SHINING / FUNERAL DIRGE The Sinister Alliance (Old Temple) cd 14.98

SHITMAT / LADYSCRAPER Grungecore Volume 1 (Fukdup) 7" 6.50
There's been much talk about grunge around aQ these days. A lot of it has to do with the fact that a bunch of us just love grunge, STILL, and thus talk about it all the time. But beyond that, Andee recently dedicated an entire radio show to his grunge favorites, and this summer is the Sub Pop 20th anniversary celebration, which rumor has it, might entail a Green River reunion! And now there's this, the first volume in a proposed series called Grungecore. And the second we heard about it, we knew we needed it!
Gabber jungle dancehall electronic freak Shitmat, covering Nirvana's "Negative Creep"!!! As if that weren't enough, the flipside is some other crazed electronic tweaker taking on Nirvana's "Senseless Apprentice" (aka "Scentless Apprentice"). And if even that weren't still enough, every single 7" comes in a sleeve, hand sewn from actual flannel shirts! Holy shit!!!
So the Shitmat side is a killer. It begins with all this throbbing black ambience, weird rhythmic skitter, which explodes into a fierce relentless blast of gabber madness. But it no way does it sound anything like Nirvana. UNTIL, the vocals kick in, and then it fits, it sound so right, it wouldn't be hard to imagine Kurt Kobain fronting some band on DHR back in the nineties, the rhythm of the original is kept intact, with the little pauses filled with flurries of jungle instead of that moaning guitar, the howling at the end of the chorus processed into some fucked up digital scream. Only reminds us how much we love Shitmat.
The flipside is someone called Ladyscraper, and their version of "Scentless Apprentice" sounds nothing like the original, less of a remix, more of an interpretation. Huge chunks of throbbing sizzling synth, massive grinding bass, the beats are more like speaker shredding bolts of digital crunch, the churn and skitter and occasionally explode into impossibly dense tangles of digital glitch. The vocals are super distorted, almost black metal, the whole thing stops and starts, super convoluted, it's basically impossible to tell it's a Nirvana song, but that doesn't mean it's not awesome.
Each 7" comes in its own flannel sleeve, hand sewn, from various parts of various different flannel shirts. Some are sleeves, and have buttons or cuffs, others have parts of collars, a few have a strange mudflap that flops outside the plastic sleeve. Each sleeve has a Grungecore sticker affixed to the front and a FUKDUP label Sub Pop parody sticker on the back, LIMITED TO 500 COPIES, the label on the 7" is hand stamped and hand numbered, and includes a photocopied insert with liner notes and rad high school drawings. WAY recommended.

SHOLI / DEAD SCIENCE split (KDVS Recordings) 7" 4.98

SIC ALPS / CALIFORNIA LIGHTENING Four Virgins (City Records) 7" 3.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A super limited split single by two raw SF art-rock hotties! On special occasions half of Erase Errata (namely Jenny and Bianca) splinter off to form the dynamic duo California Lightening (no, not Lightning). And when Sic Alps convene they usually star Hospitals' Adam Stonehouse and Mike Donovan (of Big Techno Werewolves and Church Steps and a heap of other projects), but on this record the abovementioned Jenny (oh yeah, and she's also a member of Burmese!) and Flying Luttenbachers' Weasel Walter join in the S.A. fray too. The record sleeve features those participants, minus Mr. Walter, remaking the Lennon/Ono Two Virgins album cover photo. That in itself is an attention grabber, but then there's their music to keep you glued too. Sic Alps proclaim "I Am Grass" in their peculiar hazy, glazed-eye dissonant fashion and California Lightening offer up a churning menace in "Basement". Ultra limited pressing of 300 of which we've only got a handful, so either act now or whimper to yourself when they're all gone!

SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE / AZUL split (PSF) lp 23.00
One of two new records this list from long time aQ fave Ben Chasny, aka Six Organs Of Admittance. This one is super limited, maybe the first vinyl release we've gotten on godhead Japanese label PSF, and features one super dense abstract sidelong jam from Six Organs on one side, and a whole batch of groovy shimmery soft psych folk grooves on the B-side from a Japanese group called Azul. For those of you, who like us, had never hear of Azul, it's the new project of Hiroyuki Usui, who long time aQ list readers might remember as one half of the August Born, an earlier collaboration with Chasny, as well as being the man behind legendary folk psych outfit L, whose Holy Letters album was a past aQ Record Of The Week!
So here they are, Chasny and Usui, together again, each doing their own thing on their own side of this lp. Chasny's jam is a weird one. A sprawling slow burning drone, all crunchy and warm and gristly, over which muted guitar scrabble scrapes and skitters, melodies surface here and there, but they're minimal and murky, the whole sound is distant and abstract, a droney almost-raga, shot through with little tangles of fragmented Appalachia, eventually growing into something much more epic and cinematic, with what sounds like strings, Eastern sounding melodies, before a heavy psych coda, chunky super distorted riffs, weary, haunting double tracked vocals, all over a sea of swirls and squiggles, finally giving way to a weird warped riffy outro. Really cool.
The Azul side is WAY more laid back. Groovy, woozy, super sixties sounding, psychedelic, but soft and hazy and a little stoned sounding, hits of that classic Summer Of Love sound, a little Santana, lots of hand drums, warm tinkling vibes, soulful vocals, lazy late afternoon vocals, breezy and a little blissy, a few of the tracks inject a little jazziness, some skronky horns, fluttery flutes, shimmering gongs, but for the most part, it's all steel string guitars, draped over sun dappled arrangements and wreathed in fuzzy clouds of soft focus psych.
Gorgeous packaging. Blue and yellow psychedelic drawings on the sleeve, bizarre characters and warped shapes, lots of texture and detail, wrapped in a printed vellum Japanese style obi. And as you might have guessed. EXTREMELY LIMITED.

SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE / CHARALAMBIDES Songs From the Entopic Garden Volume Two (Time-Lag) lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The second in this limited edition vinyl series dedicated to the works of cosmic krautrockers Popul Vuh offers the hypno-drone psychedelia both of Northern California's wonderful Six Organs Of Admittance and the stalwart Texan ensemble Charlamabides. Again, Time-Lag has beautifully wrapped the heavy vinyl in an IPR-styled package, letterpressed and silkscreened on heavy brown cardstock. Six Organs of Admittance find themselves sonically in the company of the No Neck Blues Band, Matthew Bower's many Rural Electrification Progams (Sunroof!, Skullflower, Vibracathedral Orchestra, Total, etc.), the Jewelled Antler boys (Thuja, Blithe Sons, Sky Green Leopards), and Jackie-O Motherfucker. Perhaps closer to Thuja than the rest, Six Organs of Admittance work elements of cacophony (wooden block percussion, bells, flutes, and lots of Amon Duul acoustic guitar strum) into beautifully hazy acoustic drones rather than painterly free-jazz clusters which sometimes fracture No Neck Blues Band albums.
Charalambides -- now whittled down to the duo of Tom and Christina Carter -- create a similarly swirling sound, but from the mournful chords of intertwining guitar and bass reverberations. Both pieces are some of the best work from either of these two artists. As we say, limited, and we only have a few. We also still have just a few of the equally excellent first volume in the "Songs From The Entopic Garden" series, the Drona Parva / Ultrasound split LP (reviewed on list #128).

SKATERS / YELLOW SWANS Humming Lattice Flowers (JYRK) 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.
Another SUPER LIMITED cd-r from the Jyrk Collective (run by the guys in the Yellow Swans) who also just recently released the amazing (and also quite limited) Grey Daturas / Yellow Swans collaboration found elsewhere on this list. Unlike the GD / YS collaboration, this is a good old fashioned split, with each band offering up twenty minutes or so of their particular brand of skree. The Yellow Swans deliver a practically swoonsome drone, haunting and mysterious, with simple plodding percussion, occasional elctronic filigree and moody Eastern sounding guitar melodies. So nice. The Skaters take the noisier road, with a clangy clattery blown out soundscpae of distorted drones, buzzy fuzzy electronic whir and heavily affected disembodied vocalisations. Thickly layered and weirdly otherworldly.
And again, just to drive that point home, THIS IS VERY LIMITED. By the time you read this review, this cd-r will already be out of print. So if you want one act fast!
MPEG Stream: "One"

SKIN HORSE / NANDA DEVI split (Apterran Recordings) cd 5.98
We'd been dying to hear more Skin Horse ever since their self released 3 song ep from last year, a killer mix of lurching black doom, mathy post rock, and epic dark ambience.
So here we have one new track (it's a long one though, nearly 14 minutes), and it definitely takes off right where the ep left off. Beginning with a dark brooding slowcore skitter, although it's laced with some super strange warbly downtuned tones, that make the whole thing sound a bit twisted and off kilter. The heaviness builds, as heaviness so often does, but here it just wraps itself around that initial post rocky guitar part instead of obliterating it completely, making for some seriously moody heaviness. Once things get going, the guitars are slathered on thick, and allowed to bow and bend the otherwise straight ahead jams into yet another warped groove, there do seem to be vocals, but they're buried way down in the murk.
About halfway through, Skin Horse shift gears and get super intense and aggro, going all mathy, offering up bursts of ultra tight rock, before splintering into some plodding ultra doom, the vocals a caustic wail, the guitars an oozing black buzz, the drums a massive plod, and just as you're getting into that slow motion groove, they shift gears again and bliss out, the guitars becoming nearly translucent, drifting over a sea of sizzling cymbals, weird bits of sampled preaching, dense grinding effects laden buzz, building to another mathy metallic frenzy, before almost dubbing out into a long, sprawling outro. Killer stuff, definitely need to see these guys pull this off live.
Skin Horse share this two song half hour split with a band called Nanda Devi, who we'd never heard before now, but who definitely seem like a good match for Skin Horse. Their 18 minute epic begins with layered sheets of noise, buried bits of melody and softly strummed guitars, which give way to some surprisingly melodic post rocking, the drums massive and LOUD, the guitars simple and stripped down, swirling and building into some metallic Godspeed territory, in come the howled Neurosisy vocals, but the cool thing is, the guitars are still not heavy or distorted, instead jangling and shimmering and singing and soaring, a good contrast with the raw gruff vocals and the wildly chaotic drumming. They too shift gears part way through, the drums getting all tribal, the guitars getting more angular, and beginning another slow build, until a second guitar swoops in adding all sorts of spaciness to the proceedings. Another bout of howled vocals, and the song unwinds in a flurry of tripped out spaced out swirling whirling epic heaviness. Bad ass. And BOTH bands here come WAY recommended.
MPEG Stream: SKIN HORSE "109"
MPEG Stream: NANDA DEVI "Lifelong Migration"

SKREAM Rinse: 02 (Rinse) cd 16.98

SKULL Snapz (Output) 12" 9.98
Five track ep that features the best (and only good?) track from the Mo'Wax Headz 2-B collection, 1998's crash. Mr. Skull is one of the great overlooked producers of downtempo hiphop/breakbeat excursions. Dark and murky stuff a la DJ Shadow, Spectre & DJ Vadim. The first track is almost a 'post-rock' instrumental, although we hate the term... "Snapz" is supremely listenable & enjoyable. Don't miss it.

SKULLFLOWER / AXOLOTL Split (Bored Fortress) 7" 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A total drone/noise dream team, for the latest in Not Not Fun's Bored Fortress series of split 7"s, too bad we only managed to get about a fifteen of these, direct from Mr. Axoltol himself, who sold us his, and apparently THE, very last copies. Too bad as it's a doozy, but at least a handful of folks will get to lay their ears on this stuff.
The Axolotl side sounds like Karl Axoltol crafted his track knowing full well it was going to be sharing a record with Matthew Bower's Skullflower, as it is a total slab of Sunroof! style ur-drone bliss. A wash of keening high end shimmer, a backdrop of murky upper register whirs, while over the top, a glorious cascade of glistening glimmering feedback.
The Skullflower side finds the band (or the man) continuing to explore dense guitarscapes, however this track is the most musical and melodic of recent outings, a huge wash of guitars, layered and tangled, but with some serious riffage buried in the mix, streaks of feedback and a haunting minor key undercurrent.
Cool eye popping full color cover art. And again, we only have fifteen or so copies so don't get your hopes upŠ

SKYSCRAPER MAGAZINE Issue #7 magazine+cd 4.95
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
At almost 200 pages, Skyscraper will keep you occupied for a long long time. And it's worth it. Lengthy interviews with Flaming Lips, They Might be Giants, June of 44, US Maple, the Locust, Slaves, I Am Spoonbender, Songs:Ohia, the Melvins, Mr Bungle, Macha, Rachels, and about 8,000 reviews of albums, singles, and printed matter. Sooo worth the five bucks, PLUS you get a cd of previously unreleased remixes including tracks by: Tristeza, Lowercase, Cars Get Crushed, Make-Up, Les Savy Fav, Atombombpocketknife, etc, with full color artwork just ready to be slipped into a jewel case.

SLAUGHTER RULE, THE (ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK) (Bloodshot) cd 14.98
This very well done soundtrack to the indie film The Slaughter Rule features the veritable cream of the alt.country crop, almost all AQ favorites. Jay Farrar of the late great Uncle Tupelo / Son Volt is the glue here, contributing eleven glowingly pretty dusty instrumentals taken straight from his original score. This stuff is so much better than his recent solo work and would be worth the price of the disc alone, not to mention all the other bands on this. Go Jay!
Contributing NEW songs are Freakwater, Vic Chesnutt (a great scratchy version of "Rank Stranger"), Blood Oranges, and Pernice Brothers. Also included are the previously released songs by Neko Case ("Porchlight" from her Furnace Room Lullaby album) and Ryan Adams ("To Be Young" from his Heartbreaker album), Jimmie Dale Gilmore, etc.
Works well as a continuous listen -- definitely worth your time and money.
RealAudio clip: JAY FARRAR "Gather"
RealAudio clip: SPEEDY WEST AND JIMMY BRYANT "West of Samoa"

SLOUGH FEG, THE LORD WEIRD / BIBLE OF THE DEVIL split (Threat Records) 7" 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Here's one epick, metallic seven-inch piece of plastic indeed, released by brothers-in-metal The Lord Weird Slough Feg and Bible Of The Devil, to commemorate their several tours together (including one upcoming this summer... as part of which both bands will be appearing together at the first annual "Alehorn Of Power" festival in BOTD's hometown of Chicago, IL, alongside Manilla Road and Gates Of Slumber, among others!).
From San Francisco's Slough Feg, you get two songs on their side, a new one called "Poisoned Treasures" and a killer cover of "Shalala" by their Irish ancestors Thin Lizzy! Extremely rockin'. It's their first recording with new guitarist Angelo Tringali (of cult doom act Cold Mourning), who takes over from Hammers Of Misfortune's John Cobbett in Slough Feg's dual axe onslaught alongside Mike Scalzi. Meanwhile, on the flip, Bible Of The Devil take their twin flying V's into outer space with a rippin' tune called "Galactic Violator". Packaged with cool Masters of the Universe comic-booky cover art to boot, with a Galactus-dude on the BOTD's side of the split, mirrored by a horned barbarian guy on the Slough Feg side.

SLOUGH FEG, THE LORD WEIRD / IRONSWORD Hail Brittania Volume One - NWOBHM Tribute (The Miskatonic Foundation) 7" 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The Miskatonic Foundation -- the cultish, doomy metal label run by Rich Walker, guitarist for UK's Solstice -- has embarked upon a little tribute project here, releasing volume one of a proposed three-volume set of split 7" records devoted to cover versions of Rich's favorite New Wave Of British Heavy Metal songs. And we're not talking the anything obvious like Iron Maiden or Diamond Head, or even Tygers of Pan Tang or Tokyo Blade, we're talking bands like, uh, Nighttime Flyer and Desolation Angels! Real obscure stuff. And that's making a point about what was so incredible about the NWOBHM, the real underground acts that sprung up for just an amazing 7" or LP or two.
Rich recruited AQ faves and SF locals The Lord Weird Slough Feg to appear on volume one, sharing the 7" with Portugal's Manilla Road worshipping headbangers Ironsword. Slough Feg are of course a great choice for a NWOBHM tribute, even though they didn't get to do something off of Maiden's Killers... Volumes two and three are slated to feature Orodruin and Scavenger, and Twisted Tower Dire and Revered Bizarre.
And the neat thing about a 33 rpm single? Y'know everything sounds great at 45, that's the rule. Both bands' vocalists have voices low enough that on 45 they still sound like metal singers more than chipmunks... but of course you're supposed to play it on 33, and at that speed this is still a lot of fun! Slough Feg's rough-and-tumble cover of a song awesomely-entitled "Heavy Metal Rules" by Nighttime Flyer will endanger your sanity after the chorus gets stuck in your head, as it will. I don't think Slough Feg ever even had heard the song/band before Miskatonic sent 'em a tape from which to chose a track to do -- it was the b-side to Nightime Flyer's only release, a single from '79 -- but they picked it 'cause heck, how can you resist such a title/lyric? And the riffs are remarkably Fegesque in fact.
The NWOBHM nugget "Valhalla" by Desolation Angels is ably essayed by Ironsword, who have improved in leaps and bounds since their first album by the way. And they've always had the proper spirit for this sort of thing anyway.
This is clearly meant for serious fans...You gotta know Slough Feg and/or Ironsword, and what NWOBMH stands for. The bands being covered aren't even listed on the sleeve, just the song titles! Numbered and limited to 500. We've just got a few. Buy or die, Slough Feg fans! Same goes for NWOBHM freaks, Ironsword maniacs (there must be some) and rabid metal vinyl hounds.

SMEGMA / WOLF EYES No Face Lives (De Stijl) lp 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Portland's clattery, free improvised noise unit meets Ann Arbor's caustic power electronic doom-synth trio, for an unprecedented meeting of the..uh..minds. Smega seem to come out on top, with the overall sound falling squarely in their clinking, crashing, hippie music concrete by way of No Neck Blues band free folk clatter and Negativland-ish plunderphonic found sound collage. The strong sonic personalities in Wolf Eyes seem to have no problem playing the supporting role here, underscoring the ramshackle freeness of Smegma, with their buzzing homemades synths, and grinding electric guitar grit.

SMITH, GARY SuperTexture (Sijis) 2cd 17.98
Ok, here's a clever way to get maybe not-just-the-usual people interested in an album of difficult, avant-garde electric guitar improv solos. Make it a double cd, where the raw improvs by British guitar maverick Gary Smith found on the first disc are used as source material for the exclusive "treatments" and "interpretations" by a disparate variety of other artists that populate the second disc. So if scrabbling, abstract textural guitar glitch isn't enough to pique your interest (for some it certainly will be enough, Gary Smith is no slouch at coming up with strange sounds from his axe, for fans of that sort of thing), perhaps the likes of Steve Roden, Bernhard Gunter, Peter "Pita" Rehberg, Elliott Sharp, This Heat's Charles Hayward, BJ Nilsen, and others on the second disc will!!
First, the first disc... Imagine Nels Cline and Derek Bailey and a bunch of mice, playing guitar and mixing drinks. It's a quietly noisy disc of tangled strings and liquid chimings. Tinkling ice. Crystalline shards. Counterintuitive guitar-based beauty. Like a "normal" guitar track had been crumpled up and irradiated and examined under a microscope.
Now for the "compilation" disc, where that radiation produces mutation. This is one diverse batch of characters taking Gary Smith's sounds in all sorts of interesting, often surprising directions, their own music adding to or twining around Smith's. It starts off with a lovely psych-folk tune entitled "Pear Tree Tomorrow" from obscure legend Bill Fay!!! Yes the same Bill Fay whose early '70s albums were recently reissued to great acclaim. Many of the other participants, some mentioned above, are more in the line of "usual suspects" for experimental projects such as this. But it's still a very diverse collection, from the bleak poetry of Current 93's David Tibet, to the violent digital breakcore of Tom Wallace, to the harsh noise-rock of Aufgehoben (with whom Gary Smith has collaborated before, on the devastating Magnetic Mountain album). There's Tianna Kennedy's ambient low end scrape and Paulo Raposos's high end drone. And lots more. Somehow, Gary Smith's guitar ties it all together. Puzzling out how Smith's material was "used" is an interesting, if mostly inconclusive, exercise. Wow. Even by itself this would be a great comp. The Smith solo disc almost a bonus. Though we like 'em both!
MPEG Stream: GARY SMITH "Solo Guitar Improvisation 3"
MPEG Stream: GARY SMITH "Solo Guitar Improvisation 9"
MPEG Stream: BILL FAY "Pear Tree Tomorrow"
MPEG Stream: ZOLTAN KODALY SCHOOL FOR GIRLS "Londoni Hataridos Burgonyatozsde"
MPEG Stream: TOM WALLACE "Acquired Waste"

SMITH, SEAN / MATTHEW BALDWIN Sailor on the Riverbed Split (self-released) 7" 4.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SNAKE APARTMENT / WORK/DEATH Split LP (Corleone) lp 9.98
Super limited split between two new (to us) bands, Snake Apartment and Work / Death.
The Snake Apartment side is a side long track, a murky Brainbombs-y dirge, blown out and gunky, thick and corrosive. A plodding slab of sticky syrupy sludge rock, mixed with haunting disembodied lounge singer vocals, the whole thing a sort of moaning sea sick stumble.
Work / Death offer up their own druggy dirge, theirs is a noisy abstract drone, crowd sounds, room ambience, footsteps and muffled conversations are eventually sucked up into a vortex of thick rumble, peppered by blasts of fuzzy murk, the whole thing sounding like a damaged recording of a roomful of amps with guitars leaned up against them. Intense and abstract and pretty fucking cool.
LIMITED TO 300 COPIES. Six different covers, by six different artists: Will Schaff, Ben Barnett, Mike Taylor, Merdith Stern, Scott Reber and Mat Brinkman!

SOMBRE CHEMIN / ORNAMENTS OF SIN split (ISO666) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SONGCATCHER (OST) (Vanguard) cd 14.98
The soundtrack to the film Songcatcher is filled with compelling performances by such songbirds as Iris Dement, Dolly Parton. Alison Moorer, Deana Carter, Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch, Emmy Rossum, Patty Loveless, Hazel Dickens, and Lone Justice's Maria McKee. About half of the songs are traditionals and they fit in well with the original compositions. Wonderful.
RealAudio clip: IRIS DEMENT "Pretty Saro"
RealAudio clip: PATTY LOVELESS "Sounds of Loneliness"

SONIC YOUTH / BECK Pay No Mind / Green Light (Record Store Day) (Matador) 7" 5.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SOUND PROJECTOR, THE Seventh Issue magazine 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Magazine of the week, month, etc. Any new issue of Ed Pinsent's music 'zine The Sound Projector is a cause for joy. Anyone who buys and enjoys fellow UK music mag The Wire MUST pick this up, as it covers more-or-less the same range of musics (from electronics to avant-classical to dub to krautrock to drone to urban hip hop and more--avoiding metal tho, just like The Wire, that's both mags one main blindspot) and does it in a much more genuine, fannish way. It's not a slick mag with lots of ads and pretentious music journalists writing with hip, trendy agendas, faults The Wire sometimes falls prey to--although it's big (124 pages, squarebound) and nice looking (with a instantly recognizable and pleasant black-white-and-red design aesthetic). The magazine usually consists of mostly record reviews, and this issue is no exception, there's 163-or-so of 'em, in 22 eclectic, esoteric catagories: from Very Special Nothing Music (ultra-minimalism, reviews include Francisco Lopez and Bernard Gunter, of course) to Music From Japan (reviews of Tabata, Ground Zero, etc.) to Soundbombing (with reviews of the likes of Company Flow, Master P, Hot Boys, and an epitaph for Big Pun). And if you're reading our list, then you must like to read record reviews, eh? And one fo the nice things about the reviews is that they're not all of new stuff. The writers will go ahead and review something that they've been enjoying for a long time, or maybe recently discovered, even if it's a few years old, which is great 'cause that spotlights some otherwise forgotten gems. In addtion to the reviews, there's some indepth writing and interviews dealing with Van Dyke Parks, Otomo Yoshihide, People Like Us, Godspeed You Black Emperor, and more. Basically, a great magazine that more people (in the States) should find out about. Highly, highly recommended.

SOUVENIRS YOUNG AMERICA / CITY OF SHIPS Split 12" (The Perpetual Motion Machine) 12" 8.00
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
We went a little nuts for the debut release from Anduin a while back, the project of Souvenir's Young America keyboardist Jonathan Lee, taking SYA's Western tinged post rock doom, and stretching it out into something much more subtle and ambient. But SYA is back to remind us just why we were so into Lee and his crew in the first place, with two brand new tracks of sweeping epic, spacious and cinematic post rock, rivaling and perhaps surpassing any of their more well known contemporaries.
The guitars chime and ring out, the drums propulsive and subtly mathy, lots of deserty ambience, moody melodic swoon, crunchy almost metal guitars here and there, haunting blissed out stretches of soft strummy drift, slippery slide guitar and pulsing electronics. There are some haunting processed vocals, distant and heavily effected, tribal rhythms, lots of space, little bits of glitch here and there, slightly doomy, with a distinct twang, gorgeous and dark, but always mysterious and hauntingly dreamy. Can't wait for the next full length.
The flipside features a new (to us at least) group called City Of Ships, who prove to be a pretty good match for SYA, starting their side with some washed out ambience, glimmering guitar harmonies, shimmery cymbal washes, all before the band kick in and get all mathy with tangled squiggly guitar leads and hard hitting complicated drumming. And unlike SYA, City Of Ships are NOT instrumental, the vocals a raspy croon that get more and more wild eventually veering into almost emo territory, the sound a mix of June Of 44 and a mellower Neurosis. Long stretches of mellowy meandering peppered with jagged bursts of crunch and pound, the tracks building to seriously epic climaxes with grinding metallic guitars, angular and sharp, with howled vocals and wild chaotic drums. Good stuff.
Packaged in a super swank fold over 2 color hand screened gold colored sleeve, each one hand numbered, with a photocopied insert, and LIMITED TO ONLY 300 COPIES!!!

SPACE VACATION / THE AMPLIFIERS split (Champagne and Cocaine) 7" 4.98
See our review of the Space Vacation's s/t cd-r to see why you should pick this up! One of our fave tracks from that disc pressed to vinyl, on one side of this split single with a rockin' LA band we know nothin' about.

SPEEDWOLF / THE HOOKERS split (Splattered!) 7" 4.98
One more track from our new favorite retro thrashers, Denver's Speedwolf, whose killer demo tape is reviewed elsewhere on this list, which you should grab immediately before they're gone. Think classic thrash, but with some Danzig mixed in, as well as some Bad News (really!), hooky and heavy and pounding and frantic, and so fucking killer. Bad ass riffs, crushing drumming, throat shredding vox, and hooks all over the place. These guys should be HUGE.
Speedwolf share this single with long running rockers The Hookers, who we'd only heard once or twice before, but who prove to be a pretty epic match for the 'Wolf. We remembered them being more punk rock, and while this is till plenty punky, it's got a serious NWOBHM vibe. A little Iron Maiden, a little Venom, wild feral vocals, killer riffs, rad harmony guitars, and hooks that slay. Definitely gonna have to give these guys another chance and track down some of their full lengths.
Both sides rock AND rule, anyone into classic sounding heaviness NEEDS this (and the Speedwolf tape) BAD!
Super cool cover art, and limited of course, ONLY 500 COPIES, each one hand numbered...

SPELLS The Age of Backwards (K) cd ep 7.98
Check this out! Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-Kinney and Mary Timony of Helium put their clever heads together to whirl up their collaborative effort known as Spells. Sounds just as you'd expect, Carrie's smart pop prettiness and Mary's much more wizardly fantasy pop leanings. Includes a Who cover.

SPINNA, DJ Strange Games and Things (Barely Breaking Even) 3cd 18.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A three cd collection of classic old soul, disco and r'n'b gems. The first disc is a continuous mix by DJ Spinna, whose skills aren't all there but somehow his clunkiness adds a charm to the whole thing. The two remaining discs are the originals of each of the records he used in his set, and this is such a treasure trove of good music, 27 tracks in all, well worth the price. With Minnie Riperton, Bohannon, Marvin Gaye, Donald Byrd, Sugarhill Gang, Foxy, Johnny Bristol, Roy Ayers, and many more.
RealAudio clip: MINNIE RIPERTON "Reasons"
RealAudio clip: LEMURIA "Hunk of Heaven"

SPIRITU / VILLAGE OF DEAD ROADS split (Meteor City) cd 14.98

SPIRITUAL BEGGARS / GRAND MAGUS Split (Southern Lord) 7" 4.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Two excellent stoner rock groups go head to head on this split single: Mike Amott's much-loved Spiritual Beggars and newcomers Grand Magus.

SPOOKY, DJ In Fine Style (Sanctuary) 2cd 17.98

SPRINGSTEEN, BRUCE / SUICIDE / BEAT THE DEVIL Dream Baby Dream (Blast First Petite) 10" 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We seem to be in the midst of another round of Springsteen mania, with The Boss recently wowing the crowd at the Super Bowl, coming out with a brand new record and once again flexing his muscle as one of rock n roll's strongest shepherds. While we all have our own favorite Springsteen document (Nebraska, Greetings From Asbury Park, etc.) we have to say we were pretty thrown off in a pleasant way a few years back when we caught a YouTube clip of The Boss doing an incredible live rendition of the Suicide classic "Dream Baby Dream." Made us have way more respect for the Boss and also made us realize that no matter how much of an underground sensation those first two Suicide albums were, underneath it all were totally brilliant and long lasting pop songs.
So with The Boss in the spotlight once again we thought we'd get around to listing this 10" that's part of Blast First Petite's series of Suicide splits with the other bands all doing their own versions of Suicide classics. We listed the Lydia Lunch/Suicide split a little while ago. We're not sure if it was the unexpected delight of when we first saw the clip of Springsteen playing "Dream Baby Dream" that made it seem so incredible but it's not quite as mind blowing here. Still pretty cool to hear him doing it. The flipside finds Suicide performing their track back in 1979 for an NBC late night show and then another Suicide cover by a contemporary group called Beat The Devil with their take of "Mr Ray." We just found out that all these Suicide splits have been released in honor of Alan Vega's 70th birthday, how cool!

STANLEY BROTHERS AND DOC WATSON Pete Seeger's Rainbow Quest (Shanachie) dvd 16.98

STARCHILD / REBREATHER Split EP (Twin Earth Records) cd ep 14.98

STARGAZER / INVOCATION Harbringer [sic] / H.A.S.T.U.R. (Bird Of Ill Omen Recordings) lp 14.98
Some of you may laugh at the mention of an "Australian sound" in music, but when you take a look at the continent's musical output since the '60s, it's pretty clear that after taking cues from the rest of the world and putting their own spin on things, Australians have no doubt arrived at a pretty unique and insular sound, especially in the metal department. You have dISEMBOWELMENT, Portal, Grey Daturas, Halo, Vorak, Paramecium, and then the bands represented on this asskicking split full length, a reissue of a cd from way back in 1999: StarGazer and Invocation (featuring members who went on to play in the aforementioned Portal). Both bands whip up a frenzy of blackened death metal that is mindbogglingly technical and totally fucked, but never too weird for its own good, and it's hard to imagine any self-respecting metalhead not losing it over this split.
StarGazer start things off with their strangely esoteric blend of black and death metal. The music and "lyrix" to their side of the split date back to the early '90s, giving the band some years to flesh out their evil ideas into songs that sound, at times, IMPOSSIBLE. The guitars are thick and burly as fuck, the bass is dirty and distorted, and man do the drums sound great - no triggers here, just a dude who obviously knows his way around a drumkit. Super distorted punkish guitars, insane blasts and phlegmy growls all merge into a thick stew of relentlessly concentrated EVIL that also rocks pretty damn hard. The intense riffs and song structures here are pretty much incomprehensible, and if you needed any proof that there's more going on here than your average metal band, just listen to the "Outroduction" that concludes StarGazer's side, a melancholy, spacey ambient piece played in reverse. Killer stuff here.
Next up is Invocation's contribution, accompanied by the information that "Invocation has no political/racial views, WE HATE ALL LIFE!!!" Nice. The band, three dudes with crazy looks in their eyes and the intent to kill, definitely deliver the goods. Not quite as bizarre as Portal, Invocation nonetheless create insane blasts of avant garde death metal with tons of weird changes and totally skewed instrumentation that you might expect to find on a prog record. Not that you will be mistaking Invocation for Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, as the thrashing intensity and ridiculously tight playing will throttle you violently and put you in the shithouse with your neighbors for sure. Best of all is how "real" it all sounds, with guys who certainly know what it takes to ascend to the next level of metallic awesomeness without the need to succumb to any overproduced bullshit. Oh, and for the curious, H.A.S.T.U.R stands for "Horrific Ancient Sumerian Traditional Usurpurs [sic] Remembered". Something we can definitely get behind.
We can thank the folks at the awesomely named Bird Of Ill Omen Recordings for rescuing this one from the darkened vaults of time and unleashing it upon an unsuspecting world ten years after the fact. HAIL!

STEPS, THE Krontjong Warna-Warni (Time Stereo) cd-r 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
So lovely! This is a reissue of a '60s Indonesian guitar pop record that Warren Defever of His Name is Alive stumbled upon at the Salvation Army. Attempts to locate the members of The Steps proved unsuccessful, so he reissued it himself on the Time Stereo label (for folks who care, it's a cd-r). Pastoral instrumentals with a classic, rounded 60s guitar tone. Everytime we play this in the store, someone buys it! -- Yes, it's that pretty and that unusual. Highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Mata Air"
MPEG Stream: "Sedihnja Tjinta"

STEREOLAB / BRIGITTE FONTAINE 7" 4.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This single is limited and we don't expect to have it in stock for very long. Long admirers of Fontaine's art-folk career, Stereolab has finally collaborated with her.

STEREOLAB / BRIGITTE FONTAINE cdsingle 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This single is limited and we don't expect to have it in stock for very long. Long admirers of Fontaine's art-folk career, Stereolab has finally collaborated with her.

STEREOLAB / SOI DISANT (Luke Warm) 7" 5.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We've got a few copies left of this limited single featuring Stereolab on one side (new song) and Soi Disant (dunno) on the other. Buy now or cry later.

STEVENS, SUFJAN Songs For Christmas: Volumes I-IV - Singalong In Stereo Hi-Fi (Asthmatic Kitty) 5cd box 22.00
The prince of theme albums delivers the goods in time for the holidays. Mr. Stevens follows up his Illinois and Michigan albums with this jaw-dropping five cd set of Christmas tunes. Clearly he not only knows his State facts, but also his Christmas tidings too. The five discs are titled Noel (2001), Hark! (2002), Ding! Dong! (2003), Joy (2005), and Peace (2006), and they add up to a bountiful mix of forty two traditional songs and Sufjan originals.
But he didn't stop at music! Along with the cds in this boxset, you get a heap of Sufjan penned stories and liner notes, lyric sheets, score charts, a music video and comic strip by Tom Eaton, an essay written by Rick Moody, a family portrait, and stickers too.
Even total Scrooges may find the spirit of this one difficult to resist!
MPEG Stream: "Get Behind Me, Santa!"
MPEG Stream: "Let's Boogey To The Elf Dance!"
MPEG Stream: "Silent Night"

STIELAS STORHETT / LIHOLESIE / MOR Death Comes From The North (ASSAVLT) cd 13.98
We went pretty crazy for Stielas Storhett's Vandrer... record, reviewed way back in 2007, unabashedly proclaiming it BLACK METAL RECORD OF THE YEAR. We recently revisited it, and fuck, it still destroys, so much so that it's hard to imagine it wouldn't be black metal of the record of the year no matter what year it came out and no matter what records it was up against. We've been hankering for more ever since. And finally, the Dark Lord has answered out prayers.
Two tracks, both unreleased, both completely amazing and like the full length before, pretty fucked up and freaky. The weirdness here though is more the strange almost major key melodies that swirl around the loping blackened dirge. The guitars are angular, buzzy, the drums pounding, the vocals more a sort of drawled howl, but here they're set amidst some strangely poppy and melodic guitar leads, the two parts mesh seamlessly. but still it's hard to wrap our ears around it. Like a Stielas Storhett pop jam, a Khold like groove, still black, but damn is it catchy and poppy. Later the track gets a little darker, and chuggier, but still the sound is strangely epic and majestic, and black hearts be damned, weirdly happy sounding. Which in itself is bizarre, but beyond that, it's a pretty stellar slab of melodic blackness.
The other Stielas track is more buzzy and frenetic, but still strangely major key, even some bad ass almost Iron Maiden sounding guitar harmonies. The track veers back and forth between more traditionally grim blasts, and as if SS mainman Damian T.G. is struggling sonically, a musical battle between good and evil, pop and metal, depression and misery, effusive positivity and happiness, who knows, maybe he got a girlfriend since last time we heard from SS. Either way, it's a strange development but, man do we like it. Been listening to these two tracks nonstop!
While two new tracks from Stielas Storhett is more than enough reason to pick this up, this three way split does actually feature two other Russian bands we had never heard before. Liholesie, whose sound is a sort of Pagan folk, percussive and dramatic and a bit Renn Faire sounding, but pretty intense and emotional nonetheless, and Mor, whose sound is a strange blend of melodic post rock, and abstract black metal, leaning more toward the former most of the time, we hear bits of Katatonia's epic doom pop. maybe a little Lifelover (although nowhere near as strange), heavy, super well produced, darkly dramatic, even at it's blastiest and buzziest, their sound is still rife with pop and gloom and a gloriously dark tension, although their final track manages to be pretty black metal indeed.
A truly weird comp, but a winner for sure, more Stielas Storhett obviously, and two more cool obscure Russian bands to quite possibly obsess over....
MPEG Stream: STIELAS STORHETT "Taedium Vitae"
MPEG Stream: MOR "Kola Cross"
MPEG Stream: LIHOLESLE "Barbarians (Hosts Of The North)"

STORMCROW / SANCTUM split (20 Buck Spin) cd 13.98
Want some brutal "war crust" to, um, brighten your day? Look no further. Stormcrow (from Oakland, and not to be confused with the Italian black metal band of the same name) team up with likeminded metallers Sanctum (from Seattle) for this split cd on the ever-reliable, heavy as heck 20 Buck Spin label. Dark and wretched, violent and crushing, it's a raw mix of speedy death and moody doom from two bands both of whom love their Bolt Thrower and Amebix, Winter and Doom. The grey-shaded artwork depicting armored foes in medieval combat is quite appropriate, as across this sprawling split, they're either charging forward with berserk fury, or trudging battleweary from the killing fields... (generally Sanctum do the former, Stormcrow the latter). Imagine Asunder with D-beats.
MPEG Stream: STORMCROW "Dead Dreams"
MPEG Stream: SANCTUM "Age Of Ruin"

STORY, THE & WHYSP The Dawn Is Crowned (Good Village Recordings) lp 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The Dawn Is Crowded is an international split LP between West Coasters Whysp and The Story who hail from the U.K. and count as members Martin Welham of '60s psych-folk band Forest and his son Tom! Not unlike waking at the daybreak and stumbling across an earthy psych-folk gathering deep within some distant enchanted forest. On The Story's side, everything is leafy green, glistening with dew and pixie dust with slightly twee male vocals. On the flip side, Whysp invite a few more players into the fold for a more varied and up-tempo group performance. Nice!

STRANGER THAN FICTION OST (Columbia) cd 17.98
Movie soundtrack or not, this cd is probably well worth nabbing because it features a new Spoon song and a stirring instrumental score by Spoon's Britt Daniel and Brian Reitzell! Apart from them, this soundtrack features a typical mixed bag of current hipsters and cred-heavy veterans that you'll find on most of the recent big budget ensemble cast movies (particularly those starring Will Ferrell). Here you also get Maximo Park, Delta 5, Califone, The Jam, The Upsetters, Wreckless Eric, M83 and Vangelis. For their part, Maximo Park rollick and riff on "Going Missing" with a guitar line that could easily have been nicked from Jonathan Richman's "Roadrunner". All in all, a pretty decent mix tape!
MPEG Stream: SPOON "The Book I Write"
MPEG Stream: MAXIMO PARK "Going Missing"

STRIBORG / CLAUSTROPHOBIA Black Hatred In A Ghostly Corner (Finisternis Productions) cd 14.98
As we were waiting patiently for the new Striborg full length, Southwest Passage, we discovered ANOTHER new Striborg release, a split with a band called Claustrophobia, released on Sin Nanna of Striborg's own label Finsternis Productions, so we contacted Sin Nanna directly (the reports of his reclusiveness, living in a shack with no telephone or computer, turned out to be greatly exaggerated!) and ordered a bunch, and we're happy to report that the new Striborg material is as twisted and blackly brilliant as always.
Just when you thought Striborg couldn't get any more buzzy and fuzz drenched, along comes "Psychic Visions", a 12 minute dirge, buried completely under a sheet of hiss and whir, but where this track is different is the gorgeously creepy keyboard textures laid over the top, giving the whole track a ghostly, weirdly melodic, strangely lovely quality. Sure the drums are minimal and the vocals are an indecipherable growl, and the guitars, well, if they were riffs, they've been blurred and smeared into thick streaks of warm muted buzz, but once the whole track is wreathed in that looping shimmering ghostlike keyboard ambience, it becomes this blackened beautiful thing. The drums shift gear and the keyboards follow, the entire song seems to waver in communion, before slipping back into the initial opening dirge.
After a brief instrumental drone interlude, Sin Nanna offers up another bizarre blast, the drums WAY up in the mix this time, the same sheet of hiss, and again the whirling ghostly keyboards, but this time, the sound is much more atonal, tense and jagged, an almost suspenseful horror movie feel, a strange but sonically sound balance for the strange beauty of the first track.
Sin Nanna seems to have found a kindred spirit in a person called Raped Corpse, who is behind the band Claustrophobia. From China we think, regardless, the two groups definitely share sonic sensibilities, the same hiss/fuzz drenched ambience, stumbling drumming, anguished vocals, strange keyboards, the tracks play out the same almost, long song, short interlude, slightly less long song. But Claustrophobia's opener is much more rocking, with some wild chaotic drumming, and over the top keyboards, LOUD drums, the second track, the nearly nine minute closer is a doozy, almost like a grim blackened Goblin, so creepy and emotional and moody and haunting, the melodies minor key, the keyboards evoking such dread, definitely want to hear more from this guy.
If you're in the market for some mysterious and creepy, buzz drenched melancholic blackness, both Striborg and Claustrophobia should do it for you.
Now, can't wait for Southwest Passage...
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES! Each one hand numbered...
MPEG Stream: STRIBORG "Psychic Visions"
MPEG Stream: CLAUSTROPHOBIA "Ghostly Melancholy"

STRIBORG / SCURSHAHOR split (Southern Lord) 7" 4.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Outsider black metal aficionados already know they need this, a brand new single from Tasmanian BM weirdo Striborg, but the fact that it's a split with another mysterious black outfit we've never heard of, Scurshahor, and that the sound in many ways is weird enough (and not even really metal), should cause this to appeal to all regular old lovers of weird music. 
Starting with the song titles, we're not sure there's ever been a collection of songs that sounds more like they were named using the age old adjective / noun notebook, with which many of your favorite bands were probably named. Check it out: "Psychedelic Nightmare", "Syncopated Pandemonium" and "Malicious Resplendence". Could be killer band names all of them. But here, they also suit the tripped out dubby blackness found within. Dubby? Yep, you read that right. Striborg offers up two tracks, the first beginning with haunting, mournful melancholic guitars, before being swallowed whole by a blown out primitive blast of effects drenched blackness, the most noticeable thing being the vocals, doused in delay and distortion and reverb, the howls and anguished cries sent careening King Tubby style into the void. The second track ranks up there with the weirdest and most experimental stuff Striborg has ever done, a buzzing backdrop of near static drone-riffing, the guitars way off in the distance, swelling and swooping, and the vocals over the top, again, definitely dubbed out, and adding a whole 'nother chaotic tripped out layer to the already damaged black sounds. 
The flipside, from a band called Scurshahor (who we're tempted to suspect is in fact Oren Ambarchi) is like a bassier, more low end more static and drone-y Striborg, with similarly dubbed out vocals, leading us to believe that maybe both were recorded at the same time and in the same studio? Either way, Scurshahor sound like a more black metal SUNNO))) (even more than Black One), the riffing a glacial blur crafted from amp buzz and low end drone, chaotic metallic percussion here and there, and of course the vocals, a swirling distorted reverbed dubbed out wraith like rasp. Awesome. 
Incredibly thick vinyl, housed in a super striking, ultra heavy deluxe sleeve. And probably limited as all get out...

STRIBORG / XASTHUR split (Autopsy Kitchen) 7" 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another one of those records that barely needs a review. What self respecting black metaller would see the words Xasthur and Striborg on the same record and not instinctively reach for their wallet? We can only speak for the black metal nerds here, but we have been jonesing for this disc since we first hear rumor of it's impending release ages ago. And if just the mere fact that these two mighty black metal entities are doing musical battle on separate sides of the same 7" isn't enough, the fact that both tracks are fucked and amazing should be. 
Striborg is in fine form as always, lo-fi, damaged, demented, noisy, stumbling, confusing, but oh so glorious. A plodding black dirge, vacuum cleaner guitar, practice space drums, blast beats that sound like they're being played on a cardboard box drum kit, hissy bursts of muted blackness, a bizarre black journey through the damaged musical psyche of Sin Nanna, ending in a killer, almost groovy, lurching dirgey outro. 
Xasthur seems to be rising to Striborg's 'how lo-fi-can-you-go' challenge, pushing his sound so far down in the murk, it ends up sounding like a transistor radio playing at the bottom of a mud puddle. Probably the murkiest most lo-fi recording yet from Malefic, but if anything, it only serves to make the sound more evocative, more mysterious, and more strangely pretty. Those weeping guitars, mournful melodies, drums that sound like they were recorded from a million miles away, the whole thing is very dark and dim and forlorn, the perfect sonic foil to Striborg's weirdo black damage. And if we even need to tall you how essential this is, you need to march right down here and turn in your black metal credentials. 
We're one of the only places selling this thing besides the label, and they are flying out of here, sure to be gone in no time, so grab one while you can.
Pressed on clear vinyl, LIMITED TO 800 COPIES!!!

STUMM / LOINEN split (Kult Of Nihilow) lp 15.00
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
It says right there on the sleeve: "100 percent Sludge". They had us at 100 percent sludge. Ummm, anyway, two of Finland's sludge rock heavyweights team up, each taking a side of this here 12", and each, surprisingly, doing something new and unique with their bit of sludge. Not that we wouldn't have loved another slab of slow motion dirgery, but we're even more psyched to see what weird shapes, some of this sludgedoomdrone can get twisted into.
Up first is Loinen, whose lp we totally flipped over a while back. They of the crushing doom with Scott Walker style vocals. Yep! You remember now? Well, here they try another something, also completely different, their side begins with a super distorted bass riff, spread way out, allowing for lots and lots of space, and in those spaces, there are strange chanted choral vocals, female, repeating the same pattern over and over, inexorably tangled up with the plodding riff. It's all very mysterious and hypnotic and continues on for nearly three quarters of the side, at which point the vocals finally come in, a strangled alien croon, alternately growling and sort of moaning, and it's not until nearly the end of the side when the drums finally kick in, and for the first time it begins to resemble the aforementioned 100% sludge. A lurching doom trudge with now croaking vocals all wrapped around that relentless distorted bass line. Finally, right at the very end, the track explodes in a frenzy of freaked out chaos, drums everywhere, feedback squealing and shrieking, the track dissolving in a blast of blown out brutality. Weird and quite cool.
So how do fellow countrymen, and masters of their own particular brand of sludginess, Stumm, respond? With yet another strange take on sludge, there's, at least for this lp side, is downright pretty. Thick swaths of washed out guitar rumble and soaring streaks of feedback all tangled and up like some gorgeous alien melody, not harsh at all really, more just strange sounding, and really quite beautiful, the first time we've heard feedback so skillfully sculpted, underneath, drums are simple and spare, it's more about atmosphere and mood it seems, a thick heavy dreamy drift. Right in the middle there's a brief burst where the guitars get more jagged and angular, and some howling shrieking vocals swoop in, but before you know it, they've swooped right back out, and the track is again drifting darkly, a strangely soft sludge shimmer. So great.
LIMITED TO 265 COPIES!!! These are the only copies we can get. Once they are gone, they are gone for good. Packaged like the Loinen 12", in a similar eye melting black and white high-school-binder tweeker pen and ink cover, with crazy art by Loinen member G.G., a tripped out world of strange figures and weird text and upside down crosses, and squiggles and creatures and who knows what else...

SUNN O))) & PAN SONIC / ALAN VEGA / STEPHEN BURROUGHS split (Blast First Petite) 10" 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Killer collaboration, another one of those team ups you might not have ever necessarily imagined happening, and even if you did, you probably didn't think it would sound this good. The core SUNNO))) duo do their thing, thick roiling riffage, warm and lush, surprisingly propulsive, and weirdly catchy, Steve Moore from Earth contributes some gorgeous gauzy organ drones and Joe Preston handles the vocals, deep growl, part intoned, part almost crooned, and of course Mika Vainio of Pan Sonic, offering up little flurries of industrial hiss, and bits of subtle glitch, taking voices and sounds and lopping them back on themselves, Vainio's contribution subtle, but practically perfect. Easily one of the coolest SUNNO))) tracks ever, maybe better than anything on the recent Monoliths And Dimensions.
The flipside features a live jam from Suicide mainman Alan Vega, recorded last year, live and lo-fi, lots of glitch and skitter, a sort of fractured electronica, Vega's vocals super effected, looped and chopped, dense and stuttery and seriously tripped out.
And the closing track on the B side is a stripped down, very Angels Of Light sounding acoustic number from Stephen Burroughs, former frontman for industrial icons Head Of David, his first recording in a decade, his voice rough and raw and simple, the guitar playing fantastic, the song dark and mysterious and haunting.
LIMITED TO 3000 COPIES, half on white vinyl, half on clear, we have the clear, housed in plain white hand stamped covers, but open the cover up (you might have to tear it open) and inside is some gorgeous original artwork.

SUNN O))) / EARTH Angel Coma - Split LP (Southern Lord) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Don't get too excited. By the time you read this, it will be long long long gone....