MELVINS Mangled Demos From 1983 (Ipecac) cd 14.98
The words "Footloose and fancy-free and out of school" come from your speakers, beginning the disc and thusly, we embark on the career of that "juggernaut of pummel" known as the Melvins.
Here is a collection of "never heard before" (demo, live, rehearsal) recordings dating back to 1983! Remember 1983? I do...ugh! Anyways, a "pre-Dale Crover" line-up (which includes a young punk-ass named Matt Lukin on bass, you might also know him from another little band, Mudhoney?) bashes and thrashes it out with songs and tone reminiscent of Flipper / Bad Brains / Fang / Poison Idea / Black Flag -- this is NOT to say they sound like they are emulating the aforementioned legends, we're just saying that the Melvins, at such a tender age and still without the "other greatest drummer" Dale Crover, pretty much came into this world screaming and wailing. Buzz Osborne definitely is / was / is blessed / cursed as a "5-string motherfucker". Word. The liner notes by Buzz go on about how they were hacks at the time, but LEGIONS (after listening to this) will attest to "the power of the riff" that a (pre) King Buzzo packed at the age of 20 somewhere in Shithole City, WA (or maybe it was the town next to it?). This release is packed with all the fury and "pent-up-ness" that only comes from growing up on the outside of "cool" or "rich". (Well, it speaks to me, anyways...) There are songs on here that show up shortly after -- and many years later -- down that ugly road of "former bass players"...
It's refreshing to hear (punk) rock like this right now. There are even funny moments of (drunken?) banter on here that will make you laugh and think back and reminisce (or not) on your own "destruction ride" through your late teens/early twenties, etc. The actual sound on this thing is incredibly solid too, for something from the "golden age of hardcore".
A must own, if you will. But you already knew that, didn't you?
MPEG Stream: "The Real You"
MPEG Stream: "Bibulous Confabulation (during rehearsal)"

MELVINS Mangled Demos From 1983 (Alternative Tentacles) 2x10" 14.98
NOW ON VINYL!! Double 10" at that!
The words "Footloose and fancy-free and out of school" come from your speakers, beginning the disc and thusly, we embark on the career of that "juggernaut of pummel" known as the Melvins.
Here is a collection of "never heard before" (demo, live, rehearsal) recordings dating back to 1983! Remember 1983? I do...ugh! Anyways, a "pre-Dale Crover" line-up (which includes a young punk-ass named Matt Lukin on bass, you might also know him from another little band, Mudhoney?) bashes and thrashes it out with songs and tone reminiscent of Flipper / Bad Brains / Fang / Poison Idea / Black Flag -- this is NOT to say they sound like they are emulating the aforementioned legends, we're just saying that the Melvins, at such a tender age and still without the "other greatest drummer" Dale Crover, pretty much came into this world screaming and wailing. Buzz Osborne definitely is / was / is blessed / cursed as a "5-string motherfucker". Word. The liner notes by Buzz go on about how they were hacks at the time, but LEGIONS (after listening to this) will attest to "the power of the riff" that a (pre) King Buzzo packed at the age of 20 somewhere in Shithole City, WA (or maybe it was the town next to it?). This release is packed with all the fury and "pent-up-ness" that only comes from growing up on the outside of "cool" or "rich". (Well, it speaks to me, anyways...) There are songs on here that show up shortly after -- and many years later -- down that ugly road of "former bass players"...
It's refreshing to hear (punk) rock like this right now. There are even funny moments of (drunken?) banter on here that will make you laugh and think back and reminisce (or not) on your own "destruction ride" through your late teens/early twenties, etc. The actual sound on this thing is incredibly solid too, for something from the "golden age of hardcore".
A must own, if you will. But you already knew that, didn't you?
MPEG Stream: "The Real You"
MPEG Stream: "Bibulous Confabulation (during rehearsal)"

MELVINS Neither Here Nor There (Ipecac) book + cd 35.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Won't go into too much detail here, since if you're not already a bit obsessed with the Melvins, you're probably not gonna need a 200 page book about em. But thos of you who ARE into the Melvins. WAY into the Melvins will definitely need this. Over two hundred pages of artwork, photos, tour diaries, discographies, interviews, stories, inserts, ALL the artwork from all their releases and more. Also includes a greatest hits cd. Odds are you have most of it, but there are a few surprises. Definitely super cool and gorgeously laid out. And of course, limited!

MELVINS / BRIAN WALSBY The Making Love Demos / Manchild 3 cd+book 14.98
It's a comic book! It's a Melvins cd! It's pretty darn cool is what it is. Cartoonist Brian Walsby spoofs and skewers various icons of old school punk/alt rock culture, and puts his own personal family history on the page too ("My Old Man!"). It's mostly subversively funny, sarcastic stuff. Lots of chuckles for those with a bit of nostalgia for the good ol' days of '80s punk rock for sure!! One of our favorite comix in here is "Whatever Happened To You Favorite Eighties Hardcore Mascots" which imagines the DRI "thrash guy" finding a new career as a school crossing guard, and the Black Flag bars being sold to Hank Williams III who "dropped one bar and used the rest for his new logo." Some of the other pieces in this fairly thick book include an illustrated article celebrating TV's SCTV, a Walsby/Melvins 2006 tour diary, a memoir entitled "How I Survived Grunge", "The Rules Of Young Rock Bands" (which include holding the microphone like a glass of wine, and combining two kinds of bad singing: whiny, nasal and hysterical screaming), several comic strips about The Dios (a la The Osbournes), a tribute to Cheap Trick, and much much more. If you like stuff like Peter Bagge's Hate or Chunklet magazine this is for you.
This book makes a perfect team up with Walsby's old pals, wise ass scene vets the Melvins, who contribute a 20+ minute cd to the package, entitled "The Making Love Demos". These eight songs are DIY four-track recordings from back in '87, from the Buzz/Dale/Matt lineup, several of which later wound up in re-recorded form on their classic Ozma album, and some you've never ever heard before. Wow. Melvins fans are gonna be stoked. Heavy grinding nastiness, perfectly filthily home-recorded, that's way more punk than grunge.
MPEG Stream: "Creepy Smell"
MPEG Stream: "Excess Pool"

METAL BOYS Tokio Airport (Acute Records) cd 14.98
After wowing fans of underground music a few months back with a long-awaited cd reissue of material by pioneering French punk-industrial act Metal Urbain, the Acute label is back with a sequel -- the 1980 album from Metal Boys, the band that Metal Urbain morphed into after their '78 break-up. After a few years of failed studio sessions and line-up shake-ups and random gigging, that is. But in 1980 leader Eric Debris and co. returned under the guise of Metal Boys with this album. What with the rise of New Wave, perhaps it seemed the the scene had caught up with them, but not entirely -- their music is way more twisted and dissonant and experimental than most New Wave pop that's for sure! And their new incarnation still retained the fuzzed guitars, sci-fi synths, and tick-tock drum programming that made Metal Urbain so great. The biggest difference was their new singer, a woman named China who sang in English not French (which makes some of this sound just a bit sillier than Anglophones might have thought about Metal Urbain). There's 19 tracks here, including 9 previously unreleased bonus tracks, incorporating hints of everything from rockabilly to proto-house to Devo-isms to industrial noise-scapes. Perhaps of special note are the two seven-minute bonus tracks from what was supposed to be an Eric Debris 12" release, truly spaced-out slices of minimalist Geiger-counter disco entitled "Disco Future" and "Outer Space". And maybe they did know something about disco future -- as we said before in our review of Metal Urbain's Anarchy In Paris!, this reissue couldn't be more timely. What these guys were doing 25 years ago is definitely the in sound, now. Sooooo retro-hip. Definitely don't buy any more Liars or Chicks On Speed or The Faint or DFA stuff, or anything like that until you've checked out these originators.
MPEG Stream: "New Malden"
MPEG Stream: "Tokio Airport"

METAL URBAIN Anarchy In Paris! (Acute Records) cd 14.98
Nope, Metal Urbain weren't a metal band, they were PUNK, way back when. This seminal '77 punk outfit were basically the French answer to the Sex Pistols. Only, with synths -- a la Suicide -- along with their guitars (no bass), and a customized Korg Minipops 120 keeping the beat. Their urgent tick-tock metronomic rhythms, distorted guitars n' synth effects, and shouted French vocals (with clever and shocking lyrics, we're told -- their online translations via Babblefish are certainly bizarre) still sound great 25 years on.
Metal Urbain are one of those bands whose legend has grown in inverse proportion to the availability of their recordings (kinda like last list's Record of the Week, the Homosexuals). Now, at long long last, all their crucial cuts are available again on this compact disc, so you can judge for yourself how rad Metal Urbain really were. With their noisy raw rockin' and avant-garde style, we'd say pretty rad indeed. Though their songs can't quite compete with the Pistols' classics, they match 'em in attitude and get mega bonus points for their use and abuse of electronics, which makes them ultra fashionable today. Really, what with today's electro-clash art-punk scene, this is the perfect time for Metal Urbain to emerge again. Chances are you're already a Metal Urbain fan without even knowing it... Punk history buffs will need/want this too (first record ever on Rough Trade!) but we think whether you "need" this or not, you'll probably like it.
The 24 tracks found here, a few of 'em previously unreleased, argue for this band's unique charm.
Who can resist such primitive drum machine action, sizzling synth blasts and whooshes, and sheer anarchistic punk energy? Of course they're brimming with punk snottiness (they're French after all). But their punk is tinged with proto-new wave (a few of the later tracks definitely veer in that direction) and psychedelic elements, drawing on the band's early influences from Eno, Fripp, the Velvets and Hawkwind! Though, despite the talk of "robocore", "spacepunk" and "terrorbeat" in the (lengthy and interesting) liner notes, they still sound closer to the Ramones, than, say, Atari Teenage Riot. Still, Steve Albini claims Metal Urbain, via nth-generation cassette tape dubs, as an inspiration for Big Black, and we can believe that too. Great stuff.
MPEG Stream: "Panik"
MPEG Stream: "Lady Coca Cola"

MIDNIGHT CIRCUS, THE Richard, Rodney, Rastus, Raoul, Roderick, Randy, Rupert (Hyped2Death) cd 11.98
Hooky -and- haphazard, and nicely lo-fi, yes it's another batch of early '80s UK DIY goodness, rescued from oblivion by Hyped To Death's Messthetics series! Leicester's Midnight Circus, who considered The Instant Automatons (reviewed last list) their mentors in the whole DIY cassette culture art punk thing, appeared on one collectable vinyl comp (Angst In My Pants) as well as on many many self-released cassette-albums with titles like Pre-Natal Counseling, The Bland Craze, Galvanizing The Dead, and Do Modern Atoms Wear Fashionable Clothes.
As per general Messthetics standards, they weren't terribly musically accomplished, but they -were- creative and fueled by much post-adolescent angst... Perhaps the Arctic Monkeys would have wound up like The Midnight Circus if they grew up 30 years earlier. Expect their Gang-Of-Four-ish guitars to be accompanied by beer can percussion (or crudely amplified metronome, or at best a cheap drum machine), that sort of thing, which of course we totally dig.
This is a "best of" of sorts, compiling tracks from that comp, their cassettes, and previously unreleased recordings as well circa 1980-83 and it includes scads of liner notes and cool black-and-white graphics in the 10-page cd booklet, as you should expect from these very thorough, labor-of-love Hyped To Death productions.
MPEG Stream: "Leather & Lace"
MPEG Stream: "Pre-Natal Counseling"

MINOR THREAT At DC Space / Buff Hall / 9:30 Club (Dischord) dvd 18.98
92 minutes of live Minor Threat footage, from three shows (1980, 1982, and 1983 in DC and NJ), including a Q&A session with Ian filmed in '83. There's a sixteen page booklet in here as well. Haven't had a chance to watch this yet, but we imagine all true Minor Threat fans will want this. And punk fans of today (if you're reading this) could probably learn a thing or two from these kids... man do they look young in the pictures on the DVD case!

MINOR THREAT First Demo Tape (Dischord) cd ep 4.50
Elsewhere on the list you'll find a review of Sleep's Dopesmoker demo reissue. One track, 60+ minutes, and slooooow. Well this here Minor Threat demo re-issue is pretty much the exact opposite. Eight tracks in 9 minutes. And faaaaast. It would be even shorter if they took out the before song banter/studio talk. No new tracks, just demo versions of those amazing songs that started it all! 'Minor Threat', 'Stand Up', 'Seeing Red', 'Bottled Violence', 'Small Man, Big Mouth', 'Straight Edge', 'Guilty Of Being White', and 'I Don't Want To Hear It'. Also available on 7"...
MPEG Stream: "Seeing Red"
MPEG Stream: "I Don't Want To Hear It"

MINUS Jesus Christ Bobby (Victory) cd 16.98
While this is noisy, chaotic metalcore (a la Converge, Coalesce, Botch, Cave In) on Victory, there -are- some twists: First of all, these guys are from far-off Iceland (and to prove it, they even got an ex-Sugarcube to sing on one song -- not Bjork though) and, also, they produced this with the help of Icelandic electronica artist Curver, who contributes some additional digital-glitch chaos to Minus' already-complex and fucked up songwriting. We read a quite negative review of this on some indie pop website, written by someone suckered in by the Sugarcubes connection and subsequently confused and horrified by the madness on offer here -- the reviewer claimed that it wasn't even music! Well, that person obviously isn't an Aquarius customer...and certainly hasn't heard much current metal/hardcore stuff! In actual fact (well, our opinion), this is pretty darn amazing!! Minus go beyond the aforementioned crushing noisecore and computer fuckery to incorporate some unexpected emo-pop hooks and non-screaming singing -- and there's even an acoustic guitar song with plaintive vocals halfway through the album! Also, we love the bonus backwards track at the end. Minus is yet another reason all of us here at Aquarius really want to take a vacation to Iceland! Recommended.
RealAudio clip: "Misdo"
RealAudio clip: "Pulse"

MINUTEMEN We Jam Econo (Plexifilm) 2dvd 24.00
At the risk of getting a huge amount of grief, we have to be honest and admit we were never all that into the Minutemen. Sure we dug the concept. And the energy. And the politics. And they seemed like super cool guys. And of course they were down with all of our favorite bands of that time, Black Flag, Descendents, Husker Du, Minor Threat, Sonic Youth, the whole SST stable. But their sound, at least at the time, was just a little too funky. Watching this movie though, definitely gives us pause, and had us re-evaluating, and it's suddenly so obvious how much those guys owed to groups like P.I.L., the Pop Group and especially Wire, and now, how much they beat the current wave of new wave post punk revivalists to the punch by 20 years.
As a film, though, We Jam Econo is as much about the time and the scene as it is about the band. Amazing interviews with all our punk rock heroes all grown up, Henry Rollins, Ian MacKaye, Jack Brewer, Dez Cadena, Nels Cline, Kira Roessler, Lee Ranaldo, Raymond Pettibon, Mike Mills, Thurston Moore, David Markey, J Mascis, John Doe, Jello Biafra, Milo Aukerman, Joe Baiza, Chuck Dukowski, Flea, Grant Hart, Greg Norton, Curt Kirkwood, Colin Newman and loads more. But it's pretty much the Mike Watt show, as he drives around in his old beat up Econoline, pointing out all the punk rock historical landmarks that are now Petco's or condos, as he gives an insane rambling account of the Minutemen's convoluted and endlessly fascinating history. There's some amazing live footage and a cool interview with the whole band, and D. Boon does seem like the coolest nicest guy in the world. And the tragedy of his passing really hits home after living vicariously through those years via this film.
Not sure that we necessarily LOVE the Minutemen now, but we do dig them a bit more, and the movie was awesome, and there are for sure a few songs that stuck, and will have us hunting down some Minutemen discs for sure.
Includes tons of amazing footage, and lots of extras, including videos, a set of acoustic covers performed live, uncut interviews, deleted scenes and more. The second disc includes 62 songs from three live performances, at the Starwood in 1980, at the 9:30 club in 1984 and at the Acoustic Blowout in 1985. Also includes a massive booklet packed with photos, notes from the filmmaker, and liner notes from David Rees who does the killer comic Get Your War On!
NTSC. All Region.

MISSION OF BURMA ONoffON (Matador) cd 14.98
Wow, has it really been over two decades since this band's last studio album? Yes, 'tis true! And it's been almost half a decade since their albums received their very welcome reissues, and two years since their reunion tour. Seminal, cerebral post-punks Mission Of Burma have returned to the recorded domain, putting many newer bands to shame and sounding as fresh and dynamic as when they themselves were in their youth. Much like the recent return of fellow veteran greats Killing Joke, fueled by much fierce, dissonant energy, M.O.B. rise again to do battle after a lengthy absence. Fortunately they haven't done what many other reunited bands make the mistake of doing -- that is, attempt to modernize their sound or keep up with the young pups. Clearly none of that was needed. From the very first song on ONoffON, M.O.B. come tearing out of the gates, and only gets better as the album progresses. Heavy, churning and expressive, the guitars chop and sear, the bass rumbles and boils, the drums propel and punctuate with expert precision. Indeed, the last few songs are arguably the album's best -- also a bit reminiscent of the angular art-punk of NoMeansNo or Wire. Note: The vinyl version contains a bonus song, a cover of The Dils' "Class War"!
MPEG Stream: "Fever Moon"
MPEG Stream: "Absent Mind"

MISSION OF BURMA ONoffON (Matador) 2lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Wow, has it really been over two decades since this band's last studio album? Yes, 'tis true! And it's been almost half a decade since their albums received their very welcome reissues, and two years since their reunion tour. Seminal, cerebral post-punks Mission Of Burma have returned to the recorded domain, putting many newer bands to shame and sounding as fresh and dynamic as when they themselves were in their youth. Much like the recent return of fellow veteran greats Killing Joke, fueled by much fierce, dissonant energy, M.O.B. rise again to do battle after a lengthy absence. Fortunately they haven't done what many other reunited bands make the mistake of doing -- that is, attempt to modernize their sound or keep up with the young pups. Clearly none of that was needed. From the very first song on ONoffON, M.O.B. come tearing out of the gates -- heavy, churning and expressive -- and only gets better as the album progresses. Indeed, the last few songs are arguably the album's best. Note: The vinyl version contains a bonus song, a cover of The Dils' "Class War"!
MPEG Stream: "Fever Moon"
MPEG Stream: "Absent Mind"

MISSION OF BURMA The Obliterati (Matador) cd 13.98
Once post-punk legends Mission Of Burma got their engines all revved back up and running at full throttle (with 2004's potent studio album ONoffON) after about two decades of silence, there was nothing that was gonna shut 'em down. These guys are determined to keep churning out their unmistakable kick ass rock. The Obliterati definitely keeps up the fevered propulsive energy of its predecessor and perhaps ups the ante even further -- The album reconfirms these Bostonians' vitality and once again lays many of their younger counterparts to waste. This is music with heft and wisdom, both lyrically and musically. Seldom is raging so articulate. Listen, learn and love 'em.
MPEG Stream: "Man In Decline"
MPEG Stream: "The Mute Speaks Out"

MISSION OF BURMA The Obliterati (Matador) lp 16.98
Once post-punk legends Mission Of Burma got their engines all revved back up and running at full throttle (with 2004's potent studio album ONoffON) after about two decades of silence, there was nothing that was gonna shut 'em down. These guys are determined to keep churning out their unmistakable kick ass rock. The Obliterati definitely keeps up the fevered propulsive energy of its predecessor and perhaps ups the ante even further -- The album reconfirms these Bostonians' vitality and once again lays many of their younger counterparts to waste. This is music with heft and wisdom, both lyrically and musically. Seldom is raging so articulate. Listen, learn and love 'em.
MPEG Stream: "Man In Decline"
MPEG Stream: "The Mute Speaks Out"

MITS, THE A Better Day (self-released) cd 9.98
The Mits are a Bay Area combo with lots of crunchy guitars and feisty girl vocals... very much in the grand ol' Lookout! Records tradition of energetic East Bay / Gilman Street punk pop.
MPEG Stream: "Number One"
MPEG Stream: "Out Of My Mind"

MOHO ...He Visto La Cruz Al Reves (Thorne) cd+dvd 17.98
By way of Madrid Spain comes Moho (mold in Espanol), a three piece juggernaut of dirt head rock fury so ferocious they give seasoned rockers like High On Fire, Electric Wizard, EyeHateGod & Grief a serious run for the (drug) money.
"....He Visto La Cruz Al Reves" (loosely translates to "I Have Seen The Cross Of The Misfortune" or better yet "I Have Seen The Cross Inverted!") is a furious groovy sludge rock jam, a stoned stumble through the garden at midnight.
Many of the songs start with big fat riffs, slowly building into some serious sludgy groove, drifting way off, gradually working up to a loping midtempo, before dragging it back down into the murk.
Moho are fully capable of kicking it up a notch too, but on this release (their second outing), Moho tend to lay way back "in the pocket" and just bludgeon your blissed-out melon over and over again in a "let's-beat-these-instruments-to-death-till-they-are-destroyed -over-and-over-again!!!" kind of way, and at the same time, a furious throat-full-of-rocks vocalist is howling wildly right in your ear - in Spanish no less - so don't fight it, just GIVE IN to the supreme Hessian power of Moho!
Comes with a DVD chock full of live footage of the band in small venues, "passing the pipe" and rocking out at a house party. They definitely look like they are a fun band to see play live...
A great hard to pin down metal outfit you should most definitely check out!
MPEG Stream: "Semana Santa"
MPEG Stream: "El Duela"

MONNO Error (Conspiracy) cd 17.98
Monno are definitely a noise rock band. In fact, we're not even sure if they are a band, so maybe they're just noise rock. But actually, this doesn't really rock in the traditional sense, so maybe it's just noise. But the thing is, it's NOT. Monno ARE a band. And they DO rock. And they are about as noisy as a rock band can get. They produce a dense sonic squall that sounds like someone took Merzbow, Total, Skullflower and SUNNO))), chopped em all up, sprayed them out of thousand watt speakers, at a drummer who head down, resolutely pounds his way through a dense cloud of caustic, skin peeling, ear shredding noise. Rock. There are occasional riffs, and they totally slay, like a way more blown out Scratch Acid, and there are massive slithering low end bass grooves, but then the vocals, holy fuck, it's like some feral howls being run through a million distortion pedals with dying batteries and broadcast through a wall of tweeters with broken speaker cones. All wrapped in barbed wire-like swirls of shrieking tangled feedback. So harsh and heavy and so fucking great. Fans of Violent Students, Butthole Surfers, Clockcleaner and just loud fucking rocknoise in general will dig this in a big way!
Packaged in an oversized black on metallic silver booklet, with original artwork from Dennis Tyfus (who runs the Ultra Eczema label!).
MPEG Stream: "Necronomik"
MPEG Stream: "Tiny Fossils"

MONNO Error (Conspiracy) lp 29.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Our pals at Conspiracy Records, a label/distro based in Belgium, who in the past have brought us records by Boris, Jesu, Shora and more, are this year celebrating their 10 year anniversary. A decade of amazing music. From a bedroom based punk label, to one of Europe's most important and influential labels and distros, all we can say is HURRAY! And HUZZAH! It's always so exciting, when a bunch of folks get together to spread the word about great music, great WEIRD music, and survive, even thrive. Such is the case with Conspiracy. And as if that weren't already enough, just knowing that some great people were selling some amazing music, those sweeties at Conspiracy have decided to share the love with us. And you.
To celebrate their 10th anniversary, they've decided to do a super limited subscription series, 12 records over 12 months, each limited to somewhere between 200-500 copies, ONLY available to series subscribers. EXCEPT, they've decided to let AQ have 20 copies of each, we're the only store with copies of these subscriber only lps, and for a breif moment, we can offer them to you, our loyal AQ customers. Needless to say we are thrilled, as the series lineup reads like a who's who of AQ faves, as well as including a handful of lesser knowns. All pressed on super thick vinyl, and packaged in killer hand screened original art sleeves. But be warned, we only got 20 of each, and we will run out fast and we will not be able to get more. When we do run out, there is a chance you can still get more (or even subscribe to the series) from Conspiracy direct, but what that means is act fast and prepare to leave empty handed.
Monno are definitely a noise rock band. In fact, we're not even sure if they are a band, so maybe they're just noise rock. But actually, this doesn't really rock in the traditional sense, so maybe it's just noise. But the thing is, it's NOT. Monno ARE a band. And they DO rock. And they are about as noisy as a rock band can get. They produce a dense sonic squall that sounds like someone took Merzbow, Total, Skullflower and SUNNO))), chopped em all up, sprayed them out of thousand watt speakers, at a drummer who head down, resolutely pounds his way through a dense cloud of caustic, skin peeling, ear shredding noise. Rock. There are occasional riffs, and they totally slay, like a way more blown out Scratch Acid, and there are massive slithering low end bass grooves, but then the vocals, holy fuck, it's like some feral howls being run through a million distortion pedals with dying batteries and broadcast through a wall of tweeters with broken speaker cones. All wrapped in barbed wire-like swirls of shrieking tangled feedback. So harsh and heavy and so fucking great. Fans of Violent Students, Butthole Surfers, Clockcleaner and just loud fucking rocknoise in general will dig this in a big way!
Original artwork by artist Dennis Tyfus (who runs the Ultra Eczema label!), printed on hand silkscreened sleeves. The LP's are pressed on super thick 180 gram vinyl and housed in thick plastic sleeves.
MPEG Stream: "Necronomik"
MPEG Stream: "Tiny Fossils"

MOTORSPANDEX Torment Star (Full Contact / Ektro) 7" 7.98
We should probably let the band themselves begin this review, describing what to expect from the first side of this new 7" from the (maybe not so) mysterious Finnish outfit Motorspandex:
"Listening to Motorspandex's debut 7" can be a traumatizing experience: the very moment the needle touches the vinyl, black smoke begins to fill the room. You suddenly find it very hard to breathe, and realize, that the air pouring into your lungs is made out of crusty, rusty metal. A mechanized nightmare appears, veiled in nothing but motorized tight pants. It steps out of the smoke, grabs you by the throat, and enters your life forever."
We probably couldn't do much better ourselves, but we'll give it a go. Starting with the amazing cover, which features a photo of a pale, long haired, shirtless fella who looks suspiciously like Jussi from Circle, doing his best Dio, 'invisible oranges' pose, standing on an expanse of snow in front of a mighty mountain, the music inside fits almost perfectly with that majestic and very metal image. Sort of. Imagine classic eighties metal, some Motorhead, but played on clean guitars, with almost no distortion, then add in some super distorted monstrous growling vocals, and have the songs be super damaged and weird, shifting suddenly without warning, super dynamic, stop and starts, dizzyingly complex, but somehow striped down and simple at the same time. Not heavy so much as rocking and relentless. And it should come as no big surprise that Motorspandex seems to have a similar lineup as Krypt Axeripper, and Steel Mammoth, and thus, probably includes at least one (if not more) member of Finnish hypnorockers Circle. And you can actually hear it in Motorspandex, maybe more so than in those other "New Wave Of Finnish Heavy Metal" Circle satellites. Plenty of tripped out ambience, some clean, almost Comus-y folky vocals, wailing leads, but at its core, it does sound a bit like a sped up, metalled up Circle. Even the vocals almost sound like a more metal Mika. Plus some of the best song titles ever: "Frantic Slave", "Torment Star", "Tutankhamon Uranus", "Creepy Rabbit", "Steellicker"!
As if you didn't already figure it out, Motorspandex rule! Heavy and hooky, repetitive and metallic, mesmerizing and weird weird weird.

MOUTH OF THE ARCHITECT / KENOMA Split (Translation Loss) cd 13.98
New release from one of our favorites of this new breed of sludgy metallic post rock, the strangely named Mouth Of The Architect. Their sound, unlike many of their sonic brethren leans much more toward the melodic as is evidenced here on the opening of "Sleepwalk Powder" a lilting, melancholy guitar line, hovering above warm swells of high end feedback, mournful and so so pretty. But don't be fooled, or lulled into thinking this is some sort of post rock dreampop record, oh no, moments later, the drums enter the fray, all tribal and chaotic, until finally the guitars drop. And drop HARD. Suddenly we're in churning, roiling sludge doom country, big riffs roll and rumble, vocals are howled and the whole band lurches like some rampaging behemoth. But beneath it all, remains the melody, the sweetness, the light. It's like Godspeed or Explosions In The Sky, being overtaken by Conifer or Minsk, a huge ugly growling monstrous sound barely concealing glistening harmonies and majestic melodies. A pretty killer combination. The second MOTA track follows a similar path, drawing out its post rock dreaminess nearly to the 10 minute mark before kicking out the jams, this time it's a lurching stumbling groove, minor key and massive.
Kenoma are up next, we'd heard of them but never actually heard them, but they do occupy a similar sonic space as their pals MOTA (and plus they indeed are, in the liner notes, there is an extremely heartfelt note about, the two bands being friends since childhood, and both having had a rough time lately, and how this release was very cathartic, bringing the two bands, these two sets of friends closer than ever before, pretty dang sweet actually). But again don't be distracted by the sweetness, where there is light there is most definitely also dark. Kenoma are more postrock than metal never really unfurling any sort of massive sludginess, rather stretching out in a heavy hypnotic groove, dense tangled guitar lines, killer propulsive drumming, minor key melodies and a big wall of thick rich headspinning sound. Reminiscent of the recently reviewed Shora record but with a bit of that post sludge vibe we can't get enough of. This almost sounds like a super charged Godspeed or a metal Tortoise. Epic and meandering, droney and hypnotic and so killer. Definitely a new band to keep our eyes on. And a perfect match for their pals in Mouth Of The Architect. Definitely recommended. Killer octopoidal artwork too!
MPEG Stream: MOUTH OF THE ARCHITECT "Sleepwalk Powder"
MPEG Stream: KENOMA "The Nature Of Empire"

MOVING UNITS Between Us And Them (Three One G) 12" 8.98
Here's a taste of these up and comers for you, sounding a lot like A Certain Ratio and Gang Of Four. I saw them in L.A. and everyone was loving it. They are dance-y and tight and the drummer hits really hard which helps with the danceability factor, but they are so obviously derivative of this certain sound that when you remove the dancefloor, it's hard to be impressed.

MRTYU Ritual Terra Continuii (Tipped Bowler Tapes) cassette 6.98
Mrtyu is Antony Milton's musical Mr. Hyde, allowing him to weave blackened musickal rituals, and strange downtuned noise drenched dronedoom when he's not creating gorgeous soundscapes, crafting jangly pop, or keeping the underground alive with his PseudoArcana label. Ritual Terra Continuii is not as doomy as some of the other Mrtyu releases, but it's still plenty dark and scary. Disembodied vocals drift amidst slithering low end riffing, bells and chimes drift on thick swells of squealing feedback, everything a glorious murky lo-fi crawl. Dripping with distortion, a lurching lope through some damaged wasteland of sound. Crumbling walls of guitar buzz, bent strings, minor key melodies, simple music box percussion, and that voice, like Whitehouse being broadcast through a tin can and twine, barely audible through the sheets of gloom and mire. So good.
Killer blood splattered hand painted tape in a cryptic black and white sleeve, with a black and white insert, and a folded up short story printed on super nice textured paper. LIMITED TO 120 COPIES!!!

NADJA Truth Becomes Death (Alien8 Recordings) cd 14.98
Crashing waves of balls of yarn. That's one attempt to explain this band's sound... Along with bringing in the usual Earth, SUNNO))), and Boris comparisons. The Toronto based duo of Aidan Baker (guitars, vocals, flute, piano, drum machines) and Leah Buckareff (bass and vocals) are an "atmospheric doom" band whose slow moving, heavy and heavily distorted music definitely shares something with the likes of early Earth, but although they've done a split 3" with UK doom nasties Moss (among several previous underground releases) you can't really define them as being a "metal" band at all. Their gauzy, droney, doom-spelled-backwards music has a warm, melodic underpinning, somewhere within the billowing clouds of distortion that form the three long tracks found here. I guess it's something like the churchy, "funereal" doom of Finland's Skepticism, really, but even more calm, echoed and ambient. Melancholic but very pleasant, with both growled vocals and gentle singing hovering just beneath the surface, this music somehow suggests rays of pure white light shining down from on high to illuminate their low-end murk... and during the final third of the last track "Breakpoint" the heaviness drops away altogether for a quietly sung coda that could be from the most mellow and poetic of indie-pop albums. Nadja's music is definitely more abstract and altered than, say, Ocean (another sludge-dirge outfit reviewed elsewhere this list), and is so much more beautiful than the monochrome darkness dwelt in by many other doom bands. If you can imagine an ultra-distorted hybrid of Growing, Codeine and, uh, Ras Algethi you'd maybe come close to the sound of Nadja... Recommended!!
MPEG Stream: "Bug / Golem"
MPEG Stream: "Breakpoint"

NAPALM DEATH Scum (Earache) cd + dvd 15.98
All the Jesu mania of late has definitely had us revisiting Godflesh, and digging the machinelike metallic bombast of all those records, the seeds of what would one day blossom into Jesu's blissy crush. But way before Godflesh, Mr. Justin Broadrick was wielding his axe in the mighty Napalm Death, whose Scum still ranks as one of the greatest heavy records of all time, and certainly one of, if not THE greatest grind record EVER. 
And since we've never listed it, and it just got reissued with a bonus dvd, we figured it was perfect timing. We'd like to assume that any lover of heavy music already owns Scum, if that's not the case something is seriously seriously wrong. But maybe you lost it, or lent it out, maybe you have a beat up old vinyl version and just need to upgrade, whatever it is, this is essential. Like the first few Carcass records (including Heartwork sez Andee!), this is intense, furious forward thinking heavy music. Short sharp bursts of ripping, pounding super political sort-of-lo-fi crusty metallic grind. At the time, nothing like it had been heard. Now, we're on the tail end of about a million mediocre grid bands, which makes it even more exciting to hear the original, the template used by pretty much every band since. And this stuff isn't just fast and heavy, it's weird as fuck too, the riffing is convoluted, weird midtempo chugs are paired with thrashing blast beats, some songs barely crack the 30 second mark, others are churning murky blasts that stretch all the way out to 3 minutes in some cases. The vocals a barked growl, the bass a throbbing blur, but it's the guitar, Broadrick's guitar, that roars and howls and chugs and grinds and defines the sound of Scum. Which, as far as we're concerned, is one of the greatest sounds we've ever heard.
This limited reissue includes a bonus dvd about the making of Scum, the early days of Napalm Death, Earache, and the scene and city that birthed the band. It's pretty interesting, lots of interviews, Dig from Earache, write Malcolm Dome, but mostly with drummer Mick Harris, who takes us to the band's old rehearsal space, now defunct venues, and talks all about those good ol' days. It's a bit of a bummer they couldn't rope Bullen or Broadrick into getting interviewed, and it's criminal that there is no awesome unearthed footage of the band back in the day, but even with those minor quibbles, it is a pretty cool extra, and it's definitely fascinating to learn more about the band and their roots. But dvd or no dvd, YOU MUST BUY SCUM NOW!!!
MPEG Stream: "Multinational Corporations"
MPEG Stream: "The Kill"
MPEG Stream: "Scum"
MPEG Stream: "Sacrificed"
MPEG Stream: "Human Garbage"
MPEG Stream: "Life?"
MPEG Stream: "Prison Without Walls"

NAPALM DEATH Scum (Earache) picture disc lp 15.98
All the Jesu mania of late has definitely had us revisiting Godflesh, and digging the machinelike metallic bombast of all those records, the seeds of what would one day blossom into Jesu's blissy crush. But way before Godflesh, Mr. Justin Broadrick was wielding his axe in the mighty Napalm Death, whose Scum still ranks as one of the greatest heavy records of all time, and certainly one of, if not THE greatest grind record EVER. 
And since we've never listed it, and it just got reissued with a bonus dvd, we figured it was perfect timing. We'd like to assume that any lover of heavy music already owns Scum, if that's not the case something is seriously seriously wrong. But maybe you lost it, or lent it out, maybe you have a beat up old vinyl version and just need to upgrade, whatever it is, this is essential. Like the first few Carcass records (including Heartwork sez Andee!), this is intense, furious forward thinking heavy music. Short sharp bursts of ripping, pounding super political sort-of-lo-fi crusty metallic grind. At the time, nothing like it had been heard. Now, we're on the tail end of about a million mediocre grid bands, which makes it even more exciting to hear the original, the template used by pretty much every band since. And this stuff isn't just fast and heavy, it's weird as fuck too, the riffing is convoluted, weird midtempo chugs are paired with thrashing blast beats, some songs barely crack the 30 second mark, others are churning murky blasts that stretch all the way out to 3 minutes in some cases. The vocals a barked growl, the bass a throbbing blur, but it's the guitar, Broadrick's guitar, that roars and howls and chugs and grinds and defines the sound of Scum. Which, as far as we're concerned, is one of the greatest sounds we've ever heard.
YOU MUST BUY SCUM NOW!!!
MPEG Stream: "Multinational Corporations"
MPEG Stream: "The Kill"
MPEG Stream: "Scum"
MPEG Stream: "Sacrificed"
MPEG Stream: "Human Garbage"
MPEG Stream: "Life?"
MPEG Stream: "Prison Without Walls"

NAPPYTIME JUNCTION s/t (360 Stereo Abuse) cd ep 9.98
First off, this is going to be a good review. Maybe even a great review. But first we have to talk about something. I was in New Jersey a while back, in a little rock club, out in the middle of nowhere, and there was a flyer on the wall looking for a lead guitar player. The requirements were simple: must be shredding, heavy, into Slayer and Morbid Angel and all things metal. The band was described as heavy and intense and brutal and they of course were serious and had gigs pending and a recording contract. THEN WHY THE FUCK WERE THEY CALLED "THE DANGEROUS DINGLEBERRIES"?! I kid you not. So why *these* local metallers decided to call themselves "Nappytime Junction" is beyond me. Especially since this record kills. Weird spacey, grindy metal. Huge fuzzy Kyuss guitars playing pounding Sabbathy riffs with howled and shrieked vocals, and the occasional thrashy bit and lots of hyperactive effects overloading the whole thing into stoned out trancey drones before it erupts again into chaotic punked out metal. So if you can, smoke a bong, swig some Jack, get high, jump around or whatever it is you do, and just try to forget that that crazy heavy shit you're banging your head to is called Nappytime Junction. Or better yet, embrace it and put that Nappytime patch right next to your Celtic Frost patch on your crusty old denim vest!
RealAudio clip: "Dinosaur Codpiece"

NARDWUAR THE HUMAN SERVIETTE / BEV DAVIES A 2007 Punk Rock Calendar (Nardwuar The Human Serviette / Mint) calendar 12.98
If you've been following the escapades of guerilla interviewer, garage rawk maestro, indie radio / TV personality and proud Canadian Nardwuar The Human Serviette, you already know that he mystifyingly gets himself into the most coveted and cursed of situations. And while in the heat of many moments he's had plenty of things seized and/or destroyed -- videotapes (Quiet Riot, Sebastian Bach, Tom Green), records (Sonic Youth), touque (Sebastian Bach) -- he's also been on the receiving end of some truly amazing stuff (a piece of art by and from David Lee Roth to name just one!). And for this calendar, he's gained an all access pass to the photo archives of legendary punk rock photographer Bev Davies. She was once hailed by Stiff Little Fingers as "The best photo taker in the whole world". Yup, the great championer of all things Canadian and old school punk (as well as innumerable other subjects of course) follows up his crowning achievement -- the stupendous Nardwuar The Human Serviette 'Doot Doola Doot Doot' double dvd -- with this cool document of the pre-'82 punk scene as shot through the shutter of Ms Davies. The 40 pages contain so much more than a 13-month calendar! There's an ongoing interview/commentary from Nardwuar and Davies with loads of hilarious 'back in the day' stories, extra photos, stickers... oh yeah, and the photos!! The Subhumans, Motorhead, Avengers, Black Flag, Adam and the Ants, D.O.A., Johnny Thunders, The Clash, Pointed Sticks, The Go-Gos, Dead Kennedys, Gang of Four, Ramones and Duff McKagen (eons before GNR and Velvet Revolver, back in his Fastbacks days)!

NECRONOMITRON s/t (Load) cd 14.98
Load strikes again! Amidst all the skronky arty punk costume rock bands indigenious to Rhode Island, Necronomitron rises above to play some actual honest-to-god METAL, and Providence's Load label was up to the task of bringing it to the indie-masses via this cd. Metal? Well, yeah, nasty, speedy, convoluted heaviness indeed. Besides their cool name, Necronomitron's got wretched chipmunk vocals, wheedily-wheedily guitar solos, frantic riff-mongering, and drumming that sounds like a panicked giant centipede barrelling down a particularily steep staircase. And lots of "parts". It's a bit like old Nuclear Assault or Voivod, with the treble cranked to eleven. Or imagine a Crom-Tech record that was truly heavy. Insane, punk, metal. The hectic tech-metal madness of songs like "Unscheduled Sunrise", "Incephalopod" and "Invading Assassin Is Dead" will dizzy and stupify you. After that excellent Usaisamonster record, another Load winner. Yay!
MPEG Stream: "Unscheduled Sunrise"
MPEG Stream: "Large Field Of Death"

NEGATIVE TREND s/t (2.13.61) cd ep 5.98

NEURAXIS Truth Beyond... (Willowtip) cd 14.98

NIGEL PEPPERCOCK The New Way (Life Is Abuse) cd 10.98
This silly local metal band, featuring members or ex-members of Fuckface, Dystopia and other Bay Area punk and grind outfits, shows us the way with their debut. Notorious for their (ironic?) usage of 1970's homoerotic imagery in flyers and now, on this release -- though that really doesn't relate to the music in particular. They call it sci-fi sex rock, and I guess that's a good (as any) description for their music. The guitars and drums are definitely in a hardcore or metal style, as are the screamy vox (with lotsa "fuck" and "whore" in the lyrics), but the pomp keyboards are as new wave as they are black metal. The songs are about things like drugs, robot girlfriends, and even "OJ's Wild Ride" (some topical humor kinda past its sell by date, there). Several are intended as parodies of various underground punk genres. Definitely kinda stupid, but lots of people like stupid stuff like this. Fun for fans of the Dwarves, the Accused, Antiseen, Crom, uh, and of course Rick the Desert Dick! (The star of several of the photos you'll find and enjoy in this cd package.)
RealAudio clip: "Cherry 2000"

NIGEL PEPPERCOCK The New Way (Life Is Abuse) lp 8.98
This silly local metal band, featuring members or ex-members of Fuckface, Dystopia and other Bay Area punk and grind outfits, shows us the way with their debut. Notorious for their (ironic?) usage of 1970's homoerotic imagery in flyers and now, on this release -- though that really doesn't relate to the music in particular. They call it sci-fi sex rock, and I guess that's a good (as any) description for their music. The guitars and drums are definitely in a hardcore or metal style, as are the screamy vox (with lotsa "fuck" and "whore" in the lyrics), but the pomp keyboards are as new wave as they are black metal. The songs are about things like drugs, robot girlfriends, and even "OJ's Wild Ride" (some topical humor kinda past its sell by date, there). Several are intended as parodies of various underground punk genres. Definitely kinda stupid, but lots of people like stupid stuff like this. Fun for fans of the Dwarves, the Accused, Antiseen, Crom, uh, and of course Rick the Desert Dick! (The star of several of the photos you'll find and enjoy in this cd package.)

NIGHT WOUNDS Allergic To Heat (Corleone) cd 10.98
East Coast weirdo rock label Corleone gets a West Coast blood transfusion, but the results sound just as Providence damaged as anything actually raised and bred in Rhode Island. Best known around these parts as the label that brought us the rubber encased, supremely damaged metallic onslaught that was Throne Of Blood (and rest assured we have been hassling the label constantly for a repress), Corleone offer up this latest blast of off kilter propulsive noise rock drone jam groove that fits pretty cozily amidst their like minded but opposite coasted noisemaking brethren.
Night Wounds have all the right ingredients, angular scrape and skree guitar, chaotic but strangely funky drums, blown out bass, strangled almost new wave vocals, even a saxophone that manages to skronk and kick ass and not sound at all cheesy (which is quite a feat, apologies to Gerry Rafferty). The cool thing about Night Wounds is they almost sound like they could be some forward thinking no wave/new wave band from back in the day. A killer blend of Crispy Ambulance, James White And The Contortions (due mostly to the sax and the damaged jazz vibe), Pylon, and a handful of others whose names escape us right now. All tangled up with bursts of nineties style mathy complexity, stretched out hypnotic grooves, and squalls of noisy chaos.
Imagine if Factory Records had continued on, it's not difficult to imagine that Night Wounds might have embodied "The Factory Sound" circa 2007. A weirdly catchy, super groovy, damaged and demented, gloom infused tribal workout, alternatingly woozy and weird, freaky and funky, as likely to send the dancefloor into a herky jerky frenzy as it is to make the pit explode in a sloppy sweaty tangle of limbs.
MPEG Stream: "Allergic To Heat"
MPEG Stream: "Less Dead"

NO AGE Nouns (Sub Pop) cd 14.98
We're all geeks here at Aquarius. There is no way around it. Japanese this, Finnish that, some grim black metal album recorded in a garbage can in the Norwegian woods, whatever. But we still really love getting a great pop/punk/shoegaze album. And if you can stomach the idea of saying that for once, "the hype" isn't completely unfounded, then No Age might just be your band. Now, as we plod through Spring, looking toward Summer, nothing is more important than a good warm weather soundtrack! Enter Nouns, No Age's first full-length release brought to us by Sub Pop. Well, Fat Cat compiled the duo's first handful of 7"s in a full-length format, entitled Weirdo Rippers, but this is their first complete album proper. As you may know or guess, Weirdo was a bit patchy, which worked in its favor, really. The start stop action propelled it more than might be expected. So, for this release one could only be curious: What the hell will a No Age record sound like, and what kind of flow will it have? The width and breadth of their sound remains just as large - one part sloppy '90s punk and one part My Bloody Valentine - but there is a greater sense of cohesion. The qualities and characteristics of the recording itself are more consistent too. Also, there is a noticeable increase in the number of guitar layers as well, which means some more complex melodies. There's even a guitar "solo" at one point. Do it. Now's the time. Put on the new No Age record, go in your closet, grab your Chuck Taylors, grab a Mountain Dew - or some other highly caffeinated beverage - and have a pre-Summer Summertime party. Recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Teen Creeps"
MPEG Stream: "Keechie"

NO AGE Nouns (Sub Pop) lp 14.98
We're all geeks here at Aquarius. There is no way around it. Japanese this, Finnish that, some grim black metal album recorded in a garbage can in the Norwegian woods, whatever. But we still really love getting a great pop/punk/shoegaze album. And if you can stomach the idea of saying that for once, "the hype" isn't completely unfounded, then No Age might just be your band. Now, as we plod through Spring, looking toward Summer, nothing is more important than a good warm weather soundtrack! Enter Nouns, No Age's first full-length release brought to us by Sub Pop. Well, Fat Cat compiled the duo's first handful of 7"s in a full-length format, entitled Weirdo Rippers, but this is their first complete album proper. As you may know or guess, Weirdo was a bit patchy, which worked in its favor, really. The start stop action propelled it more than might be expected. So, for this release one could only be curious: What the hell will a No Age record sound like, and what kind of flow will it have? The width and breadth of their sound remains just as large - one part sloppy '90s punk and one part My Bloody Valentine - but there is a greater sense of cohesion. The qualities and characteristics of the recording itself are more consistent too. Also, there is a noticeable increase in the number of guitar layers as well, which means some more complex melodies. There's even a guitar "solo" at one point. Do it. Now's the time. Put on the new No Age record, go in your closet, grab your Chuck Taylors, grab a Mountain Dew - or some other highly caffeinated beverage - and have a pre-Summer Summertime party. Recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Teen Creeps"
MPEG Stream: "Keechie"

NO AGE Weirdo Rippers (Fat Cat) cd 14.98
Remember why you fell in love with punk rock? The fearless spirit, the ethos, the sweat, the youthful energy, the conviction, the elation. Remember why you eventually got bored with punk rock? The predictability, the empty slogans, the forced posturing, the generic delivery. Well lucky for many of us past punkers, No Age are doing an amazing job of reminding us of a time when it felt like punk rock could save lives.
No Age (not to be confused with the nineties musical movement) are a duo from Los Angeles who have gained a cult-following for their totally engaging and sweat filled live shows. Wild performances on their home turf, at the tiny LA club The Smell, are legendary. They've also put out a handful of kick ass, but now impossible to find 7"s. But lucky for those of us who missed the boat on those 45's, Fat Cat has put them all together on this here cd. Now we know why people have been freaking out over this band.
Imagine a youthful exuberance that feels so pure and sincere by guys who love Black Flag and Fugazi as much as they do My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive. In fact there's a lot about No Age that makes us think of prime-era Husker Du, all kinds of great lo-fi feedback and shoegaze moments infused with some serious punk rock spirit. Unpredictable and so immediate, for once the hype is totally right!
MPEG Stream: "Boy Void"
MPEG Stream: "I Wanna Sleep"
MPEG Stream: "Everybody's Down"

NOMEANSNO 0 + 2 = 1 (Alternative Tentacles) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

NOMEANSNO One (Alternative Tentacles) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Definitely the days of 'Wrong' or 'The Day Everything Became Nothing' are long past, but the Brothers Wright and co. can still pummel any of today's sorry excuses for punk into submission and admiration. Still maintaining the awesomely thunderous bass presence and sharp wit they're known and respected for. All hail the raging greatness of NoMeansNo. This is album #12. Still going strong and showing no signs of stopping. Includes covers of songs by the Ramones (heavy and sludge-y) and Miles Davis (long and strange).

NOMEANSNO The Day Everything Became Nothing / Small Parts Isolated And Destroyed (Alternative Tentacles) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

NOMEANSNO Wrong (Alternative Tentacles) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

NORA Loser's Intuition (Trustkill) cd 13.98
This is easily one of the best new metal-core bands we've heard. We had a split cd of theirs a while back, but three songs wasn't nearly enough to realise what these guys were truly capable of. Certainly worthy heirs to the Coalesce/Converge/Deadguy throne. Super heavy and well produced. They actually kind of sound like a heavy metal Jesus Lizard. Distorted bass with lots of bass-and-drums breakdowns. Completely catchy and melodic rock n' roll parts nestled between bellowing, half-time chugging METAL. So good.
RealAudio clip: "My Bloody Clownsuit"
RealAudio clip: "Wave Goodbye"

NORMA JEAN O God, The Aftermath (Solid State) cd 14.98

NOTEKILLERS (1977-1981) (Ecstatic Peace) cd 14.98
Thank you, Thurston! This cd of material by an obscure late '70s no-wave instrumental punk ouftit from Philly called the Notekillers comes to us via Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace label, and it was Thurston's enthusiasm for the lone 1978 7" single by the band, specifically its A-side, "The Zipper", that eventually resulted in this compact disc release, and now that we've heard it too we can understand why he's such a fan! You'll find the "The Zipper" and its B-side "Clock Wise" and 13 more unreleased tracks from the band's reel-to-reel and cassette archives here, two of 'em studio tracks intended for their aborted second 7" release and the rest live/rehearsal/demo material. All of them have an aggro, alienated, avant-punk energy that reminds us of elements of a host of different bands from Pavement to Polvo to Stinking Lizaveta to Simply Saucer... The Notekillers were definitely forging their own sonic path and it's cool that finally the world gets to hear some of what they put down on tape. The liner notes from guitarist David First/Hirsch talk about how the band was all about pushing the limits -- *their* limits anyways -- and as difficult as that may have been for them back then, that struggle is what kept a bunch of musical weirdos in a Philadelphia basement going. Yet "only if we failed would we succeed" he thought. Well, now they've sort of done both and I hope they feel good about it, 'cause they should. This Notekillers record is one of those lost, buried "historical" releases that has been disinterred with a still-beating heart.
MPEG Stream: "The Zipper"
MPEG Stream: "Ricochet"

NOXAGT The Iron Point (Load) cd 13.98
Second Load release from this dark and weird instrumental band from Norway featuring our pal Kjetil Brandsdal, whom the more 'experimental' among you might know as a solo drone musician. But playing bass and baritone guitar in Noxagt he makes a much more *rock* racket. Actually Noxagt are hard to pin down, surely fitting in among the other Load label misfits while doing something unlike anyone else. That's because their sound has evolved from the short sharp 'Nor Wave' punk fuckery of their earlier releases into something...folky. But very heavy. The instrumentation is key. Along with Kjetil's bass, and the drumming of Jan Kyvik, what stands out is the viola (and violin and piano) played by Nils Erga. The Iron Point is an album his of cyclic string drones wedded to crunching, spronging bass and sometimes almost black metallish blasting drums. With sudden prog-rock changes, punk/metal urgency, and the aforementioned folkish melody...all instrumental except for the vocals of guest Hagbard Heien on traditional tune "Kling No Klokka" which is a fine surprise. Speaking of surprises, the disc concludes with Noxagt covering "Regions of May" by Tom Rapp of Pearls Before Swine! Gentle yet bomastic, it's lighter than what's come before yet totally fits in on an album that overall we think is Noxagt's best yet, wherein they've really developed into something more melodic, more 'folky' yet even heavier and more focussed than before. And, continuing a tradition begun on their last album, there's smart ass liner notes courtesy of noted British smart ass Stefan Jaworzyn (ex-Skullflower). Also, again production by noted producer Billy Anderson, who knows as much as anyone about heaviness. (Nice cover/design by the way -- you can tell Kjetil is a big record collector.)
MPEG Stream: "Acasta Gneiss"
MPEG Stream: "Svartevatn"

NOXAGT The Iron Point (Load) lp 10.98
Second Load release from this dark and weird instrumental band from Norway featuring our pal Kjetil Brandsdal, whom the more 'experimental' among you might know as a solo drone musician. But playing bass and baritone guitar in Noxagt he makes a much more *rock* racket. Actually Noxagt are hard to pin down, surely fitting in among the other Load label misfits while doing something unlike anyone else. That's because their sound has evolved from the short sharp 'Nor Wave' punk fuckery of their earlier releases into something...folky. But very heavy. The instrumentation is key. Along with Kjetil's bass, and the drumming of Jan Kyvik, what stands out is the viola (and violin and piano) played by Nils Erga. The Iron Point is an album of his cyclic string drones wedded to crunching, spronging bass and sometimes almost black metallish blasting drums. With sudden prog-rock changes, punk/metal urgency, and the aforementioned folkish melody...all instrumental except for the vocals of guest Hagbard Heien on traditional tune "Kling No Klokka" which is a fine surprise. Speaking of surprises, the disc concludes with Noxagt covering "Regions of May" by Tom Rapp of Pearls Before Swine! Gentle yet bomastic, it's lighter than what's come before yet totally fits in on an album that overall we think is Noxagt's best yet, wherein they've really developed into something more melodic, more 'folky' yet even heavier and more focussed than before. And, continuing a tradition begun on their last album, there's smart ass liner notes courtesy of noted British smart ass Stefan Jaworzyn (ex-Skullflower). Also, again production by noted producer Billy Anderson, who knows as much as anyone about heaviness. (Nice cover/design by the way -- you can tell Kjetil is a big record collector.)
MPEG Stream: "Acasta Gneiss"
MPEG Stream: "Svartevatn"

NUIT NOIRE Fantomatic Plentitude (Armageddon) cd 9.98
Faerical blasting punk rocker!!! France's new wave black crust dynamic duo Nuit Noire. We went nuts for this band the first time we heard them, expecting some sort of grim black buzz, seeing as they were signed to a black metal label, were distributed by black metal distros, etc., but instead we had our blocks knocked totally off, by their furious short sharp bursts of super tweaked angular riffing, flurries of chaotic drumming, and some of the most tweaked damaged whiny yelpingly brilliant vocals ever! All tangled up into a confusional blackened aggro metallic pop, part punk rock, part grim buzz, part no wave, part new wave.
In the past we described Nuit Noire as sounding like a black metal Rudimentary Peni, but we're also hearing plenty of Christian Death, Joy Division, Crass and weirdly enough, on this new one more than ever, the Toy Dolls, mostly due to vocalist Tenebras' voice which is a dead ringer for the Toy Dolls' Olga.
This new disc is half new tracks, half older classics recorded live. All of em fantastic of course. The new tracks are even shorter and poppier and more fucked up than before. Take the second track "I Am A Fairy", a crusty gloomy jam, with a killer main riff, streaks of high end new wave squiggle, and the vocals, just repeating the title over and over and over, super fast, then drawn out and crooned, while the music beneath shifts from hooky and poppy to blasting and buzzing. Or how about "I Love You", another furious eighties crust punk jam, but with some black buzz spread over the top, and a totally strange, but incredibly catchy vocal line, sung sort of like "I love yooooooooooooo, I love yooooooooooooou". The rest of the tracks range from loping eighties grooves to washed out dreamy murk to chaotic old school punk rock to full on lo-fi grim black metal, usually all in the same song.
It's really hard to describe the sound, we're pretty surprised this stuff appeals to black metallers at all, there is some buzz and some serious riffing, but it's way more punk, and way more new wave, and the vocals are so strange and high and hysterical and freaked out and over the top, they sort of define Nuit Noire's sound, and are definitely the element that will make it or break it for you.
The live tracks are awesome. And if we didn't know it would have been hard pressed to even realize they were live. Almost the exact sound quality (maybe they're just live in the studio, but then why re-record old songs?) heavy and buzzy and furious and catchy as fuck. Even a wicked version of their "Faeries Of Paper" a song we proclaimed to be one of "the best songs EVER" with one of the greatest catchiest weirdest riffs we've ever heard. A few of the other live tracks we hadn't heard before and are just as good, if not even better than the songs we already loved.
Need more reasons to love these guys? Howabout the cool pencil drawings of the band members, one depicted as a huge monster-armed drumming demon, head cloaked in shadow, the other a faerie, in tunic and cape, big eyes and pointed ears, mic cable wrapped around a broadsword stuck in the ground. Or howabout the photo on the back of the cd, a very skinny, nearly naked band member, clad in a loin cloth and a cape, holding a guitar aloft in one hand, a sword in the other, cape spread out like the wings of a bat.
C'mon!!! How much more perfect can a band be? So goddamn recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Les Fees Volent Dans La Nuit"
MPEG Stream: "I Am A Fairy"
MPEG Stream: "Fantomatic Plentitude"
MPEG Stream: "Nuit Blanche"

NUIT NOIRE Infantile Espieglery (Todestrieb) cd 12.98
We love this band so much. We were never able to get enough of their last record to list, but now that the new one is here, it's time to finally share our crazy love of this band with the loyal AQ faithful.
Ostensibly a black metal band, but sonically anything but. Imagine a super lo-fi, sort of new wave, gothy crusty punk rock band but with buzzing insectoid riffing and occasional furious blast beats. Sort of like a black metal Rudimentary Peni, with a vocalist who sounds a bit like a cross between Roz Williams of Christian Death and Mark E. Smith from the Fall. Whiney and snotty, super dramatic and over the top, even at their most buzzing and black, the vocals kick in and the band is transformed back into some crusty black new wave weirdness. And the guitar parts are super weird, strange harmonies, a little new wave, but a little NO wave as well. But the band themselves don't consider their music to be black metal anyway. A quick look at their website reveals the fact that they consider themselves "faerical blasting punk!" Just check out the note from the band on their website:
"Nuit Noire is the only faerical blasting punk band in the world. The music comes directly from the depths of the night, where the fairies stay hidden from the humans. We love them and they love us."
Woah. Just one more reason to love these guys. Weird angular guitars, fucked up arrangements, damaged new wave riffing, some black blasts, a demonic shriek here and there, all that and faeries too!!
MPEG Stream: "Creatures Of The Night"
MPEG Stream: "Are You Ready For The Night?"
MPEG Stream: "Turn On Your Light"
MPEG Stream: "Enfant Spectre"

NUIT NOIRE / HIS ELECTRO BLUE VOICE split (Avant!) 7" 7.98
The return of our favorite masters of faerical blasting punk! Who else could it be but Nuit Noire? We just raved about their most recent disc, the brilliantly titled Fantomatic Plentitude, and were already hankering for more when what should show up, but MORE!
This split 7" matches up Nuit Noire with Italian noisy new wavers His Electro Blue Voice, who end up being a perfect match for the Nuit Noire.
What can we say about Nuit Noire that we haven't said before. A blackened buzz wrapped around spiky crusty new wave-d punk rock. A blackened Rudimentary Peni. The guitars kinetic and buzzy, the drums rapid fire and frenetic, the vocals a wild caterwaul. These two new tracks are awesome. Crusty and catchy, lo-fi and super rocking. The opener is mostly instrumental, an epic extended intro, leading up to what could very well be the NN theme song: "Faerie Punk", ultra catchy and with some of the best lyrics EVER:
Stardust all around the drums
Stardust all around the guitar
Stardust blown away from the high speakers
Stardust everywhere on stage
Faerie punk in the moonlight
Faerie punk in the starlight
Faerie punk far in the night
Faerie punk on stage tonight
Hell yeah! The lyrics just reaffirm what the music is already saying. Wild forest faerie freaked out black new wave crusty punk pop madness.
So who could possible share a split with these guys? His Electro Blue Voice are up to the challenge, and are a pretty good match, their moody bass heavy new wave post punk, perfectly balancing NN's high end howl. Their sound is very 45 Grave, like some band you might have seen play the Scream in LA in 1985. Murky Joy Division riffing, wrapped around lugubrious Cure rhythms, the vocals a throaty gothy croon, the first track playing out lie a more metal Smiths, the second, some sort of dark doleful surf rock, with a Dick Dale riff stretched across and expanse of moody melancholia.

ON s/t (Celebrate Psi Phenomenon) cd 16.98
This one is a total mystery. Not sure where they're from (New Zealand we guess) or what their story is, other than the fact that it was released on Campbell Kneale's (Birchville Cat Motel) Celebrate Psi Phenomenon label, and that it is one seriously blown out punked up slab of garage-y scuzz and roll. Heavy and noisy, spastic and sludgy, when this was playing in the front of the store, Allan went up to see what black metal record was playing if that tells you anything. Filthy and crumbling ultra distorted guitars, boy girl vocals WAY down in the mix, riffs that go from paint peeling shred to gut churning rumble. Some ungodly hybrid of vintage Dead C, the Butthole Surfers, The Germs, Flipper, recent AQ faves the Violent Students, and recent Siltbreeze noisemakers Times New Viking. This is definitely punk as fuck, but wrapped in layer after layer of guitar grit and broken amp splatter, classic punk rock swallowed whole, chewed up and spit out in huge sludgy gobs of grrrrr and rrrroooaaar. Epic sludgescapes of pound and churn, showered with wild lightning bolts of squealing feedback. There seem to be pop songs in there somewhere, but don't even try to dig that deep, you'll just end up bruised and bloodied, or you'll lose a hand or an arm. Best to just lay back, close your eyes real tight, clamp your hands tight over your ears, let these noise rockers just back their ten ton punksludge steamroller right over you and pray you survive.
MPEG Stream: "We've Got TV"
MPEG Stream: "Fire Down Below"
MPEG Stream: "My Head"