C RAYZ WALZ Ravipops (Definitive Jux) cd 13.98

C RAYZ WALZ The Dropping (Suncycleent) cd 14.98

C-AVERAGE Second Reckoning (Kill Rock Stars) cd 13.98
A two-piece band of indie rockers from the Pacific Northwest doing their best to play metal...no, not The Need. It's C-Average -- but these guys might need to think about changing their name, as on this release they've manage to bring their grade point average up a bit! I'd give them a B+ for Second Reckoning, and a little gold star for "most improved". It's way tighter and heavier than their not-so-great debut from a few years back. They still do a lot of covers (this time, "The Witch" by the Sonics and Mose Allison's "Parchment Farm" by way of Blue Cheer), but play them, and their originals, much more convincingly than before. Maybe they'll figure out that with a live bass player, they'd have a chance to be really really good. Punk rock classic rock for fans of Melvins, The (Fucking) Champs, etc.

C-RAYZ WALZ Year Of The Beast (Definitive Jux) cd 16.98

C-RAYZ WALZ Year Of The Beast (Definitive Jux) lp 17.98

C-SCHULZ & HAJSCH s/t (Sonig) cd 14.98
I've not heard much from C-Schulz in a long time, recalling his name popping up a bunch about ten years ago along side hyper-prolific sound artists like Asmus Teitchens. At the time, it seemed that C-Schulz released a bunch of records that nobody cared about and then vanished. With the release of this album, I might have missed out on something pretty spectacular. His collaboration with fellow Cologne resident Hajsch is more of a history lesson into what the 'sound of Cologne' was long before the forest-disco of Wolfgang Voigt or the disjointed electronica pop of Mouse of Mars. C-Schulz & Hajsch's interest lies in a mesmerizing analysis of sound, discovering the mysteries that lie dormant in a textural field recording or a melancholic drone from a Harmonium. This is a beautiful album that certainly fits alongside the esoteric dronology of Andrew Chalk, Zoviet France, and even Fennesz. Oh yeah, this was released on Mouse On Mars' label.

C., PATRIC The Horrible Plans of Flex Busterman (DHR) cd 19.98
Patric (Catani) is a member of DHR/Grand Royal recording artists EC8OR.

C.D. Un Piano En La Garganta (Drone Records) 7" 7.50
Drone Records has a pretty good track record introducing unknown artists in their ongoing series of 7" singles that sonically embody the label's name. C.D. is the work of Christian Dergarabedian, who had spent some time working with the conceptually invigorating omni-Dada rock ensemble Reynols when he lived in Buenos Aires. Now residing in Barcelona, Dergarabendian reflects the drone facets of Reynols with six interwoven tracks of lovely distorto-feedback waves that decompose into irridescent digital twitches. The noisier stuff by Drone Records hosts Troum is clearly a reference. A very nice entry from the ever exceptional Drone Records series. Limited to 300 copies, with the first editions pressed on red vinyl. We have VERY FEW of these! Don't dawdle.

C.O.B. Moyshe McStiff and the Tartan Lancers of the Sacred Heart (Sunbeam) cd 16.98
This longtime AQ British folk fave from Incredible String band offshoot C.O.B. is back in print again, and with tons of extras, thanks to the fine folks at Sunbeam. Now with vastly improved artwork, tons of liner notes (courtesy of the band themselves!), loads of photos, old album covers and show flyers, and SEVEN bonus tracks, instead of the previous edition's five. Wow! As if we didn't love this record enough already!!!
Here's what we had to say about it the first time around:
C.O.B. (Clive's Original Band) was the creation of Incredible String Band founding member and one of the grandfathers of today's fringe folk scene, Clive Palmer. We don't know if you got the chance to see Mr. Palmer alongside fellow ISB founder Mike Heron at last year's reunion show, but it definitely seemed like his banjo-picking was a little rusty and he looked kind of dazed (no wonder, what with 35 years out of the spotlight). When this record (C.O.B.'s second and best, or at least most exotic and weird) was made in 1972, though, he was in top form, and the result is such beautiful melancholy! Some of the instrumentation here is similar to that of ISB (acoustic guitar, banjo, clarinet) but with lots of harmonium and the addition of a dulcimer with a widened bridge (invented by C.O.B. band member John Bidwell), an odd droning sound that darkens the mood a bit more than most stuff you'll hear from ISB. If you're a fan of British folk in the traditional and/or acid vein such as Shirley Collins, Trees, Forest, Fairport Convention, or current underground folkies such as Espers, Vashti Bunyan, or Current 93, this cd promises to be a true wistful pleasure. WAY recommended!!
MPEG Stream: "Eleven Willows"
MPEG Stream: "Oh Bright Eyed One "

C.O.C.ASPAR Grand Mal 2 (Epileptic Recordings) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
C.O.C.aspar is a Geman conceptual / sound artist who seems to have been quietly making interesting and puzzling work over the past three decades. "Grand Mal 2" is based around a series of live-recordings made inside a partially submerged fuel tank left over from the German occupation of a Norwegian harbor. C.O.C.aspar treats the metallic clangs and deep resonant vibrations with an excess of flanging electronics to sound like some fictional remix project between Leif Elggren and Maeror Tri.

C.O.C.O. s/t (K) cd 13.98
The Olympia, WA-based duo of Chris Sutton (Dub Narcotic) on drums and Olivia Ness on bass pump out some bare bones quite Meters-inspired grooves while staying true to the lo-fi K Records spirit. At times C.O.C.O.'s off-kilter boy/girl vocals bring to mind those of fellow K-sters The Crabs.

C41 Copernacre (Staalplaat) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
C41 is a collaboration between Joe Banks (Disinformation), Ashley Davies (Project D.A.R.K.) and John Everall (Sentrax Records). Based on N.J. McCamley's psycho-history "Secret Underground Cities," C41's first album reflects the "X-Files" claustrophobia of abandoned missile silos, subterranean research labortories, and forgotten labyrinthian warehouses filled with out-of-date weapons systems. It's a bleak album with distant metallic clangs, static electricity bursts, and shattered glass.

CAACRINOLAS A Thousand Cries Has The Night cd-r 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Members of German avant-jazz outfit Bretzel Killing Machine take their interest in horror films/music a step further by forming this two-man experimental BLACK METAL band! Yes, B.K.M. leader (and solo electronics artist) Bjoern Eichstaedt has finally delivered his his long-promised (threatened?) Caacrinolas project. Keyboardist/vocalist Bjoern, together with guitarist/bassist Larry Luer, and a drum machine, have made a very cult sounding 24-minute cd-r demo ep, numbered and limited to 100 copies. It's just one track (the title song "A Thousand Cries Has The Night") and the truth is, if this is a representative twenty-four minutes of that night, then it has a lot MORE than a 1000 cries, 'cause the screaming on here is voluminous and disturbing. Starting off with Goblin-style horror keyboards and drony atmospherics and then moving into Burzum style riffery and throat-shredding screaming backed by drum machine mayhem, this is pretty scary from the get-go. Then we move into doomy broken-guitar explorations, almost like Esoteric scoring a horror flick. The song continues to take many twists and turns, all dark and droney ones of course.
It's definitely something for fans of Mistigo Varggoth Darkestra, Abruptum, Nokturnal Mortum, Potentiam, and similar avant-ambient-black-metal trips. Excellent! We look forward to their next recording, which we're told is already underway, entitled "Satan et les légions fantastiques tourmentant le Crucifié"...
RealAudio clip: "A Thousand Cries Has The Night (excerpt 1)"
RealAudio clip: "A Thousand Cries Has The Night (excerpt 2)"

CAACRINOLAS Caacrinolas 2: Valley of the Dead cd-r 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Cryptic and creepy, Caacrinolas is the "black metal" project of German AQ-pal Bjoern Eichstaedt and his colleague Larry Luer, both of whom more typically make music in the realms of avant-garde jazz and experimental electronics. But, inspired by the likes of Burzum and Emperor, Bjoern and Larry created Caacrinolas, whose first, cultish cd-r release "A Thousand Cries Has The Night" was much liked by AQ staff and customers. Now they're returned to terrorize us further with "Caacrinolas 2: Valley Of The Dead". Again, it's a single track, but a longer one, at 36 minutes this time. Again, it's in a limited, numbered edition of 100. The packaging is a bit fancier -- a clear dvd-sized "Super Jewel Box", with a suitably chilling black-and-white cover photo beneath a sheet of blood-red acetate. Nice (and thus, the price is a bit more than before). And again, this is a scary 'lil disc! It does seem like they maybe have less of an overt black metal concept going on this time -- they're really establishing their own style of horror soundtrack jazz vs. metal, seemingly referencing both Bohren & Der Club of Gore and Cradle of Filth, Fantomas and Morricone, Bernard Herrmann and Sigh!
This disc's journey of darkness begins with classical strings and malevolent petrodactyl squawks, seguing into a Bohren-esque, noirish jazz-drone soundscape with zombie monk vocals in the background. But sudden changes will constantly catch the listener unawares -- lurking at every turn there are bursts of jagged metalcore riffing with roiling drums, passages of doleful organ, blasts of noise and distortion, dark and droney Tangerine Dream synth-work, and, as the disc concludes, pensive, pretty piano a la David Shire's soundtrack for The Conversation. Yep, it's good! (and evil.)
RealAudio clip: "excerpt 1"
RealAudio clip: "excerpt 2"

CAACRINOLAS Vargtimmen (self-released) cd-r 11.98
It's been over FIVE years since we last heard from German duo Caacrinolas and their strange brand of constantly changing black metal weirdness. The two were fixtures in the avant garde jazz / experimental electronic German underground, fronting the group Bretzel Killing Machine, but the two became fixated on black metal, and horror movies and decided to do something about it. Their debut, A Thousand Cries Has The Night, was a brief black assault, with buzzing riffage, sweeping black ambience, and some of the most intense wailing vocals we'd ever heard. We compared the music on the disc to groups like Mistigo Varggoth Darkestra, Abruptum, Nokturnal Mortum, Potentiam, bands who took black metal and shaped it into something more unique, and often more disturbing. The duo returned soon after, with a second salvo, the ominously titled Valley of the Dead, another lengthy single track, but the black buzz was pulled back to reveal a haunting Goblinesque soundworld of lugubrious dark crawls, and Bohren like blackjazz slowcore. Granted, the record was like a haunted house, with creeps and starts lurking around every corner, but the focus was a long droning black drift (btw, both of those were SUPER limited so don't try to order 'em...)
Now here we are 5 years later (although most of this was recorded in 2003 and '04), and Caacrinolas take up just where they left off, creating a gorgeous epic creepscape of drifting pointillist pianos, long drawn out minor key chords, whispery ghost like voices, dark cavernous drones, and streaks of fuzzed out ambience, all smeared into ominous, yet strangely lovely stretches of cinematic tension. Hard not to hear Bohren, and again Goblin, but also Stars Of The Lid, and even bits of Tim Hecker, Aidan Baker, and other subtle sound sculptors... Most AQ drone-heads are already in love with this kind of sound and it only takes a minute or two before those folks are ready to close their eyes and drift off... but not so fast....
About halfway through the opening track, some keening distorted high end guitar, begins to repeat, over and over, like some lonely distant minor key siren, until they're joined by some downtuned low slung slow motion riffage, that buzzes and crawls, over a warm warbly bed of synths... it never explodes into black action though, instead, it slowly twists and turns, the various layers of keyboard and synthesizer, getting all tangled up and drifting darkly above a swirling sea of subtle black drone.
The second track follows a similar pattern, a slow building horror movie ambient epic. Keyboards drone and shimmer, muted melodies drift right beneath the surface, bits of percussion pepper the Niblockian blur, the tension builds, the production crackles and hisses, a strange textured underlayer to the near static drone, until a mournful strummed guitar surfaces, and the track transforms into some strange lonely lament, drifting, drifting, drifting, until the band suddenly launches into full on rock mode, crunchy riffage, eighties synths, simple propulsive drumming, and the band is squarely in Goblin (or Zombi) territory, weaving a tense soundscape, dramatic and a little over the top, eventually, becoming -slightly- black metal with some super brittle high end insectoid buzz and some blasting double kick buried in the mix, like a black metal Goblin scoring one of those scenes where the terrified girl in her nightgown is running through the midnight forest, being chased by a mysterious maniac. Eventually, the band settles back down into a haunting slithering creep, but now with mysterious female voices mumbled beneath the buzzing synth, the sizzling cymbal swells, the spidery sad guitar melodies, and the slow motion downtuned riffing, until it all fades to black. Awesome!
Like the other discs, this one is also limited to only 100 copies, so we're not sure how long we'll be able to keep these in stock. If people freak out over this one the way they did over the first two, probably not long. But UNLIKE the other ones, which were packaged in slimline jewel cases, 3 is super elaborate, housed in a gold metallic hinged box (like those old Chain Reaction releases), with the artwork silkscreened directly onto the metal, the cd affixed to a metallic nub on the inside, and a printed black on black insert with all the liner notes tucked inside.
MPEG Stream: "Vargtimmen"
MPEG Stream: "En Un Espacio"

CABARET VOLTAIRE Methodology '74/'78. Attic Tapes; (Mute) 3cd 26.00

CABARET VOLTAIRE Mix-Up (Mute) cd 16.98
"Mix Up" was the first album from Cabaret Voltaire, the pioneering Industrial trio of Richard H. Kirk, Chris Watson, and Stephen Mallinder, and is qualitatively the best from that period for Cabaret Voltaire. Their sound centered around the dessication of rhythm with sinewy guitar lines, super primitive electronic synthesis (cheap drum machines, rapidly spirally tape loops, warbling effects), and monotonous vocals rasping through tons of electronics effects. This last trick became a staple of the '80s industrialists, perhaps more due to Skinny Puppy's Ogre than vocalist Kirk. "Mix Up" succeeds by keeping things creepy, dark, and monotonous, whereas the albums that immediately followed got a little too clever in trying to outsmart the audience with their rhetoric of paranoia.
RealAudio clip: "Kirlian Photography"
RealAudio clip: "On Every Other Street"

CABARET VOLTAIRE Nagnagnag + remixes (Novamute) cd ep 8.98
"Nag Nag Nag" was an early single for Cabaret Voltaire, recording it initially back in 1979 when they mere meshing a hollowed-out electro-punk sound with William S. Burroughs' notion of the cut-up. Along with the title track, this features three contemporary remixes from Montreal's Akufen, CV's mainman Richard H. Kirk, and Vice-approved electro bass-bin boomers Tiga & Zyntherius.
RealAudio clip: "Nag Nag Nag (original)"
RealAudio clip: "Nag Nag Nag (Tiga & Zyntherius Radio Mix)"

CABARET VOLTAIRE Red Mecca (Mute) cd 16.98
Originally released in 1981 through Rough Trade, Cabaret Voltaire's third album "Red Mecca" now gets another reissue courtesy of the fine folks at Mute! Having taken their name from the club started in Zurich by the principals of the Dada art movement during the First World War, Cabaret Voltaire has always been considered one of the pillars of Industrial Culture, along side Throbbing Gristle, SPK, and Einsturzende Neubauten. That said, Cabaret Voltaire's sound was probably the weakest link in the Industrial lineage. This trio of Richard H. Kirk, Stephen Mallinder, and Chris Watson filtered disco grooves and afro-beat rhythms through paranoid constructions swelling with conspiracy theories, excessive drug use, and the politics of control, to arrive at a strangled funk, with all of the references to any sort of sensuality sucked dry. Often cited by their fans as the most horrific of the CV catalogue, "Red Mecca" had a lot of great ideas that don't seem as fully realised as their proponents would like us to believe. While many of the '80s bands have enjoyed recent renewed popularity due in part to a sudden spike of interest in all things 'new wave', time hasn't been all that kind to Cabaret Voltaire's early experiments (unlike contemporaries like 23 Skidoo, Suicide, This Heat, and even Throbbing Gristle) sounding very, very eighties (and not necessarily in a good way).
RealAudio clip: "A Thousand Ways"
RealAudio clip: "Red Mask"

CABARET VOLTAIRE The Living Legends (Mute) cd 16.98
"The Living Legends" is a collection of the earliest Cabaret Voltaire singles recorded for Rough Trade between 1978 and 1981. While still lumped in with the Industrial family alongside Psychic TV, SPK, and Chris and Cosey, the Cabs' may have been the most overreaching in their attempt to subvert pop structures. Their ideas were quite clear in their attempt to mutate disco and jangle pop through a bombardment of electronic effects (lots of frequency shifting, flange, delay, etc.), but they didn't really do that much in terms of altering what the root song was. Take for example the singles included on "The Living Legends," which transcribe upbeat pop songs into insectoid mutations that still essentially speak as upbeat pop songs. Their best work is of course when they actually turn their pop structures into something dark and paranoid such as in the electronic wasteland dub of "Silent Command" and "Seconds Too Late," but even these were effortlessly done better by The Pop Group a couple of years later.
RealAudio clip: "Silent Command "
RealAudio clip: "Seconds Too Late"

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

CADALLACA Introducing (K) cd 12.98
Cadallaca features Corin Tucker of Sleater Kinney. It's less fierce than Sleater Kinney, but just as heartfelt with organs and off-key vocals.

CADALLACA Introducing (K) lp 8.98
Cadallaca features Corin Tucker of Sleater Kinney. It's less fierce than Sleater Kinney, but just as heartfelt with organs and off-key vocals.

CADAVER Necrosis (Candlelight) cd 14.98
A few years ago, the once-defunct Norwegian death metal act Cadaver reactivated themselves, morphing into a blackened, industrial-tinged monster dubbed Cadaver, Inc. whose album was a brutal comeback indeed, in the vein of their comrades Satyricon.
Now they've dropped the Inc. and become plain old Cadaver again (perhaps because their amazing Cadaver, Inc. website, which was done to look like that of a fake corpse-disposal crime-scene cleanup company, was getting more attention than the actual band). They've got their old logo back and with it a more old-school death/black metal approach to the music: as the first track is titled, they are indeed "Necro As Fuck". Instead of Satyricon, now they're sounding more like Celtic Frost. Extremely aggro, raw stuff with gruff, too loud vocals. As fierce as it is, there's definitely some weird parts in the songs too that reward careful listening. And the cover art is lovely by the way.
MPEG Stream: "Evil Is Done"
MPEG Stream: "Goatfather"

CADAVER EYES The Acquisition Of Power Over Fire / No Time To Haste (Heart & Crossbone) cd-r 12.98
We listed an amazing record a while back from a band called Barabara, from Israel, who sounded to us a bit like a black metal Hella! So here we have the newest record from a band called Cadaver Eyes, which just happens to be the solo project of Barbara drummer David Opp, who in Cadaver Eyes also plays drums, but the twist here is the drums trigger samples, so it's a seriously self contained one man band, just one guy singing and whipping up a huge grinding metallic shitstorm with his drums. Pretty impressive. Sounds like some of the samples must be crusty Napalm death / Carcass style guitar riffs, while others are rumbling super distorted bass. The end result is a sludge-y grinding thrash attack that would be right at home on Earache or Peaceville circa late '80's. All sung in Hebrew, with some songs peppered with random bits of found snippets, traditional Israeli folk songs, media bites and other random sonic interference. This should also hit the spot for folks into the grind-sludge of Burmese, UK crusties Doom, Texas scuzz merchants Rusted Shut as well as anyone into crushing spastic chaotic musical mayhem!
MPEG Stream: "Dive Into The Abyss"
MPEG Stream: "Scandal Shaaruriyah"
MPEG Stream: "Powerless Emperor"

CADAVER IN DRAG Raw Child (Animal Disguise Recordings) cd 12.98
Ok, let's start adding 'em up. This band gets point for their name, first off. 'Cadaver In Drag' is both disturbing and humorous enough to be worth a nervous chuckle (it's even funnier if you imagine that they know something about the Swedish death metal band Cadaver that we don't know). And their knack for names extends to album and song titles too, especially that of track two, "Fuck This Place". Could be an anthem for folks sick of living in, say, Kentucky (from whence Cadaver In Drag hail). Plus, they get points for this being released on the Animal Disguise label, run by one of the guys from Mammal, whose recent album was an Aquarius Record Of The Week, last week. That certainly piques our interest. And also then there's more points for this being picked, before it was even released, as an Album Of The Month (October 2007) by pagan pope Julian Cope on his Head Heritage website, which puts 'em in league with such past heavy AQ faves as Harvey Milk, Orthodox, Om, Death Comes Along, Vincent Black Shadow, The Heads, SUNNO))), and others. As always, we recommend reading his reviews.
So, before we even heard this, Cadaver In Drag had already run up the score pretty high in their favor. And now that it's here, and blasting on our stereo, the verdict is: hella more points!! For being a totally fucked, mesmeric mash of doooomic sludge metal and shrill psychedelic noise rock... part Khanate, part Wolf Eyes (or Mammal), and, as Julian Cope sez, part Les Rallizes Denudes. Nasty, noisy, nauseous. Early on in both the first two of this disc's three tracks, some angsty, wretched screams carry on about something or other, but those are quickly forgotten as Cadaver In Drag concentrate on their plodding, powerful instrumental raison d'etre: monomaniacal repetitive riff-bashing, each track an extended, distorted, metallic, trebly throb, crashing and clanging, staying more or less the same for up to 19 minutes in the case of the first and longest cut, the aptly titled "Walking Through The Gates Of Hell". However, subtle, simple shifts in sound do occur, almost as if they're playing their own destroyed dub versions of these compositions. It's like Skullflower covering Super Roots 3 (or 5) by the Boredoms, if you can imagine that sort of sickeningly hypnotic hybrid. Or Eyehategod and Hair Police (a member of whom contributes synths here) locked in a minimal march to death, freaking out with as few chords as possible, but plenty of FX. Or Cavity vs. Harry Pussy... Yowza. And it must be said that Cadaver In Drag does mellow the fuck out for the almost melodic, calm-in-comparison album closer "Secession '61". Nice. Points for that too.
MPEG Stream: "Walking Through The Gates Of Hell"
MPEG Stream: "Secession '61"

CADAVER IN DRAG Raw Child (Animal Disguise Recordings) lp 14.98
Ok, let's start adding 'em up. This band gets point for their name, first off. 'Cadaver In Drag' is both disturbing and humorous enough to be worth a nervous chuckle (it's even funnier if you imagine that they know something about the Swedish death metal band Cadaver that we don't know). And their knack for names extends to album and song titles too, especially that of track two, "Fuck This Place". Could be an anthem for folks sick of living in, say, Kentucky (from whence Cadaver In Drag hail). Plus, they get points for this being released on the Animal Disguise label, run by one of the guys from Mammal, whose recent album was an Aquarius Record Of The Week, last week. That certainly piques our interest. And also then there's more points for this being picked, before it was even released, as an Album Of The Month (October 2007) by pagan pope Julian Cope on his Head Heritage website, which puts 'em in league with such past heavy AQ faves as Harvey Milk, Orthodox, Om, Death Comes Along, Vincent Black Shadow, The Heads, SUNNO))), and others. As always, we recommend reading his reviews.
So, before we even heard this, Cadaver In Drag had already run up the score pretty high in their favor. And now that it's here, and blasting on our stereo, the verdict is: hella more points!! For being a totally fucked, mesmeric mash of doooomic sludge metal and shrill psychedelic noise rock... part Khanate, part Wolf Eyes (or Mammal), and, as Julian Cope sez, part Les Rallizes Denudes. Nasty, noisy, nauseous. Early on in both the first two of this disc's three tracks, some angsty, wretched screams carry on about something or other, but those are quickly forgotten as Cadaver In Drag concentrate on their plodding, powerful instrumental raison d'etre: monomaniacal repetitive riff-bashing, each track an extended, distorted, metallic, trebly throb, crashing and clanging, staying more or less the same for up to 19 minutes in the case of the first and longest cut, the aptly titled "Walking Through The Gates Of Hell". However, subtle, simple shifts in sound do occur, almost as if they're playing their own destroyed dub versions of these compositions. It's like Skullflower covering Super Roots 3 (or 5) by the Boredoms, if you can imagine that sort of sickeningly hypnotic hybrid. Or Eyehategod and Hair Police (a member of whom contributes synths here) locked in a minimal march to death, freaking out with as few chords as possible, but plenty of FX. Or Cavity vs. Harry Pussy... Yowza. And it must be said that Cadaver In Drag does mellow the fuck out for the almost melodic, calm-in-comparison album closer "Secession '61". Nice. Points for that too.
MPEG Stream: "Walking Through The Gates Of Hell"
MPEG Stream: "Secession '61"

CADAVER INC. Discipline (Earache) cd 14.98
Formed out of the ashes of Swedish 90's Earache deathmetal act Cadaver, the 21st Century Cadaver (Inc.) is an-all new "post-black-metal" beast, drawing upon bandleader/guitarist Anders Odden's experiences contributing to recent Apoptygma Berzerk (Swedish techno!) and Satyricon albums. The band is filled out by former members of such notable Nordic black metal acts as Aura Noir, Dimmu Borgir, and Dodheimsgard. And, providing a spoken word segment from his jail cell, is ex-Emperor dude Faust.
RealAudio clip: "Primal"
RealAudio clip: "Point Zero"

CADAVERIA The Shadows' Madame (Scarlet) cd 14.98
This Italian metal band is hard to figure out: visually, they look kinda Marilyn Manson-eque with big boots, devil-locks and black vinyl trenchcoats. So we expected some sort of vampire industrial goth thing, maybe with female vocals...well it's got female vocals, but not your usual variety! This band actually plays a weird hybrid of mid-tempo pounding black metal and catchy classical/folk riffage. Singer Cadaveria (ex-Opera IX) teamed up with members of Italian black thrashers Necrodeath for this new band that combines her unique vocals (a melodic but throaty rasp, sometimes venturing into sweeter, higher register) with majestic riffs on keyboard and guitar that really sound like Slough Feg or Hammers of Misfortune parts. Way more "heavy metal" than we'd expected at first glance. And way more original, fully of tricky twists you won't expect. We like! A kick ass surprise metal discovery for sure.
RealAudio clip: "Circle Of Eternal Becomings"
RealAudio clip: "Black Glory"

CAESARS Paper Tigers (EMI) cd 13.98
The Residents made an astute point when they noted that pop songs are commercial jingles (something to that effect or perhaps it was vice versa). A lot of the folks who compose music for commercials are undeniably some serious hook writers... which is why it's not at all surprising that ad execs got savvy to buying up current and past proven hits for use in ads. Hence, you might already unknowingly be familiar with this band (or at least one song of theirs) 'cause as a big sticker proclaims on this cd's shrinkwrap, it "features 'Jerk It Out' as heard in the iPod Shuffle commercial". Hell, it's definitely a great song (the band and their label both know it, having dished out different versions of the tune already on two other releases to date), but it's sad that it's gonna forever be associated with a product and not, say, your summer fun day at the beach or sumthin'. Anyhoo, that said, this is a bright bouyant pop album with nods to both the '60s and '80s. Lead singer Cesar Vidal's slightly nasal, emotive vocals sound quite a bit like those of Oasis... that is, if those Gallagher brothers took an enormous happy pill and moved to Sweden. Good stuff!
MPEG Stream: "Jerk It Out"
MPEG Stream: "Good And Gone"

CAESURA More Specific, Less Pacific (54 40' or Fight!) cd 9.98
In spite of being a 'post-rock' band, this local trio actually knows how to rock. Both live and on this new cd, they're quite impressive, intense and precise...but also not super original. Everything they do sounds kinda like it could be something by Circus Lupus, Shellac, or every other post-rock band on the screamier side of things...maybe a little Bastro, a little Fugazi too. And perhaps the brief Latin hand percussion break halfway through the disc is their nod to Tortoise or Gastr del Sol? So, great if that's your scene and you're not really looking for something new (that is, you want more of what you like, rather than something else). Perhaps these guys should go into temporary retirement for twenty years, and then emerge right about when there's (likely to be) a retro-post-rock revival in 2022, they'd kick everyone's asses then. In the here-and-now, though, they're still really good.
RealAudio clip: "For Staged Encore"
RealAudio clip: "Trap Door"

CAESURA Wallpaper The Witness (Birds Go South) lp 9.98

CAGE Hell's Winter (Definitive Jux) cd 16.98

CAGE, JOHN Atlas Eclipticalis / Winter Music / 103 (Asphodel) 4cd 30.00
Asphodel presents three pieces of Cage's symphonic work fortunately without DJ Spooky to add insipid post-modern liner notes or to 'digitally record' the performances. "Atlas Eclipticalis" and "Winter Music" are severely spartan orchestrations for Cage with a huge spaces set between each of the tones, set indeterminately by Cage as he traced constellations onto music paper. Here, the Orchestra of the S.E.M. Ensemble with David Tudor, perform these two scores simultaneously. The liner notes indicate that these two pieces were meant to complement each other, but it seems a little vague in terms of the rationale behind the fusing of the two. Regardless, this performance is quite spectacular.
"103" was composed more as a collection of 103 solos in which each instrument plays a series of single tones with specified windows of time for the tones to be played. Cage had intended for this piece to be performed without a conductor. Instead, the length of each of the 103 solos would determined by a digital clock. However, the performance presented here by the Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra from the Czech Republic was conducted by Petr Kotik. While Cage not surpringly didn't care much for the idea of rehearsing, Kotik believes that the conceptual agenda may be augmented to maintain the integrity of a performance.

CAGE, JOHN Branches (Timescraper) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
"So if a guy brought in a home made cd, you guys would sell it?" So said a homeless guy when I told him that "Branches" -- which had been playing on our house system at the time -- was more the kind of thing we were looking for than the Eric Clapton & Kenny G cds that he was hoping to get cash for. "Branches" is actually Cage's piece "Child of Tree", but augmented by several consecutive variations of the same piece. John Cage's performance notes state: "Find 10 'instruments', one of which is a pod (rattle) from a poinciana tree." Cage also indicates that no conventional instruments, nor animal or metal materials may be used in this performance. Cactus plucked with toothpicks come highly recommended however. Seven musicians -- using dried thistles, seed pods, blocks of wood, sundry other dried vegetation and taking Cage up on his cactii recommendation -- performed "Branches" inside a room within a dam at a constant 6 degrees celsius. (The track included here as a Real Audio file has been boosted about 125% so that it's a bit more audible under such a low fidelity listening situation.)
RealAudio clip: "Branches"

CAGE, JOHN Credo In Us (Wergo) cd 19.98

CAGE, JOHN Diary: How To Improve The World (Wergo) 8cd 93.00
"This landmark Wergo set presents 8 out of 10 volumes from John Cage's unfinished spoken diary. Read in the composer's own inimitable voice, these recordings provide fascinating insights into Cage's musical and life philosophies. These are not simply spoken word recordings -- each volume is sonically composed. Changes in typography in the printed text correspond to simultaneous changes in the stereophonic position and simultaneous changes in the volume of Cage's voice. This deluxe 8 CD boxed set includes a 64-page booklet containing several photographs taken in John Cage's loft and during the recording sessions in 1991, as well as a complete chronology of the composer's life." - Wergo liner notes. This is the new edition of this infamous Wergo document, with new, slimmer packaging and new written book.

CAGE, JOHN Empty Words (Parte III) (Ampersand) 2cd 17.98
What a fucking nut. Two discs of Cage reading, calmly and without expression, cut-up non-sensical passages from Henry David Thoreau's journals, live in Milan, 1977. The audience reaction is, however, quite expressive! Over the two discs the outcry builds: clapping, jeering, stomping, shrieking. Eventually the recording is more of the noise-making audience's near-riot than of Cage's performance, which is certainly in keeping with the man's philosophy of "music". Amazing and absurd. What a fucking nut!

CAGE, JOHN Four Walls (Long Arms) cd 15.98

CAGE, JOHN Music of Changes (Hat Hut) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Cage's first work composed entirely by using the I Ching (the title is taken from the name of Kurt Wolff's book on the I Ching "The Book of Changes". Every pitch value, note duration, expressive marking is determined by this painstaking process -- a process that Cage caught much flack for from many of his total serialist contemporaries. This was the first recording of that piece ever made, performed by David Tudor on solo piano and recorded in 1956. Comes in a fold out cardboard slip case printed with three pages of excellent liner notes by Art Lange.
RealAudio clip: "III"

CAGE, JOHN Works For Violin 3: Two4 (Mode) cd 16.98

CAGE, JOHN / DAVID TUDOR Indeterminacy (Smithsonian Folkways) 2cd 25.00

CAGE, JOHN / DAVID TUDOR Mureau / Rainforest II: A Simultaneous Performance (New World Records) 2cd 29.00

CAGE, JOHN / KENNETH PATCHEN The City Wears A Slouch Hat (Cortical Foundation) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Never-before-released radio play collaboration between John Cage and writer/artist Kenneth Patchen performed in 1942. In what has to be one of the oddest Cage pieces ever, professional radio voice talents unravel a truly surreal story in straight '40s radio drama style. Replacing the usual radio drama sound effects is a percussion ensemble led by John Cage which punctuates the dialog throughout. Along with muted gongs, tin can xylophones, and marimbula are an assortment of electronic gadgets, including an audio frequency oscillator, electric buzzers and recorded sounds. Also included on this disk is "Credo in us" with Genevieve Blons on shortwave radio, and a 1939 recording of Cage's "Imaginary Landscape" for shortwave radio. Oh, and according to the Cortical Foundation, this cd is limited to a pressing of 1000 copies.
RealAudio clip: "City Wears A Slouch Hat"

CAINA I, Mountain (God Is Myth) 3" cd-r 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This is the first in a super limited series of 3" cd-r's dedicated to H.P. Lovecraft. This inaugural installment comes from UK one man black metal horde Caina, whose debut record indeed bore a passing resemblance to AQ faves, Lurker Of Chalice, the weirder side project of Leviathan's Wrest, but managed to be it's own strange black beast.
And if anything, I, Mountain is even stranger, with barely any black metal, in fact there's very little here that might be considered metal at all. But that in no way means this isn't dark, or mysterious or subtly heavy.
I, Mountain is an instrumental interpretation of Lovecraft's At The Mountains Of Madness, and is an intense sonic journey.
The first five minutes are a blissy dreamy drift, muted acoustic guitars, glistening and shimmering, it's not until five minutes in that the tenor becomes ominous, with haunting crumbling production and mysterious minor key ambience. Then it's about halfway through before we get the first hint of anything resembling metal, and even then, it's thick clouds of noxious distortion, drifting in the background, a sort of black ambience, but this quickly gives way to a churning doomy sludge, downtuned guitars, thick waves, layer after layer, slowly shifting and pulsing.
Finally, with only minutes to go, the metal kicks in, but it's no black blast, instead a propulsive metallic dirge, thick guitars, and pounding simple drums with the occasionally splattery fill, trudging resolutely forward before the drums drift off, leaving dense peals of processed guitar to swirl and shimmer ominously before the dark ambience fades to black.
I, Mountain is tracked as a single 20+ minute track, although in the booklet, the sections are separated into movements. Packaged in a slim jewel case, with a 4 panel booklet and a thick card insert with a photo of Lovecraft on one side and an essay on the other. Nice!
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES!!! We got 20, and it's already out of print, so when we run out, we will not be able to get more...
MPEG Stream: "excerpt 1"
MPEG Stream: "excerpt 2"

CAINA Some People Fall (God Is Myth) cd 10.98
The first we heard about this UK outfit Caina, was that they sounded a bit like Lurker Of Chalice, Wrest from Leviathan's more experimental black metal side project. And if you're anything like us, which we're thinking in matters Leviathan you most definitely are, then that was pretty much all we needed to hear. And it does definitely share some sonic similarities, although it is most definitely it's own mournful, melancholy blackened beast.
The opening track doesn't prepare you at all for the rest of the disc, it's a strange and murky, shimmering ambient soundscape, rich swells of epic sound, like an instrumental post rock Constellation band run through some sort of Jeck / Basinski / Tim Hecker filter rendering everything smeary and gloriously indistinct. Distant drums, bits of percussive skitter, all drifting below a sun baked expanse of glistening soft focus drone. Quite lovely. And the rest of the record is lovely too, just in a much more bleak and blackened way. The opening track has a definite shoegazer vibe that manages to stretch out and settle over all the tracks here. Thick reverby guitars, super primitive practice space drums, arpeggiated minor key melodies, strange little guitar leads spun out into the ether, ultra raw vocals way up in the mix, huge guitar chugs, lilting sort of sea sick rhythms, bizarre convoluted song structures, blast beats that seem to just sink into the mire, long stretches of caliginous dark ambience, gorgeous slabs of simple hypnotic guitar, the whole record wreathed in a dense funereal sonic fog. Dark and creepy and pretty but still so bleak and black. Lurker / Leviathan fans need this for sure. As does anyone into weird damaged blissed out black metal. And if you love stuff like My Bloody Valentine, Jesus & Mary Chain, M83, Phillip Jeck, Tim Hecker and the like, but can't really imagine what all those bands would sound like in a black metal context, look no further...
MPEG Stream: "The Validity Of Hate Within An Emotional Vacuum"
MPEG Stream: "Black End Tyme Collapse"
MPEG Stream: "Satanikultur Pessimis"

CAIRO GANG, THE s/t (Narnack) cd 14.98
What's this? Some unexpected prettiness on the usually angular edgy Narnack label? A refreshing change. The Cairo Gang's music brings many other non-Narnack artists to mind. Despite the moniker, this is a one man band. Most notably Mr. Emmett Kelly's softly lilting vocals and bossanova rhythms that pepper the album draw immediate comparisons to Sam Prekop and Sea And Cake. Further into the album, the ninth song "Last Time Since September" seems like a breezy lil' something that The Shins might do on a mellow afternoon, while the eleventh track "Silhouette" is very awash in swishy shoegazin' guitars a la Ride, Slowdive or Jesus And Mary Chain. To boot, the sweet flittery recorder playing evokes a wide-eyed innocence seldom heard these days. Amid all of this laidback, contemplative melodicism though Kelly does on occasion descend into brief periods of dissonance and wooziness which prevents the listener from completely drifting off into dreamland. Taken in one sitting, this album's variety of indie pop sounds is quite reminiscent of Unrest and The Lilys too. A hazy late summer evening kind of listen.
MPEG Stream: "Last Time Since September"
MPEG Stream: "Silhouette"

CAKE Comfort Eagle (Columbia / Sony) cd 16.98
These local favorites, that for painfully obvious reasons, have made it big (-ish). The worst song on this cd is the hit on MTV. With embarrassing lyrics, funky, kooky riffs, and gratuitous poppy bullshit, this release was unbearable for me to listen to. Yuck.

CAKE Fashion Nugget (Capricorn/Mercury) cd 12.98
As seen on MTV.