CARNACKI, THOMAS The Shaker Precedes The Pig (Petit Mal) 3" cd-r 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Quite the tease that Thomas Carnacki, giving us only five copies of this mini-opus for nightmarish collage before declaring it out of print. 40 of these were produced in conjunction with a rare daytime performance at Amoeba Records in Berkeley for the suitably nocturnal Carnacki. Spooky drones culled from electrical hums and jagged artifacts get matched with elongated bowed-metals and haunted violin tones at the beginning of this 20 minute piece, gradually deflating into catacomb-like drips and clanking bells that later get coupled with subterranean moanings and bellowings coming to a ghastly conclusions of varispeed tape machinations churning over strange motorized sounds and elliptical looped patterns. The sonic references to Nurse With Wound, Andrew Liles, and irr.app.(ext.) are still quite evident on these recordings, although the cabal working for, with, under Carnacki (aka Gregory Scharpen who is Mr. Carnacki's doppleganger, Jim Kaiser of NF Orchest & French Radio, and Gregory Hagan of Common Eider King Eider) are building a stronger and stronger case for their own aesthetic in the wide-open field of post-surrealist / post-industrial sound design, which is always haunted and often very compelling. Like we said, super limited - and we only got 5 copies.
MPEG Stream: "The Shaker Precedes The Pig"

CARNIVAL IN COAL French Cancan (Kodiak/Season of Mist) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
To say this record is the most amazing thing I have ever heard wouldn't be all that far from the mark. But at the same time it would be fairly accurate to say that this record is one of the stupidest things I have ever heard.
This French duo is definitely metal, definitely on the black side of metal; raspy evil vocals, crazy leads, pounding programmed drums, but with healthy doses of electronics, crazy sound effects, some bizarre lounge style vocals, and some truly questionable cover songs. The record starts off with a fairly straight cover of Ozzy's 'Bark at the Moon', albeit with weird electronic warbles and silly over the top vocals. But then it gets really weird. They tackle the eighties classic 'Maniac' (the theme from Flashdance) and it's nothing short of baffling. So baffling in fact, that I can't even explain it. Then comes a cover of the fm radio classic 'Baker Street' by Gerry Rafferty, the infamous sax melody played by blazing electric guitars. So stupid , but so so great. Seriously. And to finish it all up, they do a truly inspired version of Pantera's 'Fucking Hostile', Phil Anselmo's shouted '1,2,3,4,' segues into a calypso cabaret that has to be heard to be believed, with a lisping chorus '....definitlely hostile...'. Andee recommends this. Above all other things on this weeks list. Everytime we play this in the store, someone laughs hysterically, someone looks perplexed, and someone buys it. You could be one of those people. Or probably all of those people.
Buy it.

CAROLINE K Now Wait For Last Year (Klanggalerie) cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
In 1979, Nigel Ayers and Caroline K began recording as Nocturnal Emissions, a project then that was spurned by the nascent Industrial Culture of Throbbing Gristle, Whitehouse, and SPK. Their early recordings - Tissue Of Lies and Drowning In A Sea Of Bliss especially - are classic recordings of information overload aesthetics through abrasive drum machines, electronic noise, tape psychosis, and aggressive sequencing. At the same time, the two began Sterile Records as a means to put out their own recordings and those of likeminded malcontents (i.e. Lustmord, MB, Controlled Bleeding, Konstruktivits, etc.). By the early '90s, Caroline left Nocturnal Emissions to Ayers and disappeared from the public eye; but she did manage one solo record in Now Wait For Last Year.
By the time that Caroline recorded this album, Nocturnal Emissions had grown disenchanted with Industrial Culture, especially all of the blood and horror from the requisite medical imagery that went hand in hand with the punishing electronics. At the same time, Sterile Records had transformed into Earthly Delights promoting an agenda of post-Eno driftscaping. Now Wait For Last Year was actually the first lp to land on Earthly Delights, standing as a fantastic and underappreciated swath of industrially tainted ambience.
Sodden loops of melancholic dronings open the album which all spiral into a 20 minute mantra of murky haze reminiscent of some of the Zoviet France recordings from around the same time period (Mohnomische, in particular), furthered along by a lurching set of mechanical rhythms buried deep in the background. This is followed by a nocturne synthesized from medieval chants and percussion not unlike, the earliest Dead Can Dance or the Fairlight driven works of Coil. The dirge-paced synth number Chearth is more in keeping with John Carpenter score (although certainly less bombastic). Klanggalerie had acquired three bonus tracks from Caroline's estate (she died in 2008), featuring her in more of a Suspiria meets Richard Pinhas vein of mood engineering.
MPEG Stream: "The Happening World"
MPEG Stream: "Tracking With Close-Ups"
MPEG Stream: "Between The Spaces 2"

CAROLINER An 1800s Affectuant in 'An Instrumental Revue' cd-r 5.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

CAROLINER An 1800s Affectuant In An Instrumental Revue (Dolor Del Estamago) cd-r 4.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

CAROLINER Rings On The Awkward Shadow - Sides 3 & 4 (Dolor Del Estamago) cd-r 4.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

CAROLINER Toodoos (self-released) cd-r 11.98
A brand new cd-r version of the 1999 lp from these demented SF old timey, dayglo, detuned, industrial post bluegrass weirdos...
MPEG Stream: "Side One"
MPEG Stream: "Side Two"

CAROLINER RAINBOW FINGERS OF THE UNDERGROUND & THEIR BREAKABLE BONES The Sabre Waving Saracen Wall (self-released) cd-r 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
There was a time a few years back, that if you lived in San Francisco, you could stumble into a bar, or a club, and find yourself transported to some fucked up and freaked out otherworld, an eye popping blacklight, dayglo world of huge cardboard buildings, and weird costumed, big headed characters, a musical world, set to the strains of some sort of demented detuned, industrial post bluegrass, a noise drenched 1800's hoedown, all detuned banjos, screeching violins, wheezing organs, scattered percussive splatter, little bursts of frantic bluegrass with twisted falsetto vocals, set amidst, thick streaks of undulating drones, and shards of crumbling noise, it was a bit like a stage production of Oklahoma, as performed by members of Faxed Head, stumbling and demented and confusional, a massive crumbling sprawl of sonic whatthefuck for sure.
In keeping with their confusional / obscurist approach, Caroliner took on a different name for every record. The Sabre Waving Saracen Wall originally released on vinyl in 1992, found the band christened Caroliner Rainbow Fingers Of The Underground & Their Breakable Bones, and was yet another document of the group's fractured faux historical sonic explorations, equal parts avant rock prankery, pure demented songsmithery, and an unhealthy interest in musics of the past, not to mention a visual aesthetic that fell somewhere between special ed kindergarten and drug addled Keith Haring, all blobby shapes and retina burning patterns, geometric constructions, and of course gallons of dayglo paint. The perfect backdrop for the group's unhinged pageantry. On record, it plays out like some unearthed wax cylinder, a recording of some sort of educational radio play, about the old west, but translated into some alien language, the soundtrack a demented deconstructed noise drenched country / folk, complete with random sound effects, strange voices, and what sounds like a small chamber ensemble wrestling with a bluegrass band, as the various players begin to lose brain function, resulting in a gloriously stumbling, lurching soundtrack, that starts out weird, and only manages to get weirder.
Not sure why suddenly this reissue popped up, but Grux from Caroliner just popped in with a stack, packaged in that distinctly Caroliner fashion, all strange folded multi color papers, glued and photocopied, the sort of packaging that once you open, you can never reassemble, which when you think about it, suits the group's sound to a 'T'. Not necessarily limited, but they are pretty fancy and handmade, so when we run out, it might take us a little while to get more...
RealAudio clip: "Side 1"
MPEG Stream: "Side 2"

CAROLINER RAINBOW OPEN WOUND CHORALE Rise of the Common Woodpile cd 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

CAROUSELL (RICHARD SKELTON) Black Swallow & Other Songs (Digitalis) lp 19.98
Originally released in a run of just 100 copies, Black Swallow & Other Songs is yet another gorgeous bit of minimal abstract ambient folk experimentation from this prolific musician. We've reviewed several of his releases under the name A Broken Consort, as well as his fantastic Landings record on Type, but that's only the tip of the iceberg, an iceberg consisting of multiple releases, all amazing, meticulously composed, recorded and packaged, each a musical love letter to his wife who passed away in 2004, thus each recording, besides being sonically compelling, carries serious emotional weight, emotion and energy that seeps into the sounds, only making them sound that much more personal and intense.
Black Swallow & Other Songs is a songsuite of dark wistful dronefolk, all spidery tendrils of melancholy melody and the droning buzz of violins and other bowed instruments. Long stretches of muted buzz underpin spaced out slow motion ragas, the vibe darkly contemplative, the arrangements spacious and spare. Lush garlands of dark hues piano are draped over haunting metallic shimmer, female voices surface here and there. The guitars are introspective and plaintive, mediations on loss and loneliness, miniature soundtracks to lives and loves gone but not forgotten. The sound evokes grey skies, wide expanses of rolling hills, skeletal branches on trees having shed all their leaves, a wintery twilight, lit by flickering firelight, these sounds, warm and hopeful, holding off the chill and the ever encroaching darkness. So so lovely.
LIMITED TO 700 COPIES!!!

CARRIER BAND, THE Automatic Inscription of Speech Melody (iea) cd 14.98
A Pauline Oliveros project, with Peter Bode and Andrew Deutsch. For this release, they've taken stuff from the technical notebooks of electronic instrument pioneer Harald Bode (Peter's dad?) and with the use of the Bode Vocoder have made his writing part of their improvised drone composition. Other elements include Harald's demo tapes, Oliveros' "Difference Box" device, and Deutsch's synthesizer.

CARTER, CHRISTINA & GOWN We've (Digitalis Industries) cd 12.98
Strange how many vocal-oriented releases there have been lately. Grouper, Inca Ore, Lichens. And now we have the most recent release from Christina Carter of Charalambides and her partner / group Gown. This half hour track recorded live on the radio is really fucking creepy. Simple minimal guitar beneath swooping, soaring almost operatic vocals. Okay. And Carter's voice is as lovely as ever, but the other voice accompanying her is SO DEMENTED. And loud! Going from an atonal Jandekian howl, to a near painful Keiji Haino like wail, and proceeding to hoot and shout and swoop in wildly, squealing and groaning and careening wildly all over the place. Really crazily out there. Pushes this from being free psych folk to some sort of experimental vocal music. Sort of beautiful sure, but mostly way way WAY damaged and demented.
Packaged in an embossed wallpaper sleeve with a small printed insert.
MPEG Stream: "We've (Excerpt)"

CARTER, CHRISTINA / POCAHAUNTED s/t (Not Not Fun) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

CARTER, TOM Glyph (Digitalis) cd 12.98
For some reason, Tom Carter always seemed like some mysterious musical alchemist, lurking in the shadows, cloaked in the relative anonymity of his group Charalambides. But lately, as his solo efforts outnumber Charalambides releases, and with a move to right here in the Bay Area, he has become one of a handful of modern guitarists representing this new movement of neo-folk, neo-Appalachia, new weird America or whatever people want to call it. Jack Rose, James Blackshaw, Matt Valentine, Ilyas Ahmed, Ben Chasny, and Carter, all offering their own spin on the guitar, and the legacy of John Fahey.
Carter, like his fellow six stringers, explores the modern raga, utilizing the buzz as much as the notes that precede it. On Glyph, the last recordings in his old studio and the last before his big move, Carter stretches out on 3 lengthy guitar pieces, all thematically linked, but each quite individual in its own way, from the sort of guitar played to the actual structure and composition.
Glyph 1 is all acoustic steel string guitar, and is a sweet slab of tangled neo-Appalachia, fast fingerpicking, some slippery slide, minor key and lots of angular buzz. In fact if there is anything distinct about Carter's style, it's an odd angularity, unlikely melodies, and a strangely jagged technique, but it serves him well, giving his pick and strum an otherworldly vibe.
The final track, the quite brief "Glyph 3", is all nylon string acoustic guitar and is thus much softer and less metallic sounding. But as if to make up for that Carter's playing is even more manic and convoluted, dense flurries of notes, and impossible fast fingerpicking, a murky dizzying swirl of abstract guitar exploration, fuzzy and impenetrable.
But it's between the two where we find the record's 35 minute centerpiece "Glyph 2", a dreamy trippy psychedelic soundscape for lap steel guitar. Much more minimal and ambient, huge stretches of single notes drifting aimlessly and slowly fading into nothingness, slipping and slithering, all wraithlike, the slide drifting up and down the neck, with haunting melodies floating up like spirits rising from their graves. Lots of buzz, and bits of percussive thump, but more than anything "Glyph 2" is open and endless, an ultra minimal expanse, the abstract twang drifting and shimmering amidst lots and lots of space. So gorgeous.
Packaged in a cool hand screened on the outside, hand painted on the inside, thick cardstock sleeve, with liner notes/insert.
MPEG Stream: "Glyph 1"
MPEG Stream: "Glyph 2"

CARTER, TOM / ROBERT HORTON Lunar Eclipse (Important) cd 14.98
BACK IN STOCK! Two of our droney folky faves together, whirling up a delriously dark swirl of shimmering rumbling ragas. Don't miss out again...
You know how you get together with folks and have dinner, or watch a movie or go bowling. Watch a football game, some ultimate fighting or some Olympic curling. Some folks have barbecues, ping pong parties, pool parties. Some folks just sit around and do nothing, just shoot the shit and hang out. But then there are some folks who record their get togethers. Instead of showing up with a bottle of wine or some bread and cheese, they show up with a lap steel, an el guitar, e-bow, a prepared guitar, a 'sex machine' (no, it's not that type of party) and some effects. That's what Tom Carter from Charalambides brings along. But the host has a greater responsibility, so a host, like say Robert Horton, will have a beautiful spread all laid out when his guest Tom Carter arrives. The whole table is overflowing with goodies: a boot, a bowed boot, a computer, a vibrator, the el-toothbrush, slinky, electric barometer, snare drum, another 'sex machine' (maybe it is that kind of party), Casio MT-68, a computer, some field recordings, some microphones, some noise canceling headphones and maybe a nice harmonica. Everything you need for an afternoon of blissful drones, and ominous soundscapes, shimmering and dreamlike, and rumbling and ethereal. This may have started out as a dinner party, but it ended up a series of lovely and mysterious Ur-drones, clattery, slow shifting ragas, percussive tribal free jam drones, Vibracathedral Orchestra, Sunroof!, Ashtray Navigations, Double Leopards, Pelt, you get the idea. A room filled with smoke and sound, swirling and drifting lazily skyward. So lovely. We should definitely do this again sometime...
MPEG Stream: "Lunar Eclipse"
MPEG Stream: "Hunter's Moon"

CARY, TRISTRAM Trios For Synthi VCS3 Synthesizer And Turntables (AKA) lp 27.00

CASCONE + CHARTIER + DEUPREE After (12K) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Kim Cascone, Richard Chartier, and Taylor Deupree are the self-appointed American ambassadors of the 'post-digital' agenda: a semiotically convoluted set of theories that draws aesthetically and methodologically from the characteristics of the digitized fragment. These three had been scheduled to perform at the 2001 Mutek festival in Montreal, and decided to do an improvised laptop set at the end of one of the nights. Modulated sinewaves, clinical pinpricks, subatomic pings, and algorithmic squiggles are the usual suspects which have been rounded up for this improvised set, sounding like Xenakis' UPIC system but Scattered, Smothered, Covered, Chunked, Topped and Diced through a mess of effects.
After this 20 minute document, each artist presents his remix / reinterpretation of the performance. Cascone's track is nothing but a condensed extraction that showcases his software. The most interesting of the bunch, Chartier has expanded upon the low hums and sinewaves as the basis for his remix, with tenative clickery echoing far in the distance. Deupree has extruded various samples forced into elliptical patterns, buzzing with static and rhythmic afterthoughts. All in all cold and sterile, and far from evocative.
RealAudio clip: "After"
RealAudio clip: "Afterimage (remix by Richard Chartier)"

CASCONE, KIM blueCubism: Transcoded Audio Structures (Digital Narcis) cd 17.98
The ubiquity of the remix album has infiltrated the heady realm of the microsonic blip. The remix album of Kim Cascone's "Blue Cube" album (originally on Raster, remixed for Digital Narcis) could be defined in terms of the viral recodification of data from a pure form into a mutatation, with remixes from electron engineers like Pita, *O, V/VM, Robert Henke, Taylor Deupree, John Hudak, Quest, Bochum Welt, Testu Inoue, Dumb Type, Terre Thaemlitz, and Nobukazu Takemura. Most remix albums fail with a broad lack of aesthetic / qualitative consistancy. In keeping a rather small palette to chose from and the uniform desire to maintain the miniscule bleeps of Cascone's original work, the featured artists have done one (and one only) remarkable thing on this remix album in bringing a degree of consistancy to the album.

CASCONE, KIM Cathode (Ritornell) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Kim Cascone has finally discarded the new age crap of his Heavenly Music Corporation in favor of the chemical darkness of his earlier PGR recordings. Using state-of-the-art technology to advance his process of generating computer music, Cascone's deep listening / isolationism recalls the likes of Thomas Koner or the electronic works of Xenakis. On the new Mille Plateaux sub-label Ritornell.

CASCONE, KIM Parasites (Anechoic) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Rather clever in its packaging/format (it's a small, square cd!! and yes, it plays), Cascone's "Parasites" is the first release for his second label (Anechoic - another Cage reference). Following his computer residualism on Ritornell and Raster, Cascone fashions a constantly mutating strain of electrons that click, clatter, pop, ping, buzz, and blast.

CASCONE, KIM / AUDREY KIRITCHENKO / ANDREAS BERTHLING / KOTRA Fourfold Symmetry (Nexsound) cd 11.98
This album features 14 tracks with various combinations of Andreas Berthing, Kim Cascone, Audrey Kiritchenko, and Kotra remixing each other's source material through digital means. Whatever the source material might have been is irrelavent, as the the end results on "Fourfold Symmetry" are a polite demonstration of the parameters of abstraction of the digital glitch, with a dedicated metholodogy that favors anonymity and anti-emotionality. For all of the rhetoric about the chance operations and coaxing of errors between the man / machine interface, this album is exactly what you'd expect: bristling collages of granular synthesis and digital feedback from Max / MSP patches toppling computerized droning fluctuations of sound.
A word of warning about the packaging for the album: Nexsound has given themselves an interesting folio envelope held together by tabs extending from one of the sides of the folio. This design works alright on something flexible like paper (which works just fine for the Moglass album) but this album uses a rigid plastic instead of paper that will tear after repeated usages.
RealAudio clip: "01 - Composed by Cascone, Sources by Kiritchenko"
RealAudio clip: "12 - Composed by Bethling, Sources by Kotra"

CASSERLEY, LAWRENCE Labyrinths (Sargasso) cd 15.98
The labyrinth is the common concept linking the four pieces on Casserley's record, which is dominated by dark breathy drones and fragments of ambiguously located piano, ring modulator, flutes, percussion, and guitar. If you're familiar with his collaborations with avant saxophonist Evan Parker, you won't be dissapointed by this album.

CASSETTEBOY Dead Horse (Barry's Bootlegs) cd 17.98
Not sure what it is exactly that makes Cassetteboy manage to sidestep being nothing more than an overplayed bad joke, but there is most definitely SOMETHING. Most mashups, cut ups, Negativland style wacky plunderphonic records get played out in no time at all, the sort of records you -maybe- put on a mix tape now and then or throw on at a party, but ultimately they end up at the bottom of some pile gathering dust. But we find ourselves listening to Cassetteboy all the time, over and over, and laughing our asses off. Random bits of dialogue, movie clips, all manner of music, and lots of immediately recognizable voices, all chopped up and mixed up and re-assembled into super snarky, bitter, fuck the world sound snippets and song fragments, rife with anti-social sentiments, anti-government propaganda, some truly messed up Harry Potter porn, a crazy funny, awesome anti-Streets track, and all manner of perplexing non-sequitur humor, and loads of peurile silliness. Just give the sound samples a listen. If the Harry Potter clip doesn't make you laugh out loud, well, then this is probably not the record for you, but if it does, then you are in for a treat, as there is plenty of stuff even sillier, more outrageous and way more offensive.
MPEG Stream: "Lambonaise Tonight"
MPEG Stream: "Clever Girl"
MPEG Stream: "Gownday"
MPEG Stream: "Saltgrain"
MPEG Stream: "From This Day On"
MPEG Stream: "Yer Little Pipedream"

CASSETTEBOY Mick's Tape (Antidote / Sanctuary) cd 19.98
As much as we feel like we oughta hate this stuff, Cassetteboy are just so good at their schtick that we can't seem to get enough. This is a bit like Negativland, only with that dry British humor and a much wider self deprecating streak. Most bands who do the whole cut and paste, spoken word taken out of context, weird sound bites over dance music thing end up sounding stupid and like they're trying way to hard to be funny and cool and hip and still somehow failing miserably. Cassetteboy on the other hand, sound like they're just fucking around, and thus there's no hipster weight to what they're doing, but the stuff they're doing is so perfect, and so funny, we can't help but dig it. Cassetteboy sound like blokes you'd want to have over, and sit around listening to crazy fucked up music. Mick's Tape is indeed a mix tape, made up of CB's wacky and sometimes tasteless chop jobs, turning innocent speeches and silly folks songs and instructional recordings into laugh out loud nasties. Then some bizarre and random actual songs (Ivor Cutler, Curtis Mayfield, Ramsey Lewis, Astrud Gilberto, Fennesz, Happy Mondays, Fela Kuti, Shalamar) as well as somekiller tracks from MF Doom, Jaylib, and Squarepusher. It's basically the ultimate aQuarius mix, tons of insane weirdness and laugh out loud silliness, some killer classic tunes, some super dope hip hop, some way out experimental noise, all woven together into a somewhat cohesive but joyously chaotic whole!
MPEG Stream: CASSETTEBOOB "This Woman Stinks!"
MPEG Stream: IVOR CUTLER "Good Morning, How Are You, Shut Up!"
MPEG Stream: CASSETTEBABY "Cobblers"
MPEG Stream: CASSETTEBOTHERED "C U In Court"
MPEG Stream: CASSETTEBELLYUP "Gopher It"
MPEG Stream: CASSETTEZZZZZZZZ "Hoes Down"

CASSETTEBOY The Parker Tapes (Barry's Bootlegs) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The newest exercise in plunderphonia comes from merry old England in the form of Cassetteboy! Taking cues from People Like Us, Negativland, Tape-beatles, and John Oswald, Cassetteboy excel in the art of making people say naughty things. As such The Parker Tapes is probably not the best disc for those who don't enjoy the baser and more puerile forms of humor (or channel surfing style editing.) But for those who do revel in such things, Cassetteboy is the best source for your plunderfix. Unlike most of the artists who work in the realm of media reappropriation, Cassetteboy is decidedly un-musical. Which isn't a rib against them. Though there are bits of music sampled in the course of events, it's the narrative of television and radio voices that are the primary focus of Cassetteboy's wrath. The 98 tracks crammed onto this disc don't lend themselves to much in the way of instrumental interludes. But goddamn is this stuff funny, from subtly changing Bowie's lyrics to "here I am shitting in a tin can.... and farting in a most peculiar way...." to Bill Gates admitting that Microsoft gets in to schools to control our kids... to an awesome monkey themed montage to... well, you get the idea. Relentless and stupidly brilliant. EVERYTIME this is played in the store, customers are either silently chuckling, laughing uproariously or coming up to find out what the hell we're listening to! This is the party cd/mix tape/answering machine message record of the year!!
RealAudio clip: "[Track 24]"
RealAudio clip: "[Track 38]"
RealAudio clip: "[Track 51]"
RealAudio clip: "[Track 58]"

CASSIS CORNUTA Mag Ik Eens Even In Uw Broek Pissen? (Ultra Eczema) lp 30.00
Another collection of total outsider whatthefuck from Ultra Eczema, this one from Cassis Cornuta, aka Daniel De Wereldvermaarde Botanicus (really?), a Dutch noisemaker, who has been brewing up all manner of fractured and fucked up sonics since the early seventies. A confusional mix of loner synth psych, damaged robotic new wave, and melting lysergic sound collage, all blurred and smeared into a head spinning slab of seriously sick soundart.
Warped synths, crumbling effects, woozy keyboard melodies, a stumbling chaotic abstract drift that occasionally coalesces into cool retro analog new wave weirdness, all primitive drum machines and analog synthesizers, but just as often seems to fall apart, or ooze into some other strange sonic shape. As if the sounds here weren't trippy enough, each lp has multiple holes drilled in the center, no less than 3, some as many as 20, so you can play the record off center, sometimes dramatically so, altering the sounds, and making the record sound even more wacked out and demented that it already did. Super rad. Could be a cool secret weapon for the DJ looking for a room clearer, but even (maybe especially) off center, it's surprisingly listenable, if you're in the mood for warped ultra weirdness of course.
LIMITED TO 300 COPIES, super nice artwork as with all Ultra Eczema releases...

CASTANEDA, LETICIA On The Verge Of Redundance (C.I.P.) cd 11.98
Leticia Castaneda is a sound artist who hails from Los Angeles, where she has lurked around with the likes of Solid Eye, Mitchell Brown, and other LA dadaists who continue the Frankensteinian experiments of Destroy All Monsters and the Los Angeles Free Music Society. On The Verge Of Redundance marks her first released recordings, which offer a somewhat quieter take on the phantasmagorical collages produced by many of her colleagues. Nevertheless, a sense of disembodiment courses through Castaneda's abstractions of field recordings, home-built circuitry, abused consumer electronics, and primitive dronescraping. Bells, bleeps, metallic rumblings, and plenty of unrecognizable sounds spiral into interlocking patterns which ultimately mutate, dissolve, or otherwise disintegrate into soft droning fields of low-key gestures. Nicely done.
MPEG Stream: "Memories Of Being Lost"
MPEG Stream: "Statue"

CASTEVET Mounds Of Ash (Profound Lore) cd 13.98
We got our first taste of this NY black metal horde on their Stones/Salt 7" from last year, a two song blowout of angular frenzied riffage, gnarled metallic crush, blasting beats, a distinctly weird take on black metal, one that owed as much to noise rock as it did to classic BM. And on this, their debut full length, that noise rock influence becomes even more evident, and makes Mounds Of Ash so much more than a run of the mill black metal record.
In fact, this sounds like the sort of record that could have existed outside of black metal entirely, sure there's insectoid riffing, and some blasting beats, and some soaring epic melodies, but hell, that stuff all existed in some form before black metal.
To these ears, this sounds like some noise rock metal core band from the nineties, super charged and a bit blackened, the more obviously black metal parts are separated by long stretches of loping moody post rock grooves, are churning, chugging almost metalcore heaviness. We've seen folks throwing out comparisons to legendary metal outfit Deadguy, and this does indeed sound a but like a black metal Deadguy, or maybe Kiss It Goodbye, which is for sure a good thing. There's also plenty of Neurosis going on, thick swells of roiling moody metallic bombast, a sort of metallic post rock slow burn that often builds into a flurry of frantic thrashing, but just as often sprawls into something more tripped out and psychedelic.
In fact, the more we listen to Mounds Of Ash, the LESS black metal it sounds, the production seems like the most black metal part, the music though, is just so dense and weirdly melodic, and crushingly epic, with swaths of woozy minor key weirdness, and killer harmonics laced brooding breakdowns that sound like a WAY heavier Slint or Bastro, which is about the raddest thing we can think of, and which is pretty much exactly what this is. Heavy, washed out, fucked up, a little bit black, way melodic, post-noise rock avant dirge metal, whatever you want to call it, this just might be our new favorite slab of grim and gorgeous avant heaviness...
MPEG Stream: "Red Star Sans Chastity"
MPEG Stream: "Mounds Of Ash"
MPEG Stream: "Grey Matter"

CASTEVET Mounds Of Ash (Forcefield ) lp 16.98
NOW ON VINYL!!
We got our first taste of this NY black metal horde on their Stones/Salt 7" from last year, a two song blowout of angular frenzied riffage, gnarled metallic crush, blasting beats, a distinctly weird take on black metal, one that owed as much to noise rock as it did to classic BM. And on this, their debut full length, that noise rock influence becomes even more evident, and makes Mounds Of Ash so much more than a run of the mill black metal record.
In fact, this sounds like the sort of record that could have existed outside of black metal entirely, sure there's insectoid riffing, and some blasting beats, and some soaring epic melodies, but hell, that stuff all existed in some form before black metal.
To these ears, this sounds like some noise rock metal core band from the nineties, super charged and a bit blackened, the more obviously black metal parts are separated by long stretches of loping moody post rock grooves, are churning, chugging almost metalcore heaviness. We've seen folks throwing out comparisons to legendary metal outfit Deadguy, and this does indeed sound a but like a black metal Deadguy, or maybe Kiss It Goodbye, which is for sure a good thing. There's also plenty of Neurosis going on, thick swells of roiling moody metallic bombast, a sort of metallic post rock slow burn that often builds into a flurry of frantic thrashing, but just as often sprawls into something more tripped out and psychedelic.
In fact, the more we listen to Mounds Of Ash, the LESS black metal it sounds, the production seems like the most black metal part, the music though, is just so dense and weirdly melodic, and crushingly epic, with swaths of woozy minor key weirdness, and killer harmonics laced brooding breakdowns that sound like a WAY heavier Slint or Bastro, which is about the raddest thing we can think of, and which is pretty much exactly what this is. Heavy, washed out, fucked up, a little bit black, way melodic, post-noise rock avant dirge metal, whatever you want to call it, this just might be our new favorite slab of grim and gorgeous avant heaviness...
MPEG Stream: "Red Star Sans Chastity"
MPEG Stream: "Mounds Of Ash"
MPEG Stream: "Grey Matter"

CATHODE TERROR SECRETION, THE Spectre of History's Design (RRR Records) lp 21.00
Holy shit is this awesome. Some sort of super dense, ultra distorted, noise drenched electronic grind, not at all what we expected from RRR, well, maybe the noise part, but this is just so awesomely heavy and intense and face meltingly brutal.
Long swaths of grinding glitchy electronic drones give way to buzzing frenzied gabber-like hyperspeed grind, which in turn gives way to lurching noisecapes of sculpted distorted crunch and maniacal almost black metal shrieks, all wreathed in sheets of feedback, buried beneath layers of grit and grime, everything laced with malfunctioning electronics, fractured effects, and shrieking sine wave like tones. There do seem to be songs, but the various tracks and parts just ooze and sprawl into each other, a heaving massive expanse of constantly shifting heaviness, gnarled and twisted, and fractured and freaked out. Spaced out ambience wraps itself around long slow creepy drones, laced with more sine waves and haunting chantlike voices, full on digital hardcore blow outs pepper stretches of completely fried blasts of melting metallic damage, everything laced with weird samples, children's voices, folky percussion, mysterious vocals, all quickly swallowed up by glitched out slabs of corrosive heavily effected buzz, and shot through with garbled underwater alien vox and buried machinelike blast beat pound. Fucking awesome. Probably the heaviest, most freaked out slab of electronic hypergrind-blacknoize we've ever heard.

CATLANDGREY s/t (Milk And Moon) cd 12.98
Imagine the sweeping epic grandeur of Godspeed You Black Emperor, the glistening frosted filigree of Sigur Ros and the dark folk gravity of Steve Von Till of Neurosis' solo work all combined within one album. Sound good to you? It sure does to us! Such is the case with Catlandgrey's self-titled album. Utter sprawling gorgeousness. Simple spare drumming spread out over swoonsome dreaminess and moody melancholia, horns moan, bells chime, guitars shimmer and drift, vocals whisper and croon, everything wrapped in a glistening mist of reverb, flecked with tiny glimmers of electronica glitchery. So nice.
Packaged in a hand numbered black digipak with a tiny flying cat photo affixed to the front and a googly eye!
MPEG Stream: "The Night Before Thanksgiving (Tale Of Jesus Jose)"
MPEG Stream: "An Attempt To Reach The Hand Of God (Lacking Rhythm)"

CATLIN, TIM Radio Ghosts (23five) cd 14.98
Rhys Chatham and Glenn Branca had to start somewhere, somehow, before they had the clout to recruit for their guitar battalions in a quest to generate his minimalist / maximalist mantras of transcendent noise. Fellow avant-guitarist Tim Catlin has yet to branch out into territories of large ensemble guitar compositions, yet it's certainly exciting to witness the birth of an artist who will undoubtedly join the ranks of Chatham and Branca as one of the premier avant-guitar composers. A few years back, we bellowed loudly about the debut recording from Mr. Catlin, an unassumingly great album of mechanically attacked guitar vibrations entitled Slow Twitch; and now, we are just as thrilled by Catlin's second disc, the equally exquisite Radio Ghosts.
At the moment, Catlin prefers the prepared guitar, laid flat on the table Keith Rowe style, and then agitates the entire body of his instrument with any number of mechanical and magnetic means. Fan blades, E-bows, and battery-powered motors are each set up in a variety of strategies to create a complex set of droning vibrations whose multiple overtones send shockwaves of contaminated frequencies across the wood, strings, and metal of the guitar. These sounds are immaculately recorded and given only the bare minimum of mastering to heighten the exhilarating drones. Here on Radio Ghosts, Catlin fabricates the same harmonic dissonance through sustained drones that one might hear in LaMonte Young's dream theatrics or Tony Conrad's blistering violin screech or Organum's cacophonic metallic chorus or Rhys Chatham's billowing mass from 400 guitarists. Yeah, this is pretty much the pinnacle of '60s holy minimalism catapulted 40 years into the future; the only difference is that you've probably never heard of Tim Catlin. Do not miss out on this fucking brilliant album!
MPEG Stream: "Hysterisis"
MPEG Stream: "Black Magnet"
MPEG Stream: "Mirage"

CATLIN, TIM Slow Twitch (Dr. Jim's Records) cd 17.98
We've been digging the music of Tim Catlin a whole bunch lately, and managed to get this old favorite back in stock. We reviewed it originally a couple years back but for those of you who missed it or only just discovered the music of Tim Catlin, here's what we had to say about it the first time around:
Tim Catlin has made maybe the greatest experimental guitar albums you're least likely to hear. One of which is Slow Twitch, released on the under-represented Australian label Dr. Jim's. If you've bought a Christian Fennesz, Oren Ambarchi, Birchville Cat Motel, or Sunroof album you owe it to yourself to pick up Tim Catlin's Slow Twitch. It's really that good. Slow Twitch is not another Max/MSP demonstration of deconstructed guitar samples, nor is it a improvised wall of sound from blistered amplifiers struggling to keep up with high voltage attacks; rather Catlin constructs very low-tech systems of fans, e-bows, and other mechanical devices that keep the guitar strings moving. These experiments are then immaculately recorded with little to no post-production, probably just a couple of edits, snips, and crossfades. In the end, Catlin's automatically propelled guitars resemble the resonant frequencies that Jean-Francois Laporte coaxed out of a bunch of air compressors (or perhaps a Zamboni) on his stellar Mantra disc. Rasping striations of metal vibrating against metal form complex drone harmonics that double and triple throughout the spectrum, with placid low end rumblings sympathetically resonating with angelic shimmerings. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful.
MPEG Stream: "Metal Fatigue"
MPEG Stream: "Slow Twitch"

CATLIN, TIM & JON MUELLER Plates And Wires (Crouton) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The amplifier hum rattles the drum head of a snare which in turns vibrates the gong and sets off a resonant frequency on the piece of metal resting on the guitar strings, which in turns rattles the snare again and the cycle repeats itself. This almost sounds like a game of Mouse Trap or any given Rube Goldberg contraption of ludicrous proportions; yet, Australian avant-guitarist Tim Catlin and Milwaukee's own Jon Mueller used such a methodology for the construction of their seemingly simple but incredibly rich album Plates And Wires. Catlin has just come off of the success of his impeccable Radio Ghosts album of rasping acoustic drones on his prepared guitar and joins Mueller, whose treatments of gongs, bells, the drum kit, and percussive elements of all shapes and sizes mirrors what Catlin does to the guitar. When Catlin and Mueller begin to generate their quiet fluctuations of sustained harmonics and constantly abraded textures, their sounds enjoy an organic intimacy. Each droning sound emerges out of an ambient co-habitation and cross-contamination of psychoacoustic manipulation, resulting from very little (if any) digital tricks. Everything flutters elegantly in sympathetic arrangements of interwoven ebbs and flows in serpentine patterns for an album that parallels the acoustic richness of such tactile minimalists as Glenn Branca, Organum, Rhys Chatham, and Jason Khan.
Oh yeah, this CD comes housed in an oversized 10" sleeve with artwork by Thomas Kovacich and is limited to an edition of a mere 300 copies.
MPEG Stream: "Track 1"
MPEG Stream: "Track 3"
MPEG Stream: "Track 5"

CATLIN, TIM & MACHINEFABRIEK Glisten (Low Point) cd 14.98
Two of our favorite avant-guitarist types working together, but fair warning, we have seriously limited stock on this title.
The Australian Tim Catlin has long been keen on the unconventional useage of the guitar's six strings and pick-ups, using various motors, vibrators (yes, sex toys), fans, mallets, bows, and then some to generate uncanny drones and resonant frequencies that seem to elude those with a mighty DSP arsenal at their disposal. The last we heard from Catlin was a couple of years ago when he released his groundbreaking Radio Ghosts cd for 23five, right at the same time as his first collaborative project with Jon Muller appeared. Through those projects Catlin came in contact with Rutger Zuydervelt, whose Machinefabriek project has long held sway here at Aquarius records and is also no stranger to the collaborative process. The process found Catlin sending Zuydervelt various tracks for the Dutchman to rework, process, augment, and structure as he saw fit. Zuydervelt detours from his signature sequences of arc, crescendo, release, and collapse in favor of far more Spartan, amorphous sensibility that suspends Catlin's tones, drones, fuzzes, and hums upon a black empty spaces and intimate ambience. The one very Machinefabriek move is found on the shortened program of "Haul" with its grandiose distortion billowing out of the amplifiers like glowing hot lava. Tapped melodies and various loops work through the bulk of the tracks that subtly venture through low-end rumblings and brightly rendered shimmers of Catlin's vibrating strings. Glisten is an aptly poetic title for this beautifully understated record.
MPEG Stream: "Glisten 1"
MPEG Stream: "Haul"
MPEG Stream: "Skip"

CATTLE DECAPITATION / ARMATRON / TICWAR 1 The Science of Crisis (Toyo ) cd 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Three-way split release, the second in this intentionally odd series on Toyo Records. SoCal grindsters Cattle Decaptitation start it off, followed by Nebraska spazzcore freaks Armatron. Finally, the disc is anchored with the approx. 20-minute long "Il Ritorno" from our very own Andee's new post- A Minor Forest band, here dubbed Ticwar 1 (making their first recorded appearance). After the fast/fun assaults of Cattle Decap. and Armatron, the Ticwar track seems (even more) glacially slow and immense. Their lengthy "Il Ritorno" composition touches upon lovely post-rock guitar strum, before lumbering into massive Sabbath / Monster Magnet inspired stoner rock riffing, the groove disrupted by Lesser-style digital glitch fuckery. Eventually it winds down into a gorgeous drone-coda. Experimental stoner rock? Post-metal? Can't wait to hear more (Andee? nudge, nudge). So, quite recommended.

CAVE Psychic Psummer (Important) lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Not one but TWO repeat Record Of The Week honorees, elsewhere, the latest from French alchemical post rockers Aluk Todolo, and this, the latest from Cave, whose recent instore performance totally blew us away. It says a lot about a band that can put together a totally improvised set, with limited gear and various members changing up instruments, and still sound better and tighter and catchier and more rocking than most bands playing their own songs on their proper gear NOT in a record store.
Born from the space drone psych outfit Warhammer 48K, these guys left Missouri, ended up in Chicago, added a whole bunch of new members and became Cave, a kick ass spaced out kraut-drone hypno rock collective, equal parts Circle, Can, Lightning Bolt, Wooden Shjips, and Hawkwind, but so much more. Their first record, Hunt Like Devil, was a glorious cacophony of circular riffage, frenetic drumming, woozy basslines, wild synths, and killer hooks, groovy, hypnotic, space-y, and while this record is more of the same, it somehow transcends, taking everything we loved about the first record, and making it, well, MORE. We'd have probably loved it even if it was Hunt Like Devil part 2, but thankfully, Psychic Summer finds the band exploring some new territory, but dragging that old sound with them.
The opener begins with just a stripped down guitar, and some subtly noodly synth, before exploding in a sun dappled burst of super distorted, in-the-red psychedelia, before shifting again into a muted sunshiney krautrock groove, laced with some cool synths, and electronic filigree. The song locks into the groove and slowly builds to a triumphant climax, eventually slowing down to a sort of chiming jangly groove, which leads right into "Made In Malaysia" which might be the jam of the disc. Stuttering synths, stop start dynamics, chugging guitars, which gives way to a wild woozy twisted riffy bridge, with shouted vocals, and warble bended guitar notes, and an irresistable staccato groove, first just the synth, but then the drums, motorik and relentless, live it's not hard to imagine this track being stretched into a whole set. A single song, so hooky and loopy and mesmerizing. But it's Cave, so two seconds later, they're locked into a different kind of groove, a tribal rhythm, warm organ chords, underneath blooping effects, buried vocals, it's almost danceable, definitely groovy, like they just took one measure from some classic old school dance track and looped it into some space aged kraut disco space jam.
The other three tracks are just as mesmerizing, the muted space-y throb of "High, I Am", wrapped in a slithery bit of warped synthage, to the dense drum heavy "Requiem For John Sex", with some grinding mathy guitar and a bit of indie jangle all wound up in the tracks summery drift, before a wild super sped up free for all psych out finish, and "Machines And Muscles", which was originally released on the now out of print Butthash single, this seems to be a slightly different version, and is definitely another of the record's highlights, total hynorock bliss, little bits of keyboard pepper the stuttery rhythm, the main riff staying solid and unwavering, while all around it various other sounds swoop and shimmer, a Circle-like guitar groove, shuffling drums, very tribal and looped sounding, suspended in a field of space streakings, warm organ whir and smears of soft effects in the background, that main riff stays LOCKED in, until it begins to get a bit more tripped out, a little distorted, more effects, the synths skitter and stutter, and then finally, the song fades out in a blinding kaleidoscopic burst of warm sunshine-y synth.
And that's really the magic of Cave, we're all so partial to the dark and doomy, the buzzy and droney, that it's so exciting for a record to sound so heavy and tripped out and hypnotic, but at the same time so sunshiney, so Summery, so FUN. These guys totally rule, this record is fantastic, and if you can believe it, live they might be even better.
MPEG Stream: "Made In Malaysia"
MPEG Stream: "Gamm"
MPEG Stream: "Encino Men"

CAVENDISH SANGUINE Strange Alloys, Rare Earth (Fflint Central) cd 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It's that time again. When Richard James (aka Aphex Twin) drives his tank home and holes up in his big 'ol bank/bunker and draws the shades in fear. When Autechre sit on their fire escape, listening to the mysterious strains of the latest Fflint central release drifting across the city, pondering whether it's time to just throw in the towel and head down to the pawn shop and get rid of all their gear. When Boards Of Canada realise that their days are numbered and people will only let them make the same record so many times. Our favorite electronic underdogs return to show the world how it's done. And just how well it can be done without a budget or a video or magazine ads or a bunch of pats on the back from other "electronic musicians." This latest Fflint missive is the newest release from the mysterious Cavendish Sanguine. Taking elements of all the above mentioned bands, mixing in all sorts of abstract noise and random weirdness and coming up with some of the most compelling and beautiful experimental electronica we've heard. The sound this time around is slightly more 'rock' than past releases. Not rock in the traditional sense, not even remotely, but more in the sense that it sounds really organic and is less a seemingly random assortment of sounds, and more a semi-structured set of parts and songs, that at times sound like it could definitely be a band, and not just a solitary figure hunched over a keyboard in a dark corner. Mysterious and sing songy Krautrock, jangly and noisy, rambling and shambolic, gives way to shimmery skree, melodies shifting and eventually splitting apart and forming new more abstract melodies. Chirping birds and gutteral Orc-ish vocalisations over a bed of keening chimes and high end swells. Abstract IDM is deconstructed into even more abstract beats, shuffling and skittering beneath shifting chords and slabs of minor key sound. Rich sheets of dense sound, layers of sweet ambience, and the metallic hum of excited strings, eventually becoming clipped and static, a hypnotic looped rhythm over accordions, crowd sounds and more bird calls. As always, amazingly good, completely baffling and totally original.
MPEG Stream: "Hyderus"
MPEG Stream: "Bronze"

CAVENDISH SANGUINE Transmutation (Fflint Central) cd-r 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Fflint Central is a U.K. label run by two extraordinarily nice guys and darn fine hosts (good enough to befriend a sick and bedraggled on-tour Andee and buy him Cokes). Fflint specializes in experimental electronics and harsh abstract noise. One would think that there's enough, or too much of both, but the men from Fflint have that something special (fuck-you attitude? undefinable sound? sense of humor?) that makes these records way better and way more interesting than the majority of the 'electronica' we hear these days. Fans of VV/M, Lesser and other 'troublesome' electonica will dig this stuff.Affordable CD-Rs. Go ahead and take a chance. You may regret it...
Cavendish Sanguine is the work of Fflint co-mastermind Barry Williams, and is certainly the least abrasive. But that's not to say it isn't harsh in its own way. Huge swarming walls of buzzing and humming, dissipate into sublime, murky low-end atmospherics. Dark pulses and repeating figures (ala Charlemagne Palestine) slowly become less and less cohesive until they too begin to drone and hum. This one is definitely for the drone minded among you. Fans of Jonathan Coleclough, Andrew Chalk, Mirror, etc.
RealAudio clip: "Sulpher Pavilions"

CAVENDISH SANGUINE Truculence (Fflint Central) cd-r 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another installment in Fflint Central's campaign to take over the world. Or if not the world, to at least annoy the fuck out of your neighbors! For those of you just tuning in, Fflint is a small cd-r label run by a couple of guys in the UK, who manage to put out some of the best experimental electronica we've ever heard. I'm still amazed that Warp or Lo or someone hasn't just snapped up the whole Fflint stable. Cavendish Sanguine is one half of the two man Fflint empire, and 'Truculence' is record number three. Cavendish seems to fall more on the ambient side of all things FFlint. But ambient in no way means wimpy or new age. This is tough challenging stuff. Dark drones and clattering music concrete, super distorted synth washes and ear shredding white noise, pulsing rhythms and stuttering far away melodies. Abrasive and raw, but warm and hypnotic at the same time. Cavendish (and the rest of the Fflint artists for that matter) seem to have really found their own sound, a sound that allows them to go all over the map, without sounding like the millions of laptop jockeys out there, and more importantly always sounding uniquely Fflint. Highly recommended as always!
RealAudio clip: "The Clouding Of Judgement"
RealAudio clip: "Rictus"
RealAudio clip: "Azeotrope"
RealAudio clip: "Quack Nostrum"

CAVENDISH SANGUINE Vitriol Crusts (Fflint Central) cd-r 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Full length number two from the mighty Cavendish Sanguine (1/2 of the demented team that run the awesome UK fucked-electronic label Fflint) and it's just as good as we've come to expect from everything they put out. CS was always the moodiest, least abrasive member of the Fflint stable, and 'Vitriol Crusts' continues along the same path, taking the swarming buzzing and muted electronic skree from their previous release, and stretching it out and warming it up making this a great drone record, albeit a peculiar one. Warm waves of fuzzy hum blossom into peals of Skullflower-like high end epiphanies, stuttering hiccupping samples beat against each other until they become a sort of underwater drum-roll-drone, and melodic tones shift effortlessly making for some dark and dreamy (but still creepy) ambience.
So good.
RealAudio clip: "Hall of Tendrils"
RealAudio clip: "Plague"
RealAudio clip: "South Stack"

CD_SLOPPER SaskieWaxi (Or ) cd 15.98
Cd_Slopper is the collaborative work of Mego contributers Oswald Berthold (of Farmer's Manual) and Florian Hecker. "SaskieWaxi" features both a musical program and an HTML-executable element of text / graphics / etc. The musical format is certainly informed by both Hecker's and Farmer's Manual's previous work -- non-linear collages that instantaneously dissolve any rhythmic proclivity the two may be pushing for. At first, the two appear to be using an archaic version of 8-bit sound software (or at least emulating this clunky means of making collage work), but throughout 44 very short tracks, Cd_Slopper gradually reveals more complex fragments, blisters, and shards of sound. Pretty whimsical stuff. Like the latest work from Microstoria or Pita.
I'll admit that I gave the CDrom portion only 30 minutes or so, but each attempt to view / install the software of the visual data resulted in the computer acting all funny (opening up the wrong programs, not finding the proper html link, or simply crashing). I'm reminded of so many art gallery exhibitions of "internet art" which find the computers always in a similar state of disarray... making me wonder, [1] is that what is supposed to happen (thus, making a really lame comment about the nature of computer glitch), [2] is the artist just a bumbling idiot, or [3] did the last viewer try to download some porn, thereby fucking up the system? In any event, I'm not impressed with this portion of the evening's program.

CEDAR SPIRITS s/t (Glass Throat Recordings) cd 14.98
Two new releases from the Glass Throat label on this week's list, elsewhere, the latest from longtime aQ faves Blood Of The Black Owl, and this one the first release from Cedar Spirits, a trio featuring the husband and wife team who run Glass Throat, Chet Scott (who is also BOTBO) and Rachel Boaz-Scott. The music is dark and reflective, laced with the very sounds of nature that seem to influence everything on the label. In fact the record opens with four minutes of field recordings, just the sound of a rushing river, water flowing over rocks, wind through the trees above, and when the music does come in, it's just the reverberant ringing of struck bowls, the tones ringing out and fading into the sounds of rushing water, although eventually the tones begin to sustain, creating a crystalline dronescape, laced with tinkling chimes, hushed and minimal and quite lovely.
It's the perfect introduction to Cedar Spirit's nature folk, the record unwinding lazily, subtle steel guitar strum, chant-like vocals, all over the sounds of chirping birds, and a crackling fire, the sounds fading out leaving just those nature sounds, which are soon joined by some sort of horn, the result primitive and ritualistic, the music here simply the trio sonically communing with their surroundings. Fluttering flutes drift in, some minimal percussion, tranced out and darkly mesmerizing, it is the sound of these three performing sonic nature rituals, borrowing from seventies British folk, classic Americana, Native American folk songs, adding a bit of subtly metallic leanings to the proceedings, not so much in the form of actual metal, but more in the forms of deep dark drones, and ominous ambience, but those shadowy moments are in fact rare here, instead, the mood is mostly one of sunlight and spring, of rebirth and return to whence we came, some of the tracks here are downright jubilant, while others are tranquil and dreamily wistful, but even the songs themselves and their cyclical structures, seem to represent the spirit of the group, living in harmony with the surrounding world, creating something beautiful that works in harmony with the land and all who call it home, and letting that creation find its place in nature however brief, only to fade, and disappear, leaving everything as it was.
Packaged in a super swank oversized, six panel deluxe screenprinted digipak style sleeve.
MPEG Stream: "River Of Purification"
MPEG Stream: "Growth"
MPEG Stream: "To You, I Give Myself"
MPEG Stream: "Soar"

CEDERMARK, ANDREW Moon Deluxe (Underwater Peoples) cd 14.98
We barely knew anything about Andrew Cedermark, other than that his record is on Underwater Peoples, whose releases we tend to dig, and that he was in Titus Andronicus, a band we never really liked all that much. In this case, it seems UP trumps TA, cuz this is a gorgeous slab of home brewed noisy shoegazey twang flecked dream pop. The production is super hot, a little blown out, the guitars buzz and jangle, the drums are distorted, but super minimal, and the songs, while somewhat understated and minimal, are peppered with bursts of distorted guitar, or lush squalls of swirling psychedelia, or blasts of sun dappled noisiness.
Simple steel string guitars, and plaintive vocals drift beneath clouds of explosive prismatic guitar, the drums locked into an almost techno like pulse. The sounds crashing and chaotic, but still warm and lush and melodic. Rocking yet introspective, these songs build slowly and then gloriously crumble before our ears, alternatingly personal and intimate, ramshackle and rambunctious, often impossibly swerving between the two, swoonsome garage rock collides with precious dreamfolk, before blossoming into a fantastical effects drenched noise pop. Synths add strange sireny color to some of the tracks, wood block percussion and tinkling chimes do as well, and it's precisely the balance between Cedermark's earnest and heartfelt pop songs, and his fractured kitchen sink soundscaping, that make Moon Deluxe so goddamn good. Hard to think of bands to compare this too, which is definitely a good thing, just listen to the sound samples, we're betting you'll be as smitten as we are...
MPEG Stream: "Moon Deluxe"
MPEG Stream: "Gloria '85"
MPEG Stream: "Anchorite"

CEDERMARK, ANDREW Moon Deluxe (Underwater Peoples) lp 17.98
We barely knew anything about Andrew Cedermark, other than that his record is on Underwater Peoples, whose releases we tend to dig, and that he was in Titus Andronicus, a band we never really liked all that much. In this case, it seems UP trumps TA, cuz this is a gorgeous slab of home brewed noisy shoegazey twang flecked dream pop. The production is super hot, a little blown out, the guitars buzz and jangle, the drums are distorted, but super minimal, and the songs, while somewhat understated and minimal, are peppered with bursts of distorted guitar, or lush squalls of swirling psychedelia, or blasts of sun dappled noisiness.
Simple steel string guitars, and plaintive vocals drift beneath clouds of explosive prismatic guitar, the drums locked into an almost techno like pulse. The sounds crashing and chaotic, but still warm and lush and melodic. Rocking yet introspective, these songs build slowly and then gloriously crumble before our ears, alternatingly personal and intimate, ramshackle and rambunctious, often impossibly swerving between the two, swoonsome garage rock collides with precious dreamfolk, before blossoming into a fantastical effects drenched noise pop. Synths add strange sireny color to some of the tracks, wood block percussion and tinkling chimes do as well, and it's precisely the balance between Cedermark's earnest and heartfelt pop songs, and his fractured kitchen sink soundscaping, that make Moon Deluxe so goddamn good. Hard to think of bands to compare this too, which is definitely a good thing, just listen to the sound samples, we're betting you'll be as smitten as we are...
MPEG Stream: "Moon Deluxe"
MPEG Stream: "Gloria '85"
MPEG Stream: "Anchorite"

CELER Brittle (Low Point) cd 14.98
Much will be made about Brittle being the final Celer recording, as Celer's Danielle Basquet-Long died unexpectedly at the age of 26. Celer's lingering ambience has often focused upon the melancholy of echo and a somberness of sound through their heavily treated arrangements for piano, violin, bells, harpsichord, and whistles; and that sense of elegaic loss seems even more prescient on this record, even as it wasn't intended to be so. A monolithic, ever shifting album of elongated tone, drone, slippage, and elegant ambience, Brittle beautifully falls between the Leyland Kirby exercises in haunted ambience and the dark studies that Brian Eno offered on his seminal album On Land. Quite nice, indeed.
MPEG Stream: "Eustress"

CELER Dwell In Possibility (Blackest Rainbow) lp 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

CELER Nacreous Clouds (And/Oar) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Celer is the husband and wife team of Dani Baquet-Long and Will Long, who currently reside somewhere down on the Southern California coast. They've released a handful of well-received ambient recordings on Spekk and Infraction, and they've found a good home on And/OAR for this driftscape of tapeloop interplay. As for the title, a nacreous cloud is found in the upper regions of the atmosphere at the polar regions. Well past sunset and well before sunrise, these clouds showcase a radiant brightness against an otherwise darkened sky; and it's this particular phenomenon that forms the inspiration for Celer's album of the same name. Having stretched the tones of various instruments into languid looping drones and bliss-out ambience, Celer presents 37 short tracks which actually work really well as a single composition, given the gentle flutter and restrained attack from all of their sounds. References abound to William Basinski's ambient work, Aidan Baker's soft focus facets, and of course the seminal work of Brian Eno.
MPEG Stream: "80,000 Feet"
MPEG Stream: "Diphenhydramine"
MPEG Stream: "5:59 AM"

CELER Salvaged Violets (Infraction) 2cd 14.98

CELER Vestiges Of An Inherent Melancholy (Blackest Rainbow) lp 24.00