K-GROUP / OMIT Storage (Fusetron) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Both K-Group and Omit have been longtime Aquarius favorites from the New Zealand experimental noise scene; but unfortunately, they've been pretty quiet in their respective outputs during the past couple of years. K-Group is the solo project for Paul Toohey, who has also worked in the (defunct?) Surface Of The Earth, both of which centered around low-frequency tectonic drones coaxed from abused amplifiers. Clinton Williams has taken up the Omit moniker for his creepy, tape loop compositions loaded with bleak sci-fi / psychotic imagery. This collaboration between Williams and Toohey is actually their second, if you count a 7" which came out ages ago. In running Williams' battery of analogue synths through Toohey's cabinets, they've constructed an eerie album of deep rumblings that are on par with anything that Coleclough, Koner, or Troum have managed to release. As the K-Group / Omit drones ripple with a gritty amplifier buzz often lacking in the driftwork of those aforementioned artists, "Storage" pulses with a subterrenean heaviness, pushing this closer towards the Earth / Sunn 0))) terrain. A really wonderful album!!!
RealAudio clip: "Enurn"
RealAudio clip: "Equipment Rack"
RealAudio clip: "Format"

K-RAD Deli Mood Spot (Someoddpilot) cd 14.98
The opening track for "Deli Mood Spot" is so misleading and uncharacteristic of the rest of the album that I have to question K-Rad's decision for including it on the album. K-Rad is a Chicago trio specializing in an IDM techno centered around low-sampling rate grit and faux-acid squiggliness often heard on Patrick Pulsinger's productions for Cheap Records, yet the album seductively begins with a down-tempo, trip-hop number straight outta Mo' Wax circa 1996, complete with blunted breaks, Steinski inspired samples, and DJ Shadow funk recontextualizations. Both that opening cut and the rest of the album are well-executed but certainly do not work as a paired dyptic of well-established aesthetics.
RealAudio clip: "103BR18"
RealAudio clip: "177JIF"

K. Goldfish (Tigerstyle) cd 13.98
Taking a step away from the fragile, quiet, slow/sadcore sounds of her last album as well as those of her band Ida, Karla Schickele's performance on this her second solo full length is much less restrained, subdued and delicate. Honest, intimate and bittersweet, she seems to pour her heart into each of these songs. The acoustic instrumentation is once again lovely and barebones - perhaps even more spartan so than on her debut - providing a subtle backing to her voice. Very reminiscent of the early '90s Olympia / DC folky pop scene (Lois, Mecca Normal, Spinanes, etc). Nice!
RealAudio clip: "Ballad"
RealAudio clip: "More Than Wanted"

K. New Problems (Tiger Style) cd 14.98
The first solo album from Karla Schickele of Ida is a lovely, gentle affair. Full of hushed, intimate acoustic recordings embellished with a delicate, almost imperceptible, misty texture. Soft, spartan string and piano instrumentation allow her voice and words to shine through. Very much in the same vein as Low (with whom she recently shared a split cd), or Elliott Smith. Fans of the slower moments of the Spinanes or That Dog (which a customer actually mistook this for) might tingle to k. as well.
RealAudio clip: "Poor Dumb Bird"
RealAudio clip: "Knoxville"

K. / LOW split (Tiger Style) cd ep 9.98
A lovely split release between Low and Karla Schickele of Ida (and formerly of Babe the Blue Ox and Beekeeper). As expected, this is a slow, quiet dreamy gathering of like-minded souls. Tara Jane O'Neil adds drums and organ on the k. tracks. Mr. Warn Defever recorded the Low tracks and remixed one by k.

K. / LOW split (Tiger Style) 7" 4.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A lovely split release between Low and Karla Schickele of Ida (and formerly of Babe the Blue Ox and Beekeeper). As expected, this is a slow, quiet dreamy gathering of like-minded souls. Tara Jane O'Neil adds drums and organ on the k. tracks. Mr. Warn Defever recorded the Low tracks and remixed one by k.

K.C. ACCIDENTAL Anthems for the Could've Bin Pills (Noise Factory) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
K.C. Accidental is centered around the compositional talents of Kevin Drew and Charles Spearin, the latter is also a member of the out-rock ensemble Do Make Say Think. For the debut album, the duo has employed a wealth of talent (trombones, strings, accordions, organs along with guitar, bass, drums) to augment their lush instrumental orchestrations. "Anthems for the Could've Bin Pills" ranks up there with some of the more successful dramatically inclined atmospheres, on par with Rachel's, Tarentel, Mogwai, and Godspeed You Black Emperor. Really good!

K.O., DJ For Wearing A Phone W/Q- (K Records) cd 12.98
A mix cd along the lines of K7's "DJ Kicks" series by dj K.O. of ICU (now IQU) and with ultra-minimal cover art (plain jewel case.) Contains tracks by: Ryuichi Sakamoto, Plone, Andre Estermann, AEMIC, Michael Fakesch, Illianthal, Red Snapper, Boom Boom Satellites, One True Parker, Hexer, Jon Forte vs. London Electricity, BOB Sound System, Palm Skin Productions, E.V.A., and Aphex Twin.

KA-SPEL, EDWARD Red Letters (Cacciocavallo) cd 14.98
With the evidence clearly stated in Ka-Spel's solo projects, no one can doubt who wears the pants in the extended family of the Legendary Pink Dots. Edward Ka-Spel expands the downer psychedelic strum frosted with ample doom & gloom found on the "Hallway of the Gods" Pink Dots album into smoldering experimental if baroque arrangemnts maintaining his Syd Barrett vocal mimicry all the while.

KAADA AND PATTON Romances (Ipecac) cd 15.98

KADANE, MATT AND BUBBA Music From The Film Hell House (Pleximusic) cd 10.98
First things first, have you seen the film? It's an unsettling documentary about the planning and production of a "hell house" in Texas, a Halloween haunted house with ulterior sermonizing motives. That said, this soundtrack may certainly be enjoyed without viewing the film... particularly if you're a fan of Bedhead and The New Year. Followers of said groups are undoubtably already aware that the music was composed by band members (and brothers) Matt and Bubba Kadane. Much of the music is indeed of the drowsy drifting meditative variety for which those groups are well-known, Haunting gentle string plucking, melting bass tones, faintly ominous drones fill the air for most of the brief eighteen minutes.
MPEG Stream: "Speaking In Tongues"
MPEG Stream: "Harvest"

KADET Seismic (Tektonic Shift) cd 12.98
Listening to this new release from SF solo IDM/electronicist Kadet is an almost multi-sensory experience. A plethora of wonderfully itchy glitches, thick tenuous throbs and metallic percussive gasps probe your ears. Some sounds actually made my teeth buzz as if I'd chomped down on some aluminum foil - an impressive feat unto itself. The latter tracks gradually sink into a much more deeply fluid abyss - like the echo-y sensation of slowly drifting to the bottom a pool. Fans of the newest stuff from Phoenecia and Nic Endo might take a shine to Kadet.
RealAudio clip: "Sphere"
RealAudio clip: "Ursula"

KADET Thin Air (Current / Tektonic Shift) cd 12.98
Here is Ms Kadet Kuhne's follow-up to Seismic, her fine IDM album from 2001. Since then she's relocated to LA, but she hasn't made any radical departures in her music. That's a good thing 'cause her past endeavors have been pretty darn great, wholly enveloping listens. Now, whether the "thin air" of the title is in reference to that which you might "vanish into" or that which you find at high altitudes, we do not know. But we can say that regardless, the title suits this album well. Some of her sounds can be fleeting and ghostly, while the more severe and imposing ones may leave listeners a wee bit out of sorts or short of breath. Characterized by swishy, cricket-y textures, gentle cloudy drones and rounded deep bass thuds, This Air is a considerably more subdued ambient affair overall than its kinetic, glitchy predecessor. Also, although these sounds were originally part of Sensorium, her audiovisual installation collaboration with Reto Schmid/testrun which showed in Switzerland, LA and here in SF, Thin Air may be best listened to on headphones in isolation. Nice!
MPEG Stream: "Mind Meld"
MPEG Stream: "Chromosoak"

KADURA From The Depths Of The Other Space (Charnel Music) cd 11.98
From Osaka, Japan: Eastern psych-trance space rock. A treat for fans of Ghost and other mind-expanding PSF-label bands. Really nice, especially when leader Atsushi Kobayashi is playing his zurna (double-reed horn).

KAGEL, MAURICIO Pan String Quartets I, II, III (WDR) cd 14.98

KAGEL, MAURICIO Playback Play (WDR) cd 16.98

KAIA Lady Man (Mr. Lady) cd 12.98
She of the angel voice and lyrics that bite, it's Kaia from Team Dresch with another solo record of realness. This beats Jewel and Mary Lou Lord into the ground and leaves them writhing in the knowledge of their total inferiority.

KAIA Lady Man (Mr. Lady) lp 7.98
She of the angel voice and lyrics that bite, it's Kaia from Team Dresch with another solo record of realness. This beats Jewel and Mary Lou Lord into the ground and leaves them writhing in the knowledge of their total inferiority.

KAILASH s/t (Paradigms) cd 12.98
Latest in the ongoing series of lovingly packaged, super limited releases from UK label Paradigms, who ostensibly are a metal label, but whose releases are sonically all over the map, the gothic chamber music of Amber Asylum, the buzzing blackness of Utlagr and Throne Of Katarsis, the blessed out dream done of the Angelic Process, the psychedelic space folk of Plants, the grinding cinematic noise of Gnaw Their Tongues, the black ambient of Wraiths, the metallic post prog rock of Woburn House, the ultra doooooom of Hjarnidaudi and we could go on and on.
And we most likely will as Paradigms shows no sign of slowing down. Two new releases this time around, a disc of dreamy wispy neo-classical ambience from a group called Aythis, and this here slab of progged out bombastic post black metal from Italian horde Kailash.
Equal parts Slint-y black swoon, Opeth like metallic prog, Don Cab like mathy chaos, and plenty of folky strum and doomy lurch.
The tracks are long and proggy, lots of parts, the guitars swinging wildly from finger picked folky flutter, to furious black buzz, grinding out jagged angular riffs one minute, unfurling lilting minor key melodies the next. The drums though hold it all together, incredible fills, blasting double bass, convoluted tangles of odd time signatures, occasionally growled demonic vox, but it's all about the music, even were it instrumental, these songs would be plenty dense and busy, varied and complex to keep your head spinning (and most likely banging).
The label drops names like Ved Buens Ende, Fleurty, Death, Opeth, Emperor, Agolloch and Ulver, and certainly, folks who dig any / all of those bands will certainly be into what Kailash are doing, but to our ears much of this seems a lot mathier, way more dense and complex, and some of the time it really does sound like a black metal Don Cab, but then there's the saxophone (!), never the best idea really in almost any sort of music (outside jazz) and weirdly enough, Kailash drop in some smoky sax here and there, changing the vibe completely, turning it into some sort of blackened Gerry Rafferty jam, but fear not, a burst of furious mathy proggy heaviness is usually right around the corner...
Limited to 750 copies, packaged in a mini lp style sleeve wrapped in a hand stamped brown paper outer sleeve.
MPEG Stream: "The Sleepers"
MPEG Stream: "Wind Under The Door"

KAISER CHIEFS Employment (Universal) cd 10.98
Okay folks, let's just state what has become increasingly obvious... if you're over the age of twenty seven, you're probably not hearing a lot of new music these days that doesn't sound like [fill in the blank]. So we've sorta gotta accept that 'good music' is gonna be that which is probably somewhat lacking in the originality department but done exceptionally well. Case in point, Kaiser Chiefs. Expect that name to be shoved down your throat in the next few months beyond Franz Ferdinand proportions. Yeah, just like F.F. they're on a major label and hence have the big bucks and suits makin' sure you know who they are, but also just like F.F. they've got the chops and hooks to back up the hype... and yes, what they do is very much like F.F., Killers, Futureheads, Maximo Park, et al -- y-know, late 80s/early 90s-inspired catchy-as-fuck choruses, woozy synth keyboards, sinewy guitars, punchy drumming, hammered piano keys, cocky lead vocals and falsetto na-na-na-na backing vocals -- but with more of the lanky bombast of Pulp, more of the sneering bite of The Clash (especially on the first single "I Predict A Riot" and the fourth song "Na Na Na Na Naa"... yes, it's really called that!) and yeah even a bit of Adam & The Ants too (check out the tenth song "Time Honoured Tradition")! I'm sure some folks will be trying to turn up their noses at this, but it's pretty hard to resist. Aw heck, kids who were born the year that this kind of music first became popular will probably think Employment is groundbreaking, but for those of us...uhhh, older folks, it's gonna simply be a gosh dang dandy summertime album! So get a jump on it.
MPEG Stream: "I Predict A Riot"
MPEG Stream: "Time Honoured Tradition"

KAISER, HENRY, & WADADA LEO SMITH Yo Miles! (Shanachie) 2cd 19.98
Kaiser and Smith join together to pay tribute to Miles Davis' electric '73-'75 period, joined by The Rova Sax Quartet, Nels Cline, Elliot Sharp, John Medeski, Lukas Ligeti, Oluyemi Thomas and many others...

KAITO Everlasting (Kompakt) 12" 9.98
Certainly much more dancefloor friendly than the recent output from Kompakt, Kaito's "Everlasting" features a laid back shuffling tech-house groove flushed out by low slung basslines and constantly syncopating Carl Craig like synth pads.

KAITO Special Life (Kompakt) cd 17.98
Get your dancin' shoes polished up and ready to go 'cause Kaito (aka Japanese producer Hiroshi Watanabe) has offered up over 75 minutes of sleek and sharply executed trance-meets-house grooves. There's all-out thumpin' bass rumpshakers to total gonna-love-you-downtempo numbers and a super spacy atmospheric closing track mysteriously called "Awakening (Beatlesstrumental)". This is his first full length, but please note, it compiles his three previous 12"s with a few new tracks.
RealAudio clip: "Breaking The Star"
RealAudio clip: "Awakening (Beatlesstrumental)"

KALACAKRA Crawling To Lhasa (Garden Of Delights) cd 21.00
The flood of compact disc reissues of obscure krautrock albums has been constant and overwhelming in recent years, but few discs are truly as cosmic and inspired as collector hype claims make them out to be. Usually an album's rarity is confused with "classic" status. But every once in a while, we get pleasantly blown away by an unexpected unknown. Kalacakra is one such album that deserves its mythical, mystical reputation (and $300 price tag on the collector's market). Reissued in 2001 (but not heard by us until more recently, due to the glut of such reissues alluded to above), Kalacakra's "Crawling To Lhasa" contains eight tracks of mantric acid-folk self-released in 1972 by the apparently drugged-out duo of Claus Rauschenbach ("guitars, kongas, percussions, vocals, harmonica, slentem") and Heinz Martin ("electr. guitars, flute, piano, vibraphon, schalmi, cello, violin, synthesizer"). Their strange, hippie sense of humor and obsession with the culture of Tibet (the name Kalacakra is the Tibetan term for "wheel of time") results in some fantastically nonsensical, eastern-influenced psychedelia (nonsensical? well, that "slentem" that Claus plays is in fact a non-existent, made-up instrument!). The album begins with the dark, hypnotic "Nearby Shiras", a song about a plague-ravaged town in olden Persia, which features some totally sinister and maniacal whispered German-language vocals, reminding us a bit even of Comus. As their crawl to Lhasa continues, Kalacakra venture into zones of lovely folk-strum and raga-rock as well, before the album wraps up with a deranged and damaged blues stumble called "Tante Olga". Oh, then there's two "bonus" tracks, recorded by Heinz in 1993, that are perhaps best ignored: electronic "world music" unfortunately lacking the mystery and insanity of his 1972 output, inoffensive but an unnecessary addition to this reissue for sure. Claus, we're told, still lives (on social security) in Kalacakra's home town of Duisburg, but does no recording. Good for him.
Some folks we know (who often make music under the name Thuja) got so inspired upon hearing this disc that they determined to start their own hippie psych side project, to be called "The Ways Of God To Man", drawing upon Kalacakra as well as the similar sounds of Yahowah 13 and Maru Sankaku Shikaku and Faust's "Tapes" as influences. We'll let you know if they manage to actually record anything!
Garden of Delights did their usual thorough job with this reissue, which boasts a thick booklet full of liner notes (in German and English), reproductions of label art from the original LP *and* from bootleg versions, plus photos of Claus and Heinz looking about as weird and long-haired and hippie-ish as it's possible to get!
Albums like this make us worry about overlooking other hidden gems amid the multitude of kraut/psych/prog reissues that we're blessed/cursed with every month, so we'll do our best to try and check 'em all out, eventually...whew...
RealAudio clip: "Nearby Shiras"
RealAudio clip: "Raga No. 11"
RealAudio clip: "Tante Olga"

KALEIDOSCOPE #4 magazine 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We're always on the lookout for new weird music magazines, and we're fairly sure this might be our new favorite. To begin with, it's put out by one of the guys in weirdo black metal outfit Circle Of Ouroborus. Plus just have a gander at the contents, loads of AQ faves and a few bands we have yet to hear, but definitely sound promising. Blissy black metallers Amesoeurs and Amesoeurs offshoot Alcest, Finland's Ride For Revenge, Japanese metallic black ritualists Arkha Sva, Swedish suicidal black doomsters Hypothermia, Irish black metal cult Primordial, German black metal warriors Secrets Of The Moon, pagan folk legends Current 93, Australian one man metal horde Grippiud and Italian blackdeath warkult Blasphemophagher. As if that weren't enough, a bunch of record reviews, tons of cool photos, and every page is decorated in the margins with that cool pencil art that adorns all the Circle Of Ouroborus discs. Awesome!

KALEIDOSCOPE #5 magazine 10.98
Latest issue of this kick ass metal mag from long time aQ favorites, black metal geniuses (maniacs?) Circle Of Ouroborus, who, when not crafting twisted damaged folk flecked stumbling blackened buzz, put together a seriously excellent 'zine, covering a super varied selection of very AQ worthy outfits.
Number 5 features NY based primitive black metallers Ash Pool, Japanese doomsters Coffins, Danish doom combo Sol, legendary Norwegian black metallers Trelldom, German blackened death metallers Drowned, death metal legends Incantation, stoner doom trio Ramesses. And even some new-to-us stuff: Australian black thrashers Denouncement Pyre, and four super obscure black death doom bands with only demos to their names: Arvet from Finland, Ignivomous from Australia, Exorcism (we're not sure where they're from) and another Finnish band Profetus.
In addition to all that stuff, there's a bunch of reviews, as well as a killer primer on Finnish black metal, and each page has a cool hand drawn border with demons and flames and upside down crosses, skeletons, and in addition to all the various band photos, there are tons of creepy hand drawn illustrations.

KALEIDOSCOPE Faintly Blowing (Repertoire) cd 19.98
Although, sadly, we haven't been able to get copies of the first Kaleidoscope album on cd of late (the one entitled Tangerine Dream, not to be confused with the krautrock band of that name), we are very happy to now have copies of this perfectly twee UK psych pop combo's recently reissued second album, 1969's Faintly Blowing! And it comes in a nice digipack with six bonus tracks! Now if only we had some tea and crumpets we'd be all supercalifragilistic. Ahem.
Kaleidoscope were one of the best unsung post-Peppers British psych-pop acts. This one carries on from their first (a solid AQ fave) with more of the same delightful dreamy oh-so-melodic and lysergically lyricized pop psyke, some of the best ever in our humble opinion. Orchestrated, emotive, shoulda-been-hits abound, along with some way-out psychedelic experimentation. The Kaleidoscope story continued into the proggy '70s with a name change to Fairfield Parlour but Faintly Blowing was really their last colourful hurrah of dainty dandy '60s poppiness.
MPEG Stream: "Faintly Blowing"
MPEG Stream: "Snap Dragon"

KALEIDOSCOPE Tangerine Dream (Repertoire) cd 22.00
Whoo-hoo! At last this AQ fave is back in stock, repressed in a nice new digipack edition. Here's how we raved about it when we first reviewed it a few years ago:
Not a new release -- nor even a new reissue -- but we just manage to get some and wanted to list it 'cause it's something that several of us here have been listening to a lot lately! This Kaleidoscope were a sixties British pop psych band (not to be confused with the various other Kaleidoscopes of the era from the US and Mexico) and we believe these guys might in fact have been THE ULTIMATE psychedelic pop band ever. This album (also not to be confused with the famous Krautrock/soundtrack outfit with the same name as the album's title) is just incredible. Gorgeous vocals, killer melodies, lush orchestrations, and, especially, beautifully baroque psych-speak lyrics that put "Strawberry Fields Forever" to shame -- with lines like "Battalions in baby blue are bursting beige balloons / the water pistols are all filled with lemonade / the jester and the goldfish have joined minds above the moon / oh please kiss the flowers and you too will be safe / oh swing and sway..."
It's very British, twee and dreamy, being that perfect blend of sunshine and melancholy so many psych pop bands of the era were striving for. The Kaleidoscope did it best right here. I mean, if you like the Zombies and the Hollies and heck the Olivia Tremor Control you should know about these gents too. Indee, the original 1967 album's final track (followed here by six bonus tracks), "The Sky Children", might be THE ULTIMATE pop-psych track on this ultimate pop-psych record. (Hey a little hyperbole never hurt anybody.) It's an eight-minute epic, with a thrilling vocal hook on endless repeat, and amazing lyrics continually pouring forth the whole time. Truly awe-some, if you're attuned to the vibe.
MPEG Stream: "Dive Into Yesterday"
MPEG Stream: "Flight From Ashiya"
MPEG Stream: "The Sky Children"

KALEVALA People No Names / Boogie Jungle (Walhalla) cd 21.00
The Kalevala is the Finnish national mythological epic, and thus no surprise this '70s prog/boogie band hails from Finland. Yes that's right, we said prog/boogie. And Finland. Wonder if Itavayla are fans? There's two LPs reissued here on this single cd, the band's 1972 debut People No Names, and their 1975 follow-up Boogie Jungle. Of the two, well, you can maybe guess which is the best...
People No Names is simply a crazed hard rockin' prog behemoth, kicking ass and taking names (no names?). The nine-minute title track doesn't hold back the rapid-fire changes, the ripping guitars, the jazzy grooves, the weirdly gruff vocals...it's wild stuff!! The other cuts here veer from instrumental shred to folky melodiousness to heavy psychedelic jamming, oftentimes all at once! Not for those with no tolerance for wackiness, though. The countryish hoedown "Tamed Indians" will see to that...
Record number two, which appeared three years later, after the band broke up and reformed with a new line-up (including a new vocalist), is a bit more of an ordinary, less-prog, more Jimi Hendrix-y affair. Still wacky though. And, of course, they've gone BOOGIE big time. Some will find this just too ridiculous but we're having wonderful nostalgic flashbacks to a '70s rock n' roll Finland we never actually experienced.
Interesting note: Liner notes that reveal the band's original name was Vietnam, which didn't fly with concert promoters at the time, hence the change...
Another note: one annoyance is that Walhalla did that annoying thing labels so often do when they put out 2-on-1 cds, trying to cram both album's covers on one panel of the cd booklet rather than giving each cover a panel. Pet peeve #294,391.
MPEG Stream: "People No Names"
MPEG Stream: "Lady With The Veil"
MPEG Stream: "Mind The Fly Hunter"

KALLIKAK FAMILY May 23rd 2007 (Tell-All) cd 9.98
As the Kallikak Family's debut album opens mournful drones seep forth slowly. The track is titled "Organ Tuning / Surgery", and indeed that is what it sounds like. The tones lull themselves in and out of different ranges. Eventually the somber atmosphere is gently stirred by the surfacing of shimmery aquatic vibrations and vocal samples in the title track. These in turn give way to peals from distant chapel bells. Although the album's title is seemingly a date in the not so distant future, the sounds contained within evoke a sense of fleeting memories from the past. Airy and contemplative and yes, recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Organ Tuning / Surgery"
MPEG Stream: "May 23rd 2007"
MPEG Stream: "Bells In Bergamo"

KALMA, ARIEL Le Temps Des Moissons (Beta-lactam Ring) cd 17.98
We raved over the earlier reissue of minimalist composer Ariel Kalma's 1978 epic Osmose. So much so we made it a Record of the Week! Now Beta-Lactam Ring has reissued Kalma's 1975 debut Les Temps des Moissons (Time of The Harvest), a foray into electronic ragas using saxophone (lots of sax), ethnic instruments, effects and all manners of electronic filters. Less proto-new age sounding than Osmose, Les Temps takes cues from Terry Riley's Poppy NoGood explorations with saxophone and time delay and expands on them with krautier influences using kalimbas, flutes and wah-wah effects into a metaphysical tapestry of free music. Fans of Riley, early Kraftwerk and Joakim Skogsberg will find lots to love here! As long as you don't mind sax...
MPEG Stream: "Bakafrica"
MPEG Stream: "Fast Road To Nowhere"

KALMA, ARIEL Osmose (Beta-Lactam Ring) cd 14.98
There's something truly magical about music in nature. And we don't mean the music we find in nature, although more often than not, that natural music is far more interesting and beautiful then anything we humans can conjure up. No, we're talking about playing music -with- nature, -in-nature. The act of collaborating with something so big, so grand, so overwhelmingly complex, that sometimes just the mere act of creating sounds away from the studio or stage, just being outside in nature with your music, can seem truly divine. And as listeners, there is something thrilling about man and nature working together to make music. From the primitive forest black metal blast of Ulver recording Nattens Madrigal in the Norwegian woods, to the Jewelled Antler collective communing with nature, allowing wind and rain and sticks and stones to play as important a part in their music as they themselves, to the rain soaked ritual of Koukiji Kougezan's Live [11th] Final Hyakusenmansyuuraku, a near ambient performance for flute and sitar, with the falling rain, and thus nature, the focal point of the ritual / performance. So lovely, and vital, the music seems so much more whole, so much more alive, all intertwined with the elements.
Osmose was originally released in 1978 and found minimalist composer Ariel Kalma using all manner of keyboards, saxophone, harmonium, delays, effects, even circular breathing, to compose gorgeously minimal, softly spacey slow drifting ambient soundscapes, which were then mixed with the sounds of the rainforest (recorded by Richard Tinti). But unlike new age meditational music, this wasn't just music layered on top of random bits of field recordings, Kalma actually composed and mixed, edited and arranged his compositions to work with and within the sounds of the rainforest. Abstract melodies and warm chordal swirls, simple tribal war drums, perfectly blended with the calls of crickets and frogs and cicadas, the falling rain, birdsongs, flies, and all the sounds of the jungle forest. It sounds almost as if, while walking through the forest, you'd be just as likely to stumble across a bunch of analog synthesizers basking in a sunny glade or a wheezing harmonium perched in low hanging branches as you would frogs gathered by the edge of the stream. Sounds strange, but that's how interconnected the natural sounds are with Kalma's compositions. The distant animal calls sometimes form primitive loops, while Kalma paints them with warm soft smears of sound, extended drones and dreamy drifty ambience. Simple rhythms repeat while the sounds of the forest drift lazily by, everything sun dappled or rain soaked, It's almost like a pop ambient record recorded deep in the forest primeval. Or stumbling upon some ancient burial ground and discovering traces of some long gone krautrock jam, which over time had somehow sunk deep into the earth, or floated off into the sky, leaving nothing but memories, a handful of bones, sonic echoes of its former self. Sounds like ghosts, drifting like spirits through the leaves of the trees, floating weightless above the wet leaves and rich soil. Warm and fuzzy, dreamy and blissed out, so completely lovely and quite possibly our new favorite record to drift off to...
Includes three bonus tracks recorded at the same time as the original lp, but unreleased until now, as well as a booklet of liner notes detailing the lives of both Ariel Kalma and Richard Tinti, as well as the genesis of Osmose.
MPEG Stream: "Saxo Planetariel"
MPEG Stream: "Message 18.10.77"

KALMAH They Will Return (Century Media) cd 14.98
Yet another amazing band from the metal mecca of Finland. Bearing no small sonic resemblance to their countrymen and AQ faves Children Of Bodom, Kalmah take the melodic death metal of In Flames and Dark Tranquility, add ridiculously shredding guitar leads and fleet fingered keyboards and end up with a melodic metal masterpiece. Pounding double kick drums underpin the raging riffs, but melodies abound with Iron Maidenish harmony guitars and super melodic guitar/keyboard solos. My housemate who is a sucker for all things melodic death metal heard this and immediately said 'This is the best record ever.' While he says that about LOTS of records, you still get the idea. While the way-up-in-the-mix keyboards might deter some of you 'true' metalheads, the metal is more than heavy enough to balance it out. Includes a Megadeth cover too!
RealAudio clip: "Hollow Heart"
RealAudio clip: "Swamphell"

KAMINUMADA YOHJI 2nd Album (Ebisu Records) cd 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Obscure, modern-day Japanese psychedelic rock band, kind of like Ghost but perhaps folkier and poppier. With traditional Japanese elements as well. Nice.

KAMMERER, MARGARETH To Be an Animal of Real Flesh (Charizma) cd 15.98

KAMMERFLIMMER KOLLEKTIEF Absencen (Staubgold) cd 15.98
Another outing of hazy, jazz-dappled beauty from this instrumental German collective, I mean, kollektief, who are long-time AQ faves. Burbling drones, noirish atmospheres, electronic beats, lush melody, sampling and improv all combine on this gorgeous fifth album of theirs, Absencen. They've been compared (by us and others) to everyone from Fridge to Mum to AMM to Miles Davis... we're not gonna add any new names to that illustrious list for this review, rather we'd like to make the point that not only do they deserve such comparisons, Kammerflimmer now have pretty much established themselves as a standard for others to be compared against -- anyone who makes lovely, densely woven, textural soundscapey instrumentals that fall somewhere betwixt post-rock, jazz and electronica should be glad to be told they sound a bit like the Kammerflimmer Kollektief!
MPEG Stream: "Lichterloh"
MPEG Stream: "Equilibrium"

KAMMERFLIMMER KOLLEKTIEF Absencen (Staubgold) lp 14.98
Another outing of hazy, jazz-dappled beauty from this instrumental German collective, I mean, kollektief, who are long-time AQ faves. Burbling drones, noirish atmospheres, electronic beats, lush melody, sampling and improv all combine on this gorgeous fifth album of theirs, Absencen. They've been compared (by us and others) to everyone from Fridge to Mum to AMM to Miles Davis... we're not gonna add any new names to that illustrious list for this review, rather we'd like to make the point that not only do they deserve such comparisons, Kammerflimmer now have pretty much established themselves as a standard for others to be compared against -- anyone who makes lovely, densely woven, textural soundscapey instrumentals that fall somewhere betwixt post-rock, jazz and electronica should be glad to be told they sound a bit like the Kammerflimmer Kollektief!
MPEG Stream: "Lichterloh"
MPEG Stream: "Equilibrium"

KAMMERFLIMMER KOLLEKTIEF Cicadidae (Temporary Residence Ltd.) cd 14.98
One of the few "post rock" bands to play somber organic, electronica-imbued music and have it NOT be background filler, but full of emotion, narrative, texture, and meaning, Germany's Kammerflimmer Kollektief have delivered their prettiest album with Cicadidae. The squiggly processed electronics frolic, sounding like seagulls, over warm violin, harmonium drone, and chattery, shimmering drums. There's saxophone, vibraphone, double bass, all so evocative and melodic. Exploratory experimental jazz bits contrast nicely with the epic lush resolutions, reminding us sometimes of Amon Tobin's quieter moments, also Kreidler, To Rococo Rot, the Tied + Tickled Trio. Windy's new favorite record and one of the most satisfyingly lovely albums since Fridge's Eph. Just listen to that first sound clip and my guess is you'll be hooked.
MPEG Stream: "Neuhmon Inselhin"
MPEG Stream: "Blood"
MPEG Stream: "Mantra"

KAMMERFLIMMER KOLLEKTIEF Hysteria (Payola) cd 15.98
In contrast with their most recent album Maander, which pulsed and shuffled and rollicked along in a similar mellow electronica vein as To Rococo Rot, Fridge, and Boards of Canada, this new disc from this AQ fave band is a more abstract offering, with wheezing delicate violin and spare layers of sound. It sounds a lot like a less manipulatively weepy Dirty Three. Just lovely.
RealAudio clip: "Hysteria"

KAMMERFLIMMER KOLLEKTIEF Incommunicado ( Temporary Residence Ltd.) cd 13.98
The AQ-beloved German 6-piece, as we've noted in reviews of their other records, "take (post) rock and a bit of subtly handled electronics and mix them up so skillfully that it doesn't sound like a 'mix' anymore -- it sounds like an organic hazy wash of texture, rhythm and melody and infinite small sonic details -- little scrapings and cracklings -- mixed with the dark drama of Village of Savoonga, crazily shuffling jazzbo percussion, and the not-song-dependent melodicism of Ennio Morricone."
On Incommunicado, now finally released stateside, leader Thomas Weber asked the bandmembers to reinterpret their lovely Maander album, only this time the recording would be entirely improvised on different instruments (including guitar, strings, upright bass), and neither edited nor overdubbed. The recording is thus fresh, alive, and very very good. Those of us who already love Maander will enjoy this one too, it is substantially different and super interesting while still retaining the flavor (minus the electronics) of Kammerflimmer's signature sound. Recommended.
RealAudio clip: "Venti Latir"

KAMMERFLIMMER KOLLEKTIEF Jinx (Staubgold) cd 15.98
If you regularly peruse our New Arrivals list (of course you do!) then you're probably aware that we sometimes review an album the week it's released, or sometimes the week after, or even the week before, or a few months later, or even a whole year later. This is due to a lot of random factors, and also some constant ones -- like the number of hours in the day! All this by way of saying, this excellent new album (the sixth) from Germany's always dependable Kammerflimmer Kollektief came out a month or two back, and it's about time we got it up on our website!
A slowly unfolding, gloriously pretty affair, dense with buzz and shimmer, a mix of acoustic strings and electronic embellishment, gentle rhythms and lovely ambience. Never can tell just what to call 'em: post-rock, jazz, electronica, definitely a heavenly hybrid of all those things. Heck we could just call it krautrock couldn't we? Definitely falls into that tradition. Their moody mood this time around is even more calm and crackly and contemplative than we recall in the past, replete with harmonium and double bass drones... percussion and piano intertwining... and the abstract but alluring vocals of Heike Aumuller. As we like to say (feeling very self-reflective at the moment): quite nice!
MPEG Stream: "Palimpest"
MPEG Stream: "Jinx"

KAMMERFLIMMER KOLLEKTIEF Maander ( Temporary Residence Ltd.) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Abso-fucking-lutely brilliant record that got little attention when it was imported to the US last year. Temporary Residence has finally issued the all-instrumental Maander stateside, and perhaps now the German 6-piece will get the recognition it's due. Kammerflimmer Kollektief take (post) rock and a bit of subtly handled electronics and mix them up so skillfully that it doesn't sound like a "mix" anymore -- it sounds like its own genre (maybe "rocktronica"? maybe not), an organic hazy wash of texture, rhythm and melody and infinite small sonic details, a genius hybrid so well executed that Kammerflimmer's only peer is the UK trio Fridge (who achieved it with 1999's Eph. It makes sense then that Fridge's new album will be coming on out on Temporary Residence as well.) Imagine Oval's attention to details -- little scrapings and cracklings -- mixed with the dark drama of Village of Savoonga, crazily shuffling jazzbo percussion, and the not-song-dependent melodicism of Ennio Morricone. Yeah, it's that good.
RealAudio clip: "Mond?"
RealAudio clip: "Implodiert"
RealAudio clip: "Rand"
RealAudio clip: "Simultan"

KAMMERFLIMMER KOLLEKTIEF Remixed (Staubgold) cd 15.98
The title pretty much says it all... and the cover art tells you the rest. This cd features ten remixes of Kammerflimmer Kollektief tracks by Noze, Sutekh, Radian, Secondo, Lump200, David Last, Jan Jelinek, Aoki Takamasa and Hans Appelqvist. Each track sounds exactly like a textbook definition of "remix" -- skillfully dismembered, edited, and augmented glitchy electronica in which both artists are sufficiently 'represented'. That said, the Jan Jelinek and Aoki Takamasa tracks were particularly pleasing treatments of these German faves.
MPEG Stream: AOKI TAKAMASA "After The Rain - Remix"
MPEG Stream: JAN JELINEK "Unstet-Schleifen"

KAMPFAR Kvass (Napalm) cd 17.98
For some dumb reason, we love saying the name of this Norwegian black metal band... but mispronouncing it like "Campfire" with a pirate-y drawl. Campfarrr! Dunno why we enjoy that so much. It's the same with Finnish black metallers Barathrum. "BATHROOM" we call 'em, or maybe "Barthroom". And we chuckle like idiots. None of this is fair to Kampfar (or Barathrum for that matter). Kampfar are in fact very much a not-funny, totally true and serious Nordic pagan black metal proposition, having released several cultish albums in the past, efforts easily the equal of their more famous peers like Gorgoroth and Darkthrone and Enslaved in their early days. Actually we didn't even know they were still around, Kvass is their first album in SEVEN years! And thus, happily, that classic '90s style Norwegian black metal is what you get! Six long, heavy tracks with rasping vox, raw riffage, and some Viking folky bits as well. Frosty and spikey and grim, with lots of slower parts and majestic melodies underneath all the ice. Yah, Kampfarrrrr!
MPEG Stream: "Lyktemen"
MPEG Stream: "Til Siste Mann"

KANADA s/t (TMT) cd 16.98
Don't know too much about this Icelandic (not Canadian) group, but this record really knocked us out. Starts off sounding like a souped up, surfed up version of Finnish Casio-popsters Aavikko, but over the course of the next few tracks it turns into something even stranger. A bizarre mix of Barry-Adamson-esque noir soundtracks, pummelling rhythmic post rock, jazzy breakbeats, carnival music, super distorted Christmas carols, dark and ominous DJ Shadow / Godspeed epics (track 11), haunting skittery electronic soundscapes, all held together by omnipresent goofy noodly keyboards (ala Aavikko) and huge pounding drums. Super weird and super great!
RealAudio clip: "La Go"
RealAudio clip: "Demon Child"
RealAudio clip: "Skop Konunnar"

KANE, JONATHAN February (Table Of The Elements) cd 14.98
Jonathan Kane was a founding member and drummer of the Swans, as well as a collaborator with La Monte Young and Rhys Chatham. This his new solo record is sort of similar to the idea of Young's Forever Bad Blues Band, an intense and focused foot tappin' blissed out blues sizzler. Repetitious guitar riffs and pulsating percussion that draws you in and leaves you in a frenzy. You can practically hear the sweat dripping off of Kane's body. But don't be expecting any Swans pummel or Teutonic crush, this is pretty much basic blues rock through and through, but of course played with an intense and fierce focus. Includes a Rhys Chatham cover, "Guitar Trio". And as always, there's totally beautiful packaging from the folks at Table Of The Elements.
MPEG Stream: "Curl"
MPEG Stream: "Guitar Trio"

KANE, JONATHAN February (Table Of The Elements) lp 14.98
Jonathan Kane was a founding member and drummer of the Swans, as well as a collaborator with La Monte Young and Rhys Chatham. This his new solo record is sort of similar to the idea of Young's Forever Bad Blues Band, an intense and focused foot tappin' blissed out blues sizzler. Repetitious guitar riffs and pulsating percussion that draws you in and leaves you in a frenzy. You can practically hear the sweat dripping off of Kane's body. But don't be expecting any Swans pummel or Teutonic crush, this is pretty much basic blues rock through and through, but of course played with an intense and fierce focus. Includes a Rhys Chatham cover, "Guitar Trio". And as always, there's totally beautiful packaging from the folks at Table Of The Elements.
MPEG Stream: "Curl"
MPEG Stream: "Guitar Trio"

KANE, JONATHAN I Looked At The Sun (Table Of The Elements) cd ep 11.98
Picking up where his last record left off, Swans founding member Jonathan Kane returns with two more foot stomping blues sizzling instrumentals which use a pedigreed technique of building repetition that makes these tracks sound somewhere between excellent bar rock/blues with a hint of his more intense past and works with Rhys Chatham. Much like recent instrumental outings by Tom Verlaine (not that this sounds like that at all) it's actually sometimes nice to hear someone who seems to have aged gracefully and is playing what they want, with nothing to prove, and with a new found ease and confidence that seems appropriate with their moment in time.
MPEG Stream: "BQE"
MPEG Stream: "I Looked At The Sun"

KANENOBU, SACHIKO Misora (Chapter Music) cd 17.98
Heralded as supposedly the first Japanese female singer-songwriter, Sachiko Kanenobu's debut solo outing from 1972, Misora (Beautiful Sky), has an aura of legend. A hard-working presence in the burgeoning Osaka folk scene in the '60s, Sachiko worked for record labels and various bands before striking out on her own. Since it was rare for a woman to be playing her own songs, she quickly managed a record deal. But her love affair with American music critic, Paul Williams, forced her to decide to move to America three months before Misora was released. Without her in Japan to promote it, the record sank without a trace. While in America, she tried to revive her career with the help, of all people, sci-fi writer Phillip K. Dick (!!!), who had become friends with the couple through a piece by Williams for Rolling Stone. Dick, a longtime music obsessive, had always wanted to produce a female songwriter, but unfortunately died of a stroke before that could take place. Her major revival didn't occur until the early '90s when musicians from the buzzing Shibuya-kei scene, such as Cornelius, Takako Minekawa and Kenji Ozawa began citing Misora as a major influence and Misora as a favorite record. The music here is soft and dreamy reminiscent somewhat of Joni Mitchell but with her own innocent flair along with nice arrangements of flute and guitar. One can definitely trace Sachiko's influence on the dreamy sounds of Japanese female vocalists Takakao Minekawa, Tujiko Noriko, and Mineko Itakura from Angel'n Heavy Syrup. Beautiful!
MPEG Stream: "Look Up, The Sky Is Beautiful"
MPEG Stream: "I Wish It Would Snow"