CLOUDDEAD Odd Nosdam (Cloud Dead) 10" 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
CLOUDLAND CANYON Aureliua (The Great Pop Supplement) 12" 11.98
It seems like maybe it was inevitable, but SF's Cloudland Canyon have finally ditched the last remaining trappings of whatever sort of band they may have been before, and now emerged a fully fledged modern day psychedelic krautrocking combo who are masters of their craft. This new super limited, import 12" finds CC exploring that sound, opening with a serious kosmische kraut / new age trip out, a slow building pulsing shimmering synthscape, before driving synths take over and transform the track into a dizzying swirl of looped and arpeggiated synth cascades, cyclical and repetitive, tranced out and mesmerizing, a churning synth swirl beneath a sky full of tangled melodies. The B side is much more laid back, a woozy cosmic groove with a pulsing house music throb, all swirly and cinematic, until a seriously crunchy beat kicks in, super dubbed out and almost industrial sounding, like some lost DHR jam or maybe early Techno Animal - whatever it reminds you of, it kicks ass, and turns the record into something else entirely. The record begins to wind down in another dizzying sprawl of throbbing synth swirl, this time over a stuttering New Order like beat, and driven by stuttery ethereal vocal loops. Sweet. LIMITED TO 500 COPIES. In fact, we have less than ten, and it's very likely these will be the last ones we can get. Pressed on foggy clear vinyl!
CLOUDLAND CANYON Fin Eaves (Holy Mountain) cd 13.98
Cloudland Canyon always seemed like some impossible classic krautrock / noise rock hybrid, their records equal parts German Oak, Faust, Amon Duul, My Bloody Valentine and the Dead C, a washed out sonic world of gritty hypnotic haze, of lumbering psychedelic grooves, of twisted FX drenched drift and looped druggy ambience, as likely to explode into a super rocking fuzzed out dronejam as they were to emit thick billowing clouds of swirling blurred psychdrone shimmer, but always, at the core of their sound was pop. Little hooks buried in the murk and the mire, catchiness subtly woven into the fabric of every bit of spaced out crush or raga-like skree, the thread that held their sound together was spun from melody and harmony, no matter how much those elemental forces were obscured. Recently CC shared a split with Citay, both bands paying homage to fuzzy dream poppers Galaxie 500, CC's version was especially fantastic, drugged out and hypnotic, somehow transforming the original into what could have been a proper Cloudland Canyon jam, and in the process, revealing, more explicitly than ever, the warm glowing pop heart, that beat inside the buzzing, lysergic krautrock chest of Cloudland Canyon. Which it seems, lead to this, Fin Eaves, a fully realized exploration of pop music, filtered through CC's gloriously cracked kraut/drone/noise filter, the result, one of the fuzziest, most washed out, dreamiest noise pop / dream pop records in recent memory. Every track a swirling morass of druggy effects, of muted melodies, of buried reverbed vox, of subverted jangle, muddy grooves, subtle hooks, a soft focus collision between My Bloody Valentine, Teenage Filmstars and Galaxie 500, a three way pileup where the various elements simply sink into one another, blurring and smearing into fantastically new shapes, a little bit of looped hypnotic Spacemen 3 style drug rock here, a little super distorted minimal Jesus and Mary Chain stomp there, slipping seamlessly from gauzy soft pop shuffle, to dense crumbling popnoise damage, to hushed loping slowcore haze, to soaring prismatic space psych bliss, each and every track is dense and spacious and layered, the various sounds constantly shifting, transforming, pealing melodies sloughing off only to reveal even more subtle melodies beneath, streaks of electronic glitch and clouds of warm whirling hiss drift amidst deep thrummed bass, and simple motorik rhythms, gorgeously out of focus vocal harmonies, and all manner of texture and timbre, a rare record as much about song as sound, strip away the sound, and you'd have a surprisingly perfect pop record, take away the songs, and you'd still have some fantastically abstract sonic earcandy, but combine the two, and you have this, an utterly gorgeous disc of otherworldly noise drenched lysergic dream pop. Fans of Teenage Filmstars, Beach House, Jesus & Mary Chain, Flaming Lips, Galaxie 500, Spacemen 3, Candy Claws, Mercury Rev, School Of The Seven Bells, and other psychedelic dream poppers, this is your new favorite record.
MPEG Stream: "No One Else Around"
MPEG Stream: "Fin Eaves"
MPEG Stream: "Sister"
MPEG Stream: "Pinklike / Version"
CLOUDLAND CANYON Fin Eaves (Holy Mountain) lp 14.98
Last week's Record Of The Week, now arrives on vinyl!! Cloudland Canyon always seemed like some impossible classic krautrock / noise rock hybrid, their records equal parts German Oak, Faust, Amon Duul, My Bloody Valentine and the Dead C, a washed out sonic world of gritty hypnotic haze, of lumbering psychedelic grooves, of twisted FX drenched drift and looped druggy ambience, as likely to explode into a super rocking fuzzed out dronejam as they were to emit thick billowing clouds of swirling blurred psychdrone shimmer, but always, at the core of their sound was pop. Little hooks buried in the murk and the mire, catchiness subtly woven into the fabric of every bit of spaced out crush or raga-like skree, the thread that held their sound together was spun from melody and harmony, no matter how much those elemental forces were obscured. Recently CC shared a split with Citay, both bands paying homage to fuzzy dream poppers Galaxie 500, CC's version was especially fantastic, drugged out and hypnotic, somehow transforming the original into what could have been a proper Cloudland Canyon jam, and in the process, revealing, more explicitly than ever, the warm glowing pop heart, that beat inside the buzzing, lysergic krautrock chest of Cloudland Canyon. Which it seems, lead to this, Fin Eaves, a fully realized exploration of pop music, filtered through CC's gloriously cracked kraut/drone/noise filter, the result, one of the fuzziest, most washed out, dreamiest noise pop / dream pop records in recent memory. Every track a swirling morass of druggy effects, of muted melodies, of buried reverbed vox, of subverted jangle, muddy grooves, subtle hooks, a soft focus collision between My Bloody Valentine, Teenage Filmstars and Galaxie 500, a three way pileup where the various elements simply sink into one another, blurring and smearing into fantastically new shapes, a little bit of looped hypnotic Spacemen 3 style drug rock here, a little super distorted minimal Jesus and Mary Chain stomp there, slipping seamlessly from gauzy soft pop shuffle, to dense crumbling popnoise damage, to hushed loping slowcore haze, to soaring prismatic space psych bliss, each and every track is dense and spacious and layered, the various sounds constantly shifting, transforming, pealing melodies sloughing off only to reveal even more subtle melodies beneath, streaks of electronic glitch and clouds of warm whirling hiss drift amidst deep thrummed bass, and simple motorik rhythms, gorgeously out of focus vocal harmonies, and all manner of texture and timbre, a rare record as much about song as sound, strip away the sound, and you'd have a surprisingly perfect pop record, take away the songs, and you'd still have some fantastically abstract sonic earcandy, but combine the two, and you have this, an utterly gorgeous disc of otherworldly noise drenched lysergic dream pop. Fans of Teenage Filmstars, Beach House, Jesus & Mary Chain, Flaming Lips, Galaxie 500, Spacemen 3, Candy Claws, Mercury Rev, School Of The Seven Bells, and other psychedelic dream poppers, this is your new favorite record.
MPEG Stream: "No One Else Around"
MPEG Stream: "Fin Eaves"
MPEG Stream: "Sister"
MPEG Stream: "Pinklike / Version"
CLOUDLAND CANYON Lie In Light (Kranky) cd 14.98
Lie in Light shows Cloudland Canyon wearing their Krautrock worshiping influences fully on sleeve. We have previously mentioned their cosmic-kraut influence on their debut and follow-up ep. But on those, the lysergic free music of Ash Ra Tempel, Faust, Hawkwind, and Amon Duul II, mixed with more contemporary experimental shimmers of Dead C and This Heat were the key influential touchstones. On Lie In Light, with song titles like "Krautwerk" (how obvious can you get??), "You & I" and "Scheiss Schatzi, Auf Wiedersehn!", Cloudland Canyon this time around channel the Kosmiche and Motorik pulse of Neu!, Can, Cluster, La Dusseldorf and Popol Vuh. More song-structured than their debut, but no less cosmically atmospheric, Cloudland Canyon have upped the ante on their sound and production. While their Krautrock inspirations and tongue-in-cheek song titles may sound derivative on the surface, they bring enough of their own unique perspective on things to make for a highly engaging listen. Recommended!!
MPEG Stream: "Krautwerk"
MPEG Stream: "Heme"
CLOUDLAND CANYON Lie In Light (Kranky) lp 13.98
Lie in Light shows Cloudland Canyon wearing their Krautrock worshiping influences fully on sleeve. We have previously mentioned their cosmic-kraut influence on their debut and follow-up ep. But on those, the lysergic free music of Ash Ra Tempel, Faust, Hawkwind, and Amon Duul II, mixed with more contemporary experimental shimmers of Dead C and This Heat were the key influential touchstones. On Lie In Light, with song titles like "Krautwerk" (how obvious can you get??), "You & I" and "Scheiss Schatzi, Auf Wiedersehn!", Cloudland Canyon this time around channel the Kosmiche and Motorik pulse of Neu!, Can, Cluster, La Dusseldorf and Popol Vuh. More song-structured than their debut, but no less cosmically atmospheric, Cloudland Canyon have upped the ante on their sound and production. While their Krautrock inspirations and tongue-in-cheek song titles may sound derivative on the surface, they bring enough of their own unique perspective on things to make for a highly engaging listen. Recommended!!
MPEG Stream: "Krautwerk"
MPEG Stream: "Heme"
CLOUDLAND CANYON Prophetic Frequencies (Monofonus Press) 12" 11.98
A short two song 45 rpm, 12" blast of kraut-synth blissout from these aQ faves, a variation on the distinctive CC sound we know and love, the A side, glimmering, glistening, pulsating synthscapery, prismatic cascades of dreamlike melodies, woven into a frantic krautscape, that sounds like classic krautrock revved WAY up, the sound still minimal and mesmerizing, but dense and driving, dizzying and swirly, vocals finding their way into CC's sound, like never before, chopped up and recontextualized, adding extra melody, but ultimately blurred into another layer in the already dense soundscape. The flipside is more of the same, this time with even more vocals, and some serious beat action, more of a pulse, at least in the beginning, giving the song a serious almost house/techno vibe, the vocals way more prominent still blurred and indistinct, but almost like a proper vocal line, albeit sung like a robot speaking in tongues, the whole thing heady and psychedelic, the sound growing ever more chugging and churning, building to a wild percussive, psychedelic freakout finale.
CLOUDLAND CANYON Requiems Der Natur 2002-2004 (Tee Pee) cd 16.98
This record totally knocked us for a loop. And the thing is, I'm not entirely sure we can explain why. This is one of those rare records that is darn near indescribable. The label suggest Cloudland Canyon would appeal to fans of Boards of Canada, Animal Collective, The Dead C., Ash Ra Tempel, This Heat, Gong, most of which we can definitely see (maybe not the Boards Of Canada), there is a definitely a far out krautrock vibe, some classic long lost, extra damaged super freaked out sixties or seventies psychedelia, but filtered through modern technology. It's almost like some super computer a million years in the future began picking up these strange transmissions from the old Earth, German Oak, Faust, Amon Duul, but after traveling billions of miles and being interpreted by some alien machinery, those songs and sounds came out sounding, well, completely fucking nuts!!! It's like some sort of laptopped Dead C / Ash Ra mash up. Rich clouds of metallic shimmer surround looped guitars, creepy chanted vocals are submerged in demented spacey FX, dense deconstructed pop songs emerge from the chaos, rife with swirling vocals, and layer after layer of drone and processed harmonies, fuzzy shopping mall synth warbles beneath straining lo-fi vocals, the whole thing run through some intense stereo panning. Suddenly the band burst into some stomping propulsive psych rock jangle before the whole thing splinters into a gorgeous expanse of tranquil ambience, beneath delicately finger picked guitars, everything always within a cloud of mysterious sonic events. Dense cinematic soundscapes of keening high end and minor key pizzicato strings melt into super fuzzed out classic rock jams, with horns and pulsing basslines, but buried in a dense swirl of My Bloody Valentine haze, with relentlessly squiggly riffing, buried vocals, a dizzying array of chaotic sound, tinkling chimes and little bits of percussion. Strange collages of warped warbly sound drift into weird seventies circusy prog with calliope like organ, moody riffing, and awesome male / female vocals, like some totally drug drenched unhinged Fleetwood Mac. Nearing the end of the sonic journey, the record devolves into huge stretches of squiggly analog synth, tangled and intertwined into fuzzy warped low end drones, squirming and buzzing with the different layers constantly shifting and slipping in and out and around each other. Woah. Gorgeously and incredibly fucked. And thus completely recommended!!
MPEG Stream: "Opening / Ice Of Rift"
MPEG Stream: "Clearlight Intry"
MPEG Stream: "Carolina Foxtail / Sea Chirp"
CLOUDLAND CANYON Silver Tongue Sisyphus (Holy Mountain) lp 14.98
Now on Vinyl! Here's what we said about the cd version when it came out in '07: One of our most unexpected surprises last year came from Cloudland Canyon who totally blew us away with Requiems Der Natur 2002-2004, a shimmering sonic concoction, that sounded a bit like Ash Ra Tempel being channeled through the more melodic side of The Dead C. They've followed that remarkable outing with a record that contains only two songs, but what it lacks in length it more then makes up for in cosmic-kraut brilliance. Listening to the two long tracks on this record is like being transported away on some otherworldly helicopter co-piloted by LaMonte Young and a very spaced out Hawkwind. We keep listening to these two epic tracks over and over and every time we do a customer is inevitably convinced that we're playing some obscure vintage kraut gem that they somehow have never heard before. Folks are always stunned to find out that this is brand new, but what makes Cloudland Canyon so great is that they manage to tap into that magical moment of cosmic kraut bliss, but do so without merely sounding like a tribute band, as there is something very immediate and timeless to the sounds they create. With another brand new full length coming soon on Kranky [Lie In Light] we predict that everyone blasting their Wooden Shjips records right now will be blissing out and taking off with Cloudland Canyon very soon. We sure are! You can start now.
MPEG Stream: "Dambala"
MPEG Stream: "Silver Tongued Sisyphus"
CLOUDLAND CANYON Silver Tongued Sisyphus (Kranky) cd 9.98
One of our most unexpected surprises last year came from Cloudland Canyon who totally blew us away with Requiems Der Natur 2002-2004, a shimmering sonic concoction, that sounded a bit like Ash Ra Tempel being channeled through the more melodic side of The Dead C. They've followed that remarkable outing with a record that contains only two songs, but what it lacks in length it more then makes up for in cosmic-kraut brilliance. Listening to the two long tracks on this record is like being transported away on some otherworldly helicopter co-piloted by LaMonte Young and a very spaced out Hawkwind. We keep listening to these two epic tracks over and over and every time we do a customer is inevitably convinced that we're playing some obscure vintage kraut gem that they somehow have never heard before. Folks are always stunned to find out that this is brand new, but what makes Cloudland Canyon so great is that they manage to tap into that magical moment of cosmic kraut bliss, but do so without merely sounding like a tribute band, as there is something very immediate and timeless to the sounds they create. With another brand new full length coming soon on Kranky we predict that everyone blasting their Wooden Shjips records right now will be blissing out and taking off with Cloudland Canyon very soon. We sure are! You can start now.
MPEG Stream: "Dambala"
MPEG Stream: "Silver Tongued Sisyphus"
CLOUDLAND CANYON / LICHENS Exterminating Angel (Holy Mountain) cd 13.98
This is a match that makes perfect sense. As Lichens and Cloudland Canyon have both been making some of the most compelling and rewarding crystalline soundscapes of the last few years. One long track clocking in at around a half hour "Exterminating Angel" does sound like the sum of both of these artists' parts. With the first half sounding much more like Lichens, gorgeous deep in space hazy explorations while the krautier leanings of Cloudland Canyon come into focus in the second half of the track propelling the sounds into their kosmiche orbit. Fans of mid-late '70s Tangerine Dream and early Heldon will for sure want to jump aboard this cosmic adventure.
MPEG Stream: "Babylon"
CLOUDLAND CANYON / LICHENS Exterminating Angel (Holy Mountain) lp 14.98
NOW ON VINYL! This is a match that makes perfect sense. As Lichens and Cloudland Canyon have both been making some of the most compelling and rewarding crystalline soundscapes of the last few years. One long track clocking in at around a half hour "Exterminating Angel" does sound like the sum of both of these artists' parts. With the first half sounding much more like Lichens, gorgeous deep in space hazy explorations while the krautier leanings of Cloudland Canyon come into focus in the second half of the track propelling the sounds into their kosmiche orbit. Fans of mid-late '70s Tangerine Dream and early Heldon will for sure want to jump aboard this cosmic adventure.
MPEG Stream: "Babylon"
CLOUDLAND CANYON / MYTHICAL BEAST split (Not Not Fun) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
CLOUDS Legendary Demo (Hydra Head) cd 14.98
One of the Cave In dudes (guitarist Adam McGrath) goes nuts with hard rock/punk/psych/dub side project. Yes, that's what we just said. And name-checks Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa in the thanks list. It's all over the place but actually pretty cool. In fact, it's one of those side projects that make you wonder why dude didn't save some of these ideas to spice up his main band's next album, y'know? Blowing off some creative steam on a "legendary demo" put together with some hometown friends is just psychologically easier we guess. So we're glad Hydra Head pressed this to cd, and even if you don't care about the proggy metalcore of Cave In you still might totally dig Clouds. This starts off with a couple shitkicking tracks of behind-the-chicken-wire hard rock/metal with badass boogie '70s riffage and guitar wailing, a bit like Bay Area heroes Drunk Horse. As this goes on, a few short, sharp punk rock turns are taken, things quickly steaming back into the stoner rawk realm tho ("Party Grunge" being a minute-long, aptly titled blast from both angles). Penultimate track "Magic Hater" manages to segue from a hardcore intro into a freaked out, blues'd n' boozed Beefheart homage. That barely preps you for this album's psychedelic 20 minute finale, "Quartulli Dub", featuring Funhouse saxophone skronk, backwards guitars, and yeah, dubby rhythms and FX. By the time all's said and done, you'll realize your Comets On Fire albums have a new best friend.
MPEG Stream: "Mountain Jim"
MPEG Stream: "Quartulli Dub"
CLOUDS We Are Above You (Hydra Head) cd 14.98
The first Clouds record, the project of Cave In guitarist Adam McGrath, was a freaked out hodgepodge of stoner rock, hardcore, prog rock and seventies boogie rock with definite nods to Beefheart, Zappa, Comets On Fire, the Cave In mothership, it all worked, the result a heavy slab of FX laden riff heavy RAWK with lots of twisted detours. If anything, this newest Clouds disc takes all that same stuff a little further, with a bigger focus on the riffrock aspect, and a huge infusion of POP. Not always obviously so, but some of these hooks slay. Think the beefy lumbering almost grunge of Scissorfight, melded to the pounding retro metallic pound of Karp or Big Business, some of that Cave-In magic and voila! The second track, "Feed The Horse" sounds like it was yanked off a late era Cave-in disc and given a serious metal makeover, while the opener "Empires In Basements" gives Torche a run for their sludge pop money. And then the band go all strange and angular and off kilter with "The Bad Seat", sounding almost like Randy Newman if he was 20 years old and signed to Hydra Head, and we know that sounds weird, but it's actually quite cool. The record is all over the map for sure, exploding into frenzied punk rock as often as sprawling out into huge lumbering sludgey doom, offering up soaring metallic pop gems, or stripping it down to chugging classic rock grooves, but no matter what these guys do, or what sound they're tackling and making their own, the songs rule, and the band kick out the jams big time. And like we've said before, in a perfect world, instead of Green Day and the Foo Fighters, you'd be hearing Torche and Clouds all over the radio. Ahhh, maybe some day...
MPEG Stream: "Empires In Basements"
MPEG Stream: "Feed The Horse"
MPEG Stream: "The Bad Seat"
CLOUWBECK (RICHARD SKELTON) Wolfrahm (Shining Day) cd 16.98
Clouwbeck is yet another pseudonym for the British ambient folk experimentalist Richard Skelton, following A Broken Consort, Carousell, and a couple others which haven't yet found their way through these doors. Each of his monikers has its own slight yet particular bent on his signature sound of rough hewn melancholia, with Clouwbeck being the most somber and abstract that we've heard from him so far. He strips down the instrumentation to just the violin, although he does allow for a considerable amount of processing and thick applications of layered drone from that instrument, building up a ponderous atmosphere of wintry sadness. The album's opening track "Gossan" scratches out the melody as if the bow were dragged across a piece of barbed wire instead of violin, yet the buzzing, luminous beds of sound that Skelton broadcasts around these scraped recursive melodies prevents the whole thing from tumbling into dissonance. "Leached" softens the rustic buzz with a majestic billowing of overlapping violin melodies, distended and blurred into a rich mass of sound. The rest of the album continues to dive deeper with each track becoming incrementally more submerged in the dense loopings and hazy drones. Throughout, Skelton's album sounds like those beautiful orchestrations from Johann Johannsson as played by Alastair Galbraith and produced by the Caretaker. Really, fantastic stuff.
MPEG Stream: "Gossan"
MPEG Stream: "Leached"
MPEG Stream: "Placer"
CLUES s/t (Constellation) cd 16.98
The debut from Clues, cousins to Montreal's The Arcade Fire and Unicorns, might best be described as an amalgamation of those two bands, with a definite leaning towards the strange pop sensibilities of Unicorns. The record opens with an eclectic track that starts slow and noisy, with jangly guitars and Alden Penner's breathy and nasal (yet never annoying) Wayne Coyne-esque voice, building into an unexpected freak-out ending that lasts less than a minute. There's a lot of great stops and starts on this record. For example on the second track "Remember Severed Head", there's a few times when the drums all of a sudden disappear, replaced by a bit of noisy screeching and a deft guitar line, only to come back a few seconds later backed by a lot of distortion and Penner's vocals. On "Cave Mouth", a xylophone line in the left channel compliments the guitar and synth leads, flushing out the more traditional rock instrumentation of the rest of the record. There's a few anthem-like Arcade Fire elements - a bit of a sing-along chorus on the penultimate track "Ledmonton" and some horns here and there spice up the songwriting nicely. The slower/softer moments on the record, "In the Dream" and "Let's Get Strong" aren't quite as powerful as the more rocking tracks, though the shoegazey second half of "You Have My Eyes Now" blows us away every time the guitars punch in. A must have for fans of strange pop music.
MPEG Stream: "Haarp"
MPEG Stream: "Remember Severed Head"
MPEG Stream: "Cave Mouth"
CLUES s/t (Constellation) lp 17.98
The debut from Clues, cousins to Montreal's The Arcade Fire and Unicorns, might best be described as an amalgamation of those two bands, with a definite leaning towards the strange pop sensibilities of Unicorns. The record opens with an eclectic track that starts slow and noisy, with jangly guitars and Alden Penner's breathy and nasal (yet never annoying) Wayne Coyne-esque voice, building into an unexpected freak-out ending that lasts less than a minute. There's a lot of great stops and starts on this record. For example on the second track "Remember Severed Head", there's a few times when the drums all of a sudden disappear, replaced by a bit of noisy screeching and a deft guitar line, only to come back a few seconds later backed by a lot of distortion and Penner's vocals. On "Cave Mouth", a xylophone line in the left channel compliments the guitar and synth leads, flushing out the more traditional rock instrumentation of the rest of the record. There's a few anthem-like Arcade Fire elements - a bit of a sing-along chorus on the penultimate track "Ledmonton" and some horns here and there spice up the songwriting nicely. The slower/softer moments on the record, "In the Dream" and "Let's Get Strong" aren't quite as powerful as the more rocking tracks, though the shoegazey second half of "You Have My Eyes Now" blows us away every time the guitars punch in. A must have for fans of strange pop music.
CLUSTER Berlin 07 (Important) cd 14.98
Goin' a little Cluster crazy over here. This list we've got two archival Kluster releases, and this brand new Cluster disc. We've also got our memories of the Cluster duo Moebius and Roedelius playing here at Aquarius last month, which was amazing! If you don't know who or what we're talking about, please look to some of our other Cluster reviews elsewhere on our website for more information about this fantastic band of German electronic music innovators, who still kick ass (in their relatively calm, quiet, and well-crafted manner). Cluster fans who missed their recent shows (in NYC, Chicago, LA, Big Sur, Santa Cruz, and SF) can get some kind of idea of what it was like from this live recording, documenting their historic "reunion" show in Berlin last year. Not only was it the concert that brought Cluster together again after about a decade-long hiatus, it was also the first time they'd performed live in Berlin since 1969! While this isn't exactly the set they were playing on tour in the States (it can't be, since they do different stuff every night, always creatively improvising), it'll give you an idea... This disc is broken into two long tracks, textural soundscapes full of ambient shimmer, gently oscillating melody, mysterious noises, soothing drones, and occasional beats that sound sampled from a mad scientist's laboratory... or, it sounds like you're on some sort of twilight safari in an electronic jungle... definitely demonstrating the debt that the likes of Aphex Twin owe to electronica originals Cluster! And while this won't supplant their '70s classics like Zuckerzeit and Soweisoso in your collection, nor does it tarnish their legacy in any way. Someone had told us that they now used laptop computers, which bummed us out just a bit... well turns out that's absolutely not true! Cluster had all kinds of gear, both digital and analog, but NO laptops, and Moebius jokingly told us that he'd probably be too dumb to figure out how to use one (doubtful). On this recording, both M & R are simply credited with playing synthesizers and "objects" though we bet there's techie nerds out there that would like to know more... And finally, in case you're worried we're just a bit too Cluster crazy, this disc also passed the "didn't have any idea what was playing in the front of the store and came out of the office just to find out 'cause it sounded so weird and interesting" test!
MPEG Stream: "1 "
MPEG Stream: "2"
CLUSTER Cluster '71 (Water) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY. Nobody did spaced out krauty ambiance better than Berlin's Cluster. Maybe best known for their collaboration with Brian Eno, it was their work leading up to those monumental records that helped usher in a new wave of sound that's been latched onto and updated by many over the years. It's hard not to hear their influence on folks like Mouse On Mars, Aphex Twin and the atmospheric moments of Kid-A era Radiohead. It's always so great to remember and be reminded that they did it all without synthesizers (really, they say so in the liner notes!). Instead Dieter Moebius, Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Conrad Plank were each armed with an organ, effect pedals, analog echo machines, alarm clocks, violin, etc. 3 songs and 40+ minutes long '71 is such a nice record to put the headphones on and begin to wander and fade away into their hypnotizing sounds. It was originally released by Philips, and of course never brought the commercial success a big label would hope for and since it went out of print there have been a few sparse reissues but luckily for us Water have flexed their wonderful reissue muscle and made it available once again with really nice informative packaging, finally giving due credit to one of the more influential groups of the last 35 years.
MPEG Stream: "Untitled (15:33)"
MPEG Stream: "Untitled (21:14)"
CLUSTER Cluster '71 (Bureau B) cd 15.98
Back in print, now in a nicer edition on Bureau-B! Nobody did spaced out krauty ambiance better than Berlin's Cluster. Maybe best known for their collaboration with Brian Eno, it was their work leading up to those monumental records that helped usher in a new wave of sound that's been latched onto and updated by many over the years. It's hard not to hear their influence on folks like Mouse On Mars, Aphex Twin and the atmospheric moments of Kid-A era Radiohead. It's always so great to remember and be reminded that they did it all without synthesizers (really, they say so in the liner notes!). Instead Dieter Moebius, Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Conrad Plank were each armed with an organ, effect pedals, analog echo machines, alarm clocks, violin, etc. 3 songs and 40+ minutes long '71 is such a nice record to put the headphones on and begin to wander and fade away into their hypnotizing sounds.
MPEG Stream: "Untitled (15:33)"
MPEG Stream: "Untitled (21:14)"
CLUSTER Cluster '71 (4 Men With Beards) lp 16.98
Now on Vinyl! Here's our review of the cd reish from a little while back: Nobody did spaced out krauty ambiance better than Berlin's Cluster. Maybe best known for their collaboration with Brian Eno, it was their work leading up to those monumental records that helped usher in a new wave of sound that's been latched onto and updated by many over the years. It's hard not to hear their influence on folks like Mouse On Mars, Aphex Twin and the atmospheric moments of Kid-A era Radiohead. It's always so great to remember and be reminded that they did it all without synthesizers (really, they say so in the liner notes!). Instead Dieter Moebius, Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Conrad Plank were each armed with an organ, effect pedals, analog echo machines, alarm clocks, violin, etc. 3 songs and 40+ minutes long '71 is such a nice record to put the headphones on and begin to wander and fade away into their hypnotizing sounds.
MPEG Stream: "Untitled (15:33)"
MPEG Stream: "Untitled (21:14)"
CLUSTER Curiosum (Bureau B) cd 17.98
We listed the vinyl reissue of this the other week, now it's also available again on cd! It seems like the Bureau B label is bravely (and thankfully) treading all the murky Cluster corners that the Water label sadly deemed non-essential. Curiosum from 1981 definitely is a curiosity being the last Cluster record before the duo took a 10 year hiatus, and if you're looking for classic Cluster, this isn't necessarily where you would want to start. The sound is more minimal, cold and less exploratory than their previous effort, Grosses Wasser. You might even call it difficult, not that it's noisy, grating or indulgent, but it tends not to over-elaborate the compositions with dynamic structures instead reducing the compositions into essential forms. Taking a less is more approach, seemingly inspired by the then current sound of post-punk and no wave, Cluster use plodding and lurching rhythmic motifs in shorter compositions with more subtle, purposely meandering, and oft-kilter melodic nuances: whirring sounds like a toy low on batteries, discombobulated waltzes, Radiophonic Workshop-like tape manipulations and loping loops. The last song "Ufer" (also one of the longest) plays up on Eno's Discreet Music, as an exercise in listening through near-silence. It almost seems like Curiosum was a missing link recording between Cluster II and Zuckerzeit as it sort of bridges those two sensibilities of formless composition and melodic structure with just enough form and just enough melody, but not too much that one would engage with it in mindless pleasure. Instead it dares you to feel it in the present but at a removed distance.
MPEG Stream: "Oh Odessa"
MPEG Stream: "Proantipro"
MPEG Stream: "Tristan In Der Bar"
CLUSTER Curiosum (Bureau B) lp 17.98
It seems like the Bureau B label is bravely (and thankfully) treading all the murky Cluster corners that the Water label sadly deemed non-essential. Curiosum from 1981 definitely is a curiosity being the last Cluster record before the duo took a 10 year hiatus, and if you're looking for classic Cluster, this isn't necessarily where you would want to start. The sound is more minimal, cold and less exploratory than their previous effort, Grosses Wasser. You might even call it difficult, not that it's noisy, grating or indulgent, but it tends not to over-elaborate the compositions with dynamic structures instead reducing the compositions into essential forms. Taking a less is more approach, seemingly inspired by the then current sound of post-punk and no wave, Cluster use plodding and lurching rhythmic motifs in shorter compositions with more subtle, purposely meandering, and oft-kilter melodic nuances: whirring sounds like a toy low on batteries, discombobulated waltzes, Radiophonic Workshop-like tape manipulations and loping loops. The last song "Ufer" (also one of the longest) plays up on Eno's Discreet Music, as an exercise in listening through near-silence. It almost seems like Curiosum was a missing link recording between Cluster II and Zuckerzeit as it sort of bridges those two sensibilities of formless composition and melodic structure with just enough form and just enough melody, but not too much that one would engage with it in mindless pleasure. Instead it dares you to feel it in the present but at a removed distance.
MPEG Stream: "Oh Odessa"
MPEG Stream: "Proantipro"
MPEG Stream: "Tristan In Der Bar"
CLUSTER First Encounter Tour (Purple Pyramid) 2cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY. German electronic music pioneers Moebius and Roedelius live on their first ever US tour.
CLUSTER Grosses Wasser (Water) cd 15.98
The later Cluster records, Grosses Wasser and Curiosum, recorded after the Cluster and Eno collaboration in 1977, often undeservedly get short shrift. Marked by a move back to Berlin to work with former Tangerine Dreamer, Peter Baumann, 1979's Grosses Wasser shows Cluster moving forward expansively in their "nature-man-machine" aesthetic while at the same time harkening back to the unformed melodies of their debut. This album is quite the grower, five short pieces with a nineteen minute closing track that is always a dramatically different listening experience each time we play it. Slippery and evasive, shifting subtlety from oceanic piano passages to lurching bell rhythms, trumpet call and responses, woozy funk, hints of klezmer, machine dub, even whale song, all soaking in an elementally warm haze that only Cluster could conjure. Soooo Nice!!!!!!! Hopefully Water will consider reissuing Curiosum as well. AQ customer Wobbly, who is an avid Cluster fan, noticed that in the liner notes for this, that Water included the Cluster photo from the Curiosum album, sparking fears that a Curiosum reissue is not in the works. We can only hope this isn't so.
MPEG Stream: "Avanti"
MPEG Stream: "Prothese"
MPEG Stream: "Grosses Wasser"
CLUSTER Grosses Wasser (Bureau B) lp 17.98
Now available reissued on vinyl! The later Cluster records, Grosses Wasser and Curiosum, recorded after the Cluster and Eno collaboration in 1977, often undeservedly get short shrift. Marked by a move back to Berlin to work with former Tangerine Dreamer, Peter Baumann, 1979's Grosses Wasser shows Cluster moving forward expansively in their "nature-man-machine" aesthetic while at the same time harkening back to the unformed melodies of their debut. This album is quite the grower, five short pieces with a nineteen minute closing track that is always a dramatically different listening experience each time we play it. Slippery and evasive, shifting subtlety from oceanic piano passages to lurching bell rhythms, trumpet call and responses, woozy funk, hints of klezmer, machine dub, even whale song, all soaking in an elementally warm haze that only Cluster could conjure. Soooo Nice!!!!!!!
MPEG Stream: "Avanti"
MPEG Stream: "Prothese"
MPEG Stream: "Grosses Wasser"
CLUSTER II (Lilith) cd 24.00
Cluster's second album continues where Cluster '71 left off. Produced and engineered by Conny Plank, who, as on Cluster's debut, acts as a third member. More pulsating and serpentine than '71 with broader hints at melody, Cluster II still retains the concrete textures and industrial tenacity of their debut yet predates the characteristically rhythmic propulsion and kosmiche pastoralism that has marked their subsequent output. Feels right in line with the kraut-y sonic forays of early Ash Ra Tempel, Zweistein and Cosmic Jokers.
MPEG Stream: "Fur Die Katz'"
MPEG Stream: "Im Suden"
CLUSTER II (Lilith) lp 23.00
Cluster's Second album continues where Cluster '71 left off. Produced and engineered by Conny Plank, who, as on Cluster's debut, acts as a third member. More pulsating and serpentine than before with broader hints at melody, Cluster II still retains the concrete textures and industrial tenacity of their debut yet lacks the characteristically rhythmic propulsion that has marked their subsequent output. Feels right in line with the kraut-y sonic forays of early Ash Ra Tempel and Cosmic Jokers.
CLUSTER Japan 1996 Live (Captain Trip) cd 16.98
Famed electronic krautrock duo of Moebius & Roedelius, like it says, live in Japan.
CLUSTER Qua (Nepenthe) cd 14.98
We are totally in love with this new Cluster album. Not just because they are living legends of krautrock who helped shape electronic music as we know it. Not just because they are in their '70s and still making amazing music. Not just because their instore performance here at AQ a couple years ago left everyone in awe... those are all reasons why we love Cluster in general so it would be easy to just talk about all their past attributes, but the new record doesn't rely on the past, at all! While Cluster have released a few live records recently, this is their first full on studio album in fourteen years! On Qua they do revisit some of the classic Cluster sounds immortalized on records like Zuckerzeit and Sowiesoso, but what we really love about the album is how they aren't just rehashing the Cluster of old. They continue to explore different sound palettes and the musical options and directions those new sounds open up to them. Using their synths they carefully craft these seventeen tracks and while each seems to have a life of its own they are woven together in such a compelling way. Listening to Qua is hearing two masters at their craft weaving sounds together, creating such interesting patterns, shapes and colors. Still at the top of their game all these decades later, Qua ranks high in their mighty back catalog.
MPEG Stream: "Formalt"
MPEG Stream: "So Ney"
MPEG Stream: "Ymstrob"
MPEG Stream: "Putoil"
CLUSTER Sowiesoso (Water) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY. This long awaited reissue of Cluster's stellar 1976 recording, Sowiesoso (So Not So So) sees Roedelius and Moebius at their most collaborative and creative. Recorded after moving to the tiny village of Forst from West Berlin, the progressive evolution of Cluster's solely improvised sound from free-form cavernous synth-scapes to percolating motorik pop had already been documented on their Zuckerzeit album from 1975. On Sowiesoso, that sound gets even more refined, with Moebius's machinist currents of whirs and klangs jutting up against Roedelius's serene Eastern pastoralism, resulting in a haunting mix of pensive ambient beauty that matches the idyllic countryside pictured on the front cover. So Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Halwa"
MPEG Stream: "Es War Einmal"
CLUSTER Sowiesoso (4 Men With Beards) lp 16.98
Now on deluxe 180 gram vinyl! This long awaited reissue of Cluster's stellar 1976 recording, Sowiesoso (So Not So So) sees Roedelius and Moebius at their most collaborative and creative. Recorded after moving to the tiny village of Forst from West Berlin, the progressive evolution of Cluster's solely improvised sound from free-form cavernous synth-scapes to percolating motorik pop structures had already been documented on their Zuckerzeit album from 1975. On Sowiesoso, that sound gets even more refined, with Moebius's machinist currents of whirs and klangs jutting up against Roedelius's serene Eastern pastoralism, resulting in a haunting mix of pensive ambient beauty that matches the darkly idyllic countryside pictured on the front cover. So Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Halwa"
MPEG Stream: "Es War Einmal"
CLUSTER Zuckerzeit (Revisited / Brain) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY. Finally! We can't even begin to tell you how long we have been waiting to list this. Forever going in and out of print and when available it was always super expensive, Cluster's 1974 album Zuckerzeit has finally been given the proper and readily available reissue (Thanks Revisited!) it absolutely deserves. Probably our favorite Cluster album, it is most notably famous for helming their transition from concrete synth dronescapers to their more well known persona as crafters of pastorally cosmic electronica. Adding crisp and propulsive drum programming to their haunting synth melodies, Moebius and Roedelius split the composing duties with Moebius leaning to the more experimental while Roedelius provides the melodic sheen. Zuckerzeit hailed a new direction and focus in German music of the early seventies, with groups like Kraftwerk, and Neu moving through similar reshapes in sound. Obviously, Boards of Canada and Aphex Twin have spent some time absorbing this album. Timeless and classic, we cannot recommend this album enough!
MPEG Stream: "Hollywood"
MPEG Stream: "Caramel"
MPEG Stream: "Heibe Lippen"
CLUSTER & ENO s/t (Water) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY. At last, this wonderful wonderful album is back in print on cd! Water gets a big AQ thank you for reissuing one of our favorite Krautrock, or heck, just plain ol' records ever, the first of two collaborations between art rock / "ambient" music pioneer n' generally acknowledged genius Brian Eno and Krautrock electronics legends Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius aka Cluster! You know that's got to be good, and it is, paving the way for the likes of Aphex Twin so many years later. This self-titled disc (the one with the microphone stand silhouetted against a blue sky on the cover) dates originally from 1977. Water also just reissued the other Eno/Moebius/Roedelius album, 1978's After The Heat, which comes equally recommended (see our review elsewhere this list). On this one, they're joined by guests including Asmus Tietchens and Can's Holger Czukay, and construct warm, organic instrumentals utilizing both acoustic instruments and analog synths. This is soft and mellow and melodic but at the same time these songs are no push-overs, however gentle. To be honest, I (Allan) had never heard *anything* quite like Cluster before these got reissued on cd the last time that happened, on the Gyroscope label back in the mid '90s, but I very quickly fell in love with 'em (these Water reissues are much nicer, by the way, with liner notes and photos in the cd booklets -- the Gyroscope editions didn't even have booklets!). The discs with Eno are good starting places to get into the extensive Cluster and Cluster-related discography, and certainly they're Cluster's best-sellers... but anything with Moebius and/or Roedelius involved is worth hearing, we'd say. These new reissues haven't been accorded the fanfare of the Neu! discs on Astralwerks or the recent Can remasters, but we'd rate them just as highly.
MPEG Stream: "Ho Renomo"
MPEG Stream: "Schone Hande"
CLUSTER & ENO s/t (Bureau B) cd 15.98
With the band's blessing, Germany's Bureau B has taken over from the Water label, re-reissuing a bunch of crucial Cluster albums, on both cd and vinyl, including this one of our favorite Krautrock, or heck, just plain ol' records ever, the first of two collaborations between art rock / "ambient" music pioneer n' generally acknowledged genius Brian Eno and Krautrock electronics legends Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius aka Cluster! You know that's got to be good, and it is, paving the way for the likes of Aphex Twin so many years later. This self-titled disc (the one with the microphone stand silhouetted against a blue sky on the cover) dates originally from 1977. On it, they're joined by guests including Asmus Tietchens and Can's Holger Czukay, and construct warm, organic instrumentals utilizing both acoustic instruments and analog synths. This is soft and mellow and melodic but at the same time these songs are no push-overs, however gentle. To be honest, I (Allan) had never heard *anything* quite like Cluster before these got reissued on cd by the Gyroscope label back in the mid '90s, but I very quickly fell in love with 'em. The discs with Eno are good starting places to get into the extensive Cluster and Cluster-related discography, and certainly they're Cluster's best-sellers... but anything with Moebius and/or Roedelius involved is worth hearing, we'd say. Another chance to get with the Cluster & Eno program, people!
MPEG Stream: "Ho Renomo"
MPEG Stream: "Schone Hande"
CLUSTER & ENO s/t (4 Men With Beards) lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY. Now On Vinyl! One of our favorite Krautrock, or heck, just plain ol' records ever, the first of two collaborations between art rock / "ambient" music pioneer n' generally acknowledged genius Brian Eno and Krautrock electronics legends Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius aka Cluster! You know that's got to be good, and it is, paving the way for the likes of Aphex Twin so many years later. This self-titled disc (the one with the microphone stand silhouetted against a blue sky on the cover) dates originally from 1977. On this one, they're joined by guests including Asmus Tietchens and Can's Holger Czukay, and construct warm, organic instrumentals utilizing both acoustic instruments and analog synths. This is soft and mellow and melodic but at the same time these songs are no push-overs, however gentle. To be honest, I (Allan) had never heard *anything* quite like Cluster before these got reissued on cd the last time that happened, on the Gyroscope label back in the mid '90s, but I very quickly fell in love with 'em. The discs with Eno are good starting places to get into the extensive Cluster and Cluster-related discography, and certainly they're Cluster's best-sellers... but anything with Moebius and/or Roedelius involved is worth hearing, we'd say.
MPEG Stream: "Ho Renomo"
MPEG Stream: "Schone Hande"
CLUSTER & ENO s/t (Bureau B) lp 17.98
With the band's blessing, Germany's Bureau B has taken over from the Water label, re-reissuing a bunch of crucial Cluster albums, on both cd and vinyl, including this one of our favorite Krautrock, or heck, just plain ol' records ever, the first of two collaborations between art rock / "ambient" music pioneer n' generally acknowledged genius Brian Eno and Krautrock electronics legends Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius aka Cluster! You know that's got to be good, and it is, paving the way for the likes of Aphex Twin so many years later. This self-titled disc (the one with the microphone stand silhouetted against a blue sky on the cover) dates originally from 1977. On it, they're joined by guests including Asmus Tietchens and Can's Holger Czukay, and construct warm, organic instrumentals utilizing both acoustic instruments and analog synths. This is soft and mellow and melodic but at the same time these songs are no push-overs, however gentle. To be honest, I (Allan) had never heard *anything* quite like Cluster before these got reissued on cd by the Gyroscope label back in the mid '90s, but I very quickly fell in love with 'em. The discs with Eno are good starting places to get into the extensive Cluster and Cluster-related discography, and certainly they're Cluster's best-sellers... but anything with Moebius and/or Roedelius involved is worth hearing, we'd say. Another chance to get with the Cluster & Eno program, people!
MPEG Stream: "Ho Renomo"
MPEG Stream: "Schone Hande"
CLUSTER & FARNBAUER Live In Vienna 1980 (Important) 2cd 16.98
CLYDE-EVANS, JOHN Apetal Thunderfall (Digitalis) cd 11.98
CO LA Soft Power Momento (Hands In The Dark) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY. The oddly monikered Co La is the work of one Matthew Papich, who takes hundreds, if not thousands, of samples, and then snips, loops and recontextualizes those sounds into something surprisingly minimal and skeletal, a modern take on classic IDM rhythms, rife with subtle jazziness, sampled horns, warm swirling chordal swells and loping grooves. We had a lot of trouble figuring out a way to describe this stuff, which is always a good sign. It's jittery and skittery, but also jazzy, stuttering beats beneath sultry sax, bits of upright bass, very cinematic in places, the tracks spare and shuffly for the most part, with unexpected bursts of martial snare, or truncated vox, burst of white noise hiss, mournful horn bleats, the vibe woozy and dreamily warped, a bit like Boards Of Canada via Art Of Noise, using only jazz samples? Or something. One track features smatterings of applause as a beat, elsewhere the sound blurs into a Caretaker like ballroom music, a looped Jeck-like old timey rhythmscape, peppered with doorbell buzzes and jazzy basslines, one second a dizzying collage, the next a sort of woozy alien exotica. Some of the tracks are smooth and laid back, others are gristly and crunchy, although the best moments are both. LIMITED TO 100 COPIES, already sold out at the label and thus out of print, which means these are the last copies we'll be able to get!
MPEG Stream: "No Burden"
MPEG Stream: "Love Nest"
MPEG Stream: "Dr. Oblivion Soundcheck"
COA Smell Me, Smell My Grandfather (Japan Overseas) cd 13.98
All female drums/bass duo from Japan who tend to rock out more than they prog out (i.e. closer to godheadSilo territory than Ruins). Super distorted bass, heavy drumming, very harsh vocals - it's no surprise that these girls cover an Unsane tune (or that they're named Eddie and Bill...?)
COACH FINGERS No Flies On Frank (Locust) lp 16.98
COACHWHIPS Bangers Vs. Fuckers (Narnack Records) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY. The second you drop the needle (or if you prefer the cd format, press the play button) on this puppy it's full speed ahead trash garage rawk action Coachwhips-style. Live, this SF trio are known for sneering and spewing out the blistering basement party tunes with reckless abandon. PBR cans, furniture and limbs a-flailin'! Take this disc home for a sweaty, raw-knuckled, shimmy shakin' good time of your very own. Features a mighty sweet album cover to boot!
MPEG Stream: "You Gonna Get It"
MPEG Stream: "Purse Peekin"
COACHWHIPS Bangers Vs. Fuckers (Narnack Records) lp 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY. The second you drop the needle (or if you prefer the cd format, press the play button) on this puppy it's full speed ahead trash garage rawk action Coachwhips-style. Live, this SF trio are known for sneering and spewing out the blistering basement party tunes with reckless abandon. PBR cans, furniture and limbs a-flailin'! Take this disc home for a sweaty, raw-knuckled, shimmy shakin' good time of your very own. Features a mighty sweet album cover to boot!
MPEG Stream: "You Gonna Get It"
MPEG Stream: "Purse Peekin"
COACHWHIPS Double Death (Narnack) cd+dvd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY. God Bless the Coachwhips! The terminal primal garage rock psychotics of John Dwyer (Pink and Brown, OCS, and now Yikes!) receive a final epitaph in this double dose of unreleased songs and b-sides with a DVD of live house party insanity. The Coachwhips as a concept were a live fast die young kind of band (Dwyer's got many hands in many pots to keep Coachwhips going full time), but they were best experienced live. We still have fond memories of seeing Dwyer dance on the fire pit at The Eagle while nonchalantly ripping out some hellish Bo-Diddley style guitar licks and looking at us like "what, this? it ain't no thang". Alas that footage isn't on the DVD, but you do get to see an awesome bar brawl where a dude gets brained by Dwyer's guitar before he gets the Coachwhips beating of his life. If this was on YouTube, we'd watch it a million times. RIP Coachwhips!
MPEG Stream: "Brains Out"
MPEG Stream: "The Witch"
COACHWHIPS Double Death (Narnack) lp+dvd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY. Now on killer two-tone colored vinyl in a gatefold sleeve! God Bless the Coachwhips! The terminal primal garage rock psychotics of John Dwyer (Pink and Brown, OCS, and now Yikes!) receive a final epitaph in this double dose of unreleased songs and b-sides with a DVD of live house party insanity. The Coachwhips as a concept were a live fast die young kind of band (Dwyer's got many hands in many pots to keep Coachwhips going full time), but they were best experienced live. We still have fond memories of seeing Dwyer dance on the fire pit at The Eagle while nonchalantly ripping out some hellish Bo-Diddley style guitar licks and looking at us like "what, this? it ain't no thang". Alas that footage isn't on the DVD, but you do get to see an awesome bar brawl where a dude gets brained by Dwyer's guitar before he gets the Coachwhips beating of his life. If this was on YouTube, we'd watch it a million times. RIP Coachwhips!
MPEG Stream: "Brains Out"
MPEG Stream: "The Witch"
COACHWHIPS Get Yer Body Next Ta Mine (Show & Tell Recordings) lp 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY. Our local troublemakin' party band dish out more lo-fi, stripped-down garage rawk at its trashy finest. Akin to the Gories, or Doo Rag or any of Billy Childish's incarnations. Tinny, distorted Pussy Galore / Jon Spencer-ish vocals issue from the wisecracking mouth of John Dwyer, Valencia Street's answer to Bart Simpson. They put on such a kickass show live, you have to see them if you ever get a chance. If not, you should of course hear them on record, but you won't get as wet with beer, soaked with sweat or kicked in the head with crowd surfers.
COACHWHIPS Get Yer Body Next To Mine (Narnack) cd 16.98
NOW AVAILABLE ON CD!!! Our local troublemakin' party band dish out more lo-fi, stripped-down garage rawk at its trashy finest. Akin to the Gories, or Doo Rag or any of Billy Childish's incarnations. Tinny, distorted Pussy Galore / Jon Spencer-ish vocals issue from the wisecracking mouth of John Dwyer, Valencia Street's answer to Bart Simpson. They put on such a kickass show live, you have to see them if you ever get a chance. If not, you should of course hear them on record, but you won't get as wet with beer, soaked with sweat or kicked in the head by crowd surfers.
RealAudio clip: "Hey Stiffie"
COACHWHIPS Hands On The Controls (Black Apple) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY. Woo-hoo! Just in time for the week after Xmas -- you know, the week where you buy *yourself* some presents. And what nicer way than to give yourself the gift of John Dwyer. Yep, Rhode Island via SF scene fixture, daily AQ-visitor, roundly acknowledged wise ass, some people just know him as "Pink" (of Pink & Brown). As crazy hyper leader of garage-trash trio Coach Whips, he'll twist you around, sass you to your face, make you duck for cover, he'll jump on the tables in a frenzy of just wanting to wake up this town, this scene, our sorry mellow asses. He'll screech into a voicebox and wreak havoc with the guitar while the other John Harlow pounds the floor tom and MaryAnn wields the tambourine so hard she might break it. Like Pussy Galore and the Gories ran over the White Stripes in the middle of the road! Grimy three chord rockin' with energy to burn.
RealAudio clip: "Everybody Wants Some"
RealAudio clip: "The Ride"