MR. LEN Pity The Fool (Matador) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The Holy Trinity of underground hip hop, Company Flow / Def Jux / Anticon, can seemingly do no wrong. And here they strike again. This time it's Mr. Len of Company Flow, with a record of dark and sinister gloom-funk, all staticky a.m. radio wah wah and crunchy stutter-step rhythms and mutated Vince Guaraldi pianos. Like being in a Argento horror movie where all the creatures and creeps lurking in the alleys are demented rappers looking to rhyme you to death. This shit is sick! Loads of guest MCs including Chubb Rock, The Juggaknots, Steady Roc, Mr. Live, Q-Unique and a bunch more.
RealAudio clip: "Get Loose"
RealAudio clip: "The Hurt"

MR. LEX Bounce A Gal (RMC) 7" 2.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
New hip-hop mix by Lexxus -- a.k.a. Mr Lex - featuring the rhythm track to Missy Elliott's "Get Ur Freak On". Depending where you stand on Missy's new album and blatant dancehall rip offs of important American artists, you may hate this or love it. I like to tell people that this is the alternate take of "Get Ur Freak On" when Missy had a horrible head cold and was possessed by the devil a la Linda Blair in The Exorcist. Resident opinionator Matt Wobensmith says it sounds like some drunk grabbing the micophone from the dj at a party and mumbling through it. For those of you hoping there would be a version on the b-side for your very own Missy mixing, you will be dissappointed to learn that instead there is another Lex track with a different rhythm, but another great track none the less.

MR. LEXX Anyway Whatever (RMC) 7" 2.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Hip hop remix.

MR. LEXX Goweh (RMC) 7" 2.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Hip hop remix. Rhythm = "We Thuggin'" (Fat Joe). B-side Elephant Man's "One" using that Mystikal break from "Shake Ya Ass".

MR. LIF Emergency Rations (Definitive Jux) cd ep 11.98
Boston's Mr. Lif releases an eight-track cdep, a concept album of sorts, wherein Lif the MC has supposedly been taken by government agents or something, presumably because his clearly-delivered message is so insurgent. The liner notes are even written by his compadre Akrobatik: "As one of Lif's closest friends, I know that he provided sociopolitical commentary in hopes that his listeners would discuss the issues brought forth..." Cannibal Ox's El-P lends his talents to two tracks. The cd comes with two videos you can play on your computer. It's good.
RealAudio clip: "Phantom / feat. El-P"
RealAudio clip: "Heavy Artillery"

MR. LIF Emergency Rations (Definitive Jux) lp 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Boston's Mr. Lif releases an eight-track cdep, a concept album of sorts, wherein Lif the MC has supposedly been taken by government agents or something, presumably because his clearly-delivered message is so insurgent. The liner notes are even written by his compadre Akrobatik: "As one of Lif's closest friends, I know that he provided sociopolitical commentary in hopes that his listeners would discuss the issues brought forth..." Cannibal Ox's El-P lends his talents to two tracks. The cd comes with two videos you can play on your computer. It's good.

MR. LIF Enter the Colossus (Definitive Jux) cd 11.98

MR. LIF I Phantom (Definitive Jux) cd 15.98
Def Jux alert! Mr Lif's first full length is pretty great, something I didn't expect after hearing his (admittedly good, but not great) two prior EPs Emergency Rations and Enters the Colasus. I Phantom is a concept album, but don't let that deter you -- it's kinda nice to have an album length narrative with which to gain insight into Lif's vision of the world as full of the pressures and stress of social, governmental, cultural fucked-ness. Basically, as Lif spells out in exruciating detail in the liner notes, the story is one black man's life, starting with him getting killed during a robbery, resurrected by hip hop, gets a normal job, hates it, quits, etc etc, lots of tragedies involving marriage, suicide, murder and the end of the world. Pretty bleak but super interesting, and the production is courtesy Cannibal Ox's El-P, Fakts One, Insight, etc. -- brighter and cleaner than the rest of the Def Jux catalog but just as apocalyptic and heavy and layered and weird sounding in all the right ways. Aesop Rock, El-P, Insight, and others also guest on the mic. Compelling, but I'm worried it's not going to get the attention it deserves, so listen to the soundclips for sure.
RealAudio clip: "A Glimpse at the Struggle"
RealAudio clip: "Earthcrusher"

MR. LIF Mo' Mega (Definitive Jux) cd 16.98

MPEG Stream: "Collapse"
MPEG Stream: "Brothaz"

MR. NOGATCO (A.K.A. KOOL KEITH) Nogatco Rd. (Insomniac Music) cd 13.98
It's been so long since we could whole heartedly rave about a Kool Keith record. A LONG time. Since Dr. Octagon maybe? Yeah, okay, we sorta dug Sex Style, but we much prefer the sci fi alien what-the-fuck KK to the kinky pervert KK for sure. And while Mr. Nogatco is no Dr. Octagon, it's as close as we've gotten in a long long time, so we'll take what we can get. This is some more of that Kool Keith freaky conspiracy theory shit, something about aliens, secret autopsies, you know the sort of thing. There's even a live alien dissection at the end of the disc, after a blissed out ambient skitterscape, with Keith nimbly leaping lyrically all over the fucking place, there's a strange microcassette recording of Keith talking all sorts of weirdness about some alien bodies they found in the desert, talking about their gel-type blood and stuff. What a nut. And so good to have him back in full freaked out space cadet mode. And while the music isn't quite as dense and deliriously wacked as the Automator's Octagonal beatscapes, producer IZ Real does all right, managing some pretty ominous X-FIles worthy sonic swells, plenty of haunting creep and cinematic crawl, moaning horns, rumbling drones, heavy metal guitars, a dark and doomy late night, rain soaked, blood drenched, government conspiracy, invaders from Mars series of freaky sci fi hip hop instrumentals for Keith as Mr. Nogatco to freak out over, and freak out he does, a flurry of surreal non sequiturs delivered in a lazy stoned drawl, an outerspace pod people mad as fuck flow, tales of dark space, bionic fuses, space men, eBay, elevation power, kinetics, mass gasses, credit cards, galaxy waxers, astronauts, dictators, force fields, green hands, slushies, rocketships and bikinis, laser corps, sneakers, lightning bugs, bubblegum, galactic foes, Jolly Ranchers, black hearts, hot milk, laser beams and all the other things Mr. Nogatco is fighting for, or battling against, or using to create a subatomic lightspeed jetliner, or just plain making up, in order to get in the pants of some three legged two headed space princess that he's supposed to be rescuing. Phew. Or maybe he's just plain nuts...
MPEG Stream: "Bionic Fuse"
MPEG Stream: "Night Flyer (Force Field)"

MR. PETER HAYDEN Born A Trip (Kauriala Society) cd 15.98
A few weeks back, we got an unsolicited email from someone called Mr. Peter Hayden. Not being someone we had ever heard of, we might have just deleted it, if it weren't for the subject line, which read: "Finnish music trying to impress you." Hmmm. Still skeptical, we opened the email, only to discover that Mr. Peter Hayden was not in fact a person, but a five piece psychedelic combo from Finland, who had recently got some serious love on Julian Cope's Head Heritage website. The email also ended with the line: "I know every word I write here is a waste of our time until You take an hour off and dive deep in to the worlds the album will take You." We were pretty much sold. After all, Finland. Check. Psychedelic. Check. Cope. Check.
And once we threw it one, we were not disappointed, in fact, we were wondering, being the weirdo Finnish music obsessives we are, and being super obsessed with all strains of psychedelic space rock heaviness, how the hell we had missed out on these guys? Well, better late than never, and really all it took was about a minute and we knew this probably had to be a Record Of The Week. Heavy, atmospheric, druggy, dynamic, psychedelic, pounding drums, soaring guitars, streaks of feedback, wailing melodies, long stretches of swirling spaciness between bursts of chugging heaviness, and that's only a couple minutes in, total trip out heavy head music for sure. A single seventy minute jam, that builds and builds and builds, from that first blast of psychedelic heaviness, chugging, and churning, the sound gradually grows less and less spares, more propulsive, more metallic, by about six minutes in, the song has transformed into a roiling sprawl of psychedelic doom, but sort of freeform, and a little bit jazzy, the guitars riffing, but also splintering into wild squalls of tangled melodies, and unfurling lush swirling textures, the sort of rare sonic beast that immediately entrances, first time we listened to this, we listened to the whole thing all the way through, totally mesmerized, and in a druggy, hypno-rock trance. And speaking of hypno-rock, just wait a few more minutes and the band locks into a seriously cyclical groove, seemingly channeling vintage Circle, but augmenting the minimal riffage of Circle with clouds of psychguitar shimmer, and what sounds like a phalanx of buzzing humming synths (maybe just more guitars), wild dense tangles of thick corrosive guitar buzz, chordal swells, all wrapped around a main riff that just chugs along all hypnotic and motorik.
The sound shifts constantly, without ever losing momentum, slipping at one point into a sort of doomy dirge, only to blossom into what might be the poppiest part of the record, all major key melody and soaring majesty, and then seconds later, to dial everything back, and unfurl a brooding stretch of ultra minimal meander, all super spare drumming, guitar buzzing like sitars off in the distance, the sound laced with fragmented riffs, strange FX, bits of squiggly melody, and all manner of slow shifting textures, woozy and washed out and dreamily druggy, all of this dreaminess eventually interrupted by some seriously metallic heft, a crushing drum heavy distorted riff churn, but still surrounded by a swirl of psychedelic shimmer, that somehow keeps it from being just heavy, and makes it both heavy, and blissfully psychedelic.
The heaviness seems to ooze and expand, the various guitars switching from riffing to spiraling soaring melodies, a lurching lumbering groove that as far as we're concerned continue to the end of the record, but Mr. Peter Hayden have other things in mind, slipping into some soaring near Godspeed like post rock epic-ness, not to mention a weirdly mathy almost metallic breakdown, and throughout, more stretches of hushed minimal drift, softly psychedelic, drowsily dreamy, a continual push/pull between blown out psych and space rock crush, and blissed out mesmer and shimmery lysergic ambience, but like any great record of its stripe, Born A Trip ends with a serious blast of psychedelic heaviness, sounding like Neurosis almost, epic and crushing, blown out and metallic, a heavy psych coda that eventually fades into a final stretch of droned out slo-mo minimalism. Wow. So great.
obviously so very recommended for fans of Carlton Melton, White Hills, 3 Leafs, Gnod, Sylvester Anfang, and other interstellar psychedelic space rock explorers, as well as all of you who dig motorik Circle style hypnorock, Finnish freakiness, and just trippy spacey heaviness in general. Definitely a Record Of The Week, but a serious contender for Record Of The YEAR as well...
MPEG Stream: "Born A Trip (Excerpt 1)"
MPEG Stream: "Born A Trip (Excerpt 2)"
MPEG Stream: "Born A Trip (Excerpt 3)"

MR. PUDDING Instant Pudding (Wiggley Tapes) cd 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

MR. SHOW The Complete Fourth Season (HBO) 2dvd 39.00
What will it take for us to convince you that Mr. Show is the greatest "sketch" comedy show EVER? Thimbles? Fake poo? Wyckyd Sceptre? Marilyn Monster Pizza Parlors? Probably nothing will do it at this point, you're either with us or against us. Us Mr. Show fans have to enjoy our obsession in secret (some of us here even have to sneak out of bed late at night and watch with headphones, so as not to wake our significant other who'd surely discipline such behavior). For those of you who do love Mr. Show and miss anticipating a new season every year, be sated with these final two discs. Not only will you get to relive the final ten episodes, but also enjoy some new items. Like the DVD reissues of the earlier seasons, this one has the usual hilarious commentary with Bob & David on all but one episode. Plus there's outtakes from the first three seasons, bloopers, "The Naked Improv" from a 1998 Comic Relief appearance, "The Grand Reunion" featurette and a Mr. Show Jukebox of songs from the entire series.

MR. SHOW The Complete Third Season (HBO) 2dvd 35.00
Best sketch comedy show ever. Hard to know what else to say. Everyone here has been OBSESSED with Mr. Show since it first aired on HBO years ago. To the point that some of us even spent a fortune buying crappy quality bootleg tapes on Ebay just to be able to see the show again! So we were SO EXCITED that HBO finally planned on releasing all four seasons! FUCK YEAH! A crazy mix of video and live sketch comedy starring Bob Odenkirk and David Cross. Cross you might recognise from his numerous guest appearances: Men In Black 2, Scary Movie 2, and about a million TV shows as well as his comedy record on Sub Pop 'Shut Up You Fucking Baby.' Mr. Show is brilliantly twisted, offensive and foul mouthed, ridiculous and unbelievably clever, obsessed with sex, drugs, rock and roll, reality police shows, old folks, streaking, British people, and of course cock rings! This is season three and features the amazing Sid And Marty Croft spoof Drugachussetts which is worth the thirty five bucks all by itself. And if you decide you are as obsessed as us, we can also order you the first and second season DVD set!

MR. VEGAS Love Zone (RMC) 7" 2.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Hip hop remix

MR. VEGAS & HARRY TODDLER Shame & Disgrace (Killa) 7" 2.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Hip hop remix.

MR. VELOCITY HOPKINS s/t (Insignificant / Bulb) cd 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Mr. Velocity Hopkins, a name familiar to fans of Couch (the one on the pleasantly obnoxious Bulb label). Six guys on drums, guitar, bass, and sax playing as many notes every 45 seconds as possible, resulting in a jazz-rock freakout assault similar to Zorn's Naked City or The Flying Luttenbachers (Weasel Walter of which appears here). A noisy racket, indeed, but with lots of oomph. Not produced or engineered, but sequenced, by Warn Defever.

MR.76IX Hits of 76ix Par2 (Skam) cd 15.98

MRK1 Copyright Laws (Planet Mu) cd 17.98

MPEG Stream: "Slope"
MPEG Stream: "I Got Too"

MRK1 Copyright Laws (Planet Mu) cd 17.98

MPEG Stream: "Slope"
MPEG Stream: "I Got Too"

MRK1 Never Warned (Contagious) 12" 11.98

MRK1 / CHIMPO split (Contagious) 12" 12.98

MRS. MAGICIAN Strange Heaven (Swami) cd 13.98
Before we relay the weird way in which we fell in love with this record, let us just say right up front, this is our new favorite garage pop record, hands down!
So as you probably know, the increasing habit of listening to music on our computers has changed the way we listen to music so much. Lots of folks listen to everything on shuffle, others just play their favorite tracks, the idea of full, programmed albums is almost a thing of the past for some folks. And while in some ways those changes enhance the listening experience, in others, it definitely feels like something has been lost. But for whatever reason, at least in this one case, the quirkiness of said computer listening was the key to our obsession with Mrs. Magician.
We had been listening to this new record from the weirdly named Mrs. Magician, a garage rock combo who we had only really heard of cuz they were on tour with the Hot Snakes. And we definitely liked what we heard but were not yet totally blown away. Then for some weird reason, we accidentally sorted our music library by 'date added' and ended up listening to Strange Heaven IN REVERSE ORDER, from back to front, and holy shit, suddenly it all clicked, our socks were knocked totally off, and ever since, we can't stop listening to this (and yeah, we dig it in the proper order now too!).
Not sure if the record is just weirdly back loaded, or we just needed this little twist to unlock the magic of Mrs. Magician, but we're just grateful it happened. To help simulate our listening experience, the first two sound samples we've provided are of course the double shot (in reverse order) that sealed the deal, the sort of one-two punch you find yourself listening to over and over and over (just ask the other aQ-ers how many times Andee has played these two tracks over and over the last few weeks), and then once you can convince yourself to move on, the third and fourth sound samples, are the album's proper opening two tracks.
But c'mon, "Dead 80's" has to be the jam of the year, crunchy, jangly, fuzzy, with a chorus that KILLS, all dreamy oooooh's, some falsetto crooning, warbly organs, ramshackle riffing, and the sort of gleefully profane chorus you'll find yourself singing along too even after just one time through ("Oooooooh, Fuck the world, Oooooooh, Fuck the law, Ooooooooh, Fuck the kids!"). And if "Dead 80's" wasn't already THEE jam here, then "Hours Of The Night" sure as shit would be, a dead ringer for late great post grunge Nova Scotian pop group the Hardship Post, all post Nirvana strum, but with hooks galore, a shuffling rhythm, and snarky heart broken lyrics, not to mention plenty of reverby dreaminess, and so it goes, those two songs are the key, that unlock a whole record of crazy catchy garage pop bliss, that to be honest, is really all we want to listen to. Can't remember being as excited about a pop record since Jaill's That's How We Burn, which trust us, is huge praise indeed. Definite contender for record of the year, pop or otherwise.
MPEG Stream: "Dead 80's"
MPEG Stream: "Hours Of The Night"
MPEG Stream: "Nightlife"
MPEG Stream: "There Is No God"

MRS. MAGICIAN Strange Heaven (Swami) lp 13.98
Before we relay the weird way in which we fell in love with this record, let us just say right up front, this is our new favorite garage pop record, hands down!
So as you probably know, the increasing habit of listening to music on our computers has changed the way we listen to music so much. Lots of folks listen to everything on shuffle, others just play their favorite tracks, the idea of full, programmed albums is almost a thing of the past for some folks. And while in some ways those changes enhance the listening experience, in others, it definitely feels like something has been lost. But for whatever reason, at least in this one case, the quirkiness of said computer listening was the key to our obsession with Mrs. Magician.
We had been listening to this new record from the weirdly named Mrs. Magician, a garage rock combo who we had only really heard of cuz they were on tour with the Hot Snakes. And we definitely liked what we heard but were not yet totally blown away. Then for some weird reason, we accidentally sorted our music library by 'date added' and ended up listening to Strange Heaven IN REVERSE ORDER, from back to front, and holy shit, suddenly it all clicked, our socks were knocked totally off, and ever since, we can't stop listening to this (and yeah, we dig it in the proper order now too!).
Not sure if the record is just weirdly back loaded, or we just needed this little twist to unlock the magic of Mrs. Magician, but we're just grateful it happened. To help simulate our listening experience, the first two sound samples we've provided are of course the double shot (in reverse order) that sealed the deal, the sort of one-two punch you find yourself listening to over and over and over (just ask the other aQ-ers how many times Andee has played these two tracks over and over the last few weeks), and then once you can convince yourself to move on, the third and fourth sound samples, are the album's proper opening two tracks.
But c'mon, "Dead 80's" has to be the jam of the year, crunchy, jangly, fuzzy, with a chorus that KILLS, all dreamy oooooh's, some falsetto crooning, warbly organs, ramshackle riffing, and the sort of gleefully profane chorus you'll find yourself singing along too even after just one time through ("Oooooooh, Fuck the world, Oooooooh, Fuck the law, Ooooooooh, Fuck the kids!"). And if "Dead 80's" wasn't already THEE jam here, then "Hours Of The Night" sure as shit would be, a dead ringer for late great post grunge Nova Scotian pop group the Hardship Post, all post Nirvana strum, but with hooks galore, a shuffling rhythm, and snarky heart broken lyrics, not to mention plenty of reverby dreaminess, and so it goes, those two songs are the key, that unlock a whole record of crazy catchy garage pop bliss, that to be honest, is really all we want to listen to. Can't remember being as excited about a pop record since Jaill's That's How We Burn, which trust us, is huge praise indeed. Definite contender for record of the year, pop or otherwise.
MPEG Stream: "Dead 80's"
MPEG Stream: "Hours Of The Night"
MPEG Stream: "Nightlife"
MPEG Stream: "There Is No God"

MRS. QEADA Babi b/w Post Pubertal (Flogsta Danshall) 7" 6.98
Calling all skweee-jays! Or would-be skweee-jays. We've got four new 7" singles of fresh skweee straight from the source, imported from Flogsta Danshall in Finland. They're in plain white sleeves, the only art to be found here on the labels. If you've followed our other skweee recommendations (both Museum Of Future Sound comps, the more recent Skweee Tooth collection) then you know all about this Scandinavian DIY electro b-boy instrumental 8-bit phenomenon, and you'll also already be familiar with the strange names of the artists on these four singles.
Flogsta boss Limonious' slinky "Swedish Pommak" already wormed its way into our ears via the Museum Of Future Sound Vol. 2, though the jittery yet spacey b-side "Hurri Up!" we hadn't heard before. And all the tracks by Mangrove, Mrs. Qeada, and Joxaren (all three artists hailing from Sweden) are new to us as well. Suffice to say, if you like skweee, you'll like these cuts, presented here in skweee's ideal format.
Joxaren's "Ritam Bluz" is a chiming, exotic, slightly sinister groove. Mrs Qeada's laidback "Post-Pubertal" bleeps and bloops nicely along aided by robotic handclaps and digital hisses (oddly, her MySpace page lists Neutral Milk Hotel's Jeff Mangum as her only influence). Maybe our fave of the batch, Mangrove's "Angry Animals", is a bit of a fractured funky banger, bringing down some rigid buzzin' beats. The flip is pretty solidly crunchy / catchy too. The various other A- and B- sides on these 7"s are all pretty darn skweelicious as well! Seriously, if you're a DJ, just throw one of these on in your set for instant skweee cred. Listening at home is fun too.
Go here: http://skweee.com/ for a lot more interesting skweee info, including interviews with some of the folks we just mentioned.

MRTYU Blood Tantra (20 Buck Spin) 2cd 14.98
We've had some cd-r evidence a while back pointing to the existence of some mighty black beast, trolling the midnight forests of the New Zealand wilds, the thing they call Mrtyu, some say it's a man, but what kind of man can spew forth such a noxious cacophony? Some say it is a demon from the depths of hell, unleashed after centuries of incarceration in some hellish underground lair, but how did a demon learn to play a guitar and use a 4 track? We've been led to believe however that Mrtyu is actually the musical Mr. Hyde to one Antony Milton's Dr. Jeckyll. What proof do we have? The cd-r label Pseudo Arcana, run by an entity known as Antony Milton, Nether Dawn, a group fronted by a shadowy figure possibly also Mr. Milton, and then there are of course a couple previous cd-r releases, which are now known to be the work of one Antony Milton. This double disc collection gathers up all existing evidence, including previous releases as well as a brand new previously unreleased sonic document. Why the hubbub? Well, friends, it could be that Mrtyu offer up some of the darkest, blackest, heaviest sounds south of Heaven? That to trudge through Mrtyu's sonic world is a journey to the brink of madness? Perhaps, but the best way to truly understand the fury and glory of the mighty Mrtyu is to listen. Each track a blast of primitive power, each with it's own unique sonic energy. Sheets of shimmering feedback drift over crumbly rumbling super distorted guitar background noise. Very static and raga-like, quite reminiscent of Total or Skullflower. A lo-fi doom dirge, with jagged brittle guitars, distorted vocals (not howls or shrieks, but like indie crooning, all 'distorted' up). A brief blast of Melvins-y sludge but with the high end pushed into the red. Almost like a indie pop song, but deconstructed and dipped in stoner sludge. A bit of Sunroof!, a bit of Angus Maclise, a lush shimmering drone, with peals of feedback and throbbing smears of downtuned guitar, all tangled into a gorgeously static thrum. Drones cloaked in black, damaged and druggy, ultra distorted guitars, so downtuned and blown out it sounds like some sort of tectonic event, the guitars form the framework for a truly oppressive atmosphere, a swirl of black clouds and Butthole Surfers-esque feedback, while atop it all, a demonic voice intones and howls and squeals like a rusted hinge. Think Khanate meets Abruptum, but filtered through than NZ noize aesthetic. A howling hellish musical journey through the fires of hell, trudging across pits of black pitch, being dragged bloody and screaming through dark demon infested forests. So harsh and beautifully bilious, drones become dirges, dirges become drones, everything cloaked in black and swathed in buzz.
Bow supplicant, pray for forgiveness, wish for survival, bathe in the blood from your ringing ears. All hail Mrtyu.
These musical missives come housed in a hand screened green and blue, three panel cardstock sleeve, adorned with all manner of pagan and tribal imagery, quite striking!
(Psst... the artwork on the discs got swapped at the plant, so the disc marked DISC 1 actually contains the music from disc 2 and vice versa. Just the demon Mrtyu messing with our heads wethink!)
MPEG Stream: "Monk Eats Children"
MPEG Stream: "Fecundity"
MPEG Stream: "Rites Of Death In Body Temple"

MRTYU Durga (Audiobot) cd-r 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The last time we heard from Mrtyu, was a cd-r on Campbell Kneale's experimental metal label Battlecruiser. It was quite the heavy and noisy affair, a head on collision between Skullflower / Total style free skree and throbbing sludgy dirgey doom. And obviously we loved it. Only later did we discover that Mrtyu was none other than Mr. Antony Milton, infamous NZ noisenik and head honcho of the PseudoArcana cd-r label. This is the first full length from Milton and his Mrtyu, and if anything, the sound of Mrtyu has gotten more metal, or at the very least more HEAVY, but without sacrificing the drone element. The first track still channels a bit of Sunroof!, a bit of Angus Maclise, a lush shimmering drone, with peals of feedback and throbbing smears of downtuned guitar, all tangled into a gorgeously static thrum. The second track though finds Mrtyu cloaked in black and playing a much blacker music than before, crumbling, ultra distorted guitars, so down tuned and blown out it sounds like some sort of tectonic event, the guitars form the framework for a truly oppressive atmosphere, a swirl of black clouds and Butthole Surfers-esque feedback, while atop it all, a demonic voice intones and howls and squeals like a rusted hinge. Think Khanate meets Abruptum, but filtered through than NZ noize aesthetic. The rest of the disc is follows a similar path, a howling hellish musical journey through the fires of hell, trudging across pits of black pitch, being dragged bloody and screaming through dark demon infested forests. So harsh and beautifully bilious, drones become dirges, dirges become drones, everything cloaked in black and swathed in buzz.
MPEG Stream: "For The Glory Of The Fallen"
MPEG Stream: "Pyre"

MRTYU Ornate Shroud (Tipped Bowler Tapes / Faunasabbatha) lp 12.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
Latest bit of obscure musical alchemism from the mysterious cave dwelling horde known simply as Mrtyu, but around here, also known as Antony Milton, head honcho of the Pseudo Arcana label, and the man behind numerous musical endeavors we dig BIG time: Street, Nether Dawn, Claypipe, With Throats As Fine As Needles, The Stumps, we could go on and on...
Mrtyu was always Milton's outlet for his darker side, a sort of blackened drone metal behemoth, never full committing the the black buzz, always sort of skirting the grim true BM sound, taking elements of that sound and fusing it to his more abstract, folky dronemusic, the results invariably kick ass. On this latest slab, the Mrtyu sound is markedly different, for all the noise and skree and buzz and general heaviness, it's also probably the prettiest Mrtyu yet. As if the ever raging battle between his folkier dronier 'good' side and his buzzier sludgier 'bad' side, has finally tipped to the side of good. But not too good, fear not.
Unlike some of the more grim noise drenched rituals of the past, the first side could almost be one of Milton's other projects. Sure there's plenty of guitar skree, sheets of feedback, and dense layers of soft chaos, but beneath it all lurk gorgeous lilting melodies, each avalanche of crumbling distortion can barely disguise the weirdly pretty, woozy, spidery, dreamy melodies within. Swirled smears of muted buzz wrap around delicate jangle and simple strum, dense cacophonous walls of sound tumble beneath crystalline chordal streaks.
It's not until the B side that things get seriously heavy. A gorgeous little Middle Eastern sounding tangle of melodies drifts over a soft layer of muted feedback, the strings sawed intensely, then suddenly, a buzzy blown out riff comes in, locked and looped, a mesmerizing lurching groove beneath the ever intensifying tangle of melodies, a twisted metallic Easter drone raga (or something) that could have taken up the whole record and we would have been psyched. Thankfully it takes up half of the second side.
The record finishes off with more abstract blackened folkiness, vocals enter the fray, a weird effected mewl, over rumbling distortion and shards of feedback, more squiggly little melodies, and some warm almost tranquil sounding guitar shimmer underneath.
Perhaps not so much for the weirdo metal obsessives anymore, this Mrtyu record will probably find a home with the more avant folk / abstract drone / free noise freaks, although truly adventurous metalheads should definitely not be dissuaded.
LIMITED TO 350 COPIES. Pressed on 180 gram vinyl. Housed in hand screened linen paper sleeves. NICE!

MRTYU Ritual Terra Continuii (Tipped Bowler Tapes) cassette 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Mrtyu is Antony Milton's musical Mr. Hyde, allowing him to weave blackened musickal rituals, and strange downtuned noise drenched dronedoom when he's not creating gorgeous soundscapes, crafting jangly pop, or keeping the underground alive with his PseudoArcana label. Ritual Terra Continuii is not as doomy as some of the other Mrtyu releases, but it's still plenty dark and scary. Disembodied vocals drift amidst slithering low end riffing, bells and chimes drift on thick swells of squealing feedback, everything a glorious murky lo-fi crawl. Dripping with distortion, a lurching lope through some damaged wasteland of sound. Crumbling walls of guitar buzz, bent strings, minor key melodies, simple music box percussion, and that voice, like Whitehouse being broadcast through a tin can and twine, barely audible through the sheets of gloom and mire. So good.
Killer blood splattered hand painted tape in a cryptic black and white sleeve, with a black and white insert, and a folded up short story printed on super nice textured paper. LIMITED TO 120 COPIES!!!

MRTYU The Burning Ground (Battlecruiser / Celebrate Psi Phenomenon) cd-r 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Managed to get a handful more of these back in, and are most likely the last copies we'll ever be able to get!
Finally, a new release from Campbell Kneale's (Birchville Cat Motel) 'metal' label Battlecruiser. This time from the cryptically named Mrtyu (which we later discovered was a psudonym for Mr. Antony Milton, head of the -other- brilliant NZ cd-r label, Pseudoarcana). And upon first listen, it's not all that metal. Not to say that it's not good, it is. Really good. It just sounds like it might have been just at home on Kneale's more drift / drone / freenoise oriented label Celebrate Psi Phenomenon. Sheets of shimmering feedback drift over crumbly rumbling super distorted guitar background noise. Very static and raga-like, quite reminiscent of Total or Skullflower. But then track two hits and we understand why this is a Battlecruiser release. A lo-fi doom dirge, with jagged brittle guitars, distorted vocals (not howls or shrieks, but like indie crooning, all 'distorted' up). A brief blast of Melvins-y sludge but with the high end pushed into the red. Almost like a indie pop song, but deconstructed and dipped in stoner sludge. Cool. And as always SUPER LIMITED. When these are gone they are indeed gone for good!
MPEG Stream: "track 1"
MPEG Stream: "track 2"

MRWEBI, GWIGWI Mbaqanga Songs (Honest Jon's) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
An amazing release in this new series from the always kick ass Honest Jon's label. An offshoot of the equally amazing London Is The Place For Me series (which we've yet to review, but we're working on it!), Gwigwi Mrwebi is a sax player from Johannesburg, who moved to London in 1960 to appear in the musical King Kong (!) and who back in South Africa had recorded with Hugh Masekela among other jazz luminaries. We've been listening to this for months and months and are only now finally getting it reviewed and listed!
Mbaqabga Songs is a reissue of an impossible to find lp, and is totally delightful, groovy, jazzy, danceable, playful, rambunctious, a bit boppy, super happy and most certainly sets the toes a tapping. While this definitely has some African elements and will appeal to fans of all things Ethiopiques and Zanzibara, it's much more of a straight jazz record, performed in the Kwela style popular in Africa at the time, a happy, lilting, jazzy bounce with a definite fifties big band vibe (we even hear some rocksteady in there too), the melodies exuberant, the playing smooth and crisp, just so fun with a totally carefree vibe. It's easy to imagine a warm summer evening, the sun setting on an outdoor dancefloor, strung with multi colored lights, Mrwebi and his band playing on late into the night, everyone dancing and drinking and celebrating life. So great!
Beautifully packaged in a 8 panel digipak, packed super extensive liner notes from Steve Beresford.
MPEG Stream: "Good News"
MPEG Stream: "Nyusamkhaya"
MPEG Stream: "Lily Express"

MS. JOHN SODA No P. Or D. (Morr Music) cd 16.98
Coming from the cross-pollinating community of Bavarian post-rock and electronica hybrids, Ms. John Soda is actually a duo comprised of Micha Acher (of Tied & Tickled Trio, Village of Savoonga, and the Notwist, often times working with his brother Markus) and Stephanie Boehm. Both worked together six or seven years back as Couch, a data-pop / post-rock ensemble with not a thing in common with the Michigan scum-rock band by the same name. Their reunion as Ms. John Soda for their first album "No P. Or D." doesn't stray far from the Morr label template of bittersweet ambient-pop; so we give a word of caution to fans of Village of Savoonga's angular darkness, which you won't find in any Morr productions. Boehm's simple if slightly detached vocals wistfully float through each song not unlike those of Laetetia Sadier on early Stereolab albums like "Peng." Barring their Neu! references, those early Stereolab albums make for an adequate parallel to Ms. John Soda in their mutual applications of retro fetishism, effortless indie-pop grooviness through jangliness, and an unassuming intelligence (which Stereolab has lost as of late). It's almost as good as the Notwist's "Neon Golden," which has grown to be one of the sleeper gems of 2002! Certainly worth checking out.
RealAudio clip: "Misco"
RealAudio clip: "Unsleeping"

MS. JOHN SODA Notes And The Like (Morr Music) cd 16.98
Ms John Soda make pretty pretty pop-tronica, the kind that very much defines the Morr Music label. With their droll yet airy female vocals, chiming electronic effervescence and occasional counterweight of electric guitar, this German duo are very very akin to their dreamy Morr labelmates LaliPuna, if perhaps a little bit more insistent. Heck, the striking resemblance is really not all that surprising since each group has an Acher brother in its lineup (fyi: Micha and Markus Acher are also prominent members of The Notwist, Village Of Savoonga, Tied & Tickled Trio, 13 & God, among others). Also very much for fans of Broadcast or Postal Service.
MPEG Stream: "A Nod On Hold"
MPEG Stream: "A Million Times"

MS. JOHN SODA Notes And The Like (Morr Music) lp 16.98
Ms John Soda make pretty pretty pop-tronica, the kind that very much defines the Morr Music label. With their droll yet airy female vocals, chiming electronic effervescence and occasional counterweight of electric guitar, this German duo are very very akin to their dreamy Morr labelmates LaliPuna, if perhaps a little bit more insistent. Heck, the striking resemblance is really not all that surprising since each group has an Acher brother in its lineup (fyi: Micha and Markus Acher are also prominent members of The Notwist, Village Of Savoonga, Tied & Tickled Trio, 13 & God, among others). Also very much for fans of Broadcast or Postal Service.
MPEG Stream: "A Nod On Hold"
MPEG Stream: "A Million Times"

MS. JOHN SODA While Talking (Morr Music) cd 14.98
Ms. John Soda's previous album No P. Or D. was a great complementary record to the the likes of Notwist's Neon Golden, the Postal Service's Give Up, and Broadcast's Ha Ha Sound, as this Bavarian duo of Stefanie Boehm and Micha Acher (who also plays in the Notwist) successfully recreated much of the same wistful indie-pop sensibility of those other bands while adding their distinct signature of retro chic mired in technologically advanced programming. This new While Talking EP moves a bit away from that pop sensibility, at first picking up more of an avant-rock groove by adapting their sound to incorporate the jagged guitar riffs of Blonde Redhead or Sonic Youth around their Fake Can Be Just As Good or Goo albums, respectively. Elsewhere the songs begin to fragment into pretty electronica splatters smoothed over by Boehm's voice. 5 tracks, 27 minutes.
MPEG Stream: "No One"
MPEG Stream: "Sometimes Stop, Sometimes Go"

MS. TOI That Girl (Universal) cd 17.98
First solo record from Ms. Toi, the girl we all loved from that Ice Cube record ('put your back into it, put your ass into it') that seemed to play every five minutes a year or so back. We were kind of hoping M. Toi would follow the same trajectory as Amil, another guest-vocalist-turned-hip-hop-diva, who guested on a racy Jay-Z track and then put out a record on her own that was hard, and mean, and funky and fucking great. Unfortunately, it seems like it was more luck than talent that got Ms. Toi on Cube's track. This record has none of the grit or hardness, or catchiness and instead offers up a lightweight, lukewarm funk/R+B mess of watered down Young MC style hip hop and slow jam pap.

MSBR Space Lab Green (Celebrate Psi Phenomenon) 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.
Courtesy of Mr Campbell Kneale and his impressive Celebrate Psi Phenomena label comes the latest snarling beast of a record from Japan's MSBR. One thirty minute track of NOISENOISENOISE. Harsh electronic wall of sound. Sharp and severe, thick and impenetrable. MSBR fans and Merbowmaniacs might want to check this out. Gorgeously packaged as are all of CPP's limited cd-rs.
RealAudio clip: "Space Lab Green"

MSBR Ultimate Ambience 2 (20 City) cd 16.98

MSG Songs From A Gated Community (Crimp Wax) lp 12.98
This one's a doozy, one to add to the WHAT THE FUCK section of your collection (you do have one of those don't you?), you know, Fastest, Steven Schultz, Rodd Keith, heck we might even include Ween and the Frogs and other twisted practitioners of their own peculiar sonic songcraft, and now you can add MSG to that group. (Not to be confused with the -other- MSG, the Michael Schenker Group, by the way.) It might be good to listen to the samples first, odds are you'll have one of two reactions, both of which were experienced by listeners at aQ, one was like 'what the fuck is this, for god's sake please take it off', while the other was 'what the fuck is this? This is totally fucking nuts and I love it', which is where most of us ended up.
It's hard to tell from the liner notes if these songs were actually recorded by a child, but we're thinking it was recorded by an adult, channeling his inner child. As the liner notes describe, and the title alludes too, these songs were born of a bored mind, trapped in a gated community, obsessed with MTV, heavy metal, hip hop, BMX bikes, candy, cars with boomin' systems, the man (boy) behind MSG inheriting a shitty keyboard after his grandma died, and creating songs that somehow combined all of his (above mentioned) loves at the time, set to what sounds alternatingly like lo-fi Kraftwerky robotic electro pop and DIY hip hop, imagine dorky sing songy melodies, shitty programmed Casio beats, and vocals delivered in various 'voices', from falsetto croons to faux robot voices, and some amazingly painful rapping.
"Liquid Titanium" is total sci-fi robo-funk, with stiff programmed grooves and sci-fi synths, not to mention some rad robo-vox, while "Boom Boom Boom" is super lo-fi pop electro-pop, with an infuriatingly catchy chorus, "Calculator Machine" might be our favorite though, some fuzzy squelchy synth-wave, with pounding drums, snake charmer synth melodies, more robo-vox and some anguished monstrous bellows, not to mention some hilarious lyrics. And of course there's the sort of cock rock anthem / public service announcement of "You Want To Party / Don't Do Drugs", replete with raspy arena rock star vox, but belted out over some dorky damaged synthesizer, and another cloyingly catchy chorus. Sure it's dumb, and goofy, but it's weird and pretty goddamn hilarious, and we end up finding ourselves listening to this way more than lots of other, less dumb things, which says a lot!
Includes a download coupon.
MPEG Stream: "Peak Of Excitement"
MPEG Stream: "Liquid Titanium"
MPEG Stream: "Boom Boom Boom"
MPEG Stream: "Calculator Machine"

MT. EERIE 11 Old Songs lp + cd 16.98

MT. EERIE Singers (P.W. Elverum & Sun) lp + cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
On his latest musical excursion (which took us a while to get back in stock after it first appeared a couple months ago!), Microphones mainman Phil Elverum orchestrates the Mt. Eerie Singers. If that name sounds familiar, you might recall that Mount Eerie was the title of his last Microphones studio album released back in 2003. Elverum has gathered together an album's worth of his off the cuff impromptu (?) recordings from the past five years. He's the lead vocalist and he's joined by an ever-changing chorus of singers. It's a downright homespun folksy singalong from start to finish.
Note: on the back of the lp sleeve, there's a note that says this lp includes a bonus cd version which due to a superior mastering job has clearer sound quality than that of the vinyl (the cd is the format from which we nabbed the audio clips). So... I guess that means all of you vinyl lovin' Elverum fans will just have to suffer through a little murkiness. Mind you Elverum's recordings have never been the most crisp, clear productions, so maybe you'll find it to be somewhat negligible. Personally we didn't notice much difference.
MPEG Stream: "Let's Get Out Of The Romance"
MPEG Stream: "Ut Oh! It's Mourningtime Again"

MT. EGYPT III (Secret Seven) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

MT. EGYPT III (Secret Seven) lp 12.98
Record number three from Travis Graves aka Mt. Egypt, and we now find ourselves wondering how we never heard, or heard of, Mt. Egypt before now? Apparently he's toured with Band Of Horses, Cat Power, The Flaming Lips, hell, even Willie Nelson. And as we mentioned above, this is his THIRD record. We're definitely kicking ourselves for only just catching on, but we're doing our best to make up for lost time, listening to this like crazy...
The music of Mt Egypt is a darkly delicate, introspective folk, simple and spare, warm and languid, a hazy sun dappled back porch summer afternoon sound, ethereal steel string guitar shimmer, wrapped in warm tendrils of muted melody, all with a subtly psychedelic cast. The sound is mostly acoustic guitar and vocals, but really nothing else is needed. It's all about the songs, and the voice. The songs themselves are practically perfect, sparse and spacious and stripped down, delicate and hushed, mysteriously and subtly catchy, the hooks are there, but they're hazy and indistinct, and hover in the background, the catchiness an afterthought to the mood, and the emotions, a gentle classic poppiness that informs Mt Egypt's skeletal country folk, and Graves' voice is the perfect match, plaintive and keening, slipping from a weary whisper to a mournful croon, somewhere between Neil Young and Songs:Ohia's Jason Molina. Grave's vocals occasionally woven into angelic harmonies, draped over elegiac stretches of minimal strum and drift. Broken hearted, twang flecked introspective folk, that is simply lovely. And is most definitely recommended for fans of Palace Brothers / Will Oldham, Fleet Foxes, Band Of Horses, Iron & Wine, Mount Eerie, Songs:Ohia, Rocky Votolato, Vetiver, Bon Iver and other similarly dark and introspective folk...
LIMITED TO JUST 100 COPIES!!!!
MPEG Stream: "Hello World"
MPEG Stream: "Same"
MPEG Stream: "How Can A Human Mind?"

MU Out Of Breach (Manchester's Revenge) (Output) cd 16.98

MU-ZIQ Bilious Paths (Planet-Mu) cd 14.98
In less skilled hands the plethora of incredibly diverse styles, source material and directions that come into play on Bilious Paths might've resulted in a total jumbled mess, but fortunately this is not the case at all, for this is a Mu-Ziq album. Under the skilled hand of Mike Paradinas, sonic order and disorder coexist like the best of buddies. Chopped up and assembled meticulously, the flying chunks of farting digital blurts, hard guttural bass lines, and drum'n'bass-jungle-ragga-gabber-techno beat fragments frolic, engage and disengage at whim. Nothing new or terribly groundbreaking, but we've got Knifehandchop and Hellfish and Venetian Snares to annoy and brutalise us now (in a good way of course). All we need from Mu-ziq is more of the same good stuff.
MPEG Stream: "Silk Ties"
MPEG Stream: "Johnny Mastricht"

MU-ZIQ Bilious Paths (Planet-Mu) 2lp 14.98
In less skilled hands the plethora of incredibly diverse styles, source material and directions that come into play on Bilious Paths might've resulted in a total jumbled mess, but fortunately this is not the case at all, for this is a Mu-Ziq album. Under the skilled hand of Mike Paradinas, sonic order and disorder coexist like the best of buddies. Chopped up and assembled meticulously, the flying chunks of farting digital blurts, hard guttural bass lines, and drum'n'bass-jungle-ragga-gabber-techno beat fragments frolic, engage and disengage at whim. Nothing new or terribly groundbreaking, but we've got Knifehandchop and Hellfish and Venetian Snares to annoy and brutalise us now (in a good way of course). All we need from Mu-ziq is more of the same good stuff.

MU-ZIQ Bluff Limbo (Rephlex) 2lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
If a record could laugh it might sound like this long lost µ-Ziq album on Aphex Twin's label. Musical horsing around, much like his Clear full-length (released under the moniker Jake Slazenger). Very accessible, full of layered sonic elements, like epic difficult dance music for the too-easily bored.

MU-ZIQ In Pine Effect (Astralwerks) cd 14.98

MU-ZIQ Salsa And Mesquite (Astralwerks) cd 14.98

MU-ZIQ Urmur Bile Trax vol. 1 & 2 (Astralwerks) cd 12.98
Mike P.'s two import-only drum&bass 12-inch records on one cd.