V/A DFA Compilation #1 (DFA) cd 14.98
It's long been clear that a skilled studio production team can transform a band or artist's music from weak or average into ass-kickingly addictive. Y'know... sorta like polishing a turd. Well, the fabulous DFA production team of Tim Goldsworthy and James Murphy brought their expertise to the indie realm. Not only has this duo been instrumental in the metamorphosis of potential college rock fodder into propulsive dancefloor triggers, but also they have brought along a knack for cooler than thou marketing which has spilled over from Goldsworthy's past associations with the once unstoppable Mo' Wax hype machine. An unbelievable example of this was their impressive production / marketing of The Rapture's "House Of Jealous Lovers" last year. Unfortunately this one track drew flocks seeking more of the same from a band whose past recordings were very different and well, somewhat disappointing in comparison. Instead, those folks should've really been searching out more DFA productions, which have been notoriously few and far between. Anyways, fans of The Rapture's aforementioned track will be pleased to hear that the cowbell-laden, Gang of Four makeover reappears on this compilation of DFA produced 12" A-sides. Other highlights include LCD Soundsystem's "Give It Up" as well as their club fave of hipster cynicism "Losing My Edge", plus an older lengthy track and an even lengthier newer one from the very Boredoms-y art punks Black Dice. The latter two proving that DFA are just as deft on non-traditional dance numbers. Eight tracks in all.
MPEG Stream: THE RAPTURE "House Of Jealous Lovers"
MPEG Stream: BLACK DICE "Cone Toaster"

V/A DFA Compilation #2 (DFA) 3cd 22.00
New York's best-presented flash-in-the-pan label and mix-masters, DFA, produce and remix some of the most self-conscious dance music ever made... albeit forced and/or contrived, still very well done and definitely worthy of extreme dancing to. This 3cd compilation contains so many irresistable goodies! Some hi-lites on the first two discs: J.O.Y.'S sparse and cool Slits-style vocals set to a DFA remix of their song "Sunplus", (also recently released as a 12" -- see our earlier review), Juan Maclean's (ex-Six Finger Satellite) sinister "Dance Hall Modulator Dub", Pixeltan's driving non-stop beat attack on "Get Up / Say What", DFA producer, James Murphy's band, LCD Soundsystem, featuring 4/4-beat-man-machine, Pat Mahoney (ex-Les Savy Fav) and their song "Beat Connection", legendary Liquid Liquid's "Bellhead" and The Rapture's "Echoes", just to name a few! *sigh* So much hipster dubby disco dancing, so little time. A third disc is actually a mix cd of DFA tracks, so provided you do not own your own DJ mixing equipment, you can enjoy the DFA hyper-active dance jams in one continous angular movement. Recommended.
MPEG Stream: J.O.Y. "Sunplus (DFA remix)"
MPEG Stream: THE JUAN MACLEAN "Dance Hall Modulator Dub"
MPEG Stream: LCD SOUNDSYSTEM "Yeah (Crass Version)"

V/A Die Grosse Untergangsshow : Festival Genialer Dilletanten (Vinyl On Demand) cd + dvd 60.00

V/A Die Grosse Untergangsshow : Festival Genialer Dilletanten (Vinyl On Demand) cd + dvd + 2lp 94.00

V/A Diggin' Down Argentina (Crazy Apple Boutique) lp 24.00
NOW ON VINYL!!!
Yay! Always cool to get a new comp of crazy, colorful, psychedelic pop rock treats from way back when (and way far off too, internationally speaking). The comic bookish cartoony cover art gets the swinging '60s (and early '70s) concept across, plus we were already fans of a couple previous comps on the same label, Neurotic Reactions and Some Songs Stuck In My Mind. So we were curious to hear this, and quite pleased with what we heard! 15 cuts full of fuzzy guitars, funky drum breaks, exuberant vocals, Hammond organ orgies, and other facets of freaky, garagey goodness, all from rare 45s by bands straight outta Argentina circa '69-'75, part of something called the "Rioplatense scene".
The lineup: Bosques, Dynamita, Los Fantasmas, Gipsys, Caballo Vapor, Kon-Tiki, Brujos, Wooky Toky, Los Barbaros, Victoria, Them (no, not that Them), Asfalto, Jarabe De Menta, and Little Green Men. Lots of great stuff. We love the backwards effects on Kon-Tiki's "Viaja Al Ayer (Turn Back Time)" which sounds like something by Peru's We All Together, old AQ faves. It's actually one of the prettiest, most restrained songs here, the others go for a variety of pop music that, y'know, really POPS. Like, ferinstance, the sheer organ-heavy FUNK of Caballo Vapor's cut. Or the unhinged mayhem of Gipsys' "Oh! Malala" (they get two tracks here, and the other one, "Kamasutra", is pretty wicked too). Wild, wacky, and fun are what you should expect, especially from the band that calls themselves Wooky Toky...
MPEG Stream: DYNAMITA "Toma Tu Tiempo"
MPEG Stream: GIPSYS "Kamasutra"
MPEG Stream: KON-TIKI "Viaja Al Ayer (Turn Back Time)"

V/A Diggin' Down Argentina: Nuggets From The Rioplatense Scene, 1969-1975 (Crazy Apple Boutique) cd 24.00
Yay! Always cool to get a new 70s) concept across, plus we were already fans of a couple previous comps on the same label, Neurotic Reactions and Some Songs Stuck In My Mind. So we were curious to hear this, and quite pleased with what we heard! 15 cuts full of fuzzy guitars, funky drum breaks, exuberant vocals, Hammond organ orgies, and other facets of freaky, garagey goodness, all from rare 45s by bands straight outta Argentina circa '69-'75, that the detailed liner notes in the illustrated booklet will explain were part of something called the "Rioplatense scene".
The lineup: Bosques, Dynamita, Los Fantasmas, Gipsys, Caballo Vapor, Kon-Tiki, Brujos, Wooky Toky, Los Barbaros, Victoria, Them (no, not that Them), Asfalto, Jarabe De Menta, and Little Green Men. Lots of great stuff. We love the backwards effects on Kon-Tiki's "Viaja Al Ayer (Turn Back Time)" which sounds like something by Peru's We All Together, old AQ faves. It's actually one of the prettiest, most restrained songs here, the others go for a variety of pop music that, y'know, really POPS. Like, ferinstance, the sheer organ-heavy FUNK of Caballo Vapor's cut. Or the unhinged mayhem of Gipsys' "Oh! Malala" (they get two tracks here, and the other one, "Kamasutra", is pretty wicked too). Wild, wacky, and fun are what you should expect, especially from the band that calls themselves Wooky Toky...
Spanish import, limited to 500 copies.
MPEG Stream: DYNAMITA "Toma Tu Tiempo"
MPEG Stream: GIPSYS "Kamasutra"
MPEG Stream: KON-TIKI "Viaja Al Ayer (Turn Back Time)"

V/A Dimension Mix (Eenie Meenie) cd 16.98
Besides being a delightful tribute to '60s electronic pop music pioneers Bruce Haack, Esther Nelson and their Dimension 5 record label, this is also a benefit to raise funds for autism charities. This boasts super-cute graphics, but unfortunately there's very little in the way of liner notes, so for those of you who are unfamiliar with the world of Haack and Nelson, you'll have to do a little or a lot of your own research (perhaps check out the Haack - The King Of Techno DVD released earlier this year). One thing that you should know though is that it appeals just as much to the wee tots as it does to the grown-ups who've chosen a... ahem, chemically altered listening experience. Some of the covers remain faithfully within the realm of the Haack/Nelson's kitschy child-view while others venture out on their own personalized trippy excursions. SF's Oranger's rendition of "Catfish" sounds amazingly like veteran good time popsters Young Fresh Fellows, while Beck's version of "Funky Lil' Song" sounds amazingly like Beck. The star-studded list of participants also includes Stereolab, Money Mark, Apples In Stereo, Tipsy, Eels, Irving, Fantastic Plastic Machine, DJ Me DJ You, Brother Cleve, Geoffrey Owens & Mary Christopher, Anubian Nights, Blue-Eyed Son, The Stones Throw Singers, From Bubblegum To Sky, Chris Kachulis, and Danielson Famile! Pretty neat!
MPEG Stream: THE APPLES IN STEREO "Liza Jane"
MPEG Stream: MONEY MARK "Spiders"
MPEG Stream: BLUE-EYED SON "Upside Down"

V/A Dirty French Psychedelics (Dirty) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
From the same great tastemakers who put together the Dirty Space Disco collection that has become an all-time AQ favorite, comes this collection of sultry and sensual French psychedelia. These are the sounds and artists that have influenced folks like Sebastian Tellier, Air, Islaja, Blonde Redhead, Bjork, Broadcast, Komeda, etc.
And while we of course love the peppy sounds of classic French ye-ye pop, it's the more seductive, warped and tripped out sounds from France in the '70s that really gets us going! When we realized that one of our favorite songs of all time, "Il Pleut" by Brigitte Fontaine (complete with arrangements by Jean-Claude Vannier!) was included, we knew there was some mighty fine curatorial work going on here.
But it's not just that one track, not even close, this comp has turned us on to amazing sounds from new-to-us folks like Christophe, Nino Ferrer, Jeanne Marie Sens as well as long beloved AQ faves like Dashiell Hedayat, Ilous & Decuyper, and Francois de Roubaix. While many of their US and UK counterparts were injecting large amounts of blues and hard rock into their psychedelia, the French kept it sensual, steamy and tripped out, realizing an alternate yet completely enticing musical universe. Full on sexy psychedelic seduction! Weirdness too, like the awesome track whose grooves are backed with the sounds of revving race cars.
MPEG Stream: BRIGITTE FONTAINE "Il Pleut"
MPEG Stream: CHRISTOPHE "Sunny Road To Salina"
MPEG Stream: JEANNE-MARIE SENS "Tape Tape Tape"

V/A Dirty French Psychedelics (Dirty) lp 26.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
NOW ON VINYL!!
From the same great tastemakers who put together the Dirty Space Disco collection that has become an all-time AQ favorite, comes this collection of sultry and sensual French psychedelia. These are the sounds and artists that have influenced folks like Sebastian Tellier, Air, Islaja, Blonde Redhead, Bjork, Broadcast, Komeda, etc.
And while we of course love the peppy sounds of classic French ye-ye pop, it's the more seductive, warped and tripped out sounds from France in the '70s that really gets us going! When we realized that one of our favorite songs of all time, "Il Pleut" by Brigitte Fontaine (complete with arrangements by Jean-Claude Vannier!) was included, we knew there was some mighty fine curatorial work going on here.
But it's not just that one track, not even close, this comp has turned us on to amazing sounds from new-to-us folks like Christophe, Nino Ferrer, Jeanne Marie Sens as well as long beloved AQ faves like Dashiell Hedayat, Ilous & Decuyper, and Francois de Roubaix. While many of their US and UK counterparts were injecting large amounts of blues and hard rock into their psychedelia, the French kept it sensual, steamy and tripped out, realizing an alternate yet completely enticing musical universe. Full on sexy psychedelic seduction! Weirdness too, like the awesome track whose grooves are backed with the sounds of revving race cars.
MPEG Stream: BRIGITTE FONTAINE "Il Pleut"
MPEG Stream: CHRISTOPHE "Sunny Road To Salina"
MPEG Stream: JEANNE-MARIE SENS "Tape Tape Tape"

V/A Dirty Space Disco (Tiger Sushi) cd 16.98
AT LONG LAST RE-PRESSED AND BACK IN STOCK!
We've been waiting for this one with all kinds of excitement and anticipation. The always eclectic and forward minded folks at Tigersushi have compiled one of the more intriguing and rewarding comps of recent times. Digging deep into the vaults of the slow and drugged out side of disco's past they have miraculously connected dots that we always dreamed would finally be joined together. Dirty Space Disco brings together folks from the more avant and krautrock worlds like Roedelius (of Cluster), Conrad Schnitzler, and Clara Mondshine, setting their tracks up alongside disco luminaries and obscure dance floor burners from Sylvester, Fern Kinney, Odyssey, Undisputed Truth and more. This is all about the moody, seductive and way late night side of disco.
We've been big fans of the current movement of artists tapping into this seductive sound (Lindstrom, Chromatics, Prins Thomas, etc.) but we're so happy to have the blueprints and origins of those sounds all on one disc. Though he's not included in this collection we know Arthur Russell would be so happy to see this disco / avant-garde match up finally happen. We're in love with so much of this comp but it's pretty much worth it alone for Sylvester's "I Need Somebody To Love Tonight" one of the greatest spaced out disco gems of all time, from his amazing Stars LP which came out in 1979 and features the innovative production of Patrick Cowley, one of the unsung heroes and pioneers of the San Francisco electronic/dance scene.
Luckily just about every other track is just as fantastic. This collection has been at the top of the charts on KUSF (our local college radio station, where both Irwin and Andee have shows) ever since it went into rotation and it's no surprise because it's the kind of collection that easily wins over folks who thought they just weren't into disco just as much as it pleases those of us who are huge disco freaks!! Highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: ROEDELIUS "Regenmacher"
MPEG Stream: SYLVESTER "I Need Somebody To Love Tonight"
MPEG Stream: TONY ESPOSITO "Processione Sul Mare"
MPEG Stream: ODYSSEY "Who"

V/A Dirty Water 2: More Birth Of Punk Attitude (Year Zero) 2cd 23.00
Here's the sequel, already, to last year's great Dirty Water comp of proto-punk (sonically and/or spiritually) music from the '60s and '70s, including many often-overlooked, unlikely gems and surprises, plus some "standards" as well. It's another double disc set, with 39 tracks on the compact disc version (and 19 on the slightly less comprehensive vinyl). We were already impressed with what compiler Kris Needs (former editor of British underground '70s rock mag ZigZag) included on the first volume, and this one just as cool. Some bands make a return appearance (MC5, The Silhouettes, Death, the Flamin' Groovies, Suicide, Mott The Hoople), and deservedly so, but there's lots of room for songs by artists dipping into the dirty water for the first time. From famous folks like the Velvet Underground, Bo Diddley, David Bowie, Patti Smith, Captain Beefheart, Blondie, and Big Star to not so well known names like The Vice Creems (Needs was the singer!), The Tidal Waves, The Unrelated Segments, Kilburn & The High Roads, Doctors Of Madness, and The Human Expression, amongst others. This is quite an eclectic collection, and while, say, ESP-label proto-punk bands of radical hippies from downtown NYC like the Godz and The Holy Modal Rounders are obvious choices, many others aren't. For one thing, it's not even all rock 'n' roll. The supposedly "punk" side of jazz is represented here by Albert Ayler and Dizzy Gillespie, the former punk for being so "free" and "out", the latter simply for ripping it up bebop style, we assume! Reggae (Tapper Zukie, Junior Murvin), funk (Parliament, though the track here is oddly more of a gospel tune), and folk (Woody Guthrie) are also included. Krautrock, too, via Faust. The proto-punk thing of course makes more obvious sense regarding entries from the realms of '70s glam, '50s rock n' roll (Eddie Cochran), and '60s garage (The Zachary Thaks) and psych (The United States Of America).
And happily, at least one of the suggestions we made in our review of the first Dirty Water is included here, heavy hippies the Edgar Broughton Band. There's also some more heavy psych from the likes of Blue Cheer, The Misunderstood, and Stackwaddy. So once again, a killer collection of tracks that might be familiar to you (but given new context here) and/or that might not (but you'll be glad to hear), forming a primer part II to a "secret history of rock 'n' roll", elaborated upon in Needs' extensive liner notes that come in a huge 86 page booklet (cd version, at least). It's also quite well programmed, like they way Death's "Freaking Out" segues perfectly into the Dizzy Gillespie track, makes sense!!
One suggestion for vol. 3: Blue Oyster Cult!
MPEG Stream: MOTT THE HOOPLE "Crash Street Kids"
MPEG Stream: DIZZY GILLESPIE "Bebop"
MPEG Stream: EDGAR BROUGHTON BAND "Out Demons Out"

V/A Dirty Water 2: More Birth Of Punk Attitude (Year Zero) 2lp 23.00
Here's the sequel, already, to last year's great Dirty Water comp of proto-punk (sonically and/or spiritually) music from the '60s and '70s, including many often-overlooked, unlikely gems and surprises, plus some "standards" as well. It's another double disc set, with 39 tracks on the compact disc version (and 19 on the slightly less comprehensive vinyl). We were already impressed with what compiler Kris Needs (former editor of British underground '70s rock mag ZigZag) included on the first volume, and this one just as cool. Some bands make a return appearance (MC5, The Silhouettes, Death, the Flamin' Groovies, Suicide, Mott The Hoople), and deservedly so, but there's lots of room for songs by artists dipping into the dirty water for the first time. From famous folks like the Velvet Underground, Bo Diddley, David Bowie, Patti Smith, Captain Beefheart, Blondie, and Big Star to not so well known names like The Vice Creems (Needs was the singer!), The Tidal Waves, The Unrelated Segments, Kilburn & The High Roads, Doctors Of Madness, and The Human Expression, amongst others. This is quite an eclectic collection, and while, say, ESP-label proto-punk bands of radical hippies from downtown NYC like the Godz and The Holy Modal Rounders are obvious choices, many others aren't. For one thing, it's not even all rock 'n' roll. The supposedly "punk" side of jazz is represented here by Albert Ayler and Dizzy Gillespie, the former punk for being so "free" and "out", the latter simply for ripping it up bebop style, we assume! Reggae (Tapper Zukie, Junior Murvin), funk (Parliament, though the track here is oddly more of a gospel tune), and folk (Woody Guthrie) are also included. Krautrock, too, via Faust. The proto-punk thing of course makes more obvious sense regarding entries from the realms of '70s glam, '50s rock n' roll (Eddie Cochran), and '60s garage (The Zachary Thaks) and psych (The United States Of America).
And happily, at least one of the suggestions we made in our review of the first Dirty Water is included here, heavy hippies the Edgar Broughton Band. There's also some more heavy psych from the likes of Blue Cheer, The Misunderstood, and Stackwaddy. So once again, a killer collection of tracks that might be familiar to you (but given new context here) and/or that might not (but you'll be glad to hear), forming a primer part II to a "secret history of rock 'n' roll", elaborated upon in Needs' extensive liner notes that come in a huge 86 page booklet (cd version, at least). It's also quite well programmed, like they way Death's "Freaking Out" segues perfectly into the Dizzy Gillespie track, makes sense!!
One suggestion for vol. 3: Blue Oyster Cult!

V/A Dirty Water: The Birth Of Punk Attitude (Year Zero) 2cd 23.00
Forget about making your own eclectic mix of edgy proto-punk rock and pop, you don't need to, it's been done. It's all here, folks. Well, enough of it anyway, spread over two cds or four sides of vinyl. 33 alternate-universe "hits" (or 23 on the vinyl version), from underground bands in the '60s and '70s who, if not always properly punk, were still actually punker than most punk bands EVER. That is, if someone had asked us to put together a compilation revealing the gnarled roots of "punk" back in the '60s, and then branching into an examination of some left-field, outside manifestations of the same in the '70s, we couldn't do it any better than this, compiled by Kris Needs, who used to edit the UK rock mag ZigZag back in the '70s. He knows his stuff.
From Detroit, NYC, London, LA and elsewhere, there's slicked back '50s rockers, '60s psych garage, '70s prog singer songwriters, downtown NYC art-noise, pub rock, krautrock, and even reggae... connected only by attitude and/or artistry... some cuts being rare and wondrous one-off flashes of genius, other simply displays of what the band in question was capable of doing all the time. Some tunes you'll have heard before, of course, but need to hear again. And there's probably more than a few that might be new to you too. A definite primer on a secret history of rock n' roll we wish wasn't so secret. Some of it's harder, some of it's poppier, some it's glammier, some of it's weirder... but it's all good.
Some big names/usual suspects: Suicide, Silver Apples, The Stooges (with a distortion-filled, 12 minute long live track, "Do You Want My Love?"), Flamin' Groovies, The Monks, the New York Dolls, The Seeds, T.Rex, even Sun Ra - demonstrating the outside jazz influence on the MC5, with his "Rocket Number Nine", which the compilers follow with the Five's "Rocket Reducer No. 62 (Rama Lama Fa Fa Fa)"... About the only obvious band missing, and we can only imagine it was due to a licensing issue or somesuch red tape, are Radio Birdman, but The Saints are here to represent the Aussie punk explosion. The comp even includes recent discoveries Death, from Detroit, nice to see them now written into the aforementioned secret history, a few years ago they were too unknown even for that. Others in the lineup: The Standells, The Deviants, Pink Fairies (doing "Do It", later covered by the Rollins Band, y'know), Gene Vincent, Jook (who dey?), Mott The Hoople, Zolar X (yay!), The Up, David Peel & The Lower East Side, The Silhouettes, The Last Poets, The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Third World War, Dr. Feelgood (with "Roxette", if you look it up a performance on YouTube you might get your mind blown), Peter Hammill (of Van Der Graaf Generator), Can, Red Krayola, Rocket From The Tombs, The Dictators, The Hollywood Brats (doing a Kinks cover, previously unreleased on cd), and Culture. Not bad, eh?? Ok, maybe if there was a third disc we'd expect to also hear Crushed Butler and Amon Duul II and Angel Face and Les Rallizes Denudes and The Sonics and the Imperial Dogs and Gaseneta and the Edgar Broughton Band and a few others, but heck, this is a pretty good start!
And it comes with a HUGE booklet (76 pages) filled with detailed info from Needs on all these artists, crucial and obscure (or both). Really well done. You want a Xmas present to immediately up someone's hippness quotient (or impress them with yours)? Try giving 'em this comp, as well as a copy of Savage Damage Digest zine, also reviewed this list.
FYI, as alluded to above, the double lp format has fewer tracks (lacking, feristance, that Stooges number) and no huge booklet, but is still a good spread of stuff, and comes on 180 gram vinyl, for those that want some proto-punk 'tude for their turntable.
MPEG Stream: THE STANDELLS "Dirty Water "
MPEG Stream: PINK FAIRIES "Do It"
MPEG Stream: THE SILHOUETTES "Get A Job"
MPEG Stream: PETER HAMMILL "Nadir's Big Chance"

V/A Disco Italia (Strut) cd 14.98
The past few years have been good to disco. Somehow it's managed to rise above the mucky kitsch value in which it had become historically mired. The popular conception that it was just a mess of ridiculous clubs jamming The Andrea True Connection packed tight with sequins and cocaine is apparently not wholly true. Not every club played Andrea True. But amidst the silly outfits and copious drug use, there were some fantastic songs and artists that expanded on the innate dance potential within funk and soul. As the ubiquitous cowbell and 4/4 rhythmic pattern of disco spread across the world like a glamorous plague, different regions seemed to add their own take on the dance phenom. Perhaps most notably were the Italians. Ah, even in pop culture, where would dance music be without the bassline arpeggiations of Giorgio Moroder? The clearest trademark of much Italo Disco, along with the synthetic drum sounds, and the overall spacey, futuristic bent. That is to say, there was a specific sound that became relevant and distinctive. And while this compilation really does have some amazing songs - like the semi-obvious "Now Baby Now" from Kano - not every song really does a good job at conveying what it is that makes this very recognizable genre what it is. Moreover, even as a disco collection, there are some notably weak moments. For instance, Revanche's "1979 It's Dancing Time," with b-rate, throw away choral vocals that cheaply hint at the Philadelphia sound. Not to mention the insanely dated and just plain cheesy title. Then there's D. D. Sound's "Burning Love," a secondhand version of the wonderfully sleazy, inventive Rinder and Lewis work that earmarked the AVI sound from LA - geez, will someone reissue that stuff?! There is a booklet inside, which is fairly informative, if not a little self-serious. An example is contained within the first paragraph where the author of "Last Night a DJ Saved My Life," Bill Brewster, very boldly claims that if not for Italo, then "dance music would have remained decidedly more monochrome and house music would almost never have happened." We're going to say that Larry Levan and Frankie Knuckles might disagree a bit. Sure it was definitely an important chapter in dance music history, but let's not get completely carried away. Okay, enough of the negative aspects. There are some great songs on here that are totally worth owning, like Kasso's "Brazilian Dancer." What an amazing song! Totally in the vein of French group Voyage's completely epic and timeless "I Love You Dancer." Bands like Daft Punk and Phoenix can just send them a thank you letter and royalties at any point in time. So, completists will want this, but maybe it's not the best starting place for someone just working their way into this type of music. Although if you're a big fan of disco already, then you have probably been searching for one or more of these tracks at some point.
MPEG Stream: KANO "Now Baby Now"
MPEG Stream: RED DRAGON BAND "Let Me Be Your Radio (Part 1)"
MPEG Stream: FIREFLY "Love (Is Gonna Be On Your Side)"

V/A Disco Not Disco (3) (Strut) cd 16.98
Strut is back! After releasing 2 amazing comps of the finest in underground leftfield disco and post-punk dance rarities, Strut called it a day. This was heartbreaking news as we were hoping Strut would become a stalwart reissue label like Soul Jazz or Numero Group. Miraculously, they have defied the odds and with the help of K7! and risen once again, hopefully to stay around for awhile. And with their return comes this third volume from the always exciting Disco Not Disco series. Billed as Post Punk, Electro and Leftfield Disco classics from 1974-1986, the bulk of the cuts are heavier on the eighties side with classic tracks from Shriekback, Quango Quango, Material and Konk. But also with rare leaps into Belgian and German territory with Liaisons Dangereuses, Kazino and Gina X performance (which due to an 11th hour dispute may or may not really be a Yellow Magic Orchestra track). Vivien Goldman and Delta 5 represent classic late seventies British post-punk while a Kid Creole remix of James White and The Blacks "Contort Yourself" offers a breezier twist on the New York scene favorite. The proto-disco fusion groove of Isotope is the earliest and our least loved track, but the white hot store favorite status goes to A Number Of Names' "Sharivari" and The Pop Group spin off project, Maximum Joy's minimal dub winddown "Silent Street / Silent Dub". So Killer! Strut's essential comps do not stay in print for very long so don't miss out on the first of 2008's awesome party jams!
MPEG Stream: VIVIEN GOLDMAN "Laundrette"
MPEG Stream: KONK "Your Life"
MPEG Stream: A NUMBER OF NAMES "Sharivari (Instrumental)"
MPEG Stream: MAXIMUM JOY "Silent Street / Silent Dub"

V/A Disco Not Disco 2 (Strut) 2lp 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
As you probably know, the first volume of Strut's Disco Not Disco compilation has been a big hit here at AQ, with customers and staff alike. Well, we're happy to report that volume 2 is also great. It's a look back at the early days of *underground* disco when disco was an outgrowth of both New York punk and "No New York" proto new wave -- and although volume 2 doesn't limit itself to New York (there's Dutch, British, German musicians here), it is still ass kicking stripped down disco with no affectations and no stupid fashion victim Saturday Night Fever synth action to muck up the groove. Sure, this music has been sitting around for years and most of you have probably heard a track or two contained here, but Strut's stroke of genius has been to compile these tracks *together*, coming as they do from seemingly totally disparate groups who don't (to our ears today) share much in common -- from Laid Back's classic "White Horse" to Yello's much sampled "Bostitch", Can's "Aspectacle (Holger Czukay edit)", and yes, there's another Arthur Russell track to match the fucking brilliance of his piece "Tell You Today" on the first Disco Not Disco comp. The only misstep, in my opinion, is the inclusion of the Clash's "This is Radio Clash" at the tail end of the comp. The song is so familiar and even a bit tired, and while we appreciate that it rightfully belongs in this context, it still will make you run to your stereo to see if somehow the radio got turned on by accident. Still, highly recommended!

V/A Do The Pop! (Shock) 2cd 18.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
50 songs of Australian garage rock 1976-1987, almost all of it fucking great! Most of us are familiar with the The Saints and Radio Birdman, but included on this compilation are a bunch of amazing lesser knowns running the gamut from dirty rock to jangly pop to crusty garage to Detroit influenced punk. Bands like The Hoodoo Gurus (one of Andee's favorite bands ever), Died Pretty, The Lipstick Killers, The Sunnyboys, The Scientists, The Lime Spiders, The Screaming Tribesmen, The Hard-Ons, The Celibate Rifles, The New Christs, The Eastern Dark, The Exploding White Mice, The Stems and more. 2 1/2 hours!! It's like Christmas or something, I (Sadie) already loved The Saints and Radio Birdman but hadn't heard any of these other bands and I'm freaked out at how much awesome garage rock I've been missing out on. Andee told me that the Celibate Rifles are rad, and they are! Other kick ass bands are the Scientists (who also have a collection on Sub Pop), the Lime Spiders, the Victims, oh I could go on and on! Just buy this. One of the best compilations we've heard in a long time! (Particularily great if you got that excellent recent Sub Pop Radio Birdman collection reviewed on list #118, and want to hear more from their scene, or the scene that they inspired.)
RealAudio clip: THE SAINTS "Simple Love"
RealAudio clip: LIPSTICK KILLERS "Driving The Special Dead"
RealAudio clip: CELIBATE RIFLES "Back In The Red"
RealAudio clip: LE HOODOO GURUS "Leilani"

V/A Do The Pop! Redux Part One (Savage Beat) 2cd 24.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

V/A Documenta.II (Agenda) cd 16.98
Let's hope that nobody confuses this compilation with any of the "Documenta" shows, as there is really nothing in common with this compilation and the massive art exhibit in Kassel, Germany. Rather this is the second in a series from Agenda (the avant-rock subsidiary of UK house label Peacefrog), featuring "some of the finest moments in the movement of modern acoustic and electroacoustic grooves." What Agenda means by such half-baked lingo is the groovier side of post-rock, and has gotten together a pretty good sampling from the Hausmusik crowd (Lali Puna, Tarwater, Tied + Tickled Trio, and Notwist), plus cuts from Mum (the Icelandic, not the German band), Labradford, Calexico, American Analog Set, Windy & Carl, Mice Parade, State River Widening, Bergheim 34, Re, and Savath & Savalas. It should be noted that while some of these tracks are qualified as "rare," nothing's unreleased or exclusive.
RealAudio clip: LALI PUNA "Superlotado"
RealAudio clip: CALEXICO "Stinging Nettle"

V/A Don't Let The Bastards Get You Down - A Tribute to Kris Kristofferson (Jackpine) cd 14.98
The first of two Kris Kristofferson tribute albums to come out in this here year 2002, Don't Let the Bastards Get You Down was put together by local man about town Nick Tangborn. Like a Dwight Yoakum of his day, Kris Kristofferson was equally involved with acting AND music. Yep, he wrote "Me and Bobby McGee"! And "Sunday Mornin' Coming Down" (which, if you can find it, was once covered by Hank Ballard stunningly well)! Anyway, except for a jarring track by Dart, whose synthesized drums stick out like a sore thumb, the whole album is uniformly melancholy and slow. So, y'know, the Low and Red House Painters fans amongst you might even like it. Highlights include renditions by Paul Burch, John Doe (a gravelly "Me and Bobby McGee"), Jon Langford & Chip Taylor (doing the theme from Allan's favorite movie, Fat City -- "Help Me Make It Through the Night"), and Kelly Hogan (crooning "Why Me" with Edith Frost harmonizing). Strong entries also from: the deep-voiced local favorite Chuck Prophet, Tom Verlaine, and Hannah Marcus with Mark Kozelek of Red House Painters. Rounding out the collection with (in our opinion) forgettable versions are bands like Polara, Oranger, Mother Hips, and Mover. And there's more, 17 tracks in all.
RealAudio clip: JOHN DOE "Me and Bobby McGee"
RealAudio clip: KELLY HOGAN "Why Me"

V/A Doom & Gloom (Trikont) cd 21.00
Train wrecks, war, drought, despair, atomic bombs, sinking ships, and more, are all to be found in the songs compiled by Christopher Wagner for the latest in a string of themed compilations from Trikont.
Wagner, in his introductory essay "In The Shadow Of The Apocalypse", takes the position that the modern age brought with it a newfound sense of fear and alienation that isolated individuals from religion, tradition, and community, leaving them with an overarching, unrelenting sense of melancholy that pervaded all aspects of their lives; for him, these recordings are a musical testament to the zeitgeist of that era. Heavy stuff indeed (what else would you expect from a compilation cd that uses a passage from Walter Benjamin as an epigraphÉ?).
But what really stands out in this selection of songs is the depth and breadth of responses to disaster that the musicians are able to present. To be sure, you'd be hard pressed to find more plaintive, harrowing or emotionally evocative recordings than "That Great Ship Went Down" by William and Versey Smith (familiar to anyone who's heard The American Anthology of Folk Music) or "Off To War I'm Going" by The Carolinan Twins, but tracks such as these are starkly contrasted by The Allen Brothers' buoyant, kazoo-driven, "Jake Walk Blues" and the gruesome yet disconcertingly matter-of-fact narrative found in The Dixon Brothers' "School House Fire." Doom & Gloom is a success because the songs themselves are never overshadowed by the academic conceits of the compilation itself -- the thematic thread is always there, but what you hear first and foremost is the humanity, humility and resilience found in the music. Seriously recommended.
MPEG Stream: WILLIAM & VERSEY SMITH "When The Great Ship Went Down"
MPEG Stream: THE DIXON BROTHERS "School House Fire"
MPEG Stream: THE ALLEN BROTHERS "Jake Walk Blues"

V/A Down In A Mirror: A Second Tribute To Jandek (Summersteps) cd 14.98
Not once, but twice has the Summersteps label commissioned an entire album of Jandek covers. Given the unmistakable idiosyncratic signature of Jandek's vocal warble and shrill guitar picking, it's not an easy task to reinterpret Jandek without watering down the original, even when you're a songwriter as strong as Jeff Tweedy or John Darnielle (aka The Mountain Goats). These are two of 21 artists who took on the challenge, alongside Eric Gaffney, Okkervil River (boldly covering what may be Jandek's best individual song "Your Other Man"), Six Organs of Admittance, Kawabata Makoto, Home For The Def (doing an is-it-brilliant-or-is-it-stupid hip-hop take on Jandek's "European Jewel"), Rivulets, and whole bunch of other people we've never heard of.
MPEG Stream: SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE "I'll Sit Alone And Think Of You"
MPEG Stream: THE MOUNTAIN GOATS "White Box"
MPEG Stream: KAWABATA MAKOTO "Babe I Love You"

V/A Downer Rock Genocide (Audio Archives) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We know people who work at other record stores give each other gifts of music for birthdays and Christmas. Makes sense, that's what they love, right? But from another perspective, there's something just a little too easy about that... "here, I bought you this from the store where we all work". So, 'cause of that, here at AQ we don't have much of a tradition of giving cds and lps as presents.
But, Allan was thankful that Andee broke with tradition last year and mailordered him a copy of this hard to find cd for Xmas. (Andee got himself one too, of course). And now we've finally managed to contact the label directly, over in England, and order a few to sell here at AQ as well.
Definitely any lover of early '70s proto-metal heaviness needs to put this on their wish list. Downer Rock Genocide is a collection of super rare tracks by some really obscure heavy psych/prog acts who kicked around the same scene as early Black Sabbath. And it's pretty darn killer. There's 16 tracks by 14 bands, here they are: Flying Hat Band, Clear Blue Sky, Necromandus, Egor, Monument, Iron Maiden, Gnidrolog, Iron Claw, Red Dirt, Slowbone, Bram Stoker, Hackensack, Bum, and Writing On The Wall. We'd heard of some but others were new to us, unearthed from way down deep in the murky underground of decades past.
Too many gems here to talk about 'em all, but we'll mention a few... Flying Hat Band (2 tracks from them, from a never released 1973 album) was where Glenn Tipton hung (flung?) his hat and slung his axe before joining up with Judas Priest. No wonder they hired him! We'd never heard FHB's stuff before, and already this comp is worth it just for the badass rockin' doom of their first cut, "Seventh Plain". It's like Comus meets Judas Priest! Clear Blue Sky, who also contribute two demo tracks, is one of the bands we -had- heard before (their album is a Sabbathy treat). And Sabbath lovers will really want this for "Nightjar" by the Tony Iommi produced Necromandus, easily that band's heaviest and best track. So good.
What else? The Iron Maiden on here is NOT the Iron Maiden you're familiar with, it's another, earlier band with the same name but a much doomier disposition. Actually who they really sound like is Wishbone Ash, Argus-era, all folky and epic. Gnidrolog is another one we knew, a great, super dramatic prog act in the vein of Van Der Graaf Generator, who offer up their doomiest "Long Live Man Dead". Red Dirt are a gruff slice of raw, primitive bluesy heaviness, that just got Cup to remark "that music has hairy balls!". Iron Claw kick out the jams big time on "Lightning" from a 1971 cassette only release, Egor tear it up on the blown-out live track "Street" also from '71, Hackensack deliver some wild fuzzed out soloing and wailing vocals on their kick ass cut "River Boat" circa '72, and Bum bring us the pagan "God Of Darkness" from way back in '68. Did Sabbath hear these guys? All of it good stuff for fans of bands like Sabbath, Budgie, Leaf Hound, High Tide... and Witchcraft today. Give yourself the gift of downer rock.
Some of these tracks are from albums, many are demos or archival live recordings. So sound quality varies, but not the occult-inspired, heavy-riffing, proto-metal awesomeness.
MPEG Stream: FLYING HAT BAND "Seventh Plain"
MPEG Stream: NECROMANDUS "Night Jar"

V/A Downtown 81 soundtrack (Virgin France) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Long overdue reissue of this wonderful soundtrack to the film Downtown 81, which starred the now-deceased artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, and was written by Glenn O'Brien. Here we've got 20 tracks representing the breadth and range of the hip downtown NY scene circa 1980-81, and what a rich, fertile time this was for music! The energy is totally infectious! From the herky jerky art-punk of James White (Contortions), to the white funk of Liquid Liquid (yes, it's their big sampled-everywhere hit "Cavern"), the proto-new wave of The Plastics, Kid Creole, and Arto Lindsay's DNA, to some of the best songs ever realized by such groups as John Lurie's Lounge Lizards, Tuxedomoon, Suicide (their incandescent "Cheree"), and Basquiat's own band Gray. And I'd never heard Coati Mundi Hernandez before, but their addictively happy track has become my favorite.
This is not only a cool document of a scene that was breathtaking in its diversity, but this is also a very handy sampler to the music of this time, much of which is now recognized as seminal. It's rare that a soundtrack documents a scene well (as opposed to just featuring throwaway tracks by bands who saved their best stuff for their own albums), but this album does it! The booklet's got a bunch of film stills and lots of information on the bands.
Listen to *all* the soundclips to get an idea of the range of styles represented on this great record.
RealAudio clip: COATI MUNDI HERNANDEZ "K Pasa-Pop I"
RealAudio clip: JAMES WHITE & THE BLACKS "Contort Yourself"
RealAudio clip: TUXEDOMOON "Desire"
RealAudio clip: LOUNGE LIZARDS "Bob the Bob"
RealAudio clip: SUICIDE "Cheree"

V/A Dr Boogie Presents Cool Cats (Sub Rosa) cd 16.98

V/A Drag City Hour (Sea Note) cd 12.98
Live at WMBR, Cambridge MA, 7/13/92. Features Smog, Palace Bros, and the Sea Note Players, all tracks previously unreleased.

V/A Drum>MachineGun (Relapse) cd 14.98
The humble drum machine. It's had a tumultuous existence, equally loathed and loved, no more so than in metal (where for the most part it tends to be loathed). Without it, there's be no techno, or hip hop, or grime or industrial music. Or maybe there would be, but it would sound drastically different. It opened up a whole new world of sound, allowing musicians to program beats and sounds that they couldn't necessarily play or make themselves. So it was only a matter of time before extreme musicians discovered the sort of speed and brutality one could wring from that little box. It's nothing new, metal bands, grind bands and the like have been using drum machines for ages, but as extreme music gets more aggressive, more fucked up, more complex and more extreme, folks making this sort of music are pushing the limits of what a drum machine can do. Before, a band couldn't be any faster than their drummer could play. Now there is no limit, 100 bpm, 200 bpm, 300 bpm or more, speed is now no longer an issue. Nor is arrangement. Now a deft drum machine programmer can fit millions of beats and an insane number of different rhythms into a one minute song. Faster, more furious, more freaked out, we love it. From the murky blackened dizzyingly complex mechanical drums of black metal outfits like Draugar, to the pounding industrial grooves of Godflesh, to the lightning fast blasts of Agoraphobic Nosebleed, we can't get enough, we love the sputtering stuttering pounding skittering drum machine. Not as a replacement for real drums, and a real drummer (lord knows that usually the best part of seeing a band live is seeing a kick ass drummer totally destroy) but as another tool in the already formidable arsenal.
So here we have Drum>MachineGun, an audio report on the current state of grind. And metal. And more specifically, just what these grindmetal freaks are doing with their drum machines. And what they're doing is totally fucking mind blowing and face melting and completely confounding. Forget about music you think is fast, or heavy, or complicated, or freaked out, or fucked up. Because whatever you think, these songs, and these bands are more. Much more. 20 bands playing 67 songs in 73 minutes. Average song length about a minute. Average number of parts per song? More than our puny minds can handle. If you could imagine the most insane, most complicated, heaviest weirdest grindmetal band in the world, this comp is the record they would make. Each band linked in some ways, sometimes obviously, sometimes not so. But it makes for an incredibly cohesive listen. Which is rare for comps in general, especially one with 20 bands and almost 70 songs.
Probably our favorite discovery amongst the bunch is Noism, who might possible be our new favorite band. Imagine a group that sounded like a skipping Pig Destroyer cd. Or like multiple Agoraphobic Nosebleed cds playing at the same time. A totally mind blowing freaked out shredfest, impossibly convoluted rhythms, bizarre and brutal riffage, splattered all over the place, but sometimes lopping and skipping into bizarre industrial metal breakdowns, like a death metal Oval or something. Drum patters that are mind blowingly complex, and chugging squiggly guitars that somehow sync up perfectly. It's like a super scratched up, skipping grindcore 45, played at 90 rpm. We are dying for more than these 5 minutes. Then there's Jet Jaguar Kr3 Kill Spree, maybe the weirdest of the bunch. Imagine any of the other bands on this comp, having their blasting grind picked apart, chopped into tiny pieces and then flung haphazardly into a swirling black froth by V/VM or someone equally demented. An industrialized black metal music concrete. There are riffs and harsh vocals and all that but they are scattered amidst all sorts of bizarre sounds, damaged FX, and random looped samples. Some familiar AQ faves are present as well as a whole bunch of bands we'd never even heard of but were immediately blown away by. On the familiar side, BIG faves Black Mayonnaise, who we hadn't really expected to find on this comp, but they do indeed employ the machine made drums, although BM use them much differently. A sludgy ambient freaked out drug dirge world of fucked up home recorded doom. Noxious ambience, dense clouds of grinding guitar grrr and swooping FX drenched synths, all over a relentlessly pounding simple machine made beat. Like Hawkwind with a drum machine, or a super blissed out on-the-nod Butthole Surfers, a deliriously dark lugubrious creepy crawl. And no drum machine grind comp would be complete without Agoraphobic Nosebleed, the patron saints of mechanical grind, the lords of drum machine destruction. A technical grind metal juggernaut, who choose to instead indulge their industrial techno jones here, spewing forth a thick wash of pounding doom drenched gabber, with creepy vocal snippets, whirling clouds of synth fuzz and lo-fi hiss, all over a relentless 4/4 pound. Then there's Nemo, who we last heard from years ago on a split cd released by the now defunct Rage Of Achilles label. And we went absolutely apeshit for their new wave video game death metal grind. Wishing for a full length that never came. Thankfully not much has changed. If anything, they've gotten weirder and faster and more fucked up. It's like classic eighties metal chopped up and sped up, splattered with drum machines, run through some 16 bit video game system, and then performed by some grind metal super group. Yowza!
On the new to us side of things, there's Mecha Bongzilla, who we're tempted to believe is Bongzilla's faster, less stoned alterego, but it's a bit hard to tell. One track is downtuned buzzing blurry techgrind, but with INSANE vocals, like some alien gargling with a mouthful of kazoos and croaking frogs. Although their other track is downright sludgy and doomy so who knows? Also, Mad Cow who spit out weird echoey blast beats and spastic rhythmic splatter underneath thick sheets of low end guitar grind and super fucked black vomit vocals. Oh and a bunch of bird calls, monkey sounds, and a totally bizarre sped up super affected Elizabeth Clare Prophet sample right in the middle!!!! Woah!
Ok, it'll probably be easier to go through the rest of the bands in list form:
Artificial Intelligence Agency: more of a strange series of interludes, mostly weird sound effects, movie snippets, found sounds, bizarre FX, and only the occasional bit of music, and it's NOT metal, more some sort of weird ambient porno funk.
Voltron: chugging super fast gurgling vocalled death metal grind, with guitars and vocals so indistinct they are just blurs of low end sound and of course lightning fast drum machine blasts.
Submachine Drum: murky lo-fi industrial grind, so fast it's all a dizzying blur of hyperspeed drums and looped processed guitar riffs.
Slough: Not related to the similarly named Slough Feg... and take away the Feg and you've got a guttural grindmetal shred fest. Impossibly downtuned guitars, all a growing gurgling blur.
Scumfusion: some seriously shredding grind, but with plenty of wheedily lead guitars, grinding sludge metal riffs over ridiculously fast rhythms and super weird processed vocals, that sound like some underwater alien. Surprisingly melodic, but still furious and fierce, pounding and pummeling.
Prosthetic Cunt: We reviewed these guys' full length ages ago, a gleefully perverse and sick sick sick take on ultragrossoutgrind. Super blown out guitars and a drummachine cranked to 11 and programmed at about 300 BPM. And of course lots of goofy movie samples.
Ocrilim: No comp of insanely technical grind would be complete without some Mick Barr madness. Ocrilim is Barr (Orthrelm, Octis, Crom Tech) shredding wildly to sputtering spastic machine drums. SO insanely inspired but incredibly hard on the ears. In a good way.
Nerve Not Found: Prog gone grind. Keyboards swoop in and out of super complicated arrangements. Like the Locust covering Magma.
Hellz Army: Pounding DHR style industrial gabber. Big static repeating guitar riffs and pounding four on the floor drum machine pummel with bizarre samples of fifties rock, Space Ghost and tons of other random weirdness.
Genghis Tron: We sure do love these guys. Imagine Slayer sped up to impossible speeds, a grinding super technical satanic death metal, then mix in a bunch of fuzzed out new wave synths, hip hop breakbeats, samples and prepare to have your mind melt.
Decomposing Serenity: These guys represent the old school. Super blow out death metal gore grind. Downtuned riffing, chugging guitars, machine made blast beats, and a vast array of gurgling, strangled, alien, monster growls. Bits of this are almost even funky, making them sound at times like a gore grind Chili Peppers.
Data Clast: Another grind new wave hybrid, but with a bit of a prog bent. Heavy and super pummeling but with plenty of thick fuzzy synths, and convoluted song structures, complex arrangements, and processed guitars that skip and stutter as much as they riff. And of course some huge slow and low grumbling monster gurgle vocals.
Cocoon: Stretched out industrial black ambience, one of the few tracks whose drum machines are more a part of their whole vibe than the driving focal point. Crackling, rumbling drones, clouds of drifting glitch, and shuffling stuttering rhythms, an ominous dreamlike subtly drum machined drift.
This is the kind of record that leaves you bruised and bloody, beaten and exhausted. Like having the musical shit kicked out of you. This is a seriously intense bout of heavy listening. Hard listening. Nothing easy about this at all. Super furious, totally relentless, loud as fuck, faster than a speeding bullet, grinding and gurgling and bellowing and blasting and skipping and looping and crushing and pulverizing and pummeling and shrieking and shredding and so goddamn amazing.
MPEG Stream: THE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY "1"
MPEG Stream: DATA CLAST "2"
MPEG Stream: NOISM "11"
MPEG Stream: JET JAGUAR KR3 KILL SPREE "17"
MPEG Stream: PROSTHETIC CUNT "30"
MPEG Stream: NEMO "37"
MPEG Stream: DECOMPOSING SERENITY "40"
MPEG Stream: MECH BONGZILLA "42"

V/A Dubstars Vol 1 (Echo Beach) cd 17.98

V/A Dynamite With A Laserbeam (Three One G) cd 14.98
An album of Queen covers where each song is so unlike the original that it's only slightly recognizable. And the Queen connection turns out to be enough of a good thematic idea to hold this record together! The point isn't really the Queen songs, but the bands' styles unified with a theme. And besides, a good cover must totally obliterate the original. From the free-jazz-mathrock of Upsilon Acrux to the yowling-diva-art-punk of Glass Candy, the short-sharp-noise-assault that is The Locust, and the utter weirdness that is Weasel Walter's (Flying Luttenbachers etc) version of Bohemian Rhapsody that is so bad it's good (and sounds exactly like what we'd imagine a Steven Schultz version of Bohemian Rhapsody would sound like). Also features Get Hustle, Gogogo Airheart, The Convocation Of, The Spacewurm, Bastard Noise, a very restrained Melt Banana who's closing cover of "We Will Rock You" is one of the least noisy and yet still one of the most original and compelling songs on here, and more.
On the other hand, Allan thinks this is a compilation of bands he mostly wouldn't normally want to listen to, ruining a bunch of songs he loves, but can't deny the humor value, and imagines that Freddie wouldn't be too upset. Queen were pretty campy after all.
RealAudio clip: BLOOD BROTHERS "Under Pressure"
RealAudio clip: UPSILON ACRUX "Bicycle Race"
RealAudio clip: MELT BANANA "We Will Rock You"

V/A Dynamite With A Laserbeam (Three One G) lp 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
An album of Queen covers where each song is so unlike the original that it's only slightly recognizable. And the Queen connection turns out to be enough of a good thematic idea to hold this record together! The point isn't really the Queen songs, but the bands' styles unified with a theme. And besides, a good cover must totally obliterate the original. From the free-jazz-mathrock of Upsilon Acrux to the yowling-diva-art-punk of Glass Candy, the short-sharp-noise-assault that is The Locust, and the utter weirdness that is Weasel Walter's (Flying Luttenbachers etc) version of Bohemian Rhapsody that is so bad it's good (and sounds exactly like what we'd imagine a Steven Schultz version of Bohemian Rhapsody would sound like). Also features Get Hustle, Gogogo Airheart, The Convocation Of, The Spacewurm, Bastard Noise, a very restrained Melt Banana who's closing cover of "We Will Rock You" is one of the least noisy and yet still one of the most original and compelling songs on here, and more.
On the other hand, Allan thinks this is a compilation of bands he mostly wouldn't normally want to listen to, ruining a bunch of songs he loves, but can't deny the humor value, and imagines that Freddie wouldn't be too upset. Queen were pretty campy after all.

V/A Eagle Has Landed (Tranquility Base) 2LP 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
From indie/new-wave to math rock with Don Caballero, Hourly Radio, Ke Chandara, Glorium, Cordial, Stratego, Cerberus Shoal, and more! Comes with a free map!

V/A Early Morning Hush: Notes From The UK Folk Underground 1969-1976 (Castle Music) cd 23.00
Second compilation of essential British Acid Folk (Gathering In The Mushrooms was the first.) compiled by Bob Stanley of Saint Etienne. Featuring well known figures such as John Renbourn, Steeleye Span, Shirley Collins, Anne Briggs, and Pentangle along more obscurer groups such as Midwinter, Stone Angel, Shide and Acorn, and Mellow Candle.

V/A Eight Trails, One Path (Three Lobed Recordings) lp 27.00
Originally released especially for this year's Record Store Day, we managed to get about eight extra copies for folks who may have missed out. Sadly these are the very last copies we'll ever be able to get. which is really too bad, cuz this comp is a doozy. A look at the lineup is really all it should take: Alvarius B, Lee Ranaldo, Six Organs Of Admittance, Sir Richard Bishop, Danny Paul Grody, David Daniell, Steve Gunn and William Tyler. The theme seems to be different approaches to the guitar, whether it be the raw field recorded blues of Alvarius B, complete with all manner of street noise in the background, children's voices, passing cars, or the woozy acid psych folk of Six Organs, all the sounds blurred and bleary, the vocals strangely processed, a whirling, swirling druggy drift, or the dense tangles of old School Appalachia offered up by Steve Gunn. Danny Grody delivers a brief bit of harmonic rich ethereal guitardrone that's quite lovely, and far too short, while David Daniell, an ultra minimalist in his group St. Augustin, here weaves something much more lush and lustrous, a heady sprawl of layered steel strings and rich warm guitar buzz. Lee Ranaldo also delves into his own version of Appalachia, peppering it with some very Sonic Youth-y chords, creating a strangely beautiful bit of twisted acoustic blues, even vocalizing a bit near the end. Sir Richard Bishop's track sounds very African or Ethiopian, almost like he's covering Group Doueh or Group Inerane, lyrical and lovely, and finally, William Tyler, who we'd not heard of before, gives us some seriously gorgeous steel string Appalachia of his own, his playing incredible, the arrangement lush and intricate and sweetly melodic, rife with buzz and drone, deftly woven into what might be one of the best tracks here.
Beautifully packaged in an oversized fold together matchbook style jacket, comes with a download coupon, and again, already out of print, these are the very last copies, so it might be a good idea (as always) to list alternates if you order it...

V/A Einigen Wir Uns Auf Die Zukunft cd 14.98
Speaking of Couch, they're featured on this compilation of the best bands from the German Kollaps, Kitty-Yo, and Payola labels. You'll find art rock on one track, electronica the next, or more likely some combination thereof--these are bands that apparently draw inspiration from both This Heat and Bjork, Can and Locust...such as Subraum Kader, Tarwater, Potawatomi, Tied & Tickled Trio, and more.

V/A Electric Gypsyland 2 (Ryko) cd 16.98

MPEG Stream: TUUNG VS. TARAF DE HAIDOUKS "Homecoming"
MPEG Stream: ANIMAL COLLECTIVE VS. KOCANI ORKESTER "Oi Bori Sujie"

V/A Electric Losers 2 cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
"The Story of Volkslied Into Krautrock Goes On"...yes, the third and fourth volumes of the previously vinyl-only "Pre-Kraut Pandaemonium" series are compiled onto cd. 29 tracks of crazee German '60s beat music.

V/A Electric Psychedelic Sitar Headswirlers (Past & Present) 5cd box 62.00
This one should hardly need a description. C'mon, it's called PSYCHEDELIC SITAR HEAD SWIRLERS! And it's a massive 5 disc collection of Eastern tinged garage rock from the sixties and the seventies, from all over the world, all the songs linked together by one common sonic theme, the gorgeous hypnotic buzz of the sitar. Sometimes subtle and minimal, other times, intense and distorted and buzzy, the songs themselves ranging from hippie folk pop, to crunchy sitar drenched garage rock pound, to organ driven groovers, featuring a whole mess of bands you no doubt are already familiar with (or should be), many of whom we've raved about on past lists: J.K & Co, The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, The Pretty Things, July, Ramases, C.O.B., Meic Stevens, Erkin Koray, Popol Vuh, Brainticket, The Chocolate Watch Band, The Amboy Dukes, The Strawberry Alarm Clocks, Them, Krokodil, Mecki-Mark Men, The New Tweedy Brothers, Kuni Kawachi, The Book Of A.M., Shocking Blue, Pentangle, Sheila Chandra, Ananda Shankar, but for every band you already know and love, there's a handful you've probably never heard: Wylde Olde Souls, Popera Cosmic, Stuntz's Blue Leg Expedition, The Misty Wizards, Mushroom's God, Mystic Astrologic Crystal Band, United States Of Existence, we could go on, but needless to say, this collection is pretty incredible.
From the opening droney sitar spoken word tale, the collection flits from groovy flute flecked hippie jangle, to woozy, druggy almost Spacemen 3 like hazy buzzy drift, from jangly power pop to warm woozy psychedelic dream pop, from twangy strummy folk to sitar-ed Beatles covers, with much of the comp heavy on the drone, the sitar's distinctive buzz transforming even the simplest most standard chunk of sixties pop, into something more exotic and far out, more trancelike and WAY more psychedelic. So awesome.
Each disc comes in its own full color sleeve, all housed in a thick full color box, with a massive booklet packed with photos, record covers, and of course liner notes detailing the various songs and artists.
MPEG Stream: J.K. & CO. "Magical Fingers Of Minerva"
MPEG Stream: THE BASEMENT WALL "Teenybopper"
MPEG Stream: BLONDE ON BLONDE "Spinning Wheel"
MPEG Stream: THE FLAMES "Solitude"
MPEG Stream: LORD SITAR "I Am The Walrus"

V/A Electrick Loosers: The Story of Volkslied Into Krautrock cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The cd edition of the"Pre-Kraut Pandaemonium" lps vol. 1 & 2, crazy German beat music from the late 60's, before the punks went cosmic, the same scene that spawned the Monks (who appeared on a later edition in the Pre-Kraut Pandaemonium series). Cryptic liner notes indicate that there's indeed some pre-Can (then called Inner Space), pre-Amon Duul etc. musicians on here.

V/A Electro Grind Gore Compilation (Alarma Recs) cd 14.98
Back in stock! (And, also, when we reviewed this a few weeks ago, we spaced out and somehow listed it under the title of Electro Grind Holocaust, which is a totally different comp on the same label, whoops!)
For those of you who just flipped over our recent Record Of The Week selection the Drum>MachineGun compilation, and want MORE crazed drum machine grindcore insanity, this other collection entitled Electro Grind Gore Compilation should also be of interest! It's slanted a bit more toward the underground and obscure than the Drum>MachineGun comp, and also more towards the porno/gore obsessed side of this bizarre metal/punk subgenre -- a subgenre that features, as displayed here, razor sharp spastic guitar riffage, techno dance beats, belching death metal grunts and growls (some so subsonically extreme that they sound like bubblings from below the earth), non-sequitorial samples (often offensive and, um, humorous), and lots of bleepy bleepy bleargh distortion and noise. There's a unexpectedly high catchiness quotient, in spots, but these tracks are definitely utterly maddening at the same time. It's kind of a "chocolate-in-my-peanut-butter" deal with the electro danciness and the harsh splattermetalgrindnoise in collision. In fact, it's kind of unclear just who this sort of music is supposed to appeal to: we can't imagine techno fans digging all the noise and gore, and we didn't think so many metalheads liked techno-dance beats -- but I guess we were wrong! Of course we like it, so...
Electro Grind Gore contains 28 tracks from 17 bands, most of whom we'd never heard of before. Some names: Atomik Surfing, Shunt Incision, Basket Of Death, Vomitrone, Skrotum, 666.Porn.Star, SMES, Posthuman Worm, Absurd God, Tourette Syndrom, Firbrosarcoma... A very international line-up indeed, the bands hailing from Brazil, Japan, Mexico, France, Croatia, Holland, Germany, Panama, Spain, Australia, and Italy. It's a veritable World Cup of sick underground electro grind! While here at Aquarius we're better versed in black metal, doom, and "true" metal, if we ever do decide to turn this drum machine fueled electronic grindcore deviancy into an AQ specialty, we'd definitely start by tracking down more stuff by the bands on this comp!
MPEG Stream: TOURETTE SYNDROM "Giggle Geriatric Gypse Giggolo"
MPEG Stream: FIBROSARCOMA "Angiokeratoma"
MPEG Stream: SKROTUM "I Wanna Rock 'n' Roll"

V/A Encyclopedia Asthmatica Vol. 1 (Asthmatic Kitty) dvd 15.98
Whoops, how'd this one slip under our radar? Encyclopedia Asthmatica Vol. 1 presents 32 playful, whimsical visuals from the ultra blissed out indie label's roster of gentle folk and electronic pop - Sufjan Stevens, The Curtains, Castanets, Shapes And Sizes, Half-Handed Cloud, Rafter, Bunky, Liz Janes, My Brightest Diamond! A hi-fi and lo-fi mix of animation, live clips, found footage and more, the dvd's probably worth nabbing for the Stevens clips alone, but the rest are super dreamy delights too!

V/A End of Days (20 Sided Records) 2cd 9.98
Holy crap! An epic, double cd, FORTY THREE band, label sampler from local label 20 Sided Records (who recently released the awesome new Trainwreck Riders album!), featuring a bunch of bands from right here in SF, but also LA, Fresno, Santa Cruz, Long Beach, Oakland, and as far away as Seattle, Bellingham, Spokane, Phoenix, Portland and Denver. The really crazy thing, is that of those 43 bands, we actually had only even heard of 5 or 6, and more than half of those are from right here!
So this is a pretty awesome introduction to a whole bunch of new bands, a list of which we would imagine wouldn't mean much, since odds are you probably wouldn't know most of these groups either, but there's definitely some good stuff, the sounds super varied, heavy on the indie rock and variations thereof, but still all over the map: crunchy, fuzzed out twee pop, jangly Pavement style indie rock, Ramones-y garage punk, chugging math metal, blown out shoegazey Built To spill sounding indie pop, bluesy garage stomp, rollicking chaotic garage stomp a la Thee Oh Sees, dreamy echo drenched folkiness, brooding slow build epic post rock drift, and that's just a tiny taste, and heck, screw it, here's a list of the bands, the ones we know: Blank Tapes, Slow Trucks, Ugly Winner, Hazel's Wart, Ash Reiter (who has a new full length on 20 Sided!), Trainwreck Riders, and the ones we don't: Sci-Fi Caper, The Suicides, Quiet Americans, High Horse, Wild Pack Of Canaries, Saything, The Hoot Hoots, Mosshead, Big Mittens, Future Space And Time, The Palisades, Smalls, One Hundred Percent, Eureka California, Myth Ship, Rosa Grande, The Fay Wrays, San Joaquin Steamers, Vows, Fpod Bpod, Li Xi, Rubedo, Cannons & Clouds, Sugar Candy Mountain, Pony Village, The Cat From Hue, Pro Wings, Street Pyramids, Upstairs Downstairs, The Wild Kindness, Excited States, One F, Candysound, Animal Eyes, Former Friends Of Young Americans, Owl Paws and Speak Friend. Phew! It almost reads like one of those Robert Pollard / Guided By Voices box sets, where every song is credited to a different made up band! And usually we're pretty wary of comps where most of the bands are names we don't know, but lots of this stuff is pretty great, and odds are if you dig all the strains of indie/garage/fuzz pop/rock/punk, there's lots to love here!!
MPEG Stream: SCI-FI CAPER "Broken Sleep"
MPEG Stream: SLOW TRUCKS "I, You, We"
MPEG Stream: SAYTHING "The Same Device"
MPEG Stream: SMALLS "Label The Huns"
MPEG Stream: THE FAY WRAYS "Cars"
MPEG Stream: SAN JOAQUIN STEAMERS "Melvins Toast"

V/A Espanola (Khmer Rocks) 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.
Along with putting out the three Cambodian Rocks compilations that have rendered the original Parallel World label comp of the same name virtually obsolete, Khmer Rocks also has a plethora of other khmer music compilations that we're only just beginning to scratch the surface of. While every bit as great as the three Rocks comps we reviewed previously, they're also not marketed as much for the greater population... ie: these are more for the Khmer community. To this end, there's no translation of the song titles or artists. Additionally this collection is on CD-R, but we can't complain because it's also only 9.98. You're probably wondering what a Spanish title is doing on a collection of Cambodian rock music and, well, so were we. The first track, with the word "espanola" featured prominently in the lyrics, clears all that up: yes, it's Cambodian Cha-Cha and Latin tinged Cambodian rock. There are even trumpet flourishes and string sections lifted straight out of a bolero. Not to give you the wrong idea however, only a handful of the tracks on Espanola are actually Latin influenced. Like the Cambodian Rocks series, there's plenty of good old fashioned go-go and garage rock make up the bulk of the collection. Plus the closer, a fuzzed out "hard rock" encore of a track is about as unlike anything in the previous comps. For those of you who already own the other anthologies, as far as we've been able to tell from listening -- another downside to not having English liner notes -- there's no overlap with any of the previous Cambodian collections we've been selling. Muy bien Khmer Rocks!
MPEG Stream: UNKNOWN "Track 1"
MPEG Stream: UNKNOWN "Track 9"
MPEG Stream: UNKNOWN "Track 20"

V/A Estrus 100% Apeshit Sampler (Estrus) cd 6.98
Year after year Dave Crider (formerly of the Monomen) slings out heaps of primo-garage releases from around the world on his Bellingham, WA label Estrus. This is the second volume of rough rawk nuggets culled from his extensive catalog. Starring The Monkeywrench, The Insomniacs, Estrella 20/20, The Von Zippers and twenty more trashy garage wonders! Plus a super-duper price!

V/A Every Noise Has A Note (Trensmat) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
No way around it, this is an amazing comp, culled from limited the singles Trensmat released over the last three years, just check out the lineup: Circle, White Hills, Telescopes, Bardo Pond, Cave, Heavy Winged, Astral Social Club, The Shining Path, Area C, Cheval Sombre, Mugstar, and Magnetize, probably couldn't assemble a more bad ass, or more aQ sounding comp if we tried! But, the bummer is, that this collects only ONE song from each single, which while keeping the 7"s special, and relevant, it is sort of a bummer, might have opted for a double disc with ALL the songs, plus a few of these tracks are taken from the series Trensmat did of bands covering Hawkwind, complete with killer Hawkwind style cover art, seems weird to pluck one or two at random, when that series was begging for a proper cd release with ALL the covers, but really, small complaints, once you dig into this comp, and niggling doubts will be quickly washed way by all the amazing tripped out sonics contained within. Some highlights include:
The Telescopes deliver a droning, buzzing raga-like dreamscape, flitting bird-like flutes that swirl and float over a blackened drift of guitar rumble and pulled apart riffs, until the drums kick in, and then it's like you've been launched into space, a full on drug drenched, FX heavy psychedelic space rock jam, with a thick bassy organ groove, wild flutes and effects EVERYWHERE. Dirge-y and groovy and dreamlike.
White Hills ditch much of their usual spaceiness for something a bit harder, and tackle Hawkwind's "Be Yourself" with crunchy chugging guitars, pounding drums, wild tangles of distortion drenched leads over the top, the band not so much covering the original, as transforming it into an endless psychedelic hard rock loop, the band churning and grinding out a steady stream of psychedelia over that endless main riff, before drifting off into a cloud of glittering soft psych shimmer.
Mugstar's track is a super synth heavy, weird sort of post punk noise rock, almost kind of mathy, a bit like a supercharged, way more metallic Stereolab, which intensifies until it explodes into wild psychedelic squalls of acid fried synths and freaked out guitarnoise.
Circle's track finds them at their most stripped down, the drums and guitars locked into a constant loop, the bass following right along, so mesmerizing and seemingly endless, the vocals a barely there whisper, while off in the distance lurk all manner of random clatter and mysterious percussive events. Right in the middle there's an awesome stumbling atonal guitar 'solo' before the band slips right back into that same groove.
Bardo Pond add female vocals to their take on Hawkwind's "Lord Of Light", the vocals drifting ethereally, over a roiling black cloud of FX drenched guitars and some seriously pounding drums, even a bit of flute (we think), and maybe more than any of the others managing to meld the sound of the original with their own, plenty of wah wah guitar, loads of effects, most of the track spent drifting through space, cloaked in blown out super distorted psych guitar and shimmering outer space ambience. Surprisingly heavy and totally blissed out.
Cave contribute "Machines & Muscles" with its Circle-like guitar groove, some hand drums, very tribal and looped sounding, suspended in a field of space streakings and smears of soft effects in the background, the drums get a little more obtuse, a bit busier, but that main riff stays LOCKED in, until it begins to get ALL tripped out, distorted, effects drenched, swinging from speaker to speaker, dizzyingly tripped out, and then finally, the drums kick in proper, and we're in total hynorock bliss, little bits of keyboard pepper, the stuttery rhythm, the main riff staying solid and unwavering, while all around it various other sounds swoop and shimmer.
Astral Social Club surprised us with their jam, total minimal house music, sort of. The main beat a stripped down pulse and squelch, with synthy basslines, and some haunting disembodied piano drifting over the top, making for a truly creepy mash up. Maybe one of our favorite Astral tracks ever!
The Shining Path's contribution is seriously rocking, the drums and bass locked into a motorik groove, while the guitar, 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.
We could go on, but why bother, this collection is pretty fucking kick ass, here's hoping they decide to do a second volume that gathers up the rest of those 7"s tracks, but hell, for now, this is definitely hitting the spot.
MPEG Stream: ASTRAL SOCIAL CLUB "Ginnel"
MPEG Stream: THE SHINING PATH "Lonely Hearts"
MPEG Stream: CAVE "Machines And Muscles"

V/A Everything Comes & Goes - Black Sabbath Tribute (Temporary Residence Ltd.) cd 14.98
We remember when Temporary Residence's Jeremy Devine was first putting this tribute to Ozzy-years Sabbath together, some years ago. Before The Osbournes, the Sabbath Ozzfest reunions, the Kelly and Jack backlash, etc. etc. At long last, though, he's finally got it finished. And for Sabbath fans (aren't you one??) it's good fun, and might be a neat way to introduce some young indie-rock-only friend of yours to the music of the best band ever (sez Allan). There's an odd, random assortment of participants to be found here, none of 'em metal bands, and they take a variety of approaches to the material at hand... Wisely, several opt for doing instrumental versions, cutting back on the amount of faux-Ozzy crooning, the likely failure of which would have detracted from what turns out to be a quite enjoyable collection. Thankfully, also, the rule that the weirder and less-like-the-original a cover is, the better, is generally observed here as well.
Briefly, track-by-track:
Track 1, Matmos. Taking the piss? They do the non-song "Fx" off of Vol. 4. A good joke, and very Matmos appropriate.
Track 2, here Japan's Ruins almost render the rest of the compilation obsolete, cramming almost every famous Sabbath riff into one of their insane medlies! Wow. This also appeared as a bonus track on their last album Tzomborgha, though.
Track 3, a blissful post-rock instrumental version of "Black Sabbath" from Grails, lacking the menace of the original but enhancing the melodicism.
Track 4, Fourtet. Lovely. But is it really "Iron Man"? Definitely the least recognizable cover on here. Which gets a lot of points 'cause of the rule mentioned above.
Track 5, Curtis Harvey (of Rex and Pullman) and friends turn in a kinda No Depression country-folk version of "Changes" with female vocals. Real nice and a darn sight better than Ozzy n' Kelly!
Track 6, Paul Newman do "Fairies Wear Boots". More instrumental post rock (hey this IS on Temporary Residence) and very very good. A fine interpretation, recognizable yet renewed, wound up with that post rock tension...
Track 7, The Anomoanon play and sing "Planet Caravan". One of Sabbath's most haunting numbers, not "heavy", well-suited to these folks. A respectful cover that you should try on any Sabbath-haters. It can't be denied. A spacey, psychedelic, folky beauty.
Track 8, shifts moods again, as the maniacs known as Racebannon fuck shit up with a noisy rampage through "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath". Their art-punk-mayhem is the most racous thing on here so far, and certainly captures the "going insane" vibe of mid-to-late Ozzy era Sabbath.
Track 9, maybe the odd one out here, and not only 'cause we have no idea who Greeness w/ Philly G is (thankfully Philly G is not a rapper, indeed, he's got the Ozziest vox on the comp). Whoever they are, they do a grunge by way of the Butthole Surfers run-through of stoner nugget "Sweet Leaf" that ends this comp with a clear reminder of Sabbath's riff mastery.
Overall, something like this is hard to review -- curiousity as much as anything ought to compel fans of the Sabs and/or any of these artists to pick this up. We certainly can say that this is a varied and enjoyable listen!!
MPEG Stream: PAUL NEWMAN "Fairies Wear Boots"
MPEG Stream: THE ANOMOANON "Planet Caravan"

V/A Everything Comes & Goes - Black Sabbath Tribute (Temporary Residence Ltd.) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We remember when Temporary Residence's Jeremy Devine was first putting this tribute to Ozzy-years Sabbath together, some years ago. Before The Osbournes, the Sabbath Ozzfest reunions, the Kelly and Jack backlash, etc. etc. At long last, though, he's finally got it finished. And for Sabbath fans (aren't you one??) it's good fun, and might be a neat way to introduce some young indie-rock-only friend of yours to the music of the best band ever (sez Allan). There's an odd, random assortment of participants to be found here, none of 'em metal bands, and they take a variety of approaches to the material at hand... Wisely, several opt for doing instrumental versions, cutting back on the amount of faux-Ozzy crooning, the likely failure of which would have detracted from what turns out to be a quite enjoyable collection. Thankfully, also, the rule that the weirder and less-like-the-original a cover is, the better, is generally observed here as well.
Briefly, track-by-track:
Track 1, Matmos. Taking the piss? They do the non-song "Fx" off of Vol. 4. A good joke, and very Matmos appropriate.
Track 2, here Japan's Ruins almost render the rest of the compilation obsolete, cramming almost every famous Sabbath riff into one of their insane medlies! Wow. This also appeared as a bonus track on their last album Tzomborgha, though.
Track 3, a blissful post-rock instrumental version of "Black Sabbath" from Grails, lacking the menace of the original but enhancing the melodicism.
Track 4, Fourtet. Lovely. But is it really "Iron Man"? Definitely the least recognizable cover on here. Which gets a lot of points 'cause of the rule mentioned above.
Track 5, Curtis Harvey (of Rex and Pullman) and friends turn in a kinda No Depression country-folk version of "Changes" with female vocals. Real nice and a darn sight better than Ozzy n' Kelly!
Track 6, Paul Newman do "Fairies Wear Boots". More instrumental post rock (hey this IS on Temporary Residence) and very very good. A fine interpretation, recognizable yet renewed, wound up with that post rock tension...
Track 7, The Anomoanon play and sing "Planet Caravan". One of Sabbath's most haunting numbers, not "heavy", well-suited to these folks. A respectful cover that you should try on any Sabbath-haters. It can't be denied. A spacey, psychedelic, folky beauty.
Track 8, shifts moods again, as the maniacs known as Racebannon fuck shit up with a noisy rampage through "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath". Their art-punk-mayhem is the most racous thing on here so far, and certainly captures the "going insane" vibe of mid-to-late Ozzy era Sabbath.
Track 9, maybe the odd one out here, and not only 'cause we have no idea who Greeness w/ Philly G is (thankfully Philly G is not a rapper, indeed, he's got the Ozziest vox on the comp). Whoever they are, they do a grunge by way of the Butthole Surfers run-through of stoner nugget "Sweet Leaf" that ends this comp with a clear reminder of Sabbath's riff mastery.
Overall, something like this is hard to review -- curiousity as much as anything ought to compel fans of the Sabs and/or any of these artists to pick this up. We certainly can say that this is a varied and enjoyable listen!!
MPEG Stream: PAUL NEWMAN "Fairies Wear Boots"
MPEG Stream: THE ANOMOANON "Planet Caravan"

V/A Everything Is Nice (Matador) 3cd 9.98
Wow. Gerard, everything sure is nice. This price is nice: 3 cds for 9.98!? OK, the vinyl is a pretty standard price but vinyl in general costs more to manufacture than cds, so that's OK; actually it's really nice, too, that you put all of the previously-unreleased tracks on vinyl. That's so nice. Unreleased (and very nice) tracks by Mogwai, Guided By Voices, Yo La Tengo, Bardo Pond, Wisdom of Harry, Pavement, and a lot of other really nice bands. Oh, and the other cds (those nice unreleased tracks are all on one of the three cds), oh, I almost forgot how nice they are with greatest hits from almost all of your favouritest and nicest bands from the nicest label in the world, Matador.

V/A Everything Is Nice (Matador) 2lp 15.98
Wow. Gerard, everything sure is nice. This price is nice: 3 cds for 9.98!? OK, the vinyl is a pretty standard price but vinyl in general costs more to manufacture than cds, so that's OK; actually it's really nice, too, that you put all of the previously-unreleased tracks on vinyl. That's so nice. Unreleased (and very nice) tracks by Mogwai, Guided By Voices, Yo La Tengo, Bardo Pond, Wisdom of Harry, Pavement, and a lot of other really nice bands. Oh, and the other cds (those nice unreleased tracks are all on one of the three cds), oh, I almost forgot how nice they are with greatest hits from almost all of your favouritest and nicest bands from the nicest label in the world, Matador.

V/A Exit Music (BBE Records) cd 14.98

V/A Eyesore: A Stab at the Residents (Vaccination) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Tribute to the Residents featuring Thinking Fellers, Primus, Eskimo, Stan Ridgway, Shaking Ray Levis, UBZUB, Heavy Vegetable, Amy Denio, Fibulator, Snakefinger, etc.