cd 15.98
ROSETTA "Cleansing Undertones Of Wake/Lift" (Translation Loss) cd 9.98
ROSETTA "Wake / Lift" (Translation Loss) cd 13.98
SABBAH, DJ CHEB I "Devotion" (six degrees) cd 15.98
SIAN ALICE GROUP "59.59" (The Social Registry) cd 14.98
SIMONETTI, ENRICO & GOBLIN "Gamma" (Cherry Red) cd 17.98
SINCLAIR, JOHN "Guitar Army: Rock & Revolution With MC5 And The White Panther Party" (Process) book+cd 22.95
SKEPTA "Greatest Hits" (Boy Better Know) cd 21.00
SKULL DEFEKTS, THE "Open The Gates Of Mimer" (AA / Nosordo) cd 14.98
SKULL DEFEKTS, THE "The Sound Of Defekt Skulls" (Utech) cd 14.98
SKY PILOTS "Enjoy A Day Off" (Ghost Mansion) cd 14.98
SLEESTAK "Mach 2" (Thumbprint Press) cd 8.98
SLEESTAK "The Power Of Gemini(a" (Thumbprint Press) cd 8.98
SOILED MATTRESS AND THE SPRINGS "Honk Honk Bonk!" (Upset! the Rhythm) cd 15.98
SONS & DAUGHTERS "This Gift" (Domino) cd 14.98
SORE THROAT "Death To Capitalist Halmshaw" (Area Death Productions) cd 14.98
SOUTH SATURN DELTA "Experience The Concreteness" (Cold Spring) cd 15.98
SPEER, D. CHARLES & THE HELIX "After Hours" (Sound@One) cd 13.98
STEEL AN' SKIN "Reggae Is Here Once Again" (EM) cd 25.00
STEEN, JOS "Electricity: Music For Tape & Turntable" (Ultra Eczema) lp 38.00
STRIBORG "Trepidation" (Displeased) cd 14.98
STUMPS, THE "The Black Wood" (Last Visible Dog) cd 13.98
SUISHO NO FUNE "Prayer for Chibi" (Holy Mountain) cd 15.98
SUN RA "Disco 3000" (Artyard) 2cd 33.00
SUN RA "Some Blues... But Not That Kind Of Blues" (Atavistic) cd 15.98
SUPER FURRY ANIMALS "Hey Venus!" (Rough Trade) cd 13.98
TAU EMERALD "Travellers Two" (Important Records) cd 14.98
TEMPLE OF BON MATIN "Flower Footed Ghost" (Ruby Red Editora) cd 16.98
TOMBI "Black Humid Mist" (Students Of Decay) cd-r 7.98
TULUS "Biography Obscene" (Candlelight) cd 14.98
ULAAN KHOL "I" (Soft Abuse) cd 14.98
V/A "Asian Flashback: Underground Music From Asia" (PSF) cd 22.00
V/A "Beyond Amsterdam: Baltimore Tracks From The Wire" (Nonesuch) cd 13.98
V/A "Bippp: French New Wave 1979 - 85" (Everloving) cd 15.98
V/A "Cross Continental Record Raid Road Trip (B-Music)" (Finders Keepers) cd 23.00
V/A "From Dubplate To Download" (Greensleeves) 2cd 19.98
V/A "Greasy Truckers Party" (EMI) 3cd 38.00
V/A "Melodii Tuvi: Throat Songs And Folk Tunes From Tuva" (Dust To Digital) cd 15.98
V/A "Messthetics #104: D.I.Y. '77-81 South Wales" (Hyped To Death) cd 14.98
V/A "Messthetics #105: D.I.Y. 77-81 Scotland I" (Hyped To Death) cd 13.98
V/A "Obsession" (Bully Records) cd/2lp 14.98/14.98
V/A "Papagayo! The Spanish Sunshine Pop & Popsike Collection" (Toytown) cd 21.00
V/A "Pillows & Prayers" (Cherry Red) 3cd+dvd 42.00
V/A "Pop Made In France" (Magic) cd 17.98
V/A "Secret Garden Vol. 1:" (Invada) 15.98
V/A "Trogotronic Compilation, The" (Thumbprint Press) cd 8.98
V/A "You Got Yours!: East Bay Garage 1965-1967" (Big Beat Records) cd 19.98
VALET "Naked Acid" (Kranky) cd 14.98
VATICANS, THE "Guardia Svizzera Pontificia" (Pure Filth) cd 13.98
VETIVER "You May Be Blue" (Gong) 12" 8.98
VEX'D "3rd Choice" (Planet Mu) 12" 6.98
VILE CHERUBS "The Man Who Has No Eats Has No Sweats" (Afterburn) cd 13.98
WALKER, SCOTT "Scott 2" (4 Men With Beards) lp 15.98
WALKER, SCOTT "Scott" (4 Men With Beards) lp 15.98
WANDERING MIDGET, THE "I Am The Gate" (Eyes Like Snow) cd 15.98
WARMER MILKS "Radish on Light" (Troubleman Unlimited) cd 14.98
WHITE MICE "Excreamantraintraveinanus" (Blossoming Noise) cd 14.98
WILLIS, NICOLE AND THE SOUL INVESTIGATORS "Keep Reachin' Up: Remixed" (Above The Clouds) cd 17.98
WILLITS, CHRISTOPHER + RYUICHI SAKAMOTO "Ocean Fire" (12K) cd 14.98
WINTERS "Black Clouds In Twin Galaxies" (Candlelight) cd 13.98
WIPERS "Youth of America" (Jackpot) lp 21.00
WOELV "Tout Seul Dans La Foret En Plein Jour, Avez-Vous Peur?" (K Records) cd 14.98
WOODS OF INFINITY "Hamptjarn" (Supernal) cd 15.98
WRATH OF THE WEAK "Alogon" (Profound Lore) cd 14.98
WRNLRD "In From The Night Herd" (Small Sacrifice / Order Of The Cloven Eye) cd-r 8.98
WRNLRD "Mldthr" (Small Sacrifice / Order Of The Cloven Eye) cd-r 8.98
WYATT, ROBERT "Comicopera" (Domino) cd 15.98
YEASAYER "All Hour Cymbals" (Are We Free) cd 14.98
YEH, C. SPENCER "Violin, Objects" (Tone Filth) lp 17.98
YOSHIMIO "Yunnan Colorfree" (Shock City) cd+dvd 50.00

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ABOUT MAILORDER


Please place your order via our website.

[1] We will contact you to verify your order and let you know when it will be shipped. Please note that occasionally it may take a day or two for us to reply. We are not a faceless bunch of computers replying to your order -- we are human beings!

[2] If we are out of some of your items and we think we will get them within the same week, we can wait to ship. Or... If it's going to be more than a few days to complete your order, we will ship what we have and then will contact you as the remainders arrive.

[ note ] Due to the everchanging nature of the independent record business, we are not responsible for listed price changes (due to supplier price changes) and often cannot update our site fast enough to reflect these changes, but we will always try to let you know of any differences.


DOMESTIC SHIPPING :
--------------------------------
1-2 items $4.60 USPS Priority Mail
3+ items $6.50 UPS Ground

Further Explanation (Please Read!):
Within the USA, an order of 3 or more items will be shipped via UPS ground for a flat fee of $6.50. These packages are automatically insured and trackable.

However, if your package contains just 1 or 2 items, we will ship your order via USPS Priority Mail, and charge you $4.50 for shipping. These packages are NOT insured or trackable, sorry. So if you desire those safeguards, please request UPS delivery at the $6.50 rate. You must mention this in the comments field of our online order form.

Also, please note that UPS will not ship to PO Boxes. If you only have a PO Box, we can ship packages of 3+ items via US Postal Service and charge you by weight according to their rates. Special shipping needs (e.g. UPS Next Day) are also doable, just ask.

Another important note: box sets DON'T (usually) count as one item. Sorry. A box set will generally bump you up into the "three or more items" category. Y'know, they're big. Boxes.


INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING :

For foreign customers we ship via USPS AIRMAIL ("USPS First Class Mail International"). Your price is based on the actual cost of shipping plus $1 (for boxes, padding, etc.). You can check the US Postal Service international rate calculator. (Use the "Package" category and see the price for "First Class Mail International", which is the way uninsured packages are sent. 1-3 cds is usually 1 pound.)
Packages over 4 pounds automatically shift to the next shipping tier, which is "Priority Mail International". Packages under 4 pounds, but that are insured, also must be sent "Priority Mail International".


INTERNATIONAL INSURANCE :

You are hereby forewarned that Aquarius is not responsible if your international package gets lost in the mail.

Insurance is your only recourse if your records never show up. Overseas shipping can be slow and undependable... and while we haven't experienced any *confirmed* permanently lost mail, insurance might provide some additional piece of mind. We strongly recommend it. But yes, it is very expensive. It's your choice. Again: Aquarius is not responsible for lost mail, so if you aren't willing to take a (slight but real) risk, please buy the insurance.

International insurance is very expensive! In fact often the insurance costs more than the value of your package, in which case it obviously does not make sense to insure it. You can check the US Postal Service international rate calculator. (Use the "Package" category and see the price for "Priority Mail International", which is the way insured packages must be sent. 1-3 cds is usually 1 pound.)

For example: for a one-pound package worth $18 going to England, shipping without insurance is about $10. But with insurance, the shipping / insurance total is over $20!

However, if you're ordering a bunch of stuff, lps, boxsets, lots of cds, and your package looks like it will be close to 4 pounds, you might as well get insurance anyway, as it will already be bumped up to Priority, and insurance will only be a couple bucks more, plus with that much stuff, probably better to be on the safe side, but it's up to you of course.

It is your reponsibility to check the international rate calculator in order to determine whether or not you want international insurance. If you tell us you want international insurance, we will add it to your order no matter how much it costs!

PAYMENT :
-------------------------------- Payment is via credit card: Visa, MC, Discover, and Amex. Money orders are accepted, but only in $USD. If you wish to pay by money order, you must confirm the order with us through email or phone BEFORE you send any payment. It's best to just use the secure order form on the website, and when checking out mark money order as your payment choice. We will then process your order and respond with all the crucial payment info. Unfortunately, we cannot take personal checks for mailorder, sorry!


We also accept PAYPAL. But just like paying with a money order, you must confirm the order with us through email or phone BEFORE you send any payment. We will get in touch with a total, shipping cost, and Paypal payment information. Again, it's best to just use the secure order form on the website.


QUESTION?
-------------------------------- Email the mailorder department: mailorder@aquariusrecords.org

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SOME SELECTED UPCOMING RELEASES

----} February 26th
Beach House "Devotion" cd on Carpark
Hellhammer "The Demon Entrails" deluxe demos collection 2cd/3lp on Century Media
Goldfrapp "Seventh Tree" cd on Mute
Tommy Guerrero "Return Of The Bastard" cd
Rameses III "Bascilica" cd on Important
Simply Saucer "Half Human, Half Live" cd on Sonic Unyon
Sourvein "Ghetto Angel" cdep on This Dark Reign

----} sometime soon
Brendan Murray "Commonwealth" on 23five
Chop Shop "Oxiode" 23five
Omit "Interceptor"
Japancakes "If I Could See Dallas"
Jesus & Mary Chain "B-Sides Collection"
Nachtmystium/Leviathan split cd on Battle Kommand
Magma "Mythes et Légendes Vol.4" DVD on Seventh

----} in March
Unearthly Trance "Electrocution"
BJ Nilsen & Stillupsteypa "Passing Out"

----} March 4th
Sun City Girls "You're Never Alone With A Cigarette (Singles Volume 1)" cd on Abduction
Hanne Hukkleberg "Rykestrasse 1968" cd on Nettwerk
Stephen Malkmus "Real Emotional Trash" cd/2lp on Matador
Tubeway Army/Gary Numan "Replicas Redux" 2cd reissue on Beggars Banquet
Horna "Pimeyden Hehku" cd on Moribund
Howlin Rain "Magnificent Friend" cd on American
Flogging Molly "Float" cd
Rhys Chatham "Guitar Trio Is My Life" 3cd on Table Of The Elements
Keel "Lay Down The Law" cd reissue
Mia Doi Todd "Gea" cd on City Zen
Whiskeytown "Strangers Almanac" cd on Geffen

----} March 25th
Destroyer "Trouble In Dreams" cd
Powers Court "The Red Mist Of Endenmore" cd on Dragonheart

----} April 1st
The Sword "Gods Of The Earth" cd on Kemado
Sun Kil Moon "April" cd
R.E.M. "Accelerate" cd

----} April 8th
Boredoms "Super Roots 9" domestic cd release on Thrill Jockey
The Breeders "Mountain Battles" cd/lp
Tapes' n Tapes "Walk It Off" cd/lp on XL

----} April 29th
Dizzee Rascal "Maths + English" on Definitive Jux
Cloudland Canyon "Lie In Light" cd/lp on Kranky

----} also upcoming sooner or later
Acid Mothers Temple "Never Ending Space Ritual - History Of Acid Mothers Temple" 2dvd on Swordfish
Aleister Crowley "1910-1914 Black Magic Recordings"
Mariana Topley-Bird w/ Dangermouse
Paavoharju "Laulu Laakson Kukista" cd/lp on Fonal
Silver Jews "Look Out Mountain, Look Out Sea"
Circle X "Prehistory"
Loren Chasse & Michael Mnortham "Otolth"
The Wrens new album
Andrew W.K. new album
Wolfmother new album
Endless Boogie "tba" cd/2lp on No Quarter
Coh "Strings" cd on Raster
White Heaven "Levitation" cd edition on Farside
Anton Batagov "Passionate Desire To Be An Angel" cd on Long Arms Records
The Heads tba 2cd 'best of' on Leafhound
16-17 "Gyatso" cd reissue on Savage Land
Pyha "The Haunted House" cd on tUMULt
Varghkoghargasmal "Drowned In Lakes" cd on tUMULt
Like A Kind Of Matador "Halfway To Dangerous" cd on tUMULt
John Zorn "The Dreamers" cd on Tzadik
Coil "The Ape Of Naples/The New Backward" 4lp vinyl version on Important
Gore reissues on Southern Lord
Sanctum "On The Horizon" cd on 20 Buck Spin
The Endless Blockade "Primitive" cd/lp on 20 Buck Spin
Coffins "Buried Death" cd/lp on 20 Buck Spin
Black Boned Angel / Nadja collaboration cd/lp on 20 Buck Spin
Black Boned Angel "The Endless Coming Into Life" cd on 20 Buck Spin
Portishead "Third" cd on Island
Autechre "Quaristice" cd/2lp on Warp
Eater "The Album" 2cd deluxe 30th anniversary reissue on Anagram
Earth, Roots & Water "Innocent Youths" cd reissue on Light In The Attic
Jane Birkin/Serge Gainsbourg cd reissue on Light In The Attic
Serge Gainsbourg "Histoire de Melody Nelson" cd reissue on Light In The Attic
Serge Gainsbourg "L'homme à tête de chou" cd reissue on Light In The Attic
Pocahaunted "Peyote Road" lp on Woodsist

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HUUN HUUR TU LIVE!!!!!

Huun-Huur-Tu (Tuvan: xün xürtü) literally means "sun propeller." The
vertical separation of light rays that often occurs just after sunrise or
just before sunset. For the members of Huun-Huur-Tu, the refraction of light
that produces these rays seems analogous to the "refraction" of sound that
produces articulated harmonics in Tuvan throat-singing.

"Imagine cool, fresh air, high altitudes, the wild open spaces of the
steppes, rushing rivers, singing birds, galloping horses, yurts, and a
culture that combines Buddhism with shamanism, and then imagine that you
hear the sounds of all these elements in the music. With a beat. That's what
it sounds like."
UNION NEWS

"The Tuvans will ride into your brain and leave hoofprints up and down your
spine."
THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY GUARDIAN

"It is unfamiliar yet very accessible, an other-worldly but deeply spiritual
music that is rooted in the sounds of nature."
THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE

LIVE AT THE GREAT AMERICAN MUSIC HALL

Tuseday February 26th

For more info, check out http://www.musichallsf.com


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Lots of love from your devoted AQ staff

Andee Cup Jim AllanLaurenIrwinMattScottMichaelAntaeusCameronandFrank