TOROIDH The Final Testament (Eternal Pride) cd 15.98
It's getting harder and harder to keep up with the many sides of Henrik Nordvargr Bjorkk. He may be perhaps best known for his blackened ambient combo MZ412, but that's just the beginning. He's released tons of stuff under his own name, sometimes collaborating with his former MZ412 partner-in-noise Drakh for a few records (including the recent Betrayal Of Light album on tUMULt). Then there's his militaristic folk combo Folkstorm, his damaged blackened noise outfit Goatvargr, his blacknoize black metal band Vargr (see elsewhere on this list) his full on noise group Hydra Head 13, and of course, quite possibly our favorite side of this sonic Renaissance man, the epic historical ambience of Toroidh. A sonic trip through the history of the world, told through its wars and atrocities. Some heavy stuff for sure, but the music is suitably powerful, so much so that much of Toroidh plays out like some PBS documentary set to music, heart wrenching at moments, dark and ominous at others, but always completely enthralling.
Testament was originally released on Nordvargr's own 205 Recordings label back in 2003, but has been resurrected here with two bonus tracks as The Final Testament. Split into two lengthy movements, Testament is sweeping and epic, haunting and mysterious, dense and multilayered. Militaristic marches, fanfares and anthems, woven into long stretches of rumbling drone, strident neo folk, strummed acoustic guitars, and swooning synths, Teutonic industrial pummel, ominous martial drumming, thick swaths of black ambience, snippets of operas, soaring super dramatic strings, tolling bells, murky expanses of low end whir, soaring strings and soundtrack like mood music, chanting monk-like vocals, all woven around bits of speeches, radio broadcasts and other wartime soundbites, the whole thing buried beneath a black sonic pall, like thick smoke over a burning city.
The bonus tracks are brief, and are more like a sort of sonic addendum, the first track "The Final Testament", is a propulsive industrial dirge, all tribal drums and thick serpentine synths, deep rumbling low end and tinkling percussion, very neo-folk martial industrial, while the final track, "Hail Wermland II", is a recording of an old scratchy dusty '78, a mournful lament, proud, deep, crooned vocals, and simple minor key melodies, all wrapped in staticky crackle and pop, bookended by brief smears of smoldering drone. So good.
Remastered, and with all new artwork, an eight page booklet with liner notes and lots of appropriately teutonic images.
MPEG Stream: "Part I"
MPEG Stream: "Part II"

TORSO / GACK split (Small Doses) cd-r 5.00
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
Another killer, super limited cd-r from the ALWAYS kick ass Small Doses label. This one a split between Torso, who we've dug for a while, and Gack who are new to us.
Torso, who we last heard from on a split with fellow dronesters Unicorn, offer up six tracks of deep dark raw drone/noise music. Beginning with some super minimal shimmer, streaked with low end groans and shards of feedback, Torso wander through fields of power electronics, spaced out glitch, thick synthscapes, complete with super distorted demonic vocals and all sorts of industrial buzz and grind, to crumbling malfunctioning electronic dirges, to dense melodic drones culminating in a nearly 10 minute blast of sci-fi outer space abstract glitched out FX drenched dronoise.
Gack respond with something much more minimal and muted, but no less caustic and ominous, LOTS of low end, the sound smeared and blurred and crumbling, tons shimmer and drift, disembodied voices, creaks, and machinelike grunts and murmurs, jagged shards of industrial clatter, deep rumbling ambience, Gack's tracks here sound more like the foley work for some fucked up outer space sci fi horror movie, which is not at all a bad thing.
Fans of Wolf Eyes and other modern bleak post industrialism as well as folks into the current crop of abstract noise drenched drone cd-r-tists should definitely check this out.
LIMITED TO 103 COPIES. Packaged in a plain black and white sleeve, printed on heavy cardstock.
MPEG Stream: TORSO "Wintersky Burial"
MPEG Stream: GACK "9"

TORSO / UNICORN split (Divorce) cd 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We've been fans of Unicorn (ex-Man Is The Bastard / Bastard Noise) for a while now, not nearly as long as we've been fans of -unicorns-, but close. On their Playing With Light record, we began our review with these words: "Goddamn this record is beautiful. We mean seriously beautiful. So beautiful it sort of has us at a loss for words." Needless to say, we sold tons of those, and it remains an AQ favorite (and we'll hopefully soon have more copies, thanks for being patient). So since then we would snap up anything those guys (or that guy, we're not sure) did.
This latest one is no different. Well, no different in that we snapped it right up, but definitely different sounding. At least the first Unicorn track here, a hissy high end drift, all upper register whir and shimmer and skree, what sounds like balloons and compressed air, very strange, but after that it's back to the Unicorn of old, with deep resonant drones, strange electronic glitches, haunting rhythmic loops, really quite beautiful, but Unicorn here are all over the place, the next track is another abstract industrial soundscape of low end whir and rhythmic hiss, some more high end weirdness, then back to more dark droniness finishing off with some super minimal hushed drift. Not as straight up beautiful as the other discs, but way more varied and interesting, intense and unique.
Unicorn are paired off here with Torso, whose take on the drone is much more raw and abrasive, gritty and buzzy, with the tones blown out and crumbling, verging on power electronics, but remaining just on this side of noise, like a much heavier more lo-fi Niblock, with long drawn out notes layered on top of each other, allowed to pulse and beat and subtly shift and change. Torso also add all sorts of other sounds to the mix, random slabs of distant buzz, electronic crackle, what sounds like a drill of some kind, creepy voices, warbly turntables, bits of found sound, distorted vocals, feedback, all woven into the mesmerizing fabric of Torso's harsh drones. Really cool. Definitely need to hear more.
Packaged in a gorgeous, multi colored, metallic ink, screen printed fold over cardstock sleeve in a thick vinyl pouch. Nice!
MPEG Stream: TORSO "River Grave"
MPEG Stream: TORSO "Behind The Field"
MPEG Stream: UNICORN "Reanimation Case No. 6"
MPEG Stream: UNICORN "Lanterns On Water"

TORTOISE Beacons Of Ancestorship (Thrill Jockey) cd 16.98
Now this is indeed a pleasant surprise. The return of Tortoise. A band we were OBSESSED with in the beginning, whose first few records are classics, undefinable masterpieces that managed to totally transcend their classification as mere post rock. Tortoise's self titled debut still sounds classic and timeless, a loping hypnotic blend of math rock and krautrock and jazz. Their Millions Now Living, which was released in the very early days of the aQ list, so it only has a barely descriptive two sentence review, was a mind blowing meld of Oval like electronics and abstract jazziness, of brooding post rock and almost orchestral arrangements. The remix record, which found the band being reimagined by Steve Albini, Brad Wood, Bundy Brown, Jim O'Rourke, John McEntire and others, still ranks as one of the few examples of how a collection of remixes, in some ways can even transcend the originals. But from that point on, the band seemed to lose their way, it's hard to explain just how, but their record, often literally years in the making, surprisingly enough didn't sound fresh anymore, the sounds tired and played out, maybe meant to be 'mature' or 'academic' but instead mostly sounded boring, and in some cases bad.
There was always a spark, and every record had brief flashes, little musical moments that reminded us what they were once capable of.
Which brings us to the awkwardly titled Beacons Of Ancestorship, which while not a total mind blowing complete return to form, is pretty dang good. A handful of the tracks ranking up there with some of their classic jams from years back.
Most folks have been focusing on record opener "High Class Slim Came Floatin' In", and rightfully so, the band definitely had something to prove, some lost ground to make up, and some fans to win over again, and hell, "High Class Slim" is just the song to do it. It still sounds like Tortoise, but it's all revved up, skittery jazzy drums wrapped around deep woozy bass and reedy synth buzz, before in swoops some tripped out Stereolab / Tangerine Dream keyboard swirl, and then some super out of place buzzy keyboard groove, but it somehow works, the track gets more intense, the sounds smolder and throb, blissy and subtly psychedelic, a little bit funky, a lot bit space-y, even a breakdown that gets all cybotronic robot funk, washed over by some new age shimmer, and sparkely space-y effects... it was almost too much to hope for that the whole record would sound like that the whole way through, but then it wouldn't really be Tortoise, for these guys it's just a launching point for their latest exploration of sounds both simple and sinister, serene and cinematic, jazzy and funky.
There are definitely a few moments where things lag, where it definitely sounds like they're back to doing Tortoise by numbers, some Morricone-ish guitar, that while we usually love, here doesn't do much, some of the stretched out jams bog down more than bliss out, but those moments are few and far between, the rest of their time is spent weaving pretty fantastic flights of instrumental fancy, mathy jams rife with melodic curlicues and warm whirls of warble and whir, cool skittery almost dancehall sounding bits of buzz and blurt, wrapped around some truly funky rhythms, long stretches of stuttering almost African sounding grooves, laced with sitar like buzz, and cool psychedelic flourishes, and at least one track that starts off with some looped Afterschool Special music that is transformed into what sounds like the perfect backing track for a Kanye West song. And then there's the unpronounceable "Yinxianghechengqi" which finds Tortoise getting their Trans Am on, fuzzed out, snarling guitars wrapped in crumbling distortion, pulsing bass, John McEntire pummeling his kit like he probably hasn't since his Bastro Days, but then this IS Tortoise, so over the top they drape some atonal modal Return To Forever sort of buzz drenched melodic weirdness which ends up turning the song into something else entirely. And minus those few aforementioned lulls, the rest of the record continues on, and manages to hold our attention, and definitely has had us returning again and again.
So while it's not quite Millions, Beacons is definitely the best Tortoise record since the mid nineties, and once distanced from the legacy and the expectations and all the non musical bullshit, on it's own as simply a record by a band, a collection of songs and sounds, Beacons is really pretty fantastic.
MPEG Stream: "High Class Slim Came Floatin' In"
MPEG Stream: "Prepare Your Coffin"
MPEG Stream: "Yinxianghechengqi"

TORTOISE Beacons Of Ancestorship (Thrill Jockey) lp 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The first pressing of this went so quick we were never able to list it! Now it's been repressed, and it's a couple bucks cheaper too (although no longer on 180 gram vinyl, hence the savings). This new pressing is actually now on regular weight WHITE vinyl. Here's what we said about the compact disc version when we happily highlighted it a few months back...
Now this is indeed a pleasant surprise. The return of Tortoise. A band we were OBSESSED with in the beginning, whose first few records are classics, undefinable masterpieces that managed to totally transcend their classification as mere post rock. Tortoise's self titled debut still sounds classic and timeless, a loping hypnotic blend of math rock and krautrock and jazz. Their Millions Now Living, which was released in the very early days of the aQ list, so it only has a barely descriptive two sentence review, was a mind blowing meld of Oval like electronics and abstract jazziness, of brooding post rock and almost orchestral arrangements. The remix record, which found the band being reimagined by Steve Albini, Brad Wood, Bundy Brown, Jim O'Rourke, John McEntire and others, still ranks as one of the few examples of how a collection of remixes, in some ways can even transcend the originals. But from that point on, the band seemed to lose their way, it's hard to explain just how, but their record, often literally years in the making, surprisingly enough didn't sound fresh anymore, the sounds tired and played out, maybe meant to be 'mature' or 'academic' but instead mostly sounded boring, and in some cases bad.
There was always a spark, and every record had brief flashes, little musical moments that reminded us what they were once capable of.
Which brings us to the awkwardly titled Beacons Of Ancestorship, which while not a total mind blowing complete return to form, is pretty dang good. A handful of the tracks ranking up there with some of their classic jams from years back.
Most folks have been focusing on record opener "High Class Slim Came Floatin' In", and rightfully so, the band definitely had something to prove, some lost ground to make up, and some fans to win over again, and hell, "High Class Slim" is just the song to do it. It still sounds like Tortoise, but it's all revved up, skittery jazzy drums wrapped around deep woozy bass and reedy synth buzz, before in swoops some tripped out Stereolab / Tangerine Dream keyboard swirl, and then some super out of place buzzy keyboard groove, but it somehow works, the track gets more intense, the sounds smolder and throb, blissy and subtly psychedelic, a little bit funky, a lot bit space-y, even a breakdown that gets all cybotronic robot funk, washed over by some new age shimmer, and sparkely space-y effects... it was almost too much to hope for that the whole record would sound like that the whole way through, but then it wouldn't really be Tortoise, for these guys it's just a launching point for their latest exploration of sounds both simple and sinister, serene and cinematic, jazzy and funky.
There are definitely a few moments where things lag, where it definitely sounds like they're back to doing Tortoise by numbers, some Morricone-ish guitar, that while we usually love, here doesn't do much, some of the stretched out jams bog down more than bliss out, but those moments are few and far between, the rest of their time is spent weaving pretty fantastic flights of instrumental fancy, mathy jams rife with melodic curlicues and warm whirls of warble and whir, cool skittery almost dancehall sounding bits of buzz and blurt, wrapped around some truly funky rhythms, long stretches of stuttering almost African sounding grooves, laced with sitar like buzz, and cool psychedelic flourishes, and at least one track that starts off with some looped Afterschool Special music that is transformed into what sounds like the perfect backing track for a Kanye West song. And then there's the unpronounceable "Yinxianghechengqi" which finds Tortoise getting their Trans Am on, fuzzed out, snarling guitars wrapped in crumbling distortion, pulsing bass, John McEntire pummeling his kit like he probably hasn't since his Bastro Days, but then this IS Tortoise, so over the top they drape some atonal modal Return To Forever sort of buzz drenched melodic weirdness which ends up turning the song into something else entirely. And minus those few aforementioned lulls, the rest of the record continues on, and manages to hold our attention, and definitely has had us returning again and again.
So while it's not quite Millions, Beacons is definitely the best Tortoise record since the mid nineties, and once distanced from the legacy and the expectations and all the non musical bullshit, on it's own as simply a record by a band, a collection of songs and sounds, Beacons is really pretty fantastic.
MPEG Stream: "High Class Slim Came Floatin' In"
MPEG Stream: "Prepare Your Coffin"
MPEG Stream: "Yinxianghechengqi"

TORTURE CORPSE Crazy Wisdom (Sanity Muffin) cassette 5.98
We had never heard of Dutch blackened dirge/drone outfit Torture Corpse, before, but we have to say, with a name like that we were most definitely intrigued, and the fact that we first heard about them via a wholehearted recommendation from one half of aQ faves Teeth Engraved With The Names Of The Dead, and if someone responsible for that sort of bleak heaviness and abject ambience says they thing something is scary and heavy and amazing, well, then odds are it probably is. And it only took a few seconds for us to be converted, starting out with some softly caustic crunch, only to shift into a bit of hazy ambient drift, the record then really takes off with TC unfurling what sounds like some buzzing blackened riffage, all droned out and blurred, over a mysterious field of rhythmic glitch, and what sounds like buried vocals, singing in tongues, a textural garble that only adds to the chaos. Almost as soon as you're utterly entranced, TC jettisons all the noise and buzz and crunch, leaving, just a shimmery field of soft chordal thrum, and hushed sonic swells, tranquil and warm and woozily washed out, a blissfuly bit of dreamy drift, with the sounds seeming the grow gradually more distorted, but very subtly so, eventually fading out and leaving a strange and ominous industrial landscape, laced with thick speaker rattling low end, all manner of clatter and crunch, a blurred post apocalyptic creep through some sonic wasteland, slowly building to a lurching lumbering almost doomic blackened trudge, almost like Wolf Eyes doing sound design for a remake of Pitch Black, a machinelike, black industrial ambience that manages to be haunting and heavy, but also weirdly melodic and mysterious. There are strange vocal samples too, wreathed in reverb, draped over strange percolating anti-rhythms, laced with bits of creepy melody, the sounds throughout the tape seem to be constantly shifting, no single song sounds like the next, some are crushingly heavy, others breathlessly beautiful, but they're all woven into something epic, a super cinematic slab of grim black beauty.
Sweet packaging too, intricate designs on both the inside and outside of the heavy cardstock J-card, as well as a printed insert with liner notes and sing titles.

TORTURE CORPSE Ooru Naito Rongu (Auris Apothecary) scouring pads and metal wire wrapped cassette 8.98
A while back we discovered this Dutch dirge / drone outfit thanks to our pals in Teeth Engraved With The Names Of The Dead, and you know when a band like that is raving about something being dark and heavy and bleak and AWESOME, then you best listen, and we did, and we went a little crazy for TC, and were super excited to discover that TC had a new release coming out on one of our favorite labels, Auris Apothecary, who have FOUR different new releases on this week's list (Unholy Triforce, Sitar Outreach Ministry, (((o))) and this one!), and once again, they've pulled out all the stops packaging wise with all of them.
Torture Corpse's Ooru Naito Rongu comes packaged in either grey or green scouring pads held together with metal wire, wrapped in a printed transparent Japanese style obi, sealed with a black wax seal, and inside there are printed inserts. It's pretty dang striking, and the rough scouring pads are a hint at the rough and raw sounds that lurk inside, as this is a way noisier proposition than the other TC we reviewed, starting out with a weird bit of super distorted and totally garbled noise rock, which then transforms into a sort of blackened industrial dirge, before finally slipping into a more black and droney drift, but that drift is caustic and chaotic and noisy for sure, a thick corrosive black sonic smear. And so it goes, the sound a blown out, in the red, speaker melting series of jams, dirgey rhythmic krautrock one second, doomy creep the next, stumbling noise rock heaviness one second, and blissed out crumbling Sunroof! style ur-drone the next, everything here slathered in blacknoise, streaks of hiss and whir and shards of keening feedback, all except the nearly nine minute closer, which is a surprising bit of dreamy droney drift, complete with some strange haunting vocals just below the surface.
This definitely benefits from headphone listening, but either way, like the other Torture Corpse (and the other AA stuff), totally recommended.
LIMITED TO 95 COPIES!!!
MPEG Stream: "Sado Baibureshon"
MPEG Stream: "Organ"
MPEG Stream: "Shiryo No Wana"

TORTURE GNOSIS II (Frequency Thirteen) cd-r 7.98
Two new slabs of TRUE SHEFFIELD BLACK PSYCHEDELIA!!! Elsewhere on this week's list you'll find a new cd-r from Astral Womb, but this right here is record number two from Torture Gnosis, a duo whose first record seemed to slip right by us, for which we are now definitely kicking ourselves, cuz this stuff is seriously ruling.
Fans of the Frequency Thirteen label, the home of 'True Sheffield Black Psychedelia', and the various TSBP bands we've gushed over in the past: Black Vomit, Dukkha, Rape Rack, Ice Bound Majesty and Skultroll, should probably just stop right here and add this to your cart, but for everybody else, imagine a sort of twisted more lo-fi and sci-fi Expo 70, the same sort of psychedelic bliss out, long expanses of cosmic shimmer, but not rendered in the typical tropes of 'kosmische' music, instead, these are weirdo lo-fi metallers crafting a gorgeous fractured songsuite of intergalactic ambience. Their first record was a much noisier beast, with many of the tracks leaning way more toward a dizzying chaotic confluence of black metal, free jazz, and industrial clatter, but even then, the band would pepper these blasts of blacknoise and tangled metaljazz skree with hushed expanses of druggy drift and mesmerizing shimmer, and for II, it seems the band have jettisoned the blackness, ditched the rhythms, and instead opted for something much more tripped out and tranquil, soft focus swirls drifting weightless through clouds of effects, raga like drones layered into lush swells, all the tones stretched way out, meditative and dreamlike. But fear not, there's still plenty of darkness, with a handful of tracks playing out like soundtracks to some low budget VHS Alien knock-off, and we mean that in a good way, creepy ominous cinematic sprawls laced with weird sounds, is that some creature chewing human bones, or the footsteps of some mysterious figure trudging though some alien graveyard, or a mad scientist in a cave assembling some infernal machine, the synths rumble and thrum, occasionally blossoming into something that sounds more like the music from a seventies planetarium show. Killer stuff. And definitely recommended for all you into the current crop of psychedelic space synth and retro-futuristic Carpenter / Goblin worship who might be up for something a bit more fucked up.
LIMITED TO 50 COPIES!!!
MPEG Stream: "Fragment 25"
MPEG Stream: "Wormhole"
MPEG Stream: "Emission Nebulae"

TORUS phlogistics (Hactivist) cd ep 5.98
Torus is Adam MacGregor, formerly of technical grind outfit Creation Is Crucifixion. Recorded in 1998 and 2001, 'phlogistics' is a collection of noises ranging from metallic tinkerings to guitar-based feedback excursions.

TOSS Titles Of The Greatness Of Been ((K-RAA-K)3) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Much like the Dead C and Vibracathedral Orchestra, the Belgian trio Toss purposefully seeks to bathe their avant-drone rock in the nervous haze of cable buzzings and various terminal disconnections. For the most part the amorphous terrain is shaped by improvisational meanderings past screwdriving-the-guitar-strings vibrato, gentle guitar strum evolving in the distance, spluttered jazz-rock percussion as in No Neck Blues Band or Jackie-O Motherfucker, sporadic emergence of voices sounding more like unregulated bar room banter than intentionally placed lyrics, and on occasion a groovy Crescent organ blast. Certainly will appeal to fans of Corpus Hermeticum and the sound reminds Andee of Philip Jeck in with its hiccuping rhythms and old fashioned sepia tone haze.
RealAudio clip: "Trivial Eve 1"
RealAudio clip: "Alternate Remark And The Inseed"
RealAudio clip: "Elements Included"

TOTAL Solid Objects Cast At Goblins (VHF) 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.
Back in stock! A breathtaking artifact from the now defunct Total. Total was another amazing project of Matthew Bower from Sunroof! and Skullflower. And the sound of Total fell somewhere between the droning crush of SF and the dreamy hum of SR! Recorded in 1996, 'Solid Objects...' starts off with a burst of ear shredding feedback and pulsing far-away industrial scrape punctuated by klang guitar and scratchy lo-fi melodies broadcast from the bottom of a well. Followed closely by a wild free-guitar workout, like throwing two super-distorted electric guitars into a pit filled with barbed wire and Marshall stacks, then standing back and letting the blood wash over you. But it's the 46 minute final track that really seals the deal. A hypnotic throbbing, buzzing pulse struggles under a thin layer of hum, while spastic percussion, bells and blocks and drums, are splattered haphazardly over and under the din. The pulse eventually stretches out into a thick viscous drone, as pianos and horns join the wild percussion, turning into some sort of buzzing, bleating, droning, endless and otherworldly ritual. Amazing.
Another lovingly produced and beautifully packaged cd-r from the only folks that manage to make us like cd-r's! And of course, limited.
MPEG Stream: "Tannery #1 14.1.96"
MPEG Stream: "Thin Constellations"

TOTAL Tanzmusic der Rennaissance (Freek) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

TOTAL ABUSE Total Abuse + Bonus (Deranged) cd 12.98
An utterly punishing onslaught of hateful hardcore and feedback drenched punknoise from this Texas outfit, 27 songs in 39 minutes, opening with what sounds like an unholy union between the Dead C, Harry Pussy and the Brainbombs, a full on, downtuned, stumbling, free noise, avant punk crush, and fuck, we would have been happy if that track stretched out past it's already sprawling 3:51 and filled up the whole record, but as the title suggests, this is just the "Introduction". From there on out it's a full on Black Flag / Void style blowout, blistering hardcore fury, vitriolic vocals, frantic riffing, fuzzed out bass, a wild, unhinged, bloody knuckled, sweat soaked hybrid of eighties thrash punk, grind, powerviolence, classic hardcore and new/no wave heaviness, all blurred into a monster blast of skull crushing punk rock pummel.
This cd collects the self titled record proper and tacks on 15 bonus tracks (!) from their Sex Pig 7" and demo!
MPEG Stream: "Introduction"
MPEG Stream: "I Can See In The Dark"
MPEG Stream: "Peace And Quiet"
MPEG Stream: "Disease"
MPEG Stream: "Fucked And Injured"

TOUCHTON, STEVE & EVAN BACKER 03142009 b/w 04182009 (Two Thousand Tapes) cassette 5.98
A blast of improvised guitar and drum action, featuring a member of KIT and XBXRX...

TOWN AND COUNTRY Up Above (Thrill Jockey) cd 14.98
It seems like this ensemble never get the credit and attention that many of their peers in Chicago do. Hopefully that will change with "Up Above" their most fully realized and compelling album to date. The record finds them incorporating lots of eastern instrumentation like tambura, sitar, karkabas along with lots of hand percussion, glockenspiel, violin and countless other musical tools which they bring together to brew some front porch minimalism at its finest. It's like they found a way to channel the meditations of Terry Riley with like a more celestial Henry Flynt. While past releases have always been really nice but also somewhat predictable, we were so happy to hear that they've set their sights to a higher place and hit their target oh so nicely.
MPEG Stream: "Sun Trolley"
MPEG Stream: "Cloud Seeding"

TOY BIZARRE kdi dctb 039 (Ferns) 3" cd 9.98
Throughout the '90s, Cedric Peyronnet would boldy announce that none of his Toy Bizarre recordings were made with synthesizers or samplers, instead with field recordings and collage techniques as his twin media. It has been speculated that this notion comes from a punk attitude against France's institutional avant-garde which evolved out of the work of Pierre Schaefer and Pierre Henri; but at the same time, Peyronnet's recordings focus on the specificity of sound locations, and the technology of samplers and synthesizers didn't have the ability to reflect the unpredictability that Peyronnet witnessed in environmental sound. While Peyronnet doesn't mentioned his aversion to technology on this 3" from Ferns, he's retained the same adventurous sensibility for dynamic edits coupled with nocturnal, slippery ambience. From the jump-start opening of crackling twigs and grasses with an airplane's Doppler-effected engine roaring in the distance, Peyronnet's 20 minute composition dissolves into elegantly fluid timbres weaving out of tactile sounds from sand, grit, gravel, and other bits of detritus. Once all of the sounds have all settled into a drift of stasis, a quick jump to another set of textures and abrasions begins with a corresponding set of sympathetic drones. Fans of Loren Chasse's field recording work, Tarab, and Steve Roden should all take note of this exceptional release.
MPEG Stream: "kdi dctb 039"

TOY BIZARRE kdi dctb 93 (Taalem) cd-r 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Toy Bizarre presents another collection of sound illustrations constructed entirely out of unprocessed field recordings. Twilight noises, maddeningly unidentifiable drones, and the musical minutiae of stolen moments of the world that surrounds us. Completely free of synthetic sounds and samplers, Toy Bizarre's soundscapes are certainly for fans of Id Battery.

TOYCHESTRA AND FRED FRITH What Leave Behind (S.K.) cd 11.98
Ok. First of all, this is a concerto for electric guitar and toy orchestra. TOY ORCHESTRA!! Six women and an array of children's toys and noisemaking devices intended for varying age groups. Fred Frith, as you may or may not know, is a well-known improvisational guitarist, who, over the years has worked with the likes of John Zorn and others. If anyone could play with a toy orchestra and do it right, it'd be Frith. The highly disciplined result is at the very least interesting and novel, and at most quiet emotionally evocative!
MPEG Stream: "The Dub"
MPEG Stream: "Fellini"

TRANSITIONAL Stomach Of The Sun (Conspiracy) cd 15.98
Sometimes a pedigree can tell you a lot about a band. For instance, take Transitional. Here's a list of bands the various members have been a part of: Novatron, Head Of David, Jesu, Grey Machine, God, Fear Falls Burning, and if you include the guy who mastered the record, add to the list: Jesu, Godflesh, Final, Ice, Techno Animal, Sidewinder and Napalm Death. Phew! You probably nailed that last one as Justin Broadrick, who does indeed master this second disc from Transitional, and the group does not stray too far from this sonic lineage, as Stomach Of The Sun is indeed intense, drone-y, grim, ominous, noisy, distorted, rhythmic, blackened, atmospheric, hypnotic and HEAVY. Fans of any or all of the above mentioned bands will most likely find this much to their liking.
The record begins with a 13+ minute slow burn guitardrone, that builds and builds, growing ever more intense and caustic, but somehow remaining warm and lush, before stumbling into a lurching industrial Godflesh-ed pound, dirgey and dense, but with a bit of a melodic element, a feedbacky melody draped over Transitional's tarpit plod, totally brings us back to the early Earache / Pathological days, but with a slightly more modern sheen. "In My Collapse" follows up with more rhythmic metallic crunch, this time a bit more dubbed out, a little space-y, like a Godflesh ballad if there could ever be such a thing, which leads directly into "Drowning", a gorgeously washed out doomic drift, spare drums, swirling effects, and lots of streaked longform tones, hypnotic and dreamy. The rest of the record pretty much shifts between those sounds, the more Jesu-y metalgaze drift, the post industrial metallic plod and the dreamlike ambient shimmer, the three sounds rarely remaining totally distinct, instead, constantly blending and mixing, creating gorgeous hybrids, sometimes dense and ominous, othertimes soft focus and otherworldly. "Hideaway" is the best song Jesu never recorded, the title track begins all spaced out and dubby, before introducing one of the most crushing (and weirdly processed) riffs ever, and the record closes with an epic swath of noise drenched free form ambient soft noise drift, that manages to be soothing and serene, as well as intense and haunting at the same time.
Seriously awesome stuff, not sure how we missed out on their debut, but this one is so good we're definitely gonna have to track that one down as well... On limited (naturally) vinyl and cd.
MPEG Stream: "Vacant Monolith Rotation"
MPEG Stream: "Pyramid"
MPEG Stream: "In My Collapse"
MPEG Stream: "Worst Eyes Shut"

TRANSITIONAL Stomach Of The Sun (Conspiracy) 2lp 20.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
Sometimes a pedigree can tell you a lot about a band. For instance, take Transitional. Here's a list of bands the various members have been a part of: Novatron, Head Of David, Jesu, Grey Machine, God, Fear Falls Burning, and if you include the guy who mastered the record, add to the list: Jesu, Godflesh, Final, Ice, Techno Animal, Sidewinder and Napalm Death. Phew! You probably nailed that last one as Justin Broadrick, who does indeed master this second disc from Transitional, and the group does not stray too far from this sonic lineage, as Stomach Of The Sun is indeed intense, drone-y, grim, ominous, noisy, distorted, rhythmic, blackened, atmospheric, hypnotic and HEAVY. Fans of any or all of the above mentioned bands will most likely find this much to their liking.
The record begins with a 13+ minute slow burn guitardrone, that builds and builds, growing ever more intense and caustic, but somehow remaining warm and lush, before stumbling into a lurching industrial Godflesh-ed pound, dirgey and dense, but with a bit of a melodic element, a feedbacky melody draped over Transitional's tarpit plod, totally brings us back to the early Earache / Pathological days, but with a slightly more modern sheen. "In My Collapse" follows up with more rhythmic metallic crunch, this time a bit more dubbed out, a little space-y, like a Godflesh ballad if there could ever be such a thing, which leads directly into "Drowning", a gorgeously washed out doomic drift, spare drums, swirling effects, and lots of streaked longform tones, hypnotic and dreamy. The rest of the record pretty much shifts between those sounds, the more Jesu-y metalgaze drift, the post industrial metallic plod and the dreamlike ambient shimmer, the three sounds rarely remaining totally distinct, instead, constantly blending and mixing, creating gorgeous hybrids, sometimes dense and ominous, othertimes soft focus and otherworldly. "Hideaway" is the best song Jesu never recorded, the title track begins all spaced out and dubby, before introducing one of the most crushing (and weirdly processed) riffs ever, and the record closes with an epic swath of noise drenched free form ambient soft noise drift, that manages to be soothing and serene, as well as intense and haunting at the same time.
Seriously awesome stuff, not sure how we missed out on their debut, but this one is so good we're definitely gonna have to track that one down as well... On limited (naturally) vinyl and cd.
MPEG Stream: "Vacant Monolith Rotation"
MPEG Stream: "Pyramid"
MPEG Stream: "In My Collapse"
MPEG Stream: "Worst Eyes Shut"

TRANSMISSION s/t (Table Of The Elements) cd ep 11.98
Every now and then a reissue will come our way that totally exceeds all of our wildest expectations. Unbeknown to us, Swans drummer Jonathan Kane made an ep in 1981-82 with Daniel Galliduani under the name Transmission. This was before The Swans even existed and demonstrates an unparalleled world of east meets west blistering percussive mastery! Imagine LaMonte Young leading a no-wave band with The Boredoms as his players and you'll start to get the idea of how ahead of their time Kane and Galliduani's sonic explorations actually were. With Kane's drumming creating a feverish trance and Galliduani's sax processed toand transformed into some sort of snake charming wall of guitar sound, the two created a relentless 22 minute polyrhythmic excursion that just drips with sweat, life and blazing rhythm. Decades after this recording was made a new wave of no-wavers and sonic explorers like Black Dice, Excepter, Lightning Bolt, Gang Gang Dance and countless others began to explore this same intense sound manipulation, rife with percussive heavy psychedelia, but truth be told this record is pretty impossible to top! In our minds the best record Jonathan Kane has ever made. Totally scorching, wildly creative and rushing wildly through our veins!
MPEG Stream: "Power Stations"
MPEG Stream: "Fireball"

TRAP OF THE TRAP Poppin' Street Jams (Radial Sesamoid) cassette 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This was another discovery after digging around through boxes in the back room of aQ, a little stash of tapes from this mysterious band called Trap Of The Trap. They were accompanied by a letter, saying that the band was done, and that the sender of the tapes was embarking on some sort of journey, and they just wanted to find homes for the remaining tapes. Well, somehow it took years for us to finally listen to these, but when we did, holy shit, we totally flipped. Andee played them on his radio show, and we set about trying to track down the band with the intention of getting more, or maybe even re-releasing these ourselves. As it is, we have about 6 copies of each tape, and regardless of future repressing/reissuing possibilities, these are the only copies left of the tape versions, which are all hand screened, and hand drawn, each one numbered, they're super DIY and look amazing, so if you're a tape nerd, you might want to grab one or both of these quick before they're gone, cuz this shit is AMAZING. And like all the coolest stuff, pretty hard to describe. They list a whole mess of instruments, pedals, guitars, monosynth, keyboards, turntables, drum machine, video camera (!), voices, accordion, harmonica, and more, all recorded onto a 3-track (the fourth track was busted), and all woven into a crazy collection of twisted sonic vignettes.
Reverse Mermaid, which is the first one we listened to, starts out with a hazy bit of Philip Jeck like looped swirl, all dreamy and drifty and woozy, which leads directly into "All Cages Open", which is the track that sealed the deal, a strange sort of minimal krautpsych, crafted from primitive rhythms, layered loops, groovy and mesmerizing, everything in a haze of crackle and static, we've probably listened to that track about 20 times. The rest of the tape is just as cool, slipping from Machinefabriek like melodic minimalism, to spaced out dreamfolk shimmer, and from garbled collaged psychedelia to weird outsider kosmische electronic drift, and lots of other strange stops in between.
Poppin' Street Jams, plays out more like fragments, and sketches, there's churning metallic crumbling crunch, there's hazy swirling cinematic post rock minimalism, blissed out gauzy psychedelic drones, primitive outsider electro, blown out melodic crumble, and again, especially on this record, a ton of other twisted fragments and fractured sonic experiments.
Here's hoping this stuff will resurface in some other form down the line, but for now, your tape deck is essentially worthless without one of these crammed in it. Our favorite new (very old) chunk of musical mystery for sure...
MPEG Stream: "Run Coward!"
MPEG Stream: "To Quiet The Living"
MPEG Stream: "I've Lost My Manners"

TRAP OF THE TRAP Reverse Mermaid (Radial Sesamoid) cassette 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This was another discovery after digging around through boxes in the back room of aQ, a little stash of tapes from this mysterious band called Trap Of The Trap. They were accompanied by a letter, saying that the band was done, and that the sender of the tapes was embarking on some sort of journey, and they just wanted to find homes for the remaining tapes. Well, somehow it took years for us to finally listen to these, but when we did, holy shit, we totally flipped. Andee played them on his radio show, and we set about trying to track down the band with the intention of getting more, or maybe even re-releasing these ourselves. As it is, we have about 6 copies of each tape, and regardless of future repressing/reissuing possibilities, these are the only copies left of the tape versions, which are all hand screened, and hand drawn, each one numbered, they're super DIY and look amazing, so if you're a tape nerd, you might want to grab one or both of these quick before they're gone, cuz this shit is AMAZING. And like all the coolest stuff, pretty hard to describe. They list a whole mess of instruments, pedals, guitars, monosynth, keyboards, turntables, drum machine, video camera (!), voices, accordion, harmonica, and more, all recorded onto a 3-track (the fourth track was busted), and all woven into a crazy collection of twisted sonic vignettes.
Reverse Mermaid, which is the first one we listened to, starts out with a hazy bit of Philip Jeck like looped swirl, all dreamy and drifty and woozy, which leads directly into "All Cages Open", which is the track that sealed the deal, a strange sort of minimal krautpsych, crafted from primitive rhythms, layered loops, groovy and mesmerizing, everything in a haze of crackle and static, we've probably listened to that track about 20 times. The rest of the tape is just as cool, slipping from Machinefabriek like melodic minimalism, to spaced out dreamfolk shimmer, and from garbled collaged psychedelia to weird outsider kosmische electronic drift, and lots of other strange stops in between.
Poppin' Street Jams, plays out more like fragments, and sketches, there's churning metallic crumbling crunch, there's hazy swirling cinematic post rock minimalism, blissed out gauzy psychedelic drones, primitive outsider electro, blown out melodic crumble, and again, especially on this record, a ton of other twisted fragments and fractured sonic experiments.
Here's hoping this stuff will resurface in some other form down the line, but for now, your tape deck is essentially worthless without one of these crammed in it. Our favorite new (very old) chunk of musical mystery for sure...
MPEG Stream: "One Hundred Million Babies"
MPEG Stream: "All Cages Open"
MPEG Stream: "Found In Fibers"

TRAPIST Ballroom (Thrill Jockey) cd 14.98
We're currently quite enamored with the happenin' Vienna electro-acoustic improv scene -- especially when it involves the participation of two of the folks you'll find on this here Trapist album, Martin Siewart and Martin Brandlmayr. Recently we reviewed Too Beautiful To Burn, the album both Martins did together for the Erstwhile label, a simply gorgeous merging of live improv playing and electronic dronescape processing. Guitarist Siewart also appeared recently on B. Fleishmann's great "Welcome Tourist" album (contributing to that 2-cd set's second, dronier disc). In addition, drummer Brandlmayr you should know from the fractured propulsion he provides in the excellent glitch-rock instrumental outfit Radian. The Trapist trio is rounded out by Joe Williamson, an ex-pat Canadian bassist much in demand in Euro-improv circles these days.
So, what's going on here that's so great you ask? Well, maybe it's nothin' new to take live instruments and feed them into a computer, but both the playing (melodically blissful) and the editing (restrained, spacious) here are stellar. It's a sort of jazz-electronica, very lovely, with mellow moody drones and pretty details. All five tracks are quite wonderful, seemingly abstract yet focused. It's got a lot in common with Siewart & Brandlmayr's duo disc, but is much groovier, not so minimal. Like that record, the coloration of instruments like vibraphone and pedal steel bleed into an electronic, ambient field conjured by the group's synths and computer post-processing. This 2nd album from Trapist finds them on Thrill Jockey, who also put out the only US release by Radian, Rec.Intern, in 2002. There's similar musical methodology at work here -- fans of Radian will assuredly like this -- but Trapist is less 'post-rock'; more gentle, melodic, and electronica-like. Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Time Axis Manipulation (part 2)"
MPEG Stream: "Observations Took Place"

TRAX Reprint 2: Notterossa / Rednight (A Silent Place) 2cd 10.98

TREE, CHRISTOPHER Spontaneous Sound (Quakebasket) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
From hidden in some dusty vault (we imagine) for lo these past thirty years, Quakebasket -- the label reponsible for that great ongoing series of archival Angus Maclise vinyl-only documents -- has exhumed this beautiful recording by another sixties era musical mystic, the mysterious multi-instrumentalist Christopher Tree. Unfamiliar with Tree until now, we're quite grateful this has finally been released. Recorded live back in 1970 at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, "Spontaneous Sound" features the long-haired, bearded Tree as a one-man improvising orchestra, utilizing gongs, cymbals, chant, chimes, bells, tympanis, horns, and some other rather more unusual instruments designed for him by none other than the legendary Harry Bertoia. Apparently, Tree played for children, although this is hardly kids stuff (unfortunately there's no liner notes, but there is a charming children's drawing of Tree and his instruments in action). Tree's music evokes a higher-mind, darkly cosmic spirituality of sound similar to that of AQ-fave '70s Japanese psychedelic experimentalists the Taj Mahal Travellers. We're also reminded of the excellent recent "Solaris" disc by contemporary sonic drone artists Mirror, and of other work from the Andrew Chalk/Christoph Heemann/Jonathan Coleclough/Colin Potter/etc. axis. The cd (or lp) package's rather wonderful photos of Tree surrounded by his battery of instruments -- which fill the stage -- might lead you to expect some sort of percussion frenzy, but that's far from the case. No, this is calm and contemplative, yet powerful. Almost magically, Tree conjures an ancient, droning soundworld of gently melodic, drifting woodwinds, oceanic cymbal washes, and deep gong reverberations...really fantastic. Imagine a more intimate, softer side to Hermann Nitsch's droneworks, equally medieval but not so malevolent. And, to top it off, the guy's name is Tree! We're in love.
RealAudio clip: "Spontaneous Sound excerpt 1"
RealAudio clip: "Spontaneous Sound excerpt 2"

TREE, CHRISTOPHER Spontaneous Sound (Quakebasket) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
From hidden in some dusty vault (we imagine) for lo these past thirty years, Quakebasket -- the label reponsible for that great ongoing series of archival Angus Maclise vinyl-only documents -- has exhumed this beautiful recording by another sixties era musical mystic, the mysterious multi-instrumentalist Christopher Tree. Unfamiliar with Tree until now, we're quite grateful this has finally been released. Recorded live back in 1970 at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, "Spontaneous Sound" features the long-haired, bearded Tree as a one-man improvising orchestra, utilizing gongs, cymbals, chant, chimes, bells, tympanis, horns, and some other rather more unusual instruments designed for him by none other than the legendary Harry Bertoia. Apparently, Tree played for children, although this is hardly kids stuff (unfortunately there's no liner notes, but there is a charming children's drawing of Tree and his instruments in action). Tree's music evokes a higher-mind, darkly cosmic spirituality of sound similar to that of AQ-fave '70s Japanese psychedelic experimentalists the Taj Mahal Travellers. We're also reminded of the excellent recent "Solaris" disc by contemporary sonic drone artists Mirror, and of other work from the Andrew Chalk/Christoph Heemann/Jonathan Coleclough/Colin Potter/etc. axis. The cd (or lp) package's rather wonderful photos of Tree surrounded by his battery of instruments -- which fill the stage -- might lead you to expect some sort of percussion frenzy, but that's far from the case. No, this is calm and contemplative, yet powerful. Almost magically, Tree conjures an ancient, droning soundworld of gently melodic, drifting woodwinds, oceanic cymbal washes, and deep gong reverberations...really fantastic. Imagine a more intimate, softer side to Herman Hermann Nitsch's droneworks, equally medieval but not so malevolent. And, to top it off, the guy's name is Tree! We're in love.

TREMBLING BLUE STARS Broken By Whispers (Sub Pop) cd 15.98
Aaah, could it be... the return of the shoegazer? Definite shades of early Stone Roses. A little twee and precious, but pretty, mellow, and easy-going with some lovely lush cello and a little bit of simultaneous English-French male-female vocalising to subtly spice things up. The first track absolutely destroys me, which may be due to me missing all this sort of stuff as a high school hessian.

TREPANERINGSRITUALEN Deathward To The Womb (Black Horizons / Merz) cassette 9.98
The second of two new tapes from Black Horizons this week, this one a split with another rad local tape label Merz Tapes, a kick ass cassette reissue of a long out of print 10" originally released on the now defunct Release The Bats label, a soul searingly menacing, ultra grim black industrial ritual from this Swedish outfit, all slow motion churning blackness, creeping bleak ambience, and demonic processed vox. This demonik invokation was inspired by the late '40s Babalon Working conducted by rocket scientist and occultist Jack Parsons (along with none other than L. Ron Hubbard!!), a series of magic ceremonies designed to conjure up the physical manifestation of the divine feminine archetype. Needless to say, this is some haunting, atmospheric, gorgeously pitch black stuff. Deep rumblings, ominous scrapings, all blurred into a heaving, roiling expanse of sonic malevolence, and all underpinning some intense vocalizations, a harrowing speaking in tongues, wreathed in effects, heavily processed, drifting from bestial gurgle to anguished almost black metal shriek, but smeared into something way less focused, and more impressionistic, the whole thing simultaneously tranced out and mesmerizing, chilling and downright disturbing.
Like all Black Horizons tapes, fantastically and elaborately packaged, this time the J-card, transformed into a deluxe mini-booklet, aping the package of the original 10" screen printed on thick cardstock and printed in metallic silver ink. LIMITED TO 200 COPIES!!

TREPANERINGSRITULAEN Konung Domaldr Vid Upsala Hangd (Merzbild / Merz Tapes) cassette 8.98
Latest chunk of blackened cinematic industrial ambience from this Swedish one man band, whose sound continues to explore the darkest recesses of some hellish subterranean underworld, like the last tape of his we reviewed Deathward To The Womb, the sound here is equally uplifting (read: sarcasm), a creeping militaristic pound, over wheezing synth shimmer, wreathed in a mysterious crackle, in the distance what sounds like anguished voices blurred into smears of softly undulating texture, and over the top, a demonic voice, oozing malevolence, delivers some sort of arcane incantation, chilling and harrowing, the voice dripping with menace, the background sounds appropriately ominous, but strangely, for all it's grim intensity, it's also quite melodic, sans the voice, it could be a more dreamy bit of dark ambience, but the vocals manage to transform it into something downright chilling.
The rest of the tape is not so melodic, instead slipping into an ultra abject minimalism, that almost sounds like some hellish set of field recordings, all creaks and groans, distant thumps, faraway pulses, industrial clatter muter and blurred, as if heard through a wall, or from below ground, the sounds coalescing into deep dense swells, washing over the listeners like some fetid black tide, the sounds building to intense washed of black sound, peppered with garbled voices and buried barely there rhythms, and just as often slipping into near silence, a creeping hushed drift, that in it's minimalism, exudes just as much malevolence as the heaving swells of black noise.
Housed in a printed vellum tray card with several small inserts. And yeah, VERY VERY LIMITED.

TREPANERINSGRITUALEN Roi Perdu (Black Horizons) cassette 8.98
Latest from local label comes this reissue from the before now unknown to us Trepaneringsritualen, who hail from Sweden, and who most definitely sound Swedish, unfurling a sort of bleak black ambience, a drifting Cold Meat Industry style grim malevolence, underpinned by woozy snake charmer melodies, muted skeletal rhythmic pulses, croaked, FX heavy vokills, all over a washed out shimmery haze, this is the sort of ritualistic soundscapery that relies more on texture that sheer power, but in that respect, it manages to conjure up something more more harrowing, a haunting, hypnotic chunk of blackened tribal psychedelia, sounding a bit like No Neck or Sunburned Hand if they were on Cold Meat, but for every bit of tripped out, pulsing, abstract krautrock flecked black mesmer, there's a churning sprawl of low end thrum, or a dense layered stretch of blurred soft focus ambience. Those sounds more often than not mixed and matched, fused in strange, and fantastically disturbing combinations.
LIMITED TO 150 COPIES!! Packaged in beautifully silkscreened gold inked three panel J-cards.

TRIANGLES s/t (Moikai) cd 14.98
There's very little that we can discern about who Triangles are. The purposefully crappy drawing on the cover (by Leif Elgrenn and Kevin Drumm!) could be portraits of God Albino from the Hawd Gankstuh Rappuhs and Phil Manley from Trans Am... but I wouldn't put any money on this reading of the shitty drawing being correct. Since Triangles are on Jim O'Rourke's Moikai label, there's a good bet that he has something to do with it. Anyway, this album opens with whirring computer blips (see 12K or Raster) but as if Matmos were creating them with all sorts of crunchy acoustic fragments that slowly filter down into glistening digitized dronescapes which gradually build from miniature high frequency shimmers into deep gaping tones. After some quick musique concrete edits, Triangles move into a rustic guitar sound -- first with Dead C acoustic splutter, and then with a quiet sittin'-by-the-campfire strum. If Gastr del Sol continued down the more adventurous musique concrete route that was hinted at on "Upgrade & Afterlife" instead of going for a Red Krayola imitation, it might have ended up sounding like Triangles... but this is way better than Gastr Del Sol.

TRIBES OF NEUROT 60¡ (Neurot Recordings) cd 14.98
Tribes Of Neurot began as a means for Neurosis to explore ideas and musical forms that existed outside of the signature parameters of Neurosis: hammering tribal rhythms, thick slow motion grind/metal, and an apocalyptic urgency. Often referred to as Neurosis' ambient side project, Tribes of Neurot explores the more spiritual and ethereal concepts of a broader tribal atavism. "60¡" is a collection of compilation tracks, rare vinyl-only pieces, and unreleased material that has been organized into an excellent album that doesn't sound like a crappy collection of throw-away pieces. Bleak isolationist washes, hypno-drone guitars & bass, creepy horror filmscore piano tinklings, female vocals in the throws of agony and/or ecstacy, and occult bells make for quite an exceptional record.

TRIBES OF NEUROT Meridian (Neurot) cd 14.98
'Tis more instrumental drifting drone from thee Tribes Of Neurot, in the "ambient outerspace backwards transmissions from the planet of feedback" genre. Meridian is a little bit harsh, a little bit lovely. We can imagine that if these guys weren't so well known (as an experimental side-project of the mighty metallers Neurosis), and if this was released as a limited edition cd-r in handmade packaging on some New Zealand label, there'd be dark drone fans in droves going gaga. But although they're not that obscure, they sound like it. Recognizable elements (piano, guitar, and what we're guessing is a bowed cymbal) and less-distinct sound sources (all manner of whooshing and whirring, and also something we know is not a purring cat, but must be some sort of electronic simulation) are all a part of these ten, interestingly varied tracks, several of which include some actual "music" moving in and out of the mix, amid the pulsing drones, spectral washes, and sun-arising synth-scapes. The only drawback is that this is perhaps a bit too "active" for those that like their drones purely as background, falling-asleep music.
MPEG Stream: "Displaced"
MPEG Stream: "Wave Upon Wave"

TRICOLI, VALERIO & THOMAS ANKERSMIT Forma II (Pan) cd 16.98
When Thomas Ankersmit performed in San Francisco a few years back while opening for Phill Niblock at 23five's Activating The Medium festival, he stood behind a Serge Modular Synth housed in a modified suitcase. At a rapid-fire pace, he tugged at the nest of patch cables before him, plucking just the right one that he would then move to a different input. Despite this frenzy of activity, Ankersmit mustered an intense, blossoming swarm of electrical noise, thrum, and buzz. We had known of his long-standing collaborations with Phill Niblock, as the stalwart minimalist had employed Ankersmit's circular breathing techniques on the saxophone for a number of performances and compositions; but this electronic side of Ankersmit certainly piqued our interest.
This collaborative album with Valerio Tricoli (of 3/4hadbeeneliminated) finds Ankersmit in this electronic framework. Ankersmit and Tricoli have been making the rounds of the European festival circuit, making this album the refinement of their live presentations - working with that aforementioned modular synth, laptop trickery, overdubbed sax-driven minimalism, and some rather obtuse field recordings as well. Compositionally, Tricoli and Ankersmit adopt the decentering approach to structure that the Hafler Trio mustered on his most complex collage works, although Tricoli and Ankersmit give the impression that their jaggly spliced electronics could have been generated in a live setting. Eerie passages of dissonant tones crackle with electromagnetic static and puretone chirpings of vibrating signals, shifting from insectoid chorales to spluttering polyphonic bloop circa 1965. When the sax comes out, Ankersmit molds longform, harmonic drones into metallic planes of shifting timbres and tonal dissonance, much more in keeping with his work with Niblock than anything normally sourced from a sax. But especially when it comes to the electronics, there is a sophistication to all Tricoli and Ankersmit's arsenal of noises that's miles beyond so many of today's retrogarde synthesists, and Forma II is all the better for it! One of the best electro-acoustic records to come along in quite some time.
MPEG Stream: "Zwerm Voor Tithonus"
MPEG Stream: "Brent Mini"
MPEG Stream: "Takht-E Tavus"

TRIFID PROJECT s/t (Vacuum) cd ep 14.98
Crunching clicks, beats and blips form the varied (noisy to noir-ish) setting over (or, under) which French female vocals sometimes reach our ears. Formed by formerly metal- now ambient/experimental- guitarist James Plotkin (OLD, Flux, Joy of Disease, Romance, many many collaborations) and some French friends, including the guy from Celluloid Mata. Dark electronic "surf" music? Six tracks, twenty two and a half minutes of mysterious electronica that Plotkin fans (like us) will enjoy.

TRIOSK MEETS JAN JELINEK 1+3+1 (Scape) cd 15.98

TRMRS Surf Titties (Words & Dreams) cassette 5.98
These guys kicked out asses recently with the distortion drenched blown out garage rock jangle pop of their debut Sea Things, positioning them firmly alongside sonic brethren like Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, Sic Alps, Waaves, Surfer Blood, Soft Pack, and all the rest. This new tape offers up a handful of new songs, paired with a selection of tracks from Sea Things, so for those who somehow missed out on that gem, or who were waiting for the cassette version (?), well here's what we had to say about Sea Things (the rest of you can skip this part):
Jangly, super hooky, slightly surfy, psychedelic garage rock. And while there may be a glut of folks going for that sound, these guys do it way better than most, and totally make it their own. Self described as 'trash pop', that's pretty much what this sounds like, trashy and poppy, and loose and super rocking, the guitars are crunchy and jangly, the vocals a melodic yelp, the drums propulsive, reverb all over the place, and the songs are hooky as hell. More garagey and raw, than purely poppy, but that raw garage is infused with plenty of poppiness, reminding us a bit of a slightly more song oriented Coachwhips, you can definitely tell that live these guys probably have the crowd bouncing and sweaty and losing their shit. And it's easy to hear why.
The new tracks here, are as you might have guessed, more of the same, cut from the same sonic cloth, with maybe a bit more production polish here and there, some cool backwards effects, a slightly less lo-fi sound, but then the sound is as much of this music as the songs are, so the sound stays appropriately fuzzy and washed out and reverby, and in places gets even more noisy and crunchy than before, the 4 jams here offering up another heaping helping of gloriously buzzy Sixties influenced surf rocky fuzz pop that could have (and probably did) come straight from the same sessions that produced Sea Things, but hell, we're not complaining, more TRMRS is what we were hankering for anyway, so here it is. And the new songs do kill, hooky and rocking, sweat drenched and distorted, and catchy as all get out. And like we mentioned before, we're surprised these guys haven't yet landed on some big label (Mexican Summer? In The Red?) yet, but we're guessing it's only a matter of time.
Comes with two stickers, one of which has a download code for a digital version of the whole tape! Sweet occultic skull artwork too!

TROLLMANN AV ILDTOPPBERG Arcane Runes Adorn The Ice-Veiled Monoliths Of The Ancient Cavern Of The Stars (Monolith) cd-r 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We wrote extensively about this mysterious and bizarre caveman doom duo a few lists back, and plan on reviewing all 4 of their amazing releases eventually, this being the second (we reviewed Forest Of Doom on list #254). And elsewhere on this list you'll also find a review of the equally amazing Ungl'Unl'rrlh'Chchch, a Trollmann side project which is essentially the exact same band. But for those of you who are discovering Trollmann for the very first time, let's recap:
We have been obsessed with this band since the very first time we heard them years and years ago. We have spent the last 6 years or so trying to track down their records, as well as a place where we could order enough so we could review them and share them with the AQ faithful, who like us, truly appreciate the bizarre and the fucked.
And you don't get more bizarre and fucked than Trollmann Av Ildtoppberg. Well, to begin with, they're called Trollmann Av Ildtoppberg!! They have record titles like Arcane Runes Adorn The Ice-Veiled Monoliths Of The Ancient Cavern Of The Stars and Dark Clouds Blacken The Sky On The Eve Of The Thousandth Sacrifice and Tolling Beyond The Tombs Of Ancient Grimnity and Forest Of Doom. They have a similar sounding side project called Ungl'Unl'rrlh'Chchch! The band members are pictured in drawings on the back of the cd, one as a strange little bearded gnome/elf sitting on a huge toadstool, the other a bearded furclad mountain man leaning on a mighty axe. The gnome is named Belegur and is credited with "Cosmic keys to gates unknown." The mountain man is Thundarr, and is credited with "Rumblings Of Doom, Prophecies Of Times To Come." For those of you well versed in that sort of thing, you'll realize that this duo is just bass and keyboards, which is remarkable in its own right. But the fact that Trollmann play a sort of medieval Skepticism style slow motion doom sludge with just bass and keyboards it seems even more amazing.
So there it is, if you're anything like us, it almost doesn't even matter what they sound like. But thankfully they are just as amazing and fucked as all that would lead you to imagine. While ostensibly Trollmann are a doom band, their peculiar brand of doom owes as much to William Basinski and Philip Jeck, at least sonically, as it does to Skepticism or Thergothon. Part of that is due to the incredibly lo-fi recording quality, tape hiss, and amp crumble, distortion that threatens to fall to pieces, a slow loping dronelike dirge that traverses strange landscapes of grit and glitch, of rumble and murky murmur. It's almost like Skepticism recorded by William Basinski, the tapes shoved in a box and stashed in an attic for 30 years, only to be rediscovered and released in all their slow motion crumbling drone doom glory.
Just bass and keyboards, Trollmann trudge through 4 songs in 51 minutes, huge sprawling expanses of murky muddy black ooooooooze, Black Mayonnaise cover Burzum? Maybe, if the results were then dubbed hundreds of times onto the crappiest tapes imaginable. But this is almost too delicate and dark, too lilting and lovely to be doom. But doom it is. A glorious soft focus dreamlike doom. Way less melodic than Forest Of Doom, Arcane Runes Adorn The Ice-Veiled Monoliths Of The Ancient Cavern Of The Stars just might be our favorite Trollmann yet, imagine the songs of SUNNO))) and Thergothon and Skepticism reimagined by Tim Hecker, William Basinski and Philip Jeck. A late night, moonlit, drift through the branches of a black forest, the crackle of dead leaves, the creaking of bare branches, the black cloak of night a thick fuzzy shroud. So completely and utterly mind blowing. One of our all time essential 'doom' discs for sure.
MPEG Stream: "Arcane Runes Adorn The Ice-Veiled Monoliths Of The Ancient Cavern Of The Stars"
MPEG Stream: "Aeons Of Darkness"

TROLLMANN AV ILDTOPPBERG Dark Clouds Blacken The Sky On The Eve Of The Thousandth Sacrifice (Monolith) cd-r 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Not sure what else to say about these guys that we haven't already said. If you've somehow managed to miss our reviews of their first couple records, Forest Of Doom and Arcane Runes Adorn The Ice-Veiled Monoliths Of The Ancient Cavern Of The Stars, as well as the Trollmann side project Ungl'Unl'rrlh'Chchch, for chrissakes, do yourself a favor and just order all three. And this one while you're at it. Check out the other reviews for a more in depth history of what has to be our all time favorite caveman doom duo, but to briefly recap:
Trollmann Av Ildtoppberg. C'mon, they're called Trollmann Av Ildtoppberg!! They have record titles like Arcane Runes Adorn The Ice-Veiled Monoliths Of The Ancient Cavern Of The Stars and Dark Clouds Blacken The Sky On The Eve Of The Thousandth Sacrifice and Tolling Beyond The Tombs Of Ancient Grimnity and Forest Of Doom. They have a similar sounding side project called Ungl'Unl'rrlh'Chchch! The band members are pictured in drawings on the back of the cd, one as a strange little bearded gnome/elf sitting on a huge toadstool, the other a bearded furclad mountain man leaning on a mighty axe. The gnome is named Belegur and is credited with "Cosmic keys to gates unknown." The mountain man is Thundarr, and is credited with "Rumblings Of Doom, Prophecies Of Times To Come." For those of you well versed in that sort of thing, you'll realize that this duo is just bass and keyboards, which is remarkable in its own right. But the fact that Trollmann play a sort of medieval Skepticism style slow motion doom sludge with just bass and keyboards it seems even more amazing.
Phew, there's more of course, but that's it in a nutshell. Not only are they mysterious, and weird, and possessing a what-the-fuck quotient that's through the roof, the music is fucking amazing! This is not that so weird it's good, or so retarded it's amazing kind of thing, this is absolute genius. Dark and creepy, heavy and sloooooooooooooooow, minimal sludge soaked abstract ambient doom. Or something. Just bass and keyboards, spewing an unholy flow of low end throb, and grinding downtuned slither. The keyboard drones and spreads out in a fuzzy blur, only occasionally offering up some sort of melodic counterpoint to the bass, as it trudges sluggishly onward.
Of all the Trollmann records, Dark Clouds is probably the heaviest, the meanest, the least melodic and the most intense. The first two tracks, both shockingly under 3 minutes, set the tone, the first, is some sort of slow motion post rock drift, a thick wash of grinding low end sludge beneath garbled demonic whispers while above drift absolutely dreamy slow drifting harmonics. The second track is a stunner, almost 'rocking', at least by Trollmann standards, some sort of primitive caveman hardcore, huge throbbing, ultra distorted downtuned buzz, with fuzzed out Butthole Surfers-ish guitar leads, and super distorted death metal grunts a stumbling hyper aggressive pummel. But after that, it's back to business as usual. Long slow extended doomy drifts. Average track length hovering at about 15 minutes, the bass a throbbing, glacial presence, the riff stretched out into eons, each note reverberating and pulsing into oblivion before the next kicks in. The keyboard just adding another layer of buzzing sludge. The bass sometimes starts to stutter and pulse, creating some sort of super blown out low end rhythm, stumbling over a thick wash of keyboard buzz, before settling back down into its glacial groove.
Epic and massive and bewildering, hypnotic and bizarre and fucking brilliant!
MPEG Stream: "Descent From The Mountains Of Madness"
MPEG Stream: "Kuu Paistaa Lapi Saatanan Puut"
MPEG Stream: "Sa Jord Bloter Svarten Stjerne Av Satan Oppgangen Triumpherend In Himmel"

TROLLMANN AV ILDTOPPBERG Forest Of Doom (Monolith) cd-r 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We have been obsessed with this band since the very first time we heard them years and years ago. We have spent the last 6 years or so trying to track down records by this band, as well as a place where we could order enough so we could review them and share them with the AQ faithful, who like us, truly appreciate the bizarre and the fucked.
And you don't get more bizarre and fucked than Trollmann Av Ildtoppberg. Well, to begin with, they're called Trollmann Av Ildtoppberg!! They have record titles like Arcane Runes Adorn The Ice-Veiled Monoliths Of The Ancient Cavern Of The Stars and Dark Clouds Blacken The Sky On The Eve Of The Thousandth Sacrifice and Tolling Beyond The Tombs Of Ancient Grimnity and Forest Of Doom. They have a similar sounding side project called Ungl'Unl'rrlh'Chchch! The band members are pictured in drawings on the back of the cd, one as a strange little bearded gnome/elf sitting on a huge toadstool, the other a bearded furclad mountain man leaning on a mighty axe. The gnome is named Belegur and is credited with "Cosmic keys to gates unknown." The mountain man is Thundarr, and is credited with "Rumblings Of Doom, Prophecies Of Times To Come." For those of you well versed in that sort of thing, you'll realize that this duo is just bass and keyboards, which is remarkable in its own right. But the fact that Trollmann play a sort of medieval Skepticism style slow motion doom sludge with just bass and keyboards it seems even more amazing.
How can you not love this band already? It gets even better when you finally face their dreamy doomic meanderings. Huge downtuned bass, long stretches of droning crumbling low end. Minor key guitar lines drifting lazily over the top. Playful Renaissance faire style melodies hover over super doomy slow motion bass riffs. Long stretches of massive funereal sludge, each one a lower register death march like trudge, but with creepy quivering keyboards above the roiling blackness. Deep spoken vocals intone mysterious wisdom, over simple wandering bass lines and fluttering flute like synth. Once in a while, the keyboards and the bass will sync up and begin playing the same melody, which turns the song into some weird sounding caveman classical music.
This band is so totally out there. So gorgeously lugubrious and depressive, but with strangely cheerful and sometimes completely incongruous keyboard melodies. It's like wandering through some ancient world, wandering from tiny village to creepy haunted woodland and back again. So totally amazing. One of our favorite bands EVER. We'll try to review all the other records soon as well as the Trollmann side project Ungl'Unl'rrlh'Chchch!! Stay tuned.
MPEG Stream: "The Forest Of Doom"
MPEG Stream: "Voyage Threough The Aether 1"
MPEG Stream: "The Ancients"

TROLLMANN AV ILDTOPPBERG Live At The Tut 'N Shive (Monolith) cd-r 7.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
If Trollmann Av Ildtoppberg were a cult, a shadowy forest horde of trolls and cavemen, like we had always imagined (hoped?), we would be right there beneath the heavy canopy, eyes wide in the arboreal darkness, bowing before Thundarr and Mordraaneth, trudging through the woods all glassy eyed, chanting in unison, letting Trollmann's subsonic vibrations lull us into a strange doomed trance, filthy and unkempt, clad in loin cloths, faces painted with black mud, spears in hands, first-borns sacrificed, we would gladly give up our daily lives, to serve their trollish dominion. But instead, Trollmann are just a human UK doom duo, keyboards and bass, and if our wild obsession alluded to in the above ramblings didn't clue you in, we LOVE these guys, and for now, will have to make do with raving maniacally about how awesome they are and getting our hands on every possible shred of recorded music they've produced. At least until they actually do become a cult.
To be honest, we were always sort of convinced that Trollmann was some bedroom recorded side project. Some metal guy just sort of experimenting and exploring sounds and soundscapes. The purported facts were just too good to be true, a caveman/troll duo, one member named Thundarr, responsible for "Rumblings of doom" and "Prophecies of times to come", the other member called Mordraaneth, he responsible for "Cosmic keys to gates unknown". The band members always pictured on the record sleeves in drawings, bearded, carrying clubs, seated on huge toadstools. Album titles like Arcane Runes Adorn The Ice-Veiled Monoliths Of The Ancient Cavern Of The Stars and Dark Clouds Blacken The Sky On The Eve Of The Thousandth Sacrifice. It all seems sort of absurd, until you actually hear the music, then it all suddenly makes some sort of impossible sense. It's like a doom metal Land Of The Lost. We all headed down to the club to see some doom band play, but got sucked into some other dimension, and ended up prostrate before Thundarr and Mordraaneth, as they proceeded to create a music, both beautiful and otherworldly, heavy and dreamlike, spreading over us like a black cloud.
So imagine our surprise when we discovered, there was a LIVE recording of Trollmann. Performing on this plane, in this time, to be witnessed by mere mortals. How could that be possible? And where could such a momentous performance take place? Well, here it is. Trollmann Av Ildtoppberg's very first live Aktion, a low end doom drone ritual performed where else but... IN A PUB!!! That's right, the Tut 'N Shive. The good ol' pub down on the corner.
Even just listening, you can practically hear the pub slowly transforming into some vine draped cave, dank and dark, lit from within, some unearthly glow, while two shadowy figures lurk on a small stage-like outcropping of rock. And proceed to fill the room, with viscous black beauty. The only real distraction from this sonic transformation is the between song reaction. 20 or 30 punters, pints in hand, cheering, clapping and hooting, laughing and talking before the next huge wave of black bile comes washing over them. It's not so much distracting as surreal. To imagine this music actually being performed, in a pub, in front of a crowd. It's actually pretty amazing, if not a little unreal.
Three looooooooooooong tracks. The first, begins with a strange throbbing bass, pulsing beneath a glimmering, shimmery keyboard drone, the bass slowly transforming into a huge lurching bass riff, repeated over and over, a totally mesmerizing slow motion doom groove, with huge monstrous guttural vocals all wrapped in thick sheets of amplifier buzz and cavernous reverb. Most definitely the heaviest Trollmann yet, but as it progresses, the sound becomes more fuzzy and the notes less distinct... eventually fading into black.
The second begins with a thick swirl of rumbling low end, glowing and growling, shifting glacially, the overtones beating against each other, a thick dense black cloud of sound, slowly modulating and subtly changing shape. While beneath the roiling blackness, the keyboard offers up a drifting melancholy shimmer, simple mournful melodies that hover and slowly fade, Trollmann at their most dreamlike and ambient. But before long, this droning black shimmer begins to build, slowly swelling into a super majestic, cinematic dirge, massive soaring low end melodies, howled anguished vocals, like Moss playing Godspeed, but then slowed down and somehow rendered impossibly fuzzy and blissy, while remaining intense and threatening.
The final ritual, sounds a bit like Total or Sunroof!, but only if their instrumental arsenal consisted of nothing but bass guitars and HUGE Stonehenge like speaker cabinets, a near static wall of throbbing low end sound wrapped like thick black drifts around a soft shimmery, distant melody, a melancholia drifting well beneath the rumble and whir, eventually becoming more and more tangled, the track becoming so blown out and blurry, so grainy and soft focus it almost sounds like some sort of Pop Ambient Doom.
As disappointed as we are, that Trollmann do in fact exist in the mortal plane, and do practice their strange sonic alchemy in local pubs, the music still compels us, mesmerizes us, possesses us, it blackens our ears and our souls, and thus we are at the ready, to gather up an army, to slip free of this world, to strip off our clothes, to paint our faces and march bravely into the black forest, to serve the mighty Trollmann...
MPEG Stream: "Aeons Of Darkness"
MPEG Stream: "Doomtrolls Of Grelsch"

TROLLMANN AV ILDTOPPBERG Live At The Tyne (Monolith) dvd-r 6.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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The time has come. Hard to believe. Trollman in the flesh. Live. Their mortal forms revealed to all. Thundarr and Mordraaneth. Rumblings Of Doom, Prophecies Of Times To Come, Cosmic Keys To Gates Unknown. All before our very eyes.
Not sure what we were expecting, so much of Trollmann was mystery, those strange drawings on the cds, the bizarre monickers, the lengthy song titles. And hell, the sound. Huge expanses of slow motion doom. Hellish drones spread out like a black fog. We were sort of expecting some sort of SUNNO))) thing. Dry ice, hoods, robes, back lit shadows. But nah, that's a little too contrived. Maybe they would be hidden behind some stones, or huge curtains. Or maybe they would be monsters, creatures of the night, exposed for the very first time, a horrific but impossibly compelling sight.
No matter how you slice it, with a mysterious band, it's hard not to be disappointed, and to be totally honest we were a little at first, but then, the whole thing became more and more surreal, and it was hard not to love these guys even more.
It starts with skeletal, taciturn looking long hair man in a long sleeve Burzum t-shirt, seated at a keyboard in front of a huge black tapestry of a long haired, mustachioed skull wearing an Indian headress above crossed swords. Beside him, stands another long haired fellow, in jeans and a black t-shirt, holding a black bass. All to the strains of a skull rattling low end doomdrone. But then the camera pulls back to reveal the fact that they seem to be outside, DURING THE DAY! They also seem to be under a bridge. Beneath a brick arch, with a muddy hillside in the background, trees and bushes. On the wall behind the band in the background a strange brass plaque, and what appears to be a pig's head on a stick. The whole thing is filmed with a super jittery camcorder, sudden unexpected zooms, face, fingers on strings, the dirt hillside in the background, the skull on the tapestry, and while the band plays, you can hear people talking, obviously not that into the band, one guy even comes to the front of the stage, beer in hand, and begins to taunt the band, making hand gestures and mugging fro the crowd. Someone in the audience yells "You're fucking SHITE!!!". People laugh, but the band remain expressionless, intent on the harsh soundworld they're weaving beneath this bridge.
The second track begins the same way, the taciturn man seated at his keyboard, beneath the Indian skull, but at this point, either the cameraman is getting bored, or has gotten too drunk to really keep the camera still or keep his attention on the band. Lots of jittery shots of the floor, the wall beside the band, the band members' feet, the crowd, drunk dudes and cute metal girls, amps, the trees behind the stage, the houses on the other side of the bridge, and most bizarrely of all, a couple of little dogs, one of whom proceeds to run back and forth in front of the stage, seemingly unperturbed by the roaring doomic dirge emanating from the speakers. And the cameraman seems unduly interested in the dog, considering he is meant to be capturing the slow motion might of Trollmann. Much more crowd chatter this time around, but somehow it just adds to the sound. Laughing and inane drunken conversations are inadvertently woven into the black fabric of Trollmann's sound. A bespectacled man mouths "Awesome. Fucking awesome... " Someone holds a cigarette beneath the camera letting the smoke whip by the lens like the world's most inexpensive special effect. All the while, Trollmann remain impassive, statue like, emitting an impossibly gorgeous ambient dirge, chanted vocals, over a pulsing bass drone and shimmery keyboards. Almost like Moss crossed with SUNNO))) only with Gregorian chant-like vocals. The whole thing is incredibly surreal, the camera bobbing from the ground to the sky to the band to the crowd and back again, the sky darkening behind the band, the crowd growing less and less distinct, and more like featureless shadows, wraiths... it's somehow sort of perfect.
Outside of the camera panning back to reveal a troll atop a toadstool clutching his keyboard, and a huge furry caveman with a club in one hand and a bass guitar in the other, performing on the edge of a fiery abyss, wreathed in clouds of vampire bats and thick curls of black smoke, we really couldn't have wished for more...

TROLLMANN AV ILDTOPPBERG Tolling Beyond The Tombs Of Ancient Grimnity (Monolith) cd-r 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It's finally here. The fourth part of the Trollmann quadrilogy, a mysterious assemblage of four recordings, once kept together in a hidden temple, far beneath the Earth's crust. But over millennia, scattered far and wide. We have long been searching. It took us years to find all four. We first searched in the Forest Of Doom, and soon discovered the first recording, wrapped in a blood soaked cloth and kept at the bottom of a deep well, protected by a strange group of deformed bear like creatures. Once this was in our possession, we struck out in search of the second piece of this mysterious dronedoom puzzle. We soon discovered the second sacred recording by reciting a series of Arcane Runes which Adorned The Ice-Veiled Monoliths Of The Ancient Cavern Of The Stars. We holed up in our secret lair, every time the two recordings were brought together they gave off an unearthly glow and emitted some impossibly slow heavy dirgelike sound. We knew we were on the right path.
Years passed, and we found ourselves in a truly strange land, arid and barren, always dark and freezing cold, when suddenly, Dark Clouds Blackened The Sky and it became apparent that it was in fact The Eve Of The Thousandth Sacrifice, and had we tarried a moment longer, the third recording would have been lost to us. Three pieces collected, each recording, a bleak rumbling world of black sound leading us closer and closer to whoever, or whatever is Trollmann Av Ildtoppberg. Perhaps we will never know. We may perish before we have discovered the truth.
Here it is, seemingly ages since we first set out upon this quest, with our final breath, our last ounce of strength, we began Tolling Beyond The Tombs Of Ancient Grimnity, and lo and behold, there it was, the fourth part, the key, the last part of the fourfold sonic grail that is Trollmann Av Ildtoppberg. We may be bidding farewell to this plane, and it may have taken us many lifetimes, but we shall die with a smile on our lips, and ears full of black buzz and cavernous rumbling. Adieu.
What the hell are we talking about? Well, if you're just tuning in, only our most favorite, caveman ultra doom duo EVER, Trollmann Av Ildtoppberg, who we first discovered years ago and as the story above suggests have ever since been trying to track down the rest of their recordings. Recently we finally did, and have been wallowing in Trollmann's peculiar brand of funereal ambient doom ever since. Just bass and keyboards, no drums, no guitars. Each record sonically similar, but each with its own particular sound, every one a different facet of Trollmann's strange sonic world. First their was Forest Of Doom, then there was Arcane Runes Adorn The Ice-Veiled Monoliths Of The Ancient Cavern Of The Stars, after that there was Dark Clouds Blacken The Sky On The Eve Of The Thousandth Sacrifice, and now, we have Tolling Beyond The Tombs Of Ancient Grimnity, quite possibly the prettiest and most ambient of the four, but no less ominous and dark.
Tolling begins with a simple, subtle slow motion bass line, over which drifts a dreamy melancholy synth melody. Dark and mournful and vaguely foresty, this drifts on and on an on, very trance like, until about half way through the track's 15 minutes, the bass suddenly becomes distorted, and the track becomes somehow creepier and more intense, the same melody, the same loping rhythm, but wrapped in a tattered cloak of crumbling distortion. Some strange blend of new age, dark ambience and doooooom. At times it almost sounds like a doom metal Three Mile Pilot.
Track two is another epic, 17 minutes, beginning with a simple buzzing low end, a rumbling drone, that seems to spread like some viscous black liquid, gradually growing more and more dense, the low end pulses closer and closer together until a rhythm seems to surface. The keyboard joins in, offering haunting atonal notes, that hover and drift above the monotonous throb, angular and ultra creepy. The bass and keyboard all tangled up in unlikely melodies and weird dissonant tangles, almost like abstract free jazz Trollmann if you can imagine such a thing. But even at its most jagged and atonal, it still manages to be dark and droney. And really really creepy.
The album closer, the 11 minute long title track, begins with some shimmery harmonics, before the bass kicks in, all super fuzzy and ultra blown out, not so much weaving a melody, as laying down layer after layer of thick fuzz, a haunting black riff stretched out into long stretches of rumbling whir, while the harmonics in the background become more and more dense. The entire track building in intensity, a furiously buzzing lugubrious crawl, that suddenly fades to silence.
We've written plenty about the mysterious men behind Trollmann Av Ildtoppberg, Belegur on "Cosmic keys to gates unknown" and Thundarr on "Rumblings Of Doom and Prophecies Of Times To Come", and the other recordings, just check elsewhere on the AQ site, but Tolling is as good a place to start as any, and if you're anything like us, you too will be mesmerized by the strange sounds of Trollmann Av Ildtoppberg, and will embark on your own spiritual quest to track down all of their sacred recordings (we've made it a bit easier, as we carry 'em all! Including an amazing live record, AND a live dvd, where the men of Trollmann reveal their mortal forms!)
Needless to say, utterly recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Aether"
MPEG Stream: "Dooms Children"

TROUM "un/mahts" : "aetas vetus" (Equation) 7" picture disc 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Ultra limited picture disc from AQ faves Troum. Limited to 444 copies, this gorgeous picture disc (which comes with a swirly numbered magnet as well!) is two blasts of rumbling chaotic drone, occasionally harsh and almost industrial, but more often absolutely dreamy and otherworldly.

TROUM Aiws (Transgredient) cd 17.98
For many years now, Troum has been mining one particular sound with few deviations from a signature of darkly smeared drone-instrumentals for guitar, bass, and other sound making machines. Their sound developed out of the post-industrial ambient arena populated by Zoviet France, Lustmord, and Hazard; yet, at the same time, Troum's billowing shadows of mournful melody and subharmonic rumble acted as something of a prototype for the ephemeral metal dirges conjured by the likes of Nadja and SUNNO))). As much as Troum's work has been at the center of a Venn Diagram that overlaps not only those aforementioned projects but also the post-rock dronscapisms of Machinefabriek, Stars Of The Lid, and Jasper TX, Troum (as well as Maeror Tri, the project which preceded Troum) has always sounded like Troum. Their signature is quite unique; and this uniqueness is only trumped by the remarkable consistency in the quality of their recordings. Because of this consistency and because of their ability to bridge the numerous signposts within the increasingly splintered network of drone music, Troum have earned themselves a loyal fanbase.
So for those of you who have been smitten with Troum (like many of us here), save yourself the trouble of reading this missive and just get this album. Their signature sound is firmly entrenched upon Aiws, making the album as good as the best parts of the Tjurkurrpa series and their remarkable collaboration with All Sides. Much has been said about Troum's spiralling grey kaleidoscopes of melancholia and crepuscular fogginess; and all of the hypnotically simple melodies dripping with dronecast effects that have made Troum's previous work so good are all present here on Aiws. Slow building, majestic crescendos steadily evolve out of an expansive dronescaping that Troum have long mastered. Don't expect anything new from Aiws, but who the hell cares when it sounds this great!
MPEG Stream: "Ahmanteins"
MPEG Stream: "Nehen"
MPEG Stream: "[Ga] Plaian"

TROUM Ajin (Equation) picture disc lp 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It's a bit hard to concentrate with the huge spinning eye at the center of this gorgeous picture disc watching me, though gazing into the swirling eye has a strikingly similar affect to listening to the music on side one of Ajin, a propulsive, sort-of-industrial dronescape, a bit removed from the thick swaths of layered guitar we've come to expect from this German duo. The drones are not static or slow shifting, no they are a swirling, active whirl of abstract melody and subtle sonic swoops, a background blur underpinning the propulsive krautrock rhythms that are the focal point here. Imagine a snippet of Can, or a brief snatch of classic Faust, chopped and looped into a totally mesmerizing sonic mantra. The rhythm shifts subtly, from murky to crystal clear, but never wavers, a rhythmic trip to the outer reaches of the universe or the inner reaches of the soul. The other side (the artwork is subtly and appropriately altered so that now the eyes is closed) is more of Troum's classic minimal whir, the first track, a rumbling slow moving flow of muted guitar and teutonic thrum, dark and thick and ominously tranquil. The final track sounds almost like chamber music Troum, sweetly mournful melodies swoon and keen, haunting and darkly romantic. So lovely.
Gorgeously packaged and designed, ultra thick vinyl picture disc, with the eye image and all manner of design filigree, in a heavy guage plastic sleeve, sealed with a full color sticker, and includes a full color numbered insert.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES WORLDWIDE!!!

TROUM Autopoiesis (Small Voices) picture disc 27.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Here's the latest lp from AQ faves Troum, and according to the band themselves this is perhaps their most fully realized work to date. Dark reverberant drones, rich and gorgeousy layered. Everything we've come to expect from Troum. Too bad (or too good, depending on how you approach things like this) it's only been released as a very expensive and very limited picture disc. But it's a super gorgeous disc, the artowrk is a dense and super complex collage of lines and dots and colors and swirls designed by Seldon Hunt, in a silkscreened clear plastic sleeve. Beautiful, both visually and sonically. And if you somehow missed the above warning, this is quite limited and once we run out they are most likely gone for good.

TROUM Autopoiesis / Nahtscato (Zoharum) cd 17.98
BACK IN STOCK AT A LOWER PRICE!!!
This disc collects two very hard to find pieces of vinyl from this aQ beloved duo, with the 2005 LP Nahtscato first issued by the German imprint Paranoise in an edition of 300 copies and Autopoiesis being a 2004 picture disc from Small Voices. As nice as it is to hear Troum material on vinyl, sinking into 75 minutes of Troum's vast, darkened dronescaping pocked with cinematic, intense loopings and dramatic melodies is a very good way to experience their work. We've carried both of these pieces of vinyl way back when and neither of them are currently available. On both of these records (it's hard to tell where one album ends and the other begins) the billowing dark clouds of ominous guitar drones that have been the trademark of Troum (and their earlier incarnation Maeror Tri) continue unabated in a thick morass of chorus, delay, and reverb effects boxes with occasional accompaniments of pounding tribal rhythms. Troum navigate through cavernous, subterranean spaces where thrumming low end engulfs everything in a blackened pit of emptiness, then dramatically lifts off through their cyclical drone-riffs that build towards impressive crescendos of icy noise and luminous drones. There's also two bonus tracks not found on the original pieces of vinyl.
MPEG Stream: "Autopoiesis Part 2"
MPEG Stream: "O Choros Ton Epithymion"
MPEG Stream: "Nahtscato"

TROUM Darve Sh (Beta-Lactam Ring) 10" 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
While always flirting with post-Industrial references through the mechanical resonance of ominous drones, on this limited 10", Troum further explores post-Industrial rhythms as the template for a 'pure emotional expression'. The thick swarms of guitar drones, which dominate the aesthetic of both Troum and their previous group Maeror Tri, are present; however, the a-side to "Darve Sh" is centered on a dense drum machine loop that rumbles forward like a hydraulic engine and has been engulfed in Troum's signature density of miasmic sounds. If my memory serves me right, this track is very similar to (if not taken from) one of the tracks performed at the Edinburgh Castle in San Francisco during their first tour of the US, although there is no information supporting this claim on the record itself. The b-side to "Darve SH" mutes the drum machine, but doesn't remove the rhythm structure, as delay loops and hypnotic samples drive through the buzzing, multi-verb laden guitar drones. Limited and numbered to 500 copies.