OH SEES, THEE Putrifiers II EP (In The Red) lp 14.98
Not sure what else to say really at this point about John Dwyer and Thee Oh Sees crew. We've loved pretty much everything they've put out, we've made at least one an aQ Record Of The Week, heck, Andee even put out the very first Thee Oh Sees record (back when it was just Dwyer and was a whole 'nother beast simply called OCS), but as with every record, Putrifiers II has much to recommend it, and has a lot of cool stuff going on, that definitely makes it super distinctive, and as seems to be the case, with every new record, we find ourselves proclaiming it our favorite, and looks like that trend is going to continue, cuz Putrifiers II is so great. All it should take is a minute or two of opener "Wax Face", with its spidery snake charmer melody that leads directly into some seriously fuzzed out garage rock pound, super melodic, with swoonsome falsetto vox, woozy basslines, and of course hooks galore. The song gets all droney, and psychedelic, with some killer leads, and a killer stretch midsong where the vocals harmonize with the guitar, we're tempted to say it's the raddest jam yet, but that would be foolish with nine more songs to go! (That's right, this is a ten song "ep", more like a full-length really.)
The one thing that Putrefiers does display, is a definite sixties pop vibe, from the fuzzy almost Elephant Six sound of "Hang A Picture", to some of the other tracks that take the Beach Boys and run them through an old beat up distortion pedal and douse them liberally with sweat and blood, taking the hooky dreaminess and harnessing it to some serious psych fuzz bliss. The whole record is brimming with amazing songs and sounds, "So Nice" is a gorgeous bit of buzz drenched balladry, with some swirling strings and weird processed vox, "Cloud #1" is some super abstract minimal drone music, that reminds us of Amps For Christ, "Flood's New Light" is total girl group worship, while the title track is a gorgeously catchy reverb heavy garage pop dirge that is WAY catchier than it has any right to be.
The final four songs definitely make up a sort of orchestral garage pop suite, the woozy shimmery ballroom vibe of "Will We Be Scared", the fuzzed out chug and churn of "Lupine Dominus", which has verses that would be right at home in a much dreamier, less tripped out and psychedelic pop song, "Goodnight Baby" is another string driven bit of jangly power pop, and finally, "Wicked Park" is lush and lovely baroque popsmithery, that sounds like it could be a cover of The Zombies, or even some old Bee Gees B side.
Another killer record from Dwyer and Co., and yeah, currently our favorite Thee Oh Sees record. At least until next time... The cd comes in a digipack, while the vinyl version comes in a cool die-cut jacket, and includes an mp3 download.
MPEG Stream: "Wax Face"
MPEG Stream: "Hang A Picture"
MPEG Stream: "Flood's New Light"
MPEG Stream: "Lupine Dominus"

OH SEES, THEE Quadrospazzed (Castle Face) 12" 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This one might just be for superfans only, but then again, maybe not...
It's one song, one sided, costs $15, and is a live version of a previously released track (from the Peanut Butter Oven ep), but hell we know how Oh Sees fans are, OBSESSIVE, and this is a pretty sweet object. Besides the music, it's pressed on super thick 180 gram vinyl, comes in an eye popping black and red heavy duty jacket, and the B-side features an incredible etching, all patterns and pumpkins and shapes and leering mouths, super sweet.
The original track, already a bit sprawling and jammy, gets the full on live workout, recorded at a house show in SF, the song sounds pretty much like the original at first, all shuffling drums, reverb drenched guitar jangle, yelpy echoed vox, repetitive and kinetic, but then the song stretches waaaaaay out, breaks down, sounds a little like the parts in old songs where the band gets introduced, but instead, there's a drum solo, and the track spaces out and gets all sixties shimmery and dubbed out, to the point that is seems like enough of a new jam that you'd probably want it even if you already had the Peanut Butter Oven version. Cool stuff. And LIMITED TO 1000 COPIES.

OH SEES, THEE Singles Vol. 1 & 2 (Castle Face) 2lp 22.00
This one shouldn't need to much of a description, these have been flying off the shelves since we first got them in. Originally intended to be a Record Store Day release, this double lp collects essentially ALL of the Oh Sees singles: The Carol Anne 7", Peanut Butter Oven 12", the split 7" with Paul Cary, the split 7" with The Intelligence, the Grave Blockers ep, the Tidal Wave single, the Blood In Your Ear single, the Sub Pop single, the tour split 7" with Jay Reatard, as well as a few previously unreleased surprises. The first lp is actually the same stuff that was on the bonus cd that came with the Zork's Tape Bruise lp released on Kill Shamen, while the second lp is newly compiled. It's a pretty bad ass collection, Thee Oh Sees were and are definitely one of those bands who seem to do their best rocking in the short format, and these are definitely some of our favorite Oh Sees jams. Absolutely essential for fans of course, and newbies, well, we can't really think of a better place to start.
Need more? Here are several excerpts from reviews of a few of the singles included in this collection:
Blood In Your Ear: Some fuzzy, distorted lo-fi sixties pop infused garage rock that totally rocks. Crunchy, distorted, fuzzy, groovy, doused in reverb and delay, the vocals a distorted yelp, the guitars all jangly, this time around there's even some harmonica, stomping and hooky and kick ass. That's just the A side. The flipside just might be one of our favorite Oh Sees jams yet, all brooding and power poppy, reminding us of the Wipers, but with strange bloopy keyboards, and a weary washed out minor key vibe, so super catchy, we find ourselves humming it through the days, and running to the front of the store when it gets played. Awesome.
Peanut Butter Oven: Full of that sixties big beat cavernous murky wall of feedback pop that we love. "Kingsmeat" is all melancholy Farfisa over upbeat rhythms and ringing feedback tones before turning up the Bo Diddley pace for "The Freak Was Clean", before the almost shoe-gazy "Kids In Cars" winds us down quite nicely.
Tidal Wave: Totally perfect, ultra catchy blasts of pure garage pop genius!
Split with The Intelligence: The two Ohsees songs end before you know it but they're so good and infectious that we've just been playing them over and over and over.
You get the picture. Super limited too, of course. Housed in a topless magic marker fake tattoo Oh Sees fan boy sleeve. Nice!
MPEG Stream: "Carol Ann"
MPEG Stream: "The Freak Was Clean"
MPEG Stream: "Bloody Water"
MPEG Stream: "Hey Buddy"
MPEG Stream: "Grave Blockers"

OH SEES, THEE The Cool Death Of Island Raiders / Sucks Blood (Burger Records) cassette 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Two of of our favorite albums from these local garage poppers get paired up and re-released on this super limited cassette, awesomely designed to look like one of those old Columbia Records And Tapes Club releases ($13 tapes for 1¢)...
So, here's what we had to say about The Cool Death Of Island Raiders when we reviewed it way back in 2006 (it's now out of print on both cd and lp):
No doubt about it, Mr. John Dwyer is one prolific man. The sound of Thee Oh Sees (aka OCS), whether intentionally or not, is very of the moment, and at the time one of Dwyer's best. His partner in crime on Cool Death was local artist and musician Patrick Mullins. At times The Cool Death Of Island Raiders sounds like a dronier and even more stoned Ariel Pink... which we've been diggin' heavily too. The album's title reminds us of those afterschool adventures we made up when we were kids, and the music is a lot like children's songs in a demented playground complete with occasional birds chirping.
Lots of shimmery cymbal and tambourine washes, off-kilter strummed guitar and unexpected visits from occlusive noise clouds, while through those clouds emerges layers of tweaked falsetto vocals. The album's mood is slightly unsettling verging on creepy but with a sense of humor at work as well. Produced by Dave Sitek of TV On The Radio fame the album is paced really well and shows that Dwyer's still got plenty up his sleeve.
And here's what we had to say about Sucks Blood when it first came out in 2007:
John Dwyer has been a busy bee as of late (noticing a theme?). His great new free jazz outfit Swords & Sandals has been playing fiery short sets all around town. He's started his own record label, Castle Face and his first release on the label is his latest from Thee Oh Sees (OCS), which is fast becoming one of our favorites! Produced by Kelly Stoltz, Sucks Blood has a wonderful focus that gets stoney, blurry and all bleary and sunsoaked yet the songs still feel so well crafted and the record so perfectly paced. The opening track finds Dwyer reconstructing his garage rock roots with a smokin' lo-fi burner that would make Roky Erickson proud. As the record moves on there is an intoxicating hazy moodiness that emanates so effortlessly from every track start to finish. We love how timeless this record sounds and feels. It's doesn't at all seem like a part of any current trend or scene. Instead it sounds like someone locked up in their room with a window half open as sun, clouds and wind mingle in the sky and songs grow and blossom organically. With no one to please but himself, you get the feeling that Dwyer was able to totally relax and make exactly the record he's been wanting to make for ages. We've already been listening to this in our headphones as we walk through the city, on those afternoons made for wandering aimlessly just to see where you might end up, and this is the perfect soundtrack for sure. Whether laying in the grass, or sitting on the porch, or staying in bed till late in the afternoon, these are the perfect sounds for being busy doing nothing. So totally nice!
These tapes are LIMITED TO 250 COPIES, each one hand numbered!
MPEG Stream: "Cool Death"
MPEG Stream: "The Dumb Drums"
MPEG Stream: "It Killed Mom"
MPEG Stream: "You Make Me Sick, Oh Yeah"
MPEG Stream: "Ship"

OH SEES, THEE The Master's Bedroom Is Worth Spending A Night In / Help (Burger) cassette 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another very affordable, but limited, 2-fer cassette from Thee Oh Sees, this time with both 2008's full band debut The Master's Bedroom Is Worth Spending A Night In, and 2009's Help (an AQ Record Of The Week!). Limited to 250 copies, act fast!!!
Here's our massive original reviews of those two records...
Master's Bedroom: The Oh Sees have changed a lot since they were the OCS. Back then, Oh Sees frontman John Dwyer had his Coachwhips, a wild sweat soaked, garage stomp party, furious and frenzied, throbbing and in-the-red, so OCS was the outlet for Dwyer to explore the other sides of his multiple musical personality. The debut OCS record (released on tUMULt) was two discs, one of mostly solo acoustic guitar, a super intimate bedroom folk, all dusty and crackly, warm and super intimate, bits of damaged Casio, warbly old vinyl, damaged FX, lovingly crafted into some sort of heartfelt lo-fi sonic loveletter. The other disc was more noisy, super abstract, blown out blasts of free jazz weirdness, drones and rumbles, howling feedback, white noise, pink noise, and every color in between. OCS 2, 3 and 4 followed a similar pattern, a sort of lonely lo-fi homebrewed indie folk, off kilter and melancholy, wistful, damaged and dreamy.
But with the dissolution of the Coachwhips, came a name change for OCS, now The Ohsees, or sometimes The Oh Sees, a change in sound, and a transformation into a full band.
While not as freaked out and furious as the Coachwhips, the Oh Sees new record sounds more like the long lost CW's than any of Dwyer's records since. Garage-y jangle, shuffling drums, the vocals distorted, the songs simple and stripped down, but the big difference is that here Dwyer splits the vocals with bandmate Brigid Dawson, the result is truly endearing harmonies, with Dwyer often the wailing counterpoint to Dawson's sweet angelic croon. And songs that sometimes sound like alien versions of that classic Phil Spector girl group sound. But at its heart, the sound is still fuzzy and buzzy and skeletal, groovy and garage rocky, wouldn't be hard to imagine this disc on In The Red, or see these guys on tour with the Dirtbombs or the Country Teasers or the Husbands. (Bonus points for having a song about aQ pal and local artist extraordinaire Maria Forde!)
Help: Listening to Help, it's almost impossible to hear anything but mere traces of the chaotic noise rock path John Dwyer followed to make it to Thee Oh Sees (aka OCS, and Ohsees), but it's that noisy past, and penchant for musical shit stirring, that informs the jangly garage pop on Help, and transforms the band's jangle and shuffle and pound into near perfect buzzy fuzzy catchy retro pop, and makes it easily the best Oh Sees record yet. And a definite contended for (garage) pop record of the year.
Most of us were introduced to Dwyer via his two piece noise rock costume rock combo Pink And Brown (after brief stints in some well known Providence outfits), but unlike most of the costumed joke bands at the time, P&B offered some serious songsmithery along with the unhinged live shows and audience baiting. A brief stint drumming for SF grindlords Burmese led directly into the band that brought Dwyer to worldwide attention, the Coachwhips. Arguably one of the best live bands around, the Coachwhips made up for what they lacked in actual songs with sweat and alcohol soaked performances, utter chaos, and sometimes literally, ultra destructive houseshows. Coachwhips shows were all about the energy, the vibe, jumping around, flailing wildly, getting wrecked and having a blast. Sometimes though, that energy was difficult to translate to home listening. Take away the sweaty throng and the deafening volume and, well why would you want to do that?
And so came the Oh Sees, originally called OCS, and a double cd release on Andee's tUMULt label a few years back, essentially a solo record, one disc of folky fluttery lo-fi twang flecked pop, another of corrosive textured noise experiments, which ended up being, for many of us, one of our favorite post Pink And Brown Dwyer documents. OCS transformed into The Oh Sees and became a real band, and seemed poised to follow in the sonic footsteps of the Coachwhips, stripped down garage rock, super lo-fi, lost of brittle high end, yelped distorted vocals, tribal drumming, but there was definitely something more, more refined, more catchy, more timeless sounding, something much more than garage rock, a sound that reminded us of sixties girl groups, of Phil Spector productions, raw and primal, but lush and expansive and catchy. But that catchy lush side of the Oh Sees remained hidden beneath squalls of tweeter abuse and fractured effects, a wall of fuzz and buzz more than an actual wall of sound. Until now.
Help finds the band making their first record for garage rock stalwarts In The Red, which is ironic as this is Thee Oh Sees' least typically garage rock record yet. Instead, the sound is total pop, plucked fresh from a time capsule buried in the sixties, the guitars jangle as much as crunch, lots of reverb, the vocals wreathed in a haze of delay, lots of female vox, the choruses are lush, the drums are still tribal, but much more measured, often quite spare, the arrangements though are anything but classic, sometimes getting super abstract, but never losing their catchiness, sometimes adding all sorts of extra distorted overload, but just as quickly slipping into something smooth and groovy. Minus the weird moments and the fucked up productions, some of these songs do really sound like they were just transported forward four decades.
"Meat Step Lively" starts off all Cramps-y, with a fuzzy grinding main riff, simple pounding rhythm, but adds some awesome female vocals and background 'ooooohs', some spidery lead guitars, and coolest of all breaks it down with about a minute to go into a swinging sixties smoke-y jazzy flute flecked groove. "The Turn Around" is a minute of blown out drum damage and fractured effects, but wrapped around a sing songy main riff, and some cool distorted and reverbed vox, in total Guided By Voices fashion, they truncate what could have been the jam of the record, and launch into "Can You See", which is all slithery and washed out, with angelic background vocals, shuffling drums, and a cool dreamy bridge, but the whole thing still manages to sound ominous and intense and weirdly sexy.
The record closes with "Peanut Butter Oven", which we first heard on the recent (and sadly now out of print) Awesome Vistas 12", and it's obvious why this was the single, it definitely is THE jam of the record, with it's simple stripped down jangle, workmanlike drum beat, and soaring minor key strings, and let's not forget the gorgeous harmony vocals draped over the singing strings and that irresistible main riff.
And so it goes, every track here is a gem, each one offers up something new, some twisted take on that classic sixties garage rock sound, but it's that sound revved up and filtered through Dwyer's gloriously cracked pop sensibilities, bathed in buzz and fuzz or stripped way down and left shimmery and crystalline, sometimes wrapped in HUGE hooks or allowed to simmer and slither, the catchiness subtle yet so irresistible, and unlike past efforts, even at its noisiest, the noise element seems more an organic part of the sound, and is often shaped into something barely recognizable as noisy.
We knew Dwyer and company had it in them, and now they've proven it, BIG TIME. Dying to see what they come up with next, if they could possibly one up this here disc, but hell, for now, Help has us way satisfied. And records like these are exactly why they invented that repeat button on your cd player. Folks with turntable will just have to get up and flip the record over and over and over, again and again and again.
WAY recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Block Of Ice"
MPEG Stream: "Visit Colonel"
MPEG Stream: "Maria Stacks"
MPEG Stream: "Meat Step Lively"
MPEG Stream: "Ruby Go Home"
MPEG Stream: "Rainbow"

OH SEES, THEE Thee Hounds Of Foggy Notion (Tomlab / Castle Face) cd + dvd 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Thee Hounds of Foggy Notion may be a live cd / dvd set of this venerable SF outfit, but it also serves as a "best of" of sorts as well. Pulled mostly from the last four records, the point the band changed their name from OCS to its many incarnations of "Ohsees", "The Oh sees", or "Thee Ohsees", and the record titles went from numbers to quasi-absurdist phrases. Those who may shy away from live albums over fidelity issues should not fret here, as Dwyer and his cohorts are seasoned and energetic live players and hi-fidelity has never been a major concern on their studio records anyway; so there's really not a discernible distinction between live and studio sound quality. In fact, this may be just as good as a starting point into the band as any one of their studio records, which just keep getting better and better. Got to love a band that can move so effortlessly from southern garage to one of the best Shirley Collins interpretations ("Highland Wife's Lament") we've heard in awhile. Plus the dvd showcases the band's wild and wooly performances.
MPEG Stream: "Guilded Cunt"
MPEG Stream: "Thee Hounds of Foggy Notion"
MPEG Stream: "Highland Wife's Lament"

OH SEES, THEE Thee Hounds Of Foggy Notion (Captcha) lp+dvd 22.00
BACK IN PRINT AND AVAILABLE AGAIN ON VINYL!!
Thee Hounds of Foggy Notion may be a live lp / dvd set of this venerable SF outfit, but it also serves as a "best of" of sorts as well. Pulled mostly from the last four records, the point the band changed their name from OCS to its many incarnations of "Ohsees", "The Oh sees", or "Thee Ohsees", and the record titles went from numbers to quasi-absurdist phrases. Those who may shy away from live albums over fidelity issues should not fret here, as Dwyer and his cohorts are seasoned and energetic live players and hi-fidelity has never been a major concern on their studio records anyway; so there's really not a discernible distinction between live and studio sound quality. In fact, this may be just as good as a starting point into the band as any one of their studio records, which just keep getting better and better. Got to love a band that can move so effortlessly from southern garage to one of the best Shirley Collins interpretations ("Highland Wife's Lament") we've heard in awhile. Plus the dvd showcases the band's wild and wooly performances.
MPEG Stream: "Guilded Cunt"
MPEG Stream: "Thee Hounds of Foggy Notion"
MPEG Stream: "Highland Wife's Lament"

OH SEES, THEE Thee Hounds Of Foggy Notion / Dog Poison (Burger Records) cassette 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now, two of your favorite records by Thee Oh Sees, combined on a single cassette, designed to look like one of those old school record club tapes. Pretty cool how Burger is doing this series of Oh Sees cassette tape 2-fers.
Thee Hounds Of Foggy Notion:
Originally a cd/dvd live record, this "best of" features some of our favorite tracks from some of our favorite records, beginning at the point when the band changed their name from OCS to its many incarnations of "Ohsees", "The Oh sees", or "Thee Ohsees", and the record titles went from numbers to quasi-absurdist phrases. Those who may shy away from live albums over fidelity issues should not fret here, as Dwyer and his cohorts are seasoned and energetic live players and hi-fidelity has never been a major concern on their studio records anyway; so there's really not a discernible distinction between live and studio sound quality. In fact, this may be just as good as a starting point into the band as any one of their studio records, which just keep getting better and better. Got to love a band that can move so effortlessly from southern garage to one of the best Shirley Collins interpretations ("Highland Wife's Lament") we've heard in awhile.
Dog Poison:
John Dwyer, one of the most prolific performers in recent memory, returns with yet another new record by his band Thee Oh Sees. And by "his band" we are not discounting the contributions of the other members because on Dog Poison, all the instruments are played by J.P.D. all by himself! Percussion, guitars, vocals, keyboards, even a flute on a few of the tracks. Though definitely more fuzzed out and raucous than Help, the last Oh Sees full-length, Dog Poison draws on similar veins of '60s pop and proto-punk, sculpting songs only one of which is over three minutes (and that just barely). Way more loud and rocking than other releases that were all Dwyer, it makes sense that Dog Poison is ostensibly by "Thee Oh Sees" rather than "OCS" or some other variation on that theme. It's like the old OCS is emulating what has become Thee new Oh Sees.
Those of you who think you might miss the boy/girl vocals of other Oh Sees releases, do not despair. There are multiple vocal layers on almost all of the tracks, most using "regular" singing and falsetto that echoes the perfect combination John and Brigid have found on other recordings. Sometimes, as on "The Sun Goes All Around", the lead falsetto vocals are backed up by (believe it) even higher falsetto backing vocals. Clocking in at just under 25 minutes, these 10 songs will have you on the dance floor in no time.
MPEG Stream: "Guilded Cunt"
MPEG Stream: "Thee Hounds of Foggy Notion"
MPEG Stream: "Highland Wife's Lament"
MPEG Stream: "The River Rushes (To Screw MD Over)"
MPEG Stream: "Fake Song"
MPEG Stream: "Dead Energy"

OH SEES, THEE Tidal Wave (Woodsist) 7" 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
When you're on...you're on...and if you are The Oh Sees these days, you ARE ON FUCKING FIRE!!! Seriously we haven't seen a band hit a sizzling stride like Thee Oh Sees are currently experiencing in AGES. So we welcome the tidal wave (yes, we went there) of releases from them in the last year with totally open and eager ears. Their newest album Help, an aQ Record Of The Week recently, will most likely find it's way on to many of our year end favorites list, we can't stop listening to it! So it should come as little surprise that these two new non-album tracks are also totally perfect, ultra catchy blasts of pure garage pop genius! It's actually such a perfect time for Thee Oh Sees to be cutting singles as they seem able to continually whip up memorable, endearing and super kick ass songs, which will hopefully mean more singles to come!
Makes perfect sense that Tidal Wave was released on Woodsist and the full length came out on In The Red, as both of those labels sounds lately, perhaps owe a sonic debt to the blown out magic Jon Dwyer has been blasting out for the last decade. Get one while you can!

OH SEES, THEE Warm Slime (In The Red) cd 13.98
More awesome fuzzy distorted sixties style garage rock from Mr. John Dwyer and his Oh Sees, the first full length, full band effort after Dog Poison, the record on which Dwyer played all the instruments himself. It's easy to forget just how great Thee Oh Sees are, and what a great songwriter Dwyer really is, after all the sweaty chaotic live shows, non stop touring, record after record, but holy shit are these tracks killer. Especially the 13+ minute title track that opens up the record, beginning with two minutes of classic super catchy Oh Sees, super distorted guitars, a cool stuttery rhythm, reverb all over the place, howled echoed vox, and lots and lots of 'ooooooh's, surely plenty for a song, but "Warm Slime" has way more to offer with its next 10 or so minutes, a cool extended breakdown with a loping drum beat, some sixties girl group sounding vocals, jagged bursts of vocal / guitar crunch, super trancey and hypnotic, in the style of classic sixties funk and soul breakdowns, where live, probably the band is introduced, or there's some interaction with the crowd, but on the record, it's just a chance for the band to spread out and lock into a super minimal groove, and see just what they can do with it.
The other six tracks are mostly just what we've come to expect (and want) from Dwyer and company. Fuzzy echo drenched sweat soaked garage pop, loads of buzz and howl and crunch, kick ass drumming, lots of hooks, more oooh's and aaah's, but there are a couple surprises, most notably the fuzzed out, super distorted drone rock dirge of "Flash Bats", a hazy sprawling motorik druggy groove that finds the Oh Sees getting all Shjips style, which most definitely suits them, big time. As always awesome. And if like us, you're STILL hankering for more, it's always good to know that it probably won't be all that long before the next record drops. We'll be ready.
MPEG Stream: "Warm Slime"
MPEG Stream: "I Was Denied"
MPEG Stream: "Everything Went Black"

OH SEES, THEE Warm Slime (In The Red) lp 13.98
More awesome fuzzy distorted sixties style garage rock from Mr. John Dwyer and his Oh Sees, the first full length, full band effort after Dog Poison, the record on which Dwyer played all the instruments himself. It's easy to forget just how great Thee Oh Sees are, and what a great songwriter Dwyer really is, after all the sweaty chaotic live shows, non stop touring, record after record, but holy shit are these tracks killer. Especially the 13+ minute title track that opens up the record, beginning with two minutes of classic super catchy Oh Sees, super distorted guitars, a cool stuttery rhythm, reverb all over the place, howled echoed vox, and lots and lots of 'ooooooh's, surely plenty for a song, but "Warm Slime" has way more to offer with its next 10 or so minutes, a cool extended breakdown with a loping drum beat, some sixties girl group sounding vocals, jagged bursts of vocal / guitar crunch, super trancey and hypnotic, in the style of classic sixties funk and soul breakdowns, where live, probably the band is introduced, or there's some interaction with the crowd, but on the record, it's just a chance for the band to spread out and lock into a super minimal groove, and see just what they can do with it.
The other six tracks are mostly just what we've come to expect (and want) from Dwyer and company. Fuzzy echo drenched sweat soaked garage pop, loads of buzz and howl and crunch, kick ass drumming, lots of hooks, more oooh's and aaah's, but there are a couple surprises, most notably the fuzzed out, super distorted drone rock dirge of "Flash Bats", a hazy sprawling motorik druggy groove that finds the Oh Sees getting all Shjips style, which most definitely suits them, big time. As always awesome. And if like us, you're STILL hankering for more, it's always good to know that it probably won't be all that long before the next record drops. We'll be ready.
MPEG Stream: "Warm Slime"
MPEG Stream: "I Was Denied"
MPEG Stream: "Everything Went Black"

OH SEES, THEE Zork's Tape Bruise (Kill Shaman) lp+cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It's been raining Oh Sees around here lately, culminating in their most recent record Help being an aQ Record Of The Week. And here we are a couple weeks later, and whattayaknow, another new Oh Sees, although this is not quite a new record, instead it's a collection of odds and ends, home recorded experiments and unused songs, demos and that sort of stuff. We were warned that it was harsh and noisy and it sort of is, but some of these songs RULE, in fact, the more we listen to this, the more it might begin to give Help a run for its money as our favorite Oh Sees record.
A constantly shifting swirl of super lo-fi effects, dubbed out rhythms, pounding in the red garage rock jams, falsetto vocals, everything delayed, reverbed and blown the fuck out, feedback, warped buzz, clatter and clang, processed alien vox, angular riffage, flutes, jazzy grooves, all tangled up into a constantly shifting hodge podge of sonic lo-fi garage pop detritus, but, and it is indeed a big BUT, within all that wild freaking out and experimentation, are some seriously catchy tunes, only made all the cooler by all the noise and chaos, a bit like the old Iran records, total pure pop, doused in sonic chaos. Needless to say, if you're a fan, this is another essential release. And we have the last 20 copies, though it is being repressed sometime soon, so when we run out, it won't be long before we get more.
PLUS, this lp only release comes with a cd too, a compilation of singles, songs from splits and compilations as well as some unreleased stuff as well, so all the Peanut Butter Oven songs, the songs from the split with the Intelligence and more more more!

OH SEES, THEE / THE INTELLIGENCE s/t (Mt. St. Mtn.) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Sounds like our buddy, Thee Ohsees mastermind and man about town Jon Dwyer, has fallen in love all over again with the sound of raw garage rock. The last Ohsees album was way more punchy and rocking than previous releases, and now this split finds Dwyer sounding almost as fierce as he did in his Coachwhips days! Yet, he's still managed to find awesome ways to add a little something extra n' arty to that Ohsees sound.
The two Ohsees songs end before you know it but they're so good and infectious that we've just been playing them over and over and over.
Meanwhile, The Intelligence make a great foil for Thee Ohsees as they know a thing or two about how much more rad garage rock sounds when it's doused in reverb, crumbling keyboards and lo-fi vocals. Lars Finberg, the mastermind of The Intelligence (and a former member of the A-Frames) has had a bunch of records on In The Red which makes perfect sense as they have become THE label for bands with true raw garage spirit. Their three songs on this split, including a Vulvettes cover are such perfect blasts of haunting and infectious lo-fi garage rock ass kickery.
Features awesome artwork by Jay Howell and Joe Roberts and is already out of print at the label so you better act fast if you want one of these.

OH SEES, THEE / TOTAL CONTROL split (Castle Face) lp 14.98
This one hardly needs much of a description. SF garage pop darlings Thee Oh Sees teamed up with Aussie gloom poppers Total Control, 4 songs each, all pretty dang great! Thee Oh Sees side is appropriately rambunctious and chaotic, wild and noisy and jangly with plenty of surfy twang, dollops of reverb, John Dwyer's almost cartoonish high pitched echo drenched yelp, super melodic and catchy, and with Thee Oh Sees, you have to know that there's much more going on than what's just on the surface, sure it's sweaty and wild and invokes much shaking and bouncing, but the band are tight as fuck and weave intricate layers and strange harmonies, and the songs are surprisingly complex, slipping from frenzied avalanche of noisy sound to almost fifties sounding reverby shuffles, but just check out the last few minutes of the final track, "Blood In Your Ear", with its swirling falsetto vox and soaring melodies all suspended amidst lush swirls and shimmers, pretty goddamn divine.
Total Control counter with their own brand of gloomy garage pop, another clutch of songs that ranks up their with their best, dirgey, droney, minor key, haunting and moody, peppered with blasts of full on distorto punk garage crunch, culminating in their last track, a gorgeous minimal low slung slither of layered guitar drones, rumbling bassline, laid back weary vox, a darkly depressive broody ballad that explodes in the second half into tense angular soft cacophony, that ends way too soon.
Cool cover art. Includes a download card too.
MPEG Stream: THEE OH SEES "Blood In Your Ear"
MPEG Stream: TOTAL CONTROL "Sweaty"

OH SEES, THEE / TY SEGALL split (Castle Face) 7" 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Thee Oh Sees and Ty Segall cover each other on this brand new smokin' seven inch. We really don't need to say anything more. Anyone who's been listening to the current wave of charged, blown out garage pop these days knows that these are two of the most potent forces in the game. Thee Oh Sees are coming off what we think may be one of the best records of the year, Help, and Ty Segall's debut was one of our favorites of '08. So rad to hear them tackle each other's songs. Thee Oh Sees do "The Drag" with a deep-in-the-void reverb filled flair that suits the song so well. Ty does "Maria Stacks" from The Master's Bedroom Is Worth Spending A Night In, a song which might just be Andee's favorite Oh Sees jam, not just cuz it's hooky and catchy, but it also immortalizes AQ pal and amazing artist/zine-maker Maria Forde. Ty finds a way to make the song a bit more lo-fi and fucked up sounding while still holding on to the great melody that makes the original stick like it does. Pretty much a no-brainer, best grab one of these while you can!

OH-OK The Complete Recordings (Collector's Choice) cd 16.98
First appearance on cd, methinks, for this winsome Athens, GA quartet who made music between '81 and '84. Led by Lynda Stipe (yep, Michael's sister), Oh-OK employed singsong two-girl vocals, minimal yet interesting drumming, Lynda's rubbery, super catchy bass lines bouncing along at a cheerful pace, and a simple, off-the-cuff stripped down sound. Way ahead of their time, they should properly be mentioned in the same breath as their contemporaries The Pastels, Young Marble Giants, The Raincoats, etc. (They were quite a bit sweeter than YMG and Raincoats, mind you.) Features their entire recorded output -- a mere two EPs -- plus a whopping 13 extra live tracks of songs they never got around to recording (including Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer", which they remake in their own 'girls in the garage' style). All in all a nice, overdue package, with liner notes by Christgau, clippings 'n reviews, and produced by AQ fave customer and Perfect Sound Forever editor Jason Gross.
RealAudio clip: "Such N Such"
RealAudio clip: "Lilting"

OHARU/GUAPO (Pandemonium) 7" 3.99
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
G: Proggy post rock.
O: Dazzling Killmen style precision math metal.

OHGR SunnyPsyOp (Spitfire) cd 16.98
Although the opening track "HiLO" seems to start things out in a similar fashion, as a whole SunnyPsyOp is definitely not as Numanesque and pop-oriented as Ohgr's previous album Welt. So if you were craving more of the same, unfortunately you'll just have to keep spinning the former 'cause this takes a somewhat different path. However, it's not completely off the map of Ohgr. If you're seeking more of a bridge between Skinny Puppy (the project that Ohgr is best know for, where he recorded as Nivek Ogre) and the abovementioned album - something somewhat more somber and abstract, more skin-crawling and mind-bending - this might be for you. Whereas Welt might've made you want to get up and move about, SunnyPsyOp might make you want to settle down into brood mode with a sturdy set of headphones. Shades of Nivek Ogre's Skinny Puppy roots surface here - perhaps as a result of the recent reunion of said group (that's right, we can expect a new album from Cevin Key, Ogre and co. very shortly! - listen... are those celebratory cheers coming up from the catacombs?). Of course it sounds great. Much like his SP bandmate, sonic craftsman / mad genius Key, Ogre's gained another well-suited, producer / multi-instrumentalist in Mark Walk (Pigface, Ruby). He skillfully fills your ears with rich synthesizer textures, sharply puncturing beats and intricate details and captures Ogre's deeply emotive and affected voice in fine form. With cover art by Camille Rose Garcia. Includes a video for the track "Majik".
MPEG Stream: "HiLO"
MPEG Stream: "Chemtale"

OHGR Welt (Spitfire) cd 16.98
Throughout the '80's/90's, Vancouver surrealists Skinny Puppy were a group ahead of their time. Laced with film dialogue samples (one of the first and best, if you ask me) and seething emotion, their highly visceral and visual music seemed to reverberate from the future much like that of Throbbing Gristle, Suicide, and Cabaret Voltaire before them. Much more experimental and sonically out-there than Ministry and bands they were eventually lumped in with, SP undeniably cut a deep and indelible mark in the pages of music history - in the years since, countless bands have shamelessly plundered their trunk of aural pleasures (Trent Reznor,etc) and macabre visuals (Marilyn Manson,etc). When they disbanded following the death of member Dwayne Goettel in 1995, multi-instrumentalist Cevin Key paused but a moment before immersing himself in a rash of other projects - Tear Garden and Download to name but two - and launching his own studio and label in LA. Frontman Nivek Ogre, on the other hand (with the exception of his 1998 collaborative effort with Martin Atkins entitled Rx), seemed to simply vanish into the shadows. until now. This album was completed and ready for release in the mid-late '90s under the moniker W.E.L.T., however the legal shackles of American Recordings kept it in limbo until Ogre's contract expired in 1999. Reworked, refreshed, and actually re-recorded, the album now finds its home on Spitfire Records, with the moniker changed to 'OHGR' and the album itself called 'WELT'. Heavy synth grooves and hooks reminiscent of early SP material ('Bites'), or even recent Gary Numan. with Ogre actually SINGING (as opposed to screeching under racks of effects), most of these songs are downright catchy synth-industro-pop(!) with a lot of current electronic music sounding more and more like old Skinny Puppy, this just might be Ogre's time. Surprisingly contemporary. Hey everyone (and especially all you kids that are going to the Ozz-fest this year): recommended listening!
RealAudio clip: "cracker"
RealAudio clip: "water"

OHIOAN & NATIVE KIN Being Of The Good River (Casanova Temptations) lp 11.98

OHMWAR s/t (self-released) 7" 4.98
Debut 7" from these Canadian noise rock garage punks, whose sounds is in fact just that, a killer mix of old school punk rock, noise rock, and punk metal a la early Maiden, Motorhead, or for something more modern, maybe Speedwolf. But where Speedwolf fall squarely in the metal camp, Ohmwar are way more PUNK. These five songs kill though, wild riffing, with shredding leads here and there, fierce and furious drumming, the vocals a feral yowl, the songs pretty straight ahead, but with plenty of surprises, like the super melodic breakdown in "We Must Fly", or the opening of "Land Of Laughs" which is a dead ringer for old Iron Maiden, as is the closer "Eisentsten" with the bassline driving the whole song, and the main riff the bastard son of Maiden's "Prowler". And as much as we love punk rock, it's the more metallic moments here that seal the deal. But for anyone who digs punky metallic heaviness, this will definitely get your blood pumping, or your head banging, or whatever, just buy it.
LIMITED TO 300 COPIES!!

OHO Okinawa (Vintage / Rockadrome) cd 14.98
Whew! Housed in a bright pink digipack, this is a seriously WEIRD reissue (or not so seriously, 'cause it's pretty silly, but weird in any case). 30 tracks, 74 minutes of pure WTF?, '70s style. A private press rarity from Baltimore, originally released in 1974, OHO's Okinawa is one of those obscure underground '70s artifacts that combine experimental prog, psych, and proto-punk into one trippy package. Deserving of whatever cult status it has, no doubt.
Some folks will be drawn to this for its garagey, manic energy and and shocking angular guitar action, but you gotta be able to deal with the gonzoid goofiness too. And unhinged vocals that even have a bit of Jello Biafra-like warble to 'em... though sometimes the singing is quite lovely, like at the outset of the song "A Frog For You", which features a chorus of voices sweetly intoning such lines as: "What's that on your face... it looks like shit... ", before some screaming begins, and someone yells, "Let's rock!", and indeed they do, (sarcastically?) channelling Chuck Berry/Jerry Lee Lewis, tossing in some Zeppish riffs too.
We'd have to assume that these musicians had some Frank Zappa and the Mothers records in their collections. But they avoid jazzy wank (though there are horns), and their hippy freak humor isn't as obnoxious as your typical Zappa fare. Less scatological, more surreal and non-sequitur. Song titles like "Ain't Life Dumb", "Brown Algae Is Attractive", "The Unfortunate Frankfurter Vendor", "Hairy Bag", "Chess Is Boring", "Fast Bananas", and "Pale Hippo" might give you some idea. Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd could be another inspiration for all this trippiness, they also kinda remind us of the Hampton Grease Band, Beefheart, and some of the wackier British prog acts of the ear.
This handsomely packaged, remastered reissue, includes a ton of bonus material recorded at the album sessions that wasn't included on the original release. We mentioned 30 tracks (some of them but brief interludes), only 16 actually appeared on the 1974 lp. But now that it's on cd, you get the entire extreme OHO Okinawa experience/overload as it was meant to be. It's acid-fried, theatrical, quite intentionally insane, and actually pretty amusing... plus prog and hard psych types will enjoy all the distorted guitar stabs and crazy changes. Fans of modern day, mathy indie pop acts like Heavy Vegetable might also dig.
MPEG Stream: "Duva"
MPEG Stream: "Hypenate Ice-less"
MPEG Stream: "A Frog For You"
MPEG Stream: "Plymouth Ascendants"

OHR MUSIC Friction Burns (Captain Trip) cd 17.98
Captain Trip presents Ohr's retro 60's cosmic grooves with faux mellotron samples, stoned thud rock basslines, ample wah-wah guitar phasing, and hypno-rock structures. If Circle wore paisleys.

OIL TASTERS s/t (Lexicon Devil) cd 16.98

OK GO Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky (Capitol) cd 12.98

MPEG Stream: "WTF?"
MPEG Stream: "This Too Shall Pass"
MPEG Stream: "White Knuckles"

OK GO Oh No (Capitol) cd 17.98

OKAY High Road (Absolutely Kosher) cd 14.98
Now thanks to Okay's two new albums, you can choose to take the High Road AND the Low Road... Haha! Ahem, this is the new project of Mr. Marty Anderson (also of Dilute). Both albums are filled with bright slightly eccentric folk pop songs a la Donovan, or more recently Destroyer's Dan Bejar, Devendra Banhart or Frog Eyes' Casey Mercer. Vocally this also sounds a lot like a younger sibling of Marianne Faithfull or Nico (i.e, the gravelly warble of a lifelong smoker). The backdrops to Anderson's off-kilter vocals are breezily swaying, ultra pretty arrangements. So nice and gentle! If we had to choose one to start with, it'd really be a hard choice to make -- they're pretty evenly matched -- but we'd probably go with the High Road 'cause it might just be our imagination, but it seems to be just a little bit more lush and fully realized (particularly the third and fourth songs "Have" and "Compass").
MPEG Stream: "Have"
MPEG Stream: "Compass"

OKAY Low Road (Absolutely Kosher) cd 14.98
Now thanks to Okay's two new albums, you can choose to take the High Road AND the Low Road... Haha! Ahem, this is the new project of Mr. Marty Anderson (also of Dilute). Both albums are filled with bright slightly eccentric folk pop songs a la Donovan, or more recently Destroyer's Dan Bejar, Devendra Banhart or Frog Eyes' Casey Mercer. Vocally this also sounds a lot like a younger sibling of Marianne Faithfull or Nico (i.e, the gravelly warble of a lifelong smoker). The backdrops to Anderson's off-kilter vocals are breezily swaying, ultra pretty arrangements. So nice and gentle! If we had to choose one to start with, it'd really be a hard choice to make -- they're pretty evenly matched -- but we'd probably go with the High Road 'cause it might just be our imagination, but it seems to be just a little bit more lush and fully realized (particularly the third and fourth songs "Have" and "Compass").
MPEG Stream: "Bloody"
MPEG Stream: "Devil"

OKKERVIL RIVER Black Sheep Boy (Jagjaguwar) cd 14.98
Hmmm, don't recall Okkervil River sounding quite like they do on a number of these new songs. Imagine an older Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes) filling in as the frontman for slick alt-rock bands such as Counting Crows or Gin Blossoms. Maybe they're seeking a broader more mainstream audience? Dunno, just not sure it really works for them, at least not on Black Sheep Boy (fyi: the album is named after a Tim Hardin song which Okkervil River also chose to be the album's opening song, and a fine version it is!). Lead singer Will Sheff is known to be a empassioned, angstful vocalist, but the band's feverish performance on the more rockin' tunes still comes across a little forced. To boot, the mix seems off balance between the vocals and the too-loud bursts of electric guitar. You can get a sense of the dynamic that they were trying to capture, but again it's not quite 'there'. That said, the album's high point -- and also the point where things take a general shift for the better -- is the fifth song "Get Big" on which Sheff duets in beautiful world-weary fashion with Amy Annelle (of The Places). It's downright heartbreaking! After that the band mellows down and allows the melancholia to extinguish the rock flames in a flood of whiskey and tears. These slower, moodier numbers' arrangements are tastefully fleshed out with pump organ, mandolin, lap steel, wurlitzer, vibraphone, synthesizers, horns, strings, samples and field recordings. This is where Sheff (also the band's main songwriter) truly shines. Composing and performing songs of lush somber beauty are his forte. Indeed, since they insist on mixing their two very different personalities on each album, if you prefer one better that the other (as we do), it can make for a somewhat exasperatingly jarring listening experience. That said, the album's highlights are well worth the frustration.
MPEG Stream: "Get Big"
MPEG Stream: "So Come Back, I Am Waiting"

OKKERVIL RIVER Black Sheep Boy - Definitive Double-Disc Set) (Jagjaguwar) 2cd 14.98
Hmmmm, it might seem a bit strange to have a so-called "definitive" version of such a relatively young release, (heck, we weren't so sure of the original full length - see below) but after hearing this in its entirety, it doesn't seem odd at all. Y'see, Okkervil River's 2005 album was only one piece of their ambitious Black Sheep Boy concept puzzle. This double disc brings it all together -- the original album, the companion cdep Appendix, and the song "The Next Four Months" (previously available on their "For Real" single). Also included are videos for that song and an alternate version of "No Key, No Plan".
Here's what we said about the original 2005 version:
Hmmm, don't recall Okkervil River sounding quite like they do on a number of these new songs. Imagine an older Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes) filling in as the frontman for slick alt-rock bands such as Counting Crows or Gin Blossoms. Maybe they're seeking a broader more mainstream audience? Dunno, just not sure it really works for them, at least not on Black Sheep Boy (fyi: the album is named after a Tim Hardin song which Okkervil River also chose to be the album's opening song, and a fine version it is!). Lead singer Will Sheff is known to be a impassioned, angstful vocalist, but the band's feverish performance on the more rockin' tunes still comes across a little forced. To boot, the mix seems off balance between the vocals and the too-loud bursts of electric guitar. You can get a sense of the dynamic that they were trying to capture, but again it's not quite 'there'. That said, the album's high point -- and also the point where things take a general shift for the better -- is the fifth song "Get Big" on which Sheff duets in beautiful world-weary fashion with Amy Annelle (of The Places). It's downright heartbreaking! After that the band mellows down and allows the melancholia to extinguish the rock flames in a flood of whiskey and tears. These slower, moodier numbers' arrangements are tastefully fleshed out with pump organ, mandolin, lap steel, Wurlitzer, vibraphone, synthesizers, horns, strings, samples and field recordings. This is where Sheff (also the band's main songwriter) truly shines. Composing and performing songs of lush somber beauty are his forte. Indeed, since they insist on mixing their two very different personalities on each album, if you prefer one better that the other (as we do), it can make for a somewhat exasperatingly jarring listening experience. That said, the album's highlights are well worth the frustration.
MPEG Stream: "Get Big"
MPEG Stream: "So Come Back, I Am Waiting"

OKKERVIL RIVER Down the River of Golden Dreams (Jagjaguwar) cd 14.98
Hot on the heels of their split cd with the lovely Ms Julie Doiron, Okkervil River offer up their third full length. The title is Down The River Of Golden Dreams, but it just as well could be Down The Country Road To Downerville. This is the earthy music of despairing hearts and troubled minds. In-store play has drawn divergent vocal comparisons to Ray Davies and Jarvis Cocker, although it must be noted that neither of those two fine chanteurs would be tarnishing the tuning fork quite as much as Okkervil River do. I'm sure they're shooting for the I-can-barely contain-myself kind of expressiveness, but sometimes it drew winces. Still, when you're practically singing into the wrong end of a shotgun, who's gonna do multiple takes to get in key?
MPEG Stream: "It Ends With A Fall "
MPEG Stream: "Blanket And Crib"

OKKERVIL RIVER President's Dead (Jagjaguwar) 12" 9.98
It's perfectly understandable that those dear lads in Okkervil River would need to take a bit of a breather after their densely packed 2005 album Black Sheep Boy, but their silence didn't last too long. They hit the road for a spell and then swiftly released this limited edition vinyl 12" in the waning days of 2006. The title track might be familiar to some eagle-eared fans as it also appeared on an Australian tour only release, and has been performed live in concert by the band. The flipside is an equally dark, distressed song titled "The Room I'm Hiding In". Heartrending poetic twang.

OKKERVIL RIVER The Stage Names (Jagjaguwar) cd 14.98
Now that Mr. Bright Eyes is all grown up, can we still describe another band's music as sounding like "an older Conor Oberst"? Well, we are and they do. The swagger of Okkervil River's latest album is also very reminiscent of Pulp and U2. That said, we stress that although it is a little odd that this Austin, TX band really does sound quite a bit like a few of their contemporaries, their music is pretty darn great in its own right. Will Sheff and Co. make fine rock'n'twang, and on this their follow-up to their monumental Black Sheep Boy album they've fortunately stepped back from the precipice of the mainstream modern rock slickness. There are a few departures from their tried and true too. On songs such as "You Can't Hold The Hand Of A Rock And Roll Man" they churn up the late night glam rock ghost of T. Rex.
MPEG Stream: "Savannah Smiles"
MPEG Stream: "You Can't Hold The Hand Of A Rock And Roll Man"

OKKO Sitar & Electronics (Kismet) cd 17.98
This week the Kismet label brings us two rare sitar infused flower power psychsploitation oddities: The far-out mindwarping "children's" record for the hippie acid kids, Kali Bahlu Takes The Forest Children On A Journey of Cosmic Remembrance from 1967 (reviewed elsewhere on this list) and this 1971 sitar and electronics groover from Holland's Okko!
Just like the title suggests, this is Dutch musician, Okko Bekker composing original tunes and performing covers for Sitar and Electronics. Taking a less druggy and more groovy and jazzier tact than the Kahli Bahlu record, Bekker covers the Beatles and channels Hendrix, following the likes of Big Jim Sullivan (Lord Jim), Bill Plummer, and Gabor Szabo into pop sitar territory. This is probably a bit more heavy and far out than the others, but it still definitely falls more under the category of lounge exotica than into any head-expanding territory of its own. Though it come close on "Pointed Sails on Ganges" the most Eastern of any of the tracks offered here, and the one that most sounds like the cover looks. Still pretty damn groovy!
MPEG Stream: "Ganges Delta"
MPEG Stream: "Shivas Lullaby"
MPEG Stream: "If I Needed Someone"
MPEG Stream: "Santana"

OLAUSSON, JAKOB Moonlight Farm (De Stijl) cd 13.98
Meandering hazy four-track psych-folk here from a Swedish sugar-beet farmer (so we're told) by the name of Jakob Olausson, whose deep voice and acoustic guitar wooze wends through these gently-hewn tracks like a wannabe Kiss The Anus Of The Black Cat (that's a weird thing to say), but as though he's bringing his songs along to the farmer's market to offer 'em up honestly along with his equally earthy, dirt-covered root vegetables, which is to say, that this is nice and muddy sounding.
MPEG Stream: "What Will Tomorrow Bring"
MPEG Stream: "Silhouette V"

OLD 97'S Alive & Wired (New West) 2cd 24.00
Those Old 97s have always kicked butt live -- ever on the verge of losing control of their musical pickup truck careening down those rural roads, narrowly missin' a chicken, clippin' a roadside mailbox, topplin' some jugs o' moonshine along the way (not that they nor we are condoning drinkin'n'drivin'!). And here's a great document of the band in all their unbound Texan glory! A whopping thirty songs! A rambunctious country rock delight! For fans of Uncle Tupelo, Bottle Rockets, the country moments of Mekons, and maybe even ol' Lynyrd Skynyrd too.
MPEG Stream: "Melt Show"
MPEG Stream: "The New Kid"

OLD 97'S Blame it on Gravity (New West) cd 15.98

OLD 97'S Drag It Up (New West) cd 16.98
The Old 97's Too Far To Care was one of our favorite records ever. When that came out in 1997 there was a good chance that no matter when you came into the store, it would be blasting on the stereo. And why the hell not?! It was a perfect rollicking rambunctious blast of super hooky, super catchy No Depression pop. Every song on that record was a classic. But much to our horror, the band plunged into vapid MTV fodder before our very eyes. Putting out a handful of totally lame, faceless records, including an awful solo record from 97's frontman Rhett Miller. We kept waiting, and hoping, that they would bounce back and kick our asses again. Well, after years of waiting, they finally have. Pretty much. Drag It Up while not quite as good as Too Far To Care, is a vast improvement and a darn good record. Catchy and twangy, with wry lyrics and some wicked playing. We knew they had it in them. Our only complaints this time around are the recycled melodies, lots of these songs sound remarkable like old Old 97's tunes (which is maybe why suddenly they sound so good) and the weirdly muddy production. That said though, this is still a pretty darn good record, if only they hadn't set the bar so high.
MPEG Stream: "Won't Be Home"
MPEG Stream: "Moonlight"

OLD 97'S Early Tracks (Bloodshot) cd 12.98
For those of you, like some of us, that were slightly disappointed with the Old 97's last release, here's something to whet those partched lips. Containing four tracks from two long out of print from 1995 & 1996, plus four never before released tracks. More catchy than "Hitchhike To Rhome," and less polished than "Too Far To Care," this album is sure to please.

OLD 97'S Satellite Rides (Elektra) 2cd 17.98
With baited breath, er, ears, we cracked open the new Old 97's. Would it live up to the brilliance of "Too Far To Care", or follow in the mediocrity of "Fight Songs"? Sadly, the verdict falls to the latter. No amount of re-attempts to listen to this album brings our opinion any higher as well. It seems as if the boys have just lost the ability to write smart and catchy songs, country pop or no country pop. As a further disappointment, they've included a bonus cd with one unreleased studio track and 5 live tracks recorded at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley in 1999 which absolutely suck. This is pretty surprising considering how great Old 97's are as a live band. Sigh... Oh well, maybe next time?

OLD 97'S Too Far To Care (15th Anniversary Edition) (Omnivore) 2cd 21.00
When this first came out way back in 1997, Andee and former aQ staffer Byram played this constantly, at least three times a day. Literally. It was and still is easily one of THEE best No Depression style records, and even now, 15 years later, it sounds as good as ever. With hook laden, lyrically shrewd song-writing, and serious kick ass rocking, the Old 97's are probably the only band of the No Depression movement to capture the intensity of early Uncle Tupelo without losing the earnestness or twang. The first song alone, "Timebomb," will get stuck in your head forever. And hearing it again after all these years, had us wishing the rest of the Old 97's records were this good. And it just doesn't let up, not a single dud in the bunch, "Big Brown Eyes" is another stone cold classic, not to mention the final track on the album proper, a singularly kick-ass number, features a duet with Exene from X, the sound an even balance between earnest twang flecked classic country balladry and wild rollicking punk infused country rock, with some of the catchiest songs EVER.
This deluxe edition features fancy new packaging with extensive liner notes from Old 97's frontman Rhett Miller, but more importantly, a BUNCH of bonus tracks, including four outtakes from the Too Far To Care sessions, and a whole disc of previously unreleased demos, including a handful of never before heard songs!!
MPEG Stream: "Timebomb"
MPEG Stream: "Big Brown Eyes"
MPEG Stream: "Four Leaf Clover"

OLD 97'S Too Far Too Care (Elektra) cd 15.98
When this came out in 1997 Andee and Byram played this at least three times a day. With hook laden, lyrically shrewd song-writing, the Old 97's are the only band of the "no depression" movement to capture the intensity of early Uncle Tupelo without losing the earnestness or twang. The first song alone, "Timebomb," will get stuck in your head forever. Plus, the final track on the album, a singularly kick-ass number, features a duet with Exene from X.

OLD 97'S Wreck Your Life (Bloodshot) cd 12.98

OLD MAN GLOOM Christmas Eve I & II + 6 + Live in NYC (Tortuga / Hydrahead) lp 24.00
This all time aQ favorite, originally a cute little 3" cd, was recently resurrected and pressed onto vinyl for this year's Black Friday "Record Store Day", but as is the way with those things, got delayed and delayed, and only just recently showed up here. Needless to say, if you don't already own this, or have been dying for it on vinyl, this may be your only chance. And for those of you who like us, dream about the day OMG return to rule, this just might tide you over until then. Here's our (slightly revised) review from when we first listed it way back in 2004:
Our favorite primate-obsessed doom metal drone outfit finally return! Old Man Gloom are back with a three inch ep (now 12" lp) to hold us over until their next epic. The centerpiece is the two part "Christmas Eve". The first part is all dreamy drone-y acoustic guitar strum and mournful electric guitar melodies over an ominous rumble that becomes a thick sheet of amps-gone-wild before dissolving into misty ambience again. Part two starts off just like part one but is quickly transformed into a hyper distorted, black hole dirge, with earth crushing downtuned guitars and chanted vocals sounding not unlike Alice In Chains slowed down and run through a bank of distortion pedals (which is definitely a good thing). The rest of the tracks are random bits of OMG ephemera: a thirty second blast of shrieking downtuned metallic grind, two tracks entitled Masami's Music Box I and II, presumably Masami Akita aka Merzbow contributing two thirty second bursts of uncharacteristically sweet melody and ambient hum, and a bonus track, a Mr. Big cover that is so stupid that it's funny (sort of), but has such an amazing ending (why hasn't anyone done this before, but more importantly, how the fuck did they do it) that it would be unfair for us to deprive you of discovering it for yourself. Just don't complain to us when you finally hear it. There is nothing wrong. It's just the OMG Simian Alien Defense League fucking with your mind! Resistance is futile!
LIMITED TO 1000 COPIES. In heavy swank cardstock sleeves, printed in yellow and blue, with all new artwork!
MPEG Stream: "Christmas Eve Pt. II"
MPEG Stream: "Skull Of Geronimo"
MPEG Stream: "Masami's Music Box 1"

OLD MAN GLOOM Meditation in B (Tortuga ) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Awesome. Simply awesome. Subtitled "A Sound Wave Replication Dissertation On Alien Simian Technology in 13 Chapters", Old Man Gloom's album is a schizophonic album with ultra-heavy post-hardcore/grinding metal in the tradition of Cave-In or Cavity interspersed with deep dronological investigations that could have easily been an Organum or Jonathan Coleclough record. Hydrahead couldn't make this fit with the rest of their catalogue, but released it on their Tortuga subsidiary. Drones, metal, and monkeys... everything that Andee could ask for in an album.

OLD MAN GLOOM NO (Hydrahead) cd 14.98
If you've seen the documentary Blood, Sweat + Vinyl, about the Hydra Head, Neurot and Constellation labels, and all the various bands that call those labels home, you'll see our very own Andee publicly profess his undying love for mysterious simian drone metal combo Old Man Gloom. And he's most definitely not alone. For a band that started off as a joke (or at least not as a serious or 'proper' band), OMG quickly became an obsession for lots of metalheads, heck even (and maybe especially) for non metalheads. Their sound a killer concoction of grinding downtuned dirge metal and all manner of experimental drone music, equal parts rocking out and spacing out, even the heaviest jams constantly disrupted by the bands experimental streak, or even more often their twisted sense of humor. And no this is not some joke band, although they can sometimes be funny, and their obsession with monkeys borders on the pathological (but then so does ours, thus another reason we love them), but it's that weirdness and funniness, when wedded to some killer songwriting and some seriously bad ass musicianship (courtesy of members of Isis, Converge, Cave In, Zozobra, etc.) that makes these guys so utterly ruling. And to a degree, the freedom of not taking your band all that seriously definitely makes it more likely that you'll have fun, do whatever the fuck you want, and in the process come up with some mind melting, ear drum shredding shit.
But it's been more than 8 years since the last OMG record, so the question is, getting these guys back together again, after all that time, everyone older and wiser, and maybe, heaven forbid, returning to OMG as a proper band, do these musical representatives of the Simian Alien Defense League still got it in them? Thankfully the answer seems to be yes. The sound maybe a bit more modern, but not that far removed from the last OMG missive, starting off with a long stretch of rumbling drones, before some brittle blackened riffage ushers in some crushing downtuned bombast, howled vox, pounding drums, the whole thing wreathed in what sounds like a guitar that keeps shorting out, glitchy and constantly dropping out, which only gives the proceedings a bit of a Faxed Head vibe, which is NEVER a bad thing. The sound shifts to some churning chug, before splintering into a starfield of prismatic effects, processed vox and all manner of blurred sonic shimmer. And we're only about ten minutes in!
And so it goes, the heavy parts utterly crushing, the melodic parts crazy catchy, sounding a bit like Torche, that sort of hook heavy sludge pop, and the sounds and songs constantly seeming to malfunction, or implode, or buckle, or crumble, guitars become sheets of static, drums stumble and invert, guitars slip into backwards swoops, low end rumbles thrum and shimmer beneath twangy clean guitars, only to be buried beneath an avalanche of almost symphonic heaviness, only to constantly slip into a grind metal stutter, there's even a gothy steel string acoustic apocalyptic folk jam, that is actually pretty great, and it too rife with all sort of fucked and fractured sounds and production. And finally the record finishes off with the 14 minute "Shuddering Earth", which opens with a blast of super melodic math metal, before slipping into some dark dolorous drift, tons of space, streaked with static, and anguished vox, gradually building to a Harvey Milk like sludgedoom ballad, all about to crack vocals, churning chug, and woozy melodies, but even then, we're only halfway through. A field of minimal crackle/static turns into a sheet of near Merzbow electronic noise, the sounds gradually intensifying, before unexpectedly transforming into a bit of hazy, shoegazy, noise drenched prettiness, that ends in a gorgeous squall of psychedelic high end skree. Fuck yeah! Here's hoping this is not just a one off reunion, cuz even after all these years, we still sorta find ourselves digging OMG more than any of the members' other bands. WAY recommended for sure, and essential listening by order of the Simian Alien Defense League!
MPEG Stream: "Common Species"
MPEG Stream: "Regain, Rejoin"
MPEG Stream: "Shuddering Earth"

OLD MAN GLOOM NO (Hydrahead) 2lp 29.00
Listed the cd last time, now here's the vinyl!
If you've seen the documentary Blood, Sweat + Vinyl, about the Hydra Head, Neurot and Constellation labels, and all the various bands that call those labels home, you'll see our very own Andee publicly profess his undying love for mysterious simian drone metal combo Old Man Gloom. And he's most definitely not alone. For a band that started off as a joke (or at least not as a serious or 'proper' band), OMG quickly became an obsession for lots of metalheads, heck even (and maybe especially) for non metalheads. Their sound a killer concoction of grinding downtuned dirge metal and all manner of experimental drone music, equal parts rocking out and spacing out, even the heaviest jams constantly disrupted by the bands experimental streak, or even more often their twisted sense of humor. And no this is not some joke band, although they can sometimes be funny, and their obsession with monkeys borders on the pathological (but then so does ours, thus another reason we love them), but it's that weirdness and funniness, when wedded to some killer songwriting and some seriously bad ass musicianship (courtesy of members of Isis, Converge, Cave In, Zozobra, etc.) that makes these guys so utterly ruling. And to a degree, the freedom of not taking your band all that seriously definitely makes it more likely that you'll have fun, do whatever the fuck you want, and in the process come up with some mind melting, ear drum shredding shit.
But it's been more than 8 years since the last OMG record, so the question is, getting these guys back together again, after all that time, everyone older and wiser, and maybe, heaven forbid, returning to OMG as a proper band, do these musical representatives of the Simian Alien Defense League still got it in them? Thankfully the answer seems to be yes. The sound maybe a bit more modern, but not that far removed from the last OMG missive, starting off with a long stretch of rumbling drones, before some brittle blackened riffage ushers in some crushing downtuned bombast, howled vox, pounding drums, the whole thing wreathed in what sounds like a guitar that keeps shorting out, glitchy and constantly dropping out, which only gives the proceedings a bit of a Faxed Head vibe, which is NEVER a bad thing. The sound shifts to some churning chug, before splintering into a starfield of prismatic effects, processed vox and all manner of blurred sonic shimmer. And we're only about ten minutes in!
And so it goes, the hevy parts utterly crushing, the melodic parts crazy catchy, sounding a bit like Torche, that sort of hook heavy sludge pop, and the sounds and songs constantly seeming to malfunction, or implode, or buckle, or crumble, guitars become sheets of static, drums stumble and invert, guitars slip into backwards swoops, low end rumbles thrum and shimmer beneath twangy clean guitars, only to be buried beneath an avalanche of almost symphonic heaviness, only to constantly slip into a grind metal stutter, there's even a gothy steel string acoustic apocalyptic folk jam, that is actually pretty great, and it too rife with all sort of fucked and fractured sounds and production. And finally the record finishes off with the 14 minute "Shuddering Earth", which opens with a blast of super melodic math metal, before slipping into some dark dolorous drift, tons of space, streaked with static, and anguished vox, gradually building to a Harvey Milk like sludgedoom ballad, all about to crack vocals, churning chug, and woozy melodies, but even then, we're only halfway through. A field of minimal crackle/static turns into a sheet of near Merzbow electronic noise, the sounds gradually intensifying, before unexpectedly transforming into a bit of hazy, shoegazy, noise drenched prettiness, that ends in a gorgeous squall of psychedelic high end skree. Fuck yeah! Here's hoping this is not just a one off reunion, cuz even after all these years, we still sorta find ourselves digging OMG more than any of the members' other bands. WAY recommended for sure, and essential listening by order of the Simian Alien Defense League!
MPEG Stream: "Common Species"
MPEG Stream: "Regain, Rejoin"
MPEG Stream: "Shuddering Earth"

OLDEST s/t (Sleeping Giant Glossolalia) lp 14.98
From our pal Mike at the amazing Sleeping Giant Glossolalia comes this latest blast of gnarled metallic guitar heavy whatthefuck from long time aQ fave Mick Barr (Krallice, Ocrilim, Octis, Orthrelm, Crom-Tech) who in Oldest, is teamed up with Brooks Headley (Born Against, Universal Order Of Armageddon), who besides being a rad drummer, is now a fairly well known pastry chef! However, as curious as we would be to hear/see Headley's pastries combined with Barr's axe-work, it is in his role as drummer, that he completes the Oldest duo, which Barr describes as sounding like Voivod meets Darkthrone, but which in fact sounds a lot like Barr's late great Crom-Tech combo. A wild mathy tech metal grindpunk noise-prog blowout that finds the duo unleashing frenzied stretches of tranced out guitars, frantic riffing, the melodies angular and atonal, the drumming dense and complex, the arrangements fractured and fucked up, the vocals a punkish shriek. Intricate and heavy, dizzying and chaotic, the songs super fluid, droney, cyclical and near static one second, lurching stop/start stutter the next, slipping occasionally into chugging classic metal mode or soaring blackened buzz, but always returning to that distinctive twisted technical grinding math/meth metal crush that Barr seems to have a lock on. Fucking awesome. And not even really out until next month, so for now, an aQ exclusive!
MPEG Stream: "Survivalist Compounds"
MPEG Stream: "Incessant Mortal Creation"
MPEG Stream: "Tower Mockery"

OLDHAM, WILL Black / Rich Music (Drag City) cd 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

OLDHAM, WILL Guarapero / Lost Blues 2 (Palace/Drag City) cd 14.98
Old favorites and out of print rare stuff from Palace/Will Oldham. Includes the infamous "Big Balls" AC/DC cover and FIVE NEW SONGS. Guest musicians include Mick Turner and Jim White from Dirty Three, David Grubbs, etc.