PARADE GROUND The Golden Years (Dark Entries) lp 15.98
Parade Ground are a Belgian duo, born in the new wave / post-punk explosion in the early '80s finding a sympathetic ear and an ongoing relationship with Patrick Coydens and Daniel B of Front 242. Despite the members of 242 encouraging, producing, and collaborating with Parade Ground, these Belgian lads didn't really fit within the EBM crowd that began to flourish in the mid-to-late '80s in their country. Their synth-pop melodicism drew more from the Brits, especially Wire and OMD. This collection, curated and released by Dark Entries, maps out Parade Ground's development from spiky post-punk into darkly tinged synth pop. Their 1987 anthem "Gold Rush" is featured here, as are the two collaborative tracks Parade Ground did with Colin Newman of Wire.

PARADISE BOYS 2 O'Clock (Anthem) 12" 5.98
A track from local club kids Paradise Boys' The Young & The Guest List album gets the remix treatment from Daum Bentley and Modeselektor (bpitchcontrol). If you dug the full length, you'll surely shake a rump to this too. The A-side features the album version of "2 O'Clock" as well as Bentley's "2 O'Coke Remix". The B-side is the stronger of the two with Bentley's brooding "Running Lovers Dub Mix" and Modeselektor's "6pm Remix" grooving darkly and creating a more mysterious and shadowy atmosphere.

PARADISE BOYS Gonna Make You Mine (All Systems Underground) 12" 5.98
The Paradise Boys wanna sex you up with their poolside... errrr, dancefloor manner. Led by Jeff Fare (aka DJ Jeffrodeeziak and former member of The Calculators), PB are probably not for those seeking a deep listening experience. No way, they're definitely more for those out lookin' for action! This debut EP, mixed at Seismic Seance Studios, contains a total of four tracks rooted in the primal dancefloor urge. The lead-off (and title) cut is filled with ample servings of melodramatic vocals, uncomplicated midi arpeggiated basslines and electronic handclaps, but things get progressively more interesting in the subsequent remixes. Vocals are suitably fragmented and processed, and each of the three remixes generally sound much more polished and fully articulated. PB have enlisted Broker/Dealer who break down the repetitive nature of the track and add a bit more booty thumpin' to the proceedings, and Nikki Anderson with All The Way Lovers who adds a welcome dose of mood and mystery to the mix.
RealAudio clip: BROKER / DEALER "Gonna Make You Mine (Pair-Of-Dice Mix)"

PARADISE BOYS Gonna Make You Mine (All Systems Underground) cd-r 5.98
The Paradise Boys wanna sex you up with their poolside... errrr, dancefloor manner. Led by Jeff Fare (aka DJ Jeffrodeeziak and former member of The Calculators), PB are probably not for those seeking a deep listening experience. No way, they're definitely more for those out lookin' for action! This debut EP, mixed at Seismic Seance Studios, contains a total of four tracks rooted in the primal dancefloor urge. The lead-off (and title) cut is filled with ample servings of melodramatic vocals, uncomplicated midi arpeggiated basslines and electronic handclaps, but things get progressively more interesting in the subsequent remixes. Vocals are suitably fragmented and processed, and each of the three remixes generally sound much more polished and fully articulated. PB have enlisted Broker/Dealer who break down the repetitive nature of the track and add a bit more booty thumpin' to the proceedings, and Nikki Anderson with All The Way Lovers who adds a welcome dose of mood and mystery to the mix.
RealAudio clip: BROKER / DEALER "Gonna Make You Mine (Pair-Of-Dice Mix)"

PARKER, ANDREA Kiss My Arp (Beggar's Banquet/Mo'Wax) cd 15.98
Domestic version of this great album, the debut by this electronica-diva. It totally sucks that Mo'Wax put so much time and energy into that piece of crap U.N.K.L.E. record when the ONLY female artist on their roster creates a record this good. Sub-bass electro thud, dark cello melancholia, breathless Portishead-esque vocals, and an exquisite attention to detail make this record as good as it is. Parker does it all, she produces, she sings, she djs (check out her fine entry in the "DJ Kicks" series)...in a better world this would be getting the push, and the attention, that not-so-hot UNKLE disc did.

PARKER, ANDREA Kiss My Arp/Instrumental (Mo' Wax) cd 23.00
The instrumental version of Andrea Parker's outstanding "Kiss My Arp" album... without the breathless vocals, Andrea's mild reworkings display her talents of moody electro-thud and dark cello melancholia. Deep, enveloping. Shadowy and gorgeous.

PARKER, ANDREA The Dark Ages (Quatermass) cd ep 9.98
Somehow Andrea Parker manages to continue to release music that is forward-looking and challenging yet always super crowd-pleasing and easy to listen to. How does she do it? She's plies her trademark moody electro-thud by starting off with a heavy addictive rhythm and severe yet lush beats, then adds doom-laden synth shrieks and bass thumping that's worthy of, say, Techno Animal but much more friendly. No vocals to get in the way, just an uber-cool confident attitude. Steady and not hyper. Give it a try. This five-song EP is a fine place to start with her, or if you've already got Ms. Parker's other records, you already know she never disappoints. Recommended.
RealAudio clip: "The Swamp"

PARKER, ANDREA The Rocking Chair (MoWax) 12" 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Breathy female vocal accompanied by emotional Portishead-like triphoppedness. There are 2 different vinyl 12"s (available separately), one with Attica Blues remix, one with English String Orchestra. The cd collects all the versions and adds one more. A headturner.

PARKER, ANDREA The Rocking Chair (MoWax) cdep 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Breathy female vocal accompanied by emotional Portishead-like triphoppedness. There are 2 different vinyl 12"s (available separately), one with Attica Blues remix, one with English String Orchestra. The cd collects all the versions and adds one more. A headturner.

PARKINS, ZEENA AND IKUE MORI Phantom Orchard (Mego) cd 16.98
Recent Wire cover stars Zeena Parkins and Ikue Mori team up, not for the first time, for this new disc for Austrian experimental electronics label Mego. Both fixtures of the downtown NYC scene, Parkins is the fashionably dressed avant-harpist best known lately for playing with Bjork (alongside Matmos), and Mori is the former drummer for no wave legends DNA who has made a career since then doing really interesting things with drum machines, though now she's using laptop computers. Together, Parkins and Mori create an enjoyable example of electro-acoustic improv, the abstract soundworld of their Phantom Orchard mixing harp, piano, and synth with squiggly electronics and samples, some tracks mesmerizingly mild and pretty, others on the somewhat skronkier side...
MPEG Stream: "Jezebel"
MPEG Stream: "Savage Flower"

PARMENTIER Luxsound (Sigma) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Parmentier is a collaboration between New Zealand's Rosy Parlene and Dion Workman (ex-Thela) who combine to create scratchy drawn out soundscapes with bleak, claustrophobic drones and rhythms approximating at time the Chain Reaction pulse, by building loops out of skipping records. The end result is similar to Boyd Rice's infamous Black Album, but far more beautiful.

PARSON Throw Some Ds (Planet Mu) 12" 7.98

PARSONS, DAVID Earthlight (Celestial Harmonies) cd 15.98
David Parsons is not as well known outside of New Age circles as say Deuter or Kitaro, but in the case of this New Zealand artist who's been releasing music since the early eighties, obscurity in that particular genre is an asset rather than a liability. Parsons makes the kind of New Age music we really dig a lot around here, the kind that exceeds the boundaries of the genre into areas of experimental drone, pastoral Kosmiche music and 20th century composition. Like Eberhard Schoener (another krauty 'New Ager' we love), Parsons is known mostly for a cross-cultural fusion of Eastern and Western musical forms that feature lots of ethnic instruments and field recordings, on Earthlight, Parsons only uses synthesizers, where he programmed in his own sounds built completely from scratch. Deep bottom-heavy Ur-drones, and soft phased in high tones converge on fields of repetitive gamelan-ish arppegiations and filtered washes of bell tones. Really Nice!
MPEG Stream: "Earthlight"
MPEG Stream: "Altai Himalaya"
MPEG Stream: "Corona"

PASS INTO SILENCE Calm Like A Millpond (Kompakt) cd 16.98

PASTELS Illuminati (Up) cd 13.98
The beloved Scottish pop band gets the star remix treatment from My Bloody Valentine (who contribute 2 tracks), Stereolab, Mouse on Mars, Kid Loco, Cornelius, Third Eye Foundation, Make*Up, Jim O'Rourke, To Rococo Rot, John McEntire of Tortoise, etc. It's an uneven collection that's much more mellow and minimalist than we had anticipated for a tribute to such a rockin' twee group, but still good listening.

PASTELS Yoga (Up) cd ep 7.98
Scottish pop simply doesn't get much softer and twee. On this lil' EP they cover Some Velvet Sidewalk's "Boardwalkin", offer two versions of "Yoga" (one is the album version from Mobile Safari) and and additional track called "Winter Olympic Glory" which I found to be the highlight of this release. Dreamy!

PAVAN Holy Volt (Harmonia) lp 26.00
SKWEEE alert!!
Import full-length vinyl debut from Finland's Pavan, aka Frans Carlqvist, who is actually the same guy as Limonious, another essential skweee artist who's lp House Of Usher on his own label Flogsta Danshall we highlighted here last year. If you liked that one - or like ANY skweee - you ought to like this. And if we have to explain skweee, well, you haven't been paying attention have you? It's the homebrewed electronic music sub-sub-genre that started in Scandinavia, a mix of video-gamey, chip-tuney electro soundz and instrumental hip hop. Damaged, funky, infectious.
This new lp from Pavan is a great example. Nine tracks of pure groovy skweee, with titles like "Punt Kick", "Holy Volts", "Afrika" and "Crank Up". Pavan lists his gear, for those interested, he's using the Ensoniq ASR-10, Atari 1040ST, Atari STacy, Minod Vorga Prototype, Minod Bit Sampler, Yamaha CS-5, Roland Juno 106, Roland RE-201, and Otari 8-track. Great stuff from one of the masters of skweee!

PAVILLON 7B Dark Life (Minimal Wave) lp 24.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

PEACE ORCHESTRA (G-Stone) cd 16.98
This is solo work from Peter Kruder of Kruder and Dorfmeister. Lots more mellow, stretched out and less overtly dance-y than K+D. Very nice.

PEACE ORCHESTRA Reset (G-Stone / !K7) cd 18.98
OK, I admit it. No one here is a fan of Kruder and Dorfmeister, let's just leave it at that. If you can't say anything nice... then praise the side project instead. Really, though, one snowy evening in Lake Tahoe, stoned and well-fed, I did experience several moments of communion with the debut Peace Orchestra album, Peter Kruder's solo project, which is a well-executed piece of trip hop. This here Reset record is a remix album that IMO doesn't improve on the original, in fact the differing styles of the remixers make an already sufficiently cohesive statement into a mish mash. Can't we just leave well enough alone? Remixers include: DJ DSL, Gotan Project (whose leadoff remix is actually quite lovely, especially with the added bandoneon that makes for a very Morricone-style wistfulness), Zero dB, Guillaume boulard, Truby Trio, and more.
RealAudio clip: "The Man (El Hombre de la Pampa mix by Gotan Project)"

PEACE ORCHESTRA Reset (G-Stone / !K7) 3lp 21.00
And here's the vinyl... OK, I admit it. No one here is a fan of Kruder and Dorfmeister, let's just leave it at that. If you can't say anything nice... then praise the side project instead. Really, though, one snowy evening in Lake Tahoe, stoned and well-fed, I did experience several moments of communion with the debut Peace Orchestra album, Peter Kruder's solo project, which is a well-executed piece of trip hop. This here Reset record is a remix album that IMO doesn't improve on the original, in fact the differing styles of the remixers make an already sufficiently cohesive statement into a mish mash. Can't we just leave well enough alone? Remixers include: DJ DSL, Gotan Project (whose leadoff remix is actually quite lovely, especially with the added bandoneon that makes for a very Morricone-style wistfulness), Zero dB, Guillaume Boulard, Truby Trio, and more.

PEACHES Fatherfucker (XL Recordings) cd 14.98
Lookie, here's Peaches' second album. Can she top the the disturbingly rauchy raps of her debut The Teaches Of Peaches? Well, first off, we've gotta hand it to her for the album cover, if not the title. Byram prefers to call this Amish And Proud or perhaps The C. Everett Koop record. As for the musical content, well we don't think Peaches fans will be disappointed! As to what those of us here who aren't Peaches fans (she's had a polarizing effect on the Aquarius staff) think, well, as the lead off track goes (and goes and goes) Peaches "don't give a fuck". So if she's "the kind of bitch you want to get with" then go to it. Rockin' rawer than '80s beat-box grooves and rawer than Lil' Kim rhymes, Fatherfucker is maybe what Pink would sound like if she really was punk like she poses. And as if to prove how punk Peaches is, this features a duet with none other than Iggy Pop, on the track "Kick It", and elsewhere she puts "Rock 'n' Roll" on her set list. Simple but effective, this album doesn't slack on Peaches' provocative sexual/gender stance while always rockin' the parti like Gold Chains. So if you can hang with song titles like "Shake Yer Dix" then you're only $14.98 away from a good time. The cd also includes some video for computers, if you dare.
MPEG Stream: "I'm The Kinda"
MPEG Stream: "Kick It"

PEACHES Fatherfucker (XL Recordings) lp 13.98
Lookie, here's Peaches' second album. Can she top the the disturbingly rauchy raps of her debut The Teaches Of Peaches? Well, first off, we've gotta hand it to her for the album cover, if not the title. Byram prefers to call this Amish And Proud or perhaps The C. Everett Koop record. As for the musical content, well we don't think Peaches fans will be disappointed! As to what those of us here who aren't Peaches fans (she's had a polarizing effect on the Aquarius staff) think, well, as the lead off track goes (and goes and goes) Peaches "don't give a fuck". So if she's "the kind of bitch you want to get with" then go to it. Rockin' rawer than '80s beat-box grooves and rawer than Lil' Kim rhymes, Fatherfucker is maybe what Pink would sound like if she really was punk like she poses. And as if to prove how punk Peaches is, this features a duet with none other than Iggy Pop, on the track "Kick It", and elsewhere she puts "Rock 'n' Roll" on her set list. Simple but effective, this album doesn't slack on Peaches' provocative sexual/gender stance while always rockin' the parti like Gold Chains. So if you can hang with song titles like "Shake Yer Dix" then you're only $14.98 away from a good time. The cd also includes some video for computers, if you dare.

PEACHES Impeach My Bush (XL) cd 13.98
First things first, we were pleased to see that fortunately Peaches has shorn her last album's copious facial hair, opting instead for a gold sequined head covering (tho' on the back cover we were dismayed to discover her spandex cameltoe in full bloom!). Not one to sit on the sidelines nor one to hold her tongue, she's juiced up her funky party pants and sidled herself up alongside the hip-electro-hop likes M.I.A. and Lady Sovereign. Now she strikes a balance between those gals and Le Tigre. She's broadened her vocal range with the extremes spanning from her trademark flat-line speak-sing and a more fiery Kathleen Hanna-style scream. Thick buzzin' synths and ball-crunchin' guitars surround her from start to finish. She's sure come quite a ways from her barebones pre-set button pushing debut Teaches Of Peaches. Still as lasciviously potty-mouthed fun as ever but with a heckuva lot more craft and oomph and guest stars too (Josh Homme, Feist and Joan Jett!).
MPEG Stream: "Fuck Or Kill"
MPEG Stream: "You Love It"

PEACHES Impeach My Bush (XL) 2lp 16.98
First things first, we were pleased to see that fortunately Peaches has shorn her last album's copious facial hair, opting instead for a gold sequined head covering (tho' on the back cover we were dismayed to discover her spandex cameltoe in full bloom!). Not one to sit on the sidelines nor one to hold her tongue, she's juiced up her funky party pants and sidled herself up alongside the hip-electro-hop likes M.I.A. and Lady Sovereign. Now she strikes a balance between those gals and Le Tigre. She's broadened her vocal range with the extremes spanning from her trademark flat-line speak-sing and a more fiery Kathleen Hanna-style scream. Thick buzzin' synths and ball-crunchin' guitars surround her from start to finish. She's sure come quite a ways from her barebones pre-set button pushing debut Teaches Of Peaches. Still as lasciviously potty-mouthed fun as ever but with a heckuva lot more craft and oomph and guest stars too (Josh Homme, Feist and Joan Jett!).
MPEG Stream: "Fuck Or Kill"
MPEG Stream: "You Love It"

PEACHES Set It Off (Kitty-Yo) cd ep 8.98
Raunchy freeze-dried lo-fi disco queen Peaches gets the teaches in house and accelerated funk, respectively, from Chick On Speed Tobi Neumann and Detroit's DJ Assault, reworking the title track from her Teaches of Peaches full length. Kid 606 Fucks The Pain Away, Spring Break style, armed with Eazy-E and hair farm riffage. I want my MTV!
RealAudio clip: "Fuck The Pain Away (Kid 606 Going Back To Bali Remix)"

PEACHES Set It Off (Kitty-Yo) 12" 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Raunchy freeze-dried lo-fi disco queen Peaches gets the teaches in house and accelerated funk, respectively, from Chick On Speed Tobi Neumann and Detroit's DJ Assault, reworking the title track from her Teaches of Peaches full length. Kid 606 Fucks The Pain Away, Spring Break style, armed with Eazy-E and hair farm riffage. I want my MTV!
RealAudio clip: "Fuck The Pain Away (Kid 606 Going Back To Bali Remix)"

PEACHES Teaches of Peaches - Expanded (Kitty-Yo) 2cd 15.98
Expanded North American Edition. Includes an exclusive bonus disc with new tracks, remixes and enhanced videos!
Sure, Peaches is shallow ear candy, but we all need sugar sometimes. With songtitles like "Fuck the Pain Away" and "Lovertits," Peaches far surpasses Li'l Kim in raunchiness, and her cool vocal delivery is equal parts coked-out ice-queen, white girl trying out hip hop a la Debbie Harry, and fierce punk yowler on the level of PJ Harvey and Kathleen Hanna. The music is super simple freeze-dried disco / wannabe electro / digital hardcore complete with stark drum programming and disembodied armies of handclaps. The whole package is slightly tongue in cheek -- Peaches has got the Sandra Bernhard-style parody / pathetic reality thing down cold. Those who would spend their money on Chicks on Speed should really check this out instead. Peaches delivers.
RealAudio clip: "Fuck the Pain Away"
RealAudio clip: "Hot Rod"

PEACHES The Teaches of Peaches (Kitty-Yo) cd 15.98
You are hereby forewarned that five AQ staffers totally hate this record, while two others like it a lot. AQ fistfight!
We'd heard a lot from various customers recently about this female rapper with a disc on German indie-electronica label Kitty-Yo, so we finally had to order some in, and it's proved to be very controversial indeed.
Here's what the thumbs-downers have to say:
Yuck! Someone take that groovebox away from her, and wash her pottymouth out with soap. This is... really stupid and bad. Sheer aural annoyance. I could go on, but don't want to waste the space. File under: Chicks On Speed (no, actually it's worse than that).
And here's the other side of the coin:
Sure, Peaches is shallow ear candy, but we all need sugar sometime. With songtitles like "Fuck the Pain Away" and "Lovertits," Peaches far surpasses Li'l Kim in raunchiness, and her cool vocal delivery is equal parts coked-out ice-queen, white girl trying out hip hop a la Debbie Harry, and fierce punk yowler on the level of PJ Harvey and Kathleen Hanna. The music is super simple freeze-dried disco / wannabe electro / digital hardcore complete with stark drum programming and disembodied armies of handclaps. The whole package is slightly tongue in cheek -- Peaches has got the Sandra Bernhard-style parody / pathetic reality thing down cold. Those who would spend their money on Chicks on Speed should really check this out instead. Peaches delivers.
P.S. Interview between Le Tigre and Peaches at http://tvwww.webfreetv.com/de/de/de_national/culture_zone_de/musicrules/peach/.
RealAudio clip: "Fuck the Pain Away"
RealAudio clip: "Hot Rod"

PEACHES The Teaches of Peaches (Kitty-Yo) lp 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now on vinyl.

PEACHES The Teaches Of Peaches (XL / Kitty-Yo) lp 34.00
Reissued on hella expensive vinyl. What we said 'bout it some years ago, originally, and we doubt anyone's opinions have changed much over the years...
You are hereby forewarned that five AQ staffers totally hate this record, while two others like it a lot. AQ fistfight!
We'd heard a lot from various customers recently about this female rapper with a disc on German indie-electronica label Kitty-Yo, so we finally had to order some in, and it's proved to be very controversial indeed.
Here's what the thumbs-downers have to say:
Yuck! Someone take that groovebox away from her, and wash her pottymouth out with soap. This is... really stupid and bad. Sheer aural annoyance. I could go on, but don't want to waste the space. File under: Chicks On Speed (no, actually it's worse than that).
And here's the other side of the coin:
Sure, Peaches is shallow ear candy, but we all need sugar sometime. With songtitles like "Fuck the Pain Away" and "Lovertits," Peaches far surpasses Li'l Kim in raunchiness, and her cool vocal delivery is equal parts coked-out ice-queen, white girl trying out hip hop a la Debbie Harry, and fierce punk yowler on the level of PJ Harvey and Kathleen Hanna. The music is super simple freeze-dried disco / wannabe electro / digital hardcore complete with stark drum programming and disembodied armies of handclaps. The whole package is slightly tongue in cheek - Peaches has got the Sandra Bernhard-style parody / pathetic reality thing down cold. Those who would spend their money on Chicks on Speed should really check this out instead. Peaches delivers.

PEAKING LIGHTS Lucifer (Mexican Summer) cd 10.98
With their latest record, these long time faves, psychedelic psych-kraut space-dub husband and wife duo Peaking Lights, continue in their trajectory, away from the warped drugginess and abstract noisiness that defined their early records towards something WAY more blissed out and laid back, still druggy most certainly, but less 'bad trip' druggy and more woozily wasted on some lost sun dappled tropical isle under a warm deep blue summer sky.
Like their previous record 936, which was a HUGE hit around here, Lucifer gradually unfurls as a another heady sprawl of blissy dubby psychedelia that relies heavily on looped, cyclical rhythms, cascading layers, and bleary blurry loops. The opening intro is the perfect introduction, a soft cacophony of what sounds like murky muddy marimbas and steel drums and xylophones all tangled up into a glorious swirl. But "Beautiful Son" starts off the record proper, with doleful piano under a skyful of strange glitchy electronics, and reverby swirls and swoops, bloops and trills, all beneath some lush angelic female vox, the result sounding like a more tropical, dubby and abstract take on Stereolab, droney, pulsating and percolating, a little bit sci-fi, but the sort of seventies version of sci-fi, that retro futurism filtered through sixties dub pop.
"Live Love" lays down another backdrop of loops and cascading rhythms, this time driven by what sounds like a Casio on 'calypso' setting, reminding us a bit of James Ferraro, but with the 'dub' cranked, most notably, the woozy bassline, and the vocals dubbed into soft echo drenched swirls.
"Cosmic Tides" is the first full on dub, the duo offering up their own electro-dub version of the classics, the beat, heavily reverbed, the organ, the upstroke guitar, but this is Peaking Lights, not King Tubby, so soon, the song splinters into some dreamy space pop, and over the course of the song drifts dreamily between the two.
And so it goes for the record of the record, the sound veering from reggae like grooves, to warped lo-fi reverby slo-mo eighties pop-dub that sounds like Bananarama's "Cruel Summer" slowed way down, and finally a hazy ambient coda, all dreamlike piano wreathed in reverb, strange backwards swoops and squiggles, all smeared into a strange bit of haunting psychedelia, which had us hankering for more of that sort of thing along with all the dubby dreaminess next time around.
Cool La Dusseldorf homage cover art. LP is limited to 2000 copies and includes poster and a digital download!
MPEG Stream: "Moonrise"
MPEG Stream: "Live Love"
MPEG Stream: "Cosmic Tides"
MPEG Stream: "Morning Star"

PEARSON, EWAN We Are Proud Of Our Choices (Kompakt) cd 15.98
If there's one thing that has helped some of us here get over our fear of techno, it's the amazing mixes on Kompakt. Sure we're a sucker for blissed out dreamy pop ambience, or murky throbbing heroin house, or heck even big block rockin beats, but with techno, we sometimes have to be coaxed, lured in, a little pop ambient sugar to sweeten the otherwise straight up techno pot.
Of the recent Kompakt mixes, this latest from Ewan Pearson has turned out to be one of our favorites, barring one or two, most of the records he's mixing we've never hard of, and heck, we hadn't even heard of Pearson himself before this, but this mix is a killer, dark and groovy, laid back, but plenty danceable, the opener is a trippy bit of muted four on the floor and squiggly electronics, leading us right into this eclectic mix, that moves through sunshiney, hiss drenched, stuttery vocal downtempo groove, to dubby late night pulse, to rad retro futurist funk, to hazy rave-y buzz, to post Depeche Mode house flecked new wave, to cool Euro electro, to stuttery looped softly pulsing collaged dreamscapes, to smoldering total soft pop, to cool clipped, angular Daft Punk-ish indie pop laced electronica and on and on.
Kompakt fans will love this of course, but if you were waiting for a techno record to lure you to the dancefloor, this might just be it...
MPEG Stream: LEMONADE / PITCH & HOLD "Bliss Out (Gold Panda Remix) / We've Come To Bless Dave Smith"
MPEG Stream: LUSINE "Cirrus"
MPEG Stream: TARON TREKKA "Shiroi"
MPEG Stream: XENIA BELIAYEVA "Analog Effekt"
MPEG Stream: BOT'OX "Blue Steel"

PELLARIN Gundso (Statler & Waldorf) cd 17.98
'Tis the third album from Denmark's Lars Pellarin, but the first we've heard, and is a nice introduction to his austere yet hypnotic world of minimalistic, muted beats, simple melodies and pleasing drone. Pellarin makes calm, crackly (we love crackle!) electronic music in a dubby, Chain Reaction vein, that fans of Pole and Vladislav Delay and recent Dopplereffekt should certainly check out. In fact, Gundso is such relaxed, gorgeous, atmospheric stuff, that we really hope it finds an audience outside of the utterly techno-centric who are most likely to encounter it.
It's mostly instrumental, but there's some hushed, whispery singing on track 2, "Whistle Like You're 56", giving it more of a Tarwatery feel... and again on the song "Iran" there's some vocals, this time suggestive of Middle Eastern or African chant, to go along with that track's more ethnic infected beats. A bit Muslimgauzey, that one. It's also the longest piece on the album, at 13:42, and by the end builds into something almost psychedelically krautrocky, yet techno. Elsewhere, Gundso is mostly much more minimal.
This cd also includes a Quicktime video, a slowly-shifting computer graphics animation based on the track "Over Faellenden" that compliments the music perfectly, a fly-over of a ghostly, virtual landscape / seascape in shades of grey, black and white, the "camera" smoothly gliding ever forward, past icebergs and over mountain crags and curving freeways, towards some continuously receding vanishing point.
MPEG Stream: "Over Faellenden"
MPEG Stream: "Iran"
MPEG Stream: "Bolund"

PENDRO Infusorium (Fflint Central) cd-r 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Fflint Central is a U.K. label run by two extraordinarily nice guys and darn fine hosts (good enough to befriend a sick and bedraggled on-tour Andee and buy him Cokes). Fflint specializes in experimental electronics and harsh abstract noise. One would think that there's enough, or too much of both, but the men from Fflint have that something special (fuck-you attitude? undefinable sound? sense of humor?) that makes these records way better and way more interesting than the majority of the 'electronica' we hear these days. Fans of VV/M, Lesser and other 'troublesome' electonica will dig this stuff. Affordable CD-Rs. Go ahead and take a chance. You may regret it...
Album number two from the one man Pendro. A demented odyssey of warped records, chiming atmospherics, and hiccupping robot armies. Squiggly atoms of sound careen wildly between waves of what sounds like groaning bowed metal. Nice.
RealAudio clip: "Restless Crescent"

PENDRO Nocturne Convolute (Fflint Central) cd-r 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The Fflint Central factories have slowed down a bit lately, having churned out right around 20 releases in the last 5 or 6 years. But even kicking out 3 or 4 releases a year, that's practically nothing compared to the 50 releases a month we get from all the billions of other cd-r labels we deal with, which is maybe part of why we love these guys so much. Fflint more than any other cd-r label, have definitely focused on quality over quantity. Instead of releasing every single jam, every practice, every get-together-fuck-around, these guys actually spend weeks and months working on music, on SONGS. Every single Fflint disc is totally unique, but still immediately recognizably Fflinty, but more importantly, each disc is good. Really good. Fucking great actually. In fact, we can't think of a single Fflint release that didn't immediately and totally kick our asses. And Nocturne Convolute is no different.
Pendro is the work of Tim Jones, one half of the TimJonesBarryWilliams core that IS Fflint Central, and Nocturne Convolute is Pendro number 5 by our count and carries on in Pendro's quest to reach some strange electronic Nirvana. The beats were almost entirely jettisoned a few records back, but resurface now and then here, less as beats per se, as much as muted pulses, or stuttering throbs, but more often the beats are just rhythmic smears in a larger overall soundfield. Ambient is definitely one word that comes to mind, but not cheesy or new age, more a malevolent, very active sort of ambience, sounds churn and roil, multilayered soundscapes of organic electronic minimalism. Drone is another obvious descriptor, but drones are just a small part of the whole. Almost every track here drones in some way, but all in dramatically different ways. Nocturne Convolute is a dizzying journey through some otherworld of sound...
A huge chaotic din, like Sunroof! vs. the Dead C, immediately chopped into bits, so each blast of skree is separated by murky electronic pulses, and thick waves of freight train rumble, blissed out Muslimgauze like jams, all raga like buzz and throbbing Eastern percussion, peppered with all sorts of little glitches and electronic twinkles, cavernous industrial soundscapes, dark ambient whirs beneath chaotic bits of clatter and crunch, all morphed into a swirling smear of sound, wild blasts of outerspace sonic freakout, swooshes and bleeps and bloops, whipped into an absolute frenzy that eventually blurs into a high end drone, slow burning gongs ring and reverberate like ripples in some huge black sea, some damaged jazz squeaks and skronks in a vast expanse of haunting late night murk, buried within a sweetly melancholic melody, beats and loops chopped and sliced and diced and haphazardly reassembled into blasts of digital splatter, and some almost drill and bass, but as with most tracks the beats sort of implode and become bits and pieces of a swirling electronic glitchscape, gorgeous thick whirring drones are assembled from stuttering tones and blurry notes, creepy but so lovely, building in intensity until the drone becomes a crackling lightning storm of clicks and glitches and bzzt and grrt. Harsh and harrowing, but somehow still totally mesmerizing and beautiful.
By the time Nocturne Convolute comes to an end, you feel exhausted, like you've just BEEN somewhere, experienced SOMETHING. This is not easy listening at all, most Fflint stuff requires some work on the listener's part, some deep listening, every play reveals more sounds and more secrets, each listen builds on the one before, and prepares you for the one after. Which is precisely Pendro's (and Fflint Central in general) blessing AND curse. The sounds here are amazing, the music intense and hypnotic, sounds that make your ears hum, the inside of your head ring like a struck bell, but the sounds are are also abstract, difficult, challenging, and maybe too much for the casual listener. But you know what? Fuck the casual listener, this is not casual music, this is music to luxuriate in, to dunk your head in until you run out of breath and start seeing all sorts of strange colors, this is music that gets inside of you, and suffuses all your senses with it's strange glow. This is not background music, this is music that makes everything around it fade into the background. As with all things Fflint, totally and wholeheartedly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Uncertain Flight Cycle"
MPEG Stream: "The Tammuz Tree"
MPEG Stream: "A Cellar Full Of Nightjars"

PENDRO Portals (Fflint Central) cd-r 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We're running out of superlatives ffor those ffuckers ar Fflint. Just to be decent, you think they'd drop a stinker here and there. Give us a breather. But no, every single release has to be ffantastic. And this new one from Pendro is no different. Still ffucking weird, and still ffucking brilliant. Pendro is seemingly becoming less and less concerned with beats and ffocusing more on atmosphere which is just ffine with us. The sounds of children playing and staticky radio broadcasts are transmitted sporadically through a dense haze of reverb into the Twilight Zone, steel string guitars are bombarded by swoops and bleeps and other assorted sonic detritus purchased from Acid Mothers Temple at a London swap meet, dreamy kraut-prog ambience is rhythmically enhanced by lasers and phaser fire, electronic crickets are stuffed into trumpets and fflugel horns and dropped down a well, a malfuctioning player piano is lowered into a cave ffull of locusts and barbed wire. And so it goes. One indescribable sonic adventure after another. Beautiful sounds. Perplexing sounds. Ugly sounds. All masterfully woven into dense, dark swaths of confounding ambience. Once again the boys at Fflint give the old middle ffinger to the established electronica community by making yet another record that is so good, nobody knows what to do with it. Except us. And of course you.
MPEG Stream: "Apertures"
MPEG Stream: "Anglesey Night Shapes"
MPEG Stream: "Dusk Dwellers"

PENDRO The Oxide Heresies (Fflint Central) cd-r 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Fflint Central is a U.K. label run by two extraordinarily nice guys and darn fine hosts (good enough to befriend a sick and bedraggled on-tour Andee and buy him Cokes). Fflint specializes in experimental electronics and harsh abstract noise. One would think that there's enough, or too much of both, but the men from Fflint have that something special (fuck-you attitude? undefinable sound? sense of humor?) that makes these records way better and way more interesting than the majority of the 'electronica' we hear these days. Fans of VV/M, Lesser and other 'troublesome' electonica will dig this stuff. Affordable CD-Rs. Go ahead and take a chance. You may regret it...
Pendro (aka Tim Jones, the second half of the FFlint dynamic duo) describe this record as 'psychedelic', but God knows what he must have taken to come up with this. Things start off with a cascade of blips and bleeps that seem quite menacing (that's quite a feat for blips and bleeps, mind you) and slowly evolve into a more psychotic Boards of Canada. The rest of the record is a crazy mix of chopped and mutilated classical samples, found sound, hyper-distorted melodies, malfunctioning cd-player rhythms and gurgling computer glitchery, all of which eventually coalesce into a droning, buzzing coda. Really great.

RealAudio clip: "Anybody Just Yet..."

PEOPLE LIKE US A Fistful Of Knuckles (Caciocavallo) cd 16.98
People Like Us is the work of UK plunderphonician Vicki Bennett, whose previous albums mined the UK radio talkshows to construct brutally hilarious collages loaded with sexual innuendo and scatalogical humor. "A Fistful Of Knuckles" is her Americana record, taking the dredges of thrift store vinyl to their most surreal end. Way out on the open range of After School Special soundtracks and cowboy adventure records, Bennett had compiled a wacky album of twangy looped samples, lone harmonicas, decontextualized spoken words elements which make us Americans sound down right stupid, and a very very naughty version of "She'll Be Comin' Round The Mountain." People Like Us have been joined in the 'Happy Valley Ranch' by Mr. Wobbly, The Jet Black Hair People (Peter of Negativland / Wetgate / Monopause), M.C. Schmerz (aka Martin from Matmos), etc... All in all, this may very well be her best record.

PEOPLE LIKE US Hate People Like Us (Soleilmoon) cd 15.98
A 'remix' album of plunderphonic/sonic dadaist People Like Us by a handful of experimentalists such as Negativland, Coil, Stock Hausen & Walkman, Mika Vainio, Dummy Run, Boyd Rice, Bruce Gilbert, Farmer's Manual, Death In June, Christoph Heemann (Nurse With Wound/H.N.A.S.), Rehberg & Bauer, and Sons of Silence. So this may be a stupid semantic argument...but is a remix album of somebody who pilfers everything anyway merely a compilation of tracks (to be catagorized with 'Various Artists') or is the conceptualization of culling these 'remixes' together fall under the catagory of being the intellectual property of the original artist (and thus is to be filed under the original artist's name)? Does it really matter?

PEOPLE LIKE US Recyclopaedia Britannica (Mess Media) cd 15.98
"Recyclopaedia Britannica" could be seen as a 'greatest hits' compilation for Vicky Bennett's People Like Us; however, she is not content to merely pick tracks from her comic cavalcade of plunderphonic recordings from the past decade. Rather, this album rewires, recontextualizes, and reconfigures various snippets that have previously made their way onto all of her records, and stands as something that's almost new. Thus, this makes for an excellent introduction to her work, but will certainly be enough to warm the hearts of her fans. The opening burst (ehm) of collaged farts on "Recyclopaedia" sets the stage for the scatalogical humor that runs rampant throughout all of Bennett's work. Sampling liberally from various thrift store finds, Bennett generates an arsenal of wacky loopings from yodeling Alpine polkas, high-lonesome moseys from Cowboys and Indians childrens' adventures, and Fellini-esque blasts of circus music. Splattered throughout these musical interludes, People Like Us rearrange garden variety narratives from radio dramas and talk radio into bumbling, sexualized farces (often punctuated by more farting). In these spoken word elements, Bennett often emphasizes the breathes, umms, ahhs, and slurred pauses from her unsuspecting victims to turn their speach into wickedly funny collages of broken stumblings. This work - like the profound art joke of Piero Manzoni's can of Artist's Shit - isn't merely toilet humor, nor is it smug irony, but an uncomfortable juxtaposition of audio perversion guided by an incredibly sharp intellect and deadly comic timing. Required listening for fans of Wobbly, Negativland, and John Oswald.
RealAudio clip: "T424PLU"
RealAudio clip: "If Someone Touches You"
RealAudio clip: "My Son Jim"

PEOPLE LIKE US Stifled Love (Soleilmoon) lp 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
In a career that has spanned almost a decade, People Like Us (aka Vicki Bennett) has specialized in reconfiguring the audio detritus of BBC talk radio, instructional recordings, Italian exotica, and country/western kitsch. Her rhythmically tinged audio collages rip apart the conventional perceptions of these sounds and expose them as sexually explicit or scatalogical punchlines to absurdist jokes. It's not uncommon for People Like Us to recontextualize a talk show guest gleefully rambling about gardening into a frenzied yet bumbling vocalization of sexual ecstacy. "Stifled Love" is a limited edition, vinyl only release that is her 'love record'. Yet, this is as much of an album about love as Wobbly's "Wild Why" is about hip hop. In other words, People Like Us deconstructs the archetypes of the love song in such a way as to extract a vibrant sense of slapstick humor without devolving into an self-reflexive ironic posture of smart-ass appropriation (i.e. the "Bootleg" phenomenon that was the craze in England during the summer of 2002). At first, Bennett mines the same territory heard in the "Wide Open Spaces" collaboration with Matmos and Wobbly, where clipped samples from various country-western tunes evolved into simple riffs of cowpoke swagger. Yet, jazz crooners and Hawaiian romantica also find their way into Bennett's variety show of plundered material. The highlight of the album is definitely another country reference, as Bennett chops up vocal samples of Dolly Parton and amasses them into a dramatic crescendo of Dolly's unmistakable drawl. Nicely done.
MPEG Stream: "Stifled Love"
MPEG Stream: "Dolly Pardon"

PEOPLE LIKE US & ERGO PHIZMIZ Perpetuum Mobile (Soleilmoon) cd 16.98

PEOPLE LIKE US & ERGO PHIZMIZ Withers In The Waking (Touch) 7" 8.98
The latest entry in Touch's ongoing series of limited 7"s from People Like Us and Ergo Phizmiz is by far the biggest surprise of bunch so far, in that you'll find no deep drones or abstract minimalism or delicate soundscapery, instead, as it states plainly right there on the sleeve, we get "Two new rolls of woozy dream circus lovingly cooked by two bakers of antiquity. Recorded in the ice and snow, in clay ovens, by broken down carousels."
Which is pretty much what it sounds like. Lilting sunshine-y melodies, circusy calliopes, gentle summery strum, and lushy boy girl vocal harmonies, all spun into some sweet pop confection. Sort of like Belle And Sebastian run through The Decemberists, and indeed all woozy and warbly, playful and pretty, old timey pop. But that's just the A side. The B side begins with a rhythm straight out of Perrey And Kingsley's songbook, but it's not long before the vocals come in, and again offer up a sing songy fractured doo wop duet, while the strange honk and skronk continues on beneath, along with some warm record crackle and some warped off kilter keyboards.
Definitely a weird one, and will likely rub some of the more striaghtlaced minimalist Touch music fanatics the wrong way, but it's a pretty darn giddy chunk of high art gone low brow, which is mos definitely a good thing.

PEOPLE LIKE US & KENNY G Nothing Special (Soleilmoon) cd 15.98

PEOPLE LIKE US & WOBBLY Music For The Fire (Illegal Art) cd 16.98

PEPITO Migrante (This Record Label) cd 9.98
A delightful local surprise from the Bay Area's ridiculously-talented pool of avant electronicists, Pepito is Jose and Ana, augmented with the production and musicianly talents of Chris Palmatier (of AQ-staff-and-customer fave Brian & Chris). Pepito play a charming blend of lighthearted electronica -- digital clicks and bleeps cavort around delicately strummed guitar, so melodic and serene that it reminds me of the Sea & Cake or Tortoise, and sometimes so fragmented it reminds me of Gastr del Sol. Jose and Ana's vocals (half in English, half in Spanish) are clear 'n hushed but not too breathy (thank heavens), bringing to mind emo pop faves such as P.E.E. or Rainer Maria. There's also fuzzed-out garage guitar and distorted almost-grind(pop) guitar -- both acting nicely to break up the otherwise loping, loopy playfulness. This is certainly post rock done right, just enough indie rock, just enough electronica. Recommended.
RealAudio clip: "Terapia"
RealAudio clip: "Salyut"
RealAudio clip: "Ardilla"

PER MISSION A Ritual Loop (Monitor) cd 14.98
Where would indie rock be today if the Rachels and Rodan had never existed. The kids would probably still be listening to the Dead Milkmen. Which to me doesn't seem like such a bad thing, but I digress.
Per Mission is Jason Noble of the Rachels doing his ambient electronica thing. Spoken word snippets whirring ambient noise, simple stuttering drum loops, smooth fuzzed out spacy trip hop. A little bland and mediocre, and a bit too hippy dippy with all the 'spiritual' spoken word stuff and the website all about how he fed his baby -- nobody would care probably if this didn't 'feature a member of the Rachels'.

PERICH, TRISTAN 1-Bit Symphony (Cantaloupe Music) jewel case 1-bit electronic music generator 30.00
Music nerds may get obsessed with records all the time, but they also get pretty into musical gadgets, as evidenced most recently by FM3's Buddha Machine, which we've sold about a billion of, and most folks we know own more than one. And heck, that's just a little plastic box that plays short little loops. We didn't think anything would be able to trump the coolness of the Buddha Machine, which appealed to music geeks and tech nerds in equal measure, but then along came 1-Bit Music from a composer named Tristan Perich. Not only was 1-Bit Music Perich's debut record, it wasn't a record at all, instead it was simultaneously a piece of sound art and a miniature sound producing gadget, a collection of tiny wires and chips and switches and a watch battery, all affixed to the inside of a plain old cd jewel case. The result, a super striking looking little gizmo, but one that produced some weird and amazing 1 bit sounds. But what exactly are 1 bit sounds?
Well, most folks are familiar with 8 bit sounds, all your favorite vintage arcade game music is 8 bit, and all the modern purveyor of Casio core or Nintendo core, they're using those crunchy lo-fi 8 bit sounds to make awesomely retro music. So one bit, is the smallest increment of memory and sound, and Perich composed his music using just 1 bit sounds, the result, beyond being small enough to fit on a tiny chip, and that chip along with some switches and wires in a jewel case, it also made for some alien sounds, like video game music, but as if imagined by the roster of Raster-Noton, a series of clicks and beeps and tangled squiggles of squelches and primitive melodies, almost like some ultra minimal toy techno or something. And while in headphones the sounds were intense and loud and raw, through speakers, they were INTENSE, super destructive and brutal, the sort of sounds, no matter how playful and simple, that DESTROY speakers. So awesome.
Sadly, Perich and his crew had trouble keeping up with demand, as each of the releases, were hand made, every wire and switch, glued into each jewel case one at a time. So eventually that 'record' was discontinued. But now, we have Perich's latest release, no longer simply 1-Bit Music, now, it's a 1-Bit Symphony! And it is in fact more complex, with the various tones and beeps and squelches woven into lush tapestries of sound, rhythmically complex, and harmonically lush, at times sounding almost like M83, sometimes like Steve Reich or Terry Riley composing on a primitive toy Casio keyboard, other times like some lost old school video game, the sounds panning wildly from speaker to speaker, the melodies tangled and intricate, the overall sound so hypnotic and mesmerizing, the compositions sprawling and epic, ranging from 5 minutes, to nearly ten minutes to infinite, the final track a gorgeously lush chunk of distorted fuzzed out minimal buzz, that manages to sound all moody and shoegazey, warm and woozy and crunchy, an endless loop, that we really could imagine listening to endlessly.
But like 1-Bit Music before it, the music is really only half the equation with 1-Bit Symphony, the packaging, which IS the record, is so striking, a gorgeously arranged series of wires and switches, a battery, a volume knob, a button to switch tracks, an on/off switch, a headphone jack, all affixed to a clear jewel case, with a simple stick on the front, and the booklet in the plastic sleeve on the outside of the jewel case, adding a spare white background to the visuals, but also including liner notes, not to mention an intense and fantastically confusional poster featuring what appears to be the composition presented as it was programmed, which also manages to be visually striking and a work of art in its own right.
This one is not so nearly limited as the last one, but probably safer to not risk it, cuz if you're at all into weird music, and weird music related thingies, you are definitely gonna want one of these, and you'll probably want to give one to all the music nerds in your life as well. And like the first Perich 1-Bit release, this one too, is no doubt destined to be the cool music gadget, and minimal lo-fi 1-bit glitch crunch shoegaze squelch symphony record of the year!
MPEG Stream: "Movement 1"
MPEG Stream: "Movement 2"
MPEG Stream: "Movement 3"

PERREY, JEAN JACQUES AND LUKE VIBERT PRESENT: Moog Acid (Lo) cd 14.98
Don't know if this match-up is heaven-sent, but it sure is fun. Acid-hop Maestro Luke Vibert teams up with Moog Master Elder Stateman Jean-Jacques Perrey for a wild romp of Moog-filled delerium. While it's hard to say who is doing what, many of the tracks are encased in Vibert's bouncy rhythms and hip-hop beats while Perrey provides the spoken word passages and classic Moog "In Sound From Way Out" squelches. While Vibert's production can sometime slip into cliche (there needs to be a moratorium on James Brown grunts), the bulk of the record is exuberance par excellence!
MPEG Stream: "Schwing"
MPEG Stream: "Messy Hop"
MPEG Stream: "Dream 106"