PAIK Corridors (Beyonder) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
For those of you who dug their recent Satin Black release, here's Paik's sophomore full length from 2001 on which they harnessed their crashing post-rock waves of guitars and cymbals into something considerably more moody and space-y than its predecessor, the very My Bloody Valentine-esque Hugo Strange. Corridors aligns them more with bands such as Mogwai (who they themselves were an aural amalgam of MBV and Slint).
MPEG Stream: "Spacer (2001)"
MPEG Stream: "The Longest Day"

PAIK Hugo Strange (Beyonder) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
For those of you who dug their recent Satin Black release, here's Paik's debut album from 1998. Hugo Strange reveals that the band's beginnings were very much rooted in shoegazer territory. Upon reaching the center of the album you'll find the band applying some very noticeable My Bloody Valentine-isms -- lots of woozy, warped record guitar style effects. They stick in this hazy reverb and distortion drenched atmosphere for a few songs then take a turn into the land of post-rock fueled by a healthy dose of insistently down-strummed guitars.
MPEG Stream: "Waiting Patiently"
MPEG Stream: "E. Grim "

PAIK Monster Of The Absolute (Strange Attractors Audio House) cd 14.98
This instrumental space rock trio from Michigan has been smoking heaping bowlfuls of the same stuff Hawkwind used to burn up and is thus churning out some serious space rock with mighty results. Spacious and sweeping, chugging with propulsive groove, but without the quiet-loud dynamics of post-rock bands like Mogwai, nor the shoe-gazing drone burners of bands like Growing and Belong. More like a 120 mph road-trip through Death Valley at sunset and the acid just kicked in.
MPEG Stream: "SnakeFace"
MPEG Stream: "October"

PAIK Monster Of The Absolute (Strange Attractors Audio House) lp 14.98
Now on vinyl!
This instrumental space rock trio from Michigan has been smoking heaping bowlfuls of the same stuff Hawkwind used to burn up and is thus churning out some serious space rock with mighty results. Spacious and sweeping, chugging with propulsive groove, but without the quiet-loud dynamics of post-rock bands like Mogwai, nor the shoe-gazing drone burners of bands like Growing and Belong. More like a 120 mph road-trip through Death Valley at sunset and the acid just kicked in.
MPEG Stream: "SnakeFace"
MPEG Stream: "October"

PAIK Satin Black (Strange Attractors Audio House) cd 13.98
On their newest 'full length' (although the cd only has five tracks, they're all nice and looooooong), Paik once again unfurl the darker, heavier and more ominous side of shoegazerin'. This Michigan-based space rock band pour on layer after layer of guitar washes which along with the thundering drums and crashing cymbals build to a hypnotic roar. An occasional melodic element will seep out from the dense creeping haze. Trippy, atmospheric and very much for fans of Bardo Pond, Kinski, Growing, Landing and Mogwai.
MPEG Stream: "Jayne Field"
MPEG Stream: "Dirt For Driver"

PAIK The Orson Fader (Clairecords) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

PAIN TEENS s/t (Charnel Music) cd 12.98
First time on cd for this, the very first (1988) and long out of print album by Austin's Painteens. Even then, this industrial/experimental rock outfit (featuring the core duo of vocalist Bliss Blood and guitarist Scott Ayers) were no slackers at noisemaking. Painteens is a brutalist hybrid of Rhythm & Noise with Coil, cooked up in a Texas psychedelic punk laboratory. This cd also includes additional material from their fantastic early cassette releases.

PAINE Zero to...666Paranormal (Kaari) cd-r 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The Finnish band Paine (which in their language means not Pain, but Pressure) features at least three ex-members of Circle...and you can tell. Like Circle, Paine construct tight, repetitive riffs and rhythms, mostly instrumental. Darker and scarier though, with bombastic grooves and distorted vocal snippets. It's a sort of mechanical brutality, like Circle gone Industrial. Paine march in endless, relentless circles in a sci-fi wasteland. Paine, pressure, pleasure. This six-song cd-r is actually a reissue (with 2 additional tracks and new, fancy oversized packaging -- a blue vellum envelope with acetate inserts) of a previous limited cd-r release. This one's limited too (there's 150 of 'em), we've only got what we've got -- 12 copies -- and that's it.
MPEG Stream: "Dioxidetunnel"
MPEG Stream: "Zero To..."

PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART Belong (Slumberland) cd 13.98
Not many pop groups have won us over so utterly and completely as Pains Of Being Pure At Heart. Their blissed out debut from a couple years back tapped into the best bits of '80s dream-pop and Sarah records glory, and the group created such infectious and fresh sounding songs that we've blasted so loud and so many times by now. With their follow up full length they return with an album that's a bit more meaty and fleshed out, featuring a much slicker production. Don't get us wrong the dreamy and breezy elements are still there, but they are accompanied by a more '90s sounding guitar rock vibe a la Smashing Pumpkins circa Siamese Dream, The Swirlies or Swervedriver. But under the ringing of the guitars is still that breeze and ease that makes POBPAH such the perfect band to listen to when you're cruising in a car on a sunny windy afternoon, or laying in the park with friends as you take a break from the harsh realities of the day to day. Carefree and rocking in such delightful ways.
MPEG Stream: "Belong"
MPEG Stream: "Heart In Your Heartbreak"
MPEG Stream: "My Terrible Friend"

PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART Belong (Slumberland) lp 18.98
Not many pop groups have won us over so utterly and completely as Pains Of Being Pure At Heart. Their blissed out debut from a couple years back tapped into the best bits of '80s dream-pop and Sarah records glory, and the group created such infectious and fresh sounding songs that we've blasted so loud and so many times by now. With their follow up full length they return with an album that's a bit more meaty and fleshed out, featuring a much slicker production. Don't get us wrong the dreamy and breezy elements are still there, but they are accompanied by a more '90s sounding guitar rock vibe a la Smashing Pumpkins circa Siamese Dream, The Swirlies or Swervedriver. But under the ringing of the guitars is still that breeze and ease that makes POBPAH such the perfect band to listen to when you're cruising in a car on a sunny windy afternoon, or laying in the park with friends as you take a break from the harsh realities of the day to day. Carefree and rocking in such delightful ways.
MPEG Stream: "Belong"
MPEG Stream: "Heart In Your Heartbreak"
MPEG Stream: "My Terrible Friend"

PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART Come Saturday (Slumberland) 7" 3.98

PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART Higher Than The Stars (Slumberland) cd ep 8.98
Pains Of Being Pure At Heart are responsible for one of our favorite albums of the year! Their debut full length which came out right at the beginning of 2009, was the sort of refreshing slab of pure pop bliss that we had been so starved for. It's a record that we still listen to with as much excitement and frequency as we did all those months ago. The way they are able to tap into that great dreamy '80s state of pop while still sounding so fresh and original has made it a record that's going to be on many of our year end favorite lists for sure.
So of course we were super excited to get a new ep from the Pains, they really are one of those rare bands that have made such an impact on us that just getting a handful of new songs from them is so damn exciting. What's even more exciting is that these songs are some of the best and most infectious they have written so far.
Influenced by that Sara records sound, Pains create songs that soar with such ease reminding you of being in the backseat of your best friends car with the window's down as you heard The Smiths playing for the first time. With the recent passing of John Hughes, these are the kind of songs you know he would have wanted to be on the soundtrack for a movie like The Breakfast Club or Pretty In Pink if they they been made today. So romantic and yearning and with a distinctly daydream spirit we've already fallen head over heels for. Another amazing set of songs from one of our favorite new bands!
The cd version comes with an extra track not on the vinyl which is a really cool remix of the title track by Saint Etienne.
MPEG Stream: "Higher Than The Stars"
MPEG Stream: "Falling Over"

PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART Higher Than The Stars (Slumberland) 12" 8.98
Pains Of Being Pure At Heart are responsible for one of our favorite albums of the year! Their debut full length which came out right at the beginning of 2009, was the sort of refreshing slab of pure pop bliss that we had been so starved for. It's a record that we still listen to with as much excitement and frequency as we did all those months ago. The way they are able to tap into that great dreamy '80s state of pop while still sounding so fresh and original has made it a record that's going to be on many of our year end favorite lists for sure.
So of course we were super excited to get a new ep from the Pains, they really are one of those rare bands that have made such an impact on us that just getting a handful of new songs from them is so damn exciting. What's even more exciting is that these songs are some of the best and most infectious they have written so far.
Influenced by that Sara records sound, Pains create songs that soar with such ease reminding you of being in the backseat of your best friends car with the window's down as you heard The Smiths playing for the first time. With the recent passing of John Hughes, these are the kind of songs you know he would have wanted to be on the soundtrack for a movie like The Breakfast Club or Pretty In Pink if they they been made today. So romantic and yearning and with a distinctly daydream spirit we've already fallen head over heels for. Another amazing set of songs from one of our favorite new bands!

MPEG Stream: "Higher Than The Stars"
MPEG Stream: "Falling Over"

PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART Jeremy / My Life Is Wrong (Slumberland) 7" 6.98
We were super excited when we first heard about this single, assuming of course that it was gonna be a cover of Pearl Jam's "Jeremy", but once we got over our initial disappointment (or not), we were still pretty psyched to discover, that it was in fact still a cover, but a Magnetic Fields cover, and as you might imagine, the song suits TPOBPAH's sound perfectly, so much so, that had we not been familiar with the original, we would not have doubted for a second that it could have been an Pains original. Jangly, and propulsive, bouncy and hooky as hell, the vox here are handled by one of the boys in Pains, even though the cover apparently has deep meaning for Pains vocalist Peggy Wang, who found solace as a teenager in the music of the Magnetic Fields.
The flipside is another cover, this one originally by East River Pipe, and another perfect choice, supercharging the original, wreathing it in wild swaths of distorted guitar, and sheets of feedback, a heavy heady chunk of shoegazey jangle pop, that definitely finds Pains at their most rocking, and also had us thinking we should dig out our old East River Pipes, which is precisely what the best covers should do...
MPEG Stream: "My Life Is Wrong"

PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART, THE Heart In Your Heartbreak (Slumberland) 7" 5.98
This gets us so excited for a new full length from Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, which we're hoping will grace our ears sometime MUCH sooner than later. These two songs are for sure up there with the band's most satisfying and addictive slabs of sweeping dream pop glory! "Heart In Your Heartbreak" sounds like a classic even the first time you hear it. Like the best of their songs it takes you to this place of carefree bliss, yet evokes memories filled with crashing waves, epic sunsets, and car-rides you hoped would last forever. The B side "The One", starts off with a rad Superchunk-like guitar riff and then mutates into a Creation records sort of sound which they have totally perfected and somehow made their very own.
Comes in a nice sturdy sleeve with beautiful cover art by Winston Chmielinski that was so immediately striking, it sent us in search of more of his work, realizing we had just discovered one of our new favorite artists!

PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART, THE s/t (Slumberland / Fortuna Pop) cd 12.98
Hey Slumberland, where have you been? It turns out that the Oakland label didn't disappear after a lengthy hiatus from 2000 to 2007; and we'll admit that we didn't take too much notice of what these indie-rock tastemakers had been doing as of late until they released the Crystal Stilts masterpiece Alight The Night. And, after that ecstatic burst of noise & bliss pop on the Crystal Stilts disc, Slumberland delivers another great record that, well, sounds exactly like a Slumberland record should. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart hail from Brooklyn, but they could have easily been any number of the bands spawned by the C86 revolution of indie-pop around the likes of the Pastels, Heavenly, and of course My Bloody Valentine (circa Ecstasy & Wine, mind you). Within the not-quite-shoegazing wall of sound, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart craft a brightly jangling set of tunes, some of which get anthemic and punchy with all of the panache of a great power pop number with boy/girl vocals crooning all sorts of "oooohs" and "aaahs", and others smacking of a sugary '60s bubblegum jingle with all of the softened edges that Alan McGee wanted in every Creation band around 1990. For all of the British references that make their way into the Pains, they really sound a hell of lot like so many of those bands that made Slumberland so great to begin with: The Lilys, Velocity Girl, and Black Tambourine. We're not complaining one bit!
MPEG Stream: "Contender"
MPEG Stream: "Come Saturday"
MPEG Stream: "Young Adult Friction"

PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART, THE s/t (Slumberland / Fortuna Pop) lp 14.98
Hey Slumberland, where have you been? It turns out that the Oakland label didn't disappear after a lengthy hiatus from 2000 to 2007; and we'll admit that we didn't take too much notice of what these indie-rock tastemakers had been doing as of late until they released the Crystal Stilts masterpiece Alight The Night. And, after that ecstatic burst of noise & bliss pop on the Crystal Stilts disc, Slumberland delivers another great record that, well, sounds exactly like a Slumberland record should. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart hail from Brooklyn, but they could have easily been any number of the bands spawned by the C86 revolution of indie-pop around the likes of the Pastels, Heavenly, and of course My Bloody Valentine (circa Ecstasy & Wine, mind you). Within the not-quite-shoegazing wall of sound, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart craft a brightly jangling set of tunes, some of which get anthemic and punchy with all of the panache of a great power pop number with boy/girl vocals crooning all sorts of "oooohs" and "aaahs", and others smacking of a sugary '60s bubblegum jingle with all of the softened edges that Alan McGee wanted in every Creation band around 1990. For all of the British references that make their way into the Pains, they really sound a hell of lot like so many of those bands that made Slumberland so great to begin with: The Lilys, Velocity Girl, and Black Tambourine. We're not complaining one bit!
MPEG Stream: "Contender"
MPEG Stream: "Come Saturday"
MPEG Stream: "Young Adult Friction"

PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART, THE Say No To Love (Slumberland) 7" 6.98
Over the last couple years no pop band has won over our ears and hearts more then Pains Of Being Pure At Heart. Their full length and follow up ep displayed a band capable of creating highly addictive, breezy and melodic pop crafted so meticulously. So two new songs from them is something to celebrate for sure. And they continue their amazing streak of not releasing a single dud yet. It's true every song on the amazing debut full length and the Higher Than The Stars ep were all absolute winners. The kind of records where every few weeks you listen, you have a new favorite song. These two new jams find the band at their most sun kissed, songs perfect for cracking the window and feeling the soft breeze on a warm summer afternoon. While it will always be hard to talk about them without mentioning the sound of classic romantic UK pop of the '80s like The Smiths, James, and The Field Mice, there is no doubt that Pains Of Being Pure at heart have employed those influences with greater results then so many others. And in the process they have created their own take on that classic sound, which all bands that follow in their footsteps will now be be judged by.

PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART, THE Young Adult Friction (Slumberland) 7" 5.98
Oh how we've fallen in love with this band from New York. Not only are they one of the cutest bands around, but they have beautiful pop chops as well, making them not just nice to look at but so totally fun and engaging to listen to.
Their full length has become one of those records we've listened to more then almost anything else this year and is sure to find its way on to many of our year end favorite lists. Their take on the Smiths / Creation Records dreamy jangle pop with a punch is not only endearing, but also addictive, as we've grown to love their songs more and more with repeated listens. So if you already have the full length, you already have one of these two songs, the great, infectious stand out track "Young Adult Friction" but luckily the 'b' side which is a non album track called "Romana" makes this slab of wax well worth it anyway, especially for those of us utterly smitten by these Pure At Heart Pains. That track displays the more midtempo, daydreamy and lingering side of the band. The 7" comes pressed on cool reddish colored vinyl.

PAINTED CAVES Not Here Not There (Dust Editions) cassette 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It's here! Not Here Not There is the first release from Painted Caves, aka Evan Caminiti, one half of psychedelic dronefolk duo Barn Owl, and while Painted Caves, like many of the Barn Owl offshoots, definitely exists in a similar sonic plane, one of sprawling smoldering guitar thrum, and shimmering soft focus guitar ambience, Not Here Not There finds Caminiti getting way more abstract, mixing some ethereal synth drift into the dense swells of chordal thrum, a gorgeous expanse of guitar/synth exploration, with subtle electronic manipulations, all blurred into a gauzy softly billowing whole. The tape begins very much like past Barn Owl outings, a sort of twang flecked, sun dappled whirring cloud of warm guitar swirl, but after a spell, the sound grows downright malevolent, expanding into churning sonic stormclouds before dissipating into another hazy washed out ethereal atmosphere, underpinned by a
smoldering chordal fog, wreathed in a murky shimmer that soon gives way to a brooding softly undulating soft-psych thrum, and eventually finishes with the dreamily wistful final track, a hauntingly melancholic smear of muted prismatic buzz and hum, almost like a more psychedelic dronedrift version of the Caretaker, with buried lost memory like melodies, and a glimmering field of soft focus crackle and cosmic haze.
This is the first release on Caminiti's Dust Editions imprint and is LIMITED TO 200 COPIES. Includes a digital download as well.

PAINTING PETALS ON PLANET GHOST Fallen Camellias (A Silent Place) cd 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We love, love, loved the cd that Japan's PSF label released by Painting Petals On Planet Ghost, 2009's Haru No Omi, a disc of hushed hazy psychedelic semi-acoustic drones backing delicate female vocals, themselves often gently looped and layered. Although on PSF, and despite those vocals being in fluent Japanese, PPOPG is the work of Italy's Ramona Ponzini, joined by the ever-industrious Opalio brothers from My Cat Is An Alien, and is probably our favorite thing the Oplaio's have been involved with.
Now, we knew of an earlier Painting Petals album on Time-Lag, the vinyl long out of print, but had somehow missed out on this one, a 2008 release from the A Silent Place label. Well, as you may have noticed elsewhere on this week's list, we just managed to acquire an assorted quantity of A Silent Place "product", at a "nice price" too, including (yay!) a handful of these lovely discs. It's totally along the lines of the PSF release, being another album of gorgeous, near-ambient driftworks, apparently recorded in "mystic locations" in the Italian Alps, with Ponzini's dreamy vocals once again set amidst melodious shimmering drone, and tinkling bells... there's both wind chimes, and what sounds like field recordings of actual wind, along with guitars, glockenspiel, antique accordion, mini-keyboard, and harmonica. Utterly entrancing and relaxing.
So, if you liked the more recent Haru No Omi as much as we did, you should act fast and try to grab one of these. We won't be able to get more, and only have a few...
MPEG Stream: "Kari"
MPEG Stream: "Yume No Hanashi"
MPEG Stream: "Kyoto No Mizu"

PAINTING PETALS ON PLANET GHOST Haru No Omoi (PSF) cd 17.98
It'd be easy to mistake this beautiful, beautiful album for being Japanese... the title is in Japanese, the singing is in Japanese, and it's on the great Japanese psych label PSF after all, with an obi and everything! But actually, it's the work of Italian experimental chanteuse Ramona Ponzini, who is an associate of the My Cat Is An Alien collective (members of whom also being part of this project), and is obviously fluent in Japanese. Totally belongs on PSF though, worthy of being of the rare albums of Western origin appearing on that label, and we think it's one of the loveliest, regardless of where it's from. And it also lives up to its evocative name Painting Petals On The Planet Ghost, whatever that phrase might mean...
On the seven hushed tracks here, Ponzini's gentle vocals hover amidst even gentler hum and hiss, accompanied by sun-dappled, slow motion acoustic guitar melodies, minimalistic and melancholic, and droning synth. These songs are sometimes visited by chiming bells, or restrained, ceremonial-sounding percussion. There's an intimate, yet mysterious vibe to it all, one that's dreamy and drifting, Ponzini's singing at the center of these songs, the focus of the listener's attention, but at the same time, the soft-focus nature of these tracks as a whole also being the attraction, the delicate interplay of vocals, melody, and drone almost becoming a haunting, holistic oneness. Pleasantly haunting that is, a hypnotic late night listen, somnolent folkish lullabies given gorgeous drone treatment.
Doused in mild echo effects, with overdubs her sweet singing is vaguely layered and looped, or at least some ghostly suggestion is made in that direction, where she starts one vocal line, then it fades into a wordless hmmmmmm, as another one of her vocals is layered over what has become part of the warm background hum...
For fans of Fursaxa, Grouper, Valet, and other female-fronted loner psych-folk-drone stuff, as well as of course certain Japanese artists, like AQ faves Nagisa Ti Te for sure, or Ai Aso with her cooing waifish vocals. Or, remember female Japanese duo Eddie Marcon's Shining On Graveposts disc (soon to be available again, at long last, by the way!)? This reminds us a lot of that wonderful album, but 'tis even more gauzy and droned-out... Packaged in a miniature LP-style gatefold sleeve, and highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Honoho No Ko"
MPEG Stream: "Yume No Hanashi"
MPEG Stream: "Akatsuki No Hoshi"

PAINTING PETALS ON PLANET GHOST s/t (Time-Lag) lp 32.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

PAINTING PETALS ON PLANET GHOST Transparent Winter (Silentes) cd 14.98
Geiger-counter-ish clicks, reveberant chords, and swooping zwooping synth blips herald the atmospheric beginning to this new disc (a considerably expanded cd edition of the limited & long gone Blackest Rainbow vinyl version from last year) from Italy's Painting Petals On Planet Ghost, an aQ-fave combo ever since we heard their release on Japan's PSF imprint back in 2009. Those sort of eerie, uncertain sonics continue throughout this disc, forming the backdrop to the haunting, echo-effected vocal rites of Ramona Ponzini, singing Japanese poetry as per Painting Petals On Planet Ghost tradition (this time, the words come from the works of Takamura Kotaro). Also in the tradition of their other recordings, this is quite lovely and mysterious! Ponzini and her two cohorts (the brothers Opalio of experimentalists My Cat Is An Alien) have conjured another gently damaged and droning psychedelic soundscape of layered prayerful vox in a mad scientist's laboratory of strange secretive sounds. Just be sure to turn it off before you go to sleep, or the "hidden" bonus track at the very end of this lengthy disc will disturb your slumbers, featuring as it does some sudden, startling loud percussion, in the form of gongs being struck and bells being rung.
MPEG Stream: "Mars Appears"
MPEG Stream: "Winter Is Coming"

PAIRS If This Cockroach Doesn't Die, I Will (Metal Postcard) 2lp 14.98
The first we heard from this Chinese noise rock duo was via a self released cd-r/dvd-r sent to us by a friend who was traveling in China. And we were immediately obsessed, their sound equal parts lo-fi punked out pop, swaggery UK style new wave infused post punk, and wild noisy shitgaze indie rock radness. Rumor was these guys were a big deal over there and it's easy to see why. We sold a ton of those cd-r's and then recently, the band got in touch to let us know there was a proper full length coming out, a double lp in fact, and here it is, the awesomely titled If This Cockroach Doesn't Die, I Will, and much like the cd-r, it's another killer collection of raw, distorto garage punk indie noise crunch and jangle, that the band describes the record like this: "Some pretty good tracks. Songs about frustration, cock suckery, idiots being in positions of power and a heap of other worldly themes." The inside of the gatefold features liner notes which are essentially a casual letter to the listeners, a pretty funny conversation about the internet, and what it's like being a band now versus then, even offering you the record for free, at least offering to see what they can do, inviting other bands to come to China to tour, and finally, apologizing for the vocals, saying simply "they can be rough in parts". And yeah, they can be, but it's part of their charm, and a big part of the sound, slipping from yowl to howl to a sung/spoken thing that reminds us of the Fall or maybe Art Brut. The music this time around is similarly noisy, the drums dense and tribal, the guitar super distorted, the riffs pretty simple, but woozy and jagged, Pairs locking into some seriously tranced out passages, that almost sound like caveman This Heat.
But there's plenty of noisy, angular noise pop too, which is mainly what Pairs traffic in, and they definitely sound more and more British every time we hear them, the vocals have a lot to do with it (pretty sure the singer is a British or Aussie ex-pat), and that aforementioned sung/spoken delivery, all wrapped around raw, urgent primitive post punk pound, it's not hard to imagine these two blowing up in the world of NME and Rough Trade, cuz anyone who digs bands like Arctic Monkeys, Art Brut, Franz Ferdinand and all those groups. But Pairs are WAY more punk, their sound way more raw and DIY and noisy, the rough production, not to mention the seriously twisted experimental bent making their sound way more of an underground proposition, but that's also exactly what makes it so good. And you wouldn't hear a band like Franz Ferdinand lock into a super long stretch of noise drenched, angular, minor key, hypno rock pound, but when Pairs do, it's pretty much totally irresistible, and seems to be a good balance to their noise-poppier side.
Here's hoping these two make it over here to play shows, they're definitely one of those bands, as we mentioned in our other review, who sound like they'd be nuts live, wild, sweat soaked, bloody and bruised, the vibe emotional and passionate and seriously intense. And thus WAY recommended.
Comes packaged in a nice thick full color gatefold jacket. No download, but check the liner notes, we're sure you can email them and work something out!
MPEG Stream: "Permanent Residence"
MPEG Stream: "Cat Food"
MPEG Stream: "A Surgeon At A Hospital In Shanghai Severed A Nerve In My Groin"
MPEG Stream: "Cosplay Girls"
MPEG Stream: "Slambourine Man"

PAIRS Summer Sweat (self-released) cd-r + dvd-r 7.98
A friend of aQ has been travelling / living in China, and recently sent us some records by bands he discovered and dug and thought we would dig too. Pairs is a duo from Shanghai who kick out heavy hypnotic lo-fi shit rock punk pop that kills, their sound dense and noisy and jangly and chaotic, the sound rooted in classic indie rock for sure, but here delivered in a sort of shitgaze style, definitely had us thinking of Times New Viking and Psychedelic Horseshit, the sort of band you might hear on Siltbreeze too, urgent and intense, most of the songs just one or two parts, the guitars a wild effects drenched jangle that goes from chiming and melodic to blown out and shoegazey, the drumming wild and chaotic, the vocals a howled feral yelp buried in the mix, and while most of these jams are the kind of tracks that would have a pit heaving, and inspire the same sort of sweat soaked bloody knuckled live actions as groups like The Oh Sees, amongst all this punked out energy and frantic noise pop fervor, there are hidden gems, "No Regrets" is about as perfectly poppy as these guys get, this is a lovesong indie rock mixtape jam if there ever was one, and the awesomely titled closer "My Body Is Not A Wonderland", which finds the vocalist just listing off all the things wrong with his body, over a droned out jangle and pound, the whole thing sounding like the Fall or Art Brut. In fact, the more we listen, the more all of these songs blossom from noisy kinetic energy into hook filled noise pop gems. Definitely a new favorite. And it's sort of so good we're wondering why these guys haven't been snapped up by somebody, Matador maybe, or Siltbreeze, we're guessing it's only a matter of time.
Packaged in a no-frills dvd sized cardboard sleeve printed on one side, with a glued on tracklist on the other. Comes with a dvd-r that is a hodgepodge of home movies, of various friends of the band, various places in China, what seems to be lots of other bands playing too, confusing, but surprisingly fun to watch. LIMITED TO 1500 COPIES(!), each one hand numbered. And while that may seem like a lot, not sure we can actually get more once these run out.
MPEG Stream: "Cloud Nine"
MPEG Stream: "Wo Zhe Yang"
MPEG Stream: "Poor Choices"
MPEG Stream: "My Body Is Not A Wonderland"

PAISLEYS, THE Cosmic Mind At Play (Sundazed) cd 15.98

PAJO 1968 (Drag City) cd 14.98
This man can do (and has done) many many different things musically (Slint, Tortoise, M, Aerial M, Papa M, Early Man, Dead Child and Zwan as well as guesting with Matmos, Anomoanon, Bonnie Prince Billy, Peggy Honeywell to name just a few!). David Christian Pajo's fine self-titled album last year was his most straightforward, traditionally song structured work to date, and Pajo's 1968 follows suit. It's an intimate album of hushed, subtle gestures. He's set his soothingly smooth voice front and center. A wise decision, it draws you in close, an invitation into his trademark wistful, pastoral picked guitar landscape. Very lovely.
MPEG Stream: "Foolish King"
MPEG Stream: "Walk Through The Dark"

PAJO Scream With Me (Black Tent Press) lp 23.00
For the first release from the newly launched Black Tent Press, comes this legendary recording, all acoustic covers of Misfits songs by Dave Pajo, he of Slint, Papa M, Aerial M and loads more. Recorded on a crappy hand held tape recorder way back in 2004, these recordings have been circulating for years, passed around from band to band on tour, duped and dubbed over and over, until it acquired near mythical status. Well now, it's finally available, proper like, and this is no crappy dubbed cassette, nope, it's now a super fancy deluxe lp!
As we mentioned above, Dave Pajo has been a part of so many records that we hold near and dear. First as a member of all-time AQ favorite's Slint and then guesting on records like The West by Matmos and a ton of solo records under his own name and as Papa M and Aerial M, as well as some serious arena rock action as a member of Zwan with Billy Corgan and Paz Lenchantin (who also has a rad limited edition LP on Black Tent, reviewed elsewhere on this list) and right now he's even a part of the touring band for the Yeah Yeah Yeah's. Phew!
But finally we get to hear Pajo playing a handful of classic Misfits songs, in his own hushed and stripped down style. Both a testament to how great Misfits songs were and Pajo's soft delicate touch, these songs sound perfect all hushed and acoustic, like he recorded them right in your bedroom not even using a microphone, just sitting on the edge of your bed, singing right in your ear. It's pretty amazing to hear Pajo sing some of these lyrics, we're reminded how totally scandalous these Misfits lyrics were back in the day, and if you couldn't understand them then, you sure can now! A cool juxtaposition of delicate acoustic prettiness, and bloody gory nasty brutishness. Pajo is definitely not the first to give the Misfits an acoustic makeover, even the Lemonheads did a gorgeous stripped down cover of "Skulls", but somehow tackling this whole set of songs, it just works, and minus the lyrics, Scream With Me could almost sound like some lost Pajo record, or some unreleased demo.
Incredible packaging, 130 gram vinyl, housed in a thick sleeve, with a 1 color spray painted serigraph on French paper, comes with a cd featuring all the music on the lp, and is LIMITED TO 1000 COPIES.
MPEG Stream: "Angelfuck"
MPEG Stream: "Teenagers From Mars"
MPEG Stream: "Attitude"

PAJO, DAVID CHRISTIAN s/t (Drag City) cd 14.98
Aerial M, Papa M., M and now David Christian Pajo (or if you go by the front cover even, simply 'Pajo')... Hmmm, it's a fact! Mr. Pajo by any other name still sounds as sweet. But we've just gotta ask, what's with all these artists who refuse to stick to one moniker? Will Oldham and Jason Molina are two other culprits. We'd understand it if each of their aliases' albums was drastically different from the next, but more often than not, it isn't. Such is the case with this solo self-titled album from the former member of Slint, Tortoise and Zwan, it really doesn't stray too far from where Pajo's roamed before. However, that said, there are a few notable new twists on his old self (or should we say 'selves'?), an unexpected turn into the breathily sung, achingly sensitive acoustic folk-pop domain of such artists as the late Elliott Smith or even the Moody Blues. Affecting note progressions, moving vocal performances and understated percussion are brought together with fine results. Recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Oh No No"
MPEG Stream: "Baby Please Come Home"

PALACE (WILL OLDHAM) Arise Therefore (Drag City) cd 14.98
Palace release features some of the prettiest songs Will Oldham has ever written, as well some of his oddest lyrics (and this is one of the tame ones):

to see in me a promise of what i could give
and i to see in her a reason to live
which was past just a symbol of woman and luck
that i would never be lacking for something to fuck

PALACE (WILL OLDHAM) Arise Therefore (Drag City) lp 11.98
Palace release features some of the prettiest songs Will Oldham has ever written, as well some of his oddest lyrics (and this is one of the tame ones):

to see in me a promise of what i could give
and i to see in her a reason to live
which was past just a symbol of woman and luck
that i would never be lacking for something to fuck

PALACE BROTHERS There Is No One What Will Take Care Of You (Drag City) cd 14.98

PALACE BROTHERS There Is No One What Will Take Care Of You (Drag City) lp 16.98

PALACE MUSIC Little Blue Eyes (Drag City) 7" 3.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
2 songs from 1993.

PALACE MUSIC Lost Blues & Others (Drag City) cd 14.98

PALACE MUSIC Lost Blues & Others (Drag City) 2lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

PALACE MUSIC Viva Last Blues (Drag City) cd 14.98

PALAIS SCHAUMBURG Lupa (Phonogram / Tapete) cd 17.98
Reissued obscurity for fans of Gang Of Four / Pop Group.

PALAIS SCHAUMBURG s/t (Phonogram / Tapete) cd 17.98
Reissued obscurity for fans of Gang Of Four / Pop Group.

PALANCE, JACK s/t (Water) cd 15.98
Yes, this is a Jack Palance album. You know, that scary Ripley's Believe It Or Not guy. Plus he was in some movies and stuff. Of course, you know him, you love him. Back in 1969, someone at Warner Bros. though it would be a good idea for Jack to make a record. Maybe 'cause he'd been in some westerns, or maybe 'cause he dug Lee Hazlewood and Johnny Cash, or maybe 'cause the country-rock thing lends itself well to a semi-spoken word delivery when you can't really sing all that well, Jack grew a moustache, went to Nashville and, with the help of some studio pros, cut this album. Now it's been reissued on cd with a big ol' booklet of liner notes and everything. And it is pretty entertaining, totally orchestrated, with backing singers and so on, Jack Palance recognizable as himself, playing upon his sinister, tough guy screen persona with ballads like "Meanest Guy That Ever Lived" (that one he wrote himself, in fact). Now we wish somebody would reissue the Telly Savalas LP!
MPEG Stream: "Meanest Guy That Ever Lived"

PALE HOARSE s/t (self-released) cd ep 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Follow-up to their stellar debut, The Gospels, this eponymous ep by local folk duo Pale Hoarse gives us five more gorgeous tracks of strung out sorrow. One of them a beautiful cover of Gene Clark's "With Tomorrow". This time the songs seem to be less about sin and salvation and more geared towards a nature-reverent British folk approach. Their dual male/female harmonies reminding us of a more mournful John Doe and Exene Cervenka, but on this ep exuding a more smoldering hopefulness than the dusty haunted doom of their debut. Quite lovely!
MPEG Stream: "Temple Bell Song"
MPEG Stream: "Nameless"

PALE HOARSE The Gospels (self-released) 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.
Not to be confused with the heavy sludge doom of Pale Horse, local San Francisco duo of Kyle Ranson and Kimberly Pierce channel apocalyptic doom through a completely different sensibility. Using mainly just spare acoustic guitar, tambourine, and beautiful two-part vocal harmonies, The Gospels is a sermon of haunting southern gothic songs filled with death, despair and hard-living. Their sound reminds us at times like early Palace brothers, or a way stripped down Brightblack (before they added the Morning Light to their name), occasionally conjuring up dusty images in our minds of small town buskers singing for their supper and salvation. Thankfully, Pale Hoarse do not play up the vintage Americana card too heavy-handedly, instead using spare arrangements to tread on dark but universal themes. Perfect for Sunday Mornings coming down from the sins of the previous night and you just can't make it to church. Housed in a silk-screened paper bag with hand sewn leather envelope for the cd and insert with lyrics and drawings. So Beautiful and VERY LIMITED!
MPEG Stream: "Sarah"
MPEG Stream: "Darkness Has Overtaken Me"
MPEG Stream: "Pale Horse"

PALMER, CLIVE Banjoland (Sunbeam Records) cd 16.98

PALMS SPRING Nightwalker cassette + button 5.00

MPEG Stream: "Metropolitan"
MPEG Stream: "At Last, We Have Class!"

PAN AMERICAN 360 Business/360 Bypass (Kranky) cd 14.98
2nd album from Mark Nelson's other project (he's also in Labradford) has all of the exceptionally slo-mo electronics, blurry guitar, and dubby processing found on the first Pan American album, but with guest appearances from Alan & Mimi of Low on vocals (which is good) and Rob Mazurek of Isotope 217 on coronet (which is jazz). Its sad to witness such digressions of good post-rock into questionable jazz-fusion wankiness.

PAN AMERICAN Cloud Room, Glass Room (Kranky) cd 14.98
Mark Nelson began recording under the Pan American moniker back in 1997, overlapping his contributions in the seminal slowcore, post-rock trio Labradford. He continued on with Pan American after Labradford called it quits a couple years later, and even as Pan American's catalogue has now eclipsed that of Labradford, much of Pan American's sound stems from the Labradford ethos -- spacious melodies, an electronic dubby minimalism, the whisper of a song, and a world-weary miserablism. Here on Cloud Room, Glass Room, Nelson has rechristened Pan American as a full fledged band with avant-drone percussionist Steven Hess (On, Haptic, etc.) at his side and former Labradford bassist Bobby Donne returning to the fray once again. Throughout Cloud Room, Glass Room, there are plenty of slumping passages of restrained guitar drones and layered electronic wash that are as contemplative and open-ended as the night sky. Pan American puncture spells of this ambience with some far more structured pieces when Hess grounds Nelson's guitar drifts with a sense of rhythm, even on the quietly locomotive skitter of "Project for an Apartment Building." Add Donne back into the mix, and it's easy to hear the ghosts of Labradford once again. "Virginia Waveform" could almost be a Codeine instrumental with those slow descending basslines and washed out, blurring guitars, and the opening cut "The Cloud Room" with its weightless flutter from guitars and electronics hovering above the earthbound rhythm section with its decidedly American-frontiersman slow pacing.
MPEG Stream: "The Cloud Room"
MPEG Stream: "Virginia Waveform"

PAN AMERICAN Cloud Room, Glass Room (Kranky) 2lp 19.98
Mark Nelson began recording under the Pan American moniker back in 1997, overlapping his contributions in the seminal slowcore, post-rock trio Labradford. He continued on with Pan American after Labradford called it quits a couple years later, and even as Pan American's catalogue has now eclipsed that of Labradford, much of Pan American's sound stems from the Labradford ethos -- spacious melodies, an electronic dubby minimalism, the whisper of a song, and a world-weary miserablism. Here on Cloud Room, Glass Room, Nelson has rechristened Pan American as a full fledged band with avant-drone percussionist Steven Hess (On, Haptic, etc.) at his side and former Labradford bassist Bobby Donne returning to the fray once again. Throughout Cloud Room, Glass Room, there are plenty of slumping passages of restrained guitar drones and layered electronic wash that are as contemplative and open-ended as the night sky. Pan American puncture spells of this ambience with some far more structured pieces when Hess grounds Nelson's guitar drifts with a sense of rhythm, even on the quietly locomotive skitter of "Project for an Apartment Building." Add Donne back into the mix, and it's easy to hear the ghosts of Labradford once again. "Virginia Waveform" could almost be a Codeine instrumental with those slow descending basslines and washed out, blurring guitars, and the opening cut "The Cloud Room" with its weightless flutter from guitars and electronics hovering above the earthbound rhythm section with its decidedly American-frontiersman slow pacing.
MPEG Stream: "The Cloud Room"
MPEG Stream: "Virginia Waveform"

PAN AMERICAN For Waiting For Chasing (Kranky) cd 13.98
Pan American is the solo project of Mark Nelson, who we first discovered via the late great Labradford, a group whose gorgeous brooding minimal post rock most definitely informed much of what's gone on since. Nelson began Pan American to explore his blossoming interest in computer music, electronica, dub and techno, stretching the sounds he created in Labradford and crafting dark landscapes of mysterious electronic sound, dreamlike stretches of minimal droning drift, and skittering softly stuttering and swirling textured ambience.
For Waiting For Chasing was originally released in a super limited edition back in 2006, and is easily PA's most minimal outing, skeletal and spare, haunting and otherworldly, the songs here drift, and slowly unfold, the rhythms are less rhythmic, and more textural, the opener here, "Love Song" is the perfect example, chittering clicks are draped over lush layers of whirling chordal thrum, chiming bells unfurl muted melodies, the sounds softly smeared into bleary streaks, bits of field recordings, static, glitch, all woven into PA's gorgeous soft swells of sound. Absolutely lovely dreamlike ambience, but flecked with distinctly un-ambient elements, which is what makes the sounds here so compelling.
Later PA records definitely moved in directions that some of us found way less appealing, but it's pretty impossible not to love this one.
Fields of crackle and mournful creak, looped melodies buried under layers of hiss and hum, woozy and warbly and dreamily indistinct, crumbling textures, smoldering layers, hazy fields of glimmer and muted loops, Oval like underwater swirl, dubbed out barely there beats stretch into heartbeat like pulses, bell like tones, glitch bursts of staticky melody, it's all just so fantastically hushed and lovely, culminating in the final track, "Amulls" which is as much about the melody, way down in the mix, off in the distance, a softly reverbed lullaby, tinkling piano, drifting minor key melody, all beneath a patina of crackle, a crackle which almost begins to sound rhythmic, like the some nearly invisible crystalline framework, around the delicate melancholy within. So so nice.
MPEG Stream: "Love Song"
MPEG Stream: "Are You Ready"
MPEG Stream: "Amulls"

PAN AMERICAN For Waiting For Chasing (Kranky) lp 14.98
Pan American is the solo project of Mark Nelson, who we first discovered via the late great Labradford, a group whose gorgeous brooding minimal post rock most definitely informed much of what's gone on since. Nelson began Pan American to explore his blossoming interest in computer music, electronica, dub and techno, stretching the sounds he created in Labradford and crafting dark landscapes of mysterious electronic sound, dreamlike stretches of minimal droning drift, and skittering softly stuttering and swirling textured ambience.
For Waiting For Chasing was originally released in a super limited edition back in 2006, and is easily PA's most minimal outing, skeletal and spare, haunting and otherworldly, the songs here drift, and slowly unfold, the rhythms are less rhythmic, and more textural, the opener here, "Love Song" is the perfect example, chittering clicks are draped over lush layers of whirling chordal thrum, chiming bells unfurl muted melodies, the sounds softly smeared into bleary streaks, bits of field recordings, static, glitch, all woven into PA's gorgeous soft swells of sound. Absolutely lovely dreamlike ambience, but flecked with distinctly un-ambient elements, which is what makes the sounds here so compelling.
Later PA records definitely moved in directions that some of us found way less appealing, but it's pretty impossible not to love this one.
Fields of crackle and mournful creak, looped melodies buried under layers of hiss and hum, woozy and warbly and dreamily indistinct, crumbling textures, smoldering layers, hazy fields of glimmer and muted loops, Oval like underwater swirl, dubbed out barely there beats stretch into heartbeat like pulses, bell like tones, glitch bursts of staticky melody, it's all just so fantastically hushed and lovely, culminating in the final track, "Amulls" which is as much about the melody, way down in the mix, off in the distance, a softly reverbed lullaby, tinkling piano, drifting minor key melody, all beneath a patina of crackle, a crackle which almost begins to sound rhythmic, like the some nearly invisible crystalline framework, around the delicate melancholy within. So so nice.
MPEG Stream: "Love Song"
MPEG Stream: "Are You Ready"
MPEG Stream: "Amulls"