STAIANO, MOE The Lateness Of Yearly Presentations (Amanita) cd 11.98
This here is the second solo album by Mr. Moe Staiano aka Sleepytime Gorilla Museum's found percussionist. Frantic, dizzying and cacaphonous, but not without its elements of structure surfacing every now and again to make the explosions of mayhem all the more impactful. Hyper spurts of music boxes, food pans, oil barrels, sheet metal, brake drums, plastic horns, slide whistles and numerous other objects (yes, including a kitchen sink!) as well as the more conventional guitars, cellos, bass, thumb pianos, contrabass, vibraphones, drum machines, clarinets, musical saws, theremin and drums. There's some seriously twisted yet totally tight rhythmic interludes going on here - just as we've come to expect from Sleepytime G.M. not to mention their previous spectacular incarnation Idiot Flesh. Other slower, more haunting/haunted moments that take place deeper into the album brought to mind Nurse With Wound and Mr. Bungle. These tracks were actually recorded back in 97/98, but are just now seeing their release. However, Staiano does acknowledge this tardiness in his liner notes: "This is a Late album. It is dedicated to those who wait." A wonderfully bizarre listen.
MPEG Stream: "Al Capone Died Of Syphilis"
MPEG Stream: "Encompassed"

STAIANO, MOE! Tape Music (Delphine Knormal Musik / EvanderMusic) lp 13.98

STAIANO, MOE! The Absolute Tradition Of No Traditions (PsychForm) cd 10.98
Moe! Staiano (former member of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum) is one heck of a dynamic avant percussionist and soundscaper who exercises restraint in both composition and performance, but he's an uncorkable fountain of recordings (as not only a solo artist, but also a collaborator and in his improv ensemble Moe!kestra). He's so prolific that it's hard to keep up with all of his activities. We're trying our best tho'!
Inspired by the Dada and Surrealist movements, Staiano's music incorporates found object percussion instruments be they pots, pans, pipes, cooking utensils, industrial machinery or children's toys. Recorded in two separate sessions, this is his first album of purely solo improvisations. Over the course of this sixty two minute long album, Staiano moves deftly through cacophonous, sonically crowded spaces into stark, serene minimalism and back again.
MPEG Stream: "Three Legs"
MPEG Stream: "Forfeit Breathing"

STAIANO, MOE! The Non-Study Of First Impressions (Dephine Knormal Music) cd 11.98

STAIANO, MOE! / MOE!KESTRA 2 Rooms Of Uranium Inside 83 Markers: The Second Volume Of Conducted Improvisations (Edgetone Records) cd 11.98
Second album from Moe! Staiano's improv orchestra Moe!kestra. Ear and mind-bending performances!

STAIANO, MOE! / MOE!KESTRA! An Inescapable Siren Within Earshot Distance Therein And Other Whereabouts - Two Compositions For Large Orchestras (Amanita) cd 12.98
In case you couldn't deduce from the album's lengthy title An Inescapable Siren Within Earshot Distance Therein And Other Whereabouts - Two Compositions For Large Orchestras, this is quite possibly Moe! Staiano's stormiest and most expansive release to date. The album commences with the three part Piece No. 7 (2001-2003), a gradual unfolding of delicate cymbal washes peppered by fleeting squeals and peals. By the third stage the skies have darkened. One by one, tumultuous deep crescendos overtake the pianissimo passages. At that track's eleventh minute a frail bell sounds almost as an emergency alarm's last gasp that's soon to be drowned out by a swell of all instruments pushing forth at once. Horns and strings fall in shrieks, as the sonic bulldozer levels all that remains. Quite cleansing. Staiano then picks right up with the second piece which is also a triptych. No. 5 (1998) is infused with a bit of carnivalesque levity, but is no less turbulently dynamic.
MPEG Stream: "excerpt from track 1"
MPEG Stream: "excerpt from track 6"

STAIANO, MOE! / MOE!KESTRA! Two Forms Of Multitudes: Conducted Improvisations (Dephine Knormal Musik) cd 13.98
Woohooo! here's another release from the mad percussion wizard of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum (and formerly Idiot Flesh)... it's Moe! Staiano (yes, that exclamation point belongs there). This cd features the debut recordings of his highly skilled, high stamina'd Moe!kestra. Two Forms Of Multitudes is yet another display of Staiano's always impressive, expansive and trippy improvs. Played out on an eclectic mish mash of both conventional and found-object instruments, they're rollercoaster rides of sonic experimentation that leave many a listener reelin'.
MPEG Stream: "Excerpt from Conducted Improvisation Piece No.5"
MPEG Stream: "Excerpt from Conducted Improvisation Piece No.4"

STALAG Dernier Cri (Memoire Neuve) lp 29.00
More super limited vinyl-only, French reissue goodness from the folks at Memoire Neuve, the same label that brings us the mighty Soggy LP reissue featured elsewhere on this list! Stalag are rumoured to have been the first punk band from Bordeux, and Denier Cri tracks their recorded works from their inception in 1978 to their break up in early 1982. Included is the band's one and only release (the hyper-limited 1981 single "Date Limite de Vente" b/w "Secrets," which has become something of a grail among French punk aficionados) as well as unreleased studio tracks and a few live recordings.
Stalag deliver an appealing mix of earnestness, melodicism and snottiness that fits nicely with the recent Perfect Un-Pop and Rubble collections of DIY power pop scrappiness. Picture Buzzcocks/Damned-style punk swagger mixed with a touch of Gallic, cold wave cool and you're in the ballpark. Denier Cri is limited to 500 copies worldwide and we have less than 10 in stock. Once they're gone, they're gone, so act fast! Allons-y!

STALAGGH Nihilistik Terrror (Autopsy Kitchen) cd 13.98
We've had records from some hateful, extreme, heavy and truly black bands in the past but Stallagh definitely out-hate and out-black them all. Named for WWII concentration camps (the extra 'g' and 'h' stand for 'global holocaust'), this Dutch blackdoom industrialnoise horde, are often compared to Abruptum, for their extreme and ultra personal approach to music making, but they take it even a step farther. Not content with harsh hateful vocals, Stalaggh actively set out to recruit mental patients and convicted murders, by using connections working in mental hospitals and carefully planning their recording sessions to coincide with the two days a month patients are allowed to leave the hospital. Woah. The main vocalist featured on the first 30+ minute track (originally released as Projekt: Nihil) is a convicted murderer who stabbed his mother 30 times when he was 16 years old, and subsequently spent the next 11 years in prisons, juvenile detention facilities and mental hospitals. Apparently he suffered from an extreme aggresion disorder, anorexia nervosa and a host of other mental problems. During the recording sessions he indulged in very excessive self-mutilation while howling and wailing through all his hate and pain and fury. Sadly, he killed himself mere months after the recordings were made. The second half hour track (originally released as Project: Terrror) features vocals from three different mental patients, one female. Wow. That's some seriously intense and messed up shit for sure. A rare and maybe problematic instance of music that straddles that blurry line barely dividing art and exploitation, a stretching of the boundaries, an exploration of how far one can go to tap into primal emotions and create music that is emotionally pure, no matter how hard it is to listen to or understand. But the results do definitely convey that hate and despair and misery, which probably can only actually be attained by going to such great lengths. This stuff is so bizarre and so fucked up but somehow strangely beautiful as well. The sheets of noise smear and shift, occasionally attaining an almost drone like quality (albeit an extremely harsh one) .
Nihilistik Terrror is a massive, mind frying, soul shattering, freaked out, slab of droning, fuzzy, buzzy, whitenoise brutality, not black metal, not even metal really, more a sort of industrial noisescape, most definitely black, and bleak and harsh, but these are not songs, they are slow shifting sonic fields of squealing shrieking distortion, grinding ear shredding ambience, crunchy and gritty and NOISY! Definitely one for the extreme noise fanatics and lovers of the harsh and brutal, but black metallers who dug later Abruptum might check this out as well. There might be riffs here, maybe even songs, but if there are, they are buried under an impossibly dense ocean of sound, layer after layer of white hot noise and sonic sludge, all swirling maniacally around the terrified, vitriolic, angry, hateful, freaked out howls and screams of real human beings with truly damaged psyches. So intense!
Includes both original releases, remastered and sonically even more harsh and aggressive, with a previously unreleased bonus track.
MPEG Stream: "One"
MPEG Stream: "Two"

STALAGGH Projekt Misanthropia (Autopsy Kitchen) cd 11.98
WAREHOUSE FIND! Dug up just a small handful of these, the second disc from Dutch black ambient doom outfit Stalaggh, who in a nutshell, can be described as brutal, harsh, extreme and really fucking scary. Musically as well as in their modus operandi. Not content with coaxing the harshest of sounds from their instruments (there are instruments?) and emitting harsh demonic howls and hysterical maniacal shrieks themselves, these guys managed (through some dubious connections) to recruit a handful of inmates, in local psychiatric hospitals, to supply the 'vocals' and much of the artwork. And it sounds like it. Stalaggh's sound is a harsh swirling drone drenched freaked out noise, raw and hissy, loads of buzz and shriek and industrial whir, all whipped up into a dense stormcloud of sound, but it's the vocals that truly disturb, and this time they're everywhere, male, female, howling, moaning, weeping, wailing, sometimes barely audible, sometimes ferociously way up in the mix, always completely freaked out and brutally intense. This is like wandering through some old school mental institution, wandering the halls, all set to the sounds of SPK or Throbbing Gristle. This is the sound of human suffering, not just musically, but in every way, this is hate and confusion and misery and loneliness and sadness and despair and depression all channelled into a single 35 minute track. This record is sad and scary, and thus pretty fucking amazing.
It definitely takes a strong stomach, and a lot of mental resolve, and some seriously iron clad ears, but it ends up being worth it. Very little music is this raw and intimate and frightening and seriously scary. It's really pretty fascinating, as well as a little bit repugnant, definitely hard to listen to, but almost equally hard not to.
Limited to 1000 copies, each one hand numbered and the inside features a reproduction of a piece of artwork drawn by one of the mental patients.
[The digipaks are all a little worn on the edges, but that's how they all came...]
MPEG Stream: "Projekt Misanthropia (excerpt 1)"
MPEG Stream: "Projekt Misanthropia (excerpt 2)"

STALAGGH Projekt Terror: A Visualization (Autumn Wind Productions) dvd 11.98
You thought the cd was fucking scary... this DVD will give you nightmares -forever-. A retina burning, soul scarring visual analogue to one of the fiercest freakiest records in recent memory.
Stalaggh's Nihilistik Terror was a hateful, extreme, nihilistic blackdoom industrialnoise freakout. White hot sheets of coruscating guitar, minimal percussion buried beneath layers of murk and fuzz and buzz, shrieking feedback, metallic clang, industrial grind, all whirled into a caustic cloud of disorienting brutality. A bit like Merzbow meets Abruptum, or an even more unhinged minimal and noisy Burzum. And then there's the vocals, howled anguished cries of utter terror, which were recorded by actual inmates at an insane asylum, one of which killed himself not long after the record was record. Holy shit... that's heavy. And HEAVY. Definitely one of the heaviest, most fucked up, harshest, and somehow most beautiful records in forever.
So as you might imagine, this DVD manages to capture the same bleak nihilism and hateful fury, a burnt out black and white visual assault, damaged decaying film stock, a series of super high contrast images, death, famine, torture, hangings, piles of dead bodies, ruined industrial landscapes, all interspersed with seizure inducing strobe effects, bursts of grainy black and white, bits of jittery text, all to the strains of Stalaggh's harsh and hateful hiss. Even the menu, -especially- the menu, is completely goddamn terrifying on its own. We could watch the intro and the menu, a buzzing squealing visual and audio creepfest over and over and over. In fact we did. And we are as we write this! Originally a super limited DVD-r, packaged with actual drawings by inmates in an insane asylum, now reissued as a REAL dvd, without the original drawing, but with all the same killer creepy packaging.
In addition to the video, there are two -even noisier- remixes, that take Stalaggh's already nearly static sound in an even harsher and buzzier direction, as well as a brand new unreleased track that has some of the creepiest most demented sounding vocals ever, all over a strangely abstract soundscape of glitching grind, downtuned buzz and industrial clang.
Finally, you can listen to the whole Nihilistik Terror record with visuals, a flickering static image, the shadowy face from the album cover, transformed into an ultra creepy Neanderthal skull-like visage. Awesome!

STALAGGH Pure Misanthropia (self-released) cd 13.98

STALATIKEN OCH MIRJAM Angestmaskin (Phthalo) cd 12.98
A band with a purposefully lengthy Nordic name on the outsider electronica label Phthalo is not going to make for the easiest of listens. Fortunately, this actually *is* a really good listen albiet difficult, in which Stalatiken Och Mirjam erratically sets squiggly electronic sequences of semi-Acid modulations in non-techno circumstances, adding fractured hip-hop anti-funk and piercing manipulations of surface noise. A truly experimental record that ends up falling somewhere between the mania of V/VM and the academic headiness from the Raster label.

STALK FORREST GROUP St. Cecilia: The Elektra Recordings (Rhino Handmade) cd 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This is one of those releases that used to only be available online from the Rhino Handmade website...but I guess they didn't sell enough 'cause a little while ago they started selling 'em to stores. So, we had to get a few copies of this, one of Allan's favorite Rhino Handmade titles (his absolute favorite is of course the long-gone Stooges' Complete Funhouse Sessions boxset). It's the unreleased album (plus many more unreleased tracks) by the Stalk Forrest Group, a band who later changed their name to the much better known, more successful Blue Oyster Cult! If you like the early BOC records (which were reissued, and reviewed here, a few years ago) then you may well want this. All the early-daze hippie jamming psychedelic aspects of the band revealed on those albums are definitely to the fore here, from back when "heavy metal thunder" was but a line in a Steppenwolf song and big arenas weren't on these guys concert schedule -- instead they played gigs like a "swinger's nudist party at an off-season summer camp in the Catskills" according to the extensive liner notes that Rhino Handmade, in their usual deluxe fashion, have included in this cd's booklet. Guitarwise, though, they show off the skills that later made them the subversive semi-heavy metal icons they became. Even if they'd never made it as BOC, this record made by a gaggle of absurdist New York college boys into West Coast ballroom style acid rock (including hints of Byrdsian country stylings) would be a minor classic... (We've just got a few, and aren't really sure if they're really still available or not, so if we run out please don't get mad.)
MPEG Stream: "Donovan's Monkey"
MPEG Stream: "A Fact About Sneakers"

STALLING, CARL The Carl Stalling Project Volume 2 (Warner) cd 17.98

STALWART Torment Nonplus (BV2 Productions) cd 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Bad Vugum is back! Under the name BV2, the crucial noise rock / avant pop / weirdo punk label from Finland has unleashed a new batch of genius for us to, in turn, unleash upon you all. Starting with Stalwart.
From rigid beats to utterly lovely folky guitars, the boys of Stalwart range far and wide within the five tracks, 23 minutes of music offered up on this, their debut ep. Surf guitar twang coexists with metallic chug, and organ jamming meets up with angular riffs, in songs that can be headache-hammering and/or exquisitely melodic. Yet somehow everything holds together, Stalwart being a droning, repetitively rhythmic beast that's definitely very "Circular" in sound... hmm, well that's probably 'cause these Finns are in fact members of Circle, Ektroverde and Kuusumun Profeetta! Maybe you can kind of imagine a more discordant, metallic Circle, with occasional distorted vocals and off-time drumming, veering into Bastro territory? Stalwart also sound a bit like another Finnish band, the menacingly industrialized Paine, with whom we believe they share some members. But Stalwart's songs allow a lot more light and weirdness in. We eagerly await a full-length!
MPEG Stream: "Kindergarten Trad"
MPEG Stream: "Central Sandras On Black Paint Porch"

STANDARD, THE August (Touch & Go) cd 14.98
A darkly simmering second album (their first for Touch & Go). These five Pacific Northwest lads bring together quite an array of styles and sounds: lushly orchestrated rock (a la Radiohead, Coldplay, Doves), slow to mid tempo post-rock (like the loud/quiet bass, tumbling chimes, piano and gentle guitars of Tristeza or Sonna), occasional electronics, processed rhythm tracks and slightly new wave-ish / post-punk synths (but please don't be mistaken, this is definitely not another retro-80s dance record... no way! the synths add textural elements rather than melody). Over top it all is a wearily angstful male voice that swoops from a frail whisper to a hollered yelp (the latter really reminded me of that Canadian band Tragically Hip) - high on both dramatics and dynamics. This album can be somewhat dreary and creeping at times, somberly intriguing and nicely detailed at others... depending on your mood, I s'pose.
RealAudio clip: "A Year of Seconds"
RealAudio clip: "The Five-Factor Model"

STANDING NUDES Ghost Story (True Panther) cd 11.98
Yes, they do make solid quirky rock like they used to! Standing Nudes latest full length is the proof! You might recall their last release, a punchy post punk-y vinyl 7" from earlier this year. Since then they've kept the energy level up and their wah pedal well-oiled, but tailored their sound into something that's still weird and angular, but maybe a little more direct and emotive. The moody female vocals and overall tone of the album is quite reminiscent of Throwing Muses actually. Still the guitarist is allowed free rein on a lot of the record, including the fifth track, "Fight Song" (featured on the aforementioned 7"), and he noodles up a trippy storm! All and all an excellent psyched out, fuzzed up POP record. Solid song writing with enough freaked guitar weirdness to make it a more delicious bon-bon out of the musical bon-bon box where most of the bon-bons are kind of good but not as good as the really good one. This is one delectable bon-bon! There's also some summer of love, Nuggets type of shit in operation here among the general angular jangle, which is a combo that works out quite well. Killer jams to be sure!
MPEG Stream: "Another Kind Of Lover"
MPEG Stream: "Rita"

STANDING NUDES Ghost Story (True Panther) lp 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now available on limited edition clear vinyl!
Yes, they do make solid quirky rock like they used to! Standing Nudes latest full length is the proof! You might recall their last release, a punchy post punk-y vinyl 7" from earlier this year. Since then they've kept the energy level up and their wah pedal well-oiled, but tailored their sound into something that's still weird and angular, but maybe a little more direct and emotive. The moody female vocals and overall tone of the album is quite reminiscent of Throwing Muses actually. Still the guitarist is allowed free rein on a lot of the record, including the fifth track, "Fight Song" (featured on the aforementioned 7"), and he noodles up a trippy storm! All and all an excellent psyched out, fuzzed up POP record. Solid song writing with enough freaked guitar weirdness to make it a more delicious bon-bon out of the musical bon-bon box where most of the bon-bons are kind of good but not as good as the really good one. This is one delectable bon-bon! There's also some summer of love, Nuggets type of shit in operation here among the general angular jangle, which is a combo that works out quite well. Killer jams to be sure!
MPEG Stream: "Another Kind Of Lover"
MPEG Stream: "Rita"

STANDING NUDES When I Arrive / Fight Song (True Panther Sounds) 7" 5.98
This 7" is a gem! Standing Nudes are a really great poppy post punk band from Brooklyn who craft wonderfully catchy songs with just the right amount of weirdness. The A Side, "When I Arrive" is tipped further towards the pop side of things with a catchy melody, some wah wahness and a really noisy ring modded guitar solo. The B Side, "Fight Song" is slightly more bombastically rocking. Pounding toms and shredding guitars. Both songs are amazing and deserve many repeated listens. Angular, hooky, weird and ultimately catchy as hell.

STANGL, BURKHARD & CHRISTOF KURZMAN Schnee (Erstwhile records) cd 15.98
As the title of this record indictates (if you remember your high school German), Stangl (acoustic and electric guitars, percussion) and Kurzman (G3) seek to invoke the stillness, texture and monotony of snow -- snow composed of millions of unique snowflakes. Stark and beatiful.

STANLEY BROTHERS Earliest Recordings (Revenant) cd 16.98
The very first recordings of Ralph Stanley and brother Carter, made between 1947-1952 and released on Tennesse's Rich-R-Tone label. Next to Bill Monroe, the Stanley Brothers are probably one of the most crucial performers in shaping bluegrass.

STANLEY BROTHERS Earliest Recordings (Revenant) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now available on vinyl. Revenant has rivaled their CD issue with a deluxe LP edition. The very first recordings of Ralph Stanley and brother Carter, made between 1947 - 1952 and released on Tennesse's Rich-R-Tone label. Next to Bill Monroe, the Stanley Brothers are probably one of the most crucial performers in shaping bluegrass!

STANLEY BROTHERS Too Late To Cry (Catfish) cd 14.98
Sort of a best of cd of the Stanley Brothers on this U.K. import. Has some of their early Rich-R-Tone recordings from the late '40s and some later recordings from 1950. Includes their version of Bill Monroe's "Molly And Tenbrooks", plus a lot of Stanley Bros. mainstays like "Little Maggie", "Man of Constant Sorrow", "Death Is Only A Dream" and much more. 24 tracks in all.
RealAudio clip: "Molly And Tenbrooks"
RealAudio clip: "The White Dove"

STANLEY BROTHERS AND DOC WATSON Pete Seeger's Rainbow Quest (Shanachie) dvd 16.98

STANLEY, RALPH & THE CLINCH MOUNTAIN BOYS Clinch Mountain Gospel (Rebel) cd 15.98
The latter of two new all gospel albums from Ralph Stanley that have just been reissued. Recorded in 1977, Clinch Mountain Gospel features an older and more seasoned Keith Whitley stepping up to take charge of lead vocals. It's an odd combo, Whitley's definitively modern, "young country", singing style and his physically young voice is an odd pairing to Ralph Stanley's aged (like a fine single malt scotch) tenor harmonies. Along with the traditional (for bluegrass anyway) three finger picking style, Ralph uses a lot of the old claw hammer style picking that his mother taught him oh so long ago. Maybe not as immediately touching as "Cry From the Cross", "Clinch Mountain Gospel" is still a grand document of one of bluegrass' greatest mainstays. And for what it's worth, Allison Krauss said of this record "I can't think of anything better" and Gillian Welch calls it (along with "Cry") one of her favorite records ever.
RealAudio clip: "Beautiful Star Of Bethlehem"
RealAudio clip: "Amazing Grace"

STANLEY, RALPH & THE CLINCH MOUNTAIN BOYS Cry From the Cross (Rebel) cd 15.98
Though most bluegrass artists might only throw in one or two token religious numbers when they put together a record, or devote one album to such material, there can be no doubt that religion informs bluegrass music. Like the Monroe, Louvin or Osborne brothers, Ralph and his brother Stanley (who passed away in 1966) were schooled in singing harmony at church -- Primitive Baptist Universalist to be precise. And unlike many bluegrass artists, Ralph Stanley has recorded a plethora of them over the years. Recorded in 1971, "Cry From the Cross" featured an almost all new line up for Ralph Stanley's group with the exception of veteran fiddle player Curly Cline. The most notable additions to Stanley's group at this time were Ricky Skaggs and Keith Whitley, then both just a mere 17 years old. Roy Lee Centers sings lead vocals here while Ralph and the rest filling in harmony. The album is a stunning piece of dead earnest devotional music, combining the bone chilling high lonesome sound and the hard driving bluegrass stringband sound. Highly recommended.
RealAudio clip: "Death Is Only A Dream"
RealAudio clip: "Two Coats"

STANLEY, RALPH AND THE CLINCH MOUNTAIN BOYS Man of Constant Sorrow (Rebel) cd 14.98
Ralph Stanley, it would seem, has never received much recognition for his acheivements as a songwriter or performer outside of bluegrass circles. Those who've seen Ralph perform know that he'll sell you the banjo off his back -- he makes a point of it during every show. So it must have been quite a relief for Ralph to be featured so prominently in the soundtrack to the film "O Brother Where Art Thou." This collection, newly compiled on the heels of the Cohen Brothers' newest film is sort of a "greatest hits" gathering together a broad range of Stanley's style, from sorrowful ballads to scorching instrumentals (some where Stanley drops the picks to play the claw-hammer style his mama taught him), to beautiful and harrowing four part gospel numbers. On top of the hits, this collection includes some previously unavailable (on CD anyway) tracks. Cuts include: "Man Of Constant Sorrow", "Oh Death", "Angel Band", "Little Birdie", "Hard Times" and more.
RealAudio clip: "Man of Constant Sorrow"
RealAudio clip: "Going Up Home To Live In Green Pastures"
RealAudio clip: "Hard Times"

STAPLES, MAVIS You Are Not Alone (Anti) cd 16.98
Mavis Staples is not only a living legend due to her work with the almighty Staple Singers, but she continues to be such a force and guiding light of spiritual, deep hitting gospel-soul. On her new album she's joined forces with Wilco's Jeff Tweedy who produced the album as well as writing two tracks. While sometimes people scoff when big names and indie rock icons take on projects with folks from different eras and genres, we actually think it's super rad. If it turns on a bunch of kids who love Wilco and don't know much about the legacy of Mavis Staples then that in itself is already worth it, but also Tweedy is so respectful of the voice and importance of Mavis Staples, so he hasn't tried to make this some sort of hip indie rock gospel record. Instead he just helped give a strong and steady backdrop as rich and bold as Staples' commanding voice. She covers a wide range of folks like Allen Toussaint, Randy Newman, Reverend Gary Davis, and John Fogerty. The songs are filled with the kind of gospel, blues and soul energy that has been a part of her musical trajectory from the beginning.
Often times legendary soul and gospel singers in their later years are marred with overslick and processed production, but You Are Not Alone shows that if you keep it to the basics with the nitty gritty perfection of a top notch band, recorded with much warmth, then that wise voice is really allowed to soar to the forefront with everlasting impact.
MPEG Stream: "Don't Knock"
MPEG Stream: "We're Gonna Make It"
MPEG Stream: "You Are Not Alone"

STAPLES, MAVIS You Are Not Alone (Anti) lp 23.00
Mavis Staples is not only a living legend due to her work with the almighty Staple Singers, but she continues to be such a force and guiding light of spiritual, deep hitting gospel-soul. On her new album she's joined forces with Wilco's Jeff Tweedy who produced the album as well as writing two tracks. While sometimes people scoff when big names and indie rock icons take on projects with folks from different eras and genres, we actually think it's super rad. If it turns on a bunch of kids who love Wilco and don't know much about the legacy of Mavis Staples then that in itself is already worth it, but also Tweedy is so respectful of the voice and importance of Mavis Staples, so he hasn't tried to make this some sort of hip indie rock gospel record. Instead he just helped give a strong and steady backdrop as rich and bold as Staples' commanding voice. She covers a wide range of folks like Allen Toussaint, Randy Newman, Reverend Gary Davis, and John Fogerty. The songs are filled with the kind of gospel, blues and soul energy that has been a part of her musical trajectory from the beginning.
Often times legendary soul and gospel singers in their later years are marred with overslick and processed production, but You Are Not Alone shows that if you keep it to the basics with the nitty gritty perfection of a top notch band, recorded with much warmth, then that wise voice is really allowed to soar to the forefront with everlasting impact.
MPEG Stream: "Don't Knock"
MPEG Stream: "We're Gonna Make It"
MPEG Stream: "You Are Not Alone"

STAPLES, STUART A. Leaving Songs (Beggars Banquet) cd 14.98
The solo album from Stuart Staples -- aka the singer for Tindersticks -- sounds very much like an album from... the Tindersticks. Granted his voice is pretty much the trademark of the band's sound and he is their central songwriter, but even still we might've anticipated that Staples would veer a little farther from their well-worn yet still utterly captivating path of somber melancholic chamber pop. Are we complainin'? Hell no. Sure to please his band's legions of devoted fans and dour romantics everywhere.
MPEG Stream: "One More Time"
MPEG Stream: "That Leaving Feeling"

STAPLETON, STEVEN & TONY WAKEFORD Revenge Of The Selfish Shellfish (Robot) 2cd 24.00
Over 30 years, Steven Stapleton has worked with countless musicians, miscreants, and madmen in the brilliantly surreal Nurse With Wound, and occasionally he's stepped beyond Nurse to engage in fully collaborative projects. His long-standing friendship with Current 93's David Tibet brings the most prolific non-Nurse collaborations (both with Current 93 and as Stapleton / Tibet pairings); but in 1992, a curious one-off project between Stapleton and Tony Wakeford (Sol Invictus, ex-Death In June) was released. The Revenge Of The Selfish Shellfish is certainly not a Nurse With Wound record, but it's also not a Sol Invictus record. The album finds itself in one of those unique locations that really exists on its own, but also manages to perfectly hybridize the aesthetics of both artists.
It's unfortunate that we've not posted much on Tony Wakeford, and for those not aware of his work, here's the brief synopsis. After working with Douglas Pearce in the anarcho-punk trio Crisis and later forming Death In June, Tony Wakeford's personal aesthetic took up a very dark, occultish take on British folk, even darker and more malcontent than those apocalyptic recombinations of Current 93. His vocal style was never terribly polished, with his mumbling delivery and blue-collar brogue probably serving the punk snarl of Crisis better than the stoically minimal arrangements of Sol Invictus. While some of the Sol Invictus records could be pretty painful to listen to, a few are downright classics, Trees In Winter and Against The Modern World being the two strongest.
We seem to recall Stapleton quipping somewhere that he felt Tony Wakeford's music was too po-faced and that his collaborative project was his own way of subverting Wakeford's agenda. The two genuinely seemed to enjoy each other's company, as the liner notes from both artists can attest; but one has to wonder if the flipside was true as well that Wakeford felt Stapleton's collages were too silly from time to time.
The atmosphere of the album is somber from the onset, with slashing drones not dissimilar to the Nurse album Soliloquy For Lilith, but situated into a gentle melody surrounded by gasping noises and eventually giving way to melancholy piano chords bounce off of oscillating drones. These collages of semi-melodic drones continue until a frenzied noise burst gives way to a quick interlude of Perez Prado inspired mambo shimmy. This leads to the albums centerpiece: a song-based diptych of "Lucifer Before Sunrise" and "Walk The White Ghost" (a haunting remix of the former), both of which center upon an archetypal Wakeford song of grim folk tunes that Stapleton twists to their profound benefit. The album concludes with an dubbed collage of spectral noises juxtaposed with more of that mambo grooviness that could only come from Stapleton.
For the reissue of the Revenge Of The Selfish Shellfish, there's a bonus disc with material unused from the original album, plus a series of remixes from irr. app. (ext.), Andrew Liles, and Brian Conniffe.
Very nice to have this record in stock again!
MPEG Stream: "The Frightening City"
MPEG Stream: "Lucifer Before Sunrise"
MPEG Stream: "Sea Slug (Unused Mix)"

STAR MAIDENS Original Soundtrack (All Score) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Heavy-duty cheesy soundtrack to Star Maidens, a U.K./German sci-fi television show from the '70s. The storyline? Men fighting for their freedom from the women of planet Medusa! Includes the song "Sex World". As performed by Barry Lipman and His Orchestra. Oozes sexy.

STAR OF ASH Iter.viator (Jester) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

STAR WARS Volume 2 (Pratt Music) cd 3.99
Tracks include: Lazer Dub, Japs In Dub, Pumpin Dub, Dub Addic and more. What else is needed, really?

STARCHASER NETWORK s/t (Tarot Productions) cd 14.98
'80s retro sci-fi sexiness from these would-be Teutonic (actually Texan) clubgoin' droids known as Starchaser Network... two thirds of whom (Equitant and Proscriptor) are also key members of cult black metal thrash masters Absu!!! Actually that's not so strange, really, since we're already familiar with other Absu side projects that displayed far-from-black-metal tendencies. Absu drummer Proscriptor's solo recordings had their art-rock and new wave elements -- he even did covers of both Flock Of Seagulls and the Art Bears! There also has been two unusual offerings of Electro pastiche from Absu guitarist Equitant. Definitely if you dug those Equitant discs, you should check out Starchaser Network, whose influences are similar: Eno, Gary Numan, Kraftwerk, Pet Shop Boys, Egyptian Lover, Detroit Techno, etc.... yeah, apparently these guys were listening to more than just thrash back in the '80s. Thus all the darkly poppy, spacey-synthy, computer-grooved stuff here, with its decadent/deviant discotheque vibe.
We'd recommend skipping track one, "Sintro", though, as it is by far the weakest, mainly due to some unfortunately cringeworthy vocals. They should have left it off, rather than putting it first! The rest of the disc is better, and while much of this may quite well be a bit tongue-in-cheek, only on that first track does it seem like "the joke's on them". We wish that they would have included instead their rumored cover version of the theme from the the '80s TV show Knight Rider (which should give you some idea about where they're coming from conceptually!).
MPEG Stream: "Midnight Prowl"
MPEG Stream: "Nachricht"

STARCHILD / REBREATHER split (Twin Earth Records) cd ep 14.98

STARE CASE Lose Today (De Stijl) lp 19.98
Yet another Wolf Eyes offshoot/side project, and it's another good one, and another unexpected sonic detour, this one ditching all of the harsh noise, and much of the industrial crunch of the WE mothership in exchange for a sort of creepy, bass driven minimal psychedelia, a tripped out psychedelic blues maybe? It's actually quite hard to describe, an obvious comparison would be Jandek, but filtered through a more cracked Midwestern noise rock filter, albeit with much of the noise and most of the rock removed. It's all about the blooping basslines, the bleating horns, fluttering woodwinds, the streaks of hiss and whir, the weird bits of blurred noisiness that add color to these super skeletal sketchy dirges, the vocals a lazy drawled moan, it's almost like Spacemen 3 if they took WAY too many drugs (if that were possible), and were forced to stumble through a set of abstract psychedelic blues, the same sort of druggy mesmer, and hypnotic haziness. The band do gain some momentum on a few of the tracks, but it's still a druggy stumble, with instruments all lurching in fits and starts, the rhythms more a sort of looped repeated stutter buried in a cloud of swirled grey thrum, and when the band do lock in tight, there are some serious stretches of dark droned out hypno-dirgery that manage to be truly haunting and mysteriously abstract, imagine some impossible collaboration between Wolf Eyes, No Neck Blues Band and Jandek, and you wouldn't even be close.
Strange and surreal, wonderfully dour, hauntingly lovely and occasionally chaotic, an unlikely new favorite for sure.

STARES, THE Spine To Sea (Web Of Mimicry) cd 13.98
Debut recording from Seattle, Washington's Stares. While a quartet at their core, the group is handsomely lined out into an eleven-piece with French horn, viola & violin, English horn, oboe, celeste, vibes, flute, bass clarinet and cello all playing a part in their lush sound. The "orchesral" arrangements were scored by none other than tha Pacific Northwest's bow wielding wunderkind and Sun City Girls collaborator Eyvind Kang (who plays both the violin and viola on the tracks here). The wonderfully lugubrious tempos of their songs will no doubt remind listeners of the Radar Brothers. Like the Radar Brothers, but maybe also equally similar to Radiohead's OK Computer, the Stares lyrics (the singing duties are split equally between the male and female members) have a similar bleakness of outlook that's just thinly veiled by a warm blanket of opiate-like music. A further note must be made to Kang's orchestral arrangements, which are perhaps the most tasteful we've heard used with a rock band yet -- not burdensomely pretentious like many indie-chamber-rock attempts have been. The songs on Spine To Sea are often breathtakingly beautiful and eerily reminiscent of another era. This is another similarity the group shares with the Radar Brothers, albeit in a different way. For example, there's more than one instance on Spine To Sea when we're certain that the Stares are referencing (or channeling?) Eric Carmen's 70's superhit tear jerker "All By Myself". Creepy, beautiful, and recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Disconnected Again"
MPEG Stream: "1 2 3"

STARFUCKERS Brodo Di Cagne Strategico (electric eye helter skelter) 12" 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The best release yet from this amazing Italian band who boldly live up to the description of their sound as "Funhausen" -- Stockhausen mixin' it up with Funhouse.

STARFUCKERS Infinitive Sessions (DBK Works) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
On this new disc, the Starfuckers do a song called "Eternal Soundcheck", demonstrating an awareness of what most people are going to think about 'em...and it's true, most folks just aren't gonna get this. But, we urge you, give it a chance!
Italy's Starfuckers, if you're not familar with 'em, play an abstract, sparse, and totally unique brand of what they term 'rock concrete', something that kind of sounds like This Heat falling down the stairs, but trying to be really quiet about it. Percussive and full of near-silences, their almost-randomly-improvised-sounding music uses guitar, drums, and electronics to take the 'glitch' aesthetic out of the laptop arena and into that of the live band. It's as if they played 'normal' songs, then removed about 70 percent of the music, and shuffled the remaining sounds around. It's counter-intuitive, disjointed stuff, yet every dissonant chord played on the guitar, every bassy electronic rumble, every drum hit seems to have meaning, unknowable meaning. Attentive listening will reveal compelling rhythms and structures. If you dig the likes of US Maple, Supersilent, Kevin Drumm's solo guitar stuff, or that last guitar-less Fushitsusha record, you'll enjoy the Starfuckers. Indeed, you probably already do.
Ok, let's talk about "Infinitive Sessions": the first three tracks ("Blues Off", "Drive On", and "Off Blues") seem to follow on pretty directly from the stuff on their previous album "Infrantumi", kinda being more of the same (which is fine, 'cause there's not nearly enough of this stuff wethinks). One difference though: "Infinitive Sessions" is wholly instrumental, there's none of the Italian spoken in sinister whispers that cryptically caressed your ears on their prior releases, which perhaps is a pity.
Then the aforementioned "Eternal Soundcheck" ups the crackly drone quotient quite nicely for the next 12 minutes, before the final two tracks ("Funked X" and "Vamped X") reveal that the Starfuckers have gotten into a new and unexpected 'funk' bag! Not funk in any accepted form, of course, just the suggestion of funk via a 'funky' guitar sound. This caused their label to compare this record to The Contortions, Big Flame, and James Brown, but that's going way too far. They're MORE 'no wave' than The Contortions, and if the JBs ever laid down 'grooves' like these, The Godfather of Soul would have fined them, fired them, rehired, then fined and fired them again. Maybe a jazz cat like Miles Davis coulda gotten into this 'funk', but even he never took THIS much drugs. These tracks sound a bit like "Rated X" from Miles' "Get Up With It" turned into a 'Glitches' Brew' of funk fuckery.
We've never liked the term 'post-rock', as applied to such bands as Mogwai, Slint, A Minor Forest, and Shellac, however it seems to us that what the Starfuckers play is trully 'post-rock', in a very literal sense, and apparently that's the idea. The Starfuckers website (www.nanananan.it/starfuckers/) features the following statement from one Henry Clitus Colagetti, the President of something called CAMC (the Commitee for Abolition Of the Middle Class): ROCK IS DEAD, WHAT DRAGS ITSELF FOR MORE THAN TWENTY YEARS IS NOTHING ELSE THAT ITS CORPSE CONTINUOUSLY EXHUMED BY CULTURAL INDUSTRY.
ROCK IS DEAD IN 1975 WHEN LOU REED PUBLISHED "METAL MACHINE MUSIC" THAT DECREED THE END OF ROCK MUSIC.
"INFRANTUMI" BY STARFUCKERS IS THE FIRST ROCK ALBUM AFTER "METAL MACHINE MUSIC".
THE NEW ROCK, RESPECTING THE BASIC ELEMENTS THAT CONSTITUTE WHAT WAS ROCK MUSIC - REPETITION AND SIMPLICITY OF PLAYNG - RISES AGAIN BASING ON THE PRINCIPLES OF ASYNCHRONY, UNTUNING AND NEGATION OF EGO.
FUTURE IS ALREADY BEHIND YOU.
He's talking about "Infrantumi" but the sentiment applies to this new release as well, of course.
Best band ever? Well, WE rate these guys with Reynols, the Thai Elephant Orchestra, Fushitsusha, Faust, and few others in the pantheon of fucked but totally original and brilliant musical units.
RealAudio clip: "Drive On"
RealAudio clip: "Eternal Soundcheck"
RealAudio clip: "Vamped X"

STARFUCKERS Infrantumi (Drunken Fish) cd 12.98
First domestic full-length release from this strange & mysterious Italian group that specializes in minimal, experimental noise and sometimes Stooges-style freak rock (not really the latter on this album though)...

STARFUCKERS Metallic Diseases (Holy Mountain) lp 15.98
Wow, exciting times at our shop. Even several of the Starfuckers' biggest fans here at AQ had never heard THIS before, this crucial Italian band's debut lp originally released in 1990. As promised in our Record Of The Week review of the Starfuckers' Ordine '91-'96 collection just a few lists ago, the Holy Mountain label (who know their secret history of rock and roll all right!) has now done a reissue of this early Starfuckers platter, a dark slab of Stooges worship containing a dirty dozen tracks so trance inducingly raw n' powerful we can only imagine the entire band were stripped shirtless, bare torsos smeared with peanut butter, Iggy Stooge style, whilst recording this. The blurry black and white cover photo suggests as much, though the peanut butter is not visible...
If, at our recommendation, you picked up the Ordine cd (which is out of stock at the moment - we have more copies coming from Italy soon, never fear) then you have already heard a handful of early Starfuckers rockers from before they went totally gonzoid experimental. The six songs from the band's 1991 Brodo Di Cagne Strategico mini-lp included on Ordine demonstrated that despite their ultimately unique, counter-intuitive, almost "anti-rock" sound for which we consider the band geniuses, they surely had their roots in "actual" rock and roll, very much Stooges influenced (hence the "Funhausen" tag that Holy Mountain head honcho JW likes to apply to 'em). If you liked the Brodo Di Cagne Strategico stuff, then Metallic Diseases is for you. And anyway, how can it not be great with that title?
Relentless punked out noiserock riff repetition that's fuzz laden, feedback filled, with drawling English language vox all sneered and snotty, and song titles like "Dead Metal City Blues", "Western Man", "Cold White Cancer", and "U.S.A.". Godly garagey stuff for sure, loud and pounding. There's maybe a jangling, poppier side to some of it ("Shake Off" in particular), and that's a real cool time too, but what you've got mainly here is a down on the street death trip, Starfuckers on a search and destroy mission to be your dog... this left hand path eventually leads them to the inclusion of some Funhouse style saxophone squawk, skronk, squall on the penultimate track "Flower Lover", and thence to the seven and a half minute final cut, "Grado Zero", the only song sung in Italian, and heavily laced with wiggy electronic FX, which of the trax here most strongly foreshadows the Starfuckers' later experimental direction, it could have appeared on Sinistri alongside "Ordine Pubblico" for sure.
So, it's as if the Starfuckers guys got together in 1990, and decided, ok, sure, we'll make rock and roll, yeah, let's channel the Stooges, 'cause we want to START at the END, and then push past those limits. So, once they had manifested themselves as the apotheosis of "rock" at its punkest and rockest, on Metallic Diseases and Brodo Di Cagne Strategico, they then moved on to the next phase of their career to utterly DECONSTRUCT "rock" on the Sinistri album and beyond... Why they did this, how they decided these things, what happened? We don't know, we can only wonder.
But, while cool and interesting and all, that doesn't even matter. Let's put it this way, if Metallic Diseases was the only record that the Starfuckers ever did, its reissue would/should still be hailed as the discovery of a long lost gem of timeless Stoogified psychedelic ugly-noise-punk-rawk that belongs up there with the output/outbursts of such acts as Union Carbide Productions, The Heads, Spacemen 3, High Rise, Brainbombs, and (more recently) Vincent Black Shadow. That it was only the beginning of the Starfuckers' sonic explorations, a program of experimental rock n' roll reinvention that took them somewhere that no other band has ever gone, makes it even more special...
Totally recommended, as if you couldn't tell. Sadly for those of us who happen to prefer cds, this reissue is vinyl-only, although it does include a download code for mp3's, including the aforementioned "Grado Zero" which as it turns out is a bonus track, not on the actual vinyl (whoops, wrote this review away from the turntable!).
MPEG Stream: "Love You"
MPEG Stream: "Dead Metal City Blues"
MPEG Stream: "(I'm) Alive!"
MPEG Stream: "Grado Zero"

STARFUCKERS Ordine '91-'96 (Sometimes Records) cd 15.98
There are very few bands we can think of who have so fully and utterly invented a sound for themselves, sounding like nothing else on earth before, and possibly since. Italy's Starfuckers are such a band. And it's a sound that fascinates us. Unique, true originals. One of our favorite bands (and by "our" we mean us, and anyone who belongs to the secret club of possibly demented Starfuckers lovers). Which goes a long way to explaining why we're making this Record Of The Week, a disc by a band with such incongruous and impolite name, and a perhaps problematic sound as well, for some. This disc consists of a reissue of their best / most definitive albums, 1994's Sinistri, and a never-before-on-cd mini-lp that preceded it, plus other, extra rare tracks. 16 tracks in total, almost 70 minutes of music. Or since it's the Starfuckers, should we say "music"? One definition of music is organized sound, and this stuff is organized in its seeming DIS-organization. Deconstructed music. Counter-intuitive rock n' roll. Genius. Here's what we've said about 'em before, in a review of their final album, 2002's Infinitive Sessions, currently out of print:
"Starfuckers...play an abstract, sparse, and totally unique brand of what they term 'rock concrete', something that kind of sounds like This Heat falling down the stairs, but trying to be really quiet about it. Percussive and full of near-silences, their almost-randomly-improvised-sounding music uses guitar, drums, and electronics to take the 'glitch' aesthetic out of the laptop arena and into that of the live band. It's as if they played 'normal' songs, then removed about 70 percent of the music, and shuffled the remaining sounds around. It's counter-intuitive, disjointed stuff, yet every dissonant chord played on the guitar, every bassy electronic rumble, every drum hit seems to have meaning, unknowable meaning. Attentive listening will reveal compelling rhythms and structures."
Yes, indeed, but that's only part of the story, and why this disc is THEE Starfuckers disc to get, if you're ever gonna get any Starfuckers, and you should. We said they established their own sound, but they built up to it from a more familiar basis. The earlier tracks here demonstrate that, while the Sinistri stuff is the best example of the special qualities of Starfuckers alluded to above.
Those earliest tracks, the first 6 here, come from the band's 1991 mini-lp, Brodo Di Cagne Strategico. They're indicative of the band's roots in all things Stooges-y, being totally badass, driving, dark post-punkish numbers laced with shards of noisy, "out" guitar and free jazz saxophone squall... This is the sort of Starfuckers splooge that our pal JW, now head of the Holy Mountain label, once so succinctly dubbed "Funhausen" (i.e. the Stooges' Funhouse meets experimental composer Karlheinz Stockhausen). Spacemen 3 fans should dig as well. And that avant-garde, Stockhausen side of the equation comes more and more to the fore as this disc progresses...
The Bordo Di Cagne Strategico tracks are followed by two compilation appearances, both "covers". You get their utterly unrecognizable (what did you expect?) version of the Beatles' "Dear Prudence" from a cd that came with Bananafish magazine #11, and also their appropriately monomaniacal take on "Mechanical Man", from a Charles Manson tribute upon which they appeared alongside the likes of Skullflower, Controlled Bleeding, and Eugene Chadbourne, among others. We'd like to think that John Lennon would have dug the Starfuckers (if any Beatle would, Yoko Ono's husband would). Maybe Charlie would too, he's crazy enough.
Then, tracks 9-15 are from Sinistri. The main course. The masterpiece. The Starfuckers aesthetic, fully realized, celebrates 'asynchrony' and minimalism, and that's what you get here. Are you ready? It's a mysterious, compelling soundworld, one that stokes the imagination and seems somehow unassailable in its avant garde gravitas. Serious stuff, but still somehow rock n' roll. In spirit, more than anything else. Anti-rock too (with the slogan printed here: "new music means destruction of ego"). These songs/sounds are quite curious, cryptic... Blats and bursts of chiming, chunking guitar. Blips and bloops of eerie electronics. Sudden percussion, sudden silence. Feedback. Suspenseful rhythmic passages. Much moody rumble and hiss. Bassy detonations, chaotic jumbles of piano. And, crucially, the calm, semi-spoken vocals, deadpan declamations in Italian, like we're being poetically lectured by one of the Starfuckers while the rest of 'em disassemble rock n' roll as we know it. How can we describe the Starfucker's Sinistri further? We don't even understand it. But we love it.
Oh, towards the end, Sinistri's got the Starfuckers "hit single" (as far as we're concerned!), the song "Ordine Pubblico", also released on a Drunken Fish 7" back in the day... harking back to the Brodo Di Cagne material, "Ordine" is a sinister, cyclic, claustrophobic rock song, the brilliant last gasp of their Stooges-ness, hypnotic and handclap driven, with subversive lyrics that go something like this: "Criminale / Comunisti / Vagabondi / Terroristi / Prostitute / Extremisti / grazie / grazie..." You don't need to know Italian to know what he's saying.
That's all followed by Sinistri's final track, "Macrofoneie Ia", which sounds like what might happen in the studio after the musicians had all gone home or passed out, if the machines then started "playing" themselves. Clicks and buzzings, as of patch cords being unplugged, or plugged in. Or, you could say it takes the Starfuckers "Eternal Soundcheck" (a song title of theirs on another album) notion to an extreme, as if you recorded not the soundcheck at a show, but the band just setting up beforehand, in near silence but for when electrical connections are being made. Then, the disc ends with a previously unreleased track from 1996 that certainly wouldn't have been out of place on the original issue of Sinistri.
Hearing Starfuckers for the first time isn't just like hearing music you haven't heard before. It's also like hearing an IDEA of music that you've never had before. And, better yet, listening to Starfuckers for the 100th time, it remains fresh/strange, you still are piecing together the hidden structures of what's going on...
While we said that they sound like no-one else, we HAVE referenced 'em in various reviews, to say that other bands maybe remind us a bit of them, usually due to their fractured and confusional compositional ways... Radian, US Maple, Supersilent, Sim+Otomo, even Tony Tears, have all garnered comparisons by us to Starfuckers for some reason or other, but still none of 'em (and nobody) really does what the Starfuckers do. Or ever will.
If you've never heard Starfuckers, and are at all curious (you should be, if we're doing our job) this is the disc to get, as we said. And even if you are a fan, who already owns the long out of print Sinistri cd, you probably need this anyway for all the other rare tracks included. Record Of The Week? Reissue Of The Year! Well, maybe not for everyone, but those select few who 'get it' will really be grateful. And this, with the inclusion of their earliest, most rockin' material, is the most 'accessible' Starfuckers we could suggest.
Italy's Sometimes Records (who were thrilled that we appreciate the Starfuckers as much as they do), have packaged this with a cd booklet containing everything we could expect in the way of photos, graphics, credits, lyrics, and liner notes... the latter in Italian, though we glean references to the Stooges and Demetrio Stratos of '70s Italian proggers Area, possibly another inspiration to them.
FYI, btw, Holy Mountain will soon be doing a vinyl reissue of the Starfuckers rare 1990 debut lp Metallic Diseases, so watch out for that as well!
MPEG Stream: "Saturazione"
MPEG Stream: "Freddo Cancro Bianco"
MPEG Stream: "Mechanical M."
MPEG Stream: "Derivazione/Attesa"
MPEG Stream: "Mutilati"
MPEG Stream: "Ordine Pubblico"

STARFUCKERS Sinistri (Undercover) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This is a great record from a band recently profiled in the last issue of Bananafish magazine (and they cover "Dear Prudence" on the accompanying cd, remember?). For those who didn't happen to read that, the Starfuckers are an Italian group who combine krautrock, Stooges and experimental new music influence into a radical new aesthetic. As AQ-mascot John Whitson succinctly dubs them: "Funhausen."

STARGAZER A Great Work Of Ages / A Work Of Great Ages (Profound Lore) cd 13.98
Another killer, baffling brilliant chunk of bizarre blackened death metal from Australia courtesy of Profound Lore, and as we've mentioned before, we're especially picky when it comes to death metal, so for us the more twisted and complex, damaged and demented the better, which is probably why we're digging this Stargazer record so much, probably helps to put it in perspective knowing that Stargazer just so happens to feature several ex-members of twisted costumed Aussie death metal weirdos Portal. Granted this is not nearly as noisy or twisted, but it does share a similarly off kilter approach to death metal.
The first track along manages to neatly summarize the Stargazer sound in less than 6 minutes, a flurry of frantic riffing, a burst of murky blasting chug, some tangled convoluted stop/start dynamics, howled vox, squalls of dizzying confusional death metal freakout, some wild squiggly leads, little bits of NWOBHM melody, some cool stuttery chugs, and wild frenzied drumming, weird bits of doomy half time plod, weird stretches of really loud rubbery bass, like crazy rapid bass solo style basslines, a cool classic metal breakdown that quickly gets all weird and twisted and tangly, laced with some surprising melody, and finally a weirdly industrial sounding finale, all low slung bass throb, peppered with wild bursts of drum/guitar dervish, that grinds to a halt, only to spit out one more surprise blast right before the finish. Holy shit. How can you not love this stuff?
The rest of the record follows suit, a super complex, but still melodic onslaught of furious grinding metal, of muddy murky blurred heaviness, pounding mathy proggy drumming, tangled warped melodies, very Eastern sounding at times, bits of classic metal, and of course bass, lots of bass, way up in the mix, woozy and busy, and adding a distinctly off kilter and atypical edge to the groups already twisted death metal sound...
Seriously kick ass stuff, we can't get enough, and we find ourselves listening to this over and over like crazy non stop, definite new metal favorite for sure...
MPEG Stream: "Red Antlered Radiant"
MPEG Stream: "Passing Stone - Into The Greater Sun"
MPEG Stream: "Formless Face Of The Timeless Faceless"

STARGAZER / INVOCATION Harbringer [sic] / H.A.S.T.U.R. (Bird Of Ill Omen Recordings) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Some of you may laugh at the mention of an "Australian sound" in music, but when you take a look at the continent's musical output since the '60s, it's pretty clear that after taking cues from the rest of the world and putting their own spin on things, Australians have no doubt arrived at a pretty unique and insular sound, especially in the metal department. You have dISEMBOWELMENT, Portal, Grey Daturas, Halo, Vorak, Paramecium, and then the bands represented on this asskicking split full length, a reissue of a cd from way back in 1999: StarGazer and Invocation (featuring members who went on to play in the aforementioned Portal). Both bands whip up a frenzy of blackened death metal that is mindbogglingly technical and totally fucked, but never too weird for its own good, and it's hard to imagine any self-respecting metalhead not losing it over this split.
StarGazer start things off with their strangely esoteric blend of black and death metal. The music and "lyrix" to their side of the split date back to the early '90s, giving the band some years to flesh out their evil ideas into songs that sound, at times, IMPOSSIBLE. The guitars are thick and burly as fuck, the bass is dirty and distorted, and man do the drums sound great - no triggers here, just a dude who obviously knows his way around a drumkit. Super distorted punkish guitars, insane blasts and phlegmy growls all merge into a thick stew of relentlessly concentrated EVIL that also rocks pretty damn hard. The intense riffs and song structures here are pretty much incomprehensible, and if you needed any proof that there's more going on here than your average metal band, just listen to the "Outroduction" that concludes StarGazer's side, a melancholy, spacey ambient piece played in reverse. Killer stuff here.
Next up is Invocation's contribution, accompanied by the information that "Invocation has no political/racial views, WE HATE ALL LIFE!!!" Nice. The band, three dudes with crazy looks in their eyes and the intent to kill, definitely deliver the goods. Not quite as bizarre as Portal, Invocation nonetheless create insane blasts of avant garde death metal with tons of weird changes and totally skewed instrumentation that you might expect to find on a prog record. Not that you will be mistaking Invocation for Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, as the thrashing intensity and ridiculously tight playing will throttle you violently and put you in the shithouse with your neighbors for sure. Best of all is how "real" it all sounds, with guys who certainly know what it takes to ascend to the next level of metallic awesomeness without the need to succumb to any overproduced bullshit. Oh, and for the curious, H.A.S.T.U.R stands for "Horrific Ancient Sumerian Traditional Usurpurs [sic] Remembered". Something we can definitely get behind.
We can thank the folks at the awesomely named Bird Of Ill Omen Recordings for rescuing this one from the darkened vaults of time and unleashing it upon an unsuspecting world ten years after the fact. HAIL!

STARGAZER'S ASSISTANT, THE Shivers & Voids (Utech) cd 14.98
This side project from members of UK dark prog acts Guapo and Miasma & The Carousel Of Headless Horses presents a second album, following one from last winter on Aurora Borealis, and it's quite aptly titled: Shivers and Voids. That's what this sounds like. Creepy, soundtracky, dramatic droned out weirdness under the stars... stirring and sinister stuff, with martial drums and ominous keyboards. Stargazer's Assistant takes much more of an abstract, soundscapey approach to "prog" than do either Guapo or Miasma, though you will certainly hear some similarities.
This disc, which clocks in at just under 25 minutes all told, consists of 3 tracks but it may as well just be one long, programmatic piece, beginning with the nine minutes or so of "Night Soil", a seductive nightmare that finds the listener sleepwalking on a ghostly, imaginary battlefield somewhere, with explosive detonations and snare rolls violently sundering the heavy-drone-gloom that undergirds the track, making it even scarier. The title track then provides a 4 and a half minute interlude of clanking chains, acoustic guitar, and melodic, monkish chant, heavily layered and effected, delving a bit into Richard Youngs experimental folk territory, quite nice... And then "Dream Kingdom", at 11 minutes long this disc's truest epic, also serves up its most baleful bombast.
Should appeal to fans of the aforementioned acts, as well as the likes of Kiss The Anus Of A Black Cat, Darsombra, and anything else you can imagine that would mix field recordings and doomy organ and electronic noise and droning loops... in other words, right up our alley, obviously!
MPEG Stream: "Night Soil"
MPEG Stream: "Shivers And Voids"

STARGAZER'S ASSISTANT, THE The Other Side Of The Island (Aurora Borealis) cd 14.98
BACK IN STOCK! We listed the new Stargazer's Asst. cd on Utech last list, here's their previous disc from earlier this year back in stock again as well...
The Stargazer's Assistant is the work of David J. Smith, who many of you might recognize as one of the masterminds behind modern day prog outfit Guapo, or his slightly more esoteric project Miasma & The Carousel Of Dead Horses.
The Other Side Of The Island is not just the name of this record, but a series of sculptures created by Smith from wax and coal and copper and lead (one example is the creepy image on the record's cover). A series of shapes with a deep backstory, the Earth, and the world beneath the surface, the rock and soil, the time that all of those layers of rock represent. These sculptures were part of an installation, for which The Other Side Of The Island is the soundtrack. And unlike the over the top progginess of Smith's other projects, the music here is a dark and mysterious soundworld, an audial representation of the above concepts, a journey into the depths below, and it sounds like it.
Utilizing harmonium, prepared guitars, percussion, tapes, samples, electronics and piano, Smith, along with his Miasma bandmate Daniel O'Sullivan, have crafted a truly scary chunk of buzzing doomy drone. We're not talking SUNNO))) or anything like that, no this is much more cinematic and expansive, more abstract and ambient, no riffs to be found, but guitars crunch and grind, wail and ring out.
The record opens with random bits of guitar scape and piano plonk, hovering over a deep dark swirling abyss, the track builds in intensity, the various elements growing more and more aggressive, darker and more ominous, the low end especially grows blacker and thicker, and eventually coalesces into a doomy drifting psychedelic ambience.
After a brief two minute interlude of industrial scrape and clatter, and some dreamily tripped out backwards vocals and guitars, the band slips right back into the second half of the opening track, a sort of slow burning spaced out style krautrock drift, all extended drones, and wordless vocals, buzzing coruscating electric guitars adding still more layers of psychdrone shimmer, a gorgeously smoldering ur-drone beneath a slithering slippery distorted riff, that flits and flutters like some restless spirit.
Definitely for fans of freaked out free folk, dark abstract ambience and the heart of the sun bliss out sound of krautspacedronemusick like Tangerine Dream, Popol Vuh, Expo 70, and the like...
MPEG Stream: "The Other Side Of The Island Pt. 1 (Excerpt)"
MPEG Stream: "The Other Side Of The Island Pt. 2 (Excerpt)"

STARK REALITY 1969 (Now-Again) lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.