LIIAMANARINA Spermarket (Drag City) cd 14.98
Licensed from Bad Vugum in Finland.

LIKE A KIND OF MATADOR Halfway To Dangerous (tUMULt) cd 11.98
First and final release from this now defunct UK trio who meld crushing slow motion doomdronesludge with haunting prog and drifting abstract ambience.
A swirling, slow moving prog-doom juggernaut. Massive downtuned riffage churns around fluttery flutes, while wheezing accordions whirl beneath angelic female vox and warm whirring organs, all wound into subtly complex expanses of slow motion heaviness and epic cinematic dronemetal...almost like a magnificent, hypothetical Boris/Bardo Pond collaboration.
Three looooooong songs, the shortest just shy of ten minutes, the longest clocking in at twenty, each a slow burning slow build, layers of drones and hushed shimmer, often taking upwards of half the song before the various elements coalesce into actual riffs, the drums kicking in and the band lurching into a massive ultradoom start / stop groove, explosions of blown out buzz giving way to long stretches of hushed whisper, only to be swallowed up again by another roiling onslaught, a heaving wall of downtuned guitars, a pounding barrage of thunderous percussion.
All the while, a simple, repeating motif, hovers above, or lurks just below the caustic grinding heaviness, floating like some sonic specter, the vocals dreamy and drifty, a subtle seventies pagan folk vibe infusing the otherwise crushing doom. The flute unfurling dreamy melancholic melodies over vast expanses of crumbling distortion, laced with glistening harmonics, and warm blurred soft focus shimmer. The drums slipping from abstract minimal crush to monstrous lumbering groove. Hypnotic, repetitive, mesmerizing, trancelike.
At once familiar, and essential listening for fans of SUNNO))), Harvey Milk, Earth, Monarch and all thing slow, low and heavy. But at the same time, strangely alien, with a subtle muted beauty lurking at the heart of LAKOM's gloriously epic crumbling black mass of sound, within each song a breathless subtlety, a deep haunting otherworldliness, transforming dense low end explorations into something much more expansive and divine. Even at its very heaviest, it still manages to sound woozy and dreamlike, haunting and pretty, and utterly breathtaking.
MPEG Stream: "Sweet Mother Of Pearl (Women Are My World)"
MPEG Stream: "Mambo Jambo"

LIKE YOUNG, THE Last Secrets (Polyvinyl) cd 14.98
Ooh punchy pop fans, here's a new one for y'all! Don't let the solitary piano introduction fool ya! From there on it's nuthin' but big big big emotive pop with hefty guitars and snappy drums very much in the tradition of beloved popsters Weezer, The Anniversary and Superchunk. Lots of boy/girl vocal harmonies, which you know a lot of us can't resist! We haveta say tho' that this album's sound is something of a surprise coming from this married couple (or is it brother sister duo? we've heard conflicting reports) 'cause the last time we heard from them they were totally 'White Stripes'. A bit perplexing, but shucks, we like 'em now and that's all that matters. Go ahead bounce around your bedroom to this one... we'll be right there with ya!
MPEG Stream: "For Money Or Love"
MPEG Stream: "Spell It Out"

LIL BUNNIES 50 Children's Favorites (Rockin' Bones) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
There was a rumor about this group a couple of years ago that went something like this: a small town parade is terrorized by a gang of punks dressed in bunny outfits, they hijack a float and frighten away confused and innocent little children. Word of this gets around and a show is booked at Berkeley's Gilman Street. Our jackass heroes show up with a bunch of stinkbombs, a riot breaks out as the Lil Bunnies slip out the back and take off in their van. Dunno if all that's true or not, but it's a surefire way to hype a band.

LILAC s/t (Omega) 12" 11.98
We're pretty lucky that some of our favorite records are recorded literally just a few blocks from the store. Such is the case with the vinyl debut (totally different recording and songs from their s/t cd-r we listed last year) from one of San Francisco's most promising new bands, Lilac.
Recorded at Different Fur studios, this slab of wax is filled with five great tracks of hazy psych-pop perfection. We love how it taps into that captivating moment of late '80s turning into early '90s underground rock, just before things got very shoegazey. Like early singles by My Bloody Valentine, the charged melodies of the Jesus And Mary Chain, the smokey seduction of Opal, the driving daydreams of Ride, and a more upbeat and rocking Mazzy Star. They take a Creation records blueprint and infuse their own mark as these songs are the sounds of a band we think (and hope) we'll be hearing from for a long time. Like their local buddies Girls, Lilac's take on pop is filled with such enthusiasm and undeniable spirit. You can tell this is a band who lives to play music, and this recording really does their sound and spirit so much justice. Pressed on white vinyl, and comes with a coupon for a digital download.

LILAC s/t (self-released) cd-r 3.98
Fuzzed-out, jangly garage-pop dreaminess from SF's Lilac, new project from guitarist of local favorites Bridez. Heavy hitting distorted guitars strummed under dual male/female vocals, distant organ haze fluttering about, amp melting leads sailing over bratty lyrics and pure punk rock attitude, all thrown together into a super catchy, blurred-out rock and roll bonanza.
MPEG Stream: "So Young"
MPEG Stream: "Cars"

LILIENTAL Liliental (Revisited / Brain) cd 21.00
"Six days in 1976". That's what this disc represents. The entire lifespan, and output, of an extremely short-lived but also extremely awesome krautrock 'supergroup' of sorts. Organized by Dieter Moebius (one half of Cluster, one third of Harmonia), the Liliental project also featured the talents of Helmut Hattler and Johannes Pappert of psychedelic jazz-rock outfit Kraan, famed producer Conny Plank, soundtrack composer Otto Bekker and his protege, budding electronic experimentalist Asmus Tietchens (who contributes liner notes to this reissue). They never played live, and indeed spent only six days recording these six tracks. About 35 minutes of exquisite, oft glorious, softly moody and melodic instrumentals here on this one-off treasure... well, mostly instrumental, with some wordless "aahhs" here and there, and also some singing on the particularly quirky, catchy final track (which sounds more like a Brian Eno/Steely Dan collab than a Moebius thing, but that's not necessarily a bad thing). Since the tracks are sequenced on this disc in the same order in which they were recorded, it would seem that by day six they were ready to get a bit silly. On days 1-5, though, there was more restraint to their playfulness, their music sometimes joyous but as often wistful or otherwise serious-sounding.
It's hard to describe, easier to imagine if you're already acquainted with Moebius's music solo and in Cluster and Harmonia. While this group had their own special chemistry, the overall vibe is one that will definitely seem familiar to fans of Cluster et.al., wonderfully so. Track three, "Wattwurm", could be from one of the Cluster & Eno albums, easily. And that's high praise! On that track and elsewhere you'll find Liliental to be rhythmic, poppy, breezy, beautiful, all these things... with shimmering washes of mellow synths (lots of Arp and Moog), percolating electronic embellishments, almost-ambient saxophone, and even some blissful bird twitter on one track. So nice. This reissue actually came out last year, and we've been wanting to list it for a while, but had some trouble getting enough copies. Now we have a few in stock, so get it, it's definitely one to add to the top of the pile of essential krautrock reissues we've raved about recently, like those Michael Rothers, La Dusseldorfs, Eroc, etc.
In addition to Tietchens' notes, in both English and German, this digipack's cd booklet also includes color photos of Liliental in the studio (they existed nowhere else!), among them the group shot from which the cover painting was done - interestingly, amongst other small details altered, the cover artist decided to put long pants on Conny Plank (the smiling fellow on the far left) instead of letting him continue to wear the short shorts he had on in the original photograph.
MPEG Stream: "Stresemannstrasse"
MPEG Stream: "Wattwurm"

LILIPUT Liliput / Kleenex (Kill Rock Stars) 2cd 14.98
Well all right! One of the most highly-anticipated releases of the past few years is finally on the shelves at AQ. Kleenex were a Swiss punk band who released one record in 1978 and were soon thereafter forced to change their name to LiLiPUT, the moniker they used for the next four years until they disbanded in 1983. For the five years of their existence, Kleenex / LiLiPUT amassed an astonishingly cohesive (considering they went through three vocalists) body of work that was championed by everyone from John Peel to Rough Trade Records, who were their label for a while. Since their demise, the legend of LiLiPUT has only grown larger and larger. At one point a brief 1993 cd reissue of their work was reportedly going on eBay for over $300! The riot grrl scene, among other punk movements, has been inpsired by and today rightfully acknowledges and champions the influence of Kleenex/LiLiPUT (heads up, fans of Le Tigre, this will kick your ass and you'll thank them and ask for more). Somehow it seems appropriate that stalwart indie-punk label Kill Rock Stars should be releasing this double cd, which contains the entirety of the band's recorded output.
But what do they sound like? Well, no fan of the Slits, Raincoats, or X-Ray Spex should be without this record for a moment longer. Yeah, it's got that much unbelievable energy, choppy melodies, and three-chord majesty... and the band was similarly female fronted (one guy was only briefly a member). The two constants in the band -- the two people who were present throughout all the incarnations of Kleenex/LiLiPUT -- were guitarist Marlene Marder and bassist Klaudia Schiff, so there's driving, relentless, yet thoughtful basslines, coupled with slash 'n burn, jumpy guitar terrorism that at times recalls the band's contemporaries in the scene, like Gang of Four, Joy Division, and Wire. The vocalists ferociously crowed and cackled mostly in sing song English, making for funny and evocative lyrics. Violin and skronkin' saxophone were occasionally used as embellishment to their already full, solid sound. Every song is unique, approachable... every song is good. Kleenex/LiLiPUT's time has come again.
RealAudio clip: "Eisiger Wind"
RealAudio clip: "Beri-Beri"
RealAudio clip: "DC-10"
RealAudio clip: "Ain't You"
RealAudio clip: "Madness"

LILIUM Short Stories (Smooch) cd + dvd 15.98
Finally this long time AQ favorite gets reissued at a much nicer price by local label Smooch. With a bonus DVD to boot (more about that at the end of the review).
Like we mention in the other Lilium review, we have been Sixteen Horsepower CRAZY around here for a while now, digging the recent archival 16HP release, three Woven Hand records (the apocalyptic, biblical side project of 16HP singer David Eugene Edwards) as well as the other Lilium record, Transmission Of All The Good-Byes, the side project of 16HP bassist Pascal Humbert, a dark and harrowing, instrumental, swamp folk epic, that if you haven't picked up yet, you should, 'cause it's as good as the Woven Hand records, and it too just got reissued! This here is record number two from Lilium, and is a slight departure from the growling, rumbling, creepy sinister-folk of their previous record. Fear not, there's still plenty of atmosphere, rickety campfire strum, and moody darkness, it's just much smoother and it's a bit more traditionally pretty. Humbert has recruited his 16HP bandmate Jean-Yves Tola for this record making this essentially 2/3 Sixteen Horsepower, so to a certain degree you have a rough idea of what this sounds like. The big change is the vocals. Or should I say the vocalists. That's right vocalists. Unlike their instrumental debut, which was sort of more 'sound' than 'song', they really flex their songwriting muscles on Short Stories and craft some gorgeously dark and melancholy pop songs, sung beautifully, and swathed in that dark hazy atmosphere we know and love so well. Maybe the nicest surprise is vocalist Kal Calhoone, a dead ringer for Cat Power's Chan Marshall, but with a little PJ Harvey swagger thrown in. And PJ Harvey is kind of an apt comparison for some of these tunes, smoldering and moody, emotional and urgent, with Calhoone's husky whisper weaving tales of sorrow and despair. 16HP's David Eugene Edwards sings on one song and since that basically makes it Sixteen Horsepower, it might just be the strongest cut on the record, as good as anything they've ever recorded as a proper band. The rest of the record follows the same brambly path, with lush, and dreamy, slightly doomy tableaus, fingerpicked guitars, shuffling percussion, wheezing accordions, rumbling cellos, organs, slippery slide guitar, raspy, drawled vocals, and heavily reverbed pianos, totally mesmerising and sweetly melodic. Very reminsicent of Black Heart Procession, Calexico, Low and American Music Club. Highly recommended as was the last Lililium. Features guests from Morphine, Deus, and the Czars. And with 16HP's recent and somewhat acrimonious split, this might be your last chance to hear all three of these guys play together (even just for one song!). This Smooch label reissue comes with a bonus dvd, that features a 5.1 surround sound DVD-audio mix of the record as well as a handful of tracks from a soundtrack Lilium did for a short film, and those tracks are just as lovely and creepy as the rest of the record proper!
MPEG Stream: "Whitewashed"
MPEG Stream: "It They Cheered"
MPEG Stream: "Sense And Grief"
MPEG Stream: "Angels"

LILIUM Transmission Of All The Goodbyes (Smooch) cd 13.98
Finally this long time AQ favorite gets reissued at a much nicer price by local label Smooch.
We sure have been under the spell of all things Sixteen Horsepower lately. Especially the amazing Woven Hand records, the solo project of 16HP frontman David Eugene Edwards. But don't think for a minute that Edwards is solely responsible for the creepy, dark, backwoods ambience of 16HP and WH! To prove that point, we've finally tracked down the first release from Lilium, otherwise known as Pascal Humbert, bass player for Sixteen Horsepower. All you folks who went mad for the Woven Hand will be equally enamored of this delicate and gauzy, spare and mournful cinematic swampscape, equal parts deconstructed country, skeletal folk and shimmering, ominous drone. The opening track is a rickety, bluegrass crawl, sounding like the dueling banjos from Deliverance, slowed down, caked in mud and leaves, and broadcast on a warbly victrola from the bottom of a well. The rest of the record follows suit, wallowing in darkness and shadow ranging from rumbling, reverberent drones woven from slowly shifting layers of oscillating tones and warm chordal washes, to shuffling, reverb drenched, Calexico-ish desert rock twang, to fuzzed out, keyboard drenched, hypno-minimalism, to almost-indie/post rock instrumental workouts, to dangerously forboding Sixteen Horsepower-ish Southern swampfolk. The whole record is swathed in a warm, dense ambience of melancholic mystery, grim gloom and eerie unease. Anyone who bought the Woven Hand records NEEDS this for sure. And folks who love the likes of Sixteen Horsepower, Calexico, Souled American, Scott Tuma, Court And Spark, Califone, Giant Sand, Black Heart Procession, or even Morphine, will find this bleak and beautiful twang, and these deep and doleful drones, will hit the spot perfectly.
MPEG Stream: "Sleeping Inside"
MPEG Stream: "Swell"
MPEG Stream: "Beginning Of The Water Line"

LILYS Selected (File 13) cd 10.98
The Lilys' "Selected" has been qualified a bit of a throwback for the Lilys, whose career over the past decade has been a rollercoaster ride through UK psyche history. Their first album was a blissful excursion into the early '90s Creation sound which spawned My Bloody Valentine's "Loveless" and Ride "Nowhere," but as the band progressed, the shoegazing disappeared in favor of a peppy UK Beat sound. This EP takes on much more of their earlier sound, with paisleys, kaleidoscopes, faux-lysergic mind awakenings, and little round sunglasses finding their way back into the hearts of the Lilys. If you're really into The Aislers Set, you should certainly track this one down. Its only fault is that it's 17 minutes long.

LILYS Zero Population Growth (Darla) cd 10.98
This is not new, but its a favorite record we've never carried before and we managed to get our hands on a few copies to list, not sure if we'll be able to get more, so you know the drill...
We can't say we were huge fans of the Lilys, the Philadelphia based outfit led by Kurt Heasley. Their constant genre switching from MBV shoegaze to Oasis-style brit pop to electronic music never held our focus for very long. Yet this one record, a minor one in Lilys overall discography, recorded for the Darla label's Blissed Out series in 1999, is the one that holds up the best for us. Which is funny, because the Blissed Out series was created for invited bands to experiment with their sound. The best in the series included AMP, Windy and Carl, and Fuxa, but the Lilys one is our favorite, because they use the forum to dive head first into full blown Krautrock worship. Over 6 long instrumental tracks, they channel Neu!, Cluster, Kraftwerk and Faust (the cover art sort of apes Faust IV, albeit badly) with great efficiency and verve. We admit that at this point in time, it's not the most original sound, but for a one-off album, Lilys do it so spot on in a way that displays their obvious influences yet still sounds fresh and enjoyable. And nearly a decade before Arp, Cloudland Canyon, and countless other bands were fishing from the same well. Yeah!
MPEG Stream: "Escape"
MPEG Stream: "The Law"
MPEG Stream: "Sharper Laws"

LIMINAL LOUNGE Pre-Set (Knitting Factory Works) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The "illbient" trio (Danny Blume, DJ Olive, & Lloop) and guests (including usual downtown NYC suspects Marc Ribot and John Medeski) unleashes second stunning effort. Think Golden Palominos with excellent breakbeats! Lloop and Olive are members of Aquarius drum'n'bass faves We, by the way.

LIMINANAS La Fille De La Ligne 15 (Trouble In Mind) 7" 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The most recent full length from French fuzz pop duo Liminanas was a surprise hit around here, we can barely keep it in stock! A fantastic mix of raw garage pop and space-y psychedelia, warbly organs, new wave basslines, sultry vocals, and weirdest of all UKULELE! Which definitely added a twangy twist.
We managed to get just a handful of this limited new 7", which features two more tracks of glorious, campy garagey fuzz pop, the A side straight out of the Serge Gainsbourg songbook, the music a woozy slab of exotica, simple propulsive groove, twangy reverbed melodies, wheezing organ chords, dreamy female back up vox, low slung bassline, and over the top, a a deep dramatic voice, speaking in French, sexy and sultry. The flipside channels the spirit of Stereolab for a sweet slab of Francophile dreaminess, all krautrocky shimmer, and hazy, dream pop fuzz.
Comes in a cool black and red jukebox style sleeve, and includes a download coupon.
MPEG Stream: "La Fille De La Ligne 15"
MPEG Stream: "Mobylette"

LIMINANAS, THE Crystal Anis (Hozac) cd 10.98
Record number two from this French fuzz dream pop duo, not sure how we missed the first one, but we're digging this one a lot! The music a heady concoction equal parts modern garage rock and classic French pop, swirling synths wrapped around ukulele (!), simple propulsive almost krautrock drumming, new wave basslines, the sound crystalline and dreamily druggy, the vocals washed out and woozy. Some of the tracks sound a bit like like Moon Duo, that sort of stripped down kraut-psych, while others sound like old French Ye Ye music channeled through the woozy drugginess of Spacemen 3, melding sultry French spoken word, to wheezing psychedelic organ and those krautrocky grooves. The ukulele is possibly the strangest part of the equations, adding a truly distinct and unique sound to the proceedings, even when the band unfurls a thick swirling blast of buzzing guitars, it's underpinned by a lilting melody played on the ukulele. The slower tracks here play like some alternate universe sixties girl group, all fuzzy and shimmery and dreamy, but the bulk of the tracks are droned out organ / ukulele / fuzz guitar zoner-psych groovers, that we can't seem to get enough of.
MPEG Stream: "Salvation"
MPEG Stream: "Longanisse"
MPEG Stream: "AF3458"

LIMINANAS, THE Crystal Anis (Hozac) lp 14.98
NOW AT LAST HERE IN STOCK TO LIST ON VINYL!!
Record number two from this French fuzz dream pop duo, not sure how we missed the first one, but we're digging this one a lot! The music a heady concoction equal parts modern garage rock and classic French pop, swirling synths wrapped around ukulele (!), simple propulsive almost krautrock drumming, new wave basslines, the sound crystalline and dreamily druggy, the vocals washed out and woozy. Some of the tracks sound a bit like like Moon Duo, that sort of stripped down kraut-psych, while others sound like old French Ye Ye music channeled through the woozy drugginess of Spacemen 3, melding sultry French spoken word, to wheezing psychedelic organ and those krautrocky grooves. The ukulele is possibly the strangest part of the equations, adding a truly distinct and unique sound to the proceedings, even when the band unfurls a thick swirling blast of buzzing guitars, it's underpinned by a lilting melody played on the ukulele. The slower tracks here play like some alternate universe sixties girl group, all fuzzy and shimmery and dreamy, but the bulk of the tracks are droned out organ / ukulele / fuzz guitar zoner-psych groovers, that we can't seem to get enough of.
MPEG Stream: "Salvation"
MPEG Stream: "Longanisse"
MPEG Stream: "AF3458"

LIMITED EXPRESS (HAS GONE?) Sacrificial Jesus Child (Phono-Statique) 7" 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Heads up! Here's three new songs from these Japanese spazz-art-poppers. This bright opaque blue 7" record is comin' atcha by way of Australian record label Phono-Statique! Churningly angular and dizzyingly rambunctious, it sounds like they loosened all the strings on their guitars for this one. The b-side "Halation" features lyrics that are primarily a male singer chanting "one two three four" in Japanese. Count along with him! We've said it before and we'll say it again: definitely for fans of Deerhoof and Melt-Banana... and of course Limited Express (Has Gone?)!

LIMOSINE s/t (self-released) cd-r + poster 5.98
SF locals Limosine offer up their debut, a 5-song cd-r about 36 minutes long featuring much in the way of rumbling repetitive percussion, blown-out distortion, ceremonial atmospheres, squealing tape manipulations, droning doomic vocal chant, mad scientist bloops and bleeps, and indie-angsty vox... Limosine's layers of lo-fi loops are a sort of psychedelic DIY industrial musick that we imagine could appeal to fans of such disparate acts as Pain Teens, the Dead C, Sunburned Hand Of The Man, and Wildildlife. Weird stuff, we can say that! And we like it.
Track one, "Only Poise, Only Prizes" is the heaviest, most claustrophobic cut, with the next two "Stillborn" and "Lo And Behold" being much airier and (relatively) blissful, though then the final two songs here, "Weird Waver" and "Alrosa Villa" bring back more of the distortion and shambolic mayhem of the first track. Not that the spacious "Stillborn", in the course of its nearly 12 minute running time, doesn't get into some intense areas too.
The band is a trio, with Sarah Bernat on guitar and vocals, Grant Valley on vocals and acoustic guitar, and Bert Bergen on drums, electronics, and cassette tape loops. The one we know among 'em is Bert, and you can definitely hear him loud and clear here. He's also a visual artist, his work usual featuring fantastical crystalline patterns, bearded gurus, and innocent marine mammals, you've probably seen it around town on wheatpasted posters advertising rock shows and art gallery events. And he was the drummer (as well as what you might call artistic director) for the now-disbanded new age space rock outfit Ascended Master, which also featured former AQ staffer Lauren, as well as members of Crime In Choir. While we're sorry Ascended Master is no more, we're digging Bert's new ride, Limosine.
The way this is packaged, you could easily mistake it for a 7", but like we said it's actually a cd-r with a folded-up 21"x18" poster, a numbered, signed print featuring freaky art by Bert and Grant. Limited to only 59 copies!!
MPEG Stream: "Only Poise, Only Prizes"
MPEG Stream: "Stillborn"
MPEG Stream: "Weird Waver"

LINDAHL, MASON / ELLIE FORTUNE / RALEIGH MONCRIEFF/ ZACH HILL s/t (Life's Blood Flow) 2x7" 8.98

LINDAHL, MASON / ELLIE FORTUNE / RALEIGH MONCRIEFF/ ZACH HILL s/t (Life's Blood Flow) 2x7" 8.98

LINEA ASPERA s/t (Dark Entries) lp 15.98
One of the rare contemporary bands to be released on the ever exceptional Dark Entries label, typically known for reissues of classic and / or obscure minimal wave and post-punk electronics from the late '70s to mid '80s. But this is an album that's firmly grafted to the aesthetic that Dark Entries has honed through their fine curatorial ear; so much so that if we were told that Linea Aspera were some rare Sheffield band from 1981 featuring an undiscovered Anne Clark on vocals, we wouldn't be surprised one bit. The sequenced electronics, drum machines, and minimalist melodies are ice cold in their production thanks to the engineering prowess of Ryan Ambridge, who taps into the darker synth wrangling of Chris & Cosey, Psyche, Soft Cell, Human League, and even the Eurythmics in an experimental mood. That Eurythmics reference is furthered along by the full-throated vocals of Allison Lewis, whose poetics of despair and sexual miserablism are couched in the industrialist appropriation of neuroscience and various medical pathologies. There's a considerable amount of dark tension between the cold electronics and Lewis' vocals that really makes this record quite special and worthy of being included in the hallowed Dark Entries pantheon. To be completely honest, this is really what Xeno & Oaklander *want* to sound like if either of those Anglophiles could really rise above their well crafted electronic starkness. Kudos, once again to Dark Entries for introducing us to another great minimal wave find!
MPEG Stream: "Synapse"
MPEG Stream: "Fer-De-Lance"
MPEG Stream: "Malarone"

LINEAR MOVEMENT On The Screen (Minimal Wave) lp 24.00
This gem appears thanks to the folks at Minimal Wave, the label that has been digging deep, very deep into the realms of post-punk and new wave to uncover many a release that might have been lost. For those who have procured plenty of terminal obscurities from such blogspots as Mutant Sounds, No Longer Forgotten Music, or Systems of Romance, some of the reissues on Minimal Wave may be familiar. But these are no grey area reissues. Minimal Wave has assured us that they have taken great care to procure the rights for each of these recordings!
Linear Movement was a short-lived project by Peter Bonne that ran from 1982 and 1984, paralleling his work in the bands Autumn and Twilight Ritual. While neither of these projects mean much to us, his later project A Split Second was one we are quite familiar with, as one of the seminal Electronic Body Music projects alongside Front 242, Neon Judgement, and everything on Antler-Subway circa 1988. But given the earlier time frame, Linear Movement is a much more primitive affair, melding electro-pop to bits of post-punk disco grooves, amidst punchy synth stabs and occasional detours towards darker, somber arppegiations. Altogether, Linear Movement falls somewhere near the Bippp compilation that Ed Banger resurrected, Vince Clarke era Depeche Mode, and yes, early Front 242. Lieve Van Steerteghem is the female vocalist who pops up on perhaps the best tracks on the album.

LINNELL, JOHN State Songs (Zoe/Rounder) cd 15.98
This is John Linnell of They Might Be Giants fame (not to be confused with John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants fame, Linnell is the smaller guy). Indeed this is one half of the musical pop duo that defines the word "quirky". Here he pays tribute to all fifteen of the United States of America... You know: Illinois, West Virginia, South Carolina, Idaho, Montana, Pennsylvania, Utah, Arkansas, Iowa, Mississippi, Maine, Oregon, Michigan, New Hampshire and Nevada. Quirky, yes.

LIPMAN, ADAM Both Sundays (self-released) cd-r 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Following up on his 2006 Feathered Palm Trees cd-r, solo SF singer/songwriter Adam Lipman delivers another intimate batch of down to earth folksy numbers that expose an uncommon vulnerability, earnestness and heart. Once again his tender, youthful voice is joined by some pretty female vocal accompaniment. Those tunes are particularly sweet, engaging listens.
Whereas his last release came with a tiny tiny booklet, this lovingly homespun yet elaborate one comes coil-bound with photo foldouts and text. Ultra limited pressing of 30 (of which we only got a handful which are apparently the last remaining copies!), so act fast. We've been assured that a second (albeit less elaborate) version plus one on vinyl will be released shortly. We'll keep y'all posted!
MPEG Stream: "track 1"
MPEG Stream: "track 3"

LIPMAN, ADAM Feathered Palm Trees (Folktale) cd-r 6.98
On occasion our dear aQ customers will grace us with their own music, and such is the case with this self-titled release by Mr. Adam Lipman. Soft spoken in person, he also sings in hushed tones with an unexpected youthful solemnity. The closest comparison would be with Owen Ashworth of Casiotone For The Painfully Alone... if he were an acoustic troubadour who is joined every so often by some dreamy female vocals. These ten intimate, barebones lo-fi songs also recall the earnestness of early Mountain Goats. Nice! The cd-r comes packaged in a digipak with a tiny 1.5" handmade insert booklet.
MPEG Stream: "Out Of Our Mouths"
MPEG Stream: "Feathered Palm Trees"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

LITHOPS Scrypt (Thrill Jockey) cd 14.98

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

LITTLE TEETH Child Bearing Man (Absolutely Kosher) cd 14.98