SHATNER, WILLIAM Has Been (Shout! Factory) cd 16.98
Shatner and the Ben Folds Five...huh!

SHAVED WOMEN s/t (Ektro) cd 14.98
Jussi Lethisalo can never be accused of not following his weird and warped muse. Whether it's in his band Circle, who while remaining rooted to a particular sound, have offered up pretty much every iteration / permutation of that sound imaginable, or in any of his many other groups, whether it be Pharaoh Overlord, Doktor Kettu, Steel Mammoth, Ektroverde, Grumbling Fur, Lehitsalofamily (a group he formed with his parents!), Split Cranium, Ratto Ja Lehtisalo, we could go on, but you get the drift. And Jussi's Ektro label is no different, while mainly focused on releasing records by any/all of the above mentioned bands, Ektro also released records by legendary Finnish punks Death Trip, weirdo Finnish experimentalist Keuhkot, legendary krautrockers Faust, '80s LA metallers Jesters Of Destiny, '70s Finnish prog rockers Haikara, Argentinean stoner rock outfit Los Natas, weirdo Japanese metal outfit Quest For Blood, Finnish heavy metallers Solitaire, legendary hard rocking muscleman Thor and now the oddly named Shaved Women, a noise rock / dirge punk outfit from St. Louis, who definitely channel classic pig fuck heaviness though Black Flag punk and AmRep noise rock. The bass is thick and corrosive, the caveman riffing is caustic and blown out, the drumming loose limbed and chaotic, the vocals a throat shredding bark, feedback everywhere, the band wild and unhinged, the sound shifting from downtuned dirgery to frantic punk pound, the label namedrop Jesus Lizard and Drunks With Guns, the latter seeming much more applicable, but definitely the sort of noisy filth that would appeal to fans (like us!) of Violent Students, Twin Stumps, Drunkdriver, Rusted Shut. Eight songs in seventeen minutes, chaotic hardcore infused punksludge that KILLS. Also included are five bonus live tracks, that make the band sound even more gloriously blown out and noise drenched.
MPEG Stream: "Every Day Life"
MPEG Stream: "Same In The End"
MPEG Stream: "Think For Me"

SHAW, VIRGIL Quad Cities (Boxkite) cd 11.98
When we were roommates a few years ago, Virgil used to come home dead tired from carpentering and construction all the whole day. There'd be paint on his jeans and crumbs of chalky sheetrock in his hair. He'd pop a beer, sit in our kitchen lit by only a bare bulb, and he'd play guitar, yowling in his crackly heart-tugging voice. Most of the time he was working out new Dieselhed songs -- he's an integral member of the San Francisco-via-Eureka band, who you should all know by now are one of my favorite bands in the world and it's simply criminal that they haven't been able to quit their day jobs yet cos they RULE. Anyway, I would never say it to his face but I think Virgil's pretty grade-A brilliant, and have always loved the rickety, stark 'kitchen versions' of Virgil's songs, and I hoped he'd record them. Wishes do come true. So lovely! Some of Virgil's lyrics: He had a big mouth of crooked teeth Like china leaning by the sink So clean they were almost blue So blue they were almost see through. She has a jacket she hangs outside Smoke sticks to the fake hide So fake you can almost see through So see through you wouldn't know what to do.

SHAW, VIRGIL Still Falling (Future Farmer) cd 13.98
Ex-Dieselhed frontman and perennial Aquarius favorite Virgil Shaw returns at last with a new collection of songs. Virgil's songwriting is at the top of its form; painting vivid pictures, recollecting grainy memories, faded epics and otherwise expressing the most heart rending lyrics he's ever written. The melodic hooks are so kindly and accessible without deepening into sappiness -- a difficult feat to pull off but with Virg it seems effortless. In terms of musical accompaniment, Still Falling is perhaps the most lush and varied in its arrangements with horns, organs, pianos, oodles of percussion and even -- for a couple seconds between two tracks -- the remnants of the dixieland jazz band from the recycled tape that they used to record the album on. Along with regular Shaw cohorts Danny Heifetz and Atom Ellis (also ex-Dieselhed), Virgil is joined by a cadre of musicians including American Music Club's Mark Eitzel (who sings vocals on a couple tracks), percussionist Willie Winant and regular salts Marc Capelle (playing just about every keyboard invented to within an inch of its life), Jeff Palmer, Matt Hall and more. Eight new originals, a Terry Allen cover ("Wilderness of This World") and a version of Merle Haggard's "Sing Me Back Home".
Those who've been long time fans of Dieselhed are acutely aware of the limitations that the recording studio had in capturing the Dieselhed everyone knew and loved as a fantastic live band. The same, fortunately, does not apply to what Virgil has been doing since Dieselhed decided to call it quits. In fact, if anything, this newest album from Shaw and his back up band The Killer Views is closer to capturing the spirit of what Dieselhed was -- at least during their ballads -- than ever before. This is probably due in part to the presence of the above mentioned Dieselhed alumni. So nice!
RealAudio clip: "The Drawing"
RealAudio clip: "Clock On the Wall"
RealAudio clip: "Still Falling"

SHE & HIM A Very She & Him Christmas (Merge) cd 15.98
Whatta ya know, it's a Christmas album from She & Him, the superstar duo of M. Ward, and actress Zooey Deschanel (Almost Famous, 500 Days Of Summer, New Girl). If you've heard She & Him's previous outings then you know the idea of a record of Christmas songs is not so far fetched, as their trademark is making really sweet and cuddly indie pop. So now they've given us a sweet and cuddly indie pop version of holiday classics. Could be the perfect gift for that aunt, coworker, cousin, who has proven particularly hard to shop for...
MPEG Stream: "The Christmas Waltz"
MPEG Stream: "Baby, It's Cold Outside"
MPEG Stream: "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas"

SHE & HIM A Very She & Him Christmas (Merge) lp 17.98
Whatta ya know, it's a Christmas album from She & Him, the superstar duo of M. Ward, and actress Zooey Deschanel (Almost Famous, 500 Days Of Summer, New Girl). If you've heard She & Him's previous outings then you know the idea of a record of Christmas songs is not so far fetched, as their trademark is making really sweet and cuddly indie pop. So now they've given us a sweet and cuddly indie pop version of holiday classics. Could be the perfect gift for that aunt, coworker, cousin, who has proven particularly hard to shop for...
MPEG Stream: "The Christmas Waltz"
MPEG Stream: "Baby, It's Cold Outside"
MPEG Stream: "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas"

SHE & HIM Thieves (Merge) 7" 5.98

SHE & HIM Volume One (Merge) cd 14.98
Yeah, you've no doubt already heard all the hype about this new duo: She & Him aka Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward. A knee-jerk reaction would be to dismiss this as another actress-turned-songstress hipster move, but we'd be so dumb to do so in this case! Besides the folks at Merge Records have a pretty darn solid track record for releasing awesome artists and for having the best music-lovin' intentions. Y'all know we adore Mr. Ward's music something fierce! And where Deschanel's concerned we can only speak about her acting for which she ain't no slouch. As it happens, she's got a decent set of pipes and graceful songwriting pen too -- nothing fancy or particularly distinct, simply soft, sweet and pleasant. The two definitely make a good pairing -- if not a grammatically sound one! The could easily take up duo-residency at the Grand Ol' Opry and the Brill Building. Volme One features ten country tinged pop Deschanel originals as well as three covers recalling bygone era (Smokey Robinson's "You Really Got A Hold On Me", The Beatles' "I Should Have KNown Better", and the traditional number "Swing Low Sweet Chariot").
MPEG Stream: "Sentimental Heart "
MPEG Stream: "This Is Not A Test"

SHE & HIM Volume One (Merge) lp 16.98
Also now on vinyl... Yeah, you've no doubt already heard all the hype about this new duo: She & Him aka Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward. A knee-jerk reaction would be to dismiss this as another actress-turned-songstress hipster move, but we'd be so dumb to do so in this case! Besides the folks at Merge Records have a pretty darn solid track record for releasing awesome artists and for having the best music-lovin' intentions. Y'all know we adore Mr. Ward's music something fierce! And where Deschanel's concerned we can only speak about her acting for which she ain't no slouch. As it happens, she's got a decent set of pipes and graceful songwriting pen too -- nothing fancy or particularly distinct, simply soft, sweet and pleasant. The two definitely make a good pairing -- if not a grammatically sound one! The could easily take up duo-residency at the Grand Ol' Opry and the Brill Building. Volme One features ten country tinged pop Deschanel originals as well as three covers recalling bygone era (Smokey Robinson's "You Really Got A Hold On Me", The Beatles' "I Should Have KNown Better", and the traditional number "Swing Low Sweet Chariot").
MPEG Stream: "Sentimental Heart "
MPEG Stream: "This Is Not A Test"

SHE & HIM Volume Two (Merge) cd 15.98
Most people probably already have an opinion on She & Him before they even hear a note of music. That's fair enough, after all, it would be easy to automatically hate the musical project of doe eyed actress Zooey Deschanel and her collaborator M. Ward. But if you actually take a few minutes to give this a chance, the less cynical of you might be pleasantly surprised, provided you aren't expecting a drastic redefinition of the sonic landscape. She & Him make easygoing, upbeat pop music with lushly orchestrated production (courtesy of Ward, who clearly knows a thing or two about makin' music) and a sunny vibe that will no doubt bring up thoughts of worry free summers and young love. Deschanel's voice is girlish and innocent, never forceful or attempting to wander beyond her range, instead just keeping things sweet and simple, and she certainly has a knack for crafting songs that are catchy, heartwarming, and fun. While there isn't too much stylistic variety on display here, the songs do flow together as a whole quite well, with plenty of acoustic guitar leads, sweet sounding string accompaniment, and lots of dreamy, layered vocals. This should definitely appeal to fans of Camera Obscura, Velocity Girl, and other similar sounding outfits, and hopefully people can overcome whatever hangups they might have and just enjoy this for what it is, a totally likable sweet and sunshiney pop record.
MPEG Stream: "Thieves"
MPEG Stream: "Ridin' In My Car"
MPEG Stream: "Home"

SHE & HIM Volume Two (Merge) lp 17.98
ALSO ON VINYL!!!
Most people probably already have an opinion on She & Him before they even hear a note of music. That's fair enough, after all, it would be easy to automatically hate the musical project of doe eyed actress Zooey Deschanel and her collaborator M. Ward. But if you actually take a few minutes to give this a chance, the less cynical of you might be pleasantly surprised, provided you aren't expecting a drastic redefinition of the sonic landscape. She & Him make easygoing, upbeat pop music with lushly orchestrated production (courtesy of Ward, who clearly knows a thing or two about makin' music) and a sunny vibe that will no doubt bring up thoughts of worry free summers and young love. Deschanel's voice is girlish and innocent, never forceful or attempting to wander beyond her range, instead just keeping things sweet and simple, and she certainly has a knack for crafting songs that are catchy, heartwarming, and fun. While there isn't too much stylistic variety on display here, the songs do flow together as a whole quite well, with plenty of acoustic guitar leads, sweet sounding string accompaniment, and lots of dreamy, layered vocals. This should definitely appeal to fans of Camera Obscura, Velocity Girl, and other similar sounding outfits, and hopefully people can overcome whatever hangups they might have and just enjoy this for what it is, a totally likable seet and sunshiney pop record.
MPEG Stream: "Thieves"
MPEG Stream: "Ridin' In My Car"
MPEG Stream: "Home"

SHE MOB Cancel the Wedding (self-released) cd 9.98
A very cool local trio making a joyous feminine racket a la The Raincoats. Recommended.

SHE WANTS REVENGE s/t (Geffen ) cd 11.98
If you've been hooked into myspace.com, either the name She Wants Revenge will seem painfully passe to you by now or you might be riding the wave of anticipation to hold in your hands an actual cd of this band's up-until-now-only-digitally-available-online music. A brief synopsis for those of you to whom this all seems like Greek... She Wants Revenge is an LA duo who (along with another internet buzz-band, the UK's Arctic Monkeys) have been all the rage on the abovementioned phenomenal hipster/hype-machine community (but now Rupert Murdoch-owned) website for months. All that said, what does it sound like? Well, it's pretty much summed up with the phrase: She Wants Revenge totally 'out-Joy Divisions' Interpol. They've got a song titled "Tear You Apart"... ok. They've formulated their sound to drive into utter ecstacy the aural taste buds of everyone who likes that dour yet danceable sound, but with a few distinctions. Really, the aural resemblance is nothing short of shocking, but unlike Joy Division's tone of bleaker than bleak self-loathing and Interpol's romanticization of it, the two male djs-turned-band-members instead define and fetishize SWR's dour angular new wave dance punk with imagery of girls in panties with butcher knives. Your cup of tea?
MPEG Stream: "Tear You Apart"
MPEG Stream: "These Things"

SHE WANTS REVENGE This Is Forever (Geffen) cd 12.98

SHE'S, THE Then It Starts To Feel Like Summer (self-released) cd 9.98
We'd been hearing about this new San Francisco band The She's for a while now, friends who have seen them live have been totally raving to us about 'em. We can see why now, as this is full on bright colored, punchy pop bliss!
While we are in the crisp and cold time of winter right now, these songs are bringing us the hope of warmth and sunshine that springtime and summer will surely bring. Such an awesome feeling when the first time you ever hear a band you immediately feel the same way you did when you heard bands that have become all-time favorites. Think of some awesome version of Best Coast stripping away the lo-fi vibes and going on a road trip in a red convertible with the first Weezer album and The Breeders' Last Splash, and you start to get an idea of what kind of pop perfection The She's have created with this debut.
While lots of other new bands have been great at tapping into a sound or era with their aesthetic, The She's are a refreshing reminder of how great it is to hear a new band that believes in SONGS. Pretty much every song on here is filled with such inciting hooks and melodies. We have a strong feeling that The She's could be the next San Francisco band who could make it kinda big, this is awesome!
MPEG Stream: "Running"
MPEG Stream: "Then It Starts To Feel Like Summer"
MPEG Stream: "Put It All Together"

SHE'S, THE Then It Starts To Feel Like Summer (self-released) lp 15.98
NOW ON LP!
We'd been hearing about this new San Francisco band The She's for a while now, friends who have seen them live have been totally raving to us about 'em. We can see why now, as this is full on bright colored, punchy pop bliss!
While we are in the crisp and cold time of winter right now, these songs are bringing us the hope of warmth and sunshine that springtime and summer will surely bring. Such an awesome feeling when the first time you ever hear a band you immediately feel the same way you did when you heard bands that have become all-time favorites. Think of some awesome version of Best Coast stripping away the lo-fi vibes and going on a road trip in a red convertible with the first Weezer album and The Breeders' Last Splash, and you start to get an idea of what kind of pop perfection The She's have created with this debut.
While lots of other new bands have been great at tapping into a sound or era with their aesthetic, The She's are a refreshing reminder of how great it is to hear a new band that believes in SONGS. Pretty much every song on here is filled with such inciting hooks and melodies. We have a strong feeling that The She's could be the next San Francisco band who could make it kinda big, this is awesome!
MPEG Stream: "Running"
MPEG Stream: "Then It Starts To Feel Like Summer"
MPEG Stream: "Put It All Together"

SHEARER, DYLAN Planted / Plans (Yik Yak) lp 14.98

SHEARER, DYLAN Porchpuddles (Empty Cellar) lp 16.98
We first heard local singer songwriter Dylan Shearer on the In A Cloud sampler of local SF artists and were immediately smitten by his gorgeous old school retro sixties style pop, think Kinks, Zombies, early Bee Gees, Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd, lush but spare instrumentation, dreamily strummed guitar, delicate piano, minimal drum skitter, instantly irresistible melodies, classic pop songsmithery, all driven by Shearer's distinctive dramatic croon, and all wreathed in a lush softly reverbed old school production.
Dreamy and melancholic, definitely a sound out of time, reminds us of aQ faves Cardinal, the New Lines, Still Corners, Bipolaroid and other aQ beloved retro poppers. But where those bands definitely veer toward the experimental, Shearer plays it pretty straight relying more on the songs themselves, which effortlessly transport the listener to a simpler time, Porchpuddles the perfect soundtrack to that bygone era of classic baroque dream pop.
Includes a download coupon of the whole record PLUS seven bonus tracks!!!
MPEG Stream: "Afterwhile"
MPEG Stream: "Vacancies"
MPEG Stream: "Tardy Party"
MPEG Stream: "Where I've Gone"

SHEARWATER Rook (Matador) cd 12.98
Following their acclaimed 2007 concept album Palo Santo, Texas band Shearwater deliver another haunting, dramatic work. Whether its title refers to the bird or chess piece of the same name we aren't certain (it's probably the second because main man Jonathan Meiburg studies ornithology), but both are quite apropos. The ten songs are imbued with the airborne grace of the former and the formidable icy stone gravity of the latter. If you've yet to hear this band's music, imagining a more ominous Coldplay (whom the band has opened for in concert) is a good place to start. Their sound at once harkens back to '70s UK folk rock as well as perhaps early '90s Talk Talk and the late '90s epic loud-quiet postrock of Godspeed or Mogwai. The swooping high vocals of Meiburg conjuring comparisons to Nick Drake, Mark Kozelek or Ron Sexsmith. Fans of any/all of the above, definitely check this somber beauty out!
MPEG Stream: "Rooks"
MPEG Stream: "Home Life"

SHEAVY The Electric Sleep (The Music Cartel) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Your first reaction to his Canadian band will be: "I can't believe it's not Black Sabbath!" In a blind test, their singer could not be distinguished from Ozzy Osbourne by a panel of experts--it seems the only difference is that the guy in sHeavy hasn't bitten the head off any live animal (yet). That, and his band's got some better tunes for him to sing than what Ozzy's been up to lately. Normally, something that's this much of a copy would deserve scorn, but they're so damn good at it that you have to love it. This came out last year as an import, and now here's the domestic version, adding a (non-bogus) bonus track.

SHELLAC 1000 Hurts (Touch & Go) cd 14.98
New album from Steve Albini, et al. Almost sounds like an Olympia band doing Shellac. Much more melodic, with more singing and less testifying. Some really beautiful quiet parts and some amazing over distorted loud bits. People have been freaking out, saying this is the best thing Albini's ever done, although Rapeman and Big Black still hold that honor. Comes in a mini cardboard open reel style tape box.

SHELLAC 1000 Hurts (Touch & Go) lp 17.98
New album from Steve Albini, et al. Almost sounds like an Olympia band doing Shellac. Much more melodic, with more singing and less testifying. Some really beautiful quiet parts and some amazing over distorted loud bits. People have been freaking out, saying this is the best thing Albini's ever done, although Rapeman and Big Black still hold that honor. Comes in a 12" cardboard open reel style tape box, and the vinyl version includes a copy of the cd as well, so you vinyl lovers can have your cake and eat it too -- all for the same price as the cd alone!

SHELLAC At Action Park (Touch & Go) lp 19.98
Hey. Never listed this classic, and now we've got some vinyl in, so here's a review!! Steve Albini may be most well known for being a producer / engineer, having probably recorded a million of your favorite records, or for being a hilariously outspoken and opinionated loudmouth, and yeah, he's both of those, but more importantly, he was the architect /guitarist / mouthpiece for legendary industrial tinged drum machine driven noise rockers Big Black, not to mention the way less well known, but even better (as far as we're concerned) Rapeman, and then there's Shellac, Albini's minimalist rock trio with Bob Weston (Volcano Suns) and Todd Trainer (Rifle Sport, Brick Layer Cake), a band that bucks convention in pretty much every way possible, playing only occasionally, and more for fun, than promotion, recording and releasing records even more occasionally, running their band much like Albini runs his recording studio, never asking for outrageous amounts of money, offering to play first in order to get folks out early to see the other bands, their live performances a sort of spectacle, besides being insanely tight, there's lots of hilarious stage banter, not to mention some strange choreographed movements that would seem to be at odds with such a 'serious band'. Which is really the key to what makes Shellac so good, they ARE funny guys, and they DO have a great sense of humor, and that humor does worm its way into their sound, no matter how subtly. And that sound! It's like someone went into a laboratory and concocted our perfect band. Sinewy, angular chiming guitars, thick buzzing bass, and incredible, ridiculously mathy and super powerful drumming, all wound around gorgeously skeletal songs, that manage to be wickedly catchy, while remaining extremely difficult and abstract, so much so that their popularity does sometimes seem baffling, cuz this shit is fucking far out. A woozy fuzzy groove will suddenly splinter into a baffling stop start stretch of seemingly 'free' post / noise rock drift, a sprawling stretch of high end guitar / splattery crash and boom drum duel will stretch out for minutes, before suddenly locking into a proper, almost poppy sounding song, the record constantly veering from dense mathy indie rock to total experimental noise rock minimalism, often those two elements bleeding like crazy into one another. And Albini's pissed off snarly vox are the perfect fit, there aren't a lot of vocals, but when they do come in, it adds an awesome bit of menace to the proceedings. If you haven't heard At Action Park, man are you in for a surprise, heavy and mathy and abstract and noisy and brutal and catchy and still one of the best records from that era.
Now if they'd just reissue those first three 7"s, long out of print and never reissued in any form, but pretty much a perfect trifecta of stripped down angular minimal math rock...
MPEG Stream: "My Black Ass"
MPEG Stream: "Il Porno Star"
MPEG Stream: "Pull The Cup"
MPEG Stream: "Dog And Pony Show"

SHELLAC Excellent Italian Greyhound (Touch & Go) cd 14.98
It's hard not to love Shellac. They are definitely one of the best sounding bands in the world. And they still manage to be as weird as all get out. Sonically, their recordings are so loud and live sounding. The players are unbelievably tight and efficient. The drums are like a machine, way up in the mix, driving the songs, so precise and perfect, but somehow still impossibly groovy. The arrangements are simple, but manage to be intense and convoluted and confusing at the same time. Albini is the absolute master of the jagged angular riff. Stripped down minimal math rock, no one does it better.
So what's a band to do, instead of making another perfect sounding record? Well, howsabout making a not-so-perfect sounding record? Or more specifically making a -mostly- perfect sounding record, but making it so weird and fucked up that it's bound to drive some folks nuts? Which is exactly what they've done.
The long in the works (6 or 7 years it seems like) Excellent Italian Greyhound definitely sounds like a Shellac record, and in that, we already love it. And it does sound perfect. Most of the songs are relentless and intense, the guitar a precisely tuned rrrrroooooar, veering from sharp shards to warm crunch, in fact, Steve Albini's guitar tone sounds warmer than ever, the bass a throbbing anchor, and the drums, holy shit, Todd Trainer is a mathrock drum cyborg alien master. And the songs! "Steady As She Goes" (we were secretly hoping it was a Raconteurs cover) is a post rock math rock post punk masterpiece. Tightly wound with a killer half time breakdown, and some relentlessly catchy riffing. The next track too, "Be Prepared", is about as good as stuff like this gets. A weird hook, a seasick rhythm, and amazing vocals. And that voice, the same tortured whine, which in the past was another minimal element in Shellac's minimalist sound, is now taking center stage, often wailing all by its lonesome.
And while we're on the subject of vocals, that's one way in which Albini and Co. seemingly decided to fuck with us. Albini's lyrics in Shellac were always a bit, um... mysterious, but here they're downright bizarre, and almost goofy. The opening track "The End Of Radio" has some slightly cheesy bits, some radio style sloganeering, sure there is a point, but it still sounds a little out of place. But leave it to Shellac to take those lyrics and couple them with the weirdest song on the record, musically, with Trainer and Albini seemingly playing two different songs, maybe not even listening to each other, but clicking every few measures, making it obvious that it was meant to be exactly that way. But the song that will probably be the most discussed (in this review as well) is the nine minute long "Genuine Lulabelle", most of which sees Albini crooning romantically a capella. Singing about partying and cum and other weirdness. But as if that wasn't strange enough, other voices enter the fray, the Moviefone guy (?), even Strongbad (?!?!), from Homestarrunner.com... At first we were convinced that Albini had lost it, but the more we hear it, the more it seems just weird enough that it manages to transform the song from annoying and goofy to damaged and demented. And there ain't nothing wrong with damaged and demented.
The rest of the record is rife with little bits of weirdness, the false starts on "Be Prepared", the jangly surf rock TV theme intro to "Spoke", as well as the usual deconstructed melodies, and abstract rhythmic workouts, but it all fits, it just takes standing back and seeing the big picture, no matter how convoluted and confusing and un-right it seems on the surface. Trust them. They're Shellac.
MPEG Stream: "The End Of Radio"
MPEG Stream: "Steady As She Goes"
MPEG Stream: "Genuine Lulabelle"

SHELLAC Excellent Italian Greyhound (Touch & Go) lp 14.98
It's hard not to love Shellac. They are definitely one of the best sounding bands in the world. And they still manage to be as weird as all get out. Sonically, their recordings are so loud and live sounding. The players are unbelievably tight and efficient. The drums are like a machine, way up in the mix, driving the songs, so precise and perfect, but somehow still impossibly groovy. The arrangements are simple, but manage to be intense and convoluted and confusing at the same time. Albini is the absolute master of the jagged angular riff. Stripped down minimal math rock, no one does it better.
So what's a band to do, instead of making another perfect sounding record? Well, howsabout making a not-so-perfect sounding record? Or more specifically making a -mostly- perfect sounding record, but making it so weird and fucked up that it's bound to drive some folks nuts? Which is exactly what they've done.
The long in the works (6 or 7 years it seems like) Excellent Italian Greyhound definitely sounds like a Shellac record, and in that, we already love it. And it does sound perfect. Most of the songs are relentless and intense, the guitar a precisely tuned rrrrroooooar, veering from sharp shards to warm crunch, in fact, Steve Albini's guitar tone sounds warmer than ever, the bass a throbbing anchor, and the drums, holy shit, Todd Trainer is a mathrock drum cyborg alien master. And the songs! "Steady As She Goes" (we were secretly hoping it was a Raconteurs cover) is a post rock math rock post punk masterpiece. Tightly wound with a killer half time breakdown, and some relentlessly catchy riffing. The next track too, "Be Prepared", is about as good as stuff like this gets. A weird hook, a seasick rhythm, and amazing vocals. And that voice, the same tortured whine, which in the past was another minimal element in Shellac's minimalist sound, is now taking center stage, often wailing all by its lonesome.
And while we're on the subject of vocals, that's one way in which Albini and Co. seemingly decided to fuck with us. Albini's lyrics in Shellac were always a bit, um... mysterious, but here they're downright bizarre, and almost goofy. The opening track "The End Of Radio" has some slightly cheesy bits, some radio style sloganeering, sure there is a point, but it still sounds a little out of place. But leave it to Shellac to take those lyrics and couple them with the weirdest song on the record, musically, with Trainer and Albini seemingly playing two different songs, maybe not even listening to each other, but clicking every few measures, making it obvious that it was meant to be exactly that way. But the song that will probably be the most discussed (in this review as well) is the nine minute long "Genuine Lulabelle", most of which sees Albini crooning romantically a capella. Singing about partying and cum and other weirdness. But as if that wasn't strange enough, other voices enter the fray, the Moviefone guy (?), even Strongbad (?!?!), from Homestarrunner.com... At first we were convinced that Albini had lost it, but the more we hear it, the more it seems just weird enough that it manages to transform the song from annoying and goofy to damaged and demented. And there ain't nothing wrong with damaged and demented.
The rest of the record is rife with little bits of weirdness, the false starts on "Be Prepared", the jangly surf rock TV theme intro to "Spoke", as well as the usual deconstructed melodies, and abstract rhythmic workouts, but it all fits, it just takes standing back and seeing the big picture, no matter how convoluted and confusing and un-right it seems on the surface. Trust them. They're Shellac.
MPEG Stream: "The End Of Radio"
MPEG Stream: "Steady As She Goes"
MPEG Stream: "Genuine Lulabelle"

SHELLAC Terraform (Touch & Go) cd 14.98

SHELLER, WILLIAM Lux Aeterna (The Omni Recording Corporation) cd 17.98
We actually originally discovered this record in a thrift store, years ago, and ended up buying it for $5 or whatever, just cuz the cover was super trippy, and it was printed on cool prismatic reflective paper, and of course, we had no idea what to expect, and while we dug it, a LOT, and listened to it constantly, for whatever reason, it never occurred to us that what we had was some treasured rarity lost psychedelic artifact, one that certain discerning producers have mined for killer breaks, until we found out this reissue was on the way. So we revisited the record and holy crap!!!! How could we not have known?! So insane, and inspired, and ridiculous, and over the top, and ahead of its time, and it totally out trip-outs almost any record we can think of! Needless to say, we're super psyched to have this reissue, which features that original record, along with a whole mess of bonus tracks!!
So the record proper, Lux Aeterna, was originally composed to celebrate a friend of William Sheller's wedding, thematically driven by concepts of union and togetherness, and ostensibly based on the Catholic mass, this is far from any sort of religious music you've ever heard. Following in the footsteps of other iconoclastic composers, like Serge Gainsbourg, Jean-Claude Vannier, Lee Hazlewood, David Axelrod, Scott Walker and of course Magma (more on that in a second), Sheller conjured up what is at once an over the top symphonic prog epic, but also a strangely meditative operatic chorale, the sound a gorgeous and dizzying fusion of bombastic prog, classical opera, tripped out seventies psych, outsider jazzfunk, and soaring symphonic majesty. The first track alone should convince you, with its groovy loping stripped down rhythm, its woozy bassline, its swoonsome strings, its slippery slide guitar (!!), its lush operatic vox. That cut is equal parts lost soundtrack and weird Morricone-esque krautfunk, sort of, the sound epic and dramatic and VERY cinematic, dark and subtly sinister, minor key and haunting, but then with about a minute to go BAM, the the sound shifts, sort of fractures, and gets super lo-fi, soaked in phaser and flanger, swirling and tripped out, laced with psychedelic wah guitar, a woozy, melting fad out groove. Holy WOW. So fucking awesome. And that's pretty much how the rest of the record plays out, with Sheller weaving these lush orchestral epics, alternatingly symphonic or operatic, when all of a sudden he'll mix in some trippy sci fi freak out FX or fuse rock drums to soaring operatic vox and symphonic strings. Some tracks play it totally straight, like "Ave Frater, Rosae Et Aurae", which really could have been plucked right out of a mass, but then in swoops "Opus Magnum Pt. 2", with its driving kraut-ish groove, reprising the opening theme, but adding some seriously loopy bleeps and bloops, squelches, and reverby blurps, tripped out laser fire squiggles and swirling analog electronics. Only to then settle right back down into some hushed string driven drift, but a minute or two later and the sound explodes again in a frenzy of FX, the song gathering momentum, and heft, and transforming into a sort of dirgey driving jam, wreathed in strings and an avalanche of glitched out electronics. And so it goes, slipping from haunting ritualistic choral music, to tripped out psychedelic seventies prog funk grooviness and back again, sounding quite often like Magma, or some similarly epic prog combo, stopping occasionally to dip into a bit of musique concrete or twentieth century classical, or introducing seriously terrifying children's spoken word, reciting what sounds like scripture, before finally finishing off with a gorgeous melancholy piano coda, again a refrain of that opening melody.
Quite a strange and twisted record for someone's wedding, sure WE'D all be psyched, but in 1972? Wow.
After a two minute track of silence, meant to separate the programs, comes, as the first of a big batch of bonus tracks, several pieces from Sheller's soundtrack for a 1969 film called Erotissimo, the music appropriately psychedelic and seventies hippie rocking, but of course laced with strings, and surprisingly some heavy proto metal riffing, wild psych guitar leads, dreamy female vocals, the whole thing building to a killer fuzzy psych rock blowout, before slipping back into something a bit more fuzzy and woozy.
After that is "My Year Is A Day", Sheller's big hit, a fantastic slab of orchestral pop, that reminds us of early Bee Gees and the Zombies, and fans of either/both will flip. The rest of the record is more of the same, fuzzed out psychedelic orchestral pop, "Couleurs" being a standout, with its freaked out effects heavy breakdowns, and sitar like buzz running throughout, but really all twenty tracks are killer, making us thing there must be a whole lot more William Sheller we need to track down. Maybe Omni will follow up with another reissue. Here's hoping!
Like all Omni releases, lots of photos, and extensive liner notes, as well as some weird unseen art and reproductions of the covers of some of the singles that are included as bonus tracks!
MPEG Stream: "Introit"
MPEG Stream: "Opus Magnum Pt. 1"
MPEG Stream: "Opus Magnum Pt. 2"
MPEG Stream: "Sous Le Signe Du Verseau"
MPEG Stream: "Erotissimo"
MPEG Stream: "My Year Is A Day"

SHELLEYDEVOTO Buzzkunst (Cooking Vinyl) cd 15.98
Two of the founding members of the seminal British punk-pop band the Buzzcocks have reconvened over twenty five years after their first band's inception. It's Pete Shelley (also known as the stoic figure behind the icy synth-pop alienation classic "Homosapien") and Howard Devoto (also of Magazine and Luxuria) as - surprise - ShelleyDevoto! And while I first expected this to be a cause for celebration, now I'm not so sure. 'Cause when I eagerly pressed 'play' what met my ears was something akin to the weak years of Ultravox or worse yet OMD with overwrought vocals and distracting electronic noodling. Sadly disappointing.
RealAudio clip: "Can You See Me Shining?"

SHEPHERD, DOUG Mass Amount Of Love (Plasticage) cd 10.98
We found ourselves showering Doug Shepherd's two new-to-us releases with much adoration even before finding out that he's stacked his decks over the years with terrific guest players from aQ faves Aislers Set and Calexico! Certain familiar traits of those two bands -- bittersweet pop inflections and a bit of rustic desert twang -- make their presence felt, but not obtrusively so. This Portland, OR gent's folk pop songcraft stands strong all on its own. His music runs the pop gamut from gentle and lulling to uptempo and peppery to breezy and janglin'. Aww, all the stuff we love.
Mass Amount Of Love is his 2001 debut full length that was actually recorded back in 1998 right here in SF by one Mr. Wyatt Cusick (of Aislers Set, Track Star and Still Flyin). Imperial Teen's Roddy Bottum and the whole Aislers Set gang contributed to this indie pop luv fest. So wide-eyed and charming, the album closes with a terrific cover of Opal's "A Falling Star".
Psst, the other release that we just got in stock from the man himself is a limited edition cd-r recorded at the famed Wavelab Studios in Tucson, AZ where the wonderful likes of Calexico, M. Ward, Giant Sand and Neko Case frequently work their aural magic. Both are mighty fine and very recommended for fans of all of the abovementioned folks.
MPEG Stream: "Postcard From Everett Ruess"
MPEG Stream: "Majesty And Bloat"

SHEPHERD, DOUG Wavelab Sessions Vol. 2 (Champion Of The New Plastic Age) cd-r 6.98
We found ourselves showering Doug Shepherd's two new-to-us releases with much adoration even before finding out that he's stacked his decks over the years with terrific guest players from aQ faves Calexico and Aislers Set! Certain familiar traits of those two bands -- rustic desert twang and bittersweet pop inflections -- can't help but make their presence felt, but not obtrusively so. This Portland, OR gent's folk pop songcraft stands strong all on its own. His music runs the pop gamut from gentle and lulling to upbeat and peppery to breezy and janglin'. Aww, all the stuff we love.
The ep's delights start right from the opening track "Liquid Gold" which is graced with pretty female backing vocals and some trumpet too (we're guessing it is Rachel Blumberg and Jacob Valenzuela respectively, the credits aren't specific). The following bright tune "Pure Cinema" kicks the tempo up considerably. Good stuff!
This limited edition cd-r's five songs are from a session recorded at the Tucson, AZ studio where the likes of Calexico, M. Ward, Giant Sand and Neko Case regularly lay down their awesome tracks. It's the second release in the studio's Wavelab Sessions series, and is limited to 200! Be quick like a jackalope!
MPEG Stream: "Liquid Gold"
MPEG Stream: "Pure Cinema"

SHEPHERDS Bush Babies (DNT) 7" 4.50

SHEPPARD, AARON Leverage (Psychic Arts) cd-r 8.98
So many cd-r's come our way on what seems like a daily basis, but it isn't often that one of them immediately stops us in our tracks on first listen. These seven tracks by Aaron Sheppard have done just that. Haunting psychedelic solo guitar that manages to be both meditative, spacey, and focused all at the same time. We had no idea who Sheppard was when this first showed up, but his playing won us over immediately. Like Roy Montgomery and James Blackshaw conjuring up a soundtrack for a dazed afternoon, Leverage also has moments that make us think of vintage Robert Fripp, the beauty of Heldon's second album Allez Teia, as well as the recent mind blowing output of Matt Baldwin that we've raved about in the last year. Alternating between more grounded finger-picking tracks to more melting and stretched out sounds, this is by far one of the most engaging and rewarding solo guitar records we've heard in so long.
We actually want to go and on about how much this record has been moving us, but the cd-r is limited to 50 copies, so we should probably stop talking now and give you the chance to grab one of these before they are gone for good...
MPEG Stream: "Flight Path"
MPEG Stream: "The Recidivistic Stowaway"

SHERIFF s/t (Hapna) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A mellow, minimal, post-rock, indie-pop duo (guitar/piano and drums) from Gothenburg, Sweden. On the same tip as Palace Bros. Gatr Del Sol and early Low. On Hapna, home to Sagor & Swing, Tape, etc.

SHERIFF Sail, Sail Away (Kning Disk) cd ep 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Sheriff is the Swedish duo Magnus Granberg (vocals, piano, guitar) and Henrik Olsson (percussion), and this is their second release. They are not men of many words. Absolute barebones, intimate, slow and resonant. A piano's keys are struck, the notes allowed to linger languidly. After a few moments they're joined by a deep, very present male voice sing-speaking a handful of lyrics. Each word joins the notes in the air hanging like amber pendants. The following four tracks offer much the same but the piano is occasionally replaced or joined by low plucked guitar strings and strikes of percussion and bowls. An example of just how Spartan the proceedings are: the third song is titled "Stay, Stay" and that word repeated solemnly over and over again forms the better part of the song's lyrics. Brings to mind the most minimal moments of Slint. Hushed and meditative, Sail, Sail Away is an exercise in utter restraint. Super limited, and soon gone, as we only were able to get a handful...
MPEG Stream: "I Say"
MPEG Stream: "Stay, Stay"

SHIDE & ACORN Under The Tree (Acme Deluxe Stereo) lp 24.00
Classic acid folk reissue.

SHIELDS, CHRISTINE In The Sun (Awesome Vistas) lp 16.98
Wow! Awesome Vistas brings us another stunner with the debut musical release from Sacramento-based artist Christine Shields. Shields, known in the Bay Area for her portraits and ghostly paintings of child spirits, trees and landscapes that evoke a lost Victorian past, has been making and performing music with various groups for awhile, but this is the first time we've heard a full recording and we must say we're quite blown away! Reminding us a bit of Opal or White Magic, Shields and her group have created an amazing record of hauntingly atmospheric chamber folk. Organic vocal harmonies, intricate guitar work, melodica, piano, percussion and bells, evoke a world of beauty and loss, shipwrecks and spirits, dark and light, that is gentle and melancholic but not at all fragile. The songwriting and production are breathtaking and creates the pitch-perfect mood to draw us in and never lets us go. With gorgeous hand-screened covers. Highest Recommendation!

SHIFLET, MIKE Sufferers (Type) lp 19.98

SHILO, J. P. As Happy As Sad Is Blue (Smells Like) cd 13.98
One of the joys of working at record stores and doing college radio shows is how much access you end up getting to amazing records that otherwise you might not ever get to come across. And the cool thing about both radio and record stores, is that you're then in a position to share that music with everyone! One such record was by an Australian band called The Hungry Ghosts who released one full length album in 1999 called Alone, Alone. One of those records whose beauty strikes you on first listen and continues to move you a hundred listens down the line. Hungry Ghosts utilized an approach similar to their Australian cohorts, The Dirty Three, yet somehow managed to make their sound maybe even more gorgeous and heartbreaking. I (Irwin) remember playing it for the first time back when I had a show on KSPC in southern California and instantly falling in love. Sadly they seemed to disappear after that record. No trace of them anywhere. I even tried writing them and never heard back. Turns out I wasn't the only one who couldn't find them. John Brooks who was a founding member of the group is said to have entered a black hole of sorts. Later to be found at the Tara institute, a Tibetan Buddhist meditation center in Melbourne. It's there that he went back to his surname of Shilo and with a four-track donated by a fellow resident he began to record music often by candlelight and the results are this absolutely stunning record. You can feel the solitude, the still, the searching and the moments of transcendence. Musical sketches that evoke such a moody elegance. Kind of like if Do Make Say Think and the GYBE camp were forced to trade in all their outbursts and grandiose climaxes and instead go deep within to find the essence of their sound. Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth knew he had to put this out when he finally got the tapes from Shilo and we're so happy he did. Every time we play this in the store someone comes up to see what it is and usually leaves with a copy for themselves. A timeless and totally beautiful record!
MPEG Stream: "Wait"
MPEG Stream: "The Drowning Horse"
MPEG Stream: "La Sirena"

SHIMMER KIDS UNDERPOP ASSOCIATION The Book of Mirrors (Parasol) cd 11.98
These laidback SF popsters make light, sweet-tart songs, and here's a six-song ep for your listening delight! A little backyard ramshackleness, a little swirly 'n' spacy psych-folkish, a little '60s beach blanket worthy with warm vocals, jangly guitars, some horns and hey, was that a recorder we just heard tooting away too? Actually they wouldn't be at all out of place in the warm, creative company of the Elephant 6 collective. Nice.
MPEG Stream: "The Last Joke In Town"
MPEG Stream: "Engines Of The Inner Circle"

SHIMMERING STARS Violent Hearts (Hardly Art) cd 12.98
You'd think by now, that we'd all be sick of reverby garage rock, the whole retro girl group thing that seems to be the M.O. of every new band that pops up these days, but beyond the onslaught of sound alike bands, it's a sound that's tough NOT to love, and when done right, and creatively, it still pushes all our buttons and we can't get enough of it. But more and more these days, the bands that do in fact do it right, are few and far between. Which brings us to Shimmering Stars, a Canadian reverb heavy Spector worshipping dream pop group whose debut, this right here, takes that sixties sound, and melds it to a more fifties sound, reflected by the band's sonic obsession with the Everly Brothers and Del Shannon, and that makes all the difference. Besides the classic, sound all distorted and reverby, dreamy and jangly, the band have come up with some crazy catchy songs, that besides sounding fantastic, also actually sound like they could actually be from the fifties. If someone told you these were all covers, it wouldn't be tough to believe. Granted, the sound here is way more fuzzy and distorted, but the songs are just so perfect, classic and catchy, simple but dreamily melodic. The opening three song salvo here should have you smitten in no time. But the whole record is bursting with could have been classics, in some alternate universe fifties, these guys would have been the biggest band in the land. And be sure to stick around for the closer "Walk Away", a dreamy dirgey chunk of shimmery reverb heavy garage rock pound that while still channeling the fifties should have fans of Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, Mikal Cronin and all the rest freaking out big time. Another new pop favorite, which we'll most likely be jamming nonstop along with the new Veronica Falls and the new Big Troubles. SO GOOD!
MPEG Stream: "Walk Away"
MPEG Stream: "Believe"
MPEG Stream: "I'm Gonna Try"
MPEG Stream: "No One"

SHIMMERING STARS Violent Hearts (Hardly Art) lp 12.98
You'd think by now, that we'd all be sick of reverby garage rock, the whole retro girl group thing that seems to be the M.O. of every new band that pops up these days, but beyond the onslaught of sound alike bands, it's a sound that's tough NOT to love, and when done right, and creatively, it still pushes all our buttons and we can't get enough of it. But more and more these days, the bands that do in fact do it right, are few and far between. Which brings us to Shimmering Stars, a Canadian reverb heavy Spector worshipping dream pop group whose debut, this right here, takes that sixties sound, and melds it to a more fifties sound, reflected by the band's sonic obsession with the Everly Brothers and Del Shannon, and that makes all the difference. Besides the classic, sound all distorted and reverby, dreamy and jangly, the band have come up with some crazy catchy songs, that besides sounding fantastic, also actually sound like they could actually be from the fifties. If someone told you these were all covers, it wouldn't be tough to believe. Granted, the sound here is way more fuzzy and distorted, but the songs are just so perfect, classic and catchy, simple but dreamily melodic. The opening three song salvo here should have you smitten in no time. But the whole record is bursting with could have been classics, in some alternate universe fifties, these guys would have been the biggest band in the land. And be sure to stick around for the closer "Walk Away", a dreamy dirgey chunk of shimmery reverb heavy garage rock pound that while still channeling the fifties should have fans of Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, Mikal Cronin and all the rest freaking out big time. Another new pop favorite, which we'll most likely be jamming nonstop along with the new Veronica Falls and the new Big Troubles. SO GOOD!
MPEG Stream: "Walk Away"
MPEG Stream: "Believe"
MPEG Stream: "I'm Gonna Try"
MPEG Stream: "No One"

SHINING Grindstone (Rune Grammofon) cd 16.98
The previous Rune Grammofon album from Norwegian electronica/jazz outfit Shining (2005's In The Kingdom Of Kitsch You Will Be A Monster) we liked quite a bit -- and sold quite a few copies of as well. But we don't remember it being quite as hard and heavy as this new disc! Some of this is almost industrial-metal, seriously. Herky-jerky rhythms one moment, sheer droning heaviness the next, with moody male and female vox amidst the instrumental/electronic onslaught. This has a sinister circusiness that makes you think that Mike Patton (Fantomas/Faith No More/etc.) must somehow be involved, though of course he's not. Doubtless he'd like how spunky, brassy, swirly, and dark this is, and that Shining haven't lost their any of their intense cinematic Morricone-ish sensibility.
MPEG Stream: "In The Kingdom Of Kitsch You Will Be A Monster"
MPEG Stream: "Psalm"
MPEG Stream: "Fight Dusk With Dawn"

SHINING In The Kingdom Of Kitsch You Will Be A Monster + Grindstone (Rune Grammofon) 2lp 29.00
NOW ON VINYL! Not one but two albums by this weird sorta jazz electronica group on Rune G. Here's a review cobbled together from our write-ups of the cd versions of the relevant records...
In The Kingdom Of Kitsch You Will Be A Monster was the 2005 debut of Shining, from Norway (not to be confused with the black metal Shining from Sweden). What be they if not black metal? Hmm, let's listen...good grief, dunno the genre for this even...it's jazz we guess...of sorts. Powerful and freaky and technological. Lead by Jorgen Munkby (ex-Jaga Jazzist, as is the Shining's keyboardist) who plays (on here) everything from sax to accordion to church organ to guitar to mellotron to synths, and does drum programming too. But Shining is a five-piece band so as multi-instrumental as Jorgen is, he's doesn't have to do it all at once. And they leave the tubular bells to a guest musician. So, you get the idea that there's potentially a lot going on. The requiste Kim Hiorthoy cover art, which kinda looks like a blown-to-bits website, implies as much. The ten tracks here veer from booming bombast to melodic moodiness. Energetic ADD explosions of horns and percussion are calmed with weird wordless vocal parts, rhythmic frenzies give way to eerie grooves, and the players' jazz chops are chopped up. There's plenty of tension, and release, let's say! Just imagine some hotshot jazz guys gone on a dark, cinematic bender, unhealthily obsessed with Carl Stalling cartoon scores and arty prog rock and all possibilities of modern electronics. Your ears will feel fully exercised (and dare we say delighted) after a session with Shining. Very cool.
Then in 2007, Grindstone came out. Compared to the debut, it seemed quite a bit harder and heavier than we remember! Some of this is almost industrial-metal, seriously. Herky-jerky rhythms one moment, sheer droning heaviness the next, with moody male and female vox amidst the instrumental/electronic onslaught. This has a sinister circusiness that makes you think that Mike Patton (Fantomas/Faith No More/etc.) must somehow be involved, though of course he's not. Doubtless he'd like how spunky, brassy, swirly, and dark this is, and that Shining haven't lost their any of their intense cinematic Morricone-ish sensibility.
A handsome gatefold package, limited to 500 copies.
MPEG Stream: "Goretex Weather Report"
MPEG Stream: "Aleister Explains Everything"
MPEG Stream: "The Smoking Dog"
MPEG Stream: "In The Kingdom Of Kitsch You Will Be A Monster"
MPEG Stream: "Psalm"
MPEG Stream: "Fight Dusk With Dawn"

SHINING PATH Take You So Low So You Can Fly So High (Planaria) lp 14.98
Killer vinyl reissue of a long out of print cassette from the Shining Path, aka Ilya Monosov and Preston Swirnoff, brother of our very own Irwin.
Originally released on T.B.T.D and now long gone. Sort of taking off from where Shining Path's first Holy Mountain release left off, these guys take synths, vocals, organs, hurdy gurdy, drum machine and guitar and whip them into a blown out krautrock, wild noise space rock frenzy, some baffling mix of Can, Hawkwind, High Rise and Suicide, that sounds perfect together, a confusionally brilliant wild eyed blowout. Total WTF? free psych heaven! From the opening burst of blown out heart-of-the-sun psychrock meltdown, to a stretch of spacious drifting, mesmerizing motorik fuzzstomp, to the final chunk of weird drum machine driven, electronic krautdrone, these guys are absolutely melt minds and destroy speakers, and we can't get enough. The flipside is another burst of furious dubbed out druggy psych, this batch of tuneage recorded live in Brooklyn in 2006 with guests Little Howlin' Wolf and Peter Barry. Recommended of course.

SHINING PATH, THE Chocolate Gasoline (Holy Mountain) 12" 13.98
Latest release from Holy Mountain, a new 12" from The Shining Path, the duo of Ilya Monosov, and Preston Swirnoff. We've dug pretty much everything we've gotten our hands on so far, and this 12" is no different. Well, actually it is, sort of.
And no we don't mean it's different as in we don't dig it, but no, as in it sounds WAY different than other SP releases. Where as other records were overdriven dubbed out druggy psych rock, Chocolate Gasoline has a bit of, well, a sort of calypso vibe mixed into their usual psychedelic stew. It's really strange, sort of sleazy sounding, WAY tripped out, but we still love it.
Stripped down percussion, moaning reverbed guitar, blown out FX drenched leads, strange vocals, that almost sound like Jamaican style toasting, and that calypso vibe. It continues on through most of the record, occasionally interrupted by dubbed out rhythms, clouds of electronic glitch, all dizzy and druggy, it actually sounds a bit like this: imagine the house band in some dark dingy calypso bar, a bar you just stumbled into after being heavily dosed with LSD, everything spinning and twisting into freaky shapes, the band jamming in the corner, begins to lift off the ground, their sounds becoming colors, the bar fading until just you and the band are standing on some other planet, watching the Earth melt in the background while the band jams on, and the little rock you're on drifts closer and closer to the sun.
Packaged in an eye popping 12" style sleeve, all reds and blues and yellows, just begging for some 3-D glasses!

SHINING PATH, THE Live At Voltaire Commune (Trensmat) 7"+cd-r 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Dicovered a little box of these in the back room... Thought they were all gone, they weren't apparently, but they will be soon!
The Shining Path is the psych rock alter ego minimalist experimental duo Ilya Monosov and Preston Swirnoff, and in the past we've raved about their blown out kraut flecked space rock. This new 7" captures the group live in 2005, two tracks from one of their very rare live performances.
The opener is a deep slow burning dirge, glistening and glowing, the sound of a planet slowly drifting into the orbit of a collapsing sun, guitars swirl and soar, grind and growl, effulgent and resplendent. This is drone rock rendered almost static, the riffs crawl, the bass throbs, the whole track creeps, or more appropriately, floats weightless, in a cloud of layered red hot psych guitar, spit out in thick glowing gouts, shot through with feedback, it's like High Rise covering Stars Of The Lid!
The second track is a bit more rocking, the drums and bass locked into a motorik groove, while the guitar, still super distorted and blown out, spits out riffs in sudden bursts, eventually coalescing into one constant stream of psychfuzz, pelted by fragments of super effected vocals, strange little squalls of FX, and then the bass gets all dubbed out, bouncing back and forth beneath the buzz and fuzz.
Like all Trensmat 7"s, the vinyl comes bundled with a bonus cd-r, this one featuring an extra live track, a heavy rocker, with some serious riffing and harmonica (!), as well as four live videos from various performances, nicely filmed, cool effects, tripped out lighting, and most importantly, more awesome music, with bleated sax, moaning horns, droney raga-like buzz, chanted vocals, creepy ambience, thick walls of guitars, rumbling throbbing bass, all woven into some seriously spaced out psychedelic dronerock.
Pressed on white vinyl and of course, VERY LIMITED!
MPEG Stream: "Live At The Voltaire Commune"
MPEG Stream: "Lonely Hearts"

SHINING PATH, THE s/t (Holy Mountain) lp+cd 15.98
Wow! Holy Mountain hits the bullseye once again. This time out it's with the rock incarnation of Monosov Swirnoff, who first showed us the Shining Path on the second volume of their vinyl only series of lps on Eclipse. This is some seriously blown out and ecstatic raw and relentless rock that is equally influenced by the amazing early punk scene in Australia (think Primitive Calculators) as it is the menacing hypnotic qualities of Suicide, the blasting moments of Can and the psych guitar overload of Japan's High Rise. We love how the Shining Path offer us a taste of what can happen when punks get psychedelic. This isn't just '70s psychrock rehash/worship, instead there is a really cool urgency and momentum that's often lacking in modern day psych excursions. The Shining Path is kind of like the sweat and guts of early punk rock under the influence of Les Rallizes Denudes. While Monosov and Swirnoff reside on opposite sides of the country and thus are rarely able to perform live they did manage a short tour last summer with outsider genius Little Howlin Wolf, those lucky enough to catch them in the East got a total treat. Here's hoping that The Shining Path are able to play some shows around here as we would love to hear and feel these radiating scorchers in the flesh, but until that happens this record is gonna be blasting through our speakers nonstop!
The LP comes with a cd as well, so you get the best of both worlds for the same price...
MPEG Stream: "The Day When He Himself Shall Wipe Away My Tears"
MPEG Stream: "Moroccan Summer"
MPEG Stream: "Hadliku Ner"

SHINING PATH, THE Take You So Low So You Can Fly So High (T.B.T.D.) cassette 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Brand new super limited cassette release from this droned out space rocking duo made up of Ilya Monosov, and Preston Swirnoff, who just happens to be the brother of our very own Irwin! Sort of taking off from where their Holy Mountain release left off, these guys take synths, vocals, organs, hurdy gurdy, drum machine and guitar and whip them into a blown out krautrock, wild noise space rock frenzy, some baffling mix of Can, Hawkwind, High Rise and Suicide, that sounds perfect together, a confusionally brilliant wild eyed blowout. Total WTF? free psych heaven! From the opening burst of blown out heart-of-the-sun psychrock meltdown, to a stretch of spacious drifting, mesmerizing motorik fuzzstomp, to the final chunk of weird drum machine driven, electronic krautdrone, these guys are absolutely melt minds and destroy speakers, and we can't get enough.
Packaged in gorgeous fold over, card stock envelope like sleeves, hand painted, with pasted on gull color tripped out artwork, on red cassette tapes, with full color picnic blanket colored inserts. LIMITED TO ONLY 100 COPIES, each hand numbered...

SHINKI CHEN s/t (Phoenix) cd 17.98
Not the Speed, not the Glue - it's just the Shinki, here. After reissuing the two classics of drugged out early '70s Japanese heavy psych by proto-metal power trio Speed, Glue and Shinki, makes sense that the Phoenix label would turn their attentions to the solo effort by that band's guitarist, Shinki Chen, originally released in 1972, also featuring Hiro Yanagida on keys, and George Yanagi from Flied Egg / Strawberry Path on bass and vocals. For those keeping score at home, this doesn't get nearly the love from Julian Cope's Japrocksampler as do Shinki's albums with Speed and Glue, but we still figure any Speed Glue & Shinki fan will certainly wanna check it out, 'cause it's pretty cool in our book. Truth is, as far as STONER rock goes, its hard to imagine music much more stoned than this comfortably numb slab of swirling, psychedelic blooze rawk. Just look at the album cover... crazy long hair, red eyes, puffing on a joint... that's this album, all right.
It starts off with a weird, semi-ambient opening track, "The Dark Sea Dream", five fairly abstract minutes of tinkling piano, barely-there percussion, distant voices (?), amp buzz and feedback drone which would fit right in on a current Miasmah label release, say. After that, the "regular" (though quite relaxed) rock n' roll kicks in, on melodic blues-based songs with such wonderful titles as "Freedom Of A Mad Paper Lantern", "Gloomy Reflections", and "Corpse". Shinki's guitar gently weeps, his riffage more slumbering than lumbering, the rhythms lazy and loping, everything often overwhelmed by blissed out layers of synth shimmer. And it's all quite enjoyable in fact, with a vibe sorta similar to the California dreamin' of Captain Beyond's Sufficiently Breathless (though without the jazziness of that album, which we just realized we've never reviewed!). And definitely of interest to fans of Too Much, Far Out, and of course SG&S.
In any case, Shinki and friends fuzz it up nicely here, and remarkably enough, on the album's last cut, the nearly 13 minute long "Farewell To Hypocrites", they suddenly start to display some energy, the drummer at last bestirring himself, making for a rousing finale to a record that otherwise often sorta sounds like heavy Hendrix on 'ludes. Nothing wrong with that, though, if you're in the mood! Hmm, maybe they recorded this last track first, who knows?
Limited, numbered, mini-LP sleeve styled gatefold packaging.
MPEG Stream: "Gloomy Reflections"
MPEG Stream: "It Was Only Yesterday"
MPEG Stream: "Farewell To Hypocrites"

SHINKI CHEN s/t (Phoenix) lp 24.00
Not the Speed, not the Glue - it's just the Shinki, here. After reissuing the two classics of drugged out early '70s Japanese heavy psych by proto-metal power trio Speed, Glue and Shinki, makes sense that the Phoenix label would turn their attentions to the solo effort by that band's guitarist, Shinki Chen, originally released in 1972, also featuring Hiro Yanagida on keys, and George Yanagi from Flied Egg / Strawberry Path on bass and vocals. For those keeping score at home, this doesn't get nearly the love from Julian Cope's Japrocksampler as do Shinki's albums with Speed and Glue, but we still figure any Speed Glue & Shinki fan will certainly wanna check it out, 'cause it's pretty cool in our book. Truth is, as far as STONER rock goes, its hard to imagine music much more stoned than this comfortably numb slab of swirling, psychedelic blooze rawk. Just look at the album cover... crazy long hair, red eyes, puffing on a joint... that's this album, all right.
It starts off with a weird, semi-ambient opening track, "The Dark Sea Dream", five fairly abstract minutes of tinkling piano, barely-there percussion, distant voices (?), amp buzz and feedback drone which would fit right in on a current Miasmah label release, say. After that, the "regular" (though quite relaxed) rock n' roll kicks in, on melodic blues-based songs with such wonderful titles as "Freedom Of A Mad Paper Lantern", "Gloomy Reflections", and "Corpse". Shinki's guitar gently weeps, his riffage more slumbering than lumbering, the rhythms lazy and loping, everything often overwhelmed by blissed out layers of synth shimmer. And it's all quite enjoyable in fact, with a vibe sorta similar to the California dreamin' of Captain Beyond's Sufficiently Breathless (though without the jazziness of that album, which we just realized we've never reviewed!). And definitely of interest to fans of Too Much, Far Out, and of course SG&S.
In any case, Shinki and friends fuzz it up nicely here, and remarkably enough, on the album's last cut, the nearly 13 minute long "Farewell To Hypocrites", they suddenly start to display some energy, the drummer at last bestirring himself, making for a rousing finale to a record that otherwise often sorta sounds like heavy Hendrix on 'ludes. Nothing wrong with that, though, if you're in the mood! Hmm, maybe they recorded this last track first, who knows?
MPEG Stream: "Gloomy Reflections"
MPEG Stream: "It Was Only Yesterday"
MPEG Stream: "Farewell To Hypocrites"