31 KNOTS Polemics (Polyvinyl) cd ep 8.98
Yay, four more (five if you count the atmospherically stutterin' intro) tracks of the sinuous, powerful post-punk poppy progginess that Portland's 31 Knots has always wowed us with! They still sound like some weird, choppy blend of Yes and Fugazi (to use the usual shorthand), and their arty experimentation and sheer sonic bombast hasn't lost any of its punch or pleasurableness. And oooh, it's one of those cool lookin' 3" cds, with the extra clear plastic rim 'round the outside to give it the regular cd 5" diameter total. You'll understand what we're talking about when you see it.
This came out at the tail end of 2006, so we're hoping that they're pretty much ready to unleash the new full-length for which this has whet our appetites!
MPEG Stream: "Sedition's Wish"

31 KNOTS Talk Like Blood (Polyvinyl) cd 13.98
Quickly following up their fine The Curse Of The Longest Day ep with this excellent new full-length, Portland, Oregon's 31 Knots are satisfying all our abundant cravings for pop-smart, sonically rich indie rock gone prog. Prog as in Yes, to whom these guys have often been compared. And that's a good thing (if you aren't sure that's the case, you really should check out Fragile or Close To The Edge, to mention just two of the great Yes albums of the early '70s). As with such ye olde prog, the 31 Knots guys are top knotch instrumentalists... and no slouches at singing and writing songs either. Their Yessisms are more like hints of Yes (both their complexity and melodicism) informing and subverting songs that a less ambitious band might have crafted into more typical examples of the current "new wave" of white belted indie dance rock. And along with the pull of prog, this material is also shaped by the push of (arty) punk rock aggression as well. Fugazi, Yes, and I dunno, Elvis Costello might make strange bedfellows but 31 Knots make it seem like such a pajama party would be a good idea. Talk Like Blood's ten tracks bombastically blend heartfelt vocals, rubbery basslines, precise drumming, classical piano, electronic glitchscapes and lots more besides, always making moody and powerful and undeniably poppy music.
MPEG Stream: "Hearsay"
MPEG Stream: "Chain Reaction"

31 KNOTS The Curse Of The Longest Day (Polyvinyl) cd ep 8.98
Polyvinyl offers up a 21 minute ep from new signings 31 Knots of Portland, OR. We were already fans of these guys after getting hip to them via their second album It Was High Time To Escape a couple of years ago. They haven't messed much with their prog-infused, hooky indie-pop formula with these new songs (thankfully!). Marked by the strong, emotive, confident voice of guitarist Joe Haege (not to mention his accomplished guitar playing and effective deployment on piano as well) and the powerful, precise rhythm section of Jay Pellicci on drums and Jay Winebrenner on bass, these four songs (and one shorter instrumental interlude of sampled strings/electronic loops/glitchy noises) are big and bold when they need to be, complex and textured too. Melody lines swoop about within song structures that are well fitted with stops and starts and sudden dynamic changes, that should appeal to fans of everybody from OK Computer era Radiohead to Deerhoof (whose Greg Saunier helped mix and master this ep) to Blonde Redhead to Shudder To Think to The Mars Volta -- though the well-written, compelling compositions of 31 Knots are, for our money, a better application of prog to indie rock than the sometimes overcooked brand practised by the latter. Our only complaint here is that it's just an ep! But there's a new full-length on the horizon, so that's cool.
MPEG Stream: "Welcome To Stop"
MPEG Stream: "The Corpse And The Carcass"

31 KNOTS The Days And Nights Of Everything Anywhere (Polyvinyl) cd 14.98
We've always been impressed by the audacious emo-prog of this Portland, Oregon outfit. A mashup of mathy chops and melodramatic, melodic pop, 31 Knots' latest is a worthy addition to their discography, building on their distinctive sound with what seems like at least one unpredictable new twist per track, writing exhilarating songs that variously incorporate piano, horns, and well-placed electronic glitch... Fans know they need this, noobs should start here or with 2005's Talk Like Blood (or, if you're on a budget, one of the band's several excellent eps). In a perfect world, these guys would be as big as the Mars Volta!
MPEG Stream: "Beauty"
MPEG Stream: "Savage Boutique"

31 KNOTS The Days And Nights Of Everything Anywhere (Polyvinyl) lp 14.98
We've always been impressed by the audacious emo-prog of this Portland, Oregon outfit. A mashup of mathy chops and melodramatic, melodic pop, 31 Knots' latest is a worthy addition to their discography, building on their distinctive sound with what seems like at least one unpredictable new twist per track, writing exhilarating songs that variously incorporate piano, horns, and well-placed electronic glitch... Fans know they need this, noobs should start here or with 2005's Talk Like Blood (or, if you're on a budget, one of the band's several excellent eps). In a perfect world, these guys would be as big as the Mars Volta!
MPEG Stream: "Beauty"
MPEG Stream: "Savage Boutique"

31 KNOTS Worried Well (Polyvinyl) cd 14.98
Ooohh. After four full lengths and a handful of eps, this Portland-based indie-pop-prog act has pretty much proven themselves a sure bet, for intelligent, complex, catchy music that's equally, seemingly effortlessly at ease with today's electronic glitch, '70s prog inspired bombast, and quirky post-punk groove. This latest, Worried Well does not break that streak. No worries, if you love the 31 Knots thing, like we do. Plenty of nervous piano, lush arrangements, noisy guitars, mathy drums, theatrical vocals, all the works in other words. True, some might find 31 Knots a bit too much, too pretentious or peculiar or puzzling or poncy or something. Personally, though, whatever 31 Knots is too much of, we want more. But maybe this one works better if you're already into their other albums as well. If you do, dive right in. And besides, you've gotta love an album where in one song ("Compass Commands") what sounds like a chorus of little girls yells "Kill or be killed!" in response to the singer's schoolteacher-ish question "Who can tell me the universal rule of thumb?".
MPEG Stream: "Certificate"
MPEG Stream: "Compass Commands"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARADISE UFO / ESCAPADE A Thousand Shades of Grey (Funfundvierzig) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
As if they didn't already have enough releases of their own, now Makoto Kawabata's Acid Mothers Temple have begun popping up on split releases with other bands -- recently with Kinski, and now with NY's Escapade. This should do wonders for Escapade's profile within the wider indie-rock community as they're a band definitely stuck in a geeky space/prog rock ghetto that most AMT fans probably don't venture into. A place where bands have names like... 'Escapade'! But Escapade are definitely better than their name. They occupy two lengthy tracks here, bookending an even longer, single contribution from everyone's favorite Japanese hippy freaks (well, second favorite maybe now that Ghost is back...) entitled "European Sun". It's a 28 minute drone-out doozy featuring electric sitar, violin, bamboo flute, voice and electronics. Minimalist repetition with ethnic and sci-fi synth frills. Meanwhile, Escapade's two tracks are slow-building spacerock synthfeasts, that fans of AMT, Kinski, Subarachnoid Space, Circle, and the like oughta dig.
MPEG Stream: ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE "European Sun"
MPEG Stream: ESCAPADE "Transformation 2"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE / CIRCLE split (Verdura) 7" 4.95
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Split single from two AQ faves that by now, if you're a reader of this list you are quite familiar with. You get a burst of fuzzed out, spaced out extraterrestrial Japanese mayhem from AMT ("The Tombstone Phantom Drifter") and a blast of droning, hypnotic krautrock-inspired Finnish ur-rock from Circle ("Riemukaari"). Only a few in stock.

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE SWR Stones, Women & Records (Magaibutsu) cd 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It's an ***Acid Mothers Temple alert*** and also a ***Ruins alert*** with this one. Japanese underground music devotees, look alive! The clumsily-named Acid Mothers Temple SWR unit is a power trio consisting of drummer Tatsuya Yoshida (Ruins, etc.), guitarist Makoto Kawabata (AMT, etc.), and bassist Atsushi Tsuyama (AMT, etc.). They've released one album under this moniker previously (and several together under other names -- this is the same lineup as Seikazoku). And as before, this time around they've created a crazed, semi-improvised rock tribute to three of their favorite things: Stones, Women, and Records (SWR)!! The cheesecake cover photo sorta says it all. Who else would pose a woman in a bikini on a rock holding a record?
Anyway, there's 18 confusional tracks here ranging from spastic jazz noodlings to country-pop parodies to plenty of out-n-out freek-rock, all of it played with hella chops and tongues, we think, planted firmly in cheek (which doesn't stop them from accomplishing all sorts of insane vocals). They jump from one musical idea to the next without warning, somehow managing to cram outbursts of heaviness, interludes of genuine beauty, Black Sabbath quotes, and even kazoos all onto this same perverse prog platter! The song titles are incomprehensible in-jokes ("Very Very Very Jazz - deer cries with 'KAGYEEYO' in the breeding season", "Fairy music of foolish sushi bar - country singer NARENA BAYSTAR", "Ahla Hassanbeck Lamborghini rock"...????) and these guys are as silly as they are psychedelic, but AMTSWR don't mess around at messing around, even the most humorless avant-listener (of a psych bent) should walk away impressed at this music. Think Acid Mothers Temple meets old Omoide Hatoba and Boredoms... Yeah. "Forever stones, Forever women, Forever records"!
MPEG Stream: "Uzumgayu - Just George Benson"
MPEG Stream: "Beyer"

AHLEUCHATISTAS What You Will (Cuneiform) cd 14.98
Whew! 14 tracks of frenetic, uber-mathy instrumental prog rock here, the Ahleuchatistas representin' the younger indie/post-rock wing of the venerable progressive rock and jazz fusion label Cuneiform's roster. We heard them recently on that Power Up! compilation of Nintendo video game theme music covers (reviewed last list), which put 'em in the company of such acts as Upsilon Acrux and The Fucking Champs. They're a prog power trio with some punk cred (in part from their edgy energy, in part from their evident political leanings, as evidenced by song titles like "Remember Rumsfeld At Abu Ghraib" and "Ho Chi Minh Is Gonna Win!"). So here's their most recent (third) full-length and, well, it's a doozy if you're dizzy for this sort of herky-jerky, highly concentrated (and concentrating) display o' chops. It's not all Primus-on-45 busyness, there's definitely post-rock moody bits to mellow things out a bit (think Rumah Sakit, Turing Machine, Chevreuil...), but clearly their calling card is the roiling, sped-up complexathons that certainly suggest these guys get their money's worth out of their practice space rent. For fans of the aforementioned Upsilon, Hella, Don Cab, Mick Barr's various outfits, Bozart, and like minded mathy dudes.
Includes three QuickTime videos of these guys playing live, so you can see they're for real!
MPEG Stream: "Remember Rumsfeld At Abu Ghraib"
MPEG Stream: "I Used To Be Just Like You, But Now I Am Just Like Me"

AKSAK MABOUL Onze Danses Pour Combattre La Migraine (Crammed) cd 24.00

ALBOTH/RUINS/MOLECULES/BELLY BUTTON/MUG (Pandemonium) 7" 3.99
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
R: Hyper kinetic bass/drums prog.
M: Bay Area jazz prog.
A: Swiss Young Gods style arty bombast.
BB: Noisey post rock.
M: Jazzy art brut funk rock.

ALRUNE ROD Sonet Arene 1969-72 (Sonet) 2cd 29.00

AQUARIUS BUTTONS 2 x 1" buttons 1.00
Hey, we just got another batch of AQ buttons made up...
Spread the word! Show the world your true aQ colors! COOL COOL COOL aQ buttons, now in 5 different vibrant color combinations. 4 new color combos (blue on pink, red on black, dark blue on blue, and yellowish green on dark green) and a popular one we had previously (brown on yellow).
TWO FOR $1!!! Colors are random, but buy enough and you'll be guaranteed to get 'em all! And of course all feature our spiffy James Gang style logo!! So stylish!

ARBETE OCH FRITID s/t (Music Network) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
BACK IN STOCK! As if to keep Charlie & Esdor company (see elsewhere on the list)...here's our review of this from when we first listed it:
International Harvester, Algarnas Tradgard, Trad Gras Och Stenar, Kebnekajse. If those names mean anything to you then you're probably like us -- a big fan of Sweden's answer to krautrock, the Svenska psych-prog-folk bands of the seventies. There's been a veritable smorgasbord of cd reissues of awesome if obscure classic LPs by these and other '70s Swedish outfits over the past couple of years, and now comes this, a cd version of the third (we think, but maybe it's the fourth?) album by this legendary group, Arbete & Fritid, from 1973. Like Harvester and Kebnekajse especially, you'll hear plenty of traditional Scandinavian traditional folk music mixed up with a kinda Velvet Underground rock style in A&F. They've been described as sounding like the "Third Ear Band meets Terry Riley" and that's pretty accurate, especially on the last track here, a 20 minute drone-jam called "Ostpusten-Vastpusten" that's probably worth the eighteen bucks this costs alone. That's actually a bonus cut, taken from the Arbete & Fritid side of a 1972 split LP with some other band we've yet to hear. While that's the highlight, the rest of this disc is mighty fine too, the only problem perhaps being how their diverse interest in folk, politics, repetitive minimalism, and experimental jazz doesn't always lead to them maintaining a consistent vibe. During one song you'll be transported to the a cold farmhouse in the Swedish wilderness filled with rustic hippies sawing on violins, but then on the next you're in a basement radical jazz club pondering urban issues after a streetfight with the Man. In a way though that's kinda cool. Tea party waltzes and heavy fuzz jams, they're all here. Had we heard A&F before those other bands mentioned above, it's quite likely that they'd be the measure by which we'd judge the rest, as apparently they were a seminal influence on the scene -- in fact, members of the Parson Sound/Trad Gras Och Stenar axis later joined A&F after this particular album. Hopefully then this is only the first of a slew of A&F reissues! [Hasn't happened yet...we've only seen one other reissue and it wasn't as good.]
MPEG Stream: "Ganglat Efter Lejsme Per Larsson, Malung"
MPEG Stream: "Petrokemi Det Kan Man Inte Bada I"

AREA Event '76 (Akarma) cd 16.98

AREA Live Concerts Box (Akarma) 3cd 46.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Italian "International Popular Group" Area were a '70s prog rock band. But they went far beyond the ELP/King Crimson/Yes worship of many of their peers. Area's music incorporated avantgarde jazz improv, new electoacoustic composition, dramatic and bizarre vocal experiments, folk, and a heavy dose of radical politics. They are not an easy group to get a handle on, not at all. But they were group like none other, who along with Magma are a heavy influence on current Japanese proggers Ruins, for one.
This handsome box contains three cds of Area recorded live at their peak circa 1976, in Paris, Lisbon, and Milan. The latter concert takes up two whole cds, and features avant-jazz guests Steve Lacy (sax) and Paul Lytton (percussion). Area perform many of their signature tracks from such albums as "Crac!", "Maledetti", "Caution Radiation Area", and "Arbeit Macht Frei", plus several live-only improvs. Disc three also includes two bonus solo tracks by Area singer (and John Cage collaborator) Demetrio Stratos.
Inside the box, the cds are packaged in miniature lp style sleeves, and are accompanied by a booklet featuring photos, notes, lyrics, and a discography. Definitely a worthy package for fans of Area, but probably too daunting a place to start for those unfamiliar with the group!
RealAudio clip: "Arbeit Macht Frei"
RealAudio clip: "Lobotomia"
RealAudio clip: "L'abbattimento dello Zeppelin"

AREA Revolution (Cramps) 4cd 56.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
More crazy radical jazzy Italian prog than you can handle! The first four albums by the amazing Area all in one handy box set: Arbeit Macht Frei, Caution Radiation Area, Crac, Are(A)zione. Next to Magma, one of Yoshida from the Ruins favorite '70s prog acts.

ARKHAM s/t (Cuneiform) cd 16.98
Careful students of the works of European avant-progressive rock giants Magma and Univers Zero might be excited, or at least curious, about this new Cuneiform release. Arkham was a very early '70s Belgium-based prog band featuring drummer Daniel Denis (briefly a member of Magma, and later a founding member of UZ in '74) and keyboardist Jean-Luc Manderlier (who joined Magma in '72 for their classic Mekanik Destructiw Kommandoh album). Arkham therefore has quite a place in the euro-prog rock family tree! This all-instrumental keys/bass/drums trio are indeed "lost legends" -- they never recorded an LP, but did tape their many shows and rehearsals (not leaving out the drum solos!), resulting many years later in the compilation of this cd. Their trio format and obvious virtuosity might recall ELP, but their jazz tendencies place them closer to the Soft Machine. Arkham (despite the Lovecraftian name) was definitely not nearly so dark and otherworldly as the bands Denis and Manderlier later were involved with, but still this is one for prog/fusion fans to check out. Oh, and while the sound isn't perfect, it's not terrible, and of course it's the best Arkham you're gonna hear.
RealAudio clip: "Monolithic Progression With Anticipated Rupture"
RealAudio clip: "Tight Trousers"

ART BEARS The Art Box (ReR) 6cd 98.00
Finally! The Art Box sees the light of day. A gorgeous boxset from one of the most influential / seminal / legendary art-rock bands ever. For those out of the loop, the Art Bears featured guitarist / composer Fred Frith, drummer / percussionist Chris Cutler, and vocalist Dagmar Krause. This boxset contains the band's first three albums (Hopes & Fears, Winter Songs, The World As It Is Today) all remastered and gussied up. Also included are two discs of remixes and reworkings from Christian Marclay, Ground Zero, the Residents, Biota and loads more. And finally a whole disc of unreleased rarities!

ART FLEURY I Luoghi Del Potere (Die-Schachtel) cd 27.00
There's thankfully more than a few labels whose reliable track record and special aesthetic makes us ALWAYS interested in what they're putting out. Several examples: EM Records, Hapna, Ektro, Holy Mountain, Paradigms, Lampse, and Andee's own tUMULt (of course). Also among those "likely essential" labels is Italy's Die Schachtel, an outfit that either digs up the most wonderful Italian experimental obscurities from the '70s or presents the most intriguing new underground bands from their country, always in super-snazzy packaging. Unfortunately, 'cause so much of their output is so great, it's tough for us to keep up with 'em all, but here at least is a review of our of their more recent gems, a cd reissue of an unusual 1980 record by what was a young Italian group called Art Fleury, who played shows with the likes of Area and Henry Cow and was right there on the cutting edge of politically and musically radical avant-prog, Rock In Opposition sound-making... This album of theirs, the title of which means "The Places Of Power", was apparently conceived as an imaginary soundtrack of sorts, and it's indeed quite soundtracky, you could imagine this being the score to a very arty, serious and suspenseful Italian film. It's a sonic collage that effectively deploys skittering percussion and tape-splicing studio fuckery, instrumental prog bombast and jazz improv freedom, the proceedings often infused with moody textures of glitch and crackle, visited by musical cues or voices set amidst radio static, as if sampled from a random spin of the dial. This is very much in keeping with the sounds of modern-day Die Schachtel acts like A and Christa Pfangen, and their colleagues 3/4hadbeeneliminated. We're also reminded of AQ faves Village Of Savoonga, and to several of Art Fleury's contemporaries or near-contemporaries like Faust, This Heat, and Nurse With Wound. You probably get the idea: recommended!
This cd comes packaged in a oversized cardboard box, inclosing a booklet with liner notes along with a poster of the album's black & white cover graphic of a clenched fist. By the way, while six tracks are listed, there's only five actually indexed on the cd, implying that two are run together... thus we might not have gotten the titles of our sound clips right (i.e "e=mc2" might be "La Morte Al Lavoro" actually).
MPEG Stream: "e=mc2"
MPEG Stream: "L'Overdose"
MPEG Stream: "Uno Spettro Si Aggira Per"

ART ZOYD u.B.I.Q.U.e (Inpossible) cd 15.98
Brand new disc from this long-running Belgian art-rock orchestra. Just as creepy as any of their early '80s chamber rock classics, "u.B.I.Q.U.e" is a "symphonic poem" for guitars, saxophones, trumpets, trombones, tuba, drums, and samplers. The samplers bring in an 'industrial' vibe that synchs up with the album's inspiration, the works of cult sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick.

ARTI & MESTIERI Giro Di Valzer Per Domani (Akarma) cd 16.98
Reissue of the second album by this '70s Italian band (follow up to their "Tilt: Immagini Per Un Orecchio" reviewed last list) and it's another slice of Mahavishnu/Crimson style prog.

ARTI & MESTIERI Tilt: Immagini Per Un Orecchio (Akarma) cd 16.98
Snappy Italian prog-rock originally released in 1974 on Cramps records. Reminiscent of King Crimson or even Henry Cow, Arti & Mestieri move between light and jazzy-but-frenetic riffs to heavy blues influenced prog. Using a very well rounded out line up of insane drumming, bass, piano, electric piano, analog synth, mellotron, hammond, electric & acoustic guitars, violin, soprano & baritone sax plus clarinet, vibes and even a little bit of singing.

ASAHARA, MASAYO Saint Agnes Fountain (Audiolaceration) cd 16.98
The back-story on this is a good one, so let's start with that: We heard about this from a friend of ours (who shall remain nameless). So Loren came in and asked us one day if we could get an obscure album by some '70s Japanese experimental composer named Masayo Asahara. Apparently it was recently reissued on cd by a label in England... and was said to sound like Terry Riley meets Magma meets Soft Machine or something! Well THAT sure sounded interesting. So we looked it up online. Sure enough, Masayo Asahara's rare 1974 LP Saint Agnes Fountain was now available on cd. Here's what the label's website had to say about it: "A forgotten drone-prog-jazz classic from the 1970s Japanese underground...St Agnes Fountain was composed while Masayo Asahara was completing her masters degree at the University of Osaka in 1974. Asahara's doctorate concerned the music of the early American minimalists, especially LaMonte Young and Tony Conrad, and her composition reflects her involvement not only in that music, but also with the thriving Osaka free jazz scene from whose ranks this one-off band was put together specifically for this recording. Asahara also cites Faust, Soft Machine, and the Rolling Stones as influencing her work during this period. The rather curious title and artwork come via Asahara's parallel studies of mediaeval European history and pagan imagery in Protestant hymnal writing." Wow! We had to order that! Wish we could hear if first though...hmm...maybe there's a sound sample here...click here for more info it says...ok...wait, what's this?! We read: "St Agnes Fountain was composed by Martin Archer and UTT/Foster, and was recorded at Yellowarch Studio, Sheffield during 2002. This music is different from Martin's core music, and we have created Masayo in the hope of bringing a different audience into our music journey." Huh?! Turns out the whole thing is a cruel hoax! Albeit not a very deceptive one, if you did a little research. But hadn't our friend said that he'd heard of this supposed composer Masayo Asahara before? He had -- when he visited experimental/jazz musician Martin Archer in England! So, there's no such person as Masayo Asahara at all, she's merely the alter-ego Martin Archer. Apparently he only wanted to fool some of the people some of the time, in aid of making a fantasy LP come true. So, disappointed but still intrigued, we got Martin to send us a copy, thinking, it had better be good! And...it IS good! Really good. Dunno if we would have been fooled had he not revealed the truth, it certainly sounds inspired by all the stuff cited above, though the recording itself is perhaps not authentically '70s-sounding. And what we really think this sound like, is Gas gone prog. The disc begins with the track "Begin" -- twelve minutes of heavily filtered electric organ chording, endlessly building, eventually morphing into the 17+ minute "Continue"! Further into the disc, new themes and instrumentation are introduced, but the basic hypnotic concept progagates. It's a very satisfying trip, the kind of thing that you don't really realize is playing for as long as it is. It really sounds like the pulsing electronics of Wolfgang Voigt's Gas project combined with the minimalist jazz-drone of Australia's The Necks (two big AQ faves you'll note), with some detours into psych-fusion freakouts, via Hammond organ and what Martin Archer and his co-conspirators consider their tribute to "Magma's horn section". If this really WAS a long-lost Japanese LP from '74 we'd be losing our minds over it...so why not anyway? Martin Archer's fantasy has resulted in a quite fantastic musical reality on this here disc.
MPEG Stream: "Begin"
MPEG Stream: "Second Tempo"
MPEG Stream: "Third Tempo Plus Organ Solo"

ASANO, KOJI Gravity (Solstice) cd 14.98
One of Koji's first releases, with his group Gravity: an instrumental, guitar-keys-drums avant-rock band! Hard to describe, improv-meets-surf-meets-metal-meets-prog music, quite different from much of his vast catalog, but nonetheless one of Allan's faves.

ASANO, KOJI Takoyakikun (Solstice) cd 14.98
Man, we've got some catching up to do. Since we last listed anything from prolific AQ-fave Koji Asano (that'd be 2002's Octopus Balloons), the Japanese avant-composer has moved from Barcelona back to Japan, gotten married, had a baby, and somehow managed to record and release another NINE albums. He's up to his thirty-seventh release now!! Dunno if we're gonna manage to retrospectively, individually review all of 'em but we'll at least try to get back with the program by presenting to you now numbers 36 (Sanctuary On Reclaimed Land) and 37 (Takoyakikun). We do, however, also have a couple copies each of The Giant Squid, Gondola Odyssey, Piano Suite Vol. 1: Fitness Club No. 1-20, Absurd Summer, Suite For Organ And Recorders No. 1: The Alien Power Plant, Zoo Telepathy, and Wind Gauge in stock for any fellow Asano enthusiasts that need to complete their collections right now.
Takoyakikun is a bit of a departure for Asano, or maybe a return to his roots. For one thing, it's not one long, cd-length track, but several different, individual songs. Songs? Well, instrumental rock numbers anyway. Yes, rock. Or avant-rock, or prog-rock, or something. And, unlike most of his releases which are solo recordings (or sometimes string ensembles), this is a band project -- the very same band with which he made one of his first discs, Gravity.
Maddeningly convoluted and repetitive at times, this is choppy, angular, occasionally melodic, no-wave instrumental improv prog from a trio of guitar, keyboards and drums (Asano being the guitarist). We think folks into other skronky underground Japanese prog-core acts like Ruins and Korekyojinn would find this of interest... The keys definitely give it a "classic" prog vibe, and there's even a drum solo in track five! Recorded in 1997 (and released as a cd-r only at the time) now Asano has remastered and repackaged Takoyakikun for a proper cd release on his Solstice label.
MPEG Stream: "Takoyakikun track 1"
MPEG Stream: "Takoyakikun track 2"
MPEG Stream: "Takoyakikun track 3"

BACHDENKEL Lemmings (Ork) cd 17.98
Several cool things about this newly reissued album, originally released in 1973 (recorded in 1970). First, it's called Lemmings. Who doesn't have a soft spot for those doomed little critters? And then there's the cover art, a black and white drawing depicting a flood of rather spooky looking lemmings, under a starry night sky, with an owl hovering ominously above... But most importantly, the music! The music on Lemmings makes it a bit of a cult classic in the annals of British prog rock. Darkly melancholic, super melodic and gentle, yet quite powerful too, as the guitarist occasionally lets loose with some really tasty, acid psych soloing... the warm vocals are another strong suit, both feeding into emotional epics, songs of alienation (as Lemmings is subtitled) and Eastern-influenced hippie philosophy.
Bachdenkel began as a Birmingham UK psych pop outfit called The U NO Who. They then changed their name to the much more you-don't-know-who Bachdenkel, and finding little success in England, hove off to France where they could really indulge themselves in going fully prog, though they never lost their knack for the '60s psych pop side of things, reminding us sometimes of AQ faves Kaleidoscope, with the heavier edge of a T2 or NSU.
Maybe 'cause they were based in France, and did their own unique untrendy thing, focussing on songs more than flash, they remained fairly obscure, but this album (the first of two, the second of which, Stalingrad, we've yet to hear) is nonetheless worthy of consideration as a prog masterpiece, up there with the much better known likes of early King Crimson.
Reissued by Ork, a division of Cherry Red, this disc is has been remastered by original producer Karel Beer, and features 3 bonus tracks including an unreleased single from 1969. Also, the cd booklet is stuffed with liner notes and photos detailing the whole Bachdenkel story.
MPEG Stream: "Translation"
MPEG Stream: "An Appointment With The Master"
MPEG Stream: "The Settlement Song"

BACHWIND Psychedelic Warlords Resin Their Bows (Spinefarm) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, MAINLY BECAUSE IT WAS AN APRIL FOOLS JOKE! HEE HEE! SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Space rock gone classical? Yes! It's a drugs and flutes thing you wouldn't understand. We got turned on to these guys by our friends in Circle. This band from Finland started as a standard-issue jamming stoner space rock outfit, doing the heavily effected, free form freakout thing. Not quite so damaged as countrymen Doktor Kettu or Avarus, but close. But, perhaps tiring of the more untrained approach, one long dark Arctic winter they spent woodshedding, studying up on their classical chops. And they also drafted in some drop-outs from the local conservatory of music to help out. Now they make their debut as Bachwind, doing, among other things, a monster magnetized adaptation (a very loose adaptation) of Johann Sebastian Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier 1: Prelude & Fugue No. 2 (BWV 847) of 1738, with an instrumental lineup that includes both fuzz bass and viola, analog synth and harpsichord. It's Avarus meets Apocalyptica, basically. Recommended, of course.
MPEG Stream: "Well-Tempered Clavier 1: Prelude & Fugue No. 2"

BAD ACID Tab 6 dvd / cd-r / magazine 29.00
Okay drug rock freeks, space rock explorers, doomlords, sludge demons, prog obsessives, metal maniacs, stoner dudes, noise nerds, and basically most of the other folks who read this here aQ list, Bad Acid is the magazine for you. And calling Bad Acid a magazine is a bit of a misnomer. It's more of a multimedia spacemetaldoomprogsludgenoise experience. You think we're exaggerating? A seventy minute dvd, an ELEVEN HOUR mp3 audio disc, a nearly two hour long label sampler, AND a 60 page booklet/magazine packed with liner notes, articles and interviews.
Packed with SO many aQ favorites, but just as many new bands we'd never heard, a bunch who could very well turn into new favorites. We've barely scratched the surface, since if we spent 14 hours on each review, the list would be, oh, about 5 items long. But from what we've heard / seen / watched so far, this latest issue of Bad Acid is pretty essential.
The dvd first, a series of music videos, film excerpts and slide shows, we were mostly excited about the scenes from an Antonius Rex movie, Antonius Rex being the dude from JACULA!! Tripped out and satanic and appropriately what-the-fuck. Some killer live footage of doom mongers Ogre, a killer art gallery slide show from the Malleus artist collective, featuring an awesome soundtrack from Morkobot, a Northwinds video, and then some more obscure stuff, Manatees tour video, Wicked Minds video, King Suffy Generator video, Lento live footage and tons more. All woven together by some super creepy animated menus.
Then there's the cd-r, featuring 11 hours of mp3's from Moss, Danava, White Hills, Barbara, Hey Colossus, Orange Sunshine, Capricorns, Khlyst, Acid King, Heresi, Raw Radar War, Fire Witch, Taint, Orange Goblin, Shinjuku Thief, Litmus and those are just the bands we know and already dig. 57 bands total, 102 tracks, tons of new bands to check out and discover. Also included is a label sampler focusing on the Bone Structure cd-r label, whose releases run the gamut from raw black metal, to buzzing industrial noise, to black ambient to grinding industrial weirdness. We actually have some BS stuff on the way, to be reviewed on the list soon, but this is a killer way to check out tons of stuff on the label.
And then there's the actual magazine component, with notes on each of the bands on the cd-r, a feature on each of the bands on the dvd, tons of info about Bone Structure and the bands on the label, as well as interviews with Fire Witch, Taint, Orange Goblin, and probably most exciting of all Alan Dubin, formerly of Khanate, talking about his new band Gnaw, which features folks from Burning Witch, Thorr's Hammer, Atavist, Enos Slaughter and Ike Yard(!). Man, we can't wait to hear that.
All of the above packaged in a standard dvd style case, with killer cover art from the Malleus Rock Art Lab. A bit pricey due to the weak dollar and the expensive overseas shipping, but pretty well worth it.

BALTYCKIE SZEPTY s/t (Plus GSM) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Members of Polish avant-hippy collective Atman (aka Magic Carpathians) are involved with this project, the title of which we think translates into English as "Baltic Whisperings". Recordings of seals swimming in the Baltic Sea are augmented with moog, guitar, woodwinds, plus various other instruments and electronics. They've created an aquatic musical document of bathing, breathing creatures and drifting, gorgeous, and sometimes sinister, shimmering soundscapes. This is the kind of "new age" music we can like. Very limited availability.

BARR, MICK Archive 4-5 (aRCHIVE) 2dvd 23.00
Just got these in today, list day, four new aRCHIVE dvd titles (Ai Aso, Mick Barr, Khlyst, and Suishou No Fune). So, we haven't had a chance to watch 'em yet but since they're limited and all we figured you'd rather we just went ahead and listed 'em now rather than waiting 2 weeks. And all four artists are pretty cool after all.
Man, even if we got this last week we're not sure we'd have been able to give it a proper review in time for tonight's list - it's two whole dvds fergoshsakes, and watching even a few minutes of either of 'em is probably likely to induce seizures, seeing as how they document the INSANE guitar playing of our pal Mick Barr, from such techy/mathy/metally acts as Octis, Orthrelm, and Ocrilm. It's billed as "an inclusive look at Mick Barr's estoeric approach to guitar playing", featuring solo stuff, various groups, and footage of an improv meeting with Hella drummer Zach Hill. Essential for any fan of Barr and/or crazy guitar shred.
4 panel foldout cover, tons of vellum everywhere, with scribbly art on the vellum obi by Mick himself. Limited, OF COURSE, to a pressing of just 500 copies.

BATTIATO, FRANCO Clic (BMG Italy) cd 13.98

BATTIATO, FRANCO Fetus (Water) cd 15.98
Strange and introspective Italian prog-rock ballads from the one and only Franco Battiato. Based on themes of creation and rebirth, this first release from 1972 in his eccentric experimental mode is more song-oriented than later synth-prog efforts Sulle Corde Di Aries or Clic, but no less exceptional. A student of Stockhausen with a singing-style reminiscent of Pugh Rogefeldt or Tom Ze, Battiato combines the synthy arpeggios of Tangerine Dream with musique concrete-like manipulations of found recordings and ecstatic bursts of orchestrated pop. Awesome! New reissue includes liner notes from Jim O'Rourke.
MPEG Stream: "Energia"
MPEG Stream: "Mutazione"

BATTIATO, FRANCO Pollution (Water) cd 15.98
Although it's only a very small section inside our store, many of our most devout and curious shoppers have found gem after gem in our Italian Prog section. Franco Battiato is one of those gems for sure. One of those endlessly creative artists who completely defies categorization. Sweeping in scope and eccentric in all the right ways it's no surprise that Battiato has finally begun to get the attention he so rightly deserves, as folks like Jim O'Rourke have gone out of their way to champion these forward thinking sounds from decades ago. Released in 1973, Pollution is a psychedelic synth masterpiece foreshadowing so much of what was to come in the landscape of electronic music. With out-of-this-world synths that make Rick Wakeman's playing seem pedestrian, and an otherworldly dimension orchestrated to perfection. Like David Axelrod getting super psychedelic and arranging a record for Ash Ra Tempel. So extravagant yet totally coherent. These sounds are so alive, so full of color, wonder and beauty. It goes without saying that as more folks discover this record it will probably be sampled to death, and we wouldn't be all that surprised if Four Tet, DJ Shadow, or Plaid hadn't already borrowed a bit here and there. Like Jean Claude Vannier's L'Enfant Assassin Des Mouches, this is an early '70s psych-prog masterpiece that is an across the board AQ favorite!
MPEG Stream: "Areknames"
MPEG Stream: "Plancton"
MPEG Stream: "Pollution"

BATTIATO, FRANCO Sulle Corde Di Aries (BMG Italy) cd 14.98

BEAUSOLEIL, BOBBY Lucifer Rising Original Soundtrack (White Dog Music) cd-r 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Yes, it's a cd-r, but we're stoked to have it -- it's the only way to get a hold of this, the rare soundtrack to cult underground director and Crowley-ite Kenneth Anger's film Lucifer Rising (begun in the mid-'60s, completed in 1980). Originally Jimmy Page was supposed to do the score, but he bowed out and the music was instead handled by another cult figure, the musical visionary and imprisoned killer Bobby Beausoliel, who composed and performed this spacey psychedelic opus with his Freedom Orchestra (presumably all fellow prisoners with Bobby).
Bobby and the Freedom Orchestra play electric guitars, Fender Rhodes electric pianos, some synths and bass...there's two drummers, and a trumpet player. The result is a sometimes sinister, sometimes blissful, always beautiful and "cosmic" drifting soundscape. Gurgling old-school electronics blend with propulsive rock drumming, while psychedelic guitar soloing tears across the sunset horizon created by the synths...The combination results in what you might imagine an early '70s Tangerine Dream/Ennio Morricone collaboration might have sounded like. It's indeed a lost classic. And the composer's life story is at least as weird and interesting as the music...
In the late Sixties, Bobby was a rising star in the LA rock-pop scene, hanging with Zappa, the Beach Boys, and Love. But then a drug deal went bad and he was sent to death row for murder, arrested 3 days before the Manson killing spree. Fortunately for him, his sentence was eventually commuted, but he's spent like the last 30 years in jail. He's been a model prisoner, pursuing his talents in music and art despite his incarceration, and you'd think that the parole board would have let him out by now (he's been paying his debt to society longer than anybody else has for a similar crime, we're told) but sadly for Bobby, he's got to deal with his association with the notorious Charles Manson. While never a member of Manson's Family (a common misconception), he did play in a band with Manson, and the media hype surrounding anything to do with Manson hasn't helped Bobby's case, as you might imagine! (At least that's the way Beausoleil tells it. But the more one delves into the story of "Lucifer Rising", the weirder things get -- for instance, apparently Bobby was supposed to PLAY the role of Lucifer in the original 1966 version of Anger's film, but the two had a falling out and Bobby allegedly stole the footage and buried it in Death Valley! How this jibes with him later writing this soundtrack, we don't know.)
Yet, not being one to simply sit in his cell and rot, Bobby has, as we said, kept quite busy within the clutches of the California Penal system.
And now, with his wife Barbara dealing with business on the "outside", he's started the White Dog label to release his music. So far they've put out this soundtrack and also a couple of Bobby's newer compositions, stuff more in the New Age vein. They haven't yet made the jump to "real" cds, but their cd-rs are professionally duplicated and printed, with computer art by Bobby himself.
Although for obvious reasons Bobby wouldn't probably approve of the use of the word to describe himself and this soundtrack, in the Aquarius Records' musical context it's quite appropriate: Cult!
RealAudio clip: "track 1"
RealAudio clip: "track 5"

BEHOLD THE ARCTOPUS Nano-Nucleonic Cyborg Summoning (Troubleman Unlimited / Vothoc) cd 14.98
First lesson you learn from these guys: you don't mess around with something like nano-nucleonic cyborg summoning. Leave it to the pros. It's dangerous, but that's what they're paid to do. Paid handsomely, in fact, as this $14.98 cd turns out to be only 17 minutes and 38 seconds long. But again, start cutting costs and those nano-nuke cyborgs could just get loose and wreak havoc. But the only havoc being wreaked here is all by the Behold The Arctopus guys, whom it will be remembered last blew our prog-lovin' minds with the instrumental tech-metal tour-de-force of their Arctopocalypse Now...Warmageddon Later 3" cd. Now that they've graduated to the 5" cd format, you can only imagine how much more insane their music has gotten! These musical nerd-athletes will bring a gleeful smile to the face of anyone into the extremes of technical complexity practiced by, say, Meshuggah or Melt-Banana. Headspinning stuff, recommended to all who think that the Chapman Stick is the under-utilized lead instrument that most other metal bands are lacking, and that somebody should do something about it -- that somebody being Behold The Arctopus' Colin Martson (also of Infidel!/Castro?, who have a new double cd coming soon on Crucial Blast by the way). Those for whom straightforward, 4/4, less than triple digit bpm drumming is a problem will also happily approve of this.
So, again, sorry this is so relatively expensive for the length -- but for sure they do cram a fuck of a lot of music in those 1,058 seconds!!
MPEG Stream: "Exospacial Psionic Aura"
MPEG Stream: "Sensory Amusia"

BEHOLD THE ARCTOPUS Skullgrid (Metal Blade) cd 13.98
In the time it takes to read this review, your head would have spun around about 1000 times if you'd been listening to this album, instead. It's the latest tour de force from hyper technical math metal geeks Behold The Arctopus, and it's chock full of their usual blazing fast fretboard acrobatics (on instruments with WAY more strings than most guitarists would want to contend with) and blasting superprogalistic complexpialidocious drumming. Imagine a jazz fusion band called Melt-Meshuggah, with Eddie Van Halen sitting in to shred, that's kinda what BTA is all about. Whew! We can really only stop and stare at the stereo when these boys get going, though they do let up for some post-rock atmospheric bits too at times. It's all instrumental, also as per usual, with song titles like "Canada", "Scepters", "You Are Number Six", and the sorta Champs-ily named "Some Mist".
MPEG Stream: "Canada"
MPEG Stream: "Scepters"

BEHOLD THE ARCTOPUS / ORTHRELM Paincave / Pithot 1 (Crucial Blast) cd ep 7.98
Wherein these two bands try to outdo each other (and everyone else in the world) at being absolutely the most INSANE, frenzied, complex, technical-prog-metallic-masturbatory band ever. Good thing it's so short (two tracks, a little under nine minutes total for the disc) 'cause both bands (and listeners!) would be utterly exhausted if they went on any longer.
In one corner, you've got Behold The Arctopus from New York, who have wanky prog gizmo the Chapman Stick in their instrumental arsenal. In the other, from right here in San Francisco, guitarist Mick Barr's Orthrelm, and Mick don't need no stinkin' Stick. Well, get this and you can judge who is the winner.
Pretty clearly, fans of either or both bands need this for sure, and will additionally be tickled pink by the cool cover artwork, by none other than Voivod drummer Away (who's got an art book coming out on Troubleman sometime soon, we hear).
MPEG Stream: ORTHRELM "Pithot 1"

BIRGE, JEAN-JACQUES / FRANCIS GORGE / SHIRAC Defense De (MIO Records) cd + dvd 30.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
How 'bout that, we just noticed that this reissue of a rare, super-obscure 1975 improv jazz rock record got a 'review' in one of the latest issues of Vice magazine, of all places! But that kinda makes sense actually, since nudity, drugs, n' sex were seemingly all important elements of Birge/Gorge/Shirac's avant-hippy milieu. That is, judging by the movie on the DVD disc that comes in this deluxe two-disc package, which also features plenty of Vice-worthy fashion do's and don'ts from the freaky French scene back in the mid-seventies! The film in question, La Nuit Du Phoque, is an experimental student opus shot in 1974 by Jean-Jacques Birge and Bernard Mollerat. It's a surreal piece of work that's of course quite dated but certainly amusing and interesting. Political, humorous, psychedelic and very avant garde. Meanwhile Birge and two other cohorts were making crazy music as heard both on the soundtrack of La Nuit Du Phoque and the Defense De album, a truly cult ducument of abstract electronic jazz-prog-psych, one that made it onto the infamous Nurse With Wound list. It was recorded at a friend's dad's apartment who happened to be a free jazz producer and thus kept an 8-track tape recorder and a variety of interesting instruments from pipe organ (!) to cello to xylophone at home. Shiroc was the drummer, Birge played synth, sax, tapes, and more, and Gorge was on guitar, bass, the cello, etc. A friend supplied additional sax and another some electric piano. Sundry other electronics, percussion, ethnic instruments also made into the mix. A big sprawling free-for all, but not an unstructured mess. A lot of this is quite restrained and beautiful, droning and spacious. Apparently, these guys were in high school when they started doing stuff like this! Later they went on to found Un Drame Musical Instantane, an experimental music group still active today. The cd with Defense De contains not only the original LP but also four previously unissued tracks, while the DVD disc not only features the 41-minute La Nuit Du Phoque film but SIX MORE HOURS of previously unreleased Birge/Gorge/Shriac audio! And that's some of the best stuff on here. Wow.
MPEG Stream: "Le Reveil"
MPEG Stream: "Pourrait Etre Brutal"

BLACK HOLE Land Of Mystery (Andromeda Relix) cd 16.98
This Italian band's sole album from 1985 is a tough one to figure out. An oddity all right. They're definitely a metal band at heart -- the fast-paced, pre-album demo track "Midnight Madman" included here as one of four bonus cuts is proof of that -- but on their album itself, they somehow created a much more unexpectedly PSYCHEDELIC and spacey, synthy sound. Totally dark and gothic in a metal way, yeah, but lost in space at the back of a black hole (of course), a slowed-down, doomed-out, dosed-with-cough-syrup vibe, splicing bits of Voivod with the likes of Jacula... in fact, the lurching music on this crackly disc (mastered directly from a none-too-pristine vinyl copy, the original reels having been lost to time, and sounding to us all the better for it!) could be AQ-faves Jacula given an '80s metal makeover... the church organ strains that open "Demoniac City" surely set that tone. Meanwhile, the title track cops a riff from Sabbath's "Electric Funeral", as if to give the nod to their biggest influence we're pretty sure. But the doomy compositions of vocalist/bassist/organist Robert Measles (great name!!) also derive from phantasms far beyond our plane, we're pretty sure of that as well.
Those in the know about Italian '80s metal acts like Death SS, Paul Chain, Bulldozer and Dark Quarterer are aware that a bizarre, poverty-stricken sort of prog weirdness often infects the proceedings, and Black Hole are no exception. In their case, on this album, it makes for something really strange and special, creating a cultish legacy that led to this cd reissue. We're glad to get to hear it! Now it's time to burn the black candles and visit Black Hole's "Spectral World" ruled by "Blind Men And Occult Forces"...
MPEG Stream: "Land Of Mystery"
MPEG Stream: "Blind Men And Occult Forces"

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.

BLOOD CEREMONY s/t (Rise Above / Candlelight) cd 13.98
Been looking forward to this one! The debut album from this seemingly time-lost Toronto band, the latest in the current spate of retro-proto-doom-metal bubbling up from the underground. All the heavy '70s Sabbath/Pentagram riffs -and- occult vibe of a band like Witchcraft, with soaring female vox and a thick coating of vintage Hammond organ, spooky and bombastic. It's an equation along the lines of Atomic Rooster + Jacula + Jex Thoth, maybe. Yeah, we're down with this. And that's just after hearing the first song. Then track two kicks in with some proggy flute! With LOTS more flute to follow on the rest of this album. So now they've added some Jethro Tull to the mix... Black Widow, Uriah Heep, Rainbow, and a mess of other more obscure '70s acts could also be cited as references too, along with the much more recent likes of the aforementioned Witchcraft and Jex Thoth.
Now, if you hate Jex Thoth's singing, you might have a similarly tough time with Blood Ceremony, but we found that the lady here isn't quite as polarizing a proposition. And it's her dramatic vocals that gives Blood Ceremony their special sound, along with her flute playing. She's also the organist. But let's not forget the guitars... it's tough not to grow your hair long and sprout bellbottoms when exposed to these lumbering, loping riffs, all of 'em seemingly from the school of Sleep's Sabbathier-than-thou classic "Dragonaut"! Or imagine Electric Wizard given a medieval, madrigal makeover.
And the lyrics... "I see witches in the sky, flying toward the quaalude eye"?? Ok. These guys and gal are definitely "smoking black drugs from Satan's bong" (I think that's what they said). Speaking of witchcraft, the dark arts of pagan ritual are of course Blood Ceremony's main subject matter, on tracks like "Into The Coven". The grooviest black mass we've attended in a while, right here. After spinning this for a while, if you find toads hopping about near your stereo, we wouldn't be surprised...
MPEG Stream: "Master Of Confusion"
MPEG Stream: "I'm Coming With You"

BLOOD CEREMONY s/t (Rise Above) lp 24.00
Now in stock on vinyl! We highlighted the cd the other day, saying the following:
Been looking forward to this one! The debut album from this seemingly time-lost Toronto band, the latest in the current spate of retro-proto-doom-metal bubbling up from the underground. All the heavy '70s Sabbath/Pentagram riffs -and- occult vibe of a band like Witchcraft, with soaring female vox and a thick coating of vintage Hammond organ, spooky and bombastic. It's an equation along the lines of Atomic Rooster + Jacula + Jex Thoth, maybe. Yeah, we're down with this. And that's just after hearing the first song. Then track two kicks in with some proggy flute! With LOTS more flute to follow on the rest of this album. So now they've added some Jethro Tull to the mix... Black Widow, Uriah Heep, Rainbow, and a mess of other more obscure '70s acts could also be cited as references too, along with the much more recent likes of the aforementioned Witchcraft and Jex Thoth.
Now, if you hate Jex Thoth's singing, you might have a similarly tough time with Blood Ceremony, but we found that the lady here isn't quite as polarizing a proposition. And it's her dramatic vocals that gives Blood Ceremony their special sound, along with her flute playing. She's also the organist. But let's not forget the guitars... it's tough not to grow your hair long and sprout bellbottoms when exposed to these lumbering, loping riffs, all of 'em seemingly from the school of Sleep's Sabbathier-than-thou classic "Dragonaut"! Or imagine Electric Wizard given a medieval, madrigal makeover.
And the lyrics... "I see witches in the sky, flying toward the quaalude eye"?? Ok. These guys and gal are definitely "smoking black drugs from Satan's bong" (I think that's what they said). Speaking of witchcraft, the dark arts of pagan ritual are of course Blood Ceremony's main subject matter, on tracks like "Into The Coven". The grooviest black mass we've attended in a while, right here. After spinning this for a while, if you find toads hopping about near your stereo, we wouldn't be surprised...
MPEG Stream: "Master Of Confusion"
MPEG Stream: "I'm Coming With You"

BLUEPRINT HUMAN BEING Heaven Is All (Paradigms) cd 12.98
Fourth in this new series of super limited aural oddities, all of them amazing and sonically all over the map, from black metal (Throne Of Kataris, elsewhere on this list) to doom drone (past Record of the Week Hjarnidaudi) to gorgeously gloomy chamber music (Amber Asylum) to this, the first release, as far as we can tell, from epic Finnish post rock prog metal mavens Blueprint Human Being. That's right you heard us, FINNISH. As in from Finland! So all you Finnish music freaks best not dawdle, as you will definitely want to get your hands on this. Especially if you're partial to the sort of Krauty drone rock of Circle and the like, although that element is only one tiny aspect of BHB's sound. There's lots of post rocky drift, a sort of proggier Tarentel maybe, but then the horns kick in and we're in serious King Crimson territory. But there's also lots of fuzzy metal guitar wrapped around jagged loping Slintish rhythms, with strange sung / spoke vocals, all blending in some weird way that reminds us as much of Ved Buens Ende as Crimson. Some parts have the horns moving to the foreground, the music taking on a very jaunty garden party sort of feel, which makes us think of some damaged, sort-of-metal Penguin Cafe Orchestra or some bizarre Japanese what-the-fuck jazzdrone outfit or the stranger Circle side projects like Ratto Ja Lehtisalo. A bit schizophrenic for sure, but in a good way, a super dynamic sort of seasick meander through blasting metallic post rock, far out quirky prog, lilting almost RennFaire acoustic breaks, and blissed out repetitive krautrock. Be sure and stick around for the end of the final 11+ minute track, after a stretch of silence, comes a dizzying blast of freaked out psychedelic noise, all grinding loops, snippets of earlier songs, and all sorts of head spinning post production fuckery. Groovy laid back post-kraut-rock slathered in thick swirls of distortion and fuzzy effects, obscured by tape dropouts and strange damaged feedback, the whole thing warped and warbly as if broadcast through a thick cough syrup haze. So cool.
Limited to 750 copies, packaged in a mini lp style sleeve wrapped in a hand stamped brown paper outer sleeve.
MPEG Stream: "Vojaganto"
MPEG Stream: "Tucumbalam"

BORT, EDUARDO s/t (Fonomusic) cd 23.00
Man! The '60s and '70s psych reissues from around the world just keep wowing us. I mean, there's lots that don't, but those that do, DO. Spain's Eduardo Bort (the guy floating cross-legged in space on the cover with his guitar in his lap, presumably) and his band released this album back in 1975 and we'd never ever have heard of it if Fonomusic hadn't just done this nicely digipacked cd reissue. We put it on and thought, this is pretty good, yeah...and then a track or two later we were all just, like, 'I need this!" From soft gentle folkiness to hard rock guitar workouts, there's a lot to like here. The record consists of six epix of many moods, from spaced out psych to symphonic prog -- moody, melodic, dynamic and bombastic. Bort & Co are capable of sudden energetic, frantic prog outbursts and fuzz-riffed heaviness, like when about seven minutes into "Walking On The Grass" Bort's band really starts rippin' (with a total Iron Maiden galloping bass-line). Very cool. And the vocal majesty of that track reminds us of Deep Purple's "Child In Time" quite a bit. The production is amazing too. Recommended ('specially if you also dig Steamhammer's Speech or Wishbone Ash or Uriah Heep or anything sorta prog, sorta hard rock, sorta psych from the same era!).
MPEG Stream: "Walking On The Grass"
MPEG Stream: "Pictures Of Sadness"

CAMBERWELL NOW All's Well (ReR) cd 17.98
After the big This Heat boxset bombshell dropped last year, and made everybody fall in love with that seminal, '70s experimental UK prog-punk band all over again, we expect that there's even more folks now who'll be stoked that this collection of This Heat drummer Charles Hayward's quite excellent '80s output with his band Camberwell Now has been reissued, in a brand new deluxe digipack format. That's right, if you want more This Heatishness beyond the Out Of Cold Storage boxset, you want this!
Recorded circa 1982-1985, the fifteen songs compiled here (from Camberwell Now's three vinyl releases plus a cassette comp track) are pretty darn essential for any fan of This Heat, featuring as they do one of the most important components of the This Heat sound, Hayward's signature drumming style. You'll know it when you hear it. His thin, fragile vocals and poetic, politically-charged lyrics are also a significant part of the picture, with the other members of Camberwell Now also making significant contributions to their sound, which incorporated tapes, field recordings, autoharp, ethnic instruments, kazoo, keyboards, etc. A potent mix of energetic rhythms and dreary melodies. For fans of This Heat (obviously), though this is less hard-hitting and more song-based than some of their work. Fans of '80s Robert Fripp may also feel at home with portions of this. But it also occurs to us that there are some recent artists that seem to share something (just something) with Camberwell Now, like Dean Roberts and, perhaps especially, Richard Youngs.
Not only is this new edition cheaper than the one we had before, it's in nicer packaging, with extra notes and photos and artwork, and has also been remastered by the band. Yay!
MPEG Stream: "Working Nights"
MPEG Stream: "Sitcom"

CANTILO, MIGUEL Y GRUPO Sur (Viaiero Inmovil Records) cd 21.00
While there ARE lots of amazing reissues of all sorts of old records -- psychedelic, rock, folk, jazz, reggae, metal, etc. -- coming out all the time (and hopefully you've read about a bunch of 'em here, we do our best to keep up), it's also become evident to us that the vast majority of reissued obscurities were, well, obscure for a reason, and it's hard to understand WHY someone would choose to reissue 'em. But then there's reissues like this one, that make us wonder, why hadn't we ever heard of this band before? Why weren't they HUGE? Well maybe Miguel Cantilo Y Grupo were famous in their native Argentina, they should have been, we certainly can't imagine that there were all that many bands of this quality releasing records in that country back then (this dates from 1975). At any rate, we're pretty excited to learn about 'em now thanks to this reissue. An eclectic psychedelic progressive rock album, with songs ranging from acoustic mellow melodicism to heavy hard rockin' bombast, this is something that we'd rank with a few other '70s reissues that have become big favorites 'round here -- if you loved the Eduardo Bort from Spain, or the more-recently reviewed Tarkus from Peru, you'll want this too for sure! It's got strong songs, a charming heavy-duty hippy vibe (check out the cover art), exotic appeal (all songs sung in Spanish, very emotively), and is definitely Classic Rock worthy (reminding us of Led Zep, Budgie, and even Aerosmith at their most mystical, magical a la "Kings and Queens"). Miguel's vocals are a bit Bolan-esque as well. But what puts it over the top for us is the killer blend of exquisite prettiness and sudden, frantic rock n' roll action, a lot looser and rawer than some other progressives of the era. Very dynamic and surprising. It's weird in all the right places. It's always neat to discover cool stuff like this out of the blue, proving that there definitely are unknown reissues worth taking a chance on... Nicely packaged in a slim colorful cardboard digipacky thing, with the cd itself in a sleeve with the lyrics printed on it.
MPEG Stream: "Algo Esta Por Suceder"
MPEG Stream: "Naturangel"