KONONO NO.1 Congotronics (Crammed Discs) cd 16.98
Back in stock! Probably the biggest "hit" record here at AQ of the past year. We're super excited that they'll be coming to San Francisco to play at the Jazz Fest in November, by the way! Here's our review of Congotronics from when we first listed it back in January:
So here it is! Hard to believe it's finally here -- some of us have been waiting forever for this record, or at least ever since we discovered a tiny, super compressed, thirty second long sound clip on the internet over a year ago. In all of half a minute, we became OBSESSED. Completely captivated by this band's totally alien, lush, organic 'world music' weirdness. We eventually tracked down a (great) live record by Konono No.1, which we listed here a few weeks back, and then after tons of internet sleuthing and a bunch of emails we finally managed to get in touch with someone at the Crammed label in Belgium who was willing to sell us this brand new studio album directly, since they are without US distribution. Phew! So was it worth it? Hell yeah! Anyone who heard that infamous sound sample (which was from this album), or who got to hear the live record, knows that this band is totally amazing, and indeed this record is beautiful, wild and wonderful, chaotic and festive, totally perplexing but completely mesmerizing. For those who missed out on the live record (which we've also just restocked!) or are new to the wonders of Konono No.1, here's the story: twenty five years ago, Konono formed in Kinshasa (the capital of Zaire), performing their own version of traditional Bazombo trance music, incorporating the then-unwanted distortions of their haphazard homemade sound system. They left the bush and settled in the capital where they were forced to compete with the harsh sounds of the city: cars, trains, buses, shouting, etc. So with very little to work with they fashioned pick-ups, microphones, loudspeakers and amplifiers from stuff they could find on the street -- old car batteries, pots and pans, magnets, even branches. Their main instrument is the likembe, a kind of thumb piano. Konono features three of 'em (bass, medium and treble) and the sound of the electrified and amplified likembe is what defines their sound. Accompanied by dancers and percussionists, the likembes wail and drone, buzz and moan, totally overblown and distorted, sounding a little like sixties fuzz guitars, turning a glorious high life jam into something much more strange and wonderful. Super rhythmic, and thick with the buzzing melodies of the likemebe's, Konono weave a massive sound. It's the wildest weirdest street party you've ever been to. Throbbing with energy and emotion, rambuctiously rollicking and totally infectious. Seven lengthy tracks that all sort of bleed and fuse into one epic world-psych jam. The African high life Hawkwind? So so great!
Check out this video clip:
http://www.crammed.be/craworld/movies/konono_promo.mov
MPEG Stream: "Lufuala Ndonga"
MPEG Stream: "Masikulu"

KONONO NO.1 Congotronics (Ache Records) lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The vinyl version of AQ mega-fave Congotronics is BACK IN STOCK! Here's our review from way back when we first listed the cd:
Some of us have been waiting forever for this record, or at least ever since we discovered a tiny, super compressed, thirty second long sound clip on the internet over a year ago. In all of half a minute, we became OBSESSED. Completely captivated by this band's totally alien, lush, organic 'world music' weirdness. We eventually tracked down a (great) live record by Konono No.1, which we listed here a few weeks back, and then after tons of internet sleuthing and a bunch of emails we finally managed to get in touch with someone at the Crammed label in Belgium who was willing to sell us this brand new studio album directly, since they are without US distribution. Phew! So was it worth it? Hell yeah! Anyone who heard that infamous sound sample (which was from this album), or who got to hear the live record, knows that this band is totally amazing, and indeed this record is beautiful, wild and wonderful, chaotic and festive, totally perplexing but completely mesmerizing. For those who missed out on the live record (which we've also just restocked!) or are new to the wonders of Konono No.1, here's the story: twenty five years ago, Konono formed in Kinshasa, an area between Congo and Angola, performing their own version of traditional Bazombo trance music, incorporating the then-unwanted distortions of their haphazard homemade sound system. They left the bush and settled in the capital where they were forced to compete with the harsh sounds of the city: cars, trains, buses, shouting, etc. So with very little to work with they fashioned pick-ups, microphones, loudspeakers and amplifiers from stuff they could find on the street -- old car batteries, pots and pans, magnets, even branches. Their main instrument is the likembe, a kind of thumb piano. Konono features three of 'em (bass, medium and treble) and the sound of the electrified and amplified likembe is what defines their sound. Accompanied by dancers and percussionists, the likembes wail and drone, buzz and moan, totally overblown and distorted, sounding a little like sixties fuzz guitars, turning a glorious high life jam into something much more strange and wonderful. Super rhythmic, and thick with the buzzing melodies of the likemebe's, Konono weave a massive sound. It's the wildest weirdest street party you've ever been to. Throbbing with energy and emotion, rambunctiously rollicking and totally infectious. Seven lengthy tracks that all sort of bleed and fuse into one epic world-psych jam. The African high life Hawkwind? So so great!
Check out this video clip:
http://www.crammed.be/craworld/movies/konono_promo.mov
MPEG Stream: "Lufuala Ndonga"
MPEG Stream: "Masikulu"

KONONO NO.1 Live At Couleur Cafe (Crammed Discs) cd 12.98
Yay! These AQ faves -- everyone's faves -- from Kinshasa are back with another exciting dose of their "Congotronics". Chances are, especially if you're a regular AQ customer, that you know all about 'em already, and maybe even got to see them at one of the shows that (lucky for us!) they've played over the past couple years in San Francisco. Live is where it's at for them, a sweaty, joyous, unstoppable, never-ending groove heavily laced with the sound of their signature instrument: the DIY homebuilt electric amplified African thumb-piano (called a likembe). In the hands of Konono No.1, it produces a bright, burbling, somewhat distorted, almost-electronic-keyboard sort of sound that we immediately fell in love with way back when we first heard the band. But that of course is not all, there's plenty of percolating percussion underpinning the likembe melodies, over which they do exuberant vocal toasts and call-and-response chants. When they get going full-on, you'll want to turn it up LOUD and let the whole neighborhood enjoy the energetic density of Konono No.1.
Eight tracks, 52 minutes total, recorded live (sounding great!) in Belgium. Some songs you might recognize from versions on the previous two Konono discs (Lubuaku and Congotronics), others are previously unrecorded. All will get your body moving, guaranteed. This is dance music, nothin' but. At home alone, unwilling to dance? It'll still bring a mesmerized smile to your face for sure.
MPEG Stream: "A.E.I.O.U."
MPEG Stream: "Nsimba & Nzuzi"

KONONO NO.1 Lubuaku (Terp) cd 18.98
We have been totally obsessed with these guys (as have the rest of you judging from how many folks have called and emailed about them and already bought a ton of copies from us before this review even was written) for at least a year if not more and until now there hasn't been a thing (other than a minute long mp3 sample available on Crammed Discs' website) which has been taunting us with the promise of a full length from these guys. So until that fabled Crammed Discs release actually comes out we've got this little nugget to tide you over. And it's no small shakes neither. Though we only learned of them recently Konono No.1 have been around for some 25 years. Hailing from Kinshasa, Congo, Konono No.1 are true African punk rock. They are real D.I.Y. Not putting on shows and printing zines, no, how about building their own instruments from found scraps and dismantled machinery and retrofitting and electrifying traditional instruments! For instance the lead musician Mingiedi Mawangu has taken his likembe (thumb piano), rigged it up to pickups (self-built from hammered parts purloined from car starter motors) and amplified it with a custom built amplifier driven by a car battery, using microphones built out of copper wire and branches. How cool is that! And the sounds these instruments produce is amazing. The likembe, with its muted gentle melodic thrum, is turned into an overdriven buzzing melodic powerhouse that sounds like nothing you've ever heard. Well, sometimes it sounds a bit like some sort of psychedelic alien fuzz guitar, but mostly it just sounds amazing and bizarre. The songs are all very melodically similar and mesh into one massive hour long jam, with wild percussion, chanted vocals, and of course the wailing Likembe. So completely amazing. Every time we play this in the store, someone buys one. Immediately.
Seven extended tracks, recorded live and released on the Ex's label Terp.
MPEG Stream: "Ditshe Tshiekutala"
MPEG Stream: "Ku Hollande"

KONONO NO.1 / THE DEAD C Split Series 18 (Fat Cat) 12" 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
If there was ever a more unlikely split record, we sure can't think of one. But if there was ever a split we'd most like to see, it would be hard to do better than Konono No1 and the Dead C. Not sure if the two bands are a perfect fit, or just happen to satisfy our weirdly eclectic tastes, but this split 12" is fucking amazing. Two new tracks from Konono No 1, who if you are an avid reader of the AQ list are no doubt already familiar with ( we carry both their full lengths, their live record Lubuaku, as well as their studio album Congotronics). An African ensemble led by a trio of amplified Likembes (thumb pianos) and whose equipment is cobbled together from car parts, branches, batteries and other urban detritus. The sound is wild and joyful, rollicking and totally exuberant, the likembes sounding like some alien underwater psychedelic guitars. Wow. And then there's the Dead C. What can you say? One of the most important bands to ever come out of New Zealand. The masters and originators of the NZ free rock sound that has influenced hundreds of bands and been copied by hundreds more. The first 5 tracks are locked grooves, but skip past those (or not!) and you'll find three brand new tracks, 17 minutes of the Dead C in clattery chaotic rock mode, bursts of stumbling, distorted, propulsive free rock, like some lost Krautrock classic, played through crappy practice amps and on a beat up old drum kit, everything drenched in tape hiss and recorded in some cavernous space. Now if they had only managed to get Konono to record WITH the Dead C...
MPEG Stream: KONONO NO1 "Masikulu"
MPEG Stream: THE DEAD C "2"
MPEG Stream: THE DEAD C "3"

KONTAKT DER JUNGLINGE -1 (Die Stadt) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
With the same generic packaging: a white cd envelope and no-nonsense typography, as its predecesors, Kontakt Der Junglinge's third album reveals the novel concept that the order of their ongoing catalogue is heading in reverse, from "1" to "0" and now at "-1." Here, the German duo of Asmus Tietchens and Thomas Koner present another live documentation, this time at the Lagerhaus in Bremen, Germany. Initially, the artists appear to alternate between their individual styles as the sterile, neutered sounds of Tietchens' electro-acoustics takes center stage at first followed by Koner's prediliction for the very cold dronescapes of isolationism. Despite the two working methodologies, Tietchens and Koner appear to have found common ground in their drawing from an industrial landscape -- something like an iron foundry or a nuclear power plant. Throughout the album, both parties incorporate the scraping sounds of what could be heavy metal objects being dragged across a concrete floor. The intrinsic din of an architectural space gradually becomes more present, beginning with the processed drones from air vents then expanding into ominous electro-static cracklings and finally erupting into massive turbine-engine slabs of noise. As both Koner and Tietchens are masters at sonic engineering, it's a little difficult to discern what (if anything) may have come from field recordings of such industrial spaces or if they've managed to perfect electronic manipulation as a simulation of organic constructions. Regardless, Kontakt Der Junglinge have come up with another great noise / drone recording.
RealAudio clip: "Excerpt 1"
RealAudio clip: "Excerpt 2"

KONTAKT DER JUNGLINGE 0 (Die Stadt) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
"0" is the second installment in the apparent series of live releases from Kontakt Der Junglinge, a collaboration between Thomas Koner and Asmus Tietchens. Recorded in the formerly Eastern Bloc controlled German port town of Rostock inside the M.S. Stubnitz -- a working ship that has been converted into a multi-purpose arts space, "0" maintains a thematic connection to the sea. Using what appears to be timestretched and downpitched 909 bass kicks, Kontakt Der Junglinge introduces slow repititions of deep booming rumbles accompanied by extended synthetic drones and a vast, ever-shifting array of rushing sounds as if the two had sampled the network of steam, exhaust, air, and oil pipes which run through the ship itself. Occasionally, very distant techno thumps (reflecting Koner's previous work in Porter Ricks), electronically synthesized drips, and environmental recordings also work their way into the composition which is grimly colored with blacks and charcoal greys, although it never appears murky or muddled. Another very nice record from Die Stadt.
RealAudio clip: "0 (excerpt 1)"
RealAudio clip: "0 (excerpt 2)"
RealAudio clip: "0 (excerpt 3)"

KONTAKT DER JUNGLINGE 1 (Die Stadt) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Two noted German electronic composers Thomas Koner (of Porter Ricks) and Asmus Teitchens gave this collaborative project a hybridized name of two compositions by Karlheinz Stockhausen -- "Kontakt" and "Gesang Der Junglinge." Their first documentation is a bit unusual for both artists, as it is a live recording taken from a performance in Bremen, Germany in late 1999. While both artists have made quite a number of live appearances throughout Europe, their focus has always been in the studio production of their work. In terms of stage presence, I can only assume that Kontakt Der Junglinge is downright dull, with Koner hunched over his powerbook and seeming incredibly active when compared to Tietchens, who merely presses "play" on a DAT player and looks serious.
Fortunately, Die Stadt didn't issue "1" as a video, effectively removing the physical presence (or lack thereof) of Koner and Tietchens from the listening experience, and simply leaving the amazing sounds behind. The 45 minute Kontakt Der Junglinge begins as a slow 'n' steady series of deep rumbles which are gradually accompanied by very distant Arvo Part-like choral elements. Later still, oceanic swells of processed static and granular synthesis fluidly encroach into the mix and take over the low end rumblings. As Tietchens' DAT whirrs ahead, fragments appear from his "A-Menge" album of asynchronous computerized clicks. Koner treats these sounds with a considerable amount of isolationist reverb, eroding some of the sharp edges of Tietchens' clinical sounds. Altogether, this is an exceptional record easily on par with anything that either artist has produced to date. Well worth checking out!
RealAudio clip: "1 snippet 1"
RealAudio clip: "1 snippet 2"

KONTAKT DER JUNGLINGE N (Die Stadt) cd 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
As good as the previous three Kontakt Der Junglinge records are, "N" is perhaps the most perfectly realized synthesis of the aesthetics of Thomas Koner and Asmus Tietchens, the two artists who comprise Kontakt Der Junglinge. In their respective solo careers, both artists have developed exceptionally strong sound signatures, with Koner preferring an edgy isolationist quality in his cinematically grand drones, and Tietchens honing the language of cosmic electronics which he pioneered alongside Cluster, Conrad Schnitzler, and Brian Eno back in the '70s. Where the previous albums had either alternated between the two distinct styles or positioned each other's sounds in a dialogue of polite conflict, this album quietly merges the two voices into a singular expansive voice. Archetypally Tietchens-tones encapsulating a sterile plasticity, expand and collapse slowly throughout the album, while Koner's cavernous bass frequencies cradle each of Tietchens' sounds with his arctic atmospheres and lulling soundscapes. As with all of the Kontakt Der Junglinge album,"N" is a live recording; this time, the performance was held at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and happens to also be the quietest of their collaborations, which certainly helps to achieve the album's delicate balance. Highly recommended to all fans of dronemusik.
MPEG Stream: "Excerpt 1"
MPEG Stream: "Excerpt 2"

KOOL & THE GANG Live At P.J.'s Hollywood, California (Reel Music) cd 14.98
For most casual listeners of music, Kool & The Gang will forever be remembered (and dismissed) for their platinum eighties mega-hit "Celebration". Which is a damn shame! That song alone has nearly built a wall so high over their past efforts that it's hard to convince people that in the seventies, there wasn't a harder working live band or tighter funk unit outside of James Brown & the JB's than Kool & The Gang. Even those familiar with their early funk hits, "Jungle Boogie", "Funky Stuff" or "Hollywood Swinging" (all from their 1973 album Wild and Peaceful) may not realize they put out five records of underrated solid grooves before that. Live At PJ's from 1971 was the band's third album, and their second live album released in a row. A hectic night after night touring schedule of gigs across the country had given the band the necessary chops to pull off one of the most exciting sets committed to wax. Not only were they tight on the funk side, but confident enough on the jazz side of things to get more exploratory and expansive. On the opener "N.T." (short for No Title), both funk and jazz sides are on full display at once. While they are known for having a killer horn section, the most amazing thing about this band is the flute leads, especially on "Sombrero Sam" and "Lucky For Me". Live at PJ's is largely an instrumental record, with occasional vocalizing on a couple of tracks, as the band at this point hadn't expanded much beyond it's soul-jazz roots into the full on funk band it would later become. But it's later hip-hop credentials become apparent on the last song (before the bonus track) "Dujii" as its opening groove became the foundation for "Jazz Thing" by Gang Starr. So awesome, that this underrated live set is available once again! Highly recommended.
MPEG Stream: "N.T."
MPEG Stream: "Lucky For Me"
MPEG Stream: "Dujii"

KOOL & THE GANG Wild And Peaceful (De-Lite) lp 14.98

KOOL DJ RIZE Who's the MC (Malvado) lp 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
An 8-track mini-LP of sorts from this local DJ whose smooth production carries over into the nice hip hop breaks and scratching. Certainly a great scratching record to drop in one's set.

KOOL G RAP & DJ POLO Best Of Cold Chillin' (Landspeed / Cold Chillin') cd 15.98
Totally smoking old school rap, back when that simply meant an MC and a DJ equipped with just turntables and a drum machine, none of that fancy modern bull. Kool G Rap and DJ Polo released two records together ('89 and '92) with producers Marley Marl and Eric B and left an indelible mark on hiphop. Specializing in street stories and raunchy sex tales, their 'Riker's Island' was covered by Noreaga, and their classic 'Streets of New York' will have you bobbing and weaving like you never heard hip hop before.
RealAudio clip: "Streets of New York"

KOOL KEITH Black Elvis/Lost In Space (Columbia/Ruffhouse) cd 15.98
Here at Aquarius we are of the opinion that Kool Keith is at his very best on the classic Dr Octagon record, his scatalogical rapping perfectly complemented by the Automator's booming, kick ass hiphop instrumentation and by QBert's inimitable turntablist skills. Followup albums such as 'Sex Style' and Dr Dooom disappointed way more than they pleased, which we strongly think is due to the presence of Kut Masta Kurt, instead of the Automator, at the mixing board. (Perhaps this is a coastal thing -- we know many folks in NYC disagree with us... but they're all wrong!) That said, we are happy to report that Keith's new persona as the Black Elvis is a much more successful effort. Neither Kurt nor the Automator is represented here much, but whoever partnered with Keith this time knew to keep the beats mixed far below the rhymes. Keith's rapping is crystal clear and as full of headscratching nonsequiters as ever. Recommended! LP is not yet available (end of August).

KOOL KEITH Collabs Tape (Nocturne) 2cd 24.00

KOOL KEITH Matthew (Funky Ass Records) cd 17.98
Yet another new album of messed up rap from this Ultramagnetic MC alum (the man formerly known as Doctor Octagon). Though we were rolling on the floor by the end of the first song, the first time around, the joke has clearly begun to wear thin for Mr Keith (for those who didn't see the tarnished brass on his ass a few records back). I don't know, maybe he just needs a really good producer, or a shitload of coke, or maybe a shitload less coke, but whatever it is, he needs something to keep Senstional from stealing his 'most fucked rapper' crown.

KOOL KEITH Sex Style Instrumentals (Funky Ass) 2lp 15.98

KOOL KEITH Spankmaster (TVT) cd 16.98
Slowly but surely, Kool Keith is losing his charm. After three progressively bad post-Dr. Octagon records (plus the inexplicably horrible Analog Brothers), we're beginning to realize just how stale Keith really is without Dan the Automator. Sure, Dr. Dooom had its moments, and Black Elvis was a somewhat humorous dis record, and yes, Keith definitely has an awesome, unmatchable vocal style; but how can he top the brilliant production and weirdness of Dr. Octagonecologyst? Twenty songs, more sex than Sex style. Buy the Cannibal Ox or the new Sensational record instead.

KOOL KEITH Thee Undatakerz (Activate Ent.) cd 12.98

KOOL MOE DEE s/t (Traffic Entertainment Group / Jive) cd 16.98

KOOLAID (GLOBAL TYRANNY) s/t (Agitated) lp + cd 16.98
We first experienced the twisted collaged psychedelic whatthefuckness of Koolaid (Global Tyranny) (and yeah, that's their whole name) on the Agitated Records Record Store Day 12", which also featured the Heads, Carlton Melton and Mugstar, and because of the fact that those are three of our favorite groups, we were guessing we'd probably dig Koolaid too, and we did, big time, describing their track as "the weirdest of the bunch, groovy, and almost funky, thick steel string strum, all wreathed in psychedelic guitar noise, laced with some weird samples, drug related of course... all wound into a sound noisyÊand weirdly tripped out." It was pretty bonkers for sure, but even as nuts as that track was, it barely prepared us for how fucking utterly far out and deliriously drug addled this new full length is.
Four epic tracks, totally drugged out hypnotic space rock of course, but that's just part of the equation, the band set up a groove, usually super simple and minimal, spaced out and krautrocky, and then over the top, they basically let loose, a barrage of samples, all twisted up and layered and doused in effects, some looped rhythmically, others slowed down and sped up, and on top of that sheets of strange drones and whirs, clouds of swooping echo and delay, all manner of backwards melodies, the musical part slipping easily from minimal hushed lope, to pounding wah wah guitar drenched Stooges-y psychedelic stomp, to buzzy raga, to dirgey almost Buttholes Surfer sounding drug rock, but again, it's what's going on all around it, which is like a symphony of malfunctioning samplers gone haywire, the best moments when the band somehow tangle up samples with soaring shredding leads, it's like Negativland meets the Heads, which sounds fucked up, and it is, but in the best possible way. On top of that, the record comes with a bonus cd, which includes the whole record, BUT it's an entirely different mix of the record, apparently at the insistence of the band. Heavy and twisted and psychedelic and dizzyingly out of this world and the musical equivalent to about a hundred hits of acid washed down with a bottle of cough syrup and a handful of thorazine.
MPEG Stream: "18/11"
MPEG Stream: "Intercity Firm"

KOOZITO Midnight Movie Stills, Volume One (NA# Records) cd 11.98

KOPERNIK s/t (Eastern Development) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This record is so goddamn beautiful. Hard to know how to describe it. It reminds me of the sonic equivalent of those time lapse films where you watch the seasons pass in a matter of minutes, sunrise, sunset, plants slowly unfurling and blossoming, before wilting and falling to the ground, snow and then rain and then sun, everything moving at an accelerated pace, but blending and merging into a completely mesmeric and hypnotic fugue. Sort of like that. The tag on the cd mentions Godspeed and the Rachel's, and while those are the easiest comparisons (Godspeed because it's so epic, and the Rachel's because it's sort of chamber music) they don't at all hint at the complexity and depth of this Kopernik record. Thick and throbbing, undulating bass is the foundation, cellos, and upright basses, double basses, bowed and plucked, create a viscous and dense bed of rumbling, pulsing low end over which delicate, glistening melodies are sprinkled. This is ambient music, but so rich with layer after layer of delicate sound, that form an impossibly complex and challenging and beautiful listen. While rooted in this bass heavy, epic classical ambience, these songs do stretch in all sorts of improbable directions. Gorgeously lush chamber music, with digital glitches and hiccups, reminscent of Oval's Diskont, but instead of sounding underwater it sounds like it's floating in midair. A medieval court music, sort of grand and pompous, but also a bit forboding, like a much more GRIM Penguin Cafe Orchestra with burbling bass and loping melodies. Dark and cinematic, suspenseful and harrowing noirscapes with thick walls of lower register thrum with heavily affected backward vocals. Lonely and desolate, but so sincere and emotional. A perfect late night record of soothing dreaminess and nocturnal mesmer, but unlike many similar records, it can stand up to serious listening, offering even more when time is taken to explore its rich mysteries.
MPEG Stream: "Ondoyany Et Divers"
MPEG Stream: "Theme For Grace"
MPEG Stream: "Man, Myth, And Magic"

KOPP, HERMANN Nekronology (Red Stream) cd 12.98
Some of us here are definitely beginning to show our age, as we got this in, a collection of soundtracks from these cult eighties (and nineties) horror films, we wanted to reminisce about the movies, and pretty much no one we asked had even heard of them! But for those of you who ARE our age, and who came of age in the eighties and nineties, or who are just weird transgressive film obsessives, you are no doubt familiar with cult horror film director by Jorg Buttgereit, and if not, you are probably at least familiar with his most infamous film, Nekromantik,
Buttgereit was the toast of underground film (although was also loathed by many), his films were ridiculous, and gross, and sometimes hilarious, other times totally disturbing, 1987's Nekromantik is arguably his masterpiece, focusing on a guy who does crime scene clean up and who finds a corpse and brings it home for his wife and him to have a menage a trois with, but then his wife leaves him and takes the corpse with her after he is fired (there's an infamous scene where she sticks a steel pipe into the corpse's pelvis and puts a rubber on it so she can have sex with the corpse), he hires a prostitute, kills her and has sex with here, then kills himself, and ejaculates while dying, nice huh? But at the time, it was like nothing any of us had ever scene. 1989's Ter Todesking was way more disturbing, very abstract and experimental, an episodic look at suicide and violent death, each episode corresponding to a day of the week, and a different death, culminating in an infamous scene where a character bangs his head against the wall until he finally dies (one which aQ Jim remembers as being particularly disturbing), and then finally, the Nekromatik sequel from 1991, with the new main character digging up the old main character from the first film, then of course lots of killing and sex with dead people, severed heads (a scene where the new main character decapitates her partners head and replaces it with the head from the corpse she dug up in the beginning of the film), and so on. Like we said, ridiculous and over the top, perversely entertaining.
We had sort of forgotten about the music, the visuals being so completely mesmerizing, but we just managed to scare up a handful of these collections, which gather the music from all three films, and holy cow, even, removed from the films, these tracks are surprisingly haunting and powerful, darkly evocative and mysterious, strange operatic vocalisations, haunting gypsy folk, minor key string sections augmented by moody synths, chanted voices, chiming bells, wheezing violins, sound effects liberally included, dripping water, which in some cases are heavily effected and transformed into weirdly rhythmic arrangements, mournful horns bleat, drones drift and undulate, a lot of this sounds a bit like those funerary violin cd-r's, super freaky instrumental squeals that ends with what can only be the sounds of a dead limb being hacked off, haunting almost atonal string quartet. like a slowed down, warped Balanescu Quartet, haunting Tom Waits-ish creepy clatter, with whining violing being transmitted through a crappy little transistor radio, with clanking slow motion rhythms, creepy underwater sound scapes of burbling and swooshing space sound effects, industrial buzz, with a distant mournful melody, all scratchy played over the top and even occasional full on synth heavy Goblin horrorscapes, all of the tracks here are pretty great, weird and moody, dark and a little bit ominous, definitely has us wanting to see the movies again, but on their own, if you're after some dark sonic mystery, this stuff might just do the trick.
MPEG Stream: "The Loving Dead"
MPEG Stream: "Poison"
MPEG Stream: "Unholy"
MPEG Stream: "Man Drowning Himself In Bathtub"
MPEG Stream: "Zwi Sabbatai"

KOPSTEIN, JACQUES a (Frenetic) cd 11.98
Jacques Kopstein is actually Marty Anderson of local rockers Dilute. 'a' is his first solo record and it's pretty fucking great. Great, but really, really strange. Anderson plays all the instruments and does all the singing and even drew all the pictures. The disc starts off with wildly careening demented circus music but quickly mutates into gently strummed, dreamy and damaged folk pop, which is where it stays for most of the rest of the record. The Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev come immediately to mind. Beautiful pop songs stretched and twisted and peppered with bizarre sounds and populated by peculiar instruments, Anderson's keening sad boy wail and catchy-as-hell hooks.
RealAudio clip: "Sunshine"
RealAudio clip: "Are To Spend Not Eternity"
RealAudio clip: "Power"

KORAY, ERKIN 2 (World Psychedelia Ltd) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Anyone who dug last year's cd reissue of Erkin Koray's Elektronik Turkuler LP probably also will want to suck on this aural hookah, the man's second album (we would assume from the title -- the English language info here is scant -- but it might actually be his third!) from the mid-seventies. It's another fantastic, psychedelic foray into the East-West juxtaposition of Turkish folk and acid guitar rock...well, compared to Elektronik Turkuler this is perhaps a blend somewhat less psych, more traditional, but still totally great. We just can't get enough of this stuff (see elsewhere this list for another fine example, the Edip Akbayram & Dostlar album!) and we're pretty sure you can't either. On 2, Turkish guitar god Koray's middle eastern grooves move from stately and orchestrated to more lively, rockin' rhythms, all the tracks drawn from singles circa '72 to '76, plus earlier non-album bonus cuts going back to 1967, including an acoustic version of one of the Elektronik Turkuler hits.
MPEG Stream: "Estarabim"
MPEG Stream: "Gonul Salincagi"

KORAY, ERKIN 2 (Dogan) lp 32.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

KORAY, ERKIN Elektronik Turkuler (Dogan / World Psychedelia Ltd.) cd 17.98
The Middle Eastern psych rock obsession continues to rage here at Aquarius! Nothin' better than the exotic sounds of swingin' sixties Istanbul (or a close approximation). Here's a cd reissue of a 1974 album by guitarist/vocalist Erkin Koray, known as the Jimi Hendrix of Turkey. Maybe that comparison isn't the most accurate (there's nothing as heavy as "Purple Haze" here), but at least it gives you an idea of the East-meets-West grooves found on Elektronik Turkuler. Two cultures, one counterculture, it seems. With sinuous "belly-dancing" tunes rocked up with distorted electric guitar, rock n' roll beats, some wild flute playing, and the occasional lysergic organ freakout, this is an authentic "magic carpet ride" as it were, culminating in the 9-minute "Turku" complete with spoken word incantations and freaky sound effects. The traditional-sounding vocals are all in Turkish, some of the tunes are clearly adaptations of traditional Turkish music as well. Anyone who really dug the John Berberian Middle Eastern Rock disc we listed a few months back, or loves those great Turkish Delights or Hava Nargile compilations (both of which feature Koray tracks), should check this album out.
MPEG Stream: "Karli Daglar"
MPEG Stream: "Inat"

KORAY, ERKIN Mechul: Singles & Rarities (Sublime Frequencies) cd 16.98
Originally highlighted this last year back on New Arrivals #380, and we're listing it again now 'cause, as you may have heard, Mr. Koray is going to be paying us a visit tomorrow! So if you've somehow missed out on Koray's stuff before, this one will clue you in about why we're such fans.
Uh, c'mon, how could this NOT be awesome? Sublime Frequencies never fails us, first off. AND we're already fans of vintage Turkish psych in general, guitarist/vocalist Erkin Koray in particular. So this release, with its excellent eyeballs-shooting-purple-rays-from-space-or-whatever cover painting, was eagerly anticipated at AQ. And yeah it's awesome. As the subtitle says, this consists of singles and rarities circa 1970-'77 from this Middle Eastern psych rock master, founder of "the first underground group of the Orient", a living legend whose career stretches back to the '50s. Rarities? Well, compiler Mark Gergis notes in the liners: "This collection features tracks not found on the many unauthorized Erkin compilations and LP reissues that have emerged in the west over the years." And indeed these eleven tracks were provided to Sublime Frequencies by Koray himself, sourced from his personal vinyl collection! So, listen up, 'cause this is the stuff Erkin wants us to hear, and well, if you're any sort of Turkish psych fan like us, you NEED to hear it. Tracks like "Kendim Ettim Kendim Buldum" and "Hadi Hadi Ordan" are going to make you very happy. Swirling and shimmering, twanging surfy electric saz (or is that oud?), melodic deep droning vocals, bellydancing folk motifs, stirring orchestration, and YES some wild blasts of psychrockguitar distortion, it's the exotic East (lots of East) meets West sort of thing we just love! While some of this is wonderfully moody, a lot of it rocks, all right, ferinstance just crank up "Krallar" (a '75 single from whence that striking cover image comes) with its especially dramatic vocals to match its uptempo urgency.
Digipack cd release still available, we've got a last few copies left of the vinyl version but we bet those will be gone after Saturday, when he's here. Funny, we originally ended this review with the following: Is it too much to hope that Sublime Frequencies will get Erkin to undertake a Western tour like labelmate Omar Souleyman, one of these days...? Still hoping, and it seems more and more likely, doesn't it? Especially if we get a big turnout tomorrow of people wanting to meet him!
MPEG Stream: "Mechul"
MPEG Stream: "Ve..."
MPEG Stream: "Hadi Hadi Ordan"

KORAY, ERKIN Mechul: Singles & Rarities (Sublime Frequencies) lp 25.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
YES! Now (while they last...) on vinyl, in a nice gatefold jacket. Limited of course, like all Sublime Frequencies releases, desirable in this life and the next.
Here's what we wrote about the digipack cd version that came out a few weeks back...
Uh, c'mon, how could this NOT be awesome? Sublime Frequencies never fails us, first off. AND we're already fans of vintage Turkish psych in general, guitarist/vocalist Erkin Koray in particular. So this release, with its excellent eyeballs-shooting-purple-rays-from-space-or-whatever cover painting, was eagerly anticipated at AQ. And yeah it's awesome. As the subtitle says, this consists of singles and rarities circa 1970-'77 from this Middle Eastern psych rock master, founder of "the first underground group of the Orient", a living legend whose career stretches back to the '50s. Rarities? Well, compiler Mark Gergis notes in the liners: "This collection features tracks not found on the many unauthorized Erkin compilations and LP reissues that have emerged in the west over the years." And indeed these eleven tracks were provided to Sublime Frequencies by Koray himself, sourced from his personal vinyl collection! So, listen up, 'cause this is the stuff Erkin wants us to hear, and well, if you're any sort of Turkish psych fan like us, you NEED to hear it. Tracks like "Kendim Ettim Kendim Buldum" and "Hadi Hadi Ordan" are going to make you very happy. Swirling and shimmering, twanging surfy electric saz (or is that oud?), melodic deep droning vocals, bellydancing folk motifs, stirring orchestration, and YES some wild blasts of psychrockguitar distortion, it's the exotic East (lots of East) meets West sort of thing we just love! While some of this is wonderfully moody, a lot of it rocks, all right, ferinstance just crank up "Krallar" (a '75 single from whence that striking cover image comes) with its especially dramatic vocals to match its uptempo urgency.
Is it too much to hope that Sublime Frequencies will get Erkin to undertake a Western tour like labelmate Omar Souleyman, one of these days...?
MPEG Stream: "Mechul"
MPEG Stream: "Ve..."
MPEG Stream: "Hadi Hadi Ordan"

KORAY, ERKIN s/t (World Psychedelia Ltd) cd 19.98

KORAY, ERKIN s/t (Turkuola) lp 33.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

KORAY, ERKIN Silinmeyen Hatiralar (Turkuola) lp 33.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

KORAY, ERKIN Tutkusu (Underground Masters) cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

KORBER, TOMAS Effacement (Cut) cd 17.98
Tomas Korber is a Swiss avant-guitarist who has enjoyed many a collaboration with the likes of Keith Rowe, Toshimaru Nakamura, and Otomo Yoshihide. His work emerges from the microsound school of pristine digitality, with the guitar being an electro-acoustic springboard for noise, grains, textures, harmonics, and overtones that get further distilled through laptop tricks. Effacement is not unlike a Christian Fennesz / Bernhard Gunter collaboration, if such a thing were to take place. Fizzing electricity steadily builds up to crescendos of thick locust chorales; shimmered surfaces of post-Birchville Cat Motel amplifier drones slowly dissolve down to the point of near silence; and rasping clatters of digital noise do blast forth, but in very small doses cast against the long passages of subdued activity.
MPEG Stream: "Thermo"
MPEG Stream: "Too Thin A Skin"
MPEG Stream: "The Synaptic Spell"

KOREA SOUNDBLASTER s/t (Dom Elchklang) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

KOREAN BLACK EYES, THE s/t (PlusTapes) cassette 5.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
After a flurry of contemporary releases, Chris Connely, Chicago Thrash Ensemble, Mako Sica, PlusTapes returns with another mindblowing archival release, this one comes from Korea, and is the collected works of an all girl trashy rock and roll garage band called the Korean Black Eyes, who totally kick ass. Brash and snotty and groovy. The opening jam, is all buzzing bass, reverbed surf guitar, pounding drums, bleating sax, and some seriously raspy bad ass lead vocals, complete with wild throat shredding screams, her voice rough and raw and so passionate. The second track finds the Black Eyes getting all groovy and funky and soulful, adding some warm whirring organ to the mix, channeling Sly Stone and Funkadelic, but giving it their own twist. The vocals are amazing, and pretty much make the band, sung in English, but with a SUPER thick accent, and it's that total rock bad girl voice, weathered from whiskey and cigarettes, but still so sexy and sultry.
The interesting thing, as with many of these bands, is how did a band like this survive in Korea in the early seventies? In a time when this sort of rock was not at all encouraged. And most certainly not by women.
But we're so glad they did. And we're so glad PlusTapes tracked this stuff down. The B side even gets all ballady, opening with a Moody Blues cover, but it's not at all cheesy, their version is smokey and mysterious, sung in Korean, the sax slithery and slippery, the sound humid and heavy. And then they go off and finish the record with "Jesus Christ Superstar", epic and groovy, and subtly psychedelic, and again the vocals just seal the deal. It's criminal how good these women are. In different circumstances they could have been, should have been huge, and certainly the vocalist would have been a superstar with her tough and sexy Tina Turner / Janis Joplin yowl. Total kick ass bad girl garage rock and roll genius.
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES!! Pink tapes, each one hand numbered and hand decorated, with cover art by Plastic Crimewave.

KOREIN, GEORGE Memoirs Of A Trilobite (2001-2004) (BatHotAxe) cd 9.98
Hey, remember that crazy Infidel?/Castro! double cd we reviewed last list? Well the guy from the I?/C! duo who isn't also the guy from Behold The Arctopus has released a 28-track solo album about, uh, trilobites! (Y'know, those three-lobed Paleozoic marine arthropods.) It's a completely wacky concept album, featuring (indeed, celebrating!) a musical kitchen-sink approach beyond even what I?/C! is willing to incorporate. There's (fake?) BBC-style documentary samples. Slap bass. Squiggly Yngwie guitar. Jazz. Electronic noise. Drum and bass. Black metal. Munchkin voices. Really, just all kinds of genre-parody ("9+ styles" boasts the sticker on the cover). Including goofy whiteboy rap music that sounds just like our pal Steven Schulz! Indeed, this whole project seems to have a lot in common with the virtuosic but silly aesthetic of such Steven Schultz releases as No One Will Ever Understand Our Genious (by Puny Humans) and I Forgot To Get A Rap Name. So that could be either a recommendation or a warning, depending on your tolerance for dorkiness.
This is so bewilderingly diverse that it could almost be a various artists comp, with all the songs supposedly somehow having something to do with trilobites (though even that's not entirely clear). And as with most comps, you'll probably find good tracks and bad, according to your taste (and theirs!). George Korein is joined in this madness by several guests from the East Coast indie-prog scene that I?/C? is a part of, including members of Behold The Arctopus, Kayo Dot, Dysrhythmia, and Stinking Lizaveta.
MPEG Stream: "Memoirs Of A Trilobite"
MPEG Stream: "Indescribable And Persistent"
MPEG Stream: "The Sound Of Repetition"

KOREKYOJIN s/t (Tzadik) cd 15.98
Ruins mastermind Yoshida's newest group is a fiery combination of the familiar stop and start dynamics of the Ruins, spastic instrumentals, free improv freak outs, and a sort of funky edge (due in no small part to bass player Nasuno Mitsuru).

KOREKYOJINN Arabesque (Magaibutsu) cd 14.98
BACK IN STOCK! Tatsuya Yoshida's Magaibutsu label has at last repressed this second disc from Ruins side-project Korekyojinn. And now, it's got BONUS TRACKS (which may elicit an 'argh' from those who got it already, but that's the facts). They're not listed anywhere on the sleeve, but there are indeed four bonus previously unheard live cuts appended to this disc. FYI, here are the titles: "You Know What Yo`u Like", "Careless Heart", "Out Of Head", and "On Reflection".
And here's our review of the original edition:
It's kinda unbelievable, if you think about just how many records Ruins drummer Tatsuya Yoshida has been involved with. Dozens at least. Especially unbelievable since when you check the credits on most things he's played on, it quite often turns out that he wrote *all* the music. A hero to drummers everywhere, eh? He's got to have written literally hundreds of songs. Consider just Ruins albums alone: that's a LOT of music and it's almost all him. Even the larger ensembles he's in, like Koenjihyakkei, he's always the main composer. And, to a fan like me anyway, his stuff is always amazing. It's not a case of quantity over quality, no sirree. He's just a seemingly bottomless well of not just crazy riffs and rhythmic ideas, but songwriting talent (matched with an ability to play like a mofo). So that brings us to this new album, the second release from Yoshida's Korekyojinn band. Here he teams up with a bassist and a drummer, and as you might expect it's a bit like Ruins+1. A bit groovier perhaps, with some classic rock moments riff-wise, and it's all-instrumental. No nutty vocals, just the tricky, twangy guitars of Kido Natsuki, the bulldozering bass of Nasuno Mitsuru, and of course in the driver's seat, the masterful drumming of Yoshida. Eleven more complex compositions from the mind-boggling musical mind of Yoshida, encapsulating Led Zep licks, Hella hyperactivity, and jazz swing... Chances are if you've read this far, you're a Ruins fan, and if you're a Ruins fan, you'll probably want to check this out. But Arabesque would be a fairly accessible place in the pantheon of Yoshida projects to start with, too, if you're not already a convert. An utter prog instrumental monster that never loses the groove despite the chops on hand. Japanese import on Yoshida's own label.
MPEG Stream: "Arabesque"
MPEG Stream: "Exodus"

KOREKYOJINN Isotope (Tzadik) cd 16.98
Loud, heavy, energetic, supple, jaunty, nimble. That's these guys. The instrumental outfit Korekyojinn consists of drummer Tatsuya Yoshida of Ruins, guitarist Kido Natsuki of Bondage Fruits and Nasuno Mitsuru of Altered States -- an utter prog power trio blasting out of Tokyo. They're responsible for two chops-crazed studio albums already, a self-titled debut on Tzadik from '99 and last year's Arabesque on Magaibutsu. And if you thought that this band was impressive on those cds (which they damn sure were), wait until you hear 'em playing live on Isotope!! Yep, this release is a live in concert recording featuring tracks taken from two shows in Tokyo, June and October 2004. Man are they tight. Spot-on playing of Yoshida's typically riffy, complex compositions. Your ears will be falling all over themselves trying to follow this stuff, it's amazing that the musicians aren't. Of course, some will consider this to be beyond-Berklee widdle-wank... and maybe it is, but you can still love it. Any fan of fan of the mad mathiness of Ruins, Stinking Lizaveta, Breadwinner, Orthrelm, that sort of thing ought to. Along with 13 live cuts, this disc also includes one prev. unreleased studio track (the punishing "Hash") that was left over from the sessions from Arabesque.
MPEG Stream: "Hash"
MPEG Stream: "Isotope"

KOREKYOJINN Jackson (Magaibutsu) cd 13.98
Ruins fans, listen up! Jackson is the fourth cd to be spawned by Ruins drummer Tatsuya Yoshida's ultra-tech Korekyojinn trio, an instrumental mathrock juggernaut that's basically the Ruins +1 (a guitarist added to the bass/drums duo), chugging a six pack of Red Bull, going gonzo and making the likes of Don Cab and Hella seem like mere amateur fumblers (well, not quite -- going for a bit of hyperbole there, but still...). This isn't improv, all these complex cuts are compositions sprung from the sweaty brow of Yoshida and the musical genius mind behind it.
The spazmodic yet precise drumming of Yoshida, the virtuoso guitar playing of Kido Natsuki, and the thick bass rippage of Nasuno Mitsuru as displayed on this disc's hard hitting, smoothly energetic opener "Lebanon" is what we want and expect. You'll be left dizzy and drained before its seven minutes are up. But watch out, there's a dramatic shift of gears when portions of the next track "Jackson" dip into an unfortunately funky style of glitterball fusion. Not sure what they were thinking there... maybe a tongue-in-cheek joke? Thankfully despite being the title track, it's a total anomaly on this album, and with the very next cut "Mindgames", we're back into sheer frenzied insanity of heavy prog mania, though melodiousness isn't neglected, with the bright, folky, infectiously nursery rhymey "Kaleidoscope" standing out in that regard, sounding a bit like something by Yoshida's Tairikutoko vs. Sanmyakuonna band. Mostly this album demonstrates that Korekyojinn are very nearly metal in their shredding capabilities, though of course they sound more like the Ruins than anything else...maybe like Stinking Lizaveta too at times. Which leaves us only to say, wow!
MPEG Stream: "Rambling"
MPEG Stream: "Kaleidoscope"

KOREKYOJINN Swan Dive (Magaibutsu) dvd + cd 17.98
Seeing is believing. Knowing that the music they make is pretty much mindboggling, perhaps that's why Japanese power-prog trio Korekyojinn elected to package their new album as a double disc set, one an audio cd, the other a live dvd, packaged in a slim, dvd-sized case. The dvd portion provides the visual proof of their ability to play like this live, if there were any doubt about it, while fans already convinced of their genius will enjoy watching it over and over while bowing down in front of the screen chanting "we're not worthy". And since this unit hasn't toured much outside of Japan, it's also the only way we can get to see 'em short of springing for a plane ticket to Tokyo!
The cd constitutes Korekyojinn's 5th album, Swan Dive, an album entirely, amazingly improvised by the trio of Mitsuru Nasuno (bass), Natsuki Kido (guitar), and linchpin Tatsuya Yoshida of Ruins fame (drums) plus very special guests Uchihashi Kazuhisa and Hoppy Kamiyama, who contribute on guitar and keyboards/vocals, respectively, on two tracks each.
Of course it gets pretty wild, there's only six tracks but they're mostly all loooooong ones, up to 11, 17, and even 24 minutes in length... yet somehow they manage to keep it up, both the energy and creativity, their frenzied improvisations sometimes sounding rather more like the most complex COMPOSED prog rock music you could imagine (Orthrelm?), it's pretty insane. However, their convoluted chaotic outbursts are occasionally tempered by stretches of truly lovely, melodic, momentary mellowness. Melt-Banana meets Mahavishnu???
With herky jerk rhythms and heavy riffing, jazzy tinkling keys (when Hoppy sits in) contrasting with massively distorted electric bass, plus sheer avant-guitar textural shred-grind (the ante on that, upped by Uchihashi), this pretty much rules. As we had no doubt it would, considering who the heck this is (members of Ruins, Altered States, Bondage Fruit, etc.).
On the live dvd (70 minutes, NTSC, all region), they do a dozen songs, mostly from previous albums (though we think a couple, like the title track, are new), all of which we should mention are pieces in fact composed by mastermind Yoshida, NOT improvs. Again, total math-rock madness, very Ruins-esque, but with guitar. We are not worthy!
MPEG Stream: "Magnetic Pole"
MPEG Stream: "Vothqrassent"

KOROVAKILL Waterhells (Red Stream) cd 13.98
After a long absence, here's a new, third album from these former Napalm Records recording artists, the sometimes very weird Austrian black metal outfit Korova, now rechristened Korovakill. They've always been one of our favorites, playing unclassifiable epic metal with baroque keyboards and downright bizarre male and female vocals (too silly for some, it must be said) that on their first album even reminded us of the Sun City Girls! The album after that dabbled in electronica, ending up even stranger than some of Arcturus' experiments, but with this disc they rely on more standard, blasting black metal techniques, making for probably their most "accessible" release, but definitely still one for fans of the weird in black metal, along the lines of the aforementioned Arcturus, Borknagar, Enslaved, etc. We haven't had this disc long enough to fully comprehend the watery concept at play here, but "Waterhells" seems to refer to a mythology of the sea that ties together the songs (interesting subject matter for a band from the Alps).
RealAudio clip: "Into The Underwhirls"

KORPERSCHWACHE Evil Walks (Crucial Blast) cd 13.98
The first appearance on the aQ list by these Texas based guitarnoise terrorists, was a recent collaboration with Irish doomdronedirge outfit To Blacken The Pages, but this is the first proper record of theirs we've managed to get enough of to list. And it's a doozy.
Previously a one man band, and previously more of an oozing blacknoise Skullflower psychguitar buzz drone dirge freakout-fit, the band has expanded to a duo (unless the new member is just the drum machine), either way, the sound has definitely shifted gears, less abstract, less noisy, and more industrial, with proper songs; a lurching, lumbering, downtuned chunk of miserable abject slo-mo heaviness. The programmed beats minimal and robotic, the guitars murky and crusty, the vocals a super reverbed and heavily effected demonic croak, the songs, creeping and crawling, haunting and harrowing, shades of the Swans, Godflesh of course, the label compare their sound to Loop crossed with Abruptum, and we can definitely here that in places.
The sound is way less caustic than in the past, and more psychedelic and hypnotic, "Ouroboros: First Lesson", for all its croaked vocals and grim guitar buzz, locks into a looped mesmer and gets downright psychedelic, like Spacemen 3 covered by some basement black metal band, it's pretty bad ass. And a bunch of the tracks follow a similar path, building to a lurching groove and then getting all spaced out hypnorock. Then there's tracks like "The City Of Lost Girls", that are downright pretty, the guitars smoldering, laced with piano, mournful and melancholy, drifty and droney and dreamlike. And even in the harsher jams, hidden amidst all that crunch and pound and howl are strange melodies, unlikely hooks, gorgeous textures, all woven into a dense industrial tinged, blackened psychedelia, that will most likely have lots of you scrambling for all those Korperschwache releases you missed.
Includes a link for a download to a companion record, featuring early/alternate versions and a handful of unreleased tracks.
MPEG Stream: "There Is A Certain Smell Attractive To Wolves"
MPEG Stream: "Ouroboros: First Lesson"
MPEG Stream: "The Rearing Elephant"

KORPSES KATATONIK Oeuvres Completes (Klanggalerie) cd 21.00
The Austrian post-industrial provocateur Michael DeWitt attained notoriety in the mid-'80s for his project Zero Kama whose sole album was sourced entirely from human bones and skulls, with plenty of smoke and mirror production techniques to arrive at a Crowleyian sound parallel to the likes of early Current 93, Coil, and Psychic TV. Beyond the one album as Zero Kama, DeWitt released another obscure recording in 1982 under the moniker Korpses Katatonik. This cassette - sometimes referred to as Sensitive Liberated Autistiks, sometimes as Subklinikal Leukotomy Aphrenia Spasmophilik Lyssophobo Asphyxia Sinister Lethal Anorex - delved into parallel concerns of societal pathologies and death-obsessed transgressions through very dark electronics. It's very much in step with the classic industrial productions of SPK (when is anybody going to reissue those records again?) and the pre-Brighter Death Now project Lille Roger, with blackened squalls of grim noise belched through slow-grinding rhythms and an ominous proclamation that "we're all fucked." Such doomspeak from Industrial Culture was commonplace, but DeWitt's Korpses Katatonik said it with just as much brutalist force and conviction as SPK, TG, and Cabaret Voltaire at their most zombified. All of the tracks from that cassette and a compilation track make up the entire body of work for Korpses Katatonik, which have been remastered and repackaged for this anthology. The template for much of what Wolf Eyes did later is found here. Terrifyingly great.
MPEG Stream: "Nekom"
MPEG Stream: "Kcock Transplant"
MPEG Stream: "Chronozon"

KORT, ALEXANDER Friend OR... (self-released) cd 9.98
Friend OR... compiles the incidental music Alexander Kort composed and performed for a three act play titled FOE which was presented by the University of California - Berkeley's department of theater, dance and performance studies back in 2003. Kort, who also performs with Bay Area groups such as Subtle and Themselves, loosely entwines multiple glacial string movements with the sounds of waves, sputtering rainfall and other mysterious effects and sources. The somber moan and creak of Kort's compositions on this cd bring to mind an antiquated ocean liner listing sleepily on a calm eve. Actually come to think of it this makes for a more spartan companion to Nurse With Wound's very nautical Salt Marie Celeste album. Hauntingly beautiful.
MPEG Stream: "The Dead Captain"
MPEG Stream: "Dream Of The Two Islands"

KORT, ALEXANDER Mother Of Pearl (self-released) cd 11.98
Mother of Pearl is the debut from this North Carolina born, Bay Area based solo electric cellist. Slow, viscous and deeply brooding. The strings' dark tones and textures accumulate and build in cloudlike formations - like a thick rolling fog or a billowing thunderhead. You may have also heard Mr. Kort's work with such varied artists as Sole or Jill Tracy.

KORT, ALEXANDER / KITUNDU Eighteen July Two Thousand Four (self-released) 10" 9.98

KOSAKAI, FUMIO & TAKAHASHI IKURO ...Of Dogstarman (Pataphysique) cd 18.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Squealing drones make by electronics and processed reeds from this Japanese duo (members of psychededic rock group Overhang Party). Quite beautiful. Similar to Keiji Haino's hurdy-gurdy pieces or free saxophonist Evan Parker's recent electronically-enhanced works.