AKIYAMA, TETUZI & JASON KAHN Till We Meet Again (For 4 Ears) cd 14.98

AKIYAMA, TETUZI & JOZEF VAN WISSEM Hymn For A Fallen Angel (Incuna Bulum) cd 17.98
Another nice one from this avant garde guitar/lute improv duo!

AKIYAMA, TETUZI & JOZEF VAN WISSEM Proletarian Drift (BVHaast) cd 16.98
Japanese 'onkyo' (and sometimes minimalist electric boogie!) guitarist Tetuzi Akiyama is always up to something interesting. Here he engages in live improvisation with Dutch avant-garde lute player Jozef van Wissem, who plays some sort of Renaissance lute while Akiyama chimes in on a nylon string resonator guitar that has been tuned to Renaissance lute tuning. The two long tracks here are both gentle, yet sorta jarring... a bit like some traditional Chinese music in that way (to our ears). There's lots of near-silent, pregnant space betwixt the quavering string plucks and resonating notes, as you might expect from any recording featuring Akiyama. Quite nice if you're up for this sort of thing -- a fan of the more abstract "wooden guitar", "deltadelica" stuff on Locust, for instance.
MPEG Stream: "The Golden Mass"

AKIYAMA, TETUZI & TOSHIMARU NAKAMURA Meeting At Off Site Vol 2 (Improvised Music From Japan) cd 17.98

AKIYAMA, TETUZI / GUNTER MULLER Points and Slashes (Erstwhile) cd 14.98

AKIYAMA, TETUZI / OREN AMBARCHI / ALAN LICHT Willow Weep And Moan For Me (Antiopic) 3" cd 10.98
Ladies and gentlemen, The Blues Deceivers! Huh? Yes that's what this trio is calling themselves, says so right on the back of this spooky lil' 3". These three guitarists (representing Japan, Australia, and the USA respectively, all well known in underground music circles) agree that the tradition of 'the blues' should or could be (or already was) an aspect of their approach to experimental improvised guitar, and so teamed up for this live recording at the 2004 Bomb the Space Festival in Wellington, New Zealand to let their guitars gently weep and moan (like the willow of the title) in desolate and dismal blues style... avant "blues" that is, droning and eerie and abstract and evocative. The Blues Deceivers are definitely not the sort of blues band you'd find booked at the Boom Boom Room fer instance. No vocals, no drums... the only voices those of their guitars and the ghosts they conjure. For fans of Loren Connors, for sure, and also all three of these players, who have explored such old timey territory in their work to some degree or other before.
It's 18 minutes, 47 seconds long in case you're wondering about how much music they fit on the 3" format, in this case.
MPEG Stream: "Willow Weep and Moan for Me (excerpt)"

AKIYAMA, TETUZI / TOSHIMARU NAKAMURA / OTOMO YOSHIHIDE / TAKU UNAMI Compositions for Guitar Vol. 2 (A Bruit Secret) cd 17.98
This might be the first we've heard of Taku Unami, but the other three Japanese guitarists here, Tetuzi Akiyama, Toshimaru Nakamura, and Otomo Yoshihide are all usual suspects from the "onkyo" scene of minimalist, fragmentary sound-making. So, perhaps we already know the unknown Unami by the company he keeps. As expected, this disc is a compendium of extreme guitar strategies, running the gamut from pedal steel string-slides amidst silence (Unami's "The Whisperer In Darkness") to similarly barely-there acoustic string-pluck that in its stark simplicity is quite beautiful (Akiyama's "Moebius Rings") to haunting feedback tones that some will find slightly preferable to a dog-whistle (Nakamura's "gt flo #2"), to an exuberant feedback/distortion fest (Otomo's "Plastics Pick & Mini-Motor"). All should provide ample satisfaction to fans of idiosyncratic avant-guitar play!
(In case you're wondering, Compositions For Guitar Vol. 1, unlisted by us, featured the work of Brett Larner, Burkhard Stangl and Taku Sugimoto, whereas this is an all-Japanese affair).
MPEG Stream: TETUZI AKIYAMA "Mobeius Rings (for two guitars)"
MPEG Stream: OTOMO YOSHIHIDE "Plastics Pick & Mini-Motor"

AKIYAMA, TETUZI / TOSHIMARU NAKAMURA / TAKU SUGIMOTO / MARK WASTELL Foldings (Confront) cd 15.98
Very Special Nothing Music. Well, that's what Ed Pinsent at The Sound Projector calls the stuff found here. Recorded live at the Offsite space in Tokyo when London's uber-minimalist Mark Wastell was touring Japan in early 2002, this quartet revolves around the principles of very spare gestures for improvising. So quiet are these sounds that if someone were to wander into the performance off the street unawares, they might think that they found an audience staring at four men sitting quietly on a stage. But in fact, Wastell was working with three heavyweights of the Japanese improv community: Tetuzi Akiyama, who splits his time between the 'onkyo' aesthetics for generated silences and his avant-boogie rock explosions; Taku Sugimoto with his own take on minimalist compositions for numerous instruments and electronics; and Toshimaru Nakamura, whose no-input mixing board can emanate blistering feedback loops and systems of rarefied drone. Put these four artists on stage and their respectful hush only intensifies with subtle smears, acoustic scrabblings, a tiny arc of sinewaves, and pointillist plucks becoming a punctuation marks across vast silences. This is one of those records that is not served very well by the street noise bleeding through from outside. Headphones are recommended, if not required, and in doing so, you will most definitely be rewarded.
MPEG Stream: "Part 1"
MPEG Stream: "Part 2"

AKRON / FAMILY Cosmic Birth And Journey (Dead Oceans) cd 14.98

AKRON / FAMILY Meek Warrior (Young God) cd 10.98
This long form EP (7 songs, 30 minutes) is the follow up to last years eponymous debut and it displays even more of this cultish collective's enigmatic relationship to any sort of defined sound. Songs weave from cosmic mantra chants to space rock epics, improvised skronk jams to pastoral psych-folk reverie and country inflected Flaming Lips-style indie rock, creating a rich sonic tapestry that is engaging as it is perplexing. Delightfully head-spinning!
MPEG Stream: "Blessing Force"
MPEG Stream: "No Space In This Realm"

AKRON / FAMILY s/t (Young God) cd 13.98
This review comes courtesy of our pal Forrest, longtime AQ customer and fellow massive music geek:
Akron/Family comfortably fit within the same free-flowing post-rock continuum as many of Michael Gira's other signings for Young God. Like Larsen and Ulan Bator, instruments drop in and out of the mix as needed, making it hard, on first listen, to tell how many musicians produced the music on the album (there are four). Like Devendra Banhart, their lyrical preoccupations tend toward the sweetly metaphysical, with occasional bits of unconscious derangement popping out. Like Gira's Angels of Light (for whom Akron/Family are now the backing band), occasional moments of darkness and creepiness intrude in the mix, although Akron/Family are never as dark, heavy, or gravel-voiced as Angels of Light, following instead a wandering course between Jeremy Enigk's metaphysically obsessed solo album and the warbling sweetness of mid-period Flaming Lips. Gira produced the album, and brings to it what has become his trademark: the album is recorded as a densely-woven suite, with songs fading from one to the next. Like Larsen's Rever, this gives it a seamlessness that may not be to everyone's taste, as the album feels longer than it is. Unlike Rever, there are lots of actual songs, and while the music is occasionally muscular post rock (with synths, chimes, toys, found sounds, and whatever else seems to work), the songs themselves belong more to the school of psychedelic folk popular with folks like Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom, and Six Organs of Admittance. It's hard to describe Akron/Family without making reference to other bands, as much in their sound is very familiar. Just the same, like every other Young God release, this record sounds like a transmission from some strange other dimension, being both very definitely a Young God record and its own unique thing.
MPEG Stream: "Before And Again"
MPEG Stream: "Interlude: Ak Ak Was The Boat They Sailed In On"

AKRON / FAMILY Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free (Dead Oceans) cd 14.98
It's the case with lots of our favorite bands that the magic and awesomeness of any group comes from the collaborative energy every member puts forth into the overall sound. It's not so much one member leading, or one guitar part, or one vocal hook that makes a band awesome. Put it this way, the whole is always greater than its parts. After leaving the infamous Young God Records and losing key member Ryan Vanderhoof, Akron family find themselves in a state of creative purgatory. We were surprised to hear Set 'Em Wild sounding so unconfident and unsure, one song lead by a post-rock guitar splurge, then the next a funky bassline from some sweaty disco romp. Not to say we don't fully appreciate the weird and unconventional approach these dudes have always taken, but there's something missing here. In all fairness, the production and performance is up to par with past Akron records, rich group harmonies, catchy pop hooks, atmospheric wash and delay, but the overall magic that linked all these key elements into something tangible seems to have unfortunately faded away...
MPEG Stream: "Everyone Is Guilty"
MPEG Stream: "Set 'Em Free"

AKRON / FAMILY Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free (Deep Oceans) 2lp 17.98
It's the case with lots of our favorite bands that the magic and awesomeness of any group comes from the collaborative energy every member puts forth into the overall sound. It's not so much one member leading, or one guitar part, or one vocal hook that makes a band awesome. Put it this way, the whole is always greater than its parts. After leaving the infamous Young God Records and losing key member Ryan Vanderhoof, Akron family find themselves in a state of creative purgatory. We were surprised to hear Set 'Em Wild sounding so unconfident and unsure, one song lead by a post-rock guitar splurge, then the next a funky bassline from some sweaty disco romp. Not to say we don't fully appreciate the weird and unconventional approach these dudes have always taken, but there's something missing here. In all fairness, the production and performance is up to par with past Akron records, rich group harmonies, catchy pop hooks, atmospheric wash and delay, but the overall magic that linked all these key elements into something tangible seems to have unfortunately faded away...
MPEG Stream: "Everyone Is Guilty"
MPEG Stream: "Set 'Em Free"

AKRON/FAMILY Love Is Simple (Young God) cd+dvd 15.98
A fat new release from cult faves Akron/Family, a cd AND (while they last) bonus dvd chock full of their uniquely freaked mix of tribal chant, symphonically folky indie pop, catchy rock, improv abandon, and several extra kitchen sinks worth of sounds. It runs the gamut from quiet and pretty to joyously chaotic, via artfully arranged, dynamic songs. Perhaps their noisier, more out-there (yet composed) stuff is what we like the best, as when their collective voices rise together in sweet harmony in the midst of stomping jangle ramshackle drone jams. Whereas the more intimate singy songy stuff can get a bit sappy for our tastes. For us, it's things like the seasick distortion effect that takes over towards the end of the album that we want to hear more of, for them to take that path of fucked-upedness a lot further.
The weird thing about this band is that, despite all the craziness on the surface, somehow they just don't seem all that weird to us. Sure, they use a psychedelic array of bright colors all over the place ("There's So Many Colors" is the title of track 6) but still they're carefully coloring inside the lines. Nothin' dangerously experimental here, when all's said and done. We could compare 'em to another anarchic sonic collective, Volcano The Bear -- that is, if they sold Volcano The Bear cds at Starbucks. Quite nice, really, and no surprise they're popular. A safe choice though. And while they last, this first pressing comes with a bonus dvd with performance footage from their notoriously full-on live shows!
MPEG Stream: "Ed Is A Portal"
MPEG Stream: "Lake Song / New Ceremonial Music For Moms"
MPEG Stream: "Love, Love, Love (Reprise)"

AKRUDE Predetermined By Hindsight (Burning Shirt) cd 12.98
This is the debut cd by AQ pal Jeff Sampson and his partner Jeph Jerman (Hands To), who live 2000 miles apart and have been playing on and off together for 20 years! This is noise-y intense music concrete but filtered through a more modern noise/found sound/freejazz aesthetic. Two 30 minute pieces. The first starts out with struck bells, shimmering into nothingness, chiming and ringing, lots of overtones and lots and lots of space. Soon the whole thing implodes into an orgy of clatter and thumps and creaks and splattery percussion, wild freeform rhythms and non-rhythms, and all sorts of strange sounds. Whining strings that sound like the cries of a wild animal, moaning lower register drones, all manner of bowed, and strummed an plucked instruments, making sounds they weren't designed to make. Track one is half hippy psych clatter, half 20th century freak out. A weird combination but it works somehow. Track two uses the same elements but spreads the clatter out a bit, making for a more sort of haunted soundscape, done musique concrete style. Really cool.
RealAudio clip: "Suite Revision"

AKSAK MABOUL Onze Danses Pour Combattre La Migraine (Crammed) cd 24.00

AL QAEDA SEPTET, THE Radio Peel L.A. (Skrot Up) cassette 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Latest jam from local improvised noiseniks Al Qaeda (featuring one of the guitarists from aQ SF black metal faves Sutekh Hexen), here expanded to a sprawling septet, recorded live on the radio in LA. Guitars, tape loops, oscillators, drums, percussion, metal, and trumpet, all woven into a strange sort of abstract avant free noise minimalism. Spidery free jazz tendrils underpin thick swaths of brooding low end, industrial percussion and room sound are blurred into backdrops for swirls of white noise hiss, streaks of feedback, and lurching loops. It's noisy, but more a soft cacophony, a slow build, the drums not about propulsion, at least not at first, eventually the cymbal sizzle and drum splatter coalesces into a sort of krautrock groove (although that other stuff does continue right on, there are multiple drummers after all), but once the drums lock in, the clouds of ever shifting noise and texture get the anchor they need, and you can almost hear it in all the players as they seem to lock in alongside the rhythm, playing more fierce, the sounds more jagged and caustic, but the whole thing sort of more structured. The sound shifts eventually, the drums becoming more motorik, while the sounds around the drums grow more abstract, like a field of electronic buzz, sheet of billowing low end, before eventually fading out.
The second piece starts out drum heavy right off the bat, and the track is a murky monster, the guitars not so much riffing and unfurling swaths of soft focus guitarnoise and little curlicues of melody, this one does get heavy, a churning slab of krautnoise that sounds like an updated version of Parson Sound or Faust. The next track set dials back the heavy, letting the trumpet drift in a field of skittery snare and abstract electronics, the drums eventually coming together, into something like abstract krautjazz, left to meander into the final number which is a hazy washed out expanse of layered tones, of distant melodies, of overlapping loops, a blurred droney drift, that thickens as the set progresses, darkening too, before the drums kick in hard, and the sound solidifies into a droned out blur, the trumpet playing a strangely mournful lament over the top, while the rest of the band churns and chugs their way through a final blackened free noise blow out.
LIMITED TO 50 COPIES, each one machine numbered.

ALA MUERTE / MAX BONDI Saturday (Public Guilt) 3" cd-r 7.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
Public Guilt is quickly turning into one of our favorite labels. A definite sound and vibe, but no two releases alike. An amazing visual aesthetic, sublime packaging, and some of the most beautiful, the heaviest, and most fucked up sounds we've heard in ages.
Public Guilt were one of the labels responsible for the amazing triple cd Untitled collection, a box gathering up some of the best 'noise' music of the last few years, they were also responsible for both discs from ambient guitarorrists Destructo Swarmbots, and this here super limited 3" cd-r just so happens to be the work of one of those Swarmbots.
The sound here is similar to the DS records, but where those records took guitars and stretched them into spaced out drones and whirring soundscapes, the music on Saturday, is much more obviously guitar music. Swarmbot Bianca Ala Muerte, is joined by Max Bondi, a UK experimental soundmaker, and the two, create a glistening, sublime world of subtly processed steel string buzz, breathless drift, and occasional bursts of fuzzy softpsych buzz.
The opening track is a lovely little tangle of playful guitar melodies, woven tightly amidst drifting wordless vocals, dreamy and hypnotic, the second track takes the same guitars and runs them through the computer, transforming them into stuttering soft edged swells, culminating in a crushing slow motion metallic dirge coda, throbbing crumbling heaviness, pulled into bleary eyed sheets of distorted bliss. The rest of the disc tends more toward the lovely and soft focus, with only super brief bits of downtuned crush. Instead, bits of glitched electronics, distant whistling, whirring chordal swirls, choral like voices, are all laid over the framework of delicate spidery guitars, and drifting melodic blur.
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES!!! Packaged in screenprinted mini 3" foldout sleeves, blue black and metallic silver ink, with a printed vellum insert.
MPEG Stream: "Yellow Paper"
MPEG Stream: "Staring At Orion"

ALABAMA SHAKES Boys & Girls (ATO) lp 19.98

ALABAMA THUNDER PUSSY Constellation (Man's Ruin) cd 12.98
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ALABAMA THUNDER PUSSY River City Revival (Man's Ruin Records) cd 10.98
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ALABAMA THUNDERPUSSY / HALFWAY TO GONE split (Slow Ride / Game Two / Underdogma Records) cd 8.98
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ALARM WILL SOUND Acoustica: Alarm Will Sound Performs Aphex Twin (Cantaloupe) cd 21.00
We always talked about trying to start a live jungle band, drum and bass played by a REAL band, no synths or laptops, just guitars and bass and drums. Lots of drums. In fact, we spent a lot of time trying to figure out how many drummers you would need, or how insane a drummer it would take to simulate that lightning speed skitter and stutter. So what exactly would it take, in terms of instrumentation to accurately recreate that jungle sound, or say maybe the sound of Aphex Twin? Well judging from this record right here, it would take flute, alto flute, piccolo, oboe, English horn, clarinet, bass clarinet, alto saxophone, bassoon, horn, horsoon, horse horn, Jew's harp, trumpet, duck call, trombone, steel drums, plastic tubing, mbira, piano, celesta, Fender Rhodes, violin, viola, accordian, cello, electric bass, upright bass, electric guitar, tambura, voice, cocktail stirrer kalimba, water hose, curtain rods, air pumps, engraving tool and of course FOUR percussionists and TWO drummers!! Phew. No wonder we could never get it to work. This massive ensemble manages to take songs by Aphex Twin and give them a classical organic makeover, and the results are pretty fantastic, owing as much to the brilliant and undeniably catchy songs of Aphex Twin as it does to the clever arrangements and deft musicianship of the Alarm Will Sound players. Aphex tracks definitely lend themselves to this sort of re-imagining, the older stuff is dense and rhythmic, clattery and chaotic, already feeling a bit twentieth century classical, so you can imagine that a group of modern classical musicians would have no problem playing, and playing with the material, having already tackled Cage and Reich and Riley and Feldman. The new stuff is rife with soaring strings and pizzicato melodies, so having a full string section tackling those parts, and then being supported by a complement of horns and a huge corps of percussion, only makes the originals sound that much more lush and musical. And then there's the redone tracks from Selected Ambient Works Volume 2, which in this context, are so perfectly lovely and hypnotic, they prove once again (remember the Phillip Glass Aphex Twin remixes?) that had Richard D. James chosen a different musical tack (modern classical minimalism), we might speak of him in the same breath as Cage or Riley or Feldman (with whom James most definitely shares a similar subtly melodic flair), instead of groups like Boards Of Canada or Bola.
MPEG Stream: "Cliffs"
MPEG Stream: "Logon Rock Witch"
MPEG Stream: "Mt. Saint Michel"

ALARMIST Evil Works Get Rich Or Try Dying Evil Works (Frenetic) cd 11.98
Super-raw carnal energy is all over this album. Alarmist's sound is pretty thin but not for lack of punk energy, they just have minimal layers of sound and maybe when they recorded, only a handful of tracks to work with. There are certainly some small angular aspects of magic somewhere sprinkled in and all around this album. Its female singing is a little bit Exene Cervenka, a tiny bit Kim Gordon. One maintains a sense of danger when listening throughout though. Evil Works ends with a curious track: cats meowing meowing meowing and suddenly becoming an untamed human chorus of wild growls. Whoah. Recorded in Portland, OR at Smegma Studios by Mike Lastra of you guessed it, Smegma.
MPEG Stream: "Tulips For Pianists"
MPEG Stream: "Paper Tiger"

ALARUM Eventuality (Willowtip) cd 14.98

ALASEHIR Philosophy of Living Fire (Siltbreeze) lp 13.98

ALASEHIR Sharing The Sacred (Important) cd 14.98
In case you hadn't noticed, we've been totally in love with the latest Bardo Pond record Ticket Crystals, so we were pretty dang excited to discover this new release by Bardo side project Alasehir (just one of many, see elsewhere on the list for Vapour Theories another side project as well as a new live album!). Alasehir is the work of Bardo brothers the Gibbons' and is absolutely kicking our asses. 4 long instrumentals equal parts heavy, heady and blissed out. It may be 4 distinct songs, but taken as a whole it's a serious psychedelic monster! The guitar sound is so instantly recognizable, effortlessly unfurling blown out stoner riffs other bands can only dream about. After the first two tracks, rife with heavy riffs and fluid grooves, "Seven Tongues" finds the brothers busting out their sitars and unleashing a dreamlike stream of sweetly buzzing star gazing sounds. This is the kind of record that gets your head bobbing, not quite head banging and not quite daydreaming but some wonderful place in-between.
MPEG Stream: "Bone Fire"
MPEG Stream: "Seven Tongues"

ALASEHIR The Stone Sentinels (aRCHIVE) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Bardo Pond records may only come out every year or two, but we need more fingers if we're gonna keep track of all the Bardo side projects and recordings that have been surfacing every few months for the last few years. Records by 500mg, Takeda, Dechemia, Alumbrados and of course these guys, 3 parts Bardo with some added electronic muscle, Alasehir.
This is record number two from this Bardo brothers project and is maybe the riffiest and heaviest Bardo side project recording yet. Three loooong tracks, each one some strange blend of abstract Appalachia, slippery slide guitar, tripped out druggy ambience, and seriously blown out dirgey metallic space rock, with simple pounding drums, huge distorted riffing, wild swirls of freaked out psychguitar leads, dense clouds of cymbal sizzle, tons of wah wah, streaks of screeching feedback, everything in the red and overblown, like some wild Hawkwind / Black Sabbath / Growing / Monster Magnet / Acid Mothers Temple / Amon Duul 2 mash up. This is wild and heavy, free and fucked up, spacey and trippy and druggy and far far far out.
Packaged in one of those cool aRCHIVE style 6 panel fold out sleeves.
LIMITED TO 600 COPIES! And already almost sold out so once these are gone we probably won't be able to get more.
MPEG Stream: "Nazca"
MPEG Stream: "Shroud"

ALASEHIR Tormenting The Metals (Important Records) lp 22.00
John and Michael Gibbons of the infamous Bardo Pond have been on quite a roll lately. As if the three other recent Bardo Pond related vinyl-only releases on Important weren't killer enough, here's another one to complete the four piece series of mind melting guitar driven psychedelic haze. Alasehir finds the Gibbons brothers in cahoots with drummer, Jason Kourkouni. The result is a smoldering heap of fried out, stoned to the bone, free psych madness! Plumes of smoke rising behind towering tube amps and blistering feedback, stoner doom riffs plodding on and on into the distant horizon, menacing solos hovering above waves of crashing cymbals and driving drums, all building and building into some Parson Sound, doom kraut heaviness. We love how blown out the record sounds, every instrument being dragged to its far off limits, we could've sworn we heard the wax start to melt right under the needle. This one is also limited to 500 copies, and those of you with a sweet spot for blistering guitar heaviness will not want to miss this. Recommended!

ALASKA! Emotions (B-Girl) cd 13.98
The first album from this indie rock super duo! Alaska's roster boasts the talents of Russ Pollard (Sebadoh, Folk Implosion) and Imaad Wasif (Lowercase, Folk Implosion). This is all soft'n'mellow pop prettiness with whispery male vocals over subdued jangly guitars, some cello and piano. The song "Sun Don't Shine" features '80s poptart Josie Cotton (!) singing backups. Have to say, this is sooo much better than the new album from the Folk Implosion on which these two fellows make up the new F.I. line-up (along with a gent known as Lou Barlow). Like early summer sun beams glinting through tree leaves, these songs glisten and lull you ever so warmly. Very very nice.
MPEG Stream: "S.S."
MPEG Stream: "Sun Don't Shine"

ALASTOR Noble North (No Colours) cd 16.98

MPEG Stream: "Cut Throat"
MPEG Stream: "Death Moral"

ALBATROSS NOTE The Dracula E.P. (Trillium Press) 9" 20.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This is the musical project of artist Marcel Dzama, who you should know if you're at all clued into the hipster art world. His drawings are Henry Darger-esque and he seems to have a thing for vampires. This limited edition 9" ep is part of a larger project that involves a custom made miniature log cabin, a beaver pelt, 20 limited signed prints, and this here record. Well, if you'd prefer not to drop the $10,000 the deluxe version will set you back (really!), then just the record is the way to go. Colored vinyl, packaged in a full cover sleeve, with an original Dzama painting depicting a morose looking black and white vampire family perched amidst a full color collage. The music of Albatross Note is a ramshackle, home recorded, chaotic indie pop. Damaged blues collides with sweetly soulful melodies, plaintive folks songs stumble and struggle through a thicket of amp buzz and tape hiss. Weird and wild and pretty wonderful. And buying just the record you save $9,980!! But if anyone -is- actually interested, there are a few of those Dzama cabins left....
MPEG Stream: "Dracula"
MPEG Stream: "In The Morning"
MPEG Stream: "Last Winter"

ALBERT AYLER The Complete ESP-Disk Recordings (ESP-Disk') 4cdBox 43.00

ALBOTH Amor fati (Pandemonium) cd 13.98
Switzerland has more to offer the unruly noiseniks than just the Young Gods. Alboth, while having the same sort of pompous air as the Gods, approach their music with a little less bombast. This outing finds them sounding less like a piano fronted Naked City, and more like a computer generated post rock soundtrack, infused with a drug induced paranoia, and an exagerrated sense of otherworldliness. Allan and Andee both recommend this record highly.

ALBOTH! Ecco La Fiera (Sonore) cd 14.98
Alboth! (yes, the exclamation point is part of their name, and deservedly so) was once known as the Swiss answer to Naked City (replacing Zorn's saxophone squalls with some amazingly fucked piano playing, however). Here they continue in their explorations of sonic extremity. Post-industrial jazzcore progrock? The current lineup dispenses with their signature piano, although there is use of a xylophone, as well as drums, guitar, vocals and electronics. Intense, crazy, like nothing else. But still recommended to fans of Naked City, Ruins, Oxbow, 16-17, etc.

ALBOTH/RUINS/MOLECULES/BELLY BUTTON/MUG (Pandemonium) 7" 3.99
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
R: Hyper kinetic bass/drums prog.
M: Bay Area jazz prog.
A: Swiss Young Gods style arty bombast.
BB: Noisey post rock.
M: Jazzy art brut funk rock.

ALBUM LEAF There Is A Wind (Sub Pop) 12" 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

ALBUM LEAF / BRIGHT EYES Collaboration Series No. 1 (Better Looking) 7" 4.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The Album Leaf and Bright Eyes are the first contributors to this 7" series from the label that just recently brought us the new Track Star album. The Album Leaf, perhaps most noted for being the opener on Sigur Ros' first U.S. tour last year, is the solo side project of Mr. Jimmy LaValle (guitarist for San Diego based post-rockers Tristeza). Bright Eyes is Mr. all-by-his-lonesome Conor Oberst. Jimmy provides the instrumentation (lightly scritchy electronics, samples of children's voices), and Conor, the weary voice. Sounding just as one might expect... mellow, pretty and more than a little doleful. The only problem I found was the brevity of this record. Really, if you're gonna blanket the listeners in fuzzy indie bummerness, you gotta let 'em wallow in it a while.

ALBUM LEAF, THE A Chorus Of Storytellers (Sub Pop) cd 13.98
Another outing of pleasant post-rock with electronics from San Diego's The Album Leaf.
MPEG Stream: "Blank Pages"
MPEG Stream: "Almost There"

ALBUM LEAF, THE A Chorus Of Storytellers (Sub Pop) lp 15.98
Another outing of pleasant post-rock with electronics from San Diego's The Album Leaf.
MPEG Stream: "Blank Pages"
MPEG Stream: "Almost There"

ALBUM LEAF, THE In A Safe Place (Sub Pop) cd 14.98
You can always count on a pretty, wistful melody from Mr. Jimmy LaValle both on his own as The Album Leaf as well as in his other band San Diego post-rockers Tristeza, and his newest full length is chock full of 'em. Sooo soothing. Perhaps you saw him perform live when he more than fittingly opened for Sigur Ros a couple of years ago. If so, then you've got an inkling of the dreaminess you're in store for with In A Safe Place. It was even recorded at Sigur Ros' studio in Iceland! Each song is primarily centered on gentle guitars, contemplative piano and usually a shuffling drum beat, but he'll also add some strings, an occasional murmurred vocal or in the case of the eighth song "Streamside" an accordion! After listening to this a few times we've come to the conclusion that it would make the perfect soundtrack for the outtro montage of a coming of age movie about figure skaters. Guests include members of the aforementioned Sigur Ros as well as Pall from fellow San Diegans Black Heart Procession. Very Nice!
MPEG Stream: "Streamside"
MPEG Stream: "Moss Mountain Town"

ALBUM LEAF, THE Into The Blue Again (Sub Pop) cd 13.98
The Album Leaf has made a name for themselves as the American counterpart to (and comrade of) those grand glistening soundmakers Sigur Ros and Mum. Over the years his music has drawn more and more from the same wintry palette as those Icelanders. However on his fourth album Album Leaf central force Jimmy Lavalle's mellow post-rock roots from his days in the San Diego band Tristeza resurface more prominently than on previous albums. Gently grooving songs like "Writings On The Wall" also bring to mind an American Notwist. To boot, Lavalle is singing more than ever. Oddly enough we initially though he sounded a lot like a less morose Pall Jenkins of Black Heart Procession (bringing back to the fore another element from his past -- he played with them too), however we soon discovered that the voice actually was Jenkins'. Yup, the BHP singer contributed some backup harmonies to his buddy's album. The overall results are not such a vast departure from his past recordings, but they do cut some welcome fresh glistening facets into his lovely resonant tried and true. Recorded at Sigur Ros' Sundlaugin studios.
MPEG Stream: "The Light"
MPEG Stream: "Writings On The Wall"

ALBUM LEAF, THE Into The Blue Again (Sub Pop) lp 12.98
The Album Leaf has made a name for himself as the American counterpart to (and comrade of) those grand glistening soundmakers Sigur Ros and Mum. Over the years his music has drawn more and more from the same wintry palette as those Icelanders. However on his fourth album Album Leaf central force Jimmy Lavalle's mellow post-rock roots from his days in the San Diego band Tristeza resurface more prominently than on previous albums. Gently grooving songs like "Writings On The Wall" also bring to mind an American Notwist. To boot, Lavalle is singing more than ever. Oddly enough we initially though he sounded a lot like a less morose Pall Jenkins of Black Heart Procession (bringing back to the fore another element from his past -- he played with them too), however we soon discovered that the voice actually was Jenkins'. Yup, the BHP singer contributed some backup harmonies to his buddy's album. The overall results are not such a vast departure from his past recordings, but they do cut some welcome fresh glistening facets into his lovely resonant tried and true. Recorded at Sigur Ros' Sundlaugin studios.
MPEG Stream: "The Light"
MPEG Stream: "Writings On The Wall"

ALBUM LEAF, THE Seal Beach (Better Looking) cd ep 10.98
Hey there Album Leaf fans! This is a domestic reissue of his glistening 2003 ep that was previously released in Spain. The big whoop about this particular release though is that there's twice as many tracks as there were on the original... that makes for a 10-track EP! The five bonus cuts are live recordings from the tour they did with Sigur Ros (one is from Portugal and the other four are from Atlanta), but there really isn't that much difference between the studio recorded tracks and the live ones. It's a pretty seamless shift from the fourth to the fifth song -- which simply makes for a smooth listen. His blissed out electronic pop sounds as dreamy and delicate as ever.
MPEG Stream: "Brennivin"
MPEG Stream: "Last Time Here (live)"

ALCATRAZ Vampire State Building (Long Hair) cd 17.98
No, not the '80s metal band, featuring Yngwie -- that Alcatrazz had two zz's in their name. This Alcatraz was a krautrock outfit from Hamburg, who released this album, their debut, in 1972. At last it gets a cd reissue -- we've always been curious about 'em 'cause the striking/silly LP cover painting (the lips and teeth of a vampire, with the bloody fangs being two inverted Empire State Buildings) always shows up in books of krautrock lore like Cosmic Dreams At Play and The Crack In The Cosmic Egg. AND, they're one of those Nurse With Wound list bands too! In fact, Nurse With Wound and Stereolab 'covered' this album's brilliant lead-off track "Simple Headphone Mind" on a collaborative ep some years back.
Alcatraz prove to be one of those wildly jamming, kinda-heavy bands, with some bluesy Zeppelin-esque riffing and powerful, fuzz-psych lead guitar (love that tone!) cutting through their fusionoid, jazzily-rockin' songs, which also feature sax, flute, piano, drums, bongos, and (on two tracks only) vocals. Reminds us of some way-out Traffic or Santana type of thing. Really, the mostly instrumental songs on here don't really sound like 'songs', just a lot of improv parts and crazy playing, which is of course cool by us. It totally makes sense that they started out playing covers of stuff by the likes of Savoy Brown, Vanilla Fudge, Black Sabbath, and Uriah Heep before getting into Soft Machine and Tony William's Lifetime -- the liner notes mention 'em blending Cannonball Adderly and Deep Purple!
While by no means a newly unearthed krautrock classic of Can or Faust proportions (though it was recorded at Faust's Wumme studio, during a police raid on suspected terrorists no less), this is a cool album of eccentric, sometimes epic, hippy jazz-rock. Reissued from the master tapes, with bonus track, and the aforementioned liner notes in both German and (more-or-less) English.
RealAudio clip: "Simple Headphone Mind"
RealAudio clip: "Piss Off"

ALCEST Ecailles De Lune (Prophecy) cd 17.98
Metalheads are definitely a weird bunch, their likes and dislikes, what is considered true and cult, versus stuff labeled poser or false metal. In some cases it's definitely cut and dried, but in others, there's really no rhyme or reason. For instance, take Depeche Mode. Almost every metalhead we've ever met, loves Depeche Mode. Why? There seems to be no metal connection, other than a sort of darkness or gothiness. Yet, DM remain a fast favorite, with more than a few metal bands covering songs by them as well. Which brings us to Alcest. For the life of us, we can't figure out why these guys are so beloved by black metallers, even the ones who go on about frosty grim kvlt hordes and generally listen to only extreme buzzing blackness, they all seem to love Alcest. Not that there's not plenty to love, it's just Alcest are barely metal at all. Sure there's some harsh vocals now and again, some distorted guitar, even some blast beats but that's about it as far as it goes metalwise. And the thing is, even when Alcest do dip into some blasting blackness, it's more shoegazey and dreamy and washed out and melodic, which speaks to why we love this band so much, their ability to create this glimmering blown out dreampop using tropes usually reserved for musics much more harsh and heavy.
This latest record finds the band perfecting their ever evolving formula, merging a sort of depressive melancholic black metal, with total blissed out shoegaze jangle pop. On Ecailles De Lune, even the heaviest moments are infused with an undeniable poppiness, a sort of ethereal dreaminess, that turns this into one of the least likely black metal records ever.
The band can be perfectly summed up sonically in the nearly 20 minute two part opening salvo, jangly guitars, hushed vocals, explode into a sort of prismatic shoegaze post pop, all big chords, pounding drums, everything wrapped in a soft psychedelic haze, crooned sad boy vocals, way down in the mix, slow builds to Godspeed like crescendos, angelic female background vocals, lush harmonies, spidery tendrils of minor key guitar, finally within the last minute of the first part, slipping into a buzzing blast, but as mentioned above, it's not so black and grim as if is epic and effulgent and soaring and majestic and beautiful. The second part opens with spare chiming guitars, before some almost actual black metal erupts, a woozy descending minor key melody that quickly shifts into something much more moody with harsh vocals showing up for the first time. It's frenzied and buzzy, but still more dreamy and druggy than black, and then just as quickly as it started, the blackness fades, leaving a loping rhythm, sweet chiming clean guitars, and then the rhythm drops out too, and the song plays out with just a soft tangle of reverby guitar notes and ethereal female vocals.
"Percees de Lumiere" begins all Lifelover-y, with swoonsome soaring shoegaze pop and harsh vox, only to splinter into prismatic dreampop partway through, dreamy female vocals over softly churning chords underneath, so nice.
"Solar Song" is some sort of Slowdive / Swervedriver / My Bloody Valentine hybrid, warm lush chords, soaring vocal harmonies, a killer main melody, total classic pop wreathed in layers of washed out fuzz and swirling sonic gauze, maybe the 'hit' here if there was gonna be one.
An 8+ minute closer might have you expecting a blasting metallic finale, but instead, we're treated to a smoldering sprawl of soft strummed, chiming gloom pop, no drums, just layers of glistening guitars, warm lush vocals, a slow burning chunk or rainy day post-metal dreamfolk balladry. woozy, washed out, hazy, dreamlike and utterly gorgeous.
While they last, we've got the limited digi-book packaging version of this fine album.
MPEG Stream: "Ecailles De Lune - Part 1"
MPEG Stream: "Percees De Lumiere"
MPEG Stream: "Solar Song"

ALCEST Le Secret (Prophecy) cd 15.98
Long before melodic post black metal or blackened shoegaze metal, or whatever you want to call it, became the flavor of the month (a flavor we continue to find delicious by the way), Alcest's 2 song debut came out of nowhere and blew minds. Not just ours, although ours were indeed sufficiently blown, but the metal world at large, the BLACK metal world, notoriously averse to innovation, especially of the poppy and melodic variety, with pretty much everyone freaking out over this French one man band, whose sound was a blend of Slinty post rock, spidery, shimmery shoegaze, and buzzing black metal. Since then, hundreds of bands have taken on the mantle of blackened jangle buzz pop, from Amesoeurs to Les Discrets, Deafheaven to Lantlos, but few releases, even later Alcest records, have managed to capture the same energy and intensity as these 2 songs.
The opening track "Le Secret", began long stretches of crystalline reverbed guitars, that goes on and on, 3+ minutes before the song proper begins, but then the guitars come buzzing in, thick, and crumbling, wrapped around an impossibly poppy melody, and then the vocals drift in, vocals which we initially thought were female, hazy, and washed out, high and softly plaintive, the track slipping easily from pounding blast, to loping midtempo, but always warm and washed out, softly buzzy and so divinely dreamy. Black metal perhaps, but smooth out some of the metallisms and you'd have a Lovesliescrushing tune, strip away the distortion and it might sound like Cocteau Twins.
The second track might be even better. "Elevation" begins with another long intro, this one all woozy shimmery synths, and when the 'band' launches into it proper, it's definitely buzzy and blackened, but again, infused with impossibly catchy melodies, and the vocals here are more black metal rasp, but somehow, the combination works perfectly, the riffs seeming to grow ever more epic and majestic, the pounding beats, blurring into another layer of pulsing buzzing sound. The sound does shift, from folky, clean guitar interlude, to lumbering midtempo chug and churn, which is when Alcest is at 'their' most metal, but the song drifts back toward the soaring majesty of the first half, droned out and hypnotic, buzzy and melodic and just about as sweetly warm and lush as black metal can get.
Even six years later, after hearing a million different bands employ this same strategy, these two tracks sound so fresh, so impossibly heavy and simultaneously so infectiously hooky, total fuzzpop blackbuzz dreamgaze bliss.
For this long awaited reissue, both songs have been rerecorded, these new version accompanying the originals, the liner notes explaining that Alcest mainman Neige was always unhappy with the sound, and the two new versions do sound a bit different, not necessarily better, but in some ways more lush and warm, less brittle and buzzy, even a bit more expansive and rich, although the originals were pretty dang perfect to begin with. Hard to say which versions we like more, but the fact that very little was changed besides the actual recording quality, means it almost doesn't matter!
MPEG Stream: "Le Secret"
MPEG Stream: "Elevation"

ALCEST Les Voyages De L'Ame (Prophecy) cd 14.98
Really, what can we say at this point about French shoegaze / post black metallers Alcest, that hasn't already been said, by us, and pretty much everybody else? Alcest are pretty much the gold standard when it comes to soaring emotional melodic shoegaze black metal (along with Amesoeurs, but they're both fronted by the same guy anyway), and with every record they move further and further away from actual buzzing blackness, but at the same time, they keep getting better and better (production, arrangement, songwriting) and in the process, their ability to blend their dreamy jangle and black buzz far surpasses any of the other groups out there trying for the same effect. There's no jarring shift from crystalline shimmer, and hazy dreamy drift to blasting buzz, it's totally organic, and sure, in the process, perhaps the black and the buzz becomes muted and less, well, buzzy and black, but the strange thing is, no one is complaining. Even the grimmest of metalheads seems to love Alcest (and Amesoeurs). It's the Depeche Mode principle again, like Depeche Mode, all metalheads love Alcest. Not that we can blame them, what's not to love? Especially here, on what is arguably the group's masterpiece, so epic, and melodic, and sweeping and soaring, lush and textured, alternatingly heavy and majestic, dreamy and drifty, heavy on the post rock and the jangle, with the black metallisims making up a relatively small part of the sound, and when the band do get into some buzzy blackness, the infuse it with an impossible melodic sense, and the fact that the sound is so lush and the record is so well produced, it makes it sound heavier than most proper black metal bands, not brittle and buzzy, or chaotic and furious, but epic and crushing and MASSIVE. It can only really be a matter of time before non metalheads catch on. There's plenty here that would not sound at all out of place alongside Explosions In The Sky and Godspeed You Black Emperor and M83 and Mogwai and all the rest, and we wouldn't be at all surprised if this had come out on Temporary Residence, or even Matador. Maybe that's in the cards, but for now, we can all continue to bathe in Alcest's glorious sonic glow, while they still remain, at least tenuously, in the underground. At this point, this can't really be a contender for black metal record of the year, cuz it's finally just too far removed, but it's still so goddamn good, we're having a hard time imagining very many records this year, metal or otherwise, will top it.
MPEG Stream: "Autre Temps"
MPEG Stream: "La Ou Naissent Les Couleurs Nouvelles"
MPEG Stream: "Les Voyages De L'Ame"

ALCEST Les Voyages De L'Ame (Prophecy) lp 42.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Really, what can we say at this point about French shoegaze / post black metallers Alcest, that hasn't already been said, by us, and pretty much everybody else? Alcest are pretty much the gold standard when it comes to soaring emotional melodic shoegaze black metal (along with Amesoeurs, but they're both fronted by the same guy anyway), and with every record they move further and further away from actual buzzing blackness, but at the same time, they keep getting better and better (production, arrangement, songwriting) and in the process, their ability to blend their dreamy jangle and black buzz far surpasses any of the other groups out there trying for the same effect. There's no jarring shift from crystalline shimmer, and hazy dreamy drift to blasting buzz, it's totally organic, and sure, in the process, perhaps the black and the buzz becomes muted and less, well, buzzy and black, but the strange thing is, no one is complaining. Even the grimmest of metalheads seems to love Alcest (and Amesoeurs). It's the Depeche Mode principle again, like Depeche Mode, all metalheads love Alcest. Not that we can blame them, what's not to love? Especially here, on what is arguably the group's masterpiece, so epic, and melodic, and sweeping and soaring, lush and textured, alternatingly heavy and majestic, dreamy and drifty, heavy on the post rock and the jangle, with the black metallisims making up a relatively small part of the sound, and when the band do get into some buzzy blackness, the infuse it with an impossible melodic sense, and the fact that the sound is so lush and the record is so well produced, it makes it sound heavier than most proper black metal bands, not brittle and buzzy, or chaotic and furious, but epic and crushing and MASSIVE. It can only really be a matter of time before non metalheads catch on. There's plenty here that would not sound at all out of place alongside Explosions In The Sky and Godspeed You Black Emperor and M83 and Mogwai and all the rest, and we wouldn't be at all surprised if this had come out on Temporary Residence, or even Matador. Maybe that's in the cards, but for now, we can all continue to bathe in Alcest's glorious sonic glow, while they still remain, at least tenuously, in the underground. At this point, this can't really be a contender for black metal record of the year, cuz it's finally just too far removed, but it's still so goddamn good, we're having a hard time imagining very many records this year, metal or otherwise, will top it.
MPEG Stream: "Autre Temps"
MPEG Stream: "La Ou Naissent Les Couleurs Nouvelles"
MPEG Stream: "Les Voyages De L'Ame"

ALCEST Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde (Profound Lore Records) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
BACK IN STOCK!! Been waiting to get more of these forever.
We've been gushing over French black metal outfit Ameseours for a while now. Their amazing blend of buzzing blackness and indie jangle. Like nothing we'd heard really, but was exactly what we always wanted, nay needed to hear, just didn't know it. As we mentioned in our review of their record, various members of that group also do time in the much more black metal Peste Noire, whose most recent record FolkFuck Folie we also reviewed recently, and in both reviews we lamented the fact that we were never able to get the ep by yet another related band, the even less metal, more blissy Alcest. And while that 2 song disc does in fact seem to be out of print, this here is the brand new full length, and besides being amazing, and one of the prettiest records of the year, it's absolutely and entirely not the least bit metal. AT ALL.
Which is in no way a bad thing, it's just perplexing that black metal folks have been touting this as one of the best metal records of the year, even ever. Much like Ameseours, Alcest is all about indie jangle, and blissed out shoegazey pop, but where Ameseours, mixes that sound with a more traditional buzz and blast, resulting in some strange blackened hybrid, a sort of indie jangle black metal, Alcest, jettison the metal entirely, leaving nothing but gorgeous, dramatic, epic, blissful pop perfection. And this is simply that, perfect pop. The guitars are still distorted and slightly heavy, and there is some double kick drum action, but that stuff is so wrapped up in dense smears of glistening chordal thrum and breathy emotional vocals, simple acoustic guitar picking and buzzing fuzzed out grooves, that it just sort of gets absorbed into Alcest's divine dreamy drift.
We talked about Justin Broadrick channeling the spirit of early nineties shoegaze pop in Jesu, but Alcest sound like they were transported directly from that era, yanked from a field of similarly minded sonic explorers like My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Ride, Swervedriver, Chapterhouse, and the like. It almost seems pointless to mention anything about the band's black metal pedigree, since if you were going on sound alone, you would be hard pressed to not imagine this was some legendary college rock record from 1992, each track glorious and glistening, the guitars soaring, epic and majestic, all major key, a walls of sound, rich and thick and lustrous, the bass mirroring the guitar, simple subtle harmonies, everything tangled into lilting bliss pop epics, while over the top drift soft fuzzy vocals, both male and female, that almost even more than the music recall that specific musical era.
Absolutely the finest slab of blissed out, post My Bloody Valentine dreampop indie jangle drift we've heard in forever. Just listen to the sound samples and we think you'll be just as smitten as we are...
MPEG Stream: "Printemps Emeraude"
MPEG Stream: "Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde"
MPEG Stream: "Les Iris"