MORNING BENDERS, THE Big Echo (Rough Trade) lp 13.98
Watch out Girls (the band!) cause there's another sweet sounding Bay Area pop band we think could be the next big 'breakout' Bay Area band. Well, except for the fact that they've moved away to Brooklyn or someplace already. With Big Echo, their Rough Trade debut, The Morning Benders have created a sweeping and sensational indie pop record that brings to mind a more driving, sunshiney Grizzly Bear, The Shins at their most effervescent, and Death Cab For Cutie at their most triumphant. While there has been no shortage of bands drawing from similar influences, there is something so warm and sincere about The Morning Benders' sound. The songs never feel forced and resonate with an authentic heartfelt quality. The album brimming with totally catchy hooks, the kind that should be blasting all over commercial radio in a perfect world. If (like us) you love exquisite indie pop that stays in your head and just begs to find its way on to a mix tape for your secret crush, you can't do much better than The Morning Benders!
MPEG Stream: "Excuses"
MPEG Stream: "Pleasure Sighs"
MPEG Stream: "All Day Daylight"

MORNING RECORDINGS Music For Places (Better Looking / Loose Thread) cd 8.98
A few months ago our ears were treated to the newest record from Morning Recordings, The Welcome Kinetic. While it was our first time hearing from this Chicago based project led by Pramod Tummala, it felt like hearing from an old dear friend who you turn to when you need lots of warmth and woozy comfort. Needless to say we've grown so much in love with that record, that we decided we definitely wanted to check out their earlier release, since somehow we missed out the first time around.
Music For Places is another gem of delicately crafted and richly layered mellow and drifty pop that's perfect for daydreams and those mornings when you barely wanna do anything except roll around in your pajamas and sip some delicious tea.
Tummala uses everything from harmonium, vibraphone, optigan, guitar, piano, Hammond organ and his narcotic and soothing voice to create a record that so gently lifts you up and makes you float ever so slightly on cool summer breezes, but with a musical core to the songs that warms you up at the same time. With a bunch of his talented friends from the Chicago scene lending a hand (Fred Lonberg-Holm, Barry Phipps, Jon Hensley, etc.) Music For Places has that same richness and soft touch that reminds us of Yo La Tengo's And Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out, Red Stars Theory's swan song Life In A Bubble Can Be Beautiful and Bedhead's Transaction de Novo. All beautiful albums, and we can now add Music For Places to that illustrious list. Highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Airports"
MPEG Stream: "Lake Part 2"
MPEG Stream: "Summer Tapes"

MORNING RECORDINGS The Welcome Kinetic (Loose Thread) cd 12.98
Dreamy. Drowsy. Droney. Dulcet. Aww shucks, we have to admit we're a sucker for anything with hammered dulcimer and vibes. Aren't you!? Those round warm tones just feel so right! But this Chicago band's second album has a lot more goin' on with that our ears are snuggling up close to.
They're distinctly 'Chicago' sounding (the city not the band). We knew as soon as we heard a few bars that they were from the Windy City. In fact, fans of gentle jazzy pop with chops breezers Sea And Cake and Archer Prewitt, take note! This might be your new favorite too! Seemingly equally inspired by '70s soft rock (think: 10CC, Bread, Burt Bacharach), '60s exotica (a la Les Baxter, Martin Denny), '90s slowcore (y'know, Low, Ida, Yo La Tengo's Georgia Hubley)... yeah, all the good stuff! Hushed, intimate and sweet, Morning Recordings make it seem like they're playing their music just for you. Have you guessed yet that we're pretty smitten with this album? Well, they push our newfound luv over the top when they let it be known that their roster includes Barry Phipps (of The Coctails) and guest singer Edith Frost -- both longtime aQ faves. We could continue gushing, but let's just say, "Wow, what a dreamboat!" So very very recommended!
MPEG Stream: "In Twilight"
MPEG Stream: "Songs From A Hotel Bar"

MORNING SPY Subsequent Light (self-released) cd 9.98
Here's the debut album from this SF sweet sunny group. The male and female lead singers take turns charming the listener with their very dissimilar singing styles. It actually sounds like two completely different bands. The male sung songs sound a lot like Destroyer or Mountain Goats. Very folky and wistful. In sharp contrast, the female sung tunes are much more toothsome 'n' perky. Very much like K Records' Pacific Northwest-y lo-fi pop. It'll be interesting to see on future recordings if either one ends up becoming the dominant sound of the band or if they continue to keep things as markedly split personality.
MPEG Stream: "I Am The Time"
MPEG Stream: "Hey Kirsten"

MORNING SPY The Silver Age (Keep) cd 9.98
If you recall Morning Spy's debut cd Subsequent Light from 2004, you may remember this SF band having something of a split personality (with each side defined mostly by boy versus girl vocals and folksy versus pop styles)... and they still do, although as we predicted, they're leaning more heavily to one side these days (psst, it's the boy-sung side). For those who're unfamiliar with this bright'n'breezy band, here's the lowdown: when the fella sings (on songs such as "Ask Us To Dance"), Morning Spy sound totally like a fine hybrid of Luna and Destroyer (albeit minus Dan Bejar's tweaked lyrics). When the gal sings it's a much more pastel-hued pop affair a la K Records' International Pop Underground circa 1992. A great sophomore release!
MPEG Stream: "Ask Us To Dance"
MPEG Stream: "Voices And Vigils"

MORODER, GIORGIO E=MC2 (Oasis) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Soooo wonderfully vacuous! Unabashed rump-shakin' boogie beats, ebullient falsetto vocals... what more do you want from disco king Mr. Moroder? This is the re-issue of his 1979 release of completely electronic dance tracks - one of the earliest examples of such music. Co-produced by Harold Faltermeyer. Oh and just so you know, if you got the Best Of compilation that we reviewed a few lists back, some of those cuts are originally from this album 'cuz they are some of his bestest. Contains the original six tracks, plus two bonuses from '78. Just boogie, baby!
RealAudio clip: "Baby Blue"
RealAudio clip: "Love's in You, Love's in Me"

MORPHINE B-Sides And Otherwise (Rykodisc) cd 15.98
Morphine rarities, from soundtracks, singles, live radio shows, Japanese bonus tracks, compilations, all that sort of thing.

MORPHINE Bootleg Detroit (Ryko) cd 17.98
A live Morphine gig from '94, on the "Cure For Pain Tour", captured by a fan in the audience and hence admittedly lo-fi, but band-approved, with some of the proceeds from this release going to the Mark Sandman Music Education Fund, in memory of the late Morphine main-man. Includes two 'enhanced' cd-rom tracks.

MORPHINE Cure For Pain (Modern Classics Recordings / Light In The Attic) lp 24.00

MORPHINE The Night (Dreamworks/Ryko) cd 16.98
Posthumous release by Morphine.

MORRISON, VAN Celebrities At Their Worst 3.1: Van Morrison's Contract Breaking Sessions (M.D.W.C.G.C.G.) cd-r 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Having been released both in excerpt and complete form at various times in the past, the Mad God... label has decided to take a stab as well as part of their Celebrities At Their Worst series. The story goes that Bert Berns, who ran the label "Bang" on which Morrison released his first album, proceeded to release an album from a later session of recordings against Morrison's will. After Bern's passed away from a heart attack in 1967 his widow offered to release Morrison from his contractual obligations providing he record one more album for the label and give Bang Records the publishing rights. Rather than give them Astral Weeks, he slapped together 31 tracks of tomfoolery, many of which poke fun at Berns and his musical tastes.
RealAudio clip: "The Big Royalty Check"
RealAudio clip: "Want A Danish"
RealAudio clip: "Dumb Dumb George"

MORRISSEY Morrissey, You Are The Quarry (Attack) cd + dvd 22.00
Four years have passed since his last album Maladjusted, and it's comforting to know that Morrissey still sounds like Morrissey. Ever passionate, slightly poncy and petulant, he's always been the man with a brimming breast pocket full of wry metaphors and razor-sharp insult /compliments both self-deprecatory and directed at other. Grand orchestrations of stormy guitars, strings, flute (!) and keyboards provide the lush backdrop for the unmistakable soar and swoop of his voice. Be forewarned though that hearing the lead-off song might leave you wincing and worrying (as we were) that his bitter-bittersweet heartbreak poetry might be in short supply. Granted when you have a history of writing such stunning clever treasures as "The Boy With A Thorn In His Side" and "Girlfriend In A Coma", you've set the bar to a lofty height. Yet on this first song, Morrissey chose to set aside matters of the heart in favor of very pointed socio-political commentary. Suitably jarring, the very first words uttered are "America, your head's too big" (he also sings "America, they brought you the hamburger"!). The directness of his lyric writing is admirable, when it works it's like a graceful arrow piercing your heart, but what it doesn't, it's like a royal pain in the gullet. That said, fret not! Once he gets "America Is Not The World" off his chest it's back to his trademark imploring melancholia and cheeky cynicisms.
MPEG Stream: "America Is Not The World"
MPEG Stream: "How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel?"

MORRISSEY Ringleaders Of The Tormentors (Attack / Sanctuary) cd 17.98
The follow up to You Are The Quarry, a record that many of us felt was probably the best and most charged album Morrissey had made since The Smiths were still around. At this point you either love the man or loath him, but we all lean way more towards the love. He continues to write such great songs, the perfect phrase, wit intact, heart on sleeve - connecting with that outsider inside all of us. While this isn't quite as great as You Are The Quarry this is still a good record for sure. The strong songs are amongst some of the best in his catalog. His dramatic flare on full flame, he even enlisted Ennio Morricone for arrangements on one track. Recently it was reported he turned down five million dollars to reunite The Smiths. Under his larger than life and iconic persona, Morrissey has proven that he does represent integrity, smart songwriting, and being a ringleader for all of us outcasts and underdogs.
MPEG Stream: "The Youngest Was The Most Loved"
MPEG Stream: "The Father Who Must Be Killed"

MORRISSEY Swords (Polydor) cd 13.98
Something happened to Morrissey when he moved to Los Angeles. It allowed him a new beginning of sorts. For the first time in his career he had dropped out of the limelight, he went almost seven years without releasing a record and for the first time since the beginning of The Smiths he really became a true underdog, and cult figure, gaining a revival of fans who maybe weren't around for the first, Smiths wave of Morrissey mania. When he finally returned with a new record, 2004's You Are The Quarry it really did feel like the triumphant second act to an already dramatic and amazing career. His two records since then have maintained that momentum and Swords collects many of the B-sides and non-album tracks from this era.
Many of us who are Morrissey fanatics had grabbed some of the import 7"s that some of these songs come from, which are arguably as strong as any of his album tracks. There's also tons on tracks, not even the most tenacious fans around here were ever able to get their hands on, and all of it has the urgent punch and full sound that his defined his music over the last few albums, which rank up there with some of his best stuff. So many others who once possessed such golden voices really lose it as they grow older, but it's remarkable how intact and spot on Morrissey's vocal delivery has remained. And his songwriting remains utterly clever, strong minded, emotional, political, self deprecating and moving. We really can't think of any of his peers from those early '80s days who have remained so vital in creating great music all these years later.
MPEG Stream: "It's Hard To Walk Tall When You're Small"
MPEG Stream: "If You Dont Like Me, Dont Look At Me"
MPEG Stream: "Shame Is The Name"

MORRISSEY Swords (Polydor) 2lp 29.00
NOW ON VINYL!!
Something happened to Morrissey when he moved to Los Angeles. It allowed him a new beginning of sorts. For the first time in his career he had dropped out of the limelight, he went almost seven years without releasing a record and for the first time since the beginning of The Smiths he really became a true underdog, and cult figure, gaining a revival of fans who maybe weren't around for the first, Smiths wave of Morrissey mania. When he finally returned with a new record, 2004's You Are The Quarry it really did feel like the triumphant second act to an already dramatic and amazing career. His two records since then have maintained that momentum and Swords collects many of the B-sides and non-album tracks from this era.
Many of us who are Morrissey fanatics had grabbed some of the import 7"s that some of these songs come from, which are arguably as strong as any of his album tracks. There's also tons on tracks, not even the most tenacious fans around here were ever able to get their hands on, and all of it has the urgent punch and full sound that his defined his music over the last few albums, which rank up there with some of his best stuff. So many others who once possessed such golden voices really lose it as they grow older, but it's remarkable how intact and spot on Morrissey's vocal delivery has remained. And his songwriting remains utterly clever, strong minded, emotional, political, self deprecating and moving. We really can't think of any of his peers from those early '80s days who have remained so vital in creating great music all these years later.
MPEG Stream: "It's Hard To Walk Tall When You're Small"
MPEG Stream: "If You Dont Like Me, Dont Look At Me"
MPEG Stream: "Shame Is The Name"

MORRISSEY Years Of Refusal (Lost Highway / Attack) cd 15.98
While so many of his big name '80s peers have either vanished or started churning out sub-par sounds in recent years (The Cure, Depeche Mode, New Order, etc.) Morrissey has kept great quality control and has been aging so so gracefully. Years of Refusal might be his most punchy, rocking and self assured solo outing to date. With his golden voice still so warm and rich and powerful and his brutish band offering some muscular back up, this is a set of songs that rely not only on Morrissey's always clever and dramatic word play but the rockin' music backing it up as well!
His last album Ringleaders Of The Tormentors, though filled with some great songs, tripped up a bit on its over-ambition and pretension. Years Of Refusal gets it all right, with a sound palette very similar to one of his great recent outings You Are The Quarry. These songs bristle with such natural force and those magical melodies that Morrissey has been creating for over twenty-five years now are in full effect. Even folks here at AQ who are far from being devoted Morrissey fanatics have been digging this big time! And those of us who do have that special place in our hearts for Morrissey are finding this to be such an infectious album that only reaffirms that despite what one might think of his persona or mystique, this is truly one of the greatest songwriters and singers of our generation!
MPEG Stream: "Something Is Squeezing My Skull"
MPEG Stream: "All You Need Is Me"
MPEG Stream: "It's Not Your Birthday Anymore"

MORRISSEY Years Of Refusal (Lost Highway / Attack) lp 14.98
Now available on vinyl!
While so many of his big name '80s peers have either vanished or started churning out sub-par sounds in recent years (The Cure, Depeche Mode, New Order, etc.) Morrissey has kept great quality control and has been aging so so gracefully. Years of Refusal might be his most punchy, rocking and self assured solo outing to date. With his golden voice still so warm and rich and powerful and his brutish band offering some muscular back up, this is a set of songs that rely not only on Morrissey's always clever and dramatic word play but the rockin' music backing it up as well!
His last album Ringleaders Of The Tormentors, though filled with some great songs, tripped up a bit on its over-ambition and pretension. Years Of Refusal gets it all right, with a sound palette very similar to one of his great recent outings You Are The Quarry. These songs bristle with such natural force and those magical melodies that Morrissey has been creating for over twenty-five years now are in full effect. Even folks here at AQ who are far from being devoted Morrissey fanatics have been digging this big time! And those of us who do have that special place in our hearts for Morrissey are finding this to be such an infectious album that only reaffirms that despite what one might think of his persona or mystique, this is truly one of the greatest songwriters and singers of our generation!
MPEG Stream: "Something Is Squeezing My Skull"
MPEG Stream: "All You Need Is Me"
MPEG Stream: "It's Not Your Birthday Anymore"

MORTE MACABRE Symphonic Holocaust (Mellotronen) cd 23.00
This Swedish progrock supergroup got together to interpret great horror film soundtracks, like Komeda's theme to "Rosemary's Baby" and Frizzi's music from "City Of The Living Dead" and "The Beyond". This should definitely appeal to fans of Goblin (who get covered here too, of course). Includes an amazing, epic 20-minute piece that will even satisfy Godspeed You Black Emperor fans looking for their filmic music fix.

MORTIIS The Smell of Rain (Earache) cd 15.98
What can one say about Mortiis? Hmmm, he's apparently acquired a new set of ears since his last pair were stolen while on tour many moons ago. But one may ask, "has along with his new elfin ears come a new look and sound too?" An emphatic "yes!" From the cover of this album you'd think either Mortiis is trying to look like a mummified Ani Difranco or has decided to do a roots reggae album (he's gnarled up his glossy Norwegian tresses into matted ropes). Actually it's neither, in fact Mortiis wants to sex you up and shake your goth booty down. That's right, it seems Mortiis' days of haunting the stage to dat tapes are over. In favor of what? Well, the follow-up to 1999's dark ambient "The Stargate" is dominated by rock guitar, pounding programmed beats, a veritable synth orchestra, and his effected vocals front and center. He does bring it down though, all soft and sentimental like, for one track called "Everyone Leaves", and I'd swear he scooped the main melody from Harry Chapin's "Cat's In The Cradle" for "Antimental". Allan compared it to Gary Numan, The Faint and Fischerspooner. I'd agree with the first (but only his very recent efforts) and maybe the third (especially when the female vocals come in to counter Mortiis' very Peter Murphy-esque emoting - just give "Spirits In A Vacuum" a listen). Byram compared it to Ministry or Lords Of The New Church. This is Industrial Dance / Dark Wave, and strangely it's on Earache (the second of his four album contract)! Heck, it made Andee do the robot dance... a lot, and made a customer snap his fingers. At any rate, I'd definitely recommend oHgr's "Welt" album instead. Oh, I forget to mention that the closing track is titled "Smell The Witch".
RealAudio clip: "Spirit In A Vacuum"
RealAudio clip: "Antimental"

MOSES Changes (Shadoks Music) cd 17.98
1971 strikes again! Proto-metal freaks, rejoice! Connoisseurs of the "early heavy" have reason to be excited about this, the lone album from this raw n' heavy psychedelic blues rock power trio from Denmark, originally released in '71, finally available as a legit cd reissue complete with liner notes and vintage photos in the cd booklet.
Recalling Vincebus Eruptum era Blue Cheer (big time!!) and early, bluesy Black Sabbath a bit too, Moses deliver blown-out, fuzz-bombed, acid-laced, hairy hippy proto-metal of Biblical proportions. Full of stoned vocals, loping riffs, and lots of wailing, wasted acid rock guitar soloing (worthy of Blue Cheer's Leigh Stephens and/or Randy Holden), Changes is highly recommended to anyone whose interest has been piqued by anything we've just mentioned or referenced. There's six songs here, nothing complex, certainly catchy though, what more to say? Each one provides the good vibes of ye olde primitive proto-metal, starting with the thudding blues brutality of title track "Changes" (which has nothing to do with the Black Sabbath piano ballad of the same name, by the way). Later on, "Beginning" gives the drummer some, ready for some DJ to mine for a crude breakbeat. "Skaev" is the only one here sung in Danish, but the lurching, surging riffage requires no translation. We're glad the final track, 7 minute track "Warning" is in English, though, 'cause we're getting a kick out of the lyrics, a story of a "straight" falling in with a turned-on crowd, which include lines like: "...and suddenly the girl gives him two feeling good pills, eat them if you can, a little after in a big discussion, forgotten everything about his wife, moving with the others in a big procession, he shouts out, this is life!" Awesome.
So, anyone into early Blue Cheer, Randy Holden's Population II, and the recently reissued Speed Glue & Shinki from Japan, stuff like that, will dig Moses for sure. Also, having just reviewed a bunch of '70s garage fuzz monsters from Africa, like Ngozi Family and Witch, we're hearing a lot of similarities here (minus the African thing, of course, but not the fuzz and groove). We bet if we said this was from Zambia or Nigeria, people would be freaking! Denmark is less "exotic", but that's not what's important when banging your head to these 1971 sounds.
MPEG Stream: "Changes"
MPEG Stream: "I'm Coming Home"
MPEG Stream: "Skaev"

MOSES Changes (Valhalla) lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
REISSUED ON VINYL!!
1971 strikes again! Proto-metal freaks, rejoice! Connoisseurs of the "early heavy" have reason to be excited about this, the lone album from this raw n' heavy psychedelic blues rock power trio from Denmark, originally released in '71.
Recalling Vincebus Eruptum era Blue Cheer (big time!!) and early, bluesy Black Sabbath a bit too, Moses deliver blown-out, fuzz-bombed, acid-laced, hairy hippy proto-metal of Biblical proportions. Full of stoned vocals, loping riffs, and lots of wailing, wasted acid rock guitar soloing (worthy of Blue Cheer's Leigh Stephens and/or Randy Holden), Changes is highly recommended to anyone whose interest has been piqued by anything we've just mentioned or referenced. There's six songs here, nothing complex, certainly catchy though, what more to say? Each one provides the good vibes of ye olde primitive proto-metal, starting with the thudding blues brutality of title track "Changes" (which has nothing to do with the Black Sabbath piano ballad of the same name, by the way). Later on, "Beginning" gives the drummer some, ready for some DJ to mine for a crude breakbeat. "Skaev" is the only one here sung in Danish, but the lurching, surging riffage requires no translation. We're glad the final track, 7 minute track "Warning" is in English, though, 'cause we're getting a kick out of the lyrics, a story of a "straight" falling in with a turned-on crowd, which include lines like: "...and suddenly the girl gives him two feeling good pills, eat them if you can, a little after in a big discussion, forgotten everything about his wife, moving with the others in a big procession, he shouts out, this is life!" Awesome.
So, anyone into early Blue Cheer, Randy Holden's Population II, Speed Glue & Shinki from Japan, stuff like that, will dig Moses for sure. Also, having reviewed a bunch of '70s garage fuzz monsters from Africa, like Ngozi Family and Witch, we're hearing a lot of similarities here (minus the African thing, of course, but not the fuzz and groove). We bet if we said this was from Zambia or Nigeria, people would be freaking! Denmark is less "exotic", but that's not what's important when banging your head to these 1971 sounds.
MPEG Stream: "Changes"
MPEG Stream: "I'm Coming Home"
MPEG Stream: "Skaev"

MOSS ICON Complete Discography (Temporary Residence Ltd.) 2cd 19.98
Temporary Residence does it again, after the recent Record Of The Week reissue of the complete works from nineties math rock gods Bitch Magnet, comes yet another amazing archival release, this one digging back even a little further, from the same sonic pool that so obviously informs TRL's taste in contemporary sounds - it's the complete recorded works of the late great Moss Icon, who in the mid/late eighties were crafting a super unique strain of post punk / hardcore / math rock / emo / gloom pop, that while definitely sonically tied to other groups in the underground at the time, drew from super disparate influences, and created a sound most definitely all their own, a sound that would eventually influence a whole slew of bands to follow.
Imagine a mix of eighties hardcore and nineties post rock, a dizzying hybrid of the the Wipers, Bad Brains, Black Flag, Slint, Fugazi, Joy Division, all thick slithery low slung bass lines, jagged slashes of angular guitar, chiming chords and churning riffage, spidery melodies, the songs super intricate, and often nearly prog in their arrangements, super dynamic with soaring swell of near metallic heft, and long stretches of brooding mesmer, over which the usually howled vox slip into more of a spoken word, sometimes delivered in a haunting deadpan intonation, other times a fervent rant, the sound super tranced out, the band locking into long stretches of hypnotic almost looped riffing, driven by darkly propulsive rhythms, a sprawling moody psychedelia that's the perfect backdrop for vocalist Jonathan Vance's socio-political sonic shamanism. There are moments of surprising poppiness throughout, but usually tucked away amidst long stretches of droned out mesmer, fierce blasts of emotionally wounded heaviness and a relentless barrage of driving melodic crush and controlled sonic chaos. One of the great unsung bands from that era, and an incredible collection of sonically and emotionally powerful music that deserves to be (re)discovered.
PS: Guitarist Tonie Joy would go on to play in Born Against, the Great Unraveling, Universal Order Of Armageddon, The Convocation Of and others, and ALL of those bands were definitely a product of the sounds and songs here.
MPEG Stream: "Mirroe"
MPEG Stream: "I'm Back Sleeping, Or Fucking, Or Something"
MPEG Stream: "Divinity Cove"
MPEG Stream: "Lyburnum - Wit's End (Liberation Fly)"
MPEG Stream: "Guatemala"

MOSS ICON Complete Discography (Temporary Residence Ltd.) 3lp 42.00
Temporary Residence does it again, after the recent Record Of The Week reissue of the complete works from nineties math rock gods Bitch Magnet, comes yet another amazing archival release, this one digging back even a little further, from the same sonic pool that so obviously informs TRL's taste in contemporary sounds - it's the complete recorded works of the late great Moss Icon, who in the mid/late eighties were crafting a super unique strain of post punk / hardcore / math rock / emo / gloom pop, that while definitely sonically tied to other groups in the underground at the time, drew from super disparate influences, and created a sound most definitely all their own, a sound that would eventually influence a whole slew of bands to follow.
Imagine a mix of eighties hardcore and nineties post rock, a dizzying hybrid of the the Wipers, Bad Brains, Black Flag, Slint, Fugazi, Joy Division, all thick slithery low slung bass lines, jagged slashes of angular guitar, chiming chords and churning riffage, spidery melodies, the songs super intricate, and often nearly prog in their arrangements, super dynamic with soaring swell of near metallic heft, and long stretches of brooding mesmer, over which the usually howled vox slip into more of a spoken word, sometimes delivered in a haunting deadpan intonation, other times a fervent rant, the sound super tranced out, the band locking into long stretches of hypnotic almost looped riffing, driven by darkly propulsive rhythms, a sprawling moody psychedelia that's the perfect backdrop for vocalist Jonathan Vance's socio-political sonic shamanism. There are moments of surprising poppiness throughout, but usually tucked away amidst long stretches of droned out mesmer, fierce blasts of emotionally wounded heaviness and a relentless barrage of driving melodic crush and controlled sonic chaos. One of the great unsung bands from that era, and an incredible collection of sonically and emotionally powerful music that deserves to be (re)discovered.
PS: Guitarist Tonie Joy would go on to play in Born Against, the Great Unraveling, Universal Order Of Armageddon, The Convocation Of and others, and ALL of those bands were definitely a product of the sounds and songs here.
MPEG Stream: "Mirroe"
MPEG Stream: "I'm Back Sleeping, Or Fucking, Or Something"
MPEG Stream: "Divinity Cove"
MPEG Stream: "Lyburnum - Wit's End (Liberation Fly)"
MPEG Stream: "Guatemala"

MOST SERENE REPUBLIC, THE Underwater Cinematographer (Arts & Crafts) cd 15.98
Meet the new kids on the block at this Canadian label home to Broken Social Scene and their Torontonian kin Apostle Of Hustle and Stars. The Most Serene Republic are just a hop, skip and a jump away, based in the small town of Milton on the western outskirts of the greater Toronto area. Due to the bands' proximity both geographically and label-wise, comparisons are definitely gonna flourish, and what can we say? They aren't unfounded. Once you hear Underwater Cinematographer, we're sure you'll agree. In many ways The Most Serene Republic's music does resemble the rest of the Arts & Crafts' roster, but with lead vocals that also remind us of Benjamin Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie/Postal Service. This is not a bad thing! No, drawing from such an exuberant mish mash of influences and styles, their album fits in well between You Forgot It In People and Set Yourself On Fire. Actually with their subtle eccentricities scurrying out here and there, The Most Serene Republic's music brings to mind BSS and Frog Eyes having a low-key get-together... which is a mighty pleasing thought, indeed.
MPEG Stream: "Proposition 61"
MPEG Stream: "Where Cedar Nouns And Adverbs Walk"

MOST, THE Welcome To The Breakfast Show (self-released) cd-r 4.98

MOTH WRANGLERS Never Mind the Context (Magnetic) cd 12.98
The debut full length from the Moth Wranglers, otherwise known as AQ-pal Chris Xefos (ex-King Missile) and LD Beghtol (Flare, and also one of the four vocalists from the Magnetic Fields 69 Love Songs box). They have made a polished mellow record in a variety of styles -- downer lounge exotica country rock. With guests Stephin Merritt and Claudia Gonson (Magnetic Fields), Ken Stringfellow (The Posies), and members of Loud Family, Camper Van Beethoven, Klezmatics, etc.
RealAudio clip: "Miss Fire"
RealAudio clip: "I Never Will Marry"

MOTHER MALLARD'S PORTABLE MASTERPIECE CO. Like A Duck To Water (Cuneiform) cd 14.98
Billed as the world's first all-synthesizer band, the trio of Dave Borden, Judy Borsher and Steve Drews were obscure '70s "electronica" pioneers. This cd reissues their second (and last) album, originally released in 1976. Influenced by repetitive minimalist composers like Riley, Reich and Glass, along with German synth ensembles like Cluster and Tangerine Dream (although these Americans' early work was contemporary with the beginning of the krautrock electronics scene). We were also reminded at times of Italian horror soundtrack artists Goblin's moodier moments. Then, there's a couple parts that could be said to sound like a "switched on version" of your local TV news show's theme music, but we enjoyed those too. Indeed, we were pleasantly surprised by this disc, 'cause we seem to recall that the previous MMPMC reissue on Cuneiform was kinda lame Perry & Kingsley style Moog "rock" -- whereas "Like A Duck To Water" is instead a really great, mellow, spacey synth record, featuring hypnotic, repetitive, shifting compositions, some of them ten to twenty minutes in length. Sure, you'd have to imagine that the folks involved probably "progressed" into full-on New Age music-making (that's only a speculation) in the '80s, but the music on this disc avoids that fate. Good stuff, great rainy day music. Includes 3 previously unreleased tracks, and a Quicktime movie for PC and Mac (except, it wouldn't play on any of our Macs, darn it).
RealAudio clip: "C-A-G-E Part II"
RealAudio clip: "All Set"
RealAudio clip: "Waterwheel"

MOTHER MALLARD'S PORTABLE MASTERPIECE CO. Music By David Borden (World Arbiter) cd 16.98
First time release of these 1976-77 recordings by Moog minimalism pioneer Dave Borden and his Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpice Company, oddly enough released on the World Arbiter label, from whence we got the great "Lost Sounds of the Tao" and "Roots of Gamelan" cds we've recently praised. I guess their notion of world music can encompass white Americans with synths as well!
Composer Borden's all-Moog ensemble drew upon his experiences as Bob Moog's "test pilot" in the late '60s, and acknowledged inspirations Philip Glass and Terry Riley. As demonstrated here, Mother Mallard was all about looooong tracks of repetitive, bubbling synths, pleasantly trancey and mesmerizing, with complex interlocking cyclic rhythmic layers like a futuristic (circa the '70s) take on Medieval cantos. The cover photo shows a whole choir onstage behind the long-haired Moog-operators, and indeed after many minutes of build-up, human voices join the electronics. Famed avant-garde singer Joan LaBarbra solos, backed by the Thomas Sokol Chorale. It sounds a bit Magma-like, actually, certainly religious -- the text comes from the Revelation of St. John the Divine. If you liked the Cuneiform reissue of this band's "Like A Duck To Water" or dig on the idea of Moogs n' minimalism, check this out.
MPEG Stream: "The Continuing Story of Counterpoint Part 3"

MOTHLITE The Flax of Reverie (Southern) 2lp 16.98

MOTION SICKNESS OF TIME TRAVEL A Marbled Youth (Old Frontiers) cassette 8.98
Geez, Rachel Evans is really developing into quite the electronic songstress. Over the past four years or so, her Motion Sickness Of Time Travel has grown from her exploratory bedroom synth-drones into impressionistically sparkling electronica born from the retro-futurism of Harmonia and Delia Derbyshire, with tinges of deconstructed electro, through the druggy, rounded basslines that gird a couple of her tracks on this new cassette on Old Frontiers. "Cut Away" sprinkles bright glissandos of kosmische synths on top of those strange basslines with Evans' wordless voice drifting through the mix in piles of reverb. "Rising" tonebends sad, little melodies amidst a burbling, step-sequencing, arpeggiated fizzings, and star-burst electric blossomings. "In Our Dreams" cycles in a satellite orbit with terse, deep-space bleeps echoing into a shimmering reflection pool of blue-green ambient wash, whose driftscape is wrapped in Evans dubbed-out / washed-out breathy vocalizations. So nice. Twenty-one minutes on this cassette, in a pressing of 100 copies.
MPEG Stream: "Cut Away"

MOTION SICKNESS OF TIME TRAVEL Luminaries & Synastry (Digitalis) lp + cd 24.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Motion Sickness Of Time Travel is the spellbinding synth and voice project of Georgia's Rachel Evans. Up until late 2010, she had released a bunch of tiny edition cassettes and cd-rs through her Hooker Vision imprint, after which her work caught the attention of Digitalis, who released the highly acclaimed album Seeping Through The Veil Of The Unconscious. So acclaimed in fact, that all of three pressings of that album went out of print before we had a chance to wax poetic about the record on our list. It's easy to hear why Motion Sickness Of Time Travel would cause such a stir, as there's something to the easy quip that Rachel Evans is a synth version of Grouper. Evans deconstructs an ethereal pop down to hypnotic looping synth structures and her own whispering voice, all the edges are blurred and softened to a heavenly, glowing gaseousness. Her synth applications typically build from glistening arpeggios and sustained church organ tones, giving many of her arrangements a levitating, Kosmische touch considerably more vaporous in her psychedelic visions than the likes of Emeralds and Oneohtrix in her Cluster fixation. Yet, tracks like the aptly named "Day Glow" eagerly appropriate tone-bent melodies and acid-squelchiness from post-rave ambient engineers (think back to Future Sound Of London), suspended amongst the reverb glide of her breathy vocals. Then there's the oceanic and mysterious drone-waltz found on the lysergically titled "The Walls Were Dripping With Stars" which flickers with backmasked vocalizations and intermittently dubbed out whisperings. Luminaries & Synastry is a real gem; and if past performance is indicative of anything, this album will not be around terribly long. The lp comes with a cd of all the material found on the vinyl, plus a couple of a extra tracks.
MPEG Stream: "Late Day Sun Silhouettes"
MPEG Stream: "Day Glow"
MPEG Stream: "Like Dunes"

MOTION SICKNESS OF TIME TRAVEL Penchant Mode (No Kings) cassette 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Probably, the most Conrad Schnitzler we've heard in Motion Sickness Of Time Travel, and you better believe that's a very good thing. The cosmic arpeggiations that Rachel Evans uses to drive the side long track "Initiation" are very dark and squelchy, with the propulsive, '70s cyborg vibe that Schnitzler brought to Ballet Stratique; but with her signature incorporation of a hushed, heavenly voice and solar-flare streams of long synth melodies, the track is very much her own and one of the better things we've heard from her! "Growing Things" is a much airier affair of effervescent electronics that flange through aquatically spluttering sequencing and slowly evolve into the backdrop for Evans' lullaby vocals. Both tracks were recorded on Halloween of 2012, with the first seeming very much in tune with the holiday and the latter being a Spartan response anticipating the grey winter skies of rural Georgia. Just 100 copies were printed of this one, and it's a 32 minute long tape. Don't expect this one to last be around for long.
MPEG Stream: "Initiation"

MOTION SICKNESS OF TIME TRAVEL s/t (Spectrum Spools) 2cd 23.00
NOW AVAILABLE ON CD!!! Double cd in fact.
Rachel Evans brings her humid, oozing synth explorations to Spectrum Spools, which has become quite the launching pad for a wide array of outsider electronics as curated through the judicious ear of Emeralds' John Elliott. The name of Evans' project is lifted from William S. Burroughs' novel The Soft Machine; and with her decentering, liminal drift of half-formed / half-dissolved constructions, she finds herself peering between the kudzu-encrusted fields of her native Lagrange, Georgia and the imagined soundscapes of a primordial Gondwanaland (time-travel for her seems to go backwards in time, not forwards). After close to a couple dozen releases (mostly in the micro-edition format), she's either gotten the doseage right on the Dramamine, or she's acclimated to the queasy side effects of jumping between time and space, as this eponymous record isn't nearly as woozy and narcotized as her previous work. "The Dream" starts out quite dark, with backward-masked slashes that parallel the thickets of razored noise from Current 93's early collage work; but she quickly escapes from these bad vibes into a lengthy daydream of shimmering ambience laced with bright, effervescent sequences and some rather Vangelis-like triumphant synth stabs. "The Center" spins around a latticework of crystalline sequences that blur into massive, oceanic pools of rippling sound, with her voice looped and smeared into an ethereal bliss. "Summer Of The Cat's Eye" is a mellow impressionist piece of synth jamminess akin to Tangerine Dream's wanderings across the keyboard. "One Perfect Moment" is very reverential of John Elliott's work in Emeralds and all of his solo projects, with a sequenced glissando streaming beneath the slow unfurling of bittersweet tonal chords and Evans' pleading vocal delivery. Easily, the most arresting track she's recorded to date, rounding out another fantastic album from Evans' Motion Sickness Of Time Travel.
MPEG Stream: "The Center"
MPEG Stream: "One Perfect Moment"

MOTION SICKNESS OF TIME TRAVEL s/t (Spectrum Spools) 2lp 30.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Rachel Evans brings her humid, oozing synth explorations to Spectrum Spools, which has become quite the launching pad for a wide array of outsider electronics as curated through the judicious ear of Emeralds' John Elliott. The name of Evans' project is lifted from William S. Burroughs' novel The Soft Machine; and with her decentering, liminal drift of half-formed / half-dissolved constructions, she finds herself peering between the kudzu-encrusted fields of her native Lagrange, Georgia and the imagined soundscapes of a primordial Gondwanaland (time-travel for her seems to go backwards in time, not forwards). After close to a couple dozen releases (mostly in the micro-edition format), she's either gotten the doseage right on the Dramamine, or she's acclimated to the queasy side effects of jumping between time and space, as this eponymous record isn't nearly as woozy and narcotized as her previous work. "The Dream" starts out quite dark, with backward-masked slashes that parallel the thickets of razored noise from Current 93's early collage work; but she quickly escapes from these bad vibes into a lengthy daydream of shimmering ambience laced with bright, effervescent sequences and some rather Vangelis-like triumphant synth stabs. "The Center" spins around a latticework of crystalline sequences that blur into massive, oceanic pools of rippling sound, with her voice looped and smeared into an ethereal bliss. "Summer Of The Cat's Eye" is a mellow impressionist piece of synth jamminess akin to Tangerine Dream's wanderings across the keyboard. "One Perfect Moment" is very reverential of John Elliott's work in Emeralds and all of his solo projects, with a sequenced glissando streaming beneath the slow unfurling of bittersweet tonal chords and Evans' pleading vocal delivery. Easily, the most arresting track she's recorded to date, rounding out another fantastic album from Evans' Motion Sickness Of Time Travel.
MPEG Stream: "The Center"
MPEG Stream: "One Perfect Moment"

MOTION SICKNESS OF TIME TRAVEL Seeping Through The Veil Of The Unconscious (Digitalis) lp 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

MOTIONS Introduction to ... /Their Own Way (Pseudonym Records) cd 14.98

MOTLEY CRUE Too Fast For Love (Motley / Eleven Seven) cd 14.98
Tommy Lee is the reason Andee got a cowbell back in the day!

MOTLEY CRUE Too Fast For Love (Motley / Eleven Seven) lp 21.00
Tommy Lee is the reason Andee first got a cowbell back in the day!

MOTOR Unhuman (Novamute) cd 15.98
Klunk, the debut from the Sprocketsy electronic duo Motor, was the unexpected dancefloor hit last year here -- that is if AQ had a dancefloor and if you asked Allan what the hit was. Unexpected especially since Allan's not known for his love of club music. Now Motor are back with a new album, Unhuman, and it's got the same distorted techno beat buzz and bleep goin' on, from the jittering funk that is "Bleep #1" to the sinister, more song-y "Night Drive" to the power tool robotics of "Flashback" (other evocative titles include "Drug Punk", "20 Volts Of Steel", and "Sikk"). There's obvious Detroit and Kraftwerk influences, and certainly lots of folks have regurgitated sounds like these since the '80s, but Motor have a special knack for this all right. It's the rigid, relentless, crunching beats, and the synth sizzle... going and going and going... in fact it's hard to write this review as I'm trancing out as I type thisisisisisisisisisisisisisisisisisisisisisisisisisisisisisisis....
Fresh off tour (including a stint opening for industrial icons Nitzer Ebb), these guys are proud of their live, "punk" energy. It's stressed that Motor are a real band not purely the product of a computer or a DJ spinning stuff. As a result they've perhaps incorporated more melody (and vocals, sometimes scarily processed) into the mix this time 'round, but the more machine-like, brutal aspects of the debut haven't been disposed of either, so Allan says thumbs up on this one as well. Definitely get this if you liked their debut as much as he did.
MPEG Stream: "Flashback"
MPEG Stream: "Night Drive"

MOTORHEAD 1916 (Columbia) cd 5.00
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**

MOTORPSYCHO Heavy Metal Fruit (Rune Grammofon) cd 17.98
Having been around for years and years (with the cult following to show for it), this Norwegian band now release their umpteeth album, however just their third for Rune Grammofon. Apparently we missed their vinyl-only 2nd one for the label, whoops, but we really liked their RG debut a couple years ago, Little Lucid Moments. And again, this is a similar hard-to-pin-down hybrid of trippy space rock, indie rock pop, and, as befits this disc's Blue-Oyster-Cult-lyric-derived title, even a little bit of metal. Maybe more than a little bit on the 13 minute opening track "Starhammer (Feat. The Electric Psalmon)", which goes through several musical mood-swings, at certain, most metallic points sounding a lot like Black Label Society, believe it or not, complete with big grungy riffs and harmonic pinch squeals a la Zakk Wylde, with vocals too that sound a bit Ozzy-esque, though elsewhere on that track (and album as a whole) they wander far out into abstract Pink Floydian space...
By the way that's not the longest song on here, either, the disc wrapping up in epic fashion with a 20 minute, 4 part suite entitled "Gullible's Travails". In between, there's some shorter songs, including the delicate piano lullaby "Close Your Eyes" and the rockin' roadhouse spaceout "The Bomb-Proof Roll And Beyond (For Arnie Hassle)", but their kitchen-sink-inclusive prog aesthetic is operative throughout, Motorpsycho utilizing Moogs and mellotrons, horn players borrowed from Jaga Jazzist, dreamy vocal choruses, and plenty of hard rock guitar. Occasionally they take some twists and turns we don't like quite so much as others, and also they're one of those bands we'd probably like even better if they didn't sing in English, but mostly Motorpsycho's arty indie/stoner rock meets cinematic synth sound, confusionally crammed with shimmering psychedelic jamming, edgy energetic rock riffage, and lovely laidback poppiness, is quite pleasing!
MPEG Stream: "Starhammer (Feat. The Electric Psalmon)"
MPEG Stream: "The Bomb-Proof Roll And Beyond (For Arnie Hassle)"
MPEG Stream: "W.B.A.T."

MOTORPSYCHO Heavy Metal Fruit (Rune Grammofon) 2lp 32.00
Having been around for years and years (with the cult following to show for it), this Norwegian band now release their umpteeth album, however just their third for Rune Grammofon. Apparently we missed their vinyl-only 2nd one for the label, whoops, but we really liked their RG debut a couple years ago, Little Lucid Moments. And again, this is a similar hard-to-pin-down hybrid of trippy space rock, indie rock pop, and, as befits this disc's Blue-Oyster-Cult-lyric-derived title, even a little bit of metal. Maybe more than a little bit on the 13 minute opening track "Starhammer (Feat. The Electric Psalmon)", which goes through several musical mood-swings, at certain, most metallic points sounding a lot like Black Label Society, believe it or not, complete with big grungy riffs and harmonic pinch squeals a la Zakk Wylde, with vocals too that sound a bit Ozzy-esque, though elsewhere on that track (and album as a whole) they wander far out into abstract Pink Floydian space...
By the way that's not the longest song on here, either, the disc wrapping up in epic fashion with a 20 minute, 4 part suite entitled "Gullible's Travails". In between, there's some shorter songs, including the delicate piano lullaby "Close Your Eyes" and the rockin' roadhouse spaceout "The Bomb-Proof Roll And Beyond (For Arnie Hassle)", but their kitchen-sink-inclusive prog aesthetic is operative throughout, Motorpsycho utilizing Moogs and mellotrons, horn players borrowed from Jaga Jazzist, dreamy vocal choruses, and plenty of hard rock guitar. Occasionally they take some twists and turns we don't like quite so much as others, and also they're one of those bands we'd probably like even better if they didn't sing in English, but mostly Motorpsycho's arty indie/stoner rock meets cinematic synth sound, confusionally crammed with shimmering psychedelic jamming, edgy energetic rock riffage, and lovely laidback poppiness, is quite pleasing!
MPEG Stream: "Starhammer (Feat. The Electric Psalmon)"
MPEG Stream: "The Bomb-Proof Roll And Beyond (For Arnie Hassle)"
MPEG Stream: "W.B.A.T."

MOTORPSYCHO Little Lucid Moments (Rune Grammofon) cd 17.98
Norwegian indie rock band Motorpsycho certainly have their fans. For years and years, several of our friends have been singing their praises, telling us to check 'em out. And some of what we've heard, we've liked. Poppy, psychy, sometimes sorta heavy, also rather quirky. But still, they never quite "clicked" with us. Until now. This new Motorpsycho album we're totally digging. (And no, it's not just 'cause it was released by Rune Grammofon, a label we usually like.)
Sparklingly melodic and super energetic and full of guitar guitar guitar... Motorpsycho really get pretty wild with the acid rock guitar soloing here, almost to Kawabata Makoto levels, whom we recall liked to say he played 'motorpsycho' guitar. Hmm. There's plenty of room for them to stretch out with the guitars and FX as this disc consists of four long songs (longest, 21:05, shortest 11:26). But they *are* ultimately pop songs, with vocals (in English) and hooks and all.
With that pop element going full bore too, they've (at last?) hit the sweet spot of successfully mixing '70s bombast with '90s college radio / indie rock. As long as you realize we mean this in a really good way, we'll go ahead and describe Little Lucid Moments as sounding sorta like the Foo Fighters gone prog. They've definitely got some little lucid Pink Floyd moments in there too, via Voivod perhaps, who themselves dabbled in the pop punk thing too...
As long as we're confusing things with seemingly random references to other artists, let's also cite Sloan -and- Circle as two more disparate bands this reminds us of, at times! Sloan for all the ambitious rockin' pop stuff here, while the spaced out guitars and motorik chuggery of "The Alchemyst" could easily be Circle or Motorpsycho's countryfolk Salvatore. And then in the track "She Left On The Sun Ship" it sounds like they're getting into the twisty, sinuous vein of rockin' post rockers Drive Like Jehu, with some little Champs-y licks thrown in too. Who else should we mention? 31Knots? Ok, another good prog-pop-indie blend. The Beach Boys? Yep, in the vocals sometimes. But all this successfully adds up to something cool that's uniquely Motorpsycho (and nothing like the gearhead garagabilly rock their name might imply).
So, it's taken a looong time but we're finally convinced. We're Motorpsycho fans. We know a guy in Holland (hi Frankco!) who will be very pleased. Now we'll have to go back and reconsider all the umpteen Motorpsycho records we'd been ignoring all this time...argh! No, that's a good thing. Always nice to have a not-so-new band to newly like... Highly, surprisingly recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Suite: Little Lucid Moments"
MPEG Stream: "She Left On The Sun Ship"
MPEG Stream: "The Alchemyst"

MOTORPSYCHO + JAGA JAZZIST HORNS In The Fishtank 10 (Konkurrent) cd 11.98
Another installment in Konkurrent's In The Fishtank series. So far there's been collaborations from Tortoise with The Ex, Low with Dirty Three, Willard Grant Conspiracy with Telefunk as well as Sonic Youth, I.C.P. and The Ex. Individual efforts have included June Of 44. This time it was a Norwegian experimental get-together with Motorpsycho and the horn section from Jaga Jazzist. The results are an impressive slow groovin' jazzy postrock affair.
MPEG Stream: "Bombay Brassiere"

MOTORSPANDEX Torment Star (Full Contact / Ektro) 7" 7.98
We should probably let the band themselves begin this review, describing what to expect from the first side of this new 7" from the (maybe not so) mysterious Finnish outfit Motorspandex:
"Listening to Motorspandex's debut 7" can be a traumatizing experience: the very moment the needle touches the vinyl, black smoke begins to fill the room. You suddenly find it very hard to breathe, and realize, that the air pouring into your lungs is made out of crusty, rusty metal. A mechanized nightmare appears, veiled in nothing but motorized tight pants. It steps out of the smoke, grabs you by the throat, and enters your life forever."
We probably couldn't do much better ourselves, but we'll give it a go. Starting with the amazing cover, which features a photo of a pale, long haired, shirtless fella who looks suspiciously like Jussi from Circle, doing his best Dio, 'invisible oranges' pose, standing on an expanse of snow in front of a mighty mountain, the music inside fits almost perfectly with that majestic and very metal image. Sort of. Imagine classic eighties metal, some Motorhead, but played on clean guitars, with almost no distortion, then add in some super distorted monstrous growling vocals, and have the songs be super damaged and weird, shifting suddenly without warning, super dynamic, stop and starts, dizzyingly complex, but somehow striped down and simple at the same time. Not heavy so much as rocking and relentless. And it should come as no big surprise that Motorspandex seems to have a similar lineup as Krypt Axeripper, and Steel Mammoth, and thus, probably includes at least one (if not more) member of Finnish hypnorockers Circle. And you can actually hear it in Motorspandex, maybe more so than in those other "New Wave Of Finnish Heavy Metal" Circle satellites. Plenty of tripped out ambience, some clean, almost Comus-y folky vocals, wailing leads, but at its core, it does sound a bit like a sped up, metalled up Circle. Even the vocals almost sound like a more metal Mika. Plus some of the best song titles ever: "Frantic Slave", "Torment Star", "Tutankhamon Uranus", "Creepy Rabbit", "Steellicker"!
As if you didn't already figure it out, Motorspandex rule! Heavy and hooky, repetitive and metallic, mesmerizing and weird weird weird.

MOTT THE HOOPLE All The Young Dudes (Columbia) cd 11.98
Deluxe reish.

MOUGHQUAL Sin-Sekai (Gooom) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

MOULD, BOB Body Of Song (Yep Roc) cd 16.98
Geeeeez, somebody please take the studio gizmos away from Bob Mould right now! While we certainly can't frown upon anyone gettin' all excited about trying something new, we sure can't cheer on Mr. Mould's decision to actually include those wonky effected Cher-vocals on his records. To be totally blunt, they sound downright dumb... and they sounded dumb on his last album. Even if he's using them tongue-in-cheek (which we sorta suspected with the album's second song and its title "(Shine Your) Light Love Hope" that seemed to be a silly take on those 'as seen on tv' dance compilation tracks with their parenthetical titles), they stick out like the worst sore thumb. Body Of Song arrived without much fanfare, and so when it appeared the other day it was a genuine pleasant surprise. It seems we'd somehow wiped 2002's disappointment Modulate from our memory banks. After a couple of songs though our smiles turned to winces. Those painful memories came rushing back and were joined by new ones. Ugh. Fortunately Mould has toned down his previous penchant for bland rave-y techno. The songs without the 'special effects' come across as fond familiar ol' Bob, and they definitely kept this one from joining Modulate in the dumper. Approach with caution.`
MPEG Stream: "(Shine Your) Light Love Hope"
MPEG Stream: "Beating Heart The Prize"

MOULD, BOB District Line (Anti) cd 16.98

MOULD, BOB Modulate. (Red Ink) cd 16.98
An agonizing kick in the teeth to Husker Du fans everywhere. This is appalling. Pseudo-rave, cheezy, electronic dance music that perhaps only Stephin Merritt and his Future Bible Heroes can get away with... and we're not even goin' near those over-Cher-ified vocal effects. On this, his first new album since '98, it's apparent that he's been experimenting with new approaches to his music making. The problem is the technology he's chosen to incorporate doesn't complement his songwriting at all. Although there are a few glimmers of that distinctive Mould songwriting pen (check out "Comeonstrong"), they're soon lost in a mass of electronic clutter and distractions. Oh dear!
RealAudio clip: "180 Rain"
RealAudio clip: "Comeonstrong"