KROKO Furia (Verdura) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Circle's Jussi Lehtisalo recommended this to us: another Finnish band that operates in the in-between realm of rock, improv, jazz, and prog. Kroko are an all-instrumental basso/perkussio/kitara trio featuring the guitarist from Bad Vugum recording artists Deep Turtle (Finland's answer to Mr. Bungle, y'know). The band's music possesses a variety of moods and textures, ranging from dense free-improv jazziness (not unlike AQ-faves the Nels Cline Trio) to more aggressive, heavier fare on a few tracks, with riffing a la the Melvins (or, more accurately, the Ruins, what with the complex twists these songs sometimes take). At one point things get so heavy and distorted it approaches Merzbow-style noise. But that's balanced by the many quieter, more delicate, atmospheric tracks. And then there's the others that sound like Gregg Ginn's Gone, gone Mahavishnu... Recorded live to digital, with some overdubs and edits. There's 18 tracks, and while a few come off merely as skronky, sometimes humorous live jams, most go far beyond that.
RealAudio clip: "Sol Ist"
RealAudio clip: "Agent Weird"
RealAudio clip: "Polanski After Ski"
RealAudio clip: "Liero"
RealAudio clip: "Setzur Au Naturelle"

KROKODIL An Invisible World Revealed (Second Battle) cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

KROKODIL An Invisible World Revealed (Second Battle) lp 31.00

KRUMMENACHER, VICTOR Bittersweet (Magnetic) cd 13.98
Local stalwart Victor Krummenacher delivers another wellcrafted collection of singer songwriter material. With the assistance of musicians such as Dave Alvin, Carla Bozulich (Geraldine Fibbers), Alison Faith Levy, and David Immergluck and Jonathan Segel of Krummenahcer's old band Camper Van Beethoven, Krummenacher writes instantly catchy poignant songs, with the high points being the duets with female vocalists. Check out the title track "Bittersweet" and see if you aren't immediately drawn in. This is high quality music from a talent so steady and mature that he doesn't make any mistakes. Nice.
RealAudio clip: "Bittersweet"

KRYPT AXERIPPER Mechanical Witch (Ektro Records Archive) cd ep 7.98
Finland's Ektro Records label (run by Jussi from Circle/Pharaoh Overlord as you may know) would have us believe that this four-song ep is one from the vaults, supposedly a reissue of singles tracks recorded back in '83 by the mysterious metal entity known as Krypt Axeripper. Obscure cult '80s metal, eh? Well it looks like it: it's got a suitable logo, fantastical n' scary artwork, and the cd booklet even reproduces the labels from the "original" vinyl release of the tracks "Battle Of The Axehammer" and "Possessed (By Trees)". Wait a sec, "Battle Of The Axehammer"? Isn't that also the title of the live Pharaoh Overlord album? Indeed it is, and we're about 99.666 percent sure that "Krypt Axeripper" is in fact the heavy metal alter ego of our friend Jussi! Playing guitars, bass, synths, and singing, Axeripper is joined by "Rattfinder" on drums, who from the sound of it is probably one of Jussi's colleagues in Circle...
And of course, as with *anything* Circle-related, no matter what the concept, it's got that hypnotic Circle-sound at its base. In fact, we'd say that there's stuff on Circle's Sunrise or Pharaoh Overlord 4 that's actually way more metal than the songs here. Yes, they're all got a bunch of very metal (and crudely catchy) guitar riffing going on, albeit ramshackle and lo-fi. But then there's the vocals, which despite lyrics about Lucifer, have a very woozy, weirdly crooned, eccentrically pop quality to them, pitched high in a much more gentle way than a real metal screecher would do. And the guitar solos -- those are all totally psychedelic, Floydian/Frippian washes, really nice as well. And the drums, we mentioned, not metal at all. Too wimpy and motorikally rhythmic. So it's a truly unique and amusing mix, and we LOVE it. Sure the vocals come across as a bit silly at first, but they're actually pretty cool when you really listen, and it's impressive how the vocal parts are arranged, with various lead and backing vocals interwoven, all sung by Mr. Axeripper hisownself.
False metal? More like freak metal. Krypt Axeripper may be fake (and funny) but we're still fans for real. It's interesting how in trying to make a pastiche of heavy metal music (if that's really what he was trying to do...), Jussi came up with something that, if we had to compare it to an actual metal record, reminds us of Voivod's most controversially "alternative" album, the college radio confusional Angel Rat from 1991. We also appreciate that this experiment was kept to just 11 minutes, four amazing, strange songs, not overdoing it, just enough to give his inner metalfan a chuckle -- and to get us to keep hitting play again and again and again on this wacked-out quartet of relaxed, quasi-metallic tracks. Krypt Axeripper seriously (or maybe not-so-seriously) rules!
MPEG Stream: "High Speed Thunder Forever Gone"
MPEG Stream: "Possessed (By Trees)"

KRYPTONICS Rejectionville (Memorandum / Reverberation) 2cd 16.98
We're flipping out a little over this new Memorandum label, a reissue label dedicated to an era of Australian underground rock that we've been obsessed with for years, Lubricated Goat, King Snake Roost, Grong Grong (reviewed elsewhere on this week's list), the Hard-Ons, the Triffids, Radio Birdman, the list goes on.
We had never actually heard the Kryptonics before, but did know that members of the Kryptonics went on to play in Radio Birdman, the Hard-Ons, and most exciting for us, Lubricated Goat! But the sound of the Kryptonics was not nearly as noisy or punk, they were more a sort of garage pop combo, who listening to this now definitely remind us of the Hoodoo Gurus, or the Lime Spiders, albeit a bit more raw and rough around the edges. But holy crap could these guys write songs, a bunch of the tracks here are incredible and sound like could have been / should have been hits, in fact the whole first disc is pretty much super catchy, super rocking, kick ass punk pop through and through, so much so that a bunch of these sound like we MUST have heard them before. The second disc is mostly live and odds and ends, but live these guys definitely kicked ass, and there's an awesome cover of The Only Ones' "Another Girl, Another Planet"!
Comes with a massive booklet, tons of liner notes, photos, flyers, etc. Anyone into garage rock of ANY stripe will definitely dig this stuff if they're not familiar with these guys already, and for anyone into the new breed of garage rockers, and noise poppers, check out the Kryptonics, even if it's just to realize that the NEW sound is not nearly so new after all...
MPEG Stream: "She's Got Germs"
MPEG Stream: "Dare"
MPEG Stream: "Telephone Line"
MPEG Stream: "Rejectionville"

KRYSMOPOMPAS Heute Schlafen - Morgen Aufwachen (S-S Records) 2lp 19.98
With this release, S-S Records brings us a reissue of two 12"s by German band Krysmopompas. The plastic sleeve has a sticker referencing "neue Deutsche welle and krautrock with Wire-like minimalism." Well said, although we're not going to make it quite so reductive. Bands like Der KFC, Abwarts, and Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle definitely deserve mention, and maybe even a little Art Brut minus the slappy irony. Although, these guys' sense of melody is much more restrained than the latter, with simplistic structures rooted in repetition and sparse application. That's pretty much where the German new wave thing comes in. Anyway, the early '80s can be a little confusing given that there were so many newly emerging and intermingling genres, (even though Krysmopompas are actually contemporary) but if we had to try and explain a little more then we'd say that this is somewhere between post-punk and punk influenced new (or cold) wave. But closer to the punk side of things. And there's not really much synth. We read somewhere that they were "post-post," and while we're not entirely sure what that means, it kinda makes sense. Things could always be a little weirder and we wouldn't complain, but this fits very nicely next to compilations like IVG, BIPP, B9 Belgian Cold Wave, or even Des Jeunes Gens Modernes. If, like us, you can get into that, then this is for you! Maybe it helps shed light on things pointing out that S-S Records was also responsible for putting out music by A-Frames and Monoshock, two more excellent, crazy post-punk-what-the-fuck bands.

KTL s/t (Editions Mego) cd 16.98
SUNNO)))-worshippers alert! 1/2 of that drone metal behemoth, our pal Stephen O'Malley (who has also piloted or participated in such units as Khanate, Burning Witch, Ginnungagap, Teeth Of The Lions Rule The Divine, Thorr's Hammer, Fungal Hex, Lotus Eaters, etc.) has travelled to Europe to collaborate with Austrian experimental digital noise artist Peter "Pita" Rehberg! They're calling themselves KTL because the music they made is to be the soundtrack to some sort of stage piece called Kindertotenlieder by performance artist Gisele Vienne and novelist Dennis Cooper ("Closer") due to debut at a festival in France next year. Judging from the music, not to mention the people involved, we imagine it's gonna be beautiful, but also somehow disturbing and dark... This cd certainly is.
It starts off with the 24 minute drone "Estranged", blissful and spooky piece that builds towards its end to noisier heights, threatening the storms to come on this album. And yes, the four parts of "Forest Floor" that take up the main, middle part of the disc are a harrowing journey indeed, into a buzzing, claustrophobic realm of dangerous digital sonics and heavy drone, like SUNNO)))'s lugubrious riffage mixed with the glitchy crunch of Pita -- which is what it is, of course! Not for the faint of heart. Part four, in particular, sounds like a doomed prop engine airplane rumbling over a dark forest landscape from some black metal album cover, at night...
Finally O'Malley and Rehberg wind things up with the quieter (but still creepy) 13 minutes of "Snow", a softly pulsing, detailed improv exploration of lowercase sounds... Very nice!
Let's hope KTL isn't just a one-off collaboration, we'd like to hear more from these two! Their mastery of minimalist ambient music, electronic glitchology and Earthy guitar sludge make a fine sipping brew.
A note for all you object fetishizing consumerist completist types, be forewarned that there will eventually also be a vinyl version of this on the Aurora Borealis label, a double LP limited to 500 copies... we can take preorders now...
MPEG Stream: "Estranged"
MPEG Stream: "Forest Floor 4"

KUBIN, FELIX Teenage Tapes (Minimal Wave) lp 27.00
When we reviewed the recent career retrospective compilation on Omni from weirdo German outsider sci-fi electro pop alchemist Felix Kubin, we got a little taste of his very early material, and in a weird way, found some of that stuff the most twistedly and disturbingly appealing, so in the spirit of digging deeper into the warped youthful sonic dabblings of a burgeoning musical madman comes this lp collection of, as the title suggests, Teenage Tapes, which in fact is precisely that, a collection of early EARLY recordings, from a teenage Kubin, aged 11-15 (he began playing at age 8!). And like the tracks we heard on the Omni comp, maybe even more so, these tapes do not disappoint.
Consisting of nearly half entirely previously unreleased material, Teenage Tapes is a wild melange of tripped out electro pop, primitive cold wave, and some weird strain of home brewed krautrock, just check out opener "Paris Paris", with it's driving drum machine beat, twisted electronics, goofily playful melodies, sinister super distorted vocals, it may have been a teenage experiment, but it's way more fierce and bad ass than half of the grown up bands trying to pull this stuff off now. And more of Teenage Tapes is made up of the same sort of churning, rhythmic minimal kraut-pop weirdness. Stripped of the vocals, these jams could easily be early electronic krautrock experiments, but add in the vocals, and it becomes some sort of warped avant electro pop, with some tracks drifting into almost kosmische synth territory, others sounding a bit like Perrey & Kingsley doing Tangerine Dream, others like wild 8-bit freakouts, and still others sounding like some rad new band on Wierd or Captured Tracks. And while usually, a collection of early teenage works would end up being more of a novelty, and sure, some of this stuff is a little goofy, many of the tracks here are incredible, lush and textured and atmospheric and near cinematic. Hard to believe Kubin was making music like this in grade school, just grateful that someone is finally digging through Kubin's teenage archives. Here's hoping there's more to come.
Nicely packaged in a heavy jacket adorned with a teenage Kubin's gothy made up face, with an inner sleeve featuring lyrics, and some hand drawn diagrams and schematics.
MPEG Stream: "Japan Japan"
MPEG Stream: "Agitabo"
MPEG Stream: "The Germans"
MPEG Stream: "Melancholia"
MPEG Stream: "Hans, Der Ist Nicht Artig"

KUBIN, FELIX & AAVIKKO Superlake Beat / Antarktis Slow Rock (Diskono) 7" 6.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Aaaiiieeeee! Sounding just as you'd expect a collaboration between Aavikko and Felix Kubin would sound! "Superlake Beat" will make ya wanna do a juiced-up-funky-twist-shimmy-shake on your orange shag-carpeted ceiling. "Antarktis Slow Rock" is a four minute creep-o, thick analog-y number that Add N To (X) only wishes they'd done. Oh Finland, hurrah for you!

KUBISCH, CHRISTINA On Air (Die Schnachtel) cd 22.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

KULTIVATOR Barndomens Stigar (Mellotronen) 2cd 28.00
We're always on about '70s prog. Well what about prog in the '80s? Here's a nice example, though it's from the very early in the decade (recorded 1980, released 1981) so it's practically '70s anyway. A rather obscure Swedish outfit called Kultivator, whose sole album Barndomens Stigar (which boasts a b&w engraving on the cover by none other than conceptual artist & experimental musician Leif Elggren) blends the quirky herky jerky of prog complexity with blissful melody, tilting at times towards the twee whilst menacingly muscle-flexing at others. There's sizzling instrumental solo sections, and also much in the way of delightful female vocals (mostly wordless ba-ba-ba's).
Kultivator were a quartet, with lots of Fender Rhodes electric piano, as well as other organ and synth keyboards. Also recorder and/or flute. And on occasional backing vocals, a boy's choir. Yup, very proggy indeed. Armchair prog percussionists are provided with their fair share of air-drumming opportunities, percolating energetically as the drumming here does!
All those keyboards create a moody, slightly jazzistic sound which reminds us a bit of the brilliant Bo Hansson, '70s Swedish prog royalty. There's also a definite Magma influence at work (the thick bass riffing and martial drumming in the middle of "Kara Jord" for instance, leading some to go so far as to label Kultivator a genuine "zeuhl" band), and you'll hear hints of traditional Scandinavian folk music as well. Further reference points: fellow Swedes Samla Mammas Manna and Kebnekajse, also '70s UK prog like Genesis and Gentle Giant, RIO a la Henry Cow, and specifically Canterbury groups like Soft Machine, among others. Guess that's what happens when you make prog in 1980, with a whole previous decade of genius from which to draw inspiration! Although Kultivator, um, certainly cultivated their own unique spin on what came before. We'd also say this is a good one for folks who enjoyed the modern day Swedish prog of Gosta Berlings Saga, reviewed here last year.
This brand-new reissue on the Mellotronen label features three bonus tracks added to the original LP's eight cuts, plus a whole extra bonus disc, called Waiting Paths, featuring four songs recorded by the now-reunited band in 2006. Since they already seemed a bit "out of time" (& we don't mean rhythmically!) even back in '81, it's no surprise that this more recent material sounds like a more modern Kultivator... but not that much more modern. Also included in this nice digipacked reissue, a big booklet with vintage photos and lengthy liner notes. Prog-lovin' AQ customers, check this out!
MPEG Stream: "Grottekvarnen"
MPEG Stream: "Barndomens Stigar"

KUNG FU RICK Motivation To Abuse (EA Records) cd 9.99
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Totally brutal, Chicago powerviolence ala Spazz, Drop Dead, etc...These kids know how to thrash with the best of em though. Short blazing, grinding, pounding furious grindcore. Excellent.

KUNIN, BEN Acoustic Adventures (Communion) cd 13.98
One guy and his acoustic guitar, conjuring up the spirits of Kottke, Basho, and Fahey. Gentle, mellow, folk-classical guitar explorations, pretty and somewhat melancholy. Kunin's playing, while adept and intricate, is not as out there as what fellow Takoma label nostalgic Steffen Basho Junghans gets up to. All tracks are originals by Kunin except one piece based on a song by Ali Akbar Khan -- Kunin, it turns out, is an expert in Hindustani music theory and teaches the sarod at a school founded by Mr. Khan north of San Francisco. So there's an East-meets-West aspect to this as well. Quite a lovely disc, and sorta Windham Hill-ish (but we really mean that in a good way; after all, George Winston is one of Andee's all-time faves).
RealAudio clip: "Brindavan"

KURUUCREW VS. GREEN MILK FROM THE PLANET ORANGE split (Beta-Lactam Ring) cd 13.98

KUUPUU Illusia (Time-Lag) 7" 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Kuupuu, aka Jonna Karanka, is a name that might not be immediately familiar, but when you realize she has played in Avarus, The Anaksimandros, Kukkiva Poliisi, and in Hertta Lussu €ssŠ (with Lau Nau and Islaja), then those Finnish music obsessive ears of yours perk right up! This new 7" comes hot on the heels of two super limited cd-r's, and is amazing! Warm and warbly and fuzzed out, like a blurry old photograph, wheezing chords and lush multitracked vocals are spread into a thick staticky haze. Clattery percussion is smeared into the already murky whole, everything wrapped in a warm wispy fog of tape hiss and old record crackle and broken four track bristle. Completely mesmerizing, the first side a dense tangled smear, like a lo-fi loop of foresty fuzz, sonically quite reminiscent of Philip Jeck or William Basinski. Side two is much more spare, with what sounds like super distorted thumb piano, plucking out sparse ghostly melodies, that hang there suspended like dust motes trapped in a beam of late afternoon sunlight, a haunting music box melody from some lost place in time. So lovely.
Released on Time Lag so you know the packaging will be beautiful. And it is, a gorgeous full color print on thick textured paper, limited to 600 copies and hand numbered!

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

KVELERTAK s/t (Indie Recordings) cd 14.98
It was beginning to get pretty ridiculous, for ages we were hearing all about this band, how great they were, reading about them in metal mags, hearing other metal bands rave about them, much talk of how amazing their record was, appearances in top ten lists, pictures of the super striking John Baizley cover art everywhere, even beginnings of a backlash on the blogs about how overhyped they were, but the only problem was, you couldn't find the record ANYWHERE! At least in the US, we spent months and months, trying every metal distro, every non metal distro, we had just about given up, when voila, it finally got picked up and released domestically, with a whole mess of bonus tracks to boot. So was the wait worth it? Does Kvelertak live up to the hype?
Well, yeah, actually it was. This stuff IS pretty awesome, and bizarre, a weird blend of blasting black metal and D-beat cock-rock Turbonegro style over the top rock. Just have a listen to the opening track, which explodes in a frenzy of buzz and blast and shriek, only to switch gears into a way more groovy heavy metal punk pound, the shrieked vocals the only thing keeping it from going full Turbonegro. In fact, the NON black metal parts kind of sound like a supercharged Hellacopters, which is not at all a bad thing. And the sound is epic, the production massive, the energy through the roof.
But it's that sort of heavy rock groove thing, that might deter lots of the more true and kvlt metalheads. "Mjod" is all pounding pianos and tamborines, and big rock riffage, epic and swinging, that Hellacopters vibe huge, and the vocals are shrieky, not counting the deep bellowed gang vocals on the chorus, there's even a little acoustic guitar break, and then suddenly, a stretch of blasting black metal, which slips right back into the soaring cock rocky chorus. And so it goes. Hard to tell if these guys are black metallers indulging their inner KISS (or Turbonegro, or Hellacopters, or...), or if it's just some heavy rockers who toss in a blast here and there or a little tremlo picking to add some cult cred. Cuz it is a weird mix, and it doesn't always flow so smoothly, but we're digging it a lot, and if anything, it sounds like these guys probably KILL live. And that definitely comes across here big time.
MPEG Stream: "Ulvetid"
MPEG Stream: "Mjod"
MPEG Stream: "Fossegrim"
MPEG Stream: "Sultans Of Satan"

KWJAZ s/t (Not Not Fun) cd 13.98
Sold about a billion (really) of this record when it first came out on cassette early in 2011, then even more (a trillion?) when it was reissued on lp, and now it's finally available on cd, and it tacks on TWO BONUS TRACKS not on either of the other versions!!
Here's what we had to say about Kwjaz when we first laid ears on it/them way back when:
Wow. We can't get over this incredibly cosmic, tripped-out debut cassette from KWJAZ. SF mastermind Peter Berends decides that space is the place and sets his sights for uncharted musical territory. Falling somewhere between outsider instrumental pop and dubbed-out psychedelic ethno-jazz, Berends leads a colorful excursion into the astral unknown. The two, side-long tracks unfold like some otherworldly mix-tape, deep basslines giving way to sizzling warbling drones, cut-up bits of rhythmic clatter ooze and materialize into slow grooving monuments to the stars. Chopped up samples and distorted swells melt into a lo-fi woozy web. Hazy, primitive beats (picture a slowed down Ethiopiques loop) rock and sway as horns, electric piano and weirdo samples add to the celestial crunk. And keep in mind, though KWJAZ is weird, far-out and strange, this humble album is overflowing with musicianship and close attention to layering and detail.
What makes all the tripped-out, genre defying weirdness so satisfying is Berends's ability to form these diverse elements into a propulsive, evocative musical journey through time and genre. Moments of cool jazz tranquility unexpectedly morph into trip-hop fantasy ballads, long-tone new age bliss suddenly shifts into West African romps, and somehow all these tangents seem impossibly and seamlessly linked. We can't recommend this one enough!
Fans of Hype Williams, Rangers or Ducktails will not want to miss out on this lysergic masterpiece!
MPEG Stream: "Once In Babylon"
MPEG Stream: "Frighteous Wane"

KWJAZ s/t (Not Not Fun) lp 14.98
Sold about a billion (really) of these when it came out on cassette via Brunch Groupe, which of course rapidly went out of print, and have been waiting eagerly ever since for the vinyl version, which is now here at last thanks to Not Not Fun, yay!
Wow. We can't get over this incredibly cosmic, tripped-out debut cassette from KWJAZ. SF mastermind Peter Berends decides that space is the place and sets his sights for uncharted musical territory. Falling somewhere between outsider instrumental pop and dubbed-out psychedelic ethno-jazz, Berends leads a colorful excursion into the astral unknown. The two, side-long tracks unfold like some otherworldly mix-tape, deep basslines giving way to sizzling warbling drones, cut-up bits of rhythmic clatter ooze and materialize into slow grooving monuments to the stars. Chopped up samples and distorted swells melt into a lo-fi woozy web. Hazy, primitive beats (picture a slowed down Ethiopiques loop) rock and sway as horns, electric piano and weirdo samples add to the celestial crunk. And keep in mind, though KWJAZ is weird, far-out and strange, this humble cassette is overflowing with musicianship and close attention to layering and detail.
What makes all the tripped-out, genre defying weirdness so satisfying is Berends's ability to form these diverse elements into a propulsive, evocative musical journey through time and genre. Moments of cool jazz tranquility unexpectedly morph into trip-hop fantasy ballads, long-tone new age bliss suddenly shifts into West African romps, and somehow all these tangents seem impossibly and seamlessly linked. We can't recommend this one enough!
Fans of Hype Williams, Rangers or Ducktails will not want to miss out on this lysergic masterpiece!
MPEG Stream: "Once In Babylon"
MPEG Stream: "Frighteous Wane"

KWJAZ s/t (Brunch Groupe) cassette 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Wow. We can't get over this incredibly cosmic, tripped-out debut cassette from KWJAZ. SF mastermind Peter Berends decides that space is the place and sets his sights for uncharted musical territory. Falling somewhere between outsider instrumental pop and dubbed-out psychedelic ethno-jazz, Berends leads a colorful excursion into the astral unknown. The two, side-long tracks unfold like some otherworldly mix-tape, deep basslines giving way to sizzling warbling drones, cut-up bits of rhythmic clatter ooze and materialize into slow grooving monuments to the stars. Chopped up samples and distorted swells melt into a lo-fi woozy web. Hazy, primitive beats (picture a slowed down Ethiopiques loop) rock and sway as horns, electric piano and weirdo samples add to the celestial crunk. And keep in mind, though KWJAZ is weird, far-out and strange, this humble cassette is overflowing with musicianship and close attention to layering and detail.
What makes all the tripped-out, genre defying weirdness so satisfying is Berends's ability to form these diverse elements into a propulsive, evocative musical journey through time and genre. Moments of cool jazz tranquility unexpectedly morph into trip-hop fantasy ballads, long-tone new age bliss suddenly shifts into West African romps, and somehow all these tangents seem impossibly and seamlessly linked. We can't recommend this one enough!
Limited to an edition of 121, fans of Hype Williams, Rangers or Ducktails will not want to miss out on this lysergic masterpiece!
MPEG Stream: "Once In Babylon"
MPEG Stream: "Frighteous Wane"

L'AUGMENTATION (Pickled Egg) 7" 3.99
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Extremely likable Birmingham space-pop for fans of Pram, Broadcast, and Stereolab. We like Pickled Egg's releases so much we imported these straight from the UK.

L'INFONIE Vol. 333 (Tir Groupe / Mucho Gusto) 2cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This swank double cd reissues the 1972 third album from Canada's craziest new music/psychedelic rock collective, the anarchic L'Infonie which flourished from '67-'74. (Giving you some clue about their methodical madness, their other LPs were titled "Vol. 3", "Vol. 33", and "Vol. 3333", of which only the first has also been reissued on cd as yet -- we recommended it here back in '01.) Hailing from Montreal, Quebec these academic avant-garde freaks mixed classical chamber music, acid fuzz rock, weird warbling vocal babble, jazzy groove, free improv, musique concrete, prog overload, etc. etc. into a confusing, chaotic, comedic happening that should appeal equally to Terry Riley and Zappa fans. I know sometimes mentioning Zappa is the kiss of death, so don't take it the wrong way. Let's mention some other stuff this reminds us of, in part: Soft Machine Goblin New Trolls Univers Zero Faust Mahogany Brain Art Zoyd Nurse With Wound. This is pretty darn cool and weird and original, bizarrely funny sometimes and simply strange and beautiful on other occasions. Disc one is more "rock", disc two more "classical." What it all means, I don't know -- there's lotsa liner notes, but useful only to the francophones among us.
MPEG Stream: "Section 19-23"
MPEG Stream: "Ubiquital"

L'INFONIE Volume 3 (Tir Groupe / Mucho Gusto) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
On the same label that reissued that weird Les Maledictus Sound album, comes this even weirder French-Canadian late '60s artifact. But this isn't really like the pop-psych commerical craziness of the Maledictus disc. L'Infonie was a much more avant-garde group, playing psychedelic-rock infused "new music", mixing Moog synths, primal screams, 20th century academic experimental chamber music, and more, over the course of their 1967-1974 career ("seven years of pure mayhem" say the liner notes), the weirdest and wildest examples of which seem to be compiled onto this cd. Youthful anarchic energy and serious somber musical beauty are simulanteously evident here. Terry Riley fans may already know L'Infonie as the student group who performed a somewhat more psychedelic than usual version of his minimalist classic "In C", which is found on the Cortical Foundation cd version of Riley's Reed Streams.
RealAudio clip: "J'ai perdu 15 cents dans le nez froid..."
RealAudio clip: "Ode a L'Affaire -- Ouverture"
RealAudio clip: "Viens danser le 'OK La!'"

L. PIERRE Dip (Melodic) cd 14.98
Dip is quite possibly Aidan Moffat's most expansive and varied L. Pierre release to date. So much so that it's easy to get lost in and forget who you're listening to. It's quite unlike anything we've heard from him (either on his previous L.Pierre and Lucky Pierre recordings or his other band Arab Strap's). With considerably more forward motion and development, each of the six tracks certainly seem far less loop-centric than 2005's Touchpool. Super pretty at times quite majestic.
MPEG Stream: "Gullsong"
MPEG Stream: "Drift"

L. PIERRE Dip (Melodic) lp 14.98
Dip is quite possibly Aidan Moffat's most expansive and varied L. Pierre release to date. So much so that it's easy to get lost in and forget who you're listening to. It's quite unlike anything we've heard from him (either on his previous L.Pierre and Lucky Pierre recordings or his other band Arab Strap's). With considerably more forward motion and development, each of the six tracks certainly seem far less loop-centric than 2005's Touchpool. Super pretty at times quite majestic.
MPEG Stream: "Gullsong"
MPEG Stream: "Drift"

LA BIG VIC Actually (Underwater Peoples) lp 17.98
We had never heard of La Big Vic before, but from what we had read, it was an unlikely supergroup of sorts, with a frontman that once fronted a Japanese J-Pop band and produced hip hop records and commercials before moving to the US. There's also some sort of Pink Floyd connection, and the label described La Big Vic as a sort of RnB hip hop thing, which we were imagining was more of that current strain of weirdo sonic explorers who take elements of those genres and twist them all up into something new, which is actually a bit closer to the truth.
Opener "LYNY" is more a sort of washed out psychedelic dream pop, garbled samples, swirling effects, warm woozy melodies, hazy ethereal vox, with some softly cacophonous crescendos that soar and shimmer majestically, and that sound definitely informs much of the record, the second track "Heyo (Silver Morning)", takes the hazy psychedelic shimmer of the opening track and adds some skittery rhythms, some strange clanking percussion, spidery guitars, again all burred and smeared into something dreamy and blissed out. There's some sax that surfaces near the end, and begins showing up more as the record progresses. Which depending on your feelings toward the sax, may affect your feelings towards La Big Vic.
And so it goes, there are moments that do seem to dabble into a sound more RnB rooted, but only just barely, the vibe is way more lysergic and warped, that sax, actually begins to make more sense as the record progresses, there's some cool angelic female vox too, and at least one track that downright rocks, all super shoegazey and sounding like an alternate soundtrack for the Breakfast Club, finally finishing off with a nearly 11 minute closer, a stripped down skittery ballad, wreathed in warm whirring synths, and swirling soft focus effects, the most hypnotic song on the record for sure, channeling a little space/dirge/drone rock into their synth drift, finishing with some wild tangled psych guitar and Carpenter like pulsing synths.
Tripped out psychedelic abstract RnB synth weirdness, that should most definitely appeal to fans of the usual subjects: James Ferraro, Gary War, Ariel Pink, How To Dress Well, D'Eon and all the rest...
MPEG Stream: "LYNY"
MPEG Stream: "Heyo (Silver Morning)"
MPEG Stream: "FAO"

LA BIG VIC Dub The World! Actually Revisited (Underwater Peoples) lp 17.98

LA COFRADIA DE LA FLOR SOLAR s/t (World Psychedelia Ltd) cd 17.98
Argentinian psych from '71 with some nice fuzz bits!

LA DRUGS (Twisted Village) lp 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

LA DUSSELDORF Individuellos (Water) cd 15.98
Also now reissued by Water, Individuellos is the third and final outing for Klaus Dinger's post-Neu! kraut glammers, La Dusseldorf. Originally released in 1980, it has a slightly more pronounced eighties treatment then Viva or their self-titled debut, but the big keyboard driven rhythms on opening number "Menschen" are unmistakably classic La Dusseldorf. Not every song on here is classic, but the ambient "Sentimental" with its layered tones and backwards recordings showcase a sublime side not as present on their earlier records. Probably not as essential as the reissues of those first two records (which, by the way, we now have on vinyl), but much much better than we had expected!
MPEG Stream: "Menschen"
MPEG Stream: " Sentimental"
MPEG Stream: "Das Yvonnchen"

LA DUSSELDORF s/t (Warner Music Germany) cd 25.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We're very excited about these two remaster/reissues from Germany's La Dusseldorf! La Dusseldorf were THE masters of anthemic open and clean-sounding happy funky krautrock, inspiring the likes of Eno and Bowie (Heroes-era). They crafted repetitive hypnotic percussion with layers of super clean life-affirming melodies that were driven by minimal lyrics. Neu! co-founder Klaus Dinger and drummer Hans Lampe (who joined Neu! for their 3rd album 75) formed La Dusseldorf following the breakup of Neu! They were joined by Klaus' brother, Thomas, on percussion and vocals, Harald Konietzko on bass, and Nicolas van Rhein on keyboards. Any fan of Neu! will immediately recognize that Neu! sound, which is still evident here, but where Neu! was icy and detached, La Dusseldorf is positive and practically bubbling with warmth. Like Harmonia (a product of fellow ex-Kraftwerker, Michael Rother), La Dusseldorf albums have an incredible, ahead-of-their-time production level and truly sound like they could be a current release (we've already witnessed a couple customers' disbelief at the year it was originally released!) This self-titled 4-song cd is absolutely classic Krautrock! "Silver Cloud", with its huge drums and layers of simple, syrupy melody create one of our favorite krautrock songs ever! At the time of this album's release, it was played on German radio a bunch and even became a "funk" hit! "La Dusseldorf" opens with the chanting of a football [soccer] audience and leads into a pulsating anthemic rhythm also joined by the valliant one-word chant of "Dusseldorf". If you've been reading some of our more recent lists, we should distinguish that La Dusseldorf do not fall in the krautrock sub-genre of WWII-effected dark & broodish-type stuff, a la German Oak. La D. better fit into the uber-clean & hypnotic song-kraft family of Neu!, Harmonia, Cluster, Can, Kraftwerk, etc. Both the self-titled and Viva releases are highly recommended as an integral part of any Krautrock kollection!
MPEG Stream: "La Dusseldorf"
MPEG Stream: "Silver Cloud"

LA DUSSELDORF s/t (Water) cd 15.98
We're very excited about these two DOMESTIC (thus, cheaper) remaster/reissues from Germany's La Dusseldorf! La Dusseldorf were THE masters of anthemic open and clean-sounding happy funky krautrock, inspiring the likes of Eno and Bowie (Heroes-era). They crafted repetitive hypnotic percussion with layers of super clean life-affirming melodies that were driven by minimal lyrics. Neu! co-founder Klaus Dinger and drummer Hans Lampe (who joined Neu! for their 3rd album 75) formed La Dusseldorf following the breakup of Neu! They were joined by Klaus' brother, Thomas, on percussion and vocals, Harald Konietzko on bass, and Nicolas van Rhein on keyboards. Any fan of Neu! will immediately recognize that Neu! sound, which is still evident here, but where Neu! was icy and detached, La Dusseldorf is positive and practically bubbling with warmth. You could also picture 'em as Neu!'s clean-cut little brother, with more in the way of vocals too.
Like Harmonia (a product of fellow ex-Kraftwerker, Michael Rother), the La Dusseldorf albums have an incredible, ahead-of-their-time production level and truly sound like they could be current releases (we've already witnessed a couple customers' disbelief at the date there were originally released!). This self-titled, four track debut from 1976 is absolutely classic Krautrock. "Silver Cloud", with its huge drums and layers of simple, syrupy melody create one of our favorite krautrock songs ever. It's epic and unforgettable and alone makes this album worth picking up. At the time of this album's release, it was played on German radio a bunch and even became a "funk" hit! Another highlight, "La Dusseldorf", opens with the chanting of a football [soccer] audience and leads into a pulsating anthemic rhythm also joined by the valliant one-word chant of "Dusseldorf".
Both the self-titled and Viva records are highly recommended as an integral part of any Krautrock kollection. Thanks to the fine people at Water Records, who also made sure these are properly packaged with liner notes and lyrics, they are finally available again. Psych, prog, proto-punk and all kinds of other music fans, this is what you need!
MPEG Stream: "La Dusseldorf"
MPEG Stream: "Silver Cloud"

LA DUSSELDORF s/t (4 Men With Beards) lp 17.98
ALSO NOW REISSUED ON VINYL!
We're very excited about these two DOMESTIC (thus, cheaper) remaster/reissues from Germany's La Dusseldorf! La Dusseldorf were THE masters of anthemic open and clean-sounding happy funky krautrock, inspiring the likes of Eno and Bowie (Heroes-era). They crafted repetitive hypnotic percussion with layers of super clean life-affirming melodies that were driven by minimal lyrics. Neu! co-founder Klaus Dinger and drummer Hans Lampe (who joined Neu! for their 3rd album 75) formed La Dusseldorf following the breakup of Neu! They were joined by Klaus' brother, Thomas, on percussion and vocals, Harald Konietzko on bass, and Nicolas van Rhein on keyboards. Any fan of Neu! will immediately recognize that Neu! sound, which is still evident here, but where Neu! was icy and detached, La Dusseldorf is positive and practically bubbling with warmth. You could also picture 'em as Neu!'s clean-cut little brother, with more in the way of vocals too.
Like Harmonia (a product of fellow ex-Kraftwerker, Michael Rother), the La Dusseldorf albums have an incredible, ahead-of-their-time production level and truly sound like they could be current releases (we've already witnessed a couple customers' disbelief at the date there were originally released!). This self-titled, four track debut from 1976 is absolutely classic Krautrock. "Silver Cloud", with its huge drums and layers of simple, syrupy melody create one of our favorite krautrock songs ever. It's epic and unforgettable and alone makes this album worth picking up. At the time of this album's release, it was played on German radio a bunch and even became a "funk" hit! Another highlight, "La Dusseldorf", opens with the chanting of a football [soccer] audience and leads into a pulsating anthemic rhythm also joined by the valliant one-word chant of "Dusseldorf".
Both the self-titled and Viva records are highly recommended as an integral part of any Krautrock kollection. Psych, prog, proto-punk and all kinds of other music fans, this is what you need!
MPEG Stream: "La Dusseldorf"
MPEG Stream: "Silver Cloud"

LA DUSSELDORF Viva (Warner Music Germany) cd 25.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We're very excited about these two remaster/reissues from Germany's La Dusseldorf! La Dusseldorf were THE masters of anthemic open and clean-sounding happy funky krautrock, inspiring the likes of Eno and Bowie (Heroes-era). They crafted repetitive hypnotic percussion with layers of super clean life-affirming melodies that were driven by minimal lyrics. Neu! co-founder Klaus Dinger and drummer Hans Lampe (who joined Neu! for their 3rd album 75) formed La Dusseldorf following the breakup of Neu! They were joined by Klaus' brother, Thomas, on percussion and vocals, Harald Konietzko on bass, and Nicolas van Rhein on keyboards. Any fan of Neu! will immediately recognize that Neu! sound, which is still evident here, but where Neu! was icy and detached, La Dusseldorf is positive and practically bubbling with warmth. Like Harmonia (a product of fellow ex-Kraftwerker, Michael Rother), La Dusseldorf albums have an incredible, ahead-of-their-time production level and truly sound like they could be a current release (we've already witnessed a couple customers' disbelief at the year it was originally released!) Viva, their second record, is filled with Krautrock anthems, culminating in the 20 minute long Cha Cha 2000 - an epic of krauty proportions. If you've been reading some of our more recent lists, we should distinguish that La Dusseldorf do not fall in the krautrock sub-genre of WWII-effected dark & broodish-type stuff, a la German Oak. La D. better fit into the uber-clean & hypnotic song-kraft family of Neu!, Harmonia, Cluster, Can, Kraftwerk, etc. Both the self-titled and Viva releases are highly recommended as an integral part of any Krautrock kollection!
MPEG Stream: "Viva"
MPEG Stream: "Cha Cha 2000"

LA DUSSELDORF Viva (Water) cd 15.98
We're very excited about these two DOMESTIC (thus, cheaper) remaster/reissues from Germany's La Dusseldorf! La Dusseldorf were THE masters of anthemic open and clean-sounding happy funky krautrock, inspiring the likes of Eno and Bowie (Heroes-era). They crafted repetitive hypnotic percussion with layers of super clean life-affirming melodies that were driven by minimal lyrics. Neu! co-founder Klaus Dinger and drummer Hans Lampe (who joined Neu! for their 3rd album 75) formed La Dusseldorf following the breakup of Neu! They were joined by Klaus' brother, Thomas, on percussion and vocals, Harald Konietzko on bass, and Nicolas van Rhein on keyboards. Any fan of Neu! will immediately recognize that Neu! sound, which is still evident here, but where Neu! was icy and detached, La Dusseldorf is positive and practically bubbling with warmth. You could also picture 'em as Neu!'s clean-cut little brother, with more in the way of vocals too.
Like Harmonia (a product of fellow ex-Kraftwerker, Michael Rother), the La Dusseldorf albums have an incredible, ahead-of-their-time production level and truly sound like they could be current releases (we've already witnessed a couple customers' disbelief at the date there were originally released!). Viva, their second record, from 1977, is filled with Krautrock anthems, culminating in 20 minute long album closer "Cha Cha 2000" - an epic of krauty proportions. And the instrumental number "Rheinita" managed to chart in Germany!
Both the self-titled and Viva records are highly recommended as an integral part of any Krautrock kollection. Thanks to the fine people at Water Records, who also made sure these are properly packaged with liner notes and lyrics, they are finally available again. Psych, prog, proto-punk and all kinds of other music fans, this is what you need!
MPEG Stream: "Viva"
MPEG Stream: "Cha Cha 2000"

LA DUSSELDORF Viva (4 Men With Beards) lp 17.98
ALSO NOW REISSUED ON VINYL!
We're very excited about these two DOMESTIC (thus, cheaper) remaster/reissues from Germany's La Dusseldorf! La Dusseldorf were THE masters of anthemic open and clean-sounding happy funky krautrock, inspiring the likes of Eno and Bowie (Heroes-era). They crafted repetitive hypnotic percussion with layers of super clean life-affirming melodies that were driven by minimal lyrics. Neu! co-founder Klaus Dinger and drummer Hans Lampe (who joined Neu! for their 3rd album 75) formed La Dusseldorf following the breakup of Neu! They were joined by Klaus' brother, Thomas, on percussion and vocals, Harald Konietzko on bass, and Nicolas van Rhein on keyboards. Any fan of Neu! will immediately recognize that Neu! sound, which is still evident here, but where Neu! was icy and detached, La Dusseldorf is positive and practically bubbling with warmth. You could also picture 'em as Neu!'s clean-cut little brother, with more in the way of vocals too.
Like Harmonia (a product of fellow ex-Kraftwerker, Michael Rother), the La Dusseldorf albums have an incredible, ahead-of-their-time production level and truly sound like they could be current releases (we've already witnessed a couple customers' disbelief at the date there were originally released!). Viva, their second record, from 1977, is filled with Krautrock anthems, culminating in 20 minute long album closer "Cha Cha 2000" - an epic of krauty proportions. And the instrumental number "Rheinita" managed to chart in Germany!
Both the self-titled and Viva records are highly recommended as an integral part of any Krautrock kollection. Thanks to the fine people at Water Records, who also made sure these are properly packaged with liner notes and lyrics, they are finally available again. Psych, prog, proto-punk and all kinds of other music fans, this is what you need!
MPEG Stream: "Viva"
MPEG Stream: "Cha Cha 2000"

LA GRITONA Demasiado Tonto Para Los Ninos Listos (Tortuga) 2cd 15.98
If you're like us, you probably never heard of these Boston bashers, a short lived ultra heavy combo from Boston, with just a handful of releases, all collected here, and a sound that makes us wish we had, and one that most definitely puts most other heavy bands to shame, equal parts gnarled Black Flag dirge, mathy sci-fi Voivod-isms, and churning downtuned Swans like pummel, every track here a grim, dense slab of sonic crush, the guitars massive and thick, the riffs fucking fierce, the drums devastating, the band alternatingly locking into hypnorock grooves, or super intricate, churning mathiness, loads of buzz and feedback, total math rock / post rock / noise rock / post punk bliss.
The label describes these guys thusly: "Imagine massive slabs of discordance at earsplitting volume and a terrifyingly intense, tattooed madman working out his personal demons while wearing a too-small Sonic the Hedgehog tee shirt", which sounds pretty amazing (and had us thinking of Oxbow for some reason), and La Gritona, even minus the apparently terrifying live experience, sound pretty goddamn terrifying on record too, with plenty of Jesus Lizard-y swagger, Helmet like metallic chug, and that vocalist, mostly singing in a monstrous bellow, but seemingly constantly slipping into a crazy hysterical shriek, but not like a metal shriek, more like an inhuman high pitched squeal, weirdly haunting, and definitely disturbing, but perfectly suited to LG's pigfuck heaviness. And while they do slow it down every once in a while, those slow songs almost sound even more intense, offering up a sort of mutant blues Birthday Party style onslaught.
Every single track here rules, from tangled atonal metallic dirgery, to doomed out lurching math sludge, old school noise rock crunch to psychedelic fuzzed out harmonic drenched post punk, a sound that at the time was obviously a decade or so to early, but that to these ears would have the current crop of sludge worshippers going nuts, and if Harvey Milk can finally get the love and adoration they so deserved, a full decade late, then why the hell not these guys. And as long as we're mentioning it, Harvey Milk fanatics would do well to check these guys out too. Just sayin'...
Massive double disc, 40 track collection gathering up EVERYTHING these guys ever recorded, which includes loads of unreleased and live tracks, as well as the Steve Albini engineered full length Arrasa Con Todo, which just might be one of the most perfect slabs of skull splitting downtuned heaviness we've ever heard.
MPEG Stream: "Victory At Sea"
MPEG Stream: "Tony Alamo"
MPEG Stream: "Vitamin"
MPEG Stream: "Pigs Ass"

LA IRA DE DIOS Apus Revolution Rock (World In Sound) cd 23.00
All right, this is a relief. Reviewing a freakin' kick ass real ROCK N' ROLL record. Nice to know they still can make 'em. Not that we didn't expect a healthy helping of rockin' from Lima's La Ira De Dios, whose previous album more than lived up to its title, Cosmos Kaos Destruccion (no translation needed, right?). We compared 'em to stonery stuff like Monster Magnet and Hawkwind last time 'round, but on Apus Revolution Rock they've gone even more raw and retro, punking it up '60s garage fuzzmonster style, with nods to surf music and other retro sounds, to the extent of including screaming girls (La Ira De Dios mania!?) in the mix on the blown out opening cut "Revolucion", which has a '50s meets the Stooges vibe that sounds a lot like '70s Japanese jams-kicker-outers Gedo. Good grief! What's not to like about that? And if you like to rock that is. THEY sure do, second track "No Hay Control" not letting up, in fact, cranking it up, it and ALL the dozen tracks on this album delivering nothin' but 110 percent high energy distortodelic rock action.
Need we say more? 'Cause La Ira De Dios really say it all with the slogan on the cd booklet: "Peru Psicodelia Punk". Another one they're fond of: "MAXIMUMVOLUMEROCKANDROLL!!!" If you're looking for catchy amped up anarchistic rawk with tons o' frantic fuzz, and cowbell too, for fans of The Heads, The Hives, Crushed Butler, Mudhoney, Larry Wallis era Pink Fairies, Motorhead, Boris circa Pink, fellow Peruvians / labelmates El Cuy, and other rad rockin' coolness of that ilk then La Ira De Dios have a rekkid for you!! Or if you can, imagine Los Natas on a search and destroy mission to do a Louie Louie and you're close to what La Ira De Dios is dishing out here.
So yeah, reviewing this was a blast, just turned it up and let the rock dictate these words... now the problem is turning it off and trying to put on something else we gotta review, which almost by definition will be less rockin' and thus less worthwhile. Plus somehow, in the process of reviewing this, we had a couple beers...maybe we'll just play this record one more time.
By the way, the vinyl version of this comes with a bonus 7", featuring of all things, a cover of "Shadowplay" by Joy Division (!), whereas the compact disc includes an exclusive bonus video for the track "5000 Anos".
MPEG Stream: "Todo Arde En Llamas"
MPEG Stream: "5000 Anos"
MPEG Stream: "Atravezare"

LA IRA DE DIOS Apus Revolution Rock (World In Sound) lp + 7" 30.00
All right, this is a relief. Reviewing a freakin' kick ass real ROCK N' ROLL record. Nice to know they still can make 'em. Not that we didn't expect a healthy helping of rockin' from Lima's La Ira De Dios, whose previous album more than lived up to its title, Cosmos Kaos Destruccion (no translation needed, right?). We compared 'em to stonery stuff like Monster Magnet and Hawkwind last time 'round, but on Apus Revolution Rock they've gone even more raw and retro, punking it up '60s garage fuzzmonster style, with nods to surf music and other retro sounds, to the extent of including screaming girls (La Ira De Dios mania!?) in the mix on the blown out opening cut "Revolucion", which has a '50s meets the Stooges vibe that sounds a lot like '70s Japanese jams-kicker-outers Gedo. Good grief! What's not to like about that? And if you like to rock that is. THEY sure do, second track "No Hay Control" not letting up, in fact, cranking it up, it and ALL the dozen tracks on this album delivering nothin' but 110 percent high energy distortodelic rock action.
Need we say more? 'Cause La Ira De Dios really say it all with the slogan on the cd booklet: "Peru Psicodelia Punk". Another one they're fond of: "MAXIMUMVOLUMEROCKANDROLL!!!" If you're looking for catchy amped up anarchistic rawk with tons o' frantic fuzz, and cowbell too, for fans of The Heads, The Hives, Crushed Butler, Mudhoney, Larry Wallis era Pink Fairies, Motorhead, Boris circa Pink, fellow Peruvians / labelmates El Cuy, and other rad rockin' coolness of that ilk then La Ira De Dios have a rekkid for you!! Or if you can, imagine Los Natas on a search and destroy mission to do a Louie Louie and you're close to what La Ira De Dios is dishing out here.
So yeah, reviewing this was a blast, just turned it up and let the rock dictate these words... now the problem is turning it off and trying to put on something else we gotta review, which almost by definition will be less rockin' and thus less worthwhile. Plus somehow, in the process of reviewing this, we had a couple beers...maybe we'll just play this record one more time.
By the way, the vinyl version of this comes with a bonus 7", featuring of all things, a cover of "Shadowplay" by Joy Division (!), whereas the compact disc includes an exclusive bonus video for the track "5000 Anos".
MPEG Stream: "Our Cold War"
MPEG Stream: "Chemical Restraint"
MPEG Stream: "Halo Becomes A Noose"

LA IRA DE DIOS Cosmos Kaos Destruccion (World In Sound) cd 23.00
In our recent highlight review of No More Invention by the frantic French acid guitar punk band Gunslingers, we kinda bagged on all other modern day signings by the World In Sound label (as opposed to their rather better selection of reissues, of which we generally enthusiastically approve). Then we realized, that wasn't quite fair, 'cause besides the excellent Gunslingers, WIS has also put out good stuff by at least a couple other contemporary bands, both of 'em from South America, Peru to be precise. There's El Cuy (which we'll review when we can get more in, our supplier was out) and this one, La Ira De Dios.
We've actually stocked several earlier discs by this Peruvian power trio (sans reviews, sorry), so we knew we liked 'em. They rock it and roll it in a fat, fuzzed out "desert rock" style not unlike an Andean version of Kyuss, or Monster Magnet... Each track swirls dizzily with spaced out Hawkwindy electronic FX, while the band keeps on keepin' on, riffin' hard, hair and sweat a-flyin'. With their gravelly Spanish language vocals and command of psychedelic/Satanic drug things we also wouldn't understand, they also of course remind us of AQ faves Los Natas from Argentina. But while Los Natas sometimes get all gentle and proggy, these guys stick with the blown out, balls out rockin'. Pretty badass! The final track, a 13 minute trip called "Jamas Morire", is a category 5 stoner rock storm that definitely demonstrates that this album was not mis-titled.
MPEG Stream: "Velocidad"
MPEG Stream: "El Pacto"

LA LENGUA ASESINA Hotel Opera (Smells Like) cd 12.98
Tim Foljahn's unique take on "experimental country"--as if the Shadow Ring were to play with Cat Power? For fans of Loftus, too.

LA OTRACINA Blood Moon Riders (Holy Mountain) lp 14.98
Latest from these East Coast psych rockers, a group who once featured a member of another aQ fave, Titan, both bands offering up similarly spaced out prog psych heaviness. On this latest La Otracia disc though, the L.O. trio get even proggier and heavier, the first side is mostly a single sprawling jam, rife with wildly intense drum freakouts, soulful soaring distorted guitars, thick buzzing bass, all wound tight into some super propulsive metallic prog.
The band churn out some surprisingly heavy riffage and heart-of-the-sun psychedelia, slipping from full on blown out prog to long stretches of swirling space rock and thick wall-of-sound drones, the proggier parts laced with squiggly synths, fractured riffs, fluttering flutes, all locked into some seriously complex arrangements, a multi part epic that could have gone on for another several lp sides (and as far as we're concerned should have!) but instead gives way to a tripped out moody reverb soaked coda.
The flipside is not so incendiary, but still plenty heavy and psychedelic, from druggy glistening shimmer, into loping almost Polvo-y postrock, humid guitar buzz over distant abstract percussion, hushed muted thrum lurching into frenetic krautrockiness, ending with an awesome final track, a head spinning collage of super psychedelic backwards guitars over simple subtle drumming, another awesome track that could easily have spread out over another album side.
Total kick ass space psych prog nirvana, and as always, essential listening for fans of Earthless, Guapo, Dead Meadow, Acid Mothers Temple, Titan, Mammatus, Bardo Pond, Hawkwind, Monster Magnet and the drugged out, spaced out like.

LA OTRACINA Reality Has Got To Die (Holy Mountain) cd 14.98
Brooklyn trio La Otracina have always been about the spaced out heavy jammy psychedelic proggy stoner riffed awesomeness. But now, with their third full-length Holy Mountain monument, they're REALLY starting to fuck shit up. Reality Has Got To Die is their most gonzo album yet, and definitely their most metal! Opener "Hail Fire" sets the scene, with singer/drummer Adam Kriney, tongue perhaps in cheek, rallying La Otracina's jackbooted troops to march forth and pillage some alien landscape, riffs stabbing down from on high like laser blasts from orbiting star destroyers. Melancholic neo-classical guitar melodies lend some pathos to the scene, but pretty soon La Otracina are retro-thrashing it up like Early Man at a kegger. That sort of behavior continues into the next cut, "Raze The Sky", which also manages to up the quota of sci-fi synths, AND throw in a bit of boogie, and visit the set of an Italian suspense movie... Then "Crystal Wizards Of The Cosmic Weird" launches. It's over ten minutes long and thus no surprise even more ridiculously proggy than what's come before, tossing in all that and more, sounding one second like Sleep, another like King Crimson. Clearly this record isn't for those who think bands should be restrained and tasteful in their application of whatever rad '70s stuff in their record collections turns them on. INDULGE! La Otracina aren't holding anything back, but they ARE making damn sure they're tighter and heavier and probably catchier than your band. Unless your band is, like, Pharaoh Overlord or Mammatus or Danava or something, in whose illustrious company La Otracina definitely belong.
But for every metallic part that sounds like it could be off an album by Early Man or The Sword, there's another trippier one that could be by White Hills, Acid Mothers Temple, or even Jonas Reinhardt. In fact, the title track, stretching out over almost 20 minutes, is definitely towards the kosmik krauty spacey psychy side of the La Otracina equation, complete with lengthy distorto-drone maelstroms, and even a drum solo! And when all is said and done, if you can imagine a New Age version of the Saviours you'd be close to a guess at what this record sounds like overall. Enough with the hypothetical comparisons, though, on Reality Has Got To Die these guys have almost moved beyond comparison, whilst making an album seemingly focus-group tested entirely at Aquarius Records. In other words, recommended!
The double lp version comes with mp3 download coupon. The cd version comes with the cd!
MPEG Stream: "Hail Fire"
MPEG Stream: "Raze The Sky"
MPEG Stream: "Mass Meteoric Mind"

LA OTRACINA Reality Has Got To Die (Holy Mountain) 2lp 17.98
Brooklyn trio La Otracina have always been about the spaced out heavy jammy psychedelic proggy stoner riffed awesomeness. But now, with their third full-length Holy Mountain monument, they're REALLY starting to fuck shit up. Reality Has Got To Die is their most gonzo album yet, and definitely their most metal! Opener "Hail Fire" sets the scene, with singer/drummer Adam Kriney, tongue perhaps in cheek, rallying La Otracina's jackbooted troops to march forth and pillage some alien landscape, riffs stabbing down from on high like laser blasts from orbiting star destroyers. Melancholic neo-classical guitar melodies lend some pathos to the scene, but pretty soon La Otracina are retro-thrashing it up like Early Man at a kegger. That sort of behavior continues into the next cut, "Raze The Sky", which also manages to up the quota of sci-fi synths, AND throw in a bit of boogie, and visit the set of an Italian suspense movie... Then "Crystal Wizards Of The Cosmic Weird" launches. It's over ten minutes long and thus no surprise even more ridiculously proggy than what's come before, tossing in all that and more, sounding one second like Sleep, another like King Crimson. Clearly this record isn't for those who think bands should be restrained and tasteful in their application of whatever rad '70s stuff in their record collections turns them on. INDULGE! La Otracina aren't holding anything back, but they ARE making damn sure they're tighter and heavier and probably catchier than your band. Unless your band is, like, Pharaoh Overlord or Mammatus or Danava or something, in whose illustrious company La Otracina definitely belong.
But for every metallic part that sounds like it could be off an album by Early Man or The Sword, there's another trippier one that could be by White Hills, Acid Mothers Temple, or even Jonas Reinhardt. In fact, the title track, stretching out over almost 20 minutes, is definitely towards the kosmik krauty spacey psychy side of the La Otracina equation, complete with lengthy distorto-drone maelstroms, and even a drum solo! And when all is said and done, if you can imagine a New Age version of the Saviours you'd be close to a guess at what this record sounds like overall. Enough with the hypothetical comparisons, though, on Reality Has Got To Die these guys have almost moved beyond comparison, whilst making an album seemingly focus-group tested entirely at Aquarius Records. In other words, recommended!
The double lp version comes with mp3 download coupon. The cd version comes with the cd!
MPEG Stream: "Hail Fire"
MPEG Stream: "Raze The Sky"
MPEG Stream: "Mass Meteoric Mind"

LA OTRACINA Skyblazer (In For The Kill) 7" 5.98
Brooklyn's La Otracina, whom we first knew as a "space rock" band, sure have gotten a bit more "metal" lately; their most recent full length for Holy Mountain, Reality Has Got To Die, incorporated a whole lotta retro-thrash headbanging amidst their usual psychedelic stoner groove and progged out excess.
On this brand new 7" single, with no room for 20 minute space rock jams anyway, they definitely set their controls for the heart of the mosh pit... Raucous rockin' A-side "Madness Of Mind" careens along like a garagey NWOBHM throwback, motorin' most enjoyably as their singing drummer belts (and bashes) it out. They chug it up even more on the B-side, "Twisted Branches", more heads down metallized thump there, it's almost like they've been listening to old Anthrax! Though both trax have their psych side to 'em too, wild guitar soloing in that mode for sure.
For fans of Danava, Saviours, the latest Pharaoh Overlord, and local boys Glitter Wizard...
First release on the new label run by one of the La Otracina guys, named after a Budgie Song, natch. On see-thru green vinyl.
MPEG Stream: "Madness Of Mind"

LA OTRACINA Tonal Ellipse Of The One (Holy Mountain) cd 13.98
There's a lot of bands doing the '70s inspired instrumental jammy psych thing today... but this Brooklyn outfit, armed with guitars, bass, drums, synth, vibes, and upright bass, for sure does it RIGHT. Maybe no surprise, since La Otracina shares members with one of our instrumental psych/prog faves, space rockers Titan! If you like them, chances are you'll dig this... we'd also recommend La Otracina to fans of Earthless, Expo '70, Dead Meadow, Acid Mothers Temple, labelmates Om and Mammatus, etc.
Think post rock + pot and you'll have some suitably hazy idea of what this is all about. There's winding, wandering stuff here, exploratory, relaxed... as well as tracks that are rather more energetic and prog-tight. For instance, the 11-minute "Beyond The Dusty Hills (Cowboy In The Desert Part Two)" is one of the super stoned, drifting cuts, while the comparatively brief 6-minute "Nine Times The Color Red Explodes Like Heated Blood" is more propulsively muscular and Titan-esque, progressively riffed more rigidly than some of the other offerings here. Roiling and heavy, shimmering and lovely...the five tracks on Tonal Ellipse Of The One allow all those descriptors to apply, eventually.
Seems like we're always saying nice things about stuff on the Holy Mountain label, well, it's true -- Lesbian, Mammatus, Blues Control, those are just a few of the recent releases from up high on the Holy Mountain that we've been diggin' lately. Add La Otracina to that list! Let's hope HM can keep their excellent batting average up, we look forward to what's next...
MPEG Stream: "Yellow Mellow Magic"
MPEG Stream: "Nine Times The Color Red Explodes Like Heated Blood"

LA PESTE Better Off La Peste (Dionysus) cd 15.98

MPEG Stream: "Better Off Dead"
MPEG Stream: "Black"

LA PLANETE SAUVAGE (OST) (Pathe Marconi) lp 16.98
Repressed and BACK IN STOCK (for now...).
Super limited, lovingly presented reissue of this legendary record. Long out of print (minus the briefly available reissue on DC / Intoxica, now also out of print) and heavily sought after soundtrack to Rene Laloux's 1973 Cannes Grand Prix winning animated feature "La Planete Sauvage." If the film itself is a hallucinatory masterpiece, the soundtrack - composed by Alain Goraguer (long time arranger for Serge Gainsbourg) - is as fitting as it is brilliant. Like an LSD dosed Isaac Hayes score, the music herein is at the same time both reminiscent of classic early seventies drama soundtracks and completely surreal and strange. Lots of recurring leitmotifs recast in ever building and changing arrangements, including marimba, Theremin and bird whistles as well as the standard orchestral elements, guitars and funky organs. So great!
MPEG Stream: "Dehominisation (I)"
MPEG Stream: "Le Bracelet"
MPEG Stream: "Ten Et Tiwa"

LA REVOLUCION DE EMILIANO ZAPATA s/t (Dynamic) cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Here's a nice digipak reissue of something that's reputed to be one of the best ever psych albums from south of the border, right up there with Los Dug Dugs (who'd be our personal pick). And oh yeah, it's from 1971! If you've got the "Love, Peace and Poetry: Mexican Psychedelic Music" comp then you've already heard some La Revolucion De Emiliano Zapata, though their track on that comes from their second album, Hoy, not this their debut.
First off, there's plenty of stinging acid rock guitar awesomeness here, big time FUZZ action. But there's also mellower, more melodic side to them as well. Basically they cover all the bases of badass rockin' and rollin' California sixties psych influenced garage freakdom here. And they sing in English, whereas on Hoy they switched, mainly, to Spanish, which was a radical move as the conservative Mexican government/society of the '70s apparently would tolerate a lot of things sung in English but not in Spanish. Considering that two of the song titles here are "Nasty Sex" and "Shit City" maybe that's understandable...
Hopefully Dynamic will be reissuing Hoy as well someday, it's also a good one!
MPEG Stream: "Si Tu Lo Quieres"
MPEG Stream: "Todavia Nada (Still Don't - Not Yet)"