BLACKSHAW, JAMES The Glass Bead Game (Young God) cd 14.98
So on his last album, Blackshaw stepped into new territory with some orchestral instrumentation, even laying down a few piano tracks. And even though we didn't think it was possible, he just might have outdone himself, yet again, with his most dynamic album to date, The Glass Bead Game, released on the infamous Young God Records. Most aQ costumers are well aware of the talent and mystery that surrounds Mr. Blackshaw and his twelve-string mastery. And while we've really dug all of his numerous past albums, it seems like Blackshaw has never sounded so confident in his mantra-like finger picking and ornate compositions. With the freedom to compose works for piano, strings, flute, clarinet and a choir, Blackshaw's vision has grown from a small sprout into a sea of blooming vines.
It baffles us how cinematic this stuff is. These tracks all tell epic tales of being lost at sea, nighttime woodland campfires, sad goodbyes and lonely mornings, all without any lyrics. Sometimes there are these moments where Blackshaw will simply change chords and suddenly the piece takes on a whole new feel, a whole new sound, and you can't help but feel emotionally struck. His playing is so recognizable and distinguished from his solo-guitar peers, a perfect marriage of patients and skill, droning and droning on one chord only to build suspense and anticipation before suddenly revealing the next movement, so good! And there's something about his playing that is so European, so different from the Americana-type sound of other finger pickin' contemporaries. Blackshaw's pieces seem to shimmer with an ethereal haze that faintly glows like an old lantern in the woods, casting flickering light on faces of spirits in the night.
The Glass Bead Games starts things off running with a lush harmonium drone and Blackshaw's quick, raga-esque finger picking soaring above. Gradually female vocals and strings creep in to blanket Blackshaw's guitar in a silky ambience, creating an almost dreamlike experience. We really love how the vocals have this Philip Glass or Steve Reich orchestral kind of vibe. Instead of long swells the voices are short, repetitive wordless ohs and ahs, kind of like some carousel organ or angelic harp. "Cross" builds and retreats in some cosmic ebb and flow, continually swirling with deep, melodic range and heartfelt emotion, all with the twelve string at its glowing core. "Bled", the second track, begins with a slow, contemplative mood. Notes plucked then left to dissipate into thin air. Somber and desolate, the piece only grows into a dark journey through Eastern ragas and into celestial radiance, only to return in the 9th minute to the opening, contemplative passage.
The album comes to a gorgeous close with the 18 minute "Arc". With James on the piano, he builds from quiet contemplative drops of rain into huge waves of quickly flourishing arpeggios, not all that different sounding from his guitar picking. We totally love how his style and aesthetic remains intact, whether he's sitting at the piano or with a guitar on his knee, his close attention to detail and use of hypnotic, emotionally captivating melodies shines throughout. Notes flickering and shimmering about as overtones soar above like clouds. There's so much about this record that you can get fully wrapped up in, so much detail it would be impossible to absorb it all in just one listen. We've already been listening to Glass Bead Game for over a week, and still new details keep popping out of the woodwork. And to top it off, beautifully fitting, earth-toned artwork of various birds of prey perfectly adorns the album with some magical visual hex. By far our favorite Blackshaw album to date and quite possibly his best, highly and fully recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Cross"
MPEG Stream: "Bled"

BLACKSHAW, JAMES Waking Into Sleep - Goteborg 27.05.06 (Kning Disc) cd 14.98
AT LAST REPRESSED, BACK IN STOCK... but still probably quite limited (Kning Discs are usually not long for this world!) live release from AQ fave UK guitarist James Blackshaw. Recorded in Goteborg, Sweden at the end of May this year, Blackshaw's live performance of the best of his catalog (Sunshrine, Celeste, and two songs from O True Believers) does not disappoint. For those who are not familiar with Blackshaw's majestic 12-string finger picking abilities (O True Believers was record of the week, a few lists back), this live document is a true testament to his amazing skills. Not a note is out of place and the sound quality is breathtaking. Don't miss out, we may or may not be able to get any more of these when we run out...
MPEG Stream: "Sunshrine"
MPEG Stream: "Spiralling Skeleton Memorial"

BLACKSHAW, JAMES & LUBOMYR MELNYK The Watchers (Important) cd 16.98
We're huge fans of pianist and composer Lubomyr Melnyk, his playing so distinctive, his Continuous Music System and the way he creates dense flurries of notes, and lush chordal cascades - it's transcendent, a sort of swirling, almost psychedelic modern classical / new age hybrid, the sound dreamlike but rife with melodic subtleties and tonal colorations that make his music prismatic and expansive and impossible to mistake for anybody else. We also love Blackshaw, in a field of modern minimal guitarists, mining classic Americana, we often find ourselves drawn to his interpretation, one that's not always so minimal, slipping easily from a Melnyk like style of whipping up clouds of swirling chords and notes, to weaving lush landscapes of dark dreamlike chamber music.
Not sure whose idea it was to put these guys together, or if they were simply the sort of like minded artists who eventually find each other, but whatever the reason, or whoever is responsible, we're so grateful, and glad that this sonic summit took place. And it's just about as fantastic as you might hope. Four long form compositions, both Melnyk and Blackshaw effortlessly unfurling lush swaths of swirling melody, Blackshaw's guitar bathed in the reverb and overtones of Melnyk's piano, the sound sometimes so blurred it's hard to tell who's playing what, and that constant shift is part of what makes this so mesmerizing, the tracks hypnotic and tranced out, dreamy and melodic and woozily tranquil, but still sonically super active, each track is like a thick billowing cloud of dreamy melodic drift, the musical equivalent of a jar of fireflies, look away, and the world is lit by a soft warm glow, but look closely and that light is revealed as a dense whorl of tiny little lights, swooping and shimmering. The sound these two conjure up occasionally slips into something more folky, or more classical, but most often meets right in the middle, heavenly and hypnotic, rife with lilting melodies, and warm sonic swells. When things do slow down, the music settles into a moody melancholy shimmer, but those moments are fleeting, with the two tending to slowly add and build until the sound swirls and swoops and soars skyward, and blossoms once again into something truly transcendent.
The vinyl version is limited to 500 copies.
MPEG Stream: "Tascheter"
MPEG Stream: "Venant"

BLACKSHAW, JAMES & LUBOMYR MELNYK The Watchers (Important) lp 16.98
We're huge fans of pianist and composer Lubomyr Melnyk, his playing so distinctive, his Continuous Music System and the way he creates dense flurries of notes, and lush chordal cascades - it's transcendent, a sort of swirling, almost psychedelic modern classical / new age hybrid, the sound dreamlike but rife with melodic subtleties and tonal colorations that make his music prismatic and expansive and impossible to mistake for anybody else. We also love Blackshaw, in a field of modern minimal guitarists, mining classic Americana, we often find ourselves drawn to his interpretation, one that's not always so minimal, slipping easily from a Melnyk like style of whipping up clouds of swirling chords and notes, to weaving lush landscapes of dark dreamlike chamber music.
Not sure whose idea it was to put these guys together, or if they were simply the sort of like minded artists who eventually find each other, but whatever the reason, or whoever is responsible, we're so grateful, and glad that this sonic summit took place. And it's just about as fantastic as you might hope. Four long form compositions, both Melnyk and Blackshaw effortlessly unfurling lush swaths of swirling melody, Blackshaw's guitar bathed in the reverb and overtones of Melnyk's piano, the sound sometimes so blurred it's hard to tell who's playing what, and that constant shift is part of what makes this so mesmerizing, the tracks hypnotic and tranced out, dreamy and melodic and woozily tranquil, but still sonically super active, each track is like a thick billowing cloud of dreamy melodic drift, the musical equivalent of a jar of fireflies, look away, and the world is lit by a soft warm glow, but look closely and that light is revealed as a dense whorl of tiny little lights, swooping and shimmering. The sound these two conjure up occasionally slips into something more folky, or more classical, but most often meets right in the middle, heavenly and hypnotic, rife with lilting melodies, and warm sonic swells. When things do slow down, the music settles into a moody melancholy shimmer, but those moments are fleeting, with the two tending to slowly add and build until the sound swirls and swoops and soars skyward, and blossoms once again into something truly transcendent.
The vinyl version is limited to 500 copies.
MPEG Stream: "Tascheter"
MPEG Stream: "Venant"

BLACKWATER PARK Dirt Box (Spalax) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
CD reissue of the lone 1972 album from this German hard rock outfit with an English vocalist. This is the band that '70s-loving Swedish death-progressive metallers Opeth named their most recent opus after, leading us to think that it might be a weirdo prog-folk group or something -- certainly not heavy-duty boogie rock, which is what it is! But, it's pretty good. If you're looking for cosmic krautrock sounds, look elsewhere -- but if you enjoy early hardrock/proto-metal stuff like Led Zep or (another German band with a British singer) Lucifer's Friend, or dig the current champions of that sound, The Want, then check this out. (Why Opeth rate them so highly, we still don't know -- not that this is bad, far from it, we quite like it, it's just far from unique as well...)
RealAudio clip: "One's Life"

BLAKCPULLET GRIMOIRE Eating Whole Villages He Threw Up From The Bitter Taste Of Concrete (Thee Obscurantist) cd-r 11.98
Sure, spelling errors and grammatical mishaps may (and most likely do) pop up all the time on the aQ website; but we can be certain that we have correctly transcribed the name of Wayne Grim's art-prog project Blakcpullet Grimoire. Admittedly, this is one of the first projects that's come our way from Mr. Grim even though he's been very active in the Bay Area avant-garde scoring films, building installations, performing in countless guises, and appearing in this production or that. There are a ton of musical ideas splattered throughout Eating Whole Villages, beginning with a heavy, chugging guitar set against the old-school noise a dial-up modem generates, giving the album a Melvins / Mike Patton vibe from the get go. This is followed by a hissing track of noise and static aerations, muddling a delay saturated lecture from Buckminster Fuller captured on cassette. Then, you'll find electronic yawnings of bassbin rattling frequencies, bleeping glitches, and floorscraped noises barely coalescing upon their sparse structure countered by snippets from Kurt Schwitters' seminal sound poem Ursonate. These perpetual detours from track to track continue through the album, which really opens up after the rather claustrophobic beginning into some lovely stripped down acoustic guitar plucking and continues through an expanded passage of stereo-phased amplifier distortion ruptured with controlled attacks on a drum kit. Frippertronic styled guitar drones cascade out of the speakers later on as if they were from No Pussyfooting. Contemplative and enveloping, it's hard to imagine this as the same record, the end so far removed from the opening corroded heavy sounds. Confounding yes, but certainly rewarding!
MPEG Stream: "Overture (Repugnance)"
MPEG Stream: "Dancer Listening To Organ Music..."
MPEG Stream: "Tripartite"

BLAKE BABIES God Bless The Blake Babies (Zoe ) cd 16.98
While some bands' reunions can leave you cringing, wishing they'd let your warm sonic memories of them glow on unscathed, the return of the Blake Babies does no such thing. They haven't fallen into the unfortunate reunion traps of trying too hard to recapture the magic (resulting in lackluster regurgitation of their old selves), nor of attempting to come back with a whole new and uncharacteristic sound (leaving old fans scratching their heads in bewilderment). In fact, just hearing the very first song made my heart leap with joy. It seems they've fallen back in step with each other with great ease and grace. All their jangling guitar and girl/boy vocals intact, it's as if they never went away. Although some might find her childlike voice a bit cloying (as I have many many times), Juliana Hatfield's knack for writing pop hooks a-plenty is undeniable, and now that she's back with Frida Boner and John Strohm, the BB magical pop chemistry is back and brewing up a sweet storm! With special guests Jake Smith (Mysteries of Life) and Evan Dando (Mr. Lemonhead who also penned one of the songs with Ben Kim). Includes a cover of Madder Rose's "Baby Gets High".

BLAKE, JAMES s/t (Polydor / Universal Republic) cd 15.98
There never seems to be any shortage of hype going around the music world. These days more than ever. And all too often those being hyped so much in the blogosphere world just never really deliver the goods to warrant all the hoopla. But every now and then a record comes along that totally does deserve all that attention, such is the case with this amazing album by James Blake. Immediately it reminds us of some amazing combination of several of our favorite records ever. Radiohead's Kid A, Burial's Untrue, Arthur Russell's Calling Out Of Context, and Antony & The Johnsons if they made a record produced by Massive Attack and Swarms.
Warm rushes of dubstep inspired backbeats meet gospel like vocal delivery, often auto-tuned but in such a moody and satisfying way. One of our customers who was going through a hard day when we had this playing in the store, came up to the counter and said "This is massaging my mind in ways I needed so badly." We can totally see where he was coming from. This is the kind of record made for melting, floating, and coming down softly.
MPEG Stream: "Unluck"
MPEG Stream: "Limit To Your Love"
MPEG Stream: "I Mind"

BLAKE, JAMES s/t (Polydor) lp 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Vinyl of this came out for Record Store Day, and still seems to be available, whoo-hoo!
There never seems to be any shortage of hype going around the music world. These days more than ever. And all too often those being hyped so much in the blogosphere world just never really deliver the goods to warrant all the hoopla. But every now and then a record comes along that totally does deserve all that attention, such is the case with this amazing album by James Blake. Immediately it reminds us of some amazing combination of several of our favorite records ever. Radiohead's Kid A, Burial's Untrue, Arthur Russell's Calling Out Of Context, and Antony & The Johnsons if they made a record produced by Massive Attack and Swarms.
Warm rushes of dubstep inspired backbeats meet gospel like vocal delivery, often auto-tuned but in such a moody and satisfying way. One of our customers who was going through a hard day when we had this playing in the store, came up to the counter and said "This is massaging my mind in ways I needed so badly." We can totally see where he was coming from. This is the kind of record made for melting, floating, and coming down softly.
MPEG Stream: "Unluck"
MPEG Stream: "Limit To Your Love"
MPEG Stream: "I Mind"

BLAKROC s/t (Blakroc) cd 14.98
People have been after this record for ages, we have to admit though we were a bit skeptical, not cuz we don't dig the Black Keys, but just cuz it seemed like a recipe for disaster, two white dudes, blues rockers to boot, as a back up band for a bunch of killer rappers. But hell, we're happy to admit when we were wrong, we have been convinced, this stuff is pretty bad ass, the Black Keys laying down super stripped down beats and grooves, which isn't all that different really than a DJ just sort of playing those same grooves maybe, but it's cool to hear a live band rocking behind these rappers, and wow, what a stellar bunch, the first track features Ol' Dirty Bastard ferchrissakes!! Teamed up with Ludacris to boot! Mos Def, Pharoahe Monch, RZA, Raekwon, Noe, Jim Jones, Q-Tip, as well as a soul singer named Nicole Wray.
The Wu-Tang tracks rule, RZA and Raekwon don't disappoint, ODB kills, pretty much everyone delivers some seriously killer flows, and the Black Keys are definitely up to the task, and actually, if you didn't know better, and just heard one of these jams on the radio, you'd probably never know...
MPEG Stream: "On The Vista (Feat. Mos Def)"
MPEG Stream: "Dollaz & Sense (Feat. RZA + Pharoahe Monch)"
MPEG Stream: "Stay Off The Fuckin' Flowers"

BLANCHARD, JACK & MISTY MORGAN Life And Death (And Almost Everything Else) (The Omni Recording Corporation) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

BLANCHART, JACK & MISTY MORGAN Weird Scenes Inside The Birdhouse (The Omni Recording Corporation) cd 17.98

BLANK DOGS Collected By Itself - 2006-2009 (Captured Tracks) 2lp 22.00
Oh man are we excited about this. A massive double lp collection of all the various eps and singles and cassettes and limited releases from one of our favorite modern groups. Fans of Blank Dogs, and we know lots of aQ list readers are, will definitely need this. We thought we were good about collecting all the BD stuff, but there's tons of stuff here we've never seen, as well as plenty we could never get enough of to review on the website.
This collection includes these titles: The First Two Weeks, The Doorbell Fire, Diana The Herald, The Fields, Waiting, In Here, Seconds, Yellow Mice Sleep, Two Months, Mirror Lights, Setting Fire To Your House, In A Web, Captured Tracks Vol. 1 and Leaves. Phew! Some of this stuff you may very well have, but we're guessing most of it you don't. A few of those we did review, In fact, we made The Fields our Record Of The Week we loved it so much, so for those not familiar with Blank Dogs, that review should serve as a pretty good introduction:
Everyone at aQ is super open minded when it comes to music, we all love all kinds of sounds, but each of us definitely has our favorite, our specialties, whether it be black metal, or indie rock or drone or post rock or power pop or whatever. So when a band shows up that has *everybody* freaking out, that's usually a sign that said group is something special, and in those cases we definitely try to mark the occasion by making that group's album our Record Of The Week.
Such is the case with Blank Dogs, or should we say Blank Dog singular as this is a one man operation, some cat named Mike Sniper who for the last few years has been practically gushing limited cd-r's and tapes and short run releases, most so limited that for most of us, this is our first real exposure to Sniper's gorgeous woozy lo-fi new wave, and new wave is really what this is, whereas a lot of the other Blank Dogs releases were super noisy and abrasive, this is hooky and catchy and jangly, total perfect gloom pop, albeit drenched in plenty of tape hiss and amp buzz. Equal parts The Cure and Joy Division, huge fuzzed out downer basslines, simple drum rhythms or programmed beats, all wreathed in thick swirls of murky effects, fuzzy clouds of bloop and bleep, synthesizers spewing squiggly melodies, or unfurling thick undulating ribbons of warm buzz, and then the vocals, deep and drowsy, weary and worn, a mournful croon, super emotional and darkly evocative, all of those parts stitched together into haphazard perfect pop gems. All gothy and gloomy, with irresistible hooks buried all over the place, the deep main croon balanced by weird processed almost falsettos, fucked up effects careening all over the place in the background, their sound sometimes like a sort of Interpol meets Magnetic Fields by way of Sebadoh, simple guitar jangle over woozy synths, and sweet sad boy vocals, elsewhere super rocking, with heavy guitars, and warm, almost heavy choruses, surrounded by plenty of lo-fi jangle and shimmer. Elsewhere wicked blown out buzzy bass lines, that would shame Interpol, Joy Division melodies strung between constellations of glistening effects, the vocals dripping with delay and reverb and distortion, and again, everything wrapped around wicked hooks. Moody new wave gloom crossed with weirdly ebullient downer doompop.
Need more? Here's our review of Seconds, also included here:
Picking right up where The Fields left off, all four tracks here are super immediate and lo-fi rockers with a damaged Joy Division feel and twisting, disjointed melodies that you can't help but get stick in your head. While the slick side of a dark romantic New York might be exemplified by Interpol, Blank Dogs represents the more seedy, fucked up and authentic underbelly of the Big Apple. While it's a tad less dark then past outings, these songs still kill. "Keeping All The Time" might just be our new favorite Blank Dogs song with its fuzzy synths, and live drums played by Ryan Naideau (Dustheads, Extremis).
Or still more, here's the review for Diana The Herald:
We aQuarians have been jonesin' for anything to do with Blank Dogs as of late, as they are one of those rare groups that EVERYONE at the store goes crazy for. The sound is murky, dark, more than a tad bit goth, and masterfully lo-fi, but at the end of the day, Blank Dogs are essentially a pop band, and a damn fine one at that. Since it took a while for them to enter our radar, we are getting to gleefully sift through an extensive catalog of eps and lps from the past few years while patiently waiting for the upcoming full length on In The Red.
This ep, released back in 2007, but newly available, is certainly worth the price of admission for the two songs which open each side of the record, but the others are quite impressive as well. "Leaving The Light On" and "Scenes From A New Town" are certainly among the most beautiful, melancholy, and just plain weird Blank Dogs songs to date. Things are kept moving with a steady drum machine beat as the overall melodies are shaped by single note guitars and bass lines that give the songs the feeling of some surf rock/goth hybrid with surprisingly anthemic choruses. Coupled with a recording fidelity that sounds like a crackling transmission from some parallel reality, creepy analog synthesizers galore, and Blank Dogs' spectral vocals, you'd be forgiven if you assumed these recordings might have been recorded at any point within the last thirty years. That said, there is nothing retro about Blank Dogs, nor would you call them (or more appropriately, "him" at this point) "ahead of their time". Instead, the music seems to exist simply OUT of time, which is probably why we have found Blank Dogs so very striking. A typically stellar release from this eccentric, hyper prolific pop machine.
But what about all the records we never reviewed? All pretty fantastic in fact, the older ones of course more raw and lo-fi, home brewed, but definitely displaying BD's rapidly developing pop chops, hooky and poppy but WAY tweaked and twisted, often sounding like a punk rock Joe Meek! We're pretty psyched cuz there's so much new stuff to discover and dig into, this collection the perfect balance of new sounds and old favorites, and for sure a perfect introduction for someone new to Blank Dogs. Way way way recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Now Signals"
MPEG Stream: "Before The Hours"
MPEG Stream: "The Other Way"

BLANK DOGS Diana (The Herald) (Sacred Bones) 12" 14.98
We aQuarians have been jonesin' for anything to do with Blank Dogs as of late, as they are one of those rare groups that EVERYONE at the store goes crazy for. The sound is murky, dark, more than a tad bit goth, and masterfully lo-fi, but at the end of the day, Blank Dogs are essentially a pop band, and a damn fine one at that. Since it took a while for them to enter our radar, we are getting to gleefully sift through an extensive catalog of eps and lps from the past few years while patiently waiting for the upcoming full length on In The Red.
This ep, released back in 2007, but newly available, is certainly worth the price of admission for the two songs which open each side of the record, but the others are quite impressive as well. "Leaving The Light On" and "Scenes From A New Town" are certainly among the most beautiful, melancholy, and just plain weird Blank Dogs songs to date. Things are kept moving with a steady drum machine beat as the overall melodies are shaped by single note guitars and bass lines that give the songs the feeling of some surf rock/goth hybrid with surprisingly anthemic choruses. Coupled with a recording fidelity that sounds like a crackling transmission from some parallel reality, creepy analog synthesizers galore, and Blank Dogs' spectral vocals, you'd be forgiven if you assumed these recordings might have been recorded at any point within the last thirty years. That said, there is nothing retro about Blank Dogs, nor would you call them (or more appropriately, "him" at this point) "ahead of their time". Instead, the music seems to exist simply OUT of time, which is probably why we have found Blank Dogs so very striking. A typically stellar release from this eccentric, hyper prolific pop machine.

BLANK DOGS Land And Fixed (Captured Tracks) cd 13.98
Another batch of gloomy fuzz pop from one man Blank Dog Mike Sniper, and while the sound of Blank Dogs has varied quite a bit over the last handful of releases, from paisley punk pop to gloomy lo-fi garage pop to vintage sounding cold wave, but this latest somehow manages to fuse all those elements into what might be the catchiest poppiest BD record yet.
With woozy low slung basslines, shimmery space-y synths, super lo-fi Casio drum beats, reverby surf guitars wrapped around more angular riffy crunch, and the vocals, so nice, multi tracked and lush, swoonsome and dreamy, the songs peppered with all sorts of super catchy melodies, synth, guitar, vocal, "Goes By" might be our favorite Blank Dogs jam yet, total old school power pop via eighties cold wave via lo-fi 4 track bedroom rock via the current wave of fuzzy lysergic garage pop, fuzzy, effervescent and catchy as all get out!
Much of the rest of the record dials back the pop just a bit, and slips into something a bit more gloomy and new wave-y, the vocals languorous and weary, the synths and guitars buzzy and droney and minor key, wrapped around simple propulsive rhythms, and motorik synth pulses, but peppered throughout are moments of surprisingly poppy poppiness, "Northern Islands" for instance is total skeletal lo-fi dream pop, with super dramatic crooned vocals, and whispery guitar jangle and super stripped down rhythms, but even those bits of poppiness end up segueing into blown out Zombi/Majeure style synthscapes, or total eighties style electro pop, reminding us of the Fixx (who should totally get mentioned more often in reviews of the various new wave of new wave bands, just sayin') or Interpol style gloomwave...
It's all over the map for sure, but then Blank Dogs designed this map, so all the tracks manage to hang together perfectly, and have somehow coalesced into a pretty fantastic collection of twisted lo-fi new wave gloom pop, that we can't seem to stop listening to.
MPEG Stream: "Goes By"
MPEG Stream: "Collides"
MPEG Stream: "Longlights"
MPEG Stream: "Treelines"

BLANK DOGS Land And Fixed (Captured Tracks) lp 16.98
Another batch of gloomy fuzz pop from one man Blank Dog Mike Sniper, and while the sound of Blank Dogs has varied quite a bit over the last handful of releases, from paisley punk pop to gloomy lo-fi garage pop to vintage sounding cold wave, but this latest somehow manages to fuse all those elements into what might be the catchiest poppiest BD record yet.
With woozy low slung basslines, shimmery space-y synths, super lo-fi Casio drum beats, reverby surf guitars wrapped around more angular riffy crunch, and the vocals, so nice, multi tracked and lush, swoonsome and dreamy, the songs peppered with all sorts of super catchy melodies, synth, guitar, vocal, "Goes By" might be our favorite Blank Dogs jam yet, total old school power pop via eighties cold wave via lo-fi 4 track bedroom rock via the current wave of fuzzy lysergic garage pop, fuzzy, effervescent and catchy as all get out!
Much of the rest of the record dials back the pop just a bit, and slips into something a bit more gloomy and new wave-y, the vocals languorous and weary, the synths and guitars buzzy and droney and minor key, wrapped around simple propulsive rhythms, and motorik synth pulses, but peppered throughout are moments of surprisingly poppy poppiness, "Northern Islands" for instance is total skeletal lo-fi dream pop, with super dramatic crooned vocals, and whispery guitar jangle and super stripped down rhythms, but even those bits of poppiness end up segueing into blown out Zombi/Majeure style synthscapes, or total eighties style electro pop, reminding us of the Fixx (who should totally get mentioned more often in reviews of the various new wave of new wave bands, just sayin') or Interpol style gloomwave...
It's all over the map for sure, but then Blank Dogs designed this map, so all the tracks manage to hang together perfectly, and have somehow coalesced into a pretty fantastic collection of twisted lo-fi new wave gloom pop, that we can't seem to stop listening to.
MPEG Stream: "Goes By"
MPEG Stream: "Collides"
MPEG Stream: "Longlights"
MPEG Stream: "Treelines"

BLANK DOGS On Two Sides (Troubleman) lp 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Back in 2007, Mike Sniper started recording again, after digging out the 4-track he had back in high school that he hadn't used in about a decade. Since then, Sniper has been on a tear with his one-man darkened fuzz-pop machine Blank Dogs, earning him a whole slew of invitations for records, singles, cassettes, and whatnot. Admittedly, we didn't catch wind of Blank Dogs until his amazing album The Fields arrived on our doorstep just in time for Christmas 2008. So we've dug up the On Two Sides LP, a vinyl only edition which Blank Dogs released on Troubleman earlier in 2008; and damn, if it isn't a fantastic album as well.
On Two Sides may be more of a paisley punk pop record for Blank Dogs; but fear not, there's plenty of bouncy goth references to take us back to The Cure and Joy Division. Just think Head On The Door and Love Will Tear Us Apart as the pinnacles of conveying mopiness within a bouncy dark pop song. Sniper's spiky guitars are often coupled with springy basslines that really seem to hybridize Simon Gallup of The Cure and Peter Hook of Joy Division, as the bass often dictates the melody while the guitar lends to the atmosphere. In doing so, these songs enjoy a manic-depressive teen angst meets teen freedom vibe, but made all woozy as if buzzed from that first ever nicotine rush. Given all of the cheap electronics, tinny drum machines, trebly distortion, and overblown fuzz that are especially applied to the indecipherably garbled vocals, Blank Dogs also share plenty of that fucked-up demented pop genius that Ariel Pink and John Maus seem to have monopolized in recent years.
Really fantastic stuff!

BLANK DOGS Phrases (Captured Tracks) 12" 13.98
Latest mini lp from aQ faves Blank Dogs, the one man new wave noise pop retro revivalist project of Mike Sniper, who besides being the man behind the kick ass Captured Tracks label, also finds time to release record after record of lo-fi dour cold wave-y bedroom pop, and we're not complaining. Not one bit.
On past discs, the new wave-ness was often more implied, a Joy Division bass line here, some croony gothy vocals there, but on the opening track on Phrases, it's like it could be some lost archival Vinyl On Demand reissue, all primitive synths, Kraftwerk rhythms, cold Teutonic melodies, sweeping synth oscillations, cheesy effects, guitar jangle, lurching off kilter arrangements, strange vocal harmonies, like a fractured outsider Cure / Depeche Mode hybrid, but with some Goblin / Carpenter overtones for sure.
The second track, "Blurred Tonight" is even more Cure-ish, with cloying minor key melodies over warbly basslines, skittery rhythms, seasick synths, reverby guitars, and sweet main hook. "Racing Backwards" reminds us a bit of Ultravox, brooding balladic goth pop, slow stirring verses, and jittery angular bridges and choruses, everything phased and flanged, the synths squiggly, the vocals buried and murky, lots of softly tangled melodies, the recording gauzy and hazy making the whole track feel ghostlike.
And finally, the record finishes with "End Of Summer", which doesn't veer to far from the other tracks, besides being a bit more aggressive, the synths are more buzzy, the rhythms more driving, the sound a bit more electro, way more electro and danceable, think Devo meets Human League, quirky and future funky, robotic but still super poppy and catchy.
Brief for sure, and on the surface even more retro than past releases, but definitely an excellent addition to the already extensive Blank Dogs discography, and not a bad place to start for a first taste of BD's quirky retro new wave noise pop bliss.

BLANK DOGS Seconds (Captured Traces) 12" 14.98
It's pretty much Blank Dogs 24/7 in AQ-land as of late. We recently made their/his latest record, The Fields, Record Of The Week and it truly was one of those rare albums that every single one of us at the store had fallen deeply in love with. So we were more then thrilled to see this brand new 12" arrive with four more great tracks all recorded earlier this year.
Picking right up where The Fields left off, all four tracks here are super immediate and lo-fi rockers with a damaged Joy Division feel and twisting, disjointed melodies that you can't help but get stick in your head. While the slick side of a dark romantic New York might be exemplified by Interpol, Blank Dogs represents the more seedy, fucked up and authentic underbelly of the Big Apple. While it's a tad less dark then past outings, these songs still kill. "Keeping All The Time" might just be our new favorite Blank Dogs song with its fuzzy synths, and live drums played by Ryan Naideau (Dustheads, Extremis). We're so excited to finally get to see Blank Dogs live! They'll be playing in San Francisco later this month, we have no idea what the set up will be but as long as we get to hear these songs and all our favorite tracks from The Fields we have a feeling we'll be pretty damn happy.

BLANK DOGS Slow Room! / Anywhere (Captured Tracks) 7" 6.98
Two new jams from this one man band, spearheading the current new wave of... umm, new wave. And we have to to say, lately, we're more and more convinced that if there is some sort of crown for dour new wave lo-fi noise pop king, it's gotta go to Mr. Blank Dogs, and this 7 inch only seals the deal. Strip away the fuzz and the hiss and the distortion and the crackle and you'd have some dangerously catchy pure pop. Fuck it, DON'T strip any of that stuff away and you STILL have some seriously perfect pop.
The A side has a hook most bands would kill for, rendered here in buzzy brittle synths, lilting guitar melodies, cool distorted effected vox, and all sorts of warble and warp, easily the catchiest Blank Dogs track yet.
The B side channels vintage Sebadoh style bedroom 4-track sad boy folk pop into something a little more poppy and new wave-y but still plenty murky and jangly and lo-fi, with sci-fi synths, rubbery bass and haunting multi tracked vocals, as well as another killer guitar part. Absolutely kick ass gloomy downer new wave doom pop that pretty much no other shitgazing bands have been able to touch...

BLANK DOGS The Fields (Woodsist) cd ep 11.98
Everyone at aQ is super open minded when it comes to music, we all love all kinds of sounds, but each of us definitely has our favorite, our specialties, whether it be black metal, or indie rock or drone or post rock or power pop or whatever. So when a record shows up that has *everybody* freaking out, that's usually a sign that said record is something special, and in those cases we definitely try to mark the occasion by making that record our Record Of The Week.
Such is the case with The Fields by Blank Dogs, or should we say Blank Dog singular as this is a one man operation, some cat named Mike Sniper who for the last few years has been practically gushing limited cd-r's and tapes and short run releases, most so limited that for most of us, The Fields is our first real exposure to Sniper's gorgeous woozy lo-fi new wave, and new wave is really what this is, whereas a lot of the other Blank Dogs releases were super noisy and abrasive, The Fields is hooky and catchy and jangly, total perfect gloom pop, albeit drenched in plenty of tape hiss and amp buzz. Equal parts The Cure and Joy Division, huge fuzzed out downer basslines, simple drum rhythms or programmed beats, all wreathed in thick swirls of murky effects, fuzzy clouds of bloop and bleep, synthesizers spewing squiggly melodies, or unfurling thick undulating ribbons of warm buzz, and then the vocals, deep and drowsy, weary and worn, a mournful croon, super emotional and darkly evocative, all of those parts stitched together into haphazard perfect pop gems.
It's a super short record, seven songs in twenty minutes, but it's darn near perfect, the opening bass line and drum part are total Cure worship, all gothy and gloomy, with an irresistible hook buried in the mix, the deep main croon balanced by a weird processed almost falsetto, fucked up effects careening all over the place in the background, smoothly segueing into "Now Signals" the indie mixtape hit of the year if there ever was one, a sort of Interpol meets Magnetic Fields by way of Sebadoh, a simple guitar jangle over woozy synths, and a sweet sad boy vocal, until it shifts gear into a killer super rocking, heavy guitar bridge, that slips into a warm, almost heavy chorus, before returning to that lo-fi jangle and shimmer of the verse.
"Passing The Light" has a wicked blown out buzzy bass line, that would shame Interpol, the Joy Division melody strung between a constellation of glistening effects, the vocals dripping with delay and reverb and distortion, and again, all wrapped around a wicked hook. The last few tracks get almost frenetic, and mix in some classic pop era Eno into the moody new wave gloom, finishing things off with the weirdly ebullient "Spinning", that manages to glow and pulse with energy while retaining plenty of the rest of the record's glorious downer doompop vibe.
Of course this is on Woodsist, which has been on a roll lately releasing one amazing gem after another: Crystal Stilts, Wavves, Pocahaunted, Meneguar, and now Blank Dogs!! Even though we're only a few weeks into 2009, there's no doubt this disc will find its way onto lots of folks year end lists!
MPEG Stream: "Now Signals"
MPEG Stream: "Before The Hours"
MPEG Stream: "The Other Way"

BLANK DOGS The Fields (Woodsist) lp 14.98
Everyone at aQ is super open minded when it comes to music, we all love all kinds of sounds, but each of us definitely has our favorite, our specialties, whether it be black metal, or indie rock or drone or post rock or power pop or whatever. So when a record shows up that has *everybody* freaking out, that's usually a sign that said record is something special, and in those cases we definitely try to mark the occasion by making that record our Record Of The Week.
Such is the case with The Fields by Blank Dogs, or should we say Blank Dog singular as this is a one man operation, some cat named Mike Sniper who for the last few years has been practically gushing limited cd-r's and tapes and short run releases, most so limited that for most of us, The Fields is our first real exposure to Sniper's gorgeous woozy lo-fi new wave, and new wave is really what this is, whereas a lot of the other Blank Dogs releases were super noisy and abrasive, The Fields is hooky and catchy and jangly, total perfect gloom pop, albeit drenched in plenty of tape hiss and amp buzz. Equal parts The Cure and Joy Division, huge fuzzed out downer basslines, simple drum rhythms or programmed beats, all wreathed in thick swirls of murky effects, fuzzy clouds of bloop and bleep, synthesizers spewing squiggly melodies, or unfurling thick undulating ribbons of warm buzz, and then the vocals, deep and drowsy, weary and worn, a mournful croon, super emotional and darkly evocative, all of those parts stitched together into haphazard perfect pop gems.
It's a super short record, seven songs in twenty minutes, but it's darn near perfect, the opening bass line and drum part are total Cure worship, all gothy and gloomy, with an irresistible hook buried in the mix, the deep main croon balanced by a weird processed almost falsetto, fucked up effects careening all over the place in the background, smoothly segueing into "Now Signals" the indie mixtape hit of the year if there ever was one, a sort of Interpol meets Magnetic Fields by way of Sebadoh, a simple guitar jangle over woozy synths, and a sweet sad boy vocal, until it shifts gear into a killer super rocking, heavy guitar bridge, that slips into a warm, almost heavy chorus, before returning to that lo-fi jangle and shimmer of the verse.
"Passing The Light" has a wicked blown out buzzy bass line, that would shame Interpol, the Joy Division melody strung between a constellation of glistening effects, the vocals dripping with delay and reverb and distortion, and again, all wrapped around a wicked hook. The last few tracks get almost frenetic, and mix in some classic pop era Eno into the moody new wave gloom, finishing things off with the weirdly ebullient "Spinning", that manages to glow and pulse with energy while retaining plenty of the rest of the record's glorious downer doompop vibe.
Of course this is on Woodsist, which has been on a roll lately releasing one amazing gem after another: Crystal Stilts, Wavves, Pocahaunted, Meneguar, and now Blank Dogs!! Even though we're only a few weeks into 2009, there's no doubt this disc will find its way onto lots of folks year end lists!
MPEG Stream: "Now Signals"
MPEG Stream: "Before The Hours"
MPEG Stream: "The Other Way"

BLANK DOGS Under And Under (In The Red) cd 13.98
Fuck YES! One of the most unstoppable and prolific projects in recent memory returns with full length #2... we think. Regardless, after a slew of limited run eps and singles, we were curious to see if Blank Dogs could handle the full length format as well as they - sorry, HE - did with the awesome On Two Sides lp a while back. It seems like some people were expecting Blank Dogs to crack under the pressure of increased exposure or in the face of a fiery hipster backlash. Well, we are happy to report that Under And Under more than ably delivers on all of the initial promise, another winner loaded with classic Blank Dogs and one of the most thrilling releases we have heard this year. It's pretty insane to think that someone could just keep churning this stuff out at such a rate with continually awesome results, but Blank Dogs sound as confident, or at least as melancholy, catchy, and propulsive as ever here. In terms of the actual sound, things haven't changed that much, which we consider a very good thing. The fidelity is maybe slightly higher, but just barely. The songs are a little tighter and more suited to a full length rather than an ep, making this one that will undoubtedly bring out more with repeated focused listens. But overall, this is just more of what we have loved since we came across Blank Dogs, with wandering bass lines, reverberated drum machines, super melodic single note guitar leads, and that awesome monotone voice all here in spades. In the end, Under And Under is a sure indicator that when it comes to actual songcraft, the man behind this project is clearly a cut above most others doing the lo-fi garage thing.
It's pretty accurate to mention bands like Joy Division and the Cure when describing this, but the more poppy numbers seem to follow a more Buzzcocksian approach while the transitions to the anthemic choruses are just classic pop. Some of these songs sound like fractured love songs, all warbly with upbeat guitar leads and weird spooky keyboards. They may be for all we know, though lyrical clarity has never really been an issue for Blank Dogs, the voice de-emphasized within the throbbing lo-fi recording almost like another instrument itself. These songs provide a nice contrast to the more menacing numbers, like the acknowledged hit (around these parts anyway) "Setting Fire To Your House" with its ominous bass and distinctive organ lead. Lo-fi but dense, Blank Dogs still sound like a lost Factory Records band being transmitted from some far away galaxy, but the whole album exudes a beautiful dreaminess that just can't be denied. There appears to be no end in sight for Blank Dogs, and we aren't complaining one bit.
MPEG Stream: "No Compass"
MPEG Stream: "L Machine"
MPEG Stream: "Setting Fire To Your House"
MPEG Stream: "Tin Birds"

BLANK DOGS Under And Under (In The Red) 2lp 15.98
Finally available on vinyl!
Fuck YES! One of the most unstoppable and prolific projects in recent memory returns with full length #2... we think. Regardless, after a slew of limited run eps and singles, we were curious to see if Blank Dogs could handle the full length format as well as they - sorry, HE - did with the awesome On Two Sides lp a while back. It seems like some people were expecting Blank Dogs to crack under the pressure of increased exposure or in the face of a fiery hipster backlash. Well, we are happy to report that Under And Under more than ably delivers on all of the initial promise, another winner loaded with classic Blank Dogs and one of the most thrilling releases we have heard this year. It's pretty insane to think that someone could just keep churning this stuff out at such a rate with continually awesome results, but Blank Dogs sound as confident, or at least as melancholy, catchy, and propulsive as ever here. In terms of the actual sound, things haven't changed that much, which we consider a very good thing. The fidelity is maybe slightly higher, but just barely. The songs are a little tighter and more suited to a full length rather than an ep, making this one that will undoubtedly bring out more with repeated focused listens. But overall, this is just more of what we have loved since we came across Blank Dogs, with wandering bass lines, reverberated drum machines, super melodic single note guitar leads, and that awesome monotone voice all here in spades. In the end, Under And Under is a sure indicator that when it comes to actual songcraft, the man behind this project is clearly a cut above most others doing the lo-fi garage thing.
It's pretty accurate to mention bands like Joy Division and the Cure when describing this, but the more poppy numbers seem to follow a more Buzzcocksian approach while the transitions to the anthemic choruses are just classic pop. Some of these songs sound like fractured love songs, all warbly with upbeat guitar leads and weird spooky keyboards. They may be for all we know, though lyrical clarity has never really been an issue for Blank Dogs, the voice de-emphasized within the throbbing lo-fi recording almost like another instrument itself. These songs provide a nice contrast to the more menacing numbers, like the acknowledged hit (around these parts anyway) "Setting Fire To Your House" with its ominous bass and distinctive organ lead. Lo-fi but dense, Blank Dogs still sound like a lost Factory Records band being transmitted from some far away galaxy, but the whole album exudes a beautiful dreaminess that just can't be denied. There appears to be no end in sight for Blank Dogs, and we aren't complaining one bit.
MPEG Stream: "No Compass"
MPEG Stream: "L Machine"
MPEG Stream: "Setting Fire To Your House"
MPEG Stream: "Tin Birds"

BLANK DOGS Waiting (In The Red) 7" 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A side "Waiting": super upbeat, very rocking, real drums, gang vocals, still the vocals way up in front. Again, Buzzcocksy...
B side "Splitting": very frantic, jerky rhythm, creepy synth worming about, leading the melodic structure, guitar slashing about in the background. Devo gone garage? (Without the vocals.)

BLANK REALM Deja What? (Bedroom Suck) lp 21.00
Full length number two from these Aussie psychgarage hypno-dirge dronerockers, equal parts Velvet Underground, Spacemen 3, krautrock, garage pop and Japanese psych rock, all blurred and smeared into gloriously muddy and murky motorik garage psych minimalism.
Originally released in a ridiculously limited edition of 52 copies, Deja What? is a sprawling, drugged out hallucinatory drift, the bass and drums simple and stripped down but solid and motorik, the guitars on the other hand, unhinged and loose, wild wah wah squalls all over the places, organs whir and pulse, the male vocals are drenched in reverb and echo, the female vox a hazy gauzy echo, the sound super saturated and in-the-red, warbly and warped and woozy, every track a super hypnotic heart of the sun dronepsych workout, some drifting into serious pop territories, while others headed in a way more wasted and drugged out direction, with most meeting somewhere right in the middle. Needless to say, this is the sort of 'good shit' that should most definitely appeal to fans of Wooden Shjips, Moon Duo, Loop, Lumerians, Heads, White Noise Sound and all sorts of similarly stoned drugpop spacerock...
COMES WITH A DOWNLOAD CODE!
MPEG Stream: "Crystal Ball"
MPEG Stream: "My Nativity"
MPEG Stream: "Trained Creep"

BLANK REALM Falling Down The Stairs (Negative Guest List) 7" 12.98
One of a whole handful of releases on the Negative Guest List label, a bunch of which we reviewed on last week's list. This one comes from Aussie garage psych combo Blank Realm, whose Deja What? lp was a big hit around here, and who released a one sided jukebox single on NGL a little while back. The A side here is an acoustic jam, and find this otherwise dour and dirgey outfit sounding uncharacteristically sunshiney, acoustic guitars, whirring organs, a little bit swaggery, but super poppy with a hooky chorus, and a distinctly nineties vibe, but really it's the B side that had us hooked, murky and woozy and reverby, whiney vox and some cool sitar like buzz, not to mention a little twang, definitely reminding us of old school Aussie post punk bands like the Scientists and the Celibate Rifles, finishing off with a rad psychedelic squall, all detuned and fantastically warped.

BLANK REALM Go Easy (Siltbreeze) lp 15.98
Latest slab of tripped out fuzzy garage punk from Down Under, and another dizzying blur of primal rhythmic thump, woozy synth swirl, distorto guitar crunch, the opening track "Acting Strange" might be our favorite (and most rocking) Blank Realm jam yet, with super distorted angular guitars, weird speaking-in-tongues vocals, tribal drum pound, and a super heavy blown out garage psych squall of a chorus, the song seeming to grow more unhinged by the minute, the sound more atonal and warped, like the sound was run through a funhouse mirror. So we were sort of expecting this to be the most noisy and psychedelic and rocking record yet, but the second track strips things way down, into a sort of Best Coast by way of Velvets sort of lazy reverb drenched jangle pop sprawl, driven by a sinewy bass line and super stripped down Mo Tucker style drumming. And then track number three sort of fuses the two, poppy jangle and garagey pound, woven into a sort of Sonic Youth sounding slab of garage psych.
The rest of the record tends toward the druggy and stripped down, especially the fantastically murky psych ballad title track, woozy and wasted, but in between, the band deliver another rocker like the opener ("Pendulum Swing"), heavy on the synth with a definite new wave vibe, and the kick ass two part "The Crackle", the first part, distorted and dirgey, blown out bass buzz and snarly girl vox, atonal and a little bit synth wavey, while the second part, pours on the reverb and the drifty guitar shimmer, unfurling a super washed out, spacey sprawl of unhinged psychedelia.
Another super recommended chunk of killer psychedelic spaced out garage pop weirdness, comes with a download coupon to boot!
MPEG Stream: "Acting Strange"
MPEG Stream: "Cleaning Up My Mess"
MPEG Stream: "The Crackle Pt. 2"
MPEG Stream: "Go Easy"

BLANK REALM Hey Little Child (Negative Guest List) 7" 12.98
Latest from this Australian psychedelic garage synth combo, and it comes in the form of a pricey, one sided (at 45rpm!) 7" single, and it's a cover! The first in a series of Negative Guest List jukebox singles (named for the Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments tune we assume), ostensibly, at least according to the sticker on the front, this single is for your jukebox, and the series is intended to get bands to pick covers, and in redoing the song, overcome the idea of simply 'covering' a song, and while the cost may be prohibitive for some, we can't think of a jukebox that would love to include this little doozy among its musical ranks. BR take on Alex Chilton's "Hey! Little Child" and totally make it their own, adding plenty of organ and synth to a pounding rhythm that drives the proceedings, that rhythm wreathed in pulsing synth melodies, beneath some tripped out echoey vocals, loads of reverb, warbling whirring organs, some killer riffing (it is a killer riff to begin with), some wild leads, the sound crunchy and fuzzy, with a freaked out psychedelic second half where things get wild and loose and noisy. Killer stuff.

BLANK TAPES, THE Daydreams (self-released) cd 12.98
This is how we like our indie pop. Raw and earnest, lush and hook filled, recorded on cassette tape then transferred to an old 8-track, the second album from Matt Adams expands on his debut from a couple years back that we dug big time. Now living in San Francisco after leaving Orange County, he has quickly become one of the finest songwriters in town. While he draws from greats like The Zombies, the Kinks and The Byrds, he manages to not sound like some nostalgic act. In fact there is a freshness and earnest quality to his songs that give them a very timeless feel. Kind of like Vetiver covering power poppers Zumpano. If anyone at Sub Pop is reading this, get the Blank Tapes on tour with The Shins, it will be a match made in pop heaven.
MPEG Stream: "In The Light"
MPEG Stream: "Daydream"

BLANK TAPES, THE Friends And Favorites (self-released) cd-r 9.98

BLANK TAPES, THE Home Away From Home (White Noise) cd 12.98

BLANK TAPES, THE Landfair (self-released) cd 10.98

BLANKET s/t (Via Mule) cd ep 5.98

BLANKETSHIP Klangwunder / The Sound Of Fun Surrounds You (Gigante Sound) cd-r 9.98
Following up last year's Teen Sounds, SF's Blanketship comes cruisin' along with more delightful aural collage adventures. This time things are a bit more drivin', maybe a bit darker and more aggressive. And unlike many of his past recordings which kept the listener constantly teetering off-kilter with their rapid fire juggling together of puzzle piece samples and mad rhythms, the nine tracks that comprise The Sound Of Fun Surrounds You has a few longer stretches that your ears and toes can catch a grasp of and groove along to for a few bars at least. But that's not to say this cd-r is without its fair share of surprise bursts and giggly bits, those come in spades on the Klangwunder half! Those eight tracks were composed with like-minded People Like Us on WFMU! Always a deliriously good time!
MPEG Stream: "Viva Butterfly"
MPEG Stream: "The St. John River"

BLANKETSHIP Summer Set (Gigante Sound) cd 11.98
Blanketship's second album starts off in a much more funky and trip-hop-y fashion than anything found on his previous cd Threeps, but it definitely doesn't stay put. This one-man band aka Jared Blum keeps things moving along, drawing from a plethora of inspirations and sound sources, but always keeping thoughts of pop in the back of his mind. Incorporating samples of psychedelia, jazz, earthen folk, field recordings, and world beat, he's pieced together each track on Summer Set, with some considerably more structured than others. Catchily groovy and playfully spirited.
MPEG Stream: "County Fare"
MPEG Stream: "Fuzzy"

BLANKETSHIP Threeps (G25 Productions) cd 11.98
This new cd from SF's one man band Blanketship compiles three of his cd-r and cassette eps (hence the title, get it?) from the last couple of years. In chronological order, they are: L'Homme Invisible, Captain Assure, and Willow Bend. However, the tracks -- 25 in all -- have been jumbled together into an all new running order. It flows very well, making for a delightful full length. Maybe we've gone a little bit nutty, but we thought she heard lil' kitties mewing throughout this cd (particularly on the track "Dwarfism"). Then again maybe it was all due to the fact that just moments earlier we were listening to the plentiful meowing on the Cats & Kittens cd. Nonetheless, this is not a bad thing! The sounds, whether they are indeed meows or not, totally complemented the overall soft 'n' soothing atmosphere. On each track, Blanketship craftily arranges a soundscape of electronic melodies, sampled sounds, programmed rhythms among other things resulting in an airy collage. Sometimes a bit ghostly, sometimes a bit '60s British mystery movie-esque, sometimes a bit like a kranky ol' videogame, quite often playful and novel. Nice!
MPEG Stream: "Dwarfism"
MPEG Stream: "Lackluster"

BLAST FURNACE s/t (Long Hair) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Copenhagen's rock scene in the early 1970s was so small and fertile that bands formed and reformed in various combinations of the same people. Case in point -- Blast Furnace came together in 1970, released a single great LP in 1971, and by 1972 3/4 of Blast Furnace had joined the band Culpeper's Orchard. It's kind of amazing that this record has been lost to all but the most die hard fans of Danish progressive rock, because it's so clearly great. The angst-filled (almost Faust-ish) vocals of Brit singer Tom McEwan take turns with super-expressive organ lines. And there are flutes eveywhere (which fills our flute obsessive Andee with joy).
And the arrangements are really good, making the most of minor key melodies so that nothing need be overstated. There aren't extended wanky instrumental passages here, for a prog band Blast Furnace edited themselves so well, leaving us wanting more. And, in fact, there is more -- a non-album track intended as a single has also been included on this cd. The disc starts off as classic and firece seventies prog, with complex melodic passages and some instrumental spacy jamming, but as the record progresses, the record veers dramatically from mostly instrumental prog, to super dramatic, almost goofy (in a good way) balladeering. The vocalist's deep baritone waxes poetic on ridiculous and far out subject matters, like the plight of Toytown, or poor sad Bobo the Clown. Sounds silly, and it sort of is, but it's really really good. Reminds us a little of AQ faves Paternoster (although not nearly as insane) or some super melodramatic seventies singer songwriter. But the combination of heartfelt ballads and searing prog action make this a weird and great find. Windy's new favorite record.
RealAudio clip: "Dr. Night"
RealAudio clip: "First and Last"
RealAudio clip: "Toytown"

BLAST ROCKS You're Fired (Spam) cd 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
If you're a fan of the lo-fi pop stylings of Owen and his Casiotone For The Painfully Alone, check out his energetic, a bit more amped-up pals The Blast Rocks. Playfully messy, lo-fi punky pop fancied up with casio keyboards that also reminded me of the Rondelles-related Albuquerque combo Luxo Champ or Olympia party pop king Gene Defcon.
RealAudio clip: "Joyce"
RealAudio clip: "My Boyfriend Is A Zombie"

BLASTED CANYONS 2nd Place (Castle Face) lp 14.98
2nd Place is the follow ep to the previous Record Of The Week from these SF sci-fi synthprog garage poppers, and while there's nothing quite as freaked out and far out as THAT track from their debut, it is another kick ass collection of super catchy, garage pop new wave that we can't stop listening too. Opener "Get High" sounds like a much more raw and garage rock version of Interpol, the deep crooned vox and the main melody the main culprits, but BC add all sorts of swirling female background vox, and lots more jangle and crunch, and while most of the track is fuzzy garage pop, the chorus is such a killer blast of new wave radness, not to mention the synth melody at the end. This may be only six songs, but one song in and we're already thinking this might be our new favorite record. And thankfully the rest of the record does nothing to change our minds. "Liquid Fiend" is a blown out blast of garage wave jangle and crunch, with hooks galore, and a sound that's distorted and crumbly, but warm and lush at the same time. "Holy Geometry" channels classic power pop through BC's cracked crunch and wild buzz drenched jangle, and "Finken's Lament" might be the weirdest of the bunch, what sounds like programmed drums, stumbling and pounding over swirling synths and buzzing drones and frantic guitar strum and garbled vox, all blurred into a druggy psych-wave blowout. "Manson Eyes" is another slab of synth soaked jangle pop, and finally, "Glass On Your Pillow" finds BC doing their best Oh Sees, at least at fist, with pounding drums, and a big buzzy bluesy garage rock riff, but suddenly the whole song is swallowed up by a thick low end drone, all the sounds saturated and in the red, thos deep crooned vox come in, and it's total gloom pop bliss, with a killer catchy chorus that manages to be impossibly hooky while being about as blown out as possible, a glorious cacophonous hook, that pretty much explains just why we love these guys (and gal) so much.
Includes a download coupon as well.
MPEG Stream: "Get High"
MPEG Stream: "Liquid Fiend"
MPEG Stream: "Glass On Your Pillow"

BLASTED CANYONS s/t (Castle Face) lp 14.98
Ok, so they're called Blasted Canyons, the record is on John Dwyer's (Thee Oh Sees) Castle Face records, and has eye popping rainbow lazer psychedelic-smash cover art (courtesy Castle Face art dude William Keihn), one member of Blasted Canyons used to be in garage pop masters Bare Wires, so we were pretty much already sold, but then we threw it on, and well, we were definitely expecting some cool kick ass garage rock, but were totally unprepared for the tripped out psychedelic garage-prog synth-punk space-pop radness these guys and gal kick out.
The first track, awesomely titled "The Artist Formerly Known As Satan", should pretty much seal the deal, huge bombastic crashing distorted chords, almost metal sounding, but more like a fuzzy space rock dirge, swirling effects-drenched boy girl vocal harmonies that turn it it into some sort of twisted pop, pounding drums, druggy and dreamy, but heavy and fuzzy and catchy as hell, and when the track shifts gears, and they launch into some buzzy distorto garage pop crunch, with echo-y vocals, and woozy sweetly melodic background vox, not to mention some wicked melodic hooks, it's a total head banging hip swinging sonic bliss out, and then bam, it's right into that strangely epic and bombastic garage pop dirge which leads to one final buzzy blast. Might just be our jam of the year so far. Fuzzed out swaggery lowslung Stooges-y stomp fused to power pop jangle and lo-fi space-synth-prog, so good we can barely bring ourselves to listen to the rest of the record, but once we did...
The second track, "Blood On The Wall" is a synth driven chunk of angular garage-y new wave crunch, with a killer chorus, the howled distorto female vox and buzzing synth definitely reminding us of Black Bug, while "Consider Drowning" is a primo slab of surfy garage groove, with the vocals all deep and echoey reminding us of Crystal Stilts, but the chugging murky guitars, swirling spacey synth and pounding drums transforming it into something way more tripped out and primal. And so it goes, the whole record a wild ride through Oh Sees style sweat-soaked distorto-garage jangle pop, tripped out murkscapes of pulsing crumbling synths and pitch shifted vox, fuzzy classic post punk power pop laced with hazy oooh's and aaah's, noisy sci-fi-synth-wreathed punky pound, dirgey 4-tracked rhythmic experiments, wild, reverbed, feedback soaked girl group noise pop groove, twisted angular synth driven new wave, and finally finishing off with another bit of sonic weirdness, a perfect bookend for that opening blast of garage prog bombast, a swirling, dirgey, lysergic FX heavy synthswirl outro. So goddamn good. Record Of The Week for sure, but we're thinking maybe Record Of The Year too...!
Vinyl-only for now, here's hoping they'll also press up some cds soon as well...
MPEG Stream: "The Artist Formerly Known As Satan"
MPEG Stream: "Blood On The Wall"
MPEG Stream: "Consider Drowning"
MPEG Stream: "Death and a Half"

BLAZE OF SORROW Echi (Sun & Moon) cd 12.98
We had never heard this Italian black metal band before, but based on the first few minutes of opener "All'ignato" we were expecting this to be a sort of Alcest / Amesoeurs kind of thing, indie jangle and minor key melancholia wreathed in back buzz, and hell, we're all for that, and when the heavy guitars kick in on that first track, we're in heaven, chugging, soaring, blissed out buzz, the melodies mournful, the vibe darkly depressive, the sound like a way heavier Katatonia, all that was left was to hear the vocals, and we were most definitely expecting a sort of deep dramatic croon, but these guys had other ideas, suddenly exploding into some epic, furious, blasting black buzz, frenzied and frantic, insectoid riffing over insane drumming, but that mournful minor key vibe dragged along for the ride, the combo super potent, hellish and heavy, grim and black, but still majestic and epic and emotional. The vocals a gruff demonic bellow, the overall effect classic second wave black metal, the production thick and bombastic, the arrangements almost symphonic, a bit proggy, with the songs slipping from classic metal gallop, to lumbering almost-doom, to fierce lightning speed blasts and back again.
All the songs here are super varied, mixing a dark melodicism, with some serious grim black energy, the occasional keyboard adding dramatic chordal swirls, drifting beneath acoustic guitars, folky interludes giving way to pounding dirge-y buzzing melancholia, in turn giving way to spaced out loping clean guitar post metal meander, all chiming melodies, and woozy basslines, but the sound always seems to return to some variation of a furious blast black buzz, the band striking a delicate balance between its two sonic sides, ending up with a pretty potent combo, one that is definitely black and buzzy enough for the grim hordes, but with just enough melody and emotion to keep it from being just another cookie cutter black metal record. And we find ourselves digging it more and more with every listen.
MPEG Stream: "All'ignoto"
MPEG Stream: "In Memoria"
MPEG Stream: "Echi"

BLEEKER, ALEX AND THE FREAKS s/t (Underwater Peoples) lp 14.98
All most folks will probably need to know is that Alex Bleeker And The Freaks features a bunch of the guys from Real Estate, and the sound is a bit like a less twisted, more groovy, woozy, jammy Real Estate. But first you have to make it past the cover art, which as we discuss briefly in the review of the Frat Dad 7" elsewhere on this list, features what might be Underwater Peoples weirdo aesthetic, a sort of jock / dude / bro thing, the Frat Dad 7" features two bro-looking dudes doing karaoke, and this record features all the Freaks, poolside, in sweaters, and lost of flip flops, a little dog, plenty of khaki, collared shirts, sweaters, Dad style leather jackets. Hard to tell whether it's a put on, or if these guys are just in fact regular Joes, who just make music, when they're not doing whatever it is they do in their normal lives. It doesn't really matter, it's just the first thing that catches your attention.
The music though, sounds a bit 'regular guy' too, not in a bad way, but unlike the distorted lo-fi weirdness of Real Estate, the sound of AB&TF is more straight ahead rock, somewhere between the lugubrious country of Palace, with the tangled leads of Neil Young, a little Grateful Dead too, plenty of strum and jangle and shuffle, loads of tangled guitar melodies, the occasional psychedelic shred freakout, but for the most part, loping and strummy and laid back, a little druggy, but not lysergic, more just sort of fuzzy and baked. Definitely nice to listen to, but maybe not far out enough for folks who dig other UP bands like Real Estate or Ducktails...

BLESSURE GRAVE Judged By Twelve, Carried By Six (Alien 8) cd 14.98
Cold winds hardly ever blow in the sunny climes of San Diego, California; but that city is the home to the goth-cult, dirge-punk duo Blessure Grave whose grim, icy moods certainly match any of their contemporaries like Zola Jesus, Former Ghosts, Blank Dogs, or any of the more grim tones pushed forward by Wierd Records. It's true that many of the current crop of post-punk and minimal wave revivalists are triangulating their sounds through very specific references. Zola Jesus' operatics harken to Diamanda Galas but with a very DIY grit about her arrangements; and Blank Dogs really enjoy a good Joy Division bassline, and who could find fault with that? But it took a while to place the exact references that Blessure Grave evoke. Alien 8 offers Killing Joke, Death In June, and The Cure, all of which are close, but not quite familar enough with Blessure Grave's dungeon claustrophobia and dour expressionism. To us, Blessure Grave suggests a Frankensteinian construct of the grim and twisted. On one side, there's the glum goth-punk band Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, and on the other there's Michael Allen from the early '80s when he founded the quixotic post-punk bands Rema Rema, Mass, and The Wolfgang Press.
Judged By Twelve, Carried By Six is the debut album for Blessure Grave, following an acclaimed 12" for Captured Tracks, a split 7" with Cold Cave & Crocodiles, and a couple of tiny edition cassettes, creating quite an underground buzz around this band. All of Blessure Grave's songs are skeletal in nature, built around rumbling basslines, moody synths, minor key guitar melodies, booming vocals, and tons of chorus & reverb. The vocals from T.Grave on "Stop Breathing" bellow and chant in an untrained, art-punk manner, that pretty much follows the mannerisms of Mick Allen in his early days. And those drum machinations of the band do recall the Lorries, guiding the darkened, claustrophobic tunes along a militant lockstep. "Open Or Shut" is a bit more expansive through the slower plod that the band takes and the expressive guitars that alternate between an anxiety provoking drone and languid moping."A Thousand Drums" is downright frantic in all of those drum machine pulses sputtering behind the barked vocals and excessive reverb. "Hope For The Worse" is probably the closest that Blessure Grave come to anything off of Unknown Pleasures with the spiked guitar lines and galloping rhythms, although Martin Hannett would have made such a track sound completely different... and not the lo-fi, naked expressionism and sometimes atonally brutish constructs found here. This homecrafted grimness is certainly one of Blessure Grave's many strengths; and we're already eager to hear more!
MPEG Stream: "Stop Breathing"
MPEG Stream: "Open Or Shut"
MPEG Stream: "A Thousand Drums"
MPEG Stream: "Echo"

BLESSURE GRAVE Learn To Love The Rope (Captured Tracks) 12" 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

BLESSURE GRAVE Making The Death Beds For Teenage Vampires (Release The Bats) 7" 9.98

BLIGHT Detroit: The Dream Is Dead - The Collected Works Of A Midwest Hardcore Noise Band (Touch & Go) cd 10.98
Blight was a short lived and misunderstood band that came out of the vibrant early 80's Midwest (more specifically Michigan) hardcore scene along with better know groups like Negative Approach, Necros, Crucifucks, Meatmen, The Fix, etc. Blight was made up of former members of The Fix, along with Tesco Vee of The Meatmen doing vocals here as well as "playing" trumpet! Yeah, these guys all held Ph.D's in "Hardcore 101" but Blight was about branching out from what had become a confined attitude/scene and thus the racket these guys created together as a band was more akin to Flipper or the Germs or Throbbing Gristle. There's even a bit of NY No-Wave going on with all the repetition and discordance and skronk that that entails. During the time Blight was active they released one 7" EP and played out only a handful of times. 23 years later, Touch and Go finally does this band justice in releasing this long lost (and hard to find) EP along with five unreleased songs from that same session, a pair from an earlier demo and the disc closes with a short live set from 1982 in Detroit. Fucking killer! Anyone into Butthole Surfers, Stickmen With Rayguns, Scratch Acid, Flipper and all of those bands who trafficked in gloriously abrasive thud and chaos should hear this.
Great packaging and extensive liner notes help make this exactly how all posthumous releases SHOULD be, an amazing, well researched, perfectly assembled reissue designed to preserve the past and expose folks today to a band who should definitely not be forgotten.
A truly unique band that stood out in a sea of clones even back in the day...
MPEG Stream: "Blight"
MPEG Stream: "Dream Is Dead"
MPEG Stream: "Bludgeon"

BLIND GUARDIAN Nightfall In Middle-Earth (Century Media) cd 15.98
Wow. This first domestic release by veteran German pomp-prog-power-metallers Blind Guardian kinda blew us away (Andee and Allan that is). Expecting ultra cheese in the vein of Hammerfall, we instead found this to be immense, amazingly produced (like, 124 track) epic concept album, at once lush, melodic and aggressive. Imagine a more metallic Queen doing a record about J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion, and that's what you get here! No wonder they're so huge overseas.

BLITHE SONS Arm Of The Starfish (Family Vineyard) cd 14.98
You know how you can 'hear the sea' when you hold a conch shell up to your ear? Well imagine listening to a conch shell and hearing not just surf but also some gentle, haunting improvised psych-folk sounds inside there as well. That's what you get with this new Blithe Sons disc. Yes, Jewelled Antler drone minstrels Loren Chasse and Glenn Donaldson (1/2 of Thuja) return again with recordings from their travels to some of the more scenic, out of the way spots in the Bay Area. Did I say scenic? I mean sonic. The darkness of a dank old abandoned army bunker might not be the most picturesque sight 'round these parts, but the sounds Loren and Glenn conjure within its confines are a moody delight. Of course that bunker (and other sites these two visited) are near the quite picturesque Pacific, the ocean providing the seashore/undersea imagery and inspiration for Arm Of The Starfish. The hiss and hum of the Blithe Sons' field recordings of their own musical activities could be the sea in the distance... This cd is really lovely and droney and it makes me imagine that they have overloaded a ramshackle rowboat with their 'instruments' -- guitars, harmonium, bells, tape recorders, bits of driftwood, glassy pebbles, rusted metal, who knows? we're just guessing -- and floated out on an ancient lake, becalmed in the evening dusk, to sing softly as their boat slowly sinks and the sun sets.
MPEG Stream: "Sun Anenome"
MPEG Stream: "Foam"

BLITHE SONS Dirt and Clouds (Jewelled Antler) 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.
Loren Chasse, proud owner of a brand new cd-burner, began the Jewelled Antler label as an outlet to release small cd-r pressings of a variety of warbled psychedelic projects that have spun-off from his bands Thuja and Knit Separates. The Blithe Sons is the first such release, featuring Chasse and Glenn Donaldson (from Mirza as well as Thuja / Knit Separates). Despite hailing from San Francisco, Chasse and Donaldson have tapped into a vein of melancholic UK psychedelia which runs from the Wicker Man soundtrack through to the early instrumentals of Eyeless In Gaza and the pensive sounds of Richard Youngs. While Donaldson's expressive guitar lines are central to the Blithe Sons arrangements, the album's uniqueness is found in the production work which often positions the quiet instrumentation in the pronounced foreground making the songs so intimate, as to seem played right inside your ears... or brings in some quite textural noises (very common to Chasse's solo sound investigations and manipulated field recordings) as a 'duet' with the melodic lines of the guitar. Very nice work! Based on this, the next Blithe Sons release deserves be a "real" cd release on a proper label (although the musical quality, beautiful packaging and reasonable price of this release shows that cd-r labels are sometimes quite worthwhile).
RealAudio clip: "Calamus Parade"
RealAudio clip: "Crescent-Shaped Sails"