TUSSLE You Can't Hide Your Love Forever Vol. 2 (Geographic North) 7" 9.98
The second in a series of limited 7"s (the other two are from Tarentel and A Sunny Day In Glasgow) features local SF rhythm jammers, Tussle. The A-side track, "Animal Cop" begins as a lackadaisical dance rhythm with some fuzzy bass before breaking down into percussive clatter and switching gears into what sounds like a seventies cop theme, albeit one buried in fuzzy reverb. While the B-side, "Room 191", is a heavy slow dub with distorted synth crashes put through a wobbly syrupy filter that almost sounds like a Screw backing track.
Our only complaint is that it's too short! We could have easily listened to 5 minutes of that!

TUSSLE / PUBLICIST Split Infinitive (Voltaire) 12" 11.98
Release number three from local label Voltaire Records, and it's another good one. After the debut from Publicist (aka Sebastian Thomson from Trans Am) and the Affairs Online compilation, which included the debut of Lovelock (aka Steve Moore of Zombi), comes this killer split, featuring Publicist once again, this time teamed up with aQ faves Tussle, with each band offering up one original, and then remixing a song by the other.
Tussle start things off with a groovy chunk of bouncy bass driven electro, wreathed in strings, and underpinned by what sounds like blurred pianos, it's a dizzying mix of dancefloor slink, and low slung electro-pop, the production lush and softly psychedelic, the rhythms a bit dubbed out, definitely digging the new sound, and we're excited to hear more. They also take on Publicist's "Hand To Mouth" from the Voltaire 12" and make it their own, pulsing synths, garbled processed vox, even bigger beats, some robotic funk swirled in, what sounds almost like some talk box, seriously propulsive and groovy.
Publicist offers up some minimal synthscapery, a stuttery rhythmic bit of clipped synth pulse, over a krautdisco groove, and some thick funky basslines, everything softly distorted and seriously buzzy, the song blossoming into a sort of sci-fi Moroder-ish disco funk groove, with some swirly psychedelic synths and some kick ass robo-vox. And then Tussle's track gets Publicized into something a bit darker and groovier, thick dubbed out bass pulses, wild percussion, all over a churning low end groove and lush swells of cosmic synth, not to mention some weird breathy vocalizations, the whole thing sounding like the music from the credit sequence in some eighties sci-fi fantasy epic. Awesome!
MPEG Stream: TUSSLE "Soft Crush (Publicist Remix)"
MPEG Stream: PUBLICIST "Hand To Mouth (Tussle Remix)"

TUURD I Wish My Wife Was This Dirty (Carbon) lp 14.98
First we've heard from this oddly monikered duo, just bass and drums, who traffic in a sort of sludge/doom dirgery, the bass super distorted and blown out, sounding in places more like a guitar than a bass, but unfurling thick slabs of buzzing low end, while the drums deliver a plodding caveman accompaniment. The vocals might be the strangest of all, a sort of sung/spoken demonic growl, which give Tuurd a much more abstract experimental vibe. It really does sound like a Neanderthal version of OM. The groove is dark and stonery, thick and sludgey, but when it slows down, and gets a little mathy and dynamic, stripped down while the vocals gurgle malevolently, it's transformed into something else entirely. Which is also what happens on the second track, at least in the first half, the band ditching the sludge for some dense mathy noise prog, the bass and drums in a wild tussle, which finally gives way to a more slithery downtuned groove.
It's hard to really nail these guys down, the label mentions all sorts of other duos, from Lightning Bolt to the Ruins, as well as other bands that occupy a similar sonic space, Sleep, Abruptum, Killdozer, Slug (someone needs to reissue all the Slug records!), Black Sabbath and a bunch of others. But to our ears, Tuurd sound like slowed down power violence, like Man Is The Bastard covered by Corrupted, or some rare Slap A Ham 7" spinning at 5 or 6 rpm, but that's only one side of the Tuurd, the band totally capable of whipping out some seriously dense downtuned progginess, the combination of the two is what makes this stuff so good. Murky and muddy, dirgey and doomy, crusty and filthy, heavy as fuck obviously, proggy and mathy and not without a sense of humor (check out "Eating Ice Cream With Satan"). Definitely recommended for fans of any and all of the above mentioned bands, and anyone who like their music sloooooow and loooooow.
Super striking cover art, the album titled drawn in dirt on the front, the band name smeared in mud (please let it be mud!) on the back. Pressed on brown vinyl (of course) and includes a digital download.
MPEG Stream: "Water"
MPEG Stream: "Eating Ice Cream With Satan"

TUUSANUUSKAT Naaksaa Naa Kyyneleet (Fonal) cd 17.98
This new band on Fonal with all the double-u's in their name is of course Finnish, and in fact is something of a super-duo: Fonal boss Sami Sanpakkila (Es) and recent Wire magazine cover star Jan Anderzen (Tomutonttu, Kemialliset Ystavat) are the two collaborators here (at last!). The name they've chosen is apparently a play on the humorous Finnish phrase "tuusan nuuskana", which means something like "total shambles" in English. Ok, well, but while the abstract, intermittent, fractured soundz & rhythms heard here could lend themselves to that description, Sami & Jan are actually exercising a fair amount of control, and the tracks here, while not your usual sort of "songs" are most definitely music, not noise. Instrumental, full of sweet sweet drones and distortion, shining shimmer... we think most fans of both Es and Tomutonttu and other Finnish/Fonal acts on the more abstract edges of soundmaking will appreciate this quite a bit!!
The five long tracks find this project getting out of the usual "Finnish forest folk" thing we associate with Kemialliset and instead seem much more sci-fi and electronic, synth zips and zaps transmitted from a mad scientist's laboratory. Some of the sounds remind us of sferics, that spooky VLF radio noise phenomenon of the Earth's magnetosphere we used to sell whole cds of (Stephen P. McGreevy's Electric Engima and Auroral Chorus II, wish they were still in print). Somehow those sorts of sounds - however produced - are woven into a detailed, textured sound world that's at once both pleasant (really) and intriguing. Finnish forest science lab fans won't be surprised.
And, the usual obi-strip with which Fonal packages their cds is cleverly been utilized here to enhance the cover art with a simple form of animation. Designed by Shogun Kunitoki's Jari Suominen, it's a clear acetate strip printed with narrow stripes, that interacts with the cover art to create a pretty cool optical illusion of motion (a flickering, spinning pinwheel) when you slide the obi across the cover. Neat! (We haven't opened the lp, but assume it must also contain a similar insert.)
MPEG Stream: "track 1"
MPEG Stream: "track 5"

TUUSANUUSKAT Naaksaa Naa Kyyneleet (Fonal) lp 23.00
This new band on Fonal with all the double-u's in their name is of course Finnish, and in fact is something of a super-duo: Fonal boss Sami Sanpakkila (Es) and recent Wire magazine cover star Jan Anderzen (Tomutonttu, Kemialliset Ystavat) are the two collaborators here (at last!). The name they've chosen is apparently a play on the humorous Finnish phrase "tuusan nuuskana", which means something like "total shambles" in English. Ok, well, but while the abstract, intermittent, fractured soundz & rhythms heard here could lend themselves to that description, Sami & Jan are actually exercising a fair amount of control, and the tracks here, while not your usual sort of "songs" are most definitely music, not noise. Instrumental, full of sweet sweet drones and distortion, shining shimmer... we think most fans of both Es and Tomutonttu and other Finnish/Fonal acts on the more abstract edges of soundmaking will appreciate this quite a bit!!
The five long tracks find this project getting out of the usual "Finnish forest folk" thing we associate with Kemialliset and instead seem much more sci-fi and electronic, synth zips and zaps transmitted from a mad scientist's laboratory. Some of the sounds remind us of sferics, that spooky VLF radio noise phenomenon of the Earth's magnetosphere we used to sell whole cds of (Stephen P. McGreevy's Electric Engima and Auroral Chorus II, wish they were still in print). Somehow those sorts of sounds - however produced - are woven into a detailed, textured sound world that's at once both pleasant (really) and intriguing. Finnish forest science lab fans won't be surprised.
And, the usual obi-strip with which Fonal packages their cds is cleverly been utilized here to enhance the cover art with a simple form of animation. Designed by Shogun Kunitoki's Jari Suominen, it's a clear acetate strip printed with narrow stripes, that interacts with the cover art to create a pretty cool optical illusion of motion (a flickering, spinning pinwheel) when you slide the obi across the cover. Neat! (We haven't opened the lp, but assume it must also contain a similar insert.)
MPEG Stream: "track 1"
MPEG Stream: "track 5"

TV EYE DVD MAGAZINE Issue 4 - November 2006 magazine+dvd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Previously a dvd-only periodical, now with its fourth issue, TV Eye DVD Magazine comes with a print component as well. So it's an 82 page magazine + a 1.5 hour dvd, all for just $12.98, and better yet, it's got everyone's favorite berobed dronesters SUNNO))) on the cover (and in the magazine, and on the dvd) along with a bunch of other bands that we know a lot of AQ customers care about: Isis, the Melvins, High On Fire, Comets On Fire, Void, Joe "Thrones" Preston, Phantom Family Halo, and lots more. Mostly on the heavy side, yep. There's even an "in the studio" photo-essay on Mastodon. But you'll also find stuff about the Touch & Go 20th anniversary, a Louisville scene report, and (of course) record and dvd reviews, and even a fuzz pedal profile. And that's just the print portion. On the DVD: again SUNNO))), High On Fire, the Melvins, Isis, and Comets On Fire, plus Radio Birdman, The Bronx, Murder City Devils, and more. Mostly a mix of both live footage and interviews. So if the metallier side of the indie/psych/drone deal is your thing, a little bit of punk rock too, and you can read and have a dvd player, then TV Eye is looking for you!

TV ON THE RADIO Dear Science (DGC / Interscope) cd 15.98
Dear Science is album number three for TV On The Radio, and it's already been hailed far and wide as a triumph of art-rock adventurousness striving for pop perfection. That said, we're finding this album more hedging toward a Bloc Party meets Radiohead with Peter Gabriel singing (yes, frontman Tunde Adebimpe still sounds a hell of a lot like mid '80s Peter Gabriel). There's plenty of soulful horns, post-Velvets jangle-drone guitars, and whimsically rickety electronics amidst these atypical tunes. This isn't a bad thing at all, but we have to say that Dear Science lacks the epochal hits that defined TV On The Radio. There's nothing like "Staring at the Sun" or "Wolf Like Me," seeking more a slowburn arc of an album instead of the urgency dotting their first two records.
MPEG Stream: "DLZ"
MPEG Stream: "Dancing Choose"
MPEG Stream: "Halfway Home"

TV ON THE RADIO Dear Science (DGC / Interscope) lp 14.98
Dear Science is album number three for TV On The Radio, and it's already been hailed far and wide as a triumph of art-rock adventurousness striving for pop perfection. That said, we're finding this album more hedging toward a Bloc Party meets Radiohead with Peter Gabriel singing (yes, frontman Tunde Adebimpe still sounds a hell of a lot like mid '80s Peter Gabriel). There's plenty of soulful horns, post-Velvets jangle-drone guitars, and whimsically rickety electronics amidst these atypical tunes. This isn't a bad thing at all, but we have to say that Dear Science lacks the epochal hits that defined TV On The Radio. There's nothing like "Staring at the Sun" or "Wolf Like Me," seeking more a slowburn arc of an album instead of the urgency dotting their first two records.
MPEG Stream: "DLZ"
MPEG Stream: "Dancing Choose"
MPEG Stream: "Halfway Home"

TV ON THE RADIO Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes (Touch & Go) cd 14.98
Excellent! TV On The Radio's sophomore release (and debut full length!) is a passionate, captivating, artful work, with languid bass grooves and simmering guitars. Atmospheric tensions take shape, gradually build, deepen and close in. The album's second song "Staring At The Sun" is quite something to behold -- a brooding stunner. The vocalist reminds us of Peter Gabriel so much sometimes that it is unnerving. But in a good way. Kind of like classic Genesis filtered through the depressive brood of modern slowcore mope rock. But with lots of studio sheen and ambient fuckery. Dark and delirious, dreamy and moody and oh so good!
MPEG Stream: "Staring At The Sun"
MPEG Stream: "King Eternal"

TV ON THE RADIO New Health Rock (Touch & Go) cd ep 3.98
Here's a triple scoop (or in the case of the 7" edition, a double scoop) of music from these Brooklyn art-rock brooders. A smooth progression from Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes, the title track and "The Wrong Way" (the lead-off track from their album) offer an increased sense of urgency and gravity with groovingly insistent jitterbug-y rhythmic waves and multi-layered vocals ranging from a low, throaty spoken-sung delivery to an untethered falsetto Peter Gabriel-esque yelp. The third cd-only song is a slow, somber cover of Yeah Yeah Yeahs' "Modern Romance" that's injected with an emotional depth absent in the YYY original. TVOTR's music is challenging, deeply infectious atmospheric rock that levels all of its contemporaries'. Totally great!
MPEG Stream: "New Health Rock"
MPEG Stream: "The Wrong Way"

TV ON THE RADIO New Health Rock (Touch & Go) 7" 3.98
Here's a double scoop of music from these Brooklyn art-rock brooders. A smooth progression from Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes, the title track and "The Wrong Way" (the lead-off track from their album) offer an increased sense of urgency and gravity with groovingly insistent jitterbug-y rhythmic waves and multi-layered vocals ranging from a low, throaty spoken-sung delivery to an untethered falsetto Peter Gabriel-esque yelp. TVOTR's music is challenging, deeply infectious atmospheric rock that levels all of its contemporaries'. Totally great!
MPEG Stream: "New Health Rock"
MPEG Stream: "The Wrong Way"

TV ON THE RADIO Nine Types of Light (Interscope) cd 21.00

TV ON THE RADIO Nine Types of Light (Deluxe Album) (Interscope) lp 21.00

TV ON THE RADIO Return To Cookie Mountain (Interscope) cd 13.98
Oooh, buzz, buzz, buzz! Here's an album that barely needs announcement! People have been chatting up a storm about it for months. Didn't hurt that the ridiculously anticipated Return To Cookie Mountain came out overseas well in advance of the domestic release. That said, unlike most other grossly hyped to excess bands, TV On The Radio is fully deserving of both the hipster hysteria and the critical acclaim lauded upon them. Those who've waited patiently will be rewarded not only with this exceptional album, but also with a handful of bonus tracks ("Things You Can Do", "Snakes And Martyrs" and "Hours (El-P Remix)")!
On this NY band's sophomore full length, some key aspects pick right up where Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes left off, while there are also some marked differences and new developments. There's certainly no shortage of heady mood, steamy atmosphere and dark tension, but Return To Cookie Mountain is far more lively and kinetic and less brooding than the fellows' debut. Take the peppery fifth song for instance with its infectious rhythm that recalls Fleetwood Mac's "Tusk" and sultry sinewy guitars. "Wolf Like Me" is a standout TVOTR single if we ever heard one (it was actually the lead-off track on a pre-release album sequence). Another highlight is the deeeep saxophone-laced ninth track "Blues From Down Here". Soulful goodness! Overall, there's more layers of (yes, still very Peter Gabriel-esque) expressively throaty and fasletto vocals, more melodic elements, more energy, more depth, more MORE -- making for a most compelling and immersive listen! Adding the almost extraneous cherry on top are guests who include David Bowie, Blonde Redhead's Kazu Makino and Katrina Ford of Celebration.
MPEG Stream: "Wolf Like Me"
MPEG Stream: "Blues From Down Here"

TV ON THE RADIO Young Liars (Touch & Go) cd 10.98
Windy's other new favorite record this week is this EP from TV On The Radio, who online searches reveal as being the new band from onetime AQ-regular Kip -- one of the nicest guys around, plus you could see his afro coming from way down Valencia, like at 19th. Seems he's been keeping himself plenty busy since departing SF for the east coast (you can also find him starring in Jon Moritsugu's latest film Scum Rock). Simply put, TV on the Radio sound like an indie version of Peter Gabriel. At least that's what Andee thinks (as do all the intrigued folks who're coming up to the counter to ask which Gabriel album we're playing). However, not being super familiar with Gabriel beyond that Sledgehammer song, I'd have to liken the Brooklyn band's sound to the early pop albums from Brian Eno -- think Taking Tiger Mountain and you have some idea of the brilliance of this dark pop, intelligent arrangements, impassioned treated vocals, insidious clackety percussion. It's a fantastic combination that I'm having trouble describing. A very satisfying listen from a band that sounds so directed and mature. Guests on the record include Brian Chase of Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Four songs, plus a hidden fifth track -- an a capella rendering of the Pixies' "Mr. Grieves" complete with oohs, aahs and sunshine harmonies.
MPEG Stream: "Staring at the Sun"
MPEG Stream: "Young Liars"

TV POW Despite Ourselves (Fire Inc.) 3"cd 9.98
The Chicago lap-top trio TV Pow has always been a hit or miss operation, situating themselves closest (when at their best) to their one time Icelandic collaborators Stilluppsteypa as a recombination of microwave / glitch work and the erratic, shifting collage technique of The Hafler Trio. This record too is a collection of mixed results, starting off nicely with a set of modulated (and audible!) tones intertwined with a strange crackle of unidentifiable field recording, very bass heavy thumps and harsh edits emphasized by harsh static bursts. TV Pow peters out with some gossamer applications of barely audible glitches that warranted the title "this is the part the austrians like." Is this the future of artistic satire?
RealAudio clip: "(slow) jam"
RealAudio clip: "this is the part the austrians like"

TV POW Mort Aux Vaches: Being Nice Is Funny (Staalplaat) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This Chicago' trio of laptop chin scatchers offers another album of .................... ...................... .......................click..........................................................................................................................................................................................................clek........................................................................................clikcekcik.............................................................................................................clkckilckicCKilKCEk......................CKli............................................................................................................clk...................................................................................................................clki...............................................pop pow.........................clikc.....................................................................................................................zzzzzzzzz.

TV-RESISTORI Intiaanidisko (Fonal) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Welcome to the happy-go-lucky side of Fonal records!! A shiny pop-rock gem of a band from Turku, Finland, TV-Resistori play electronic toy pop with wide-eyed wit and unadulterated exuberance. Could be likened to a younger and rougher Stereolab, a Finnish Stereo Total, or a happier Cyann & Ben. Also for fans of '90s Shibuya-Kei bands, snowsuited indie pop, and wonderfully silly synths. Intiaanidisko is warm and scratchy as a brand new scarf. Charmingly dorky. Enthusiastically recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Pong A Long"
MPEG Stream: "Centrumi"

TV-RESISTORI Serkut Rakastaa Paremmin (Fonal) cd 17.98
The shiny happy side of Finland's Fonal roster. If we didn't know better we would probably believe it if someone said that they were from Japan or France because they kick out that totally bubbly, playful and addictive flavor of pop that totally brings to mind the best moments of Cibo Matto, Pizzicato Five, Stereo Total (yeah we know they are from Germany but you get what we're saying), Buffalo Daughter, etc. This time out we also hear some nice fuzzy USA influence with some Beach Boys moments and an overall feel that reminds us a lot of Mates Of State. What's so great about TV-Resistori is how they keep their sound so warm, punchy and catchy without resorting to all out quirkiness or kitsch. Too many bands trying to pull of this style suffer at the hand of over the top and glossy production that in the end kind of erases all the charm that might be within the songs. TV-Resistori do it right and keep their sound rich and dense with an analog warmth and a tender touch on the control boards which so nicely compliments their songs, and makes for one of the better pop albums of the year.
MPEG Stream: "Odotan viimeistŠ hidasta"
MPEG Stream: "Viimeinen hidas"

TV-RESISTORI Serkut Rakastaa Paremmin (Fonal) lp 19.98
NOW AVAILABLE ON VINYL!!! The shiny happy side of Finland's Fonal roster. If we didn't know better we would probably believe it if someone said that they were from Japan or France because they kick out that totally bubbly, playful and addictive flavor of pop that totally brings to mind the best moments of Cibo Matto, Pizzicato Five, Stereo Total (yeah we know they are from Germany but you get what we're saying), Buffalo Daughter, etc. This time out we also hear some nice fuzzy USA influence with some Beach Boys moments and an overall feel that reminds us a lot of Mates Of State. What's so great about TV-Resistori is how they keep their sound so warm, punchy and catchy without resorting to all out quirkiness or kitsch. Too many bands trying to pull of this style suffer at the hand of over the top and glossy production that in the end kind of erases all the charm that might be within the songs. TV-Resistori do it right and keep their sound rich and dense with an analog warmth and a tender touch on the control boards which so nicely compliments their songs, and makes for one of the better pop albums of the year.
MPEG Stream: "Odotan viimeistŠ hidasta"
MPEG Stream: "Viimeinen hidas"

TWEAK BIRD s/t (Volcom) cd 12.98
The first thing you notice about the new record from psychsludgepop duo Tweak Bird, if you're us at last, and you're seriously obsessed with seventies Japanese psychedelia, is that the cover art is obviously an homage to Flower Travellin' Band's Anywhere record, the two members of Tweak Bird, shirtless, on a motorcycle, tooling down the highway with open fields in the background. Musically, though, these guys have way more in common with Torche or Floor than FTB, their sound a spaced out psychedelic proggy fuzzy buzzy stoner pop, thick baritone guitar riffs, big pounding drums, crazy catchy hooks, and some seriously dreamy vox, not quite falsetto, but soaring and clear, there are lush harmonies, and surprising melodies, and of course some 'ooooh ooooh's here and there, all draped over some seriously thick sludgey riffs, the band slipping from chuggy fuzzy pop, to pounding howling almost metallic crunch, there's sax too, and flute, and some synths, the more we listen the more proggy it sounds, Daniel Higgs like vocalizing wrapped around jazzy sax, all draped over shimmery keyboards and motorik drumming, only to blossom into something that sounds a little like Magma or the Ruins, albeit a stoner pop indie rock version, but it's killer. Elsewhere, flute flutters over some buzzy riff heavy groove, and those floaty ethereal surprisingly high boy vox, a sort of tripped out stoner metal prog fuzz folk pop, or something. And those doses of weirdness are balanced out by the blasts of full on buzzing metallic distorto pop, and heavy downtuned chug, the riffs slipping from jangly and minimal to super distorted and blown out, the band somehow creating an impossibly catchy sound with some seriously disparate elements. So goddamn good. We'd be seriously surprised if the rest of the world didn't finally catchy on, and like Torche, make these guys the underground stoner pop indie sludge super stars they should so obviously be. AWESOME!
MPEG Stream: "The Future"
MPEG Stream: "Lights In Lines"
MPEG Stream: "A Sun / Ahh Ahh"
MPEG Stream: "Distant Airways"

TWEAK BIRD s/t (Volcom) lp 14.98
The first thing you notice about the new record from psychsludgepop duo Tweak Bird, if you're us at last, and you're seriously obsessed with seventies Japanese psychedelia, is that the cover art is obviously an homage to Flower Travellin' Band's Anywhere record, the two members of Tweak Bird, shirtless, on a motorcycle, tooling down the highway with open fields in the background. Musically, though, these guys have way more in common with Torche or Floor than FTB, their sound a spaced out psychedelic proggy fuzzy buzzy stoner pop, thick baritone guitar riffs, big pounding drums, crazy catchy hooks, and some seriously dreamy vox, not quite falsetto, but soaring and clear, there are lush harmonies, and surprising melodies, and of course some 'ooooh ooooh's here and there, all draped over some seriously thick sludgey riffs, the band slipping from chuggy fuzzy pop, to pounding howling almost metallic crunch, there's sax too, and flute, and some synths, the more we listen the more proggy it sounds, Daniel Higgs like vocalizing wrapped around jazzy sax, all draped over shimmery keyboards and motorik drumming, only to blossom into something that sounds a little like Magma or the Ruins, albeit a stoner pop indie rock version, but it's killer. Elsewhere, flute flutters over some buzzy riff heavy groove, and those floaty ethereal surprisingly high boy vox, a sort of tripped out stoner metal prog fuzz folk pop, or something. And those doses of weirdness are balanced out by the blasts of full on buzzing metallic distorto pop, and heavy downtuned chug, the riffs slipping from jangly and minimal to super distorted and blown out, the band somehow creating an impossibly catchy sound with some seriously disparate elements. So goddamn good. We'd be seriously surprised if the rest of the world didn't finally catchy on, and like Torche, make these guys the underground stoner pop indie sludge super stars they should so obviously be. AWESOME!
MPEG Stream: "The Future"
MPEG Stream: "Lights In Lines"
MPEG Stream: "A Sun / Ahh Ahh"
MPEG Stream: "Distant Airways"

TWEAK BIRD Undercover Crops (Volcom) cd 8.98
Latest from weirdo psychedelic sludge pop duo Tweak Bird, whose self titled debut was a HUGE hit around here, and at the time, we compared them to Torche, since they definitely specialized in a similarly hook heavy poppy sludge, and really very little has changed this time around. The record opens with a maddeningly looped vocal, over pulsing synths, collaged melodic fragments and weird voices, panned heavily swooping from speaker to speaker, before the band finally launch into a song proper, which displays much of the stuff we loved about the other record, but here displaying much more of a poppy vibe, still heavy, but not nearly as sludgey, the vocals slipping into near Geddy Lee territory, but the song, CRAZY catchy, a little proggy too, a pretty much perfect blast of short sharp proggy psych pop heaviness that reminds us how much we missed these guys. The follow up is more of the same, buzzing guitars, keening vocals, pounding drums, hooks galore, totally anthemic, the kind of jams that you'll find stuck in your head for days, and we're imagining would whip a pit into a serious prog pop frenzy, assuming there are prog-pop-pits, and if there aren't there sure as shit should be.
The record is short, seven songs, sixteen minutes, but odds are you'll find yourself playing this over and over and over. A new favorite for sure. Heavy pop nerds pay heed!
MPEG Stream: "People"
MPEG Stream: "Psychorain"
MPEG Stream: "Weight"

TWEAK BIRD Undercover Crops (Volcom) lp 14.98
Latest from weirdo psychedelic sludge pop duo Tweak Bird, whose self titled debut was a HUGE hit around here, and at the time, we compared them to Torche, since they definitely specialized in a similarly hook heavy poppy sludge, and really very little has changed this time around. The record opens with a maddeningly looped vocal, over pulsing synths, collaged melodic fragments and weird voices, panned heavily swooping from speaker to speaker, before the band finally launch into a song proper, which displays much of the stuff we loved about the other record, but here displaying much more of a poppy vibe, still heavy, but not nearly as sludgey, the vocals slipping into near Geddy Lee territory, but the song, CRAZY catchy, a little proggy too, a pretty much perfect blast of short sharp proggy psych pop heaviness that reminds us how much we missed these guys. The follow up is more of the same, buzzing guitars, keening vocals, pounding drums, hooks galore, totally anthemic, the kind of jams that you'll find stuck in your head for days, and we're imagining would whip a pit into a serious prog pop frenzy, assuming there are prog-pop-pits, and if there aren't there sure as shit should be.
The record is short, seven songs, sixteen minutes, but odds are you'll find yourself playing this over and over and over. A new favorite for sure. Heavy pop nerds pay heed!
MPEG Stream: "People"
MPEG Stream: "Psychorain"
MPEG Stream: "Weight"

TWEDDLE, CHARLIE Fantastic Greatest Hits (Companion) cd 14.98
What would happen if you took the songwriting talents of Townes Van Sandt and Terry Allen, fed them a bag of dried hallucinagenic mushrooms, brought in the recording talents of Bjorn Olsson with his recycled cassettes mastered onto a dying tape deck and ran the whole thing through the Jewelled Antler's nature recordings filter? Charlie Tweddle's Fantastic Greatest Hits, that's what. Recorded in 1971 in San Rafael, California, with a backup band of either friends who shared his vision or hired guns, Charlie released the album himself in 1974 under the name of Eilrahc Elddewt in a pressing of 500 copies. Needless to say the record was a flop and -- due to the inclusion of extended periods of silence between tracks -- many were returned as defective. It didn't help that there were no track names and that all of side b was a field recording of frogs and crickets. Charlie Tweddle was quite possibly way ahead of his time. All of his songs are mixed with field recordings and random sounds and most of them have a tendancy to end abruptly. In one song, folky acoustic guitar ballads are mixed in with squawking seagulls, ocean sounds and overdubbed spoken word. The second track, an off-kilter mariachi imitation with acoustic guitar and vocals uses an am radio accompaniment (supplying the mariachi band). This reissue includes the original album in its entirety (recorded directly from an existing copy of the LP) plus six never before released tracks. A definite must for fans of the Jewelled Antler releases, Jandek, or outsider country artists in general.
MPEG Stream: "[Track 2]"
MPEG Stream: "[Track 6]"
MPEG Stream: "Jesus And The Devil"

TWEEDY, JEFF Chelsea Walls (OST) (Rykodisc) cd 16.98
Jeff Tweedy of Wilco and Uncle Tupelo wrote and performed this soundtrack to an Ethan Hawke-directed film about the Chelsea Hotel in NYC. It's mostly echoey, moody soundtrack fare, peppered with twangy numbers performed with some of the members of Wilco and/or Billy Bragg. The standout gem, though, is the achingly falsetto-voiced jazz singer Jimmy Scott.
RealAudio clip: JIMMY SCOTT "Jealous Guy"
RealAudio clip: JEFF TWEEDY "Hello, Are You There?"
RealAudio clip: ROBERT SEAN LEONARD AND STEVE ZAHN "The Lonely 1"

TWEEDY, JEFF Sunken Treasure (Nonesuch) dvd 21.00
Fear not, Mr. Jeff Tweedy's not lost at sea. Despite this dvd's title, the live performance footage showcases the Wilco frontman goin' it alone absolutely present and accounted for and fully in his element... if somewhat mildly cantankerous at times. Filmed earlier this year on his West Coast solo acoustic tour which stopped in Seattle, Portland, Eugene, Arcata and SF, he performs beloved songs from all of his bands (Wilco, Loose Fur and Uncle Tupelo) as well as an unreleased tune called "The Thanks I Get". Really good! Very bare bones, intimate and direct. So we say, "Sunken? No! Treasure? Yes!"

TWEET It's Me Again (Goldmind) cd 16.98

TWEET Southern Hummingbird (EastWest) cd 17.98
All it took was one viewing of the video for Tweet's first single to make us NEED to own this. Not only is the loop for 'Oops' probably the greatest Timbaland rhythm track ever, the song itself is racy and saucy (chorus: "Ooops, there goes my shirt, up over my head. Ooops, there goes my skirt, down around my feet") and Tweet and her dancers are F-I-N-E. Plus with guest vocals by Missy Elliott and a video set that looks like the ice hotel in Sweden or the set of John Carpenter's 'The Thing', you just can't go wrong. The rest of the record is pretty decent, slow-jammish, sexy, sultry R+B. But if you need another reason to own this, it's the secret track at the end, which just happens to be a brand new Missy Elliott single, and it's a goodie. A stuttering stumbling Timbaland 3/4 verse coupled up with the chorus to the fifties classic "Hey Big Spender." Niiiiice.
RealAudio clip: TWEET "Oops (Oh My)"
RealAudio clip: MISSY ELLIOTT "Big Spender"

TWELLS & CHRISTENSEN Costs (Digitalis) lp 19.98

TWELLS & CHRISTENSEN Costs (Digitalis) lp 19.98

TWELVE DARK NOONS (CASTEL, JACQUELINE / NAKED ON THE VAGUE) (Sacred Bones) dvd-r 14.98
It's always a good sign with a dvd when you end up watching the menu screen, thinking the movie had already begun, which is exactly what happened with this, the first film from Sacred Bones, called Twelve Dark Noons, "A Psychedelic Film For The Apocalypse In Twelve Chapters", which is sort of a companion to Aussie gloom rockers Naked On The Vague's most recent record of the same name, and it is indeed seriously psychedelic, shot in the outback of Australia, with music (obviously) by Naked On The Vague. To get past the menu screen, with its hauntingly repetitive music and Twilight Zone like metronome floating in the center of a clock where all the numbers read 12, just click on the clock, and suddenly you're transported into this sun baked drugged out otherworld, a Super 8 filmed wasteland, where a suited man, bloody and beaten, awakens lost and confused, there's sand, and beaches and deserts, and mysterious plants, and grandfather clocks, cloud heavy skies, ominous trees, it's very abstract, but it looks great, and the music is haunting and abstract, definitely psychedelic, the only proper rock songs are during the beginning and end credits, but the rest of the music is definitely appropriately tripped out and ominous. It's super short, clocking in right around 15 minutes, but it's pretty dang cool, and LIMITED TO 200 COPIES. Each one hand numbered. Packaged in a screen printed, wax sealed, cardstock, felt lined, origami style sleeve, with a printed psychedelic transparency insert.

TWENTY MILES (Fat Possum Records/Epitaph) cd 12.98
Judah Bauer, the other guitarist in the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, teams up with his brother for some down-home Mississippi rockin...there's also a triple 7" from these bros. of entirely different songs...did we mention the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion?

TWILIGHT Monument To Time End (Southern Lord) cd 15.98
Whoa. Just when we warmed ourselves to the idea that this would NEVER happen... it happened. The return of Twilight, described out of necessity as a "black metal supergroup", a bad description for something so awesome, but more or less to the point. The core lineup of Blake Judd (Nachtmystium), N. Imperial (Krieg), and Wrest (Leviathan/Lurker of Chalice) soldiered on without past contributors Hildolf (Draugar) and Malefic (Xasthur), and made themselves even more super with the additions, on this recording at least, of Sanford Parker (Minsk/Buried At Sea), Aaron Turner (Isis, etc.), Robert Lowe (Lichens, 90 Day Men, and now OM apparently), and Stavros Giannopoulos, who is new to us but whose presence is at the very least justified by the his awesome name. And yes, we realized how many bands we had to list in parentheses, but if anything, that should accommodate you to the awesome pedigree on display here, letting you know that there is no way in hell it could be anything except completely awesome.
Monument To Time End is not only great, but full of unexpected turns throughout. Unlike its self-titled predecessor, which was pretty much as black as black metal can get (opening song "Woe Is The Contagion" being one of the most terrifying things EVER), there is a surprising amount of diversity here. For example, would you have ever expected this horde to whip out an emo-ish breakdown with disco beats? Probably not, and the good news is that it doesn't suck at all, it just confounds in the best way imaginable and makes you love this band even more. And while the other album was created by swapping tapes through the mail with the fidelity being pretty much what you would expect from such, Monument is a work of well thought out, amazingly produced ART. This no doubt has much to do with Parker's presence and the use of his Volume Studios, not to mention the amount of time that has passed since the first album. Best of all, none of these upgrades in any way represent a more subdued or cuddly Twilight; on the contrary, this shit sounds even more dangerous, unstoppable, and out to kill. But enough rambling, let's talk songs here.
Doomy opener "The Cryptic Ascension" sounds a bit like a more evil Pelican, and Turner's signature is in full effect for the aforementioned emo-ish breakdown replete with disco beats. Imperial's vocals, however, definitely help bring things to another darkened realm. And while we really don't need to say this, we will: FUCK is Wrest an amazing drummer, and his bell heavy work on the ride cymbal helps carry this song to its amazing fadeout before everything is overtaken by Parker's spaced out synth buzz. The word "epic" is thrown around all the time in metal these days, to the point where it seems to have lost its meaning, but here Twilight completely own the term. Really no other word will do; this shit is EPIC. "Fall Behind Eternity" is up next, sounding a lot like Leviathan's creepy ambient moments with more spacey synth until the brutality kicks in with a dizzying blast. On "8,000 Years", things manage to be both soaring and pummeling, and the combined talents of these guys gives birth to some of the most adventurous and impressive metal we have heard in, well, forever. "The Catastrophe Exhibition" opens up with some ominous acoustic strumming and weird ambience with effected martial drums before venturing into unknown terrain where the band sounds a bit like an evil Don Cab being broadcast out of a portal to Hell. The album closes with "Negative Signal Omega", another awesome surprise that begins as a crumbling drone experiment and ends with a choraled vocal chant that is stunningly beautiful. Did you ever think we would use words like "stunningly beautiful" to describe this band when they first came out? Neither did we.
We say a lot of things about all the metal coming in these doors, but Twilight have set the bar pretty high with this album. Monument To Time End will without question end up on many year end best ofs, and with good reason. The greatest success here is the fact that everybody's dirty, blackened fingerprints are all over this project, but the end result is something totally of its own creation. Not many guys could pull this kind of thing off without seeming at least a little bit self-indulgent. Twilight have surprised us all by putting out one of the best metal records in recent memory. Until we fully understand what the fuck happened in Chicago, where the album was recorded, we're just going to be blasting it nonstop. While words may fail to convey just how amazing this is, we give it our highest seal of approval and have no doubt you too will agree...
MPEG Stream: "The Cryptic Ascension"
MPEG Stream: "Fall Behind Eternity"
MPEG Stream: "8,000 Years"

TWILIGHT Monument To Time End (Southern Lord) 2lp 23.00
NOW ON VINYL!
Whoa. Just when we warmed ourselves to the idea that this would NEVER happen... it happened. The return of Twilight, described out of necessity as a "black metal supergroup", a bad description for something so awesome, but more or less to the point. The core lineup of Blake Judd (Nachtmystium), N. Imperial (Krieg), and Wrest (Leviathan/Lurker of Chalice) soldiered on without past contributors Hildolf (Draugar) and Malefic (Xasthur), and made themselves even more super with the additions, on this recording at least, of Sanford Parker (Minsk/Buried At Sea), Aaron Turner (Isis, etc.), Robert Lowe (Lichens, 90 Day Men, and now OM apparently), and Stavros Giannopoulos, who is new to us but whose presence is at the very least justified by the his awesome name. And yes, we realized how many bands we had to list in parentheses, but if anything, that should accommodate you to the awesome pedigree on display here, letting you know that there is no way in hell it could be anything except completely awesome.
Monument To Time End is not only great, but full of unexpected turns throughout. Unlike its self-titled predecessor, which was pretty much as black as black metal can get (opening song "Woe Is The Contagion" being one of the most terrifying things EVER), there is a surprising amount of diversity here. For example, would you have ever expected this horde to whip out an emo-ish breakdown with disco beats? Probably not, and the good news is that it doesn't suck at all, it just confounds in the best way imaginable and makes you love this band even more. And while the other album was created by swapping tapes through the mail with the fidelity being pretty much what you would expect from such, Monument is a work of well thought out, amazingly produced ART. This no doubt has much to do with Parker's presence and the use of his Volume Studios, not to mention the amount of time that has passed since the first album. Best of all, none of these upgrades in any way represent a more subdued or cuddly Twilight; on the contrary, this shit sounds even more dangerous, unstoppable, and out to kill. But enough rambling, let's talk songs here.
Doomy opener "The Cryptic Ascension" sounds a bit like a more evil Pelican, and Turner's signature is in full effect for the aforementioned emo-ish breakdown replete with disco beats. Imperial's vocals, however, definitely help bring things to another darkened realm. And while we really don't need to say this, we will: FUCK is Wrest an amazing drummer, and his bell heavy work on the ride cymbal helps carry this song to its amazing fadeout before everything is overtaken by Parker's spaced out synth buzz. The word "epic" is thrown around all the time in metal these days, to the point where it seems to have lost its meaning, but here Twilight completely own the term. Really no other word will do; this shit is EPIC. "Fall Behind Eternity" is up next, sounding a lot like Leviathan's creepy ambient moments with more spacey synth until the brutality kicks in with a dizzying blast. On "8,000 Years", things manage to be both soaring and pummeling, and the combined talents of these guys gives birth to some of the most adventurous and impressive metal we have heard in, well, forever. "The Catastrophe Exhibition" opens up with some ominous acoustic strumming and weird ambience with effected martial drums before venturing into unknown terrain where the band sounds a bit like an evil Don Cab being broadcast out of a portal to Hell. The album closes with "Negative Signal Omega", another awesome surprise that begins as a crumbling drone experiment and ends with a choraled vocal chant that is stunningly beautiful. Did you ever think we would use words like "stunningly beautiful" to describe this band when they first came out? Neither did we.
We say a lot of things about all the metal coming in these doors, but Twilight have set the bar pretty high with this album. Monument To Time End will without question end up on many year end best ofs, and with good reason. The greatest success here is the fact that everybody's dirty, blackened fingerprints are all over this project, but the end result is something totally of its own creation. Not many guys could pull this kind of thing off without seeming at least a little bit self-indulgent. Twilight have surprised us all by putting out one of the best metal records in recent memory. Until we fully understand what the fuck happened in Chicago, where the album was recorded, we're just going to be blasting it nonstop. While words may fail to convey just how amazing this is, we give it our highest seal of approval and have no doubt you too will agree...
MPEG Stream: "The Cryptic Ascension"
MPEG Stream: "Fall Behind Eternity"
MPEG Stream: "8,000 Years"

TWILIGHT s/t (Southern Lord) cd 14.98
What do you get when you mix Wrest from Leviathan, Malefic from Xasthur, Hildolf from Draugar, Imperial from Krieg and Azentrius from Nachtmystium? Odds are by the end of that sentence, most of you black metal fans don't even care, you just want it whatever it is! Well, what IT is, is a long in the works collaboration dubbed Twilight, featuring the above mentioned black metal masters, all conspiring to produce the sickest, grimmest black metal ever. And Twilight certainly is both grim and sick, but the sound manages to be much more, veering dramatically from the various contributors' usual sound and sounds. The first track is a massive and thick, buzzy and blurry tarpit of swirling BM, that is so unbelievably dense at times that the vocals and guitars and drums almost merge into a single massive blackened drone, before random parts shift ever so slightly and are allowed to drift to the forefront before slipping back into the murky blackness. Layer after layer of downtuned riffing, insane blast beats and hellishly surreal super processed howling vocals (sounding almost like all five of them are singing simultaneously). Quite possibly one of the most frightening black metal tracks EVER. We were totally thrown for a loop though with track two, which starts off with a bizarre jaunty black metal jig, accompanied by grunted troll-like vocals, before splintering into more familiar buzz and drone territory. After that it's exactly what you would expect from a BM dream team like this, lots of midtempo Burzumic throb and buzzy BM drone, plenty of growled, howled, gurgled and shrieked vocals, completely amazing riffs, veering from echoing spacious doom to razor sharp blackthrash to weirdly melodic almost jangle, catchy melodies that reveal themselves slowly with each listen, and of course there's Wrest's amazing and super creative drumming holding it all together. The sticker on the front pretty much says it all: "As an entity, they have delivered a mammoth, blackened metallic statement. Bleak, cold, darkness within and beyond the void."
MPEG Stream: "Woe Is The Contagion"
MPEG Stream: "Exact Agony, Take Life"

TWILIGHT s/t (Southern Lord) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The super limited vinyl version back in stock for a limited time!
What do you get when you mix Wrest from Leviathan, Malefic from Xasthur, Hildolf from Draugar, Imperial from Krieg and Azentrius from Nachtmystium? Odds are by the end of that sentence, most of you black metal fans don't even care, you just want it whatever it is! Well, what IT is, is a long in the works collaboration dubbed Twilight, featuring the above mentioned black metal masters, all conspiring to produce the sickest, grimmest black metal ever. And Twilight certainly is both grim and sick, but the sound manages to be much more, veering dramatically from the various contributors' usual sound and sounds. The first track is a massive and thick, buzzy and blurry tarpit of swirling BM, that is so unbelievably dense at times that the vocals and guitars and drums almost merge into a single massive blackened drone, before random parts shift ever so slightly and are allowed to drift to the forefront before slipping back into the murky blackness. Layer after layer of downtuned riffing, insane blast beats and hellishly surreal super processed howling vocals (sounding almost like all five of them are singing simultaneously). Quite possibly one of the most frightening black metal tracks EVER. We were totally thrown for a loop though with track two, which starts off with a bizarre jaunty black metal jig, accompanied by grunted troll-like vocals, before splintering into more familiar buzz and drone territory. After that it's exactly what you would expect from a BM dream team like this, lots of midtempo Burzumic throb and buzzy BM drone, plenty of growled, howled, gurgled and shrieked vocals, completely amazing riffs, veering from echoing spacious doom to razor sharp blackthrash to weirdly melodic almost jangle, catchy melodies that reveal themselves slowly with each listen, and of course there's Wrest's amazing and super creative drumming holding it all together. The sticker on the front pretty much says it all: "As an entity, they have delivered a mammoth, blackened metallic statement. Bleak, cold, darkness within and beyond the void."
MPEG Stream: "Woe Is The Contagion"
MPEG Stream: "Exact Agony, Take Life"

TWILIGHT CIRCUS Dub From The Secret Vaults (Roir) cd 16.98
Don't let the cheesey bargin bin Miami Bass cover art deceive you, this is not a Twilight Circus album to pass up. Dub From The Secret Vaults is a collection of unreleased recordings by Ryan Moore / Twilight Circus bestowed upon Roir for release in part, it would appear, as a way of saying thanks to their having turned him on to such great new music in his youth. This anthology of unheard gems spans Moore's entire Twilight Circus career, with some tracks spanning back 20 years (originally recorded on cassette!) It's actually kind of ironic that whoever chose to do the album's layout would choose such an antithetical collage of images -- CAD renderings of speaker drivers, digital waveform images and strings of ones and zeros -- to visually represent the work of Twilight Circus contained herein. If there's anything that makes Moore stand out from the crowd of modern day dub purveyors its his decidedly traditional and analog approach to making his music. The core of what is contained on Dub From The Vaults is all that we know and love about Twilight Circus: genuinely executed 70's era dub saturated in reverb and anchored in heavy, heavy bass and drums. As a bonus, we're treated to some of the seedlings of dub concepts from a young Ryan Moore (as good, if not better than the wild dub of his fellow young punks!) along with some of new directions for the Twilight Circus Dub Sound System. Highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "The Groove"
MPEG Stream: "K2500"

TWILIGHT CIRCUS The Essential Collection (M) cd 16.98
Ryan Moore, our favorite Dutch-by-way-of-Canada dub meister's "best of" collection. With 12 tracks dating back as far as 1995 and on up to the present, this might be a good place to start for those unfamiliar with Twilight Circus. Big and beefy drum sounds, bouncy spring reverb, tape delay super psychedelic and so stoney you'll get a friggin' contact high just listening to some of his shit. And all recorded using vintage analog equipment, the way dub oughta be recorded. Contains tracks from In Dub Volume 1, Horsie, Dub Voyage, Volcanic Dub, and Dub Plates Volumes 1, 2 & 3.
RealAudio clip: "Trinity"
RealAudio clip: "Sir Dub"

TWILIGHT CIRCUS DUB SOUND SYSTEM Dub Plate Selection (M Records) cd 16.98
Originally released in 1998 on cd only, Dub Plate Selection is now available on both cd and lp. This is the first volume in Ryan Moore's series of self-reworked material from his earlier releases: "In Dub Vol. 1", "Other Worlds In Dub" and "Binshaker Dub". Along with the six reworked tracks, there are four cuts of completely new material (with one track -- "Filter 13" -- being reworked again on the second volume of dub plates). There's quite a mix of Moore's various aesthetic leanings on this disc which kind of makes it a good place to start. There's the faux-ethnicky "Beneath the Valley of the Ultra Dub" with its haunting violin line plaintively moaning over heavy dub, there's the Euro-dance floor ready dub appropriately titled the "808 Dub Plate" and then there's just a ton of really good heavy dub with oodles of stereo delay, head-cold congestion style muffled bass and LOUD drums. If you're a cd buyer you'll also be getting three bonus tracks not available on the lp (or the original issue of this cd as far as I know) of really tweaked out remixes of both Filter 13 and Lowell And Nine, plus a hidden track of some bong hit sample laden dub that'll give you cotton mouth for even listening. Apologies to vinyl lovers.
RealAudio clip: "Beneath the Valley of the Ultra Dub"
RealAudio clip: "Rocking Dub (12 Inch Version)"
RealAudio clip: "Lowell And Nine Dub Plate"

TWILIGHT CIRCUS DUB SOUND SYSTEM Dub Plate Selection (M Records) lp 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Originally released in 1998 on cd only, Dub Plate Selection is now available on both cd and lp. This is the first volume in Ryan Moore's series of self-reworked material from his earlier releases: "In Dub Vol. 1", "Other Worlds In Dub" and "Binshaker Dub". Along with the six reworked tracks, there are four cuts of completely new material (with one track -- "Filter 13" -- being reworked again on the second volume of dub plates). There's quite a mix of Moore's various aesthetic leanings on this disc which kind of makes it a good place to start. There's the faux-ethnicky "Beneath the Valley of the Ultra Dub" with its haunting violin line plaintively moaning over heavy dub, there's the Euro-dance floor ready dub appropriately titled the "808 Dub Plate" and then there's just a ton of really good heavy dub with oodles of stereo delay, head-cold congestion style muffled bass and LOUD drums. If you're a cd buyer you'll also be getting three bonus tracks not available on the lp (or the original issue of this cd as far as I know) of really tweaked out remixes of both Filter 13 and Lowell And Nine, plus a hidden track of some bong hit sample laden dub that'll give you cotton mouth for even listening. Apologies to vinyl lovers.

TWILIGHT CIRCUS DUB SOUND SYSTEM Dub Plates Vol. 3 (M) cd 16.98
Dub machine Ryan Moore returns with yet another collection of rarities, remixes and dub plates -- basically things that have never been available for mass consumption. Once again Moore does not disappoint, proving that he's still the reigning king of dub in the 21st century. Moore uses only the freshest ingredients: hand picked bass lines and live drums heavily cooked in overdriven tube gear and mixed together onto analog tape. It's a sound you just can't get microwaving dubs in a home computer based recording studio, no matter how many software plug-ins you've got.
RealAudio clip: "A.P. Steppa"
RealAudio clip: "Binghi - Brain Melt Mix"

TWILIGHT CIRCUS DUB SOUND SYSTEM Dub Plates Vol. 3 (M) lp 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Dub machine Ryan Moore returns with yet another collection of rarities, remixes and dub plates -- basically things that have never been available for mass consumption. Once again Moore does not disappoint, proving that he's still the reigning king of dub in the 21st century. Moore uses only the freshest ingredients: hand picked bass lines and live drums heavily cooked in overdriven tube gear and mixed together onto analog tape. It's a sound you just can't get microwaving dubs in a home computer based recording studio, no matter how many software plug-ins you've got.

TWILIGHT CIRCUS DUB SOUND SYSTEM Dub Plates Volume Two (M Records) cd 16.98
Dub Plates Volume Two is a collection of reworked dubs (mostly from Horsie and Binshaker Dub) and rarities from Ryan Moore and Twilight Circus, now available at a nice price, lets hope for a while. One thing that I really like about Twilight Circus, and I know this is a stupid little thing for most of y'all, but it's that damn nice live drum sound that Ryan gets. Not enough people record drums that way anymore, at least not very well. It works really well on just about anything, but on dub, especially nice and fattened up with a little reverb, it's just wonderful. Ryan has definitely been honing his sound since he started his forays into dub in 1995 and dub fans everywhere should be keeping track of his movements in the future. Highly recommended.

TWILIGHT CIRCUS DUB SOUND SYSTEM Dub Plates Volume Two (M Records) lp 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Dub Plates Volume Two is a collection of reworked dubs (mostly from Horsie and Binshaker Dub) and rarities from Ryan Moore and Twilight Circus, now available at a nice price, lets hope for a while. One thing that I really like about Twilight Circus, and I know this is a stupid little thing for most of y'all, but it's that damn nice live drum sound that Ryan gets. Not enough people record drums that way anymore, at least not very well. It works really well on just about anything, but on dub, especially nice and fattened up with a little reverb, it's just wonderful. Ryan has definitely been honing his sound since he started his forays into dub in 1995 and dub fans everywhere should be keeping track of his movements in the future. Highly recommended.

TWILIGHT CIRCUS DUB SOUND SYSTEM Dub Voyage (M Records ) cd 16.98

TWILIGHT CIRCUS DUB SOUND SYSTEM Dub Voyage (M Records ) lp 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Limited edition lp only issue of Twilight Circus' "Dub Voyage". Pressed on 180 gram virgin vinyl.

TWILIGHT CIRCUS DUB SOUND SYSTEM Foundation Rockers (M) cd 16.98
As 2004 ushers in a broad range of changes, good and bad, so it also brings a brand new collection of Twilight Circus tracks. And for the first time the Circus' ringleader, Ryan Moore, has begun working with vocalists as the two 10"s from late last year anticipated. Along with four of the tracks from the Big Youth and Luciano 10"s, Foundation Rockers includes appearances from Ranking Joe, Brother Culture and Mykal Rose. The different vocalists each bring a very different feeling to the Twilight Circus tracks they sing on. Luciano and Mykal Rose both with their conscious reggae background bring an almost saccharine nu-roots soul vibe to the mix, while Big Youth, Ranking Joe and Brother Culture are straight up DJ era toasters. For those who still prefer the strictly dub side of Twilight Circus there are five tracks included here of the good old Ryan Moore at his best, cranking out some floorboard bending bass and echoey horns. CD comes with two bonus tracks previously released on the two 10"s: Big Youth "Love Dub Remix" and Luciano "What We Gotta Do (Acoustic Mix)".
MPEG Stream: "Love Is What We Need"
MPEG Stream: "Alpha Skank"

TWILIGHT CIRCUS DUB SOUND SYSTEM Foundation Rockers (M) lp 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
As 2004 ushers in a broad range of changes, good and bad, so it also brings a brand new collection of Twilight Circus tracks. And for the first time the Circus' ringleader, Ryan Moore, has begun working with vocalists as the two 10"s from late last year anticipated. Along with four of the tracks from the Big Youth and Luciano 10"s, Foundation Rockers includes appearances from Ranking Joe, Brother Culture and Mykal Rose. The different vocalists each bring a very different feeling to the Twilight Circus tracks they sing on. Luciano and Mykal Rose both with their conscious reggae background bring an almost saccharine nu-roots soul vibe to the mix, while Big Youth, Ranking Joe and Brother Culture are straight up DJ era toasters. For those who still prefer the strictly dub side of Twilight Circus there are five tracks included here of the good old Ryan Moore at his best, cranking out some floorboard bending bass and echoey horns. CD comes with two bonus tracks previously released on the two 10"s: Big Youth "Love Dub Remix" and Luciano "What We Gotta Do (Acoustic Mix)".
MPEG Stream: "Love Is What We Need"
MPEG Stream: "Alpha Skank"

TWILIGHT CIRCUS DUB SOUND SYSTEM Other Worlds of Dub (M Records) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A reissue of this long out of print wonderful dub gem. Twilight Circus is the work of one astoundingly talented man -- Ryan Moore is his name. Mastering each of his chosen instruments (bass, percussion and electronics), his true love and dedication to dub music is obvious. Rich, challenging sounds and rhythms, deep deep rubbery liquid bass. I strongly recommend you get your ears around all Twilight Circus releases starting with this one (they are actually all on his own M label... talk about d.i.y.!). You won't be disappointed. And if you're itchin' for more from Mr. Moore, his talents may also be heard on the new Legendary Pink Dots album as well as past Tear Garden and Download albums. Very, very, very good.