MEKONS Punk Rock (1/4 Stick) cd 14.98

MEKONS United (Quarterstick) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Originally released as a companion piece to the Mekons' art book "United," this album features several reinterpretations of previously issued Mekons songs which had been sampled, mangled, and mashed into something new.

MEKURYA, GETATCHEW & THE EX Moa Anbessa (Terp) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
At long last, back in stock (to go with the Mississippi vinyl version, reviewed elsewhere this list):
A wild live blowout from legendary Ethiopian saxophonist Getatchew Mekuria, jamming with Dutch avant rockers The Ex and other like minded friends. It's time to once again get your Ethiopian groove on...
But with a twist. The twist being The Ex, everyone's favorite Dutch avant rockers who have always had a thing for world music, so much so that members of the Ex are directly involved in the running of Terp. So it makes sense that given the opportunity, they would jump at the chance to jam with the legendary Getatchew Mekuria. So here we have it, what sounds like one of the wildest musical parties ever! Oh how we would have killed to be there. Must have been a stone cold blast, but at least we have this here recording to ease our pain...
The record seems to be split right down the middle, half the songs are Ethiopian classics, given a bit of an angular post punk vibe, due in no small part to the fact that the band playing them is in fact the Ex, and the other half, the ones with vocals, sound like Ethiopian flavored Ex songs... We lean more toward the former, but both are pretty great.
Imagine your favorite Ethiopiques record, but way more bass heavy, a fuzzy distorted throb, along with jangly angular guitars, all underneath that oh so recognizable sax, wailing and soaring, practically singing, emotional and gorgeous. A few tracks are groovy and smokey and sultry, sounding like they could have come straight off of Ethiopiques 4, and even the all time Ethiopian groove classic "Musicawi Silt" here gets a sort of funkgroove makeover, with percussive guitar clang, blooping bass, the song was already funky, but in a different way, the new version is a little more tightly wound, but in a good way, you could maybe call it Ethiopian postpunkgroove or something. And there's also an amazing solo jam "Tezeta", with Mekuria just making the sax sing, an extension of his being, going from full on skronk, to melancholy drift, oozing emotion and passion. The crowd reaction afterwards says it all. The rest of the record is packed with the above mentioned Ethiopian Ex style jams, which are awesome and wild and are definitely kinetic and ebullient, but the vocals are definitely an acquired taste...
As with all Terp stuff, tons of photos and extensive liner notes...
MPEG Stream: "Musicawi Silt"
MPEG Stream: "Aynamaye Nesh"
MPEG Stream: "Tezeta"

MEKURYA, GETATCHEW & THE EX Moa Anbessa (Mississippi) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT!! MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT!! MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT!!
This big time aQ fave, originally a cd on Terp, now released on vinyl thanks to the kind folks at Mississippi!
A wild live blowout from legendary Ethiopian saxophonist Getatchew Mekuria, jamming with Dutch avant rockers The Ex and other like minded friends. It's time to once again get your Ethiopian groove on...
But with a twist. The twist being The Ex, everyone's favorite Dutch avant rockers who have always had a thing for world music, so much so that members of the Ex are directly involved in the running of Terp. So it makes sense that given the opportunity, they would jump at the chance to jam with the legendary Getatchew Mekuria. So here we have it, what sounds like one of the wildest musical parties ever! Oh how we would have killed to be there. Must have been a stone cold blast, but at least we have this here recording to ease our pain...
The record seems to be split right down the middle, half the songs are Ethiopian classics, given a bit of an angular post punk vibe, due in no small part to the fact that the band playing them is in fact the Ex, and the other half, the ones with vocals, sound like Ethiopian flavored Ex songs... We lean more toward the former, but both are pretty great.
Imagine your favorite Ethiopiques record, but way more bass heavy, a fuzzy distorted throb, along with jangly angular guitars, all underneath that oh so recognizable sax, wailing and soaring, practically singing, emotional and gorgeous. A few tracks are groovy and smokey and sultry, sounding like they could have come straight off of Ethiopiques 4, and even the all time Ethiopian groove classic "Musicawi Silt" here gets a sort of funkgroove makeover, with percussive guitar clang, blooping bass, the song was already funky, but in a different way, the new version is a little more tightly wound, but in a good way, you could maybe call it Ethiopian postpunkgroove or something. And there's also an amazing solo jam "Tezeta", with Mekuria just making the sax sing, an extension of his being, going from full on skronk, to melancholy drift, oozing emotion and passion. The crowd reaction afterwards says it all. The rest of the record is packed with the above mentioned Ethiopian Ex style jams, which are awesome and wild and are definitely kinetic and ebullient, but the vocals are definitely an acquired taste...
MPEG Stream: "Musicawi Silt"
MPEG Stream: "Aynamaye Nesh"
MPEG Stream: "Tezeta"

MELCHIOR, DAN Assemblage Blues (Siltbreeze) lp 14.98
Our only real exposure to Dan Melchior, frontman of the Broke Revue and sometime collaborator with Billy Childish and Holly Golightly, was on a recent split with local garage poppers the Fresh & Onlys, and we were blown away, describing his side of the split as "awesomely super distorted garage pop, like Elvis Costello, all jammed up and slathered in crumbling hiss and grit, the vocals delivered in a thick English accent, the drums blown out, effects all over the place, everything buried beneath a patina of blurred buzz..." which pretty much describes Melchior's Siltbreeze record as well, but if anything, all the blown out weirdness and heavily effected and damaged aspects we dug so much on that 7", have been cranked WAY up here. Noisier, more lo-fi, way more chaotic and confusional, the proper songs that do surface are slathered in distortion and FX, and transformed into some sort of outsider lo-fi avant garage psych weirdness.
"Atomizer" is some sort of no-fi distorto new wave, the whole song driven by a churning muddied electronic pulse, the vocals distorted and WAY up in the mix, robotic and clinical, but crumbling around the edges, pelted by jagged shards of blown out guitar, and squalls of cascading psychnoise, and the lyrics, twisted and appropriately baffling. "Bewildered And Wild" begins all folky and strummy, until the vocals come in, all processed and effected, making it sound like some alien blues, everything smeared with grit and grime and hiss, total interplanetary back porch moon blues weirdness, rife with the occasional super distorted swell of low end buzz. "Bread Bin Wailing (Moonlight Crow)" is all muted backwards warble, and ultra thick metallic bass buzz, echoey vocals, smears of psychedelic leads, and so it goes, the whole record some sort of drug addled bedroom blues, filtered through NZ noise rock, eighties cold wave, outsider loner zoner psych, and spit out in all its filthy fractured fucked up glory! Think Suicide crossed with Chrome crossed with the Shadow Ring crossed with Robyn Hitchcock crossed with Alastair Galbraith crossed Wreck Small Speakers on Expensive Stereos. Indeed.
Comes with a download coupon too...
MPEG Stream: "Atomizer"
MPEG Stream: "Bewildered and Wild"
MPEG Stream: "Dugan"

MELCHIOR, DAN Excerpts (& Half Speeds) (Kye) lp 17.98
It may have taken us a while to catch on to the twisted garage rock genius that is Dan Melchior, but over the last little while, we've been digging everything we've heard, and while this record is not a proper album, so much as a cobbled together collection of experiments and sketches, it somehow holds together as some kind of strange Guided By Voices style chunk of micro-jams, albeit here, many of them consist of nothing but looped and layered voices or field recorded acoustic guitar. But all the tracks here, no matter how abstract or seemingly tossed off are pretty damn cool, whether it's the aforementioned vocal experiments, or sweet lo-fi piano ballads with strange foot-step percussion and a backdrop of running water, or stripped down bedroom folk with strange hummed harmonies, or dirgey distorted almost-Appalachia, warm swirls of acoustic guitars, minimal strums over mysterious field recordings or garbled into wild noisy tape experiments. And amidst all these fragments, do lurk a handful of gorgeous gems, both sides end in said fashion, the A side with a dense brooding, slow build dirge, the B side with a haunting bit of pretty reverbed piano over a swirl of strange stuttering electronics. Cool stuff.
LIMITED TO 450 COPIES!!!

MELCHIOR, DAN Ghost In The Supermarket (Moniker) lp 14.98
Yet another Record Store Day release, that we managed to get some extra copies of, so all our beloved, non-local customers could have a shot at snagging themselves a copy. This one from garage rock weirdo/legend Dan Melchior, a 5 song 45rpm 12" pressed up on white vinyl, that displays Melchior's poppier side, one we've got glimpses of before on other recordings, but barring one track, most of Ghost In The Supermarket is more sort of dark acoustic pop, with warm strum and simple arrangements, the opening title track sets the stage, with some fantastically twisted lo-fi pop, weirdly produced drums, lush acoustic guitars, and super bizarre lyrics, concerning the titular ghost and some Cheez Whiz, but Melchior manages to make the goofiness work, transforming what it lesser hands might have been too jokey, into a gorgeous chunk of low slung, stripped down acoustic pop, complete with a really nice, simple acoustic guitar solo. The second track is the oddball here, and gives us a glimpse of another side of Melchior's sound, one that's more post punky and garagey, angular and slithery, with jagged slashes of guitar, weird processed vox, very eighties sounding, catchy as hell, but also more rough and ragged than the rest of the record.
The B side starts off with some woozy acoustic dirgery, spaced out and droney, darkly hypnotic before drifting into some abstract Appalachian alien folk territory, all plucked melodies, and keening high end shimmer, before slipping into the gorgeous closer, a sweetly sorrowful bit of classic sounding acid folk, all warm strum and shuffling tempo, twisted lyrics again (this time about Star Trek), laced with some rad psychedelic backwards guitars. Awesome stuff! And some super bad ass cover art. And again, this was a Record Store Day release, so odds are, once we sell out, we probably won't be able to get more.

MELCHIOR, DAN Hello, I'm Dan Melchior (Shake It) cd 13.98

MELCHIOR, DAN Red Nylon Valance (SDZ) 7" 10.98
We dug Melchior's most recent full length, Assemblage Blues, like crazy. It was a wild collection of garage pop, and really our first proper exposure to his noisy chaotic outsider songstyle. We played that record to death, so were super psyched to get in this new single, and it's a doozy, much darker and lower key than that record. The A side offers up moody brooding verses driven by a woozy low slung bassline, which explodes into a dizzying psychedelic organ driven chorus, the song super catchy, and maybe one of our favorite Melchior jams yet. The B side is another brooder, that sounds a little bit like a more fractured lo-fi Cardinal if that makes any sense, the same sort of stately pop vibe, but here it's all lush darkly dreamy vocal harmonies over dizzyingly looped guitar figures and has us reassessing what we said about the A side, cuz the B side is also one of our favorite Melchior jams yet. Guess that means this is most definitely recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Red Nylon Valance"

MELCHIOR, DAN The Backward Path (Northern Spy) cd 14.98
This latest full length from garage rock iconoclast/legend Dan Melchior is a definite departure from recent releases, in that not only is it the first solo record on which he doesn't play everything, and collaborates with a revolving cast / sort-of back up band, but also, it's much more song based, and somber, due in no doubt to the fact that his wife Letha (who played in the late great Ruby Falls, and is an amazing musician and artist in her own right, not to mention a super rad person!) was diagnosed with cancer several years ago, and the two have been struggling to deal with all the ramifications, from struggling to pay medical bills, to facing the mortality of a loved one. And it call comes through on the Backward Path, with Melchior as the brooding troubadour, the songs darkly melancholic, sweetly melodic, his distinctive croon wrapped in acoustic strum, and wreathed in a lush tapestry of atmospheric ambience, whirring drones, woozy lysergic shimmer, some of the tracks downright psychedelic, others spare and lovely, a stripped down garage pop psych folk that feels timeless, sonically, and emotionally, and of course, the whole record is musical love letter to his wife, which only makes it that much more beautiful and powerful.
The other cool thing, is that the record's proper (love) songs are separated by short interludes, sonic experiments, reminiscent of Melchior's record on Kye, brief abstract tone poems, each a chunk of experimental psychedelic ambience, drifting guitar strums suspended in hazy blurred shimmers, soft swirls of FX, skeletal spirals of muted melody, all of which perfectly balance the songs proper. Way recommended. And of course, you can (and should!) donate to the Letha Rodman Melchior cancer fund: http://melchiorfund.blogspot.com/
MPEG Stream: "Night Comes In"
MPEG Stream: "S.P. 2"
MPEG Stream: "All The Clocks"
MPEG Stream: "I Have Known The Emptiness"
MPEG Stream: "S.P. 5"

MELCHIOR, DAN The Backward Path (Northern Spy) lp 17.98
This latest full length from garage rock iconoclast/legend Dan Melchior is a definite departure from recent releases, in that not only is it the first solo record on which he doesn't play everything, and collaborates with a revolving cast / sort-of back up band, but also, it's much more song based, and somber, due in no doubt to the fact that his wife Letha (who played in the late great Ruby Falls, and is an amazing musician and artist in her own right, not to mention a super rad person!) was diagnosed with cancer several years ago, and the two have been struggling to deal with all the ramifications, from struggling to pay medical bills, to facing the mortality of a loved one. And it call comes through on the Backward Path, with Melchior as the brooding troubadour, the songs darkly melancholic, sweetly melodic, his distinctive croon wrapped in acoustic strum, and wreathed in a lush tapestry of atmospheric ambience, whirring drones, woozy lysergic shimmer, some of the tracks downright psychedelic, others spare and lovely, a stripped down garage pop psych folk that feels timeless, sonically, and emotionally, and of course, the whole record is musical love letter to his wife, which only makes it that much more beautiful and powerful.
The other cool thing, is that the record's proper (love) songs are separated by short interludes, sonic experiments, reminiscent of Melchior's record on Kye, brief abstract tone poems, each a chunk of experimental psychedelic ambience, drifting guitar strums suspended in hazy blurred shimmers, soft swirls of FX, skeletal spirals of muted melody, all of which perfectly balance the songs proper. Way recommended. And of course, you can (and should!) donate to the Letha Rodman Melchior cancer fund: http://melchiorfund.blogspot.com/
MPEG Stream: "Night Comes In"
MPEG Stream: "S.P. 2"
MPEG Stream: "All The Clocks"
MPEG Stream: "I Have Known The Emptiness"
MPEG Stream: "S.P. 5"

MELCHIOR, DAN UND DAS MENACE Catbirds & Cardinals (Northern Spy) cd 14.98
We still really have no idea who this Dan Melchior guy is. We first discovered him via a split with SF jangle poppers the Fresh & Onlys, his side of the split a huge surprise, knocking us for a loop, and turning the previously unknown to us Melchior into a serious aQ fave. His recent lp for Siltbreeze Assemblage Blues only helped seal the deal, but where that record seemed custom made for Siltbreeze, seeming to tap into the twisted psychedelic side of Melchior's sound, and focusing on the noisier tripper more fucked up songs, this new one definitely sounds more in line with the tracks from that split single, a woozy, super melodic, shuffling, acoustic guitar flecked garage pop, hints of that classic sixties sound, plenty of weird distortion and lots of reverb, but here used sparingly, and in the interest of crafting an incredible collection of quirky lo-fi pop.
Opener "Summer In Siberia" is fuzzy and jangly, with a perfect main melody, and a killer soaring sixties style chorus, the guitars warmly distorted and crumbly, Melchior's vocals delivered in a heavily accented British brogue, the production weirdly blown out and in-the-red, while the following track is a moody minor key chunk of quirky lo-fi outsider pop, super catchy, but strangely haunting and minor key. "Squalor On Sunday" is a pounding blast of psychedelic garage rock, with some super weird vocals, wheezing organs, crunchy guitars, all wound into a noisy blurred stretch of fuzzy washed out jangle. "Catbird" is a dour atonal dirge, the guitars careening from speaker to speaker, the vocals sung/spoken, the vibe reminds us of Purling Hiss, the same sort of classic rock beholden hookiness, but here, but as beholden to the most twisted of the nineties NZ pop, and actually, much of the record sounds like it could be some long lost Xpressway or Flying Nun record from the nineties, total perfect pop, but all twisted up and turned inside out, creating a fuzzy dreamy din, all psychedelic and warped but without losing any of the poppiness or hookiness. Somehow this new full length manages to be the perfect mix of that poppy split single and the way weirder Siltbreeze record, resulting in a gloriously skewed, cacophonous fuzzy psychedelic garage pop masterpiece that we can't seem to stop listening to.
MPEG Stream: "Summer In Siberia"
MPEG Stream: "The Forest Of Tin"
MPEG Stream: "Squalor On Sunday"

MELCHIOR, DAN UND DAS MENACE Catbirds & Cardinals (Northern Spy) lp 17.98
We still really have no idea who this Dan Melchior guy is. We first discovered him via a split with SF jangle poppers the Fresh & Onlys, his side of the split a huge surprise, knocking us for a loop, and turning the previously unknown to us Melchior into a serious aQ fave. His recent lp for Siltbreeze Assemblage Blues only helped seal the deal, but where that record seemed custom made for Siltbreeze, seeming to tap into the twisted psychedelic side of Melchior's sound, and focusing on the noisier tripper more fucked up songs, this new one definitely sounds more in line with the tracks from that split single, a woozy, super melodic, shuffling, acoustic guitar flecked garage pop, hints of that classic sixties sound, plenty of weird distortion and lots of reverb, but here used sparingly, and in the interest of crafting an incredible collection of quirky lo-fi pop.
Opener "Summer In Siberia" is fuzzy and jangly, with a perfect main melody, and a killer soaring sixties style chorus, the guitars warmly distorted and crumbly, Melchior's vocals delivered in a heavily accented British brogue, the production weirdly blown out and in-the-red, while the following track is a moody minor key chunk of quirky lo-fi outsider pop, super catchy, but strangely haunting and minor key. "Squalor On Sunday" is a pounding blast of psychedelic garage rock, with some super weird vocals, wheezing organs, crunchy guitars, all wound into a noisy blurred stretch of fuzzy washed out jangle. "Catbird" is a dour atonal dirge, the guitars careening from speaker to speaker, the vocals sung/spoken, the vibe reminds us of Purling Hiss, the same sort of classic rock beholden hookiness, but here, but as beholden to the most twisted of the nineties NZ pop, and actually, much of the record sounds like it could be some long lost Xpressway or Flying Nun record from the nineties, total perfect pop, but all twisted up and turned inside out, creating a fuzzy dreamy din, all psychedelic and warped but without losing any of the poppiness or hookiness. Somehow this new full length manages to be the perfect mix of that poppy split single and the way weirder Siltbreeze record, resulting in a gloriously skewed, cacophonous fuzzy psychedelic garage pop masterpiece that we can't seem to stop listening to.
MPEG Stream: "Summer In Siberia"
MPEG Stream: "The Forest Of Tin"
MPEG Stream: "Squalor On Sunday"

MELK The G6-49 (Joyful Noise) cd 14.98

MELLOW CANDLE Swaddling Songs (Esoteric Recordings) cd 21.00

MELOY, COLIN Colin Meloy Sings Live (Kill Rock Stars) cd 14.98

MELT BANANA 13 Hedgehogs (MxBx Singles 1994-1999) (A-Zap) cd 13.98
In the bizarre musical world of Japan's Melt Banana, seven inch singles are hedgehogs, and MB's got a whole mess of em, most WAY out of print and long unavailable. So finally, all of these long sought after hedgehogs, all released between 1994 and 1999, have been gathered up, gussied up, digitized and released on one single compact disc. 13 Hedgehogs featuring all of MB's tracks from the singles "Hedgehog", "It's In The Pillcase", "Untitled (Piano One)", "Eleventh" and "Dead Spex" as well as their tracks from splits with God Is My Co-Pilot, Discordance Axis, Pencilneck, Target Shoppers, Stilluppsteypa, Plainfield, Xerobot, and Killout Trash. Phew. 56 tracks of maniacal squealing and squeaking, stop-start, ultra dense, mega complex confusional punk / grind / pop / whatthefuck! So ridiculous and so totally amazing!
MPEG Stream: "So Unfilial Rule"
MPEG Stream: "Buddhism Core"
MPEG Stream: "Dead Spex"
MPEG Stream: "Last Finger Split"
MPEG Stream: "Bad Gut Missed Fist"

MELT BANANA Bambi's Dilemma (A-Zap) cd 13.98
Geeze! Can't believe it, this must be the most melodic, "normal" (ahem) album from Japan's Melt-Banana yet, but it's still ALSO totally spastic and unhinged and extreme. Actually the more melodic, non-hyperspeed elements here make the other stuff all the more insane sounding. There's (only!) 18 caffeinated tracks on this disc, chock-a-block with bug zapper guitars, thrashing drums, and yelping vox, of course. But also: catchy hooks, sing-a-long choruses? Yes. It's been four long years since their previous album, Cell-Scape, and we guess we'd forgotten just how listenable that one was, surprising us at the time too. Melt-Banana had taken their trademark manic Boredomsey hardcore sound and tamed it just a bit. Well they do that here too, turning in a speedy, spasmodic pop-punk masterpiece that sounds something like the Ramones or Green Day bouncing off the walls in a bizarre experiment somehow involving chipmunks, crack cocaine, and computers... ok, dunno what that means either. But the point is, this is making us crazy in a good way, it's as if the more "conventional" Melt-Banana becomes, the more paradoxically disturbing they really are. And if you really want pure old school M-B HC noisiness, well there's a batch of shorter, seizure-like songs on the second half of the disc (tracks 11-17) that should do the trick. Well worth the wait.
MPEG Stream: "Cracked Plaster Cast"
MPEG Stream: "Cat Brain Land"
MPEG Stream: "One Drop, One Life"

MELT BANANA Initial T. (Init Records) 7" 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It's been almost 2 years since we last heard from Japan's mighty Melt-Banana, our favorite purveyors of manic spastic grinding ultra complex math pop, and we were all ready to just write a generic review saying how we loved them but what else could we say, their sound hasn't changed that much, but then we threw this on and the opening track blew our fucking minds. Not sure why exactly, big buzzing bassline, all sorts of weird almost electronic sounding guitar parts, it almost sounds like a super charged sped up Deerhoof, the song soaring and epic, weirdly produced, processed, almost dance-y actually, and when the song kicks in it's just incredible, wild and catchy and frantic and heavy and so goddamn good, the sound lush and expansive, maybe like Melt-Banana doing their best Fuck Buttons or something. Whatever it is, it's just about the most delirious 2 and a half minutes we can remember.
Both the cd and the 7" are short short short, as in 5 minutes, but lots of parts and radness jammed into those 5 minutes and 3 songs. The second track is a bit more classic punked up MB, but that one too is more poppy and twisted and bouncy and electronic than we remember. The last track is another warped tangled pogo pop grind jam that RULES. Shit, maybe we've just been away from these guys (and gals) and just forgot how amazing they were. Regardless, this is just about the raddest 5 minutes we've rocked out to in forever!
MPEG Stream: "Loop Nebula"
MPEG Stream: "Leeching"

MELT BANANA Initial T. (Init Records) 3" cd 6.98
It's been almost 2 years since we last heard from Japan's mighty Melt-Banana, our favorite purveyors of manic spastic grinding ultra complex math pop, and we were all ready to just write a generic review saying how we loved them but what else could we say, their sound hasn't changed that much, but then we threw this on and the opening track blew our fucking minds. Not sure why exactly, big buzzing bassline, all sorts of weird almost electronic sounding guitar parts, it almost sounds like a super charged sped up Deerhoof, the song soaring and epic, weirdly produced, processed, almost dance-y actually, and when the song kicks in it's just incredible, wild and catchy and frantic and heavy and so goddamn good, the sound lush and expansive, maybe like Melt-Banana doing their best Fuck Buttons or something. Whatever it is, it's just about the most delirious 2 and a half minutes we can remember.
Both the cd and the 7" are short short short, as in 5 minutes, but lots of parts and radness jammed into those 5 minutes and 3 songs. The second track is a bit more classic punked up MB, but that one too is more poppy and twisted and bouncy and electronic than we remember. The last track is another warped tangled pogo pop grind jam that RULES. Shit, maybe we've just been away from these guys (and gals) and just forgot how amazing they were. Regardless, this is just about the raddest 5 minutes we've rocked out to in forever!
MPEG Stream: "Loop Nebula"
MPEG Stream: "Leeching"

MELT BANANA Snake Song / Love Song (HG Fact) 5" 8.98
Latest blast of squeak and skronk and blast and grind from these ultra cute, but totally dangerous Japanese pop punk grind craziness. This is the perfect way to experience MB, two ultra short, but still impossibly complex blasts of chaotic grind pop. Like getting beaten to death with a big fuzzy sack full of bunnies, cute but still fierce and freaked out as fuck. Or imagine being eaten alive by a gaggle of glow in the dark, rainbow colored cartoon characters, painfully cute, anthropomorphous fuzz balls, all soft and cuddly, but with sharp fangs and a truly deranged look in their eyes. NO ONE sounds like Melt-Banana, well okay, sometimes Fantomas does, but when they do, we just wonder why they're copping MB's style. We love Melt-Banana.
Super limited 5" vinyl, released on HG Fact (the same label that releases all the Corrupted records!).

MELT BANANA / BIG D AND THE KIDS TABLE split (Fork In Hand) 7" 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Fans of Japan's Melt Banana know that they're always great at doing covers. On their side of this split 7" they do "Monkey Man" by Toots And The Maytals. Really. And of course they sound like they're on 45 even when they're on 33 like they always do, super hectic, the least-mellow reggae you've ever heard. Some of us thought it was a cartoon theme or music from an ad for a kid's toy or something. There's also a Melt Banana original called "Operation: 3rd Attack" on here, with some turntable scratching, that's equally wild.
The flip side features US ska act Big D And The Kids Table, they do an original and a Ministry cover ("Thieves")...there's got to be some novelty value in that. Actually, we *think* they're a ska band. But even their original sounds more like a metal or hardcore band with a horn section than your typical ska stuff. So, kinda cool too.

MELT-BANANA Lite Live: Ver.0.0 (A-Zap) cd 13.98
It's been WAY too long since we've seen Melt-Banana live, they are definitely one of THE raddest live groups ever, sonically brutal and precise and manic and impossibly complex, their stage presence unbeatable, the whole band bouncing around wildly non stop, the guitarist perpetually clad in surgical mask, the vocalist a tiny whirling dervish, it's pretty awe inspiring, and wild pogo pit inspiring too.
So this killer live set might tide us over, the sound is incredible, you would never know it was a live record unless you were told, and might not even believe it then! They are in fine form, the record opener is awesome, about as slow as they get, a killer midtempo jam, all freaked out effects and processed vox, lots of buzz, squiggly guitar weirdness, all set to the frenetic drumming, before the band launch into a burst of lightning fast hypergrind, insanely manic and frantic and frenzied, the vocals a staccato chirp, the drums spastic and chaotic, the guitar though, spitting out incredible riffs, then all sorts of impossibly tangled squelches and glitchy fragmented melodies. The songs blow by in a blur, which makes the slower tracks all the more powerful. "Cat And The Blood" is a droned out prog jam, all wooshing synths, and surprisingly restrained vocals, and muted guitar squiggles, before once again spitting out a handful of manic metal grind microjams before finishing off with two epics (4 and 5 minutes respectively), first "Last Target On The Last Day" a gorgeous tripped out space jam, super atmospheric and heavy, long drones, and warm swirls of synth underpinning an almost doomic groove, finishing off with the super atmospheric and cinematic "Humming Jackalope, Waiting For The Storm", all Theremin-like melodies, clouds of cymbal sizzle, washed out bass rumble, and streaks of total Tangerine Dream like synth shimmer before finishing off with a burst of white noise crunch. Phew. Epic and incredible and heavy and wild and wonderful. Definitely don't miss MB next time they come to your town, and check this out to remind yourself what you've been missing.
MPEG Stream: "Feedback Deficiency"
MPEG Stream: "T For Tone"
MPEG Stream: "Slide Down"
MPEG Stream: "One Drop, One Life"

MELTED TOYS Washed & Dried (Underwater Peoples) lp 14.98
Here comes a great new San Francisco band making some melt worthy washed out pop. Right at home on Underwater Peoples who have also released records we love by folks like Ducktails, Julian Lynch, Air Waves, and Pill Wonder. They for sure have the kodachrome soaked old cassette recording C86 happening, but there is something nice and subtle about their delivery that sounds so refreshing and earnest. We love how much of a daydream haze these songs put us in, synth pop that is less about beating you over the head with the sounds of synthesizers and more about casting a spell of timeless daydreams and melancholy memories. If you've been digging folks like The Art Museums, Puro Instinct, Memory Tapes, and Holy Shit then for sure you should jump all over this Melted Toys debut. It's some of the best dreamy and druggy, hazy and seductive pop that we've heard in a long time!

MELTED TOYS / DOMINANT LEGS Rose Again / Laughing The Whole Time (Atelier Ciseaux) 7" 7.98
As thriving as the garage rock scene is in San Francisco, it's important to note there is some pretty amazing pop being crafted in these parts as well. We loved what we heard on the debut 12" by Melted Toys on Underwater Peoples that we listed a few months back, so we were super excited to get a brand new track of their low-key, yet so infectious breezy and subtly washed out pop.
Dominant Legs, we first heard when they opened for Girls at a breathtaking show at the Swedish American Hall a couple years ago. In fact, the band's main man, Ryan Williams Lynch is one of the guitarists in Girls, and there has always been something about him on stage that made us keep our eyes locked on him, as we knew there was something pretty special about his presence. Along side Hannah Hunt, and a full band with super strong chops, they create such a wonderful version of 2011 boy/girl cuddle-core. Think Belle & Sebastian meets The Softies doing Roy Orbison covers.
Released by the French label, Atelier Cesium, the 7" comes with a digital download.

MELTING GLASS BOX (TOKEDASHITA GARASU BAKO) s/t (Erebus) cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Writing as many reviews as we do each week, trying to sell records to the people who will like 'em, we really appreciate it when a band makes it easy, as in this case, like, by being from Japan. And from the early '70s. Playing acid folk. And then they've got a cool name like Melting Glass Box. All that really remains is for us to tell you if is as amazing as it seems it might be - and it is.
Of course, though they're pretty obscure, you may have heard of them already, as this 1970 album has quite a deserved rep among connoisseurs of Japanese psych stuff - though it's mysteriously given short shrift in Julian Cope's Japrocksampler book, though he does praise albums by another band, Five Red Balloons (Itsutsu No Arai Fusen) from whom comes the main Melting Glass Box guy, singer-songwriter Takasi Nishioka, who is the pretty sharp looking denim clad hipster gent in the Melting Glass Box cover photo. MGB was a one-off studio project (though Takasi made many albums with Itsutu No Arai Fusen, and a bunch of later solo records as well) that also featured folks from such crucial underground Japanese psych acts of the era as The Jacks, Apryl Fool, and AQ faves Blues Creation. There's three members of proto-metal heavies Blues Creation on board here, actually, including Iommi-esque guitarist Takeda Kazuo. Not that this is at all heavy, it's actually a mellow, melodic record, quite gentle and pretty and placid, the lazy la la la's of their folky flowerpowered pop punctuated with such surreal details as the sound of shattering glass that startles the listener halfway through the lead off track "Anmari Fukasugite". Likewise, electronic FX, tape speed manipulations, ethnic instruments, and some stinging acid guitar licks are sparingly stirred into the mix throughout, this album one of many interesting, dreamy details and odd arrangements, but that still succeeds especially due to Takasi's balladic songs, that are so very melancholic and emotional - even though we can't understand the lyrics. We bet Masaki Batoh and Ghost grew up listening to this record!
Definitely a thrilling reissue that all of us here at AQ are digging, it's been getting a LOT of in-store play. Nicely done, too, by the Erebus label, with liner notes, original sleeve shots, and discographical information in the cd booklet.
MPEG Stream: "Anmari Fukasugite"
MPEG Stream: "Kimi Ha Dare Nanda"

MELTON, MATTHEW Still Misunderstood (Southpaw) lp 13.98
Regular readers of the list know how much we love local fuzz pop jangle garage rockers Snake Flower 2 and the equally fuzzy and jangly Bare Wires, both fronted by Mr. Matthew Melton, a long haired, leather jacket clad rocker, albeit one with a pop heart wrapped in prickly fuzz, which is precisely what we find so magical about Melton's songwriting.
Crunchy, fuzzy, buzzy, reverby, blown out, catchy and hooky and melodic, sounding almost like the musically wiser big brother to the current crop of lo-fi garage poppers like Thee Oh Sees and the Sic Alps and Ty Segall. Melton's songs just sound more world weary and experienced, there's still a youthful exuberance, but it's a bit tarnished, a little gritty and grimy, and it just suits the sound and the songs.
Still Misunderstood collects early tracks and demos from Melton that predate both Bare Wires and Snake Flower 2, and while it seems even back then his songwriting was fully formed, it is still developing in some ways, the influences of early rock and roll is way more obvious, the Kinks, the Who, the Flamin' Groovies, sixties and seventies garage pop, big choruses, clean jangly strum, tambourine, simple pounding drums, swirling wah guitar, a little psychedelic, a little lo-fi, but awesomely propulsive and fuzzy and rocking. At times it almost sounds like some obscure lost gem from the late sixties or early, some out-of-nowhere reissue of some band from the Midwest's only (unreleased) record, which only reinforces the timelessness of these tracks, and reaffirms Melton's position as one of our current favorite songwriters. Dig it!

MELTZER, RICHARD, ROBERT POLLARD, SMEGMA, ANTLER & VOM Completed Soundtrack For the Tropic of Nipples (Off Records) cd 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
OK pay attention because this is confusing. The first twelve tracks on this disc are the first time on cd (the vinyl is out of print) of the soundtrack to the film Tropic of Nipples. Participants include noted rockcrit / Blue Oyster Cult lyricist Richard Meltzer, Guided By Voices head honcho Bob Pollard, the legendary-since-the-'70s noise outfit Smegma, and something/one called Antler.
In various permutations these folks cobbled together a soundtrack that's equal parts GBV-style fractured pop and totally annoying declamatory utterances (like the Nihilist Spasm is also wont to do) over a bed of random noise.
*However*, this cd also issues some material never before available, notably six tracks of Meltzer's punk band Vom, who were SO GREAT! Releasing one record in '78, they played an absolutely rippin' Voidoids-Richard-Hell-style, fiery three chord punk. So great, boy are these guys due for a proper reissue. (Maybe Peter Buck will do it, he's reportedly their #1 fan.) Other extras include a song Pollard wrote with the late Jim Shepard.
Worth the price of the disc if you like the three VOM samples below. If you're not into those, I can't strongly recommend the rest of the material here.
RealAudio clip: "Electricute Your Cock"
RealAudio clip: "Too Animalistic"
RealAudio clip: "I'm in Love with Your Mom"

MELVINS 26 Songs (Ipecac) cd 17.98
Twenty-six songs! This used to be a mere ten. Yes, "26 Songs" is an expanded reissue of the out of print "10 Songs". Recorded live to 2-track in 1986 by the line-up of Buzz, Dale, and then-bassist Matt Lukin (who later defected to Mudhoney), this was indeed 10 songs from the mighty Melvins' earliest daze, when their Black Flag / Black Sabbath meld was at its most obvious, potent, raw (and fast, some of the time!). Utterly essential heaviness in other words. Did we say "mere" ten? Not really, since every one of those ten songs is forever embedded in the mind of this Melvins fan. "#2 Pencil" -- so doomy and vile a song. "Snake Appeal" -- the guys rip through what could be an old Corrosion of Conformity thrasher. "At A Crawl" -- well, that's the Melvins right there. Etc., etc. And, like Ipecac's reissue of another early Melvins classic, "Gluey Porch Treatments", there's a bunch of garage demos and alternate takes added on to make Melvins fans salivate, as you can compare multiple, grungier, faster takes on "10 Songs" songs (and some other tunes you'll recognize). The disc winds up with the drug-addled ramblings of their old pal "Hugh" as an added bonus (which means that this disc, despite the title, really features "only" 25 actual songs). It's just too bad the new cover design for this new version is so computer-done and busy and typical of recent Melvins packaging (forget the flowers, guys!). We much prefer the stylish simplicity of its earlier incarnation(s). But, the extra tracks certainly make up for our aesthetic quibbles about the graphic design!
MPEG Stream: "Easy As It Was"
MPEG Stream: "Grinding Process"
MPEG Stream: "Grinding Process [demo #2]"

MELVINS A Senile Animal (Ipecac) cd 17.98
Hard to believe the Melvins are still around. And that they STILL don't suck. After like, what... 200 albums? Equally hard to believe that they have somehow morphed from one of the most difficult and gloriously difficult bands to ever sign to a major label (outside of the Butthole Surfers) into purveyors of super kick ass, head banging stoner Stooges stomp rock. But hell, we're not complaining...
And who cares if this is release #1 or #201. Or how many bassists they've pile up in their "morgue" (like Spinal Tap was with drummers), it still packs a mighty wallop, and gives us just what we've come to love and adore and expect from the Melvins, almost too much so, but more on that in a minute.
A Senile Animal is the first "true" Melvins album since 2004's Pigs of the Roman Empire teamup with infrasound specialist Lustmord, and sees the Melvins circa 2006, aka Buzz & Dale, join forces with the equally chaotic duo of Jared & Cody, otherwise known as Big Business (Jared also ex-Karp).
Together as the (new) Melvins they are bigger and badder than ever. With the power of THREE vocalists, TWO bass players, and most excitingly, a DOUBLE DRUM attack, a sort of hybrid drum kit manned by two different drummers!!
We haven't seen it yet, and heard they share cymbals or hit some of the same drums, or maybe hold hands while rocking out, but however they get it done, it WORKS. BIG TIME!
This record will definitely hit the spot for those of you craving more of that heavy / catchy sludge pop, found on past Melvins classics like Houdini or Stoner Witch. In fact, a lot of A Senile Animal sounds like it was just plucked from those very same sessions. Not a bad thing mind you. It's just that some of us, especially after the gorgeous fucked up heavy weirdness of Pigs of the Roman Empire, imagined that the Melvins might have been headed down a much more twisted and fucked up musical path. And while that is not necessarily the case, we're not too disappointed. In fact this disc's got most of us too busy rocking out and banging our heads and air guitaring and flailing wildly about to even notice.
And we sure as heck can't wait to see the crazy drum kit thing everyones talking about, and to have our asses thoroughly kicked by the NEW Melvins, not so much a quintet as much as a POWER-POWER trio! Fuck yeah.
MPEG Stream: "Blood Witch"
MPEG Stream: "Civilized Worm"
MPEG Stream: "The Hawk"

MELVINS Bullhead (Boner) cd 13.98

MELVINS Chicken Switch (Ipecac) cd 16.98
Ah, the mighty Melvins, we've been into 'em for longer than we care to admit (put it this way, some of you reading this weren't yet born when we were first freaking out over the absurd heaviness of Ozma). They can do no wrong, or when they do "wrong" it's 'cause they meant to (i.e. Prick). Fans know that the Melvins don't need any help from anybody when it comes to making fucked up sounds. Pretty much every album of theirs has got at least totally WTF? track on it. They even have a few ENTIRE albums that confusionally consist of nothing but, such as the aforementioned Prick. So, imagine if the Melvins DID get some help, or rather, don't imagine, listen to this new all-remix album and hear for yourself! That's right, what could be cooler than the Melvins? How 'bout the Melvins screwed and chopped (if only! they should have gotten Swishahouse involved) by a bunch of other extreme/avant music mavens? Check it out: Eye Yamatsuka, Christoph Heemann, V/VM, John Duncan, Matmos, Lee Ranaldo, Merzbow, David Scott Stone, Panacea, Sunroof!, Kawabata Makoto, farmersmanual, Void Manes, RLW, and $peedranch! Dunno who Void Manes is (sounds black metal) but the rest of 'em are well known experimental/electronic/noise artists you're probably all familiar with. Not sure if the Melvins themselves picked 'em, or Ipecac did, but it's an impressive roster, just the folks to remix the Melvins catalog in gonzo, Plunderphonics fashion. No, these aren't "normal" remixes. Rather than having just a single song to play with, the participants were apparently asked to take a whole Melvins album and turn it into their "own" track.
Maybe you're wondering, is this noisy? Yes. Starts off that way certainly with Eye from the Boredoms' "Washmachine Sk8tronics". Endlessly chugging guitar riffage, gobs of distortion and shrill garbled electronics. Good grief, by the time you get to the end, which brings in the sounds of skateboards, it's hard to imagine who among the other remixers could top this, or how. Cleverly, the next track takes a totally different tack, Christoph Heemann's quietly droning "Emperor Twaddle Remix" being an abstract and (mostly) lovely respite from the noisy shenanigans that start up again on the very next cut, V/VM's "She Chokes Her Dying Breath & Does It In My Face", which proves that anything current noiseniks like Wolf Eyes and Shit & Shine ever did, the Melvins did it first, provided you listen to 'em with the assistance of V/VM. This sounds more like Merzbow than the latter track remixed by Merzbow himself, whose contribution to this disc is equally distortodelic but perhaps more rhythmic.
That brings us to track 4, the aforementioned John Duncan mix, which for the first time on this disc sounds like could actually be something from an actual Melvins album. With a heavy percussive onslaught and droning guitar, it's like an extended intro to a real Melvins song, but then when you think the rock is gonna kick in, instead you get low-end heartbeat pulsations and high-end electronic sizzle. Again, whomever programmed this disc did a fine job, 'cause that segues quite nicely into the clicks and cuts techno makeover that the Matmos boys do for the Melvins on "Linkshander". Heck we all might like techno better if it ALWAYS had the ominous doom-drone thing going on in the background, and spacey sci-fi effects, that this track does.
Lee Ranaldo's "Eggnog Trilogy" starts off with the first easily recognizable Melvins material on here so far, including even snippets of Buzz's vocals. This takes over from Duncan's cut as the track that sounds the most like it could be the Melvins themselves, but at the same time clearly isn't entirely. And, gosh, there's plenty more highlights, we'll not describe them all, except to say that Panacea's "electroclash" remix indeed sounds like that (rad!), and Sunroof! succeed in transmuting the Melvins into something that sounds more like their own hazy shining dronemusick, lovely.
Most of the remixers delve into the realm of digital glitch and out-and-out noise, with a small minority opting instead for calm and quiet. Tape speed manipulation, pitch shifting, extreme distortion, sudden edits, that's mostly the modus operandi here and the Melvins can take it, somehow keeping their unique musical persona intact. Though it will be challenging, trainspotting Melvins fanatics can have good fun trying to figure out what songs and/or albums each track is plundering.
Lastly, we can't review this without mentioning that a good friend of ours first heard the John Duncan remix while riding in a Lamborghini speeding through the Italian Alps -with- John Duncan. How cool and/or strange is that? While you might not be listening to this in a luxury sports car, more likely in your own home, we're sure you'll get a big kick out of it too, along with all the other remixes...
MPEG Stream: "Washmachine Sk8tronics (Remixed By Eye Yamatsuka)"
MPEG Stream: "Linkshander (Remixed By Matmos)"
MPEG Stream: "EggNog Trilogy: I) She's Ivanhoe, II) Cancer, III) Inebriated (Remixed By Lee Ranaldo)"

MELVINS Colossus of Destiny (Ipecac) cd 17.98
The Melvins, an often great band who are nothing if not self-indulgent, release this supposedly live cd on Mike Patton's Ipecac label. It's basically just one hour long track (with a split-second feedback coda occupying track two), being mainly a noisescape of rambling electronics, outer-space swooshes and porn moans, rather than a set of the heavy duty metallic Melvins rock n roll classics that you might have been hoping for...well, wait, almost all the way at the end (after 45 minutes or so) Dale's drums start pounding and the noises made become more recognizably guitar and bass generated, and then they (with Buzz's distorted vocals entering the mix) launch into something off of "Ozma" (I think, sorry, I'm a bit disoriented) before coming to an abrupt finish. Devastating. So, it's no "Your Choice Live" but is definitely something for those into dark experimental electronics and out-rock noise, Melvins fan or not. If they really performed this in front of a paying, live audience then I'm *really* impressed.

MELVINS Crybaby (Ipecac) cd 17.98
At last it's here: the third in the trilogy (preceded by 'quiet album' "Bootlicker" and uh, 'Melvins-y album' "The Maggot") of Melvins records over the past year. An unholy trinity to be sure! This is obviously the 'wacky' record of the bunch, with the quotient of cover songs and guest stars at an all-time high. To name names: Leif Garrett (singing "Smells Like Teen Spirit" god help us), label boss Mike Patton, David "Jesus Lizard" Yow, Jim "Foetus" Thirwell, Bliss "Pain Teens" Blood, Kevin "Brutal Truth" Sharpe, and folks from Tool and Helmet, among others. Damn. Whoops, forgot Hank Williams III. He's on here too. Jesus. Is it good? Well, we haven't actually heard it yet. We're scared. But I think we've already provided enough information for any rational music consumer to make their purchasing decision. ...No, okay, let's put it on...hmmm...yep, it's fucked. It seems like the Melvins are asking the musical question, "Why, why, why?!". The liner notes try but fail to explain the inexplicable, although they do reveal that Beck was also considered for a collaborative role on this album--but fortunately for us, Leif Garrett's management was easier to deal with!

MELVINS Eggnog (Boner Records) cd ep 11.98

MELVINS Electroretard (Man's Ruin) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The Melvins court controversy with the title and Kozik artwork (fluffy Hitler bunny, anyone?) of this new release. Dunno if anyone will care, what people really should care about is that it's a pretty good record, albeit a kind of "odds and ends" collection rather than a real "new" album: the disc is composed mainly of covers and reworked versions (new and improved! it says here) of older Melvins songs. So it's in keeping with the past two Melvins releases, their covers-intensive "The Crybaby" project and the reissue of their early classic "Gluey Porch Treatments" (the title track of which gets redone here, in fact). The covers, done without any guest help unlike the star-studded (ahem) "Crybaby" album, number three: a fantastic version of "Voice Of America" by The Wipers, a cover of "Missing" by Melvins bass player Kevin Rutmanis' old band The Cows, and an appropriately spacey take on Pink Floyd's "Interstellar Overdrive". Meanwhile, the versions of the Melvin's own songs, while not absolute improvements on the originals, are interesting and worthy. Chalk another one up for the Melvins comeback that started with "The Maggot" and "The Bootlicker".

MELVINS Everybody Loves Sausages (Ipecac) cd 15.98
Fact: the Melvins are one of the best bands ever, and continue to be one of the best bands ever.
Fact: the Melvins are always awesome when it comes to doing covers (their version of "Candy-O" by The Cars from Ozma being our favorite, closely followed by their version of KISS's "Going Blind" from Houdini), usually "making them their own" 100 percent.
Fact: they've just released a disc that's all covers, with some guest vocalists, and the song selection is quite eclectic to say the least, occasionally obscure too, including one that maybe only folks from San Francisco will freak out over - they do a song by the Pop-O-Pies!!! Cool.
Our only complaint about this, really, is that with the presence of the guest vocalists, some of the covers, while totally spot-on or otherwise interesting & well-done, maybe don't sound as much like the Melvins as we'd like - if Buzz woulda sung 'em all, we'd be even happier. But it's a quibble.
So, what more do you need to know? Well, the dang tracklist, perhaps. Here it is:
1. "Warhead" by Venom, featuring Scott Kelly of Neurosis
2. "Best Friend" by Queen, featuring Caleb Benjamin of Tweak Bird
3. "Black Betty" not by but as performed by Ram Jam
4. "Set It On Fire" by the The Scientists, featuring Mark Arm of Mudhoney
5. "Station To Station" by David Bowie, featuring J.G. Thirlwell of Foetus
6. "Attitude" by The Kinks, featuring Clem Burke from Blondie
7. "Female Trouble" by Divine
8. "Carpe Diem" by The Fuggs
9. "Timothy Leary Lives" by the Pop-O-Pies
10. "In Every Dream Home A Heartache" by Roxy Music, featuring both Jello Biafra and Kevin Rutmanis (formerly of both the Cows and the Melvins)
11. "Romance" by Tales of Terror
12. "Art School" by The Jam, featuring Tom Hazelmeyer of Halo Of Flies
13. "Heathen Earth" by Throbbing Gristle
Wow, quite a diverse & cool selection, eh? If you're a Melvins fan, you probably want this (unless, perhaps, you hated The Crybaby, which also featured a lot of unlikely covers/collaborations). 'Cause after all, heck, everybody does love sausages!
MPEG Stream: "Warhead"
MPEG Stream: "Station To Station"
MPEG Stream: "Female Trouble"

MELVINS Gluey Porch Treatments (Ipecac) cd 17.98
Mike Patton re-issues his Melvin buddies' awesome "Gluey Porch Treatments" album from 1986 and for this we are thankful -- it's nice to have a cd of this godly album all on its own, instead of merely appended to the "Ozma" cd (even though that version is still available for those who want to make their Melvins dollar go further--however, as added value incentive, this stand-alone "Gluey" includes the previously unreleased "garage demos" of the entire album!...thus making it an essential purchase for true Melvins fans even if you already have the "Ozma" cd!). Now, the Melvins have made a lot of records, some better than others, but let me tell you that this is one of the best. Heck, if they'd only made this one record they'd still be one of my all-time favorite bands, it's that good. This is the one that, prior to masterpieces like "Ozma", "Bullhead" and "Lysol", really established their unique Black Flag-meets-Black Sabbath heavier than thou sound.

MELVINS Hostile Ambient Takeover (Ipecac) cd 17.98
My god these boys are prolific! Last week a live album with Fantomas, now a new not-at-all-"ambient"-despite-the-title studio full-length. And the past 3 or 4 years have seen just as many Melvins releases. If after 1999's disparate trilogy of The Bootlicker, Crybaby, and The Maggot you don't know what to expect then I can tell you this is more in the vein of the relatively straight-ahead "classic Melvins" sound of The Maggot, yet a bit more subdued. Maybe this album starts off a bit too wacky, but it quickly returns to the dirgey sounds of the (old) Melvins we know and love. Heavy drums and driving guitar with a good dose of fucked up shit, like cow sounds and the like.
RealAudio clip: "Black Stooges"
RealAudio clip: "Untitled"
RealAudio clip: "Little Judas Chonge"

MELVINS Houdini (Atlantic) cd 10.98
Huh? We've never reviewed this classic Melvins album, their 1993 major label debut on Atlantic Records, though we did review the live version of this album they released on Ipecac much later, in 2005. Time to rectify the situation!
Houdini destroyed any doubts anyone could have had about the Melvins "selling out", it was pure Melvins through and through, tracks like "Night Goat" and "Hag Me" were just as fierce and devastating as anything they'd done up to then, "Hooch" and "Lizzy" as heavy and rockin', and the likes of "Sky Pup" and "Pearl Bomb" utterly as eerie and puzzling and weird...
How the heck did the freakin' Melvins get signed to a major? One word: Nirvana. And it was a more direct connection than just another "grungy" indie band getting swept up in the major label alt-rock signing hysteria of the era, as the Melvins and Kurt Cobain were old punk rock pals from their Aberdeen, Washington days. And indeed Cobain appears as a guest on a couple of the tracks here, including the finale, "Spread Eagle Beagle", a song in the glorious Melvins tradition of truly WTF? album-closing tracks, over ten minutes of echoing abstract percussion.
Oh, and this album features their harrowing, heavier than thou cover of "Going Blind" by KISS, which even moreso than some other songs they've covered, sounds like it was written FOR the Melvins.
Maybe the reason we never reviewed this before (besides the fact this album's release predated us doing "the list" anyway) is that we had to figure that any/all Melvins fans must already have this. But if by chance you don't, good grief, get it! And if you're NOT a Melvins fan, but would like to be, here's a great one to start in on.
MPEG Stream: "Night Goat"
MPEG Stream: "Lizzy"
MPEG Stream: "Hag Me"

MELVINS Houdini Live 2005 - A Live History Of Gluttony And Lust (Ipecac) cd 17.98
It's kind of a dinosaur move, isn't it, releasing a live version of one of your classic albums later in your career? Didn't B.O.C. or Journey or somebody pull that one recently? But of course, this is the Melvins, the lords of surreal sludge grunge weirdness, who've ruled for years and shall never stop ruling. Which means they can do whatever the heck they want to do. So a live album devoted entirely to songs from their 1993 major label debut Houdini (a fan fave, if you ask this fan), recorded last year with Trevor Dunn (Fantomas/Mr. Bungle) on bass, why the heck not? And it delivers the Houdini live experience quite nicely, changing up some things a bit (song lengths, tempos, arrangements, track sequence) but not much really. "Night Goat" is even dirgier, "Going Blind" still the heaviest Kiss cover ever, and "Spread Eagle Beagle" remains a mindbending finale, undergoing further electronic mutations this time around. Overall though, these versions are nothing too radical, just a visit by Melvins circa 2005 to the material of Melvins circa 1993. It is a nice way to get reacquainted with an old fave. Guaranteed after hearing this you'll want to pull out Houdini and take it for a spin again too, feeling all fresh and new (or pick it up for the first time if you have never heard it before!!). So fans will want to check this out for sure, but we're of course more excited to hear whatever's upcoming from the even newer Melvins lineup featuring the two dudes from Big Business...
MPEG Stream: "Hooch"
MPEG Stream: "Honey Bucket"

MELVINS Live At The F*ucker Club, Australia (Amphetamine Reptile) cd 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Seven-track live disc from these hard-workin' rock madmen. Includes renditions of earlier faves like "Boris" and "It's Shoved" as well as more recent material.

MELVINS Mangled Demos From 1983 (Ipecac) cd 14.98
The words "Footloose and fancy-free and out of school" come from your speakers, beginning the disc and thusly, we embark on the career of that "juggernaut of pummel" known as the Melvins.
Here is a collection of "never heard before" (demo, live, rehearsal) recordings dating back to 1983! Remember 1983? I do...ugh! Anyways, a "pre-Dale Crover" line-up (which includes a young punk-ass named Matt Lukin on bass, you might also know him from another little band, Mudhoney?) bashes and thrashes it out with songs and tone reminiscent of Flipper / Bad Brains / Fang / Poison Idea / Black Flag -- this is NOT to say they sound like they are emulating the aforementioned legends, we're just saying that the Melvins, at such a tender age and still without the "other greatest drummer" Dale Crover, pretty much came into this world screaming and wailing. Buzz Osborne definitely is / was / is blessed / cursed as a "5-string motherfucker". Word. The liner notes by Buzz go on about how they were hacks at the time, but LEGIONS (after listening to this) will attest to "the power of the riff" that a (pre) King Buzzo packed at the age of 20 somewhere in Shithole City, WA (or maybe it was the town next to it?). This release is packed with all the fury and "pent-up-ness" that only comes from growing up on the outside of "cool" or "rich". (Well, it speaks to me, anyways...) There are songs on here that show up shortly after -- and many years later -- down that ugly road of "former bass players"...
It's refreshing to hear (punk) rock like this right now. There are even funny moments of (drunken?) banter on here that will make you laugh and think back and reminisce (or not) on your own "destruction ride" through your late teens/early twenties, etc. The actual sound on this thing is incredibly solid too, for something from the "golden age of hardcore".
A must own, if you will. But you already knew that, didn't you?
MPEG Stream: "The Real You"
MPEG Stream: "Bibulous Confabulation (during rehearsal)"

MELVINS Mangled Demos From 1983 (Alternative Tentacles) 2x10" 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
NOW ON VINYL!! Double 10" at that!
The words "Footloose and fancy-free and out of school" come from your speakers, beginning the disc and thusly, we embark on the career of that "juggernaut of pummel" known as the Melvins.
Here is a collection of "never heard before" (demo, live, rehearsal) recordings dating back to 1983! Remember 1983? I do...ugh! Anyways, a "pre-Dale Crover" line-up (which includes a young punk-ass named Matt Lukin on bass, you might also know him from another little band, Mudhoney?) bashes and thrashes it out with songs and tone reminiscent of Flipper / Bad Brains / Fang / Poison Idea / Black Flag -- this is NOT to say they sound like they are emulating the aforementioned legends, we're just saying that the Melvins, at such a tender age and still without the "other greatest drummer" Dale Crover, pretty much came into this world screaming and wailing. Buzz Osborne definitely is / was / is blessed / cursed as a "5-string motherfucker". Word. The liner notes by Buzz go on about how they were hacks at the time, but LEGIONS (after listening to this) will attest to "the power of the riff" that a (pre) King Buzzo packed at the age of 20 somewhere in Shithole City, WA (or maybe it was the town next to it?). This release is packed with all the fury and "pent-up-ness" that only comes from growing up on the outside of "cool" or "rich". (Well, it speaks to me, anyways...) There are songs on here that show up shortly after -- and many years later -- down that ugly road of "former bass players"...
It's refreshing to hear (punk) rock like this right now. There are even funny moments of (drunken?) banter on here that will make you laugh and think back and reminisce (or not) on your own "destruction ride" through your late teens/early twenties, etc. The actual sound on this thing is incredibly solid too, for something from the "golden age of hardcore".
A must own, if you will. But you already knew that, didn't you?
MPEG Stream: "The Real You"
MPEG Stream: "Bibulous Confabulation (during rehearsal)"

MELVINS Neither Here Nor There (Ipecac) book + cd 35.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Won't go into too much detail here, since if you're not already a bit obsessed with the Melvins, you're probably not gonna need a 200 page book about em. But thos of you who ARE into the Melvins. WAY into the Melvins will definitely need this. Over two hundred pages of artwork, photos, tour diaries, discographies, interviews, stories, inserts, ALL the artwork from all their releases and more. Also includes a greatest hits cd. Odds are you have most of it, but there are a few surprises. Definitely super cool and gorgeously laid out. And of course, limited!

MELVINS Nude With Boots (Ipecac) cd 16.98
Y'know, the Melvins have been one of our favorite bands for so long we practically take 'em for granted. But when a new album comes out, it's still pretty exciting. Almost like it must have been in the '60s when, like, a new Beatles LP would be released, that's what it's like for us and the Melvins... except heck the Melvins have been around now for, like, 100x as long as the Beatles' whole career lasted.
So, yes, yah, yay, it's a new Melvins! Again on Ipecac, which means it's yet another Melvins cd with the front cover on the back and the tracklist on the front. You think they'd be over that by now, but the Melvins are all about being quirky now aren't they? Well, being quirky and HEAVY. And we're pleased to report that Nude With Boots is plenty heavy! As expected, though with the Melvins you also have to expect the unexpected too. But from the get go, Nude With Boots hammers it down, maybe a bit more uptempo rockin' than typical, lead-off track "The Kicking Machine" being just that, ass kicking that is, a hooky slab of classic rockin' riffola. Replete with chunky guitars, catchy vocal choruses, and splattering percussion to spare. The next track up, "Billy Fish" is another big, bangin' number. And then when track three, "Dog Island" hits, though, it's CRUSHING. And you realize that the album's only getting started. That song's 7 and a half minutes of herky-jerky slo-mo heaviness, creeped out and melodically fist-waving too. Yep, this is shaping up to be a quite satisfying Melvins experience, one that so far stacks up with the likes of Houdini. No kidding.
How do they do it? The Melvins have such an *authoritative* sound. Heavier than thou for sure. Distinctively untouchable. It's like they have access to better stuff than anyone. Stuff? Dunno, gear, drugs, organic vegetables, whatever it is that makes them sound like they do, the Melvins are in a league unto themselves.
One not so secret weapon: Buzz's always amazing, melodic yet gritty vocals, which we realize sound like Gene Simmons crossed with Ozzy Osbourne. And, as well, his usual cryptic, imagistic lyrics.
Furthermore, there's simply so much geetar badassitude on this album, Buzz blasting riffs and sweet licks all over the place, and of course Dale's drum fills are sweet (and punishing) too. We defy you to try to listen to this album and not a) air-guitar b) air-drum or c) at the very least, headbang. Maybe even sing along! If you can figure out the words that is.
Of course, along with the rippin' rock, this also has its copious share of abstractly wacked weirdness, ambient interludes like the 1:05 "Flush" ferinstance. Or the atmospheric moody SUNNO))) styled murk of the cleverly titled "Dies Iraea". Or the bizarre bludgeon n' scrape of "The Savage Hippy" and the even more out there "It Tastes Better Than the Truth", a twofer in the extreme tradition of Melvins album-enders, the latter practically sounding like a chaotic Khanate on a ketamine bender. Or Wildildlife...
So, sometimes it almost sounds like this is a uber-produced Ozzy or Alice Cooper album from the '80s or '90s that's been taken over by the real inmates of one of the padded cell insane asylums that those two cartoon characters always were checking into/outof (on the album covers anyway, rehabs in real life), hard rock pop that's been utterly warped and weirded out...
Maybe it's just as well that Melvins never got as huge as pals Nirvana during the Grunge years. They had a major label dalliance, yes, but survived it, and are still with us to crank out what's simply the classic rock of our generation (with a heavy dose of weirdness). Nude With Boots makes you remember, oh yeah, ROCK MUSIC. We love rock music. Damn, it's good. We've been really into the rejuvenated Harvey Milk lately, a Melvinsy band for sure, but you've gotta give it up to the originals, the one and only Melvins. All hail.
MPEG Stream: "The Kicking Machine"
MPEG Stream: "Dog Island"
MPEG Stream: "The Savage Hippy"

MELVINS Nude With Boots (Ipecac) lp 17.98
Now, at last, on (gatefold sleeved) vinyl!!! Here's what we wrote before about the cd release last year:
Y'know, the Melvins have been one of our favorite bands for so long we practically take 'em for granted. But when a new album comes out, it's still pretty exciting. Almost like it must have been in the '60s when, like, a new Beatles LP would be released, that's what it's like for us and the Melvins... except heck the Melvins have been around now for, like, 100x as long as the Beatles' whole career lasted.
So, yes, yah, yay, it's a new Melvins! Again on Ipecac, which means it's yet another Melvins cd with the front cover on the back and the tracklist on the front. You think they'd be over that by now, but the Melvins are all about being quirky now aren't they? Well, being quirky and HEAVY. And we're pleased to report that Nude With Boots is plenty heavy! As expected, though with the Melvins you also have to expect the unexpected too. But from the get go, Nude With Boots hammers it down, maybe a bit more uptempo rockin' than typical, lead-off track "The Kicking Machine" being just that, ass kicking that is, a hooky slab of classic rockin' riffola. Replete with chunky guitars, catchy vocal choruses, and splattering percussion to spare. The next track up, "Billy Fish" is another big, bangin' number. And then when track three, "Dog Island" hits, though, it's CRUSHING. And you realize that the album's only getting started. That song's 7 and a half minutes of herky-jerky slo-mo heaviness, creeped out and melodically fist-waving too. Yep, this is shaping up to be a quite satisfying Melvins experience, one that so far stacks up with the likes of Houdini. No kidding.
How do they do it? The Melvins have such an *authoritative* sound. Heavier than thou for sure. Distinctively untouchable. It's like they have access to better stuff than anyone. Stuff? Dunno, gear, drugs, organic vegetables, whatever it is that makes them sound like they do, the Melvins are in a league unto themselves.
One not so secret weapon: Buzz's always amazing, melodic yet gritty vocals, which we realize sound like Gene Simmons crossed with Ozzy Osbourne. And, as well, his usual cryptic, imagistic lyrics.
Furthermore, there's simply so much geetar badassitude on this album, Buzz blasting riffs and sweet licks all over the place, and of course Dale's drum fills are sweet (and punishing) too. We defy you to try to listen to this album and not a) air-guitar b) air-drum or c) at the very least, headbang. Maybe even sing along! If you can figure out the words that is.
Of course, along with the rippin' rock, this also has its copious share of abstractly wacked weirdness, ambient interludes like the 1:05 "Flush" ferinstance. Or the atmospheric moody SUNNO))) styled murk of the cleverly titled "Dies Iraea". Or the bizarre bludgeon n' scrape of "The Savage Hippy" and the even more out there "It Tastes Better Than the Truth", a twofer in the extreme tradition of Melvins album-enders, the latter practically sounding like a chaotic Khanate on a ketamine bender. Or Wildildlife...
So, sometimes it almost sounds like this is a uber-produced Ozzy or Alice Cooper album from the '80s or '90s that's been taken over by the real inmates of one of the padded cell insane asylums that those two cartoon characters always were checking into/outof (on the album covers anyway, rehabs in real life), hard rock pop that's been utterly warped and weirded out...
Maybe it's just as well that Melvins never got as huge as pals Nirvana during the Grunge years. They had a major label dalliance, yes, but survived it, and are still with us to crank out what's simply the classic rock of our generation (with a heavy dose of weirdness). Nude With Boots makes you remember, oh yeah, ROCK MUSIC. We love rock music. Damn, it's good. We've been really into the rejuvenated Harvey Milk lately, a Melvinsy band for sure, but you've gotta give it up to the originals, the one and only Melvins. All hail.
MPEG Stream: "The Kicking Machine"
MPEG Stream: "Dog Island"
MPEG Stream: "The Savage Hippy"

MELVINS Ozma (Boner) cd 13.98

MELVINS Revolve (Summer Version) b/w With Teeth - Live (Poof!) 7" 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Got a handful of these not-so-cheap new Melvins singles, not sure what the occasion is for this release is but we know anyone named Kevin Willis might not be so happy about the cover photo.

MELVINS s/t (From The Nursery) 12" 22.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Just got this in TODAY, no time to really "review" it, no need to either, as we only got a handful and it's limited edition vinyl from the MELVINS after all. Here's the facts: "A limited edition three-track 12-inch EP from MELVINS featuring a long version of "Dies Iraea" and a remix of "It Tastes Better Than The Truth" on the A-side, and a 9-minute version of The Wipers' "Youth of America" on the flip. None of these tracks have appeared on vinyl prior. Limited to 2,000 copies (with 1,500 for distribution) pressed on silver/gray vinyl, with artwork by Steven Parrino".