ANAND, VIJAYA Dance Raja Dance (Luaka Bop) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Stellar compilation of South Indian film music. A great, complex hybrid of western pop and Asian classical & pop. A barrage of genres meet in beautiful and confounding ways. Sweet, perfect voices singing love songs -- translations provided. This is an absolutely essential, ALL TIME FAVORITE here at Aquarius.

AQUARIUS BUTTONS 2 x 1" buttons 1.00
Spread the word! Show the world your true aQ colors! COOL COOL COOL aQ buttons, in 5 different colors. TWO FOR $1!!! Colors are random, but buy enough and you'll be guaranteed to get 'em all! All 5 feature our spiffy James Gang style logo!!

ARIESTA BIRAWA Vol.1 (Shadoks) cd 15.98
The world-wide search for RARE PSYCHEDELIC GEMS bears fruit yet again, with this cd reissue of an impossible-to-find LP from Indonesia, originally released in 1973. Beautiful, groovy stuff, that blends Western psych and prog stylings with a definite homegrown Indonesian touch (there's only one song sung in English, the rest in their native tongue). Much more light than heavy this is, but there's no lack of wailing guitar. Imagine, maybe, if you will (if you can!), Santana meets The Steps... The music of Ariesta Birawa provides plenty of yearning vocals, gentle flute, ethnic percussion, melancholic fragility, and sunshiney melodies that we figure any fan of the further-flung installments in Shadoks' Love, Peace & Poetry psychedelia compilation series should enjoy. Likewise for those who dig the Cambodian Rocks and Thai Beat comps...
MPEG Stream: "Si Ompong"
MPEG Stream: "Will Never Die"

BERBERIAN, JOHN Middle Eastern Rock (Acid Symposium) cd 17.98
Hey, all of you who've been digging the Middle Eastern '60s garage psych rock n' roll sounds of the "Hava Narghile" and "Turkish Delight" compilations, or that Devil's Anvil disc! We've come across another east-meets-west gem for your collection, the newly reissued "Middle Eastern Rock" from John Berberian & the Rock East Ensemble, a NYC-based outfit from the sixties that was quite a bit like fellow New Yorkers the Devil's Anvil group. Here's a quote from the original liner notes to the 1969 LP release: "Middle Eastern music and rock...two of a kind. The music of Armenia, Turkey, the Arab nations and Greece is about as nakedly emotional as you can get. The authentic music of the Middle East is the result of generations of hunger, persecution, frustration and suffering. It is explosively melodic...and incoherently mad with joy. It is filled with the heavy odor of animal magnetism. The motivations behind this music are all too familiar. They are the same very often repeated words and phrases that are used to describe the origins of the blues, of jazz and of soul. And all these kinds of closely related styles of music are the prime progenitors of the rock that we hear today." Out to prove these words true, Armenian-American band leader John Berberian's oud meets up with the acid rock guitar of Joe Beck right on the opening cut, the aptly titled "The Oud & The Fuzz". The Oud & The Fuzz!! What more do you need to hear? Well, they don't top that cut, but we do like the whole album. Berberian's band veers into jazzier territory on much of this disc, which is pretty great too. Taking a bunch of traditional Middle Eastern tunes and adapting 'em for the hip swinging young sixties crowd, these cats make some super-cool Middle Eastern jazz-flavored lounge music. This is certainly groovy belly dancing music, if not totally exotic garage psych rock n' roll like "The Oud & The Fuzz" promises. And, they do a track called "Iron Maiden"!
RealAudio clip: "The Oud & The Fuzz"
RealAudio clip: "Flying Hye"

BHATTACHARYA, DEBASHISH Calcutta Slide Guitar: Special Edition (Riverboat / World Music Network) cd+dvd 16.98
If you haven't already picked up this great record, now's the time, 'cause it's been re-released as a "special edition" with a bonus DVD disc featuring live footage...
Be ready to be blown away by absolute total beauty! Pandit Debashish Bhattacharya is one of the best slide guitar players on the planet. He creates his own guitars which he plays ragas on. He is credited as the first person to put resonating strings on a slide guitar back in the 1970's and also the first to put chickaree (drone) strings on the front. His three-finger picking technique allows him the ability to have lightning speed and most importantly create the hypnotic patterns that radiate throughout this record. While the technical aspect of what he does is so spectacular, it's the fact that he transcends his instrument, which is what truly makes Bhattacharya a special artist. You can't help but just get lost in the hypnotic quality of his playing and the ability of the music to take you off the ground. It's almost like hearing Ravi Shankar and John Fahey combining forces to see how breathtaking a record they could make together. While Debashish Bhattacharya's name might not be on the tip of people's tongues like the aforementioned are, here's hoping once this record is heard that he will be. Highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Nata raaj"
MPEG Stream: "Maha Shakti"

BHATTACHARYA, DEBASHISH Calcutta Slide-Guitar (Riverboat) cd 16.98
Be ready to be blown away by absolute total beauty! Pandit Debashish Bhattacharya is one of the best slide guitar players on the planet. He creates his own guitars which he plays ragas on. He is credited as the first person to put resonating strings on a slide guitar back in the 1970's and also the first to put chickaree (drone) strings on the front. His three-finger picking technique allows him the ability to have lightning speed and most importantly create the hypnotic patterns that radiate throughout this record. While the technical aspect of what he does is so spectacular, it's the fact that he transcends his instrument, which is what truly makes Bhattacharya a special artist. You can't help but just get lost in the hypnotic quality of his playing and the ability of the music to take you off the ground. It's almost like hearing Ravi Shankar and John Fahey combining forces to see how breathtaking a record they could make together. While Debashish Bhattacharya's name might not be on the tip of people's tongues like the aforementioned are, here's hoping once this record is heard that he will be. Highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Nata raaj"
MPEG Stream: "Maha Shakti"

BHOSLE, ASHA Best of Asha Bhosle (Manteca) cd 14.98
What with all these Bollywood soundtrack compilations coming out it's about time that there was a disc that features the work of one of the all-time greats in the genre. Asha Bhosle is, as stated in the liner notes, the "indisputed Queen of Bollywood." With over 20,000 recorded songs to her credit she is second only to her sister, Lata Mangeshkar, who holds the Guiness Book of World Records title for most recorded songs by a singer (at 25,000)! Born in 1933, Asha got her start in films in 1949, when she was only 16 and has been singing the songs -- which are the very backbone of Indian films -- for 50 years since. Given her lengthy and prolific career, this compilation of a mere 14 tracks is a paltry representation of her life's work. But as paltry as it is in scope it's still quite a great collection. The tracks here are taken mostly from films made during the 60's and 70's and feature all those things about Indian film music we love: beautiful string arrangements with all manner of additional instrumentation (east and west), be it electric guitar, organ, orchestral bells, harp, vibes, you name it, it's probably on here. There are a couple of disappointing things about this collection however; one is that a couple of tracks here -- most likely ones from the late seventies -- are a little heavy on the synth action, the other is that if you already own the excellent "Bollywood Funk" comp on Outcaste than you're getting a bit of redundancy, as two tracks overlap on both discs. You'd think that for someone with so fecund a recorded output, Manteca records wouldn't have managed to pick two gems that weren't also released on another collection the same year! But then again, one of 'em is one of the best, most infectious Bhosle tracks we've heard ("Dum Maro Dum" from the soundtrack to Hare Rama Hare Krishna)... regardless, it's still a grand sampling of great Indian film music, featuring a superb singer to boot.
RealAudio clip: "In Aankhon Ki Masti"
RealAudio clip: "O Mera Sona"
RealAudio clip: "Lekar Ham Diwana Dil"

BURMAN, R.D. A Bollywood Legend (Times Square) 2cd 16.98
Over the years we've fallen crazy in love with lots of compilations highlighting the power and energy and passion of Bollywood music. Collections like Indiavision, Sitar Beat, Bombay Connection, etc all share one common thread: R.D. Burman. Look closely at the credits on the songs on all the great Bollywood compilations and Burman's name is there almost every time. It should come as no surprise really, because if you've watched many Bollywood films made anytime from the early '60s to the mid '90s chances are it was Burman's music you were being swept away by, as his soundtrack work appeared in more then 300 films! His equally prolific wife Asha Bhosle adding her dazzling voice to many of his songs as well as her sister Lata Mangeshkar on some tracks as well. We're so happy there is finally a domestic collection of Burman's amazing music. Instead of being teased with single songs here and there on various compilations, now we have two whole discs worth of his forward thinking yet totally romantic and enchanting sounds. While Burman passed away over a decade ago he finally seems to be getting the respect in this country that he so rightfully deserves. One of the most gifted and prolific musicians and producers of the last half century for sure!
MPEG Stream: "Mera Naam Hai Shabnam (My Name Is Shabnam)"
MPEG Stream: "Tumne Mujhe Dekha (You Looked At Me)"

CITY OF GHOSTS (VARIOUS ARTISTS, SOUNDTRACK) (Lakeshore) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This Matt Dillon directed mystery/thriller set in Cambodia looks like a real dog. Well, we haven't seen it yet, so less said about it the better... HOWEVER, the soundtrack to City of Ghosts is really, really good!
As our customer RP who turned us onto this wrote: "Great music from a so-so film. Features Dengue Fever (used over closing credits) covering 'Both Sides Now' [which does not appear on their album]. Also a boatload of great Cambodian 60's garage pop (probably similar to Cambodian Rocks) including three tracks from the goddess of Cambodian garage, Ros Serey Sothea. There's also a smattering of French pop, ancient country blues, and old-timey Hawaiian music. But the real star of the show is the great Cambodian pop stuff."
We concur! Beyond a slight problem in mastering levels (you'll have to wield the volume knob occasionally), this is simply a very well chosen comp of material -- works perfectly as a listen straight through, like a fantastic mixtape. And the eclecticism of the material is smart and challenging. *Highly* recommended.
MPEG Stream: DENGUE FEVER "Both Sides Now"
MPEG Stream: JACQUES DUTRONC "Et Moi, Et Moi, Et Moi"
MPEG Stream: CHOUN MALAI "Love Pillow"

CUDAMANI The Seven-Tone Gamelan Orchestra From The Village Of Pengosekan, Bali (Vital Records) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Back in stock, just in time to coincide with a US tour!! Here's what we had to say about the disc the first time we had it:
This release is actually quite exciting in that Gamelan Cudamani represents yet another revolutionary step in the ever changing state of gamelan in Bali. Ironically, it is the very thing that makes this gamelan (and others like it that are being built throughout Bali) new and revolutionary is also the thing that is connecting Balinese gamelan with its past. What makes Cudamani so special is the addition of a mere two pitches to its scale. In truth, those pitches are not a new thing, but contemporary gamelan in Bali since the 1920s have been built with only five (some, a bit less common forms, with only 4.) When the Balinese court dissipated at the turn of the 20th century and many gamelan melted down into modern sets, the repertoire disappeared as well. Lost with those two pitches were the various pentatonic subsets that were capable of being played only on a gamelan with all 7 pitches. I guess you could look at it as if you took all the black keys off your piano, which would severely limit your choice of keys in which you could play. With the music of the Balinese court however, different modes had very different and very strong associations to particular moods. So while all seven tones are rarely used within any given section -- or even composition -- the addition of those two notes opens up the possibilities for playing a huge repertoire of music and creating vast new ones. While this new (re)development has brought the present in closer connection with the past, it has also enabled an unprecedented level of innovation. On the first two pieces of this disc -- both composed by one of Cudamani's founding members -- all seven tones are used, with melodies being immediately recast in other modes and even played on top of one another in a bizarre sort of harmony. Another track included on this collection is a recording of the seminal kebyar piece Teruna Jaya -- as if to bring things full circle once more -- performed as it had originally been performed, including rarely heard sections that are not oft performed anymore. If the instruments and repertoire of Cudamani isn't impressive enough, the family centered group that performs on it is equally so. Though a private organization, the Cudamani is decidedly non-commercial and performs primarily for temple ceremonies and religious festivals. In addition, the Cudamani provides education in performance and dance for youth and adults alike. Cudamani is actually comprised of several performance groups, including the original founding members, there's an all female ensemble and several children's ensembles. The history of the group and very detailed descriptions of the gamelan and the music are included on 15 pages of liner notes.
MPEG Stream: "Geregel"
MPEG Stream: "Legong Candra Kanta"

D!O!D!O!D! Ghost Temple (PSF) cd 16.98
The latest from Tokyo's PSF label isn't one of their usual offerings of free jazz, outsider improv folk, or garage psych... it's not even "Japanese noise". It's actually Chinese noise. Not that that sounds much different from the Japanese variety! The oddly named D!O!D!O!D! are a raucous n' rowdy guitar and drums duo hailing from Hangzhou, China. Guitarist Li-Jianhong and drummer Huang Jin lay it on thick here, freaking out with the best of 'em. Crashing, clattering drum battery versus scrabbling, feedback guitar overload. Non-stop madness. If loud n' noisy improv is your thing, if you dig Hijokaidan and Ascension and Rudolph Grey and Harry Pussy and suchlike skronk and skree, you'll be happy PSF hooked up with these two frenzied Chinese noisniks to bring you this disc. Includes liner notes in English translation.
MPEG Stream: " UnUnn?"
MPEG Stream: "Meen_Mo"

DANCERS OF BALI: GAMELAN OF PELIATAN, 1952 (World Arbiter) cd 16.98
Is there an inherently more pleasing sound then that of gamelan music? We think not. Something about the tones and tempo of it that make our ears so damn happy. This is an amazing recording from 1952 of one of the first world tours of Gamelan music. An ensemble of Peliatan dancers and musicians trekked across the globe and gave Westerners a glimpse of the magic and spellbound bliss that is gamelan. So amazing that sounds made a half century ago still ring with so much vibrancy and color. Without a doubt so many of today's sonic explorers have been touched by the power of Gamelan music as you can't help but hear the influence of Gamelan on records by folks like Aphex Twin, Four Tet and Colleen. In fact so much of good electronic music aims for this height of rhythm, tone and effervescence. We could listen to these sounds all day and night. Something so great about how you can both have this on in the background or listen with attentive focus and each way you get something that feels so totally invigorating and satisfying from the experience.
Whether you are a Gamelan aficionado or a newcomer to the sounds, this can serve as both an introduction or as another wonderful document of these brilliant sounds.
MPEG Stream: "Kapi Radja"
MPEG Stream: "Angkat - Angkatan"
MPEG Stream: "Baris"

DENGUE FEVER Escape From Dragon House (Birdman) cd 16.98
At last! Dengue Fever have deemed it time to grace us with the follow-up to their highly lauded and loved 2003 self-titled full length American (played) / Cambodian (sung) treasure. If you enjoy Southeast Asian pop and you've somehow missed this group live or on record, please don't let another day go by without treating yourself royally to the sounds of Dengue Fever! This (along with the Bay Area's own Neung Phak alias Mono Pause who offer a broader spectrum of Southeast Asia's pop music) is probably as close as you can get to the 'real' thing without flying to the other side of the globe. If you want a little rundown on the group's story, please see our glowing review of their first album which was written by our then-co-worker Byram who seriously knows his stuff.
Happy to hear and report that the group have picked right up from where they left off in delightful ear-tingling fashion. Here, they've once again created a faithful and respectful recreation of the genre, but this time they've allowed more of their individual influences into the mix -- fleshing things out more, beefing up the rock elements a bit more (heftier saxophones and guitars), but they wisely leave plenty of the spotlight to Chhom Nimol's jaw-dropping vocals. If you need more convincing (yeah, like we really need to twist your arm on this one!), check out a couple of the album's highlights "One Thousand Tears Of A Tarantula" and "Sleepwalking Through The Mekong"! Intoxicating, irresistible and immensely recommended.
A side note: Has anyone else noticed that the cover art bears a remarkable resemblance to those of the Sublime Frequencies Southeast Asian compilation series? Makes sense!
MPEG Stream: "One Thousand Tears Of A Tarantula "
MPEG Stream: "Sleepwalking Through The Mekong"

DENGUE FEVER s/t (Mimicry) cd 13.98
Is it just me or would more rock bands be better served by either a) becoming an instrumental band, or c) singing in another language other than English? Certainly part of this wish is born out of a desire to be spared the painfully bad lyrics often penned by would-be poets, but also because it's often so much nicer to hear singing for singing's sake, and to hear the wonderful inflections of vowels and consonants as they're treated through the mouth of a completely different vocal tradition. I always imagined that had Sonic Youth employed a Vietnamese singer they'd have been my favorite band -- at least for the first several years of their career. And I'm sure that one of the main reasons people, myself included, love the Cambodian Rocks compilation (and alternately why the mainstream public probably don't) is due to the vocals. Yeah, it's some great stripped down garage rock. But what puts that album over the top are the vocals. So it was pretty exciting to hear that a group had formed in honor of that venerable collection of Cambodian garage classics. While the instrumental backbone of Dengue Fever is truly an all-star cast of musicians, including Senon Williams of the Radar Brothers on bass, Zac Holtzman of Dieselhed on guitar, David Rallick of Beck on saxophone, Ethan Holtzman on farfisa and Paul Smith on drums, without their vocalist Chhom Nimol they'd really be a rocket without fuel. Nimol, the princess, is the real star of the show. Born and raised in Cambodia, Nimol was a pop star there before emigrating to Orange County several years ago. To give you an idea of her status back home, Nimol regularly performed for the king and queen of Cambodia. That's right, the king & queen! And now she's essentially slumming it with a bunch of indie rockers. But the pairing couldn't be better, and I highly recommend that the next time the group is even remotely near your town that you go see them play, because you won't regret it. Until that day comes, you'll get a very good consolation prize in Dengue Fever's new studio recording released on Trey Spruance's (Mr. Bungle) Web of Mimicry label. While the group began by simply covering the Cambodian Rocks album wholesale, their repertoire has grown to include several originals -- included here -- and a cover of Mulatu Astatke's "Yegelle Tezeta" (from Ethiopiques Volume 4), which blends quite nicely with the Cambodian pop material. And what the group may lack in the raw spontaneity of those original tapes, they make up in spades with full arrangements and sensuous fidelity. Nimol's beautiful voice comes out wonderfully prisitine so that you can hear every minute inflection, and it's a voice so beautiful you won't need to see her to fall instantly in love. Highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "22 Nights"
MPEG Stream: "New Year's Eve"

DHAMAAL SF Transitions EP (Dhamaal) cd-r 8.98
For those unfamiliar with Dhamaal SF (now abbreviated from Dhamaal Soundsystem), they're a Bay Area consortium of musicians and djs devoted to creating and promoting club music with a strong focus on Southeast Asian influences. Their lushly textured tracks are filled with sputtery frenetic breakbeats and are anchored by some deeeep dark dubby bass that's sure to stir much movin' and groovin'. This cd-r is their latest release which includes the album version of their track "Twilight Creeper" from their self-titled debut released last year ('twas definitely one of the highlights), as well as two new tracks and a remix of another album track "Z Motion". With guests Asian Dub Foundation's Dr. Das and Shiva Soundsystem!
MPEG Stream: "Bol Breaker"
MPEG Stream: "Z Motion (Shiva Soundsystem's Horn And Tusk Remix)"

DHAMAAL SOUNDSYSTEM s/t (Surya Vault) cd 14.98
The Bay Area music collective known as Dhamaal Soundsystem encorporate the vibrant sounds and influences of Southeast Asian music into their own with impressive results. At once gracefully fluid and aggressively edgy, they skillfully blend the electronic (spine-rattlin' breakbeats, thick dubbed out synth basslines) with the acoustic (tabla, sitar, flute and occasionally vocals). If you dig the potent sounds of groups such as Asian Dub Foundation or Tabla Beat Science, definitely check out the very like-minded Dhamaal. It's a fiery, elaborate and entirely dancefloor ready debut. Great!

MPEG Stream: "Oppaari"
MPEG Stream: "Twilight Creeper"

GENGHIS BLUES (OST) (Six Degrees) cd 16.98
We had this before and sold many, but it was always difficult to re-stock 'cause it was being sold by the Tuva Foundation themselves, not a record label. But sad we are no more, because it's just been re-issued on San Francisco-based "world music" label Six Degrees (home of DJ Cheb I Sabbah and Bebel Gilberto!). For those of you new to this, Genghis Blues is the soundtrack to the fabulous documentary movie (of the same name). Blind San Francisco blues musician Paul Pena travels to Tuva (Central Asia) to compete in their national throat-singing competition, a skill in which he is entirely self-taught! A funny, touching movie, and of course blessed with some great music. Lots of blues, lots of throat singing and even throat singing blues, plus some Cuban son-esque tracks.
RealAudio clip: "Sunezin Yry"
RealAudio clip: "Kargyraa Moan "

GERGIS, MARK & ALAN BISHOP Sumatran Folk Cinema (Sublime Frequencies) dvd 22.00
One of two new dvds from the always amazing Sublime Frequencies label, this one, like a visual version of those Sublime Frequencies "RadioŠ" compilations, where the compilers would flip through the radio stations in whatever country they were visiting, capturing little chunks of sound, radio plays, pop jams, folk music, etc. And while this is not quite as short-attention-span as those comps, it's generally the same idea, a sprawling, musical and visual collage of live shows, impromptu performances, local scenery, bits of television shows, nature footage, night markets, street scenes, all woven into a slightly psychedelic expanse of sights and sounds, with of course a KILLER soundtrack.
From live nightclub hip hop workouts (covering House Of Pain no less!), to casual jam sessions, seated around a coffee table, players smoking and relaxing on couches, to funky musical reviews, complete with a journeyman band and a sexy dancing and signing teen superstar frontwoman, to far out sci-fi monster movie clips, to strange performances from variety shows, homeless dudes rocking out on busted old Casio keyboards, lots and lots of birds, chirping and trilling over mysterious dronemusic , violin players weaving a cacophonous tuning-up din, gorgeous haunting classical music complete with the instructor correcting his students, sultry nightclub torch singing, amazing traditional folk music and costumed performances, incredible broken glass dancing, acoustic beach jams, complete with the sound of the surf, children playing, and best of all, just tons of footage of people, and places, playing music, hanging out, doing business, relaxing, dining, traveling, living their lives, all set to an incredibly varied selection of music, from folk to pop, to classical and anything in between.
Includes a bunch of extra footage, more amazing performances, extra footage of some of our favorite bands in the feature proper, as well as a a whole segment of trailers for other Sublime Frequencies dvds.

HE 6 Go Go Sound '71 Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 (Beatball) cd 24.00
Recently, we reviewed Brazil's Modulo 1000... Before that, Thai Beat A Go Go volume 2. And the Lemmy-goes-to-India sounds of Sam Gopal. And the Juan dela Cruz Band from the Phillipines. And Turkish music galore. And all those incredible Cambodian Rocks comps. Et cetera, et cetera. Yup, we've had a lot of vintage heavy rock and psych reissues from all over the world now, but this is maybe the first time we've gotten our hands on something from Korea (and hopefully not the last -- we'd love to get Sanullim discs too, someday).
Recorded in, yay, 1971, pressed in a ridiculously limited (promotion only) quantity of 300 copies each, and subsequently all but forgotten, these two records by Korean psychedelic groovesters the HE 6 are some gems indeed! With the exception of the closing side-long seventeen minute cover of "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" (which faithfully does indeed include the obligatory drum solo as per the original version, along with what sounds like a police siren and also an added *flute* solo!) all the tracks on the two albums Go Go Sound '71 vol. 1 and Go Go Sound '71 vol. 2 included here are instrumental jams -- numbered themes with titles like "Theme 2. 4/4 for Guitar" and "Theme 3. Running Human". And even "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" is mostly instrumental of course.
Listening to the other tracks on this disc it makes sense that they would choose Iron Butterfly's opus as the sole tune to cover. Like that tune, all of their originals are extended jams led by fuzzed-out electric guitar and Hammond organ. In addition, the aforementioned flute gets a workout too. (Yet another victory for the flute, so often mistakenly perceived as diminutive instrument! But the flute can certainly hold its own in this heavy, groovy, acid-rock band.) And it's crucial to mention that HE 6's rhythm section is darn tight! Indeed, this stuff's funky enough that we're sure they were probably just as much influenced by James Brown's band The JB's as they were by the likes of the Vanilla Fudge and Iron Butterfly. If not so obscure, we're sure this would have been plundered by DJs looking for the swank breaks... who knows, maybe hip hop producers in Korea have done so? So, very much recommended to all you folks into these sorta swinging '60s/'70s sounds -- especially if you dig the Cambodian Rocks and Thai Beat comps!
'Tis an expensive import, but the packaging helps justify the price: a gorgeous heavy-duty mini-LP styled gatefold sleeve, complete with a booklet featuring extensive liner notes (in English!) and photos, plus you even get two colorful HE 6 stickers! Nice.
MPEG Stream: "Theme 1. Introduction Music"
MPEG Stream: "Theme 5. The World of 6/6"

HUUN-HUUR-TU 60 Horses In My Head (Shanachie) cd 17.98

HUUN-HUUR-TU If I'd Been Born An Eagle (Shanachie) cd 17.98

HYUN, SHIN JUNG & THE MEN s/t (World Psychedelia Ltd) cd 17.98
Another one for everybody who loved the groovy HE 6 album we listed not long ago! Guitar player Shin Jung Hyun was a big deal in the South Korean rock n' roll scene, going as far back as the '50s, when he played for the GIs on American military bases. His music even was apparently the subject of a tribute album a few years ago. In the late sixties/early seventies psychedelia took hold, and Shin Jung Hyun did it as well or better than anyone... totally funky, tripped-out, acid-rock freakdom. Lots and lots of acid-fuzz guitar jamming with bass, drums, organ and some flute too. Maybe for that reason this reminds us a bit of Dungen, actually. The material on this album (which may actually be entited It's A Lie, we're not sure) dates around 1972 or so. Though 44 minutes long, there's just three songs here, "Beautiful Country", "It's A Lie" and "Woman In The Mist", all consequently long and meandering (yet rhythmically tight, believe it), and mostly instrumental. It seems that these three might have originally been the extended flip-sides to shorter, more commerical cuts, compiled onto this disc for the benefit of anyone into far-out psych jamming as wedded to Asian pop of the era. Not so much heavy as it is simply seriously groovy and right-on, Shin Jung and The Men blend garage rock/surf/Frisco ballroom styles into a head-nodding, toe-tapping, mind-blowing, utterly dazzling unravelling of whatever "song" it seems they started off playing. That means: the singer does some nice kinda soft psych pop crooning to start things off, but he soon disappears and the band just takes off into outer realms, doing their thing and stretching out without care for commerical (radio play) considerations. Eventually the singer shows up again, but it's as if he left the room and then came back in some minutes later to finish the song, utterly unaware of what his band had been up to in the interim! We can only imagine what their live shows were like, must have been killer -- as this disc is, killer.
MPEG Stream: "Beautiful Country"

IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE (SOUNDTRACK) (Higher Octave) cd 17.98
Wong Kar Wai's In the Mood for Love was one of the best films of 2001. At least that's the thought round here! Starring Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung as starcrossed lovers married to others and too proper to consummate their relationship, it's a wonderful movie. And let's just pause for a moment to recall how fucking gorgeous Maggie is in her Chinese dresses. When I saw the film, the people in the theater audibly gasped everytime she entered a scene with a new outfit.
Anyway, Wong wanted the soundtrack to reflect the era during which the film is set -- the mid-'60s. Thus we have a few Latin-tinged Nat King Cole numbers plus some extra special, ever so charming Chinese pop songs of the day. Rounding out the album is a lot of moody sad violin soundtrack stuff from Michael Galasso, and a single composition by Umebayashi Shigeru which is the main theme of the film. It's mostly achingly sad violin and it's simply gorgeous. The entire record evokes the film -- a success, no throwaway material. Recommended!
RealAudio clip: UMEBAYASHI SHIGERU "Yumeji's Theme"
RealAudio clip: DENG BAI YING "Shuan Shuan Yang"
RealAudio clip: ZHANG YUN XIAN & LI HONG "Shuang Ma Hui"
RealAudio clip: NAT KING COLE "Quizas, Quizas, Quizas"

JAYUS, I NYOMAN'S BAMBOO ENSEMBLE FROM THE NORTHWEST OF BALI Jegog: The Rhythmic Power of Bamboo (Multicultural Media) cd 14.98
Jegog is a style of gamelan particular to Western Bali and consisting -- in most cases -- of instruments made entirely of Bamboo. The resulting sound, as one can imagine, is quite unique and yet not entirely alien to the sound of the typical bronze gamelan. Not only are the essential structural elements of gamelan retained and the intricate interlocking (kotekan) of the faster and higher pitched instruments included, but there is an earnest attempt at recreating the timbre of many of the deeper instruments of a bronze gamelan. This is no small feat given that bamboo, much like wood, has a rapid decay where metal instruments can ring for long periods if not dampened with the fingers after playing. In order to create the impression of an extended decay, the lower pitched instruments in a jegog are struck quite rapidly in unison with very heavy and very soft mallets producing a sustained drone. The sound is an almost eerie hum, almost like a chorus of deep voices. An interesting side note: the very deepest pitched instruments in some jegog are so large -- due to the size of the massive resonators affixed to them -- that the players must sit atop their instruments to play them. Unlike much music and arts in Bali, jegog is not connected with any ritual practices unless you count water buffalo racing, which jegog seemed to be the most common accompaniment for in rural Western Bali since its beginnings in 1912. Given the sound of the jegog, it seems proper that it should be the soundtrack for such an event. Considering the sheer mass of buffalo, I imagine them relatively slow to reach top speed, but impossible to stop once their momentum gets established. In a similar way, the music of jegog has this deceptively mild way of beginning before suddenly bursting in a teeth clenching clap of wooden instruments spanning several octaves.
RealAudio clip: "Trungtungan (excerpt 1)"
RealAudio clip: "Trungtungan (excerpt 2)"

JOHANSSON, JERRY Next Door Conversation (Kning Disk) cd 14.98
Sitar raga music from Sweden? Sure! On the Swedish label Kning Disk, who last brought us cds by Wolf Eyes and James Blackshaw -- so we'd expect just about anything (interesting) from them. Composer/arranger Jerry Johansson is a sitar player (who studied with sitar master Roop Verma, who was taught by Ravi Shankar). Here he presents his piece "Next Door Conversation", in two parts, 53 minutes total. His sitar is the lead instrument, and in traditional style he's accompanied by santour and tambura -- but also by a violin/violin/viola/cello string quartet from the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra! Shades of Kronos, eh?
It's a dreamy, slowly unfolding, sitar n' strings soundscape, the Eastern twang of Johansson's sitar calmly contrasting with the more cinematic sweep of the string quartet, each recontextualizing the other. With sounds from the subcontinent and Swedish folk motifs both incorporated, this is a gorgeous East-West hybrid indeed, and crosses over other borders to somehow remind us of everything from Spaghetti Western soundtracks to Chinese orchestral music. Gosh, there's not much more to say other than, enjoy!
MPEG Stream: "Next Door Conversation Part I (excerpt 1)"
MPEG Stream: "Next Door Conversation Part I (excerpt 2)"

JUAN DE LA CRUZ BAND Up In Arms (Shadoks Music) cd 14.98
Here's that other Juan de la Cruz reissue we promised last list in our review of their "Shake Your Brains" album. "Up In Arms" was the band's debut from 1971. Like "Shake Your Brains" this is psychedelic hard rock, but it's a bit more psych, and less hard, than that album. On "Shake Your Brains" the band was stripped down to a power trio, but here they're augmented with piano, organ, sax, and flute, instrumentation that brings in some jazzier, trippier sounds than the basic garagey heaviness found on "Shake Your Brains". The liner notes tell us that the band was one of the Philippines's biggest, partially thanks to their performance in a production of Jesus Christ Superstar at the Cultural Center of the Philippines! That led to them gigging at that same Cultural Center with the Philippine National Philharmonic! Wow. It's a little hard to imagine that their brand of bluesy, heavy-duty hippie rock really meshed well with a symphony orchestra (doing songs like "Mystery Roach" and "Requiem For A Head"?), but I guess Deep Purple was an inspiration. Anyway, "Up In Arms" has got some fine acid-rock jams, as well as mellower psych-pop moments. Which are nice, if not exactly what we were hoping for. BUT, the bonus tracks that occupy the entire second half of this hour-long disc (tracks 7 through 12) are quite a bit heavier. Recorded "live and in concert", the Juan de la Cruz Band kicks out the jams on a bunch of Tagalog-language cuts including several from the "Shake Your Brains" LP. No info is provided as to where or when this live stuff was recorded, but it all sounds great, and is totally rockin'.
RealAudio clip: "Requiem For A Head"
RealAudio clip: "Sarap Ng Buhay"

KHAN, ALI AKBAR / SWAPAN CHAUDHURI / ALAM KHAN From Father To Son (Alam Madina) cd 13.98
Like that old saying, I may not know Indian music, but I know what I like. And to a certain extent that's true. I don't know much of the history of Indian music, but this record is dreamy, hypnotic, and quite lovely. Ali Akbar Khan runs a world famous Music college in San Rafael (outside of San Francisco) and has since 1967. Students come from all over the world to study. This record documents one of Khan's first performances with his son Alam, both playing the Sarode (sort of like a short sitar but not exactly) and accompanied by Swapan Chaudhuri (on tabla), also an instructor at the Ali Akbar Khan College Of Music. Part of why this recording is so beautiful and intense, and a lot of Indian classical music for that matter, is that it is composed on the spot, and it's quite gruelling for a student to be accompanying his teacher (or father) in front of a huge audience. The music here is shimmery and drone-y, weaving a warm web of vibrating strings. A meditative buzz that soothes and relaxes. This record is totally mesmerising. Recommended!
RealAudio clip: "Ragini Puriya Dhanasri"

KHAN, AMJAD ALI Sarod (Ocora Radio France) cd 16.98

MPEG Stream: "Alap"

KHAN, BADAR ALI Lost In Qawwali III (Birdman) cd 13.98
"Flowing with infectious rhythm, hypnotic percussion, mesmerizing repetition and spine-tingling vocal improvisation, Qawwali music has thrilled listeners since the 10th Century. One family -- the Khans of Pakistan --has dominated this vibrant musical form with an unbroken line of truly great male vocalists. As Qawwali music rides an unprecedented wave of worldwide popularity, the star vocalist of the next generation, the voice that will carry Qawwali music to a whole new level, has emerged to claim the musical baton of his storied family. At 33, Badar Ali Khan has already released 22 albums in his native Pakistan. Most recently, working with producer/arranger/composer Suresh 'Baba' Varma, Badar has leaped to the forefront of his art, becoming a Qawwali superstar with Baba Records' multimillion-selling album, Good Karma 1. Blending the traditional with the contemporary, the ethereal with erotic, Badar Ali Khan has succeeded in transforming this ancient artform into something totally modern, incredibly potent and powerfully intoxicating for today's young audiences."

KHAN, NUSRAT FATEH ALI Final Moment (Birdman) cd 13.98

KHAN, NUSRAT FATEH ALI The Final Studio Recordings (American) 2cd 21.00

KHAN, WAJAHAT Plays Indian Music For Sarod, Tabla and Tanpura (Koch) cd 14.98

KRISHAN, GOPAL The Art of the Vichitra Veena (Ocora) 2cd 42.00
When Allan said that we were getting a CD of recordings of the "Hawaiian guitar of India", I had visions of Gabby Pahinui being backed up by fast and furious tablas. In reality, the music of Gopal Krishan and the vichitra (or strange) veena is nothing like Hawaiian music, so clean that out of your head. No, the reason why Hawaiian guitar is mentioned in connnection with this strange veena instrument is due to the fact that, unlike the sitar, this zither has no frets and instead the performer utilizes a pieces of stone (glass, or wood), much like a Hawaiian guitar, over the strings to reach the proper pitch. This slide guitar like way of performing allows not only for much longer sustained notes -- the decay resulting from bending a pitch via applying pressure to the string on a sitar or sarod is much quicker -- but greater precision and variability of pitch: hence, greater possibility for expression. Another item that apparently makes this veena particularly strange is that, unlike other instruments in the veena family which don't generally have sympathetic strings, it does. And not only that, because the plucked strings are quieter than normal, the sympathetic strings sound much louder relative to the melody. As far as performers of the vichitra veena, Mr. Krishan is pretty much it. The guy has an unintentional monopoly on the instrument and as such, gets to travel far and wee to play it for fascinated crowds. Each disc contains one track, that divided into three parts: a solo prelude by the veena and then two sections accompanied by tabla, the second faster than the first. Beautiful and sublime. Comes with a heaping portion of liner notes in French, English and German.
RealAudio clip: "Raga Jog - Alap"
RealAudio clip: "Raga Jog - Teen Tal Drut"

KRONOS QUARTET AND ASHA BHOSLE You've Stolen My Heart: Songs From R.D. Burman's Bollywood (Nonesuch) cd 21.00
We've already sold a ton of these. It's not hard to see why. Everybody loves Bollywood film music, and Asha Bhosle is the queen of Indian cinema singers. And the always-adventurous chamber group the Kronos Quartet are pretty cool as well, aren't they? So the idea of Kronos teaming up with Bhosle to record a bunch of the best film songs written by famous Bollywood composer Rahul Dev Burman (1939-1994) is a fine one, and it's worked out marvelously on this disc. Rather than the hyperkinetic, energetic style of music that accompanies the big production dance numbers so often characteristic of Bollywood film, these tracks are of a more languid, moody variety, full of tender sentiment and romantic yearning. Perfect for the sad yet uplifting strings of Kronos (with help on tabla and other percussion from guest Zakir Hussain, and also Wu Man on pipa). And of course perfect for the lovely voice of Bhosle, who sang so many of these songs originally. We said "moody" but these moods do range widely, from sad to seductive to joyous.
This package (which comes ensconced in a nice metallic cardstock slipcase) includes a thick booklet full of detailed notes and photos. You get lyrics and even a synopsis of each of the films in which these songs first appeared, generally back in the early '70s. All in all, gorgeous tribute to Burman and his classic Bollywood ballads, and mostly likely a worthy introduction to them for many.
MPEG Stream: "Dum Maro Dum (Take Another Toke)"
MPEG Stream: "Mehbooba Mehbooba (Beloved, O Beloved)"
MPEG Stream: "Nodir Pare Utthchhe Dhnoa (Smoke Rises Across The River)"

KUVEZIN, ALBERT AND YAT-KHA Re-Covers (Plane / Yat-Kha Recordings) cd 22.00
The best cover versions, we always think, are the ones where the band doing the covering really makes the song being covered their own, do you agree? Then, that makes this one of the best covers albums ever, 'cause regardless of whether Kuvezin and Yat-Kha are doing Led Zeppelin or Kraftwerk, it sounds like the music of the steppes. That's right, Yat-Kha are the band from Tuva in Central Asia whose music is already a hybrid of the rustic folk traditions of their native land and Western rock, on records like Yenisei-Punk and Tuva-Rock. We like 'em very much. I mean, a rock band with a throat-singer is hard to beat!
Vocalist Albert Kuvezin is always a regular member of Yat-Kha (he's the band leader in fact), but he gets special star billing here I guess 'cause the songs they're doing are his selections, reflecting his influences outside of Tuvan folk music. You can tell that the counter-cultural Kuvezin is no garage-band or electro-clash obsessed youngster, but the tracks he's picked are, taste-wise, pretty right-on. A good balance of the hip, classic, and obscure. The aforementioned Zeppelin and Kraftwerk songs are also joined by the works of Hank Williams, Iron Butterfly (it says "via Slayer" but we don't hear any of the latter), Joy Division, Captain Beefheart (whose voice Kuvezin must love!), Motorhead (another vocalist Kuvezin clearly appreciates), the Rolling Stones, Bob Marley, and others, including some less familiar names like Russian cult figure Vladmir Vysotskiy and Tuvan symphonic composer Alexei Baktrevitch Tchyrgal. There's notes on each track (about why they were chosen, what they mean to Albert and Yat-Kha) and even a map pinpointing the geographical origins of the original artists. There's of course a novelty aspect to this in part, we can't deny (just as we can't deny that it's just plain cool to hear "Orgasmatron" performed acoustically with a singer who makes Lemmy's gargle sound like the voice of a song-bird) but it's not as if Kuvezin and Yat-Kha aren't serious, and like we said, they really make these songs their own -- you might not always immediately figure out what you're hearing, and even when you do, if you didn't know better you might be able to believe that "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" was originally a Tuvan tune, for example, meant for Kuvezin's rumbling voice and the high lonesome Country Eastern sounds of Yat-Kha's traditional instrumentation.
MPEG Stream: "In A Gadda Da Vida"
MPEG Stream: "Love Will Tear Us Apart"

LEGONG: DANCE OF THE VIRGINS (Milestone) dvd 34.00
Here's a fine specimen of film history and a semi-authentic look at Bali in the early 20th century. Filmed on location in 1933 in glorious Technicolor, the film fell almost immediately into obscurity. Its lackluster success was perhaps due to the perception amongst critics of the director as a Hollywood dilletante. For while Legong was directed by French aristocrat the Marquis Henry de la Falaise de la Coudray, the project was produced with funds from his current wife at the time -- the actress Constance Bennett. Falaise was certainly jumping on board the boats of F.W. Murnau and Robert Flaherty, the latter's Nanook of the North was the groundbreaking docu-fiction for which Murnau took inspiration for his final masterpiece in 1931. So when Falaise came around two years later with a film shot on location on the exotic isle of Bali with an all native cast and boasting cultural authenticity, it was met with heavy skepticism. In retrospect however, aside from Falaise's dubious credentials as a filmmaker, the project stands the test of time. Woven into this sad tale of unrequited love are stunning shots of Balinese life and ceremony, inluding the Legong and Barong dances and cremation ceremonies. But perhaps what makes this DVD most worth getting worked up about is the newly added score collaboratively composed by Richard Marriott and I Made Subandi and performed by the Club Foot Orchestra and Gamelan Sekar Jaya. And before all you purists get worked up about it: yes, the original score is also included. So you can choose either one when you watch the film. The new score however is absolutely stunning. It's wonderfully tempered scene to scene with parts featuring only the Club Foot Orchestra, others with solely Sekar Jaya and parts where both play. Along with completely newly composed material there are some sections where Club Foot Orchestra echoes the original score, while in others Sekar Jaya performs the traditional pieces that you witness on the screen. While it would be impossible to sync up the sound for an entire dance without a recut of the film, they do manage to arrange their pieces in the film such that during both a Barong and Legong dance there are scenes which perfectly match up to the dancers' movements. Included along with the entire film, presented completely restored and uncut (the British print in the day censored images of violence, while the American print censored the nudity) for the first time are a 1956 documentary entitled Gods Of Bali by Robert Snyder, Falaise's Kliou, The Killer (which had been believed to have been lost) and an interview with composers Subandi and Marriott.

LI JIANHONG San Sheng Shi (aRCHIVE) cd 15.98
51 minutes, 1 track. 1 guitar, 1 guy: Li Jianhong. No, we didn't think we'd ever heard of him, either. But this is an aRCHIVE release, super limited and super swank, which means that we HAD to order a bunch in. We trust those guys, aRCHIVE. And we're glad we did, this is great! That is, if you're into distortion and feedback and heavy drone guitar like we are. This is extremely droney, very vast and very physical, sheets of glorious amped up fuzz. What's not to like? It moves forward with energy, building, swelling, keening, billowing. Rising and falling, at about 30 minutes in, subsiding from a dense, intense drone-tone into a mellower respite, before Li Jianhong leans on his amps/pedals/volume knob/etc. and dials up the distortion yet again.
He's the Chinese Keiji Haino perhaps, but without any of the shrieking vocals. Yep, this is some nice, thick, bleak psychedelia (it says so on the sleeve, "bleak" and "psychedelia" being some of the only text not in Chinese, and it's true).
Turns out Li's a member of PSF label noise band D!O!D!O!D!, reviewed here a while back, and has some other solo works out on his own label... we'll definitely look out for more from him in future... While D!O!O!O!D! was one for improv skree-lovin' noiseniks only, we wouldn't hesitate to recommend THIS to fans of, say, Boris's Feedbacker. And the likes of Suishou No Fune and LSD-march. Also Nadja, Fear Falls Burning, Birchville Cat Motel...
LIMITED TO ONLY 500 copies. Packaged in a tri-fold sleeve featuring live photos of an impassioned performance by Li, inside a tri-fold vellum wrapper bearing a image of a craggy mountain peak.
MPEG Stream: "San Sheng Shi (excerpt 1)"
MPEG Stream: "San Sheng Shi (excerpt 2)"

LUCAS, GARY The Edge Of Heaven: Gary Lucas Plays Mid-Century Chinese Pop (Indigo) cd 22.00
This new record from ex-Captain Beefheart's Magic Band guitarist Gary Lucas is a gorgeous and heartfelt musical love letter to the Chinese pop that changed his life. The liner notes detail his years spent in Taipei, in the midst of a torrid love affair where he first discovered this languid, lush pop, that would influence his playing and songwriting for years and plant the seed that would become a full blown obsession with Chinese vocalist Chow Hsuan (who you may have heard on the soundtrack to Wong Kar Wai's In The Mood For Love). This record is totally gorgeous. No Beefheart skronk or Magic Band mayhem here, just dreamy and ethereal, wistful and delicate, perfect pop. So lovely. Gently fingerpicked guitars, and soaring, songbird vocals, with lilting melancholy melodies and spare, spacious arrangements. Also, amidst these gorgeous pop songs are scattered solo guitar pieces, also traditional Chinese although they don't always sound it, that are really beautiful and sound quite a bit like John Fahey or Jim O'Rourke, ranging from faux Appalachian abstract blues folk to shimmery, heavily reverbed minor key soundscapes, albeit with slightly Eastern tinged melodies. But it's the gorgeous vocals that are the centerpiece here, from two amazing vocalists, effortlessly channelling the spirit and sound of Chow Hsuan and the Chinese pop of the mid twentieth century. So nice.
MPEG Stream: "Old Dreams"
MPEG Stream: "Please Allow Me To Look At You Again"
MPEG Stream: "The Mad World"
MPEG Stream: "The Wall"

MANDALAY MARIONETTE MUSIC The Magic Of Burma (Blueberry Buddha) 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.
If you like the wonderful Sublime Frequencies series that we've been in love with here at AQ, here is a new cd-r compiled by an AQ customer that is not a part of that series but for sure captures the same sprit and raw aesthetic as those releases. These are sounds rarely heard outside of Burma. A drum and gong ensemble that accompanies marionette performances which is part of a tradition found both in India and China. During these performances the gong ensemble of 21 or 22 drums are tuned by adding or removing a paste (yes, paste) located at the center of each drum head. The paste itself is a mixture of ash and rice powder. The sounds that are created are so amazingly raw and pleasing. Often instrumental but at times off kilter female vocals lay on top of the percussion. You get the feeling everything could all fall apart at any moment and that sense of chaos mixed with sounds steeped in a rich tradition all make for a totally one-of-a-kind listening experience. We love how it's playful, rhythmic and at times catches a blissed out blown out vibe that you could imagine hearing as part of a warped Boredoms side-project. This recording was taken straight from a cassette that made its way to the states. With no information inside and several unsuccessful attempts to get a hold of anyone involved in the project in Burma, Blueberry Buddha decided to release on c-r a very limited run with all profits going to Burma Forum a nonprofit group which serves as a watchdog and advocate of humanitarian issues in Burma. Highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Candle Light Dance"
MPEG Stream: "Pagan Dance 1"

MANGESHKAR, LATA The Queen of Bollywood; Bhajans and Raga-based Filmi (Rough Guides) cd 14.98
In the Rough Guide To Bollywood Legends series. She is a Legend indeed.

MILLIS, ROBERT Leaf Music Drunks Distant Drums: Recordings From Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar (Anomalous) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It seems like field recordings from southeast Asia have become one of the most popular emergent genres here at Aquarius Records. And while we're not sure if just 'cause you took a trip and recorded stuff you should really get your name on record (like you're some sort of hoity-toity 'sound artist'), we still appreciate the efforts of such recordists as Loren Nerell, the Bishop brothers, and now Robert Millis. The truth is, ambient sound from some street in Thailand or Indonesia can be a lot more fascinating than yet another disc of computerized feedback or lowercase glitch! Never a substitute for going places yourself and using your ears (and other senses) but certainly a valid listening option at home. So no complaints, we'll continue to sing the praises of quality releases in the 'field recordings' genre like those on the Sublime Frequencies label. And certainly if you liked the recent Princess Nicotine disc on Sublime Freq, you'll probably also want to check out Leaf Music Drunks Distant Drums. Actually Millis (a member of American experimentalists Climax Golden Twins) had some involvement in the production of the Sublime Frequencies' dvd release Nat Pwe: Burma's Carnival Of Spirit Soul, and portions of this release were recorded on the same 'expedition'. Listening to this artfully edited distillation of the hours and hours of recordings that this disc represents, you'll be able to tell that Millis obviously spent a lot of time on the ground in SE Asia, ears alert for interesting sonics (musical and otherwise). It'll transport you into an environment that includes the following and more: "improvisation performed by an elephant mahout using only a leaf, ethereal temple orchestras, blind street musicians, insect choruses, stagecoach rides, singing cabbies, drunken spirit orchestras performing Leo Sayer songs..." Byram was especially taken with the track that sounds like a guy sobbing through a bullhorn! A great listen thats very well mixed, segueing nicely, and at a nice pace, from track to track.
MPEG Stream: "Blue Jeans Salesman, Thailand / Morning Sermon, Cambodia"
MPEG Stream: "Blind Street Singer, Thailand"
MPEG Stream: "Distant Drums, Cambodia"

MYSTERIOUS THAI LP (Mississippi / Exiled) lp 10.98
A while back we reviewed a cd called Siamese Temple Ball. A truly mysterious disc, with very little in the way of liner notes or any information really, but a record that we all became a little obsessed with and thus listened to it NONstop. We sold tons of copies too.
Then recently, we get a new batch of records from the always amazing Mississippi Records, and one of the records is entitled simply Mysterious Thai LP. So of course we're intrigued. We throw it on, and lo and behold, it's the very same record. Siamese Temple Ball, now on vinyl.
Not sure how this happened, if it was random, or if as we posited back in the day, that maybe Siamese Temple Ball was not actually music from Thailand, but an incredibly well played homage by some Sun City Girls-like worshippers of Eastern musical tradition. Hardly matters, the music is fantastic, wild, emotional, dense, joyous and yes, very very mysterious.
The cd version featured a sticker that proclaimed in faux pidgen English: "Flight comes to Thailand in the Year of the Rat. Siamese Temple Ball provide the lilting soundtrack for a chemical journey. Schoolgirls dance bashfully for the expectant throng. Life continues at a comparatively slow pace away from the rigours of fierce sun-light." Which was then followed by the (label's) description: "In the tradition of Sun City Girls, Ya Ho Wha 13, The Spacious Mind, Taj Mahal Travellers, Mu, Word of Life, Group 1850, and Ghost, Siamese Temple Ball give maximum pleasure for thirsty brains."
Quite a roster of comparisons, the most fitting of which is definitely the Sun City Girls. So while we assume that this record was recorded by a group of precocious, dilettante, ethnomusicologist hipsters, we like to suspend our disbelief and imagine this to be a genuine Folkways-style field recording, as the recording certainly has a genuine field recording presence - a single stereo microphone in a good location. The music itself is a catchy and mesmerizing steady pulse of various and sundry percussion instruments (metal, wood, skin), hollers, yelps, and rococo melodic lines spun out by tinny electric guitars, xylophones, flutes and Khan (mouth organ.) And besides all that, it's really pretty great!
The Mississippi lp version has all new artwork, even more mysterious than the cd, housed in a thick matte finish sleeve, with NO information at all, not even on the lp labels. We're not sure in what capacity, but it was apparently put out in conjunction with Exiled - also from Portland - another great record store. So recommended. And of course, probably WAY too limited...
MPEG Stream: "Track 1"
MPEG Stream: "Track 2"

NAT PWE Burma's Carnival Of Spirit Soul (Sublime Frequencies) dvd 26.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Like the Jemaa El Fna DVD on Sublime Frequencies, the Nat Pwe DVD also contains no voice over, authoritative or not, to mis-guide you through the festivities. Instead, using the camera in the same way someone might make a field recording in the traditional auditory realm, you are led merely by the camera angles and edits chosen. As a way of background, here's what Sublime Frequencies writes about the event contained here: "In Burma, many people believe in ghost spirits called NATs. These spirits are historical figures who met tragic or violent deaths. They are said to possess the power to assist or devastate the lives of those who recognize them. A PWE is a ceremony held to appease a Nat. Pwes are arranged daily throughout Burma for many purposes including the achievement of success in business, a happy marriage, or improving one's health. A Nat is summoned through a Kadaw; the flamboyent and charismatic master of the Pwe dressed in elegant costume. The Kadaw is a spirit medium, dancer, storyteller, and magician who exposes the crowd to a living incarnation of the Nat brought forth through opening ritual and careful observance of tradition. Many of the Kadaws are male crossdressers performing the role of female Nats and the Nat culture attracts the homosexual, occult, artistically expressive and more outgoing elements of the Burmese population. Cash money is thrown and cigarettes and whiskey are hand delivered by the Kadaw to the willing faithful. Audience participants are often ecstatic, spontaneously launching into trance as the Nat spirit possesses their bodies while the melodically ornamental and thundering sound of the Nat Pwe orchestra plays on as perhaps the last, great unknown musical juggernaut existing anywhere. Each Pwe has its own mood and Nats can dictate a variety of happenings and unpredictable phenomenon. Since the 11th century, there have been 37 officially recognized Nats and every August, in the village of Taungbyon, there is a festival dedicated to two of them. This festival is one of the greatest spectacles on earth. At the peak of the Taungbyon celebration, there are dozens of very intimate venues holding continuous Pwe's for 48 hours without interruption bubbling with excitement and intensity all within the narrow alleys of bamboo shelters amidst a vibe of mysterious, electric charm. What results is the magnetic, unexplainable concoction of conservative tradition, free expression, music, dance, spirit possession, and anomolous synchronicities of Burma's Carnival Of Spirit Soul." Insane stuff. The film begins in the daytime following hundreds of pilgrims as they make their way to the event and ends late into the night after the festivities have reached a zenith of frenzied performance and audience participation. The camera wanders from tent to tent, each one containing a Kadaw, a Nat Pwe Orchestra (a completely crazed percussion ensemble about as removed from Burmese Harp music as you can get) and crammed with people making offerings (mostly pinning money to the Kadaw's head dress and blouse). There's really no way to do it justice in describing this event. If there were ever a comparison in the U.S. it would have to be like a transvestite tent revival held in a New Orleans graveyard with musical accompaniment by the Ruins. Running 85 minutes, I've found this disc also works nicely just as an audio recording. For those of you with a multi-format disc player, it makes a truly cool CD as well. While we forwarn those living overseas that this disc is NTSC, it is also region-free, so if you can handle the format you're in like Flint. Comes with an 8 page booklet of notes and photos.

NATH FAMILY Sounds of the Indian Snake Charmer (Hanson) lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
On a brief break from bursting ear drums and shredding synthesizers and destroying clubs in Wolf Eyes, Aaron Dilloway spent a brief period living in Nepal with his wife. While she studied, Dilloway wandered the streets, where he encountered the Nath family, Titu, Kala, Sukha and Ram Chendra, three generations, all street performers, hustlers, and SNAKE CHARMERS. Well, Dilloway quickly befriended the family, hung out, drank, smoked and most importantly recorded their amazing talents. Haunting and dizzying Eastern melodies, performed on traditional bamboo reed instruments called pungis and accompanied by a stringed percussion instrument called a premtal. So lovely, swaying and swooning, droney and buzzy, all hovering above a fluctuating framework of tribal percussion and shuffling, rattling rhythms. At times playful and bouncy (supposedly that's some Bollywood music) but more often mesmerizing and hypnotic, a wavering warbling drone. You can't really hear the swaying cobras, but if you listen really close you can hear folks walking past, talking, cars, all adding to the feeling that you are right there, in an alley in Nepal, seated before huge hooded snakes, being lulled into a trance by the endlessly droning Eastern buzz. Comes in a super snazzy three color silkscreened sleeve. Vinyl only, and limited!!

NATH, PANDIT PRAN Midnight / Raga Malk (Just Dreams) 2cd 41.00
This recording, the musical life of Pandit Pran Nath, his influence on Western minimalism, his importance to music, both modern and traditional, is steeped in history, but just as important, if not harder to describe, is the sound. A warm drifting dreamscape, layers of buzz and hum and drone, Nath's perfectly intonated vocals, hovering weightless above a thick swirl of Sitar string buzz and slowly shifting drones. This is true drone music. Warm and rich, thick and effervescent. Densely layered but light and airy. Truly difficult to describe, but a record that has immmediately become one of the most played / listened to records around these parts. Nath spent most of his life studying and performing in India, and became well known for his strict adherence to the authentic rendering of traditional ragas and an unwillingness to change his style or sound to be more 'modern'. His focus on the slower 'alap' sections of ragas was an obvious influence on seventies minimalists like La Monte Young and Terry Riley (both students of his), and other students / followers included Don Cherry, Rhys Chatham, Henry Flynt and many others. He eventually became a US citizen and continued performing, composing and teaching right up until his death. There is a definite dearth of recordings, considering how long Nath had been performing, this 2 disc set was originally released in 2002, and has luckily been reissued. The price tag is steep, but once these sounds hit your ears, any thoughts of price or money as well as all of your other earthly worries will just drift away. Both of these performances, one from 1971 recorded in San Francisco, the other in NYC in 1976, feautre Nath accompanied by Western musicians, Terry Riley, Ann Riley, La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela, who seem perfectly in tune with Nath's sound and vision. Anyone who loves the music of Chalk, Coleclough, Mirror, Ora, Organum, any of that minimal drone music, would do well to dig deep and discover the roots of that music. This is most definitely some of the most beautiful, transcendental drone music we have ever heard.
MPEG Stream: "Midnight (4 VIII 71 SF)"

NWE, U YEE Sandaya: Spellbinding Piano of Burma (Shanachie) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
In the late 19th century the Burmese (now Myanmarese) were introduced to the piano and were immediately impressed with the exotic instrument. They set about learning to play the entire repertoire of Burmese harp (the most refined music of Burma) and other court musics on it. In the process they developed a new genre of Burmese music (disregrading European methods completely) known today as "Sandaya." Master pianist U Yee Nwe plays traditional and contemporary pieces both solo and accomanied by traditional instruments. A beautiful combination of the strangely familiar and plainly foreign.

OMAR, USTAD MOHAMMAD Virtuoso From Afghanistan (Smithsonian Folkways) cd 16.98
Reissued now for obvious reasons, this 1974 concert recording documents an example of the vital and exciting musical tradition that Afghanistan's former Taliban regime attempted to outlaw. The late Ustad Mohammad Omar was most certainly a virtuoso on the short necked lute called the rabab (similar to India's sarod). Here, he's heard accompanied by the percussion of now-famous Indian tabla player Zakir Hussain. The rabab, considered Afghanistan's national instrument, is played with a pick called a shahbaz, and has a deep, resonant, mesmerizing sound. The Afghan classic music heard here features lovely, stately melodies and much rhythmic improvisation. By the end of the first, 20+ minute track here the listener will be utterly entranced. And of course Smithsonian Folkways does their usual thorough job with the booklet's informative text.
RealAudio clip: "Emen/Tintal"

ORAZBAEVA, RAUSHAN Akku (Dunya) cd 17.98
WOW!!! When I (Irwin) started working at AQ over a year ago it was kind of like being the luckiest kid in the greatest candy store ever. All this amazing music surrounding me, every day getting to hear something I'd never heard and being blown away again and again. Of course like any good obsessive music fanatic I tried to think of some titles that maybe the store didn't have but totally should. This disc by Kazahkhstan's Rausan Orazbaeva was pretty much at the top of my list. Allan and Andee were able to get some for the store but we never were able to get enough to list...until now! So what has been a nice little secret for our in store shoppers can now be a treasure for everyone to enjoy. Orazbaeva is considered to be the greatest living interpreter of her highly unique instrument, the kyl-koblz, which is kind of like a 2 string cello held vertically and kept very close to the body when bowed. Orazbaeva is a pioneer in many ways, one of which is that it hasn't been until very recently that Kazakh women were even allowed to play this sacred instrument. But what makes Akku such an amazing record is not just that Orazbaeva is a master at her instrument but like those few rare masters she also evokes so much soul, emotion, fragility and power in her playing. These are sounds that you just have to surrender to. Graceful yet commanding. Flowing with beauty but also with moments of dynamic dissonance. Even this week when Andee had a million reviews to be writing and should have been glued to his desk he couldn't help but come up front every time we were playing this just to get a closer listen. You could almost imagine folks like Bjork and the Kronos Quartet freaking out and thinking how great it would be to collaborate with her. The kind of record that transcends genres, traditions, and geography and lands itself in that special section in our record collections designated for absolute brilliance! (In case you come in, don't look for the "Absolute Brilliance" section, cuz it doesn't really exist, but you know what we're talking about...)
MPEG Stream: "Akku"
MPEG Stream: "Kazan"
MPEG Stream: "Ykhlas"

ORGUES-A-BOUCHES RITUELS DES MURUNG s/t (Inedit) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
AMAZING! Sounds like experimental electronic or ambient beauty, yet it's done completely on mouth organs in Bangladesh. The Murung people are an isolated society from a densely forested region of Bangladesh. Just as their religion has remained a type of spirit worship, Murung's ritualist music has developed independently from the rest of the world. It is a hypnotic cyclical music which has preceded the minimalism of Terry Riley and Steve Reich (but done much better!!!) by eons. The Murung perform their songs on 'plung' - mouth organs built of gourds punctured by bamboo and reeds resulting in eerie sustained trills. It may be an irrelavent point, but during these rituals, the Murung get pretty drunk on rice beer - yet remain calm, mirroring the methodic pulse of the ecstatic sounds emanating from their mouth organs. An excellent documentation. Anyone who enjoyed the compilation of music by the Ede people of Vietnam which was one of our 'records of the month' back in February should check this out too!

RealAudio clip: "Piece Pour Orchestre De Plung"