U ROY Now (Tabou1) cd 16.98
Brand new release by the godfather of dancehall and, some argue, rap, the legendary toaster U Roy. Unfortunately, not a very remarkable album though it features some guest appearances by such notables as Horace Andy, Errol Dunkley, Alton Ellis, Sugar Minott, Max Romeo, Sly & Robbie and more. Those unfamiliar with U Roy are better served by picking up Version Galore, or even Trojan's DJ Box Set (which features U Roy and some of the other pioneers of toasting.)
RealAudio clip: "Come On Come On"

U-MEN Solid Action (Chuckie-Boy Records) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The U-Men were one of our (our being Allan and Andee) favorite bands from the legendary and long out of print Deep Six compilation that chronicled the early days of grunge and the Seattle scene (w/ Melvins, Green River, Malfunkshun, Skin Yard, Soundgarden). But the U-Men wern't really grunge, they were more like a spazzier more hyperactive and sort of new wave Mudhoney. A weird sort of garagey punk that has more in common with the Oblivians or the Monomen than the SubPop sound, but weirder and crazier. Early '80s Seattle "jazzed-out, surfed-up, dada-swamp" art-punk you might have missed at the time, but now, through the magic of cd technology, able to fuck you up either again or for the first time. This disc collects everything they ever recorded; album, singles and compilation tracks, including their song from "Deep Six". Recommended.

U-ROY The Lost Album - Right Time Rockers (Sound System) cd 12.98
Part of me sees the development of the Jamaican DJ as truly bizarre. I try to imagine the Aquarius equivalent with say, our J. Allan Horrocks (who's initials are JAH, coincidentally enough) waxing poetic over The Lord Weird Slough Feg and cutting the tracks on an LP. That's basically the beginnings of the DJ, though my comparisons do not give the art form the justice it deserves. U Roy, or Hugh Roy, represents the king of the hill, top of the heap of DJ culture in Jamaica and it is in his footsteps that others followed regardless of who was the originator of this art form. U Roy's toasted versions of Duke Reid's rocksteady productions were persistently on Jamaica's top ten in the early seventies. Later, of course, his popularity and that of other DJs found producers dubbing the most popular rhythms to give the new singers a clean slate to work over. The tracks on this disc were all recorded at Channel One studios in 1976 and never intended for commmercial release, but for exclusive use in sound systems. U Roy had the pick of the litter rhythm wise and the late night sessions gave him an impromptu performance style that's maybe not as apparent on his official releases. Very highly recommended. Sorry, no LP at this time.
RealAudio clip: "Bury the Razor"
RealAudio clip: "Back Stabbing"

U-ROY & VARIOUS ARTISTS Version Galore (Trojan) 2cd 18.98

U-ZIQ Duntisbourne Abbots Soulmate Devastation Technique (Planet Mu) cd 14.98

U.S. CHRISTMAS Eat The Low Dogs (Neurot Recordings) cd 14.98
There's probably a perfectly good reason for this band being named "U.S. Christmas". We hope there is anyway. Regardless, that this disc (apparently the third so far, from this North Carolina based outfit) was released on Neurosis' label Neurot is of course a good sign, and indeed, Eat The Low Dogs is proving to be one of our favorite Neurot releases of the last little while, fitting in nicely with the likes of Guapo and Grey Daturas in the recent Neurot roster. Yep, this is good stuff! What sort of good stuff you ask? Heavy, dark, synth-swirling, psychedelic good stuff!
Turns out, U.S. Christmas play moody, echoey space rock. That's right, kinda like '70s Hawkwind. But with both more of an aggro metallic edge (though still slowed down and sleepy), and also more of a countryish one too (slide guitar evoking wide open spaces). You can imagine 'em out in the desert someplace, campfire burning, generator running, giant amps tilted upwards at a 45 degree angle to point at the starry sky, playing this stuff all night long 'til dawn comes or the drugs run out... the last track here is called "Pray To The Sky", actually.
The spaced-out sounds of synthesizers and Theremin abound, the whirring electronic FX here reminding us a bit of the whup whup whup of the jug on those old 13th Floor Elevators albums... a constant presence, but just another texture amidst real songwriting. Loping, heavy head nodding riffage and ragged, punk-angsty vocals are also part of the U.S. Christmas equation. Speaking of equations, how 'bout this one: Neurosis + Hawkwind + some twang + more space rock = U.S. Christmas. Or, if the Red Sparowes teamed up with Tarantula Hawk, or if Deadboy And The Elephantmen were channelling The Heads, or if the Galloping Coroners came from Texas instead of Hungary, those things too might sound something like this band. Quite recommended.
And who knows, maybe the -next- awesome heavy synthy space rock combo to come along will be inexplicably called Canadian Thanksgiving.
MPEG Stream: "In The Light Of All Time"
MPEG Stream: "Gallows Humor"

U.S. CHRISTMAS Run Thick In The Night (Neurot Recordings) cd 14.98
We've been pretty big fans of North Carolina psychedelic space rockers U.S. Christmas for a while now, especially after hearing them take on some Hawkwind covers on the recent Hawkwind Triad covers record on Neurot (along with Harvestman and Minsk), that might have been the deal sealer, in part cuz these guys are so obviously beholden to the space rock gods themselves, their sound a modern reimagining of Hawkwind, albeit filtered through a sort of slow build, loud/quiet/loud metallic post rock thing. In the past we described these guys as "Neurosis + Hawkwind + some twang + more space" or Red Sparowes meets Tarantula Hawk, or even Deadboy And The Elephantmen meets The Heads, which all pretty much still apply. The guitar are thick and the riffs a sort of spaced out version of modern Earth, that subtle twang ever present, even when the band is churning out huge avalanches of crumbling downtuned heaviness, hell, there's even what sounds like slide guitar happening here, super distorted and effected, but still all slippery and twangy.
The vocals are way more up in the mix this time too, a multi tracked melodic howl, that suits the smoldering effects drenched heart of the sun space rock drift, and like their space rock forefathers, they may be crafting songs here, and writing riffs, and lyrics, but when the band truly shine is when they just let loose, unfurl, spreading out and unleashing a blown out psych sprawl of twisted swirling space-y heaviness, which they pretty much do in most every song. The band do mix it up here, some of the tracks are dark and folky, with acoustic guitars and strings, others are all swampy and bluesy, like Sixteen Horsepower or Woven Hand, apocalyptic and ominous, and a few mix the two, like the closer "The Moon In Flesh And Bone" which sounds like a country jam transformed into a sort of twangy space rock ballad, with wild psych guitar leads, and a brooding droned out finish, but for our money, these guys are at their best when they're spitting out thick gouts of druggy space psych excess, which as we mentioned before, is most of the damn time!
MPEG Stream: "In The Night"
MPEG Stream: "Wolf On Anareta"
MPEG Stream: "Fire Is Sleeping"
MPEG Stream: "The Moon In Flesh And Bone"

U.S. GIRLS Go Grey (Siltbreeze) lp 14.98
Record number two from Megan Remy, the woman behind ramshackle psychedelic lo-fi noise-pop grey-wave outfit U.S. Girls. Right off the bat, anyone into the current crop of warped warbly floorcore noise makers and fractured gloom popppers will dig this big time. If your record shelves are sagging under the weight of discs from the Dum Dum Girls, Night Control, Washed Out, Neon Indian, Gary War, Blank Dogs, Zola Jesus, Girls At Dawn and the like, then you're most definitely gonna have to make some space for this girl(s).
A dizzying noise drenched chunk of 4-track spaced out home brewed protopunk, drums murky and chaotic and stumbling, super distorted, angular spidery guitars, shimmery and echoey, twangy and almost surfy at times, the vocals not doing that sixties girl group thing that so many NOW bands seem smitten with, instead channeling classic British sounds from the late eighties early nineties, alternatingly yelped and howled, cooed and crooned, but WAY down in the mix, the vocals a shadowy presence wrapped around the sinewy basslines, that sound like corroded fragments of lost Joy Division songs, elsewhere soft swells of warm muted guitars wash over strangely affected alien vox, and distant melancholy melodies. The record veers from hushed, soporific Grouper style dreamdrift, and pounding, ultra distorted experimental pop, to pounding distortion drenched gloom punk, always lo-fi, but not brittle as much as murky and indistinct, almost like listening to some lost eighties jam on a station that's just barely coming in. The poppier moments have a definite Joe Meek vibe, that sort of kitchen sink DIY whatthefuck weirdo production, with many of the tracks, splintering into strange rhythmic workouts or abstract swirls of shimmering effects and random muted noise. But throughout, even at its most far out and experimental, Remy infuses those sounds with a strange sort of familiar warmth, a smoldering blackened beauty, that's hard to disguise, no matter how hard she tries.
Definitely on the more experimental / abstract side of the current crop of noisy lo-fi gloom pop experimentalism, but that's precisely what makes Go Grey sound so good...
MPEG Stream: "Turnaround Time"
MPEG Stream: "Summer Of The Yellow Dress"
MPEG Stream: "Red Ford Radio"
MPEG Stream: "Sleeping On Glass"

U.S. GIRLS Introducing... (Silt Breeze) lp 14.98

U.S. GIRLS U.S. Girls On Kraak (KRAAK) lp 15.98
The last time we heard from U.S. Girls, it was on a split single from the as-of-then-unknown project Dirty Beaches, a one-man band which pretty much exploded onto the scene with a drug'n'drone approach to rockabilly minimalism later perfected on his universally acclaimed album Badlands. On that single, Dirty Beaches was a perfect match for the equally deconstructed, if far more fucked-up anti-pop from U.S. Girls - the one-woman project of Meghan Remy. There and on her two lps for Siltbreeze, she purposefully imploded crooning electro-pop ditties, smearing the fragments with crusty noise and hallucinatory echo. It turns out that Remy's aggressively lo-fi aesthetic was built out of necessity; and she claimed in an interview once that she'd love to make an overly produced, glossy pop album. Those claims should be taken with a pretty hefty grain of salt, as her album U.S. Girls On Kraak is thoroughly damaged, even as it enjoys a much cleaner production. The cover of the disposable RnB hit "The Boy Is Mine" from Monica & Brandi takes a nasty, stalker-like turn towards the gritty minimal-wave of early Cold Cave even as Remy croons the lyrics with considerable aplomb. Elsewhere, her synths are decidedly sharp and jagged, and her voice is cat-scratched and wild-eyed, set above similarly imploded songs from her earlier albums with a few more flares like a Patsy Cline ballad soaked in equal parts cheap liquor and reverb or a Nina Hagen-esque demonic cabaret number. Yeah, it's pretty fucked-up; and that's the way we like it!

U.S. GIRLS / DIRTY BEACHES split (Silbing Sex) 7"+download 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
From the same label that brought us the killer 7"/cd from Spanish electro punk outfit Der Ventilator (reviewed elsewhere on this list), comes this killer split, featuring long time fave US Girls, and new super hyped combo (or one man band, we're not sure), Dirty Beaches.
US Girls, aka Megan Remy offers up another fantastic batch of lo-fi psychedelic greywave, all murky and muddy, haunting and ritualistic, a strange drum driven vocal chant starts things off, her voice witchy and warped, all wreathed in a cloud of whirring low end, before the sound blossoms into a weird electronic groove, all minimal programmed percussion, beneath a soft haze of distortion and tangled psychedelic guitars, before launching into the final and longest track, a sort of creepy underwater goth dub workout, that sounds a bit like a more minimal avant lo-fi Zola Jesus, a looped sonar rhythm, Remy's vocals chant like and mesmerizing, eventually the beat and vox are swallowed up by a cloud of electronic squiggles and warped spaced out FX. Dirty Beaches is similarly murky and echoey, but instead of witchy electronic minimalism, he/they offer up a moody croon over a super minimal bit of rhythmic crunch, and some barely audible melody, the sound a woozy, warped bit of washed out drift, the rhythm more like a distant chugging train, a hushed pulse, there seems to be some super minimal guitar too, an almost Johnny Cash bit of low slung strum, but it too is wreathed in murk and transformed into just another warped undulating throb, the whole thing dark and dreamily dubby.
Super sweet packaging, full color cover in a thick plastic sleeve sealed with a sticker, pressed on green vinyl with a download coupon too.
MPEG Stream: US GIRLS "Mah Marie"
MPEG Stream: DIRTY BEACHES "Drunk Driving"

U.S. MAPLE (Skin Graft) 7" 4.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We think it costs this much because the cover art looks 'good' -- transparent vinyl. Pretty shapes. Bright colors.

U.S. MAPLE Acre Thrills (Drag City) cd 14.98
Hallelujah! US Maple return with "Acre Thrills". And such a wonderful return it is. Their last release "Talker" (produced by Michael Gira) was so sparse and subdued it was barely audible, but this one's turned up a few notches. Me, I love anticipating the stumbling -- but far from clumsy -- explosions of Al Johnson, Mark Shippy, and company. How these gents write, record and perform their music is a magnificent mind-boggler. A seeming haphazard mess of gimpy sonic bumps and bruises with the ghost of Captain Beefheart lurking about. Track 7 (with it's Link Wray-ish chicken scratch guitar line) will surely bring out the retarded epileptic chicken in all of us. With cover art that resembles a sharpie-marker-tagged baby blue bathroom tile, this really brightened Allan's day, who'd like to add that if you've been following the amazing and (for lack of a better word) fucked career of the Maple, "Acre Thrills" will indeed be a thrill, as the band perhaps know that they'd reached the pinnacle of abstraction with their previous disc "Talker" -- so, while not returning to (avant)rocking-out like they did on their debut "Long Hair In Three Stages", they do endeavor to craft something more recognizably close to what ordinary folks would consider "songs" on here. Heck, lead whisperer/barker Al Johnson even comes close to some indie-rock standard *singing* at points! But it's still all very abstract and fucked, unmistakably US Maple, with all their unique quirks and counter-intuitive approaches to rock/pop. In short, a great new record from a very special band!
RealAudio clip: "Acre Thrills track 6"
RealAudio clip: "Acre Thrills track 7"
RealAudio clip: "Acre Thrills track 10"
RealAudio clip: "Acre Thrills track 11"

U.S. MAPLE Acre Thrills (Drag City) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Hallelujah! US Maple return with "Acre Thrills". And such a wonderful return it is. Their last release "Talker" (produced by Michael Gira) was so sparse and subdued it was barely audible, but this one's turned up a few notches. Me, I love anticipating the stumbling -- but far from clumsy -- explosions of Al Johnson, Mark Shippy, and company. How these gents write, record and perform their music is a magnificent mind-boggler. A seeming haphazard mess of gimpy sonic bumps and bruises with the ghost of Captain Beefheart lurking about. Track 7 (with it's Link Wray-ish chicken scratch guitar line) will surely bring out the retarded epileptic chicken in all of us. With cover art that resembles a sharpie-marker-tagged baby blue bathroom tile, this really brightened Allan's day, who'd like to add that if you've been following the amazing and (for lack of a better word) fucked career of the Maple, "Acre Thrills" will indeed be a thrill, as the band perhaps know that they'd reached the pinnacle of abstraction with their previous disc "Talker" -- so, while not returning to (avant)rocking-out like they did on their debut "Long Hair In Three Stages", they do endeavor to craft something more recognizably close to what ordinary folks would consider "songs" on here. Heck, lead whisperer/barker Al Johnson even comes close to some indie-rock standard *singing* at points! But it's still all very abstract and fucked, unmistakably US Maple, with all their unique quirks and counter-intuitive approaches to rock/pop. In short, a great new record from a very special band!

U.S. MAPLE Long Hair In Three Stages (Skin Graft) cd 14.98

U.S. MAPLE Purple On Time (Drag City) cd 14.98
This review of Purple On Time isn't so on time itself, as US Maple's latest has been out for over a month now...but, it has taken a while to absorb, as is so often the case with good albums, and this is not just good, it's great. Plus, US Maple's style of what I can only call 'counter intuitive' indie-rock is so deliberately strange and unique that it's always tough to capture in words, even by a person who is always looking in vain for the 'US Maple fan' box to tick when confronted with demographic questions on surveys and government forms. But I can tell you that, as always, the crucial elements of their sound are vocalist Al Johnson's odd bark (which has mellowed into more of a hoarse whisper), and the instrumental smear of sound made by the guitarist and rhythm section. It's a crazy, cosy quilt of guitars, drums, bass, and Johnson's curious croon, which maybe reminds us of Iggy Stooge at his breathiest. Mathy tangles of guitar strings and drums, dripping with notes, but restrained as if the whole the band is murmuring into your ear, seldom but sometimes unwinding into 'grooves' wracked with volume and ferocity. Confusing, comforting, complex, and quite lovely. And we're not just talking about this album's cover version of Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay"!
As I said, hard to describe. Hmm, how 'bout Codeine meets Beefheart? Naw, that's both obscure and inaccurate. Anyway, US Maple are underrated originals of rock who yet again prove their genius with this release. Recommended. And the packaging is deluxe as we expect from Maple releases, the cd booklet paper providing particular tactile satisfaction, while the vinyl version's got that 180 gram heft.
MPEG Stream: "Oh Below"
MPEG Stream: "I'm Just A Bag"

U.S. MAPLE Purple On Time (Drag City) lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This review of Purple On Time isn't so on time itself, as US Maple's latest has been out for over a month now...but, it has taken a while to absorb, as is so often the case with good albums, and this is not just good, it's great. Plus, US Maple's style of what I can only call 'counter intuitive' indie-rock is so deliberately strange and unique that it's always tough to capture in words, even by a person who is always looking in vain for the 'US Maple fan' box to tick when confronted with demographic questions on surveys and government forms. But I can tell you that, as always, the crucial elements of their sound are vocalist Al Johnson's odd bark (which has mellowed into more of a hoarse whisper), and the instrumental smear of sound made by the guitarist and rhythm section. It's a crazy, cosy quilt of guitars, drums, bass, and Johnson's curious croon, which maybe reminds us of Iggy Stooge at his breathiest. Mathy tangles of guitar strings and drums, dripping with notes, but restrained as if the whole the band is murmuring into your ear, seldom but sometimes unwinding into 'grooves' wracked with volume and ferocity. Confusing, comforting, complex, and quite lovely. And we're not just talking about this album's cover version of Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay"!
As I said, hard to describe. Hmm, how 'bout Codeine meets Beefheart? Naw, that's both obscure and inaccurate. Anyway, US Maple are underrated originals of rock who yet again prove their genius with this release. Recommended. And the packaging is deluxe as we expect from Maple releases, the cd booklet paper providing particular tactile satisfaction, while the vinyl version's got that 180 gram heft.
MPEG Stream: "Oh Below"
MPEG Stream: "I'm Just A Bag"

U.S. MAPLE Sang Phat Editor (Skin Graft) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
One of the most abstract "post-rock" outfits around, these Chicagoans second album is a challenging, nay, puzzling but ultimately hypnotic listen...if you have the ears to hear. Again, produced by Jim O'Rourke, and again featuring a very cool dayglo cover with removable postcard.

U.S. MAPLE Talker (Drag City) cd 13.98
U.S. Maple graduate from the Skin Graft label to Drag City and...high school, apparently the "theme" of this record. The third Maple record and their most abstract yet, as the band attempts to destroy all notions of proper rock n' roll methodology. Maybe not the place to start with this band, but a great place to end up. On tour now with Pavement! Produced by big fan Michael Gira of Swans. Look for their profile in The Wire #185.

U.S. MAPLE The Wanderer (Sonic Bubblegum) cdep 4.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A two-song single, at least one of them supposedly being a cover of Dion's "The Wanderer". Vocalist (in a very abstract way) Al Johnson and crew produce some typically skewed sounds, mathrock made with melted slide-rules. If you haven't heard them, get their Jim O'Rourke-produced full-length; if you have, and you've let it sink in, you'll want this.

U.S. MUSIC WITH FUNKADELIC s/t (Westbound) cd 12.98
If you're a fan of Funkadelic, you've for sure had some hardcore jollies of late. First, a few weeks ago, there was that collection of unreleased Funkadelic jams entitled Toys, and now, Westbound has gone back for another dig through the vaults, unearthing this 1972 recording by a group from New Jersey called United Soul, aka US Music with Funkadelic, so called 'cause they were produced by P-Funk ringleader George Clinton (he was their homie, hailing from the same town in NJ), and featured various Funkadelics like Bernie Worrell and Fuzzy Haskins backing 'em up on these sessions recorded in Detroit and Toronto. Funkadelic also drafted some of the members of United Soul into their ranks, including vocalist Gary Shider. So basically this IS Funkadelic, make no mistake.
This material was originally meant for a United Soul album that was never released, though some of it found its way to the ears of Funkadelic fans in different forms. Two of the tracks, the mellow R&B number "I Miss My Baby" and the more uptempo, gospel-tinged "Baby I Owe You Something Good" were issued on a 7" single (and appeared on the Funkadelic 45's collection Music For My Mother). The latter was also reworked and rerecorded for inclusion on Let's Take It To The Stage three years later. And "This Broken Heart", a doo-wop tearjerker, preceded the version found on Cosmic Slop in '73.
But then there's a couple more rocked-out, psychedelic cuts here too, that any self-respecting Funkadelic fan is gonna freak over, both full of wild guitar: "Be What You Is", and (especially) "Rat Kiss The Cat On The Naval" [sic]. That one's a truly killer slab of funkariffic badassitude nearly 8 minutes long. It's got yr typical P-Funk drugged out nursery rhyme lyrics, over a fuzzed-out groove and the manic, looped cry of "Haa!!" which is soon overrun by some serious, searing, acid-drenched electric guitar soloing. And it just gets more and more intense as it goes along. Damn. Sometimes I (Allan) get to DJ sets of obscure early '70s heaviness, and you know that this is gonna get played next time I have the chance... It would fit right in with Doc Dail's "Aere Perennius", ferinstance. Or even the recently discovered Death's "Politicians In My Eyes".
Not sure if this disc really qualifies as an unreleased album, it's only five songs after all (seven tracks on the cd, but the extra two are merely the mono single versions of the two "Baby" numbers from the aforementioned 7"). But it sure does qualify as a way cool Funkadelic artifact indeed, and those don't appear every day even though right now it might seem like they do.
MPEG Stream: "Baby I Owe You Something Good"
MPEG Stream: "Be What You Is"
MPEG Stream: "Rat Kiss The Cat On The Naval"

U.S. MUSIC WITH FUNKADELIC s/t (Westbound) lp 23.00
If you're a fan of Funkadelic, you've for sure had some hardcore jollies of late. First, a few weeks ago, there was that collection of unreleased Funkadelic jams entitled Toys, and now, Westbound has gone back for another dig through the vaults, unearthing this 1972 recording by a group from New Jersey called United Soul, aka US Music with Funkadelic, so called 'cause they were produced by P-Funk ringleader George Clinton (he was their homie, hailing from the same town in NJ), and featured various Funkadelics like Bernie Worrell and Fuzzy Haskins backing 'em up on these sessions recorded in Detroit and Toronto. Funkadelic also drafted some of the members of United Soul into their ranks, including vocalist Gary Shider. So basically this IS Funkadelic, make no mistake.
This material was originally meant for a United Soul album that was never released, though some of it found its way to the ears of Funkadelic fans in different forms. Two of the tracks, the mellow R&B number "I Miss My Baby" and the more uptempo, gospel-tinged "Baby I Owe You Something Good" were issued on a 7" single (and appeared on the Funkadelic 45's collection Music For My Mother). The latter was also reworked and rerecorded for inclusion on Let's Take It To The Stage three years later. And "This Broken Heart", a doo-wop tearjerker, preceded the version found on Cosmic Slop in '73.
But then there's a couple more rocked-out, psychedelic cuts here too, that any self-respecting Funkadelic fan is gonna freak over, both full of wild guitar: "Be What You Is", and (especially) "Rat Kiss The Cat On The Naval" [sic]. That one's a truly killer slab of funkariffic badassitude nearly 8 minutes long. It's got yr typical P-Funk drugged out nursery rhyme lyrics, over a fuzzed-out groove and the manic, looped cry of "Haa!!" which is soon overrun by some serious, searing, acid-drenched electric guitar soloing. And it just gets more and more intense as it goes along. Damn. Sometimes I (Allan) get to DJ sets of obscure early '70s heaviness, and you know that this is gonna get played next time I have the chance... It would fit right in with Doc Dail's "Aere Perennius", ferinstance. Or even the recently discovered Death's "Politicians In My Eyes".
Not sure if this disc really qualifies as an unreleased album, it's only five songs after all (seven tracks on the cd, but the extra two are merely the mono single versions of the two "Baby" numbers from the aforementioned 7"). But it sure does qualify as a way cool Funkadelic artifact indeed, and those don't appear every day even though right now it might seem like they do.
MPEG Stream: "Baby I Owe You Something Good"
MPEG Stream: "Be What You Is"
MPEG Stream: "Rat Kiss The Cat On The Naval"

U.S. SAUCER Hell, Yes! (Amarillo) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
More country-tinged tunage from this Thinking Fellers Union Local 282-offshoot.

U.V. POP Just A Game (Sacred Bones) 7" 5.50
The latest in Sacred Bones' on going series of unearthed gems, former installments included records by 13th Chime, Cultural Decay and Carl Simmons, all of which we dug big time. And this seven inch from UK outfit is another good one. Originally released in 1982, and produced by Cabaret Voltaire, the A side is fast becoming a new favorite jam, definitely of its time, but had you told us it was some new band channeling the past, we definitely would have believed it. Very groovy, a little bit funky, that sort of propulsive postpunk/funk bassline, a bit of an industrial vibe too, but the horns, layered droned out horns, laying down these totally mesmerizing muted atonal melodies, stretched out into long blasts of sound, that in their own way are seriously heavy, and then the vox come in, loud and distorted, the whole thing jagged but hypnotic, sort of dancey, but also a bit dark and sinister.
The flipside sounds a bit more beholden to Cabaret Voltaire, a little more electro pop, heavy on the eighties pop vibe, we're definitely hearing some Talk Talk actually, skittery rhythms, haunting synth swirls, lots of eighties style guitar jangle (a little Smiths, a little Big Country), wrapped in analog electronics and strapped to a pulsing minimal beat, definitely another track that predicts much of what would come decades later, the sort of sound the current crop must worship.
Both sides for how different they are, each play like a single part, with repeated subtle variations, which is what makes both tracks here so hypnotic and trancelike. Love it!

U2 How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb (Universal) cd 24.00
These modern masters of hyper-commercialism strike again with a whammee. U2 bring us a dvd and cd combination filled with a rockumentary, live performances and U2-brand iPod charmers. Features their commercial hit song, Vertigo, like, a million times (on cd and dvd). Man, if I hear a U2 song paired next to anything for sale, I'd buy it. A new car, an i-Pod, life insurance, even Depends.
MPEG Stream: "Vertigo"
MPEG Stream: "Miracle Drug"

U2 No Line On The Horizon (Island) cd 15.98

UBSB Traceroute (Ash International (R.I.P.) ) lp 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
"We created a Unix software agent that sat along a high bandwidth backbone pipe, essentially eavesdropping, gathering data, writing out a soundfile of everything it saw... The different tracks represent different states of the network - at different times, and different kinds of data passing by". UBSB is the collective project from Ulf Bilting, Zbigniew Karkowski, Atau Tanaka, and Edwin van der Heide, which presents a simple transcription of a data stream into sonic attributes, which in the end could be a textural mirror of Merzbow's noise tracks.

UCHIDA, YUYA & THE FLOWERS Challenger (Phoenix) cd 17.98
For fans of Janis Joplin and/or Flower Travellin' Band... a reissue of the 1968 album from this Japanese Sixties psychedelic act, who later morphed into Seventies hard rockers and massive AQ faves Flower Travellin Band. This early incarnation of the FTB had a mostly different lineup, including female vocalist Remi Aso who does her best Janis (and Grace Slick), singing in either a delicate waver or a screeching wail, wow. And The Flowers back her up like Big Brother, total pros. There's also a male singer, Chiba Hiroshi, who belts it out on such songs as "Hey Joe". Yup there's lots of then-contemporary covers on here, including stuff by Hendrix, Cream, Jefferson Airplane, and Janis Joplin. So you've gotta be into the classic rock - with a Japanese twist. Apparently Uchida had just returned from a trip to England, hanging out there with John Lennon, and this record was his first attempt to take the Japanese "Group Sounds" scene into a new, more psychedelic acid rock direction to emulate the hipness happenin' in London and San Francisco at the time. The band got attention for that - and for their naked album cover photo, the band loitering about in an idyllic meadow someplace, in the buff, though any band members (ahem) who happen to be facing toward the camera also happen to be reading newspapers or magazines for some reason... Of course, Uchida pulled this stunt again with the first FTB album that came out a few years later, with the naked band on the cover riding choppers down the highway.
Besides the cover, the first thing anyone would notice about this album is the charming intro skit, at the beginning of track one, wherein a guy tells a giggling girl about this great new band from Tokyo, "these six guys and this chick", who "do some really fantastic Big Brother And The Holding Company stuff". And he's not kidding, as the rest of the record proceeds to prove. And let's face it, these are great songs, you might not want to hear the versions played on your local classic rock radio station ever again but the Summer Of Love seems a lot cooler when we're tuning in via Tokyo.
Numbered, limited cd edition in the usual Phoenix manner.
MPEG Stream: "Combination Of The Two"
MPEG Stream: "Greasy Heart"
MPEG Stream: "Stone Free"

UCHIDA, YUYA & THE FLOWERS Challenger (Phoenix) lp 24.00
THIS BOING BOING APPROVED GOLDEN OLDIE NOW ALSO REISSUED ON (180 GRAM) VINYL!!
Here's what we said about the cd version we recently reviewed:
For fans of Janis Joplin and/or Flower Travellin' Band... a reissue of the 1968 album from this Japanese Sixties psychedelic act, who later morphed into Seventies hard rockers and massive AQ faves Flower Travellin Band. This early incarnation of the FTB had a mostly different lineup, including female vocalist Remi Aso who does her best Janis (and Grace Slick), singing in either a delicate waver or a screeching wail, wow. And The Flowers back her up like Big Brother, total pros. There's also a male singer, Chiba Hiroshi, who belts it out on such songs as "Hey Joe". Yup there's lots of then-contemporary covers on here, including stuff by Hendrix, Cream, Jefferson Airplane, and Janis Joplin. So you've gotta be into the classic rock - with a Japanese twist. Apparently Uchida had just returned from a trip to England, hanging out there with John Lennon, and this record was his first attempt to take the Japanese "Group Sounds" scene into a new, more psychedelic acid rock direction to emulate the hipness happenin' in London and San Francisco at the time. The band got attention for that - and for their naked album cover photo, the band loitering about in an idyllic meadow someplace, in the buff, though any band members (ahem) who happen to be facing toward the camera also happen to be reading newspapers or magazines for some reason... Of course, Uchida pulled this stunt again with the first FTB album that came out a few years later, with the naked band on the cover riding choppers down the highway.
Besides the cover, the first thing anyone would notice about this album is the charming intro skit, at the beginning of track one, wherein a guy tells a giggling girl about this great new band from Tokyo, "these six guys and this chick", who "do some really fantastic Big Brother And The Holding Company stuff". And he's not kidding, as the rest of the record proceeds to prove. And let's face it, these are great songs, you might not want to hear the versions played on your local classic rock radio station ever again but the Summer Of Love seems a lot cooler when we're tuning in via Tokyo.
MPEG Stream: "Combination Of The Two"
MPEG Stream: "Greasy Heart"
MPEG Stream: "Stone Free"

UCHIHASHI, KAZUHISA & TATSUYA YOSHIDA Improvisations (Magaibutsu) 2cd 18.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The last AQ list was a good one for fans of Japanese prog maniacs the Ruins... there was the Vrresto reissue and their new split 7" with High On Fire. Keeping up the pace, this time 'round we've got another Ruins-related release...
This energetically, entertainingly exhausting double cd set sees sees Ruins mastermind Tatsuya Yoshida teamed up in an improv duo with Kazuhisa Uchihashi (of Altered States and Ground Zero fame). Hence the title, Improvisations. But these aren't improvs that only jazz-fanciers would like. Nope, this is ROCK improv. Prog rock to be precise, of course. Hectic and crazy and complicated. It's mind-scrabblin' stuff let me tell you. With so many musical ideas firing off in an ADD frenzy, for so long... 146 minutes, 25 tracks! And they're at a level of complexity and catchiness that makes it really hard for us to believe that these are improvs, and not carefully-thought-out compositions, actually!! But we're told they're all improvised, all recorded live at several venues in Japan.
Chances are you're familiar with Ruins and already know Tatsuya Yoshida to be a monster drummer. Uchihashi is perhaps less-well known, but his guitar (and effects) prowess is prodigious, take it from us. Together these guys are a dream-team. If there was such a thing as gladitorial improv-rock combat, these guys would be unbeatable in the duo catagory. Very impressive, very insane. A veritable cornucopia of perplexing progged-out riffage and ridiculousness.
A word about the packaging -- it's aesthetically pleasing (with nice stone photos by Yoshida, who is skilled at graphics and layout) but, well, it's a two disc set with both cds stacked on top of one another, on the same little foam-rubber nub attached to a tri-fold cardstock sleeve. My discs haven't gotten scratched, yet, but still...probably not the best idea! The packaging police should issue these guys a ticket. Playing them this music though would be an adequate insanity defense...
MPEG Stream: "H"
MPEG Stream: "N"
MPEG Stream: "T"

UCHIHASHI, KAZUHISA & TATSUYA YOSHIDA Improvisations Vol. 2 (Magaibutsu) 3cd 24.00
How do you follow a sprawling double cd of out-there guitar/drums improv? With a triple cd set of course! That is, if you've got the hyperactive musical genius of Japanese drum god Tatsuya Yoshida (Ruins, Koenjihyakkei, etc.) and his guitar-wielding partner here, Uchihashi Kazuhisa (Ground Zero, Altered States). No problem. Last year's amazing first volume of jagged live rock Improvisations from this duo was 146 minutes long. To accomplish the 214 minutes (42 tracks) of this second volume, they have brought in some help: there's guest appearances on portions of these three cds from Sato Kenji (bass), Umezu Kazutoki (reeds), Nasuno Mitsuru (bass), Komori Keiko (sax), and the Boredoms' Yamamoto Seiichi (guitar). With Yoshida's uninhibited vocals and use of sampler, and Kazuhisa's mastery of gtr fx as well, this is a veritable cornucopia of chaotic creativity -- intricate ADD prog, full-on freakouts, jazz flavored sketches, delicate melodies, spiky speedballs, fuzzy riffage, and many moods more. Ruins fans will be STOKED. Exhilarating -and- exhausting listening as you'd expect.
Nicely packaged in a tri-fold digi designed by Yoshida with his usual photos of ancient stones in vibrant color.
MPEG Stream: "A7"
MPEG Stream: "B2"
MPEG Stream: "C3"
MPEG Stream: "E1"

UCHIHASHI, KAZUHISA & TATSUYA YOSHIDA Improvisations Vol.3 (Magaibutsu) cd + dvd 17.98
This intense Japanese improv duo, featuring Ruins drummer Tatsuya Yoshida and Altered States/Ground Zero guitarist Uchihashi Kazuhisa, has previously released a double cd (their debut, now out of print), and then a triple cd, and now their third release takes the form of a cd AND a dvd. And if you've got those other two documents, you know you want this too. On the cd, there's 21 more tracks of spasmodic drums vs. guitar interplay, as really only these two could do. On the (NTSC, all-region, pro shot/edited) dvd, you get to see as well as hear 'em doing what they do best, a complex improv collage of utter out-guitar grind, angular stabs and squibs and squiggles, snatches of Yoshida's trademark vocal warble, sudden shifts and synch-ups, syncopated rhythmic assaults, effects-freaked amp output, you want it, you got it!
Sure, on both discs here there's interludes of shimmering soothingness, and some sorta placid parts, but make no mistake, for the most part Improvisations 3 is nothing other than heavy and hectic, with crunching electric guitar doing contortions amidst the ridiculous rhythmic pummel the drums are dealing out. And as usual, hard to believe it's improv, it's got the energy and spontaneity but also so many cool riffs and runs how could they made it all up on the spot, and so telepathically too?! If Yoshida sounds like he's got like eight arms, and Uchihashi about fourteen fingers, as a duo it's like they share one brain. One very insane brain.
MPEG Stream: "track 2"
MPEG Stream: "track 3"
MPEG Stream: "track 8"

UCHPA Qukman Muskiy (Mundo Music) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Discovering new genres of music, especially those involving cross-cultural fertilization of the most unlikely sorts, is always a big turn on for us at AQ. And whether it be go-go beat music from Cambodia, "Anadolu Pop" from Turkey, the Latin-flavored psychedelia of Brazil's Tropicalia movement, the "hillbilly drone" of Henry Flynt, or the black metal jug band dub of Black Ark Oaken Saw (whoops, sorry, that last one doesn't actually exist, yet), we're always fascinated to hear international artists melding their indigenous musical traditions with popular styles from the Western world. So Peru's Uchpa, an electric blues / hard rock band who sing in Quechua, the Native American language of the ancient Incan Empire, is right up our alley. Even Andee, who usually gives Allan a hard time for supposedly liking so much straight-up "blues rock", digs this. The extremely nasal-sounding vocals (which we're not sure is a trait of the singer, or typical of how Quechua normally sounds) give Uchpa a weird enough vibe to fit in here at AQ, no problem. Although in any case we'd probably be tempted to give this the thumbs up just 'cause of the cover picture -- a cud-chewing llama strapped with a double necked acoustic 12 and 6 string guitar! Who doesn't love llamas, and double necks??
Uchpa formed in the mid-'90s and this is their third album, from 2000. They've got a newer one or two but we picked this to import from Peru just 'cause of the aforementioned cover art. Most of the tracks, with titles like "Manakutimusaqchu" and "Yanapaway Yuksimuyta", are kick ass rockers with lots of amped up crunch, and in addition to those frantic, nasal Quechua vocals they've also got some ethnic instrumentation employed alongside the heavy, bluesy, wah-wah laced guitar licks. Basically, you could sum up Uchpa as "Hendrix in the Andes". If you like the Tuvan-rock hybrid of Yat-kha, this might have the same appeal, even though it's from a totally different part of the world.
Includes two QuickTime videos, which lets you see Uchpa's singer performing wearing what appears to be a traditional Incan costume, including a quite remarkable piece of headgear.
MPEG Stream: "Ananao"
MPEG Stream: "Corazon Contento"

UDAY NAPOLEON Crack Crack Crack/Brains (Flogsta Danshall) 7" 6.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Skweee!!! See our Museum of Future Sound review for more explanation...

UEH s/t (Acid Mothers Temple) 2cd 26.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Acid Mothers Temple followers might already be aware of this obscure French five-piece instrumental psych-rock outfit, if only because of their inclusion on the Acid Mothers Temple Family Compliation "Do Whatever You Want" that we listed not so long ago. This double cd offering (a rare 'real' cd release on the Acid Mothers Temple label) takes off from the sound of the comp's Ueh track (which appears again here): slowly unfolding soundscapes featuring tear drops of melancholy, melodic guitar, deep, warm, almost Bohren-like bass tones, and a sparse, kinda-krautrock-ish rhythmic base laid down by their drummer, the single-named Frederic (who also had a solo track on that AMT Family Compilation, and his own disc on AMT, which we haven't heard). It's psychedelic, we suppose, but really more akin to post rock -- post rock that Temporary Residence Ltd. bands would envy, although Ueh pretty much stick to the quiet part of the usual post-rock loud-soft dynamics formula. Kinda like good old Tortoise. We could imagine this as a Kranky or Strange Audio Attractors House label release as well. Ueh's languid sunset drones and jazzy, vibesy details are really, really beautiful. In our reviews, we try not to quote press releases, but the description we were given of this uses many of the words we'd like to: dreamy, soft, mellow, film soundtracks... You get the picture. Great music for when you're not sure you want to listen to anything at all. Apparently, one disc (the first, louder, jazzier) features their composed songs, while the other disc (the second, quieter, without song titles) is all improvised, but you probably couldn't tell which was which if you had to guess! Limited to 500 copies by the way, of which we have only a few.
RealAudio clip: "Uezi"
RealAudio clip: "disc 2 track 1"
RealAudio clip: "disc 2 track 2"
RealAudio clip: "Escargot"

UEH & KAWABATA MAKOTO Pataphysical Overdrive To My Cosmos (Acid Mothers Temple) cd 16.98
And another Kawabata team-up. Here the hairiest, hardest-working guitarist in the Acid Mothers universe goes into Pataphysical Overdrive with French instrumental post-rock outfit Ueh, whose now out of print double cd on the AMT label was much liked around these parts. Actually this is part split, part collaboration. Two tracks are just Ueh, one just Kawabata, and one finds 'em both inhabiting the same cosmos together. It's 56 minutes in length total though so it's no mere ep. Apparently these discs were issued for a Ueh tour of the US last summer, which we sadly missed out on, dang it.
Of the two Ueh tracks, one's an 18 minute mellow epic, and the other a perhaps uncharacteristically jangly, 3-4 minute poppy rock number that blasts into distorted washes of pataphysical overdrive midway. Meanwhile, the Ueh/Kawabata collab is a nice skitterish krauty droner, and then Kawabata takes over by himself to finish things up with a 23 minute track that combines floating, gossamer beauty with some slightly skronked, damaged primitive psych guitar soloing. No "overdrive" here, it's a lot more lazy and nod-like and plaintive sounding than that word would imply!
MPEG Stream: UEH "Pataphysical Overdrive"
MPEG Stream: UEH & KAWABATA MAKOTO "Sunset On The Moon"

UFFIE Sex Dreams And Denim Jeans (Elektra / Ed Banger) cd 13.98
We're pretty sure there's not a person alive who hasn't heard Ke$ha's "Tik Tok", an insanely and inanely addictive chunk of electronic commercial pop, that at least a handful of aQ-ers have ended up digging despite themselves. But WAY before Ke$ha, there was Uffie, a spoiled bratty slutty teenager, who moved to Europe, fell in with the Ed banger crew, and ended up being an unlikely sort-of-star with her inane but AWESOME jam "Pop The Glock", dopey lyrics, autotuned vox, super catchy, we don't know anyone who didn't dig it, whether they wanted to or not, but that was YEARS ago, so it seems fortuitous that Uffie finally unleashes her proper full length debut, right when the climate is right for another vapid, gold digging, slutty, super hot electronic superstar. And of course "Pop The Glock" is here, it is her best song after all, and if it weren't for all the swearing, it's not hard to imagine this being all over the radio, although the vibe is more trashy euro than US mall punk, but still, it sounds as good as ever.
The only problem, is that "Pop The Glock" is so good, the rest of the record sort of pales, but even then, this is a pretty bad ass dose of sweaty, groovy, club bangers, "ADD SUV" should be blasting in every club, total coke and crystal, VIP room, stripper anthem, "MCs Can Kiss" sounds like a modern version of Roxanne Shante, a sort of dumbed down "Cars That Go Boom" (which as already sorta dumb), "First Love" is about as close to a sensitive ballad as Uffie can get, still all about sex, and laced with heavy beats and buzzy synths, and then there's the title track, that almost sounds like Best Coast, summery and sunshiney and fuzzy and poppy, which is weird, but besides "Pop The Glock" might be the best song here...
Obviously, this is poised to be THEE guilty pleasure of the year, but that's only if you feel guilty for digging this, which we don't really at all!
MPEG Stream: "Pop The Glock"
MPEG Stream: "ADD SUV (Ft. Pharell Williams)"
MPEG Stream: "MCs Can Kiss"
MPEG Stream: "First Love"

UFO Beginnings (Airline Records) 2cd 16.98
Last list we reviewed Guru Guru's UFO. This UFO has nothing to do with that, but at the same time more than you might think, considering the obvious connection between the genres of krautrock (Guru Guru) and space rock (UFO). If necessary, ignore the goofy bigfoot-emerging-from-crashed-flying-saucer artwork that they've put on this package (though, actually we kinda like the concept if not the execution of that image) and just please read the following, fans of heavy '70s stuff...
Although this is called Beginnings, it also represents an entire, complete oeuvre - the early '70s proto-metal/psych era of this band, whose more commercially successful, pop-charting output afterwards was quite a bit different (but awesome in its own right, in fact, most folks only know that stuff and haven't heard this material). Later in the '70s, on albums like Phenomenon, Force It, Light's Out, and Strangers In The Night, they became hard rock royalty, showcasing guitar whizz kid Michael Schenker (originally from Germany's Scorpions). But before arena rock success, before Schnenker, UFO's guitarist was a fellow named Mick Bolton. This earlier UFO incarnation much more psychedelic and spacey, that's where they got their Unidentified Flying Object name, playing self-described "space rock". Their second album, UFO 2, was subtitled "One Hour Space Rock" in fact. That sounds totally krautrocky, doesn't it?
This double disc set is a pretty good deal, containing all the tracks from this era of UFO: their debut UFO 1, the aforementioned UFO 2, and their live album, uh, UFO Live. The 1970 debut is definitely one for the proto-metal freaks out there, having much in common with early Blue Cheer and contemporaneous Black Sabbath... it's a heavy boogie album all right. They do a song simply titled "Boogie" and boy does it, chooglin' along all awesomely distorted and heavy. In addition, they do for Eddie Cochran's '50s hit "C'mon Everybody" what Blue Cheer had done for his "Summertime Blues". And then there's their own "Evil", another brutal blues-based rawk number indeed. It's not all hard rockin', though, there's a few sluggish, spacey ballads like "(Come Away) Melinda" and "Treacle People" to up the moodiness quota and make full use of Phil Mogg's powerful voice.
It's 1971's UFO 2 where they really launched out into space, with such tracks as "Silver Bird" and "Star Storm". The latter is almost 19 minutes long, but title track "Flying" is even longer at 26:30. They don't neglect the proto-metal riffery here, with "Prince Kajuku" in particular seeing 'em kicking out that brand of jams, but "Flying" and the other extended pieces are psychedelic spaceouts akin to Hawkwind... you could also imagine Kawabata Makoto of Acid Mothers Temple enthusiastically air-guitaring along to this at home!!
The 1973 live album offers more of the spacey stuff, along with the boogie, drawing from both UFO 1 and 2 for material, its tracks filling up the remainder of disc two here, along with the non-album "Galactic Love" single, making for an excellent value for your $16.98.
Interestingly, the three UFO albums represented here weren't hits in England, but did pretty well in Germany and Japan... When guitarist Bolton quit, they replaced him briefly with Larry Wallis from the Pink Fairies, then future Whitesnake axeman Bernie Marsden, before snatching the young Schnenker away from the Scorpions... and the rest is history. THIS is history too, just more the hidden kind!
MPEG Stream: "Boogie"
MPEG Stream: "Star Storm"

UFO Force It (EMI) cd 12.98

MPEG Stream: "Let It Roll"
MPEG Stream: "Shoot Shoot"

UFO Phenomenon (EMI) cd 12.98

MPEG Stream: "Doctor Doctor"
MPEG Stream: "Rock Bottom"

UFO OR DIE Cassette Tape Superstar (Time Bomb) lp 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Previously cd-only, here's the lovely picture-disc gatefold vinyl version of this, the only full-length recording by the incredible uber-Boredoms offshoot band UFO or Die (Yoshimi and Eye of Boredoms, plus the bassist from Leningrad Blues Machine), described by Eye as Blue Cheer meets the Shaggs. A feast for the eyes and ears, arguably better than the best Boredoms records!

UFO OR DIE Cassette Tape Superstar (Time Bomb) picture disc 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

MPEG Stream: "Ouck Nuff"
MPEG Stream: "Unlimited Toothpicker"
MPEG Stream: "Pep & Kep"
MPEG Stream: "Xicotepecker"

UFO OR DIE Shock Stoppers (Skin Graft) comic + 7" 5.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Repressed. Classic Boredoms side project stuff. Noisy as fuck, wild and wooly and chaotic.

UFOMAMMUT Eve (Supernatural Cat) cd 17.98
Pretty sure we don't have to do much in the way of introducing this mammoth, UFO-nic Italian trio by now. They've only chalked up, what, at least two past AQ Records Of The Week honors? We've loved all of their records (and collaborations) and this latest opus was eagerly awaited, especially after seeing 'em play live for the first time here in SF this past winter, which was, wow, HEAVY. Of course. And Eve does not disappoint.
We've described this outfit as "druggy doom-from-space" and this slipcased new disc is yet another excellent (but different) example of their cosmic and compelling sounds. Rather than descending from outer space to jam out on Earth, this time it definitely seems like you're riding with UFOmammut INTO the deeps of space, being swept along on the cosmic rays, into some sort of swirling spinning black hole vortex, kinda like the psychedelic beginning to those old Dr. Who TV episodes. After a dramatic intro (huge monolithic thudding... swooshing space-FX sounds... Hawkwind blowing... feedback and distortion) it's a slow build, the first couple tracks starting off relatively quietly and calmly, up to a point, generating unsettling ambient atmospheres, with spacey keyboards, faintly chanted vocals, and restrained percussive rhythms building up... and up... to the massive heavy guitar riffage you know is about to be unleashed, and soon IS. Wham! Blast off! Track two hints at the band's '70s Italian prog ancestry, with drifting female (?) vocals, and piano, before the tribal drum pound kicks in full bore, and it's dooooom in SPAAAAAAACE time, kids! Like music for martial marching Martians, or armies of astronauts in jackbooted spacesuits. It's hypnotic and heavy, indeed. The next track dispenses with the buildup, jumping right into the fray...
The five (long) tracks on Eve tend to seamlessly segue from one to the next, it's almost like one piece, stretching to infinity... it's actually 45 minutes total but if it could go on and on we'd let it, happy to get lost in UFOmammut's deeps of space (and the deeps of their bass!). A beautiful thing to our ears (remember in a past review, when we told the story of how we accidentally played a UFOmammut dvd disc, thinking it was the cd, and were mesmerized by the dvd menu music, not realizing it was on an endless loop?).
Yeah, it's a trip listening to this band, and quite possibly the "trip" they're evoking isn't into outer space as we've been suggesting, but rather inner space. Of course it is, inside your mind, their music at work on your imagination. This aspect is highlighted when in when in the final track, the beat goes into a double-tlme, and a buried bedlam of chattering voices infiltrate the sound-field. It's like Electric Wizard, or Sleep, trapped in the asylum. That feeling is accentuated by the use of insistent repetitive piano chords and piercing electronic tones out of some psychological suspense thriller.
We mentioned that we saw 'em live, and that they are a trio, yet it's sorta hard to believe when you listen to this... sounds more like hundreds of people were involved, massed in ritual observance... or maybe no people at all, no human beings, just the spaceship's onboard computer gone haywire HAL style...
MPEG Stream: "Eve Part I"
MPEG Stream: "Eve Part II"

UFOMAMMUT Godlike Snake (Beard of Stars) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Having your head dipped in some sort of molten hallucinogenic liquid...or steamrollered by a flying saucer.... or headbanging with Lovecraftian gods somewhere far out in the ocean of space... that's our meagre attempt to colorfully describe the experience of enjoying this slab of psychedelic stoner doom rock, the 1999 debut disc from Italy's UFOmammut! Chances are, though, that you have some idea already about this might sound like, 'cause UFOmammut's other album, the mighty Snailking, was immediately crowned as an Aquarius Record of the Week when it came out last year, and is still a steady seller hereabouts. Hopefully you already got one of those. This too, we've had before, but it's been out of print for quite a long time and only just got reissued. We figured that since folks liked Snailking so much, and Godlike Snake was just as good, and could easily have been missed out upon the first time around, we shouldn't pass up the opportunity to relist this and make it a Record of the Week as well now that it's back in print. After all, the whole reason we were so instantly amped on Snailking when it came out was in part 'cause we'd been waiting for it for, literally, years, after being blown away by the band's first album, this one. Our review of Godlike Snake ran something like this: "...this stoner rock band is a good 'un, taking a way spacier route to the Dopethrone than most. Wonderfully heavy and mesmerizing, with loads of effects, Moog, and (pardon the expression) "fat" churning drone-grind-groove... A new fave for us in the stoner/doom realm... Especially recommended for those that miss the old Monster Magnet sound, or relish the idea of a heavier Hawkwind." Listening to it now (which a bunch of us have been doing *every day* in the store), we're if anything EVEN MORE into it. Something we hadn't noticed before was how some tracks come across like Godflesh or early Killing Joke melded to Hawkwind. Crushing and enveloping and sooooooo good. It's like Electric Wizard gone spacerock, or an industrialized Dead Meadow.
As with its original incarnation, this includes a trippy video track for the song "Where?" for those with computers. It's now packaged in a standard jewelbox, instead of a cardboard digipack, but the artwork remains pretty much the same. If you like heaviness like we do, don't miss it this time!! Definitely to be considered an AQ doom/sludge/psych ESSENTIAL.
MPEG Stream: "Satan"
MPEG Stream: "Snake"

UFOMAMMUT Godlike Snake (Beard of Stars) lp 25.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
AT LONG LAST, NOW AVAILABLE ON VINYL!! Doom/sludge/psych lovers and collectors, rejoice! Here's what we had to say about this album when we made the reissue of the cd version an AQ Record Of The Week last year:
Having your head dipped in some sort of molten hallucinogenic liquid...or steamrollered by a flying saucer.... or headbanging with Lovecraftian gods somewhere far out in the ocean of space... that's our meagre attempt to colorfully describe the experience of enjoying this slab of psychedelic stoner doom rock, the 1999 debut disc from Italy's UFOmammut! Chances are, though, that you have some idea already about this might sound like, 'cause UFOmammut's other album, the mighty Snailking, was immediately crowned as an Aquarius Record of the Week when it came out last year, and is still a steady seller hereabouts. Hopefully you already got one of those. This too, we've had before, but it's been out of print for quite a long time and only just got reissued. We figured that since folks liked Snailking so much, and Godlike Snake was just as good, and could easily have been missed out upon the first time around, we shouldn't pass up the opportunity to relist this and make it a Record of the Week as well now that it's back in print. After all, the whole reason we were so instantly amped on Snailking when it came out was in part 'cause we'd been waiting for it for, literally, years, after being blown away by the band's first album, this one. Our review of Godlike Snake ran something like this: "...this stoner rock band is a good 'un, taking a way spacier route to the Dopethrone than most. Wonderfully heavy and mesmerizing, with loads of effects, Moog, and (pardon the expression) "fat" churning drone-grind-groove... A new fave for us in the stoner/doom realm... Especially recommended for those that miss the old Monster Magnet sound, or relish the idea of a heavier Hawkwind." Listening to it now (which a bunch of us have been doing *every day* in the store), we're if anything EVEN MORE into it. Something we hadn't noticed before was how some tracks come across like Godflesh or early Killing Joke melded to Hawkwind. Crushing and enveloping and sooooooo good. It's like Electric Wizard gone spacerock, or an industrialized Dead Meadow.
Italian import and limited.
MPEG Stream: "Satan"
MPEG Stream: "Snake"

UFOMAMMUT Idolum (Supernatural Cat) cd 19.98
Been waiting for this for a while! While their collaboration with Lento on the Supernaturals Vol. 1 disc (last year) was excellent and sure sounded a heck of a lot like an "actual" UFOmammut record, technically these Italian lords of druggy doom-from-space haven't released an album of their own since 2005's Lucifer Songs. So it's about time we heard from them again.
Reeling from the impact of opening ritual "Stigma", we are immediately made aware that Idolum finds the band's heaviness intact (of course it's heavy, did bears stop shitting in the woods? is the Pope no longer a Catholic??). UFOmammut are still a psychedelic juggernaut, their trance-inducing riffing aswirl in a densely layered, lysergic morass of outer space FX that the Acid Mothers Temple would envy. It's certainly up there with their previous output, we can't praise it much more highly. Found amidst the seven tracks (66 minutes, 6 seconds total, how 'bout that?) of Idolum are a few new twists, including a guest female vocal performance on a few tracks, adding an extra haunting element to the proceedings. Overall, this album manages a hard-to-beat, skull-smashing cosmic balance of tripped-out melody, ambient hypnosis, and utter crushing sludge dirge destruction equal to our high expectations. Definitely worth waiting for!
The cd we have is packaged in jewel case, the kind with rounded corners (same as the Lento debut that Supernatural Cat also just released, reviewed this list too). We didn't get any of the incredibly expensive limited cd version, but we did get a couple (really, just 2) copies of the even more incredibly expensive super limited numbered 2lp vinyl box edition. It's hefty and handsome enough to be worth the money to huge UFOmammut fans, so act fast if you want one (please). Otherwise, the cd version is more than recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Stigma"
MPEG Stream: "Stardog"
MPEG Stream: "Hellectric"

UFOMAMMUT Idolum (Supernatural Cat) 2lp+cd 63.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Been waiting for this for a while! While their collaboration with Lento on the Supernaturals Vol. 1 disc (last year) was excellent and sure sounded a heck of a lot like an "actual" UFOmammut record, technically these Italian lords of druggy doom-from-space haven't released an album of their own since 2005's Lucifer Songs. So it's about time we heard from them again.
Reeling from the impact of opening ritual "Stigma", we are immediately made aware that Idolum finds the band's heaviness intact (of course it's heavy, did bears stop shitting in the woods? is the Pope no longer a Catholic??). UFOmammut are still a psychedelic juggernaut, their trance-inducing riffing aswirl in a densely layered, lysergic morass of outer space FX that the Acid Mothers Temple would envy. It's certainly up there with their previous output, we can't praise it much more highly. Found amidst the seven tracks (66 minutes, 6 seconds total, how 'bout that?) of Idolum are a few new twists, including a guest female vocal performance on a few tracks, adding an extra haunting element to the proceedings. Overall, this album manages a hard-to-beat, skull-smashing cosmic balance of tripped-out melody, ambient hypnosis, and utter crushing sludge dirge destruction equal to our high expectations. Definitely worth waiting for!
The cd we have is packaged in jewel case, the kind with rounded corners (same as the Lento debut that Supernatural Cat also just released, reviewed this list too). We didn't get any of the incredibly expensive limited cd version, but we did get a couple (really, just 2) copies of the even more incredibly expensive super limited numbered 2lp vinyl box edition. It's hefty and handsome enough to be worth the money to huge UFOmammut fans, so act fast if you want one (please). Otherwise, the cd version is more than recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Stigma"
MPEG Stream: "Stardog"
MPEG Stream: "Hellectric"

UFOMAMMUT Lucifer Songs (Supernatural Cat) cd + dvd 23.00
NOW AVAILABLE! The non-limited cd edition of the latest UFOmammut album! We reviewed the limited vinyl version a few months ago when we had it, but the special, screen printed limited edition cd version sold out too quickly to list. Now, at last, here's the jewel-case'd "regular" cd version. Which actually is pretty special too, since it in fact -does- come with the bonus dvd disc that we had been told was exclusive to the ltd. edition vinyl and cd versions! Not only that, but the cd features the title track "Lucifer Song" that was on the vinyl but -not- on the ltd. edition cd, weirdly enough. It's a strange case of the regular version of an album being better than the special ed. Not sure what they were thinking, but if you don't have it already you're not gonna complain! (Some of us even felt the need to buy it again, actually...argh).
So, as you may know, Italy's UFOmammut are one of our absolute favorite psychedelic/doom/drone/dirge bands, up there with Electric Wizard and Yob and Boris. Both of their previous albums, Godlike Snake and Snailking, were Aquarius Records Of The Week in their day.
Lucifer Songs (no beating about the bush with that title) is another multi-ton brick in the cosmic-heights reaching pyramidical temple these guys are building with each album, each heavy riff shifting the load like tens of thousands of the pharoah's slaves sweating and heaving in unison to get the job done. And sometimes they really push those slaves hard, the stoned riffery shifting into a higher gear. Though it often sounds more like the slaves couldn't handle the weight and the bricks are crashing down, massive and crushing... with some stretches of relatively calm drone ("Hypnotized", "Astrodronaut") to let the dust settle. These six tracks of space-sludge nirvana are perhaps marred only by the over-use of sound samples, something in metal of which we've always been critics (remember our review of the first Mastodon album? If you're not Necroticism by Carcass, leave the samples alone).
And like we said, this comes with a DVD, featuring low-budget videos for three of the album's tracks as well as what they term "soundscape" abstract psychedelic visuals for all of 'em, which is cool to have, though considering that UFOmammut is the sonic arm of the Malleus art collective (known for many a trippy album cover and rock show poster) we weren't quite as blown away by all of it as we thought we would be.
However, the DVD is well worth it not only for the many visuals that ARE cool but also for the music that plays when you're just looking at the menu (a snippet of "Lucifer Song"). If you have a DVD player that's hooked up to your stereo, put it in and just listen to it! We did... accidentally. You see, our store cd player is also a DVD player (though we have no TV monitor hooked up to it) and so when we got the cd in, we put in what we thought was the audio disc and spent about a half an hour listening to what we later realized was the DVD menu music! We were really into how this creepy synth drone with plodding percussion just looped and faded out and back in again, like the UFOmammut guys were all stoned and just turning the volume knob up and down in the studio. Allan even came out from the back of the store to see what was playing. We kept waiting for it to fade out and then surprise us by launching into a brutal riff a la Corrupted or Boris but then Irwin figured out that we were just listening to the DVD menu music! Pretty cool though, we'll do it again... And of course if you want to hear the -whole- "Lucifer Song" (which is of course cool too), it's right there on the cd half of this package now in its entirety!
MPEG Stream: "Mars"
MPEG Stream: "Astrodronaut"