LIPPOK, ROBERT Open Close Open (Raster-Noton) cd ep 16.98
Robert Lippok may be better known for his throbbing pseudo post-rock / electronica excursions with Tarwater and To Rococo Rot, but here he has turned to the laptop and the minidisc to construct his first release for Raster/Noton. At first, this has all of the trappings of the Raster sound: a few micro-second laptop samples revealing a simple play of click and pop. But then things find their way outside of that crystalline synthesis -- a gaggle of ducks quacking, door slams, Mahler. The effect is sheer yet textured, very lovely, fans of Oval will be pleased. "Open Close Open" is the eighth in the "clear" series from Raster/Noton and the second to come in this sleek prefab non-jewel case. Recommended.
RealAudio clip: "Open"
RealAudio clip: "Close"

LIPPOK, ROBERT & BARBARA MORGENSTERN Tesri (Monika) cd 15.98

LIPSCOMB, MANCE Texas Songster Volume 5: Texas Country Blues (Arhoolie) cd 11.98

LIPTON, DR. (AND THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE ORDER OF THE WING) The Lipton Files (Pseudo Arcana) 3 x cd-r / 1 dvd-r / 50 page booklet / ringbinder 40.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We won't go into too much detail with this one, since we only got 10 copies, which is about a quarter of the entire pressing. This is essential listening for all you WEIRD music obsessives. Some seriously high concept outsider, minimal experimental electronic music. But much like those Funerary Violin cds, the music is only half of the story. This is a 3 cd-r / dvd-r set, contained in a three ring binder, filled with tons of text and documents from some defunct research station. It's almost like that TV show Lost. It seems real, but it's so bizarre and unbelievable.
Might be easier to just quote the label's blurb:
"Gathering together the documentation surrounding a top secret research institute devoted to perception and memory research. The Lipton Files is perhaps the most extravagant folly undertaken by PseudoArcana yet. Packaged in an A5 ringbinder this set contains 3CDRs, 1DVDR and a multitude of supporting images and texts. These documents illuminate the history of the experimental work undertaken by one Dr Lipton and his colleagues (as well as the history of allies- 'The Brotherhood of the Order of the Wing') via research papers, oppositional pamphlets, website screenshots, and the xeroxed documents and photos of what is presumably a private investigator. The story unveiled is one of radical science, utopian visionaries, the magical arts, shadowy conservative networks, and ultimately of governmental cowardice. The 3 CDRS present the audio component of 3 separate experiments undertaken by the Lipton Institute. To the uninitiated these sound not unlike long (60 min+) experiments in minimal electronic music... The DVDR (10 min) re-caps something of the history of the Lipton project through film and image and also presents a short but extraordinarily vivid sequence of video footage of 'memory capture' from Lipton's experiments utilising EEG technology."
Sound amazing? That's cuz it is. It's a bit overwhelming actually, we've only just cracked the surface, but we're hooked, even if it is all made up. It's more fun to believe. The music is all bleeps and bloops, crackle and hiss, primitive electronic music, creepy and haunting, minimal and super interesting. The dvd is a trip, with snippets of speeches, weird flickering slide shows of old photos, all set to Lipton's minimal electronica, lots of old decayed film stock and crackly hissy sound. The accompanying paperwork is rife with conspiracies and drama, as if someone had snuck in to the complex in the middle of the night and liberated them from some locked drawer. Packaged in a ring binder and sealed in plain brown paper (as if it was just handed to you in a dark parking garage!) Fun and fascinating and freaked out, and so brilliantly assembled and presented.
Conet Project? The Ghost Orchid? I Saw It All Happen From Beginning To End and Sometimes I can't Believe What I Saw? The Guild Of Funerary Violinists? Well, you can now add the Lipton files to that list.
And remember, we only got 10 copies, and once these are gone they are gone forever!
MPEG Stream: "1"
MPEG Stream: "2"
MPEG Stream: "3"

LIQUID COP Data So Nice I Saved It Twice (self-released) cd-r 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Depending on which side of the fence you're sitting in the cd-r debate, one of the pluses or pitfalls of self-recorded and released cd-rs is that the artists may continue to expand or alter a work that they've already "released" - potentially resulting in some amount of confusion and/or disgruntlement on the part of the consumer. However, it may also be argued that another plus is the usually low price tag for some pretty great sounds.
That said, SF's Liquid Cop has released a full length cd-r hot on the heels of his Clear Album EP. Yes, it does include the tracks from that EP, however it isn't simply tacked onto the end "w/ bonus ep" style. No, the older tracks have all been interspersed among the new ones, making for an altogether new sequence of LC aural scenes. Fluidly integrating shades of playful exotica, glitch-y electronics, and soundscapes like a more minimal Milk Cult, Liquid Cop has composed twenty delightful collages from samples, field recordings, guitar, vocals and digital gleeps 'n' meeps. Very nice!
RealAudio clip: "Pet Yr Cat, Pet Them, Pet Yrself, Then Pet Me"

LIQUID COP The Clear Album EP (self-released) cd-r 2.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY. NOTE: This ep is now included on Liquid Cop's full length self-released cd-r called Data So Nice I Saved It Twice.
An all too brief seven tracks of delightfully collaged samples, guitar, vocals and digital gleeps 'n' meeps from this SF gentleman. Light and playful, they alternately take a sip of lounge-iness, dip their toes in glitch-y, down tempo electronics, and venture gently into other soundscape terrain. A wee detail I found a bit disappointing was the disc's abrupt end, the final cut just stops. It was like being jarred out of a 12 minute daydream. Nonetheless, this is a very very warm and pleasing introduction to Liquid Cop!
RealAudio clip: "Prissy Goes To Beauty School"

LIQUID LIQUID s/t (GR2) cd 12.98
Finally back in print! This collection brings together nearly everything New York's influential no wave funk group Liquid Liquid managed to put out. If you haven't heard them before, then this is your chance. Still, if you really think you haven't heard them, let us remind you. Grandmaster Flash's tremendously successful single "White Lines (Don't Do It)" featured the Sugar Hill house band re-playing the main bassline from these guy's single "Cavern," and we're pretty sure just about everyone has heard that song! Anyway, given that the band and label never consented to Flash's sampling, legal battles followed and the band's label, 99 Records, went under. Back to the record at hand. Liquid Liquid stands among the best of the early '80s no wave scene. Of course, with the differences between people like Lydia Lunch - with her goth-punk affront, and the Latin influenced whatever-wave vibes of Konk, you could easily argue that it wasn't a scene in any strict sense. These guys reinforce that sentiment. In fact, the only band from that era and place that comes close at all is probably Konk - or maybe Pigbag, those post-punk bands where higher emphasis is put on propulsive rhythmic devices than pretty much everything else. There are similarities, but these guys still stand out on their own. Where Konk had an overstated Latin influence, Liquid Liquid tempered that sensibility with a healthy dose of disco percussion, dub, and art school croon. If you wanted to step outside of New York, something along the lines of a more rhythmic take on England's This Heat or 23 Skidoo might be the general direction. Or like if someone grabbed Gang of Four's equipment and left them with just bass, drums, and some other shit to beat on. C'mon! If for nothing else you need this to get a copy of not just the aforementioned "Cavern," but also "Optimo" and "Bellhead." Classics! Catchy, fun, driving, and with an influence that can be heard from hip-hop to essentially every angular art-punk band ever, Liquid Liquid is essential listening. Recommended for any minimalist dance party, or careful personal use. Yay!
MPEG Stream: "Optimo"
MPEG Stream: "Scraper"
MPEG Stream: "Rubbermiro"

LIQUID SOUND COMPANY Acid Music For Acid People (Brainticket) cd 10.98
Here's the latest (but the first disc we've reviewed) from a band that's been baking in the Texas sun for a while now, Liquid Sound Company. While Texas sure has a tradition of drugged out underground psychedelia (we're thinking 13th Floor Elevators, Red Krayola, among others back in the '60s and '70s, plus many more recent examples), this modern-day hippie psych rock outfit seems to drawn most of their inspiration from the krautrock scene, and thus comes off like a Texas-sized answer to Japan's Acid Mothers Temple. Seriously, any fan of Makoto Kawabata and AMT ought to check out LSC... more like LSD! Acid Music For Acid People, yessssss: total spaced out, Eastern-inflected, freeformguitardrone explorations, with electronic effects and repetitive rhythms, totally hypnotic maaaaaaan. For those into the krauty likes of Ash Ra Temple, Guru Guru, and Agitation Free (in fact, one of the six songs here is entitled "Agitation Free", or perhaps "Free Of Agitation", it's listed both ways, and in any case is definitely meant in tribute that trippy Berlin band). Plus if you dig Expo '70, Lumerians, Carlton Melton, etc. this should be up yr alley too.
LSC has a subtle heaviness, not to mention guitar-wrangling chops, that might just stem from the fact that one of the folks involved here is none other than Brainticket head honcho John Perez, best known as the guitarist of long-running epic doom metal act Solitude Aeturnus... but it's in Liquid Sound Company that he lets his freak flag fly! While there's moments that maybe sound a bit sinister, really this is music meant to make you smile. Especially, the mellow "Morning Sun", an exquisite guitar solo from Perez, a demo track indeed recorded one morning as the sun arose. Lovely. That's the shortest piece here, at just about 3 minutes. Most are much looooonger, and were recorded as live jams, the band members all successfully tuning into the same cosmic vibration together...
The last 2 cuts are from a bootleg recording made at a live show out in the boonies someplace, the band doesn't remember much about it, except that there were supposed to be a coven of witches in attendance, and they couldn't see what they were doing 'cause the fog machine was filling the room to extreme opacity. Some years later, a tape turned up, and now while they still can't really remember that night, they can HEAR what happened... and so can you, and get utterly tranced out too...
MPEG Stream: "Liquid Sound Freedom"
MPEG Stream: "Morning Sun"
MPEG Stream: "Preparation For The Psychedelic Eucharist Inside The Acid Temple"

LIQUORBALL Break-n-Run Live (Feast Music) lp 11.98
Any fan of heavy psychedelic music should already be hip to the mighty Liquorball. If you don't own their Fuck The Sky record, find it, you will NOT be sorry. Or hell, let's start a petition to get all the LB stuff re-issued! Anyway, Liquorball are still in fact a going concern, and unlike lots of bands that continue on well past their prime, Liquorball still sound as sick, and heavy and psychedelic as EVER. This lp captures the group live, at 29 Palms, presumably in some dive bar, a couple years back, tearing it up and blowing the roof off. Two side long jams that DESTROY. Super distorted and loose as fuck, tripped out and druggy, pounding and howling epic psychnoise blowout of the highest order. Guitars unleashing wild tangles of frenzied psychedelia over a relentlessly pounding rhythm, like some sort of Fushitsusha / Burnt Hills tag team match, endlessly rocking and totally mesmerizingly EPIC. The first side/track never lets up, launching right into it and shredding the whole side to bits, while the second side is a bit darker, a little more dynamic, but is essentially part two of LB's live set single song infinite psych-space-drug jam blowout!
Needless to say, anyone into heavy psych, needs EVERYTHING from these guys, and if you're into the current crop of psychedelic space rock, give this a listen and watch the rest of your space psych records cower in fear and shame!
LIMITED TO 540 COPIES!!!

LIQUORBALL Fucks The Sky (Black Jack) lp 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Not sure how many of you remember this Bay area band. But man it's a crime they weren't huge. This is liquored up (obviously), smacked out, dirty, trashy, buzzy, droney, chaotic, fully fuzzed out lightning bolt psych drone damage. Think Butthole Surfers playing Fushitsusha after drinking a case of Pabst Blue Ribbon. Or imagine slipping some speed into Bob Pollard's beer and watching a fried and freaking out Guided By Voices desparately try to work their way through the Hawkwind catalog. Or take equal parts Bunny Brains, Brainbombs, and Brainticket, add some acid and lock 'em in a dark and dingy basement. This is seriously damaged, outsider psych rock nirvana. Filthy and sloppy and just about the best thing we've ever heard. LP only, and these were a warehouse find, so not sure how many we'll be able to get. This is Allan's favorite LB record, a blurry buzzy drunken amp to the head, guitar to the groin, musical beer dumped over your head before a good ass whooping. VERY RECOMMENDED!

LIQUORBALL Hauls Ass (Black Jack) lp 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Not sure how many of you remember this Bay area band. But man it's a crime they weren't huge. This is liquored up (obviously), smacked out, dirty, trashy, buzzy, droney, chaotic, fully fuzzed out lightning bolt psych drone damage. Think Butthole Surfers playing Fushitsusha after drinking a case of Pabst Blue Ribbon. Or imagine slipping some speed into Bob Pollard's beer and watching a fried and freaking out Guided By Voices desparately try to work their way through the Hawkwind catalog. Or take equal parts Bunny Brains, Brainbombs, and Brainticket, add some acid and lock 'em in a dark and dingy basement. This is seriously damaged, outsider psych rock nirvana. Filthy and sloppy and just about the best thing we've ever heard. LP only, and these were a warehouse find, so not sure how many we'll be able to get. Hauls Ass is the yin to Fucks The Sky's yang. One is incomplete without the other. The sound of one hand clapping. Hauls Ass is the follow up to LB's classic debut and wallows in the same filthy, noisy, druggy, boozy swirl of demented garage-y psych rock genius! Again, SO RECOMMENDED!

LIQUORBALL Live From Hitler's Bunker (Black Jack) lp 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Not sure how many of you remember this Bay area band. But man it's a crime they weren't huge. This is liquored up (obviously), smacked out, dirty, trashy, buzzy, droney, chaotic, fully fuzzed out lightning bolt psych drone damage. Think Butthole Surfers playing Fushitsusha after drinking a case of Pabst Blue Ribbon. Or imagine slipping some speed into Bob Pollard's beer and watching a fried and freaking out Guided By Voices desparately try to work their way through the Hawkwind catalog. Or take equal parts Bunny Brains, Brainbombs, and Brainticket, add some acid and lock 'em in a dark and dingy basement. This is seriously damaged, outsider psych rock nirvana. Filthy and sloppy and just about the best thing we've ever heard. LP only, and these were a warehouse find, so not sure how many we'll be able to get. We have been huge fans of LB for years, but had somehow never heard (or heard of) this live record. Lots of folks say this is THE definitive Liquorball document, a messy, murky chaotic live show, captured in all it's damaged glory. Hand painted sleeves that make LFHB look like you found it in a box in some dark alley and each record contains an actual found piece of pornography! So very appropriate. And so TOTALLY ESSENTIAL!

LIQUORBALL W/ STEVE MACKAY Evolutionary Squalor (Rocketship Records) lp 15.98
We LOVE Liquorball. Distorted, drugged out, off kilter, noisy, space-y, dirgey, seriously fucked up and freaked out sludgey garage rock genius. Someone needs to do a cd reissue of all the old out of print lps (there have been rumors, tUMULt? Holy Mountain?), but these guys keep plugging away, this latest vinyl-only sonic behemoth finds the newly expanded Liquorball mixing it up with legendary saxophonist Steve Mackay (Stooges' Funhouse!) as well as another horn player and a viola player. Definitely sounds intriguing. And the horns definitely add a strange vibe to the proceedings, but we're not so sure it's for the better.
Where the sound of LB of old was transcendent, fucked up and blown out in a way that was difficult to understand, and hell, why even bother, all we knew was it sounded insane and amazing, the sound on this new record is weirdly tame, partially the horns, but also the recording, lo-fi for sure, but not as scuzzy and BURNT sounding as old recordings, they sound more like a bar band (which granted, they sort of always were, albeit a seriously demented and damaged bar band), the sort of band you might stumble across on a regular Saturday night, in a regular bar. A bit subdued, still space-y and a bit freaky, but not nearly as far out. The B-side though does get a little wilder, the effects nearly taking over, finally melting into an oozing sprawl of lysergic sonic weirdness, easy to get gloriously lost in, until the last couple minutes, where the band slip back into a sort of woozy, last call blues jam, which has us thinking that maybe they're taking the piss, since seconds earlier they were soaring through scorched landscapes of psychedelic space guitar freakery.
It might be that we're a little hard on this record, it's only cuz the other records kicked out asses so utterly and completely, that said, this is still a cool record, and the majority of side 2 should definitely hit the spot for folks looking for some spaced out psychedelia, but it's no Fucks The Sky, but then that was probably too much to hope for. By the way, Julian Cope just picked this as his Record Of The Month, so that's somethin'!

LISA ALICE That Thing In Your Hand (Ridiculum) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Throughout the greater part of her debut album, Lisa Alice weaves the sweetest of acoustic gal pop very much in the vein of the dreamy, wistful side of K Records - think the Softies, Gaze or Mary Lou Lord. However, on songs like "You Win" her vocal delivery also brings to mind more recent female indie singer/songwriters like Tegan & Sara, Bonfire Madigan or Emm Gryner who themselves possess degrees of the confidence and raw determination of the Difranco kind. Very down to earth, no frills, heart on your sleeve songs. If you've been seeking something of this variety, That Thing In Your Hand might be just the thing for your ears.
RealAudio clip: "Mother Time"
RealAudio clip: "You Win"

LISA CARBON Standards (Rather Interesting) cd 16.98
Uwe Schmidt, a.k.a. Atom Heart, returns with the third outing in his Lisa Carbon persona. Like the previous Carbon release, "Standards" is a tweaked exploration of Brazilian Tropicalia and Bossanova from the unique Schmidt perspective. Not as skittery and irreverent as the Midisport release on Rather Interesting two years back, "Standards" is still plenty of fun -- and possibly a little more likely to subvert its way into your next cocktail party. It definitely has that ability to fuck with people's heads. It takes a little while, but eventually people dancing lightly in the store will suddenly stop, their soma smiles fading from their lips to be replaced by scrunched up their faces before asking: "what the hell is this?" As the CD progresses it seems to get a little further demented, starting with a little ditty in the middle that almost sounds like a lost outtake from Raymond Scott's "Soothing Sounds for Baby" project, a lounge midi-fied send up of David Bowie's "Space Oddity", and an excellent ersatz Perrey & Kingsley track.
MPEG Stream: "Bossandfunk"
MPEG Stream: "A Bailar El Tape-Charleston"

LISA O PIU Behind The Bend (Subliminal Sounds) lp 22.00

LISA O PIU When This Was The Future (Subliminal Sounds) cd 17.98
So magical! This album has swept us off our feet! We should have known as soon as we heard of the fine company these folks have been keeping. They recently backed up Roger Wootton of Comus (!) for a recorded performance in Sweden, and Mattias Gustavsson of Dungen produced this very album. Fear not, any elevated expectations will be met effortlessly. Needless to say, both of those bands are serious longtime aQ faves, and Lisa O Piu is well on its way to becoming a new one. This is wonderful.
But before we proceed any further, please allow us to advise you that this is best heard on headphones! Why? Well, for one thing, there might be no better sounds at the moment to tune out the ruckus of the world outside. Traffic congestion, construction work, random yelling in the street begone! No, we're not exaggerating. Lisa O Piu's debut album is filled with such glintingly opulent folk that both gently creeps and majestically soars. Entering into its embrace is like embarking on a magic carpet ride to some distant enchanted forest. Secondly, they've taken good advantage of the stereo field in the recording process. So headphones really enhance the listening experience. When the three female vocalists - frontwoman Lisa Isakkson, along with Jennie Stabis and Maria Lagerlof - are singing and performing all at once, it's as though your whole head is filled with glorious song. This is a particular joy on the robust opener "Cinnamon Sea". When they are singing solo as they do on the closing track "And So On", it's as though they are taking turns singing right in each of your ears. The lush instrumentation is centered around acoustic, electric and 12-string guitars as well as an ensemble of woodwinds, but subtle introductions of mellotron, theremin, cellotron and harp slip the proceedings deeper into a hazy psych-tinged dream realm.
Fans of Linda Perhacs, Vashti Bunyan, Sybille Baier and Marissa Nadler... open your arms and ears to these Stockholm beauties!
MPEG Stream: "Cinnamon Sea"
MPEG Stream: "Equatorial Changes"
MPEG Stream: "And So On"

LISA O PIU When This Was The Future (Subliminal Sounds) lp 28.00
So magical! This album has swept us off our feet! We should have known as soon as we heard of the fine company these folks have been keeping. They recently backed up Roger Wootton of Comus (!) for a recorded performance in Sweden, and Mattias Gustavsson of Dungen produced this very album. Fear not, any elevated expectations will be met effortlessly. Needless to say, both of those bands are serious longtime aQ faves, and Lisa O Piu is well on its way to becoming a new one. This is wonderful.
But before we proceed any further, please allow us to advise you that this is best heard on headphones! Why? Well, for one thing, there might be no better sounds at the moment to tune out the ruckus of the world outside. Traffic congestion, construction work, random yelling in the street begone! No, we're not exaggerating. Lisa O Piu's debut album is filled with such glintingly opulent folk that both gently creeps and majestically soars. Entering into its embrace is like embarking on a magic carpet ride to some distant enchanted forest. Secondly, they've taken good advantage of the stereo field in the recording process. So headphones really enhance the listening experience. When the three female vocalists - frontwoman Lisa Isakkson, along with Jennie Stabis and Maria Lagerlof - are singing and performing all at once, it's as though your whole head is filled with glorious song. This is a particular joy on the robust opener "Cinnamon Sea". When they are singing solo as they do on the closing track "And So On", it's as though they are taking turns singing right in each of your ears. The lush instrumentation is centered around acoustic, electric and 12-string guitars as well as an ensemble of woodwinds, but subtle introductions of mellotron, theremin, cellotron and harp slip the proceedings deeper into a hazy psych-tinged dream realm.
Fans of Linda Perhacs, Vashti Bunyan, Sybille Baier and Marissa Nadler... open your arms and ears to these Stockholm beauties!
MPEG Stream: "Cinnamon Sun"
MPEG Stream: "Equatorial Changes"
MPEG Stream: "And So On"

LISSACK, SELWYN Friendship Next Of Kin (DMG ARC) cd 14.98

MPEG Stream: "Friendship Next Of Kin"
MPEG Stream: "Facets Of The Universe"

LITHIUM DREAMS / STARLA DUST split (Monorail Trespassing) cassette 6.98
Two enigmatic projects share this 20-minute cassette, which provides little more than the names of the two bands and their respective track titles. There is an enticing inscription inside the j-card which reads "dusseldorf lunar sand continuum." Yup, sci-fi soundtracks and kraut-inspired electronics are in the cosmological order for both Lithium Dreams and Starla Dust. The former transmits a linear stream of tremolo augmented soft noise with ambient swoops and half-melodic blurs. Eventually, small tone pulsations and percolating lazer-ping synths open up Lithium Dreams to sounding like those early Oneohtrix Point Never cassettes or some of John Elliot's non-Emeralds output, as if it were the soundtrack to some long lost scientific / industrial film about satellites. Starla Dust keeps to the oblique sci-fi sound with low-end oscillations dappled with metallic half-formed drones, malleable ambient wash, and squiggling electronics. The vibe here is not all that far from Coil's Music To Listen To In The Dark in all of the deep space hypnosis and synth miasma. Another fine cassette from Monorail Trespassing!

LITHOPS Mound Magnet (Thrill Jockey) cd 14.98
Y'know those cans of pressurized air that you use to clean out the dust and crud that accumulates in your computer keyboard and other electronic devices? Well, Lithops latest album is sorta the musical equivalent... complete with that distinct fleetingly chilly fizz, mysterious chunks and gritty particles. Each track churns out slabs of glutinous squidge and igneous electronics cut with a dull blade.
Psst, in case you didn't know Lithops just happens to be another musical persona of one Mr. Jan St. Werner of Microstoria and Mouse On Mars fame. Maybe he shoulda called himself Mithops... just kidding!
MPEG Stream: "Opposite Of Windward"
MPEG Stream: "Stakes Barrier"

LITHOPS Queries (Sonig) cd 14.98
Lithops is the alter ego of Jan St. Werner, best known for his main outfit, Mouse On Mars. It's been a few years since he's made a Lithops record and it's actually sounds quite refreshing to our ears. There was a period of time a few years ago that it seemed like one couldn't walk down the block without being bombarded by IDM records from every direction. But hearing one of the most talented fellas of said genre doing what he's always done best is kind of hitting the spot right now. Songs that slowly weave in and out of themselves, orbiting in a lucid space that drifts and wanders so nicely. While other times building up to actual beats and rhythmic moments, with some of his trademark undertones that have made his work in Mouse On Mars so memorable. One of our favorite electronic releases in quite some time!
MPEG Stream: "Wackler"
MPEG Stream: "Tenson"

LITHOPS Scrypt (Thrill Jockey) cd 14.98

LITHOPS Turbino (Static Caravan) 7" 5.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Lithops is the solo project from Jan St. Werner (the mastermind behind Mouse On Mars), although he never lets anyone know that on any of the Lithops' releases. Constantly shifting abstract electronica that is much darker and less accessible than the relatively happy releases by Mouse On Mars. Comes with nice hand stamped (potato stamps?) covers!

LITHOPS Uni Umit (Moikai) cd 13.98
Originally only on German vinyl, Uni Umit was conjured by Jan St. Werner of Mouse on Mars and it sounds a lot like them too, if a little less beat-oriented. Lovely, painterly electronica squiggles. Released on Jim O'Rourke's Moikai label. Highly recommended.

LITMUS Aurora (Metal Blade / Rise Above) cd 14.98
This week's AQ-list has got the goods for Hawkwind fans all right - not only do we have that Harvestman / Minsk / U.S. Christmas disc of Hawkwind covers, but we're also highlighting the latest from Litmus, the Head Heritage and Rise Above approved British band who are basically a more-metallic Hawkwind for the current millennium. We doubt they'd deny it. Taking off (in rocket ships, of course) from where their countrymen left off (not that Hawkwind ever actually did leave off, we're pretty sure that venerable institution is still at it in some incarnation or other, but you know what we mean), Litmus do the space rock thing with an abundance of youthful energy and verve, rocking hard and spacing out in the best spirit of vintage '70s Hawkwind, to the over-the-top utmost really. Not only are the riffs big and heavy, not only are the rhythms propulsive and ecstatic, not only is everything infused with all the electronic sci-fi whooshings, bloops and blips, zips and zaps, etc. that you'd expect, but most crucially they also possess the POP element that Hawkwind also had, something that often gets overlooked by a lot of the other current bands who cite Hawkwind as an influence. These songs are damn hooky and melodic, destined to lodge in your skull, and not just due to the use of mantra-like repetition, which of course is also a Hawkwind derived feature too. Bands like White Hills and Cave share some of these tendencies, but none are more Hawkwindlike than Litmus!
We loved their 2007 Rise Above debut Planetfall, and this follow-up pushes all the same buttons, providing another excellent, epic hour of heavy duty space-prog bliss, complete with soaring vocal uplift, loads of searing synth, and ripping guitar leads. These lads are so pro, and aglow.
Needless to say, for fans of Hawkwind. Also other old, bold, cosmic prog. And more modern stoner(henge) metal. Thus for fans of labelmates Astra, too. Man, we'd love to see 'em live...
MPEG Stream: "Beyond The Sun"
MPEG Stream: "In The Burning Light"
MPEG Stream: "Stars"

LITMUS Planetfall (Rise Above / Candlelight) cd 13.98
We're pretty sure that the guys in England's Litmus, a new space rock / stoner metal outfit on Lee Dorrian of Cathedral's Rise Above records (home to Electric Wizard and Witchcraft among others), won't mind us -- and everybody else who reviews this -- saying that, basically, Litmus is a more modern, much more metal, version of Hawkwind. If you're at all familiar with the peculiar genius of that British prog/psych institution, particularly their early '70s classics like Hall Of The Mountain Grill and Space Ritual, you'll hear the Hawkwind just as soon as you start spinning Litmus' debut album Planetfall. And that's no bad thing. In fact, we're all for it. This is awesome!
Litmus kick out an absurd, energetic overload of outer space anthems, mixing headbanging riffage that Lemmy would love with a mad scientist's laboratory's worth of sci-fi bleeps and swooshes, on songs with titles like "Destroy The Mothership" and "Expanding Universe (Twinstar Pt.2)". The album's centerpiece is the 15 minute fourth track, "Under The Sign", a triumphant and impetuous epic full of heavy heads-down chuggery and soaring refrains. Among the five psychic space warriors in the band, there's one guy credited with playing these three things: "Mellotron, synthesizers, and gong". So prog! As are the contents of the cd booklet: pages of lyrics (we assume) inscribed in some sort of alien glyphs or ancient runes or something. We also appreciate that the "space noises" with which this disc is abundantly and enthusiastically littered are mixed pretty much higher than just about anything else. It really makes it sound like Litmus are rocking out from within some sort of cosmic storm of chaotic radiation. Where else are you gonna hear the howling Hawkwind blowing with such gusto? We doubt that the actual Hawkwind, in whatever incarnation they currently exist, could match this. Only maybe Acid Mothers Temple comes close, but they aren't metallized OR poppy enough to be exact competition for what Litmus is doing here. Voivod circa "Outer Limits" and old Pink Floyd are also orbiting in proximity to Litmus, with the likes of Tarantula Hawk and Morkobot somewhere in nearby space.
All 72 minutes of Planetfall are utterly black-hole dense with bombastic, hooky, Hawkwindy space metal gloriousness. Even if you haven't ever heard Hawkwind, this is recommended (but of course then you should check 'em out too)!
MPEG Stream: "Under The Sign"
MPEG Stream: "Tempest"

LITTLE BOY BLUES In The Woodland of Weir (Acid Symposium) cd 15.98
Another reissue of late '60s psych / fuzz / garage stuff, this time from Chicago's Little Boy Blues. This album compiles all of their early singles and their "psych" album "In The Woodland of The Weir" (an album about such AQ-endorsed themes as ghouls and haunted woods). While the band does invoke the Chicago heritage of 3-chord blues progressions a few too many times, Little Boy Blues gets pretty heavy for the late '60s (a la Davey Allan and The Arrows or Count Five), with the best work being the gritty fuzz single "The Great Train Robbery" / "Season of the Witch."

LITTLE DRAGON Machine Dream (Peacefrog) lp 22.00
Now available on vinyl!
We have been hearing about Little Dragon for quite a while now as lots of folks around here had seen them live and been blown away and kept urging us to check out their stuff and to see what an amazing presence their Swedish-Japanese singer has. Unfortunately, most of LD's releases where hard-to-track-down imports up 'til now, but luckily with the release of this newest album Machine Dreams we get to hear why all our friends were so excited about Little Dragon.
Machine Dreams is completely refreshing, bright and colorful electro-pop that eschews all the detached and cold cliches that so many in the scene rely on, opting instead for elements of soul, house, downtempo, and an overall warmth and sincerity of sound that really makes LD stick out.
Imagine a more uptempo and cheery Fever Ray, or if Lali Puna stopped navel gazing and reached their hands and hearts to the sky, or if Matthew Herbert got to produce a record for Gwen Guthrie! We hear wonderful hints of LD's influences too, everything from Massive Attack to Pizzicato Five, yet they manage to really shine with their own identity, displaying a really great range, from uptempo catchy dancefloor moments to more drowsy, sultry bittwersweet slow burners. We are feeling this so much!
MPEG Stream: "A New"
MPEG Stream: "Swimming"
MPEG Stream: "Never Never"

LITTLE DRAGON Machine Dreams (Peacefrog) cd 16.98
We have been hearing about Little Dragon for quite a while now as lots of folks around here had seen them live and been blown away and kept urging us to check out their stuff and to see what an amazing presence their Swedish-Japanese singer has. Unfortunately, most of LD's releases where hard-to-track-down imports up 'til now, but luckily with the release of this newest album Machine Dreams we get to hear why all our friends were so excited about Little Dragon.
Machine Dreams is completely refreshing, bright and colorful electro-pop that eschews all the detached and cold cliches that so many in the scene rely on, opting instead for elements of soul, house, downtempo, and an overall warmth and sincerity of sound that really makes LD stick out.
Imagine a more uptempo and cheery Fever Ray, or if Lali Puna stopped navel gazing and reached their hands and hearts to the sky, or if Matthew Herbert got to produce a record for Gwen Guthrie! We hear wonderful hints of LD's influences too, everything from Massive Attack to Pizzicato Five, yet they manage to really shine with their own identity, displaying a really great range, from uptempo catchy dancefloor moments to more drowsy, sultry bittwersweet slow burners. We are feeling this so much!
MPEG Stream: "A New"
MPEG Stream: "Swimming"
MPEG Stream: "Never Never"

LITTLE DRAGON Ritual Union (Peacefrog) cd 15.98
Without a doubt one of the most creative and pleasurable groups making electronic tinged dance pop these days. What sets Little Dragon so far ahead of the crowd is that they are such innovative music makers as well as having the amazing talents of lead singer Yukimi Nagano, who really does have one of the most soulful and seductive voices around. Ritual Union is one of the most perfect electro pop albums of the year. The songs and sounds on the record let you go deep into you body. But it's not just a surface high that makes you shake it for a moment, but instead something you feel dig into you deeper and actually grab a hold of your spirit and soul. Like some of the best work that Herbert & Dani Siciliano made together, or if Prince in his prime teamed up with Lykke Li to make a record smart enough to want to spend intimate time with, yet fun enough to want to blast so loud when your friends are around. Colors, shapes and melody all swirling together into something so intoxicating, and so totally good for you. This is becoming our absolute summer jam!
MPEG Stream: "Brush The Heat"
MPEG Stream: "Ritual Union"
MPEG Stream: "Nightlight"

LITTLE DRAGON Ritual Union (Peacefrog) lp 21.00
Without a doubt one of the most creative and pleasurable groups making electronic tinged dance pop these days. What sets Little Dragon so far ahead of the crowd is that they are such innovative music makers as well as having the amazing talents of lead singer Yukimi Nagano, who really does have one of the most soulful and seductive voices around. Ritual Union is one of the most perfect electro pop albums of the year. The songs and sounds on the record let you go deep into you body. But it's not just a surface high that makes you shake it for a moment, but instead something you feel dig into you deeper and actually grab a hold of your spirit and soul. Like some of the best work that Herbert & Dani Siciliano made together, or if Prince in his prime teamed up with Lykke Li to make a record smart enough to want to spend intimate time with, yet fun enough to want to blast so loud when your friends are around. Colors, shapes and melody all swirling together into something so intoxicating, and so totally good for you. This is becoming our absolute summer jam!
MPEG Stream: "Brush The Heat"
MPEG Stream: "Ritual Union"
MPEG Stream: "Nightlight"

LITTLE FUZZY s/t (Little Fuzzy) cd 12.98
On their self-titled debut, Little Fuzzy do not unfurl what everyone expected from their name and album art -- that being bright fuzzy-wuzzy bouncy twee-pop. NO! Instead this SF quartet (whose membership includes former members of Mission neighborhood music vets Fantasy) bust out a highspirited, funky breakdown complete with much lighthearted silliness in lyrics and song titles. Sorta reminiscent of '70s Sunday morning variety show staples the Bugaloos or the Banana Splits but with a faux Prince falsetto vocalist.
MPEG Stream: "Smooth Mash Potato"
MPEG Stream: "Elevator Soft Parade"

LITTLE FUZZY Shimmy Up (self-released) cd 11.98
Shimmy up, down and all around! The first few playful bars of Little Fuzzy's sophomore album made us think we'd stumbled onto Sesame Street... but Sesame Street for grown-ups, mind you! This SF gang keep on rollin' out their pop infused groovy goodness. Hey folks try this one on for size... new genre: 'twee funk'! Little Fuzzy, we thusly dub thee.
MPEG Stream: "Love's Delightful Labours"
MPEG Stream: "Shimmy Up"

LITTLE JOY s/t (Rough Trade) cd 12.98
We kind of slept on this record when it came out a few months ago but when we finally gave it a chance we totally fell in love. Most supergroups tend to be kind of all hype and no substance, but the opposite is the case for this trio consisting of Fabrizio Moretti (The Strokes), Rodrigo Amarante (Los Hermanos) and Binki Shapiro. Seems like being in Little Joy really let the players truly have fun and create sweet and breezy songs that make you want to get lost wandering with your friends or that special someone as you lay in the park or daydream on a hammock letting the weight of the world just drift away.
Injecting lots of tropical sounds influenced by Hawaiian, Brazilian & Latin American soft-psychedelic pop with such great results. Makes a lot of sense that this was produced by Noah Georgeson who's had a strong hand in the works of folks like Devendra Banhart and Joanna Newsom. Devendra adds his voice to a few of the songs and you can tell that Little Joy have a strong feeling of kinship with him, as this record really taps into the more laid back sound of Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon and Cripple Crow. Breezy, easy and so delightfully catchy and assured.
MPEG Stream: "The Next Time Around"
MPEG Stream: "No One's Better Sake"
MPEG Stream: "Evaporar"

LITTLE RICHARD Here's Little Richard (Doxy) lp 24.00

LITTLE RICHARD Here's Little Richard (Doxy) lp+cd 27.00

LITTLE SKULL Collected 7"s (Pseudo Arcana) cd-r 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Most of you have probably never heard of Dean Brown. A New Zealand musician and artist, who over the last few years has created ultra limited and incredibly beautiful lathe cut 7"s, each one in an amazing hand crafted package. The most infamous being one that unfolded into a pop up diorama with ghosts and gravestones. So gorgeous and homemade and labor intensive, that each release was limited to 50 copies or less. The music was equally compelling, sweet little lullabies constructed from accordions and pump organs, blown bottles, percussion and strings.
This compilation collects five of the tracks from various 7" releases, unfortunately, this cd-r is also limited to only 50 copies, meaning Brown's music will no doubt continue to be a special little secret, but at least for now, a handful of you will be able to explore his magical mysterious soundworld.
The tracks are all longish, and are simple and subtly melodic, drone-y and dreamy, from fluttery folk, with swoonsome strings, to dark rumbling expanses of wheezing low end, blown bottle melodies hovering over soft shimmering tape hiss, muted mumbly twang, sizzling clouds of metallic buzz, glistening twinkling chimes, percussive thumps, and creaking detuned chords, field recordings, tape hiss and drop outs, lush washes of thick murmur, all spread out within long expanses of near silent ambience.
A gorgeous collection of minimal and microscopic soundscapes.
The packaging is handmade as well, in the tradition of the seven inches, a handmade black book, with a pasted on front cover image, inside, page after page of simple silhouettes of bats, included is a tiny black envelope, with a cryptic letter from the artist. So cool.
And again LIMITED TO 50 COPIES!!!!
MPEG Stream: "One"
MPEG Stream: "Two"

LITTLE SKULL s/t (Scrimshaw Artefacts) 3"cd-r 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We go on and on about deluxe packaging, but it's truly only once in a while, where an artist really blows our mind, whether it's totally over the top, or super subtle and sublime, the musicians who care enough to meticulously craft their packaging, as much as the music inside are a rare breed.
Which leads us to Little Skull, aka Dean Brown, who some of you may remember from a super limited cd-r singles collection on PseudoArcana a while back, which gathered the music from his various impossible to find 7"s, and the reason that they were impossible to find, is that he made each one by hand, elaborately cutting, gluing, pasting assembling, the only one we've ever actually seen, had little creatures hanging from strings, a haunted little diorama, WOW.
So this latest ep, is another fantastically assembled object, a handmade silkscreened miniature box, holding within it a three dimensional multi layered framed mini diorama, a ballet dancer, hovering over a backdrop, hidden behind a hand made paper frame. So nice, and it perfectly suits the music inside, a darkly delicate ambience, hushed soft drones and a gentle piano, drifty, and ethereal, minimal, but strangely lush as well, softly spidery melodies, a languorous drift, abstract slow motion Appalachia, stretched into blurred drifts, muted twang, and minor key shimmer, deeeeeeep droning rumbles, subtle murky percussion, such breathtaking Spartan dreaminess. Gorgeous.
INCREDIBLY LIMITED, as each one is made by hand, so not sure how long we'll have these...
MPEG Stream: "Track 1"
MPEG Stream: "Track 3"

LITTLE TEETH Child Bearing Man (Absolutely Kosher) cd 14.98

LITTLE WINGS Black Grass (Gnomelife) cassette 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

LITTLE WINGS Light Green Leaves (K) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Little Wings' Kyle Field has this warbly, almost on the verge on breaking voice -- similar in a way to Will Oldham, although they don't actually sound alike -- which he lets go into huge, room-filling fullness when playing live. On record, far more restraint is exercised, which is unfortunate, but what's lost in immediate impact is replaced by gentle subtlety and the added textures of instruments besides Field's trusty kid-sized nylon string guitar --a bit of bass, soft drums, a melodica melody here and there. All of the songs on this record feel incredibly intimate, although not in an annoying emo sharing-my-pain way. Rather, these songs are comforting and real, like a gathering of your closest friends. Several of Little Wing's friends (including Hugh from the Lowdown) are gathered here, in fact, to lend backing vocals, in (& out of) varying degrees of tune, but always with warmth & enthusiasm. The songs on "Light Green Leaves" aren't as super catchy as some on his last record "Wonderue," but they are still fine examples of Field's songcrafting skills. Included is perhaps the final chapter of the "Shredder" saga, truly heartbreaking tales of the obsolescence of an old school skater. This is sweet, charming stuff, fans of Little Wings pals Microphones as well as of the sunnier Palace & Bonnie Billy moments should check it out.
RealAudio clip: "Look At What The Light Did Now"
RealAudio clip: "Fall Sweep"
RealAudio clip: "The Way I Deux"

LITTLE WINGS Made It Rain (Gnomelife) cassette 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

LITTLEJOHN, HERBERT STANLEY 17th And 18th Century Works Of Funerary Violin (The Guild Of Funerary Violinists) cd-r 12.98
Another installment in the convoluted and lost history of the Funerary Violin. A mysterious body of work, attributed to the equally mysterious Guild Of Funerary Violinists, all of which was lost to history until quite recently. A book has been published, and a handful of recordings were discovered, illuminating this amazing, and surprisingly, entirely fictitious movement.
We've reviewed two other unearthed recordings from this historically valuable series, one a compilation called Babcotte, Sudbury And Eaton: The English School Of Funerary Origin, the other by Wilhelm Kleinbach called The Funerary Notebooks Of Herr Gratchenfleiss. Check those reviews more a more detailed description of the Guild and its contentious history. Both were recorded before the advent of modern recording, preserved with the fuzz and whir and scratchiness of old wax cylinder recordings, gorgeous, mournful, beautiful, delicate and wistful, each a heart wrenching funereal lament, but all of it a massive hoax.
Not that it takes away from the brilliance of the music, or the incredibly detailed liner notes, if anything it makes it even more amazing. That someone could create what is essentially an entire alternate history, complete with sound.
These recordings, supposedly performed Herbert Stanley Littlejohn in 1956, were taken from a book of music discovered in a dusty corner of a church in 1954, dating back to the late 1600's! In the process of recording the pieces, Littlejohn tripped on a cat, fell down a flight of stairs and smashed his skull dying instantly. This disc collects the finished pieces from that session.
As with all the Funerary Violin releases, the liner notes are extensive, names, dates, events, the notes to this disc are particularly humorous commenting on, among other things, "the poor technical performance standard amongst guild members in what remains one of our darkest periods." And like the other discs, the music is exquisite, genuine or not, utterly lovely, the melodies are mournful and sad, the playing smooth and refined, the notes drifting dreamlike into the starry night, the recording lo-fi, but warm and shimmery. Even without the amazing backstory and fabricated history, this would still be entirely recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Grave (Addleston)"
MPEG Stream: "Pompe I (Meunier)"
MPEG Stream: "Intrada (Faustmann)"

LITURGY Aesthethica (Thrill Jockey) cd 15.98
What is it about this band that inspires such controversy? Sure, any band of short haired hipsters that decides to play black metal is bound to get some heat from the true grim hordes, but with Liturgy it's off the charts. Could be frontman Hunter Hunt-Hendrix's diatribes on the intellectual roots of his band and music, maybe that combined with his pretty boy looks and his valley girl like diction - but hey it's all about the music, and as far as we're concerned Liturgy have definitely taken black metal and twisted it all up and made it their own. Sure we love the true grim classics, corpsepaint and raw primitive buzz, blasting necro metal, we do, and we maybe always will, but we gave up long ago on the whole 'troo' thing. If being true means only listening to one kind of music, and even then, only made by a certain approved sect of musicians, who would want that. It's a discussion that could go on for ages, and does on pretty much every metal messageboard on the web, but if you're reading this, odds are you're like us, you like cool, weird, GOOD music, and you don't care if someone thinks the music you love is 'true' or 'pure' or whatever, and odds are you don't just like black metal.
Which we think is probably a prerequisite for liking Liturgy. Because while this is most definitely black metal, all of HHH's intellectual posturing, just might not be posturing after all, cuz this stuff is WEIRD. FUCKED UP. SUPER COMPLEX. Minimal, but somehow totally maximal too. The black metal tropes are present and accounted for, super fast picking, soaring minor key melodies, insectoid buzz, frantic blast beats, howled vox, but, the arrangements, the song structure, even the sound, is far removed from Burzum and Immortal and Satyricon and Mayhem and all the rest. In the past, we've described Liturgy as sounding like a black metal Arvo Part, and that definitely still applies, it's as if these guys filter their BM through Part and Feldman and some sort of modern minimalism. The songs are rife with drones, and intricate harmonies, the rhythms complicated and convoluted, the buzz often wound up into soaring sheets of high end frenzy, the drums locked tight with the guitars, the songs often, a series of short phrases repeated over and over, very minimal and mesmerizing.
Opener "High Gold" is the perfect example, with it's soaring majestic black metallisms, arranged into seemingly brief blasts, lush high end swells, a sort of psychedelic ur-drone rendered in blasts and buzz. "True Will" is slightly more traditionally black metal, but even here, the band lock into these impossibly dense drones, where all the instruments lock onto a single high note and hold it, and keep holding it, creating so much tension, before splintering back into something more traditionally buzzy, but only slightly. The sound is ALL high end, all upper register, brittle and soaring. There did seem to be one other element in play, but on we couldn't put our finger on untilÉ
"Generation" which finds the band loosing a serious math rock onslaught, super technical, totally repetitive, the guitars churning, locking tight into these gnarled bits of crunch and chug, the drums mathy and meticulous, it's like these guys took 2 or 3 of their favorite riffs from Don Caballero songs and composed a super heavy, super minimal, almost looped sounding in places, math rock epic. It's so good. And you can hear the other element that finds it's way into the more black metal jams on the record, AND you can also observe the band's unique compositional strategy more easily in the math rock context, so when the next track begins, it's a killer mix of blasting soaring blackness, and gnarled mathiness, AND of course modern minimalism.
So yeah, the true grim corpsepainted hordes should definitely avoid this, they wouldn't enjoy it, or even get it, anyway, but for everyone else, this is some epic, majestic, and yeah, transcendental, math infused minimal black metal majesty of the highest order.
MPEG Stream: "High Gold"
MPEG Stream: "Returner"
MPEG Stream: "Generation"
MPEG Stream: "Veins Of God"

LITURGY Aesthethica (Thrill Jockey) 2lp 17.98
What is it about this band that inspires such controversy? Sure, any band of short haired hipsters that decides to play black metal is bound to get some heat from the true grim hordes, but with Liturgy it's off the charts. Could be frontman Hunter Hunt-Hendrix's diatribes on the intellectual roots of his band and music, maybe that combined with his pretty boy looks and his valley girl like diction - but hey it's all about the music, and as far as we're concerned Liturgy have definitely taken black metal and twisted it all up and made it their own. Sure we love the true grim classics, corpsepaint and raw primitive buzz, blasting necro metal, we do, and we maybe always will, but we gave up long ago on the whole 'troo' thing. If being true means only listening to one kind of music, and even then, only made by a certain approved sect of musicians, who would want that. It's a discussion that could go on for ages, and does on pretty much every metal messageboard on the web, but if you're reading this, odds are you're like us, you like cool, weird, GOOD music, and you don't care if someone thinks the music you love is 'true' or 'pure' or whatever, and odds are you don't just like black metal.
Which we think is probably a prerequisite for liking Liturgy. Because while this is most definitely black metal, all of HHH's intellectual posturing, just might not be posturing after all, cuz this stuff is WEIRD. FUCKED UP. SUPER COMPLEX. Minimal, but somehow totally maximal too. The black metal tropes are present and accounted for, super fast picking, soaring minor key melodies, insectoid buzz, frantic blast beats, howled vox, but, the arrangements, the song structure, even the sound, is far removed from Burzum and Immortal and Satyricon and Mayhem and all the rest. In the past, we've described Liturgy as sounding like a black metal Arvo Part, and that definitely still applies, it's as if these guys filter their BM through Part and Feldman and some sort of modern minimalism. The songs are rife with drones, and intricate harmonies, the rhythms complicated and convoluted, the buzz often wound up into soaring sheets of high end frenzy, the drums locked tight with the guitars, the songs often, a series of short phrases repeated over and over, very minimal and mesmerizing.
Opener "High Gold" is the perfect example, with it's soaring majestic black metallisms, arranged into seemingly brief blasts, lush high end swells, a sort of psychedelic ur-drone rendered in blasts and buzz. "True Will" is slightly more traditionally black metal, but even here, the band lock into these impossibly dense drones, where all the instruments lock onto a single high note and hold it, and keep holding it, creating so much tension, before splintering back into something more traditionally buzzy, but only slightly. The sound is ALL high end, all upper register, brittle and soaring. There did seem to be one other element in play, but on we couldn't put our finger on untilÉ
"Generation" which finds the band loosing a serious math rock onslaught, super technical, totally repetitive, the guitars churning, locking tight into these gnarled bits of crunch and chug, the drums mathy and meticulous, it's like these guys took 2 or 3 of their favorite riffs from Don Caballero songs and composed a super heavy, super minimal, almost looped sounding in places, math rock epic. It's so good. And you can hear the other element that finds it's way into the more black metal jams on the record, AND you can also observe the band's unique compositional strategy more easily in the math rock context, so when the next track begins, it's a killer mix of blasting soaring blackness, and gnarled mathiness, AND of course modern minimalism.
So yeah, the true grim corpsepainted hordes should definitely avoid this, they wouldn't enjoy it, or even get it, anyway, but for everyone else, this is some epic, majestic, and yeah, transcendental, math infused minimal black metal majesty of the highest order.
MPEG Stream: "High Gold"
MPEG Stream: "Returner"
MPEG Stream: "Generation"
MPEG Stream: "Veins Of God"

LITURGY Renihilation (20 Buck Spin) cd 10.98
These guys sent us an lp a long while back, and somehow we totally slept on it. Not sure why, a 12" x 12" image of a cloudy sky, the sun glinting in the background, and the words "PURE TRANSCENDENTAL BLACK METAL" writ large in big black records across the front, and inside, just what the cover promised some seriously buzzing blazing blackness. It's not surprising these guys found there way to 20 Buck Spin, a pretty good fit for sure for this NY horde.
Unlike the blissed out blackened ethereal transcendentalism of the lp, back when Liturgy was a one man bedroom black metal band, Renihilation finds Liturgy expanded to a 4 piece, and the sound is much more raw and organic, still blown out and pretty blissy, goddamn soaring and epic in fact, but it sounds more like a proper rock band, although the drumming is still inhumanly fast, and the band lock into these cool, weird, and very un-black metal sounding high end trills, that only make the sound that much more mysterious and mystical. The band claim some unlikely non-metal influences, but as you get into Renihilation, it's easy to hear that there's way more going on here than Ulver or Darkthrone worship, the band slipping into lurching, almost mathy breakdowns, incredible dynamics, that almost sounds like Harvey Milk at 78rpm, the sort of stop start, sway and lumber, that only works if the band is tight as fuck.
These songs are not super long either, but they feel majestic, and sprawling, and never ending, in a good way, the guitars are frantic, the drumming relentless, the guitars seem to exist only in the upper registers, like wild psychedelic leads transformed into some sort of blackened tremolo picking, so instead of black metal, these jams almost sound like modern classical compositions, like Arvo Part composing for black metal band, when a song ends, you feel exhausted, and drained, like at the end of a long journey, but before you can even catch your breath, the band explode into action once again. And before you know it, they're locked into another high end blast of extreme tension, no let up, no slipping into acoustic interludes, it's almost like the musical version holding your breath, soaring as high and for as long as (in)humanly possible, so when the band does pause briefly, it knocks you on your ass, of when they switch gears and get all spacious and dynamic, it nearly blows your mind.
When we first got this, we only listened to it a couple times, and thought it was pretty cool, but on repeated listens it is proving itself to be truly transcendental, and unlike almost all of the other black metal out there, and is quickly becoming a contender for black metal record of the year.
MPEG Stream: "Pagan Dawn"
MPEG Stream: "Mysterium"
MPEG Stream: "Ecstatic Rite"

LITURGY Renihilation (20 Buck Spin) lp 14.98
Now available on vinyl!
These guys sent us an lp a long while back, and somehow we totally slept on it. Not sure why, a 12" x 12" image of a cloudy sky, the sun glinting in the background, and the words "PURE TRANSCENDENTAL BLACK METAL" writ large in big black records across the front, and inside, just what the cover promised some seriously buzzing blazing blackness. It's not surprising these guys found there way to 20 Buck Spin, a pretty good fit for sure for this NY horde.
Unlike the blissed out blackened ethereal transcendentalism of the lp, back when Liturgy was a one man bedroom black metal band, Renihilation finds Liturgy expanded to a 4 piece, and the sound is much more raw and organic, still blown out and pretty blissy, goddamn soaring and epic in fact, but it sounds more like a proper rock band, although the drumming is still inhumanly fast, and the band lock into these cool, weird, and very un-black metal sounding high end trills, that only make the sound that much more mysterious and mystical. The band claim some unlikely non-metal influences, but as you get into Renihilation, it's easy to hear that there's way more going on here than Ulver or Darkthrone worship, the band slipping into lurching, almost mathy breakdowns, incredible dynamics, that almost sounds like Harvey Milk at 78rpm, the sort of stop start, sway and lumber, that only works if the band is tight as fuck.
These songs are not super long either, but they feel majestic, and sprawling, and never ending, in a good way, the guitars are frantic, the drumming relentless, the guitars seem to exist only in the upper registers, like wild psychedelic leads transformed into some sort of blackened tremolo picking, so instead of black metal, these jams almost sound like modern classical compositions, like Arvo Part composing for black metal band, when a song ends, you feel exhausted, and drained, like at the end of a long journey, but before you can even catch your breath, the band explode into action once again. And before you know it, they're locked into another high end blast of extreme tension, no let up, no slipping into acoustic interludes, it's almost like the musical version holding your breath, soaring as high and for as long as (in)humanly possible, so when the band does pause briefly, it knocks you on your ass, of when they switch gears and get all spacious and dynamic, it nearly blows your mind.
When we first got this, we only listened to it a couple times, and thought it was pretty cool, but on repeated listens it is proving itself to be truly transcendental, and unlike almost all of the other black metal out there, and is quickly becoming a contender for black metal record of the year.
MPEG Stream: "Pagan Dawn"
MPEG Stream: "Mysterium"
MPEG Stream: "Ecstatic Rite"

LITURGY Renihilation (Ormolycka) cassette 5.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
BACK IN STOCK!!
This incredible collection of Pure Transcendental Black Metal is now available again, this time on the KVLT-est of formats, the cassette tape, and if you needed another reason to buy this Liturgy record again, other than it RULES, and that as we mentioned, KASSETTES ARE KVLT, well, the tape version includes a bonus track, a remix in fact, by our very own Andee. His FIRST EVER remix. Created with basically no knowledge of sound programs, and none of the original tracks, but within those constraints, he's whipped up a pretty kick ass, heavy, noisy, old school jungle version of maybe our favorite Liturgy track.
Here's what we had to say about Renihilation when we first listed it a year or two back:
These guys sent us an lp a long while back, and somehow we totally slept on it. Not sure why, a 12" x 12" image of a cloudy sky, the sun glinting in the background, and the words "PURE TRANSCENDENTAL BLACK METAL" writ large in big black records across the front, and inside, just what the cover promised some seriously buzzing blazing blackness. It's not surprising these guys found their way to 20 Buck Spin, a pretty good fit for sure for this NY horde.
Unlike the blissed out blackened ethereal transcendentalism of the lp, back when Liturgy was a one man bedroom black metal band, Renihilation finds Liturgy expanded to a 4 piece, and the sound is much more raw and organic, still blown out and pretty blissy, goddamn soaring and epic in fact, but it sounds more like a proper rock band, although the drumming is still inhumanly fast, and the band lock into these cool, weird, and very un-black metal sounding high end trills, that only make the sound that much more mysterious and mystical. The band claim some unlikely non-metal influences, but as you get into Renihilation, it's easy to hear that there's way more going on here than Ulver or Darkthrone worship, the band slipping into lurching, almost mathy breakdowns, incredible dynamics, that almost sounds like Harvey Milk at 78rpm, the sort of stop start, sway and lumber, that only works if the band is tight as fuck.
These songs are not super long either, but they feel majestic, and sprawling, and never ending, in a good way, the guitars are frantic, the drumming relentless, the guitars seem to exist only in the upper registers, like wild psychedelic leads transformed into some sort of blackened tremolo picking, so instead of black metal, these jams almost sound like modern classical compositions, like Arvo Part composing for black metal band, when a song ends, you feel exhausted, and drained, like at the end of a long journey, but before you can even catch your breath, the band explode into action once again. And before you know it, they're locked into another high end blast of extreme tension, no let up, no slipping into acoustic interludes, it's almost like the musical version holding your breath, soaring as high and for as long as (in)humanly possible, so when the band does pause briefly, it knocks you on your ass, of when they switch gears and get all spacious and dynamic, it nearly blows your mind.
When we first got this, we only listened to it a couple times, and thought it was pretty cool, but on repeated listens it is proving itself to be truly transcendental, unlike almost all of the other black metal out there, and is quickly becoming one of our new favorite black metal records...
MPEG Stream: "Pagan Dawn"
MPEG Stream: "Mysterium"
MPEG Stream: "Ecstatic Rite"
MPEG Stream: "PGN>DWN (TICWAR-ped MIX) (Excerpt 1)"
MPEG Stream: "PGN>DWN (TICWAR-ped MIX) (Excerpt 2)"

LIVE HUMAN Elefish Jellyphant (Matador) cd 13.98
San Francisco's fantastic live improv hiphop/jazz/turntablism trio, featuring the skills of DJ Quest of the Space Travellers/Bullet Proof Scratch Hamsters, as well drum kit and double bass. Everybody loved their FatCat/Hip Hop Slam record "Monostereosis", and this is more of the same. Kinda like a more advanced version of the instrumental tracks on the last few Beastie Boys records, actually. Good stuff.